Thanks for sharing the backgrounds for this on your reddit post. Came to watch the video and thoroughly enjoyed it. These thoughts will be in the back of my mind as I replay the series.
As someone who has done level 1 runs for kh1fm, kh2fm, khbbsfm, kh3d, and recently kh3 (data org and yozora were still very fresh in my mind), this video is a very interesting watch. Something to note about level 1 runs in kingdom hearts is that the quality of its design is directly proportional to how the game plays on more "regular" difficulties (with the exception of not having scan for the entirety of kh1fm and not having guard in the ice titan fight, since this was the first attempt at a level 1 run these two blind spots are excusable). basically the problem with kh3 level 1, the way the mob fights are poorly designed for scaling difficulty even without the context of level 1.. every forced encounter in kh2fm is well designed no matter what difficulty you're playing at. khddd is baloonra spam. level 1 amplifies the highest highs and lowest lows of each game. Also alternate title: Why kh2fm's level 1 run is better kh3? (ft. kh1fm) (not a serious suggetion btw, I know this wouldn't get clicks from people who don't do level 1 runs, just thought it would be funny)
Hi, LV1 speedrunner here. I appreciate the ambition and production of the video a lot! I wanted to mention something about a point made about damage storage - the old way people used to understand it working was that it gave the 2x multiplier that is applied to combat finishers, but after doing some investigation with Cheat Engine, it turns out this is incorrect. For example, with 4 MP against the Cave of Wonders Guardian, a Thunder spell will deal 10 HP damage; with damage storage active, the value increases...to 11 HP damage. 10 x 2 = 20, so the math shows us that what's going on under the hood is not a multiplier application, but a hard-setting of your value to be equal to that of your scaled combo finisher. Also, I should hope that you know that KH3 was not the first to introduce accessories having abilities tied to them, that was in KH2FM first with things like the Shadow Archive+ and Full Bloom+.
I wasn't aware that's how damage storage works. Either way the point was to get across that you get increased damage after combo finishers and the decision making that causes, which applies regardless of the specifics. Are there any situations where damage is reduced by using damage storage? I was aware that KH2FM added abilities with those accesories. What I meant to say is that KH3 extends to other accesories in a significant way through giving most accesories abilities and by making the abilities given more varied. It's much more incorporated into the design of KH3 than it is in KH2FM.
@@toowiggly The best way I can illustrate how damage storage doesn't reduce damage is by using Gravity as an example. At the start of the Behemoth fight, your Gravity will actually deal more damage than your combo finisher because EXP Zero allows you to exceed it, but as Behemoth loses more and more HP, each Gravity will deal less damage. If damage storage is up, though, there is now suddenly a limit to how low the damage per cast deals - the new minimum for your magic damage becomes equal to your combo finisher. The reason damage storage even works with spells like Fire and Blizzard is because, due to elemental resistances and damage caps, the most damage you can deal with a single cast is 10 HP most of the time - with damage storage up, if your combo finisher deals greater than 10 HP damage, then your magic will too (and the enemy max HP-dependent scaling is such that you will always deal more than 10 HP damage with a finisher unless you are fighting enemies with exactly 300 HP like Darkside 2). If you ever want to see the comprehensive LV1 damage summary, I can send you the Google doc.
almost a decade later and no can give a proper explaination on damage storage in JJ there are some fights that are legit odd ESPECIALLY those goddamn rare heartless
This is quite literally the best vid I have seen regarding explaining Level 1 and the combat mechanics in general. I was pleasantly surprised when you mentioned things like world routing for certain abilities (no one EVER points this out in analysis) and recognizing what the point of KH2's level design was. (To service the combat as KH2 leaned heavier on the Action side of ARPGs versus the other numbered games) As soon as I heard those things I knew this was someone who really plays these games on a deep technical level. Good shit man. NOTE: Some things you forgot to mention regarding KH2 (If you are even aware of this) is the unique hit properties of certain moves and Magic. For example when Base Sora(only) gets the final Blizzard upgrade Blizzaga the finisher gains an extra property that the hardcore community calls 'Restrained Revenge'. Basically what it does is act as a combo optimizing tool. Normally, when you do a ground combo on a humanoid and you go past the revenge threshold the enemy will retaliate immediately. But say if instead of ending a combo with Explosion after a Guard Break to hit past the threshold you use the Blizzaga finisher instead, the boss's RV threshold will exceed but the boss will not be able to retaliate despite it the fact it should. This can be chained with more Blizzaga finishers (with more Finishing Pluses) to further keep them locked down to which you can safely poke them with magic like Thunder (Blizzaga finishers pushes them far way from Sora for more safety) to make them counter if ya want. This quirk was unintentionally removed in the post-PS4 HD ports of KH2FM with the addtion of 60fps (only works on the 30fps that the OG PS2 game ran at) There are other attacks in the game that have this unqiue property as well and I will list them all (that I know of) for those curious. -Base Sora Blizzaga finisher -Base Sora basic vertical ground finisher -Base Sora basic vertical air finisher (this is why the Neg Combo + Fenrir expolit works) -Wisdom Form's non finisher Fire hits -Final Form's non finisher Thunder hits Cool stuff. Others things ya didn't talk about (but I won't go into detail about unless you ask) the many synergies Magnet has with its rapid hit properties (Magnet+ Group Trinity, Magnet+ Genie etc Magnet+ Stitch Ukelele), the technical stunlocks (Berserk Charge Horizontal Slash loops and Horizontal Slash loops with Genie canceling) and the fact that Master Form can allow you to bypass the Revenge system entirely. Search up 'KH2FM- Master Form's 0 Revenge combos' to see my vid that shows what Im talking about. (RU-vid wont let me link :p) Tldr; KH2 is one of the best action games ever made.
I tried to restrain what I talked about to things that you'd reasonably use on an average level 1 run or things that I found conceptually interesting. I could have listed more specific tech for all of the games, but doing so would have made the video much longer (and I think less interesting). I was aware of some of the things that you mentioned, such as magnet's properties, but I found it too specific to elaborate on. A big reason I listed sources in the description was to allow people to get a deeper understanding without adding bloat to the video. Ultimately I want the video to be palettable to people who don't have the most knowledge on Kingdom Hearts, and getting too deep into the specifics might make it hard to follow.
Things like giving tech points when using a spell that is weak against an enemy, hitting a point on a boss that is harder to hit than normal and provides no extra damage, killing several enemies simultaneously, giving an exp boost for not using certain abilities, giving exp for killing enemies quicker, and giving extra exp for being low health like exp boost does. Perhaps I should have mentioned that parrying kind of does this because it's harder to time than guard is, but it gives tech points (and can be used earlier) to compensate.
It does. This is most relevant for the situation commands because cycling between them can be troublesome if there are plenty you aren't using. With the command menu ones, it simply greys out the option and doesn't let you select it, which isn't achieving much that can't be self imposed. Even with removing the situation commands, removing the attraction rides is already possible with the critical converter ability. It's not like the redundant options have no value, especially since it ranks you based off of how many you use, but they're not achieving as much as they could with it.
