It makes me sad. I went into the first Kingdom Hearts right after Christmas of 2005. It was the last video game my parents ever gifted me. Back then, I had never beaten a Square game or non-Pokemon RPG, so I had my doubts about it. I gave it an honest go, and after two 100% playthroughs, I had discovered a game that triumphed over its flaws with style and warmth. The gameplay was good, but the intangibles were so much better. From the Disney characters who helped shape my childhood, to the childishly endearing Square characters, to the touching music that ranks among my favorite ever, this fusion of Disney magic and Nipponese melodrama plucked at my heartstrings in a way few other games had before.
Luckily for me, I beat it in early 2006, a mere three months before the planned release for Kingdom Hearts II. My excitement was palpable, and I felt so fortunate to have experienced the original KH when I did, not just for the experience itself, but to spare myself of the agonizing 3.5-year-wait which plagued early fans. I preordered the sequel, which came out on a day where I wasn't burdened with school or work. I drove to GameStop, took my tiny treasure home with carefree excitement - the excitement of a child - and popped it in my PS2. I had salivated over this game for three months, yet when I heard the newest rendition of Dearly Beloved, I put down the controller and just listened, forgetting the 40+ hour adventure ahead of me.
Kingdom Hearts II brought with it faster, more action-oriented gameplay with flashier moves and some of the epic QTE set pieces gaming had seen. It might not have had as much simple heartwarming charm as the first, but anchored by the Roxas sub-story, it was no less emotional. As a new but devoted fan, KHII had met all my requirements. It was, in every way, a worthy sequel, and I was now, in every way, a hardcore fan of the series.
And now I sit here, typing this over five years later, wondering what the hell happened. My only new experience with the series was a PS2 remake of the GBA card game spinoff. While not terrible, it was nothing more than a spec of dust landing idly on the two real games that had spawned an army of anxious fans. The series has since migrated to handhelds with spinoffs that I will likely never play - ones that apparently wreak havoc on an already complicated story. The Kingdom Hearts team is currently preoccupied with Versus XIII, a game several years in the making that could likely wind up a financial bomb. With that being the case, who knows if Kingdom Hearts III will even be made. It is not in development. It has not been announced. Fans' best case scenario, when noting Square's recent release schedule, is that it gets released in about five years. That puts the release window between sequels at a solid decade, or from sophomore year in high school to grad school graduate in the real world.
I loved the two games so much back in 2006. They were unquestionably my two biggest games of that year. I had just turned 20, and in a period of my life where the world was gradually forcing me to trade in childish dreams for cold reality, they allowed me to briefly hold on, to cling to lazy afternoons - relics of simpler times.
I was 20 then, waiting for Kingdom Hearts III. If it ever sees the light of day, I'll probably be 30. It might be too late. And realizing that, it looks like
my summer vacation is over. =(
-- Yoblazer: http://oi52.tinypic.com/ad21i1.jpg Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!
I really dislike Kingdom Hearts as a whole. I didn't care for the first Kingdom Hearts and for some reason I picked up the second game. It's like, good games are there, but they need so much work that I just don't enjoy them. I really loved the improved level design in the sequel, but it seemed like they screwed up on a bunch of other aspects.
The potential for greatness is there, but the games just feel so closed off and I think that's the main reason I can't get into them.
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If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person? [HERO'S PLUNGE] http://img.imgcake.com//wesker.gif
I feel pretty much the same, though I never finished II. But the first game... I beat that over and over, 100%'ing numerous times, enjoying every inch of it.
I'm not a fan of Square or Final Fantasy, but Kingdom Hearts just felt right. II felt good as well, but I never put the time in to completing it, and by the time I had considered going back, I looked ahead at all of the "other" KH games and got depressed, sinking my head down and deciding I'd wait for a brighter day.
While II did bring with it a lot of closure, I want some more finny fun. One of the biggest series of the last gen will all but certainly skip this gen. That, to me, is a bigger flub from Square than anything Nintendo has done in the past five years. At least Nintendo has given us Mario, Zelda, and Metroid.
-- Yoblazer: http://oi52.tinypic.com/ad21i1.jpg Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!
I'm a huge Kingdom Hearts fan. I didn't play the first game when it came out, I played it a couple years later. And I didn't beat it until after I had already gotten and played Kingdom Hearts II. I love both games greatly, I can't choose which one of the two is better.
But Birth by Sleep for the PSP is the best Kingdom Hearts game. I don't say that lightly, because every other spin-off they've had were decent at best. It seemed like they really put their best effort into BBS though, it's got so much of that amazing charm, warmth, and emotion that you experience in the first and second game. It's truly worthy of the Kingdom Hearts title, and I highly insist, almost beg, that you play it.
It's a prequel, set 10 years earlier than the first game, and it offers a whole lot to the overall story of KH. The characters are actually better than Sora and his friends.
If you don't have a PSP, then you should get one. If you don't want to get a PSP for just one game (one of the best games ever though) then I think they plan on making an HD version of it later on for the PS3. So you can get it and play it then. I hope they do that, because I'm perfectly willing to pay money for it all over again to see it in HD on my awesome TV.
ALSO, one more thing, the ending of BBS sets up for Kingdom Hearts 3.
-- ~Halo Now you learn the mistake of challenging me. http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/2734/hieis.jpg
Hopefully BBS will get the PS3 HD remix treatment because it's literally the only reason I'd have to buy a PSP now that Peace Walker is getting ported to the PS3.
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Support Otacon (Metal Gear Solid) for Character Battle IX! http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/1950/banner4otacon.jpg
From: LeonhartFour | #013 Hopefully BBS will get the PS3 HD remix treatment because it's literally the only reason I'd have to buy a PSP now that Peace Walker is getting ported to the PS3.
I got a PSP with the Peace Walker bundle and still haven't played more than 10 minutes of it because I can't stand the controls. I need two analog sticks for MGS. So I'm so excited to spend money on it again to play it in HD on my PS3. I'm excited, because I really wanna play it. Big Boss > all.
-- ~Halo Now you learn the mistake of challenging me. http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/2734/hieis.jpg
No way. If anything, it is finally moving in a direction that is bad ass.
Kingdom Hearts 1 is one of the worst games I've ever played. The only reason I played it is because my best friend wanted me too. I hated literally everything about it. The platforming was terrible. The battle system was boring. Sora sucked. Riku sucked. Kairi sucked. I DID like the finale and Ansem was pretty neat because he was like like "DAAARKNESS" But otherwise, extremely piss poor game.
Then. my friend made me play Kingdom Hearts 2, which I really didn't want to do. Immediately i found it pretty damn good. The intro with Roxas was infinitely more interesting than anything that happened in PoS KH1. Then you had Christopher Lee voicing a guy that looked pretty cool doing some crazy stuff. Sora had a personality upgrade. MICKEY WAS A GOD DAMN NINJA. The Organization 13 stuff was pretty neat. Plus at the end Riku joins your party and he's a bad ass now.
I'll admit 358 is a joke game, but Birth By Sleep was like the Season 5 finale of Lost where you finally get the reveal of who the main villian of the series truly is. Its finale setting up a pretty epic conclusion (with the help of the finale of Re:Coded that really drove home the idea that Master Xehanort REALLY needs to be stopped)
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"Don't freeze up girl, you're looking quite a sight." - Adam Ant. "Baby, can you dig your man? He's a righteous man." - Larry Underwood
But no seriously, every game that wasn't the first one is awful, and if you disagree with me every woman in your family is a whore and I have proof. I'm not even bragging, I'm just stating facts.
-- chumbucketeer fills cups like double-Ds. http://img.imgcake.com/chumpngej.png - Art by BIGPUN9999
I mean the whole attitude that the handheld games are just filler and somehow inferior.
There's this weird contradiction to me that KH is lambasted for having a bad story, but somehow it's ok to hate on them [the handhelds] for not contributing much to the overall plot. Like, seriously, don't take the plot seriously and have fun bashing heartless! BBS and Re:coded do a way better job of that than KHII anyways.
If BBS and Re:coded are any indication, to me the future is bright for Kingdom Hearts.
It wasn't my intention to knock them. I haven't even played them because I'm not a handheld gamer. I've only played the PS2 Chain of Memories remake, and that was average at best. If they are indeed great games, then that is welcomed news, but I've heard they make the story even crazier (for a Disney game, it was already pretty complex through I/CoM/II), if not outright unsalvageable. If BBS is ported to the PS3, especially for a good price, then I'll pick it up as soon as I get that system.
However, as it stands, the series has had only one home console game in five years, and it was a remake of a handheld game. It's become a handheld series, and while some may be cool with that, it's easy to see why some fans who loved KH as huge console games might be upset.
-- Yoblazer: http://i33.tinypic.com/ml36gl_th.gif Watch and you'll see... someday I'll be... part of your world!
It's not really a handheld series, they're just taking their time with making KHIII, so they figured they would give us a bunch of hand-held titles to satiate us. Not that it really works. BBS is the only one that is worth anything. Ironically though, it's worth the most out of any KH game, even the console ones.
I just can't express how deep my love for Birth by Sleep goes. It is just so fantastic, so emotional, everything Kingdom Hearts has ever been and so much more.
Like I said, it sets up for the third game. You should for sure play it.
The rest of the handhelds are on Nintendo systems, which is why they don't matter. Except Chain of Memories. That actually mattered to the story and filled in a lot of gaps, but I never beat it because I couldn't stand the card system. So I just watched the rest of it on Youtube. Days adds something interesting to the story, I'll admit, but I never played it. I never will. The gameplay looks lame and I don't care much for the DS anyway. Reverse that for Re:Coded, in which, the gameplay looks fun except it's on the DS, while the story is not important in the slightest.
What's the message at the end of Re:Coded though?
-- ~Halo Live, fight, survive, as a family. http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/7469/batfamily.jpg
Oh and Birth by Sleep also features the best gameplay of the whole series. Even being on the PSP, it's still better in pretty much every way. I'm not much of a handheld gamer either, honestly. The fact that I enjoyed BBS as much as I did just goes to show how freakin' good of a game it is.
ShadowHalo17 posted... What's the message at the end of Re:Coded though?
*spoliers* Heavy Heavy spoilers oh my god dont read this if you dont want to be spoiled. Secret ending of Re:coded
Essentially sets up the future plot of the series and Dream Drop Distance.
Yen Sid wants Riku and Sora to undergo the Mark of Mastery Test (3D), and he also tells Mickey that after having his heartless and nobody defeated, Xehanort will reform to his original self and will most likely need to be dealt with.