I also beat the game on proud mode first time round and the final boss was a challenge to say the least!
Pre- or post-patch? Because it took me something like an hour and a half of yelling at the game for randomly stunlocking me to death in spite of Second Chance/Once More. XD; I fought nothing but the enemies who showed up directly in my path, but still...
Also the final boss theme definitely gave me strong FFXV vibes and it definitely wasn't something i would have expected from Yoko in a KH game:
It is definitely a grower and i look forward to her work in KH3!
Same here! It's kind of incredible that I don't hate it given how many times I heard it fighting that boss, but it's still one of those songs that I'll leave on for ten minutes if the video I'm using is one of those extended kind instead of saying "enough already" after 3-5 minutes. XD
There's something FFXV-like about 0.2 in general, though -- the tone felt similar to the tone in the back half of FFXV, at the very least.
I know there are quite a few mixed views around Dream Drop Distance, particularly around introducing time travel and its story. I haven't played the HD version yet, but back on the 3DS i really enjoyed it. I think the most memorable scenes come from Sora and i think his experiences in the world that never was (understanding Roxas's pain, realising he's not special because of the keyblade, but of those he's connected to and succumbing to darkness) ground his character in a way which i think never happened in KH2. I also enjoyed the last act fighting Xemnas, Ansem and Young Xehanort and i think the soundtrack is fantastic. Also characters from TWEWY being involved and the TWEWY soundtrack getting an update was a real highlight (My favourite DS game which i think definitely needs a sequel!).
My issue with it is that it doesn't feel like there's any information you couldn't have gotten from watching trailers/being familiar with the movies the worlds came from up until the final world, and getting there wasn't as fun as in KH2/BbS thanks to a lot of fights that felt cheap. >_>; The ending was definitely the highlight of the game, though. And the TWEWY characters, I guess. XD;
I'd rate KH1 the best in the series, with KH2 final mix in second and birth by sleep in third. After that i don't think DDD is too far behind and i think it definitely has its moments.
KHI's gameplay feels so archaic to me nowadays. XD; I really loved Birth by Sleep's command system, command styles, and the way that a fight could go from a quick wipe to a quick victory just by figuring out how to maintain momentum, so I'd probably put that one first. KHII is a close second (with Final Mix being better than stock KHII in every respect except for the ridiculously balanced mandatory Roxas fight), followed by 3D and then KHI. Gameplay-wise, I'd probably actually put Re:Coded above 3D, though 3D would still win overall because nothing happens in Coded. XD; 358/2 Days and Re:CoM end up at the back of the pack because I didn't like how either of them played, which is sort of unfortunate, because I like Re:CoM's story almost as much as BbS's (I just
detest numerical cards,
why) and I actually like the characters of 358/2 Days a lot when progression isn't conditioned on playing what felt an awful lot like a mediocre clone of KHI. (Making a movie out of 358/2 Days was the best thing that could have happened to it, IMO. =P )
I think Aqua is potentially the strongest keyblade wielder of light at present, with her surviving the dark world, being a master and holding Master Eraqus's keyblade. Also i think Ava is one of the most important foretellers in Kingdom Hearts X, so i'd like to think and hope progress is being made with the female characters in the series.
Aqua is awesome. <3
Back Cover's portrayal of the Foretellers kind of amused me, actually, because Ava is clearly the one who managed to keep the world from
completely falling apart and Invi is the only other Foreteller who didn't do anything to make things worse.
All of the guys let their paranoia/jealousy/desperation/secrecy get out of hand and essentially guaranteed the end of the world because of it.