Current Events > Finally got all the Kingdom Hearts games, what to expect?

(+) Yeah! (+)

The 1.5/2.5 and 2.8 collection were on sale on Xbox at a non-stupid price ($20 each, what they should always been on Xbox tbh) so I scooped them up and figured now's a good time as ever to get through them

In general what to expect I mean, I already about about the LIGHT and DARKNESS memes lol

The only one I ever beat was Birth By Sleep way back in 2011 and that was one hell of a cliffhanger

Although heh heh, sounds like Kingdom Hearts 3 didn't deliver on many things it was building up to, that's a shame

I can't remember, is magic more busted in some games than others

---

AvantgardeAClue posted...

I can't remember, is magic more busted in some games than others

Yes. It's useful but balanced in KH1, one spell is really, really good in KH2, and it's basically just broken in KH3 (but so is a lot of other stuff). The unnumbered games have entirely different systems where magic and combat abilities are basically the same thing, so the traditional spells the numbered titles use tend to be relatively meh.

I recommend skipping Chain of Memories unless you really love the card battle system. Watch the cutscenes on Youtube because literally that happens outside of the prerendered cutscenes is filler.

If you're into 100%ing games, only do it for the numbered titles. Chain of Memories means you have to sit through more of the card battle bullshit and do a ridiculous fucking grind to collect all the cards. Birth By Sleep has rhythm and soccer minigames that should qualify as human rights violations. Dream Drop Distance's gimmick is that it's basically a Pokemon ripoff and you have to do a lot of grinding to catch and level the Pokemon.

Play KH1 and KH2 on Proud Mode. If you really, absolutely have to play CoM, do it on easy to ease the pain of the card battle bullshit. Play BBS on Normal or Easy because its combat is incredibly clunky. DDD's combat is smooth enough that you could probably play it on Proud, but I wasn't impressed enough by it to justify making life harder.

---

why would you do this to yourself

Finally got all the Kingdom Hearts games, what to expect?

crap

---

Reis posted...

why would you do this to yourself

Because I'm trying to remind myself of when I enjoyed Square Enix, right before reminding myself of why I currently don't lol

---

KH1 and KH2 are legitimately good games, KH2 moreso. The secret bosses in KH2 are relatively deep considering the game they're in.

---

Try to pretend KHIII does not exist.

---

So Chain of Memories is completely skippable right

Thank goodness 358/2 Days is all cutscenes because I don't remember the gameplay being particularly engaging

---

pegusus123456 posted...

Play KH1 and KH2 on Proud Mode.

bad advice.

play 2 on critical tc. it isn't one of those super hard/unfair modes like the name would suggest. it gives you a ton of extra abilities to start the game with and you do more damage. some of the abilities you get also increase item drops which makes farming for materials way less tedious later.

---

Are y'all sure

Proud Mode on BBS was alright until the final boss kicked my ass and I had to power-level like crazy lol

---

Frogles posted...

bad advice.

play 2 on critical tc. it isn't one of those super hard/unfair modes like the name would suggest. it gives you a ton of extra abilities to start the game with and you do more damage. some of the abilities you get also increase item drops which makes farming for materials way less tedious later.

Oh, I thought KH2 didn't let you play Critical until you beat the game.

AvantgardeAClue posted...

Proud Mode on BBS was alright until the final boss kicked my ass and I had to power-level like crazy lol

The combat is mostly fine until the final bosses. I personally found them infuriating enough that I wouldn't recommend anyone playing on Proud solely for them.

---

bruh the bbs final boss was cheap bullshit and worse than everything in all of the kh games combined. kh2 on critical isn't like that.

kh1 on proud definitely can get annoying though. some of the bosses have really glaring design issues but nothing in the series compares to that nonsense from bbs.

---

Okay so good to know I ran into the worst of the bunch first lol

What am I grabbing/not grabbing between the shield/sword/staff in KH1 again

---

AvantgardeAClue posted...

Okay so good to know I ran into the worst of the bunch first lol

What am I grabbing/not grabbing between the shield/sword/staff in KH1 again

they determine your starting stats and the order you'll learn abilities

i don't remember anything about the abilities but if you're into min-maxing you wanna pick the rod or at least dont sacrifice it. you can't increase mp other than by leveling up so you'll always have one extra if you picked the rod or one less if you didn't.

---

Totally misread this as "Klingon Hearts", and got disappointed.

Frogles posted...

bruh the bbs final boss was cheap bullshit and worse than everything in all of the kh games combined. kh2 on critical isn't like that.

Sorry, I meant for them to be separate responses. KH2 on Critical is probably more difficulty than I prefer, but I wouldn't necessarily tell someone not to do it.

And yeah, BBS is just really badly designed. Aqua's final boss might be the worst one I've ever encountered.

AvantgardeAClue posted...

Okay so good to know I ran into the worst of the bunch first lol

What am I grabbing/not grabbing between the shield/sword/staff in KH1 again

The item you choose determines the order you learn abilities, the item you give up determines your starting stats.

The min/max choice is take the Staff and drop the Sword. Taking the staff gives you two more MP in the end. Strength/Defense can be increased by items, but nothing increases MP. The only real issue with picking the staff is that you don't get the Second Chance ability - taking a fatal blow leaves you at 1 HP which is SUPER important in KH - until level 90.

The second-place alternative is to take the Shield and drop the Sword. Gives you defensive abilities earlier.

You don't really want to ever drop the Shield because it makes your starting defense terrible and the beginning of the game much harder.

---

pegusus123456 posted...

And yeah, BBS is just really badly designed. Aqua's final boss might be the worst one I've ever encountered.

It was Terra's final boss that made me pull my hair out lol, my reflexes were SHARP by the time I finished

Think I'll grab the sword and drop the shield. I can still use MP effectively without the staff right?

---

AvantgardeAClue posted...

It was Terra's final boss that made me pull my hair out lol, my reflexes were SHARP by the time I finished

Think I'll grab the sword and drop the shield. I can still use MP effectively without the staff right?

Yeah.

---

AvantgardeAClue posted...

It was Terra's final boss that made me pull my hair out lol, my reflexes were SHARP by the time I finished

Terra's was bad and exemplified the issues in the game's combat, but Aqua's boss had some mechanics that were just straight up terrible.

AvantgardeAClue posted...

Think I'll grab the sword and drop the shield. I can still use MP effectively without the staff right?

Yeah, you should be fine. IIRC magic isn't incredibly super useful in KH1 anyway other than defensive spells.

---

The thing about BBS's boss was the sudden importance of counter when it literally didn't really matter for most of the story if I could get that far without it lol

---

That was definitely a problem. It's a massive increase in difficulty.

My biggest complaint was that BBS lacks the revenge value mechanic from KH2. In KH2, bosses will typically have an opening where you can stun them with an attack. To prevent you just stun-locking them, each one has a revenge value which increases every time they're hit. When the revenge value hits a certain threshold (different for each boss), they'll immediately counterattack.

BBS doesn't have that system, so bosses just counterattack whenever they feel like it. This means the basic attack is virtually worthless, so you're just spending time waiting for your commands to come off cooldown. And because bosses can counterattack so quickly, most of the commands aren't as useful as basic dash attacks.

---

I think I'll still do it on Proud lol

If my 17-year old self could eventually beat it then current me should be older and wiser about it

Is 3 hard at all by chance

---

KH3 I would definitely play on Critical. I regretted playing it on Proud because it's super easy.

---

pegusus123456 posted...

KH3 I would definitely play on Critical. I regretted playing it on Proud because it's super easy.

critical should have been in the damn game from launch but se likes to bungle everything they do

The story will insult you because of how bad it is

Kh2 is a 10/10 in terms of gameplay and the boss fights at least have Rule of Cool going for them.
BBS is a 7/10
KH3 is a 9/10
Kh2.9 or whatever they called the demo thing for KH3 is a 10/10

The others are eh

---

Rika_Furude posted...

The story will insult you because of how bad it is

This too btw.

KH1 has charm. COM's are short. KH2's are at least fun and stupidly anime. After that it's a nice long drudge.

---

KH1 great
KH2 one of the best games of all time
Re:COM skip
BBS okay
DDD good
0.2 okay
KH3 80% meh 20% great


---

I liked BBS's story; it was relatively easy to follow

Then again, it was basically just Star Wars Episode 3 w/ KH characters

---

Actually you're right. BBS probably has the second-best story.

---

What's the first lol

(please don't say 358/2 Days)

---

358/2 days had the best premise but was executed poorly.

It has one of the best final boss themes tho

---

AvantgardeAClue posted...

What's the first lol

(please don't say 358/2 Days)

Oh, KH1. It's nothing ground-breaking, but it's charming and simple and clean which is a massive step up over most of the series.

I only watched the 358/2 Days video, but I fucking hate the entire concept of Xion, so I wouldn't say that's the best.

---

I absolutely love the intro segment of KH2 with Roxas, even if it's annoying to so many people lol

It was one of the few story parts they nailed completely IMO

---

Yeah, most of the games are fun and have stories that are interesting enough, but just don't expect KH3 to wrap up anything in a satisfying way.

The Roxas prologue is definitely some good stuff, though I understand why so many people don't like it.

---

pegusus123456 posted...

Sorry, I meant for them to be separate responses. KH2 on Critical is probably more difficulty than I prefer, but I wouldn't necessarily tell someone not to do it.

that was actually a response to tc haha you posted as i was typing a response.

AvantgardeAClue posted...

I absolutely love the intro segment of KH2 with Roxas, even if it's annoying to so many people lol

It was one of the few story parts they nailed completely IMO

i agree. its been my favorite part of the game since the original came out. i was really surprised when i went online after beating 2 and found out people hated it. i always wanted another game where i can play as roxas.


---

Frogles posted...

i always wanted another game where i can play as roxas.

I mean, there's Days, but that's definitely not the same thing. Still think they should remake it for the Switch or something, though -- being on the DS did it no favors.

---