Kingdom Hearts: Prologue To An End, Pt.1

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Game: Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ
Platform: iOS/Android
Release Date: Sept. 2015 (Japan)/Apr. 2016 (North America)/ June 2016 (Europe)

About damn time I wrote this.

Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ is available worldwide as of June 16, 2016. I have been playing the first MMO mobile port in the franchise since its North American release on April 7, 2016. Every day. Seriously. I have daily check-in awards for over eighty days of consistent playing, a level 212 customized avatar, 198 collected medals (so far), 6,743 total medals gathered, and over 13,880,600 Munny spent to prove it. I actually had to stop typing briefly to finish a gathering quest for upgrade materials since Thursdays are Speed Attribute material quest days and I need enough to fully upgrade my special A Fragmentary Passage-2.8 Sora 3D medals.

Stop judging me. I can feel your stares. Your scorn fuels me.

I might have a problem...

I waited on this article because I wanted to glean maximum information and experience via gameplay before I made it hail knowledge on all of the KHUx fans. Then, Square Enix dropped a Pre-E3 2016 announcement about Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Final Chapter Prologue- including Birth by Sleep 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage and Kingdom Hearts χ: Back Cover - with an absolutely gorgeous trailer. I watched this trailer with repeated fervor akin to our ancient ancestors marveling over fire.

It was time to write what I had put off for months.

For some, SquEnix’s announcement was a letdown. The people want Kingdom Hearts 3. So do I, but a large section of my soul wants to stave that final installment a wee bit longer. The Kingdom Hearts franchise is a teenager now; it is fourteen years old. I watched it grow up, try new things, meet new people, travel the globe, make mistakes, aim for new heights, and build believers out of doubters. Knowing the end is nigh makes me tear up because a story will see its end.

Those of you that know me outside the virtual realm are familiar with my love for a good story. One that wrenches emotion from your core and illuminates dark elements we frequently tend to glance over in the real world: J.K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter, all works Stephen King, James Patterson’s Maximum Ride, Tidus’ legacy in Final Fantasy X—these works of art pull me in with their powerful tales. The latter inspired a tattoo forever etched into my skin as a constant reminder that this life “...is my story.”

The same depth speaks true for Kingdom Hearts. However, the story’s grandeur is frequently eclipsed by its complexity. Thus, allow me to introduce Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ before we reach the crescendo this December with further plot reveals from KH HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

New Mechanics

First, a little clarification: KHUx is a mobile port of Kingdom Hearts χ [Chi]; the latter only had a Japanese release. Despite being a port, the two are not considered one game. Each entry contributes to the story in its own way. The main differences between the two games are 1) KHx has you equip cards to your avatar’s keyblade as attacks. KHUx has the player equip medals instead. 2) Possibly the biggest lament amongst North American and European players is that we will never have access to the “Beast’s Castle” world that Japan’s KHx players do. It sucks. I know. However, I will save complaints like this for a later day. Moving along…

Those of you familiar with the franchise know that usually we dive into the world as Sora, Kingdom Hearts’ lovable—albeit naive—protagonist. Not this time around folks. When the World fell to darkness and shattered, the remaining twinkling Light dwelled in the hearts of children and Sora is not even an ovum yet. With the Keyblade War looming close, KHUx asks you to create your own customizable avatar and to select a union instead of combat attribute.

There are five unions: Anguis, Leopardis, Vulpis, Ursus, and Unicornis. In past series entries we are able to make an informed decision as to our starting attribute because the game provides information. KHUx forgoes this information entirely, leaving an air of mystery as to why we are even here. This mystery stays throughout gameplay as we never know who our Union leaders are or why we fight- only that we must. Thereafter, you are ported to Daybreak Town (which looks eerily like Radiant Garden from Birth by Sleep) and introduced to Cirithy. I can only describe this flying feline with a cape as your Sword in the Stone Merlin spirit animal. Each child, a.k.a. player, is assigned their own Cirithy who is supposed to guide them towards the Light, but not impose will upon them. In other words, Cirithy is not allowed to tell you not to pursue power in Darkness or push you away from hunting for answers via nefarious means. However, if your heart falls to the darkness, his existence expires.

Cirithy explains that six apprentices learned from a book that the world would be swallowed by darkness. Their Master, known as the Master of Masters, disappeared but not before leaving them the cryptic “Book of Prophecies” conveniently missing what they call the Lost Page; this page says that “One will betray all” and the world will fall to darkness. Five of the six agreed that the only way to prevent this calamity would be to gather Light, in the form of Lux, dropped by defeated heartless from all the worlds. However, as hardened Kingdom Hearts veterans know, only a keyblade wielder can destroy heartless and retrieve the light from the creatures. Behold! This is where we come in!

Although the foretellers all want to prevent the inevitable, their reasons for preventing it differ strongly. Thus, five of the six foretellers created their own unions with different goals but similar functions. So, with little explanation, we clutch our Starlight keyblade, knock around a few heartless in Daybreak Town, and learn the power of friendship via a raid boss crash course.

Wait. Hey guys, did she say raid boss? Like World of Warcraft gather your guild members and hope your team can dish out enough DOT to get the job done raid boss?

Yup. I sure did.

After defeating seventy-five to eighty heartless, a raid boss spawns of a particular attack attribute- speed, strength, or magic. Magic beats strength, strength beats speed, and speed beats magic. If you are super lucky (or unlucky depending on if you used all of a particular keyblade’s special gauge) an OMEGA raid boss may spawn instead.

To date, there are five main raid bosses and each boss has an OMEGA alternate. As one can expect, the OMEGAs have more HP, but SquEnix gives us more time to defeat them than the regulars. Yes, the raid bosses are timed. Players are allotted approximately seven minutes to beat the regulars. You have twenty minutes to whomp OMEGAs. Are you level five against a level one Behemoth? Go knock that bad boy out in one turn for a “1 TURN TRIUMPH” and claim your delicious loot. If you really think you are hot, knock out the boss’s limbs- in the same turn—before killing it for an extra bonus and a stun effect. Is that a level five OMEGA Fortress Crab with 3 million health and multi-attribute limbs- such as this month’s special event monster? Call on your party members to help you take him/her/it down.

Joining a party is essential for successful leveling in this game. Taking on a level five raid boss alone when you just started usually spells demise for your Lux (player leveling material) and medal upgrade loot. So, form a party or join a party? That depends on how many people you know that are playing KHUx and the team that they choose. Players can only join a party of the same Union. So if your friend is Vulpis and you are Anguis, neither of you can chat in-game or join the same guild unless someone swallows pride and joins the other’s union. This is one of the many sore elements for me in this game, but I can understand why it was done; coding for a global chat and maintaining it would be hell.

So why the hype?

Alright, if you made it this far without wanting to strangle me, I commend you, from a distance of course. So why play Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ and would you be able to just jump into the story from this installment without getting lost in the franchise’s vast storyline? Simply put, I think this is the perfect installment to jump in at. Chronologically, this is the very first game in the timeline and should explain why the Keyblade War had to happen, and why Young Xehanort from the Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer knows that darkness will win. Think of the events in KHUx as the cataclysm for all of the other installments and a simple way to test the waters if you are new to the series. If you plan to buy Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Final Chapter Prologue, playing KHUx will tie into Kingdom Hearts χ: Back Cover and further your appreciation for the plot tapestry Tetsuya Nomura has woven over fourteen years.

So, have you started your download yet? Are you already playing? Did you get your 600 jewels for completing Square Enix North America’s thorough player survey? Do you need a game plan to tackle this week’s score challenge? Let me know what you think in the comments below, our Twitter (or mine: @Xminess), and I will see you in “Prologue to an End: Part 2.”

Special shout out to my party members, friends, and administrators in Ghost Gunlock from all over that have joined me on our quest to protect the Light! A special thank you to Squabble for all your help. We hope to see you again soon.

A'Gia, a.k.a. Gigi, learned how to wield a controller before single-digit multiplication. She enjoys various game genres and is tackling ACIV: Black Flag and Kingdom Hearts Unchained X now.