Intro Improvements!

[Jiro]

On the weekend I was discussing Kingdom Hearts with two of my nerdy friends. They both agreed that the introduction to KHII was way too long and boring(and subsequently they hate my darling Roxas ), and one of them also said that the introduction to KHI was too hard (although I question whether he's with us on Earth sometimes).

So what sorts of things would you like to have seen added or removed to these intros (Destiny Islands and Twilight Town in case you were wondering)? Would you like them shorter? Longer? Would you like to be able to skip it entirely?

Okay go

[Pheesh]

KH1's intro was great I thought, I never even thought of it as an intro. I loved the story between the Sora, Riku and Kairi; the whole tone of it (with it starting out with scavenger hunts and obstacle courses, to the introduction of the door and the islands destruction) set the mood for the rest of the game. Using the dream as a tutorial was fine, and having to choose to keep one of the weapons and discard another added some depth to your character (although I wasn't aware of it on my first play through). It also allowed the persistant player to really grind against Wakka (or one of the others I guess, I just used to choose to play baseball with wakka though ).

KH2's intro was very long, and the pacing was a bit off, but it was still fun I thought. I enjoyed parts of it (the tournament was fun, and so was investigating the mansion), and disliked others (having to find those anomaly things for your school paper). The story was engaging, and although I didn't fall in love with the characters like I did in KH1, I definitely didn't dislike them. Added notes; Seifer looked totally awesome in child form, and the ending of the intro ("my summer vacation is over") literally breaks my heart every time I have to play it. Emotionally, that is one of the most powerful moments in the series imo.

[Ouch!]

I always felt that Kingdom Hearts 2's introduction with Roxas was far and away the best part of the whole game as far as plot was concerned. I think it's more of an issue with the way the whole game is paced rather than just the introduction, though. Kingdom Hearts shoves a load of plot at you in the beginning before deviating to Disney world subplots, returns to another original world for a significant burst of plot in the middle, deviates again to Disney world subplots, and then smacks you across the face with the final dose in the end. A slow and dense prologue is just the inevitable consequence of such a structure.

[P4ine]

Regarding Days, KHII's introduction is fantastic.

I too have talked to several people about KHII's introduction, and I've realised that there are two kinds of KH players: Those who play for the plot and the others who play because of the series's gameplay.

First group would of course also enjoy the gameplay, however they are stunned due to the storyline, the characters, the music and so on.

The second group would very likely keep skipping videos, fight every opponent they come across and casually follow the plot. And maybe they'd like the game for the "Pirates of the Caribbean"-world because they're like "OH MY GOD LOOK IT'S JACK AND 'HE'S A PIRATE' PLAYS IN BATTLES".

Your two friends would seem to apply to the second group, people I'm disgusted with.
As for my share, I think I'd find myself in group one.

[Pheesh]

Dear god...there can't actually be people like that. The game would make absolutely no sense....and the PotC level sucked!

[P4ine]

Unfortunately there are, but fortunately I think they are a minority. Whenever I see people of this kind I tell them to play plotless games like Tetris. But then again they're not worth it.

But I think PotC was okay, I liked the zany combination of real-looking persons and Sora and co. And the fact that "He's a pirate" plays during battles in fact is extremely cool.

[qwertysaur]

If you play through days, then the introduction of II really is quite depressing.

[Ouch!]

If you play through days, then the introduction of II really is quite depressing.

I started playing KH2 again after I finished Days. It's infinitely more awesome after that.

[No.78]

Utada Hikaru makes everything worth it, but the actual Twilight Town thing and the Destiny Islands thing were really long and boring. When I first played KHI, it took me ages before I actually went back to the game to get past Destiny Islands. Pretty, but dull.

[qwertysaur]

Seriously. Play Days, it has a profound impact on how you will view the entire Twilight town Roxas part of II.