Played via the 1.5+2.5 collection on PS4

Kingdom Hearts II is the definition of a sequel that surpasses its predecessor in every way possible.

Everything about this game is just better than the first and that comes from someone who loves the first game as well. To start with the combat is deeper mechanically and it also perfectly exhibits what I call "the 3 fs of good action combat" it's fun, fast-paced and fluid. The drive gauge and forms were the best thing to ever be introduced to Kingdom Hearts because what's better than one Keyblade? That's right, TWO Keyblades! You can tell the team had a bigger budget and learned a lot from developing the first game because everything just feels much faster and more polished, it's easier to chain together combos and more of them plus the camera never gets in your way anymore either.

That's not the only thing that makes KH II better though, far from it. The boss fights are more interesting and unique now with a lot of them having interesting gimmicks tied to their fights instead of just "beating the enemy senseless" like in the first game. My favorite fights are definitely all the Organization XIII fights. All the worlds are bigger now as well with even more to explore and there's more of them too, but they're also just better designed and while they may be more linear, they're less labyrinthine and confusing to navigate plus there's a mini-map now so that helps too.

Some people say KH II is where the story started to get convoluted with the introduction of Nobodies and while I can see what they mean, I still think the story is really interesting and Organization XIII, the Nobodies and learning who Xehanort really helps expand the world and narrative from KH I and CoM just enough to keep it new and fresh, but not enough to get overly confusing (Like Dream Drop Distance or KH III does) plus it just kinda makes sense there'd be a new form of enemies because what were they going to do again? Just use the Heartless? I think most people would've complained it was just a rehash of the first game.

With vastly improved combat, boss fights, level design, exploration, an intriguing narrative and world that'll keep you invested from start to finish and tons of post-game content to challenge as well, even nearly 20 years later it's easy to see why Kingdom Hearts II is still widely regarded as the best in the franchise by many, but also just one of the best action RPGs ever made.

Played via the 1.5+2.5 collection on PS4

Chain of Memories on the GBA was one of my favorite GBA games as a kid and I can't tell you how many times I played it and it still holds up pretty well to this day. I really wish the Kingdom Hearts collections would've gave us that version instead because playing through Re:Chain was such a slog for me, I was just genuinely not having fun most of the time. I put 35 hours into this game (25 for Sora's route and another 10 for Riku's) which is about the same amount of time I put into the first KH game after doing almost everything in that game including post game bosses, but Re:Chain felt twice as long because it just drags at times and the biggest problem is the combat is so janky.

The story is still the same as the original Chain of Memories, that being partially a rehash of the first KH game with some slight differences and partially some wild new content that expands the lore which really took KH down the over convoluted route, but it's still executed pretty well and can get kinda dark and depressing at times as you watch Sora venture deeper into Castle Oblivion and slowly lose all the memories of those closest to him as he seeks to find his friend Riku and battles the sinister Organization XIII, a now iconic group of antagonists to the Kingdom Hearts series that were first introduced with this entry and after Sora's route is finished you can play the game as Riku and get his side of the story as he tries to claim mastery over the darkness in his heart left by Ansem in the first Kingdom Hearts. Personally I think Sora's route is more fun to play, but Riku's route has the better story.

Gone are the charming sprites of the GBA version and now we have full 3D models, which are about on par with the models in KH 1, they're good, but the sprites in the GBA version are some of the best on the console and I still can't help but feel like it's a downgrade and the game loses some of its charm because of that. However one new addition compared to the GBA edition is now nearly all cut-scenes are voiced so that's cool.

Even though this is a remake, you can tell they didn't really bother thinking it through because the combat just doesn't feel good or flow well being in larger, full 3D open spaces compared to the more compact environments of the GBA's side scroller style. A lot of battles are spent rolling around trying to avoid enemy attacks while you re-load your cards especially in the earlier parts of the game or in Riku's route which removes all the customizable features in Sora's route like getting new cards and making decks or exploring for treasures, now you have to use the pre-made decks the game gives you and it just gets so boring after awhile, but at least we get to use some of Riku's darkness powers to make up for it and the newly implemented 'Duel' system based on the card game 'War' also was a solid way of mitigating the fact Riku has far less cards and abilities than Sora allowing him to create strong combos with just a few cards.

Most of the things I love about the OG Chain of memories are still there like the intriguing story, Paper Mario-esque level up system and sense of progression, the fun exploration that the map cards and room synthesis create allowing the player themselves to personally curate every encounter, the card collecting and deck building is still addictive, but the combat remains just as shallow and repetitive, but now that's further enhanced by how janky it feels thanks to the bigger 3D battle arenas, making Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories just a monotonous, boring and generally unfun, repetitive slog to get through at times. I still stand by Chain of Memories being a pretty good and solid game worth playing, but I just think everyone is better off playing the GBA version if they're going to play it at all because aside from the cinematic presentation, the remake just makes the game worse in every aspect.

Genuinely better and more enjoyable than the PS2 remake version. Story is partially a rehash of the first KH game with some slight differences and partially some wild new content that expands the lore which really took KH down the over convoluted route, but it's still executed pretty well and can get kinda dark and depressing at times as you watch Sora venture deeper into Castle Oblivion and slowly lose all the memories of those closest to him as he seeks to find his friend Riku and battles the sinister Organization XIII, a now iconic group of antagonists to the Kingdom Hearts series that were first introduced with this entry and after Sora's route is finished you can play the game as Riku and get his side of the story as he tries to claim mastery over the darkness in his heart left by Ansem in the first Kingdom Hearts.

The combat just flows better in the side scroller format compared to full 3D arenas, not to mention this game has some of the most beautiful sprite work on the entire GBA as well. I love the Paper Mario-esque level up system and sense of progression and the card combat is enjoyable though a bit simple and repetitive at times (Love the Sleights combo mechanic of combing cards to do powerful moves like Strike Raid or Ars Arcanum though and props for the Cloud summon card too), but collecting the cards themselves and building decks makes up for it because it is more fun than the combat itself. I'm also a huge fan of the Map card mechanic that lets you choose the next encounter for every room you visit in a world. Don't want to fight any heartless? Easy, just throw down a treasure card or a save room. Want to fight, but not have it take as much time? Throw down a card that makes heartless spawn with weaker cards or have your cards do double damage. You're almost always in control of what you encounter unless you happen to run out of the proper map card, such a cool mechanic.

Overall the card combat can get a bit repetitive. but the intriguing story mixed with decent combat, beautiful character sprites, addictive card collecting and progression and some unique mechanics like the map cards and room synthesis still make Chain of Memories an adventure worth taking, just take it here instead of on the PS2 or PS4.