Which titles can I skip?

[AllergicToBrainRot]

I beat the first title... went to chains of memories and I really dislike how it plays.

[KaosReigns]

Honestly, depends on how much lore you want. You can skip anything, but you will end up super lost at points, and some character just appear out of nowhere.

The gameplay for CoM I found grew on me. I also didnt like it at all at first, but I came to learn it pretty well and its not "horrible".

[Nico]

the only real answer is re:coded.

yes, I agree that chain of memories is so tedious to get through (and you technically have to play it twice for both routes) but it is an essential part of the story. Assuming you're trying to play the all the games up until kh3 and understand most of the story, you need to play all of the games in release order. That being said, re:coded is probably the only game you can skip. There are some re:coded defenders but honestly besides a magical book that maleficent mentions, there is not much added to the story that isn't explained better in other games. However in this HD collection, re:coded is only a two hour cut scene complication, so it's not even that hard to "play". EVERY other game is important to the overall story, not just the lore.

[Silyon]

All games contain relevant lore details and therefore none are skippable if you care about the story. Fortunately this is also an old series that's been dissected by nerds like ourselves for decades, so it isn't difficult to find video essays on youtube or story summaries on various wikis. It won't be the same as playing through it yourself, but if the gameplay grates on you that can be taken as an improvement.

God knows Chain of Memories can be a slog, even if you're not achievement hunting. So many hours farming moogle points, and they actually made the grind harder in the 3D release compared to the original GBA. Used to be the breakables in each room would respawn every time you entered and gave you points all over again, without having to regen the room and fight all the heartless again. Combined with how they ruined Reflect Raid and Judgement, just ugh.

[Terra]

Honestly? None of them.

(except Re:Coded)

This is the thing the series is most famous for. How every "side" game is actually insanely important to the plot and how it barely makes any sense without them.

(except Re:Coded)

I'd recommend you watch a Youtube video of the cutscenes or something, if you TRULY cannot stand CoM, because CoM is really central to KH2's plot.

(you can skip Re:Coded)

Even the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ defunct mobile games that the collections DON'T include are important. Somehow.

(unlike Re:Coded)

[Ki11s0n3]

They are all connected to the overall story. Though I recommend skipping Chain of Memories because it's an awful game. Skip it and if anything watch a video on youtube on what the story is for the game.

Here you go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNyWsAVWXnI

Edit: CoM is not nearly as important as everyone is making it seem. The gist is Sora had his memory wiped because of Organization XIII and a new girl Namine who can mess with peoples memories. Sora beat them and now Namine is fixing Sora's Memories and has to sleep for a year. Besides that Mickey and Riku are now Bada** Darkness Bounty Hunters with sick Black Jackets.

That is literally it. You don't need to waste your time playing a 40 hour bad card game to figure that out and you wouldn't have been confused playing KH2 if you didn't know it. It would just have taken longer to figure out why you're playing as Roxas instead of Sora because KH2 actually explains why.

[Toasty]

As others have said, the only one that you can skip without missing crucial story info is Re:Coded.

Chain of Memories is a slog, but you'll be a little lost in Kingdom Hearts 2 if you didn't play it.

If it's really *that* bad to play, then I guess you could just read a summary. Or not... Most of us didn't actually play Chain of Memories when KH2 was new, so a lot of us were lost in KH2 when it first came out.

I'd also like to add that despite the menu order, 358/2 Days was released AFTER Kingdom Hearts 2, even though it occurs at the same time as Chain of Memories (between KH1 and KH2).

[WhateverWorks]

KH2 does a perfectly fine job of explaining what happens during CoM in the journal. You could also just watch that one on YT. The most important ones as far as plot are 1, 2, BBS, and 3.

[AllergicToBrainRot]

I see. Thank you all very much. I might skip chain of memories and watch youtube video about it story.

[Pabbles]

Going straight into KH2 expecting the sequel to KH1 is like going straight into Captain America 3 expecting the sequel to Captain America 2.

[WhateverWorks]

Originally posted by Pabbles:

Going straight into KH2 expecting the sequel to KH1 is like going straight into Captain America 3 expecting the sequel to Captain America 2.

Except that is exactly how the vast majority of players experienced it when it was first released. KH2 has plenty of Journal entries and dialogue that explains what happened in CoM.

[Pabbles]

Originally posted by WhateverWorks:

Originally posted by Pabbles:

Going straight into KH2 expecting the sequel to KH1 is like going straight into Captain America 3 expecting the sequel to Captain America 2.

Except that is exactly how the vast majority of players experienced it when it was first released. KH2 has plenty of Journal entries and dialogue that explains what happened in CoM.

How the majority of people experienced it doesn't change my comparison.
(Yes I'm still salty about Captain America, yes it made me drop out of the Marvel movie train 5 years earlier than everyone else.)

[Seb | セビ]

Originally posted by WhateverWorks:

Originally posted by Pabbles:

Going straight into KH2 expecting the sequel to KH1 is like going straight into Captain America 3 expecting the sequel to Captain America 2.

Except that is exactly how the vast majority of players experienced it when it was first released. KH2 has plenty of Journal entries and dialogue that explains what happened in CoM.

and plenty of people were unnecessarily confused back then for doing so

[Terra]

You're definitely intended to have played CoM before KH2.

The plot of KH2 is a mystery, but there's a difference between a mystery where you know some of the rules versus a mystery where you're swinging blind because the rules are just never stated unless you happened to be on the GameFAQs forums circa 2007 and happened to read the topics made by the people who DID play CoM.

[WhateverWorks]

Except, like I keep saying, you get a full summary of CoM in the KH2 Journals. There also are notes about the Org. members you go up against, and why. I played KH2 on release with zero knowledge of CoM, and while I was confused in the very beginning, the further the story progressed the more I understood what had happened. It's not like KH2 doesn't use exposition to tell you.

Then years later I took the time to read summaries of CoM, and watch some of it, and I don't feel like I've missed/lost any super important plot by not ever playing it. Rabid fanboys can hate me for it, but I stand by my statement that the most important ones in terms of plot are 1, 2, 3 and BBS.

[mdesaleah]

You can’t (except probably Re:Coded since that’s the one that’s joked about for actually being mostly pointless).

Chain of Memories is very important for setting up 2. Sure you can read about it in 2, but reading a brief summary of events VS actually playing though them are very different things

So either set the difficulty to Easy and then learn how to use cards properly (it is VERY easy to abuse the cards if you know what you’re doing). Or look up every cutscene.

But that also includes playing as Riku, and you’ll miss out on that. His mode is much shorter and automatically sets up decks for you