Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance HD Plat Run

Plat Series
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance​

Wow. So after BbS I watched the insanely boring Re:Coded. At least the first 2 and a half hours were boring. I swear they were messing with me with those Castle Oblivion retread cutscenes… anyway, the ending was still fantastic despite all that. A shame it wasn’t the actual Coded game - I actually got it out a year or two ago and enjoyed playing it for the 2-3 hours I did. And it just makes no sense as a THREE HOUR MOVIE comprised of 90% filler.

After that, I decided to watch Unchained all the way through to prepare for DDD, 0.2 and then KH3 and obviously without spoiling anything too heavy I’ll just say this is an appropriate time to watch Unchained if you’re doing a series run.

And holy ****, Unchained was honestly one of the best KH releases in years. I played a bit back in 2018, so I was familiar with the premise before going in now, but it barely scratched the surface of the full story back then. I’ll say this - nothing could prepare me for the ending. I can’t wait to play KH3 again with a new perspective and knowledge of what actually happened in the past and how it all connects.

But KH3 has to wait as I still have a couple more games to get through. And yeah, 0.2 doesn’t have a plat, but this is more of a full series run so whatever. I’ll be getting all the trophies in that anyway. Before anything else, it’s time to disconnect from the datascape and drop into the Mark of Mastery.

 

• I've almost finished the game on Proud. I didn't feel the need to post much yet because I want to play on Critical, and that's where I'll be leaving most notes.
• Oh, you need to beat the game once to unlock Crit, thought I should mention that.
• I need Ryu Dragon and Skelterwild before I can finish this play through. Their abilities will be insane on the Crit run.
• Ryu took ages. Brilliant Fantasies are way too hard to obtain...
• Skelter wasn't bad. Two portals in TWTNW got me those Wild Fantasies.
• Ok, I have my Eaters for NG+ Crit. It's time to take on these bosses.
• Holy ****, Xemnas got me a couple times. I do remember this fight always feeling hard.
• It's Riku time, but I'm gonna take a short break. I know there's like an hour of straight cutscenes after the final boss so now's a good time.

 

• Ok, I finished the game! It's time for my Crit run to begin and my "official" notes for this plat run to start. I know, I know, I've gotten a lot of trophies out of the way... but we all know hearing about the pain of Crit is more entertaining anyway.
• I used a bit of farming + 10 Water Barrels and now I have EXP Walker before dropping to Riku in Traverse Town. It's gonna feel like playing a different game.
• Second Chance, Once More and Superglide are mine as well. I haven't even gotten to the first boss yet.
• ****, I'm gonna have to actually focus on Flick Rush now. These endgame Eaters should make it a lot more tolerable.
• I wish they put a chest up on the balcony where Sora starts in TT, for Riku. A lot of chests are placed exactly the same.
• The map design in this game is pretty top notch. It really paves the way for the beautiful worlds in KH3.
• A TWEWY crossover lol... god I was obsessed with TWEWY when it first came out. I have crazy vivid memories of listening to The Postal Service while grinding out pins in that game in high school. Seriously takes me back even thinking about it (and the sequel that came out in 2021 was dece too).
  
• I've nearly got all the red abilities filled out. This is going well.
• Well holy ****, the first boss wrecked me. I think I've just been humbled. Tbh the mobs have been a cinch up til now - I have no idea what just happened but yeah, I need to try this again.
• Buffed up my Ryu Dragon and Skelterwild with a dozen Water Barrels and went back. The boss went down like nothing.
  
• Good start to Crit imo - in the same amount of time it took me to beat TT as Sora on Proud, it took me again now, except this time I have all but a couple ability nodes unlocked and two stacked Spirits. Let's gooooo.

 

• **** the haters, the map design in this game is top notch. Cloches is an amazing, underrated world. Just go to the top of the tower in the Town map and tell me that isn't beautiful.
• I think this game really shines as an HD version, not 3DS. The worlds are so vast and epic, it makes no sense to put it on that tiny system. This should have been a console game from the start.
  
• EXP Walker on a NG+ is busted. I'm nearing level 20 and I just finished Cloches.
• The Special Portals apparently net you something awesome, and you need them for multiple trophies, so I think I'm going to try to finish them world by world as I go through the game. I still somehow only have 30% trophies after beating the whole game on Proud.
• There's something off in this game in that Prankster's Paradise comes first in the Journal and story but has a higher battle level than The Grid.
  
• The Keyblade is weaker, too. You're definitely supposed to come to PP first... let's just call this a weird typo that somehow never got fixed...
• I had the craziest glitch happen with Sora fighting Lord Kyroo. One of the frogs he spawned got stuck under the map, so I left and came back. When I challenged Lord Kyroo again, I was able to kill him. Last playthru I beat him much later in the game. He also gave me his recipe this time which I didn't have. Glitch aside, I wonder if this is a Crit thing.
• PP is done for both characters... well, I still have to do the Special Portals. Gonna do them next since they have such good rewards.

 

• The Grid is probably my least favorite world. I still like it in general, but its color scheme gets bland. At least one of the maps (Bridge or Throughput maybe) could have gone for something else.
• EXP Walker has made me too OP. I'm nearly done with Musketeers and nothing's been a challenge yet.
• Symphony is an amazing penultimate world. I love how it's basically two different worlds at this point. PP & TWTNW are the same way now that I think about it.
• Holy ****, I actually got wrecked by Young Xehanort at the end there. Took about 5 tries.
• Dammit, I said the wrong answer for Riku by accident during the Destiny Islands scene LOL... I need to reset.
• ****. I skipped scenes to reach the question (YX took me like 10 tries this time) and the scene scip button also SKIPS the question part. Why!?
• Ok, I beat YX on my 2nd try. I've got him figured out now. But god dammit, these stupid questions lmfao.
• I finally did it. I answered the questions correctly. That was 45 minutes well wasted.
• Secret ending reveals Kairi to be a potential Keyblade master. So exciting when it originally happened, but such a letdown when you see how she was handled in KH3.
• I'm gonna bum rush the Secret Portals and Julius now before hitting level 99. I've heard they're easy so let's try to make it a challenge.
• The TT boss was tough with Riku - that small map is not friendly. I found Spellican to be a nightmare with Sora as well but only because of the railgrind bit lol.
• I'm not sure what do do now so I'm gonna wait until my next play sesh to start knocking off all the random miscellaneous trophies I have left.

 

• Ok, collecting all the Commands took a minute. Some DE had the ability as their first node and others took a whole string. Bless Water Barrel though.
• I still need to complete Game Records, I think the Link Styles are what I'm missing.
• The Maestro trophy is a NIGHTMARE. I eventually got it by going in and out of Mysterious Tower and fighting that 5 enemy mob that spawns there. One Thunder, a couple combos on the bigger enemies and then Prayge. Took about 15 mins.
• Wow, the other world specific trophies weren't too bad. The PP one was super easy, I have no idea how I missed that on either my Proud or Crit run.
• I'll say one thing, this game isn't really that different on Crit than Proud. It's not even like in BbS were they shrink your Command Deck.
• I have like four trophies left now. I'm so ready to leave this game behind me. It has some of the coolest Disney worlds for sure but there are some weird gameplay elements that make it a mess.

 

Ok, I finally got the Platinum for this game and I have mixed feelings. The story isn't is bad as I remember it being - YX/time travel is easier to digest and accept now. There are some of the best Disney worlds ever in this game, but some of the worst gameplay. A lack of a quick drop feature is a huge oversight by the developers. I also find the whole affinity grinding thing to be a joke. This game is like a 7/10 that should be a 9/10. Either way, I enjoyed playing it a bit and to fill out the story as I get hype as hell for KH3, but I will never touch this game in my life now that I've done this plat run.