These games, particularly Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2, have such a strong, emotional impact on me to the point where it's honestly difficult to put into words how much I adore these games, despite technically having quite a lot of mechanical and narrative flaws. To heavily simplify my thoughts; Kingdom Hearts 1 has aged like wine and even thought some of the platforming CAN be janky, it's NOWHERE near the dated/unplayable mess that a lot of people on the internet make it out to be. It also has the most cohesive, straightforward plot that does an excellent job balancing out the Disney content (which don't feel like filler like in the later installments) with the OG content. It's also a comfort game for me, literally all I have to do is listen to some of the music and/or watch a cutscene and my mood uplifts exponentially. Rechain of Memories has a divisive combat system that can admittedly be broken with the right sleights (looking at you Sonic Blade and Lethal Frame) but I personally loved the strategising and deck building which gave the game an extremely unique flair that's never been replicated since. Also has one of the better plots in the franchise and arguably has Sora at his most complex. Kingdom Hearts 2 straight up has the best combat system ever in a video game. Not just in the franchise, not just for a Square Enix game, but the best combat system period. Bold claim yes, but one I stand by wholeheartedly. Plot admittedly has a lot of filler sprinkled in between the beginning, middle act, and end game but those moments (particularly the phenomenal and heartwrenching prologue with Roxas) are so well-written and packed with so much emotion that I'm willing to excuse the filler in between. Birty By Sleep is another divisive game in the collection due to the introduction of the command deck as well as the game that introduced a lot of plot beats/deus ex machinas that have became synonymous with the franchise's controversial perception online, but I still really liked/borderline loved this entry. The command deck I found myself enjoying way more than I thought I would because of how customisable it can make every encounter, but admittedly the inclusion of shotlocks and certain commands (Mega Flare) can trivialise a lot of fights. The game is also packed full with content as it has 3 whole campaigns that can take up to 25 hours to complete if you're going after every collectible, 2 additional stories, an entire mini-game based on Fortune Street that is practically a pseudo game of its own, and a wealth of side objectives for you to collect. 358/2 and ReCoded aren't games but rather movies but I still had a great time watching them. 358/2 is one of the more depressive and mature entry in the series that recontextualises quite a lot of moments in Kingdom Hearts 2 to give them a far more tragic angle. Also has great character building for Roxas who is already one of the more well-written characters in the series. ReCoded is clowned on online for having an absolutely baffling plot (yes Nomura, I'm sure it was absolutely necessary for Jiminy's Journal to be its own character to serve the overarching narrative) and while I won't pretend for a millisecond that the plot is in any shape or form cohesive or objectively solid, I cannot deny that I had a lot of fun watching the charming first act that returns to the more simple, whimsical tone that was heavily prevalent in the first installment before moving onto the more dramatic stuff that makes up the second and third act. Additional notes: The music for every game is absolutely god-tier. Tracks that range from serene (both versions of Twilight Town) to thrilling (Hand to Hand), to melancholic (Roxas's theme) to daunting but encouraging (the final boss theme in Kingdom Hearts 1 which in my opinion is one of the best themes in all of gaming), there is also Simple & Clean and Sanctuary which are perfectly complimented by Hikaru Utada's powerful vocals. This is Yoko Shimomura at her absolute finest which is saying a lot because she's well-regarded by practically everyone in the gaming sphere for being one of the most legenday composers in the gaming industry. While some of the terminology can be kind of confusing on your first playthrough and some moments in certain games will have you doing a double take or scratching your head (Birth by Sleep and ReCoded are the worst offenders for this), the overarching narrative is honestly nowhere near as confusing as people make it out to be. I feel like a lot of people either A) don't pay attention to the cutscenes because they're too busy laughing at the Disney characters doing conventionally anime stuff or B) just watch purposefully out-of-context videos on YouTube or hyper exaggerated summary videos on YouTube that play up the more ridiculous moments in the plot to showcase "how crazy Kingdom Hearts" is. Also unlike before, most of the games are available in one bundle and don't require you to go scouting out 4 different handheld systems to get the full experience so the old argument of "it's stupid that the plot is spread throughout all of these platforms" no longer holds any water. Not to be a gaming elitist that goes by a mantra of "easy/normal mode doesn't make you a real gamer, hard mode is the only legit way to play a game" but I do think, once you've gotten a grasp of the mechanics of course, you should play Kingdom Hearts games on Proud and Critical (especially KH2) to get the most worthwhile experience with them. Proud and Critical mode makes you engage with the games MANY mechanics in several ways that is almost never necessary in the easier difficulty settings and it really shines a new light on just how complex but fine-tuned these games really are. Sora is the best protagonist in all of gaming and I will die on that hill. No matter how "anime, power of friendship cringe" these games are, they provide me with an experience that almost no other IP can offer me. The gameplay, plot, characters and music all combine together to a product that is practically magic in my eyes. These games are peak content in my eyes and no amount of "but they're so cringy, Mickey holds a sword for god's sake" from people online will ever make me reconsider my statement.
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