I haven't been on in a while, and i'm sure there are tons threads like this, but i wanted to make this to get some direct feedback and to get a chance to express my own view on the subject, as well. So ... i want to know: Do you prefer Kingdom Hearts or Kingdom Hearts TWO? I also want to hear your reasoning for this ... preferably THREE reasons you choose the one you do. Or, if you are neutral, simply explain why. Ok?
I'll be honest, NOTHING beats the original for me. I love the sequel as an independent game, but, by comparison, i feel kind of like it just doesn't do what it should with the original as the pre-set standard. Why? Well, first off, in the original, remember that innocence to the characters? That naiveness of Sora? Remember the Darkside fight at the beginning and that strange sensation you got fighting it, not knowing where this oddness was leading? And that hint of mystery in each world, that essence of surprise that laced every corner?
Maybe it's just me, but there was an aura around the original not there in the sequel--something good.
In every Disney world, the stories varied from the classic tellings of them slightly, but blended so easily together with Sora and his companions' journey that you felt both in and out of place at the same time. There was this overwhelming sense of a bigger picture looming around the corner, something dark and fantastic. But you couldn't really reach it completely, no matter how hard you tried. There was rivalry, that jealousy we all know can be in a friendship, no matter how strong, and then, hate--hate that can destroy something as pure as the best of relationships. There were genuine emotions that jerked at me throughout the game. Really, it was the story and presentation that got me SO in love with this flawless masterwork. And ... let's not forget, the Opening, that tremendous foreshadowing that was beautifully done. And the Ending! So sad and powerful, tear-jerking, breath-taking even! I'm VERY sorry to say i cannot say the same of its sequel.
Granted, the battle system was improved in Kingdom Hearts Two, but i was so crushed by the poor presentation and lack of emotions past Twilight Town that i began to forget. The graphics were up-dated too, so i was told, and yet, there was not that perfect harmony in each world that i saw in One. In the worlds like Deep Jungle and Traverse Town (a place i very much missed, only to have it replaced by a horrid new Hollow Bastion) there was this strange matching between this Island character and abstract backgrounds, something KH2 did NOT pull off. I constantly felt an unwelcome contrast in every world.
Then, we come to its ending ... The typical, happy-go-lucky ending one would have expected from Disney. NOT the Riku sequence, which i did like a lot (i thought it was refreshing that the two expanded their relationship and that the game ended, cinematically, on a note between them), but, rather, the sequence between the three after that that spelled out a new adventure dawning. While a part of me felt glad the series would have a chance at redemption, another part was sorrowed by a second chance at failure, at further dimishing its esteemed origins, the True Kingdom Hearts.
All in all, Kingdom Hearts One in its less grand moments was still altogether more piveting to me than its sequel at its finest.
What do you think, and why?
I'll be honest, NOTHING beats the original for me. I love the sequel as an independent game, but, by comparison, i feel kind of like it just doesn't do what it should with the original as the pre-set standard. Why? Well, first off, in the original, remember that innocence to the characters? That naiveness of Sora? Remember the Darkside fight at the beginning and that strange sensation you got fighting it, not knowing where this oddness was leading? And that hint of mystery in each world, that essence of surprise that laced every corner?
Maybe it's just me, but there was an aura around the original not there in the sequel--something good.
In every Disney world, the stories varied from the classic tellings of them slightly, but blended so easily together with Sora and his companions' journey that you felt both in and out of place at the same time. There was this overwhelming sense of a bigger picture looming around the corner, something dark and fantastic. But you couldn't really reach it completely, no matter how hard you tried. There was rivalry, that jealousy we all know can be in a friendship, no matter how strong, and then, hate--hate that can destroy something as pure as the best of relationships. There were genuine emotions that jerked at me throughout the game. Really, it was the story and presentation that got me SO in love with this flawless masterwork. And ... let's not forget, the Opening, that tremendous foreshadowing that was beautifully done. And the Ending! So sad and powerful, tear-jerking, breath-taking even! I'm VERY sorry to say i cannot say the same of its sequel.
Granted, the battle system was improved in Kingdom Hearts Two, but i was so crushed by the poor presentation and lack of emotions past Twilight Town that i began to forget. The graphics were up-dated too, so i was told, and yet, there was not that perfect harmony in each world that i saw in One. In the worlds like Deep Jungle and Traverse Town (a place i very much missed, only to have it replaced by a horrid new Hollow Bastion) there was this strange matching between this Island character and abstract backgrounds, something KH2 did NOT pull off. I constantly felt an unwelcome contrast in every world.
Then, we come to its ending ... The typical, happy-go-lucky ending one would have expected from Disney. NOT the Riku sequence, which i did like a lot (i thought it was refreshing that the two expanded their relationship and that the game ended, cinematically, on a note between them), but, rather, the sequence between the three after that that spelled out a new adventure dawning. While a part of me felt glad the series would have a chance at redemption, another part was sorrowed by a second chance at failure, at further dimishing its esteemed origins, the True Kingdom Hearts.
All in all, Kingdom Hearts One in its less grand moments was still altogether more piveting to me than its sequel at its finest.
What do you think, and why?
