Kingdom Hearts/Walkthrough

Awakening
After the cutscene, you gain control of Sora, our main character. You're asked to pick between a sword, shield, and a staff. After choosing one, you have to sacrifice another one. Though it's the first choice in the game, it's crucial because it determines your starting statistics and which abilities will be learned first during leveling up. Here are the stats you'll recieve with each combination.

Choose Sacrifice   Strength Defence AP MP
 * Sword  Shield     6        1       3  2
 * Sword  Staff      6        2       1  2
 * Shield Sword      4        4       3  2
 * Shield Staff      5        4       1  2
 * Staff  Sword      3        3       3  3
 * Staff  Shield     5        1       3  3

If you want advice on what to choose regarding abilities, that's completely up to you. No matter what, you'll always have the same abilities by the time you reach level 100. As for stats, the choice should be between choosing the shield and staff. If you choose the shield, you will have 2 more item slots by level 100, whereas with the staff, you will have 1 extra MP. (The sword gives you more strength, but that's unimportant as you can easily get and Strength boost item and get maximum strength either way). The choice is up to you.

Once you've made your decision, you'll be transported to another platform. It's time for your first real battle with a Heartless.

You'll encounter a few Shadows now. They're the weakest enemies in the game because of their low-damaging and slow attacks. The annoying thing about them is when they meld into the ground. They will become a literal shadow, and they cannot be hit while in this form. Wait until they come back up from the ground (They'll most likely come up behind you). You shouldn't have too much trouble here. Once they're done for, you'll go to yet another platform.

Here you must examine a door, and then a chest will form behind you. Open the chest. A wooden crate will appear. Pick up up and throw it to get a potion. After doing the same with the barrel, the door will open and you'll be transported to an island treehouse with 3 children you may recognize.