Ranting about Kingdom Hearts (cuz I just got into it)
Oh boy... where to begin...
I guess I should start by saying I wasn’t a fan of this series. I had barely heard of it growing up (try being a nerd in Portugal, it’s the worst) and by the time I did all I was hearing was about how convoluted the story was and how it had Disney characters with JRPG ones and I just thought it was weird af.
It wasn’t until the hype for KH3 started building up and one of my friends started showing me trailers for the thing that I got interested myself. As such for the last couple of weeks I took it upon myself to catch up with the series lore-wise. Now I’m caught up (not really but fuck if I have to go through that mobile phone game), so I have some thoughts to spew out.
I should note that KH3 will be my very first experience in gameplay of the series. I only went through the story of the other games, watching their cutscenes. (All-in-one does sound like an appetizing package but I wasn’t willing to spend 100+ euros on something I wasn’t even sure I was gonna like).
I will be going on a game-by-game basis.
When you wak away~ you don’t hear me say~ (God this song is so good)
What I took from this game is that despite the ridiculous looking premise, it works. I don’t know how putting a FF-looking dude along with Sora and Goofy works, but they made it work. Bravo.
The story was pretty straight-forward. I like that Riku and Sora have very much the same goal throughout the game, only that Riku ended up hanging out with the wrong people and had to pay the price for it.
I really like the scene where Kairi is revived, almost like a reversal of the beginning of the game. She goes to grab Sora and he poofs out of existance. It actually hits pretty hard.
I love that they kept Mickey to just one cameo. They build him up so well and in the end he just appears and basically solves the situation. Great stuff.
Also did I mention how good Simple and Clean is?
Kingdom Hearts - Chain of Memories
This is where some questions start popping up. The rigmarole around Sora’s memories was a bit confusing to me.
Other than that though, this was pretty harmless. Namine is a nice addition to the cast and I like how Sora and the Riku-replica argued over things.
I also like Sora’s final decision to go back to how he was.
Kingdom Hearts - 358/2 Days
Yes, I went through this game before KH2. No I don’t regret it.
I really like Roxas, Axel and Xion. Probably my favorite trio as a whole in the series. They spend a lot of scenes together and they really sell the friendship between them.
Yes they’re always eating ice cream but why is that bad?
Omoidasuka~ Haruka harukaaaa~ Mirai wa~ (God this music is so good)
Oh my god this game was looooooong.
I almost forgot the non-plot stuff of this game completely. It’s not to say that it’s bad, but that it is a lot of stuff to remember so I chose to keep the plot-important stuff. Thankfully, that plot-important stuff is really really really good.
I think the final world is worth every pound of a full-price game on its own. I mean, seriously. Kairi and Namine’s escape and rescue by Riku. Ansem’s sacrifice. Xemnas’ questioning (and his voice, so soothing). Sora’s reunion with Riku. And how about that final battle. Oh my god the hype.
I do have a question though. How did Riku obtain his keyblade? It looks like his old bat wing sword so I thought it had been turned into a keyblade, but then in DD he summons the sword so he still has it?
Still, probably my favorite entry in the series.
Kingdom Hearts - Birth by sleep
This one kinda felt like the Star Wars prequels, what with Xehanort constantly goading Terra into using the darkness.
This game’s pacing was weird. One minute we’re trudging through the remaining worlds not explored in KH1, then suddenly Eraqus is attacking Ventus and we’re on the path to the Keyblade Graveyard.
This was the game that started interconnecting the plot too much. There’s no need for Mickey to be here, much less in the finale. Kairi now ended up Destiny Islands because Aqua gave her a charm or something. Sora and Riku got the Kingdom key because Riku was bequeathed by Terra now. The only one that kinda had to happen was the rigmarole with Sora’s and Ventus’s hearts, in order to explain Roxas’s appearance.
Still, the finale was pretty good and it did a good job of setting up Xehanort as the series’ big bad.
Btw, Aqua’s VA was shit. It really distracted me... Like can you at least pretend that you care? Really bad performance.
Kingdom Hearts - Re:coded
Apparently this one’s important to the plot now.
My least favorite entry in the franchise so far. Most of the game is inconsequential, it goes on for too long and for no good reason.
There are a couple of good moments between Data!Sora and Data!Riku, and I like that this game actually gave Sora a goal to achieve in KH3, that of rescuing every other MC trio, but those points are not enough to redem this game.
It felt like a chore to go through this one.
Kingdom Hearts - Dream Drop Distance
This one was mostly fun, but it is also responsible for the meme-status of the franchise’s story. Oh my god...
I actually don’t mind the complicated exam. I also like the idea of a mishap turning Riku into Sora’s guardian angel. However it’s when the Xehanorts start running amok that the plot starts to literally fold in on itself.
It does a decent enough job of setting up KH3 and hyping it up, but this really was where the story started to get convoluted. Before this point it was actually pretty easy to follow for me.
I’m also not fond of the retcon on Organization XIII’s goals.
Also I guess Riku is more special than Sora now? Not that I’m complaining.
Kingdom Hearts - 0.2 Birth by sleep -A fragmentary passage-
This game fixed Aqua and ruined Mickey. I mean, it’s pretty. And Aqua is life. But what the hell did you do to Mickey, Nomura?
You mean to tell me that Aqua was there the whole time and Mickey didn’t try to get her out of the Realm of Darkness? WHAT?! He was there with Riku, and Mickey didn’t even so much as mention Aqua to him? She’s literally there on the beach!
On the other hand though, Aqua’s VA now does a pretty decent job. Aqua herself is given a lot more to do and think about. Her character really benefits from this title. She’s not my favorite character, but I totally get why she’s a fan favorite.
Also terrible excuse to get Sora back to Lvl 1 is terrible.
Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover
On its own, I actually like this. It’s a pretty solid story on how the Keyblade War first sparked.
Yes, the foretellers are idiots who were obviously being played by the Master of Masters, but I think the way they fell out is nicely told. I also think that was the intent of the story. To show how dependent these guys were on the Master and how incompetent they were, so much so that the moment the Master disappears everything goes haywire.
I am a bit reluctant on this as a piece of the Kingdom Hearts story though. More specifically when it pertains to the Dark Seeker Saga. I don’t like how this was shown to us before KH3. Because even though I’m new to the series, I can tell a crazy storyteller when I see one. And Nomura’s incessant need of referencing every single piece of content in KH will rear its ugly head in KH3.
This shit is gonna matter, but it clearly has no place in the story told so far. Yes, it shows the beginnings of the Kayblade War, which is Xehanort’s end goal. But now we have ANOTHER bad guy to look out for in the Master of Masters and what the hell is in the black box, cuz I can assure it will appear in KH3. Isn’t this a bit too much to tack on just before the release of the game that supposedly ends the saga?
And don’t get me started on the fuckton of continuity problems the whole mobile game shabang brings.
Looking onto Kingdom Hearts III
On the whole though, I’m getting this game. If I had to equate it to something it would be to Infinity War in how it is going to converge all of the currently ongoing plotlines. Everything is leading up to this.
That in and of itself is good enough to generate hype, but there are other things that I’m looking forward to in the game.
- The gameplay (again, haven’t actually played any of the games yet, this will be my first experience)
- Playing as Kairi (wasn’t particularly happy with her lack of screentime despite her status as a MC)
- Sora’s goal to help Roxas (and I believe the others connected to him by extension)
- Visiting the Pixar worlds (this stuff looks so good, it looks exactly the same as the movies)
- The epic team-up of all the trios
- And probably some other stuff that I can’t remember right now.
May your heart be your guiding key
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