@jamin724: Yeah, I'd recommend those to anyone who's only now starting from scratch. I mean, ideally you'd play all of them, but the ones on DS will be tough to go back to, and going into Re:Chain of Memories right after KH1 is just gonna burn you out. You'll wanna dive into KH2 ASAP.
The ones I listed were developed in-house, have new Disney worlds, and (arguably) improved gameplay with each new installment. The others were outsourced and have experimental gameplay along with recycled worlds. This makes it pretty easy to decide which to cut.
@undeadpool: It's really not that strange. I'm currently in the process of watching Star Trek TNG, and there's tons of episode guides out for that as well. "Skip the first two seasons except so and so episode", etc. I chose not to follow any of them and watched everything. But not everyone's willing to invest the time when the content just isn't up to par with the rest. In the case of KH, the story is vital, so you cut out the gameplay.
You wouldn't pick up Game of Thrones at season 7 and expect to know what the hell is going on, would you? No, no you wouldn't.
I just hope they replay the beginning over and over and over again, slightly veering off their script every time.
Haha, I was thinking the exact same thing. They've been so coy about it the entire time, but the first episode was just an ER. And it's gotten good reception. They don't need to do any more than this to get me to watch it.
That said, I'd OK with some crazy gimmick. Steal My Sunshine has been great so far. But if this gimmick means they don't play the full game, and Ben wasn't sincerely thinking about getting into the series, that'd be a major bummer.
Nah, that's KH2 you're thinking of. They're basically done. Just another 15 mins if he doesn't take too long finding the remaining food (*sigh* they're gonna dedicate another episode to it, aren't they?)
@TechnoSyndrome: Eh, that ability is total overkill. He'll already have Leaf Bracer, and the extra MP along with MP Haste means more heals. The Air Combo Pluses also make for more fun combat. Again, he chose well. Staff is god-tier.
It also means you're unfortunately most likely not going to learn a specific really useful ability in this playthrough...
You mean Sliding Dash? Ah yes, I guess he won't be learning that until lvl 51, huh? (i.e., never) That's fine, we didn't have that ability back in '02 either.
Besides, Stun Impact is really nice as well, and probably does more for your survivability. Not that any of it matters once you get Strike Raid.
Last time I played this, I just hammered Triangle to Strike Raid myself to victory, including on bosses. And you need the extra MP for that, so he made the right choice here.
Of course, the Pegasus Cup is optional and it's entirely possible he'll miss it.
You hear that, @benpack? Complete the Pegasus Cup after unlocking it. Should only take like 15 mins, and the reward is incredible.
Hey Ben, I can confirm what @genericbrotagonist said earlier. If you're playing these to prepare for KH3, you might as well not play them at all as KH1 and KH2 on their own are almost completely disconnected from KH3 at this point.
Sure, they're great games in their own right, and you need to play them to get the big picture, but without at least Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance, they won't do much to prepare you for KH3.
BBS and DDD are also not rehashes. They're fully-featured KH games, and nearly all Disney worlds are new. That said, even the rehashes contain story-vital content, which is why you still wanna watch the cutscenes.
Thus, your playlist should look like this:
Kingdom Hearts I *cutscenes of Re:Chain of Memories* Kingdom Hearts II *cutscenes of 358/2 Days* Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep *cutscenes of Re:coded* Dream Drop Distance Birth by Sleep 0.2 A fragmentary passage *chi Back Cover movie*
The reason I don't recommend playing Re:Chain of Memories, despite it being on the disc as a playable game (unlike Days and Re:coded), is because it's a card-based randomly-generated dungeon-crawler. I wouldn't wanna see you burn yourself out so early... You'll definitely wanna jump into KH2 after this.
It might still look daunting, but if you don't bother with the extracurricular activities, these games are all like 25hrs long. It'll be tough going over 30. And BBS0.2 is just a 2h chapter. Basically the Ground Zeroes to KH3.
Anyway, good luck Ben. You've been doing great so far. All of us millennial KH players can relate to your frustration in racing Riku or finding all the materials. But you're nearly there.
Also, pro-tip: Alexa Ray Corriea is a friend of Giant Bomb and recently released a book on KH2 in the Boss Fight Books line:
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