Asking me to depict my favorite Aspects from Kingdom hearts as if it were just any other game would be like asking a movie critic what their one favorite scene from Citizen Kain was. You just can't answer that question because everything goes together so perfectly that in order to just take a single aspect of it as opposed to looking at it as a whole, then there's just no way that it will be able to impress as well as. Kingdom hearts tells of the exploits of young Sora a fourteen year old boy whose lifelong dream of exploring new worlds is granted with the help of some Disney magic. Waking up one night after a day long training session kingdom hearts wastes no time putting the skills you've learned to use. Fighting off wave after wave of shadow monsters just when your exhausted a miracle happens, a weapon known as the Keyblade appears in your hand and after a few minutes of killing off these creatures you then fight the same monster that you fight in your dreams a gigantic creature with a hole in his chest that swallows you up, and brings you over to Traverse Town a land where you are a stranger to and the people are even stranger. After bumping into Donald and Goofy (Quite literally) You form an immediate bond and must learn the rules of the new world in order to survive. Kingdom hearts at its core is an action RPG. You unlock new skills and powers by killing enemies and leveling up. Your abilities start off limited to only the most basic magic spells (Taught to you by Herman the sorcerer from Disney's rendition of the sword and the stone) and through countless hours of fighting you unlock stronger versions of each spell. Though like many other action RPGS it offers far more from your standard strait forward hackenslash gameplay. The game has multiple types of gameplay that could easily be a game of their own one of the game's standout features is the ability to customize your own spaceship or "Gummi ship" using parts that you obtain throughout the worlds you visit. Constructing a strong Gummi ship is essential in traversing the worlds that you explore. I remember as an eight year old how much fun I had with this mini game of constructing your own ship and blazing through the space shoot em up levels to reach your new goal.
You collect money and items by defeating foes, and wile money is dropped around like candy you should pay extra attention to the items that you collect as you gain the ability to synthesize them later on. While Kingdom Hearts isn't the first game to have item synthesis, it was the first game I played where synthesizing items gives you a great sense of accomplishment other games like power stone may of also had this feature , but here every item that you create increases your skills in this department. Some items are so rare that you have to specifically track down certain enemies in different worlds just to get the material that you need.
The thing that
makes this game stand out as an art form is its ability bring cheer and joy to the worlds by defeating the heartless and in a poetic sense “paint the empty canvas that is these worlds hearts”. Okay that last line was kinda sappy but it's true. The game was simply amazing for the most part, But then I reached the “Hollow Bastion” stage with beauty and the beast and the game became simply perfect. After spending countless hours alongside Donald and Goofy as your teammates, and friends they are forced to leave you just because you are no longer the key blade wielder. As an eight year old this scene struck me as heartbreaking. Your best friends forced to betray you just because you were no longer the one they were intended to help as the creepy music and moody atmosphere of the Hollow Bastion stage just sets in. Then as you keep pushing forward with the depressing atmosphere surrounding you, just when all hope is lost your teammates re join your side because they realize that true friendship matters more than their order past down by even their beloved king. Because if mickey was truly worthy of being their king, they knew he would have done the same thing
Just like shadow of the colossus' open barren wasteland Kingdom hearts' environment was what set the tone for this poetic adventure. With a strong story structure, an even tighter focus on character development, and tight flowing gameplay Kingdom hearts is no less my favorite game of all time.
10/10