Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories: Underrated Exercise in Intrigue

Hey, I've heard that a Kingdom Hearts game about memories is in the news lately! It's this one, yeah? This is what you guys wanted, right? A mini retrospective on Chain of Memories?
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Twit:

0:00 - Intro
2:00 - Of Cards and Combat
6:31 - PS2 vs. GBA: 6th Generation Showdown
8:08 - The End Justifies the Means
9:53 - Quite Intriguing: The Actual Start of the Video
14:47 - It's a Small World After All
17:39 - The Disney Stuff: The Most Filler-y Filler, or More?
20:09 - The Cool Kids' Lunch Table
23:52 - Axel: The Most Popular Kid in School
25:19 - Knock 'Em Dead, Chain of Memories
26:11 - Outro

[horrornation]

I like that Sora got pissed off and frustrated as the story progressed, it makes him more human.

[NexGenration]

ive always held the idea of "i see your complaints, and they are valid complaints, but i dont care because i had fun" when it comes to this game

[fruitlion]

"Me, Riku...

...And Namine."

That was a very powerful moment for young me, especially because Sora says it with a total smile on his face.

[alexanderzafiris]

"The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes." Maybe Nomura was secretly signaling that Chain of Memories would be very dark by describing it as striving for a more light-hearted tone.

[handsoaphandsoap]

It should also be mentioned that CoM is the most invested Sora is in defeating the main antagonist. Fighting Ansem SoD, Xemnas and even Xehanort are kind of equivalent to chores to Sora, just something that would be nice of him to do, but the outright contempt in Sora’s expression when he beats Marluxia in CoM is unparalelled. This is a man that robbed him of basically everything, messed with his entire identity and fucked Sora up to an almost irreversible state, Xemnas could never.

[mastrheartsxiii]

20:47 as someone who didn’t know, chain of memories existed, and had to piece together things about it from two, let me tell you meeting an organization that was already nearly destroyed, holding itself together, trying to finish its plan, that was a life altering moment for me when it came to complex narratives

[topsykrett]

Ooo that line though. "6 Members of the Organization walk into the Castle, and one Flurry of Dancing Flames walks out."

[awkwardtonberry]

The card system is very easily explained. Aqua is HUGE fan of Uno. Absolutely loves it. It even says so in her character data(lie).

[coockabura]

"What the heck is a Kingdom of Hearts?!" Haha! My dad would always call it "Kingdom of Hearts"

[jacksonwww]

I like how this game treats Donald and Goofy as real characters, even though in other series they have their moments, only in KH1 and CoM I could see them as genuine characters, and not only Sora's companions, precisely because they have their own questions, conclusions, they disagree with Sora and that's good, because a friendship is not just about support, it's about growing up together, and sometimes that involves falling out.

I also like how Sora seems like a better built character in this game, he really acts like a confused person and lets it all consume him until he realizes he's made a mistake.

[thelemonadestandman]

"Thankfully this was only a phase that would last a minimum of... Eighteen years...." Fuck, I why you gotta call me out like that? But it's nice to hear someone give a defense to CoM. It's an easy target and I don't blame people for making it the butt of jokes. But there is enjoyment to be found in this game, and I love how twisted this game can get with Sora having his mind screwed up to the point he bails on Donald and Goofy. If anyone is like me and found Sora's characterization in DDD and KH3 skewed a bit too far in "happy ball of sunshine 24/7", then CoM is a great reminder of there's a still darkness in every Heart, even Sora.

[jackbrownio]

8:53 Pat literally describes the exact way I feel about Pokémon and Assassins Creed while I mindlessly play Pokémon and listen to his podcast style video. This is more meta than Verum Rex

[Vchump]

Someone give this man an award, he must be some kindve clairvoyant to know so much about me in such fine detail.

[caldw]

I always liked the story of CoM expanding on the main cast and actually implementing conflict within the main trio. Sora struggling to trust his memories or his friends and actually straight up bailing on Donald and Goofy later in the game.

When I originally played this game I made an effort to always talk to Donald and Goofy in between floors to see their reactions and thoughts on the events that just unfolded. I think the usage of sprites for specific emotions and expressions made the first CoM interactions with the NPC's more engaging than the other 3D titles where the characters just repeat the same dumbfaced expression and mouth flap animation regardless of context. The original CoM actually showed Donald, Goofy, Sora and everyone else actually happy, sad, angry or worried as the events unfolded throughout the whole story but in the remake you only see them emote in the actual dedicated cutscenes and the inbetween conversations or non-voiced Disney events seem much more bland due to them not using detailed facial expression outside of a few key anomations. A character could have just had a cutscene where they are questioning their own memories and who to trust and then when you speak to them 2 seconds later they just stand there with a derpy dead eyed expression and repeated mouth flaps.

Really enjoyed the video, nice to hear people give props to CoM.

[TheJbrown]

this game is just organization xiii gaslighting sora and its great

[aleisshiki]

Alright fine, I’ll give CoM another shot. You convinced me haha

[DuskyLore]

I'm really glad CoM turned out so inversely-themed compared to the "lighter tone" Tetsuya Nomura originally had planned.

The themes and moments you described, like the overarching, yet intimate air of psychological oppression hanging over Sora and company as they progress through Castle Oblivion, (where Sora, Donald and Goofy actually _talk_ more to each other), the plotting and intrigue of the Organization (Zexion is my favorite), the disturbing, emotional plight of Riku Replica coming to terms with his tumultuous existence...I love it all.

[bleachbleachBLEACHER]

Basically, this canonically means that Aqua invented the card system of Castle Oblivion as a method of confusing trespassers and making navigation within its halls even more impossible than it already would have been.

[Saturn]

18:55 Actually Kingdom Hearts Union X brings up this very point again, by saying that even though all the Dandilion's memories of the drama and rifts leading up to The Keyblade War, along with The Keyblade War itself were all erased the scars on their hearts remained.

[GNOtaku]

I’m really glad you highlighted the importance of the Disney worlds! Usually on my CoM playthroughs I skip through the unvoiced scenes, but after hearing you talk about them I definitely want to go back to them