It's been quite a while since I've visited these forums, let alone post; I think it's been nearly three years. It's nice to see some new faces on the boards, but even nicer to see some familiar names, some that I even remember from way back in 2006 when I first joined. It's nice to be back, even if it is only briefly. But enough about my nostalgic remembrance.
After replaying KH1 as a part of 1.5 Remix, I remembered what it was about the series that I loved as a kid. I was filled with, well, a sense of nostalgia, falling in love with the game all over again.
And then I found a way to play DDD, and all that nostalgia and love left me. Don't get me wrong, I liked the game. I even managed to get a faint grasp on the story after a while. But it's not the Kingdom Hearts that I fell in love with. It took the simplicity and quaintness of KH1 and blew it up into convolution and intricacies.
This got me thinking, how else has the series been changed, so to speak? Below are my list of the top five biggest "mistakes" in the series, or at least what I think took the beauty of the first game and drastically changed it. In no particular order, they are as follows:
_____
Keyblades. We were first introduced to these in KH1, where only Sora, Mickey, and Riku (briefly) had the capabilities to wield the blade. The keyblades were sacred, rare, and mysterious. In KH2 we were introduced to Roxas, and Kairi was shown to be able to wield a key blade as well; Yen Sid was even a master in his hay day. Suddenly we grew from 3 to 6. Days introduced us to Xion, and BBS to six more wielders. Then DDD decided to give Lea a keyblade because, hey why not. The rarity and sacredness of the Keyblade diminished, when its wielders grew to 14. Suddenly everyone can wield a keyblade. Suddenly keyblades aren't so special. They're not even real, if you want to get technical. only the x-Blade is the true keyblade. Keyblades have become imitation weapons that truly anyone can learn to wield.
Nobodies. Nobodies in themselves are not the issue, but they began a web of convolution in the series. Why couldn't Ansem be a benevolent leader gone rogue? Instead we introduce Xehanort who was split up into both a Heartless and a Nobody and his existence extends to nine games instead of just one. Additionally, after Nobodies came Unversed, and after them came the Dream Eaters. Every game has introduced a new enemy with a new backstory. I think it's about time we stopped introducing new enemies. But maybe that's just me.
I do understand that the Nobodies, in the end, played an essential role for the transition from KH1 to KH2. After all, after the defeat of Ansem it only made sense to introduce a new threat, and it made sense to connect him to the original threat. I'm not denying that, I just think it opened the door to more convolutions.
Xion. I'll keep this brief because I know half of you will hate me for this and the other half will hate Xion more: if you make a game in which all the events of that game are forgotten by the end, the game never happened, and should never have happened. Why introduce a character that a) isn't even real, b) is completely forgotten, and c) was never likable from the start to feel empathy for at the end. This wasn't really anything that affected Kingdom Hearts on the whole. I just really don't like Xion.
Time Travel. Because duh. I have nothing more to add to this that hasn't already been said.
Disney. Now again, allow me to explain. I do not think Disney is the problem with Kingdom Hearts at all. Disney is the reason I picked the game up in the first place and continue to play it to this day. What I mean to say is the use of Disney. KH1 integrated Sora, Donald, and Goofy seamlessly into Disney worlds and stories and there was a point to the worlds' existence. In KH2, it felt as though I had to trudge through the pointlessness of the Disney worlds to continue the story. BBS did a good job of remedying this, and even DDD did an ok job of making me feel like there was a point to the worlds.
Until Maleficent showed up. Remember the villains council back in KH1? They were a force to be reckoned with. They worked together, and they worked well together. Now Maleficent is, at best, comedic relief. She possesses no real threat anymore. It seems as though the Disney aspects of the game (along with the Final Fantasy aspects) are getting sidelined for the original characters and aspects, and then thrown in at completely random and inopportune times for garbage minutes.
_____
Feel free to agree/disagree with anything I've mentioned above. Don't misunderstand me though, I still love everything about this game. I just think they could have gone another direction with it.
Also, tell me what I should have added to the list above!
After replaying KH1 as a part of 1.5 Remix, I remembered what it was about the series that I loved as a kid. I was filled with, well, a sense of nostalgia, falling in love with the game all over again.
And then I found a way to play DDD, and all that nostalgia and love left me. Don't get me wrong, I liked the game. I even managed to get a faint grasp on the story after a while. But it's not the Kingdom Hearts that I fell in love with. It took the simplicity and quaintness of KH1 and blew it up into convolution and intricacies.
This got me thinking, how else has the series been changed, so to speak? Below are my list of the top five biggest "mistakes" in the series, or at least what I think took the beauty of the first game and drastically changed it. In no particular order, they are as follows:
_____
Keyblades. We were first introduced to these in KH1, where only Sora, Mickey, and Riku (briefly) had the capabilities to wield the blade. The keyblades were sacred, rare, and mysterious. In KH2 we were introduced to Roxas, and Kairi was shown to be able to wield a key blade as well; Yen Sid was even a master in his hay day. Suddenly we grew from 3 to 6. Days introduced us to Xion, and BBS to six more wielders. Then DDD decided to give Lea a keyblade because, hey why not. The rarity and sacredness of the Keyblade diminished, when its wielders grew to 14. Suddenly everyone can wield a keyblade. Suddenly keyblades aren't so special. They're not even real, if you want to get technical. only the x-Blade is the true keyblade. Keyblades have become imitation weapons that truly anyone can learn to wield.
Nobodies. Nobodies in themselves are not the issue, but they began a web of convolution in the series. Why couldn't Ansem be a benevolent leader gone rogue? Instead we introduce Xehanort who was split up into both a Heartless and a Nobody and his existence extends to nine games instead of just one. Additionally, after Nobodies came Unversed, and after them came the Dream Eaters. Every game has introduced a new enemy with a new backstory. I think it's about time we stopped introducing new enemies. But maybe that's just me.
I do understand that the Nobodies, in the end, played an essential role for the transition from KH1 to KH2. After all, after the defeat of Ansem it only made sense to introduce a new threat, and it made sense to connect him to the original threat. I'm not denying that, I just think it opened the door to more convolutions.
Xion. I'll keep this brief because I know half of you will hate me for this and the other half will hate Xion more: if you make a game in which all the events of that game are forgotten by the end, the game never happened, and should never have happened. Why introduce a character that a) isn't even real, b) is completely forgotten, and c) was never likable from the start to feel empathy for at the end. This wasn't really anything that affected Kingdom Hearts on the whole. I just really don't like Xion.
Time Travel. Because duh. I have nothing more to add to this that hasn't already been said.
Disney. Now again, allow me to explain. I do not think Disney is the problem with Kingdom Hearts at all. Disney is the reason I picked the game up in the first place and continue to play it to this day. What I mean to say is the use of Disney. KH1 integrated Sora, Donald, and Goofy seamlessly into Disney worlds and stories and there was a point to the worlds' existence. In KH2, it felt as though I had to trudge through the pointlessness of the Disney worlds to continue the story. BBS did a good job of remedying this, and even DDD did an ok job of making me feel like there was a point to the worlds.
Until Maleficent showed up. Remember the villains council back in KH1? They were a force to be reckoned with. They worked together, and they worked well together. Now Maleficent is, at best, comedic relief. She possesses no real threat anymore. It seems as though the Disney aspects of the game (along with the Final Fantasy aspects) are getting sidelined for the original characters and aspects, and then thrown in at completely random and inopportune times for garbage minutes.
_____
Feel free to agree/disagree with anything I've mentioned above. Don't misunderstand me though, I still love everything about this game. I just think they could have gone another direction with it.
Also, tell me what I should have added to the list above!