Interesting reasons for not liking it. I'm not saying you're wrong and I'm right, since opinion is just that: opinion, and everyone's entitled to their own. But I have to disagree personally.
Bosses: I didn't have the problem of dying very quickly on them, other than playing on the highest difficulty level, Critical. And I only played on the two highest. I didn't find fighting them any more frustrating or challenging than other Kingdom Hearts games.
Loading times: It's annoying that it takes a few seconds to load each area. But I didn't experience delays with my finisher move.
Command board: It's totally optional, so I ignored its existence during my first playthrough. Later, I began to actually find it kinda fun. Out of place? I see it as no different than the mini-games in Winnie the Pooh's world (previous KH games) or Disney Town. And those are actually required.
There's a reason that they stuck the Command Board in there: it's actually a version of the classic Itadaki Street series. Square Enix likely stuck it in there because it's been proven to be extremely popular to play, plus it worked in their favor because a full game is being released now for the Wii (Fortune Street).
Long live Cinematech. FC:0259-0435-4987
Wait you're complaining that the Squishy Wizard being fragile?
Wait you're complaining that the Squishy Wizard being fragile?
The secret to enjoying this game is to install it fully to reduce load times. Then, when you get to the first world, spend a few dull hours Level Grinding to Level Ten. Afterwards, everything will be incredibly fun.
"Oh great! Let's pile up all the useless cats and hope a tree falls on them!"
I did install it fully on my PSP, I'm still having annoying load times.
I know the Command Board is more of a YMMV thing; while it isn't bad, per se, it just seems kind of weird that there's a Monopoly style minigame that lets you boost your skills. I know it's optional, but I just found it to be kind of time consuming and distracting from the main plot and gameplay.
I admit that this review was born after beating the Armor boss in Mickey's world after 35 or so attempts, only to then lose to Vanitas 20 times. I know that Aqua is a Squishy Wizard, but there's normal squishy, and then there's "lose your entire health bar in half a second after being hit by an attack you couldn't see thanks to the limited camera angles" squishy. I would have liked to phrase some of the review better, but I reached the character limit >.>
I liked the Command Board....
by Bonsai Forest's comment sounds more like you are just not very good at the game.
I know it's optional, but I just found it to be kind of time consuming and distracting from the main plot and gameplay.
that actually puzzled me quite a lot, how can it be distracting from the main plot and gameplay when it's optional.
Eh, I disagree with the whole "story is deep" thing. I never noticed any morals from the entire series that aren't cheesy or impractical in real life. I do agree with the points about the gameplay, though.
Since when does morals = deep story?
Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.
On what difficulty are you playing? I never died to any non-bonus bosses more than once (and that only rarely) on Proud. And I'm afraid I don't understand how you think a completely optional mechanic is detrimental to the game's overall quality.
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A Solid Core Riddled with Crippling Flaws
Birth By Sleep has some great concepts and an intriguing story that are both unfortunately rendered nearly unplayable by several glaring flaws. Let's get those flaws out of the way first:
Fake Difficulty: My biggest gripe with the game. The bosses of this game shouldn't be that hard; they all have fairly straightforward mechanics that any player can figure out after two or three trials. Unfortunately, the designers seemed to think that it would be fun if characters died in 2-3 hits. Aqua was my first character, and she literally randomly died in a time frame of less than 2 seconds on every boss fight; a lot of this damage is unavoidable, given the fact that bosses tend to be so big that you can't fully see them even when you have them targeted. You can block attacks with square- except when you arbitrarily can't, something you figure out only with trial and error. Even the blockable attacks can feel impossible to block due to the lag; you press square and you still die because your shield didn't activate yet. Bosses are extremely frustrating when in all honesty, they'd be average on a console. Even the average mook can and will kill you in 2 hits, and with Cure on a long cooldown, be prepared to die often.
Loading Times: Frankly, the PSP is a bad system. Even with all data downloaded, it still takes a few seconds to load while you activate a Finisher mode. This completely kills any fluidity in a fight.
The Command Board: To be honest, this idea is completely silly and out of place. It's a Monopoly style game that you use to level up your commands and get new commands. It's not mandatory, but it does net you some nice commands to use. Unfortunately, it's time consuming and completely out of place with the rest of the game.
Despite these flaws, Birth By Sleep is a solid game. The Command Deck is an interesting way of getting and building your abilities, and the three parallel stories are a new and refreshing narrative. The story is just as deep as other Kingdom Hearts games, and it's nice finally getting to visit some previously unseen worlds, such as Snow White, Cinderella, Lilo and Stitch, and Sleeping Beauty. Unfortunately, these features won't make you feel better when you snap your PSP in half in frustration after your 30th death.
All in all, it's a great game overshadowed by a few crippling flaws that ruin the experience.