Kingdom Hearts 1 is the best game in the series

Kingdom Hearts 2 is EASY and the gameplay is BORING holy shit.

The level design in KH2 is awful. Every level is big yet somehow empty with nothing to explore. KH1 rewarded you for digging into every corner and using every single movement ability the game gives you.

KH1 combat requires you to actually use the block and dodge roll option. When you gain an ability or an extra hit on your keyblade it makes a tangible difference in your combat. In KH2, the combat is pretty much the same throughout the entire game. Just mash the attack button and the triangle button whenever the game tells you to. Every boss fight is easy as piss even on critical. The only difficult fights in those games are the secret bosses. Drive forms are busted too btw. Magic in KH1 is pretty busted but I don't use magic in games because I'm not a fricking CUTE TWINK.

The plot in both games is a little silly but at least in KH1 is coherent. Idgaf about some secret organization that pops up in every world. They totally undermine the worlds themselves because the villain of that world isn't the "real bad guy". It's some edgy cloaked figure and the Disney villain is treated as someone just in the way of the plot, where in KH1, the Disney villain of that world is part of the big group of villains so encountering them actually matters. And the plot of KH1 was at least reasonable. If a decent writer handled the rest of the series, I really think Kingdom Hearts wouldn't be regarded as such a stupid, convoluted series. The plot truly falls apart in KH2 (and Chain of Memories but the gameplay in that one was sick lol). It gets completely ridiculous and crowded with a bunch of unnecessary characters and plotlines. Everybody gets a keyblade. Everybody has 3 clones of themselves. There's 20 organizations introduced.

I will say the crafting in KH2 is pretty good tho. I could go on and on more but I'm phone-posting rn so I don't feel like it