Current Events > Kingdom Hearts

(+) Yeah! (+)

I got the ps4 compilation of 1.5+2.5+2.8 so my question is what order should I play them? The release order or the order they appear in the collection?

Option 1 - Chronological release order

Option 2 - KH1, CoM, 358/2, KH2, BBS, Coded, DDD, 0.2, Back Cover
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Release order, for sure. It helps you see what they shoehorned in as it happened.
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Release order, I guess.

The only actual difference is that they put the Days movie before KH2, and they're pretty interchangeable, especially if you already know who Roxas is.
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Release order, always.
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Always release order. At least the first time.

Timeline order may seem intuitive but it neglects storytelling structure. It's like watching a movie, but editing it so the flashbacks are all at the beginning. You're going to lose the context, and there's a good chance you end up with spoilers since the basic flow of a story depends on information being presented in a particular order.

Consider this:

A man is about to undergo surgery. He asks the doctor "will I be able to play violin after the procedure?" The doctor says yes.

"Great!" says the man, "because I can't now!"

Old joke, you've no doubt heard, but easily points out how the information being presented in a logical order instead of a temporal order improves the story.

1. Man is undergoing surgery
2. Asks if he will be able to play violin afterward
3. Doc says yes
4. Man cannot play violin now.

But #4 is true from the beginning. If we rearranged everything according to the timeline, the story loses all appeal:

A man who cannot play violin is about to undergo surgery. He asks the doctor "will I be able to play violin after the procedure?" The doctor says yes.
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