Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory is a rhythm action game that is the latest (at time of posting) Kingdom Hearts game. The gameplay retells the story of the Dark Seeker Saga though the music of the games. While the plot focuses primarily on Kairi following the events of the Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind DLC.

Kairi has put herself in a deep sleep to search her heart and memories for clues for Sora whereabouts after his disappearance at the end of Kingdom Hearts 3. Kairi eventually confronts a version of Xehanort who nearly overpowers her until Sora takes over briefly. The ending tells us that Riku is going to the mysterious Quadratum to search for Sora while Kiri continues her keyblade training under Aqua. Yen Sid also sends Donald and Goofy off the inform everyone else what is going which Mickey is going to Scala ad Caelum to investigate the ancient Keyblade Masters. 

Overall the game fun but I do wish that we got to play as Kairi more during the game and personally I wanted Kairi to be the one to fight Xehanort this time but I know this game was mostly to give hint as to where the Kingdom Hearts series will be going next. Though not confirmed I hope the ending means that we will be getting a game focusing on Kairi and Aqua and one with Mickey in Scala ad Caelum.

Kingdom Hearts 3 and the Remind DLC are the last games in the Kingdom Hearts Dark Seeker Saga. This game follows from the previous games where Sora and everyone are training to stop Xehanort from foraging the x-blade and destroying the world to create a new one. Before getting into it, this game is for fans and expects you to both know and understand all that has come before. The game does try to inform new players but your really not going to completely understand things if you haven’t play all the pervious games. Especially the emotional moments and how certain stories are brought together and concluded are best experienced with this prior knowledge.

The story starts off with Yen Sid prepping the seven keyblade wielders as the guardians of light and Sora going off to regain the power of waking. As they travel the Organization XII members that have returned are targeting the new princess of heart to make sure everything goes to plan. Finally, Riku and Mickey are in the realm of darkness trying to find Aqua while Kairi and Lea train as keyblade wielders.

In terms of gameplay I love it. The basic magic and keyblade attacks are still there but we are given situation commands, different keyblade forms, and attraction flow which summons park attractions to hit enemies with. I can see that not everyone will like all the different combat forms so I would try all of them and then just use the ones you like the most. Overall, Kingdom Hearts 3 is not my favorite game in the series its a fun ride and a good entry that answers many questions and ends this saga of the story while also leaving enough mystery for future games. My only criticism is the fact that Kairi still doesn’t have much agency in the story and is more of a plot device than an actual character. I would have also liked to have seen some Final Fantasy characters at least show up as cameos.

Now to talk about the Remind DLC I will have to spoil the ending of Kingdom Hearts 3 so now is the time to leave if you haven’t finished it.

So near the end of Kingdom Hearts 3, Xehanort provokes Sora into attacking him by destroying Kairi’s body this forges the x-blade and unlocks Kingdom Hears. Sora, Donald, and Goofy do defeat him and Xehanort gives the x-blade to Sora to seal Kingdom Hearts. However, Sora decides to use the power of waking to save Kairi though it will have grave consequences. In the scene on Destiny Islands everyone is there including Kairi and Sora but Sora disappears and it is clear that finding Sora is where the story will go next.

The Remind DLC better explains the ending as Sora is using the power of waking to save Kairi. The power of waking allows Sora to essentially travel back in time during the final battles with the Organization member by entering the hearts of his friends and allies. In terms of gameplay this allows the player to control and fight as other characters. While the concept of Sora travel in time is a little confusing I do love the extra scenes and character moments that we didn’t see before. This also better explains that Sora is breaking the laws of the universe to save his friend and love the fact that we finally get to play as Kairi. The DLC also gives us more of a glimpse of where the series is headed in the next games.

These are the last two items in the Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue that I needed to finish to be ready to play Kingdom Hearts 3.

Kingdom Hearts Back Cover is a movie version of the important information that was included in the Kingdom Hearts mobile game which has gone through several name change but I will use Kingdom Hearts Union. The movie focuses on events during the time of fairy tale before the first Keyblade War. The Master of Masters has disappeared but has tasked his five apprentices to create Unions of Keyblade wielders to ready them for the prophesied Keyblade War and to protect the worlds light.

I know the idea behind this movie is to provide those who didn’t play Union with the information from the game that will be important in feature Kingdom Hearts game but honestly only thing I got out of it is that I don’t like or trust the Master of Masters. I personally think he’s playing everyone for a plan he is not explaining yet. After watching this movie I still feel like I need to watch a full cut scene complication or play through of Union and will also need to read the Wikipedia pages to really understand this part of Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep-A Fragmentary Passage is the story of what happened to Aqua after she became stuck in the realm of darkness at the end of Birth by Sleep. Its been about ten years that she as been stuck in the realm of darkness and its starting to get to her. It is also revealed that she helped Mickey and Riku close that door to darkness that they closed at the end of the original Kingdom Hearts game. You only play as Aqua in this game but it does give you a chance to see how Kingdom Hearts 3 will look and feel like. Aqua is one of my favorite characters in the series and I can’t wait to see how her story ends. I just want her to find her friends again and know that they will be okay.

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance was originally a game for the Nintendo 3DS but has since been ported to the PlayStation 4 as part of the 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue collection and that is how I played it. This the last full game before Kingdom Hearts 3 and mainly sets up any last plot points that we need to know to get to the story of Kingdom Hearts 3.

The story follows Sora and Riku during their Mark of Mastery exam to determine if they are true Keyblade Masters. Master Yen Sid tasks them with traveling to the different sleeping world and wake them while learning the Power of Waking that will be needed to save all those connected to Sora in preparation for the final battle against Xehanort. This game also finally explains what Xehanorts ultimate plan is with some explanation as to why but I believe more will be explained in Kingdom Hearts 3.

Gameplay wise its the same action JRPG that we’ve grown to love the series for with added elements of the command deck that was introduced in Birth by Sleep. As the characters travel through the sleeping worlds instead of Donald and Goofy being party members you are joined by Dream Eaters, spirits that will help you through out the game and are kind of like Pokémon as you can new one and increase their levels as you play. I like the concept of the Dream Eaters but was not a fan on how they are implemented as it feels like a gimmick to me.

The other two big changes to the game play is the drop system and flow motion. As you play as both Sora and Riku there is a timer that forces you to switch between the characters most of the time you can avoid dropping when you don’t want to but it does add some pressure to finish each characters story in each world as fast as possible. Flow motion allows a much greater vertically and fluidness to the characters movement. Flow motion pretty much means that you can bounce off walls and spin around objects as well as many other things to attack swarms of enemies and get up on higher ground.

Overall, I had a lot of funning playing this game but this is where the series starts to be more confusing that it needed to be. As time travel is now an element to the series and it is expected by this point that you have played and understood all the games that came before that plot is a lot to deal with. As I’m invested in the characters, world, and story that has been created in this series I feel I like I have a good grasp on everything. However, for those interested in but have never played I can see you hearing about the plot can be very confusing and possibly make you not want to try the series.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is a prequal game set about ten years before the events of Kingdom Hearts. However, to understand the story the game expects you to know and understand the events of Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts 2. Originally on the PSP I played the Final Mix version of the PlayStation 4.

The story follows three key blade wielders Terra, Ventus aka Ven, and Aqua as they are working to become Key blade masters. After Terra and Aqua’s Mark of Mastery test new enemies called the Unversed are seen throughout the world and Master Xehanort is missing. Terra and Aqua are charged with traveling the different worlds to stop the Unversed and find Xehanort at the same time Ven is told that something horrible is going to happen to Terra and goes after his friends. I don’t want to go into more of the story if you haven’t played but its an emotional journey that has call back to events in the other games.

Instead of playing just once you play though each characters storyline. Technically you can play in any order that you want but the expected order is Terra, Ven, Aqua. The game play is different from the previous games. This time there is no MP just a command deck that charges magic and specific attacks overtime. Each character has a different play style to get used to and different strengths. The only thing I personally didn’t like was command melding as I feel like it is a little complex and confusing.

While I loved the characters and story the game does feel a little bare bones probably because it was originally created for the PSP. Each Disney world is only a couple of rooms and there are very few NPCs to interact with. However, I can’t wait to see these characters and continue their story in the next games.

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded is a Nintendo DS game following Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket after the events of Kingdom Hearts 2. They are trying to figure out the mystery of Jiminy’s journal and why it says to Thank Namine and the message “Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it.” To do this they digitize the journal and awaken a Data version of Sora to go though the journal and figure everything out.

As I’m playing Kingdom Hearts from the 1.5 and 2.5 collection on PlayStation 4 Re:coded is not actually playable. Instead its a movie version of the cut scenes with text to add any needed information. So I can’t say anything about how this would play as a game but I loved where the story is going. I loved the ending as we are finally given information of who are all the characters hurting and connected to Sora’s heart and hint to where the story is going to go next. I also love the fact that we get to know what was in the note to Sora from the end of Kingdom Hearts 2.

With the 20th anniversary and the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 4 I plan of finishing the rest of the games in the series as soon as I can.

As I have been playing all of the Kingdom Hearts games on the 1.5 and 2.5 collection on the PS4 not all of the games are playable but are movie versions of the cut scenes and story information. This is how Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is in the collection. Now, Days originally released after Kingdom Hearts 2 but the collection put Days first as the story timeline has Day occurring before the main events of Kingdom Hearts 2.

So if you look anywhere on the best order to play Kingdom Hearts in some will say to play Days before 2 or after 2. I feel like most of the time its better to play in the order that the games where released in but Days doesn’t matter as much. The game focuses on Roxas and his relationship to Organization XII which does give clarity on the events of the three hour long prolong to Kingdom Hearts 2 but not much other important story information that is directly needed to play Kingdom Hearts 2. In terms on how your play through will change depending on what order you play in the major is how confusing the opening prolong to Kingdom Hearts 2 is and how much of the mystery of Roxas do you want. Days chronologically is set after the first game but before 2 and is set both during and after the events of Chain of Memories. For me I knew information about the later games anyways so I don’t think it matters much which one I played first but I do feel like the relationship between Alex and Roxas is better understood and you get more out the open of Kingdom Hearts 2 with the information in Days first. However, you do loose some of the mystery element that starts the game and is throughout with the Organization.

Before I get into Kingdom Hearts 2 I will make a note that I generally play on Beginner mode as I don’t feel that I’m all that good at these games but I love the story. Any information I miss playing this way, such as the secret endings I look up after I’ve finished playing the game. Most people will say this is not the best way to play these games but I just want to enjoy the story and get through the games in a timely manner.

Kingdom Hearts 2 starts off with a prolog that is about three hours long focusing on Roxas who has a connection to Sora but its not explained until much later in the story. When we start playing as Sora he has been a sleep for a year and now must travel the worlds again to find Riku and King Mickey as well as stop the evil plan of Organization XII. I love these games but its in Kingdom Hearts 2 that you can tell the plot does start to get a little confusing if you aren’t paying attention as there are hints of where major plot points and events are headed.

In comparison to Kingdom Hearts, I find Kingdom Hearts 2 a much more enjoyable experience to play. Though you can tell the game was created for the PlayStation 2 the movement of the characters and the gameplay overall is much better. The Drive Forms are a great new way to add to the gameplay even though I don’t like things like double jump being connected to the Drive Forms. Overall, Kingdom Hearts 2 is one of the best games in the series both story and gameplay wise from what I’ve played so far.

I’m currently making my way through the rest of the series and since 2022 is the 20th anniversary I hope to have finished most of what we have currently before the end of the year.