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How would you rank the Kingdom Hearts games?( Favourite - least favourite)



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The_Echo

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Where the hell are we that "a story eliciting emotions out of the viewer" is considered an illegitimate form of quality
Because in many cases, a weak narrative will use the audience's emotions as a veil to hide behind so that they don't notice its shortcomings.
In stories like this, when you take away that initial emotional response, the narrative falls apart under scrutiny. It's using your empathy as a scapegoat.

Days, as a narrative, exists only to make you cry at the end. It has no other purpose. Xion, as a character, exists only so that you will feel sad when she dies. She has no other purpose. The entire game is built around leading you into a tearjerker finale, and as a result, everything but the finale suffers. But you forget about that, because your emotions in the final act overshadow whatever you thought or felt beforehand.

It's baffling to me how many KH fans don't recognize Days' brand of cheap and manipulative storytelling, considering how often the franchise successfully earns emotional payoffs in other titles. KH1, CoM and KHII are littered with such moments, so even at release Days presents its narrative as markedly inferior, pushing everything it has into a single scene and hoping the fans won't notice how weak everything else was.
To it's credit, I guess it worked.
 

Cumguardian69

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KH2FM > 2 > 0.2 > Re:coded >MoM = (literally is part of) Re:MIND > CoM = Re:CoM
POWERGAP
1FM > 1 > Days > 3
POWERGAP
BBSFM > BBS > DDD

Every couple of years I like to replay the series from the beginning. 1 is still playable but it is a SLOG. The camera is bad, full stop, and none of the various remakes have ever fixed that issue. It's a relic of the late 90s/early 2000s, but it's a relic that needs to be done away with. 1 will never be a hugely great game as long as that camera is there. I don't like Deep Jungle. Agrabah exists. And Oogie's Manor is yikes. I like the human fights, I do not like the giant heartless fights because of camera. Overall it is ok.

CoM/Re:CoM are really strong titles. CoM is unique in that it is our only sprite game to play. It has really good music. It is easy to speedrun. It is easy to play. I do like it very much.

KH2 is the GOAT. Never has been topped and never will be.

Days was our (non JPN) players first introduction to Cavern of Remembrance music. It is beautiful. Unfortunately Days suffers from the same problems as KH1. Bad camera. Slog worlds. Enemies do not stagger. The 1v1 fights are not good. Leechgrave, Ruler of the Sky exist. Overall it is ok.

Birth by Sleep started out amazing. A huge hype campaign. I watched all the re:riplay and TGS trailers religiously. Then the game came out. It wasn't KH2 on a PSP. It was a mobile game with bad physics on a PSP. It had so much potential. I do not like replaying this game. It makes me wish I was playing KH1. BBS enemies do not stagger. They break out of combos. The best skills are surges, curaga, and more. LV1CM is unbearably slow. Overall it is ok.

Re:coded. It managed to take BBS command menu and make it wonderful. Skills chain into each other wonderfully. OP skills are not easy to come by. There are legitimate strategies to using the elemental attacks. Triple pursuit larger enemies to freeze and take out the small guys. Judgment Triad to clear mobs fast. And so on. LV1CM is so enjoyable and customizable. Everything about this game is great...NOT. 2D sections are awful. Boom random turn based RPG time for OC. And so on. Re:coded is so fun, but man it should've just been a core KH game on DS, not the silly minigame gimmicks. Yes it retreaded KH1's story, but it was never a huge big budget title and it never had a hype campaign so i can forgive that. I love replaying Re:coded.

Dream Drop Distance is even worse than BBS. The best ability is balloon. There is never a reason to use ANYTHING over balloon. Anything. Then you get abilities by leveling up your pokemon. The 1 on 1 fights cannot be fun. ABC is god awful on LV1CM. holy balls. at least Riku's link styles are sweet. His Bladecharge is badass.

0.2 is fantastic. It was at its core KH2 with slight hints of BBS. Air slide lag was bad but other than that it was fantastic. I love replaying 0.2

3 is 3.

MoM is fantastic. It isn't a mainline KH game but I love rhythm games.
 
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*TwilightNight*

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Because in many cases, a weak narrative will use the audience's emotions as a veil to hide behind so that they don't notice its shortcomings.
In stories like this, when you take away that initial emotional response, the narrative falls apart under scrutiny. It's using your empathy as a scapegoat.

Days, as a narrative, exists only to make you cry at the end. It has no other purpose. Xion, as a character, exists only so that you will feel sad when she dies. She has no other purpose. The entire game is built around leading you into a tearjerker finale, and as a result, everything but the finale suffers. But you forget about that, because your emotions in the final act overshadow whatever you thought or felt beforehand.

It's baffling to me how many KH fans don't recognize Days' brand of cheap and manipulative storytelling, considering how often the franchise successfully earns emotional payoffs in other titles. KH1, CoM and KHII are littered with such moments, so even at release Days presents its narrative as markedly inferior, pushing everything it has into a single scene and hoping the fans won't notice how weak everything else was.
To it's credit, I guess it worked.

I propose marriage between us. How about you say? Lol.

And it did work, just not for everyone since it's pretty divisive. All you hear about those who like Days is "friendship broke sad", "xion died sad", "melodrama sad", "VECTOR TO THE HEAVENS", "I teared up". Not where it stands on its own narrative merits. Even its trio is heralded as the best when in reality, they are just as bad as TAV. The second shit started stirring, they broke instead of standing together and confiding in one another. The circumstances were beyond their control, not their actions, choices, and behavior. It's rose colored glasses.
 

Chie

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I mean I don't get emotional about most anything in general and I like Days for completely different reasons (though you're actually totally right - nobody ever talks about those reasons!), but I don't know if that's a conversation worth having when your criticism is that the characters... didn't make good decisions? What? Is that what stories are about, the moral integrity of the characters?
 

Deliverance

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I’ve always believed that if Xion hadn’t died at the end nobody would care about her as much.
 

*TwilightNight*

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I mean I don't get emotional about most anything in general and I like Days for completely different reasons (though you're actually totally right - nobody ever talks about those reasons!), but I don't know if that's a conversation worth having when your criticism is that the characters... didn't make good decisions? What? Is that what stories are about, the moral integrity of the characters?

That's not what's being said, it's everything Echo stated.

This friendship that's sooo clamored about is just an example of what it means. People believe they are the best thing ever for those that got emotional over their "suffering", but the actual group is flawed, wishy washy, and failed each other when it mattered. The writing is also questionable with Axel and Xion. But nobody says anything other than they are the best trio because...what? We saw how they started? That time spent on the clock tower "knowing each other" amounted to nothing with the decisions they made when the two Soras share more with their journals than each other. TAV at least gets criticized. RAX doesn't because "sad". I'm one of the few that does because I don't give a shit about trios or Xion.
 

Chie

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I guess you are reacting to like 5 layers of other peoples own bad takes that you've seen over the years, so I can't really hope to comment on that, but to me, characters having flaws is called "writing".
 

The_Echo

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I guess you are reacting to like 5 layers of other peoples own bad takes that you've seen over the years, so I can't really hope to comment on that, but to me, characters having flaws is called "writing".
There's a difference between writing flawed characters and characters in flawed writing.
 

Chie

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Thank you for your contribution, but I am explicitly responding to the concept of "their friendship isn't good, they failed each other, it's their faults that bad things happened". All things which, one would think, have nothing to do with out-of-universe quality.
 

palizinhas

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Out of only the games I've played (I haven't played any since DDD outside of khux):

1. KH2FM. I fully admit my enjoyment of this game comes solely from it being massively fun to play, because the actual plot is a mess.
2. Days. I have very fond memories of playing it as a teen, and I love the unintentional transgenderness of it all.
3. CoM. Really fun story, really fun gameplay. Love it.
4. KH1. My first game, has some issues but I still really enjoy it.
5. Re:coded. Some really good moments, really fun use of the command deck when compared to BBS.
6. BBS. I have issues with this game's story lol. Still really love playing it though, it's the only kh game I've done a lvl 1 run of.
7. KHUX/Dark Road. Good story, marred by it being massively slow to advance said story, and one has whatever gameplay that gets tiring, the other you barely ever even actually play it
 

2 quid is good

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Despite liking Days (and Xion really) a lot, it's not so much because of their trio friendship and downer ending - Axel after KH2 is probably one of my most disliked characters, so I could never really enjoy any trio interactions, especially because how fake and shallow it felt. I agree that the idea of xion is unnecessary but I found the concept of a blank canvas character that others project on to (Xigbar seeing Ventus, Saix seeing nothing etc) really fascinating, and I think having a sub plot where Xion more strongly tries to carve out an identity would have been pretty compelling, as it stands I appreciate quite a lot of the text box dialogue between Roxas and Xion, they felt a lot more like friends, and it was definitely fun to me to see Roxas - an almost blank slate - interacting with an actual blank slate.

Like a lot of things in this series, it can fall short of the mark, but in this particular instance, I felt like the character writing (for every character, not just the trio) was enough for me, mostly because I never once bought that axel was really their friend. Roxas' mentor *maybe* but it's always felt like a lacking relationship to me
 

Elysium

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I actually think RAX is the only good trio other than SDG. If we didn't have to be obsessed with trinities, I'd say the Riku-Sora duo surpasses them, but if you judge them instead as the trio SRK instead, with the dead weight attach they sink almost to last place.

Since I'm posting again anyway, I finished Days the other day and then Roxas' prologue. I think Days actually works perfectly after CoM. I mean, to newcomers I would recommend playing the games in order of release the first go round, but after you already know everything, Days works best as a follow-up to CoM. So much of the setup of CoM is about Roxas and even the secret ending to CoM makes Days feel like it should follow directly after, since that shot of Roxas walking in the TT marketplace is put in the intro to Days. I actually came out of this playthrough loving Days, even though I don't think I'd rank it differently either. Even the gameplay doesn't really bother me; Air Slide makes movement fun in the second half. So now BbS is the only KH game (sans mobile games I'll never play) that I'd go so far as to say I don't like--and even it has its bright spots (Aqua, Castle of Dreams, the board game).
 

Cumguardian69

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RAX is a great trio becausesad. They are the only group of friends that legit feel like real friends. Through sheer circumstance, they come together and while they all actually hate each other (Axel doesn't truly see Xion as a friend, he only sticks with Roxas because he looks like Ven who he lost, Roxas has no memories so he can't really relate to Axel, Roxas and Xion are both zombies) they also do very much love each other as friends. It's just so beautifully written and expertly composed.
 

DestinyIslander

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1. KH2

2. KH3

3. KH1

4. KH CoM

5. KH MoM

6. KH ReCoded

7. KH DDD

8. KH BBS

9. KH 358/2 Days
 
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This is a very difficult ranking because I love the entire series. Each game has pros and cons (some moreso than others) and I don't think I can ever come up with a definitive ranking but I'll give it a try

1.KH2
2.KH1
3.BBS
4.KH3
5.DDD
6.CoM(Original GBA version)
7.358 & Re:Coded(Tie)
8.Union x
9.0.2
10.Re:Chain
11.Dark Road

P.S. I haven't played Re:Mind or MoM yet. When I do play them I'll do an updated ranking
 

GreyouTT

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Gameplay:
This is basically based on how much fun I have when I play them and how good they feel to play.

1. KH3 (I AM SPEED)
2. Re:Coded
3. KH2
4. DDD
5. KH1
6. 0.2
7. Days
8. CoM (GBA)
9. BbS
10. UX (At Launch)
11. Re:CoM
12. UX/DR (Current)
13. V-Cast

Story:
Kinda ranked these based on how much I was invested in the events that happened in the plot if that makes sense.

1. CoM
2. The χ storyline
3. KH1
4. KH3
5. Days
6. BbS Terra
7. KH2
7.5. DDD
8. BbS Aqua/0.2
9. Re:coded
10. BbS Ventus
11. MoM (Honestly should've just been at the start of the next game as a tutorial or something with how small it is. Sure people expected story but they could've maybe subverted expectations by not giving it one.)
 

Zettaflare

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1. KH2(FM)
2. KH1
3. CoM
4. KH3
5. 0.2
6. Re:MIND
7. DDD
8. BBS
9. Coded
10. 358 2 Days
11. MoM

Not going to bother ranking Chi and DR since they are still ongoing
 
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Somnus cealum

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i started kh when i was 3 and played kh1 com and 2 about the same time

1.kh3 and remind i loved kh3 better then the og kh3 when remind came since it fixed the story and gameplay is awesome!(AND PLAYABLE KAIRI!!!)👸

2.khmom i just love the music gameplay and many playable characters, some music was absent in the game but its still fun.🎶🎵🎼

3.khbbs(fm) and 0.2 i just love the story and command system, i love aqua and ventus and vanitas(he is sexay:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:) alot, terra i do love lol.

4.kh1(fm) remembered the day i first played it and loved every second of it! now sora in this game is cute lol👨

5.khrecom i love the card gameplay and story is great🎲

6.kh358/2days a really emotional ride and it made me cry when xion died :cry:. i loved that you could play as all 13 members of the org and play as xion yay!!!

7.khddd i thought of this as the boyfriend 👬dream game lmaooo!!! (but i don't ship them lol) it was really fun and happy we have a ps4 remake of it.

8.kh2(fm) story overall is just ok. gameplay is slow intel you get drive forms. all i can say is i hated riku in this game and as a gimmick playable character. :rolleyes:

9.khrecoded story of it yes you kinda need it to know about dark riku in kh3 and a enemy. story is ok but i don't hate this game.🖥


i love khux and khdr but since there not finished yet i wont number them.
 
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This is a very difficult ranking because I love the entire series. Each game has pros and cons (some moreso than others) and I don't think I can ever come up with a definitive ranking but I'll give it a try

1.KH2
2.KH1
3.BBS
4.KH3
5.DDD
6.CoM(Original GBA version)
7.358 & Re:Coded(Tie)
8.Union x
9.0.2
10.Re:Chain
11.Dark Road

P.S. I haven't played Re:Mind or MoM yet. When I do play them I'll do an updated ranking
I can finally update this ranking over a year later, so here goes

1.KH2
2.KH1
3.BBS
4.KH3+Re:Mind
5.DDD
6.CoM (Original GBA version)
7.358 & Re:Coded (Tie)
8.Union X
9.MoM
10.0.2
11.Re:Chain
12.Dark Road

I put Re:Mind with 3 because for me personally I didn't think it was any better or worse than 3 itself. And as for MoM, I was debating which was better between that and 0.2, but ultimately I put MoM higher because I think it has more replayability.
 

PikaPal

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As far as the games I have played go it would be

1: KH2
2: KH3
3: Birth by Sleep
4: 358/2 Days
5: DDD

I've never gotten far with KH1 even to this day and I'm currently still playing COM (the PS2 remake), a game that I've dropped a few times but luckily things are going much more smoothly this time around.

Never played Re:Coded or MoM and anything mobile related I never touch.
 
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