Kingdom hearts isn't for everyone?

[linker357]

I got a 3DS XL on January this year and decided to buy Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance just to see what it was all about as the people seem to really love the series, I started playing and enjoyed a level or two until it started getting repetitive (you have to complete each map twice once as Sora and once as Riku) and overall not very entertaining. This is my first Kingdom Hearts title and maybe I should start with the first Kingdom Hearts, I WANT to like it but just can't seem to get around to liking it. Any opinions on this game and/or the series as a whole?

[Shonumi]

linker357 Wrote:This is my first Kingdom Hearts title

No...

linker357 Wrote:maybe I should start with the first Kingdom Hearts

Yes!

Seriously though, the KH games are hardly stand-alone story-wise (except maybe Re:Coded, which mostly rehashes the first game while adding some further clues about what will happen after KH2 and possibly in KH3). Enjoying the story in KH:3D very much depends on having understood at least a little about the events of Birth By Sleep, bits from KH1, and all of the events from Chain of Memories + KH2. Even then, the story is quite convoluted (bolded for understatement, not emphasis), even to people intimate with the KH canon. I had to read the wiki multiple times to understand and digest most of it when I finished playing.

I started playing with KH2 (KH1 isn't all that important story-wise if you can get the gist of what happened), then played the quasi-prequel Chain of Memories, and that helped explain a lot about KH2. After that, I played 358/2 Days (dumbest title ever ) and KH:3D. I've yet to play Birth By Sleep or ReCoded, even though I have them, but BBS explains a lot about why KH3 is happening, and KH:3D explains a bit about what will happen in KH3. I would suggest you get Kingdom Hearts 1.5 when it comes out. It contains a remastered KH1 as well as Re:Chain of Memories (the 3D PS2 version of the GBA game). You'll get the whole story of 358/2 Days as a ~3 hour long movie (the game wasn't exactly well received, and it doesn't add a great deal to the series' canon). After that, you should play KH2 and then try your hand KH:3D. The game can be fun on its own, but if you're confused half the time, that's not exactly encouraging.

As for it being a fun game, I actually enjoyed it a lot, simply because the combat was pretty polished. The frame rate drops in places, but it's not terribly heavy. Not to mention, this game looks very nice. It really shows off what the 3DS can pull, at least for somewhat cartoonish games that don't rely on especially realistic Crysis-level graphics. I spent over 50+ hours on it, mostly leveling up (I always play on the hardest difficulty). The flow-motion combat system works pretty well, in my opinion.

And because of this, you've made me want to re-play KH2. You know, I've only played it from start to finish once, even though it was one of my favorite PS2 games? Heh, I even still have the receipt in the case, so I know exactly what day and time I bought it This is like, the one game PCSX2 on Linux runs perfectly btw.

[linker357]

Hahaha well I'm glad I could make you want to relive one of your favorite titles , it seems I got a lot of work ahead of me before I play KH:3D

[Shonumi]

(08-03-2013, 11:19 PM)linker357 Wrote: it seems I got a lot of work ahead of me before I play KH:3D

Fwiw, you could get away with reading the wiki entries and mangas and watching any cutscene you want on YouTube. That is, if you want to care about the story. This late in the series though, you're pretty much not going to understand anything just jumping in, so I'd advise doing something to learn about the plot, unless you like playing games where people do and say random things for no reason :p

Though getting the story second-hand (with the methods described above) might spoil the games for you if you decide to play them. Personally, I didn't find this true for me (I've yet to play KH1 btw), since I feel there are always more minute details about the story that aren't necessarily captured by wiki articles or the mangas (videos on the oth, are a bit different, especially "Let's Play" ones).

You could play KH:3D now and play the other games. Then you'll have moments like "So that's where that guy is from!" or "Oh, so that's what really happened!" and the story will gradually come to you (or not, the plot has been confusing since Chain of Memories imo).

[linker357]

What troubles me is that the bosses themselves aren't that hard, they just have a stupidly massive amount of HP >.<, does this apply for the other games as well?

[Shonumi]

(08-04-2013, 12:10 PM)linker357 Wrote: What troubles me is that the bosses themselves aren't that hard, they just have a stupidly massive amount of HP >.<, does this apply for the other games as well?

Are you playing Proud Mode? The bosses do have more HP compared to some of the other KH games (except Sephiroth in KH2 or Dustflier in 358/2 Days), but you can usually wipe a lot of HP out if you have the right attacks. Quick Blitz is a must; it reloads quickly (10 seconds) does decent damage (especially when used at the end of a normal attack combo) and you can quickly leap towards the enemy on the ground and in the air. It's crazy good, even though it's like one of the most basic attacks. If you need to waste an opponents HP, use all of your slots for Quick Blitz. Other than that, use the drill and ground-pound flowmotion attacks, and magic if you need to. Other good attacks later on would be Strike Raid and Spark Drive. They take longer to recharge, but they're still good damage-wise.