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Opa-Pa · Jul 18, 2017

Azuran said:
Kingdom Hearts is only hard if you're one of those people who mindlessly attacks enemies without checking your surroundings.

Play defensively and only attack when you see an opening that won't get you kill. Every single enemy telegraphs their attacks so it's easy to know when and how to dodge them.

Yup. People joke with the Dark Souls comparisons, but if you approach both games similarly you won't have much trouble. Don't get crazy attacking and think before selecting commands, dodge when necessary, and you'll do great.

You're calling the combat mashy and mindless though so it's no wonder you're having a bad time.

I honestly don't remember having much trouble playing this as a teenager outside of the endgame and obviously challenging stuff like Sephiroth and company... Oh, and some of the platforming, but I imagine that's improved in the PS4 version due to it running at 60fps.

zswordsman · Jul 18, 2017

It's a lot easier than when I played it as a kid. Maybe you fucked up by giving up defense, I usually go sword and sacrifice magic but this time I sacrificed sword and picked shield.

The game was a lot easier than what I remembered. I remembered struggling in Tarzan and stuff. Game was pretty easy this time around. Im ready for KH2 after horizon. Or maybe I'll given CoM a second shot but I doubt it.

tonypark · Jul 18, 2017

Easy mode and enjoy the game. It worked for me.

Halabane · Jul 18, 2017

brawly said:
Yeah, because the combat and movement are ass.

This and I would add tedious.

tanooki27 · Jul 18, 2017

any reason not to go straight to 2?

SimpleGamer · Jul 18, 2017

Go beat the Tarzan world and get cure if you haven't already.

Napalm_Frank · Jul 18, 2017

Olympus is entirely optional. You can go do some other stuff and return after you got better gear and levels.

InsaneLuchador · Jul 18, 2017

The Last One said:
It's kinda hard in the first time, yes. The last boss will make you really mad.

I played the original about 15 years ago and still remember being furious at the final boss. It wouldn't have been so bad had checkpoints been more generous. Yeah there were more than a few spots I remember being really frustrated.

NullKaze · Jul 18, 2017

Opa-Pa said:
Yup. People joke with the Dark Souls comparisons, but if you approach both games similarly you won't have much trouble. Don't get crazy attacking and think before selecting commands, dodge when necessary, and you'll do great.

I'd argue that KH2FM's level one run is harder than Dark Souls, but completely fair. There are attacks that will one-shot you, but all of them are avoidable in very predictable ways.

MegaManTrigger · Jul 18, 2017

Not sure how people thought KH1 was hard. The Dodge roll was super-convenient and helpful in battles, Heal was broken, and as long as you keep track of enemy patterns, you shouldn't lose. That being said, I think the most "difficult" battle was Sephiroth (and even then IMO I thought he was much easier in 1 than in 2).

Siege.exe · Jul 18, 2017

It's not super hard overall, but depending on what you sacrificed and what growth rate you chose, it can be challenging until you start getting your higher level magic. I'd leave the Coliseum stuff until you're around the 30-40 area and have most of your -ra spells. Then you can breeze through the Hercules cup, grab Aerora, and the rest of the game will be much easier to deal with.

Miker · Jul 18, 2017

So I'm on the Cerberus boss fight now and whew, that's gonna take a long, long time with how little damage I do and how little I can take. I'm level 12, if that makes any difference.

I'm looking at exactly how much changes when you pick/sacrifice sword/shield/rod and pick your leveling curve, and that is some 90s CRPG screw-yourself-over stuff. Apparently by picking the sword I don't get the ability that makes me invincible while healing until level 69 or something. By picking the sword, I got the absolutely worthless slide dash at level 6. Woo.

It doesn't help that the Hercules world is level as "battle level 2" in the world map, so it's the next logical place after Wonderland ("battle level 1"), and if I didn't read this thread or a walkthrough, I would've kept on beating my head against Cerberus rather than going to a world labeled "battle level 3" which apparently gives you abilities that make the game easier. Not very intuitive for the player.

Death Penalty · Jul 18, 2017

The original game had its moments, but overall it's one of those games where if you're having a hard time you can overcome it by being more skillful rather than going to grind. Effective use of dodge roll and regular attacks can get you through just about every fight. People who call these games mashy tend to be the ones that have resorted to grinding or lower difficulty levels.

Syril · Jul 18, 2017

Miker said:
So I'm on the Cerberus boss fight now and whew, that's gonna take a long, long time with how little damage I do and how little I can take. I'm level 12, if that makes any difference.

I'm looking at exactly how much changes when you pick/sacrifice sword/shield/rod and pick your leveling curve, and that is some 90s CRPG screw-yourself-over stuff. Apparently by picking the sword I don't get the ability that makes me invincible while healing until level 69 or something. By picking the sword, I got the absolutely worthless slide dash at level 6. Woo.

It doesn't help that the Hercules world is level as "battle level 2" in the world map, so it's the next logical place after Wonderland ("battle level 1"), and if I didn't read this thread or a walkthrough, I would've kept on beating my head against Cerberus rather than going to a world labeled "battle level 3" which apparently gives you abilities that make the game easier. Not very intuitive for the player.

For what it's worth the original version didn't even have Leaf Bracer, you just needed to not try to cast Cure when something was about to attack you. However, if you use a healing item and get interrupted, the item will still work.

Antilurker77 · Jul 18, 2017

Cerberus is easy, hide behind him when he's walking around to dodge the fireballs and hit the heads from the side to avoid most of the bitting attacks.

Next world's boss is a bitch, definitely harder than Cerberus, but on the positive side the game gets a lot easier after that.

DOWN · Jul 18, 2017

The Last One said:
It's kinda hard in the first time, yes. The last boss will make you really mad.

I quit at that battle and watched the ending on YouTube years later

MMarston · Jul 18, 2017

Weeaboosuke said:
Yeah, especially on higher difficulties.

I distinctly remember

Kurt Zisa

being a childhood demon of mine.

Gotta wonder whatever happened to the fella the boss was named after.

Deepwater · Jul 18, 2017

only hard boss in OG KH1 is Sephiroth, in the US release and FM, Kurt Zisa is pretty difficult. I never fought Xemnas so I wouldn't know if he's difficult

Mr.Deadshot · Jul 18, 2017

It's not an easy game but you can always level up.

Junahu · Jul 18, 2017

tanooki27 said:
any reason not to go straight to 2?

As stupid as it sounds, you don't want to skip KH1 because it has the only decent story in the entire series.

Ray Down · Jul 18, 2017

The final boss isn't all that hard imo.

The hardest were the Heartless gauntlet before it because they throw so many annoying heartless at you.

Hell the 2nd Riku boss is harder as well as the Dragon.

Sabercrusader · Jul 18, 2017

Replayed through the first back when 1.5 came out on PS3. The only boss I had trouble with was

Ursula

. Otherwise, game wasn't too bad, especially once you get cure.

Though I had a lot of trouble when I was younger playing it, and I can definitely see how some would have trouble with the game if it's their first time. It's worth it though.

JustAnotherOtaku · Jul 18, 2017

Yup. Main reason I never really got into the series. Always end up frustrated even though I enjoy the setting and core gameplay.

Jawmuncher · Jul 18, 2017

Thankfully in Birth By Sleep you can make a EXP walker and just run around in a circle over night.

But anyways, I think a big issue with the KH difficulty is that they don't say anything about a recommended level. Rather just "Battle Rank" or whatever it's called. So even though you might do the levels in battle rank order. Said battle rank could be a huge jump in Difficulty since it might mean more than just "beat the earlier level and you'll be good to go".

I hoenstly think for more normal players that grinding is basically a necessity. Since I think the games figure you'll fight every enemy encounter and thoroughly explore/do all side stuff before moving on. Which isn't going to be the case for a lot of players. As an example I am playing BBS (Which is why it's the main point I bring up). A lot of the boss fights were huge issues for me. I beat one only by abusing Ether and Specials. When I was about to be at the final boss I was only around level 23 or so. While the last boss basically requires you to be 30-35 to beat. That's a lot of forgotten space I somehow missed despite playing the game regularly (decent exploring and fighting what I ran into).

cLOUDo · Jul 18, 2017

i played KH1 a few month ago
and geez the gameplay aged bad, real badly
it was real hard to me finish the game, specially with some "giant" bosses (like the cerberus)

Tsunamo · Jul 18, 2017

I'd say it's the most difficult in the series honestly.

2 Final Mix has its moments but 1 will absolutely wreck you at times if you don't have the right abilitys, items or have high enough stats. Still very fun though.

aaaaaa · Jul 18, 2017

I thought the main difficulty in KH1 was figuring out what random place you're supposed to go to in order to trigger the next cutscene.

Stealthcobra · Jul 18, 2017

So what weapon to pick and which to discard at the beginning of the game?

Stealthcobra · Jul 18, 2017

Also the 2 mini games at the beginning.. Baseball and the fight(duel) is there a point to them? Should I try to beat them or what?

10k · Jul 18, 2017

No. Just awful.

Miker · Jul 18, 2017

aaaaaa said:
I thought the main difficulty in KH1 was figuring out what random place you're supposed to go to in order to trigger the next cutscene.

God this is also the worst. Even the first fetch quest on the opening island in the first 30 minutes of the game was annoying as hell.

ZombieNapoleon · Jul 18, 2017

Stretching memory here back to the PS2 days, but I don't recall the colosseum being too difficult until the later stages. Like others suggested, maybe its because I ground out some to level up. The only difficult part I don't remember beating is the boss at Big Ben from Peter Pan (though that was optional and not required for finishing the game). More than likely I tried it too early in the game and just never went back.

Mr.Deadshot · Jul 18, 2017

cLOUDo said:
i played KH1 a few month ago
and geez the gameplay aged bad, real badly
it was real hard to me finish the game, specially with some "giant" bosses (like the cerberus)

I think the gameplay is still fine, but the camera can be a problem - even when the game was new.

UltimaKilo · Jul 18, 2017

I honestly didn't find the game difficult at all back when I played it. Have they changed it since the original version?

ScientificPizza · Jul 18, 2017

Mr.Deadshot said:
I think the gameplay is still fine, but the camera can be a problem - even when the game was new.

Yeah the camera is always the thing I have the most trouble with. It's horrendous even in Final Mix

silva1991 · Jul 18, 2017

tanooki27 said:
any reason not to go straight to 2?

Only if you care about the story.

For an early PS2 game, KH1 is a masterclass ARPG.

Poppy · Jul 18, 2017

Stealthcobra said:
Also the 2 mini games at the beginning.. Baseball and the fight(duel) is there a point to them? Should I try to beat them or what?

wonder how long it takes to level to max on that island

Galang · Jul 18, 2017

The beginning of the game is actually pretty challenging if you aren't levelled correctly imo. The first time I played I had some difficulty at some boss fights. I can remember getting stuck at:

Yuffie & Leon, Cloud, The Chameleon and Clayton

. Afterwards, the game wasn't difficult at all aside the optional boss fights and the mandatory

Riku

fight in Hollow Bastion.

tanooki27 said:
any reason not to go straight to 2?

The first game is still the best in the series all around. You will probably be disappointed

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