Playthrough Order? How would you do it?

[hlc1988]

So once 1.5 and 2.5 come out on PS4 I want to do a big run through of KH. Taking my time and 100% everything.

I've played all the games now (thanks to 2.8 I've finally been able to play DDD).

So what is the best order to play in? I'm looking for different opinions.... Different ways I could do this and get the maximum Kingdom Hearts experience.

 

[Grono]

Hmm... you're planning on playing every game, right? In that case, i'd probably play the original first, followed by re:chain and then Days, then go through KHII, play coded, play birth by sleep, then play 0.2, cool down with the Back Cover movie, and finish it off with Dream Drop Distance. While it's not in the intended order of play, you've played them before, so I think spacing apart the big titles and adding the sort of "smaller" titles in the middle might be a good idea. I'd either end with Dream Drop Distance, since it's one of the latest titles, or Kingdom hearts II, because it's a good way to cap off the series. One or the other sounds fine to me.

Personally, I'd skip Days since I hate playing it so much and just watch the cutscenes. Re:Coded is actually one of my favorite titles because of the gameplay and lighthearted nature, so I'd go play through that for sure oUo

 

[Muke]

Lemme quote my post about this real fast~

There are three ways to play the games, but only two are effective:

CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
BackCover/X/Ux -> KHBBS -> KHBBS 0.2 -> KH1 -> KHCoM -> KHDays -> KH2 -> KHReCoded -> KHDDD
This is the not-effective way. You will just confuse yourself and spoil basically everything anyway. ish.

RELEASE ORDER
KH1 -> KHCoM -> KH2 -> KHDays -> KHBBS -> KHReCoded -> KHDDD -> (KHUx/X/BackCover) KHBBS 0.2
Undoubtedly the best order. I'd go with either this or:

REMIXES ORDER
KH1 -> KHCoM -> KHDays -> KH2 -> KHBBS -> KHReCoded -> KHDDD -> KHBBS 0.2 -> BackCover
This one's good, but not perfect like the Release Order. As you will get 1.5+2.5 anyway, you should probably play the games in release order.

So, to get the utlimate KH experience skip Days you should go with the release order.

 

[BlackOsprey]

I'll probably play whatever I feel like when I get it. Which would put KH1 and II up at first or second (dunno which I'd do first though), BBS and Re:CoM would be on random whim, and I probably just wouldn't bother with the cutscene collections.

 

[Muke]

I mean, if you already know what everything is about, I'd do it the fun way:

KH2 -> KH1 -> CoM -> BBS

 

[Grono]

Honestly, now that I think about it, maybe it'd be a better idea to play it in the release order anyways. It does balance the "spin-off-ish" titles in with the main titles pretty nicely, and the only adjustments I'd make is maybe playing 0.2 right after you play the secret episode from birth by sleep and watching the back cover movie before Dream Drop Distance so you don't leave the collections feeling empty or confused in any extra ways.

EDIT: I also wouldn't bother replaying through all of X we have so far either, it's not even that amazing anyways so if you're already playing it I'd just keep up with the story as you go along and just play it in real time.

 

[Muke]

Honestly, now that I think about it, maybe it'd be a better idea to play it in the release order anyways. It does balance the "spin-off-ish" titles in with the main titles pretty nicely, and the only adjustments I'd make is maybe playing 0.2 right after you play the secret episode from birth by sleep and watching the back cover movie before Dream Drop Distance so you don't leave the collections feeling empty or confused in any extra ways.

That's only good for people who've played the games though (so yeah, you could do this), because 0.2 pretty much spoilers the whole ending of DDD. BackCover... I dunno about that. I think the concept of Dream Eaters being introduced in DDD warrants it coming before BC but wdik. ^^'

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Release order is the only way to do it with a "machete" edit in there:

KH1 -> CoM -> Roxas' 7 Days in KH2 -> Days HD -> KH2 -> Birth By Sleep -> Re:coded HD -> KH3D -> Back Cover -> 0.2

 

[Grono]

That's only good for people who've played the games though (so yeah, you could do this), because 0.2 pretty much spoilers the whole ending of DDD. BackCover... I dunno about that. I think the concept of Dream Eaters being introduced in DDD warrants it coming before BC but wdik. ^^'

Well, the guy that asked had already played all of the games. That's why I suggested the edit, if it was a new player release order would be the only way to go, but he's not new, so I think that order would be more fun to me (except I'd probably just skip around and watch one or two scenes from Back Cover and Days instead of watching/playing the whole thing).

EDIT:

Release order is the only way to do it with a "machete" edit in there:

KH1 -> CoM -> Roxas' 7 Days in KH2 -> Days HD -> KH2 -> Birth By Sleep -> Re:coded HD -> KH3D -> Back Cover -> 0.2

ugh, one of THOSE people =P

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

ugh, one of THOSE people =P

Hey, it makes Days really depressing if you go from the 7 days to the movie. Like you want to hurt somebody, that is the best way to do it.

 

[hlc1988]

Hmm... you're planning on playing every game, right? In that case, i'd probably play the original first, followed by re:chain and then Days, then go through KHII, play coded, play birth by sleep, then play 0.2, cool down with the Back Cover movie, and finish it off with Dream Drop Distance. While it's not in the intended order of play, you've played them before, so I think spacing apart the big titles and adding the sort of "smaller" titles in the middle might be a good idea. I'd either end with Dream Drop Distance, since it's one of the latest titles, or Kingdom hearts II, because it's a good way to cap off the series. One or the other sounds fine to me.

Personally, I'd skip Days since I hate playing it so much and just watch the cutscenes. Re:Coded is actually one of my favorite titles because of the gameplay and lighthearted nature, so I'd go play through that for sure oUo

I should clarify that I do not have the handheld consoles to play Coded or Days so I will have to do the movies for those. Unfortunately I'm not paying out for a console just for two games. So those two will be ones I cannot physically play.

I mean, if you already know what everything is about, I'd do it the fun way:

KH2 -> KH1 -> CoM -> BBS

How is this the fun way?

Release order is the only way to do it with a "machete" edit in there:

KH1 -> CoM -> Roxas' 7 Days in KH2 -> Days HD -> KH2 -> Birth By Sleep -> Re:coded HD -> KH3D -> Back Cover -> 0.2

That's interesting way to do it....

Well, the guy that asked had already played all of the games. That's why I suggested the edit, if it was a new player release order would be the only way to go, but he's not new, so I think that order would be more fun to me (except I'd probably just skip around and watch one or two scenes from Back Cover and Days instead of watching/playing the whole thing).

*ahem* I'm female *ahem*

I'm not annoyed about the assumption I'm male lol!

 

[The Dark Mamba]

Release order is the only way to do it with a "machete" edit in there:

KH1 -> CoM -> Roxas' 7 Days in KH2 -> Days HD -> KH2 -> Birth By Sleep -> Re:coded HD -> KH3D -> Back Cover -> 0.2

Interesting order. Wonder how effective it would be.

For sh#ts and giggles one day I might marathon the series in chronological order to see how the story plays out (probably won't do it).

 

[Hirokey123]

You know I've been working on an interesting order with a friend on what we call a "character" driven order rather than a plot driven order, mind you this will seem blasphemous and I am not saying it's ideal for a first timer.

BC>BBS>CoM>KH1>Days>KH2>Coded>DDD>0.2

Spoiler Show

So you see all the stuff leading up to the keyblade war and learn about that keyblade.
Then you immediately jump to a game that pretty heavily tied to BC and in a way sort of dealing with the ramifications of it.
From there we jump to the game that address all those people you met in BBS and Castle Oblivion and ends with Sora's sleep.
Then we start off with KH1 where Sora is already in a dream and then "wakes up" and almost feels as if you're sort of watching Sora's memory restoration from Sora's point of view as things are pieced together as him reliving his life.
We jump to Roxas then and see the next stage of the story of most of those BBS characters etc...and while KH1 here is treated as what is going on "inside" Days would be what is going on outside.
Which leads us directly into KH2 and then from everything then on works in a nice chronological order.

This way everything feels a lot more connected and coherent instead of retcon-y, and no one is vanishing for large stretches of time not even Kairi. In fact in this order someone like Kairi appears and/or speaks in literally every other game.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

You know I've been working on an interesting order with a friend on what we call a "character" driven order rather than a plot driven order, mind you this will seem blasphemous and I am not saying it's ideal for a first timer.

BC>BBS>CoM>KH1>Days>KH2>Coded>DDD>0.2

Spoiler Show

So you see all the stuff leading up to the keyblade war and learn about that keyblade.
Then you immediately jump to a game that pretty heavily tied to BC and in a way sort of dealing with the ramifications of it.
From there we jump to the game that address all those people you met in BBS and Castle Oblivion and ends with Sora's sleep.
Then we start off with KH1 where Sora is already in a dream and then "wakes up" and almost feels as if you're sort of watching Sora's memory restoration from Sora's point of view as things are pieced together as him reliving his life.
We jump to Roxas then and see the next stage of the story of most of those BBS characters etc...and while KH1 here is treated as what is going on "inside" Days would be what is going on outside.
Which leads us directly into KH2 and then from everything then on works in a nice chronological order.

This way everything feels a lot more connected and coherent instead of retcon-y, and no one is vanishing for large stretches of time not even Kairi. In fact in this order someone like Kairi appears and/or speaks in literally every other game.

This order is actually really interesting. I might try it out since I'm still working on my plats for the PS3 collections.

 

[Grono]

You know I've been working on an interesting order with a friend on what we call a "character" driven order rather than a plot driven order, mind you this will seem blasphemous and I am not saying it's ideal for a first timer.

BC>BBS>CoM>KH1>Days>KH2>Coded>DDD>0.2

Spoiler Show

So you see all the stuff leading up to the keyblade war and learn about that keyblade.
Then you immediately jump to a game that pretty heavily tied to BC and in a way sort of dealing with the ramifications of it.
From there we jump to the game that address all those people you met in BBS and Castle Oblivion and ends with Sora's sleep.
Then we start off with KH1 where Sora is already in a dream and then "wakes up" and almost feels as if you're sort of watching Sora's memory restoration from Sora's point of view as things are pieced together as him reliving his life.
We jump to Roxas then and see the next stage of the story of most of those BBS characters etc...and while KH1 here is treated as what is going on "inside" Days would be what is going on outside.
Which leads us directly into KH2 and then from everything then on works in a nice chronological order.

This way everything feels a lot more connected and coherent instead of retcon-y, and no one is vanishing for large stretches of time not even Kairi. In fact in this order someone like Kairi appears and/or speaks in literally every other game.

This. is. Genius.

I should clarify that I do not have the handheld consoles to play Coded or Days so I will have to do the movies for those. Unfortunately I'm not paying out for a console just for two games. So those two will be ones I cannot physically play.

Aw, I'm sorry about that I understand, I'd maybe try emulating Re:Coded if you can (skip Days, it's not worth it, and it's probably a nightmare with the computer controls).

*ahem* I'm female *ahem*

I'm not annoyed about the assumption I'm male lol!

*hides head into sweatshirt while blushing wildly* oops, sorry xD

Hey, it makes Days really depressing if you go from the 7 days to the movie. Like you want to hurt somebody, that is the best way to do it.

pfffffffffft almost spit out my drink when I read "Like if you want to hurt somebody, that is the best way to do it." xD

 

[Nazo]

Hey, it makes Days really depressing if you go from the 7 days to the movie. Like you want to hurt somebody, that is the best way to do it.

Fascinating. Never thought about doing it this way. You'd get the best of both worlds with this method in terms of Days' effectiveness. You get that "Wait who is this?" feeling we all did back in the day and get to experience Days after having played the Roxas portion of KH2 as you would in release order, but you still get to experience all of the story of Days prior to beating KH2 so that you don't jump backwards from KH2, to Days, and then jump again to BBS and have it feel jarring. As you said, definitely reminiscent of the Machete Star Wars viewing order.

You know I've been working on an interesting order with a friend on what we call a "character" driven order rather than a plot driven order, mind you this will seem blasphemous and I am not saying it's ideal for a first timer.

BC>BBS>CoM>KH1>Days>KH2>Coded>DDD>0.2

Spoiler Show

So you see all the stuff leading up to the keyblade war and learn about that keyblade.
Then you immediately jump to a game that pretty heavily tied to BC and in a way sort of dealing with the ramifications of it.
From there we jump to the game that address all those people you met in BBS and Castle Oblivion and ends with Sora's sleep.
Then we start off with KH1 where Sora is already in a dream and then "wakes up" and almost feels as if you're sort of watching Sora's memory restoration from Sora's point of view as things are pieced together as him reliving his life.
We jump to Roxas then and see the next stage of the story of most of those BBS characters etc...and while KH1 here is treated as what is going on "inside" Days would be what is going on outside.
Which leads us directly into KH2 and then from everything then on works in a nice chronological order.

This way everything feels a lot more connected and coherent instead of retcon-y, and no one is vanishing for large stretches of time not even Kairi. In fact in this order someone like Kairi appears and/or speaks in literally every other game.

When I first read that order, I was so confused as to how that would ever make sense, but that is a really solid explanation for why that order works. Impressive. I don't think I would personally play them in that order, but that's a really creative way to order them and still have it make sense.

 

[hlc1988]

Aw, I'm sorry about that I understand, I'd maybe try emulating Re:Coded if you can (skip Days, it's not worth it, and it's probably a nightmare with the computer controls).

I might try that. I guess it depends on how slow I end up being through this. I won't start until the PS4 versions are out. I've actually taken time off work to play 2.8 and I plan to do the same for KH3... But the whole run through is going to take me a while so if I get the chance to emulate Re:Coded then I will try,

*hides head into sweatshirt while blushing wildly* oops, sorry xD

Heh. This seems to be a common thing I've found! You're not first and you certainly won't be the last!

 

[Grono]

Heh. This seems to be a common thing I've found! You're not first and you certainly won't be the last!

It's honestly probably because I saw Sora and Riku in your profile pic xD

 

[hlc1988]

It's honestly probably because I saw Sora and Riku in your profile pic xD

LOL! Sorry, that cracked me up!