# Kingdom Hearts Sucks (But it Doesn't Have To)



## MakiManPR (Feb 28, 2012)

> After a decade, two main games, and four spinoffs, Kingdom Hearts has solidified itself as an RPG juggernaut. A cross-platform, cross-universe, East meets West monster of a game. And after learning about Keyblades, princesses, and this Ansem guy, one thing has become abundantly clear:
> 
> Kingdom Hearts, as a story, totally sucks.
> 
> ...



IGN


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## Guild McCommunist (Feb 28, 2012)

Or they could just cut out all the Disney and Final Fantasy characters and market it as a generic ARPG with a bad story.

Considering everybody ONLY talks about the original characters, what's the point of the annoying Disney and Final Fantasy characters? Their crossovers are irrelevant anyway.


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## Valwin (Feb 28, 2012)

Guild McCommunist said:


> Or they could just cut out all the Disney and Final Fantasy characters and market it as a generic ARPG with a bad story.
> 
> Considering everybody ONLY talks about the original characters, what's the point of the annoying Disney and Final Fantasy characters? Their crossovers are irrelevant anyway.




but disney is the best part  the make Sora motor oil personality seem not that bad


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## Guild McCommunist (Feb 28, 2012)

Valwin said:


> but disney is the best part  the make Sora motor oil personality seem not that bad



Literally the only things it adds is slapstick humor that would make a two year old laugh and some bland ass characters with terribly annoying voices. Other than that it's just for set pieces that I guess Square Enix are too lazy to make more interesting ones for so their like "Fuck it, use some Disney crap".


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## Deleted User (Feb 28, 2012)

Less friendship, more emotional losses imo.


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## prowler (Feb 28, 2012)

oh look, it's IGN fishing for page views again


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## Hyro-Sama (Feb 28, 2012)

This just validates my statement that you can cleary see in my sig. All Hail Nomura-san.


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## Forstride (Feb 28, 2012)

Kingdom Hearts is too generic to be saved.


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## Guild McCommunist (Feb 28, 2012)

TDWP FTW said:


> Kingdom Hearts is too generic to be saved.



It's not really generic, it's certainly different, but it's just bad.

Also Kingdom Hearts would be a whole lot better if the entire fanbase just croaked currently. They're seriously one of the reasons I hate the genre. I'd associate myself with CoD fratboys or Dragon Ball Z diehards before I'd associate myself with the Kingdom Hearts fanbase.


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## Hyro-Sama (Feb 28, 2012)

Guild McCommunist said:


> TDWP FTW said:
> 
> 
> > Kingdom Hearts is too generic to be saved.
> ...



It's K, Guild. I am the Kingdom Hearts fanbase.


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## qlum (Feb 28, 2012)

I would indeed agree with this notion, Kingdom Hearts is something that should never have existed on this planet despite being made by a good dev the disney garbage makes it a generic peace of childish shit.
The worst part is that it keeps getting those stupid spin offs, to lazy to make a proper sequel but just spamming crappy spin offs.


I secretly find it quite enjoyable though the main series that is.


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## Paarish (Feb 28, 2012)

I play it for the gameplay anyway so IDGAF


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## FAST6191 (Feb 28, 2012)

Believe us when we say you are not the only one Hyro-Sama- the only franchises that cause more worry to GBAtemp like sites, rom hackers playing in translation and flash cart support staff are pokemon and mario RPGs with a possible handful of zelda (I was not really around for the skyward sword release and the last few around here were DS releases sorted quickly enough). Seen as I arguably have a toe in all three of those worlds I must reflexively despise it and on occasion I try to fight such urges but having given them a spin on at least four platforms I can safely say it is justified. In fact I will go one further than the opening quote and say although perfectly functional the mechanics are nothing to write home about.

Of course with a minor exception for some PC minigames I can fairly safely say disney have not made a truly good game since the 16 bit era (ports do not count here and  Tron: Evolution will be forgotten long before Aladdin and World Of Illusion is).


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## gamefan5 (Feb 28, 2012)

As a fellow RPG fan, I completely agree with the article.


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## Gahars (Feb 28, 2012)

Or Square Enix could just devote their resources to developing/publishing good games; I'd be satisfied with that.

And for anyone willing, here is a simplified summary of the series' plot. Just a heads up, it's _41 pages_ long.


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## pubert09 (Feb 28, 2012)

Gahars said:


> Or Square Enix could just devote their resources to developing/publishing good games; I'd be satisfied with that.
> 
> And for anyone willing, here is a simplified summary of the series' plot. Just a heads up, it's _41 pages_ long.


I get it now!! I didn't play much of the spin-offs, because I thought it made the story too complicated, but now that I read that I get the gist.
After seeing that, I now look forward to the conclusion of this.


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## the_randomizer (Feb 28, 2012)

Hoping Square Enix will make good games nowadays is like hoping Apple doesn't make overrated/over-hyped products; it ain't gonna happen.


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## gameandmatch (Feb 28, 2012)

Hyro-Sama said:


> This just validates my statement that you can cleary see in my sig. All Hail Nomura-san.



All hail Nomura-san. But seriously, I expected some hate for the game but it seems on this site, that there's no love for the game.


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## Sora de Eclaune (Feb 29, 2012)

Go to Kingdom Hearts already?

...If you haven't noticed...



Spoiler



Kingdom Hearts is the FUCKING MOON in a world that never truly existed, or it's a writhing electrical spout of power.

Even in the Kingdom Hearts universe, I don't think anyone can breathe on the moon.


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## elgarta (Feb 29, 2012)

Exactly why I am looking forward to FF13 Versus. From what I have been reading in interviews, it'll play like a more 'realistic' version of Kingdom Hearts. I enjoyed the gameplay, but the overdone/forced cameos of those 'delightful' Disney Heroes and Final Fantasy characters just got to me. The story could have likely still worked if they replaced Disney with some original group of characters from another world, and if they scrapped the whole Disney movie worlds and just made them themed worlds based on different settings.

Anyway, I didn't like my quest to save King Mickey with the help of Donald & Goofy in the original so I stopped. As simple as that


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## Byronic Hero (Feb 29, 2012)

gamefan5 said:


> As a fellow RPG fan, I completely disagree with the article.


_fixed _

I am a KH fan and I personally love the story, its the main reason I keep playing. The people who don't understand it are the same people who play it for 30 min, quit, then bitch about how much it sucks. I just hope all this IGN KH trolling won't keep any future entries coming stateside.



> Part of the charm of Kingdom Hearts is seeing how Sora and Gang transform to fit the worlds they visit. Pride Rock, Space Paranoids, and Timeless River are all awesome because the characters change. Having Sora travel to Sherwood Forest and team up with Robin Hood would be far more interesting than going to Agrabah ever again. Or how about bringing Pixar into the mix and seeing what happens to Goofy and Donald when they enter the world of Toy Story? The possibilities are vast, and there's no excuse for reusing any played out world like Wonderland.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Also, this paragraph ticked me off the most, the fact that he is complaining about what worlds will and won't appear in the next game shows just how ungrateful some people are. "oooh we got Tarzan, HOWZ ABOUT PUNNIN INZ DA TOY STORIEZZZZ!!!1!two!"


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## Fear Zoa (Feb 29, 2012)

The only problem I have with kingdom hearts is some of the character voices, Goofy and Donald in particular


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## Guild McCommunist (Feb 29, 2012)

Byronic Hero said:


> I am a KH fan and I personally love the story, its the main reason I keep playing. The people who don't understand it are the same people who play it for 30 min, quit, then bitch about how much it sucks. I just hope all this IGN KH trolling won't keep any future entries coming stateside.



I played pretty much the entire first game and this is complete bullshit. The entire story is just overly complex. It's not deep or even compelling, it's just a giant twister.

Also the characters are so snooze and the whole "FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC" thing is better left with the worst "subculture" on the internet.


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## Byronic Hero (Feb 29, 2012)

Guild McCommunist said:


> I played pretty much the entire first game and this is complete bullshit. The entire story is just overly complex. It's not deep or even compelling, it's just a giant twister.
> 
> Also the characters are so snooze and the whole "FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC" thing is better left with the worst "subculture" on the internet.


The story isn't complex really, its a simple Darkness vs Light affair, only thing people complain about _really _is the Nobody/Heartless thing, which isn't complicated in the least. But in regards to the story itself; what exactly is so complicated about it? I was like 12-13 when I first played it and I had virtually no questions at the end of the story. 

Disney is Magic
Kingdom Hearts' Story revolves around friendship
You put the two together and that's going to be the obvious product. And since KH isn't KH without Disney, complaining about that aspect isn't going to change anything, cause it ain't gonna change anytime soon.


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## Gahars (Feb 29, 2012)

Kingdom Hearts, despite the simplicity of the themes behind it, has one of the most pointlessly convoluted storylines in gaming history; I'd say it nears Hideo Kojima territory (The chart I posted, while obviously made as a tongue in cheek take on the series, reflects that pretty well.). You can like the storyline (I don't know why, but whatever), but you can't deny that fact.

Also... I don't know, I find the whole "It can't change so don't complain about it" argument to be pretty weak and unsatisfying.

It seems to me that people tend to underestimate what Disney (and to a lesser extent, SE) are capable of when it comes to producing storylines, characters, etc. I'd say it isn't the 1940's anymore, but then again, the 1940's gave us this masterpiece. Don't settle for bad writing just because you think that's all they're capable of; demand better from them, even if that was the case.


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## Guild McCommunist (Feb 29, 2012)

Byronic Hero said:


> Also, this paragraph ticked me off the most, the fact that he is complaining about what worlds will and won't appear in the next game shows just how ungrateful some people are. "oooh we got Tarzan, HOWZ ABOUT PUNNIN INZ DA TOY STORIEZZZZ!!!1!two!"



...How is this necessarily bad? Toy Story is a gigantic part of Disney history. Although I believe Pixar is now separate, it's the pioneering 3D animated film. It's also one of the highest rated series of films ever.

Considering we get Tron but not Toy Story, it seems pretty silly. Although I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say there's probably licensing issues.

Still, the Disney aesthetic is completely useless. The characters add nothing, they're simply shoe-ins for generic cut outs. They could just as easily be replaced with any characters. You just have the two friends (Donald and Goofy), the ruler (Mickey), and the Legion of Doom random baddy cast of some Disney films. You can literally take any license (Marvel, Capcom, Nintendo, Final Fantasy) and fill those in... Or use no license at all and create original characters. But that would require some sort of character development and backstory so fuck that.

It is also uselessly complicated. It's trying to have childlike themes, like friendship and the power of the heart, but the game ends up being overly complex to throw off any kid and even the gameplay gets utterly difficult that a kid wanting a fun Disney game will most likely give up.

I believe most Kingdom Hearts fans love it to death because it's "nostalgic" and they've gotten to a point of believing that it can "do no harm" as a franchise. There is no "jumping the shark" for them or a "definitive moment of suck". It's just Kingdom Hearts, with every bad aspect either pawned as "passable" or "nonexistent".


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## Byronic Hero (Feb 29, 2012)

Guild McCommunist said:


> ...How is this necessarily bad? Toy Story is a gigantic part of Disney history. Although I believe Pixar is now separate, it's the pioneering 3D animated film. It's also one of the highest rated series of films ever.
> 
> Considering we get Tron but not Toy Story, it seems pretty silly. Although I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say there's probably licensing issues.



Only thing is, we're almost sure to get Toy Story in KH3, I'm pretty sure that Nomura is saving such a requested movie for a very requested game. Plus, there's a little evidence of it's (almost) appearence in some data found in the KH2 disc.



> Still, the Disney aesthetic is completely useless. The characters add nothing, they're simply shoe-ins for generic cut outs. They could just as easily be replaced with any characters. You just have the two friends (Donald and Goofy), the ruler (Mickey), and the Legion of Doom random baddy cast of some Disney films. You can literally take any license (Marvel, Capcom, Nintendo, Final Fantasy) and fill those in... Or use no license at all and create original characters. But that would require some sort of character development and backstory so fuck that.


It's a mash-up of Disney and Square, so it goes without saying that you would need at least a little bit of Disney knowledge to enjoy it fully. And sure, you could replace the Disney characters with different franchise characters, but it wouldn't be Kingdom Hearts then, would it? No.



> It is also uselessly complicated. It's trying to have childlike themes, like friendship and the power of the heart, but the game ends up being overly complex to throw off any kid and even the gameplay gets utterly difficult that a kid wanting a fun Disney game will most likely give up.



You obviously haven't played any other installments have you? There were complaints about the second's entry being too _easy_. Plus, its an JRPG, anyone who knows the genre, going in, should expect that it's not going to be all "run-and-jump"



> I believe most Kingdom Hearts fans love it to death because it's "nostalgic" and they've gotten to a point of believing that it can "do no harm" as a franchise. There is no "jumping the shark" for them or a "definitive moment of suck". It's just Kingdom Hearts, with every bad aspect either pawned as "passable" or "nonexistent".



Oh I beg to differ. I consider myself a Hardcore KH fan, and I will admit right now, I absolutely HATED both DS entries in the franchise. I mean, damn, like they were some of the worst games I'd played at the time due to the re-hashing of the worlds and the (for lack of a better word) bitchassness of some of the characters. Though I believe some of the other fans will disagree, that's my take on it. But hey that's my opinion.


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## gamefan5 (Feb 29, 2012)

Byronic Hero said:


> Guild McCommunist said:
> 
> 
> > I played pretty much the entire first game and this is complete bullshit. The entire story is just overly complex. It's not deep or even compelling, it's just a giant twister.
> ...


Sorry but My opinion still stands, I agree with the article. As much as I love the gameplay, the story makes me want to turn away from this game. I also agree with Guild,I've seen more compelling RPG's than this.


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## M[u]ddy (Feb 29, 2012)

Guild McCommunist said:


> Byronic Hero said:
> 
> 
> > I am a KH fan and I personally love the story, its the main reason I keep playing. The people who don't understand it are the same people who play it for 30 min, quit, then bitch about how much it sucks. I just hope all this IGN KH trolling won't keep any future entries coming stateside.
> ...


Wait, you think the first game had a complicated story? The first games story was ridiculously simple. After that it got unnecessarily complicated.
My guess is that people complained about the weak story and Noamura was like "You want a complexer story? Here you go."


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## gamefan5 (Feb 29, 2012)

gamefan5 said:


> As a fellow RPG fan, I completely agree with the article.


_refixed _


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## Byronic Hero (Feb 29, 2012)

I would like to know what it is that makes the games so hard to follow. I couldn't follow Resonance of Fate (which I loved by the way) but I can easily explain this entire story to anyone? Why is that?


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## Saken (Feb 29, 2012)

The main reason i play KH is the battle system.
The next reason is the story.
Why criticize it like fine wine and cheese? It's a game. You buy a game to enjoy it.

The story has never been complicated, and in my opinion, is not very generic. The "light vs. darkness" thing is, however his ideas of Nobodies, Heartless, a Realm of Sleep, Light, Darkness, Nothingness, is really unique.
If you think it's complicated you have never put enough effort in to maybe play the games (after 1 or 2, depending where you stopped) or try to think about it about. Nomura likes his cliffhangers and likes his audience to _think_.

Also the guy in the article really pulls things out of context in an attempt to attack the series. For example, he fails to mention that in KH1, Atlantica's story was much more dark and there was no singing or anything. In fact, the singing was placed in there in KH2 because of the reception they recieved about the combat on Atlantica in KH1. People _again_ were complaining that it was too difficult or complicated (what a surprise) to successfully combat the heartless.

"We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend. Now I will step forward to realize this wish."
He used this _one_ line, taking it _right_ out of context and criticises it for not being related to the plot. It's a line from a letter Kairi sends out to Sora. Just one line that is _meant_ to "convey emotion". You can't just take one line out of a game and conclude that it sucks from this _one _line that could be taken from anywhere...
It's like picking a random line from a song and criticising the whole song based on it. Kairis letter is poetically written, so that's basically what he did.

He complains about the new characters introduced having no relevance to the story. Except that he is completely wrong. Most original characters introduced have a significant impact on the storyline. If it wasn't for Terra, there would be no heartless. If there was no Master Xehanort, there would be nothing wrong with the worlds, no heartless, no nobodies, thus nothing to play. If anything, i can only complain that KH goes out of its way to explain _everything_. All the characters introduced have some sort of relevance to something that hasn't been told in the story, or contribute to the back story. KH BBS explains why the heartless started ravaging the worlds, who was the cause and how it happened. It introduces the _key_ villain of the series in which most of the other enemy characters are based off. It would be more apt to complain about everyone being Xehanort, rather than being Sora, really.


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## gamefan5 (Feb 29, 2012)

Saken said:


> The main reason i play KH is the battle system.
> The next reason is the story.
> Why criticize it like fine wine and cheese? It's a game. You buy a game to enjoy it.
> 
> ...


And you think it's as easy as that to understand the story like that in one take? Trust me It's not. And that's mainly why it ticks me off.


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## Byronic Hero (Feb 29, 2012)

gamefan5 said:


> And you think it's as easy as that to understand the story like that in one take? Trust me It's not. And that's mainly why it ticks me off.


The only reason I can find for someone not understanding the story is due to said person not _wanting_ to understand. When you get down to the root of KH's story (Strip the Disney worlds and their stories from it) and it's almost Naruto, (as much as I hate to admit it).

Sora = Naruto - Happy go lucky kid who values friendship above all else. Trying to save this guy from "darkness"

Riku = Sasuke - Emoish character who wants power, to do god-knows-what, and accepts darkness/evil as means to get it.

Kairi = Sakura - Woman......(Seriously though) Main character's crush

Mickey = Jiraiya - Experienced warrior who goes out to find a way to defeat the evilness that is (Madera/Pain and/or Xehanort)

Xehanort = Madara/Orichimaru - Antagonist who is the root of most of, if not all, problems in the world.

Organization 13 = Akatsuki - Help Antagonist in his plan.

Seriously, if you can grasp the "complicated" story of Naruto, Kingdom Hearts isn't hard to understand at all.


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## gamefan5 (Feb 29, 2012)

Byronic Hero said:


> gamefan5 said:
> 
> 
> > And you think it's as easy as that to understand the story like that in one take? Trust me It's not. And that's mainly why it ticks me off.
> ...


Dude, similar personalities, organizations does not mean same story. Those 2 are completely different. Naruto's story was simple (but a bit ridiculous). It actually got interesting when Jiraya came along and said what he wanted to do in the ninja world (rid the ninja world of hate). You can grasp that in one take. KH, however takes a bit more time to understand. I never said I didn't understand the story,. It's how the made the story that's bad. It's complicated for nothing.


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## Byronic Hero (Feb 29, 2012)

gamefan5 said:


> Dude, similar personalities, organizations does not mean same story. Those 2 are completely different. Naruto's story was simple (but a bit ridiculous). It actually got interesting when Jiraya came along and said what he wanted to do in the ninja world (rid the ninja world of hate). You can grasp that in one take. KH, however takes a bit more time to understand. I never said I didn't understand the story,. It's how the made the story that's bad. It's complicated for nothing.


You do realize that I was doing those comparisons just for the sake of a comparison, not to say that they had the same story. It was meant to say that since they were similar, they shouldn't be too difficult to understand due to the fact that they were so similar.
Not getting into a Naruto argument right not.

But answer this, if you can understand Naruto's story in one take, and KH's story is dangerously similar to it, why is it that KH is so hard to comprehend? Again I believe that people hate the story because they do not _want _to like it.


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## gamefan5 (Feb 29, 2012)

Byronic Hero said:


> gamefan5 said:
> 
> 
> > Dude, similar personalities, organizations does not mean same story. Those 2 are completely different. Naruto's story was simple (but a bit ridiculous). It actually got interesting when Jiraya came along and said what he wanted to do in the ninja world (rid the ninja world of hate). You can grasp that in one take. KH, however takes a bit more time to understand. I never said I didn't understand the story,. It's how the made the story that's bad. It's complicated for nothing.
> ...


Again you didn't get my post. I didn't say I didn't want to comprehend it. In fact, I do understand it. It's the fact that it's too complicated for no reason(That's why it's hard for many players.) It ticks players off and it makes the series less attractive.


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## Byronic Hero (Feb 29, 2012)

But if people would come to realize that articles like this IGN one, as well as others, are just making the series _seem _more complicated than it actually is, it's story would be shown in a much better light.

The story isn't complicated, and I still don't see why anyone who can understand any of today's RPGs cannot understand KH. Also, I can understand KH's story better than I can Mass Effect's.


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## Bobbyloujo (Feb 29, 2012)

I have opinions about this. I think you can all guess what those opinions are so I'll just keep my mouth shut.


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## gamefan5 (Feb 29, 2012)

Byronic Hero said:


> But if people would come to realize that articles like this IGN one, as well as others, are just making the series _seem _more complicated than it actually is, it's story would be shown in a much better light.
> 
> The story isn't complicated, and I still don't see why anyone who can understand any of today's RPGs cannot understand KH. Also, I can understand KH's story better than I can Mass Effect's.


Trust me, I said I did agree with the article because I, MYSELF, find it complicated. Not because the editor said it.


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## Byronic Hero (Feb 29, 2012)

Only thing is, I bet that's not how _most _"KH Story haters" are. I bet they just jump on the "KH sucks" bandwagon just cause it seems like the norm on most forum websites. (Granted not the KH-based ones)


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## Presto99 (Feb 29, 2012)

I've never played any KH, partly because I have other stuff to play, partly cause it doesn't seem that great, but *mainly* because the story seems super confusing, and I don't know where to start. Plus, I wouldn't want to have to play all the side/not-as-important games just to get the full story.


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## Byronic Hero (Feb 29, 2012)

Presto99 said:


> I've never played any KH, partly because I have other stuff to play, partly cause it doesn't seem that great, but *mainly* because the story seems super confusing, and I don't know where to start. Plus, I wouldn't want to have to play all the side/not-as-important games just to get the full story.


It only seems confusing cause people keep telling you that it's confusing. It's not.

And even if you only played 1,2, and Birth by Sleep, you wouldn't miss anything. (Chain of Memories has a bit, but not enough to ruin the fun. The two DS games are filler)


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## Hells Malice (Feb 29, 2012)

Meh. The only problem with KH is Sora.
Cut him out and the games are fine.


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## Hyro-Sama (Feb 29, 2012)

The only shitty Kingdom Hearts games were RE:Coded and 358/2 days. I prefer Days though b/c it focuses more on Roxas than Sora.


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## gameandmatch (Feb 29, 2012)

Hells Malice said:


> Meh. The only problem with KH is Sora.
> Cut him out and the games are fine.



You're now my officially favorite kh hater. But though the arguments on here are getting quite insane. Just accept the fact that people have negative opinions (however insane it is to me) on the series. So people find the story complicated, I know people who finds the story to Star Fox 64 complicated.


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## MakiManPR (Feb 29, 2012)

IMO People hate it because of the Disney character and they are "Too Macho" to play it.

Kingdom Hearts is my favorite franchise.


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## Gahars (Feb 29, 2012)

I think a big source of the confusion/arguing here stems from a confusion of terms. When people say it's complicated, they don't mean that it deals with big issues or anything. The base story is pretty simple (Guy teams up with friends to thwart evil, learns joys of friendship, etc.).The problem comes from the way that simple story is needlessly tied to a convoluted mess of organizations and backstories and systems of magic that is never made entirely clear to the audience; with each successive game, the web only grows larger and larger (Kind of like an algae that sucks all the oxygen out of a body of water as it expands).

For a complex, intricate, and richly written narrative, this sort of approach makes sense (and some genres, like those focused around espionage, demand it). Kingdom Hearts, however, is not that narrative. As it stands, the story essentially has its head placed squarely in its own rectum; with each new game, it tries to dig itself out by going deeper and deeper.


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## gameandmatch (Feb 29, 2012)

MakiManPR said:


> IMO People hate it because of the Disney character and they are "Too Macho" to play it.
> 
> Kingdom Hearts is my favorite franchise.



Yeah I hear that alot too. I just accepted that reason over time.


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## Gahars (Feb 29, 2012)

MakiManPR said:


> IMO People hate it because of the Disney character and they are "Too Macho" to play it.
> 
> Kingdom Hearts is my favorite franchise.



And wow, great job just dismissing any argument against your favorite series out of hand; it sure must be convenient to not have to consider the legitimate points other people make!


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## emigre (Feb 29, 2012)

I don't like KH because I enjoy hunting, herring into fights and other generic macho activities


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## Psyfira (Mar 1, 2012)

Byronic Hero said:


> Oh I beg to differ. I consider myself a Hardcore KH fan, and I will admit right now, I absolutely HATED both DS entries in the franchise. I mean, damn, like they were some of the worst games I'd played at the time due to the re-hashing of the worlds and the (for lack of a better word) bitchassness of some of the characters. Though I believe some of the other fans will disagree, that's my take on it. But hey that's my opinion.


I agree, I really like the series as a whole but the DS titles just felt half-arsed. The story in Days was total rubbish until the last few hours when it suddenly jumped to being brilliant, and the gameplay was just too repetitive. And I'm getting a bit sick of seeing the intro video from KHII rehashed over and over again. To be honest, I didn't really care about the story while I was playing KH 1 or 2 either, they were just plain fun. It was Chain of Memories that got me interested in the plot side of things.

About the main characters, when I think of Kingdom Hearts it's always the original characters who spring to mind. Donald and Goofy spend the whole of the first 3 games as major party members, and yet they don't actually do anything to make them worth remembering. Kinda odd when you think about it.


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## Mindzpeed (Mar 1, 2012)

The problem with KH story is that it's too complex, harder than understanding hieroglyphs. Just start by playing any spin-off game at your brain will be melted down in the first ten minutes or so because nothing makes sense (at least i felt like that when i played days...). At this point you have two options:

Throw the game to the trash and hate it forever
Play Kh1 and Kh2 OR read a wiki (I know its tedious, but worth it)
I praise Kh for its gameplay but I rather enjoy its story the most. Its well elaborated and has some intense moments that make you feel that moment of happiness, of sorrow, of achievement... Thats the magic behind the Kh series and my point of view of why Im a fanboy.


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## Qtis (Mar 1, 2012)

So far the only KH games I've really enjoyed are KH and KH2. CoM gameplay was.. well I'll just say it wasn't meant for me. Not necessarily bad, but just too different considering I just played KH and KH2 a few days before. The DS games, oh the DS games.. 358/2 Days was interesting gameplay wise and the story wasn't that bad. Not necessarily great, but certainly a way below the level of the PS2 games. Re:Coded was just a waste of my time story wise, gameplay wise it was basically a clone of 358/2 Days. 2 games nearly 100% the same gameplay wise without a good story to back it up, I'll pass on the second one. I'm 1/3 done with the PSP game, but we'll see if the 2/3 will be worth it once I find my PSP Go again..

Bottom line: If KH: Dream Drop Distance is a piece of shizhl, I'll completely skip all games before KH3 regarding the series. No matter what


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## elenar (Mar 1, 2012)

Birth by Sleep was awesome, one of the best ARPG's of all time, up there with all time favorites like Secret of Mana (if you ignore the multiplayer elements).

The article posted in the OP was clearly written from a "I played KH1, sorta played KH2, screwed around with the DS one and found it sucked (because it did), and looked at promo material for BBS and didn't play it" perspective.

Hell, it even mis-counts the number of titles in the series.

It's just a comment-fisher for ad revenue, or even worse, a poorly written article by a "gaming journalist" who bases his reviews off other reviews he read.

Seriously, KH1 was interesting but jumbled. KH2 was a stellar game with a bunch of the worst elements ever in an RPG, so it's hard to say if it's good or not. CoM was strikingly odd, seemed like they wanted to make a game with that battle system and decided to use the KH name to get sales. 358/2 was possibly the most boring video game I've ever played.

However, BBS was amazing. The combat was tight and varied, very little "button spam." You had 3 choices of playstyle to either choose from or replay several times and still keep it fresh. Instead of generic "you gain some levels" garbage like the other games, your playstyle influenced the advancement of your character through powering up your spells and making them able to be combined into all-new abilities that were often much more than "That spell from before, with 15% extra damage." There was even a "i'm on the bus and only have 10 minutes to play today" Monopoly style game, that in addition to being a nice way to waste a bus-ride to work, actually got you new abilities and powered up existing ones.

BBS was an amazing game. The best thing about DDD is that it seems to be following in the footsteps of BBS.

I haven't even mentioned the story in BBS, which while convoluted, was fairly coherent for a post FFVII Square-Enix game (yes, I said it, deal with it). At least it didn't beat me in the face with unnecessary cutscenes replaying stories from movies I watched 20 years ago. I think that's a good start.

If DDD manages to move forward in the vein of BBS while improving on it, it will be an excellent game. That's that.

Also, people don't seem to know what a "spinoff" is. CoM and 358/2 were blatant spinoffs. BBS was KH3 as advertised by the hidden FMV unlockable in KH2. Yeah, it's odd that it's called "Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep" instead of "Kingdom Hearts 3", but haven't we all realized that SE is staffed by primarily lunatics at this point? I mean, what is a "Dissidia?" and then "Why duodecim instead of 12?" also all the extreme weirdness of the names of FFXI expansions, and even "The World Ends With You", which while vaguely catchy, had basically zero to do with anything. They could have named it "Melancholy Overcoming Despair" and it would have made just as much sense.

I don't feel like blaming the game for the fact that the SE guys bought an english thesaurus and went nuts. BBS was a main series title with a weird name. It fully wrapped up missing plot points from KH1&2. It was teased as the sequel to KH2 at the end of said game. Just translate "Birth By Sleep" from SE crazy-talk to english numbers as "3".


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