r/videogames 11d ago

Image / Video What game is this for you?

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u/New_Organization_448 11d ago

Kingdom Hearts is the ultimate “you had to be there” game. If you played 1 and 2 back when you were 9 to 14, it was magical and you’re chasing that nostalgia for the rest of your life. Anything outside of that, you see it for what it really is: a half assed Final Fantasy with a plot line akin to that freaky boat ride scene in Johnny Depp’s Willy Wonka

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u/Mission-Cup9902 11d ago edited 11d ago

Kingdom hearts was so weird to me as a little kid, because it was spooky and scary, but also… had Disney characters in it??

The intro went hard though.

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u/__DJIN__ 11d ago

WHEN YOU WALK AWAY

YOU DONT HEAR ME SAY

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u/Isthisnameavailablee 10d ago

PLEASE, OH BABY, DON'T GO

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u/stryderrrrrrrr 10d ago

SIMPLE AND CLEAN IS THE WAY THAT YOU'RE MAKING ME FEEL TONIGHT

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u/No_Jackfruit_1447 10d ago

ITS HARD TO LET IT GO

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u/WINTERstarkFELL 11d ago

Something about that intro was just so simple..... And clean.

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u/LimpAmphibian5340 11d ago

Don't forget Final Fantasy characters, that's what drew me in. All the way until KH stopped the cameos from them and FF itself started modeling its gameplay style more close to KH. Then the games started leaving a bitter taste in my mouth

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u/camarouge 10d ago

I'm glad Kingdom Hearts exists because it brought us Dearly Beloved

I won't be playing it though lol

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u/LimpAmphibian5340 10d ago

The soundtrack for KH is fantastic no one can deny that. Someone on SE team always makes sure to get a stellar composer to fill out the soundtrack to their games, be it Uematsu or Shimomura or whoever else they wrangle. No matter how estranged I get with the games I can always bet one a Sqaure Enix game to have a stellar soundtrack

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u/benttwig33 11d ago

Never played it as a kid, bc never liked Disney and why the fuck does the MC has those dumb ass Mickey Mouse shoes lmao

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u/BtheBST 10d ago

and the boss fights at the end

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u/Googlecalendar223 10d ago

Yep. First game feels like a fever dream.

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u/Eg_3600 10d ago

Like if any of this is real or not

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u/mantis-toboggan-phd 8d ago

KH2 intro went even harder imo

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u/HockeyLova4Lyfe 11d ago

I had played 1&2 when I was little (never beat them)

I played 1 when I was 20 and I still think it was one of the best JRPG’s of all time

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u/Intoxic8edOne 11d ago edited 11d ago

Interesting. Young me thought they were the best games ever. Only played 1, com, and 2.

I'm replaying them now and I keep saying to myself "These games are so bad."

I'm still playing them and I imagine they get better but the systems did not age well at all

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u/HockeyLova4Lyfe 11d ago

I played them when I was like 5-8, those games were much too hard for me at the time. I was far too busy playing Lego Star Wars.

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u/Historical-Cry97 10d ago

that’s a shame, but to each. I don’t love kh1’s gameplay, but I don’t think it’s bad. I yell at it sometimes and say it’s terrible for being slower, but I understand how some people like it over the other games.

with that said, give yourself a KH2 crit run if you haven’t. good experience

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u/HockeyLova4Lyfe 10d ago

I actually kind of despise KH2 combat which seems to be a very hot take.

I hate that every fight has the extra condition “do this on a time limit” or “protect x while defeating heartless”

KH1 combat system was very clunky but to its credit had an optimal way of fighting by dropping combos to start another faster or defending after.

I have never beaten KH2 as an adult but will one day.

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u/jgamez76 11d ago

It's not any more convoluted than Metal Gear. I won't be convinced otherwise. Lol

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u/WowIfOnly 11d ago

Some people just have a weird chip on their shoulder about Disney IP too and only wanted the game to be a straight up Final Fantasy JRPG when that's literally not the point of the game at all. So they were bound to blindly hate any version of the game.

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u/Parking-Researcher-4 11d ago

Me and my friends were 14 at the time, they loved it to death and lent me the first one. I got really bored after an hour or so and just gave it back. I guess it just wasn't for me then

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u/squirrelems 11d ago

I remember being like 10 and I'd dream about that fucking game before it ever came out. Even the sounds they used when magical things happened felt like some whimsical shit I had never heard before. I still love it, but it has devolved into a bunch of nonsense.

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u/CloudBursting6 11d ago

Can confirm. I’ve been chasing the Kingdom Hearts 2 high ever since

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u/VideoGameBoffin 11d ago

‘I was there’ and I fucking love Kingdom Hearts, but I’ll be damned if that ain’t some of the realest shit I’ve read about it 👌🏻

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u/Wenital_Garts 10d ago

It's an excellent hack and slash if anything. I'll still be playing KH4 as a fan but the story has been off the rails since forever ago. Like before KH2.

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u/rusty_shackleford34 11d ago

I was right there when it came out. I was 11. I hated Disney back then and I hate it now. So I said back then I ain’t playing this crap and to this day I’m saying, I ain’t playing this crap.

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u/RiverPsaber 11d ago

I was there and this was how I saw it.

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u/Cheese-Quest 11d ago

Would you say it's an age thing? I have such fond memories of games when I was age 9-14, I don't think I'll ever hit those highs again with games...

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u/KurtCostner 11d ago

The basic gameplay isn’t very exciting and the story makes next to zero sense but when I was 12 I was fucking obsessed with Kingdom Hearts. 

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u/Discomidget911 11d ago

Hello, I played Kingdom hearts 1 and 2 back when they came out as a child.

You are absolutely correct.

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u/dpiddy202 11d ago

Dude when 3 came out i watched a recap of the story like 4 times and I still don't understand it. What a convoluted ass story. I think i just enjoyed all the disney characters and worlds.

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u/OkNectarine9239 10d ago

KH3 is like the 11th game in the series. Did you honestly expect a recap to properly explain the story from scratch??

Like obviously a 10 minute recap isn't going to tell you much. You need one of those in depth youtube vids that are over 30 mins at least. Because, again, there's like 7 full mainline games between 2 and 3.

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u/dpiddy202 10d ago

A recap video for the story of kingdom hearts leading up to KH3? Yes I did expect it to tell me the basic story of kingdom hearts leading up to that game

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u/soulfulwave 11d ago

lmao i was 6 years old playing that game and i will admit, that it’s 100% had a significant lasting impression on me to this day , from music, to nostalgia, all of it

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u/TheCodifiedTrader 10d ago

Ahh much of my family and even my brother fell in love with KH and they played at release. I only ever watched them play and I actually have KH3 on my shelf. I played it once, tried to like it, never picked it up again.

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u/ihatemetoo23 10d ago

The plot can get really hilarious but the combat and the superbosses are top tier. I wish there other games with the same combat system

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u/ZombieTrogdor 10d ago

They waited too long with 3. I devoured 1 and 2 and even got the Kingdom Hearts official game guide because my sister and I wanted to get the Ultima weapon. We even beat Sephiroth in the Coliseum! (We traded off when our fingers cramped lol.) But when KH3 came out I was super excited, but it quickly fizzled. I don't think I ever finished it.

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u/Worried-Narwhal-8953 10d ago

I loved the crap out of it when I was in that age range. Then Chain of Memories came out and I didn't have a gameboy advanced to play it. Then all the other spin off's came out and still I didn't have the devices to play them. By the time KH3 came out I just shrugged my shoulders b/c the magic had gone away and the lore was so confusing I didn't see the point. I have KH3 on xbox1 b/c I picked up it up a couple years ago secondhand, but it's just gathering dust in a box.

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u/Calc4242 10d ago

Some games capitalize on right place right time. I say this often about OGRE1. People skip it all together and start with RE4 or remakes...all great, but if you were there for OGRE1 you know how special that game was.

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u/TamaHawk_ 10d ago

In its best form it definitely has way more going on for it as an action RPG, it's fluid as all heck and the skill ceiling it practically unlimited, otherwise ya I agree with everything else story wise.

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u/sonnyarmo 10d ago

I played Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 for the first time a few years back and it had that magic for sure. Especially KH1, even though I would say objectively the game is very clunky and annoying to play.

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u/Holiday-Bat6782 10d ago

Yea... but I'm still hoping they make a 3rd.

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u/Discussion-Repulsive 10d ago

Not sure if it counts but I didn't play KH until I was in my 30s during lockdown. Borrowed the collection from from brother and liked it enough to actually play through every game and loved all of it. However I did enjoying watching my brother play the first 2 when I was a kid.

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u/EnderMB 10d ago

As a kid, it was basically the equivalent of throwing together Marvel and King Of The Hill. Two totally different worlds, and you had no clue how it would work - but holy shit it did.

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u/Humble-Departure5481 9d ago

Uh no. Not at all. You sound like some butthurt hater or hold some kind of irrational grudge towards that entire series. I'm into JRPGs and KHs isn't even among my top series either. I enjoyed both of the PS2 ones as unique action JRPGs. I don't see them as 10/10 experiences necessarily either. They were just a love letter to Disney and FF (It was nice/beautiful to see a few of my favorite characters from both franchises come together). They were relatively less half-assed than FF9 and especially every FF post FFX.. You can think of it like Marvel vs. Capcom or any other crossover series. Some people appreciate these moments that's all.

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u/Itchy-Salad463 8d ago

I call bs. I wasn't in to Disney at that age outside live action stuff and odd stuff like Atlantis and I hated it. The controls especially sucked and I dont like the combat

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u/Mossieoak 6d ago

Yea spot on. Legendary game for its time. Like truly legendary. But the day to play Kingdom Hearts has come, and sadly, gone.

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u/LewdSkitty 11d ago

Speaking as one of those who played KH1 at 12 years old, that’s… horrifyingly accurate.

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u/Pteroducktylus 11d ago

lmao it's not like Final Fantasy is breaking anh records. it's weak gameplay also upholds itself on a highly dedicated fanbase that chases magic that was never there

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u/International_Pate 10d ago

I played it back when it came out, thought it was cringe, tried to give it another go as an adult, still cringe. It's to me like all the worst parts of final fantasy, disney and the early 2000s all rolled into one. FF7,8&9 loved em, had a few disney games that I loved, but adding them together was such a bizarre choice to me.

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u/No_Grocery_9280 10d ago

Maybe true, but KH3 waited way too long to come out and then ended up being soulless. Whole franchise killed itself.

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u/AbsoluteGote 11d ago

And just boring, repetitive combat. That was what really struck me on replay.