My Changed Kingdom Hearts Opinions

[@RegularPat]

Happy Thanksgiving if you're celebrating 🦃 Incredibly thankful for this community and everyone I've met in it. Just wanted to plug those videos I referenced toward the end right here: damo279's Union X dub: kzbin.info/www/bejne/foO4pWunZ66qiJY Bio's Character Psychology series: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHO2pnd8gZ2od80 Sonny's Brainteaser: The Basement Incident: kzbin.info/www/bejne/faHWcoiLfJisoas

[@TheBigGlober68]

You're my 149th favourite KZbinr who has a name called Patrick and is Regular.

[@KiraSlith]

It is some massive chad energy, to directly address irrational hate, point out in fine detail why it's irrational, and then double up by lowering it another tier. Nice. Also glad someone else dislikes D3 as much as I did, but can actually put it into words beyond "it doesn't feel right".

[@roxaskinghearts]

i lost all respect for kingdom hearts not bringing their game to steam so i guess disney owns kingdom hearts to such a existent its going to be on epic get ready for 20$ skins and playing as peter griffin thru kingdom hearts 4 that is a fortnite exclusive

[@TealOpal]

My crowning moment as a part of the Pat Community was donating $20 on stream to make Pat post "Dream Drop? What a Game!" on his KZbin Community tab. Knowing that he likes the game even less now makes it even funnier. Great video as always Patthew!

[@Yozzoy]

Based Opal, common Regular Pat W. Gotta love it when two kings interact 👑👑

[@jacklansdale77]

Not me scrolling down and seeing this comment as soon as he starts talking about DDD

[@JoshtheOverlander]

I would actually love to turn this into a thread for "Proudest Contributions to the Community" thing. That sounds like fun. From fanmade Keyblades to fanfics to support for theories and discussions.

[@joshua2400]

I hope youre having a great day, Jesus the good Lord-God loves you my friends : )

[@Frootoon]

Starting discourse at Thanksgiving dinner like "No please, explain to me why you think the KH2 prologue is bad"

[@ezekielanderson9055]

Because it’s way too long and boring

[@RegularPat]

@@ezekielanderson9055 throwing cranberry sauce directly at u

[@decayedphoenix8865]

​@@ezekielanderson9055agreed

[@JSeedProductions]

I don't even like KH2 that much (compared to the rest of the series, I still love the game), but the prologue is the best part of the game and one of the best parts of the entire series.

[@gengargamer5657]

Because while the story it has is good, the gameplay falls pretty flat

[@TheAzulmagia]

An often underlooked aspect of Xaldin is that he's one of the few Organization members who doesn't refer to Sora as "Roxas" at any point. Usually the other Organization members that don't follow that trend have met Sora before, like Xemnas or Axel, or simply predate Roxas' proper KH2 debut, like the CoM crew. But Xaldin has no problem distinguishing Sora from him without ever meeting him before. From all indication in his Final Mix dialogue, it's due to seeing him as inferior to Roxas, which is rather interesting.

[@fink_rat]

Then you have Luxord, who true to his love for gambling is the wild card in there.

[@DarkOverlord96]

I think the issue with the whole Dream Eaters thing being tedious is that DDD was originally a game released for a portable console so the idea was that if you wanted you could kill some time on a long trip by leveling up your Dream Eaters to get specific Commands. But when the game was ported to home consoles, thus you have to do all of that in the comfort of your home, it became a chore. It's the same deal with Birth by Sleep and what I imagine would've happened with 358/2 Days if it did get a full-blown remake for home consoles, people would've complained about how monotonous Days is because of its "Day/Mission" structure that was clearly made with portable gaming in mind.

[@RegularPat]

good point on DDD, I just always played it at home on 3DS as well and didn't like it that way either lol

[@pn2294]

@@RegularPatby that point, it’s just different tastes I think it reminds me of what someone said about KH1 vs KH2’s design philosophy

[@handsoaphandsoap]

Agreed, I’ve never been bothered by the Dream Eaters and I think I’ve only ever played the original 3DS version so that tracks

[@windy4566]

@@handsoaphandsoapI mean I’ve only played the 2.8 version and I enjoyed it, I definitely feel like at some point it just comes down to different tastes

[@handsoaphandsoap]

​@@windy4566 I’d agree with that as well, some people just aren’t gonna vibe with having to engage with the Dream Eaters. I do think OP is on to something though. Certain features just don’t translate to different platforms.

[@wattsynchron]

I think besides from the two "literally just a movie now" games DDD is the only KH game hurt by the compilations. Grinding some friendship with your dream eaters on the bus randomly is a lot less annoying feeling than having to sit down at your tv and do it for a couple hours at a time. BBS was also hurt some but I feel like a lot less noticeably.

[@Swordsmen99]

Also the controls for DDD worked a lot better for the 3ds

[@wattsynchron]

@@Swordsmen99I still haven't played through all of DDD on 3ds (It and normal COM are the main KH games I have missed) but from what I remember of even the demo version vs the HD version I remember a lot of it feeling better on 3ds.

[@pn2294]

@@wattsynchronyeah, the lack of touch screen and multiplayer really hurts the rerelease much more than it did BBS

[@danielcarrilho5217]

I liked playing DDD a lot more on PS4 than on the 3DS Guess thats a hot take

[@wiseforcommonsense]

The game played so good for the ds. Some part are just hard to switch over

[@fink_rat]

Michael Mouse went from an insult to just Mickey's defacto name. It's engraved into my skull at this point

[@OhKayEl]

Well he is technically Michael.

[@jjstarA113]

Shoutout to Daniel Floyd of PlayFrame for his 358/2 Days series, where he edited together all the DS cutscenes and the PS3 movie footage into one long "Let's Play".

[@cillbipher2613]

What sucks about the "Mickey abandoned Aqua" thing is how it spread around far enough people unironically believe it's a canon fact despite there being no evidence. It's practically been engraved into a large part of the fandom's psyche that Mickey somehow ditched her for a decade from people apparently thinking he knew she was there since the Final Episode/misunderstanding how the Realm of Darkness works and probably thinking the ten years were actually ten years for Aqua.

[@DLxxx]

The true blame can be found in KH3's dialogue and writing choices. That entire subplot with Anti-Aqua, narratively, should not have happened to begin with. Hence why much of what Anti-Aqua claims happened to her is objectively false, and contradicts Aqua's own characterization even within the same game (see the scene with her and Ansem the Wise before SoD shows up). However, because some people in the community vaguely related to her OOC feelings, they immediately jumped to defend the writing choice, despite it being forced, unearned, and incongruent with the story that actually led up to that point (Ansem SoD even showing up there in the first place is a borderline plot hole, and the timeline of events with him kidnapping Ansem the Wise and going to Twilight Town are so confused that you can only conclude he stuck him a freezer for days before finally dragging him to the mansion). But Anti-Aqua is depressed, therefore she was right to blame Mickey, even if 0.2 explicitly showed us that Aqua knew Mickey didn't have an _inkling_ about where she was up until they reunited (and he saved her life). Nor did she know a decade passed until Mickey himself told her. It's almost like An-A was referencing a completely different series. Apologies if this felt a bit like a rant. Anti-Aqua is.. a weirdly formative moment for me, in that it was so nonsensical it actually sparked my desire to understand what makes for good storytelling. Knowing that it's absurdity caused such a misplaced and deep seeded resentment for Mickey in the fandom just rubs me the wrong way.. 😕

[@cillbipher2613]

@@DLxxx I mean...she was basically corrupted. Of course she'd say something that's ultimately false based on the mere knowledge that ten years passed on the outside.

[@DLxxx]

​​​​​​​​@@cillbipher2613Right, but what she says is so wholly inaccurate that it's difficult to believe she could ever convince herself of that logic in any way, shape, or form. Aqua threw _herself_ into the Realm of Darkness with no one else around to help. It was her choice to go alone, and Mickey explicitly told her in 0.2 that he didn't know where she was and they'd been looking for her for a long time (even asking how she got there in the first place). He then goes on to say it's been 10 years, which _surprised_ her, since from her POV it hadn't felt nearly that long. Moreover, this established that Mickey only found her AFTER she was there for a decade. She knew this (so he objectively didn't abandon her, because it's physically impossible to abandon someone you don't know you ever lost). He also told her that they didn't have a reliable means of getting into and out of the realm of darkness, and he was forced to go there because of other circumstances. Hence him showing up then and not earlier. In short, there's no possible delusion for Aqua to cling onto that would allow her to believe or feel like Mickey abandoned her. And she herself not only told him to go without her, but in 0.2's ending, BBS' Blank Points, and KH3's flashback scene, we see her explicitly say that she has faith her friends will come for her. And until then, it was her duty to fight and survive so she can be ready for them. She says this, MINUTES before SoD shows up, and he himself says and does nothing that would change her mind. There is no transition. No nuance. She doesn't even know what's _happening_ to herself as she's being "Anti"-fied, and after getting back to Yen Sid's tower, Aqua tells Riku that she never felt like they let her down (after he attempted to apologize). So unless she was literally brainwashed to say those lies to Riku and Mickey, then there's no reason to believe even a corrupted Aqua would act that way. Moreover, it's baffling that Riku and Mickey don't call her out on it, and choose to feel guilty for something they objectively didn't do (which ruins any drama that scene was trying to create, not that it had mandate to exist in the first place). _"You abandoned me in this shadow-y prison for over a decade.."_ _"I only found you, like, a year ago. You didn't even know a decade passed till after I found out you were alive AND saved your life."_ _".... Whatever."_

[@saintitchief]

@@DLxxxI agree with what you say for the most part, but I think the whole Mickey abandonment argument is a little more detailed than you let on. For example, if Mickey was looking for her why was she never once mentioned in those ten years ever in any game to any character? The correct answer is because Aqua was not yet created by Nomura at that time, but thats Nomura’s fault for writing it this way. so even if Mickey didn’t know where Aqua was, even if he didn’t physically abandon her, mentally he definitely did

[@DLxxx]

​​@@saintitchiefWait, what are you talking about? There *WAS NO* Kh game that took place during the 10 years between BBS and KH1, lol (unless you're referring to 0.2, where he explicitly mentions he was looking for her, and asks why she's there, after having just saved her life). Furthermore, he didn't KNOW what happened to her till after those ten years had passed anyway (he's the one who tells _her_ ). Nothing remotely suggests or supports the notion that he abandons her in any way-- ESPECIALLY not from Aqua's POV. But I'm gonna give the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant during the year AFTER they reunited (i.e. everything between 0.2 and KH3). Well, first of all, he had _no_ reliable means of getting back into the RoD. The only reason he could in KH1/0.2 is because the world's were falling to darkness (thanks to Maleficent), and Dark Corridors were opening up to the RoD for him to use. This stopped after the worlds were restored. Mickey explained this to Aqua in 0.2. This was stated in external material from Nomura as well. It wasn't till KH3 that he learned how to use his Kingdom Key D to open Dark Corriders on his own. Now, KH3's dialogue is very boring, inconsistent, and disjointed when it comes to exposition, so I don't blame you if you just flat out missed that detail. But it's true. THERE IS a reason he never went to the RoD after 0.2, and up until KH3, he was preoccupied with the Organization, and trying to figure out bring back the people they lost (including Aqua) after Re: coded. And even if we were to ignore all of this, there's still no reason for AQUA to believe an idea that fundamentally contradicts every single time she mentions being rescued beforehand.

[@TheTriforceWelder]

FINALLY SOMEONE ELSE WHO FUCKING LOVES DEAD MONEY. That DLC is so much better than people treat it, it's insane.

[@klom89]

We also got Fallout Dust out of it: best New Vegas mod.

[@drakenforge4276]

DUST is best overhaul mod outside of RLCraft ​@@klom89

[@thelonestar5327]

18:48 There's also Everglow's timeline which was done a long while ago that basically does the same thing without having to deal with voicework. Even splices in cutscenes from the Back Cover movie and other relevant bits from the games when needed.

[@fatmanzeitgeist816]

Waiting for the separate video thesis on why “Dark Rescue is my middle name” is actually your all time favorite KH line now.

[@SignificantNobody]

I’ve never realized it but that line implies that he has a last name. What do you think it could be? I’m guessing something really normal like Jones or Smith. Lea “Axel” “Flurry of Dancing Flames” “Number VIII” “Dark Rescue” Dark Rescue Smith

[@fatmanzeitgeist816]

@@SignificantNobody 😂😂😂 it’s probably whatever Saix’s maiden name is

[@samedwards3186]

Losing my fucking mind seeing Days move up the tierlist, I am that little DS game’s strongest soldier and will always fight for it to be appreciated more

[@elcuartetodeeren6507]

If square doesnt pull up and release a re make before kh4, lets hope that makig the final mix succeeds

[@HortonSalm]

Other than the fact that Roxas is probably my favorite character, the gameplay was pretty good and the panel system makes my brain happy.

[@Fenyx_Birb]

If you're the strongest soldier of this DS game, i'm the second strongest soldier of this little game.

[@Pooky1991]

I was actually disappointed it wasn't a fully remastered game and just a movie and I'm someone who didn't like Days, specifically the gameplay. The story is so good, i was hoping to replay it and see if the gameplay is better than I initially thought.

[@VermilionRen]

An additional defense to KH2 Atlantica: go listen to the Japanese versions of the game-original songs! Their lyrical rhythm fits those songs far better since those words were designed in Japanese first. The translation to English created some akwardness to the lyrics because they had to adhere to the instrumentals already made.

[@OrchinX]

Well… they didn’t *have* to, they chose to

[@Ender41948]

@@OrchinX But they DID have to, that's what a translation to English means.

[@Deoxys_Used_Mimic]

Arendelle’s “doing the movie” plot is even worse than you might think. - K.o.C. also has a “doing the movie” plot and leaves a few important scenes out, but Sora and crew are at least *engaging* with the story. Well, for the first half anyway… - Pirates is pretty bad in the “doing the movie” department because it straight-up *skipped* a movie, most of the plot happens off-screen AND Sora’s gang have hardly anything to do with it… BUT the world *does* reenact several key scenes from its movie to provide *some* modicum of context, and it *does* have some of the best Square x Disney character interactions, especially in the last half. - Arendelle’s plot, unlike Pirates, happens *exclusively* off-screen, Sora and Co. have *nothing* to do with the plot, and the Square x Disney interactions are *completely inconsequential.* Sora interacts with each character like, once, and no one catches up at the end; literally side-lined after the Skoll fight. Arendelle is nothing. It’s a vast, white, nothing.

[@NabsterHax]

It's also really annoying in post-game synth grinding because you have to farm those ice dragons which you can only find like two of half way up the mountain. Ugh.

[@Erikthedood]

Whatever. I don’t care about that. At the end of the day I care more about the gameplay. And gameplay and exploration wise it’s one of the better worlds in the series, even if the ice world design is “samey” it’s still better to play than most of the other worlds in the series

[@MegaPokefan97]

KH2 Land of Dragons, Pride Lands, Agrabah, Halloween Town, Port Royal, and Atlantica are basically the same

[@MrAuthor3DS]

@@MegaPokefan97 Hrm, I dunno about Halloween Town. Yeah, Oogie Boogie is kidnapping Santa again, but what happens between Jack and Santa afterward is very different. (And a few quick lines early on suggest that in the KH universe, the movie events happened likely before KH1.)

[@yazcona13]

​@@Erikthedoodcope

[@mannydani9180]

Another thing i wanna say about days, it will always be one of the coolest because playable organization. That's where i really fell in love with a lot of the org members that don't get a lot of screen time like Xaldin and Lexeaus because seeing 6 lances flying around you then skewering some poor heartless and seeing 3 boss health bars disappear from a single hit are hilarious

[@OriginalGameteer]

Ok yeah Xaldin sounds even more badass now

[@calelkestifer3570]

I enjoy Arendelle more than most because when I went through it, I saw it less as an adaptation of the movie and more a world that was based on the feeling of playing in the snow and I was there for that

[@wiseforcommonsense]

I hate yhat world with a burning passion. Why can't my boy get a coat? Or at least a scarf?

[@PTp1ranha]

I actually had fun in that world, from a gameplay perspective. Of course it could've been a lot better, but I enjoyed the hopping around, fighting and exploring at least. More than in Monstropolis, actually!

[@Pooky1991]

It quickly overstayed its welcome for me. Corona did too, but it atheist had areas that looked different from each other. I could stand looking at the same ice and snowy areas for so long before I grew bored. After levels like Toybox and Monster's Inc. Arrendale just felt so barebones and actually made me appreciate the smaller level designs in KH2 and even 1 more. Also the bs snowboarding minigame which requires you to do it multiple times to get the ingredient for the ultimate weapon.

[@lovelywillow90]

I will always love DDD even if the game itself isn't perfect. The nostalgia of the 3ds version and Riku's continued development carries the game for me. I think it was better as a 3ds game though. I liked the petting of the dream eaters and pokemon with the 3ds stylist. It just felt more suited for that.

[@RegularPat]

I respect it! There's a ton of games where the things I like outweigh any potential cons

[@lovelywillow90]

​@RegularPat Same! That's why CoM and DDD is so high on my own tier lists. Both have cons but I just love them so much cause a lot of what I love about KH resolves around Riku. My hot take low tier Kh game is BBS. I feel like the issues you mentioned for DDD reflect how I feel about BBS with the commands and minigames. Plus the story doesn't carry it like DDD for me. My love for DDD aside tho, it and BBS *are* what stalled my platinum runs. Lol

[@MrAuthor3DS]

It's also one of those games that explores Nobodies way better than KH2 did. Heck, there are mentioned elements about the Sleeping Worlds themselves, even a few of Joshua's lines, that correlate with the true functions of Nobodies.

[@kingmagnus4009]

I’m pretty happy with his change on Mickey, especially with how everyone uses a FICTIONAL mouse as a scapegoat for a REAL company’s misdeeds.

[@joneatsbagels7239]

Wait wait wait… I can hate the mouse and the evil corporation these hands aren’t mutually exclusive

[@windy4566]

@@joneatsbagels7239yeah no shit but you’re also like the 0.1% that uses their brains

[@starvoltnexus3139]

Exactly What is the actual asshole that run the company because at the end of the day Disney it’s just a thing saying that can’t do much without somebody at the wheel

[@Armandovzky]

What a Beautiful ending to the video, your channel was one of the biggest helps when I got into the series and It's great to see how it has grown

[@freezehorn]

the community bit warmed my heart

[@sparrowsong0]

i'm british so no thanksgiving for me, but i'm so thankful to have discovered your channel this year! i hadn't really engaged with much kh content since kh3 came out, until i stumbled upon your videos, and since then i've been doing a full replay of all the games and have just fallen in love with the series again :D

[@AeonKnigh432]

Happy... November 23rd. I guess. Just have a good day!

[@sparrowsong0]

@@AeonKnigh432 lol thank you, you too :)

[@RazzBerryJelly]

I’m thankful for Regular Pat. What a guy. Seriously though, I rewatch your videos a lot and recommend them to anyone even vaguely invested in Kingdom Hearts. You’ve affected the way I approach narrative analysis, gameplay analysis, and even humour. Thank you, Pat.

[@roromaniac8]

I grew up feeling like the only one in the world who gave a damn about this series. That line about my younger self being jealous of all the amazing KH content I get to engage with (and now even directly contribute to) hit so fucking hard. Merry Thanksgiving, Pat and all you Patrons!

[@pyguy7]

Watching a Regularpat Kingdom hearts video is going to be my new Thanksgiving tradition. My children will partake in this tradition in the future.

[@AlastorNahIdWinRadioDemon]

That, "Comparison is the thief of joy," line hits hard for me because there are just so many games I've been unable to enjoy in my life because I have something else similar to it that I've already played that feels 100% better to play. Sometimes even multiple games. Most recently I was robbed of being able to enjoy Baldur's Gate 3 because my brain kept going, "This feels like I should either be playing D&D or Divinity Original Sin 2 right now." As those are the two games it draws basis from, but I feel like it doesnt commit to either as much as it could and possibly even should have and that just ended up ruining it for me.

[@DenDenDenDenDen13]

Gathering the Family to watch the new Regular Pat video during Thanksgiving dinner.

[@ShyRanger]

7:30, wait wasn't MOM actually the same developers too? Feel like i remember hearing that in interviews, even something along the lines of that MOM WAS going to be closer to how FBL plays, but then they were asked to try something different.

[@RegularPat]

oh that’s possible, i just looked up both games and the devs were different in name

[@ShyRanger]

@@RegularPat Okay I found more. Yes it's different devs, but it's one of those cases where they did look at Theatrhythm and took some inspiration. Hazama and Nomura said it started as wanting ot just be Theatrhythm KH, but then decided it would benefit from being it's own thing rather than just same gameplay different songs. A more interesting note. The devs of FBL said that they too took inspiration from MOM themselves and loved the multiple simultaneous triggers angle, which is why FBL is the first to have that in the Theathrythm line. So yeah, you were correct that it's different overall dev team, but now we know about the cross pollination.

[@ActionFilmsFan1995]

Now THIS is what I’m thankful for, more Regular Pat!

[@xiggles]

When it comes to Ansem's apprentices in general, its no secret that theres a whole fandom space dedicated to these characters, I personally see a lot of depth just beneath the surface for a lot of them that has only been canonically explored in very minor ways (save for Aeleus unfortunately, who if you're paroosing fandom _does_ have fans but 90% of his characterization you see in fanworks is pure headcanon, not anything the series itself gave us lol). Dilan has a lot more going on than even RG crew fans give him credit for, and Even got a whole redemption arc in kh3 which expanded on his charactarization greatly and actually validated a lot of the popular fanon surrounding him at the time. Ienzo I feel they dropped the ball with given how many scenes he has in kh3, yet a grand total of 0 times is it addressed that this guy became a nobody at like 9 years old, which is super tragic in and of itself. We have yet to know fully whether Braig was ever actually a real person or just Luxu from the very start, I personally feel its more interesting if he had some kind of established relationship with the others before being posessed. I think Nomura genuinely likes these characters but has no idea how to incorporate them in a meaningful way besides as convinient exposition dumpers, but tbh if i get to see more of them through that then I'm happy

[@arrownaut]

Haven't seen it completely yet, but hopefully Pat's vendetta against Michael has calmed. Edit: No way it's the first point lmao

[@destroyerkitty9434]

The thing that stings the most about DDD for me is that it has some of my favorite content in the series. The bosses, the combat, the music, the dream eaters, Riku’s story, it’s some of the most fun I’ve had with the series. But the mechanics and the glue it’s held together with… sorry the scotch tape it’s held together with is very hard to brush aside.

[@abbymems]

Want to stand by you as a fellow Dream Drop fan and say that this game has always been a highlight for me...on New Game Plus. It cuts a lot of the fat away for me. And even then it's not a perfect solution, but it's way better than playing it from a fresh save.

[@KeDe1606]

DDD had the potential to be one of the better games in the series, but for every positive aspect about the game, there’s always an asterisk attached to it. It’s combat is arguably the best out of the non-numbered titles, and it has some of the most unique and interesting selection of bosses in the entire franchise (from a mechanics POV)… But only as long as you don’t use the Balloon spells, because those break the game like a twig. They turn accelerating races against time, like the Young Xehanort battle, into button-mashing bores. The Dream Eaters, and how you have to actually spend time with them to have them grow stronger, are also a really interesting idea… As long as you play the game like a 3DS game, and not like a console title, because long play-sessions turn these small time-fillers into tedious roadblocks. The room-design is actually one of the better ones in the entire series, moving on from the KH2-esque battle-squares that littered that specific era, and adding a never-before seen sense of verticality into it‘s rooms. Finally bringing the platforming back into KH… As long as you don’t use Flow Motion, because it literally completely invalidates any attempt at platforming the game tries to throw at you, for almost the entire game. Riku‘s story is arguably one of the best stories the KH games have ever told, outside of 358/2 Days/Roxas‘ story. It fleshes out Riku‘s character in a way that seriously elevates him from what was basically just a less broody version of Sasuke… But you can’t treat this game like a Riku game, because of the stupid Drop mechanic (which also just so happens to completely undermine every other aspect I’ve brought up, up to this point), which forces you to play as the single-worst version of Sora this franchise has ever seen (Data-Sora doesn’t count). And it’s general story, outside of the Riku stuff, and maybe some interesting interactions in the different worlds, is also absolutely awful. It‘s a perfect example of the „KH story“ stereotype in the worst ways possible. Just overly complex and convoluted in the absolute worst ways possible. I mean, what even IS Young Xehanort? How is Young Xehanort? When is Young Xehanort? Why is Young Xehanort? Why does Kingdom Hearts need a time-travel plot? *Why in the everloving f- does Kingdom Hearts need a time-travel plot?!* **WHY DOES KINGDOM MOTHERF-- HEARTS NEED A GODFORSAKEN TIME-TRAVEL PLOT!!!** Edit: Also, it contains „Dark Rescue is my middle name“. The single worst piece of dialogue in the franchise. It completely ruins Axel/Lea‘s character. He isn’t the unequivocal best character in the franchise anymore… he actually kinda sorta has some competition now. He went from SSS tier with 5 gold stars, to just S tier... What do you mean, I‘m over-exaggerating!? I‘m being 100% truthful here! … Well, at least the music doesn’t have anything holding it back. That’s good, at least. But seriously, DDD is just such a frustrating game. Like it tries to be two different things at once, please two very separate crowds, but ends up failing at being even one of those things. I still like this game, though. In a guilty pleasure sorta way. Like, I know that this, realistically speaking, is one of the weaker KH games, but I am way too biased to truly admit it

[@abbymems]

@@KeDe1606 This was a long bit you wrote up, but I read it all because I really connect with what you're saying. DDD is one of my fav games in the series, but everything you said about it is true. I can even toss in some critiques on how the Dream Eater bosses are waaay too acrobatic for their own good sometimes, a problem I think KH3 manages to mediate a lot better, and that I don't think there's any easy way of seeing what Dream Eater abilities(the ones they can cast on you, not the supporting ones for Riku and Sora) actually do. I know Noble Roar gives me a power boost, but only because it's happened often enough. I never found a description of the thing. I think I read somewhere once that DDD was meant to just be a Riku game and Sora was made playable because it had been several entries of the series since we played as the real Sora. That could just be a rumor, I'm not really sure, but it feels like there's some truth to it with how awkward Sora's writing is. It's inconsistent too. Sora trying to connect with Rinzler, his talk with Roxas, and his speech to Xigbar about how he doesn't mind not being a chosen one because he's just happy to have the connections he's made along the way, are all great moments for him. The plot point of him stretching himself too thin in trying to save everyone is a good character flaw to acknowledge. Xehanort deciding that he's a problem that he should take out of the running and bring to his side is a good villain move! Ventus' armor protecting him from said attempts and becoming tainted in the process is also very cool! But a lot of Sora in DDD feels forced, and so does Axel, which maybe stems from his return and newfound importance being based in his incredible popularity. It's a game with peaks and valleys, and the valleys are unfortunately too long to ignore for most people. It's a damn shame because it's got so many good ideas going for it.

[@KeDe1606]

@@abbymems DDD, to me, feels like the most internally disconnected game in the franchise, if you get what I mean. I mean, KH as a whole has always been famous for it‘s tone-shifts between the first and second half of the game, but it feels like it‘s the most extreme here. To the point where it genuinely feels like I’m playing a completely different game. It feels like saying that it „jumped the shark“ would be an understatement. Like, you get to the end of the game, and suddenly *all* of the villains are back. Like, not only do we now have to deal with Xehanort (old man edition), Xehanort (time-traveler edition), Xehanort (Darkness edition), and Xehanort (ballet edition), but also Vanitas (literally just edgy Sora) and every single Nobody, with the exception of Roxas, Axel and Xion. Like, how did we even get here!? And said tonal dissonance carries over into the rest of the game too. One second we get these genuinely powerful moments for Riku‘s and even Sora‘s character, and the next we get to experience „wwwwwwWWWWACKY shenanigans with Sora and his literally non-existent friends! Aren’t they soooooo wacky? Oh look, Riku‘s fighting a funny mole man! And Sora is fighting a scaaaaary dinosaur, while his friends try to make a goofy getaway! Isn’t that soooo random?“ And sadly, the latter is just way more common than the former

[@Reisen_Inaba]

Some of those cut-in clips made me laugh out loud, I appreciate the work/cleverness put into finding them lol

[@punkitt]

Never apologize for Michael Mouse, one of my favorite bits you've ever created and it's brought nothing but whimsy to the irl people I know when they hear it

[@LittleMissZackyVee]

i call him michael james mouse cause of pat lol

[@HonkDinkRatTurd]

thanks for introducing me to the voiced union cross project. i wanted to strangle every single person on twitter who said "oh the story is super easy to get into just spend 5 straight days watching newgrounds flash cutscenes on everglow's youtube channel teehee". i saw the runtime and it's much more manageable. i did see you voice a character in that project so double bonus :)

[@RegularPat]

i'm the guy with the pumpkin head :)

[@Flufferpup]

I think the dream eater link points thing was designed with the 3DS in mind, where you play for half an hour to an hour at a time. With the remaster, you're more likely to spend big chunks of time, making it tedious. It's the same with the drop gauge; "Oh, I'm about to drop? Alright, guess it's a good time to stop for now." No excuse for kicking you out of bosses though, it could at least pause it. They probably could have redesigned and rebalanced some of the game for the remaster, but sadly they didn't.

[@NikiYKN]

To defend 3D a little bit, I know you acknowledge that the other games have stuff like this too, but I still think people often underestimate just how much you can cheese every game in this series, specially the numbered titles. Like, when you mention stuff like the Water Barrel exploit, or the leaving the room with Riku one, I think about all the time I spent in the first room of the Cavern of Remembrance grinding Drive Orbs for the Master Form instead of leveling it up normally on enemies that drop them. Or how I would always exploit the story rooms where everyone turns into a NPC to recharge the Drive Gauge and level up the forms or summons. I did that because leveling them up normally was usually pretty grindy, and filling up your gauge again for just one use takes too long. So it's not that different from the annoying stuff in 3D. Maybe the isse is that this game has more annoying stuff though. For example, at least in the 2.5 version, you can cheese almost every superboss in KH2 with Duckflare. That's because it makes you completely invicible AND lets you use items to recharge it again before it even runs out. It does alot of damage AND lets Sora attack alongside Donald. This works even on Critical Lv 1, and KH 1 also has a similar exploit with Strike Raid and MP recharging stuff. However, you probably won't want to use these since the superbosses, despite how difficult they are, are fun to fight and overcome. But you will definitelly want to use Drop-Me-Nots before every boss battle so you don't reset the fights for no reason.

[@paris-1911]

“Who hurt you, Dilan?” i heard that while doing something else and immediately broke out into a cold sweat

[@kaialone]

I really appreciate how you're willing to admit mistakes you made in the past, and how generally chill you are with stuff you dislike also ^^

[@ldudley2]

Hearing you talk about Dead Money for the briefest of moments has me thinking, Fallout might be a fun topic to touch upon in a future video? Of course as you’ve said in the past, you’re unlikely to run out of KH stuff anytime soon, but still, food for thought.

[@pikachufrankie]

Real

[@2minuss]

4:20 The "face value" joke got me good.

[@CharlesChaldea]

Atlantica appreciators represent! For some people, the jump from KH Atlantica to KHII Atlantica was a jump from bad to worse, but it saddened me far more because I actually liked the world, so it was a jump from something good to something bad. So, I guess I can understand how they felt about the world in 1 a bit thanks to that. I actually didn't think about how much better magic is for Atlantica... My neurons didn't make the connection that "this is better than close range combat" since I just never minded the close range combat, making it never seem distinctly better or worse. Seeing how KHIII did underwater combat makes me wistful about what could have been in II.

[@ribbonfly]

Mickey is short isn't he? I love the Mickey and Riku friendship. I guess Square and Disney don't like money since I would love Melody of Memory DLC. Dream Drop Distance teaches you time management and switching perspectives keeps it fresh in your mind. For me DDD is about looking how cute the Dream Eaters are. Days deserves to be played. I love the Union Cross characters! I wished some like my beloved Daybreak Town Quartet had names. Glad you can love something even more. Happy you grew as a person overall.

[@khntou4178]

- Lucky Emblem scavenger hunt is actually pretty fun - (I know the general gaming community is turning around on it, but...) Roxas' intro arc in KH2 is actually pretty great in context - The overall design and package of the KH3 data battles are actually better than KH2's. KH3 is just let down by the ludicrously fast pace and overall floaty combat mechanics KH3 in general - You're totally right -- KH1 has the most charm in the whole series

[@tvb5509]

Props to Damian for basically becoming canon to the majority of the community 👏

[@ThePageofCups]

Play MelMem with Performer mode on. It's a whole new world. The KH3 bait and switch for that made me smile though.

[@CabeDubsOG]

I thought Laexeus's devotion to his superiors was actually "something" and a character-defining trait from his part, he's a guard after all: for example he loses his will to fight after Riku uses his dark form because it reminds him of Xemnas's heartless and asks for forgiveness before "dying". Discipline and devotion aren't that appreciated personal traits here in West, so it probably was just lost in translation.

[@Brotatots]

Ive been subbed to your twitch for thirty-something months now and subbed here for even longer and its been amazing watching you and your content change over time. Although I may temporarily move on to other games, you’ve always served as the anchor that keeps me playing and loving this game series that got me into gaming in the first place. Thank you so much!

[@nickp3949]

More on Xaldin…I was actually shocked that the fan base doesn’t think too highly of him. He’s the only organization member who sends chills down my spine with how evil he is. He has no interest in greater goals or achieving anything of value. He just…wants to completely fuck with someone’s emotions just because he enjoys it. He’s a cold, calculating psychopath and is, imo, the most evil character in the franchise. He also has a badass skill set…lances, can control wind, has a dragon…I’ve always been a fan of him as a villain.

[@jstar3382]

Aqua: you abandoned me for 10 years Mickey: you were there for like 2 weeks

[@RaverRacer]

(Not so) fun fact. I played Days when I was 12 and got all the way to Leechgrave before i rage quit so hard I didnt touch the game again for years. When I was 19 i had to go on a field trip in the middle of nowhere with my uni (Geography students) and packed my DS on a whim, and not the charger haha. Somehow, the battery didnt die at all, and on the plus side, I finally beat Days the night before we were glcoming back.

[@SMRPGFAN101]

KH1 means more to me mostly because I typically play Super Nintendo games and every time I play Secret of Mana, I just think, this was refined with the first Kingdom Hearts, and I should just play that. Sora might as well be the hero, and Donald might as well be the sprite. I guess the girl's height matches Goofy's support even though Sora and Donald can heal damage. Heck, the background notes of the Hollow Bastion music remind me of the Ocean Palace in Chrono Trigger, though less intense and more somber and desolate, but nonetheless dramatic as the former.

[@JSeedProductions]

For the past year or so, I've wanted to do a project for March Caprice that would hopefully lead to a series; however, I'm such a massive procrastinator that I just haven't done much of anything with it. It is inspired by your 'How Disney Worlds Contribute to the Story (or Don't)' videos and felt its something that SHOULD exist by now, but surprisingly doesn't. How do the Disney worlds compare to the films they're based on? Each episode would cover a different world/movie going in the conventional world order, starting with 'Alice in Wonderland'.

[@MarchCaprice]

Do it.

[@KHGuides]

Great video, Pat! Excellent taste as always.

[@krebooted5944]

We hiding in the bathroom at the family gathering to watch this one babes 🔥🔥🔥

[@chozochiefxiii3298]

I definitely need to revisit ddd it used to be one of my favorites before I played kh2. Kh1 has really been growing on me the more I play it and while I still love and enjoy playing kh2 I'm growing more aware of its shortcomings that other kh games perform better in. The only ones that haven't won me over to genuinely enjoying them yet flaws or not are bbs, re com, and kh3. Kh3 got off to a bad start for me when I saw flow motion was nerfed into the ground so hard that I saw no reason to use it and felt actively restricted in both exploration and combat compared to its implementation in ddd. As I grow older I find myself wanting a more comfortable experience with kh so I'll probably judge the games more off proud or standard rather than critical because if I continue to judge all the games based on critical only then kh2 is the only good one because critical is an abhorrent mess in every game that isn't 2 and even 2 has its problems. I just want to love kh again like I did when I was a kid but kh3 kinda left me with that first true disappointment that I haven't really revised my opinion on yet. If I had to give a ranking currently i think it would go Kh/kh2 Kh3 Ddd Re coded Days Re com 0.2 Bbs Haven't played melody of memory yet. Days and recoded i haven't played in a long time either so their placements are based on previous memories.

[@samsquatch7579]

While the criticisms are definitely valid, I really enjoyed DDD and have a bit of a soft spot for it. But I can’t argue with its flaws. It wanted to do a lot but fumbled in execution often Editing my comment to agree with your based Atlantica opinions

[@FormalGibble]

Pat liking dream drop less is the least surprising thing here. The most surprising thing is Pat somehow being able to like kingdom hearts 1 EVEN MORE! I didn't even think that was possible!

[@jaceybella1267]

I actually really loved 3D on launch, but over the years I've soured on it as well. And while I agree that playing a game in an unintended way shouldn't factor into how you view the game overall, I do want to share how my most recent 3D playthrough was my most enjoyable one. My partner recently played through the whole series, as he didn't grow up with a gaming console, and wasn't familiar with it. When he got to 3D, he kept getting frustrated and feeling like progress was slow despite how relatively short the game is. So I came up with a fun little idea. We'd do it multiplayer style! I opted to play Sora, since I wanted the first timer to handle the final boss, and we would pass the controller back and forth between us as the drop mechanic kicked in. Obviously, there was some awkwardness with commands and spirits because the game wasn't meant to be played this way, but we both had a much better time with it overall. It also made the drop bonuses feel more meaningful, since I was thinking about what would help my partner the most. It makes me wish that they could have incorporated something like that on purpose in the original game.

[@Aidan_545]

Your speech at the end makes me want to play kh again

[@dexholderred2469]

I liked to defend KH3 Remind narrative a bit when it comes to the limited amount of new stuff. For the Graveyard fights, I never really expected more than just being to play a different character. I think making more newer sections would just had fans arguing about which KBG was better. Granted I would’ve loved to see more of what they did with Sea Salt Trio Reunion in making it a extensive version. And for Limit Cut, I do think both it and Yozora was towards the gaming aspect than the story. Plus there is some funny irony in the audience being like Riku and the FF characters finishing the analysis and being, “That was it??”

[@froakachu8077]

Excited for the Kingdom Hearts 4 boss teir list this Christmas

[@sky_shu]

12:39 while I agree DDD drops are annoying. why not just bring drop-me-not, its how I stayed as whatever character I was making progress with when I played the 3ds port

[@patjalis]

I really like this video concept! I mean, I probably would have said that about whatever you uploaded but I really do think this idea is cool!

[@yosos2]

DDD has two protagonists and their stories go parallel to eachother, if you went to far on one you would get spoiled on the other one. The game needs you to switch, but most players if they had the choice at the start, they would choose their favorite character and complete their story first, this way it isn't a pop up that tells you "you can't progress any further" the game metatextualy is telling you that it's important to watch these stories at the same time

[@KeyBladeMaster-Dan]

Amazing video as always Pat and I would like to thank you for giving me a whole new appreciation for KH1 over these last few years

[@zachk1878]

happy thanksgiving Regulars!

[@KR3AM2KR15PY]

Great channel man, I forgot how much I loved this series. And bro the random kh videos on KZbin back in the day were my childhood.😂😂

[@WhimsicottFanatic]

The whole Riku Link exploit reminds me of the quick and dirty way to get Final Form in 2FM After the Roxas fight, just equip Two Become One, and then just keep going back and forth between the loading zone to the Org's front lawn, since going into that area will force you out of a Drive Form, but also keep your Drive Gauge in-tact, while you keep going into Drive Forms until you eventually get Final Further on some 2FM, when I was playing 2 through the HD collection like a year or two ago, I was using magic _way_ more in that compared to when I used to play the original on my PS2 Mostly because I loved using Drive Forms, and 2FM introduced that feature where you build up your Drive Gauge easier while your MP is on recharge, so I was basically encouraged to be using magic as much as I could [well, while also still within reason] so I could use Drives a bit more, and that was pretty fun

[@charaunderwood]

As a relatively new fan of this series (I'd say I "officially" became a fan sometime around May of this year) its been really cool to see just how vast and welcoming the community is, its just kinda crazy how much this strange disney game has brought people together. Also, in spirit of the video, I'd say an opinion of mine that has changed since stumbling across this channel is how I view Terra. I admit with shame that I believed that Terra was dumb when first viewing BBS but I have pedaled back on that, he is not the stupid idiot I thought he was. Still my least favorite member of the trio but yknow, hes moved up a tier in my personal character rankings

[@Malisteen]

my kh hot take has always been that kh1 original us release is > kh1 final mix. Yes the xemnas fight was cool, but that alone wasn't worth the obnoxious special heartless fights to unlock ultima weapon. The recolored enemies mostly look worse, too often trading bright saturated cartoony reds blues, and purples for drab browns. And the slightly revised player abilities might make the game more balanced, but imo they didn't make it more fun. I might feel differently if I was playing Japanese versions where base game also misses kurt, phantom, and uce titan, but imo only one of those fights is particularly good anyway, so maybe not even then.

[@Pooky1991]

That's my only gripe with final mix. I enjoyed getting Ultimate weapon in base KH1, but the special heartless fights added to Final Mix annoyed me to no end. I know you can cheese some like the monkey heartless, but still annoying.

[@criminalsen2441]

Fun fact: I've never played a KH game nor do I particularly care about the series beyond a mild interest. But I love listening to your opinions and little pepperings of dry humor. Anyway I'm glad you've found a good community - mine is Bleach lol - and look forward to seeing more from you

[@Bryanox7]

Thanks for existing, as a kh fan you do us service

[@itsnogame3822]

Happy holidays pat!

[@RegularPat]

Thanks, you as well!

[@KodasGarden]

Bro it doesn't matter what I'm doing or already watching, if I see a notification for one of your videos, I start watching that instead lmao

[@tecknowledjee6933]

Perfectly explained my issues with DDD, thank you. I find a lot of the gameplay fun but tedious, and there are so many exploits that made me feel as if all the tedium I suffered through was obsolete and innocuous.

[@isenokami7810]

Ah yes, the Drive full heal. I actually skipped out on the evolution of magic video, sorry, but I know I would’ve mentioned that if I had. Keeping it friendly, though, I know it took me a few runs to discover that myself. Once I did, though…man, I relied on that so much during my last KH2 Critical run, especially Limit form in Data fights when I had no allies. Or hell, when trying and at first failing to do the negative combo cheese on Lingering Will, Valor form saved my @$$.

[@seamushardin1763]

If melmem is a strange abbreviation for you, call it melories. It might be an extra syllable but it's easier off the tounge, sounds better than melmem (which just makes me think of the word amalgamation) and is clearer what game you're talking about if you just say melories, whereas melmem takes a moment to think about.

[@windy4566]

Keep cooking tbh I can get behind this

[@NabsterHax]

@@windy4566mlem mlem mlem :P

[@TaliesinMyrddin]

I think Days has one of the most engaging, fun level up systems of any game I've played. I kinda wanna play the game Backpack Hero purely because it reminds me of Days lol.

[@mowrt620]

Ill always stand by arrendelle. I literally hate frozen but i think the world has a ton of charm, tons of segments, good boss fights, fun minigames and incidental events. And i find the snowy mountain just fine to navigate personally. Some people have just never climbed a mountain. You gotta familiarize yourself with the landmarks! And the fact that you can jump down from the castle to the very beginning is awesome. Makes you realise it was all one big area. I think its the perfect midway point of the game for me.

[@MegaPokefan97]

KH2 could never

[@humzaqazi6551]

Y’know with that whole making amends with Mickey segment, Pat’s had more character development than Kairi’s had in 20 years

[@amatsukitsune515]

I really appreciate the way you word your thoughts on DDD. It’s. Certainly a game of all time. It’s my personal favorite in the series, but it’s incredibly, deeply flawed. I never said it’s a good game or that I like good games lol. I grew up on shovelware, mainly. DDD had a lot of concepts it was trying that were new and. They tried to be fun! I think DDD is very much a game you have to make your own fun in. Which isn’t the type of thing for everyone. It was also much more palatable on handheld most likely, since something like grinding for dream eaters could easily be accomplished during long car rides to keep from boredom. You’re completely right on the fact that people have to seek out the exploits you mentioned. I didn’t even know about ANY of them except the obvious Balloonra one (which honestly, I don’t even know how to do very well). I’m very curious about how to execute the meow wow recipe thing… would certainly make life a lot easier.

[@isenokami7810]

6:48 Wait, Theatrythm had Tyro? Oh, it hurts. Dammit, I still miss Record Keeper.

[@DarkAura19]

Days is really something special, man. Like, playing it normally is just... annoying. But MAN that multiplayer. You have to get through the entire game and collect those stupid emblems, but when you do, getting together with buds and just doing a "full" game run with friends, using all these character combos, is something special.

[@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan]

14:20 also the Water Barrel exploit is apparently a thing ONLY in the 3Ds version. So that's 2 things added in the HD version of DDD. Source? I am not notable enough to be one, but I've only played DDD on the 3Ds, and it was this year. I tried to do the water barrel trick, and it seems like you literally CAN'T leave the mini game.

[@KING_B_Lobster]

Nice to see updates on old opinions and how they changed over the years will say however as one of like only a few people who truly enjoyed re-coded i feel it deserves another shake at it even if its only for the combat since the story is only super interesting if you've never played kh1 still find it to be the best combat in the series even after playing 3

[@TransDrummer1312]

Your videos convinced me to replay KH1, and WOW what an adorable game. There's so much character in it.

[@Redxan600]

There's still plenty of fun facts to find. In fact, I like to tell you something that a friend of mine found when she was on the internet. "Very cool little KH1 detail I literally just noticed: Red Nocturnes float high in the air while Blue Rhapsodys float close to the ground because hot air rises and cold air falls." That's reason number 1001 why KH1 is a masterpiece.

[@DADA-yt1pt]

While KH1 isn't my favorite, there's a certain charm to the game that no other game in the series has in my eyes. I love the world exploration especially. Well, I'm not the biggest fan of Deep Jungle, but and Olympus Coliseum is just basically an arena world (Which isn't a bad thing at all. It's a great way to grind for exp and going to town with the combat.), but still. World exploration is one of my favorite aspects about KH1, and I just love all of the details the game has.

[@doggoadexx2680]

@@Redxan600WHAT?!!???

[@TransDrummer1312]

@@Redxan600 HAH I never picked up on that.

[@windwaker2094]

I honestly dont mind the Dream Eaters i just wished they had more significance behind them that isnt just 'sleeping keyblade wielders turned into pokemon'

[@joshuaapplebaum2691]

Happy Thanksgiving for those who enjoy! Thank you Pat for this video to watch while avoiding family this season🫶🏻

[@blueshellincident]

Days is a really fun experience, I think even the gameplay is at least good. If you know what magic to use, and 9/10 the game tells you what to bring on the mission, the enemies go by fast. It's only really monotonous if you are bad at the game. Except those STUPID EMERALD SERENADES I HATE THOSE GUYS.

[@heartspocky]

Great vid as usual, but there was definitely a strong fan community prior to 2020 thanks to fanfiction writers. They usually end up getting dismissed, forgotten, or otherwise not taken seriously (particularly due to the bias against shipping, esp slash shipping), but their contribution to fandom is undeniable and shouldn't be ignored. Even when years pass without any news or releases, the writers keep putting out content, helping keep the community alive (if not a little dormant). They've also been doing close reads and posting really great analyses since 2003. I also have to shout out fanartists, zine organizers, RPers, and bloggers. It might all seem a little niche compared to other aspects of fandom, but it still warrants mention!

[@RegularPat]

didn't mean to imply there *was* nothing, I was just a kid who didn't really know how/where to engage with any of that stuff

[@AlastorNahIdWinRadioDemon]

Alright so I watched your game ranking video today for the first time and I just wanted to come back here to say that that is the one where you said the thing you did about the Kingdom Hearts community.

[@garrettcarter5622]

S**t, that ending made me cry.

[@JetblackJay]

Happy Thanksgiving

[@Redxan600]

Its the ending that I wasn't expecting to hear.

[@bradymcmillan1201]

Very nice thanksgiving present patrick

[@thumbdrive7155]

oh my god i just realized at 18:59 the avatar's hair looks similars to 4 sora's hair

[@TallManVanitas]

Just beat Dream Drop Distance last night and I wanted to thank you for showing me these exploits! It made playing through the game a much more painless experience on top of playing Critical while carrying my Dream Eaters over. Managed to get Second Chance, Once More, and Leaf Bracer by the time Sora and Riku left their first Traverse Town visit.

[@Jaylobeans]

It’s good to see evolution in one’s previous opinions & im glad im all caught up on Union X

[@omegahaxors9-11]

"Your majesty" "Please we're past that level" "Okay sorry. Michael Mouse" "... call me Mickey."