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You'll do this as a means to cover more ground, since both characters are always in different parts of the world with their own questlines it's reminiscent of Birth By Sleep since you don't have to wait for checkpoints to swap characters. The game also throws in what it calls the Drop system, which gives you the ability to swap between Riku and Sora at any time. Both pet simulators and RPGs are long and involved, so mashing them together makes it feel too busy. The inclusion of Dream Eaters as fighting companions and a means to power up attacks is nice, but aside from adding more stuff to the lore for the sake of it, their inclusion can be rather tedious, since it requires frequently taking care of their needs. Meanwhile, the other non-3DS specific features are also divisive. It also doesn't help that the radius and distance the projectile can travel is inconsistent, so using it is something you'd do out of curiosity, not precision. The slingshot attack is also nice, but it isn't so easy to read where your projectile will land. The only flaw is that you do it way too often, as both Sora and Riku need to do the dives to the same world, so it can get pretty tedious. The dive minigame pops up when you traverse a new world, and even without the 3D effects in tow, it's still an enjoyable event. The Flowmotion system is generally good, but all of the other mechanics are pretty hit-and-miss, although the development team should be commended for porting over some of the features that played into the strengths of the 3DS. It's a good base to improve upon if the objective is to appeal to a more action-oriented audience. It works fine most of the time, but the camera's close distance to your protagonist means that there are inevitably times when you'll come off a big attack and be momentarily lost since either the camera is moving too fast or it couldn't keep up with your location. You can also swing off poles and grind on rails to go into a keyblade drill attack or put a greater distance between yourself and the crowd.
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Run into a large enemy, and you can swing around to throw the foe into another enemy. In lieu of that, you have something called Flowmotion, which grants mobility and some extra moves that build on the newfound mobility. The system from Birth By Sleep is ported over almost wholesale, minus the Shotlock ability. The series' combat has always felt like it has been building into something more stylized over time, and this title reinforces that. You'll still be hitting up Traverse Town, this time with characters from The World Ends With You in tow, and now you'll visit a few new sets, such as ones from "Fantasia," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and "Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers," and "Tron: Legacy," to name a few. Then again, part of the appeal to the narrative is that they're now visiting a few new lands instead of revisiting every old place.
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If it weren't for the fact that some significant details are brought up, you might be compelled to gloss over this one. You can somewhat predict how the exam will go, and Xehanort's plans come off as a retread of past ideas. Compared to the other spin-offs, the story in Dream Drop Distance HD seems predictable.
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