what order do i play the games

[I STAPLE TAPEWORMS ON MY]

the numbers are really confusing

[Vallard]

KH 1.5+2.5 Collection:
KH Final Mix (2002)
KH Re:Chain of Memories (2004) (*)
KH2 Final Mix (2006)
KH 358/2 Days (2009) [Cutscene movie]
KH Birth by Sleep Final Mix (2010)
KH Re:Coded (2011) [Cutscene movie]
This is copied from playorder guide so credit to Ghokuzu.
Its literally the first guide in the guide section. A side note: As important as Re:chain is to the story its gameplay is very different than the other games and if you don't like it a simple youtube video will cover the important stuff DO NOT WATCH THE CUTSCENE MOVIES BEFORE PLAYING KH2!
Bear in mind gameplay in Kingdom hearts 2 and onward is dramatically improved over KH1 so you'll have that to look forward to. Much less wonky platforming.

[[FoD*]kileemoore123]

What do u think? Not like there already in order in the menus or anything

[Apocryphox]

The chronological order to understand the story is following:

1. [chi] Back Cover (2.8)
2. Birth by Sleep (1.5+2.5)
3. Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (1.5+2.5)
4. Re:Chain of Memories (1.5+2.5)
5. 358/2 Days (1.5+2.5)
6. Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix (1.5+2.5)
7. Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (1.5+2.5)
8. Dream Drop Distance (2.8)
9. 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage (2.8)
10. Kingdom Hearts 3
11. Re:Mind (KH3 DLC)

[Seb | セビ]

Originally posted by FoD*kileemoore123:

What do u think? Not like there already in order in the menus or anything

the order in game is wrong

[Seb | セビ]

Originally posted by Apocryphox:

The chronological order to understand the story is following:

1. [chi] Back Cover (2.8)
2. Birth by Sleep (1.5+2.5)
3. Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (1.5+2.5)
4. Re:Chain of Memories (1.5+2.5)
5. 358/2 Days (1.5+2.5)
6. Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix (1.5+2.5)
7. Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (1.5+2.5)
8. Dream Drop Distance (2.8)
9. 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage (2.8)
10. Kingdom Hearts 3
11. Re:Mind (KH3 DLC)

this is complete madness and wrong, lol. no one should play the series in chronological order

[Cam]

I personally think that the story of Kingdom Hearts 2 benefits tremendously from not having played Chain of Memories.

I recommend playing 1 and then 2, and then Chain of Memories after (or at least watch the cutscenes on youtube, I kinda hate Chain of Memories as a game), then BBS. As for the two cutscene collections I'd watch the 358/2 days cutscenes after playing at least some of KH2, and then as for the re:coded cutscenes I have no idea because I never watched them. I don't think it's impacted my understanding of the story long-term lol.

So for this collection:

1. Kingdom Hearts 1
2. Kingdom Hearts 2
3. Chain of Memories
4. 358 days cutscenes
5. Birth by Sleep

I absolutely don't blame you if you don't watch the cutscene movies. The story of Days is great, but it's also like a 4 hour sit down or something like that.

[Seb | セビ]

Originally posted by Cam:

I personally think that the story of Kingdom Hearts 2 benefits tremendously from not having played Chain of Memories.

I recommend playing 1 and then 2, and then Chain of Memories after (or at least watch the cutscenes on youtube, I kinda hate Chain of Memories as a game), then BBS. As for the two cutscene collections I'd watch the 358/2 days cutscenes after playing at least some of KH2, and then as for the re:coded cutscenes I have no idea because I never watched them. I don't think it's impacted my understanding of the story long-term lol.

dont make it more complicated than it is. release order is the way to go here

[Vallard]

Originally posted by Cam:

I personally think that the story of Kingdom Hearts 2 benefits tremendously from not having played Chain of Memories.

I recommend playing 1 and then 2, and then Chain of Memories after (or at least watch the cutscenes on youtube, I kinda hate Chain of Memories as a game), then BBS. As for the two cutscene collections I'd watch the 358/2 days cutscenes after playing at least some of KH2, and then as for the re:coded cutscenes I have no idea because I never watched them. I don't think it's impacted my understanding of the story long-term lol.

Aside from learning the origins of some of the less important members of the organization, KH:Rechain can be summed up as sora loses his memories and takes a 3 year long nap while he waits for Sqaure Enix to finish working on KH2. Seeing as most of the actual characters in the game have no idea what happened in Cast Oblivion its fine to skip it (as a kid I was limited to the god awful GBA port of chain and understandably never beat it). If you dont like the control scheme you arent missing out on much super important story and go into KH2 with about as much knowledge of whats going on as Sora does.

[Seb | セビ]

Originally posted by Vallard:

as a kid I was limited to the god awful GBA port of chain and understandably never beat it

the gba version is the original, not a port

[Cam]

Originally posted by Seb | セビ:

Originally posted by Cam:

I personally think that the story of Kingdom Hearts 2 benefits tremendously from not having played Chain of Memories.

I recommend playing 1 and then 2, and then Chain of Memories after (or at least watch the cutscenes on youtube, I kinda hate Chain of Memories as a game), then BBS. As for the two cutscene collections I'd watch the 358/2 days cutscenes after playing at least some of KH2, and then as for the re:coded cutscenes I have no idea because I never watched them. I don't think it's impacted my understanding of the story long-term lol.

dont make it more complicated than it is. release order is the way to go here

That is an opinion you are having.

[Seb | セビ]

Originally posted by Cam:

Originally posted by Seb | セビ:

dont make it more complicated than it is. release order is the way to go here

That is an opinion you are having.

as are 99% of other kh players

[Cam]

Originally posted by Seb | セビ:

Originally posted by Cam:

That is an opinion you are having.

as are 99% of other kh players

Great for them, didn't ask 'em or you. I offered my opinion in a thread asking an open question with no correct answer. Don't tell me not to give my own answer.

[Seb | セビ]

Originally posted by Cam:

Originally posted by Seb | セビ:

as are 99% of other kh players

Great for them, didn't ask 'em or you. I offered my opinion in a thread asking an open question with no correct answer. Don't tell me not to give my own answer.

there is an objective correct answer and, as in most cases, its release order

[Seb | セビ]

Originally posted by Cam:

What a waste of my energy

correct

[Vallard]

Originally posted by Seb | セビ:

Originally posted by Vallard:

as a kid I was limited to the god awful GBA port of chain and understandably never beat it

the gba version is the original, not a port

The issue is that Japanese players received the PS2/3 port shortly after KH2 with the enhanced edition in 2007. The Rechain version was being developed even as KH2 was being shipped because of the issues of the GBA. The vast majority of Japanese players got to experience the story on the far superior rechain while us Americans were dependent on a difficult to find GBA game with subpar controls. If you didnt play Chain in 2003 when it came out in the USA you probably didnt play it at all until we got 1.5.