KH News and Challenges

Bringing you Kingdom Hearts news and new ways to challenge yourself

[andrewskhblog]

The Kingdom Hearts Level 1 Experience (KH1/Part 1)

Sep 5

Have you ever looked at a Kingdom Hearts game and thought it wasn't hard enough? Well, guess what? I did it again. I've made it my mission to finish every single Kingdom Hearts game on the hardest difficulty at Level 1. Today's victim (let's be honest, I'm the victim here) is Kingdom Hearts 1 for a Proud Level 1 run.

I'd have to say that this game is one of the tougher games to do a Level 1 run for because the game really wasn't made for a low-level run. Despite that, it's actually been pretty interesting to run through for the first time. So let's get started...

As is the case for a lot of people, my first big roadblock was the Guard Armor fight. I hadn't faced him in a while so I wasn't used to all the moving parts. I died a fair amount of times to the limbs flying every direction as well as the torso's spinning attack which I just couldn't get the timing for. Eventually I got it and moved straight to Deep Jungle to earn that sweet, sweet Cure spell. I also went to Wonderland and Olympus Coliseum to get Blizzard and Thunder.

Now this cretin gave me a real-life headache to face. The Clayton and Stealth Sneak tag-team fight is easily the toughest boss by this point, no exceptions. It took a dozen tries just to get the pattern down and even have a chance at winning. My heart was definitely racing by the time I finally beat this jerk. But I finally got Cure and this run just got a lot easier. After I cleaned up Wonderland and Olympus, I sealed Traverse Town's keyhole after a first try win against Opposite Armor and moved onto Agrabah.

I'd say that the only thing that gave me trouble in Agrabah was the Pot Centipede. The amount of Pot Spiders was just too much for a while. After the Pot Centipede, I basically moved on to complete the world. Would you believe that I beat the Cave of Wonders guardian first try? I didn't either. Cave of Wonders, Jafar 1, and Jafar 2 were all first try victories. That marked the end of my first play period as I went into Monstro.

As I'm going through my adventures through these Level 1 runs, I'll keep a running tally on different things like how many deaths I've had or how far I am into the game (Sorry that they're not specific I didn't think to categorize EVERY death when I started). So, for some statistics:

Worlds Completed: Traverse Town 1st and 2nd visit, Wonderland, Olympus Coliseum (after Cerberus), Deep Jungle, Agrabah

Total Deaths So Far: 36

Deaths Since Last Post: 36

Most Died-To Fight: Clayton & Stealth Sneak

Deaths To Fight: 12?

With that, hopefully this Challenge Chronicle is something that you guys like and I'll be sure to post more on it in the future. Friday's post will likely be KH1 Proud Level 1 Part 2. Depending on demand (If there even is any), I might do more than one game at a time and take turns chronicling them for this blog. Look forward to more in the future and I'll see you all then!

[andrewskhblog]

The End... for now

Nov 27

If you didn't know already, this Tumblr page has been the result of a school project that I started back in August. And, unfortunately, this is going to be my last post that falls under this project.

I gotta say that this Tumblr was much more successful than I ever could have hoped for. 10 notes on a post might not seem like much, but that amount being my best post for a Tumblr that just showed up is something that I'd consider incredibly successful.

So, I want to thank everyone who checked out any one of my blog posts and either liked, reblogged, or commented because I really do appreciate it. You all have made this a much more genuine and enjoyable experience to do knowing that people would be seeing the things I wrote.

I got some of that just the other day. The Twitch streamer that I dedicated a post to, Tatsoomaki, recently found it and let me know just how much he appreciated it. His reaction made my day just as much as my post made his.

So thanks again. This blog is pretty much over for now, but maybe I'll come back at some point in the future on my own time.

And...

I haven't forgotten about my KH1 Proud Level 1 run that I started at the beginning of all this. The finale WILL come out sometime before the end of the year. I'll make sure that it happens, so please look forward to that. See you all then!

[andrewskhblog]

When Will the Kingdom Hearts Series End?

Nov 27

A little bit heavier than my previous discussions, but it's something worth talking about. The Kingdom Hearts series, and story by extension, has been around for 20 years already. It's been 20 years and we're just starting a new saga for Sora and the crew

So, when will the kingdom hearts series end? One of the more likely answers is whenever Nomura believes that he's done all he wants with the series and is ready to put it to rest. The next option, while somewhat morbid, is when Nomura goes to the Final World, leaving the series in a limbo or abrupt finish. However, they could and probably would just have a different main director to direct the series forward.

The last question is when the story is going to end. Will the Lost Master's saga be the final saga? Or will there be a third saga and even beyond? I hope that I can live long enough to be able to see this series come to its satisfactory conclusion. And hopefully you can too.

[andrewskhblog]

What Order Do You Play the KH Games In?

Nov 20

My friend recently got the 1.5+2.5 and 2.8 bundles for KH, and he asked me one day what order he should be playing the games in.

I immediately, as every other Kingdom Hearts fan should answer, said to play them in release order because that order that we got that information about the series is important for not falling down the rabbit hole of "KH plot is confusing" memes.

Originally, he was talking about playing Birth By Sleep first because it's technically the first game chronologically (not counting KHUx or Dark Road of course), but made sure he didn't start with that because BBS already assumes you know a good bit about the series and its inner workings (keyblades, certain characters, darkness).

If I recall correctly, the bundles are set up in release order when you load them up so going from one game to the next is easy to do.

So if someone ever asks which order they should play the games in, if they want to know what's going on, they should start from the first one and go in release order. Even if they don't want to put that much time and effort into it, they should at least watch the cutscenes of those games in chronological order.

[andrewskhblog]

What Button do You Bind Cure to?

Nov 20

Yes, this is important.

This is sort of like one of those "F**k your zodiac sign, xyz" memes where people judge you for fun based on what you prefer for a topic.

Since there aren't exactly many options, I've heard that people use any of the 4 buttons that you can bind it to.

Personally, I actually bind Cure to a different button in every numbered KH game which is probably strange.

For Kingdom Hearts, Cure is bound to X/A

For Kingdom Hearts II, Cure is bound to Triangle/Y

And for Kingdom Hearts III, Cure is bound to Circle/B

Strange as it may be, that's what's sort of worked for me when you factor in the other spells and my playstyles in those games.

So what do YOU bind Cure to?

[andrewskhblog]

When Are We Getting Missing Link?

Nov 13

According to the trailer that was shown during the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary event, Kingdom Hearts Missing Link was set for a closed beta test in 2022. As of this point, it's the middle of November and so far, we haven't received anything more on when this closed beta is coming out. So what happened?

From what I've heard, Square Enix haven't always been the most informative when it comes to news on their mobile games. The most recent example of this is the Dark Road finale. The entire rest of it was essentially dropped on us shortly after the event.

This all makes me think. How close to the end of the year is this potential release date going to be? Will it just roll over to 2023 without any prior notice? My wild theory is that Square Enix is going to start Missing Link on December 31st JUST so they can say that the closed beta test began during 2022. And honestly, it's not unlikely.

What do you think? Will we get the closed beta test in 2022 or 2023?

[andrewskhblog]

Data Org Fights: KH2 vs KH3

Nov 13

The Data Organization is a post-game set of superbossfights that really tests your battle skills. As the name suggests, you fight a fake version of Organization XIII. They're usually faster and tougher versions of the boss fights that you face throughout the game. They each have their quirks, but I feel like KH3 did the data org better. Not just because it's an improved version from KH2 because plenty of people still would consider the KH2 data org as the better one.

In KH2, the data org fights only seemed to add more health to the fight or give the boss less openings in order to create difficulty. You'd rarely, if at all, see any new moves. In KH3 however, most of the fights have new moves from when you fight them in the Keyblade Graveyard. Some didn't even have real fights in the first place which gave them the opportunity to make a fresh boss fight (ie. Luxord, Saix, and Xion). Master Xehanort even got most of his fight reworked. The fights also seem more fluid. In addition to the smoother combat, the moves you're trying to dodge also seem more consistent and are cool to execute counters for. In KH2, a lot of it seemed stuntedor you'd just use reflect until it knocked the boss out of their attack.

I'm curious to hear what other people think about this. Which data org do you think is better?

[andrewskhblog]

Talking About the Ultima Weapon

Nov 6

The Ultima Weapon in Kingdom Hearts has a very similar function to that which is seen in Final Fantasy games. A weapon that you have to complete some Herculean task to unlock which makes your character a lot stronger compared to using any other weapon.

Kingdom Hearts has had some interesting ways to earn the Ultima Weapon throughout the series. We're going to explore some of those now:

The numbered titles have the same way of obtaining the Ultima Weapon, even if they are slightly different based on the game: Item Synthesis. In KH1, you unlocked the ability to craft the Ultima Weapon after synthesizing all other items. In KH2 and KH3, you can craft it after obtaining the Ultimate Recipe and you had to collect 7 Orichalcum+ which involved you doing many different things in the game to obtain them.

The non-numbered games are a bit different, and you usually obtain these Ultima Weapons after beating the main story. In Chain of Memories, you could get it from a chest after beating both Sora and Riku's story. In Birth by Sleep, you got it from winning the final match in the Mirage Arena. In Re:Coded, you got it as a reward for a post-game system sector. And in Dream Drop Distance, you earned it after defeating the secret boss.

358/2 Days did it a bit differently, however. Instead of being a separate weapon, the Ultima Weapon was an equipable ability you put on your gear to raise its attack to +100 Strength. It can only be obtained by getting 255 Challenge Sigils from the game's challenge Holo-Missions, which is sort of weird, because you'd be past all of the difficult parts in the entire game and post-game by that point, but I digress.

It's interesting to see how the Ultima Weapon evolved through the series, in looks, usefulness, and how they're obtained. It seems given that KH4's Ultima Weapon is going to be obtained through synthesis somehow just like KH2 and KH3. I can't wait to see how it looks as well. All of the Ultima Weapons look awesome and it'll be really cool seeing the edgy (literally), colorful weapon that we get when KH4 inevitably releases.

[andrewskhblog]

Ranking Kingdom Hearts Games (Warning: Internet Opinion)

Nov 6

I'm going to do something that could anger people if I had any sort of large presence on the internet, especially in this community. I'm going to be ranking the Kingdom Hearts games from worst to best. I'm basing this off of how fun they are to play and how much I enjoy the story. Time to show how backwards my ranking is compared to other fans:

9. Re:Coded

8. 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage

7. Birth by Sleep

6. Kingdom Hearts

5. Chain of Memories

4. Kingdom Hearts 2

3. Dream Drop Distance

2. Kingdom Hearts 3

358/2 Days

I won't be giving contexts for all of these because I'm on a time crunch and the post would be too long. I will say however that 358/2 Days is my favorite because it has an amazing story in my opinion. The gameplay and number of things to do are some of my favorite facets of it. Even though Re:Coded is also on the DS and has fairly similar concepts, I enjoyed that game less than pretty much every other game.

So, feel free to share your ranking and/or tell me why you think BBS is a masterpiece and why I need to rethink my life choices.

[andrewskhblog]

Introducing New People to Kingdom Hearts

Oct 31

Getting people into Kingdom Hearts is no simple task. Since a lot of people hear about how confusing the plotline is and how many games there are for how many systems there are to play. However, that's not much of an excuse anymore. It's somewhat well known that this series is easier to get into than ever.

Since Kingdom Hearts III released on Xbox One, Kingdom Hearts has opened up to so many more people who chose Xbox and either don't want or can't afford a Playstation 4/5. Since then, the games were released on Switch (albeit on Cloud so does it really count?) and 1.5+2.5 and 2.8 released on Xbox. With essentially every Kingdom Hearts game on all modern platforms, KH is accessible to so many more people. If you're having problems getting into the series, give it a chance. The Story so Far on PS4 sometimes goes on sale for $20 which gives no excuse.

[andrewskhblog]

Have You Played KH 358/2 Days' Multiplayer?

The Mission Mode in 358/2 Days is one of the only examples of true multiplayer in the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Some other notable examples are link mode in the GBA version of Chain of Memories, tag mode in Re:Coded, and multiplayer in the PSP version of Birth by Sleep. Technically KHUx was also multiplayer, but it's been shut down so we're not counting it today.

Days is my favorite Kingdom Hearts game and I love doing everything that it has to offer. This includes the Mission Mode, but I've always had to do the solo mode. It kinda makes the point crystals worthless in the long run, but it's fun nonetheless. The rewards for completion are also really nice. Being able to play as any of the Org members + Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey makes this mode feel like the definitive multiplayer experience.

I kind of miss that experience. I played multiplayer Mission Mode with someone once before and it was amazing. Even though he wasn't very far in the game, it's something I've always wanted to do, maybe even with 4 players. I think it goes to show how a Days remake would let everyone know how great that multiplayer was.

Let me know if you've played Mission Mode with anyone else before. I'm curious how many other people have had this experience.

[andrewskhblog]

Quick Write on Chain of Memories

Oct 23

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories wasn't the most popular when it came out, mainly because it had come out on the Gameboy Advance rather than a home console. Later it was remade on the PS2 and then put on future consoles when 1.5 and 1.5+2.5 came out. While Re:Chain of Memories is a decent game, in my opinion, I'll be coming back to Chain of Memories on the GBA more often for a playthrough.

This could be nostalgia talking because it was my first or second video game ever and first Kingdom Hearts game, but I always seemed to enjoy playing the GBA version more than Re:CoM.

One criticism that Re:CoM tends to get is that it's pretty repetitive and that's valid because it used to be a game that was on a much less powerful device and now it's been upgraded in graphics but left the same gameplaywise to keep it consistent. There's just something about the art style on the GBA that makes it so charming and really satisfying to watch the animations for. Even though both versions are decently repetitive in their gameplay loop (which is appropriate in order to make a 10+ hour RPG on a Gameboy Advance), the way that the original Chain of Memories did it makes it seem more fluid than its newer counterpart.

Another thing for me is the fact that it's way too easy to cheese the entire game. As soon as you learn Lethal Frame, the entire game is pretty much over by that point. Make one deck for farming cards and another full of Lethal Frame sleights, elixirs, and cure cards and you're set to beat even the final boss. GBA CoM lets you vary your strategy a bit more on Sora's playthrough while not losing efficiency in defeating enemies. I think nostalgia still plays a big role in this probably...

But that's enough of my opinions. I'm always interested to see what people have to say about this game in particular. There's people who have played both versions, but there are also people who have played only one of the versions. I used to be someone who had only played GBA CoM and I'd say those are a rare breed! Feel free to let me know which version you prefer or what you think about any one of the versions that you may or may not have played.

[andrewskhblog]

Thoughts on a Kingdom Hearts Show or Movie?

Oct 22

Kingdom Hearts up until this point has been only consumable through video games. However, there's been more and more conversation about a show or movie potentially being produced. It makes you wonder if something like that would actually come out and turn out successful.

Recently someone had released the lost Kingdom Hearts pilot and since it's been taken down since then, it's easy to find it online still. It was a fun insight to what a Kingdom Hearts show could have looked like if Square Enix hadn't proceeded to keep making games past 2003.

I feel like a Kingdom Hearts tv show or movie released in 2022-2023 could be very successful. It could go one of a few ways:

A retelling of past Kingdom Hearts games

A remix of Kingdom Hearts stories

A new offshoot story entirely which is more than likely non-canon

Or even a continuation of the story (probably the least likely because it would make it fairly exclusive to people who are caught up

I can see the non-canon approach fitting the movie pretty well, and the first two working for a tv show. I think it would be pretty cool if it had a humor style to the manga. The manga has plenty of moments that would be funny to see animated.

ProdigyxCD made a good video discussing this topic. You should check it out.

[andrewskhblog]

Will KH4 be New-Gen Console Exclusive?

Oct 16

One of the cool things about KH3 was that it was on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. And it also released on PC later on the Epic Games Store. Since then, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S have been slowly being used more and more and it makes me wonder. Will Square Enix focus developing KH4 for the newest generation of consoles or will they do their best to include it on last generation consoles as well?

There are already examples of Square Enix games that are going to stay current generation like Final Fantasy XVI. After the whole series was released, it's likely that KH4 will also be released on PC at some point near the launch, but not everyone can afford a PC so we're talking about how this will affect those fans.

I can only hope that Square Enix will keep last gen consoles in mind when releasing KH4, but I feel like depending on when it releases (I'm predicting late 2023-early 2024), it'll probably be released only on PS5 and Series X/S consoles so that they can focus on making it the best game it can be.

What do you think? Feel free to let me know your opinions on what you want KH4 to be released on and the idea that we're probably not getting it on PS4/Xbox One.

[andrewskhblog]

The Challenge Run Harder Than Critical Level 1

Oct 15

Normally when you think about challenge runs in Kingdom Hearts, the first thing that comes to your mind is Critical mode Level 1. It goes without saying, however, that things can always get harder. You might be able to take down Yozora in KH3 at Critical Level 1 All Pro Codes Kingdom Key Only Heavy Restrictions while Blindfolded, but did you do it with one hand? Without sound? Didn't think so.

Anyways... The restrictions you can put on your run are fairly similar despite the game you play (No cure, no magic, weakest keyblade), but there's a couple of games where you can take advantage of some other mechanics to make your playthrough harder. And Dream Drop Distance is one of those.

One of the aspects that's unique to this game are the Dream Eaters. They give you battle partners, new commands and magic, abilities to help you stay alive. But what if you never had those to begin with? What if it was you Sora and Riku versus the Nightmares? Well that's what I started in my free time after finishing my Critical Level 1 run of it. I can tell you right now that it is easily harder than the Level 1 run.

In this challenge, you're allowed to level up (I'm not insane enough to do Level 1 in addition to this) but it doesn't help much. By killing off the Dream Eaters you're forced to recruit at the beginning of the game, you just made it so much harder for yourself. Those things that I mentioned before are things you no longer have access to. The best abilities in the game like Leaf Bracer, Second Chance, and Once More are gone. The strongest commands are things you don't have access to anymore. The hardest thing is making sure you're only facing a couple of enemies at a time because they can easily stunlock you. So many of the Nightmares have attacks that are faster than you so you need to basically be looking around at all times so you don't get caught and be unable to recover.

As of where I am now, I have only beaten La Cite des Cloches and The Grid with Sora and I'm already at 57 deaths in the middle of Prankster's Paradise. After 100%ing my Critical Level 1 file, I only had 258 deaths. If that's not telling that I'm likely going to double that total before I even get to the postgame, I don't know what is.

So if you want to feel more pain than its usual dosage, I recommend trying this run out if you have DDD. The limits you have on what you can use makes the moogle shop more valuable as more things unlock. You also have essentially unlimited munny because you can sell all food, toys, and dream eater pieces you collect. Have fun! or not...

[andrewskhblog]

Kingdom Hearts Crit Level 1 on a Time Crunch

Oct 9

What's the shortest time it's taken you to finish a Kingdom Hearts Critical Mode Level 1 run? A month? A week? How about less than a day? Well, that's what one Twitch streamer does from time to time and it's just as insane as it sounds.

Tatsoomaki, or Tatsoo on YouTube, is a Canadian KH streamer who has decided to undertake these challenge runs in a single sitting with little to no knowledge beforehand. He's done this for several KH games so far (those being KH1, KH2, 358/2 Days, Birth by Sleep, and Dream Drop Distance), and he's about to do it again for Re:Chain of Memories! He livestreams his entire runs on Twitch and these streams usually last 17+ hours.

It's really commendable watching him do these runs and it's really fun to be along for the ride in his Twitch chat. I tried to do the 358/2 Days Proud Level 1 run in One Sitting in tandem with him, but I checked out at the 14 hour mark. Not everyone has the type of endurance he has.

If you want to support him as he does his Re:Chain of Memories run on Friday, I'm sure he wouldn't mind! I know I'll be there. With that, look forward to the next post and hopefully the end of KH1 Proud Level 1 relatively soon. See you all then!

[andrewskhblog]

So... What exactly IS Kingdom Hearts again?

Oct 8

This is a question that I asked myself recently and a query on Discord got me a couple of answers. I was also wondering the difference between Kingdom Hearts's appearances in different games. Hopefully by writing this down I can understand it better and maybe help some other people.

So the first question we need to ask is, what is Kingdom Hearts? An easy answer to that is "Not what appears in KH1 or KH2." Those are the Door to Darkness and an artificial Kingdom Hearts respectively. From what I'm told, BBS's Kingdom Hearts is Xehanort trying to make a new Kingdom Hearts. KH3's Kingdom Hearts is Xehanort trying to fix the old Kingdom Hearts

What initially confused me was how Kingdom Hearts was described to be summoned in Dark Road. It seemed to clash with the X-Blade method from BBS and KH3. Either way, some sort of clash of darkness and light summons Kingdom Hearts and it's supposed to cleanse the darkness once and for all. Up to this point, 20 years in, we still haven't seen that.

As for what Kingdom Hearts ACTUALLY is/does. A reddit post from a year ago someone directed me to seemed to have put together very well. Kingdom Hearts is the heart of all worlds or "The World" as a collective which houses all of the worlds. Similar to how a world itself has a heart. However, that's just the most barebones explanation. I suggest you read the post for yourself to get a better picture than me just summarizing it. I'm still confused. What exactly is Kingdom hearts? : KingdomHearts (reddit.com)

Sorry for not getting this week's posts out on schedule. I've been pretty busy getting ready for school stuff. Hopefully the schedule will be back on track next week.