We all have magical stories of how we encountered the Kingdom Hearts series. Mine occured some eight or nine years ago in a quaint little Best Buy. My father had taken me there to buy a new wireless controller for my Playstation 2. He'd seen it in a commercial and he was itching to try it out (not that he ever played my PS2, but hey, no questions asked if a free controller is involved). So we took the journey to the store and on the way I began my cunning plan of how to wrangle a game out of the trip. Enter Kingdom Hearts.
Eyeballing the rows of shiny games, I contemplated what game would become my new eternal play monkey, so to speak: I had sucked every bit of life out of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3…there was no going back to that. It was in serious need of a break. But then, what could fill the shoes? At the time, I was pretty ignorant about gaming. I mean, I played them, but I wasn’t as into them as I am now (I’m NOT a neckbeard…yet). So it was completely by chance when my eyes wandered to the Kingdom Hearts box sitting in the top right corner of the shelf. Was that Goofy? With a Mickey shield? Looking dark and edgy??? Oh my god, finally a game where Goofy got the recognition he deserved. Clearly he would be the main character, and that excited my mind beyond belief (I was a big Goofy fan as a child). Aww yeah, DISNEY.
So I grabbed it. My dad wasn’t planning on picking it up with the already-expensive controller, but I still knew no shame when I was ten, so I proceeded to throw a tantrum. Classy. But it worked. Ten minutes later, I was home with that sucker in my PlayStation 2. Goofy wasn’t the main character (though he probably should be), but what followed was a challenging, story-driven, and fun experience that helped to spawn the love for gaming that I now hold dear.
Let me clarify: I didn’t initially enjoy Kingdom Hearts. I thought Destiny Islands was boring and Traverse Town didn’t strike me as much better. I liked the gameplay, at least. I mean, it was pretty mindless, but the enemies and bosses could actually provide some challenge every now and then. Still, something was missing (aside from Goofy as the protag). And then the real game started. Suddenly, I was thrust into the worlds of Hercules, Tarzan, and Alice in Wonderland…and I loved it. Here I was taking part in the stories of some of my favorite childhood movies, actively influencing the direction the characters took. It was almost like I was actually there, and when you get to experience something like that, your childlike wonder kicks into overdrive, no matter what age you are.
I think that’s the real magic of Kingdom Hearts: the Disney aspect is nostalgic, but also dynamic enough for me not to feel like some 25 year-old manchild (or neckbeard) reliving his favorite cartoons. I mean...I'm not 25 yet so I don't know why the game would make me feel that way anyway, but the point is that it doesn't! There’s a level of childhood wonder present in Kingdom Hearts that most other games can’t hope to present. And yet, as the game went on, I felt more and more of an appreciation for the KH-exclusive characters as well. Sora was an underdog who just wanted to save his friends. The Keyblade didn’t want him, but he made an active choice. And ironically, he was actually fighting against one of the very friends he wanted to save. It was easy to empathize and get caught up in the overarching story because it wasn't too convoluted for me to folllow.
But then again, that’s the brilliance of KH1. There’s just enough of a balance between Disney stories and the main story to keep one entertained without ever being flooded by one over the other. Yes, Sora is rescuing Kairi, but we also learn that the other Disney Princesses are in jeopardy. There’s a unique blend of both worlds that keeps me interested enough to maintain a connection to both halves of this oddly-combined universe without ever making me feel alienated from either half, and from a story-telling point of view, that's just absolutely brilliant.
So I beat Kingdom Hearts (between fits of rage at the final Riku fight) and was left thirsting for more of this series. Still, like I said before, I was incredibly ignorant to gaming. Why Google to see if there’s a sequel when you can use your reliable wit, right? Right. And so months passed before my friend Mark came over to my house with his GBA and asked if I’d ever played Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Um, Kingdom Hearts on the Game Boy? You can’t do that. You’re silly. Don’t be silly, Mark.
But there it was! And so the next day I rushed back to Best Buy and picked up Chain of Memories. And soon my same feelings of admiration for the first game were rejuvenated as I once again played as Sora throughout many Disney worlds. And hey, I could even play as Riku. Ignorant, little me didn’t focus much on the actual story (thank God), but he lived for the gameplay. Constantly adjusting decks to find the perfect combination, repeatedly restarting the device so that I could beat Riku Replica (I finally beat him while I was on the toilet...no shame), and rushing through Riku’s story as I pretended to cheer Mark on while sitting in the sidelines at his swim meets. Gamers don’t swim…stop being silly, Mark.
And so I managed to beat Chain of Memories…probably four times. It was my new eternal play monkey (sorry Budokai 3). And by that time, I was far less ignorant than I had been. Months before Kingdom Hearts II was released, I was already following it, debating on who this “BHK” was and how great the battle against 10,000 Heartless was going to be. Kingdom Hearts II released just about a week after my twelfth birthday, and I remember waiting in line on release day at Gamestop to pick up the game. I also convinced my mom to grab the Prima Strategy Guide (which was thoroughly abused over the next two years). I went home and played through all of Roxas’s introduction in one sitting, chewing on popcorn and receiving numerous papercuts from the rapid flipping of pages from my Prima. Roxas had two keyblades. That made him better (still not better than Goofy).
And over the next two months, my friend David and I (Mark was long lost to the world of competitive swimming) would spend every weekend together playing Kingdom Hearts II from 5 pm to 5 am. We would switch off every few hours, each reverting back to our own game file, watching the game take place twice in a row. And we didn’t complain. We spent hours freaking out at learning you could play as Mickey or creating the Ultima Keyblade. We replayed that game time and time again and I can definitely say that it is the reason for many fond memories throughout my middle school years.
The story was more convoluted and the gameplay seemed simpler with the new addition of the quick-time triangle events, but you could play in the world of Steamboat Willy. Your argument is invalid. The charm that was prevalent in earlier entries of the series was still readily apparent. I still cared about Sora as much as I cared about being a part of the Disney worlds. I liked the characters that were introduced (at the time), and I loved how much there was to do in the game, from the Underworld Tournament Cups to the discovery of every treasure chest. The charm of Kingdom Hearts II was that it was Kingdom Hearts except, at a first glance, much better in design. And I loved that. Also, STEAMBOAT WILLY.
I still remember seeing the hidden movie that later showed up again in Birth by Sleep. At the time, nobody knew what it was or who these characters would turn out to be, but everyone was excited. Heck, even Mickey was showing up again. By this point, I had joined Kingdom Hearts Insider and I was posting around the forums under the old username "Laxtory" (not my best idea). I theorized with the community and I was every bit as excited as I was when Kingdom Hearts II was being released. And then somewhere on down the line, it all seemed to fall apart.
In the time it took for Birth by Sleep to be released, I grew up. I played a lot of games and I learned what it took to make a good one. I still loved the nostalgic feeling of playing around in Disney worlds, but after constantly visiting the world of Hercules time and time again, the magic started to fade. By the time Birth by Sleep came out, I had abandoned Kingdom Hearts. I had tried Days briefly (David actually bought it), but there was nothing that kept me interested. I started realizing that what had made me adore Kingdom Hearts was not as powerful as I had always believed. Or maybe it was but over time it had just faded. When you're so exposed to the same thing over and over again, it starts to get worn for you. So as time went on, I learned to stop loving Kingdom Hearts.
This editorial is just the introduction to a three-part series in which I’ll explain what happened to turn a fan like me into a harsh critic of a series he once adored. The reasons are plentiful, and although I’ve never put them on paper, my mind has often gone back to the days of the late night gameplay of Kingdom Hearts II or the battles against Riku Replica on the toilet, and wondered what happened to my admiration. I don’t know if there’s any one reason that caused the estrangement between the two of us, but Kingdom Hearts and I will always have a history that will make me smile, even as I grimace whenever I pick up a game in the series.
What about you? How'd you fall in love with the series, and what led you here? Are you still an adamant fan or, like me, has your dedication wavered? Share your story with us!
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Gexus
November 16, 2012 @ 02:42 amOffline