[Hello all! This is probably like the only legitimate, actual rant that I've posted in this world so far. Don't worry, it's not really an angry rant; more so bemused I guess. If you don't want to hear me ramble on about Kingdom Hearts, please turn back now. :D Also, be warned that there are SPOILERS for all the KH games released thus far, so please be aware of that. :)]
So, it's 1 o'clock in the morning and let's just say that I'm not pleased with Square Enix.
So the big teaser site they had set up that everyone was speculating was a sequel or some such? Yeah, it's not. It's an iOS port of the game. If you heard about the site through me and got your hopes up, I apologize.
I could write a whole post about how this is a poor business move, particularly considering how fans have been screaming for a sequel for this game for a long time (what did you think they were going to think Square Enix?), and really only serves to tick-off a fanbase that (in my opinion) is already pretty close to the end of it's rope. However that's not what I'm here to talk about today.
Today I want to talk about the Kingdom Hearts franchise.
Now let me precursor this whole discussion by saying that I do legitimately love the Kingdom Hearts series; heck, it's the only series that I actually have and maintain fan-characters for! Trust me, that's a big deal for me, so believe me when I say I'm a fan of the series.
However, is it just me or do these games keep getting more and more ridiculous? And I'm not just saying plot-wise, but also game mechanic wise.
Let's start with the plot because it's easier for me to talk about.
The whole series feels like for every new game, they're just re-writing the rules as they go along. I mean, just look at the idea of "Kingdom Hearts". In the first game, you find it, and it's a literal door. Come the second game and suddenly Kingdom Hearts is a moon made from the hearts released by Heartless. Come Kingdom Hearts: 3D and NEITHER of these are the true Kingdom Hearts. There's a scene where Yen Sid is discussing how Kingdom Hearts has never been found and if you're like me, your first thought was , "But we found it...2 times." Well, the game explains in it's in-game encyclopedia that both of the "Kingdom Hearts" you found before were fake.
Retroactive engineering at its best my friends.
Also, this plays on a pet-peeve of mine. The point of having a plot is you explain what's going on to me; I shouldn't have to read supplementary material to understand what's going on. Using supplementary material to gain further insight, fine, but when it's something like informing you that the two Kingdom Hearts you found before were fake and that's why we're still looking for this thing, I think it's kind of important to know that.
Also, honest question: why exactly are we still looking for Kingdom Hearts?
At this point, it feel like "well, that's what we did for the other games so we've got to do it for this one too!".
And what happened to the Princess of Heart plot point? Originally they opened the keyhole to Kingdom Hearts, right? Well we've changed that now! Now they have the X-blade (Which is such a stupid name by the way, but it amuses me. "Not the Keyblade! The X-BLADE!". Good thing they could see your subtitles Xehanort or else those two would have sounded exactly the same) broken up inside them.
Another point. Do you remember when it was actually a HUGE DEAL that Riku could use the Keyblade rather than Sora? Sora went through a whole heroic breakdown due to it. Nowadays it seems like everyone and their dog is running around with a Keyblade. Also, I'm pretty sure that at some point in the original game they said that there was only one Keyblade master...soooo, that's gone out the window.
Maybe this is all just whiny nitpicking, but I just can't seem to follow these plots anymore. We've got Nobodies, Somebodies, Dream Eaters, Heartless, and Unversed all to keep track of and Nobodies can turn into Somebodies and vice-versa. It's just...gotten to the point where it's not only difficult to follow the plot, it's also annoying because there are so many contradictions and moments of retroactive engineering where what was true in the first game isn't necessarily true in the second. The plots have gotten too complicated.
As for gameplay, I feel like it's just gotten mashier and mashier. While it was true that the first game had quite a bit of mashing, it's nothing compared to 2 or 3D. A lot of the times you can survive pretty effectively just by mashing one button over and over again. I can't say I don't have fun with the battle system (truly at this point it's what keeps me coming back) but I hope that it doesn't get any mashier than it is now or else I don't think I'll be able to enjoy it.
I have a lot more I could say, but I'm getting sleepy... =_=zz
I may add more to this at a later date though.
So there you have it. While I love the Kingdom Hearts franchise, it just...frustrates me at times. If you guys have an opinion on the matter or anything to add, feel free to. :D
Random end-note: how many different "Sora's", "Riku's", and "Kairi's" have we seen up to this point?
