How To Fix Kingdom Hearts PART 3

i did it 😭
LINK TO IVEN'S KZbin CHANNEL: / @ivenxiii
Started working on this in late December, writing and editing graphics up until the end of April, then editing since May to finish in September. This video was a 10 month project, the most amount of effort I've put into anything I've ever created. I hope you enjoy. ☺
A big thanks to KH-Vids for a massive chunk of the cutscenes I use throughout the video, as well as clips from people like HD PLAYGROUND, Keytotruth, and Xeeynamo.
My DeviantArt Page:
www.deviantart...
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KH3 (PC) Mods used:
Data Greeting Plus by yurilewd
www.nexusmods....
Playable Vanitas by CVAxeArmor
www.nexusmods....
Increased Screen Space Reflections (SSR) And More by nhod
www.nexusmods....
Armored Terra, Ventus, and Aqua by Richy5
www.nexusmods....
Aqua's Rainfell by Richy5
www.nexusmods....
Playable Ephemer by Iven
www.nexusmods....
Starlight 4 by jagger127
www.nexusmods....
0.2 Castle of Dreams (Forest) Map by Iven (currently unavailable)
Birth by Sleep Mickey by Richy5
www.nexusmods....
Braig (Birth by Sleep) by Richy5
www.nexusmods....
Radiant Garden Rainstorm by esuramods
www.nexusmods....
Kingdom Key D by J4M3ST3R913
www.nexusmods....
C-ModMenu by CriticPerfect
/ criticperfect
Armored Ventus over Sora by DaniZaya
www.nexusmods....
Station of Space Complete by esuramods
www.nexusmods....
Kairi Kingdom Key by NineTailedNaruto98
www.nexusmods....
Un-Nort Terranort - Terra by VaultLink
www.nexusmods....
Aqua Custom Poses by _zai
/ _zai
Data Greeting in the Keyblade Graveyard by esuramods
www.nexusmods....
Keyblade Graveyard Pillar Map by Iven (currently unavailable)
NO MORE EARTHSHAKER by Jaster777
www.nexusmods....

[@cryptonix02]

How To Fix Kingdom Hearts Part 4 (DDD Rewrite) is dropping SUNDAY, April 24 at 3:00PM ET (12:00PM PT)! Your mom says you have to show up. Sorry. No choice. 🤷‍♀️

[@freakfreakfreak_]

Vanitas is the lorax of darkness. He speaks for the heartless XD

[@shadangel47]

I like the idea of Venitus still looking like Sora for this story as both Sora and Venitus would represent the Light and Dark's desire to be balanced

[@ThePreciseClimber]

"There will be NO time travel." Words to live by.

[@KazamaXIII]

I like how thought out and well put together everything is in these rewrites. It honestly makes me wish that this was the KH story we got instead of what we have now.

[@puterboy2]

Me too.

[@tamary.leitmotiv]

I'm sick that this isn't the kingdom hearts we got, while it was the one we needed... It almost makes me hate the scenario of the original games

[@xenokai5567]

Hey cryptonix for kh3 riku's keyblade it could be a road to dawn like keyblade maybe called eternal twilight or something

[@tamary.leitmotiv]

Imagine the whole kingdom hearts modding community Unifying to remake all of the games with this actual scenario, with not only the gameplay changes, but also the scenario parts. I'm dreaming of this at night now.

[@lordmeian3929]

Holy shit me too,it wouldnt change Much until kh3 just a few changes And kh3 it would be something Worth waiting with moments we Prayed to see.

[@nyhtfall1969]

that would be incredible

[@skelenize]

kingdom hearts 3 has the exact same issue as the steven universe ending. Feels like the devs realized that they are missing too much too close to the end and crammed all the fan service and loose ends of the Xehanort Saga into the last hour of gameplay

[@aoto8897]

Yea I agree

[@superlombax1561]

Pretty much, yeah.

[@helsmify]

Except Steven Universe was forced to end and had to cram things in, Kingdom Hearts 3 had no excuse to cram so many things in; even then, the idea of Steven universe's ending wasn't bad, it just needed time, KH3's idea were just plain horrible. Sorry if this is long, I've been thinking about the SU ending and understood that despite being incredibly flawed wasn't a bad ending, but can't blame people for only seeing the flaws. KH3 had freedom that SU didn't, so it had no reason to have a rushed ending.

[@LizardKingRequiem]

@@helsmify youre right on the money, ppl rlly dont consider that at all but its very important without knowing that it makes some criticisms completely baseless

[@yungmuney5903]

@@helsmify Ehh while I don't know anything bts of KH3, I feel that KH3 doesn't have as much freedom as you think just looking at the Frozen and Tangled worlds.

[@surrealcanine]

An alternate proposal for Vanitas's appearance. Rather than having their appearances be identical with a reason justified in-story, have them simply look remarkably similar to one another. The similarity, while turning out to be purely coincidental in-story, serves two purposes: 1) To make the audience wonder and speculate what their connection is. In this case, they have no shared history at all, but they do have a connection morally, as genuine heroes among either side's forces. In fact, Sora and Vanitas could have easily switched roles, had they been born in the opposite world. They are narrative foils to one another, and if they were to meet in DDD or KH3, and eventually join forces to restore balance the right way, it would greatly support the overarching theme of light and darkness being two sides of a whole. 2) To reinforce this connection once the audience learns Vanitas's true nature. Having them voiced by the same voice actor reinforces this meta-connection. Their appearances, voices, and even names are echoes of one another (Sora: "sky", Vanitas: "emptiness"; perhaps reinterpreted as a night sky void of stars), and Vanitas can be seen in this sense as "the dark world's Sora". As a bonus, we can still use any points where people who meet Sora are reminded of Vanitas, and vice versa, without having them being identical twins, as long as they look *enough* like one another.

[@honeybeeami2654]

I think this version of the story is a GREAT set up to make Sora and Vanitas parallels of the other. It’s a long shot but I would love to see someone’s reaction to Sora after encountering massless Vanitas. Maybe even have Vanitas comment on Anti-Sora being used by Sora despite fighting on the light’s side.

[@honeybeeami2654]

I know Roxas or Riku is the original parallel to Sora, but Vanitas is easily a great character to use especially if we’re talking about the darkness

[@taiga738]

This is a pretty solid imagining. My only issue with the rewrite is making Ven the goody two shoes who was like that even when the trio first met when that was more Aqua's thing in the original. I think it'd still work if Ven ended up getting the key over Aqua because he's the more optimistic of the three and managed to empathize with Vanitas and resolve to stop him while still wanting to reach out to him so they won't have to fight anymore, while Aqua was still conflicted. Both are strong and light aligned but Ven just ended up in a better position to potentially restore the balance rather than just pushing back indefinitely. The fight could end with Ven starting to convince Vanitas to stop fighting and resolve things peacefully when the Xehanort backstab happens to ensure the X-blade is formed. The kingdom keys could simply be referred to as the kingdom keys without different names since there are only two, alternatively that could be their collective names with their individual names being the key of darkness and key of light since they still favour a darkness and light aligned user to keep the balance even if both can use light and dark. Whatever you do with the name change I feel that kingdom key should stay in there somewhere since it's a reference to something with thematic significance to the series.

[@kanekikingstorm2113]

Was watching the older videos yesterday, thinking “he’s about to drop some unbridled fire soon.” Then here you are, dropping a god tier Ultima on us!

[@Soulinescent]

I love your headcannon. The master keyblade trio are true tragic characters because they are questioning and looking for the truth. It truly shows here that truth CAN hurt people.

[@cryptonix02]

Being completely honest... if I could go back and change some of my "foundations" from Part 1, I would definitely make the two Kingdom Keys one of light and one of dark. I eventually realized that it wouldn't change *that* much about King Mickey like I originally thought, especially if I made the color scheme red and black similar to the "Keyblade of Heart" that I originally retconned... not only would a red and black Kingdom Key match Vanitas' color scheme way better, Mickey Mouse's OG colors are literally red and black also 😐 I'm an idiot. And if you caught one of the little notes that popped up, I would name them something other than "Kingdom Key" and "Kingdom Key D" because, thinking back, it's SUCH an awkward naming scheme. I would probably have Sora's be called the "Key of Hearts" and have Mickey's be the "Kingdom Key". Because Mickey is a king and owns a kingdom... so that makes sense to me, and Sora... well, he touches all our hearts 🥺. Or maybe the opposite makes more sense for other reasons. 🤷‍♀️ Then I would call the "X-blade" fusion of the two (what I currently call the Key of Hearts) something epic and Final Fantasy-esque... like in latin or something.

[@justuswhite924]

If you're gonna give the X-blade a Latin name, then might I suggest "Clavis ad Caelum" (Key to Heaven)? It maintains the "Key" naming scheme while alluding to Scala ad Caelum (Stairway to Heaven). Just a thought.

[@cryptonix02]

@@justuswhite924 I like that name!

[@KingdomHeartsBrawler]

I think it's fine keeping them as "Kingdom Key" and "Kingdom Key D," because they're references to the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus gives to Peter, down to even being the same colors. It's all part of the quasi-Christian symbolism Kingdom Hearts uses (the χ-Blade being another example, χ being another symbol for Christ and the weapon itself having an emblem that bears a striking resemblance to the real-life symbol of the papacy).

[@lupin5489]

Somewhat glad that a Terraqua relationship wasn’t explored very in depth at the moment as Ventus is too closely knit to the actions of the others which would make him being a third wheel even more apparent, unlike Riku and Axel who are the odd ones out but have their own paths and goals that aren’t directly linked to their respective trios

[@cryptonix02]

I knew from the start that I wasn't particularly interested in making Terraqua a thing. People complained that the shippings in my rewrite were overdone, which I get 100%. Since there was so much story to tell in such little time, it may have gotten narratively overwhelming trying to fit it in the story. Also I think it was also better for setting the Wayfinders apart from the other characters in as many ways as I could, lol.

[@madambutterfly1997]

Ventus claims he wants to help Vantias yet he clearly can’t seem to understand that that means; cutting down guardians of the light, people he’s personally attached

[@nerdygirlygirl8750]

I honestly have always liked the idea of Ienzo/Zexien to be Ansem the Wise(Gnosis) adopted son a plot twist that can be introduced in KH3. That way Kairi has a long lost brother something to fight for.

[@cryptonix02]

I love this idea too!

[@sephandremanticore5438]

Vanitas having Sora's face should be just an ominous coincidence. Plenty of people in real life have eerily similar doppelgangers some so convincing they actually managed to usurp parts of the others' life. Vampire Diaries plays off of this using only the fact that two of the characters were immortal as an explanation as to how they even could meet.

[@1NameGoesHere]

If there's one thing that I liked about your rewrite, it's the fact that there are residences of the Realm of Darkness. I remember when Nomura said in an interview that Keyblades of Light and Darkness only differed from where they originated, so I always figured (when I was younger), "Oh, that indicates that there are people in the Realm of Darkness too. I wonder what they're like. Considering how they talk about balance, especially in 2, maybe darkness and its residences aren't so bad after all. I mean, Riku uses the darkness and he's still good." You can imagine how vastly disappointed I was when Nomura went NOWHERE with it, so that plot point feels like "Okay, and?" Speaking of balance, it's also nice to hear that residences of the Realm of Light have their own kind of minions to really point out that Light and Darkness just exist and what you do with it is what really defines you. Granted, it's nothing new or complex, but it's a lot more interesting than what we got, especially when the game tries to be as deep as an ocean, only to feel like it's as deep as a puddle with its simple Light = Clearly Good and Dark = Clearly Bad.

[@tanxenx36]

This is some good dedication right here. As someone who has played Kingdom Hearts since the second game's release, the franchise has always held a nostalgic place in my memory. Despite how nonsensical and over the top the whole thing can be and is continuing to get, said nostalgia makes it feel too enjoyable when you look back to having first experienced the series as a kid. It was something unique and different compared to all the other action-packed games in the PS2 era. Regardless of how nostalgic this series is, everyone can agree that Kingdom Hearts desperately needs redoing considering how much of a mess the plot is. It is incredibly obvious Nomura has pulled out various plot points to add more "interesting" aspects to the story, especially whenever there's a prequel. It's getting wayy too overdone that makes the whole lore very confusing that you may find yourself forgetting reality just to understand this damn franchise. The acting is also an issue by itself, it desperately needs redoing to be more similar to modern Final Fantasy acting as that is much more preferable. I think everyone's beef with this series is the release of the third game. While I did find the gameplay of Kingdom Hearts 3 to be enjoyable, I was disappointed in the overall story that we had been waiting literally years for to come to an end. Having to get through all of those repetitive Disney worlds that were only there for filler and getting short cutscenes of the story and short playable segments was disappointing. And hell, the keyblade graveyard, the most pivotal moment we had been anticipating, was filled to the brim of repeated cutscenes and one too many expected fights that weren't very interesting. I was VERY disappointed by the ending as it just seemed lazily done with Xehanort's revealed motive, and the boss fights you face leading up to that point failing to be any interesting in comparison to how they've handled previous story elements in the past games. If I had to make any suggestions for when you get to Kingdom Hearts 3, specifically during the keyblade graveyard sequence: • I would see about making the whole battle between the guardians of light and the seekers of darkness to be more exhilarating, having characters facing one set of members before either giving up and moving onto the next one, or getting their back covered by somebody else. I was REALLY disappointed by the fact that you simply went through a simple list of bosses, taking down one member, moving onto the next, one by one, repeat. It didn't feel very exciting, especially with those annoying cutscenes that took place after you defeat one boss as the battle is still commencing. • It would also be really cool to see Saix turning on Xemnas during the battle to help the guardians of light as it was heavily implied by Vexen that he was assisting them, but in the end, he did nothing and got taken down by Roxas that I felt like the implication was incredibly pointless. Make something new with that implication or wipe it completely altogether. • I would find it very interesting if the guardians of lights ended up going against specific seekers of darkness you'd least expect them to face. That way it serves as a subversion to expectations as we have seen them already face the ones we'd expect them to fight before in their own games (Aqua and Ven already fought Vanitas before, so it felt like a repeat to see them fight him again only with Sora by their side, same with the fight between Roxas and Saix), it would make for an interesting set piece if we see the protagonists from another game going up against a different antagonist than the one they were up against before. Say for example, Roxas going up against Vanitas. Both have had no interaction in ANY of the titles and don't have much reason to face each other, but with the two of them being broken fragmented pieces of Sora and Ventus (although that's not really the case in your rewrite anymore), I would definitely say that plays for an interesting sequence if nothing else. • Lastly, and I apologise if this is hurting your head, haha. See about giving the guardians of light a plot of obtaining keyblade armour, that is a concept everyone was having wishful thinking about before the release of the game, but never happened. The only characters who ever have that is the BBS trio, and you'd think guardians of light were gonna need armour if they're going up against Xehanort and his powerful minions? It's ridiculous that at least neither Ven or Aqua used their armour during the keyblade graveyard battle considering it is practically 10 times worse than what they had to face with Xehanort in BBS (you could excuse Aqua for the loss of her keyblade and glider as seen at the end of BBS, but there's no excuse with Ven considering he still had possession of his armour as proven with Sora in DDD).

[@King_of_the_Unclean]

Vanitas should call Heartless Unversed because why would someone from the realm of darkness say that they have no heart also the reason the Unversed Vanitas brings with him look different from normal is because they are an elite class that are made using the magic of the dark ancestors

[@cryptonix02]

The Unversed thing is so smart! WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT? 😭😭😭

[@xenokai5567]

You know I had a concept with the realm of darkness maybe we could people whose hearts are made from darkness

[@cryptonix02]

@@xenokai5567 We will. ☺️

[@isaiahrivers7117]

If this rewrite happened in the series then i would've like to see in a KH game after BBS where you would play as Vanitas or make it like fragmentary passage where you only play as Vanitas as you see his side of the story where he's in the realm of light fighting the nobodies and all and where you can use his dark attacks and stuff.

[@cryptonix02]

👀

[@jahsong6781]

The way xehanort and vanitas pull up for honorable fisticuffs makes me wanna accept the darkness into my heart

[@ShadowShoveler]

This project continues to impress me. A lot of the changes made here are very compelling, and I'm curious to see how they ripple into the later titles. Great work as always, dude :)

[@VergilLover69]

He returned, when we lost all hope he finally came back🥺🥺🥺🥺

[@connorlego5229]

I personally never really lost hope, writing is hard and everything he puts into his videos makes sense to me why they would take forever to come out

[@VergilLover69]

@@connorlego5229 truth😤😤😤👍

[@TheLanydx]

I would make a suggestion that has the Master of Masters leavings kind of Keyblade Holocroms, that warn about not fucking up the balance and to be wary of a spit version of him running around that would lead to him being a secondary antagonist. One who’s been watching from the sidelines and has been enjoying the entertainment of bloodshed.

[@madambutterfly1997]

Why is your version so much more coherent and more heartfelt

[@redstreak9430]

1:04:36 would Oswald still be Mickey’s brother/a prince in your KH lore? I always thought it would be cool to see him as a Keyblade wielder (maybe not a master to parallel how Mickey overshadowed him irl) but still have some gimmicks he had in Epic Mickey like you said. Personally, I had the idea of a BBS rewrite in which Oswald and Mickey were both training under Yen Sid but Oswald wanted to join the fight against the Unversed instead so HE’S the one who bonds with the Wayfinder Trio and Mickey just focused on training with Donald and Goofy. That way, when Mickey encountered Aqua in 0.2, he didn’t have any attachment to her (as far as he would know, she’s just another Keyblade wielder in the LoD for her own reasons) which would make more sense as to why he didn’t tell Riku about her prior. As for why he wouldn’t be in the rest of the Dark Seeker Saga, idk if Oswald would have succumbed to the darkness and Mickey had to take his place or he gets trapped/banished to the Wasteland to once again parallel the real life rivalry between the two seen in Epic Mickey but as far as plugging up the plot hole involving Mickey and Aqua, that’s my little idea.

[@cryptonix02]

That's some big brain shit I did NOT think of early enough. 😅 Really cool idea!

[@redstreak9430]

@@cryptonix02 aw, thanks!

[@zangbang9886]

What I consider extremely cool about this rewrite is how it made me realize how badly the whole "light and dark are two sides of the same coin" is done in the actual games. Riku uses darkness but it is never treated as a realization for everyone except Riku, and for the entire series darkness remains synonymous with evil.

[@RadinV1]

This is pretty minor but I think I came up with a somewhat better origin for the name Ansem. Earlier in the video you mentioned Xehanort would no longer be messing around in Disney worlds due to Terra having to not know about his true nature until later. I think you can make it so that he still does manipulate Disney villains in an effort to have Terra use darkness more and more, but he does so under the fake identity of "Ansem". Terra would assume there is a connection between Vanitas and this Ansem character, and after Vanitas' slip up in the Castle of Dreams which gave away Xehanort's identity, Terra will put it together that Xehanort was Ansem. Not that there HAS to be an origin, but if you wanted one I feel like this works fine

[@TheLanydx]

Okay after rewatching your video, their is something I would hopefully liked to see addressed. You have made the Darkness not some mindless horde of evil….however in spite of your best efforts, Van isn’t doing it for me as a representative of the “the Darkness is being oppressed.” Yes he has every right to be pissed, but I think about around 0.2 with Aqua’s storyline, since she’s been around the Realm of Darkness, we should see fully innocent and good people in the Dark Realm. Perhaps a little Shadow looks after Aqua, and guides her, acting as a reminder to Aqua on Ven. How this Shadow is torn between his people and their plight, and befriending an “oppressor” in spite of the bad and bloody history or that some of the Heartless are actively against working for Xehanort due to how well cruel his methods are. Just saying, it’s kind of hard to feel sympathy for beings that have been constantly attacking the protagonists….

[@cryptonix02]

Holy shit, the "little shadow" you mentioned is something I've thought about a lot. I've wanted to give Aqua a shadow companion for quite some time. The Heartless you've seen in the series can be considered like Heartless "soldiers" because they're specifically sent to the realm of light to fight and try and reclaim territory. However my plan in 0.2 is to show how most Heartless throughout the realm of darkness are very relaxed and helpful towards Aqua. That's why I want to expand 0.2 as much as possible. I can see you and I have a similar thought process here.

[@silentjoker45]

Wait holy shit this 😳 great minds do think a like. This almost like what i'm doing with a close friend of mind.

[@KaiboStudios]

**gasp** Aqua and a friendly little shadow traveling together! That sounds so cute! I AM SO DRAWING THIS!!!!!

[@alex93cayford]

Welp, since this is discussing 0.2 I have an idea for a possible world! Salted Dunes is a World Aqua visits in 0.2 based on the original Nier where she immediately meets a young girl named Yonah who introduces him to her family, her mother Yohra who cooks for her children and husband, her brother Nier who is secretly killing Heartless (in lieu of shades) to earn extra cash on top of what's earned by the patriarch of this family (We'll call him the Father for the remainder of the story) who seeks a way out of the Realm of Darkness… whilst also killing Heartless for money. Further digging reveals a lot of extensive research into the Realm of Darkness, including how you are unable to age due to time being more of a light-type of thing, but also that Yohra and her husband were scientists who tried experimenting with all the magical aspects of the franchise down to ideas such as dubbing the spiritual Hearts of individuals as Fluctlights, and the study of embedding lesser lifeforms with aspects of a sapient fluctlight if not outright creating it being called Cardiogenetics. You can obviously tell that Xehanort found this info rather useful for his ambitions, and pre-RoD Yohra would more than likely agree with her. She has quite a few experiments under her belt, one of the earliest tests being the creation of Devola via photocopying the fluctlight of Poppola right when she was but a zygote in her mother's womb. And don't worry, the study of Cardiogenetics and how it can be used and abused will cause far more headaches over whatever we could come up with for the next arc.

[@1992holycrap]

Little Shadow: **is baby** Aqua: "Mom Mode Activate!"

[@brandonadrien3476]

He's BAAAAAAACK! Can't wait to finish it. Plus even knowing that there be a Fix Naruto 3 in the distant future is hype. Thanks

[@aoto8897]

Tbh In this part 1:31:22, rather than having Ventus die and cause the weapon to be weakened, I kinda prefer the original idea. in the original story Ventus sacrificing himself (with Aqua’s help ofc) is why the ultimate weapon was weakened and got destroyed.

[@cryptonix02]

I never felt like Ventus "sacrificed" himself though, it felt more like circumstances out of Ventus' control. Like he was forced to merge with Vanitas and by simply beating him within his own heart, as well as having Aqua defeat Ventus-Vanitas, his heart was purged from his body. I guess it just feels less sacrificial than, say, Sora extracting his heart to save Kairi in KH1.

[@aoto8897]

@@cryptonix02 Well, you’re right that Ven was forced to be in that tight situation. but still, after merging with vanitas he overall didn’t give a second thought about sacrificing his life to destroy the X-blade and save his friends.

[@khfan1521]

@@cryptonix02 I liked your version of the story but I didn’t like how you basically took all the credits from Ventus and just give it all to Aqua.

[@cryptonix02]

@@khfan1521 One of the things I definitely noticed was how I didn't really do anything cool with Ventus. He got pretty downplayed throughout the whole rewrite. I'm overall unsure how to improve his role in the context of the direction I'm heading. I think perhaps by remaking Ventus Vanitas' primary goal from the start? Not sure if that was the best choice IMO. Didn't change much.

[@FrustratedJacob]

Alright, I've re-watched this entire series multiple times, and I've come to one primary conclusion: It's pretty good. That said, I do have one one observation that's been a bit of a thorn in my brain since the third or fourth viewing. You may be doing this on purpose, I obviously don't know where you're going with this series long-term just yet. But since you've invited discussion multiple times in each video, I figure I may as well share. So, we're abandoning the ideas of Light and Darkness as being primarily good or bad forces. This is obviously the central idea of your entire lore rework and for the most part I think it tracks just fine, because we still have evil villains to fight, they just aren't conveniently color coded anymore. And I like the idea of making the Nobodies essentially Light counterparts to Heartless, both elemental creatures which serve as enemies, except for in BBS and Days where the Nobodies are allies to extremely powerful Light wielders. I do have one concern though. Long-term, Sora and the gang are eventually going to find out that Darkness ain't so bad after all, especially since you're positioning Vanitas as the "moral center" of the whole series. However, here in BBS, you have Vanitas expressing concern for how many Heartless are being recklessly destroyed by Xehanort. Are they sentient? We spent several games killing these things by the thousands, and if the later games are going to try and establish that Heartless ALSO aren't so bad, that could be some serious whiplash and make the earlier games hard to go back to. And it'll be especially weird to try and "But they were good guys," the Heartless themselves when they were blowing up worlds by the truckload in KH1 and also on-screen with Castle of Dreams here in BBS. Maybe that's your intent! Maybe you want to make the players and characters feel bad for killing all them there Heartless in the earlier games. That might be a little heavy for a game with Mickey Mouse in it, but hey, this is your project, and I'm having fun, so I'm here for the long haul. I don't know where you're going, which is part of why I was reluctant to voice this observation at all. I do feel like the Heartless themselves, whether they have Hearts or not, whether Darkness is inherently bad or not, maaaaybe shouldn't be morally grey? I assume we'll still be fighting them in KH3 unless you've got another villain faction up your sleeve. But I had AN idea which I felt like voicing, whether it fits into your vision or not. Feel free to completely ignore! I'm looking forward to whatever you're cooking up regardless. --- So here in BBS we have Vanitas express concern for Xehanort's reckless sacrifice of Heartless, and he's gonna be the "moral center" of the entire series, but he also uses the Heartless to blow up an entire world. And the Heartless have done plenty of other bad things later on. So my mind starts thinking about how to square this. Maybe you've already done this thinking and you're 5 steps ahead of me, but here goes. Perhaps Heartless and Nobodies are explicitly results of the universe being out of balance following the ancient war. Both sides are compensating for losing something and for the inherent conflict that is being waged by pumping out these elemental soldiers. Trouble is, since the Realm of Darkness is in a lot more trouble than the Realm of Light, it's spitting out WAY more Heartless. Heartless have hearts, and Kingdom Hearts only spits out so many hearts over time, so the continued imbalance has lead to more Heartless being made, and significantly fewer normal people being born into the RoD, and over centuries it has eroded their society significantly to the state we find it in the modern day. Also, Heartless and Nobodies are naturally destructive to pretty much -anything-, but would naturally prefer to antagonize the opposite element. This lead to both sides weaponizing their respective elemental forces centuries ago to prevent them from causing chaos domestically. The folks in the RoD dispatch the massive quantities of Heartless into the RoL, which collectively keeps the Heartless which reside in the RoD docile. Similarly, the Keyblade mercenaries have been controlling the relatively limited number of Nobodies to defend against these attacks for centuries, keeping them under control and non-violent, until their order crumbled and the Organization started letting them do whatever. Anyway, this could lead to the modern day, where so much time has passed that people in the RoD, including Vanitas, don't even REMEMBER that the Heartless were once hostile to everyone. They've been 'domesticated' for so long that people in the RoD now believe it's their nature to exclusively attack the Light, instead of everyone. The ultimate realization comes later on in the series when Xehanort starts using both the Nobodies and the Heartless to cause chaos everywhere, and increase imbalance. Or, alternatively, they know exactly how dangerous the Heartless are, and that's exactly why they have to keep sending them to the Realm of Light. Their numbers are already dwindling so letting the Heartless rampage even in the RoD could be apocalyptic. Destroying Castle of Dreams is a matter of self preservation to sate the Heartless. Of course, regardless of which of these gets used, the problem is that the conflict between Heartless and Nobodies is making the imbalance worse, not improving it. So sending the forces to attack each other to protect each realm individually only makes the situation worse and increases the amount of Heartless and Nobodies the universe keeps cranking out, like antibodies turning on each other instead of on an infection. With this in mind the ultimate conclusion of the series could be that when the universe is balanced again, Heartless and Nobodies simply cease to exist as they were always byproducts of the ancient war and the continuing imbalance. With them gone, the people of the Realm of Darkness can rebuild properly, and of course we players of the game/our main characters are absolved of any guilt at mowing the suckers down in previous games. --- Again, I don't know where you're going with this, feel free to ignore everything I've said. All that just kept rattling around in my head and I wanted to get it out. Keep up the awesome work, very excited for the DDD video!

[@cryptonix02]

I love this idea! It's not where I've chosen to take things as you can sort of tell, but something like this (more Heartless being created than Nobodies) would beautifully emphasize certain elements. I have chosen to make Heartless and Nobodies sentient which makes things less gray than people were maybe expecting (light now seem like the assholes), but I was mostly going for "darkness is bad in KH1, no one knows who's good and who's bad in KH2, and darkness is good in KH3". I'll explore the true nature of darkness and Heartless in my 0.2 rewrite, but... yeah. If the Heartless weren't sentient, your idea would make a lot of sense, but I like the idea of having something to sympathize with. Player guilt is something I actually WANT to some extent. It's not as easy to picture because my viewers knew the problem from the start, but if this was real and you started from KH1 and learned the truth by BBS and 0.2, I think that shit would be NUTS. And one idea I struggle with is "how many humans live in the RoD, if any?" If the Heartless weren't sentient, it feels like there's less to sympathize with when shifting your worldview, but if there's tons of normal people in the RoD, there would probably have to be "dark soldiers"... and it adds a lot of questions I have to answer. What I have now made more sense to me at the time. And I disagree with *some* of the ideas I started with for sure. Not sure if Heartless sentience is one of them.

[@FrustratedJacob]

@@cryptonix02 Hey, I totally get it, and I'm stoked to see where you're going with this take! Really love the videos and like I said before, I'm along for the ride. Definitely want to see how you handle Darkness reveals in later entries. Looking forward to DDD and 0.2!

[@FrustratedJacob]

Earlier today I saw you'd taken down the preview for Part 3, I was hopeful this was getting close to release. Didn't expect it to be quite THIS soon though! Or maybe you took the preview down days ago and I'm just slow... Regardless, congrats on getting this finished, totally understandable that you cut it in half.

[@isaiahrivers7117]

I wonder what Tetsuya Nomura would think of this rewrite of the KH series.

[@cryptonix02]

Maybe disrespected 😅 I don't know, I pray that no one at Square ever sees this. I'm really not ready for that level of awkwardness.

[@eddog6666]

Everyone under estimates kingdom hearts brith by sleep

[@thatoneblackdude3333]

@@cryptonix02 I don't think Namoras ego is so fragile that a fan rewrite would offend him of anything he might be impressed at how much effort you put into it

[@wish7540]

@@thatoneblackdude3333 you say that, but Japan typically doesn’t take kindly to these types of things

[@thatoneblackdude3333]

@@wish7540 that's about copyright which this isn't there is no reason they'd have a issue with this .

[@LLnullZer0]

the picture of yamamoto takeshi at the 5 min mark when he apologises warms my heart, man i miss khr

[@Signedcentaur]

One thing I am sad about is the removal of the Ventus/Vanitas being the same person aspect. Mainly because I look at Ansem and Xemnas and... that's clearly done there. It even still works in this version where Ventus is good hearted, optimistic and hopeful, but also a bit oblivious, and childish, whereas his dark side, Vanitas, is serious, calculating, but with a short temper and a disregard for those in the light (which is probably why he seems so sadistic). Making a whole person makes Ventus a realist, someone who wants to see good done in the world, even if he's a bit brash in his actions, and knows he cannot trust many people. Plus, if we keep the idea that originally he was trained under Xehanort, this gives him the idea that this could still work. Even then, if you wanted to keep the idea that Aqua was the original Keybearer, then maybe Xehanort needed a heart of pure darkness, but everyone in the realm of darkness that weren't Heartless/Unversed were still very much like those in the realm of light, where their hearts contain both light and darkness. So he needed something else, and he would take an unassuming orphan boy (aka Ventus) train him to be a warrior, then split his heart, and whatever was left would be handed to the council. ALSO, The "Warriors of Light" should comprise of the original FF classes being Fighter/Knight, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Thief/Ninja, and Monk/Master (which would probably be changed to a Guru or something). Maybe have the high Council also not only be Keyblade Masters but also one of Summoners a la FFX, and high ranking knights be your Dragoons, Beserkers, Oracles, etc. Then have your Keyblade Masters/Weilders be of an even higher rank.

[@cryptonix02]

You have great ideas! I think that connection with Ven and Vanitas could definitely work and has some good themes behind it as well. It never felt like Ven and Vanitas *had* to be connected to tell the story I wanted to tell, but if you needed there to be a connection, something like that would be it. Plus it would add a prerequisite to Xehanort splitting his own heart into Ansem and Xemnas, having better confirmation something like that would work to achieve his goals. Clever stuff. There's tons of room to expand and explore the "lore" of the Land of Departure, different classes, rank structures, etc. Something like that is definitely bigger in scope than I've chosen to focus on. Having things structured similarly to Final Fantasy is very Square-Enix and I love it.

[@johnhorton1527]

To Be Continued in Dream Drop Distance, 0.2 and Kingdom Hearts 3 If you do How to Fix Kingdom Hearts 3 you should have Yen Sid getting all of the Party Members from the Past games (Expect Tarzan and Rapunzel) for Sora and friends plus the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee to stop Xehanort in style of Avengers Endgame's Battle of Earth

[@SuperPianogirl123]

I was thinking the exact same thing

[@johnhorton1527]

@Adrian The Master Warrior Well because for Tarzan he's no longer owned by Disney and as for Rapunzel her hair is now short

[@Rain-kh3kq]

I’d like to believe this is how the story would’ve went if Xehanort targeted all three of them instead of just Terra and Ventus.

[@blackaspect4947]

OH MY GOD YOUR BACK YAY I LOVE YOUR K REWRITES. kingdom hearts is my favorite game thats apart of my childhood and my favorite is kh2. i love writing stories so i love ur additions.

[@honeybeeami2654]

I really spent all morning listening to the other two, can’t wait to hear this one out

[@drewbrinx4995]

I’ve been waiting for months and it’s final here. 🤩

[@flaremawile726]

It's cool man, Can't blame you for just releasing BBB, since well that game has a lot to cover since theres three diferent playthroughs of three characters.

[@stardogsmasher6217]

One thing I would change for Vanitas is the whole formless face. Yes it's reveal having Sora's face is iconic sure, but having a formless face for his whole life makes no sense to me. Instead, how about in one of Vanitas' failed battle against the forces of Realm of Light, Vanitas gets a critical injury to the face to the point it's becomes formless to Vanitas until the day Xehanort tells Vanitas needs to disguise himself to "blend in" better.

[@KHREMAKE]

Don’t know how it took so long for me to see this! Great work as always! I love how we work with similar story pieces, but yet find vastly unique ways to utilize them! 😊

[@khmatrix]

Will you discuss about the Realm of Darkness more in future rewrites? I think its interesting how its implied from Vanitas that he has people he cares about. So I was wondering if perhaps people actually LIVE in the Realm of Darkness? Which might imply how later Aqua learned the truth about balance, maybe meeting those people over the years changed her for the wiser?

[@Biajuuu]

Xehanort be like: *Insert thanos meme "perfectly balance as all thing should be"

[@carlosmorales5951]

If the next video comes in the next 12ish years, you'll already be better than Square

[@laguser6362]

This whole story is so interesting, I noticed that you omitted mentioning what became of Vanitas' heart and body, which I'm assuming will be something we'll learn later on.

[@colerowe8890]

Let’s gooo I can’t wait for this This is going to be epic

[@Zer0Main43]

In classic kingdom hearts fashion, the part 3 doesn’t contain kingdom hearts 3

[@cryptonix02]

got em

[@nim856]

When they all say sora, i woulda laughed if you made aqua say “SOS” or sauce lol

[@DaybreakTownGSA]

I like a lot of things in this one and don't dislike too many. I'm relieved that after the, imo, forced straight ships, you kept Aqua and Terra as just friends/siblings and kept Isa and Lea together. Not really any specific things tbh, it was just generally like a really great AU fanfic Oh, there was that thing about how Aqua ended up being sent to the realm of darkness here... I still feel like it should be her choosing to sacrifice herself. I find it a little odd that you chose to write both her and Sora's self-sacrifice out of the story entirely for no particular reason

[@cryptonix02]

I totally never thought about how impactful the self-sacrifices were until people pointed them out 😭 y'all are so right...

[@brandonwhite562]

Love the rewrite series just binged all three today. You found a way to make the series a lot more understandable and less retconing and retreading. The series becomes complicated once they start to find ways to make nobodies like Roxas and Namine their own person and the same for memories and clones like Xion and Replica-Riku. Your story keeps those characters around and doesnt pull out a random explanation. I like the duality of the darkness and light. As I played KH2 as a kid, I always wondered how the nobodies could be evil when they were covered in white when contrasted to the black of heartless. Your story has them be agents of light, with a twisted and absolutist mind. I like that Kairi and Namine actually have agency. They have motivations and go on their own adventures on par with Riku and Sora. Eventhough Sora is the main character, I always felt that other than Riku, no one else could accomplish anything without Sora present. Sora is still the main character but the others can actually accomplish their own goals and develop on their own. The BBS rewrite was great and made it possible to show both BBS And Union X in one prequal game that doesnt require time travel to understand. Ima probably miss the Master of Masters but Im confident in your abilities to continue with this great story. Finally among the other things I like about the rewrite, I like the relationship between Roxas, Xion, and Axel. The romance between Roxas and Xion seemed weird at first but as you explained it, it made a lot of since. Them both being a representation of Sora's light and darkness and spending so much time together makes it logical they would end up developing feelings. Makes more since then Roxas and Namine being shipped after little screentime together. Also like that Organization 13 is evil and you would play as the reluctant villians being Roxas and Xion, showing once again that light and dark do not correlate to evil. Axel being their and showing his friendship grow with them and knowing his BBS backstory makes since that Roxas and Xion would friend him cause he is hesitant to hurt others too. Then seeing Xion's death and Roxas picking up her keyblade in hopes to have a final battle with Xemnas makes it all the more heartbreaking when he doesnt get there. Even worse the fact that Diz was wrong and they didn't need to die to have Sora reform. Cant wait for the next part. One of my main questions is how the Kingdom Key and KKD will affect Sora and Mickey. If it seems that the keyblades must eventually clash as legend says, does that mean that Mickey or Sora will end up siding with the darkness, or will one of them be killed because it is implied through the situation with Ven, the keyblade have to choose their wielders and cant be passed on through choice. Maybe as Xehanort is remade whole somehow, he will take they KKD from Mickey because he has a stronger heart. Keep up the good work. Im honestly torn between telling you to "hurry up" so I can see the next part and "take your time" to make sure its of good quality in visuals and writing, so take that as you will.

[@Billyblue98]

I wanna compose my thoughts a bit better but I wanna note that how you decided the origin if the name "Ansem" in this continuity is literally exactly what went through my mind lol. Although I'm a little confused as to why he was unconscious. Also in my ideas he still loses his memory, and I think I'm still going with that because I have specific ideas with Xemnas in particular.

[@teoakio1902]

A shame it isn't really 3 hours long, but one of your videos, above 20 min already feels like it's my birthday

[@Devin-qq6fd]

You know and kh three the second thing ventus should say to aqua is that her hair is more flowy or some s*** than the ocean, hilarious

[@brandonadrien3476]

1:24:19 The way the tone switched up without losing anything 🤣

[@astorvialaw4980]

Think the Forged Keys (non-Kingdom Key keyblades) could simply be stored inside the hearts of their wielders instead of appearing out of nowhere. A strong heart could be the requirement to store and wield them, and the inheritance ceremony could still be kept the same. This would also explain the scarcity of keyblade wielders in a land that supposedly houses training facilities and seasoned masters for them: people with strong hearts rarely appear in a thoroughly indoctrinated and brainwashed society.

[@helsmify]

So you made Chernabog an advance pureblood heartless that can shatter worlds? Yeah I can see that.

[@The_Fluffy_One]

I've watched these videos back to back so it's hard for me to remember some of your ideas, but I wanted to share a potential one about the fragments of people's hearts. Now, I don't recall you ever explaining how a Fragment forms itself a body after creation. Maybe all of the Fragments we see: Ansem, Xemnas, Roxas, Namine, Xion and the rest of Org XIII, could inhabit the Replica bodies that Vexen worked on in the original story, similar to what happens in KH3. I know you removed Riki Replica from your rewrite, but the Replica bodies would still be used to maintain some level of consistency in your world building. Since all known Fragments in your rewrite are closely connected to Xehanort and Org XIII, it's not too far fetched too believe Xehanort and possibly Even (Vexen) created Replica bodies to house the fragmentations. Ansem and Xemnas' bodies could be potential prototypes Xehanort created when he thought about splitting his heart in two. Since Sora's heart fragmented and he was rendered unconscious as a result of Ansem's spell, maybe Xehanort and the other members of Org XIII could have their original bodies and hearts stored somewhere in Hollow Bastion in a comatose state and reawaken after their fragmented hearts find their way back to them. They could even be locked inside of the cells beneath the lab and when they all wake up, Aeleus (Lexaeus) could could use his super saiyan earth magic to smash down the cell door and free the rest of them (except for Braig and Isa, obviously). Back to Sora's fragmentations. The Fragments that would become Roxas, Xion and Namine would eventually found by the Organization and then shoved into Replica bodies in order to use them for their schemes. This would also imply that fragmented hearts wander about the worlds without form until they either find their original body, get captured or find another form to possess much like Ansem's Heartless in KH1, who was just a heart without a body until he possessed Riku, Xehanort possessing Terra, and Terra's fragmented heart in your rewrite possessing his armor. I know this might change waaaaaay to much of what you already have, but it was just an idea that I felt the need to share.

[@cryptonix02]

I don't find the Replica plot point particularly interesting and would rather focus on other elements, so in Part 1 I explained fragments like mitosis, how they simply split and grow their own bodies over time. I don't care to go more specific because it's not as important as other themes I choose to focus on, so I sort of wave the magic wand on it.

[@The_Fluffy_One]

Cryptonix02 I understand that. Thanks for replying!

[@Soulinescent]

I thought of something! The fragments of the hearts could symbolize sacrifices! How much (of your wealth, your blood, your friends and family) do you intent to sacrifice for what you think is the right thing to do? Very symbolizing! Of course the remaining fragments you are saving may heal but will never be the same again. For example you fought and you survived but the scars are still there and always be part of who you are.

[@buggy5258]

Well time to rewatch your other videos!

[@Soynereh]

I'd make KH3 being a race not only to recruit the 7 lights but also to stop the Xehanort from completing his team. Sora could visit his first four Disney Worlds trying to intercept Demyx, Luxord, Larxene and Marluxia from being recruit. Rescuing Aqua and Ven would be a nice middle point. There are lots more of tiny things but those would be the big ones. PD, and have Fragmentary Passage as the prologue.

[@LukesTheBomb]

This needs more love!

[@fredygiraldo4011]

Excellent rewrite! That scene at 1:29:56 onwards made gives me chills every time i see it; the seemingly glorious victory of Vanitas before Terranort reveal... is just perfect. Excited for the next parts ! PS: The name Ansem could be Xehanort's actual name, and it simply was forgotten by history, just being know as Master Xehanort by the common folk outside the elder council. Old nort is aware of this, so he uses it as another of his manipulations.

[@Sataandagi96]

BLESS! YOU! AND YOUR GOREGEOUS MIND! ❤ This is mindblowing and honestly, this adds a certain maturity to the series that has been missing for me. And I get that BBS was kinda made smaller because the PSP was a console of its time, but the way they portrayed Terra and how he just immediately feel for Xehanorts scheme was laughable, even for a childrens game. Also: love your re-arranging of the soundtrack. And Aqua... Oh my sweet girl... Aging her up is honestly not such a bad move. I can imagine her so well... She'd be in her late 20s, her clothes actually ragged and dirty, she would possibly have 1-2 scars (doesn't matter if they are immediately visible or not), long hair, dark circles under her eyes and even the darkness being a newfound strength.

[@Devin-qq6fd]

I have high hopes for this aqua

[@Sataandagi96]

Seriously. I've been thinking all day about this Aqua and how it could go on from here on out. A scenario that was wandering through my mind all day: With Aqua being trapped in the Realm of Darkness I can imagine her being hunted actively as well. Since she emanates light she isn't hard to track at first, leaving her to fight, run and hide, never truly catching a break in years and unable to call for help. Of course this has a heavy toll on her body. And I refuse to believe that she would leave the realm (If she leaves it all) without a scratch. In a drawing I'm currently making I added a scar wandering over her left eye and one on her flank, her clothing torn there as well. Since she kept Rainfall in this scenario she is probably using it mainly, until it starts to break after years of fighting endlessly. Even though she still has the Master Defender, she refuses to use it, out of fear it would break as well, leaving Ventus trapped in CO forever. But all that is left of her keyblade is the handle and the blade that has been shortened to the length of a dagger. It is practically useless, yet Aqua still hangs onto it, while casting boss-like Magic that would be God-tier after all these years, making it possible for her to continue fighting. As her doubts take on her own face, the faces of the cousel haunt her as well, blaming her for the destruction of what they have built, damning her for having failed her mission, her family, her friends and comrades. And with time passing and Aqua slaying herself over and over again, witnessing her own death through this so many times she loses count, she starts to spiral down further and further, until the heartless are hunting her less and less, because they have a hard time finding her. When Aqua arrives in the Woodlands, finding another mirror where she actually looks at herself for the first time in ages, she is shocked to see her tired face with heavy bangs and long hair that almost reaches her knees. While one half still has the dark-blue tone, the other has turned completely white. Her right eye still carries its natural color, but her left has turned golden. Her skin is pale and cold. She barely recognizes herself, shrieking at the sight alone and falling back, finding herself on the cold ground. Now 0.2 is one of my favorite installments (biased Aqua simp), but I think, even though I have a serious hate for Mickey in the original, he is simply a victim of questionable writing. If Aqua and Mickey still meet in the RoD I think it would be legit to not just make Mickey say: "You'll be okay!" when encountering Aqua, but actually being concerned for her well being, trying to heal and save her, actively. Seeing her keyblade in shambles is also a wake-up-call for him, realizing that she will perish if she remains any longer in the RoD. While he still believes that Aqua did the right thing by destroying the X-blade 10 years ago, they now need to right the wrongs that have been commited by everyone, which is why he is searching for clues to find the KKD, before Xehanort or his small army can get a hold of it. While they travel together, Mickey is amazed by the power Aqua whields, but also shocked because of the darkness that has gotten a hold of her. With her fingertips starting to turn black-red, they both realize, that she is almost out of time. Mickey promises to find a way out for the both of them, so Aqua can return home with him. But as they both find the information Mickey has been searching for they are seperated, Aqua seemingly perishing as she uses the remnants of her keyblade to hold off a tower. As Mickey doesn't sense the remains of her light anymore and only finds the shattered keyblade where she had stood, he assumes she is gone for good. With this the whole "I had to respect her choice" - bs doesn't need to happen and just leaving her in the RoD knowing she is still there is also scratched. And there can be an emotional scene of Mickey holding onto the shattered blade, sometimes seeking Aquas advice when he feels like he's reached a dead end. Yet, unbeknownst to Mickey, Aqua barely survived. Heavily wounded and on the brink of collapse, yet she is alive, finding herself once again on the shores of the Destiny Islands, where she recalls the two boys and feels like she is surrounded by the children she once met, as if they were truly there. From here on out there are multiple continuations:

[@Sataandagi96]

​ (1.) Aqua (Who doesn't need Ansem to unlock the darkness inside of her or whatever happens there) finds herself at the beach, exhausted and tired of fighting and running, finding Gnosis and sitting next to him in the sand. Her gaze speaks of deep suffering, the only reason for her still being alive being Terra and Ven, who she can barely remember at this point, though their names and their silhouettes are still ingraved in her breaking heart. As Gnosis speaks of Sora, Aqua either remembers him just like in BBS, or she is just glad that someone is still watching over the worlds. Yet, with her newfound knowledge she is also concerned, since she fears the cicle of wrongdoings will just continue. Yet she is tired and doesn't wish to fight any longer. With this slight ray of hope she is able to summon the Master Defender. As she stares at the key she recalls the warmth of her home and the voice of her Master, without hate or dissapointment hidden in his voice, which she had gotten used to during her time in the RoD. Sending the keyblade into the realm of light, binding it to the heart of the children she scarcely remembers, she hopes that they can undo the wrong she and her fellow Masters have done. She smiles and holds her wayfinder, as a dark shadow approaches, that being Ansem. (1.1.) Ansem, who had been revived by Xehanort splitting his heart once more to start a new keyblade war, is on a mission to find potential warriors of the keyblade. Since time travel isn't a thing, he has to look around for present keyblade whielders such as Lauriam, Aqua, Ven and Elrena. Once he finds Aqua, he makes the Guardian fight in his stead, making the two friends fight against each other, though Aqua is unaware of who the Guardian truly is, though Ansem might tease it, just so Aqua stops to resist. I'm not entirely sure if he actually needs Gnosis in this scenario, so I guess he just stays in the Realm as punishment for his previous meddling. Aqua is captured and thrown into one of the cells of the World that Never Was, where Xehanort/Ansem/Xemans/Terra-Xehanort taunts her with the goal to turn her into a pawn to fight for him, now that she has finally seen the truth. He also wants her to open Castle Oblivion which I imagine to be like a maze with moving corridors, since the whole memory-confusion-thing doesn't seem to be a thing here either. Yet, even if she wanted to, she sent the keyblade away, which is now in the hands of either Sora or Kairi. I think it doesn't really matter who gets it, what's important is that Ventus speaks to Sora, telling him what to do, so they can wake him. Aqua on the other hand becomes reluctantly a part of Xehanorts army, though the thought alone discusts her and she refuses to summon a keyblade to her side even though Xehanort possibly has given her a new one. She is just too ashamed and when standing infront of Ven, Sora, Kairi and Riku, that shame turns to selfloathing, since Ven doesn't even really recognize her anymore, not wanting to believe what Aqua has turned into. Mickey on the other hand is heartbroken and devastated, swearing he will not let her down again. Ven and Mickey make it their personal mission to save Aqua once and for all, Kairi joining the fight, wanting to repay Aqua for saving her in the most dire situations (Radiant Garden & Spell), wanting to do the same for her. (1.2.) The following part is mostly the same in the beginning: ----Ansem, who had been revived by Xehanort splitting his heart once more to start a new keyblade war, is on a mission to fight potential warriors of the keyblade. Since time travel isn't a thing, he has to look around for present keyblade whielders such as Lauriam, Aqua, Ven and Elrena. Once he finds Aqua, he makes the Guardian fight in his stead, making the two friends fight against each other, though Aqua is unaware of who the Guardian truly is, though Ansem might tease it, just so Aqua stops to resist. I'm not entirely sure if he actually needs Gnosis in this scenario, so I guess he just stays in the Realm as punishment for his previous meddling. Aqua is captured and thrown into one of the cells of the World that Never Was, where Xehanort/Ansem/Xemans/Terra-Xehanort taunts her with the goal to turn her into a pawn to fight for him, now that she has finally seen the truth. He also wants her to open Castle Oblivion which I imagine to be like a maze with moving corridors, since the whole memory-confusion-thing doesn't seem to be a thing here either. Yet, even if she wanted to, she sent the keyblade away, which is now in the hands of either Sora or Kairi. I think it doesn't really matter who gets it, what's important is that Ventus speaks to Sora, telling him what to do, so they can wake him.---- Aqua refuses to become Xehanorts pawn, breaking the chains that bind her, neglecting his selfish nature and declaring him unfit to whield the x-blade. Instead of becoming his pawn, she becomes a potential main-antagonist, seeing herself as a sort-of new ambassador of darkness, wanting to right her wrongs and restore balance to the worlds, so the names of her loved ones are cleared, not caring what happens to her in the end. This scenario has a lot of room and many alternative roads, but isn't necessarily my favorite, tho the plottwist could be interesting. (1.3.) Ansem and Aqua have a fight, just like in the previous scenarios. But as Ansem realizes that Aqua has lost both keyblades she could whield, he declares her useless and demands to know where she hid Ven. Even though he pretty much tortures her, she doesn't give in and doesn't tell him anything. The Guardian lifts her over the water and pretty much (almost) suffocates her (similar to the Roxas vs Riku part, where Roxas is defeated), letting her fall into the water where she ultimately perishes. Ventus wakes after Kairi and Sora find him, tears rolling down his cheeks, knowing fully well, that he will never see his dearly beloved friend again. At one point, where Gnosis is brought back into the Realm of Light, he reaches into his pocket to show the Guardians of Light (Sora, Kairi, Ven, etc.) the blue wayfinder that had been washed ashore after Ansems departure. Ven remembers the night Aqua had gifted him and Terra these small trinkets and clutches Aquas' and his own, almost breaking them, until Kairi and Sora put their hands on his, assuring him that she will always be with him. They give him the Master Defender which almost feels like it's telling Ven Aquas story, as it had been with her for years, showing him how deeply she cared for him and Terra until the end and how they are the only reason she could hold on for so long. He smiles and swears to set things right, together with Terra. I'm not crying. You're crying. F*ck you.

[@Sataandagi96]

(2.0) Aqua wakes up to the whispering voices of the darkness. After having been seperated from Mickey and now barely able to move, she can't escape the rampaging forces of the dark. Yet they don't attack. Irritated she lifts her head to see the dark stand around her, formless, yet sentient. As the light in Aqua has almost completely fainted, she is no longer seen as a threat, and therefore is almost pitied by the dark creatures that had haunted her for years. With shadows looking like Vanitas, closing in on her, she is ready to accept her fate, yet instead of ending her they heal her wounds, offering her the chance to redeem herself, even though during her stay in the RoD she has ended the lives of even more heartless. Aqua is remorseful and apologizes for everything she has done, though that is not nearly enough for the creatures of darkness. Having recognized her strength, they deman that she protects the realm and ultimately Kingdom Hearts in Vanitas' stead, though his remnants still linger in the RoD, like the secret boss in BBS, though it doesn't speak. It is more like the Lingering Will, serving this one promise and purpose. Aqua accepts this role and serves as a guardian of Kingdom Hearts, becoming a keyblade whielder of darkness and stepping into Vanitas' shoes. Knowing that she cannot trust Xehanort, she starts her own mission to get the Kingdom Key D, detatching herself from her previous self and embracing the darkness completely. (2.0.1.) When Aqua faces the guardians of light, her face has almost completely disappeared. It is similar to the time where she jumped out of the demon-tower and was only surrounded by dark fog. But when she encounters Kairi and Ven that fog lifts for a second and at least Ven recognizes her, while Kairi feels the warm feeling of comfort coming from her necklace. With Aqua explaining her role, having turned her back towards her old self, she asks Ven to not try to stop her. Of course he tries and wants to reason with her, but her mind is made up and she seeks out Sora who carries the Kindgom Key of light. They might temporarily join forces to defeat Xehanort. (2.0.1.1. Jesas, I'm worse than Square.) Xehanort ist defeated and Aqua claims the KKD and the key of hearts for herself, opening the portals for darkness to emerge, getting closer to the balance she had promised to create. Ven and now also Terra beg her to stop and to close the portals. Aqua sees her friends and is being reminded of the reason why she fought for so long. With the last bit of her strength she closes the portal together with the Guardians, unsure why. As Terra and Ven embrace her, the fog lifts once more to show the young men their broken friend who is shedding tears of disbelieve and shame. Sora takes the key, though Kairi and Riku join him in lifting it, promising the wayfinder-trio to take the burden upon themselves and that they have earned their rest. (2.0.1.2.) Xehanort ist defeated and Aqua claims the KKD and the key of hearts for herself, opening the portals for darkness to emerge, getting closer to the balance she had promised to create. Ven and now also Terra beg her to stop and to close the portals. Aqua is deaf to her friends plea and keeps the portals open. Fearing that the darkness will consume the worlds instead of striving for balance, Ven and Terra take it upon themselves to make sure that the portals are getting closed, the other Guardians only realizing what the two are planning once their keyblades have sifted through the black fog. The key that opened the portals falls to the ground and the fog dissolves in an explosion. Aqua stumbled and falls into Terras' and Ventus' arms, the two of them sobbing. As Aqua sees the two of them, her mind clearer than ever, she smiles, seemingly confused as to why they are crying. Having her wish to see her friends one final time come true, her body dissolves into light, leaving only her wayfinder behind. Terra and Ven whisper, that she has earned her rest. Sora and the other Guardians raise the X-Blade and close the portals. (2.0.1.3.) Xehanort ist defeated and Aqua claims the KKD and the key of hearts for herself, opening the portals for darkness to emerge, getting closer to the balance she had promised to create. Ven and now also Terra beg her to stop and to close the portals. Aqua looks at the Guardians, explaining to them that darkness and light must co-exist and that it is her duty to ensure that balance is restored. As the darkness returns, so does the connection between each world. Instead of fighting it, the Guardians nod, understanding that this is the only way they can ensure, that Kingdom Hearts doesn't fall apart, therefore they all hold onto each other, as the earth around them shakes and the realm of light and the realm of darkness practically become one again. This creates a shockwave, similar to a big bang and the world, now one again, has become a Tabula Rasa. Possible outcomes: - Everyone has perished but there is the potential of reincarnation and everyone meeting again in a new life. - Everyone finds themselves in a field of a new beginning, the key dissolving and not only balance having been restored to Kingdom Hearts, but to the hearts of people, turning Aqua back into her human form once more, the white in her hair and the gold in her eye having disappeared. Gnosis is finally able to embrace his granddaughter. Aqua, Terra and Ven look at each other, smiling. Ven and Terra summon their keyblades one final time and thrust them into the ground, showing that they no longer need them. The other guardians do the same, just like the ghosts of every other keyblade whielder before them, even Vanitas and Ephemer, who look at them with a satisfied smiley. They nod, before they vanish, together with the other ghosts of the past. - The darkness is taking over the world, creating the other extreme of imbalance. Aqua remains the only one standing, looking around either in terror or in content. That really depends on whether there is still a remnant of her former self inside of her or not. That is up to you. Yeah, after a heartwarming ending like the last bullet-point I have to ruin your day again.

[@Sataandagi96]

(3.0) Similar to KH3 Aqua is being found by Riku and Mickey, after Gnosis tells them of her whereabout. Lets imagine Ansem did need Gnosis but had no interest in Aqua whatsoever, leaving her to rot where he had found her. But I want Kairi and Sora to be there as well. KH3 dashed through this whole arc like it was a cereal you have to rush through because otherwise you'll miss your bus. I want this to take place at a reasonable time in the game, without Kairi "wasting time" with Merlin, I want her to either be a Keyblade Master or sth. close at this point, same goes for Sora. When they arrive in the RoD they do find Aqua, though just as I've described her, broken and torn. She can only fight through the help of darkness, her body on the other hand is barely able to move (Which is tragic af). Due to her Depression, PTSD and whatnot she is almosted blinded, not recognizing her former comrade and Sora, Riku and Kairi. Kairi remembers Aqua (Yes, she f*cking remembers her) through the warmth she feels through her necklace, forming a bond with the remnants of Aquas light, reaching out to her. Sora, Riku and Mickey join her and fight the darkness that surrounds and sort of even protects Aqua. Sora and Kairi hold the Master Defender and Sora beggs Ven to call out to her, which makes Aqua hesitate, giving Mickey and Riku and opening to sever the dark manifestations, so Aqua can be reached and ripped away from the dark. They transport her to Yen Sids tower, where she opens her eyes to see the nightsky. While I think Destiny Island was an okay station to tell her she's home, I think a place where she can see the stars is cool too. Plus they really gotty patch my girl up. They carry her upstairs, where they tend to her partially severe wounds. Seeing as her body is practically in shambles, the wizard informs them, that her recovery will take time. In this scenario Ven will not communicate with Sora and tell him how to save him, he's gonna be stubborn and wait for Aqua to regain her strength. Her recovery time gives her time to actually deal with the past years and to CATCH UP. Sora still has to train and travels to another world, while Kairi and Mickey take the time to take care of Aqua. Naminé joins them and constantly heals the battered Master, who regains her consciousness more and more. As she realizes that she is in the Realm of Light she is unsure whether to have a hysterical party or a nervous breakdown. Having spend 11 years in the dark, the Realm of Light almost seems foreign to her. But the others can calm her down, assuring her that she is safe and no one blames her for what has happened in the past, rather admiring her courage and strength to move on even in the most dire situation (Literally). Kairi and Aqua actually bond over the next few days, as Aquas memories get polished by Naminé, who, through Aqua having a connection with Sora, gives the battered Keyblade Master pleasant memories of her past to look at, things she had almost completely forgotten, like the faces of Ven and Terra, Master Eraqus, and various Disney characters who'm she had met a gotten to know. Even her sleep is filled with sweet memories, which helps her to rest and heal. When Yen Sid enters and offers her a new Keyblade, however, she refuses, afraid she would have to fight again. Kairi stays with Aqua and tells her of Xehanort and his small army, emphacizing with her fear and doubt, but begging her to not run from this. Unsure whether she can even still whield a Keyblade, Kairi gives her the Master Defender. Aqua takes it, trembling. It stays in her hand and doesn't vanish. Her will is still strong enough. I could go on and on but it's late and I'm tired... And technically I wanted to draw instead of writing down my 50 ideas. Oh well... Good night

[@robertsimpson8292]

You did a great job on BBS, and it doesn't matter if it wasn't 3 hours, this is still incredible

[@dunkbuscusgaming7016]

Kinda wish it was DDD too but absolutely loved it and cannot wait for Part 4 personally I love this series more than the naruto one as its more in-depth with a lot more changes and easier to follow and etc...

[@djangoleonhardt337]

Great job, man. Don't feel sad because you didn't upload a 3 hour long video. We'll wait as always

[@striker07927]

DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN THIS WAS A LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG WAIT JEZZUS BUT STILL OMG THIS IS PROBABLY GONNA BE A BANGER!

[@alex93cayford]

Hi, I would love it to see you take a crack at brainstorming an entirely new saga for Kingdom Hearts based off of what you've established thus far.

[@prestonlawson1219]

I think, despite everything I have found good and interesting, the biggest flaw in the rewrite is that you've seemingly conflated Darkness, and the Denizens of Darkness. I do not have a problem with Light and Darkness being neither good nor evil, as I've been involved in a rewrite of the games where we did the same thing, however you have seemingly because of that written Darkness as being almost completely in the right, and the Light, despite your attempts to be even-handed by making them neutral, has become almost exclusively filled with people inherently in the wrong. One of the things I have the biggest issue with being Vanitas. His character is a drastic shift in tone, and given the complete loss of all the best part of his existence and character, I believe it is very much for the worse.....because to be entirely frank, from listening, you have turned Vanitas into a Malcom X character, and the tone of civil rights, no matter if you intended it, is very, *very* off-putting with how out of sync it is with the surrounding story and tone. The fact that in the story, it feels like there is no actual villain, many of the choices feel arbitrary to make Light look worse for an attempt to be grey and it seems to fail the deeper it goes. I think, in an attempt to make the story more nuanced, you slightly missed the mark and removed all nuance from the story that *was* there by making it rather blatantly black and white (haha, funny pun, light and darkness) that Light is in the wrong, and Darkness is......unfortunately, a kind of shitty civil rights analogue that *is* there regardless of whether you meant to, and feels incredibly heavy handed in the worst possible way. Unfortunately, while I have liked many of the changes and see many of the rewrites as objectively better, the core seems to come back and bite the story in the ass, making it feel incredibly simplistic and like an amateurish attempt at social commentary. Just my simple criticism of the first major issue I've run into listening to this.

[@cryptonix02]

I really appreciate the criticism. It is definitely my attempt at adding social commentary, and one of the things that has been difficult to portray is this nuance between light and dark. I mostly blame this on the fact that this isn't a full game experience with proper world building and the ability to really SHOW the different perspectives in action and in subtlety. This is a general blueprint of a rewrite, so it's not to be taken as the be-all, end-all of my vision. However, that's a copout... I could have definitely done a better job of diving into the light's perspective in my KH1/KH2 rewrite, but this is the first time I've ever done something like this, so I'm still trying to learn the formatting. That said, I think in general, issues like civil rights are a lot less nuanced the more you actually learn about both sides. The more you listen to both sides. With social issues I've found myself in a bubble where I "learn" about one side by listening to other people talk about them and not the people themselves. Do you think you will learn about Malcolm X better by listening to a history lesson decades after his death, or by reading his own words in books he actually wrote? Too often we listen to the oppressed through a filter and not their own words, which is where their ideas and motivations get muddied and misinterpreted, and this idea of "nuance" is fabricated to absolve the oppressors of harsher criticism. That's where a character like Vanitas becomes quite useful, and I plan to continue that idea in 0.2 as we physically explore the realm of darkness, not just hear about it. I find that incredibly interesting and incredibly real.

[@Re.verseChaos]

I really like the idea of Keyblade Masters using nobodies. It explains how Xemnas could control them, because he had Master Xehanort's knowledge. But why didn't Yed Sid recognise the Nobodies during KH2? My head canon is that the Nobodies were a secret reserve army and knowledge of their existence and how to summon them was off limits to anyone who isn't a keyboard master. If Yen Sid left before being granted the rank of master he wouldn't know. But you said he used to be a master so maybe due to his disinterest in their warmongering, the elders deprived him of this knowledge because he wouldn't fall in line.

[@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz]

My only nitpick against this rewrite is how the beings from the dark are the same as the ones from the light. Like they work exactly the same. Some of the few good concepts that come from late KH were how the unversed work and how "Darkness" the character from unionX works. By pure coincidence both imply dark beings work completely differently than light beings. Like a hivemind of sorts. That makes the dark beings so much more interesting when combined with the neutral approach to light and dark. It makes the conflict between light and dark make complete sense as the 2 sides are opposed by their very nature, light beings having hearts and working as individuals while dark beings work without individual hearts but sharing a consciousness (or a "heart"). That way vanitas and his unversed making powers are the perfect dark rep as they show how dark beings work and dark infections like terra, xehanort and riku make sense as their dark powers connect them to the dark hivemind. Just a thought.

[@aliciaparker9142]

Incredible you should be writer for this series over how amazing your ideas are and made me care more for this trio more in your rewrite of birth by sleep

[@grantgarbour]

It's taking sooo long but it's SOOO GOOD. In an alternate universe this is the plot of kh and it is infinitely better than what we got (hyperbole but I'm more invested in this plot than I had been in the plot of kh since 1)

[@calinstanciu9385]

Hey! There's something I want to know. I know Sora will save Roxas, Xion, Gnosis and the Wayfinder Trio, just like in canon. But what I want to know, in your KHIII rewrite, will Sora and Kairi get the happy ending that Nomura took away from them?

[@kiffley]

The person who drew too much light was obviously pumba from the lion king

[@DeathofInk]

Loved this re-write of BBS, much more compelling.

[@YEVG1000]

I was the day before yesterday the two parts, I'm like how you version and wow how change first part the preview in the final version.

[@thatoneblackdude3333]

After 3 thousand years he returns

[@alexrivera334]

👏🏼 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Another great video!! I’m not as family at with this entry, but I’m referring to recap videos when I say that you did a great job keeping what made the story exciting in the first place. I truly felt for the antihero’s (and anti villains, lol) points of view. ❤

[@lupin5489]

Much later but upon rewatch it’s just occurred to me that both Terra and Aqua likely age like normal (Terra perhaps even resembling Ansem or Xemnas) and Ventus is just stuck there as a smol 16 year old who has more than likely not hit his growth spurt 💀

[@AlexxxMYLSince2013]

1:36:28 I think this is a Mistake Aqua was able to remain mostly sane because from her perspective she hasnt been in the realm of darkness for to long but 11 years would seriously mess with her head.

[@cryptonix02]

I will be dealing a lot with Aqua's character/psychological development in my rewrite of 0.2. And know that the realm of darkness in my rewrite is pretty different than the original.

[@AlexxxMYLSince2013]

@@cryptonix02 Okay i hope its good. 👍

[@Devin-qq6fd]

@@cryptonix02 I haven't seen that much of aqua, but I know but I know she's in great hands I mean I waited for a masterpiece like this

[@fastmerrick0756]

You should lowkey make a discord or something for fans and supporters of your channel to add ideas or to just talk

[@cryptonix02]

I have anxiety towards doing so. Interacting with fans in the comment section has already been a little overwhelming. That might change in the future, but for now I'm avoiding it.

[@hasanikidd]

Been waiting for this😂😂

[@trishaishot462]

Good job thanks for doing this. The legit version is so confusing and I believe your version is way better

[@MyNameIsAwesomeish]

Just to be clear I would have watched the 3 hour version of this.

[@epsil0gue246]

Worth the wait! Glad to see you again, pal : )

[@drewbrinx4995]

Can’t wait till your DDD rewrite

[@Signedcentaur]

I know this is late, but ain't it funny how things work out with Vanitas being a "primordial darkness" in UX

[@YungTimeWeaver]

I feel like Neku and the rest of the TWEWY cast should be taking the mark of mastery along with sora and riku in the DDD rewrite

[@cryptonix02]

wut

[@YungTimeWeaver]

@@cryptonix02 you heard me 🥸

[@Devin-qq6fd]

@@cryptonix02 if you translate, you get fury lol

[@ThatGuy-mt7hq]

Hey At least you are better than George RR Martin. You seem to like your fan base and are actually working on the story! Yes I know GRRM is not my bitch, But myself and the rest of the fans aren't his either!

[@JabamiLain]

Hey Cryptonix02, I've got a few ideas for your rewrite: -First of all, I think we need to establish the core difference between light and darkness, which is that while darkness feeds from the ambition of people the conflict they bring, thus ensuring the universe is always moving forward and finding progress, the light feeds from the satisfaction of people and the peace that brings, thus ensuring the universe finds a sense of purpose and peace. One day, two of the most powerful Keyblade wielders at the time (Invy and Luxu) notice how the universe seems to become stale, no longer wishing to progress further, even though there was still room for improvement. So by using their powers, they sacrifice the physical bodies of certain darkness wielders, thus turning them into parasitic beings who had the power to spread the darkness further, thus allowing conflict to restart, as now dark wielders would have to forever make sure they did not sucumb to temptation, which meant some sort of evolution proccess in which those who could not resist this new form of darkness would have to be dealt with forever, and the wielders of light would have to be able to deal with this darkness and the wars it brought, but be able to maintain their empathy as well (not to mention that for some reason, science receives the most support when it's used for war). Unfortunately, MoM, who already favored the light more, used this as an opportunity to convince the rest of the Keyblade masters (except for Ava) to take control over the Key of Hearts and cast away the darkness forever; -When you show us the realm of darkness in more detail to us, I think it should be something like this. While the worlds in the realm of light became stale and separated, the realm of darkness, although immersed in conflict due to its harsh conditions and the dark parasites, had the people in it find unity throught hope and empathy, allowing them to make many cultural and scientific progresses throught the millenia; -I think that instead of a happilly ever after ending, as it's not realistic, your story should end with both light and darkness reuniting, yes, but become some sort of yin and yan world, with the united darkness standing on one side of the world, while the proud and divided between their own homelands people of the light stayed on the other. In other words, a world pollarly divided between itself, like our own, but still leaving the hope for a full union in the future alive throught people like Sora, Riku, Vanitas, Naminé, etc.

[@cryptonix02]

You don't need to copy and paste your comment twice just so I'll see it. I'm actually less likely to engage with you if you do that because it's a little annoying. I know you want me to see your comment, but relax a little bit.

[@JabamiLain]

@@cryptonix02 sorry. Won't do it again. Promise. ✋

[@somegamer4071]

When he said mashing his head against the keyboard my mind was like "Wait is that a new weapon-... oh... right, keyboard..."

[@anneboonchuy39]

I love how Lea and Isa aged up in a literal split second.

[@cryptonix02]

Ikr 😅

[@TheHubernator]

god this is such a good bbs re-write good work!

[@wish7540]

Bro you’re so sick. Excited to watch 2 hours

[@JabamiLain]

1:36:08 and here I was hopeful that you would keep him dead. Well, I'm just gonna believe that because Kingdom Hearts is in the Realm of Darkness, feeling how Gnosis still has a purpose to fulfill, it gave his heart the power to build a projection of his dead body, so that he can remain in the real of the living, at least until he can fulfill his purpose.

[@thedarkestnightmare616]

Heh. .Oswald in Kingdom Hearts. .you know, I heard the team couldn't put him in because it would be 'too difficult' . .but this video proves otherwise. . Though I kinda wish Oswald had a bit more plot centric study . .like. . I dunno. . maybe like Mickey's older half-brother who for one reason or another was exiled from the kingdom, and was left forgotten for a long time. . and when he returned, he became a keyblade wielder of darkness. . kind of just bitterly doing whatever he can to live and stay alive. .

[@chikochu9153]

I'm enjoying this rewrite a lot! There's one thing that's been nagging at me though. And it's like, REALLY stupid but I have to know. At 1:29:30, I need to know what song plays. I've been going all over the internet, sifting through Kingdom Hearts OST's looking for it to no avail lmao

[@cryptonix02]

"The Key" from the Birth by Sleep OST