Just finished Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5. I have so many problems with the game, but I think the fundamentals of the combat system, the story, soundtrack, and the unique vibe of each world are strong enough to make them more forgivable for me. It took a while for the combat to get really good, and even then it still feels clunky as heck, but I managed to get myself to a point where I was absolutely wrecking fools by mashing my keyblade, so it's all good. The writing style of the story is certainly an acquired taste, but I'm actually digging it, since it just feels inherently wholesome to me, and I can forgive a few annoying story moments because of it. The soundtrack is just a joy to listen to, even with most of the tracks being pretty short loops. I think most of the worlds' level design can be either too cramped or not too fun to explore (at least until you get all the shared abilities later on), but I think they did a fine job of making each world to be a fun small showcase of their respective series'. Other than those, there are less forgivable parts like the boring Gummi ship sequences (which are held back even more by the obtuse Gummi ship building system) and the item synthesis system that doesn't feel useful to me, but since you can ignore/sidetrack these, I don't exactly hold a grudge against them. Also, my favorite world has to be...
100 Acre Woods, followed closely by Hollow Bastion
Overall, it's quite the swimming in sevens experience. There's a ton of room for improvements, and I hope to see them in the sequels. Next up is Chain of Memories, so that's gonna be interesting. (7/10)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Strike Vector EX
Dragon Quest XI
Shenmue III
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
Valkyria Chronicles 4
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Death Stranding
Kingdom Hearts
Nier Automata
Dirt Rally 2.0
Redout
Flower
Journey
Gorogoa
Mega Man 11
Hotline Miami 2
The Witness
Thumper
Hollow Knight
Ikaruga
