Kingdom hearts series.
- Thread starter WolfLight
- Start date
Judge Spear
Well-Known Member
My favorite is Kingdom Hearts 3 as it's the only one I like at all.
But I like it a shockingly great deal. I thought the gameplay was outstanding. Exploring, beating the shit out of things, most bosses, the options available, and of course the gummi ship stuff.
But I like it a shockingly great deal. I thought the gameplay was outstanding. Exploring, beating the shit out of things, most bosses, the options available, and of course the gummi ship stuff.
Starbeak
Born in Space, endlessly exploring star-systems
The first one for sure. Sure some of the control were a bit stiff in my opinion (Controls were much more fluid and better in 3)… But the storyline was intriguing even though it's predecessors scattered about the storylines in a bunch of different sub-games.
Overall 1 2 and 3 were my favs. My main gripe with 2 is the boss battle and more stiff controls. I didn't like the controls of how you beat the boss.
3 Felt a bit shorter (I beat it in 4 months where others took a bit longer), but 1 2 3 were my favs because of the concept and gameplay and storyline.
Sure the KH storyline is a bit convoluted at times but I had fun playing through and trying to piece together what I felt happened in the entire series. I feel much more can be done with the series, and I am confuzzled as to why no anime or TV Series is talked about for KH.
Chain of Memories is also pretty interesting. I know many people hate it, but I find the card system a bit interesting. (=
My opinion anyway.
Overall 1 2 and 3 were my favs. My main gripe with 2 is the boss battle and more stiff controls. I didn't like the controls of how you beat the boss.
3 Felt a bit shorter (I beat it in 4 months where others took a bit longer), but 1 2 3 were my favs because of the concept and gameplay and storyline.
Sure the KH storyline is a bit convoluted at times but I had fun playing through and trying to piece together what I felt happened in the entire series. I feel much more can be done with the series, and I am confuzzled as to why no anime or TV Series is talked about for KH.
Chain of Memories is also pretty interesting. I know many people hate it, but I find the card system a bit interesting. (=
My opinion anyway.
Mikazuki Marazhu
I hate you all
The game's story is so confusing it makes me want to hang myself atop the disney castle
Judge Spear
Well-Known Member
I find the characters invariably insufferable so I just skip the cutscenes and play the game. Cuts a shitload of fat off for me and I can just...focus.
Meta_Tiara
Well-Known Member
The games I played are 1, GBA CoM, 2, re:coded, and 3. Haven’t played the Final Mix version of 2, and thus not the highest difficulties, so I can‘t comment that much on the combat system whether it’s as good as everyone says it is. The level design of that game though, I really didn’t like it as much as 1 or 3 as exploration wasnt as good. Both versions of CoM have an interesting card-based battle system not seen elsewhere, and the original has lovely pixel art. Haven’t played any other KH games with the command deck system, but I had a lot of fun with re:coded. Heard that the other command deck games (BBS and 3D) aren’t as good gameplaywise nor are the actions as well balanced, so I’m in no rush to play them.
My favorite would be different depending on what aspect we’re focusing on.
Visuals: GBA CoM, because it’s 2D graphics are ageless and pleasing to look at.
Story: 1 and CoM because that was before the story became so much more convoluted. Even though the latter pretty much started that trend, I still enjoyed the plot.
Music: Dunno. All the games have really nice soundtracks.
Combat: I haven’t played 2 Final Mix, so I’m not confident about assessing that. In terms of mobility, I really like 3. As for customization, Sora’s story in CoM and re:coded offer a lot of options for your arsenal.
Level Design: 1 and 3 for their emphasis on exploration, but more so 1 for being more consistent in that regard. In 1, I like how learning new trinites encourages reexploring old worlds. My favorite worlds in 3 are giant sandboxes where just roaming around is super enjoyable, but a good chunk of worlds are linear, with Monster’s Inc being the worst offender. Still, even most of the more linear worlds have multiple branching routes to get through them, so it’s not as bad as it sounds.
Worlds: 2 and 3. Most of the returning worlds in those games have some interesting differences such as the Hercules world focusing on different areas to keep them fresh, and the new ones are neat as well.
Overall: 1, re:coded, and 3
My favorite would be different depending on what aspect we’re focusing on.
Visuals: GBA CoM, because it’s 2D graphics are ageless and pleasing to look at.
Story: 1 and CoM because that was before the story became so much more convoluted. Even though the latter pretty much started that trend, I still enjoyed the plot.
Music: Dunno. All the games have really nice soundtracks.
Combat: I haven’t played 2 Final Mix, so I’m not confident about assessing that. In terms of mobility, I really like 3. As for customization, Sora’s story in CoM and re:coded offer a lot of options for your arsenal.
Level Design: 1 and 3 for their emphasis on exploration, but more so 1 for being more consistent in that regard. In 1, I like how learning new trinites encourages reexploring old worlds. My favorite worlds in 3 are giant sandboxes where just roaming around is super enjoyable, but a good chunk of worlds are linear, with Monster’s Inc being the worst offender. Still, even most of the more linear worlds have multiple branching routes to get through them, so it’s not as bad as it sounds.
Worlds: 2 and 3. Most of the returning worlds in those games have some interesting differences such as the Hercules world focusing on different areas to keep them fresh, and the new ones are neat as well.
Overall: 1, re:coded, and 3
Judge Spear
Well-Known Member
Seeing this in a new game still makes me a bit giddy. They remember...
I tried to get into kingdom hearts. I tried. I really did. I just can't. I have no idea what it is about the game that I find so repellant.
Judge Spear
Well-Known Member
Honestly, this was me for nearly it's 2 decade run. Like I went through massive chunks of all of them.
Kingdom Hearts 1, I find outright terrible. Felt like I was wading through a murky swamp with cinder blocks for shoes.
2 was a little better, but when I wasn't doing Gummi ship stuff, I still didn't want to be bothered with the game.
CoM? No (Especially when I have Battle Network)
358 Days? Hell no.
Recoded? FUCK no.
Dream Drop Distance? ...Almost. Seriously almost.
Kingdom Hearts 3YEEEEAAAAH BOOOIII!!!! O{}O
It literally wasn't until 3 where the series was refined enough to my taste that I could just enjoy the game. The others are soooo clunky, claustrophobic, slow as fuck, and hideous with the most god awful levels and obnoxious goddamn enemies.
3 is far from perfect, but it just cleaned up a massive deal of the slop and mechanical gunk I hated these games for over the last 18 years.
SpicyMagiCath
New Member
As many flaws as there are with the franchise as a whole(which were sooo much more painful apparent replaying as an adult), the first game will always be my favorite. It was clunky and strange and bad in so many places, but it was my whole childhood and I love it.
Stratelier
Well-Known Member
I still remember playing Kingdom Hearts back in the day. The Gummi ship traversal levels quickly became repetitive (somewhat addressed in the Final Mix re-release), I didn't entirely like the choice of worlds, or how limited some of them felt, and the Final Fantasy cameos were just that -- cameos (and why did Cloud have to wrap up his sword again?); but the combat system itself was very fun (and that battle against Dragon Maleficent near the end was legendary). The soundtrack had some truly epic pieces to match some hard-hitting moments late in, so overall it was a great experience.
After that, unfortunately, the series kind of went downhill structurally. Sure you can jump straight in to Kingdom Hearts 2 but from a story perspective it feels like you are missing a chunk of what happened between installments (aka Chain of Memories). I remember playing Chain of Memories on the GBA, it certainly was a different take but it didn't succeed on all fronts. In particular, the card-based battle system was a little broken once you realize that a zero card can counter ("card break") literally ANYTHING if it's played second, i.e. stuff your deck with these cards and you can become literally undefeatable (and on multiple occasions I slowly sleighted out all the non-zero cards in my deck specifically for this strategy).
Kingdom Hearts 2, however, was absolutely a quantum leap over the original -- exactly what you'd want. Better combat, more features, more interesting worlds (Lion King's Pridelands is a favorite for literally turning your team into Lion King-styled animals), though not all of them were winners (Atlantis being reduced to a too-simple musical minigame was ... cringe). The triangle-button contextual battle commands were a welcome addition (And I loved the unexpected aerial fighting during the game's actual final boss fight), however I wish there were more of them with more of a risk element -- the Samurai nobody, for example, when you engage the Triangle button you have to wait for an option on your battle menu to appear, scroll to it and then click it to win, because if you don't then you lose. (In virtually all other cases the Triangle prompt only ever yields a positive outcome.)
And then there's Kingdom Hearts 3, a project so long in the works it skipped an entire generation of systems and which I haven't played, on account of not having the platform to run it on.
In some ways, the lore and backstory of the series is just too complicated for its own good (a problem starting right after KH1) and the main numbered installments start feeling like feature movies based on a television serial.
After that, unfortunately, the series kind of went downhill structurally. Sure you can jump straight in to Kingdom Hearts 2 but from a story perspective it feels like you are missing a chunk of what happened between installments (aka Chain of Memories). I remember playing Chain of Memories on the GBA, it certainly was a different take but it didn't succeed on all fronts. In particular, the card-based battle system was a little broken once you realize that a zero card can counter ("card break") literally ANYTHING if it's played second, i.e. stuff your deck with these cards and you can become literally undefeatable (and on multiple occasions I slowly sleighted out all the non-zero cards in my deck specifically for this strategy).
Kingdom Hearts 2, however, was absolutely a quantum leap over the original -- exactly what you'd want. Better combat, more features, more interesting worlds (Lion King's Pridelands is a favorite for literally turning your team into Lion King-styled animals), though not all of them were winners (Atlantis being reduced to a too-simple musical minigame was ... cringe). The triangle-button contextual battle commands were a welcome addition (And I loved the unexpected aerial fighting during the game's actual final boss fight), however I wish there were more of them with more of a risk element -- the Samurai nobody, for example, when you engage the Triangle button you have to wait for an option on your battle menu to appear, scroll to it and then click it to win, because if you don't then you lose. (In virtually all other cases the Triangle prompt only ever yields a positive outcome.)
And then there's Kingdom Hearts 3, a project so long in the works it skipped an entire generation of systems and which I haven't played, on account of not having the platform to run it on.
In some ways, the lore and backstory of the series is just too complicated for its own good (a problem starting right after KH1) and the main numbered installments start feeling like feature movies based on a television serial.