When you look back 19 years from now...

[kingofgame981]

What do you miss the most? Do you imagine the series will make a turn into what she is right now? Any particular aspect that made you "OMG!" or "Oh no, he didn't!"? (*cough* Luxu *cough*)

From my view, when I played through KH2 and saw the ending (KHCOM brought up the question and KH2 was the answer), I believed this was the turning point that made the whole series goes with whatever direction it will be leaded by Nomura. From the day the trio 358/2 Days, Coded and BBS being announced, I knew what I felt back then was true. It isn't a disagreement about the series being expanded. Because we all love KH, and with whatever Nomura gives to us (being from a long absence from the news, or a bunch of them at once) we all happily accept it. But it is a joy of something we have been attached to, both mentality and emotionally, keep surprising us with mysteries after mysteries.

I still remember the period when KHinsider being very busy with news the first time the trio being announced, back then I was a middle school student and cannot sit his ass still on classroom's chair because he wants to come home early, open his computer to read news from KHinsider (translation thanks to goldpanner and the team), and discuss with whatever the information he has with his friends (we even created imagination role-play text game based on little tidbit of information that we have). Now those days are long past. Vietnam's gaming forum stopped being as strong as those years, everyone has grow older, we were scattered. But each of us still follow the game up until today.

I cannot say KH was the childhood of me, but the thing that I will miss the most was the joy those years KH has created as a connection to me, and they had made a special childhood in me. Here comes the long calm before the storm with the 2nd phase of KH. (22 years for 1 phase lol)

 

[MATGSY]

Disney characters mattering. First game kept the number of originals to just a few not counting heartless & let the Disney villains & the journey across the worlds carry the narrative.

This scene right here was the exact moment KH become cool. When this weird ass Disney/Squaresoft callboration suddenly clicked. & the series has never been like this again. From CoM/KH2 & onwards, there has been an ever-growing number of new characters (I'm seriously losing count of them in the mobile games) with the villain factions being all OCs & Maleficent barely amounting to a Team Rocket position at best while other villains are filler bosses (if fought at all).

 

[Absent]

I think I will miss the youth and environment in which I experienced it all. I was a kid, oblivious to many things so it was easy for me to consume KH in its entirety. I know this sound very elitist and pretentious(forgive me)but I think I(and others) experienced Kingdom Hearts at the perfect time. At a time when the internet was becoming more accessible for many, thus uniting and forming the community. Where the darkness of fandom and hate was not something we knew(yet) because online communities were just starting. It's why I consider 2005-2009 the KH Renaissance, there was a burst of creativity that could be seen and shared(both good and cringe). It was also at a time where Disney was riding off its success from the its renaissance and we were hooked by it. The cynicism towards Disney wasn't mainstream, if anything they appeared to be untouchable and mystical.

Gaming was also evolving alongside technology, making huge cultural changes. Media was evolving rapidly, so seeing video games commercials being treated like movie trailers was crazy revolutionary. There's something so raw and powerful about those first KH commercials, something truly special like lightning in a bottle. Maybe because the novelty of KH was brand new so it felt more exciting, but there's something about the genesis of the series that was lost and I don't know what it was. Cause it would be so easy to blame the writing, but I think its something else, or perhaps many things.

I don't know man. I definitely love Kingdom Hearts but its not the same series that captured my heart, and tough luck for me, I'll have to live with that. So I'll end with this quote:

"If hurting like this can bring me closer to people. Then carrying around a little hurt can't be all that bad."

 

[kingofgame981]

Disney characters mattering. First game kept the number of originals to just a few not counting heartless & let the Disney villains & the journey across the worlds carry the narrative.

This scene right here was the exact moment KH become cool. When this weird ass Disney/Squaresoft callboration suddenly clicked. & the series has never been like this again. From CoM/KH2 & onwards, there has been an ever-growing number of new characters (I'm seriously losing count of them in the mobile games) with the villain factions being all OCs & Maleficent barely amounting to a Team Rocket position at best while other villains are filler bosses (if fought at all).

Oh, how I miss this cutscene until you brought it back. Back when I was a kid, I have a period of time where my mental really clicked with scene like this one. It was when House of Mickey arrived in Vietnam (by pirated DVD, we didn't have that authority just yet) and up until first trailer of Dissidia FF announced, that I felt so much love with the group meeting like this.

Some of us still feel deep inside that KH will end good just after Maleficent being defeated, or the big bad Ansem Seeker of Darkness lose, curtain closed.

I think I will miss the youth and environment in which I experienced it all. I was a kid, oblivious to many things so it was easy for me to consume KH in its entirety. I know this sound very elitist and pretentious(forgive me)but I think I(and others) experienced Kingdom Hearts at the perfect time. At a time when the internet was becoming more accessible for many, thus uniting and forming the community. Where the darkness of fandom and hate was not something we knew(yet) because online communities were just starting. It's why I consider 2005-2009 the KH Renaissance, there was a burst of creativity that could be seen and shared(both good and cringe). It was also at a time where Disney was riding off its success from the its renaissance and we were hooked by it. The cynicism towards Disney wasn't mainstream, if anything they appeared to be untouchable and mystical.

Gaming was also evolving alongside technology, making huge cultural changes. Media was evolving rapidly, so seeing video games commercials being treated like movie trailers was crazy revolutionary. There's something so raw and powerful about those first KH commercials, something truly special like lightning in a bottle. Maybe because the novelty of KH was brand new so it felt more exciting, but there's something about the genesis of the series that was lost and I don't know what it was. Cause it would be so easy to blame the writing, but I think its something else, or perhaps many things.

I don't know man. I definitely love Kingdom Hearts but its not the same series that captured my heart, and tough luck for me, I'll have to live with that. So I'll end with this quote:

I totally agree. I only gain accessed to internet when the 3 trio 358/2, BBS and Coded being announced at TGS, which is 2007, but its own atmosphere from the community worldwide is too powerful for a kid like me at that time to handle, and it was a precious. For the hate both in the fandom and outsider's eyes look at the series, I have learned to accept that not everybody can have the same taste. Just live on with that.

I did shed a bit of tears when I first saw the trailer of KH3. But look back at it now, I feel it was more like a relief from the long emotion that have been following me since the first time I felt in love with KH. After that, it is not the same anymore.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Disney characters mattering. First game kept the number of originals to just a few not counting heartless & let the Disney villains & the journey across the worlds carry the narrative.

This scene right here was the exact moment KH become cool. When this weird ass Disney/Squaresoft callboration suddenly clicked. & the series has never been like this again. From CoM/KH2 & onwards, there has been an ever-growing number of new characters (I'm seriously losing count of them in the mobile games) with the villain factions being all OCs & Maleficent barely amounting to a Team Rocket position at best while other villains are filler bosses (if fought at all).

I want this Disney Council of Villains back again for the next saga. The Master of Masters and Fortellers are clearly morally ambiguous villains so it'd be nice to get some traditional villains back in the mix.

 

[MATGSY]

I want this Disney Council of Villains back again for the next saga. The Master of Masters and Fortellers are clearly morally ambiguous villains so it'd be nice to get some traditional villains back in the mix.

An idea I've had was Maleficent getting more henchmen type villains a la Pete who aren't glued to their worlds. Big Bad Wolf and Headless Horseman come to mind. Essentially the Disney boss contingent is expand into 2 categories: Maleficent's crew and world specific villains.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

An idea I've had was Maleficent getting more henchmen type villains a la Pete who aren't glued to their worlds. Big Bad Wolf and Headless Horseman come to mind. Essentially the Disney boss contingent is expand into 2 categories: Maleficent's crew and world specific villains.

That's a cool idea, my idea was to get Jafar, Ursula and Captain Hook back and replace Oogie Boogie with Dr. Facilier and King Candy and have them be like Organization XIII where they meddle in different Disney world's e.g. Ursula in the Moana world or Captain Hook in the Treasure Planet world.

 

[MATGSY]

That's a cool idea, my idea was to get Jafar, Ursula and Captain Hook back and replace Oogie Boogie with Dr. Facilier and King Candy and have them be like Organization XIII where they meddle in different Disney world's e.g. Ursula in the Moana world or Captain Hook in the Treasure Planet world.

I always felt it should have been Scar in Oogie's spot.

 

[Light’s Master]

i will truly miss the fish faces from now on

 

[Face My Fears]

Back when the KH franchise was "new" (KH1-2), it really saved me in my youth. I know that sounds dramatic, but I don't know where I would be today without the KH series. In those days, the people at my school didn't really play games, and if they did it was first person shooters or sports games. No one played RPGs, let alone a RPG with Disney characters. People used to make fun of KH, even though they didn't know what it was, they just saw Disney characters. The same way that they hated on KH, I resonated with it because I used to get picked on. Not only did I escape from reality by playing KH, but in a weird way comparing myself to the game itself helped me. KH was getting crapped on, yet it was this amazing, worthwhile thing; so I kind of applied that logic to myself.

Things are really different now compared to the discussions of the olden days. I miss when people actually wrote theories and people engaged actively. I miss when shipping wasn't a thing in the KH community. I miss when Nomura wasn't the enemy, but rather an evil genius.

I guess I just miss when KH was this mysterious, wonderful, rare game that a special community was drawn to. Not to sound condescending to the newer fans or people drawn in by mega popular stuff like Frozen, but I used to love when KH wasn't mainstream. It felt like this game for outcasts or people that were different. It seemed to draw in people that needed it.

If there's one thing I do look forward to with the KH franchise is sharing the experience with my children someday. The accessibility to older games (specifically the KH series) is something I do appreciate with this new generation of gaming. It seems like I will be able to always be able to play the entire KH franchise for as long as gaming systems exist going forward. I look forward to the day when I can see my child's reaction to Sora stabbing himself in Hollow Bastion, hearing Simple & Clean for the first time, seeing Goofy "die", finding out Ansem wasn't Ansem etc. It'll be like reliving those moments myself.

KH is one of the few franchises that I think I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

 

[Cumguardian69]

I miss the action of KH2, the utter intrigue and whimsy of KH1, and the actual ANGER from CoM.

Everything from after those games felt like a guided narrative, due in part for the sequel ans serialization. Its rough

 

[kingofgame981]

An idea I've had was Maleficent getting more henchmen type villains a la Pete who aren't glued to their worlds. Big Bad Wolf and Headless Horseman come to mind. Essentially the Disney boss contingent is expand into 2 categories: Maleficent's crew and world specific villains.

That's a cool idea, my idea was to get Jafar, Ursula and Captain Hook back and replace Oogie Boogie with Dr. Facilier and King Candy and have them be like Organization XIII where they meddle in different Disney world's e.g. Ursula in the Moana world or Captain Hook in the Treasure Planet world.

This brings me to FFXIV's vibe with the council of evil being replaced with new member after the previous one passed away. The council is still running, it just the member being replaced with newer one while that position's title is not change.

Back when the KH franchise was "new" (KH1-2), it really saved me in my youth. I know that sounds dramatic, but I don't know where I would be today without the KH series. In those days, the people at my school didn't really play games, and if they did it was first person shooters or sports games. No one played RPGs, let alone a RPG with Disney characters. People used to make fun of KH, even though they didn't know what it was, they just saw Disney characters. The same way that they hated on KH, I resonated with it because I used to get picked on. Not only did I escape from reality by playing KH, but in a weird way comparing myself to the game itself helped me. KH was getting crapped on, yet it was this amazing, worthwhile thing; so I kind of applied that logic to myself.

You are not the only one, so I feel you and hang in there. At that period, the vast potential of internet was very new to me, and pirated torrent is not something I even knew about either. At that time, if I want to listening to the song Hikari orchestrated, I have to turn on my PS2 and let the title menu being run in a loop again and again. Both "Dearly Beloved" and "Hikari's orchestrated" made an impact in my emotional deeply. I knew it was a wasted of electric bill (sorry mom and dad), but it was a remedy for my lone soul as an outcast in the society.

Things are really different now compared to the discussions of the olden days. I miss when people actually wrote theories and people engaged actively. I miss when shipping wasn't a thing in the KH community. I miss when Nomura wasn't the enemy, but rather an evil genius.

I guess I just miss when KH was this mysterious, wonderful, rare game that a special community was drawn to. Not to sound condescending to the newer fans or people drawn in by mega popular stuff like Frozen, but I used to love when KH wasn't mainstream. It felt like this game for outcasts or people that were different. It seemed to draw in people that needed it.

Those time were really fun to see how actively the community was, the vast amount of theories exploding when KH2FM secret ending about the trio TAV and Master Xehanort and Vanitas.

And there is always something you have to sacrifice when transitioning to the mainstream and industrial world. It is hard to be balanced and even keep your strong verbal with the industrial. If I was in Nomura position, I somehow can understand why he did this or that.

 

[Face My Fears]

This brings me to FFXIV's vibe with the council of evil being replaced with new member after the previous one passed away. The council is still running, it just the member being replaced with newer one while that position's title is not change.


You are not the only one, so I feel you and hang in there. At that period, the vast potential of internet was very new to me, and pirated torrent is not something I even knew about either. At that time, if I want to listening to the song Hikari orchestrated, I have to turn on my PS2 and let the title menu being run in a loop again and again. Both "Dearly Beloved" and "Hikari's orchestrated" made an impact in my emotional deeply. I knew it was a wasted of electric bill (sorry mom and dad), but it was a remedy for my lone soul as an outcast in the society.

Those time were really fun to see how actively the community was, the vast amount of theories exploding when KH2FM secret ending about the trio TAV and Master Xehanort and Vanitas.

And there is always something you have to sacrifice when transitioning to the mainstream and industrial world. It is hard to be balanced and even keep your strong verbal with the industrial. If I was in Nomura position, I somehow can understand why he did this or that.

Yeah I used to have to start a new game just to listen to Sanctuary and Simple & Clean. I think that's why the ending versions of Simple & Clean and Sanctuary feel really special to me because I would have to beat Ansem/Xemnas just to get the song. And since there was no skip scene, I would have to watch everything... which probably explains why I know most of the lines from the end of KH1 and KH2.