#kh2 final mix spoilers

[endlessskymaster]

In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Xemnas inducted Roxas into Organization XIII.

[theblueprincess590]

Roxas’s Prologue at the Beginning of KH2 is the perfect introduction for KH2 Because it firmly establishes the 3 core themes of the Game through Roxas’s character. The First theme Roxas’s Story talks about is the idea of duality. Roxas is Sora’s Nobody, his Other, an integral part of Sora’s being that he needs back in order to become a complete person again and wake up. To put it in another way Roxas is the Prince Charming to Sora’s Snow White. But Roxas of course rejects his role in the fairy tale, he has become his own person after all why would he ever want to go back to Sora. Roxas fights his fate all the way until the very end when he finally meets Sora and understands everything. Roxas knows that things could be the other way around, that he could if he wanted to leave Sora to his eternal sleep and take his place in the universe but he won't because in this moment he truly gazes upon the sanctuary that is Sora’s heart and realizes that it is beautiful. Roxas knows that it has to be Sora, that only his heart has the power and kindness to understand the hearts of others and connect to all. So Roxas does what he was meant to do and returns to the sky he was born from. He restores Sora and brings about duality, right? The tragic ending of Roxas’s story hints that perhaps true duality has not actually been achieved, after all can it even be called duality when one has to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the other? Maybe just maybe true duality could be achieved if Sora and Roxas existed together side by side rather than as one being, but answering that question is no longer Roxas’s responsibility, it’s Sora’s now.

The Second theme relates back to KH1. In Kingdom Hearts 1 the game asks what is the true nature of the heart and answers with light so in KH2 the biggest question is “What does it mean to have a heart?” This Question is raised right from the beginning with the reveal that Roxas is a nobody. As stated in the 13th Ansem Report from KH1 the Nobody is the shell that is left behind after a heart becomes heartless, A body that still goes on despite its lack of a heart. And by the logic of KH Roxas should be an emotionless husk devoid of any real purpose but he isn’t any of that. Roxas by all accounts behaves like a normal teenager with emotions as real and passionate as Sora’s. Heck one could even argue he’s more like a real teenager tha his somebody. Sora is at his core a cartoon fairy tale character, his behavior and action exaggerated for dramatic and comedic effect, he yearns to see what lies beyond him in the great wide somewhere, and most importantly of all his beliefs are rooted in a sense of pure whimsical idealism. And Roxas isn’t really like that at all, he is far more grounded than Sora with his emotions being much more reserved often times giving in to melancholy rather than fairy tale wonder and only entering emotion as extreme as Sora’s when he’s forced into situations of intense stress by forces beyond his control, his desires are nothing more than a simple wish to spend his summer days on the beach playing with his friends, And he’s not at all concerned with grand ideals or beliefs just focusing on his small personal life. Perhaps the biggest piece of symbolism for Roxas being a normal teenager at his core would be his home, Twilight Town. Twilight Town is unique in the series for being the only normal world. It’s not a Gothic fairy tale castle like Hollow bastion nor a Child’s paradise like destiny Islands, rather it is just a simply quiet suburban town where the most exciting things to do are go to the beach or play Struggle. It’s the type of video game level that makes you feel at home with its music theme being the pure embodiment of summer melancholy. There is the Old Mansion of course which radiates haunted house energy but it’s important to note that the mansion is very much cut off from the rest of the town with the only people living there being outsiders rather than the actual citizens of Twilight Town. Now one could claim that Roxas only acts like a real person because of the false memories forced on him once he was trapped in the digital Twilight Town but it’s important to note that Roxas doesn’t lose any of his emotions or personality after he regains his real memories, in fact his emotions become even more passionate, like a star going supernova. So when Roxas definitely declares he has a Heart of his own to DiZ we can’t help but believe him despite everything else in the series telling us otherwise. With the entire nature of the series put into question it must be asked, What does it mean to have a heart if a being who is defined by his lack of a heart and emotions not only claims to have heart but shows the most humanity out of everyone else in the cast? Is a Nobody like Roxas truly capable of having a heart separate from Sora’s? All these Questions and more now Sora’s responsibility to answer as Roxas’s Other.

And Now we have the final theme of KH2 which is without a doubt the most important theme in the entire series, “Separation is inevitable.” In Kh1 the game explored the idea of People’s hearts staying connected even when they’re world’s apart through The Destiny Islands Trio and Sora’s faith that he will find them again even after the ending. KH2 further expands on this idea by confronting the truth that separation is inevitable, everything must someday end whether we want it to or not at that includes the time we spend with our loved ones. This is ultimately why Roxas' time in the digital world takes place during the end of Summer Vacation, to teach Roxas and the audience this fact. Every kid knows that summer vacation is going to end, that their time in the sun isn’t eternal so the days they dread the most are those final days of summer. By placing the story in this time frame it allows the kids playing the game to understand how Roxas feels, to let them experience and empathize with his growing sense of dread as every day counts down so that when Roxas’s finally says “Looks Like My Summer Vacation is Over” they all feel it. The digital Twilight Town existes to teach Roxas that separation is inevitable and that is because Roxas was rejecting this truth. When Roxas left Organization XIII he refused to say Goodbye to Axel, rejecting their friendship outright simply because it was easier to pretend they were never friends than to accept the pain of losing him. So the narrative punishes Roxas by giving him a normal happy life full of friends and then ripping it all away from him. And we see Roxas beginning to understand this Truth as he attempts to give Axel a real goodbye even if it was more for his own sake rather than Axel’s. However the take away from this theme and Roxas’s Story is much more than “we just have to accept the pain of separation”, rather it is something far far more beautiful.

“We can’t be together forever so we better make the time we do have together something to remember.”

That is everything Kingdom Hearts is about summed up in one sentence. Everything ends including the time we spend with our loved one but instead of wallowing in that heartbreaking truth we must embrace it and enjoy every second we have with our friends so that we will always be connected to them even when they’re gone. Or to simplify it, “Don’t be sad that Summer is almost over instead savor those last few days with your friends so you never forget them”

[gamer-in-training]

So emo. They really should start a pop punk band.

[anosrepasi]

10 Character/10 Fandoms/10 Tags

Tagged by the wonderful @aeide :)

Nil (Horizon Dawn Zero/Forbidden West) - My current obsession I'm rotating around in my mind. What's not to love he's charming in the sense that his most common AU occupation is "Serial Killer." Will he kill you? Depends! Only if you suck, and he promises to never stab you in the back, he wants to look you in the eye if he tries to kill you. But actually, I find him utterly fascinating and in the context of HZD he's just. so nuanced it destroys me. This man has decades of c-ptsd and asks the question of what happens when someone drenched in violence is suddenly expected to stop fighting- the answer is, it takes a lot! I adore him.

Kassandra (AC:Odyssey) - Look the more I think about Kassandra and like the canon quests in that game the more I'm like. They did you wrong, girl. They did you so dirty. SHE JUST WANTS TO GO HOME. IT TAKES DECADES. HER STORY IS A FUSION OF THE ODYSSEY AND THE ILIAD. YOU CAN APPLY THEMES FROM BOTHA ND IT DRIVES ME INSANE. And. And then they say, all thsi you worked so hard for? Well. We have other things we need from you. I am going to chew through my arm.

Mizu (Blue Eye Samurai) - Look. I could link thousand upon thousands words of meta about Mizu and her/they're relationship to gender and existence as a mixed race individual in isolationist Japan. And it still wouldn't capture it all. And past that it's hot person brutally murdering people in absolutely fantastically animated fight scenes.

Vincent Valentine (Final Fantasy VII) - Look. He's my original blorbo. I saw 10 minutes of screen time of him in Advent Children and have been insane ever since. I bought and played through Dirge of Cerberus for him. Something about him apparently just imprinted on me as a child, I've been a lost cause ever since.

Xaden Riorson (Fourth Wing/Iron Flame) - These books are still relatively new so I'll hold my tongue since a lot of what I am obsessed with re: him is spoilers but oh my god. oh. my. god. buddy.

Axel (Kingdom Hearts) - Also an original blorbo from childhood, imprinted on him like a baby duck. His death in KH2 made me bawl. His entire storyline makes me sob, he's the reason why every single aspect of Roxas' story was a gut punch cause like. The best way to make people care about characters is give them someone who loves them then make it sad.

Charles Milton Porter (Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den) - Look. This dude's DLC made me cry. big cry. I still kinda get choked up when i think about it for a while. it's about the grief.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits - I can't choose a characters from this, so I just advise everyone to play this game. It's so good. You're going to be emotionally devastated. It's also about grief. Every character in this game is so so good and you will feel things.

Joe Miller (The Expanse) - He was not the first but he was my defining love of shitty noir space detectives. I loved him from when he was introduced to when he left the series and my love was rewarded so much. Holden and Amos were the runner up characters for this fandom.

Death (The Book Thief) - I read the book thief for the first time in 7th grade I think? Every day of my life since them on my commute to work or when on break I look at the sky and think about how Death would describe the taste of the colors. This book irrecoverably changed me from the day I read it and firmly cemented this Death as the death i hope is there at the end of everything, i love this version of it so much. This death is like. look. go read the book if you haven't had the opportunity.

Tagging for anyone who wants to do it: @ongreenergrasses @lobstermatriarch @airmidcelt @tirsynni @aevallare @duesternis @salsedine @avelera @thehoundkeeper @green-nbean

[eunanae]

Kingdom Hearts was released on Steam a few days ago prompting a lot of people to pick up the series for the first time, but KH is a bit infamous for being hard to parse and having games with weird names making it unclear what order to play them in. So here is a quick run down of what order and how you should play Kingdom Hearts!

First and foremost, play Kingdom Hearts 1. It's not the first chronologically, but it it came out first and is an obvious place to start. Pick up the 1.5+2.5 Collection and play the Final Mix version.

Next, we're sticking with release order with Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories. There are two versions of this game, Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance, and Re:Chain of Memories, which is a 3D remake that is part of the 1.5+2.5 Collection. The story is the same in both versions, but the unique card based action combat works a bit better in the GBA version.

After that, we are gonna break release order a bit and play Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (pronounced "Three Five Eight Days Over Two") which was released after Kingdom Hearts 2, but takes place concurrently with Chain of Memories and is very relevant to the story of 2. In the 1.5+2.5 Collection it is brought over in the form of a cutscene collection. You will not watch this. You will play the DS version whether you like it or not. It will be cheesy. You will cry.

Getting back on track to Kingdom Hearts 2. Just play the Final Mix version in the 1.5+2.5 Collection. Then at the end of the game when you beat the final boss, there's going to be some cutscenes where some spoilers happen, and without spoiling anything there's going to be a scene that starts with a wide shot with some characters in a familiar place. Before it cuts to a closeup you are going to turn off the game. You will stand up and you will say "Wow, that sure was a fun series of exactly four games! I sure am glad it had a satisfying and climactic ending that resolves all of the characters' individual stories."

And then you're done! You played the whole series, and there's definitely no sequels or prequels. That secret boss with the cool armor in KH2? Just a cool guy with no backstory. There's certainly "secret movie" after the credits hinting at a sequel that you'll spend 4 years watching on repeat only to miss out on it because you don't have a PSP. There's no continuations that gradually get more convoluted to the point where you can't really tell what's going on. And you won't spend 13 years waiting for the number 3 to appear next to the name of your favorite video game only to be disappointed, because you're in your 20's now and magic of exploring alternate versions of Disney movies is just a series of cameos to convince you to sign up for Disney+.

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS : The Final Horizon

Game: Sonic Frontiers - The Final Horizon Update (September 28, 2023)

Console: Xbox One

I can't believe October's already almost done! I feel like I got very little done despite working my butt off all month. Oh well. There's still a week left if nothing else. I've also got a lot on my plate gaming wise, it's honestly a little overwhelming how much came out / is coming out that I want to play! So I figure, why not just go ahead and write up some thoughts on things so I have a clean slate for games coming up? To start myself off, my first ever write up about a DLC I think?

As always. This isn't a review, I'm just throwing up my thoughts about the game I played so I can drain them out of my tiny little gamer brain. This should not be used as a guide for if the game is worth playing, everything I write up shouldn't be taken as professional critique or anything like that.

AND OF COURSE, SPOILERS FOR THE SONIC FRONTIERS FINAL HORIZONS DLC UPDATE. SINCE I'M SURE SOME PEOPLE STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN PAST THAT DRAGON CHALLENGE!!

Opening

So, my thoughts on Sonic Frontiers were written up alllll the way back when I was still sharing thoughts on Twitter before... the incident. You can read those here (x), but generally my thoughts are that the game was WONDERFUL! Super fun to play, incredibly charming, and I appreciated that it really felt like a Sonic loveletter to my favorite era of the series, rather than seeming like it was embarrassed by itself like the series had been acting like for a while. So, of course, I was INCREDIBLY excited to see that the game wasn't just getting DLC, but a whole new DLC story mode with serious stakes and a new super form and Sonic's friends being playable again!? Hell yes!! So I played it day one and uh...

Stuff I didn't like

I... kinda hated this DLC? I know I'm not really alone on this, a lot of people seemed to be mixed on it at best. But, no, like, I didn't really like it much at all. I'll try to keep it brief because I really don't like being negative, especially about Sonic which gets too much undeserved heat. But man, this just really sucked in my opinion.

First up, those towers. I played this on hard up until Dragon Challenge where I had to give up and swap to easy. Let's just start with what everyone is saying: this DLC is too damn hard!! I know I can swap to easy, but after the main game required I play on Hard Mode for the true ending, I wanted to keep playing Hard Mode! But the towers are just so frustrating, and janky, and not well designed at all. It requires you to do tedious amounts of trial and error just to figure out what you're doing. But if you slip up once you do the whole tower again, and some towers have things that don't reset so you have to awkwardly walk through them. It was so weird and I've genuinely have never felt so much like a Sonic thing was lacking in quality as much as I did with these only up ass towers. And then the challenges at the end were so stupid. Maybe not as hard, but so insanely cryptic and I genuinely have no idea why. I don't want to like, spend hours figuring out the only way you want me to defeat an enemy. I want to use all the points I collected through the game! Come on!! This really stung in the boss rush, those bosses were the best part of the base game. But you just don't really get to fight them this time and it makes them so boring and tedious. It's all about those damn perfect parries, but I kept having issues where they would CONSTANTLY miss me despite me standing still, making me lose insane amounts of time waiting for them to swing again. And then on top of that, having to climb up the titans every time is so time consuming. I genuinely don't know if this was possible on hard mode. And while it's easy once you figure out exactly piece for piece every secret way to deal massive amounts of damage, it sucks that you have to do that instead of just enjoying the meat headed brute forced KH2 like carnage the fights were designed to be.

Then there's the new characters. I'm super glad they're here. But they're just not fun. At all. I think they all controlled weirdly. They have no combat focus whatsoever which was a huge disappointment. I think they're challenges REALLY sucked a lot, like I only had fun with Tails' because the Cyclone (which was great to see return) let me skip all his stupid ass challenges. This was maybe the biggest disappointment of the whole thing. I just felt like this was so underwhelming, and you barely even really use them considering playing Only Up for 500 years consumes most of your time.

And then there's the final boss. So this whole DLC was kind of a let down cause it's barely story focused at all, which I kind of was expecting more story considering that's how it was advertised? And what little story is there... is basically the same as the base game? So, my main issues with the base game were how it wrapped up: That being, no new super form, and no serious final boss where you get to do a Titan styled boss fight against THE END. And I REALLY thought that's what this DLC would be correcting, maybe that's on me, but that's what it REALLY seemed like! But ultimately, the ending is basically identical.

YES, there is a new final boss. But it totally sucks. It's just the same titan again! At least in the base game you do fight THE END (in a bullet hell mode which I love lol, but it's not what I wanted!) in this DLC you don't even fight it! The whole final boss was so weird, severing the connection was, again, so cryptic. And the whole final boss was really defensive based which was more annoying cause you'd have to go super offensive, then just know when you had to perfect parry cause the camera often wouldn't show the energy projectiles for me. And I still do not understand what the hell was up with the energy barrier sequence. Idk maybe I'm just stupid but it made no sense.

Then, Super Sonic 2 barely really plays a role in it. It's just for perfect parrying which sucks. And then Corruption Sonic REALLY barely plays a role. Showing up, getting shot out of a gun (by eggman this time which I'll admit might be cooler than Sage doing it cause it reminds me of Sonic Advance haha), and then just instantly leaving. It was cool! But it was the EXACT SAME THING! This basically all happened the first time but with a boss that was actually cool. Idk, all I wanted was a Titan Styled Super Sonic 2 / Corruption Sonic fight against THE END that was like the other bosses. And the DLC couldn't even deliver on that.

Lastly, just as a side note. I hated those damn cyberspace levels. I feel insane, EVERYONE loved them but me. I hated them in the base game, and every single one I tried in this DLC would like, fling me off the map or trick me into dying every time. They sucked! I hated them!

Stuff I liked

oops, I guess I really went off. It's not all doom and gloom though. It has some alright music, not as good as the base game imo but it's okay. Corruption Sonic and Super Sonic 2 are cool. And I am interested to see what will become of SS2 going forward.

Final Thoughts

Yeah, ultimately, I think the best thing I can say about this DLC was that it was free. I hate to be so negative about a series I tend to be very generous towards. But damn, I just really hated this. It seriously felt like they took EVERYTHING good about Frontiers, awesome spectacles, meat headed combat, and super fun exploration. And pushed it all aside to focus on the absolute worst aspects of it, that being the towers and the cyberspace levels. It's neat that it went for a more defensive angle rather than the super aggro gameplay the base game had. But it just straight up was not fun at all.

I'll be honest, Frontiers gave me SO much hope for the future, maybe we were finally going back to something more serious with Sonic. The characters were back, the stories were back. This game wasn't perfect, but it was damn close! But this DLC really reeks of Sonic Team falling for the same pitfalls again, namely, really focusing in on what people who don't care about Sonic much say vs what fans say. A lot of people said Frontiers was easy yes, but I don't think fans were asking for this level on insanity. Yes a lot of people probably did like the Cyber Space levels. But I don't think most fans really wanted that to be the focus.

Like, I can already see the next Sonic game axing the open world gameplay in favor of get-to-the-goal stuff again because everyone seems to LOVE the new Cyberspace levels. I can already see them axing letting you play as Sonic's friends again cause they fucking sucked to play as in this DLC. But like, that's not what I want! I want MORE experimental gameplay, MORE intense stories, MORE playable characters. And at first it felt like that MIGHT be happening, but honestly my optimism is seriously shaken by this DLC.

Of course, I am just salty so I guess we'll have to wait and see. Hopefully my fears won't come true. But for now, yes, I hated this Free DLC I didn't even have to play lmao.

===

wow that might be my most negative afterthoughts yet. Honestly I'm not really sure I even want to post this one just cause it's SO brutally negative. I guess I'll post it for now but I might take it down later if I feel like it's just too much. I don't mind being negative, but there's a point where it just makes me depressed, if that makes sense. But I've been holding this rant in for a bit now so here it is.

Yeah that's basically all there is to it. Sonic Frontiers, absolutely amazing! Final Horizon? Totally sucked. I want playable friends again, but please let them actually be REAL characters and involved in the gameplay instead of just... idk flying things that suck to play as? Apologies again for being so harsh on this one. I'm done here.

Go out and... play a game that pisses you off I guess??? Don't do that.

[fragmentsofsorrow]

Hey Ash I would love to hear about the specific mechanics of Aqua's drive forms (or as many as you can share without giving spoilers, of course) :3c

well if you're going to twist my arm like this I guess I have to, don't I?

this is going to get kind of long so it's going under a cut

so all five of Aqua's drive forms are structured very similarly to KH2 drive forms with a few extras thrown in from other games (primarily reprisals and shotlocks), but although they all have the same basic components I've skipped over a few things per form, either because of spoilers or because I haven't fully figured it out yet

Aqua's Dark Form requires one party member to use, and they have to be someone who uses darkness (e.g. Riku, Vanitas). her physical attacks in this form are primarily based on Riku's moveset; for example, her multi-target ground combo finisher is a single-hit variant of Dark Break, her multi-target air finisher is Dark Maelstrom, and her aerial gap closer is the first part of Shadowbreaker. she has Dark Barrier for defense and Counter Blast for a reprisal (which now deals dark damage), and her retaliation after being hit is a Dark Barrier version of her Payback Surge from BBS. Dark Form has an additional action ability which I'm very creatively calling Dark Magic, which converts all elemental spells into dark variants (e.g. Firaga -> Dark Firaga). the growth ability of this form is Darkwheel (which is basically Firewheel but dark)

like Dark Form, Aqua's Light Form requires one party member and (unsurprisingly) they have to be someone who uses light (e.g. Ventus, Kairi). Aqua's base movement in Light Form is significantly different; she hovers over the ground like Sora does in Wisdom Form and she holds her keyblade telekinetically, similar to how she holds it while attacking in Spellweaver or how Sora holds his keyblades in Final Form. generally speaking she uses faster and/or multi-hit attacks (sort of like her regular combo in Spellweaver, now that I think about it) and there are some of the (typically character-locked) light element attacks thrown in there, too, such as the BBS version of Faith as a multi-target ground finisher. defensively speaking, Aqua can still block attacks from all directions, but instead of using a typical barrier spell, her keyblade quickly circles around her to parry incoming hits. her reprisal is kind of a mix of Ven's Payback Raid and the Circle Raid command from DDD; Aqua grabs her keyblade out of the air to throw it and returns to holding it telekinetically once it comes back. Aqua's growth ability for Light Form is Doubleflight, her shotlocks are Ragnarok (partial lock) and Lightbloom (max lock), and she has Haste as a support ability while in the form

the tentatively named Elemental Form is Aqua's main magic-based form, and having one party member is the only requirement to use it. her combos in this form are all attack commands that do elemental damage, mostly from BBS but with a couple from the other command deck games. her ground gap closer in this form is Thunder Surge, her aerial gap closer is Fire Windmill, her basic hits are Fire Strike and Aero Blast (with the former being prioritized for a single target and the latter for multiple enemies), her ground combo finishers are Blizzard Edge and Spark Dive (with similar prioritization), and she has Icebreaker as an aerial finisher. Elemental Form additionally has Mobile Action. both Firewheel and Ice Slide are growth abilities for this form. support abilities include Endless Magic, Magic Galvanizer, and one each of Fire/Blizzard/Thunder/Aero/Water Boost. the partial shotlock for Elemental Form is Bubble Blaster (but changed to deal water damage, because come on)

the least developed of all the drive forms I've made for Aqua is an as of yet unnamed physical attack focused form, which also requires one party member to use. most of her attacks in this form are either BBS attack commands (e.g. Quick Blitz), common combo modifiers found in the series (e.g. Aerial Dive), or both (e.g. Sliding Dash). this is the only form of Aqua's that doesn't have an omnidirectional guard; she instead has Stun Block, and her reprisal is Counter Slash. this form has Combo Boost and Air Combo Boost as support abilities, as well as an as of yet unnamed ability that prevents her from using magic but in exchange uses a percentage of her magic stat as an extra boost to strength (a percentage that I thankfully don't have to figure out a balanced value for, because this is only theoretical and not in an actual KH game)

and lastly, the form most similar to one in KH2 is Aqua's equivalent of Limit Form, which Aqua can use without party member assistance. Aqua's movement in this form is similar to her Ghost Drive command style in BBS, and she leaves afterimages of herself behind when she attacks or dodges. she has her Teleport ability from BBS in this form, which will also leave an afterimage behind, as well as a follow-up attack I'm calling Teleport Slash (which is pretty much just Reversal Slash for Teleport instead of Reversal). like Sora's Limit Form in KH2, Aqua's spells are replaced with Limit attacks (read: repurposed BBS attack or finish commands); the attacks I've chosen to use for this are Twisted Hours, Teleport Spike, Time Splicer, and Magic Hour. she has Renewal Barrier as her defensive ability and Auto-Life as a support ability (which can only trigger once per use of the form). her max count shotlock is Prism Rain

I honestly don't know if I'm even going to use all five forms in this AU and I'm certainly not going to need anywhere near this much detail even if I do, but hey, it's fun to come up with this sort of thing, so why not? it's like the sleights for (Nothing Is) Whole) all over again

[mishmishbean]

Kingdom Hearts 2 Data Replica fights...

I question if I'm missing something for the Data fights for KH2... I can get most of the way there but it's really difficult to get close to defeating any of them XD Half the time I'm using Limit Form to save my butt from being pummeled to death XD

I've been researching on what I could do but a lot of them are stay above ground, use Reflega and (usually) have Ultima Keyblade. I've gotten all of the stuff, right now level 97.

I'm not one for intensive strategy but is there anything I'm doing wrong? I got Cosmic gear, Full Bloom+ and Ribbon and Grand Ribbon on XD If anyone can help out, that'd be neat XD My thoughts are currently just keep trying until I beat them as maddening that can be a bit XD

[dahniwitchoflight]

KH: Who is Young Xehanort really?

A short n sweet theory involving details from KHUX Dark Road, who's story is still ongoing technically

Under the cut for potential spoilers!

So, the theory is that Young Xehanort was born a Nobody originally.

The tl;dr of it all being:

Young Xehanort lived alone on Destiny Islands, but he kept dreaming of events, memories, and the life of somebody else

We the player see flashbacks of The Player from KHX in his dreams, up until the final moments on the keyblade war battlefield when Skuld and Ephemer come for them to bring them to the new world in KH UX

It's a pretty solid 1:1 of how Roxas felt about Sora in KH2's prologue, eerily similar in fact

Moreso is that when Young Xehanort describes meeting the strange figure on Destiny Islands (His futures selfs Heartless) and then walking through the dark corridors, he acknowledges that a foreign darkness was filling him with strange foreign emotions, rage, hate, jealousy, things he claims to have never felt before, and that he welcomed them in because it was a rush of a reminder that he could still feel things at all, and was so much more bearable than the agonizing emptiness he was feeling before

Sounds really…. Nobody ish doesn't it?

And when you think about it… The Young Xehanort that we see in time travelled in DDD and KH3 speaks in that disaffected, numbed, emotionally distant tone, sounding so similar to Xemnas and many other nobodies.

Even though Old Master Xehanort clearly has a Heart, Young Xehanort may not have started out with one!

And this isn't contradictory to the lore, because we know 100% that when Nobodys encounter those with strong Hearts, it's enough to seed emotions and Hearts can grow inside them!

And, we clearly can see a difference in behavior and tone between the Young Xehanort that appears time travelled around, and the Young Xehanort that appears in flashback scenes with Eraqus, after leaving destiny islands and living in Scala ad Caelum around strong hearted people, Young Xehanort who grows to be Master Xehanort is much more lively, much more emotional individual

So then, who's Nobody is he?

Well, when a strong willed Heart is felled, and the Heart leaves the body, a strong willed Heart will retain it's form, while the body leaves to another world and becomes a nobody

At the ending of KHX between the start of KHUX, The Player character of X participates in the keyblades war battles, and fights the foretellers, one after another, eventually collapsing into despair and grief as Hearts from other keyblade wielders are released all around them, as they are lying there close to Death, Ephemer and Skuld, their closest friends, appear in a vision of light before them before the screen turns white

Next thing the Player knows, they're in the world of KH UX and their memory has been wiped, outside of traumatic nightmares they have about the war occasionally and they go on from there.

So, theoretically, it's entirely possible and very likely that in that war, they also fell, and their own hearts strong will, which is commented on by the foretellers, and the light of Ephemer and Skuld, people who's hearts have touched his, kept them in their form as a Heart. Especially because the foretellers in the War all state that no one will win the war or survive because it is their duty to make sure no one survives, So, they'd kill any stragglers.

And, since the Player is Nameless, Formless, Without their own Voice or Identity (usually) it would make sense that their Nobody would become someone named Xehanort

Because as we all know it anagrams not to a name, but to concepts (plus X)

Another, No Heart, Hear Not 

AND, Just like Roxas's appearance doesn't rely on what Sora looks like, but on Ventus, because Sora's Heart connected to Ventus

Xehanort's appearance doesn't need to rely on anything from the Player, and is instead based on the Hearts most strongly connected to the Player, Ephemer and Skuld.

Light White and Dark Black mixing into a formless silvery gray, Xehanort's colors

Can't wait to see the continuation of KH UX Dark Road, especially because this contradicts the other theory that Luxord is the KHX Player's Nobody

Or perhaps,

The KHX Player becomes whole again on their own somehow and still goes on to become Ludor/Luxord in the future too

It would explain Young Xehanort's and Luxord's connected affections for playing games, cards and dice and chess...

[keyblade-nocturne]

Khux Spoilers!

I may be late to the fucking party with this one. But at first we thought everyone reformed when they did because Luxu/Braig had memories of them. But Xehanort has some of the Players memories. Meaning he to could be the anchor that pulls them to the future too. 

The first one he succeeds with is Ven in the keyblade graveyard. Xehanort then jumps the gun and tries to use Ventus to summon the X-blade resulting in the left over darkness from the khux stuff to form into Vanitas. 

Running on the “X is Skuld” theory it’s hard to say if Braig or Apprentice Xehanort was the one to summon her. But the reports keep talking about how interested in her and her situation Apprentice Xehanort is.

Finally I’m sure Xigbar is the one to pull Lauriam and Elrena forward. Seeing as in kh2 final mix he’s confirmed to be the one that found Marluxia and Larxene was brought in not long after.

[sapphireskys]

Saaame I wish the writers would remember how initially they actually showed how riku was incredibly close to kairi and start doing it again because we need this so much (Kh3 manga please become a thing you're the only one who can save us now with rikai and trio interactions)

Also thank you lol :)

kh3 didn’t give us the riku and kairi friendship we deserved so it’s time to take it into our own hands

(also light rage form kairi and dark rage form riku)

Also:

“I can’t watch you die again, Kairi”

[theblueprincess590]

There are several Reasons Roxas’s story in KH2’s prologue takes place during the end of Summer vacation. 1. It’s to push the idea that separation is investable through something every kid can relate to. Summer vacation is always going to end no matter what but thats not what’s important what is important is how we spend our summer vacation and how we make those fun memories with out friends last. Further more it’s important to note that this isn’t just a lesson for The player but Roxas as well since the entirety of The digital Twilight Town is built around teaching Roxas lesson. 2.Roxas’s story takes place during the end of Summer Vacation in order to further connect him to Sora. As Sora’s home, Destiny Islands is a world in a permanent Summer and therefore Sora’s life in one forever in the summer Sun but as Sora’s nobody Roxas’s time in the sun is limited, his summer vacation unlike Sora’s must end.

[gamer-in-training]

Spock?!?! From Star Trek??

[imdoingthismspaintadventure]

Sorry for not posting part 2 yet, kinda got absorbed in Re : Mind.

I played it the whole way through and it was so awesome!

I'm kind of fed up with the fandom though. It's just so insufferable.

(SPOILERS FOR RE MIND)

I agree that 30 dollars was way too pricey and maybe it should have been 20, but can't we appreciate what it gave us, leaving that aside?

We got an expanded Scala, with a huge new map that if using kh2's map sizes, it would have been like 7 or 8 rooms in that (the main plaza, the winding streets, the place with the puzzle daybreak thing, the fountain, the underground sewers, the gardens and the place where you find the 5th piece)

We got a Final Mix amount of new scenes (5 or 6 new ones at the start, remixed ones in the laberynth, the whole ending part is all new)

We got a remixed final battle that felt as climactic as kh2 with even reaction commands again.

We got the data org in Limit Cut, which is as good, if not better, than the data org in 2.

We got the data greeting, that lets us customize our own photos, and use even previously non-playable areas like Destiny Islands and Radiant Garden as backgrounds

We got a extra boss that's as good as LW and as balanced. Plus whathever crazy ties it has with other Nomura games.

We got a premium menu that adds harder and easier modifications for a new game, plus a lot of gameplay challenges as you progress through the story.

(END OF SPOILERS)

That's a lot of really good content! I loved it so, so much, but a section of the fandom is not only unsatisfied (which I respect) but they go to every possitive comment people post, and reply with things like "too bad it wasn't on the main game" or "this was a nice scene but I ain't paying 30 dollars for this trash".

Can I just enjoy this content without all this endless hate people seem to have, please? When kh2 came out, if you go to 2006 blog posts, people also trashed it saying that it was dissapointing after the wait. This fandom is similar to the Zelda one, in which a portion of the fandom instantly hates everything new that comes out.

It's so bad that Bizkit047 ( one of the best speedrunners) had to actually explain to his audience in the comments that the secret boss is actually as good as Lingering Will in terms of design, because people were just incredibly eager to dismiss it as Osaka Team bullshit.

I'm sorry for venting about all of this here, but kh is one of my top two video game franchises and it just frustrates me.

[willfulwayfarer]

LET’S START A CHAIN OF SWEETNESS.

5 THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER.

ONE: His kindness. Terra may not be the first KH protagonist you think of when you hear the word kindness, but he’s always willing to help others in BBS, even going so far as to want to help Xehanort get Vanitas under control, unaware that he was being manipulated. In this sense, Terra may just be too kind for his own good.

TWO: His tragedy. I won’t lie, what drew me to Terra in the first place was the ending of Birth by Sleep and how tragic it was for all three of the main characters. Terra’s story in particular drew me in, maybe because he was the first character I picked, but I wanted to see what would happen to him in the future and if he’d be able to break out of this trap that Xehanort has set for him. When KH3 came out, I was excited to play it, like a lot of other people, but mostly because hopefully we would get some scenes with Terra. I am so glad that we did! I am glad that the Wayfinder Trio is safe and sound, they earned their rest.

THREE: His cool air. Okay look, let me explain, I know people were probably disappointed to see that secret video or fight the armored secret boss of KH2 Final Mix, and then find out through BBS that one of the characters under that armor is a big dork. Honestly though, Lingering Will is one of the coolest character concepts to me. It helps that I just absolutely love uniquely designed armor. Anyway, they treated Lingering Will really well in the scenes where he appears. and it makes him seem really cool. 

Lingering Will is essentially the hollow shell of a suit of armor that embodies the rage of it’s owner, as well as having the only scrap of Terra that is still Terra, his mind. There’s something about that mere idea that I just love. It also helps that Lingering Will is one of the strongest characters in KH.

FOUR: His protective nature. (KH Remind spoilers here) I would not love Terra as much as I do now if he didn’t have a protective nature. He’s always the type of person to jump in and shield others from danger, especially if he really cares about them. As we see in Kingdom Hearts Re:mind, Terra is protective, down to his very heart. Not only with the scene where Sora goes into it, but also with Lingering Will taking a fatal hit for Sora. (End Spoilers)

  One of my favorite examples though, is Terra going against his Master to protect Ventus, Which brings me to my next point

FIVE: His love for his friends. Nothing can convince me that Terra wouldn’t do anything for Aqua and Ventus. They’re the two people he’s the closest with and he wants to do whatever he can to make sure that they’re safe, and they feel the same way about him (Aqua sacrificing herself for him so he doesn’t fall into the Realm of Darkness, Ventus taking off after him to make sure he doesn’t get hurt.). The Wayfinder Trio will always be my favorite Triio in Kingdom Hearts 

5 PEOPLE ON HERE YOU LOVE, AND WHY.

ONE: @kcystotheheart I have to mention you first! You’re so wonderful, Apple! I don’t know hoe you can keep up with so many characters, but you do! Your Axel is my favorite of course! I’m so glad that we’ve shipped them together and they work surprisingly well as a couple! I would also like to mention your Namine who is pretty much Terra’s younger sister at this point and def someone who he feels that he has to protect, ever since she talked to him about what it’s like having a heart, such a long time ago.

  I’d also like to give a shout out to Remi, who is one of the few people I’ve gotten to interact with as Lingering Will. They’re stuck in the Keyblade Graveyard together, but LW’s just glad to have company.

TWO: @temperedbydarkness First off, I would like to say thank you. We only have one thread going at the moment but it’s an important one for Terra and you’ve given me the chance for Terra to just sit down and speak honestly to Riku, which is something that I’ve wanted for a long time now, and for Terra to know everything that happened to him. This is the kind of soft, quiet, character development that I need in my life. We’re not done with this RP but I have a feeling that Terra will come out of it with an even greater respect for his successor.

THREE: Shoutout to @valorxdrive for opening my eyes to the idea that Sora could have learned formechanges from Lingering Will. Honestly, that is such a great headcanon! We just started a thread but I’m excited to see where it goes! I’ve wanted to develop a friendship between Sora and Terra for quite a while, so I’m glad I’m able to do that with you!

FOUR: @omnipotentmxster Let me just tell you how much I love our Mark of Mastery thread going on. I’m happy to finally get the chance to play out Terra earning his Mark of Mastery and growing as an individual along the way. The way you had Yen Sid set of the test was very creative. I look forward to more future RPs too! Terra’s probably going to ask Yen Sid to tell him stories of when Eraqus was young XD

FIVE: Last but not least is a Terra twin! @darknessbled runs a wonderful blog for Terra. Silas  probably loves the character even more than I do! I recommend also following him because he’s got a really good grasp on Terra’s character! Also, their Terra has green eyes and their post KH3 Terra has one green eye and one yellow one which is definitely a unique take on Terra that I haven’t seen before.

5  SONGS EITHER YOU OR YOUR MUSE REGARD AS A ‘GUILTY PLEASURE’ THAT ALWAYS MAKES YOU SMILE.

(I’m not good with guilty pleasures, so I’m just going to list the songs that remind me of Terra. You guys may recognize these already from my other posts, or my tags, but I’ll just put them all here to have them here! The links on the band’s name are links to the posts I made talking about these songs.)

ONE: Call me Fighter by Matt Bellis- When I heard this song all the way through for the first time, I had to pause and I was like “Wait, this sounds like Terra”. Everything in this song fits Terra’s story, from the chain imagery to the hint of light still being in Terra’s heart even if it’s locked away. There’s also the defiant “You can’t break me” Which I always imagine Terra is saying to Xehanort. Also “Lord knows, the glory I’ve been chasing, it’s stripped me of everything, and now it might be the end” describes the end of his story in KH BBS perfectly.

TWO: Stronger by The Score- This song always makes me think of Lingering Will and his sheer determination to get revenge on Xehanort. “I’m a force that you will dread” is def a line that LW is saying to Xehanort here. Of course “Bet you didn’t think that I’d come back to life” is a line repeated often in this song and definitely another line said by Lingering Will to Xehanort. As a matter of fact, I imagine this whole song is LW saying this stuff to Xehanort.

THREE: Man or a Monster by Sam Tinnesz (and Zayde Wolf)- This is the perfect song for how post KH3 Terra feels about himself. He has so many regrets about the things that he did in the past that he honestly can tell if he truly is a man or a monster. This is Terra struggling with his inner darkness in the hopes that one day he’ll find peace.

FOUR: Born Bold by Valley of Wolves- This is the perfect song for Pre BBS Terra, back when he didn’t have all the problems that he does have by the end of BBS. It’s also applicable for Terra when he’s exploring the worlds around the land of departure. I think this song is self explanatory. Also “Chase this river to the ends of the earth” The river is Aqua. I also like the line “Moving these mountains that are in my view.” Because that’s such a Terra line. 

FIVE: Even if it Hurts by Sam Tinnesz- This song is just a perfect representation of Terra’s urge to protect his friends, even if it causes harm to himself. “Even if it hurts, even if it makes me bleed, gonna carry you, pushing through, with the dirt on my sleeves” Is such a powerful line and I can totally imagine Terra carrying Aqua and Ventus to safety.

tagging: Steal it.

tagged by: Taken from my other blog, Defiant-Ex-SOLDIERs, who took it from an Aerith blog.

[moony-mae]

Hi I finished Final Fantasy 7 Remake last monday and I wanted to talk about it here but I keep forgetting... So here’s my two cents and spoilers under the cut. 

So first of all, I didn’t play the original. I never had a Playstation 1, and I wasn’t interested in playing the HD edition because I'm not a fan of turn-based games. That being said, I knew some of the characters because of Kingdom Hearts, you play eco-terrorist, Reno from this game is basically Axel and they share their voice actors (Japanese, English and French, and probably other too) and I know Aerith dies. That's pretty much everything, and maybe some other details because I've been on this thing we call the internet for a lot of time now, but that's pretty much everything. 

Oh and I don't remember why the years ago I watched a Crisis Core playthrough that left me with a lot of feels and tears. I love Zack, he's my boy and he deserved so much better. But I'll cry over he's not-so-dead body later. 

Also, I'm aware of the infamous ship wars that last for 20+ years. But again, more on that later.

So, these last months, while 90% of my friends were so hyped because of the Remake, I was "Yeah Okay. That looks cool I guess". But I didn't watch any playthrough when it released because I wanted to discover everything on my first run. 

So : 

I had a hard time with the gameplay at first. But once you control and knows it, it's really fun, I liked it. 

I liked Aerith before, from what I knew from KH and fandom things, but now I'm just in love. Her spunkiness, and her softness... Ma'am, I love you.

I didn't know much about Tifa aside from her punching walls and searching Cloud in KH2, but I'm also in love. 

Cloud is a soft emo boy who tries to be an adult and fails (I relate) and I like him. 

I was annoyed by Barret at first because he kept screaming in Chapter One, but he's just a soft big guy who's trying to save his lady, aka the planet.

Marlene is so cute I want to hug her.

Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge are precious.

THE CATS, OMG THE CATS. They are so well done!!!! Also, Wedge's cat is the true hero of this game you can't change my mind. 

The music is just so good I want to cry.

Chapter Twelve could just have beaten me up it would have been the same results. 

I'm afraid of Scarlet.

Tifa and Aerith saying they are going to cut Don Corneo's ball added 10 years to my life. 

Also the animation of Don Corneo beer belly. It's so well done. 

The dance at Honeybee Inn. Oh god. I was just laughing of embarrassment the whole time. Also wow Cloud those moves what Hojo did do you

Speaking of Hojo, this is the person I want to cut the balls of. Or maybe other things. He whole speech in front of Aerith about what he did to Ifalna's body... I just wanted to hug this poor baby girl and torture the bastard off

Also what he says about breeding Aerith in front of the council of Shinra.. Y I K E S. 

Speaking about them I don't know who I hate the most. 

Aside from Reeve. He's a good boy and the only one who has a heart so please save him. 

Also, Palmer, who are you. Like they are no space for in the Shinra museum why are you even here.

... Okay I just looked on the wikia but my question still stands.

... It’s funny that I used the world space.. 

Red XIII don't believe Barret you are BEAUTIFUL when you smile. 

So the ending : I just want to say I started crying the moment I saw Zack's boot on my screen. 

I don't know what to think, aside that the whispers are clearly OG fans screaming "we want the original game just with better gameplay and graphics don't change a thing" but it’s time to challege destiny ! 

Also I saw a pic of Nomura, Kitase and Nojima and honestly, they look like people who could plan to destroy the world together. Just a feeling, but I'm afraid of their powers. 

Like I said I don't know if there's an other timeline where Zack is alive (a friend who doesn't buy the theory thought it could just be "Stamps friends" like Hello Kitty's friends or something and they are all on chips packs but idk), or if he just dies later before the game starts (that would be sadistic but I'm afraid of the three people in charge and they look like they could do that) but I know that anyway I'm going to cry a lot

if we have a zerith reunion it's going to kill me I'm crying just thinking about it.

Actually I need to speak about Aerith before we go on shipping part. Again, I don't know what to think about her "instinct" aka her knowing things and the weird feeling Marlene had when she touched her.. Idk. I readed the theory about her knowing the events of the OG and it's on point with her explaining about the whispers and the whole destiny part, but again idk.

YES IT'S SHIPPING TIME AND MY TWO CENTS ON IT

I love Zerith since CC and it didn't change here. Two babies who can kick ass and deserved better

I foud Cle/rith (so it doesn't go on the ship tag) cute (everyone is just sexy in this game so) but I felt Zack's shadow over them the whole time. Between Cloud who's not really himself and mixed he's life with what he knew of Zack's and Aerith asking multiples times about Cloud's war buddies (and the scene in the park of course!), it just doesn't add for me. Yes, of course, Aerith could move on but she seems to know things and not while she's clearly grieving Zack/searching information about him. Also, like she said, he can't fall in love with her. Not that he shouldn't fall in love with her, he can't. 

Cloti is hella cute. It's in my "looks cute" ship part, aka not my otps and I could easily read fanfiction when they are not together but they are really cute. 

Last but not least, a word on the dub : I played in French becase hey it's here so why not and it was good. They took back the original voices of KH/Advant Children for most (I'm sure for Cloud, Sephiroth and Tifa). The only dub that I don't like is Aerith, they casted a new voice for her and it seems too childish for her, but it had grown on me so it's okay now. 

To put it in a nutshell (you don't know how much my English professor would be proud seeing me using this) : it was great and I cried a lot. As usual.

 Now I'm going to read a lot of fanfiction.