KINGDOM HEARTS TIMELINE - Episode 39: A Dark Proposal

So now that we've got a taste of this part of the Timeline, I'd like to hear your opinions on how it feels watching Sora traveling worlds in the Realm of Light and Aqua fighting her own weakness in the Realm of Darkness. The former was living his happy life and has suddenly found himself forced to take on a journey bigger than him; the latter's struggle never ended. Although Sora's ultimate goal is stopping the Heartless, both Sora and Aqua have a common objective—reuniting with their best friends. We all know that time flows slower in the Realm of Darkness, and I'm doing my best to keep Aqua as part of the whole KH1 adventure. In particular, 30 minutes of Aqua's gameplay corresponded to 4 worlds visited by Sora. The more we get to the ending of both the games, the darker things get, until Sora and Aqua will eventually reach the same place at the same time. Everything has already been planned and synced to make that happen. - Want to show your support and get more episodes released daily? Please have a look at my Patreon page! www.patreon.com/everglow Feel free to follow me on Twitter to get in touch with me! twitter.com/everglow8444

I'm noticing that some of Sora's behavior in KH1 is not what most people perceive him to be throughout the whole franchise. Usually people criticize him for lack of any character development and for his positive personality. But I'm starting to remember that Sora in the earlier Kingdom Hearts games goes against those arguments. When Sora first met Donald and Goofy, he wasn't happy due to the circumstances of not knowing where Riku and Kairi are. They had to practically force Sora to smile at all times. And in this part of the timeline, Sora shows signs of hesitation and lack of eagerness to help others. When Jiminy dragged Sora and others to help Pinocchio out, Sora questioned Jiminy and complained that he could have asked him first. And when Leon mentioned to Sora how he needs to seal the keyholes of worlds, Sora comments, "I don't know..." That is not like Sora in the later half of the Kingdom Hearts games where he is excited to help other's problems without hesitation. I think Sora has grown confidence and has unlocked his true potential of helping others by being surrounded by caring and thoughtful friends. That was why young Sora was able to keep Ven's heart safe in his, and that is probably why Sora has gained a huge confidence boost in the late half of Kingdom Hearts 1 and especially after Kingdom Hearts 2. This over confidence, in my opinion, is what caused him to not think carefully enough in DDD which lead him almost becoming a new Xehanort vessel and losing the Mark of Mastery exam.

Integrating Ansem the Wise's reports on his struggle in the darkness as a lead in to Aqua's own struggle is genius editing. Kudos!

It’s a pretty interesting contrast as we can see that the more Aqua talks to herself and keeps wandering, she’s starting to doubt herself. She even thinks the phantom clone is her darkness taunting her

Oh geez, I forgot how much story is packed in Traverse Town II. This is fun.

I see all these commentators complaining about Sora’s lack of appeal compared to “darker” protagonists. A brief reality check: Selfish motivations and tragic sob stories are a dime a dozen in the realm of fiction. It’s been done so many times over the past decades that the mold has become tried, tested, sometimes true, but mostly exhausted. Everywhere you look you see characters like Riku and Roxas, and even if they’re done well, it doesn’t change the fact that Anti-Heroes like them are simply not unique anymore. Sora represents a break from that exhausted mold, because it’s more challenging to create a character that has the capability to remain smiling and optimistic even with the whole world against him, and it’s even harder to make such a character compelling. I’m proud to say that his story has certainly captured my interest and I’m eager to see where his latest journey takes him and where he goes beyond that. And make no mistake, my younger friends, Sora has undergone some horrible and traumatic events. After all, it’s not everyday that you see a happy go lucky character like Sora willingly kill himself and come back to life minutes later. That leaves a mark on you no matter who you are, even if it’s not visible to everyone else. The “feckless neophytes” can have their say, but it won’t change the fact that Sora’s here to stay, in all his hero-like glory, and no matter how Kingdom Hearts 3 ends, he will continue to stay. If that’s not to your liking well, them’s the breaks. You can either learn how to tolerate it, or you can leave your complaints here, even if it won’t do anything to change anything.

Dang, it's such a contrast comparing this initial Sora/Riku reunion to the (imo, iconic) one in KH2. They have SO far to go, and it's such a treat to see them try to figure things out so close to the beginning of their journeys. Also, I've said this before, but re:opinions on the 2.8/kh1 juxtaposition, I think it's an outstanding move. Not only does it give us some gameplay variety (considering how KH1's moveset gives you a pretty limited palette when it comes to choreographing boss battles), but it'll make both Fragmentary Passage and KH1's endings REALLY resonate with one another. I'm thrilled that you've synced them up that way, and the inclusion of Ansem [the Wise]'s reports will make that encounter he has with Aqua later all the more poignant. Excellent job. Waiting eagerly for the next one! <3

I'm only two minutes in. I absolutely love the parallels you perfectly placed between Ansem the Wise and Aqua. "The distant days spent in that beautiful paradise are an illusion to me now." "Is this darkness, eating away at my heart?" It's moments like these which really make this incredible series feel like I'm watching a TV show; having things from separate games parallel each other and explain each other as well. An incredible job Everglow! And I have all these thoughts from just the first two minutes!

Man, it feels like it's all Donald's fault Riku abandoned Sora. Nonetheless, incredible episode, as always, Everglow! Looking forward to the next!

5:37 Four complete play-through's of Kingdom Hearts I with different levels of difficulty (Standard, Proud, Kingdom Key Only, no Items or abilities) and somehow I have never seen this scene before. How in the world did I manage to miss this every time?! Thanks for adding this in Everglow, looks like I still have more to learn from Kingdom Hearts.

Am I the only one who's sick of Sora getting so much flak for him not being as tragic as other KH heroes? He doesn't know about everyone and what they're dealing with at this point and what he does know, he selflessly does everything he can to help them.

If Donald had let Riku join them then the kh series would be very different.

I say you're doing a great job as you are putting Sora's adventures, Aqua doing her thing in the Realm of Darkness, and adding Ansem and Apprentice Xehanort's reports in the video. It's like as you are piecing Sora's adventures with Ansem's and Apprentice Xehanort's reports along with Aqua's time in the Realm of Darkness, you are taking time with Aqua to the very point of the very events shown later on in 0.2, that overlaps the events of the first game and 0.2.

14:32 Uh... Donald? Is your neck okay?

Am I the only one annoyed by the Guard Armor's color change? The purple scheme looked so much better and more fitting for the town.

Some people blame Donald for Riku running off, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have joined up anyway. The moment he saw Sora's keyblade, he felt jealous and maybe a little betrayed. He well-remembered Terra's promise that he would one day have a Keyblade, so the fact that it went to Sora instead probably left him confused. Throw in teenaged emotions and he would have run off pouting either way.

So Radient Garden was destroyed 9 years ago, only a year after BbS. So then judging by how old Zexion, Axel, and Saix seem to be compared to their BbS Somebodies that means Nobodies must age like actual people. So would that mean if enough time passes a Nobody can die of old age?

Phantom aqua's music is so good well done yoko

You know looking back on this. I remember when I first play KH1, during my second visit to Traverse Town, I skip over meeting Pinocchio and giving the book to Merlin, and went straight to the boss by accident. That was really stupid of me to do that because when I got to monstro, I was so confuse on how they met Pinocchio or why Sora is not that surprise to see Riku, that's when I realize I skip over a few thing in Traverse Town. I was kid I didn't like to read, all I wanted was to play my game!

I don't understand how Riku bought anything Maleficent said about Sora, when his attitude after finding him was clearly the opposite of what she said Sora was like..