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Saying Kingdom Hearts has a confusing story strikes me as disingenuous

malyse

malyse

Community Resetter
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,966
Wakanda, where we do not suffer fools
I could maybe see the argument in 2012 when the games were scattered to the four winds, but the first HD ReMix (aka compilation) came out in 2013 and as of 2017 everything is on PS4. They even are selling a $100 all in one package that has all the games and a preorder for 3. And it's not like there weren't recaps on YouTube.

As for the story itself, it's hardly that complex. Granted there are still some things unexplained, but considering that the games have not only justified why Sora starts every game at level 1 but also explained why Mickey wasn't wearing a shirt in KH1 even though he had one in the prequel (I'm not making that up), expecting that they won't make anything explicitly clear that isn't a sequel hook seems ridiculous. Say it's convoluted. Say it's poorly told. But confusing? Nah bruh.
 
SieteBlanco

SieteBlanco

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,878
The problem with KH's story is all the silly "digital world" excuses they come up with to let the player play as "Sora" and "Riku" in the increasingly pointless spinoffs. The core story is as relatively simple as an story with a time traveling antagonist that's collecting alternative versions of himself could be.
 

jviggy43

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
18,184
I cant even tell you the proper order of the games to play because the games even have confusing sequel (prequel?) Titles.
 
Massicot

Massicot

RPG Site
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
2,232
United States
Just because you (general you) can make sense of it doesn't mean it isn't confusing. The games rely on retcons (Ansem, what Kingdom Hearts is) and weird logic when it comes to memories. Throw in time travel as well. I think calling it confusing is fair.
 
Weiss

Weiss

User requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
64,265
It's not disingenuous, the story is snooker loopy bonkers talk.

It cheats all the time, explicitly retconning past events and burying a vague note in the reports like that's good enough.

Sami said:
maybe one day we'll find out what the fuck kingdom hearts is

I think it's like a door? Or something?
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Heart shaped moon called by a key made of two other keys spelled X-Blade but pronounced "kye."
 
Mikebison

Mikebison

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,036
User Banned (1 Week): Personally attacking another member, a long history of infractions
With all due respect, fuck off.

It's an absolute mess of anime garbage. I know people who have played every single one of the games multiple times and still find it an incomprehensible mess and can't explain it to me in 5 minutes.

If you like it, cool. But it is a mess.
 
Anustart

Anustart

9 Million Scovilles
Avenger
Nov 12, 2017
9,052
You're wrong. Take a step back from your adoring view of the games and look at it objectively.
 
s y

s y

Member
Nov 8, 2017
10,433
I was following along pretty well until Dream Drop Distance.

It wasn't well told or anything before but man what the fuck.

Like I keep saying, I'll watch the cutscenes in KH3 only for the pretty graphics .
 
bluexy

bluexy

Comics Enabler & Freelance Games Journalist
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
14,521
I'll only accept that headline in the context of "Kingdom Hearts' story isn't confusing, it's just awful."
 
sredgrin

sredgrin

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,276
I'd argue the opposite, that your idea is.

People acting like it's totally normal to play like 7 different games, a few of which are downright bad, in order to keep track of a story starring a duck with no pants. And even with the collection there's still nonsense like that movie that's tied to mobile game that's both terrible and not easy to follow.

Gotta rise out of your fandom bubble sometimes. You're too absorbed in it and can't see past it.
 
Cantaim

Cantaim

Member
Oct 25, 2017
33,371
The Stussining
I'm only on the second game and I gotta say it gets really hard to follow. Got multiple villain factions with the heartless and the nobodies. Certain characters getting 3 different versions of themselves referenced in the story. Spin off games that contain major story elements. Shit is messy.
 
Lothars

Lothars

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,765
Mikebison said:
With all due respect, fuck off.

It's an absolute mess of anime garbage. I know people who have played every single one of the games multiple times and still find it an incomprehensible mess and can't explain it to me in 5 minutes.

If you like it, cool. But it is a mess.
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I don't think it is as much of a mess as you and others say it is.
Anustart said:
You're wrong. Take a step back from your adoring view of the games and look at it objectively.
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You can look at it objectively and not think it's a mess.
 

Deleted member 6235

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,447
The story sucks. It's a convoluted and confusing mess. It's not disingenuous to say that, it's the truth.

I do love the series, though.
 
Runner

Runner

Member
Nov 1, 2017
2,722
Weiss said:
It's not disingenuous, the story is snooker loopy bonkers talk.

It cheats all the time, explicitly retconning past events and burying a vague note in the reports like that's good enough.



Heart shaped moon called by a key made of two other keys spelled X-Blade but pronounced "kye."
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To be fair, it's actually "χ-blade" which is the symbol for chi/ki/qi
 
wondermagenta

wondermagenta

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,153
Cologne
My problem was never that it's "confusing," it's that it's stupid and random. If every single character in your story has five different clones of themselves, you're not a good writer.
 
SieteBlanco

SieteBlanco

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,878
The thing with Kingdom Hearts is that you can easily strip most of the content and it starts making more sense. A lot of the most convoluted plot developments result in characters literally running in circles.
 

MYeager

Member
Oct 30, 2017
822
'Say it's convoluted. Say it's poorly told.'

A convoluted story poorly told is confusing.
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,523
Ibis Island
I have played every title in the series with the collection all back to back and in release order.
That story is still confusing and i've given it a lot of chances. I've come to understand the basics of it, but as said. It's still poorly told. Even if things make sense once you have a flow chart to follow.

I'm going into KH3 now basically just going "Sora has to beat Xenahort who is in more bodies now and other stuff will happen along the way"
 
aiswyda

aiswyda

Member
Aug 11, 2018
3,093
I played through/watched all of the games with my SO over the past like 8 months maybe. While it's fun and can be boiled down to pretty simple themes, it is absolutely that confusing and convoluted. I think the fact that when I call a character a certain name I have to specify which character I'm talking about or like which part of the timeline I'm talking about means it's an inherently confusing game.
 
CRIMSON-XIII

CRIMSON-XIII

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,176
Chicago, IL
I think Game of Thrones as a base is far more complicated overall, in story progression, character relationships, and interactions.

If you think about Kingdom Hearts basically by every game. The story comes together on its own. In my opinion, if that makes sense.

in the vaguest absolute sense.
KH1- friends separated, trying to findthem, saving the worlds from the heartless and their leader / darkness
KH CoM, continue searching for friends, end up in Org clutches, Sora sleeps because of the events in the game
KH 358/2 Org overview and Roxas overview,

KH2, Sora waking up and continuing the conflict kind of that the 2 previous games set up.

KH BBS, learning about the overall bad guy behind the previous 2. meeting new characters.
KH DDD, adding onto the story of the overall bad guy, showing more background. As well as making room for the final conflict in this Xehanort saga. setting up the final true Org and true villain.

KH 0.2 , concluding BBS,
KH3, concluding the Xehanort saga.

TBH. it is not THAT BAD.
 
KZXcellent

KZXcellent

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,969
Understanding the story of the series involves playing all the games. People don't want to do that. You don't need a high IQ or a degree to understand the plot of Kingdom Hearts. People bounced off it due it being spread of different platforms, and bounce off of it now because they don't want to play everything. It's a rarity for a game series to actually continue it's plot through each entry like a series of books or seasons of a TV show and people aren't used to it.
jviggy43 said:
I cant even tell you the proper order of the games to play because the games even have confusing sequel (prequel?) Titles.
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Play each entry in release order like most other game series. Aside from one entry in the two PS4 collections that's how they're presented.
 
hwarang

hwarang

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,452
You're not making any sense. They just compiled the titles. It doesn't unravel the clusterfuck of the direction they went with. Just because it's accessible doesn't mean the inherent story is fixed.
 
A Syrian Communist

A Syrian Communist

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,466
Remember when the keyblade was a special supernatural thing that chooses it's wielder and that's why Sora got it over Riku before they said "lol jk there's like 10 million of them and you just need someone who has one to give it to you"
 
Order

Order

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,465
The story only got confusing with the last world in DDD. Everything else is simple as fuck. If you thought it was confusing before, you just weren't paying attention.
 
aiswyda

aiswyda

Member
Aug 11, 2018
3,093
Wanderer5 said:
No, not after Dream Drop Distance especially. 3D really went off the freaking rails.
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God, agreed. DDD was one of the last I played through and I thought I understood the story up until then, but as soon as you get to the 'final world' of Sora's route I literally just sort of sat there mouth agape trying to figure out what was going on and what this meant for the story. We had to stop playing and try to like map it out.
 
Voltt

Voltt

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,499
It's fair to make a lot of criticisms towards the story of the series, but the idea that it's hard to understand has always felt really questionable to me. Everyone who I've talked to that's bothered to play all the games has a pretty firm grasp of the plot. Even if they hated the story, they still understood it.
 
Khanimus

Khanimus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
40,217
Greater Vancouver
Its s goddamn trash fire. What could have been a killer premise of "jump through these Disney worlds and interact with these iconic characters" has become this dumb shit meta spiritual anime bullshit.
 

Deleted member 5535

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,656
SieteBlanco said:
The problem with KH's story is all the silly "digital world" excuses they come up with to let the player play as "Sora" and "Riku" in the increasingly pointless spinoffs. The core story is as relatively simple as an story with a time traveling antagonist that's collecting alternative versions of himself could be.
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So, just Recoded which is the only one pointless game. Btw, there's no spin-off.
 
butman

butman

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 30, 2017
3,024
The only reason i play KH is because the battle system and Disney characters. The story is utter shit.
 
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