Here were the characters I knew from my childhood! Cloud, the brooding jerk conflicted by his dark past. But even better, I unearthed that box of memories I’d hidden away years ago. In Remake, I found some of the same kind of storytelling and frenetic combat that I loved from Final Fantasy 15. I’d learned through 15 that I could love Final Fantasy, even without the series’ rich history, and I’d at least heard of Cloud Strife through my time with Kingdom Hearts. When Final Fantasy 7: Remake came along, it changed my entire perspective and reignited my interest. When I discovered that many Final Fantasy lovers didn’t care for 15, I cataloged my experience as a fluke. “Is this what I’ve been missing?” I thought. I was genuinely moved by a moment when one party member lost his sight and continued to try to fight. To my surprise, I adored everything about it. I was excited but skeptical to dive into the series 15-plus entries in. I purchased a copy of Final Fantasy 15 in college, although I can’t remember why. Yuffie mostly holds her signature look between Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy Image: Square Enix I kept my distance from the Final Fantasy series as a kid, but I kept that box with all those memories locked away in my brain. I assumed Yuffie and Leon were from the same Final Fantasy game, and I never knew Aerith’s true fate. I sorted them into boxes filled with half-truths and a 10-year-old’s grasp on their backgrounds. I added all of the various Final Fantasy characters to my brain over years of studying Kingdom Hearts and its sequel. I quickly warmed to Leon given his Big Stupid Sword Gun (the infamous Gunblade, which I still think is cool). But either in my pure excitement about glimpses of Donald and Goofy or the sheer boredom of being a child with unlimited free time, I pushed forward past Leon’s unwinnable boss fight and exposition-laden speeches. “Who the hell are these people?” I remember thinking as a child. When Sora ends up in Traverse Town, Pluto pounds on his chest, and he wanders around a town that has more Final Fantasy characters than Disney ones. Outside of some short looks at Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, and the chipmunks in Renaissance Fair cosplay, the first several hours consist of hanging out on a beach with Final Fantasy characters Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. If you haven’t played Kingdom Hearts since childhood, you’d be surprised to go back and see that it starts as more of a Final Fantasy game than a Disney one. Kingdom Hearts: The JRPG gateway drugĬloud Strife looks quite a bitter better in Remake than he does in Kingdom Hearts Image: Square Enix Nearly 20 years later, it feels like my Kingdom Hearts education is finally paying off. Final Fantasy 7: Remake’s sequel and Final Fantasy 16 are some of my most anticipated games of the next few years. But decades later, I’ve gotten deep into Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy 7 : Remake, Yuffie’s Intergrade DLC, Final Fantasy 15, and Final Fantasy 14. The idea of moving to a turn-based series with a lot of reading wasn’t appealing to childhood me. I didn’t fight alongside Leon, Yuffie, Cloud, Aerith, and Sephiroth from the Final Fantasy series I’d never played it was Leon, Yuffie, Cloud, Aerith, and Sephiroth from Kingdom Hearts.ĭespite knowing they were from other games - just as Aladdin, Peter Pan, and Ariel were from their own movies - I never opened my heart to Final Fantasy. But over childhood years replaying the original Kingdom Hearts, weathering my old strategy guide and waiting three years for the sequel, these characters became part of my Disney canon. These were, of course, Final Fantasy staples Leon (Squall Leonhart), Cloud Strife, and Yuffie - characters who would lead me into a love for Final Fantasy 20 years later.Īt first, I didn’t give a damn about these humans - I bought the game for the talking duck who does magic. But I kept bumping into characters with gunblades, big-ass swords, giant shuriken, and zippers who I knew nothing about. I dove into the series for Donald, Goofy, Aladdin, and that constant tease of Mickey Mouse. Like many kids born in the mid-’90s, I spent my childhood obsessing over Kingdom Hearts.
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