Kingdom Hearts II - #35 - Sora's Christmas Caper!

[@Mikesean45]

Maleficent in KH1: I'm going to get to Kingdom Hearts and rule all worlds! Maleficent in KH2: I'm going to ruin Christmas!

[@qwerty77772]

"I'll turn Santa Claus into SANTA HEARTLESS! HAHAHAHAHA!" Maleficent is used very amusingly here. I just hate how she pisses off at the end anticlimactically. After the Oogie fight, I think Jack, Sora, and Santa could have taken her.

[@Artista_Frustrado]

-i love that while Donald & Goofy get proper Xmas costumes, Sora still keeps his Goth Topic look makeup included -yeah, it would be neat to see what the other Festivity-towns look like -Donald is a literal War Veteran! he dang right deserves to be in the Nice list -yeah the Rumble Rose is a very neat looking besides the color scheme it also looks like a giant machete -Maleficent stealing Xmas needs to become part of the Disney cannon!

[@KostasTheDark]

She tried to do it to the Mouse House :p Wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

[@WannabeCanadianDev]

Donald is also a sailor as well, which makes the Pirates episodes funny.

[@Sientir]

Wow, poor Christmas Town Goofy with a bright, blinking nose-light constantly in front of his eyes!

[@timothymclean]

"Gawrsh, this must be how Rudolph feels..."

[@Elfangorax]

"Hey, Magnet!" Implication dawns on Dan. "Hey... *Magnet* ..."

[@NovaDysnomia]

Dan, you actually can revert from anti form, just not when you are in combat. If there are no enemies around, you don't have to wait for it to time out.

[@rmsgrey]

Yeah, the revert option highlights in the menu when it's safe. If I learned only one thing from Navi, it's to pay attention to what the -action icon- _menu item_ says!

[@timothymclean]

It's a shame that you pretty much only activate antiform when in combat...

[@blobbob1]

@@timothymclean If im remembering correctly anti-form not only has a point system to it for its activation but also a multiplier depending on what enemies you are fighting, so bosses are way more likely to trigger it

[@rmsgrey]

@@timothymclean As I understand it, it's only actually possible to activate anti-form while in combat - and, yeah, certain enemies (like the Organization members) have a multiplier to make it more likely to activate...

[@NobodyC13]

I think the gang's Christmas outfits were a final mix exclusive, so seeing their enthusiasm is doubly funny when they still look like monsters in the original editions. The heartless boss is sort of a dark parody of drive forms since its power and moveset is drawn by whomever it's consumed. Oogie's amnesia is a game exclusive, chalk it up as the trope "came back wrong" or "resurrection sickness."

[@saint23thomas]

That explains why Jack doesn't comment on the gang's new look.

[@Zenacra]

I find it interesting that Oogie seems to be suffering severe memory problems after being brought back from the dead, when in Chain of Memories, a potion meant to restore true memories caused him to start having a panic attack (implied to be from him remembering his death in 1). I think the implication is that somehow, the Oogie memory-entity in Castle Oblivion regaining the real Oogie's memories damaged the real Oogie's ability to remember things despite him having been dead at the time.

[@jjstarA113]

27:59 - Once again, Sally exploits Oogie's leg fetish.

[@blobbob1]

Does anyone else think Dan missed a perfect chance to talk about anti-forms animations

[@ingonyama70]

I think they did a pretty good job with Halloween/Christmas Town's story this time. Integrating Maleficent into the story, and the way she played off Oogie Boogie, was a lot of fun. And yes, only in Kingdom Hearts could you get a really good, goofy, glorious plot like "Maleficent steals Christmas." I too wish she'd featured more in this plot, epecially the second chapter. Oogie should have lived a little longer too. I belive the Christmas Town costumes are new to the Final Mix version, since I don't remember them in the original at all. They are adorable and lovely and I am on board for everything to do with both these places in KH2. Also, since you asked, Oogie's memory problems are a side-effect of his resurrection by Maleficent in this game, and this game alone. He did not have any sort of problem like this in the original movie, which I watch once a year around this time. ^_^ It's tradition, alongside "The Wizard Of Oz".

[@luis_pinto]

Thanks Dan, now I absolutely must see Maleficent in a Grinch costume.

[@callowguru2611]

One thing I always wondered about is why Halloween Town is the hub between all the holidays. Christmas Town only has one door, but Halloween Town has a bunch.

[@TamTroll]

i'm sure there are other doors somewhere. what we saw might have just been the "entrance" portal from other worlds, with all other worlds leading to that one tree. then elsewhere, "Exit" portals to the other worlds might be gathered in the same / similar Forrest as the one in Halloween town.

[@Artista_Frustrado]

as far i recall the Halloween portal being shown is a game only thing, in the movie is implied there's a hub in every town we just don't get to see it

[@darter9000]

I thought there was a similar circle of portals in Christmas town as well... 🤔

[@qwerty77772]

The doors have always been inconsistent. In the opening for TNBC we see all the Holiday Doors, including Halloween. Later in the film when Jack travels to Christmas Town, he doesn't exit through a Halloween door and there isn't one in the selection. I always pictured there to be a Holiday Door Nexus in Chirstmas Town too, only without a Christmas Door.

[@dakirakage]

I think there's other doors in other towns for when someone from a different town goes in not just Halloween town doors

[@timothymclean]

3:10: Presumably, those specific doors lead to Easter Bunny's chicken farm and St. Valentine's...um...I dunno, online dating company headquarters? 4:15: Yeah, Sora's Christmasified Halloweentown outfit is neat, but it makes me wonder what would happen if the Gummi Ship dropped Sora off in Christmastown and then he went to Halloweentown. 14:00: Sorry, you're late. Now you need to wait until next year. 22:22: What would Santa Heartless look like? Green fur, maybe? 35:40: It's nice to see someone react to Sora sealing the world's heart...for once.

[@HanabiraKage]

They could have Cupid helping run Valentinetown, and have Hercules comment on it at some point? Assuming they bring them back for a future game.

[@tomrivlin7278]

Half expected Santa to say: "Mobsters beating up a shopkeeper for protection money: very naughty. Shopkeeper's not paying their protection money: exactly as naughty."

[@TheEvilDuckMagster]

I dont remember Oogie Boogie having a bad memory in the film, and I thought it was meant to be a consequence of coming back from the dead.

[@Crazybean2012]

Sora in this world is just a little bit goth and I absolutely love it

[@RiddleAnim]

It must be so awkward for Jack to keep up with Sora's running. His legs are so insanely long,he probably can keep up with Sora at a dead sprint in some sort of awkward half-jog.

[@dakirakage]

Sora can walk 10 feet in front of jack and Jack'll take two steps and hes next to Sora

[@dragoniraflameblade]

THEY CHANGED THEIR DUDS FOR CHRISTMAS TOWN!? THAT'S AWESOME!!!

[@MrAuthor3DS]

Another Final Mix change, along with Christmas Town's music.

[@CamsEyeView]

Man, Dan needs to upgrade Donald's weapons along with Goofy's

[@dakirakage]

I just realized that Christmas Soras arms are sticks with gloves Santa's face when he hears the glass is P E R F E C T

[@Catasros]

I love how Goofy is the one consistently sharp and aware one of the King's Fools

[@IliyaMoroumetz]

8:58 Wow! Santa's got dirt on EVERYONE! Eat your heart out, FBI!

[@MrAuthor3DS]

25:55 Second that! There's just something fun about gambler-type characters (this goes for Luxord, too).

[@IrkenQueen18]

Thanks a lot for including Santa isn't real. My two little boys and I have been binging your KH series, been through a lot lately, and this is like the one thing they zoned in on on the episode! Lol. They had to learn someday I guess. On a side note, we have gotten a lot of joy out of these videos. You are so funny! I love the trivia. And we love how you talk and do the voices. Just been a long awaited good thing in our life. So I'm not trying to be mean. Just maybe anyone who reads this, please be careful because Santa is real to a lot of kids and it can be very hard to keep the illusion alive, please just be mindful :) we just love all this so far. I never played beyond this point so I'm excited too! Thank you!

[@RAID3N_2013]

28:37 The start of what I think is the best boss song in KH2.

[@JoeReMi123]

The Encounter is so badass! And it gets reused in a lot of future games, which I like.

[@rubenmborges]

The way they just spawn in and attack at around 12:39 reminds me of a dark souls ambush.

[@Halosty45]

Riku is probably on the naughty list.

[@TamTroll]

i hope in future games, they let you have Donald, Goofy, AND your guest companion on the battlefield all at once. Just feels wrong to have the four of you pose for a cutscene like at 6:33, only for one of the group to bugger off to nowhere.

[@NovaDysnomia]

TamTroll KH3 is supposed to have a party size of 5, so I think they took care of that for ya.

[@TamTroll]

@@NovaDysnomia fingers crossed

[@brettd2308]

Yeah the prerelease footage and demo impressions of KH3 have been that you can have at least 5 active party members. The media demo so far was of the Toy Story world, and players reported that you have Sora, Donald, Goofy, Woody, & Buzz all on the field at once.

[@TheBigRalph]

I've commented about this on episode 14. Basically, managing party members on KH2 feels kinda useless: 1- It's limited. You choose 2 characters from a pool of 3 most of the time (keyword being "most", since sometimes you're just stuck with whoever the game wants you to be with). 2- It's limiting. Not having a specific party member doesn't really affect the game strategically. It just takes away firepower (less DPS, less Forms and Limits available). 3- It doesn't carry any weight. You can always play around the lack of any character, since Sora is a pretty good "Jack-of-All-Trades". 4- It REALLY doesn't carry any weight. If you really want to, you can change party members on the fly. 5- Every party member gains EXP after battles, regardless if they are in the party or not. Did I mention that managing your party doesn't carry any weight? So yeah, screw having to bench characters when you could have everyone kicking butts at the same time.

[@timothymclean]

I hope Kairi can be added to the party. I'm kinda miffed that she's gotten shafted so far.

[@TalonSky]

I think Oogie Boogie having memory problems is because, in Chain of Memories, he drank that memory potion. As a kid, my headcanon was always that his real memories were still trapped in Castle Oblivion.

[@christiancrusader9374]

But that wasn't the real Oogie Boogie. It was an illusion created by Sora's memories.

[@malstorm5]

since you don't seem to know, you can manually cancel anti form out of combat with the revert command

[@MrAuthor3DS]

9:07 I mean, he's still on the nice list - he's just embarrassed in front of his friends right now.

[@key099able]

I love Christmas town theme.

[@hadriennogueira3726]

10:00 oh wow that sounded just like your high pitched extra credits voice

[@AssassinLupus7]

I think the Christmas Town costumes are new to Final Mix. But I love that Sora is still in all black. He's an adorable emo kid Santa.

[@AlvoriaGPM]

The talk about the on-brand keyblade got me wondering... if Dan and Carrie had keyblades what would they look like? These are the questions that keep me up at night.

[@coastersplus]

The KH meme channel Just a Pancake pronounces Kairi as Carrie so she's basically already in the game, and Dan... Wait, is Dan Jones his nobody?

[@endermage77]

Halloween Town in this game is interesting in that the plot is completely original to this game. And the reason why Oogie's memory has gone to pot is because of his resurrection messing with his head.

[@Hgdrifter]

The dancing jack in the box that's in the command menu during combat is a nice touch.

[@rundinj]

Two things, One I love that Soras Keyblade looks like a Wreath in christmas and Two Donald and Mae from Night in the woods are slowly merging and I am ok with this

[@ixhilkalaskiiver792]

Remember in the movie, the kids bring Jack the Easter Bunny, thinking it was maybe Santa, so they did bring him one of the other door's people at least once.

[@TheBoundFenrir]

6:00 "The moogle shop synthesis sure makes great rings!" *doesn't equip any of them*

[@PlayFramePlus]

Much happens off-screen. :p

[@dndnerd1]

so... what would santa's nobody be called? xansat? xstaan? satanx?

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

That last one, definitely.

[@NobodyC13]

Anstax

[@JoeReMi123]

T-A-N-S-A-X. Got it memorized?

[@dakirakage]

Satanx

[@tzisorey]

That goofy falling cry, for as iconic as it is to me, I think I've only seen in, like, 3 cartoons.

[@shadeknight6537]

I know this was made as a joke on College Humor, but I do wonder if St. Patrick's Day Town actually exists within Nightmare Before Christmas canon.

[@ingonyama70]

I want to say there was a shamrock door?

[@timothymclean]

No snakes allowed.

[@jafortune]

Santa acts like people showing up to his world to check if they're on the nice list is a normal occurrence?

[@darter9000]

jafortune Well, he knows when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, so I’d imagine that he knows when you’re on your way to meet him.

[@krishnansubramoni7801]

"Hey Magnet... Hey! Magnet! ;)" - That comment at the end really got me laughing for some reason XD.

[@pyrosianheir]

World levels do scale to an extent. Whenever you go to jump into a world, it tells you what level it's at beside the amount of time you've logged playing in that world. Usually, it's close to your level. It was in this instance.

[@Xene4Games]

A couple of things. First, did I hear correctly witnessed Dog Garnit? Or did my ears deceive me? What are you hiding, Dan? Drunk dogs? A seöf-aware android with a fear of dogs and chinchillas? Spill it! Second: Disney, grab Square Enix, kidnap them if it needs to be done, and make Kingdom Hearts: Maleficent steals Christmas The Movie a thing. There's a market for this fuckery. There is a need, and it's mighty indeed

[@timothymclean]

I think it would be better to have Squenix kidnap Disney for that, seeing how Disney's the one that makes movies.

[@Xene4Games]

One needs to kidnap the other anyway because of copyright.

[@ThelemaAndLouise]

You didn't look in Santa's kitchen!

[@julieheinz9067]

I could probably live in Thanksgiving Town

[@Gorrebell]

4:25 You didn't forget, it's new to Final Mix.

[@TheBoundFenrir]

It is? I could have sworn I remember seeing it in my (very much not final nor mixed) version...

[@MrAuthor3DS]

Pretty sure the bad memory is just another side effect of being freshly resurrected here.

[@alexjones50]

I like that sally actually succeeds in rescuing santa claus unlike in the movie.

[@Notmyday2009]

The changing choths is Final Mix addiction. In the original you kept the same cloths.

[@Yugi880]

Man I really love the opening song of Christmas town Remind me of the trailer for NORAD Santa Claus tracker

[@KeybladeMasterAndy]

Dan, the reason you didn't remember the Christmas costumes is because they were added for final mix.

[@darter9000]

3:20 Can you build a snow du~~~~~~ck?

[@benparker1822]

Stop me if you heard this one: How do you make a Hanky dance? Put a little Boogie in it.

[@RyanStark-sy6xm]

11:26 Jack pogging

[@guygluck4014]

anyone else really wants to see Santa's heartless and nobody?

[@Qwerbey]

Christmas Town Halloween Town Twilight Town

[@timothymclean]

Who lives there, sparkly rejects from Halloweentown?

[@JM-nothing-more]

i just noticed how similar to Xenoblade 2's Rex Dan looks in the thumbnail

[@randomchick1234]

I wonder whether there's an Anzac day town and other towns for similarly small, regional holidays

[@DarkLThemsby]

Fun fact, Christmas Town is the best place to grind Master Form with the carousel in the town square, since it makes the heartless drop drive orbs~

[@Qazqi]

I somehow really doubt it's faster than Twilight Tower gamblers with drive converters considering that's where it's done in speedruns.

[@mithrone5832]

37:15 NOO MAGNET!!!

[@pedrogarcia8706]

When you use a Limit Form limit, you don't need to time the triangle button. Just mash that baby.

[@pedrogarcia8706]

Also, no, Oogie's amnesia is strictly a product of his resurrection.

[@nickperri6571]

Sorry but valentines town is not PG-13

[@timothymclean]

St. Valentine is awful grumpy about that...

[@dakirakage]

Most likely

[@jjstarA113]

"Who is this mean fellow, with her skin all green and her eyes all yellow EWWWW!!!"

[@ShadowWingTronix]

I know it's probably too late now but next should be back to the Coliseum. A new chapter opened over there a long time ago.

[@JustinWPruett]

Anybody else feel physically ill when he didn’t use both the bright shard and energy shard for the Mythril Ring when he could have?

[@knobelaxphormi6320]

Disney always goes overboard on sequels. Sleeping Beauty 3: Maleficent Steals Christmas

[@ironmilutin]

Dan, someone probably said it already but you can revert out of anti form if you're out of combat, no need to wait for it to time out

[@raupy_prince]

I'm always ready for more finny fun

[@saint23thomas]

Dan's not fooling anyone. We all know where he's going on Monday.

[@jonahpalomo1713]

5:42 *dbd ptsd

[@roy4173]

Zomgwtf-ingly increases maximum AP

[@Athados1]

If you want to see the other holiday towns, play the Nightmare Before Christmas video game sequel! =D

[@asrieldreemurr1988]

that exists i need it!!!

[@jonnucifera8502]

The antiform mask in the lower right icon is so *cute*; I can't believe you didn't notice/mention it.

[@Jonjon13Jonjon13]

he did though? Or so I remember.

[@asrieldreemurr1988]

timestamp?

[@Qazqi]

So there's no world level scaling, but there is damage scaling. There's a cool, in-depth video on it, but the footage is FM stuff, so save it for after the game if you want to be blind to the new postgame content. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2rZYpmgjbCNi9U

[@Lukz243]

so, how anti-form happens?

[@NobodyC13]

I think Dan described it in another episode, but when you enter the other drive forms, there's a secret counter that adds to the probability of entering anti-form. Once it's high enough and you enter a drive form, that's when you accidentally trigger anti-form. It's sort of the game's punishment/drawback for using drives too often.

[@Lukz243]

and why punish using too much drive form?

[@NobodyC13]

@@Lukz243 Kingdom Hearts II is exalted for offering a lot variety in its combat, and a good developer shouldn't let a player lean too heavily on one mechanic; you should play creatively. Besides, I think Square figured out the drives would be seen as a game breaker since they're very powerful and added anti to counter it, kind of like "power comes at a price" deal. Remember: no one wants to be in anti-form. It may look cool, but it's actually weak, you can't use magic or healing items or summons to help you, your party members are gone, and you're locked in until the drive gauge is depleted and thus a sitting duck to whatever you're fighting. Story wise, I think Nomura is trying to imply that all this fighting is starting to eat away at Sora, that he's being tempted by darkness.

[@brettd2308]

@Luke Mileto Exactly what NobodyC13 says. To add just a bit, you also take extra damage while in Anti Form on top of all those other weaknesses, so it can be dangerous to have it trigger during hard fights (especially on Proud Mode). The "darkness within Sora" explanation is also what I take away from it - the more aggressively you fight with Sora, the more that the darkness within him is gaining power. I won't spoil it just in case, but there's going to be a later story moment in the game that gives Sora the possibility to master this darkness within him, after which point you can stop Anti Form from triggering altogether.

[@The_Rising_Dragon]

Can you do a playthrough of Undertale, sometime? (:

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

I think Dan probably knows all the gimmicks of that game by now. It wouldn't be a very authentic experience.

[@The_Rising_Dragon]

@@imveryangryitsnotbutter I agree, however, I don't wish to see his first views on the game, per se, rather I would like to see his perspective on the simplistic, yet effective sprite animation and combat system, along with his take on the music and atmosphere of the game. (:

[@TheBigRalph]

@@The_Rising_Dragon That is actually a great idea

[@timothymclean]

Maybe he could play Deltarune instead?

[@coastersplus]

Deltarune would be nice because it could just be a shorter filler series for now and we might even get a semi-blind playthrough.

[@phyrofox1641]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! bad dan, no cringe.

[@Abdallah-i4g]

Look it goodolhp the red nosed dog man

[@dungheap7995]

If I may, Dan... why the pink and green?

[@NovaDysnomia]

Dung Heap green for Dan, pink for Carrie.

[@dungheap7995]

@@NovaDysnomia Oh... makes more sense now...

[@ingonyama70]

Pink is Carrie's signature text color when she edits videos, and green is Dan's. They've been color-coded that way since their early days of Extra Credits. (in fact, I often confused Carrie's bean-person look for Alison, one of Extra Credits' earliest artists, who was also signified by the color pink)

[@justember794]

Don't listen to them! Dan and Carrie are actually secretly Cosmo and Wanda!