Kingdom Hearts Sells One Million Units
Joseph Witham MemberFull Members
December 2002 edited January 2003 in Latest Updates
Who knew this game would be so successful? I honestly was never expecting it would do so well, especially on a worldwide level.
If Square's games are selling so well in North America, it can only mean that we'll be seeing most, if no all, of Square's future titles.
Metacod Member Full Members
When I first heard about Kingdom Hearts, it sounded like an idea doomed to failure - like a joke Disney and Square execs made after having too many beers. Everything I've heard since then has confounded my expectations, though, and I might actually play the game sometime.
LordBrian Member Full Members
I find it hard to imagine anything by either Square or Disney actually being a financial disaster. The two together just guaranteed that enough fans of either one or the other (or both) companies would make it a success.
Bossy lil Quisty Member Full Members
I personally thought Square's decision to create it, was quite appropriate for their situation. This was their first (somebody tell me if I'm wrong, I'm not to big on their earlier history) game that was somewhat targeting a younger audience...and viola! Big hit. Kingdom Hearts had a very deep storyline in my opinion, so unlike most "e" rated games these days. That's why I think it worked out so well (sorry if my thoughts were a bit jumbled and unorginized)
Cloud Member Full Members
I always knew this game would do well, but i didnt see it selling 3 million copies worldwide. Thats great, the game is excellent. From its soundtrack, to its story. Through and through, just a solid game.
Castomel Member Full Members
What's so surprising? Just look at these boards, the number of times you see "OMG Square Rulezzzzzzzzzzzzz" should be enough to explain the power of the company's name. Add to that Disney's demonic pedigree and you have some serious name-brand recognition power (or at least enough to get the grannies buying video games in on the action. "Oh, Disney? That one will be just perfect for my Michael. I'll take seventeen.")
Whoa! Slow down there, tubby! You're not on the moon yet!
little tiger Member Full Members
It's a sick world. IMO, this game is... far below average. But oh well...
Lao Tse Member Full Members
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (LordBrian @ Dec. 27 2002,20:47)</td></tr><tr><td class="QUOTE"I find it hard to imagine anything by either Square or Disney actually being a financial disaster.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Oh it's possible- they're still recovering from The Spirits Within.
-Locke- Member Full Members
Squaresoft has gone downhill starting with FF7....this kingdom hearts game is more proof than i need.
Kingdom Hearts is a great game, and its sales are a testiment to the fact. It's just so refreshing to see Square always try something new in its games. Imagine, an RPG where I actually WANT to battle!
Joseph Witham Member Full Members
Yes, Kingdom Heats' battles system is damn fun, and if you think about it, that's probably one of the many reasons it's selling so well.
i've played Kingdom Hearts...and it sucks. using sales records to determine if a game is good or not is like saying Nsync is a great band because they sell so many records.
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Lao Tse @ Dec. 28 2002,05:24)</td></tr><tr><td class="QUOTE"</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (LordBrian @ Dec. 27 2002,20:47)</td></tr><tr><td class="QUOTE"I find it hard to imagine anything by either Square or Disney actually being a financial disaster.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Oh it's possible- they're still recovering from The Spirits Within.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (-Locke- @ Dec. 28 2002,17:14)</td></tr><tr><td class="QUOTE"i've played Kingdom Hearts...and it sucks. using sales records to determine if a game is good or not is like saying Nsync is a great band because they sell so many records.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Thats all a matter of opinion, buddy. Im not using any sales to show its good. I simply say its good, because to me, it is good.
I disagree wholeheartedly. ?Of all the PS2 games I own (which is about 25+) Kingdom Hearts is one of the most entertaining I've played. ?In fact of all the Action RPG's I've played it happens to my second favorite. ?Just because you didn't enjoy your experience with Kingdom Hearts, doesn't mean its a bad game. ?I enjoyed the game and the fact that 3 million others also purchased it is proof enough that the game is well recieved by the gaming community.
You're right. Sales don't necessarily determine whether it's good or not, but if it sells a lot then it must mean a lot of people like it, despite whether you do or do not. I think Kingdom Hearts is a godsend. I stopped considering myself a hardcore gamer years ago, because I personally feel newer games are boring. Sure they've got higher production values than they did ten years ago, and their stories are usually better and more believeable, but they're just not as much fun. I normally can't play a game for more than an hour before putting it away simply because it's just not fun. Kingdom Hearts brings back all my old memories of games. I play the game for hours upon hours without getting bored. Hell, I've even stayed up all night to play the game, and I can't remember the last game that made me do that!
Quazar Member Full Members
This is great news. I like Kingdom Hearts a lot. I haven't beaten it yet (I'm close, though), but so far the game has been wonderful. Sure, as far as battle systems are concerned, there's better 3D action RPGs out there... like umm.... well, Zelda.... and nobody was expecting KH to have a better system than Zelda, anyways. The reason Kingdom Hearts shines is that it is the perfect combination of Square and Disney environments and characters. It was one of those things that was thought would end up in failure, but Square showed us once again that they can make a great game from something that, in the beginning, sounded cheesy to many (not me though, I wanted it from the day it was announced). Like Metroid Prime. Many were saying it would suck. The result was quite the opposite.
Now, sales figures like that ensure a sequel. I want a Lion King world. I want to fight Scar. This is my only request. Well, that and for director Tetsuya Nomura to stop being biased and include FF characters that he didn't design instead of only the ones he did.
Quazar
Toffee McBadapple New Member Full Members
Agreed.If I dont see a Lion King world in the next Kingdom Hearts I will letter bomb Square AND Disney.
Anyway,I actually thought there was a distinct chance that Kingdom Hearts would fail,just assuming that the involment of massive corporations assures success is usually a bit hasty,and its not like everything Square and Disney touch turns to gold.
Square has been in a period of recuperation ever since The Spirits Within,FF9 and FF10 were not the megahits their two immediate ancestors were,and besides that Square is hardly a household name ,the majority of western gamers would start to glaze over if you started on about the difference between the snes era and the sony era.
And Disney,well theyve been experiencing slippage for YEARS,theyre last smash hit was the Lion King,that was in 1994.And besides that over the years many have come to equate Disney games with crap,you cant blame them.I know I personally give most Disney games a wide berth.Why would most people think Kingdom Hearts was any different?
Elranzer Member Full Members
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td class="QUOTE"I personally thought Square's decision to create it, was quite appropriate for their situation. This was their first (somebody tell me if I'm wrong, I'm not to big on their earlier history) game that was somewhat targeting a younger audience...[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Well if you started with the PSX era you'd think this, but Square targetted both younger audiences and the cross-over phenomenon before.... Super Mario RPG. Instead of a Disney/Square crossover, it was a Square/Nintendo crossover. Now THAT was a signifigant alliance back then, I doubt we'll see one again of that magnitude, unless they make a Nintendo/Enix-Square game.
And the game was great, much better than anything they made since they Sony. It is one of the few truely unique RPG's. Nothing like those cookie-cutter Anime-cliche neo-steampunk in 3-D RPG's we've come to know and "love" on the Sony systems It pushed the SNES's graphic limits without using a special chip, and the soundtrack was one of the best, written by Yoko Shiromura (I believe) also known as "the composer who wrote Legend of Mana and Parasite Eve, as well as Kingdom Hearts." Along with some music by Nobuo Uematsu and Kojo Kondo.
The game had an in-game alliance, Mario and Bowser, to symbolize the alliance between Square and Nintendo at the time. Funny how Bowser became a bad guy again at the same time Square broke their alliance with Nintendo (for that time being). Maybe with Square back with Nintendo now, we'll see Bowser fight alongside Mario again in Super Mario RPG 2 (not to be confused with that CRAP Paper Mario).
- Elranzer
I rather enjoyed paper mario. Sure, its not as good as Mario RPG, but its a good game nonetheless, IMHO.
I too thoroughly enjoyed Paper Mario. And I wouldn't compare Kingdom Hearts to SMRPG at all, considering there were no actual Square characters in the game (if memory serves). There was the one battle against Culex in the monster town that used a couple of Final Fantasy songs, with a FF-reminiscent enemy, but that was it. None of the other songs were by Uematsu, and he didn't even do anything new for the game.
I also disagree that the Mario-Bowser combination was sybolic of anything outside of the game. It was thrown in merely as a plot device, to try to make Smithy seem more evil than he would have been otherwise.
Also, what difference does it make what sort of special chip the games needed in order to run? It's not like you had to install anything new into your system, since they were built directly into the cartridges. (And what RPGs were forced to use new chip technology anyway, out of curiosity?)
Edit: Damn typos.
Sora New Member Full Members
If you look back at the RPG 'golden age' you'll notice that there was one major relation between the masterpiece games...all of them were light-hearted and NOT extremely depressing . Square has been trying so hard to make RPGs become very realistic, but that is impossible when you are in a FANTASY world. That's why Kingdom Hearts brought me back to that 'golden age' feeling. I wasn't worrying about some stupid flying college being bombed(ff8), I was looking for my friends. Am I saying that darkness/depression is wrong? No, Xenogears (masterpiece! ) is my favorite game! What I am saying is that you need the mix. FF7,8,10, Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Chrono Cross...all had very dark themes. Games like Skies of Arcadia and Kingdom Hearts kept that balance for me. That's why I think Kingdom Hearts did so well. It had the lighted 'hearted'ness(that pun was completely intended), but also had a darker theme. A great mix.
One thing, the voice acting was amazing. It was mind blowing and DEFINITLY set the bar for all future games with voice acting. Also, I loved Utada hikaru's song, even though the word's are jacked up. ('You know I love you, but does that I mean I have to meet your father?' what's up with that?)
~Chris
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (LordBrian @ Dec. 29 2002,18:52)</td></tr><tr><td class="QUOTE"Also, what difference does it make what sort of special chip the games needed in order to run? It's not like you had to install anything new into your system, since they were built directly into the cartridges. (And what RPGs were forced to use new chip technology anyway, out of curiosity?)[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Star Ocean did if I remember right. I also remember reading somewhere that Square wanted to use a special chip for Seiken Densetsu 3, but didn't.
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td class="QUOTE"If you look back at the RPG 'golden age' you'll notice that there was one major relation between the masterpiece games...all of them were light-hearted and NOT extremely depressing .[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
If you're talking about the SNES era, then I'd have to disagree. By my standards, both FF4 and FF6 count as masterpieces. Both are decidedly not light-hearted. They both dealt with extremely dark themes, and while they may have had some light-hearted scenes, all games do (even Xenogears had its light moments, and I doubt anyone can take a giant pink fighting Chu Chu seriously).
Yeah, I like the light-hearted games very much. My favorite game is Chrono Trigger. My favorite Final Fantasy is FF9. I just relate to the light-hearted-ness of those games more. I did, however, absolutely LOVE Chrono Cross. I also love FF7 and Shenmue, among others. So, I like the mix of both. FF8 was a little too soap opera-ish for me, but it was a decent game, although very easy. FF10 didn't really do it for me, but I played it all the way through, which says something. Still, the light-hearted ones always end up as my favorites. And that light-hearted-ness is in the characters, not the stories. The plot always has some form of evil. It's the characters that set the mood of the game.
Also, as Sora (the one on the board) said, Kingdom Hearts set the bar for voice acting in video games. No other game has voice acting that good. Unfortunantly, the people that have played some of the US version of Xenosaga say the voice actors are pretty bad (Source: Gamespot). After Kingdom Hearts, they'll probobly seem REALLY bad...
Geek_Squid Member Full Members
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Sora @ Dec. 30 2002,04:48)</td></tr><tr><td class="QUOTE"('You know I love you, but does that I mean I have to meet your father?' what's up with that?)[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
it means that although she loves him, she doesn't quite feel up to meeting his father/family at that moment. meeting boyfriends parents is always terrifying, and maybe in japan it is even more daunting because of the whole respect-your-elders thing
thats my take on it
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Quazar @ Dec. 30 2002,02:41)</td></tr><tr><td class="QUOTE"Unfortunantly, the people that have played some of the US version of Xenosaga say the voice actors are pretty bad (Source: Gamespot).[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Well, people seem pretty split about it. Gamespot and IGN don't like them, but RPGFan does, and so does this guy on zenosaga.com forums who says he's seen the English version of the game (not a very reliable source, I know). We'll just have to see for ourselves.
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Geek_Squid @ Dec. 30 2002,08:35)</td></tr><tr><td class="QUOTE"</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Sora @ Dec. 30 2002,04:48)</td></tr><tr><td class="QUOTE"('You know I love you, but does that I mean I have to meet your father?' what's up with that?)[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
it means that although she loves him, she doesn't quite feel up to meeting his father/family at that moment. ?meeting boyfriends parents is always terrifying, and maybe in japan it is even more daunting because of the whole respect-your-elders thing
thats my take on it[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
I assumed it was a subtle allusion to marriage, myself.
I'm really not surprised Kingdom Hearts sold. The first time I saw the website, and saw how they butchered the hero of FFX and turned him into a child, I thought this must be a joke, too. But I bought the game and played it, because the concept just was too interesting to pass up.
This is the kind of game that people who criticise the RPG genre would tend to like. I think it was a brilliant move by Square. A lot of people shy away from the Final Fantasy games because they feel like a game in which you don't have to use a lot of coordination isn't a game at all. The gameplay in Kingdom Hearts is just plain good.
In a market where there are hundreds of titles on the shelf, what would make someone pick Kingdom Hearts? Everybody in this country knows the Disney characters. A lot of people liked Final Fantasy X. A lot of people "hate roleplaying games" but might sacrifice their stance because they hear good things about the overall fun factor of KH. I think Square used this title as advertising to people who may not be familiar with their games but ARE familiar with Disney.
Despite several extremely frustrating moments and many repeated boss attempts, I would recommend this game to anybody. And I think everyone who has played it probably would too.
Personally, I am extremely relieved that it did well. Given the sales so far, developers of the sequel that Kingdom Hearts' ending is absolutely begging for will get the green light from Square and we'll see Kingdom Hearts 2 on the shelves next Christmas.
emach
(mirror #20)
http://www.rpgamers.net
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