For me it's definitely 1.
I like KH3's combat too, but it sadly turned out to be a less polished version of KH2's combat. It "feels" less good because of a lot of minor quirks, like how small turning or parkour animations seem to take priority over Sora's movement, or Sora's new running acceleration, and so on. Or how e.g. Air Slide feels a little clunky because it completely stops your vertical momentum.
The new combat elements are somewhat interesting. There are a lot of keyblades with different forms, so you have a ton of choice in what you use. However, I felt it didn't really matter most of the time. Whether you obtain forms, grand magic, attraction flow depends on how you fight, but also on luck it seems. More interesting things you can do like switching stored forms during a combo are pretty cool, but there are not many battles that these options really matter in, and Critical Mode just makes the game tougher for the wrong reasons.
Meanwhile, KH1 does all of the following:
- The combat has a lot of FF-like strategical combat elements. For example, there is a lot more emphasis on using the correct magic elements (the flying colored magic heartless absorb the wrong elements) and getting behind enemies (Large Body was way less difficult in KH2 and later games).
- There are also some really cool spells (Aero, Stop, etc.) which are sadly missing from a lot of other entries in the series.
- Polish. Sora's animations and hitboxes always feel exactly right for his movements. It's not as floaty as KH3 (or even KH2).
- Smaller rooms to fight in, which I liked because you had to pay attention to where you jumped (e.g. not jumping off the whole thing in Hollow Bastion)
- A coliseum to test your combat abilities, with tough and fun optional fights. A lot of cool bosses outside of that, too!
Yeah, I'm more likely to replay KH1 again than any of the other games in the poll.
