Kingdom Hearts Nostalgia/Opposite of it

[Kounelli]

We look at the criticisms of Kingdom Hearts now and comment on it's quality as a franchise and how nostalgia has kept it alive, but was there ever something in the games you used to hate as a kid that you now enjoy? Perhaps something you took for granted as just bad game-play/story only to find it endearing/actually well done as you grew older?

For example, I was around 14 years of age when KHII came out, and I hated the idea of the main character changing and having to play as other characters. Everything had to be consistent, and there was no way I was going to accept Roxas or the BBS trio for the simple fact that they weren't our original main character. I thought it was a flaw for a series to do things like this, but now that I am older, I can appreciate other main characters more. I feel that having new mains to play as is interesting and gives a new perspective. When I heard that Aqua was going to be playable again I got excited. My 14 year old self would hate me right now and shun 2.8 to death.

So how about you guys?

 

[Muke]

As a child, I really hated all the Drive Forms in KH2. Now I enjoy how you 'fuse' with one of your party members, or both of them, to get stronger.
I also really loved the Roxas Tutorial as a child because everything seemed so chill, now I really hate it lol

Nice thread!

 

[Zeto]

I don't have any real "nostalgia" of this series since I only got into it a year ago.

However, it would have been interesting to see how my child self would react to all of KH's bizzare-ness.

 

[Kounelli]

As a child, I really hated all the Drive Forms in KH2. Now I enjoy how you 'fuse' with one of your party members, or both of them, to get stronger.
I also really loved the Roxas Tutorial as a child because everything seemed so chill, now I really hate it lol

Nice thread!

Thank you :3

Same, I barely used drive forms when I was younger because I never saw the necessity of it, I honestly only used them when I was close to dying and they give you the option. Now, especially with FM, I loved leveling them up and implementing them strategically in battle during a fight.

I still have a little trouble with Roxas, but not because of him per say but rather the tutorial story. I'm kinda sick of Twilight Town.

@Zeto: Then take note of it now, and see what you think of it when you are my age! haha.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

I... don't know. Usually in KH I liked stuff as a kid and now I see the thorns beneath the roses... or something.

Oh yeah! I was on the "Coded is a useless retelling" bandwagon. Now I really like it and am one of its greatest defenders.
Let's see, aside from that I probably enjoy some stuff in KH II my adolescent self was trying to remove. Y'know, when you're in that age and you try to belittle kid's stuff.

 

[Grono]

I used to flipping love the tutorial with Roxas in Twilight Town, now I'm begging for Kingdom Hearts III to just throw us in there, so there's where I stand on that nowadays (my 10 year old self would hate me for saying that!).

As a kid I freaking didn't understand the spell Aero at all and never ever used it. Now that I'm a smart adult I use that god damn spell like my life depends on it!

 

[VoidGear.]

I used to hate summons in KH2 because I never knew how much they are worth.
Then I learned shit like "Stitch refills your MP" or "Chicken Little draws in enemies so they can't attack you" and since then, I love them. <3

 

[Nazo]

I think my biggest thing with KH that has changed as I've gotten older is my comprehension of some of the deeper messages being told in the story and the dialogue. When you're a kid, something like Chain of Memories is just a fun game where you fight an evil clone of your best friend and defeat some bad guys and get your memories restored.

Then you grow up and you start thinking about the words the characters are saying. The idea of memories and how they shape who we are, what makes a person "real", and all these other concepts. Even though KH has always been a bit lacking in terms of delivery, the concepts it does present are nonetheless incredibly thought provoking and fascinating. As I kid I just thought KH was cool in that teen angsty emo-phase kind of way. Now that I'm older, I'm surprised how many times KH will present an idea or message through the story that makes me go "Wow, that's actually really deep." Makes me fall in love with it in an entirely new way that's only possible because of my adultish perspective.

 

[Dumblescored]

As a kid I absolutely hated KH1 with a passion, because all I wanted to do was play KHII. Since I was so young I had no clue about grinding and how levels worked. I never finished the game because the second form of Ansem kept killing me. I got back to kingdom hearts 1 in 2015 and now it's my favourite in the series. I checked the game on ps2 not long ago and noticed I was at the end at level 25 with almost no abilities equipped. HOW DID I EVEN GET THAT FAR?

I loved the Roxas tutorial so damn much as a kid, as well. All I do when playing it now is moan for about an hour. Kinda sad honestly, as I consider it one of the smoothest and most engaging tutorials I have yet to play. I really respect it... but I never want to slog through it again.

Never used the block ability or magic till Re:coded, because it was useless to little. Now I feel utterly defenseless without it, and I'll abuse it till the end of time. The opposite was true for limit attacks. I would run around an arena until my MP came back and immediately used trinity limit.

Hated but now are awesome:
Donald
Aqua (The badass that she is)
Hi-potions
Synthesis
Yuffie
And the gosh damn Kingdom Key for some reason, which I now have hanging on my wall.

Loved but not as much now
Re:coded
KHII
The Metal Chocobo Keyblade

Say what you want about Days (I personally adore it) but the leechgrave is the only reason I will never play that game again. EVER. It was the only thing that made me hate a game in the middle of playing it.