Make or find yourself a cart to drag around (g or G to drag it). It it doesn’t have wheels it’ll be quite loud. Sound = attraction = death in most cases.
Don’t bother with cars for a long while, even one that actually runs. They take a lot to maintain and cause a lot of noise (see above). You’re better off starting with a bike for midrange transportation (or if using mods a foldable bike).
When you start building or find a nice base area, make a crafting nook and drop all your items nearby to it. When crafting you can pull ingredients from 1-2 tiles adjacent.
I would say the story of KH1 is pretty great, it’s just that the gameplay and menus are quite dated and very frustrating to deal with. The platforming is still a bit of a problem but with dual-stick controls it’s at least bearable.
If you don’t want to play it, I would still recommend looking up the story beats in video form so you know the story. KH2 is where I would say the gameplay really takes off.