4.5/5 ★ – FishToes's review of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix.

When I first played this back in May, this was my first Kingdom hearts game. I was told to play chronologically but after completing this I decided to not do that and vow to replay this when it came time in release order. Here I am, all these months later. After completing 1, Re:Com, 2, and 358/2, I can judge this as a kingdom hearts game more fairly. Incredible game. My one gripe would be the early combat can feel slightly repetitive and the fact that you have to look up recipes and grind the materials is a little tedious but other than that it’s just what I want from these games. The meld command is fun and using the command board to take advantage of this is really great. As long as you don’t mind having a recipe list up and a bit of grinding during mid-game it’s no trouble at all. Getting to mix-match the commands and see what style works for you is so satisfying and makes combat way more fun. The story is beautiful. I appreciate it way more after playing the other games. This one doesn’t have the most fun world selection (not much outside of the classic Disney era, most of them consisting of fields/valleys, with a few great exceptions such as Maleficent’s dungeon or the original worlds) but what it lacks in that is made up for in its theming and selection being so closely tied to the message of BBS, which I think is told in a beautiful way. I understand this is a love it or hate it game. Theres things to like and dislike and I understand that it’s easy for someone to never get a feel of the command systems and find the story cheesy, but it just works so well for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if this snuck its way into my favorite games list in the future.