Have you ever had that one series you really like but only really started to get into once the dust settled on it?! Doesn’t it make you want to go back in time and relieve the high and even low points of the franchise with the others who grew up with it so you can have that exact kind of emotional reactions to each installment at the time they came out?
When it comes to movie franchises, that’s Ghostbusters in a nutshell for me. I really enjoy the original Ghostbusters and understand/respect the influence it had on cinema and movie goers everywhere but I never had much nostalgia for it and didn’t even watch it all the way through until I was a teenager. That could potentially explain why I didn’t have such a vital reaction to the 2016 reboot and felt rather indifferent on the sequel and last year’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife. I did quite enjoy the 2009 video game though.
When it comes to gaming franchises, there hasn’t been one series that fits that description in my first paragraph than with Kingdom Hearts. I remember the big press surrounding it with each new installment that came out from gaming magazines, tv commercials, and demos you could play at Walmart or Target. I remember seeing bits of cutscenes online and my friends/cousins playing through a world or two from the first or second main game. I remember playing through the demo of Dream Drop Distance around the Holidays of 2012 when I got the 3DS XL for Christmas. I even remember watching a steam with live reactions when the official announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3 was confirmed during E3 2013. I was there to see the influence and impact this franchise had on gamers everywhere and their childhoods but I wasn’t never there to experience it with them.
It was then that I decided to take a shot at trying out at a Kingdom Hearts game by getting Kingdom Hearts 3 months after it came out. The reason I waited months after was because I was just waiting for the insane hype for it to die down and be able to form a completely unbiased opinion on it. I get to experience it from someone who didn’t have much attachment to the series and never played any of the games all the way through until then. For the most part, I was just curious about being able to play as Sora through all the Disney worlds, most notably Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Big Hero 6. Plus, who wouldn’t be excited to hear Elsa sing Let it Go for the fifteen billion time but through the eyes of Sora, Donald, and Goofy?
I will say, on my first playthrough of it, this game frustrated me to no end. I was constantly getting beat up, taken huge amount of damage to enemies, never felt like I was getting better or stronger as the game went on, and found just way too difficult and rage inducing . So much so, that when I was at the final boss fighting Xenahort, it took me like three days to actually beat it. By some miracle, I was able to do it. I completed what was undoubtedly an exhausting and intoxicating experience for me but I could just sit back, relax, watch the final cutscenes, and then I could be done with the game and probably the main series forever.
However, after beating the third game, I decided to go search some reactions to it and see if anybody else shared similar complaints as me. Mostly if they felt that the game was too hard and filled with insane difficulty spikes. As it turns out, I saw the exact opposite opinions. Many people complained that the game was actually too easy, simple, and just held their hand all the way through, even on the hardest mode. That flabbergasted me. Was it not the game’s faults but my own fault for being so blind and inexperienced when it comes to Kingdom Hearts? For the most part, yeah it was. It was then that I learned what the problem was. I just wasn’t playing the game right.
For whatever reason, about over halfway through the game, I forgot to continue to upgrade myself. As of result, once I got to the final battle where I took on Xenahort, I was only leveled up to like six or something. How I was able to go through the whole game and beat him with my level up being that incredibly low I have no idea, but by the skin of my teeth, I did it. I then realized that this was my fault instead of the game’s and wanted to give it another chance.
After realizing that I wasn’t playing the game correctly, I went back and played it again. As of result, I got through the game with ease. Now that I actually knew what I was doing, I was able to enjoy the immensely fun ride that was Kingdom Hearts 3. While the game is certainly not perfect with severe pacing issues, overlong cutscenes, and not much plot momentum until the last third of the game, I no doubt enjoy my time playing the game and get to experience a brand new KH game, even if I couldn’t follow jack s*it of the actual story of the game. Even after playing through the majority of the franchise, while I can’t quite say it’s the best one, this might be my most favorite KH game in terms of gameplay.
Now, after playing through 3, I thought it would be best to go back and relieve the other games of the series. I ended up buying a set of multiple KH games remastered titled Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far, the box set of the majority of the games that was released prior to the release of 3. It contained each game from the KH HD 1.5 Remix set, KH HD 2.5 Remix Set, along with a new set of it’s own with 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. The games itself contained the first two main entries, Re:Chain of Memories, Birth by Sleep, 0.2 Birth by Sleep- A Fragmentary Passage, and Dream Drop Distance. It also contain from cutscenes 358/2 Days and Re:Coded but not the actual gameplay of it along with a mini-movie, Union X [Cross]. I play through all of these games throughout last year and what an amazing but exhausting ride it was.
The first KH while a bit clunky, is so fun, great, and was the perfect introduction to the series that I found myself immediately getting sucked into it. The second one, even with it’s admittedly overlong three-hour prologue, is even better and one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played. Birth by Sleep might be a tad more repetitive when it came to gameplay and was getting hard to keep track of the amount of characters in this universe, but still had an engaging story and characters that it made it worthwhile. 0.2 Birth by Sleep- A Fragmentary Passage was a nice, if not quite sad, expansion of the original game and gave a good indication as to what type of gameplay we could see coming from KH3. Dream Drop Distance would have been better without the actual Dream Drop mechanic itself but seeing how Sora and Riku became Keyblade masters was cool I guess. The less said about Re:Chain of Memories, the better. I can’t say much about 358/2 Days or Re:Coded since I didn’t get to try out the actual gameplay out of it, but judging from the cutscenes, I found Re:Coded more engaging than 358/2 Days. Lastly, Union [X} was quite a bland, dull origin of the early conflicts between the Heart and Heartless that I could care less.
Also, Melody of Memory was pretty enjoyable too and a neat way to take a trip down memory lane. Here’s also gameplay of me sucking at it. xD (Yes, this is my YouTube channel btw.)
Regardless of the actual quality of the games (or cutscenes or that mini-movie), I no doubt was able to get that exact same feeling of wonder and excitement that I imagine the longtime fans did when they first played through these games. It just an interesting and unique concept that the series presented. A new, refreshing spin on the good vs evil story, instantly memorable and lovable characters, an intriguing if not convoluted universe, incredible bits of lore that you can’t help put look up some sort of Wiki article on, music that will stick with you the moment you first listen to it upon your own ears, and basically getting a chance of entering your own-self insert character into the imaginary worlds of Disney where you get a stab at creating your own Disney fanfiction. That might sound like a turn-off for some people but for me, it’s most certainly a turn-on for me. I mean who wouldn’t want to imagine themselves in the worlds of Lion King, Aladdin, Hercules, Toy Story, Tangled, Frozen, and Pirates of the Caribbean along with getting to fight alongside Donald, Goofy, or any one of your imaginary friends. With both the good and bad of the series, I never have had one regret spending as much time on the series as I did last year except for one thing. That one thing being not being able to experience it as a bigger part of my childhood and even teenage years.
I’m going to be heading into my mid 20s this year and the older I get, the more I become nostalgic to the things I’ve grown up with as both a young kid and a teenager. Whether it’s Nickelodeon, Disney, Spider-Man, Batman, Star Wars, Mario, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sonic the Hedgehog, Call of Duty, Halo, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Robot Chicken, the St. Louis Blues/Cardinals, etc., I now long for the days where I get to relive those special moments that intrigued me to whatever game, show, movie, or sporting event that got me into any of those. However, I don’t think there is one franchise that I certainly wish I didn’t miss out on as a part of my years growing up as I did with Kingdom Hearts. I can only imagine how amazing it would be to relief those special moments from the series as a youngster instead of now having to start at it from a distance as an adult.
Even though I wish Kingdom Hearts has had more of an impact on me for most of my life, I still got that same sense of nostalgia whenever I played through these games now. Not just because of the Disney worlds you get to explore from all the Disney movies I grew up watching as well, but because I instantly understood why this series has resonated for so many people. Not because it’s perfect but more because it’s imperfect. It’s definitely a convoluted mess on multiple occasions but it is OURS and THEIR convoluted mess. It’s like family, we might be angry and frustrated with them on many occasions but deep down, we know we will always love him. And I don’t think there’s another gaming franchise out there that gives that same sense of warmth, nostalgia, and being part of a family than with Kingdom Hearts. Sometimes, it can be difficult and messy but most of the time, well, it’s just simple and clean.
Happy 20th birthday, Kingdom Hearts! I look forward to see what the future has in store for you.
Also, happy birthday to my brother who now turns 22 years old today!
At least, I’ve always been able to feel something special on March 28th for the past two decades!
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