perhaps you're not a Kingdom Hearts fan and you're sitting there thinking to
yourself why is there so much dang hype around the release of Kingdom Hearts 3
and furthermore isn't the story overly convoluted and messy to you my answer is
yes yes it's very convoluted well if you play all these games in a row you're
essentially fine but that's a lot of games yet the story is not why I
personally am excited for the third installment nor is the story the reason
why I even enjoy these games and you might say so then what is guys this is
crazy and I would say I'm so glad you asked hi
I'm Phritzy and welcome to life's a video game and here's why I love the series I
remember back in the early mid-2000s looking at Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 on the
Shelf and thinking to myself what's so special about these games I mean the box
art looked interesting but that's about it then in 2008 I found an opportunity
to finally try these games out it was the tail end of my school winter break I
had about four days left of freedom and my school was out in the middle of
nowhere meaning there really wasn't much to do
essentially playing through a video game was the perfect option one of my
roommates so happened to own a copy of Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 so I popped in the
copy of the first game and I was immediately hooked so hooked in fact
that I benched through the entirety of the first game within those four days
keep in mind that the original is a solid 30 hour game holy crap man you
played 30 hours in a weekend what the fear is wrong with you my life was swept
up in an instant I finished it late in the middle of the night before my class
the next day and all I could think about during class was Kingdom Hearts 2 so the
very next weekend instead of doing my homework assignments I intend binge
through the entirety of the second game after I finished the second game I
couldn't wait for the third too bad I had to wait another ten years to get my
ending yikes which is actually really tough for
the original fans as the first game came out in 2002 and the second one came out
back in 2006 respectively yikes anyway and remembered not actually caring too
much about in the story in the first game
I mean it's decent enough of a story you're some kid with two other friends
who dream of a bigger life than the simple Island that you're on that dream
or nightmare comes true and you're swept off into a grand adventure you made all
these great Disney characters where you'll need to help save their world
along with searching for a way to save your friends a story for what it is is
nice but it was really the combat that truly hooked me for me that number one
appealed to this series is its combat the combat system is what one would call
an action RPG a lot of old-school classic RPGs get you to wait your turn
to attack we're in this game you're in the fight right away whether you survive
the battle or not mostly depends on your own reaction time if you see your enemy
about to tech you either dodge or guard if you don't you get hit simple as that
you also have magic spells to help change up your strategy if you're new to
the style of games then you can play it in easy mode where you can basically
just get away with mashing the attack button
but everything else still looks cool while you're doing it as you get more
skilled you can turn up the difficulty in the battle system then becomes
incredibly deep and complex it's like a never-ending well a fighting fun job
this combat system continues to improve as the series goes on if you like this
style then I really believe you're in for a treat come Kingdom Hearts 3 at
least I really hope so I will edit that part out the next
aspect I find appealing about these games is its atmosphere and world
building Kingdom Hearts has always been a marriage between Disney and Final
Fantasy he had all these wonderful worlds that Disney offers with a bit
more intrigue in dark aspects it's a marriage that seems to continually work
incredibly well if you're more into the Disney stuff well here's in Aladdin
world for you to enjoy if you want something a little bit more heavy well
you're gonna have to fight these creatures like the heartless and
nobodies who are ripping these wonderful Disney worlds apart some of the areas
have this happy jolly feel to them well others seem to be full of despair the
world's can often be bright and full of color while other parts of a bit more of
a grim feel to them the variety is what makes the games click the next aspect
that's so special is the music just a quick listen and you'll get what I mean
I don't have much else to say on the music but honestly just give the
soundtrack a quick listen it's as if the composer Yoko Shimomura really wants to
make you cry all the freaking time
actually this doesn't want to make you cry this is actually really super
exciting finally why so many people love these games or at least just me is the
characters themselves and the deep connection they have between each other
so your main character is an optimistic idealist he yearns for something more
than just the world he knows but at his core he loves his friends so it loves
his friends so much that he's willing to go to the ends of the world to help save
them his first two friends are Riku and Kairi who he truly has a special
connection with yet they are only the start he befriends Donald goofy and
Mickey along with seemingly countless others Riku being Sora's original friend
is a bit older and acts as a bit of an older brother to Sora Riku however has a
desire for more power which quickly leads him astray and his character arc
is one of the more interesting aspects of the game I don't want to talk too
much more about the other characters as I'd like to avoid spoilers as much as
possible though I will say that Donald's and Goofy are a natural fit for Sora in
fact Donald and Goofy retain the same personality that they've always had from
their disney stories and have a similar dynamic with Sora as they did with
Mickey from level to level and game to game you'll find yourself connecting
with each of the different characters and their arcs there is however
unfortunately one huge issue and going from Kingdom Hearts 1 to Kingdom Hearts
2 will cause some major story confusion again as I stated from the beginning the
story is not what I felt to be the most appealing aspect don't get me wrong I
absolutely love the second entry despite being somewhat confused not entirely
confused just somewhat now we come to the question of whether this game is
right for you that is very much up to you but if so
should you bother with the story or not option 1 just jump into the 3rd game if
all my points about the game's positives seem appealing to you then you are sure
to enjoy these games despite not being quite sure what's going on again I love
the 2nd game even though I wasn't always sure with what something was about or
why something was happening option to play through all the games this option
doesn't fortunately lead me to talk about the worst aspects of these games
which is the naming of the titles looking at the collection of games you
can count 9 all of which act as a chapter to a much
story a game like dream Drop Distance is not a spin-off title no it is a chapter
leading into what will be the final chapter which is Kingdom Hearts 3 why
would they call a game called dream Drop Distance that is so hard to say
I'm of the strong opinion that this was an awful idea unless you do a Google
search or look them up on YouTube you're probably not gonna have a clue that all
these games lead into each other honestly the only reason why one two and
three got numbers was because they are full-on console games and not portable
ones I almost think of Kingdom Hearts one two and three as major acts for the
main story and all the other are just there to set up the major plot points
Lucian the first of the apprentices to be given their role watched his
companions from afar as they learned what it was that they were meant to do
and he disappeared
not long after that the master banished dimmed and faded without a trace
okay well sorta not a hundred percent ich if you're scratching your head and
doing a WTF sort of thing well it's completely understandable the naming of
these games are really bad so how do you know which game to play first well
luckily that's the easy part you buy the collection and play the
first one then go down the list as they are laid out simple as that if you do
this you will understand the whole story and you'll be able to comprehend why
plot points are the way they are it's kind of like watching something like the
seventh season of Game of Thrones you probably would have no idea what was
going on but chances are you'd probably still enjoy it for what it was option
three just watch a story summary there is an excellent one done by suggestive
gaming called Kingdom Hearts story summary what you need to know to play
Kingdom Hearts 3 it's 36 minutes long and it does a great job at catching you
up the only downside to watching a summary is that it only tells you what
has happened from point A to point B not how or why it's kind of like when you're
in school and you need to read a book for a class assignment you find yourself
to be somewhat lazy and you procrastinate kind of like me then it
comes time to do a test on a book and you end up getting a bad mark because
you couldn't answer any of the questions concerning the characters motivations
you have no understanding of the central and overarching themes of the story but
again the story isn't really what's so special for myself anyway so this can
still be a decent option option for simply watch all the cutscenes from all
the games just hear me out if you have a Netflix account and you have a habit of
spending all your time off binging through an entire TV show in two days
then this very much could be the option for you perhaps you're convinced that
getting into Kingdom Hearts 3 will be a great time but you feel like playing
through a bunch of 30-hour games is just too much well then you just need to set
30 hours aside and go through all the story cutscenes don't lie to me you have
30 hours really what'd you do last weekend did you binge watch black me or
like I did yes I know I'm projecting but did you
did you binge watch something else hmm sit your butt down and watch all the
Kingdom Hearts videos you will have a full understanding of the story you'll
know why characters do what they do and perhaps even grow a fondness for them in
fact I can say that I did a combination of option two and four I played some of
the games and watched some of the others Hey I love playing Kingdom Hearts games
but I just didn't have enough time to get through all of them before the
release of Kingdom Hearts 3 um I was kind of like most others I had no idea
those other games are part of the main series so and now I can confidently say
that watching the latest trailer for 3 makes me have all the feels from what's
being presented to me I want you to have this experience - option 5 don't play
the games at all no seriously the title of this video is what's so appealing not
why you must play these games perhaps you hate Disney perhaps you dislike
Final Fantasy maybe an action RPG is not your thing and maybe you prefer more
clean and coherent story like The Last of Us
or you would prefer the world of Red Dead Redemption a nice grounded world
without that fantasy stuff I'm sure there are dozens of reasons why this
game might not be for you but at least you can now appreciate why so many folks
love these games the way they do all games have their flaws especially if
there is an entire game series attached to it yet there is a reason why people
keep going back to them and the positives seem to always outweigh the
negatives and at least for Kingdom Hearts that is I personally absolutely
adore the Legend of Zelda games for so many reasons
yet I could write a book about its issues over the years it's the same
thing with Kingdom Hearts the story could be better the naming of the titles
really shouldn't be the way they are yet the gameplay the atmosphere the music
and the characters involved within these games are what makes this series so
beautiful and so gosh darn good and this is why gamers from all across the world
from all different walks of life all share the same passion for Kingdom
Hearts thanks all for watching let me know in the comments why you enjoyed
these games and conversely if you dislike them share your thoughts I'd
also love to know if this manages to get anybody else into the series I'm
really quite curious to see what others think thank you all again for watching
don't forget to subscribe and peace
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