KH1 vs KH2 : A comparison

at the time of making this Kingdom Hearts 1 is my favorite game in the Kingdom Hearts series lately I've learned that the game is not held in as much of a positive light as I thought it was a lot of people think it has an aged well I think some things have aged too the cameras sometimes obnoxious being unable to open chest wall and combat is tedious gummi ship missions are boring sometimes the game may give you no directions and some of the boss fights are just not any fun well it's age in some respects I still think the combat really holds up it's a simple action RPG defend retaliate and use magic for the most part I view - as an extension of one Sora feels similar to control but he's faster and has new movement abilities the camera is nice and zoomed out and it really hinders you and while there are some bosses I would consider bad they aren't the infuriating type of bat they're just boring the game also remixes some of your old options in combat while giving you a lot of new ones cage to play significantly better than the first one and there's no denying that despite this the first one is still my favorite one because it has a lot of experimental and raw ideas that I really like and in this video I'm going to talk about some of the differences between 1 and 2 and why I prefer one so much so let's get started with [Music] you might be wondering how I could possibly prefer the story in cage one do kh2 and for good reason one story is okay well two is a step up in almost every single way in the first game sora is a really simple protagonist I never strongly identified with him because he was just a happy boy who always did the right thing he even wanted to save his friend Riku despite his evil actions bringing the game shines in particular when it comes to his rivalry writer Riku the game also gets you in on it by having Riku beat your ass senseless on destiny islands I'm sure I can't be the only one who named the boat Riku sucks dicks after finally beating him in a race anyway after destiny Island falls the darkness these two characters get set on different paths one is guided by their friends and what is manipulated by Disney Villains the villains are acting together as a force to end all the worlds this entire premise is very simple if not cliche but it's very entertaining and that's key to me being entertained all the way through none of the Disney worlds felt like filler every world you visit feels like it's part of a greater story I had to ensure every single world was safe and sealed the keyholes so they wouldn't fall to darkness like Sora's home island every keyhole shield was a victory against the villains master plan to flood all the worlds with darkness and beyond that we still suffer some losses when Alice and jasmine got kidnapped finding them and returning them to their homes becomes a part of your journey now if you don't save some of the worlds the game incorporates that into its gameplay when you make it to the end of the world you'll be forced to fight in some of the worlds you didn't save because you abandoned them I don't feel a lot of strong emotions playing through Kingdom Hearts because it's a very staple hero saves the day type of story but the ending does get me a little emotional once you complete your quest and save the universe from the darkness you lose the friends you were searching for the whole game it's simple and execution but it really gets you to feel things a little bit for your character and that's pretty much the height of kh1 now let's compare it to KH 2 in case you Sora is much more emotionally mature his only trait isn't just being optimistic anymore he gets sad frustrated and he's really witty he's a fun character and way more relatable than he was in the first game but you don't start off as sore in this game you start off as his nobody Roxas in the short time you play as Roxas I got really attached to him all he's trying to do is live out his last few days of summer vacation with his friends and as all these weird events start surrounding Roxas there's a bit of anxiety in the air what's happening to Roxas and what happens when summer vacation ends in the end when you say goodbye to summer you also have to say goodbye to Roxas it turns out the life he was living was a lie and he's part of Sora's soul and he has to return this new character whose life you just lived out has to disappear to get your old one back right from the start cage 2 is more emotionally engaging and develops more characters than kh1 ever did but here's my problem after the intro the game sways from engaging to unengaging this time Sora's goal is to look for his friends once again and put a stop to the mysterious organization 13 whose goals are unknown and with the organization being new original characters comes new worlds the world that never was Twilight town and Hollow Bastion all contain original stories and characters these worlds never fail to entertain and surpass kh1 in quality but when I'm in a Disney World I tend to lose interest for the most part Disney worlds are strict on following the stories from the movies essentially making them mediocre retellings with Sora and the Heartless kind of photoshopped in there it doesn't feel like my presence in these worlds is important to the overall plot it's put best when Belle asked Sora if they're there because something strange is going on and so just goes I don't know we're just kind of wandering from place to place Pete shows up in most of the Disney worlds replacing Maleficent by teaming out with the Disney villains well like kh1 it doesn't feel like there's any sort of master plan Pete doesn't feel like he's there for any particular reason besides to be a bad guy and supplied the Disney villains with the Heartless for their movies his time-travel plot was cool but once you go through all the worlds once peaches disappears and becomes irrelevant it's understandable because at this point it's revealed that killing the Heartless with the Keyblade is what the organization wants B is on Team Maleficent and they don't want to give in to the organization's plans so he probably doesn't want spread heartless anymore makes sense but it doesn't change how boring Pete is and how he just awkwardly shows up at the finale to do nothing one last time moving on from Pete the world's that I take the most issue with our Aladdin Halloweentown parts of the Caribbean and the Lion King when I play through these worlds it feels like the cutscenes are so long and there's such a slog to go through three of these worlds are strictly retelling their movie with bad pacing between gameplay and cutscenes I feel like I should also include The Little Mermaid in this - sure the world is just minigames and cutscenes but so is the 100 Acre Woods and I love the 100 Acre Woods it's a really comfy world and Sora's interactions with the characters is really sweet and entertaining I don't think the Little Mermaid had to be as boring as it was on the second visit to most of the world's you don't have to follow the movie threads anymore and this is a good thing because the interactions with Disney characters outside of the movie are less forced and they're more fun maybe someday Jack will be able to use the keyblade after all yep Ian Sora are kind of alike don't you think this is what I find really charming and I wish the worlds were more like that to begin with Hercules in Tron were my favorite worlds and maybe that's because I haven't seen their movies acheron world was much more involved in the plot and Shawn was actually a pretty cool character and Olympus half of the plot is shared with a final fantasy character which makes it a bit more interesting so it's not like the Disney worlds have no potential at all despite Kingdom Hearts 2 having better written characters and overall plot the pacing of the game is what kills it for me it's what makes it harder for me to play through compared to KH 1 when I go through one I actually enjoy watching all the cutscenes I'm consistently entertained throughout my whole adventure and that pulls me forward in most RPGs I need a good mix of story and gameplay in order to keep myself from burning out regardless if I've already beaten the game or not so I'll always be for a cage one story because in that just to hold my interest throughout the whole game [Music] there are three things I think of when it comes to cage ones level design charming interactive and explorative I can understand why many people aren't fond of cage ones level design when a level like Tarzan exists it's really a cryptic level the game doesn't tell you where to go or give you any hints you just run around in circles like a monkey till you stumble upon the next part of the story and don't forget Tarzan's cousin mantra which has its own problems the maze itself is fine but the music and the aesthetic is so boring the real problem is there's a bunch of flying enemies and a lot of tiny platforms this doesn't give you a lot of room to swing your Keyblade around because if you do you'll end up falling down and having to go through a lot of the maze again you might also platform your way to a chest only for a flying enemy to spawn and then fly off away into the distance making it so you're unable to open the chest and the optical will chase it down it's just really tedious not a single level in cage two is bad like these stages are cage ones levels have low lows but they also have high highs tours town Hollow Bastion Aladdin Alice in Wonderland and Atlantica these levels have neat interconnected segments a good amount of platforming and tons of nooks and crannies with secrets begging to be explored in kh2 most levels are relatively flat and linear with no branching sections to explore to has faster movement and more movement options but you don't have anywhere interesting to use them for platforming outside of a short segment in the cavern of remembrance with the exception of Twilight town cage 2's all design doesn't really facilitate exploration it's almost impossible to miss any good rewards like summons gear attack defense stat ups and torn pages because chests are laid out on your path and are hard to miss the most exploration you do is going back to find the puzzle pieces once you get all the movement abilities to reach them none of the rewards from the puzzle pieces felt gratifying to get except for the grand ribbon the pieces felt like a checklist I didn't feel like I was searching to find any exciting items in cage one you might get crafting materials origami pieces you don't care about but there are a good amount of immediate rewards that make chests a bit more exciting you get strong healing items all kinds of stat ups a summon you can even get a decent Keyblade if you remember to turn to wonderland in the late game chess also give you some of the 101 dalmations or the torn pages for the 100 Acre Woods which end up giving you different rewards such as Magic's or summons I like that there's always something optional to explore and that a plate there will be completely different from my friends depending on what they decided to do I might be stronger because I found more stat ups maybe they'll have an easier time with some of the harder bosses because they found better healing items or maybe they have stronger gear and magic optional content being significant to your playthrough is good it's a feeling that cage 2 is missing the worlds in 1 are also very interactive in Chivers town there are tons of little secrets you can find by interacting with things here's one I never knew of until recently and the hotel lobby it'll tell you there's an art exhibit check out the paintings and then talk to the clerk again and he'll tell you to strike the clock in the green room do this and you get a chest finding and discovering secrets like this on your own is addictive and it's not the only world that does things like this and Olympus Coliseum when you come back with a stronger Blizzard spell you can put out the fires antara and you can manly craft a potion if you read the instructions and Halloweentown knock on the door like a trick-or-treater and you get an item in Hollow Bastion you can either jump into these water bubbles or freeze them to make a platformer you can also use gravity to lower some chess this is all really basic but interaction makes the world more fun to explore finally when it comes to charm levels in case one tried to bring their charm from the Disney world itself Tarzan has you sliding down vines and Alice in Wonderland has you changing sizes to solve short puzzles you can also do some bizarre things in the bizarre room you go through Olympus's plot by fighting in the tournaments discovered treasures in the Cave of Wonders and then make out like thieves in an escape sequence and Atlantica is a whole level that takes place under the sea I know most people aren't a fan of gameplay changes that take away your abilities and options and I can understand why I've been on the other side but I'm one of the few people who are really charmed by Atlantica it changes the way you approach and explore the world in - The Lion King world is pretty similar to this speaking of cage - outside of the Lion King it doesn't feel like the worlds have the same charm to them and that's on a bad thing it's just preference because cage - tries to be charming in a different way and that's through the combat Heartless are more tailored to the worlds they're in than they were before using party members have flashy limit attacks with Sora there's a lot of gimmicks in combat like pirates being immune in parts of the Caribbean unless they're standing in moonlight or Milan having a morale meter you need to keep up there's also a light cycle racing in Tron the carpet ride from cage one is back except its combat focus now on top of all this the worlds look beautiful and you get a themed menu for each one the aesthetic is really clean both games have a lot of charm in their own unique ways but I prefer cage ones charm for capturing the magic of Disney worlds [Music] already gone over how to's combat is so much more superior despite this I still have reasons combat wise to prefer one over to the biggest one is because I have a preference to defense over offense and cage one is the more defensive game the early tutorial fights in Destiny's Island teach you to analyze your enemy and that if you time your attacks you can parry the enemy create an opening and gain exp since the speed of kh1 is so much slower parrying feels easy to do and even essential to the combat I love that I have to take the time to understand each enemy's movements and what moves they can do in order for me to respond accordingly with defensive maneuvers besides from a few stand outs in cage - I don't know what a lot of the enemies can do to me or what the timing for their attacks are I know generally when some reaction commands are going to pop up so if I need to be defensive I'll either mass triangle let a summon handle it or I'll use reflect when an enemy flinches which usually works out don't get me wrong in the context of what you can do in cage - those things aren't a negative in terms of enemy design I don't consider any enemies into Bally designed in 1 there are 4 enemies that are straight-up bad dark balls because they can attack instantly in one of their attacks is hard to see then there are wizards Invisibles and angel stars because they can become invincible when they feel like it to top it off wizards and angel pots can fly and are immune to most magic making them more tedious and - there's the enemy that's immune to all magic but you can close in on enemies really fast making it a non issue with these glaring issues how could I possibly prefer enemies in one honestly it's because they're more memorable I know how all of them work on an individual level and that makes the fight feel more thoughtful while giving me a sense of mastery and to so many enemies just become fodder I recently replayed two for the first time in seven years on critical I remembered a lot of the early and more challenging heartless but there was so many heartless where I thought hate where these guys in the game before they're just too many heartless that I mow down without a thought before they get a chance to do anything and the more combat feels thoughtless the more I zone out I have a similar feeling for some of the bosses into two is great as strengths is how powerful Sora is and how many options you have in combat allowing you to express yourself however you want it's also complemented by some of all design bosses to test your skills against the organization of fights are really well-designed and some of the best fights in the series those fights are really memorable because of the challenge they pose and how you overcame it most of the other bosses in the game are memorable because of their reaction commands outside of a few standouts I can't remember what made most bosses a challenging and special encounter the reason I love bosses and won so much is because it's so experimental they throw you into weird situations and almost everyone feels different to approach boss arena's can vary from circles to an entire house filled with platforming it's all tied into how each one naturally plays despite bosses having limited movesets they took advantage of the environments to make them more interesting case 1 champions simplicity but it tries just about every idea that it can the execution range of these ideas can go from above-average to terrible but I love it nonetheless I also have a problem with too that I never had but one that bothers me a lot if I want to use some as our magic in cage one it was always a deliberate choice or because the situation called for it a cage too far most of the game I feel forced into using some options that I don't necessarily want to use I hate grinding but wanted a good movement abilities to use throughout my playthrough so I felt constantly pressured to be in a dry form while playing the problem is that both summons and drive forms use up the drive gauge so you can only pick one of those to use even if I wanted to use a summon I would use a drive form instead even if it meant the encounter would be a bit more tedious there's exactly one situation where I picked the summon over the drive forms because it significantly trivialized the boss this even came in to odds with other drive forms once I unlocked master and limit form I never want to touch valor or wisdom again because of how weak they felt in comparison but I still ended up using them so I can minimize the amount of grinding I had to do later when it comes to MP and cage 2 you have choices on how to use the resource two you can either start recharging your MP with a cure or limit or even in the tax fell but that choice never bothers me because I'm not accumulating anything by choosing one over the other there's no pressure outside of combat that dictates how I use my MP it's not fair of me to compare two to one for not balancing a feature the latter didn't have I'm trying to understand why I have this preference or one and I found that the way Drive forms are implemented it puts the pressure on me that kh1 just doesn't have that pressure is always looming over me until all the dry forms are maxed I could use them less but it means I would have to grind more but grinding leads me to burnout especially when the fastest way is something that's really boring eh through your shaping up to have a lot of things from cage one that made it so special to me especially a more interactive and charming world design Disney worlds also seem to be more involved in their original plot and I'm excited because the dialogue between characters will be better than it ever was well the combat still isn't the slow defensive type I like it still looks really fun just like cage 2 was but dry forms are gone so god bless you Kingdom Hearts 3 it looks like you will end up being my favorite one in the series I've still loved to see another series that was focused on simple platforming and defensive play like cage one was I think the old hybrid style of cage one still has a lot of potential cage one is just so raw and it's action and RPG elements and it's really fun and despite it not being well liked it will always have a special place in my heart even if you can't agree with anything that was said in this video I hope it gives you a little bit of an understanding on why some people may have such a huge appreciation for KH 1 even if 2 is the better game if you have any thoughts leave a comment I love talking about this stuff and that's it thank you for listening

Channel: JayEm

Views: 5,002

Rating: 4.8775511 out of 5

Keywords: Kingdom Hearts, KH1, KH2, Kingdom Hearts 2, KH3, Kingdom Hearts 3, KH1 level design, Kingdom Hearts level design, Kingdom Hearts opinion piece, Why I love Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Riku, Kingdom Hearts is a good game, Kingdom Hearts aged, Kingdom Hearts analysis, Kingdom Hearts vs Kingdom Hearts 2, Kingdom Hearts 1 is better, Is Kingdom Hearts good?, Kingdom Hearts footage, Kingdom Hearts 2 gameplay, Kingdom Hearts gameplay

Id: Spq5HXND0yA

Length: 19min 39sec (1179 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 28 2019