What do you think about the all the "Spin-offs" or Side games in the Kingdom Hearts Series? Do you think their needed, yes or no, reasons please.

[xTheOnlyProdigyx 165]

 

What do you think about this topic, there's lots of Pros and Cons to this series having lot's of Side Games. I personally think there's way more Pros than cons but I wanna hear what you guys have to say

Edited April 23, 2016 by John Lewis (xTheOnlyProdigyx)

[catmaster0116 2,676]

Yes. This was also the reason why many of my irl friends are no longer KH fans.

 

They waited too long for KH3 and in the process of waiting lost their passion for the KH series. Last I heard, They could not be bothered to play the side games and It sounded like they might jump straight into KH3 when it comes out.

 

And I said 'Good luck making sense of everything, not playing the side games is like trying to watch the last film of a certain film series without having watched the films preceding it'.

Edited April 23, 2016 by catmaster0116

[Zerrick 43]

Are they needed now in order to understand KH? Yes. Did they need to be made? No. With FFxv being in development hell since 2006 there really was no other choice than to make all of the handheld games in order to keep fan interest, but the problem with each new HH game was that Nomura had to up the ante each time, the only game that should have been made was birth by sleep, would have served as our intermediary to 3 ala CoM, but instead, now we have all of these titles that semi don't matter in the long run and then games that just want to fire truck the story just because (looking at you 3D).

[Yuya Sakaki 5,212]

They definitely are needed to understand the whole plot so far and what's going to go down in KH3. I laugh at people who think KH and KH2 is all they need to understand KH3. I can picture all their questions like: 

Is that Roxas? Why is he wearing different clothes and in a coma? Didn't he return to Sora?Who are these people that need to be saved? Why weren't they introduced to us before?

Didn't we defeat the Organisation in KH2? Why are they back?! We beat Ansem and Xemnas!Who is that bald old man? Why wasn't he introduced as the villain?!

Who is that black-haired Sora? Did Sora turn evil at one stage?

Axel is back?!

Riku is a Keyblade Master and cut his hair?!

Who are these "Foretellers"?

Who's Skuld and Ephemera?

WTF is the Keyblade War?!

 

Those people will be so lost.

 

Peace!

Edited April 23, 2016 by Yuya Sakaki

[MythrilMagician 6,963]

Out of all the titles, plot wise, coded was the most useless of them all. The games were quite fun, but Kingdom Hearts 3 was delayed for far too long.

[Xiro 3,468]

Who is that bald old man? Why wasn't he introduced as the villain?!

When u try to tell them it was Leonard Nimoy and they dun believe u

 

@OP Whether they're necessary or not or whatever is pretty subjective (although most people agree that coded has little story substance, DDD is a mind-frick, etc), but for me, I wouldn't have gotten into the series without Days and re:coded (since I started out with basically just a DS), so I'm pretty grateful that the current non-numbers were made

[rosco258 212]

Like people have said they ate needed for the lore. Iv'e played all the games personally. You would be sleptical bout several things without these "side games" why do they need to thank namine? Why was Sora asleep? Why do they call themselves organization 13? Who are these other keyblade weilders. Isnt sora the only one? Among other things. Regardless if you think they're is too many spinoffs a game doesn't need a number to be deemed important.

[Eternalsleep 175]

They were definitely necessary, in terms of plot anyway, but it also cost the series a chunk of its fans. Not everyone is loyal enough to go buy a $200 game system just to play kingdom hearts. And considering that people are aging at the same time that it takes square enix to dish out these side games on new systems, it's pretty safe to say that it hurt the series in terms of sales. It honestly should have just stayed on playstation.

[PieLuvah 317]

Hecka yes they are needed! the so called "side-games" are not really side games in my opinion. They add to the lore of the entire series. They're the reason why we know so much more about the characters we come to know and love. The first time you play KH2 you'd think that Roxas is an 'ok' character but since you don't really know that much about him to relate to him, you're just really scratching the surface. After knowing more about Roxas after playing days you'd come to deeply connect with him and find his presence in KH2 more meaningful (Roxas why?? D;)

 

Seriously, If you didn't know about CoM before playing Kh2 you're already hella lost. who the heck is Namine? Diz the hell is that?  Wait why is Sora sleeping in a pod? He doesn't have any memories? whoa Riku's back from the realm of Darkness.. whaaat? Good luck trying to understand KH3 without playing/bothering to know about the 'side-games'.

 

I actually want people who have only played 1&2 to record their time playing KH3. for funsies. their confusion would immensely please me mwahahahahahaha!!!

Edited April 23, 2016 by PieLuvah

[Trece the Xam ( ▀ ͜͞ʖ▀) 3,859]

Right now they're needed, but KH could've been a simple trilogy, no need to make 10 games (that actually most have nearly the same Disney stories) but Nomura wanted to milk KH extend the plot to make it even less comprehensive.

[Kingdomhe 1,362]

Out of all the titles, plot wise, coded was the most useless of them all. The games were quite fun, but Kingdom Hearts 3 was delayed for far too long.

2.5 and KHX made re:coded important

Edited April 23, 2016 by Keyblade master26

[AzureAce 544]

Of course they're needed. BBS is one of, if not, the most important games in the entirety of the franchise, plot wise. 

[Setrex 1,031]

I don't really treat the games as "side" or "spin-offs", I've always looked at them like "just another Kingdom Hearts game". I mean like, I'm hyped for KH3, but I'd much rather have had all the Kingdom Hearts games we have had than none at all.

[Dave 5,715]

I see a lot of people mentioning that the non-numbered games were needed for lore purposes, but I'm going to counter that they only embellish lore that they themselves introduced. Birth By Sleep invents its own overarching story and then superimposes it upon the rest of the series which still functions (in my opinion, for the better) without it. Not to say that this is the case for all of them: Chain of Memories directly works alongside Kingdom Hearts II to offer a complete story, and 358 Days is really sort of a stand alone story that can exist on its own. 

 

 

 

Seriously, If you didn't know about CoM before playing Kh2 you're already hella lost. who the heck is Namine? Diz the hell is that?  Wait why is Sora sleeping in a pod? He doesn't have any memories? whoa Riku's back from the realm of Darkness.. whaaat? Good luck trying to understand KH3 without playing/bothering to know about the 'side-games'.

 

Actually, I had played KH2 without knowing about CoM beforehand, and I had no troubles figuring things out, thanks to the Ansem reports and putting together other little pieces that the game put forward.

[HarLea Quinn 26,501]

Well I remember past Nomura interviews where he discussed things like since he couldn't make KH3 anytime soon he decided to make the side games to appease the fans and to help test new things he wanted to try for future games like KH3. Imagine not having any KH games at all since KH2- that was years and years ago and potentially could've caused more fans to lose interest. Then there is all the new fans some of these side games brought into the series and the exposure they brought. He also got to explain a lot of backstory he wanted to through the side games. Did he over-do that and make things more complicated than need be? Yes I believe so. Especially with the last couple of games imho. So really there has been some pros and not just cons to all these side games. (personally BBS is one of my favs)

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Yes, I think that the non-numbered games are definitely needed!  The beauty of the Kingdom Hearts series is its detail to story and creating emotion in the characters that come forth from these games, ya know?  If I hadn't played any of the non-numbered games, I probably wouldn't have such a deep appreciation for the story and all its plot twists and tragic moments!  So yeah, I definitely think that the non-numbered games are necessary!

 

And like other members have posted here, it's gonna be a buttload of a ride with all the KH fans that didn't bother to play the non-numbered entries, but are playing Kingdom Hearts III!  What'll make me angry about this is that they'll probably talk trash about the game for not understanding the story, when the non-numbered games were available to them, quite visible in store retailers, ya know?  If these certain KH fans don't enjoy III because of this, it'll be their own fault!  But, I think it's safe to say that a good 50 or 60 percent of the fanbase has played all the games, and thus, know the full story, ya know?

 

But yeah, I just love all the layers the KH series has because of these non-numbered entries!  It makes the series all that more amazing!

[Shimmy 458]

¯_(ツ)_/¯ I'm very laid back with my entertainment and have really low expectations/standards (lol) so Kingdom Hearts's convoluted and excessively long story doesn't really bother me.  

I guess there's good things and bad things that came out of the spin-offs, but I think the main goal of the spin-offs were to get you hyped for Kingdom Hearts 3 as much as possible. It backfired for some, because they quickly lost interests in the games. While for others it got them attached to the characters which kind of gives you motive to want Khiii. So I guess it's a double edged sword when appealing to fans.

I'm probably just rambling nonsense don't listen to me haha.

[KingdomHearts3 2,591]

I am alright with the side games. Actually, in a way, none of them are really side games because each has some important information for the story. They are all not bad game and are fine. I am alright with them and I think they are needed.

[SilverKanto 3]

i think they are absolutely necessary. It seems like Tetsuya has big story to tell, but is it forced? From what i have heard, Disney were pushing these games. Perhaps Nomura made more to the story line so the so called "spin off" games had some meat to them. I think no, but it could be a possibility. either way, i love the spin off games, even though some of them are unbalance. but i feel they add more to the series and i dont have a problem with it.

[Guest]

The hatred for the side games is because of the delay of Kingdom Hearts III. Simple as that. From Kingdom Hearts to Kingdom Hearts II, the only side game was Chain of Memories. From Kingdom Hearts II to Kingdom Hearts III: there's enough side games for someone to lose interest in the core storyline.

 

On another note, I don't understand why people are not satisfied with side games like Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance? They provide enough new content to make them enjoyable in their own right.