Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - The Turning Point

Don't let this distract you from the timeline where three kids tried to build a raft and sail to another world armed with three coconuts, two mushrooms, a single bottle of clean water, no navigation materials and a complete lack of understanding for when a storm might occur and end up dying at sea while Sora's mom wonders why the fuck she let him hang out with Riku to begin with.

Lowkey KH1 and CoM story/Sora doesn't get nearly enough props for making him an ACTUAL CHARACTER and not a cheesey shounen protagonist. Also adding the Naruto moment is how to make any statement badass.

One thing I noticed recently is how inconsistent the "meddling with the world order" rules are. In KH1, Goofy was hesitant in mentioning the heartless to the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland, which would've helped Alice in her predicament. But then he casually says to King Triton that they're after the keyhole, while also hiding the fact that they're from another world. Would've been much easier to just straight up state their business and ask for help. Goofy in KH2, while Jack Sparrow is in the room, says that they're from another world. Also, the whole idea of Traverse Town was that people who lost their world to darkness would somehow, if they got lucky I guess, end up there, therefore, revealing to those people that there are in fact other worlds. Word definitely got around after that.

You see Batman... my father was a Kingdom Hearts enjoyer and a fiend. Until one day he came home and asked my mother, " How many Xenanorts are they?" When she couldn't answer ... He did not like that. Not one bit.

As someone who played most of these games as a kid, I had the opposite reaction to gameplay. To me, KH2 was "Mash X and Triangle everything else is worthless" because hey, that's what KH1 taught me, why would I use these weird summons and limits and stuff? Then BBS came and I thought "Woah I can't mash X through! I have to use commands and shotlocks and stuff this is waaaay more complex!" It's only in the last year or so, looking at KH2 FM+ HD videos and speedruns, that I discovered what insane depth the game had, and how everything just fell into place. Unlike BBS which can ultimately devolve to Megaflare spam. So ultimately, I think at what age you play these games factors in a lot on how you feel about them, and I have to assume Square might be taking simplicity and general easiness/mindlessness to appeal to a core demographic of children that might have moved on years ago.

Personally when I first played the game, the relationship between the trio never felt exactly like the friendship of other trios in the series. However, what it did feel like was a sort of pseudo-sibling relationship. I felt that way particularly because I myself have been in school with cousins and siblings in the past, male and female, and felt a distinct similarity. Aqua's a doting sister type, Terra's a big bro, Ven's a tag along little bro, and they all have fun learning and hanging out together as a family in the keyblade wielder order, living under the same roof and all. But not in the exact same way as one would when palling around with friends from other homes who you can just do and say the most idiotic outlandish things with. And thinking of it that way; what the game portrayed totally made sense to me, and didn't feel "problematic", or forced. I never saw it as something the same as Sora, Kairi and Riku, or Roxas and friends, because straight away, it felt like another legitimate kind of relationship. So in essence, their relationship was never a flawed point for me. It may have made references to past trio's interactions, but in the end it painted itself as something clearly different, and it made sense.

It's funny actually. In Kingdom Hearts 3, they treat Keyblades as actual "weapons" that you can "Break", and which does actually happen. They totally messed up that aspect of the universe.

Kingdom Hearts convaluted story summerized: children at war ending up at a haunted graveyard lol

That broom scene is gold.

At first I was iffy about this video due to the length. But as I watched I wasn't even checking the time. You had me hooked for the entire video. You have a good argument and brought up fantastic points and the use of humour was awesome. Although I have one teeny tiny correction to make. Sora can wield the Keyblade because he was indeed chosen. Not due to Ven's heart residing within him. Don't worry about it, it's a common misconception. Nomura stated this himself in the KH1 Ultimania. Although this does go back to your point on how convoluted the story is when you have to dig through interviews to obtain certain facts. If anything it supports your argument even further because Sora is like the only wielder legitimately chose by the Keyblade and the rest either were trained to wield it or inherited it. I'd definitely recommend this video for any KH fan.

KH1`s story + KH2`s gameplay = Perfect KH game

I actually quite liked the concept that anyone can wield a Keyblade if their heart is strong enough. It sells the core idea of the series, that friendship and connections empower even the regular joes to greatness. I mean, the blades we see in-game were passed down, but that's just another version of the 'connections' we were talking about. The younger characters are carrying the will of past generations with them.

I honestly feel like I am the only one who really likes Aquas voice.

I think your reasoning of the keyblade not choosing people, and Sora not longering being special is a bit off... they even said in KH1 that Sora was just basically the delivery boy for Riku... the fact that Sora was able to resummon the keyblade after his whole friendship speech proves that the keyblade still does have choice. It's still the same old shtick. What I liked about Sora wasn't that he was the chosen one or anything like that, but that he was just an average kid in the first game, but grew to be so much more, whereas Riku was the golden child and technically the rightful chosen one. Even if BBS retconned that, it doesn't change the angle that Sora was a normal boy, who basically earned the keyblade instead of it being passed down to him. I guess you could argue he could summon ven's keyblade, but from what I understand he doesn't know how. He has the ability to wield one, but can only access it through certain means (like drive forms). And yeah, everyone getting a keyblade has totally undermined it's importance. Many of your other arguments I can agree with, just have to add my 2 cents.

All of the games after KH1, are the result of an otherwise brilliant game director making up the lore long the way, instead of planning everything out ahead of time. Lots of back-tracking, plot element recycling, and so forth....The Kingdom Hearts series is still very enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but to say that it's flawless and that nothing could have been done better, is just ignorant. Great video, sir!

Funny thing is that you described all the reasons Re: Coded is my favorite of the commands. Proper stun, toned down command attacks, good combos, and every keyblade having a purpose combat wise (even with minigame bosses). Past that story wise Data Sora gained his true keyblade not because inheritance but his growth and connection to others even in a data-based form making him someone you can connect to..

Holy shit, this was like a less ranty and more informed version of Sequalitis

My biggest gripe with this game was the weird difficulty spikes. The game had absolute horrible pacing. First 4 worlds piece of cake then all of a sudden you start getting wrecked by the unversed even if you would grind out 20 or 30 levels before then. Then the final bosses are bags of potatoes in terms of difficulty then the final bosses one shot you on any difficulty and have cheap attack patterns?? What the actual fuck xD

Regarding Terra being willing to believe Master Xehanort so easily: Terra knew that darkness was in his heart. He didn't ask for it. He had been trained only to accept light, and yet the darkness found a place in his heart. He probably didn't feel like he could ask his master about it and so when Xehanort offered him answers, it was only natural that he was open to it. For those of us who understand what it's like to be told that you have to be a certain way because it's "the right way" this kind of trust is totally understandable. Xehanort was kind to him and gave him the truth. The darkness inside us will only grow and become stronger if we avoid it and push it down. Darkness (like difficult emotion) has to be channeled and understood. We never defeat our demons, we only learn to live above them. The true genius of Xehanort, was that he exploited Terra's vulnerability and used the truth to manipulate him.