A Preamble to Kingdom Hearts in Gamer's Gaming

So, my plan is to, over time, talk about and break down all of the individual games in the Kingdom Hearts series, but for those who are unfamiliar with the games, I felt like I wanted to do a short overview of what the series is like in the off chance that it peaks someone's interest before I go into each game.

Story: The Kingdom Hearts series revolves around the adventures of essentially 8 or 9 different characters. The most prominent of those are best friends Sora and Riku, who tend to be playable characters: Sora in all but one of the games and Riku in a couple of them. They are chosen by destiny to be keyblade wielders. The keyblade is both a weapon and a key, which has the ability to lock and unlock hearts of all kinds and in many different ways. Most importantly, the keyblades are used to interact with the "hearts" of each individual world as well as the heart of all worlds, the titular Kingdom Hearts. They are joined by, of all characters, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. Mickey, known to many as King Mickey, is also a keyblade wielder. I believe by the time the majority of the series starts, he is in fact a Keyblade Master. Donald and Goofy are his trusted confidants and defenders of his realm. Mickey tasks them in many of the games with the protection of Sora. The three become fast friends in the first game and last worked together in Kingdom Hearts 2. Now, I am sure this probably sounds like a happy, cartoony series at this point, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Actually, I tend to recommend this series to parents of children who want to share an experience with their kids. It is kind of like Harry Potter in a way. From the outside, it seems childish, especially since almost every character and world is drawn from Disney lore, but the more you delve into the story, the darker and more serious the tone becomes. I won't reveal any specifics here about what happens in each game or who the villians are, some very familiar to Disney fans and some completely new. After all, the other half of the equation is Square Enix, known largely for their work on the Dragon Warrior series and, more importantly to this explanation, the Final Fantasy series. Many of the other cameo appearances in the games are from characters drawn from the PS1 era of Final Fantasy games, though others do appear from time to time. Anyhow, what i will say of the story is that it focuses most on the battle between darkness and light, the nature of existence, how mind, body, and heart (soul), combine to make a person, and how imagination can manifest itself, becoming real enough to the person trapped within. Honestly, you can go very deep philosophically with the story told in this series, but it can also be as simple as good vs. evil for the kids, a much easier concept for them to grasp. Gray area gets so messy with the kiddies.

Gameplay: While the method of play varies somewhat within the series, it is fair to say that this falls under the category of Adventure RPG. Fighting is done in real time, no turn based stuff here. While the method of attack and the participants can vary, for the most part, the player controls Sora and Riku as they slash at enemies with their keyblades, cast magic spells and use powerful techniques to vanquish their enemies, which also seemingly vary from game to game. It is a basic enough system to pick up and learn, but with combos, summons, magic, keyblade abilities, and even the occasional metamorphosis, it can also be quite involved. If you can get used to playing games like The Legend of Zelda (post-SNES) or are more used to hack and slashes with upgradable abilities, like Devil May Cry or Onimusha, than you should have no trouble getting into the battle system. Even if not, the early parts of most games allow for a hack 'n slash offense until you get your feet wet.

Sound/Visuals: Not really my department, but I always felt the games were ahead of their times visually. Even the original doesn't hold up too bad nowadays, but they just re-released KH1 Final Cut (never before released in the US), along with Chain of Memories as part of an HD collection on PS3 along with the cutscenes from 358/2 Days and are preparing to release KH2 Final Cut (see above) along with Birth By Sleep and, I may be incorrect on this, Re:Coded, also for the PS3. I could do my research quickly and see for sure, but this is just an overview after all and is not super important, though feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Now, where most people might get turned off is the very pop theme songs for the series, almost J-Pop, but in English. I would strongly urge those of you who are turned off by this to give it a chance. Maybe it was just me, but the songs seemed to elicit the perfect feelings and provide an excellent background for some of the more emotional scenes in the game. I will admit, I have teared up a few times playing the games and I feel like that speaks to the strength of the story as well as the music. For most of the game, however, you will get variations on many popular songs from Disney movies as well as some original compositions. The music never gets in the way though, it just stays in the fringes and provides the right atmosphere for each world.

Misc.: For you fans of Disney, you will venture (repeatedly) to many Disney locations. Wonderland, Agrabah, the savannahs of Africa, Port Royal, Atlantica, etc. In fact, some of these locations are visited quite frequently due to the nature of the storyline. Also, there are some original locations you will become accustomed to like Traverse Town, Twilight Town, Castle Oblivion, Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden, and The World That Never Was. If you can't guess, these locations were created specifically for the game. Many other characters will pop up. In addition to those that appear because of location, you will also encounter Pete (of Steamboat Willie/Goof Troop fame), Maleficent, Yen Sid (the sorcerer from Fantasia), and of course, Queen Minnie and Lady Daisy Duck. For you Final Fantasy enthusiasts, you can expect to run into Cloud Strife, Squall Leonhart, Auron, and many others. It is a very large cast of characters and some are more important to the overall story than you might think at first glance.

In any case, I hope this has been sufficiently informative without giving too much away. I am happy to field any questions about the games in general as well as information on specific games. This is one of my few passions that has stayed true since the release of the first game back in 2002. Please, feel free to ask anything and I will answer to the best of my ability. Also remember, as I mentioned at the top, that I will cover each individual game in the series in due time. Anyway, if you have made it this far, thank you for your time, I hope I have given you something to think about. Until next time, this is the Gamer, signing off.