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What Kingdom Hearts game has the best set of Keyblade?

Here's King Mickey arriving in The World That Never Was in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. Here's the Replica for Roxas being sent to the Keyblade Graveyard by Ienzo, Even, Ansem the Wise, etc. in Kingdom Hearts III. (Which Roxas' heart comes out of Sora and then goes into the moment it arrives.) It's the exact same method of travel/arriving at a world. They have the same animation of a sparkle in the sky and then a beam of light coming down from where the sparkle was, transporting a person or object to a world.

Hey everyone! It's been a whole minute since I've seriously posted something here but I've been working on this particular topic for a few months now, and I would really appreciate being able to share it with all of you and hopefully spark a discussion. This particular topic is something I often like to think about and concerns the whole series and it's worldbuilding in KH. I've been typing it out in google docs to keep track of it but I'm feeling to lazy to rewrite up the whole thing so please click the link -.-' https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WD1vxaPpc5mcez14LvyS_3WAaonR9lP-M7epAF71gGU/edit?usp=sharing What do you think could be done to improve it, or do you even think it needs to be done?

I was replaying DDD and when this scene came up I couldn't help but notice that Sora's 'friendship speech' triggers a really strong reaction in Xigbar (Luxu). He heard our protagonist say stuff like this multiple times in the past but something in this particular statement really gets to him for some reason. I have a couple of theories about why this may be, but I'd like to hear yours first in order not to influence your answers with my own speculation. (Time stamp is: 6:46) What do you guys think?!

Dreamimals. I want one.

In honor of 3D's anniversary, what’s your favorite part of KH Dream Drop Distance? I love the dream eaters and the flowmotion.

Over the years, I've seen many people be confused as to why Sora and Riku had to do so much more for their Mark of Mastery than Aqua and Terra. Aqua and Terra trained their whole life for their Mark of Mastery. Sora and Riku didn't. Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery was also their training. Their Mark of Mastery was so much more difficult than Aqua and Terra's because they had to make up for the years of training they missed. The Mark of Mastery and becoming a Keyblade Master isn't about whether you can save the world or not. It's about being traditionally trained. For example, becoming a black belt in Karate has nothing to do with whether you can save the world or win a fight or not. It has to do with if you have mastered the traditional skills you have been taught. The title of "Keyblade Master" is nothing more than a formality.

Character development is probably the most important structure when it comes to any narrative. You can't tell a story with unlikable characters. You have to leave room for each character to develop. Over the course of the 10 years that lead up to the original release of Dream Drop Distance, many of us may have thought we had a generally well developed cast of characters. Upon the release of DDD, we thought we took a step back with at least Sora. His gameplay was a lot worse than ever before. He became way too childish and naive instead of having that perfect balance from KH2. Riku was still brooding and constantly talked about the Darkness, but his gameplay was fantastic and everything we wanted out of Sora's. Some argue that the only big take from DDD was it's ending for the story. However that was never true. In fact, we have 0.2 to back this up now, as Sora is now back to the way he was in KH2. The idea portrayed to us in DDD, the reason Sora ended up where he was by the end of its narrative, was that the chosen one got a bit too cocky. He saved the worlds on a grand scale multiple times, why did he have to take any of it seriously? He let his ego get the best of him and that's what lead to the situation that provided us with Riku coming out of it as the only Keyblade Master. Riku has been on the same road since CoM. It was only a matter of time before Riku finalized his stages of Grief by accepting the Darkness and using it as his Light. Our final take from Dream Drop Distance shouldn't be about the ending alone. We need to understand why Sora acted the way he did and why that caused him to fall at the forces of Darkness. We need to understand why Riku became a Keyblade Master. Overall, I believe DDD gave us a good outlook on the development of Sora and Riku as characters.

I'll explain the Sleeping Worlds/the realm of sleep. (This is a part of my "Explained" series of posts. To view my "Time Travel Explained" post, click here, to view my "Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed, and Dream Eaters Explained" post, click here, and to view my "The Braig/Xigbar Situation Explained" post, click here.) All the "realm of sleep" is, is dreams. Worlds can dream and people can dream. When a world falls to darkness/goes to the Realm of Darkness, they also fall asleep and they dream. The worlds we go to in Dream Drop Distance are dreams of worlds that were freed from darkness, but were not freed from their sleep. Yen Sid sent Sora and Riku back in time to Destiny Islands before it fell to darkness, so that they could sort of "ride" Destiny Islands into darkness, therefore ride it into sleep. Once they rode it into sleep and fell asleep, they unknowingly opened the first Sleeping Keyhole and were transported to the next Sleeping World/the first Sleeping World from the present-day that they need to save. When this happened, Riku unknowingly dove into Sora's dreams and became a Spirit Dream Eater to protect him from Nightmares. So, throughout the game, Sora is in the dreams of the worlds that fell to darkness, but didn't wake from their sleep, and Riku is in Sora's dreams. Things change when they get to The World That Never Was though. The World That Never Was is not a Sleeping World. It's a real world in the Realm Between. There's a cutscene where Yen Sid says that Sora and Riku will eventually end up out of the Sleeping Worlds and into a world that's in the Realm Between. That world was The World That Never Was. It's not a Sleeping World, but when Riku arrived there, he was still in the realm of sleep since he was still in Sora's dreams and has been the whole journey. After Riku defeats Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, he's brought back to the real world and out of the realm of sleep. When Sora arrived at The World That Never Was, he was in the real world and out of the dream. But, Young Xehanort dragged Sora back into the realm of sleep, but this time, he dragged Sora into Sora's own dreams instead of the world's dreams. Then, Xigbar dragged Sora into a second sleep. So, Sora's sleeping body was in Sora's own dreams which is why Riku saw it before he fought Anti Black Coat. Anyways, after Young Xehanort successfully puts Sora into a weird sleep coma by dragging him further and further into dreams, he brings him back to the real world and places him on one of the Organization XIII thrones. Riku still had his Dream Eaters and his Dream Eater powers in the real world of The World That Never Was because Sora was still asleep. He still had a weird Dream Eater connection to him. Nomura said The Mysterious Tower drifts around and doesn't stay in the same place. The Mysterious Tower used to be a part of a world called Symphony of Sorcery. It's drifted away from that world a long time ago though. The world "Symphony of Sorcery" is a Sleeping World. The reason The Mysterious Tower shows up in that world is because the dream is filling in the gaps, just like it fills in the gaps with characters. The Grid is a digital world inside of a computer in a world that we don't know the name of. The world that Sam Flynn is from. Just like how Space Paranoids is a digital world inside of a computer in Radiant Garden. Space Paranoids is a copy of The Grid made by Ansem the Wise. The reason Space Paranoids looks so different than The Grid though is because he copied it a long time ago. Space Paranoids is what The Grid used to look like. The Grid is not a Sleeping World, but the world it's attached to/the world it's a computer on, is a Sleeping World. Which is why Dream Eaters show up there. Country of the Musketeers is simply a world Mickey, Donald, and Goofy traveled to on their adventures. Minnie used to be a resident there, and she later moved to Disney Town to be with Mickey. Also, the Robed Figure was there on Destiny Islands in the first Kingdom Hearts so that he could mark the time traveling Sora with the Recusant's Sigil and so that Young Xehanort can time travel to where the Robed Figure is and follow Sora and Riku into the realm of sleep. So, now that Sora was marked with the Recusant's Sigil and now that Young Xehanort was in the same time period as Sora, he was able to teleport to wherever he was. Oh, and we now know that the official name for the realm of sleep is "Unchained." In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, it was called many different things, it seemed to not have an official name. It was actually called "the realm of sleep" only once. So, yeah, it's the "Unchained" realm.

I understand time travel in Dream Drop Distance for the most part, but there's always been this one thing that I don't really understand. in the game, we are told that the Robed Figure passed on the ability to time travel to Young Xehanort, so that Young Xehanort doesn't have to get rid of his body or something like that. I was confused as to how you can just simply "give" someone the ability to time travel, so I looked into it. I found a Nomura interview where he says this: "to transcend time one must ‘first’ discard their form. As a result of the actions of the Brown Robed Figure, they all were in a state where they had gained the power to transcend time. The Brown Robed Figure explains the facts. The thirteen were summoned at the same time, this time thanks to Young Xehanort who borrowed that power." What does this mean exactly? Am I the only one who has no idea what he's saying here? Could it be the translation that's making it more confusing that it actually is, because I'm not sure what he's trying to say? It seems like he's saying that they all gained the ability to time travel because the Robed Figure was Xehanort reduced to just a heart, but how does that make it so they all have the ability to time travel? Sora and Riku have both been reduced to just a heart before, but they can't just randomly time travel as they please, they need Yen Sid's magic in order to time travel. I thought that you actually need to be a heart while you're time travelling, because that's what Yen Sid said, but Nomura's making it sound like all you need to do in order to be able to time travel is you have to have been just a heart once in your lifetime. That seems way too OP. Plus, it completely contradicts what Yen Sid said. Since this is the case, it makes me believe that's not really what Nomura's saying here, so is there any other way to interpret what he's saying? EDIT: After doing some more digging, I found this in the KH Ultimania: "Discarded his body and became able to travel through time. Traveled back in time to the Destiny Islands and gave Young Xehanort some of his own power. Due to discarding his body and becoming the Robed Figure, all incarnations of Xehanort gained the ability to travel through time. However, the only ones actually able to do so were the Robed Figure and the one he had given his power to, Young Xehanort." I guess it sort of works like how Keyblades work. Just because you have the ability to wield a Keyblade, doesn't mean you have a Keyblade/doesn't mean you know how to summon a Keyblade.. Similarly, just because you have the ability to time travel, doesn't mean you can time travel/doesn't mean you know how to time travel. And what the game really meant by "the Robed Figure gave Young Xehanort the ability to travel through time" is "the Robed Figure shared some of his powers with Young Xehanort". So, it all makes sense...I guess? It "makes sense" in a very Kingdom Heartsy kind of way lol EDIT: Just found this interview with Nomura. What he says he throws me back into confusion: "Nomura: First off, when Young Xehanort made contact with the Brown Robed Figure, that is to say, the Xehanort who called himself Ansem, his abilities were transferred to him. As a result of Master Xehanort tossing his physical body, he was able to exceed time, and this power was carried into the Brown Robed Figure. Thus when Young Xehanort made contact with him, he gained this power. Possessing this power. Young Xehanort functioned as a “portal”, summoning Xemnas and Ansem each time they appeared. That’s why Young Xehanort was there whenever they appeared. Additionally, when Sora and Riku dropped into the worlds of sleep, simultaneously Young Xehanort himself goes into the world of sleep.' I have no idea what Nomura is saying at this point. I really really really hope this gets cleared up in KH3.

In this issue of Famitsu it was stated that the Master of Masters has eyes that can see into the future. Using this ability, he wrote the Book of Prophecies. What if the Master of Masters' eyes are yellow? Ya know, like Xehanort's eyes. What if these yellow eyes that Xehanort has allows him to see into the future? That would definitely explain how he has been such an amazing tactician and has been able to predict pretty much everything that has happened so far. He even majorly surprised Yen Sid that he was able to predict such insane things. In Dream Drop Distance, Young Xehanort and Sora had this conversation. Sora questions Young Xehanort how Xehanort knew that Sora would be on Destiny Islands for his Mark of Mastery in the Realm of Sleep on that exact day. Young Xehanort just replies with "Simple." which obviously is not an answer. I've always assumed that this would be answered in 2.8 or KH3, and I think I might've finally found my answer. Thoughts? EDIT: This theory has been debunked by Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover.

Note: Please read the entire post before commenting. Thanks! (This is a part of my "Explained" series of posts. To view my "Time Travel Explained" post, click here, to view my "The Realm of Sleep Explained" post, click here, and to view my "Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed, and Dream Eaters Explained" post, click here.) In the 2.5 Re:coded secret ending, we see the Organization XIII members who were residents of Radiant Garden lying on the floor after being recompleted as people again. We also see Braig, who is not lying on the floor like the rest of them. He presumably woke up before them. (We know this 2.5 secret ending takes place after Re:coded and before Dream Drop Distance because Ienzo is an adult in this cutscene. There is a cutscene in the beginning of Dream Drop Distance that shows Even and Ienzo on the floor turning into Heartless/Nobodies and Ienzo is a little kid in that cutscene, so we know the 2.5 secret ending takes place after Re:coded because we know Ienzo grew up as an adult while he was a Nobody.) In Dream Drop Distance, we see Xigbar. It is implied that this is actually Braig, not Xigbar and he's just going by the name Xigbar for some reason (most likely because of the Recusant's Sigil in that name). If this is the same recompleted Braig that we saw in the 2.5 Re:coded secret ending, then how come he has long hair again, how come he has gray in his hair again? It would not make sense for him to just all of a sudden change appearance and grow hair that quickly. Is this actually Xigbar and not Braig, and they were just implying that it was Braig just to trick us? If it's Xigbar, then that can either mean that he was brought to the present day from time travel, or that can mean that Young Xehanort turned the recompleted Braig back into a Nobody for some reason (maybe he's stronger as a Nobody?). Also, do people keep their appearances that they had as Nobodies when they turn back into people, or are they reverted to how they looked before they were turned into Nobodies? This is very unclear. It seems that some parts of them did keep their appearance and some parts of them didn't for some reason. Ienzo, Lea, and Isa aged as Nobodies and kept their ages when they turned back into people. Lea lost the markings under his eyes when he became a person again though for some reason. From what we know, this is how it is: You are reverted back to how you looked before you became a Nobody, but you keep your age. For example, Lea was reverted to how he looked before he became a Nobody which is why he lost the markings under his eyes, but he still looks older because he kept his age. There are some people who think that the 2.5 Re:coded secret ending takes place way back in-between BBS and KH1, but that is simply not true as proved above. There are some people who think that the Xigbar in DDD is actually the recompleted Braig and the Braig in the 2.5 secret ending is the one who's a time traveler. That is simply not true. As stated above, it wouldn't make sense for the Xigbar in DDD to have long hair if he was actually Braig and it wouldn't make sense for the Braig in the 2.5 secret ending to be the time traveler because he's at the spot where he was just recompleted. So, this is what we know so far and is so far the absolute truth: The Braig in the 2.5 Re:coded secret ending is Braig after he was just recompleted as a person again. The Xigbar we see in Dream Drop Distance is either one of these two things: He's either a time traveling Xigbar that Young Xehanort brought to the present time, or he is the recompleted Braig that Young Xehanort turned back into a Nobody for some reason. It is currently unconfirmed which of these two things is the answer. If he is a time traveling Xigbar, then that means that Xigbar and Braig are both alive and in the present day at the same time. If Braig was turned back into Xigbar, then that means Xigbar is the only one who is alive and in the present day. We also know that when you are recompleted as a person again, you are reverted to how you looked before you became a Nobody, which is why Lea lost the markings under his eyes, and is why Dilan's hairstyle was reverted back to how it was before he became a Nobody, and is why Braig's hair turned shorter again and lost the gray in it. We also know though that you age as a Nobody and you keep your age that you grew to when you turn back into a person. I made this post to hopefully clear things up for some people because I have seen countless people who seem to be confused about this topic and who have been spreading false information. This was difficult to explain, so hopefully I explained it well and it makes sense. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. EDIT: It has been confirmed in Kingdom Hearts III that Braig, Isa, etc. were in fact turned back into Nobodies again after being recompleted in order to be more suitable vessels. Now that they have been destroyed once again though, they have all been recompleted once more. Except for Xigbar. He pretended to die during the Keyblade War in KH3, but he really just teleported away, and then shows up when the battle is over and reveals himself to be Luxu. So, he's still a Nobody currently.

In the DDD secret ending, Yen Sid says: "But the light still shining in the hearts of children rebuilt the world that we know today. And the light from the broken χ-blade was then divided into seven to protect the number of pure hearts in the world." Mickey: "Seven pure lights. They're...the princesses of heart." Yen Sid: "Indeed. Those seven pure hearts form the very source of all light in the world. If they are lost, the world will again give way to shadow." It says that "the light from the broken χ-blade was then divided into seven to protect the number of pure hearts in the world." This means that the Seven Princesses have existed even before the χ-blade shattered, or at least their hearts have. The seven pieces of light from the χ-blade broke off to protect the the Princesses' hearts. (Whatever that means). It's also saying that if the Princesses are destroyed, then the world will fall to darkness, just like how the world fell to darkness in the age of fairy tales when the original Kingdom Hearts fell to darkness? Honestly, how does any of this make sense? How have the Seven Princesses been alive since the age of fairy tales? Isn't that presumably like thousands of years ago? That can't be possible since Kairi was 4 years old in BBS. Also, why would the world fall to darkness again if they're destroyed? Yen Sid is acting as if the Seven Princesses are the original Kingdom Hearts. doesn't make much sense

Hi. I'm new to these forums. And I can't believe how long it took for me to find such an amazing thing exists on the interwebz. A place where you can talk all you want about Kingdom Hearts? Sounds like dream heaven. And so with that, I will start my long intro/rant thing. Probably gonna type this up over a few days, just because it's gonna be a looong post (and hopefully not too boring). So what exactly did I want to do for my first post ever? Make a review. Not just any short and crappy review; a review on every single KH game that I've played. So as you might expect, y'all who are reading this are in for a long one. Another incentive is because I've literally had people **** on my opinion before because they think *insert KH game* is the best, and apparently I'm the devil for not liking it or something. But hey, that's the internet for you, so I guess there's not much I can do about that. Therefore, I've chosen a forum full of people with the same nerdy addiction as I do to talk about these games Now keep in mind many of these things are heavily opinion based, so feel free to comment on your own opinions. For simplicity, let's go in chronological release date order (or something close to that, I don't remember the exact release dates for all the games). Also for simplicity, I'll be considering all Final Mixes and their original counterparts as one game, so if I say KH2, I'm also referring to KH2FM (PS2). However, I will be having a separate section for Remakes/HD Remasters (i.e. ReCoM, 1.5, 2.5). So yeah. Let's start. I guess. KH1 Hey look at that, I used bold and underlined font for organization. I am officially better at organization than 90% of the internet So yeah, going first with the game that started it all. The game that got me into this series, and perhaps even gaming in general. And it's pretty clear to see why; it's a good game. I think the most charming part about this game for me is the story and nostalgia. The story was so simplistic, yet you feel so involved in the Disney Worlds that it's as if you're actually in them, interacting with all your favorite Disney childhood characters. Combined with nostalgia, it makes this game unforgettable. And I'd say lots of people would agree with me. The gameplay is simplistic, but it shows that you don't need complicated game mechanics for a game to be good. Many people refer to this game as a button masher, and in some way, it was. However, it wasn't the "mash one button for senseless destruction" kind of button masher, but more so "mash one button carefully with strategy (or at least some degree of it)". The game was difficult. Exceptionally difficult as a child, and even now, it's not easy to go through the thing on Proud Mode. Yet, you learn stuff as you go on, and conquering fights always has this odd feeling of satisfaction to it. Remember Riku 2? Remember Dragon Maleficent? We've all failed those fights so many times as a kid that we've literally memorized the cutscenes. I remember jumping out of my chair and freaking out when I finally beat Riku 2 (despite having to grind several weeks to beat him). And something about that feeling of happiness and accomplishment will never leave me, which is perhaps why I love this game so much. So KH1 isn't flawless, and it does receive a fair amount of criticism from others, especially people who've just played it for their first times in the 1.5 HD Remaster. And it is completely understandable why too: the story pacing, looking at it now, is pretty bad. They throw you in the game, you know absolutely nothing, then you learn a little bit about who you are but everything is still really vague. Then you learn little to nothing for 20 hours of gameplay until you reach Hollow Bastion, where they just dump the story at you. So much story. And then you have some emotional scenes, get even more story, and then you reach the end of the game where it feels kind of rushed. Suddenly, Kingdom Hearts! Wait...what was Kingdom Hearts again? The game fails to explain to you clearly, and it leaves many questions unanswered. King Mickey makes his only debut in the final scene of the game, and it happens all so fast that when the credits roll around, many people are left confused and wondering what the **** just happened. Gameplay isn't perfect either, but this part is a bit more opinionated. Some may despise the button mashing feel the game has, but I for one love it and the feeling of senseless destruction you can have when you're overpowered. There's also strategy involved in it too; mashing X will not get you through the game on Proud Mode. World design is pretty wonky *cough cough Agrabah cough cough* and controls can be a LITTLE bit clumsy feeling (lol Atlantica). So I can see why these things can turn people away from the game. However, for me, this will always be a favorite of mine purely because of the fact that it was such a nostalgic factor in my childhood that even now, I'll never forget the fun I had playing through Kingdom Hearts 1. KHCoM/KHReCoM I'm gunna combine these two into one section, but I'll be talking about them separately (sort of): So firstly, GBA CoM. The fact that this is a handheld game turns people away from it. I've seen way to many people say "I never played original CoM because it was on the gameboy". However, if you haven't played it, I'd suggest giving it a try; especially if you've played and enjoyed ReCoM, because it is similar, but at the same time, different from ReCoM. Believe it or not, I like the original GBA CoM better than ReCoM, and I'll get to that in a bit. The general public's view of the Chain of Memories games are negative. People in general despise the new "card system", saying it was bad or poorly implemented, and that attacking things were too difficult in comparison to KH1. Yet, I've seen the same people complain about KH1 being a button masher. Wtf guys? Make up your damn mind. I liked the Chain of Memories games. Actually, I enjoyed them so much that I'd say it's on par with how much I like KH1. I loved the new card system; it gave the battle system a strategy and you needed legitimate skill to plan out your every move, unlike KH1 which had a more button mashing type of feeling. Some people don't like this type of gameplay, and that's completely fine. I for one, love the fact that you have your own choice of different attacks and cards. Mashing X will not get you through this game; instead, you must learn to strategize. That's another genius part about the CoM series: how they teach you to use your resources. I have to admit, this is easily the best game in the series in terms of how they introduce you to the card system. Every player starts off confused, but once you get past that stage, you start learning an unbelievable amount about how you can manipulate the cards to your advantage. And it's not like the game tells you everything; but the fights and enemies are designed in such ways that you're pretty much forced to figure out a way to go through the game as efficiently as possible for you. The story is very well done too, and the pacing was far better than KH1. After every floor, you learn a bit more about what the mystery of Castle Oblivion is, and as you near the end, the information comes a bit more rapidly. It was very well distributed, and made story enthusiasts keep wanting to play the game to find out what happens. So I've addressed the pros, now to move on to the cons: The gameplay does get somewhat repetitive, I'll give it that. For the most part, it's "go through rooms, get key cards, and progress on with story." Therefore, there's not much replay value in it. However, it's still fun to play once in a while. There are also balancing issues in ReCoM. In CoM on the GBA, sleights were powerful and used, but there was no one sleight that can overshadow everything. In ReCoM, there are quite a few overpowered chosen slights that will basically make other sleights obsolete, i.e. Lethal Frame, Sonic Blade, Ars Arcanum, Firaga/Blizzaga, etc. This argument however, can be countered with the fact that abilities like Sonic Blade and Lethal Frame can only be obtained mid-late game, so you can't exactly abuse their powers. Plus, bosses technically had the ability to break your cards too, so these weren't always the best choice (maybe except for Lethal Frame). There's also the possiblity to restrict yourself from using such overpowered abilities, as that won't make the game unplayable, just slightly harder (unfortunately, this is something you'll see in recent KH games that I'll get into.) So yeah, that's my view on the CoM series. I enjoy GBA CoM a bit more just because of the slightly more balanced gameplay, which means that I can actually attack bosses with different strategy instead of being forced to spam Lethal Frame over and over again. KH2 Oh boy, here we go. The Kingdom Hearts game that got the lowest score from IGN out of all the KH games they've reviewed. Buut it's IGN, and that means that we don't listen to them. KH2 Vanilla may be mediocre, but boy oh boy, KH2FM is by far, and I mean BY FAR, the best Kingdom Hearts game that we have, and probably will ever have. (No seriously, if KH3 tops this, I'll be very very impressed, but I'm not counting on it.) People liked KH2 for the most part, but some people also seemed to hate it. Looking at the game technically, it is the best designed game in the series. The balancing in KH2FM is almost perfect, and the combat is beautiful, fluid, and just fun to play (although that last part is an opinion lol). The post-game is by far the best in the entire series, and I don't think anyone can really argue against that. It's just such a masterpiece of a game, and makes you wish that all other KH games could be like this. That being said, it does have its flaws. No game is perfect, and KH2 is no different. But yeah, let's delve into the nitty gritty details of this game and see what exactly makes it so good and loved by many people. Storywise, the game does fine. It's not the most intriguing story in the series, nor is it the most well paced (although considerably better than KH1). It's story, in my opinion, is sort of in the middle. However, it does wrap up everything nicely in the end, and it also introduces my favorite enemies in the series so far, which are the Nobodies. Also, Organization XIII is sick, and no other villain will top these groups of villains for me. But hey, that's my opinion, so many people may differ. I don't have much else to say for story. It's good, but not amazing. What makes this game for me is the gameplay, which is also, the most important part of any game. Let's start off with the combat options. By the end of the game, you are given a TON of different options: Attack, 6 Magic spells, healing items, 4(5 in FM) Drive forms, 4 Summons, and a TON of Limits. There are so many options to choose from, and the types of combos you can pull of is endless. Not only that, but there are also physical combo modifiers as Abilities, allowing you to enhance your combos even more. Don't like the normal combo? Time a press of Square the finish with the ability "Finishing Leap" equipped, and you'll create a shockwave that will send enemies spiraling into the air. Jump up and press some more Square with "Horizontal Slash" and you can slash the enemies rapidly, dealing enormous damage, then ending your combo with several finishers completely obliterating the foe. ...sorry, I may have gotten a little bit carried away there. But you can see that you have a ton of options with just physical attacks alone. When combined with Magic, Summons, Drives, and Limits, you are basically given this endless array of options that you can choose from for the best situation. This is done even better in the FM version since they added new finishers and abilities, as well as Limit Form (which I'm gonna mention, is soooo good). The gameplay is balanced. You'll notice I said something about unbalanced gameplay for ReCoM; meaning, some sleights are so good that it overshadows other attacks because of their power, making these other attacks completely obsolete and useless. In KH2, Square has perfected this system of balancing. No attack, out of ANY of the options you have, are extremely overpowered and can work for every situation. Every single attack has a form of use, whether it's for taking care of a mob of enemies, or just a single boss, or a giant Heartless that appeared out of nowhere. The closest thing to OP in this game is Reflega, and even then, you obtain it at the dead end of the game, and it spamming it will not guarantee a win for any fight. Boss AI complexity is at its culmination in this game for the series. You might've heard of these things called "Revenge Value" or "Flinch Count" before. These things are essentially in-game counters to force the boss to behave in a certain way. It provides a form of strategy; the bosses cannot be infinitely stunned (for the most part), and spamming one attack will not net you a win. The boss retaliates according to these in-game counters, and reacting accordingly is part of the strategy. That's what makes this game's bosses so satisfying to beat. Say you come across an exceptionally difficult boss; you get completely destroyed the first time around. However, the more you attempt it, the more you learn about it, and as the more you learn about, the more you see how the boss works and retaliates to certain combos, and how many hits it takes for the boss to retaliate, etc. To an experienced player like me, this is unbelievably intricate and makes the game so much more fun to me. I know how bosses work, so a lot of the strategy comes from me doing certain combos, then reacting accordingly to avoid getting punished. The fluid style of gameplay helps this a lot, and all this stuff just mashes up into a big ball of amazingness and fun. I cannot emphasize enough how enjoyable it is to refight the Data Organization members in the Cavern of Remembrance; the reaction speed that I need, and the amount of strategy put into the fight is almost absurd, and I love every second of it. There are flaws for this game too, don't get me wrong. So far, I've been basically fan-gasming over the game and ranting about how amazing it is, but I'll also address the flaws. The exploration factor of KH1 is completely gone; worlds are flat and linear. They sort of make this up in the Cavern of Remembrance in the FM version (which is also my favorite area in the game), but the fact remains that the main story worlds lost a lot of their exploration to it, which may be disappointing to some. Some also say the game is too easy, although I'd beg to differ on that. You have the option to challenge yourself, and I've known absolutely no one who has every played KH2FM Critical Mode Level 1 say it was easy, even the most experienced of players. The thing is, once you dive into the small details and really get to understand this game, you start realizing how much though Square Enix had put into this game, that they will never do for any other KH game after this one. Let's just hope KH3 has just as much thought put into it. To be completely honest, if KH3 can even come close to getting to the level of intricacy in KH2, I'll be very satisfied with my product. For now though, KH2FM is by far my favorite game in the series....no...of all time. KH 358/2 Days Having not played this game for quite a while, I'll try to keep this short and sweet. Days is, for the most part, praised for its emotional story, but crapped on for its boring and repetitive gameplay. After playing the fluid gameplay of KH2, I have to say, I agree with most of the people. The story is nice, but also badly paced. The middle of the game is filled with repetition, which is also reflected in the gameplay. "Roxas does mission. He finishes. He eats ice cream with Axel and Xion." That's like 60% of the game right there, explained in a few sentences. It does give us a nice view of the bond Roxas created with Axel and Xion, but otherwise, it felt boring and repetitive. The gameplay is very repetitive. Select mission, do mission (which is always very similar to each other), finish. Repeat. The combat options are nowhere near as intricate as KH2, although it is a DS game so I can't expect as much as KH2. However, I did think the Panel system was a pretty cool idea, even if it was a bit annoying that you had to take up space inside the panels just to level up. Days kind of pisses me off. The game had such an amazing amount of potential behind it, but the way they made it just doesn't make it a fun game. Just think of the potential this game had; you're literally playing as the villains, and you get to see what exactly happened within the Organization. It would answer all your questions about the Organization in KH2, and you would see how Axel and Roxas became friends, and it would be a blast and an amazing game. And the game does that...to a degree. It does well in explaining the events of KH2, but the other Organization members felt like side characters opposed to actual characters that was involved in the story. In the end, you really don't learn much about the Organization aside from Roxas, Axel, and Xion, and it makes the whole game's potential feel wasted. KHBBS Birth by Sleep is loved by so many people. It is definitely ranked, by most, as one of their top KH games. The first time I played through BBS, I loved it. It felt so fun, all the different combat options, even if I had no idea what I was melding at the time. The Command Styles were like pseudo KH2 Drive Forms, and there were so many options that I couldn't hate them. And yet....something seemed off. The second playthrough of the game felt significantly less exciting for me. The game begins to feel repetitive, even boring... And then I played through Critical Mode, and the game just turned outright tedious. I barely finished that playthrough before I decided to never play the game again. What happened? What happened to this game that I thought may be competition for KH2 on my first playthrough, what exactly made me get tired of it so much more quickly than KH2? Well let's start off from the story. The story of BBS acts as a prequel to KH1, 10-11 years before the events of KH1 occurred. There are 3 main characters: Terra, Aqua, and Ven. The issue with these main characters are that...they aren't exciting. Perhaps its because I've stuck with Sora for so long, but I didn't have an issue with accepting Roxas as a good pseudo-main character; mainly because he had so much backstory and was a genuinely interesting character. Yet, I just can't seem to get myself to LIKE even one of the main characters in BBS. Aqua is a girl. A Keyblade master. Nothing more to it. Ventus is a boy, whose darkness comes in the being of Vanitas, and that he's somehow a chain between the legendary X-Blade. That's it, no deeper backstory or emotions. Terra, by far the most interesting, is nothing but a young lad that has darkness lingering in his heart. He's gullible, and eager. That's all we know about them. Compared to Sora, who we learn as the boy from Destiny Islands, chosen by the keyblade, with a personality of eagerness and courage, powerful, a true hero, happy, and all these other personalities, these 3 characters seem significantly more mundane. They don't feel like they're in the story at all, they're just sort of...there. For the story to work. The story also begins introducing ideas of previous Keyblade Wielders. Its really at this point that the idea of "wielding a keyblade" started to bother me in the direction it was going. I've seen people make this analogy before, and I'm gonna try to connect it here. Ever watched Dragon Ball Z? The Super Saiyan was a legend passed down milleniums. Goku manages to ascend to this level, this supposed legendary status that grants the Saiyan who obtains it an unbelievable amount of power, and the only supposed reason for his ascension was because of his unique peaceful personality and his compassion, added with his anger of losing a friend. This makes him special, and different from the other coldblooded and murderous Saiyans. It gives him this status, of being the only one who is able to achieve this, thus making Goku special. It makes the main character so much more intriguing, and really brings them to life. And then, as the show went on, more and more people began being able to transform into this "Super Saiyan". By the end of the Buu Saga, you see 7 year old kids transforming into one when having a sparring match with their mothers. And it sucks. It makes this supposed "legend" not very legendary, and makes the main character seem...normal. Granted, in DBZ, Goku does surpass everyone even more with even more absurd transformations "beyond" the level of a Super Saiyan, but I'm not gonna get too much in detail about that. After all, we're talking Kingdom Hearts here. So this BBS section has gone on for a long time and I haven't even began on story, so I should probably hurry this up a bit. Simply put; BBS did the same thing as DBZ with the Super Saiyan thing, except this time with Keyblades. In KH1, I loved playing as Sora because of the fact that he was special; he was a Keyblade wielder, the only one in the world with the power to vanquish the Darkness. And yet, in BBS, we discover Sora isn't special at all. There are literally thousands of other Keyblade wielders, that may or may not have done even greater deeds than Sora has. He's no one, just a normal one in thousands of others. This ruins my image of Sora's character, and makes me despise BBS for bringing something like this in. So those aren't all my issues with the story, but it's the general idea. The fact that characters are boring and uninspired, and the fact that it messes up my image of Sora, the main character I actually (used to) liked, just makes me hate the story of BBS. I will give it this though; even though I don't like the direction it took, it does act as a decent explanation of what happened before the main story of KH1 and KH2, and why everything happened the way it did. MOVING ON TO GAMEPLAY: So remember those balancing issues in ReCoM that I said KH2 has fixed and almost mastered? Well, they screwed it up again for BBS, and even worse this time. The reason why I felt the game got more and more boring the more I played it was because that I realized there were certain commands that were so good, that there was no use for using any other ones. The notable ones are: Thunder/Fire Surge, Magnet, Mine Square, Ignite, Sleep. That's all you need to beat the game. No fancy big commands that take up 2 slots; why would you bother making those when something cheaper, easier to make and find, is better in almost every way possible? Using the argument of "just don't use these commands" is a bad argument because the game offers you these options, therefore expects you to use it. What's more, is the fact that the game turns UNPLAYABLE on difficulties like LV1 Critical Mode without these commands. It's like the game is edging you on to spam these certain commands, just to make the gameplay more repetitive and boring. The reason why ReCoM doesn't suffer from the same problem is the fact that the game is playable with restrictions; opposedly, BBS turns impossibly tedious and difficulty without these overpowered commmands. The more I play this game, the more boring it gets, because of the fact that I'm just repeating the same actions over and over and over again, just to avoid dying on higher difficulties. Underneath all these types of commands that you can create and use, only few are useful for actual gameplay. The game gives you a false impression of how much combat option you have, and that, to say the least, kind of annoys me. Just a bit. Complex AI from KH2 is completely gone. Bosses randomly retaliate for no reason. Vanitas, one of the most infamous for this issue, is a stupid fight. Why? The fight goes like this: hit once-twice, dodge. Wait for opening, hit once or twice, dodge. Wow, what a fun boss that's so innovative. There is no strategy involved; you can't even learn from experience because the entire fight is completely random. That's just one example of the AI complexity being gone, but you can see how majorly it affects the gameplay. The fights went from strategic and adrenaline rushing to a clusterf*** of attack a few times, dodge, attack a few times, dodge....and all this makes you want to use these overpowered commands even more, just to end the fight quickly so you don't need to sit through this reptitious bull****. BBS makes me angry as you can see (lol), because, like Days, its combat system and story had so much potential, which was wasted in a badly designed and messy Command Deck. Unfortunately, the Command Deck doesn't stop here...a few other KH games after BBS seems to have also fallen in love with this system. KHRe:Coded I've actually never played Re:Coded before. Yeah I know, I know, there's gonna be thousands of people at my house's front door the next day burning my house down, "YOUR NOT A TRUE KINGDOM HEARTS FAN, HOW DARE YOU CALL YOURSELF ONE OF US?!?!??!?!" In all seriousness though, because I haven't played the game, I can't exactly judge it. However, from what I've heard, Re:Coded actually does the best job with the Command Deck in any KH game we've seen so far; it's far more balanced than the other KH games with the Command System, and actually has some interesting Commands. The story is the story, and yes, I know its insignificant and has little to nothing to contribute to the actual lore of Kingdom Hearts itself. Sooo that's that. Nothing more to say, as I can't exactly judge for myself. Maybe one day I'll get my hands on this game and play it, and then I can make a final judgement about how much I like/hate the game. For now though, I'm gonna keep silent. KHDDD Ohhhh boy. Dream Drop Distance. This game is a woozy, I'll tell you that. It also happens to be my least favorite Kingdom Hearts game! WOO! Basically, imagine all the issues I have with BBS. Then add "Confusing and stupidly complex story", "screwing up my image of Sora even more", "even WORSE balancing issues than BBS", and "even WORSE Boss AI than BBS", and you have Dream Drop Distance on a silver platter. I'll try to make this brief, as I explained most of my issues with the Command Deck I had in the BBS section. STORY! Time travel. Why why why why why. WHY OSAKA. WHY WOULD YOU INCLUDE TIME TRAVEL. Time travel was NEVER hinted at before in any games, so therefore, its a great element to add to the story right? No Osaka, it makes it seem like you're desperately grasping on to an idea just to extend the story even more. The complexity of the story in DDD is absurd, and even I, as a seasoned KH player who has played MOST of the games in the series multiple times, barely understand what's going on. There are plotholes, inconsistencies, and nothing makes sense. The story worsens my image of Sora further. So it turns out he isn't a Keyblade master after all. HAH. I've been playing as a joke the entire series? Thanks Osaka, really appreciate it. So according to DDD logic, you need to take the "Mark of Mastery" exam to become a "true Keyblade Master". Otherwise you're just a wielder. And anyone can be a wielder, as shown by the thousands in BBS. Oh yeah, also Lea is a Keyblade Wielder now. WTF?! Sora conquered thousands of obstacles, saved the world multiple times, defeated thousands of Heartless, took down an ENTIRE ORGANIZATION of powerful Nobodies, and now you're telling me that he has to take a Mark of Mastery exam to be truely qualified? Must I remind you that Aqua became a Keyblade Master by attacking balls? This is absolutely ridiculous, and it reduces Sora to nothing but a normal person. And why would I want to play as a normal character with no unique characteristics anymore? It's like they turned the "special-heroic Sora" from KH1 to a "BBS character", and that angers me to no end. Oh yeah, you know what else was never before mentioned in any games? Organization XIII had hearts. It was all a LIE. I'm not gonna even go into detail on that one, I think it's pretty self explanatory. GAMEPLAY! Balloon Balloon Balloon. No enemy can withstand it. No command is better. No combat option is better. Level 1 Critical is impossible without Balloon. Good game design Osaka, take BBS and make it even worse. Didn't think that was possible. Bosses all have brick wall now, meaning they cannot be staggered. They're like a chunk of rock, just sitting there taking damage and attacking. This prompts you to use Balloon even more, because Balloon is like one of two commands in the entire game that has a high stagger rate. It's as if Osaka team was like "hey, lets create the game in such way that everything revolves around this one move, and that if you don't have it, then lol have fun dying." IT. DOESN'T. MAKE. THE. GAME. GOOD. *By Osaka, I'm referring to Osaka Team, aka the team in Square Enix that created ReCoM, BBS, DDD, and the HDRemixes. I also affectionately call them as "Downfall of KH-Team". I get a bit emotional when talking about DDD, because it pisses me off so much. So apologies for the anger, let's move on now shall we? KH1.5 HD ReMix KH1 is relatively unchanged, aside from the addition of EXP Zero in Proud Mode, which, as the name suggests, you don't gain any EXP with the thing equipped. This makes it possible to do a Level 1 playthrough of the game, and it is quite challenging, but also somewhat tedious as bosses can take a very long time to beat. It's pretty obvious to see that KH1 was clearly not designed around having to play at Level 1 (unlike KH2). Also KH1 has cutscene skips now, so that's awesome. ReCoM is unchanged too I believe, so nothing much to say there. Days cinematics was cool, although I wish they included some fight scenes in there. Luckily, they fix this in the 2.5 version of Re:Coded. One thing that does bother some people however, is the stability of the game. In the JP version of KH1.5, 1FMHD is very prone to crashing. This isn't a disc problem like some people claim it to be; it happens in all copies of the game. It's pretty obnoxious to most people, especially if they made a lot of progress without saving. All this is a result of poor porting and just carelessness/laziness from Osaka Team. KH2.5 HD ReMix 2FM has finally been released in America, and now every gets to experience the full glory of this wonderful game. Unfortunately, the game is plagued with crashes, glitches, bad loading, bugs, and instability. Sure, they're minor issues, and most likely won't interfere with most people's view of the game, but it still does take away from the full experience that KH2FM gave to players. Flaws, however minor, are flaws nonetheless, and can be fixed through testing and not-being-careless. Once again, lazy porting from Osaka Team. I really wish they weren't in charge of KH3.... BBSHD retains its issues that the original PSP had, but it is an upgrade in graphics and controls are significantly better and more responsive. They also buffed EXP Zero in the game; due to complaints about Level 1 chip damage in BBS PSP, the HD version now has some hidden properties of EXP Zero, like in KH1. For example, certain combo attacks deal more damage with EXP Zero equipped. However, they did go a little bit overboard; to the point where certain attacks are so powerful that not even Beginner Mode can top it. If you've never seen Peter Pan D-Link's Swordbill finisher, look it up right now. It's pretty ridiculous. Overall, I like it way better than the PSP, but that doesn't eliminate its issues. Re:Coded movie was nice, and had some nice cinematics. Cool addition. KH2.8 HD ReMix One can only hope they at least attempt to fix the issues with DDD. And don't make it worse. If they nerf Balloon but don't do anything else, that'll make the game impossible to play on Level 1 and make it even worse. KH3! In my wildest dreams, this game tops KH2FM. But alas, only time will tell. And FINALLY, I am done. This is literally the longest post ever (I better get a world record for this); I was not expecting this to go on for so long, but here we are. I spent approximately 4 hours on it. Hope you guys have a fun read (or not because it's so long). Let me know of your opinions. With that, I need some sleep and rest for my fingers, peace ~

Let me preface this before someone tries to attack me: if you don't like long rants, then you might not want to read this. This will be quite long. Also I'm gonna be directing some hate, but all of it will be supported with reasons. Once again, if you love Dream Drop Distance and will probably kill someone over hating the game, probably not your cup of tea. Aside from that though, I'd love to see if anyone agrees or disagrees with me. I'll try and keep this pleasant and not too "anger-filled" ALso in case it wasn't obvious, yes there are spoilers for DDD. Now onto the thing that I want to address: Dream Drop Distance. Another Kingdom Hearts game that isn't KH3, but hey it's something, and it can't be worse than Re:Coded....right? Wrong. In case you haven't figured it out yet, DDD is by far my least favorite KH game. From my point of view, there are little to none going for it. Its story is crap, its combat is crap, and overall game was crap. Yes, I know I am going a bit overboard. I don't hate this game by itself, but I do hate it for being part of such an amazing series. Let's go on to story first shall we? Most would agree that DDD is the most confusing KH game by far in terms of story. What bothers me most is the single element they added into it; the thing that makes everything unnecessarily complicated, creates a ton of plotholes, and is just confusing and unpleasant in general. Most of you probably know what I'm talking about. Time travel. Really Square? Unnecessary complexity if you ask me, and definitely going to confuse first time players, even if they have a solid understanding of the KH story before this. First of all, let's address this ridiculous idea. Never before EVER mentioned in any other KH game, apparently you can time travel now. Square attempted to cover up plotholes by implementing these ridiculous rules of time travel (once again, never even hinted at before this game) of how you need to have a version of yourself at your destination, and how you can only go one direction in time, and how you can't keep your memories after returning to your original time...blahblahblah. All it is to me is a load of makeup BS that Square threw in randomly to prevent plotholes. Unfortunately, like all time travel stories, plotholes are aplenty. Not gonna go into details as that would take literally forever, but if you dont believe me, look some up. There are too many plotholes in DDD to claim otherwise. In addition to the time travel idea, they have this annoying thing of how suddenly, everyone is a keyblade wielder now. The idea of a legendary thing, a chosen one...and now everyone is suddenly the "chosen one". This is like Dragon Ball Z all over again. Remember when Goku first turned into the legendary "Super Saiyan" that was only said to be in myths? And then suddenly, within 10 or so years, 7 year old kids can turn into Super Saiyans by having a small sparring match with their mothers. It degrades this "legendary" status, and makes it seem like its worth nothing. To be fair though, BBS kind of did this too which bothered me, but it was really in DDD when Lea somehow manages to magically summon a Keyblade when I just stood up, and said "F*** this I'm done". Don't get me wrong; I like Axel/Lea as a character. In fact, he's debatably my favorite character in the series. But now, you're telling me that this legendary weapon that chooses its owner, this amazing thing that we got in the original KH1 that was supposed to make Sora, the protagonist, special, is nothing but a plaything that anyone can get? There NO reason Lea should be able to wield a keyblade. I don't care what BS explanation Square pulls on this one, like "oh he has a strong heart" or "he's somehow related to ____". It's all to cover up for the obvious mistakes they've made. This makes me realize: the main character is not special for being able to wield a Keyblade. I've been playing as literally an ordinary person. He's not even a master (despite being called one several times in the original KH); simply a wielder. And that's not special because anyone can wield a keyblade nowadays. You see what I'm getting at here? DDD took something amazing, this legendary "chosen one" status, and degraded it to just a normal person's toy. I LOVED playing as Sora as a kid in KH1 and KH2. He was a hero! He was the Chosen One that can wield a legendary weapon that will instantly vanquish darkness! ...but now, it's nothing at all. Anyone can have it. And that upsets me to no end. It's pathetic, and ruins my image of Sora forever. There is nothing intriguing about the protagonist anymore, so why should I even play as him? What makes it worse is that Sora isn't even considered a master after all the feats that he's done, because apparently he's been trained in the wrong way. Let's see...Sora defeated Ansem, a powerful heartless that threatened the destruction of all worlds, defeated 13 members of powerful Nobodies that each had their own unique set of skills, and part of this included Xemnas, the most powerful nobody of all, that had literally ABSORBED the power of an artificial Kingdom Hearts created from THOUSANDS of hearts. He rode a ship through space at light speeds, defeated a giant Dragon, defeated Xemnas like 5 times, took down 1000 heartless by himself, saved the world countless times, and you're telling me he's not a master because of some stupid exam you have to take? For godsake, Aqua literally became a Keyblade master from hitting balls. I think I've ranted on enough about the story for now, since I have so much more to talk about for gameplay. Ahhh good old gameplay. Let's get the good stuff out of the way first shall we? Well, the music is nice. Not the best in the series, but still not bad. The graphics are pretty good for a 3DS game. The controls are decent enough with the circle pad pro. And Flowmotion, in my opinion, even though it kind of breaks platforming, is a pretty cool mechanic that makes movement fun, and I'm excited for it to return in KH3. I liked the big worlds, although a lot of it is a bunch of empty space...I still appreciated the feeling of exploration. Unfortunately, that's pretty much everything redeeming I have to say for gameplay. First issue: Balancing This one you've probably heard a lot. It's an issue in BBS as well, but it's way more obvious in DDD. By balancing, I mean there's one single command in this game that will be automatically the best for any situation ever, no exceptions. Whether if its a mob enemy fight or a tough giant Dream Eater boss, or a powerful "human" boss...the Balloon family will completely destroy them. There is NO boss in this game that resists Balloon, its damage output is absolutely INSANE, and its reload time+cost+how early you can get it (literally before the first boss) completely breaks the command and makes it the best in the entire game. For every single "no damage" or "speedrun" you can find of DDD, you'll see Balloon...and Balloon...and Ballooon.... What happened to the beautiful combat options from, say, KH2? What happened to your fancy combos that you can change up, your Magic, your Drives, your summons, your limits? All these combat options, all with uses for different situations, and all gone. Now, you're just spamming one command to win. It makes the game boring and un-fun. The game doesn't take skill anymore; it just takes patience and having a strong thumb to spam Balloon. Also, saying "just don't use Balloon" is a really crappy argument to make because: 1. The game literally gives it to you as an available option to attack, so there's no reason to exclude it if its the game's intention. 2. Playing the game without Balloon makes it even worse believe it or not; bosses on Level 1 Crit literally become impossible. Good game design Square. It's like they purposely made the game around spamming Balloon just to troll us. "Hey lets put in a really difficult mode, Level 1 Critical. Let's also make the game insanely hard/impossible to beat on that mode, and put in a super overpowered command so they can just spam it over and over again to win. WHOO SOUNDS FUN" Wouldn't surprise me if that was an actual thing. Second Issue: AI Complexity The bosses' AI in this game sucks. That's it. Now I know what some of you are thinking: "Oh no, he's gonna go KH2 nerd on us and bring in Revenge Value and Flinch Count and all that random computery crap." But the thing is, those were very good game design choices in KH2 that I applaud. It made fights interesting; it gave bosses openings, forced you to learn them and time to so you can attack and not get hit. You get better from experience and attempts, and gives you a feeling of satisfaction when you finally win, because you LEARNED something from that fight. Meanwhile in DDD, we have absolutely no system of Revenge, bosses just randomly retaliate. For the most part, the game goes like Balloon>run away>hope you don't get hit by a random retaliation>Balloon. And maybe a cure when necessary. There is zero skill involved, and just doesn't give you the same feeling of satisfaction like KH2 does. When you win, its more like "wow I can't believe I spent 20 minutes spamming Balloon" instead of "AWESOME I BEAT THAT FIGHT BECAUSE I LEARNED SO MUCH ABOUT THE BOSSES' PATTERNS THROUGH EXPERIENCE!" For me, this was a huge downgrade, and ABSOLUTELY inexcusable because the game before it literally had a better system in every way possible. Also, enemies don't stagger. I understand this for giant bosses, but normal enemies literally don't get staggered by your moves in DDD. It's like they're a wall, and you just attack them to inflict damage. This not only makes things super annoying, because enemies can randomly retaliate in the middle of your combos which should TECHNICALLY stun them and render them defenseless, BUT it just makes you want to use overpowered commands like Balloon even more, instead of normal attacks/other commands, since Balloon is one of the few commands that can force enemies to stagger. As if it wasn't powerful enough. I can't emphasize how annoying all these issues add up to be. The story is subpar at best with stupid concepts that feel rushed and made up at the last minute, and it's confusing and full of plot holes. The main character is nothing anymore, he's not special or the "Chosen One", just another one of those hundreds of people who can wield this weapon. The gameplay is once again below expectations, because of the unbalancing and horrid AI. The game is not fun to play at all. If I play on Beginner mode, I destroy everything too easily. If I want a challenge, I can't even get one since I'll just spam Balloon to win. If I restrict myself from spamming Balloon, I'll make the game boring and tedious. Bosses would literally take up to hours for me to beat, because my attacks deal chip damage AND doesn't stagger them. Which means the fights go like "One hit>run away and hope you don't get hit". So yeah this is probably the most I've ever typed in my life and my fingers are absolutely dead. Soooo for those of you who didn't read, I'll try and make a brief tl;dr: tl;dr: -confusing story, full of plotholes, main character has been downgraded to nothing special -gameplay is unbalanced, boring, tedious, AI is awful -a game made literally 6 years before this game is better in almost every single way (KH2), which is unacceptable. Welp I think i'm finally done, and if you do read the whole thing, I will be very impressed. Aside from that, I'll see you guys later. Let's see if we can get some interesting discussions on here.

I will explain time travel in Kingdom Hearts and how it works for those of you who don't quite understand it, or don't understand it at all. I hope this helps anyone who was confused with how it was explained in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. (This is a part of my "Explained" series of posts. To view my "Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed, and Dream Eaters Explained" post, click here, to view my "The Braig/Xigbar Situation Explained" post, click here, and to view my "The Realm of Sleep Explained" post, click here.) What is time travel in the Kingdom Hearts universe? Well, it's like time travel from any other game, movie, or show. It's where you leave your present-time and move either backwards or forwards to a different time. How does somebody time travel in the Kingdom Hearts universe? First, you must abandon your body and become just a heart. One way to become just a heart is to extract your heart with a Keyblade. Another method would be to become a Heartless, since Heartless are technically just corrupted hearts. Once you become just a heart, then you have the ability to move through time. Becoming just a heart also gives all versions of yourself from across time the ability to time travel. But, they're not actually able to do so without assistance from someone who actually has a time travel power. Just because you have the ability to travel through time, doesn't mean you're actually able to do so. You can only time travel if you are just a heart, or if you have the time travel ability plus assistance. I will elaborate what I mean by "assistance" later in this post. What are the laws of time travel in the Kingdom Hearts universe? You are only able to travel through time if there is a version of yourself present at the time you want to travel to. Also, you cannot change what is destined to happen. All that really means though is that you cannot change the future, because everything is already set in stone. Once you return back to your respective time, you will forget everything that has happened during your experience time traveling. However, these memories and experiences will be etched into your heart and could influence your decisions and the paths you take. Since you lose your memories after you get back to your respective time, there would be no point in traveling to the future to try and find out what happens. That is what we know so far about time travel in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Now, I will explain various characters' involvements with time travel. Terra-Xehanort Terra-Xehanort is Terra's body taken over by Master Xehanort. He apprentices under Ansem the Wise so he can further study the darkness and get access to things that could potentially help him further gain powers of the darkness. He steals Ansem's name and identity, then splits himself into a Heartless and a Nobody. His Heartless is known as the Robed Figure, and his Nobody is known as Xemnas. Robed Figure / Ansem, Seeker of Darkness The Robed Figure is Apprentice Xehanort's Heartless, as stated above. Since he is technically just a heart since he is a Heartless, he is able to travel through time. He goes back in time to Destiny Islands, where he meets a young version of himself. Now that Xehanort is just a heart, all versions of Xehanort throughout time have the ability to move through time. Not without assistance though of course. The Robed Figure gives/shares his time travel powers that he has from being just a heart to this Young Xehanort. Now, this Young Xehanort is able to time travel without becoming just a heart and without assistance. The Robed Figure then goes back to his own time (during the first Kingdom Hearts) and places himself on Destiny Islands. He marks the time traveling Sora with the Recusant's Sigil. The Robed Figure later possesses Riku and sort of molds/forms Riku's body into a body that's more to his likeness. Bodies are just as malleable as hearts. This amalgamate is known as Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Young Xehanort As explained above, Young Xehanort, and all other versions of Xehanort, now have the ability to move through time. And Young Xehanort is able to do this without assistance as if he was just a heart, because the Robed Figure shared/gave him some of his powers. He then goes through time and brings with him various versions of himself and some followers/vessels who have been loyal to him before. He gathers 5 versions of himself and brings them to the present-day. Those people are Terra-Xehanort, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, Xemnas, Vanitas, and Riku Replica. These are all people who are deceased in the present-time. Terra-Xehanort, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and Xemnas have the ability to move through time, because Xehanort became just a heart somewhere along his timeline (when he became a Heartless/the Robed Figure). They aren't actually able to do so though without assistance from someone who actually has a time travel power. Young Xehanort is their assistance, since he has an actual time travel power that he got from the Robed Figure. If someone has never became just a heart somewhere along their timeline, then they can't move through time even with assistance. Vanitas' and Riku Replica's hearts were also taken from the past by Young Xehanort, therefore giving them the ability to move through time due to being just hearts. Young Xehanort time travels to Destiny Islands during the first Kingdom Hearts. He is able to do this because the Robed Figure placed himself there. He follows Sora and Riku into the realm of sleep. Now that Sora is marked with the Recusant's Sigil and now that Young Xehanort is in the same time period as Sora, Young Xehanort is able to teleport to wherever Sora is and keep tabs on him. Master Xehanort Master Xehanort is the one who took over Terra's body, as explained above. He has returned to the present-day because Xemnas and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness have been destroyed, which are his Nobody and Heartless. Once someone's Nobody and Heartless are destroyed, the original person is revived. Since he was Terra-Xehanort/Apprentice Xehanort when he split himself into a Heartless and a Nobody, he was recompleted alongside Terra. Master Xehanort gathers with Young Xehanort, the 5 people that Young Xehanort had gathered, and the 5 other members who were turned back into being Nobodies again after being recompleted in order to be more suitable vessels (Xigbar, Saïx, Marluxia, Larxene, and Luxord.) Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (pt.II) Sora has destroyed him. Young Xehanort brings him back to the present-day. Xemnas Xemnas is the Nobody of Terra-Xehanort. He was destroyed by Sora. He has now been brought back to the present-day by Young Xehanort. Vanitas Vanitas is the darkness half of Ventus' heart given humanoid form. He was destroyed by Ventus, and returned to him. He has now been brought back to the present-day by Young Xehanort. Riku Replica / Dark Riku Riku Replica is a Replica of Riku created by Vexen from data of Riku. He was destroyed by Riku, and his broken heart and mind went to the Realm of Darkness. He has now been brought back to the present-day by Young Xehanort, but it's a version of him from shortly after he was created and before he gained any real memories and experiences of his own yet. Xion Xion is an imperfect Replica of Roxas created by Vexen who's identity was formed out of Sora's leaked memories of Kairi. She was destroyed by Roxas and her heart was absorbed into him. She has now been brought back to the present-day by Young Xehanort, but it's a version of her from shortly after she was created and before she gained any real memories and experiences of her own yet. Extra Info Xehanort's plan has been to gather 13 vessels that all would bear a piece of his heart inside of them. This was Xemnas' plan with Organization XIII, but a few of the members he had gathered were inadequate. This is what lead to the various new people that Young Xehanort had been gathering. He gathered 5 people and along with himself, Master Xehanort, and the 5 others from the previous Organization who had been turned back into Nobodies again after being recompleted, that makes 12 people. Their original planned 13th member was Riku, but he became immune to the darkness, so he was of no use to them, then they chose Roxas, but he became too aware of himself and returned to Sora. Now, they moved down the list to Sora. They were able to capture him, but he had been saved. And then, they ran out of time and those who were from the past had to return to their own time and those who were from the present-day teleported away. In Kingdom Hearts III, Young Xehanort time travels once more to our present-day and gathers the same 5 members he had gathered before from across time. But, this time, their hearts are put into Replica bodies in order to stay physically in the present-time and avoid having a time limit. Young Xehanort's heart goes into a Replica this time as well. And after doing some experimenting, they choose Xion as their 13th member. Also, when someone from another time gets destroyed, they just get sent back to their own time. Sora and Riku In the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Sora and Riku traveled back in time to the day Destiny Islands fell to darkness. They had the ability to move through time because both of them have become just hearts at one point in the first Kingdom Hearts. Sora became just a heart/a Heartless when he stabbed himself with the Keyblade of Heart, and Riku became just a heart when his heart was sort of kicked out of his body into the Realm of Darkness when he was possessed by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. This caused all versions of Sora and Riku from throughout time to gain the ability to time travel. But, they weren't able to do so without assistance, so Yen Sid assisted them. Yen Sid used magic to send them back in time, which is a different method of time travel than Xehanort's method. Instead of becoming just a heart and going back in time to give a version of themself the time travel power in order to assist other versions of themself through time, Yen Sid just assisted them by using time travel magic to send them back in time. Characters like Yen Sid and Merlin have time magic. But, Yen Sid's time travel magic still follows the rules of time travel that this post has been explaining. He could only send Sora and Riku back in time to a point in time where versions of them existed/were present. Sora and Riku are younger in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance simply because of Yen Sid's magic as well. He used his magic to make them younger again in order to sort of help with the whole starting over from scratch for the Mark of Mastery exam thing. They didn't inhabit their younger bodies contrary to popular belief. They didn't need to become just hearts in order to time travel, because they had the time travel ability plus assistance. Them becoming just hearts would've been a big mess as well. They would've turned into Heartless/Nobodies. Timeless River Merlin used his time magic to take Sora, Donald, and Goofy back to Timeless River. It's different from Xehanort's method of time travel and it's even different from Yen Sid's magical method of time travel. It bypasses all time travel laws. I hope this helped anybody and I hope it cleared up confusion that any of you had.

Okay so this is my first post/theory on this subject let alone this site. I’ve written a couple articles about this on Tumblr but I’d rather put my information on a site that actually matters! Now this may include some spoilers to those who have not played through Birth By Sleep, and this shouldn’t concern anyone who hasn’t played Dream Drop Distance due to the fact of the spoiler in the title. I would also like to include that I am sorry if someone else has covered this (I’ve never blogged before so) but I have my own spin on this theory that I saw others had mentioned. I just figured why not go into an in-depth study on the subject that I’ve concluded over years of playing through the series multiple times. Now, before we get started I will be implementing links to YouTube videos to jog some “unchained memories” (intentional pun) if players have forgotten some important scenes backing my theory. Ergo, more like citations in a research paper, I don’t own the videos, but will display them to back up my theory. I think that’s all I can warn you about, now let’s get down to business. (unintentional pun) Let’s start with the origin of this theory. The first video suggested to watch would be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVaHk-3geQg, provided by KH13’s YouTube channel “Old KINGDOM HEARTS channel”. In this video we see the way-finder trio training, and after Ventus gets his butt kicked by Terra, our three keyblade wielders sit down and have a chat about dreams and fluid body motions. In this important flashback, we see Terra give the keyblade oath over what soon becomes Ventus’ training weapon and keepsake. (Insert Heavy Breathing Cat here) That training, wooden, what some might think useless keyblade, is now enchanted so that whoever holds it, its wielder they shall one day be. Now assuming that this blessing only rubs off on the first person to use it, the blessing would rub off on Ventus. But our boy Ven can already wield a keyblade, therefor the blessing stays intact until someone who hasn’t come in contact with such a weapon can be bestowed with the power. And who would that lucky person be? Que video two https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvl_7OLug7Y taken from Youtuber “xxKHxx23 = New Channel!!” where we can see who inherits the keyblades’ blessing. In the first thirty seconds you can see that Lea picks up the keyblade, swings it around a bit, and the pact is sealed. Way to go Lea!! You just accidentally become a keyblade wielder! That will help you in the years to come, just like a lot of other characters in this game. But wait! Doesn’t someone else encounter this keyblade? Neverland ring any bells? As you see in this video by “Joshua Orro” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlf8Y-PU1hY, (Check the 9:30 minute mark till end) the training keyblade is left in a chest with a bunch of other relics that are special to Ventus, Peter Pan and the lost boys. Does this mean we can expect them to be running around with keyblades? Simply put, no. Why? No one is shown grabbing the keyblade in that cut scene, and even if someone did years down the road, the blessing is gone. From the way it looks, once the blessing of the keyblade oath is bestowed to someone, the enchantment is lifted from the keyblade and cannot return unless it becomes somehow re-enchanted. And since it looks like a keyblade can only obtain the blessing from a master, that doesn't look like it will be happening anytime soon. Or maybe it’s a one time thing all together, maybe once it’s been used on a certain keyblade, it can never be used again for the same purpose, on the same keyblade. Either way, praise God that we wont be seeing the Neverland crew running around with such a weapon. In conclusion, it seems like that’s all there is to it! I hope you all enjoyed the read, and I actually have another post that will coincide with this one concerning Terra being an unofficial master. That of which I wanted to include in this post! But I worry it has become too long and people will stop reading half way through. If I missed anything or did something wrong feel free to inform me, as this is my first post, and I look forward to getting feedback. I hope that you all have a great day, and just know how important you all are, for we are the only ones that can fight back the darkness.

As some of you may know I made a thread when 2.8 was first announced regarding the possibility of finally getting the backstory in detail of the fall of the apprentices and how Isa and Lea fell . Since this backstory is in direct parallel to the events in 0.2 it made sense to suggest these cutscenes might be shown there. Now that we know the length of this is gonna be equivalent to one world this seems less likely even though it's still possible. We don't know if this one world length is referring to gameplay only or gameplay plus cutscenes. However, regardless this is disappointing. Pondering this, another thought occurred to me. It's also been confirmed there is a possibility of new added extra content to DDDHD in 2.8. If this happens there could also be the possibility of added cutscenes similar to previous final mix versions since if there is gonna be a "final mix" version of DDD it only makes sense to add it to 2.8 whether they actually call it a final mix version or not. If this happens, it is also possible to show these org members backstory flashbacks here. It's also possible we will have to wait until KH3 for this. It's also possible that this part of the story will never be shown and that's my biggest fear. It's one of the most asked questions fans still have. We deserve to know dammit! What are your thoughts on this?

Hey guys we recently just finished Episode 2 of the Kingdomcast its up and now available on iTunes, Android and If you have a computer we even have an RSS Feed. To Subscribe on iTunes/Iphone/Ipad/Itouch/Ipod - iTunes To Subscribe on Android - Android To Subscribe via RSS or Email(if you don't have a cellular device) - RSS , Email To watch the Youtube Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyHHBF7JqPA Description of Episode 2 - In this episode we talk about the recently announced Kingdom Hearts 2.8 and Also the news given out about Kingdom hearts 3 in Tetsuya Nomura’s most recent interview! Noel and Jason also discuss various topics including the KH battle system and how its evolved and What disney / pixar worlds may or may not appear in KH3. In addition we have returning members such as Aaron from Episode 1 and new members including Aliahsan, Gilbert, NB, and Holo Fantasy!. Wanna be a part of the next KingdomCast Episode? Its simple just message either Jason(Masterfreakse) or Noel(Noel Hearts) on KH13.com. Alternatively you can Message me or noel on our respective twitters. Jason(@thedailyhype1) Noel(@NoelSenpai) or even at @Kingdomcast13. We hope to hear from and hope you enjoy being a part of the community!

Given that Kingdom Hearts 3 is most certainly looking like a 2017 title, when do you expect to see Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 hit our shelves? Recently, Nomura stated that Birth By Sleep 0.2 - A Fragmentary Passage - would be the length of one Disney world, which is admittedly about 40 minutes to an hour in length. It has been mentioned that Dream Drop Distance is pretty much being remade in terms of gameplay aspects, since the 3DS played the title on two screens which could mean that an early 2016 release is unlikely, but still possible. Given these factors do you think an early 2016 release is likely or are you more keen on a Winter 2016 release? For me personally, I would much like an early release next year since a Winter 2016 release would really worry me as to when Kingdom Hearts III would get a release... Winter 2017 is a chilling thought.