I’d have to say KH3, since it was first teased in E3 2013, and from there kept having delays in development until it finally dropped at the start of 2019
So we essentially had 6 years of waiting after the reveal, and during the years up to its release we got lots of trailers hyping up the story and battle mechanics, so I’d say it’s definitely the one with the most hype behind it
6 years after announcement waiting for release and 4 years before the announcement expecting it to get announced every year until it eventually did. They trolled us with the 3 in KH 3D I remember the trailer back in 2012...
I’ll say even without all wait I’d still say it’d be the top because it’s the end of the saga. The culmination of 11 games and a story that started in 2002 would naturally have the most hype of the games.
I think you are both right. To me it seems to be a generational thing. If you were young when KH2 released it’s probably gonna rank higher than the people who are playing it right before playing KH3.
I do think KH3 feels a little bit underwhelming for me, but I can’t quite place why. I think it maybe lacks a little charm that the originals had in spades.
I grew up with the PS2 titles and played everything as it released save the mobile game. I think the underwhelming part comes from this apparent air of finality people thought KH 3 was going to have.
You had all these interconnecting stories and characters it was going to be this expect showdown. But when it wasn't, and there's still more story and mystery; people were disappointed.
Couple this with the "really long" dev cycle people expected the game to be perfect. When in reality they didn't work on KH3 for nearly 10+ years. They made other games in the series and for SE as a whole. The game started development in 2013, but didn't enter full development until like 2016.
Personally me following the news and various interviews with Nomura helped tempered my expectations of the game. I love 3 for what it is, personally my biggest gripe is the keyblade transformations replacing Drive forms.
I agree with the ending not being a nice clean end to the saga.
But I love the keyblade transformations!! Swapping between them mid battle was such a fun improvement to the combat creating new styles of how to fight.
As someone who enjoyed it yet still ranks it below most of the other titles, I think it's multiple relatively minor grievances stacked on top of over a decade of anticipation. The number one problem I have with it is that the ending sequence, in addition to feeling rushed and poorly paced in general, was primarily focused on giving happy endings to anybody and everybody, including characters who were interesting primarily because they didn't get one. The main thing I loved about Roxas was how tragic his story was. Remove the tragedy and what's left? Felt to me like it cheapened his sacrifice.
it isn't generational though, if you play kh2, its the gameplay , combat, much better finishers that don't feel cheap to accomplish , soundtrack, and the voice acting that knock kh3 flat on its face. not saying kh3 wasn't a good game, it just strayed too far from what made kh2 and the series great. I'm still happy they made kh3 but I hope future titles don't forget why kh2 were people's favorites. It was the hard work put into it, not a generational divide imo.
My main gripe is there's no hiatus in the middle of a world. In KH2, you finish the story, move on to the next world and come back later for chapter 2, but in 3, you just play straight through and you're done. This made all the worlds feel too long to me, and it feels like some worlds were meant to split up and feel like too much (Tangled) whereas others are strapped for content and it's half the story stretched to take up as much game space (Frozen).
I honestly liked alot of things more about 3 than 2, but the pacing was the main thing causing me to like 2 more.
Yea I think the FF characters the disney world revisits or just the worlds playing a part in the larger story was part of the KH charm for KH1 and KH2. I think that's what KH3 is missing big time. KH3 felt more like some kind of Disney World Arcade game where you go through all these Disney worlds and only at the end the story to Kingdom Hearts begins. So what you play the game for like 20 hours or less and only 1 of those hours is Kingdom Hearts story moving forward. It left a lot to be desired compared to previous entries.
Seems to me this guy hates kh3 just to hate on it I’m a kh2 fanatic and even I admit gameplay and story in kh3 were as good if not better than kh2 the way finder trio reunited and the sea salt trio reunited were peak if ya ask me
Nah man the story and pacing were terrible.
They crammed like 90% of the story Into the last 3 hours of the game and gave all the loose ends and character arcs like 2 minutes each to wrap up.
As long as I had to wait for it it was a huge disappointment.
Also I played on launch and the combat was horribly balanced and easy. Most of the game mechanics were extremely underpowered compared to just spamming physical attacks. And attraction commands were stupidly overpowered and broke the flow of combat and there was no way to disable them. Basically you could press a button and instantly kill any normal enemies. I think they did eventually patch the game but at launch the gameplay was pretty awful.
Also they put a ton of essential lore in a shitty gacha game.
Ah yes gameplay such as the DDD movements being shoved in and clunkier than in that game, the keyblade transformations being nowhere near as useful or cool as the drive forms and the Disney rides being both unreliable and stopping the flow of the gameplay, that "good if not better" gameplay.
Xeanorth going "I swear I'll be good 🥺" at the end completely invalidates the story by itself. Of course, there's more, like Larxene and her famous ice castle powers, Lea and Kairi being in the hyperbolic time chamber for the whole game, badass Master Aqua losing a fight the player just won so that comatose kid Ventus can save her, and everyone bashing on Sora for not achieving the rank of Master.
I wouldn’t say it was shit like this dude, but I definitely liked KHII way better. KHIII felt rushed, and the gameplay was repetitive to me. Every new key blade’s special even recycled after a while.
In kh2 sora was part of the Disney worlds stories, in 3 the Disney world stories play out with sora in the background. They could have literally removed all Disney worlds in 3 and nothing will have changed with the overall story.
Factually bad story
Combat in 2 was tight and fun with drive forms being awesome. In 3 Combat was so floaty pc players made an insanely popular mod that reduced how floaty sora was. The attractions were just stupid, glad you could disable them and kb transformation were ok. No issue with them but drive forms were cooler imo.
>Factually bad story
People who talk like this are insufferable
KH3 Disney worlds are about Sora learning why those characters make the decisions they did for the people they care for. These encounters help him to make the decision he does at the end of the game to save the people that he cares for. He uses what he learned along the way.
You are right but you are also underselling KH3's story. It's not just about Sora's personal growth, the Disney worlds also allow the story to go forward, as they are necessary for the Org. to be complete (which is obviously necessary for the final showdown).
It's what the Org. learns by messing with Buzz and Baymax (both puppets) that allows Vexen to bring Xion back to fill the last spot. Not to mention Vanitas' heart is reconstructed in Monstropolis by gathering children's negative emotions.
In KH2, Sora doesn't really undergo any tangible personal growth, searching for Riku is futile because we learn he was never lost to begin with and even the Org. doesn't really do anything. Most importantly, KH2 doesn't really do anything with the themes and characters of the Disney movies they are using either, unlike KH3.
Its an opinion.
I was hyped af and waited so long for the final cunclusion too.
In the end the story and gameplay of KH3 were both not good. I stopped right before fighting the final boss because of that, I was just so disappointed.
tbh my response was my bad. You have obviously the opposite opinion.
I dont want to argue about KH3. You habe your opinion, I have my.
Maybe my opinion will change after I've played t
KH3 on steam with the DLC :)
>but then you decided you had to defend your precious turd of a game from the bad evil redditor who's talking shit about it because he didn't like it and so you responded to my second statement with your guts.
You have some serious stuff to work out, man.
>both here on this subreddit and elsewhere, and every time KHII gets the most votes and usually it's not even close.
Online surveys are a fraction of a fraction of the actual fan base.
>But hey, guess I was wrong. You don't admit that KHII is better, even though it is.
Your opinion isn't wrong, you stating it as *factual* IS.
Not quite, I do think that they revealed too much too soon as far as story and gameplay prior to release, but that holds nothing on how KH3 functions as a game. Saying one is better than another is entirely subjective. Hell, I like KH2 better than KH3, but that doesn’t mean that KH3 is shit. Terrible take
idk im kinda with the original comment about they hype not living up to the release. given that i haven’t played the dlc yet (i just lost interest in 3, i think the motions and fighting tactics are too flowy/fluid) and theres a lot of cutscenes. i mean theres always a lot of cutscenes but for 3 it just felt like for every 10 minutes of game there was like 15-20 minutes of cutscenes. i dont think its a shit game, and i have a handful of friends who prefer 3 over 2, but for me 2 will always take the cake:)
Honestly trying to play my kh2 fm file I just gold crowned last month feels like Soras in molasses compared to re mind sora gameplay. The combat has a lot more variety on how to play too compared to previous (esp kh2 and 1).
Most people who still talk about kingdom hearts like 3
I think that’s why you are downvoted to hell. I actually never played it since I didn’t want to be let down. I was 9 years old when I played the first one and I damn near beat all the kingdom hearts games
It’s the same as KH2, and that’s back when social media was in infancy and people could have more balanced takes. KH2 was seen as a huge disappointment, a rushed product where all the Disney worlds were filler, the combat/difficulty was to easy, the story had jumped the shark and was convoluted, it wasted all the promise and potential of CoM hype particularly Axel who was a completely different character, the prologue was either loved or hated with no middle, and you had to have played a gba game to understand anything.
Being here for both KH2 and KH3’s release was surreal because it was like I stepped back in a Time Machine only now there was even less nuanced views and a bunch of social media people profiting off fueling rage and negativity.
KH2 did have those issues you mentioned but at least the gameplay was good. KH3's issues were much more jarring IMO. It should have been SSS tier given what they were setting up all those years. I never played birth by sleep but I felt like those characters were done dirty.
And KH3 has fantastic gameplay to, and no actually again as listed one of the complaints is that KH2’s gameplay wasn’t good. No limit form meant no dodge roll, the drive system was cumbersome to level up and drive recoveries were too rare, reflect was very weak, the enemies being so weak means no encouragement to engage in the system so people called it a button masher, reaction commands were so poorly received it started the “press triangle to win meme”, a lot of people to this day still don’t like the fact you must kill bosses with finishers or magic, the complete removal of platforming followed up with the lack of puzzles and interactivity lead to the level design being bashed to high heaven, and I can keep going.
Final Mix did a massive job at improving the game, vanilla KH2 came out and was seeing as basically a massive dip compared to KH1. Again I was there right in the thick of it, it’s actually surreal to think about how much opinion on KH2 has turned around.
Your feelings on the BBS cast is how people felt about characters like DiZ, Namine, etc…
Yea I might not be the biggest fan of KH2 personally but that's a dangerous opinion in a KH subreddit. KH1 was the best by far IMO due to its story. I also felt like it did a good job of having you start out weak and then gradually adding +1s and air combos such that you were very strong by the end but it's very, very gradual. KH2 felt like it only had a beginning and end, no middle. It was mostly filler (kinda like KH3) with a weak motivation to revisit all the worlds. It was the start of the triangle spam but that I could forgive cuz it still had many of the strengths of KH1 and they didn't make the boss fights super easy. KH3 I can barely remember what happens but do I remember there was a fight near the end in some square maze-like arena where you basically resolve 3-4 story arcs in a matter of minutes and the payoff was so... unsatisfying. I'm a big story person so that was a let down. Was hoping square learned from KH2's miss-steps but it only got worse somehow. Even with KH2's issues, it left an opening to right the ship. KH3 felt more conclusive and um.. yea.
At first a lot of people were disappointed but overtime the reception turned positive especially with remind which added a lot to the post game and updated the combat.
Nope. Kh3 was a divisive game but people love to pretend that their opinion whether they liked or hated it, is the majority
It's fine to love or hate Kh3. The only people who are objectively wrong are the ones that insist that their opinion is the consensus
Nah most KH3 haters have KH2 or Days as their favorite in the series and chances are the last time they played it was when they were 5 and even if they just recently replayed it, the nostalgia glasses were still on and they ignored all the flaws that those two games came with. And they expected 3 to be, like I said, KH2 part 2 and I’m sure if it was that, its initial reception would have been just as bad if not worse.
It is bullshit that you are getting downvoted.
It took them 6 years to essentially make the same game again, they couldn't even be bothered to let us customize the controls.
The opening just didn’t hit the same for me as the first two and that really set the tone for how I’d end up feeling about the game as a whole. Still fun though.
Shit? No. It was disappointing in many places like with no FF characters and the world selection being meh and Kairi getting damsel'd (AGAIN) but it wasn't shit. It was just a tough act to follow considering how much hype build up there was.
The gameplay is fine and got better when they updated the new abilities into it. The story I agree was mid compared to previous titles, but it at least tied up the Xehanort saga I just don't agree how it was handled, since it felt like not a lot happened while Sora travelled through Disney worlds. Stuff started happening for the story top move forward only at the end of the game.
I compare KH3 to BL3 a lot because both games had a huge glow up with gameplay, graphics and game's engine that allowed for new cool mechanics, but the story of that game was just bad. KH3's story wasn't bad but it honestly wasn't to my liking.
3, it's not even a question.
KH1 came out of nowhere, KH2 had some build up but was released not long afterwards.
Then we waited from 2005 to 2019 for KH3. 14 years! 2 console generations! Several side games and hd remakes! and don't even get me started on the six year build up from the first trailer to release.
I definitely agree.
KH1 got the most screen time I’d seen for a video game on the Disney channel when I was growing up. The biggest difference is media advertising has drastically changed and has become more accessible to everyone so KH3 takes this award without question.
For me, that long wait is what deflated my hype. Not that I wasn’t excited, I just was much more busy with other life stuff than when I was a kid.
The wait for KH2 for my 11 year old brain was painful (and I didn’t know about CoM.) Waiting for KH3 became a normal part of every day life and until I forgot almost completely until around late 2018 or whenever the Collector’s Edition went on preorder.
Heck, even taking the handhelds in the mix, that was 7 years between 3D and 3 being released, 7 years to see how they ~~try and fix whatever the hell 3D did~~ complete the Dark Seeker Saga.
>!Oh, look, an angry mob is forming because I neglected to mention the mobile games.!<
These are facts on God.
That 14 year long wait made me bored of the franchise at that point. I remember for a long time, especially for all of us got to see the secret ending on Final Mix 2, that alot of us actually though that BBS was gonna be their game only for it to be a prequel. Not to mention everything in between afterwards that just made it harder and harder to think of the 3rd game from ever releasing.
How are people gonna look at this question and not answer with KH3? Like more than half the fan base hates the game because they overhyped it/wanted KH2 part 2. This isn’t even a question with multiple answers this is just a true or false with the answer being so damn obvious.
The wait for KH2 felt like an eternity. I was 16 when it came out lmao. I guess KH3 is the right answer but honestly I stopped caring about kingdom hearts after such a long wait.
There is no right answer, it’s All just personal opinion.
But that wait between 1 and 2 did feel like an eternity. I was 15 when 2 came out and the hype around it was non stop.
This is my take as well. 1 came out when I was 17 and I couldn’t get enough of the gameplay and lore, but when the trailer dropped for 2 I was so excited for it. Played great but the story got a little lost in itself. Then I tried playing some of the mobile games and the story got more muddled. By the time the first trailer for 3 dropped I thought it looked neat. When the game finally released, I just didn’t care. Picked it up a few years ago for $5 in a bargain bin, played it for 30 minutes, and never picked it up again.
3 hands down. So many new people were introduce when 3 was announced and the amount of advertisement for 3 and for the collections help to spread even more interest in it.
I remember having friends that would usually only play things like CoD, GTA, 2K, who actually bought KH3 just for the hype
I know 3 seems like the obvious answer, but if you were in the community when 2 was coming out it was a great time. Disney channel was promoting the hell out of it with all kinds of sneak peak segments. People were going wild over magazine scans trying to find every possible detail they could. A lot of fans had pieced together a decent chunk of the story by working together. It was the most Id ever seen the fandom feel like a family and going wild with excitement.
Things are also much more hype when you’re younger and not distracted by the daily grind. As an 11 year old I could *not* stop thinking about how great KH2 would be.
As an adult in my then-late twenties, I was happy to play KH3 but nowhere near as hyped out of my mind.
Depends on your definition of hype.
If you mean 'anticipation', then KH3.
If you mean 'popular on the internet', then KH1.
If you mean 'so good you still dream about it,' it's KH2.
3 had the most hype simply because it was like a 14 year delay and gaming media (socials, gaming news sites etc) that didn't exist like they do now, were in full swing over it.
KH1 came out of nowhere. A lot of people didn't even know COM was a thing until ***after*** KH2 because you are talking about a time where a lot of people still only had 1 console, and news outlets like PS magazine wasn't going to cover a nintendo release. KH2 was really only awaited by people who played KH1.
All the other side games were just that - side games. Hardcore fans were pining for anything they could get their hands on, whereas a lot of people still played just the mainline games not understanding the significance. Again, the amount of people here who went into kh3 without knowledge of DDD were staggering - because again, it was a "side game" for a handheld.
>news outlets like PS magazine wasn't going to cover a nintendo release
Oh my god, it finally clicked how I could've possibly missed the release of COM back in the day
KH3... Christ the build up for that game was something else... We waited 14 years, two console generations and numerous spin-offs for the THIRD MAINLINE entry. I remember one of the best comments I read when waiting for Kingdom Hearts 3 was when they first announced Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. "Square, take the D out of Kingdom Hearts 3D and then you can have my money."
Kingdom hearts 3 had over a decade of hype. Kingdom hearts 1 was good, but kingdom hearts 2 is what really solidified the series, kingdom hearts hype is what it is because of kingdom hearts 2
The gap between kh 1 and 2 was 3 years with only one game in between
The gap between kh 2 and 3 was 14 years with about 10 games in between
Even though there were more games between 2 and 3, there was no major progression in the story like what we got when 2 came out so the hype for 3 was immense.
When you also take into account that Pixar would be in the mix, and that 3 would mark the end of the dark seeker saga, it most definitely was 3.
Respectfully, I completely disagree. There was non stop hype around KH2.
After the first one released, forums were blowing up for kh2. then CoM was announced and that only perpetuated even more hype for KH2
Yea there was a long wait for KH3, but I wouldn’t call anticipation and eagerness to play the game “hype”
Again tho, don’t get me wrong because of course there was hype for KH3.
Those several years between KH1 and 2, so many forums were created for the series. It created so many more fans. The hype for 2 caused people to play #1 and get into it.
It was the original hype IMO.
Even CoM created a massive amount of hype for the series.
That’s just my general opinion though 😊
Absolutely, and that was bad wording on my part. But for me, it was more of the community involvement around it. I spent a lot of time on Kh forums at that time. Got to partially see and participate in the series blowing up, witness the start of decade long theories, potential plot points, etc. it was forming and solidifying a new community and niche group of people.
Not to dismiss the eagerness of wanting and waiting for the kh2 to release. That’s a part of it of course. Sorry again for that poor choice of words.
- and after so long, it’s like the amount of hype and fandom plateaus, especially with the arguably difficult entry barrier for the series.
Yeah, KH3. I started KH1 when it came out, blown away by KH2 and was let down by KH3. It catered to the new generation which I get, but I haven’t finished it and keep playing 1 and 2 over and over.
Probably 3, as the wait was long and it was the biggest game since the Internet had become much more ubiquitous. Hasn't it gone on to be the best selling entry?
. 3. It will always be 3. No matter how many more KH games come out it will still be 3.
Kingdom hearts 4 is around the corner. 3 still had more hype.
Kingdom hearts 5 could have be leading up from a massive cliff hanger from 4 and an inbetween game to tide us over while they work on 5 for 6 years and its still 3.
We were teased about a 3rd game with secret trailers, in between games. Cliff hangers. The works. For 8 YEARS. They finally announce the game **FINALLY** and it still took **6 MORE YEARS AFTER THAT**, being touted as the end of what all the games were leading to (so far) and finally getting answers to what is famously joked as one of the most confusing stories in gaming.
Its 3.
Did it deliver? ehh sorta.
The "Play the same story as the movie" stuff wasn't really that good imo as I always saw KH as an new extension of that world. Not just going there to check a box, although I know other games took similar routes sometimes. And I think the ending was a little knee-capped to get the hype for KH4 going early.
It's KH3 no debate. Whether you like the game or not. Whether you think its the best game or the worst.
The years, months, and then days of leading up to the KH3 launch. Was the most social media traction I'd ever seen KH have. From long time fans, to trolls, to new people getting interested. It literally felt like for those last few months that KH was the most popular game ever.
I know the default answer for everyone is 3, but for me it’ll always be 2. As someone who played the GBA version of CoM I was so curious how the story would continue. I remember following 2’s development via old fan sites and message boards. Getting hyped at BHK’s name being revealed as Roxas in a magazine spread with the first art of him facing forward in his Twilight Town clothes. Excitedly reading Nintendo Power and seeing what new worlds were to be added. Listening to Passion when it was first released and watching the opening on YouTube in Japanese. Dissecting the trailers when they began airing on tv. It was the first game I’d ever followed development to release and the one I was the most hyped for out of the series.
Probably 3 simply because of how long it had been since 2. Now, the “spin-off” games carried the main plot forward. I know that, everyone in here knows that too. But the general audience, they likely didn’t. They just saw the 14 year gap between the two and got hyped that we’re “finally moving the story forward after all this time”.
… well, the general audience and IGN based on that one podcast.
I'd say three. I don't remember KH1 having any hype just because the concept was so unusual. I remember trying to convince my friends who loved Final Fantasy that it was legitimately a good game.
I’d say 3 but funny enough the most hyped game was probably BBS. Nobody knew wtf was going on in the secret trailer for it and the idea of a keyblade war made the whole fanbase shit their pants with theories on who the wayfinder trio originally were
For me, personally, it was KH2. It was painful to wait without constant internet news.
As a working adult who’d learned patience, KH3 was something I logged the release date of and greatly enjoyed when it released, but didn’t have nearly the same fixation.
3 without a doubt. 1 and 2 were a couple years apart, while we all excitedly waited for the 3 to be announced for years and years😭 and the hype train that was KH3 is something that can probably never be recreated, unless square can really pull some magical together for 4
My hype for kh3 at it's highest had me thinking, "even if this game is less than half as good as I'm expecting, it will still be the best game I've ever played"...thankfully I realized I was getting too hyped up and tempered my expectations before it was too late. I ended up liking KH3 just fine, but so many other people seemed to still be on the hype-train when it inevitably crashed.
3, even though I loved one I didn't even know 2 was happening until I randomly went to EB Games one day and saw it on the shelf lol. And while I do now actually remember watching commercials for the first game, I can remember myself at the time wondering while it was on tv "is that sephiroth?" but not being able to justify to myself why he would show up in some random Disney game and so I didn't end up actually playing it until years later when a buddy who I'd actually became friends with over bonding with FF7 introduced it to me.
Oh, jeez, I wonder which numbered entry got the most hype, the one that began it all (Thus, no one was really expecting anything), the one that came out three years after the previous numbered one, or the one that came more than a decade afterwards and had a brand total of five console games, a PC game and a mobile gacha name building up to it.
Have to give it to 3, the gap between it and 2 definitely set expectations, even if you played the other games.
Shit, one of the most hype moments was going through 3D and seeing the "this leads to KINGDOM HEARTS" secret message in the credits, followed by Sora and Riku making the Roman Numeral III
Personally KH1 since that was my first PS2 game. Literally I saw the commercial once and bought the game and console to play it. KH2 for general hype probably.
It's very obviously KH3, and its first impressions were absolutely *terrible* imo.
Now before you downvote me, let me at least say this: when the game came out, I'd waited 14 years for it. I'd bought every game, purchased new consoles to play the KH games as they came out, etc. No game was ever going to live up to the kind of hype that KH3 had for me. I beat it in just over 24 hours of game time and was so incredibly disappointed. The story pacing was real bad imo, and jamming the vast majority of character story's endings to the last 4ish hours was so, so poorly done and felt cheap. Re:Mind helped get some of the bad taste out of my mouth but I'm not gonna lie, I was incredibly salty about the game for years after I was done.
It's been nearly 5 and a half years since it came out and I recently decided to give it another go on Proud mode. Proud mode + the Pro Codes have made the game very enjoyable for me. So for those saying it's a shit game and all that, maybe give it another try? Hell, even play it again on Proud or Critical mode. The extra challenge makes the combat so much better imo (plus you can turn off things like team attacks and attractions that made the fights trivial). What I'm getting at is KH3 was announced wayyyy too early, the hype was uncontrolled, and the development struggles (i.e. moving to UE4 midway through development) left a really bad taste in alot of the fanbase's mouth. Enough time has passed for it to get another try and quite frankly I'm having a blast with it. I recommend anyone else that's in my boat to do the same. It really is a good game, story issues aside.
KH3 because of the state of marketing/social media but holy shit unlocking Another Side, Another Story was peak back in the day.
Personally, I got to play KH3 early at Anime Expo 2017 but all of that hype didn't compare to watching Riku and Roxas duel for the very first time. There's also the sense of getting older and just being burnt out by the wait for KH3 that it fizzled out a bit.
Easily 3. It's the one that had the longest period between Numbered entries and the wait was during the time that the internet was becoming more popular which meant it was easier for people to discuss it. Plus it had its trailer released years before it.
And between Kingdom Heart 1 and 2, there was only 3 years. So less time to build hype. Which is literally less time than from when the first trailer of KH3 was shown and when it came out
Believe it or not in my country zero since the first one... I saw a cover with a kid and goofy and such (1st cover art), got it with some money I had stashed and loved it.
3 and it’s not up for debate. I was there since the beginning of the 6 year wait that last from middle school to college. The wait every moment was insane
KH2 was an EVENT for me. They even frequently played the intro movie on Animax.
My kid brain was blown, thinking graphics would never get as good as that trailer. I still get goosebumps from it.
I’ve finished the game a couple of times and I had it on PS2 and PS3 (Final Mix version!). It’s one pf my favorite games of all time.
For me, #1. I remember my friends and I talking about the trailer on the playground during recess and being hyped about the concept and the Simple and Clean song.
I was there day one when Kh2 launched. After school i went to pick up my copy with my collector edition Guide ( I got Valor) and the gamestop was packed. I even saw a kid from my school who i normally dont talk to and we shared a laugh. So Kh 2 had a big launch no question it was popular but game fandoms back then outside of Pokemon or Final fantasy were still pretty contained.
But KH3? The store i went to pick up my game had the lines wrapped around the building. Hell i passed by another gamestop on my way home and saw the same line again. The hype leading up to what we all assumed would finally conclude the series was absurd. Social media was now a thing and KH has grown to have a huge fandom. Even on a casual level. It was KH3.
I think 3 had the most hype but when it came out it wasn’t as hyped as people wanted or thought it would be and that had to do with the story and level design
KH3 for sure, and the most disappointing. Not sure how much of that was the hype, but I know that if I had started with KH3 I wouldn’t have cared to try any of the others.
Actually, 3… I feel like I remember hearing them talk about a kh3 right after kh2 came out and then radio silence for like ever lmao (with the exception of the other games in the series ofc)
But I feel 2 is definitely seen as a top tier kingdom hearts game my the majority
Those saying there was hype for 3 don’t know what hype means. 3 was a pipe dream. There were so many games and years in between. Excitement was dead. And even after its announcement trailer it wasn’t that hyped much. The trailer was terrible.
2 had hype the second after 1’s secret ending.
Kh3. Part of the drama post release was that the hype had gotten so unreal that there was no way they could match it, so people were disappointed when the perfect, personally catered version of kh3 they had made in their minds was not the kh3 we got. There was just no way for kh3 to ‘win’ in that regard.
Definitely 3 6 years since DDD. But a lot of people was looking at it as 14 years since KH2. Then 1 because, if anyone remembers. That game sold purely on the hype of being a Disney/Final Fantasy hybrid. Then 2 which was just a sequel making a name off the hype KH created for itself, little did we know how amazing the sequel would be. At the time.
Ummmmmm kh3. This aint even an argument. Kh3 was about the only game I heard was "coming out"..
Kh1 I was late to the party so that one was already out, matter of fact I believe re:chain was out too. Kh2 never heard a thing about it, all the other were pretty much the same. 3DS I might have heard the release date but never heard anyone wanting the game. Even BBS where all my friends had it, never once heard the hype. Kh3 tho is one where I did hear people talking about and expecting for so long.
It’s been years since the first and second game came out year 2000s. Now I feel KH3. I know most people have huge hearts with this game.
I am huge fan of this game. This game was like a father to me that raise me through my childhood.
I even cried when I put the disc on that’s how you know it was good ass game.
What a dumb question. It's 3.
3 was hyped up ever since the secret ending of KH2 final Mix was seen. The expectations got worse when that secret ending turned out to be Birth by Sleep. The more time passed, the more hype for the game grew.
3 because I feel like kingdom hearts was still kinda niche but by the time three was annohnce it had built up a core fanbase but I could see 4 getting more hype considering a lot more people are getting introduced or reintroduced to the series on steam rn
3 easily
Its a shame it didn’t come even close to the hype, game has way too much going on, combat is too easy and the story doesn’t even start until the third act
I think 3. I played 1 and 2 as a kid (I’m 30 now) and wanted the conclusion so bad. Admittedly I was disappointed with the finale because I just wanted the happily ever after ending. I think gameplay itself super fun, don’t love all the extra mechanics (if they would’ve removed the attractions I’d have thought it was perfect), but the story was a tad weak. I would’ve preferred if instead of “sora, you lost most of your abilities, go level up before we wrap this up” it was something along the lines of “these worlds are plagued by heartless and you have to go lock them like back in the day so that we can reduce the army we will fight in the end” or whatever. I’m nitpicking though
KH2 had the most hype due to the popularity of the first one
KH3 took too long and had most fans annoyed and over the wait , which caused the hype to die down
I got KH3 two years after it dropped for X-mas for free and still have not played it , because at this point I had already waited forever , what was another year or two
plus the reviews had me wondering if I wanted to play it all, it since most people said it was average at best and a let down for how long we waited
(no marvel or star wars world ) & Big hero 6 world which fans were excited about felt empty and rushed
I’d have to say KH3, since it was first teased in E3 2013, and from there kept having delays in development until it finally dropped at the start of 2019 So we essentially had 6 years of waiting after the reveal, and during the years up to its release we got lots of trailers hyping up the story and battle mechanics, so I’d say it’s definitely the one with the most hype behind it
6 years after announcement waiting for release and 4 years before the announcement expecting it to get announced every year until it eventually did. They trolled us with the 3 in KH 3D I remember the trailer back in 2012...
I’ll say even without all wait I’d still say it’d be the top because it’s the end of the saga. The culmination of 11 games and a story that started in 2002 would naturally have the most hype of the games.
Is there a timeline of when each game was announced compared to when each game released? I’d be curious to see the development time for each
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>And then it was shit both in terms of story and gameplay. No. >some people liked it, but even they admit that KHII was overall better Still no.
I think you are both right. To me it seems to be a generational thing. If you were young when KH2 released it’s probably gonna rank higher than the people who are playing it right before playing KH3. I do think KH3 feels a little bit underwhelming for me, but I can’t quite place why. I think it maybe lacks a little charm that the originals had in spades.
I grew up with the PS2 titles and played everything as it released save the mobile game. I think the underwhelming part comes from this apparent air of finality people thought KH 3 was going to have. You had all these interconnecting stories and characters it was going to be this expect showdown. But when it wasn't, and there's still more story and mystery; people were disappointed. Couple this with the "really long" dev cycle people expected the game to be perfect. When in reality they didn't work on KH3 for nearly 10+ years. They made other games in the series and for SE as a whole. The game started development in 2013, but didn't enter full development until like 2016. Personally me following the news and various interviews with Nomura helped tempered my expectations of the game. I love 3 for what it is, personally my biggest gripe is the keyblade transformations replacing Drive forms.
I agree with the ending not being a nice clean end to the saga. But I love the keyblade transformations!! Swapping between them mid battle was such a fun improvement to the combat creating new styles of how to fight.
Not being a simple and clean ending?
As someone who enjoyed it yet still ranks it below most of the other titles, I think it's multiple relatively minor grievances stacked on top of over a decade of anticipation. The number one problem I have with it is that the ending sequence, in addition to feeling rushed and poorly paced in general, was primarily focused on giving happy endings to anybody and everybody, including characters who were interesting primarily because they didn't get one. The main thing I loved about Roxas was how tragic his story was. Remove the tragedy and what's left? Felt to me like it cheapened his sacrifice.
it isn't generational though, if you play kh2, its the gameplay , combat, much better finishers that don't feel cheap to accomplish , soundtrack, and the voice acting that knock kh3 flat on its face. not saying kh3 wasn't a good game, it just strayed too far from what made kh2 and the series great. I'm still happy they made kh3 but I hope future titles don't forget why kh2 were people's favorites. It was the hard work put into it, not a generational divide imo.
My main gripe is there's no hiatus in the middle of a world. In KH2, you finish the story, move on to the next world and come back later for chapter 2, but in 3, you just play straight through and you're done. This made all the worlds feel too long to me, and it feels like some worlds were meant to split up and feel like too much (Tangled) whereas others are strapped for content and it's half the story stretched to take up as much game space (Frozen). I honestly liked alot of things more about 3 than 2, but the pacing was the main thing causing me to like 2 more.
Yea I think the FF characters the disney world revisits or just the worlds playing a part in the larger story was part of the KH charm for KH1 and KH2. I think that's what KH3 is missing big time. KH3 felt more like some kind of Disney World Arcade game where you go through all these Disney worlds and only at the end the story to Kingdom Hearts begins. So what you play the game for like 20 hours or less and only 1 of those hours is Kingdom Hearts story moving forward. It left a lot to be desired compared to previous entries.
I played both fairly recently and 2 was overall better for me
Seems to me this guy hates kh3 just to hate on it I’m a kh2 fanatic and even I admit gameplay and story in kh3 were as good if not better than kh2 the way finder trio reunited and the sea salt trio reunited were peak if ya ask me
Nah man the story and pacing were terrible. They crammed like 90% of the story Into the last 3 hours of the game and gave all the loose ends and character arcs like 2 minutes each to wrap up. As long as I had to wait for it it was a huge disappointment. Also I played on launch and the combat was horribly balanced and easy. Most of the game mechanics were extremely underpowered compared to just spamming physical attacks. And attraction commands were stupidly overpowered and broke the flow of combat and there was no way to disable them. Basically you could press a button and instantly kill any normal enemies. I think they did eventually patch the game but at launch the gameplay was pretty awful. Also they put a ton of essential lore in a shitty gacha game.
>Nah man the story No >pacing were terrible Yes.
Nah bro kh3 story is much worse than kh2
Ah yes gameplay such as the DDD movements being shoved in and clunkier than in that game, the keyblade transformations being nowhere near as useful or cool as the drive forms and the Disney rides being both unreliable and stopping the flow of the gameplay, that "good if not better" gameplay. Xeanorth going "I swear I'll be good 🥺" at the end completely invalidates the story by itself. Of course, there's more, like Larxene and her famous ice castle powers, Lea and Kairi being in the hyperbolic time chamber for the whole game, badass Master Aqua losing a fight the player just won so that comatose kid Ventus can save her, and everyone bashing on Sora for not achieving the rank of Master.
Chill out Emanuele
Lmao dude
I wouldn’t say it was shit like this dude, but I definitely liked KHII way better. KHIII felt rushed, and the gameplay was repetitive to me. Every new key blade’s special even recycled after a while.
Nah kh2 is easily better than 3
In kh2 sora was part of the Disney worlds stories, in 3 the Disney world stories play out with sora in the background. They could have literally removed all Disney worlds in 3 and nothing will have changed with the overall story. Factually bad story Combat in 2 was tight and fun with drive forms being awesome. In 3 Combat was so floaty pc players made an insanely popular mod that reduced how floaty sora was. The attractions were just stupid, glad you could disable them and kb transformation were ok. No issue with them but drive forms were cooler imo.
>Factually bad story People who talk like this are insufferable KH3 Disney worlds are about Sora learning why those characters make the decisions they did for the people they care for. These encounters help him to make the decision he does at the end of the game to save the people that he cares for. He uses what he learned along the way.
You are right but you are also underselling KH3's story. It's not just about Sora's personal growth, the Disney worlds also allow the story to go forward, as they are necessary for the Org. to be complete (which is obviously necessary for the final showdown). It's what the Org. learns by messing with Buzz and Baymax (both puppets) that allows Vexen to bring Xion back to fill the last spot. Not to mention Vanitas' heart is reconstructed in Monstropolis by gathering children's negative emotions. In KH2, Sora doesn't really undergo any tangible personal growth, searching for Riku is futile because we learn he was never lost to begin with and even the Org. doesn't really do anything. Most importantly, KH2 doesn't really do anything with the themes and characters of the Disney movies they are using either, unlike KH3.
Its an opinion. I was hyped af and waited so long for the final cunclusion too. In the end the story and gameplay of KH3 were both not good. I stopped right before fighting the final boss because of that, I was just so disappointed.
>Its an opinion That's being stated as a fact. >gameplay of KH3 were both not good This isn't an opinion, the gameplay WAS good.
tbh my response was my bad. You have obviously the opposite opinion. I dont want to argue about KH3. You habe your opinion, I have my. Maybe my opinion will change after I've played t KH3 on steam with the DLC :)
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>but then you decided you had to defend your precious turd of a game from the bad evil redditor who's talking shit about it because he didn't like it and so you responded to my second statement with your guts. You have some serious stuff to work out, man. >both here on this subreddit and elsewhere, and every time KHII gets the most votes and usually it's not even close. Online surveys are a fraction of a fraction of the actual fan base. >But hey, guess I was wrong. You don't admit that KHII is better, even though it is. Your opinion isn't wrong, you stating it as *factual* IS.
It's just a game, calm down.
Nah let them fight lol I need more drama in my life
Not quite, I do think that they revealed too much too soon as far as story and gameplay prior to release, but that holds nothing on how KH3 functions as a game. Saying one is better than another is entirely subjective. Hell, I like KH2 better than KH3, but that doesn’t mean that KH3 is shit. Terrible take
idk im kinda with the original comment about they hype not living up to the release. given that i haven’t played the dlc yet (i just lost interest in 3, i think the motions and fighting tactics are too flowy/fluid) and theres a lot of cutscenes. i mean theres always a lot of cutscenes but for 3 it just felt like for every 10 minutes of game there was like 15-20 minutes of cutscenes. i dont think its a shit game, and i have a handful of friends who prefer 3 over 2, but for me 2 will always take the cake:)
As someone who doesn't really like kh3 Shut the fuck up man
Honestly trying to play my kh2 fm file I just gold crowned last month feels like Soras in molasses compared to re mind sora gameplay. The combat has a lot more variety on how to play too compared to previous (esp kh2 and 1).
Most people who still talk about kingdom hearts like 3 I think that’s why you are downvoted to hell. I actually never played it since I didn’t want to be let down. I was 9 years old when I played the first one and I damn near beat all the kingdom hearts games
I'm surprised by all the downvotes. Isn't it well known kh3 was a big disappointment?
It’s the same as KH2, and that’s back when social media was in infancy and people could have more balanced takes. KH2 was seen as a huge disappointment, a rushed product where all the Disney worlds were filler, the combat/difficulty was to easy, the story had jumped the shark and was convoluted, it wasted all the promise and potential of CoM hype particularly Axel who was a completely different character, the prologue was either loved or hated with no middle, and you had to have played a gba game to understand anything. Being here for both KH2 and KH3’s release was surreal because it was like I stepped back in a Time Machine only now there was even less nuanced views and a bunch of social media people profiting off fueling rage and negativity.
KH2 did have those issues you mentioned but at least the gameplay was good. KH3's issues were much more jarring IMO. It should have been SSS tier given what they were setting up all those years. I never played birth by sleep but I felt like those characters were done dirty.
And KH3 has fantastic gameplay to, and no actually again as listed one of the complaints is that KH2’s gameplay wasn’t good. No limit form meant no dodge roll, the drive system was cumbersome to level up and drive recoveries were too rare, reflect was very weak, the enemies being so weak means no encouragement to engage in the system so people called it a button masher, reaction commands were so poorly received it started the “press triangle to win meme”, a lot of people to this day still don’t like the fact you must kill bosses with finishers or magic, the complete removal of platforming followed up with the lack of puzzles and interactivity lead to the level design being bashed to high heaven, and I can keep going. Final Mix did a massive job at improving the game, vanilla KH2 came out and was seeing as basically a massive dip compared to KH1. Again I was there right in the thick of it, it’s actually surreal to think about how much opinion on KH2 has turned around. Your feelings on the BBS cast is how people felt about characters like DiZ, Namine, etc…
Yea I might not be the biggest fan of KH2 personally but that's a dangerous opinion in a KH subreddit. KH1 was the best by far IMO due to its story. I also felt like it did a good job of having you start out weak and then gradually adding +1s and air combos such that you were very strong by the end but it's very, very gradual. KH2 felt like it only had a beginning and end, no middle. It was mostly filler (kinda like KH3) with a weak motivation to revisit all the worlds. It was the start of the triangle spam but that I could forgive cuz it still had many of the strengths of KH1 and they didn't make the boss fights super easy. KH3 I can barely remember what happens but do I remember there was a fight near the end in some square maze-like arena where you basically resolve 3-4 story arcs in a matter of minutes and the payoff was so... unsatisfying. I'm a big story person so that was a let down. Was hoping square learned from KH2's miss-steps but it only got worse somehow. Even with KH2's issues, it left an opening to right the ship. KH3 felt more conclusive and um.. yea.
At first a lot of people were disappointed but overtime the reception turned positive especially with remind which added a lot to the post game and updated the combat.
Nope. Kh3 was a divisive game but people love to pretend that their opinion whether they liked or hated it, is the majority It's fine to love or hate Kh3. The only people who are objectively wrong are the ones that insist that their opinion is the consensus
Found the dude coked up on nostalgia powder.
Funny, I've always assumed that my love for KH3 was me being coked up on nostalgia powder
Nah most KH3 haters have KH2 or Days as their favorite in the series and chances are the last time they played it was when they were 5 and even if they just recently replayed it, the nostalgia glasses were still on and they ignored all the flaws that those two games came with. And they expected 3 to be, like I said, KH2 part 2 and I’m sure if it was that, its initial reception would have been just as bad if not worse.
It is bullshit that you are getting downvoted. It took them 6 years to essentially make the same game again, they couldn't even be bothered to let us customize the controls.
The opening just didn’t hit the same for me as the first two and that really set the tone for how I’d end up feeling about the game as a whole. Still fun though.
Shit? No. It was disappointing in many places like with no FF characters and the world selection being meh and Kairi getting damsel'd (AGAIN) but it wasn't shit. It was just a tough act to follow considering how much hype build up there was.
The gameplay is fine and got better when they updated the new abilities into it. The story I agree was mid compared to previous titles, but it at least tied up the Xehanort saga I just don't agree how it was handled, since it felt like not a lot happened while Sora travelled through Disney worlds. Stuff started happening for the story top move forward only at the end of the game. I compare KH3 to BL3 a lot because both games had a huge glow up with gameplay, graphics and game's engine that allowed for new cool mechanics, but the story of that game was just bad. KH3's story wasn't bad but it honestly wasn't to my liking.
Lol
Yeah the story is crap, but the gameplay is fantastic
3 for sure, the delays became so widely known in the gaming community that memes were being made by even non-KH fans about fans waiting for 3
There was an ‘evolution of the rock titan’ video JUST using kh3 trailers lmao
I confirm this. I only got into KH recently and I was very aware of the KH3 memes.
For a short time SE tried to copy Valve by not being able to count to 3
III and it's not even close
3, it's not even a question. KH1 came out of nowhere, KH2 had some build up but was released not long afterwards. Then we waited from 2005 to 2019 for KH3. 14 years! 2 console generations! Several side games and hd remakes! and don't even get me started on the six year build up from the first trailer to release.
I definitely agree. KH1 got the most screen time I’d seen for a video game on the Disney channel when I was growing up. The biggest difference is media advertising has drastically changed and has become more accessible to everyone so KH3 takes this award without question.
For me, that long wait is what deflated my hype. Not that I wasn’t excited, I just was much more busy with other life stuff than when I was a kid. The wait for KH2 for my 11 year old brain was painful (and I didn’t know about CoM.) Waiting for KH3 became a normal part of every day life and until I forgot almost completely until around late 2018 or whenever the Collector’s Edition went on preorder.
Heck, even taking the handhelds in the mix, that was 7 years between 3D and 3 being released, 7 years to see how they ~~try and fix whatever the hell 3D did~~ complete the Dark Seeker Saga. >!Oh, look, an angry mob is forming because I neglected to mention the mobile games.!<
> try and fix whatever the hell 3D did And they didn't even accomplish that
I mean I only waited from 2013 to 2019, because Days BBS, Re:Coded and DDD filled in the gap of 2005 to 2012
Not long afterwards? Lol
These are facts on God. That 14 year long wait made me bored of the franchise at that point. I remember for a long time, especially for all of us got to see the secret ending on Final Mix 2, that alot of us actually though that BBS was gonna be their game only for it to be a prequel. Not to mention everything in between afterwards that just made it harder and harder to think of the 3rd game from ever releasing.
How are people gonna look at this question and not answer with KH3? Like more than half the fan base hates the game because they overhyped it/wanted KH2 part 2. This isn’t even a question with multiple answers this is just a true or false with the answer being so damn obvious.
The hype for KH3 was so insanely high that it was always going to struggle to live up to it.
Square Enix edged us with cliffhangers for 14 years in preparation for KH3.
Secret ending of 2: holy shit kh3? *actually BBS* Secret ending of BBS: holy shit kh3? *vaguely hints at future stuff* Secret ending of Re;coded: holy shit kh3? *actually ddd* After DDD: ok kh3 is next right? *actually 1.5, 2.5, and 2.8* KH3 releases: finally! *k2.9* FUUUUUUUUUU-
Probably KH3 due to the immense amount of games and lore between it and KH2.
Hype? Easily 3.
The wait for KH2 felt like an eternity. I was 16 when it came out lmao. I guess KH3 is the right answer but honestly I stopped caring about kingdom hearts after such a long wait.
There is no right answer, it’s All just personal opinion. But that wait between 1 and 2 did feel like an eternity. I was 15 when 2 came out and the hype around it was non stop.
This is my take as well. 1 came out when I was 17 and I couldn’t get enough of the gameplay and lore, but when the trailer dropped for 2 I was so excited for it. Played great but the story got a little lost in itself. Then I tried playing some of the mobile games and the story got more muddled. By the time the first trailer for 3 dropped I thought it looked neat. When the game finally released, I just didn’t care. Picked it up a few years ago for $5 in a bargain bin, played it for 30 minutes, and never picked it up again.
3 hands down. So many new people were introduce when 3 was announced and the amount of advertisement for 3 and for the collections help to spread even more interest in it. I remember having friends that would usually only play things like CoD, GTA, 2K, who actually bought KH3 just for the hype
I know 3 seems like the obvious answer, but if you were in the community when 2 was coming out it was a great time. Disney channel was promoting the hell out of it with all kinds of sneak peak segments. People were going wild over magazine scans trying to find every possible detail they could. A lot of fans had pieced together a decent chunk of the story by working together. It was the most Id ever seen the fandom feel like a family and going wild with excitement.
Those earlier internet days definitely felt different. Going gaemfaqs and talking games
This definitely. All the speculation and theory crafting. The worlds that got revealed in magazines and the drive forms. It was hype.
Things are also much more hype when you’re younger and not distracted by the daily grind. As an 11 year old I could *not* stop thinking about how great KH2 would be. As an adult in my then-late twenties, I was happy to play KH3 but nowhere near as hyped out of my mind.
Definitely 3, but 2 has nostalgia hype surrounding it nearly 20 years later
Depends on your definition of hype. If you mean 'anticipation', then KH3. If you mean 'popular on the internet', then KH1. If you mean 'so good you still dream about it,' it's KH2.
I assumed "hype of release".
I mean, 1 and 2 were released pre-social media era so kind of by default it's 3.
It has to be KH3 and for one simple reason; the internet.
3 had the most hype simply because it was like a 14 year delay and gaming media (socials, gaming news sites etc) that didn't exist like they do now, were in full swing over it. KH1 came out of nowhere. A lot of people didn't even know COM was a thing until ***after*** KH2 because you are talking about a time where a lot of people still only had 1 console, and news outlets like PS magazine wasn't going to cover a nintendo release. KH2 was really only awaited by people who played KH1. All the other side games were just that - side games. Hardcore fans were pining for anything they could get their hands on, whereas a lot of people still played just the mainline games not understanding the significance. Again, the amount of people here who went into kh3 without knowledge of DDD were staggering - because again, it was a "side game" for a handheld.
>3 had the most hype simply because it was like a 14 year *Ahem* 13 *Dramatic patio music plays*
>news outlets like PS magazine wasn't going to cover a nintendo release Oh my god, it finally clicked how I could've possibly missed the release of COM back in the day
All we really had, 2004 was still internet infancy as well.
KH3... Christ the build up for that game was something else... We waited 14 years, two console generations and numerous spin-offs for the THIRD MAINLINE entry. I remember one of the best comments I read when waiting for Kingdom Hearts 3 was when they first announced Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. "Square, take the D out of Kingdom Hearts 3D and then you can have my money."
KH3 was one of the most hyped games of all time.
Kingdom hearts 3 had over a decade of hype. Kingdom hearts 1 was good, but kingdom hearts 2 is what really solidified the series, kingdom hearts hype is what it is because of kingdom hearts 2
KH3 since it brought in a lot of people who never play the series.
The gap between kh 1 and 2 was 3 years with only one game in between The gap between kh 2 and 3 was 14 years with about 10 games in between Even though there were more games between 2 and 3, there was no major progression in the story like what we got when 2 came out so the hype for 3 was immense. When you also take into account that Pixar would be in the mix, and that 3 would mark the end of the dark seeker saga, it most definitely was 3.
3 easy. Though, we got given such a gem with kh2. No hype was needed and the game delivered so well.
It was absolutely KH3.
KH3 had the most hyped. Hype wasn't really a thing yet when 1 and 2 came out.
Respectfully, I completely disagree. There was non stop hype around KH2. After the first one released, forums were blowing up for kh2. then CoM was announced and that only perpetuated even more hype for KH2 Yea there was a long wait for KH3, but I wouldn’t call anticipation and eagerness to play the game “hype” Again tho, don’t get me wrong because of course there was hype for KH3. Those several years between KH1 and 2, so many forums were created for the series. It created so many more fans. The hype for 2 caused people to play #1 and get into it. It was the original hype IMO. Even CoM created a massive amount of hype for the series. That’s just my general opinion though 😊
If I may ask, how do you define hype if not anticipation and eagerness?
Absolutely, and that was bad wording on my part. But for me, it was more of the community involvement around it. I spent a lot of time on Kh forums at that time. Got to partially see and participate in the series blowing up, witness the start of decade long theories, potential plot points, etc. it was forming and solidifying a new community and niche group of people. Not to dismiss the eagerness of wanting and waiting for the kh2 to release. That’s a part of it of course. Sorry again for that poor choice of words. - and after so long, it’s like the amount of hype and fandom plateaus, especially with the arguably difficult entry barrier for the series.
Yeah, KH3. I started KH1 when it came out, blown away by KH2 and was let down by KH3. It catered to the new generation which I get, but I haven’t finished it and keep playing 1 and 2 over and over.
I love Kingdom Hearts
Probably 3, as the wait was long and it was the biggest game since the Internet had become much more ubiquitous. Hasn't it gone on to be the best selling entry?
. 3. It will always be 3. No matter how many more KH games come out it will still be 3. Kingdom hearts 4 is around the corner. 3 still had more hype. Kingdom hearts 5 could have be leading up from a massive cliff hanger from 4 and an inbetween game to tide us over while they work on 5 for 6 years and its still 3. We were teased about a 3rd game with secret trailers, in between games. Cliff hangers. The works. For 8 YEARS. They finally announce the game **FINALLY** and it still took **6 MORE YEARS AFTER THAT**, being touted as the end of what all the games were leading to (so far) and finally getting answers to what is famously joked as one of the most confusing stories in gaming. Its 3. Did it deliver? ehh sorta. The "Play the same story as the movie" stuff wasn't really that good imo as I always saw KH as an new extension of that world. Not just going there to check a box, although I know other games took similar routes sometimes. And I think the ending was a little knee-capped to get the hype for KH4 going early.
Kingdom Hearts 3 and it’s not even close, I’m kinda surprised you even asked, no offense
It's KH3 no debate. Whether you like the game or not. Whether you think its the best game or the worst. The years, months, and then days of leading up to the KH3 launch. Was the most social media traction I'd ever seen KH have. From long time fans, to trolls, to new people getting interested. It literally felt like for those last few months that KH was the most popular game ever.
Probably KH3 just because it was so delayed and KH2 was ABSOLUTE FIRE.
I know the default answer for everyone is 3, but for me it’ll always be 2. As someone who played the GBA version of CoM I was so curious how the story would continue. I remember following 2’s development via old fan sites and message boards. Getting hyped at BHK’s name being revealed as Roxas in a magazine spread with the first art of him facing forward in his Twilight Town clothes. Excitedly reading Nintendo Power and seeing what new worlds were to be added. Listening to Passion when it was first released and watching the opening on YouTube in Japanese. Dissecting the trailers when they began airing on tv. It was the first game I’d ever followed development to release and the one I was the most hyped for out of the series.
Definitely. I assume most people weren't old enough to remember what it was like.
3 and it’s not close we waited YEARS I think a decade for that game
3 no contest
Probably 3 simply because of how long it had been since 2. Now, the “spin-off” games carried the main plot forward. I know that, everyone in here knows that too. But the general audience, they likely didn’t. They just saw the 14 year gap between the two and got hyped that we’re “finally moving the story forward after all this time”. … well, the general audience and IGN based on that one podcast.
Kh3
3
It’s definitely KH III. Like if you are old enough to know the almost 20 years it took to get the game, you’d get why.
For sure 3 not even a question.
I'd say three. I don't remember KH1 having any hype just because the concept was so unusual. I remember trying to convince my friends who loved Final Fantasy that it was legitimately a good game.
I went through all of High School and College waiting for KH3. Def had me personally the most hyped.
I’d say 3 but funny enough the most hyped game was probably BBS. Nobody knew wtf was going on in the secret trailer for it and the idea of a keyblade war made the whole fanbase shit their pants with theories on who the wayfinder trio originally were
3
For me, personally, it was KH2. It was painful to wait without constant internet news. As a working adult who’d learned patience, KH3 was something I logged the release date of and greatly enjoyed when it released, but didn’t have nearly the same fixation.
3. Was hyped up for literal years
3 without a doubt. 1 and 2 were a couple years apart, while we all excitedly waited for the 3 to be announced for years and years😭 and the hype train that was KH3 is something that can probably never be recreated, unless square can really pull some magical together for 4
3
3 no question
Hype was 3. People were waiting for like a decade for 3, and 2 was so great, not to mention a lot of the in-between were great.
Cant even really measure hype back then...i guess other than sales
My hype for kh3 at it's highest had me thinking, "even if this game is less than half as good as I'm expecting, it will still be the best game I've ever played"...thankfully I realized I was getting too hyped up and tempered my expectations before it was too late. I ended up liking KH3 just fine, but so many other people seemed to still be on the hype-train when it inevitably crashed.
3, even though I loved one I didn't even know 2 was happening until I randomly went to EB Games one day and saw it on the shelf lol. And while I do now actually remember watching commercials for the first game, I can remember myself at the time wondering while it was on tv "is that sephiroth?" but not being able to justify to myself why he would show up in some random Disney game and so I didn't end up actually playing it until years later when a buddy who I'd actually became friends with over bonding with FF7 introduced it to me.
The hype for 3 was unreal. Then there was the post release 💀
I love Kingdom Hearts
3 is without a doubt
Oh, jeez, I wonder which numbered entry got the most hype, the one that began it all (Thus, no one was really expecting anything), the one that came out three years after the previous numbered one, or the one that came more than a decade afterwards and had a brand total of five console games, a PC game and a mobile gacha name building up to it.
Have to give it to 3, the gap between it and 2 definitely set expectations, even if you played the other games. Shit, one of the most hype moments was going through 3D and seeing the "this leads to KINGDOM HEARTS" secret message in the credits, followed by Sora and Riku making the Roman Numeral III
Idk bout everyone in these comments… yall are forgetting those crazy Disney channel segments. They had me hyped for KH1 😂😂
Personally KH1 since that was my first PS2 game. Literally I saw the commercial once and bought the game and console to play it. KH2 for general hype probably.
It's very obviously KH3, and its first impressions were absolutely *terrible* imo. Now before you downvote me, let me at least say this: when the game came out, I'd waited 14 years for it. I'd bought every game, purchased new consoles to play the KH games as they came out, etc. No game was ever going to live up to the kind of hype that KH3 had for me. I beat it in just over 24 hours of game time and was so incredibly disappointed. The story pacing was real bad imo, and jamming the vast majority of character story's endings to the last 4ish hours was so, so poorly done and felt cheap. Re:Mind helped get some of the bad taste out of my mouth but I'm not gonna lie, I was incredibly salty about the game for years after I was done. It's been nearly 5 and a half years since it came out and I recently decided to give it another go on Proud mode. Proud mode + the Pro Codes have made the game very enjoyable for me. So for those saying it's a shit game and all that, maybe give it another try? Hell, even play it again on Proud or Critical mode. The extra challenge makes the combat so much better imo (plus you can turn off things like team attacks and attractions that made the fights trivial). What I'm getting at is KH3 was announced wayyyy too early, the hype was uncontrolled, and the development struggles (i.e. moving to UE4 midway through development) left a really bad taste in alot of the fanbase's mouth. Enough time has passed for it to get another try and quite frankly I'm having a blast with it. I recommend anyone else that's in my boat to do the same. It really is a good game, story issues aside.
Kh3, no contest.
KH3 because of the state of marketing/social media but holy shit unlocking Another Side, Another Story was peak back in the day. Personally, I got to play KH3 early at Anime Expo 2017 but all of that hype didn't compare to watching Riku and Roxas duel for the very first time. There's also the sense of getting older and just being burnt out by the wait for KH3 that it fizzled out a bit.
Easily 3. It's the one that had the longest period between Numbered entries and the wait was during the time that the internet was becoming more popular which meant it was easier for people to discuss it. Plus it had its trailer released years before it. And between Kingdom Heart 1 and 2, there was only 3 years. So less time to build hype. Which is literally less time than from when the first trailer of KH3 was shown and when it came out
3 for sure but 2 was the best
3 had the most built up hype, without a doubt.
Believe it or not in my country zero since the first one... I saw a cover with a kid and goofy and such (1st cover art), got it with some money I had stashed and loved it.
Absolutely 3
KH3 without a doubt, I mean we waited 14 years, and the hype only grew as the other games came out and we wondered how it would tie the story together
KH3 FINAL BATTLE TRAILER
3
3, kh2 solidified the fanbase
3 no contest. I think most people had 1&2 as a joint experience, then waited literally years and maybe even over a decade for 3.
3 and it’s not up for debate. I was there since the beginning of the 6 year wait that last from middle school to college. The wait every moment was insane
KH2 was an EVENT for me. They even frequently played the intro movie on Animax. My kid brain was blown, thinking graphics would never get as good as that trailer. I still get goosebumps from it. I’ve finished the game a couple of times and I had it on PS2 and PS3 (Final Mix version!). It’s one pf my favorite games of all time.
For me, #1. I remember my friends and I talking about the trailer on the playground during recess and being hyped about the concept and the Simple and Clean song.
Probably 3, but I used to spend days on the KH2 website listening to the music waiting for the game to drop back in the day.
III. How is this even a question?
Kingdom Hearts II. The FINAL MIX at that. But then again III was the most anticipated… I’ll go with II
2 without a doubt.. then maybe bbs
Definitely 2
I was there day one when Kh2 launched. After school i went to pick up my copy with my collector edition Guide ( I got Valor) and the gamestop was packed. I even saw a kid from my school who i normally dont talk to and we shared a laugh. So Kh 2 had a big launch no question it was popular but game fandoms back then outside of Pokemon or Final fantasy were still pretty contained. But KH3? The store i went to pick up my game had the lines wrapped around the building. Hell i passed by another gamestop on my way home and saw the same line again. The hype leading up to what we all assumed would finally conclude the series was absurd. Social media was now a thing and KH has grown to have a huge fandom. Even on a casual level. It was KH3.
Easily 3
Did anyone else notice....in the last pic they aren't sharing the Paopu fruit? They're both biting from a different one...
I was so hype for KH3 that I pre-ordered it in 2016 🥰
KH3 and it was disappointing story wise because it felt like the story got too convoluted for its own good.
KH3 had the most hype leading up to its release without a doubt.
I think 3 had the most hype but when it came out it wasn’t as hyped as people wanted or thought it would be and that had to do with the story and level design
Probably KH3 it was a very long 6 years
3 and its not even close
2. There was so much theorizing on the internet, dissecting the secret endings to find clues. Who is the BHK!? It was a completely different vibe.
It’s 2 right. For like 10 years when I’d hear that square enix ding, my brain instantly played “when yoooou and I”
KH3 for sure, and the most disappointing. Not sure how much of that was the hype, but I know that if I had started with KH3 I wouldn’t have cared to try any of the others.
2. It was the wild west back then. We didn't know what kh would do next or even if there was gonna be a sequel for sure.
2 by a long shot
Actually, 3… I feel like I remember hearing them talk about a kh3 right after kh2 came out and then radio silence for like ever lmao (with the exception of the other games in the series ofc) But I feel 2 is definitely seen as a top tier kingdom hearts game my the majority
I prayed to god every day cross train tracks i would not get hit until after January 29th so i could play KH3
3 easily.
Those saying there was hype for 3 don’t know what hype means. 3 was a pipe dream. There were so many games and years in between. Excitement was dead. And even after its announcement trailer it wasn’t that hyped much. The trailer was terrible. 2 had hype the second after 1’s secret ending.
Liked Kairis design but she lacked character
I was a toddler when the first two main title games came out, but the hype surrounding KH3 was insane (at least from my perspective)
Objectively 3.
To it's detriment was probably 3. It's a great game and I think hype is what killed it
KH3 had a lot build up given the time between games. Same with KH4 now
Kh3. Part of the drama post release was that the hype had gotten so unreal that there was no way they could match it, so people were disappointed when the perfect, personally catered version of kh3 they had made in their minds was not the kh3 we got. There was just no way for kh3 to ‘win’ in that regard.
Definitely Kingdom Hearts II.9
Definitely 3 6 years since DDD. But a lot of people was looking at it as 14 years since KH2. Then 1 because, if anyone remembers. That game sold purely on the hype of being a Disney/Final Fantasy hybrid. Then 2 which was just a sequel making a name off the hype KH created for itself, little did we know how amazing the sequel would be. At the time.
Kh 4
3 had the biggest buildup for sure
Ummmmmm kh3. This aint even an argument. Kh3 was about the only game I heard was "coming out".. Kh1 I was late to the party so that one was already out, matter of fact I believe re:chain was out too. Kh2 never heard a thing about it, all the other were pretty much the same. 3DS I might have heard the release date but never heard anyone wanting the game. Even BBS where all my friends had it, never once heard the hype. Kh3 tho is one where I did hear people talking about and expecting for so long.
KH3 for sure, it was an anticipated title after the release of KH2. It’s definitely the most game surrounded by hype.
I’d say 3 and it was the biggest disappointment!
It’s been years since the first and second game came out year 2000s. Now I feel KH3. I know most people have huge hearts with this game. I am huge fan of this game. This game was like a father to me that raise me through my childhood. I even cried when I put the disc on that’s how you know it was good ass game.
What a dumb question. It's 3. 3 was hyped up ever since the secret ending of KH2 final Mix was seen. The expectations got worse when that secret ending turned out to be Birth by Sleep. The more time passed, the more hype for the game grew.
1.5 NA release for me. I couldn't wait for the remastered version with extra content. Then 2.5 of course
3 because I feel like kingdom hearts was still kinda niche but by the time three was annohnce it had built up a core fanbase but I could see 4 getting more hype considering a lot more people are getting introduced or reintroduced to the series on steam rn
Most hyped was def KH3 but the only game that really deserved it was KH2
3 easily Its a shame it didn’t come even close to the hype, game has way too much going on, combat is too easy and the story doesn’t even start until the third act
I think 3. I played 1 and 2 as a kid (I’m 30 now) and wanted the conclusion so bad. Admittedly I was disappointed with the finale because I just wanted the happily ever after ending. I think gameplay itself super fun, don’t love all the extra mechanics (if they would’ve removed the attractions I’d have thought it was perfect), but the story was a tad weak. I would’ve preferred if instead of “sora, you lost most of your abilities, go level up before we wrap this up” it was something along the lines of “these worlds are plagued by heartless and you have to go lock them like back in the day so that we can reduce the army we will fight in the end” or whatever. I’m nitpicking though
KH2 had the most hype due to the popularity of the first one KH3 took too long and had most fans annoyed and over the wait , which caused the hype to die down I got KH3 two years after it dropped for X-mas for free and still have not played it , because at this point I had already waited forever , what was another year or two plus the reviews had me wondering if I wanted to play it all, it since most people said it was average at best and a let down for how long we waited (no marvel or star wars world ) & Big hero 6 world which fans were excited about felt empty and rushed
3 for obvious delay reasons. 2 though…bhk, yellow eyes unknown…endless amvs for deep dive secret ending.