I prefer to keep either the shield or the staff and discard the sword. 

I always take sword and discard the staff. Like...from guides, I can just equip rings to make my magic stronger and make Thundaga viable for when exp grinding.

I'm weird, I would always discard the shield and go with the sword and staff....and I wonder why I died so much.  

I used to always pick the sword, but on my more recent playthroughs I'm trying to maximize stats, and you get more MP by picking the staff. Now it's usually +Staff and -Sword. But my heart will always belong to +Sword, -Shield because THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD OFFENSE.

Staff and give up shield, cause it's the best option for KH Level 1. Every other choice just isnt good for Level 1

I used to discard the staff for the sword, but recently I started to choose the shield and discard the staff just to change it up

I've always chosen the sword and discarded the staff, and I've done this all the times I've played through Kingdom Hearts I, though there is that one time I chose the shield, but other than that, my choice is always the sword and I discard the staff.

Edited August 17, 20178 yr by The Transcendent Key

I always took the shield and gave up the staff. Even in KH2 I always take the shield. For Once More to come early.

Usually take sword and give away staff, but when I'm playing on critcal I kinda prefer taking the Shield and giving away the staff^^

I'm the kind of guy who prefers more defense than offense, but not so little offensive punch that I do peanuts to enemies.  Magic is useful, yes, but you will garner enough magic to defeat any foe over the course of the game.  Now, talking about starting abilities: as I said before, I'm a defense before offense guy, so acquiring Guard and Leaf Bracer fairly early on is great.   

Standard: Sword/Shield
Proud: Staff/Shield

I always take the Staff, then give up the Sword 10 years ago. And i am still doing it to this day.