#few months after the last update in khux

[djkibrit]

Sewer Squad (+ the "Friends are not my power" guy) sprite edits that I did back in 2021 (damn... It's been long haha)

There are some things that I would change as of now: I would keep the "Funky Glasses" kid's Galaxy Hair, completely redo the "Frog Gal" outfit, better the drawing of the "not friends" shirt and some other minor nitpicks. But I was really proud of them at the time

General Observations: 1. The outfits' parts were taken from Roboloid's Assets Gallery; 2. Mog still uses his "Mog Hat" (the sprite of him was just supposed to show how he looks underneath it); 3. The "not friends" clothing was too similar to the one of Mog, so I tried to make it more unique; 4. I tried to keep the sprites kind of close to canon (in most cases at least) to still make the characters recognizable

Underneath the "Read More" is a comparison between the canon sprites and my edits

[kitkat-the-muffin]

Kingdom Hearts Social Experiment update!

We had to switch to remote gameplay due to Subject 1 moving out of state 😔 it was out of our hands

The plan is to continue Chain of Memories on my console with me operating the controls, and then Subject 1 will progress the other games from his own console

He even bought the original 358/2 Days, so we might actually play that instead of the cutscene movie (which was my original plan). We also intend to have a few in-person sessions when our schedules open up for traveling convenience

Today was our first session in a month and we did it over Discord. Unfortunately, we still did not record any visuals. I mean, it is a podcast after all, one that won’t see the light of day for several more years (my future self is gonna have such a pain editing all these audio recordings omg today alone was 3 freakin hours)

Anyway, to update on the experiment itself:

Subject 1 found out two names today! Larxene and Naminé, my how interesting. He didn’t recognize Vexen as Even tho which is hilarious to me as someone with a vendetta against Vexen

The “discussion questions” of today’s session:

Who could this Naminé girl be?

If she is an old friend of Sora’s, why did she disappear long ago?

What is her connection to the castle, and why is she being held captive by an organization of MoM-Cloak-Wearing fiends?!

Why did Elrena and Lea change their names?!

Why is Riku being a bigger angsty jerk than last time?

Does anyone even know about Ven sleeping in the basement?!

And who was the first cloak-wearing fiend at the beginning of the game?

All will be answered in due time

And for those who have no idea what I’m talking about: Subject 1 so far has only played KH1, KHX & KHUX, and KHBBS in that order. Therefore, he’s met every character in this game already apart from Naminé

This is what the experiment has been building up to all along: the discoveries affected by foreknowledge

Anyway, I hope those who’ve been keeping up with these updates enjoy these posts. The podcast recordings won’t be edited for a long time as I’m very busy with life right now and don’t have time to put subtitles on hours upon hours of audio footage

But someday they’ll be uploaded to the internet for all to enjoy, so thank you to the three people who actually read these posts for patiently waiting for that future day

[player-1]

KHUX: Wreck-it-Ralph’s world is more important than you think! (More info in the end)

TL;DR: While the Player Character gets royally screwed over trying to make their own decisions, Wreck-it-Ralph’s world explores the concept of working in a niche environment while also making their own choices and creating compromises that help improve everyone’s lives. 

Sooner or later, the Player will not be happy about this...

Another Union X update came and went (Missions 910-915), and players could only sigh at the knowledge of yet another set of filler missions for this month. But even with the story tackling the pros and cons of technology (of course, in the most outlandishly KH way possible), having the Player explore a world completely comprised of digital arcade characters should open up a few interesting factoids. Game Central Station shows startling similarities to Data Daybreak Town (or the one if the Union Leaders went along with the rulebook). 

For example:

Characters being aware of their separate games/worlds but also becoming friends or companions regardless of differences (almost like the Unions, huh?)

Said characters also being aware of the players that see them as a form of entertainment and works within the game’s rules without question.

Characters who go rogue or “going Turbo“ are seen as a dangerous threat to both the inhabitants of the game and the entire arcade as a whole.

Does the last point sound familiar? Ephemer (and later on the Player) questions their role as a Keyblade wielder and their reasons for collecting Lux and defeating the Darkness, especially when the World seemed so divided within the Unions and Foretellers. And what happened to them while they were searching for the truth? The Foretellers threatened to kill reprimand them for their disobedience from the rules.  Of course, in Unchained, the Player pushed past their warnings entirely, going so far as joining the Keyblade War regardless of Skuld, Ava, and Gula’s reasons. And even after all of that, and as the Player is saved by Ephemer and Skuld in the end, what do they do to them? They erased the Player’s memories. (Disclaimer: The Player’s memories were altered/erased after Mission 555 (at the end of Unchained), and in UnionX after Mission 675 (the battle with Aced). Both of those times were about the Player speaking his mind about his purpose as a wielder and calling out the Unions on their own BS. Yikes...)

In hindsight, this was to keep the Player from becoming too traumatized after witnessing the War firsthand, but it turns him back into a simple little Keyblade wielder he was before the conflict began to escalate (ie the “reboot”). 

Now why did I mention that this new data world is important for the story? Let me list a few turning points from the movie:

While Ralph wants to make himself a hero, regardless of the rules of crossing through different games, he eventually becomes a “hero“ by using his villain qualities for good; eventually creating a compromise between himself and Felix.

Likewise, Vanellope pushes through the warnings and discrimination against her being a glitch and eventually gains popularity as a racer with her unusual quirk.

Calhoun wins against her program/PTSD with Felix’s unwavering support, eventually getting the dream marriage she always wanted.

For the most part, all three of them show a key similarity: they find the chance to fight against the grain, and after going through certain repercussions along the way, they emerge victorious and create a solution that works in their favor. On the contrary, while Ephemer and Skuld question their actions and successfully beat the odds, the Player gets punished multiple times and eventually has their memories erased/suppressed on two separate occasions.

And now that the Player is left exploring this new world all alone and has no definite way of returning to the “real” world, who knows how long it will take before the deja vu sets in...

Only time will tell.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

For now, I just imagine the Player going through the mental gymnastics like this (Finding the source of the glitches while the raging terror of existentialism and trauma burns in the background):

UPDATE (KH Melody of Memory Trailer) Regarding the theories connecting the Player Character and Xehanort, especially with this post, I can say for a fact that the player qualifies as a low-key villain (though Riku was only short-term). To be honest, with Daybreak Town's chain of command and the Player's almost complete disregard to said rules make him a subsequent threat to the Foretellers before and during the War. Not that the Player knows they’re the villain, it's just that they don't consider the consequences of their actions...at all.

[road2thelight]

Just How Old is Ven in KHUX?

KHUX, KHIII, and BBS SPOILERS AHEAD

Okay so I’m going to finally sit and write this all out so I can try and make sense of -gasp- the Kingdom Hearts timeline. At least part of it. 

So we know that Ventus is 15-16 in BBS. For less confusion in this, we’ll say he’s sixteen. We know that he’s spent 4 years in the Land of Departure after Xehanort ditched him and before BBS:

“Four years before Aqua and Terra take their Mark of Mastery exam” (link) 

So Ven was roughly 12 when he came to the Land of Departure. 

Which okay 12 year old keyblade wielder, sure that’s okay (the grown ass adult in me is screaming that he should be at home drinking a juice box while doing homework). Sora was 14 and, while I have issues with the fate of the world in the hands of babies, KH has a precedent for around this age.  

The question is, how old was Ven during Kingdom Hearts Union Cross? 

This is where things became more muddled but to break down my theory of his age, we’ll have to go a little off tangent. 

So we know Ven was Xehanort’s apprentice. For how long though? Did Xehanort stumble on this kid with amnesia that could somehow summon a keyblade (try and tell me he won’t have amnesia after KHUX, do you see where that tragedy is going???) and was all like “Ah here’s a good sacrifice to use for my nefarious, convoluted plot that will only come to a head in almost twenty years and be defeated pretty much by the power of friendship”? 

More so, did Xehanort find him instantly wherever Ven appeared (Scala ad Caelum? Radiant Gardens? Destiny Island?) or was Ven wandering for an unknown time as a lost kid? With my theory, I think Xehanort found him instantly, possibly even knew when Ven would appear (MoM told him maybe? You decide).

More so, Ven’s name is the same in the “present” as the KHUX plot during the Age of Fairytales, so we can presume two possibilities: that Ven had just enough memories that he could remember his name OR he had all of his memories before losing them somehow. So beyond the issue of this child needing so much therapy from repeated memory loss, let’s explore these.

First up: Just enough memories. 

We know Darkness can manipulate memories, so it’s possible that Darkness, when he somehow got back into Ven in KHUX (since he’s in Ven’s heart by the time of KHIII), could alter Ven’s memories. With the pods and time travel, we don’t know how long it takes for the hearts to travel. Is it light speed? A blink of an eye? Thousands of years but for the body it was like 5 minutes? For my theory, I like the thousands of years travel but for the body it was only like five minutes idea. This would give Darkness plenty of time to bury all those memories and leave Ven practically a blank slate. The one thing he couldn’t erase was his name, the core of his being. I also like to think that Ven is aware of Darkness at the time of him going in the pod and is fighting with every fiber of his being to hold onto whatever bits of himself that he can. Ultimately that’s his name and a key personality trait (his strong belief in friendship “my friends are my power”). 

For the other theory we’ll have to go a little out there. From what we know involving the pods and time travel in KH, it causes the person to lose their memories when they come through UNLESS it’s a Maleficent situation. Girl had all of her memories of the past because the three fairies -coughmerryweatherdammityouhadonejobcough- remembered her, she could come back. But who in the future would know Ventus to let him keep his memories? 

Theory Time: Xehanort did. How do you ask? The story of the Dandelions and the New Union leaders has been passed down alongside the story of the Keyblade War in Scala ad Caelum. We know from conversations in KH3 with Young Xehanort and Young Eraqus that their Master’s favorite story was about the Keyblade War. My idea is that the Dandelion’s were a side story about the survivors and who was one of the new Union Leaders of the Dandelions? Ven. And as long as someone in the time you are going to knows your name and something about you (I guess, KH doesn’t go into details), you can come back. But then how did the story pass on so Xehanort could hear it? Well Eraqus bears a very eerie resemblance to one Brain from KHUX. My guess is that Eraqus is a descendant of Brain, which means somehow Brain got out of the Data Daybreak Town at some point in KHUX and passed on the story of the Dandelions. Maybe the reason Xehanort knows it as well as he does is because it’s a story that Eraqus knows like the back of his hand because of his family. Maybe Brain even had photos of the leaders that he kept with him so Xehanort knew what Ven even looked like cause they were heirlooms Eraqus showed him. If none of that pans, maybe MoM told Xehanort something. Who knows. 

All of this to come to the idea that Xehanort, and Eraqus too I am positive, knew that Ven was a lot older than his actual physical age and possibly even knew he was a Union Leader. This is hinted at in Ven’s short story:

“Maybe the Master knew more about the real me than he ever let on, all the things I don’t know about myself. But now he’s gone, so I guess we’ll never know.” (link)

Now Ven could have been talking about Vanitas, but since he already knows about Vanitas and his past with Xehanort, I personally don’t think that’s what Ven’s talking about here.

So Ven would awaken with all of his memories but how would he react to the new time and people and Xehanort? I think this will rely on what happens at the end of KHUX but something tells me Ven will be in a very vulnerable, easy to manipulate state. Maybe Xehanort would convince him that it’s because light grew too powerful that Darkness appeared and was trying to restore order that way. Maybe he convinced Ven that he was his apprentice and dreamed the events of KHUX from his stories. Either way, Ven became his apprentice. He would lose his memories though, minus his name because Xehanort knew it and would tell Eraqus, when his heart was split to create Vanitas. 

It’s a wild theory but you know what, Kingdom Hearts is chock full of random events and plot lines so who knows, I might be totally right on that idea. 

With either theory, I believe that Xehanort knew no matter what that Ven was a keyblade wielder from the Age of Fairytales.

Now back to Ven’s age. Xehanort, knowing that using the keyblade is like riding a bike (tell me it’s not, once your body is taught how to swing or throw something it becomes muscle memory) and that a heart never truly forgets (he’s been studying the dark, the light, and has an interest in hearts by this time), would probably not waste much time in taking Ven under his wing. It would probably take a bit of time to convince Ven that he can use the keyblade well, since we can see Ven lacks confidence in KHUX, but not as long as a full apprenticeship. Being a Union Leader, I imagine that Ven, back in KHUX, was probably counted in the same rank as a Master, if only because of his position. My guess is, this was six or so months, just long enough to get the sacrificial lamb ready for a slaughter. For clarity’s sake, let’s say six months even. 

If Ven was exactly 12 years old on the day of him arriving in the Land of Departure, this would make Ven 11 years and six months old when he first arrived in the future as well as at the end of KHUX. 

So we know how old Ven roughly was at the end of KHUX, cool. How old was this poor kid during KHUX? We are never told in KHUX how long the Dandelions have been in the datascape. We know a few time things though:

It has been a while, from conversations the New Union Leaders have had, but not long enough for them to want to separate the Union back into five groups.

It was shown in Brain’s flashback with Ava that this particular event with her took place four years ago. 

Relying mainly on the latter of the two, since we’ve got a specific year length on it, let’s make a few guesses. 

We know Strelitzia was told of her role to be a Union Leader shortly before the war started. Let’s say that Ava had a plan to tell each leader in a certain order. Strelitzia was last, Skuld joined the Dandelions sort of late so we’ll say she was right before her, Ephemer was told before Skuld, so that leaves Brain and Laurium. Since Ava is going against the MoM, I think she would tell Brain his role first.

Let’s say that Ephemer was told four months before the war his role and that’s when he disappeared. Skuld would be told two or three months after him. Then Strelitzia last right before. Let’s guess Laurium was told 2-3 months before Ephemer (6-7 months pre war) and by this pattern, Brain would be told 2-3 months before that (8-9 months pre war). That would mean the Dandelions have been in the datascape for roughly 3 years and 3 months at the time of the flashback beginning. I presume this is only a month before the conclusion of the Dandelions because things are starting to come to a head in the current update of KHUX. 

So let’s do the math with this: 

Ven is 11 and a half years old at the conclusion of KHUX.

Ven is maybe 11 and 5 months old at the time of the flashback. 

This would make Ven roughly 8 and 2 months old when the Dandelions were put in the datascape and he became a Union Leader in the aftermath of the Keyblade War. 

Let that marinate in your thoughts.

Just like an eight year old. A fucking baby. Who let this baby bean have a keyblade at 8 years old?!?!?!?

This makes KHUX have so much more sense though. I always wondered why Ephemer and co were surprised that Ven was a Union Leader, it wasn’t like they were well known or high gatherers of lux that we know of. But in this context it makes sense. A group of 14-16 year olds in charge with one random 8 year old in the mix would totally surprise you. 

Now of course this is just a guess. Maybe Ava told Brain super early to throw off the MoM’s plans and the Dandelion’s were only in the datascape for a year or two. We also don’t know when Ven became a wielder. My guess is at 7 or 8 years old in the original theory but with this latter idea, maybe Ven was closer to 10 or 11 at the time of the war. 

Still, it kind of throws me off that Ven was possibly as young as 8 when he was used by Darkness to kill Strelitzia (or was a witness to this traumatizing event at the very least). 

My conclusions: 

Ven needs so much therapy. Like, so, so much therapy. I will chip in, just someone get this kid to a therapist. 

The Kingdom Hearts timeline is a mess and trying to unravel it leads to so many issues.

I spent way too long on this. 

Anyone else have opinions on Ven’s age in KHUX or other ideas involving it? 

[mcalhenwrites]

I typed up a huge google doc about who I thought might be the traitor, who I suspect is Strelitzia’s killer, and who is the imposter. (And if the imposter or the traitor is responsible for the murder.) Every new update or reread of the KH3 secret reports has forced me to rewrite huge sections. Anyway, thanks to the update yesterday, we can narrow down the imposter between one of two people. I tagged this, but another caution: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR JP KHUX BELOW

A Swedish friend who (as far as I know) isn’t into the series mentioned off-hand to me when I was posting screenshots, “Did you know Skuld means ‘guilt’ in Swedish?” I’d been spending all my time assuming her name came from being a Norn. It opened up a new possibility for me.  This is a list of things I discovered and possibly connected. 1. There’s a dark figure that approaches Ephemer when he first stands up Player and goes back into the passageways alone. He first asks who they are and then says, “You..?!” The figure looks like “Darkness”, but I mean... He would’ve recognized a Foreteller! But part of me doesn’t wonder if the hint is about Skuld. The scene itself is painted to us, the players, as hostile. The music, the dark form... I’m not sure if this was meant as a distraction since later, since iirc, Ephemer and Ava hold a conversation here? But most theories about Ava being Darkness have it happening much later in the story... But it also crossed my mind that Ephemer would also recognize Skuld. (Still, I’m pretty iffy that this isn’t Ava.) If anyone is curious about rewatching the scene, I’ll link to Everglow’s timeline, specifically this video at 16:18!  2. I realized Ava recruited Skuld as a Dandelion, but not as a Union leader. I have no idea if that came after, ofc, somewhere in the background. Just that it didn’t happen on-screen. I started seeing more people say this online in the last month or so, which has been validating. Doesn’t mean she’s truly guilty as her name claims, so... moving on. 3. The next one ties heavily into whether or not Skuld is Subject X. Specifically, Secret Report 5 from Saix in KH3, that has had me curious for a while: On the day we finally secured our entry, we descended the long spiral stair at the heart of the castle to find a dark space below it, lined with cages. There wasn't light enough to see if they were inhabited, and we were in no position to call out to any occupants within. Yet we could feel it. A definite presence, there in the black. Terror washed over us, and we immediately regretted coming. But just as we turned to flee, we heard the faintest of voices. The urge to run was nigh overpowering, but someone or something beckoned us on. There, framed by a tenuous sliver of light, we found her. While she has light, there’s also a dark presence. Part of me wondered if it might not be Braig lingering around (and admittedly that’s what I mostly believe), but maybe it’s not dissimilar to Ven, where she actually has a lot of darkness and very little (”tenuous”) light?  4. And Skuld’s name already came up once in Lauriam’s investigation, but it didn’t seem to turn up much. 5. This one is a huuuuge reach, but it’s KH so I’ll list it anyway. Isa and Lea both became nobodies and did some less-than-great things in their futures... perhaps the “Celestial Trio” (I keep calling them that in my head, bc of the Sun/Moon/Star motifs) are perhaps going to be a group of good people who don’t have great pasts. This is more “we’ll find out in a future game” I think, tho, and it might be total coincidence or entirely inapplicable. :’D ...It’s kind of a thin theory, and this doesn’t mean I think Skuld is the imposter and Ven isn’t. It’s just stuff that made me wonder about her over the past few months. 

Anyway, I have gone over this so often, so I can’t wait for the next bits of story to ENTIRELY TOSS EVERYTHING OUT THE WINDOW AND MAKE ME REWRITE AGAIN :D I welcome any new revelations from various interviews, novels, and more accurate translations from Japanese. It’s always good to have new information or even gentle corrections to keep this all on the right path.

[elikaruna]

Yes, KHUX was released in updates over several years. KH does get messy after Dream Drop Distance. I’d suggest at that point to watch Back Cover, then KHUX up to Quest 846. If you watch a video that doesn’t include quest numbers, stop once you’ve met a girl named Elrena. That’s how far along KHUX quests were when KH3 was released so it’s a good jumping off point. Then switch over and complete 0.2 BBS A Fragmentary Passage, KH3, Re:Mind, and Melody of Memories. Then you can go back and finish KHUX. Then last is Dark Road, which is still ongoing like KHUX was and will wrap up in a few months.

I’m relatively new to the Kingdom Hearts fandom, and I have a question if anyone can answer it. I’m trying to go through the games in order of release, and I happened to hear today that the reason KHUX is going offline is because they just released the final chapter. So, was KHUX being released periodically? And if so, when should I switch from KHUX to Prologue, three, and MoM and back? (Sorry if this is obvious news, I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers, so I don’t tend to look at a lot of Kingdom Hearts related things just in case.)

[kimmymain]

Since this blog would be dead otherwise, I thought I ought to give it some purpose! I really do love the KH series, so I thought I may as well just show how I’m doing on the one game I can play myself, KHUX. This is just an easily skip-able introductory entry of where I currently am in KHUX since I have been playing on and off since the third day after it came out ^^; I’m definitely no expert, but I do have some experience on what does and doesn’t work in KHUX. I doubt anyone is actually interested, but this blog needs some content, hahaha.

So, this is my character! Player ID is up there, but I already have a party as you can see ^^; I am also technically a leader? But the two who created the group just promoted me one time and I don’t really do anything. Our party is pretty chill (although we aren’t hardcore and I swear most of the players are inactive). We are currently at full capacity, but if you really wanted a spot, I can kick off an inactive player or two, haha.

Also, I’ve actually changed a bit since I took the screenshot, lol. I tend to switch Kimmy’s gender based on the mission and the perks I get from the accessories! This outfit set is really good for item drops and Raid Boss Omega perks. Right now, I’m a male knight! That outfit is really good at Item drops since I’ve been needing it for Coliseum. Also I’ve done a few weekly raids since the screenshot was taken so I am now lv 279 (After about lv 200, leveling up takes forever...). Treasure Trove is displayed, but I have unlocked all currently available keyblades! Most of them, except for Moogle of Glory and Sleeping Lion, are at or above lv 25. The other two are, of course, very difficult to upgrade, lol.

As you can tell, I do have the guilt of paying to win at times. The Minnie and Daisy medal was too good though :( To get it you had to pay at least one weekly extravaganza, two weeks to get it boosted (This was only during the two weeks the event was hosted of course). I got most of the others legitimately ^^;

Here are all my attack medals!

The only medal here that I really paid to get was my strongest one, the Illustrated Sora B, top left of the last picture. Everything else was more or less gotten legitimately through free coins and occasionally I dip in to get a single draw that week or an avatar board unlocked ^^;;;

Ironically, the best ones I’ve had, besides Illustrated Sora B, were all gotten for free through hard work in events or by the slow accumulation of free jewels, so I guess that’s Karma for you, huh? (Yes, I did get Illustrated Kairi and HD Sora legitimately! It was a great surprise for me, too!)

Outfits are always worth it though, if not for the outfit perks, than definitely for the skills that you can’t get from Coliseum unless you are really good. (I have only seriously tried Coliseum once to get Second Chance. I succeeded, but at such a lot of trouble!) Also, sometimes the pay-to-get outfits have Power, Magic, or Speed gems that are not easy to get for free. Those gems are used to upgrade Keyblades over lv 25... so pretty important!

(You may have noticed the jewel amount on the upper right? Yeah, I spent them on the Cupid outfits :P I’m poor again.)

In my party, I have the highest level, but I’m second/third in terms of power (depends on the keyblade I use). I mostly utilize boosts and skills over rare medals, though, and I probably have the highest Nova due to all the guilting and hoarding I did before Nova even existed in the North American server.

This is not to discredit my party members though! Some of them are pretty damn good themselves! Our party is mostly chill though, so we get a lot of new players that tend to leave the party for more active/stronger parties once they’re ready. (at least that is what I always assumed!) Or you know... they stay on despite being inactive for a month...

And I think that’s way more than introductory! If an exciting event pops up or I draw another ten epics, I’ll try to update!

Hope you enjoyed this boring post ^^; If you want any tips or don’t really understand what something I said here means, feel free to leave an ask! I like to give tips on this game!