Hi everyone! Thank you all so much for your continued support for the Re:Write project, and helping the video pass 11K views thus far. Later this month, I’ll be putting out a commentary for this series over on my Patreon, where I’ll also be answering any questions you guys have about the project. If you have a question you want answered, reply to this message or on the most recent post from my Community tab Thanks again and I’ll talk to you all soon! - Devon
I didn’t know how much I needed a genuine conversation between Sora and Xehanort where the two learn about each other, connect to their pasts, and come to understand one another. The conversation on the beach of Destiny Islands was so perfect…
This was amazing. I honestly forgot you had been working on this, and seeing the full compilation of what you had in mind come together really tugged at the heartstrings with the changes you made. It was also hilarious at moments for all sorts of reasons. But the remix of Don't Think Twice...HOLY SHIT, was I not prepared for that. It gave me chills. I was worried the voice acting was gonna make me cringe, but it came out great. I'm DEFINITELY gonna check out the Re:Write of Re:Mind. In the words of Master Xehanort: "Very well done."
okay I literally just started this video but the idea of LETTING YOU PLAY AS YOUNG XEHANORT is fucking brilliant (and the chess game being the dive to the heart replacement is also genius)
Okay I finished this and, it's so good. The voice y'all got for Master Xehanort is literally good enough to be in the game, and it's unbelievable how much just a little dialogue can transform the entire narrative and characters in the right way. There's so much substance to these characters that just wasn't touched on so it's cool to see how much you can do with it. Also that Don't Think Twice remix was badass. I think there's still more to be desired with Kairi's character but that's the fault of every other game doing fuckall with her basically, and this was an acceptable choice for what you had to work with. Loved this ❤
I’m just saying guys: Pre War: Riku & Lingering Will vs Terranort (Riku gains Lingering Wills spirit/armor/powers), Terranort escapes. Kairi, Axel, Mickey vs Dark Aqua. Kairi saving Aqua. Sora, Donald, Goofy vs Vanitas in Castle Oblivion. A race to Ven. KEYBLADE WAR. Everyone in the organization having a Keyblade because of their hearts being connected to Xehanort. Each member transforming theirs to fit their personality. Sora and Mickey vs Xigbar and Luxord. Luxord betrays Xigbar before he vanishes. Kairi and Aqua vs Larxene. Kairi getting justice for Namine. Sora and Axel vs Marluxia .Them continuing their fight from Castle Oblivion. Axel loses and is saved by Sora who defeats Marluxia. Riku vs Dark Repliku/heartless army provided by Ansem. Axel vs Saix where Axel wins without any help. Roxas and Riku vs Xion. While Sora chases after Xemnas who took Kairi. Ven, Aqua, Mickey vs Vanitas and Terranort. Mickey being there for his friends like he should’ve been all those years ago. Sora and Roxas vs Xemnas. Saving Kairi and Namine. Riku vs Ansem. freeing the spirit of Terra within Ansem’s guardian. Axel and Xion aiding later in the fight. Mickey vs Master Xehanort Sora and Kairi vs Master Xehanort while Roxas saves Mickey. Axel, Terra, Aqua, Ven join the group and have Xehanort outnumbered forcing him to summon Kingdom Hearts which summons a Heartless Storm… Meanwhile: Riku and Xion vs Young Xehanort . Xion defending a weakened Riku while defending herself for being treated like a puppet. Riku making amends for not saving her before. Final Battle: Everyone vs Heartless Storm. Guardians 7 vs Replicas. Sora Donald Goofy Kairi vs Goat Xehanort. Sora, Riku, Kairi vs X-blade Master Xehanort. The games battles needed more diversity. More drama. More unique character interactions. These final battles did not have HEART
I don't know how to put this; But you made the circumstances and experience of their demise (and subsequent return) before the final battle feel like almost a better version of the SSBB storyline against TABOO And that deserves so damn much praise, not to mention the rest of this honestly masterpiece in storytelling and tweaking the story so it fully utilises its narrative potential without so much cluttering. I have watched this in one go, and what you have here is so much better than spending 3 hours and 46 minutes finding 2-3 movies and watching them back to back
As a HUGE fan of the series i did find 3 a little lack luster after my second playthrough as my first was an awesome next kingdom hearts game and my second was to dissect the game as a whole. And i found that i enjoy the beginning part the end and found the in-between very...empty. this is a great way to think of the game to add some meat to it where it missed it in the original story and it has reignited my love for the series as a whole! Thank you for the work you've done i enjoyed it all!
It's not like I disagree 100% with your changes, but you forget one thing important to good writing and visual media in general: show, don't tell. Those dialogues usually reveal more than they should, even feelings and trains of thought. Subtlety is the way, even in Kingdom Hearts and those dialogues reveal things that fhe the player already knows and understands, for example everyone knows that Kairi is precious to Sora, it doesn't need to be spoken too.
Totally agree. But to be fair, options were pretty limited given the formate he had to work with. Data greetings have been pretty fantastic at reconstructing interactions between characters, but there’s a lot of emotional nuance that can be portrayed through actual animation that just isn’t possible with still figures. I think that obviously if we had the ability to recreate entire cutscenes from scratch, animation included, much of the dialogue would absolutely be conveyed in more subtle, unspoken ways.
Also Nonura has long term.plans ist arent aware of and he is teasing more to come for young xehanort The core of the Story is Sora and Riku People also dont seam to get how Nomura descripes writing kh like a Manga. Manga arcs normely end with the Start of the next one not a reset like her. Her its more like we dont knew if we Co Tinte but if Ut sells well we will and shows this creatour has no idea how Nomura works
Great. Now I cannot see KH3 the same way again. Because this feels like the canon version of what KH3 should be and will linger in my head until KH4 comes out. Nice job to you and all the collaborators involved. This is an amazing masterpiece indeed.
Bro this is like the third time I’ve watched this it’s just so good. Kairis death scene hits 100 times harder. I have my issues with KH3, but still overall like it same as you. I’d give a lot for this to be the actual game And Regular Pat as Young Xehanort??? Butter my egg roll.
what if, and hear me out, the trigger for Skoll manifesting out of Elsa is actually Larxene shattering frozen Anna into a thousand pieces (perhaps foreshadowing Xehanort doing that to Kairi). then there’s some time/ice magic that somehow justifies putting her back together after the wolf battle.
in encouraging/recruiting Elsa to fight with them, Sora says something like, “it’s not too late! I can still feel her heart. it hasn’t faded completely!” or something like when Riku tells Sora “they still have their hearts” in the KBG
Your version of kh3 is way more interesting than what we got in the game as my favorite was terra armor fighting with sora against terranort over it was wasted opportunity to not have that guy do more other than saving ventus in the original game
Gosh I wish we lived in the timeline where *this* was the version of Kingdom Hearts 3 that we got... This was absolutely perfect in my opinion, I especially loved everything you did with the Keyblade Graveyard & Labyrinth
I wasn't too sure at first, but you've convinced me on all of these changes. And good golly goodness thank you for giving Kairi a *proper* way to get bodied, instead of the complete rejection of her character we were handed in the actual game. As much as I love KH III and will defend it, that was utterly inexcusable. Nomura needs to step up and actually write female characters worth a damn and stop treating them as objects for the plot or damsels in distress. This project was well worth listening to all the way through from beginning to end. There are a few notes I could say about audio quality or what have you, but eh, the writing was on point and that's what truly matters. The one thing I kinda wish had still been present somehow was the Union Cross scene because that was cool, but I like the way you rearranged stuff. Also thank you for the time travel angle being rearranged too -- as cool as fighting off the Lich thing was and saving people throughout the worlds, and all that... it feels far better to have it happen right at the very end once Xehanort got the x-blade rather than happening at the start when it made no damned sense. Even if we *did* lose out on Zettaflare, but hey, he still Ultima'd, which is pretty swank.
I gotta hand it to you, Kairi's death, Xehanort's final scene, and Sora's fading out actually feel _earned_ (for lack of a better term) in this revision of the story. Canon Xehanort, I would've just asked to be decked in the face one more time after that trite excuse of a fridging. Good job.
Not everything in this rewrite is perfect, but.... THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A GOOD, LOGICAL, RESPECTFUL AND COMPELLING STORY NOMURA. HIRE AN ACTUAL WRITER THAT UNDERSTANDS KH STORY AND EACH CHARACTER. I have a feeling by this point screenwriters in square enix don't even know how to write for these characters now because they don't even understand the entire lore of the series as well. They should change their direction and hire from kh screenwriter fans instead. Finished the entire thing. Great job on this rewrite. More people should see this. Also thatttt luxord wild cardddddd Where's our zettaflareee I see someone have been binging hmk theory videos and other kh content on youtube before kh3 as well, really makes the actual game story so much underwhelming and too straightforward You're script made me finally cry a lot for the kh3 story this time 😭😭including the dialog + bgm+flashback substitution etc. It's so immersive. That final don't think twice. Really made me recall why I loved kh and its characters in the first place.
What I would also change is that after the Guardians defeat the 10,000 Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed, Dark Riku (Riku Replica) shows up in front of the heroes just as in the original game, the scene with the Guardians, Dark Riku, and Xigbar would remain mostly the same, but Mickey would point out that Dark Riku is the Riku Replica from Castle Oblivion pretending to be the real Riku from when Ansem had control over his heart (not literally Riku from KH1 when he was evil). Dark Riku summons the Demon Tide. And the Union χ keyblade sequence I would have remain intact. After Sora's encounter with Master Xehanort in the Dive to the Heart, Sora meets Ephemer's spirit and he aids Sora in defeating the Heartless cyclone and the Demon Tide. Ephemer calls upon the fallen Keyblade wielders (the names of the χ saga players). The whole sequence plays out exactly the same and the Demon Tide is destroyed, and then finally we get the scene where more enemies arrive and Yen Sid along with Maleficent and Pete arrive to fend them off as the seven guardians head onward to their fight with the Real Organization XIII. Would not want that Union χ Make Your Mark contest/campaign to be meaningless.
I do admit I had enjoyed your series and how thing's could've played out. My only thing is that I think that after they lose the first time there would be a full fake out ending where the world's are destroyed as everything falls to darkness. But other then that you did an excellent job with this. Thank you.
Hey Devon, in case you'll be reading this, this is my suggestion on 3:22:05. I know I commented this before but I wanted to really get it out there. What I think would be more fitting, instead of Dark Domination being a Destati/Rage Awakened mashup or a Destati/Dearly Beloved/Sora mashup, the final boss track would be a medley of Destati and the main battle themes of the other four main Xehanorts: Guardando nel buio, Darkness of the Unknown, Dismiss, Dark Impetus, and L'Impeto Oscuro. The final boss track Dark Domination should play like this: Destati for the first 44 seconds (like originally), followed by Ansem's final boss theme Guardando nel buio, leading into Xemnas' final battle theme Darkness of the Unknown, followed by Terranort's boss theme Dismiss (with its elements of Terra's theme and Unforgettable), leading into Dark Impetus (from BBSFM), followed by L'Impeto Oscuro (from DDD), then finish with Destati again. And Dark Domination's instrumentation should remain the same as well as the choir.
Haven’t finished the vid yet so idk what you’re gonna say about verum Rex, but I feel the trailer thing should’ve played when Sora and the gang enter the video game shop. Then YX throws Sora into that game world , and we play that mini game or whatever. That would add a lil more connectivity imo , anywho ima finish the vid now
Incredible work on ALL of that! A lot of very interesting changes too, especially with most characters actually having arcs/development here If I may make a suggestion though, the whole "Xehanort is a portal" plot point hasn't gotten less silly in this version, unfortunately. So I think having someone describe the Power of Waking with something vague like "You can traverse hearts to reach worlds, they're basically doorways or portals" to lead to Mickey (preferably Sora though) to take this literally and use the Power of Waking to actively harm and trap someone, which would then be considered abusive enough to have to "pay the ultimate price" Of course it's not a perfect idea and mainly just popped into my head randomly, but yeah. Let me know how you feel about the idea ☝️🤓
Finally done with the video and yeah. I love how much more impact this would have. Small changes can go a long way. I kinda hope some day we get a slight rewrite mod like this. 3 should have ended better. Being the end to such a saga, it had a lot to live up to and I still think it didn't do that. If we keep getting half baked writing like 3, I honestly don't see people sticking with the series and that makes me sad.
Maybe I'm still getting hung up on this thing that's ultimately inconsequential, but I still to this day think the ice labyrinth should have just been the castle. We didn't need faceless Hanz, and Anna should have probably just saved Elsa from an attack from Larxene or something. I also think we need some kind of reason to explore the massive world that is the Carribean other than just chests and crabs. I know this goes against the plot of the movie but maybe they don't know where the key to the chest is and You need to explore the huge map to find it. Or even just putting the final battle trigger on the complete opposite end of the map from port royal, so that you need to sail across the whole thing, and therefore potentially experience a lot more of the islands on the way? I dunno, the way the entire map was optional really rubbed me the wrong way
If i were rewriting kingdom hearts 3 i would do 3 things 1. I would throw away the time travel and redo Xehanort completely as a character. I would make sure to establish him as an actual threat to these worlds and Soras friends. I wouldnt not have him stand idly by like a cheap knock of Xemnas. He would be aggressive and terrifying. The sense of urgency would always be there. Honestly how i would achieve this is by having him plunge Olympus into darkness. Nothing would spell urgency more to Sora and the player like a long time running world like olympus and hero like Herc being overpowered and wiped out (obviously temporary) with Sora being powerless to stop it. Xehanorts backstory shouldve been fleshed out in this game, we shouldve gotten to know him better as an antagonist and the reason behind his motivations. Additionally i would have his presence in most of the game be Terra-nort with his original Xehanort form coming back toward the end. All of these org 13 time travel Xehanort clones shouldve been done away with in DDD, and his team shouldve consisted of Vanitas, Braig, Isa, Luxord(human form), and maybe Even. 2. I would change the pacing to properly match the urgency of the story. Seriously, after every world or two there shouldve been some major event. The guardians shouldve been saved throughout the game, and not so easily ot conveniently For example, i think Sora, Riku and Mickey shouldve all went to the dark realm to search for Aqua in the prologue of the game only to find the darkness *actually* overtook her, defeating her and maybe finding a way to contain her in the meantime. This would give reason for Mickey and Riku to go on their own seperate journey to find the cure for Aquas condition. I would give Twilight town more plot relevancy, in fact i think the halfway point of the game shouldve been an all out attack from Terranort on the guardians to recollect the hidden data that ansem moved to the old mansion. 3. I wouldve (and i cant stress this enough) MADE ALL THE CHARACTERS MATTER. Kairi deserved her own seperate episode with Lea, either training or something else relative to the plot. Literally anything *other* than what we got. Roxas shouldve been more prevalent throughout the game. In fact, i think he shouldve been the one to help Sora learn the power of waking. I think halfway through the game you shouldve had Sora get the idea to awaken Roxas heart into the Data version of Twilight town. Not only would this have made for great set up for interaction between Sora and Roxas, it wouldve been a genuinely great way to have Sora "unlock" his power without Roxas overtaking the story being tethered to Data twilight. Since Roxas is the closest to him, it would only make sense that he would be first. It also wouldve made his return in the keyblade graveyard make a lot more sense. Aqua Terra and Ventus should not have come back without scars. What i mean is that given all of their circumstances and the amount needed to bring them back, there shouldve been significant mental and emotional damage from aqua, and honestly i think Terra shouldve been made to sacrifice himself to stop Xehanort. Realistically Terra being melded with Xehanort for so long, and given his mistakes, there shouldve been a price to pay. I mean i would definitely give him a triumphant and redeeming death, but honestly Riku has taken his position narritively and theres no more use for him as a character. Honestly, and it pains me to say this, i dont think id bring Xion back. I just think her entire character arc hinges upon tragedy, and when you remove the tragedy, her character becomes sort of meaningless. Finally, Sora. Now i cant stand that they made him more juvenile and child like in 3, so i think i would go the opposite route. Id try to make the story break him a little. As aforementioned, id make him go through an experience where relying on the power of his friends alone wasnt enough, id make him lose Olympus and hercules. My explanation for goofing off in Disney Worlds would be Sora running away from his responsibilities, pretending Xehanort doesnt exist, clinging to the past where he didnt have a care in the world.
One change I'd love to make; In the final battle, an addition when Donald and Goofy join in to defeat Xehanort; Make it a final command prompt (a la Infamous 2; where you have to press the button on the controller); so that the player feel like they are part of the moment to a whole new degree. We beat him, all 4 of us; Sora Donald Goofy And you, the player
Oh thank god I'm not the only one who noticed that Caribbean miniboss looked way too much like Ruler of the Sky. That thing made me genuinely question the combat in Days and why your damage output felt so weak. It took me literally dozens of attempts over what had to have been at least a year. In hindsight, it's probably no weaker than the regular attacks in the other games, but the long healthbar and the way the boss keeps running away made it seem like the damage output was subpar.
I'm about to start watching this video and I'm very interested and optimistic about it. I hope you'll do it justice. Might come back and comment again after I'm done with it ❤
Ok, so there is one particular part about this that's bugging me a bit, that I would like to point out. It's my favourite scene in the game, so excuse me in advance for being especially baffled about it (I should point out beforehand that I'm not mad or anything. Like I said, I'm just baffled by it). Not sure if you still mean to imply that, like in the actual game, it was Roxas who remembered, talked to and said Xion's name (that last one in his own voice even) in the kbg, or if this is just cut/changed for this particular rewrite? (I'll just assume it is cut or changed for writing this comment, so if it isn't actually cut or changed, then just ignore literally all of this lol.) Like, that's what makes this moment so good and emotionally charged in the first place imo. That it literally was Roxas who was able to hang on to her existence to the point of remembering her there after everything that happened, the traumatic event of her dying in his arms which made those memories and the pain that much more vivid, him unlocking his dual wielding ability through "his will to not forget Xion" (as stated in BBS Ultimania), the concept introduced in Re:Coded that forgetting important memories causes "hurt" and that clinging to such "hurt" can "hold the pieces in place" (Data-Roxas: "The sadness of knowing you forgot someone who matters to you, something like that'll gnaw at you forever") and Roxas having been able to recognize her enough to shed a tear for her (through Sora) when seeing a dream illusion of her in DDD. There is all that build up for it to make perfect sense as to why Roxas was the one able to remember and reach her in that moment, enabling this trio to actually sort things out mostly internally without Sora babysitting them and in this rewrite it seemingly just turns into: Sora just randomly knows for no good reason. Like, the fact that it was Roxas, her best friend that she had to force into killing her in order to protect him from herself, believing she would permanentaly be erased from his and everyone elses minds afterwards, never to be remembered by anyone ever again, that it was him who still managed to remember her is just so, so meaningful and really elevated both, this moment in KH3 and also Xion's decision to let Roxas live in exchange for her own life when she knew they wouldn't be allowed to coexist anymore. Haha sorry, I know this is just a rewrite and I obviously just shouldn't care if something sticks out to me like that, but I just witnessed my favourite moment in that game, which, in combination with the group hug those three share after, brought me so much emotional carthasis, and I saw it get turned into something that suddenly lacks all meaningful connection it had between the characters involved, making it feel very disconnected compared to the original. Again, sorry for writing such an essay about something that probably just seems like a really minor thing for most people (I do be passionate about the things and moments I like ^^). On another, more positive note (because I genuinely don't want to just come in her and make it seem like I'm just "complaining" about one thing lol): I definitely respect the time and effort you seem to have put into this, and regardless of if I like one point or dislike another, it's great to see such a thing and the ideas associated with it!
Oh this is gonna be interesting, I genuinely despised the story of KH3 and was immensely pissed that I had waited so long for such a dissapointed, I'll play this while I draw tonight. Thanks! I'm excited.
This is probably the most pedantic annoyance I've had with KH3; The Staircase at 1:53:36 Look at the column They are not only copy/paste with the same asset, just slightly turned and equidistant, but they go into the staircase itself. Hell, the first one looks like they either cut off the bottom, or it goes through the floor. I saw this, so now you have to
Im glad you mentioned sora empathy near the end. This is why i cant really back most "rewrites" of KH3 many think they can do better than Nomura and square but try in try prove they swirved, crashed, and burned when it comes to a character like Sora.
hey unrelated to the content of the video, maybe change the title. just remove the (full series compliaton) part cuz i didnt even know u made other videos on this until this one Hit the algorithm harder homie, great content! Loving it so far, im only 20 minutes in
