i don't like that there are no metal or darkness energy (Scizor had grass attacks), and having played with the real cards when they came out (for example making baby pokemon completely worthless, borifying or removing some pokemon powers, changing pokemon powers into old powers from the first gen like neo slowking) i would have preferred them without balance tweaks. A lot of changes had me scratch my head, because they made those cards less interesting to play with. Some of my favorite combo cards are a far cry from the original versions. But i take any chance to play with jhoto cards in some form. I appreciate how it has a lot more sets then i envisioned, that must have taken a lot of time to program.

Difficulty was almost nonexistent. My Thyplosion starterdeck with fire and psychic wreaked havoc on everything without changing much, especially when i got the fire psychic shining mewtwo. But the original game wasn't that hard either. Some weird AI decisions (bugs?)

Like so many others before me, i tried the mechanics but couldn't really get into it. I made it to wonderland where i had enough. Not because of that world (although the Trickmaster really ticked me off), i guess it could have been anywhere as i didn't have fun. There is however really essential story in the many cutscenes, especially if you play these games in order. The stuff with Organization 13 really intrigued, and the members remind me of the Espada in Bleach for some reason (even the numbering between them). Also a really interesting plot about memories for Sora and dealing with the darkness for Riku. Much meatier than anything the last game had to offer in the story department. Looking at the cutscenes on youtube like a movie is definitely worth it if you also abandon the game!

Conclusion: Story is worth a lot more than 2,5 stars, but the game play is 2 stars max for me.

As a mostly turnbased kind of RPGplayer, i didn't expect to get pulled in this one like i did. I have to admit that i almost didn't though.

That start felt extremely slow phased. The First island was the biggest drag, and Traverse Town took a bit getting used to as well. I don't know why they chose a really confusing world as the first Disney world to visit (Wonderland). I actually had to use a guide at some point to see what to do, that didn't really leave the best first impression). The next world (Tarzan's Jungle) had even worse platforming jumps (i had to repeatedly swim back and redo the jump on the hippo's)that put me off as well. It was after those worlds that the game really started to click for me. After that i was hooked!

the combat is easy to get but quite deep, with direct combat abilities, ff magic spells, and Disney summons. Every completed world gives a lot of rewards. You get a lot of new things to play around with constantly, and that makes it addicting. There are a lot of optional bosses stronger than the end boss, so people who like difficult challenges are really treated well.

The gummyship parts were a good idea on paper and there is lore behind their existence, but more an yawnworthy timewaster than anything else in practice. You don't need to interact with the gummiship improving garage at all to get by, which says plenty about the difficulty. It's not that intruding because you can warp to worlds you've been to quite early in the game, and you can speed up your ship to get by faster. In my opinion it would be better if it was just small cutscenes of the ship going from and to planets, and keep it at that.

Soundtrack is legendary (love that piano!), and the game looks great for it's time, i even dare to say one of the best of it's time.

At this time, Kingdom Hearts seems to be a simple shounen anime like story with Disney fan service, and just enough world building to keep you engaged. It came out when the Disney renaissance was still in full swing (not the current Disney), so seeing all the different Disney villains work together would feel very special. The marvel shared universe before that was a thing, that seems the idea the storyboard was going. Some worlds are a bit to much just parts of their respective movies with a bit of heartless in it, but there is also a certain charm in it. You sure get extra if you somewhat enjoyed the older Disney properties (and there is a lot to love about some of those!). The FF characters (from 7 and 8) didn't feel that impactful in the story in any way, and only there for the 'I know him/her!" effect. But i can imagine how amazing it would be to beat up Sephiroth (with his famous music and all) before smash ultimate was a thing. He really gives a hard fight as well.

It has the passion and heart(get it?) square still had with their RPG's at that time, with that passion really reminiscent of games like FF 7-10. I was surprised just how many little systems and sidethings there were that probably took a lot of time to make and a lot of player's wouldn't even engage with (the synthesizing especially!). Even a whole Winnie the Pooh world with just minigames, and even that had a special ability as a reward. Just to show how there are nice rewards around every corner in this game.

It's not deep in any way story or character wise, but a labor of love, and experimental in it's own way. Not everything works well, but the stuff that does is addicting. You really feel you are playing a game from an begone era of SquareEnix. I'm not surprised that this game sold so well, and started a still ongoing franchise! The only gamefranchise that tries to do something a bit more 'edgy' with the Disney brand (Epic Mickey kind of tried but not on this scale), combined with the JRPG nature makes it really one of a kind in many ways.