Kingdom Hearts (2002)

I finally beat KH1, it was a bit of a journey, but I did it. I get why this game was such a hit, it has a lot of great charm to it. The best parts are seeing the various ways Disney characters popping up and being integrated. The Final Fantasy elements are integrated a bit less well, but still sort of work.

The story is hot mess, that even after having friends explain it to me still only sort of makes sense. But as my wife said while we were playing it "I don't care, I just want to see Disney stuff."

This game shows some of its age with some annoying camera angles, some frustrating platforming, and the really boring Gummy Ship segments. That said, I enjoyed playing quite a bit, I just had to push through certain sections.

Special note that the final boss has SO many forms and no save points, hated it lol.

Overall, this game is solid, but flawed. I wouldn't recommend it to people who don't mind playing older games, but if that won't bother you, it's worth playing at least for a world or two to see what the series is all about.

Growing up, I was raised on Disney movies. Not just the company's Renaissance entries, but the classics as well. I would watch them over and over again, in different languages (being raised bilingual), memorized the songs, and absolutely fell in love with the stories and Disney magic. But I was also introduced to video games at an early age (four, I think) and grew more curious about those the older I got. The first entry in the Kingdom Hearts series blends the two together so perfectly that it has yet to be topped by any of its successors in this regard.

It's Sora's simple, yet endearing goal, along with his likable personality, that keeps players invested in his character. It's Yoko Shimomura's unforgettable soundtrack that immerses like no game ever had at the time. The level designs emulate the films they're inspired by so well. Its Devil May Cry-inspired combat, though drastically grounded and simpler by comparison, and Final Fantasy layout never ceased to keep the action fun and engaging with almost every encounter. While the platforming might be archaic, even by 2002, it's still responsive and effective. If only it had a better camera along with it.

I got a PlayStation 2 for Kingdom Hearts, which led me to so many other games that have influenced my growth in so many ways. I've been playing video games for as long as I can remember, but Kingdom Hearts made me a gamer.

I got the full box set of KH 1.5 & 2.5 HD Remix which includes all the KH games and (at the time) the newer KH3. Earlier this year I decided to start the journey to play through all of the KH games and maybe even get the platinum trophies along the way. My Journey starts with Kingdom Hearts 1 Final Mix.

1st Playthrough - Final Mix Difficulty

The goal on this playthrough was to play through the game and get 100% by completing Jiminy's Journal, beating all the secret bosses, synthesize everything and get all the PS4 trophies except for three:

1. KINGDOM HEARTS Master - The platinum trophy
2. Proud Player - Clearing KH on Proud mode (hardest difficulty)
3. Unchanging Armor - Clear the game w/o changing equipment

Here I made my first mistake (although i wouldn't know it until I began my Proud playthrough). I should have done my 100% playthrough on Proud Mode but I wanted to alleviate the pain of beating all the secret bosses in this difficulty so I went with Final Mix difficulty which honestly was really not that hard. I maybe died 5 times total.

During my 1st playthrough I enjoyed the story. I have only played KH1 & KH2 previously so I have really only heard about how ridiculous the story gets as the first one is pretty straight forward: "Crazy scientist man named Ansem (WHO IS FROM SQUALL'S WORLD APPARENTLY...sorry LEON'S WORLD! aka FFVIII - this really makes me wish there was just one instance in FFVIII that some dude named Ansem had a quick cameo and they used him for the baddie in KH. If there is please let me know!) but this guy finds out the heartless exist and goes down some wild rabbit hole brining all the events of KH into being" Or at least that's the premise in KH1. So i enjoyed the story for what it was. I feel like Rikku maybe dove into the whole darkness persona a little fast but that's just knit-picking. It's all just silly and fun.

The combat was pretty good, especially taking into consideration that this game is originally a PS2 game. It controlled pretty well albeit sometimes I had to fight the camera in tight hallways and the Grand Hall in Hollow Bastion (that location hated letting me see what I wanted to see). There is also a couple different ways to go about battle which leaves some solid customization for your buildout. Summons, magic, physical & special attacks are all viable in some form or another and if you just watch some YouTube videos (which for this 20 year old game there are a plenty) you'll see many different strategies for beating the same boss.

Side Note: I have heard people say Atlantica is awful and terrible and the controls while swimming suck hard. I honestly didn't think it was that bad. Maybe I was just prepared for the worst and then when it wasn't apocalyptic I couldn't really understand why all of the internet was teary eyed about Atlantica. It's not great but it's also a pretty short world that is just okay not awful to it's core.

There is an insane amount of extra stuff & bosses to complete. In the 1.5 Final Mix version there is also some inclusions of an extra boss and "special" heatless.

• Optional Bosses - All of them are pretty fun/gimmicky(in their own ways) and also offer some solid rewards.
• Coliseum - Solid side area that I enjoyed going through all the Cups. If you go through them later on however they difficulty evaporates as you're at such a high level Sora and crew just bully the other participants
• Synthesis - Some of the materials needed and they way you need to procure those are just annoying. Stop talking trash about Atlantica and start talking it about the Pink Agaricus in Deep Jungle and the Sniper Wilds in Traverse Town. I'd do a whole game of Atlantica's before I have to farm 10 more serenity powers
• 100 Acre Wood - I found all the pages naturally and just hanging with Pooh and friends was a cute little reprieve from the darkness
• Jiminy's Journal - I am a sucker for a solid Bestiary and Jiminy has that and a bag of sour cream and cheddar ruffles. All the extra info about characters, baddies, collecting the dalmations, etc. I enjoyed it all

All in all my Final Mix difficulty 100% playthrough was wholly enjoyable and I totally suggest it. If you want to go for the platinum and are up for the added challenge I would suggest just starting off on Proud difficulty as you're going to get to level 100 anyway for a trophy so that will probably take the edge off for most thing except for maybe Sephiroth and some of other tough optional bosses.

2nd Playthrough - Proud Difficulty

My only goal on this playthrough is to cruise through it to get the "Proud Player" trophy. No extra stuff or frills.

This is harder but not impossible. There is definitely a bit more level grinding, especially near the end of the game. Strategy in fighting now comes into play as you can't just whack your way through all the worlds with the strongest Keyblade and easily overcome your enemies. Like I wrote up above earlier I would probably suggest just playing in this difficulty right off the bat as this 2nd playthrough was a bit of a slog after having done all of this already. Proud Mode 100% playthrough is the way i would recommend anyone play this game.

3rd Playthrough - Final Mix: Beginner Difficulty w/o Changing Equipment

This is just a boring way to playthrough the game. Why would there even be a "don't change equipment trophy" in this game?! I honestly really enjoy getting trophies that make you play games in different ways to open myself up to new experiences that I would miss based on my traditional play style but I'm not into super difficult level 1 starting equipment runs in my RPGs as I thrive on the collection and 100% seeking aspects so I saved this one trophy for a quick easy playthrough. This trophy and playthrough are only for the true trophy hunters that are willing to put themselves through annoying hours of hell just to pop a bronze trophy and subsequently a platinum.

"Thank you very much, dear somebody." - Winnie the Pooh

I mean, cmon, a game that incorporates 3d platform elements (with well-done controls) to RPG style mechanics, abilities to unlock that allow new areas and items a la Metroidvania, tons of extra collectibles (the Dalmations always made me think of the Hidden Packages of GTA 3), and several ties to my favorite Final Fantasys at the time of this release (because I had no way to access Final Fantasys from before 7)??? It felt like this game was made for me.

The biggest issues for me, back then and now, are the cutscenes, cutsiness, culmination of the storyline (though the buildup was riveting), and Disney ties. I was never much a fan of Disney, but I can't deny that Tarzan, Wonderland, etc. made for beautiful, fun settings. And the graphics were and are so enjoyable: simple but clear and beautiful. Well I guess I always liked the 60s Alice in Wonderland, but still.

If you, like me, love casual platforms and RPGs, definitely check this out. I almost always hated ARPGs, I was more a fan of turn-based and tactical, but this game had the right balance in my opinion. It is easy enough to just play through if you want, a bit challenging without a guide if you want to go for 100% (though just exploring is safe enough and you level up as you do so), and the later stages are challenging enough that it doesn't feel like a bore made just for kids a la many of the Lego games I've tried now. The secret bosses are decidedly challenging, especially Sephiroth whom I never could beat as a kid though now I find the right amount of challenge. Just an all-around amazing game that is addicting, rewarding, and fun. Engrossing environment and audio, decent storyline (but the ties to FFX, VII, and VIII make up for that being only decent), very fun gameplay.

Most importantly of all, though, is the nostalgia that this game indelibly builds. Even my cousin who claimed he hated the game brings this game up from time to time. When I first met my husband, I noticed 2 things: he owned the movie BAPs with Halle Berry (great, absurd film, btw) and Kingdom Hearts. He and I talked about KH and both admitted how it's a game we occasionally return to, even if we don't complete it again we just like to engage with it sometimes. It had this indelible nostalgia to it, especially that main menu music. It can bring tears to my eyes, and I know I am not alone based on the YouTube comments to it. Truly a special game. Sometimes I just play through Destiny Island for "the feel." Indeed, that was always my favorite part as a kid, because I would (unnecessarily) grind for hours at Destiny Island hitting Wakka's ball back at him just because. That's the sign of a truly great game from the PS1 and PS2 era: like in GTA Jak and Daxter etc., you just want to explore the edges of maps because the horizon graphics were so beautiful and nostalgia-inducing. The feel of that PS2-era 3d graphics is perhaps my favorite gaming feel (though, of course, I love the NES/SNES feel as well). You just want to pick up the game and play it for a while, even if not advancing the storyline or level, but just to explore the environment that they did such a good job building, and to feel the nostalgia they created.

Anyway, play this game if you haven't. You will find yourself thinking of the music and environments years later, even if you didn't finish the game.

2/3/23: As I'm playing through this, the cutscenes and Play are growing on me, the unlocking of new abilities to get other items and to spice up combat, the fact I never really used the majority of combat abilities but they're actually very useful and varied and FF-level complex, the fact it's rated E but willing to offer challenges like sephiroth and ice titan so a huge variety of difficulty possibilities, the ending and storyline are actually quite epic, and the unique worlds created for it--Hollow Bastion (plus the fact it's like the dark Final Fantasy zone) and Traverse Town--are amazing. Is it worth a 10?? Sure I felt the combat was slow at the beginning, but that's part of the progression: you get faster, learn the quirks, learn to dodge and hit from behind, upgrade your combos, etc. It truly uses all the types of mechanics I like for ugprading. But I keep debating if the slowness and frustration of the beginning warrants not quite a perfect rating.

Plus, the elaborate pre- and post-Kairi rescue enemy stats and the spell chance changes from that (again drawing straight from FF in such an excitingly different context), and the way there's still so much of the game I have yet to explore.

Look: 10/10 3/4/23: Welp, I finished my replay last night. Clearly the Look should be a 10 no clue how I felt otherwise. Truly incorporates FFX-type graphics into a nice PS2-era 3d world.

Sound: 10/10 This was an obvious rating, and it held true on my replay. So many memorable tracks, always at least decent, and even the voice acting is impressive and Donald/Goofy's cries of pain or help are unforgettable+entertaining lol.

Play: 10/10 Not a huge fan of having to navigate the menu with Right Joystick or D-pad, but that's more a fault of mine than of the game's. Plus, Final Mix addresses that at least in regard to the abilities. As I got more and more adjusted to the gameplay on my replay, and got faster and better abilities and better Keyblades and used to the mechanics+quirks, and now that I know people have beaten even the most difficult bosses on Level 1 Proud Mode etc., it's so clear to me how strategic and clever this battle system is. Tho it frustrates me at times, because I'm no Souls-like gamer ha, it really is awesome how almost every enemy attack can be repelled in some clever way, you can learn every quirk and pattern, you can avoid damage completely if you're good enough at the game.

Feel: 10/10 This was an obvious rating too, since it had an indelible impact on my gaming life and life in general. Having my cousin, who didn't own the game, play my copy to get me past the parts I found hard. Returning to it years later just to over-train on Destiny Island whacking Wakka's ball back to him, then burn out on it lol. And finally now defeating Sephiroth and Kurt Zisa and Phantom, none of whom I defeated when I was young. Memories that build the Feel for sure. So many little details in the game: backgrounds, boss areas you re-access after Hollow Bastion and enemies spawn in super cool locations (Cave of Wonders, where you fought Jafar, was a really cool way of spawning), secrets I found on my own just exploring what you can and can't jump to in Halloweentown etc.

Attachment: 10/10 You can play this game as a kid and just enjoy trying to barely survive the main story bosses and simply beat the game on Normal Mode. You can try it on Proud Mode and feel good about yourself and discover some of the secrets, make the Ultima Weapon, or beat some of the optional bosses. You can limit yourself to only certain equipment, no summons or abilities, certain level etc. The game is so replayable. And I read the Final Mix version allows skipping cutscenes, which of course, makes replayability even greater (Tbh, the main barrier to its replayability in its vanilla/original version). The way there is, sure, the regular difficulty progression but also the feeling that a kid could love the game, their parent could love helping the kid during the tougher boss fights, and the kid-when-adult can return to it for the nostalgic Sound, detailed Look, and indelible Feel. The replay definitely earned its place as a "Perfect Game" for me, and my frustrations with the gameplay were unfounded--instead it was a part of the progression where you grow as a player and as a character in terms of stats abilities and equipment.

Completion: 100% Playtime: ~42 hours

For my playthrough, see here

While I feel this game is definitely held down by some flaws and shouldn't be taken very seriously, it was still a really good and very enjoyable game.

First off, I don't really care too much for some complicated, intertwined Kingdom Hearts canon spread across many bizarrely-titled releases. I don't care for some extensive lore that a lot of people seem to take quite seriously. But as a Disney meets Final Fantasy crossover where an anime boy ventures through different Disney realms to save the world, I really enjoyed it. I think the whole framework is a little too silly to really take deeply seriously (because any world where Sephiroth exists alongside Winnie the Pooh and Danny Devito as a grumpy satyr, and the storyline involves Micky Mouse sealing away a dark horde of anime creatures is going to have some dissonance if you try to make a cohesive serious narrative about it), but, for me at least, when you just look at it as anime boy teams up with Donald and Goofy to tour through worlds inspired by Disney movies to be an anime hero and save the universe it's charming and compelling enough.

But now that I've given my thoughts on the framework of the game, it's time to look at everything else. While the platforming can be a little awkward sometimes, and the camera can have some issues (and it was weird at first to use shoulder buttons instead of a second stick, though it became natural to me), the general gameplay is quite good. Battles feel great. They've got an all-out brawl sort of feel with all of the real-time enemies fighting you and your partners at the same time, with some generally great target locking, a good sense of proper mobility and a good mix of physical attacking and magic abilities. It's a running joke that Donald won't heal you, but at least for me, whenever I was in trouble and my partners were available, they were pretty effective at helping me out when I needed it. And while it took me a little while to get used to it, the UI in this game is solid. The menus work well and the Attack/Magic/Item/Misc. system works well. While some of the Disney universes you visit might not feel like some of the more iconic ones given how limited the amount of them are, they do a generally great job at designing great levels around them all. It would've been nice to have a few more worlds to visit, but I don't really count that as a flaw. This game in its current state did take me around 40 hours to complete, so while at the time I kind of wished I could visit a few more worlds, I think it works fine for the game's length. I think I just wanted to see what else the game could have to offer potentially. The songs in the game weren't generally quite as great as some of my favorite soundtracks but they work fine. I do remember a lot of them, but it would be nice if some of them had a little more personality and character to them. The soundtrack is no Final Fantasy VII.

And one thing I really liked about the game is that it had a sizable "home-stretch." When the Hollow Bastion opened up, I was worried the game would be over too soon, that all the progress I'd made would lead to an ending that wrapped up too quickly. But I was wrong and that was very satisfying. With both the amount of enemies that you had to get through in between boss encounters and events, and the grinding that (at least for me) I was forced to do to prepare the proper experience for leveling up and Munny for items for bosses I struggled with, the "home-stretch" feels properly padded out in length. Plenty of bosses to get through and enemies in between.

Don't get me wrong, this game is quite good, and I do recommend it, but I did have a few more gripes with it compared to my personal favorites. I've already gone over a few, but there are a few others. The Winnie the Pooh levels weren't something I enjoyed much. The way they were set up didn't play well with me. While generally the animation is really quite good, especially for the time, there are some instances in cutscenes where some of the actions characters do look a little weird. It's definitely not theatrical Disney quality. This is especially true when they try to do cartoonish actions. Sometimes it feels a little constrained in how things can't move as freely as if they were drawn. And then there are examples like a scene where Donald gets flattened on a wall when a door opens. He looks like a flat version of his standing character model, where it would've been funnier if his arms and legs were out-stretched. And while I liked how padded out the "home-stretch" was and the final boss felt padded out well as well in terms of length, it felt like some of the bosses I faced on the way to get here were a little more challenging. Maybe it has to do with leveling, and maybe I just got better at the game. I don't know. But I'm pretty sure that difficulty-wise I had faced harder before, if not in terms of sheer length. Also I didn't care much for the Gummi Ship segments at all. I put barely any attention into my Gummi Ship's construction and I barely understood what any of it meant besides shoot the obstacles, collect the things, and don't die. I was really glad when I got the Warp Drive so I didn't have to bother.

But time for my overall verdict. It didn't sell me on taking its universe as seriously as hardcore fans have, but for what it is as a singular game I really enjoyed it and really recommend it. It's not as polished as some other games I've played, and it does better in some areas than others, but it's still overall a really good game that's really fun to play. I'd recommend it even to people who aren't the type to get really into its extensive universe I know nothing about. I have a few gripes with it, but none big enough to really hurt my opinion of the game overall. I'd personally say play it if you haven't, even if it mostly appeals to the demographic that already loves it.

But the real question should be: What is the demographic for this game? Seriously, I think you had to be there in 2002 at the perfect time to even enjoy what this game has to offer, and then later on shroud that in a feeling of Nostalgia. it's hard to discover what demographic Kingdom Hearts is for exactly, but I guess it being considered a successful game means it found one? Here's a statement of my interest in this series: Since middle school I wanted to play Kingdom Hearts so much, I remember being amazed at Kingdom Hearts 2 and having fuzzy memories of the first game and stopping around Alice? I think I borrowed it from a friend back then. Regardless I will start with this statement: This game has NOT AGED WELL AT ALL. It is extremely dated and it is a perfect example of Style over Substance... Which is ironic to be saying, because there is a lot of quantity in terms of style. Seriously, I kinda get why it was favored when it came out in 2002 (That's basically 2 decades ago my how time flies), I'm finally being able to play the game with Game Pass on an XBOX One with HD models, but I'm sure the models looked good when the game came out too, if not identically but just a little more fuzzy which your old ass CRT TV would probably make you ignore the pixels anyways. The game is colorful, and goes out to render entire worlds of Disney, and as far as Disney represented in video games go, this is the best they have been represented ever. There's unique textures for worlds, and sometimes the main characters even have entirely new models to fit the current world they are in.

Sometimes characters have that classic early 2000s and early 90s textured face animation with a flappy mouth but in other occasions, Disney characters have fully animated 3D moving mouths. So basically: Animations are cool, everything is still flashy and looks good despite being an almost 20 year old game, and seeing them in 60fps on Xbox One is cool too. I've been told by a lot of fans that this game does not start off good, which isn't the most motivating thing to hear from fans "Oh keep in mind it's not good". Kingdom Hearts starts with some of the most sluggish combats ever, well, maybe sluggish isn't the best term for it, I'd call the combat "Stiff" at first, it's obvious they put a lot of effort into making Sora seem animated with every swing of the keyblade, but as a result, all of the attacks have this stiff weight to them and around the very first hours of this game, that are very painful, it is just the same 3 repetitive swings over and over. You'll notice right away from the start that there are Final Fantasy characters just around and across the whole game, what kinda person are they? Doesn't matter. All Final Fantasy characters are a shell of what they are, they're just there as references or tropes. Kinda funny they put a gunblade in a kid's game though. Everything else feels censored, nobody "dies" and Aladdin is said to be a "treasure hunter" which is funny to me but a gun? Yeah sure.

The game starts off with you being just dropped into just what seems like a abandoned stowaway island with couple of kids including a child version of the most racist character ever in a lord of the flies island. Oh and by racist I mean Wakka, he's just there in child form, with JNCO jeans. At least Wakka for some reason gets more recognition than, let's say... Sora's mom, who nobody knows anything about and is not to be seen ever again. Feel free to theorise this is all a coma from a Disney fan starting now and Sora has been down the well ever since and his mom never found him. So far for the past 2 hours the type of game it is is tapping one button forever and winning easily, Squall from Final Fantasy VII tells a random child to go with 2 talking animals and that it is your only choice as the chosen one, chosen one stories are so silly honestly, video games are a fascinating medium! Capcom Vs Marvel, Final Fantasy characters and Disney worlds in a multiverse! Whatever! Who cares. Some say Kingdom Hearts was successful because kids wanted to be edge by their mom wouldn't allow them to buy anything that wasn't Disney. It's everyone's closest guess: It definitely does exist for kids in that transition stage of child getting into edgy stuff, and for that it has this appealing pre-teen sense to it. But where is the edgy stuff I was promised? Apparently I was anticipating it a little too early and the sequel is what made the series infamous for that. Well, you expect story in this? Well I don't know what to tell you that if you're looking for good writing or a good story, there's really not much here to offer to you, I mean... It's a game about Disney multiverses attached with flimsy strings. You will never not convince me throwing shit on the wall is good writing, it's like the worst kind of writing there is. By that point you are a newgrounds flash animator in 2001, it's nothing new to just try and combine multiple brands or licenses into one silly excuse to explore all of it. The story gets really infamously "melodramatic" ONLY around the end, because as you probably know, this game spawned a fandom obsessed with soap opera-level acting built on the simplest of writing, most people when getting into Kingdom Hearts nowadays brace themselves for that, in fact I think most just skip to Kingdom Hearts 2 and maybe I should have as well, I've heard everything was improved including the pacing. And OH MAN the pacing in this game is just AWFUL.

My friend asked me around that point "Are you enjoying Kingdom Hearts?" and I thought to myself, no, not much really, it's so far been mediocre. Kingdom Hearts is so so so bare bones and so so dry with it's combat at first it is common that most people are driven away. The most popular defence around this series is: Why should anyone care about the weight and enjoyment in kingdom hearts if you can just mash buttons, and heal, and that's it, that's the whole gist of the game and all you can gain of satisfaction from it. and I kinda get it, Kingdom Hearts was meant for children, it was meant for probably toddlers wanting to get into the Hack 'n Slash genre. It's Hack n slash for babies!

But even looking at it that way, that doesn't make much sense, ok maybe kids back in the day didn't have much to do and would love getting stuck on Traverse town with the cryptid cutscene triggered progression, again this is a 2002 game, back when you could get stuck and you just had to explore and kill enemies that spawn endlessly for fun if you want. But, means to progress in Kingdom Hearts are REALLY really awfully cryptic, that is no exegeration, you'll sooner or later figure it out but sometimes it feels like a walkthrough seller. And it's in such closed spaces too which makes that even more unfathanamble. Going back to the awful pacing: The game just unloads on ya once you get stuck in traverse town long enough and now you get to get stuck elsewhere... To like DEEP JUNGLE. Oh man, this is where the REAL challenge starts.

Deep Jungle is where people make it or break it, I've heard that most kids that had Kingdom Hearts hated this section quite a lot, and it's apparently where a lot of people stop. I think a perfect example of bad level design is deep jungle, it’s just around 4 small locations you keep going back and forth trying to see if you trigger a cutscene to progress, not only that but it is very vague about what you should be going next or what location is even viable for you, with precise platforming it makes it seem as if you can almost jump across the vines, well you can't! You're just supposed to know you unlock better jumping later on, it's just there to drive you mad and make you ignore the other path that goes to the main story location. It is the most precise jumping ever and I've heard others spent a lot of hours on it too. You'll be amazed at how Kingdom Heart's minimalist approach to cube-shaped zones manages to be so confusing. Kids who grew up with Kingdom Hearts in 2002 must of had the patience of a saint to even progress beyond Deep Jungle. They say Tarzan never returned to Kingdom Hearts series because he deserved to die because of Deep Jungle (note: this is a joke, it's mostly because of copyright issues). Oh and it'll teach you one thing: the platforming in Kingdom Hearts is not good.

I'm sorry to be one of those people who says a "game gets good hours in" but, I'd say that Kingdom Hearts gets good 6 hours in, yep, 6 hours in, that's when you unlock dodging, a bigger combo, most magic, and healing, then it gets sorta more engaging and the game score goes from a 2/5 to a 3/5. If you tolerated the stiff and sluggish intro segments that much, you are rewarded with an odd difficulty spike that comes out of nowhere, but I'd say around Atlantic (most people say it starts around Deep Jungle but Deep jungle was easy outside of it's initial confusion without a walkthrough), which is is a level that as soon as it started, I wanted it to end. Imagine taking all of the aspects you are getting used to and only starting to enjoy get removed and just you're put in a section where you don't even wanna have the hassle of fighting the enemies due to how you gotta dive down to grab the munnies. Kingdom Hearts goes out to do many things (like try and act like a hack 'n slash game, or a final fantasy, or even include platforming), most of which it doesn't do very well, a great example of that is the Gummi ship segments that are just boring, really that's it, you don't need to buy any parts throughout the whole game, it's completely useless and optional, you just wanna warp, you can hold the shoot button and hope they're over. That's literally it, it's completely useless.

The first 6 hours of the game doesn't unlock warp travel and you gotta do it several times just to go back to levels when you get stuck at them. This was very painful at the start because if you wanted to buy items you had to go all the way back to Traverse town, it's not the best idea to just make shops available at one hubworld least to say. But annoyance asside you get used to it, there's not much to do there anyways.

Around the second wave of worlds the combat gets more intense and you actually start dying towards common battles due to how many enemies the place is spawning at once at you, by that point you've kinda unlocked everything too so you get to experiment with your new spells, you're flying across the place and all that, and muttering the phrase to myself "Oh Aerial is a good healer" which is I'll admit kinda funny. The absurdity gets to you, and the game isn't bad enough anymore to the point it's unplayable, however, if it did continue along the same quality it was around the first 6 hours, which most stopped playing, I totally get why people stopped playing thinking later on might just be more of the same. However if you do not have the patience for many boring segments, well, the general dull feel and minor issues in levels is followed throughout the whole game really, some bosses are interesting I will admit, they kinda get tricky later on and aren't just "SPAM ATTACK and heal", but it has just enough of that early repetition 2000 meh game feel and small times in which it's a little satisfying that keeps you hooked under a sunken fallacy cost, that and you're kinda curious what they'll do with the Disney properties.

Which again, probably the whole reason this game even exists, it's all for the sake of Disney, it shows so much in Kingdom Hearts, there's barely anything in the first 10 hours for you to care about Sora, he's just there as a generic insert character to explore Disney worlds, Square just really was throwning excuses just for the sake of exploring all of that. Square doesn't even own this game it's Disney who owns it and I wanted to get over with Kingdom Hearts fully which has been on my bucket list with the entire anthology on Xbox Game Pass because I know for sure that after Disney is responsible for killing the entire state of Florida by re-opening during a pandemic with a virus that is said to give halluciations and seizures, we can never come back to looking at this monopoly without thinking about that.

I mean even with that, I think most people cannot come back to Disney, If you're reading a review on a game website chances are you read many other criticisms and have grown to think that Disney is overrated. And it's not like Disney is given much justice in this work either, it's just small snippets and references too, they're given more justice than final fantasy characters but the whole soul is gone, the whole message is thrown away for some easy video game quest, it would have probably made more sense if they approached in a Roger Rabbit style in which all of the characters are actors rather than completely erase everything except the general idea a Japanese developer probably tried to do justice while lazily researching, Kingdom Hearts is a letter grade up a licensed game.

Many people have recommended me to play Kingdom Hearts for the combat and not for the Disney aspect because some aspects are salvagable, only to later on say "Ah well, the first hours of the game? They're terrible? Also the water level? Terrible, by the way? That minor inconvience? Oh it's terrible but you should tottaly play it" Thanks! Well, Kingdom Hearts truly deserves to be put in a time capsule to really encapsulate the absurdity of 2 companies trying to make the most of it and make a HUGE collab for money. If anything Kingdom Hearts is a prime example of why this medium isn't considered art, it is the most kitsch as it comes. 0 artistic integrity.

Truth is, the Disney aspects don't even bother me that much... Actually maybe they do? I'm not entirely sure if me with the most deadpan stare as if my soul has left my body, void of entertainment is anything to be praising over here, but... I just find them silly, I feel like I'm a 30 year old parent who just dropped in on my child playing the game and I just give it a somewhat dissapointing stare and im Like "Oh... The Little Mermaid eh?", you can imagine how much I incorporate that feel when I am the old adult playing this game in 2020. A part of me expected to be more biased towards those awkward cutscenes but I am just... Dead inside towards them. And of course the tone feels kinda cold and dry because it's obviously that weird period of JRPGs where they didn't know how humans acted so lines are delivered with no emotion at all, and scenes are just awkwardly played out in these clichés of DARKNESS vs Good which is laughlably generic and bad but doesn't really do much for me.

The music is nice though, definetely reminds me of Mario & Luigi when it's not trying to just be a midi version of a overrated Disney song. In general most MIDI renditions of old songs sound worse in this game. Orchestra production is over the roof for some odd reason though because I guess Disney wanted that, Kingdom Hearts is divided in such a way that I get to rate most of it easily though! Bad: The entire first 6 hours and section, with the exception of the Colloseum, Ansem's second phase in that coral cave of his where he does an attack that kills you and the strategy is just to stick close to him at all times, Atlantica Good: Colloseum (ignoring the fact that it has that same flaw FF7 has in which if you want to do bonus after-game content you gotta GRIND to level 100 so it's easier!), Neverland, Halloween Town, a bit of Hollow Bastion. Ok: The rest, 100 Acre Wood (Why did Kingdom Hearts put so much attention towards Pooh? Is Pooh God?), oh and everything good before? Due to the repettion, it just becomes "OK".

Going back to the discussion of the plot: It is until the VERY VERY End that any plot happens at all, and when it does, boy does it make a parody of a parody of a parody... of a parody of Dragon Ball Z dialog look well written. You have all of these epic set pieces and shit but it all feels just so silly that it doesn't hit you at all. Kingdom Hearts was made for people who never experienced any of the media mentioned or referenced in the game, maybe you get to experience this game as a toddler and then later on you play the games and watch the movies later cuz I guarantee you, anything does it better than this.

Honestly if you do not think the plot of Kingdom Hearts is laughable than you have all of your criticism cards revoked, you are like a child crying over spilled milk if a plot of "I am BAD, and I want... BADNESS!!!" against "NO! GOOD IS GOOD! WE NEED TO DO GOODNESS, GOOD IS THE GREATEST!!!" is emotionally stimulating. Seriously, were you given books to read during your time at school? I think you should have some emotional development beyond whatever this is. Kingdom Hearts in terms of plot feels like what a toddler should first experience, and if they happen to experience ANYTHING before this, their tastes are already too refined to get emotionally stimulated by it. Ironically Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse is a lot more emotionally stimulating (the nightmare inducing Game Cube exclusive I grew up with which is sorta like a myst clone, if you're curious enough to play a Final Fantasy and Disney clusterfuck than you are curious enough to play a Mickey Mouse Myst clone let me tell you), then... I don't know, getting to see a drawing of characters that aren't developed and I don't care for at all.

Many people have commented on that scene being touching but, has anyone stopped to even think how none of those characters feel even alive? Do people literally think that if you just put something at the start and distance it long enough it becomes touching? The power of nostalgia does not work on me that well (although I guess Nostalgia is the sole reason Disney even gets money), especially considering I'll be playing this entire series in a row so by the point they mention that drawing again it'll only be like last week since I saw it and won't have any affect intended. It is a very lazy writing job to just put something from the very beggining and then put it way in the end and be like "HEY? REMEMBER? are you feeling emotions now?" well, in case the developers forgot: In the middle of all of that shit nothing happens even remotely related to these 2 characters, their bond doesn't really grow, they aren't developed as characters, in fact most of that middle ground was just the player getting to experience Disney worlds with no logic or cohession, here's a tip: What if they took a cue from Mega Man or Zelda (or some other game that did this) and made it so that every single Disney world, you learned a little more about the lore or world building, or you got something that in the end mattered, that way you would make it so that every single Disney world included added something to the plot...No? Ok well. Most of the things in the end feel completely detached from everything and feel like a last second idea even, the only thing intact throughout this game is Riku and Sora, and it's... Ok, it's not much but it's there, it's even more shallow than when Disney forces characters to hate each other so that they can learn how to forgive them later, they're rivals for rivals sake really. What were they fighting for again? Oh. KAIRI...Kairi was supposed to be the end goal of this game and she barely has any sub-plot going on throughout, supposedly she's a princess, raised as royalty to learn about the meaningless more tangible and empty than space subplot of darkness and hearts, and that's all we need to know and Kairi doesn't even have a personality. Does she have enough screentime to develop one? No, but does she get enough screentime to CARE FOR AT ALL? I think it is some kind of bold statement that the least written character of all time is a woman. A "Disney" princess, never the less. Also ironic: If you happened to watch all of the Disney movies included in the game, you kinda have a high enough standard to not have big feelings for all of this. The reward for finishing the game is the funny almost comedic timing of the song "SIMPLE and CLEAN" starting in an pre-rendered cutscene with JPG artifacts they forgot to clean up in this Final Mix, seriously I can go there with a paintbrush and fix those frames there if anyone wants me to do that. Square Enix hire me as a consulting critic.

I have to say also Kingdom Hearts is a perfect example of why following 0 rules or logic to your in-built universe makes the entire experience feel weightless and... FORGIVE ME... HEARTLESS. Why is Pluto a trans-dimensional being? We don't know. Nothing really matters, you know like, light can do whatever the fuck it wants, darkness can do whatever it wants. You expect me to care about any of this when anyone by this point knows very well that anything goes and there's no impact? Again, and I wanna end this review with my shitty pun: It just feels heartless.

This is the video game that ensured I stayed not just a Playstation girl, but more than just an occasional gamer. I might have dabbled with a few specific titles here and there (mostly Tomb Raider titles and a few movie tie-ins), Kingdom Hearts was the first game I actually played all the way through. Ironically, it was originally bought as a gift for my mom who thought it looked fun. And then I wound up giving it a try - and got sucked in quick.

From the weird but somehow perfect crossover of Disney and Final Fantasy, the voice cast, bright and beautiful colors and designs, and a plot about a protagonist who isn't actually the chosen one but still the hero, this game is still such a charming and wonderful adventures. I love the secret bosses (I also hate them), I love all the side quests and lore, not to mention the amazing soundtrack! I still remember the gut punch of the ending and the excitement for more.

The gameplay also makes this one of my favorites. The mechanics in this are really easy to get used to, imo. For the most part the camera angles aren't in the way (and usually you can move it around if you need to - the main area where camera angles are a pain is certain locations in Wonderland, which makes jumping a chore because I often end up falling due to awkward angles). Combat is pretty straightforward, combos and special moves that you get along the way are fun and fairly easy to use - and I can even do blocking and defensive moves successfully at times! (I am awful at defensive play. Just awful.)

All these years later, even owning the final mix on ps3, and I still will bust out the PlayStation 2 to play some of my old saves on the original game. Still a wonderful experience.

If you would've asked me a few months ago what my top 5 games on the Playstation 2 were, Kingdom Hearts would've certainly been on my list. I loved this game when I played it sixteen years ago, and the combination of Disney characters and characters from my favorite era of Final Fantasy was of course an easy sell for me. The idea of replaying this game - and all the others - in anticipation of Kingdom Hearts 3 was an exciting venture, one I couldn't wait to start. However, when I finally returned to the world of Kingdom Hearts after all these years, I felt like my heart had also been ripped out by how disappointing the game actually was.

When I told my best friend - who also looking forward to KH3 - that I didn't like this game as much anymore, she agreed that it wasn't that good and we realized something very important about this era of video games. When you play retro games, there's a muted expectation, the idea that these games are very much from the past, so of course they won't play similar to the games of today. Yet since the PS2 era, the evolution of games has been much more gradual, so games that are almost 20 years old (like Kingdom Hearts) feel similar to what we play today, but are harder to wrap our heads around and harder to maneuver. I also found this to be the case when I played through all the God of War games earlier this year. While the first game was fun, I didn't feel like I had the amount of control I was used to in this type of game, which made the game more difficult than it probably was originally.

I can break down my major problems with Kingdom Hearts in one statement: I always felt like I was doing something wrong. Worlds are small, but almost feel labyrinthian due to the lack of information on where you're supposed to go. Areas like Deep Jungle, Agrabah and Monstro are really only two or three major areas, and yet it's often confusing to try and figure out what you need to do. In a weird way, it's like the game almost needs you to know the story of the films in order to know where to go.

I also found the way that Sora and his crew upgrades and fights to be completely lacking. I never felt like there was any strategy in my fights, but that I was just hacking and slashing. I even looked up strategies to see if I was doing something wrong, but most said to indeed just keep hitting, with the occasional block. I never felt either that the upgrade system was all that worthwhile, especially in terms of learning new abilities. For example, there are certain levels with treasure chests that are just out of reach. I kept thinking that there had to be a way to reach these, I was again just doing something wrong. Not until much later in the game did I realize that the game hadn't given me all my abilities in terms of just physical movements. I felt like my movement was stunted because it was actually stunted.

And you can't talk about Kingdom Hearts without talking about the story, which is already bonkers after the first one. There's no real explanation why these Disney worlds are affected, and the danger doesn't really feel that dire, except in the case of a few Final Fantasy characters. Apparently, Square thought that the game wouldn't do well without Final Fantasy characters - which is insane - and while I did love seeing these characters the first time I played this, now they stand out like a sore thumb. I also can't help but think of how unnecessary it is to have Sora in this game instead of just letting Mickey be the lead character. Plus, by the time you get to the end of the game, not much has really happened. The adventure continues with only slight variations.

Kingdom Hearts is an ambitious game that makes insane choices. It's a game that feels large in scale, but constrictive in individual levels. Kingdom Hearts is definitely a game of its era, and one that feels older than it is because of its odd gameplay and poorly designed levels. And yet, I still get excited to explore these levels that I'll eventually get fed up with. As I finished the final bosses of the game, I still gasped with excitement that the game found a way to throw Fantasia's Chernabog into the mix. There's a magic to this series that could be far more effective, it's just a shame that Kingdom Hearts tends to squander that magic with ideas that really don't work.

Ha pasado muchísimo tiempo desde que me han recomendado este juego y quiero comentar lo que ha sido mi experiencia en 2017.

Lo primero es que me ha sorprendido su calidad gráfica. Es un juego que a mi gusto a nivel visual ha envejecido tremendamente bien. Y aunque he jugado a la versión original de PS2 estoy seguro que los remaster de final mix son aún mejores.

Otro punto a favor del juego es su sistema de combates totalmente divertido y personalizable. Por desgracia este sistema queda empañado por los atajos, que son bastantes malos y no permiten el uso de objetos.

Un tercer punto a favor son las ambientaciones y bandas sonoras. Los mundos están MUY elaborados. Es una maravilla pasearse por las recreaciones de disney en su mayoría.

Un cuarto punto que no puede dejar ser mencionado es el sistema de compañeros. Es un sistema de uso bastante eficaz, que quizás resulta un poco burdo para lo que esperan otros jugadores (¿un sistema de gambits?), pero que cumple perfectamente.

El quinto punto, probablemente el que más me ha sorprendido: Los bosses. Los enemigos por lo general proporcionan combates geniales, e incluso la evolución de los enemigos normales llega a ser impresionante.

Y por último, las distintas mecánicas. El nadar bajo el mar o el poder "volar" le dan muchísima vida al juego.

Ahora desglosemos un poco todo, y empecemos a hablar de lo malo:

1. La historia es bastante mala. No ha sigo en ningún punto lo que ha tirado de mí. No veo ningún motivo ni nada que me indique a seguir. Si lo he jugado ha sido por ciertos puntos brillantes de los mundos, pero no de la historia.
2. La cámara no se la deseo ni a mi peor enemigo. En cierto combate bajo el agua esta cámara me generaba hasta mareos de lo mala que era.
3. Hay ciertos aspectos del juego que pasan sin fú ni fá. Como la nave gumi por ejemplo.
4. La calidad de los mundos flojea cuando se avanza en la historia y se convierte en ir de un lado a otro por el mapa cual recadero.

Pero en resumidas cuentas y en líneas generales, se trata de un juego fantástico que merece ser probado por todo el mundo.

Nota final: 7,5 / 10.

If you dislike Disney movies and think they are kid's stuff, this game is NOT for you. In fact, before playing this game I recommend watching a few Disney movies unless you already have (like a normal person). Go on KissCartoon, they have them all.

Kingdom Hearts is unique as it's a crossover game, not between games, but between Final Fantasy and Disney. This sounds STUPID at first, but it makes a lot of sense as Final Fantasy and Disney have a lot in common: Magic, adventure, castles, princesses, over the top villains, friendships, family, romance, loss, self-discovery, iconic characters, etc.

Let's go over the good, first the gameplay: varied and fun. Combat is real-time RPG action, with melee attacks with the keyblade, long ranged magic, and summons.

The bosses are really fun and challenging, and enemy designs are really creative.

There are also these on rail space shooter sections where you create custom ships and stuff which can be really fun or really annoying depending on how much you like on rail space shooters (I like them enough, and I enjoyed the Gummi Ship levels okay).

There are a ton of different party members, (Most of the time you'll just be with Donald and Goofy) and secrets in each world. The collectibles and secret bosses are incredible in this game.

The music: nice, really balanced and includes familiar Disney tunes. The game is visually appealing enough, all the worlds and characters have good designs.

The story is kinda a mixed bag: I really like it but it can get complex... If watch a lot of anime you will enjoy okay, but if not hopefully you won't be too lost (especially if you want to play the sequels).

The bad: The game can get CHEESY during some cutscenes and more than half of those cut scenes have THE WORST face animations in a game. They literally have flapping JPEG images slapped on the model's faces and it is just not fun at all, sucks you right out of it. Thank GOD there are plenty of properly animated cut scenes or else I would be pissed.

Animated Properly vs. No Animation At All

Overall Kingdom Hearts is a phenomenal game would recommend it 100% please pick it up off PSN or get the Final Mix Collections.