Man I love your takes and videos on KH

"What if Sora returned to Destiny Islands, only to find his home in FLAMES..." That would be stupid and more of a transparent plot contrivance for drama than any of the moments you criticize lmao. The same for all the other hypothetical "good moments" you propose, I feel like these kinds of proposals are better left out of analysis videos like this because it makes the assumption that the viewer will agree "oh my god, this is SO MUCH better than the actual writing!!" when nine times out of ten they just come off as embarrassing fanfiction. I agree with the broader point that the series really needs to re-establish some consequence but this attitude of " _I_ could do better!" has always seriously irked me because you usually can't and are just trading one bit of bad writing for another that you personally prefer.

Yo I gave up emotionally on this game after they got Ventus back. When it hit me that it wasn't the halfway point (I had the same assumption as you), I just took everything after as a joke. Endings are hard.

I wanna see the conclusion to that storyline with Clayton and Lady Tremaine so bad! lol

The number of people conviced they had to be going into the mid-game at the end says a lot about how empty the rest of the "story" is

You completely misunderstood time travel and replicas. And sora never died he disappeared due to his actions in remind to bring kairi back.

"Psyche" is pronunced "psych-ee", just a note

Yes, thank you! This is such a wonderful breakdown. I’m happy you addressed how much foreshadowing there was for Lea and Isa getting experimented on. When I played KH3 and their backstory was just “well they KNEW a test subject” I was like “bwuuuuuh???”

Ansem SoD's revival was good, because if they hadn't done that, then we would have had to spend another game without Ansem SoD in it, and I hate that timeline. (What the heck happened to the second Riku, though?? Was it his fate to fully 200% fuse with Ansem? Because the day or so he spent being possessed was the only window of time where Ansem could have been brought back with time trav--)

I. have several nitpicks about your points. I agree with some of them, but disagree with others. But I'm more of an optimist. I'm a fan of happy endings, and I like them, preferring them to sad ones most of the time because my life is already full of sad endings as is despite how hard I continue to fight for the ones that aren't or haven't yet happened. But, I do, very strongly, feel that kingdom hearts 3's narrative potential was squandered (ReMind's story content (not the data fights, the actual story content) should have been base game and we could have stood to get a final mix with even more things in it like a sephiroth fight or a fight with the Cloud of Darkness who just literally broke into reality as a result of Xehanort's and the MoM's combined machinations going a step too far and nearly ending reality or something as an apology for both the game taking literally forever to come out and because FF rep, considering how important of a cornerstone it is to KH as a whole, and really almost any SE rep as a whole was weak as hell after 2, excluding 3D because TWEWY *DESERVES SOMETHING* considering how much SE neglects the hell out of the potential of it, ffs). The Keyblade Graveyard, along with Olympus, feel like they were the only worlds that didn't get horribly bastardized by disney's executive meddling that took the wheel starting with KH2. Basically every payoff could have been better executed. (And considering how backloaded the game's story is I would not be surprised if we were supposed to get our guardians of light back more gradually across the whole game. Larxene effectively being cut from Arrendale along with most of the world plot reeks of that happening to most of the game save for *maybe* San Fransokyo.) There are plot points that should have been at least introduced and addressed (Isa and Lea's whole thing with the mystery girl is my most blatant example here as I firmly believe that it could have been introduced in Days proper, elaborated on in BBS during the ending, and also because there's a ton of things that KH1 was just like "oh well things happened 9~10 years back" and then the mistranslation of Sora being the Keyblade Hero effectively getting cut causing a ton of english exclusive plot holes if you don't know that Keyblade Hero is a title that is GIVEN, unlike Keyblade Master, which can be earned, so there can only be as many Keyblade Heroes as there are keyblades of light/dark/whatever (Mickey and Sora in this case). The Kingdom Key that Sora has is special compared to other keyblades is the point there.) in previous games instead so they could be touched on in more extensive detail here. The entirety of the X/Unchained/Dark Road plot hooks should have been out in the open BEFORE 3 came out. And to be fair? Kingdom Hearts 3 should not have taken as long as it did to get released. But to be fair, KHX (And UX, and Dark Road) also probably held up the release about as much as some of the other aspects of things did (But at least they had the decency with Dark Road to finish it, even if it was late, KHUX didn't even get that luxury, I assume the story quests were supposed to be done and dusted before 3 released because that's what makes more sense, instead of what happened where they released the final quests AFTER KH3 was released, and going "SURPRISE WE'RE KILLING THE GAME NOW! Tee-hee!" alongside said release).

Wow, all this early kh2 hate makes me think that nobody’s opinion on anything even matters

I’m still not done with the video yet, but I’m really glad you mentioned isa’s redemption. I feel like having good guys who are bad people really should be an option for this series, as it would fit isa perfectly. Obviously, by the end of kh3 he feels remorse for at least some of his actions, but you don’t undo the monster saix became over the course of ten years in one montage. Especially since you can tell even when he’s a kid that being harsh and sharp is a core aspect of his personality. I would have loved if saix was embarrassed by his actions and didn’t want to be a bad guy anymore, but wasn’t willing to change enough for the good guys to accept him either. I think it would have been very interesting and satisfying to see saix sad and alone after all the shit he did, but regretful enough to just leave everyone alone. Then, I’d be way more susceptible to a redemption story for him

37:19 tbh I don’t know for sure but I think you have to fill up his command gauge

4:58 HOW DO YOU NOT LIKE PEAK

The editing was masterful and overall points it's refreshing to see an essay that isn't "KH3 sucks cause I say so." Specifically when you said there's no breathing room is my heaviest agree! And it actualy lead me to ramble,, this is gonna be long one - I think a huge reason why many think the finale was underwhelming was because of all the scenarios and interactions that "should've" happened according to fandom. Essentially most of us grew up with these sillies to the point having access to the fandom lead to Nomura and Square against millions of fanworks, rewrites, theories, AUs, etc. to compete with for things to be "satisfying". Like prime example I'm still salty about is Aqua and Xemnas never interacting. He had her armor in the chamber all those years INCLUDING her keyblade (did he ever touch it? was he rejected over and over?) and he didn't even recognize it on her?? Would he even admit that he had her armor?? Her reaction to seeing an older Terra?? So much could've been done here 😔 Also Stritz only vaguely being referenced. A simple line from Vanitas like "Oh don't act so pure, Ven" would've elevated things so much more. Or as a massive Nort stan, more of the real Org talking to each other that wasn't strictly the old Org members. The real Org feels like OMX put up a "no fun allowed" sign... I could go on and on here. Big thing in KH3 in general is the characters being strictly in their respective debut games groups, especially the bbs gang. They act like cliques who have trouble letting new ones in, which makes interactions bound to not breach out of thier norm in a way? (not sure how to explain that)

"It's keyblade or death" *Shows on screen several uses of the warp snipe RC which clearly deals damage* Maybe not a LOT, but considering it keeps you out of harm's way of a long lasting projectile you're bound to lose track of (I would know, having given up using the RC during a rando run in favor of pure damage to get the fight over with as soon as possible before it could get too hectic and more often than not getting hit from behind), and to an extent also warps you about fast enough that zigbar isn't likely to hit you much while doing so, and you can use it several times for the same shot...

I think Crit and Lvl1 really made a lot of people appreciate the nuances in the mechanics a lot more. In the OG release, Proud mode didn't really challenge players much, so a game that was already quite easy got a lot easier with reaction commands. It was only with Final Mix that I personally became a way bigger fan of the game, as there were more content to challenge the player and make certain mechanics shine and be more relevant. In a lot of games, I like to pick as hard a difficulty as possible, as it'll often reveal how great or badly designed a game is. With some games, you get to appreciate the mechanics, while with others you realize how broken and badly designed they are. - KH2 FM was one of those "Hey, this game has a lot more depth than I thought" experiences, and I keep coming back to it.

Stop doing it!

When Sora went to Olympus as the first world, i thought *for sure* it was a ruse, and that Xehanort was going to show up and plunge the world in darkness. Think about how powerful it would be to return to a beloved world, one that is one of the most recurring and consistent worlds in the series, and have Sora absolutely powerless to save it. Not only would it scale Xehanort as this insanely powerful threat that towers over the Guardians amd singlehandedly turning Herc into a heartless, but it would set the tone for the rest of the game. I would also say that having that world by blocked off and Xehanort using the destroyed remains as a hub for his villainy would put more salt in the wound. I think Sora experiencing that type of loss and powerless-ness for the first time would really put his character into a new predicament and challenge his role as a savior. You could have Soras excuse goofing off in consequent Disney Worlds as a means of him running away from his problems and responsibilities out of fear that he cant save those he loves. You could have Donald and Goofy question his intentions and going along anyway. It wouldve made for a satisfying end game moment where Sora uses his power of waking to bring Olympus and Herc back from the brinks of darkness and finally earning the title of "true hero" just before his final battle in the keyblade graveyard.

Im tired... so ill just say this: the writing for kh3 was terrible, the disney worlds were all meaningless, and the ending was a nostalgia bait 2 hour fight with unearned dialogue. If anyone argues back against this im not responding because you clearly have low iq so please dont bother, ive already seen people defending this by saying worthless crap like "kh2 did it too" NO it didnt shut up. im tired of y'all.

Storywise, I think what I dislike about KH3 is that it removes all consequence. Everything that carried weight through the series, all the tragedies characters went through, it was all for naught because now "hey, person is dead" "okay, guess we gotta run the extra life machine to 3D print them a new body to possess". By the end of KH3, all mystique the series had was gone, all the potential horror and trauma is meaningless. Sora disappears? Whoop dee doo, we already know he's in KH4 and alive, it's just set up for the next wAcKy adventure. Already pre-loading the next game's reason for why you're level 1 yet again. It feels like whatever idea they started the series with is just long gone. They made KH3 to stop everyone's whining to get a conclusion already, and Nomura just doesn't know how to conclude anything.

I’m playing the series on steam now, the ending to KH2 makes the entirety of 3 feel like a slap in the face, cause Sora basically lost all that he was fighting for throughout 15 years, I would have rather have a shorter game that ties up the rest of the loose ends, I’m skipping 3 and just watching the cutscenes

37:35 On the topic of flowmotion, DDD made it far to overpowered and KH3 made it underpowered and they both are bad in their own way. However, there is one easy fix, tie it to a gauge. That way it punishes spamming it by not letting you skip harder sections and rewards you for managing it by letting you skip a segment you're having trouble with, or use it to deal with enemies better.

YOU NAILED IT. HOLY FUCK. The design, the story telling elements, the function, the strategy, and, screw it, the rule of COOL. All these things make up why reaction commands are a genius gameplay mechanic. Dare I say, it may be one the most well implemented gameplay mechanics ever created for an action RPG. The removal of them left a hole in KH that attractions, and team links just can't fill. The question is, can the team recapture their beauty in the upcoming title? I can't wait to find out, and this video only made me more excited to see it through. Amazing edits, awesome structure for breaking this down, and just the right amount of cheeky humor. Instant subscribe.

The beginning looks like a teaser from a new game, brilliant, perfect, superb.

I know that this video is almost one month old, but I'd like to add my two cents as someone who had a tumultuous love-hate relationship with this series. I loved KH1-CoM-KH2 as much as everyone else, but was IMMEDIATELY turned off by Birth By Sleep. My reaction to the Wayfinder trio protagonists, the plot of that game and the way the story was delivered was equally as visceral and negative as the one a lot of people, Duncadinca included, have to the X/Union Cross stuff. I was one of those kids that watched the epic secret ending of KH2 featuring the 'keyblade knights' and not only assumed it to be a teaser for KH3 (as we all did at the time) but imagined this epic tale that would take us back to a remote time in which there was an order of keyblade knights, an entire keyblade wielding society even, with its mysteries and machinations, all leading to an unavoidable tragic battle that put an end to a golden age. Child me wanted the plot of X and Union Cross starring a brand new cast of characters, not a billion boring Xehanort clones upstaging charismatic villains like Ansem and the Organization that I loved so so dearly. What I am trying to say is that I don't think that 'the mobile stuff' is the problem. The problem is that, as Dunca aptly detailed in this video, what had been established and wrapped up with a nice bow at the end of KH2 has been slowly but inexorably watered down, undone and at worst made completely pointless. Am I a stupid gacha phone game apologist? Yes, I am :P. UX, and Back Cover in particular, is what got me back into the series after so many years spent looking at it from a safe distance while shaking my head at how they massacred my boy(s). I guess there's still time for the final character assassination of Demyx.. but once he's accounted for, we're FREE! And by free, I mean that they'll have to bring in new characters instead of redeeming and resurrecting old ones. (PS: I think the 'Luxu thing' worked well for Xigbar because of how different he is from his original younger self. Not everyone liked the reveal but I personally really enjoyed it. I guess I am a sucker for the extremely specific trope of the death-cheating body snatcher asshole who used to be a cinnamon roll but that's a trick you can't pull more than once. And I highly doubt it will have the same effect if they try to do it with Demyx.) Maybe the moral of the story is that when you're not enjoying how a franchise is being handled, taking a break from it and a step back like I did oh so many years ago when I first laid eyes on Birth by Sleep is the best thing to do. For a long time, the ending of KH2 was the REAL ending of KH for me. And it still was when I replayed all the games, including the dreaded BBS and the other titles I missed before the release of KH3 (DDD wasn't nearly as bad as people said it was, that was a relief). Going into KH3, I didn't care to see any of the previous games stories being 'resolved' because the KH2 ending already took care of all the characters I cared about. I was there for the same reason Nomura was there: getting it done once and for all, giving the fans all the sappy reunions they wanted so he could finally move onto the story he has been dying to tell us for decades which ironically requires one final, unexplained and probably unnecessary resurrection... that of Versus XIII. LET'S GO BABY!

I will say and have happily said for the last 5 years that Kingdom Hearts should have ended at 2. 3's ending did not satisfyingly conclude and felt like a kick to the guts for fans that had been following since the beginning. I can't say I got too into the hype, because although I watched every trailer, having major story moments spoiled in each one of them kind of dulled the enjoyment.

The Sora Kairi moment did not hit at all. Like you say, it was about sharing 1 paupu fruit. Don't know why they had two other than to tie it into picture in the Secret Place

We waited more than a decade for our conclusion but Nomura was worried we'd lose heart if we had to watch all our beloved characters maximize their screen time? JFC even Naruto Shippuden got this right with the war arc. It was cheesy. It was fan servicey, but it was satisfying! Nomura should play the Legend of Heroes Sky trilogy all the way to the Steel series... all of those feel AMAZING.

J.K. Rowling was way out of line. I would say rather than dementors, trans activists remind me of mandrakes.

I’ve only recently started the first game, as much as I’m enjoying it I have zero interest in any of the spinoff games or gatcha mobile games. It’s a really stupid move to make the series as convoluted as they have. It feels like “oh did you want to get into our series? Well you’re going to have to play fifteen more games with confusing titles and some terrible mobile games too.” Also I don’t understand why the Final Fantasy characters aren’t in KH3? As a huge FF fan they were the reason I finally gave KH a chance. I’m going to play the first and second games and call it quits after that I think. It’s pretty clear to me that Disney saw the game as an advertisement and Nomura just wants to do something else. I admire some of Nomura’s work as a character designer, as a writer though…not so much. Nomura took JJ Abraham’s mystery box theory and…made a literal mystery box. (Slow clap)

The part that hurt me the most is that the disney worlds all had stories that Sora was a big part of. And the themes of the story always linked back to Sora's own internal struggles or the adventure they had outaide the world. But in this game the worlds are just THERE and although Sora does have SOMETHING develop in there, it's usually just talking to the organizarion members and not fighting. I also hate that in the Frozen and Tangled world, Sora mostly WATCHES the story unfold, rather than take plare in it. If you were ti take Sora and an irganization member from bith those worlds, it would mostly stay unchanged. This game felt more like a playable Disney+ subscription than the finale if Kingdom Hearts

I feel like the end of the game should have just been that scene from se7en where brad pitt is screaming "whats in the box?!"

Amazing video again, sorry it took me so long for KZbin to alert me to its existence. You're so spot on about Diz/Ansem the Wise, most slept on character in the series, top-tier writing of a calibre I fear this series will never see again. I felt him returning in DDD was almost too much, as KH2s send off for him was just already so perfectly wrapped up (his apology to Roxas inside Sora, which he knows is too little too late, is just icing on the tragedy cake), but his conversation with Aqua in Blank Points was wonderful, and he played a big part in completing Riku's arc, paving the way for big things to come in KH3, so it was totally fine ... then KH3 happened, and why the frig is he back again!? Also, he was originally voiced by Sir Christopher motherflippin' Lee, by jove we really were spoilt with KH2, as much as we adored it we still didn't know how just how great we had it. I'm gonna ride on that 2005 high and never come down!

Well done. U crack me up

When I play KH2 with the RCs, I get so hyped just because seeing Sora use the enemies weapon against them is so badass. When KH3 removed the RCs, it was just boring. The fights felt less engaging. Mob fights would slap me around even with the use of magic for crowd-control because Sora can only get out at least 4 or five cast before the cool down on critical mode while in KH2 critical mode you can get 7 or more cast of magic before the cool down which didn't feel nerved. People who say the RCs made the game to easy probably were only focusing on the triangle button itself instead of looking at the cool animation that took place after pressing triangle. Something about KH2 Sora's animations during those RC felt so smooth. Not only that but the detail that goes into the RC was also impressive. Here are some I will list out here. Larxene Join RC has Sora jump towards the screen but what I like is Sora facial expression while rushing towards the screen. He is extremely pisses & he is like this with Marluxia's Aerial Strike RC as well. The cannon RC during the pirate medallion fight is an adorable one where Sora activates the cannon with his foot while holding the keyblade diaganially in the air. But what makes it adorable is the happy look on his face. Just like what you said about the story fitting with the Organization XIII RC, it also fit for Sora because he mention in one of the cut scenes in that world that he always wanted to be a pirate & he was living that moment during a threating fight which I thought was so cool to see. If you think reaction are to easy then try looking at the cool animation instead & you will see why KH2 RCs get soo much praise. It was never about them being to easy but was about what Sora was capable of doing to his enemy while also making it look as badass as possible. I really hope to see some major improvements with the RCs in KH4 & not make them only available for the boss fights scenario.

The like .2 second cuts to ah questionable material is like a mental flash bang to jolt you back awake and make sure you keep watching instead of just listening lol. Never change

The edits and the jokes are all made real smooth. Watching this video is just full of pleasant surprises tickling me. Command Deck, Attraction Flow offers so much benefits with its damage but you can spam it on everything Reaction command is mostly unique to each enemy / teammate / specific story progression, which makes each moment more impressive. But when it is shared, holy crap you blew my mind by 28:24 I overlooked it. It has way more depth than I first thought. Thankfully specific reaction command was not repeated (or a whole lot) because it would make subsequent reoccurrences less impactful.

"It felt like Nomura only wrote this moment, because he knew thats what a lot of fans wanted." This is how I feel about the game as whole. It felt like one big check box, just so fans would stop asking for it.

I simply can not fathom how you have so few subscribers. Your videos are well thought out, extremely well edited, you're absolutely hilarious, and you don't say the same thing five times in a row( a pet peeve of mine with newer channels). I know you only have 3 videos but they're all so incredibly well made. I'm definitely subscribing and I can't wait to see more from you.

Just found this video and Im only 6 minutes in. You are so funny and this deserves way more views.

So i spat out my energy drink here at work the moment Nomura started crooning Katy Perry. Thanks for that 😂

Criminally underviewed and undersubbed. Take my sub, young one. ❤

I ended up watching this after another series annoyed me because it has a similar problem of refusing to let go of characters. I just feel like a lot of Japanese stories in particular seem unwilling to have any kind of lasting consequence. Every character that dies comes back or they turn out to be a good guy. It's just boring. It's lifeless to me. What person wouldn't cry when they experience Xion's story? Then to find out that none of it mattered anyway because they have an infinite number of bodies they can just plop her into... what a slap in the face. To me, it's borderline insulting. You get wrapped up in these stories and invested and then you realize that none of it mattered. All of the 7 lights were vanquished at the keyblade graveyard, but then Sora used the power of waking to travel back in time and none of it mattered. What does that even mean? I have no idea. Was I supposed to feel something when that happened? Likewise did anyone care if he died at the end of 3? I've seen people not even realize what happened. The fake out deaths or whatever they are just make it feel like nothing matters. It's not just telling a bad story, but retroactively hurting the ones that came before. I never really felt like Kingdom Hearts had a story that made sense to me, but it didn't really matter because it had these emotional highs and lows that really made you feel something. I get loving these characters and wanting to see more of them from a fan perspective, but it ends up harming these same characters more than it helps. I've rarely seen a story told, where bringing back multiple dead characters has ever worked well. Anyway, I did enjoy the video. I thought you had some interesting ideas of how it could of gone or what options there were regarding who to bring back. I just wish that more artists or whatever you want to call them would be content to just end their stories with some finality. It just seems like in how you reference Final Fantasy VII, we can't have that because we need to make sequels or prequels. We need to bring back characters that people love or turn a bad guy into a good one so they can stick around. It just becomes so boring to me, and really just ruins any tension or emotion when you know that nothing matters anymore. The Final Fantasy VII remake is egregious in that way too, which I won't really go into because of off topic spoilers, but that also was very disappointing.

Hmm what do think about how KH has new writers with better track records on the team now? Does it give you a small bit of hope for the new arc or are you indifferent.

looool we all hated sanctuary back in the day because we heard passion first. anyway love your videos!