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KH ForumsIGN: “Kingdom Hearts Sucks (But it Doesn’t Have To)”
Jack DeVries, of IGN, has today posted a critical column regarding the direction and quality of the Kingdom Hearts games of late. He addresses some universal problems, as well as some that many fans are bound to take issue with. At the same time, those who’ve been critical, or even neutral of the series have taken part in the exchange to offer their thoughts.
“After a decade, two main games, and four spinoffs, Kingdom Hearts has solidified itself as an RPG juggernaut. A cross-platform, cross-universe, East meets West monster of a game. And after learning about Keyblades, princesses, and this Ansem guy, one thing has become abundantly clear:
Kingdom Hearts, as a story, totally sucks.
Not saying the games as a whole suck. In fact when it comes to pacing, battle systems, and core gameplay, pretty much everything except the platforming mechanics, Kingdom Hearts shines. But then you try and explain the story out loud and all that comes out is a garbled mess of emo kids and Orlando Bloom cameos…(PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE)”
The staff of Kingdom Hearts Ultimania will always choose to be neutral in such heated debates, but at the same time, we encourage all our readers and members to voice themselves! Be sure to hop on over to the article’s comment section, and sound off on what you think. But keep in mind: “Sound off” equates to using our inside voices. It’s both extremely rude, and makes the community and fanbase as a whole look generally bad if people start all-capping obscenities, so please keep it civil if you choose to participate, and don’t forget that those are all opinions, and as opinions, be sure to respect them.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ARTICLE
Source(s): IGN
February 28th, 2012 at 2:09 am
I know the term “haters gonna hate” springs directly to mind but it’s a poorly written article in every sense and a lot of his points make no sense, he did more complaining about the Disney worlds than the story, in which he claims to suck to begin with (it’sbecause he’s clearly not intelligent enough to understand it, imo xD).
I don’t normally get so angry at people like this because the phrase “haters gonna hate” comes back into mind but I’ve seen a lot of hating on the series recently on sites like Kotaku (among the comments) and other big name sites and I have to learn that people like to hate on popular games.
I followed the link at the bottom of his so-called “article” and it was a link to his Twitter which had a tweet saying, “I wrote an article about why Kingdom Hearts sucks now because I like to make nerds mad.” so it’s a blatant attack towards fans, so I’m not going to get too worked up over it, it’s annoying that there are these kind of people that get a kick out of doing this but oh well, it’s the internet I guess. >.>
February 28th, 2012 at 2:12 am
I am a very big kingdom hearts fan and what he said isn’t actually wrong…trying to explain the story to a none kh player is near impossible but maybe if he actually sat down and payed attention to the story he might not be so critical considering it is one of the best of all times.
February 28th, 2012 at 2:37 am
It’s like you took the words right out of my mouth ^^
February 28th, 2012 at 2:44 am
I would somehow agree about what goes wrong with kingdom hearts. Also, Kingdom Hearts have been shown poor ratings due to Disney wouldn’t allow the encouragement of a rated T game by both Disney and Square Enix. Furthermore, It’s not cool that they butcher both sides. Last but not least, the original songs in disney worlds is really pathetic not to mention to everyone that I hate Sora because no one wants to have a naive kid as the main character.
February 28th, 2012 at 2:46 am
It would be better if kingdom hearts would be destroyed starting with the main character who sparked this hate named “Sora”.
February 28th, 2012 at 2:50 am
I know that term too KHSoraKeyblade maybe the lot of story is the bad thing of the game in my case in
more story gets more interesting the game this IGN is very jerk to say that
February 28th, 2012 at 4:00 am
I totally love KH and I kinda get what the dude is saying because I’ve tried explaining the story before and it is a pretty hard thing to do because there’s so many different components and all the different games and whatnot, lol
February 28th, 2012 at 4:21 am
I actually found this article amusing since that person who wrote it pointed out how narrow minded he is. How sad to be him.
February 28th, 2012 at 5:03 am
You realize IGN does this like, all the time? Someone writes a ‘controversial’ article that trashes a big name series in order to get people worked up and drive them into the site in order to crank up site views, and therefore, advertising dollars?
February 28th, 2012 at 5:45 am
I never notice that. Well all that I know is that he did it to piss people off he even said it on his twitter account.
February 28th, 2012 at 7:05 am
I don’t know where my attention should be. The article or that banner.
February 28th, 2012 at 7:18 am
Well, now that I think about it, the story doesn’t make much sense. Darkness isn’t some evil force, princesses don’t have light (which also isn’t that important), and characters NEED to die. They can’t have a loophole like ‘the power of darkness brought him/her back to life’.
PS: Tetsuya Nomura should stick to drawing characters. Let Christopher Nolan direct the series since he made Inception and The Dark Knight.
“JAPAN, THEY KILL THINGS THAT WE LIKE.” ~ Family Guy Fact
February 28th, 2012 at 10:16 am
I love Kingdom Hearts but I agree in part with the article. It’s not trolling because is a reasoning. The story it’s not so easy to understand, especially considering that there are five spin offs that adds story elements between the two main chapter except 358/2 Days that IMHO in fact of story it’s almost useless. And it’s true that some disney elements are ridicolous, that song it’s an example… but most of all we’ve been 4 time in Agrabah .-.
February 28th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
You are totally right, the story doesnt suck, but it cant be explained in two words either, its far more complex than that, and that’s the real treasure of this serie
February 28th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
im sorry, but the kh storyline is confusing to explain to people. i love it, but, when people ask me what its about/anything in depth about the story, i literally have to tell them to set aside 10 or more minutes because of how twisty and turny it is.. idk.. tetsuya made it overly complicated in my opinion. just like ff 13 LOL (well, not that bad)
February 28th, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Well, you know, each to their own. I personally adore Kingdom Hearts and love a lot of what this guy hates: I like the way they manage to use the same Boss and keep the game engaging. I think almost anyone else who tried to do this would not be able to keep the story as exciting and mysterious as Kingdom Hearts does. I’m not saying the game is perfect but you need to look at both sides: Kingdom Hearts has a story like no other because of what they do and how they do it. A complex storyline is what I want; anything too simple and it loses the story and another line of thinking. Some games seem to have no purpose because of a flat plotline which makes the overall game a little less inspiring. In the modern world which storylines have a common theme of vampires, dark romance and predictable it’s-been-done-before plots, Kingdom Hearts is a breath of fresh air.
What I’m trying to say is I love a game which introduces new ideas (who else would have the idea, let alone the daring, to cross over a game with Disney?), complex plots that make you think and wonder and a range of intertwined characters. In short, Kingdom Hearts makes me think ‘Wow’. But like I said: each to their own. No opinion ‘is’.
February 28th, 2012 at 6:42 pm
I love Kingdom Hearts as much as the next fan, but the magic that the first game captured so well definitely has faded with each game. Kingdom Hearts 2 and Birth By Sleep both had excellent and fun gameplay with somewhat lacking stories compared to the original Kingdom Hearts. 358/2 Days… just dragged and dragged and didn’t do much for me. I hope Dream Drop Distance can bring back some of that charm that the first game did so well. And I kinda wish that this rumored Birth By Sleep 2 is in fact just a rumor. I really want them to just pop out Dream Drop Distance and then just finish Final Fantasy Versus, and then focus on Kingdom hearts 3, make it epic, and maybe just end the series then. I love the kingdom hearts franchise, but I’d rather it end on a high note then spiral out into nonsense and craziness. Because I’m getting kinda confused about how many different versions of Axel, Roxas and the 3 (or 4) versions of Xehanort there are running around in the newest game’s trailers.
February 28th, 2012 at 8:16 pm
No one on the article’s comments ended up explaining to me what the supposedly irreconcilable, insurmountably baffling plot holes in the series are. Because I can’t think of what they might be.
February 28th, 2012 at 9:01 pm
“…4 spin offs…”
From the instant he referred to BBS and CoM as spin-offs I instantly knew this guy was about to waste my time with mindless hating. Looks like I was right.
It’s really not worth caring about it though, the people who appreciate the story enjoy the games more than the people that don’t. That’s enough.
February 28th, 2012 at 9:45 pm
That guy is completely dense, he’s just a frustrated whiner who stressed trying to discourage people to play this game because it is far from having enough intelligence to understand the game.
February 29th, 2012 at 2:21 am
in ur opinion right ?
February 29th, 2012 at 2:25 am
u know, there’s a difference between trollin’ and expressing ones’ opinion. he only expressed like a percent of his opinion. the rest was just an attempt to satisfy himself by pissing off fans. now i agree the story has expanded quite a bit. but hey if u think its to overwhelming for u, just quit. or do something mature besides complain like actually pay close attention to the story, like go to khwiki or see a walkthrough that explains everything. and lastly careful by the way u use “spinoff”. cuz i dont think khbbs nor kh com was a “kingdom karts”.
February 29th, 2012 at 3:13 am
It seems more we’re being sent to be trolls >D
February 29th, 2012 at 3:17 am
Also, i’ve come to realize that it’s not so much that the story is actually complicated if outlined well, it’s just that there’s so MUCH to go into, it seems to be outdrawn too specific to seem simple.
February 29th, 2012 at 3:29 am
Yeah, because Nomura didn’t write the story for FFVII, direct Advent Children, produce Crisis Core and the 3rd Birthday, and head the team that created The World Ends With You, which even the IGNorant hater called the best modern JRPG… Yeah, your point’s kind of invalid.
February 29th, 2012 at 4:00 am
Who ever wrote that is…an idiot. Plain and simple. The stories have always been brilliant. Or at least the main story…the “Disney” world stories are a bit boring and almost to the point of being useless. But the Main story it self is amazing and continues to be.
February 29th, 2012 at 5:14 am
There were a few little things i couldn’t disagree on with what Jack DeVries said, exept TWO VERY IMPRTAN THINGS!!!
1. if u have played the game from start to finish so far, the story line is easy to follow.
2.KINGDOM HEARTS IS NOT!!!! twilight(blech) FOR GUYS!!!!!!THAT IS THE WORST ANALOGY FOR THE KH UNIVERSE, ITS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DISGRAICFUL!!!!!!
)]:<
February 29th, 2012 at 10:00 am
He shouldn’t bring his opinion as fact, that’s one of my two problems. He is right at some points (silly titles, Disney limiting SE, so many loose ends), but just the fact that “We’re about to play our seventh Kingdom Hearts game, and there have been three completely separate Kingdom Hearts, and nobody has set foot in that place?” Made me lose it. Seriously? That’s like saying twewy is a bad game because the world doesn’t end -_-
Edit: it’s also proof that he never finished the first game.
February 29th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
emo kids? Orlando Bloom camaos? If this guy paid attention then he knew that Kingdom Hearts is all about friendship and you have to show some emotion otherwise no one would get into the chareacters. And Orlando Bloom isn’t even in the game genuis. The story isn’t that hard to understand if you actually play the games or watch the cutscenes.
February 29th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
I really disagree with this article but he does make some valid points when citing the facts about the worlds but as far as the story goes it really isn’t that complicated. If he actually took time and sat down and played the games or even look up the overall story line on kingdomheartswikia then he would realize that its really not so hard to understand. I really don’t get it when people say oh the kingdom hearts story line is so complex.
February 29th, 2012 at 10:15 pm
IGN has actually responded to the fan outrage.
http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/02/29/psa-your-opinions-dont-need-validation
March 2nd, 2012 at 1:14 am
I found the ending of the article especially annoying. He’s trying to make a point, one that, while I don’t agree with it, may be somewhat valid, but he does it in such an immature, obnoxious, logical-fallacy ridden way, that it’s really just annoying in the end. Not sure why IGN decided to publish this, but whatever.
March 3rd, 2012 at 6:42 am
Can’t spell ignorance without IGN -.-’
March 13th, 2012 at 1:50 am
IGN of course, chooses to do this in the most condescending way possible. They basically said “Our opinions are fine, but nobody cares about yours.”
March 18th, 2012 at 6:52 am
This is what I said:
Can’t understand what’s going on? Yeah, you’re joking right?
This game series is easy to understand. Advanced forms of calculus are plenty more difficult to understand.
“It’s hard to imagine a less engaging main character than Roxas, and
then Ventus came along in Birth By Sleep as his less likable
doppelganger.
”
Pfft. If you cannot see what’s blatantly wrong with this statement, it just shows how much you don’t pay attention! That, or you just aren’t using critical thinking skills…at all
They hand you the story, it’s meaning, and everything else, on a silver
platter! It’s all right there. As a person who has played all of the
games it makes perfect sense to me, maybe the author of this should
start from page one and read it to the most current page. It’s easier to
comprehend it that way than jumping around and being like: “I’m
confused! Oh, it’s like a puzzle and I’m too lazy to solve it!”
Figuring out what’s going on is a part of the game, and it’s not all that difficult.
=/
July 13th, 2012 at 5:42 am
The things i don’t like about the first game is just it has TOO MUCH JUMPING( you reach a high point close to the objective and you fall, TOO BAD DO IT AGAIN), and also you get lost quite ALOT, the enemy AI just spam attacks you(especially bosses), and one more thing, THE CAMERA SYSTEM IS SHIT!!!!