#and while the new seven lights thing is whatever i think kairi being that /consistently/ is wild.

[invidiatechdemo]

think people should draw more dramatic art of kairi with the damn master xehanort 'some pronounce it kye'' thing especially since like.

"Death... A letter that spells endings." when kairi's game chronologically is the last game in the 'dark seeker saga'. in the world of kingdom hearts her name is literally x-ri basically, and she capstones the series with her presence.

[drazavonia]

Kairi’s MEMORIA FORMS

ATLA

For the majority of Avatar the Last Airbender, Aang "accessed" the Avatar State in moments of immediate and genuine danger.

The Avatar State is the pure cosmic power of Raava that greatly enhances Bending Capabilities.

However, as the reincarnation cycle went on the spirit of each Avatar became tethered to Ravaa, giving them their connection to each succeeding Avatar.

During Aang's time as the Avatar, when the Avatar State activated, the previous Avatar spirits took control of his body. They use the current host as an "Avatar" to exercise their power and control acting as a defense mechanism for the Avatar.

The best example of this would be in Book 1 Episode 8. After learning of his goal from Roku inside his chamber, Aang was about to be assaulted by a firestorm waiting outside so Aang/Roku activated the Avatar State. 

Once shot with fire, the spirit of Roku blocked it and returned fire. Roku used Aang as his Avatar to protect him from mortal danger.

In Final Fantasy VII, Mako crystallizes into Materia. “The knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients is held in the materia. Anyone with this knowledge can freely use the powers of the Land and the Planet. That knowledge interacts between ourselves and the planet calling up magic... or so they say.” -Sephiroth

“Materia is crystallized Mako. Metaphysically, Materia calls upon the wisdom of the Lifestream to manipulate nature manifesting as the phenomenon of magic for most Materia, although other Materia enhance the user's abilities.” 

In Final Fantasy IX, a Crystal is the progenitor of every world. An entire world’s existence begins with the crystal and its’ entire lifespan is recorded within the crystal until its’ death. This includes the individual lives and memories of all living things inhabiting said world.

**In Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII, after Bhunivelze is defeated, all of the souls Lightning collected and used as a sword, had traveled to “The Void” and culminated into a crystal. **Once Lightning, as the Savior, touched the crystal of souls, all of the memories of the XIII trilogy played through her mind. The original world’s history or memories were recorded and preserved in the Crystal through the rescued souls. The Progenitor Crystal then bursts heavenward, sending the souls contained within to the new world to be created.

*In Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, the warriors called upon by Materia and Spiritus left behind their memories in a crystal by touching it. Spiritus was able to give shape to these memories in the forms of the characters. In cutscenes that take place after their creation, these “doppelgangers” act no different from their true counterparts. They also talk about themselves and the events of their games as if they were participants. In other words, these memories were all that was necessary for creating completely new replicas of the main protagonists, minus a heart/soul. After Spiritus gave these “vessels” containing previous memories form, Materia gave them souls in order for them to “exist”.

KH MOM

This theory may only make sense for now if Nomura is using similar thematics and lore of the crystals from Final Fantasy.

In KH3R, it was revealed Xehanort had crystallized Kairi’s heart in a similar fashion to Serah in XIII. When Sora gathered all seven of Kairi’s crystal heart fragments, to assemble them, all of the guardians were needed. Using their keyblades, the hearts of the guardians transferred their light to each of the heart pieces, forging Kairi’s heart anew. 

I think this may be the equivalent of the guardians touching Kairi’s crystallized heart, and immortalizing themselves as a part of Kairi’s heart.This includes the memories and experiences of their entire lives.

Sokai’s joint situation command is called One Heart. The name implies Sora and Kairi’s hearts are intertwining to become two halves of a whole or literally becoming one heart that they share when they are together, like melding.

The wings and feathers of One Heart consist of memories. The memories that are the main focus of the attack are those consisting of Sora and Kairi. However, 13th Vessel found that within the code of ReMind, the wings consisted of memories and experiences from the other guardians who helped put Kairi back together.

This would explain how Melody of Memory could take place from Kairi’s perspective, from within her heart. Kairi traversed her heart to find a clue about Sora and that heart contained the memories of all the Guardians of Light.

When Kairi got to the end, her final heart fragment took the form of Xehanort as a response to Kairi’s desire for information. When Xehanort  overwhelms Kairi, he initiates the final blow only for the Kingdom Key to appear in Kairi’s hand followed by her transforming into Sora. 

I don't believe this to be the heart of Sora, because right after that scene Xehanort states, “Your voice can’t reach us here. Now I’m certain of where your heart is.” And it was essentially confirmed by the end.

The figments that appeared within Kairi’s dream were, The Memory of Sora and Xehanort. 

Similar to how Aang was the Avatar for Roku’s spirit to come through and protect him in episode 8 of Book 1, Kairi became the Avatar for Sora memories to come through and protect her in the Final World.

Kairi is a princess of heart, being one of the only seven remaining hearts consisting of pure light. This is a lot like Raava, the spirit of pure light and all good in the world.  

Artist: GeorgePg

In KH3 it was even confirmed that the pure lights of the princesses can be passed on to new pure hearts, just like the Avatar reincarnation cycle.

KAIRI’S AVATAR STATE

Aang couldn’t go into the Avatar State willingly, each time the previous incarnations of the Avatar would take over Aang’s body when the Avatar State activated in response to whatever mortal danger Aang was currently in.

Aang eventually opened his seven chakras, proceeding to let go of his romantic feelings for Katara, allowing him to enter the Avatar State by will (only once before Azula killed him). Aang gained control of the Avatar State by the end of the series, and revealed he could enter or exit at his behest.

Kairi’s memories of Sora manifested as his Keyblade first, then her form changed to Sora. 

So, here are some of the ways this new Memoria power could be shown:

Projections

All of the abilities Riku gained while traversing the sleeping worlds were still his to use. Sora and Riku were able to use the Dualism Blade from the sleeping worlds as well.

Kairi’s princess powers pretty much break a lot of the conventional rules concerning darkness. She was able to restore Sora’s true form as well as project her light from within the Heartless Storm to guide him through.

This makes me think that she can either project her memory powers the same way keyblades are simply materialized, as formchanges or as links from KH3.

Essentially form changes for Kairi. However I would compare the way these could possibly work to Drive Forms.

Kairi’s usd Sora’s fighting stance as a base for developing her own fighting style. 

From the fights we’ve seen her against with Xemnas and Xehanort, Kairi is a very close quarters fighter. Much like Terra, melee is her main focus, but unlike Terra if you pay close attention to her, she kinda just attempts to wail on her enemies, forgoing a lot of defensive maneuvers. Kairi doesn't have a refined fighting style.

Through training with Aqua, I’m sure she’ll be able to iron out her base combat, but if she does go on a world tour, similar to the Dark Road Mark of Mastery Exam, she would have to gain new skills and use them repeatedly on her journey to refine them. (Like us, the player.)

In MoM, Sora’s Kingdom Key materialized first. This could mean that like Xion originally, Kairi can either produce copies of the guardians’ keyblades or she can transmute keychains out of them. Either way aside from maybe enhancement abilities or shotlocks, they’re essentially just basic keyblades for her. No transformations or forms from the keyblades themselves.

Memory Links

The new Memory Links could start as Rage Form* situation commands. When her HP dips into red, she can call upon the memories of the guardians to take over for her. This would unfortunately mean that we’re not necessarily playing as Kairi, but all of the other guardians. 

Alternatively, they could mechanically work as Links/D-Links. Kairi channels these memories, summoning them as the guardians to aid her in combat.

As she grows into her own, instead of having to rely on the guardians to bail her out of trouble, just like Aang she can learn to gain control of these Memory Links to use as she wants. Kairi could gain experience in the different fighting styles of the guardians, kind of like the bending forms (preferably cutscenes, but I couldn't see them taking it that far).

MEMORIA FORMS

Artist: GeorgePg

The Memoria Forms would be the final evolution of her memory powers. Instead of summoning the guardians to fight by her side or take her over completely, Kairi could weave the Memories of the Guardians into form changes or drive form like power-ups blended with her light powers. 

M-Form (Sora): Second/Limit Form

M-Form (Riku): Dark Form

M-Form (Aqua): Spellweaver/Water based form

M-Form (Ventus): Wingblade/Wind based form

M-Form (Terra): Rockbreaker/Earth based form 

M-Form (Axel): Firestorm/Blaze based form

M-Form (Roxas): Dual Wielding(I'd imagine having a heart that literally cannot be defeated darkness would make it capable of wielding two keyblades. The Duel Attack Reaction Command/Generates OKP & OBV keyblade projections.

M-Form (Xion): HOLY?

M-Form (Mickey)?: ULTIMA?

SYMPHONIA FORM

Artist: GeorgePg

Essentially, The Final Form equivalent for Kairi. I stated the concept in another theory, but it would be the Namine Fusion Concept from Dead Fantasy.

If Kairi can use or project the keyblades of the guardians, then perhaps by the end of her training, she can materialize all of them at the same time.

There’s also The Nameless Star and the power/memory she could pass on to Kairi if she chose to reside in her heart.

It’s entirely possible that this power is limited to her dreams. It’s also possible that this could’ve been a one time thing with no further significance. But apparently none of that stopped me from putting way too much thought into this theory. 

[echoingclock]

Platinum Get: Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (5th May ‘17)

This is the second time i got this platinum trophy. I don’t know why square enix decided that the ps4 version needs to not share a trophy list with the ps3 version. Its probably just to use the “1.5+2.5 HD” logo more. Hey, I’m not complaining, I love kingdom hearts. I’d get the platinum trophy on ps2 if i could...

review under the cut

91/100

Kingdom Hearts is a game that’s really dear to my heart, no pun intended. I grew up playing the game on ps2 when it was new and i was still being potty trained. It’s more or less the reason I enjoy Action RPG’s to begin with, and ventured out to explore more of the JRPG genre later in life.

The Story is an excellent metaphor for finding oneself, and being a child. But also kind of all over the place. The main characters of the story are Sora, the player character, and his friends Kairi and Riku. Riku gets tricked by some Disney villains into thinking Sora isn't really his friend and Riku starts bullying Sora over not really being his friend, and that’s more or less the entire game’s plot. I’m not kidding with the Disney villains, if you weren’t aware kingdom hearts is a cross-fiction incarnate of the Disney universe and final fantasy. Sora, along with Donald Duck and Goofy in your party hop from Disney movie to Disney movie beating up that movies villain and the “heartless” in search for Riku, Kairi, and Mickey Mouse. The Heartless are actually the games main antagonists, being creatures born of the darkness in people's hearts. Sora’s only weapon is the “Keyblade” a weapon that is less a blade and more a plunt object and also literally 4 foot key that can in theory unlock any lock.

You eventually find Riku being a general pain after the witch from sleeping beauty had already been messing with him for a while. Sora and the gang chase him right to peter pan’s neverland where its revealed that Riku has finally found Kairi but her “heart” is missing, leaving her in a catatonic state. It also turns out that Kairi is one of seven “princess of heart”, people with pure hearts of light with no darkness whatsoever. The other princess of heart are Disney princesses except Alice from “ - adventures in wonderland” which doesn’t really play out in my mind because have you actually read that story? 

It turns out that Riku is really being messed with by a dude called “Ansem The Seeker of Darkness” who for some reason really likes darkness and also wants to make a “Keyblade of people’s hearts” made from the seven princess of hearts’ hearts. You tell him to cut that out, beat up Riku until he realized you really do care, restore all the Disney princesses hearts, then from there go to defeat Ansem so all the worlds can go back to normal. You smack Ansem until he calls out to “Kingdom Hearts” - the heart of all hearts. Kingdom Hearts turns out to be actually light and Ansem dies because he really likes darkness. Then the game ends on a cliffhanger leading into the sequel game.

The fighting mechanics are pretty solid. You can bludgeon most things with your macro-key and for all other things you cast magic. The magic consists of: a homing “Fire” attack, a shotgun “Blizzard” ice attack, an area of affect “Thunder” which is really lightning, a “Gravity” attack that crushes enemies, a time freezing spell “Stop”, a defense boosting “Aero”, and the healing “Cure”. Cure and Aero are actually the most useful spells, as it acts to prolong your longevity, which is useful for a proud difficulty run where everything does double damage. 

The biggest complaint with this game I have is absolutely the way stat allocations work. The start of the game gives you a series of choices. The first of which is to choose to use a sword, shield, or staff, then discard one of the others. This choice determines not only base stats for Sora, but also decides in what order Sora will unlock abilities. In example the ability scan, which allows Sora to see enemy health, can be unlocked at level 9 choosing sword, level 15 choosing staff, or level 21 choosing shield. The game doesn't really convey that this is how it will play out, so by the time you hit level 50 you still weren't sure if you will ever get a second combo+ or whatever. I would really recommend for a hard “Proud” difficulty play through, you choose either staff or shield which gives you “MP Rage”  a support ability that restores MP when damage is taken. More uses of Cure to counteract all the extra damage you’re taking.

Also pertaining to level 50, the second choice you get is when your journey start. If your journey starts at dawn, you will level up much faster from 1-50, and 50-100 will be a crawl, and if your journey starts at dusk, you level much faster from 50-100: getting to 50 is the hard part. You can also choose to have your journey start at noon which makes it pretty consistent but this is entirely the wrong way to approach the game in my experience. This choice also affects at what total experience you will be level 100, but that doesn't really matter unless you forgot to make some exp rings.

Item Synthesis is a thing in this game. Enemies drop materials that you can bring to an NPC, a Moogle from final fantasy, to combine into better items, such as potions, attack boosts, other materials for synthesis you cant find in the wild, and finally the ultima weapon. getting the ultima weapon is a pain, because it requires grinding some of the rarest enemies in the game for hours on end. There is one enemy called Pink Agaricus that the only way to get a drop from it, you must cast “Stop”, then hit it a minimum 50 times before the enemy reanimates. I found the only way to do this was to equip a weapon that gave +3 magic but had no boost to attack, as well as 3 rings that also boosted my magic stat up to a total 16 magic, and since the duration of stop scales with your magic stat this is the only way to go about it. You aren’t even guaranteed a drop from Agaricus unless you get 100 hits in, but beyond the random chance at 50 hits i couldn’t be bothered to do more than i really needed to.