Forum: Future of KH ; Thread: There not being one for some...

[Slenix]

What I mean by that is, a good chunk of people will give up on Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts first released back in 2002. It was a surprise for many as the game had a mixture of, at the time, Square and.... Disney? Although the combination seemed like a recipe for disaster, it turned out to be the perfect duo for yet another successful series by SE.

So after 9 years, Kingdom Hearts is looking at it's 7th game in the franchise. But how many people are still with Kingdom Hearts? A lot for now, but that may change within the next couple of years. There are a few reasons as to why some fans will have given up on the series.

I believe Square Enix thinks Kingdom Hearts fans will be just like Final Fantasy fans. It is not Final Fantasy. Each FF game had a different hero, a different villian, a different world, a different setting, and so much more. They were different games each time. Anyone can just jump in on a numbered game and become a fan. Final Fantasy was first released in 1987, and is still coming out with numerous games 24 years later. Most of KH fans I would guess were mostly 13 years old. So let's say a 13 year old got hooked on FF in 1987. If it were the same protagonist in the yet-to-be released FF: XIII-2, that would mean the 13 year-old would now be close to their 30's. How many 30 year old's do you see playing Kingdom Hearts? Not many.
It would have been very difficult to keep up with the story for so long. The formula for FF works because anybody can just jump into a game and get hooked on the series, and not have to worry about following the series to the end.

Now back to Kingdom Hearts. It was 9 years ago that the first game was released. So that 13 year old is now 22. I'm sure that with each new game release, a new generation of kids get hooked onto the series. The problem with that is, they're not going to know what the storyline is all about. The solution? Play the older games on the PS2/watch YouTube videos of the cutscenes/Wikipedia/Kingdom Hearts Wiki/I'm sure there are other ways to get caught up. But where's the fun in just reading/watching and not playing? If it were me, I'd want to find a PS2 and play it. The problem I see that comes up with this is the fact that this generation is on the PS3 and is currently looking at PS4. So the PS2's life doesn't have that much longer left.

Square Enix could possibly be coming out with HD Remakes of KH, KHII, and maybe KH:CoM. That would solve the problem of being left out of the story for the newer generations of Kingdom Hearts fans. Now we hit our next block: New Systems. HD Remakes = Buying the newer system to play them. I'm all up for trying a game in different varieties, but come on! How many more systems am I going to have to buy for this series?
Kingdom Hearts - PlayStation 2 - Price in 2002: $200
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories - GameBoy Advance - Price in 2004: $80
Kingdom Hearts II - PS2 - Price in 2006: $130
KH: Re: CoM - PS2 - Price in 2008: $100
Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days - *Nintendo DS
Kingdom Hearts: Re:Coded - *Nintendo DS
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - *PSP
Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance - Nintendo 3DS - Currently priced at $160

*System price varies by model of the system.

So far that's a PS2, GBA, Nintendo DS, PSP, and Nintendo 3DS. With a good probability of HD Remakes, there could be PS3 added, and there's still (unconfirmed) two more Games! Possibilities for that are PS4, PS Vita, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say Wii U. You never know.

Tetsuya Nomura has said that Sora would always be the protagonist until the very end of the series. Kingdom Hearts III will be the end of the Xehanort Saga. That also means any followers of KH from the very beginning will probably leave the series at the end of that. Unless they choose to continue following KH until the grow tired of it. But for how much longer will it be before this current saga ends? A lot of people may leave the series before the end. Or run out of money on buying new systems for each game.

It is hard to keep a group of fans who were with a series at the very beginning when it takes so long to finish the current story arc with the same characters. It works for Final Fantasy because it is a different story each time. I don't think spanning out Kingdom Hearts series like it has will necessarily work to keep the franchise successful. But I have no doubt that the series will continue to live on through the fans for however long it takes.

When did you get hooked on Kingdom Hearts? Will you still follow the series until the end? What if the series goes on? Comment on your thoughts.... and go.

 

[CaptainMarvelQ8]

This topic has been brought up any times before.For me,i'll wait for when the saga finishes and be done with it,unless the game's story changes for the better.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

We've had threads like this in the past.

We have DDD and a mysterious game to go then KH3 then the Xehanort Saga is done.

I know many 30+ people who enjoy KH a lot.

A lot of what you say is true, but at the same time it is just one opinion and many can argue various points. I'm too tired to provide my own opinion, except with how long many years we have had in gaps with the games, in theory we should already have some of the systems that we have to play the games on. Also, many of us buy the systems with the intention to buy other games for them.

The video game industry is still an industry. They need to make money and by offering games on various systems, they are trying to reach out to as many people as possible. :/

 

[loke13]

When did you get hooked on Kingdom Hearts? Will you still follow the series until the end? What if the series goes on?

That entire wall of text just for you to say that? It's inevitable that a video game series loses fans specifically ones as long as KH and FF, either because they don't like where the story is going, too much of a hassle keeping up with the story, or they've just lost interest in the games completely. It's impossible for a videogame series to stay with as many fans as it had in the beginning but for every game that's released KH franchise gains new fans and there are still many people in there 30's who play video games. Heck people who've never even played a KH game before are already considering buying KH3D just because of Neku's introduction.

 

[gxyoumo14]

its not that big a deal. more fans will come through various ways. recommendation, gifts, or simple curiosity from looking at a game cover is how games are bought, kept alive, and keep being made. proof of it are zelda, megaman, resident evil, mortal kombat, castlevania, and sonic have stayed alive. and theve been around since tha 80s or 90s, most of which have been of several systems.
if you wanna catch up youll either buy the games and systems, read about them, or much like how its done now find an emulator and rom or iso. games dont just die once they have a sold fanbase
the first megaman game i played was x3 yet i managed to play several of them. and this was before all of the collection disks ware released.

 

[Hero]

Another "whiny" thread. I'll be playing video games up until I can't anymore (probably when I'm settled down with wife and kids) but even then, I'll probably try and squeeze some time with them. I'm 20 and I still play Pokemon. Age is just a number.

As others have said, the video game industry is a BUSINESS. Don't whine if you're unable to get an entry in the series. No one is forcing you to buy them. It happens to all the industries.