God, where do I even begin...
I played the hell out of Kingdom Hearts when it first came out, it was one of those games where I just felt compelled to do literally everything there is to do before putting it away. I was so excited to see where the story could go next, what they could do to build on the gameplay, and when Chain of Memories came out you can bet your ass I was there day one to find out.
Yeah, anyway, that was it for me!
It took me over a decade to get around to playing Kingdom Hearts 2, which I knew I needed to finally tackle as I was putting together my retro games bucket list. Of course, I also knew I couldn't just go in with a nearly 17-year distant memory of the original game and its plot, so I decided to sit down and get caught up by replaying the original Kingdom Hearts. And you know, I kinda see what I liked about this game, even if I don't think it totally holds up.
I shouldn't need to explain to anyone what the main conceit of this game is. The union of Final Fantasy and Walt Disney was every bit as bizarre back in 2002 as it is today (granted, the direct ties to Final Fantasy seem considerably scaled down in modern Kingdom Hearts), and it definitely gives this game a unique tone. As Sora, you jump between loose retellings of classic Disney movies with your pals Donald Duck and Goofy, interspersed with the most needlessly convoluted, angsty, nonsense that crazed visionary Tetsuya Nomura could divine. I'm still not sure I can properly articulate what the plot of Kingdom Hearts even is, and this is by far the most straight-forward entry in the entire franchise. All I know is Billy Zane wants to open the door to the titular Kingdom Hearts, and for that he needs your friend's youthful body and a bunch of broads.
Eschewing the (at the time) standard of turn-based combat the Final Fantasy series was best known for, Kingdom Hearts an action RPG, which means you hit things in real time with Sora's keyblade, which is both a key and a blade. I remember getting way into Kingdom Heart's combat, finding it to have a remarkable amount of depth with enough late game super-bosses to encourage grinding out experience and developing new strategies. Nowadays it seems pretty shallow and lacking in the same frenetic energy a lot of ARPG's are known for. Having to toggle between menu options while action is still happening around you often leaves you wide open, and a abysmal camera only makes it more likely you'll get beaned in the back of the head when you're trying to down a potion. The AI is total crap too, Donald and Goofy are either over-zealous with their use of items and spells, downright suicidal, or totally checked-out liabilities.
Thankfully, most of the bosses and combat encounters in this game are a cakewalk. The real challenge comes from confronting those optional super-bosses I mentioned, which account for some of the most unique fights in the game. I was convinced back in the day that no boss in any video game was as hard as Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts. I'm not sure I can even quantify the amount of attempts it took to finally beat him, nor could I adequately describe the smug sense of satisfaction I had when I finally pulled it off. Of course my assessment that he was the hardest ever of all time is hysterically wrong, and even later series super-bosses would outshine him as Square continued to ratchet the difficulty up to impossibly ridiculous heights, but that didn't stop him from becoming the bane of my existence yet again when I picked this game back up so many years later. I couldn't be happier. I actually felt compelled to slog through the tedium of finding trinity marks and forging the Ultima Weapon to do it, and while I do think years of playing ARPGs and better understanding how to build Sora made this a far more manageable experience, kicking his ass a second time just felt good. Easily the highlight of the game.
As a 34-year-old who is not suffering from Adult Disney Brain, I found myself a lot less immersed in the Disney worlds this time around, and a whole lot less patient of things like the Gummi Ship minigame. Most of my nostalgic investment in Kingdom Hearts is tied up in the more peculiar elements and plot threads than it is the novelty of seeing Tarzan or Jack Skellington. Level designs are also lackluster, requiring you to trudge through some uninteresting areas on loop as you check off a laundry list of busy work that I'm sure is intended to trick you into thinking these areas are bigger than they are by making them take longer to beat. The Tarzan level is an early indication that things are gonna get pretty rough, and by the time you get to Hollow Bastion you might find yourself audibly asking why anyone thought these dungeons would be fun to explore.
Kingdom Hearts is dated. It's silly. It's at times frustrating to play. But some excellent late-game bosses, insane story beats, and nostalgia kept me so invested that I mastered it all over again a decade-and-a-half later. No matter how much it shows its age now, or even over the next decade-plus, I'm sure I'll always find something to like about Kingdom Hearts.
I played the hell out of Kingdom Hearts when it first came out, it was one of those games where I just felt compelled to do literally everything there is to do before putting it away. I was so excited to see where the story could go next, what they could do to build on the gameplay, and when Chain of Memories came out you can bet your ass I was there day one to find out.
Yeah, anyway, that was it for me!
It took me over a decade to get around to playing Kingdom Hearts 2, which I knew I needed to finally tackle as I was putting together my retro games bucket list. Of course, I also knew I couldn't just go in with a nearly 17-year distant memory of the original game and its plot, so I decided to sit down and get caught up by replaying the original Kingdom Hearts. And you know, I kinda see what I liked about this game, even if I don't think it totally holds up.
I shouldn't need to explain to anyone what the main conceit of this game is. The union of Final Fantasy and Walt Disney was every bit as bizarre back in 2002 as it is today (granted, the direct ties to Final Fantasy seem considerably scaled down in modern Kingdom Hearts), and it definitely gives this game a unique tone. As Sora, you jump between loose retellings of classic Disney movies with your pals Donald Duck and Goofy, interspersed with the most needlessly convoluted, angsty, nonsense that crazed visionary Tetsuya Nomura could divine. I'm still not sure I can properly articulate what the plot of Kingdom Hearts even is, and this is by far the most straight-forward entry in the entire franchise. All I know is Billy Zane wants to open the door to the titular Kingdom Hearts, and for that he needs your friend's youthful body and a bunch of broads.
Eschewing the (at the time) standard of turn-based combat the Final Fantasy series was best known for, Kingdom Hearts an action RPG, which means you hit things in real time with Sora's keyblade, which is both a key and a blade. I remember getting way into Kingdom Heart's combat, finding it to have a remarkable amount of depth with enough late game super-bosses to encourage grinding out experience and developing new strategies. Nowadays it seems pretty shallow and lacking in the same frenetic energy a lot of ARPG's are known for. Having to toggle between menu options while action is still happening around you often leaves you wide open, and a abysmal camera only makes it more likely you'll get beaned in the back of the head when you're trying to down a potion. The AI is total crap too, Donald and Goofy are either over-zealous with their use of items and spells, downright suicidal, or totally checked-out liabilities.
Thankfully, most of the bosses and combat encounters in this game are a cakewalk. The real challenge comes from confronting those optional super-bosses I mentioned, which account for some of the most unique fights in the game. I was convinced back in the day that no boss in any video game was as hard as Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts. I'm not sure I can even quantify the amount of attempts it took to finally beat him, nor could I adequately describe the smug sense of satisfaction I had when I finally pulled it off. Of course my assessment that he was the hardest ever of all time is hysterically wrong, and even later series super-bosses would outshine him as Square continued to ratchet the difficulty up to impossibly ridiculous heights, but that didn't stop him from becoming the bane of my existence yet again when I picked this game back up so many years later. I couldn't be happier. I actually felt compelled to slog through the tedium of finding trinity marks and forging the Ultima Weapon to do it, and while I do think years of playing ARPGs and better understanding how to build Sora made this a far more manageable experience, kicking his ass a second time just felt good. Easily the highlight of the game.
As a 34-year-old who is not suffering from Adult Disney Brain, I found myself a lot less immersed in the Disney worlds this time around, and a whole lot less patient of things like the Gummi Ship minigame. Most of my nostalgic investment in Kingdom Hearts is tied up in the more peculiar elements and plot threads than it is the novelty of seeing Tarzan or Jack Skellington. Level designs are also lackluster, requiring you to trudge through some uninteresting areas on loop as you check off a laundry list of busy work that I'm sure is intended to trick you into thinking these areas are bigger than they are by making them take longer to beat. The Tarzan level is an early indication that things are gonna get pretty rough, and by the time you get to Hollow Bastion you might find yourself audibly asking why anyone thought these dungeons would be fun to explore.
Kingdom Hearts is dated. It's silly. It's at times frustrating to play. But some excellent late-game bosses, insane story beats, and nostalgia kept me so invested that I mastered it all over again a decade-and-a-half later. No matter how much it shows its age now, or even over the next decade-plus, I'm sure I'll always find something to like about Kingdom Hearts.
3 Comments
I liked the original game a lot when it was released but the games steadily dove further into "SE nonsense" and the series is dead to me now.
Yeah a lot of that stuff still makes my eyes glaze over, though some elements I find pretty funny. Like Goofy apparently dying from a rock to the head only to be fine the following scene.
Weatherby
1 year ago