mods used listed on my pastebin post, addendum regarding Steam release in comment

There’s a tendency in art, be it subconsciously or preemptively, to judge the first entry with the lofty expectations that have since permeated the public due to the success and improvements built/expanded/uplifted upon later entry - or entries - within that lineage. Not that this is a wrong way of approaching something, but it does mean that the first title’s idiosyncrasies and quirks are immediately scoffed at and treated as “obtrusive”, instead of something to work within the confines of and how those elements, specifically, play a part in the holistic quality of that outing to begin with. That said, things get critiqued for a reason; the camera, while not nearly as irksome as those would have you believe, has a tendency to work against the established structure of the dioramic, square(-adjacent) design of the screen in question. Take Monstro for example: normally within the Chambers, it follows within that design philosophy, many of the rooms being spacious in both horizontal and vertical space to allow for expansive range and control, as you worm your way through the digestive maze. Closing off, however, is the Stomach room, a large cylinder players would have to fight and platform in to reach the ‘throat’ of the whale, itself also being a tight circle of a room state. From this, the camera shifts and swerves wildly, resulting in lackadaisical direction and disorientation. It’s fine, but it’s a bit removed from the more tightly centered FOV and camera following from before. This isn’t an isolated incident, since similar room layouts cause these issues to begin with, such as in Deep Jungle’s rock climbing Waterfall room being tightly compacted in a large slate, or Neverland’s ship because Hook thought it would be funny to induce motion sickness by having everything so cramped and congested within the internals of the ship. Still, it’s not as if it’s a commonality within the game, and there’s ways to ameliorate it - between you and me, I wouldn’t exactly suggest using the Lock On at all times, helps cut down on the shifting nature.

The Lock On, as a use case, serves as a great transition to talk about a difference of approach in accordance to a lack of physical attributes starting off. See, utilizing the RPG half of the Action RPG moniker, I opted for a Proud Mode, Wand Boon/Sword Drop, with a starting Dusk journey… plainly speaking, Hard wherein XP procurements are pour in quicker on LV51 beyond, capped off by specializing in Magic over Strength. Due to the fact I was largely settling on more utility-driven abilities than pure offensive/defensive ones - my only defensive maneuver for a long while was Dodge Roll, and even Ripple Drive, an actual attacking move, is largely dictated and affected by how high my Magic stat currently is - this meant placing a lot more emphasis on passive->reactive stances within fights, a majority of which are rewarded and found from a mechanic called Tech Points. The matches against Tidus, Wakka, Selphie and Riku are great tutorials about the tools of the trade regarding spacing (executing the trigger range of Wakka’s short range attacks into either his back-dash attack launch or the spin reaction he does if too close), tells to activate an attack and trigger i-frame and/or any form of “break” within their assault (both Riku and Tidus have moves that activate an invuln period for Sora, as well as one move in particular activating a ‘stagger’ state to launch counterattacks on), and most importantly, actually allowing a stun period against these oppositions to begin with (Selphie has about two animation cycles regarding this, one attack reaction where she spins away after and recuperates, and another where she’s pushed back, already a slightly generous window made even better once the jump rope she’s holding bonks her on the head and lowers her guard more). With each newfound retort found, the game rewards you with TP, which in turn grants XP, which in turn bolsters your repertoire in the future. The Colosseum bouts against Yuffie, Leon, and Cloud are evolutions of these Destiny Island quartet, upon which you innately have a reaction form against them ahead of time - Yuffie’s spacial gap and priority on Shuriken tosses can be turned against her by locking onto Leon and swinging the Keyblade unto his direction, thereby attacking him and causing a stun, all the while you focus on minimizing her distance advantage as well as increase the pressure to prevent her from healing; Leon’s twirls, thrusts, and downward dive with his Gunblade are reminiscent of the jump rope attacks Selphie was doing prior, with similar timing and animation lengths to boot, and the added attack of his swift Fireball can quickly become a tool of your arsenal with a quick flick of the blade; Cloud is akin to the buckwild downpour states Riku and Tidus were dishing out, more precise and to the point comparatively yet nonetheless able to be blocked and counteracted, as well as indulging in suitable i-frame states from this. And, hey, if all else fails, taking lessons from Sora’s favorite Italian plumber and just jumping towards them willy nilly is as effective.

This isn’t just limited to those seven either, a majority of the bosses and enemies can be downsized on their threat level by making use of every component of this playstyle, and even they can use this against you. Jafar’s two phases both revolve around gap-closing and aerial meetup in either physical or elemental damaging, Hercules’ headcharge, the Soldiers’ spin cycle, and the Powerwilds’ leg sweeps can all be nulled by just counteracting it with an attack, Ursula Phase 2, Chernobog, Wizard (initially, more on this later) and some of Hades’s attacks put the pressure on staying back until a break in each allow for assault, and Cerberus, Kurt Zisa, Xemnas Unknown, and Sephiroth all incorporate all of this when going against them. Be they obvious ripostes or intuit response conclusions, you’d be surprised how many enemies - and, within the ruleset and engagement factor, the player in question - can be thrown for a swerve when approached by something that isn’t under the (unintuitive) mantra of “Mash Attack Button Repeatedly” akin to a low level understanding of Devil May Cry’s workings. In fact, I wanna go back to something I had brought up prior - it seems as if some people forget that the RPG portion of the formula isn’t just for influencing what abilities you get, or a soft reminder to check for resistances, or the fact that you actually go into the settings and change the behavioral state of Donald & Goofy for each given situation, lest you fall for bandwagon memes jabbered by poor, unfortunate souls. The MP bar, alongside being a modular mechanic that rewards action and engagement of an enemy (with passive reaction from damage coming later), is a sliding scale that influences the intensity of each spell’s might, which in turn means chillin in the back and just launching fireballs, not to mention how this further enhances a Summon’s power and time allocation. Each of said spells available on the kit also function differently, having a dedicated niche that doesn’t underplay their own strengths or overplay another’s. Fire’s single-shot covers up to a mid-range hori/verti distance while boasting a soft tracking hone, Blizzard’s shotgun blast is an all-rounding tool covering each of the difference between you and an enemy, Thunder’s box AoE and its capabilities to target any enemy, anywhere, makes it the absolute best case for any upcoming threats, Cure and Stop are self-explanatory and become even better when paired with Leaf Bracer (ability that grants invulns for that casting period) and Gravity’s percentage-based damage output optimized to its full power on even numerous bosses, and Aero’s fantastic defense both on the outset and with subsequent upgrades is a mainstay the moment you obtain it.

If there’s any advice for this game, and all KH games after, it’s this: never, ever, neglect the effectiveness and usage of your magic. Put all of these together, equip any necessary items to bolster whatever stat you desire, combine with Keyblade innately providing shorter or longer reaches on top of their benefits, and you have an ARPG that wonderfully incentivizes experimentation and its coexistence of interactivity statuses within not only the combat field, but outside of it. A Sliding Dash onto an unsuspecting foe leads to either a Thunder or a full combo for maximum Ripple Drive damage; launching Fire repeatedly onto Captain Hook to activate a trigger state of him running around with his ass on fire, while de-prioritizing him and re-oriented the target onto a Battleship that’s entered the field and pelt it with Gravity on its mast; get Cloud into a state of neutrality, then unleash the Stop Wombo Combo, in tandem with Ars Arcanum and its related Attack Techniques being nigh unblockable; have Goofy’s shield and/or your Fire/Ice magic on deck to counteract a Defender’s prep assault force, thereby exploiting their soft spots and dishing damage; Aerora/ga, the upgraded forms, allows for an ongoing tick damage rate when near an enemy('s weak point), which in turn finally allows whittling of the aforementioned Wizard during their Thunder casting; Blizzard upon the candles of Traverse Town, or the Blazers in Olympus, or the stove within Wonderland, or the bubbles in Hollow Bastion to allow for an (de-)activation state of whatever is being utilized for personal reward - and in the case of Wonderland, completely void Trickmaster’s baton ignition states; that’s just a few immediate examples I can think of, and I haven’t even mentioned some of my favorite enemy interactables regarding Invisible and Fat Bandit. While I surely made use of it, by the time I had unlocked Guard, I had to remind myself I even had it equipped, since everything I just listed had me prepped and aware of anything that I’ll face in the future.

Of course, all of this is under the assumption you will be on flat, solid ground level, which isn’t always the case. This is where the secret sauce of being a dope 3D platformer comes into play, since the verticality and various fractal design of both the floor and the height of obstacles to climb/avoid. Sora’s kit regarding these are all finely-tuned to not provide too much trouble, incorporating a hefty jump with decent momentum and inertia carry from however and wherever he was moving from. Traverse Town is a known example of each new Shared ability adding on to the movement arsenal, and Hollow Bastion is the full realization of it by delving into puzzle solving, leaping across various platforms and holdovers to traverse the facility’s grounds, the first three worlds I had mentioned back at the beginning can also be used as examples of what I mean when it comes to combat, but I’ll throw a curveball and instead praise Atlantica, a great world thrown under fire for being completely different from its brethren. Since it’s an underwater world and you got transformed into a mermaid, swings feel and hit in a lot more basic manner than before… which in turn, highly encourages magic usage in order to even the playing field. With each of the areas’ depth being intertwined by either a rising or sinking floatility, magic becomes the de-facto answering call when going against a group of enemies, and it becomes much more important to refactor Keyblade reaches or Strength boosts, as well as Donald’s AI properties for offensive spell casting, in order to call for the times you do need to get back to hitting things. As said earlier, Blizzard’s shotgunning and Thunder’s reign makes mincemeat of damn near anything that’ll stand in your way no matter where and how enemies are positioned, and even Ursula and her two hencheels aren’t so bad since they, too, are also affected by magic to a fair degree. The backtracking structure of this world - and really, most of the world in general - isn’t even a bother, since the conveyance and signposting are all in great shape and there’s barely anything that fluffs the actual exploration bits other than early Synthesis grinds. By the time I reached the end of this world, about 35 minutes had passed, and that’s even including the few deaths I procured in Ursula. As a whole, and even discounting my heavy experience with this title, I’d genuinely be shocked if people somehow managed to almost triple, let alone double, that length for every single world to begin with!

Truthfully, there’s a lot I can talk about regarding Kingdom Hearts, both its overarching reach and longevity, and the first game’s offset nature in combination of multiple different ideas blending together in ways not even its own series has 100% captured again. Tetsuya Nomura usually, and understandably, gets all the credit (and unrightful scorn of detached naysayers), but I think there’s a lot his team has done in order to help make the dream possible - in one case, Daisuke Watanabe, who not only helped write for most of the series, but was likely one of the key factors into giving this title’s mainly unique tone of melancholy and apocalyptic doom, having done Threads Of Fate and Final Fantasy 10 prior. The fractured mind and disparity of a trio torn asunder by forces beyond control or understanding, with many reveals and illumination of a covered past retroactively giving even greater weight to the narrative now than it ever was nearly 22 years prior. All this, and I’m still discovering unique attributes and ideas most ARPGs have yet to actually match. That’s the power of heart, baby.