Yes, we have come here. This game may be more than 15 years old now, but it still holds a dear place in my heart. Plus with the re-re-release of Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5 it actually has some worth for a review right now. This game is just too amazing to not spread the word around. I will be going into depth about the gameplay, music, and story of the first game in the series. With due time I hope to get into the rest of them as well. Now that all of that said, please enjoy. (This should go without saying but, Viewer beware! This is spoiler territory!)
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The Gameplay
(This will be based off of the new updated version found in Kingdom Hearts 1.5)
Possibly one of the most important factors of a game is how well it plays. Kingdom Hearts 1.5 has made significant upgrades to the controls and camera. In the original you controlled the camera with the shoulder buttons and scrolled the command menu with the right stick. Now it is revamped so that the camera is controlled with the right stick (Thank god they did this). With all this said the game does run considerably smoother, however there are still a few issues. Mainly they come from the small platforming sections they decided to add into the game. They are hard to jump onto and can be very annoying to maneuver around. They later dropped this part of the game never to be seen in the series again. They also had the Gummi ship section in the first game that didn't allow you to warp for half the game. This made for an extremely boring travel between worlds.
As for combat in general, the gameplay is fairly smooth. The attack button is always X, and it's easy and very satisfying to land combos. They made it feel as if your hits carry weight behind them. The command menu is also very easy to use. You have the options of Attack, Magic, Items, and Summons. You can easily switch between commands using the D-pad. Items are fairly well balanced and easy to obtain. The only thing I would really complain about in this section is that later on in the game magic becomes very easy to abuse. Particularly the problem lies in the Curaga spell. Using this in addition to Leaf bracer ability allows you to abuse invincibility frames. Speaking of abilities, you are given a fair amount of them with a limited amount of points to use. The points are a way to stop you from abusing every ability and gives you a fun way to mix up your playing style. More often than not you will find yourself trading abilities to better suit a boss.
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Music
This game series in particular has some of the most memorable and lovable music you'll ever hear in games. Directed by the talented Yoko Shimomura, every song in this game feels well timed and amazing to listen to. Whether you are in combat or just travelling the worlds, the music is always something that feels like time went into creating. This is extremely evident by just the title screen itself. Most people will tell you about how when they first turned on the game and heard Dearly Beloved playing, they sat there memorized by the pretty and soothing piece. Kingdom hearts is a series that demands your attention to scenes by using powerful and moving songs, and they succeed on almost every account. You'd have trouble finding a single bad song in the franchise.
As for game sounds, some of them are obviously repeated (Most notably Sora's attack sounds) and can quickly become background noise. Although for a game 15 years old, they still do a good enough job to get by. As long as you don't dive in expecting excellent sound and background noises, you wont really be bothered by the lack of them. Just be prepared to listen to plenty of "Hah!", "Hoh!", and "This is it!" as Sora seems keen on talking in fights. The voice acting quality can at times be stellar, but at the same times be sub par in other areas. Nothing game breaking, just a noticeable lack in quality.
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The Story
The story follows Sora, a young island boy who is looking for his missing friends Riku and Kairi. He was chosen by a magical weapon called the Keyblade. Using this he was able to destroy beings born from the darkness in people's hearts. They were named the Heartless. During his quest to find his friends, Sora consequently found Donald and Goofy. They were there to help find a way to stop the darkness from threatening other worlds. The Keyblade has the ability to seal a worlds "Heart". This in turn would make it impervious to attack for the foreseeable future. So Sora and co. traveled through some of your favorite Disney worlds with a slightly altered story including, Hercules, Tarzan, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and many more. This allowed him to use Disney heroes as friends and allies against the darkness. All the while he traveled bravely looking for his friends and never losing hope.
This is perhaps what made Kingdom Hearts so controversial when it was announced. It was sold as a game that mixed the worlds of Disney and Final Fantasy. As you can imagine for yourself this seems like an odd mix. This resulted in tons of people dragging on the game before it was even released. However, people were soon surprised and found a game that is loved by most of the gaming community. Kingdom Hearts is touching in the way that it's so innocent. It's a story about light and darkness that never gets old. All the while they teach important life lessons on things like forgiveness, and friendship. Sure it may turn cheesy at times, but that's where a lot of it's charm comes from. The innocence and pure will to see good before evil makes it a game impossible not to love.
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Conclusion
Kingdom Hearts is a prime example of games that age better with time. While the sound quality and voice acting may not be up to par sometimes, and the gameplay can be a bit clunky; it's a game that sticks with you. It has one of those stories that you never forget and makes you long for your childhood again. The game teaches such pure and honest lessons, and makes you want to improve yourself. This is one you will not regret picking up and playing, no matter how old it may be. All in all I give it a 9.5/10.
With the third game releasing soon, its a great time to dive into the series and I wholeheartedly encourage you to. Especially with it now coming out on the PS4 with all other games in the series included for $50 except two. It really is a steal off a deal. I hope you enjoyed my review today, and consider picking it up.
Thanks to the wonderful companies and workers who put countless hours into these games! The effort you put into them to entertain us is astounding and really touching. Thank you for reading this post of mine! If you liked my post please up-vote, resteem, and follow me for future content! I really appreciate the support.
