Regular Pat

We are way past due for a world themed around The Bouncer, featuring a boss fight with DAURAGON C MIKADO (I've literally never played this game, I just like how the guy says Duaragon C Mikado)

Thanks! I took a few mental double takes when I came up with the idea lol. I'm glad people didn't reject it immediately as it it's very out of my wheelhouse. I don't anticipate this type of thing becoming part of regular rotation but it was a fun one-off lol. We're in strange times, after all.

Hi folks! I have no idea what's going on in the outside world as I type this; I made a rap song! If you recognize my posts, you might be like, "Wait, what?" Me too! It's definitely outside of my usual analysis/discussion box but I had a lot of fun with it; Melody of Memory's gotten me into a musical mood! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jWbLlwV2cw

Thank y'all as always for the kind words!! ? Yeah to be honest I really couldn't have cared less about Ansem SoD prior to KH3. But between the scene I highlighted and his acting like an agitated grandpa when Pence wouldn't get off his lawn, I came to appreciate him a lot more lol. I do think it's funny how Young Xehanort was just a jerk till the bitter end. For sure, I don't fault anyone at all for having mixed feelings about MX's end. I think it's probably smoother if they planned ahead a bit more and gave us a few more sympathetic scenes/character moments prior to KH3. But as I nod to in the vid, they really just kinda show us "Hey, he used to play chess as a lil boy! Isn't that nice??" And it's like well yes but also the murder...? I'm fine with the message, but the execution is admittedly lacking. Ultimately I think the scene ended up as high as it did because most KH scenes don't force me to confront like...morality ethics and philosophy lmao.

Hiya guys, I've been working on this project for a little while where I try to pin down my 10 favorite scenes in the KH series and talk about them for a concerning amount of time. I think there are 3 or 4 pretty safe picks but the rest might be a bit surprising. Figured I'd share it; hope you enjoy!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se5JLrD3pBQ

First off, thank you all for the kind words! I wavered on covering the Riku campaign in depth mostly because I felt like I didn't have too many outstanding points to make, positively or negatively, but I do have a scattershot of thoughts about it. The relative loneliness felt during Sora's campaign is ramped up to 11 in Riku's, and the game is definitely aware of that and references that in the Hollow Bastion floor. Considering Riku primarily interacts with villains both in the simulated worlds and in the CO interludes, it's that much more exciting and comforting to finally get to interact with a friendly character by way of Michael Mouse (also the first time we get to see him for more than a few seconds, which I feel is often overlooked.) Both Sora and Riku's campaigns are pretty introspective, but I think Riku's even more so. Sora is dealing with his own memory-related crisis, but not something he brought on to himself. Riku's campaign is the start of his attempt at seeking redemption and resolving his frankly self-inflicted crisis that he imposed on himself by giving into Ansem in KH1, due to his lust for power. Riku deals with Org members and his Ansem apparition, but he's also fighting a battle against his own demons, which I think is a natural progression for his type of character. The meat of Riku's campaign is funny in that it really is the recycled bits of already recycled material. Break KH1 down into Sora's CoM campaign, and then break Sora's CoM campaign down into Riku's. Having Riku exclusively fight the bosses through the Key to Beginnings is actually some decent story and gameplay integration, although your satisfaction with that may vary; just because these things integrate doesn't mean it's fun or super compelling. But yeah, having him only fight the villains to illustrate his ties to darkness is equal parts clever and a great cost-cutting measure. I know Riku's campaign is already considerably shorter than Sora's (which I never really minded, considering I actually had no idea it was coming despite my remark about his health bar during my video's cold open, and it was an awesome surprise when I first unlocked it) but it also doesn't make 100% sense contextually. It makes sense for Sora to revisit every KH1 world, since he's experiencing his memories (RIP Tarzan) but the same can't exactly be said for Riku. And I think the game knows this; the first batch of world cards you receive after HB are all worlds that Riku is physically seen in (sans HB itself and Destiny Islands). But you've got TT (from his meeting up with SDG in 3rd District), Agrabah (from kidnapping Jasmine), Monstro (messing around with Pinoke) and Neverland (being an asshole and creating shadow doppelgangers). Makes total sense to revisit these places. Idk why we're have him go to Wonderland, OC, Atlantica, and HT. But again, it's already so short, so cutting those doesn't leave you with much. Even if he had fleshed out stories in the first batch of worlds with all three Key cards, it's still quite short, but maybe that would've been fine. I'd rather it make sense than have more game to play, but that take may vary from player to player. Gameplay-wise, I'm pretty torn. Riku's playstyle is much more similar to something like a KH1 in that there isn't really any strategic deck-building to be done, and usually the answer to any battle is popping an Enemy Card with a good buff and just mashing. The duel system in specifically ReCoM is a great addition, and in fact it would've been nice to have in Sora's campaign as well. Although, the duel system usually does just amount to mashing, since actually shuffling through your deck to find the right card is liable to get ya killed. On a totally superficial, 3rd grader level, the addition of Dark Mode is SOOOOO cool. Wow. I was so hyped when I first got to whip out Dark Aura in 2004. It's not often that a game lets you essentially roleplay as one of the hardest bosses from the last installment and use his skills to devastate random enemies.

Sup guys! I had anticipated that there would’ve been a few more topics in the time it took me to whip up this new video, so apologies for clogging up the tippy-top of the General with my mug. I’d been thinking about Chain of Memories a lot recently, and decided it deserved a bit of a deep dive. If I were to assign the “Most Underrated” superlative to any game in the series, I think it’s CoM with a bullet. So I mostly just blabber on about what I think its strong suits are. Hope y’all enjoy!

This is incredibly high praise, thanks so much! I'm glad people are enjoying this project, it took me an eternity and I was very picky about my writing in a bunch of spots. Honestly the jokes are basically there to keep myself sane while making these lmao. And yeah I do have a bit of a bias against mini-game worlds but like you said, tough competition. And it cannot be overstated how big of an Auron stan I am. What a guy.

Thanks so much!

Hi guys! For those who frequented the forum in the late months of 2019, you may recognize my dumb ol' face: I'm back like the plague with an entirely-too-long video essay project in which I analyze each world in KH2 and rank them arbitrarily. Figured I'd share. Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eeUPQLKUtQ Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EQl9jdKGPU

Reading your thoughts on KH1 was incredibly vindicating; it's the same stuff I've been saying for years about why I think KH1 integrates its Disney worlds into the main plot better than any other installment. I think you're also spot-on in saying how woefully underrated CoM is with regard to expanding the KH universe and introducing new characters. And reading your thoughts on Space Paranoids being KH2's best outing as far as Disney world integration goes is practically like reading my own mind. Interestingly your reason for why you prefer 2 over 1 is the reason why I prefer 1 over 2 lol. The lonelier and more intimidating atmosphere in 1 always prevailed over the friendlier, more-at-home mood of KH2 for me. But your opinion on BBS was also a nice change of pace, because it's always felt like a more "active" experience than KH2. There are long stretches in 2 where nothing of consequence (and in my opinion, interest) happen, but the nature of BBS' interwoven campaigns makes for a bit more of an engaging playthrough on the story side, at least for me. 2 has those meaty beginning, middle, and end sections, and I always prefer when OG/important stuff is sprinkled throughout instead. Overall your takes are incredibly refreshing, and selfishly, I liked reading it because it's mostly in line with my own philosophy on these games lol. Our opinions probably diverge a bit when it comes to KH3, I tend to feel like its worlds feel more "lived-in" than 2 or DDD, but I don't necessarily disagree with any of the points rattled off in that last KH3-centric paragraph. As far as improvements, and only because you asked, the doc could benefit from just a bit of tidying on the grammar/punctuation side, but obviously the ideas are still properly conveyed and that's the most important thing. (If you're ever so inclined, I'd be happy to edit a separate copy; it's something I've done as a job in the past lol). I also think some of the strikethroughs and asides (not so much the images but in-text) can be a bit distracting and make it harder to read, but it does add personality. If your intention is for this to be viewed primarily through Google Docs, the comment feature might make it easier to include jokes/asides without interrupting your paragraphs. All just my opinion! And of course, "paintings are great" is a reference to the mysterious Hotel hallway in KH1

Howdy guys, long time no see. I've had this little holiday season project in the works for a while, in which I examine how movement in the KH games has evolved (or maybe "changed" is the better word in some cases) throughout the years. I talk about 1, 2, BBS, DDD, and 3 in this; it should be relatively spoiler free for 3, but I do make a few nods to story-related things here and there, so probably steer clear for now if you haven't played 3 yet and are especially spoiler averse. But, if you're so inclined to listen to me ramble for half an hour, I'd love to hear your thoughts! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb5INSk19to

Yo! Remember the strategy guide for KH1? That was real reading material. True literature. It was (unsurprisingly) always my favorite guide for a video game, so I put together a little video retrospective on the book. Did any of you guys pour over it as obsessively as I did?

lmao yeah, of course it's preferable that the vids are actually watched but I know sometimes I just wanna know what the list is lol

Salutations KH13! For the past two weeks I've been slaving away at this dissertation on the 13 worlds from KH1, spread out across 2 spookily long videos. If you'd like, you can look at it with your eyes. I'd love to hear your opinions on how the worlds fall for you, especially if they're wildly different from mine here. tl;dw: 13. 100 Acre Wood 12. Atlantica 11. Deep Jungle 10. Wonderland 9. Monstro 8. Agrabah 7. Olympus Coliseum 6. Destiny Islands 5. Neverland 4. Halloween Town 3. End of the World 2. Traverse Town 1. Hollow Bastion

Hi KH13, I'm back (some might say like the plague) once again. Wanted to share a follow-up to a previous video and post I made here that detailed 90 obscure aspects about Kingdom Hearts 1. It includes some things I had forgotten in the first installment, as well as some stuff that I either discovered afterwards or learned from the feedback on the last one. Hope you enjoy and that you find something new!

Hey guys, I've got yet another ridiculously long project to share; for the past few weeks I've been working on this KH1 Level 1 guide for beginners. As far as I could see, there weren't any standalone videos out there that covered every fight in the KH1 Level 1 run, so I sought out to change that. It isn't meant to be a guide to speedrunning the challenge like a lot of stuff out there is, but rather to just help players get through each fight through whatever means possible. I mention this in the vid, but I'm definitely not a master of masters when it comes to the challenge, and the video is the culmination of a lot of things I've picked up from reading or watching other players, as well as some of my own strategies I've developed over the years. I don't purport this to be the end-all be-all guide to Level 1, so if anyone has strategies or techniques they can share, please do! It's a pretty challenging run, but really rewarding and satisfying when you pull off some of the harder fights.

Thank you, I appreciate that! Yeah I spent like this huge chunk of time in my KH1 vs. KH2 video talking about how I actually really love that there's no treasure list in KH1 because it feels more rewarding to find them (at least for me)...and then I promptly went and made this thing that ruins all the mystery and tells you where everything is lol

Figure I might as well throw my hat in the ring! Link to my channel below, pretty KH-centric at the moment, typically long-form content, 20 minute+ type stuff. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ9okxjnr1hIsjI9eZzp1GQ

Yeah if anything, I hope it can be of use to people who might be embarking on another run sometime in the future! I'll also forget about Trinity Marks unless I force myself to go back to each place as soon as I unlock each new ability lol

Yo, guys! Just wanted to share another project I've been working on. (I've been sharing some videos I've made here for the past month or so; hopefully it's not too overbearing.) A while back I compiled a list of obscure aspects of KH1, and part of that video dealt with the more out-of-the-way treasures and items. Afterwards it came to my attention that there isn't really a video guide out there for getting every item in the game. Well, there may be one somewhere out there, but I'm fairly confident mine is where comprehensiveness and relative succinctness meets. Of course, there's less of an incentive to do this in KH1 as opposed to any of the other KH games, but ironically, KH1's treasures arguably require the most effort to track down. I realize that people like us who are invested enough in KH to be visiting its dedicated forums are less likely to have any need for this sort of guide, 17 years after the game released, but hey. It's possible you might pick up on at least one new thing, and at the very least, I showed off a handful of ways to access some stuff earlier than normal. And at the very very leastest, I tell some stupid jokes here and there.

If this strat finishes Cloud before he can let out a single "That the best you can do?" then I think it deserves all the praise it can get

First off, I appreciate the decorum from everyone haha, it's refreshing to have these types of respectful disagreements on the Internet. Everyone's got different pros and cons that weigh more or less for them. That's like, what art's all about, man. As I brought up in the vid, I love the beginning/middle/end of 2, that's like peak Kingdom Hearts stuff right there. At the end of the day, I enjoy the in-between stuff in 1 much more than the equivalent stuff in 2, which is what puts 1 on top for me, among other factors. And yeah, WakelessDream, I do see people out there who prefer 1, but it seems like all of the big KH "pundits" on YouTube, so to speak, favor 2. I'm aiming to be the crazy old man who yells at the clouds about how much more he likes KH1 lol

Howdy guys! A few months ago, I started working on a mini dissertation on why KH1 is my favorite game of the series. Eventually, as I started to juxtapose it more and more with KH2, it started to become more of a debate type of thing. Originally it was just going to be a text post, but I figured people would be more likely to watch an incredibly long video instead of read an incredibly long text post (if only .01% more likely.) I put a lot of time into it and I'd love if it sparked some discussion; the goal wasn't to ruffle any feathers or trash KH2 (I love both, and 3), but more so to justify and explain my opinion in a world where it seems like KH2 is the dominant and premier example of a KH game.

Hey thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you liked it! Dude, Roof Leon is easily my favorite, it's become the stuff of legend lol. That encounter is already spooky enough and when he just jumps up there to join you on the roof? Straight-up terrifying. I can't believe I didn't think to try it until 2019.