Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep

Now we've come to one of the biggest turning points in the whole Kingdom Hearts series, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. This is easily one of the biggest changes in the whole story. And when I say that, I mean this game added so many things that added so much to the story and had us asking so many things. It was also a really interesting game. Especially since it was a prequel to the whole series. It was exploring the lives of three characters in the time Sora, Riku and Kairi were still just little kids. And so, before I get into the really big stuff, let's go over the story. What's the story? Actually, the opening of this game kinda tells us the story already. And speaking of the opening, this game's opening is again, really awesome.

And the story is about three people, Ventus (or Ven for short), Aqua and Terra who are students to a man named Eraqus. On the day of Aqua and Terra's Mark of Mastery exam a man named Xehanort interrupts the exam which causes Terra to show the darkness inside him. And this causes him to lose the exam while Aqua is named a Keyblade master. And this kinda creates a divide between the three friends. And to make things worse, it seem Xehanort and a mysterious masked guy are trying to break the friends apart and make them leave and they succeed. Terra goes to find Xehanort and fight the darkness inside himself. Ven leaves to find Terra and warn him about something the masked guy told him. And Aqua leaves to not only find Ven and bring him back, but also to help Terra and defeat these creatures which are not called Heartless, they're called the Unversed. And the game is split into three parts where you play as one of the three characters and play their stories. Ven's, Aqua's and Terra's. And, yeah, that's where I'm going to stop again. So, what do I think of this game and do I think it's as good as say the Kingdom Hearts 2? No, it's not, but still, it's another really solid game. I did a ranking of all the Kingdom Hearts games a while back and I still standby where I put this on that list. And a lot of the good things in this are the characters and the gameplay. Firstly the gameplay. The combat in this game feels a lot more improved than in 358/2 Days. Not as much as Kingdom Hearts 2, but still, really well done here. And the action, especially against the giant Unversed, is awesome. The final fights, and even the final fights against the Disney villains, were also really cool. Especially when you're fighting Captain Hook and Maleficent. Those fights were awesome. The story as well is cool when you were going around and meeting the many different Disney characters. And that brings us to the best part which is of course the characters. They're not the best in the whole series, but the ones that stand out, stand out really fantastically. My favourite one out of all of them is probably Ven. He's just so likeable and sympathetic. And apparently he doesn't remember his past before he went to train with Eraqus. And this is what he looks like.

The reason I'm showing him to all of you is kind of a spoiler but I just want to tell anyway. So the reason is because he looks like Roxas. And the reason he looks like Roxas is because at the end of this game, there's a secret ending after the secret story where Sora talks to Ven as a little boy and he allows him to stay in his heart after it vanishes from destroying the X-Blade. If you want to know what I'm talking about go play the game for yourself. Anyway, so remember in Kingdom Hearts 1 when Sora sacrificed himself for Kairi by releasing his heart? Well, when he did that, he also kinda released Ven's heart and by releasing his own and Ven's heart at once, that's what caused Roxas to look like Ven. Sorry for making that sound kinda confusing, but like I said, play the game to know what I'm talking about. Anyway, yeah, Ven's my favourite character in this game. But the others are great too like Aqua, Terra, all of those. And it was cool to finally see the main villain of this entire series with Xehanort. We never really knew who he was originally, but here, we do and we know what his goal is. And he's a fantastic and very devious and cunning villain. And Aqua's story is also great when we see her go through all of this and then at the end, she's the only one of the three of them who isn't really corrupted by Xehanort. That's kinda strange, but I think that's the best way to say it. But's it kinda sad during the secret ending when she falls into darkness to save Terra. In fact, that whole thing with her being in the Realm of Darkness is exactly what 0.2 in 2.8 is going to be centred around. And the whole thing with Terra is also really good. I'm not entirely sure what people think of him, but I think my brother said he didn't like him because of what happens in the end of this game, but I personally do like him. And like I was saying a second ago, this game is during the time Sora, Riku and Kairi were still kids and so seeing them again is awesome to me.

And by the way, remember in that scene there when Kairi touched Aqua's Keyblade? Apparently when that happened, Aqua accidently performed Keyblade ceremony on her and that's what allows Kairi to wield a Keyblade in Kingdom Hearts 2. Kind of a spoiler there, but yeah, Kairi actually has a Keyblade, which is really cool. And, get this, remember when I said Ven's heart was inside Sora. Well, this is how.

And that's actually the reason why Sora can wield the Keyblade too. I'll explain more about it when we get to Dream Drop Distance. But yeah, seeing those three again is really awesome. And you get to see them in all of the new character's stories near the end except Ven. But that comes in at the end. And speaking of the end, this game's ending is so dark. This game's ending isn't even a happy one. I'll just say it. So Ven loses his heart because he destroyed the X-Blade which was made of his heart which causes his body to be sleeping and that's what it's been doing this whole time. Aqua get's trapped in the Realm of Darkness trying to save Terra in the secret ending and Terra gets his body stolen by Xehanort. And Aqua's been in the Realm of Darkness, in regards to when 0.2 picks up, for about ten years. That's beyond scary if you ask me. And remember when I said Ven's body was asleep. Well it's actually at the Land of Departure, which is what their home was called, but Aqua used Eraqus's Keyblade to turn the land into Castle Oblivion. That's really cool. Now we know where Castle Oblivion came from. And the reason the Organisation members were in the castle in Chain of Memories was because Xemnas wanted to find Ven's body. That's pretty cool with the way they tied that together. And everything in this game that has a bit of a tie in to the others, while you might think it's forced, I think is awesome and really helps push the story forward, especially with what will be coming up soon. The music in this game is also fantastic again. My favourite in the whole game is probably Ven's theme. Listen to some of these.

And the direction is also really good here. Tetsuya Nomura is my favourite director because of this game series. He's directed every single Kingdom Hearts game and he's amazing. He totally knows what he's doing when he works on these games and this is no exception. And it always amazing me how awesome and cool the action in these games always seemed really creative. And the action in this is awesome. Especially when you fill up the gauge above your command attack board and you get even more power for a final attack. Now, as much as I do really love this game like all the others, it's not perfect. If I had to nit-pick some things, some of the bosses are kinda unfair, especially the secret bosses. I know they're supposed to be kinda hard, but come on, this is just insane. Especially the Mysterious Figure at the Land of Departure. I've never been able to beat him. He's probably the hardest fight in the whole series in my opinion. And the whole scene with all of them at the beginning is also great and when they all say that thing in their heads, I love it. When they say "That would be the last night we ever spent beneath the same stars." And that secret ending is beyond awesome. Look.

So overall, this is another amazing Kingdom Hearts game. And I can't wait to see how 0.2 continues it. And everyone, that's my review of Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. Look forward to my review of Kingdom Hearts: Recoded coming up next. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you thought of this review.