I regret ever becoming a fan of Kingdom Hearts.
And no, not because I hated the series. It was actually the exact opposite.
I was a passionate fan of Kingdom Hearts for over four years. Nothing out of ordinary, right? But much unlike everyone else, I respected almost every design choice Square Enix made for the series, and for logically appropriate reasons (that nobody wants to hear). But the various discussions across the Internet, from fans and haters alike, telling me that I was in love with a poorly-written fanfiction about the Mary Sue OCs capitalizing on the famous properties and stealing their spotlight have really got to me. Seeing how many people actually agree with such opinions and how almost no one tries to defend the series - not even fans themeselves, with their "so bad it's good" kind of attitude - made me fell bad for loving a series that I always thought had no major issues.
But there's nothing wrong with liking something that's mediocre, right?
The thing is, I never felt that the series was anything near mediocre. When fans say stuff like "The first step in becoming a true KH fan is realizing how terrible the story is, and still absolutely loving it", I say stuff like "The first step in becoming a true Kingdom Hearts fan is realizing why Chain of Memories had a card-based battle system". I'm pretty sure you're convinced that the reinvented battle system is just a bad design practice, but how are you supposed to make an action-RPG for the Game Boy Advance with only A, B, Select and shoulder buttons that combines attacking, defending, summoning, using items and casting spells, all while roaming around? The card-based gameplay did exactly that - combined lots-of-buttons gameplay with a game system that has very few buttons. In order to attack or use magic, you choose and individual card; in order to use a special move, you choose multiple cards, and in order to defend, you compare the number of cards. I was always enjoying all the hidden genius behind the series that other people ignored.
Gameplay aside, people absolutely hate the story, and sometimes the original characters as well. Now, four years of my exposure to the series were more than enough to make me understand the lore and the character's insight, and make me open-minded about it. And still, I felt that all of it was absolutelly brilliant, with that feeling growing accordingly as I was discovering more and more titbits of it. Unfortunately, not many people think the same.
"...The crossover is window dressing, decoration, garnish; maybe a side dish to the main dish that is the main story of Sora, Riku and Kairi. If we're being generous. The actual story? Even the fans think it's a bit silly. When you get past the repeated "heart", "light" and "darkness", it's ultimately a shonen anime about some kids with bad hair who have to save the world from supervillains who want to destroy the world/rule the world for... reasons."
I have plenty of reasons to disagree, but is anyone really going to listen? At this point I feel like either a biased fanboy that refuses to accept the truth (the kind that people make fun of), or the only one who can differ right from wrong with everyone else just being clueless assholes (sound pretty pretentious, doesn't it?). And, for a person that doesn't usually victimize themselves, it's a lose-lose situation. After all, if there was nothing wrong with Kingdom Hearts, nobody would complain - simple logic.
I feel like I wasted my time. Don't I have something better to get into, or a more healthy community to be a part of?
This situation hurts me. So how do I avoid this pain? Maybe I should just avoid/ignore the series altogether. And yet here I am, writing all this self-centered bullcrap that will probably make you roll your eyes. Well, I can't really blame you.
I'm just hoping for something. I'm not sure what it is - maybe a new spark of interest in the series, or maybe my ability to move on without it... Maybe something else.
Anyways, if you're still reading this, sorry for taking away your free time. I just wanted to express my feelings in a place most appropriate.
A
"Out of context, the crossover is there for the sake of being there, for the sake of spectacle, rather than to tell a compelling narrative where all these worlds intertwine into one, and see what sort of consequences such a meta-union would unfold."
And no, not because I hated the series. It was actually the exact opposite.
I was a passionate fan of Kingdom Hearts for over four years. Nothing out of ordinary, right? But much unlike everyone else, I respected almost every design choice Square Enix made for the series, and for logically appropriate reasons (that nobody wants to hear). But the various discussions across the Internet, from fans and haters alike, telling me that I was in love with a poorly-written fanfiction about the Mary Sue OCs capitalizing on the famous properties and stealing their spotlight have really got to me. Seeing how many people actually agree with such opinions and how almost no one tries to defend the series - not even fans themeselves, with their "so bad it's good" kind of attitude - made me fell bad for loving a series that I always thought had no major issues.
But there's nothing wrong with liking something that's mediocre, right?
The thing is, I never felt that the series was anything near mediocre. When fans say stuff like "The first step in becoming a true KH fan is realizing how terrible the story is, and still absolutely loving it", I say stuff like "The first step in becoming a true Kingdom Hearts fan is realizing why Chain of Memories had a card-based battle system". I'm pretty sure you're convinced that the reinvented battle system is just a bad design practice, but how are you supposed to make an action-RPG for the Game Boy Advance with only A, B, Select and shoulder buttons that combines attacking, defending, summoning, using items and casting spells, all while roaming around? The card-based gameplay did exactly that - combined lots-of-buttons gameplay with a game system that has very few buttons. In order to attack or use magic, you choose and individual card; in order to use a special move, you choose multiple cards, and in order to defend, you compare the number of cards. I was always enjoying all the hidden genius behind the series that other people ignored.
Gameplay aside, people absolutely hate the story, and sometimes the original characters as well. Now, four years of my exposure to the series were more than enough to make me understand the lore and the character's insight, and make me open-minded about it. And still, I felt that all of it was absolutelly brilliant, with that feeling growing accordingly as I was discovering more and more titbits of it. Unfortunately, not many people think the same.
"...The crossover is window dressing, decoration, garnish; maybe a side dish to the main dish that is the main story of Sora, Riku and Kairi. If we're being generous. The actual story? Even the fans think it's a bit silly. When you get past the repeated "heart", "light" and "darkness", it's ultimately a shonen anime about some kids with bad hair who have to save the world from supervillains who want to destroy the world/rule the world for... reasons."
I have plenty of reasons to disagree, but is anyone really going to listen? At this point I feel like either a biased fanboy that refuses to accept the truth (the kind that people make fun of), or the only one who can differ right from wrong with everyone else just being clueless assholes (sound pretty pretentious, doesn't it?). And, for a person that doesn't usually victimize themselves, it's a lose-lose situation. After all, if there was nothing wrong with Kingdom Hearts, nobody would complain - simple logic.
I feel like I wasted my time. Don't I have something better to get into, or a more healthy community to be a part of?
This situation hurts me. So how do I avoid this pain? Maybe I should just avoid/ignore the series altogether. And yet here I am, writing all this self-centered bullcrap that will probably make you roll your eyes. Well, I can't really blame you.
I'm just hoping for something. I'm not sure what it is - maybe a new spark of interest in the series, or maybe my ability to move on without it... Maybe something else.
Anyways, if you're still reading this, sorry for taking away your free time. I just wanted to express my feelings in a place most appropriate.
A
"Out of context, the crossover is there for the sake of being there, for the sake of spectacle, rather than to tell a compelling narrative where all these worlds intertwine into one, and see what sort of consequences such a meta-union would unfold."