Square Enix’s dearly beloved Kingdom Hearts series is a special JRPG that resonated among players who grew up with a PlayStation 2 in the early 2000s, especially for someone like me.
It was a series I thought was impossible to imagine as a crossover game. What do you mean Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy is talking to Hades from Disney’s Hercules? Or why are Donald Duck and Goofy my friends? Kingdom Hearts was surreal. It was something my 13-year-old brain could barely make sense of. Yet, despite all the weirdness, it’s what everyone now calls “peak,” due to its impressive amalgamation of Disney, Final Fantasy, and Tetsuya Nomura.
I grew up with the Kingdom Hearts series. It’s a game I deeply adore with all my heart. Down to the first few hours in Kingdom Hearts 1, where Sora, Kairi, and Riku built a raft made of makeshift island junk (which, realistically, seems impossible), I loved every minute of it, except for the Tarzan and Atlantis moments.
Looking back, it feels like it should have ended on Kingdom Hearts 2.
Why Kingdom Hearts Should’ve Stopped at 2
There’s no doubt that Kingdom Hearts 2 was considered the best game in the series. It's an evolution in terms of gameplay, story, and fan service compared to the 2002 original. It was an entry that really elevated what it means to be a ‘sequel.’
While everything from Roxas’ bittersweet character arc to Sora and the gang’s epic battle with Xemnas remains memorable, Kingdom Hearts 2’s conclusion could’ve ended the series right there and then. It was already perfect.
After taking down the big bad guy, the gang came back to Destiny Islands, their perfect little sanctuary. Sora reunites with Kairi, ending their star-crossed lovers trope, and Mickey and his mates, Donald and Goofy, find each other again. The basic plot threads involving the main characters were already resolved.
I would’ve considered it a perfect ending if it weren’t for Tetsuya Nomura’s unpredictability.
The Series After Kingdom Hearts 2
If the series ended at 2, Kingdom Hearts fans wouldn’t go crazy having to wait for a new entry in the franchise. No gaming fan should have to wait almost a decade for their third mainline game to launch.
This is also where Tetsuya Nomura ballooned the series’ storyline into an unmanageable mess. Time travel, alternate realities, and all that X-Blade stuff really soured what could’ve been a simple story about love and friendship. There was no reason for Square Enix to release five spin-offs before Kingdom Hearts III, further bloating the series’ already convoluted plot. The pacing went completely off the rails, leaving older fans jaded and frustrated by how much they had to play just to understand the story, which, to be honest, wasn’t that good.
It would’ve joined the ranks of Chrono Trigger or Golden Sun in terms of great JRPGs with satisfying endings without extending its story.
What Happens to Kingdom Hearts Now?
Now that the series has further elongated into an uneven mess, including a canceled Pokemon GO-like game, plenty of Kingdom Hearts lore experts have given up on trying to make sense of Tetsuya Nomura’s storytelling. There’s still quite a handful of fans speculating what Kingdom Hearts 4 will be about, but they’re not as unhinged as the crazy theories from old Kingdom Hearts forums. Many theorists eventually gave up when Nomura made its major characters into some version of Xehanort.
I am still a Kingdom Hearts fan, but the glimmer of anticipation and novelty from its Disney–Final Fantasy crossover has finally waned. The series has since turned into a Disney marketing playground, especially with Kingdom Hearts III, which polarized longtime fans of the series.
If it just ended when Utada Hikaru sang Sanctuary, it wouldn’t be this kind of mess today.
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