#it sucks because like. do you see the potential in the terra and riku stuff

[robotsafari]

not gonna do anything with terras unresolved insecurities with himself and his darkness and not to mention that he got possessed for 10 years and couldn’t help his friends which is going to add on even more self-doubt andNO TIME FO DAT ITS TIME TO ENTER THE BORING REALISTIC VIDEO GAME WORLD !!!!!

[arcxnumvitae]

Kingdom Hearts

Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

You know the deal, KH spoilers beware

Favorite character:

For the longest time I wasn’t too partial for one character over the other (though I was taken by Riku’s pretty eye color and Roxas’ tragic tale, which I still am) but I’ve always favored the Sea Salt trio over the others. And then I found myself feeling for Xion more and more. I feel like this isn’t a surprise since I end up talking about her a lot but she’s gone through a lot! First she joins the Organization as a Nobody, someone who isn’t supposed to exist or have emotions and she’s an odd one out because she doesn’t have any memories from when she was a full person like most of the others do. Some of the members are okay but then there’s Saix who treats her like shit, calls her “it” and a “puppet” for no good reason! She makes friends with two other members and they grow close and that’s great! Friendship! Eating ice cream together! 

But then things don’t seem right and she comes to realize that, even among this group of people who aren’t supposed to exists, she’s even lower than that, just a replica meant to absorb some memories of the Keyblade hero Sora to keep him in his sleep meant to fix his memories forever. So not only is her existence hurting this person she doesn’t know, but it turns out that one of her good friends Roxas, the nobody of said hero, is also having his literal life sapped away by her mere presence. And there’s nothing she can do about it at all, the top brass of the Organization knows this and is fine with her offing him if it means they still get to use her power and keep Sora out of their hair.

So what does she do? Make the decision to essentially die rather than be the cause for pain for her friend. And the kicker? She’s informed that since she was never an actual person and is just made up of stolen memories, when she dies, everyone’s memories of her will fade away as there’d be nothing left of her. And the madlad still goes through with it with some of the saddest boss music  in this entire doggone series! Makes Roxas kill her so that he can survive and there’s a reason why I cried at 358/2 Days ending! There’s other sad stuff of course with her pain of realizing she’s just a fake and her butting heads with Axel too but for me to describe the entirety of how sad Xion’s initial existence was would take so much time. There’s also a reason I see parallels with her and Lucia too.

Least Favorite character:

Fucking Yen Sid. Kirei and I have waxed poetic multiple times about why he sucks so I won’t repeat that here, it’s all in the Discord chat. He was a shit teacher, shit at giving exams, and Sora deserved to be given the title of master dammit

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

You know, I don’t really ship anything here. Friends are my power and all that. I’m basic and think that Sora and Kairi are cute and see the potential in Sora and Riku but really that’s it. Oh wait, Aqua and Terra are cute dual parenting Ven and I’ll admit, that moment in KH3 where he looked at her and said “you lit my way home” or something with tears in his eyes…you almost got me there, Nomura. But yeah, I just think the friendships are sweet.

Character I find most attractive:

Listen, 12 year old me saw the vivid shade of Riku’s eyes and never went back. I do like his KH2 design because the stupid long hair appealed to me. As of now though, I’m more of a Xemnas type of gal. You hear that voice? Silky smooth. Saix also is most certainly easy on the eyes. Marluxia. Aqua’s very pretty. Terra. Lots of pretty people in this series. You know what, Eraqus is a looker too. Yes, I’m talking about him when he was older don’t judge me.

Character I would marry:

Hmmm, Aqua’s a pretty dependable and responsible lass, I’ll go with her.

Character I would be best friends with:

Namine! She’s so sweet and we could just chill in comfortable silence doing our own things with no problems. Sora would be a fun cheery guy to hang with.

a random thought:

We like to joke like ‘haha, this plot is convoluted and makes no sense’ but honestly if you just like….play the games or look up their stories it’s not that hard. It’s a lot of information as a whole since there’s like 13 games of plot going on but just. knowing the narrative. makes it easier to understand. It’s why you see those three hour videos explaining the entirety of the plot, it’s doable it’s just a lot. And you have to be willing to understand and accept that this series makes it own rules in its universe and that’s just how things are. Escape for Dream Drop Distance and the sudden time travel rules, fuck 3D and the sudden time travel rules! That shit had me literally sitting down to try and puzzle what happened in that game out once I’d finished it. 

An unpopular opinion:

I already gave my yearly allowed hot take to Kirei about how I feel the fandom handles shipping and I don’t feel like repeating myself here, so. mmm. Long as I’ve been in this hellhole I’m sure for this one I’ve actually developed unpopular opinions. Oh,

Terra Did Nothing Wrong.

Or at least his worst action was trusting the wrong guy, which you could argue a lot for the reasoning of. Not only was Xehanort someone his master and father figure Daddy Eraqus clearly trusted and introduced as a good friend, but when Xehanort began his body-snatching machinations and started to get close to Terra the young lad was coming from just being failed in his big Mark of Mastery exam (which his fellow pupil Aqua passed) by said master/father figure explicitly calling out his accidental unintentional summoning of inner darkness (which he quickly stifled and didn’t use so like what the heck Eraqus he tamped down his darkness just like you said he should) and being disappointed in him. Terra was down and feeling like he needed to prove himself to– well, himself. And the rest is history. He gets a lot of flak for being manipulated by a chess mastermind at a vulnerable point and I think he already paid the fattest price for it anyways.

My Canon OTP:

Living my best sweet no OTP life yeahhhh!

My Non-canon OTP:

Same deal here yeahhhhh!

Most Badass Character:

Sora’s been canonically knocked back to level one multiple times but each adventure he took out some form of the big bad. In KH3 he was taking on three members of the Real Organization Thirteen at once. The boy’s strong. Almost like he *coughs* deserves the title of Keyblade Master or something, wild…. And he does it all with a smile on his face, look at him go.

Most Epic Villain:

I mean, Xehanort’s been the main major villain of the Dark Seeker saga and I think he’s earned this designation. He’s essentially set in motion just about everything that’s gone on in this entire saga through his plan to summon Kingdom Hearts. Not to mention his motivation for essentially bringing about the end of all worlds is like a scientific ‘just wanna see what happens after’. Knowledge driven, methodical, that’s good. No, we’re not acknowledging KH3 changing his motivations to well-intentioned extremist I’m keeping my morally corrupt researcher grandpa thank you very much. Will the Master of Masters take that pace in the new saga? Dunno, he’s a good planner too and I like his goofy mannerisms, it’s enough to make you wonder if he’s really a villain. Then you remember he kinda let, and even instigated, the end of the world once so…. You know what, Xigbar/Luxu’s up there now too for being the man behind the man. Long con with a keyblade that was originally his anyways, I can appreciate that scam.

Pairing I am not a fan of:

I don’t like Axel and Roxas as a romantic pairing, I know KH mostly handwaves ages but he looks disconcertingly older and considering he looked about Ven’s age in BBS and it’s been 10+ years since then…yeah, I’ve just never been comfortable with them as a romantic duo. Not to mention the role he takes on in 358/2 that predominantly teaches a naive Roxas about the world and relationships. He does sure as hell act like a spurned ex in 2 though, ha. I guess the same could be said for Terra and Ven for the same reasons but I don’t see as much for them. Funnily, once upon a time when I was younger I side-eyed Roxas and Namine and Roxas and Xion a bit cause ‘aren’t they both technically from the same Sora?’ But then you realize it’s Kingdom Hearts and everyone’s from Sora so….

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

hahahahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhkairi. This is a long dead horse that’s been beaten at so I’ll be brief. Yes she saved Sora’s life in 3 and Re:Mind, thank goodness, did a lot to give her more of an active role (baby girl took on Xemnas head on and even managed to break his guard).Continue with that, Nomura. More of that please! I’m tired of people dunking on Kairi, the potential’s there I know you can do it! I like her! I want to like her more! Also the aforementioned last-second swerve to be like “hey, maybe Xehanort was trying to be a good guy!” Why? How come he got to go into the light peacefully with his boyfriend, Aqua was in the Realm of Darkness for ten years and Terra was stuck inside that heartless! Ven was asleep! They had to sit there and watch their dead master frolic into the sunset with their own personal mortal enemy!

Favourite Friendship:

Oh gosh. Riku and Sora. Riku’s done so much to make up for his screwups in the first game to the point of even potentially forever losing his physical form “to make sure his best friends sleeps peacefully.” Like, there’s no brief and succinct way to describe the absolute rock that Riku has been for Sora and even vice versa! Their talk on the beach in KH2 where they finally get to air out some of the relationship kinks from KH1 was so sweet. Was the “well there’s one thing I have that you can’t beat. A friend like you” cheesy as hell? Yes. Did it make me ‘awwww’ like crazy? Also yes, the quintessential KH experience. But I just think this is a great story and it’s great how it resolves them creating their own friend groups outside of the other that’s personal to them (Donald and Goofy for Sora and Mickey for Riku) while still allowing their own friendship to still be as important as it is.

Character I most identify with:

Maybe Roxas. I, too, always act like I need a nap (this was a joke). But yeah, honestly, no one really.

Character I wish I could be:

I don’t know, they’ve all (mostly.) got their happy endings now at the end of 3 but everyone went through hell and back to get them. I’m good, I think.

[nadziejastar]

Well, first of all I loved his outfit. It’s similar enough to what he wore in BBS to make it feel like Isa, but still felt fresh. It looked like something a fashionable young person would wear. It’s based on a Roen-Gackt collaboration design. Nomura sure loves Gackt, lol. So Isa was considered important enough to get a lot of care put into his new outfit. This collaboration was probably done a long time in advance, like with FFVersus XIII. I’m sure Isa’s backstory was supposed to be WAY more fleshed out so that his character would make a MUCH stronger impression on the player by the end of KH3. So, the outfit was kinda wasted in a way. Isa’s whole character was just wasted potential, though.

In a room made of white marble, a large mirror reflected Demyx as he prepared to leave for the mission. He took particular care with his hairstyle, painstakingly manipulating the brown strands with a comb to make them stand straight up. Saïx observed him from behind with what appeared to be distaste. In stark contrast to Demyx, Saïx left his long blue hair unstyled. The X-shaped scar on his forehead was all the style he needed.

Having an outfit based on a J-pop star might tell us something about how Nomura originally viewed Isa’s personality. He actually seemed like a rather fashionable young man who took pride in his appearance. He even wore stud earrings. His style was different from other kids like Hayner, Pence, or Lea. Saïx didn’t have any interest in his appearance. But Isa certainly seemed like the type to style his hair and then some. For some reason, I picture him ironically spending even MORE time in front of the mirror than Demyx. Especially post-KH3. Isa was already shy. I think he would probably struggle with insecurity over having a scar covering most of his face. So, he would try even harder to compensate with nice clothes and accessories.

The KH3 ending outfit really doesn’t fit someone like Saïx, who had such a harsh and dreary personality. I can’t see Saïx choosing to wear anything like that outfit. Way too youthful and trendy. And definitely not the star and moon accessory, either. He’d throw up at the cute little moon on Isa’s BBS outfit. Isa obviously was supposed to have such a different personality than Saïx. I bet Isa is going to be SUCH an awkward character going forward, because they’ll feel obligated to keep his Saïx personality traits, which will clash so badly with the rest of his character. He’ll be this pseudo-villain/quasi-good guy that just will feel so out of place in a series like this. It breaks my heart.

A great number of Nobodies have lost human form, as have the Heartless. Yet the Nobody born of someone with a strong heart retains its shape, with but the faintest visible changes.

As far as the rest of his design goes, I thought it was pretty lazy. In my opinion, Isa’s character design needed much more of an update than what he got. Kairi looked more different after her haircut than Isa did in the ending. If anyone deserved to look different for KH3, it was him. But…he still looked almost exactly like Saïx to me. He has a bit more color to his hair and face, and his scar is faded. But that’s about it. Which I guess was intentional. Why bother changing his look? It seems like they gave up on whatever plan they originally had for Isa to be his own character who was totally distinct from Saïx. They’re gonna just pretend that he wasn’t Norted and treat him like he was the same as Axel. Which sucks. 

Axel and Riku get along very well somehow. Since Riku has become a figure of Ansem, I don’t speak much with him, but he laughs like a different person when he eats Ice cream with Axel. Axel says he “Laughs to face bad feelings”, but it seems that Riku isn’t a bad person. At that Axel said ‘don’t laugh when you’ve got a gross face’, but Riku didn’t seem all that annoyed.

Also, Axel really liked sea-salt ice cream. You’ve eaten sea salt ice cream ever since you moved to that house. I wonder how you don’t break your stomach! It felt like he ate them to an unthinkable extent. Axel ate so much ice cream that the freezer in the computer room emptied every day.

Now as a villain, Saïx had a very cool design. He was handsome and had long hair, but...he looked mean and scary. He was supposed to. He WAS mean and scary. He was Xemnas’ right-hand man, after all. And if he was Norted, this makes sense. He was envisioned as a sociopathic guy who has bouts of uncontrollable bloodlust when exposed to moonlight. I like Saïx’s design. He was pale and almost vampire-looking? Or maybe Addam’s family. He was created as a bad guy. The whole idea was that he was a scary, unapproachable dude. He was sinister and creepy. Yet ironically his original self was the polar opposite. It made for a pretty cool twist, IMO.

“…Aw, is it good?” Axel teased. “Seriously, you’re like a little kid. Even though you look like a mean old man.” Riku made no response, keeping his gaze fixed on the computer screen. The comment did rub him the wrong way. But mentally, Axel was definitely older than him by at least a little. Not that you could tell from looking.

They were clearly going for a VERY different vibe with Isa. When I first played BBS, I thought that the visual difference between Isa and Saïx was extremely noticable. Isa looked a lot softer, sweeter and more friendly. The idea behind Saïx's design was: harsh and scary. The idea of a cute bunny rabbit representing his personality was supposed to be absurd. Saïx would be utterly disgusted if he was seen as “cute”. But the idea behind Isa's design was: cute and innocent. And Isa was indeed a little cutie. And he was innocent, too.

Saïx: We'll ensure he receives the maximum punishment.

Axel: Okay, since you worked really hard today, you get a reward. 

Saïx’s Casual Gear is called “Dessert Time,” but the localization named it “Just Desserts", and I thought that was very clever. To get one’s just desserts means to receive the appropriate punishment for one's actions. But sea-salt ice cream is supposed to be a treat to reward someone who did a good job.

Saïx gave him a cruel grin. “You will lose everything!” And then the Claymore pierced Axel’s chest.

Saïx rarely smiles because he is cold and cruel. But he would smile when he’s giving Axel his just desserts.

“But sweet!” Lea added, and Isa smiled a bit. That was rare for him. Well, eating ice cream together, talking about silly stuff, laughing together—it was just what friends did.

Isa rarely smiles because he’s shy. But he would smile when he’s eating ice cream with Lea because he has a sweet tooth and loves dessert. It was such a cool idea. I loved it.

dichotomy

1. a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.

2. the phase of the moon in which half its disk appears illuminated

Saïx’s Pandora Gear is called “Dichotomy” in the localization. Saïx had weapons called Lunatic, Berserker and Werewolf. The weapon representing his real personality is a bunny rabbit. The HUGE difference between Isa and Saïx was the whole point. My impression was that BBS wanted to emphasize as much as possible that Isa and Saïx were two very different people. And character design was one way they chose to do that. That dichotomy is what made Isa so interesting to me. If you want to make Isa his own character, you should go with a different character design, in my opinion.

“You’re in a pretty good mood,” Axel remarked. Riku glanced up.

“Seeing Sora just made you that happy, huh?”

“I don’t feel like telling you.” A little smile crossed Riku’s lips as he took another bite.

“Y’know, it’s creepy when you smile with that guy’s face,” Axel said dryly, following suit and nibbling on his own ice cream.

Silence fell over the room. He paused in his munching to stare hard at Riku, then finally asked, “What is Sora to you?”

The question caught Riku off guard. He groped for words. On the sofa opposite him, Naminé spoke up instead. “Sora and Riku are best friends.”

Like Terra, Isa was supposed to be cursed. Being Norted is no joke. That’s what a lot of the Beauty and the Beast parallels were about. Axel started teasing Riku for his ugly ass face the same time they were trying to figure out the organization’s next move. They were going to target those with strong hearts, and the Beast was one of those targets. 

Belle nodded and silently walked out of the room. The trio went after her. The Beast was left alone with no company but the moonlight.

“You’re really just going to give up on everything now?” Sora said all at once. But the Beast only stared up at the moon.

Isa was supposed to be just as cursed as Riku was in KH2. And Riku changing his appearance fit perfectly with Lea and Isa’s story. Axel said Riku was creepy when he smiled with that face, and unfortunately that’s kind of how “Isa” made me feel in the KH3 ending. Since they took away the possession angle, I didn’t really see him as Isa. He still felt like Saïx to me. And seeing Saïx play and smile like that was kinda unsettling. And weird.

Axel’s eyes crinkled as he remembered his own best friend—the only friend he’d ever had, in fact.

“If your best friend goes away, you’re sad, and if you get to be with them, you’re happy,” Naminé added. “Isn’t that how it is, Axel?”

“…That’s about the size of it.” Axel nodded and sat down on the remaining empty sofa, staring at the sea-salt ice cream he held.

“So you are capable of sincerity,” said Riku.

Axel only shrugged at the jab and finished his ice cream pop.

Probably for this very reason, I could tell that Nomura wanted to take a different direction with Isa’s character design after he decided to make him a good guy and Lea’s best friend. You can see what Nomura had in mind for an adult Isa based on his illustrations of Saïx for 358/2 Days and KH2FM+. He looks different than he did in his vanilla KH2 concept art. His features lean a lot more heavily toward Isa in BBS. I really wished KH3 went in this direction with his updated character design. He looks much more youthful here, like Axel does. Also, I loved the fact that his scar was gigantic. It went all the way from the top of his forehead to the bottom of his nose. In KH3, they stuck with the old Saïx design, so his scar was a lot smaller. I like the bigger scar because it really shows that he was treated like a human lab rat (of course that idea was scrapped, anyways). 

Beside the Beast, who had once been a handsome prince, stood a man in a black cloak. “It’s time you dealt with the girl. She’s scheming to take everything you have,” said Xaldin, his hood pulled low to hide his face. “Your castle, your treasures…and then your very life.” The Beast hung his head. His castle was a desolate place, ruled by a monster.

“Trust no one. Feed your anger. Only rage will keep you strong!”

“I’ve had enough of strength. There’s only one thing I want…” The Beast gazed, unmoving, at the glass bell jar around a single red rose.

What he wanted was—

“Hah,” Xaldin spat. “To love and be loved in return? Who could ever love a beast?” The Beast whirled again, his cape rippling. He glared and let out a roar of fury.

“Good. Let your anger rise!” With that, Xaldin vanished.

Axel didn’t really see his best friend when he looked at Saïx. He felt like Isa went away and Saïx took his place. His relationship with Saïx was based on his memories of the past. He self-medicated with ice cream to cope. It was heartbreaking. After the scene where Axel was sad about his best friend going away, the chapter about the Beast’s Castle begins, describing him as a formerly handsome prince. So on that basis, I wish there was more visual differentiation between Isa and Saïx. Most of the fandom is just going to see Isa as the same mean old Saïx since there was no attempt to differentiate Isa’s personality from Saïx’s personality and they look exactly the same, too. 

“I don’t trust you,” Saïx replied flatly, the enormous Claymore in his hand.

“Traitors like you deserve to lose everything,” Saïx said.

Saïx gave him a cruel grin. “You will lose everything!”

They originally wanted Isa to have a distinct personality and appearance from Saïx—a lot more than just a new outfit. Isa was supposed to be a beautiful love interest cursed into being a beast. In the novel you can tell that Xigbar and Xaldin were pressuring Saïx to eliminate Axel. He was reluctant to do so on his own. Xigbar doubted whether he was even looking for Axel. Just like with the Beast, they were manipulating him to think Axel had been plotting to take everything from him. Deep down Saïx probably felt similar to the Beast. Like nobody could ever love him in his condition. I think that’s why he was so furious. Axel grew a heart, and then left him. But the only reason Axel grew a heart was because he remembered his feelings for Isa. It was a really cool idea. It's just a shame it never came to fruition.

[star-shapedfruit]

A sort of KH3 review.. thing

Well dang that was a wild ride wasn’t it? It’s been about 2/3 weeks since I finished the game (took me 5 days which is record time for me considering it was a pretty big game) so I’ll try my best to condense my thoughts on it below

Please note this is my opinion so you may agree or disagree with me on some parts and that’s totally fine!

And it’s gonna be long

Alright let’s get the bad out of the way:

-The pacing

I’m not the first and I definitely won’t be the last to complain about the goddamn pacing. Kingdom Hearts in general is pretty bad when it comes to a well balanced pace and this was the same. Everything felt rushed and crammed towards the end with it feeling like ‘quick let’s wrap this up ASAP!’.

It was literally Disney world after world with bits of important story in between and then the actual plot of saving everyone kicked in and probably made up of about 3 hours of the whole game. It could have been better if we’d have rescued Aqua and Ven earlier then towards the end save Roxas, Xion and Terra (and Namine) but nah.

Even the ending itself felt rushed and half assed at times. We didn’t get to see Sora save Kairi it was just Keyblade Graveyard ending- everyone being happy at the beach- credits. That was... kinda dumb? Also when you’re wrapping up a 17 year old saga you don’t tend to end it like that. You know what I’m talking about.

-Characters

They gone did Kairi dirty again. AGAIN. How many times are we gonna do this? My poor girl got shafted right at the end just to fuel Sora’s anger and then didn’t explain how she got back to the islands anyway but who fucking cares y’know.

She was hyped up after being confirmed to be a guardian of light and in training with Lea and they did fuck all with it. It’s like you’re so excited to see Santa and you get up on his knee to ask what present you want this Christmas only for Santa to laugh and smack you in the face.

I could go on and on about Kairi but I’d probably be saying what everyone else has already said. I was expecting more character interactions ie the famous Roxas and Ven one we’ve been looking forward to for years but we got a funny glance and that’s it. Again, probably due to pacing but there was so much potential for some great new friendships to blossom and they just... didn’t.

-Worlds

Ok this is mainly Twilight Town being so teenie weenie. Come on, in KH2 we had TT, Hollow Bastion, TWTNW, Yen Sid’s Tower but for 3? Two sections of TT that’ll do. ??? Why??? It looked gorgeous and I couldn’t wait to explore the whole town but for some reason we were reduced to it being two rooms. Also missed out a good opportunity to have RG playable again but nah.

I get the feeling Disney we’re very pushy with this title? Like they had more input than usual and Square couldn’t really argue with them which would explain why the OG worlds were kinda dull? Idk I hope they learn to butt out a little and let Square do their thing. I’m not saying get rid of Disney god no. I just think there needs to be less Disney and more OG in the next title.

Alright the good stuff now!

- The graphics

Holy shit this game was BEAUTIFUL

Everything was gorgeous to look at and Unreal Engine made all the worlds look unique and specific to their Disney world. Like o can’t fault how this game looks it’s just that pretty

-Voice acting

Hayley, Hayley my man you did fantastic. I was getting worried that he’d sound off like in DDD but the man delivered. Everything was spot on and his emotions came across so much better? That scream? The crying?? The joy?? Beautiful. And Vanitas sounded so goddamn evil and Hayley sounded like he was having a blast voicing him 👌

Jesse did amazing as always with Roxas and Ven making them sound different. Just wish they coulda talked to each other xD I really liked Alyson’s Kairi too! I miss Hayden but for the most part Alyson pulled it off great along with Xion.

Like everyone sounded so much better I could go on and on. Can’t really fault much of the voice acting tbh. Xehanort grew on me but Nimoy will always be the better Nort

-Minigames/side quests

I absolutely SUCK at the cooking mini game but I still found it loads of fun. The only one I could do properly was the salt and pepper shaker one 😅 The 100 Acre Wood stuff was very samey samey but still cute and fun regardless.

I only did one flan mini game (the one in Toy Box) and that was awesome too! Hunting for ingredients and lucky emblems was tricky in parts but I loved the satisfaction when you finally find the damn thing! They were just a nice little touch and even though I only got 17 out of 90 I enjoyed looking for them.

Also that Tangled dancing game. My FAV IDK HOW MANY TIMES I’VE PLAYED THAT ITS JUST SO WHOLESOME AND GOOD

-Attraction Flow

LOVED this gimmick. What can I say I absolutely love Disneyland and being able to use the rides to fight in battle was a blast. I especially loved the mad tea cups (“Bring it in!”) and the pirate ship they were loads of fun :D shame I only got to use Thunder Mountain twice because it’s one of my favourite rides xD

-The gummi phone

Who doesn’t love this. Finally I can take selfies with Disney characters! It was so cute I’m glad they added it. I’m definitely gonna use it more on my next gameplay at inappropriate times during the final battles 🌚

-Final battles

Being able to fight alongside Riku, Mickey, Aqua, Ven, Kairi, Lea, Roxas and Xion was at the top of my wish list for 3 and it finally happened ;-; Ok we’re with Kairi and Lea for two minutes but I ENJOYED THOSE TWO MINUTES. Kairi actually does some decent damage too so she can fight. You did amazing sweetie. And how OP is Roxas? You can just sit back and let him do all the work while you and Xion chill out. Granted they weren’t difficult bosses but I don’t care I got to fight with my sons and daughters by my side <3

I’m nearly done now promise. Just wanna say my favourite worlds ❤️

Corona: Gorgeous and (mostly) tranquil. Rapunzel and Eugene make great partners and the hair swing thing was awesome to jump to different areas. Also the little quests with Rapunzel were adorable and made the world feel more alive.

Monstropolis: I think what made this world for me were the character interactions and the music. The world itself was just inside the factory but the way everyone played off each other and dealt with Vanitas at the end was amazing. And Sora doing his funny face again. You little treasure <3

Toy Box: YOU. ARE. A. TOYYYYYY. Everything was so gigantic and interactive and gsjsksksla it was just loads of fun! Loved Woody and Buzz as partners and the whole world was such a treat- nothing like we’ve ever had in a KH game before. Can we also talk about Woody absolutely wrecking Xehanort though? Iconic.

Well I think that’ll do me for now. Overall I’d give it an 8.5/10 with the major issues being plot pacing and lack of character development. Also the camera sometimes did this weird thing in attraction flow mode where it’d just zoom into a rock or a tree :/ I really enjoyed KH3 despite its flaws and what was done well was done really well

Maybe get some more new writers and let Square properly take the reins for the next one yeah? And let Kairi finally have her time to shine. You’ve set up a rescue mission after all, Square 👀

[tester10001000]

How KH3 could have gone and still been Nomura’s:

I’ve never posted on tumblr before, might never again, but I needed to get this out; for the sake of the catharsis I didn’t receive after 16 years with the end of KH3. The game itself was fine, in fact, I’d even rate it as a ‘great’ up until the Keyblade Graveyard. That’s when things go off the rails. So let’s rethink KH3, keeping all of Nomura’s plot points and intentions, but communicating them in a way that feels, I hope, much more rightful. I hope you enjoy this! First, the good and mostly-good. -Keep Gameplay as is—very nice. Very satisfying. Keep nice world set-up and secrets. Maybe ratchet up difficulty. Make a Coliseum in Zeus’ court to round off the whole thing as a triad. Have Yoko Shimomura write the soundtrack for real life, plz. Keep the lovely humor. Keep Sora’s excellent arc. Keep most worlds as-is: I was pleasantly surprised by how relevant and well-done most of the world’s plots were. -Cut back on the ridiculous amount of minigames that like 5% of people will be invested in and use those resources to make other improvements (like these?).-Rewrite Arendelle and Corona (and maybe Pirates?) to be unique stories–or, at least, only loosely based on the movies, while actually including important plot points. Have Pixar do it, because they kicked butt with their worlds. Include more Disney-bosses and either get rid of 100-Hundred Acre Wood, or do something more with it. -Don’t give Larxene and Marluxia magic cutscene powers like sleep and time-stopping they won’t use elsewhere. Don’t let the others, like Ansem SoD in TT or Luxord in Caribean, became decayed and cheesy versions of their prior threat. Get rid of, or explain better, why there are six new Princesses+Kairi. Explain “the Power of Waking” just a bit better. -Give us scenes between every world with more meaningful stuff re:Kairi and Riku. We haven’t really known them in awhile, so we need to be reacquainted. Have Riku actually do stuff—rather than constantly fail until Sora literally falls from the sky—like, expand on Repliku return? Or involve him in the Maleficent angle, because of his obvious and interesting connection? Maybe follow her around out of suspicion, making the Maleficent stuff feel less-tacked-on?   -Have Kairi do more stuff, with more scenes expanding on her (like that lovely scene where she talks about Namine!), rather than just how Axel sees her as Xion (but still keep that, too—hence, more scenes!) -Insert a mid-climax between Corona and Monstropolis, with a return to Radiant Garden. Seriously needed to unbloat the climax and evenly redistribute the story. You could do some of this: 1. Meet the FF peeps and conclude their plot with RG’s redemption (How cool would be to hear Leon finally say “you can call me Squall”?); see how everyone is doing and how they interact with the people like Ienzo and the apprentices who caused RG to fall. We could setup the replica/sea-salt trio better here (Roxas body/who and how Xion/further Axel redemption), even though it’s probably the best thread currently, behind SDG. The FF folks were foundational to the start, they should at least be acknowledged in the end. 2. Give. Us. Sephiroth version 3.0. and resolution to that thread. 3. Have some seriously needed interaction among the Destiny Trio—(A) as individuals (sorely needed for Riku and Kairi–have her interact with her forgotten home!), (B) as a united friendship (Kairi/Riku, plz!) and © to set up the SoKai stuff better. Like, for real, we need to be able to take selfies with them—seriously, how could we have the phone and NEVER have a change to selfie with our OG friends?!) 4. Save Aqua here (don’t make her passively suck suddenly with OOC decisions) and then Ven; cement their return and relationships to everyone else (so as to stop rushing the finale and let their moment have its own power—just say they need to “rest” till the climax). 5. Tell wtf happens with Demyx. Set up Vexen/Ansem stuff better. Nomura, you could even tease Subject X girl more. C’mon. Have a tease-fight with the Org, rather than saving it all for the end.

6. It would probably be too much to ask to have Kairi and/or Riku accompany Sora the rest of the way, though it would be dearly needed. So have them do something interesting and important with their time post-RG. Make RG/HB the hub world, returning to it for various stuff. Play up Repliku, Namine, and Roxas/Xion in their hearts so we feel more invested in their persons and, thus, more catharsis when they are retrieved. -Expand on the lovely “calm before the storm” moments for our heroes—especially the Destiny Trio. Have the paopu moment, but don’t rush it so much. Have Riku, Sora, and Kairi doing something together. Have Axel engaging with someone about Xion/Roxas—along with the good Isa stuff. Show us what Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are doing -together-. -At Keyblade Graveyard opening, don’t make everyone suddenly suck. Why is Aqua not reacting -at all- to Terranort killing Ventus? What was the point of Kairi’s “infinite time training” if she just stands there so Sora can, also, not draw his Keyblade? Why are Riku and Mickey just twiddling their thumbs? Have everyone be badass, but still get beaten—then do all the interesting Final World stuff, with Riku’s words keeping Sora encouraged in death while SHOWING Kairi, as a PoH, still in the Realm of Light, somewhere in the tornado, ACTIVELY WORKING to keep Sora’s hanging on in the FW, rather than including her passively after. Or show her doing something beforehand. Just show some damn agency and the profound bonds of the Destiny Trio.

-Make the Namine scene here mandatory—I can’t fathom why they’d let that crucial plot point pass as optional.

-Keep sick final-boss rush, but don’t make everyone take a heel-turn redemption (and give us some team-up limits with everyone! Riku/Sora limit! Sora/Kairi limit! Sora/Roxas limit! SoRiKai Limit!). Marluxia and Xemnas needed to be more ambiguous in death. Luxord, Larxene, Xion, Vanitas, YX, Terranort, Xigbar, and Repliku were all great—even perfect. Saix needed to prove himself more, and there’s NO WAY Ansem SoD can suddenly be sympathetic like that. Slow it down. -Give the Xion-return moment to Kairi—not Sora. It’s perfect for her; she’d remember her because she is made of her. Gives Kairi agency and unique engagement for the both of them. Keep giving other characters agency in these moments other than Sora—let Aqua and Ven play centerstage in returning Terra, rather than Sora’s magic. Don’t make Sora the savior of every story—it feels cheap and demeans the character journeys we’ve been invested in for so long when they don’t play an active and significant role in their resolution. -Don’t have Kairi just be kidnapped again after 30-seconds of scripted fighting, after promising to -finally- invest in her immensely untapped potential. Have Saix (+Xemnas?) versus Sora, Xion, Roxas, Kairi, and Axel (also, explain how Axel got his keyblade -back-). Axel, even though he couldn’t face Xemnas, still has -powerful- character moments—at least give Kairi the same respect. Make that the last scripted battle, so that Kairi accompanies Sora to meet Mickey and Riku. -Either have Kairi use her infinite-training to join the fight with Xemnas, Ansem, and YX (to resonate that the whole Destiny Trio is together at the end, evolved, but together) or have her doing something else important (maybe with, I dunno, PoH POWERS?!). Have her ACTIVELY sacrifice herself for Sora, mirroring what he did for her in KH1, rather than MX passively killing her for no good goddamn reason while snarking at the camera that Kairi exists literally only for Sora’s motivation—even though Sora was already charging MX. Also show Riku have some damn emotion about his other best-friend. Sorry, I’m reaallly salty here. -Don’t have MX give up so easily, and get his motivation to work better with what came before in all these years. Don’t swap it out to something else in literally the last 30 minutes of the game. Don’t let the story treat flippantly him being the cause of everyone’s pain and suffering , as he is given a divine “thumbs-up” by turning into a kid with his best bud, giggling, and floating away into the light of Kingdom Hearts. What was that? Xehanort deserves better than that. Have him struggle to the end, and have our heroes really counter him—thematically, emotionally, and physically. Have Eraqus usher him away—stubborn to the end. If you want to redeem him, Nomura, you gotta be setting that stuff up WAAAAAY earlier. -Have anyone, anyone, other than Sora also care that Kairi is now missing. Have Riku and Sora go together to find her—because, you know, they’re BFFs and have the power to. Preferably explain and make it playable how they do that. Then have the lovely ending with Namine returning and with everyone together (except redeem Isa better). Keep everyone’s great new clothes, and have the whole party on the beach—end happily, with everyone (seemingly) together again in satisfied bliss. Wrap up the saga on a cathartic high note, for goodness’ sake. Then, and only then, Nomura gets to keep his ending—but in its proper place, separate in our minds from the ending-ending, in which we can feel full satisfaction for 16 years of investment. -In the Epilogue, before going to the Foretellers, show Sora, Kairi, and Riku leaving the Island. Riku and Kairi are on ahead, everything seems happy and complete (joking about Sora finally getting his mom’s dinner, eh?), when suddenly Sora hears the echo of YX telling him that “there’s a cost for it all” and that “it’s too late for him”—suddenly, Sora fades away. Show Riku/Kairi reactions -together-. Fade his fading into the dust of the Keyblade Graveyard. Do all the Epilogue. Do the Secret Ending. Everything on whatever track Nomura wants—but for us, the audience, all of us, we FINALLY GET SOLID, CATHARTIC CLOSURE FOR EVERYONE IN THIS SAGA AFTER 16 YEARS—WITHOUT IT ALL BEING TEASER BAIT FOR SOME UNION CROSS/TWEWY CROSSOVER COMBINED WITH NOMURA’s OBSESSIVE BITTERNESS OVER FFv13! Sorry, also salty about that. -Secret Ending is Riku AND Kairi going together to find Sora in Shibuya. Boom. -Also, for all our sakes, get rid of the concept of worldlines and minimize the time travel here, plz. That’s the quickest way to undermine the stakes of your story. Tl;dr: Give us more of the characters and their agency, don’t have them act OOC for bad plotting, give us a mid-climax to slow down the rushed 3-hour ending, let us appreciate what’s happening with more characterization, explain some things better, don’t fridge Kairi (and everyone other than Sora, really), give us a real, cathartic ending for 16 years of investment—then tease us in the epilogue/secret. Thoughts? Too much to ask? Too little? I tried only to make only minimal changes to Nomura’s vision, adjusted to some universally shared criticisms among fans. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and what you liked/didn’t like! If you liked this at all, I’ve been writing Kingdom Hearts at Fanfiction under the name “Marsuvees” (with hopefully increasing quality) for over ten years. I love this series deeply, and hope Nomura can get it back on track next time. He really needs to get other people involved in writing and plotting.

[lynxgriffin]

She Walks A Lonely Road

OKAY! Here we go with starting 0.2!

I AM READY FOR AQUA TO WRECK MY HEART

Huuuh okay so we’re doing autosave in this game…

And apparently I need to turn brightness all the friggin way down

IT’S!! SO SHINY!!!

Also i actually really like this version of Simple and Clean, I think it might be my favorite

AQUA MY QUEEN I WILL SAVE YOU

Going to do standard mode again, although I have no clue what I’ll need for any potential secret endings

Woooah hey this is from the end of Back Cover basically

Okay I’m glad I went and watched that first then

YESSS Please fill in Riku and Kairi on this important stuff

Also man these graphics will take some getting used to

You saw her Mickey WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHING EARLIER

Mmmmm I love that ocean water though

Oh okay it’s just the Simple and Clean title movie again

OH WELL I’ll listen to it twice, it’s good stuff

SORA REACHING OUT FOR AQUA’S HAND!!!

Oh wow she found Caslte of Dreams right away

Ooooh got a little bit of flow motion in there. Kinda reminds me of FFXIII.

OF COURSE there are treasure chests in the realm of darkness, why wouldn’t there be

Haha dang, so it starts Aqua at level 50? That’s kind of a nice touch

Well geez Aqua this is depressing

Apparently, time has run out for this bridge. *dons sunglasses*

Man I am really digging the environments here, sooo pretty

No seriously this is a gorgeous environment to play in

And that is all of the gears!

Okay I really sucked at fighting it, but that tower of Shadows boss was still awesome

Aqua honeyyyy

Terra: No I’m just here to make you sad and then vanish into sparkles

OH wait we’re suddenly in Dwarf Woodlands now

Well this is getting quite creepy, but at least I think I’m getting the hang of the controls

These jumps are making me kinda nervous actually

THAT WAS INCREDIBLY NERVE-WRACKING FOR SOME REASON

Aqua: I’ll kick anyone’s ass! I’ll kick my own ass!

This is like something out of my nightmares, geebus

This is really cool but also I’m so uncomfortable right now

Nooo someone please help this poor child

Oh cool, so I can go back to some previous places! I know there’s some objectives that I missed.

CHASE YOUR FRIENDS, AQUA

Man it’s nice that Aqua can actually reach a Darkside’s head just with doubleflight

Well that whole sequence was fukkin awesome

Oh well that looks appropriately hellish

That is WAY too many Darksides here

No fair that’s an entirely new move that I don’t know how to counter!

OKAY unfortunately I don’t think I can get much farther right now since I’m running out of time tonight, but I’ll come back later and finish this off since I think I’m close to the end anyway.

Aaand all right! We’re back at it and will attempt to finish story stuff!

I’m sure I’ll want to come back and try to get all of the objectives later anyways

HUH okay I wasn’t expecting this, although I am suspicious

Well this is totally heartbreaking

Terra: I’LL KICK MY OWN ASS TOO, AQUA

Well that sure was a thing that happened

Oh heeey, WHO’S THE LEADER OF THE CLUB THAT’S MADE FOR YOU AND ME~

Man am I glad Mickey was here, because I still really suck against those Wave O’ Heartless

HUH so that does explain how Mickey ended up there in KH1

Wait Aqua how do you know that phrase?

OMG those Heartless are ADORABLE they’re like giant horrible Zigzagoons

Well there’s a brilliant light ahead and the music’s died down so I assume that’s where I need to go

OH no we’re at Destiny Islands now

YES YOU TWO PUT SOME PIECES TOGETHER ALREADY

Holy hot DAMN that was a fukkin kickass boss battle with some awesome music

Like even though I was not doing well through it because I still am not sure on the strategy of the demon waves I DIDN’T CARE BECAUSE IT WAS FRIGGIN COOL

Like dang son what was that boss battle music, I need it

GOOD JOB ON THAT BOSS BATTLE SQUEENIX THAT WAS A COOL EXPERIENCE

OH SO the dark realm Keyblade was just behind that door the whole time OKAY THEN

Good thing we got teleported to right where we needed to be

Mickey: Let me just fix that retcon here…okay good

HAHA OMG THEY JUST MAGICKED HIS KINGS CLOTHES OFF

FIIIIIX EVERY RETCOOOON, BRIIIIDGE EVERY PLOT POOOOINT

OH well that was neat. And explains why Aqua wasn’t there with Riku and Mickey at that point

So Destiny Islands and all the rest of the worlds get restored but POOR AQUA GETS LEFT BEHIND

Please first order of business in KH3 go find this poor woman

HUH that is…wait you’re just stopping the cutscene right there?!!

THAT’S A DANG GOOD QUESTION RIKU

Yen Sid: Well obviously if we had let you in on this backstory all of you would’ve done something really stupid

FINALLY Kairi gets some friggin speaking lines!

YES YES YES KAIRI AND LEA TRAINING TOGETHER GIVE ME THIS

Man even more mysterious suitcases

THESE TWO GUYS SO FKKIN CUTE

AHHHH MY SON THE TRINITY NO I H AVE MISSED THEM

Yen Sid: And we’re setting up early why in KH3 you’ll be starting from level 1 and no abilities YET AGAIN

I see you hanging that lampshade there, Sora

THESE FRIGGIN DOOF CUTIES I SWEAR

I LOVE THEM

Okay so! That’s the end for Fragmentary Passage!

SO WHEN ARE WE GETTING KH3 AGAIN?