BT writes: There are many aspects to a soundtrack that can make it truly great, but one of the most important to any game is proper theming. Generally, this means that a song has to both fit its context within the game and adhere to the overall tone presented by the soundtrack, whether the song provides a tie-in or counterpoint to another. To me, the best instance of theming, and certainly the rarest, is when a game uses previously heard songs to show the relations between the different events the songs accompany. Despite being uncommon, there is one major series that adheres to this idea better than any other: Kingdom Hearts.
Trying to break into Kingdom Hearts is a nightmare.
My advice; play the games in release order. Alot of people say story chronological order but that can be really confusing. Trust me.
I think a problem that SE is going to run into (or already has run into) with this series is that a lot of the people still following it were kids / teens when they played the first one, and are now much older. I know I'm finding it increasingly hard to tolerate the childishness of some of the stuff in these games, and I'm sure there are plenty of original players who have since just stopped following the series for this reason. I can't count the number of times I was playing KH3 and just feeling like, "What the f*** am I doing?"
SE can keep the series PG-13, and try to get a new audience of kids, but how do they intend to get kids into a series with a story that has been expanding since 2002, and over the course of like a dozen games? Especially when there are already loads of newer franchises out there that have already pretty much cornered the kids / teens market.
Honestly, I think they should either end the series once and for all, or take it in a more mature direction, and ditch the Disney stuff (I know, unpopular opinion, probably). It is a series that hasn't really grown with its audience, I feel. Alternatively, they could try to steer it in a more all-ages Studio Ghibli direction, sort of like Final Fantasy.
Indeed. If you wanna give it a try, just go with 1-3. The other games are unfortunately needed to know but you can just youtube all the cutscenes by order of release of each game.
One of the biggest TV and movie tropes in the last decade has been the multiverse, the idea of exploring multiple dimensions to uncover alternate versions of existing ideas. From both a business and creative perspective, it makes sense why established franchises are shaking things up in this way.
However, there aren't many video games latching on to this trend, as rendering multiple worlds in real-time is a difficult feat and the medium is relatively young in comparison to its contemporaries, making crossover opportunities more difficult. Still, there are a few great titles that manage enough to overcome these challenges, and here are some of the best examples.
While I love someone mentioning Planescape, not really multiverse. Planes and dimensions, yes. But, they are typically their own locations and are very rarely tied to another 'verse' let alone another plane. The only things that are directly tied are the ethereal and material planes. Otherwise, they are dimensions created of their own design and goals by the creator/owner and not comprised of 'their own version of another dimension'.
NP: “When I played through Final Fantasy XVI, I occasionally found what I believed to be evident Kingdom Hearts gameplay inspirations that I’d rather not detail here due to spoilers. Still, with it having been previously confirmed that Kingdom Hearts staff was working on this title, the notion wasn’t all that surprising.
However, I didn’t realize how truly instrumental Kingdom Hearts team members were in developing Final Fantasy XVI. After digging through the title’s credits, I found crucial Kingdom Hearts development staff who played significant roles in ensuring the combat design excelled.”
Kingdom Hearts 1 has my favorite intro of all time. I don't know why, but I just enjoy that intro cutscene so much. The music is amazing. The scene is wonderful. It is pretty deep when you look back at the cutscene. I can't wait to replay the series in HD.
yeah KH series is just pure music epicness and disney/final fantasy magic all in one. Its a game you must play if you grew up watching disney movies like the lion king and aladdin and such and or if you like final fantasy or rpgs for that matter. dont miss this game its truely magical.
This was a good article. Yoko Shimomura does do a good job of combining some character themes into one anothers to show how they are similar or how they are different. Every game in the series has a masterfully done soundtrack. She is definitely one of the best composers in the business.