Hey there folks. Kingdom Hearts 3 (or III) came out yesterday. People have been anticipating this game for eons. Or at least in the 14 years since Kingdom Hearts II.
Now, a common misconception with this series is that the “side games” don’t matter. Games like Dream Drop Distance, Chain of Memories, or 0.2 Birth By Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage. Which, even if you only played Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2 (or II), you would realize ain’t true. See, there’s no such thing as a “side game” with Kingdom Hearts.
The storyline is a horrible mess. Unfortunately, the story is a huge part of the games. I lost interest in the series with Birth By Sleep. The game kept thrusting me into lazily put-together Disney worlds. If the only reason to be in a location is “remember how good The Lion King was?”, we might have a problem. That’s an article for another time.
Regardless, Kingdom Hearts 3 (or åƒ) looks to be a simple and clean time, and for me, at least, it’s worth picking up just to experience the cool game play, top visuals, and praying that finally there will be some conclusion.
So if any of you out there are like me – haven’t played all the games but Kingdom Hearts 3 (or ৩) caught your eye, let me guide you to some great video guides that break the mess down so you won’t be (as) confused.
A Good Enough Summary of Kingdom Hearts – Barry Kramer
Cute visuals, fun jokes, and it’s not too long. While it may not be the most accurate summary (as it is 99% drawings), it definitely helps you figure things out.
The (Simplified) Kingdom Hearts Storyline – The Leaderboard
A bit of a shorter one, but without going as in-depth. It touches on the mainest games (whatever that means at this point) and skips a lot of the Kingdom Hearts bull to get to the main story of Aqua, Sora, and Xehanort. Not to mention Xehanort’s 7 copies. Yeah, buckle up.
The Story So Far in Kingdom Hearts – IGN
This one is all text-based, which might help take things slower. Nonetheless, you still get sentences that read: “Roxas then falls into a coma because of what’s happening to Sora in Chain of Memories and doesn’t wake up until Axel returns from Castle Oblivion as the only surviving Organization XIII member from there.” Spoilers? If you can even make sense of it.
Watch All the Cutscenes – YouTube
I mean, go for it. But I’d lose my mind if I did this.
- Kingdom Hearts
- Re:Chain of Memories
- Kingdom Hearts II
- Re:Coded
- 358/2 Days
- Birth By Sleep
- Dream Drop Distance
- Kingdom Hearts χ (pronounced key. GET IT?!) Back Cover
- 0.2 Birth By Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage
I did the math – that’s about 38 hours of cutscenes.
Or Just Play the Games
I mean, might as well, right? Kingdom Hearts 3 (or Ù£) isn’t going anywhere. In late October, Square Enix released Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far for PS4 (sorry Xbox). It has all of those games above, but you get the bonus of being able to actually do something during the majority of it.
In conclusion, I can’t really recommend any particular option – it’s completely up to you. But if you’ve seen any trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3 (or ៣) and thought it looks cool…then trust me, you’re gonna need to know what’s going on.
