
KINGDOM HEARTS CHAIN OF MEMOIRES UPDATE
An April 2020 story update only poured more fuel to the fire on this theory, given Strelitzia's appearance in a white coat bearing more than a passing resemblance to the spectre, as well as her suspiciously specific dialogue throughout the cutscene. Many fans have latched onto the theory that the spectre is actually Strelitzia, based on the figure's uncanny resemblance to her and the fact that Marluxia's scythe is based on an actual strelitiza.
Epileptic Trees: Union X retroactively created one of these concerning the Final Boss of Re:Chain of Memories, which takes place on the back of a giant "ship", with a feminine specter holding Marluxia's scythe as the centerpiece of the arena. This, combined with the fact that players who dive straight into Kingdom Hearts II will be very confused as to why Sora isn't immediately playable, makes many argue that Chain of Memories' story is at least worth sitting through. Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game: While the gameplay itself is contested, the actual story of Chain of Memories is rather interesting with its growing mystery, Sora's All-Loving Hero status being seriously tested at points and introducing several members of Organization XIII that would go on to become highly popular characters. You can literally just walk through the final dungeon to the Final Boss without fighting a single Heartless. Disappointing Last Level: The final Floor in Riku's story is exactly three rooms long. Riku gets the Lexaeus Card in the final level for a reason. Every battle with one usually involves their stupid spinning attack that hits you 95% of the time and does a buttload of damage, and they usually spam 7s and 8s everywhere. Of course, Kingdom Hearts II couldn't get away with doing this, so the intended solution of just making the whole world a collection of musical minigames ended up being equally divisive. Instead, the developers didn't bother to modify the gameplay at all, instead leaning into the game's premise-if this is all an illusion anyway, why not just allow the party to move and breathe as if they weren't underwater at all? This made the gameplay consistent with the rest of the game, and this wasn't changed in the remake. Obviously it would be impractical at best to do the same thing on the GBA-there simply aren't enough buttons for it, and only a few games were brave enough to attempt 3D environments on the system. Not only was it extremely clunky most of Sora's special attacks and summons are simply unavailable instead of being adapted to his merman body.
Author's Saving Throw: Atlantica was despised by a lot of players in the first game due to Sora's poorly-executed underwater movement.He doesn't have access to any Sleights (which makes it very easy to Card Break him) and his attacks, while damaging, are fairly predictable.
Anti-Climax Boss: Marluxia's second form is surprisingly easy and simplistic considering that it's the Final Boss in the GBA version.