Kingdom Hearts - An Idiot's Perspective 

Dude skipped all the fighting and wondered why he was under leveled.

“I’m sorry I’m not as smart as you” I mean, you said it not me.

"There was no indication that attacking them would help me progress" they are trying to kill you at the very minimum that should be an indicator

Tldr: "I didn't kill anything and it's not progressing anything. wtf?"

I actually like this video a lot. Even as a kingdom hearts die hard fan it was interesting to see the prospective of an adult playing KH1 for the first time. However. Lowart...why would you not fight a /single/ heartless in Traverse Town...?

This video has me in complete surprise, because while it's true that KH1 is way too overly obtuse, you still somehow managed to find ways to halt your progress I never even knew about. You can't meet Leon if you don't fight any heartless? Phil's dialogue resets if you leave the room before talking to him again after pushing the block!? Atlantica prevents you from leaving halfway through the story!? It's outstanding, really.

>deep dive >Under an hour long Good joke

Interestingly enough, a common criticism I hear about the franchise is that the worlds in the later games are a lot more streamlined and don't feel like worlds anymore, just glorified hallways. Maybe there were a lot of Lowart children who couldn't figure out the 1st game at all

Lowart you fool. Not even understanding the genius of KH. Jokes aside, KH1 definitely is one of my favorite games. It's like one of the purest coming of age stories/adventures in gaming to me. But even I won't deny how cryptic it can be. Too bad you didn't reach Hollow Bastion. Trust me that world is PEAK. Oh, and did you know in Monstro, the door/holes that lead to the right way glow green?

Monstro IS based around noticing something to progress forward. The doors that flash green lead to the path forward. And otherwise all the rooms are a distinct enough shape to remember what doors you have been in Also guard and scan aren't a big loss from having the staff. You don't really need them. Lots of RPGs have no indication of enemy health at all, and your attacks all have parry frames. I hardly ever guard in KH1.

It’s funny how you were right about KH 1 progression being weird and frustrating, but the two biggest examples you used are points where i really thought it was hard to get lost. You only needed to kill one shadow to trigger Traverse Town progressing, why were you running from literally every fight? Also why did you skip the first Atlantica boss, but somehow you didn’t get caught on the Dolphin bit for entire years like i did (yes it took me over a full year to find that). You are right nearly everywhere else though at least, you just needed to stop skipping so many fights

The progression in Traverse Town is supposed to simulate Sora wandering through the town for a while, as the devs expect you to, getting more used to combat, leveling up a bit, getting familiar with exploring. Any player would then backtrack around trying to figure out what to do next, inevitably talking to Cid and leaving the building. You don't expect a guy to show up and start a cutscene immediately after leaving a building, cutscenes usually have some obvious lead up to them, but here it feels like Leon has genuinely _encountered_ you, interrupted what you were doing. Also, avoiding battles in an RPG, are you really that unfamiliar with the genre that you break the number 1 rule? Random encounters exist precisely for people who play RPGs like you do. I've played this game countless times over the past decade and a half, and I know for a fact that the combat isn't THAT boring.

I honestly love how the game doesn't hold your hand in regards to story progression. Makes me feel so free whenever something happens, the worlds are so uncanny in this game they don't feel like they are levels in a game, it really feels like exploring a different world. That's why Hollow Bastion and End of the World were so terrifying to me as a kid

You’ve pointed out a lot of truly obtuse and confusing things about kingdom hearts (like yeah maybe the correct doorways in Monstro are a different color but that’s too minute to expect people to notice) but bestie a game shouldn’t have to tell you that fighting enemies helps you in some way. What game has enemies in it that aren’t meant to be fought? Especially in an rpg that’s already rewarded you with leveling up by the time you reach Traverse Town. And sure, maybe you’ve successfully snuck past a shark, but why would you be doing any task that requires you to turn your back on an angry shark that’s in the same room. Like I understand if you don’t like fighting, but fighting everything you come across is how you beat kingdom hearts and don’t become under leveled. If that doesn’t sound like fun, then yeah, the series probably isn’t one you’ll enjoy.

I would say one of the biggest strenghts of Kh1 besides it's combat is the overall atmosphere and flow of the story. It's the game that arguably has the best integration of Disney worlds in the main story. You also get a simple but fun coming of age story of a random island kid that gets thrust into a completely unknown world while having to deal with the responsobillity of having this big hero role just handed to him by others because he just so happened to get this legendary weapon.

I mean... they *do* tell you to ring the bell 3 times in the cutscenes before ...

This really brings to light the biggest problem with game remasters; they don't provide any of the gaming context necessary for completing most games of the era. I definitely got stuck in Sonic Adventure, Devil May Cry, Metroid Prime and a bunch of other games of the era. Experimentation and exploration were basically mandatory.

I dont think i've ever heard of anyone having such a hellish time with KH1 before o.o Holy hell. EDIT: A bit further now... You must have rolled a 0 in gaming intuition 9 year old me had 0 issue with any of this O.o

The level and main story quest design of the first Kingdom Hearts is 100% derived from Final Fantasys 1 through 6, if you ever play those games you'll get exactly what I mean. It's pretty much the last vestige of the old traditional design of RPGs, that dungeon crawling sort of DNA where you're fully expected to meander around looking for the way forward for a bit. You can also really tell that they developed each world sequentially, as some of the second batch of worlds, Halloween Town, Agrabah, and Hollow Bastion, genuinely have pretty good level design, they were probably the last few worlds they designed, having learned from the rest of the "meh" level design they cooked up.

10:20 the NPCs that tell you about the bell literally tell you to ring it 3 times you dolt.

This is genuinely a fascinating video if for no other reason that it lets you see the sort of feedback that Square probably got that had them change up the way worlds were designed for in CoM and 2. I feel they over corrected but considering how lost he seems despite me finding it laughable I do see why they'd want to avoid this being possible.

Man I'm gonna have to replay KH1 sometime, its been way too long. Out of everything that's happened so far it'll be nice to remember what attracted me to the series in the first place. I feel like as crazy as nomura's plots are, he's sorta lost track on what's really important to a story: the characters themselves, how they develop through the story, how they interact with each other, how they feel about where they came from in relation to their current situation, etc etc. I'm hoping he reclaims some of that in Missing Link and KH4, because they're still some of my favorite characters in media.

when i was a kid took me 3 hours to figure out the dolphin. atlantica was the longest world for me my first time.

If the combat is so good, why the hell you go out of your way NOT to fight enemies to progress? it makes no sense.

This is so interesting to watch. I never thought that KH1 just left you to flounder, as I apparently just figured things out naturally. Seeing how obtuse the game can be is so funny. Yeah, the following games overcorrected way too much, but this one is a little too unhelpful.

I actually beat this game fairly recently, and while I enjoyed it, I am reminded about how many of the worlds in this game just aren't very well designed. The main direction you get is the stars on the world map telling you how hard each world is; but aside from that, it is common to get lost in this game.

Kingdom hearts is my favorite franchise. That being said, I hate everything you hate in this game too :) it's great

The flowers in wonderland are all optional so the claim that you need consumables is false

Yep! That's how KH be! For most fans the story and aesthetic outweigh the frustration, lol. Also, it may seem strange but, as a kid, all the obtuse design choices really added to my enjoyment of the game. It made the world of KH seem strange and mysterious. I really loved wandering around for hours daydreaming about what could be around the next corner while throwing different ideas at the wall trying to figure out how to progress. It's probably good that the next games took a more streamlined approach to level design though. I don't think the series would have become the sucess it is today if it had kept KH1's more cryptic 'you figure it out, dummy' style of gameplay.

I think as kids we had 2 important things: 1. Time to waste doing random things and 2. A lack of gamer pride allowing us to just look stuff up without any reservations😁

the man plays an action rpg and is mad he plays it not like an action rpg

Wow I didn't realize how messed up this game was, I always knew they didnt tell you ANYTHING in terms of progression, you just had to remember or figure it out. Also, its pretty cool how often youve been posting, great work!

I can understand the issue with the dolphin, I get that. That one was always annoying. But some of these issues are things the game expects you to do like fighting heartless/enemies and paying closer attention to the environment. The island fetch quest sign posts all the important locations and characters to interact with. You are specifically told to ring the bell multiple times. You are told when you unlock a trinity. You don't need scan or guard. So many weird issues you have with this game is funny though.

For Monstro if you talked to Geppetto before exploring the whale he tells you to basically use the doorways that the little green Heartless appear over to find Pinocchio

Lowart talking about not just my favorite game franchise, but one of my favorite pieces of media period? Let’s fucking go.

Honestly speaking? This just sounds like you didn't pay much attention to dialogue or have any gamer intuition. Because like, why wouldn't you fight the Heartless in Traverse Town? The game made a point with a cutscene to have them appear right in front of you and summon your weapon. Did you really need the game to say, "Attack the enemies!" to figure it out? The shark too - he appears via a cutscene and is then instantly fightable. What part of that said, "run away!" to you?

When I first played kh1 I thought that the traverse town was brilliant. First thing you see when entering 1st district is a couple of heartless and because I sucked (like most people who played this game for the first time) I got hurt pretty badly. So i remembered what cid told me and got back to him. Now that i think about it its so stupid but I guess this is what devs wanted you to do

You're really going ham on all these videos. Great stuff, Lowart.

While I like the Kingdom Hearts games (haven’t played them all yet, though), I can totally agree their design is kinda insane. They, Kingdom Hearts 1 especially, kinda have a method of design of “fuck around and find out”, where the player just kinda has to figure out what to do to progress the level with almost nothing in the levels themselves indicating what they should do. Doesn’t help that in KH1, especially (again), a lot of the level design is absolutely insane and not exactly what I’d use as an example of good level design. (Also Agrabbah in the first game is genuinely one the only times I’ve ever gotten a headache while trying to navigate a level in a video game, which is wild.)

So most of the points you made in the video are valid, but the one thing I am just utterly confused about is how you went 30 MINUTES in Traverse Town WITHOUT attacking the enemies. HOW?! But yeah, Ian should have told you what not to do at the start, like DO NOT pick the wand or get rid of the sword on first run. If you like to see the enemy health bars you need to choose sword. You get it the fastest with that.

Holy heck in a hand basket Batman. I'm not terribly offended when people say they don't like my dearly beloved goofy melodramatic Disney anime mash up game, but I kinda feel the need to call out some of this criticism for being... kinda bad. 1. Game doesn't communicate you have to fight enemies to progress? You already knew it was coming, but that really doesn't mean that it's not valid to say it, so I'll say it in a way that hopefully gets across why it's kinda ridiculous to hold this against the game. - Blaming the game for punishing you for not engaging with in-your-face mechanics. 2. If you talk with Phil (the little goat man) and comprehensively read his dialogue, his dialogue continues to urge you to you to move the block. It is a more reasonable conclusion to try again than it is to leave. - Blaming the game for expecting the player to carefully read the dialogue text of the progression gatekeeping NPC and exercise critical thinking. 3. There's no shop here? Under leveled? Wasn't supposed to come here? You could pretty easily apply all of that to Elden Ring, and people would tell you exactly what I'm about to. That's not a game design flaw, it's extremely common basic game design. Plus you can look and see the worlds are ranked by difficulty in this game. - Blaming the action "role playing game" for demanding resource preparation and giving players the freedom to make mistakes and/or challenge themselves. 4. You have to check in with characters when you're stumped in order to progress. You acknowledged this was taught at the beginning of the game at the beginning of your video. Why are you then mad about it later in your video? That's very silly. - Blaming the game for expecting the player to interact with NPCs for clarifying the objective. 5. The game has you ring a bell three times, there are three bell symbols at the outside of the mural that turns when you ring the bell. Again, you acknowledged this was taught, you even got mad it was reinforced a second time. - Blaming the game for expecting the player to pay attention to surroundings. I can understand the game felt tedious to you, that's totally a fair criticism. But this video boils down to you being mad the game expected you to remember it teaching you how to play instead of holding your hand every step of the way. You made a hate video on a video game you dislike because you were bad at it. This is not good criticism. It's bad. Like... IGN bad. You try to frame this game as broken and poorly designed, but really based on what you describe it's pretty cleverly designed, you just happened to dislike it. I demand at least one respect. Fine, zero-point-two respect will suffice. You can round down from that if the IGN comment was out of line. In all fairness, quitting at Atlantica is at the very least keeping the meme alive. And yeah, Monstro is kinda a nightmare. And just thinking of the gummi ship in the first game makes my eyes roll into the back of my head. Those issues are incredibly valid.

This was amazing , I actually do like even the first game, but getting to see you endure the worst sections was so funny, i was impressed when you made it passed wonderland, but knew no matter how far you made it atlantica would break you. Really tho, there is 2 tiers of savepoints, they look different, you need the good one, not this one you tried to use. Kh2 is a nice improvement over kh1 in many ways, but idk if you would like it. All that being said if you ever made a video/streamed trying to get ultima weapon or unlock deepdive in kh1 i would love to watch that for sure. thankyou for the nice video man!

Edit: LMAO 13 minutes to the end XD. SO GOOD. I could just feel your contempt radiating from the video, honestly, it's just too funny. I have seen very little videos talking about the gameplay progression of KH, so this was interesting. Usually I just see videos talking about the cluster-f*** that the story becomes lol. I think the main thing seems to be that you identify more with sandbox progression, where there are less triggers for progression and things are more set up for you to take as you want. Having things be locked behind combat is super common in older action adventures.

1. So are you going to do Kingdom Hearts 2 because it doesn't have all of those problems that the first game had? 2. If I remember correctly you use the wrong save point to leave. You needed to use the full light save point to leave.

Please continue this series this is hilarious!

Your logic here is very.... Peculiar. I saw myself immersed in this game and didn't find any of the problems you encountered, sure Monstro was as annoying as you said, a bit less so in my second playthrouh, and the going up/down the joungle was a bit much. I Hated the underwater part too But all the story progression things did not hit me, like I did not find them. You have a Peculiar way of exploring. When I talked to Leon for example, t k me it was clear that he had more to say, or I naturally slayed the hartless I needed to. You're very different when playing games you're less... intuitive? ( I guess would would a good word?) Than when you see shows

What timing, I was just watching Ian's vids on KH!

I played this game for the first time a couple years ago, it took me like 3 hours to do the opening bits (Destiny Islands and Traverse Town.) Once I really got started the game felt decently smooth throughout surprisingly although I did need a guide for a couple bits here and there.. but man I sincerely felt your pain during those first couple hours but I eventually pushed through and started enjoying it. Never finished Chain of Memories so haven’t touched any of the other games lol.

Ah, the good ol' days when you could opt to buy a physical guide to games... A whole book, in fact! And the Kingdom Hearts ones typically had some tasteful art and the like! ...But Lowart, I get that you might be 'doing a bit', but if you're willing to look up a guide to point you in the right direction, you'll be emulating what a lot of people did all those 20-ish years ago. Without having to actually fork over the $20 on said book. While it helps to have Scan, it's actually not needed except maybe for a couple of endgame bosses that have phases tied their HP loss. ALSO, choosing the Staff at the beginning gives you an otherwise unobtainable additional MP 'block': the number of said 'blocks' you possess at any given time are actually tied into how much damage your magic casts inflict. If Ian was the one to recommend Staff to you, he was doing the right thing.

I didn't remember much of when I played this game, and I still don't remember much after the refresher of this video, but there is something I remember: I remember walking in circles not knowing what to do or where I'm going XD.

the traverse town thing screwed with me so hard when I rented this game when it came out. I didn't move past it until I bought the game a year later on sale and gave it another go.

Watching this video brought back things from my childhood that I had repressed.

I feel like you’re over complicating everything lol. You just gotta walk around and beat up enemies til something happens

Didn’t expect this vid. Couldn’t be happier

The first game will always be my favorite. There’s a charm to it’s design that’s missing from future games. The worlds actual feel like places to explore rather than glorified hallways with different texture packs. The 3rd game brings some of this feeling back but it suffers from all the narrative baggage. The first game still has other things that are never quite replicated like the simple puzzles that make interacting with the world feel meaningful. The narrative is also arguably the strongest. It’s simple, but it’s effective. I enjoy 2 and some of the others but the writing takes a hit and the design outside of combat isn’t my cup of tea. I’m still a fan of the series as a whole, but I mostly return to the first. All the comments saying 2 is so much better are so frustrating.

You predicted my arrival. Indeed, i figured this game out just fine in elementary school. It was funny hearing you suffer through it though. Good video.

It’s mostly nostalgia watching Thai and remembering how long I was stuck on some parts I feel you

I LOVE the KH franchise, it taught me the power of friendship (something im a believer in now) and irroniclly enough its through these games that I was introduced to the final fantasy series. I will admit that some of those levels (in particular Wonderland and Deep Woods which I think I would get loss in even now) are places with moon logic level design. But I gotta be that person crawling out of the woods on this one, as someone who beat this game in particular several times at age 7 I get the impression either while playing you was rushing through the game and not really paying attention to your surroundings or just not really participating in one of the main aspects of the game ie: combat. You getting stuck at Traverse town is understandable because even I was as a kid sense I got lost actively skipping enemies and ultimately being under leveled is on you with respect. I would recommend KH2 though, unlike your Ben 10 series analysis I can assure you it DOES get better than KH1.

This is one of my favorite games and I found this video hilarious

I know you preempted this criticism, but it really is entirely valid: if 10yo kids could figure it out , why are you having a mental breakdown over it? Maybe that GoW2 movie-game where you don't even get to play is more your speed

this is without a doubt your funniest video yet I could feel your frustration😂

Why are you skipping fights in an rpg? That’s like not jumping in a Mario game then complaining about how difficult things are and everything isn’t working.

When I was 4, I could figure out this game just fine and I didn't even know English 🙃 But yeah, the games gets really confusing at times... Through it's still heartwarming af and you would be missing out if you quit.

Man this video bring back a lot of memories lol, specifically on how many times i got lost playing this as a kid lmao and not to mention that English was not my mother's tongue language

I have no earthly idea how I did KH1 without any help when I was 13 lmao. I just did it. Of course now as an adult it's clear to see just how frustrating KH1s level design is. Some would say the later games are an overcorrection to KH1 in making them too simple but man, everyone and I mean everyone hates atlantica and deep jungle. You can tell this was square enixs first action rpg with actual level design.

Well... Let me one thing clear. Hold nothing back. Bash this serise. Criticize the hell out of it. After recent events. Criticism is the #1 this serise need. (And the Devs actually listen) We sure as hell needed it a long time ago. [And credit were credit is due, the devs did fix 'floaty combat' before they started to litsten to criticism. Good job devs]

i understand you lowart the first time i played kh1 i couldnt finish even when using tutorials i used them like every 10 minutes then recently i tried it again and its really good especially cuz i know what to do the endgame is really good

Dude, this whole video seems to about you not being able to read the room/gameplay. It's like you know what the game wants you to do but you ignore it and expect to progress like normal doing something else. The only reason Leon knows you have the Keyblade is because he SAW you use it on the Heartless. You never used it so he never saw you thus the cutscene never happened.

I don't remember the npc, but one of them mentions ringing the bell three times, that is a situation where you either do it on accident or talk to the characters Honestly? I never realized beating heartless caused Leon to spawn, I always thought you needed to get all the goofy/Donald cutscenes, I just fought them for fun and levels Deep jungle and atlantica are huge messes, I don't blame you at all, and the game is obtuse on a bunch of stuff, you just kinda explore and run across stuff eventually

He went down the rabbit hole and he is not OK

I played this as a kid and didn't finish it because it's A MESS. If this didn't have Disney characters in it people would probably hate it.

Hi Kingdom Hearts fan here to come out of the woodworks to say... I am a fucking idiot, are you telling me that you don't have to experience the cutscenes of missing Goofy and Donald in Traverse Town before talking to Cid to trigger the Leon fight? BRO. HUH? What is the 20 year delusion I've been living in?!

I thought I was the only one.

Oh wow, I thought Ian was just some irl friend and his dialogue was Lowart putting on a voice.

Yeah I bought the collection on PS4 too but just wasn't have fun playing Kingdom Hearts 1 for similar reasons lol

I loved this game when it came out in high school. Recently replayed it for a LP and.... I didn't have many issues with it. At least, not in any major ways. Some levels are frustrating, like Atlantis and Deep Jungle, but I had an overall fine time replaying it. Seeing your frustration though, I wonder how much of my replay was long-lost muscle memory wired in, how much was experience with the bullshit level design of that era of RPGs, and how much was dumb luck. I'm really not sure. The only level I hate is Monstro, which I played pretty much looking away from the screen, literally. I have trypophobia, and the pulsating patterns just wrecks my head. Actually, I'm getting The Tingles just talking about it, so moving on. Didn't have an issue navigating it, but I also didn't stop to try and get the secrets. I just bust out as quickly as I can and call it a day. All in all, KH is a game of many flaws, but I still have an overall good time with it. It's campy, it's confusing, it's a sometimes-frustrating game, but I enjoy it. How much of that comes down to Yoko Shimomura? Probably most of it, but who cares. The rest gets more fun if you think of Riku as a boy with a crush on his bestie and growing up in a heteronormative world. No seriously, just consider it when you play the game, and Riku's kind of bizarre actions suddenly make WAY too much sense. 10/10 enjoyment on that, gets better when they summon the gayblade together later. Noice. Now if only they'd give Kairi a personality....

So I basically just started the video but assuming you actually want to understand the convoluted plot you'll probably need a friend that experienced the story already. If you don't have an experienced friend there are Lore Dump videos on it that go game by game.

Yikes. How do you beat any game? 😬

I enjoyed this video as there is so much truth to it if you aren't looking at the game from nostalgia glasses. The game was 'mostly' fun when it first came out due to the unique concept. That made putting up with the game's flaws much easier. Playing it now though is a real struggle. Traverse Town, Tarzan, and Alice in Wonderland are annoying designed and it's too easy to get lost or confused about what triggers the game to advance to the next area. The game does get better after those levels but it really takes the steam out of playing. The second game is sooooo much better.

You haven't played many RPGs before this, have you? I can't say I blame you, if you're not used to it then it is a bit confusing. Hell, I still struggle to get through the Deep Jungle on my repeat playthroughs. The platforming is awful in KH1 and it gives you absolutely no hints as to where to go at points... Also while it doesn't bother me that Wonderland uses consumables I still agree that, Monstro and Deep Jungle are complete messes when it comes to level design. I may not agree with everything you have to say but not all of your points are invalid.

Almost all the issues you mentioned I never faced or solved easily

Have you ever heard of Myst? It sounds like a game that’s much more your style. It’s a pen and paper puzzle game that all about world building and the designers went out of their way to be as consistent as possible. I wouldn’t recommend the latest version though because they rip out the charm of live action actors in the game for uncanny valley crappy animations of the actors.

You’ve pretty much described every major issue I had while playing this game. Aside from the part with being under leveled. That was admittedly on you.

I think KH 1’s biggest issue is the early level design of the worlds. Later worlds to me are much more fun and there’s never an issue of where to go in the later games. While I personally don’t mind the jank and find it kinda charming as a long time fan who knows what to do I 100% understand that issue

Oh dear. I was like 8 and somehow did this Game find its way onto my TV Screen. I tried and tried and tried, but i couldn't beat those fricking....Schatten Lurche....with my Wood Sword!! I threw a Tandrum and never played it again. And then, first time meeting at new Friends House. What is that? Kingdom Hearts......2??? And he explained: You need to go over the Bridge to that Island and get the Keyblade Sword. ................ And from this point forward on, Kingdom Hearts has a special Place in my very own Heart. it haunts me that i still need to play KH 2.8 and 3.........but Times have changed for me. In the near Future those Games will surly find their way into my Game Collection

Iunno bb, it felt very much like exploration was rewarding by my recollection. Wonderland is a bit of a chore, but I can't help but feel like expectations and hype are to blame

Someone should have told you that the Kingdom Hearts series has an underlying intent to make players go insane. Good for you that you could get out before the series could truly sink its claws into you. I also escaped Kingdom Hearts during my childhood but it found me at 20 and from there on I've been dragged down to the abyss of pure darkness to which my sanity did not survive. It was a fun ride though. :) Love this series. It broke me but I love it. :)

OMG! Ianwaffles is my crossover Charakter Right now jajaja, I Watch him reviewing MHA with Oceaniz

The games can be a mess but they are a mess I can somewhat get behind, well most of the games.

great video

2:50 Sexy does not equal or mean cool.

I'm losing my shit, I always thought I just had a specifically bugged copy of KH1 as a kid because I could never get Phil to do anything. Luckily it's an optional world because I have no idea how I ever would have figured out what the problem was in order to play the rest of the game lmao

I've never seen such blatant and consistent failure to engage with a game's mechanics outside of a DSP clip. To the point that I'm not entirely sure that this isn't parody. Like "yeah, isn't it funny how I keep trying to play an action JRPG like it's Mario 64?"

watching you play makes me wonder how tf i ever beat this game as a kid......

I beat KH1 as a kid, but I am supremely confident that was a combination of stubbornness, the novelty of such a 'crossover' game helping me put up with its crap, and not having that many other games competing for my attention. Notably, by pure metrics of playtime, genre, etc. it's seems like the sort of game I'd replay regularly when I was younger, but I never managed to get past Tarzan on replay attempts. I wound up not picking up KH2 based on that and folks around me griping about the beginning of that game. 15 years or whatever later, I wound up streaming the whole series for some KH-obsessed friends. At that point, I had decided that most of it was just that KH1 had a lot of PS2-era action game jank. I sort of noticed the progression quirks but in that environment it was easy for folks to coach me past the worst of it (except, ironically, I spent a lot of time lost in Tarzan's world again). Of the entire stream marathon, I think KH1 was the one I enjoyed least, and I even wound up playing 358/2 Days separately which plays worse but at least has a few more interesting ideas in the RPG vein. (The only game I can't speak for is re:Coded) Anyway, in short I appreciate your perspective in no small part because it's a better stated version of mine. I do want to say, as a 'casual' KH fan, that later games in the series are definitely better in regards to both progression and most other facets, so if you wanna get more out of your $40 it's probably worth just skipping ahead. You're not really missing too much on the plot given the structure is usually 'dump some at the start, some at the end, do some episodic nonsense in between', plus there are at least two games that just retreat KH1 anyway (Chain of Memories and re:Coded, though I think that's just a cutscene collection on the collection disc).

I don’t know how I played this game with out getting super frustrated I just got what it wanted me to do except in deep jungle lol

KH 1 really doesnt age well for new players, its from an era where word of mouth spread a lot of info on how to play a game. If You're not playing with friends who have already played it you're missing out on part of the experience imo. It's fresh off that era where the manual held a ton of important info on how to play a game and tutorials kinda just started (original zelda and fallout games are good examples). Like youd be a kid, go to school, tell a pal you're struggling with a game and they're like "yeah my older brother did xyz" and you go home and try it and its the most euphoric feeling ever. Makes u feel like you're in on a secret or something. The vibes just dont hit the same. Thankfully Kh2 doesnt have these problems from what I remember

My, it is like he never played an old rpg before.

Monstro was the first I got lost. Also I love Atlantica most fun I had in the game. Lol

Good game, good video