358/2 Days is my favorite Kingdom Hearts game
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ต.ค. 2022
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all footage from • Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - บันเทิง
God ur voice is annoying
I agree
Yes, but good video.
Agree but good video. She gon be up fasho.
I like it.
c mon man
The ending is something that's better experienced on the DS rather than the PS3/4. The slow fading of Xion from the bottom screen as the top screen continues to play will never not be heartbreaking.
Also the DS version has co-op. Still the only co-op KH to this day.
@@MooseKINGstudios Birth by Sleep did as well on original release.
Agree, also prefer hearing Riku's theme over Roxas' during the scene after the fight with Riku. Just makes the scene more impactful; personally that is.
@@c.q.32 that would be used on other platforms tho
@@tumultuousv Yeah I know that the version with Roxas is used more. It's just I feel that while his theme works as a flashback, 358's version is more impactful, there are stakes at risk at this very moment. Not to mention that this isn't only Roxas' moment but Riku's as well. He's being forced to rely on Ansem's powers to finish the fight.
She did my trio right.
Thank you, honestly this series is so important to my upbringing and what made me who i am today i use to get defensive when people get dismissive about this series.
Xion's story was such a tragic one but if im remembering correctly there was a line that those who don't know her can't see her without her hoodie up and those who do always saw her without it up and as the game went on Roxas AND Axel started to always see her with it down.
I just thought it was a simple yet beautiful analogy even as a kid to how making friends and opening up to other waa like.
HE ONLY SEES HER FACE WHEN SHE ASKS TO BE FRIENDS IT’S SO GOOD
I agree
I always love that, he sees her for who she is
The sad fact is, this was my first kingdom hearts game. People kept telling me about this grand game about Mickey Mouse as a king, and this random kid. So Christmas of that year I got it, and I was soooo confused. I, like you said, bonded with roxas, and went through his struggle. The ending made me feel empty after, not knowing what happened to him, and crying about xion, and then I played kingdom hearts 2, and weeped so hard for roxas
For me it was the same, throughout the entire game I could so relate to Roxas. The things he did and the choices he made were very consistent. It was clear that greater things were being played out all around me, but I just wanted to get my ice cream. Of course I hoped to get some sort of semblance and answers. Like Who is Sora? What was I like before I became a Nobody and would we succeed in completing Kingdom Hearts, what would happen if we did? But then the game ended without answers, because these answers could be found in the other games. And yet the game didn't expect you to have played these games to understand Roxas, you'd even understand him so much better if you hadn't.
This was 100% me. 358/2 was my first game and I was blown away by the trailer as "Sanctuary" played. My only knowledge of Sora was through past KH trailers and although I had a PS2 and GBA SP, I never looked into the series until Days as I had just gotten a DSi right before the game came out. It hit me hard to get to know Roxas who was this awkward kid with no real familiar faces and spending each day getting to know them. That same month was when I started High School so reflecting my experiences with the game hit harder than it should've. I cried at the end when I realized he didn't get to do what he set out to. The tears poured as his line with the 7 days to go hit. 358/2 will always hold a special place in my heart like no other in the series.
Same, it was my first game too. I know he was in the recent game
and then you played ddd and you cried again cause xion and then you played bbs and cried for ventus and then you played kh3 crying for sora.
@@its_myo literally, i cried so hard at the end of kh3.
"you're a depressed kid surrounded by cult members with uncomfortable beds and a living space that feels too big and no one likes talking to you."
Sooooooo my childhood then?
You killed me 😂
What cult were you in?
let me guess: lds or jw?
@@tsunderecat413 church
@@scoffeex1740 Christianity
This game did what Birth by Sleep couldn’t do, show us why the main trio are friends. Most of the game is setting up the normal, the status quo that makes the breaking of it so heartbreaking whereas BbS launched straight into things going wrong.
Video essays about kingdom hearts are so often stuck in defending even *why* the creator would make a video essay about it that it takes up half the discussion. And like, mood, I’m a kh fan myself, but it feels so nice to listen to someone just dive into it without defensive preamble. Would love to see some more videos about this franchise like this!
see! i got it out of the way quickly because at this point it’s known, it’s tired. kh is kh. we all know
It's like people are afraid to give criticism to anything with Disney princesses in it
I absolutely adore whenever anybody discusses Days. You really captured the heart of my feelings on the game and it makes me so happy to see. Now I will go cry over "Roxas, I'm out of time"
(Also, I'm really glad I found you through She-Ra because you put out nothing but BANGER videos)
I have so many thoughts on this game...
- I respect how it made repetitive gameplay work for the story
- I respect how it told a slow-burning tragedy over the course of 40 hours.
- I learned to identify bad situations a little better and to move on a little faster
- it gave me one of the strangest dreams of my life
It's my favorite chapter, too. Ironically, it was the first KH game i've ever played, and it was love at first sight. Roxas is also my favorite KH character, because despite his looks, he's literally a baby (he's one of the youngest in the cast) who wants to learn and being an average human, only to be tortured, betrayed and took advantage for circumstances he has no control over them.
After Roxas "dies", my wish was "I wont let my world end before i see his return". And when he did return i was moved by joy that i turned myself into a weeping, snoting mess
It was my first too, and I honestly loved it. It could just be my natural affinity for writing fanfiction in my head and my desire to use monotony and tedium as a meditation tool, but this was definitely a favorite of mine.
I also remember really hating Sora at first for how happy he was and how Roxas had to lose everything. I felt better after playing through KH2 and 3D. ESPECIALLY after watching Re: Chain of Memories.
I played the first Kingdom Hearts at a friend's place, but 358/2 Days is the game that sold me on Kingdom Hearts. It's the one that meant something to me in a bigger way, and it's why I bought and beat KH3 so many years later despite not being able to afford any of the games in between.
It really is something special. Thank you for this video.
i feel u so hard on the immersive experience. yknow those parts of the game where the bottom screen glitches out for a moment and you see the same screen as above, but with sora moving around instead of roxas? there was this time where it happened in wonderland, and i was watching sora move around, and there was a heartless just kind of standing there in the corner. it wasn't on roxas's screen. i was just watching sora and staring at this thing that didn't attack, didn't move apart from idle animations. i did not know what to do. so i attacked it. as soon as i did, my gaze was immediately pulled up to roxas again because HIS keyblade just bounced off a wall, and sora on the bottom was gone. it was such a surreal experience that i just sat there for a moment, hardly breathing and maybe shaking a bit. the simple tools that media can use to make you FEEL things are just incredible. that moment has stuck with me for the last decade and a half.
I absolutely LOVE Days! I know everyone loves BBS and say it’s the saddest of all the games, but Days hits a lot harder for me. As long as Sora is alive, there is hope for the BBS trio. There’s no hope for Roxas and Xion. They’re gone. They don’t exist. They’re nothing but haunting memories to Sora. That’s way more sad to be than Terra’s body being lost to darkness, or Ven falling asleep, or even Aqua being trapped in the realm of darkness. I know I’m sounding harsh now, but like I said before, Sora is their only hope.
This game is not the best gameplay wise but, it was the reason why I broke down at the end of kh3. As a middle schooler when this game came out, I spent months with roxas experi3ncing his 9 to 5 job. Doing tedious and monotonous jobs all for a goal we are told is important to us but we don't actually feel that ourselves. Dealing with shit coworkers. But also enjoying the moments in between jobs with actual friends and bonding. All the while I know it's not gonna last. Watching his world fall apart and losing everything AGAIN (technically the first time). So many years later as an adult watching him get everything back and then then some, made me uncontrollably bawl my eyes out next to my sis, who was confused as hell as to why I was crying. She only vaguely remembered his story from kh2. It was like seeing a old friend finally get everything they deserved in life after so much hardship and I was so happy for him.
This was my first Kingdom Hearts game, I played 2 afterwards and wow, it made everything to do with Roxas hit so much harder. The way I see 358/2, it’s a sort of learning experience for Roxas. He learns how friendships and emotions work, even in an environment where people actively discourage it, and in Twilight Town, he gets to make use of all of it and form legitimate bonds with people that aren’t his coworkers, in a world that isn’t out to get him, where his biggest worry is the town bully, Seifer, and that all gets torn away from him too. He essentially stops existing when he rejoins Sora, but then we see a little, tiny bit of hope, when half of Sora cries when leaving Twilight Town. It hurts, so much, it’s too good of a story.
This is my favorite too and you nailed why exactly. Xion is still my favorite girl in the series, and while Sora does rank higher than Roxas for me personally it's a really close race. Also vector to the heavens is still one of my favorite songs in the series and I think that really says something considering how good all the music in kh is. Days really did deserve a full remake and I'll always be sad it didn't get one.
Also I wish "Roxas, that's a stick" was voiced because that is one of the funniest lines in the series and I think it deserved to be voiced
the characters have such distinct, emotive voices. there's just SO MUCH PERSONALITY in the days dialogue. man
This is beautifully put. I could never really explain why Days was my favorite KH game - you either get it or you don't. The story hit me in a way that none of the other games have quite been able to. It's tragic, it's heartbreaking, it's compelling, but more than all that it's small. At its heart, it's a story about three friends trying to hold onto each other. That's it. Unlike most games, the world doesn't end if they fail in that goal; it's just the opposite. The world ends if they get what they want. That's why I think Roxas is the perfect narrator for this game. It takes him far longer than the others to accept that their time together has to come to an end. He holds on desperately to something that he never had the power to keep. It hurts, but it feels real and honest in a way that few other games do.
If there's any trio that truly deserves the happy ending they get in KHIII, it has to be Xion, Axel, and Roxas.
It always bugged me that Saix, a firm believer that nobodys had no hearts, saw Axel getting attached to the newbies and thought "that's bad" and not "huh, I should investigate how that's possible."
Everyone I've ever talked to hated Days, so thank you for letting me know I'm not alone in loving it. It wasn't my favorite, that's still 2, but it's a close second ^_^
What kinds of things do they usually bring up that they hate about it?
As much as I could go off about my favorite trio, I just find it so funny that Jesse McCartney is out here being a voice acting mvp for this series.
it's so funny
Days was my first game in the series and you explained it perfectly. The tragedy just hits different... and nothing will replace the best trio of Axel, Roxas, and Xion. I was glad to get to see them finally back together after a decade in KH3 or I would have been forever been broken as a fan.
KH3 definitely didn't undo Days, it honestly feels exactly right for Days and for Kingdom Hearts itself. That trio in particular is so tragic it wouldn't be right to leave it tragic, and they all did so much to try to stay together--they just deserve it. Their reunion is definitely indeed the emotional peak of KH3. How they reacted was how I reacted and I still tear up thinking about it. It's something only Kingdom Hearts can manage, really--hedging just how long it took, just how painful it was, and finally reaching for the impossible and getting it. I NEEDED that moment, god
Eh.. their reunion in KH3 was very bare bones. If it was enough for you that they were simply reunited and on screen together, fine. But the execution felt hollow. They barely had ANY meaningful dialogue with eachother, Xion's return was a giant, unearned question mark (with different explanations between the Ultimania and the game itself), the scene did nothing to expand on the themes already established in their story, their fight with Xemnas only came about in the confusing plot of a damage control DLC, and we don't get any further closure on the interpersonal conflicts they had with eachother (or characters like Riku, Namine, or DiZ) prior to their deaths either.
We don't even know HOW Roxas and Xion can weild their keyblades again (Roxas' dual wielding had a hard explanation, and KH3 does nothing to justifying contradicting it), or what their stance on being keyblade weilders is. Has Roxas accepted his role as a keyblade wielder/defender of light, or does he still want a normal life and resent the Keyblade like he did up until then? We don't know. There's little to no insight or closure given to them, and their poorly executed resurrection (outside of the spectacle) did little to convince players like their return was earned on a narrative level. Had they actually developed, been further explored, or done SOMETHING meaningful (that only they could do) after their return, no one would be upset about it.
Hey So I just found this. Days Happens to be my favorite game of the franchise too! I am so happy this review was recommended to me because it summarizes exactly how I feel about it. it's a perfectly imperfect game that has an absolute stranglehold on my heart and the characters make me sad in the best way. Love this!
it’s so MOODY and BROODY i love
@@5x5Takes yes!!! The angst!!!
it’s just SO atmospheric in a chewy way that no other game has done the same! except maybe CoM
@@5x5Takes Yeah! until you said something about it I really didn't pick up on the whole "grey area" thing with the common room we start each mission in. that's so nuts!
My favorite keyblade is actually exclusive to this game. Aubade. A poem where two lovers part as the sun rises. Roxas’ keyblades all either reference transitionary times of day or emotions relating to loneliness, but aubade is the only one that does both. Perhaps that’s the tattoo?
bingo. great call
Great video, couldn't agree more on Days' emotional impact more.
And I think I know why KH3 didn't rob Days of it retroactively for me: the timer. All of the effort Axel goes through to keep Roxas and Xion in the dark or otherwise keep them from accidentally killing one another, every step of Roxas' introspective development, the result of Xion's hunt for the truth, the futility of all of it is painstakingly made clear by the days ticking towards 358. Sure, retroactively, WE know that the Clock Tower Trio will have a happy reunion, but the characters themselves don't have ANY hope of that happening: Axel fails in keeping the two safe, Roxas doesn't get to meaningfully figure himself out before being forced to merge with Sora, and Xion's journey ends with her effectively committing suicide for the greater good, and to them, that's permanent. KH3 doesn't erase that pain, the tension of their initial bond unraveling. Lea, Roxas and Xion by the end of KH3 may not be entirely new characters but their circumstances are so different now. It merits the acknowledgement that the tragedy of Days is just like its primary victims, mostly self-contained but bleeds in whenever poignant
I'd been looking for so long to perfectly articulate how I felt about Days and then this comes out and it's amazing in every way. Thank you for this video.
AND THEN YOU THREW IN A HADESTOWN REFERENCE AND I LEGIT CHEERED AT MY COMPUTER SCREEN THANK YOU!
Days is near and dear to me as well. I remember my first girlfriend and a friend two years older than me got me into kingdom hearts. I still remember doing missions day-by-day as I was going to high school. There was a congruence between my fleeting relationships in real life and those of the game. A year and a half later and that girl did break up with me. By the end of highschool, the other friend and I grew really close but were separated by the unstoppable march of time as life led us down two very different paths. There's something about that transience that I'll never forget, and 358 embodies that experience. The mediocre gameplay, frustrating missions, and other negative aspects resonated with the mundane frustrations of school. For me 358 is a time capsule. I don't know if I'll ever replay it on the DS, but I won't ever forget it. I'll never stop cherishing those memories that I could never have realized just how precious they were in the moment.
Hey. I just wanted to say I hope you’re doing alright out there nowadays.
literally my 2nd fave, my first fave being BBS. 358/2 days was so DARK, like when you strip away that disney attachment, the game dealt with some tragic themes like identity crisies, su1cide, self-sacrifice, and betrayal. It wasnt all "friendship is magic and will save everyone" like the games before this one, and I love that about it.
The Disney stuff worked since kinda like how the stories in there tend to be about younger ppl dealing with bad stuff that can be very dark, and also teach kids lessons about life, the days kids are learning lessons from the Disney characters. They’re also growing up as well, and being exposed to dark things.
It feels almost like a Disney movie within itself.
Days was by far the best game in my opinion for the sole fact of what you mentioned about it being a job, rather than an adventure. It almost guaranteed that there would be something to do tomorrow. That your friends would be waiting for you at the end of the day. And then they weren't...
Roxas' tragic story in the Organization is genuinely a beautifully written piece of despair. Having combined with Xion's made his story even more so. Thank you for treating this game right. It was the first I ever played, and is my favorite game I think of all time. Keep up the amazing videos.
Sure we all joke about the line 'It's Riku! They put bugs in him!' but of all the Kingdom Hearts dialogue out there, one that always springs to my mind is Axel saying to Xion 'You keep on running then. But I'll always be there to bring you back!" There was just something so...raw about it. This whole game was a story of chasing after each other and sure they all managed to make it through...for only 358 days.
Side note: I love love LOVE how the moogle shop and mission mode work in the game. I think this game mastered what multi-player could be in kingdom hearts
Yes! I love this! Days has such a unique vibe in the series. It's the tragedy! The melancholy! The loneliness! Honestly I think the series really peaks in the moments where it lets you really experience the tragic circumstances that you can't change, and Roxas really stands out as the most memorable and empathetic of the main characters because of it. You capture it all so well here!
You're SOOO valid, this game is also so special to me. I feel the same, so hard. This game does NOT hit the same as the official cutscene compilation.
"Days isn't the best Kingdom Hearts Game... but it is my Favorite" Couldn't agree more. Great Vid/ Analysis!
I love the positivity of your videos. I've never played kingdom hearts and ive never seen most of the shows you talk about but because of your "thing good!" and general positivity when talking about those things, I can share in your love for them. I just think that's so good. Awesome content as always!
lots of things are good! most things are imperfect but many things made by human beings have something thoughtful/meaningful/emotionally resonant. appreciated :)
@@5x5Takes Worst still, it turns out in Dream Drop Distance that, while it's true that Nobodies dont have hearts when they are born, they can create one of their own given the time and right bonds, which is foreshadowed multiple times also by Disney characters, that in real life they arent supposed to become their own being, such us Pinocchio (a wooden puppet), Stitch (a living weapon of mass destruction), and Tron (a program).
xions existence in days after the first playthru is some of the best story in a kh game
This game is my favorite game. I played this game when I was 9 and I remember staying up to finish the final form Xion fight. This game shows how KH can have a serious story with great character conflict. The line "Who else will I have ice-cream with" is something that sound weird to an outsider but it represents that hope and safe at the end of the day that is forever gone. This trio are my favorite characters and even use the name Xion because of how much I love the character. The manga also great to show the friendship of these characters so much more with is goofy moments where you kinda want to watch a sitcom of the Organization. Also I'm guessing you have the Crown of Guilt as a tattoo.
good guess, but nope!
I think this game still remains one of my favourites in the KH series because they actually explored the villains perspective. Usually youd just see backstory of villains and not experience their side of the coin in the game as the protagonist. It was very refreshing.
Well said.
358/2 was my very first kingdom hearts game. And this story of 3 friends is the reason why I fell in love with the series in the first place. I dibt think there's much more I can add. You said it all. Roxas, Xion, Axel will forever be the best characters of this series.
This was the game that changed my perspective on friendships. They don’t last forever, and often times they don’t end well. But the beautiful moments before their end are always worth holding on tight to. Sure, it’ll be painful to look back at what’s gone, but it still mattered. It’s still part of you. Don’t ever let that be taken away from you. Make those friendships live forever inside of yourself.
Fun fact, they had to censor the blood in the KH3 reunion when Roxas stabs Axel's chest with his hair.
Kingdom Hearts will always hold a special place in my heart because of it's weird story. On a technicality, Chain of Memories is the first game I touched but never completed. It was a relatives and I didn't understand wtf was going on in the plot. Then I got introduced to the world of AMV's and decided to partake. Problem was that getting footage to edit with required quite a bit of know how at the time. Low and behold, Kingdom Hearts had a dedicated download site with scene catalogue to choose from. So though the magical world of editing, I got to watch the cutscenes from most of 2 because I liked Roxas and Axels plot.
Then 358/2 Days came out. I was so excited because it was my first opportunity to play a game for real. It did not let me down and to this day, it still is my favorite KH game. It's not groundbreaking gameplay wise but its story is small, contained, and is heavily leaned toward character relationships. With the weird way I was slowly introduced to the franchise, Roxas felt like the main character (even he was just a tutorial section) Seeing him live his life in KH2 only to have everything stripped away from him piece by piece was heartbreaking. 358/2 Days just amplified and extended that sense of melancholy because Roxas went from emotionless nobody, to having a propose (even if it was just hang out). And to top it off, they added in an additional 3rd friend which I got attached to when I knew I shouldn't.
Idk, the power of friends and your heart has a lot of macguffin/easy fix it elements in the first two games and Sora seems to have everything go right without a lot of effort. Riku was too much of a jerk to form an attachment. In contrast, Roxas and his friends were victims of circumstance. They tried with everything they had just for a small sense of normal and they still didn't get a happy ending. (lol for me anyway, I haven't played anything past Birth By Sleep so KH3's apparent happy ending means nothing to me.
"Who else will I have ice cream with?" (I'm losing my only friends in the world. What am I going to do without you?) Meme it to hell, it still hurts to hear. Actually more so after almost 15 extra years of life experience. Hits much more closely to home.
The series as a whole may have its problems, certainly... but in those moments when it gets things right, when it's firing on all cylinders and can manage to gut-punch you so hard that you're left wondering how these relatively silly, "confusing" games could possibly, genuinely bring a tear to your eye - that, to me, is when Kingdom Hearts truly shines. And I feel Days' narrative especially is a wonderful example of this. It's essentially the one that made me realize how emotionally powerful the series could be, and why it'll always have a special place in my heart.
There’s such an immediate and blatant contrast, both in tone and quality of the character writing between 358 and every other game. I mention it in my own KH vid a little, but I think I should have touched on it more. I feel people focus so much on Roxas being a ‘badass’ that they forget everything else that makes him a fan favourite, the naivety, the growth, all of it. Great vid.
You have an amazing talent for writing things that make people feel things, without making it over the top. You made me feel like i was Roxas, and you were playing my game.
Days was the first game that made me cry. It was the first game that left me wanting more despite understanding that it's time was over and I had to move on, just like its characters. It was the game that made me fall in love with kingdom hearts, and want to stick with it, thought its ups and downs, because for all it does wrong, sometimes it gives me something personal, and special, and I value that, even if many games in the series aren't "good" by traditional metrics.
358/2 days was my first Kingdom Hearts game, it won a special place in my heart as a kid and as a adult it's my favorite. I remember sobbing as Xion was fading away with Roxas heartbroken he lost one of his best friends.
The music is so beautiful and the ending always hurts. I can go on and on how much I love the game, this video hits it perfectly.
I have to admit, I was overjoyed when the trio was reunited again, it really made me happy.
I need to replay this game, I miss it so much.
i will forever be thankful that 358/2 was my first kh game because damn it really got me hooked with the storyline! especially given that like roxas, i had no idea what the heck was going on when i started playing. so we were both as confused and depressed going through the game lol
I just have to say, thank you
This game has been in my heart for 12 years and to see you talking such good words about it makes me so happy haha and damn just to see the scene of them reuniting, even with mike as a background, i almost cried dammit xd
I remember playing this in my bunk bed. Then when I finished I cried so much my mum came in and had to console me.
It was such a strong story.
This was a great video, it's always nice to see good KH content
One thing I really like about 358/2 is that it kind of feels like the only KH game where the main character isn't nearly alone for 90% of it. Obviously, Sora always has Donald & Goofy but it's different with them not being original characters. 358 has Xion and Axel there for so much of it, and it lets the pacing be so much smoother and enjoyable. 358 gets characters interactions in single days that in other games you'd have to complete a whole world for. It makes me really hope Strelitzia is similarly present alongside Sora through a stretch of KH4
this, this right here. i loved your content because of she-ra, at the time i had completely forgot about my hardcore kingdom hearts phase i had in highschool, but 2020 rolls by, i find my old 3ds and things start to come back all at once, and today i find that so many creators i love connect to this franchise just as much as i do.
kingdom hearts has been with me since i was just a little kid, and i'm sure so many of us can relate to that, the first game being now 20 years old its insane how much time has passed, and to this day it holds its special place in peoples hearts, i keep seeing more and more amazing content for this game and its finally getting the love it so deserved, it was genuinely sweet opening the video and noticing that the creator was that "one she-ra youtuber" i liked so much, almost every video of yours is added to my "favourites" and made me cry rivers everytime.
i am so thankful to all the talented people in this fandom who made it so special since day one, and im so thankful for you absolutely life changing essays everytime.
The voiced scene where Roxas yells at axel wanting to know what’s going on gave me chills, has become my favorite scene in the series
This video essay is criminally underviewed, what an amazing piece of presentation you put down here. Especially considering the subject you are covering can be considered ... Tedious? You made this a captivating watch and I'm commenting for engagement, hopeful for the algorithm to put this out to more people, non-KH players would enjoy this too for sure. Amazing.
Ps. I have the same order of playthrough, gba CoM into this one, with Wikipedia in between and although then as a 15y old kid I couldn't grasp why, this today put in perspective why I loved this game so much. I am rebooting it as we speak!
I tried playing 358/2 days, I honestly felt super frustrated with the neverland bosses that I couldn't really bring myself to finish the game. But I do understand where you are coming from when it comes to the characters background and plot of the game.
When we got to kh3 and I saw them reunite, I can't help but bring myself to tears, because they never got a choice to be separated and you can see that even when they do their best to keep the friendship together everything still falls and there is no other route that they could have took.
And even though I did cry a little when the BBS gain got back together, it will never be as sweet as the 358/2. And you feel the sadness behind the reunion, Roxas and Axel start out smiling to each other but then it becomes too much for Xion to hold back once she realizes that after so much time they are finally back together, and when you hear Axel say "I guess I should have brought some ice cream." That line is what brings the most tears, because their love for one another started when they decided to have ice cream together, and even seeing Axel crying and the 3 of them hugging it out, was just super emotional, and it was a good chapter for a good 3 group of friends who didn't even know their time was numbered in the first place.
They are in my heart the best trio that Nomura has written about and I will always thank him for doing so.
just a little thing i wanted to tell you- A lot of the difficult bosses in the game (and most of Neverland if i remember correctly) happen pretty late-game, not exactly timeline-wise but gameplay-wise. The first half of the game is a lot slower and day-by-day where I felt like sometime after 171 they started skipping around a lot more.
Maybe I'm just remembering wrong because I played the whole game in like. 3 days I think lmao, but the point is, if you wanted to finish it you definitely still could, you've gotten pretty far.
I appreciate platforms like this allowing talented people to express art to the world. Bravo, such wonderful exposition. You are a brilliant storyteller, very thoughtful & introspective. I wish I could've played the game and just watched the movie. Reminded me of a '90's John Hughes' movie, the so-called "uncool" kids dealing with the insufferable so-called "cool" kids. Can't shake Roxas struggling that he's nobody, he's a Nobody. Heart-wrenching brilliance & yes tragic. Pure prose, bravo again - thank you, you've earned a subscriber!
Days was my first KH game
And I fell so naturally into Roxas's shoes
I just wanted everything to go back to normal, so that I could spend time with my friends again, so I could eventually have a heart
I didn't know who Sora was
I didn't know what would come at the end of these 358 days
I truly experienced this game from Roxas's perspective
Xion is why I played the other games
I wanted to complete her mission
I wanted to fix everything
Not because it was Sora's Destiny
But because Xion knew it had to be done
The final entries of Roxas' journal are some of the few moments in all the games I've played throughout my life, that actually brought me to tears. And I love this game for it.
it’s so fucking sad. his voice is so clear and so devastated
12:12 I’m glad I’m not the only one who loves that scene and it’s voice acting, also peak editing 👌🏿
The writing and structure of this video is phenomenal. First got into KH a couple of years after KH1 came out, but never had the opportunity to play COM (like most) or Days. I just finished watching it in the collection and I’m quite connected to the main characters and the plot. Their existence (or lack thereof) and relationship means more to me than Sora, Riku, and Kairi’s at this point. I do wish I had some way to play Days and enjoy the same experiences you have with it.
Your calendar edit with the plot-centric voice lines literally destroyed me. I’m gonna go play Days again.
358/2 just hits different. A slice of life involving members of the main villains of KH 2? Spending more time deepening great characters? Just perfect! Also love how the Dearly Beloved here starts half way, referencing Roxas!
Also oml fuck Ruler of the Skies, and that one heartless in the Wonderland maze that just roams around
this has become by far one of my favorite kh videos. you're so right, kh storytelling shines a million times brighter when the stakes are smaller and more intimate. it's always been a game about bonds and Days is so exemplary of that, thank you for this
I Don't Go Here, but, this has given me some insight into my old high school friends who were super into kingdom hearts. Thank you!!
This was my first kingdom hearts game. My step brother I saw on weekends played the first game, and eventually I was able to convince my mom I needed a ds for Christmas so I could finally play a kingdom hearts game. No, I didnt understand the backstory but that meant I saw these backstory characters as main characters. Which made the ending even sadder for me, when I fully began to realize what was happening.
I loved the whole gameplay through each day thing too. Something about it feels realistic and almost kind of whimsically mundane at some times. And I loved it. I’d go to school, come home, do homework then play this game where these characters are similarly in these routines where ultimately, what defines what happens in their day is what’s going on in their personal lives with their friends trying to find meaning.
This game is still my favourite KH.
It started with the novelty of playing a 3D KH at school, pulled me in with it's characters and ,to me, the story has only gotten more emotional over time.
I adored this game as a kid and played it little by little every day after school. I ahd played kingdom hearts 1 and 2 so this was a story and made me cry back in middle school. You did a great job in this video expressing how it made so many of us feel. I was honestly surprised to see your channel wasn't kh or even video game related. Hopefully they're be more content like this?
Very glad someone actually pointed out how cool the designs and names of the Keyblades in this game are. I see them as being somewhat references to the other memebers. Instead of Roxas having super attachments to the worlds, they just reference his everyday and the people he knows
12:10 I’m so happy someone finally talked about Jesse’s voice acting in this scene. It’s absolutely a 10/10. Axels isn’t bad but compared to roxas in that scene, he sound like it’s someone who has no idea what they’re doing. So good.
I made this comparison in my head when watching KingK's Days video and Hbomberguy's Pathologic video, but Days reminds me a lot of what Pathologic does. It poses the question of whether or not a game necessarily has to be 'fun' to be good (which is not to say Days isn't fun, I personally haven't played it fully but it's not an objectively unfun game by any means, but the lack of fun is a big complaint I see about it and I don't think that's an inherently bad thing). When a game places you in a gameplay loop that isn't exciting or enjoyable, but that lack of enjoyment is part of the immersion. It really puts you in the shoes of the hopeless situation the characters are in, it makes you feel just as fearful and melancholic and uncertain. Days most likely does this more on accident, whereas in Pathologic it's certainly intentional, but it becomes a completely unique experience from the rest of the KH series because of it. A+ Hadestown comparison btw
Your voice is so soothing to listen to! Thanks for this awesome break down. I also very much love 385/2. If only they remastered it D:
Something I'd like to point out is that a video done by TheGamingBritShow on the opening hours of KH2 and why they were actually perfect explains that in the opening hours we play as (as far as anyone knew at the time) just some kid running around with his friends, hanging out and doing odd jobs to get extra money to do something fun during their summer vacation, and that it's a close match for how some of the players spent time up until the release of the game, and I feel that days accomplishes something similar. As mentioned above with the mission system and days counter, it basically gives the feeling of doing the same thing every day, slogging through what you have to in order to get to the good stuff at the end of the day, which is a lot like what some players may have experienced in middle/high school. This had an especially strong impact on 14 year old me who was basically doing that every day. This was my entry to the series. I'd seen the commercials for years and wanted to play but didn't get the chance until I got a copy of days. And so I spent my time each day going through schoolwork and pushing through the meh stuff to get to the point where I could play more of the game. I've heard a lot of people talk about the game as boring or taking too long, whereas when I recall playing it, even though I knew it took a while for me to get through, it also felt relatable in a way.
oh god, i didn't even connect those. roxas goes from one life with meaningless tasks then gets "erased," to another (fake) life with meaningless tasks then also gets erased. god
@@5x5Takes you also talked about philosophy of the self, which also range quite loudly with 14 year old me. I might have still been figuring out exactly who and what precisely I was, the me that I was VS wanted to be, but I still placed importance on the self, of knowing that I was a person who had feelings and mattered. It always felt like I had to break away from what others thought of me.
I’m glad that I found this video, honestly it changed how I viewed 358/2 day. I just assumed it was a bad game since my friends said it was boring since it was just a compilation of cutscenes and watching reviewers like Somecallmejohnny who didn’t think it was that good.
But, actually hearing the premise and that theme of the inevitability of running out of time has really interested me to get to play original Ds release. I always assumed that I wasn’t going to get the full experience of the game with just the movie since it would just get rid of those little character interactions within the plot which the developers did.
I know this video is like 9 months old but thanks for making this video.
Absolutely Brilliant Video, I can’t still remember how excited I was to actually get to experience Roxas story pre-KH2 and how much it delivered on making me feel for all of them. And now with KH3 finishing that story it was an emotional blast.
12:13 probably the best voice acted sentence of all of KH
My introduction to the franchise was the cutscene movie for Re:Chain of Memories. Saw it when I was about 14, and the series has been a big part of my life ever since.
Thank you so much for this video and the appreciation for the game. You perfectly captured everything I feel and think about it. Days was the first KH game I finished and my favorite to this day! Back in the day I thought that was it for the trio, they were sacrificed with no hope of returning. Really messed me up as a kid lol
The ending with Roxas running to the Usual Spot while exclaiming “Maybe…today we’ll finally hit the beach!” always gets me right in the feels. It’s incredibly heart wrenching knowing what happens to him in KH2.
AND THEN THE HIT OF THE FIRST NOTE OF SANCTUARY. poetic cinema bro
I'm not crying, you are.
This was my favorite game of all time, I related deeply to xion and Roxas, I lived like I didn't exist when I was 13. This game was a place where I could exist.
I'm so glad someone else has this as their favorite KH game ^_^ You summed it up 110% perfectly
Thank you for making this beautiful video. Days was actually my entry to the series, and is still my favorite even with its clunk.
I love existential stuff in fiction, and am a sucker for melancholy, so this weird game with its many faces and concepts that I didn’t yet know, but could feel *meant something* captured my heart in a way few things have to this day.
That closing line has accurately and concisely summarized my exact thoughts on this mess of a masterpiece. Fantastic essay!
I still hold onto my strategy guide for this game. Many fond memories of playing through the missions to 100% it all
This was my start to the series. I watched my brother play 1 and 2, but this game was the first KH game that I ever played. The story gripped me with Roxas, Axel, and Xion's friendship, and it destroyed me with the ending. After finishing the game and unlocking the theater, I remember watching all the cutscenes (but mostly the cutscene where Axel yells at Xion, the cutscene where Roxas is leaving and Axel says that he would miss him, and the cutscene of the aftermath of the Riku fight) due to how emotional I felt from watching them. I love this game.
I was already loving this video and then 12:20 hits and OOGHSGDGD MY FEELINGS
You perfectly put into words everything that I love about this game. Thank you
This game is unbelievably important to me. You and others have helped me realize that I should make my own video essay about it one day. Great video
Man, this is such a GOOD video! I cried. Also, holy crap, I’m not the only person who started with the GBA CoM!!
Days is the KH game I’ve got the most conflicted feelings about. I LOVE the story, and I love the gameplay as a whole, but aspects of the gameplay really bring it down for me, especially how bad the moment-to-moment feel is, like how Roxas feels like he’s running through water as he moves, or how Cure spells are basically just a consumable renamed from “potion”. The poor gameplay is actually what prevented me from replaying it after I got stuck at the Infernal Engine on my second playthrough, it frustrated me so much. But the mission structure, the intentional monotony of it in service of a tragic ending… All it lacks is making you delete your save data; otherwise, it’s basically a freaking Yoko Taro game, done a whole year before the original Nier.
This was my first game and got me hooked to the franchise it will always be my favorite and no matter how many times I see xion fading away it will always make me cry xion became my favorite character Roxas and axel are second and third it just sucks that they didn't let days be playable on the remakes
This was my favorite kingdom hearts game because of how heart breaking it was. Watching Roxas slowly forget Xion and knowing how things turn out in 2 (because I played it first) really left an impact on me. At a certain point, I wanted to see more of these three than Sora.
One of the few games to make me cry. The whole situation wasn't fair. All they wanted to do is eat ice cream. Seeing them reunite in kh3 meant so much and made my cry as well.
The same thing happened with me! FFVII was in my basement and me and my bro played it on ps1
I had no context on the game but I was reading every piece of lore and every wiki page
Also when I didn't have kh2 I watched the entire game on TH-cam and I straight cried at the end.
This is such a good video that captures so much of what I love not just about days but also the series in general - if anything I wish you went into more detail about each point more just to really hammer it home more (and give me an excuse to watch it longer, lol)
i went into this series blind. i knew nothing except the first volume of the kh2 manga, and even then it had been years since i read that. this was my favorite story out of every game, and only this game and kh3 made me feel like no other game in the series could.
It was so legendary to be able to be the organization members, I remember playing the multiplayer modes on the school bus with the only other kid who knew about kingdom hearts. Truly some of the best story telling of the series. You really can’t have the full experience without having played it on the ds with the original pacing and music
EY, Chain of Memories was my first one, too, lol. I didn't get into any of the further crazy until I was in my late 20's, but CoM left me with good enough memories that I was always interested.
i LOVE THE ORIGINAL COM
I personally like to think even the multiplayer has something to say about the story. Even something tedious and boring can become exciting and fun when you do it with people you care about. There's extra life and personality in something that would ordinarily be lonely and joyless.
In all honesty, I just think the multiplayer is underrated. :P
Love Days and so excited to see someone talk about how the mission/day system really drives the story so that you fall in love with the game. I bet that so many of the people that blow off the game either only watched the 1.5 movie or ignored the story of the game and just see the clunkiness of the gameplay. It remains one of my favorite games ever and I think you really spoke to why it has such an impact. Great job!
You give basically a perfect case for why 358/2 Days is the best story (if not the best gameplay) in kh and why I come back to it again and again. Started weeping just hearing you talking about it especially with Vector in the background.
Thank you for this wonderful video. You’ve put into words why I love this game so much. It gives me feelings that nothing else ever can and breaks my heart into so many pieces in the best possible way. ❤️