Quote Originally Posted by Scruffington View Post
That honestly just seems too overwhelming, tbh. I really only have interest in the core games: the original (KH1), the sequel (KH2), the prequel (BBS) and the eventual sequel (KH3).
Except they're all designed as "core games" as you call them.

Look, if you get into the story, it's really awesome that you have so many games since you get to play around with it more. And the gameplay is always great.

Sure, you can jump into II without Chain of Memories, but know that most people that did so complained about II's story of making sense, while it made sense for those of us that played CoM beforehand. If you're just interested in the gameplay and not the story, cool, but you won't get a clear, cohesive story experience by opting not to play a specific game in the series. It's like watching an anime or tv show and choosing to just watch every other season.