I've been passionate about RPGs ever since I was a kid, especially Square Enix games. One thing that has always stood out to me is Tetsuya Nomura's work. I love the character designs in his games. Final Fantasy X is one of my favorites, the Advent Children designs are ridiculously edgy in the best possible way, and Kingdom Hearts manages to take all of that and turn it into something truly unique.
It's honestly amazing being able to meet characters like Cloud and Sephiroth again, fight one of the most memorable boss battles in the series against Sephiroth, or even talk to Aerith. For someone who grew up playing Square Enix RPGs, Kingdom Hearts feels like a love letter to those characters.
However, there's one problem that becomes more obvious the older you get and the more you revisit the franchise: Tetsuya Nomura's writing.
Kingdom Hearts feels like a franchise that's afraid of being simple. Every new game introduces a retcon, a new rule about how its universe works, or some major revelation that completely changes how you interpret previous events. Sometimes, it feels like you need to take a course just to understand the series' timeline.
What makes it even more frustrating is that a huge part of the lore is locked behind mobile games that have already been shut down. Important pieces of the main story simply aren't easily accessible for someone picking up the franchise today.
That doesn't mean Kingdom Hearts is a bad game. Quite the opposite. If you can accept that the story is an absolute mess, there's an excellent Action RPG underneath it all. The combat system is fun, character progression feels rewarding, the difficulty options are well-balanced, and every game delivers genuinely memorable moments.
Kingdom Hearts is simultaneously one of the most creative and one of the most poorly organized franchises I've ever played. It manages to be brilliant and incredibly confusing at the exact same time.
Kingdom Hearts IV has me extremely excited. It's actually what convinced me to buy the entire collection and replay every single game. At the same time, I'm also worried. How much further can this story expand before it completely loses itself?
At the end of the day, I still recommend Kingdom Hearts. Just go in knowing one thing: you'll probably fall in love with its combat, characters, and style but you'll also have to make peace with the fact that understanding the story might end up being the hardest part of the game.
