RF Generation Message Board

Welcome to the February 2014 Modern Community Playthrough. Are you ready to experience one of the most incredible crossovers in video game history? Read on...


Overview
Kingdom Hearts is an action role-playing game which is the result of a collaboration between Square and The Walt Disney Company. Released in 2002, the game has spawned multiple sequels and re-releases, and the series has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. From a gameplay perspective members who joined us for the Wind Waker playthrough will feel right at home. The 3D action is fast and furious hack & slash with some treasure hunting but unlike Wind Waker, Kingdom Hearts possesses typical JRPG character leveling, item and magic usage and party management systems.

Looking back, it's kind of crazy right? This game is like the ultimate slash fiction come to life.

Platforms
Playstation 2
Playstation 3 (As Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix)

Checkpoints
In Kingdom Hearts, the player can choose multiple paths of progression to get through the game. With this in mind, we're going to approach it the same way as we did last month with the Wind Waker. However, I will post checkpoints as I progress through the game, as I will be following the path of least resistance, which seems to be the most common way people play the game.

Grayghost81's path courtesy of this walkthrough http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/516587-kingdom-hearts/faqs/41498 which is very poorly written and not recommended.
Prolouge
Destiny Islands
Traverse Town
Wonderland
Olympus Coliseum
Deep Jungle
Traverse Town Again
Agrabah
Monstro
Atlantica
Halloween Town
Neverland
Back In Traverse Town
Hollow Bastion
Traverse Town
End Of The World
THE FINAL SHOWDOWN

Achievements
-Find all 99 dalmatians (Stigzilla)
-Beat Sephiroth in the Coliseum's Platinum Match

Analysis (May contain spoilers)
http://rikuessays.webs.com/essays.htm

Participants
grayghost81
fleach
engineermike
raidou
disposed hero
stigzilla
addicted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN24JkNKJiA

Kingdom Hearts? Sign me up! Might do better with a game I have only played 5 minutes of rather than a rereleased game I have already beaten.

Haven't touched the 1.5 remake since I got it, so I'm in!

Aren't there 101 Dalmatians?

I think The Thousand Acre Wood or whatever the Winnie the Pooh forest is called plus two more lications are secret levels/towns. There are also unlockable weapons.

[img width=250 height=162]http://www.destinyislands.com/images/kh/side-quests/99-dalmatians.png[/img]

I guess two puppies weren't lost then.

Mom and dad.

ya it was 101 total but only 99 puppies and mom & dad

Evidently I need to re-watch some Disney movies.

I couldn't get into this game when I tried playing it several years ago.  With that being said, I always said I would give this game another shot if they released an HD version.  Well, I already own the HD Remix, so go ahead and sign me up!  I just hope I'll have enough time for both this and Parasite Eve....

If I wasn't hosting this playthrough, I may have also given up myself. This game has one of the most muddled, aimless, boring, and confusing first two hours I've ever experienced. However, stick with it, and once you form your party and get into the actual worlds the game really takes off and is quite enjoyable.

I am definitely in for this one, and will be playing KH 1.5, though I've played the original so much, i might add the self-imposed challenge of Proud difficulty.

Also might I suggest an achievement of beating Sephiroth in the Coliseum's Platinum Match?

Done. And thank you for joining!

You know, this game might actually be a spiritual successor to SNES's Goof Troop. ;)

I'm excited to fire up my PS2 for the first time in a very long time. This is going to be fun.

Just checking in here. Anyone else had a chance to start or are we all waiting for it to actually be February, or maybe still finishing The Wind Waker? ;)

Waiting for February.  I'll get started on either this or PE (or both) tomorrow!

I'm going to start playing this weekend.

February is going to be a busy gaming month. I want to finish EarthBound, participate in both Community Playthroughs, play The Wolf Among Us Episode 2, and Broken Age Part 1. Wish me luck!

I'll try to play through this but my game time is very limited of late.

Started playing around 2am Feb 1st.

Chose the Warrior, gave up the Mystic.

Have left the first area.

Now we're talkin'

All business. I like it. Thanks for contributing. Enjoy the game!

If i didn't just finish a full playthrough of this game a few months back, I'd be all over this.  Have fun, everyone!

I know you're a big fan, Bil. I'd be thrilled if you joined our discussions about the game anyway.

Be happy to.  Also, KH2.5 is out this year, that would be a great one to do close to release.

I couldn't agree more with Bil, I was actually thinking that myself.

Well, what do you know? The DYKG for Kingdom Hearts just came out yesterday. Nothing spoilery either, unless you don't want to see the final boss from KHII.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN24JkNKJiA

I made the same choices.

The fetch quests at the very beginning were grueling. I really think Sora needs to find better friends, because they made him gather all the food and materials for the raft by himself. Not cool!

I played up to the part where you have to leave Traverse Town. So far it's really cool to see Final Fantasy characters in an unusual setting and context. Wakka and Squall's voice actors were terrible though.

So we're not doing checkpoints for this? In that case, since there are sixteen major events/locations I'm going to do four per week as my own personal checkpoints.

Checkpoint 1 is Wonderland, although I don't know if that allows for the Collosseum.  Currently have been doing everything NOT to complete Wonderland 'cuz I'm already up to the boss.

The redesigns are nice, and it's a shame they didn't appear as alternate costumes in the Dissidia series (esp. Cloud).  The FF actors are a little jarring, although what really gets me is how Tidus has no navel (yet Yuffie has a very well-defined midriff).

I guess they had to put something in there for the post-pubescent boys. ;) I actually like Yuffie's portrayal in this game since I found her to be cute and spunky despite stealing all my Materia.

The game is open-ended obviously. The checkpoints I've posted are just the way I did it. Feel free to blaze your own trails. Just fyi, after Wonderland I did the Colosseum and then The Deep Jungle.

Has anyone done any upgrades to the gummi ship yet? That gummi garage may be one of the worst interfaces I have ever encountered in a game. Every time I try it I get flustered in about 30 seconds and quit. I'm still flying around with the stock ship.

I didn't read far enough to find out your path/checkpoints. Looks like I'm not too far off for now.

So far I've played up to the part where I'm supposed to leave Traverse Town.  Yeah, the game is pretty much an exercise in frustration up until Sora meets Donald and Goofy.  I finally get to a point where the game starts being fun, and I need to hang it up for the night because it's getting late.  Figures....

I think I made it all the way to the Jungle area when I played this game years ago, and I still ended up quitting, so I guess I still have some frustrations to overcome.

Beat first boss @ Collosseum
Sealed Wonderland

I'm going to tackle another two worlds later today or tomorrow. I'm so happy to be getting to the meat of the game now. The intro bit on Destiny Islands was tiring. I actually dreamed about finding those darn mushrooms last night. Ugh...

I had a little time over the weekend to play.

Spoiler (hover to show)

I'm working my way to lock Traverse Town. I just met Leon in the underground Cavern.

I attempted Wonderland today and what do you know... Another fetch quest and camera problems. I played about half an hour then gave up. I managed to find the clues for Alice's trial, but it wasn't fun.

I'm really trying to like this game, but it just isn't working for me.

Stick with it man. It really picks up after Wonderland. This game literally gets better and also easier the more you play it. You'll hit a turning point, just like I did. You will gain abilities as you go that add an immense amount of ease to gameplay. Even the gummi ship rides become skip-able eventually.

Just like you had to coax me through The Wind Waker, I can do the same for you with this game. ;)

I'll play to the end. There's no question about that.

The only complaint is that so much feels like a chore so far.

i might pick up a copy of this on friday, don't count me in yet but foreshadowing i might play ;)

It seems I've crash landed in the Deep Jungle. I didn't mean to. I wanted to go to the next area which I'm guessing is the Colosseum, but the game wouldn't let me go there. Do you have to go back to Traverse Turn then to the next location? I don't understand. Can someone explain this?

Deep Jungle is the next story event, and yes, I made the same mistake of crash landing there.  You can, however, leave as soon as your party reunites in the tent and you won't crash land again.

The Collosseum is to the left of Traverse Town on the worlds map and so from Wonderland:

Wonderland > Traverse Town > Collosseum OR
Wonderland > Deep Jungle > Collosseum (harder path)

But do I have to go back to Traverse Town in order to go The Colosseum?

You shouldn't have to Fleach. I did the Colosseum first, didn't even know about Deep Jungle yet. I would recommend doing the Colosseum first as the "arena mode" you play through there is a good way to know if you're powerful enough to proceed through the game and a perfect place to grind if you aren't. No penalty for dying, the only drawback is you don't get munny from downed enemies there. The trade-off is you get more xp from the heavies than you would if you just grinded in Traverse Town. I actually did both. Boy I am rambling about grinding here, but it was a major thing for me as I was woefully underpowered when I got to the Colosseum. I had to grind from level 13 to 18 (which was maybe a little too much but the game's been a breeze since then).

Also from what I've read the Colosseum boss is the hardest in the game, and having done three or four bosses after him, I agree so far.

I'll reunite with Donald and Goofy and try to go to the Colosseum, but last night the game literally didn't let me go there.

My path was this: Traverse Town > Wonderland > Colosseum

Should my path have been: Traverse Town > Wonderland > Traverse Town > Colosseum?

Maybe because I don't have the manual for this game I'm having such a hard time with an otherwise overly easy game. I'm relying on a walkthrough because I can't figure this game out. The forest scene in Wonderland confused the heck out of me. One puzzle was to hit the tree and stand under the shrinky fruit to take it. I would never have guessed I had to do that. On Destiny Island when I had to collect coconuts I said to myself, "well coconuts grow on trees so I better climb up and find them." Nope. You have to hit the trees to knock them down. Perhaps that would naturally come to some, but not me.

I guess I just can't think the way the game wants me to and I'm definitely not the target demographic for this.

That being said, I'm not disliking the game. I'm neutral about it. I'll finish the game, but I'll be a challenge.

I just finished Wonderland and have made it to the Colosseum.  This is the second or third time I've attempted to play through this game, and I've always had the same frustrations that Fleach is having.  For me personally, there isn't one single game breaking flaw, it's just a lot of minor things that take away from the overall experience.

Does anybody know if there is some way to turn off the auto-lockon thing?  It always wants to lockon to whatever the camera is facing, so I always end up swinging at inanimate objects or enemies that are on the other side of the room instead of the enemy behind me that I'm actually trying to hit.

And yeah, I remember having a lot of trouble with the Colosseum boss years ago.  Hopefully I'll have better luck this time!

@Fleach:

I believe that the path you listed (Should my path have been: Traverse Town > Wonderland > Traverse Town > Colosseum?) has to be the way to reach the Colosseum. I don't believe that you can go to the Colosseum straight from the Jungle.

@Fleach:
This is a photo of the worlds map available so far:

Spoiler (hover to show)

[img width=451 height=353]http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r534/Blood-Spattered_Angel/khfmmap1.jpg~original[/img]

As you can see, the Colosseum is accessible via Deep Jungle or Traverse Town, but not directly accessible from Wonderland.  Hope this helps.

I figured it out earlier today. Thanks though.

I'm currently stuck in the Colisseum preliminary battles. I can't get past the fifth round if I'm lucky because I'm doing all the work during combat. Donald and Goofy just run around and when they attack, they miss. So these fights are pretty much one against ten and an off-screen magic using enemy will always take me out.

I actually found Donald and Goofy to be pretty effective against the smaller enemies.  They seem to do a pretty decent job of taking them out, even without my help.  They're pretty worthless on the bosses though, at least in the early game.

You can change their combat tactics from the menu.  Perhaps there's something there that could help?

At any rate, I just finished the Colosseum and made it to the Deep Jungle.  The Colosseum boss was tough at first, but became much easier once I figured out the strategy for taking him down.

Made it to Agrabah and I'm on my way to the Desert.

I can't explain why Donald and Goofy are useless in my game. Originally they were set to "Balanced" but I kept losing fights so I changed them to "Defensive" or whatever utilizes support magic and I'm still losing in the Coliseum.

Oh well. I'll fiddle around with the settings more at some point during the weekend.

I've been doing some research into the game and it seems to have polarized many people. There are those who love it to death, and those who didn't like the game at all. All I can say is, "how can people look past all these flaws?" I'd compare this game to going on a picnic near a bee hive. Everything starts out OK, then every once in a while a bee comes out to annoy you and sours the whole experience because it won't leave you alone with your hot date.

I think I have them set to fight more aggressively in my game.  I don't remember my exact settings.  Maybe try setting them to attack constantly and see if you have better results.

I don't think I ever turned them off the aggressive mode in my previous playthroughs. I would act as the healer as needed, and Donald would actually heal more and do more spell damage. Goofy is meant to tank, so let him pull and hold aggro, then heal him while taking out the weaker enemies.

I beat Atlantica last night. This world was a real source of frustration. Well, actually the boss was. When ya'll get there I'd recommend checking a faq because she's a pain, but not exactly difficult once you know what to do. It did take me three nights trying to beat her though. I saved and quit right at the beginning of Halloween Town so I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

The worlds are so hit and miss. I like a lot of them and I hate a few of them. I hope the game ends well or I'll have a really bad lasting impression of it.

Well I think I only have two more worlds left with mandatory trips to Traverse Town here and there but I'm hoping to be able to jump ship soon and go hit up some Parasite Eve!

Finished Agrabah and currently fighting my way through Monstro.

Since Friday:

Sealed Deep Jungle
Sealed Traverse Town
Sealed Agrabah
Beat Prison Cage Parasite Cage in The Evil Forest Monstro

Other progress:
-------------------
54 Puppies found
Beat Phil Cup (all modes, time trial 1'09)
Beat Pegasus Cup (team mode only)
2 pages of Hundred Acre Woods (125 licks, 008 Tigger bounces)
0 successful attempts to play Parasite Eve :(

Just finished the game. Boy, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. As I mentioned in my last post, I was hoping to be left with a good impression. Fittingly, the last five hours of the game were a mixed bag, with a certain stretch being the absolute height of frustration.

On my last post I was about to start Halloween Town. I liked Halloween Town. After that is Neverland, which had some pretty cool moments. Overall I liked Neverland as well.

There were sections of Hollow Bastion and The End of the World that made me want to throw my beloved PS2 Slim out into the snow. One ridiculous sequence has you fighting through wave after wave of the game's most pain the ass enemies to get out of a sealed room. I'm pretty sure this lasted me over a half hour and I died once in the middle of it and had to start over. That was bullshit. Worst part of the game.

However, from the final save point to the roll of the credits, I had a decent time through the eighty different final bosses. For a game that had some surprisingly brutal parts, the final boss sequence was very forgiving in that you basically checkpoint after each stage of the boss so if you die, you don't have to do it again. I had set aside two hours to finish the game and it took me less than 45 minutes. If you're curious I was level 53 at the last save point and I really didn't have too much trouble with the end bosses. That's on normal difficulty.

For me this was a game that took me a long time to get my hands on, and I really wanted it. Since I got it, it's been calling to me from the shelf. I've been really wanting to play it for a long time. For the most part I'm glad I did. I'm hoping I will be able to look back on this game fondly. It ended well enough, and I think this game had so much potential which I'm hoping (and have heard) was built upon for the sequels.

I'll be adding the entire sequence I took through the game to the original post. If anyone cares I used this walkthrough: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/516587-kingdom-hearts/faqs/41498

I picked it randomly and wouldn't recommend using it. It got the job done but is very poorly written. If you're going to use a walkthrough there are much better ones I'm sure.

Well, it's time to change teams and fire up another unique Square title...

 

Still stuck in the Coliseum.

I'm working my way through Halloween Town.

Half way through Hollow Bastion.

@Fleach: The Colosseum is optional, so you can always duck out if you're having a hard time then come back when you have better levels and equipment

I didn't know that. Thanks. I'll try skipping that world for the time being.

Since my last update I have finished the Deep Jungle, revisited Traverse Town, and am now nearing the end of Agrabah.  So far, Agrabah seems like one of the more enjoyable worlds in the game, in my opinion.

Have beaten Hollow Bastion (second visit), which is satisfying as I couldn't beat the boss of Hollow Bastion (first visit) when I originally played.  A satisfying fight, especially since I managed to take him down on the third attempt. 

This also means I have unlocked the Hades Cup in the Colosseum.  As well as Sephiroth, who takes me out in two hits under 30 seconds because a) I can't wound him and b) I'm paying too much attention to One Winged Angel.  I also found an optional boss in Agrabah, so I advise people to give it a go before jumping ship to Parasite Eve.

Thanks for the heads up.  I'll have to look into that.

Since the roads were all icy the last couple of days, I've had a lot of gaming time on my hands.  Since my last update, I've finished Agrabah, Monstro, and Atlantica.  I also completed the Pegasus Cup at the Coliseum.

I've gotta say, I never liked this game all that much, but it's really grown on me.  I think somewhere around Agrabah was the turning point where I started enjoying it a lot more.  It's not perfect by any means, particularly the annoying camera issues, but it has redeemed itself in my eyes.

Disposed and Raidou, I'm confident that you both can finish the game this weekend if you wanted to. Looks like we picked two good games this month because everyone wants to play them both, which is awesome!

Typically we'd space out the checkpoints to play through the whole month, but since I blew through the game with the intent of playing Parasite Eve, I say go for it! Just don't forget to share your thoughts here, and keep coaching Fleach through the game ;). You can do it buddy!

Raidou, I saw the Hades Cup had 49 Seeds and I said "F- that!" Is Sephiroth the #1 seed or somewhere in the middle like Cloud was?

Heh, we're only half way through the month, I'm not in that big of a hurry to finish it :)

I intend on doing most of the side content in the game as well because, well, that's just how I play RPG/adventure games.  Taking down Sephiroth may be a bit ambitious, but I'm gonna give it a shot.

Am currently at the Giant Crevasse, so yeah, I'll beat it by the end of the day :D

The Sephiroth battle is its own thing, listed as ???? or Platinum Match when you speak to Phil and available as soon as you seal Hollow Bastion.  Your obscenities are still fairly justified.  

Taking down Sephiroth will give you a special surprise if you're playing 1.5HD/Final Mix, so I hope someone here can do better at it than I have (level 62 and I still can't wound him or survive 2 hits).  Either that or we could time our failed attempts like a rodeo show.


UPDATE:  Just beat the game....

Spoiler (hover to show)

...and Ansem is one of those final bosses I am glad to have beaten but did not enjoy.  True to JRPG fashion, he has two forms, but here is spread over 7 rounds, some of which repeat and most being 5 life bar battles. By round 5 I just wanted this fight to end.  Round 3 gave me the most trouble due to Ansem's possession attack which can be counteracted but not avoided, but otherwise he was manageable.

I liked the idea of fighting a giant mutated heartless Freudian ship in multiple phases but think it would have worked better if final Ansem was its own level.

I'm glad I played this game, and finally beat it, as I enjoyed this game much more than I did originally. I still could not call myself a huge fan of the franchise, but I can enjoy the game and look past many of its flaws since I consider it an experiment.

Congrats Raidou. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on the game.

I'm leveling up before I try and finish the game.

Over the weekend, I finished Halloween Town and Neverland.  Looks like next it's back to Traverse Town and then on to the Hollow Bastion.

Finished the first trip to Hollow Bastion.  I've been doing some sidequesting (aka leveling up) before tackling the return trip to Hollow Bastion, but I think I'm ready to take it on now.  I sealed the 100 Acre Woods, found all trinity marks, and have found all dalmatians except for 1 more group (I think) found in the Hollow Bastion.

For anybody that wants to do some level grinding before finishing the game, you can get an EXP Ring by sealing the 100 Acre Woods that increases all EXP gained by 20%.  You can also make one at the synthesis shop, but I've never had all the necessary components to make one.

Thanks for checking in guys. I've been negligent in my hosting duties on this thread so I appreciate that you guys have auto-piloted it to the end.

Lots of good info Disposed. I didn't even do the 100 Acre Woods.

You still have a whole week to finish the game. Although Raidou and I disagreed a little on the fun level of the final boss(es), I think we'll all agree that it's worth finishing the game. For how hot and cold I was through the whole thing, I was very happy to roll them credits.

So we haven't talked much about side quests this playthrough.

Has anyone attempted Sephiroth (unlocked after Hollow Bastion)or the Ice Titan (Unlocked after completing Hades Cup)?
What about optional bosses in other worlds?  I mentioned there was one in Agrabah, has anyone found others in Hollow Bastion or Neverland?

How appropriate... $11 for a Kingdom Hearts tee shirt on Tee Fury.

Get 'em while they're hot!

http://www.teefury.com/

I made it to the final save point in the End of the World, but for some reason I felt compelled to go back and do all the side content.  Lately I've been grinding for synthesis materials so I can make Sora's ultimate weapon.  All the grinding is also helping me gain levels which will surely come in handy on the harder optional bosses.


I attempted fighting Sephiroth and the boss in the Hollow Bastion with no actual intention of beating them, just for shits and giggles since I wanted to show them to a friend who was over at the time.  They were hard for sure, but didn't feel impossibly hard.  I think after all the leveling up I'll be doing for the synthesis stuff, I should be good to go for taking them out.

Update:  I took out the optional boss in Agrabah.  He wasn't very hard, just kinda annoying.

Update 2:  I beat the optional boss in Hollow Bastion.  Took me 3 tries at almost level 80 with Sora's Ultima Weapon.  He's pretty hard, but it's mostly because he has a couple of really cheap attacks that he starts spamming towards the end of the fight.

I finally completed Kingdom Hearts yesterday.  I did pretty much everything you can do in the game, including all optional bosses, coliseum tournaments (including solo matches and time trials), obtained all weapons, etc.  The Gummi Ship missions were the only thing I decided to skip.

As I said at the beginning of the month, I never liked this game very much when I tried to play it in the past, but I'm a converted fan now.  It's not a perfect game by any means, but somewhere along the way it just clicked and I got really into it.  There are several games in the Kingdom Hearts series now, so I'm curious to see how they improved with the sequels and how they changed it up with the spinoffs.

Thanks for choosing this game for the community playthrough.  I may never have given it another chance otherwise, and probably wouldn't have stuck it out through the pretty bad opening sections if I had.

Awesome! With one day left in February, that just leaves Addicted as the last serious participant who hasn't declared himself finished with game.

Good participation this month guys. I feel like I'm a in group of people who are really good at enunciating the finer points of gaming. It's actually really cool. Thank you all for taking the time to contribute to the discussion. Here's to many more awesome games to play together!

I'm nearly done, I'll have it finished by tomorrow for sure.

(I really need to work on being more active in here, my bad)

I'm still leveling up, but it's been hard to find time to play. I hope to finish it tomorrow at the latest. I want to start on Phantasy Star.

Alright beat the game and got all the dalmations, though no Sephiroth this time around.

I forgot to post this friday....

Finished the game:

[img width=700 height=525]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/cisco678/RF/photo_zpsaef06e04.jpg[/img] (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/cisco678/media/RF/photo_zpsaef06e04.jpg.html)

I started the GBA one but so far it is not as good as the original.

Sweet guys! Put a fork in this one!

Thanks again for an amazing month, everyone. I mean it!

rise from your grave! long overdue but i just wanted to say that i finally popped in this game to start playing it. i was mad about the fetch quest at the start but the game is pretty cool otherwise, i'm interested to see where it goes.

Yeah, the beginning of the game kinda sucks but it gets better as you go along.  For me the turning point was Agrabah.  I hope you enjoy it!