For pacing, go for each game on Beginner. The only game where the higher difficulties make the game more interesting is KH2, for the rest of them it just makes the games more grindy.
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LTTP- Kingdom Hearts All-In-One- OP Finished Thru KHIII!
- Thread starter NattyBo
- Start date
There's no required grinding in any of these games on any difficulty. Crit mode makes the combat in KH3 just as interesting as KH2.
Yep, I second this. People only grind because they, ironically, lack patience. If you see dying on a tough boss as "I should learn the fight better" instead of "my character isn't strong enough", you can deal with anything no problem.
KH1 on Final Mix Proud is surprisingly quite a fun challenge, and holds up really well.
Also ironic is that, in order to get the secret endings and whatnot, lower difficulties are objectively more grindy.
OP
OP
Hahah, thank you. It's very close to my heart and was my favorite game for many years. <3
OP
OP
I didn't, it was my own gut feeling. I'm finding normal mode to be pretty easy anyway.
The secret movies are all redundant though, since they're merely previews of the sequels. There's no point unlocking them at all.
Yeah but they're all on YouTube. I say it's not worth it going through the hassle that is unlocking them. It really isn't.
Youtube makes them easy to watch if you didn't end up unlocking them naturally. They're super cool but I wouldn't encourage anyone to chase after them in-game.
Tbe only one I'd say is required unlocking is Birth by Sleep's but that has more to do with it being a pseudo unlock requirement for the Secret Episode more than anything.
100% dont bother unlocking them.
I dont agree that they are redundant at all. Especially KH1.
There is no CG like that scene in KH2 and it looks awesome.
Actually, the scene is replicated in real time rendering near the ending of kh2... All of those secret movies are replicated in the sequels.
OP
OP
I agree. Real time. The CG version blows it out of the water.
Welcome to KH1.
I wish you better luck than I had with them. Barely made it through KH1. Dropped the series at the card games, horrible horrible gameplay.
OP
OP
I'm taking an hour break for the evening to play the Witcher 3 again, this platforming is driving me nuts XD - more updates after I get off work tomorrow folks
I'll have you know that you can jump on the hippos to reach a vine that takes you to the vine that takes you to the room before the tree house. Makes things instantly easier. Good luck, the deep jungle is definitely the most confusing of the worlds
OP
OP
Not giving up at all just need to take a little break for the night. I'm still hooked. I'm glad something has it's claws into me for the holiday break. Just gotta make it through work tomorrow...blah
Yeah, that's only a KH1 problem. The games after that don't have a problem with you getting confused on where to go.
Basically you go to the tent, then back to the cabin at the top of the woods, then back to the tent, then back to the woods.
I'd argue it's the worst level in KH1
Fun fact, did you know all the enemies you're fighting are recolored?Wow who knew KH 1 inspired Dark Souls 3?
:D lol
Attempt to push the block with the yellow trinity and fail, then talk to Phil. It will progress the story
I feel like Phantom is the only sensible Final Mix recolor in the series
FM Stealth Sneak is a huge improvement over the original IMO. I'm also fond of the FM Hook Bats. Granted 3 (I also like Phantom too) FM recolors out of the entire series isn't a great ratio.
I forgot about Stealth Sneak, that one is good too.
Even if the Phantom recolor isn't to one's tastes, it objectively makes it a bit easier to track in its fight since it had a tendency to kinda blend in with the Neverland background otherwise.
Don't binge the games pls. Take your time. It's a decade+ worth of releases after all. Post-game is where these games really shine (KH1 and KH2). The story is dumb fun, but they're nothing without the excellent gameplay progression
Some of it actually saved for post-game, too! This seems to be more and more rare these days. As someone who loves exploring and doing optional content in games, "post-game" is almost always a disappointment to me, with the story framing it as WE'RE FREE TO EXPLORE THIS WORLD AND FIND WONDROUS THINGS NOW, and then there's fucking nothing for me to do or find.
My final note in the journey is "let's go do stuff!", and then wandering around for a few minutes, figuring out there's nothing and turning the game off. Really anticlimatic.
Doing the same although I did play the original back when it came out, I never played another after. I am on 2 now as I skipped CoM after about an hour of gameplay, that card system is some hot trash. 1 still held up in my opinion, 2 has been pretty awesome so far though.
I'll admit I haven't read anything past the OP yet, but I think I will. Just thought I'd post my recent experience and my support/condolences.
I hadn't played more than an hour of any KH game before this year. I already had most of the original versions of games, but decided to just download the collection on PS4 and follow the recommended order from some community thread here on Era.
Personal background
I play a lot of "old" games. I'm one of those people with a PVM (CRT) and modded consoles, so that isn't a problem.
I love RPGs (grew up on both Dragon Warrior & Fallout 2 back in the day), and I love character action (Ninja Gaiden Black & Bayonetta both stand as some of the most memorably fun games I've ever spent time with). I don't love Action RPGs. Ever since Secret of Mana, I generally find them to be unsatisfying, particularly in terms of gameplay. They generally seem to have enough action to make me want to play skillfully, but then I never get rewarded for it. It's always just better to be higher level / have better gear. Notable exceptions: Diablo series, Torchlight series (I'm ambivalent about loot, but love playing with both optimal and suboptimal builds and experimenting with skill trees) and of course Nier Automata and (so far) Astral Chain. I think I need to play more Ys.
I favor gameplay but enjoy even a simple story, as long as it's well executed. I don't mind a lot of crazy convolution either. I think Metal Gear is insane, but I'll happily check my brain and go along for the ride full of plot holes.
So between May-October, I embarked on what I would quickly realize was an epic tale of bromance(s):
KH1 (PS4) on Proud
I was struck by how much I didn't like the game. I didn't hate it, but I think years of being told how amazing the Disney treatments were did me a tremendous disservice.
Also, the combat was alright, better than I expected for an Action RPG of that vintage. But the camera, hit boxed on bosses, and invulnerability windows... it made what would have been a B+ experience absolutely painful at times. I should have focused more on magic.
Oh and the Gummi Ship is an affront to anyone who ever liked shooters. I remember people complaining about the Arwing levels in Star Fix Adventures... those are amazing in comparison.
Still I made it through. If nothing else, it was good prep for getting through the rest of the series.
Chain of Memories (GBA & PS4) on Proud
I tried to look up recommendations about which is better. Seems like close to a 50/50 split with more like an 80/20 saying just don't bother. I also had just finished modding an original GBA, and I wanted to try it out.
So I played both. Sora on PS4 first, then I had a work trip for two weeks, so I played Sora/Riku paths on GBA, then got back and ran through Riku's path on PS4 to wrap up.
I kind of felt KH1 was kind of too simple and dull and was worried is be in for an endless parade of that for the rest of this run, so the injection of weird lore insanity here was totally welcome. It's still mostly animu nonsense but it was at least interesting now.
The battle system is mostly maligned I think? I absolutely enjoyed it and the change of pace. I think it works better on GBA, but I still thought it was enjoyable in the Re:make. It's easy to figure out decks to make Sora/Riku way overpowered, but that was part of the fun.
I wasn't crazy about the redux in environments/levels. Again, good prep for the rest of the series.
KH2 (PS4) on Normal
At this point, I realized that there were secret movie teaser unlocks in pretty much every game. Getting that done in KH1 was kind of ridiculous, so even though I knew the combat/camera was supposed to be much improved here, I decided I had too many games to go through, so I'd try on Normal for this one. I think that may have been a mistake.
I was an active GAF member when KH2 originally released, so I was around for all the whining about the slow intro I had zero context for at the time. So, this opening sequence wasn't a surprise, and maybe for the better? I ended up really enjoying the change of pace, particularly after coming off the two previous games. The end of the sequence with
was finally the bit that got me a little misty eyed. In retrospect, it may be one of my favorite parts of the entire series.
While playing it I thought it was a much better game than KH1, but I also didn't adore it as much as others. I think this is about where I realized that I really didn't care for the Disney side of things all that much. They had quickly just become window dressing and things to get through. That being said, the treatments here were also a marked step up from KH1, and probably a high point for the series. The story was starting to get better, but I missed the weird convoluted-ness of Chain of Memories. I was so innocent then.
The combat was generally fun, if completely unchallenging. Again, I think I have my choice of Normal difficulty to blame here. I can see where things can get more interesting at higher levels. I got a taste of that as I had to get through pretty much all of the optional bosses/side content to unlock the bonus teaser movies this time around. Those parts were definitely the highlight even if they were often frustrating.
The Gummi Ship levels were at least interesting now. They quickly became nigh un-winnable unless you really just start jamming higher level components on your ship, and that part was just never interesting to me. I think there's a decent mini-game here, I just would rather it be purely skill based to get the high scores than so dependent on gear. But I suppose it's appropriate for the main game/genre this mini-game is in.
358/2 Days (DS) on Proud
I mostly played this on bus rides to/from work, with an occasional hour or so when I had time to kill at home. I think playing it in this format helped to sort of damp down the inherent monotony of the game.
The controls aren't great, but I got used to them. I really liked the level/gear/skills system quite a bit, and despite the repetitiveness, I thought the mission structure worked really well.
The fact that the structure was made part and parcel with the story was a really welcome touch too. The
was really well paced. It was all quite predictable, but as I mentioned earlier, I'm a sucker for a good execution of a story, and this might be my pick for the best execution in the entire series. I knew what was coming at the end of it all, and it was still the biggest gut punch in the entire series.
I can see why some people don't like the game. It's definitely full of flaws, but I think it's one of the most uniquely effective games in the series in how it leverages the game design, the story, and even the legacy of its predecessors all in one really coherent package. I certainly can't call it the best game in the series, but it might be the one that I remember most fondly.
I put the PS4 movie version of this on in the background while I worked from home one day. It just exacerbates all the flaws by completely ruining any sense of pacing and just highlighting the monotony. I can understand if people don't like the gameplay and can't stomach it. But you will completely eliminate any possibility of enjoying 358/2 Days at all, plot included, if you just go through the movie.
Birth by Sleep (PS4) on Proud
By now I was pretty well bought in to the batshit insanity of the ongoing story. This just cranked it up a whole new level. I now understand Xehanort. Once he was introduced at the beginning of this game, I immediately thought: There are so many better things I can do with my life. But I pressed on.
Change of pace with new characters was good. Acceptable combat with interesting level up/gear/skill mechanics was nice. I thought I'd be annoyed with having to play three times, but the plot was relatively short, and each character played so differently that it all went by much faster than I thought. Even including the Fragmentary Passage bonus endgame content which was legit surprising, and very well done. I spent way less time on this game than I did KH2, but I suppose I should have expected that with the Final Mix/boss rush stuff I went through.
I don't have much to say that isn't spoiler territory. It was just pretty enjoyable all the way through. Definitely one of the better overall games in the series in all aspects, even if it's not the best at any of them.
Weird memory that stuck with me: I really enjoyed spending an hour occasionally just absent-mindedly playing the board game minigame while listening to some podcasts.
Re:Coded (DS) on Proud
Same deal as 358/2 Days, all played on bus rides.
This was interesting? Combat has a lot of the same issues as 358/2 Days, and yet I had less trouble with it? I can't tell if it was actually marginally improved, or I had just gotten better at it.
Level up/gear/skill system was again a new interesting twist. In some ways, maybe the most engaging of the series? The yet-again retread of KH1 was actually not too bad from a gameplay standpoint, because each world introduced a new game mechanic. No single mechanic was ever great, but they never overstayed their welcome.
The only exception might have been the turn-based mechanics for the Colosseum. And that was one of my favorite parts in the initial run. It was just going through all 30 floors to get the final unlock that just became a pretty bad grind. Not even podcasts helped with that part. Likewise, the random dungeons were alright at first, but got pretty repetitive by the end.
The story adds some wrinkles and creates what you would think would be interesting implications in the greater plot, but since KH3 is the one game I haven't played yet, all I can say is that it hasn't paid off at all yet. And even if it did, I'm not sure I can recommend actually playing this at all instead of just reading a synopsis / watching the summary video in the collection. Going back to my earlier point about execution, I just don't think it's executed all that well. It's all very by the numbers once you understand the implications of the parallel "digital" world.
Actually, I think the general advice to just watch the final bonus cutscene and skip the rest is probably fair advice for 99% of people. It's at best an interesting game, but it never really becomes a good one.
Dream Drop Distance (PS4) on Proud
I have mixed feelings about the flowmotion combat. On the one hand, once I got the hang of things, it was a nice change of pace, and yet it almost always devolved into me abusing/cycling through my most powerful abilities. The most important skill seemed to be timing out the invulnerability windows for myself and for the enemies I was fighting. I always felt if I got that timing correct, I'd win every battle.
I suppose you could be just as reductionist for a lot of the combat in the series, but in comparison to KH2, or even BBS, I felt like I could be much more expressive about how I decided to engage battles on my own terms without being overly punished for it. Even still, I mostly enjoyed the combat/skill system.
This game also probably had my favorite levels in it. I felt like the Disney worlds were much more expansive and fleshed out this time. It finally felt more like what I initially imagined Kingdom Hearts to be. I realize KH2's levels were probably just as large, but overall I found myself wandering around a lot more in this one than I did in KH2. In retrospect, I think having the ability to zip around with flowmotion abilities helped a lot in this aspect too.
The story is just bonkers at this point. By this point, I can't tell if I'm beyond the rubicon of "do I actually enjoy this" or "well, I'm invested now". I will say that there were multiple genuine moments that I thought were fun/interesting. I'm just not sure how much of this will actually stick at this point in the way that I can think back on 358/2 Days really clearly, or even the intro to KH2. At this point it's all Xehanorts and the ongoing epic bromance of Sora/Riku, with a bit of a shoutout to the BBS crew.
X Back Cover
The movie for this one wasn't great by any measure, but it was much better than the movies for the DS games. I'll have more to say with X Union since it ties in directly.
0.2 Birth by Sleep on Proud
This was a nice little morsel of what's to come with KH3. Definitely made me look forward to it despite how understandably tired I was becoming of the series. I like Aqua as a character and the gameplay seemed nice. Not much more to say.
X Union
By this point, I think it's clear that I'm pretty well invested in this whole thing. I watched the KHinsider videos on Youtube. Again, mostly on bus rides. It's aggressively ok. It's an interesting back story for the whole series. I'm interested enough to keep watching as new videos pop up on my feed for now. I also won't be surprised if I forget for like a year to check them out again.
Final Thoughts
- I overall enjoyed this much more than I thought I would.
- I still don't like Nomura's aesthetic all that much. But it really works in this series. Surprisingly, even on the Disney characters. Zippers and belts and all.
- The story is pretty batshit, but also has it's genuinely pretty great moments.
- I kind of hate Sora as a character, and yet I think he's perfect for the series and his bromance with Riku has to be exactly like this for the overarching unrelentingly FRIENDS FOREVER message of the series to work.
- Maybe when I'm retired I'll go back and play KH2 on Proud or Critical. I think I missed something, but I am not replaying it any time this decade.
- Yes, I own KH3. I've just decided I really need a break at this point, and I might as well just wait for the DLC. A couple months removed now, I feel like I'll be ok once it releases. I am genuinely looking forward to it.
- I don't know if I can handle any more Kingdom Hearts after this. I heard there will be more post KH3. I just don't know. I'm getting too old for this.
- We are all Xehanort.
I hadn't played more than an hour of any KH game before this year. I already had most of the original versions of games, but decided to just download the collection on PS4 and follow the recommended order from some community thread here on Era.
Personal background
I play a lot of "old" games. I'm one of those people with a PVM (CRT) and modded consoles, so that isn't a problem.
I love RPGs (grew up on both Dragon Warrior & Fallout 2 back in the day), and I love character action (Ninja Gaiden Black & Bayonetta both stand as some of the most memorably fun games I've ever spent time with). I don't love Action RPGs. Ever since Secret of Mana, I generally find them to be unsatisfying, particularly in terms of gameplay. They generally seem to have enough action to make me want to play skillfully, but then I never get rewarded for it. It's always just better to be higher level / have better gear. Notable exceptions: Diablo series, Torchlight series (I'm ambivalent about loot, but love playing with both optimal and suboptimal builds and experimenting with skill trees) and of course Nier Automata and (so far) Astral Chain. I think I need to play more Ys.
I favor gameplay but enjoy even a simple story, as long as it's well executed. I don't mind a lot of crazy convolution either. I think Metal Gear is insane, but I'll happily check my brain and go along for the ride full of plot holes.
So between May-October, I embarked on what I would quickly realize was an epic tale of bromance(s):
KH1 (PS4) on Proud
I was struck by how much I didn't like the game. I didn't hate it, but I think years of being told how amazing the Disney treatments were did me a tremendous disservice.
Also, the combat was alright, better than I expected for an Action RPG of that vintage. But the camera, hit boxed on bosses, and invulnerability windows... it made what would have been a B+ experience absolutely painful at times. I should have focused more on magic.
Oh and the Gummi Ship is an affront to anyone who ever liked shooters. I remember people complaining about the Arwing levels in Star Fix Adventures... those are amazing in comparison.
Still I made it through. If nothing else, it was good prep for getting through the rest of the series.
Chain of Memories (GBA & PS4) on Proud
I tried to look up recommendations about which is better. Seems like close to a 50/50 split with more like an 80/20 saying just don't bother. I also had just finished modding an original GBA, and I wanted to try it out.
So I played both. Sora on PS4 first, then I had a work trip for two weeks, so I played Sora/Riku paths on GBA, then got back and ran through Riku's path on PS4 to wrap up.
I kind of felt KH1 was kind of too simple and dull and was worried is be in for an endless parade of that for the rest of this run, so the injection of weird lore insanity here was totally welcome. It's still mostly animu nonsense but it was at least interesting now.
The battle system is mostly maligned I think? I absolutely enjoyed it and the change of pace. I think it works better on GBA, but I still thought it was enjoyable in the Re:make. It's easy to figure out decks to make Sora/Riku way overpowered, but that was part of the fun.
I wasn't crazy about the redux in environments/levels. Again, good prep for the rest of the series.
KH2 (PS4) on Normal
At this point, I realized that there were secret movie teaser unlocks in pretty much every game. Getting that done in KH1 was kind of ridiculous, so even though I knew the combat/camera was supposed to be much improved here, I decided I had too many games to go through, so I'd try on Normal for this one. I think that may have been a mistake.
I was an active GAF member when KH2 originally released, so I was around for all the whining about the slow intro I had zero context for at the time. So, this opening sequence wasn't a surprise, and maybe for the better? I ended up really enjoying the change of pace, particularly after coming off the two previous games. The end of the sequence with
Sora saying goodbye to Roxas's friends at the train station
was finally the bit that got me a little misty eyed. In retrospect, it may be one of my favorite parts of the entire series.
While playing it I thought it was a much better game than KH1, but I also didn't adore it as much as others. I think this is about where I realized that I really didn't care for the Disney side of things all that much. They had quickly just become window dressing and things to get through. That being said, the treatments here were also a marked step up from KH1, and probably a high point for the series. The story was starting to get better, but I missed the weird convoluted-ness of Chain of Memories. I was so innocent then.
The combat was generally fun, if completely unchallenging. Again, I think I have my choice of Normal difficulty to blame here. I can see where things can get more interesting at higher levels. I got a taste of that as I had to get through pretty much all of the optional bosses/side content to unlock the bonus teaser movies this time around. Those parts were definitely the highlight even if they were often frustrating.
The Gummi Ship levels were at least interesting now. They quickly became nigh un-winnable unless you really just start jamming higher level components on your ship, and that part was just never interesting to me. I think there's a decent mini-game here, I just would rather it be purely skill based to get the high scores than so dependent on gear. But I suppose it's appropriate for the main game/genre this mini-game is in.
358/2 Days (DS) on Proud
I mostly played this on bus rides to/from work, with an occasional hour or so when I had time to kill at home. I think playing it in this format helped to sort of damp down the inherent monotony of the game.
The controls aren't great, but I got used to them. I really liked the level/gear/skills system quite a bit, and despite the repetitiveness, I thought the mission structure worked really well.
The fact that the structure was made part and parcel with the story was a really welcome touch too. The
growth of Roxas, (re-)introduction of Axel, the introduction and growth of Xion, and the friendship between all of them
was really well paced. It was all quite predictable, but as I mentioned earlier, I'm a sucker for a good execution of a story, and this might be my pick for the best execution in the entire series. I knew what was coming at the end of it all, and it was still the biggest gut punch in the entire series.
I can see why some people don't like the game. It's definitely full of flaws, but I think it's one of the most uniquely effective games in the series in how it leverages the game design, the story, and even the legacy of its predecessors all in one really coherent package. I certainly can't call it the best game in the series, but it might be the one that I remember most fondly.
I put the PS4 movie version of this on in the background while I worked from home one day. It just exacerbates all the flaws by completely ruining any sense of pacing and just highlighting the monotony. I can understand if people don't like the gameplay and can't stomach it. But you will completely eliminate any possibility of enjoying 358/2 Days at all, plot included, if you just go through the movie.
Birth by Sleep (PS4) on Proud
By now I was pretty well bought in to the batshit insanity of the ongoing story. This just cranked it up a whole new level. I now understand Xehanort. Once he was introduced at the beginning of this game, I immediately thought: There are so many better things I can do with my life. But I pressed on.
Change of pace with new characters was good. Acceptable combat with interesting level up/gear/skill mechanics was nice. I thought I'd be annoyed with having to play three times, but the plot was relatively short, and each character played so differently that it all went by much faster than I thought. Even including the Fragmentary Passage bonus endgame content which was legit surprising, and very well done. I spent way less time on this game than I did KH2, but I suppose I should have expected that with the Final Mix/boss rush stuff I went through.
I don't have much to say that isn't spoiler territory. It was just pretty enjoyable all the way through. Definitely one of the better overall games in the series in all aspects, even if it's not the best at any of them.
Weird memory that stuck with me: I really enjoyed spending an hour occasionally just absent-mindedly playing the board game minigame while listening to some podcasts.
Re:Coded (DS) on Proud
Same deal as 358/2 Days, all played on bus rides.
This was interesting? Combat has a lot of the same issues as 358/2 Days, and yet I had less trouble with it? I can't tell if it was actually marginally improved, or I had just gotten better at it.
Level up/gear/skill system was again a new interesting twist. In some ways, maybe the most engaging of the series? The yet-again retread of KH1 was actually not too bad from a gameplay standpoint, because each world introduced a new game mechanic. No single mechanic was ever great, but they never overstayed their welcome.
The only exception might have been the turn-based mechanics for the Colosseum. And that was one of my favorite parts in the initial run. It was just going through all 30 floors to get the final unlock that just became a pretty bad grind. Not even podcasts helped with that part. Likewise, the random dungeons were alright at first, but got pretty repetitive by the end.
The story adds some wrinkles and creates what you would think would be interesting implications in the greater plot, but since KH3 is the one game I haven't played yet, all I can say is that it hasn't paid off at all yet. And even if it did, I'm not sure I can recommend actually playing this at all instead of just reading a synopsis / watching the summary video in the collection. Going back to my earlier point about execution, I just don't think it's executed all that well. It's all very by the numbers once you understand the implications of the parallel "digital" world.
Actually, I think the general advice to just watch the final bonus cutscene and skip the rest is probably fair advice for 99% of people. It's at best an interesting game, but it never really becomes a good one.
Dream Drop Distance (PS4) on Proud
I have mixed feelings about the flowmotion combat. On the one hand, once I got the hang of things, it was a nice change of pace, and yet it almost always devolved into me abusing/cycling through my most powerful abilities. The most important skill seemed to be timing out the invulnerability windows for myself and for the enemies I was fighting. I always felt if I got that timing correct, I'd win every battle.
I suppose you could be just as reductionist for a lot of the combat in the series, but in comparison to KH2, or even BBS, I felt like I could be much more expressive about how I decided to engage battles on my own terms without being overly punished for it. Even still, I mostly enjoyed the combat/skill system.
This game also probably had my favorite levels in it. I felt like the Disney worlds were much more expansive and fleshed out this time. It finally felt more like what I initially imagined Kingdom Hearts to be. I realize KH2's levels were probably just as large, but overall I found myself wandering around a lot more in this one than I did in KH2. In retrospect, I think having the ability to zip around with flowmotion abilities helped a lot in this aspect too.
The story is just bonkers at this point. By this point, I can't tell if I'm beyond the rubicon of "do I actually enjoy this" or "well, I'm invested now". I will say that there were multiple genuine moments that I thought were fun/interesting. I'm just not sure how much of this will actually stick at this point in the way that I can think back on 358/2 Days really clearly, or even the intro to KH2. At this point it's all Xehanorts and the ongoing epic bromance of Sora/Riku, with a bit of a shoutout to the BBS crew.
X Back Cover
The movie for this one wasn't great by any measure, but it was much better than the movies for the DS games. I'll have more to say with X Union since it ties in directly.
0.2 Birth by Sleep on Proud
This was a nice little morsel of what's to come with KH3. Definitely made me look forward to it despite how understandably tired I was becoming of the series. I like Aqua as a character and the gameplay seemed nice. Not much more to say.
X Union
By this point, I think it's clear that I'm pretty well invested in this whole thing. I watched the KHinsider videos on Youtube. Again, mostly on bus rides. It's aggressively ok. It's an interesting back story for the whole series. I'm interested enough to keep watching as new videos pop up on my feed for now. I also won't be surprised if I forget for like a year to check them out again.
Final Thoughts
- I overall enjoyed this much more than I thought I would.
- I still don't like Nomura's aesthetic all that much. But it really works in this series. Surprisingly, even on the Disney characters. Zippers and belts and all.
- The story is pretty batshit, but also has it's genuinely pretty great moments.
- I kind of hate Sora as a character, and yet I think he's perfect for the series and his bromance with Riku has to be exactly like this for the overarching unrelentingly FRIENDS FOREVER message of the series to work.
- Maybe when I'm retired I'll go back and play KH2 on Proud or Critical. I think I missed something, but I am not replaying it any time this decade.
- Yes, I own KH3. I've just decided I really need a break at this point, and I might as well just wait for the DLC. A couple months removed now, I feel like I'll be ok once it releases. I am genuinely looking forward to it.
- I don't know if I can handle any more Kingdom Hearts after this. I heard there will be more post KH3. I just don't know. I'm getting too old for this.
- We are all Xehanort.
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i really wish the HD versions let you swap back to the original enemy colors. it just doesn't feel right!
Your comment makes me wish they spent more time on actually remaking 358 and ReCoded. ReCoded's story is really good, but in movie form its honestly bad. Part of it is really told through the gameplay, especially the final boss. They skip some pretty important events too.
Re:Coded, while not really that interesting of a story, had the best gameplay out of the "deck" games (Re:Com, Days, BBS, Re:Coded, DDD). Just honestly a sad opportunity to not have it fully realized.
What makes it worse is that there really is no right way to experience these games right now. With Days you miss out on key plot points if you watch it or new cutscenes if you play it on DS. With Re:Coded, you miss out on great gameplay if you are watching it, but entirely miss out on several important new scenes that connect to DDD if you play it.
Its a lose lose
I generally agree with this sentiment, even if I sincerely hope you meant that "[strike]ReCoded[/strike] [358/2]'s story is really good".
I mean if you actually meant Re:Coded more power to you, but that was the one story that felt eminently padded and mostly forgettable aside from introducing the concept of the Datascape.
You could make a similar argument for 358/2 Days being padded, but to me the difference is that the monotony is kind of the point. I suspect this was a case of story being crafted to fit the limitations of the game they were making, but it just works.
It makes it something that I don't know that I can recommend to most people, but that I completely believe that it can totally be worth seeing all the way through for some people.
Either way, you're right. Both of those games deserve a remake in the vein of Chain of Memories and it's a shame they didn't get it.
I suspect I would have enjoyed the gameplay of Re:Coded more than I already did if I wasn't already actively burning out on the series. At the very least the combat/skill system was good, particularly when I was trying to complete all the mission challenges.
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OK, home, off of work until next monday, time to get zooted and fire KH1 back up and get the hell off this jungle world, hopefully.
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KH1 is iconic and still the only KH game with solid and mysterious writing from beginning to end.
TFW when you finally b eat the Deep Jungle world
No frowning, no sad face.
This ship runs on happy faces!
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