Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (Japanese: キングダム ハーツ チェイン オブ メモリーズ, Hepburn: Kingudamu Hātsu Chein Obu Memorīzu?) is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and Japanese studio Jupiter and published by Square Enix in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance. The game serves as an intermediary between the two larger-scale PlayStation 2 games in the Kingdom Hearts series. It was one of the first GBA games to incorporate full motion video (FMV).[7] The game was remade into a PlayStation 2 game titled Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, which was released in Japan as a second disc packaged with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix in March 2007.[4] The remake was released in North America on December 2, 2008.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is the second game in the Kingdom Hearts series. It is a direct sequel to Kingdom Hearts, and its ending is set about a year before Kingdom Hearts II.[8] The story centers around the protagonist of the first game, Sora, exploring a mysterious castle in search of his friends. As he ascends the castle, his friend and rival, Riku, explores the basement levels and fights his inner darkness. The game introduces new characters and plotlines that further expand the Kingdom Hearts universe and set up the premise for Kingdom Hearts II.
Though not as successful as the other Kingdom Hearts games, it received positive reviews and sales. It was praised for its story, graphics, and FMVs. The game features a new card-based battle system that is a departure from its predecessor. When it debuted in Japan, it sold 104,000 units in 48 hours.
Gameplay
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is a combination between a role-playing video game and collectible card game. The main role-playing aspect is an experience point system that is used to increase the character’s maximum health or Card Points, or to learn a new skill.[9] The cards are utilized in the progression of the story as well as in combat. The game features a field map and battle screen. The field map is an isometric area where the player can traverse between rooms.[9][10] Enemies inhabit the field map and track the player to engage in combat, which can be initiated through contact between the player and an enemy. Once combat has been engaged, the game switches to the battle screen which utilizes a card-based battle system.[11]
A unique aspect to this game is “room synthesis”: to advance through the game, the player must utilize Map cards that he has found after winning battles to synthesize rooms.[12] The properties of each room―including quality of items and strength of enemies―are determined by the Map cards that the player chooses.[11] Each card has a specific effect: red cards affect the number and type of enemies; green cards affect the power of the player’s deck; and blue cards affect the properties of the room itself, such as allowing treasure chests or a save point to appear.[9][13]
The game features three modes of gameplay. The first two are story modes that feature either Sora or Riku, and the third is a two player battle mode. Initially only Sora’s story mode is available; once completed, “Reverse/Rebirth” mode becomes available.[13] Reverse/Rebirth allows the player to play a second story mode featuring Riku and a link mode where players can battle each other via a Game Link Cable.[12
Combat
Combat uses a card-based battle system executed in real time.[9][14] The player can jump and maneuver around the battle screen as they would on the field map, but all physical attacks, magic, items, and summonings are activated by playing cards.[8] Cards are ranked from zero to nine, and are used for making attack combos or breaking enemy cards. The higher the rank, the more Card Points (CP) are required to place it in the player’s deck. Card Points—increased through level up—limit the number of cards the player can use in a deck. Cards with rank “zero” can break any opposing card or combo if played after the opposing card or combo, but they can be broken by any card or combo as well if it is played after the zero card is played.[15] Breaking an opposing card will cancel that attack and stun the loser of a card break for a short time. Special enemy cards may be obtained by defeating enemies and bosses, and are used to give the player a temporary ability, ranging from enhanced offensive and defensive capabilities to modifying the attributes of certain cards.
Combining cards in sets of three will create combo attacks that are more difficult to break because the rank of the combo will be the sum of the ranks of the three cards in the combo. Certain card combinations will create a “sleight”, a special combination that will create a powerful physical attack, magical spell, or summon attack.[12] When the player runs out of cards, the deck must be reloaded. Additionally, using a card combination will cause the first card in the combo to become unusable until the end of combat.[11]
Sora’s and Riku’s stories differ gameplay-wise in several ways. In Sora’s story, Sora obtains cards by defeating enemies or through Moogle Shops.[12] In some cases, Sora must earn the specific card first through a plot event before it becomes available. Sora can create and store three different decks in the pause menu. Unlike Sora, Riku has a closed deck that cannot be customized. The cards in his deck change depending on the world in which he is traveling. Riku is limited to mainly physical attacks, enemy cards, and Mickey Mouse ally cards. By breaking a certain number of opposing cards, Riku can activate “dark mode” and unlock his sleight attacks.[13]
Storyline
Sora and his friends Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket are walking down a winding path when a mysterious man dressed in a black, hooded coat appears and directs Sora towards a massive fortress called Castle Oblivion. When the travelers enter, they re-encounter the mysterious figure,[13] who explains that they have forgotten all of their abilities upon entering the castle.[19] He proceeds to create a deck of cards made from Sora’s and his friends’ memories, and tells them that everything they encounter in this castle will be based on their memories.[9] The higher they go, the more memories they will lose in the process.[23]
Sora ascends the castle, facing off against members of a mysterious group controlling the castle called “the Organization” along the way. As Sora begins losing his memories, he gradually appears to remember a girl named Naminé as an old friend of his, and learns from the Organization member Larxene that she is being held prisoner in the castle.[24] He also clashes with a replica of Riku, believed by both Sora and the replica himself to be the real Riku, created and controlled by another Organization member, Vexen. Axel, an Organization double agent, releases Naminé and allows her to meet Sora. Sora discovers Naminé to be the one manipulating his memories, having been forced to do so by Marluxia, the lord of Castle Oblivion and the figure who lured Sora there, as part of his plan to overthrow the rest of the Organization with Larxene.[25] Sora climbs to the top of the tower and defeats Marluxia and the other Organization members, after which Naminé puts Sora and his friends into pod-like machines to help them regain the memories they lost in the castle, even though they will forget the events that transpired in the castle.[26] Before they are put to sleep, Sora and Naminé promise to meet again as real friends once he reawakens, Sora firmly believing that his memories of her and the castle will remain in his heart despite being forgotten.[27]
In Reverse/Rebirth, Riku has been transported from the realm of darkness[28] and fights his inner darkness as he battles upward from the basement levels of Castle Oblivion. Vexen fights Riku to obtain his data and creates the replica of him to counter Marluxia’s plan. Ansem, who had previously taken over Riku’s body, tries to regain control of Riku, but is continually thwarted by King Mickey’s support.[29] On the way, Riku battles and defeats Lexaeus, a member of Vexen’s circle, only to be dragged into the realm of darkness. However, he is saved by King Mickey when Ansem nearly succeeds in taking Riku’s body as his own. With Marluxia eliminated by this time, another of Vexen’s allies, Zexion, attempts to dispose of Riku by drowning him in light. Riku is saved by Naminé disguised as Kairi, who helps him to control his darkness, allowing him to defeat Zexion. Riku later meets DiZ, an enigmatic individual interested in Riku who sends him to find Naminé.[30] Riku’s replica, who has since learned of his altered memories and seeks to justify his existence, fights Riku only to be destroyed by him. Riku chooses to face Ansem upon learning from Naminé that Ansem lives in his heart, and defeats him after DiZ summons him for Riku to fight. Riku then sets out with King Mickey as his companion a journey to utilize both his darkness and his light.[31]
About
The difference from other versions include lower sprite quality, bad framerate, slight changes in music and sound, new Mini-games, Achievements and Vs. Mode, the game is not as smooth as PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and iOS versions.
Kingheartss's Blog 