For those of you who enjoy remembering your childhood memories and the awesome games you used to play, I just finished playing Kingdom Hearts. A friend recommended it to me, saying that it was THE classic of the sixth generation gaming. Now that I’m able to look back on playing Kingdom Hearts myself, I have to say that the game itself wasn’t that great. It has a major “cinematic” problem, and the gameplay suffers.
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.
I felt this way with KH3 as well, ended up dropping it around half way through. I won't even bother with KH4.
Same here. Kingdom Hearts 3’s dialog was way to childish for me and I only played just to finish the story and wrap up the near 15 year wait.
I doubt I would be buying any other games unless they go in a more mature (all-ages) direction as OP said.
you gotta remember Disney has to sign off on everything they do with KH. Disney is super protective of their IP,
Either way I don't disagree with you on a lot of this stuff becoming more and more of an issue. But it's okay that fans grow out of things like this. But if they do decide to keep it more for the young audience then they will have to solve the problem that the article mentions.
Yeah, I just don't know what they could do to get all the kids invested in it at this stage. The only thing I can think of is a total reboot, but that would be an enormous project, and they clearly have no intention of doing it. I mean, the series has just embarked upon another "saga", which, if it's anything like the last "saga", will take another 2 decades to complete, will consist of 6+ games, and will convolute the overall narrative even further (if that's even possible). It seems to me that, if this is SE's plan, and if they want people to still care about the series in 5-6 years time, then their only real option is to try to appeal more to a non-adolescent audience. Otherwise, the kids won't care because they won't have a clue what's going on, and the adults won't care because the series is too childish.
Having said all that, the Yozora stuff, and the footage we've seen from KH4, does seem to MAYBE indicate that the series is going in the direction I'm talking about, but it's too early to say for sure. KH4 might look completely different the next time we see it, knowing SE.
Kingdom hearts 3 is horrible ..that's why you felt that way. It's the worst in the series by far.
My issue is with the decline of the writing which has been an issue for Square-Enix games across the board. KH3 should have gone out with a bang and felt very satisfying, but instead it was like a wet tissue and left feeling like I missed a lot of content. Having said that, KH3 was probably the last KH game I'll purchase.
Im playing 3 as my first one and I got that same feeling. Enjoying the variety and combat but im not into the story...too confusing.
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.”
It's a great concept that meshes perfectly. The action rpg element is great and (even if some people are confused, regard some games as spin offs or just can't afford multiple devices) the story is top notch.
It's all these elements combined that makes it a fantastic game I play.
What he hates it because the story in the different worlds follow the movies plots, that was my favorite part. Also he thought it was too hard for a video game with disney characters, the only really hard part was fighting against Sephiroth.
Hopefully KH3 comes out for the PS4 with Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Robin Hood, Sword in the Stone, and Rescuers worlds...haha I can dream
"It has a major “cinematic” problem, and the gameplay suffers."
It is here that I realized I'm going to disagree majorly with the author on not only this, but many things he states. There are many moments in Kingdom Hearts where you can level grind or experiment with fighting. The story doesn't get in the way.
"Where the problems arise are the times when Sora opens his mouth. It’s here that most of what the game accomplished, in terms of making sure the character and player are one entity, is shattered. This is like a stab in the back to the player, telling him or her that they have no place in the story because they are controlling someone with a pre-set persona."
This is a problem for you? Okay, Sora was never fully meant to be a role playing character. The same could be easily said of other characters from open world and sandbox RPGs. Tommy Vercetti, Carl Johnson, Ezio Auditore, Frank West, Jason Grant, Cole McGrath, Rico Rodriguez, Link, Wei Shen, and Shulk are all prime examples of characters who are in these expansive, open worlds but are not meant to be representative of a player's personal connection. You are connected to these characters through the story and their personality.
If you want personal connection, you need to think of games like Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, and Dragon's Dogma in which they offer you deep customization and player choice in many situations.
"I’ve complained about lengthy introductions before, but this seems to be one of the worst; it’s enough to ruin the game for those who don’t like to be kept waiting to get to the core part of the story or gameplay."
So I guess Metal Gear Solid wouldn't be a favorite of yours?
"Then there’s the Disney element. About 80% of the plots of the worlds you visit and their related set pieces are ripped straight from old Disney movies. This is one of the biggest let downs I’ve ever seen in a video game..."
What do you expect from a Disney and Square Enix team up? Being able to live out the Disney movies, see what Heartless there were like, and fight the Disney villains are what made going to those worlds so great. Also, Kairi is a central character throughout the game as you see how Sora mentions her and see flashbacks of her. This made her all the more important to find.
Reading on, I see that the author nitpicks a lot about game difficulty, that there isn't variety in combat (even though you should to experiment with abilities and items), and seeing Donald and Goofy are useless party members (which I highly disagree with). These are issues taken to high extremes. Had he actually played Kingdom Hearts II, he would see that it was very refined in many ways, but he expressed he won't be bothering with it. The way I see it, he let himself stay blind because of the Disney themes and making assumptions that the creators made barely any effort with gameplay and story aspects. It's a shame considering that the Kingdom Hearts series has a lot going for it.