Good news bad news. Good news, the response on this video has been great and while I am not sure when the work is gonna start I *will* be doing a video on KH2! Bad news, in this extremely long behemoth of a video I said the C-word for lady's genitalia twice, and apparently TH-cam considers this "hate speech". I will not be saying this word in future videos, lesson learned, but TH-cam also does not allow for retroactive editing of the 2 offending seconds of content in 2.5 hours total, and I will not be receiving any further ad revenue from it. On an unrelated note: ublockorigin.com/
It's just nice to hear anyone talking about Kingdom Hearts. It holds a special place in my chest cavity and despite the gameplay being pretty annoying the characters and music make the playthrough worth it. They definitely fixed most of the problems in the sequel. I still replay that one to this day. If you make a video on the sequel, I'll be here to check it out.
Off topic but I just wanted to point out that during the Deep Jungle section, you referred to Turk as a boy, and I don't blame you, during the first Tarzan movie they went of their way to give Turk a boyish personality, despite being played by a Woman, and the show has a few episodes where they confirm Turk is a girl, just wanted to point that out, and this great a great retrospective, are you planning to do all the games? Just curious.
i didnt really discuss that a ton in the video because frankly i didnt know how to put it into words in a way that didnt make me sound like an idiot but i completely agree
Well said. It really is full of adventure, but that adventure is built on uncertainty, on horror even. It's kind of like growing up, you get thrust unprepared into the unknown, it's intriguing, and exciting, but unsettling. There's a pit in your stomach that reminds you that nothing will be the same.
It is undescribable, but I'm sure any KH fan you talk to, especially one who first played the game when they were young (roughly Sora's age), will know exactly what you mean. While I love the other titles, the first had a simplicity and charm that is unmatched. I often wish I lived in another timeline and I could see what follow up games would be like if they kept the same simplicity, more presence of the Disney Villains, and No organisation nonsense.
This is a fresh lens on the "Kingdom Hearts Retrospective" subgenre on youtube. Playing it as if you were playing it when you were a kid to just simply relive the game and not break it down is a great unique take on the format. Great job! Also, one thing I have seen pointed out MAYBE once is that at the beginning of the game, when Riku gives the paopu fruit to Sora, he is sharing it with him. Intertwining their destinies forever, which is evident by the rest of the series with them either fighting against each other or side by side.
glad to have ya, thanks for taking a chance on a longer video from someone new (also very glad the algorithm didnt discard this video... oh man am i glad lol)
I’ve watched a lot of Kingdom Hearts retrospectives and somehow yours felt fresh and the humour was on point. I don’t remember the last time I’ve laughed out loud to an video essay. Liked and subscribed!
thank you so much for the kind words, i definitely had moments when i was working on it like "man no ones even gonna watch long enough to see this joke" but im glad a lot of people are getting to this video now, glad to have ya!
I don’t usually watch KH retrospectives bc people just wanna crap on the games but I really appreciate you doing this, especially adding your memories. I was 3 when the games came out and started playing them when I was 6/7 as the first “you can play this without parent supervision” games and they mean the world to me. I sometimes think creators don’t think about the audience it’s meant for and use the “well it’s meant for kids” to write off some actually important and interesting aspects of the game. As a kid i genuinely wanted to be like Sora as a kid and these games shaped a lot of what is important to me in friendships. Just thank you for your fresh take on this. I can’t wait to hear your perspective on the other games, hopefully you get to bbs that one is my favorite!
Ive gotten a surprising amount of comments of people that took a chance on this video that had seen a lot of similar videos where the creators just dumped on the game the whole time, and that kinda sucks. I definitely have problems with the games but thats like anything you enjoy, you want it to be better even if you love it and I felt like a balanced look at KH1 was the only way to go about it. Too heavy praising or dumping on it wouldve just felt wrong, and if I do ever end up doing the following games I can promise I will only dump on the games a fair amount lol Thanks for taking a chance on the video
I dont normally comment but im doing it for the algorithm! I honestly appreciate a lot of the things you do in this video that really breaks the mold for video essays Like adding your childhood experiences in the video. Its not something that i see a lot, and its definitely something that i find to be important and fascinating for subjects that many have a lot of nostalgia for like KH. And the humor, i was not expecting to be full belly laughing 5 minutes in, but by goly did the humor make the time fly I also appreciate how non judgemental this whole eassay was. I know its easy and fun to take the piss on the series as a whole sometimes. Ive seen a new-ish trend of (mostly people who aren't KH fans) finding any kind of nitpick to rip to shreds and call it humor. Ive actually stayed away from most KH videos because it gets so exhausting to constantly hear. But im glad i took a chance on this video And im looking forward to any possible future KH essays. Im interested in hearing about what you think of some of the unintentional philosophical story elements that are in the later entries (especially regarding the nobodies)
I think that the nostalgia factor is something that I definitely can't ALWAYS do in video essays but I am definitely uniquely capable with KH as it was a huge part of my childhood, and I think that also means I'm very familiar with the ups and downs of the franchise so just incessantly shitting on the game doesnt check out for me either lol I appreciate you watching and I'm glad you enjoyed! Im hoping this video keeps doing well so I can justify working on a KH2 video lol
Fun fact about genie, Dan actually was the voice for him in Aladdin 2, as robin walked from Disney after some disagreements with advertisers. Robin came back for Aladdin 3 because he didn’t feel right seeing another actor voice a character he genuinely loved. Dan however has went on to voice genie for a number of other productions when needed (KH included)
This game had such a huge impact on me as a kid and defined so much of my relationship with gaming since it was one of the first games I chose to play and didn't pick it up from a family member. There are some parts I remember so vividly and some parts I completely forgot about (deep jungle for example). The nostalgia love shows through, even if the series itself can be a lil cringy. Love every second of this.
as i was going through the game i kept having "oh yeah, this part" moments where something i completely forgot about the game would pop up, lots of memories associated with the franchise for me too, thanks for watchin!
Hilariously, I didn't mind not hearing Turk because it was because Sora was understanding the humans over the apes. I think the choice of having Sora and crew not fully understand Tarzans ape talk and have him speak very broken was really cool, especially since they still become friends, despite the language barrier [paralleling how Tarzan and Jane connected despite the language difference]
So, to explain the difference with the 3 dream weapons 1. The weapons you pick alters the order in which you learn abilities. I.e. scan, leaf bracer, once more, second chance, etc. but you will have all abilities by level 99. 2. You get either +1 strength, +1 defense, or +1 mp. (Since magic power is determined by your max mp) Since at endgame, you can use synthesis to make attack and defense up items, someone looking to be *optimal* would pick staff, since it raises the only stat you can’t raise later, but at the same time, it’s not a game that’s difficult enough that you need to stress being optimal all that much.
Shield also gives additional item slots, with staff having two less than shield (but 2 extra MP by endgame) and sword having one less (and nothing to show for it)
Thank you for the video. I really enjoyed it. You really hit on a lot of how I felt about KH1 when I did a replay. As a kid this game was huge. I still remember going back and playing the final boss over and over just to see the final cutscene again. I got into KH2 speculation groups online talking about the "blonde haired kid" from the kh2 trailer and trying to guess what was going to happen. It isn't perfect and I can recognize that like you did but it will always hold a special place in my life from when I was a kid. Thanks again for the video.
I had a similar experience as you as a child. I died in the Riku fight and never finished the game, but also replayed it so often the Disc could not be read anymore. I was so surprised to see the game go on after that fight. XD Also no, the trident Arrows to the palace where always there.
To me something that the original kingdom hearts had that none of the other titles did was this embodiment of adolescents. Sora and friends were around the same age as most of the players who played the game for the first time, if they were real they probably would've watched all the Disney movies represented in the game as well as played most of final fantasy games. Destiny islands gives off the same vibes as when you were a kid playing in the woods near your home, even the music itself gives off this vibe in multiple instances. It has this childlike whimsy that is slowly corrupted over time by the heartless, similar how as you get older the things you look back on fondly may not have been as great as you remembered. Kingdom hearts 1 is the only game in the series I feel ever captured that vibe the only other time I got that feeling was with the song lazy afternoons from KH 2. Heck even the very concept of kingdom hearts sounds like something we as kids would make up while playing pretend. A crossover between series that had no business to crossover with each other. And to me that's what makes the original so special it reminds you of your childhood in a way I think no other game has ever done or probably ever will do. Hopefully I was able to convey my thoughts properly.
I think KH1 and KH2 are really kinda perfectly tailored to the people that would be playing them. 1 definitely has that adolescent feel to it and its great at inspiring those nostalgic feelings partially because of how well it settled with us as kids 2 has this harder, edgier feel to everything (which is at complete odds with all the Disney properties) and it fit right in as a lot of the people playing it entered their teens 3 just kinda... exists lol, Im not sure how I feel about it honestly Great comment though
Im 24 minutes in and I'm with the vibes. The humor is crisp, so is the analysis itself. And yes, any blunt rotation with Jafar is a nightmare Looking forward to more from you
Amazing video, makes me want to replay all the kingdom hearts games, your content has been on point lately, I hope this video does well so we can get kh2 and kh3
Tbh, I kinda like how 1 plays a little more like a metroidvania game. You come back to old areas with new traversal abilities, new trinities, new spells, etc, and it helps you find new treasures. Like, you could solve the traverse town candles chest if you had blizzard, but you needed blizzara to get the treasure for putting out all the fires outside Olympus. It gave you a hint when blizzard shrunk the flame, but you needed stronger ice to find that treasure. 2 has a checklist of “how many treasures you have” and basically expects you to find everything. In 1, There are items hidden in areas that you might not even imagine checking on a casual playthrough. It was very well suited to the playground rumors era of video games, where you had a friend whose cousin had the guidebook, and they told you what they remembered from that.
Howevermany years later, the ending STILL makes me cry. Even if its cheesy and the games are a mess, it just hits right. Thank you for this retrospective!
A 2.5hr long kingdom hearts video? Sign me the f up! Since I don't have the time (or the patience) to replay the games myself, I always jump at any chance to relive the vibes
hey, same! hahaha i appreciate the sub and the comment, everyone engaging with the video so much is helping it reach more people whichll hopefully lead to a nice lil boom :) enjoy the video
I am so mad at the algorithm for not recommending this to me the second it came out!! As someone who has been obsessed with this series for my whole life, I love watching these retrospective videos. Please make a video on 2!!! Subscribed!!
I loved this analysis/retrospective and hearing how people's love for the game has changed over time as a newcomer to the KH series. I'm hoping this can become a series
Theres been a lot of support, I just have to be a little more certain that if I go balls to the wall for the other games people will still wanna watch lol, thank you for the kind words!
Alt Title: A Personal Demystification of the most baffling franchise's origins THANK YOU. I like to keep, up with gaming, even ones I didn't play. I have never ever been able to find anything that took me thru this game in a way that was coherent, made any kind of sense, didn't make me feel like I accidentally skipped a chapter or smthg, & it wasn't bc I lacked patience or wasn't trying to follow along. You're the first person who actually explained the game to me, & captured its qualities that were valued & put it in context in a few different ways. For such a jagged game/story, you made it smooth & I hope the subtle seeds you planted for us to take or leave, like in the game, blossom into a sequel. Thanks again. Liked, subbed, engaged with!
Before I fully sent on doing this myself I skimmed a few other videos to see how they did it and one of the things that I kept noticing was how pretty much every video even the "newbie friendly" ones still required prior knowledge to understand. Im definitely not the best at it but I tried my best to make this something that someone who hasnt even heard of KH before could pick up and understand by the end of it Glad you enjoyed and thanks for watching! Holding out on committing to a KH2 just yet but we'll see :)
@@NotAbsolutelySure It's wild bc people explained MGS4 + Ultima VI + EVE etc to me just fine, but this was such a gap in the genre if longform retro/revs. I'm rooting for you for 2 being worth your time. Herculean effort & I'm grateful. Subbed either way + will be watching! All best.
This video made me realize how wrong I was in thinking that kh1 was practically standalone. You can totally see where Nomura just reconned stuff but there must have been a general plan there, the themes introduced in kh1 are absolutely explored in future games. Maybe the explainations are sometimes incomplete and you just have to accept some things but I can now see there was definitely a general idea of where the series would go.
Ive found that KH is a series that relies very heavily on itself and its past even as it moves forward, moreso than a lot of franchises and even games with direct sequels They can each be played alone, sure, but they all 100% rely on the prior games heavily for their plot and continually reference and callback to earlier ideas. Its both a blessing and a curse but the frequency with which they do it is part of what makes these games unique
im glad youre likin it, im hesitant to commit to doing a kh2 video just yet but im keeping an eye on this video and assuming it does well enough to justify a kh2 video then im obliged to serve one up, just wanna make sure there sufficient interest before doing another project this big
Actually Riku is jealous of Kairi and you can see that throughout the first game and the in between games and second game. Especially where Riku and sora are on the beach of kh2 in the dark realm
yeah thats why i kinda cosigned Dartigans "jealous ex boyfriend" title for Riku, I know it was about Donald and Goofy a lot in Kh1 but he definitely has some big jelly vibes moving forward
2:00:35 My theory is that the second Hollow Bastion visit replaced a "Disney Castle under attack" level they couldn't quite get done before the deadline and/or Big Disney didn't approve of. Disney Castle has been sitting next to Traverse Town on the map for the entire game, yet you never actually go. You get sent back there to get a new Navi Gummi, only to loop back around to Hollow Bastion. That new Gummi could very well have been the straight path to Disney Castle. It would be a way more natural place for the princesses to hang out in. Seems to me like they rearranged stuff last minute, and this weird second path with a few textboxes explaining the main road is "blocked" was their way of disturbing the existing script and key item sequence as little as they could.
yeah that wouldve made a lot more sense with the weird little underground excursion too, "sneaking in the back way" into the castle to help etc etc good theory
I'm just coming back to kingdom hearts after some rough times in life, but as soon as the destiny island were there and i saw Riku and Kairi again, something awakened in me that i thought i lost. I'm going to be making additions to this comment as i hear things i like or have thoughts on. The transition to sora and riku standing together as you were talking about the fandom wanting 2 characters to kiss was perfect. ALSO, GOING AROUND THE ISLAND INSTEAD OF CLIMBING UP IS GENIUS AND NOW I FEEL STUPID!?!?!? WTF!? In regards to Tarzan spoiling the game, i noticed that as well. Was surprised to hear so few people mention it. Also the physical pain I felt upon hearing Atlantica is optional AS I FINISHED IT was real. Just reached the end. Great video, and I'll definitely subscribe
I remember when KH first released, I was an edgy 13 yr old who loved rpgs and FF specifically... but the whole Disney crossover thing ruined it for me, I thought the game to be quite pedestrian and beneath me, but during a sleep over, my friends little step brother forced me to play it, I got about 10 mins in and said "This game sucks, just like i thought" and I never looked back. Later in life I had a partner who loved the KH series dearly, and I would watch him play sometimes... he passed away a few years ago and since then I've bought KH1 and want to play it but it's been hard getting motivated to start.. I really enjoyed the video, and I think I'm going to start playing very soon now. Thanks.
@@NotAbsolutelySure Thanks. I hate mentioning it online because its sad and I really dont just want sympathy or attention, but this video really reminded me of him and times we had.. i remember him playing and combing through the guide so he wouldnt miss any chests, even useless ones lol anyway thanks for the vid it was good and entertaining
I'm just starting this video but I wanted to say this. After watching the first few minutes. When I was a kid I would always choose the sword, but it wasn't until later that my mind was blown when I learned that depending on which weapon you chose would change the order in which you learned abilities. So now I always choose the staff so that way get all of sora's cool finishes earlier. It's so cool your choice matters. Let your heart guide you.
@@NotAbsolutelySure one of the reasons KH1 holds a special place in my heart to the rest of the series. The amount of hidden mechanics at work that are there if you just look for it is amazing. From the weapon thing, to the fact that when you do the traverse town tailing thing after you trigger the first scene with Donald and Goofy you can actually just go straight to talk to cid to progress the plot, didn't need to trigger every scene. You even the fact you can freeze the bubbles in hollow bastion and use them as platforms. There are so many just little quirks and details that just make the game very replayable to me.
A note about Genie: The reason Dan was cast was because he already had experience playing Genie - namely in the "Return of Jafar" VHS movie and also the show! I love the original, no one can ever replace Robin Williams nor truly replicate his performance but Dan did a great job and since I watched both the original and the show growing up, both are valid to me.
Ive seen some people hate on his performance and I honestly just think those people would never be happy unless it was Williams (which is fair he kicks ass) but yeah Dan nailed it And I would tend to agree, I find KH2 to be a much more cohesive and enjoyable to play game overall than 1 even if 1 has its charms
In regards to Monstro, it makes sense if you draw yourself a map. We used to do that on graph paper in the old days, since everything was squares. They even have a built in map in Etrian Odyssey. You play the game on the top screen of the DS and draw the map in the lower screen.
Once you get the hang of it its definitely not that bad but its super rough the first time through lol, I'm of the mind that for the kind of game KH is drawing a map to get where you wanna go shouldn't be a thing (and I love games like that, Signalis was dope as hell)
(shhhhhh they dont know that yet!) i also 100% forgot that the voice was mickey until the end of the game and wrote that line in 2023 so thats my bad haha
Great video, I loved almost everything the way you pronounced Traverse Town 😂 I also might disagree on how KH has aged relative to other games of its time, but I’m definitely unreal biased so fair
I think on some things you've maybe misinterpreted the context somewhat. For example when Riku says "There can't be two keyblade masters" you talk about how that proves Nomura wasn't planning everything as he went. Don't get me wrong, he absolutely wasn't, but Riku's understanding of the Keyblade at that point is "The keyblade is a magic weapon that goes to the chosen one and now that one dude who gave me his must be gone because it's been passed on and it's technically mine." As far as he's aware, he's the destined master of the keyblade and doesn't know any better. At that point he doesn't know other keyblade wielders and masters like Yen Sid, Mickey, Aqua and Ventus exist. I think it's incredibly reasonable and very purposeful that he naively misunderstands the nature of the keyblade.
I honestly think thats an extremely valid interpretation I dont know if I sign on personally to his misunderstanding being an intentional precursor to all of the other keyblade masters in later games because like you said there's no way in hell Nomura planned all of it, but within the context of the first game Riku just kinda not getting it is spot on and that was a miss on my part I appreciate you watchin, hope you enjoyed!
@@NotAbsolutelySure Honestly I think that's kinda the beauty of what keeps the series alive especially during the long wait between games. There's so many things to speculate on whether that's debating what was or wasn't planned, the meaning of things left up in the air, the direction of the series going forward. I've been contemplating making a video speculating about the idea that Riku would never have gotten the Kingdom Key even if Sora didn't accidentally get a keyblade instead. Honestly man brilliantly done video. Any hopes for more of the series? It's always great to see new people coming in and giving their takes and opening up new perspectives on individual games and the series as a whole
@mimicsforge I have a number in my head where if this hits x amount of views/people interested it would be worth doing a video on KH2, Im definitely interested in doing it but this was a REALLY taxing project and I wanna make sure it wouldnt be a video that no one would watch. Heres to hoping this one keeps gettin eyes on it!
Not even a mention of the banger secret ending you get for completing all optional levels (100 acre, colosseum, all three of the Monstro/Halloween/Atlantica trio)? I disagree with calling the non numbered games spinoffs. Sure, having some games numbered and others not can be confusing for an outsider, they still introduce elements both gameplay and storywise that become vital for installments after. It'd be like saying Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and Revelations are spinoffs, or Resident Evil Code Veronica and Village, or MGS Peace Walker, or any Call of Duty after 4. There're definitely different tiers of KH games, but they're all mainline by any lens that would analyze the series as a whole serialized work. Unless we're talking like, the "VR experience" or the tie in flash games for Days and coded or the V Cast mobile game.
I think calling them spinoffs is fair, especially when they go onto handheld consoles as their main launch platform. Things like BBS and 358/2 are definitely lore necessary, but theyre tucked away in the body of a spinoff that is now required reading for the main games, thats mostly why I take issue with it. A lot of the writing is all over the place especially as the series progresses and they try (and IMO fail) to link the 3 "sets" of MCs together in KH3 cleanly, but it feels a lot like the spinoff/side games that tie directly back into the main games are used to cover for plot holes they allowed in the big 3 numbered titles, even if they do have a lot of great aspects to them as individual games. Spinoff might not be the right term exactly, but theyre definitely backseat to the main 3 and spread across a shitload of consoles, thats the big sin for me. Its a lot easier to look back now and go "ah yeah, easy, all part of the canon" and it is canon, but if you were playing KH games as they came out as a kid, wellllllll... We all know how that turns out when KH2 opens up and Sora has a really weird haircut lol And I didnt mention the secret ending because I've never sat down and gotten it myself. Didnt feel right to talk like I know something about an ending I haven't personally gotten even if I know what happens
@NotAbsolutelySure something being required experiencing to understand the overarching narrative/series identity is enough to be considered mainline in my eyes. KH is not the only series to have non-numbered handheld games as main installments in a series with numbered console installments, like Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, Metroid Fusion, Mario Kart, Castlevania, Resident Evil Revelations, and outside of MAYBE MGS PW it has a stronger focus on overarching narrative than any of those. The series throwing an important entry on every platform under the sun (not to mention Japan only games and adding important new story to every freaking re-release and remake) in the 00s to early 10s isn't really excusable and well worth criticizing, making it more hassle than it should be to keep up with the series as an internet-less kid in the 00s (I weep for anyone that started with CoM), but the very fact that this DOES matter is why they aren't spinoffs. If they WERE spinoffs, it wouldn't matter. Nothing in Crash Bandicoot The Huge Adventure is important viewing for Twinsanity or Titans nor is it gonna shake the foundations of your views on the series, MGS Portable Ops' important points are easy enough to put together from 4 and PW without playing it, Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D has no significantly obvious bearing on the series identity and isn't even canon, Final Fantasy Adventure has minimal bearing on the FF series identity despite kicking off the Mana series, etc. All of these are good games (cause mainline doesn't always mean good (Devil May Cry 2 looking at you) and spinoff doesn't mean bad (Dissidia Final Fantasy my beloved)), but are spinoffs to their series, skippable, not games that are safe to assume some familiarity (even if not having directly played them) with from a self described fan like one would Resident Evil 4 or Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, and can easily be left out of a roadmap of games to play if you were recommending their series to someone. If someone is a KH fan, they're likely at least somewhat aware of Days or coded. The same might not be said about an FF fan and Final Fantasy Legend II, or a Yakuza fan and Kurohyou. These games aren't contained in the Essential Series Collections or given the same reverence as their main installment counterparts, while Days, DDD, and BBS are. Hell, BBS is practically KH0 in all but name. Does the naming and release "strategy" suck? Yeah. But something being dumb isn't a disqualifier. After all, coded's plot exists.
I will say, I have a few points. 1. In Traverse Town, there is no correct Donald and Goofy sequence. The game is programmed to have Donald and Goofy appear in different places that Sora goes into so that we see them constantly missing each other. The key to progressing to the Leon fight is to kill 5 shadows and then enter and leave the accessory shop. 2. Atlantica does favor magic, and if you did the Phil Cup and Monstro, you should have access to the Spellbinder keyblade. 2.5 Remix. The Yellow Tridents were also in the original KH1 in Atlantica. 3. You wouldn't have been able to get the Areo upgrade in Neverland until after your first visit as it requires beating Olympus for the Yellow Trinity.
Fair point about Traverse Town I do think that keyblade to help or not the stripping down of your options still stinks in Atlantica :/ Its not even particularly difficult its just unfun, but good to know about the Tridents And as for the Aero upgrade my point there was less that I didnt get it in that immediate instance (which you pointed out I couldnt) and moreso that it kinda sucks to be exploring and find a trinity you CAN do but you have a world specific companion in your party so you just miss out unless you go back for it. Its not the end of the world but I imagine I’m far from alone in that gripe I appreciate you watching through, hope you enjoyed
@NotAbsolutelySure I will say, Ursula 2 Electric Boogaloo has always been an annoying boss fight for me. In my Speedrun trophy attempt, I skipped Atlantica just to avoid that fight. And yeah, with the trenities, KH1 would have benefited from the KH2 ability to change party members when not in combat.
When you spoke about the second Ansem fight in the final boss gauntlet I was nodding in agreement that I almost broke my PS2 controller as a 10 year old trying to beat it
A lot of the weirdness in this franchise can be attributed to Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase, and Kazushige Nojima being best friends and they all seem to induldge each others wierdness
Great video. I personally got stuck on the final battle as a kid and gave up, I was able to get through the battleship but could never finish him off. When KH2 came out I saw the ending cutscenes through the flashbacks and knew I had to go back to KH1 and finish the job lol. Great game.
this is the first time ive seen a video of yours and i genuinely found it such a great experience! thank you for your hard work! this was a great watch! and if you ever choose to do a video on the second game, i'll be right there! now dont mind me, imma binge your other videos LMAO
2 hour mark i also had the hilarious glitch and I played it on a ps4 port iirc something about the game considering sora's position pre-cutscene for his condition mid-cutscene rather than hard coding it. I activated it by jump attacking while entering kairi's cutscene range
a little yes and no from me, i think the overall vibes are still immaculate (even if the plot goes off the rails a bit more in 1 than i remembered) but theres definitely some gameplay stuff thats aged like milk im definitely overall positive on it coming out the other side of my replay but man… those fucking swimming and flying fights are just so unfun lol
@@NotAbsolutelySure oddly enough the flying fights for the most part weren't too bad for me, but yeah Atlantis was definitely annoying with having to do that mechanic the entire time. The overall gameloop is still solid, the action RPG sub genre started here for me and absolutely ruined turn based rpgs for me
i think i say it at the end but yeah 1000% the dna from KH1 is in tons of modern action rpgs its great, it absolutely deserves the respect even if it hasnt aged incredibly, it kicked off a ton of stuff we have nowadays
assuming this video keeps cruising and theres some good interest im happy to get a video on kh2 out there! (definitely taking a little kingdom hearts break for a bit after this one though lol) thanks for watchin!
The leveling system in base KH1 is one of the weakest points so a mod that reworks to make it flow better (and mean less grinding more playing the game) sounds fantastic lol
It makes sense that Ariel isn't a princess of heart, since she, like Riku, yearns to explore new worlds, and is yet naiive of the things outside her own. This attitude is the kind of thing that invites darkness into people's hearts (though it's never clarified that's the reason why heartless are in Atlantica), implying her heart is not pure enough for her to be one. That's my theory, at least.
The whole world is super weird with the Heartless bit, like I didnt mention it but the King knows about the Keyblades and keyblade wielders before meeting Sora? Super odd
@@NotAbsolutelySure Some Disney characters do know, Maleficent, Merlin, Fairy godmother, King Triton,Flora, Fauna and Mayweather, Hades and more. This must be since keyblade wielders were around since ancient times and they were always traveling to different Disney worlds way before Sora. Since keyblade wielders arrive shortly after or roughly at the same time in said worlds, it's no surprise that king Triton associates wielders with chaos.
i admittedly wasnt using block a ton in endgame because for most of the game (all 3 mainline games have this issue) on lower difficulties you dont really have to block and then you get up to critical and get blasted until you do hahaha
one big point i feel gets missed is KH1 is a Disney game which would turn off Hardcore Square fans but it didn't throw you instantly into a Disney fantasy and it hardly felt like a Disney game up to about 3-5 hours in when you finally meet up with the squad and leave TTown especially when Disney was a big factor on what came in and out of the game. They gave you time to really enjoy the Square part of the game.
I never completed this game, simply due to the fact that as a kid I could not find the Wonderland clues and I didn't know you could get a few and skip the rest.
@@Fuzzidio never too late! i think you can actually go in with nothing and just fail it but still progress (dont quote me on this you might need at least 1)
I beat everything underleveled hardest difficulty as a kid... I think it just depends on the kid. Some kids intuit things like timing and spacing and the breadth of their abilities really quickly while others might end up confounded.
@@NotAbsolutelySure- I just finished watching! You really did such an incredible job with this video! I enjoyed every second! Also, side note because I noticed you ask near the end: how did kairi turn sora back into a human? Technically it was because kairi is a princess of heart, her light and love for sora saved him, but we also learn through the series that sora has 3 hearts (himself, kairi, and ven) which may explain how sora was able to retain parts of his memory/consciousness even as a heartless and that’s why we play that short bit as a heartless creature
god im glad i didnt try explaining that in the video hahaha, if this really does go boom and i end up doing KH2 eventually... oh boy tysm for watching!
I played 2 first, then 1, personally there's a magic in one that they never managed to recreate. The worlds are less exciting imo but they're more intriguing, not that 2 isn't amazing! I look forward to replaying them all once they release on Steam next week. Oh and Riku Ansem gets wrekt by techs and you can even deflect his little energy frisbee back at him.
i would agree with that, i like the act of playing 2 so much more though that it kinda cancels out that the vibes take such a hard right turn i think where 1 was weird for being the first time all these elements came together 2 was weird by nature of the plot being so batshit insane lol, oddly enough the worlds in 2 feel way more grounded than the plot around them for better or worse
I'll say it is very interesting getting someone else's perspective on the game. For reference I didn't play the first game until 4 years after it came out and the second one was already making its rounds. I was 11 at the time so that should work better with what I remember the game being rated e10. Personally I always like playing the games with the default weapon because it just felt right but it was cool that the game changed your weapon in cutscenes (which also meant I was technically hitting for less than I should have) I don't think the Riku fight is any easier but you will have more tools in the final mix version of the game. A lot of fights are a lot easier if you actually just keep guard equipped just like for ansem 2 and whatnot, and the second and third version of arrow would have made life easier not only because of the defense but they also have a hitbox which would have made you do way more damage lol. Also I enjoy how metroidvania Kingdom hearts 1 is as far as letting you explore areas and coming back with new abilities to unlock chests and get items. And I really enjoyed that a lot of those movement options were put under the shared abilities list allowing Donald and Goofy to have them as well. While I love Kingdom hearts 2 a lot of those map designs are just big areas to fight enemies in and even though Sora says his friends on his power it sometimes feels like you just keep them alive to do limits or go into forms... Also sometimes I do enjoy that like a metroidvania it's not afraid to let you get lost and just wander around. Though you are not alone in the deep jungle because as a kid it took me a minute to find that one specific Vine. Also I enjoyed the flying\swimming of the game. I enjoyed the verticality and exploration. Though I will agree that it can kind of suck that you lose out on some of your movesets but overall it wasn't a big detractor for me. So I can't really agree that getting rid of it would make the game better or that getting rid of it changes nothing. For instance it's the first example that we see that the NPCs of the world knows what a keyblade is and that Sora shouldn't be meddling in the affairs of the planets he goes to which is pretty interesting. But again I get not liking all that stuff. I personally end up putting Kingdom hearts 1 and 2 side by side because while two has really fun combat there's a lot of things that it just drops that I found very enjoyable even in my recent playthroughs. Also have to mention that Kingdom hearts 1 unlike any other game in the franchise isn't afraid to be a little more creepy. But again I can go on forever and I don't think I need to make a two and a half hour long video lol(also that cutscene glitch with Kairi isn't new but I'm surprised you found it by accident)
Thank you so much for this video. I never played this game and didn't see the hype but now I do. But I still don't like Disney characters 😂 I like how wacky and introspective and varied the game's story is.
Took me a minute to get through this. As someone who had mild interest in kingdom hearts and every single playthrough being brought to an abrupt halt by that fucking little mermaid world. This video just kinda cements the idea that I’m just not all that interested in playing kingdom heart’s but I’d rather watch a 2 hour video essay on it lmao
@@NotAbsolutelySure id love to play the others but the walk of entry has always been a huge turn off for me. And i love drakengard and metal gear solid lmao
@crispybois9878 i unironically think having watched this video you are about as prepared as you need to be for kh2 if youre interested, itll be a bit jarring but thats how it was for a lot of kids me included lol
@@NotAbsolutelySurefr, the true experience is not knowing chain of memories should have been called kh2, skipping it and jumping into kh2, as massive confusion ensues 😂🎉🤔😅
I rented this when it came out and thought Sora’s character looked so stupid I didn’t get five minutes in. Nomura may as well have given Sora a red clown nose and a rainbow fro wig. Maybe I’ll try it when it comes out on steam, but I dunno…those shoes man.
If the designs in KH1 are funny to ya, just wait until the later games, Sora just starts wearing more and more and more belts for no reason at all its hilarious
@@NotAbsolutelySure Nomura loves his belts doesn’t he? I just started the first game on steam, only a few hours in and… yeah I’m actually enjoying it a lot so far haha.
At least the Kingdom Hearts lore is bit better (maybe even more) than Star Wars lore because as it was progress, older History doesn't make sense For example: Anakin turning to the dark side because Padme will die even though there's Force Heal which jedi can use, but was never mentioned until later releases (forgot on the shows or the games)
I thankfully have never seen a Star Wars film (besides rogue one) past episode 7. I saw it in theaters with a gf at the time, she loved it and I just thought "this isnt gonna end well" and I was woefully right lol
I am doing a kingdom hearts fanfic with my oc. Is there any tips on what worlds I should use or anything else. I have wreck it Ralph, once upon a time, princess and the frog, marvel, kingdom of corona and other worlds.
really great video! love the humor and your voice is super soothing. I would Like to pick your brain at some point since I wanted to get into video essays/ reviews myself, In fact I'm working on a small League of legends video for my videojournalism class.
I don’t get the absolute hate for Atlantica. Yes, it’s a hassle to navigate if you don’t know where to go. But the combat isn’t that bad. Especially if you unlock stop and aero. Cast stop on the big jellyfish and they won’t divide into smaller enemies
the normal enemies arent the problem, the bosses are what suck fighting, but the combat in general stripping you not only of all your combos but also your dodge roll makes it into a really stripped down version of the combat youve had access to up to that point and the novelty of the swimming didnt/doesnt outweigh the suckiness from the combat getting gimped and to the point of figuring out where to go, isnt that a bad first time experience regardless then? we can just google stuff now sure but someone playing the game for the first time shouldnt just know where to go lol, and tbf thats a problem all of kh1 has not just atlantica, some of the worlds are just mad confusing to get around in the right order
Okay, saw this in my recommended, I don't want to watch it, because I do want to play through the game, but I tossed you a sub, so I hope that makes up for it!
To counter your Atlantica point, as much as I despise the story, what I think it was meant to be was an introduction to the glide system that comes into play with the Chernanbog and the end of the Ansem fights. It's still awful to have to play but I think I can see why they did it especially in 2002 when the idea of vertical scaling to boss arenas might not have been as wildly used
Thats honestly a great point, it very well may be To counter counter, I dont like any of those fights hahaha I think the flying mechanic was really cool when I was a kid and sucks donkey dick going back to, that and Atlantica have just aged super poorly through no fault of the game really, time just moves on and things change but the game doesnt
@@NotAbsolutelySuredude you hit the nail on the head lol as a kid the gliding and swimming was so fun but now I'm so over it 😂 I'll take KH2 or KH3 gliding any day of the week now. Also excellent video my man! I personally would love to see you do the same style video for at least the other numbered titles, but whatever you choose to do next keep grinding man!
Really well done video. I came back to play through kh1 around a year ago and even with a few issues I had I loved the game (fuck you Atlantis and Mostro) and would love to see a video on kh2
the fact that monstro and atlantica are back to back is so rough too haha im definitely hoping for this to pop off more before i commit to kh2 but heres to hoping that happens in the next few weeks, thanks for watching!
![[FULL] RETROSPECTIVE : Final Fantasy Tactics](/img/n.gif)
Good news bad news. Good news, the response on this video has been great and while I am not sure when the work is gonna start I *will* be doing a video on KH2! Bad news, in this extremely long behemoth of a video I said the C-word for lady's genitalia twice, and apparently TH-cam considers this "hate speech".
I will not be saying this word in future videos, lesson learned, but TH-cam also does not allow for retroactive editing of the 2 offending seconds of content in 2.5 hours total, and I will not be receiving any further ad revenue from it.
On an unrelated note: ublockorigin.com/
It's just nice to hear anyone talking about Kingdom Hearts. It holds a special place in my chest cavity and despite the gameplay being pretty annoying the characters and music make the playthrough worth it.
They definitely fixed most of the problems in the sequel. I still replay that one to this day.
If you make a video on the sequel, I'll be here to check it out.
still an amazing video
@@escapist_ thank you!
And of course, the derogatory "dick" is fine. Pure discrimination against Oceanian English speakers 😂
Off topic but I just wanted to point out that during the Deep Jungle section, you referred to Turk as a boy, and I don't blame you, during the first Tarzan movie they went of their way to give Turk a boyish personality, despite being played by a Woman, and the show has a few episodes where they confirm Turk is a girl, just wanted to point that out, and this great a great retrospective, are you planning to do all the games? Just curious.
The mysterious eerie yet somehow comfortably homely feeling that KH1 is riddled with is a vibe no other game has.
i didnt really discuss that a ton in the video because frankly i didnt know how to put it into words in a way that didnt make me sound like an idiot but i completely agree
Well said. It really is full of adventure, but that adventure is built on uncertainty, on horror even. It's kind of like growing up, you get thrust unprepared into the unknown, it's intriguing, and exciting, but unsettling. There's a pit in your stomach that reminds you that nothing will be the same.
Dreamlike
It is undescribable, but I'm sure any KH fan you talk to, especially one who first played the game when they were young (roughly Sora's age), will know exactly what you mean.
While I love the other titles, the first had a simplicity and charm that is unmatched. I often wish I lived in another timeline and I could see what follow up games would be like if they kept the same simplicity, more presence of the Disney Villains, and No organisation nonsense.
the KH1 aura is unmatched. there’s good things about the rest of the entries in the series. but KH1 really is my favourite
As someone who never played the KH series as a kid, I can appreciate the depth that this video covers and why people enjoy the franchise so much
appreciate you watchin!
This is a fresh lens on the "Kingdom Hearts Retrospective" subgenre on youtube. Playing it as if you were playing it when you were a kid to just simply relive the game and not break it down is a great unique take on the format. Great job!
Also, one thing I have seen pointed out MAYBE once is that at the beginning of the game, when Riku gives the paopu fruit to Sora, he is sharing it with him. Intertwining their destinies forever, which is evident by the rest of the series with them either fighting against each other or side by side.
thank you! and thats honestly a super fun interpretation, i never even thought of that before lol
I'm so glad someone else had the idea that Riku shared the fruit with Sora. It's pretty clear their destinies are intertwined more than Sora & Kairi
okay, only 12 kingdom hearts games left
this comment causes me great distress lol
@@NotAbsolutelySure You gonna cry?
365/2 days left
Piss his pants, maybe?@@Emanthebald
the algorithm loves serving me up 2hr benders, valid opinions, looking forward to more
glad to have ya, thanks for taking a chance on a longer video from someone new (also very glad the algorithm didnt discard this video... oh man am i glad lol)
Same & I love seeing comments I can agree with when I don't have anything clever to engage with lol.
Dude, that fight with Riku/Ansem was absolutely brutal when I was younger. So many retries. 😫 It was not just a you problem. 😂
i feel vindicated hahaha
Same, I remember having to put the game down for a month or two and just refocus lol
Wholesome thread here!
I also dropped the fight and didn't finish the game until I was almost done with high school.
I’ve watched a lot of Kingdom Hearts retrospectives and somehow yours felt fresh and the humour was on point. I don’t remember the last time I’ve laughed out loud to an video essay. Liked and subscribed!
thank you so much for the kind words, i definitely had moments when i was working on it like "man no ones even gonna watch long enough to see this joke" but im glad a lot of people are getting to this video now, glad to have ya!
I don’t usually watch KH retrospectives bc people just wanna crap on the games but I really appreciate you doing this, especially adding your memories. I was 3 when the games came out and started playing them when I was 6/7 as the first “you can play this without parent supervision” games and they mean the world to me. I sometimes think creators don’t think about the audience it’s meant for and use the “well it’s meant for kids” to write off some actually important and interesting aspects of the game. As a kid i genuinely wanted to be like Sora as a kid and these games shaped a lot of what is important to me in friendships. Just thank you for your fresh take on this. I can’t wait to hear your perspective on the other games, hopefully you get to bbs that one is my favorite!
Ive gotten a surprising amount of comments of people that took a chance on this video that had seen a lot of similar videos where the creators just dumped on the game the whole time, and that kinda sucks. I definitely have problems with the games but thats like anything you enjoy, you want it to be better even if you love it and I felt like a balanced look at KH1 was the only way to go about it. Too heavy praising or dumping on it wouldve just felt wrong, and if I do ever end up doing the following games I can promise I will only dump on the games a fair amount lol
Thanks for taking a chance on the video
No one knows true pain like a young kid playing the original KH1 without cutscene skipping.
I still get PTSD flashbacks from the possessed Riku fight.
its SUCH A LONG CUTSCENE hahaha
absolute torture, insult to injury
I dont normally comment but im doing it for the algorithm!
I honestly appreciate a lot of the things you do in this video that really breaks the mold for video essays
Like adding your childhood experiences in the video. Its not something that i see a lot, and its definitely something that i find to be important and fascinating for subjects that many have a lot of nostalgia for like KH. And the humor, i was not expecting to be full belly laughing 5 minutes in, but by goly did the humor make the time fly
I also appreciate how non judgemental this whole eassay was. I know its easy and fun to take the piss on the series as a whole sometimes. Ive seen a new-ish trend of (mostly people who aren't KH fans) finding any kind of nitpick to rip to shreds and call it humor. Ive actually stayed away from most KH videos because it gets so exhausting to constantly hear. But im glad i took a chance on this video
And im looking forward to any possible future KH essays. Im interested in hearing about what you think of some of the unintentional philosophical story elements that are in the later entries (especially regarding the nobodies)
I think that the nostalgia factor is something that I definitely can't ALWAYS do in video essays but I am definitely uniquely capable with KH as it was a huge part of my childhood, and I think that also means I'm very familiar with the ups and downs of the franchise so just incessantly shitting on the game doesnt check out for me either lol
I appreciate you watching and I'm glad you enjoyed! Im hoping this video keeps doing well so I can justify working on a KH2 video lol
oh god the nostalgia hit is real. Also Wonderland is prolly my fav part in KH1, the level design is just so cool with rooms spinning and the new mobs
despite the rough courtroom the vibes are off the charts in wonderland
One of the best retrospectives i have heard so far about Kingdom Hearts!
I appreciate it!
Oohh, a NAS not a stream, but long boii video? HYFY. I'm here for it
Fun fact about genie, Dan actually was the voice for him in Aladdin 2, as robin walked from Disney after some disagreements with advertisers. Robin came back for Aladdin 3 because he didn’t feel right seeing another actor voice a character he genuinely loved.
Dan however has went on to voice genie for a number of other productions when needed (KH included)
thats a great fact actually and he kinda kills it!
This game had such a huge impact on me as a kid and defined so much of my relationship with gaming since it was one of the first games I chose to play and didn't pick it up from a family member. There are some parts I remember so vividly and some parts I completely forgot about (deep jungle for example). The nostalgia love shows through, even if the series itself can be a lil cringy. Love every second of this.
as i was going through the game i kept having "oh yeah, this part" moments where something i completely forgot about the game would pop up, lots of memories associated with the franchise for me too, thanks for watchin!
Hilariously, I didn't mind not hearing Turk because it was because Sora was understanding the humans over the apes. I think the choice of having Sora and crew not fully understand Tarzans ape talk and have him speak very broken was really cool, especially since they still become friends, despite the language barrier [paralleling how Tarzan and Jane connected despite the language difference]
The "oo oo aa oo aa aa ee" means love bit was really funny too lol
@@NotAbsolutelySure Oh yeah it's a bit humorous too. Just having Tarzan somehow read every situation but just...
Oo oo aa oo aa aa ee.
So, to explain the difference with the 3 dream weapons
1. The weapons you pick alters the order in which you learn abilities. I.e. scan, leaf bracer, once more, second chance, etc. but you will have all abilities by level 99.
2. You get either +1 strength, +1 defense, or +1 mp. (Since magic power is determined by your max mp)
Since at endgame, you can use synthesis to make attack and defense up items, someone looking to be *optimal* would pick staff, since it raises the only stat you can’t raise later, but at the same time, it’s not a game that’s difficult enough that you need to stress being optimal all that much.
Shield also gives additional item slots, with staff having two less than shield (but 2 extra MP by endgame) and sword having one less (and nothing to show for it)
@ good point, as someone who kinda neglects items, I forgot about that
Thank you for the video. I really enjoyed it. You really hit on a lot of how I felt about KH1 when I did a replay. As a kid this game was huge. I still remember going back and playing the final boss over and over just to see the final cutscene again. I got into KH2 speculation groups online talking about the "blonde haired kid" from the kh2 trailer and trying to guess what was going to happen. It isn't perfect and I can recognize that like you did but it will always hold a special place in my life from when I was a kid. Thanks again for the video.
I appreciate the kind words and im glad the video resonated with you, thank you for watching!
I had a similar experience as you as a child.
I died in the Riku fight and never finished the game, but also replayed it so often the Disc could not be read anymore.
I was so surprised to see the game go on after that fight. XD
Also no, the trident Arrows to the palace where always there.
I was flabbergasted when I learned that it wasnt just like ONE boss fight beyond that door after Riku and then credits lmao
To me something that the original kingdom hearts had that none of the other titles did was this embodiment of adolescents. Sora and friends were around the same age as most of the players who played the game for the first time, if they were real they probably would've watched all the Disney movies represented in the game as well as played most of final fantasy games. Destiny islands gives off the same vibes as when you were a kid playing in the woods near your home, even the music itself gives off this vibe in multiple instances. It has this childlike whimsy that is slowly corrupted over time by the heartless, similar how as you get older the things you look back on fondly may not have been as great as you remembered. Kingdom hearts 1 is the only game in the series I feel ever captured that vibe the only other time I got that feeling was with the song lazy afternoons from KH 2. Heck even the very concept of kingdom hearts sounds like something we as kids would make up while playing pretend. A crossover between series that had no business to crossover with each other. And to me that's what makes the original so special it reminds you of your childhood in a way I think no other game has ever done or probably ever will do. Hopefully I was able to convey my thoughts properly.
I think KH1 and KH2 are really kinda perfectly tailored to the people that would be playing them. 1 definitely has that adolescent feel to it and its great at inspiring those nostalgic feelings partially because of how well it settled with us as kids
2 has this harder, edgier feel to everything (which is at complete odds with all the Disney properties) and it fit right in as a lot of the people playing it entered their teens
3 just kinda... exists lol, Im not sure how I feel about it honestly
Great comment though
Im 24 minutes in and I'm with the vibes. The humor is crisp, so is the analysis itself. And yes, any blunt rotation with Jafar is a nightmare
Looking forward to more from you
appreciate it!
Amazing video, makes me want to replay all the kingdom hearts games, your content has been on point lately, I hope this video does well so we can get kh2 and kh3
im hopin so too! its basically as long as a movie so I'm hoping it picks up in the next week or so
Tbh, I kinda like how 1 plays a little more like a metroidvania game. You come back to old areas with new traversal abilities, new trinities, new spells, etc, and it helps you find new treasures. Like, you could solve the traverse town candles chest if you had blizzard, but you needed blizzara to get the treasure for putting out all the fires outside Olympus. It gave you a hint when blizzard shrunk the flame, but you needed stronger ice to find that treasure.
2 has a checklist of “how many treasures you have” and basically expects you to find everything. In 1, There are items hidden in areas that you might not even imagine checking on a casual playthrough. It was very well suited to the playground rumors era of video games, where you had a friend whose cousin had the guidebook, and they told you what they remembered from that.
Howevermany years later, the ending STILL makes me cry. Even if its cheesy and the games are a mess, it just hits right. Thank you for this retrospective!
thank you for watching!
A 2.5hr long kingdom hearts video? Sign me the f up! Since I don't have the time (or the patience) to replay the games myself, I always jump at any chance to relive the vibes
glad to have helped and thanks for watching!
22:00 Steve Burton continued as Cloud until the Remake where the voice actor was changed
5 minutes in and I can already tell this videos gonna slap. Definitely subbing, I hope your channel blows up
hey, same! hahaha
i appreciate the sub and the comment, everyone engaging with the video so much is helping it reach more people whichll hopefully lead to a nice lil boom :) enjoy the video
Mayo instead of butter for a grilled cheese is goated, just like jake is at making vids
hard agree on the mayo
Ansem 2 in the crater is exactly where I had to stop as a kid. Came back to it as an adult years later to beat it finally.
we all conquer that one boss eventually hahaha
I am so mad at the algorithm for not recommending this to me the second it came out!! As someone who has been obsessed with this series for my whole life, I love watching these retrospective videos. Please make a video on 2!!! Subscribed!!
thank you for watching!
I loved this analysis/retrospective and hearing how people's love for the game has changed over time as a newcomer to the KH series. I'm hoping this can become a series
Theres been a lot of support, I just have to be a little more certain that if I go balls to the wall for the other games people will still wanna watch lol, thank you for the kind words!
Yeah Ansem really was almost impossible as a kid. I tried 100 times before i had to eventually just go grab the ultima blade and come back to it.
i respect the tenacity
Loved this video. KH is a series I started as a wee lad and I still play it to this today. Great work my guy.
thank you for watchin!
Alt Title: A Personal Demystification of the most baffling franchise's origins
THANK YOU.
I like to keep, up with gaming, even ones I didn't play. I have never ever been able to find anything that took me thru this game in a way that was coherent, made any kind of sense, didn't make me feel like I accidentally skipped a chapter or smthg, & it wasn't bc I lacked patience or wasn't trying to follow along. You're the first person who actually explained the game to me, & captured its qualities that were valued & put it in context in a few different ways. For such a jagged game/story, you made it smooth & I hope the subtle seeds you planted for us to take or leave, like in the game, blossom into a sequel.
Thanks again. Liked, subbed, engaged with!
Before I fully sent on doing this myself I skimmed a few other videos to see how they did it and one of the things that I kept noticing was how pretty much every video even the "newbie friendly" ones still required prior knowledge to understand. Im definitely not the best at it but I tried my best to make this something that someone who hasnt even heard of KH before could pick up and understand by the end of it
Glad you enjoyed and thanks for watching! Holding out on committing to a KH2 just yet but we'll see :)
@@NotAbsolutelySure It's wild bc people explained MGS4 + Ultima VI + EVE etc to me just fine, but this was such a gap in the genre if longform retro/revs. I'm rooting for you for 2 being worth your time. Herculean effort & I'm grateful. Subbed either way + will be watching! All best.
This video made me realize how wrong I was in thinking that kh1 was practically standalone. You can totally see where Nomura just reconned stuff but there must have been a general plan there, the themes introduced in kh1 are absolutely explored in future games. Maybe the explainations are sometimes incomplete and you just have to accept some things but I can now see there was definitely a general idea of where the series would go.
Ive found that KH is a series that relies very heavily on itself and its past even as it moves forward, moreso than a lot of franchises and even games with direct sequels
They can each be played alone, sure, but they all 100% rely on the prior games heavily for their plot and continually reference and callback to earlier ideas. Its both a blessing and a curse but the frequency with which they do it is part of what makes these games unique
I've listened to this a few times now, and it gets better everytime, please tell me there will be a video on kh2
im glad youre likin it, im hesitant to commit to doing a kh2 video just yet but im keeping an eye on this video and assuming it does well enough to justify a kh2 video then im obliged to serve one up, just wanna make sure there sufficient interest before doing another project this big
Actually Riku is jealous of Kairi and you can see that throughout the first game and the in between games and second game. Especially where Riku and sora are on the beach of kh2 in the dark realm
yeah thats why i kinda cosigned Dartigans "jealous ex boyfriend" title for Riku, I know it was about Donald and Goofy a lot in Kh1 but he definitely has some big jelly vibes moving forward
I am a simple man, new kh retrospective, i subscribe
lmao appreciate it
2:00:35 My theory is that the second Hollow Bastion visit replaced a "Disney Castle under attack" level they couldn't quite get done before the deadline and/or Big Disney didn't approve of.
Disney Castle has been sitting next to Traverse Town on the map for the entire game, yet you never actually go. You get sent back there to get a new Navi Gummi, only to loop back around to Hollow Bastion. That new Gummi could very well have been the straight path to Disney Castle. It would be a way more natural place for the princesses to hang out in. Seems to me like they rearranged stuff last minute, and this weird second path with a few textboxes explaining the main road is "blocked" was their way of disturbing the existing script and key item sequence as little as they could.
yeah that wouldve made a lot more sense with the weird little underground excursion too, "sneaking in the back way" into the castle to help etc etc
good theory
I'm just coming back to kingdom hearts after some rough times in life, but as soon as the destiny island were there and i saw Riku and Kairi again, something awakened in me that i thought i lost.
I'm going to be making additions to this comment as i hear things i like or have thoughts on. The transition to sora and riku standing together as you were talking about the fandom wanting 2 characters to kiss was perfect.
ALSO, GOING AROUND THE ISLAND INSTEAD OF CLIMBING UP IS GENIUS AND NOW I FEEL STUPID!?!?!? WTF!?
In regards to Tarzan spoiling the game, i noticed that as well. Was surprised to hear so few people mention it.
Also the physical pain I felt upon hearing Atlantica is optional AS I FINISHED IT was real.
Just reached the end. Great video, and I'll definitely subscribe
I remember when KH first released, I was an edgy 13 yr old who loved rpgs and FF specifically... but the whole Disney crossover thing ruined it for me, I thought the game to be quite pedestrian and beneath me, but during a sleep over, my friends little step brother forced me to play it, I got about 10 mins in and said "This game sucks, just like i thought" and I never looked back.
Later in life I had a partner who loved the KH series dearly, and I would watch him play sometimes... he passed away a few years ago and since then I've bought KH1 and want to play it but it's been hard getting motivated to start.. I really enjoyed the video, and I think I'm going to start playing very soon now. Thanks.
I’m very sorry for your loss
@@NotAbsolutelySure Thanks. I hate mentioning it online because its sad and I really dont just want sympathy or attention, but this video really reminded me of him and times we had.. i remember him playing and combing through the guide so he wouldnt miss any chests, even useless ones lol anyway thanks for the vid it was good and entertaining
bro hold on, i haven't made my popcorn yet
make sure you got enough for the class
I'm just starting this video but I wanted to say this. After watching the first few minutes. When I was a kid I would always choose the sword, but it wasn't until later that my mind was blown when I learned that depending on which weapon you chose would change the order in which you learned abilities. So now I always choose the staff so that way get all of sora's cool finishes earlier. It's so cool your choice matters. Let your heart guide you.
cool detail, i ddnt know that
@@NotAbsolutelySure one of the reasons KH1 holds a special place in my heart to the rest of the series. The amount of hidden mechanics at work that are there if you just look for it is amazing. From the weapon thing, to the fact that when you do the traverse town tailing thing after you trigger the first scene with Donald and Goofy you can actually just go straight to talk to cid to progress the plot, didn't need to trigger every scene. You even the fact you can freeze the bubbles in hollow bastion and use them as platforms. There are so many just little quirks and details that just make the game very replayable to me.
this was a great video and does a good job of giving both a nostalgic and modern perspective.
Thank you!
A note about Genie: The reason Dan was cast was because he already had experience playing Genie - namely in the "Return of Jafar" VHS movie and also the show! I love the original, no one can ever replace Robin Williams nor truly replicate his performance but Dan did a great job and since I watched both the original and the show growing up, both are valid to me.
Ive seen some people hate on his performance and I honestly just think those people would never be happy unless it was Williams (which is fair he kicks ass) but yeah Dan nailed it
And I would tend to agree, I find KH2 to be a much more cohesive and enjoyable to play game overall than 1 even if 1 has its charms
In regards to Monstro, it makes sense if you draw yourself a map. We used to do that on graph paper in the old days, since everything was squares.
They even have a built in map in Etrian Odyssey. You play the game on the top screen of the DS and draw the map in the lower screen.
Once you get the hang of it its definitely not that bad but its super rough the first time through lol, I'm of the mind that for the kind of game KH is drawing a map to get where you wanna go shouldn't be a thing (and I love games like that, Signalis was dope as hell)
I always got the vibe Riku had/has a crush on Sora and is salty about how much Sora likes Kairi, and Sora is characteristically totally clueless.
that kinda headcanon makes all of the games very very funny to play
"The ominous voice(at the start)..."
Bro that's Michael Mouse himself. The furthest from ominous. 😂
(shhhhhh they dont know that yet!) i also 100% forgot that the voice was mickey until the end of the game and wrote that line in 2023 so thats my bad haha
Kingdom Hearts is proof that sometimes two wrongs can make a right.
100% agree, its weird but a good weird
This was a phenomenal video from start to finish
thank you!
IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS 😭🫡
hyfy
Great video, I loved almost everything the way you pronounced Traverse Town 😂
I also might disagree on how KH has aged relative to other games of its time, but I’m definitely unreal
biased so fair
I think on some things you've maybe misinterpreted the context somewhat. For example when Riku says "There can't be two keyblade masters" you talk about how that proves Nomura wasn't planning everything as he went. Don't get me wrong, he absolutely wasn't, but Riku's understanding of the Keyblade at that point is "The keyblade is a magic weapon that goes to the chosen one and now that one dude who gave me his must be gone because it's been passed on and it's technically mine." As far as he's aware, he's the destined master of the keyblade and doesn't know any better. At that point he doesn't know other keyblade wielders and masters like Yen Sid, Mickey, Aqua and Ventus exist. I think it's incredibly reasonable and very purposeful that he naively misunderstands the nature of the keyblade.
I honestly think thats an extremely valid interpretation
I dont know if I sign on personally to his misunderstanding being an intentional precursor to all of the other keyblade masters in later games because like you said there's no way in hell Nomura planned all of it, but within the context of the first game Riku just kinda not getting it is spot on and that was a miss on my part
I appreciate you watchin, hope you enjoyed!
@@NotAbsolutelySure Honestly I think that's kinda the beauty of what keeps the series alive especially during the long wait between games.
There's so many things to speculate on whether that's debating what was or wasn't planned, the meaning of things left up in the air, the direction of the series going forward. I've been contemplating making a video speculating about the idea that Riku would never have gotten the Kingdom Key even if Sora didn't accidentally get a keyblade instead.
Honestly man brilliantly done video. Any hopes for more of the series? It's always great to see new people coming in and giving their takes and opening up new perspectives on individual games and the series as a whole
@mimicsforge I have a number in my head where if this hits x amount of views/people interested it would be worth doing a video on KH2, Im definitely interested in doing it but this was a REALLY taxing project and I wanna make sure it wouldnt be a video that no one would watch. Heres to hoping this one keeps gettin eyes on it!
Not even a mention of the banger secret ending you get for completing all optional levels (100 acre, colosseum, all three of the Monstro/Halloween/Atlantica trio)?
I disagree with calling the non numbered games spinoffs. Sure, having some games numbered and others not can be confusing for an outsider, they still introduce elements both gameplay and storywise that become vital for installments after. It'd be like saying Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and Revelations are spinoffs, or Resident Evil Code Veronica and Village, or MGS Peace Walker, or any Call of Duty after 4. There're definitely different tiers of KH games, but they're all mainline by any lens that would analyze the series as a whole serialized work. Unless we're talking like, the "VR experience" or the tie in flash games for Days and coded or the V Cast mobile game.
I think calling them spinoffs is fair, especially when they go onto handheld consoles as their main launch platform. Things like BBS and 358/2 are definitely lore necessary, but theyre tucked away in the body of a spinoff that is now required reading for the main games, thats mostly why I take issue with it. A lot of the writing is all over the place especially as the series progresses and they try (and IMO fail) to link the 3 "sets" of MCs together in KH3 cleanly, but it feels a lot like the spinoff/side games that tie directly back into the main games are used to cover for plot holes they allowed in the big 3 numbered titles, even if they do have a lot of great aspects to them as individual games.
Spinoff might not be the right term exactly, but theyre definitely backseat to the main 3 and spread across a shitload of consoles, thats the big sin for me. Its a lot easier to look back now and go "ah yeah, easy, all part of the canon" and it is canon, but if you were playing KH games as they came out as a kid, wellllllll... We all know how that turns out when KH2 opens up and Sora has a really weird haircut lol
And I didnt mention the secret ending because I've never sat down and gotten it myself. Didnt feel right to talk like I know something about an ending I haven't personally gotten even if I know what happens
@NotAbsolutelySure something being required experiencing to understand the overarching narrative/series identity is enough to be considered mainline in my eyes. KH is not the only series to have non-numbered handheld games as main installments in a series with numbered console installments, like Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, Metroid Fusion, Mario Kart, Castlevania, Resident Evil Revelations, and outside of MAYBE MGS PW it has a stronger focus on overarching narrative than any of those. The series throwing an important entry on every platform under the sun (not to mention Japan only games and adding important new story to every freaking re-release and remake) in the 00s to early 10s isn't really excusable and well worth criticizing, making it more hassle than it should be to keep up with the series as an internet-less kid in the 00s (I weep for anyone that started with CoM), but the very fact that this DOES matter is why they aren't spinoffs. If they WERE spinoffs, it wouldn't matter. Nothing in Crash Bandicoot The Huge Adventure is important viewing for Twinsanity or Titans nor is it gonna shake the foundations of your views on the series, MGS Portable Ops' important points are easy enough to put together from 4 and PW without playing it, Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D has no significantly obvious bearing on the series identity and isn't even canon, Final Fantasy Adventure has minimal bearing on the FF series identity despite kicking off the Mana series, etc. All of these are good games (cause mainline doesn't always mean good (Devil May Cry 2 looking at you) and spinoff doesn't mean bad (Dissidia Final Fantasy my beloved)), but are spinoffs to their series, skippable, not games that are safe to assume some familiarity (even if not having directly played them) with from a self described fan like one would Resident Evil 4 or Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, and can easily be left out of a roadmap of games to play if you were recommending their series to someone. If someone is a KH fan, they're likely at least somewhat aware of Days or coded. The same might not be said about an FF fan and Final Fantasy Legend II, or a Yakuza fan and Kurohyou. These games aren't contained in the Essential Series Collections or given the same reverence as their main installment counterparts, while Days, DDD, and BBS are. Hell, BBS is practically KH0 in all but name. Does the naming and release "strategy" suck? Yeah. But something being dumb isn't a disqualifier. After all, coded's plot exists.
Incredible video, waiting for chain of memories and 2 retrospectives
not sure about CoM but definitely doing the big 3
@@NotAbsolutelySureog CoM is My fav after og 1, but i totally understad just keep doing this increíble content cause i love this video
I will say, I have a few points.
1. In Traverse Town, there is no correct Donald and Goofy sequence. The game is programmed to have Donald and Goofy appear in different places that Sora goes into so that we see them constantly missing each other. The key to progressing to the Leon fight is to kill 5 shadows and then enter and leave the accessory shop.
2. Atlantica does favor magic, and if you did the Phil Cup and Monstro, you should have access to the Spellbinder keyblade.
2.5 Remix. The Yellow Tridents were also in the original KH1 in Atlantica.
3. You wouldn't have been able to get the Areo upgrade in Neverland until after your first visit as it requires beating Olympus for the Yellow Trinity.
Fair point about Traverse Town
I do think that keyblade to help or not the stripping down of your options still stinks in Atlantica :/ Its not even particularly difficult its just unfun, but good to know about the Tridents
And as for the Aero upgrade my point there was less that I didnt get it in that immediate instance (which you pointed out I couldnt) and moreso that it kinda sucks to be exploring and find a trinity you CAN do but you have a world specific companion in your party so you just miss out unless you go back for it. Its not the end of the world but I imagine I’m far from alone in that gripe
I appreciate you watching through, hope you enjoyed
@NotAbsolutelySure I will say, Ursula 2 Electric Boogaloo has always been an annoying boss fight for me. In my Speedrun trophy attempt, I skipped Atlantica just to avoid that fight.
And yeah, with the trenities, KH1 would have benefited from the KH2 ability to change party members when not in combat.
Damn looks like i gotta subscribe, loving this so far cant wait to check out the rest of your content
thank you!
I just realized after 20 years that riku actually shares a paupu fruit with sora
When you spoke about the second Ansem fight in the final boss gauntlet I was nodding in agreement that I almost broke my PS2 controller as a 10 year old trying to beat it
that fight is really rough for a kid lol
A lot of the weirdness in this franchise can be attributed to Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase, and Kazushige Nojima being best friends and they all seem to induldge each others wierdness
that kinda encouragement is how we get awesome stuff
Great video. I personally got stuck on the final battle as a kid and gave up, I was able to get through the battleship but could never finish him off. When KH2 came out I saw the ending cutscenes through the flashbacks and knew I had to go back to KH1 and finish the job lol. Great game.
that flashback cutscene mustve made so many kids feel guilty for not finishing kh1 lol
This is my favorite video of all time. Amazing breakdown and love the meme-f*ckery included. 20/10 Jake 🎉
glad u liked it duder!
this is the first time ive seen a video of yours and i genuinely found it such a great experience! thank you for your hard work! this was a great watch! and if you ever choose to do a video on the second game, i'll be right there!
now dont mind me, imma binge your other videos LMAO
Lmfao I'm glad you enjoyed it, hope the other videos dont disappoint
2 hour mark i also had the hilarious glitch and I played it on a ps4 port
iirc something about the game considering sora's position pre-cutscene for his condition mid-cutscene rather than hard coding it. I activated it by jump attacking while entering kairi's cutscene range
I do randomly jump attack a lot so thats probably how it happened to me too lol
I can answer the question, does it still hold up? Yes, yes it does.
a little yes and no from me, i think the overall vibes are still immaculate (even if the plot goes off the rails a bit more in 1 than i remembered) but theres definitely some gameplay stuff thats aged like milk
im definitely overall positive on it coming out the other side of my replay but man… those fucking swimming and flying fights are just so unfun lol
@@NotAbsolutelySure oddly enough the flying fights for the most part weren't too bad for me, but yeah Atlantis was definitely annoying with having to do that mechanic the entire time.
The overall gameloop is still solid, the action RPG sub genre started here for me and absolutely ruined turn based rpgs for me
i think i say it at the end but yeah 1000% the dna from KH1 is in tons of modern action rpgs its great, it absolutely deserves the respect even if it hasnt aged incredibly, it kicked off a ton of stuff we have nowadays
I'm glad I'm not the only one who hated Deep Jungle.
I personally don’t hate it, but I don’t love it either. It’s just kinda there
Watching this I realize I never struggled with Ansem at the end cuz I’m always level 95+ from making sure I defeat Sephiroth😂
This was a great watch, excited to see khii from your pov🫡
assuming this video keeps cruising and theres some good interest im happy to get a video on kh2 out there! (definitely taking a little kingdom hearts break for a bit after this one though lol)
thanks for watchin!
2:13:00 this comment has an extra level of commedy when you realise Billy Zane is the one who voices the big bad NotAnsem
fucking amazing call hahaha total accident
Funnily enough, the scaling you described at 1:35:00 or so if what the Critical Mix mod did!
The leveling system in base KH1 is one of the weakest points so a mod that reworks to make it flow better (and mean less grinding more playing the game) sounds fantastic lol
Hope this gets a ton of views, already so relevant and funny 5 min in
appreciate it and same lol, its very gratifying that so many people are enjoying the video though
It makes sense that Ariel isn't a princess of heart, since she, like Riku, yearns to explore new worlds, and is yet naiive of the things outside her own. This attitude is the kind of thing that invites darkness into people's hearts (though it's never clarified that's the reason why heartless are in Atlantica), implying her heart is not pure enough for her to be one. That's my theory, at least.
The whole world is super weird with the Heartless bit, like I didnt mention it but the King knows about the Keyblades and keyblade wielders before meeting Sora? Super odd
@@NotAbsolutelySure Some Disney characters do know, Maleficent, Merlin, Fairy godmother, King Triton,Flora, Fauna and Mayweather, Hades and more. This must be since keyblade wielders were around since ancient times and they were always traveling to different Disney worlds way before Sora.
Since keyblade wielders arrive shortly after or roughly at the same time in said worlds, it's no surprise that king Triton associates wielders with chaos.
When Ansem SoD does his charge ball in Phase 2 you can use block to stagger him and it stops his charging.
i admittedly wasnt using block a ton in endgame because for most of the game (all 3 mainline games have this issue) on lower difficulties you dont really have to block and then you get up to critical and get blasted until you do hahaha
@@NotAbsolutelySure oh you’re good. Just figured I’d mention it. Really helps in that fight.
one big point i feel gets missed is KH1 is a Disney game which would turn off Hardcore Square fans but it didn't throw you instantly into a Disney fantasy and it hardly felt like a Disney game up to about 3-5 hours in when you finally meet up with the squad and leave TTown especially when Disney was a big factor on what came in and out of the game. They gave you time to really enjoy the Square part of the game.
I think 2 especially delivers on the premise youre talking about, a LOT of Square^tm content mixed in between Disney stuff
I never completed this game, simply due to the fact that as a kid I could not find the Wonderland clues and I didn't know you could get a few and skip the rest.
@@Fuzzidio never too late! i think you can actually go in with nothing and just fail it but still progress (dont quote me on this you might need at least 1)
Loved the video man great work!!!
Appreciate it!
i have some distinct memories of kh areas that don't even actually exist lmao. i think my brain mashed multiple areas of the game together into one
I think if you play all the games including the side games in one shot theres a non zero chance you get Kingdom Hearts induced psychosis hahaha
I beat everything underleveled hardest difficulty as a kid...
I think it just depends on the kid. Some kids intuit things like timing and spacing and the breadth of their abilities really quickly while others might end up confounded.
you were the kid that told everyone mew was under that truck in pokemon at the lunch table too werent ya hahaha
@@NotAbsolutelySure N-No...
I’m also colorblind so “deep jungle” was a complete NIGHTMARE 😭😭😭
im glad im not alone lmfao i swear to god i got so lost when i was a kid because of that one damn vine
@@NotAbsolutelySure- I just finished watching! You really did such an incredible job with this video! I enjoyed every second! Also, side note because I noticed you ask near the end: how did kairi turn sora back into a human? Technically it was because kairi is a princess of heart, her light and love for sora saved him, but we also learn through the series that sora has 3 hearts (himself, kairi, and ven) which may explain how sora was able to retain parts of his memory/consciousness even as a heartless and that’s why we play that short bit as a heartless creature
god im glad i didnt try explaining that in the video hahaha, if this really does go boom and i end up doing KH2 eventually... oh boy
tysm for watching!
Instantly liked after hearing “this dipsh__ here”
Please continue this retrospective!!!
im waiting a few weeks before i commit either way but im definitely thinking about it!
I played 2 first, then 1, personally there's a magic in one that they never managed to recreate. The worlds are less exciting imo but they're more intriguing, not that 2 isn't amazing! I look forward to replaying them all once they release on Steam next week. Oh and Riku Ansem gets wrekt by techs and you can even deflect his little energy frisbee back at him.
i would agree with that, i like the act of playing 2 so much more though that it kinda cancels out that the vibes take such a hard right turn
i think where 1 was weird for being the first time all these elements came together 2 was weird by nature of the plot being so batshit insane lol, oddly enough the worlds in 2 feel way more grounded than the plot around them for better or worse
I'll say it is very interesting getting someone else's perspective on the game. For reference I didn't play the first game until 4 years after it came out and the second one was already making its rounds. I was 11 at the time so that should work better with what I remember the game being rated e10. Personally I always like playing the games with the default weapon because it just felt right but it was cool that the game changed your weapon in cutscenes (which also meant I was technically hitting for less than I should have) I don't think the Riku fight is any easier but you will have more tools in the final mix version of the game. A lot of fights are a lot easier if you actually just keep guard equipped just like for ansem 2 and whatnot, and the second and third version of arrow would have made life easier not only because of the defense but they also have a hitbox which would have made you do way more damage lol. Also I enjoy how metroidvania Kingdom hearts 1 is as far as letting you explore areas and coming back with new abilities to unlock chests and get items. And I really enjoyed that a lot of those movement options were put under the shared abilities list allowing Donald and Goofy to have them as well. While I love Kingdom hearts 2 a lot of those map designs are just big areas to fight enemies in and even though Sora says his friends on his power it sometimes feels like you just keep them alive to do limits or go into forms... Also sometimes I do enjoy that like a metroidvania it's not afraid to let you get lost and just wander around. Though you are not alone in the deep jungle because as a kid it took me a minute to find that one specific Vine. Also I enjoyed the flying\swimming of the game. I enjoyed the verticality and exploration. Though I will agree that it can kind of suck that you lose out on some of your movesets but overall it wasn't a big detractor for me. So I can't really agree that getting rid of it would make the game better or that getting rid of it changes nothing. For instance it's the first example that we see that the NPCs of the world knows what a keyblade is and that Sora shouldn't be meddling in the affairs of the planets he goes to which is pretty interesting. But again I get not liking all that stuff. I personally end up putting Kingdom hearts 1 and 2 side by side because while two has really fun combat there's a lot of things that it just drops that I found very enjoyable even in my recent playthroughs. Also have to mention that Kingdom hearts 1 unlike any other game in the franchise isn't afraid to be a little more creepy. But again I can go on forever and I don't think I need to make a two and a half hour long video lol(also that cutscene glitch with Kairi isn't new but I'm surprised you found it by accident)
the kairi cutscene glitch had me rolling, it was so silly
appreciate you watching and the thoughtful comment!
He said we just sit behind Ursula slapping her fat neck I’m crying 🤣🤣🤣🤣
she do got a fat ass neck
Thank you so much for this video. I never played this game and didn't see the hype but now I do. But I still don't like Disney characters 😂 I like how wacky and introspective and varied the game's story is.
its very much a product of its time, i love it because i grew up with it but i 100% understand people not being into it if they didnt
Took me a minute to get through this. As someone who had mild interest in kingdom hearts and every single playthrough being brought to an abrupt halt by that fucking little mermaid world. This video just kinda cements the idea that I’m just not all that interested in playing kingdom heart’s but I’d rather watch a 2 hour video essay on it lmao
some games are definitely experienced better at a distance lmao, fwiw kh2 is a lot more fun to play than kh1 (imo)
@@NotAbsolutelySure id love to play the others but the walk of entry has always been a huge turn off for me. And i love drakengard and metal gear solid lmao
@crispybois9878 i unironically think having watched this video you are about as prepared as you need to be for kh2 if youre interested, itll be a bit jarring but thats how it was for a lot of kids me included lol
@@NotAbsolutelySurefr, the true experience is not knowing chain of memories should have been called kh2, skipping it and jumping into kh2, as massive confusion ensues 😂🎉🤔😅
I rented this when it came out and thought Sora’s character looked so stupid I didn’t get five minutes in. Nomura may as well have given Sora a red clown nose and a rainbow fro wig. Maybe I’ll try it when it comes out on steam, but I dunno…those shoes man.
If the designs in KH1 are funny to ya, just wait until the later games, Sora just starts wearing more and more and more belts for no reason at all its hilarious
@@NotAbsolutelySure Nomura loves his belts doesn’t he? I just started the first game on steam, only a few hours in and… yeah I’m actually enjoying it a lot so far haha.
@@7milesdavis glad youre havin fun!
At least the Kingdom Hearts lore is bit better (maybe even more) than Star Wars lore because as it was progress, older History doesn't make sense
For example: Anakin turning to the dark side because Padme will die even though there's Force Heal which jedi can use, but was never mentioned until later releases (forgot on the shows or the games)
I thankfully have never seen a Star Wars film (besides rogue one) past episode 7. I saw it in theaters with a gf at the time, she loved it and I just thought "this isnt gonna end well" and I was woefully right lol
I am doing a kingdom hearts fanfic with my oc. Is there any tips on what worlds I should use or anything else. I have wreck it Ralph, once upon a time, princess and the frog, marvel, kingdom of corona and other worlds.
Those all sound fun
really great video! love the humor and your voice is super soothing. I would Like to pick your brain at some point since I wanted to get into video essays/ reviews myself, In fact I'm working on a small League of legends video for my videojournalism class.
thank you! feel free to drop by my twitch and ask away next time im live id be happy to answer anything youre curious about
thank you algorithm
thank you for trustin it
I don’t get the absolute hate for Atlantica. Yes, it’s a hassle to navigate if you don’t know where to go. But the combat isn’t that bad. Especially if you unlock stop and aero. Cast stop on the big jellyfish and they won’t divide into smaller enemies
the normal enemies arent the problem, the bosses are what suck fighting, but the combat in general stripping you not only of all your combos but also your dodge roll makes it into a really stripped down version of the combat youve had access to up to that point and the novelty of the swimming didnt/doesnt outweigh the suckiness from the combat getting gimped
and to the point of figuring out where to go, isnt that a bad first time experience regardless then? we can just google stuff now sure but someone playing the game for the first time shouldnt just know where to go lol, and tbf thats a problem all of kh1 has not just atlantica, some of the worlds are just mad confusing to get around in the right order
@@NotAbsolutelySure unlock and upgrade aero and it’s easy. It increases defense and does extra damage
@@shizuwolf difficulty is not my complaint, variety is
@@NotAbsolutelySure sounds like a personal problem
@@shizuwolf thanks for watching the video!
As a child I couldn´t even get past Traverse Town and now as an adult I just look up a guide because I just want to habe fun and play the game
totally fair
❤❤❤ love this franchise and this video, would be v excited to see you do kh2
definitely thinkin about it, thank you for watchin!
ill know in a couple weeks
Okay, saw this in my recommended, I don't want to watch it, because I do want to play through the game, but I tossed you a sub, so I hope that makes up for it!
appreciate the sub and i hope you enjoy the game!
You bastard, now i want to start another playthrough on kh1.i subscribed btw, loved your perspective. Similar to me and my brother.
appreciate the sub and thanks for watchin!
Thanks for the video. Hope you make more
appreciate it!
To counter your Atlantica point, as much as I despise the story, what I think it was meant to be was an introduction to the glide system that comes into play with the Chernanbog and the end of the Ansem fights. It's still awful to have to play but I think I can see why they did it especially in 2002 when the idea of vertical scaling to boss arenas might not have been as wildly used
Thats honestly a great point, it very well may be
To counter counter, I dont like any of those fights hahaha
I think the flying mechanic was really cool when I was a kid and sucks donkey dick going back to, that and Atlantica have just aged super poorly through no fault of the game really, time just moves on and things change but the game doesnt
@@NotAbsolutelySuredude you hit the nail on the head lol as a kid the gliding and swimming was so fun but now I'm so over it 😂 I'll take KH2 or KH3 gliding any day of the week now. Also excellent video my man! I personally would love to see you do the same style video for at least the other numbered titles, but whatever you choose to do next keep grinding man!
Really well done video. I came back to play through kh1 around a year ago and even with a few issues I had I loved the game (fuck you Atlantis and Mostro) and would love to see a video on kh2
the fact that monstro and atlantica are back to back is so rough too haha
im definitely hoping for this to pop off more before i commit to kh2 but heres to hoping that happens in the next few weeks, thanks for watching!