Kingdom Hearts series as whole......is it REALLY that perfect?

[FakeSympathy]

With the recent announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3, I decided to look back and previous titles to see if the whole series is as good as critics and fans say and my memory. And you know what? It's really good. The music is nice, combat is fun, and i felt nostalgia to see all the classic disney characters.

HOWEVER!

Just like any series, I found some flaws here and there that makes the series far from being perfect. My main problem, as some of you may agree, is the convoluted/confusing story line. The story in KH1 was easy enough to follow (since if was the first and little to no backstory was given), but after Chain of Memories, it the confusion went from minor to big question mark. Who were the Organization XIII? Who is this Roxas? Why does he have key blade? where did he come from? That wasn't the real Ansem that I defeated in KH1? He was "Nobody" of xehanorth? Wait, Diz, out of blue, is revealed to be real Ansem? That's not Xehanorth, but Terra taken over by the REAL Xehanorth?

Do you see where I'm going with this? I mean, I replayed the series multiple times to understand all this, but each entry just adds confusion to anyone who's new to the franchise.

My second problem; the black sheep of the series. I'm looking and you, Re:coded and 368/2 days. Okay, fine, 368/2 days helped explain origin of Roxas, but it was filled with cringing dialogues. Re:coded added even more mess to the already confusing franchise at the time.

Third and final reason; Sora. He was tolerable in KH1. but in Kh2, he's annoying. I mean, hearing something a 8 years old would say form a 15 years old's teenage voice...is just annoying. Riku and Kairi actually has better personality in KH2.

"Riku...It's Riku....Riku's here. I've looked for you. I looked everywhere for you"

"Then again, if they see i'm stronger than their king, maybe they'll ask me to be their next king"

I'm sorry, but I cringed at those quotes.

TLR
KH series is a great one, and I look forward for KH3. But IT IS FAR from being perfect

 

[wings012]

Sora is just the typical good guy who doesn't understand what in the world is even going on - guy was in stasis between KH1 and 2 and while his body aged, his mind did not.

And he just goes traveling between Disney worlds beating things into submission with a key for the good of all.

That's pretty much what I bother to make of the story. I'm not going to pretend to understand that evergrowing clusterfuck that lies underneath.

Disney worlds, beat bad guys with keys, FF cameos, good fun. And that's all it needs to be. That nonsensical JRPG mishmash writing can go bugger out the window.

 

[TheSapphireKnight]

I can't say I ever seen anyone really call the series perfect by any means. I love it to bits but it is very flawed. The series has gotten plenty of deserved flak over the years, so I guess I don't really see the point.

I don't think there is anyone who will seriously disagree with you when it comes to your criticisms, rest assured you are not alone, even among fans, and in many cases especially among fans.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Ummm, no, no it is not perfect by any stretch of the word. In fact, i'd say that it is fairly mediocre and relies mainly on its bizarre yet endearing mashup of Disney and JRPG characters.

 

[Diablo2000]

Perfect? No, no, no. It's a good series I would say, but far, far from perfect.

For starters, it's a mess and Square Enix doesn't seem to want to entagle this mess. Seriously, by now if you want to know everything that going on you must have at least 3-4 diferent system to play the games on. And there's no "Non-Important Spin Off", they all add to the story somehow and that's not a good thing on the long run.
Oh, you didn't play the GBA version back before the remake, good luck trying to understand Kingdom Hearts 2 plot, ************... Oh you didn't play Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 3d? Good fucking luck understanding half of Kingdom Hearts 3 in the future...
Even if you play all of those, the story it's still silly at times.

And one could make a argument that after Kingdom Hearts 2 all the games were way too easy. And they were, they were way too easy unless you were playing on hard, then it was less easy, but still easy.

 

[FakeSympathy]

Perfect? No, no, no. It's a good series I would say, but far, far from perfect.

For starters, it's a mess and Square Enix doesn't seem to want to entagle this mess. Seriously, by now if you want to know everything that going on you must have at least 3-4 diferent system to play the games on. And there's no "Non-Important Spin Off", they all add to the story somehow and that's not a good thing on the long run.
Oh, you didn't play the GBA version back before the remake, good luck trying to understand Kingdom Hearts 2 plot, ************... Oh you didn't play Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 3d? Good fucking luck understanding half of Kingdom Hearts 3 in the future...
Even if you play all of those, the story it's still silly at times.

And one could make a argument that after Kingdom Hearts 2 all the games were way too easy. And they were, they were way too easy unless you were playing on hard, then it was less easy, but still easy.

I am just hoping we'll have big index of what happened so far in KH3 so anyone new to the series can catch up

 

[Diablo2000]

Perfect? No, no, no. It's a good series I would say, but far, far from perfect.

For starters, it's a mess and Square Enix doesn't seem to want to entagle this mess. Seriously, by now if you want to know everything that going on you must have at least 3-4 diferent system to play the games on. And there's no "Non-Important Spin Off", they all add to the story somehow and that's not a good thing on the long run.
Oh, you didn't play the GBA version back before the remake, good luck trying to understand Kingdom Hearts 2 plot, ************... Oh you didn't play Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 3d? Good fucking luck understanding half of Kingdom Hearts 3 in the future...
Even if you play all of those, the story it's still silly at times.

And one could make a argument that after Kingdom Hearts 2 all the games were way too easy. And they were, they were way too easy unless you were playing on hard, then it was less easy, but still easy.

I am just hoping we'll have big index of what happened so far in KH3 so anyone new to the series can catch up

... It's a solution. Not a good one, since it's gonna be ignored by 80% of the players. But a solution still.

 

[JCAll]

I am just hoping we'll have big index of what happened so far in KH3 so anyone new to the series can catch up

Yes, Kingdom Hearts 3D had that. You could actually unlock a game by game plot synopsis of every game in the series. For the first time, Kingdom Hearts' impenetrable plot started to make sense. And then the main villain unveiled his time-traveling cloning scheme. Because of course he did...dammit.

 

[Axelotus07]

I have a friend who swears KH is the best series ever made, but, respectively, I disagree. He knows the story inside and out, and has made many (failed) attempts to envelop me in it.

As much as I want to enjoy its complexity, I just can't. It just seems like they have making it up as they went along, and whatever seems to be connected just doesn't really mesh well across the board.

I enjoy the first two games in the series, but mostly for the gameplay.

 

[Fox12]

The story was fine until after KH2 ended. Honestly, the whole plot could have ended there and I'd have been fine. All of the plot arcs were finished, and there was nowhere else to go. Until the tag ending came.

It has some of my favorite game play, but I'm nervous about their ability to handle the plot, which is a convoluted mess. I like Nomura a little less every year.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Honestly I was not enthralled by the story much anyway I played KH1 on release and KH2 many years after its release so that is the only experience I have with the series. I enjoyed the first one but I was not left wanting more the only reason I got the second was because Tifa was in it and I thought enough time had passed for me to be able to enjoy it again.

Its not a perfect series because such a series does not exist but from the two games I played I found it enjoyable but quickly tiring a bit like Dark Souls and Mass Effect series I suppose its one that I can enjoy my time with but does not leave me wanting more and feels like it has run out of steam hence why I stopped after completing Demons and Dark Souls 1 and Mass Effect and its sequel.

Granted though it has been longer between real sequels in Kingdom Hearts so I may feel like giving it a go again but its one I am largely indifferent about at the moment. Im much more interested in a few other projects they have.

Despite my personal take on it I am kinda glad Square are giving people what they want again. At least in some regards.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I don't think you're gonna find a single soul that thinks the series is anywhere near perfection.

 

[Vausch]

Does anybody say it's perfect? KH is a fun story that is rather enjoyable, but it's a bit of a mess and was made very overcomplicated when it really didn't need to be.

Plus releasing 4 games on 4 different handhelds that were essential to understanding the plot was a dick move. Each game also gets new mechanics that in some cases don't work very well. I hated Chain of Memories and just read the manga to fill in the holes.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

There's no such thing as perfect in this world so its really a loaded question, or at least clickbait at best.

Every game has flaws, every story plot holes and such. Kingdom Hearts just happened to hit a lot of the right notes for Final Fantasy and Disney fans alike, while dealing with a pretty well put together story. Its not perfect but its a great series. Its also confusing as hell due to the multi-platform releases that broke up the linear story. Some people didn't know about Chain of Memories (arguably the worst game in the series) for GBAdvance and thus were hella confused when KH2 didn't pick up right after the first game. If anything, the way releases were handled did put a damper on people who wanted to experience the whole story as prior to the PS3 HD remakes, one had to own multiple platforms to get the whole thing, with the exception of Dream Drop Distance. Chain of Memories was released on PS2 but it still wasn't the best combat system and even though it was an improvement on the GBA version, the change of mechanics to the card system brought down the quality of the game so much that I just wiki'd the plot. 358/2 Days was good but you had to have a DS to play the game because they didn't port the game to PS3, only the cutscenes.
Overall I still love the series and am anticipating KH3 (please let it resolve the story without adding more confusion). As I said before, no game is perfect, they all have flaws. Even 10/10 games still have some issues.

 

[OhNoYouDidnt]

KH is far from perfect in fact it is far from good. Let me tell you why.

First, it's a Disney/Final Fantasy crossover. Horrible, isn't it?. Secondly, there's no easy mode. no one has played this game before. Where do they start? Normal? Thirdly, The music is really annoying, especially in frustratingly bad games like this. Forthly, The graphics look kind of last (5th) Gen unless you turn on smooth textures in the PS2 BIOS. Fifthly, the controls are also bad, You have to use the triggers to control the camera, and you use a menu, IN A REAL TIME RPG! And finally there's no minimap so its very hard to find where you want to go.

The HD Remasters for the PS3 fix most of your issues. There's a new easy mode, the graphics are (obviously) better, the camera is controlled with the right stick instead of the triggers and there is a minimap. Music is subjective, of course, and the menu-based combat really isn't so bad when you get used to it.

To the OP, I have to ask, though... Does anyone really claim that the Kingdom Hearts series is perfect? I see far more people complaining about the convoluted narrative than people singing the franchise's praises, personally.

 

[Verrik]

Umm, question. Who ever said that this game was perfect (No game is perfect)? I mean, yes, the game has a ton of fans, but just because people really like the franchise, that doesn't mean they think it's perfect. Just means they like the game, flaws and all.

Did you just pull that whole "perfect" thing out of your ass?

 

[Drathnoxis]

The story can't even keep the basics straight. So they're called the Heartless, right? But, they do have hearts, you can see them float away when you kill them. Or they are called Heartless because they act "heartless" even though they do have hearts. Oh wait, they don't have hearts because they're made of hearts so they don't have them because they are them and they don't possess what they are made of and could this be any more convoluted?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I always thought it was just a silly little thing that got way more attention than it deserved, like Harry Potter or Buffy.
Just you know...viral, a bit. Really popular in its time and then a few years later people calm down, admit they got carried away and that they really only liked one or two moments/characters and that's about it.

Not that Kingdom Hearts was bad, but I think it just had a very very VERY vocal fanbase, that may not have been as big as people thought. It was successful yes, but it wasn't like Skyrim or Mass Effect 2 successful. It wasn't even Halo Reach successful. It just had a loyal, rabid and vocal fanbase. And that's great! I'm not knocking the game, but it was far from perfect.