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It's me, Colin. I hope you had a nice holiday! A nicer one than I did, anyway, as I was coerced into playing 2002's original PS2 action-RPG Kingdom Hearts during part of the break. Though Magnanimous Colin is dead, and though I fulfilled 'the spirit of the deal' last year, I nonetheless went all-out, spending 25 hours with Kingdom Hearts and living to tell the tale. Did I like it? Actually, I kinda-sorta did. Or (at the very least), I definitely didn't hate it. Surprised? Me too. So maybe the holidays weren't so cursed after all. Nonetheless, I gathered two of our resident Kingdom Hearts fans -- Dustin and Brad -- to talk about my time with the game, reflect on the experience, and perhaps even tease more to come. What are you waiting for? Hit play already. Gwarsh!

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Adam Razak

This podcast's existence feels like a fever dream.

Michael McCoy

Glad this came out quickly and wasn’t saved for a future SS+, really curious to hear how Colin feels about KH1 🤣 Also, i’m gonna say it…KH1 > KH2

KYisLife

Merry Christmas, everyone!

KYisLife

I agree for nostalgia but not gameplay or worlds. KH2 improved on both imo. But nothing beats Simple and Clean for me.

Michael McCoy

Yeah I would say the gameplay and worlds of KH2 are better, but this is the point where the story really turns into a mess. It starts in CoM but really goes off the rails here lol. Simple and Clean on 🔝

Trapgunner

I remember being leery of square doing a Disney rog but trying it because I told myself if they could make a Mario rpg work then this can. I also feel ancient knowing Dustin played this in 2nd grade. I was a freshman in college.

yosh_wah

It’s time for KH2. Interested to hear Colin’s thoughts on KH1. But KH2 is really where it’s at.

Tristan Kimball

Glad to hear Colin enjoyed it! This was a fun listen

Cameron Sturre

Going into this spoiler cast with NO agenda or questions or anything is fucking insane. Such a wasted opportunity to actually press Colin on more aspects of the game. Instead this just feels like it meandered with no real point. Oh well, glad to see Colin finish it but yeah, feels like a bit was left on the table with this one.

Shadi Haddad

I was looking forward to this and was largely disappointed, but this is sort of the typical format of the spoilercasts/game discussions on SS+ versus say something on Summon Sign. I felt the FF7 Rebirth spoilercast was probably the best one they did with Brad having a format and going chapter by chapter. Felt like nothing got missed there.

Cameron Sturre

I agree - the rebirth spoiler cast was the most well done, largely because it was so comprehensive and structured. This just feels a little thrown together compared to what it could have been.

Dante B

Totally agree. I’m no super fan or anything but I have extremely fond memories of 2. It really is an Uncharted 1 to 2 style leap.

PairOfShuse

Nice to see you guys talk about kingdom hearts but I can’t believe there wasn’t any discussion about the Ansem reports

Lil Jimmy420

In my humble opinion Big C should just go to KH 2 next and skip chain of memories or just watch a lore video on it lol. Gameplay takes a huge step down with the card system plus 99% of people just played kh2 after the first one

yosh_wah

Based on all of the movies Colin mentioned were in his era, KH2 is now a requirement. It is the Assassin’s Creed 2 and the Uncharted 2 of Kingdom Hearts. Everything is more refined, fleshed out, and realized than the first game. You may be surprised, Colin.

BigDumbStupidIdiot

Kingdom Hearts absolutely has some of the hardest boss fights in any franchise. The secret bosses on Proud and Critical mode make you do some real soul searching

yosh_wah

Brad is so wrong about playing Chain of Memories next. Part of what makes KH2’s story even slightly engaging is not knowing what’s going on in the beginning, then after the end everything comes together, and then you should play Chain of Memories if you want more context. But I agree with Dustin. If Colin plays CoM first, then there’s no way he’s going to play KH2. Edit: In addition, the only mandatory games (in my opinion) are KH1, KH2, Birth by Sleep, Dream Drop Distance (kinda), and then KH3. CoM is fine, but you could watch a 5 minute YouTube video explaining the story. Same goes for 358/2 Days. And forget about Re:Coded all together.

MnTwinsfan92

Maybe since it is a 20 year old+ game they all didn't just play is the cause of that?

Anthony Palerino

Stoked to listen to this as someone who has never played Kingdom Hearts and never intends on playing it. Maybe this episode will change my mind…

zepplinmike

It’s always so funny to me when people of our generation hold up Disney’s Robin Hood as one of their favorites or one of the best. That is a pure nostalgia opinion, which is fine, but I challenge you to rewatch it now and think it’s very good. About 10 years back, my future wife and I did a watch through of most of the Disney animated films in prep for a Disney World trip. Robin Hood falls into the period of the studio defined by cost-cutting measures. The animation quality is crap compared with those from a decade before, it’s filled with reused animation frames and even reused characters (Baloo), and it barely has a plot. It really does not hold a candle to much of anything from the actually good eras of Disney.

Monkey D Luffy

30 minutes in and this episode so funny. Colin “why the fuck is Wakka here?”. Absolutely peak episode

Jackson Wilburn

I really hope Colin decides to play KH2 next instead of CoM. I think he will be surprised with how drastically improved the gameplay is. IMO no other games in the KH series comes even close

Jason Rose

Kingdom Hearts is a franchise I remember fondly and that I never wanted to play again. In retrospect, the prospect of having to slog through the front loaded Disney worlds sucks and you realize, they’re the worst parts of the game. Everything that’s great about KH is its own story and characters, the Disney stuff is just kid nostalgia that’s in the way. The further Kingdom Hearts moved away from its Final Fantasy/Square collab and embraced it being entirely Disney the worse it got, to me anyway. KH2 is a great game though, but the same rules apply

MambaForever

If Colin plays CoM he’ll never touch another KH game again. He should definitely just play KH2. The gameplay is so vastly improved and he doesn’t give a fuck about the story anyway.

Ray Millares

High impact interval training on an elliptical? Lmao I'm sure Colin meant high intensity interval training but I'd love to see what high impact means on an elliptical

Glen Yelenovic

Robin Hood not being in any KH game is an insane miss

Glen Yelenovic

I got up to Traverse Town back in the day and then realized I fucked up with the initial choices. I went on GameFAQs to look up the best options and restarted

Benjamin Pope

I will preface this with the statement that I enjoy Chain of Memories. Please Colin for the love of Nomura don't play Chain of Memories yet. Just play KHII as your next entry. Glad to hear you enjoyed the game overall.

lazer_josh

Giving the people what they wanted. 🤘🤝

Ryan Smith

Definitely don’t play chain of memories lmao just go to KH2

Michael Hebert

Early in the episode, Colin said something like, "The choices you make aren't inconsequential", what is he referring to? I haven't played KH and was waiting for someone to elaborate, but they never did. Something about levelling?

JoshM

Essentially, near the beginning you have to choose a weapon and pick dialogue lines at another point - different combinations can give different stuff as far as I’m aware (I didn’t realise until after I started and heard this lol)

Jack Fining

Never thought I’d see the day. 2026 about to be a year of all time

Ryan

Dustin - this entire Colin/Kingdom Hearts saga started with you. You’ve been the one nagging and grinding Colin down to where he actually beat kingdom hearts… and you didn’t come prepared with a single question?..