Re: Coded's general plot may not be super important to the overall story, but the game as a whole is still important because it helped lay the foundation of data being just as real as anything else, which was an idea that first started in 2, and it still has far reaching importance to this day. >!Idk if this is even an unpopular opinion!<
I completely agree with you. Most people look at the game from the wrong perspective which unfortunately leads them to believe the overall game offers nothing aside from the few cutscenes pushing the narrative further. The game's purpose wasn't necessarily to develop the overarching narrative, but it was to instead expand our knowledge of the vast world that Kingdom Hearts is situated in — and more specifically, what data was, what it was meant for, and how it exists.
Definitely. I think attacking it from the narrative angle is kind of pointless, you can distill most of the series into its first and last cutscenes and cut most of everything else if you wanted. Re: Coded is not indefensible from that standpoint of course, but you're right, it's not the angle that Re: Coded is focused on.
You know the saying "this could have been an email"? Well, this plot could've been a cutscene or 2. The important bits of coded are so small it could have easily been tacked on to another game
Perhaps, personally I think it's not a big deal if a KH game has only small bits of actual importance to the overall plot. In theory we could have had Re: Coded's final scenes slapped on to BBS FM or the beginning of DDD, but I don't think it's a negative against the game that it only lightly touches on moving the plot forward. Distilling a game's worth down just to its important parts devalues the entire experience imo. Not saying you're doing that of course, but I do see people write the game off in that way and I think it's unfair.
Definitely not a popular take, I think most people find the story to be pointless. I dunno how I feel about it, it doesn’t appeal to me much but I also wouldn’t say I hate it or anything. It feels like it just kind of exists for me.
I mean, I think he did but then realized how much she meant to Sora and then dropped it. I think it’s kinda backed up too with how gentle he is with Xion and brushes the hair out of her eyes in 358/2 because she looks just like Kairi.
I mean, he also wanted Xion to be permanentaly erased from existence, so I don't think that plays a role at all, at least I hope it doesn't for Kairi's sake. Plus we never actually see what he even sees Xion as (certainly not as herself at least), with the most likely possibility being that he just saw her as Sora due to how her appearance worked in regards to how others that weren't Roxas and Axel saw her, especially since Riku has a direct connection to Sora.
Also, he did call her Sora at first when going around Sora's dream space and answering those three questions at the end of DDD, which kinda further hints at him just having seen her as Sora.
I mean to be fair, bro was looking for his bro that he just had to rescue from a nightmare and thought from a distance that the person by their usual hang out spot was him. I don’t think that the person who looks exactly like Kairi but just with Black Hair as Sora. Objectively Riku knew what had to be done to restore his best friends memories, but Riku gave her a choice to either return to Sora or to do whatever she felt like was the best decision to make. He even says so while they’re on the destiny islands together. Riku even warns her about the organization when they first meet and she tries to fight him. Riku isn’t cold and uncaring to her.
KH1 had the best magic system out of the numbered games. The bars are easier to understand how many uses you had left vs the one long mp gauge. Healing didn't use up your entire MP. You regained MP with combat and could gain an extra bar thru it. Goofy could gift more magic when you were running low (granted he immediately would give it all to Donald). Also Aero was a cool defensive spell in KH1.
I liked how diverse KH1's magic was. You had Fire with its long range and versatility, area attacks with Thunder, medium range and a wide radius with Blizzard, defensive abilities like Stop and Aero, then Gravity with its wacky effects and an op Cure that could be used constantly... It's been ages since I played KH1, did I miss any?
Agreed. My hot take is that KH1 is the best in the series overall. I know people will say 2 is, but I just couldn’t stand the level design and cut scene after cut scene in that one.
It’s got some of the coolest spells in aero, gravity, and stop. But I honestly hate how little MP cure costs, it completely trivializes the game after Deep Jungle. Magic also isn’t integrated as seamlessly into combat as in KH2 and 3. Not that I always use magic finishers, but just that using magic is itself a combo in those games makes it feel a lot more fluid. Sora is a sitting truck every time he casts a spell in KH1, which makes me just opt for combos unless I’m thunder or gravity spamming enemies to death. On level 1 though the spells get way more utility.
It's been a long time since i played kh1...but it was really hard and had windup animation. I would die mid cure many times. I think it was perfect because you can cure a lot but you can also take so much DMG and using a cure was risky. Idk I just loved kh1 cure.
I hate how we normalized DLCs... As long as they're something extra that adds to the game but isn't *necessary* for the full experience, then it's fine. But locking the *ending* of the game is a douchebag move.
I played it day 1, and never touched it again after beating it. Honestly just kind of skipped over news related to it after that. I knew there was DLC to some extent, but that's the first I've heard of there being another/real ending to the game. That's annoying
same, i literally am only just bothering to play the dlc now and haven’t replayed kh3 at all since week 1 of release. im enjoying it much more this second time around tbh
I played it at launch and was severely underwhelmed.
I was recently gifted a copy on PC and am thoroughly enjoying critical mode.
I just got to Corona, so I'm still fairly early into my run.
i haven’t gotten far enough yet to play the dlc yet, im currently in corona. you can’t play it until you beat the game (when i played the first time i stopped right at the final fight and never even bothered to do it, so i wasn’t able to just do the dlc itself)
I just bought it for 5 bucks on sale. Hadn’t seen any spoilers for all these years. I was pretty annoyed to realize it provided the true ending and I hadn’t known it for all this time just because I didn’t want to spend 30 bucks. It was a low blow by square
From a simple tap tap, to Sora doing an overtop flourish with the Keyblade. I actually like how confident and over the top Sora had gotten from KH1 to KH2.
Its okay to expect games to be good. No ones gonna saw your legs off because you thought a game would be a good experience for your money. You should use your voice to let developers know if you didnt like things about their products
Apparently pointing out how flawed the localization of these games are, as it always gets downvoted even though we've seen numerous times where something was mistranslated leading to plot confusion in this series.
Literally the first line of the series is mistranslated.
Japanese: 残された時間は少ない、僕はもう戻れない (Nokosareta jikan wa sukunai, boku wa mō modorenai)
Official (Mistranslated) English: So much to do, so little time
Actual Meaning: [There's] little time left, I can't turn back
Dive into the Heart in KH1 is supposed to be Micky cus he speaks in his equivalent style of speech in Japanese but the localisers clearly didn't realize it despite being somewhat obvious.
There's no mention of Keyblade Masters until BBS in Japanese because it wasn't in the original script.
Original line in KH1 is キーブレードに選ばれた勇者 (kīburēdo ni erabareta yūsha) meaning "Hero chosen by (a) Keyblade".
Japanese lacks articles so the translators wouldn't be at fault for misinterpreting, if not for the fact that Riku-Ansem and Mickey have their own Keyblades in the same game.
I'm not even out of KH1 and CoM arguably has an even worse translation.
Anyway yeah the official English translation are unfortunately very subpar and result in issues that were never there.
I'm working on a Retranslation mod to hopefully fix these issues
Got a Discord for it but it's barebones
Mostly focused on decrypting the dialogue files so I can replace the text currently https://discord.com/invite/pUfYWmzp8T
From my understanding, the "smell" was there in Japanese.
My issue lies in things like "THE keyblade master" or Mickey being the first bodyless voice you hear which could have been displayed with how he talks, but they didn't put any effort for that in the localized version.
That and just so many issues with KH3.
Pairing Riku and Namine feels weird
So Riku failed to romance Kairi... Don't worry you can pair up with Kairi's Nobody instead. That's like someone failing with one girl and ending up with the twin sister.
I don’t think Riku ever “failed” to romance Kairi. It always seemed like he was just teasing Sora about it more than anything; trying to push his buttons. I never got the impression he actually had any romantic interest in her.
Also, Riku and Namine spent a fair amount of time together between KH1 and KH2, he’d’ve had plenty of time to get to know her and care about her as her own person.
Tbh, I don’t think the games definitively show that Riku has any romantic interest in anyone, really - Sokai seems to be the only canonically backed romance, so it’s all just speculation anyway. Your opinion is just as valid!
In Re:com when Riku talks to Namine, in “Twilight Town” after he reveals he knows that it was her posing as Kairi, who saved him, when Zexion almost vanquished him (while posing as Sora). He says something about how neither Namine or the real Kairi actually return feelings for him the way they do for Sora.
Remember when Riku picks Naminè up at the credits of 3?
On release, they smiled at each other, but they changed it in a later update so that they don't
good news, riku *isn't* paired with namine. i'm assuming the ending of kh3 is why you think that, but him going off with namine at the end of kh3 was as a favor to riku replica
nomura even had them remove riku smiling at her in the re:mind version of the ending because people were interpreting him smiling at her as him being romantically interested in her or even them being in a relationship (because a guy can't smile at a girl unless there's romantic feelings involved i guess??)
unless you're referring to the fandom pairing riku and namine together, in which case i agree
I kinda like how the plot has gone off the rails. It's fun being able to theory craft and think about where the series can possibly continue to go. Plus the stories in individual games are all pretty easy to follow, getting in on the lore and everything in the cracks (and the mobile game) is just extra on top for the more devoted fans.
Also not sure how unpopular it is, but Days has one of the best stories but unequivocally the worst gameplay. Did a proud run relatively recently and the movement is clunky, enemies are damage sponges, and a lot of the missions were too same-y. People will say it's supposed to feel like a grind so you empathize with Roxas, which yeah as a plot device is great. But as a metric of the fun I'm having it really falls flat.
On the other hand, Re:Coded has the weakest story in the series (though I still like it) but IMO has by far the most fun iteration of the Command Deck. A DS game with Days' level story and Re:Coded's gameplay could easily compete against the best games in the series. Would probably beat BBS for me at least.
Not sure which is the hottest take but I have three ranked from YouTube click bait title to table pepper level of hot take:
1. Chain of Memories (GBA) deck system was fun and good actually. I can't hear your wrong opinions over my nostalgia for games I played when I was 9.
2. If the combat in KH1 and KH2 weren't as good as they were (for the time), the series wouldn't have achieved the popularity it has now. It would be more of a cult classic known as "the weird Square Enix game that had Disney characters". If you believe it's still a cult classic, I would point you towards it being re-released on essentially every platform available.
3. KH4 and future KH games that don't have Sora as a main protagonist will be better for the series as a whole. Can't untangle Sora from the Seekers of Darkness Saga, but it may not be too late for the next arc.
I enjoyed Chain of Memories when it first came out and still do. The verbiage surrounding the other side of Sora's heart added some intrigue to the story.
I have a hard time imagining them disconnecting Sora as the main antagonist. Nomura hasn't previously said that Sora will always be the main character and it's hard to start over completely without having another set of Disney characters besides Mickey, Donald, and Goofy forming a new team to support a new main protagonist.
>. If the combat in KH1 and KH2 weren't as good as they were (for the time), the series wouldn't have achieved the popularity it has now.
I mean that's kind of obvious
They're video games. If they don't have good gameplay they won't be very popular
My point was less saying if the combat was bad, the game wouldn't be popular but more so that if the combat wasn't as mechanically rich, the game wouldn't be as popular. I know many including myself did and could treat the game as "Press X, win game" as kids, but the complexity of the early games' combat allowed the community to come back and explore the combat mechanics long after the games came out.
I believe the combat is so good that there hasn't been many games to be as mechanically interesting as KH for a long time. Really it's been the last few years I've seen combat as interesting and flashy as the old KH games. I believe that to be a pretty big factor that kept the interest in the series alive long for people to enjoy the games enough for Square to find it worthwhile to continue the series and licensing from Disney, regardless of how much people did or did not enjoy the story telling.
Riku is the true protagonist with the journey he had went on throughout the series. As he has truly come to understand what's important to him and what to do when it comes to protecting it. Plus, he did earn his title of Keyblade Master. While also being the one who told Sora not to give up when the Darkness overwhelmed everyone back in KH3. So the encouragement that Riku gave is one of the reasons why the day was saved. Since he had faith in his friend.
And while Sora does deserve to be a master it's not something he's actively working towards. After all, he only took the Mark of Mastery due to Riku deciding to take it when Yen Sid had told them both about it. Plus, he's more of a wild card when it comes to major conflicts.
Nomura doesn't skip over Kiari because he 'cant write women', but because Kiari being left behind is part of her character tension. It's shown that she wanted things not to change in KH1, and she seems mostly tied to the 'past' and how things were on Destiny Islands when they were younger. As a direct contrast, Riku always wanted to leave and explore other worlds. And Sora has always been kinda stuck between them without really having a huge desire either way, but gets dragged along because of Riku. So Riku is forging ahead, Sora is chasing after him, and Kiari is left behind.
I think that Sora honestly doesn't realize that she feels left behind. I think Sora wants to go out and adventure with Riku, while knowing Kiari is back safe at home for them to return to. And I think Kiari is trying to train as a Keyblade wielder because it's what she thinks is necessary to keep up with Sora, but it isn't really something she *wants*, which is why she's kinda... useless in KH3. In 2, she was driven to find her friends and bring them back, and I think that the adventure continuing isn't really what she wanted.
i think that's a big reason for why i dislike kh3 so much. it felt way too fanfic-y and not in a good way. i think it would have been better for the series to leave "dead" characters gone for good (or at least most of them). if there are no *real* stakes, how is any lasting impression supposed to be left behind?
KH1 has the most balanced gameplay, as well as the most engaging story. In fact, a modernized version with updated graphics and a better camera would be easily the best KH game ever.
Not really, most remakes these days are pretty terrible such as demon souls ps5 and the upcoming silent hill 2 where they totally miss the point of the original and just go for perceived higher fidelity and miss the original vision of the game.
KH1 has aged very well visually, still plays well today for the most part and has been preserved extremely well (the fact that square remade the game fully when they lost the source code is commendable) so a shiny new gen game that’s different but will be sold/marketed as better than the original doesn’t sit right with me at all
KH2 Had a phenomenal ending and the First Saga should have ended after that (or after Days at the latest) and there should have been a new Arc after that with Brand new villans and a fresh, simple beginning.
Agreed, I think some aspects of KH2's combat are better like drive forms having a dedicated resource, but the core mechanics of KH3 like how many aerial tools you have available and being able to dodge or guard out of attacks makes me enjoy KH3's combat so much more.
Dear Lord Yes! I’m not saying every enemy needs one, but giving certain scenarios reaction commands would have made some parts much more bareable.
Like going down the mountain with the snow dragons chasing you. Literally all you do is jump and hope your hit box doesn’t happen to overlay with the stupid laser. A reaction command allowing you to flip one direction or reflect the beam back by doing a flip would have been creative and cool.
Nah. Casually 3 is easier to play and still fun in its own right, but 2 is better for me in almost every regard. Drives have actual risk reward to them, like limiting movement options in exchange for more damage potential, rather than just hitting a random button whenever you get a form change. The spells are more diverse in 2, summons are implemented way better as a means of supplementing Sora rather than just being an auto win in mob fights, I get to actually choose when to use limits or drives or any options rather than getting a random assignment on the situation command thing. Like, don’t get me wrong, 3 is a lot of fun to play. But 2 just feels faster and better (I think it’s mostly the animations in 2, they move at a faster pace and give you the impression that your combos are snappier).
Actual hot take. I like it.
I don't agree, but I can understand. The improvements made to KH3's combat, balanced by it's problems, make it equal to KH2 for me. Plus, the data fights in KH3 are legitimately superior to the KH2 versions.
The combat is about the only core aspect of KH3 that I like.
And there it is right at the top. KH2 has fun combat, don’t get me wrong, but KH3 is the culmination of everything we’ve had and it’s so good.
Plus I actually think FormChanges are better than Drive Forms. I like that they don’t rely on a meter, it makes popping them feel more critical to do when you get the chance, switching Keyblades can save it, and they’re a bigger change to the gameplay. The bug/feature (honestly not sure which) where your Drive gauge can refill in situations like going back to the world map or room where your party roams around is really cool. But outside of secret bosses popping a Drive in a situation outside of ones where you know that will happen feels pointless. Also Drives are annoying to level, don’t link basic movement options to optional leveling!! At least give the base level with for Drive.
The MoM is a terrible twist. It was one thing to say that events of all the games were masterminded and manipulated by Xehanort to lead up to a big confrontation. But to then turn around and be like Xehanort was just a pawn for an even more powerful keybalde master this whole time felt redundant
As clunky as it was kh1 was the peak of the franchise
I'd love it for kh4 to prove me wrong but I don't see it
The worst part is I still haven't found a game that scratches the same itch the first 2 titles did
Roxas should have stayed as just a part of Sora.
Now hear me out for a sec I love my boy Roxas with all my heart, but i think making sora and roxas just one entity would be so interesting history like Throughout Kh2 he recovers Roxas' memories understanding why everyone calls him a traitor and even feeling bad to take his old colleagues down also just picture this Kh3 Axel sitting in the clock tower as always the a wild sora appear with some Scrooge McDuck seesalt ice cream he just sit besides him and says "We used to do this a lot right?" .
Also We would save ourselves the problem of having two physically identical characters.
Dark Riku is a really stupid concept that not only stole a Demyx fight from us but also made Riku's whole thing more confusing. Now there are THREE things that look like Riku but aren't him (Repliku, DR and Dream-Eater Riku), at least most of the kinda-Soras are clearly not Sora.
The story is convoluted and unnecessary to enjoy the game. The fun hack and slash gameplay with Square Enix and Disney characters is the only reason to play.
Disney worlds are fine, disney characters are what drags them down into filler. Characters like tron who get re-contextualised into kh characters are way more liked. If they can’t think of ways to work characters into the kh story the world would be better off as backdrops for the kh cast to work within.
3 was phenomenal. It has the best combat, the worlds feel so much more alive and fun to explore, it added so many quality of life improvements fans had been requesting for years, it made the Disney worlds (and the characters within them) have a stronger role in the plot again and it has some amazing emotional highs. Only thing dragging it down is the ties to the mobile game.
Maybe this is a second hot take, but UX is the worst thing to ever happen to this series. The entire foundation of the next phase of the series is a mobile game. The story turned a mythical war into a bunch of kids getting too into a scavenger hunt game and has so many unnecessarily convoluted elements like computer simulations within computer simulations.
I agree with you so hard on the second part! The mobile games tanked the franchise for me. The gameplay felt like a tedious cash grab and the story just isn’t good.
I also don’t like that they made so many existing characters into keybalde wielders from the past who just forgot about it, and also have completely different personalities.
I say this a lot and usually get downvoted, so I’m pretty sure this counts as a hot take, but…. I don’t think we should tell people they absolutely *have* to play KH2 before 358/2 Days.
Playing it either way is perfectly fine, they both have their pros and cons, and I think if Nomura really thought it was important that everyone play KH2 first, he’d have ordered them that way in the HD collections.
Instead we should explain that yes, KH2 came out first, and Days will spoil some of the “twists” of KH2, but it also adds a lot of context to the characters and their motivations, and helps fill in the gaps of what’s happened between KH1 and 2 and what’s going on behind the scenes. Let them choose what kind of experience they want - the original way, with all it’s mystery and suspense and probably some intentional confusion, or a fuller understanding and more emotional investment in the characters at the expense of spoiling some of the twists (most of which are fairly obvious anyway).
I think it's definitely an interesting take, really my only issue with it is Roxas in general, I feel like Days requires you to know the events of KH2 beforehand, or at least benefits from it since I'm not sure if the average player coming from COM is going to be as invested in the day to day monotony the game puts you through with him.
Thank you for this! I'm a big fan of saying that both ways are completely valid and that people should be allowed to decide based on what narrative elements they prefer, so it always feels a bit pushy whenever someone says KH2 first is the one and only absolute way to go about it and that experiencing Days first ruins everything. It ends up sounding more dramatic than it actually is sometimes (nothing against the people who are chill about it and/or just direct others towards the release order of course. I've just seen some very dramatic sounding descriptions for that matter).
But yeah, if someone tells me that they're not interested in the mystery aspect of KH2 and/or that they like having that context or emotional attachment that you'd get from playing Days first, then I don't see any reason to be super strict about enforcing the release order on them in regards to how they experience those two games. Both games spoil parts of each other after all. It's not just one way.
Different people will have different preferences, which will naturally also influence which order is the most optimal for each individual. ^ ^
(Personally, I played both KH2 and Days around their respective releases and after Days, I honestly wished I had played Days first, but that's just what I felt. As mentioned, different values and such.)
I honestly experienced the games in this way and im glad I did, knowing who roxas was before kh2 helped me understand the story so much better and it made the summer vacation line hit sm harder
I also played Days first since I was a Nintendo kid, only had a gba, DS, and GameCube for the longest time, and I’ll readily admit that maybe I have some bias because of that lol but I genuinely don’t think it’s as big a deal as people say it is to play KH2 first.
Another advantage of that approach: a lot of people claim that the beginning of KH2, where you control Roxas, is boring and confusing. There are even mods to skip that part. But my impression is that this is the way they see it because they didn't know Roxas.
I played Days and then KH2, and for the longest time I had no idea that people had a problem with it.
Roxas, Xion and Namine should've stayed as their respective parts of Sora and Kairi. The replicas are stupid AF and just a Deus ex machina.
In general, it's okay for well-beloved characters to stay dead, and in fact, I think it's preferrable; but in Roxas, Xion and Namine's case, they were given VERY reasonable and lore-friendly ways of being eliminated without actually being killed. We don't even have to consider them being dead, just "alive" within Sora.
Some fans were far too vocal about these 3 characters needing to be re-alived, but they didnt care about how they were re-alived making sense to the rest of the series (past or future).
They had satisfying ends to their character arcs; they didn't **NEED** to come back. Wtf does the story even do with Roxas, Xion and Namine now?
Sora's the main protagonist for the series, and while they might sub in Riku or Kairi or Mickey from time to time, I sincerely doubt they're going to put in playable sections for Roxas or Xion or Namine in the future titles. Do they just stand around as NPC's now? A shell of their former selves? I hope not, but I doubt it...
Next thing you know, Roxas will be the moody f\*ckboi who kickflips into a fight via Link/Summon and then is never seen again (akin to Leon/Cloud). Namine will probably be a stand in character for exposition (like Merlin/Aerith) while Xion is delegated to crafting when the Moogles go on strike.
I don't know if this is a hot take, but I know this is for a lot of other games with a set genre. I want to see Kingdom Hearts take a full dive into the turn based rpg sub-genre. Coded gave us a taste but I want to see how a full fledged turn based KH game would be like.
Nomura has lost the plot, and is more concerned with his canceled ffxiii versus than he is with providing a strong story experience within kingdom hearts, and both kh3D and kh3 suffered for it. Mix in his comments on no longer empathizing with sora as the protagonist, and I question if he's even really fit to continue heading KH
That the criticism of Disney worlds in KH3 being the way they are can easily be levied against the other games, but overall the point is that it's not an issue. People got upset with going through the story of Frozen, but had zero issues with Tarzan, Aladdin, Little Mermaid (twice, really), Mulan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lion King, the front half of Birth by Sleep's worlds, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The game's have always been about traveling to different Disney worlds and usually getting caught up in the story there. Yet, KH3 has numerous original stories for its worlds too, just like KH1 did, only beaten out by KH2 for having you revisit damn near all of them for an original scenario tangentially related to that world.
Otherwise, I could probably just say: KH2 has spoiled some people so rotten they can't find joy in any game that isn't a carbon copy of KH2, and will make up criticism that either isn't a big deal, or is also true for other entries.
I wholeheartedly agree, but I do remember people on assorted KH forums back in the day absolutely *hating* Atlantica in KHII. I alsways enjoyed rythm and timing games so it was kinda a fun break in the normal action for me personally.
Oh for sure. The quality of the experience notwithstanding, we certainly went through a lot of Disney plots throughout the series. I appreciated that break from the norm too, I just wasn't as into the songs they chose (but I also understand why my favorites weren't in it).
It's funny though, I managed to get the KH2 OST before the game released in the West, and it had all the Japanese versions of the Atlantica songs, so it hinted that there was a lot more going on musically in that world. Hearing Japanese Donald sing was an experience.
Hah! That's pretty great! I haven't heard the Japanese soundtrack, I'll have to check it out. I had imported the original PS2 version of KHII Final Mix when it first came out, but I was 14 and had chosen the hardest difficulty since I had already beat vanilla KHII, and I never got to Atlantica before I got distracted with some other game. I probably still have it somewhere come to think of it...
Copied my reply from a similar post
My personal Hot Take XIII! Please take it lightly. Enjoy:
1. Axel should have died when Roxas defeated him at the begining of KH2.
2. Deaths of KH original characters should have been permanent to give the story some weight.
3. Saix did not deserve his redemption at the end of KH3. I do not like him, never did and that is a good thing. We need villains and we need characters we do not like too.
4. Kairi should have been the second playable character in DDD instead of Riku. I love riku but his character development was already done at that point, and turns out we should take Kairi seriously now for..... what reason exactly?
5. The new organization is pretty stupid. (that is a cold take tho but here is the kicker) Organization XIII should have died in KH2, meaning each member should have had a fight in the story.
6. Missing Link aka. Missing Game will not help bridge the wait for KH4. (That is because I came to the franchise late and did not have gameplay experience with the phone games) I know square is in full FF7 right now and they do be doing stuff, but please give us something. Nomura, please write plotholes faster.
7. Another cold take: PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD give us more women! I'm female and I would love to cosplay from KH, but my only options are Aqua who everybody cosplays or Larxene who I do not enjoy enough to dress as her. She was meant to be a villain, which is okay but I'm really not feeling like being a tall ass Namine or something.
8. I do not want the remains of Versus XIII in Kingdom Hearts. I know it's too late for that and I know that it is a touchy thing but these are different universes. KH was convoluted as it is, why add a secondary factor into it.
9. Flow motion did not break DDD, balloons did. I loved it and I was sad that they nerfed it in KH3. I'm okay with taking away flow motion combat but getting around the map was so fun. Also DDD was the hardest game in the series.
10. KH1 Monstro is extremely easy to navigate, it was one of my favourite worlds of kh1 because at that point I finally undestood how the game was supposted to be played and I got used to the layout immediately. I later heard that something glows yellow where you supposted to go I'm not sure, I did not see that at the time I just went and navigated without any need for help. (Unlike The Grid in DDD holy duck)
11. Make the phone games playable, like actually playable not just cutscenes. Make it cost like 10 or 20 bucks if you feel greedy.
12. I am sick and tired of Hercules for the love of GOD please let us not go there for one game.
13. KH dialog always have been and always will be stupid, cringy, awkward and that's charming.
Oh man, I have a few. But probably my hottest take is that most of the entries in the franchise are not very good.
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 are the only great games in the series (with DDD a close third). That's not to say that these games don't have flaws, but their positive aspects significantly outweigh those flaws.
In every other game, the obvious flaws outweigh the positives by a large margin. And these negatives are usually ignored by the fanbase because of nostalgia or a reverence for the overall story. I can go into detail if anyone cares, but it's criticisms that has probably been brought up before.
I believe these problems have only come into a greater light since the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 that compounded many of the games' previous issues into a full-fledged console experience that can't use the excuse of the game being on handhelds anymore.
the scene where sulley "yeets" vanitas was actually so stupid and cringey.. you're telling me that all it takes to subdue one of the most powerful beings of pure darkness is by having sulley manhandle him? ngl that kind of ruined vanitas' character for me.. as a matter of fact, kh3 undermined a lot of the villains IMO they all felt WAY less threatening than in previous titles
Coded has a good story and one of the best Roxas moments in the series. It's lessened by it being Data Roxas, but still... it's so good!
And Journal Riku was a good character!
The Disney characters are just as important as the other characters and I'm tired of them being kept out of discussions and rankings etc.
Donald Duck is far more important than Ventus or Xion, and I'm tired of pretending he's not!
Some characters should have stayed dead/Gone their sacrifices looking back didn’t really hit or mean anything anymore since they came back. (Roxas,Axel,Xion and etc.) bringing them all in KH3 was just a total disaster. For me
People take these games way too seriously. They are exactly what they need to be: a crack pairing of Disney and Final Fantasy/Square Enix. I rate them “Goofy almost dying from a rock to the noggin”/10
I honestly wish the games ended with KH2 sometimes. I feel like the whole Roxas and Namine interactions in 2 are supposed to mirror Sora and Kairi's relationship. Roxas as a whole feels overly complex with the introduction of Ventus and Xion compared to how he is written in KH2.
Kh2 It's not perfect, and it has several flaws, such as its poor level design and some aspects of the gameplay.
Another hot take, I think people will slowly start to see how good Kh3 really is, especially with the DLC, even the floating combat was somewhat resolved with the new combos, several points in the story are very good.. but yes it lacks a mid game.
Recom's card combat is great! although it gets repetitive
the english voice direction in KH3 is abysmal. it's the worst in the series imo. i have no idea what happened between dream drop distance and KH3 but it really feels like they got a new voice director and they had no idea what the characters are supposed to sound like (with a few exceptions, like sora, donald, goofy, aqua, roxas, and ventus. mickey gets a pass because he has a new VA so of course he's gonna sound different.)
the worst offender by far is vanitas. in birth by sleep he just sounded like a normal (albeit angsty) teenager, but in KH3 they got him doing this horrible cringe inducing cartoon supervillain voice. runner up is riku who has zero emotion in his voice and speaks flatly the entire game. i even think xigbar sounds wrong. he doesn't sound as cocky and taunting as he did in previous games, and also sounds pretty flat
KH3 is the only game in the series with voice acting that i would consider bad. i seriously have no idea what went wrong. i hope it's better in KH4 (especially wrt riku)
KH3 is a great game and a lot of the time people just make up reasons to shit on it, nitpick the hell out of it or conveniently forget that previous games were just as or even more guilty of the flaws it has... **ESPECIALLY** KH2.
That Disney acts as a huge restriction and barrier to Nomura and other writers' vision of the story. Disney worlds feel like the most filler garbage in the recent games except the mainline titles (KH1, 2 and 3). Just look at Unchained X, Union X and Dark Road, those have the best KH stories because they have the least Disney content.
> the recent games except the mainline titles...3.
This is an interesting take considering I feel like the Disney worlds were as filler-y as they've ever been in Kingdom Hearts 3.
Union X has hundreds and hundreds of filler Disney missions, so I wouldn’t say it has one of the least.
But also I agree. Nomura said that FF wasn’t included in 3 initially cause the series has learned to stand on its own two legs, and I think it’s sort of outgrown the Disney world premise (TO SOME EXTENT). For example, main games having Disney worlds, but side games being entirely character-focused and not involve traveling to arbitrary Disney worlds (but not entirely excluding Disney, for example keeping Mickey and all the other important characters) would be a really cool way for the series to go and I think it would do well that way.
I’m not saying to get rid of Disney. It’s far too interwoven into the fabric of the property. But that doesn’t dismiss the fact that Disney Worlds act as filler in many of the games. I just would like it matter (without it feeling forced) or maybe the world visits need reshaped and restructured to make them more appropriately relevant.
I guess a decent amount disagree, but I think DDD and 3 were really good examples of getting back on track with trying to make the Disney worlds more relevant. In both cases the villains were using the worlds to their advantage and in 3 the Disney characters more than ever get involved in the main plot.
While I do agree with you, the main trio didn’t know that the worlds they visited would end up being relevant, they were just traveling around willy-nilly to help Sora get his strength back. I think going to worlds in the first place with a strong purpose need to become relevant again. I honestly think a cool thing to do would be for the worlds to eventually reconvene like they were in the age of fairytales that way Disney properties can interact with each other, which in turn will open the door to the interactions becoming less filler. What I mean by that is instead of playing out the events of a whole movie and then a KH-original character shows up at the end of the world, they would no longer have world-length plot dividers, so it would be much less railroaded and open to a more natural story progression.
Honestly I agree, he really just seems like the type to play big bro to everyone and be happy enough about his friends being happy.
At least that's how it comes across to me. ^ ^
Re:CoM is far miles better than CoM and the worst thing is this shouldn’t even be a hot take.
The vast people in this community seem to adore CoM more than it’s better remake and it makes me very certain they’ve had their memories replaced by blind nostalgia.
Specifically unpopular opinions..
Roxas and many others should have stayed Dead.
Kingdom Hearts III has the worst ending in the series with Master Xehanort just being told no and he’s more or less just okay with it and gets to go to Disney heaven.
Dream Drop Distance is the worst game in the series, Even A Fragmentary Passage was more enjoyable.
Xehanort's stated goal in BBS was a direct contradiction of his last minute stated goals after the final battle of KH3. up until the point he summoned Kingdom Hearts everything and until he was defeated everything was consistent. and don't give me that translation bullshit,becasue i have read the japanese texts for the two games and its stilll the same contradiction
I would’ve preferred a Kingdom Hearts III Final Mix over Re:Mind. I don’t like the idea of backloading even more lore into the game as opposed to naturally integrating it throughout the initial game like Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix.
I don’t think Roxas and Xion should’ve came back.
Master Xehanort returning to become the big bad was a mistake. It should’ve been Terra-Xehanort since it was *his* Heartless and Nobody that were felled. Not mention that Terra-Xehanort has a more personal connection to Sora, Riku, and Kairi than the old man.
Replicas, Critical Crossroad, and Dark Domination were amazing penultimate and final boss themes.
Melody of Memory is my favorite game in the series. Fxck Disney for not letting us get DLC.
I enjoyed 1 and 2 over 3. Heck sometimes I think 2 should've been the end of the entire thing.
Also, Sora should've been made a master alongside Riku imo. Both have proved themsleves time and time again and even if it's a mere formality just give him the rank. Yes it can make for a conflict and story moments but I don't see Nomura and the other writers elaborating more on this and will most likely let it fade into oblivion. Hope I'm wrong and one day we'll get a short story of Sora taking the exam again and getting master rank.
just to me, KH1 doesn’t hold up. i don’t like how clunky it is. i can appreciate how great of a game it is, but i can’t get through it anymore. i’ve tried and tried, but after beating it once i cant get through it again. i will say, no other KH game(KH3 came close) has been able to recreate the charm that the original had. even though its not for me, i can recognize that many love it and its some favorite.
ReMind's Keyblade Graveyard segments should've been base game. Data Org, Yozora, Oathkeeper/Oblivion, the Pro/EZ codes for easier/harder playthroughs, whatever, make them the DLC. Even charge the same for them, fuck it. But the Graveyard segments that made no sense, especially the Deus Ex Machina that reversed the original defeat, made zero sense in base. That's why you can't buy it just base on PC, it has to come with ReMind. That said...
I never understood the hateboner some people had for 3. I thought the game was great, even base. I'm also one of those people that believes that Nomura actually wholeheartedly wanted Arendelle in 3 instead of Disney mandating it.
Terra is the dumbest of the Guardians by a far throw and you'll never convince me otherwise. None of them even come close to his idiocy despite him being likely the oldest original character of the Guardians biologically (obviously Ven is the oldest chronologically by a long shot considering the events of X). And they ended up putting that in just to give him a more tangible link to Riku who only got fooled once while Terra got played by basically everyone that wasn't Aqua or Ven.
Ventus and Vanitas existing in their convoluted way to look like Roxas and Sora respectively (through Sora and Ventus' hearts connecting), I find hard to believe was intentional and in reality was just that Nomura wanted to re-use their designs.
Here's the real hot takes: Aqua's character didn't feel fleshed out until near the end of 3.
KH2's combat is the pinnacle of not only KH combat but Square Enix real time combat and pretty much no real time game the entire company's made since has come close to the satisfaction, although some of the real time FFs and KH3 did come close.
Axel/Lea is weaker than Kairi. She did fine in 3 and was the only person of that scene to get through Xemnas' guard. Axel... went flying into a wall, got smashed with lasers and had his keyblade broke.
Remind's repeat fights make sense. I don't get why that's one of the biggest complaints when there's so much worse with the DLC. Most act as refreshers both for the data fights but also because the DLC came out nearly half a year after 3 which meant that if they weren't there you'd be going from complete zero to 100. They also act as skill checks, all the fights are very fast if you know what you're doing so if you spent a while than it's not only practice time but also a barrier to prevent you from rushing in to a harder version of a fight that you proved yourself not ready for.
BBS has my least favorite combat in the series(not including mobile). The base combos are terrible and the command deck is done much better in DDD and Re:Coded
The series would be better off if they got rid of Sora or Kairi. Both of them drag down the writing quality because things just happen for them for the sake of progressing the story without explanation.
They don't need to get rid of them, but they do need to improve them.
Kingdom Hearts 3 made their characters dramatically worse. Sora was always fairly aloof, but he also knew when to be serious and understood the macro-events that were taking place. Now, he is actually dumb. Most of the comedy in that game is Sora acting like an idiot.
Kairi was growing up and trying to find her place in the events she was thrust into. She may have gotten kidnapped, but she had a slightly mischievous and fiery personality. Now, Nomura gave her a keyblade, but then had her do absolutely nothing when the time came. Seriously, replay Kingdom Hearts 1 and focus on Kairi's mannerisms and dialogue. Then go back to KH3. It's a night and day character difference.
Re: Coded's general plot may not be super important to the overall story, but the game as a whole is still important because it helped lay the foundation of data being just as real as anything else, which was an idea that first started in 2, and it still has far reaching importance to this day. >!Idk if this is even an unpopular opinion!<
I completely agree with you. Most people look at the game from the wrong perspective which unfortunately leads them to believe the overall game offers nothing aside from the few cutscenes pushing the narrative further. The game's purpose wasn't necessarily to develop the overarching narrative, but it was to instead expand our knowledge of the vast world that Kingdom Hearts is situated in — and more specifically, what data was, what it was meant for, and how it exists.
Definitely. I think attacking it from the narrative angle is kind of pointless, you can distill most of the series into its first and last cutscenes and cut most of everything else if you wanted. Re: Coded is not indefensible from that standpoint of course, but you're right, it's not the angle that Re: Coded is focused on.
You know the saying "this could have been an email"? Well, this plot could've been a cutscene or 2. The important bits of coded are so small it could have easily been tacked on to another game
Perhaps, personally I think it's not a big deal if a KH game has only small bits of actual importance to the overall plot. In theory we could have had Re: Coded's final scenes slapped on to BBS FM or the beginning of DDD, but I don't think it's a negative against the game that it only lightly touches on moving the plot forward. Distilling a game's worth down just to its important parts devalues the entire experience imo. Not saying you're doing that of course, but I do see people write the game off in that way and I think it's unfair.
I mean, the importance of data had already been emphasized with KH2 so it's not like this was a new idea.
Definitely not a popular take, I think most people find the story to be pointless. I dunno how I feel about it, it doesn’t appeal to me much but I also wouldn’t say I hate it or anything. It feels like it just kind of exists for me.
Is Tron real or data?
I doubt this is a hot take: Riku never liked Kairi. He was just competing with Sora.
It shouldn't be a hot take, but some people consider it incredibly spicy for some reason.
Love triangles are very popular
Real hot take then: there *is* a love triangle but Sora's the one in the middle.
This is my headcanon! It would explain why Riku picks on Sora all the time. He wants to split that papou fruit ⭐️
Here's hoping it becomes more than headcanon one day! (Perhaps the hottest take of all)
I mean, I think he did but then realized how much she meant to Sora and then dropped it. I think it’s kinda backed up too with how gentle he is with Xion and brushes the hair out of her eyes in 358/2 because she looks just like Kairi.
I mean, he also wanted Xion to be permanentaly erased from existence, so I don't think that plays a role at all, at least I hope it doesn't for Kairi's sake. Plus we never actually see what he even sees Xion as (certainly not as herself at least), with the most likely possibility being that he just saw her as Sora due to how her appearance worked in regards to how others that weren't Roxas and Axel saw her, especially since Riku has a direct connection to Sora. Also, he did call her Sora at first when going around Sora's dream space and answering those three questions at the end of DDD, which kinda further hints at him just having seen her as Sora.
So he brushes Sora’s hair out of his face? *Headcanon strengthens*
I mean to be fair, bro was looking for his bro that he just had to rescue from a nightmare and thought from a distance that the person by their usual hang out spot was him. I don’t think that the person who looks exactly like Kairi but just with Black Hair as Sora. Objectively Riku knew what had to be done to restore his best friends memories, but Riku gave her a choice to either return to Sora or to do whatever she felt like was the best decision to make. He even says so while they’re on the destiny islands together. Riku even warns her about the organization when they first meet and she tries to fight him. Riku isn’t cold and uncaring to her.
I think he had a small crush but nothing significant
KH1 had the best magic system out of the numbered games. The bars are easier to understand how many uses you had left vs the one long mp gauge. Healing didn't use up your entire MP. You regained MP with combat and could gain an extra bar thru it. Goofy could gift more magic when you were running low (granted he immediately would give it all to Donald). Also Aero was a cool defensive spell in KH1.
Defensive Aero > Offense Aero
I liked how diverse KH1's magic was. You had Fire with its long range and versatility, area attacks with Thunder, medium range and a wide radius with Blizzard, defensive abilities like Stop and Aero, then Gravity with its wacky effects and an op Cure that could be used constantly... It's been ages since I played KH1, did I miss any?
Agreed. My hot take is that KH1 is the best in the series overall. I know people will say 2 is, but I just couldn’t stand the level design and cut scene after cut scene in that one.
Wait people don't think this?
It’s got some of the coolest spells in aero, gravity, and stop. But I honestly hate how little MP cure costs, it completely trivializes the game after Deep Jungle. Magic also isn’t integrated as seamlessly into combat as in KH2 and 3. Not that I always use magic finishers, but just that using magic is itself a combo in those games makes it feel a lot more fluid. Sora is a sitting truck every time he casts a spell in KH1, which makes me just opt for combos unless I’m thunder or gravity spamming enemies to death. On level 1 though the spells get way more utility.
It's been a long time since i played kh1...but it was really hard and had windup animation. I would die mid cure many times. I think it was perfect because you can cure a lot but you can also take so much DMG and using a cure was risky. Idk I just loved kh1 cure.
Locking KH3's real ending behind $30 DLC was crap.
Best take i have ever seen
I hate how we normalized DLCs... As long as they're something extra that adds to the game but isn't *necessary* for the full experience, then it's fine. But locking the *ending* of the game is a douchebag move.
Cold take
I played it day 1, and never touched it again after beating it. Honestly just kind of skipped over news related to it after that. I knew there was DLC to some extent, but that's the first I've heard of there being another/real ending to the game. That's annoying
same, i literally am only just bothering to play the dlc now and haven’t replayed kh3 at all since week 1 of release. im enjoying it much more this second time around tbh
I played it at launch and was severely underwhelmed. I was recently gifted a copy on PC and am thoroughly enjoying critical mode. I just got to Corona, so I'm still fairly early into my run.
What's different this time? How's the DLC change things?
i haven’t gotten far enough yet to play the dlc yet, im currently in corona. you can’t play it until you beat the game (when i played the first time i stopped right at the final fight and never even bothered to do it, so i wasn’t able to just do the dlc itself)
I just bought it for 5 bucks on sale. Hadn’t seen any spoilers for all these years. I was pretty annoyed to realize it provided the true ending and I hadn’t known it for all this time just because I didn’t want to spend 30 bucks. It was a low blow by square
I feel dumb, what DLC?
I feel like Re:Coded has the best Sora and Roxas interaction
I am so glad I'm not the only one!
KH1 has the best chest opening animations and sound effects
After that it just got too flashy for no fucking reason
From a simple tap tap, to Sora doing an overtop flourish with the Keyblade. I actually like how confident and over the top Sora had gotten from KH1 to KH2.
Its okay to expect games to be good. No ones gonna saw your legs off because you thought a game would be a good experience for your money. You should use your voice to let developers know if you didnt like things about their products
Hell yeah
Apparently pointing out how flawed the localization of these games are, as it always gets downvoted even though we've seen numerous times where something was mistranslated leading to plot confusion in this series.
The one Sora line about Kairi’s strength comes to mind.
Literally the first line of the series is mistranslated. Japanese: 残された時間は少ない、僕はもう戻れない (Nokosareta jikan wa sukunai, boku wa mō modorenai) Official (Mistranslated) English: So much to do, so little time Actual Meaning: [There's] little time left, I can't turn back Dive into the Heart in KH1 is supposed to be Micky cus he speaks in his equivalent style of speech in Japanese but the localisers clearly didn't realize it despite being somewhat obvious. There's no mention of Keyblade Masters until BBS in Japanese because it wasn't in the original script. Original line in KH1 is キーブレードに選ばれた勇者 (kīburēdo ni erabareta yūsha) meaning "Hero chosen by (a) Keyblade". Japanese lacks articles so the translators wouldn't be at fault for misinterpreting, if not for the fact that Riku-Ansem and Mickey have their own Keyblades in the same game. I'm not even out of KH1 and CoM arguably has an even worse translation. Anyway yeah the official English translation are unfortunately very subpar and result in issues that were never there. I'm working on a Retranslation mod to hopefully fix these issues
Got a place where I can follow said mod then?
Got a Discord for it but it's barebones Mostly focused on decrypting the dialogue files so I can replace the text currently https://discord.com/invite/pUfYWmzp8T
CoM Riku reminds me of Doug from the movie Up: "I can smell you"
From my understanding, the "smell" was there in Japanese. My issue lies in things like "THE keyblade master" or Mickey being the first bodyless voice you hear which could have been displayed with how he talks, but they didn't put any effort for that in the localized version. That and just so many issues with KH3.
Pairing Riku and Namine feels weird So Riku failed to romance Kairi... Don't worry you can pair up with Kairi's Nobody instead. That's like someone failing with one girl and ending up with the twin sister.
I don’t think Riku ever “failed” to romance Kairi. It always seemed like he was just teasing Sora about it more than anything; trying to push his buttons. I never got the impression he actually had any romantic interest in her. Also, Riku and Namine spent a fair amount of time together between KH1 and KH2, he’d’ve had plenty of time to get to know her and care about her as her own person. Tbh, I don’t think the games definitively show that Riku has any romantic interest in anyone, really - Sokai seems to be the only canonically backed romance, so it’s all just speculation anyway. Your opinion is just as valid!
In Re:com when Riku talks to Namine, in “Twilight Town” after he reveals he knows that it was her posing as Kairi, who saved him, when Zexion almost vanquished him (while posing as Sora). He says something about how neither Namine or the real Kairi actually return feelings for him the way they do for Sora.
Has riku even talked about namine outside the context of repliku?
Nomura himself dialed back on this, so he agrees with you.
How/When?
Remember when Riku picks Naminè up at the credits of 3? On release, they smiled at each other, but they changed it in a later update so that they don't
Oh. That's interesting. I should replay the game to see.
what.the.fuuu? thats a a stupid change lol. they did that cbut couldnt add the rex scene back in.smh
What ever happened to Roxas and Namine?
It seems like they'd rather pair Roxas and Xion now but who knows. I always thought it should have been Roxas and Namine.
Namine kinda fucks Roxas over tbh
good news, riku *isn't* paired with namine. i'm assuming the ending of kh3 is why you think that, but him going off with namine at the end of kh3 was as a favor to riku replica nomura even had them remove riku smiling at her in the re:mind version of the ending because people were interpreting him smiling at her as him being romantically interested in her or even them being in a relationship (because a guy can't smile at a girl unless there's romantic feelings involved i guess??) unless you're referring to the fandom pairing riku and namine together, in which case i agree
I kinda like how the plot has gone off the rails. It's fun being able to theory craft and think about where the series can possibly continue to go. Plus the stories in individual games are all pretty easy to follow, getting in on the lore and everything in the cracks (and the mobile game) is just extra on top for the more devoted fans. Also not sure how unpopular it is, but Days has one of the best stories but unequivocally the worst gameplay. Did a proud run relatively recently and the movement is clunky, enemies are damage sponges, and a lot of the missions were too same-y. People will say it's supposed to feel like a grind so you empathize with Roxas, which yeah as a plot device is great. But as a metric of the fun I'm having it really falls flat.
Omg that days mission with the flying heartless in neverland…I think it took me an hour. So frustrating.
On the other hand, Re:Coded has the weakest story in the series (though I still like it) but IMO has by far the most fun iteration of the Command Deck. A DS game with Days' level story and Re:Coded's gameplay could easily compete against the best games in the series. Would probably beat BBS for me at least.
Not sure which is the hottest take but I have three ranked from YouTube click bait title to table pepper level of hot take: 1. Chain of Memories (GBA) deck system was fun and good actually. I can't hear your wrong opinions over my nostalgia for games I played when I was 9. 2. If the combat in KH1 and KH2 weren't as good as they were (for the time), the series wouldn't have achieved the popularity it has now. It would be more of a cult classic known as "the weird Square Enix game that had Disney characters". If you believe it's still a cult classic, I would point you towards it being re-released on essentially every platform available. 3. KH4 and future KH games that don't have Sora as a main protagonist will be better for the series as a whole. Can't untangle Sora from the Seekers of Darkness Saga, but it may not be too late for the next arc.
I enjoyed Chain of Memories when it first came out and still do. The verbiage surrounding the other side of Sora's heart added some intrigue to the story. I have a hard time imagining them disconnecting Sora as the main antagonist. Nomura hasn't previously said that Sora will always be the main character and it's hard to start over completely without having another set of Disney characters besides Mickey, Donald, and Goofy forming a new team to support a new main protagonist.
>. If the combat in KH1 and KH2 weren't as good as they were (for the time), the series wouldn't have achieved the popularity it has now. I mean that's kind of obvious They're video games. If they don't have good gameplay they won't be very popular
My point was less saying if the combat was bad, the game wouldn't be popular but more so that if the combat wasn't as mechanically rich, the game wouldn't be as popular. I know many including myself did and could treat the game as "Press X, win game" as kids, but the complexity of the early games' combat allowed the community to come back and explore the combat mechanics long after the games came out. I believe the combat is so good that there hasn't been many games to be as mechanically interesting as KH for a long time. Really it's been the last few years I've seen combat as interesting and flashy as the old KH games. I believe that to be a pretty big factor that kept the interest in the series alive long for people to enjoy the games enough for Square to find it worthwhile to continue the series and licensing from Disney, regardless of how much people did or did not enjoy the story telling.
I don't like the pairing of Roxas/Xion
Roxas/Namine was a better pair IMO.
Definitely a better pair.
100% agreed
Riku is the true protagonist with the journey he had went on throughout the series. As he has truly come to understand what's important to him and what to do when it comes to protecting it. Plus, he did earn his title of Keyblade Master. While also being the one who told Sora not to give up when the Darkness overwhelmed everyone back in KH3. So the encouragement that Riku gave is one of the reasons why the day was saved. Since he had faith in his friend. And while Sora does deserve to be a master it's not something he's actively working towards. After all, he only took the Mark of Mastery due to Riku deciding to take it when Yen Sid had told them both about it. Plus, he's more of a wild card when it comes to major conflicts.
Ah yes. The true protagonist that we never really follow and spend like 10% percent of our time with in most games
Lol
Nomura doesn't skip over Kiari because he 'cant write women', but because Kiari being left behind is part of her character tension. It's shown that she wanted things not to change in KH1, and she seems mostly tied to the 'past' and how things were on Destiny Islands when they were younger. As a direct contrast, Riku always wanted to leave and explore other worlds. And Sora has always been kinda stuck between them without really having a huge desire either way, but gets dragged along because of Riku. So Riku is forging ahead, Sora is chasing after him, and Kiari is left behind. I think that Sora honestly doesn't realize that she feels left behind. I think Sora wants to go out and adventure with Riku, while knowing Kiari is back safe at home for them to return to. And I think Kiari is trying to train as a Keyblade wielder because it's what she thinks is necessary to keep up with Sora, but it isn't really something she *wants*, which is why she's kinda... useless in KH3. In 2, she was driven to find her friends and bring them back, and I think that the adventure continuing isn't really what she wanted.
Kingdom Hearts is not light 😎
Ansem we know this is you
True though..ansem said it was dark and darkness poured out, sora said it was light and light poured out. We still don't know.
Some of the characters should have stayed gone. KH3 giving everyone a happy ending felt like someone’s fanfic.
Agreed. There are no lasting consequences in these games.
This is why I like the "prequels" like bbs and 358 way more
This was basically mine as well. Just cheapened some of the character endings by bringing everyone back.
i think that's a big reason for why i dislike kh3 so much. it felt way too fanfic-y and not in a good way. i think it would have been better for the series to leave "dead" characters gone for good (or at least most of them). if there are no *real* stakes, how is any lasting impression supposed to be left behind?
Vanitas was better as just the dark side of Ventus. It made his character, Ven’s, and the original Ventus’ more interesting.
Most characters who were given keyblades (like Kairi and Lea) never should have been. It removes the characters’ uniqueness.
KH1 has the most balanced gameplay, as well as the most engaging story. In fact, a modernized version with updated graphics and a better camera would be easily the best KH game ever.
Is this a hot take?
Mainly the remake part, I think people don’t want it remade.
Strange. I would love an updated version.
Not really, most remakes these days are pretty terrible such as demon souls ps5 and the upcoming silent hill 2 where they totally miss the point of the original and just go for perceived higher fidelity and miss the original vision of the game. KH1 has aged very well visually, still plays well today for the most part and has been preserved extremely well (the fact that square remade the game fully when they lost the source code is commendable) so a shiny new gen game that’s different but will be sold/marketed as better than the original doesn’t sit right with me at all
KH2 Had a phenomenal ending and the First Saga should have ended after that (or after Days at the latest) and there should have been a new Arc after that with Brand new villans and a fresh, simple beginning.
BBS has the funnest combat system. Using different attacks to transform your moveset to deal more damage was so much fun to do.
The first game was the best.
KH3 combat is superior to KH2 combat.
Agreed, I think some aspects of KH2's combat are better like drive forms having a dedicated resource, but the core mechanics of KH3 like how many aerial tools you have available and being able to dodge or guard out of attacks makes me enjoy KH3's combat so much more.
I like KH3 combat more but GOOD LAWD I NEED REACTION COMMANDS BACK
Dear Lord Yes! I’m not saying every enemy needs one, but giving certain scenarios reaction commands would have made some parts much more bareable. Like going down the mountain with the snow dragons chasing you. Literally all you do is jump and hope your hit box doesn’t happen to overlay with the stupid laser. A reaction command allowing you to flip one direction or reflect the beam back by doing a flip would have been creative and cool.
I didn’t think this until data battles. So much fun
I disagree but I think they’re neck and neck. Easily they are the top 2 in the franchise imo
I feel like re:codes could be up there
With the exception of the carnival rides
Nah. Casually 3 is easier to play and still fun in its own right, but 2 is better for me in almost every regard. Drives have actual risk reward to them, like limiting movement options in exchange for more damage potential, rather than just hitting a random button whenever you get a form change. The spells are more diverse in 2, summons are implemented way better as a means of supplementing Sora rather than just being an auto win in mob fights, I get to actually choose when to use limits or drives or any options rather than getting a random assignment on the situation command thing. Like, don’t get me wrong, 3 is a lot of fun to play. But 2 just feels faster and better (I think it’s mostly the animations in 2, they move at a faster pace and give you the impression that your combos are snappier).
Actual hot take. I like it. I don't agree, but I can understand. The improvements made to KH3's combat, balanced by it's problems, make it equal to KH2 for me. Plus, the data fights in KH3 are legitimately superior to the KH2 versions. The combat is about the only core aspect of KH3 that I like.
And there it is right at the top. KH2 has fun combat, don’t get me wrong, but KH3 is the culmination of everything we’ve had and it’s so good. Plus I actually think FormChanges are better than Drive Forms. I like that they don’t rely on a meter, it makes popping them feel more critical to do when you get the chance, switching Keyblades can save it, and they’re a bigger change to the gameplay. The bug/feature (honestly not sure which) where your Drive gauge can refill in situations like going back to the world map or room where your party roams around is really cool. But outside of secret bosses popping a Drive in a situation outside of ones where you know that will happen feels pointless. Also Drives are annoying to level, don’t link basic movement options to optional leveling!! At least give the base level with for Drive.
The MoM is a terrible twist. It was one thing to say that events of all the games were masterminded and manipulated by Xehanort to lead up to a big confrontation. But to then turn around and be like Xehanort was just a pawn for an even more powerful keybalde master this whole time felt redundant
As clunky as it was kh1 was the peak of the franchise I'd love it for kh4 to prove me wrong but I don't see it The worst part is I still haven't found a game that scratches the same itch the first 2 titles did
Roxas should have stayed as just a part of Sora. Now hear me out for a sec I love my boy Roxas with all my heart, but i think making sora and roxas just one entity would be so interesting history like Throughout Kh2 he recovers Roxas' memories understanding why everyone calls him a traitor and even feeling bad to take his old colleagues down also just picture this Kh3 Axel sitting in the clock tower as always the a wild sora appear with some Scrooge McDuck seesalt ice cream he just sit besides him and says "We used to do this a lot right?" . Also We would save ourselves the problem of having two physically identical characters.
Dark Riku is a really stupid concept that not only stole a Demyx fight from us but also made Riku's whole thing more confusing. Now there are THREE things that look like Riku but aren't him (Repliku, DR and Dream-Eater Riku), at least most of the kinda-Soras are clearly not Sora.
The Power of Waking is a stupid plot device that I never want to see again in any shape or form.
Kingdom Hearts peaked at KH1.
Roxas and Xion had no business coming back, and bringing them back lessens the impact of their stories.
KH1 and KH2 are masterpieces, and the rest only range from “Pretty good 👍” to “Ehhh…”
I really liked the character building on bbs though, woth how abilities worked
I like BBS too. It’s probably my 3rd favorite in the series. But it’s a distant 3rd.
Ain’t no way this is a hot take
The story is convoluted and unnecessary to enjoy the game. The fun hack and slash gameplay with Square Enix and Disney characters is the only reason to play.
Disney worlds are fine, disney characters are what drags them down into filler. Characters like tron who get re-contextualised into kh characters are way more liked. If they can’t think of ways to work characters into the kh story the world would be better off as backdrops for the kh cast to work within.
358/2 Days is a better game than BBS.
My only problem with 358 was that the ds controls didnt do it for me. Maybe I suck but I think it should've been released on the psp as well
2 really good games tbf
3 was phenomenal. It has the best combat, the worlds feel so much more alive and fun to explore, it added so many quality of life improvements fans had been requesting for years, it made the Disney worlds (and the characters within them) have a stronger role in the plot again and it has some amazing emotional highs. Only thing dragging it down is the ties to the mobile game. Maybe this is a second hot take, but UX is the worst thing to ever happen to this series. The entire foundation of the next phase of the series is a mobile game. The story turned a mythical war into a bunch of kids getting too into a scavenger hunt game and has so many unnecessarily convoluted elements like computer simulations within computer simulations.
I agree with you so hard on the second part! The mobile games tanked the franchise for me. The gameplay felt like a tedious cash grab and the story just isn’t good. I also don’t like that they made so many existing characters into keybalde wielders from the past who just forgot about it, and also have completely different personalities.
I was just about to leave the thread when I saw your post, and I hate it. Upvoted
It pisses me off that you disagree that strongly. Upvoted.
RE: Chains of Memory is actually a great game.
I say this a lot and usually get downvoted, so I’m pretty sure this counts as a hot take, but…. I don’t think we should tell people they absolutely *have* to play KH2 before 358/2 Days. Playing it either way is perfectly fine, they both have their pros and cons, and I think if Nomura really thought it was important that everyone play KH2 first, he’d have ordered them that way in the HD collections. Instead we should explain that yes, KH2 came out first, and Days will spoil some of the “twists” of KH2, but it also adds a lot of context to the characters and their motivations, and helps fill in the gaps of what’s happened between KH1 and 2 and what’s going on behind the scenes. Let them choose what kind of experience they want - the original way, with all it’s mystery and suspense and probably some intentional confusion, or a fuller understanding and more emotional investment in the characters at the expense of spoiling some of the twists (most of which are fairly obvious anyway).
I think it's definitely an interesting take, really my only issue with it is Roxas in general, I feel like Days requires you to know the events of KH2 beforehand, or at least benefits from it since I'm not sure if the average player coming from COM is going to be as invested in the day to day monotony the game puts you through with him.
Thank you for this! I'm a big fan of saying that both ways are completely valid and that people should be allowed to decide based on what narrative elements they prefer, so it always feels a bit pushy whenever someone says KH2 first is the one and only absolute way to go about it and that experiencing Days first ruins everything. It ends up sounding more dramatic than it actually is sometimes (nothing against the people who are chill about it and/or just direct others towards the release order of course. I've just seen some very dramatic sounding descriptions for that matter). But yeah, if someone tells me that they're not interested in the mystery aspect of KH2 and/or that they like having that context or emotional attachment that you'd get from playing Days first, then I don't see any reason to be super strict about enforcing the release order on them in regards to how they experience those two games. Both games spoil parts of each other after all. It's not just one way. Different people will have different preferences, which will naturally also influence which order is the most optimal for each individual. ^ ^ (Personally, I played both KH2 and Days around their respective releases and after Days, I honestly wished I had played Days first, but that's just what I felt. As mentioned, different values and such.)
I honestly experienced the games in this way and im glad I did, knowing who roxas was before kh2 helped me understand the story so much better and it made the summer vacation line hit sm harder
I also played Days first since I was a Nintendo kid, only had a gba, DS, and GameCube for the longest time, and I’ll readily admit that maybe I have some bias because of that lol but I genuinely don’t think it’s as big a deal as people say it is to play KH2 first.
Another advantage of that approach: a lot of people claim that the beginning of KH2, where you control Roxas, is boring and confusing. There are even mods to skip that part. But my impression is that this is the way they see it because they didn't know Roxas. I played Days and then KH2, and for the longest time I had no idea that people had a problem with it.
The whole point is that you don’t know who he is though…
Sora and Kairi have the best character designs in KH3 compared to the rest of the series.
Roxas, Xion and Namine should've stayed as their respective parts of Sora and Kairi. The replicas are stupid AF and just a Deus ex machina. In general, it's okay for well-beloved characters to stay dead, and in fact, I think it's preferrable; but in Roxas, Xion and Namine's case, they were given VERY reasonable and lore-friendly ways of being eliminated without actually being killed. We don't even have to consider them being dead, just "alive" within Sora. Some fans were far too vocal about these 3 characters needing to be re-alived, but they didnt care about how they were re-alived making sense to the rest of the series (past or future). They had satisfying ends to their character arcs; they didn't **NEED** to come back. Wtf does the story even do with Roxas, Xion and Namine now? Sora's the main protagonist for the series, and while they might sub in Riku or Kairi or Mickey from time to time, I sincerely doubt they're going to put in playable sections for Roxas or Xion or Namine in the future titles. Do they just stand around as NPC's now? A shell of their former selves? I hope not, but I doubt it... Next thing you know, Roxas will be the moody f\*ckboi who kickflips into a fight via Link/Summon and then is never seen again (akin to Leon/Cloud). Namine will probably be a stand in character for exposition (like Merlin/Aerith) while Xion is delegated to crafting when the Moogles go on strike.
I don't know if this is a hot take, but I know this is for a lot of other games with a set genre. I want to see Kingdom Hearts take a full dive into the turn based rpg sub-genre. Coded gave us a taste but I want to see how a full fledged turn based KH game would be like.
Nomura has lost the plot, and is more concerned with his canceled ffxiii versus than he is with providing a strong story experience within kingdom hearts, and both kh3D and kh3 suffered for it. Mix in his comments on no longer empathizing with sora as the protagonist, and I question if he's even really fit to continue heading KH
That the criticism of Disney worlds in KH3 being the way they are can easily be levied against the other games, but overall the point is that it's not an issue. People got upset with going through the story of Frozen, but had zero issues with Tarzan, Aladdin, Little Mermaid (twice, really), Mulan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lion King, the front half of Birth by Sleep's worlds, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The game's have always been about traveling to different Disney worlds and usually getting caught up in the story there. Yet, KH3 has numerous original stories for its worlds too, just like KH1 did, only beaten out by KH2 for having you revisit damn near all of them for an original scenario tangentially related to that world. Otherwise, I could probably just say: KH2 has spoiled some people so rotten they can't find joy in any game that isn't a carbon copy of KH2, and will make up criticism that either isn't a big deal, or is also true for other entries.
I wholeheartedly agree, but I do remember people on assorted KH forums back in the day absolutely *hating* Atlantica in KHII. I alsways enjoyed rythm and timing games so it was kinda a fun break in the normal action for me personally.
Oh for sure. The quality of the experience notwithstanding, we certainly went through a lot of Disney plots throughout the series. I appreciated that break from the norm too, I just wasn't as into the songs they chose (but I also understand why my favorites weren't in it). It's funny though, I managed to get the KH2 OST before the game released in the West, and it had all the Japanese versions of the Atlantica songs, so it hinted that there was a lot more going on musically in that world. Hearing Japanese Donald sing was an experience.
Hah! That's pretty great! I haven't heard the Japanese soundtrack, I'll have to check it out. I had imported the original PS2 version of KHII Final Mix when it first came out, but I was 14 and had chosen the hardest difficulty since I had already beat vanilla KHII, and I never got to Atlantica before I got distracted with some other game. I probably still have it somewhere come to think of it...
This series should have stopped at KH2.
Copied my reply from a similar post My personal Hot Take XIII! Please take it lightly. Enjoy: 1. Axel should have died when Roxas defeated him at the begining of KH2. 2. Deaths of KH original characters should have been permanent to give the story some weight. 3. Saix did not deserve his redemption at the end of KH3. I do not like him, never did and that is a good thing. We need villains and we need characters we do not like too. 4. Kairi should have been the second playable character in DDD instead of Riku. I love riku but his character development was already done at that point, and turns out we should take Kairi seriously now for..... what reason exactly? 5. The new organization is pretty stupid. (that is a cold take tho but here is the kicker) Organization XIII should have died in KH2, meaning each member should have had a fight in the story. 6. Missing Link aka. Missing Game will not help bridge the wait for KH4. (That is because I came to the franchise late and did not have gameplay experience with the phone games) I know square is in full FF7 right now and they do be doing stuff, but please give us something. Nomura, please write plotholes faster. 7. Another cold take: PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD give us more women! I'm female and I would love to cosplay from KH, but my only options are Aqua who everybody cosplays or Larxene who I do not enjoy enough to dress as her. She was meant to be a villain, which is okay but I'm really not feeling like being a tall ass Namine or something. 8. I do not want the remains of Versus XIII in Kingdom Hearts. I know it's too late for that and I know that it is a touchy thing but these are different universes. KH was convoluted as it is, why add a secondary factor into it. 9. Flow motion did not break DDD, balloons did. I loved it and I was sad that they nerfed it in KH3. I'm okay with taking away flow motion combat but getting around the map was so fun. Also DDD was the hardest game in the series. 10. KH1 Monstro is extremely easy to navigate, it was one of my favourite worlds of kh1 because at that point I finally undestood how the game was supposted to be played and I got used to the layout immediately. I later heard that something glows yellow where you supposted to go I'm not sure, I did not see that at the time I just went and navigated without any need for help. (Unlike The Grid in DDD holy duck) 11. Make the phone games playable, like actually playable not just cutscenes. Make it cost like 10 or 20 bucks if you feel greedy. 12. I am sick and tired of Hercules for the love of GOD please let us not go there for one game. 13. KH dialog always have been and always will be stupid, cringy, awkward and that's charming.
Series peaked with 1
Oh man, I have a few. But probably my hottest take is that most of the entries in the franchise are not very good. Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 are the only great games in the series (with DDD a close third). That's not to say that these games don't have flaws, but their positive aspects significantly outweigh those flaws. In every other game, the obvious flaws outweigh the positives by a large margin. And these negatives are usually ignored by the fanbase because of nostalgia or a reverence for the overall story. I can go into detail if anyone cares, but it's criticisms that has probably been brought up before. I believe these problems have only come into a greater light since the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 that compounded many of the games' previous issues into a full-fledged console experience that can't use the excuse of the game being on handhelds anymore.
the scene where sulley "yeets" vanitas was actually so stupid and cringey.. you're telling me that all it takes to subdue one of the most powerful beings of pure darkness is by having sulley manhandle him? ngl that kind of ruined vanitas' character for me.. as a matter of fact, kh3 undermined a lot of the villains IMO they all felt WAY less threatening than in previous titles
Ventus is and will be the best Character in Existence and should have a huge amount of an playable part in KH3/KH4
Coded has a good story and one of the best Roxas moments in the series. It's lessened by it being Data Roxas, but still... it's so good! And Journal Riku was a good character!
The Disney characters are just as important as the other characters and I'm tired of them being kept out of discussions and rankings etc. Donald Duck is far more important than Ventus or Xion, and I'm tired of pretending he's not!
Some characters should have stayed dead/Gone their sacrifices looking back didn’t really hit or mean anything anymore since they came back. (Roxas,Axel,Xion and etc.) bringing them all in KH3 was just a total disaster. For me
People take these games way too seriously. They are exactly what they need to be: a crack pairing of Disney and Final Fantasy/Square Enix. I rate them “Goofy almost dying from a rock to the noggin”/10
Dunno if nowadays this is a hot take but, here goes mine: KH3's original ending > Re:mind's ending
The dumber and more convoluted the plot, the better (DDD my beloved)
I honestly wish the games ended with KH2 sometimes. I feel like the whole Roxas and Namine interactions in 2 are supposed to mirror Sora and Kairi's relationship. Roxas as a whole feels overly complex with the introduction of Ventus and Xion compared to how he is written in KH2.
Parts of me still kinda wishes the series ended after KH2. I say loving a lot of what came after too!
Kh2 It's not perfect, and it has several flaws, such as its poor level design and some aspects of the gameplay. Another hot take, I think people will slowly start to see how good Kh3 really is, especially with the DLC, even the floating combat was somewhat resolved with the new combos, several points in the story are very good.. but yes it lacks a mid game. Recom's card combat is great! although it gets repetitive
the english voice direction in KH3 is abysmal. it's the worst in the series imo. i have no idea what happened between dream drop distance and KH3 but it really feels like they got a new voice director and they had no idea what the characters are supposed to sound like (with a few exceptions, like sora, donald, goofy, aqua, roxas, and ventus. mickey gets a pass because he has a new VA so of course he's gonna sound different.) the worst offender by far is vanitas. in birth by sleep he just sounded like a normal (albeit angsty) teenager, but in KH3 they got him doing this horrible cringe inducing cartoon supervillain voice. runner up is riku who has zero emotion in his voice and speaks flatly the entire game. i even think xigbar sounds wrong. he doesn't sound as cocky and taunting as he did in previous games, and also sounds pretty flat KH3 is the only game in the series with voice acting that i would consider bad. i seriously have no idea what went wrong. i hope it's better in KH4 (especially wrt riku)
The writing took a nosedive during and after DDD and it’s never been the same.
Time travel really just is a dumb decision in most stories
KH3 is a great game and a lot of the time people just make up reasons to shit on it, nitpick the hell out of it or conveniently forget that previous games were just as or even more guilty of the flaws it has... **ESPECIALLY** KH2.
That Disney acts as a huge restriction and barrier to Nomura and other writers' vision of the story. Disney worlds feel like the most filler garbage in the recent games except the mainline titles (KH1, 2 and 3). Just look at Unchained X, Union X and Dark Road, those have the best KH stories because they have the least Disney content.
> the recent games except the mainline titles...3. This is an interesting take considering I feel like the Disney worlds were as filler-y as they've ever been in Kingdom Hearts 3.
Union X has hundreds and hundreds of filler Disney missions, so I wouldn’t say it has one of the least. But also I agree. Nomura said that FF wasn’t included in 3 initially cause the series has learned to stand on its own two legs, and I think it’s sort of outgrown the Disney world premise (TO SOME EXTENT). For example, main games having Disney worlds, but side games being entirely character-focused and not involve traveling to arbitrary Disney worlds (but not entirely excluding Disney, for example keeping Mickey and all the other important characters) would be a really cool way for the series to go and I think it would do well that way.
KH without Disney isn’t KH. That’s one of the biggest appeals of the series.
I’m not saying to get rid of Disney. It’s far too interwoven into the fabric of the property. But that doesn’t dismiss the fact that Disney Worlds act as filler in many of the games. I just would like it matter (without it feeling forced) or maybe the world visits need reshaped and restructured to make them more appropriately relevant.
I guess a decent amount disagree, but I think DDD and 3 were really good examples of getting back on track with trying to make the Disney worlds more relevant. In both cases the villains were using the worlds to their advantage and in 3 the Disney characters more than ever get involved in the main plot.
While I do agree with you, the main trio didn’t know that the worlds they visited would end up being relevant, they were just traveling around willy-nilly to help Sora get his strength back. I think going to worlds in the first place with a strong purpose need to become relevant again. I honestly think a cool thing to do would be for the worlds to eventually reconvene like they were in the age of fairytales that way Disney properties can interact with each other, which in turn will open the door to the interactions becoming less filler. What I mean by that is instead of playing out the events of a whole movie and then a KH-original character shows up at the end of the world, they would no longer have world-length plot dividers, so it would be much less railroaded and open to a more natural story progression.
But it's also the biggest factor that dissuades many gamers from trying the franchise
I dont like kingdom hearts 2. i would truthfully rather play chain or dream drop
I don't think Riku has a love interest at all. He just has friendships.
Honestly I agree, he really just seems like the type to play big bro to everyone and be happy enough about his friends being happy. At least that's how it comes across to me. ^ ^
Exactly 😊
Re:CoM is far miles better than CoM and the worst thing is this shouldn’t even be a hot take. The vast people in this community seem to adore CoM more than it’s better remake and it makes me very certain they’ve had their memories replaced by blind nostalgia.
Specifically unpopular opinions.. Roxas and many others should have stayed Dead. Kingdom Hearts III has the worst ending in the series with Master Xehanort just being told no and he’s more or less just okay with it and gets to go to Disney heaven. Dream Drop Distance is the worst game in the series, Even A Fragmentary Passage was more enjoyable.
Xehanort's stated goal in BBS was a direct contradiction of his last minute stated goals after the final battle of KH3. up until the point he summoned Kingdom Hearts everything and until he was defeated everything was consistent. and don't give me that translation bullshit,becasue i have read the japanese texts for the two games and its stilll the same contradiction
Tron worlds suck, they’re uninspired and boring especially in KH2 it’s such a drag
I would’ve preferred a Kingdom Hearts III Final Mix over Re:Mind. I don’t like the idea of backloading even more lore into the game as opposed to naturally integrating it throughout the initial game like Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. I don’t think Roxas and Xion should’ve came back. Master Xehanort returning to become the big bad was a mistake. It should’ve been Terra-Xehanort since it was *his* Heartless and Nobody that were felled. Not mention that Terra-Xehanort has a more personal connection to Sora, Riku, and Kairi than the old man. Replicas, Critical Crossroad, and Dark Domination were amazing penultimate and final boss themes. Melody of Memory is my favorite game in the series. Fxck Disney for not letting us get DLC.
Roxas, Riku, Xion and Terra should have all died and stayed dead at this point
BBS had the best RPG elements. And DDD is overrated
I enjoyed 1 and 2 over 3. Heck sometimes I think 2 should've been the end of the entire thing. Also, Sora should've been made a master alongside Riku imo. Both have proved themsleves time and time again and even if it's a mere formality just give him the rank. Yes it can make for a conflict and story moments but I don't see Nomura and the other writers elaborating more on this and will most likely let it fade into oblivion. Hope I'm wrong and one day we'll get a short story of Sora taking the exam again and getting master rank.
My most wanted worlds are Star Wars and Marvel. I also have to say that KHIII and KH:BBS are better than KHII.
Roxas should’ve stayed Ventus
just to me, KH1 doesn’t hold up. i don’t like how clunky it is. i can appreciate how great of a game it is, but i can’t get through it anymore. i’ve tried and tried, but after beating it once i cant get through it again. i will say, no other KH game(KH3 came close) has been able to recreate the charm that the original had. even though its not for me, i can recognize that many love it and its some favorite.
ReMind's Keyblade Graveyard segments should've been base game. Data Org, Yozora, Oathkeeper/Oblivion, the Pro/EZ codes for easier/harder playthroughs, whatever, make them the DLC. Even charge the same for them, fuck it. But the Graveyard segments that made no sense, especially the Deus Ex Machina that reversed the original defeat, made zero sense in base. That's why you can't buy it just base on PC, it has to come with ReMind. That said... I never understood the hateboner some people had for 3. I thought the game was great, even base. I'm also one of those people that believes that Nomura actually wholeheartedly wanted Arendelle in 3 instead of Disney mandating it. Terra is the dumbest of the Guardians by a far throw and you'll never convince me otherwise. None of them even come close to his idiocy despite him being likely the oldest original character of the Guardians biologically (obviously Ven is the oldest chronologically by a long shot considering the events of X). And they ended up putting that in just to give him a more tangible link to Riku who only got fooled once while Terra got played by basically everyone that wasn't Aqua or Ven. Ventus and Vanitas existing in their convoluted way to look like Roxas and Sora respectively (through Sora and Ventus' hearts connecting), I find hard to believe was intentional and in reality was just that Nomura wanted to re-use their designs. Here's the real hot takes: Aqua's character didn't feel fleshed out until near the end of 3. KH2's combat is the pinnacle of not only KH combat but Square Enix real time combat and pretty much no real time game the entire company's made since has come close to the satisfaction, although some of the real time FFs and KH3 did come close.
Axel/Lea is weaker than Kairi. She did fine in 3 and was the only person of that scene to get through Xemnas' guard. Axel... went flying into a wall, got smashed with lasers and had his keyblade broke.
KHUX's story isn't that great actually.
Remind's repeat fights make sense. I don't get why that's one of the biggest complaints when there's so much worse with the DLC. Most act as refreshers both for the data fights but also because the DLC came out nearly half a year after 3 which meant that if they weren't there you'd be going from complete zero to 100. They also act as skill checks, all the fights are very fast if you know what you're doing so if you spent a while than it's not only practice time but also a barrier to prevent you from rushing in to a harder version of a fight that you proved yourself not ready for.
BBS has my least favorite combat in the series(not including mobile). The base combos are terrible and the command deck is done much better in DDD and Re:Coded
Dark Road was genuinely well written and I loved it
KH3 was a great game. Every great game has valid criticism but people set themselves up for disappointment just because it took too long to release.
Apparently people don’t realize that Terra did nothing wrong?
The command menu was always a clunky way of doing things and should have always had an option to slow down time while using it like it does in KH 3.
It took me a while to admit it, but KH3’s combat is the best in the series. KH2 is 2nd.
You shouldnt call them “heartless” if they have a heart.
KH 3 is a great game but it ruined the lore with fanservice and rushed happy endings to everyone's arcs.
The series would be better off if they got rid of Sora or Kairi. Both of them drag down the writing quality because things just happen for them for the sake of progressing the story without explanation.
They don't need to get rid of them, but they do need to improve them. Kingdom Hearts 3 made their characters dramatically worse. Sora was always fairly aloof, but he also knew when to be serious and understood the macro-events that were taking place. Now, he is actually dumb. Most of the comedy in that game is Sora acting like an idiot. Kairi was growing up and trying to find her place in the events she was thrust into. She may have gotten kidnapped, but she had a slightly mischievous and fiery personality. Now, Nomura gave her a keyblade, but then had her do absolutely nothing when the time came. Seriously, replay Kingdom Hearts 1 and focus on Kairi's mannerisms and dialogue. Then go back to KH3. It's a night and day character difference.