Did you like the direction that the developers took Kingdom Hearts?

[KudoTsurugi]

That is a valid point. The problem isn't that the Disney stuff wasn't underutilized, when it comes to KH3, it’s that it was utilized in the wrong places. Possibly even overutilised.

Where Monsters Inc, Toy Box and San Fransokyo had unique stories that weren't just movie retreads, I can agree that even with that tidbit at the end of Arendelle, it was just one big zig-zag on a mountain plus a maze, and Let It Go could have been cut. And while I enjoyed the Kingdom of Corona for what it is, I can understand why others wouldn't.

 

[Face My Fears]

I mean, it's funny you should say that since that was supposed to be its own game, at least. I mean, it was, in 0.2, but originally BBS Volume 2 was going to be a bigger game that touched on all the little mysterious corners of the series, and when that game was cancelled behind the scenes, most of those corners were just dropped.

Honestly I'm not convinced there ever was a need for a game called Kingdom Hearts 3 in that plot arc, tbh. BBS Volume 2 could have gone into everything left that was interesting, which is what seemed to be teased in its trailer video. Then if there was a KH3 it could've focused a lot more on new stuff.

You make a really good point. "Kingdom Hearts 3" legitimately could have been all brand new stuff and a side game could have cleared up most of the side stories, and I think that would have been fine. The reason I say that is if you follow KH1 and KH2, neither game had previous games that actually "built up" to them. You didn't need to play CoM to understand KH2. In fact, KH2 goes out of its way to ignore/brush aside the events of CoM - to the point where it's cool if you did play CoM, but you didn't then it's not really important to know to advance the plot.

Really thinking about it, if they expanded 0.2 a bit more they could have covered:

• Riku and Mickey saving Aqua
• Aqua saving Ven
• Kairi/Axel training
• Explain the Replica Program/time travel more

That would have opened up Kingdom Hearts 3 to be solely about the Keyblade War and the aftermath of Master Xehanort's plans. Now that I'm thinking about it, a really out there idea for Kingdom Hearts 3's plot:

1. Sora visits Olympus and regains the Power of Waking (by being a "hero" and going to Mount Olympus and doing some kind of trial).
2. Since all the lights are assembled: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Axel, Mickey, Ven, and Aqua they proceed to the Keyblade Graveyard and initiate the Keyblade War.
3. After they save Terra and Roxas/Xion return: you fight Master Xehanort, but Sora has to use the Power of Waking to break time again. This causes him to end up in Quadratum.
4. Sora has to find his way out of Quadratum - he visits Star Wars and the alternate Toy Box (which makes him realize that he is in fiction and the world is split, so if he does something on this side, the other side will see it). He does that to get a message to the other Toy Box world.
5. While exploring DISNEY worlds to find clues on Sora, one group finds the clue from Sora in Toy Box - which leads them to ask the Fairy Godmother for help to access dreams or whatever.
6. Yozora is following Sora throughout the story and is the second to last boss - the Hollow Bastion Riku boss fight - in order to escape Quadratum.
7. When Sora gets back to the real world, Master Xehanort has the X-Blade and is going to use Kingdom Hearts - but everyone has to team up against him and they finally kill him.
8. In a secret video, we see that Yozora goes back to the Foretellers and give details about a keyblade wielder that was in Quadratum - this makes them realize they need to go back to the real world.

This needs more work to iron out the details, but I think it would have been cool to swerve away from the Keyblade War and go in a completely different direction for most of the game, then come back to the war at the end. Also, I think this would have been a cool way to allow you to use different characters. I imagine it would be Sora and Strelitzia in Quadratum (with the DISNEY world party member), then in the real world segments you could choose between Riku, Kairi, Roxas, or Aqua.

I see what your saying, but I don't agree in principle. More effort went into the worlds in KH3, but I think that effort was misplaced. A lot of time and passion was out into recreating the Tangled scenes, and Let It Go. But none of that advanced the KH story, or more importantly, the themes and characters of KH (both original and Disney). It was just redoing something that had already been done, in a different engine.

Unlike Deep Jungle, where there's like 6 locations and it's very short, but the entire world is dedicated to what a heart is, and how you keep your friends in your heart. It didn't feel like Sora was being plopped into the Tarzan movie. It felt like Sora had landed in Tarzan's world.

Same for any KH1 world. Triton knowing about keybearers, Pinocchio being a model for a puppet with a heart, Wonderland introducing the princesses. The worlds in KH3 never feel as connected to the game.

I whole heartedly disagree on the usage of the DISNEY worlds in KH3. I think it's the best use of DISNEY worlds since KH1. Not only are the worlds really fun to explore and go back to giving each one a distinct feeling while exploring them (Olympus is climbing from the town to the top of the mountain, Monstropolis is a boxed in warehouse, The Caribbean is an open sea to explore via boat, San Fransokyo is like an open world superhero game), the DISNEY worlds actually impacted Sora and the main plot.

Olympus introduced the "black box" storyline, had Sora learn about strength and sacrifice.
Toy Box introduced Yozora and was used as research to perfect the Replica Program.
Monstropolis brought back Vanitas (probably the best use of a DISNEY world ever).
San Fransokyo was used as research for the Replica Program and showed Sora how a heart can live on without a body.
Arendelle revealed 2 Princesses of Heart (increases the stakes for Sora), and taught Sora about sacrificing himself.
Kingdom of Corona revealed a Princess of Heart (increased stakes for Sora), and taught Sora about sacrificing himself.
The Caribbean expanded on the "black box" story and taught Sora about sacrificing himself.

I know that it was probably missed, but the DISNEY worlds were basically either explaining how the Replicas were fixed (at least that the Organization was still working on it) and building up to Sora's ultimate sacrifice. I liked that Sora saw several examples of the "DISNEY happy ending" after the sacrifices EXCEPT for The Caribbean which is smartly placed as one of the last worlds before the Keyblade Graveyard. I think it really showed Sora that there could be some actual consequence to sacrifice and that love might not be able to defeat all.

Which then ties in to Sora sacrificing everything to take the forbidden path to save everyone - especially Kairi. I think the line from The Caribbean about "one day may be long enough" really stands out when you think about the ReMIND ending with Kairi. Anyway, I'm just saying that I experienced the DISNEY worlds in a different way when I played them. I definitely do think that there is room for improvement, but I disagree when people say the DISNEY worlds were just an afterthought. I actually think KH2 is the biggest offender of that - outside of Beast's Castle, Space Paranoids, and The Underworld (a stretch) - none of the DISNEY worlds mattered. On top of that, their designs were - for the most part - really bad. Just giant boxes with a DISNEY themed wallpaper.

 

[Darkspawn]

I agree with FMF. I think the KH3 Disney worlds are the most thematically relevant Disney worlds in the franchise. Pretty much all of them are setting up Sora’s sacrifice in the end. Plus the villains have reasons for going to those specific worlds such as Vanitas harnessing the negativity from screams, Luxord looking for the box in the Caribbean, etc.

The only major thing missing for me is that Sora himself didn’t have a clear reason to go to these specific worlds. (Though this is really not a first for the series either.) The only exception is Olympus where we’re given a clear motivation for Sora to go there specifically. If they’d done something similar with other worlds, I would have very little issue with the Disney stuff in the game.

As silly as it may have been, I think it would have been fun if Vexen and/or Demyx had been moles calling us anonymously on the GummiPhone to point us in the direction of a world and explain why we should go there. Could have done the whole bit with a voice changer and only a black silhouette on the screen while being completely obvious to us who it is. Maybe only do that for one or two worlds and find something else to lead us to the rest, but you get the idea.

Basically, what happens in the worlds was fine. Sora just should have had a clear mission to accomplish in each world. Whether it be unique to each one or an overall thing like dealing the keyholes in KH1.

More on topic though, I do sometimes wonder what it would have been like if the Tokyo team had not been tied up in VSXIII and could have developed KH3 immediately following BBS. I think that was likely the original plan and Osaka would have made BBS Vol II. But due to VSXIII, they changed gears to DDD to give Osaka more development experience while still moving back to a story featuring Sora.

But ultimately, I think things have worked out and we’re in an interesting place for the future of the franchise.

 

[Phoenix]

You make a really good point. "Kingdom Hearts 3" legitimately could have been all brand new stuff and a side game could have cleared up most of the side stories, and I think that would have been fine. The reason I say that is if you follow KH1 and KH2, neither game had previous games that actually "built up" to them. You didn't need to play CoM to understand KH2. In fact, KH2 goes out of its way to ignore/brush aside the events of CoM - to the point where it's cool if you did play CoM, but you didn't then it's not really important to know to advance the plot.

Really thinking about it, if they expanded 0.2 a bit more they could have covered:

• Riku and Mickey saving Aqua
• Aqua saving Ven
• Kairi/Axel training
• Explain the Replica Program/time travel more

That would have opened up Kingdom Hearts 3 to be solely about the Keyblade War and the aftermath of Master Xehanort's plans. Now that I'm thinking about it, a really out there idea for Kingdom Hearts 3's plot:

1. Sora visits Olympus and regains the Power of Waking (by being a "hero" and going to Mount Olympus and doing some kind of trial).
2. Since all the lights are assembled: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Axel, Mickey, Ven, and Aqua they proceed to the Keyblade Graveyard and initiate the Keyblade War.
3. After they save Terra and Roxas/Xion return: you fight Master Xehanort, but Sora has to use the Power of Waking to break time again. This causes him to end up in Quadratum.
4. Sora has to find his way out of Quadratum - he visits Star Wars and the alternate Toy Box (which makes him realize that he is in fiction and the world is split, so if he does something on this side, the other side will see it). He does that to get a message to the other Toy Box world.
5. While exploring DISNEY worlds to find clues on Sora, one group finds the clue from Sora in Toy Box - which leads them to ask the Fairy Godmother for help to access dreams or whatever.
6. Yozora is following Sora throughout the story and is the second to last boss - the Hollow Bastion Riku boss fight - in order to escape Quadratum.
7. When Sora gets back to the real world, Master Xehanort has the X-Blade and is going to use Kingdom Hearts - but everyone has to team up against him and they finally kill him.
8. In a secret video, we see that Yozora goes back to the Foretellers and give details about a keyblade wielder that was in Quadratum - this makes them realize they need to go back to the real world.

This needs more work to iron out the details, but I think it would have been cool to swerve away from the Keyblade War and go in a completely different direction for most of the game, then come back to the war at the end. Also, I think this would have been a cool way to allow you to use different characters. I imagine it would be Sora and Strelitzia in Quadratum (with the DISNEY world party member), then in the real world segments you could choose between Riku, Kairi, Roxas, or Aqua.


I whole heartedly disagree on the usage of the DISNEY worlds in KH3. I think it's the best use of DISNEY worlds since KH1. Not only are the worlds really fun to explore and go back to giving each one a distinct feeling while exploring them (Olympus is climbing from the town to the top of the mountain, Monstropolis is a boxed in warehouse, The Caribbean is an open sea to explore via boat, San Fransokyo is like an open world superhero game), the DISNEY worlds actually impacted Sora and the main plot.

Olympus introduced the "black box" storyline, had Sora learn about strength and sacrifice.
Toy Box introduced Yozora and was used as research to perfect the Replica Program.
Monstropolis brought back Vanitas (probably the best use of a DISNEY world ever).
San Fransokyo was used as research for the Replica Program and showed Sora how a heart can live on without a body.
Arendelle revealed 2 Princesses of Heart (increases the stakes for Sora), and taught Sora about sacrificing himself.
Kingdom of Corona revealed a Princess of Heart (increased stakes for Sora), and taught Sora about sacrificing himself.
The Caribbean expanded on the "black box" story and taught Sora about sacrificing himself.

I know that it was probably missed, but the DISNEY worlds were basically either explaining how the Replicas were fixed (at least that the Organization was still working on it) and building up to Sora's ultimate sacrifice. I liked that Sora saw several examples of the "DISNEY happy ending" after the sacrifices EXCEPT for The Caribbean which is smartly placed as one of the last worlds before the Keyblade Graveyard. I think it really showed Sora that there could be some actual consequence to sacrifice and that love might not be able to defeat all.

Which then ties in to Sora sacrificing everything to take the forbidden path to save everyone - especially Kairi. I think the line from The Caribbean about "one day may be long enough" really stands out when you think about the ReMIND ending with Kairi. Anyway, I'm just saying that I experienced the DISNEY worlds in a different way when I played them. I definitely do think that there is room for improvement, but I disagree when people say the DISNEY worlds were just an afterthought. I actually think KH2 is the biggest offender of that - outside of Beast's Castle, Space Paranoids, and The Underworld (a stretch) - none of the DISNEY worlds mattered. On top of that, their designs were - for the most part - really bad. Just giant boxes with a DISNEY themed wallpaper.

I think there's a difference in design here. I'm not saying KH3 didn't serve the plot. As you point out, they certainly do. But they don't advance the themes or characters.

Take Olympus, as your example. It introduces the black box, sure. But th black box has nothing to do with what's happening in Olympus. What's happening in Olympus is essentially a recreation of the back half of the Hercules movie. Zeus doesn't talk about having seen keybearers before. Freeing the Titans doesn't have effects in the wider Universe. The Disney and KH plots are completely disconnected from each other.

Olympus is actually not the best example, because it does try to advance the theme of Sora regaining his powers, specifically the power of waking. I don't think that's a particularly interesting plot point, but it was there. But then you go to something like Corona, whose only connection to the overall plot was that Marluxia existed. There was no character growth, because the trio doesn't grow at all and Rapunzel's growth was just her movie growth. What themes were advanced? How did the world benefit the story? Same for Arendelle. The entire purpose was, hey it's Larxene again. Who grew? What was learned? What did Sora take with him?

The Pixar worlds where the best because, presumably, the devs had more freedom. Big Hero 6 world was allowed to integrate KH themes the most. It still wasn't a lot compared to Pinocchio introducing the puppet with a heart concept, which leads all the way to Riku Replica and Xion. But it was something. Most of the worlds do less.

 

[Guernsey]

I guess you can say that the writers had to accommodate Disney Worlds to suit the game.

 

[maximumlight8]

Golden age to me is KH1 - Days, bbs is when I kinda began falling off caring about the story. I basically only play KH for gameplay because every KH game plays so unique and I love it.

I don't think Square can ever make a masterpiece like KH1 ever again though. Some talent that was part of the game just never returned.

 

[Elysium]

A complicated question. If you asked me if I liked the direction from KH1 onwards, no. But if we're talking about the direction from different jumpoff points, the answer might be slightly different.

I thought most of what happened with 2 wasn't a good direction after 1 and CoM, for example. It was a letdown in a lot of ways for me, although I still enjoy the game. And BbS and Days seemed like it went even further down that particular hole. But I liked the direction from thereon, enjoyed all of Coded, 3D, 0.2, 3. I didn't mind the time travel the way most of the fanbase seemed to, and I liked that they brought so many characters back via norting, that gave the series up to that point a full-circle vibe (one it didn't completely earn, but it was better than I would've expected). I do wish BbS Volume 2 had happened, although they probably made the right decision to focus on getting to 3 already, but I think it would've been worth the blah that is the first BbS just to get the sequel; taking the best thing from the first one (Aqua) along with Riku / Mickey and the destroyed worlds in the world of darkness, that would've been a great game, too, no doubt. Which is why 0.2 was so fun, it was the lost remains of it. I think the only thing about 3 that sort of let me down was delaying Maleficent's relevance with the box, they were clearly building that up for 3 in 3D and then they punted it down the road again. /sigh Now with 4.... I really don't know what to say right now, we'll have to get that game first. The worst possibility is this is all just Versus XIII leftovers under a KH skin, but if it's an alternate universe kind of thing (as far as Yozora and Quadratum being an alternate take on the same story Sora, Riku, and Kairi had in KH1-CoM-KH2) which I've started to lean towards it perhaps being over the past two years after reading certain fan discussions/theories, I think *that* could be very fun depending. We'll see, in other words.

The only thing I would criticize about the direction of 3 is sort of an ongoing problem with the series that the developers course correct to extremes, to the point they end up creating another problem in reverse. Most of my criticism about 2 was how irrelevant most of the Disney content was (including how poor the design of those levels generally was). 3D and 3 both massively improved the Disney worlds, but 3 took it to the point of erasing the original worlds almost entirely for the Disney content. I feel like 3D was the best balance--the most like KH1 in that way--as far as having large-scale, fun Disney worlds (for the most part) bookended by strong original worlds with a return to the original worlds in the centerpoint of the game. I feel like that's a good formula. Of course 3 does have original content at the start and end, but it's so tamped down. (RIP my dreams of new stained glass artwork for the PoH, the Dive to the Heart prologue was too streamlined for it.) I don't mind so much that Twilight Town was on the skimpy side and the intro mostly works even though its a Disney world, but I was bitter that Radiant Garden wasn't there and the final level felt way too small and too short... Most of what happened was satisfying to me, it's just it could've been prolonged by an hour or two more. I suppose it's possible they didn't intend the final levels to be that way considering San Fransokyo also feels like they sort of hit a wall as far as what they could get done in time for release when compared with the rest of the Disney worlds, although it's of course still massive compared to the Keyblade Graveyard.

Now 4 looks like it may be doing the same ricocheting in the opposite direction from criticisms of 3, to the point it seems primarily original content and Disney to the side again. You can sort of trace that same extreme course correction from one game to another with the gameplay, too, with the way they mostly did away with Reaction Commands in 3 because of criticism following 2 and now bringing them back in 4 because of criticism following 3. (Same thing that happened with water mechanics with us not getting a proper water world after KH1 until The Caribbean in 3). Too bad they can't have it both ways on that point by giving you an option for whatever gameplay mechanic you'd prefer to have at the start of the game, lol.

I generally enjoyed the gameplay in 3D, 0.2, and 3. But I admit the gameplay isn't really the side of things I'm most focused on, so getting into specifics would be difficult; I don't think of myself as a "gamer" per se, maybe just in the casual sense, since I don't play that many games or that often. Games are just one of several different forms of entertainment to me, so I'm mostly focused on story, design, music, characters; I get it's probably a more important discussion point to someone for whom games are their primary form of entertainment and they think about it a great deal. For me, gameplay really only draws my attention when it gets on my nerves (mechanics that are overly prolonged or tiresome, levels that are boring to traverse, a boss that feels locked behind some kind of crazy strategy that you have to play a thousand times to comprehend if ever, etc.), otherwise I don't think about it very much. It's something that I think of as a background part of games like wallpaper, that it only draws attention to itself when it's not working well.

All I can say is I mostly enjoyed 3, the Keyblade Transformations and special attacks as well as leveling each Keyblade up to max was fun to me in way KH2 just wasn't. It's hard to put into words why something feels fun and something else doesn't sometimes, it just is. Especially in Arendelle when all Sora's movement seems to open up right before the "Let It Go" re-creation, it's wildly fun for me when I play it, almost a shame it comes so late into the game. I'm not able to comment on DLC additions to 3's gameplay though to compare the Day 1 product to whatever came later. The summons were mostly still irrelevant and the spells still somewhat underwhelming, but the latter are still a bit better than most of the games since 1 just for the fact every different level of the same spell is available from beginning to end unlike past games.

Trying to find a proper way to conclude all this, lol, I'll just end by saying again that I've been enjoying the direction from Coded onwards for the most part and 4 is still too much of a question mark to say what I think either way about Yozora, Quadratum, the Foretellers, and so on if it's a good direction or not. Quadratum at least is more exciting to me on paper than KH2's secret ending and sequel bait was. KH1's post-credit scenes were amazing and kept me hyped for ages, although the final view of what it all was didn't really live up to it. Sometimes you don't know if the direction is satisfying until you get there.

 

[Phoenix]

A complicated question. If you asked me if I liked the direction from KH1 onwards, no. But if we're talking about the direction from different jumpoff points, the answer might be slightly different.

I thought most of what happened with 2 wasn't a good direction after 1 and CoM, for example. It was a letdown in a lot of ways for me, although I still enjoy the game. And BbS and Days seemed like it went even further down that particular hole. But I liked the direction from thereon, enjoyed all of Coded, 3D, 0.2, 3. I didn't mind the time travel the way most of the fanbase seemed to, and I liked that they brought so many characters back via norting, that gave the series up to that point a full-circle vibe (one it didn't completely earn, but it was better than I would've expected). I do wish BbS Volume 2 had happened, although they probably made the right decision to focus on getting to 3 already, but I think it would've been worth the blah that is the first BbS just to get the sequel; taking the best thing from the first one (Aqua) along with Riku / Mickey and the destroyed worlds in the world of darkness, that would've been a great game, too, no doubt. Which is why 0.2 was so fun, it was the lost remains of it. I think the only thing about 3 that sort of let me down was delaying Maleficent's relevance with the box, they were clearly building that up for 3 in 3D and then they punted it down the road again. /sigh Now with 4.... I really don't know what to say right now, we'll have to get that game first. The worst possibility is this is all just Versus XIII leftovers under a KH skin, but if it's an alternate universe kind of thing (as far as Yozora and Quadratum being an alternate take on the same story Sora, Riku, and Kairi had in KH1-CoM-KH2) which I've started to lean towards it perhaps being over the past two years after reading certain fan discussions/theories, I think *that* could be very fun depending. We'll see, in other words.

The only thing I would criticize about the direction of 3 is sort of an ongoing problem with the series that the developers course correct to extremes, to the point they end up creating another problem in reverse. Most of my criticism about 2 was how irrelevant most of the Disney content was (including how poor the design of those levels generally was). 3D and 3 both massively improved the Disney worlds, but 3 took it to the point of erasing the original worlds almost entirely for the Disney content. I feel like 3D was the best balance--the most like KH1 in that way--as far as having large-scale, fun Disney worlds (for the most part) bookended by strong original worlds with a return to the original worlds in the centerpoint of the game. I feel like that's a good formula. Of course 3 does have original content at the start and end, but it's so tamped down. (RIP my dreams of new stained glass artwork for the PoH.) I don't mind so much that Twilight Town was on the skimpy side and the intro mostly works even though its a Disney world, but I was bitter that Radiant Garden wasn't there and the final level felt way too small and too short... Most of what happened was satisfying to me, it's just it could've been prolonged by an hour or two more. I suppose it's possible they didn't intend the final levels to be that way considering San Fransokyo also feels like they sort of hit a wall as far as what they could get done in time for release when compared the rest of the Disney worlds, although it's of course still massive compared to the Keyblade Graveyard.

Now 4 looks like it may be doing the same ricocheting in the opposite direction from criticisms of 3, to the point it seems primarily original content and Disney to the side again. You can sort of trace that same extreme course correction from one game to another with the gameplay, too, with the way they mostly did away with Reaction Commands in 3 because of criticism following 2 and now bringing them back in 4 because of criticism following 3. (Same thing that happened with water mechanics with us no getting a proper water world after KH1 until The Caribbean in 3). Too bad they can't have it both ways on that point by giving you an option for whatever gameplay mechanic you'd prefer to have at the start of the game, lol.

I generally enjoyed the gameplay in 3D, 0.2, and 3. But I admit the gameplay isn't really the side of things I'm most focused on, so getting into specifics would be difficult; I don't think of myself as a "gamer" per se, maybe just in the casual sense, since I don't play that many games or that often. Games are just one of several different forms of entertainment to me, so I'm mostly focused on story, design, music, characters; I get it's probably a more important discussion point to someone for whom games are their primary form of entertainment and they think about it a great deal. For me, gameplay really only draws my attention when it gets on my nerves (mechanics that are overly prolonged or tiresome, levels that are boring to traverse, a boss that feels locked behind some kind of crazy strategy that you have to play a thousand times to comprehend if ever, etc.), otherwise I don't think about it very much. It's something that I think of as a background part of games like wallpaper, that it only draws attention to itself when it's not working well.

All I can say is I mostly enjoyed 3, the Keyblade Transformations and special attacks as well as leveling each Keyblade up to max was fun to me in way KH2 just wasn't. It's hard to put into words why something feels fun and something else doesn't sometimes, it just is. Especially in Arendelle when all Sora's movement seems to open up right before the "Let It Go" re-creation, it's wildly fun for me when I play it, almost a shame it comes so late into the game. I'm not able to comment on DLC additions to 3's gameplay though to compare the Day 1 product to whatever came later. The summons were mostly still irrelevant and the spells still somewhat underwhelming, but the latter are still a bit better than most of the games since 1 just for the fact every different level of the same spell is available from beginning to end unlike past games.

Trying to find a proper way to conclude all this, lol, I'll just end by saying again that I've been enjoying the direction from Coded onwards for the most part and 4 is still too much of a question mark to say what I think either way about Yozora, Quadratum, the Foretellers, and so on if it's a good direction or not. Quadratum at least is more exciting to me on paper than KH2's secret ending and sequel bait was. KH1's post-credit scenes were amazing and kept me hyped for ages, although the final view of what it all was didn't really live up to it. Sometimes you don't know if the direction is satisfying until you get there.

On your last point, in convinced that Another Side Another Story at the end of KH1 is what created the fandom that KH has. Like, we've had this Disney and FF romp, it was good, now it's over. Then the game hits us teenagers with this shonen-ass anime trailer of a guy dual wielding keyblades and fighting a horde of monsters, with cryptic words in the background. It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.