Ranking the KH games

[Scsigs 119]

So, I feel the need to do this kind of list type of thing. Others have most likely done the same, so I feel the need to do it too. I'll be basing this on the games I've actually played & seen reviews of for the ones that have only gotten their cutscenes redone for the HD compilations, so sorry, no Union X here. Also, no 0.2, since that's just a chunk of KHIII they sliced off & finished to completely justify 2.8. If I add III to this in the future, I'll include 0.2 to it or Birth By Sleep, since it's a middle ground between the 2 of those.

 

From least good to great/best:

 

7. Kingdom Hearts re:Coded.

I know people don't consider this the worst KH game, but I do. Gameplay that, from what I've seen, isn't nearly as good as the console games, or even Birth By Sleep or Dream Drop Distance & a story that's essentially filler & worthless, though I'd expect nothing less than something that came from the mind of a drunk Nomura. Literally this game is unforgivable FILLER in the KH series, with only the last 30 minutes or so of the plot being of any worth from the cinematic movie in 2.5, though you can also easily skip it because all it does is set up Birth By Sleep & Mickey's quest to rescue Aqua in later games, which later games establish anyways, so this game is unintentionally rendered utterly useless & pointless by this stuff. The fact that Team Four Star bypassed this game entirely for their KH marathon & were still fine just shows the effect this had.

 

6. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

Yeah, I know, "but it's got a good story." A good story doesn't preclude terrible gameplay & really bad mechanics that were either forgotten or refined in later games. Those being the slower & stiffer combat than even KHI & the terrible deck system where to even gain anything from levels, you have to attach blocks to Roxas to gain stat & other stuff. However, at the same time, the story IS the saving grace of this game, which is why I think it ranks higher than re:Coded. Though this is still hindered by the fact that most of the secondary characters are expanded upon & part of the story is told through text boxes with the other Organization XIII members in game & they didn't bother including those in brand new cutscenes in the 1.5 compilation, so even the cinematics are lacking a bit. It is still enjoyable in the storytelling, though, so there's that. Also, from what I can tell, the overabundance of missions makes this game last too long for no good reason from what I hear.

 

5. Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance.

It's the game that directly sets up III, but man is the storytelling & combat here significantly downgraded from KHII & Birth By Sleep. The story reaches all levels of convoluted thanks to the introduction of time travel into the series just to make this plot even remotely work, answering questions no one was asking in the process, & effectively jumping the shark. The storytelling is also bad with Sora. If you haven't noticed this before, this game really hammers in the fact that in the mobile games, Sora is reduced in his characterization to something of a halfway point between Goku from Dragon Ball Super & Luffy from One Piece. In other words, an idiot hero nice guy who isn't too bright, barely has a personality, & doesn't take anything seriously until he's effectively forced to. Also, he's lacking a bit in common sense. This characterization started in Chain of Memories (though at least there was some kind of reason for it, however forced it was), then was furthered in re:Coded with Data Sora, then reached its peak here to the point that I'm glad he's back, mostly, to how he was in KHII from the look of things in the trailers. Why is this? I'm assuming it was because none of the writers from KHII were brought back in to write for these games, so Sora was flanderized because of that, which is especially odd since Nomura himself cowrote this game's story, as well as Coded's, so that's probably why. Given that this game's story was more one for Riku, I'm surprised that they didn't just make a spin-off for him by himself. He's actually in-character in this game & serves as the main protagonist, since Sora's essentially just along for the ride.

Then there's the combat. Flowmotion can be fun & I'm glad they're mixing it into Sora's move set from II in III, but geez did the game devs have to make this game revolve completely around it & completely break what worked from past KH games? In past KH games, while main bosses, like the Organization members, had their own was of defeating them, you were still free in your choices to figure out what worked best for all of them. KHII was absolutely excellent with this, giving you so many options with the physical attacks, magic, drive forms, & whatever else to defeat enemies. You were a one-man army with Sora in II. Here, you HAVE to rely on the magic abilities, which I wouldn't mind if the boss AI wasn't completely screwed to Hell & back. This was also a problem with Birth By Sleep, where the boss AI was completely randomized rather than having certain patterns that you could key in on, as well as stunlock & other things, which is also a thing that bogs down battle with the dream eaters, since they don't take stunlock at all unless you use certain magic abilities or flowmotion. This is an utterly broken system & feels completely unfair because it encourages cheesing the game with the most powerful abilities like the Balloon attacks, which you don't receive until a bit of the way into the main story, & makes everything from the previous games a complete chore to do. When you don't have a certain amount of freedom & the game stacks everything against you, that's a failure of game design.

Not helping this at all is the removal of the ability synthesis from Birth By Sleep. That system was fun to use, since you can completely break the game by mixing abilities together to make better ones. Keeping that system in this game would've helped. Also, 3 words. New. Game. Plus. The New Game Plus system in this game sucks! tot he Underworld & back. When it comes to NG+, I expect to keep all of my previous perishable items & attacks, with some other stuff. Other games had this before DDD, so there's absolutely NO excuse why I can't keep all of those things when going through NG+, especially on the highest difficulty, where you NEED those things to start out with because you're both hindered even more & the fact that you need to play through one of the other modes to even unlock that difficulty, so keeping those from my past save would've been nice, but no. Just Dreameaters & whatever else. This is something I hope they get right with III & retroactively add to 1.5+2.5 & 2.8, but better. Even copying Final Fantasy XV's homework would be a godsend for it.

So, yeah, not a big fan of this game too much.

 

4. Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories.

This game was created while KHII was in development & served to be KHI on the GBA...except it's also an midquel between I & II, which it serves better as. This game is just a waste of time. It sets up the Organization & Namine...sort of, & explains what happened to Sora & co, as well as Riku & Mickey before KHII, but did this game need to turn out this badly? I don't think so.

First of all the story. The heroes get trapped in Castle Oblivion & have their memories screwed with by the several Organization members that are tasked to do so. In the game, they revisit every location from the first game, except Tarzan's world because Disney lost the copyright on that property after KHI was made, & go through bare bones versions of the bare bones versions of those retold plots from the first game. However, these are, ultimately, worthless because they don't really connect to the main plot much & feel even more disconnected than in the first game.

Then there's the storytelling. This is the first episode to alter Sora's personality to fit more into the idiot hero persona which he wasn't in the first game mind you. However, due to his memories being tampered with, though also just being dumb & not actually stopping to think about what's happening around him, leaving him to treat Donald & Goofy like shit for not good reason, as well as abandon them for a bit. I don't like this because it's not consistent with the rest of his portrayals, for the most part. Then there's Riku's story, which is mercifully short ('which I thank the devs for because Sora's goes on WAY too long) at about 5 hours as opposed to the 25-30 of the main story. Riku's story only serves to show that he knows about Sora's plight to restore his memories & that he's gonna try to control the darkness in his heart. That's fine. However, it's tacked on to the main story of the game afterwards rather than woven into the main game's story. If there's anything to this game, it's its focus on Riku, whom I think should've probably been the main focus of the game rather than an after thought.

Now there's the combat. This game tries to take the formula from the first game, but mixes it with card games. This isn't really that good because, once you get a certain ways into the game, you can cheese the game & you win. The fact that the cards you get are determined by bad RNG & the fact that the bosses use strategies the game didn't teach you to defend against, thus MAKING you cheese the game. That's just bad combat design. Also, this game is easy to break with this system & becomes boring just a few hours in.

I'm sure that the novelty of having mobile KH was great back in 2004, but now that the novelty's well worn off, & the 3D remake is the more prominent version out there, I think people can see my meaning here. Just watch KingK's retrospective on YouTube to get what I mean if you don't understand fully.

 

3. Kingdom Hearts I (Final Mix)

Coming in at #3 is the very first game in the franchise, & specifically the Final Mix version, which added in things like new cutscenes & some new extra bosses. This game is, mostly, good, but a few things hold it back from being the best in my eyes. Naturally, though, since this is the first game in what was an untested formula of mixing Disney with Square's JRPGs & throwing in Final Fantasy elements, but that doesn't really matter if you start with this game, which you should because of that reason alone, since you have nowhere to go but up afterwards. Most of this game works, since it's a more basic tale about a boy getting betrayed by his best friend, losing their female friend, making new companions to find both of them, & defeating all of the enemies along the way. It's also the least stuffed of all of the KH games, so it's easy to understand & has no baggage behind or in front of it, so there's that.

However, there ARE some bad parts. Tarzan's world is one I'm not sad that Disney lost the license to use in their media, though I think that they COULD do so if the works have since entered the public domain, or when they do. However, in this game, it's just bad. First is that it requires a lot of backtracking & second the traversal is just bad. The controls being stiff, & archaically so, are naturally to blame for the backtracking being awful. The game isn’t built around Sora’s abilities & Sora’s abilities aren’t enough for the worlds, at least before you unlock them & upgrade him with them. Even then, his movement & combos aren’t as fluid or fast as I’d like.

I also think some parts of this game are a bit TOO dank & depressing. Like Hollow Bastion. It’s a bit too gothic for my taste. Definitely reminds me of late-90s/early-2000s. I also don’t care much for the music. The tracks are serviceable, but it all sounds like generic/stock video game music, except for Halloween Town, which just uses ‘This is Halloween’ from the film it’s based on. This is one place the later games definitely improved on, which I kind of feel disappointed to say, since Yoko Shimomura has quickly become one of my favorite video game composers.

But, yeah, decent story, but everything else needed improvements.

Also, the road to getting everything from the Moogle shops to synthesize took over 30 MORE HOURS than I was expecting. Bullshit RNG, too many synthesis items to grind to get the Ultima Weapon, & repetitive sequences. It’s everything I hate about RPGs.

 

2. Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (Final Mix)

I originally had this one & 3 switched around. In fact, if you prefer KHI over BBS, I don’t blame you.

Anyways, this one’s a prequel to everything that came before it in the preceding games. It has 3 protagonists & takes a page out of Sonic Adventure’s playbook by having the 3 stories of them take place at the same time, with more of their plots revealed as you go through their stories. This is the only game where I feel the experimentation was done right both in the story delivery & gameplay. Now, it’s a bit more stiff than KHII, but nowhere near as much as KHI. The music is also so much better than KHI’s soundtrack. You’ll notice that this is the only game to get a Final Mix version other than the 2 PS2 games. That’s because, unlike 358/2, which explored more of Roxas’ past, & Re:Coded, which is just a bad game because it’s basically discount Chain of Memories, only with 0 things you absolutely need to know about rather than a few, this game actually adds mythos & important information to the KH series, so it was necessary to have this version. I don’t get why they didn’t add back in the capes to the characters when they have their armor at the last world to keep continuity with he secret ending in KHII FM, since it was only a problem for the PSP, but whatever.

Now, the stories are all tragedies, but leave open the possibility for future solving, which will be explored in III, as you all have no doubt gleaned from the trailers. In spite of that, we’re given 3 decently compelling characters. The only weak point with them is that Jesse McCartney is the only experienced voice actor of them. Jason Dohring does an ok job, but not great, & willa Holland always manages to sound bored. Basically like Aerith in KHII. I blame this on their lack of experience & the voice direction, which has always plagued this series with the actors who are more screen & stage actors than voice actors. Even some of the regulars get spotty in places with their voice direction. Though Dohring HAS improved in this department for 0.2 & I’ll see if Holland has done the same in III, which she kind of sounds like she has...if she’s supposed to be going for could & off rather than bored, which will probably work in Aqua’s case. Picking up the slack, though, is Mark Hamill as Master Eraqus & Leonard Nimoy as Xehanort. Both are great in those roles. I find this story to be a bit better told than KHI’s story.

Now, the combat is experimental, but I like it. It makes the game easy to break, but in a fun way rather than a boring way, since it’s not tied to terrible RNG, or a card game system. Instead of an MP bar, you gain abilities & meld them together to get new ones. This is also how you get permanent add-ons to the characters outside of a capacity increase for the command deck & health increases. This system is the one thing I think this game has over KHI & II; making grinding FUN. The grinding in BBS never felt like a chore to me. Mostly because I was getting something out of it outside of levels & there was always some kind of reward for doing so. Grinding, even in KHII, felt like a chore. This is a faster system that doesn’t require 100% completion & is infinitely more rewarding.

The pace of the game is also quick. Each story will take around 10 hours to do, but you don’t do the same thing twice. Each world takes around a half hour to complete, which is great for the pace of any game. Combine that with the grinding being relatively fast too (it only takes a few hours or so to grind all of the required abilities you need if you know what ones you want per character) & you have a well-paced game.

 

1. Kingdom Hearts II (Final Mix)

This was probably obvious, but this game is great.

First is the story. It's more involved than the first game's plot, but the way it's paced & the way it's told are really great. This game has a more bright & cheerful tone than the first game or even Chain of Memories, then mixes it really well with the more serious nature of the plot. Y'know, like a Disney film. The story is unfolded pretty well throughout the game, though the overabundance of cutscenes, especially in Final Mix CAN get pretty grating if you're looking for a more fast-paced plot.

Then there's the combat. It is MASSIVELY improved from the first game & has aged like fine wine. There's a reason why the mobile games haven't simply ported it over or improved on it. One, the repetition of the same combat engine would maybe get boring eventually to some people & two, there's no way that they COULD improve it, since it's the best system in the series thus far, so the experimentation is there. The combat is sped up to a good degree from I & there's a good amount you can do with combos. Supporting it is a great magic system, which takes what worked for the hot bar in the first game & just uses it basically unchanged, which is fine with me. There ARE new magic abilities added to the game, which are extremely useful, at the expense of losing some others. Like, I wish Aero had stuck around, but I get why it was removed in favor of Reflect. I’m really looking forward to III, since its combat system is largely a port of II’s mixed with the flowmotion from DDD, but also has a floatiness to it unfortunately, but I’ll adapt to it.

The music is also majorly improved from KHI. Rather than half of the pieces sounding generic, all of the music is really well written & composed to go with the mood of the scenes. They really make everything feel lively & engaging.

Then the voice acting. This is something I have to compliment the actors for. The majority of them do a great job, though there’s the odd line every so often that sounds off in the direction from the actors who’re usually camera actors rather than voice actors, but it’s far from Birth By Sleep, where that was ⅔ of the main characters the majority of the time. The returning actors do well as always & the new ones fit the roles well. The only person who’s performance is iffy is James Arnold Taylor as Jack Sparrow. He nails the voice tone & accent Johnny Depp uses as Jack Sparrow, but he can’t stop sounding drunk when Jack isn’t supposed to be & he doesn’t deliver the lines as Depp would. Still, it’s far from the worst voice acting in the series. No, that would go to the actors for Will Turner & Elizabeth who don’t even remotely sound like the actors from the films, but also don’t fit in their own ways. Definitely the low point for KH voice acting.

Then there’s the bonus content post game, where you hunt down the Mushroom XIII, face Data versions of the Organization members, then fight the Lingering Will, which only exist in the Final Mix version of the game. It also added in the Limit Form for the Drive Forms, which thematically works, since it lets you access a refined version of his KHI combat style & clothes.

Next, the graphics. I haven’t mentioned this for the other games since they never stood out so much, but this is the game to get this level of polish in the graphics department. The HD collection brings this out by upscaling it to HD, putting it into widescreen, & upping the framerate to 60FPS. If they ever get Xbox One ports, the X upscaling it to 4K will be the best looking version of this game bar none short of a PC release. Seriously, the graphics are only beat out by III, since it uses Unreal Engine 4 & goes for a more realistic artstyle mixed with the anime aesthetic. The only place I’d say it falls short is the Pirates of the Caribbean world, which makes the more anime-esque visuals clash with the more realistic character designs & world design. KHIII is gonna make up for this as we’ve seen from the trailers, so I think it’s fine.

The only thing I think this game is missing is a good new Game+ mode, where you retain your levels, perishable items, collectables, & the Ultima Weapon. Seriously, it would be great if Square could patch in a good FFXV-type New Game+ mode into the 1.5+2.5 HD Remix collection for the games in it as a reward for playing the games. Also, if they could remake this & KHI in Unreal Engine 4 for an upcoming anniversary, I’d buy it 10 times over, since, while I do love the graphics, having all of the necessary games be graphically the same again would be great, though it WOULD cut the framerate on the unenhanced consoles, but I’d be fine with that.

 

All right. That’s my ranking of these games. I’ll probably do a reorganized list in February after I play KHIII, but we’ll see. Let me know if you guys agree. We’ll have a discussion.

Edited October 1, 2018 by Scsigs

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Impressive list, my man! Very in depth and detailed!  As for me, I love all the Kingdom Hearts games, but my absolute favorites have to be:

1. Birth By Sleep: I love how this game, as you said, added more to the mythos and expanded the universe of the series, and I just honestly loved that this game had a really dark ending, with all the main characters meeting cruel fates! That, and I liked the gameplay! Xehanort and Vanitas are among my favorite Kingdom Hearts villains, with Leonard Nimoy killing it as old man Nort, and Haley Joel Osment showing good vocal range by voicing the sinister Vanitas. And of course, Mark Hamill as Eraqus is amazing! But  yes, I love this game, and the Dearly Beloved rendition in this one is a particular favorite of mine! Also, Blank Points! Need I say more?
2. Kingdom Hearts II: Probably one of the best KH games out there because of the sheer scope, story, combat and quality. Definitely one of the best KH games in the series, though I truly believe that KHIII is going to surpass KHII by leaps and bounds! I love how Kingdom Hearts II expanded upon the first game and really doubled down on the epicness in storytelling, propelling the Kingdom Hearts series to anime level heights! And omg, Christopher Lee as Ansem The Wise and Paul St. Peter as Xemnas! X_X But yes, this game is one that I find immensely enjoyable, particularly the immensely robust Final Mix version!
3. Dream Drop Distance: I loved this game because of the set up to Kingdom Hearts III, and the way it set the final pieces into motion! The final scene, where Xehanort reveals his plans to Mickey and Riku, is probably one of my favorite ending scenes of the series, since it has so much foreshadowing and build-up! That, and I found the gameplay and Dream Eaters to be fun, and I loved Riku's arc coming full circle, with him coming to terms with his darkness and accepting himself!

But yes, those are my top three favorite games in the series!

Edited October 1, 2018 by The Transcendent Key

[ReverofE 698]

Almost Perfect Tier: Kingdom Hearts 1 (Final Mix)

 

Great Tier: (Re)CoM, Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix Only, Recoded

 

Flawed Tier: Birth By Sleep (Final Mix), 0.2, Dream Drop Distance

 

Absolute Trash: Union X/Unchained and 358/2 Days

 

The parenthesis means either the original or the remake/final mix.

 

This ranked based on combination of story and gameplay with Kingdom Hearts 1 being the best balanced of the both. With Days being the absolute worst in both categories in all. 

 

2. Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (Final Mix)

I originally had this one & 3 switched around. In fact, if you prefer KHI over BBS, I don’t blame you.

Anyways, this one’s a prequel to everything that came before it in the preceding games. It has 3 protagonists & takes a page out of Sonic Adventure’s playbook by having the 3 stories of them take place at the same time, with more of their plots revealed as you go through their stories. This is the only game where I feel the experimentation was done right both in the story delivery & gameplay. Now, it’s a bit more stiff than KHII, but nowhere near as much as KHI. The music is also so much better than KHI’s soundtrack. You’ll notice that this is the only game to get a Final Mix version other than the 2 PS2 games. That’s because, unlike 358/2, which explored more of Roxas’ past, & Re:Coded, which is just a bad game because it’s basically discount Chain of Memories, only with 0 things you absolutely need to know about rather than a few, this game actually adds mythos & important information to the KH series, so it was necessary to have this version. I don’t get why they didn’t add back in the capes to the characters when they have their armor at the last world to keep continuity with he secret ending in KHII FM, since it was only a problem for the PSP, but whatever.

Now, the stories are all tragedies, but leave open the possibility for future solving, which will be explored in III, as you all have no doubt gleaned from the trailers. In spite of that, we’re given 3 decently compelling characters. The only weak point with them is that Jesse McCartney is the only experienced voice actor of them. Jason Dohring does an ok job, but not great, & willa Holland always manages to sound bored. Basically like Aerith in KHII. I blame this on their lack of experience & the voice direction, which has always plagued this series with the actors who are more screen & stage actors than voice actors. Even some of the regulars get spotty in places with their voice direction. Though Dohring HAS improved in this department for 0.2 & I’ll see if Holland has done the same in III, which she kind of sounds like she has...if she’s supposed to be going for could & off rather than bored, which will probably work in Aqua’s case. Picking up the slack, though, is Mark Hamill as Master Eraqus & Leonard Nimoy as Xehanort. Both are great in those roles. I find this story to be a bit better told than KHI’s story.

Now, the combat is experimental, but I like it. It makes the game easy to break, but in a fun way rather than a boring way, since it’s not tied to terrible RNG, or a card game system. Instead of an MP bar, you gain abilities & meld them together to get new ones. This is also how you get permanent add-ons to the characters outside of a capacity increase for the command deck & health increases. This system is the one thing I think this game has over KHI & II; making grinding FUN. The grinding in BBS never felt like a chore to me. Mostly because I was getting something out of it outside of levels & there was always some kind of reward for doing so. Grinding, even in KHII, felt like a chore. This is a faster system that doesn’t require 100% completion & is infinitely more rewarding.

The pace of the game is also quick. Each story will take around 10 hours to do, but you don’t do the same thing twice. Each world takes around a half hour to complete, which is great for the pace of any game. Combine that with the grinding being relatively fast too (it only takes a few hours or so to grind all of the required abilities you need if you know what ones you want per character) & you have a well-paced game.

 

I'm surprised you ranked Birth by Sleep so high even with its broken mechanics. 

 

 

Plus, to me the story sort of falls apart once you know the amount of information Eraqus knew about Xehanort.

[Scsigs 119]

Impressive list, my man! Very in depth and detailed!  As for me, I love all the Kingdom Hearts games, but my absolute favorites have to be:

1. Birth By Sleep: I love how this game, as you said, added more to the mythos and expanded the universe of the series, and I just honestly loved that this game had a really dark ending, with all the main characters meeting cruel fates! That, and I liked the gameplay! Xehanort and Vanitas are among my favorite Kingdom Hearts villains, with Leonard Nimoy killing it as old man Nort, and Haley Joel Osment showing good vocal range by voicing the sinister Vanitas. And of course, Mark Hamill as Eraqus is amazing! But  yes, I love this game, and the Dearly Beloved rendition in this one is a particular favorite of mine! Also, Blank Points! Need I say more?
2. Kingdom Hearts II: Probably one of the best KH games out there because of the sheer scope, story, combat and quality. Definitely one of the best KH games in the series, though I truly believe that KHIII is going to surpass KHII by leaps and bounds! I love how Kingdom Hearts II expanded upon the first game and really doubled down on the epicness in storytelling, propelling the Kingdom Hearts series to anime level heights! And omg, Christopher Lee as Ansem The Wise and Paul St. Peter as Xemnas! X_X But yes, this game is one that I find immensely enjoyable, particularly the immensely robust Final Mix version!
3. Dream Drop Distance: I loved this game because of the set up to Kingdom Hearts III, and the way it set the final pieces into motion! The final scene, where Xehanort reveals his plans to Mickey and Riku, is probably one of my favorite ending scenes of the series, since it has so much foreshadowing and build-up! That, and I found the gameplay and Dream Eaters to be fun, and I loved Riku's arc coming full circle, with him coming to terms with his darkness and accepting himself!

But yes, those are my top three favorite games in the series!

Dream Drop, to me, I really don't care for. Its story is unnecessary, it's badly told, & I don't really care. The mechanics, while can be fun, get pretty old with how little you can do with them. To me, Birth By Sleep has better mechanics & a better story by a landslide.

Almost Perfect Tier: Kingdom Hearts 1 (Final Mix)

 

Great Tier: (Re)CoM, Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix Only, Recoded

 

Flawed Tier: Birth By Sleep (Final Mix), 0.2, Dream Drop Distance

 

Absolute Trash: Union X/Unchained and 358/2 Days

 

The parenthesis means either the original or the remake/final mix.

 

This ranked based on combination of story and gameplay with Kingdom Hearts 1 being the best balanced of the both. With Days being the absolute worst in both categories in all. 

 

 

I'm surprised you ranked Birth by Sleep so high even with its broken mechanics. 

 

 

Plus, to me the story sort of falls apart once you know the amount of information Eraqus knew about Xehanort.

I REALLY don't see how KHI is "almost perfect" tier, considering it's aged like milk in its controls & tone, but ok.

How is KHII not almost perfect? That confuses the hell out of me.

I ranked Birth By Sleep so high because of its story & the fact that I found the broken mechanics fun. The fact that it's so exploitable is the greatest thing about that game's mechanics. Hell, after I got used to them, & completed Terra's story, I found it much better. Ventus was so fun to use. Aqua was great too. Mostly because they're not as stiff as Terra, who can get near-KHI level stiff. But, that's only 1/3 of the game. The rest was a lot better. Also, never underestimate the power of Jesse McCartney & Haley Joel Osment. When they play characters that are against each other, it's great.

Edited October 5, 2018 by Scsigs

[ReverofE 698]

I REALLY don't see how KHI is "great" tier, considering it's aged like milk in its controls & tone, but ok.

How is KHII not great? That confuses the hell out of me.

I ranked Birth By Sleep so high because of its story & the fact that I found the broken mechanics fun. The fact that it's so exploitable is the greatest thing about that game's mechanics. Hell, after I got used to them, & completed Terra's story, I found it much better. Ventus was so fun to use. Aqua was great too. Mostly because they're not as stiff as Terra, who can get near-KHI level stiff. But, that's only 1/3 of the game. The rest was a lot better. Also, never underestimate the power of Jesse McCartney & Haley Joel Osment. When they play characters that are against each other, it's great.

 

I think you quoted me wrong. I put Kingdom Hearts 1 in Perfect Tier with KH2FM in Great Tier. As for why that is:

 

Storywise?

Kingdom Hearts 1 blows KH2 out of the water. Kingdom Hearts 1 made sure to actually adapt most of his Disney worlds to be considered part of the overall plot. With worlds such as Wonderland, Deep Jungle, Agrabah, and Neverland all holding relevant information to the plot while still being Disney Worlds.

 

KH2 on the other hand made sure that every Disney World(except Beast's Castle and Space Paranoids) had at least one visit which was filler. With other worlds (Atlantica, Agrabah, Hundred Acre Woods, Halloween Town, and Pride Lands) be straight up filler on all visits. So while KH2 has a lot of cutscenes all of it is boring and straight up irrelevant to watch through especially when you know it's filler or when you replay the game. Also KH1 had alternative cutscenes.

 

Gameplay? 

1. I liked the closer up camera in KH1. 
2. Party members are ACTUALLY party members in this game and not glorified items. Plus, they can actually stand on their own and I hate that they were nerfed in KH2 though I understand why.
3. There is platforming & exploration in the game. Particularly in the form of Trinity Marks, the Dalmations, and Traverse Town. All of which give the player reason to return to various worlds. Plus, they didn't need a Final Mix to fix this.
4. The prologue was also less tedious in KH1 and the choices you made at the beginning actually had an impact on Sora. Thus, encouraging replayability. 

 

Overall KH1 felt more like a JRPG when compared to KH2. Or rather it did a great job in walking the fine line between JRPG and Action Game.

[Scsigs 119]

I think you quoted me wrong. I put Kingdom Hearts 1 in Perfect Tier with KH2FM in Great Tier. As for why that is:

 

Storywise?

Kingdom Hearts 1 blows KH2 out of the water. Kingdom Hearts 1 made sure to actually adapt most of his Disney worlds to be considered part of the overall plot. With worlds such as Wonderland, Deep Jungle, Agrabah, and Neverland all holding relevant information to the plot while still being Disney Worlds.

 

KH2 on the other hand made sure that every Disney World(except Beast's Castle and Space Paranoids) had at least one visit which was filler. With other worlds (Atlantica, Agrabah, Hundred Acre Woods, Halloween Town, and Pride Lands) be straight up filler on all visits. So while KH2 has a lot of cutscenes all of it is boring and straight up irrelevant to watch through especially when you know it's filler or when you replay the game. Also KH1 had alternative cutscenes.

 

Gameplay? 

1. I liked the closer up camera in KH1. 
2. Party members are ACTUALLY party members in this game and not glorified items. Plus, they can actually stand on their own and I hate that they were nerfed in KH2 though I understand why.
3. There is platforming & exploration in the game. Particularly in the form of Trinity Marks, the Dalmations, and Traverse Town. All of which give the player reason to return to various worlds. Plus, they didn't need a Final Mix to fix this.
4. The prologue was also less tedious in KH1 and the choices you made at the beginning actually had an impact on Sora. Thus, encouraging replayability. 

 

Overall KH1 felt more like a JRPG when compared to KH2. Or rather it did a great job in walking the fine line between JRPG and Action Game.

I corrected the first thing.

 

 

I disagree. The worlds in KHI are fine, but some of them just seem to be chosen just because of how iconic they are, or because of how new they were, or how significant they were to DIsney, rather than being relevant to the story. Wonderland because Alice in Wonderland is a good movie, Deep Jungle because Tarzan came out when they initially planned out the game (fat lot of good, since they can't include the world again due to copyright issues), Atlantica because Little Mermaid started off the Disney Renaissance (& is garbage in every game it's used in), Neverland because Peter Pan, & Monstro because...Pinocchio? Even worlds I like in the game like Agrabah & Halloween Town are kinda just there. The stories of the movies never intersect with the story of the game in any meaningful way.

 

Conversely, KHII at least tries to have the stories make sense to interact with the themes they're going with. Land of Dragons has Mulan struggling to be what she wants to be; a warrior, like in her movie, Olympus Coliseum adapts the part of Hercules where Herc wants to be a hero, Pride Lands has the themes of love, loss, & death retained from The Lion King (even though this world has garbage gameplay), 100 Acre Wood deals with Pooh's memory problems in a way that Chain of Memories wishes it did, & Beast's Castle has the plot point of the rose from the film, which deals with death. The only worlds that don't go with the themes of self identity, loss, & death are Agrabah, Atlantica, Port Royal, & Halloween Town, since 2 of those act as sequels, or adapt a sequel, to the movies adapted for the first game, one is a bad reboot of the adaptation from the first game that makes no sense, & one's a new game for the series that, while a bit frustrating, isn't that bad. Considering the themes expressed in the game, I think these are better done than in the first game, which is more focused on having the more famous Disney villains as part of the plot than actually having the worlds make sense in the context of the game's narrative. The only one I can think of that even remotely does that is Beast, but that's less of a world & more of his character randomly showing up at Hollow Bastion.

 

 

The closer-up camera in KHI was kinda claustrophobic at times. You couldn't see a lot of the more up-close action, which is kinda important in an action RPG. Next you'll be saying that the subtitles being smaller on PS4 wasn't a welcome change either.

 

"Glorified items"? What? You're talking about the Drive Forms, yes? That's not what they become from the removal of them at all. The Drive Forms are balanced out by the removal of Donald & Goofy from the party when you use them. It's like the Anti Form & the Drive Gauge. Otherwise, there'd be no incentive to not use the Forms. In KHI, they're the same as in KHII; not that useful. They're fine for back-up, but their AI is bad most of the time. I mean, Donald didn't get meme'd into a useless mage who wastes all of his MP & doesn't heal you when you actually need it for nothing & Goofy isn't bad, but he's not great either. At least they served more of a purpose in KHII outside of the story.

 

Oh, there's platforming & exploration in KHII. The main difference is that Sora isn't a pain in the ass to try to traverse the levels with. His move-set was greatly enhanced for KHII. If he had the same movement in KHI, I think you'd be singing its praises because that design has aged like milk. As for those collectables, the trinity marks could've made a return, but they chose not to put them in. The 101 Dalmatian puppies were only there because of the fact that they were without worlds because of the Darkness. Same with Traverse Town. That place only existed because of the fact that people were without worlds. Radiant Garden was introduced in KHII as what Hollow Bastion was a while before the first game as a means of a new place to replace Traverse Town for people, mainly the OG Disney & Final Fantasy characters, to live.

 

And, I don't think the Final Mix versions of either games changed these things. KHI just got some added bosses & cutscenes. In fact, KHII only got graphical enhancements, new bosses, & new cutscenes. The most significant addition is Limit Form, which is just great. That's how Sora should've controlled in KHI sans upgrades. I don't really get what that criticism what meant to say.

 

I mean, if you like setting how fast you level up in different sections of the game, what you excel in more & what you don't, & the time of day you start at that doesn't impact the rest of the story whatsoever, then yeah, those must be great. The prologue helps out the rest of the story of KHII by introducing the concepts of Nobodies, the organization, creating intrigue through the visual storytelling. It may be a bit long on a replay, but it's nothing if not there for a reason. I prefer prologues that actually set up the story of the game & add to it.

 

 

Yes, KHI felt more like a JRPG, but it also comes with the more worst aspects of them. Such as a downer, too serious, tone with no levity ever, a dated as hell combat system, stiff controls, & a villain that comes in 3/4 of the way into the story only barely introduced in the beginning, so you easily can forget about him while playing the game that replaces the main bosses of the game. KHII has a more streamlined, but also more involved, combat system with more loose controls & upgrades that improved it dramatically, a more optimistic tone you'd expect of a story like the game has, & more direct focus on the Organization. I mean, I know an Action RPG & a JRPG have differences, but KHI felt like a prototype for KHII in many ways. The fact that KHIII is going back to KHII's combat system only shows how much better it is. KHI just hasn't aged well. It's a game from the late-90s to early-2000s & it feels like it. KHII, meanwhile, has aged perfectly to the point that the games that came after it have more mixed combat systems that, while fun to break if they can be abused, aren't really up to par with the quality it has. Everything about KHII's combat has aged perfectly.

[ReverofE 698]

Let me clarify a bit more.

 

I disagree. The worlds in KHI are fine, but some of them just seem to be chosen just because of how iconic they are, or because of how new they were, or how significant they were to DIsney, rather than being relevant to the story. Wonderland because Alice in Wonderland is a good movie, Deep Jungle because Tarzan came out when they initially planned out the game (fat lot of good, since they can't include the world again due to copyright issues), Atlantica because Little Mermaid started off the Disney Renaissance (& is garbage in every game it's used in), Neverland because Peter Pan, & Monstro because...Pinocchio? Even worlds I like in the game like Agrabah & Halloween Town are kinda just there. The stories of the movies never intersect with the story of the game in any meaningful way.

 

Conversely, KHII at least tries to have the stories make sense to interact with the themes they're going with. Land of Dragons has Mulan struggling to be what she wants to be; a warrior, like in her movie, Olympus Core better done than in the first game, which is more focused on having the more famous Disney villains as part of the plot than actually having the worlds make sense in the context of the game's narrative. The only one I can think of that even remotely does that is Beast, but that's less of a world & more of his character randomly showing up at Hollow Bastion.

 

What I meant by more "relevant" meant that if you removed that world from the game then Kingdom Hearts overall plot would not move forward. You remove Wonderland and Maleficent wouldn't have all 7 princesses & you miss out on the Gummi piece to travel to other worlds. Remove Neverland and you lose confirmation of Riku going, the location of Hollow Bastion, and even finding Kairi. You see what I mean? The Disney Worlds in KH1 are connected and relevant to the game's overall plot. They are more than just copy/paste the movie's plot. They are actually ADAPTED to fit Kingdom Hearts.

 

KH2 on the other hand really struggled with this since most of its Disney Worlds are treated as straight up filler. Agrabah, Atlantica, Pride Lands, Hundred Acre Woods, and Halloween Town all serve no relevance to the overall plot on either visits. Nothing is accomplished there or found out there. If you remove any of these worlds from KH2's plot then the plot isn't affected in the slightest. Plus, it doesn't help that other worlds such as Land of Dragons & Port Royal have 1 visit dedicated to "copy/pasting the movie plot ft. Sora & company fighting Heartless/Nobodies" that's NOT an adaptation that's filler. Shan-Yu wasn't working for anybody. It was there just to copy the movie plot in a poor fashion.

 

That being said Beast's Castle and even Space Paranoids are GOOD examples of how a Disney world SHOULD have been treated in KH2. Both visits are connected to the overall plot (Ansem and the Organization). If more worlds in KH2 were like them I wouldn't be complaining about this.

 

 

 

"Glorified items"? What? You're talking about the Drive Forms, yes? That's not what they become from the removal of them at all. The Drive Forms are balanced out by the removal of Donald & Goofy from the party when you use them. It's like the Anti Form & the Drive Gauge. Otherwise, there'd be no incentive to not use the Forms. In KHI, they're the same as in KHII; not that useful. They're fine for back-up, but their AI is bad most of the time. I mean, Donald didn't get meme'd into a useless mage who wastes all of his MP & doesn't heal you when you actually need it for nothing & Goofy isn't bad, but he's not great either. At least they served more of a purpose in KHII outside of the story.

 

What I mean is Donald & Goofy are NERFED so much more in KH2 than when compared to KH1. For example,

 

Donald in KH1 knew all 7 magic spells like Sora, all of them get upgraded to tier 3, he learned Second Chance & Leaf Bracer, & he knew was capable of casting Cure multiple times.

 

KH2 Donald on the other hand only knows 4 magic spells, none of them get upgraded (they all stay at tier 1), magic is also considered abilities for Donald meaning you can't go into every fight with them unless you give upgrade his AP, Cure takes up all his MP, he never learns Leaf Bracer, Second Chance, or even KH2's Once More. 

 

In return, you have Drive Forms & Limits. But here's the thing. Those abilities only "mimic teamwork." Sora using Wisdom Form or Whirli-Goof isn't the same as Donald casting Cure or Goofy using MP Gift on the player. Sora aka the player aka YOU have to activate those abilities. So even though they are listed on the Donald and Goofy's abilities list they might as well be on Sora's. So again they are "gloried items' for the player to consume when necessary.

 

It also doesn't help that Sora is capable of using Trinity Limit & Limit Form by himself thus undermining your party members.

 

 

Oh, there's platforming & exploration in KHII. The main difference is that Sora isn't a pain in the ass to try to traverse the levels with. His move-set was greatly enhanced for KHII. If he had the same movement in KHI, I think you'd be singing its praises because that design has aged like milk. As for those collectables, the trinity marks could've made a return, but they chose not to put them in. The 101 Dalmatian puppies were only there because of the fact that they were without worlds because of the Darkness. Same with Traverse Town. That place only existed because of the fact that people were without worlds. Radiant Garden was introduced in KHII as what Hollow Bastion was a while before the first game as a means of a new place to replace Traverse Town for people, mainly the OG Disney & Final Fantasy characters, to live.

 

 

 

NO. There is no platforming/exploration in KH2. There is no point in the game where the player HAS to use there growth abilities such as Glide, High Jump, or Aerial Dodge because the whole game is linear as hell. Hence why anyone can beat the whole game without even touching or knowing about the Drive Form abilities. I know because I was one of those individuals back in 2006. 

 

The only time the player has to use them is in the Cavern of Remembrance. A level which was optional AND was added in the Final Mix version when it could should have in the original to begin with. Not to mention that's only 1 level out of the 15 in the game. Final Mix even added "puzzle pieces" too but again should have been in the original. Nor could it really replace the linearity in the game. The linearity was there so that each room could focus on combat. 

 

Also Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden could not replace Traverse Town. You didn't have to return there after every visit to a world to return Dalmations. You didn't return there to find extra Trinity Marks. Plus, in KH1 Traverse Town was practically the ONLY world where you could buy items/equipment and even synthesis. KH2 removed that aspect with every world having a Moogle Shop.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Dream Drop, to me, I really don't care for. Its story is unnecessary, it's badly told, & I don't really care. The mechanics, while can be fun, get pretty old with how little you can do with them. To me, Birth By Sleep has better mechanics & a better story by a landslide.

 

I can see what you mean, and I totally respect that! That being said though, it's just crazy how all of these games have led up to where we are now, with Kingdom Hearts III just little less than three months away! So beautiful! :')

 

Birth By Sleep is amazing, and I love the music in it. Then again, I love the music for all the KH games, but there are a few particularly memorable ones from BBS, such as Black Powder, Tears Of The Light, Fate Of The Unknown and Destiny's Union! Not to mention Dark Impetus and Forze De'll Oscurita!

[Allwil13 754]

For me, they would go in the following order (Keep in mind, this is just my personal preference):

8. Union X
I dont have much to say about this, since I only played it for like a month and then it just got too big for my phone. I did enjoy what I played of it, but I found that, despite all the quests, the plot was barely present and it didn't really seem like it was going anywhere.

7. Re:Coded
Story-wise, I would say that this is the least relevant of the entire series. I've always felt that this is the only entry of the series that you can get away with skipping, because the majority of the events in its plot don't really impact the series' overall story. Gameplay-wise, it's fine, I guess. It doesn't really bring anything new to the table, but it was still fun to play. 

6. 358/2 Days
Days had a great plot and it provided some great development for Roxas and Axel, as well as a couple of other Organization members. However, I put it low on the list because of the gameplay. Don't get me wrong, the combat wasn't the main issue for me: it was the paneling system. Oh my god, I hated this system. It was just so poorly executed and frustrating. Having to actually stock magic to use on your missions was the worst, and having to manually stick your levels in the panels made me SO ANGRY. Ugh I hated this system with a passion!

5. Kingdom Hearts 1
There's probably some people who are screaming heresy at me for putting the first KH so low on the list. Firstly, I love this game! Honestly, I do. I put it here not because of major issues (of which there aren't many) but because I find that the plot feels kind of separate from the rest of the series. Which isn't restricted only to Kingdom Hearts. Lots of series have their first entry feel less connected to the rest of the series. And don't get me wrong; Kingdom Hearts 1 does connect pretty well to the rest of the series, but there's no Xehanort and no Organization XIII, which are integral to the plot of the series as a whole. However, Kingdom Hearts 1 does set the plot of the series in motion, and it does that extremely well. The battle system is great, though I do find it kind of annoying trying to access magic that I don't have set to the shortcuts when I'm in the heat of battle. But on the whole, this is a solid game.

4. Chain of Memories
I absolutely adored this game when it first came out on GBA. I played it to its entirety like 3 times (both characters) and never got sick of it. And when they released Re:CoM, you bet I bought it immediately. And I felt that its transition to PS2 was very well done. Now then, the reason why I put Chain of Memories above KH1 on my list is because of the plot, in that it introduces Organization XIII and starts giving us an idea of what the actual plot of this series is. Yeah, I know the game is kind of repetitive, and the plots of the world cards are mainly just rehashes of the first game, but I just really enjoy the plot of this game. And then there's the battle system, which I know is reeeeeally polarizing to fans. Honestly, I love the battle system of this game. Like yeah, it's frustrating at first because it takes a while to get higher valued cards, but once you do I find this battle system is really fun and provides an interesting way to strategize. If you think I'm crazy, that's fine. I totally get it. But I really do love this battle system.

3. Kingdom Hearts 2
You guys probably think I'm so weird for ranking the main games so low. AGain, I do love Kingdom Hearts 2. The story is so amazing. However, I had some issues with the battle system. I was not a fan of the reaction commands. I don't know what it was, I just found that there were too many and they were kind of annoying. And I absolutely HATED the Limits. Ugh, they were infuriating! YOu're fighting a boss, your health is low, then a triangle command pops up and you assume it's a reaction command so you press the button and - whoops! That was a limit command. Well, there goes all your MP. And maybe I was the only one who had that issue. I did notice that the text for reaction commands was white and the text for limit commands was yellow, so maybe I'm just an idiot, but I hated those things. After a while I just turned off the limit abilities. Other than that, the battle system for KH2 was really good, there were just some issues that I had that pulled down the experience.

2. Birth By Sleep
I adore Birth by Sleep because it gave me a chance to experience more of the KH story from different points of view. The addition of new playable characters added a brand new dynamic to the series and made this entry feel super fresh and new. I also loved that we got to see the characters we know and love when they were younger, as well as several Organization members as complete people. In addition, the plot of Birth by Sleep was what officially set the story of the KH series in motion. I also loved the battle system. The command decks allowed me to do battle however I pleased, and there were lots of commands to choose from. All in all, I felt this was a an absolutely fantastic game.

1. Kingdom Hearts 3D
That's right; 3D is my favourite KH game. I absolutely love the plot and how it links the first game to the series more solidly than it initially was. The plot of this game makes the experience of playing through KH1 so different in that I'm aware of things happening during the first game that were revealed in KH3D. And I also love that we saw several members of the Organization returned to human form. The gameplay was also fantastic. They brought back the command deck system which made me very happy, and introduced Flowmotion, which has to be one of the most addicting and entertaining includions of any video game ever. I remember when I first downloaded the KH3D demo for 3DS I spent like two hours just playing around with the flowmotion. I also loved the dream eaters and how they allow you to set up a party that works best for your strategies. It added a whole new level of strategy and allowed me to ply how I wanted. I never had to settle for the least objectoinable party.

That's my rankings for the KH series. I realize I missed 0.2, but I wasn't really sure where to put it at this point. I've only played it to completion once, but I did really enjoy it. I especially loved how gorgeous it looked and how it filled us in on what Aqua was doing in the Realm of Darkness all this time. I would probably put it between Kingdom Hearts CoM and Kingdom Hearts 2. Anyway, I imagine my rankings are kind of weird (most ranking lists I see have KH2 at the top of the list, which is totally understandable) but keep in mind that this is just my personal preference. Thanks for reading!

 

[Tyranto Rex 277]

This is kinda hard for me cause I like games for different reasons and even some of the games I love I have major issues with it. Kingdom Hearts is a great experimental games series that has a lot of flaws in more ways then one. I think my conditions for each game in the series (in the order of what I personally see as the most important in my opinion):

1. Character

2. Gameplay

3. Overall Story

4. Subplots

5. World design/ overall graphics

Now, this is gonna be all over the place but bare with me:

For the lowest tiers for me, Union Cross fails at almost all of these (except maybe some of the designs) but again I have not been playing the game for a while and I don't plan to try again. I actually hoped it would be filler. I know I have the unpopular opinion that some games in KH could be filler if it's GOOD FUN filler. Which brings me to Re:Coded. I have never finished this game but from what I had played the game was pretty fun gameplay wise. But in the story department and conditionally character department, it's lacking. I would not have personally mind a little side story with no overall relevance to the main plot but Re:Coded is just kinda boring plot wise. 

My highest tier games are KH1 and KH2. After reading the arguments about whether KH1 or KH2 had a better plot, it got me thinking and I think I got kind of a complicated answer for that. Well I don't know if complicated the right word for it but I have a weird opinion on it. I personally think KH1 had the better overall story. Much less confusing and much simpler, which I prefer. But I think KH2 had better subplots, if that makes any sense. I don't really know how to explain it. If we are talking about Disney worlds, I really liked what they did with Beast's Castle, Disney Castle, and Space Paranoids and heck even Hundred Acre Wood, then most of the individual stories in the Disney worlds in KH1. And Hollow Bastion even had it's own great subplots.  But KH1 had more of a reason to go to each world within the overall plot and probably overall handled the Disney Worlds the best out of any game after it. The characters are mostly equal with both games for me, but I like Sora more in KH2. Gameplay is much better in KH2 and though KH1 had better exploration in the game, it could be really confusing at times and I mostly prefer they straight forwardness of KH2. So with these all in mind I consider KH2 my favorite so far.

Every other Kingdom Hearts game I consider middle tier more or less. 358/2 days has a great story and characters but has the most repetitive gameplay (after Union Cross) and it's feels like a chore to go through. Some of the worst gameplay in the series (those boss battles ugh) and worlds are repeats with nothing really new to them. Birth By Sleep I have....a complicated relationship with. I think it had great ideas but poor execution. It's great having new characters to meet and we finally get new worlds to explore. But, though I do like the characters, none of them grabbed me like the original trio or whatever you call the Roxas, Axel, and Xion trio. I think they tried too hard to replicate the original trio and the friendship felt forced. But it was nice to have variety of different characters to play that was not Sora. And seeing the story from different points of view was great. I feel the gameplay was decent and fun to experiment with. But the world designs were barren and have to be some of the worst in the series. Now Dream Drop Distance I actually enjoy more than BBS surprisingly enough. Like I know people had problems with Sora in this game and I do generally agree with them but I missed actually having a happy protagonist around. He seems to actually have fun meeting new people and seeing new places, but yeah they did really dumb him down in a lot of places though. You can tell Riku grew a lot in his sections of the game and he is a big highlight. Now the story....it's contrived and confusing I'll admit. But I do have a soft spot for the wackyness of it. But dang they could have come up with a better plot twist. Or at least be more self aware. I find gameplay decent but the drop system irritating. Also new worlds which are always a plus for me. But the worlds are hit and miss for me.

Chain of Memories, I don't really know cause I never finished it :p. But I think the best thing about it is the mystery. So, I guess that means it has an interesting story. 

 

 

[Karxrida 154]

1.) II

My GOAT. Amazingly fun and rewarding gameplay with a great progression system and beautiful soundtrack. Roxas is also the best character.

 

2.) 358/2 Days

Best-written Kingdom Hearts game by a country mile. The friendship between Roxas and co. feels the most real out of any trio and the ending is extremely  emotional. Yeah the gameplay sucks, but in a way it's leagues better than 3D and BBS by virtue of not being fundamentally broken. Plus the repetitiveness actually enhances the writing by hammering in how Roxas is living life.

 

3.) Re:coded

Story is nonexistent but the gameplay is superb. The devs made the Command Deck work without breaking normal combos and the game just feels great.

 

4.) Birth By Sleep

The gameplay is really bad (screw the boss design in particular) but it's still somehow fun at least. Story is blarg and it has the worst tho.

 

Aqua is also boring and overrated as hell fite me bro.

 

5.) Re:Chain of Memories

Writing is pretty good but the gameplay is blarg (unless you're playing Reverse/Rebirth). Just not very fun.

 

6.) Dream Drop Distance

This game is just terrible--the combat and story are both garbage. Dumb time traveling and shark jumping crap. It's just a complete failure on every level.

 

Haven't played I or the mobile game or 0.2.

Edited October 21, 2018 by Karxrida