215: Kingdom Hearts (with Leah Haydu)

Support my work on Patreon- https://patreon.com/realdavejackson Discord, Socials and more- https://linktr.ee/talesfromthebacklog Join Dave and special guest Leah Haydu (Cane and Rinse, Character Issues) as they discuss Kingdom Hearts (Square Enix, 2001). Leah is a longtime fan and Dave just played for the first time, and that led to a great conversation about the infamous story, the Disney and Final Fantasy tie-ins, the action-RPG combat, and the simplicity at the "heart" of it all. Listen in for more, and as always, no spoilers for a while. Guest info: Leah Haydu (she/her) Check out Character Issues https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-character-issues-podcast/id1530881747 Check out Cane and Rinse https://caneandrinse.com/ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Title Card 0:29 Introductions 4:02 Our Histories with Kingdom Hearts 9:50 Top-Level Thoughts 19:24 Story Setup and Disney Stuff 33:10 Final Fantasy Stuff 35:16 Understanding Kingdom Hearts 43:25 The "Heart" of the Story 51:11 More Music Talk 58:16 Gummi Ship 1:02:32 Combat 1:23:45 Some Gameplay Criticisms 1:30:26 Who Should Play? 1:34:00 Character Issues & Cane and Rinse Podcasts 1:40:24 Spoiler Wall & Patron Thank-Yous 1:42:08 Spoilers- Disney Worlds 1:54:58 Spoilers- Let's Talk Plot 2:04:13 Spoilers- Sora, Riku and Ansem 2:16:55 Spoilers- Final Bosses and Ending Music used in the episode is credited to Yoko Shimomura: Dearly Beloved, Destiny Islands, Hollow Bastion, Welcome to Wonderland, Traverse Town, The End of the World, Dearly Beloved -Reprise- Check out Unlockables Podcast for an extensive dive into the story of Kingdom Hearts: https://unlockables.fireside.fm/tags/guiding%20keys Cover art by Jack Allen- find him at https://linktr.ee/JackAllenCaricatures