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KH traditions



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Soldier

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Hello,

Over the course of a life, people develop traditions as they age, either inherited by their family and culture, or through certain rituals they perform. In the world of gaming, this is no more evident than with certain people. You might do a certain action on a certain day, play one level exclusively or do something annually (or semi annually). Not everyone would do this, but some people (including myself) do this in remembrance of simpler times. I'll explain what I mean.

I've gone on and on in this forum about how I got into Kingdom Hearts. To cut a long story short, It was given to me and my sister as a Christmas gift in 2004 and it slowly became one of our favorite games. This love would grow into me collecting KH merch and platinuming every KH game on the PS4, a badge of honor I still wear with pride. And because I played the game as a child with my sister, we developed "traditions" of sorts. Whenever we heard simple and clean, we HAD to sing along no matter what. If it was the opening or credits scene, we needed to sing it, and we actually got pretty good at it. We also routinely replayed the fight against Demyx in KH 2 as he was (to our younger selves) one of the hardest bosses we ever faced.

But a lot of that can't happen anymore, because my sister is no longer alive. Simple and clean is no longer a duet, but a mere solo as intended and beating Demyx is less fun now that she's gone. But I chose not to abandon these rituals as they were among some of my most cherished memories. So on the eve of her birthday (which is/was September 24th ftr) I decided to start a new tradition. I'd do two things on her birthday:

-Beat the original KH (or remastered version on PS4) by going to the final boss and fighting it on the hardest difficulty (she sadly, wasn't able to do that near the end of her life). Since I've done the fight so many times, it's effectively muscle memory at this point and I pull off victory on a save file where I only died once in the entire game. Following this I sing simple and clean out loud, through tears if I have to.

-Fight Demyx's data version (another fight she wasn't great at). He was our favorite character and it prompted me to find merchandise of him (a tough ordeal, given how little SE cares for him). Couldn't really tell you why, it just was one of our favorite things to do.

I plan on doing these things on her birthday every year starting in 2021 and continuing to do so until my time has come. I can't say whether or not that's exactly how she'd want to be honored, but as I said, these memories have a special place in my heart, and I want to keep them around as long as I can.

What are some of your traditions when playing these games? Let me know down below.
 

okhi12

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You cherish the memories of the time you spent together, I'm sure that's all that matters.

I don't have any KH tradition related to a specific date, only certain ways of playing the game like beating sephiroth in KH1 with the kingdom key and no equipment or items, or defeating bosses with specific spells, special attacks, summons or combo finishers.
 

MATGSY

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Create a separate save file for every boss so I can refight any of them at my leisure.

This has led to me having 90+ hours logged on RE:Coded due to farming for blank chips so I could fight the earlier bosses at a proper level.
 

bambii

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What you’ve described is beautiful and deeply touching. You’ve established a ritual in the truest sense of the word, not as simple habit/repetition but as something that evokes the immaterial—memory, the deceased, and emotions that otherwise may not have a place to be held fully. I hope it continues to serve you down the years; don’t be afraid to make tweaks as you change and as your life changes. The specifics aren’t the important thing, it’s the spirit of it that matters.

In any case, beyond the actual act of *playing* the games and periodically revisiting certain sections, I suppose the closest thing I can come up with mostly centers around Yoko’s music. Back in the day I used to drift off to sleep to some pieces, especially the piano collections. More recently, I’ve taken to prolonged music sessions under starry skies, especially during full moon, and several KH tracks are usually incorporated into that repertoire. The Yozora tracks are irresistible, evoking a sense of mystery—Somnus is also lumped in there, to the extent it can be considered KH-related (I’d argue it can, especially considering the theme makes a cameo in Secrets of the Night). Other tracks often visited during these lunar sessions include Distant From You, Darkness of the Unknown, and Stranded Beyond.
 

Soldier

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What you’ve described is beautiful and deeply touching. You’ve established a ritual in the truest sense of the word, not as simple habit/repetition but as something that evokes the immaterial—memory, the deceased, and emotions that otherwise may not have a place to be held fully. I hope it continues to serve you down the years; don’t be afraid to make tweaks as you change and as your life changes. The specifics aren’t the important thing, it’s the spirit of it that matters.

In any case, beyond the actual act of *playing* the games and periodically revisiting certain sections, I suppose the closest thing I can come up with mostly centers around Yoko’s music. Back in the day I used to drift off to sleep to some pieces, especially the piano collections. More recently, I’ve taken to prolonged music sessions under starry skies, especially during full moon, and several KH tracks are usually incorporated into that repertoire. The Yozora tracks are irresistible, evoking a sense of mystery—Somnus is also lumped in there, to the extent it can be considered KH-related (I’d argue it can, especially considering the theme makes a cameo in Secrets of the Night). Other tracks often visited during these lunar sessions include Distant From You, Darkness of the Unknown, and Stranded Beyond.
Thank you for your sentiment, I always had the idea that tradition was something that was often written in stone, with very little flexibility. Now that I know a little more about it, I'll definitely keep that in mind 363 days from now to keep that streak going.
(Also if Simple and Clean were to ever play on the radio in my car, as unlikely as that would happen, I'd sing it there too).

That's something you worked into your routine, and thus it's fair game in terms of a KH tradition. I too am guilty of listening to some tracks before heading off to bed, though mainly some of the more ambient themes in KH's history.
 
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