Kingdom Hearts
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Kingdom Hearts is an Action RPG franchise by Square Enix, which manages to have either one of the most simple or one of the most complex plots of any video game, but only either extreme. It's also one of the most bizarre crossovers in all of video game history: between Disney and Final Fantasy of all things.
Despite all odds it was an instant success, and was followed by several sequels and spin-offs, numerous novelizations, a mountain of manga, and most importantly for this wiki, a trading card game.
Kingdom Hearts I[edit | edit source]
While Kingdom Hearts is a Disney crossover, gameplay-wise it was heavily inspired by Super Mario 64 and it shows. Combat involves making Sora hop around like a maniac and you can get a lot of mileage out of using the terrain to your advantage. Fights are fast, cathartic, and engaging. Even people who dislike Kingdom Hearts for other reasons will usually agree that the combat is quite good. If you've ever wished the Mario RPGs had gameplay closer to a 3D Mario game, you'll really dig Kingdom Hearts.
The RPG elements are more shallow than a typical Final Fantasy game, as you might expect of an Action RPG, but a couple of smart decisions can really put you ahead. The first choice you make in the game, where you pick your class and subclass by taking one from Sword, Shield and Staff and reject another, is a real high point. There are six options, and the advantages and disadvantages of each are so intricate that they're still debated to this day.
The game isn't perfect though, to the point where few people will pretend it is. Despite how much adore the game, two major flaws stand out. The first is the Gummi Ship; the idea of building your own totally customizable vehicle in an RPG is really cool, and could probably make for a really good game. The issue is it doesn't add anything at all to this game. Whether it's building the ship or flying through the levels, it slows down the game's pace without really adding anything. Later games in the series would vastly reduce the role of the Gummi Ship.
The second issue is more complex but also more serious. Kingdom Hearts is at its strongest when you're meeting new Disney characters and exploring new Disney Worlds. However, by just halfway through the game you've seen the last Disney World, and yet the game just keeps on going. By the time you're three-quarters of the way through the game, you've resolved the Kairi-Riku story arc that's the main thrust of the game's plot. Because of this Kingdom Hearts ends up being a game that many people enjoy, but few people actually finish.
It's still very much worth trying if the concept sounds interesting to you. The game has been reprinted and rereleased and ported so many times at this point that you can buy it dirt cheap. The soundtrack is absurdly good, especially the end credits song. Kingdom Hearts is also an important part of video game history, being one of the first games to ever look as good as a movie. (Moreso the cutscenes than the game itself, although the in-game graphics aren't exactly shabby either.) More than anything, it's a totally unique experience, and it has a few special moments that are legitimately magical.
Despite its flaws and the absurdity of the concept, it's a classic and must-try for any JRPG fan.
Plot[edit | edit source]
Calling the plot of Kingdom Hearts "confusing" is generous. Many elements of the story contradict each other from game to game, and some games aren't really even consistent with themselves. This likely because the authors were making up everything as they went along had such deep and intricate themes to convey.
You don't need to understand everything to enjoy the games, and in fact you'll probably enjoy them more if you don't try to think about them too hard.
The short version[edit | edit source]
There is Light and Darkness in the cosmos. You are Light. Go kick Darkness's ass.
The slightly longer version[edit | edit source]
We begin on the peaceful Destiny Islands, a tropical paradise where children adventure and play. Most of the kids are Muppet Babies versions of Final Fantasy characters, but three are new to this game and are the focus of the plot. Riku is strong and ambitious, but has absolutely terrible decision-making skills. Sora, our protagonist, is an innocent boy who's currently a tad wimpy. Kairi is a kind and supportive young girl who is the target of both of their affections. The young friends dream of becoming ninjas sky pirates explorers who sail to faraway lands...
...but then a storm hits the Islands, carrying creatures of Darkness with it. Called the Heartless, these monsters are amorphous shadow-blobs impervious to every weapon. During the invasion, the kids get split up, and some weird magic shit happens that knocks Sora unconscious.
Sora wakes up in Traverse Town, a world-cum-refugee-camp for those who, like Sora, have had their worlds destroyed by Darkness. In his hand is the Keyblade, a magical weapon that gives him the power to "lock" worlds (essentially rebooting them in safe mode) into isolation before Heartless can overrun them. It's also one of the only weapons that can combat the rising tide of Darkness.
Then he is found by Goofy and Donald Duck-
Yes, Goofy and Donald Duck.
No, I am not shitting you. Disney is a vital part of the plot.
-servants of the noble king Mickey, who left them a cryptic order to find "the key to our survival" and keep it safe. They agree he must have been referring to the Keyblade, and readily join Sora on his mission to lock worlds and figure out where Riku and Kairi are... if they're still alive.
The long version[edit | edit source]
Nobody knows this. If you have met someone who claims to understand the plot of Kingdom Hearts you have met a liar. Between the mainline games, novels, and phone and browser games (some of which don't even exist in a playable state anymore) it's safe to say at this point that not even Square Enix understands the plot.
If you're one of those people who likes to play games "for the lore" it's safe to say you'll enjoy Kingdom Hearts very much, but you may well have met your match.
Other Video Games[edit | edit source]
Chain of Memories[edit | edit source]
The game's first sequel, unique in that it wasn't developed by Square Enix, but rather by Jupiter. The game is very spoiler-heavy, even moreso than other Kingdom Hearts games, but broadly the game is about Sora trying to escape a castle and the mysterious Organization XIII he meets there. The plot starts to get a bit bendy here but is still mostly comprehensible at this point.
This game is the blackest sheep in a series comprised of nothing but black sheep, and for many reasons, but chief among them is its unique gameplay. It's a Action RPG/Realtime Collectible Card Game, something almost unseen out of the Megaman Battle Network series. Chain of Memories has a number of mechanics and systems almost totally unique to it among all card games; you not only design your own deck using cards you collect over the course of the game, you also decide the exact order cards will appear in the deck, and can draw from the top or bottom. You can fuse any three cards into one super card in the middle of a battle. There can only be one card in play at a time between you and your opponent. You can add new cards to your deck mid-battle. Battles can be anywhere from one-on-one to one-on-twelve.
Suffice it to say it's a very unique experience, and well worth playing if you're a fan of both card games and video games. The original version was released on Game Boy Advance, but it has since been remade twice, and both remakes have added content. The PS2 remake added voice acting and cutscenes in addition to bringing the game from 2D to 3D. The PS3 remake (which is also the version included in the PS4, Xbone, PC and Switch ports) adds about a dozen new cards. Playing Kingdom Hearts I before Chain of Memories isn't strictly necessary but is highly recommended.
Kingdom Hearts II[edit | edit source]
After an extraordinary long prologue, the story picks up directly from the ending of Chain of Memories. It introduces a new playable protagonist, or maybe it doesn't. It's difficult to say anything with certainty at this point.
Kingdom Hearts II is written in such a way it can be played whether you've played both Kingdom Hearts I and Chain of Memories, either, or neither. This is normally the part where I'd tell you that playing both games before II is necessary if you want to fully understand the plot, but by this point in the series you're fucked on that front either way so feel free to do whatever you want. This game ditches Chain of Memories' gameplay in favor of being Kingdom Hearts I with a new set of clothes. (Literally. The new gameplay elements all come from Sora's new outfit.)
Like every game in the series after the first, it's controversial, but no matter what mistakes it made it is the first game in the franchise where the characters don't all have feet bigger than their head.
Thank you, Kingdom Hearts II. Thank you.
The Kingdom Hearts Trading Card Game[edit | edit source]
KHTCG was developed by Takara Tomy and was first released in 2004 alongside Chain of Memories. Despite the two games sharing many individual cards, the gameplay of the two is almost totally different, although the TCG is also quite unique in its own way.
In addition to the usual victory condition of depleting all of their opponents HP, players of KHTCG also win when the levels of their World Cards total 13. World Cards come from levels 1 to 3 and you can only play 1 World Card per turn, so if you play one every turn you can win as early as turn 5.
The way to stop your opponent from playing World Cards is by playing Heartless Cards onto your opponent's Worlds. The higher level the World Card, the more Heartless Cards you can play, and the stronger they become. While you have any Heartless Cards on your World Card, you can't play another World Card until you defeat them.
In theory this is a complex, intricate system that leads to a lot of interaction and necessitates balancing the game's two win conditions. In practice the game's balance was completely fucked.
There were no limits on how many copies of a card you could put in a deck, and many of the game's cards were ridiculously overpowered on their own merits. Bambi (who has a habit of being broken in every Kingdom Hearts game he appears in) is this game's version of Pot of Greed and Bill, drawing two cards with close to no strings attached. King Mickey (who at least has an excuse to be way too strong) was if anything even more broken, letting you straight up just pick any card in your deck and add it to your hand at literally no cost.
In short order many players began to draw their entire deck in one turn. Tomy responded by limiting the number of cards with the same name you could have in a deck to 3 and further limiting the quantities of specific cards like Bambi and King Mickey. However, they quickly printed even more problem cards that again allowed players to draw their entire deck in one turn. To put it politely, it wasn't exactly the most competitively balanced TCG ever.
Tomy released a new booster pack every three months for a year, then stopped for half a year, released three more Kingdom Hearts II themed boosters, and then let the game die a quiet death. Fantasy Flight Games made an attempt to revive the game with an English version released in the US in 2007 with little success.
Years passed, and the game faded from all public consciousness, remembered only by the few who played it. It now exists only as cards in their binders, and as a link in their chain of memories.
| Card Games | |
|---|---|
| Collectible Card Games: |
Call of Cthulhu - Cardfight!! Vanguard - Fire Emblem Cipher Force of Will - Jyhad - Magi-Nation Duel - Magic: The Gathering Netrunner - Pokémon - Star Wars: Destiny CCG (Dead) - Yu-Gi-Oh |
| Other Card Games: |
1000 Blank White Cards - 7th Sea - Apples to Apples - Bang! Cards Against Humanity - Coup - Decktet - Dominion - Dvorak F.A.T.A.L. - Keyforge - Mafia - Mag Blast - Mao - Munchkin Race for the Galaxy - Sentinels of the Multiverse - Tanto Cuore |
| Traditional Card Games: |
Bridge - Cribbage - Mahjong - Solitaire/Patience - Poker - Rummy - Tarot |