Poll: Kingdom Hearts

[captainballsack]

2 was too easy I think, also, story wise, it wasn't as concise.

1 was challenging, well designed and the story wasn't too complicated. They've really Final Fantasy'd the story up recently, which I don't really like at all. I like the complicated Final Fantasy plots and universes, but I think it detracts too much from the point of Kingdom Hearts: the magic of Disney mixed with the beauty of Final Fantasy. Unfortunately, with a cluttered plot, the Disney magic is lost, and it just becomes a distraction.

 

[DanielBrown]

Played the first game first, and I played it a lot of times as a kid. Tried again recently after probably eight years and didn't care much for the game at all. Only played through the second game once and I hardly remember it, so my vote was on the first game.

 

[Angelblaze]

Kingdom Hearts 2 was awesome....you would literally need the hand of god to yank me away from the Halloween Town world, even when everything was so easy to kill I just loved being there its also part of the reason that Jack is my favorite non-princess Disney character of all time.

No one can deny that the PotC world was just as fucking wonderfully done, I'm hoping for an Avengers world or maybe Star Wars Gummi battles or something now honestly.

Seriously, how fucking sick with it be to have a Mjolnir/Iron Man styled keyblade?


Incredibly fucking sick.

Captcha: 200+ Custom Settings

I loved the crafting too cap.!

 

[klaynexas3]

I'm going to come out and say probably the most controversial thing to say on a thread like this:

I think Re: Coded had the BEST gameplay out of the whole series. Story wise it was dumber than a sack of bricks. How does a book become riddled with computer bugs? And on top of that, why the hell should I care?

Anyway 2 was definitely my favorite, with Dream Drop on a close runner up. 1 is up there due to nostalgic value and it was before the giant cluster that became the Xehanort saga(even though I still love it in all its convolutedness), and then I guess Birth By Sleep(despite is weaker writing in some areas), then 358, then Re: Coded, then Chain of Memories.

It is definitely my favorite game series out there.

Though, to everyone saying 2 was the one that started it being all convoluted and whatnot, I'd say that's very much wrong. The story in of itself was rather simple to grasp. These are nobodies. They are the husks left behind when heartless are created. They want hearts. They need you to make Kingdom Hearts to complete themselves. However, they are terrorizing people and the world balance and so on, and those hearts don't belong to them anyway, as they were stolen from people when they became the heartless, so they must be stopped. Rather simple really.

You want convoluted, then that's where Birth by Sleep comes in.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I'm a big fan of Kingdom Hearts, and so are most of my friends. After talking to them I've come to the realization that the ones that played Kingdom Hearts 1 first liked it more but those who played 2 think it's a better game. So out of curiosity I turn to you members of the Escapist.
Thank you all for this discussion by the way, I love reading these opinions.

They're both good games.

I played the first one when it was released, and then I played 2 when it was released. While I enjoyed the levels more in 1, the combat and story were better in 2. I play an RPG for the story, so for that reason Kingdom Heart 2 wins for me.

I would imagine that rather than order it would be gameplay that makes the difference for most people. The platforming and exploration in 1 were a big draw for some, whereas the smoother and more advanced combat in 2 would be a big draw for others. Like I said, I enjoyed the platforming and exploration in 1 a lot, but I also liked the combat in 2, so both ended up negating one another. Thus, the better story in 2 beats out 1.

As far as spin-offs go - well, I tried Chain of Memories when it came out for PS2. I HATED IT. The card gameplay was awful - I hated having a well placed combo fail because of a single crappy card. Random gameplay kills strategy and it killed all of my enjoyment of the game. I haven't touched another Kingdom Hearts spin-off since, and I don't plan to.

 

[Angelblaze]

I'm a big fan of Kingdom Hearts, and so are most of my friends. After talking to them I've come to the realization that the ones that played Kingdom Hearts 1 first liked it more but those who played 2 think it's a better game. So out of curiosity I turn to you members of the Escapist.
Thank you all for this discussion by the way, I love reading these opinions.

They're both good games.

I played the first one when it was released, and then I played 2 when it was released. While I enjoyed the levels more in 1, the combat and story were better in 2. I play an RPG for the story, so for that reason Kingdom Heart 2 wins for me.

I would imagine that rather than order it would be gameplay that makes the difference for most people. The platforming and exploration in 1 were a big draw for some, whereas the smoother and more advanced combat in 2 would be a big draw for others. Like I said, I enjoyed the platforming and exploration in 1 a lot, but I also liked the combat in 2, so both ended up negating one another. Thus, the better story in 2 beats out 1.

As far as spin-offs go - well, I tried Chain of Memories when it came out for PS2. I HATED IT. The card gameplay was awful - I hated having a well placed combo fail because of a single crappy card. Random gameplay kills strategy and it killed all of my enjoyment of the game. I haven't touched another Kingdom Hearts spin-off since, and I don't plan to.

In defense of that game (speaking as someone who has only played the gameboy version, I apologize in advance if I get something wrong here) I found the main strategy - or at least the most effective one - of the game was ordering your cards in a way that could be comboed together without being broken ie: tons and shitloads of 6-9 cards.

 

[xmbts]

I like all of them fairly equally, even the card one. >.>

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

In defense of that game (speaking as someone who has only played the gameboy version, I apologize in advance if I get something wrong here) I found the main strategy - or at least the most effective one - of the game was ordering your cards in a way that could be comboed together without being broken ie: tons and shitloads of 6-9 cards.

You know, I was going to let this go as "unasked for strategy help for a game I traded in years ago" but you actually reminded me of another issue.

Reshuffle limits.

You know where I stopped playing the game? The second Riku bossfight. Why? Because I got tired to using up ALL MY CARDS to take out half his life, and then being able to do NOTHING. Once all my reshuffles were gone, I could do nothing but stand there and WAIT for him to kill me.

At least in FF8 you can always attack. Having attack REQUIRE cards is absolute utter bullshit. It isn't a failure on my part when the game just decides it won't let me play anymore because of an arbitrary limitation.

BTW: My deck WAS pretty much nothing by 6-9. Riku could block anything less than an 8.

 

[gunningyoudown]

For me I hardly got to play the first one until a few years ago.
My sister bought a PS2 in 2004 and Kingdom Hearts along with it. She played it sparingly and I waited months on end for her to return from collage to play a few more hours in front of me.
In 2005 I got Chain of memories and played it to as much of 100% as i could minus all the vs. crap....

In 2006 I bought Kingdom Hearts 2 and i loved the hell out of it. I maxed everything and couldn't stop playing it I strived until i got every last piece of content inside the disk.
It wasn't until 2010 I realized I never beat the first Kingdom Hearts. So over winter break from my school I sat down and decided to play it as a "serious RPG"
By micro managing and trying to be the best I could be... I freakin broke the game, It became a walk in the park and I almost felt bad for doing it that way.

I tried the same thing on Kingdom Hearts 2 and to my surprise. It wasn't as broken, I still has a enjoyable time playing the game from my childhood.

In short I think 2 was better made but the concept of the first was better. Kingdom Hearts 2 is exactly what is its. The second game. In a great series no doubt.

 

[The_Echo]

Speaking of 358/2 Days, I actually loved that game. It's one of my favorites in the series. I hate how people treat it like some unwanted bastard child or something.

Go replay Days. The plot's pacing is abysmal and it was still using the Command Menu, which just plain didn't work for the DS. On top of that, the mission-based gameplay made it very repetitive and tedious. I loved Days too the first time. But when I tried to replay it, I just... I couldn't. It's not that good.

OT: If we're comparing Kingdom Hearts and KHII only, this is pretty easy.

I started with the first game, and played every game after in release order. Kingdom Hearts is definitely the more traditional of the two, with the Dive to the Heart determining things like leveling speed and the point at which Sora will learn certain Abilities. It's a more customized experience in that way, and employs a certain sense of strategy when it comes to challenge runs.

KHII is more fun. The combat is fast and flashy, and while I think that it's way too easy (I couldn't tell the difference between Proud and Standard until the final Xemnas form), it's just got so much to it and just about everything has been improved from the original. This is further evident in Final Mix, which basically added an entire expansion pack to the game.

As for my favorite game? Probably II, just based on the sheer number of hours I've sunk into it (i.e. 200+).

I'm going to come out and say probably the most controversial thing to say on a thread like this:

I think Re: Coded had the BEST gameplay out of the whole series. Story wise it was dumber than a sack of bricks. How does a book become riddled with computer bugs? And on top of that, why the hell should I care?

Oh, it's no question Re:coded is the most fun. I completely agree with you.

And I could explain the latter part, but the short answer is Naminé.

As far as spin-offs go - well, I tried Chain of Memories when it came out for PS2. I HATED IT. The card gameplay was awful - I hated having a well placed combo fail because of a single crappy card. Random gameplay kills strategy and it killed all of my enjoyment of the game. I haven't touched another Kingdom Hearts spin-off since, and I don't plan to.

[sub][sub][sub]Well they aren't really spinoffs, but..[/sub][/sub][/sub]

I understand why you don't like Chain of Memories. It's weird and hard to get a handle on. I still don't even use Sleights.

But you are doing yourself a complete disservice by only paying attention to numbered titles. Not only are they all great (well, barring Days), but that's where the bulk of the plot is.

 

[Roxas1359]

I like all of them, except Re:Coded which honestly is my least favorite one. Heck even the browser game is better then Re:Coded in my opinion. I have all the Final Mix games and I'm Let's Playing all, already did the first Final Mix and the Final Mix HD from the 1.5 ReMix since I imported it.
For me though I kinda want closure on the series because while I do love it, I would like for it to end. Heck my next LP is Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories because my fans voted for that so that's gonna be fun.

When it comes to all the games though I hold the combat high in standard for the game.
Birth by Sleep in my opinion had the best combat and the best ability system out of all the KHs games.
Second would be Kingdom Hearts 2's combat
Third is Kingdom Hearts 1's combat
For Chain of Memories I had it on the GBA, still do actually, and felt the card combat was good for that. But the ported version and the HD version aren't really the best if you ask me.

Overall though if I had to pick my favorite KH game it would be Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix because the combat was good, I loved the characters, and it was made even harder in the Final Mix versions due to the addition of these bosses:

Spoiler: No Heart

Spoiler: Armor of the Master

Spoiler: Unnamed Heartless

Spoiler: Monstro

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

In defense of that game (speaking as someone who has only played the gameboy version, I apologize in advance if I get something wrong here) I found the main strategy - or at least the most effective one - of the game was ordering your cards in a way that could be comboed together without being broken ie: tons and shitloads of 6-9 cards.

You know, I was going to let this go as "unasked for strategy help for a game I traded in years ago" but you actually reminded me of another issue.

Reshuffle limits.

You know where I stopped playing the game? The second Riku bossfight. Why? Because I got tired to using up ALL MY CARDS to take out half his life, and then being able to do NOTHING. Once all my reshuffles were gone, I could do nothing but stand there and WAIT for him to kill me.

At least in FF8 you can always attack. Having attack REQUIRE cards is absolute utter bullshit. It isn't a failure on my part when the game just decides it won't let me play anymore because of an arbitrary limitation.

BTW: My deck WAS pretty much nothing by 6-9. Riku could block anything less than an 8.

There's no limit to how many times you can shuffle your deck. For Sora you end up having to concentrate for longer, but it never goes beyond 3. For Riku it's always instant. Or you could use cards like potions, high potions and elixirs to instantly reload your deck as Sora.

 

[Xathos]

Hmm, its hard to pick between 1 and 2. I really liked the story in KH1, but I ended up button mashing through it. I really liked the combat in 2...but ended up button mashing through it. The story in 2 though got a bit wonky. Things just sort of...happen and aren't given too much explanation. Granted BBS and Days fix a bit of this, but its still weird. Not to mention the Organization wasn't as prevalent as you would have liked. To KH2's credit, the reaction commands and drive forms made everything super cool. I always found KH1 to have that little spark of magic to it, but then again that might just be because its the first one in the series. I guess if I had to pick, it would be KH1.

I personally like Birth By Sleep and Chain of Memoires a lot though. And sure, CoM was a bit of a retread, there was an ongoing mystery and every world was tweaked a bit to cover the themes of memories. BBS was just damn amazing, and I put over 100 hours into it. Days is pretty interesting, and gives you a nice look into Roxas' life and character (which he really needed). The gameplay can get repetitive though, more so than the other games. Dream Drop Distance isn't bad, but I bounce back and forth how much I like it due to the story. If they have to make another Final Mix game to flesh out/explain the story a little more/better, DDD would be it.

And the less said about Re:coded the better. I'm glad we got it, but it might as well have never have happened.

The one thing that never changes though, is my hatred for Wonderland.

 

[Arrogancy]

I will admit that, from a technical standpoint, Kingdom Hearts 2 is the better game. It's combat is better, the antagonists carry actual weight and affect the story in meaningful ways, there are characters with arcs that are relevant and engaging. Overall, it improves on just about everything from Kingdom Hearts 1.

Having said that Kingdom Hearts 2 killed the series entirely and is the worst game in the series despite its technical improvements.

This sentiment might confuse people so I'l explain it a bit.

Kingdom Hearts was a series that invested rather heavily in the nostalgia market. It's a game series about traversing a universe populated by Disney characters letting you interact with them in a magical fantasy world, perplexingly at the corner of Square Enix and Disney. The first game was technically bad, and I loved it, as did many people. It does most of the things I hate about JRPGs save hideous combat. The story was bland and uninspired, virtually all the action felt token and forced, and the characters communicate almost entirely in friendship speeches, yet I found it difficult to care because I was unabashedly playing through my childhood and on a nostalgia trip to rival playing "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time."

Then along came Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories which tried to tell a somewhat compelling story, but no one liked that game and I'm only mentioning it because it was the prelude to the collapse of the series in Kingdom Hearts 2.

Kingdom Hearts 2 killed the series by having good bits. It's terribly unfortunate, but true. I'll explain why I hate Kingdom Hearts 2 from a quote from the movie "Cold Mountain": "Nothing hurts more than having what you really want for a brief time before losing it again." This sentiment sums everything up.

In the second game we are introduced to the character Roxas. Roxas, Sora's alternate form, his Nobody, has character, personality, and a relevant arc. He has a reason to be in the game, and should be the main character. He has a love interest that is engaging and interesting, and actual ethical dilemmas. After playing the first hour or two of the game as Roxas, then being forced to play as Sora for the rest awakened my mind to just how awful the game was. It was the shining moment playing as a character that wasn't bland and uninteresting that snapped me out of the nostalgia blindness that the first game relied on so heavily. Without my rose-tinted glasses it became obvious that Sora was a hideously awful character about as interesting as a line on a piece of paper, the idiocy of the game's tortured story became obvious now that I was actually paying attention to it, and I couldn't stop. All I wanted was to go back playing the interesting character in a better game.

After completing the game, that was pretty much it. I tried playing 358/2 because it starred Roxas, but couldn't finish it, and I haven't touched a Kingdom Hearts game since, nor will I ever.

 

[Meg]

I really only liked the first two, and even then I didn't like the second game as much as I thought I would. My problem is that the story just got too unnecessarily complicated for me. It really boggled down the over all experience. I played a couple of the hand held titles and those only made it worse. Especially Birth By Sleep. Ack!

That said, I looooove the first game and am really excited for the HD version.

 

[Mister Chippy]

I've played Kingdom Hearts one, but I hate the franchise.

Why? Not because it's a bad game, because honestly it's great. Want me to explain why I dislike it then?

Goofy. Fucking Goofy. I'm sorry, but I simply cannot get into a Square Enix fantasy world populated by Disney characters. It's made worse by the fact that the characters in the game who aren't simply product placement are actually quite good, and that the gameplay itself is genuinely enjoyable. However, I'll be getting immersed in the well constructed universe of KH when suddenly "Hey buddy! Let's go on an adventure! Hyuk!" followed by "gooby plz" and immersion broken. Earthshatteringly, irreparably broken. Hell, even the premise is pretty cool, with the idea that there are lots of different world and that each has a heart that must be protected (and then there's the nobodies thingy in the second game, which is awesome), but it all goes downhill when you learn that each world is actually just a little slice of Disney. I'm just not able to form that connection with the Disney characters that I feel with the characters who were actually designed to be in this game, instead of just put in there because Disney.

All my ranting aside, I actually only hate Kingdom Hearts because if it weren't for that goddamned dog and duck (I could probably deal with any of the other characters, but having to deal with two of the dumbest characters in Disney's arsenal as my main party members is too much) those games would probably be some of my favorite games ever. As it is though, I play RPGs for the story and characters as much as the gameplay, and while the story and characters that don't have to do with the big D are kinda amazing, the inclusion of the Disney elements is just so jarring to me that I'm actually unhappy that these real characters are being forced to share a world and plot with moronic talking animals.

I'm sure if I'd played this when I was young and it first came out I'd have loved the shit out of it, but for now I just have to look at it and cry and wish that I could ignore Goofy and love this game just like everyone else seems to be able to do...

 

[Lunar Templar]

KH2, but not for any reason you'd think.

Story/characters? boring to the point I never actually finished it (I did beat KH 1 though)

combat? yay ... mash square to win, and maybe where ever the dodge button was now and then to not die

art style? eh ... some choices I found really stupid (like almost every thing relating to the FF characters)

so what did i like then?

the 'forms' Sora got. Master (I think that was what it was called, it was the white one that was better then the others) form in-particular, cause it removed the retarded AI of Donald and Goofy from combat, seriously, those idiots where always in my way.

but yeah, the different forms Sora got, is pretty much the only reason I favor KH2 over KH1. (not played any KH games since 2 bored me to death, and not going to)

 

[Mirrorknight]

I liked the first one better. While the combat was smoother in II, with the quick time events and near-auto blocking, it was too easy. My favorite fight in the series is the one in the first against possessed Riku. Blocking every one of his teleport sword attacks made me feel bad ass and exclaim "HA! EAT IT YOU BISHIE DOUCHENOZZLE!" Oh, and the Sephiroth fight? On hard. Freaking epic. There was a decided lack of that in the second. Even the Sephiroth fight was kinda lame.

 

[wintercoat]

Speaking of 358/2 Days, I actually loved that game. It's one of my favorites in the series. I hate how people treat it like some unwanted bastard child or something.

Go replay Days. The plot's pacing is abysmal and it was still using the Command Menu, which just plain didn't work for the DS. On top of that, the mission-based gameplay made it very repetitive and tedious. I loved Days too the first time. But when I tried to replay it, I just... I couldn't. It's not that good.

Again? I just replayed it last month! I like to spread out my replayings of my favorite games by a bit more than that. Oh, and i still loved it. I usually replay the entire KH series every 4-5 months or so. Well, except for BBS and 3D, because I own neither a PSP or a 3DS, but they are at the top of my list!

 

[Charli]

2's game play was better but convoluted the story needlessly.
1's story was more constrained and ambiguous but the control was a little more clunky.

I played 1 first back when I was a wee little tween at a friends house and loved it. Then 2 was the release that made me buy a PS2(slim) finally. (was rocking the gamecube)

So...for pure game-play, 2 was better in every-way, better bosses, better combat, better upgrades and systems. Just...the tutorial man...I hope they don't pull that again in 3 as a cute homage. BECAUSE IT WILL NOT BE CUTE. IT WILL INDUCE ONLY NIGHTMARES.

All those handheld titles can fuck right off. Releasing them on PsP, DS and all separated was a huge mistake in getting me to ignore the franchise entirely these past years.

Either put them all on one disk on all or one console or I ain't playing them.