I Was Wrong About Kingdom Hearts

Here's a Kingdom Hearts Final Mix review kind of thing.
PS2 Presentation Clip - • Presentation of PlaySt...
DQVIII Trailer • Dragon Quest 8 (PS2) T...
Kingdom Hearts Timeline khworld.org/iceberg/fan/khwor...
Music by me
#kingdomhearts #jrpg #squareenix

[@davidblainescharizard]

Thanks for all the awesome comments! I've been super busy with work this weekend so sorry I haven't had time to respond to everybody but I think from reading all of these thoughts I'll stick to playing em in order of release, so Re:Chain of Memories next!

[@KennyKakes1]

God this is music to my ears. I hope you enjoy Re:Chain of Memories. It's very different but if you like grindy RPGs, treat it like one and you might find the charm to it.

[@syrelian]

As a heads up, outside of emulation or an actual literal DS, there is no real way to play Days or ReCoded, the existing collections just box up the cutscenes and call it a day, when Days is really made by the pacing of its gameplay and the way that feeds into the feeling of the story(even if the gameplay is sometimes a bit mid), and ReCoded uhhh... lives almost entirely on its gameplay cause its story is... you'll see

[@hunterlawrence3573]

The thing with the story is it's not that confusing if you go through it yourself in order. It's when trying to explain it to someone else that it sounds really off the rails.

[@gionova1]

It's like trying to explain in detail a big series like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. The problem is that most of the players were very young and like anyone at that age not great at paying attention to the story, details, and analyzing both. The game has a rating for young kids but the story if in book form would be rated for at least middle school age level reading.

[@saulitix]

People think it's confusing because the games are all over the place. KH2 was considered confusing just because most people didn't play CoM before.

[@reddemon6668]

Nah it’s as insane as it sounds. Kh1 has a fairly simple story. Defeat evil villain, his minions are called heartless, they are team darkness. It gets a bit complicated in defining what heartless are but nothing too crazy and you don’t even need to care about it by the end of the game. Now comes kh 2 and all the other branching series and you end up with dream worlds, data worlds, and real worlds, data characters, nobodies who are somebody who aren’t heartless, nightmares, 1 person existin as 2 or more people. You also have to know what heartless and their functions are, nobodies and why they exist, etc to understand the story Then you throw time travel into the mix and if you don’t follow the story I assure you this will all sound like a category 5 disaster level insanity.

[@NINJAfries07]

⁠@@reddemon6668 Shh 🤫 You’ll scare the new guy away with all your talk of disasters and insanity.

[@velvet_victor]

@@reddemon6668as convoluted as it sounds it all comes very naturally (again) if you play them at the right order

[@Cri_Jackal]

Fun Fact: Alice from Alice in Wonderland was voiced by her original actor, she was around 63 years old at the time.

[@davidblainescharizard]

That's pretty amazing

[@ImCarpet]

The story really doesn’t even get convoluted until Dream Drop Distance.. when they decide to introduce time travel. That’s where I kind of tuned out.

[@hardyjoe4278]

One of the reasons I gave up during season 5 of LOST...

[@b-mansly7550]

The insanity started in Kingdom Hearts 2. Nobodies, Heartless, alternate names, lots of references to a GBA game that only a fraction of the audience had actually played, theres a lot to unpack.

[@Adrian_Franco]

Same here. Saw stupid time travel and was like fuck this shit. Good thing too because KH 3 is terrible.

[@NoctLightCloud]

​@@Adrian_Francojust finished kh3. As a long time fan since 2006, I grinned from ear to ear. It is NOT trash.

[@Adrian_Franco]

@@NoctLightCloud Terrible story, graphics, combat, and the dialogue is slow and stupid even for KH standards. 100% trash normie fodder.

[@Shadowdemon2008]

358/2 means the days in the game 358 and 2 being the 2 protagonists

[@MrSuperTeenGohan]

I always thought the '/2' referred to "sharing those days with two (two friends, Axel and Xion)"

[@Shadowdemon2008]

@@MrSuperTeenGohan to be fair it could be both, but the protagonist one makes a bit more sense because you have the focus of both roxas and xion's perspectives.

[@ConnorTheUndying]

KH1 is a game that really benefits from being played first. That sounds dumb, but there's people who insist on playing the games in chronological order, and when they get to KH1, they're deeply unsatisfied. I'm glad you enjoyed the game!

[@syrelian]

Everyone who's like that is just up their own ass, the narrative and gameplay growth both only really make sense in launch order, give or take a bit here and there, eg despite coming first, CoM and KH2 are sorta interchangeable in order because part of KH2's narrative is Sora being utterly lost to the plot since he missed all of CoM's revelations

[@tyleradams6990]

Wouldn't you only play BBS before kh1? Unless you count the never ending mobile games.

[@ConnorTheUndying]

@@tyleradams6990 True, but going from BBS' combat system to KH1's combat system is extremely jarring.

[@lairagaming3536]

You can tweak Goofy and Donald’s combat ai in the start menu, the default settings are kind of notoriously bad but with some quick tweaking and unequipping unnecessary abilities you can make Donald and Goofy incredibly helpful. Also if you want some control mid-combat over them, you can press triangle while locked onto an enemy to focus their attacks on your target

[@eye1dry138]

Definitely, i set donald and goofy up so that donald only heals and goofy only gives me his MP , completely changes things

[@TheErlend87]

Same, Donald became a healing beast on my proud mode playtrough! And the "take out " function makes equiping items much easier ​@@eye1dry138

[@saturno8870]

if you press triangle while locked-on to a enemy your party menbers will atack that enemy, making them more usefull (it only works on the first game)

[@a5tro-b0y]

That literally my favorite mechanic

[@devonm042690]

It only works in the first game because future games give you access to multiple AI options, one of which I'm pretty sure is this but automatic.

[@hardyjoe4278]

You also get some encouraging words, as they stop stop and regroup towards Sora, when you hit triangle while not locked on to enemies either.

[@terminatgor2322]

In kh1 Atlantica is more or less the "magic" world i mean it wants you to focus on magic, but it communicates it pretty bad (btw i think kh1 and 2 are pretty much equally good because 1 does things that 2 doesn't)

[@treystaton282]

No no no

[@blankchickenman]

it's true. the various reactions enemies have to magic other than "it deal damage" and Ursula's cauldron are really the only good hints that magic is your best bet. the melee wasn't the but definitely shafted everyone's first impression

[@SherlocksLeftNipple]

I like to think of KH1 as a great foundation on which the rest of the series was built. It's clunky and a little slow, with some old PS2 quirks to its level design, but it pioneered the action-RPG genre, and did a lot of things right in its first attempt. It could use a remaster someday, but it has held up very well for a 20+ year old game. And yes, the soundtrack continues to be a pillar of the KH franchise to this day, so you're in for some real bangers in future titles, and great remakes/continued uses of the classics from KH1. Pro-tip for Donald and Goofy - *DO NOT* waste items on them. Just go into their AI settings and tweak them. It'll usually make them less useless in combat, if you do it right. As for the story of Kingdom Hearts, honestly, it's no more complicated than Metal Gear Solid or any other JRPG franchise, and definitely less convoluted to get into by far than something like FNAF or your average "play an entire ARG to unlock new lore" indie game of today. A lot of the complaints about the plotline are from a decade or more ago, when it was much harder to access the full franchise due to the games being scattered across platforms, and a lot of fans had skipped at least one "side-game", thinking they didn't matter. That, or they were the type of gamers, for whom the worldbuilding must "make logical sense" to be good, which... my dudes, this is a fairytale game with JRPG elements. Lean back and don't sweat the minutiae of how everything works. As many of us long-time fans will tell newcomers, so long as you just play the story (or watch it, if you dislike a title's gameplay - we've all got at least 1 of those) of each entry in release order, you'll be fine. All the lore stuff only matters insofar as you get the gist of how things work. The real meat of KH is the character arcs, and those you'll get just fine by yourself, if you pay any sort of attention. If you want to "get" the full scope of everything, you can grab the (optional) secret reports, watch the secret unlockable ending for each game (usually a preview for where we're going next), and check out the secret bossfights (some of which are lore-relevant to the next game), and... yeah, knowing about that's about the only extra effort you'd need to make. It's like a book, where each game is a new chapter, with a few side-notes to make sense of things in the margins. You wouldn't skip a chapter, so don't skip a game, and you'll be golden. And a pro-tip? Each new game tends to add new context to the older ones, so I'd give the series a replay upon completion. See how much stuff suddenly makes a whole different sense from your first go-around. Welcome to Nomura's crazy ride, my guy. Hope you'll have fun - and bring tissues! You may need them.

[@iggyp4390]

Great video! KH1 is one-of-a-kind. You can feel that both SQ and Disney were celebrating their legacies and anticipating bright futures. Disney was still riding the wave of its renaissance and SQ was proud of FFX. Looking back, it seems like it was a natural union, but the idea of a FF game set in the world of Disney was so inspired and also so absurd that it possibly could only have ever been successfully pitched in an elevator, where a trapped and terrified Disney exec would have had no escape and be forced to listen to the mad ranting of Nomura purely out of survival instinct lol And speaking of! Nomura’s genius as a character designer never gets enough credit when it comes to KH. He knew exactly what attributes to pull from Disney and FF to make these characters authentic to both franchises yet not purely derivative of either. To me, Sora and Ansem are two of his best designs. But I’ve always believed the true heart of the KH series has always been Yoko Shimomura. She is often called “The Goddess” by fans. Her music has meant so much to me over the years and I’ll always be thankful to her for her extraordinary body of work (just wait til you hear the KH2 OST). In the end KH was just one of those rare phenomena where the stars seemed to align and the right people found each other at the right time. While CoM and KH2 and do provide a worthy continuation of what KH established narratively, the series never quite recaptured the identity and atmosphere of the first game. It can still be an enjoyable experience to follow this neverending trail of breadcrumbs into the depths of darkness, but ultimately it all just makes KH1 feel even more magical and timeless. Hope you have fun with the rest! ;)

[@sonicthefox2478]

I still love the first game, despite its clunkiness. Destati is also still one of my favorite tracks from the series. As for the next game. While jumping to Kingdom Hearts 2 is doable, you will be asking a lot of questions in the prologue/tutorial section if you skip Re:Chain of Memories. (Which fun fact was originally a GBA game ported to PS2 and then remastered in these collections.) If the gameplay doesnt vibe with you in chain of memories, I'd reccommend at least watching the cutscenes as the story is pretty important. If you want to just skip to 2 to see how confusing it is without spin-off knowledge then go ahead, its your playthrough, so experience it how you want. Just be mindful the story is only as confusing as you let it be. Anyways, have fun on your journey keyblade wielder. Its gonna be a wild ride.

[@syrelian]

Honestly, KH2 before CoM is pretty reasonable, Sora is as lost as you are about the plot revelations missed so it doesn't absolutely drown you in confusion, and the opening sequence's mysteriousness lands a bit better imo You do need to clear up CoM at some point though because it foundates further matters and Riku's character arc

[@Dhieleos]

kh1's gummi customization is the most free and fun in the series. you can add better thrusters to progress through the stages quicker, you can add shields, homing rockets, stronger gummi blocks (more hp), radar, better draw distance, even transform your ship into a different ship you might have made for better defense or something. once you get the hang it, it's really fun. yes you can use the default gummi ship throughout the game, but it adds unnecessary difficulty to the stages and part of the fun is adding that new shield-g gummi you found in that 4th pooh page and finally getting a use out of the shield prizes you find throughout the stages. In subsequent games, the customization is nerfed by giving you a limit to how many blocks you can add, but gummi combat is a lot better. i had more fun unlocking premade ships and using those then making my own ship.

[@codydoodles2]

Kh1 is so incredible. I’ve been off and on playing the series across the years and never made it past birth by sleep, but whenever I replay kh1 I’m so impressed. It’s such a compact game and the ending always has me in my feels.

[@Cri_Jackal]

I like how you noticed how this game gives pre FF7 energy, it has FF7's sci fi, but the actual tone, appeal, and overall design purposefully draws upon the original 6 FF games. KH2 is where it really swaps over to the modern style of Final Fantasy, being released right before Advent Children hit theaters.

[@bottlecaps1044]

If you take most JRPGs and tell the story from beginning to end, they are going to sound confusing. The difference between KH and most is that most make additional games standalone and the expectations placed on KH was to be a silly little baby game because it has Disney. All of Kingdom Hearts is about as complicated as an entry to a Final Fantasy game, its just a very long entry. I'm not going to be the one to say it is simple, because it is pretty dense, but a lot of the content after KH2 is made with the intention to get the players to ask questions, so feel free to reach out to fans. You will find no shortage of individuals who will happily explain every single frame of a moment to help answer uncertainties.

[@davesinsanestudio8072]

It's not that hard to understand the story you just gotta go through them all in release order for the most part, and just pat attention. It doesn't have retcons as alot of people like to say, except for few things starting with KH2, that's done to serve the story by that point. Some people just either don't engage with it, or don't understand it because they overcomplicated it for themselves. This is a series where even the mobile games are important. If you miss one game you'll be lost at several point in future titles, and it all builds together to whatever is gonna happen in next arc, starting with KH4.

[@LexoG33]

Crazy that the first game is more than 20 years old at this point and they haven't even started the second arc yet

[@FoxDie77777]

KH is practically a long shonen anime@@LexoG33

[@ethanwinnegrad3402]

I would argue that playing(or watching) 358/2 days is better in between COM abd KH2, as that makes roxas in KH2 so much more tragic. But thats the only deviation I make to release order

[@FoxDie77777]

@@ethanwinnegrad3402 i'll still preffer release order, but this is the case it will not drive me mad if you do it xd

[@ChrisPTenders]

@@ethanwinnegrad3402 I would argue (probably because I'm insane) that KH2 is best played directly after KH1, skipping COM. It makes everything in KH2 so mysterious, and filling in the blanks with COM and Days afterwards is so satisfying.

[@jacobippolito3224]

I’d watch a cutscene video or something for chain of memories, as that takes place entirely between KH1 and 2. It’s the bridge game between the two main titles, so if you want to understand where Sora is at the beginning, probably best to do a quick overview of that game

[@_Chessa_]

I’m happy more people are rolling into the franchise to try it out❤ Great video and love the editing. Just have fun with it! 😊 Been a KH fan since I was 9! ❤Sora amiibo coming soon! Wooo!

[@kamikaze5528]

The Kingdom Hearts story is really easy to understand. Most of the complains are most likely people who skips the dialogue or people who can't grasp abstract concepts. Don't get me wrong, things go get wackier as you go, but for Pete's sake, you have an anthropomorphic duck and dog, a living skeleton, a mermaid and a monstrous cursed person as your party members and that's just the first game, all the while you're chasing after lamp genies, animated puppets and talking cards. It IS fantastical from the get go and operates on fairy tale logic. Complaining about Heartless, Nobodies and giant key-swords is a bit silly.

[@devonm042690]

I feel like nowadays people go into this series expecting to be confused, and just accept that things don't make sense once plot threads start converging, overlapping, etc instead of trying to puzzle it out.

[@sh4d0wfl4re]

Aside from kh3, most kh games were actually pretty self contained. Sure the deep lore exists across games, but it wasn’t really necessary to understand to fully enjoy the games. KH3 however had to close out so many character arcs, so it felt a bit overwhelming… but if you played the side games it felt really good seeing character arcs conclude one after another (the pacing was still borked)

[@devonm042690]

@@sh4d0wfl4re I definitely agree with you about KH3's pacing. That game was without a doubt the series' biggest problem story/pacing-wise, because nothing happens until the end. I was mainly talking about all the complaints people have about things like the climax of DDD with the time travel.

[@derekapollo3775]

Be prepared to be absolutely blown away by the beauty and depth of the gameplay of 2 in comparison to 1. The gummi ship parts of the next game are so cool too. I’m exited for you. Wish I could experience it for the first time again.

[@davidblainescharizard]

Looking forward to it!

[@ezekielanderson9055]

There’s an easier way to equip items. You were doing it by doing “exchange”, which is really long and confusing. This is the easier way. If you want to put an item from a character into your stock, you start at the pause menu, you hit items, then the name of the character, then the item you want to move, then hit “stock”. The item will go into your stock. You never have to hit the exchange button. If you want to put an item from your stock onto a character, starting at the pause menu, you hit “items”, “stock”, the item you want, then the character you want the item on. If you want to USE the item ON the character (I.e. using a potion to heal Sora), you can hit “use” instead of the name of a character. Again, you never have to use the exchange thing. Hope this helps

[@davidblainescharizard]

I'm surprised no one called me out on that in the stream 😂😂 Noted for my next playthrough

[@TheErlend87]

An even easier way is to use the "take out" function, how do everyone miss that?

[@tbenigma4817]

The games story is fairly straightforward it's more of sometimes you just get hit with a lot of new Info that also changes the meaning behind some previously done or said. Confusing series no but a series with a lot to it yes

[@FoxDie77777]

PLEASE, if you keep playint them, just do it in release order. NOT CHRONOLOGICAL, PLEASE! (Chain of Memories came between 1 and 2 on the GBA, the one in the compilation is the remake, so play it between 1 and 2). Also, if you don't wanna play the DS games, i just recommend you to read the 358/2 manga. For RE:Coded, just watch the movie if you want. The games are really good, really fun but they are made with the console in mind so they have a lot of really short levels. That manga is so good though

[@dakudos]

Bro this was a great video. Kh2 is amazing I hope you enjoy this goofy series

[@davidblainescharizard]

Thanks so much! I can't wait to get to it!

[@thesuminer]

The thing i see getting a lot of people confused is the fact that once you reach a certain point in the timeline you have multiple stories following different groups of characters that are happening simultaneously. You just need to look at the starts of these games as if they are prefaced by a 'Meanwhile' like in comics or a chapter break or triple space, *****, then triple space from a novel when they change character perspectives.

[@davidblainescharizard]

Ohh that makes so much sense! Yeah I think I'll stick to playing them all in order so I don't miss out on anything

[@smccartney0695]

​​@@davidblainescharizardYeah the in-between games are not just spin off too their important story elements that come into play during KH 2 and 3 a lot of people jump from KH 1 to KH 2 then to 3 without playing the game that came out in between reach causes confusion If you can't play the game check out the cutscene movies on KZbin to get caught up on the story aspects it what I did

[@TheSeaBase]

Its not even that, it's that the mobile game has 3 iterations apart of its Canon story telling. It is at the complex point. It wasn't for years, but now it is at critical mass with unreality, multiple worlds, time travel. Ya

[@dxxb]

Yesss! Been waiting for this video since you teased it on stream!

[@davidblainescharizard]

Heck yeah dxxb!

[@hardyjoe4278]

For some reason, the first game of Kingdom Hearts gave me Fall/Winter season, Christmas time vibes. It's not only Cheery, but also very somber in tone.

[@cow9654]

I think you'll really like the series going forward. Admittedly KH1 is the most straight forward of the plots, but most of the confusion people had over the years was due to the haphazard nature of the releases of the games. As many have said, if you play in release order you should be fine. That's not to say the "CONVOLUTED" complaints aren't completely off base, but if you've played other JRPGs it shouldn't be a big deal. Ultimately the thing to keep in focus is the KH games at their core are sweet games about interpersonal relationships, friendship, and dealing with loss. While the plot can be a roller coaster, the emotional core has remained just as strong throughout the series even up until the latest releases.

[@davidblainescharizard]

Yeah after reading so much in here I think I'll definitely do just that and stick to the order of release. I'm sure that was a lot harder before these newer collections though, but now I'm seeing why people could get mixed up with everything.

[@tophfb]

Subbed to see this journey. I think you’ll really like 2 and, despite the hate, I think 3 took the crown as my personal favorite. BBS is solid, 358 was great, 3DS I honestly enjoyed a lot. You’ll have a fair amount of fun with this series.

[@MangekyouUchiha]

Giving this a like for KH 3 love.

[@summerruby8436]

Very good video, it's always really nice to see people introspect and rethink their opinions on stuff. A lot of people don't want to play KH because they think it's dumb. But KH fans will tell you, yeah it is kinda dumb but thats part of the charm. I hope you continue to like the series! I think the second game has a much more fun combat system. But the first game has worlds that are more vertical and fun to explore. I still find interesting little corners with rewards tucked away when I go back to it.

[@davidblainescharizard]

Thanks! I'm very excited for KH2 as I've heard almost nothing but praise for that one

[@twilightguardian]

Ursula's fight is a bitch but her fight isn't frustrating because of the swimming so much as she's constantly turning around to fight you. It's difficult to get behind her head because of that and it's kind of hard to see she is even turning because she's so large and there's just open ocean. Speaking as an Atlantica stan (I love having full range of movement. Up down, sideways, diagonal, there's no limitation except the skybox and walls. Tunnels, crevices, it's just all so fun to me. I'm glad to see you enjoyed the series. Even though I came to KH late (2008) it means so much to me. I can't wait to see what you think of Re:CoM. I know a lot of people hate it because gameplay-wise it's the black sheep of KH but having played it multiple times to show people the story, it grew on me. I don't know when you'll continue playing through the series, but I think I'll definitely come along for the ride with you.

[@davidblainescharizard]

Thanks for the great comment! I'll definitely be doing Chain of Memories next, I played the first couple hours and the battle system definitely took me by surprise, I had no idea THAT was coming, but I'm very excited to continue the story!

[@rubyretro]

I came down here to the comments to welcome you to the fold and advise you play the games in release order and keep in mind they're all important to the overall story and shouldn't be treated as spin-offs, but I see in the pinned comment you already know that, so now I'm leaving a comment for the algorithm. Congrats on getting a decent number of views on this one!

[@davidblainescharizard]

Thanks for checking out the video. Yeah definitely gonna stick to the release order!

[@AlexxxMYLSince2013]

I've been part of the fandom since 2006, so as a Veteran i welcome you to this weird adventure xD

[@greyrifterrellik5837]

If it helps *at all,* here's a little funfact about Days. It's apparently meant to be pronounced "358 days over 2". As that is the timespan the story takes place over, and the story revolves around 2 characters.

[@iigeminiii3754]

I love hearing your take as a new player, coming from a lifelong fan.

[@davidblainescharizard]

Can't wait to see what's next!

[@theman051991]

I found out after years of playing that the item menu has a take out of inventory selection, I had been moving items only through exchange for years without a clue, best part I found it this year. 😂

[@davidblainescharizard]

Lmao yeah I just read about that in another comment but hey at least we're not alone 😂

[@TheErlend87]

I feel everyone in the entire planet missed that, exept me. Good to know im not crazy!

[@EpicSteve23]

A few points of clarification as far as confusing plot and lore. Kingdom Hearts is only confusing and convoluted if you skip entries in the series, every game progesses the over arching narrative, really with the exception of Re:coded. Because of that causual fans who really only went on to play the numbered titles would find the story completely incomprehensible by the time KH3 came around. My advice is play the games in order of release, the collections make that really easy to do as well the release order is the layout from top to bottom in the collection menus. 358/2 Days, and Re:Coded are only movies in the collections, and while Re"Coded is completely skippable 358/2 Days story is important so do check that out at least. Just one last thing, and this is a personal gripe i have with people who complain about retcons in KH lore. Most of the lore we are given in the early games is from unreliable narrators. Either people who dont know the whole picture and are making assumptions to fill in gaps in knowledge, or people who actively would have reason to lie about certain truths there are actually very few genuine retcons in KH. Just keep that tidbit about unreliable narrators as you go deeper into the series.

[@savannah3244]

I'll admit the story DOES get confusing sure. But as long as you play the games in the right order you'll honestly be fine. It's less of a confusing story and more of a story with a lot of moving parts going on.

[@NottJoeyOfficial]

I am happy to tell you that a lot of the things you complained about in this game are vastly improved upon over the course of the series. Things like the Gummi Ship, equiping items, and the party members being dumb are all so much better. I actually enjoyed the Gummi Ship a lot in Kingdom Hearts 3 and it's not a pain to edit the ships. I hope you enjoy the series, i played it over the course of the past year and love it!

[@lightishredgummi9654]

IMO the biggest "problem" with the KH story (and the one that I personally ran into) is that the games besides 1, 2, and 3 are NOT just skippable side stories, spinoffs, or filler. they can be _extremely_ important in understanding a lot of things. if you skip them without at least finding a quick rundown of what happens, you can be VERY confused. and sometimes, you get an explanation in the NEXT game. for the longest time I only knew that KH1 and KH2 existed. I had no idea that there was a game in between them. I started 2 before finishing 1, and was _very confused_ about Sora's situation at the start. I figured it was just because I hadn't finished one, only to still be confused when I finally found out what the ending was. turns out that Chain of Memories, the in-between game, had a LOT of context. A similar thing happened at the beginning of 3, I was confused until I found out about the story of Dream Drop Distance.

[@kylespevak6781]

I got into the series as a kid because I loved the gameplay. I never thought the story was that confusing, however I have noticed people right off. The games without a number in the title as been offs, which means they're missing key parts of the lore.

[@LinkingYellow]

Re-gummiship: it's alright. The building controls are clunky, and you can ignore it on normal difficulty, but it switches up the pace, and provides a sense of connection between the worlds, even if it's not a strong one.

[@CollectedG]

Nice video. Glad I was able to make it for some of your Kingdom Hearts sessions, it was fun. And yeah, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with KH2 and how the combat improves.

[@davidblainescharizard]

Thanks! Yeah dude I can't wait to check out the second one! Just not sure if I wanna stream Chain of Memories or not. How you feel about that one?

[@CollectedG]

@@davidblainescharizard Chain of Memories isn't horrible but it's not the easiest title in the franchise to pick up and play. Very trial and error. If you want my recommendation, play Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 first and then try out the non-numbered games before playing Kingdom Hearts 3 to fill in the gaps of the story. I really loved Birth By Sleep, both the story and gameplay. I liked Dream Drop Distance and Rechain of Memories despite their flaws. I liked 358/2 Days and recoded back when they were relevant but they have not aged well at all in terms of combat and levels. Melody of Memories is just a rhythm game spinoff. It's good but nothing to brag about honestly. And I haven't played the mobile phone game so I can't comment on that.

[@nightcaller92]

Excellent video! Really cool to hear how your experience playing it for the first time went. Some notes, we're all pretty much with you that KH1 gummi missions kinda suck lol, along with Atlantica being fairly clunky. Regarding party members and items, it's generally better to not give them items until you hit harder challenges like the bosses, since they'll be prone to use them all up during mob fights. Also, you seem to have missed the "Take Out" and "Stock" commands in the item menus, which lets you take items directly from stock or send them back respectively, which saves navigating through the party members with "Exchange". Dunno that it'll help you much since I suppose you're already done with KH1, but hopefully it'll help you going forward! Also, some notes regarding future games, you don't have to read all this if you don't want :P --Re:Chain of Memories has a very different battle system from all the other games, where your abilities are based around a deck of cards you can construct, but its story does give some useful context to other games in the series. Also, when you finish the game, you unlock a shorter second campaign that lets you play as Riku, so be sure to check that out too if you go through the game (no one will blame you if you don't like CoM though lol) ---358/2 Days, pronounced "three five eight days over two", is TECHNICALLY a prequel to Kingdom Hearts 2, however it was originally released AFTER Kingdom Hearts 2 and expressly builds upon elements learned in KH2. It's a common topic of debate as to what order you should engage with the two, and each order has its merits, though to note, modern Kingdom Hearts releases only include a cutscene movie to cover 358/2 Days, which does hit a lot of important story beats from the game and comes with full voice acting, but it misses some of the nuance of the OG DS game (which notably is a bit weird/clunky in its own ways) --Kingdom Hearts 2 is commonly praised as one of the better games in the series, and certainly with good reason. The story picks up with an unusual prologue (spoiled by 358/2 Days), and is pretty much the start of where the story gets more complex, bringing new antagonists into the fold (technically introduced in CoM, but still accessible without that game) and introducing a new enemy type. The game's ending does offer a sort of resolution, you could feasibly stop and still have it be satisfying, but of course it does still tie in with the rest of the franchise. It has really solid action gameplay, with a lot of dynamic elements you can mix together. This game changes the MP bar to where hitting it no longer refills it, but instead when it runs out it enters MP charge, where after a while it'll fully refill. This game also introduces a mechanic called Drive Forms, which temporarily remove your party members from play to drastically empower Sora's own attributes (the summon mechanic is also modified to use the drive gauge, which fuels both your forms and your summons) --Birth By Sleep is split between three protagonists who each have their own runthrough of the game. Their stories run parallel, and each of them reveals details and contextualizes each other. This is the first of the command deck style games, which forgo MP in favor of letting you select an array of active effects each with their own cooldowns (you can select copies of the same ability to reuse it more often) I can't comment as much on the rest of the series since I'm less knowledgeable with those games, but I hope you continue to enjoy!

[@davidblainescharizard]

Thanks I'm definitely gonna try and give em all a fair shot, currently on RCOM and it's a lot different but still enjoyable enough I'm not giving up on it! Then I think I'll move onto 2

[@chaoslacky1585]

Thanks for the review. If you want to play the gams in order you should do Chain of Memories next.

[@davidblainescharizard]

Yes for sure going to play that one next!

[@jaden149]

kingdom hearts is a series that i feel a lot of people have misconceptions about i think it mainly comes from people who skipped around in the series since the thing about kingdom hearts is the non numbered titles are all important as someone who grew up playing the series in release order i was never confused by them but that comes from years of context from playing all the previous games

[@DeliBoyzz]

lol man can’t wait for you to review kh2 lol especially wanna hear what you gotta say about the inclusion of FF in that game lol

[@KennyKakes1]

2:29 my guy this was uncalled for 😂😭💀

[@tylercafe1260]

The reason why most people get confused with Kingdom Hearts is that they were simply too young to understand the intended storytelling of the game. There's still to this day people who debate if certain bosses are even canon to the story even though the games quite literally show them in every future game. Fans are more concerned with superficial things like voice actors and "catching up" that they don't realize how Kingdom Hearts stands out not just as a story but as a story told through a videogame. You have to 100% clear every Kh game to get the full story. Meaning all Secret Bosses, reading all hidden Reports, and piecing together the mystery within them. Did you notice on your playthrough of KH1 that you were handed Ansem Reports out of order? Specifically from defeating the Disney Villains too. All the reports you gather first will be the Odd Numbered Pages. Showing Ansems good intentions and then the rest of the reports are given in the library from Aerith that were Even Numbered which showed his true plans. There are also more Reports added into Final Mix hidden behind the Secret Bosses that tie directly into KH2. These 13 reports are constantly referenced throughout the entire series because there are contradictions even dedicated fans miss. Ansem Report 9: "...I must know what this Keyblade is. A key opens doors. It must be connected to the door I have opened." Implying he had a Keyblade from the very start. If he opens a door he has a "Key". So many fans miss this contradiction and count only 3 Keyblade Wielders in KH1. When there's actually 4... Which then raises many questions primarily "Why would the Keyblade choose him?" So if you continue the series please do all the optional content. This is why some fans say he retconned future games because they skipped crucial details in every single game. Secret Bosses are very hard and demanding but they're all canon and important. Which is why so many casual fans complain the entire time while others fall deeper and deeper in love with it every game.

[@venwave]

Commenters decided spoiling the future games was the way to go for some reason? Please if you're going to play KH, don't read comments on KH. Don't read reviews, just go play it and decide for yourself if you like it!

[@blakemayo2898]

There's certain RPG's that just stick with you as a kid. My parents bought me a PS2 and a demo disk that featured like 20 games (demos) for Christmas. My parents told me that they didn't know what games to get me. I'll always remember playing these three games on repeat. Jak and Dexter, Sly Cooper, and Kingdom Hearts. When we were at Toys R Us I noticed the characters almost immediately and my parents got it for me. Now as a 28 year adult, I still go back and replay the game every now and then for nostalgia reasons, soundtrack, and challenges that I put on myself. Unfortunately Jak and Dexter and Sly Cooper didn't continue like Kingdom Hearts did.

[@ThePhantomKingX]

The story is understandable as you go through the series. And dont worry the Gummi ship isnt in every game but the games that do have it improve on it greatly.

[@joshuadroddy7123]

Tbh the story is easy to understand, it just leaves a ton of mysteries that get solved in later games. The easiest thing to do is to put yourself in sora's shoes, everything is revealed as he learns of the mysteries, or sometimes even before he learns of them. If you try to understand everything all at once, it will become confusing and hard to understand, just take it one step at a time. Oh and as for the whole reality, data, and other such worlds, they are meant to add onto the mysteries and change the game play, it's literally just an excuse to bring in new/old mechanics that could enhance the game play.

[@ezekielanderson9055]

I feel like I’m the only person that enjoys the gummy ship mini game. It’s definitely not my favorite part, but it’s really fun to build different ships and see how they destroy all the enemy ships.

[@davidblainescharizard]

I actually did like the variety between all the different levels but maybe if they were a bit more challenging I would have spent more time with it.

[@yusuke2lobsters565]

its crazy how kingdom hearts is having this popularity surge when it was literally my biggest shame to tell people was my favorite game when i was a kid

[@TheTacosKey]

I actually love the gummy ship! yeah it takes getting used to but as soon as you figure it out, it becomes a sandbox like no other!

[@jakebrown2235]

The biggest problem with this series is to experience them at their prime (release) you had to have a Ps2, gameboy, DS, PSP, 3DS, and PS4. That’s an unrealistic expectation for most. It made keeping track of the story way too difficult/expensive.

[@th3legend278]

I doubt you’ll play through it again or you’ll even need potions anymore after beating the game but you can use “take out” to take items directly from your stocks instead of going through all the party members to pick out one item to equip, or if you have an item already in a slot you can press “exchange” to do the exact same thinf

[@deanwilcoxson9754]

Bro, I’m happy someone gives it the credit it deserves.

[@noravanguard3993]

So bak in the mid 2010s Square Enix remastered all the game The theo ds games did not get remastered and were turned into movies Because it would be a really bad decision to release Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 in the same remastered collection. SE put the midquels 358/5 days on the original remastered release back in 2014 So the proper play order for the 1.5 + 2.5 collection is Kingdom Hearts 1 Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories Kingdom Hearts 2 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Kingdom Hearts RE: Coded So just make sure to play the spin-offs and KH2 before Days For Dream Drop Distance I understand most of it when I first played it as a kid. But also didn't understand something that were literally said on screen. I just wasn't paying attention lol. The real problem is the mobile game Kingdom Hearts Union X The game came put before and after Kingdom Hearts 3. So KH3 has some moments that are confusing if you didn't play the game. But it's the actual confusing parts of KH3 are all it's own If you get to KH3 then I recommend watch the KHUX cutscenes on YT. The youtuber damos279 did a fan dub of the game

[@digitaladventurer2142]

Yeah the concept of the game was brilliant though 1 had some issues with controls and the battle system but story was pretty solid. 2 really fixed a lot of the technical issues and the story was starting to get a bit confusing but still really good, but by the time they got to 3 all the side games had forced them to spend basically the whole game playing wrap up the loose ends and story was so confusing you had to either play all the side games or sit down and watch catch up videos.

[@wolf_quill]

Hope you enjoy the journey ❤

[@davidblainescharizard]

Can't wait to get into the next one!

[@krissydiggs]

Excited for you to play KH2. The battle system is the best. It's honestly hard for me to play KH1 because of how good KH2 is. It really improevs everything goofy (pun intended) about the first game.

[@lizardlord4k]

Yeah, it's generally agreed KH1 is the most straight forward of the games and handles the premise the best. And KH2 imprves leaps and bounds in terms of gameplay, and the story...well, it still has more than enough charm and handles it well in its own way. It isn't until later when things get...a bit too overly indulgement shall we say...

[@terminatgor2322]

The wordplay was great i love these

[@Nay089]

KH1 story is simple and self contained. I love it for that.

[@bluedevils481991]

If kh didn’t have numbered titles and just had a subtitle for every game beyond kh1 then it wouldn’t seem so confusing. The main issue of the non numbered games as side games when they are required for you to grasp the story

[@itranscendencei7964]

Gameplay is super fun, but the lore does start to get very confusing once you realize that you need to play all the non-mainline story games to get the full picture. If you just play KH>KH2>KH3, then you're actually missing out on a lot of details.

[@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan]

Heads up about the story: First: Play them in order of release. Second: the main reason the story was so complex was because you'd need a PS2/3, a 3Ds, and a PSP to play every KH game before the compilations were a thing. Third: if possible play 358/2 or Re:Coded instead of watching the cutscenes, especially in Re:Coded's case as it does technically have like 5-10 minutes of meaningful in the long term plot but the entire story otherwise isn't something that should be a cutscene compilation. Guess what it is. Woo. But the combat in Re:Coded (when it's the standard combat) is (in my opinion) up there with KH2 and KH3

[@syrelian]

There is something so satisfying about bouncing up and down violently, Commands just making Sora fastfall does so much for letting you go wild in a way BBS just doesn't, never mind the whole "not having dozens of dogshit worthless commands" thing And then you Judgement Triad something for the first time and its love

[@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan]

@@syrelian judgement triad is my favorite command in any command deck KH game, and I love how smooth the combat is in Re:Coded, being able to interchange between standard combos and commands and then back to combos is amazing, it's something that's also been done in KH2 and KH3 for its Magic and physical combos. Somehow DDD missed that fact from Re:Coded and I find it interesting that 2 of the 3 Command Deck games are BBB and DDD. 3B and 3D XD

[@syrelian]

@@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan The SFX of yeeting the Triad hits like a hammer and gods Aerial Spiral variants all go hard on the juggle game

[@syrelian]

@@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan Uhhh.. its not 3B, its BBS, but also fuckin yeah Osaka Command Deck gameplay is just super fuckin stiff

[@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan]

@@syrelian oh yeah BBS forgot it was an S and not a B. Also heavily agree about the command deck in BBS and DDD. Infact that's a good chunk of why DDD is my least favorite KH game, the command deck system isn't smooth and it takes way to long to get some important commands. I can handle looking at a melding chart but not petting my pets every moment I get for some reason lmao

[@kylespevak6781]

Please make sure you play chain of memories next, not 2. It's the game that comes between them and basically informs you of the entirety of the second game's plot

[@faust5398]

This and eureka seven show will always be the best media I’ve ever consumed

[@davidblainescharizard]

Oh damn Eureka Seven's a good one! I havent seen in years! I just might have to put that on

[@jakefingerrr]

If you talk to some NPCs multiple times they explain more. Traverse town is a world that appeared after the heartless appeared and a lot of people end up on after their world dissapeared. Selphie talks about missing her home.

[@SoraSimpleAndClean]

Gonna sub to see your journey thru my favorite game 🎮

[@Neku628]

My family was mostly a PS2 family, but I don't think my mom ever got me a PS2 since I stepped on and destroyed my PS1. So, I don't blame her.

[@davidblainescharizard]

Ohh noo! I did manage to convince my mom to buy me a PS1 which was huge for my younger years, i would have been devastated if it got crushed to death!

[@OrbitalPulsar]

There is only one Kingdom Hearts game in my top 25 ganes of all time, and that game, KH2, has the number 1 spot.

[@Vampp2048]

3:05 imo the second game is not a direct upgrade but the gameplay is far far more combat and action based, i personally love kh1 more for it's exploration and kinda platform-y game design. The post-game for kh2 is far more fun though lol.

[@davidblainescharizard]

I wonder if I'll end up missing the platforming but I'm very excited to see how the combat plays!

[@artzikiii]

It would have been faster to equip from stock to sora and party items. You just equip there from straight to member you want without many menus

[@artzikiii]

Subbed btw

[@davidblainescharizard]

Yeeah I saw a comment about that earlier! I'm surprised no one noticed in stream so I played the whole game ignoring that lol BUT I think I'm not the only one 😅

[@applestain]

Playing this game numerous times at 10 and now at 32 I STILL have no idea how to upgrade my gummiship. And trust me I tried but basic ass gummiship is my go to. lol

[@matthewbreytenbach4483]

A word of warning. The fandom has historically liked to pick on a character called Terra, and in the process spread a _very_ inaccurate account of his actions and motivations in that game. So take any fan content about Terra you find in passing with a grain of salt.

[@AidenAlias]

the thing with kingdom hearts is people write it off when they are on the outside looking in. when you play them in order it isn't confusing and the titles make sense when you play their games and realize what the titles mean. the gummiship is bad in kh1 i will not lie. its good in 2 and 3

[@seseame7184]

before playing kingdom hearts 2, you need to play chain of memories. if you dont like the game, watch the cutscenes on yt, its the black sheep if the series but it is insanely important. and definitely do not ignore the non-numbered games

[@davidblainescharizard]

Yeah I've been playing through CoM and while it definitely has its issues I'm having fun with it!

[@hahamonkke]

If you do play through the series make sure play in the fan order (release order) and not in the IGN order (chronological order).

[@ethanwinnegrad3402]

Honestly, at its heart, the early KH games are about a boy who wants to find his freinds(KH1), and then find his way home(KH2). In the later games the story gets weird, but at that point you’re so invested in the characters, you deal with it.

[@Dreamy_Requiem]

straight up, the games aren't nearly as confusing story wise as people like to say. like....just play the games in release order, as thats the (imo) most natural way to play them. you COULD play chronologically but that's honestly not the way i'd suggest playing them the first time through. that's honestly a 2nd time playthrough type deal, when you actually know what's going on lmao. that's also like. the problem? people usually try to explain the games chronologically and its like naw man give it to them slow. like the actual series did lmaooo anyway idk, i think if my 7 year old brain can comprehend what's going on in kh2 without needing to play re:com than maybe it isn't that convoluted.

[@a5tro-b0y]

👀Will u play kh2 next or re chain of memories ?

[@davidblainescharizard]

Still not sure! I kinda want to skip to KH2 but I dunno, I did play a lil bit of Re:Chain and the card thing is way different

[@a5tro-b0y]

@@davidblainescharizard the story of re chain is so good & interesting , the card system is not for everyone it can get repetitive sometimes but the boss fights !! Those are fire fighting them was really fun ..try fighting some of the organization members if u still hate the card’s system watch the game’s story on youtube then start with KH2 ^^🤍

[@Eduardo-df4zu]

​@@davidblainescharizardtrust me you have to play chains of Memories, or you would not understand anithing of the start of Kh2

[@Sk3lat0rRofficial]

before you play to u gotta play re:Com then watch the days movie then play kh2 so u can get a little more information on the lore and the story

[@Vinylmelody1517]

Kingdom hearts has no spin offs. If u don't play every game in release order that's what will confuse u. I believe this idea that the series is confusing first started when kh2 came out and unless u had a gamboy advance, you wouldn't know that chain of memories came before2 and that it had such plot significance going forward.

[@davidblainescharizard]

Yeah i think sticking to the release order is for sure the right call

[@exodusthestarryeyedprince2813]

Lolololol im glad u like the first game like we all did. :) as far as the plot and understanding.... It's all downhill from here. :D your gonna try to make sense of this despite even wikis using words like "somehow". 😂

[@davidblainescharizard]

Yeah I kinda figured that it gets messy with all those spin offs but that's pretty funny 😁

[@slowb.-channel]

🔥⛽️🔥⛽️

[@davidblainescharizard]

Let's go SlowB!! 👋

[@guidingkeyblade7834]

The KH1 voice cast is nothing. Wait until you get to KH2 or Birth By Sleep. Also, I recommend at least watching a playthrough of Chain of Memories, as it provides some context to the beginning of KH2. If I had to give a recommended order: KH1 CoM KH2 358/2 days Birth by Sleep Coded Dream Drop Distance 0.2 KH3 + ReMind MoM χ/Back Cover/Unchained χ/Union X Dark Road If it helps, a KZbinr called Everglow has a full series on the χ saga. It's a good way to get through it. The χ saga is important, as it provides context for the new Lost Master saga.

[@SeanSunn]

Damo279 published youtube fandub movies of both KHχ/Union χ and is also directing the Dark Road fandub movie currently. As each movie covers all important story scenes from the mobile games from start to end fully voiced in English, it's a much more natural way for KH fans to experience the KH mobile game storylines than Everglow's old summary explanation series imo ;)

[@melodicdreams6222]

Alright I will reply Kingdom hearts (again)

[@_Chessa_]

Naw the word play was pretty good. Lol the compilation at the end of the characters saying Darkness! KH2 might be a little like, oh, who is this? lol 😂 but it’s fun and KH2 is much better in pace imo compared to KH1.

[@davidblainescharizard]

Thank you!! Can't wait to get to KH2, I've been enjoying Chain of Memories but the gameplays starting to get a bit repetitive, I'm excited to see the changes in the next one

[@donovanfaust3227]

I gotta pount out that the FF characters aren't like the Disney characters in that their role in Kingdom Hearts is wholly original. They never had their FF game adventures because those worlds don't exist like the Disney ones. The FF characters look and maybe act like their counterparts but their stories are completely different from their original games.

[@vincevintage525]

Oh man wait til you get to KH2 its so much better than the first one and quite possibly the best on the series imo

[@davidblainescharizard]

That's what I've heard! I'm pumped to get to it

[@vincevintage525]

@@davidblainescharizard I'm excited for you to play it but fair warning this is where the story for Kingdom Hearts get kinda muddy with an introduction of the nobodies and Organization 13 but still best in the series

[@ajmosutra7667]

Play on highrr difficulty on kh2. Bc for me it was to easy after the first one

[@MistaWind]

I didn't watch the video, all I need to know is if you played the greatest game of all time kingdom hearts 2 yet and if not I will return when you have.

[@corbinfreeman8958]

Do chan of memory’s first than kh 2

[@davidblainescharizard]

Yeah think I'll do that!

[@antman218]

playthrough of KH2?

[@davidblainescharizard]

Absolutely! Just not sure if I wanna do Re:Chain of Memories first or just jump right into that next