Xbox |OT|

[Spade]

Kingdom Hearts Series Epilogue 3.14159

For those living under a rock, I embarked on an epic journey the last 36 days. I completed every Kingdom Hearts game on Xbox from start to finish. I wanted to do this series its justice by going through in one take without any other gaming breaks which I accomplished in Spades. Why put myself through this torture? Over a year ago, I said to @ice that if Persona came to Xbox, I would play the series. All games on Xbox, including the music game. And then it happened last year at one of my favorite showcases... 

Fast forward to 36 days ago and my journey begins... 

My history with KH was something with great disgust and abhorrence. I tried playing this series a few years ago and quit on the first game in Alice's world. I was determined to get through this... The first days were very challenging. Very outdated gameplay, graphics, and a nonsense story. I ended up getting used to the combat a little more as I unlocked more abilities as well. Gameplay slowly got better with KH 1 --> KH 2. Then the nonsense hit with the card battle. I was not a fan of this. However, once I got used to the card system and was granted more cards, it opened up a little. And once I was at the near end, things could be exploited as to make progression much faster. Birth By Sleep changed up the combat with the deck system, but was inundated with 3 stories while interesting from their perspective, led to a lot of backtracking. Dream Drop Distance brought a series low in terms of gameplay, pacing, and story with getting interrupted mid battle with switching from Sora to Riku. As well as far too much backtracking making you feel like you had to do each world twice. KH 3 brought a series high with updated graphics, smoother gameplay, and beautifully crafted worlds with impressive set pieces lovingly curated to each specific world; a lot of love and attention to detail went into this. Lastly, Melody of Memory brought the series together showcasing one of the series' high points in its soundtrack and memorable scenes. 

Summary of Each Game

KH 1: 7.0/10

Pros:

• Interesting combat that evolves over time. 
• Most worlds are enjoyable to see and explore. 
• Story was probably at most grounded here. 
• FF characters make a cool appearance and cameo. 

Cons

• Outdated layout and lack of user interface. 
• Navigation is very poor. 
• Platforming as well with floaty clunky controls brings down the game further. 
• Slow build that gets better near the end.

KH Chain of Memories: 6.5/10

Pros:

• Combat gets better after you unlock more points... 

Cons:

• Very poor combat at first with an emphasis on card battling. 
• Gameplay is randomly generated rooms with each floor based on a world from the series. 
• Near the end the combat turns into Firaga and Mushu spam. 
• Very annoying spikes of difficulty near the end. 
• Grinding can be an absolute chore especially with Riku. 
• Story really starts to make very little sense with the introduction of Organization 13. 

*During this time you were supposed to play alongside Kingdom Hearts 358/2 which on Xbox is just a collection of cutscenes to fill some holes in CoM...

KH 2: 7.5/10

Pros:

• More developed combat with better controls. 
• More interesting worlds with the addition of Mulan and Lion King. 
• Nice blend of FF and KH characters as well. 
• Great final boss sequence. 

Cons:

• Still outdated in layout, lack of user interface. 
• Story start going off the rails. 
• Most cons stick with 1 can be carried over to 2, with some improvements. 

KH Birth By Sleep: 7.0/10

Pros:

• New cast of characters featuring Aqua, Terra, and Ventus who play a significant role in whatever story Nomura is trying to weave into this whole mess.
• Gameplay starts off strong however... see con. 
• Cool to see each story from different perspective and how each world did feel unique in some way to each character despite overlapping. 

Cons

• Combat gets stale after awhile.
• Story really started to lose me as well. 
• Having to do three stories, while interesting from perspective wise, did feel it padded out the game. 
• Annoying post game grinding. 

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance: 6.0/10

Pros:

• Interesting premise of Sora and Riku taking the field of mastery exam. 
• Finally the game for the first time in the series has a map that you can click select to expand... Wow!!! 

Cons:

• Spirit system takes over from the card system from Birth By Sleep and feels far more annoying in execution as a result. 
• Monsters often get in the way of mobility
• Having the game "drop" you into the other character once the timer runs out, can be manipulated but still annoying during key boss fights, making you re do the whole thing once done. 
• Story is at its worst with going completely off the walls into nonsense.
• Combat feels way too loose with flowmotion a new concept that is far too finicky. If you were to walk over a rail it would active where you would grind instead of just normal walking. 
• Having to essentially do worlds twice as Sora and Riku. 
• Both play very similar with some unique moves, but share spirits, which often prevents you from trying new spirits. 
• Grinding is one of the worst things here... 

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep: 6.8/10

Pros:

• Aqua as playable character! One of the series highlights. 
• Particle effects looking much better. 
• Shotlocks at a great diversifier for combat. 
• interesting to see Aqua's point of view and her struggles as she ventures this new world. 
• Gameplay is simplified, but effective with form changes to the sword with a return to old school KH gameplay with improved tweaks. 

Cons: 

• Far too short... like 3 hours short. If trolling, this could be a pro.
• Not enough to develop much character. 
• Felt like something that was made to keep the base with something until 3... 
• Lack of any Disney Worlds. 

Kingdom Hearts 3: 8.0/10

Pros:

• Gameplay is the strongest yet. With fast paced, frenetic combos with improvements from 0.2 and Dream Drop Distance with better flowmotion controls, keyblade forms and linked attraction and linked attacked. 
• World building is the best so far. Great detail went into so many of the worlds. From Olympus and its introduction to the engine, to the beautifully crafted Toy Palace, to the snows in Arendale. 
• Smaller stories throughout each world are compelling and interesting. Seeing Rapunzel's quirks and how she interacts with the characters and the outside world, Sully and Mike's dynamic that feels authentic in Monster's Inc. 
• Worlds are varied in openess. One world is an open forest in Tangled, to a more linear natured factory setting in Monster's Inc. 
• Caribbean really shows off the visual flare with distinct sections of open sea and underwater traversal. 
• Gummi ship combat the best so far with an open area to explore and do mini missions as well. 
• Boss battles show off the great set pieces as well as give the game a unique flare. 
• Queen Elsa's animated Let it Go scene! 

Cons:

• Story overall again a confusing mess with not much happening in the middle, but a massive plot dump in the end. 
• Lack of expanded map makes some worlds really annoying at times. 
• Gameplay hud can get overly inundated with options where you might want to grind or a rail.. but instead activate a carousel attraction attack... 
• Last Disney world was pretty weak in SanFran Tokyo. 
• Zero FF characters which might be a pro to some, but could have used some. 
• Olympus a little overused as well. 
• Having mobile game characters as integral characters in the plot. 

Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory: 6.2/10

Pros:

• Great song list which highlights a series strength, music. 
• Kairi does the impossible in narrating the series in a summary of each key points explaining the story to the listener. I was able to understand some things a little more clearly on a basic level. 
• Kairi goes on on one with the final boss in the series and still loses. But she tried. 

Cons:

• Gameplay takes some time to get used to with its rhythm style gameplay. 
• Attacks can feel delayed with an animation delay which can throw off timing on proud mode. 
• Progression in main story is walled. 280 stars are needed to access final world. 
• Very grindy in completion. 
• Versus mode can be unplayable with harder opponents with proud mode enabled and tricks which can screw up visibility, take away notes, etc. 
• Another side game that has main story implications... 

Series Rankings:

KH3 > KH2 > KH1 > BBS > 0.2BBS > CoM > MoM > DDD

Character Thoughts:

I used to really hate Donald Duck. However, I saw how well his chemistry was with Sora and Goofy. Seeing him get yeeted in KH 2 was pretty funny as well. He makes as a great break up to the seriousness of the story at times. Aqua is probs my fave character followed by Donald. Sora's an ok protagonist that has a blank canvas kind of personality where he can mesh with others pretty well. Kairi is absolutely useless as well. Riku probably one of the more interesting characters as well. Rapunzel was a standout side character in 3 as well. 

Story:

The worst part of this series. When each game is spread out across different platforms that rely on past games and trying to understand time lines with past, present, and future characters interacting with each other even themselves makes the story overly convoluted to the point of ridiculous. I should not have to play mobile games to understand the story. Game seriously needs a reboot with a fresh story, but I don't see that happening. With an RPG you want to care about the story, but KH makes this very difficult. 

Gameplay: 

Overall they are on the right track with KH 3. Hopefully they don't go card battle system in the next game. I really hope they include an expanded map as well. 

Music: 

Some very good bangers to be honest. Bought Simple and Clean, Sanctuary, and Don't Think Twice. Hikaru Utada did a fantastic job with bringing real emotion into these songs. Each opening was very well done as well. KH 2 being especially good and one of the best intros I've seen. 

Closing Thoughts:

While this journey was long and draining. There were some high spots in KH 3 which end on a high note. If you were a KH fan, I feel you have fun things to look forward to in KH 4 with interesting worlds, music, graphics, and set pieces. Can't say the same for the story. Would love to see different worlds being showcased as well. Would be cool to even see a Final Fantasy World. If Aqua can make Kairi useful in 4 then she's the GOAT in the series. 

Series took a long time to hit it's first real big positive impression on me. Did I become a fan of KH the series? No. I did really enjoy KH 3. If KH 4 came to Xbox (lol) would I play it? Yes. So maybe one day I can become a fan of this "storied" franchise. Maybe in 5 years if KH 4 comes to Xbox... the diary can return. 

Fin. 

Last edited by Spade - on 09 May 2023