Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

This is where you can deliberate anything relating to videogames - past, present and future
Post Reply
User avatar
JaySevenZero
Admin
Posts: 2643
Joined: August 27th, 2012, 4:28 pm
Location: Liverpool, Europe, Earth
Contact:

Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

Post by JaySevenZero »

    Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

    A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.
    User avatar
    raisinbman
    Member
    Posts: 190
    Joined: September 8th, 2020, 12:22 am

    Re: 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by raisinbman »

    Some quick, spoiler free tips for those who are new:

    Your allies suck, don't expect them to live and/or help you. This appears to still be the case in 1.5 remix.
    Don't give your allies items unless you want them to use them haphazardly!
    Set your allies to 'manual' in the customize menu - you'll want to turn down their item/MP usage(generally I put everything BUT normal attack on 'emergency only', you can probably let magic casters have higher frequency on defensive buffs/heals)
    User avatar
    Magical_Isopod
    Member
    Posts: 993
    Joined: May 29th, 2018, 11:57 pm
    Location: London, ON, Canada

    Re: 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by Magical_Isopod »

    Kingdom Hearts is a series stained by its own legacy, that much is true... And as a result, I think a lot of people forget just how interesting and, frankly, great the original game is.

    Kingdom Hearts may be the first game I purchased new with my own money - a $30 Greatest Hits game. Amusingly, I remember my mom chastising me for spending THAT kind of money. If only she knew PS5 games are $101 after tax now... There's some emotion attached to this one for me, because I got it the same weekend our PS2 came home... It had been bought for us by our dad, as an incentive for us to visit him. We used to go every other weekend, but due to the stress of his work and us growing older, we went less and less frequently... The PS2 coming home felt like our dad giving up on us, in a lot of ways. And Kingdom Hearts, being an emotional game about loss and comradery and darkness... It was timely.

    Kingdom Hearts is generally regarded as a very convoluted work of fiction, but the premise of the first one is actually quite simple - your protagonist is a kid spirited away to another land, where he meets weirdos from two very different corners of fiction. The juxtaposition of goofy and light-hearted Disney characters with brooding, deadly-serious Final Fantasy characters was a really, really fun time, and one the series never really explored as well as it could have. The story here just feels super magical, and I love that about it. Sora is searching for his friends Riku and Kairi, two people who represent very different things to him; and the paths those characters take is really similar to how we see our closest childhood pals change as they grow up. It's not a super complex premise, and it's really to the game's benefit. The theming here is super on-point - tales of mad science, of magic, of scheming baddies in the shadows... It's just really compelling pop fantasy stuff, and every time I play this game, even though I know what's going to happen, the core of the narrative is so compelling that it pushes me through an admittedly imperfect gaming experience.

    So the actually gameplay of this game... The combat is a lot of fun, the lock-on mechanic MOSTLY works well, and the flashy visual style of the fights is really conducive to a great time. But by the gods, the platforming in this game sucks, and I know the Tarzan level in particular is a rage quit point for a lot of players. Even when you know where to go (something that isn't always obvious, even upon repeat playthroughs), getting across a few platforms or across a gap can be an exercise in misery. The secrets and hidden content in this game are generally pretty great though, giving you lots of good reasons to explore and backtrack.

    In terms of the original vs. the 1.5 HD version... I greatly prefer the original. This seems to be the minority opinion, but I have my reasons. Chiefly, I don't AT ALL like what they've done to the music. I know the HD version uses a proper orchestra versus the original's MIDI tunes, but it just sounds... Wrong. The boss theme in particular losses a TON of oomph and energy, and the bass in general is softened so harshly it feels like someone recorded it with a subwoofer encased in pillows. They also recoloured all the enemy models for some reason. I know it's a change they made for the Final Mix re-release in Japan, but they colour palettes used are uglier than in the original, using loud pastels and neons versus the darker colour tones that appropriately matched the darkness of the Heartless.

    Overall, I really do love this game. It has its warts, to be sure, but it remains the best game in the series to me - a series that would promptly take a sharp turn into convoluted nonsense with Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 2. A shame, really - because the series really had so much potential. But this series always felt like a casualty of the Squaresoft and Enix merger - the games after the original lacked the relative restraint and simplicity of the original, and that's certainly to their detriment.

    Three Word Review:
    SHORA, ITSH SHEPHIROSH
    User avatar
    DaMonth
    Member
    Posts: 34
    Joined: April 14th, 2019, 9:51 pm

    Re: 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by DaMonth »

    The simple roots before this game decided to dive off a hill into literary chaos. And then again when it decided to ignore the chance to get out with some dignity and do a triple flip into the hellhole after KH2. But we'll get there when we get there.

    For now, as much as this game probably has the worst platforming possible and it feels rather slow and clumsy in hindsight, I think I enjoy it. Still wowed the end cutscene can basically look as flawless in 2022 as it did 20 years ago.

    Also, I literally think this is the only time Sora's even implied to have some sort of actual mother in his life. Gotta wonder where she went.
    User avatar
    Wuqinglong
    Member
    Posts: 23
    Joined: August 3rd, 2021, 9:53 pm
    Contact:

    Re: 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by Wuqinglong »

    Kingdom Hearts was a game I only got to play at friends' houses on occasion as I did not have a PS2 at home. I really liked the combat, it was what I had always hoped to see from an RPG with full on real-time attacking and blocking tied to all the typical under the hood numbers getting bigger you would expect form the genre. However I dismissed seriously getting into the series because Disney was too "kiddie" for my mature middle school sensibilities. Seeing Kingdom Hearts II at a friends house in high school made me realize I needed to play this series immediately so I picked up a copy of the original PS2 release and got cracking.

    The game is rough around the edges but has an identity wholly unique to all of the following entries. The platforming is dreadful and the story, while a bit more coherent than the mess it became in the future, is just absolute nonsense much of the time. This doesn't matter though because bashing enemies with your massive steel cylinder you call a "blade" is just so satisfying. I may prefer the combat in certain later entries more but this is where it all started, I just wish more action RPGs would aspire to moment to moment combat that feels this good.

    3 word review: Weighty Key Combat
    User avatar
    ThirdDrawing
    Member
    Posts: 571
    Joined: October 13th, 2016, 2:33 pm
    Location: Poverty Stricken StudentLand

    Re: 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by ThirdDrawing »

    As someone who is an RPG fan but not a Disney fan at all, I remember openly groaning when the announcement of Kingdom Hearts was made. I groaned again when I heard the words "action RPG". And despite being a massive fan of Square during the PS1 era, I stayed away from the series completely. The longer I saw the series progress and the more I saw fans complaining about how convoluted the overall story got, I was convinced my decision was right.

    When the series got repackaged for PS3, I decided I should be more open minded and give it a good old college try. And ..... it was pretty much everything I expected. The combat is clunky and the camera fights you as much as the enemies do. The graphics, for the time, are well done and I do like parts of the soundtrack by Yoko Shimamura, who is an amazing composer. However, I absolutely loathe Nomura. He wouldn't be able to tell a good story if you held a gun to his head. This game was the beginning of the indulgences of modern Square - pure style over substance, and a focus on graphics with an absence of anything resembling good story telling.

    Three word review: Avoid, avoid, avoid.
    User avatar
    Mr Ixolite
    Member
    Posts: 189
    Joined: April 10th, 2018, 3:02 pm

    Re: 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by Mr Ixolite »

    Its not every day Cane And Rinse covers one of my all-time favorites! Its hard to sum up your feelings when even the chimes of deflected attacks and opened treasure chests send your nostalgia abuzz, but I'll do my best.




    Kingdom Hearts is a game that is so much more than its parts. The combat system, platforming, gummi ship flying and multiple minigames all range from fine to functional, and take place in small sometimes diorama-esque worlds with abridged narratives. Everything is buoyed by the stellar audiovisual presentation, but the X factor that makes the whole project come alive is the specific Disney/Square IP mixture- though lets be honest that its Disney doing the heavy lifting. The combat is enhanced by the fact that you fight the Ice Titan from Hercules, or a giant Phantom near Peter Pans’ Big Ben. Collecting torn pages and playing minigames are fun because you get to visit a loving homage of the old Winnie the Pooh cartoons. Even the games’ iconic heartless only are so because they have been so tailored to riff on the Disney worlds they invade.

    If you draped a general JRPG aesthetic and story over the whole thing and left the gameplay intact, It simply wouldn’t work.

    The Disney factor is also Key (Hah!) to making the narrative click. Having villains – including the true, final one – who are defined by simply MWAHAHA DARKNESS is exactly the amount of nuance a story about Light, Darkness and friendship can support, and the Disney villains, helmed by Maleficent are a perfect fit here. Characters from the Disney side of the equation have the most relevance they will ever have in the series, as the villain cabal drives the princess kidnappings, and the corruption of Riku. You feel like what happens in the Disney worlds actually matters, like the plot and character relationships are making actual progress along the way. It is a mostly Disney-focused story held together with a light amount of JRPG trope glue, rather than the other way around. For my money it is the only time the series got this balance right.

    Because for me the draw here is absolutely the Disney of it all, specifically the classic 2D Disney of yesteryear. Its certainly this factor that allowed me to convince my very non-gamer and EXTREMELY non-rpg gamer wife to play, and even beat the game. Because ultimately Kingdom Hearts is a game where you and your friends Donald and Goofy can beat up Jafar and Oogie Boogie and Satan from Fantasia in the same game before taking on a monstrous jrpg endboss, and that contains its own undeniable charm.

    To use their own terminology, the original Kingdom Hearts is one of my most Dearly Beloved of games, largely because it is the most Simple and Clean in the series.

    3 Word Review: Lightning In Bottle
    User avatar
    Seph
    Member
    Posts: 158
    Joined: February 12th, 2021, 2:25 pm
    Location: Hiroshima

    Re: Our next podcast recording (20.2.22) - 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by Seph »

    I can't remember when and where I first heard of the original Kingdom Hearts, but I think my immediate reaction was that it must a joke. Mixing Final Fantasy and Disney characters in one world sounded like the biggest load of fan fiction nonsense, but when it dawned on me that it was real I slowly came around to the idea. Eventually, I became hyped for the release and I think I picked it up not long after it came out, and I was pleasantly surprised at what this game actually was.

    While the opening of the game is a little slow with Sora and his mates just dicking about on an impossible island, once you join up with Donald Duck and Goofy, and hit your first Disney world, the game stops looking like a gimmick and actually becomes its own work of genius, especially the ones that incorporate the Final Fantasy cast. It's a perfect blend of US and Japanese approaches to storytelling and presentation that weirdly works. Just seeing Donald and Goofy interacting with the likes of Cloud and saying these strange character names out loud was equal parts crazy and incredible. Not only that, but the Disney villains playacting as the Legion of Doom was incredibly fun. Just seeing characters from the Disney canon talk to each other was the level of crossover story we never really got back then. While I came for the Final Fantasy guys, I stayed for the Disney villain banter.

    The battle gameplay was fun and frantic at the time of release, but in retrospect it definitely lacks nuance. While there are tricks and tactics you need to use for some of the later boss fights, you can get through most of the game with button mashing attacks and dodge rolls. I raced through the Final Mix version a couple of years ago as part of a series replay to build up to the "third" entry and I was reminded of how clumsy the menu system is, especially when looking for the one spell you need for that moment. And I re-learned very quickly to not give your useless team mates any items, as Donald and Goofy sure to munny grows on trees in this world.

    The battle system is one that Square are clearly keen on, as almost every Final Fantasy game since has had some version of it shoehorned into its mechanics; with mostly terrible results. The almost faultless Final Fantasy 7 Remake gameplay is the end result of this constant tinkering, but the Kingdom Hearts series on its own never fully settled on a style that worked.

    For me, the biggest misstep in Kingdom Hearts is the gummi ship sections. I really don't know what they were thinking with these, but if they were going to be forced on us why was there no effort to actually make them good? Japan has an incredibly rich history of shoot 'em ups, and these parts of the game feel like none of them and lack any fun. The difficulty is also incredibly harsh at times for something that, on the face of it, is aimed at younger games. The Sephiroth fight, while cementing the legacy of gaming's greatest antagonist, is so hard that it almost feels like a joke.

    I still hold the first Kingdom Hearts as an important game in my life and one I absolutely enjoyed many times when I was younger. While the series peaked with the next mainline entry, playing Kingdom Hearts again was great to remember that, originally, this series didn't take itself too seriously and was more of a camp oddity than anything.

    Three-word review: Sora, Donald, Goofy.
    User avatar
    Mr Ixolite
    Member
    Posts: 189
    Joined: April 10th, 2018, 3:02 pm

    Re: Our next podcast recording (20.2.22) - 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by Mr Ixolite »

    Is the episode covering Chain of Memories too? Or just the iterations of 1?
    User avatar
    ratsoalbion
    Admin
    Posts: 7918
    Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:41 am
    Location: Brighton, England
    Contact:

    Re: Our next podcast recording (20.2.22) - 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by ratsoalbion »

    Just the first game in this show.
    User avatar
    Mr Ixolite
    Member
    Posts: 189
    Joined: April 10th, 2018, 3:02 pm

    Re: Our next podcast recording (20.2.22) - 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by Mr Ixolite »

    Good to know, thanks!
    User avatar
    Nupraptor
    Member
    Posts: 94
    Joined: April 10th, 2018, 8:42 pm

    Re: Our next podcast recording (20.2.22) - 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by Nupraptor »

    It’s wild that this game works so well, but it just does! What a bonkers and unlikely crossover. As a fan of both Disney and Final Fantasy though, this was just a dream come true - and I think a lot of people felt that way. It feels like this was made by people with a real love for both universes.
    It also works very well as an intro to third person RPGs. Probably set me up well for Dark Souls a few years later!
    I still remember how electrifying it was the first time I got to the Collisseum Platinum Match, your adversary beams in and One Winged Angel starts playing. I only ever beat him after levelling up and hunting down the elusive Rare Truffles to be able to make the Ultima Weapon!
    User avatar
    raisinbman
    Member
    Posts: 190
    Joined: September 8th, 2020, 12:22 am

    Re: Our next podcast recording (20.2.22) - 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by raisinbman »

    Three Word Review: Sora, Dinner's Ready!

    So interestingly, it seems some have found the platforming lacking, and the story bad. I would have to disagree on both parts. 

    I don't think the platforming is bad because...it's not a platformer. That combined with the fact that Sora can grip edges(usually) makes up for that. Obviously, he's not Mario Odyssey Mario or Meat Boy, and there's VERY few times where absolute precision is the difference between you moving to the next cutscene or a game over screen. His movement definitely is clunky, and I can see why Tarzan's world would be a turn off for some people, but there's only a handful of times(one treasure chest I can think of off the top of my head) where you need more than Sora can give in terms of platforming. But in general, it's interesting to see how much movement Sora has, as it seems like the more fluid and developed movements we got for him in KHII and beyond(which eventually turned into the "Freeflow" system IIRC) were planned and thought about, even if they weren't implemented well here. I will say the decision to let you fall off of stages(looking at you, Hollow Bastion) is definitely the wrong one. I don't think that sort of thing ever returned, so they probably thought so as well.

    The story I think is fine for what it is, it's actually pretty amusing to look at this and imagine an unproven company approaching Disney with something like this. nowadays that almost immediately breaks the 4th wall, and is simply an excuse to go from Disney world to Disney world without much aplomb. I know this is only on the PS2, but the worlds are so small - Neverland really should just be called "Captain Hook's Boat". I do respect the fact that Hook seems like he knows he's being played, at least. I do think the fact that they probably only could show Mickey(I'm sure that's what they agreed on) once, briefly at the end of the game wasn't great for them. Probably the worst element of this is the villain incoherently rambles about darkness, though there is more in the Ansem reports. Also, this game ending also marks the end of Disney's prominence in the story, some see this as a huge problem, but I can think of an early point in KH2 which many people were very taken by, including myself.

    Seeing the square characters is great, and they don't just immediately hit you with the popular ones(one of my issues w/ FF7 remake). I still don't agree with Nomura's decision to take out FF chars in KHIII, and stuff like this is why. Much like sora, even without a keyblade, the FF chars are battling the heartless and you'll never know where one'll pop up. But in researching further, it seems Nomura only used characters he had directly involvement with, so it may have been more of a respect or fear thing(I've heard of various franchises or games being 'untouchable' in Japan because they know they need to meet a very high standard).

    I was surprised how breezy of a game it is, I was "done" at the 20 hour mark, so if you are curious and don't play on proud, you can probably finish it(without all the extra nonsense, but I did go for a majority of chests/dalmations) quickly.

    And though the game is pretty threadbare in terms of story, it makes up for it in other areas: the heartless are vibrant and colorful foes, every area seems to have little 'secrets', so if you're really that curious(but these generally aren't necessary to move forward) you can get a bit of a reward. There is a downside to this in that it seems like there's ALOT of content that's just shoved in there - there's more than a couple of keyblades you get late in the game, when you don't really need them anymore. This is also true for a number of things, where by doing Hades cup you're awarded numerous upgrades(which is good for efficiency, but kind of strange and you'd think it'd be spread out more). While on one hand, the completionist and curious are rewarded, talking to randos 3 times to get curaga is odd. I'd at least expect a cutscene! It seems even though we've gotten a 1.5 Final remix, we may need a 4.0 Final Remake?

    Visually, it's very impressive(no idea if that's the 1.5 upgrade, but it can't be that vast of a difference). There's alot of animations, sounds, and just little touches. There's even different "shaders" based on what world you're in(look at chests if you can't tell), Halloween Town is very muted, Hollow Bastion is rusted. This comes into play a little more in KH2 and beyond, but it's still here in the initial entry. Being able to emulate Disney's style and many of their cutscenes should be mentioned and lauded(Second Ursula fight, cerberus). It pays to have an aesthetic and not just be as realistic as possible.

    The heartless added in for final mix are a mixed bag, I don't think we ever need a stealth sequence enemy in a KH entry again, thank you.  They also re-colored some basic enemies which made me conflicted, as IIRC they're the normal (for those of you without context, heartless are normally some combination of black/blue/purple) colors elsewhere.

    Keeping on the theme of the heartless, the enemy introduction is pretty smart - the first enemy you fight(shadows) are easy, but the second enemy will turn invincible and counter attack no matter what if you're mashing. And from there, the wrinkles continue with Large bodies and the like. But as much as I love some of the enemies, the game starts to crumble under it's own combat system. You EVENTUALLY get guard(early) and combo master(final mix, pretty late) that alleviate some of these issues but there's some serious frustrations with Sora not having the tools to dispatch the heartless: enemies disappearing/being just out of reach, bosses later on that don't leave any time for you to strike or IMMEDIATELY counter. Bosses also have multiple targeting points, something I enjoy from Chrono trigger and Paper Mario(well they do until they don't late in the game). Also, not sure if this is because I'm playing on Proud, but some pretty essential stuff is late in terms of leveling up. Luckily Aerora/ga are overpowered, but still. 

    Oh and Magic is a mixed bag, it DEFINITELY improves later on in the series, but we lose Aeroga(which I didn't realize until this replay was AOE, AUTOMATIC DAMAGE REDUCTION, MAGIC REFLECT, AND SOMETIMES PARRY? WHAT THE ****)

    Oh, and as a plus, Kairi is okay in this entry. Sure, she's not at the first half, but she is in the second half and the end. That's quite a difference from the status quo later on!

    I'd say the greatest issue with this game is the camera. It starts to become a problem during the waterfall section in Tarzan, and oof. Heartless are not the only enemy you're contending with - the camera is too. It feels a bit too sluggish, and like many early 3D platformers, can freak out fairly easily.

    I couldn't remember whether targeting was better in KH1 when playing through FF7Remake, and it's a bit of a half-truth: the targeting is lacking in some places, but other times it's done intentionally. There does appear to be a leash for distance on targeting, which is pretty annoying. 

    The gummi ship is fairly inoffensive, but I am curious if there was supposed to be some toy tie-in. Obviously, Disney isn't lego, but it's kind of strange. I think if the Gummis weren't so far removed visually from the rest of the game, it'd fit in better.

    Probably goes without saying, but Shimomura is world class, and her music is as pleasant as it always is. If you're new, look forward to much more enjoyment here. I have pretty much all of KH downloaded on my phone and computer, though I think we get to some better tracks later on, there's nothing bad here and I'm willing to listen to it over and over again, beyond a few interstitial tracks.

    Overall, I'd recommend it if you're curious, probably a 6 or 7 out of 10. DEFINITELY don't do proud mode. I'm around the 45-50 hour mark and mostly done.

    Differences between 1 and later entries:

    -It's interesting to see that reaction commands(they weren't reaction commands yet, but I guess the idea was there even in the initial KH1). Again, I guess they idea was there even if the full implementation wasn't.
    -no minimap hurts my soul

    Random notes:
    Spoiler: show
    -the plot of wonderland is hilariously blase
    -Tarzan curses
    -Riku has a big butt-Apparently cloud gets KO'ed offscreen and hercules has to cart him off, leaving a little -Sora has to fight off cerberus? On brand for cloud being a dork, but lolwhat?-I don't remember the Deep Jungle plot immediately being so scary. I wasn't scared, but just the fact that sora is launched out of his ship, alone, and gets his teeth kicked in by a jaguar? What a tonal shift!-opening cinematic has aged a bit, but the song still hits
    -This is early PS2, so I don't expect much, but the early levels are pretty trite - wonderland is short as hell, Olympus is just an arena, and Tarzan you go to every screen, save gorillas that aren't even on screen, and finish the level. Of course, we've slapped some Disney paint on 'er, so makes all the difference.
    -I'm also a bit frustrated with not having block, as I'm playing in Proud mode(which is a personal choice, I know), and my only option is to perfectly 'parry', dodge roll or jump. Might be misremembering, but you get block pretty fast in the other KH games.
    -Turns out you get block at level 25(can't remember if this is influenced by your choices at the beginning or not). I missed it greatly.
    -Aladdin half-heartedly struggling through quicksand gave me a chuckle. Agrabah in general has some issues, and you start encountering places where it's very hard to fight, as you'll be in dangerous proximity or fall off when you can't get back up easily. Really cramped.
    -also they just leave jasmine on the floor, not even checking if she's alive
    -And there's some major camera problems, the waterfall area at the end of Tarzan...
    -Monstro boss is pretty ridiculous as you pretty much have to hit and dodge roll, making for an extremely slow boss fight
    -turns out that one cutscene with riku i thought was bugged was actually just silent, as it was added in final mix. you'd think after all these years they'd redub it but eh. Also audio issues might partially be on me with my heater turning on? The world will never know...
    -Ariel leaves sora for dead, ironically before they teach him how to fight. Lucky he's already a keyblade master, eh?
    -I ended up using an 'exploit' to beat ursula. I have no idea how you do that fight(maybe on easier difficulties its less punishing), but it seems to be the HEIGHT of KH's finnicky gameplay. Also, the second fight on her is MUCH harder than Oogie boogie or Captain hook, who are supposed to come after her. I ended up having to circle back, myself. There's also no signposting for what giant ursula's 'this ain't gonna be pretty' move means(I eventually learned it means move AWAY from her). It's a bit of a shame as giant ursula once again shows the visual prowess of this game, with voice lines being lip synced and cheese being grated. Compare that to Kaiju Oogie, where it seems like they ran out of development time or something and called it a day.
    -originally in playing this, I was bused to my friend's house after school, and I couldn't play until I had finished my homework. It was his system and game, so I definitely would miss parts of it, I have a much more concrete memory of Kingdom Hearts 2 than 1, I didn't even realize Beast was in both.
    -Then we see Sora getting dropped at the first opportunity by Goofy and Donald - wow. If this game had a bit more production and panache, that really could've been a heartbreaking moment.
    User avatar
    DeadpoolNegative
    Member
    Posts: 183
    Joined: April 16th, 2015, 5:00 am

    Re: Our next podcast recording (20.2.22) - 507: Kingdom Hearts / Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX

    Post by DeadpoolNegative »

    What a long, strange, long, weird, long, IP packed, long, exciting, long, memorable, LONG strange trip the past twenty years have been, into the world of Kingdom Hearts.

    I remember hearing the news about Kingdom Hearts back in the day and I met it with bemusement, and a dash of confusion: Square Enix characters teaming up with Disney characters? Is that even legal? Or at least prohibitively expensive? Knowing how infamously protective the Mouse is of their own IP, I'm astonished it exists at all.

    I had skipped the game initially, as it recall it got a lot of criticism for its camera (criticism that was deserved, but I will get to that later). However, when it hit PlayStation Greatest Hits price in 2003, I gave it a shot, and even bought the strategy guide. Remember Strategy Guides? The one for Kingdom Hearts had a huge sticker collection and map to place said stickers on when you found a collectible.

    I thought the game began slowly, but in a way that I liked- just exploring these three kids on a mysterious island, no crashed planes anywhere, and their relationship. I found the crudely drawn image of Sora giving the star fruit to be Kairi to be a surprisingly moving depiction of a child's idea of love. The triangle of Riku/Sora/Kairi may be simplistic but it fits well with the narrative I've never played Final Fantasy X enough to fully appreciate these versions of the FFX cast but they're likable enough. But then disaster strikes, the heartless arrive to the island, and the real story begins... in Traverse Town.

    The integration of the Disney characters and the Square Enix characters worked better than I ever expected: Traverse Town feels influenced design wise by both Disney and the Square Enix JRPGs. And Sora represents every little kid who's ever wanted to hang out with Donald Duck and Goofy and go on an adventure. Granted, I doubt most kids would prefer the fate of all creation hanging in the balance, but your mileage may vary. It was neat to see Squall Leonhart voiced by David Boreanaz, as angel was one of my favorite TV shows at the time. And Mandy Moore as Aeirth.

    An interesting side note: this is the only time Moore would voice a character for the series. When Kingdom Hearts incorporated the world of Tangled in the third game, Moore, who played Rapunzel, was conspicuously absent even though her Tangled co-star Zachary Levi did voice work for the game. Both Moore and Levi did voice work for the Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure TV series. Is there a Mandy Moore/Square Enix conflict? probably not, but it's a funny idea.

    I think one of the things that works best about Kingdom Hearts is its pacing- each world Sora and Goofy visits features a what can most charitably called a cliff notes' version of that specific Disney movie's narrative, be it Aladdin, Hercules, or Alice in Wonderland. And each world lasts just long enough for you not to get tired of it (though thankfully you can come back for collectibles later) before you move on to the next.

    I will speak up in slight defense of the Gummi Ship- The idea of shooter segments breaking up travel between worlds isn't too bad, actually, and the first couple times it's actually quite fun. However, there's not much challenge or variety to it. And although you can acquire tons of parts to customize your own ship, all you really need to do is put on a gun placement you like, and voila- you're set for the entire game.

    I've never been what you'd call a huge Disney fan- There's a lot of Disney I like, a lot I don't like, but I'm not the kind of person who plans a trip to Disney World every year. Or every other year, given how much pricing has gone up. However, the first time I saw iconic villains like Black Pete, Malifecent, Oogie Boogie, and others as some sort of villainous cabal, I nearly dropped my controller in shock. People talk of the thrill of the Avengers meeting up for the first time in the MCU but I have to tell you, ten years earlier this felt just as thrilling. It helps, a lot, that Disney and Square used as much as possible their classic voice talent- Jim Cummings, Tony Anselmo, Bill Farmer, and, uh, James Woods.

    The true scope of the game slowly reveals itself as it goes along. Sora just wants to find his friends. Donald and Goofy just want to find King Mickey. But as more and more worlds reveal themselves, and the power and true nature of the Heartless and Kingdom Hearts comes to light, it truly claims the title epic. Sure, it can be confusing and convoluted even in the first game, but again, the pacing does not let up, doesn't allow the player to stop and think too hard about just how WEIRD all this is...

    and then there's the final moment. The game had teased Mickey for nearly thirty hours on my first play through and when he finally shows up, I... well, all I'll say is, I was a kid again, for a brief shining moment.

    Notice I've talked a lot about the story, but not much about the gameplay. That's because, well, while the game offers you a lot of options in terms of managing your party and several moves and spells and abilities you can acquire, in the first game at least, a lot of it comes down to button mashing to your hearts content (Boom-TISH). The game's lock on camera- oh boy, it's a doozy, as it whipsaws around the many enemies large and small and will lock on to one moments after splitting apart another. You can turn the lock-on off, but since Sora and crew are normally attacked by large groups of enemies it's advisable to keep it on. Eventually you will get used to the motion sickness of it all, and it is slightly improved in the 1.5 edition.

    The game has simplistic enemies but some pretty, well, awesome boss battles, particularly near the end of the game (the Chernabog and Ansem's final form are the best). The combat moves so quickly that grinding can be surprisingly pleaurable. It's nice to just set up a podcast and wander into Traverse town for a little while to level up. The combat does improve in the later entries, thankfully, but it never loses its scrappy, chaotic charm.

    The one segment of the game I found myself really not enjoying, sadly, was the Winnie the Pooh bits. On the one hand, I appreciated the idea of a palate cleansing mini game world Sora and friends could turn to whenever battling in the bigger worlds was too much, and I appreciated Jim Cummings' welcome voice work as Pooh, it was tedious.

    On a personal note: While playing this game back in 2003 I was dealing with the aftermath of losing a beloved family pug, who had passed away not long before I picked the game up. One of the side goals in Kingdom Hearts is finding all 101 Dalmatians and returning them to Pongo and Perdita. I found it healing- and it took a while, with he help of my trusted strategy guide- to unlock that cinematic of all those puppies safe and sound. It's always strange how games can come around at a certain time to affect you.

    I did last play the 1.5 version on Playstation 3 back in 2017 (to play along with one of my favorite non-Cane and Rinse Podcasts, the Square Roots Podcast, a Classic RPG platy through podcast). It was still enjoyable, and there were marked quality of life improvements. I'm afraid I didn't get along too well with Chain of Memories- I loved the concept but found it too difficult and randomized to really get into. Maybe one of these days I'll try it again, or perhaps it will get its own episode of Cane and Rinse- I think the card based mechanic is worth exploring enough for a full episode.

    In case you haven't gotten it after this rambling, I loved this game. You should play this game if you haven't. And by being so long, tangential, but ultimately positive and happy, I hope I've accurately communicated the Kingdom Hearts experience.

    --Dan
    Post Reply