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Kingdom Hearts The Dark Seeker Saga ?



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mozzafaralj

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Best Game Of This Saga For you ?



Kingdom Hearts 1 Final Mix
Kingdom Hearts Re Chain Of Memories
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix
Kingdom Hearts Re coded
Kingdom Hearts HD Dream Drop Distance
Kingdom Hearts X (Unchained /Back Cover/Union )
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep A fragmentary passage
Kingdom Hearts III Remind

What is the best game in the series for you?
Do you have another opinion?
You can also share your opinion in the comments
 

AR829038

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For me, the best in terms of story was KH1. Best in terms of gameplay was KH2, although KH3ReMind has practically usurped that title. For best overall experience, I would go with KH3, though, despite all the elements it lacked (people take for granted how much of an improvement KH3 was for the series, even if it did neglect some aspects like story or challenge—people forget that KH2's story was actually in many ways more of a mess than 3, and Reflega among other features gave people a way to cheese gameplay that ReMIND no longer allows). But if I'm being honest, KH1 just has that unique nostalgic charm for me that no other title in the series ever quite recaptured.
KHUX, however, is by far the worst imo.
My ranking would be something like this:

1. KH1
2. KH3
3. KH2
4. KHBBS
5. KH DDD
6. KH 0.2
7. KH CoM
8. KH Days
9. KH Coded
10. KHX
 

Elysium

Be Wiser Than the Serpent
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1. KH1
2. KH DDD
3. KH3
4. KH CoM
5. KH2
6. KH Coded
7. KH 0.2
8. KH Days
9. KH BbS

Never played X and never will, I guess. 3D and KH3 are pretty close in my mind. 3 has all the SDG moments, but KH 3D has all the Riku moments (even the few scenes he has in 3 are sort of stilted and bland). And I think 3D's ending world is more climactic than 3's. Plus, 3D has Traverse Town and the TWEWY characters.
 

Absent

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Ever since 3 and I've been thinking about this. Honestly I think the first Kingdom Hearts game is the best for me, with 2 coming close second. I don't know how to explain it besides nostalgia. The way that game plays out and experiencing it for the time when you're a kid is something words cannot describe. I was privileged enough to go to Disney World 3 times before I turned 10 and the 90's Disney renaissance shaped my childhood, so needless to say I breathed and lived Disney when I was young.
Playing KH1 during the early 2000s was like discovering a new frontier, it felt new and revolutionary and just like other childhood hobbies, I'll never achieve that high again.
Maybe I am getting old and jaded because I found it hard to fully enjoy the entries past 358/2 Days. Every trope and cliche, every suspension of disbelief just made me realize I loved the idea of what I thought KH was. Sorry to go on a ramble...

What I love: Everything from Kingdom Hearts(2002) to 358/2 days(2009). Anything else I don't like or feel indifferent.
 

Zettaflare

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KH2 Final mix is my favorite game in the first saga with KH1 coming a close second. I would rank it first but I have a bit more nostalgia for KH2 since it was the first game I actually completed.

KH1 will always stand out above the other games. No other title will ever be able to capture its magic
 

SweetYetSalty

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It varies from gameplay to story really.

Fave by Story
1: KH1-Still the best story and best overall with everything.
2: Days-My favorite trio, favorite character interactions, favorite friendship. Eternal RAX lover
3: COM-Sora's side is pretty good but I love what they did with Riku/Repliku and the intro of the Organization.
4: BBS-I won't lie the novel boosted my love for TAV so now I'm more attached to them and their stories.
5: KH3-If it was better paced it be higher. With ReMind this game got so much better.
6: KH2-to me this game has aged poorly in terms of story but some things still hold up. I was debating putting DDD above it.
7: DDD-I do have a higher appreciation for the story again thanks to the novel. I was neutral on this but now I like it.
8: Re:Coded-Even though it's placed so far down I do love Data Sora and Data Riku. They are as lovable as the real things.
9: Union X- I still can't follow all of it. I only truly get the MoM and Zoo-Key parts.
10: 0.2- I sometimes forget to rank this. It's only placed so low because I watched it once and never again. Not that it's bad.

Fave by Gameplay
1: KH1-Still my favorite and barely beats out the rest. It's a classic.
2: KH3-The new combos, abilities and bosses makes this a rival to KH1 enjoyment.
3: KH2-Good controls with solid gameplay and everything. No real complaints minus Anti-Form.
4: BBS-Even though I only played it once most of the controls were good to decent.
5: Days-I honestly don't think this game is as bad as many say. By KH standards sure, but as a DS game it runs just fine.
6: COM-I never got the hang of the card system and quit. Just wasn't for me and my style.

I haven't actually played DDD, Re:Coded, 0.2, or any Union X stuff. I have DDD and 0.2 so I should at least give those two a try with the Story So Far collection.

Edit: I'm wondering if I should rank them by novel and mangas too lol.
 
Last edited:

Darkness Call

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My order for story and gameplay goes like this

1. KH3/REMIND
2. KH2 Final Mix
3. KH Birth by Sleep Final Mix
4. KH Dream Drop Distance
5. KH1 Final Mix
6. KH 358/2 Days
7. KH Chains of Memories
8. KH Coded
9. KH Union Cross
 

welken

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1. KH1
The original Kingdom Hearts is legendary. It's the one. It's a marvel of gaming, a genuinely magical adventure with the perfect opening and final acts to bookend the whole experience. Every aspect of the game is filled with love and novelty. I can always come back to it and discover something new. It picked up the reigns where Ocarina of Time left off, and delivered a similarly satisfying journey that just stays with you. The music is sublime and transcendent. There is a profundity to the design work that is uniquely Kingdom Hearts, that goes to a place Walt Disney and Squaresoft hadn't yet reached, and haven't since. Dive to the Heart, Hollow Bastion, End of the World... These places are eerily pungent with spirit. It's a truly heartful game, and it still beats.

2. KH2: a classic action game in its own right. It didn't have to reinvent the battle system form KH1, but it did. The streamlined gameplay is a sleek and wondrous contraption, clinking kinetically within itself. It's fabulous. The whole production feels very deluxe. It's one of the most beautiful PS2 games, and the use of fisheye perspective is applied just right. The story is lopsided and inconsistent with the epic drama of the original, but nowadays I feel its obtusity is justified. It's a spectacular spiral into nothingness, unafraid to cast off any notions of what a Kingdom Hearts sequel should be and did its own thing.

3. DDD: Charming and oddly quaint, almost like it's consciously holding back. But it's fun to bounce around, and I appreciated the focus on characterization, relatively speaking. Yensid's arbitrary Mark of Mastery is a woefully uncompelling place to start a story, but I can appreciate a good dream. Traverse Town, The World That Never Was, Pinocchio were all welcome returns. This is the only game in the series that applies nostalgia (for itself) properly. It's an awkward game, but there's something affectionate about it that the other spinoffs don't have. It's unified by the carnival theme, and feels like more of a celebration of Kingdom Hearts than anything.

4. CoM (GBA): Beautiful sprite art, and a surprisingly grim story that redefined the tone and lore of KH, though of course KH2 redefined it again, leaving Chain of Memories as an odd curiosity peppered with interesting concepts and characters, most of which never found a way to be organically reintegrated. It's a treat, but more bitter than sweet.

5. BBS: This was the last title in the series with a real spark of ambition behind it. There was that initial vision of grandeur, armored keyblade warriors fatefully gathering on an ancient battlefield. But it never quite came together and reached that space opera climactic grandiosity. The script is an exhausted scramble, desperately trying to jam the pieces together. It wears very thin across three playthroughs. The new mechanics and concepts are all half-baked, but it's still an enjoyable enough game to play through because it does have the style and skeleton of KH.

6. Days: It's a good story. It feels personal, and wistful. The gear system was cool. Unfortunately, the gameplay is simply functional and the worlds are lacking creativity when they aren't 1:1 copies of maps from KH1 & 2. I'm tempted to place this above BBS, because the feeling of loneliness within an institution and complications between friends is handled so much better here. But I can't ignore how perfunctory most of the missions are.

7. KH3: The Wound itself. The game that lost its heart. I had made excuses to myself for the handheld spinoffs, but this was proof that something had gone deeply wrong within the franchise years ago. The taste level has plummeted. The elegance, gone. Corona and The Final World were indeed lovely, but that's simply not enough for me to forgive this catastrophe. There are probably several reasons why KH lost its luster in the corporate crunch, and all must be addressed if this series is ever to rise from the ashes and become the glorious extravaganza it still can be. KH should be held to a higher standard because it has that potential, to go to infinity and beyond. Maybe, someday.

8. Re:coded: It's cute. Some cool mechanics, but the bughunting is just too repetitive and the stakes could not be lower. I'm sure the original was an impressive phone game, but ultimately it's a trifle.

9. Re:CoM: How did this even make it through the planning stage? Instead of elevating Chain of Memories in any way, or adapting it to best fit a 3D medium, it aims for the bare minimum, and in doing so disgraces the original and the franchise overall. It's not fun.

10. x/unchained x/union cross: There's no excusing this. Yes, the story does possess a measure of intrigue that recent other KH games lack, but it's a cheap mystery told at a snail's pace within a dreadful app that preys upon addictive personalities with credit cards. It's a shame that this story, and now Xehanort's, have been relegated to this garish thing.

I don't feel 0.2 stands well enough on its own to judge as a full game, but I'd probably place it alongside BBS. I don't need to factor in Final Mixes or Re:Mind because they didn't change my estimation at all, only reinforced how I already felt about the games on release.
 
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