Kingdom Hearts was easily one of my favorite franchises as a kid. I adored the first one for it's gameplay and story (I was too young to really understand). It had boss battles that I loved, and were pretty simple and cool. I come to love the second one even more for improving upon what the first game. However, I've come to absolutely loathe the redundant spin-off games, opposed to the creation of a sequel. Which lead to me ignoring the franchise for a bit.
Learning that there was a sequel in the works reinvigorated my love for the games. I bought the 1.5 mix and I'm having a blast - almost done the game in fact. I plan on buying the 2.5 remix later.