Love how Jack just instantly loves SDG. In both 1 and 2 he just assumes "yeah we're pals and you're gonna help me" even faster than Sora could, and his blind optimism also rivals Sora's
There’s another fun detail about Halloween Town: the Heartless are non hostile until this experiment. They just sit around doing nothing, as if they don’t understand that there’s any darkness or hearts here to consume. And it is the DARKNESS in hearts that they are after, not the whole heart itself, although Emblem heartless are less picky. Perhaps other than Oogie, the people of Halloween town are genuinely too innocent for the Heartless to “smell out” anything resembling food, until Finklestein’s ambitions, combined with the incomplete heart, send them into a feeding frenzy
I always understood as the experiment working until it inevitably breaks down. But the idea of the habitants in the world themed after 'scary stuff' being too wholesome. I also like the alternative of the heartless just vibing too much with the spooky feel of the place. Place's spooky, they're spooky, it's just nice!
The End of the World is #1 for me because the more and more you think about it the scarier and more unnerving it gets. Like the Great Chasm area has these weird fleshy strings going across it in the background which makes the whole area seem like the heartless literally ripped a living world in half to eat its heart and those strings are like fleshy world juices. Or how gummi blocks are kind of canonically the barriers that exist to protect the worlds (hence why they are found all over the place and why space is filled with the things in KH, and you also see how the walls of some worlds are still intact during the routes in KH1) and at the end of the world if you look at the "snow" that you can find on the floor of the great chasm it has big gummi chunks in it, so that snow is ground up gummi block particles. Or how that weird empty room at the beginning is really the winding canyon room that the fights in that area take place in (you can even see the chests in the canyons and you can see where to go next on the invisible path by following the canyon walls if you remember the openings when the fight ends). Not to mention the decayed ruins of the princess of hearts' worlds. Or the cool ass fight with the chernabog.
so true, the end of the world felt so eerie and unnerving, just like its name. definitely had me scared on the first run because i had NO IDEA what to expect
I sometimes wish I could relieve that childhood anticipation of waiting for Sora, Donald, & Goofy to meet, and the excitement when they finally did meet. Unforgettable!
I love when Ansem shows up in the secret place. It goes eerily quiet. And then right after the cut scene you get hit by whiplash from the music kicking back in full swing. All bright and cheerful. Playing that scene as an adult makes me laugh my ass off in all honesty. It really gives the air of "Oh cave man told me I might die." "...." "Eh whatever, let's go play more!"
okay so, ive been binging through your videos for the past couple hours and can i just say that i really love your writing? like. it's all very charming and enjoyable and youre super funny ("depresstiny islands" SENT ME), but it's also all so well thought out and just... good??? i dont really have much of a point to make, i just. i think its neat! :)
@@RegularPat hey mr pat I am making a concept for how I would make a kh4 would Star Wars and Disney shows be cool as worlds as well as how many Disney worlds should I have
0:21 - "That's like starting the series with Dream Drop Distance." DDD was my first real KH game. Incoming loooooong story: I did play a little of KH1 as a kid, albeit only Destiny Islands because I had a friend who let me play. I saw the KH commercials back then and was totally enamored with the concept of KH as a whole, but my family was far from rich and I was too young to get a job to buy a PS2 for myself. It wasn't until I was a little older and got a steady babysitting job that I saved up the money to buy a Gameboy Advance (because by this time, I was a Pokémon fan) to play the third-gen Pokémon games. At some point, I saw a Chain of Memories commercial and immediately wanted it, but then I found out about the card-based gameplay and instantly tapped out because I suck at card games. A little later and we had KH2. I remember looking up the opening for it, seeing Roxas, and thinking it was Sora. Had no clue who Naminé was, thought Kairi was a different character because of how different she looked (LOL). Then I found out that Roxas was a new character you play as who could use the Keyblade and I was like, "Wtf? Where's Sora? Screw this guy!" I literally thought you played as Roxas for the entire game lmao. I made no effort to look into the deeper plot and proceeded to completely disregard the franchise for the next few years. For years I heard nothing of KH... Until one fateful day, I was browsing Tumblr and saw that someone I followed was selling stuff to raise money to go somewhere. Among these items for sale were a movie I was planning to buy anyway as well as a video game for the Nintendo 3DS called Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. I owned a 3DS because of Pokémon X/Y. I looked into it and discovered that both Sora and Riku were playable, the gameplay itself seemed conventional. "Well," I thought to myself, "Why not?" I started playing and had no idea what was going on, but that was okay because I'd never known what was actually going on in KH after Sora left the island. I'm guessing that unlike most people who played DDD, I absolutely LOVED the Dream Eater elements because I was still a huge Pokémon fan. I didn't go to new Sleeping Worlds to wake them up; I went to find new ingredients and recipes to make new Dream Eaters. I spent hours collecting ingredients to make those star-tiered Spirits. The story itself only hooked me when you found out Riku had been in Sora's dreams the whole time, that Riku himself was literally a Spirit protecting his friend from bad dreams! And the ending, omg. After the credits, you see Sora go back to see all the Spirits and I was literally sobbing. I was so touched by that moment, even more so when it showed Ventus smiling. That sleeping boy's smile encouraged me to buy a PSP and play Birth by Sleep, my second game. Afterwards, I found out about the PS3 HD collections. I finally got to play KH1 in its full glory. Then I watched the Days cutscenes, then came KH2, and watching Recoded... Then came HD Dream Drop Distance on PS4, as well as A Fragmentary Passage, the Back Cover movie, and now we've got KH3 and even a rhythm game! Never would I have gotten into this series properly without Dream Drop Distance. It's not my favorite game and it's certainly not the best one, either, but it will always have a very special place in my heart for reigniting the passion and wonder I felt for this series the very first time I saw those commercials back in the day. Sorry for this long-ass comment, lol. I watched the first video and enjoyed it, but took a bit of issue with the jab at people who played DDD first. DDD may have introduced some insane shit to the story, but it still managed to bring at least one fan into this series. 👑💕
39:26 You know, I'd always wondered why Donald and Goofy didn't kill heartless Sora right then and there. They, unlike Kiari, had no way of knowing that this particular heartless was Sora, and they'd have no reason to just shoo off a random heartless instead of killing it.
Cynical jackasses would say lazy writing/plot armour. I personally thought the same thing as the person above me. I always thought it was because Sora wasn't doing anything. He just stood there and never tried to attack them. Donald was probably just like "what is it doing? It's just staring at us. Look bucko if you don't wanna do anything then just go! Okay? Come on! Get out!"
Yeah, mostly heartless just jump the party members right away, but sora's heartless just stood there, he even stood like a regular person compared to the other heartless so something was odd.
Wonderland is interesting symbolically. It marks an intro into the world hopping of KH. And funny enough, involves falling into a literal rabbit hole. I'm gonna be honest it was the best to start with because it's not only iconic Disney, it's literally the start of a journey, where sora is hopping into the rabbit hole of the KH universe. Traverse town is your world hub sure, but Wonderland reminds you that you just... Traveled to another world. You didn't just go to a different city here. You're world just flipped upside down after meeting Donald and Goofy.
The first kh game I got was recoded, and I had made it to Traverse town and had to save Hewey. Keep in mind I haven't saved here and was like 6. Once I had got to the fight I heard the battle music and shut it off. It freaked me out. Fast forward like a year later. I mustered up the courage to play it again and once I had reached that point I wondered why I hadn't beat the game yet. It was so fun and although the other kh games are probably better this as the first real video game I have ever played became easily my favorite game. I found it hilarious when you talked about running away from the scene of the hooded man in the secret place.
Your brief mention of having 50 subscribers at the time you made this video is emblematic of how much great content there is on here that doesn't get the attention it needs. This was some great analysis, you actually did an idea that I've been considering doing for a while and you had some insights I'd never considered before about these worlds. Thanks!
#StupidAnsemNips Hollow Bastion definitely deserves to be comfy at the top! As a stupid “Mash X To Win” kid, it really forced me to use magic for real. I just wish I knew about shortcuts lol Also, it’s jaw dropping to hear “50 Subscribers” And now you’re closing in on 9K! You deserve it! And as a video suggestion, maybe ranking the Nobodies?
I actually do know someone who started the KH series with DDD. I know it was a joke, but there really are people like that out there. (Not that I'm one to talk, 358/2 Days was my first game.)
Lol I just left an insanely long comment explaining why DDD was my first game. Like, I'd known about KH since the beginning, but due to various factors simply didn't get into it until DDD. Out of curiosity, which KH game is your favorite? I've watched the Days movie and played a little of it, but just couldn't get into the actual gameplay because of the wonky camera and panel system. So, I'm just curious to know if it's your favorite or if it is close to your heart since it was your first game. ^^
I share your general perspective on KH1, it has that mystical, foreboding touch that all other entries pretty much lack, and thematically, it ties very well with the idea of darkness itself, the unknown and the search of the unknown, which is also the original pursuit of both Riku and Ansem. To add to that, I wanted to point out quite an obscure fact: in the End of the World save point that resembles Winnie the Pooh's book, in the Italian version, that location is named "The Prison", quite striking, ties with Riku's theme of wanting more, even if what you have is good, the Island is a beautiful prison, but a prison nonetheless, same with Pooh's book, also literally imprisoned in a book; wow.
The first Kingdom Hearts truly is nothing short of a masterpiece. A literal one in a million, chance-elevator-meeting masterpiece. It is fittingly the King of all my favorite video games. So much so that there are nights when it gets cool and breezy (with or without the full moon out) that I fondly refer to as "Traverse Town" nights. This game will forever nestle in my heart and gift me inspiration for my own story I've been nurturing on and off since 2004. Thanks for covering it with your videos, man. I'm subscribing.
Undeniably hollow bastion is at 1. I remember purposely restarting the Riku fight (when Donald and Goofy come back to your side) multiple times just because I wanted to have a perfect run where I got to use allll of my summons before beating him because it felt like the right way to highlight “my friends are my power.” And show riku full force what that means.
End of the World is the most Nomura-like part of the game, but him at his BEST. The atmosphere, creepiness and anticipation of the world was absolutely incredible. I remember feeling uneasy, progressing through the world cause the last stretch suddenly makes you question if it'll be a good ending Edit: Ansem combining with his guardian felt similar to the ending junction with FF8's Ultimecia/Griever,
My favorite part about this game is the treasure chest placement. There are so many hidden chests that you can only get in specific ways. Every playthrough i find one chest that I didn't know about before
These videos are fantastic, probably the most descriptive breakdowns I've seen. I love the games but never really had the proper language to describe them properly so you've done an amazing job. Keep it up man.
Every word you said during Hollow Bastion commentary, that, I can relate 100 %. That is precisely why I felt in love with KH so, so much more than any other games at that time. Truly a masterpiece of a world.
Found your channel by some random reddit post, just finished watching most of your videos. Great quality stuff, you are easily the most (only) well-spoken Kingdom Hearts youtuber out there. You deserve way more subscribers. Most of the KH videos out there are 10 minutes of filler and repeating oneself, and you manage to fill 1.5 hours with quality discussion about the games.
Hey thanks, that means a lot! To be honest I had that same frustration about content that seemed to be purposefully repetitive, so I try to make the type of stuff that I would want to watch.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who spent way too much time flying around Big Ben as a kid. I don't know if I could create an order list of my favorite worlds in Kingdom Hearts, so props to that. I guess I'll try to give a little comment on each of these worlds. (Hey I'm from the future, I said it would be a little comment for each, but I don't think I succeeded in that goal. I just kept going and wanted to explain my thoughts a little more thoroughly and at some point I got invested in finishing the whole thing. So if you're reading this, buckle up.) Olympus Coliseum - This world really shows how effective a level can be while also being very clearly the budget level. It's neat how they incorporated actual Roman/Greek Coliseum while making this world. It makes believable sense that this world would have a coliseum and with the way the movie drew parallels with Heroes being their equivalent to modern day sport stars, I can believe that people would come to watch the games as Heroes competed against other heroes and monsters. It's kind of a shame they didn't included characters from the Hercules tv show to fight against to reinforce Phil saying that 'heroes from far and wide' come to compete in the games. I never watched the show though, so there might not be any good characters to pull from, and since I haven't seen it, it's not like I have anything to mourn the missed potential of. I guess FF characters show up, so I guess we do have other heroes to compete with ultimately, and I wouldn't be surprised if Hercules and (maybe) Phil are aware of other worlds. Another thing I really like about this world is that not only would Chip and Dale let you know about the tournaments, but people on Traverse Town would also talk about a tournament being held and would talk about how some kid won after the player beat it (I think it was just moogles who brought it up, but there might've been a human character who mentioned it too). It makes Olympus seem like a hub of competition that people would travel to, even through space. To add one more thing, if I haven't said enough yet. I like to seal this worlds keyhole (aka beat hercules cup) just before I head to Hollow Bastion. Sora gives his off-brand "friends=power" speech, but I like to think that it's Sora forming the ideas of what would eventually be his actual "friends=power". It basically boils down to, "I can do anything, so long as I've got Goofy and Donald with me. Welp, time to head to Hollow Bastion. Good to know they'll always have my back." and then when they get sepereated Sora starts to realize it's not just Donald and Goofy Destiny Islands - I think this world really gives off a great sense of an idyllic home. The kids all play by the beach all day, hang with their friends, and everything feels safe. Kairi and Riku get some pretty good characterization here too. I think something KH1 does really well in general, is give the player a sense of longing. A longing to find Sora's friends, and a longing to return to the islands. So much so that when I first played the game, I started a new file just to return to Destiny Islands one more time, after beating Traverse Town. Also, just throwing this out here, Fake Tidus confused me so much as a kid. Like, he was definitely Tidus but looked slightly different, and his lines about missing his home and parents made me think he was talking about Destiny Islands.
Never Land - I think Never Land might have the most exciting plot of the Disney Worlds. Never Land is basically when things get 'serious'. Kairi's comatose, Riku is unrepentantly evil (or at least trying to kill his former best friend, which is pretty evil, even if you're trying to wake up your comatose crush,) and as you said, Hook name drops Hallow Bastion (I miss when Disney characters could be a part of the lore and plot. I think having invisible walls separating all the worlds again after this game was probably a mistake, as it prevents the disney characters from ever getting more involved. But that's a conversation for another day.). I'm definitely always excited to chase after Riku and Kairi once this world is done, and I'm pretty sure when I was a kid I was super excited to see what would happen next, too. Halloween Town - I really like this world, particularly storming Oogie's manor. It's such a large structure that the player gets to platform and fight through, it really gives a sense of taking the fight to Oogie by invading his home base (admitedly it's not fun to fall off the manor and find the bathtub, but hey if you just don't do that then its no problem lol) But I also really like how the Heartless are handled in this world. The residents of this world notice the Heartless and since they're all Halloween monsters none of the Heartless are actually attack anyone until a little after Sora shows up and they make the artificial heart. It really gives the sense that Halloween Town is a different world that behaves by different rules compared to most other places. Also, before I wrap this up, out of all the memory worlds in CoM, I think Halloween Town had the best story. I know it's not a high bar, but Oogie taking the memories and immediately having some kind of Lovecraftian realization that Sora and the player dont never learn more about was actually kind of shocking to see. Especially since Sora was likely to use that if Oogie hadn't. End of the World - I really love the idea of this world, just being whatever remains of the worlds that were lost. And the implication that if person losing their heart = Heartless, then a World losing its heart = this place. It's just a great place to be the final destination to the game. Especially as you find the corrupted broken Destiny Islands at the end (I like how when you walk around on the beach your footsteps still make the purple dust they make on the End of the World. So even though it looks like home, you know it isn't really) and what remains of Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella worlds. You're in the heart of darkness now, there's no "oh this used to be a nice place and with some time we can rebuild it." Instead it's just all that's left of places that weren't saved. If I could think of one improvement to this world, it would be, add some Easter eggs of Disney movies that didn't make it in. The Dalmatians lost their world, so maybe in the Giant Crevice, Cruella's crashed car is sitting somewhere completely junked, or remains of Geppetto's clocks from his workshop are littering some corner. I want more of that sense of destruction the Heartless can leave in their wake. Even still, what we got is still a great world in my opinion and a great Final location for the game.
Traverse Town - Like you said this is a great hub/home base and that romantic aspect of a world forming to become the home of those who don't have one anymore is great. It feels like a place that Sora can rest at after voyaging to a new world. Everywhere else he has to try to not let in on the fact that he's from a different world. But here, everyone is from a another world . One woman's line, where she says "Don't ask other's where they're from, everyone here has a sad story" (or something to that effect) when you first get here really stands out to me. There is kind of a melancholy to this world and you can almost hear it in the music (at least I think the Traverse Town theme sounds kind of melancholy), but everyone is sharing in their mourning and they're trying to make the best of a bad situation together. You're definetly right about how having moogle shops in every world in KH2 and 3 made the other games feel less of an adventure/weaken the hub worlds. Maybe if other worlds had their own unique vendors who sold certain items or had different prices compared to other worlds it would help relieve this problem somewhat. KH2 at least kept the return visits to Hallow Bastion/Radiant Garden and Twilight Town, as well as Hallow Bastion having an involved storyline to Winnie the Pooh, an optional second visit to Tron, and the Sephiroth fight. So those worlds still kept a sense of importance compared to the other worlds. KH3 on the other hand had only one mandatory visit to Twilight Town, an optional second visit to see Merlin and Winnie the Pooh, and cutscenes that happened without Sora being present and if you returned to talk to the Hayner and the others they wouldn't bring it up, it also doesn't help that Twilight Town is way smaller than it was before. But at least the cooking minigame was hosted there, so that helps a little. (Also btw, that shot of you teaching your cat all the exits in Traverse Town was adorable) Hallow Bastion - Oh boy, Rising Falls! So glad you mentioned it first. It's such a great first location for a world. You land there and it immediately reveals that this place is just different. You don't swim in water here, you walk on on it, oh and btw the water flows up in case the name didn't give it away. It's a shame Radiant Garden of KH2 and BBS didn't follow in a similar sort of enviroment, but I guess we can chalk that up to the Darkness eroding this world over time or something. I'm guessing the reason why Radiant Garden has blue cliffs in other games was to keep it somewhat visually similar to the Rising Falls. (Doesn't explain the purple grass though, but whatever. Gallifrey in Doctor Who apparently has red grass and Radiant Garden is separate planet. Maybe Leon has his mind blown at the thought of green grass.) Anyway, so much happens here that Hallow Bastion definitely deserves the title of "The World Where Shit Goes Down." I'm not even going to bother listing it all out like you did. But it's certainly the most exciting of the worlds, maybe second to End of the World depending on my opinion of the day/mood. The Maleficient chest stabbing kinda freaked me out as a kid. It's so sudden and realistic (for Kingdom Hearst) and Maleficient's sound of shock is really well acted. Maleficient was always the one using the darkness, but careful not to let it corrupt and control her. Earlier in the game she mocks Clayton for allowing too much of the darkness into his heart. Then after the Riku/Ansem stabbing she's all like "Hell yeah, darkness in the Heart rocks!". It kind of disturbed me by just how much Riku/Ansem's keyblade changed her. It's the trope of 'Out of Character is serious business' from TV Tropes proving why its effective. I could probably say more, but I think I've said enough. Since you're looking for suggestions on what to do next, if you're not sick of KH1 videos yet, you could try doing video on the KH1 Critical Mix mod. No one's done a really good video on that yet. Anyway this was a fun video, sorry I left such a big comment. Maybe I should've made it a bit smaller, but Oops! I'm already hitting the "submit" button.
@@thelemonadestandman TONS of great points here, my lemonade vendor. That Olympus section made me realize that, yeah, there is a sort of special quality to OC, and a sort of ambiguous state about whether or not Phil/Herc are aware of other worlds. Really I guess the only ones who are truly concerned about "no muddling" are SDG, clearly the FF guys don't really care lol. And yeah, I totally forgot, there's at least one Moogle in the Accessory Shop who talks about the coliseum! It's been a minute since the last time I didn't mash through/skip CoM Disney cutscenes, but I think I'd agree on the HT story being the best one. When I played it on GBA as a kid I was like "I feel kind of...bad for literal festering bag of bug shit Oogie Boogie??" Would've loved more stuff referencing lost worlds in EotW. The princess world stuff in the Volcanic Crater is pretty subtle since not too much of it is recognizable from the movies. Could throw in some stuff from the summon worlds too. Melancholy is spot on for TT. If DI is the figurative and literal calm before the storm, TT is the same thing but afterwards. I wonder where those rando characters are from anyway. Especially Dollar Store Tidus over there. You said TV tropes and now I'm about to lose another 3 hours to that website. I actually haven't heard of this mod, I'll have to look into it! Loved reading your thoughts, always good to get both new and familiar perspectives on this stuff!
Pat that's a great cat you have. Also having super recently replayed KH1 I can confirm that Simple & Clean playing at the end hits like whatever kind of truck you said it did.
I am going to relay this compliment to him personally. I said Mack truck, but honestly it can hit like any large vehicle. I'm not a car guy, I've just heard it said before. It hits like a cement mixer truck moving at very high speeds as far as I know.
A lot of fans have halloweentown to thank for getting them into the series. I’ve heard a lot of people say the only picked up the game because they saw this movie on the box (well I think it’s only on the 2 box, so weird place to start but still). Halloweentown is such a joy for the series because Jack and Sora are pretty similar all things considered despite one being a brightly colored islander and the other being the king of Halloween. Both are optimistic and curious to see new and exciting places. Both are kind, innocent, and naive with immense care for their friends, but are powerful and shouldn’t be under estimated. They’re quite a pair to get along well
Hollow Bastion is also my favorite level in the game and even in the series. It's so impactful story-wise, the fights and bosses are fantastic, the design and music are great and foreboding, and it has nice exploration and puzzle-solving aspects, and Beast is my favorite party member in the entire series. It's also the climax of the game and the biggest Wham Episode in the game (and one of the biggest in the entire series). End of the World was the Inside Sin, the Memoria, and the Insomnia Ruins of the game; it's when you face the last run and end the villain's threat. But Hollow Bastion was the Zanarkand Ruins, the Bran Bal, and the Gralea/Zegnautus Keep. This is when everything before it comes to a head. This is when everything you thought you knew about the game gets turned on its head. This is where the whole story hits a turning point and everyone's storylines for the rest of the series springboard (even Maleficent's, both in what turns out to be a time travel escapade and the fact that she is stabbed and overshadowed).
R.I.P. Ansem-Riku’s Special Keyblade Of Darkness That “Unlocks Peoples’ Hearts” One of the few to permanently die in this series. We will NEVER see it again and it’s “ability” is undermined in BBS.
i'm rewatching these essays for probably the third time at this point, and gosh man, you have such a perfect way of putting into words the reasons i love kh. i'm a kh 2 stan, but like all of your criticisms are valid and i just love hearing passionate kh fans talk about kh passionately.
I always love when I find KH fans who appreciate KH1 as the best in the series. I just binged all your videos you have to be the most entertaining and insightful KH youtuber and I appreciate that
Wow Pat. This was amazing. It was funny, powerful, and so passionate. I love this all so much, you have a real talent for holding attention. Keep up the great work! As for future videos, I think it would be really interesting to hear your thoughts on KH3. I know that could get really controversial, but you’ve been brave enough to criticize KH2FM, so it’s nothing you haven’t done before. Id also like to know more on your opinions of the non numbered titles. As for series outside of KH, I’d definitely be interested in whatever you make. I came for kingdom hearts, but I’ll stay because I think you have real talent, and I genuinely enjoy your videos!
AYYY YEEEETUS!! I appreciate it, thanks so much. I have definitely been itching to talk about KH3 in more than just passing comments here and there. The blood is already in the water as you said so I might as well go all in on it lol. There's a lot of great stuff in the non-numbered titles too that I'd like to get into at some point, for sure, especially BBS.
I'd love to see Sora's "my friends are my power!" met with a mirror character having "my solitude is my power!" and, even though they become a protagonist later, their views on what gives you strength still don't change.
Another awesome video and I was really interested to see what your top 7 would be! I'm glad someone else loves The End of the World in a thematic sense as much as I do. The emptiness and abstraction of all the destroyed worlds in the art was just mindblowing to me as a kid. I don't think another world in KH has come close to the tone of it, which is good because it stays unique, but I wish we would go back to a world which has so much visual storytelling. I would love to hear your thoughts on the evolution of motion throughout the series, both in combat and in general. I think KH1 had an amazing sense of progression in terms of character motion. You start off with a basic jump, and by the end you get Super Glide... you just feel so much more powerful. In KH2 the camera zooms out and prepares you for even more motion based gameplay, and it doesn't disappoint; you still get a good progression, and the leveling system with Drive Forms lent itself very well to players who just really wanted to get the highest jump early / wanted a good dash. KH3 sort of places Sora in an odd position as he keeps his powers from DDD, and while it makes sense in a narrative way, it sort of takes away a sense of "I am stronger now" other than leveling up keyblades. This progression is what makes the replay value of KH1 and 2 so high for me, because in KH3 you don't really play for a long time until you're flying all over the place. I still love KH3 but I think it missed the mark a little on that aspect. I don't know why I said so much about that, but I love your videos and I look forward to them all the time now! :) Edit: Also, I love your cat!! Reminds me of one I used to have
Thanks so much! For me, the closest the series has come in matching the EotW atmosphere and tone has been The Final World in KH3, which I also quite like even despite its shorter length. Love when KH gets weird and abstract, and like, existential I guess? lol That's an interesting idea! I think when it comes to especially non-combat movement, the discussion is inherently linked to world design and scale, so that adds another layer to the conversation considering all 3 games are pretty different when it comes to how big their levels are and how they're designed. I'd have to think on it a while to formulate my thoughts on it but it's a fascinating topic. His name's Zeus! Blue-point himalayan who has obstructed many a strategy guide and textbook :)
So, I dunno if anyone will ever read this, but its important to me and I've never gotten a chance to say it anywhere else, here goes: The second most emotionally powerful moment in ALL of KH for me is in Hollow Bastion (the first being the **hands break**, "WHEN-!" of the final cutscene). And it's NOT Sora's self-sacrifice (which can take spot #3, I guess?). Riku has lost literally EVERYTHING, Ansem has so much control over the kid that he's reshaped Riku's body to have his original look back. Ansem steps forward to do... whatever the hell he was going to do to Kairi, and WHAT happens? "NO! You WON'T use me for this!!" Riku straight up "NOPEs" the guy. It breaks me every time. THIS is the moment we know Riku can be redeemed. Because, right here, at his lowest, he loves Kairi SO MUCH that the main villain of the entire game, who is actually a Heartless-flesh-ship, can't even touch her. Riku was ambitious, misguided, and manipulated but he not only still caress for someone, he won't let anyone hurt her. And I just wanted to recognize that here, it's really important to me. Also I hope someone reads this rambling lol.
I just want to say that the background music for traverse town is literally some of the most beautiful comforting video game music I can think of. After all the crazy shit that goes down in the first hour or so of the game, you hear that music and you feel like you’re safe, like you come home. And all these years later, it’s still gives me that feeling in my heart.
When I first played KH1, I didn't realize that my TV's brightness was too dark until the night scene on Destiny Islands. So when I played it again, I was spooked that Ansem was actually there speaking to Sora in the cave, because it was too dark before! I just assumed Ansem was only speaking as a voice. Even at a good screen brightness, it's easy to mistake him for a branch at first before realizing there's a whole man in that cave.
I remember the first time I've played the game and I couldn't even see Ansem when he appeared. Edit: A funny thing is that I don't think I even knew that The Nightmare Before Christmas was even a Disney movie until I've seen the world in Kingdom Hearts.
I'm so happy I found this channel. I've been binging your videos and you've really given me a fresh and better viewpoint on KH1 and the Kingdom Hearts series in general!
I hope they someday will make something like the end of the world again because for me its one of my favorite worlds and my favorite final world because everything tells you... ok this is it no more joking like the music wich takes destati and makes it even more unsettling to the enemys who are strong and very intimidating to the last room wich tells u that theres no turning back also minor detail i really like how u just get thrown into the world without music or cutscene has something to it Sorry if i repeated anything
Its very interesting that your idea of where the act structure of the game's story transitions lines up with where Sora and co get the growth abilities. It makes for a very satisfying progression for both the story and gameplay at the same time. Defeating Chernabog, the final Disney boss of the game, rewards the party with the final growth ability and simultaneously shows that the player has overcome one of the arguably strongest opponents that Disney properties can offer. Now all that's left is this Ansem guy that's apparently behind it all. Gives me goosebumps. Love the videos so much, on the road to watch them all.
Honestly...I agree about Final Fantasy characters appearing in Disney Worlds! I would've loved to have seen Irvine from Final Fantasy 8 appearing in Deep Jungle, being like an assistant hunter with Clayton (weilding a hunting rifle himself) who you'd have to fight before he realizes "Wow, Clayton's a dick." Or what about Locke from Final Fantasy 6 being in Agrabah due to being a thief himself and would've made an interesting partner to Aladdin.
Bro I started the series with Dream Drop distance. I was 6 and had no idea what was going on, but I was hyped to write the time on my hand with a red pen.
The exploring was my favorite thing about this game. And you're right about the Destiny Island's segment needing more time! I loved the banter between the kids, their games, the island, the music. It was all fantastic. I have a lot of nostalgia for that world.
Great review of the worlds! No Lie, I discovered KH by accident while on vacation as a kid, I saw a young girl playing it on a huge 70" television. She was on destiny island, and watching Sora run around the beach gave me the same excitement of adventure that the opening sequence of Breath of the Wild had for me as an adult.
My favorite world is Agrabah for all the reasons you said in the first part, but the Disney/Kingdom Hearts integration is what sold me on it since that's what I play the series for.
I'm aware this is an old video but still, I wouldn't entirely write off Triton's little speech getting worked back into the plot at some point. I mean, Nomura didn't forget that Maleficent came back in KH2 in perhaps the dumbest possible way and built an entire plot point around it that actively affected the fates of (nearly) all the KHUX protagonists. We must never underestimate Nomura's ability to pretzel a story. Otherwise, I really enjoyed your takes! Most KH fans I meet got into the series at some point after KH2 or during the Days/BBS era, so I feel it so much when you talk about seeing the original commercial and being instantly enthralled. I remember walking around school trying to hum the song from it, begging and wheedling for a PS2 for months, and absolutely falling in love from that very first dive into the heart. I knew it was going to become the most important piece of media in my life before I ever touched it, and I was right. For me the original worlds tend to be at the top end, the Disney worlds mostly make up the middle, and Winnie the Friggin Pooh Land is at the bottom, so I think we agree in all the ways that matter. Other than that one, I would have a difficult time ranking the worlds in any kind of specific order, because I think each one has its own atmospheric genius. (The Little Mermaid was my favorite back in the day, so I was so excited to be a mermaid man in KH1, and I was also looking forward to being one in KH2...I was...so excited...) Anyway, subbed, I'll have to go check out your other lists and see if your Sora dies AU is as good as mine.
God I love getting addicted to kingdom hearts for like the 2nd time in a year and blasting through regular pat vids, crazy how even the vids from the very beginning were all so good
Great quality content man! Both the serious takes and the humour. Subscribed gladly:) And you know what they say: I dont need a weapon. My subscribers are my power! D: Totally agree with your headcanon for the rank in the villain-council btw
Great video! Always loved this series. I think when people complain about platforming, it’s mainly about the camera. Just replayed KH1 recently and if I missed a jump, it was usually the camera getting stuck and screwing up my view.
I started my first play-through of kingdom hearts something like 20 years ago, and I thought that the Olympus Coliseum world was broken. I walked in to the second room, saw the yellow trinity on the floor (which I didn’t have yet), ignored it, and talked to Phil. Of course his dialogue is something like, “you gotta move that stone before we talk.” Well, me being naive, I assumed that the yellow trinity was the only way to move it. So I played through the whole rest of the game, waiting to acquire the yellow trinity, until I got to the final “no turning back” stage of the game. Still no trinity. I beat the game without completing Olympus Coliseum. Fast forward several years. I convinced my girlfriend (who is not a gamer) to try KH. Spoiler - she loved it. Button mashing/ mild platforming was totally in her wheelhouse. And she gets to Olympus Coliseum, talks to Phil. I’m like, “I could never figure this out as a kid.” But then she did something I never even attempted... she just *tried* to push the stone. Didn’t even notice the trinity. Then she talked to Phil again and unlocked the new dialogue. I felt like a moron. I didn’t know you were supposed to do that. I never looked it up. I was never told to do that. I never saw someone do that. But here was my non-gamer girlfriend just accidentally solving a 20 year mystery in 5 seconds. Anyway, she’s my wife now.
im. several years late, but i've just been binging your kingdom hearts stuff. whatever gets recommended to me that's been from you goes right into the queue. Loving everything!
Damnit Pat. I came out to my car for some jams and got caught in another one of your Kingdom Hearts playlists. Stop being so damn entertaining and genuinely awesome to watch. - Sincerely, A KH Noob.
I'm not the hugest fan of hollow bastion sometimes cuz of how annoying it is when you fall while you're just trying to fight those dumb bird things but other than that I fully understand where you're coming from and just love your video. Also worth noting I think it's interesting how in traverse town it's always night there but it's never posed as being scary or threatening. it's like a sparkling light guiding people to safety from the darkness all around
25:55 The giant crevace is one of my favorite areas in the game and it's a shame that it's wasted. When playing normally, you can just jump from the top all the way down and the room is cleared in a few seconds. But if you actually start from the bottom to the top, it becomes a legitimately fun platformer! They put a lot of work in making this a struggle to climb only to put the entrance in the wrong place.
I just watched this and the first part back to back, and I agree with your list almost entirely. So much so I feel like typing my own thoughts would be pointless lol since it would be for the most part mirroring yours. Only I'd put destiny islands higher because I've got to be one of the maybe 5 kids who played kingdom hearts not familiar with a vast majority of the Disney movies and none of the final fantasy games, so pretty much anything KH original was my jam, final fantasy was also cool as to me they were essentially KH original from my point of view. You did ask I think in the first part what's better, longer videos or split videos and personally I prefer longer videos personally. Also you mentioned you notice when the same names come up and despite opening myself up to a top 5 most awkward moments since becoming an adult placement I'd gonna live on a wild side and say thank you, I really enjoy your videos and I like that there isn't really a genre too them other than just talking about stuff you like about a game series I really like. If you wanted a suggestion for different video ideas, I know you have some qualms with KH2 but I know you like it and I love it and when it comes to 1, I could talk uninterrupted for an hour with no prep on it, but when it comes to 2 I could talk several hours about pretty much anything in that game, and now that I think about it if you do do videos on KH2 allow me to forewarn you I like sharing my opinion and have too much time on my hands (Given this channels very existence I think you're similar lmao) so with every KH2 vid you make I will probably write a new essay per video lol, especially since you draw attention to stuff I never really thought about in a game series I probably have thought way too much about. Also real talk best scene in the series being "My friends are my power" while the obvious choice I feel has some tough competition. As a child I think that hit me the hardest, but these days I think at least in KH1 it effects me more when Sora sacrifices himself with a smile on his face, pretty damn inspiring. My summer vacation is over is also pretty great, but it kinda needs the context only given later on. Kind of a hipster choice is when Axel and Xion fight, and he says that her and Roxas can keep on running but he'll always be there to bring them back. (Days is underrated, I honestly think it has the best story out of all of them). Basically this series is full of build up and pay off moments, I'd be hard pressed to pick a best one. Maybe you should do ranking of the best Kingdom Hearts scenes lol there's certainly enough for a top 5 at least.
Ayy what's up Jamie! I can almost guarantee KH2 stuff will be coming at some point despite my nitpicks with it (it's still top 10 for me after all). The scenes thing has definitely been rattling around in my head, and I'm a big fan of all those ones you've listed. My personal hipster choice for a favorite is the scene in BBS where Ven meets Lea and Isa. I won't say too much in case I do end up putting something out like a top 10 scenes list, but that one really resonated with me. Edit: also that first part of your comment reminded me that I definitely first thought the FF characters were KH original and I don't think I realized they were their own thing until I looked through the Journal lol
I started replaying the series and I gotta say hearing other peoples thoughts on a franchise I love really interests me. Your rankings in particular have made me rethink how I feel about certain aspects of the games. For example I used to find no value in Monstro but you pointed out that while on a gameplay level it is fairly poor narratively it holds a lot of value and we see some good development for Sora’s character not giving into peer pressure and instead doing what’s right.
Funny thing about the level progression in Hollow Bastion; I've never gone up the Great Crest/High Tower area in the way that the game intends you to. Ever since I saw your KHI facts video, I've used the Dumbo skip whenever I needed to progress through that area. So much so that when me and my friend tried doing the area the legit way, I could not for the life of me figure out how the puzzle works. That led to us attempting the skip, which made us realize we forgot to get Dumbo, which forced us to go back to Monstro and then Traverse Town and then back through the rest of Hollow Bastion...
This is one of the only channels I subscribed after just one video, but your sense of humor is right up my alley my guy. Not to mention these videos are amazingly thorough and I can't see myself disagreeing with any of your points, namely because you back up your claims with a sense of reasoning.
It took me this long to realize that we've known that Kairi was originally from Radiant Garden since KH1, and I can't believe it took you pointing out that the library is where the flashback of Kairi and her grandmother takes place to figure that out.
Thank you for making these. I'm at an odd place with these games, I love them so much for the gameplay but, some of the story beats make me cringe. Overall I love them and videos like this reminds me why I love them cuz you are putting unto words my feelings for these games. I watched one of your other videos about movement in the games and I laughed cuz I first beat KH2 without ever knowing that the glide ability was in the game and that it was tied to the drive forms. Thank you again. Be safe and the best line in all the games is Roxas' struggle with his feeling for Sora when he wakes up and says "Another dream about him" 😂😂😂😂
Yeah didn't really think about it until now but I kind of feel like Traverse Town is actually a slam dunk #1 for me. But love the list man and frankly you're legit funny
I avoided (re)watching this video for close to six months while I worked on my own KH1 ranking vid, only to realize now after it’s all been recorded that I end up making nearly identical points to Pat, down to having the exact same top 4.
Love how Jack just instantly loves SDG. In both 1 and 2 he just assumes "yeah we're pals and you're gonna help me" even faster than Sora could, and his blind optimism also rivals Sora's
jack is how sora would turn out without a keyblade.
There’s another fun detail about Halloween Town: the Heartless are non hostile until this experiment. They just sit around doing nothing, as if they don’t understand that there’s any darkness or hearts here to consume. And it is the DARKNESS in hearts that they are after, not the whole heart itself, although Emblem heartless are less picky. Perhaps other than Oogie, the people of Halloween town are genuinely too innocent for the Heartless to “smell out” anything resembling food, until Finklestein’s ambitions, combined with the incomplete heart, send them into a feeding frenzy
I always understood as the experiment working until it inevitably breaks down. But the idea of the habitants in the world themed after 'scary stuff' being too wholesome. I also like the alternative of the heartless just vibing too much with the spooky feel of the place. Place's spooky, they're spooky, it's just nice!
“Sora, may I interest you in some MURDER? Here comes the big die, courtesy of this actual demonspawn I learned to make in home ec.”
👀
The End of the World is #1 for me because the more and more you think about it the scarier and more unnerving it gets. Like the Great Chasm area has these weird fleshy strings going across it in the background which makes the whole area seem like the heartless literally ripped a living world in half to eat its heart and those strings are like fleshy world juices.
Or how gummi blocks are kind of canonically the barriers that exist to protect the worlds (hence why they are found all over the place and why space is filled with the things in KH, and you also see how the walls of some worlds are still intact during the routes in KH1) and at the end of the world if you look at the "snow" that you can find on the floor of the great chasm it has big gummi chunks in it, so that snow is ground up gummi block particles.
Or how that weird empty room at the beginning is really the winding canyon room that the fights in that area take place in (you can even see the chests in the canyons and you can see where to go next on the invisible path by following the canyon walls if you remember the openings when the fight ends).
Not to mention the decayed ruins of the princess of hearts' worlds. Or the cool ass fight with the chernabog.
so true, the end of the world felt so eerie and unnerving, just like its name. definitely had me scared on the first run because i had NO IDEA what to expect
Busting through your whole catalog man, I’m loving everything you’ve put out.
Ay thanks dude, I appreciate that!!
I bust watching his whole catalogue
Apparently that's a mood anywhere, anywhen
I sometimes wish I could relieve that childhood anticipation of waiting for Sora, Donald, & Goofy to meet, and the excitement when they finally did meet. Unforgettable!
I love when Ansem shows up in the secret place. It goes eerily quiet.
And then right after the cut scene you get hit by whiplash from the music kicking back in full swing. All bright and cheerful.
Playing that scene as an adult makes me laugh my ass off in all honesty. It really gives the air of
"Oh cave man told me I might die."
"...."
"Eh whatever, let's go play more!"
okay so, ive been binging through your videos for the past couple hours and can i just say that i really love your writing? like. it's all very charming and enjoyable and youre super funny ("depresstiny islands" SENT ME), but it's also all so well thought out and just... good??? i dont really have much of a point to make, i just. i think its neat! :)
Aw thank you. I'm glad my creative writing minor isn't going to complete waste because I sure as hell don't use it in my day job lmao
@@RegularPat hey mr pat I am making a concept for how I would make a kh4 would Star Wars and Disney shows be cool as worlds as well as how many Disney worlds should I have
the big ben theme SLAPS. I don't know what it is, but I would spend ages there just listening to it. It's so... good.
Yeah, it's such a great piece.
6:53
Only scrubs don't spend 30 hours on Destiny Island grinding to level 20
shiiiit u right, i'm a fake fan
I did it and got to level 19
I stop at level 12.
It took me 2 hours to get to 23, I got bored at that point and left
Wait.... Y'all grind? I just do what I need to and grind in traverse town, agrabah, and Hollow Bastion.
Hello from 2023; thank you RUclips algorithm for showing me this channel amidst my KH binge, now watching all your stuff, hope you are doing well!
XIGBAR XIGBAR I’m a pickle, Xigbar I used this pickle as a vessel! I turned myself into a pickle, I’m PICKLE XEHANORT!
I'm assuming they'll be stopping at Land of Dragons for that szechuan sauce
Picklenort
0:21 - "That's like starting the series with Dream Drop Distance."
DDD was my first real KH game. Incoming loooooong story: I did play a little of KH1 as a kid, albeit only Destiny Islands because I had a friend who let me play. I saw the KH commercials back then and was totally enamored with the concept of KH as a whole, but my family was far from rich and I was too young to get a job to buy a PS2 for myself.
It wasn't until I was a little older and got a steady babysitting job that I saved up the money to buy a Gameboy Advance (because by this time, I was a Pokémon fan) to play the third-gen Pokémon games. At some point, I saw a Chain of Memories commercial and immediately wanted it, but then I found out about the card-based gameplay and instantly tapped out because I suck at card games.
A little later and we had KH2. I remember looking up the opening for it, seeing Roxas, and thinking it was Sora. Had no clue who Naminé was, thought Kairi was a different character because of how different she looked (LOL). Then I found out that Roxas was a new character you play as who could use the Keyblade and I was like, "Wtf? Where's Sora? Screw this guy!" I literally thought you played as Roxas for the entire game lmao. I made no effort to look into the deeper plot and proceeded to completely disregard the franchise for the next few years.
For years I heard nothing of KH... Until one fateful day, I was browsing Tumblr and saw that someone I followed was selling stuff to raise money to go somewhere. Among these items for sale were a movie I was planning to buy anyway as well as a video game for the Nintendo 3DS called Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. I owned a 3DS because of Pokémon X/Y. I looked into it and discovered that both Sora and Riku were playable, the gameplay itself seemed conventional. "Well," I thought to myself, "Why not?"
I started playing and had no idea what was going on, but that was okay because I'd never known what was actually going on in KH after Sora left the island. I'm guessing that unlike most people who played DDD, I absolutely LOVED the Dream Eater elements because I was still a huge Pokémon fan. I didn't go to new Sleeping Worlds to wake them up; I went to find new ingredients and recipes to make new Dream Eaters. I spent hours collecting ingredients to make those star-tiered Spirits. The story itself only hooked me when you found out Riku had been in Sora's dreams the whole time, that Riku himself was literally a Spirit protecting his friend from bad dreams! And the ending, omg. After the credits, you see Sora go back to see all the Spirits and I was literally sobbing. I was so touched by that moment, even more so when it showed Ventus smiling.
That sleeping boy's smile encouraged me to buy a PSP and play Birth by Sleep, my second game. Afterwards, I found out about the PS3 HD collections. I finally got to play KH1 in its full glory. Then I watched the Days cutscenes, then came KH2, and watching Recoded... Then came HD Dream Drop Distance on PS4, as well as A Fragmentary Passage, the Back Cover movie, and now we've got KH3 and even a rhythm game!
Never would I have gotten into this series properly without Dream Drop Distance. It's not my favorite game and it's certainly not the best one, either, but it will always have a very special place in my heart for reigniting the passion and wonder I felt for this series the very first time I saw those commercials back in the day.
Sorry for this long-ass comment, lol. I watched the first video and enjoyed it, but took a bit of issue with the jab at people who played DDD first. DDD may have introduced some insane shit to the story, but it still managed to bring at least one fan into this series. 👑💕
Same here
39:26 You know, I'd always wondered why Donald and Goofy didn't kill heartless Sora right then and there. They, unlike Kiari, had no way of knowing that this particular heartless was Sora, and they'd have no reason to just shoo off a random heartless instead of killing it.
Idk maybe it because wasn't attacking them
Cynical jackasses would say lazy writing/plot armour. I personally thought the same thing as the person above me. I always thought it was because Sora wasn't doing anything. He just stood there and never tried to attack them. Donald was probably just like "what is it doing? It's just staring at us. Look bucko if you don't wanna do anything then just go! Okay? Come on! Get out!"
Yeah, mostly heartless just jump the party members right away, but sora's heartless just stood there, he even stood like a regular person compared to the other heartless so something was odd.
you do a fairly good job of mixing small bits of humor with a commentary style that reflects your own experiences. Good video.
Wonderland is interesting symbolically. It marks an intro into the world hopping of KH. And funny enough, involves falling into a literal rabbit hole. I'm gonna be honest it was the best to start with because it's not only iconic Disney, it's literally the start of a journey, where sora is hopping into the rabbit hole of the KH universe. Traverse town is your world hub sure, but Wonderland reminds you that you just... Traveled to another world. You didn't just go to a different city here. You're world just flipped upside down after meeting Donald and Goofy.
I could listen to you for hours, keep up the good work!
This is incredibly refreshing since people are usually begging me to stop talking lmao thanks for the kind words
The first kh game I got was recoded, and I had made it to Traverse town and had to save Hewey. Keep in mind I haven't saved here and was like 6. Once I had got to the fight I heard the battle music and shut it off. It freaked me out. Fast forward like a year later. I mustered up the courage to play it again and once I had reached that point I wondered why I hadn't beat the game yet. It was so fun and although the other kh games are probably better this as the first real video game I have ever played became easily my favorite game. I found it hilarious when you talked about running away from the scene of the hooded man in the secret place.
No lie, that's like a top 10 spookiest moments of childhood gaming for me.
Relatable. When we where kids, and games didn’t baby us, we would just freak out and turn off the game
Your brief mention of having 50 subscribers at the time you made this video is emblematic of how much great content there is on here that doesn't get the attention it needs. This was some great analysis, you actually did an idea that I've been considering doing for a while and you had some insights I'd never considered before about these worlds. Thanks!
#StupidAnsemNips
Hollow Bastion definitely deserves to be comfy at the top! As a stupid “Mash X To Win” kid, it really forced me to use magic for real. I just wish I knew about shortcuts lol
Also, it’s jaw dropping to hear “50 Subscribers”
And now you’re closing in on 9K! You deserve it!
And as a video suggestion, maybe ranking the Nobodies?
I actually do know someone who started the KH series with DDD. I know it was a joke, but there really are people like that out there. (Not that I'm one to talk, 358/2 Days was my first game.)
Lol I just left an insanely long comment explaining why DDD was my first game. Like, I'd known about KH since the beginning, but due to various factors simply didn't get into it until DDD.
Out of curiosity, which KH game is your favorite? I've watched the Days movie and played a little of it, but just couldn't get into the actual gameplay because of the wonky camera and panel system. So, I'm just curious to know if it's your favorite or if it is close to your heart since it was your first game. ^^
Red XIII being in the Pride Lands is such a missed opportunity
I share your general perspective on KH1, it has that mystical, foreboding touch that all other entries pretty much lack, and thematically, it ties very well with the idea of darkness itself, the unknown and the search of the unknown, which is also the original pursuit of both Riku and Ansem.
To add to that, I wanted to point out quite an obscure fact: in the End of the World save point that resembles Winnie the Pooh's book, in the Italian version, that location is named "The Prison", quite striking, ties with Riku's theme of wanting more, even if what you have is good, the Island is a beautiful prison, but a prison nonetheless, same with Pooh's book, also literally imprisoned in a book; wow.
The first Kingdom Hearts truly is nothing short of a masterpiece. A literal one in a million, chance-elevator-meeting masterpiece. It is fittingly the King of all my favorite video games. So much so that there are nights when it gets cool and breezy (with or without the full moon out) that I fondly refer to as "Traverse Town" nights. This game will forever nestle in my heart and gift me inspiration for my own story I've been nurturing on and off since 2004. Thanks for covering it with your videos, man. I'm subscribing.
Hollow Bastion, truly the peak of the series imo. The lore, mythos, etc. of KH1 and this world specifically are seared into my imagination.
Undeniably hollow bastion is at 1. I remember purposely restarting the Riku fight (when Donald and Goofy come back to your side) multiple times just because I wanted to have a perfect run where I got to use allll of my summons before beating him because it felt like the right way to highlight “my friends are my power.” And show riku full force what that means.
End of the world gets a bit of a bump from me now knowing that the machine at the end of the terminus has some union cross significance.
I just got caught up on the Ark stuff and I'm kinda mindblown. (also for anyone else reading this, KH2 worlds part 2 is coming soon i promise)
End of the World is the most Nomura-like part of the game, but him at his BEST. The atmosphere, creepiness and anticipation of the world was absolutely incredible. I remember feeling uneasy, progressing through the world cause the last stretch suddenly makes you question if it'll be a good ending
Edit: Ansem combining with his guardian felt similar to the ending junction with FF8's Ultimecia/Griever,
My favorite part about this game is the treasure chest placement. There are so many hidden chests that you can only get in specific ways. Every playthrough i find one chest that I didn't know about before
These videos are fantastic, probably the most descriptive breakdowns I've seen. I love the games but never really had the proper language to describe them properly so you've done an amazing job. Keep it up man.
Thank ya kindly! If there's one thing that deserves lengthy descriptive breakdowns, it's KH1. Confucius said that, I think.
Every word you said during Hollow Bastion commentary, that, I can relate 100 %. That is precisely why I felt in love with KH so, so much more than any other games at that time.
Truly a masterpiece of a world.
Found your channel by some random reddit post, just finished watching most of your videos. Great quality stuff, you are easily the most (only) well-spoken Kingdom Hearts youtuber out there. You deserve way more subscribers. Most of the KH videos out there are 10 minutes of filler and repeating oneself, and you manage to fill 1.5 hours with quality discussion about the games.
Hey thanks, that means a lot! To be honest I had that same frustration about content that seemed to be purposefully repetitive, so I try to make the type of stuff that I would want to watch.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who spent way too much time flying around Big Ben as a kid. I don't know if I could create an order list of my favorite worlds in Kingdom Hearts, so props to that. I guess I'll try to give a little comment on each of these worlds. (Hey I'm from the future, I said it would be a little comment for each, but I don't think I succeeded in that goal. I just kept going and wanted to explain my thoughts a little more thoroughly and at some point I got invested in finishing the whole thing. So if you're reading this, buckle up.)
Olympus Coliseum - This world really shows how effective a level can be while also being very clearly the budget level. It's neat how they incorporated actual Roman/Greek Coliseum while making this world. It makes believable sense that this world would have a coliseum and with the way the movie drew parallels with Heroes being their equivalent to modern day sport stars, I can believe that people would come to watch the games as Heroes competed against other heroes and monsters. It's kind of a shame they didn't included characters from the Hercules tv show to fight against to reinforce Phil saying that 'heroes from far and wide' come to compete in the games. I never watched the show though, so there might not be any good characters to pull from, and since I haven't seen it, it's not like I have anything to mourn the missed potential of. I guess FF characters show up, so I guess we do have other heroes to compete with ultimately, and I wouldn't be surprised if Hercules and (maybe) Phil are aware of other worlds. Another thing I really like about this world is that not only would Chip and Dale let you know about the tournaments, but people on Traverse Town would also talk about a tournament being held and would talk about how some kid won after the player beat it (I think it was just moogles who brought it up, but there might've been a human character who mentioned it too). It makes Olympus seem like a hub of competition that people would travel to, even through space. To add one more thing, if I haven't said enough yet. I like to seal this worlds keyhole (aka beat hercules cup) just before I head to Hollow Bastion. Sora gives his off-brand "friends=power" speech, but I like to think that it's Sora forming the ideas of what would eventually be his actual "friends=power". It basically boils down to, "I can do anything, so long as I've got Goofy and Donald with me. Welp, time to head to Hollow Bastion. Good to know they'll always have my back." and then when they get sepereated Sora starts to realize it's not just Donald and Goofy
Destiny Islands - I think this world really gives off a great sense of an idyllic home. The kids all play by the beach all day, hang with their friends, and everything feels safe. Kairi and Riku get some pretty good characterization here too. I think something KH1 does really well in general, is give the player a sense of longing. A longing to find Sora's friends, and a longing to return to the islands. So much so that when I first played the game, I started a new file just to return to Destiny Islands one more time, after beating Traverse Town. Also, just throwing this out here, Fake Tidus confused me so much as a kid. Like, he was definitely Tidus but looked slightly different, and his lines about missing his home and parents made me think he was talking about Destiny Islands.
Never Land - I think Never Land might have the most exciting plot of the Disney Worlds. Never Land is basically when things get 'serious'. Kairi's comatose, Riku is unrepentantly evil (or at least trying to kill his former best friend, which is pretty evil, even if you're trying to wake up your comatose crush,) and as you said, Hook name drops Hallow Bastion (I miss when Disney characters could be a part of the lore and plot. I think having invisible walls separating all the worlds again after this game was probably a mistake, as it prevents the disney characters from ever getting more involved. But that's a conversation for another day.). I'm definitely always excited to chase after Riku and Kairi once this world is done, and I'm pretty sure when I was a kid I was super excited to see what would happen next, too.
Halloween Town - I really like this world, particularly storming Oogie's manor. It's such a large structure that the player gets to platform and fight through, it really gives a sense of taking the fight to Oogie by invading his home base (admitedly it's not fun to fall off the manor and find the bathtub, but hey if you just don't do that then its no problem lol) But I also really like how the Heartless are handled in this world. The residents of this world notice the Heartless and since they're all Halloween monsters none of the Heartless are actually attack anyone until a little after Sora shows up and they make the artificial heart. It really gives the sense that Halloween Town is a different world that behaves by different rules compared to most other places. Also, before I wrap this up, out of all the memory worlds in CoM, I think Halloween Town had the best story. I know it's not a high bar, but Oogie taking the memories and immediately having some kind of Lovecraftian realization that Sora and the player dont never learn more about was actually kind of shocking to see. Especially since Sora was likely to use that if Oogie hadn't.
End of the World - I really love the idea of this world, just being whatever remains of the worlds that were lost. And the implication that if person losing their heart = Heartless, then a World losing its heart = this place. It's just a great place to be the final destination to the game. Especially as you find the corrupted broken Destiny Islands at the end (I like how when you walk around on the beach your footsteps still make the purple dust they make on the End of the World. So even though it looks like home, you know it isn't really) and what remains of Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella worlds. You're in the heart of darkness now, there's no "oh this used to be a nice place and with some time we can rebuild it." Instead it's just all that's left of places that weren't saved. If I could think of one improvement to this world, it would be, add some Easter eggs of Disney movies that didn't make it in. The Dalmatians lost their world, so maybe in the Giant Crevice, Cruella's crashed car is sitting somewhere completely junked, or remains of Geppetto's clocks from his workshop are littering some corner. I want more of that sense of destruction the Heartless can leave in their wake. Even still, what we got is still a great world in my opinion and a great Final location for the game.
Traverse Town - Like you said this is a great hub/home base and that romantic aspect of a world forming to become the home of those who don't have one anymore is great. It feels like a place that Sora can rest at after voyaging to a new world. Everywhere else he has to try to not let in on the fact that he's from a different world. But here, everyone is from a another world . One woman's line, where she says "Don't ask other's where they're from, everyone here has a sad story" (or something to that effect) when you first get here really stands out to me. There is kind of a melancholy to this world and you can almost hear it in the music (at least I think the Traverse Town theme sounds kind of melancholy), but everyone is sharing in their mourning and they're trying to make the best of a bad situation together. You're definetly right about how having moogle shops in every world in KH2 and 3 made the other games feel less of an adventure/weaken the hub worlds. Maybe if other worlds had their own unique vendors who sold certain items or had different prices compared to other worlds it would help relieve this problem somewhat. KH2 at least kept the return visits to Hallow Bastion/Radiant Garden and Twilight Town, as well as Hallow Bastion having an involved storyline to Winnie the Pooh, an optional second visit to Tron, and the Sephiroth fight. So those worlds still kept a sense of importance compared to the other worlds. KH3 on the other hand had only one mandatory visit to Twilight Town, an optional second visit to see Merlin and Winnie the Pooh, and cutscenes that happened without Sora being present and if you returned to talk to the Hayner and the others they wouldn't bring it up, it also doesn't help that Twilight Town is way smaller than it was before. But at least the cooking minigame was hosted there, so that helps a little.
(Also btw, that shot of you teaching your cat all the exits in Traverse Town was adorable)
Hallow Bastion - Oh boy, Rising Falls! So glad you mentioned it first. It's such a great first location for a world. You land there and it immediately reveals that this place is just different. You don't swim in water here, you walk on on it, oh and btw the water flows up in case the name didn't give it away. It's a shame Radiant Garden of KH2 and BBS didn't follow in a similar sort of enviroment, but I guess we can chalk that up to the Darkness eroding this world over time or something. I'm guessing the reason why Radiant Garden has blue cliffs in other games was to keep it somewhat visually similar to the Rising Falls. (Doesn't explain the purple grass though, but whatever. Gallifrey in Doctor Who apparently has red grass and Radiant Garden is separate planet. Maybe Leon has his mind blown at the thought of green grass.)
Anyway, so much happens here that Hallow Bastion definitely deserves the title of "The World Where Shit Goes Down." I'm not even going to bother listing it all out like you did. But it's certainly the most exciting of the worlds, maybe second to End of the World depending on my opinion of the day/mood. The Maleficient chest stabbing kinda freaked me out as a kid. It's so sudden and realistic (for Kingdom Hearst) and Maleficient's sound of shock is really well acted. Maleficient was always the one using the darkness, but careful not to let it corrupt and control her. Earlier in the game she mocks Clayton for allowing too much of the darkness into his heart. Then after the Riku/Ansem stabbing she's all like "Hell yeah, darkness in the Heart rocks!". It kind of disturbed me by just how much Riku/Ansem's keyblade changed her. It's the trope of 'Out of Character is serious business' from TV Tropes proving why its effective.
I could probably say more, but I think I've said enough. Since you're looking for suggestions on what to do next, if you're not sick of KH1 videos yet, you could try doing video on the KH1 Critical Mix mod. No one's done a really good video on that yet.
Anyway this was a fun video, sorry I left such a big comment. Maybe I should've made it a bit smaller, but Oops! I'm already hitting the "submit" button.
@@thelemonadestandman TONS of great points here, my lemonade vendor. That Olympus section made me realize that, yeah, there is a sort of special quality to OC, and a sort of ambiguous state about whether or not Phil/Herc are aware of other worlds. Really I guess the only ones who are truly concerned about "no muddling" are SDG, clearly the FF guys don't really care lol. And yeah, I totally forgot, there's at least one Moogle in the Accessory Shop who talks about the coliseum!
It's been a minute since the last time I didn't mash through/skip CoM Disney cutscenes, but I think I'd agree on the HT story being the best one. When I played it on GBA as a kid I was like "I feel kind of...bad for literal festering bag of bug shit Oogie Boogie??"
Would've loved more stuff referencing lost worlds in EotW. The princess world stuff in the Volcanic Crater is pretty subtle since not too much of it is recognizable from the movies. Could throw in some stuff from the summon worlds too.
Melancholy is spot on for TT. If DI is the figurative and literal calm before the storm, TT is the same thing but afterwards. I wonder where those rando characters are from anyway. Especially Dollar Store Tidus over there.
You said TV tropes and now I'm about to lose another 3 hours to that website. I actually haven't heard of this mod, I'll have to look into it! Loved reading your thoughts, always good to get both new and familiar perspectives on this stuff!
@@RegularPat It was great hearing your thoughts as well man. Good luck with whatever you decided to do next!
Finally someone else that recognizes that KH1 was something truly different and quite perfect compared to most later installments!
Pat that's a great cat you have. Also having super recently replayed KH1 I can confirm that Simple & Clean playing at the end hits like whatever kind of truck you said it did.
I am going to relay this compliment to him personally. I said Mack truck, but honestly it can hit like any large vehicle. I'm not a car guy, I've just heard it said before. It hits like a cement mixer truck moving at very high speeds as far as I know.
Regular Pat word on that. A truck is a truck, and my feelings are roadkill.
@@Charlie-um6kn MOOD
A lot of fans have halloweentown to thank for getting them into the series. I’ve heard a lot of people say the only picked up the game because they saw this movie on the box (well I think it’s only on the 2 box, so weird place to start but still).
Halloweentown is such a joy for the series because Jack and Sora are pretty similar all things considered despite one being a brightly colored islander and the other being the king of Halloween. Both are optimistic and curious to see new and exciting places. Both are kind, innocent, and naive with immense care for their friends, but are powerful and shouldn’t be under estimated. They’re quite a pair to get along well
Hollow Bastion is also my favorite level in the game and even in the series. It's so impactful story-wise, the fights and bosses are fantastic, the design and music are great and foreboding, and it has nice exploration and puzzle-solving aspects, and Beast is my favorite party member in the entire series. It's also the climax of the game and the biggest Wham Episode in the game (and one of the biggest in the entire series). End of the World was the Inside Sin, the Memoria, and the Insomnia Ruins of the game; it's when you face the last run and end the villain's threat. But Hollow Bastion was the Zanarkand Ruins, the Bran Bal, and the Gralea/Zegnautus Keep. This is when everything before it comes to a head. This is when everything you thought you knew about the game gets turned on its head. This is where the whole story hits a turning point and everyone's storylines for the rest of the series springboard (even Maleficent's, both in what turns out to be a time travel escapade and the fact that she is stabbed and overshadowed).
I friggin love kh1 so much. And you put it into words for me so well. Wish future kh games would be more like 1 in a lot of ways.
R.I.P.
Ansem-Riku’s Special Keyblade Of Darkness That “Unlocks Peoples’ Hearts”
One of the few to permanently die in this series.
We will NEVER see it again and it’s “ability” is undermined in BBS.
Woo its my favorite RUclipsr with a subscriber count in the double digits.
Some might say "irrelevant" or "unimportant" but the real ones out here like Brosph know it's actually "indie" and "underground"
Regular Pat Naw, its not indie and underground its "quality"
i'm rewatching these essays for probably the third time at this point, and gosh man, you have such a perfect way of putting into words the reasons i love kh. i'm a kh 2 stan, but like all of your criticisms are valid and i just love hearing passionate kh fans talk about kh passionately.
I always love when I find KH fans who appreciate KH1 as the best in the series. I just binged all your videos you have to be the most entertaining and insightful KH youtuber and I appreciate that
Wow Pat. This was amazing. It was funny, powerful, and so passionate. I love this all so much, you have a real talent for holding attention. Keep up the great work!
As for future videos, I think it would be really interesting to hear your thoughts on KH3. I know that could get really controversial, but you’ve been brave enough to criticize KH2FM, so it’s nothing you haven’t done before. Id also like to know more on your opinions of the non numbered titles.
As for series outside of KH, I’d definitely be interested in whatever you make. I came for kingdom hearts, but I’ll stay because I think you have real talent, and I genuinely enjoy your videos!
AYYY YEEEETUS!! I appreciate it, thanks so much. I have definitely been itching to talk about KH3 in more than just passing comments here and there. The blood is already in the water as you said so I might as well go all in on it lol. There's a lot of great stuff in the non-numbered titles too that I'd like to get into at some point, for sure, especially BBS.
25:29 Honestly the world terminus explanation is the best one for how the Heartless just show up out of nowhere.
You best believe “My Friends Are My Power” is the best scene 😏
Basically, someone needs to be dropping philosophy if you wanna score big points
Get it memorized felLAH ☺️
I'd love to see Sora's "my friends are my power!" met with a mirror character having "my solitude is my power!" and, even though they become a protagonist later, their views on what gives you strength still don't change.
Found your channel yesterday, and I've been watching these whenever I come home from work. Good shit dude!
I loved how in KH2 if you pay attention, the room where you fight the 1k heartless is a frozen rising falls
32:25 Yo is that the Bradygames Strategy Guide??? Man, that brings back memories...
It is! I actually did a whole video about it right after this video!
Another awesome video and I was really interested to see what your top 7 would be! I'm glad someone else loves The End of the World in a thematic sense as much as I do. The emptiness and abstraction of all the destroyed worlds in the art was just mindblowing to me as a kid. I don't think another world in KH has come close to the tone of it, which is good because it stays unique, but I wish we would go back to a world which has so much visual storytelling.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the evolution of motion throughout the series, both in combat and in general. I think KH1 had an amazing sense of progression in terms of character motion. You start off with a basic jump, and by the end you get Super Glide... you just feel so much more powerful. In KH2 the camera zooms out and prepares you for even more motion based gameplay, and it doesn't disappoint; you still get a good progression, and the leveling system with Drive Forms lent itself very well to players who just really wanted to get the highest jump early / wanted a good dash. KH3 sort of places Sora in an odd position as he keeps his powers from DDD, and while it makes sense in a narrative way, it sort of takes away a sense of "I am stronger now" other than leveling up keyblades. This progression is what makes the replay value of KH1 and 2 so high for me, because in KH3 you don't really play for a long time until you're flying all over the place. I still love KH3 but I think it missed the mark a little on that aspect.
I don't know why I said so much about that, but I love your videos and I look forward to them all the time now! :)
Edit: Also, I love your cat!! Reminds me of one I used to have
Thanks so much! For me, the closest the series has come in matching the EotW atmosphere and tone has been The Final World in KH3, which I also quite like even despite its shorter length. Love when KH gets weird and abstract, and like, existential I guess? lol
That's an interesting idea! I think when it comes to especially non-combat movement, the discussion is inherently linked to world design and scale, so that adds another layer to the conversation considering all 3 games are pretty different when it comes to how big their levels are and how they're designed. I'd have to think on it a while to formulate my thoughts on it but it's a fascinating topic.
His name's Zeus! Blue-point himalayan who has obstructed many a strategy guide and textbook :)
So, I dunno if anyone will ever read this, but its important to me and I've never gotten a chance to say it anywhere else, here goes:
The second most emotionally powerful moment in ALL of KH for me is in Hollow Bastion (the first being the **hands break**, "WHEN-!" of the final cutscene). And it's NOT Sora's self-sacrifice (which can take spot #3, I guess?). Riku has lost literally EVERYTHING, Ansem has so much control over the kid that he's reshaped Riku's body to have his original look back. Ansem steps forward to do... whatever the hell he was going to do to Kairi, and WHAT happens? "NO! You WON'T use me for this!!" Riku straight up "NOPEs" the guy. It breaks me every time. THIS is the moment we know Riku can be redeemed. Because, right here, at his lowest, he loves Kairi SO MUCH that the main villain of the entire game, who is actually a Heartless-flesh-ship, can't even touch her. Riku was ambitious, misguided, and manipulated but he not only still caress for someone, he won't let anyone hurt her. And I just wanted to recognize that here, it's really important to me.
Also I hope someone reads this rambling lol.
34:03 just leaving this here to see that amazing breakdown again
I just want to say that the background music for traverse town is literally some of the most beautiful comforting video game music I can think of. After all the crazy shit that goes down in the first hour or so of the game, you hear that music and you feel like you’re safe, like you come home. And all these years later, it’s still gives me that feeling in my heart.
When I first played KH1, I didn't realize that my TV's brightness was too dark until the night scene on Destiny Islands. So when I played it again, I was spooked that Ansem was actually there speaking to Sora in the cave, because it was too dark before! I just assumed Ansem was only speaking as a voice. Even at a good screen brightness, it's easy to mistake him for a branch at first before realizing there's a whole man in that cave.
I remember the first time I've played the game and I couldn't even see Ansem when he appeared.
Edit: A funny thing is that I don't think I even knew that The Nightmare Before Christmas was even a Disney movie until I've seen the world in Kingdom Hearts.
I'm so happy I found this channel. I've been binging your videos and you've really given me a fresh and better viewpoint on KH1 and the Kingdom Hearts series in general!
Oohie Boogie's just the best, hammiest, laziest Disney villain in this franchise. Love him.
I hope they someday will make something like the end of the world again because for me its one of my favorite worlds and my favorite final world because everything tells you... ok this is it no more joking like the music wich takes destati and makes it even more unsettling to the enemys who are strong and very intimidating to the last room wich tells u that theres no turning back also minor detail i really like how u just get thrown into the world without music or cutscene has something to it
Sorry if i repeated anything
Its very interesting that your idea of where the act structure of the game's story transitions lines up with where Sora and co get the growth abilities. It makes for a very satisfying progression for both the story and gameplay at the same time.
Defeating Chernabog, the final Disney boss of the game, rewards the party with the final growth ability and simultaneously shows that the player has overcome one of the arguably strongest opponents that Disney properties can offer. Now all that's left is this Ansem guy that's apparently behind it all. Gives me goosebumps.
Love the videos so much, on the road to watch them all.
A criminally underrated channel. Let's hope the RUclips algorithm keeps picking you up like it seems to have done recently !
Honestly...I agree about Final Fantasy characters appearing in Disney Worlds! I would've loved to have seen Irvine from Final Fantasy 8 appearing in Deep Jungle, being like an assistant hunter with Clayton (weilding a hunting rifle himself) who you'd have to fight before he realizes "Wow, Clayton's a dick." Or what about Locke from Final Fantasy 6 being in Agrabah due to being a thief himself and would've made an interesting partner to Aladdin.
KH1 is one of my favorite video games of all time. Love your videos on it
Bro I started the series with Dream Drop distance. I was 6 and had no idea what was going on, but I was hyped to write the time on my hand with a red pen.
The exploring was my favorite thing about this game. And you're right about the Destiny Island's segment needing more time! I loved the banter between the kids, their games, the island, the music. It was all fantastic. I have a lot of nostalgia for that world.
Great review of the worlds! No Lie, I discovered KH by accident while on vacation as a kid, I saw a young girl playing it on a huge 70" television. She was on destiny island, and watching Sora run around the beach gave me the same excitement of adventure that the opening sequence of Breath of the Wild had for me as an adult.
My favorite world is Agrabah for all the reasons you said in the first part, but the Disney/Kingdom Hearts integration is what sold me on it since that's what I play the series for.
I'm aware this is an old video but still, I wouldn't entirely write off Triton's little speech getting worked back into the plot at some point. I mean, Nomura didn't forget that Maleficent came back in KH2 in perhaps the dumbest possible way and built an entire plot point around it that actively affected the fates of (nearly) all the KHUX protagonists. We must never underestimate Nomura's ability to pretzel a story.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed your takes! Most KH fans I meet got into the series at some point after KH2 or during the Days/BBS era, so I feel it so much when you talk about seeing the original commercial and being instantly enthralled. I remember walking around school trying to hum the song from it, begging and wheedling for a PS2 for months, and absolutely falling in love from that very first dive into the heart. I knew it was going to become the most important piece of media in my life before I ever touched it, and I was right.
For me the original worlds tend to be at the top end, the Disney worlds mostly make up the middle, and Winnie the Friggin Pooh Land is at the bottom, so I think we agree in all the ways that matter. Other than that one, I would have a difficult time ranking the worlds in any kind of specific order, because I think each one has its own atmospheric genius. (The Little Mermaid was my favorite back in the day, so I was so excited to be a mermaid man in KH1, and I was also looking forward to being one in KH2...I was...so excited...)
Anyway, subbed, I'll have to go check out your other lists and see if your Sora dies AU is as good as mine.
Everyone in KH1: NO MEDDLING! ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE A KEYBLADE!
EVERY Keyblade wielder we play as: Meddles in every conceivable scenario
God I love getting addicted to kingdom hearts for like the 2nd time in a year and blasting through regular pat vids, crazy how even the vids from the very beginning were all so good
Youre a man after my own heart, I feel exactly the same way about Kingdom hearts 1
Great quality content man! Both the serious takes and the humour. Subscribed gladly:)
And you know what they say: I dont need a weapon. My subscribers are my power! D:
Totally agree with your headcanon for the rank in the villain-council btw
New sub here! Love your sense of humor and your in-depth analyses of Kingdom Hearts! Can't wait to see what you make next :)
Great video! Always loved this series.
I think when people complain about platforming, it’s mainly about the camera. Just replayed KH1 recently and if I missed a jump, it was usually the camera getting stuck and screwing up my view.
I started my first play-through of kingdom hearts something like 20 years ago, and I thought that the Olympus Coliseum world was broken. I walked in to the second room, saw the yellow trinity on the floor (which I didn’t have yet), ignored it, and talked to Phil. Of course his dialogue is something like, “you gotta move that stone before we talk.” Well, me being naive, I assumed that the yellow trinity was the only way to move it. So I played through the whole rest of the game, waiting to acquire the yellow trinity, until I got to the final “no turning back” stage of the game. Still no trinity. I beat the game without completing Olympus Coliseum.
Fast forward several years.
I convinced my girlfriend (who is not a gamer) to try KH. Spoiler - she loved it. Button mashing/ mild platforming was totally in her wheelhouse. And she gets to Olympus Coliseum, talks to Phil. I’m like, “I could never figure this out as a kid.” But then she did something I never even attempted... she just *tried* to push the stone. Didn’t even notice the trinity. Then she talked to Phil again and unlocked the new dialogue.
I felt like a moron. I didn’t know you were supposed to do that. I never looked it up. I was never told to do that. I never saw someone do that. But here was my non-gamer girlfriend just accidentally solving a 20 year mystery in 5 seconds.
Anyway, she’s my wife now.
im. several years late, but i've just been binging your kingdom hearts stuff. whatever gets recommended to me that's been from you goes right into the queue. Loving everything!
Love the "one day I will set this right" from the guardian
27:33 by far my favorite part of the video
Damnit Pat. I came out to my car for some jams and got caught in another one of your Kingdom Hearts playlists. Stop being so damn entertaining and genuinely awesome to watch. - Sincerely, A KH Noob.
I'm not the hugest fan of hollow bastion sometimes cuz of how annoying it is when you fall while you're just trying to fight those dumb bird things but other than that I fully understand where you're coming from and just love your video. Also worth noting I think it's interesting how in traverse town it's always night there but it's never posed as being scary or threatening. it's like a sparkling light guiding people to safety from the darkness all around
25:55 The giant crevace is one of my favorite areas in the game and it's a shame that it's wasted. When playing normally, you can just jump from the top all the way down and the room is cleared in a few seconds. But if you actually start from the bottom to the top, it becomes a legitimately fun platformer! They put a lot of work in making this a struggle to climb only to put the entrance in the wrong place.
I still get choked up watching those ending cutscenes.
I really hope they bring back the end of the world in another kh game. Its fucking gorgeous and I'd kill to see it in ps4/5 graphics
That waka joke was art lmao
I just watched this and the first part back to back, and I agree with your list almost entirely. So much so I feel like typing my own thoughts would be pointless lol since it would be for the most part mirroring yours. Only I'd put destiny islands higher because I've got to be one of the maybe 5 kids who played kingdom hearts not familiar with a vast majority of the Disney movies and none of the final fantasy games, so pretty much anything KH original was my jam, final fantasy was also cool as to me they were essentially KH original from my point of view.
You did ask I think in the first part what's better, longer videos or split videos and personally I prefer longer videos personally. Also you mentioned you notice when the same names come up and despite opening myself up to a top 5 most awkward moments since becoming an adult placement I'd gonna live on a wild side and say thank you, I really enjoy your videos and I like that there isn't really a genre too them other than just talking about stuff you like about a game series I really like. If you wanted a suggestion for different video ideas, I know you have some qualms with KH2 but I know you like it and I love it and when it comes to 1, I could talk uninterrupted for an hour with no prep on it, but when it comes to 2 I could talk several hours about pretty much anything in that game, and now that I think about it if you do do videos on KH2 allow me to forewarn you I like sharing my opinion and have too much time on my hands (Given this channels very existence I think you're similar lmao) so with every KH2 vid you make I will probably write a new essay per video lol, especially since you draw attention to stuff I never really thought about in a game series I probably have thought way too much about.
Also real talk best scene in the series being "My friends are my power" while the obvious choice I feel has some tough competition. As a child I think that hit me the hardest, but these days I think at least in KH1 it effects me more when Sora sacrifices himself with a smile on his face, pretty damn inspiring. My summer vacation is over is also pretty great, but it kinda needs the context only given later on. Kind of a hipster choice is when Axel and Xion fight, and he says that her and Roxas can keep on running but he'll always be there to bring them back. (Days is underrated, I honestly think it has the best story out of all of them).
Basically this series is full of build up and pay off moments, I'd be hard pressed to pick a best one. Maybe you should do ranking of the best Kingdom Hearts scenes lol there's certainly enough for a top 5 at least.
Ayy what's up Jamie! I can almost guarantee KH2 stuff will be coming at some point despite my nitpicks with it (it's still top 10 for me after all). The scenes thing has definitely been rattling around in my head, and I'm a big fan of all those ones you've listed. My personal hipster choice for a favorite is the scene in BBS where Ven meets Lea and Isa. I won't say too much in case I do end up putting something out like a top 10 scenes list, but that one really resonated with me.
Edit: also that first part of your comment reminded me that I definitely first thought the FF characters were KH original and I don't think I realized they were their own thing until I looked through the Journal lol
Ah, ha ha, feckin' love that Ansem joke!!
Olympus gets annoying after it’s in every game except 1 or 2 of them
I started replaying the series and I gotta say hearing other peoples thoughts on a franchise I love really interests me. Your rankings in particular have made me rethink how I feel about certain aspects of the games. For example I used to find no value in Monstro but you pointed out that while on a gameplay level it is fairly poor narratively it holds a lot of value and we see some good development for Sora’s character not giving into peer pressure and instead doing what’s right.
Pride Lands would have been the PERFECT place for Red XIII, THANK YOU!
You have amazing content and you're so passionate! You're an inspiration to start my own channel
that shot of you booping your cat gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling
Funny thing about the level progression in Hollow Bastion; I've never gone up the Great Crest/High Tower area in the way that the game intends you to. Ever since I saw your KHI facts video, I've used the Dumbo skip whenever I needed to progress through that area. So much so that when me and my friend tried doing the area the legit way, I could not for the life of me figure out how the puzzle works. That led to us attempting the skip, which made us realize we forgot to get Dumbo, which forced us to go back to Monstro and then Traverse Town and then back through the rest of Hollow Bastion...
This is one of the only channels I subscribed after just one video, but your sense of humor is right up my alley my guy. Not to mention these videos are amazingly thorough and I can't see myself disagreeing with any of your points, namely because you back up your claims with a sense of reasoning.
It took me this long to realize that we've known that Kairi was originally from Radiant Garden since KH1, and I can't believe it took you pointing out that the library is where the flashback of Kairi and her grandmother takes place to figure that out.
The platforming and exploration was my favorite thing about KH1 as a little kid, next to the Disney stuff
@27:30 I SPAT OUT MY DRINK
FORREAL THO IVE BEEN WAITING 20+ YEARS FOR SOMEONE TO ASK THAT QUESTION
Thank you for making these. I'm at an odd place with these games, I love them so much for the gameplay but, some of the story beats make me cringe. Overall I love them and videos like this reminds me why I love them cuz you are putting unto words my feelings for these games. I watched one of your other videos about movement in the games and I laughed cuz I first beat KH2 without ever knowing that the glide ability was in the game and that it was tied to the drive forms. Thank you again. Be safe and the best line in all the games is Roxas' struggle with his feeling for Sora when he wakes up and says "Another dream about him" 😂😂😂😂
Yeah didn't really think about it until now but I kind of feel like Traverse Town is actually a slam dunk #1 for me. But love the list man and frankly you're legit funny
I avoided (re)watching this video for close to six months while I worked on my own KH1 ranking vid, only to realize now after it’s all been recorded that I end up making nearly identical points to Pat, down to having the exact same top 4.
Love all your videos man, really can't wait what you have in store for the future:)
Dude you seriously have the best Kingdom Hearts videos
Dude I randomly found your videos and love your kh content