So on a whim the other night, I bought the PS4 bundle that had almost every single Kingdom Hearts game in HD besides like 358/2 Days that was just cutscenes (I think there's another game like this, maybe re:coded?) I had bought into the hype of Kingdom Hearts III but also knew the games were dreadfully convoluted from my very limited experiences playing them.
And now I'm here, to tell you about my experiences as I play most of these games for the first time. That's right! Besides playing maybe half of the first game when I was 12 when it first came out and a little bit of Chain of Memories on the GBA, I've never played a Kingdom Hearts game. I don't really remember a lot about the series and have had little exposure to what's in store for me.
KINGDOM HEARTS (2002)
I'm currently about 9 hours in the first Kingdom Hearts -- I've made it to Ursula in Atlantica, but I'm having trouble and have been told that I probably should try to beat Halloween land first and to get a better key there to take on Ursula. Atlantica as a level has been more than a frustrating experience, so I'm happy to let it go so I can try something else for a bit and maybe grind.
But on the whole, it's fascinating the ways the game does and doesn't hold up. The battle system is very fun -- a good mix of button mashing and fast paced aerial attacks, though there are small design decisions here and there that continue to frustrate when it comes to battling, especially the consistent respwaning. This would be fine if the game was any better at telling you where to go, but one of the biggest flaws of the game is that getting you from point A to point B is needlessly obtuse, and it's often a bunch of wandering until I hit the next cutscene.
This is probably my biggest criticism of the game outside of the Gummi Ship (which I find almost unplayable because I can't invert the controls) -- the game is really bad at telling you where to go next, and I think I've taken for granted a lot of modern systems that point you in the right direction if you want to go there. It's also stunning how small every room is -- there's zero sense of scope, which I don't blame the game for, but it's probably something about the game that doesn't hold up because there are grander ambitions that what the PS2 could handle.
The game is beautiful in HD, though some parts are hilarious (Wonderland is just walls with 2D leaf textures painted on the side that are charming).
The story is probably the thing about Kingdom Hearts that gets discussed as much as the gameplay, but so far, it's... simple? Sora's mission does seem to get lost a bit every time you go to a new world, and the idea of "don't meddle!" seems to be haphazardly employed depending on the plot. But so far, it's fine. I get that there's going to be a lot more to it because I've seen the infamous Sora Chart, but it's quite funny how I feel like I'm decently far in the game and how unbelievable simple the game has been to follow. I will say: the Final Fantasy characters really feel tacked on. It's less Disney x Final Fantasy than Original Story x Disney plus some FF cameos. The fact they call Squall by half of his last name is weird, and for seemingly no reason? Did they call him Leon in FF8 and I just forgot that?
Anyways, Ursula (second form) is terrible but I'm going to try the Halloween town to level up and hopefully be able to beat her after.
And now I'm here, to tell you about my experiences as I play most of these games for the first time. That's right! Besides playing maybe half of the first game when I was 12 when it first came out and a little bit of Chain of Memories on the GBA, I've never played a Kingdom Hearts game. I don't really remember a lot about the series and have had little exposure to what's in store for me.
KINGDOM HEARTS (2002)
I'm currently about 9 hours in the first Kingdom Hearts -- I've made it to Ursula in Atlantica, but I'm having trouble and have been told that I probably should try to beat Halloween land first and to get a better key there to take on Ursula. Atlantica as a level has been more than a frustrating experience, so I'm happy to let it go so I can try something else for a bit and maybe grind.
But on the whole, it's fascinating the ways the game does and doesn't hold up. The battle system is very fun -- a good mix of button mashing and fast paced aerial attacks, though there are small design decisions here and there that continue to frustrate when it comes to battling, especially the consistent respwaning. This would be fine if the game was any better at telling you where to go, but one of the biggest flaws of the game is that getting you from point A to point B is needlessly obtuse, and it's often a bunch of wandering until I hit the next cutscene.
This is probably my biggest criticism of the game outside of the Gummi Ship (which I find almost unplayable because I can't invert the controls) -- the game is really bad at telling you where to go next, and I think I've taken for granted a lot of modern systems that point you in the right direction if you want to go there. It's also stunning how small every room is -- there's zero sense of scope, which I don't blame the game for, but it's probably something about the game that doesn't hold up because there are grander ambitions that what the PS2 could handle.
The game is beautiful in HD, though some parts are hilarious (Wonderland is just walls with 2D leaf textures painted on the side that are charming).
The story is probably the thing about Kingdom Hearts that gets discussed as much as the gameplay, but so far, it's... simple? Sora's mission does seem to get lost a bit every time you go to a new world, and the idea of "don't meddle!" seems to be haphazardly employed depending on the plot. But so far, it's fine. I get that there's going to be a lot more to it because I've seen the infamous Sora Chart, but it's quite funny how I feel like I'm decently far in the game and how unbelievable simple the game has been to follow. I will say: the Final Fantasy characters really feel tacked on. It's less Disney x Final Fantasy than Original Story x Disney plus some FF cameos. The fact they call Squall by half of his last name is weird, and for seemingly no reason? Did they call him Leon in FF8 and I just forgot that?
Anyways, Ursula (second form) is terrible but I'm going to try the Halloween town to level up and hopefully be able to beat her after.
