Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep2010

For me, the most underrated part of the series. Everyone always says that Kingdom Hearts 2 is the only part that is not disappointing or outdated in any way, but Birth By Sleep is just behind the second part in my KH ranking and for me the part that was able to pick me up emotionally almost as much, despite the fact that these characters are only known relatively briefly compared to other main characters in the series. As a child, I always found Terra to be annoying, as an adult I no longer condemn him so hastily and can understand his career much better, especially since it is totally exciting to play a character who ultimately falls into the darkness instead of being able to resist it. Aqua is for me the strongest female character in the whole series, as it brings much more depth compared to the other girls from the other games, for which you can build an empathy and learn to love her. Ventus is actually one of my top 3 favorite characters from all of Kingdom Hearts, as for me, just as the game envisions, he is the perfect epitome of a completely pure heart that emanates nothing more than good intentions and love for his fellow human beings. This conflict with Vanitas, which, in contrast to him, holds the darkest form of a heart, I found incredibly exciting and illustrated this whole concept of darkness and hearts, which is the core of the series, ideally by means of two figures. And I could write another 10 paragraphs about the dynamics of the three together, because it's just heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Overall, this game has earned so much more attention and appreciation, as in addition to introducing three of the best characters from the entire series, it also clears so many open questions and solves mysteries of the main titles that after a playthrough you get the feeling of understanding Kingdom Hearts as a whole much better. This experience becomes all the more blatant when you have played the Main titles before and you gradually collect the Aha moments through the previous knowledge, as well as discover Easter eggs and references that give you a form of euphoria again and again as another red thread is spun to one of the most beloved characters from the Main titles. I shouldn’t even start talking about the soundtrack, otherwise this will be a novel here, because this has also brought some of the best tracks of the whole series. The individual themes of the three main characters alone reinforce their tragedy many times over and often move me to tears. Absolute banger game. < 3

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