20 Beloved Video Games No One Admits They Hated

Sometimes, the most unusual combinations provide the most unexpected results, and this is exactly what happened when Disney teamed up with Square Enix to create the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Blending some of Disney's most well-loved IPs with characters from Square's Final Fantasy series worked far better than it had any right to. Players are granted the opportunity to explore their favourite Disney worlds as the lovable protagonist Sora, as he's joined by Donald Duck and Goofy on a quest that eventually becomes humongous in scale. The light RPG mechanics and easy-to-master combat system made it appealing to plenty, and it had bags of charm.

Kingdom Hearts' success spawned sequels and a committed fanbase. However, behind all of the whimsical Disney worlds and the action-packed combat, lies probably the most overcomplicated, nonsensical narrative in video game history. Other than knowing and recognising the Disney worlds and characters, the average gamer didn't have the slightest clue what was going on with the overarching plot for most of the first game. Trying to keep up with events and character motives and allegiances was like trying to complete a jigsaw where half the pieces are from different boxes.

Over time, the plot issues have been completely overlooked. When you're having so much fun with the game's worlds and combat, it can quite easily be pushed into the background. Gamers were pleasantly surprised that this wasn't just a fluffy Disney project with no substance. Instead, everyone's favourite characters are perfectly blended with overlapping RPG systems to create fun moment-to-moment gameplay. The disjointed narrative hasn't exactly improved in more recent games, but even so, most of Kingdom Hearts' initial haters were eventually won over by the charming characters and engaging gameplay.