Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep...finished!!

Taking care of a newborn is exhaustive work, and requires plenty of time spent at home to tend to the child's every need.  That being said, when Alexa's sound asleep, it's daddy's time to play!  And play he did...clocking close to 60 hours, the PSP game Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is now complete!

Unlike Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, this version is more canon throughout the game, referencing key points in the Kingdom Hearts universe.  I want to think that finally...finally...all loopholes have been covered.  Another thing that was missing from the DS game was any hope of a secret movie to unlock in the end.  Much like the other games before it, it's either unlocked by completing your collection list in Standard Mode (which is very challenging and difficult, despite my best efforts), or by merely completing the game in Proud Mode or higher (which is why I'm playing the game once more).  However, this game is more unique in its playthroughs.

You see, there are 3 main characters in this game, and you can only play with one character at any one time.  Their timelines intertwine like a braid, with characters crossing paths every once in a while, but the focus is always on your selected character at the time.  What does this mean?  This means you'll need to finish the game 3 separate times (each with a different character) to get a full understanding of the entire story.  And to tie it up in a nice bow, a final episode is unlocked after those 3 separate completions.

For anyone that's considering to get up to speed on the whole Kingdom Hearts universe, you'd do yourself a favor and play this game.  In fact, I'd say almost half of the content from the preview trailer for the upcoming 3DS game Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance (Oh...3"D"...really?) is in direct reference to the story in Birth by Sleep.  I know it's probably a lot to take in, but given the large span of time between games, it's probably worth spending it playing the games to catch up.