lithium.jelly said:
Space Spoons said:
The overarching plot, characters and settings all had that irresistible Disney flavor, while retaining Square's unique fantasy elements. It was like going to a Disneyworld park based on Final Fantasy. Pure awesome.
I've never understood the appeal of Kingdom Hearts either, and what I've quoted sums up why.
To me, anything Disney is a reason to run a mile from it. Disney was great fun when I was a little kid, but it really lacks any kind of complexity or ambiguity in the characters. So by the time I was twelve or so, Disney had really begun to lose it's charm and by the age of fourteen, that kind of thing could no longer hold my interest at all.
Kingdom Hearts actually looks like it could be enjoyable if they cut every last Disney reference out of it first.
For me, I can sum up KH in two words: Worlds Collide. It takes the grown-up seriousness of Square with the child-like innocence of Disney. I rather enjoyed the second game better as it had a lot of plot twists, (I found the gameplay easier) introduced a lot of new characters and plot twists. Like perhaps all games, it is the story of a person growing up, exploring the world, losing some innocence, but at the same time maintaining ties to that innocence in order to make sense of things. I really like being able to see all these worlds through different eyes. And I love the additional story elements added in to the Disney worlds. I also like the light v dark kind of elements and the character growth. I like to think that even parts of the Disney world can grow up a bit too. The series has a lot of emotional moments.
I'd say it's one of my three top game series, and probably the only one of those that's still currently on-going. I pick story as the most important driving force in gaming for me personally.
If you're against Goofy and Donald, two of the recent games, "Birth by Sleep" and "358/2 Days" don't feature Sora, Donald, and Goofy as the protagonists. BBS is getting rave reviews both for story and gameplay.
As for the story-line questions you don't know yet, 1- yeah, there's plenty yet to explore, hence the sequels. 2- Try reading the Ansem/Secret/Xehanort Reports, they fill in a lot of gaps.
And yes, there is a part of the KH fanbase that.. doesn't make the rest of us look all that great... Thanks guys... But the same can be said of most anything that's insanely popular, and in fact, being a jrpg, it doesn't seem to get a lot of respect by serious gamers, but I really love it.
If you have a PS2, and I know you do, I recommend you track down Re:Chain of Memories. It was the first game I managed to play, and it made me fall in love. I *liked* the card-based battle system (in addition to the regular way, so I'm not weird) and I like the story. Also has what I think is some of the saddest moments of the series.
Personally, I really dig it, and wish it was more popular and more respected. But I guess I see it's not for everyone. If the mere hint of Mickey's ears makes you cringe, this is not the game for you. If you're grown up enough to enjoy Final Fantasy but haven't lost the inner-child that still appreciates Disney, then this should be a good game.
Why do I love it? I loved the Winnie the Pooh section. I love the plot-twist of characters' sacrifice. I love the Square characters fitting into this Disney world so well. I love seeing the Disney characters, Mickey and Minnie becoming badass - Goofy coming up with good ideas, Donald actually showing some rare emotion. (After playing KH, seeing these chars in most any other medium is a lil shocking. Is that really you?!) Maybe it's nostalgia in there too. I like being able to agree with a character that you can grow up and still hold on to your childhood at the same time. I also thought the game play was varied and challenging enough to be very entertaining. Loved seeing all the different combos and reaction commands you can execute.
