Dracozombie

I don't walk up to smokers and tell them to stop smoking, and I don't walk up to fat people and tell them to start eating healthier either. But here's the differene between smokers and fat people: you need to eat, so a fat person's problem is a little more complicated to manage. But you don't need to smoke. It's something you go out of your way to do because it's a 100 percent optional thing -- that has health-related concerns that everyone is aware of. And they do it anyway. So, if policies are implemented to make it harder for smokers to do their thing, it's honestly hard to feel sorry for them. I don't actively stop anyone from smoking, but that's not the same as supporting it. I don't see why it should concern me. E-cigs don't use tobacco, which is where most of the health concerns (and second-hand smoke) comes from, so the banning seems silly at first. But, both regular and e-cigs have nicotine, which is how cigarettes become addicting. Society doesn't have a good opinion of drugs and addiction anyway. Yes, it's their choice what to do with their bodies, but that doesn't stop it from being a bad choice. You even admit all the problems cigarettes caused for you and your family. Hell, you're trying to quit! So it sounds like you just don't like the principle of someone telling you what to do. Yes, it sucks having your choices infringed upon by politicians with a vendetta, but in this specific case, what are the choices they're limiting? The choice to be addicted to something that ultimately has zero benefits in the long run? It's not like this will lead to some kind of slippery slope where they tell you you're not allowed to make this choice, so now you're not allowed to make ANY choice and we all live in a dictatorship.

The normal sane fans aren't the ones who represent a fandom, because the normal sane fans are too normal and sane to do things that will embarass themselves -- unless you count, say, enjoying a show about colorful magic horses embarassing, which a lot of people do. From what I gather, bronies can be vicious because they get a lot of toxic from outsiders. Really, anything popular will draw attention from people who can't see what the big deal is, how dare so many people enjoy this simple/stupid thing publically demonstrate it, I can see how pointless and overrated it is, etc etc etc. Sometimes it's Kingdom Hearts, Pokemon, Five Nights at Freddy's, or, yes, MLP. Especially MLP, which hasn't exactly gotten a good reputation during its previous We Must Sell Toys era. If a brony reacts to criticism more harshly than you'd expect, I suspect it's a knee jerk reaction to the amount of hate they get for liking what they like. I mean, society doesn't exactly expect a little girl's show to resemble anything close to decent. I personally keep the MLP fandom at arm's length (not a huge enough fan to actively interact with them, though there is a fanfic or two I keep an eye on), so just out of principle I can say one shouldn't lump every person in a fandon into the same stereotype. Are all Kingdom Hearts fans the same? No? So why should it be different from MLP? The only difference between KH and MLP is that we're not as well-known and we're not about talking ponies. Oh, and if someone you know became a shut-in due to MLP, then it's not MLP's fault -- he must have had some issues to begin with. MLP just happened to be his catalyst, but really, it could've been anything.

Pewdie kinda fell off my radar after I found LPers like Game Grumps and Markiplier, so I can't give much input to him in specific. The most I can say is that different LPers have their own styles, including humor. I personally think it's funnier to watch LPers overreact to jump scares, but I'm sure many others can appreciate a deadpan non-reaction. Some LPers actually bother to slow down and appreciate the story, like Markiplier, while others just breeze through it while cracking hilarous jokes, like the Game Grumps. I watch different channels for different reasons, because I know they all have their own ways of going about things. If Pewdie's becoming stale to you, then start watching other channels. You don't need to stop watching him, but watching a few others alongside him can give you some variety. One thing to note is that for any LP channel, long games are a gamble. Channels typically only release a certain number of videos in a day, usually only two or three, and popular LPers get hundreds of requests to play different games. Devoting so many videos to any single game has the risk of becoming stale and boring to the watchers who don't happen to be interested in it. With shorter games or even one-shots, if a watcher isn't interested in the game the LPer is playing today, then they can come back tomorrow to watch another video of another game. With the long game? You're going to see videos of it day after day after day, for however long it takes to complete. Now, the LPer could always release the long game videos in addition to the normal uploads, but that runs the risk of tiring the LPer out -- you can get burned out doing too much of anything, even playing video games. But if you want to see more long Let's Plays, I'm sure there are plenty of LPers who specialize in longer games. No need to expect Pewdie to play them if you can seek out other channels.

Not even senpai. And if I was, I would never notice you.

I'm not your sensei.

It doesn't, unless you're a Disney character. Seriously, name a movie in the Disney animated canon where someone either doesn't die, or is not part of someone's backstory. So far no non-Disney character has been shown permanently dying, so we can only assume that people in the KH universe can die the old fashioned way, but it's just never been shown because plot/Nomura/censorship logic. Getting Heartless-ified or Nobody-ified are different from death. Those are more like a cessation of being. You can potentially come back from being a Heartless or Nobody under special circumstances, because in those circumstances the soul (aka one's life) can be preserved. Unfortunately, the games haven't much showcased the soul part of the heart-body-soul triad, so we don't know much about it. The most we can get is Terra's Lingering Will brought to life by Terra's discarded thoughts and emotions, but that one's pretty ill explained. That information is probably hidden among one of a hundred different interviews KH needs to make sense.

Rule of the internet: the fact that it exists and is popular and is therefore "shoved down your throat" is enough to complain. You also get bonus points for feeling like a rebel because you happen to not be interested in a certain thing other people happen to be interested in. It gets even more fun if the people who complain about [X popular thing] happen to enjoy [Y popular thing], but feel only [Y] is entitled to its success because that's actually good (read: it's good because they like it).

I'm aware of the miniature Fazbears. It's quite the abomination, isn't it? But that's just it: it feels like FNaF is trying too hard to be scary now. In the first two, the animatronics were subtely chilling. They weren't overly scary, but they had a vibe to them that felt... off. But come Springtrap, and now this thing straight out of an Alien movie (actually I'm pretty sure the guy in the picture is Springtrap, not Freddy), and it's no longer about subverted innocence. It's the subverted innocence that made FNaF so unsettling to begin with. Springtrap kinda got an excuse since Fazbear's Frights is, well, specifically built to be a frighthouse. Now we got this new Springtrap, and it's like where the firetruck did THIS thing come from?! The animatronics are supposed to be children entertainers who turn murderous at night. Springtrap, just by looking at him (his previous incarnation and his current one), leaves no room for doubt he wants your blood. This is the slippery slope I'm worried about with FNaF. Since it's been established as horror, it might start to go down the Hollywood of scary for scariness sake, without any substance to it outside of how much it wants you to shit your pants. That's why I'm hoping 4 would truly be the final installment, aside from the movie. FNaF is already starting to lose what made it special, so I hope Scott will quit before it's too late and end the series on a strong note.

But... but is it the final abomination? D: I mean, how many can you look at before you start going, "Meh, another pants-shitting animatronic. What else is new?"

The feels... so conflicted. On one hand: NO NO DON'T LET THE SERIES RUN INTO THE GROUND. 3 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER. STOP BEFOE IT'S TOO LATE On the other hand: Well, FNa3 wasn't that satisfying of an ending. Kinda didn't like how Springtrap stole the show while the animatronics we grew to care about were reduced to side nuisances. Plus there's all the unanswered questions and other interesting elements that haven't been tapped into. All I want is the series to end on a high note. If that date is true, then I can only hope the final result will be polished and that it truly will be the final installment.

A lot of these suggestions are valid self-imposed challenges, but the true spirit of a Nuzlocke is that failures have permanent consequences, e.g. Pokemon faints, it's gone for good; get a game over, the run is finished. They're also intended to force you to make use of what you have, like only being able to catch the first Pokemon you find on a route, regardless if it's a good one or not. In KH, there aren't a lot of permanent consequences you can impose before the game becomes just plain unreasonable. You could apply a No Death rule to simulate Pokemon's "permadeath," but that might be too harsh in a game like KH that's 40 hours long, and where you only get one character to use -- compared to Pokemon, where you get upwards of six chances before it's over. You could instead apply a No Getting Hit rule, but that's just a general No Damage run and doesn't have a permanent consequence for messing up -- it just means you weren't perfect, and perfection isn't necessarily what Nuzlocke is all about. It's about being clever, resourceful, and careful. KH also doesn't offer a lot of "make-do" possibilities. Sure, there's BBS and CoM's commands/cards, and you can make a rule that you can only use the first ones you find, but commands aren't the true meat of KH. Technically you can get away without using any commands if you're hardcore enough. Of course, none of this applies if you just want to make rules to make KH harder. It's just that you mentioned Nuzlocke in specific, and it got me thinking that Nuzlocke's brand of challenge might not translate well to a game like KH.

No prob! The Final Fantasy fandom can use more eloquence, anyway. Yeah, even just going through it with a fine-tooth comb would help. I don't think Youtube is really harsh on video game footage like it is with music and movie/show clips. If it was that strict, LPers wouldn't be so popular. So, I wouldn't worry too much about copywriting. Crisis Core expands on Sephiroth's personality and his relationship with SOLDIER. In the original FFVII, everything about his past is condensed into Cloud's flashback, but Crisis Core actually shows how Sephiroth acts when he's not... in the process of cray-cray-ness. The kind of alienation I meant wasn't the fearing keeping-your-distance kind, but more of the celebrity kind: everyone puts him on a pedestal. A famous person can have millions of fans who admire them, but none of those fans ever really know that celebrity personally. In that sense, Sephiroth is alienated. He's so respected and powerful that he can't really form emotional ties to the average person. The only people he has some kind of bond with are Zack, Angeal, and Genesis, and look how that turned out in the end. Crisis Core actually makes his descent into madness more powerful, because we see he was a truly decent person, albeit aloof. Then when he snaps, he shatters because a life of being on top means he is unable to picture himself as below anyone else, no matter what Jenovaprojectwhatzahoozits say.

Today is a momentous occassion. Today is the day WE HEAR THE DAVE SPEAK. Y'know, maybe this can be a regular thing you can do. I love reading about your analysises, but since a lot of people don't have the patience to read anything longer than two paragraphs (which is ironic since I actually took less time to read through it than to listen through the whole video), videos like this can be a way to reach an audience beyond ye olde KH13. Reading and listening are certainly different experiences, but the difference between them are an important factor to consider when writing something intended for a video. One thing to consider is sentence construction and length. A well-crafted sentence can be nice to read, but it might not translate well when spoken out loud. In speech, though, a general rule of thumb is that a sentence usually shouldn't be any longer than what one or two commas can accomplish -- rule of thumb being, in this case, wisdom gained from a single Speech 101 class in community college. For instance, the line "What’s more, Shinra has been using extract from Jenova to try and make superpowered soldiers, which more often than not have wound up just making monsters and other things that try to kill you," can probably be divided into two separate sentences. "Shina has been using extract from Jenova to try and make superpowered soldiers. More often than not, this has wound up just making monsters and other things that try to kill you." The first version was fine to read, but listening to it felt a bit overwhelming. The speech as a whole doesn't have this problem, though. I noticed it mainly in the intro and a few lines peppered through the body (like the example I gave). A little tweaking can make it flow much better as a video. If you have the time and the patience, some visuals can also help. I've noticed that analysis videos like these compel me to keep the tab on the video when there's some visual aid to go along with it. So, you mention Sephiroth's fight with Genesis and Angeal -- show a clip of the fight. Mention he can't admit humans have the same kind of emotional depth as he does -- show some snapshots where he says or demonstrates this viewpoint. It'll help viewers stay on target and give them concrete reminders of where you're coming from. Of course, it'll take some extra work and editing and searching, but visuals can really help pull together what's essentially a guy reading off a script. Now, onto the actual analysis! It's odd how many fans, primarily in the fanfiction circuit, sidestep how Sephiroth is 100 percent undiluted cray-cray. Those same fans tend to think of his insanity as tragic (which it is in its own way), or they dismiss it as Jenova's influence (not true; Word of God says Sephiroth's in control), or they think it's sexy (ick). In a way, Sephiroth's god complex is kind of like the rich, intelligent, and capable dude who's never learned what it's like to be broke or challenged. I'm not sure how much Sephiroth gave personal, emotional weight to his status. HIs power is pretty much a fact, as you mentioned reinforced by everyone around him. He never knew what it's like to be in the receiving end of a beatdown, physical or metaphorical, or at least it's never shown in canon proper (fanfiction, on the other hand, loves to paint him as the abused child at the hands of EBIL HOJO). Hence, he feels different from other people. Now, while you claimed he thought he was different in a flattering light, I thought Sephiroth felt alienated from his fellow man. Especially in Crisis Core, I got the impression he was a bit lonely at the top. He's so strong and so capable that he can't relate to "normal" people. Hell, his closest companions, if they can be called that, are his fellow supersoldiers Angeal, Genesis, and Zack -- but then Angeal and Genesis start degregating and going cray-cray themselves, leaving Zack as the only guy who he can kinda sorta consider a friend. Then they go to Nibelheim and things go downhill from there. Even Zack was able to take some time out of his day to build wagons for flower girls in the slums, Angeal cares about Modeoheim and his mother, and Genesis... likes LOVELESS a lot. But Sephiroth? Sephiroth has almost nothing to care about. Yes, he cares about his duty as SOLDIER, but he's not shown having any kind of personal investment in it. He's just doing what he does best, namely, BEING the best. There's nothing in the "normal" world he can go to when shit goes down the whole, like how Zack goes to Aerith for companionship. Sephiroth's arrogance is tragic in a way, because it comes from literally having nothing else to his name except for power. It felt like when he read about the Jenova project, it put his difference from other humans in "perspective": he's not human at all. But since he can't fathom a world where he's not on top, he, like you mention, fills in the blanks so that even if he's a monster, he's still the best. So, he becomes a god just so he can be better than everyone, and he throws a temper tantrum appropriate for a lot of FF villains. Yeesh. Kefka was crazy too, but at least he admits he's just doing it for shits and giggles. But anyway, this is partially why Cloud comes out on top in the end. Cloud has ties to the "normal" world that give him things to care about. He wasn't special, but he accepted that and was able to gain the strength to kick Sephiroth's ass.

If you're able to joke around and help each other out through some hard times, sounds like friendship to me, even if it's through a screen.

That's easy: it's not Roxas. It's also not Sora. They're both mindless uke shota blobs who are mocking Sora and Roxas by impersonating their forms. It's invasion of the body snatchers and I'm suspecting Sir Nomura is leading it all.

Zombie Sora and Goofy and Rule 63'd Sora were the least disturbing things in this thread. Relatively speaking. This is tame compared to some of the shit I've seen out there, but meh, no need to risk a ban by posting the really nightmarish stuff.

Call them up to return their panties. I have my own and don't I need donations, thank you very much. Or I could sell them online for extra spending cash. I hear those used pantie rings pay decently, all things considered.

Apply sledgehammer and holy water because a Sora that blushes like an anime girl is not Sora, but some kind of demonic spawn.

Okay. So. Your qualified mate is: a meatsack who likes video games and anime, who's willing to stick around only long enough to prove you're good enough. We don't know anything about you except for liking Kingdom Hearts and anime, and how you're desperate for affection. How does any of that show you're dateable? You're expecting someone to throw you a bone out of pity so you can have something to brag about. That is not sexy. In fact, everything you've said in this thread just gives us more reason for why we should keep our distance.

The lone wolf archetype is associated with someone too cool or mysterious or angsty to associate with people. Ironic considering how actual lone wolves will get their ass kicked unless they find a new group of buddies quick, and that's only if they're willing to play by the leaders' rules. Sooo yeah, like a gang, only furry.

Fixed. Youtube comments are the exact opposite of civil discourse.

When I'm playing as Aqua, things die. Spectacularly.

Yeah, I hear MHX kinda blew it sales-wise so they didn't wanna take the risk by continuing the series. Kinda sucks, too. I haven't played it myself (I hear you're better off sticking with the original SNES MMX, and I do), but I've seen videos and hey, I'm always up for more voiced cutscenes about... Mavericky type stuff things.

If I was a pro, I'd tell you. Unfortunately I am not, so the most I have to say is observations of the actual pros out there, who can be pretty terrifying in how good they are. Since level 1 critical mode is a doable thing, obviously, strategy > brute force by a large margin. Take it from me: KH is a game where you can cheat to be level 99 with Ultima Weapon and still get your ass kicked by Ansem-Riku and Dragon Maleficent. It might help to think of raw levels and equipment stats simply as increased margins for error. In other words, they don't make the fight easier; they make mistakes less brutal to recover from. Memorize enemy AI to the point you can detect what they're going to do and react accordingly. Also, I forgot where I've heard this, but bosses are supposed to have some kind of "counter meter" that fills up the more you wail on a boss with combos. When it fills up, the boss unleashes a (probably unblockable) attack to break your onslaught. This is a fail-safe implemented so you can't just stun lock the boss until it dies. Pay attention to patterns and detect when the enemy is about to give you some payback. With that said, don't be afraid to play defensively. Take your time. If you're not sure you have an opening, don't risk it. There's also no one-size-fits-all setup with equipment or abilities. That's probably obvious, but it's a problem I have. Pros know which keyblade can help them for which fight, in conjunction with your abilities. This is something you'll have to research on your own (I am in no way an authority on this subject), but also think about what works for you. But at the end of the day? Practice, practice, practice. The pros got that way because they're so familiar with the game, they know how to exploit it. A lot of LPers doing challenges usually do trial runs before they start recording. A lot of it is just memorizing, which isn't always fun, but if you want to Kingdom Hearts like a champ, it just takes a lot of doing.