I have successfully played two hours of Kingdom Hearts. For those who have never played, no this is not a lot of time. The first half hour is mainly cut scenes as you try to figure out what path to take. I’m getting ahead of myself though. Let me back up. You start off in a rave on the beach.
If you’ve never played this game, before you start there is a mini music video that plays. It is a rager of a song. Love it. Is the animation for 2002 stunning? Absolutely. Do I think the song and what’s happening in the opening sequence match? Not really.
There’s a lot of falling from sky, reaching out to a friend and then falling through water. Over all lots of reaching and falling. You see glimpses of the main characters of the game but it’s very open to interpretation.
The Awakening
Then comes what the game refers to as “the Awakening.” Now this could have taken me half an hour because I couldn’t decide between three simple choices or because the clip scenes take that long too get through (I have since learned you can skip these). Either way choosing between a sword, a staff, and a shield should not be so hard.
You aren’t given a lot of information about what choosing each item means for you. So I will admit I went to the internet for help. From some quick browsing you’ll find these items are what dictates your starting skills. The optimal path is to start with a shield or the staff as you get more defense early on. I went for the shield to bolster my defense.
Part of this “awakening” is how you learn the controls of the game. You learn how to fight off little darkness minions, move boxes, and jump.
Then for fun you get to fight a boss before you’re dropped onto your island. You wake up lying on the beach wondering if everything you experienced was just a dream.
Destiny Islands
Right off had no idea what I was doing. Clearly do not remember much about this game from when I played ten plus years ago. After running around a little aimlessly, I receive my list from Kairi on what to collect that day.
Complete the mission and unlock another cut scene. Now I know that Sora, Kairi, and Riku live on this island. Kairi came to the island later on and that prompted them to build a raft so they can leave the island. Seems like wishful thinking but they are just kids. Unclear in this first scene if they even have parents.
The next day I find myself wandering around again. Talking to the side characters proves useless as all you can do is duel them. I do find a cavern where some cloaked guy gives a cryptic message about a door though.
I am able to access new parts of the island this time. Seems like I am once again collecting items for the raft. I did sort of remember something! I am collecting fruit (see Kingdom Hearts – The Journey Begins for prior speculations) and learning about the mysterious paopu fruit that ties destinies together. Through losing a race with Riku, I learn that Sora has a love rival for Kairi’s affection. Supposedly because I lost the treetop race he gets to share the paopu fruit with her. No evidence of this happening yet.
Oh pro tip when collecting coconuts, not just any stupid coconut will do. It has to be yellow. Frankly it took me way too long to figure that out.
After the day’s shopping list is done we get another cut scene! A storm approaches and that’s when everything goes downhill fast. I find myself surrounded by the dark creatures from the tutorial but can’t do a thing so I run around like an idiot. I find Riku in his usual spot but he is swallowed by darkness. Finally find Kairi but she disappears?
Then out of nowhere the boss from the tutorial drops in. Apparently the tutorial was practice because yay, we get to fight him again! Despite defeating the boss, the entire island is sucked into the darkness. Now I’m on an entirely new world called Traverse Town.
The Mickey Mouse Club
Meanwhile in a different cut scenes we learn that Mickey Mouse is the king and Minnie Mouse is the queen. Their world is literally just a castle on a sphere and I do not know what they are the king and queen of. The universe maybe?
What’s happened to Sora’s world is also happening to others so Mickey ran off to go figure that out. He tasked Goofy, who looks to be a knight, and Donald, who appears to be the castle magician, with finding a keyblade user. So they take off in their spaceship for, you guessed it, Traverse Town.
Now I did play around for a bit in Traverse Town but let’s save that adventure for another day. Until next time!
About the Author: Geek Gal is an avid reader and consumer of content! Writing about whatever, whenever it strikes her fancy, we’re never quite sure what she’ll write about. She’s a fan of many interests!
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