![]() ![]() The Square Enix of the 2000s were a bigger, more mature company than they were in their 90s heyday, but also more bloated. YouTuber ProZD captured the dynamic rather well.īut for all the passion surrounding the franchise, PV owners playing Kingdom Hearts for the first time will find a series that very much reflects “modern Square Enix” - the period following Square’s disastrous turn as a movie studio and subsequent merger with Enix. In the run-up to the release of Kingdom Hearts III in 2019, the community eagerly consumed trailers and tossed around detailed theories about what was actually happening. It’s a fandom that at times matches the mania of the Lost and Game Of Thrones communities at their peaks. ![]() More than a few are 20-somethings who grew up with the series, attracted by the combination of Disney animation and easily accessible combat. It has cultivated a dedicated fanbase over the years, encompassing a broad cross-section of Disney fans, anime fans, and those who just enjoy seeing Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud Strife battling Sephiroth in Hercules’ Coliseum. If director Tetsuya Nomura has a bit of a reputation in RPG circles, it’s because Kingdom Hearts absolutely glories in every Nomura cliche imaginable: nonsensical naming conventions, wild psychodrama, and belts, belts, belts ( and zippers). Excitement because Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in 4K is pretty neat bemused laughter because Kingdom Hearts is just that weird. It’s a release that’s apt to inspire equal parts excitement and bemused laughter among PC fans. It was a period when a company like Square might think, “Disney would gladly let us put their best characters in our games.” Legend has it that started as a literal elevator pitch, with a chance meeting between Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto and a Disney executive sowing the seeds for a crossover series that would span two decades and nearly a dozen entries, and next week is coming to PC for the first time. It was conceived in 2000, in what was arguably the apex of the company’s influence. ![]() Kingdom Hearts straddles two eras in Square Enix history. This is The Limit Break, a fortnightly column in which Kat Bailey explores all things RPG. ![]()
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