Kingdom Hearts -- I just don't really get why it's so popular

[Zaik]

I have the first two games (Well I have KH & KH2) . I played them both once through and that was that. Everybody seems to love the game so damn much and I just don't understand what I'm missing. I was thinking perhaps I should give it another go or something, and maybe open my mind to it some more.

I guess I just expected to like it since I like the JRPG genre well enough and the KH battle system was way fun . Buuut I don't know, something felt missing to me, and I really didn't understand the whole point of any of it, like the story or why Sora has the power of the keyblade or whatever.

There are likeable parts and I had enough fun to get through both of them, and I love Disney so getting to go explore the other worlds was fun. I guess I just expected to like it more.

So why is this game so popular?
What is it that I'm missing? (Or not missing?)
Do you like the series?


Maybe my problem with it was Donald and Goofy. Really hard to take it seriously when I'm being followed by two idiots the whole gameplay. (Not that Sora is the definition of intelligence, but he is sort of cute and likeable enough.)

A lot of people have nostalgia over certain particular subjects from their childhood, particularly disney movies.

So they just mash like 20 different disney movies into a game and poof.

Also, it was the first RPG I had ever played that wasn't turn based.

 

[Nikolaz72]

I liked the story. It was like JRPG Artstyle.. And a story made by Disney. A good one at that. It felt a bit childish and nostalgic. And the gameplay was alright if not a bit hard. I wouldnt priase the game but i get why its popular

 

[esin]

It's a guilty pleasure for me. The writing is God aweful and beats you over the head with POWER OF FRIENDSHIP dialogue at every turn, while leaving out chunks of vital plot information so SE can sell the next sequel/prequel to you.

On the other hand, the gameplay feels silky smooth with just enough variety to avoid being button-mashy. The visual style and animation are top notch too.

 

[e.wlmo4]

For me it was the sense of magic that both the Final Fantasy games and the Disney universe have in spades and when in the game the whole atmosphere of the two combine in such a way that I personally find myself sucked into that the aspects that don't work well are smoothed over and I find myself in a state of bliss most comparable to watching a Pixar movie. Another example of this is Comic Jumper in that while having big gameplay flaws your having too much fun to care.

 

[Scenttree]

I think I liked it because of the crossover aspect (which to get all those characters and pull it off is pretty amazing) and also because it provides a FF style battle menu but the fighting is real time. I've always wanted to play an FF game but without the constant stop-start battle system and Kingdom Hearts provides it

Not to mention a decent story.

 

[bluefish]

You can't say why you didn't enjoy it, I can't say exactly why I did enjoy it.

It was kind of cutesy and silly, with some squareenix (was it soft at that time? I don't remember) mixed in. Everything considered, I shouldn't have liked it. I don't like mixing of genre, I was getting sick of final fantasy games at that point and branching out into smaller, less well known games.

But it was something I picked up and finished because I simply enjoyed the "I can run around abusing my X button and kill stuff in a disney world" kind of fun. I enjoyed both I and II, but I really didn't like chain of memories (I played it on a GBA, I haven't tried the PS2 version) I haven't touched the new one because I figured it would be kind of like the GBA version and I don't like Org. XIII that much.

I guess I liked it because it was a fun way to pass the time.

 

[Arehexes]

I can't speak for everyone, but I really liked the first game because it was, for want of a better term, magical. 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.

Maybe my problem with it was Donald and Goofy. Really hard to take it seriously when I'm being followed by two idiots the whole gameplay. (Not that Sora is the definition of intelligence, but he is sort of cute and likeable enough.)

One of the main reasons I loved the first Kingdom Hearts was that it wasn't serious. It had all the traits and trappings of a Final Fantasy game without the melodramatic speeches and depressing backstories. Incidentally, this is what killed the second KH game for me. It got too serious, and therefore horrible.

I agree with this, the first one was great because the story was not serous but when CoM came out it was getting out of control. Also isn't kinda hard to call this a fade seeing how old the series is.

 

[Durotai]

Personally speaking, for me Kingdom Hearts allowed me to experience the nostalgic childhood feelings I had for the classic Disney characters and movies, while keeping things fresh with the merge of Square Enix's Final Fantasy range. It perfectly blended the two series which arguably had a huge presence over our (or at least my) respective childhood and teenage years.

The storyline had that familiar Disney feel to it, with the bearing of a moral within the story (which would of course be about Friendship, which kept things pretty simplistic, with the whole light vs. dark. But of course developed considerably to accomodate for teens.

In gaming terms, the music and imagery were absolutely mesmerising with the bright imagery of old and new ficticious landscapes we were able to recall such as the Hundred Acre Woods or Traverse Town, and the re-vamped versions of the Disney Theme songs.

The controls weren't too demanding as the battle system that Square Enix had incorporated was in my opinion, very well thought out. Everything was manageable and easily accesible. The introduction of new charachters, typical towards JRPG fashion was pretty cool, and the weaponry was quiet original.

In a nutshell it appealed to me in a lot of ways, mainly because it had the two games/series/movies/whatever I had an attachment towards as a kid.

Opinions are opinions, some people were able to like the game, while others - who didn't particularly hate it - just didn't see the charm in what KH had to offer.

Its a series that will stay at the top of my list of games however.

 

[dark-amon]

It's fanservice, and it's good fanservice. The result will be that some won't like it and some will. That's one of the many flaws with fanservice.
But think of it this way:
The game is innovating, both gamplay-vice and story-vice.
It has alot of interesting character from two huge franchises and put them in a plot most unexpected.
It's alot more cheerful than most Final Fantasy games.

 

[Nannernade]

I always held it to Fad reputation, as well as a questionable marketing gimmick.

Disney was popular, Square was popular, surely a merger between the two would be far more successful.

I don't understand it either, maybe it is like that Justin Bieber thing, i.e just a phase, give it enough time and it'll pass.

I really hate people who label anything they don?t see the appeal of a ?fad?. Hating something because it's popular doesn?t make you a brilliant genius standing high above the rest of us unenlightened beasts it just makes you an elitist snob.

That's the thing sir, it's a fad what is the definition of a fad?

fad

-noun
a TEMPORARY fashion, notion, manner of conduct, etc., esp. one followed enthusiastically by a group.

The emphasis is on temporary, not trying to be rude I know I am seeming like it right now but I guess it can't be helped.

So eventually everyone will get over it and think why did I like him again?

Thanks for listening to my rant, and have a nice day.

 

[Ldude893]

Some people like Japanese media, some people like Final Fantasy, some people like Disney, and some people like crossovers.

Kingdom Hearts is an Final Fantasy-Disney crossover from Japan. If that can't rake any more fans, I don't know what will.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

I liked it at one point. The first game's story was well-executed and the graphics were phenomenal. The gameplay was good, save for a shoddy camera...I mean, it's popular, I guess, because of the crossover appeal. It's one of those novelty nerd types of cool, like how people think inserting zombies = automatic awesome.

Incoming rant...

...But then the story became a fangirly fanfiction of itself. The second game might as well have been authored by your average Xx<3RikuGurl4EVA<3xX over at FF.net. Really, when you weren't watching Axel wishing Roxas was inside of him, all you did in the second half of the game was go into every world and resolve all the different relationships between the Disney characters. And then you got to watch Sora wish Riku was inside of him.

Don't get me wrong, yaoi fans, I'm an equal opportunity offender of poor writing, period. The Sora/Kairi stuff sucked five AIDS-ridden asses, too. I mean, really, THAT scene in Halloween Town? PINK SHOJO BUBBLE BACKGROUND? REALLY?

And THEN, it became pretentious with all the convoluted spinoffs across EVERY SINGLE PLATFORM. I'd have been okay with all the spinoffs if THEY WEREN'T CRUCIAL TO THE PLOT. It's the same as if J.K. Rowling released Harry Potter Book 1 as a novel, book 2 as a 4koma comic book, book 3 as a stage production, book 4 as a radio drama, book 5 as a syndicated television series, and you get the picture.

Now there's no way that KH3 won't require me to play all of them before understanding what's going on. Eff that series.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I always held it to Fad reputation, as well as a questionable marketing gimmick.

Disney was popular, Square was popular, surely a merger between the two would be far more successful.

I don't understand it either, maybe it is like that Justin Bieber thing, i.e just a phase, give it enough time and it'll pass.

I really hate people who label anything they don?t see the appeal of a ?fad?. Hating something because it's popular doesn?t make you a brilliant genius standing high above the rest of us unenlightened beasts it just makes you an elitist snob.

That's the thing sir, it's a fad what is the definition of a fad?

fad

-noun
a TEMPORARY fashion, notion, manner of conduct, etc., esp. one followed enthusiastically by a group.

The emphasis is on temporary, not trying to be rude I know I am seeming like it right now but I guess it can't be helped.

So eventually everyone will get over it and think why did I like him again?

Thanks for listening to my rant, and have a nice day.

by that logic nearly every new thing in the past 2 decades is a fad or was a fad at some point.

im pretty sure kingdom hearts is way past the point of being a fad

 

[Shockolate]

I only liked the second because I found the boss battles with Organization XIII amazingly fun.

I despised the first, but that's just me.

 

[Aeshi]

Kingdom Hearts always sounded like a REALLY bad piece of fanfiction (as in somehow even worse than regular fanfiction) bought to life.

 

[Akihiko]

I'm impartial on Kingdom Hearts. I've completed the first one, and I've been slowly going through the second. I've not really enjoyed them that much, I bought Kingdom Hearts on release, and I only completed it 2 years ago, to put it into perspective how long it took me to push myself through it. I think possibly I was outside the target audience for it, I love Final Fantasy but.. I've never been big on disney(Yeah, perhaps one of the only people who didn't watch disney as a child). Also the main character was 14 and annoyingly childish, which wasn't helped by the inclusion of Goofy and Donald who have always been playful/daft characters. I couldn't really relate.

That said, dare I say it, the spin offs like 358/2 days and also Birth By Sleep, I've actually enjoyed. Sora was out of the picture and was replaced with characters related to Sora, but with a far better personality. I've still yet to complete both, but it isn't because I don't like them, I just haven't had the time.

 

[Nannernade]

I always held it to Fad reputation, as well as a questionable marketing gimmick.

Disney was popular, Square was popular, surely a merger between the two would be far more successful.

I don't understand it either, maybe it is like that Justin Bieber thing, i.e just a phase, give it enough time and it'll pass.

I really hate people who label anything they don?t see the appeal of a ?fad?. Hating something because it's popular doesn?t make you a brilliant genius standing high above the rest of us unenlightened beasts it just makes you an elitist snob.

That's the thing sir, it's a fad what is the definition of a fad?

fad

-noun
a TEMPORARY fashion, notion, manner of conduct, etc., esp. one followed enthusiastically by a group.

The emphasis is on temporary, not trying to be rude I know I am seeming like it right now but I guess it can't be helped.

So eventually everyone will get over it and think why did I like him again?

Thanks for listening to my rant, and have a nice day.

by that logic nearly every new thing in the past 2 decades is a fad or was a fad at some point.

im pretty sure kingdom hearts is way past the point of being a fad

Eh? I thought you were going on about the whole justin beiber thing not the Kingdom Hearts thing, I know that is way beyond a fad.

 

[tehweave]

Why is it popular...

It's a simple RPG with disney characters. ALL disney characters.

 

[ArchAngelKira]

Its the final fantasy characters+ disney character fighting

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I always held it to Fad reputation, as well as a questionable marketing gimmick.

Disney was popular, Square was popular, surely a merger between the two would be far more successful.

I don't understand it either, maybe it is like that Justin Bieber thing, i.e just a phase, give it enough time and it'll pass.

I really hate people who label anything they don?t see the appeal of a ?fad?. Hating something because it's popular doesn?t make you a brilliant genius standing high above the rest of us unenlightened beasts it just makes you an elitist snob.

That's the thing sir, it's a fad what is the definition of a fad?

fad

-noun
a TEMPORARY fashion, notion, manner of conduct, etc., esp. one followed enthusiastically by a group.

The emphasis is on temporary, not trying to be rude I know I am seeming like it right now but I guess it can't be helped.

So eventually everyone will get over it and think why did I like him again?

Thanks for listening to my rant, and have a nice day.

by that logic nearly every new thing in the past 2 decades is a fad or was a fad at some point.

im pretty sure kingdom hearts is way past the point of being a fad

Eh? I thought you were going on about the whole justin beiber thing not the Kingdom Hearts thing, I know that is way beyond a fad.

k gotcha. i wasn't sure if you were still trying to call it a fad or not, but i understand what you meant now.