So like 4 different threads today had lengthy discussions about the Kingdom Hearts series, so let's quarantine that shit in one centralized location so we can burn and clear it
KINGDOM HEARTS was released in 2002 for the PS2. It's the first game in the series, the one that kicked off the whole nightmare.
DOES THIS ONE MATTER?: Very much so, it's the basis for everything that comes after.
KINGDOM HEARTS: CHAIN OF MEMORIES was released in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance, and it's a sprite-based 2D action game with heavy card game elements. It was later remade as a 3D game in 2008.
DOES THIS ONE MATTER?: Absolutely, it's the next step in the mainline story and introduces approximately 1 billion concepts that would be explored in the next game and all the ones after.
KINGDOM HEARTS II was released in 2006 for the PS2, and it steps up everything from the original game to a significant degree, including the amount of JRPG Bullshit in the story, for better and for worse. There were a lot of enemies on screen at once and you went into Tron.
DOES THIS ONE MATTER?: Just as much as the previous two, Kingdom Hearts 2 advances the main plot significantly and adds a lot of important characters to the story.
KINGDOM HEARTS CODED was released episodically for mobile phones from 2008 to 2010. I don't really know anything about this one, but it was remade as KINGDOM HEARTS RE:CODED for DS in 2011, and is included on the collections.
DOES THIS ONE MATTER?: A little bit, I think? It includes a little bit of extra story advancement towards setting the stage for the final game, but is mostly set during the original game.
KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 DAYS was released for the DS in 2009. It's set between the first and second games, following the story of Roxas leading up to Kingdom Hearts II.
DOES THIS ONE MATTER?: If you're strictly interested in what you need to know for the final game, probably not, but it has a lot of good backstory stuff which may or may not end up relevant.
KINGDOM HEARTS BIRTH BY SLEEP was released for the PSP in 2010. It's a prequel set 10 years before the events of the series.
DOES THIS ONE MATTER?: If you only play one post-KH2 game in the leadup to 3, it should be this one. It kinda turns out this game introduces sorta the core premise of the entire series, like, say, the main villain, who is introduced in this game, and several other major characters who will likely be crucial in KH3.
KINGDOM HEARTS 3D: DREAM DROP DISTANCE was released in 2012 for the 3DS, hence the three D title, like it's a 2004 Castlevania game. This one adds a weird sorta Pokemon system to the series' usual hack-n-slash combat.
DOES THIS ONE MATTER?: This is one of the only spinoffs to actually take place after Kingdom Hearts II and move forward, directly setting the stage for KH3, but it's more or less a game-long training sequence.
KINGDOM HEARTS χ was released in 2013 for mobile devices. Y'all, I'm gonna level with you here. I haven't played all these games, but I know the deal with most of them. I don't know ANYTHING about this one.
DOES THIS ONE MATTER?: It cannot possibly matter. They can't be that crazy.
KINGDOM HEARTS III will allegedly be released in 2018 for PS4 and Xbox One. This is the one we've been waiting for for eleven goddamned years. Supposedly the final entry in this series' plotline, Kingdom Hearts 3 will also include worlds based on Big Hero Six and Toy Story. Kingdom Hearts is so old that both of these things were fairly new when the series started.
WILL THIS ONE MATTER?: It goddamn well better.
That was a very poor overlook of the series. Let's talk about what really matters.
What's the best song? Your answers will be graded and judged harshly:
Posts
Trust me on this
Steam Switch FC: 2799-7909-4852
I've never actually seen it, but I liked the card game stuff in the GBA game well enough, does it keep that or does it just become like 1 and 2
When you walk away
You won't hear me say
"Oh baaaaaaaaaby, don't go"
it's one of the better "replace japanese pop song lyrics with english ones and make it not sound like shit" attempts I've heard, but at the end of the day I still prefer lyrics I literally don't understand but sound nice to lyrics that feel like a word salad trying to contort itself into the space left by the original lyrics
I hate that part of me so very much.
3DS: 2981-5304-3227
Simple & Clean is about like grounded relationship drama
Sanctuary is weird and grand and it shouldn't work but somehow it brings out this emotional reaction
3DS: 2981-5304-3227
I really like both the English and Japanese versions of Simple & Clean
Unlike both the pop songs in FFX-2, which sound far better in their Japanese versions.
god yes it's miles and miles better than that crap
That song does not exist in KH, sadly
We can only hope that KH3 will feature a return to Mulan's world where there's a rhythm-based training-montage minigame set to it
What I will say is the orchestral version of Simple & Clean works ridiculously well
I don't remember what trailer this was used in or where it's cued in the game but the emotional impact of that stuck with me very well
Basically if there's a moment near the end of KH3 where they cue this up it is going to just devastate me
They use that thing as a leitmotif so incredibly well
there is absolutely going to be a pivotal moment near the end of that game where they are going to play Simple & Clean and it is going to actually kill me, I will be 25 years old and instantly brought back to when I was like 10 and I will just be completely overwhelmed despite calling the shot right now
Agreed
but the reversed lyrics in Sanctuary trigger an actual feeling of euphoria in me almost every time.
Steam Switch FC: 2799-7909-4852
I am 100% certain I am going to cry at some point during KH3
80% certain I will cry multiple times
Steam Switch FC: 2799-7909-4852
They confirmed her involvement a long time ago, I bet that song's been done for years
Like sometimes I just suddenly think of it and I'm forced to stop what I'm doing and just sit with it a moment
These games left a fierce impression on me, I love them and their stupid bullshit so much
Steam Switch FC: 2799-7909-4852
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4y7UK4nqnQ
and wow this looks way more fun
They've made Sora take up way less of the screen and made him way the hell faster, he is zipping across the screen and it looks like a blast to play
You did this to me, PA Forums. You did this to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~ *sucked into the darkness portal*
He hammed it up so well.
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
Buuuuut it does set up some possible story hooks.
If anyone at Square working on the game says this, they should immediately be fired
if I, I dunno, did something really stupid like get that PS4 collection
What order should I go in
I think it's the order they appear on the title screen.