I just finished watching the 7 hour Sunshine vid and loved it, and saw the occasional KH1 clip in that project. Was hoping there'd be KH coverage on this channel, so excited to watch these!
I don't know if it'll come up later, but a minor note I don't think you mentioned about the difficulty selection: EXP Zero only exists on the HD versions of the game. Original PS2 Final Mix does not feature that Ability, it first appeared in KH2 Final Mix.
It's Miss Gamerchamp! Omg, I just thought to myself how I'm certain you two have a similar sense of humor. Very glad to see that you do, in fact watch each other's videos ❤
How many differences are there between KH1 Final Mix and the HD version? Is it just EXP Zero, the reaction commands, and the summon button being on the bottom?
Fun fact about the cutscene at 26:34 I noticed you didn't draw attention to: The framing of Kairi uses a lot of Japanese Cinematography to indicate she's lying (focus on her mouth to frown before answering, never showing her eyes during the exchange, showing her back to obscure her face, etc), at least about not remembering her home. It's a little detail that's easy to miss and speaks more about her character, giving early hints that there's a lot more to Kairi than you'd think at the start!
I've never been KH1's strongest soldier but just from the opening hour or so alone i can see how it ends up being some people's favorite in the franchise to this day, the level of intractability, attention to detail, and exploration you can feel just from DI alone really does make it feel like a playable disney film and it's one of the things i wish the rest of the series had more of. Cannot wait to see the rest of this deep dive!
I ended up watching all 7 hours of the sunshine deep dive attentively over the course of a week. This is literally the perfect follow up for that, I’m so looking forward to following this series
I am so stoked for this series; one of my first games to have ever played on the PS2. As for lesser known facts; The character design of the main cast isn't just Square Enix' weird obsession with belts and zippers mixed with Oversized shoes, but is actually based upon swimming gear, such as Wetsuits, Water Waders and Water Shoes. Someone on Tumblr by the name of "passive-t-u-m-b-l-r-user" made a post that goes into detail about it, so I wanted to atleast give him credit for that.
The Level 1 run on Proud actually sets a secret damage “floor” where your weapons do a minimum amount of damage. It was kind of hacked together by the devs last minute to make the run viable, and speedrunners have taken full advantage of its quirks
By playing the game for the first time as an adult I never realized you’re supposed to lose to Darkside because on Proud the challenge seemed perfect for a first boss. Then I fought him again at the end of DI and realized.
kingdom hearts 1 is my favorite game of all time. the way you're talking about it with such passion is so wonderful to hear. i'm seated for this whole series
I'm new here, but RegularPat and Gamechamp are already here and you really can't sell me harder than that. Edit: 6hrs later, I've binged the entirety of your sly 2 content and I'll eagerly be waiting all future works you put out.
A quick note about the Disney Castle scenes being so detailed: It was actually a world sora was supposed to go to in the game but was cut both for time and the fact that we really don't need a second traverse town area
45:10 About the pretty Stones: This place is not the only one you will come across pretty stones, but if you want to have 99 of them in the inventory you have to farm them here. Not important by any means, but might be interesting for completionists
The three vs one fight against Tidus, Wakka and Selphie is already possible on day one. You have to beat every one beforehand one time and then talk to Tidus.
I think this video, despite me not seeing it until now, indirectly pointed me in the direction to finally give the series a shot in September. I hated KH1 and Re:Chain of Memories (I didn’t even bother finishing Re:CoM), and once I got to 2, I was all in. Here I am two months later, finishing pretty much every game Square wants you to play, and I’m doing a Proud Mode run of KH1 and it’s somehow growing on me. Can’t wait to watch these videos on the side because I loved the Sunshine deep dives!
Loved Mario Sunshine as a kid, and your recent series breaking down every level are how I discovered your channel. Kingdom Hearts is my favorite series. So with this new video I AM HYPED. THANK YOU FOR THE PHENOMENAL CONTENT
The boss breakdown cards are a great addition. Both the "mini boss/regular encounters" and the more in depth darkside/riku ones are a great touch. Excited to see the next video
Fun Fact about the Cutscenes in particular when moving from the PS2 to the Remade From Scratch PS3 version, and subsequent ports. You would assume that because the 1.5 Version is in Widescreen, apposed to the PS2 versions in 4:3, that it would show more of the cutscenes, perhaps the sides or maybe more, but in actuality, they redesigned the Cutscenes to place the objects and characters to as close as they could visually to the 4:3 aspect ratio, so characters who originally stood just off screen to the right, still stand just off screen to the right in Widescreen, however interesting enough, the 1.5 Remix Versions actually ZOOM IN a lot of the cutscenes for whatever reason. This is very noticeable in scenes such as the one where Kairi Hits Sora after he wakes up. On the PS2, her hand is fully in frame for a majority of the strike, while in the Remix versions, you only see the corner of the hand for a few frames at most.
2 notes. A ton of games on the PS2 would do "fake widescreen" (adding black bars to give a widescreen effect to make it feel more like a movie) So when making HD versions with native widescreen support, it was easy to just zoom in the camera a bit and remove the black bars. And secondly about the Kairi thing. The hand is technically in the camera shot. But you'll never see this on intended hardware. CRTs have a border around the screen that cuts off a good portion of each edge. Assuming your screen was properly aligned, the HD version shows off basically exactly what you would see on a PS2 with a CRT TV. This is why so many games have weird gaps in the HUDs and UIs. From Super Mario 64 to Dark Souls technically. To account for CRTs having overscan.
37:51 A later flashback in this game actually hints that Riku’s probably lying to Kairi here-solely for the rizz. Riku actually gains a desire to leave the islands before ever meeting her, that same flashback mentioning a recent meteor shower and a “new girl” they hadn’t meant yet. I figured this may have been a retcon, since the flashback is a final-mix addition, but Sora rolls his eyes here! He’s giving a look like he knows Riku’s just lying to impress her. It’s crazy how much detail is jam packed into these cutscenes.
@peachnkey The prequel outright confirms this take in a late-game cutscene. Riku had wanted to go to other worlds for years by this point if BBS is to be believed
I have watched so many videos on this game. Played theough it so many times. ...I've learned more in the first half of this video about some of the non-technical aspects than I have in years. And from the sound of it, you're gonna go into the rest of the worlds too? INSTANT subscribe. (For example, I never, not ONCE, noticed how Sora's shadow disappears in the Darkside fight. ...I also didn't know that the game would still progress if you lost that fight. You're also the first person to mention how different weapons have different sounds for everything which is one of my favourite things with the keyblades and stuff, the different sounds and particle effects to everything, hitting, bouncing off, opening chests, all of it. The way you laid out the boss explanation was also REALLY nice.
Dude, you are really good at these deep dives, you have now gotten me to play sly and super mario sunshine for the first time ever and I'm feeling really convinced on giving this series a try too now
Your script writing is so fucking funny I heartily laughed out loud multiple times. That origin of the word ragged line almost made me snort Diet Coke out my nose.
Oh shit, KH is next, okay man, I just found you but you are very quickly becoming one of my go to on my long shifts. I watched all of sunshine and most of Sly 2 in one long 12 hour shift at work. Thank you for all your hard work!
The... Tidus name pronunciation at 32:09 could very simply just be because Wakka actually knows the guy, and Selphie doesn't. Since Wakka and Tidus are both from X...
You didn’t talk about the menu this episode, but I wanted to drop the neat detail of the background lines in the menu changing based on the color of what the camera is on before you pause. That detail is so cool. I had no idea about the reticle changing based on distance from the enemy, that’s so smart!
I just finished the Mario Sunshine deep dive video over the course of 3 days… it made me so happy to see someone point out literally EVERYTHING in one of my favorite games. That was an amazing video and now Kingdom Hearts?? Wishing you many more subscribers because you really deserve it. I’m excited to follow this series!!
gotta be my current favorite youtuber, I rewatched every mario sunshine video 10 times over. scared of what will happen when the next year of your channel is dedicated to a game I don't care about, this was a lucky pick
Just came across the 7 hour sunshine video, saw in the intro that it’s part of a series of breakdowns, checked out the channel, and lo and behold you’re covering my favorite game of all time?!!?! Instant subscribe, can’t wait to see more!
You, sir, have earned yourself a subscription from me. Such detailed analysis of one of my favorite games of all time, presented in both a very informative and very entertaining way. I even learned stuff I didn’t even know! Like, I had no idea the lock-on changes actually indicated whether you’d do a swing or a lunge, and I never pieced together the parallels between Darkside’s reveal and the Beast’s reveal! Very much looking forward to following along with the rest of this deep dive!
I'm so ecstatic that I stumbled across this, KH trivia and world design (KH1 especially) are like catnip to me, and now get a whole hour long video? Thank you so much for making this!
The mystery of the tutorial is my favorite part about it. The fact that the game doesn't tell you what happens when you choose or sacrifice a weapon, or what it means with the personality quiz, is such a VIBE! It's perfect, and they didn't need to explain it anymore than they already have. I honestly think if the player was anymore clued in on what they were doing, it would legitimately ruin the magic of that opening sequence.
Omigod I’m so glad to see another RUclipsr covering kh with the analysis it deserves. Kh means a lot to me. I’m an amateur WebNovel writer and this series is what game a passion for writing. My first game in the series was kh2 and as an elementary school kid who was bullied worse than almost anyone else in the class, the story of roxas becoming alienated from the rest of his friends and discovering his life was a lie spoke to me in a way no other story had. This story is packed with so much meaning and depth that so often goes overlooked because “my guess is no one’s ever loved you before!” A great other RUclipsr who does analysis on kh is the violet howler his series constructing kingdoms gets deep in the weeds about the deeper aspects of the story and the meta narratives at play
i wasnt expecting kingdom hearts analysis from you, but its very much appreciated, seeing how good your sunshine vids were! however, i have a lot of stuff i want to correct, because the series, especially com and kh3, have major mistranslations that cause major changes in how to see the story, and you werent against japanese searching in your past videos, so i hopeits ok if i fill you in in major differences fans have found out. specifically, these changes usually happen when kairi, sora and riku interact, so this first video especially has quite more than usual. starting with the first one, the mysterious voice in the tutorial. in japanese, this voice has clear hints this is actually supposed to be mickey, it has his inflections and mickey dialogue quirks. in english, they dropped the ball and turned it into a unknown mystery voice. fits the atmosphere, breaks that story point. so yes, that joke you made about the voice being annoyed at sora's incompetence, thats mickey. another thing i want to correct, one of his iconic lines, "so much to do. so little time. take your time" its mistranslated. in japanese, hes saying HE doesnt have enough time (he's currently stuck in hell after all during this game) but sora should take his time instead to learn the basics. this is just a detail, but the sentences riku says when sora is climbing the tree away from him, "dont tell me youre giving up already" is likely in japanese word for word what sora later hears to encourage him to fight at the final boss of the game. this sentence is particularly emblematic of riku, called back many other times, and its neat seeing how as the story progresses, it evolves into healthier renditions of it, just like another motto of his does (not in english, essentially ruining an essential part of his character arc for english speakers). another correction, about riku's scene in the first evening. riku says he started thinking about leaving the islands thanks to kairi. you joked about sora eyerolling at him, but thats not whats going on. sora looks at riku like that... because he's lying. in this game already, in a monstro cutscene, and especially in future games, we got the confirmation riku had the dream to leave the islands specifically with sora since waaay before kairi was around. its one of many details that makes the situation between the group, and especially riku's, way less obvious adn straighforward than it may appear to be, and much more interesting. (a similar example, kairi is hiding, comunicated through the camera hiding her eyes and showing her from the back, her real feelings about her original home from sora after sora wakes up from the tutorial) the major mistranslation that changes the entire situation lies in kairi and sora's talk in the second evening, which actually kind of obfuscates kairi's main characteristic of the series unfortuantely to english player. here is what nomura actually said on the matter before analyzing it ourselves. "i like the scene in kh1, when she watches the sunset witrh sora, and tells him not to change. i thought it showed very well her anxiety and loneliness over how as we get older we find a distance growing between us and our close friends" in a nutshell, kairi is afraid of change, which is what her role in the series and her actions always come back to one way or another. this scene has her being afraid and feeling riku has changed, and trying to find a solution by wanting to steal riku's raft for sora and herself. but, that is actually also another lie, which she is quick to justify as her just joking and not accidentally letting out her anxiety for a moment. because, she doesnt want to take the raft, as we'll see at the end of the scene. after sora doesnt get what is up with her (and tbh, he also doesnt get what is going on with riku too recently) she asks him not to change, after saddnened admitting she may have changed, and getting up, wondering in japanese if they'll even make it alive out of the trip. the only consolation being hopefully able to return here, where things dont change, and the reason she is going with the raft to begin with is because she is more afraid of drifting apart from sora and riku than leaving the islands momentarily. this gets even more grounded when you realize, instead of really working on the raft like riku did, what she has been doing is making a lucky charm, specifically made for sea voyagers, in the hopes they will actually make it back alive. all of this makes perfect sense with how her backstory goes. she lost literally everything, her world, her family, and her memories. her new life in the islands with riku and sora is her new anchor, and she is afraid to lose it all once again. (and this is just a fun detail, the place she later lands on is neverland, where people dont change or grow up!) in general, this entire prologue is great at establishing the tension between the trio, and how actually they ARENT as close of a knit tight group as it may appear to be. kairi is forcing herself on a trip she is scared of because of not wanting to leave the other two, sora is content and more carefree but excited at the prospect of adventure, while riku cant wait any longer to leave the islands as soon as possible. sora is being pulled between the two, in this and other ways. on top of this, we have the riku and sora rivalry, who seems to be so harsh recently that the others question if they even are friends anymore? sora, as you felt it on your skin, feels an urgent from his environment to always needing to stand up to riku and trying to win him at stuff, while riku.... well, riku's motivation becomes the major throughline and topic of the rest of the game, so for now his motives remain vague or just mean. light on his moments is shed retroactively after the game, after seeing what makes him tick, but its another flavor of what kairi fears of being left behind by sora and riku, more on this later. another parallel between the two, kairi joking about leaving with the raft is actually very similar to riku joking about sharing the paopu with kairi, since thats ostentably not what he wants seeing the rest of the game, and the series, and other things. Something i like about the thalassa charm Kairi makes btw is how she explains it is and why its called a wayfinder. She explains that sea voyagers kept it as a lucky charm, so they wouldnt get lost. It is called a wayfinder, which is the boat tool to read the stars to let them guide you, and so the charm is appropriately star-shaped. Its also cool how it fits with the way space is called in the series itself, as its official term is "the Ocean between", with the gummiship being more akin to a boat than just a simple spaceship. an extremely important scene is the riku scene with sora when the keyblade appears. here is nomura's step by step explanation on the mechanic of it. "With the setting I created, the darkness that surrounds them is Riku's heart's darkness. At that moment, sora enters the darkness, and the light he sees inside is riku's heart's light. sora, who was squirming in the darkness to save riku, touched the light and temporarily obtained the keyblade from riku.". ill add other things in a follow up comment under this one, to give actual official clarifications of major moments of this intro that are left vague otherwise, primarily the characters' thoughts during some moments, to really see whats making em tick. i think youd enjoy seeing them, since your interpretations are quite different from them! at least to give you another perspective! i want to give you an enticing detail for example that the game itself brings up. once sora arrives at the storming islands, he noptices specifically that kairi and riku's boats are there. if sora only noticed the storm when it started happening... how are their boats already here? could it be that.... neither of them left the islands through the entire evening...? what were they doing by themselves? more on this in the thread!
So, for more clarification on each character's mental process, mainly sora and riku's actually, for this specific part, it's extremely helpful looking at other official media on the topic, aka the novels and also one clip of a beta trailer. In case it's needed, I'll be more than happy to explain why the KH novels and their author is very much extremely reliable (and nowdays almost necessary) to glimpse at the more subtle layers of the characters. The one sora thing I want to point out is about what his thoughts are while he's actually adding the star to the cave drawing, because it's fascinating. He's actually reminiscing about the times Riku has beaten him so far. He goes on a list of all the things Riku has always been better than sora at, even considering his previous win at the fight as a fluke or luck. Only then, as he thinks about wanting to beat Riku at something, does sora actually adds the star, clearly implying the reason he's doing it is because he is deciding that the thing he could win is sharing the paopu, which showcases his immaturity in this first game, especially relating to Kairi, only doing this gesture to win at something against Riku, after everyone else keeps bringing this up (he likely wouldn't have done anything without all this outside pressure), so treating her like a means to an end, similar to how she literally calls her dead weight at the end of the game. kingdom hearts novel・❥・ "it felt nothing more than an accident that he'd managed to win the sword fight. sora was always the one who lost. school grades, sprinting, it didn't matter what - he couldn't beat riku. if he could just win at something... " (sora as he makes the paopu) The rest of the novel quotes I wanted to share are about Riku. Mainly, we have the actual novels and a short story, the Other Diamond, which is the prologue from Riku's point of view. It's him constantly being pissed and tormented but not knowing by what, besides it's about Kairi and Sora, and being incredibly frustrated at the emotions he's going through he can't even name. His insecurity with having sora constantly try to catch up to him, since he has motivation he feels he can't pull off and is scared of when he will surpass him, because where will that leave him? Him being genuinely confused about why he even blurted out at Sora that he wants to share a paopu with Kairi. And ending with him longingly gazing at the ocean, thinking everything would be better if either just Kairi or Sora were on the islands, not both of them, the story ending with the wind comforting him, but being ensure where the wind is coming from, the sea or the sky (Kairi or Sora) I admittedly have not found what Riku is thinking of when he gives sora a paopu fruit, but the previous fact and the next ones give insight on the matter. Kairi is never mentioned here, and Nomura even made an artwork of this, showing this is important for Riku. Sora is as usual confused why he's acting like this, and the next day Selphie scolds him that the paopu fruits are precious, so you shouldn't pick one unless you want to use it with someone. Riku picked it and threw it at Sora, asking, or testing the water, if he ever wants to share it with anyone in general, before covering his actions by making it a joke and running away..... Now, about after the end of the day. Kairi and Riku are never shown to have left the island, and there are more hints about it in other material. One of the beta trailer shows us Kairi, after having told sora to casually leave Riku behind and steal his raft, sitting on the pier and confronted by Riku. In the novel, we see them arguing inside the cave, after presumably Riku opened the door of the cave. “Huh?” She stared at me, looking confused. “What about Sora?” Right. Because Kairi would only think of Sora. But I was the same way. When Sora and I were together, we could go anywhere. I really believed that." “Kairi, you wait here by the door. I’ll go get Sora!” “Riku! Wait!” I ignored her protest and started to run. To get Sora. That’s where I was going. Sora! Sora! Hey, Sora! We can leave this world right now!" And then what happens between sora and Riku "where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!" The first thing he said to me was about her. "The door has opened" I told him. ''Riku?'' He stopped in his tracks. He was looking at me strangely, too. ''The door is open, Sora. Now we can go to the outside world!'' Sora was only ever thinking about Kairi and Kairi was only ever thinking about Sora. But now that would change. I reached out my hand for him. (Come on sora- let's go!) "Riku...?" He looked just a little bit nervous as he tried to take my hand. ‘I have no idea what was happening around me right then. I never even glanced at it. All I cared about was that Sora was right there, and I was reaching for him. Just a little bit more and he would make it. “…Sora…” Hopefully this gives new major shades and what Riku's focus is in all these instances, which matches perfectly with how he acts in game after the prologue, more clarity. Especially when counting the fact that Riku's heart willingly gave Sora the keyblade, which can also be read and seen in many ways, such as Riku's heart wanting to give sora something he could protect himself with and more. Not the last time Riku will do similar things subconsciously in the series for sora. Also, it is the first of various times Riku gives Sora his symbols of regal status, which is gonna be important later. But anyway, it's very juicy how seeing what is going on in Riku's head, both him possibly hearing the fact he was going to be abandoned if he didn't do anything, or the confirmation in the cave that sora wants to share the paopu with Kairi, even if he doesn't know why he actually made it, is likely the final push that led to Riku to risk it all to open the door and force everyone to leave together. And with the knowledge of the rest of the game, Riku is CONSTANTLY taunting sora because he wants his attention basically all the time,( I like for example how in the race after the tutorial, sora sprints forward, Riku sprints while looking at sora, Kairi tries to catch up to the two), because he feels he will be useless if he doesn't have that, and be Sora's protector and more capable friend. He realizes that Kairi and Sora may leave him behind, so his actions are becoming more provocative, even going to blurting out wanting to share a paopu with Kairi, he was thinking what could rile up sora the most. He really doesn't want sora to leave him, and the rest of the game is all about his possessiveness and jealousy about sora leaving him or having other friends.
Thanks for sharing this, seriously. I've been playing this series for 20 years at this point and had literally never heard this context for the characters actions because I've never delved into the supplementary material for the series, as I unfortunatley didn't have the means to read it when I was younger and became a lot less interested in the series with the release and following releases after BBS. It really does put into perspective a lot of the characters motivations that, now that I know them, it feels so... not obvious, but obviously clearly motivated that couldn't be brought about in a game sense without some laborious side collectables like Ansem Reports. Thanks again.
@@PaggigaloArchive No problem!! Glad it was helpful! I know the novels have been shared fully through download links online, I've never been able to read em myself since they're so many, and mostly stick to the games very closely. My informations on em come from other fans discussing the important bits, hence the quotes I shared. If I can suggest other important bits you should look up, besides other sora and Riku moments which are a ton and even more eye opening than these ones (standout moments are from com, kh2 and DDD), the standout is the BBS novel actually, because it goes into... Truly unheard of places with Vanitas in it. I don't know if you noticed, but BBS on the surface never actually explored (or was able to explore) what is the actual deal with Vanitas, and his actual motivations. The novel did in gruesome details, and recent games have now been slowly reintroducing it in the canon game text too. I would love to share both the sora and Riku stuff and vanitas' many pages, but can't really do it here.... We should move somewhere else where I can send pics. There are videos actually going in depth on the sora and Riku stuff, maybe you would enjoy those. I don't remember if anyone made one for Vanitas. Someone really should.
I don't know if you know this but, in the scene where Kairi tells Sora and Riku to race, in the 1.5 version Riku and Sora seemingly instantaneously get up to race as soon as Kairi says "Go!", but in the original ps2 version they take a moment to look at each other before both springing into a sprint
Incredible video. After 20 years you'd think I'd know every tiny detail about this game but nope, you still managed to bring up new information to me. I'm very thankful to the youtube algorithm for recommending your channel and I look forward for more. There's only one thing I want to "um actually" about. I'm like 99% confident my manual for the original game clearly stated the age of the trio. Sora and Kairi are 14, and Riku is 15.
Small note I remember from playing the game- when the Shadows show up on the beach, there is actually a finite amount of them per *section*. For instance, if you clear all of them off the beach then move to the Cove door, there will be more there. Same if you get close to the Secret Place, etc. I think this was to get the appearance of them constantly appearing out of the ground, rather than just having a herd chasing you from behind that you might not see. There's still no reward for clearing all of them out totally, but... I did feel accomplished!
Something about Destiny Island's vibe kind of hit so differently compared to a lot of rpgs I've played both at the time and ever since, something about it just... worked for me. That dreadful, terrifying feeling of somewhere really precious to you being torn apart and being ripped away from friends you care about at the end of this really bright and sunny experience was a strong start.
!!!! OH SIGN ME THE HELL UP I AM HERE TO SEE YOU TALK ABOUT MY FAVORITE VIDEO GAME SERIES OF ALL TIME!!! I don’t know if anybody else has mentioned this in the comments, but I love the attention to detail in the cutscene where Sora gains the Keyblade on Destiny Islands: Fun fact! The darkness surrounding both Sora and Riku that keeps them anchored to the ground during that cutscene is the darkness in Riku’s heart. That same darkness is smothering the last of Riku’s light and Sora, so while struggling to reach for Riku’s hand, Sora ends up touches the light and he gains the keyblade as a result! Your finding on how fast one levels up depending on which dialogue is picked is really insightful, cause so far as much as I have read, many ppl are encourage to pick midday because it’s faster; you running the numbers to show it’s midnight (tho it’s a slow start) will help me during my next proud mode run of the game, so thank you! I look forward to the next kingdom hearts video, it’s really a drought out there for KH fans while we’re stilling waiting for news on KH4 or Missing Link, so this really brightened my day!
I haven’t started watching but I am so excited! The Sunshine series was soooo well made and awesome to watch! It really is CRIMINAL how few viewers and subscribers you have, I hope you make it and start to earn some well deserved income from this labour of love that is your channel!!!
it's so funny that one of my good friends actually had a whole channel based on KH!! it was fairly popular so when i showed them this, they pulled up their own video on destiny islands lmao great video phoenix!
Sly 2 to Mario Sunshine to Kingdom Hearts 1. You're going from high point to high point right now. Kingdom Hearts 1 has a lot of hidden details that the rest of the series doesn't have so I'm excited to see things i haven't seen yet. Keep it up!
Hi from France 👋😁🇨🇵 As someone who played this game litteraly hundreds of time, I didn't learn anything special, yet, it's so amazing to experience thsi gem of a game with your analysis ! I look foward for Traverse Town and the rest of the game ! I'm sure I'll learn one or two things from this game, even if I've played it so much. Thank you so much for doing Game Breakdown for Kingdom Hearts ! I didn't think you'll do this for my favorite franchise of all time ! Guess I was right to subscribe when I discovered you with your Sly 2 videos :P Anyway, just, thank you ! And keep up the good work ! Your videos are amazing, I didn't see the hour come to an end ^-^
Been replaying the game recently, it's sad that the final mix version dropped the french voice, the dub was really good and it really added to the disney nostalgia vibe too.
@@Laezar1Yup... that's unfortunate :( But with some mods we can add them on the steam version, at least there's that x) Even though I'm used of the English voices by now, it's still sad that the European voices were not keep..
If you do a Level 1 playthrough, it's highly recommend to take the staff as that extra MP is far more useful. Defence is useless due to everything hitting you for sets amount of damage (Depending on where you are in the game/the progress you've made in the story)
Actually losing defence is better. You'll be able to fight enemies faster in the early game while you're on par with their stats and still unlocking abilities. The defence has no real benefit since early game the enemies are so weak and easy to dodge and by the time you get fights you'd reasonably be getting hit you are falling behind on stats to the point you'd be 2-shot anyway. The best option is take Staff lose Shield. With an asterisk. If you take Shield and lose Sword, you have an additional inventory slot which you could use for an Ether or Elixer. So while your magic attack would be lower, you could spam more spells or summons than if you had took the staff.
And now you are doing Kingdom hearts... You just keep getting better, I thought Sunshine the best thing you would do in my favourite video games list, but this is somehow even better... I love your content, please continue doing what you are doing
nobody can ever bring up kingdom hearts around me because i will not be able to shut up about how magical the first game is. lightning in a bottle type shit. i love a lot about most of the subsequent games but nothing will ever come close to how special the original feels. nostalgia definitely plays a factor but there are so many objectively identifiable elements to this game that the developers decided to drop in the name of marketability and spectacle. i randomly discovered your latest video (Deep Jungle breakdown) and was sucked in the whole time. your style of presentation and editing and humor are so good and you really get this game in a way that speaks to me. i can't wait to watch the rest of these!!
I watched the Sunshine Deepdive after discovering your Channel a few Months ago and now you do another one with another Childhood Classic of mine? This is gonna be a long one 🤟
5:31 Actually the reason we didn't get it is more down to Sony having a very strict policy about re-releases of games. Mainly that they needed to have a lot of new content that justified putting it out there. Sony for whatever reason decided not to bring either Final Mix or II Final Mix to the west likely due to this, though as a friend of mine also pointed out, there was this weird stigma even back then about releasing Japanese games, regardless of both quality and brand recognition. At the least, I think the creators always did intend to bring FM over, Nomura's comments in the Special Edition artbook for the PS3 release actually pretty much confirms that, but who can really say at this point why it took so long to make it over.
Okay how did I never notice that Kairi hits Sora?! I was always co fused with the sound effects and him acting like he got hit, just thought he was remembering the fight with Darkside.
I only just realized this because I have the stupid, but Riku saying he never would have thought of leaving their world if Kairi didn't show up is because he never would have known about other worlds if she didn't come from hers
I thought I knew everything about this game but there are like 5 or 6 things you've said already that I didn't know and I'm only 40 minutes in! The alternate cutscene stuff is super interesting. The Captain Sora thing blew my mind, I haven't bothered with the optional dialogue in years.
Sora is 14 in kh1, this was mentioned in the kh1 manual fir the ps2 and later referenced that in kh2 sora is 15 in the games manual. And again reconfirmed in interveiws and the ultimanias. Riku is 15 in kh1 16 in kh2 and kairi is the same age as sora
Riku is a shortass 15-year-old! No wonder he fell to darkness, the darkness probably promised to make him taller (and to be fair, it seems to have delivered on that promise)
I literally just played this game for the first time a few days ago, so this video series is gonna be really cool for me since I know basically nothing about this game/franchise! I also really appreciate that you keep it pretty spoiler free so far (cause I'm not finished yet with the story) and don't say "this foreshadows that at the end of the game", but hopefully you'll talk about it when you get to the point that was foreshadowed, if that makes sense :) And shoutout to gamechamp for sharing this on Twitter! Really great work, can't wait for the other world break downs! Will there be some kind of schedule or will they come out whenever they're done?
I didn’t know you were supposed to lose to darkseid as a kid, I always just barely beat it and thought I was lame for struggling against the tutorial boss…
Love love love love this idea what a cool video I like the part with the silly explanations and deep dives into kingdom hearts stuff, I'll have to share this one!
I just finished watching the 7 hour Sunshine vid and loved it, and saw the occasional KH1 clip in that project. Was hoping there'd be KH coverage on this channel, so excited to watch these!
Pat spotting confirmed
@@RegularPat Pat in the wild, I repeat, Pat in the wild
Two of my subed to youtubers interaction
I was about to be like "Has RegularPat seen this, he would love this." and lo and behold, here he is. :P
Pat!!
!!!!! Hello I am here please whisper sweet Kingdom Hearts trivia into my ear
I don't know if it'll come up later, but a minor note I don't think you mentioned about the difficulty selection: EXP Zero only exists on the HD versions of the game. Original PS2 Final Mix does not feature that Ability, it first appeared in KH2 Final Mix.
GAMECHAMPHIIII
gamechamp jumpscare
Omg, Ms. Gamerchamp! Hi!!!
It's Miss Gamerchamp!
Omg, I just thought to myself how I'm certain you two have a similar sense of humor. Very glad to see that you do, in fact watch each other's videos ❤
How many differences are there between KH1 Final Mix and the HD version? Is it just EXP Zero, the reaction commands, and the summon button being on the bottom?
Fun fact about the cutscene at 26:34 I noticed you didn't draw attention to: The framing of Kairi uses a lot of Japanese Cinematography to indicate she's lying (focus on her mouth to frown before answering, never showing her eyes during the exchange, showing her back to obscure her face, etc), at least about not remembering her home. It's a little detail that's easy to miss and speaks more about her character, giving early hints that there's a lot more to Kairi than you'd think at the start!
How do you learn about that?
@@nabbit5574 Lotta anime.
thats crazy i didnt know that first darkside fight was a "supposed to lose" battle
No effing way is this dude seamlessly going from Sly Cooper to Sunshine to Kingdom Hearts like we wouldn't notice.
I've never been KH1's strongest soldier but just from the opening hour or so alone i can see how it ends up being some people's favorite in the franchise to this day, the level of intractability, attention to detail, and exploration you can feel just from DI alone really does make it feel like a playable disney film and it's one of the things i wish the rest of the series had more of. Cannot wait to see the rest of this deep dive!
I ended up watching all 7 hours of the sunshine deep dive attentively over the course of a week. This is literally the perfect follow up for that, I’m so looking forward to following this series
I am so stoked for this series; one of my first games to have ever played on the PS2. As for lesser known facts; The character design of the main cast isn't just Square Enix' weird obsession with belts and zippers mixed with Oversized shoes, but is actually based upon swimming gear, such as Wetsuits, Water Waders and Water Shoes. Someone on Tumblr by the name of "passive-t-u-m-b-l-r-user" made a post that goes into detail about it, so I wanted to atleast give him credit for that.
We're going from one of my all time favorite games to my all time favorite franchise??? You just became one of my favorite content creators man!
Same!
The Level 1 run on Proud actually sets a secret damage “floor” where your weapons do a minimum amount of damage. It was kind of hacked together by the devs last minute to make the run viable, and speedrunners have taken full advantage of its quirks
By playing the game for the first time as an adult I never realized you’re supposed to lose to Darkside because on Proud the challenge seemed perfect for a first boss. Then I fought him again at the end of DI and realized.
kingdom hearts 1 is my favorite game of all time. the way you're talking about it with such passion is so wonderful to hear. i'm seated for this whole series
I'm new here, but RegularPat and Gamechamp are already here and you really can't sell me harder than that.
Edit: 6hrs later, I've binged the entirety of your sly 2 content and I'll eagerly be waiting all future works you put out.
A quick note about the Disney Castle scenes being so detailed:
It was actually a world sora was supposed to go to in the game but was cut both for time and the fact that we really don't need a second traverse town area
45:10 About the pretty Stones: This place is not the only one you will come across pretty stones, but if you want to have 99 of them in the inventory you have to farm them here. Not important by any means, but might be interesting for completionists
From SMS to another great?? Can't wait for the rest of the series! I always love learning new little details in KH.
My man really said "alright, I finished Sunshine, thank goodness, let's take it easy now and start.....kingdom hearts!"
The three vs one fight against Tidus, Wakka and Selphie is already possible on day one. You have to beat every one beforehand one time and then talk to Tidus.
I think this video, despite me not seeing it until now, indirectly pointed me in the direction to finally give the series a shot in September. I hated KH1 and Re:Chain of Memories (I didn’t even bother finishing Re:CoM), and once I got to 2, I was all in. Here I am two months later, finishing pretty much every game Square wants you to play, and I’m doing a Proud Mode run of KH1 and it’s somehow growing on me. Can’t wait to watch these videos on the side because I loved the Sunshine deep dives!
Loved Mario Sunshine as a kid, and your recent series breaking down every level are how I discovered your channel. Kingdom Hearts is my favorite series. So with this new video I AM HYPED. THANK YOU FOR THE PHENOMENAL CONTENT
The boss breakdown cards are a great addition. Both the "mini boss/regular encounters" and the more in depth darkside/riku ones are a great touch. Excited to see the next video
Clever little sneak foreshadowing this deep dive with the race in Gelato Beach
Fun Fact about the Cutscenes in particular when moving from the PS2 to the Remade From Scratch PS3 version, and subsequent ports.
You would assume that because the 1.5 Version is in Widescreen, apposed to the PS2 versions in 4:3, that it would show more of the cutscenes, perhaps the sides or maybe more, but in actuality, they redesigned the Cutscenes to place the objects and characters to as close as they could visually to the 4:3 aspect ratio, so characters who originally stood just off screen to the right, still stand just off screen to the right in Widescreen, however interesting enough, the 1.5 Remix Versions actually ZOOM IN a lot of the cutscenes for whatever reason. This is very noticeable in scenes such as the one where Kairi Hits Sora after he wakes up. On the PS2, her hand is fully in frame for a majority of the strike, while in the Remix versions, you only see the corner of the hand for a few frames at most.
2 notes.
A ton of games on the PS2 would do "fake widescreen" (adding black bars to give a widescreen effect to make it feel more like a movie)
So when making HD versions with native widescreen support, it was easy to just zoom in the camera a bit and remove the black bars.
And secondly about the Kairi thing.
The hand is technically in the camera shot. But you'll never see this on intended hardware. CRTs have a border around the screen that cuts off a good portion of each edge.
Assuming your screen was properly aligned, the HD version shows off basically exactly what you would see on a PS2 with a CRT TV.
This is why so many games have weird gaps in the HUDs and UIs. From Super Mario 64 to Dark Souls technically.
To account for CRTs having overscan.
37:51 A later flashback in this game actually hints that Riku’s probably lying to Kairi here-solely for the rizz. Riku actually gains a desire to leave the islands before ever meeting her, that same flashback mentioning a recent meteor shower and a “new girl” they hadn’t meant yet. I figured this may have been a retcon, since the flashback is a final-mix addition, but Sora rolls his eyes here! He’s giving a look like he knows Riku’s just lying to impress her. It’s crazy how much detail is jam packed into these cutscenes.
@peachnkey The prequel outright confirms this take in a late-game cutscene. Riku had wanted to go to other worlds for years by this point if BBS is to be believed
I have watched so many videos on this game. Played theough it so many times.
...I've learned more in the first half of this video about some of the non-technical aspects than I have in years. And from the sound of it, you're gonna go into the rest of the worlds too? INSTANT subscribe.
(For example, I never, not ONCE, noticed how Sora's shadow disappears in the Darkside fight. ...I also didn't know that the game would still progress if you lost that fight. You're also the first person to mention how different weapons have different sounds for everything which is one of my favourite things with the keyblades and stuff, the different sounds and particle effects to everything, hitting, bouncing off, opening chests, all of it.
The way you laid out the boss explanation was also REALLY nice.
Dude, you are really good at these deep dives, you have now gotten me to play sly and super mario sunshine for the first time ever and I'm feeling really convinced on giving this series a try too now
51:30 we actually do get an age on Sora, from the pamphlet that comes with the game I believe! He's 14; Kairi is 13 and Riku is 15.
I think this single handedly goes down to the best intro to any video analyzing a game I've seen
Your script writing is so fucking funny I heartily laughed out loud multiple times. That origin of the word ragged line almost made me snort Diet Coke out my nose.
I love naming in games for the purpose of funny dialog.
I burst out laughing after seeing Kairi react to your raft name
One of the best tutorial levels of any video game ever.
I loved your Sunshine series so much that I'm going to play Kingdom Hearts just so that I can watch and appreciate this video series lmao
I am now playing through Kingdom Hearts and watching the videos as I go
Oh shit, KH is next, okay man, I just found you but you are very quickly becoming one of my go to on my long shifts. I watched all of sunshine and most of Sly 2 in one long 12 hour shift at work. Thank you for all your hard work!
The... Tidus name pronunciation at 32:09 could very simply just be because Wakka actually knows the guy, and Selphie doesn't. Since Wakka and Tidus are both from X...
Come on now…
If you hear him talk about the 3vs1 fight he makes a joke of it by using both ways to say it. At least that how it sounded to me and I had a laugh.
You didn’t talk about the menu this episode, but I wanted to drop the neat detail of the background lines in the menu changing based on the color of what the camera is on before you pause. That detail is so cool.
I had no idea about the reticle changing based on distance from the enemy, that’s so smart!
I just finished the Mario Sunshine deep dive video over the course of 3 days… it made me so happy to see someone point out literally EVERYTHING in one of my favorite games. That was an amazing video and now Kingdom Hearts?? Wishing you many more subscribers because you really deserve it. I’m excited to follow this series!!
gotta be my current favorite youtuber, I rewatched every mario sunshine video 10 times over. scared of what will happen when the next year of your channel is dedicated to a game I don't care about, this was a lucky pick
Just came across the 7 hour sunshine video, saw in the intro that it’s part of a series of breakdowns, checked out the channel, and lo and behold you’re covering my favorite game of all time?!!?! Instant subscribe, can’t wait to see more!
Cannot complain about this man’s choice of video games to focus on. If I could subscribe twice I would.
This game was so formative for me, brought me many friends, and fostered so much creativity that I still carry to this day. Let's go!
You, sir, have earned yourself a subscription from me. Such detailed analysis of one of my favorite games of all time, presented in both a very informative and very entertaining way.
I even learned stuff I didn’t even know! Like, I had no idea the lock-on changes actually indicated whether you’d do a swing or a lunge, and I never pieced together the parallels between Darkside’s reveal and the Beast’s reveal! Very much looking forward to following along with the rest of this deep dive!
So Deep Jungle video showed up in my recs, and I was like "Is there more...?"
And I saw this is a whole series! Very cool! Great analysis.
I'm so ecstatic that I stumbled across this, KH trivia and world design (KH1 especially) are like catnip to me, and now get a whole hour long video? Thank you so much for making this!
I am super pumped for this series. I really hope you continue to gush about the music. Its truly my go to soundtrack for anything!
The mystery of the tutorial is my favorite part about it. The fact that the game doesn't tell you what happens when you choose or sacrifice a weapon, or what it means with the personality quiz, is such a VIBE! It's perfect, and they didn't need to explain it anymore than they already have. I honestly think if the player was anymore clued in on what they were doing, it would legitimately ruin the magic of that opening sequence.
LOOOOOOOVE your stuff! So glad you’re working on KH now, AWESOME VID! Take care of yourself
Omigod I’m so glad to see another RUclipsr covering kh with the analysis it deserves. Kh means a lot to me. I’m an amateur WebNovel writer and this series is what game a passion for writing. My first game in the series was kh2 and as an elementary school kid who was bullied worse than almost anyone else in the class, the story of roxas becoming alienated from the rest of his friends and discovering his life was a lie spoke to me in a way no other story had. This story is packed with so much meaning and depth that so often goes overlooked because “my guess is no one’s ever loved you before!” A great other RUclipsr who does analysis on kh is the violet howler his series constructing kingdoms gets deep in the weeds about the deeper aspects of the story and the meta narratives at play
i wasnt expecting kingdom hearts analysis from you, but its very much appreciated, seeing how good your sunshine vids were! however, i have a lot of stuff i want to correct, because the series, especially com and kh3, have major mistranslations that cause major changes in how to see the story, and you werent against japanese searching in your past videos, so i hopeits ok if i fill you in in major differences fans have found out. specifically, these changes usually happen when kairi, sora and riku interact, so this first video especially has quite more than usual.
starting with the first one, the mysterious voice in the tutorial. in japanese, this voice has clear hints this is actually supposed to be mickey, it has his inflections and mickey dialogue quirks. in english, they dropped the ball and turned it into a unknown mystery voice. fits the atmosphere, breaks that story point. so yes, that joke you made about the voice being annoyed at sora's incompetence, thats mickey. another thing i want to correct, one of his iconic lines, "so much to do. so little time. take your time" its mistranslated. in japanese, hes saying HE doesnt have enough time (he's currently stuck in hell after all during this game) but sora should take his time instead to learn the basics.
this is just a detail, but the sentences riku says when sora is climbing the tree away from him, "dont tell me youre giving up already" is likely in japanese word for word what sora later hears to encourage him to fight at the final boss of the game. this sentence is particularly emblematic of riku, called back many other times, and its neat seeing how as the story progresses, it evolves into healthier renditions of it, just like another motto of his does (not in english, essentially ruining an essential part of his character arc for english speakers).
another correction, about riku's scene in the first evening. riku says he started thinking about leaving the islands thanks to kairi. you joked about sora eyerolling at him, but thats not whats going on. sora looks at riku like that... because he's lying. in this game already, in a monstro cutscene, and especially in future games, we got the confirmation riku had the dream to leave the islands specifically with sora since waaay before kairi was around. its one of many details that makes the situation between the group, and especially riku's, way less obvious adn straighforward than it may appear to be, and much more interesting. (a similar example, kairi is hiding, comunicated through the camera hiding her eyes and showing her from the back, her real feelings about her original home from sora after sora wakes up from the tutorial)
the major mistranslation that changes the entire situation lies in kairi and sora's talk in the second evening, which actually kind of obfuscates kairi's main characteristic of the series unfortuantely to english player. here is what nomura actually said on the matter before analyzing it ourselves.
"i like the scene in kh1, when she watches the sunset witrh sora, and tells him not to change. i thought it showed very well her anxiety and loneliness over how as we get older we find a distance growing between us and our close friends"
in a nutshell, kairi is afraid of change, which is what her role in the series and her actions always come back to one way or another. this scene has her being afraid and feeling riku has changed, and trying to find a solution by wanting to steal riku's raft for sora and herself. but, that is actually also another lie, which she is quick to justify as her just joking and not accidentally letting out her anxiety for a moment. because, she doesnt want to take the raft, as we'll see at the end of the scene. after sora doesnt get what is up with her (and tbh, he also doesnt get what is going on with riku too recently) she asks him not to change, after saddnened admitting she may have changed, and getting up, wondering in japanese if they'll even make it alive out of the trip. the only consolation being hopefully able to return here, where things dont change, and the reason she is going with the raft to begin with is because she is more afraid of drifting apart from sora and riku than leaving the islands momentarily. this gets even more grounded when you realize, instead of really working on the raft like riku did, what she has been doing is making a lucky charm, specifically made for sea voyagers, in the hopes they will actually make it back alive.
all of this makes perfect sense with how her backstory goes. she lost literally everything, her world, her family, and her memories. her new life in the islands with riku and sora is her new anchor, and she is afraid to lose it all once again. (and this is just a fun detail, the place she later lands on is neverland, where people dont change or grow up!)
in general, this entire prologue is great at establishing the tension between the trio, and how actually they ARENT as close of a knit tight group as it may appear to be. kairi is forcing herself on a trip she is scared of because of not wanting to leave the other two, sora is content and more carefree but excited at the prospect of adventure, while riku cant wait any longer to leave the islands as soon as possible. sora is being pulled between the two, in this and other ways. on top of this, we have the riku and sora rivalry, who seems to be so harsh recently that the others question if they even are friends anymore? sora, as you felt it on your skin, feels an urgent from his environment to always needing to stand up to riku and trying to win him at stuff, while riku.... well, riku's motivation becomes the major throughline and topic of the rest of the game, so for now his motives remain vague or just mean. light on his moments is shed retroactively after the game, after seeing what makes him tick, but its another flavor of what kairi fears of being left behind by sora and riku, more on this later. another parallel between the two, kairi joking about leaving with the raft is actually very similar to riku joking about sharing the paopu with kairi, since thats ostentably not what he wants seeing the rest of the game, and the series, and other things.
Something i like about the thalassa charm Kairi makes btw is how she explains it is and why its called a wayfinder. She explains that sea voyagers kept it as a lucky charm, so they wouldnt get lost. It is called a wayfinder, which is the boat tool to read the stars to let them guide you, and so the charm is appropriately star-shaped.
Its also cool how it fits with the way space is called in the series itself, as its official term is "the Ocean between", with the gummiship being more akin to a boat than just a simple spaceship.
an extremely important scene is the riku scene with sora when the keyblade appears. here is nomura's step by step explanation on the mechanic of it. "With the setting I created, the darkness that surrounds them is Riku's heart's darkness. At that moment, sora enters the darkness, and the light he sees inside is riku's heart's light. sora, who was squirming in the darkness to save riku, touched the light and temporarily obtained the keyblade from riku.".
ill add other things in a follow up comment under this one, to give actual official clarifications of major moments of this intro that are left vague otherwise, primarily the characters' thoughts during some moments, to really see whats making em tick. i think youd enjoy seeing them, since your interpretations are quite different from them! at least to give you another perspective!
i want to give you an enticing detail for example that the game itself brings up. once sora arrives at the storming islands, he noptices specifically that kairi and riku's boats are there. if sora only noticed the storm when it started happening... how are their boats already here? could it be that.... neither of them left the islands through the entire evening...? what were they doing by themselves? more on this in the thread!
So, for more clarification on each character's mental process, mainly sora and riku's actually, for this specific part, it's extremely helpful looking at other official media on the topic, aka the novels and also one clip of a beta trailer. In case it's needed, I'll be more than happy to explain why the KH novels and their author is very much extremely reliable (and nowdays almost necessary) to glimpse at the more subtle layers of the characters.
The one sora thing I want to point out is about what his thoughts are while he's actually adding the star to the cave drawing, because it's fascinating. He's actually reminiscing about the times Riku has beaten him so far. He goes on a list of all the things Riku has always been better than sora at, even considering his previous win at the fight as a fluke or luck. Only then, as he thinks about wanting to beat Riku at something, does sora actually adds the star, clearly implying the reason he's doing it is because he is deciding that the thing he could win is sharing the paopu, which showcases his immaturity in this first game, especially relating to Kairi, only doing this gesture to win at something against Riku, after everyone else keeps bringing this up (he likely wouldn't have done anything without all this outside pressure), so treating her like a means to an end, similar to how she literally calls her dead weight at the end of the game.
kingdom hearts novel・❥・
"it felt nothing more than an accident that he'd managed to win the sword fight. sora was always the one who lost. school grades, sprinting, it didn't matter what - he couldn't beat riku. if he could just win at something... " (sora as he makes the paopu)
The rest of the novel quotes I wanted to share are about Riku. Mainly, we have the actual novels and a short story, the Other Diamond, which is the prologue from Riku's point of view. It's him constantly being pissed and tormented but not knowing by what, besides it's about Kairi and Sora, and being incredibly frustrated at the emotions he's going through he can't even name. His insecurity with having sora constantly try to catch up to him, since he has motivation he feels he can't pull off and is scared of when he will surpass him, because where will that leave him? Him being genuinely confused about why he even blurted out at Sora that he wants to share a paopu with Kairi.
And ending with him longingly gazing at the ocean, thinking everything would be better if either just Kairi or Sora were on the islands, not both of them, the story ending with the wind comforting him, but being ensure where the wind is coming from, the sea or the sky (Kairi or Sora)
I admittedly have not found what Riku is thinking of when he gives sora a paopu fruit, but the previous fact and the next ones give insight on the matter. Kairi is never mentioned here, and Nomura even made an artwork of this, showing this is important for Riku. Sora is as usual confused why he's acting like this, and the next day Selphie scolds him that the paopu fruits are precious, so you shouldn't pick one unless you want to use it with someone. Riku picked it and threw it at Sora, asking, or testing the water, if he ever wants to share it with anyone in general, before covering his actions by making it a joke and running away.....
Now, about after the end of the day. Kairi and Riku are never shown to have left the island, and there are more hints about it in other material. One of the beta trailer shows us Kairi, after having told sora to casually leave Riku behind and steal his raft, sitting on the pier and confronted by Riku. In the novel, we see them arguing inside the cave, after presumably Riku opened the door of the cave.
“Huh?” She stared at me, looking confused. “What about Sora?”
Right. Because Kairi would only think of Sora.
But I was the same way. When Sora and I were together, we could go anywhere. I really believed that."
“Kairi, you wait here by the door. I’ll go get Sora!”
“Riku! Wait!”
I ignored her protest and started to run.
To get Sora. That’s where I was going.
Sora! Sora! Hey, Sora! We can leave this world right now!"
And then what happens between sora and Riku
"where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!" The first thing he said to me was about her. "The door has opened" I told him.
''Riku?'' He stopped in his tracks. He was looking at me strangely, too.
''The door is open, Sora. Now we can go to the outside world!''
Sora was only ever thinking about Kairi and Kairi was only ever thinking about Sora. But now that would change.
I reached out my hand for him. (Come on sora- let's go!) "Riku...?" He looked just a little bit nervous as he tried to take my hand.
‘I have no idea what was happening around me right then. I never even glanced at it. All I cared about was that Sora was right there, and I was reaching for him.
Just a little bit more and he would make it. “…Sora…”
Hopefully this gives new major shades and what Riku's focus is in all these instances, which matches perfectly with how he acts in game after the prologue, more clarity.
Especially when counting the fact that Riku's heart willingly gave Sora the keyblade, which can also be read and seen in many ways, such as Riku's heart wanting to give sora something he could protect himself with and more. Not the last time Riku will do similar things subconsciously in the series for sora.
Also, it is the first of various times Riku gives Sora his symbols of regal status, which is gonna be important later.
But anyway, it's very juicy how seeing what is going on in Riku's head, both him possibly hearing the fact he was going to be abandoned if he didn't do anything, or the confirmation in the cave that sora wants to share the paopu with Kairi, even if he doesn't know why he actually made it, is likely the final push that led to Riku to risk it all to open the door and force everyone to leave together.
And with the knowledge of the rest of the game, Riku is CONSTANTLY taunting sora because he wants his attention basically all the time,( I like for example how in the race after the tutorial, sora sprints forward, Riku sprints while looking at sora, Kairi tries to catch up to the two), because he feels he will be useless if he doesn't have that, and be Sora's protector and more capable friend. He realizes that Kairi and Sora may leave him behind, so his actions are becoming more provocative, even going to blurting out wanting to share a paopu with Kairi, he was thinking what could rile up sora the most. He really doesn't want sora to leave him, and the rest of the game is all about his possessiveness and jealousy about sora leaving him or having other friends.
Thanks for sharing this, seriously. I've been playing this series for 20 years at this point and had literally never heard this context for the characters actions because I've never delved into the supplementary material for the series, as I unfortunatley didn't have the means to read it when I was younger and became a lot less interested in the series with the release and following releases after BBS. It really does put into perspective a lot of the characters motivations that, now that I know them, it feels so... not obvious, but obviously clearly motivated that couldn't be brought about in a game sense without some laborious side collectables like Ansem Reports. Thanks again.
@@PaggigaloArchive No problem!! Glad it was helpful! I know the novels have been shared fully through download links online, I've never been able to read em myself since they're so many, and mostly stick to the games very closely. My informations on em come from other fans discussing the important bits, hence the quotes I shared. If I can suggest other important bits you should look up, besides other sora and Riku moments which are a ton and even more eye opening than these ones (standout moments are from com, kh2 and DDD), the standout is the BBS novel actually, because it goes into... Truly unheard of places with Vanitas in it. I don't know if you noticed, but BBS on the surface never actually explored (or was able to explore) what is the actual deal with Vanitas, and his actual motivations. The novel did in gruesome details, and recent games have now been slowly reintroducing it in the canon game text too.
I would love to share both the sora and Riku stuff and vanitas' many pages, but can't really do it here.... We should move somewhere else where I can send pics.
There are videos actually going in depth on the sora and Riku stuff, maybe you would enjoy those. I don't remember if anyone made one for Vanitas. Someone really should.
most interesting comment i've ever read
@@petshopunkscoolfulet I'm very happy to hear so, hope you liked the second bit too!
I don't know if you know this but, in the scene where Kairi tells Sora and Riku to race, in the 1.5 version Riku and Sora seemingly instantaneously get up to race as soon as Kairi says "Go!", but in the original ps2 version they take a moment to look at each other before both springing into a sprint
Incredible video. After 20 years you'd think I'd know every tiny detail about this game but nope, you still managed to bring up new information to me. I'm very thankful to the youtube algorithm for recommending your channel and I look forward for more.
There's only one thing I want to "um actually" about. I'm like 99% confident my manual for the original game clearly stated the age of the trio. Sora and Kairi are 14, and Riku is 15.
Fun thing about the 3v1 fight - you can knock Wakka's ball at Tidus to stun him too. Selphie is the only one you can't stun that way.
This is the next project? We're eating good
Hp/mp restored. But you’re still just as hungry for more
the title screen comments sent goosebumps down my body this is my kind of video keep going king
I wasn't aware you were supposed to lose to Darkside. I got rocked by Squall, but Darkside was never a threat.
Small note I remember from playing the game- when the Shadows show up on the beach, there is actually a finite amount of them per *section*. For instance, if you clear all of them off the beach then move to the Cove door, there will be more there. Same if you get close to the Secret Place, etc.
I think this was to get the appearance of them constantly appearing out of the ground, rather than just having a herd chasing you from behind that you might not see. There's still no reward for clearing all of them out totally, but... I did feel accomplished!
Honestly obsessed with this breakdown and am so excited for more videos
Kingdom hearts is one of my favorite game series, so glad to see you covering it!
I have played this game like a 100 times and always learn something new about it lol today i learned you could hit those back at darkside lol
Something about Destiny Island's vibe kind of hit so differently compared to a lot of rpgs I've played both at the time and ever since, something about it just... worked for me. That dreadful, terrifying feeling of somewhere really precious to you being torn apart and being ripped away from friends you care about at the end of this really bright and sunny experience was a strong start.
Watching this after the traverse town video. You hooked me. If you do this for the whole game as well as KH2 you got a subscriber!
please keep these coming. I subbed 3x for exposure
Your script writing is top shelf, dude.
!!!! OH SIGN ME THE HELL UP I AM HERE TO SEE YOU TALK ABOUT MY FAVORITE VIDEO GAME SERIES OF ALL TIME!!!
I don’t know if anybody else has mentioned this in the comments, but I love the attention to detail in the cutscene where Sora gains the Keyblade on Destiny Islands: Fun fact! The darkness surrounding both Sora and Riku that keeps them anchored to the ground during that cutscene is the darkness in Riku’s heart. That same darkness is smothering the last of Riku’s light and Sora, so while struggling to reach for Riku’s hand, Sora ends up touches the light and he gains the keyblade as a result! Your finding on how fast one levels up depending on which dialogue is picked is really insightful, cause so far as much as I have read, many ppl are encourage to pick midday because it’s faster; you running the numbers to show it’s midnight (tho it’s a slow start) will help me during my next proud mode run of the game, so thank you! I look forward to the next kingdom hearts video, it’s really a drought out there for KH fans while we’re stilling waiting for news on KH4 or Missing Link, so this really brightened my day!
I haven’t started watching but I am so excited! The Sunshine series was soooo well made and awesome to watch! It really is CRIMINAL how few viewers and subscribers you have, I hope you make it and start to earn some well deserved income from this labour of love that is your channel!!!
Super well-made video, much love, hope this gets more views!
this was a FABULOUSLY done video. So much detail and care put into it. I'll never get tired of talking about this game!
Literally this is how you follow up Sunshine? I’m heading over to Patreon.
it's so funny that one of my good friends actually had a whole channel based on KH!! it was fairly popular so when i showed them this, they pulled up their own video on destiny islands lmao
great video phoenix!
Sly 2 to Mario Sunshine to Kingdom Hearts 1. You're going from high point to high point right now. Kingdom Hearts 1 has a lot of hidden details that the rest of the series doesn't have so I'm excited to see things i haven't seen yet. Keep it up!
Hi from France 👋😁🇨🇵
As someone who played this game litteraly hundreds of time, I didn't learn anything special, yet, it's so amazing to experience thsi gem of a game with your analysis ! I look foward for Traverse Town and the rest of the game ! I'm sure I'll learn one or two things from this game, even if I've played it so much.
Thank you so much for doing Game Breakdown for Kingdom Hearts ! I didn't think you'll do this for my favorite franchise of all time ! Guess I was right to subscribe when I discovered you with your Sly 2 videos :P
Anyway, just, thank you ! And keep up the good work ! Your videos are amazing, I didn't see the hour come to an end ^-^
Been replaying the game recently, it's sad that the final mix version dropped the french voice, the dub was really good and it really added to the disney nostalgia vibe too.
@@Laezar1Yup... that's unfortunate :( But with some mods we can add them on the steam version, at least there's that x)
Even though I'm used of the English voices by now, it's still sad that the European voices were not keep..
If you do a Level 1 playthrough, it's highly recommend to take the staff as that extra MP is far more useful. Defence is useless due to everything hitting you for sets amount of damage (Depending on where you are in the game/the progress you've made in the story)
Actually losing defence is better. You'll be able to fight enemies faster in the early game while you're on par with their stats and still unlocking abilities.
The defence has no real benefit since early game the enemies are so weak and easy to dodge and by the time you get fights you'd reasonably be getting hit you are falling behind on stats to the point you'd be 2-shot anyway.
The best option is take Staff lose Shield.
With an asterisk.
If you take Shield and lose Sword, you have an additional inventory slot which you could use for an Ether or Elixer.
So while your magic attack would be lower, you could spam more spells or summons than if you had took the staff.
Every day i learn more about one of my favorite games ever made, thanks for the video, cant wait for the next one!
And now you are doing Kingdom hearts... You just keep getting better, I thought Sunshine the best thing you would do in my favourite video games list, but this is somehow even better... I love your content, please continue doing what you are doing
nobody can ever bring up kingdom hearts around me because i will not be able to shut up about how magical the first game is. lightning in a bottle type shit. i love a lot about most of the subsequent games but nothing will ever come close to how special the original feels. nostalgia definitely plays a factor but there are so many objectively identifiable elements to this game that the developers decided to drop in the name of marketability and spectacle.
i randomly discovered your latest video (Deep Jungle breakdown) and was sucked in the whole time. your style of presentation and editing and humor are so good and you really get this game in a way that speaks to me. i can't wait to watch the rest of these!!
I always forget just how much I love Kingdom Hearts. But then I’m hit with Dearly Beloved and am born anew.
I watched the Sunshine Deepdive after discovering your Channel a few Months ago and now you do another one with another Childhood Classic of mine?
This is gonna be a long one 🤟
From one of my favorite games to one of my favorite games. How incredibly kind of you.
I’m already in love with your approach to analysis and I hope we get this for the rest of the series (or at least kh2)❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
You hooked me with your sunshine breakdown, take me on a kingdom hearts journey
I literally just started a new playthrough of kh1 2 hours ago and you do this????!! I love it!
Ill be watching each video as it comes whilst eagerly awaiting the compilation episode!
i've never played this series but i think it's going to be really interesting experiencing it through your breakdowns!
SO GOOD ONCE AGAIN MY MAN!!!!
Deserves so much more views
Probably a Hot-Take, but I personally Think that Riku os the one who got "Come On" from Sora.
You're spoiling us. I love your choices for the breakdowns❤
5:31 Actually the reason we didn't get it is more down to Sony having a very strict policy about re-releases of games. Mainly that they needed to have a lot of new content that justified putting it out there. Sony for whatever reason decided not to bring either Final Mix or II Final Mix to the west likely due to this, though as a friend of mine also pointed out, there was this weird stigma even back then about releasing Japanese games, regardless of both quality and brand recognition.
At the least, I think the creators always did intend to bring FM over, Nomura's comments in the Special Edition artbook for the PS3 release actually pretty much confirms that, but who can really say at this point why it took so long to make it over.
Huge KH fan! Loved your sly cooper videos! Hope to see more KH breakdowns!!
Absolutely gonna watch every episode, but I can't wait for the 7+ hour combined video when it comes out.
Okay how did I never notice that Kairi hits Sora?! I was always co fused with the sound effects and him acting like he got hit, just thought he was remembering the fight with Darkside.
I only just realized this because I have the stupid, but Riku saying he never would have thought of leaving their world if Kairi didn't show up is because he never would have known about other worlds if she didn't come from hers
Well this is the perfect hook to get me after the giant sunshine video. Looking forward to this deep dive!
I thought I knew everything about this game but there are like 5 or 6 things you've said already that I didn't know and I'm only 40 minutes in! The alternate cutscene stuff is super interesting. The Captain Sora thing blew my mind, I haven't bothered with the optional dialogue in years.
Sora is 14 in kh1, this was mentioned in the kh1 manual fir the ps2 and later referenced that in kh2 sora is 15 in the games manual. And again reconfirmed in interveiws and the ultimanias. Riku is 15 in kh1 16 in kh2 and kairi is the same age as sora
Riku is a shortass 15-year-old! No wonder he fell to darkness, the darkness probably promised to make him taller (and to be fair, it seems to have delivered on that promise)
I'm so excited about this being the next game your covering!
I literally just played this game for the first time a few days ago, so this video series is gonna be really cool for me since I know basically nothing about this game/franchise!
I also really appreciate that you keep it pretty spoiler free so far (cause I'm not finished yet with the story) and don't say "this foreshadows that at the end of the game", but hopefully you'll talk about it when you get to the point that was foreshadowed, if that makes sense :)
And shoutout to gamechamp for sharing this on Twitter! Really great work, can't wait for the other world break downs! Will there be some kind of schedule or will they come out whenever they're done?
I didn’t know you were supposed to lose to darkseid as a kid, I always just barely beat it and thought I was lame for struggling against the tutorial boss…
20:22 I can't believe this, what an amazing parallel
genuinely love this series i can't wait for the break downs of the other worlds!!!!!
Love love love love this idea what a cool video I like the part with the silly explanations and deep dives into kingdom hearts stuff, I'll have to share this one!
I never knew about the secret of the lock on, I mean I knew the different attacks but didn't put the two together until now