#Xehanort was an evil fuck tho

[serenedash]

Been rotating this idea for months where Baldr survives dark road and goes on to be a master, more about it under the cut

Okay so the idea is that Xehanort turns on Eraqus and kills him instead and the rest of the series actually happens basically the same but just with a more fucked up twist to it where Baldr follows Xehanort's plans. Baldr and Xehanort get to be fucked up evil husbands together :) I think that Baldr would be nicer to Vanitas than Xehanrot is but like. not by much. but it's enough to notice,

Anyway there's already a lot of discussion about Aqua's view of light and darkness being extreme due to Eraqus and to me I think Baldr as a master would be even more extreme but he does it fr on purpose. Baldr is really playing it up with Terra, Aqua and Ven for the purpose of the fight at the end of BBS. I haven't thought about this much past BBS but lbr he would die like Eraqus did here lmao I think that still in kh3 tho Eraqus would still appear at the end

[asleepinawell]

i'm in some sort of Mood about finishing the kh series (for a given value of finished) since I've been playing it since kh1 on ps2 a million years ago but instead of dealing with that i'm going to write my mini retrospective of the titles based on my replay

rest below the line

kh1

story - 7/10. it wasn't the most interesting but it was the first and laid the groundwork for the series. maleficent had a lot of screentime which is always a big plus. love her evil ass. it's also the start of the 'kairi never gets to do anything ever and gets kidnapped every time she tries' persisting problem in the whole series

gameplay - 6/10. feels a bit clunky now in comparison to some of the newer ones. it was harder than some later ones, but mostly because of wonky control issues and not great boss fights. but it's very playable and fun still. mushrooms do a little dance and shake their butt at you. i will never not feel nostalgic about traverse town music. THANK GOD YOU CAN SKIP THE PRE FIGHT CUTSCENES ON RETRIES NOW OH MY GOD YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE ONE BEFORE THE DARK RIKU FIGHT WAS LIKE TEN MINUTES AND BACK IN THE DAY YOU HAD TO REWATCH IT EVERY TIME AAHHHHJHHH *i am tranquilized and removed from the room*

re: chain of memories

story - 8/10. i love the focus on the organization 13 internal drama. bitches are running around bad mouthing and killing each other. larxene is a constant joy. marluxia is pretty and goes swish swish and makes flowers. axel was an instant fave. zexion is a shitty twink and i do so love shitty twinks. there was some disney stuff too i guess

gameplay - 2/10. the first time i played it my brother was crashing at my apartment and watching me play and got very into making cool deck combos. so i had him do that for me and i did the combat and the fun sibling shenanigans got me through it. this time i quit after thirty minutes and watched the cutscenes on youtube. it's just so repetitive and meh

358/2 days

story - 7/10. that's too many soras! put some back! story was a bit slow at times but i did enjoy seeing the daily life of the organization and axel/saïx handling their divorce so so well. needed more demyx

gameplay - it's packaged as a movie now so i did not replay the game and can't fairly rate it. i remember it being not the best combat but not terrible for a ds game

kh2

story - 8/10. it would get higher but the fact the beginning is incomprehensible if you haven't played com and 358 loses it some points....i had not played com when i got kh2 and boy howdy. it made more sense on the replay of course and yeah it's a good story. obsessed with how maleficent remains one of the main recurring characters in this series and just Does Shit from time to time because why not. god forbid women do anything etc. also the gay divorce continues to go terribly. saïx is handling this so well i say as he goes into berserk mode again. needed more riku screentime tho

gameplay - 9/10. huge upgrade from previous titles. it was very fun and fluid. the form shifts were a great addition. there were a lot of options but it didn't feel overwhelming or like it disrupted combat. my only real complaint was it felt a bit too on rails at some parts... like cutscene, battle, walk three steps repeat. oh and i hated the gummi missions but i am a gummi hater in general. oh also antiform was amazing. sora can turn into a feral creature... as a treat

birth by sleep

story - 10/10. fuck i love birth by sleep. aqua my beloved daughter who is the most terrifying keyblade master ever. terra my troubled son who got fucked over by shitty adults on an hourly basis. ven the thousand year old little kid who has never caught a break once. also hey it's xehanort and he also has ex husband drama. only note is that aqua should get to say fuck

gameplay - 10/10. the command deck was right up my alley and command forms were the best form gameplay they've done. i loved how all three kids had a unique style and abilities. i loved melding cards and gems to make new cards. i enjoyed playing monopoly. i thought it was the best game in the series when i first played it and that remains true

re:coded

story - 6/10. it was okay? it was largely a rehash but did add a few things. my friend and i kept saying welcome back alvis whenever data riku used a computer so that was fun

gameplay - this was also presented as a movie in the bundle so i won't score it. i don't even remember how it was from way back when i played it

dream drop distance

story- 9/10. the games that switch between multiple perspectives seem to be my favorites and i think it's partly that it makes the story more interesting. the time traveling norts were a bit wtf but that's just an inescapable part of the series. inspired me to get twewy which i will be playing next. MEOW WOW!!!!!

gameplay - 9/10. flowmotion was really neat and fit the style well. i loved the pokemon aspect so much you have no idea. i was a little sad you couldn't meld command cards but it would have been Too Much with all the other stuff going on. a few fights near the end had some really dumb mechanics (the type where when you look up a guide it just says good luck) but there were also some excellent ones. i do think it lost a little something in the port because the stylus on 3ds was important. however there is nothing is quite as satisfying as seeing meow wow hit xehanort with giant bouncy orbs so I'm willing to forgive it a lot

union x/back cover/dark road

story - 9/10. i was shocked how much i enjoyed the story of these. i got very invested and i was only watching the cutscenes, not playing. really interesting world building and the master of masters was an instant fave. one of the only kh titles that passes (barely) the bechdel somehow. also could be retitled as kh: dead kids, because boy did a lot of kids die! extra points for maleficent managing to set major events in motion twice and being very eh whatever about it. love her for that. and the backstory of the xehanort/eraqus divorce, of course. i love a good divorce

gameplay - didn't play this one, just watched ELEVEN HOURS of cutscenes. no longer available which is hilarious considering how much important lore is in it that is referenced in kh3. hopefully they make it into a single player offline game someday with better gameplay

fragmentary passage

story - 8/10. very short but filled in some gaps. i love aqua so i was predisposed to love this one

gameplay - 8/10. it felt like a rough draft for kh3 and that meant it didn't have all the annoying extra crap kh3 added in and played pretty smoothly. i liked the little puzzles. it was a unique game and i enjoyed it more than i expected

kh3

story - 6/10. the fact i had to sit through entire disney movies worth of cutscenes brings the score way down. we did not need to see 3 musical numbers in frozen. if i wanted that I'd watch the movie. i just wanted to play the damn game. the majority of the game is sora got benched and has to get his groove back which was very disappointing for the climatic finale to the series. once i got into the end game though it was much better (i would rate the later game stuff way above a 6 which just makes my frustration with earlier stuff worse). re:mind added in the bits i felt were missing and i came away satisfied overall with the wrap up. axel/saïx had divorce arc three and then got back together finally 🏳️‍🌈🥂🎉. xehanort/eraqus also got back together as they fucked off to be gay in the afterlife. finally we are free of the norts (OR ARE WE???) and the master and the foretellers are slated to come back next from the looks of things. maleficent continues to hang out in the wings waiting for opportunities to #girlboss and I'm excited too see what cataclysmic events she sets off next

so that's it. i did watch the brief melody of a memory scenes but there wasn't too much new there. i may watch the cs from the missing link beta at some point. otherwise it's back to my life long journey of waiting for the next title to drop

gameplay - 5/10. ugh. i bought the game when it came out but between the full length disney movies and the over saturated gameplay gimmicks i didn't get far. this time i powered through and by the end i was enjoying it for the most part because I'd figured out what things to ignore and how to avoid them. attractions were the worst addition to gameplay ever. everything was too flashy. way too many instances of being locked in a "cool" transition animation instead of actually doing combat which broke up the flow of things. i missed the command deck and how much it let you customize your play style. i didn't like the keys being locked to command forms as much as the bbs forms since it meant if you had a keyblade with better stats but hated the special on it you were kinda fucked. this became less of a problem as the game went but was still annoying. overall felt like a step back from the others. they tried to do too much. oh also why were there ten thousand instances of having to learn new controls for some new mini game in every area??? just let me hit things i am begging you. it really felt like they went for cool spectacles over satisfying gameplay

general notes on all of them: i enjoyed the story much more this time due to being able to play them in order. the fact they all released on different platforms originally made the complicated story even more confusing since i couldn't afford to buy a new system every time a new one came out. i really hope they veer away from that practice in the future but i kinda doubt it especially since they've got another mobile game lined up already. while the disney stories were fun early on it felt like the story outgrew them (except for the characters who were in the main story as well like mickey and maleficent) and they were kinda a drag by 3. i doubt they can move away from those since they're the whole gimmick of the series but it would be better imo. deeply worried they'll start bringing in newer disney acquisitions.

one of my biggest complaints about the series has always been how few female characters there are and how little many of them are used. it got slightly better later in the series but overall was still not great, especially for kairi. i kept wondering if they added stuff for her in re:mind due to complaints about this.... the dlc felt like an apology for several things tbh. aqua was great but she shouldn't be the only one and even she got upstaged in kh3 when she's supposed to be the third most powerful keyblade master. weirdly enough maleficent was probably the best written female character. really wild how much she wove into the plot and affected events so much without even trying to (especially in union x). she should fire pete though (i think she should hire demyx)

I'd like to see them let you play as characters other than sora more often since that was always really neat (he's had a billion games to himself now). I'd love a kairi and aqua game but i can imagine square and disney both clutching their pearls over female protagonists

something i noticed was that playing them when i was older i liked sora much better. when i started the series as a teenager i found him annoying. as an adult i have more sympathy and tolerance for teenaged boys who are Going Through It. growth or something

[dragonofeternal]

I enter a new P2-related discord server in hopes of having some nice chats

Cults are on the blacklisted topics for a server about Persona 2

I depart the server

[minijenn]

And XEHANORT - I was once just a teacher here on the Islands- When I found that the princes had power beyond what I dreamed! So my power dragged them to play- but one little boy got away! Little Sora, beware - Your Master's AWAAAAAAKE! *Minions* In the dark of the night, terror will find him! *X* Terror's the LEAST I can do! *M* In the dark of the night, evil will breeeeew! *X* Soon, he will feel - that his NIIIIIIGHTmares are REEEEAAAAL! *M* In the dark of the night - *X* He'll be THROUGH!

OH FUCK I HADNT EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT imo Xehanort being by a Petty Asshole that Sora got away 100% tracks tho and tbh given some of my other plans I haven’t discussed yet for this AU he really is just an absolute dick here for some of the things he does to the other kiddos

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff ~ Stray Thoughts: The Beginning of the End {MLP}

*INHALE* Ahhh, it’s good to be back.

PART 1 Can’t Wake Up

You know it’s trouble when everyone has to book it.

Applejack, she already jinxed it, so it’s best to go along

“Longest Period of Harmony“? We got literal demons, a god of chaos, evil vines, Xehanort ponified, an entire hivemind army, Starlight, and a child villain, all in what feels like a couple years, what the fuck kind of peace is this?

Oh, you’re just providing the fact that you and Luna haven’t contributed much of anything.

But why retire, tho?

Honestly, let Discord run Equestria. He’s practically  Thanos to where any problem can die with a snap. My god, you two can be useless.

Why? They have lives on their own and you just throw the throne at them just like that? Plus your power is raising the sun and moon so how could they. What the FU- This is the worst fucking plan I’ve ever heard.

Seriously, Celestia, this is the dirtiest shit you could ever pull.

C’mon, Discord, I’m suppose to be the justified buzzkill here

Real friends can see your freakouts coming and work with it.

I love that the show is acknowledging the typical routine of these premieres AND how useless Celestia and Luna have been.

Also, where is Starlight?

They forgot the hentai.

MY LITTLE PONY: Friendship is Nepotism

Bug Queen, babey

She’s seen better days.

Cozy Glow, why are you a child? 

And I can relate, Lord Tirek, I don’t want her around either

*Gasp* The M of Mario!

Kill the wooby, Chrysallis. Do it for me.

And I love how off the bat Chryssi is. Clearly best villain.

Sombra, you’re a character that existed.

Grogar sounds like swamp mouthwash.

And why do you hate Twilight and her friends?

And seriously, why is this child here?

To the defense of Cozy, Grogar sounds like a less attractive Gengar

How can you eat light?

Oh that makes sense since he’s a goat, but why, Grogar? Darkness is anti-light.

Sombra, you SPOKE!

Oof, Snap.

Technically, Cozy didn’t lose to ponies if I remember

I’m with Tirek, it is extreme luck.

If you’re a kid, then WHY ARE YOU AROUND? AND HOW WERE FRIENDS WITH TIREK?!

Oooh, a LEGION OF DOOM! It’s Fiendship is Magic all over again.

I like Sombra already

And Cozy too, especially as a punchline, both figuratively and literally

Oh, it’s Summer. That explains the lack of Yona in this adventure.

MY LITTLE PONY: Friendship is DOWNWARD SPIRAL DOWNWARD SPIRAL DOWNWARD SPIRAL DOWNWARD SPIRAL DOWNWA

Come on, Starlight, we gotta prepare for this shit to end so we can cry appropriately

Yeah Starlight, everyone got nerfed to boost your success

Damn, got you good.

Oh no, it’s the Bye Bye Man

“They thought they could attack me, but then I went UP. HA HA HA!“

Why didn’t you protect the baby, dumb ass?

That takeover was unnaturally quick... this was with every villain?

And that evil laugh is wonderful.

They put a muzzle on the baby. *laughs* That is rich.

“Long live the King“ Cliche

Game of Thrones

Discord, you ass

Gem up, younglings.

Again, this is all surprisingly quick, even for me.

Hehehehehe, they killed him.

We get it, Pinkie, you waste food.

And once again, the day is saved

Wow, the weakest villain ever just destroyed the elements of harmony. Color me... shooketh.

Intermission

Part 2 Wake Me Up, Inside

Previously on MLP, Celestia and Luna make slapdash decisions, Sombra’s laugh gives me life, and shit’s fucked

Seriously, that laugh of his has immediately become my favorite evil laugh ever. Where was this guy 6 years ago?

MY LITTLE PONY: Friendship is Brutality

He’s got friends on the other side

You know things gets bad when Pinkie can’t be cringey

It clearly looks like you can jump out the bars

Those crystals aren’t deep rooted? Dammit, Sombra.

All cakes are good in my eyes... except ones with coconut.

The hentai is back.

Chaos chaos! I love it.

*sigh* This reminds me of that one Lord Dominator comic. Good times.

Get ‘em at the ROOTS! THE ROOOOOTS!

Big Mac knows how to knock wood.

Celestia and Luna wouldn’t have succeeded anyway.

A twist nobody saw coming: CELESTIA AND LUNA DOING SOMETHING!

I don’t wanna know about Starswirl’s essence.

Have ya tried teleporting to Sombra? Teleport? Teleport!

Thank you. Was just wasting time here.

Discord, stop being a DICK!

See? That’s what you get for being cocky.

Fluttershy crying? Oh no, I feel REGRET!

Yeah, they don’t need you or the others, but being competent help would certainly be appreciated. Then again, gotta remind myself that this is for kids.

Wait what, is Discord dying?

This is honestly more encouraging than when Captain Marvel tried to apply the same message.

THEY SAID IT! THEY DID THE THING!

Holy shit, talk about fucking eviscerated! You fucking died, Sombra.

Discord, I oughta stomp ya.

Celestia, I oughta stomp you harder for this.

Discord, what the fuck? Why would do this to Fluttyshy? You oughta get seven across the ass!

WHY DON’T YOU HELP?! UUUUAAAAAAUGH! 

I don’t know whether to be sentimental or pissed.

Thank you, Grogar, for showing that wonderful death again. I needed that. In fact,

Aw, that’s hot. That’s hot.

Why is it six o’clock all of a sudden?

So what did we learn y’all? Besides don’t thrust momentous tasks at people who have a gut feeling that they aren’t ready. Or never trust people that can help easily because they’re a-holes. Or don’t bring a child into the legion of superpowered rulers like what the hell? But I guess, the true lesson is that friendship can push you through the toughest of times and can be there to get your head out your ass and lift like you’ve never done before. Or something, this show is ending and this really hasn’t said anything new besides friendship can freaking wreck you... to a billion pieces.

MY LITTLE PONY: Friendship is PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER

[tamgerines]

KH3 First Impression and Complete Thoughts

BACKGROUND: i've played kh1, com, kh2, bbs, 2.8, and a bit of khux. i've watched coded and 3d on yt, so i know the story relatively well. this is an impression of my first playthrough. i did my run on standard mode and watched the secret ending on yt. i mostly did this for story, so this will have my initial impressions based on my run that will not cover extra content like the phone mini games and cooking.  my opinions are subjected to change if i ever do any later playthroughs. pls, feel free to disagree w/ me.

!!! WARNING: THERE WILL BE A LOT OF STORY SPOILERS!!!

AUDIO: 

Music: utada is queen!!! that opening song!!! also i kept noticing how lit the songs are in each world esp frozen???  and aqua's. worth a replay just for the soundtrack alone.

Voice Acting: everyone sounded great for the most part. sora’s va have certainly improved and sounds less strained. his vanitas voice has suffered significantly though lolololol. i think i read that someone called it a wannabe dark knight voice? the organization sounded incredible, w/ my fav being xemnas, marluxia, and larxene. the disney and pixar va’s are incredible w/ my fav probably being randall in monster’s inc. 

some ppl did not get vas like xaldin and laxeaus. and phil in hercules. which were all very disappointing bc in the scenes that they were in, they would just stand around woodenly, and it’s very noticeable. 

VISUALS: 

mostly a+. environments are beautiful. water and frost textures are amazing!!! you can really feel that waterga and blizzaga. fur textures in monster's inc. could use some work. little details like the sails moving in potc rly make the worlds come alive. this could be a me prob, but environments in certain worlds make it very hard to see map markers, treasure chests, and disney emblems (which are supposed to be hard to find, but still). mostly in tangled.

strangely enough, this is the only game where i prefer in game graphics to cgi. it's already highly expressive and there's something creepy and uncanny about the cgi esp in the final fight. and it's mostly bc sora's thin chapped lips throughout the entire game suddenly becomes full.

DESIGNS: 

i don't love everyone's outfit or sora's outfit changes in this game besides toy story. this is something i alrdy knew going in, but i've always felt like the outfits in kh1 and 2 rly suited each of the character's personalities. and this is not just destiny trio but even chars like roxas, the twilight town kids and the hollow bastion crew. the move towards a uniformed look makes no sense to me like is it to unify the key bearers as one force against the organization? i could understand why destiny trio was wearing plaid but why the twilight town kids also? by the end of the game, almost everyone was wearing black and it's just boring to me. like there's a right way to do uniform while retaining characters' individual looks, and that's the wayfinder trio in bbs. in this game, not so much.

an aside, but i'm sort of disappointed in the hud moving to 3d too. the 2d portraits have always been part of kh so it's kinda a bum to see it go away.

i don't love the lvl designs but it might also be due to a narrative and pacing issue that i'll expand on. any case, vertical maps are a challenge to figure out. i don't consider myself bad at directions but there are so many moments, esp in hercules and tangled where i would be like where the heck do i go next (and i have the map) only for me to look up and find a shotlock teleport point (and this isn't so much a thing that heightens the difficulty but a time waster).

lvls and bosses in previous kh games have always been known for their gimmicks and mechanics, but in this game particularly i found it to be more tedious? and this mostly applies to frozen: who the fuck designed frozen? who the fuck thought it's a good lvl design to have sora climb a mountain, get kick off it twice, and climb it again as good lvl design? who?

all the disney bosses started blending together for me bc they're literally all giant monsters and rly easy. i think the mistake here is the fact that the disney worlds are put back to back whereas in kh1/2/bbs you have the interruption of original worlds and an actually playable important parts to the main story, in this game all the important storyline in radiant garden are locked in cutscenes interspersed throughout the game between finishing disney worlds.

a lot of ppl might disagree w this, but i miss the cinematic reaction commands and limit attacks. we still have them but i find them to be on a much smaller scale in the form of drive finishers and situation commands, but i find them to be less imaginative in kh3 in order to be less """"disruptive""" to the gameplay. i've always found cinematics charming in previous games as a way to show sora interacting with his party members during combat. little things like beast putting a hand on sora's shoulder, aladdin leaning on him, or riku bumping his fist have a way of making the friendships he forms feel organic. outside of link commands/ summons, in this game, he........just throws a lot of ppl around or is thrown around?

GAMEPLAY:

already sort of went through parts of it in the previous section, but overall combat was smooth. i love how mobile sora is in this game. the improvement to his running speed and addition of all the mobile skills like dodge roll, super slide, flow motion, blizzard skating, etc. makes combat feel fast paced and juking so easy.

magic is super improved on ever since 2.8 and feels satisfying to use esp bc i feel like ur given a lot more mp now and with the ability to save the last of your mana for cure, it feels like you're not always budgeting your magic.

underwater combat was smoother than i expected.

it's a mistake putting almost all the commands on the triangle button. there's so much options you can do in combat and you'd mean to activate one thing, but then an attraction flow comes out and you just want to die. it gets a bit easier as i went on and got more used to the controls, but in general, i still think it's a mistake to not to have an ability or something to disable certain features like in kh2 fm.

gummy ships continue to be a thing. why. i don’t like how i have to turn the camera myself now ;;;. 

i'm not a speedrunner or anything, so i can't say too much else about fighting. the physical combos to me did feel like he was spinning a bit too much tho.

STORY: oh, fucking boy.

i'm not mad, i'm not disappointed, and i'm not even surprised. i already knew that post bbs, kh has already departed far from the franchise i loved as a kid and still today, at least story wise. but let's walk through it.

Disney Worlds: the disney worlds was literally a retelling of their movies. and unlike in kh2 and bbs, where visits to disney worlds were split into two parts, with the first part following the disney story and the second part being heavily tied to the main kh story and thus having original content, the disney worlds in kh3 only get one long visit. and the integration of kh into disney was just done so poorly. remember how kh villains used to kidnap princesses? remember how they used to actually conspire to take disney characters' hearts and turn them dark? remember, you know, when they were still evil and actually interfered with the worlds? in almost every world in kh3, an org member just comes says vague menacing things to sora, calls him stupid, and then leaves. yeah. and oh, maleficent and pete looks for a black box only to not find it, and leaves. AND THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING ELSE FOR THE REST OF THE GAME.

the pixar worlds + bh6 were the only ones with any actual new content and they feel so fresh. i esp loveeeeeeeed toy story omg. the script was so good, funny, and heartwarming. the pixar consultants should have helped kh all the way tbh.

like previous games, there's an attempt for each disney world to thematically tie into the main kh story. in this game, it was as heavy handed as ever, probably even more so. 

Original Worlds: onto the meat of kh, the main story was rushed up until the end. you have a slew of disney worlds, then bam, they slam you with all the human bosses and the important story stuff. 

the ‘awakening’ of roxas, xion, and ventus were very rushed. you literally have one moment they’re no there then two seconds of white screen and all of a sudden they’re there. 

there’s a shit ton of shoehorned character redemption arcs: vexen, demyx, saix, eraqus, xehanort, xemnas, ansem. all were done either offscreen or by some miracle, they reached an epiphany after sora beat his keyblade into their heads. 

the only death scene that i actually liked, that a lot of ppl complained about, was vanitas bc yes, although i thought his character had so much potential, it was at least a consistent and sympathetic death. bless him, born a villain die a villain. same with xemnas bc i loved his last speech. 

xehanort was a shitty villain through and through. no one understood his motivation; it’s like nomura took a page from thanos’ guide of how to write villains, gave him some stupid ass goal to have a keyblade war to restart the world, and then just have him...get everything he wanted? his estranged friend comes back in ghost form for whatever reason and is just like ok we’re cool man even tho u took my student and indirectly murdered me and then gets taken up to heart heaven, like O K. and like what’s the most frustrating is that it’s implied they’re keeping him as a villain??? bc fucking ymx is like ooohh imma just go back to my own time via time travel. it’s too late for u sora hurdur. 

and the younger members of the organization, the ones that we do know were in khux. we don’t get to know how they became nobodies and they don’t get a redemption??? really???  

you can tell they tried, TRIED, hard to give everyone closure. and they miserably failed to close plot points. they actually opened more. who the fuck is the unnamed girl in lea and isa’s storyline? why the fuck did you mention her if you were going to play the pronoun game and not name her??? what the fuck was in the black box??? why are they looking for it when no one know what’s in it??? why the fuck was repliku inside of riku the whole fucking time??? why have org members be norted if they can still have agency and choose to betray xehanort??? why the fuck was BOTH sora and riku in different worlds in the secret ending????? ? ? ? 

and tho i’m very glad that wayfinder and sea salt trios get their happy ending, the destiny trio had their characters assassinated. kairi was teased to become an independent character of her own and fight alongside sora, only to get shafted to become a damsel in distress, again, literally replaced by xion in one of the last battles, AND referred to as ‘motivation’ for sora by xehanort lol. sora, the guy who’s always going my friends are my power, ONLY grieves about losing kairi, accrediting all of his strength ONLY TO HER. riku, who spent the first game desperately trying to get kairi’s heart back, and who protected her from saix in the second, suddenly doesn’t give a shit about her and is just there as sora’s moral support. it’s so frustrating that nomura has the audacity to say that this series is primarily about friendship and then pull this shit lol. it’s transparent. 

CONCLUSION: 

i think for me, the quintessential kh trilogy has always been kh1, com, and kh2. as far as i’m concerned, the story should have ended there for destiny trio. and it’s like nomura said, how he feels more sympathetic towards villains now, i think nomura’s ideas have outgrown his main character. 

sora’s journey worked in 1, com, and 2 because he had an overarching goal to find kairi and riku and return home. not everyone has to understand heartless vs. nobodies or dark vs. light but at least, anyone can understand the desperation of saving your friends. when that framework is taken away, sora’s goals and motivations become unclear; he’s a kid and has little reason to be caught up in xehanort’s plans, the keyblade war, or the organization’s agendas. and his failure to grow with the increasing complexity of the plot, to investigate for himself the bigger picture or even come into a similar realization of his own darkness/ balance like riku, makes him unfit; he’s a reactionary character instead of an active one. that’s why this game, being experienced from his point of view, felt mostly like a catch up to speed for sora and a set up to nomura’s next big thing instead of a genuine ending.  i honestly don’t think nomura knows what to do with him and with kingdom hearts anymore. 

kh3 is a game wrapped in nostalgia and promised something bigger than it could fulfill. and aside from better graphics and improved gameplay, the story wasn’t worth the wait. 

[psianabel]

KH3 thoughts under the cut. Spoilers for everything. Kinda got long, lol.

I’m used to make up happy stories about my favorite characters, think about them in happy situations, make up happy ending AUs. The more I proceeded in this game, the more I just ... recieved. Happy things. Over and over and over and my tears didn’t stop. 

This ending is e x a c t l y what i wished for in my life. Minus Sora but lets leave him out here They are all here. They got their hugs. All of them. Heck, even the wayfinder trio got to hug Eraqus, I’m goddamn living. I didn’t know I needed Riku, Roxas, and Terra racing on Destiny Island (and Terra being the slowest because he is, lmao). Isa getting welcomed into the friendship group y e s ... And Lea, Isa, Ven playing with Lea’s frisbee. And eating ice cream on the clock tower with the Twillight Town crew. Namine and Xion looking for seashells together. Ven’s Chirithy coming back to him????? ALL OF THEM OUT OF THEIR COATS AND HAVING ACTUAL CLOTHES. Holy goddamn this, this is what my heart was longing for.

khux not important my ass. I’m so glad the Age of Fairy Tales is one of my fave story arcs, I was screaming at that epilogue and it is very high up in my list of fave scenes of that game (only because i want that Foreteller content. AVA MY GIRL WHERE ARE YOU). Also that Luxu reveal? Wasn’t surprised but damn I’m so in for that ride.  Speaking of khux, all these hints, my h e a r t. Ven dreaming of the Foretellers, Ephemera being there for Sora (which makes me wonder about Sora’s involvement of the story there but lets see about that), the 300 keykids!!! I even recognized some names, that was so fucking cool. (I died there because I was so busy looking at the names....) And I guess we have to expect Demyx and Luxord in khux soon huh.  Sort of khux related, but thank the lord for giving me that Marluxia and Larxene fight together. Since Elrena’s reveal and knowing she knew Lauriam even back then, I wished for this so so much. And their interactions in battle, blessed. Perfect. Good. These two, I swear.

Insert something about the Secret Reports here. Love this cryptic stuff. Luxu you sly fox, my theory is he is gonna pass No Name onto Blaine, I also believe the girl there is Skuld, which would also be the girl Lea and Isa searched for, huh ... this is gonna get so wild. Even wilder with Blaine being Eraqus’ ancestor. God these reports are gving me so much im in love. Aqua. My girl, my love. My heart hurt so much at the Anti Aqua fight, but the whole setup was just perfect. (Not gonna lie, the name Aquanort is still close to my heart. And I probably continue calling her that, lmao.) I cried so fucking much when they were at the Destiny Islands then, hugging her. LIKE, YES, PLEASE SHE IS FREE. And fricking Land of Departure. The fight. THE F I G H T. I WAS READY FOR THIS god yes, playing her for one last time, wonderful, just wonderful. The whole scene there, Ventus waking up, Vanitas calling him brother, I wouldn’t have wanted it in any other way.  “Good morning, Ven.” KSDJFHDSF??? Y E S 

Something about Eraqus and Xehanort. Old husbands really cannot live without each other, and it showed. Together forever now huh. Please Eraqus, make sure he will never do something stupid again.

Uhhhh since this is a videogame I think I have to say something about the gameplay. I love it. The fighting feels so good, with all the triangle commands it makes things interesting. Sora’s mobility is great - the shotlock, the wall climbing, and he finally gets the double jump wooh. Lots to farm, but hey it’s KH, it’s okay.  I wish Donald and Goofy would shut up about ingredients lmao. ... fuck Gummiship tho, but this kind of stuff isnt my thing anyways, but I’ll manage, oh well lol.

RIGHT Disney/Pixar is a thing too. Can’t say much about it, since I don’t really care that much about it, but I looove how these character stand up to roast the evil KH characters lmaooo, go Woody and Sully. I was screaming. The did That.

What they also did is that goddamn secret ending, which I’m HMMM about, but hey it’s a Secret Ending and Nomura is really out there for blood. Good for him. All I can say is, well, see you in Shibuya.  Alright. There are still so many things, but. I just have to say.  I love this game. I enjoyed it so so much. I’m so grateful I was able to play it without seeing leaks or spoilers. If someone would have shown me a picture of the ending where they eat ice cream on the clocktower ... i wouldn’t have believed it. The game set it up for me perfectly. 

I treasure these characters. And I’m happy they found their happy ending. This is what I wanted. Thank you for that.

... until the next act opens. Can’t wait to see how Luxu takes the lead now.  Eraqus cheats at chess, part 2.

What have you planned, boy ... 

[doubleddenden]

Okay look I'm very familiar with Kingdom Hearts' story. Do I understand a lick of it? Barely. I will however make predictions that I do not want spoiled for me but think will happen

Braig/Xigbar was the original master of masters

SORA is the master of masters from a future alternative timeline

Sora will have to release his heart to save the apartment complex of souls living inside of him (he'll get better tho)

Aquanort will be hot af but we'll all cry tears of joy when she gets to become normal and happy again

Lea will become Axel again against his will or he will do it exclusively to get Roxas back

Lea and Kairi will have this really wonderful bro sis friendship

Replica Riku will pick up Way to Dawn and somehow save lives

Ventus and Roxas will basically be the same person or at least be twinsies

Donald and Goofy will have close near death calls and absolutely make me wish I had friends

Pete will get a keyblade

Dual Wielding will not be a thing except for very peculiar keyblades whose special abilities involve it

Kingdom Key will either be replaced or evolve somehow

Hardly any mention of Final Fantasy characters but here's hoping a chocobro or 4 have an Easter egg where they're stuck on the side of the road somewhere

Somehow the endings will go either of these directions:

The worlds all become one and everyone goes on living happy lives, probably with Sora pulling the "so long hero" ending (think Goku at the end of Z and GT)

The war is over but everything is reset to zero with nobody remembering anything about nothing. Instead everyone will live out their lives uninterrupted as they should have before The Master of Masters and Xehanort did what they did

It's a very vague but happy ending where we aren't sure where they're going after but everyone is smiling so okay

Kairi goes FUCK THIS and she, Namine, Xion and Aqua pull out glocks and bust caps in every Nort's ass

Also, just some hopes

Aqua. Just Aqua god dammit I love her

Maybe we can play as other characters besides Sora?

Maybe we can customize Sora like Aqua in 2.8?

Jack Sparrow has a keyblade and drunkenly fights the heartless

Maybe just a small FFXV Easter egg? C'mon let Sora hang out with the bros and accidentally hit on Gladio's sis

Callbacks to the previous worlds (the biggest bottles if Halloween Town makes it but I doubt it)

Cmon. Treasure Planet. pleASE SQUARE

Goofy actually introduces the gang to Max. Canonical proof Goofy fucked at least once

A Star Wars Easter egg because DISNEY OWNS IT

And finally the most farfetched out there

A teaser for a new series of KH games with new characters and evils to face without Sora. Like what Union/Unchained X should have been where your own character explores Disney worlds with a keyblade but it isn't a shitty mobile game

[hashtagkairideservedbetter]

My main issue(s) with KH3

Spoilers abound, so please don’t read if you haven’t beaten the game or don’t want any negative opinions influencing how you see the ending/ the game. I did enjoy several parts of KH3, but this post is focused on things I had issues with, and if you don’t want to see criticism of your media please look elsewhere. 

This is how I interpreted the game as someone coming into KH3 with KH2 being the last game I played, and a playlist of youtube videos spanning lets plays, summaries, and humorous deconstructions as a codex. 

Here’s the thing. I’ve seen several people already break down how KH3′s story and pacing could have been handled better. Specifically, to more comprehensively tie in the 10,000 plot points that needed to be covered in a way that actually helps connect the main characters. I’m not going to get into all of that, because frankly I can’t fake knowing enough about the background lore of Kingdom Hearts to know how to better juggle all of the intermediary games into KH3. 

Most of my grievances honestly lie with the handling of the Destiny Trio and the Disney Worlds. 

I’m going to do a read more on this because it’s gonna be a long one. (Also very much a train of thought, so disorganized, sorry). 

So. Sora. Protagonist of the game (mostly. kind of?). 

A cheerful ray of sunshine.

A Keyblade wielder who has overcome traumatizing ordeals that tore him away from all he loved and knew at least twice now for over three years. 

A continuity disaster stuck being pinballed back and forth between happy goofs and hollow tragedies every thirty minutes in between busywork battles and off-scene disney films for 85% of KH3. 

I understand that Sora’s greatest power is supposed to be his optimism, as it’s sort of the prerequisite for going through disney worlds where people sing about their problems. I get it.  

However, there’s a difference between, “I’m naive and happy and oblivious and that’s why I’m a guardian of the light,” and “I have battled true darkness and felt true loss and decided that choosing to be kind, choosing to embrace joy in new experiences and relationships, is a bigger middle finger to the darkness than anything else.” Guess which one I prefer. Guess which one I was thinking would finally be Sora’s character arc. Instead he’s happy, happy, happy, happy... and then suddenly in the eleventh hour having a mental breakdown. 

Sora is written into a loop every game of kind, naive, but unchanging (”Don’t ever change, Sora”). That was endearing when we were both 14, but after almost twenty years it gets tiring to watch Sora get hit with a reset button every time you meet up with him again. There’s a scene in the gummi ship early on in the games where Donald asks Sora to “take this seriously,” and Goofy remarks that they seem to be stuck in a rut as Donald and Sora have the same conversation over and over again before entering the first series of Disney worlds. Sora knows he needs the power of waking in order to help his friends and free those trapped in his heart, but seems content to just drop into various worlds and wing it, and hope that it all sort of works out. 

And then when it does work out, and Sora uses the power to save everyone, he’s immediately told he’s doomed now? Like, what was the point of him being able to use this to connect with people if he’s doomed. Why did they want him to have this. What’s the point then of Sora having these strong connections. 

Each world makes a big scene about the friendships and connections that Sora makes so easily, but in KH3 there never seems to be enough time for Sora to actually pay them any attention unless the person is right in front of him. Sora seems to make connections for the sake of making connections in KH3, and the ones he has, he does very little to advance or reconnect with.  

Like, the whole point of 100 Acre Wood this time was apparently that Sora’s connection to Pooh was weaker for some reason. I honestly didn’t understand the reason or how it was magically resolved just from Sora showing up and saying hi? But whatever. 

My two least favorite worlds were Corona and Arendelle, for the same reason. There was no believable connection between Sora and the characters there. For fuck’s sake, the combat ally you get in Arendelle is the snow monster, not even a main character.

Sora is like the living embodiment of the B99 clip of Rosa with her dog. He just met Elsa and spoke a whopping five sentences to her, but damn if he won’t climb a mountain five times just for her to save herself without ever talking to him again. Like, literally that is the only interaction Sora has with Elsa. Same thing with Anna, and in her case I literally had to mute my tv so I could track what she was actually saying since they decided to shove two songs from the movie into this game.  

You spend the majority of your time in these worlds trying to play catch up to the leads as they have their movie play out around the bend in the road in front of you, out of your sight. Props to Disney’s ego that they think I remember the beat by beat plots of their films when they came out 9 years ago (Tangled) and 6 years ago (Frozen). I actually had the thought of going and watching Tangled just to remember what Flynn and Rapunzel got up to while Sora wandered around a marsh and had a pointless conversation with Marluxia. 

(Also, getting real tired of the “Good to see you Sora” “Who the fuck are you?” “Oh that’s right you don’t remember that game haha it’s fine it was a gameboy game nobody even knows what those are anymore.” That shit was getting old midway through KH2.) 

To be fair, the PoTC world suffers from the same problem as the other two. Sora shows up, sees everyone for thirty seconds, gets separated, and while we’re dicking around trying to find white crabs on the islands there’s a whole movie going on that we don’t see or participate in. I feel really bad for anyone who did not keep up with that franchise because I only watched the third movie the once and I was confused as hell. Also, the whole time I was finding the crabs in Port Royal all I could think about was this ProZD video. 

I just. I’m 26 years old. These movies hold no nostalgia for me, and maybe that’s the problem. I already had a connection to Aladdin, Peter Pan, etc, so I was maybe more willing to suspend my disbelief and just enjoy the interactions. But those Disney worlds also felt more tied in to the plot. You can make the argument of Marluxia and Larxene putting pressure on Sora to find the Wayfinders so that six princesses of heart aren’t used as backup... but where are the other three? Anna, Elsa, Rapunzel, and Kairi make four. Where’s Merida, Tiana, Moana? Mulan or Pocahontas even, since Moana was probably too recent. (But probs not, as it was probably starting development in 2014). If that’s going to be yet another subplot, shouldn’t you at least see it through?  

My point is, I can distinctly recall prior games mostly keeping to the established script in the disney worlds, but still letting Sora really get in there and interact with the characters. The heartless, nobodies, etc were a real wrench in the works for the plots, and had an actual effect on how the story was told and the order of events. Sora felt more involved in cutscenes and was an active participant in the world’s events instead of just a bystander. 

In KH1 and KH2 there was a dialogue happening between the villain of each world and a greater evil. Hell, in KH1 they were a unified council! In KH3 they’re puppets who don’t even talk to the bigger bad like Randall or Mother Gothel, or are there for a whopping thirty seconds like Hans. It makes it more and more obvious that the Disney worlds are just being shoehorned in as a contractual obligation than for any real purpose anymore.

 The only world that’s appeared in all three games, Olympus, was especially jarring. Like, you could tell there was a lot of corners cut on what VAs they could get for this game, as Phil does not speak once. Meg spends more time making eyes at Hercules and nodding than showing any of the sass she has from the film. (This was a thing in KH2 as well tho so I can’t complain about them continuing to drop the ball on even background women characters-- Oh wait, I can, because they’ve had T H I R T E E N YEARS to get it right.) 

Which I guess is as good a segue as any into Kairi Time. 

Listen. Did I mention I’m 26? Yeah. I started reading fanfic on livejournal. I was there when AO3 first got its start. I’ve seen the shipping wars. I know the dark past of Soriku vs Sokai.

I couldn’t give less of a fuck. 

These characters are still 16 and I am now 26. I’m fine with them trading noogies and maybe being able to kick back and play some Mario Kart. Kairi would wipe the floor with both of them because she had time to get good enough to beat Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie combined between KH1 and KH2. 

The point is, I don't care one way or the other about shipping. If my 15 year old self were here, they would be horrified I wasn't over the moon when Kairi and Sora finally shared the paopu fruit. As it is, I kind of stared blankly at my screen and went 'huh, there's gonna be a lot of fanfic fixing this moment.'  From both sides, I think, because even if you're into Sokai you gotta admit that moment did not feel romantic. It felt forced. Like "Oh hey, we've been putting this off, huh. Welp, here we go!" 

It doesn't help that I really, truly, don't like whoever Kairi's VA is in this game. Like, she sounds so ditzy and soft. Get that shit out of here. The dialogue and voice acting in this series has never been its strength, but honestly, I cringed my way through every interaction between Kairi and Axel because of how stilted and bad their conversations were! I’m definitely not saying that Kairi’s voice was stellar in 1 and 2, but at least her voice was clear, and had personality, and by the end of 2 was actually fairly strong. She sounded strong, and determined to be fighting with Sora and Riku, green as she was then, in the World That Never Was.

Whenever she talked in the third one I just sort of grit my teeth and wondered why someone on the production team wanted Kairi to sound so weak. 

Then they killed her at the labyrinth and I said, ‘Ah, that tracks.’ 

I played FFXV, so I guess shame on me for not seeing the signs when the girl love interest is about to be capable and not needing the hero to save her. She gets taken! And killed. Fool me twice, shame on me. 

I actually saw people excited about that Verum Rex thing and after seeing the Noctis ripoff reaching for the Luna ripoff covered in purple light I laughed, and laughed. And then sighed and reached for a stiff drink. 

All this to say that while I’m angry but not truly surprised that Kairi was once again shafted, I’m all the more pissed that they did it in the laziest, most insulting way possible by hinging it all on Sora needing a reason to fight Xehanort. Like, really???? Really. That’s your angle. The man-pain trope is so painfully overdone. Please. It’s 2019. Come into the future with us, Nomura. 

And I feel bad that all of the stuff I just wrote mostly revolves around Kairi being Sora’s romantic interest. But that’s because that’s all this game allowed her to be! Princess of light what? Bequeathed Keyblade wielder in her own right who??? Every battle she and Axel share with Sora they get their asses kicked in 30 seconds flat, so maybe Merlin should have left them suspended in time a little longer. Maybe long enough to convince someone out there in the universe that these two deserved to be competent. 

Hell, not just competent. Amazing. Kairi deserved to be able to stand on her own two feet and hold her own. To be running alongside her boys and not just be an object for them to tussle over or save. As Aqua’s somewhat successor, she deserved to be a terrifying wielder of battle magicks and flurries of light magic. 

To be replaced by Xion was just insult to injury. Like, I’m very happy that Xion got her heart back and was reunited with Roxas and Axel, but she didn’t need to be brought back at Kairi’s expense. The world won’t implode if the replica and actual person inhabit the same space. 

Which is leads us to our third member. 

Riku. To be fair. Riku got the most growth as a person out of the three of these kids, easy. We finally see a Riku who is confident in himself and his journey, and willing to take everything he learned along the way to help Mickey, Aqua, and even his own replica. However.... 

He doesn’t seem to give two shits about Kairi anymore? Did they even talk, like, once during the whole game? I can’t recall a single instance where Sora, Kairi, and Riku were in the same place together where it was just them, and they held an actual conversation. Hell, where they even said “Hi, how’s it going? What have you learned, had any good food lately?” 

God, even when Kairi was taken, and then when she was killed, Riku had one moment of anger, and then was completely, like, chill again, and back to talking Sora down. Like, what? I don’t want any love triangle bullshit, but Riku and Kairi were friends as much as Sora and Kairi and Sora and Riku are friends. 

And that’s what bothered me the most about the disappearance of Kairi introducing this bullshit narrative of Sora abusing his power of waking. He spent two games trying to get him, Riku, and Kairi together. But he doesn’t want Riku to help him get Kairi back? And Riku’s just going to let him go?! After all Riku has done and learned about falling to darkness and clawing yourself back to light and peace, he’s just going to let Sora do the same?

I call bullshit. 

And this is why when Sora suddenly faded out of view on the beach next to Kairi I slowly leaned back in my chair, dropped my controller into my lap, and flipped off my tv screen with both hands.

[tumblunni]

OH FUCK U GUYS SHOULD I BUY ALL THE KINDGOM HEARTS IN A ONCENESS???

Holy jesus i knew they did hd ps4 ports of the playstation games but they ALSO added all the final mix content that engkishspeaking fans never got during my childhood? And they ALSO remade chain of memories entireky in 3d with Very Animated Ice Dad?? And they ALSO remade BBS despite it not needing it nearly as much as the old games and thet ALSO remade friggin dream drop distance which came out on a goddamn current gen console?? Like they seriously just made a non portable version?? Now all the spinoffs are on the same console at last?? Why did you not just do this in the first place?? I mean the psp and 3ds games were basically ps2 equivelant graphics and disc space anyway...

Oh and fuckin ALLLLSOOOOO

Also the final mixes of all of those! Also a movie version of the plot of khux! And also Coded and Days, which is a really big shame cos Coded is indeed sparse enough on content to deserve it but Days was my FAVOURITE GAME and it sucks its the only one that didnt get remade! I mean its in the same spinoff category as bbs and com, its not a cheapo mess like coded. Nothing else in the series deserves to be shoved in the Coded bin, even khux at least has better plot even if the backtracking and lootbox shit makes it harder to get to it...

Anyway ALSO a random new sidestory with Aqua going thru like one dungeon or somethin?? I dunno?? Its like a glorified tech demo for kh3, its just 'hey fuckin look what we can do visually on a proper ps4 game' and wow how have i never fuckin heard of this it looks so pretty!! I mean i dont know if its even more than 5 hours or somethin but.. Pretty!! And apparantly you get unlockable costumes for her or somethin? I hope they keep that feature in kh3! Itd rock if it wasnt just the main character too, and we could dress up riku and kairi and goofy and donald and roxas and axel and every the friends :3 new secret to how they defeat xehanort: slap a bow on his damn head

ALSO ALSO

All of this is available in one big bundle pack for £90 which ALSO contains literally kh3. THIS IS HOW THEYRE HANDLING PREORDERS?? THATS SUCH A GOOD WAY TO HANDLE PREORDERS!! Get a discounted price on this new game but while youre waiting for it you get to enjoy an (also discounted) giant fuckin 300 hours memory lane compilation of every damn thing from the last 15 years in one beautiful updated package. Holy fuck its like they made this for ME SPECIFICALLY!this is the perfect way to get people back into the franchise who dropped off in The Great KH3 Wait cos they couldnt afford all the damn million portables needed to gather that Dank Lore. God fuckin hell it cost more than the price of this bundle just to play any one of those games individually on some stupid retro machine i bought exclusively for that one damn game. THAT PSP STILL ROTS IN MY KITCHEN CUPBOARD YO

So

So so so so so

Guys

Please give me permission to buy this

Or like please convince me not to waste my money if you think i'd waste my money??

I really just DONT KNOW! ive been out of the fandom for so long and my last experience was really hatting BBS and feeling horribly out of place as everyone else raved about it being the best thing ever. And i know NOTHING about what kh3 is gonna be or whether its even possible for me to get back into the fandom and like.. Care about it at all again. I just got fuckin fatigued with it and my teenage years were like me clinging on to the edge of a cliff by my fingernails begging everyone to believe me that Its Still Good, Honestly, Its Worth It while square enix is up there all LONG LIVE THE KING and they push me off. Into a stampede of PSPs. Somehow.

And then aaargh i know i literally only came back to the fandom because organization xiii fuckin eternally holds my heart in their lil grabby hands. It was indeed a good nostalgic moment remembering how i loved them! And getting a new appreciation for Vexen and being blown away by how much he should have been my favourite but i just never got to play COM as a kid and then when i played it as an adult all the way after bbs i ended up quitting before even getting to meet half the org cos this one stupid 'defeat 99 shadows jn 99 seconds' mission kicked my ass. I'M JUST NOT GOOD AT ACTION RPGS OKAY!

Aaaagh thats another Big Worry, yknow? Like asa kid i was Bad, as an adult i'm Barely Better , and as a both i never enjoyed beat em up thingies of any kind at all. And on top of that i was never big into disney, i never saw them as any sort of 'childhood magic' but just some naff cliche shit retelling public domain fairy tales in the safest way possible with a bunch of obnoxious celebrity cameos. Also lion king and snow white terrified me as a kid. Also i associated robin hood with my dead grandma. Also as a kid i couldnt appreciate good artistic ability or voiceacting, i was all about the story, yknow? And most of kh's adaptations are really rushed and barebones versions of an already shoddy story, without any of the visual splendor. ALSO i never saw any of the darker or more emotionally focused stuff like Hunchback and Beauty and the Beast until way after i quit playing kingdom hearts, oddly enough. Wtf beauty and thebeast is actually real good and looks so far beyond its time!! Wtf hunchback has my goddamn evil dad in it!! Why did i miss the only good didneys!! Why did snow white traumatize me and those didnt!!

ANYWAY the point im getting at is that im not inherantly predisposed to like.. Any of kingdom hearts's appeal at all. I didnt know half the disneys and i didnt have any hype for the others. None of my fave final fantasy games made it into it until the sequel and then never again after that. CMON I CANT JUST DEAL WITH ONE VIVI CAMEO Y'ALL! And i haaaate the genre and its an uphill struggle to play a game like that with my stupid inelegant sausage hands. So i just came for the story and then everything after the first game has been conspiring to ruin it for me, sheesh! I felt so much for that short concise self contained first episode and then i fall more and more out of love as they establish this status quo of everything being retconnable so dont bother get attatched to it. Blablabla the entire worldbuilding is different now and everyone was secretly someone else and please memorize a bunch of shit from fifty fuckin spinoffs and also time travel and cloning suddenly exist and ALSO Grandpa Onlyblackmanintheworld is generic motiveless evil and everything was him even of it looked like it was actually a sympathetic villain. *insert dio meme face*

So yeah now im just.. In it for the characters?? And the cute art style and monsters and lovely animations and big fanfic oc potentials stuff. But man even tho i had Big Feel for those things i was able to completely drop it all and forget about the series for years, that was just HOW BAD the kh3 drought was. Steven universe hiatus eat your heart out...

So ffff i dont even KNOW if i'll be able to get feels'd for these characters again or if they actually hold up to modern bunni standards of huggable. And i know all the ones i want to hug the most got like zero sympathy and all died horribly and were also retroactively revealed to be clone oldmanvirus somethingy and aaaaaagh. But also something something people say they all came back and got cured?? And this is why?? I am here?? Again?? And buying?? The thing??

Like man fuck i am already building it up so much in my head aaaa what if i dont actually love axel as much as i used to love axel and i dont love Grumply Science as much as i always love That Character Archetype seriously MAN how was he like THE ONLY ONE I DIDNT GET TO SEE AS A KID

Aaauuuuaggh gahhh like maybe this will reignite my passion for the series or maybe i'll just be all critical and dumb and waste all my moneys

Guys... What do??

[ventuss]

my thoughts, questions, and rants on kh 2.8

includes spoilers under cut. youve been warned!

•to start off, EVERYTHING IS FUCKING GORGEOUS. the scenery and backgrounds for literally every place were beautiful and i could not focus on doing anything. i just wanted to sit and stare at the beauty bc WOOOW

•aqua. AQUA. first things first: the queen looked fucking beautiful. a true goddess with killer thighs. her eyes were the light in the darkness. i might be in love

•ok to continue on Aqua: i feel like ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY NOTHING WAS ANSWERED. yes, we saw how mickey and her got split up and it explained why they couldnt save her. great. then the door to kingdom hearts was closed and sora and co saved the worlds, causing ?? the realm of darkness to disappear?? or something idek aqua fell into pure black and then was on that shoreline

•SPEAKING OF THAT SHORELINE that guy in the hoodie. i feel like its luxu or the master of masters(tbh cant rm if that dude talked or if he was confirmed someone else but ya)

•MASTER OF MASTERS. not gonna lie i love the dude. i mean hes totally evil but he made me laugh so much what the fuck nice

•kinda gross(AND FUCKING MINDBLOWING) that his eye is in that keyblade. it makes SO MUCH FUCKINF SENSE THO LIKE!! ALL OF THE XEHANORT COPIES AND HOW XEHANORT WAS ABLE TO ALIGN HIS COPIES TO MEET IN DDD LIKE FUCK IM STILL SHOOK

•i wonder if the masters of masters(mom) is actually a pirate(or i had this farfetched theory of it being braig bc he loses an eye and it would be this intense thing where he meant to get his eye hurt to have it removed and it was all staged and yah idk it was a crazy thought i had)

•luxu where r u going. what r u doing. wtf is in that case and thx for watching literally everyone die and for watching the wayfinder trio be destroyed thx thx

•i love all the foretellers so much like. they all just wanna follow their hearts and god damn i hope they get a somewhat happy ending :(

•ok so id truly like to believe aced isnt the traitor and idk i still think gula can be the traitor bc he could totally get fed up with finding the traitor that darkness taints his heart and wo plot twist its him

•ngl when i saw him with the page i went “oh hey i bet thats the lost page.” ……… “HOLY SHIT GULA NO!!”

•ava is super cute im glad shes my leader

•EPHEMERA THO ooooOooOoMG GOD. HE IS SUCH A CUTIE I CRY

•also the keyblade war was totally caused bc of the bangles. whichever chirithy gave the keyblade wielders the bangles knew they could collect and potentially use darkness and idk its like… THE BANGLES. THEY ARE THE REASON EVERYONE DIES. AAAAAAAAH(my brain is too mush rn to actually explain my thought process sry)

•ANOTHER THING THAT BLEW MY MIND!!!!: THE REASON THE DOOR GLOWED IN THE SECRET PLACE IN KH1 WAS BECAUSE OF THE DAMN DARK KEY I LITERALLY SCREAMED WHEN THAT HAPPENED. I BET U ANY MONEY THAT OLD CRUSTY DUDE IN THE BROWN ROBES WAS THE MOM OR SOMETHING

•THAT BEING SAID SQUEENIX HAS HAD THAT IDEA OF THE KEYBLADE BEING BEHIND THE DOOR SINCE THE BEGINNING. TRULY LOVE AND RESPECT THESE PPL

•riku wanting to save aqua tho haha end me

•kairi

•IM SO READY FOR KH3 LETS GO

[kairospective]

(( Xigbar voice: Let’s hit these plot points in order shall we? ))

ALRIGHT SO

There’s no real answer as to why his eyes were Like That but ok speculation time not like i’ve BEEN doing that jfasdhgkj the silver eyes are very cute tho they seem to be like. champagne gold at the end???? or is that just me. Like pre-game cutscenes it’s Silver but then post-game they’re starting to turn gold is that.. is that lighting or-

Also all the young young Xehanort stuff is. rly cute. The apprentice stuff. I love him happy let him be happy-

Honestly I feel like Woody’s sass probably did. hurt him in some way. Maybe not like the deepest wound he’s ever had but like it probably got under his skin in SOME WAY because Eraqus sure as hell loved him at least and I feel like he Ignores that but also Knows.

Actually I kinda like him throughout Toy Box cuz I feel like even though he is Mean he’s at least mean in a way that makes sense. It’s a big ol experiment for him and it’s really the only fun he’s allowed he can watch toys get upset with some popcorn right? He’s miserable and watches others being miserable for shits n giggles.

“I’m going to have to remember that.” Like I feel that’s him having some bitterly ironic ass humor given technically returning to his time will have him forget stuff but ok

BUT KINDA BIG CON HE’S ALSO WAY MORE ANTAGONISTIC WHICH.. ok.......... fine..................... though I really feel that’s less he was supposed to be from the start and I misunderstood his character and more “nah we’ll make him evil” and just Hi Nomura Turn On Your Location I Just Wanna Talk

I appreciate that he warns Sora and honestly I think he started to seriously warn him before realizing that Sora is a Dumbass and Won’t Listen

as for WHY he even did that, maybe MX sent him to check up because “Wow they died already?” Maybe he Did Care. Just a smidge. Maybe he was curious.

As for the Laughing over HA YOU’RE DEAD I personally see it as him just really hitting a breaking point. I don’t think he’s terribly comfortable with the thought of a time loop where he does this over and over but trying to take the solace he can. Like I don’t think “Going back to end up back here” sounds any better than death, and I think he refused to go out with pity so let’s play the maniacal laughter card. My death? sad? fuck you for killing me.

i think that is everything my monkey brain can think of rn

[minijenn]

Actually, while I’m looking at this old list of Keys plot ideas, I gotta say some of this early stuff i had planned out is waaaaaay different than what’s actually in Keys. Soooo allow me to indulge you all with some commentary on Beta Keys to the Kingdom, if you will (under the cut bc of potential Keys spoilers): 

Ok, so far so good, generally the same as what I’m sticking with in Keys, fun fact, the title “Keys to the Kingdom” didn’t originate until I came up with the idea of the 13 Keys. It’s original title was “Reconnect”

LOLOLOL Aquanort showing up in the very next chapter I’m boutta write would like to have a word with 2018 MiniJen

Ok, generally on the level (though the focus did sort of shift from the Heart Squad when I eventually came up with the whole Keys idea, but tbh Sora spends a lot more time in Keys trying to get those three out than he does in KH3, that’s for fucking sure) 

Love to see that each of these plot points were pretty early ones I came up with; We may not see a lot of Vanitas’ redemption arc until way later on in Keys but its something I had in mind since almost the very beginning

Ohohoho that last one is interesting, huh? Almost like I’m a sucker for parallels or something ;) 

Yeah this is pretty on the mark with what Keys’ second half is gonna look like imo 

Oof that second one tho, i mean its not like Kairi doesn’t wanna help Namine but this girl’s got a lot on her plate already with her runaway boyfriend XD 

Lol you can clearly tell that first one was concieved way before I fucking started planning the Beauty and the Beast chapters XD 

Ooo and then i wrote a few preliminary notes for some of the Disney worlds so let’s take a look at those, starting with Beauty and the Beast: 

RIP in pieces the idea of Gaston and Maleficent working together, i don’t even know what I was thinking with that XD 

Kinda went soft on that  theme of “what makes a monster” in the actual chapters, but its there if you squint I suppose. Also “should fall relatively early into story” lol ok fam (proceeds to put it almost halfway through the story)

Then we go onto the notes for the Moana chapters and yeah this is all pretty on the mark tbh not much to say here: 

Then we get to my Tangled notes and WOW what a huge difference we have here: 

First of all, set during the series, how fucking interesting. Second of all, I guess I just forgot to include Cassandra in that list??? Third of all, Xehanort why you keep recruiting fucking twinks to your evil bidding????

Not gonna lie tho, Sora bonding with Varian would have been sweet and pure 

And ah boy some pretty somewhat spoilery Gravity Falls world notes: 

First of all, I’m still very keen on the idea of Sora basically just adopting the Mystery Twins bc they’re pure and innocent ahaha; second of all, lol Bill working with Xehanort? Fuck no to that, what was I thinking XD  Bill is an agent of his own chaos, that fucking triangle flies solo (but will still 100% manipulate my poor son, he just gotta do it, whether its in UF or in Keys) 

Then I also made a list of things to keep from KH3 and things I wanted to change so for funsies lets look at stuff I wanted to keep:

Yep yep these are pretty much on the mark, yep (especially that Sora sass XD) 

LOLOL RIP IN PIECES THE DEMYX AND VEXEN REDEMPTION ARCS WHOOPS NOT IN MY KEYS XD

Speaking of stuff not making it in, here are things i planned on changing: 

Several things here: 1. I guess i didn’t focus on Riku and Mickey’s search for Aqua that much after all (didn’t want the story to be bloated, it already has so much going on in it); 2. Following the plots of Tangled and Frozen, yes, but what I failed to put in there, is allowing the KH characters to be more involved in those plots which is what KH3 should have done

loloolollololo its almost like you can tell I’m salty about how KH3 ended or something???? idk hahaah salty about plenty of other things in KH3 too, I fucking went off here

Again its almost like I’m salty about certain things in KH3 like no Destiny Trio interactions or Kairi’s arc being fucking botched and wanted to fix shit in Keys whoops XD 

And finally we have stuff I wanted to take out of Keys from KH3 entirely: 

Lol I’m lying about that last one aohohohohohohohohohohohhohohohoho

Several things here but most importantly, was there really ever a point that I considered killing Kairi off in Keys? Because if so I’m a fucking moron. Same with considering giving Xehanort any kind of redemption, that old fuckhead is gonna fucking die the death he deserves in Keys. Also not really including any replica stuff at all; But RIP in pieces Re:Coded and Verum Rex, ya won’t be missed, at least not by me 

[minijenn]

Sora literally goes from mouthy and proud to "fuck my life...." in the matter of a few seconds and it got a snicker out of me, even though I already knew it was going to happen. Maybe some day he will get to be a leader... if Xehanort doesn't put a stop to that, which he probably will.

Honestly tho his range of emotions is all over the place at this point, largely because of a mix of stress, anxiety, misguided anger, ya know, the usual stuff teenagers experience and even more the usual stuff for teenagers who’s hearts are slowly being taken over by an evil old cult leader (it happens)