Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - The Turning Point

[@ashleyneku5432]

Don't let this distract you from the timeline where three kids tried to build a raft and sail to another world armed with three coconuts, two mushrooms, a single bottle of clean water, no navigation materials and a complete lack of understanding for when a storm might occur and end up dying at sea while Sora's mom wonders why the fuck she let him hang out with Riku to begin with.

[@okat32]

What do you mean by 3 coconuts i had 99 coconuts. Bold of you to assume my coconuts.

[@ajddavid452]

​@@okat32WHO THE HELL COLLECTS 99 COCONUTS?!?!

[@okat32]

@@ajddavid452 DO NOT QUESTION THE POWER OF MY WILL

[@ajddavid452]

@@okat32 more like you need to go see a therapist because that doesn't sound healthy

[@xXLunatikxXlul]

​@@ajddavid452true. And I didn't think you hold onto more than 3 coconuts?

[@Junkyardproduxtions]

Lowkey KH1 and CoM story/Sora doesn't get nearly enough props for making him an ACTUAL CHARACTER and not a cheesey shounen protagonist. Also adding the Naruto moment is how to make any statement badass.

[@Stefanoabed05]

Com has the best Sora, it's the only game where he is, get this, RELATABLE

[@randomboys1000]

cheesy***

[@xblade149]

@@Stefanoabed05 kh2 he was still relatable.

[@1992holycrap]

@@Stefanoabed05 Shame the actual gameplay is hot garbage.

[@Stefanoabed05]

@@1992holycrap The Sora one hell yeah, riku had more actual good gameplay rather than preparation

[@vindifference]

Personally when I first played the game, the relationship between the trio never felt exactly like the friendship of other trios in the series. However, what it did feel like was a sort of pseudo-sibling relationship. I felt that way particularly because I myself have been in school with cousins and siblings in the past, male and female, and felt a distinct similarity. Aqua's a doting sister type, Terra's a big bro, Ven's a tag along little bro, and they all have fun learning and hanging out together as a family in the keyblade wielder order, living under the same roof and all. But not in the exact same way as one would when palling around with friends from other homes who you can just do and say the most idiotic outlandish things with. And thinking of it that way; what the game portrayed totally made sense to me, and didn't feel "problematic", or forced. I never saw it as something the same as Sora, Kairi and Riku, or Roxas and friends, because straight away, it felt like another legitimate kind of relationship. So in essence, their relationship was never a flawed point for me. It may have made references to past trio's interactions, but in the end it painted itself as something clearly different, and it made sense.

[@soraudagawa3022]

Aqua sounds like she was forced to record her lines after spending the day before crying

[@GuilhermeTB1]

One thing I noticed recently is how inconsistent the "meddling with the world order" rules are. In KH1, Goofy was hesitant in mentioning the heartless to the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland, which would've helped Alice in her predicament. But then he casually says to King Triton that they're after the keyhole, while also hiding the fact that they're from another world. Would've been much easier to just straight up state their business and ask for help. Goofy in KH2, while Jack Sparrow is in the room, says that they're from another world. Also, the whole idea of Traverse Town was that people who lost their world to darkness would somehow, if they got lucky I guess, end up there, therefore, revealing to those people that there are in fact other worlds. Word definitely got around after that.

[@TimothyGod]

Tbf king triton is already aware of other worlds

[@SomniaCE]

It is the consequence of the games not being planned out. Well known fact that KH1 was sort of made in a vacuum and they really didn't know what to do for sequels, with the secret movie just sort of being a "Lets write/show some mysterious shit and then figure out what it all means later". Some of the inconsistencies can be explained but ultimately "no meddling" on the face of it makes no sense. The very moment you talk to someone, open a door, kill a heartless is the moment you have begun meddling. At that point its just semantics over what the protags is too much.

[@Kingdom850]

@@SomniaCE So...that has nothing to do with "not being planned out" and everything to do with SDG can't help but get involved when the heartless show up. That's consistent with their characters.

[@hassanico9999]

As someone who played most of these games as a kid, I had the opposite reaction to gameplay. To me, KH2 was "Mash X and Triangle everything else is worthless" because hey, that's what KH1 taught me, why would I use these weird summons and limits and stuff? Then BBS came and I thought "Woah I can't mash X through! I have to use commands and shotlocks and stuff this is waaaay more complex!" It's only in the last year or so, looking at KH2 FM+ HD videos and speedruns, that I discovered what insane depth the game had, and how everything just fell into place. Unlike BBS which can ultimately devolve to Megaflare spam. So ultimately, I think at what age you play these games factors in a lot on how you feel about them, and I have to assume Square might be taking simplicity and general easiness/mindlessness to appeal to a core demographic of children that might have moved on years ago.

[@kidsonblackops]

lol it switched the button you mash.

[@jimpachi98]

hassanico9999 if you play kh2fm on critical, it becomes EXTREMELY rich in gameplay. The game in its entirety challenges you, especially since leveling up is practically meaningless.

[@n8298906]

hassanico9999 I usually play my first round of game play for any Kingdom hearts on the most difficult mode there is. it gives more of s challenge on the first try especially since evey kingdom hearts game is relatively simple in game. 90% of the time you're massing a single button with the occasional use of other buttons. the only KH games I feel had a challenging battle system even in normal mode was 358/2 Days and Chain of memories.

[@jimpachi98]

n8298906 agreed, days and com we're the hardest by far.

[@NabsterHax]

Re:CoM was easy when you set up slight decks. If you planned it right, boss fights would be over just by spamming triangle. Riku's side is more interesting though, as it forces you to learn how to use decks on the fly (and that made subsequent Sora playthroughs more interesting). Actually when you get over the learning curve I find the combat much more enjoyable than BBS, but boy does it suck when you don't know what you're doing.

[@AwsomeCrazyMan12321]

It's funny actually. In Kingdom Hearts 3, they treat Keyblades as actual "weapons" that you can "Break", and which does actually happen. They totally messed up that aspect of the universe.

[@MrSuperAJ]

Malchezaarino Kripperino And you can upgrade them! They are NOT the ultimate weapon anymore. They throwed the story straight into the dirt!

[@aidinexmachina4232]

Well given even after Lee having his Keyblade broken he could still summon it again in one piece. But yeah no Keyblades were nerfed hard

[@harp-692]

@@aidinexmachina4232 I mean he doesnt really care anymore. Now is FF15 KH version. No time for sora

[@Rex13013]

@@aidinexmachina4232 But Mickey and Riku had to get new ones which is really stupid imo because keyblades are supposed to be magical. Axel's case is inconsistent, but Kh3 story is completely screwed up anyways.

[@zaqareemalcolm]

@@harp-692 its been like a year yet sometimes when i close my eyes I taste the tang of nomura's salt even faintly

[@TheHomiePopo]

You see Batman... my father was a Kingdom Hearts enjoyer and a fiend. Until one day he came home and asked my mother, " How many Xenanorts are they?" When she couldn't answer ... He did not like that. Not one bit.

[@thebigcheese1122]

top tier comment

[@MANJYOMETHUNDER111]

I actually quite liked the concept that anyone can wield a Keyblade if their heart is strong enough. It sells the core idea of the series, that friendship and connections empower even the regular joes to greatness. I mean, the blades we see in-game were passed down, but that's just another version of the 'connections' we were talking about. The younger characters are carrying the will of past generations with them.

[@johnpantag472]

Bad that killed the original kh concept.

[@ShadowbannedAccount]

Except that is not how it works. A Keyblade wielder can give someone the ability to wield the Keyblade. That's the stupid part. It contradicts the "The Keyblade chooses its master" narrative established in KH1.

[@plates7245]

Funny thing is that you described all the reasons Re: Coded is my favorite of the commands. Proper stun, toned down command attacks, good combos, and every keyblade having a purpose combat wise (even with minigame bosses). Past that story wise Data Sora gained his true keyblade not because inheritance but his growth and connection to others even in a data-based form making him someone you can connect to..

[@orlandofurioso7329]

2023, re coded still slaps

[@pencilonpaper1026]

@@orlandofurioso7329 agreed 🙏

[@JI0MB]

@@pencilonpaper1026 Same, the gimmick stages suck but the regular combat is stellar. The clock system added so much variety, and leveling up the different keyblades to unlock more overclock abilities felt AMAZING, with each keyblade being completely different from one another.

[@karmacharger2198]

I think your reasoning of the keyblade not choosing people, and Sora not longering being special is a bit off... they even said in KH1 that Sora was just basically the delivery boy for Riku... the fact that Sora was able to resummon the keyblade after his whole friendship speech proves that the keyblade still does have choice. It's still the same old shtick. What I liked about Sora wasn't that he was the chosen one or anything like that, but that he was just an average kid in the first game, but grew to be so much more, whereas Riku was the golden child and technically the rightful chosen one. Even if BBS retconned that, it doesn't change the angle that Sora was a normal boy, who basically earned the keyblade instead of it being passed down to him. I guess you could argue he could summon ven's keyblade, but from what I understand he doesn't know how. He has the ability to wield one, but can only access it through certain means (like drive forms). And yeah, everyone getting a keyblade has totally undermined it's importance. Many of your other arguments I can agree with, just have to add my 2 cents.

[@thritaldor]

Actually i allways interpretend Vens presence to be the reason why Sora could use a second Keyblade, just like Xion was Roxas reason for that ability.

[@thritaldor]

Actually i allways interpretend Vens presence to be the reason why Sora could use a second Keyblade, just like Xion was Roxas reason for that ability.

[@Ashyson780]

true

[@thritaldor]

yoymg 101343 Considering the Keyblade War is long forgotten by all of the Worlds, the history was distorted. Thats usually how Legends are born. In BBS Time only very few know how to pass onthe keyblade, and even that knowledge is hidden from the main population, just like the fact that there are other worlds. Thats at least my in game lore explanation. Truth is, Nomura didn't think that far when creating the first game, and shoehorned a lot of extra bullshit into the story. It is obvious the man can't write sequels. Way to many plotholes, and retcons.

[@karmacharger2198]

thritaldor This And to be completely honest, I don't really care much if he's been chosen or not. The interesting part of KH1's story was Sora finally standing up to Riku, and fighting as equals, which doesn't get affected regardless of whether or not there was a "chosen one"

[@jasoncrownover4551]

My biggest gripe with this game was the weird difficulty spikes. The game had absolute horrible pacing. First 4 worlds piece of cake then all of a sudden you start getting wrecked by the unversed even if you would grind out 20 or 30 levels before then. Then the final bosses are bags of potatoes in terms of difficulty then the final bosses one shot you on any difficulty and have cheap attack patterns?? What the actual fuck xD

[@lightsprite6128]

Yo fr. The level up/difficulty was ridiculous

[@KAIsibs]

Vanitas Remnant/Mysterious Figure: Hello there

[@johnpantag472]

Very well said. I was over leveled and did no damage.

[@SomniaCE]

This is completely different from the experience of me and my friends. Most people I talk to have the issue of the first couple worlds being a pain in the ass and then the rest of the game is pretty much a cakewalk. I had some issues with certain bosses but all in all I thought they were mostly solid, but a lot of boss difficulty ends up being subjective so it is what it is.

[@galacticcactus5530]

All of the games after KH1, are the result of an otherwise brilliant game director making up the lore long the way, instead of planning everything out ahead of time. Lots of back-tracking, plot element recycling, and so forth....The Kingdom Hearts series is still very enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but to say that it's flawless and that nothing could have been done better, is just ignorant. Great video, sir!

[@zaqareemalcolm]

so basically the video game series equivalent of your typical weekly shonen manga

[@zaqareemalcolm]

Stoner_Plays I'm in that fanbase lol

[@MrGr8nate]

With how disapointing kh3 was i really just wished they would reboot the series with a fully thought out story

[@lura8040]

@@MrGr8nate KH 3 wasnt dissapointing. It only wasnt what we expected or wanted as a fanbase. We thought it was the finale, then Nomura tells us its the finale OF a saga, to then start another one with the Master of Masters We wanted a gameplay feel like KH 2, with world building like KH 1, as we saw in trailers, but got underwhelmed by how straight forward the combat got. World building was beautiful though Game was too easy. Only way to make it a "near critical" mode is to go Lvl 1 on Proud mode, without any Boosts, Armor or Accesories. Believe me, it makes a big difference. Battles were also pretty boring and straight forward. Xehanort was hella fun and epic, but doesnt compare to the beauty that Xemnas was And im saying this as how i saw the people express their negative opinions towards KH 3. And i loved KH 3. Its a game made more for newcomers, rather than hardcore fans imo

[@MrGr8nate]

@@lura8040 but its not for newcomers because a newcomer would be completely lost in the story the combat also isnt that smooth at times flowmotoion is eh and the worlds you visit are just straight paths and boring af i thought the finale was anti climactic this felt like a game he just had to make to get to the next saga

[@doliteair]

Kingdom Hearts convaluted story summerized: children at war ending up at a haunted graveyard lol

[@ayahbatata2628]

Seven years later, and I still find myself returning to this video. It still very much encompasses how I feel about the state of the Kingdom Hearts series. I love seeing analysis videos from you, and I hope to see more from you in the future.

[@xXLunatikxXlul]

I agree and sadge. He's a dad now so likely won't be returning sometime.

[@MeteorFalcon]

Kingdom Hearts 1's story was amazing, that is the best way to start a series.

[@KeybladeMasterAndy]

agreed, though all of them are enjoyable to me

[@nicholasrobinson9094]

+Critical Gaming agreed

[@DJ5540]

I would've actually liked CoM if I could've just played it like KH1 instead of the dumbass battlecard system.

[@nicholasrobinson9094]

***** this

[@dmas7749]

Oh CoM. The only title in the series with EVEN WORSE DESIGN than BBS and DDD. Seriously, how did they do that? How? Because I cannot count the number of times I got hit by a boss straight after card breaking them. It's like the game is outright saying "fuck you for trying to play the right way"

[@kbbusia]

That broom scene is gold.

[@vintheguy]

You idiot! It's not gold, 𝓘𝓣'𝓢 𝓓𝓘𝓥𝓘𝓝𝓔

[@jkbobful]

I liked BBS but I get where your coming from

[@Michaelrandom27]

You're*

[@KnightMinson]

l555444333222 L5K Their there they’re

[@Michaelrandom27]

@@KnightMinson Their - possessive There - directional They're - "They are"

[@KnightMinson]

l555444333222 L5K Well played

[@brycegrauss1606]

This is it! The perfect breakdown of what kingdom hearts has gone towards. The more games they’ve made the more they’ve separated the Disney worlds and characters from the KH Story. It was gold having a connection to the main villain in Riku and having him interact with the Disney villains and grooming them to give into the darkness. Riku influencing maleficent, maleficent influencing every other villain. It was amazing. So sad that it’s now just a Disney slideshow ending with anime battles.

[@vedrisca]

From a retrospective, I think BBS set up the rest of the franchise for failure. Besides the departure from the main permits and features of the original plot (particularly where Xehanort is concerned), reusing Roxas for Ven's character model had a lot of people confused if they had just left off from KH2, and beginners starting at KH3. And where chain of memories and 358/2 act as good fillers to set up context between existing works, BBS set up the plot for way too many story points in the series for the series to hit true with its original premise. You had Unversed that were somehow different from Heartless because of Vanitas (not corrupted hearts, but incomplete hearts?). You had the Keyblade masters, the Keyblade War which then extends back to Kingdom Hearts X, then you had the power of waking in kingdom hearts 3D that ties back to this game... All so kh3 can revive what essentially are filler characters that had completed character arcs? And what should've been complete in 3D with Sora finally able to become a Keyblade master instead has him nerfed far below his peak in kh2 coming into 3. Not only had every game since bbs cheapen the experiences from 1-2 (as well as the fillers in between those, because even Roxas became a copy of Ventus instead of Sora and undermined the whole point of Nobodies being their own persons), but failed to create stories that really stood on their own two feet independent of the other titles. And when they were all contingent on KH3 being able to create closure, that turned KH3 from a sequel of KH2 to being a sequel of BBS, X, and 3D. All because SE kept taking Nomura away from his ff13 versus obsession, lmao.

[@ShadowbannedAccount]

Nomura's downfall is listening to fans too much. Listening to fans can be good, but not always. Sometimes fans want dumb things.

[@VectoredPromise]

You're wrong, the Kingdom Key was Riku's inherited keyblade which moved to Sora, Ven's heart isn't what allows him to wield it. Ven's heart is the reason Sora can dual wield in drive forms.

[@bobbeans817]

To be fair that is a pretty common misconception And it also further proves his point that the KH series' story has become far too complex that we literally need to fact check stuff through Nomura interviews to just understand the basics.

[@VectoredPromise]

***** no he doesn't get it from Roxas lmao otherwise he would have been able to dual wield in KH1 since he was whole. The new clothes he got allowed him to bring out the second keyblade, that's literally what the clothes do. Bring out Sora's potential, which is what the fairies explained. Roxas hadn't given in to Sora until they faught after Axel's death, he even asks why Diz picked Sora to defeat the Org instead of him.

[@VectoredPromise]

***** smh you're wrong and you're interpreting my comment wrong too. HMK does theory videos, I watch his stuff lol and that's all they are - theories. Just think about what you're saying for a bit and you will notice how you don't make sense.

[@Waveburd]

thats not really the point. the point is that the value of the keyblade has dimished judged by how easy riku got one. inheritance and the amount of weilders simply dont make it as special as before

[@xAssassin24]

lil chihuahua as before? There are only a few keyblade wielders now; before, there were an abundance amount of keyblade wielders

[@the_v_blade]

At first I was iffy about this video due to the length. But as I watched I wasn't even checking the time. You had me hooked for the entire video. You have a good argument and brought up fantastic points and the use of humour was awesome. Although I have one teeny tiny correction to make. Sora can wield the Keyblade because he was indeed chosen. Not due to Ven's heart residing within him. Don't worry about it, it's a common misconception. Nomura stated this himself in the KH1 Ultimania. Although this does go back to your point on how convoluted the story is when you have to dig through interviews to obtain certain facts. If anything it supports your argument even further because Sora is like the only wielder legitimately chose by the Keyblade and the rest either were trained to wield it or inherited it. I'd definitely recommend this video for any KH fan.

[@TheNorman377]

I want the X-Keepers to watch this

[@the_v_blade]

***** Yeah for sure. xD

[@Bl00dyBizkitz]

I would love to hear Dean's thoughts on this video, if he hasn't already watched the video.

[@TheNorman377]

Bl00dyBizkitz Man I would love the Tokyo team to develop KH 3 and not the Osaka team...I don't want KH 3 to feel so floaty lel xD

[@furiaeerinyes3057]

I actually enjoyed the story even when i was younger still do

[@Solar-Blade]

I will say that judging from KH3's trailers, it seems to be adapting the original combat system which is a good sign.

[@ishmel11]

+Stoner_Plays Or you know every kh game that was numbered (ie. 1 and 2) had that normal combat system and they're just continuing on that cycle, but I won't stop you from continuing to have that self-illusion tho.

[@ishmel11]

+Stoner_Plays I was just playin around lol. There's no reason for me to be mad in the first place xD

[@nicetry69420]

The_Pot_Dragon KH1 is heavy and deliberate like Dark Souls. Osaka games are clunky and indeliberate.

[@AbhorrentRose]

I felt like birth by sleep is stellar ideas with bad execution. I loved the game and see how its flaws can turn people away. However it's due to it's amazing ideas and imperfect flaws that make me adore this game. Also characters being bland is subjective, same thing with the appeal behind battle mechanics. However I very much appreciated your position of knowledge. I think square is doing well. I also noticed how bosses did discourage commands aside from magnera and Thundaga but as a child I didn't know that so I spent an AGONISING amount of time leveling up with time splicer and other commands to try and cope. The end game bosses can be beaten without minesquare but I just don't see it being practical agreed.

[@a.f.schmied1571]

I agree with almost everything said in the video, except for the title. I don't think BBS was the turning point, at least storywise the turning point clearly was CoM. The overplotting, the irrelevance of Disney elements, the tendency to add new elements to the story rather than deepening the ones that were there already... all of BBS's flaws come straight from CoM. I wouldn't say BBS is the "turning point", but it likely is the "point of no return". CoM and KH2 nicely wrapped up the plot, so that it was still very easy to go back to the basics after, just by starting a new story arc from scratch. But BBS retconned the series so heavily that the mess it has made will stick around.

[@Epicvampire800]

Yeah but Re:Com was not the turning point in terms of gameplay, it had great gameplay despite having a completely different formula from anything anyone would expect from a kingdom hearts game, while also managing to retain that unique kingdom hearts game feel. Bbs attempted to do something similar in terms of gameplay to re:com, having an expansive array of tools at your disposal to maximize player freedom, but utterly failed because they didnt understand basic game design or the expectations of a kh game. And in terms of story re:com itself isn't very convoluted, many new characters are introduced for sure, but stuff like the organization or nobodies or castle oblivion are left unexplained. in re:com you're just thrust into this situation with almost no explanation of why you're there, who you're fighting, and who namine is, and its never explained in that game, the game is an enigma with no complex lore, and it adds this intrigue as to wtf is going on, all you know is that you need to fight to get your memories back, and that a sisnister organization wants your power for something. All of re:com's lore is explained by other games. In re:com they still knew how to write an immersive story that with held information from the player, whereas in kh2 the first thing you do as sora is get an exposition dump explaining exaclty who, how, and why you need to fight, as well as a ton of tacted on lore. I'd say kh2 was the turning point for the storytelling, not re:com.

[@randomstuff-qu7sh]

@@Epicvampire800 My one criticism of COM gameplay was how luck based card aquisition was. My first time playing, my luck was horrible and I had a hard time due to extremely weak cards. When I tried again years later, I had much better card luck and stuff that had been impossibly difficult was almost too easy.

[@Epicvampire800]

@@randomstuff-qu7sh yeah that seems reasonable but i never encountered it probably because i spent a lot of time grinding just because the gameplay was fun. Overall its a very good game imo.

[@jbcatz5]

Kingdom Hearts 2 was the turning point. It introduced different plot threads that the various handheld games explored, and made the plot line and character tree so complex. Roxas, and his time in the Organisation as well as friendship with Axel was explored in 358/2 Days. Things like Aqua’s Keyblade armour, the Lingering Will and Braig are followed up in Birth by Sleep. The epilogue is resolved in re:coded, which in turn begins laying the foundation for Kingdom Hearts 3, as well as leading into Dream Drop Distance, which ties Days, Birth by Sleep and re:coded together and contextualises them for Kingdom Hearts 3.

[@photonalchemist6574]

Nah, imo the point of no return is dream drop distance. I'd say 80% of the story flaws from KH3 result from that game.

[@Noctis198]

I honestly feel like I am the only one who really likes Aquas voice.

[@jimpachi98]

Flip.555 I thought her voice actor was fine, same with Terra.

[@na5794]

She voiced by the actress who played Speedy on the CW's Arrow. They literally hired a CW actor and Terra? I dont even know what trash can they scrapped him out of. They must have spent their casting budget on Nimoy. So glad I played it in Japanese first, the cast was way better.

[@C-Mush]

her voice is fine but if she actually emoted at some point i think it would be better

[@Ncholasbloom]

to be fair though this was before she was on arrow back then she wasn't that well known however that implies the problem imo most of her lines had little to no emotion and i believe thats because it was her first role as a voice actress

[@TheAzulmagia]

She's okay, but her lines were so soulless in BBS. She got better in 0.2.

[@mattatattat7132]

Holy shit, this was like a less ranty and more informed version of Sequalitis

[@mrguy22494]

It's almost like the guy actually does his homework... Unlike Arin.

[@evilkingstanley]

+mrguy22494 Homework? Both this and sequelitis are literally just an individual sharing their thoughts and experiences to explain their opinions. Not really much homework to do for that.

[@mrguy22494]

Arin doesn't do this thing called "Research". He always just assumes things when he wants to make a statement. Just look at how he approaches Sonic games. Or, even better, how much do you want to bet that he's never even played Skyward Sword? Arin just bitches and moans about things he's either never played but heard about, or things that make things too difficult for him.

[@evilkingstanley]

Again, he literally just talks about his own personal experiences with a game or series, same as what BB did. There's no research to do for that.

[@mrguy22494]

Bloodybizkitz doesn't go out of his way to tell you that if like something then too bad, which is what Arin does. BB here said that if you like BBS, that's fine. But Arin is very much willing to go out of his way to say that his opinion is the only one that matters.

[@JuuriiBeats]

KH1`s story + KH2`s gameplay = Perfect KH game

[@karsten69]

KH3's graphics.

[@JuuriiBeats]

@@karsten69 kh2 graphics

[@karsten69]

@@JuuriiBeats nope, no matter how you slice it, KH3 looks better. But good graphics don't make a good game.

[@JuuriiBeats]

@@karsten69 BUT i prefer KH2 graphics, espiecially the overlay the overlay looks so unfinished tbh

[@uckbritley1305]

@@karsten69 KH3 graphics makes every character look like they're made out of clay

[@SoloRogueStudios]

Thanks for that little mention of Re:Coded; Re:Coded is easily one of my favorites in the series, gameplay wise, because it took the combat system from BBS and made it actually functional. Combos and commands are both equally viable and can be chained together really nicely, not like BBS where commands can't be used mid-combo most of the time and have so much starting and ending lag. I still like BBS and DDD for what they are, I'm just painfully aware of their flaws.

[@danielcapps3867]

Regarding Terra being willing to believe Master Xehanort so easily: Terra knew that darkness was in his heart. He didn't ask for it. He had been trained only to accept light, and yet the darkness found a place in his heart. He probably didn't feel like he could ask his master about it and so when Xehanort offered him answers, it was only natural that he was open to it. For those of us who understand what it's like to be told that you have to be a certain way because it's "the right way" this kind of trust is totally understandable. Xehanort was kind to him and gave him the truth. The darkness inside us will only grow and become stronger if we avoid it and push it down. Darkness (like difficult emotion) has to be channeled and understood. We never defeat our demons, we only learn to live above them. The true genius of Xehanort, was that he exploited Terra's vulnerability and used the truth to manipulate him.

[@khdayskh1314]

I need more analytical Kingdom Hearts videos...

[@matthewlee4834]

khdayskh1314 me too... Most of the Kingdom Hearts channels like GamerJoint and HMK can't put proper sentences together, much less make credible analysis videos on KH games

[@khdayskh1314]

***** I know right? Sure sometimes their content is somewhat interesting but it's nothing of real substance or something that's founded on something nonsensical.

[@animemountain5461]

Frustrated Jacob is your guy

[@SaberRexZealot]

OblivionTheTcgPlayer agreed that guy does great content

[@GerstnerBoi]

HMK's content has no value, most of his videos are just things that dont need to be videos, just so he can get his shitty ad revenue. Its low effort and has no value.

[@MoonlightWolfshep]

Even after all this time, I find myself returning to this video once again. From start to finish, the way you present information and then pick apart the series is captivating and each time, I forget that the video is even 50 minutes long. Hands down, one of the best videos out there for the KH fan base to watch.

[@Noelfriday]

... Atleast BBS has good music right? Everyone can agree on that I think

[@MrSanghelios]

Except for Disney Town. That world and it´s Mickey´s Band March Theme version can fuck itself.

[@jbcatz5]

The music is the one things that’s consistently been amazing across all the games. Gameplay, story, visuals etc will vary between games and players, but the music is always beyond fault.

[@surosregime7777]

Can not stop listening to future masters. My favorite bbs song

[@KingdomHeartsBrawler]

@@jbcatz5 Honestly, I think the music does a better job telling the story than the actual story does.

[@SaberRexZealot]

@@KingdomHeartsBrawler that goes double for the opening FMV cutscenes. So emotional and impactful without a word of dialogue. All visual.

[@xer0o0HASSAN_CHOP]

And yet mostly nothing was explained in kh3 Great job Nomura *WONDERFUL*

[@lavaxtris]

What wasn't explained?

[@zachtemoro2116]

Lavaxtris S everything. We still don’t know what Kingdom Hearts is, its not scala, and we have no idea what the power of waking or why its important. Why can’t we know :(

[@lavaxtris]

@@zachtemoro2116 Didn't you play DDD? You would know about the power of waking. Somebody put Kingdom Hearts like this: "The combined life-force of everything that exists. If you can somehow control that kind of power, congratulations, you are now God." It's basically a collection of hearts. Hearts of worlds, hearts of man, etc... it really doesn't matter. Basically when a collection of hearts is put together, a version of Kingdom Hearts forms.

[@TakeTheWorld21]

Xer0o0 HASSAN CHOP Admittedly, I kinda prefer BBS over KH3.

[@endurr1911]

Kh3 was more of a time for action if anything, they kind of just went off with what the plot left in ddd and did what they sought to do

[@DragonArbock]

I mean, you can call Terra and Ven stupid, but Sora's not been the brightest bulb either.

[@TimothyGod]

yea but for a different reason, terra causes all the problems by being dumb, and ven is very naive

[@Sentay0]

The japanese trope of the good hearted but dense as steel protagonist, is seriously the worst

[@MastaGambit]

In Kingdom Hearts, everyone is stupid except Goofy.

[@Palpad100]

@@TimothyGod the truly stupid character in birth by sleep is Eraqus. after being attacked by xehanort a few years later he invites him to the keyblade exam, putting him in close proximity to ven.

[@Puvwilmo00]

Especially in DDD. Not even Terra's stupidity in BbS was that frustrating to watch...

[@ThaRixer]

This was funny as hell dude, great work

[@darkutopia2711]

I was pretty sure that Sora actually got Riku's Keyblade that he was supposed to get from Terra, because when the Keyblade tried to find Riku, he was too close to the Darkness, so it chose Sora instead, seeing as he was kind and showed all the traits of a true Keyblade wielder. Then later, Riku actually DID master his own Keyblade because of the raw power and ability that he possessed, and his willingness to brave the Darkness and risk being lost to Oblivion just to save a friend.

[@darkutopia2711]

And Ven's Keyblade is the one wielded by Roxas. With the second being the fake that he got from Xion.

[@darkutopia2711]

Oh and also, great video btw. While I do love BbS, I did really enjoy hearing your opinions on it. It's always wonderful to get new insight into something that you have a strong opinion toward, especially if the insight is from someone who has different views. So thanks BB. Great job. ^.^ Alright, I'm done posting things on my comment now, I promise.

[@13EqualsB]

"Hey Jim?" "Yeah, Bob?" XDDDDDDDDDD

[@13EqualsB]

Seems very accuate for Square Enix

[@ruledbyvenus2041]

tsunderek looks like futaba

[@MrScottyTay]

The Keyblade did choose Sora though because his keyblade was originally Riku's, Him having Ven's heart allowed him to weild a Keyblade but it's not the reason why he has one. Once Riku started going towards the Darkness, the keyblade wasn't having any of it and moved over to Sora because he was worthy enough and good enough of heart to weild it.

[@johnpantag472]

No matter who the keyblade chose both would be able to wield a keyblade. Sora has ventus's heart and terra passed the keyblade to Riku.

[@rushzful]

10:11 It's like poetry, its sort of, they rhyme. Xehanort is the key to all this.

[@DitzyBear]

J a r J a r I s T h e K e y To A l l T h i s

[@kirbymaster5]

I think the change in gameplay you're complaining about isn't so much a "turning point" so much as it is a symptom of the KH series appearing exclusively on portables post-KH2. Was Chain of Memories a turning point? Of course not, the game just happened to be on GBA so it had to play completely differently. Nobody was expecting KH2 to have card combat after that. I think the same principle is in play here. Days and Re:Coded were DS games, they never had a chance of emulating what could be done on PS2, so they tried other approaches for those games. Again, no lasting impression on the direction of the series, just doing what was appropriate for the games' platform. With BBS and DDD on systems with more graphical fidelity, they COULD have taken made a more classic approach to the games and have them more closely resemble the originals, but consider how these games are structured. Both require playing through the game with multiple characters. The command deck helps to build up a repertoire of spells and abilities in a shorter amount of time than it takes in KH 1 & 2 , which is a good thing because no one character's storyline is all that long, and you have to start your progression all over when playing another character. Your concerns over the story, badly designed bosses and changed mechanics are still valid, but I don't think you can look at the design of all these games made for portables and assume that they effect the direction KH3 is heading.

[@Bl00dyBizkitz]

And yet BBS 0.2, a game made specifically for the console, feels and plays very similarly to BBS and DDD. Extremely clunky controls, horrible boss design, etc.

[@dmas7749]

+Bl00dyBizkitz Hey, at least it has 2's MP Charge system. I can say that's a step above BbS -also I like BbS but I don't like the command deck system either-

[@Thesuperduperbooster]

Bl00dyBizkitz I wouldn't say bosses suffer from similar situations like in BBS. Staggering enemies seems to be more common in 0.2 for example, and I'd say the issue with this is more that there's not much in this system atm. KH3 looks much more polished and full of much more content to use to deal with enemies. on top of that Sora and his style looks much smoother in play in KH3 compared to Aqua. 0.2 was definitely an improvement over BBS but it was clear they were trying to mix the two styles of gameplay too much.KH2 mechanics don't work in BBS design(though 3D felt less floaty and punishing like BBS)

[@TheRoxas314]

And now we all see what direction KH3 was heading hahaha

[@KingdomHeartsBrawler]

@@Bl00dyBizkitz I agree, and Birth by Sleep really has no excuse. It was originally a PS2 game, and it was nearly done until it was put on hiatus and then finished on the PSP.

[@samueljenney]

I couldn't agree more man, especially about KH1 having the better story. KH2 has the best combat system, but KH1 did its story so well.

[@LuffyxNamiisathing]

Oh the cringe dialogue and voice acting of kh1

[@caldw615]

@@LuffyxNamiisathing That's pretty common for video games of that era. 90's and early 00's video game voice acting wasn't the best. KH1 at the very least did bring back many of the iconic Disney actors to reprise their roles (Alice and Wendy even being voiced by the same woman who played them over 50 years ago as a kid) so by early 00's video game voice acting standards it was actually pretty good. Birth By Sleep came out in 2010 yet still has a lot of the KH original actors being really stilted and awkward outside of Hamill and Nimoy really, while the Disney actors still carried the voice acting like they had been since the first game. The quality for video game voice acting drastically improved by 2010 standards but BBS wasn't exactly on the upper end of VA quality for that time where as KH1 was for its era.

[@jbcatz5]

Terra spent years, at least four and probably his whole life, at the Land of Departure under the tutelage of Eraqus, who has a strict pro-Light anti-Darkness creed. Problem is, Terra has some of what his master deems heretical and doesn’t feel comfortable talking to anyone about it, so instead of confronting and overcoming his fears like Riku would later do he suppressed them, which to the surprise of no one makes the issue linger. Xehanort is offering him answers where no one else was, and also plays to Terra’s inferiority complex, like Palpatine tempting Anakin. To Terra there’s no reason to doubt Xehanort, as Eraqus never told his students about Xehanort’s shady interests and motivations. He could have told Terra, Aqua and Ventus that he got his scar confronting his old friend about risking an apocalypse for the sake of scientific curiosity. In a way, Eraqus is the one who makes the conflict happen. He keeps important information from Terra, Aqua and Ventus and even lets Xehanort into the Land of Departure for the Mark of Mastery exam, when he knows Xehanort is very bad news. He even lets Xehanort influence his view of Terra, which plays right into Xehanort’s gloved hands. His anti-Darkness creed gets drilled into Aqua so hard it continues to split the trio when they’re out among the worlds, Aqua’s ill-chosen words driving away Terra when he needs his friends the most, and when Terra straight up admits he has a problem, has done wrong and is willing to atone Aqua keeps telling him how he’s screwed up. And this is the last interaction between the two before the fateful battle at the Keyblade Graveyard, so that’s a long time of guilt for both of them on top of their ordeals over the next twelve years.

[@Flambingo]

All of this sounds fantastic. If only the game itself explored it.

[@bevvvy1374]

@@Flambingo Sucks that KH doesn't really explore how or why most characters feel the way they do. I think the most in depth we get is with the Days group and it made their friendship feel the most real to me. KH could be a LOT better if we just got more out of each character and reducing the cast size.

[@1992holycrap]

Honestly, Nomura really just needs to put actual writers in charge story-wise and put the KH2 team back in charge gameplay-wise.

[@DGenHero]

That team doesn't exist anymore. When they were going to make Versus 13, Tokyo Team (Nomura's personal team that made KH1-KH2) was basically wrung dry and spread out by Square Enix Management for other projects like building the Luminous Engine. The god damn director for KH1 was put into codding!

[@indedgames4359]

@@DGenHero the kh 1 director Was nomura too

[@indedgames4359]

Nomura is the onelyon who knews the lore of kh. He has a writersteam now that helps him but he will always write the final draft

[@matthewlee4834]

THIS RIGHT HERE

[@SpyroTheGerudo]

birth by sleep is not a bad game by any means, but I think it's understandable why it's both liked and disliked by people. KH1 is my personal favorite, but I still like this game for its gameplay and levels regardless.

[@dmas7749]

I'm in the majority and like KH2 more for its more fleshed out and diverse gameplay. Both are my favorite games of all time.

[@Gonalex]

why am i the only fucker that loves aquas voice acting? i wanna have love with her voice :/

[@zaqareemalcolm]

if anything, Terra voice acting is worse apart from the final cut-scenes with him. (though he's gotten better in 0.2)

[@matthewlee4834]

That's probably 'cause she's voiced by Willa Holland, who is sexy as hell

[@zaqareemalcolm]

Matthew Lee Her delivery was flat sometimes in BBS (especially in the disney world scenarios, like sometimes she sounds bored with the lines), but otherwise it's okay overall. Unlike Jason Dohring's Terra who sounded like piece of wood unless the scene calls for him to be a mad piece of wood where he's convincingly enraged.

[@gamerprince-tl5hg]

Gonalex Voice acting never meant much to me but I do have standards. If it's actually horrendous like Arc Rise Fantasia then yeah it's a problem

[@OniLink96]

Nothing really denies that Sora is a special case. There's certainly implication, but Ven's heart has been stated to have been dormant until the end of Days and I don't really think that Ven's heart had much to do with Riku's Keyblade jumping ship to Sora. The very first game also says without ambiguity that the Keyblade Sora received was supposed to be Riku's. Sora did, in fact, prove that he was more worthy than Riku. The Keyblade Riku received by the time The World That Never Was rolled around was one that Riku had to earn by himself. *Presumably*. It's not really clear how the cosmology of the inheritance ceremony works, but Riku lost his original Keyblade and I like to think that the universe wouldn't just give him a second one out of hand. Though I totally agree that the fact that everybody and their mother having a Keyblade cheapens it being very special in the first place and that the implications that Sora in particular isn't very special is troubling. I enjoyed BbS' story, honestly. I don't have any *major* qualms with it. But I do miss the Keyblade feeling like it was something special. Oh, but the whether or not Xemnas has a Keyblade thing is horse shit and one of the most glaring issues that I have with BbS. As for the gameplay, all that shit sounds about right. The dominant strategy is strong and the Cookie Clicker analogy was hilarious. I do really appreciate how levelly you talked about things. It's pretty clear that you hate the game, but I never felt like you were belittling me for enjoying it, even before your epilogue, and that's pretty rare. So thanks for that.

[@Deadflower20xx]

Tbh since the very first game we're shown the keyblade isn't as special as we're lead on to believe since we see Riku/Ansem using their own keyblade which functions exactly the same as a normal keyblade and is destroyed as soon as it touches Sora's heart.

[@Voltricity435]

right. maybe i'm bias here since i just got into the series recently and knew that tons of people would have a keyblade, but in kh1 it was clear that sora wasn't the only person to wield a keyblade. mickey had one, and yeah riku-ansem just made/summoned one to fight sora with, implying that maybe the keyblade isn't so special@@Deadflower20xx

[@Voltricity435]

i think xemnas not wielding a keyblade has to do with the fact to wield a keyblade you have to have a strong heart. Nobodies are born without hearts but can regrow one through connections. i think roxas is able to wield a keyblade because the combination of being sora's Nobody, and his connection and friendship with axel and xion let him grow a heart strong enough to wield a keyblade. in kh3 after defeating xemnas he says "my first surge of emotion in years." this implies that xemnas only had a small bit of a heart for a majority of his (non)exist stance, thus he was not able to wield a keyblade

[@WowThereBuddy1]

loved this video, but I wish you discussed the lack of meaningful exploration in every game after KH1.

[@GerstnerBoi]

but the exploration in kh 1 wasn't all that good and didn't add that much. I liked some of the exploration in DDD, its the best in my opinion.

[@jimpachi98]

GerstnerBoi agreed. Also the kh1 platforming was cancerous.

[@WowThereBuddy1]

I never said the platforming was good, but it provided meaningful exploration and an actual feeling of adventure that shallow rooms with different color pallets in 2 failed to do.

[@jimpachi98]

Fidelio 2 had no exploration, but it was much much prettier, and they learned from their mistakes since. Even with kh2fm, the cavern of remembrance is one of the best areas in the series, with puzzle-solving, smooth platforming, challenging enemies and interesting room design. Dream Drop Distance has the best Traverse Town with a TON of explorable space, and Birth by Sleep's Disney Town is pretty awesome too. The other handheld games didn't have this most likely because of hardware limitations.

[@jimpachi98]

Linacanin Mathis They do, at least in Final Mix. The growth abilities become fundamental for maneuvering the powerful post-game boss fights, including Data Roxas and Lingering Will. Not to mention how you were able to collect more puzzle piece items as you progressed in leveling your drive forms. And this movement was a lot more fluid

[@calebh373]

In Terra's defense, Xehanort's obviously evil appearance is only visible to us the player, while the other characters likely see him as a regular old guy. Not to mention that he was a well respected keyblade master.

[@Rex13013]

Caleb H Exactly, First of all they couldn't have try to portray him as a good guy because A his name is Xehanort and B he was shown before to be evil before. Plus is Eraqus' fault for not warning the trio about Xehanort beforehand, for trusting Xehanort again after what he did to him, seeing his darkness and knowing his plans; Terra at least trusted him because he was a trusted master and a friend of Eraqus.

[@laststrike4411]

I don't know man, that feels like a pretty crap excuse when earlier games had fourteen year old kids sniffing out most of their villains (Hell, even Riku at his worst had the brains to question Maleficent's motives).

[@tropicallad3962]

Watching this again after beating KH3, made me realize why it ended up being disappointing and not living up to that immense hype

[@1010otep]

You know it even hurts more when Birth By Sleep was contemplated as KH3 when 2FM happened

[@roxybiador6754]

ЩΉIƬΣ ƧПΛKΣ i know what you mean! i remember when the BBS “trailer” or the “teaser” came out and we all thought it was going to be KH3.... boy we were wrong

[@FrustratedJacob]

I love this video more than life itself.

[@SaberRexZealot]

Ayyyy, Jacob's here!

[@urmanascrewed]

21:48 Hey! That's you!

[@jkbobful]

were u even a fan of BBS

[@danzo143]

I thought you said the gameplay took a dive in kh2 but found good footing in bbs and 3d? Change of heart? :P

[@klatnyelox9140]

Yo! Never thought I'd see you here. Where are the KH2 LP videos?

[@ArcRogerr]

"Many say Birth by Sleep is a masterpiece..." I've never heard anyone say that, nor do I ever hope to lol

[@zaqareemalcolm]

Only really true for the early 2010s, I remember people really were saying that on a lot of KH boards

[@Profilejc98]

It was really common back in the day and still happens with some newer fans, it's one of the more popular games. I knew a guy in the first year of uni who sweared that KH3 should've followed the command-style gameplay of BBS, which he thought was superior.

[@cake6851]

Ever since the release of kh3 this video could not be more relevant.

[@About9000]

im glad somebody finally took this entry down a peg.

[@zaqareemalcolm]

Bruh people have been doing that since it got a wider release on the compilations for consoles, DDD too

[@bevvvy1374]

@@zaqareemalcolm Good. The series deserves better. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like the complaints have mattered at all

[@IncompleteMemory]

As someone who always felt like something was off about BBS without knowing why, this video has been incredibly useful in helping me understand what it was about it that made it less "magical" than KH1 and KH2 (and reassuring me that it wasn't just because i was losing the ability to have fun as i grew up), so thank you for this video.

[@sketchtheparadigmyork1217]

My first kh game was 358/2 days. Then BBS. Bbs gets an incredibly unfair amount of hate. I played kh1 and 2 in the following years and was left with a meh feeling.

[@ayahbatata2628]

OMG, SAME!! I played vanilla KH2 when I was about six years old, and that was the only KH game I had played at the time. Then, ten years later, I played KH1 for the first time, and replayed KH2 right after. I was so happy and loved them so much, that I wanted to marathon finish the entire series of games that same summer. But when I played BBS and DDD, I felt like I was having less and less fun. I thought it was just me, because I couldn't see any reason why I shouldn't have liked BBS and DDD as much as KH1 and 2, I couldn't put my finger on it, and I kept trying to delude myself into thinking that they were just as fun. I kept thinking that it was ME that was the problem. This video was honestly so freeing for me, and also kind of therapeutic in a sense.

[@MysteriousMusician33]

I got Kingdom Hearts 2.5 for Valentine's Day this year. The first thing I did was play Birth by Sleep. I played the original back when it came out, and missed it. I even played it on Critical this time because I'm better at games now. I died a lot, but I did enjoy it in the end. I'm doing all the hardest bosses with Ventus, but when I got to the point that I had the Ultima Weapon and ultimate shotlock, I thought it was time I played KH2 again. Played it on Critical mode. I hadn't played KH2 since I was in the 2nd grade, around 2007. At the time, I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't use magic. What if I run out? I rarely used Drive forms because I thought they would be hard to get back. I equipped every ability I could on Beginner mode. All I did was mash X. Why block or dodge when you could deal damage? I could get through the whole game using X and Triangle... Except for one thing. Sephiroth. I tried him so many times as a kid, and couldn't even damage him past a bar of health. This time, I played on Critical mode. I experimented with everything. I died a lot, but I eventually mastered each boss I came across. When I would overcome a boss, I felt great. I eventually got stuck in the Cavern of Rememberence, wanting to get the Ultima Weapon for the first time before defeating Xemnas. I got the weapon, but didn't beat the area. I defeated Xemnas. Then, I tried Sephiroth. I did... better than I did as a kid. On Critical! Yet I still died. So I tried again and again. Eventually I realized that I should probably get Once More and Second Chance before fighting him. So, I grinded in TWTNW for a while. I also unequipped Dodge Slash. Seriously, it sucks. Then, I tried Sephiroth. Over and over again. For hours. One more combo. One more combo. Sonic Blade (or whatever that rushing Limit command is called)!... Then I exploded. 10 years, hours of trying, and I won!! Then, I fought the Absent Silhouettes. Minus Zexion, who I already defeated. So I was kinda overleveled, since I choose the staff at the start, and grinded to get those two abilities, and I beat these guys in one shot. All of them.. Except Marluxia. Okay, I few more hours of fighting him and dying, and... YES!! Got him. I also beat the Cavern of Rememberence and made it to the Data Battles. It took a while to get all of that done, so I've been taking a break and playing other games, but I am excited to return to KH2:FM HD Remix. What I noticed in playing these games is that KH2 is more... rewarding. It feels so good to finally overcome bosses. When I beat Vanitas Sentiment, it didn't feel special. Throughout the fight, I would rage at stupid thing he would do, like the teleportation out of combos, or healing if you use anything besides potions, which don't give you leaf bracer, causing you to die in the middle of using them sometimes. I felt relieved that he was dead. I didn't want to fight another. I could fight the Mysterious Figure... or I could not. Yet, throughout Sephiroth's fight, I raged... at myself. Crap!! Why did I do that?... I should have known better... WHY DIDN'T I TRANSFORM, I COULD HAVE SAVED MYSELFWKQKSB... Oh no you don't! Sonic (thing)!! My deaths were my fault, and when I won, it felt amazing, and it made me want to fight more challenging bosses, especially when I heard that Sephiroth is considered one of the easier hidden/post game bosses, especially compared to the Data Battles and Lingering Will. I wanted to keep going!... though I was kinda tired, so I stopped. TL;DR/Point: I still love both KH2 and BBS, but I much prefer KH2 and... while it was one of my favorite games of all time, it is now very close to the top of that list. Possibly number one, though that isn't the easiest decision to make. After I beat the Data Battles and the Lingering Will, whenever that may be, I want to do a Critical LV1 playthrough. Even if it takes a few hours for each and every boss fight. It's so much fun overcoming those challenges, while BBS... well, this video explains a lot of it. Sorry for the rambling, and congrats to anyone who read this comment.

[@FEZ_gg]

Definitely do a Lv1 playthrough sometime! I'm working on my own right now, and that's when you truly appreciate how well designed the gameplay mechanics are. There are some moments that are BS, but I feel as though it's something you have to expect when playing with such a handicap. Regardless, Lv1 KH2FM brought KH2 from my least favorite game in the series up to one of my favorites.

[@PerpetualTman94]

There's more than one way to obtain a keyblade. You can obtain one by inheriting the power to wield one, yes, but you CAN actually be chosen to wield a keyblade by the keyblade. The keyblade, in essence, is more like different aspects of the same being. All keyblades are the same keyblade, but the different manifestations come about due to the personalities and hearts of the different wielders or even the different aspects of different worlds/realms. It's similar to spirituality, in how everyone is connected to Source, or the Godforce. Everyone in the KH universe can use a keyblade, but not everybody is CHOSEN to wield one because of how their heart is.

[@PerpetualTman94]

Sora's keyblade is the key for the Realm of Light. Originally, Riku was supposed to have that version of the keyblade. I think the keyblade tested both RIku and Sora to see which keyblade(s) would belong to who. I personally feel, if the keyblade was sentient, it chose Sora when it did on Destiny Islands because RIku went to Hollow Bastion (were the baddies were) and Sora ended up someplace safer where the power of the keyblade wouldn't be abused. Both had the power to use a keyblade, so when the Key went with Riku at the end of KH1, I think it was just trying to test both Sora and Riku's heart (mainly) because both grew to a level where they potentially could defeat the threat at hand by the end of the game-- unlike at the beginning. I think Riku was supposed to get the Realm of Twilight's keyblade once he started using the dark powers because the Realm of Light's keyblade is more for a heart of light. This brings me to conclude that where Sora passed his test, and gained the Kingdom Key as it's rightful owner, Riku lost his test and the ability to use a keyblade altogether until the end of Chain of Memories. (Also, the dark key in the Ansem/Riku fight was artificial and not a real one. It was constructed rather than obtained.)

[@WolframiteWraith]

According to DDD Riku doesn't have a keyblade of twilight, they don't exist. Only keyblades of light, darkness and heart and both Sora and Riku have keyblades of light.

[@Ashyson780]

Trust me shot locks are more OP than the command deck

[@notforvideos]

This video is amazing, it's a bit sad though when you've played KH3 and have experienced what a massive disappointment it is. Nomura learned nothing along the way.

[@domin4193]

Oh, fuck off. KH3 did everything right in my opinion, it tried to finish the story in the best way it could, and I personally feel like it did that well, and the gameplay was a perfect mix of all that the series had done. I agree that KH2 has more solid gameplay overall, but people act like KH3 is the worst game in the series because THEY expected things that were never promised in the first place, like critical mode and secret bosses, (which were added in ReMind btw) but somehow that’s the games fault that they had false expectations. And to that I say, fuck off.

[@joshbarthelmess4796]

I need a 10 hour version of the finger wiggle montage

[@xerohpoint431]

Great video, but I want to clear up a few misconceptions. The keyblade isn't passed down from person to person. The inheritance ceremony is a requirement to wield the keyblade. Wielding simply means being able to use it in battle like Kairi did in kh2. The inheritance ceremony is kinda like a security measure so that not anyone can steal the keyblade and use it. But to have your own keyblade a keyblade has to choose you. At first the keyblade sora has initially chose riku but then riku turned to darkness and his heart became weaker so it went to sora instead. After Riku learned to accept and control the darkness alongside light, another keyblade deemed him worthy and chose him, which is way to dawn. The game sets it up like there is only 1 keyblade per realm, but it is never actually said there is 1 keyblade for the realm of light. The keyblades are rare in the first game because there isn't suitable keyblade wielders. Nearly all of the keyblade wielders pereished in the keyblade war and it appears Eraqus, Yensid and Master Xehanort are the last few keyblade masters who can train pupils. TL;DR To have your own keyblade you need to fulfill two requirements: Have the inheritance ceremony performed, and have a keyblade choose you. Just having the inheritance ceremony doesn't mean you a guaranteed to have a keyblade or that a keyblade is given to you. PS: The reason why kairi had her own keyblade in Kh2 was because Riku actually split his keyblade in two and gave kairi one to use. Since Kairi had the inheritance ceremony when she was a kid, she was able to use the keyblade riku gave her to fight. But it isn't her keyblade, its rikus. How did riku just pull out two keyblades out of nowhere? He doesn't have two keyblades, he just has one but he splits it which is the same thing sora does when he goes into drive forms.

[@WolframiteWraith]

No, Sora can wield 2 keyblades because of Ven's heart. It's not him splitting it. Where did that idea come from?

[@NaraNaoko1]

I agree with @SapphireShield . Is it ever explicitly stated in game that Riku split his keyblade to give one to Kairi?

[@KingdomHeartsBrawler]

I'd hate to say this, but the fact that you had to write a mini-essay to explain inconsistencies and odd moments in the story kind of proves Bl00dyBizkitz's point about what the KH story has become.

[@BinaryDood]

Sry peeps, Nomura is a hack. He should have kept just making those cool drawings for the sprite based Final Fantasies.

[@Tamacat388]

Yes he cares about things looking cool first and goes back to try and make sense of it later which explains everything in Kingdom Hearts better than and ultima book or whatever.

[@Powerman77775]

Screw you

[@dmas7749]

He really should stick to designs. Yeah the characters can look ridiculous but he has some genuinely awesome designs for them. As a writer, like, an actual story writer? He's what most people would call "fanfic" level, not to insult fanfics, but Nomura really comes off as having little experience.

[@astrocyborg]

not his fault gamers today can't pay attention to deep stories in jrpgs

[@aagh8714]

@@astrocyborgmaybe niggas would pay attention if he'd throw goodass plot in the game

[@EternalLovefield]

I love Birth By Sleep, it's my favorite in the series. Crazy how people can have such different experiences with the same media.

[@jbcatz5]

Ven is understandable as he’s only got four years worth of memories and those four years have only been spent sheltered at the Land of Departure, where Eraqus has deliberately kept him sheltered. The only characters he’s spent any decent amount of time around are Terra and Aqua, who aren’t very worldly either, and Ven defining his happiness through his friendships with them is perfectly logical. It’s like the infamous ice cream line in 358/2 Days, where the context is that Roxas doesn’t have the emotional understanding to equate friendship with more than just sitting on the station tower with Axel and Xion eating ice cream. If you look at Ven’s storylines he’s most reacting to events rather than initiating them (the Disney shenanigans don’t help either, as all three end up making the Disney plot happen most of the time). Terra gets pinned for being a bad judge of character, but in half the situations he finds himself in Ven would make the same choice, as would Aqua. What doesn’t help either is that we’re seeing the characters in crisis mode, events aren’t business as usual. Kingdom Hearts 2 showed us in the prologue what Roxas believed his normal life to be, so that when things take a turn for the weird we too are confused and disoriented. By seeing Roxas happily settle into the station tower ice cream routine with Axel and Xion we feel when things start spiraling and the tragic end to 358/2 Days draws nearer, making the freak out Roxas has even more emotional. Birth by Sleep gives us only a handful of interactions, all relevant to the plot in the opening sequence and in flashbacks to show what the characters risk and end up losing. It’s a big example of show don’t tell, and our emotional investment just isn’t as invested as it is for groups like Sora/Riku/Kairi or Roxas/Xion/Axel because we haven’t been able to invest in what we want to see restored. We’re told they’re close friends, but because the events of the game set them at odds for plot reasons and the breakdown of their friendship is a major plot point, we have only the aforementioned opening sequence and flashbacks to show this. Sora, Riku and Kairi building and assembling supplies for the raft didn’t contribute to anything plotwise, but established the character dynamics between them as well as foreshadowing later plot beats. It induces plot induced stupidity for the sake of justifying the storyline and the three campaign play feature. Aqua could suggest she and Ven look for Terra together, as they meet up in Enchanted Dominion and Radiant Garden, but each time Aqua’s insistence that Ven go home splits them apart again.

[@C4DNerd]

At the very least, I appreciate the sentiment you left with at the epilogue. Especially the remark of "I would never tell you that you played the game the wrong way." This is what has irritated me the most out of most people who rag on BBS gameplay while praising KH2's is that they somehow think they are objectively right when in reality, it is all an opinion. Even if you provide reasons for your opinion, it is still just an opinion. So I appreciate that at the very least you seem to understand that. Here's my two cents though. The reason why critics (and myself) say that BBS is not a button masher in the way that KH2 was is that BBS encouraged you to create and experiment with various commands in your comment deck. Yes, you were always pressing triangle, but it was with a specific purpose to select a very specific attack. The problem with KH1, and KH2 (and is a reoccuring problem with 0.2 and from the trailers I've seen of KH3) is that there are many attacks that you really can't choose to select. A lot of attacks like Ars Arcanum, Sonic Blade, and other really cool attacks are opened up seemingly at completely random occurrences in those games, whereas in BBS/DDD it is an active choice to select those attacks. This more than anything is why I find the Command Deck to be far more engaging than KH1 and KH2's combat. I will admit that after watching several videos about KH2, there is a lot more to the system than what might seem on the surface... but the problem is that KH2 does nothing to encourage you to dig deeper, nor does it incentivize you to really experiment. You can literally win the game by jumping, spamming X to attack, and then pressing triangle for the reaction command. The game even encourages this behavior in the 1000 Heartless army battle where you can literally win that entire battle without getting a single scratch simply by spamming the triangle button. It also heavily discouraged you to really use magic because if you ever healed or used a limit, it would deplete your entire MP bar (again, something I'm not fond of returning in 0.2 and KH3). By causing "cure" or limits to deplete all your MP, you're not discouraging players from using "cure" too much or from using too many limits, you're punishing them by making any other magic spell inaccessible. This is another reason why I found the system in BBS to be much better because every single skill simply reloaded, which prevented spamming. Obviously in your video you showed that you can still find ways to spam if you choose to level up the speed of your command bars, but you do honestly have to actively work on that in order to really get it to level up that quickly. In fact, judging from your footage it looks like your command deck really didn't reload that quickly until you were of a high enough level to be in the secret episode in Final Mix. Regardless, those seem to be more the exception rather than the norm. Whereas with KH2, if I see that both limits and Cure take up all my MP and the base spells for Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, etc. are really not that good, why in the world would I ever choose to even bother with the other spells? Sure some of those spells get really good later in the game, but at that point it is too late because the game already ingrains in your head, "Other magic spells are useless, just use limits and Cure." If it wasn't for KZbin videos, I never would have even known about the exploits that you can make with BBS/DDD nor would I have known that KH2 (at least Final Mix) has deeper mechanics that make the game more interesting, and... to be honest, I don't see that as a good thing. If you need to really look deep down and go out of your way to find exploits to "prove" why you think a certain battle system sucks, then maybe the flaws of that said game are really not as big of a deal as you all claim they are. And then when referring to KH2, if the game itself fails to encourage me as the player to look deeper into the game in order to find gameplay mechanics that actually make the game enjoyable, then I'm more inclined to believe that the "deeper mechanics" are more like happy accidents than anything else. To give some more context, I had about 4 friends in High School and all 5 of us owned PSP's and got Birth by Sleep at the same time. We would often play at the school library and play multiplayer or even just play singleplayer and just observe how the other player played. And what amazed me was how all of us had unique strategies and used different commands/command decks in order to win our battles. Neither strategy was necessarily better than the other, but they all provided different solutions and each gave this sense of "player choice" - that every player can play the game however they wanted to. However, whenever all of us talked about our experience with KH2, it was always the same. All of us all played KH2 in the exact same way - just spamming X, spamming reaction command, jumping, and healing occasionally. And that is because KH2, though it may have some deeper mechanics, never once encourages you to experiment with them or discover them - at all. BBS on the other hand, welcomed it and encouraged it. TLDR: While KH2 might have some mechanics that are deeper than what's on the surface level, I feel that the game does a poor job at encouraging players to really experiment and discover any of these deeper mechanics, whereas I feel BBS has constantly encouraged experimentation and learning all the mechanics (yes, I'm aware of the secret bosses as you've mentioned in this video, but the issue I take with this video is that you label them as the standard when in reality they are really the exception, not the rule - most of the game does a good job at encouraging you to meld together, discover, and use new commands) I know this was a long comment, but I hope that this helps you to understand better as to why people do love Birth by Sleep and consider it to be more fun than KH2. (especially because the reasoning you gave in the video for why you think we enjoy it came across as very shallow and honestly an uneducated view as to why people actually enjoy it). If you happen to read this entire comment, I do appreciate you taking the time for it.

[@Skywardflare758]

C4DNerd I’d go a step farther and say II actively discourages experimentation. Sure there’s deep and interesting mechanics, but they’re buried under a lot of crap. You have 3 resources in battle with MP, Drive, and items. MP is linked to magic and limits while Drive is linked to Forms and Summons. This system is well balanced and locks your powerful abilities behind trade offs. The catch comes in going into the game blind. Cure drains all of your MP, and on early play throughs, most players will be hit a lot, and MP recharges slowly in the first half of the game. Sure items help alleviate that, but that require putting money/synth materials into them or farming, and they’re finite for the encounter and drain other resources to restock out of battle. Being in MP recharge locks out magic and limits, unless you spam ethers/elixirs. Using limits while still learning the bosses locks you out of Cure. Limits tend to be poorly explained by the game as well, requiring experimentation for each one/a guide to figure out, and leave you limited after use. Sure once you get the hang of the ins and outs of the system and the fights it’s excellent, but before that it feels extremely limiting, especially in higher difficulties. At least MP recharges fast and automatically. The Drive mechanics are so much worse in that regard. Sure they’re extremely well balanced when figured out (barring certain exploits), but figuring them out is painful. First, Drive takes quite awhile to fill up without recoveries (which thankfully were buffed in FM, it was so much worse in vanilla). Next, Drive Forms need to be leveled to unlock movement abilities. 3 of the 5 don’t level in boss fights, and that’s assuming you ever learn how to get Final Form. At the very least, Drive Forms have their abilities on the ability menu and are intuitive to figure out (barring maybe how to level them, I don’t remember if that was described in game). Unfortunately, we then run into Anti Form, which is never explained and discourages spamming Forms... which need to be leveled for abilities. The boss fight multiplier doesn’t help thing. And leveling the Forms can be a massive pain if you don’t know the two important exploits in the Drive refill (exiting a world or entering a party member area while in a Form or using a Summon) and using the Form out of battle to avoid Anti Form. And then there are Summons, which the game does a piss poor job at explaining. Leveling them is a pain if you don’t use an exploit, and most of their mechanics are up to the player to figure out, while using a valuable resource in the Drive Gauge, which is also used for Forms that offer much more clear benefits in combat and long term (with the movement abilities). A minor gripe I have is going through all the menus. You have one menu for equipment and items. Another menu to customize party members and set magic shortcuts. And a third menu for for abilities. Changing up what build I’m using felt needlessly cumbersome. Birth By Sleep on the other hand actively encourages experimentation. There are 3 different characters with enough differences to encourage different builds on each. Fusing commands is a key form of progression and the ability system encourages trying new things. The commands need to be leveled for fusion, so it encourages using them as well (without discouraging another mechanic). D-Links and Shotlocks are very clear on how they work. Each character has four decks for quickly swapping around builds. It supports both fast and efficient play styles and grinding out early game. Multiplayer also encourages screwing around with the system. Yes, KHIIFM has the better combat system after learning the ins and outs. Yes, BBS can be broken pretty easily. However, I’d say BBS does a much better job at presenting itself and actually encouraging the player to use the different systems while IIFM does the opposite. I think that part of the design of both games is often overlooked and important to take into consideration, especially when most people don’t play through each game 5+ times.

[@KWHere2]

@@Skywardflare758 When I was younger, I avoided using magic at all in KH2 because I knew if I ran out of MP I couldn't use cure and I'd be fucked. At the same time, once I got Magnega and Thundega in BBS and the Magic haste crap all the way leveled my command deck was literally magnega thundega in alternating order for as man slots as I had, with like a curega at the end for safety. And that's all I did. So I think the hard truth of the matter is both you and biscuits is right. KH2 might have the better battle system, but it is by no means new user friendly, and BBS is so simple and easily exploitable that it can turn the whole thing completely mindless.

[@bevvvy1374]

@@Skywardflare758 It just seems like you and OP do not like experimenting until it becomes a forced part of the gameplay because you were too lazy to figure out what stuff does. Drives are insanely simple to learn. Use them in a fight with random heartless, use all your shit, and see what happens. Pretty simple. Same with magic and even summons. It's not that the game discouraged you, it's just that you were too lazy because you thought the game was too easy. I played on critical and a lot of the times during boss fights, I had to figure out the timings of attacks to reflect/block, manage my MP bar as to use magic but also be able to use Cure with the last sliver of MP, and see if drives could help me out in some circumstances. Sure you could criticize KH2 for being easy enough on normal to let you be able to mash x through the game, but it's a children's game. What do you expect when you play on normal. The way I look at it, is that KH2 gives you these cool toys to play with, and let's you do what you want with them. It's akin to BBS, but it doesn't force it down your throat. Learning what stuff did on my own was a part of the fun.

[@sh4d0wfl4re]

@@bevvvy1374 As someone who loves kh2's drives, I actually would say that the game does discourage you from trying to power-level them. because using them did use a precious resource that was not easy to come by (such as mp) I was encouraged to separate training my drive forms from my normal gameplay. I like training binges, so this was fine for me. However, anyone whom doesn't like going in circles to farm enemies near a resource restoration point (many jRPGs have this sort of grind) is liable to simply skip out on KH2's drives, or at least leveling them up. Meanwhile drives in BBS progressed in ways that encouraged people to experiment with the combos leading into the drives, as doing so gave you better finishing moves and didn't require you to switch from an "I am exploring this world" mode into a "I am going in circles to power-level my new underleveled abilities" mode. I personally beat more of KH2's superbosses, since me and my brother would trade off in facing them I have not beaten all of them myself, and BBS didn't encourage me to even try to find all of it's post-game and so I wasn't rewarded for any mastery of BBS's battle system in the way I was for KH1 and KH2. In fact a mechanic I sorely missed in KH2 was the Tech Exp gained for using smart or tricky moves in battle, if KH2 had Tech points I think I would have tried to learn more of the summon and magic systems before I got to power-gaming type replays, heck if antiform wasn't a reward for my brother and I, I don't think we would have ever found out about final form w/o a guide. We both wish they had given a way to simply go into antiform after gaining final form... Though I am quite glad the Tech Points did a great job teaching us about the tempo of combat and enabled us to find the counterpoints for enemy attack patterns. Because without learning that in KH1, KH2 would have been unable to teach us the finer points of combat. (outside of pure trial and error) So yes, KH2 was the better game overall, but the things BBS did right were among the things KH2 did wrong. I hope kh3 does a good job integrating BBS's ability system, KH3D's flowmotion system, KH1's counter/technique system and KH2's attack combo system.

[@Kermthefrog]

Balloonra, balloonra, balloonra, cure, balloonra. Such deep gameplay choices.

[@ShawnDaniel]

I'm glad to see someone loves Kingdom Hearts 1 as much as I do lol.

[@kretesWMV]

14:15 Considering that Goofy was the first character to get a close up during the Let-It-Go part in KH3, this is kinda prophetic.

[@mitchfinn6690]

Bloody, please make an analytical video like this on KH3! Now that it’s out, it deserves to be studied by a top speedrunner.

[@MrSuperAJ]

You totally called let it go in KH3

[@evanwilken8633]

Watching this video after playing Kingdom Hearts 3 makes me sad. I wish Osaka could see this video and rethink their battle systems in future games.

[@Underfist101]

I agree with a lot of what you said; but here's something from my perspective. I kind of like that Sora's not the chosen wielder of 'the one and only Keyblade' and instead the Chosen wielder of one of many Keyblades - that only chose him out of necessity at first. Because it humanises him, he's just a kid who got given this amazing power. I was just a Kid, witnessing this other kid defeat all my childhood villains! Fucking sick, sign me the fuck up! And, when the time comes, Riku takes the power back. And then, because he's kind and whatnot the Keyblade does indeed choose him - you earn it rather than having bestowed upon you. He just gets chosen later in the game. (Also, side note: Am I the only person to enjoy 358/2 Days? ahaha)

[@dmas7749]

I used to like Days but I've gradually been losing interest in it. I still want to 100% it (even though some challenges are a total fucking nightmare), but if I asked myself that now...having to mash A while doing chip damage to a boss...I would sadly have to say not really.

[@ImaTroper]

D MAS The days video game isn't that great, but the days manga is amazing. Favorite part of the story in the series if I'm being honest.

[@dmas7749]

I still have yet to read the mangas though it's on my to-do list.

[@ImaTroper]

D MAS Most of them are okay, but they're weird. They add A LOT of jokes and even plot points that aren't in the game (like a bald vexen clone that secretly escaped castle oblivion. Wut?) But it also makes the cast more expressive, which helps characters like roxas, xion, and kairi since they aren't just sitting there with a thousand yard stare all the time.

[@zachanikwano]

D MAS Believe me, I 100% Days. Challenges were a pain in the butt, and the very last thing I had to finish.

[@iSuckAtGamesGG]

Fun fact: square actually told Nomura to make the kh story complicated cause "people wouldn't like the simple story" or something like that

[@MasterofTheUniverse1337]

Great Job Nomura……🤦🏻‍♂️

[@ExpresiveGamer]

I love BBS so much, but we all got to recognize that all you speaked was on point, great vid

[@midshipman8654]

i think the IDEA of the command deck is absolutely fantastic if nothing else. its basically an advancement on final fantasy’s atb (active time battle) system that instead of waiting on individual turns, you weight on indivigual actions within those turns. I think the idea itself has a lot of potential if nothing else. The thing with the atb system though was that it usually still had mp costs and item usages you had to balance.

[@alexkey1930]

Something that you got wrong in this video is the part about sora only being able so use the keyblade because of ventus, sora was chosen by the keyblade in kh1 and then in kh2 he learned to use a second keyblade, that one is indeed because of ventus, but the first one that made sora special did choose him so that part of the lore hasn't changed.

[@theredcoffee1019]

I love KKBBS, but I haven't realized all this. This video was great at looking at the whole series in a different way.

[@mastervidxad5883]

This video became relevant again thanks to KH3. God damn, such a disappointing ending to a saga.

[@TemplarBlonic]

Great game in my opinion, and I had a few tears dropped, but that ending was actually angering.

[@diiii_mond]

Master Vidxad 58 Now that I think about it, this game -storywise- was bound to fail. Complex as fuck plot of 6 other games that are closely tied into does not help at all and whoever the writer and director of the game series is just so bad. Like seriously. It’s not good.

[@stashallemagne4488]

@@diiii_mond the point is that All the exciting stuff happened at the end and it mostly seemed random. We should have gotten back way earlier but still in a weakened position after all the years and darkness getting a hand on her. Then get before the last few worlds ventus back which could have introduced vanitas to sora and pals. Roxas could have been earlier put into the story if they clashed with xion earlier and pull xion out of the organization. Making the replacement members useful since the seekers of darkness lost one member and Terra I am fine with his moment in the final battle

[@Vampiric_Kai]

@@stashallemagne4488 That was the most convoluted paragraph I have ever read. Please! GRAMMAR

[@stashallemagne4488]

@@Vampiric_Kai not native english speaker.

[@tryashtar]

After you said you favor gameplay over story, I wasn't expecting that absolutely perfect analysis of why BBS's story was so bad, not only on its own but also as it integrates into the whole series. A good story is so much more than a set of plot points. You captured the beauty of KH1 superbly -- it's compelling, engaging, the stakes are high and the thrill of adventure is real. When I first saw BBS, years after finishing KH2 as a kid, I was just confused as to why it wasn't about Sora. This can't be official right? All these random people have keyblades, but Sora is the keyblade master, right? Unfortunately that wasn't the case. Does BBS bring anything useful to the table story wise? I guess it's the backstory for Xehanort, but he's already an old guy here so there's still more untold. And it just completely ruins everything interesting about the keyblade. In KH1, it was this legendary weapon, the only thing that could stop the relenting heartless, and had the unique power to seal the keyholes. Now keyblades are literally just swords. They don't even look like keys anymore. The convolution of the story doesn't bother me too much, but the expanse of it does. I don't care in the slightest about the ancient keyblade war, the master of masters, or Aqua, Terra, and Ventus to be honest. Sora will be the main player in KH3, but he better start to feel like the main character again. Even Yen Sid and Mickey have overstayed their welcome as "wise pros who are way better than Sora." Maybe it's childish for me to want Sora to be the strongest character on the good side, but hey -- it worked in KH1 and KH2.

[@2401blue]

I can't help but be curious: what do you feel on the matter after III? Even though he wasn't necessarily treated that way all of the time, it seemed to me that Sora was just about the only character accomplishing everything for most of the game, even with its huge cast.

[@tryashtar]

@@2401blue Sorry, I didn't see your reply until now. It's a bit late but I'll respond anyway :P You're right, Sora was definitely the primary proactive force moving the plot along during KH3. And honestly I was pretty happy with that decision, although I can totally understand fans of other characters being frustrated. I do think there were a handful of cases where the writing gave an opportunity for another cast member to take the spotlight, but it backed off really abruptly. Mostly I'm thinking of scenes like Riku and Mickey accomplishing nothing in the realm of darkness like four separate times, and the infamous scene where literally nobody does anything while Terranort kills everyone. It almost felt like a really unsatisfying bait-and-switch, where you're expecting someone to step up and do something hype, but instead it's just Sora's responsibility to fix two scenes later. (Okay, zettaflare kinda scratched that itch, but it really just showed how weird it was that only Donald of all characters got a cool moment) On the other hand, the keyblade graveyard fights I thought incorporated Sora perfectly. You're still playing as him, and you get to see/interact with all the org members and the guardians without overpowering their part of the story. Like Aqua and Ventus vs Terranort, or Xion and Roxas vs Saix. If Sora did those fights alone, it would be really weird and out of place. If Sora wasn't there, it would be missing closure. So I think that was a good decision, it doesn't undercut anyone. So I guess I can refine my last statement from the old comment: it's definitely not a fun time when Sora has to babysit everyone and do their jobs for them. But I do think it's important that he plays a role in most of the big moments. KH3 definitely achieved the latter to my satisfaction, but unfortunately the former got pretty pronounced at times, which I think nobody likes to see.

[@2401blue]

@@tryashtar That's a very thoughtful reply, thank you for your time. :> Sora's surprisingly divisive as a character, so I'm glad that aspect of KHIII worked well enough for you.

[@brakekobos]

Damn, the Frozen joke was nearly prophetic

[@vehlen2595]

I know I’m a little late to the video. But if I was Xemnas, I’d much prefer Lightsabers that I can manipulate to shoot thousands of lasers, over a keyblade.

[@TheDeeTavares]

This is why i'm wary about KH3 because Osaka team

[@Uniphication]

I really think KH3 has a chance to pick up the slack in terms of its individual story and immersion. Not just saying that out of a place of hope. I think the series is set up for Sora to have the feeling of a working force against him from the get-go. Dream Drop Distance kinda felt that way from Young Xehanort, but obviously it fell extremely flat with the Disney Worlds. Some of the worst feeling of immersion in Disney Worlds in the series by far. But in Kingdom Hearts 3, we know Master Xehanort is our biggest enemy, and we know that he's going to be trying to string us along to lead us into battle. As long as they make sure to give Master Xehanort (and his vessels) a purpose in the Disney Worlds and do their best to incorporate the Disney Worlds into the story, then I think Square has their best opportunity since KH1 to create a feeling of the Disney Worlds being meaningful. If they make the whole game feel like the second half of KH2, with various Org. members showing up in different worlds, then I think KH3's story has potential to be great. As you said, one can only hope.

[@Deadflower20xx]

Aged like milk tbh

[@naughtmeinam4603]

Alas, it was not so.

[@johnpantag472]

@@Deadflower20xx what? It's the compete opposite that happened.

[@saandyyvh6682]

your bit on the Lingering Will made me want to start fighting him. (just one battle at a time...learn from your mistakes...)

[@caifabe8050]

5:24 - 5:28 the timing is great on its own, but Bl00dy's comedic delivery of "he just fucking killed someone" is what makes this part so funny.

[@soha7617]

Can I just say, I really like the way you present your videos. Your way of laying things out in the intro, developing the concepts that you brought up throughout the video and wrapping it all up at the end is a textbook formula. It makes your videos really clear and concise, which I love!

[@choud-cc]

6 years later still such a good video

[@calandula2007]

I really thought you were a KH fanboy, but that's not the case. I enjoyed the video so much, your arguments were pretty solid.

[@hidekihbr]

@The_Pot_Dragon people like to lick the balls of people who are in the top, smh

[@hidekihbr]

@The_Pot_Dragon while I do agree that mostly all his points referring to kh bbs are very good, most of his arguments about the plot are purely misconception of his(probably due to his hierarchy)

[@hidekihbr]

@The_Pot_Dragon it is lol

[@VoltronKnight]

this same video can be applied to KH3

[@TheCookyKommi]

About their friendship, to me it's just like Roxas, Xion and Axel. They've been trained their whole life on this island (except for Ven but he can't remember what happend before) . They were taught that defending the Light is most important and as you can see, all 3 of them want(ed) to be keyblade masters. To them friendship is talking about their strengh, being like they are and stuff. Remember when Roxas said "Who else will I have ice cream with?"? Its because to him eating ice cream with people he liked was friendship. Sora, Riku, Kairi and Axel/Lea all had kind of a life we know. Going to school, having parents, talking to random people... Of course they have a larger personality.

[@TheCookyKommi]

Otherwise, the video was good.

[@SomniaCE]

While BBS is definitely where the series begins going absolutely wild with the plot, I don't think it is BBS' fault. Nothing about it really feels like Nomura writing himself into a wall or anything wild like that. It tells a compelling personal tragedy and gives us a great background to some things that go on in KH1 and KH2. The problem really does come from some scenes feeling rushed or half-hearted which can make the story on paper stronger than the story you physically witness occur and how DDD really decided to lean into time travel super fucking hard. I also just really feel like outside of BBS's wonky sense of progression and some issues like stagger it is a fine game. The main game is a wonderful experience with solid setpieces and what feels like a perfect run time. It incorporates Disney arguably better than any game outside of maybe KH1 and has protagonists I actually appreciate beyond being a bland avatar like Sora. The battle system's issues don't have a ton of time to grate on a player for the 8-10 hour run time of a single character's story and each character does feel unique enough to feel fun and fresh for that initial runtime. If the command melding system was better fleshed out (maybe gating certain abilites from being meldable until certain parts of the story/endgame to give better progression), abilities were handled in a better way and things like animation cancels were implemented on more moves I think BBS would be a strong contender for the best in the franchise. Sure it has its issues but I think a lot of hardcore KH2 fans like to forget that for 99% of players that game is just mash x to win and abuse how broken limits, magnet and reflect are. What depth it has is entirely useless to anyone but speedrunners and challenge playthroughs as even the endgame fights can be leveled past and mashed in pretty successfully with even basic knowledge of how revenge works. I love KH1 and KH2 but they are entirely too gassed up.

[@xXLunatikxXlul]

True. I hate DDD to be honest

[@kazukimoto12]

This is one of the best analysis/critiques of Kingdom Hearts I've seen in a while. I was just looking through your uploads for another good run, and ended up with something soooo much better.

[@solaireofludomedia1323]

The effort you used in this video surely is something great. I don't agree with a lot of stuff you said here, but I think that, after almost two years, you won't be here to listen what I should say (BbS in particular); I'll leave you a like for the work you did, even if I don't agree with most of the things you said. I hope you'll answer me and listen to what I have to say, but I know everyone has a life full of things and problems that are such great that I already know that you won't be here to read this. Still, thank you for this video, everything you had to say, you did it perfectly

[@KingdomHeartsBrawler]

All very good points. My only gripe is you got Days's release date wrong. Days came out before Birth by Sleep did. In my opinion, 358/2 Days was the last decent game in the series. It's FAR from perfect, but I'd take it over the 2010s KH games. Definitely.

[@casualvanilla]

While 358/2 Days is a terrible game, it at least feels in line with the three games that precede it. Tonally, it's more or less like Kingdom Hearts II.

[@KingdomHeartsBrawler]

@@casualvanilla I agree. The gameplay isn't all that great, but the presentation and tone are still in line with what came before, as you said.

[@orlandofurioso7329]

Re:Coded, while being the most unnecessary game, had way better combos than BBS

[@JohnSmithson999]

This video is brilliant and explains why I love the first game as much as I did when I was a child. Thank you for this!

[@Skychord-ux1is]

The biggest bummer for me has to be the origin of Disney Worlds. They said that all was swallowed in darkness until the light of children's hearts restored the worlds. I loved that idea. It implies that the children rebuilt the worlds from their innocence and that they manifested as Disney Worlds because that's what inspires kids! (And the occasional young at heart teens that explains FF characters in the mix lol)

[@Skychord-ux1is]

But now it's actually because of the dumb foretellers who you don't care about and their stupid future book

[@rinassenpai5624]

awh what.. aquas voice actress is my favorite. I thought she did an excellent job.

[@DMTInfinity]

As a huge fan of Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep's story. I agree with most your points here. Fantastic video, homie..! And to add, you're extremely funny too..! 😂

[@tezz2698]

It's both funny and sad how much relatively small changes would have improved the game.

[@edwardlivingston9651]

Yea Terra/Anakin Skywalker theme is correct both submit to the dark and they both pay a heavy price, they both loose the people they loved, and both become trapped in suits of armour