Kingdom Hearts' Opening Is Still Incredible

Kotaku's year-long Kingdom Hearts replay project Guiding Key revisits the original game's opening, in which Sora falls into the Dive to the Heart after the Utada Hikaru "Simple and Clean" cinematic. The tutorial asks players to choose between a sword, staff, and shield and give one up, without explaining that this sets Sora's baseline stats and skill-learning order for the whole game. The author argues this somber introduction set the tone for the next 20+ years of Sora's journey.