games you dislike that everyone likes and vice versa

[E-Man]

I said this once and I'll say it again; I actually like the first Kingdom Hearts game over Kingdom Hearts 2. The first game is actually made for exploration and interaction, which makes it feel like a good mix between a Zelda game and Banjo-Kazooie. As for KH2, while the combat is a lot more interesting and the story is more refined, it feels like everything else had to suffer to make room for that. The environment interaction is mostly gone (even the magic spells do jack all outside of combat) and all the worlds are mostly flat without any remarkable platforming action. Plus, the rehashing of Disney stories is more obvious in this game and it would have been better if they made more original ones. Sure, I know about the second stories for each world, but they came a little too late and are not always as long or involved as the first stories.

My other gripe about this game that isn't so much a big deal to you guys but it is to me is what they done to Kairi. In the first game, she's not overly feminine and has a lot more spunk to her character. On top of that, the circumstances of her kidnapping (if you can even call it that) were not her fault whatsoever, unlike how it was like in the second game where she was taken while conscious. If Square went in the direction of this Kairi and thought of her less as another female support character, I could see her shaping up to become a competent protagonist that's a mix between Sora and Riku. Unfortunately, when KH2 rolled along, Square took the whole love interest route for Kairi, gave her more princess-like traits (no more spunk and brashness for her), and made her overall appearance more feminine than it was before. Plus, that girly Keyblade she was given in that one scene left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. If she must wield one, why not let it be Oath Keeper?