Before there was the mess that Kingdom Hearts has become today, there was this game. The store is a simple good vs. evil story, & ironically enough plays out like a typical Disney movie. The main cast is charming & the game oozes personality throughout it's music & visuals. While all of this sounds great on paper, unfortunatley in practice the gameplay shows it's age hard. Like many late 90's & Y2K 3D games, the platforming is very rough and the camera system gets in the way many times. This especially becomes a pain during horde encounter & boss fights when you're trying to time your dodges & blocks. If you want to get through this game do so on a lower difficulty so you don't get pissed at the jank, if you're looking for a challenege the gameplay in future titles is much better.

Replaying this game recently, while being a fun and nostalgic experience, it was also hard to ignore the game's flaws when looking at the game through a more modern lens. The camera and lock-on feature being the worst offender by far, as in certain Disney worlds, and against certain enemies, the camera can swing wildly around, nigh uncontrollably. World structure and a few worlds in particular (Atlantica and Monstro) are also a bit of a drag to get through.

However, I still cannot remove myself from when I played this back in 2002. The biggest selling point for me back then was seeing Cloud and Squall, from FFVII and FFVIII respectively, with much improved PS2 graphics. And the special fight against Sephiroth that included the One Winged Angel remix, was the stuff of legends.

Before the game's release, I recall seeing it covered within the Official PlayStation magazine, of which I had a subscription for a period of time. I fondly remember visiting the official KH website running Macromedia Flash and just listening to the music while looking through the characters/worlds list. I'll never get over how nostalgic and incredible the "End of the World" theme is (which played on the website). It brings me back to the anticipation I felt waiting for the game's release.

Mixing Disney with Final Fantasy is such an odd mixture (same goes for the Action RPG gameplay with the battle menu), but with Tetsuya Nomura's original character design and Yoko Shimomura's music, it just blended so well together in this title. I will add that I think Shimomura's soundtrack is the best part of any KH, as it elevates everything to a much higher level... it almost is too good for the melodramatic KH series. This is also the most simple and straightforward KH storyline, which is great to revisit... it was a much better time, as this was before the convoluted mess that it became in its subsequent sequels.

I'll always look back on this game with great memories - but I cannot help but think the KH series had so much more potential than what it has turned into... the mess of a story it became, the games releasing on a new console/handheld each time, spin-offs that are required to play to understand the story, the over-reliance on Disney characters/worlds/stories, etc. I selfishly wished they were more 50-50 with Disney/Squaresoft (Square-Enix) characters/worlds and their original KH creations. Seeing a Final Fantasy world with Disney characters in it as an inverse to what the game's formula became would have always been a really interesting and cool idea to witness as well. Alas, this is primarily just an issue I have with the series as a whole, but I'm over it now, and accept what we received.

I was late to the party for this game series, but I am so so glad that I found it. I had the original game on PS2, and then bought the remix for the PS4. The story has so many holes you could call it Swiss cheese, the game play is stupidly difficult at times (especially if you're not paying attention)... But the rose tinted glasses are thick and I've put enough meaning into the game myself that it has an iron grip on a piece of my heart. It's a good game, though I recommend getting the Re:Mix version (it has several quality of life changes).

Zerei a primeira vez por volta de 10/13 anos e rezerei no pc com 17, e esse jogo para mim envelheceu como vinho, ainda me encanto com a interação e a criatividade que os devs tiveram para criar um universo "final fantasyoso" e "Dysneilandico" sem ficar tosco ou vergonhoso, Sora, Donald e Pateta fizeram minha infancia mais feliz enfrentando os heartless enquanto viajavam por diversos planetas de filmes que eu amava e ainda amo, Kingdom Hearts sem duvidas foi essencial para o meu amor por jogos florecer ainda mais quando eu era menor, e só o reforça quando eu pego pra ver o game hoje em dia, com toda a franquia que se tornou