I will always find it a little funny how BBS focuses on darkness never being used, and yet Aqua’s Ghost Drive looks like something Eraqus would question.
I always thought ghost drive is space manipulation because it involves teleportation and I also always thought it is also actual ghost powers because aqua and the attacks look ghost like and she leaves behind ghost like images of her self when cartwheeling., so I always thought ghost drive is more on space manipulation and is more ghost powers based and not darkness based.
@@thetronwarriors4817 ghost drive could also be water based because water is often associated with space illusion and copy & clone the light in this style is also slightly blue
From a narrative perspective, I always felt DDD's approach was playing off how Sora always tended to rely on his friends for power (traditional limit break style attacks) and Riku was always the more solo guy who used his power to protect others (absorbing Dream Eaters to get a command style). Both linking with their allies in different ways
I love what the Drive forms symbolize in KH2. With each drive being a "what if Sora had the drive to..." kinda thing. Valor Form being what Sora could do if he was driven to master his physical attacks, bravely charging into battle keyblades first. Wisdom Form being what Sora could do if he was driven to master his magical abilities, wisely staying back and striking enemies with their elemental weaknesses. Master Form being both Physical and Magical mastery. A fusion of Valor and Wisdom. Limit Form is what Sora could do if he was driven to go relearn everything he once knew, and pushing them to the very limit. Final Form is Sora if he was driven to push himself beyond mastery, achieving the pinnacle of what can be done. All prior forms and more. Anti-Form is Sora if he was driven by power, pushing him to be consumed by darkness and becoming the antithesis of himself.
I'd say anti is less him being driven by a desire for power, and more him drawing on his heart for strength, only for the thing he finds to be darkness.
I also really like the progression of Anti-Form. - KH1 Sora unlocked the darkness in his heart, but was never in a position to use it, or wasn't strong enough. - KH2 Sora was given equipment that let him search for more power when he needed it, and sometimes the power he received was from his own darkness, but he didn't have control over when that happened. - DDD [head cannon] he avoided the power seeking entirely, maybe because he was supposed to be in an exam and didn't want to risk pulling darkness out during that test. - KH3 he has more control over his darkness, he no longer needs special equipment to pull out extra power (his KH2 attire) he's learned to harness that power on his own during combat, and that's also led to him having more control over Anti-Form. He can call on the power of darkness purposefully now, and has much more control over it.
Rage form is not anti form. Yes they are both based from Sora’s darkness, but one is a punishment for being power hungry and the other is a tool to save yourself and become stronger. Bio-Roxas has talked about this before I’m pretty sure
As much as I can appreciate Rage Form, I just wish more emphasis was put on Sora mastering his darkness not just through the combat, but also through the story. I feel it's something that was important enough that wasn't brought up at all during KH3
@@Umbran yeah, you'd think SOMEONE would notice Sora turning into what appeared to be a heartless every now and then, especially since formchanges are not just a gameplay mechanic thanks to the Big Hero 6 cutscene where he uses Element Form.
I loved that series and Stanforce. I wish they made more megaman games I loved them all I genuinely didn't mind the gameplay changes as they were fun especially when you got better
@@onidogg1593So it's really weird you never had wanted to play some KH game, having played FF games (I remember you there are also FF characters in KH games) 💔🎮
Based on the tiny amount of gameplay we’ve seen of KH4 (that is obviously subject to change) it seems like keyblade transformations are at least back in some form. Which I am all for, I think the form change system of KH3 is incredibly fun and varied and I agree with you that it’s the encounter design that doesn’t really highlight how good the system can be. I think the ReMind fights are some of the best designed boss fights in the series so I’m not worried about bosses in 4, but the moment to moment smaller mob fights need to be interesting as well and I hope the team can achieve that.
I'm down for them to return, just: -Bring back the Drive Meter/Gage so that players can trigger the forms on command -Make Keyblade swtiching as fluid as weapon switching in a DMC game
People shit on form changes, but Sora being given the chance to use more than just a sword is dope. Especially when those weapons feel similar to weapons org members used Xemnas: no, not really Xigbar: Double Arrowguns Xaldin: Highwind (both are dragoons too) Lexaeus: Hyper hammer, I guess? Nothing he has really matches it Zexion: he don't got any books, Sora's a dumbass Vexen: Counter Shield Saix: again, nothing really matches with this Axel: I would say that Yo yos actually match pretty well with how Axel used his chakrams, especially with the blades coming out of them. Luxord: nope Larxene: Claws and blizzard blades imo Marluxia: I would say storm flag, given the "slashing" moveset and the similar red trails. Roxas/Xion: Light form, a lot of the moves are even borrowed from them Roxas: Double form is just Roxas mode
Movement abilities being tied to drive forms is one of the main reasons I don’t like replaying KH2 as much as I used to. Early game feels like such a slog and grinding for double jump and glide completely ruins the pacing of the game.
@@acheronrecusant and if you’re a kid playing kh2 on ps2 (like I was at one point) you just can’t dodge at all anymore. This got a bandaid fix with Final Mix, but I’m so glad they learned and brought back dodge roll for all games afterwards.
This breakdown was juicy! You even covered 358/2 Days and made an incredible point that the "Limit" system was based on the OrgXIII's desperation attacks-- something which I never even put two-and-two together! I swear I always learn something new from watching your stuff. Just gonna fan the flames by adding my own two cents into the conversation! I was super-focused on the KH2 vs KH3 parts in particular, and I only want to add that KH2 has a solid feedback loop of "Use Resource A, get Resource B (and C) faster" which encouraged using your entire toolkit at all times. Spending your MP would make the Drive Gauge go into overdrive and collect more drive (if you have the abilities for it) which would lead to the Drive Form restoring all your HP and MP on transform. This isn't a counterpoint or anything: I absolutely used it as a saving grace in my fights too! Where KH2 encouraged using your entire toolkit and limiting your playstyle to breed creativity, KH3 really just threw everything at the wall and said, "Go! Have Fun!" -- Formchanges, Shotlocks, Flowmotion, Links, Party Combination Attacks, Ride a friggin PIRATE SHIP! There was SO much you can do in the game, that it really took a toll on the game's difficulty and combat in general. (I AM a fan of both games though! Love em both to bits!) Everything you said about KH3 is spot on. Having a Ace up your Sleeve is one thing, but having twenty just sullies the entire idea. If KH4 tightens up the gameplay and puts emphasis on gameplay styles that limit the player but bring around MASSIVE benefits, I feel that could be a step in the right direction! The Finisher idea you brought up is fantastic too, I always thought Boss Reaction Commands were the "Finish with Style" mechanic in KH2, never thought of it as the "Press Triangle to Win" button. It made bosses waaay more memorable, and I hope they do the same level of justice to enemy/boss reaction commands in KH4! Thanks again for the awesome breakdown Bio! I'm probably screaming into the void making this comment, but videos like these help immensely with my projects, so thank you for making more!! ❤
RPGs in general have this thing where what the game gives you versus what enemies want specifically to beat them are at odds with each other. If you have all these cool weapons and abilities and spells but the bosses are designed to where you need to use a spells or weapon type that you don't use often because it's usually optional, players hit a road block. It's not really strategic in that sense because it's a 'put square block in square hole' mentality. As a Nioh 2 fanatic, I've seen some players say Nioh is easier than souls despite the combat being infinitely better. This is probably because bosses are designed where the game assumes you won't equip or explore every tool the game gives you otherwise designing enemies around a specific ability you won't use will cause a standstill in player progression.
One thing I like is how these forms are introduced in lore. In KH1, Sora is just a kid with a Keyblade, he isn't trained by someone, but he still gets really strong. In KH2, we are both told and shown that these new enemies are more dangerous. It's shown while playing as Roxas, where he is incapable of hurting Nobodies with anything other then the Keyblade, then later Yen Sid tells us as Sora that things are more dangerous. So to compensate, he is given Drive form by the fairies. Sora still trains this ability to become stronger, unlocking other drive forms, but it's still a given ability. Everything introduced afterwards are abilities inherent to the Keyblade. BBS introduced three characters who have received proper training in the Keyblade and can use these new forms, shotlocks, and can change the form of their Keyblades to gliders (and supposedly armor as well, though that's not explained). Sora comes out of DDD, the first time he's given a practical exam on how to use the Keyblade, with new abilities that any Keyblade wielder could do. In KH1, we are told that the Keyblade is the ultimate weapon, and the more we learn about what the Keyblade can do with proper training, regardless of who is wielding it, the more we are shown that it really is the ultimate weapon.
didn't noticed that Ven and Terra don't have a command styles that share between of them, only Aqua gets a piece of their pie (styles), well in story sake Terra was trying to get away from Ven from himself so that's why
Being able to summon a drive form on demand at any time was great, and i do hope they do something with that. Maybe have it use up your focus bar immediately and drop you to 0 MP after you change back (like an exhaustion system, or like Limits) that would give MP Haste abilities that much more weight. Give one for each play style Valor = Swift, Wisdom = Elements Guardian Form would be defense oriented and focus on outlasting your enemies while you chip away at their health bars, and Power Form is focused on slower more impactful attacks. Then toss in the ability to go into a different version of Anti-Form whenever you're in each drive form, like while you're already power seeking you can take the risk/reward approach and dip into anti-form on demand. Form Changes are a slow ramp up ability that ends with a bang, but requires time to build up. Drive Forms are an all in, power now, risk/reward system, that leaves you with nothing at the end. Then you can have the option of the Auto-Drive abilities replacing or popping up next to the Rafe Form options when at low health.
OR You have the different Drives just be combat style changes. Spend your focus bar to change over to a different combat style that is more focused, but not necessarily more powerful. With the basic style just being the Jack-of-all-trades approach. It's not a limit, it doesn't end, and you can change to different combat styles or back to the basic style whenever as long as you have enough focus energy to do so. The only risk would be picking the wrong style for the situation and being stuck until you have more. But also, maybe add an ability to have it only use like half the bar so you can change back quickly if need be.
With the Style change Option you could then have it built up the way a Keyblade Form Change builds, to eventually become the full Drive Form OR you can activate the Form Change of your current Keyblade since that's also been building up the whole time. - Swift Style: dual wielding, barrage of light fast attacks, upgrades to Valor Form - Element Style: ranged standard attack, floaty glass cannon/keep away style, upgrades to Wisdom Form - Guardian Style: fencing combat style, single target focus, hard to stagger, upgrades to Honor Form - Strength Style, greatsword style, large sweeping attacks that flow into each other, breaks/staggers guarded targets, upgrades to Might Form - Standard Style: sora's default, what we're all used to, upgrades to Limit Form Maybe have Master Form and Final Form in there as options But I have a better plan for Master Form as a late game option. When you dip into Rage Form you can build up a form change that eventually turns into Master Form. You stay in Anti-Form, but with swirls of white and gold and you have your 2 Keyblades and plays out just like Master Form from KH2, but in this case it's showing a level of mastery over his personal darkness, being able to mix light in and attain almost full control of it. All styles level up and gain new abilities at the same time, and no movement abilities locked behind each style. Only the Drive Forms are locked behind actually leveling the individual styles and they level as you defeat enemies with them, no special different kind of grind for each Form crap. Final Form is Final Form On demand power when you need it You can get one version of it by building up charges with ultima weapon, or you can unlock it as an on demand drive for by leveling up each style as well as Rage Form (it should be difficult) The keyblade form change and the drive form come up in the same way. As you make attacks you get charges, after three charges your next charge becomes two situation menu options The Keyblade Form Change OR the Drive Form Change. The Drive Form can be stored the same way Keyblade Forms are stored, by switching to a new style. Also, having each Keyblade grant a unique spell added to the magic tab that momentarily changes its form for one attack would be pretty cool and would fit really well with what we see Lingering Will do in his KH2 fight. Then you throw in a dark Keyblade with a "Sonic Blade"-like spell that saps health instead of mp when you use it, and it's special ability is that it guarantees you Rage Form whenever you drop to low health, it's form change is Master Form, and unlocking it is what grants you the ability to get Master Form while in Rage Form.
Honestly I think I like the spectacle of KH3 more than the strategy of KH2, to me it feels like they blended the best of what I liked about all previous systems and stuffed it altogether into a package that keeps giving back. As much as I am a veteran fan, I tend to play somewhere between an expert and casual experience, I just kinda mess around for style, so KH3’s combat system is PERFECT for me. MY big hope with KH4 is that they find a good middle ground between the spectacle of KH3 and the substance of KH2 and BBS, where there’s room for specialized strategy but without sacrificing those “OHMYFUCKINGGOD” moments of overpowered flashy badassery that makes you feel like an anime character. I know it sounds silly to be concerned about that with a KH game of all things, but like you said with your KH4 concerns, I’m worried that they might take feedback too literally and take a step back where they don’t need to, in my case pure strategy and substance over style and flash. KH always shines best when it flexes both in my opinion.
I especially appreciated the section on KH3 encounter design and the request for more specific “roles” for the forms or abilities in the future to have. It’s good when different options are good in different situations!
This video was very informative. It was interesting to see the evolution of this mechanic across the series. On that part about the KH4 forms, I would love to see the forms be based on a combination of a Disney world and a Final Fantasy Job (ex: You get the thief form from the Aladdin world). I would also like to see these forms not be tied to specific keyblades, but have your keyblade still affect your form (ex: the Kingdom Key gives you the hidden potential ability while transformed or Oblivion gives you dark absorption).
Kh3 is in a weird spot where it feels like there were always building blocks of an in-depth system that were almost intentionally obscured by the spectacle to allow players to make their own challenges. I have no doubt the teams are looking at mods and have explicitly not patched the ability to make mods for KH3 to get ideas of what sorts of things players may desire if they do put their mind to it. For instance, the Roxas boss fight mod introduces the concept of a boss that really mirrors a lot of what the player can fundamentally do just with extra flair- like you could even say Roxas has the air step thing with how fast he can close in on the target even from a distance *without* necessarily just teleporting. He can also cast the magics which are never really used against the player otherwise (apart from maybe the litch??), and even cure himself as a unique surprise when it comes to revenge values. The RE:Mind data fights in general feel like experiments and ways of gathering data about what players may want out of a sequel considering that it hasn’t been updated much at all since then in a way that breaks mod compatibility, *even throughout* the stream releases (though that could just be a byproduct of using a lot of UE’s blueprint “scripting language” system rather than raw code). As I was a dev of Rivals 2 I can say that workshop mods were also looked at in similar ways to get ideas of what things players may find interesting despite already having a general idea of how we wanted the gameplay to feel. The creativity of a community is limitless and can really provide a great deal of insight into what particularity hardcore fans may like :3
I feel like the argument about KH2’s forms not encouraging engaging with them because they were a resource is flawed. Especially with how certain changes were made in Final Mix, I see it way more as a “never give up” kind of system, which was also true of KH1’s magic. In 1 the lower your magic was the less hits you needed to land to get MP back, so if you’re in a tight spot with no MP and low health, carefully attacking the enemy could get you that 1MP you’d need to cast a Cure and turn the tide. KH2 was the same, but with Drive coming back when attacking instead of MP. Again, if you were in a tight spot, no items, no Drive, no MP, low HP, it was to your benefit to keep fighting because during MP Charge your Drive meter would increase faster, and it would do so way faster in FM than base KH2 which tells me that they were thinking the same thing; stay in the fight and the tides could turn when you got enough Drive to enter a form, completely refilling your HP and MP Also, the “life cycle” of games got cut short massively by the fact putting clips on Twitter isn’t a simple button press anymore, it’s harder for people to share ideas and show off. Not necessarily the fault of gaming itself, but social media
That last part about how quickly discussion and exploration dies. I really despise what internet has done to humanity as a culture. On topic with the video, KH3 with mods has given me a godly experience with the combat. The way modders have stretched it's combat floor and ceiling is insane and makes 3 triumph over 2 for me.
Really disappointing that the forms of KH3 cannot be carried on to cutscenes through precise timing like in KH2. That small little bit of customization went a long way to make the game more flavourful during replays
i honestly didnt really feel what you meant by the encounter design im ngl, fyi i played on critical mode with crit converter so idk if launch was that different but i kinda doubt it, i'd also consider myself more than a casual player as i aways like experimenting with what i can do in games and seeing all the different combat options at my disposal
@@OutisxNemofound the person who never played vanilla kh2 which had the exact same issues launch kh3 had with even the hardest difficulty being too braindead easy
Yeah I don’t really get what he’s talking about either. I’ve replayed all the main games on the hardest difficulty recently and KH3’s critical mode definitely has the most aggressive mob fights.
@@Erikthedoodbraindead easy? Me and many many other people struggled with fights like xaldin or demyx even on standard. Of course it's braindead easy when you already know the game but when you are playing it for the first time it's difficult
Awesome video. Do you plan to do animation breakdowns for FF7 Rebirth’s synergy abilities/skills? They look so cool but I have a hard time telling what the heck is happening with synergy skills specifically (thinking counterfire)
I for one think that the next level of The Saga as for the battle style in kh3 was handled perfectly and shown and demonstrated perfectly because it broke through a lot of barriers that were blocking us before but they elevated us with so much later on down the line they were kind of stagnant with the others in the past but as for moving forward from Dream Drop Distance to BBs 0.2 to KH3 and it was handled really well👍👏👏👏
6:46 will if you ask me i would say khrecom rebirth has a form of riku I remember it was called dark form or something i feel like you should talk about that if you have time+goated video bro great job
I replayed kh2 to 100% on critical about two years ago. Drive forms are not as good as so many think they are. Valor and wisdom become obsolete for battle (generally speaking)compared to the other three. It’s never good when game mechanics specifically become obsolete in the game, especially so quickly.
I agree, I think valor suffers the most, removing a critical element like magic and self healing is such a detriment. Combine that with the fact that most of the drive forms remove the basic ability to GUARD and you have a form that is cool at first, until you take it to your first boss and get cooked.
You don't know what you are talking about. Obviously both valor and wisdom are less useful since they have a lower drive cost. Plus drive forms are as good as people think considering limit and final form can melt through healthbars so much faster than anything we have seen in the franchise.
@@johnpantag472 this is true of people like myself who know how to exploit the drive forms to their fullest potential, but I don’t think it’s true for the casual players that play through the story once and move on after that. I think that the mechanic is problematic and poorly designed/explained which is why it has not been used since. The fact that revert is basically useless unless you are in valor or wisdom and want your basic attacks and magic back. The fact that movement abilities are linked to forms which the game doesn’t even tell you how to level up unless you look at the exp section of the stats screen. The fact that you have to fumble through the menu to activate these. ALL of my deaths during my most recent critical run were due to the fact that I didn’t get to the form in time to heal. Sure there is auto change that you can equip but considering it overwrites all other RC’s it’s useless in most boss fights. Form change does a much better job keeping the flow of combat. All they need is a little tweaking so that you can’t spam them as frequently. Critical mode in kh3 already took steps in that direction so hopefully they are tweaked further for kh4 and implemented better.
@@johnpantag472 What he said is correct tho. Valor and Wisdom becomes obsolete as soon as you obtain Limit, Master, and Final form. On top of that, drive forms are so heavily flawed that you have to grind them in order to get the movement abilities. I shouldn't have to do that nor should I play halfway through the game to get Dodge Roll and level it up.
with all these forms Sora is going to become Kamen Rider OOO. I really hope we get a BBS follow up so we can get Keyblade Armor again so I can pretend to be a Kamen Rider in KH
I am gonna be honest and just say Kh2 enemy encounters are mad overrated. You could trivialize them with reflect, magnet, reaction commands, summons and limit as hard as formchanges and the aoe's of KH3 do to their encounters. Some Kh2 encounters like cough the pirates also just suck to fight because the ai can easily be pushed out of moonlight and now can't be hurt. Kh3 had some enemies like the parasol heartless and the ones that make you sneeze because days pollen allergies are back as a status once more and if you used stuff like aero magic you could easily crowd control like magnet and fighting encounters in KH3 was much more fun than 2. KH1 had the best balance and difficulty scaling with its encounters.
i think drive forms did it the best and i think nobody may cry made it even better maybe too much better with how fast it come back but simply having no consequence for using your trump card made it so much better the other ones were also pretty good but if you want to use a specific form you also have to use a specific deck or keyblade so what i think should happen is use the drive form system but tune it so its about as strong as style changes this lets us remove anti form and still use them pretty often without breaking the game idk what we would do about shotlocks i guess we would need another guage also great choise in music
This video got a little off subject. It feels like the KH3 segment ragged on the game a bit much. With all the other segments, the criticisms pointed out transitioned into explaining why each game would change it's approach to the previous one. But the KH3 segment felt a little more personal and went on longer than other segments. Especially compared to the BBS segment, where I feel you could point out far more flaws in the system, like how your attacks are overridden by Finishers even when you don't want them, or how Command Styles get in the way of the Finish Command system, causing multiple systems to trip over themselves. Also, what's this whole game "lifecycle" rant about? KH3 had plenty of longevity after it came out. People still play it, mod it, and even master it.
I don’t really think it goes off subject. I think I highlighted why KH3 was different than previous titles in that it really seemed like development was shifted halfway through. I had a lot to say about KH3 because I’ve dived deep into it for years now.
Wait, so you are telling me you want Sora to get a Job (FF) since he is now in the 'real' world where wveryone has a job. Starbucks form coming right up xD!
I think, for kh3, they should've stuck with form changes ONLY...maybe 3 or 4 summons... But that theme park BS shouldn't have been in the game(they really just wanted to play with the particle effects)... In exchange, maybe they should've allowed for more playable characters to roam around with....like after the base game, with the dlc...have the other main characters as playable... we could play as riku, aqua, Roxas, kairi, ect...so why not expand on that?? Expand on team combos too...sora donald and goofy have alot of team based combo attacks... why not continue that with this game... Or maybe expand on form changes with other characters... They had a good system there.... they just needed to expand on it... and cut the other stuff out... Cuz let's be real...who really used those theme park attacks like that??🤷🏿♂️🤷🏿♂️🤷🏿♂️🤷🏿♂️🤷🏿♂️
I agree a lot with bio, KH3 encounter really isn’t great since you can deal with any enemies with literally anything. While I still think that KH3 combat is on par (or better) to KH2, I can see lots of flaw in it. I kinda wish they separate the mechanics of Forms and Keyblade Transformation, since I always imagine trying out different form to different KT would be a cool thing.. Also Blitz form should have attack speed multiplier, and running speed multiplier 😭
Yess imagine getting a turbo mode for blitz form with more attack cancel schenanigans. When it was ousted as the fastest form in the game it felt underwhelming being called that cause like double and second form attack faster than it.
Honestly, I just wish they would’ve put the command deck in kingdom hearts three because it was my favorite thing from birth by sleep and dream drop distance
Kind of a flawed video. I appreciate breaking down the forms but unfortunately it doesn't showcase the reality of their design in its entirety. For instance you cannot use any Drive Forms on the Final Boss in KH2 which to me says a lot about how they really wanted the game to feel. Even Sephiroth didn't allow you to use Drive Forms. It appears the only objective reasoning to using Drive Forms was to make a stronger Base Sora via the Growth System. So in the end it was a system you had to spam to get the most of it and to make Sora stronger in the long run. But since it actively punished you for spamming them then you end up with less abilities. No wonder people struggle with KH2 Bosses when it's progression system is so half-assed. Wisdom Form showcases the problems immediately with their Growth System. After you get Wisdom Form you go to Port Royal where enemies are weak to magic. So Wisdom Form sounds good here right? WRONG. Pirates don't count as Heartless so every enemy you beat doesn't actually give Wisdom EXP to level up. So you're just building up a lot of Anti-Points as you try to optimize the Worlds combat. Surprised even more hardcore fans don't complain about that design flaw.
I find it funny how you say the video is flawed because “it didn’t talk about these things” only for you to start speaking nonsense. Drive forms are very powerful and can do things that Sora normally can’t, like Valor forms bigger combos and wisdom forms different uses of magic, they don’t just exist to make Sora stronger, the only thing I remember them giving base Sora are new movement abilities that could be used in combat, so it’s not that much of of an upgrade. The reason you can’t use your drive forms in certain fights are because you need Donald and Goofy alive and around to use them, and in both fights you mentioned, guess who aren’t around. Even then I remember that in at least Sephiroth’s fight, you can use limit form as it doesn’t need Donald or Goofy, so you’re just wrong about what you said there. Don’t have much to say about your last point, other then it not being a problem with the drive forms and is instead just something that’s a bit poorly thought out.
