| Kingdom Hearts: Sinister | |
| |
| キングダムハーツ: 不吉な Kingudamu Hātsu: Fukitsuna | |
| Developer(s) | Xelak |
| Genre | Alternate Timeline |
| Game Modes | Single-Player |
Reverse and reverse again...can darkness become light?
- - Tagline
Kingdom Hearts: Sinister is a tale of the redemption of the heart and of an alternate Keyblade line. Taking place roughly 10 years after Kingdom Hearts II, it hosts a cast of new characters and a plethora of new skills. The game was developed under complete secrecy by Xelak and Saule Media, and was released along with an accompany manga, which unfortunately didn't do as well sales-wise as the game. Taking a cue from the original Kingdom Hearts, as well as Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Sinister disregards Drive Forms, as well as conventional weapon upgrades and special attacks, introducing several new features to the gameplay. However, it does include world travel, but opts out of Gummi Ship use.
Background
Kingdom Hearts: Sinister begins at the end of a rather costly Civil War that has left landscapes devastated, cities flattened, and millions dead, missing, or injured. Terra Nox, the beginning world, has one massive continent on it, separated into two halves by a comparatively thin strait that divides it equally into north ans south. The South, a confederation of many different states united under a republican government, is the more conservative, peaceful, and overall more rational and intelligent side. The North, however - a similar set of states, but instead controlled by an iron-fisted tyrant - has the advantage of numbers in their army, and their culture places emphasis on fighting and the virtues of war: revenge, looting and pillaging, and ruthlessness. Needless to say, despite their greivous losses, the North was on the winning side of this war. As resentments boil in the South and chaos slowly organizes itself into slightly more controlled chaos in the North, an unknown plague strikes in both countries, emptying entire villages almost instantly and costing the countries much more than they now can afford. The main character. Kleatus Synestyr, is a captain in the North's army and has organized a loose company of soldiers to return home. However, even he cannot stop the "plague" from spreading - nor can he prevent himself from slipping closer to darkness...
Characters
Kleatus Synestyr
Our hero of the story. Although he serves in the Black Army, and often agrees to everything those in command say and do, lately because of the decimation, mayhem, and violence of the Civil War, he has begun to realize the difference between morality and desire, which essentially for him could spell out the path to good - or to evil. The son of a former lord of the Northern Kingdoms, one of the governors of the provinces, his family was framed for a traitorous act and demoted into oblivion and obscurity. To counteract this and fulfill his father's dying wish to redeem the family, Kleatus joined the Black Army and dedicated himself to rising to the rank of General - a leader of one of the 5 armies of the north - or one of the 50 commanders, second in rank to the 5 generals. This dedication has become a sort of existence for him, and his whole life has been adapted to realizong this dream, while finding the perpitrator of the framing and take revenge on him. When the blight comes to the North, he is one of the rallying points for the remnants of the Black Army.
Rafael Ilyich III
Synestyr's best friend, a commander in the Black Army and the son of a minor lord, now inherit to the title as his father pines away for loss of his ex-wife, who illegally immigrated to the South but was killed in the war. He, too, is a rally point for his men, and is a courageous leader of his soldiers. Unlike the protagonist, though, he has no qualms about what he does in battle, and has seen his best friend go from being next in line for a big promotion to being under hard scrutiny. It is known that his grandfather was deeply jealous of Synestyr's family, because they (the family) were one of the leading noble families, but despite this he has made every attempt to be kind to our hero.
Abraham Kasslegard
The main antagonist of Sinister, this army commander is Synestyr's main opponent in the Black Army, and is the reason he is under harsh scrutiny for his actions. Kasslegard holds a deep hatred of Synestyr, believing him to be a hopeless upstart who doesn't know his place, and makes every attempt to let him know as such. During the ending weeks of the war, Abraham was said to be seen wielding a mysterious power in battle - the forbidden power of darkness.
Claudius the Chosen
Abyline
A mysterious young girl who suddenly attacks Kleatus in the North Forests. Not much is known about her besides the fact that she, like Kleatus, can wield a Keyblade.
Story
Gameplay
Although Kingdom Hearts: Sinister is a completely new game, the controls function very similar to the Birth By Sleep controls. Shotlocks are also utilized, as well as the Command Deck, although with some minor alterations. For the most part, the Health Bar remains the same; however, in place of the D-Link gauge there is a new gauge called the Release Gauge. This gauge fills when the player's character recieves damage, uses a unique attack, or strikes an enemy, and once full allows the use of the character's Keyblade Release Form, a powerful new Drive Form-esque status that powers the character up.
Shotlocks and the Command Deck
Kingdom Hearts: Sinister uses the same basic Shotlock style that Birth By Sleep does: hold down the L and R buttons (or, on Playstation and XBox releases, L1 and R1) and a target reticule appears. Move the reticule over enemies to lock on to them, and then press X while in this mode to launch the Shotlock. Only one Shotlock is allowed to be equipped; however, the Shotlock can be changed by obtaining new ones.
In Sinister, Shotlocks level up a different way. Instead of automatically recieving experience for defeating enemies, the Shotlock in Kingdom Hearts: Sinister is like a Kingdom Hearts II Drive Form in that it only gains experience from enemies it defeats.
The Command Deck is basically the same thing in Sinister; however, instead of only starting with three slots you get six, a number which never changes throughout the game, except with certain equippable abilities, such as through Keyblades or Accessories. Speaking of which...
Arms
In Kingdom Hearts: Sinister, an entirely new way of attaching Keychains, power-ups, and armor to your character is through the use of the Arms system. Each Arms you can equip falls under two categories: Weapon or Armor. Each Weapon (in this case, a Keyblade) has a certain, unique number of Arms slots which you can equip attack, guard, or magic boosters to to increase the Keyblade's performance. Each set of Armor (Kleatus' uniform) also functions the same way. For example, Kleatus' beginning Captain's Uniform only has three Arms slots, while the Skeleton Commander's Mail he recieves in Halloween Town has five.
See Arms for more detail.
Release Form
Another completely new feature in Kingdom Hearts: Sinister is the feature of a neo-Drive Form, called a Release. Each Keyblade Wielder has his or her own unique Release Form (it is not dependant on the Keychain, since technically it is the same Keyblade, just in different form), which he or she can use to power up attack, defense, speed, and magical ability. However, as the Release Form is used the Release Gauge drains, and once empty it must be filled again. Reversion from the Released state can be done at any time; however, the Release command (which appears in the Command Deck, even if it has a full six) only appears if the gauge is full. Characters do not "stumble" if hit by attacks in Release Form, unlike Command Styles, D-Links, or Drive Forms.
Confirmed Worlds
Bathory (The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, 2007)
Neo Domino City (Yu-Gi-Oh! AP: Neo Domino City, 2007)
New York (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, 2005)
London (The Bartimeaus Trilogy, 2003)
Halloween Town (The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993)
Space Paranoids (Tron Legacy, 2010)
Fowl Manor (Artemis Fowl, 2001)
Port Royal (Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest, 2006)
Midcyru (The Night Angel Trilogy, 2008)
Keyblades in Kingdom Hearts: Sinister
See Keyblade (KHS).