CaelestisAngel - KH: 358/2 Days Summarization

Figured it was about time I got around to doing this... Sorry for the long wait. ^^;

Remember, story spoilers WILL be blanked-out! This post is a safe read.

First off, I'll go ahead and start with talking about gameplay.
This is probably my favorite KH game in terms of gameplay. Before release I never really payed much attention to the 'panel' system (or much of the gameplay info at all), but it actually wasn't that hard to figure out; especially with it being in Japanese. Sure, there may be things that I haven't figured out, but (at current moment) I'm planning on getting the English version anyways. X3 It's a slight bit like CoM's card system, but not as irritating. Things that are added with panels are items, weapon mods/abilities, character abilities, etc.
Magic has an interesting way of working in this game. MP doesn't exist - it's all in how many panels of a certain spell and Ethers you have. Say you add 2 Fire panels and a Blizzard panel. You can use Fire twice and Blizzard once in battle. If you use them all up then use a normal Ether, you get one of each back. If you use another, you'll get the second Fire back, but you'll still only have one Blizzard. It makes more sense when playing. ^^;
I think the main thing I wasn't fond of was the fact that you can only modify the panels in-between missions. Meaning, you can't add items like Potions and Ethers while on a mission. You kinda have to be a bit stingy and careful on what items and spells you use.
Now for the various modes - Story Mode and Mission Mode.
Story Mode is what you'd expect - Single-player as Roxas, going on missions and watching the story unfold as you go along. The first few days are tutorials with the CoM members, but eventually you'll get to choose your own missions. There are optional missions every-so-often; usually one or two each day after a 'key mission' is completed. After a certain amount of missions are completed, your 'rank' will go up, awarding you with a new playable character for Mission Mode. The time in-between missions is spent in a 'lobby' in the Castle That Never Was, where you can talk to various Org. members (sometimes they'll give you stuff!), modify your panels, save, and buy panels from that awesome Org-coat sportin' Moogle (the only FF character in the game). Story usually takes place in-between days. CoM-esque speech-bubble scenes are the most common, but FMVs will show up every now-and-then (mostly near the end).
Mission Mode is the multiplayer part of the game. Since Wi-Fi is not supported, and I can't talk Bloodthornchaos into importing a copy (I'll make her get the English version!), I haven't been able to try it with multiple people. But it is possible to do it solo... And I've done it a LOT. X3 You can choose your character from the members of Org. XIII, and unlockables including |Xion, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and Sora|. You can guess who I play as. XD Stats from SM carry over to MM, and vice-versa. You can choose from various missions you've unlocked in SM, by finding the red symbols hidden in each SM mission. I've tried out quite a few of the characters, and they seem to work pretty well. Marluxia's fun to use, he has a lot of range. Demyx is spiffy; as is Zexy. I love how Zexion whacks the Heartless with his Lexicon. XP The Org. members all have various unlockable weapons, based on the 'Gears' placed in the panels. |The unlockable characters (save for Xion, who is a Roxas-clone) all have three weapons to use. I'm not sure of all of them, but I know Riku uses Soul Eater (default), Oblivion and Way to the Dawn. My favorites! XD So far, Oblivion's the best (I haven't gotten WttD yet)|.I wish I could tell you what multiplayer's like, but I can't... ^^; Sorry!!

Now... for the story itself. Be prepared, this is gonna be a doozy. I'm not going too deep into it (my memory on some parts has already gotten fuzzy), though. Don't be surprised if half of this is blanked-out... To be honest, I dunno what you would consider to be a 'spoiler'. o.o; (Otar seems to think everything is. XP) Read cautiously.
After a wonderful(ly long) intro involving Utada Hikaru's 'Passion' and Org. member scenes from Re:CoM/KHII, we are greeted with the screen saying |Day 255|. 'Whaa??' you may think, 'Is this gonna be like Daxter with its 'two years later almost' stunt?'. After seeing a conversation between Roxas and Axel on the clocktower (if you've kept up-to-date with trailers, you've seen it already), we get swept backwards to |Day 7. It's said Roxas was practically unresponsive in the first week, so that's skipped.| Then for the next few days, we're sent on tutorial missions with the CoM members, learning different things from each (and meeting the back of Lexaeus's fist XD). Xion is also intorduced around this time. After that's over, you choose your own missions by talking to Saix. |See, here's a funny thing about this game - Saix runs EVERYTHING. Xemnas is hardly EVER shown. But there's a bit of a 'flaw', as some people may call it - 'minor' members (like Demyx, the CoM members, etc.) aren't given much development. It's mostly between Roxas, Xion, Axel, and Saix (though Xigbar gets some interesting moments).| Soon after (around Day 20-something), the CoM members leave. A few days later, it's said that the members at CO have been eliminated - Roxas gets 'sad' because he thinks Axel is included in this. Roxas becomes friends with Xion. The dark beach scene from the beginning of KHII has been extended a bit.
Yadda yadda, skip a few days, Axel comes back (I was waiting on Roxas to glomp him or something). Roxas, Axel and Xion eventually become friends (this game really makes use of the 'tomodachi' ('friend') and 'shin'yuu' (no direct English equivalent; 'really close friend') thing).
Eventually day 149 rolls around. |Xion starts acting a bit weird, and gets flashbacks to being defeated by someone. At the end of day 150, we see an FMV of an Org-cloaked man standing on(?) the roof of Beast's Castle. After doing some weird hand-gesture thing, he begins having flashbacks to the same scene Xion was. He looks at his hand, and from the way he's acting, it almost seems like he's trying to believe he did what he did. He then dehoods, and - did you guess? - it's blindfolded Riku, making his first appearance. (That's something that kinda dissappointed me with this game - three months after CoM, and he already looks like he did in KHII; hair and all. Square being lazy? XP) After the mission of day 151, Xion has a complete flashback to her battle with Riku at BC. Once again, if you've seen the trailers, you've seen this.|
And... more stuff happens. Like I said, my memory's already getting fuzzy; not to mention I couldn't understand everything being said. The only way I know some of the 'plot points' is by reading GameFAQs boards. o.o; (I assure you, I am NOT lying to you - I do have the game. I'll give picture-proof if you like.) A lot of it is interaction between Roxas, Axel and Xion.
************************TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW**************************