#Kingdom Hearts Final Mix [PS4] [2]: This World Has Been Connected

[levelstory-old]

Top 5 E3 Announcements

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly known as E3, is a yearly event that showcases what is up and coming in the video gaming industry. Gamers across the world get hyped and this year packed a huge punch.

To be honest, I never pay close attention to E3 because most showcases tend to look very samey (i.e. watch the Bethesda showcase). I'm not all that interested in the "dark and gritty" genre of games and so I usually hang back and let twitter fill me in on the hype. I didn't expect much.

Sure I expected to get excited by some things, but I was caught off guard by the several moments that blew me away, surprised me, and even made me tear up a bit! Here is my top 5 list, 1 ranking as least exciting (even though least exciting is still really freaking exciting) to 5 ranking as the most exciting (the G.O.A.T. of E3).

Number 1: Ni No Kuni Coming to Switch, Remaster Coming to PC & PS4

Originally released on the Playstation 3, Ni No Kuni is a game that stands out due to it being animated by the renowned Studio Ghibli. Since I never owned a PS3, I never played the game. After the sequel came out, I had high hopes that the original would port to the PS4 but no such announcement ever came. I was starting to give up. In fact, only days ago I went so far as to look into emulating the game on my PC as I've been dying to play it.

This news has come at a perfect time! The game is releasing on the Switch, PC, and PS4. But there is a catch. The game has been remastered for all systems but the Switch which will be receiving the original port of the game. Now I will have to decide if I want the game on the Switch or PS4. I enjoy playing games more on the Switch but also want the remastered version. Decisions decisions.

Number 2: Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

I still have yet to finish the original Yooka-Laylee game (read about my experience with the game thus far in the first issue of Level Story) but now it seems I have reason to be excited to play it some more. The announcement of the sequel to the highly successful modern platformer came as quite a surprise to me. While a sequel has certainly been on my radar, I didn't quite expect one so soon.

What really excites me about this sequel is how it appears to capture the spirit of the first game while also moving in a completely new platforming direction in the side scroller. Several commenters wrote that the game looked similar to DKC Tropical Freeze and that is a pretty nice complement. Waking up to this news was just a treat.

Number 3: Banjo-Kazooie in SMASH

Okay, confession time. I don't like the SMASH games. I've never gotten into them and haven't had the desire to change that. Seeing all the hype for the recent Switch release got me excited in a very removed sense. Watching other people get excited about the game (and about Joker from Persona 5 being in the game) made me excited even though I knew there was very little that would persuade me to shell out my money for this title.

Throughout this time, rumors were strewn about twitter saying that Banjo and Kazooie might be announced as the next characters in SMASH. Banjo-Kazooie is a game I grew up playing all the time and I have a strong connection to it. While I had no connection to SMASH, I had a strange desire to see the bear and bird get their dues since they haven't really had much luck since being bought by Microsoft.

Their announcement brought tears to my eyes. Perhaps nostalgia had taken over, or maybe it was the fans joyful reactions that made me emotional, but I finally have a reason to pick up this game. Whether that will actually happen or not is still to be decided. But after watching that trailer, how can you not be hyped for this?!

Number 4: Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII is one of those celebrated games that I hear about all the time yet somehow I am so separated from it that I only know that it is considered a good game and literally nothing else. I didn't have Playstation growing up and never had an interest in Final Fantasy games so just never played it.

But since my love for the Kingdom Hearts series has pushed me to enter the realm of Final Fantasy and since I am just generally interested in stories told in games and FFVII is said to have an amazing story, I have decided to put a bit more stock in FFVII. I have just started to play the ported game on my Switch and have watched closely for updates about the remake.

And turns out, this new interest has paid off because wow does this game look really good. Square Enix really stole the show when they premiered the full length trailer at E3. Everything looks so polished and beautiful. While I imagine there will be changes from the original, I still think this game looks amazing and I look forward to real time action gameplay vs. the original turn based combat.

Number 5: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sequel

Okay...let me set this up for you. I did not grow up playing Zelda. My cousin gave me a hand-me-down copy of Ocarina of Time and I just didn't play it all too often (yes, I regret my adolescent decisions). Breath of the Wild is technically my first Zelda game and it is hard to put into words how much I love it. I've put in over 150 hours of play time and when I finally beat the final boss this past Sunday, I was happy but also sad that the game had come to an end.

My biggest wish was to explore Hyrule some more post beating Ganon (when you beat the game, a star appears on your file and you are placed at the point right before beating Ganon). Then, a few days later, this sequel was announced. This is the GOAT for me. I am on the Breath of the Wild hype train. There is no release date for the game yet which kind of gets me down but I am too excited for this game to care! This was easily the best announcement at E3.

And I can't finish this article without an honorable mention….

Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC

Kingdom Hearts is my all time favorite franchise. Despite its existence in the absurd and the blatant examples of bad storytelling, I always find myself coming back to these games and having a blast with them. It is a series I will stick with through and through.

DLC for Kingdom Hearts 3 has been on the horizon ever since the game was released back in January of this year. Fans of the franchise know the "vanilla" KH games are only the starting point. Almost every title has come out with a re-release known as "final mix" where new content is added including cut scenes, gameplay scenarios, additional mechanics, and more. Back in the early 2000's, final mix was a pretty unique concept. Today, final mix is just DLC. Yes, I know, KH was ahead of its time.

The new trailer showcasing what is to come in the new paid DLC has got me very excited. It looks like we will get to play as new characters, have new keyblades, and there will be a ton of convoluted plot dump that only KH can bring.

While this would have been a highlight for me, I thought Square Enix gave zero hype to this. The trailer was originally shown at the KH Orchestra concert in LA and director Tetsuya Nomura told the audience not to film it or there would be dire consequences. Someone filmed it and now the conspiracy is that this person made Nomura angry. While I don't think this person should have filmed the trailer, I also think it is kind of sick that Nomura can put out a threat like that and KH fans tweet out, "you upset Nomura. Thanks a lot."

Speculation went about saying that Square might have been planning a longer trailer at E3. Whether this was correct and Nomura pulled it due to his "dire consequences", or the E3 and Orchestra trailer were the same all along, we will never know. Either way, the trailer was exciting to see the first time but didn't do much to get me really excited like the 5 announcements I talked about in this piece.

What Did You Think?

So what did you think about E3? What were some of the highlights and your favorite announcements? Let me know in the comments!

[their-destinys-writer]

Connecting the Light - A Kingdom Hearts Fanzine Work

Did I tell anyone I participated in a Kingdom Hearts zine?

Last month, @destiny-islanders and @novallion organized what was probably one of the biggest Kingdom Hearts events in all Tumblr: a special zine called The Ties That Bind Us, celebrating the much anticipated release of Kingdom Hearts III. I’m happy to say that I submitted a piece, and I am finally sharing it with my followers.

For the zine, you can get the download link here.

Connecting the Light

The power to connect. Hearts that rest and take refuge in mine. That’s what they said I can do: that I have the power of connection to other people’s hearts. But will it protect my friends when they need it the most?

Sora was ready to leave Destiny Islands once again, but this time, instead of looking for his friends, he would be saving people connected to the one residing in his heart. And the owner of it, too.

Call them ‘future friends,’ as Sora liked to think of them.

After all, if they were Ven’s friends, then by extension, they were his friends too. He just hadn’t met them yet. Or, at least, that he knew of.

He stared off into the setting sun on the beach, the one that left trails of orange on the surface of the ocean. The boy listened to the waves intently, wondering when would be the next time he would hear them again. Hoping it would be these same waves he would hear again, and not the ones in the Realm of Darkness.

“Sora?” a soft voice spoke behind him.

He turned to find Kairi standing there, giving one of her bright smiles. Very appropriate for a Princess of Heart.

“I thought you guys had left already,” she said as she walked to stand beside him.

“Riku needed some extra time before we left,” Sora shrugged. “I think he’s not very sure about our next adventure.”

“Oh,” Kairi uttered, her brows furrowing. She turned to look at the sunset. “He still thinks he’s not worthy, doesn’t he?”

“I guess,” Sora sighed. But he quickly grinned. “But don’t worry. I think this test is just the thing he needs to prove how strong his heart really is.”

Kairi giggled. “Yeah. At least he will have you there to remind him…” She paused. “Sora?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t ever let him forget it: that he is also part of the light, no matter the darkness he has fought inside him.”

Sora blinked at her. Slowly, a smile curled his lips, as he looked back at the sunset, placing his hands at the back of his head.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let him forget.”

“I thought you’d be on the gummi ship by now.”

Both Sora and Kairi turned to the new voice, only for both of them to let out sounds of surprise.

“You cut your hair,” Sora commented.

“It was getting a little long for my taste.” Riku shrugged, walking closer to his friends.

“It suits you,” Kairi giggled. “I’ve been thinking about doing the same thing.”

“It bodes well, when you’re trying to start anew,” the young man said, now standing next to the other two, lightly stroking his hair.

“Great! You’re going to pass that exam with style now.” Sora playfully punched Riku’s bicep.

The young man chuckled, right before turning his gaze to the sunset. “You really think I’ll pass, with all the darkness I let in my heart?”

Sora and Kairi exchanged looks, instantly nodding in understanding.

“What are you talking about? Of course you’ll pass!”

“You’re gonna do great!”

They spoke at the same time, both with a sense of purpose, including Sora making a fist of confidence. The reaction was so strong that Riku was startled by their enthusiastic support.

“You have us,” Kairi added.

“And King Mickey, Donald and Goofy,” Sora continued. “You’ve got plenty of friends rooting for you.”

“Right,” Riku chuckled. “My friends are my power. That’s what you said before, right?”

Sora nodded. “Right.”

The trio turned back to the light, seeing the last bit of the sun sink down the horizon. Knowing it would be a while before they got to see it together like this again. So, they cherished the moment, savoring every second of it.

“We should get going,” Riku said quietly.

“Yeah,” Sora whispered.

As the two boys turned to walk away, Kairi spoke up.

“Make sure you two come back here,” she teased, placing her hands on her hips and leaning forward.

Sora grinned. “We will.”

He then practically jumped as he placed his arms around Riku and Kairi’s shoulders. Riku got dragged down by Sora’s short stature.

“I promise that no matter what, we’ll always come back here, to this island, and hang out. Like old times. No darkness involved.”

Kairi giggled, while Riku let out a short laugh and shook his head at his always optimistic friend.

Someday.

Someday, it’ll be me, Terra and Aqua. We promised we would find our way back to each other, that our wayfinders would guide us, and keep us together in our hearts.

And someday, I’ll see Xion again. And we’ll go back to that clocktower to eat that sea-salt we loved so much. And maybe this time, Axel won’t have to keep any secrets from us.

Someday, we will reconnect.

Personal A/N: I cannot even begin to describe how much this series means to me. I have been playing Kingdom Hearts since I was about 12 years old (I am about to turn 27 next month). I remember watching Disney Channel and seeing an ad for the first game, and I immediately fell in love with the idea of Disney characters mixed with anime characters.

When my sister and I got the game, we still didn’t have memory cards for our PS2. So you can imagine my frustration when I had to turn off the PS after I heard Tarzan say “Not Clayton. Hee, hoo, hoo ha ha” about 10 times.

But after getting memory cards, this was the first time I ever took the time to complete a game at it’s fullest. And for once, uncover secrets my sister never did (she was usually better at videogames than me).

It was the first time I had ever felt I had some unique achievement that no one else I knew had. That I was good at something I normally wasn’t. I remember gaping the moment I beat Sephiroth and saying “never again”, without knowing I would beat his ass again in Kingdom Hearts 2 later on. It was the one series I played over and over again, trying to get better and better with each playthrough. Even as I turned into adulthood.

Sadly, that PS2 stopped working properly over time, and I was too broke to buy any consoles, like a PSP or a NintendoDSi. So, for the longest time, I missed out on the games. From then on, everything I knew about the games came from Wikipedia.

That was, until my boyfriend (now husband) gifted me a Nintendo3DS for our 9 month anniversary, with Pokémon Y. Finally an adult with a part-time job, one of the very first games I bought for that 3DS was, of course, Kingdom Hearts 3D. I took my time playing it, but unfortunately, I was unable to finish it because one of the buttons stopped working properly. The one button one smashes the most to beat Xehanort in the end.

So when I finally saved enough money to buy a console, you bet your butt that I bought a PS4. While there were other games my husband and I were interested in (like Monster Hunter World, the remakes of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, among other games), there was one main reason I bought it for: Kingdom Hearts.

Because I grew up with this series. Because they gave me a sense of supporting friendships. Because it was beautiful. Because it made me feel whole. Because they made me feel capable.

And when I saw PSN was selling the All-in-One Package, I didn’t need to think twice to buy it. And the second those games downloaded, I opened the very first Kingdom Hearts game, I started crying like an idiot. Because finally. I finally had them with me again. And I could finally experience some of the stories that I had only read about.

These 14 years have been an emotional roller coaster. But this last month really takes the cake. I cried so hard with the new game, from beginning to end, and I am so happy I got to see and experience it. I, personally, feel Kingdom Hearts III was so much of what I wanted it to be. I experienced so much old and new, at the same time. The added pieces of Disney were fantastic, and once again, it proved that Kingdom Hearts is so much more than just a crossover. It’s more than its gameplay and companies. It is a piece of us, that helped forge who many of us are now.

Kingdom Hearts is, and forever will be, the greatest game in my heart.

[rozalynpaige]

About The Know’s video titled “Final Fantasy 7 Remake & Kingdom Hearts 3 GET HITMANNED?”

On May 26th, 2017, YouTube news channel The Know released a video titled “Final Fantasy 7 Remake & Kingdom Hearts 3 GET HITMANNED?” and... there is so much wrong with it.

Since this post turned out really long, I’m gonna put a TL;DR here at the top so I can put my explanations and sources under a Read More, so as not to clog up y’all’s dashes.

TL;DR:

Kingdom Hearts 3 is not in FF15 Development Hell. The Know saying that Jose compared KH3′s development to FF15′s is actually wholly incorrect, as he did no such thing. He even clarified that he didn’t. Please note, to be fair to The Know: This can be blamed on mistranslation, as the tweet they were referencing was originally in Spanish. They are not the only ones to reach this incorrect conclusion from the mistranslated tweet. So, try not to be harsh on The Know, guys.

Jose most likely was only implying that minor content would be cut from KH3 if it isn’t 100% done by its deadline, not that we would be getting an incomplete game a la FF15. As he said on May 9th, “There is no rush when you delay a game twice.”

“These are games we intend to release in the next three years” does not mean “Three years from now”, The Know. How can you go from reading aloud a tweet that says “2018″ twice to saying “What if it doesn’t come out until 2020 because they said ‘in the next three years’”? I feel that The Know’s comments about KH3 not coming until “2020 or later” are entirely overreaction. While Jose_Strife’s claim of a 2018 release for KH3 is still officially just a rumor, he may not be far off. We’ll just have to wait and see, possibly at E3 2017, if Jose is right about them releasing a KH3 trailer there.

We already knew, since 2015, that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be released episodically. How is this news, The Know?? It is not as bad as it seems, however. FF7 Re’s episodes will be full games, a la FF13. FF13 is a series of three games (XIII, XIII-2, and XIII-3), and Square Enix considers it to be “episodic”. Square Enix said that FF7 Re’s “episodic” nature will be based on FF13′s release structure.

I don’t think KH3 will be released episodically. Even if it is, I believe it’ll be like FF7 Re and FF13.

Explanations and sources below the Read More. For a slightly more manageable read, I’ve split up the sections through use of horizontal line and making pseudo-headers with bold text placed between “~~~”.

~~~First...~~~

I will start with their inaccurate information about what Twitter user Jose_Strife said in regards to Kingdom Hearts 3.

If you don’t know who Jose_Strife is or why anyone would consider him an authority on Kingdom Hearts news... In summary, he appears to have connections, and his “leaked info” has been right before. On May 8th, 2017, he made a series of tweets about Kingdom Hearts 3′s current state in development, said there will be a trailer at E3, and even said the planned release year is 2018. These tweets were in Spanish, so English-speakers had to translate them. This led to misunderstandings from faulty translations, and on May 9th, he tweeted clarifications in English. This is where The Know got tripped up.

~~~Comparison to FF15′s development~~~

First off, they claim that Jose_Strife compared KH3′s development to that of Final Fantasy 15. This is completely untrue. The misunderstanding comes from the following tweet:

“Y, para sorpresa de nadie, todo esto es culpa del infierno de desarrollo de Versus.” which got translated to “And, to the surprise of no one, all this is guilt Versus development hell.” (Link)

He refers to FF15 by its original name, Final Fantasy 13 Versus. Somehow, The Know (and admittedly, other people) took this to be him saying KH3 is in the same development hell as FF15. On May 9th, he clarified with this English tweet:

“Reports about kh3 being in development hell like Versus are also inaccurate. I said that the development of Versus was a hell.” (Link)

The impression I’m getting here is that he had been trying to make an off-hand comment about Square Enix’s actions being a result of guilt from FF15′s development... or something. Either way, KH3 is not in FF15 Development Hell, at all.

~~~KH3′s deadline; incomplete release?~~~

Second, The Know insinuated that Jose_Strife said, if KH3 doesn’t meet its deadline in 2018, story content will be cut and we’ll be given an incomplete game. I’m pretty sure this is incorrect, as well, judging by various tweets he posted.

In English, on May 9th: “Square Enix is not rushing KH3. That reports are incorrect.” (Link)

In English, on May 9th: “If they can't finish something when they hit the deadline, it'll be cut. There is no rush when you delay a game twice.” (Link)

He says that KH3 has been delayed twice, which indicates that Square Enix may be trying to avoid cutting major content. This is further supported by the following English tweet from May 9th:

“If Nomura was a Osaka team resident and he set his goals accurately, the game would be out in December like planned.” (Link)

Meaning that Tetsuya Nomura had initially expected KH3 to be released December 2017. When it was realized that it won’t be finished by then, the release date was delayed to sometime in 2018, according to Jose. Of course, this is by far not an official release date and can only be considered a rumor.

Assuming Jose is right, if KH3 was really going to go the way of FF15 - an incomplete release with cut story content that requires downloaded updates to finish - would they really have delayed the release? I think they would have stuck with the December 2017 release, if that was the case. But they seem to want to avoid repeating their mistake with FF15 (that possible “guilt” mentioned earlier).

There was also a Spanish tweet on May 8th that may clarify what kind of content Jose_Strife meant would be cut if KH3 doesn’t meet the deadline:

“Como muchos sabréis, KH2, BBS y 3D tuvieron contenido recortado, por lo que no es nada nuevo en KH. Todo lo planeado no estará en 3, simple.” which got translated to “As many of you know, KH2, BBS and 3D had content cut out, so it is nothing new in KH. The plan will not be in 3, simple” (Link)

Basically, pointing out that previous Kingdom Hearts games had content cut out and it has never been a big deal. There are actually YouTube videos out there where people talk about the games’ cut content, including unused assets that can be found in the coding, and it’s often pretty minor.

Just to put context to what I mean by that:

Content cut from KH2 includes:

Two keyblades, which had models.

Two Heartless, which appeared to have textured models. They were seen in an advertisement.

Not-so-minor: They changed their plans for how the battle against Xemnas would go.

You were going to be able to fight each member of Organization XIII for fun in Olympus Colosseum. This idea was later implemented in the Final Mix version of KH2.

Summons of Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. Their untextured models can be found in the game’s code. The best guess for why they were cut is because Square Enix didn’t have the rights to use any Pixar IPs. Hopefully they’ll eventually get the rights to Pixar movies.

This YouTube video talks about this info and has images, including concept art of old ideas for the Xemnas battle.

Content cut from Birth by Sleep includes:

A keyblade, which had a textured model.

An appearance by Pleakley in the Lilo & Stitch world. He has a model, but it has no texture.

Not-so-minor: A world based on The Jungle Book.

Not-so-minor: The Mirage Arena was actually going to have a story, where it was headed by Final Fantasy 8 character Laguna Loire. For whatever reason, Square Enix decided that Laguna would be in either Dissidia 012 or KH: BBS, not both. They went with Dissidia 012.

Cut content from Dream Drop Distance includes:

Plans for a rabbit-like Dream Eater

Sora was going to visit the old Tron world from KH2, while Riku visited the world based on the newer Tron movie.

Sora was going to visit the world based on the old Fantasia movie, while Riku visited one based on Fantasia 2000.

The latter two cut from Dream Drop Distance were due to time constraints, in regards to how long it takes to build a world. Side note: The fact that building a world takes a lot of time may be one reason KH3 is taking so long - Nomura said it has more worlds than KH2 and the worlds are bigger and seamless.

All in all, the content cut from previous KH games did not result in cutting out story content, and they were minor cuts in the grand scheme of each game. This seems to be what Jose is implying will happen if KH3 doesn’t meet its deadline - minor content and ideas cut out, but the story and significant parts still intact.

~~~“KH3 will release in 2018″/“We might not get it until 2020?!”~~~

Seriously, The Know, which is it?

If you ask me, we’ll more likely be getting KH3 in 2018. However, there’s still no official release date (as of May 28th), so Jose_Strife’s claims of 2018 being its release year are still considered mere rumor. That said, it’s looking like Jose’s rumor may not be far from the truth, and like I said earlier, he has a tendency to be right about these things.

KH 1.5+2.5 and KH 2.8 were released for PS4 in 2017. If you get both of these packages, you’ll have the entire current Kingdom Hearts series on one console. Granted, in those packages, 358/2 Days and Re: Coded are cutscene movies and KH X is a movie, but it’s still the whole current series.

Jose claims we’ll be getting a KH3 trailer at E3 2017.

The Kingdom Hearts Facebook and Twitter accounts have been a lot more active since, about, early January this year (2017), posting every one or two days. Whereas, late last year, there were anywhere between 4 and 25 days between posts. Granted, they’re mostly posting about the previous games and asking fans about things like their favorite Drive Form from KH2 or their favorite ice cream item from Birth by Sleep. But the noticeable increase in activity could be them trying to draw up interest and attention, which would make sense if KH3′s release is coming up.

It’s common for a video game company to begin its major promotional campaign about a year before the game releases. If KH3 is due to release sometime in 2018, it would be a good idea to begin its promotional campaign soon. If they do release a trailer at E3 2017, that trailer may announce the release date and kick off the promotional campaign.

As for The Know’s comments about KH3 possibly not being released until 2020 or later...

That was entirely based on Square Enix’s presentation of “These are games we intend to release in the next three years” along with images of the titles for Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and their Marvel IP. That does not, in any way, mean “These are games we intend to release three years from now”, which is the scenario that The Know presented. It means “These are games you can look forward to within the next three years.” 2018 is included in that “next three years”, you know.

So, in my opinion, The Know’s scenario of a 2020 or later release is mere overreaction.

~~~Episodic releases?! Oh no!!~~~

Calm down. We’ve already known since 2015 that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be released episodically.

Here’s an article from 2015 that talks about it

And another from 2015

And one from 2016 that explains that it’s not as bad as it sounds

When we hear “episodic release”, I think a lot of us are thinking of Life is Strange and Tell Tale Games (such as, Tell Tale’s The Walking Dead), where you get one game split up into bite-sized pieces that are released individually.

That is not what they’re doing with FF7 Re.

FF7 Re’s episodes will be full games, a la Final Fantasy 13 - one big story, told through a series of full games. And of course they have to do this with FF7 Re. The original FF7 was spread across 3 discs! Though, they were all released at the same time in the same disc case. Ahh, the old days.

Will Kingdom Hearts 3 have an episodic release? Personally, I don’t think so. However, if it does, I’m confident that it will be a case just like FF7 Re and FF13, where each episode is a full game.