03-20-2015, 05:16 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-21-2015, 07:06 AM by E-Man.
Edit Reason: Fixed a small grammar mistake.
)
I was hoping this would be the challenge for this week.
It's a no-brainer that I'll choose Kingdom Hearts since I keep giving my reasons why I like it better. Don't get me wrong, though. KH2 is a good game and all. It's just that there are more appealing things about it in my opinion.
While I like the combat of both games, the second game felt a little too easy and had a little too many gimmicks to my liking. The combat of the first game felt a little more satisfying to me and offered a fine amount of challenge. Plus, it felt like Sora's attacks had more weight in the first game as compared to swinging around a feather of sorts in the second one.
Speaking of combat, the colosseum side quest in the first game better clicked with me. Not only did I earn EXP for the battles (something I don't think KH2 did with its colosseum), but also I had a chance to fight some really cool bosses (including taking out a certain one-winged angel whenever I want).
The first game had exploration covered with its uneven landscapes and interactive landmarks/puzzles. The second game did away with all that by making the worlds boring, flat planes and made the magic system useless outside of battle. While there are items to find, they seem to be hidden relatively poorly and don't exactly make me work to earn them in the slightest. Since I mentioned I liked the first one's exploration, you can see how disappointed I am with Atlantica (give me supposedly bad swimming controls any day over rhythm mini games I could care less about).
In fairness, I like the story for both games and KH2 added very interesting concepts to the table, but some things about KH2's story left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. The Disney concepts took a backseat to the Final Fantasy side of Kingdom Hearts and the Organization. They don't exactly do anything that original with those worlds and copied their original stories more than the first game did. Also, while I do like several of the members of Org. XIII (especially when I learned more about them in other games), I don't like how they overshadow everything else in the fan base. The biggest offenders of this are Axel and Roxas, who gain more praise than they actually do deserve. It's bad enough that they get so many fan fictions, but it really yanks my chain for all the yaoi content they're associated with.
By the way, I can't stress this enough, but I don't like how they used Kairi in KH2. Sure, it's rather silly that I'm putting so much stress about a simple girl that hardly anyone else cares about, but I think she could have been a strong character if they kept the direction of her in the first game and refined it from there. In the first game, she had a good deal of spunk, is fairly upbeat, and felt like she was willing to take anything on (she even was willing to tag along with Sora at one point if it wasn't for Sora talking her out of it). While she's not the most perfect character and some aspects about her a slightly annoying to some people, all she needed then was a little sanding. If Square were to reduce her more annoying character traits and strengthened her character in ways that will make her appeal to both genders, then she could have a lot of potential. What did they do to her in Kingdom Hearts II? They basically shoehorned her into being a love interest. Not only did they make her outfit more feminine, but also gave her a weapon that looks too girly for my tastes. Then, they drop a lot of the energy she had from the first game to make her more like a "refined princess." On top of that, besides having her get kidnapped while she was conscious, she barely had any action at all. While she did took on a couple of beasts (I don't recall if they were Heartless or Nobodies), she was left behind the very moment the final battle began. I'm not implying that she needs to be rough and tumble like Princess Jasmine is (especially how she is in the animated series), but a mix between Sora and Riku would be nice.
Anyway, I'm sorry if I ranted in any of my parts (including that last bit), but you get what I'm saying, right?
It's a no-brainer that I'll choose Kingdom Hearts since I keep giving my reasons why I like it better. Don't get me wrong, though. KH2 is a good game and all. It's just that there are more appealing things about it in my opinion.
While I like the combat of both games, the second game felt a little too easy and had a little too many gimmicks to my liking. The combat of the first game felt a little more satisfying to me and offered a fine amount of challenge. Plus, it felt like Sora's attacks had more weight in the first game as compared to swinging around a feather of sorts in the second one.
Speaking of combat, the colosseum side quest in the first game better clicked with me. Not only did I earn EXP for the battles (something I don't think KH2 did with its colosseum), but also I had a chance to fight some really cool bosses (including taking out a certain one-winged angel whenever I want).
The first game had exploration covered with its uneven landscapes and interactive landmarks/puzzles. The second game did away with all that by making the worlds boring, flat planes and made the magic system useless outside of battle. While there are items to find, they seem to be hidden relatively poorly and don't exactly make me work to earn them in the slightest. Since I mentioned I liked the first one's exploration, you can see how disappointed I am with Atlantica (give me supposedly bad swimming controls any day over rhythm mini games I could care less about).
In fairness, I like the story for both games and KH2 added very interesting concepts to the table, but some things about KH2's story left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. The Disney concepts took a backseat to the Final Fantasy side of Kingdom Hearts and the Organization. They don't exactly do anything that original with those worlds and copied their original stories more than the first game did. Also, while I do like several of the members of Org. XIII (especially when I learned more about them in other games), I don't like how they overshadow everything else in the fan base. The biggest offenders of this are Axel and Roxas, who gain more praise than they actually do deserve. It's bad enough that they get so many fan fictions, but it really yanks my chain for all the yaoi content they're associated with.
By the way, I can't stress this enough, but I don't like how they used Kairi in KH2. Sure, it's rather silly that I'm putting so much stress about a simple girl that hardly anyone else cares about, but I think she could have been a strong character if they kept the direction of her in the first game and refined it from there. In the first game, she had a good deal of spunk, is fairly upbeat, and felt like she was willing to take anything on (she even was willing to tag along with Sora at one point if it wasn't for Sora talking her out of it). While she's not the most perfect character and some aspects about her a slightly annoying to some people, all she needed then was a little sanding. If Square were to reduce her more annoying character traits and strengthened her character in ways that will make her appeal to both genders, then she could have a lot of potential. What did they do to her in Kingdom Hearts II? They basically shoehorned her into being a love interest. Not only did they make her outfit more feminine, but also gave her a weapon that looks too girly for my tastes. Then, they drop a lot of the energy she had from the first game to make her more like a "refined princess." On top of that, besides having her get kidnapped while she was conscious, she barely had any action at all. While she did took on a couple of beasts (I don't recall if they were Heartless or Nobodies), she was left behind the very moment the final battle began. I'm not implying that she needs to be rough and tumble like Princess Jasmine is (especially how she is in the animated series), but a mix between Sora and Riku would be nice.
Anyway, I'm sorry if I ranted in any of my parts (including that last bit), but you get what I'm saying, right?
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