L-o-n-g post
Kingdom Hearts!!!!!!!!!!!!
I used to be obsessed with KH1 when I was younger haha. It was like... the peak of PS2 gaming for me during my childhood; It had an interesting story, decent characters, some FF characters ranging from good to meh, and a godlike battle system. Seriously the KH battle system is one of my all time favorite RPG battle systems, ever! I remember being dedicated to 100% the game when my friend bragged about unlocking it on his own ( still call bullshit to this day). I'll never forget that summer where I finally achieved my goal... good times.
You know, at the time I actually really ended up enjoying KH2. I was one of the many KH players who didn't play chain of memories before playing KH2 so I understood jack SHIT, but it was still a fun experience. Looking back on it, I agree with the posters in this thread who were disappointed in KH2. It was a overall step down from KH2; the gimped worlds (they're ridiculously small in kh2 -.-) lame partner system, stupidly OP limits, subpar sidequests. But KH2 had Drives, a cool set of villains and a more interesting story so it gets a pass. FYI: KH2: Final Mix+, the japan only enhanced remake of KH2 is the best KH in the series. No question. It fixes nearly every single one of KH2s flaws. After KH2, my KH fanaticism started dying down a bit...
I got around to playing chain of memories, Re: Chain of memories, Days, Birth by sleep and Re:coded. Both of the chain of memories games were solid games in their own right and had arguably the best writing in the series, but I played them past their prime (like late 2008 lol and after KH2...) so it kind of weakened the experience for me. Days was really disappointing. What I wanted was a clear look at Roxas' time in the organization and his interactions with each of the memories, specifically xemnas. (Oh and some Samurai Nobodies as partners :p). What Instead got was a sappy soap opera between Roxas / Axel / Xion and a decent~mediocre gameplay experience. Fun fact, I ended up playing through that game 3 times (once in japanese, twice in english)
Birth By Sleep, is one of the best KHs in the series (my second favorite after KH1!). It basically sets the stage for all future KH plots, introduces a TON of characters, and is a helluva fun. The 3 leading characters were likeable; Terra the gullible idiot who gets played like a violin. Ven, who gets forced into the worst possible scenarios, and Aqua the person who fixes most of the messes caused by the above 2 characters and is a true keyblade master (try saying that sentence out loudlol!). Seriously BBS gets bonus for straight up introducing Aqua, one of the best KH characters period (2nd after Sora). Xehanort is fully established grand villain of the series, and jesus christ that guy is a magnificent bastard. The battle system is arguably the best in the series as well. The ability to customize is almost limitless, and the melding system was a great way to achieve skills at your own pace. Command styles were basically drives, but easier to use and more frequent too ^_^
So after BBS got released, my enthusiasm for KH kind of vanished. RELEASE KH3 NOW NOMURA, THIS IS THE RIGHT TIME! DO IT. We got KH: ReCoded.
It was bad.
So when DDD was announced, that was basically the last fucking straw. "Release KH3 now or... i'll stop buying shitty SE games! (we all know how that turned out :9). I wasn't impressed with the trailer, but I decided to give the actual game a chance and... DDD was actually good. It was really good. After I resigned myself to the fact that "we ain't getting KH3 for a long, long time" I found it a lot easier to appreciate this game.
DDD has arguably the best world's in the series. They're large, and fun to explore and abusing flow motion to get to places is obviously great. The world selection is small, but quality trumps quantity, and DDD has some of the best worlds in the series. Country of Musketeers, Symphony of Sorcery, The Grid and Pranksters paradise (Sora's side) are rank up there in my top favorite worlds of all time. Plot progression wise, DDD is unremarkable until near the very end where things start ramping up. The boss battles were great too.
Thoughts on time travel & the 13 Xehanorts? I love it, screw the haters. Nomura established some very strict rules for time travelling so he won't end up fucking himself over with plot inconsistencies. Time travel is fun when executed properly :D. I basically can't wait for KH3 now (DDD re-lit the KH spark) but knowing SE, we won't get it until 2015 at the earliest :/
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7 Lights are probably Sora / Riku / Mickey / Kairi* / Aqua* / Lea* / Ven*
(*obviously means that they're not guaranteed)
