#no one is roxas' and xion's number one fan more than him

[halchron]

❝ i do not know if i am worthy. ❞ / from xion!

song of achilles ━ accepting ( @dearlybeloves )

❝ you are, without a doubt. ❞

his words are said automatically, quickly flying from his lips in an attempt to stop the thought before it even forms. it pains him to hear xion question her worth and her existence, even if he knew all too well where she was coming from. he couldn't help but feel like an imposter among the guardians of light, like he was nothing more than a shadow being cast from them. xion and roxas though, lea couldn't think of anyone better to be among the guardians of light than them. he shuffles closer to the younger girl, lifting a hand to ruffle her hair.

❝ i know it's easier said than done, but you have just as much of a right to be here than anyone else. ❞

[maddrmatt]

A Beautiful Future: A Premonition or a Punishment?

New to this fanfic? Click here to properly begin!

Greetings, readers and fellow SoKai fans!

Time for a certain Princess of Heart to take the spotlight in this story!  

Fair bit of warning though, I sort of used this chapter to showcase a few headcanons and speculations regarding the future of the series.  

Also, there’s a little challenge within this chapter that you can take on if you wish.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 3: Writings of a Princess

Land of Departure

Dear Sora,

I know it’s been a while since I last wrote to you.  I haven’t really had anything really important to tell you since I came here.

Now something incredible has just happened and I had to tell you first before anyone else.  But before that, here’s a few updates on what’s been happening on this side of reality.

I’m still training hard.  No offense to Merlin, but I think I’m getting way better with my Keyblade training under Master Aqua than him.

My days here at the Land of Departure are filled with learning various fighting techniques or improving my magic skills.  And to test them, I often spar with Aqua, Terra or Ven.  One day, I might even get a perfect score against one of them in our matches.

All of three of them and Chirithy have been very good to me. They’ve really made me feel like part of their family.

But as great as it’s been with them, they’re no true replacement for everyone back home.  I miss everyone:  Mom, Dad, Selphie, Wakka, Tidus, Riku, and you.  Especially you.

Sorry, Sora.  It’s just so hard every day knowing that you’re trapped in that fictional world.  I really wish I could’ve gone there with Riku to save you.  But after being out of action for a year and the fact that I couldn’t even land a single blow on that memory of Xehanort, I knew it was the better choice to stay behind and train even if I didn’t like it.

I really hope Riku finds you soon.  We’re all so worried about both of you.  Since nobody really knows anything about this Quadratum place, we’ve all thought Riku was a little hasty in just taking off there alone.

We still haven’t heard anything from Mickey yet either. Hopefully, he’ll come back soon from Scala Ad Caelum, and he’ll have found something we can use to help you and Riku.  Until that happens, all the rest of us can do is wait.

Anyway, time to tell you the real reason for this latest letter, Sora. And you are not going to believe what it is.  I can hardly believe it myself.

Last night, I had a dream.  It was actually the first dream I’ve had since I came to the Land of Departure.

Not that I’ve minded not having dreams just in case they ended up being recreations of my worst memories.  I’ve already watched you vanish twice.  I don’t think I could bear to watch it happen again in my dreams.

But the dream I had was nothing like that at all.  It was of a wedding, Sora.  Our wedding.

It was an amazing sight.  It was in this gigantic chapel that looked like it was in Radiant Garden, and it was filled with all your friends from around the worlds.

Many of our fellow Guardians of Light and closest friends made up our wedding party.  It was hardly a surprise to see Selphie as my maid of honor or Riku as your best man.

You looked so handsome in the suit you were wearing.  And judging from the stunned look on your face when you saw me coming down the aisle, I must’ve looked pretty beautiful to you.

It was truly incredible, Sora.  It felt so real and so wonderful.  I wished it never ended.

But, unfortunately, as it is with dreams, we all have to wake up eventually.  And when I did, the happiness I felt ended up giving way to other emotions as I reflected on the dream.

First of all, I felt a little confused.  As good as that dream was, I couldn’t help but wonder why I had it at all.  I mean, wouldn’t you find a little strange to have a dream about a wedding especially since we haven’t even had our first kiss yet?  It’s kind of rushing things a little.  

But don’t get me wrong, Sora.  I know, deep down in my heart, how we truly feel about each other. I wouldn’t have shared that paopu fruit with you otherwise.  And when the time is right for it, the idea of getting married to you is something I will embrace wholeheartedly.

So, I thought more about the dream and believe it or not, I started to think that it was not merely just a dream.  I wonder if what I saw was our future.  It definitely did feel like that since there were so many unfamiliar parts in it.  

For example, I had no idea there was a tradition in Radiant Garden weddings for the bride and groom to crown each other with symbolic flowers.  Then again, I could have known that if the knowledge came from a memory from when I lived there.  Maybe I attended a wedding there when I was young.

But what really stood out to me and made me believe that this could be our future was the many unfamiliar guests.  I knew that because I’ve been studying the details of your last two journeys from Jiminy’s Journal and the Gummi Phone.  And even though the Journal of your first journey was erased (Naminè’s still really sorry about that), I still remember everything about it from being in your heart through it all.

So, I was able to recognize who you had met and who were strangers. They were far too numerous to mention. But here are some examples that really stood out to me.

A tall woman with long black hair wearing a tan colored dress and a beautiful turquoise necklace with a raccoon, a dog and I think I saw a hummingbird flittering around her.

A pair of robots, one yellow and box-shaped, the other white and cylindrical, who were holding hands.

A couple that consisted of a redhaired woman and blonde-haired man who appeared to have some kind of hairless rodent on his shoulder.

A teenage boy and girl along with a younger boy and a company of animals such as a bear with gray fur, a panther, an elephant with a tuft of brown hair and a quartet of vultures.

A large family that appeared to be a mix of humans and skeletons along with a very colorful winged dog and a giant winged cat.

A boy with red hair (whose head looked triangular) along with another boy with green hair and a bunch of other teenagers as well as some kind of strange teal animal that looked like a cross between a duck and a beaver and a man with brown hair, poor posture and wearing a lab coat (who wears that to a wedding?).

A princess dressed in a beautiful green gown accompanied by a prince in a green suit with a blonde woman dressed in pink, a short old woman dressed in white and wearing sunglasses and a snake around her shoulders as well as an alligator who was carrying a trumpet.

A very unusual group consisting of two men and a woman with blue skin and pointy ears along with a dog-sized dragon, a centaur, and a winged lionlike creature with horns and a scorpion’s tail.

A girl with bushy brown hair among what appeared to be a family of giant frogs.

A woman dressed like she was some kind of islander with a burly man with numerous tattoos (I think I saw one of them move) over his body along with a pig and a chicken that didn’t look very smart.

A family who seemed to be some kind of royalty consisting of a princess in a simple green dress with long curly red hair along with three identical boys with the same kind of hair, their big, strong father with a peg leg and their very elegant mother.

A boy and a girl who looked like they were twin siblings who were accompanied by a pair of old men who looked like twins as well.

A redhaired boy in the company of a group of what looked like various human-sized bugs.

There were so many more, but I think I’ll stop here.  With the large number of guests at this wedding, I could go on listing them for a long time.  But it does seem there’s a lot more friends for you in the future.

Unfortunately, while I was mulling over the dream further, a horrible thought came to me.  I started to wonder if the dream, as beautiful as it was, wasn’t meant to bring me happiness at all because it was actually showing the future that we could have had but now would never have.  And the true reason of it was to punish me for my failures in the fight against Xehanort.

I know you wouldn’t like to hear this, Sora.  But there are still days where I can’t help but feel responsible for your disappearance and think that if I had made some different choices, you’d still be here.

I know it was my choice to fight alongside you because I wanted to keep you safe the same way you’ve always done for me.  But looking back, I now see it was foolish to assume that my training alongside Axel would turn me into a Keyblade wielder on yours or Riku’s level. And it was probably an even worse idea for a wielder with very little actual battle experience to go from basic training to a high stakes battle with nothing in between.

We may have been desperate to stop Xehanort before he went after the New Seven Hearts especially since he had already assembled all his darknesses. But we probably could’ve and should’ve explored some other options instead of going to fight the Organization right away after you woke Ven.

Since Ienzo told us that they had a replica body ready before we even left for the Keyblade Graveyard, we could’ve gotten Roxas or maybe even Xion out of your heart before the fight.  In Axel’s words, they were the old hands when it came to Keyblades.

We also could have made a bigger effort to find and save Terra first even if our chances were pretty low.  That would not only have gotten us a more experienced wielder, but it would’ve also lowered Xehanort’s ranks by one.

Maybe if we had done things that way, we would’ve had more experienced Keyblade wielders to fill out the Seven Guardians of Light.  And even if it would be disappointing to be put in the reserves, it would’ve been worth it if it led to you being safe.

So, those are the reasons I believed that dream was a punishment. But you’ll be glad to know, Sora, that I only entertained those beliefs briefly.

After thinking it over some more, I decided that it didn’t matter what that dream’s purpose was.  Comfort or punishment, I’m going to actually use it to serve my own purposes instead.

I’m going to let it remind me of what my ultimate goal is and drive me to be the best Keyblade wielder I can be.  One that’s going to make the forces of darkness think twice before causing trouble and one that you and Riku will be proud to have fighting alongside you.  And hopefully, that will lead us to a future like the one in the dream or at least one that’s pretty close.

In fact, after seeing that dream, I think I may end up actually proposing a couple of ideas to Aqua and Master Yen Sid.  I’ve been thinking about them a lot and maybe now is the time to try to put them into action.

Since I need to get some real battle experience to become a stronger Keyblade wielder, I’d like to go on a journey throughout the worlds to gain some. Hopefully, Aqua will think it’s a good idea.  And even though there’s been little sign of the Heartless and Nobodies since Xehanort’s defeat, there is one thing I really wish to do.

I’d like to try to find and identify the remaining three of the New Seven Hearts.  After all, who’d better to find them than someone who’s part of the same group?  And if we knew who they were and what their home worlds were, we’d be in a better position to protect them if someone tried what Maleficent and Xehanort did.

Who knows?  Maybe all those unfamiliar faces at the wedding were not only friends you’ll make on future adventures, but ones I’ll make on my own adventures.  Maybe even the remaining New Seven Hearts were among them.

I also have an idea that may be able to help in the quest to bring you home. If Fairy Godmother could bring me back to the Final World, I could talk to that girl from Quadratum again.  She may not be able to remember certain things. But she might be able to tell us something about that world that could help.  

Naminè might even be able to help with this plan.  Even if you only met that girl briefly, that may be enough for her to be considered connected to you and therefore, Naminè’s memory powers can work on her.

Hopefully, the Masters will think that these are good plans.  I really want to do any part I can to not only help bring you and Riku home, but also to protect the worlds as both a Keyblade wielder and a Princess of Heart.  After all, with you two gone, someone’s got to pick up the slack.

Well, I think that’s enough for now.  It’s nearly time for breakfast and then it’s training until lunch.  But before I go, there’s just one final thing I’d like to say.

Whether that beautiful dream shows a wonderful future that is meant to be or not, it doesn’t matter.  Because the only kind of future I’ll ever wish for is one in which we’re safe, we’re happy, and we’re together.  That’s all I really need.

See you soon,

Kairi

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Much later, the training hall in the Land of Departure was filled with the sounds of clashing Keyblades and various shouts of magical invocation.  While those sounds were nothing uncommon in that location, there was an unusual intensity that day.

As Aqua, Ven and Chirithy watched, a heated sparring match was taking place between Kairi and Terra.  But much to their surprise, the more experienced Keyblade wielder was actually struggling as the young rookie was keeping him mostly on the defensive.

“Wow!  Kairi’s on fire today!” exclaimed Ven.

“She is, indeed,” concurred Chirithy.

“Well, she has improved a lot in her skills since she came here.  But you two are right.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this driven before,” said Aqua.

“You’ve got that right, Aqua.  If she lands one more hit on Terra, this’ll be the first time she’s won by a perfect score,” said Ven.

As the match went on, Terra blocked blow after blow from Kairi.  Then, strangely, she ceased her attack.

Terra saw his opportunity and charged toward her with a downward slash. The Princess dodged to the right narrowly avoiding the hit.

“Light!” she cried out as she fired a small but powerful Light spell at Terra’s side.  He grunted as the magic struck him and knocked him off his feet.

“Point to Kairi,” declared Aqua.

“That’s three to nothing!  Kairi wins!” exclaimed Ven as Chirithy clapped its paws together.

“Well done, Kairi,” said Aqua.

“Thank you, Master Aqua,” Kairi said as she walked over to Terra and helped him up.  

After exchanging bows with each other, the Princess of Heart said, “I hope that didn’t hurt you too badly, Terra.”

Terra chuckled.  “Not at all.  It helps that you’ve learned how to restrain your magic during training.  But I’ve got to say, Kairi that I am impressed. That’s the first time since you’ve come here that I’ve been unable to land a single hit on you.”

“You’ve certainly come a long way, Kairi.  Today, you showed some truly exceptional skill and strength.  You should be very proud of yourself,” said Aqua as she, Ven and Chirithy approached.

“Well, I’ve had a good teacher and some great sparring partners.  But I think it really helped that when I woke up today, I just felt a little extra drive,” said Kairi.

“Yes.  We noticed,” said Aqua.

“Why is that exactly?” asked Chirithy.

A certain smile came to Kairi’s face which caused her four friends to exchange knowing looks.  They had spent plenty of time with her by now to know what exactly brought out that special smile of hers: thoughts of a certain someone close to her heart.

“I had the most amazing dream.”

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Notes from the Mad Doctor:

I thought the best way for Kairi’s spotlight chapter would be to do in the style of one of her letters to Sora.  I’ve used it before as readers of my big fic Kairi’s Epic Journey would know.

So, in case it wasn’t obvious, the challenge I mentioned at the start is that list of unknown guests.  It was quite a challenge to write all those characters by description alone.  I hope you all will take a shot at identifying them. Some are pretty obvious, but some may be a little more difficult.

I hope I did a good job in trying not to make this chapter’s narrative too similar to the previous chapters.  I actually tried having Kairi leap to the punishment notion before the premonition notion.  But unfortunately, the flow didn’t work right.

Fortunately, the views on the punishment notion are a little different. Sora has absolutely no regrets for what he did and believes that he’s being unfairly punished for breaking rules he had no idea existed.  Kairi, however, believes her punishment is deserved since she blames herself for what happened to Sora.  Fortunately, both are able to use that dream to keep on fighting.

I hope you all aren’t put off that this is more like a series of one-shots centered around a certain plot device (the wedding dream) instead of a congruent storyline.  That was what this project ended up being.

I give my thanks to whoever reads this chapter.

I also give my special thanks to @fandomchanger, @flynn-science​, and @ladylucky​ for their likes on the previous chapters as well as @sokaiweek, @phoenix-downer, and @the-secret-place​ for reblogging the previous chapter.

Comments, likes and reblogs are much appreciated!  Stay tuned for what comes next because it’s going to be a real feel-good chapter!

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Onto the next chapter!

[razorblade180]

Nothing to worry about

After many, many attempts to decode the data to find Sora, Riku was spent. A thought came to him that maybe if he messed with data with the difficulties all the way up, then something might change. It had to be his third day screwing up on the same attacks over and over again. He didn’t remember fighting the organization to be this hard! Riku was a prideful guy that managed to beat most of them but enough was enough! He had been stuck on one obstacle for far too long and his hands hurt from hitting the wall the one time he rage quit. It was time to bring in backup, and he knew just the people…

Xion:You want me to want?

Riku:Beat data Xion for me. You’re too strong.

Roxas:It’s a computer…

Axel:Dude, you don’t get to say that when you smash computers instead of pressing keys.

Saix:You What?

Riku:Focus!!! I called you specifically because you’ve fought Xion, fought Sora, and some of you have done both while technically being connected to Sora; so you know how to play him well.

Axel:I feel like you’re missing people.

Riku:People are busy. You are the only ones that are still around a lot.

Xion:Am I really that tough?

Riku:Painfully.

Xion:Hmmm. I’m not sure how I feel about fighting myself. Something about it feels...depressing.

Axel:I’ll do it. I’m great at games! Plus we’ve fought a bunch of times! I know your moves.

Xion:But you lost…

Axel:Still learned them! *sits down* Watch the master!

That was the statement he made. It’s been three hours since Axel had that confidence. Now he was face down on the bed in the committee room along with Riku. If he heard “why do you fight” one more time, he’d lose his mind.

Axel:Since when do you bounce around like a ball of light!?

Roxas:Why are you surprised? I do it all the time.

Axel:I don’t even understand how you do it!!!

Saix:I can’t believe you didn’t even get half health.

Axel:Think you can do better!?

Saix:Nope, but I won’t act like I can to look cool. Xion, I’ve never seen you do half of the things that program does. Is it an exaggeration or…?

Xion:No, it’s possible. Doing all of that just makes me tired.

Saix:...(I never stood a chance in that graveyard. Then again I try not to go full berserk for the same reason.)

Roxas:My turn! I’m not exactly thrilled about fighting any version of you but helping Sora is the goal here. I just hope Cid didn’t program all of your armors. Not a big fan of the second one or you being the size of the central station tower.

Xion:*red* Hehehe...yeah that was pretty wild.

RAS:You can do what…?”

The change of players was getting better results. Roxas was in his third attempt when he started getting a good rhythm. Watching Axel helped, but there was something else. A weird six sense. Riku was right about him controlling Sora, it felt natural. Battling data Xion was the same. The way he predicted her movements were scarily good.

Axel:Wow, look at you go.

Roxas:Sssshhh, I need focus. I wanna do this as fast as possible. It might be data but hurting Xion feels wrong.

Xion:*red* Roxas…

The man makes it to the desperation move. It’s the second time he’s made it here and he wished data Xion had the armors instead! He didn’t last long before another game over screen. Everyone groaned while Roxas rested his head on the wooden desk.

Roxas:Gah! I can’t even begin to understand those patterns. Your columns of light move way too wildly!

Riku:I hate the fact that if you recover from a strike raid then the next one is delayed to change your rhythm! Why are you so smart Xion?

Xion:Sora does that too. It’s how to survive relentless attacks sometimes. I’ve told you all the timing so-

Roxas:Xion, I really don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, but you might as well grab the controller. The only person who knows you, is you.

Xion:And Ven, and Namine, you, Sora, Kai- fine I’ll give it a try!

Riku:Thank you.

Xion died immediately going into the fight. All eyes looked at her in disbelief as her face got red.

Xion:I wasn’t ready! Let me get a few warm up rounds in! I have never done anything like this. Roxas, can you go back to Twilight Town and get a small white bag in the usual spot?

Roxas:Okay.

A few warm up rounds turned into a dozen. Riku even saw her scroll through the settings once or twice. Then she wouldn’t do the fight right away. Instead she’d press bottoms to see how Sora reacted and fast. He didn’t want to be antsy but a piece of him wanted to try again. Riku went over to ask when Roxas came through the door to hand her the bag. Xion ran the program again. She reached in the bag as it loaded and pulled out something Riku didn’t know she still had. Her organization gloves.

Riku:You kept those?

Xion:Gripping a keyblade barehanded feels weird. So does messing with computers…

Data Xion:Why do you f-

Xion:Yeah we know the line…

Riku never considered himself good at things like video games or computers, but he didn’t think he was bad either. That was until he watched Xion start moving her fingers faster than he could keep track off. The whole room was silent except for the sound of clicking. Data Sora was moving at speeds and performing tricks Riku and the others didn’t even know about. He wasn’t getting hit at all!!! Axel could quietly hear Xion mumble numbers. A set amount when she attacked, and then a different set when the data version did. The sets kept resting and ending differently depending on what weapon she used or magic. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

Axel:H-How?

Xion:How what?

Roxas:How are you doing this!?

Xion:Like you and Riku said. I know me, as well as Sora. I’m only gonna get hit so many times before I find a chance to counter. Also, there’s only so many moves you can program. It’s still just code!

She made it sound so easy, yet Riku. Can only think about how many times late last night he couldn’t figure out a single time to appropriately heal or attack. Yet here Xion is, perfect blocking and interrupting the desperation move. She even found time to take a picture before delivering the final blow!

Xion:Boom! Easy!

Riku:FINALLY!

Saix:You really should’ve gone first.

Xion:But it was thanks to you guys that I was able to watch and learn without stressing out. It was a group effort. I guess we’re done here. Thanks Riku, that was kinda fun. *stands up*

Riku:Ummm haven’t beaten master Xehanort either. Do you think maybe….

Xion:*Sits down* You owe one for this.

Riku:I know a good spot to find the best seashells.

Xion:Deal!

The crew let her get to work on the baldy while they occupied their time. Half an hour passed before they sat around a table eating. Riku looked over to see Xion learning how to deal with every move possible. It looked impossible. Most of the organization did. Another game over screen appeared and Riku sighed.

Axel:You alright champ?

Riku:It might be data, but seeing Sora lose is depressing. I hope he’s alright.

Roxas:Why wouldn’t he be?

Riku:He’s not the luckiest guy. Danger might as well be a spell when it comes to Sora. All of these data fights made me realize just how dangerous the organization really was. The thought of him running into something or someone as dangerous as that alone doesn’t sit well with me.

Everyone:......

Roxas:You know Riku, you can be pretty dumb sometimes.

Riku:Huh!?

Xion:Roxas!

Roxas:What!? All I’m saying is you would think after seeing a program based off of him successfully beat crazy strong people like Xion that you’d have the most faith in his skills. I mean who else do you know has enough different moves to handle so many kinds of fighters?

Riku:....Heh, thanks Roxas.

Roxas:*red* Yeah whatever. Just stating the obvious.

Axel:Yeah! Sora’s alright. I mean he was able to beat me after all.

Saix: If that’s the bar then maybe we should worry.

Axel:Hey!

Xion:I mean we did tie when I was tired.

Roxas:I beat you with amnesia.

Riku:Sora did too.

Axel:Who’s side are you on! This is the thanks I get for trying to cheer you up? Cut me some slack.

The friends shared a good laugh teasing Axel. Even he couldn’t help but join in on it. Riku should know better than anybody just how capable Sora is.

(Wherever you are, I’m sure you’re just fine.)

xxxx

Fine was the appropriate word to describe it. If a Riku or the others used anything more positive then they surely would’ve bit their tongue. If only they could see their friend right now, dodging and struggling on a rooftop under a starry sky dome. A swarm of gigas closed in on our young hero to overwhelm him, but to avail. Sora whipped out a storm flag and slammed it on the ground to summon the watery beast of the seven seas. It’s tentacles whacked away and crushed the gigas flat. Now wasn’t a time to rest though. Yozora, his opponent, wasn’t done yet. Sora saw rapid flashes of red lock in on him and switched to the counter shield.

He hyped himself “Come on!” Spurs shouted. The first attack came from the left, then right. Four more were dead on before another six ferocious slashes came from the left. Collision after collision conjured sparks that lit up the impacts of each attack. Yozora finally thought he had an opening to stab from behind but was sorely mistaken when Sora had already pivoted already and unleashed a barrage of fists that knocked Yazora in the air. Sora leaped up to follow up with a change into the second form. “Get back here!” He pulled his opponent back in with a magnet burst then went right into an ars arcanum. Blades clashed faster than anyone could keep up with before Sora’s ferocity gave him an edge that turned into full blown hits that ended with him spiking Yozora to the ground. As he fell, Sora was shot in the back by a laser that sent him to the metal floor behind. He had no time to dodge the cross slash that connected against his chest. He watched Yozora vanish and switched right into ultimate form to do the same.

This disappearing and reappearing act made their sparks seem more like fireworks. Crackles and pops

Danced up and down the battlefield as each person kept attempting to warp for both offense and defense until Yozora got the better of Sora by trapping in an exploding prism that launched Sora sky high. Yozora finally had room to breath and could plant fis feet long enough to charge his blade. He watched his target recover mid air and unless a salvo of fireballs with double arrow guns. A good idea if it wasn’t so far away that is. “Sorry but-huh!?” A blue light washed over Sora and propelled him directly at Yozora with his attack. Yozora was quick enough to slash Sora away but decided to pull back by backflipping the fireballs; a big mistake. He had underestimated Sora’s speed. Before he could even reach the ground, Sora was already in front of him again. This time with a massive rocket propelled hammer that hit him in the direction of the fireballs. The magic projectiles curved midair to hope in on his location and blasted him right in the chin. This was bad, really bad. To think he’d have this much trouble with someone who looked so clueless moments ago. He had to switch things up and vanished again.

Sora switched to nano arms and stood perfectly still. “Three….four….” he pulled a barrier right as a glimmer of red formed into Yazora that blasted some strange wide shots from his crossbow before vanishing again. Sora turned the machines into yo-yos next and swung straight. “There!” Yozora appeared right as expected and hit dead on. Sora pulled himself to wards and shifted to his frozen blades for additional slashes.

“You’re Just full of surprises aren’t you!?” Yozora grimaced.

“Don’t Give me that look! I didn’t want to fight!” Sora went for a kick but was too slow. Yozora managed to warp behind Sora and summoned a massive red orb that started pulling everything into it.

“Let’s see how you dodge this one.” Yozora turned up the pressure and started warping as fast as possible at Sora again and again, cutting and slashing him cleanly to knock him off balance until Yozora delivered one more powerful slash across his body that sent Sora flying into the orb. He quickly up to it and glided his blade along it to trigger a massive explosion that made Sora scream. Smoke and fire filled the air for a moment. That was a move not even Yozora himself was too good at avoiding. Nobody was gonna get it right from the jump.

Finally, the battle was over. It was longer than expected but the end result was the same. “Sorry, but I don’t lose-” Another shockwave from the explosion accorded suddenly and dispersed the smoke. That’s never happened before. Yozora shielded his eyes and scanned the ground, no Sora. Just black puddles. He dared not walk closer to them when they started to increase in size until a bigger one formed near his feet and Sora hopped out with glowing eyes and drenched in darkness. “This guy…” Yozora mistakenly readied a block for the keyblade as was then punched by Sora’s free hand, throwing him off and into a world of rageful attacks he had no choice but to receive. Sora was fast, too fast. The patterns seemed random. It was impossible to know what to look out for with the addition of kicks thrown in as Sora instinctively warp in numerous spots to bat Yazora around. Any attempt to escape the loop was met with a primal roar that kept the loop going until one final monstrous attack came. Sora went right through Yozora and into the ground. Strange black orbs rose up from bigger pools of black from earlier and detonated repeatedly, leaving Yozora no room to escape.

What was once a dark night turned into blinding light as Sora once again appeared above Yozora’s falling body in a new form; and with two blades. It was hard for him to understand what happened next. All he could see was light and feel the pain it inflicted everywhere as pillars of them struck down around Sora, who remained airborne and glowing. A look of pure grit on his face as he shouted.

“I guess...my power isn’t needed after all.”

xxxx

Xion:I beat him! But...I don’t think there’s anything here that might help. Sorry Riku. I know you wanna find him as soon as possible.

Riku:Hmmm, that’s alright. *smiles* Wherever he is...I’m sure he’s doing just fine.

[anikoku]

Mini-essay: How the narrative of KH3 was damaged by the compulsory heterosexuality and gender norms of Japanese society

Major spoilers of Kingdom Hearts 3 are below. Please don’t look unless you’ve finished the game!

One more disclaimer: this is coming from a Japanese perspective, and it’s not meant as a xenophobic attack on the culture I was raised in.

   Light-and-darkness logic, time travel, and bosses who are giant ships, I’ll ignore. That’s just part of the Kingdom Hearts package, and despite the headache they might give me, I’ve come to accept these wild ideas and take pride in my ability to handle them. But when we stray from the fantasy, it becomes difficult confronting the cultural context that the Kingdom Hearts series is birthed from, and how these ideas have affected key plot points and the characterization of our beloved heroes.   Despite its stunning popularity overseas, the Kingdom Hearts series is still conceived in Japan (by middle-aged Japanese men, no less) for Japanese audiences. I’ve always felt that Square Enix as a company remains disconnected from the input of its non-Japanese audience. Whatever catering is done towards overseas players is limited to game mechanics, not plot. I expect there’s something of a よそはよそ、うちはうち (“That’s fine for them but not for us”) mentality when it comes to structuring the story in a way that may appeal to overseas (specifically Western) fans. The writers do not know how to do this, and they do not wish to. I don’t believe that any culture should have to adjust its creative output to make it more palatable to the outside world, but considering the sheer size of the Kingdom Hearts fanbase, such a blatant refusal to consider modern storytelling trends in the gaming world will—and has—damaged its enduring legacy. Let’s not forget the fact that Japanese society itself is not suspended in time; its younger generation has different ideas about gender, sexuality, and romance.   I’d like to discuss three examples in KH3 where the writers leaned heavily on traditional gender norms and heterosexual romance to the detriment of the plot and the integrity of previous characterization. First, there’s the matter of Subject X, the amnesiac girl who became the reason why Ansem the Wise shut down his experiments. We learn late in the game that she was Lea and Isa’s missing friend, and the reason why they chose to infiltrate the castle and join Organization XIII. Before this piece of knowledge was revealed, Lea and Isa remained the only (human) pair whose friendship existed outside of the boy-girl-boy dynamic that Nomura is so fond of. Like Axel and Roxas prior to Xion’s introduction in 358/2 Days, Subject X was retconned into their friendship, altering their dynamics and diluting the significance of the homosocial relationship. Putting aside shipping perspectives, it is important to be able to portray two men (nevermind the prospect of two women, that’s too much to hope for in this franchise) sharing a strong emotional bond. Falling back on the trio concept not only feels like lazy and tired writing, but seems to speak to a fear that without a female presence, the love and connection between two male characters is simply too homoerotic.   In an interview, Nomura remarked he was surprised by Aqua’s popularity since she did not resemble previous Kingdom Heartes heroines. He and other writers (Masaru Oka and perhaps others) have a clear idea of what femininity means and what role female characters should play, and that was never clearer than the portrayal of Kairi and Aqua in the final half of the game. After being chosen as a Guardian of Light and spending the entirety of the story training with Merlin, after promising Sora that she would be the one to protect him, Kairi’s helplessness in the final battle was appalling to witness. She is depicted as weaponless when Terra-Xehanort charges at her. Sora and the others throw themselves in front of her to protect her, and this leads directly to Donald’s self-sacrifice. Later, she is easily kidnapped by Xemnas and killed by Master Xehanort to fuel Sora’s anger. This act of textbook ‘fridging’ absolutely disregards Kairi’s agency and her wish to fight alongside her friends. She represents the worst depiction of the traditional female role in storytelling: she is an object of desire to be rescued, damaged, and won over. In other words, it’s bullshit. Likewise, although she is one of the three Keyblade Masters present in the story, Aqua is constrained to a passive role. She is first rescued by Sora, then by Ventus, then assisted by Sora once more against two opponents (Terra-Xehanort and Vanitas) she had previously beaten. When confronted by the Demon Tide in the Keyblade Graveyard, Aqua whispers “no” and lets her Keyblade slip out of her hands, defeated. This is not the same Aqua who survived over a decade in the realm of darkness, defined by her bravery and strength of will. In an era with an increasing number of female-led titles and queer, non-traditional characterization, the female characters of Kingdom Hearts are still relegated to the role of nurturer and caretaker. In a game released in 2019, that hurts.   Finally, I’d like to argue that the narrative focus on Sora and Kairi’s romance came at the expense of the friendship between Sora, Riku, and Kairi, something I believed so thematically important to the franchise. The other trios (Axel, Roxas, Xion and Terra, Aqua, Ventus) are depicted as being equally close and connected, yet KH3 does nothing to showcase Riku and Kairi’s bond. Riku is about as affected as Mickey when Kairi is threatened. The two of them never have a private conversation, not even the day before their final confrontation with Master Xehanort. Riku doesn’t volunteer to help Sora search for Kairi at the end of the game, despite him being aware of what damage it could cause Sora. And that is the other piece of the puzzle: Sora and Riku’s relationship has also been severely downplayed. During the events of KH3D, Riku becomes a Dream Eater out of his strong desire to protect Sora. His character arc has always been about “protecting the people who matter most”. Why, then, is he willing to let Sora abuse the Power of Wakening on his own? Why doesn’t he get to have a conversation with Sora before the final battle? Why is he shown racing against Terra and Roxas in the epilogue, while Kairi sits by herself and mourns? The lack of bond isn’t just present on Riku’s side. When Kairi and the others are swallowed by the Demon Tide, Sora falls to his knees and laments that he has no power now that he’s alone. His grief would have been more convincing, had Riku not been right there by his side. With such a strong bond remaining, there’s no reason Sora should have given up there; it was a deliberate narrative decision to highlight Sora and Kairi’s relationship while downplaying Sora and Riku’s. It seems that Riku was forced to take a step back to make room for the game’s heterosexual romance, and I believe the integrity of Sora, Riku, and Kairi as characters suffered because of this.   Many of the reunions in the final portion of the game were an emotional catharsis for me, and I did enjoy aspects of the story. That being said, the storytelling in KH3 makes me fear that Square Enix is either unwilling or unable to adapt to the gaming frontier now led by the West. For now, I’ll submit to the fact that the most satisfying conclusion to the series I’ve followed so long lies in the hands of the fans who are willing to do it justice.

[nadziejastar]

I once saw the characterization in KH3 described as like something you'd see you'd see in an anime filler arc. Things happen but characters don't develop, they just go through the motions of what they did before. Such as Luxord going back to the Caribbean or Marluxia and Larxene plotting another rebellion

That's a good way of putting it. I agree completely. In a lot of ways, KH3 was a filler arc, just biding it’s time until KH4. KH3 was clearly trying to appeal to the large number of fans who hadn’t played the series since in a long time. And I think character development was a very low priority. The highest priority was making all the characters not stray too far from how people would remember them. So, they weren’t allowed to actually develop or change. They had to remain the exact same familiar archetypes.

Larxene and Marluxia apparently joined of their own accord, but why? They clearly had some deeper understanding of the Princesses of Heart and the Keyblade War than most of the other members. I think they probably wanted to summon Kingdom Hearts and start the world over, for their own reasons. Maybe Marluxia thought he could bring his dead sister back and Larxene wanted to help him. But in KH3, they had little agency in their joining. They wanted to plot a rebellion because that’s how they acted in CoM.

Demyx is a one dimensional goofball. He’s got no reason to be there other than because he’s a familiar face. His character file story was interesting. It hinted that he was lonely and longed for companions, and that he became very close with Luxord. But this is never explored so he still has zero depth. He’s the exact same guy from KH2.

Vexen is supposed to be atoning, but he’s back to being the devious researcher obsessed with Replicas. In KH3D, he did wake up and regain consciousness, but he was unstable. They retconned what happened to him in KH3 to allow him to join the new organization.

Luxord is back in the pirate world because that’s what he did in KH2. We learn almost nothing new about him. Luxord even states he was never loyal to Xemnas, but then why did he join? Apparently he was simply summoned to join the new organization because he’s from the age of fairytales. No personal motivations are given.

Xehanort was was supposed to very complex and even painted in a sympathetic light, but he had no backstory. So he’s just the same old evil bastard from BBS. Our perceptions of him weren’t challenged.

A big deal gets made out of how Kairi is going to be the one to protect Sora this time. Then she gets kidnapped and used as Sora’s “motivation” exactly like in KH2. She’s just as helpless as when Axel kidnapped her. Pete and Maleficent feel tacked on to the story, but since they were in KH2 they had to be included.

Saix is back to being the cold arrogant douchebag people loved to hate in Days. The whole boss fight with him in the Keyblade Graveyard felt like it was meant to be happening in 358/2 Days, not KH3. Without a backstory, they knew players probably wouldn’t feel that strongly about him, so they didn’t even bother to let Lea rescue him.

In KH3D he was insistent that he be called “Lea”, his true name. But in KH3 everyone just went back to calling him “Axel” for no reason. And being called “Axel” was actually more fitting because he went back to being the exact same character as he was in KH2. He doesn’t develop AT ALL. Neither do Roxas or Xion. They seem to have been brought back specifically for Axel’s sake, so he doesn’t have to develop or let go of his unhealthy attachment.

[darkzeruda1214]

Kairi deserved better.

Oh, boy this is going to spark up some debates.

Now I want to CLARIFY before I start.

I DO NOT. Under any circumstance hate. Or dislike Kairi. Personally I think she was one of the few characters that actually have an interesting background and has a lot of potential as a character. And I really do like Kairi, but I think the rest of the fandom can agree with me.

She. Was. Done. Dirty.

Seriously. Does anyone in the development team even like or want her in the series?!

This girl deserves better. As well as give her some spotlight and some much needed personality!

*Canon Kairi is just really... unjust. The fandom does a much a better job portraying her character! (TAKE NOTES NOMURA Dangit! You could learn a few things from the fans!)

Anyways...

Time to get to the topic, (also thanks for my cousin for allowing me to use their exact words for this argument).

(SPOILERS FOR KH3)

So after finishing KH3 I was left unsatisfied and just plainly angry at the ending. And after what happened to Kairi, there’s nothing more than I want is for her to get some redemption because what happened to her is utter bullshit. One of the things that really pissed me off was how they handled her.

And yes, I’m talking about the final battle, but one thing I think many people tend to overlook is her treatment in the trailers.

Now I know some of you are confused by what I mean. But the trailers really deceived fans about what Kairi was going to offer. A lot of fans speculated, argued and theorized that Kairi was FINALLY bulk up and be ready to fight. She was finally going to be useful.

Now to be fair she isn’t and act totally useless. I mean she did save Sora during the Final World arc. (But you know, Square totally missed an opportunity that could have given Kairi more substance, but that’s for a totally separate debate for another time).

The trailers made it seem that Kairi was going to be part of the final battle. Now that part wasn’t a lie, but they clearly only gave her the spotlight for a couple of scenes, she’s a party member for the first part of the battle and then that’s it. We don’t even have her throughout the ENTIRE battle. She’s just cast away, because PLOT!

Utter. Bull.  

But another thing that really degraded her character as a whole is the lack of personality.

Kairi used to be a snarky and sarcastic character in KH1. And I really enjoyed what kind of character she used to be during my second play through.

(Though I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t have any attachments to any of the character -not including Disney exclusive characters- in my first playthrough until later on in the story. Riku was the only one I was more intrigued about).

Back to Kairi, even with the few seconds she was in, she had something that made her feel like fleshed out character. Not by much, but there was something. And all of that was nearly taken away in KH2, now some of you are probably ready to argue that KH2 was her best version. I’m incline to disagree, now while Kairi was mostly asleep in KH1, she had more personality in the first game compared to the second. Because in the second game, she becomes less sarcastic and more bold when it came around action.

This is where I feel Kairi started to fall as a character and more as a plot device. Because as we all know it, she get’s captured. At least in the first game she had purpose and a reason to be there.

In KH2 she had absolutely no reason to be there.

As much as I hate to say this. Her character direction fails in the second installment, because the only time she’s relevant (not including Naminé) is the Roxas telepathy conversation and the bottle scene. After that, the only way to keep her in there is by having. Her. Get. Captured. 

She’s ‘the fire’ that keeps Sora going. And at that point she’s only there as a plot device for Sora. Who he himself wouldn’t be relevant either had it not been for the Keyblade and for Roxas. But since he’s the playable character he’s obviously important. But… the same can’t be said for our Princess of Heart. While they managed to keep something in for Kairi in the second game, it was completely tossed out entirely in KH3. Honestly, the only thing I got from her is that she's heavily infatuated/in love with Sora (which isn't a bad thing, it's just that’s ALL her character had to offer in the third installment). And just in general I think her development went in the wrong way.

So we finally get to the title of the rant.

I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me and that's fine. Since we all have the right to our opinion, and to disagree and agree.

But I think she didn't need to have a Keyblade.

Or at least in the way how the writers decided to give it to her.

Reason I say that? She didn't even EARN her Keyblade. Yeah, I said it. 

She didn’t earn it, Riku gave it to her like a gift card. Like: here, it's yours. (It’s pink. So I don’t want it. It matches your clothes though).

That’s it.

They just handed her a Keyblade. That it. She didn’t even have to WORK FOR IT. (Not even a joke since the franchise is handing those things like lollipops) Now. If they had allowed her to manifest it. I dunno, actually EARN it, like how Sora and Roxas did. (Heck, even Riku got it, off screen, but he still got his). And addressing the Wayfinder’s Keyblades, it’s pretty obvious since they were training to be masters at the time. And don’t even get me started on Union X and Ven.

But Kairi was just given the damn thing like a kid given candy. Not through some rigorous trial of heart, mind or soul. Not through battling. No. Just handed one. 

I mean yeah sure you could argue her coming to another world could work for her favor, after all she traveled from one world to another. Being brave to help out Sora despite being in danger herself. But again, she’s just given the Keyblade by Riku. Not by her own power. She’s just gifted THE DAMN THING!!!!

I’m sorry. But I don’t think that’s how KEYBLADES WORK!

Look at Axel/Lea! He manifested the Keyblade in his hand! Sora’s appeared to him at first, but then he earned it after showing that his heart is strong and his power is through friendship. 

Roxas earned Kingdom Key through Sora, but later he earned his own Keyblades after his strong promises and from battling. One from defeating Xion and the other from the sworn promises.

And it’s no doubt Riku got his from all the hard work of fighting the darkness and helping Sora in his journey. 

But Kairi. Didn’t.  This pisses me off.

Honestly... at this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised that the writers (actually I think I want to blame Nomura for this) don’t like Kairi. If they don’t even bother to put any effort in making Kairi a fighter. Why on earth did they have to give her a Keyblade?  

Again. If they allowed her to manifest it, or let her go through a small trial of some sort like everyone else, or test the power of her heart then I wouldn’t be arguing this topic.

I’m not saying it’s intently bad that they gave her a key. I’m saying the way how they did is simply lazy writing and makes Kairi look useless.

Because of her Keyblade, I think that’s the reason why a lot of people wanted her to fight. And honestly, I feel that was the wrong direction to grow her character.

I can name a good number of cartoon, game and anime characters who don't have ANY fighting experience but are still amazing characters.

And I think that’s a problem in pop culture in general. What most fans of any series don't realize, is that well-written female characters aren't just those who kick butt and shoot stuff.

They don't have to be a badass to be a good character!

And I think that's what really screwed Kairi over in the end. (That and what Nomura did to her). But the moment they decided to give her a Keyblade to fight, it really tipped her off badly.

So going back to the trailers, since I clearly forgot to remind myself, the trailers really made it look like Kairi was finally going to be able to help in physical part of the battle.

They emphasizing so much on her training, that it made it seem like Kairi was going to be a stronger character "physically.” But… once the game was released, there wasn't anything to back it up all that “training.” In fact we didn‘t even get to see her and Axel train at all.

And to me that was a shallow move. The only thing the trailers served was a cheap extension to encourage people to buy the game. I think they tried really hard to sell the game by releasing too many trailers too early in the year that not only spoiled the story, but made fans wait even longer for a game that didn't even feel complete.

All that’s left is the Re:Mind trailer. (Edit ReMind fixed her character. About DAMN TIME!)

But that's just my opinion, if you don't agree with me, that's fine I respect your opinion. I don't mind at all Kairi having a Keyblade or learning how to fight. But I don't think that's what she needed in order to be a good character. She really needs a fleshed out personality and some interests/hobbies outside of simply being in love with Sora.

No hate to Sokai ship. It's a good couple, just... was poorly executed in cannon. Fandom works have better stories and delve into the relationship and characters (better than Nomura ever could write) I'm sorry. But I'm still bitter to what he thought would be a good thing to add in KH3 especially after how many years fans waited the game's release.

*I know there are other reasons as to why Kairi looks and is treated as a bad character. But her poor development discussion has been overdone so many times that it’s practically common knowledge for any Kingdom Hearts fan.   But again that's me.

I really needed to get that out of my system.

[thirteenthspirit]

Not a Very ‘Organized’ Organization (XIII)

I thought hard about this week’s topic of choice. Brexit was on my mind - I pondered about doing a comparison between parliament’s never-ending struggle with delays and failed agreements, vs Harvest Moon’s unending gameplay, farming and shipping and eventually marrying and digging in the mines and COLLECTING ALL THE DAMN SPRITES in that DS one. But that’s as far as it goes… I didn’t think I’d be able to milk it like those cows (hey!).

Speaking of Hey, I still want to get Space Channel 5 in there somewhere, those Chu’s and Hey’s have been on my mind like crazy…

So I settled on writing about one of my favorite topics – Organization XIII!

Organization XIII was always one of my favorite parts of the Kingdom Hearts series. They are cool and mysterious and (debatably) heartless, ranging everywhere from the mute heavyweight champions (*cough* Lexaeus *cough*) to the twink rockstar wannabes.

So, Organization XII is, like the name implies, a group of 13 nobodies – wait, scratch that – a group of 14 nobodies (eyeroll) who have banded together to… um… depends on who you ask. And in which game. Their primary goal was to be whole, to be granted a heart/soul, even if practically EVERY ONE OF THEM had a different agenda and there was a whole underlying separate reason for the creation of the Organization. NO WORRIES, let’s stick with that, because it’s more fun.

Ok so, breaking down the members, should we go by number? Order of appearance? Relevance? Element of choice? Maybe click (you know, high school clichés)?

Well – first you have the Mains. Roxas (no. XIII), is the counterpart of Sora, the main character in the whole series. So you know he’s gotta be pretty high on the list. The most interesting thing about Roxas is surprisingly NOT that he’s voice by Jesse McCartney, but the duality of elements he controls. Light and Darkness are everywhere with this guy – his outfit has chess squares on it and he wields both Oathkeeper and Oblivion, not to mention having an incredibly sad and traumatic origin story! He’s like, a slightly smarter and moodier Sora. I like Roxas, I’m sad they didn’t give him anything to do in KH3. Dual-wielding keyblades is pretty awesome and his light attacks can hit pretty hard. One of my favorite moments of the series will always be his fight with Riku in the secret ending of KH1, over 10 years ago! Seeing Roxas clash with Riku in mid-air in front of that clock tower (not to be confused with the one from Neverland – I mean England) really made my heart race as a kid. He can also boast to having shared quite a couple of awesome struggles (go Vivi), with Sora in that “Station of Awakening” place where Destati usually plays, and then with both his best friends - while trying not to be kidnapped by his “Flurry of Dancing Flames”, best friend Axel, and when dispatching Xion.

Xion (no. XIV) is a “puppet”, made to take over Roxas’s place and role in the Organization, should anything happen. She is an interesting character, tragedy befalls her and her journey with coming to the realization that she must sacrifice herself for Sora’s behalf (in order for him to become whole again) is a beautiful one to see. Vector to the Heavens plays when you’re fighting Xion for the last time, ending with Roxas effectively killing her and is a beautifully crafted piece. Xion suffers a bit from that ‘unintentional retcon’ where she didn’t really have a place, story-wise, and was created solely for 358/2 Days. So she was effectively written-out of the main storyline until the later games, with every character practically forgetting about her (literally losing their memories of her).

Rounding out the trio is one of everyone’s favorites – bad-guy good-guy Axel (no. VIII). Axel’s portrayal changed throughout the series. In CoM, he is responsible for unmasking a conspiracy and dispatching rogue members of the organization. He is the de-facto assassin. With not a hint of remorse. As his friendship with Xion and Roxas builds, he regains access to some degree of emotion – perhaps it’s caused by the (stick with me on this one) Lea-Ventus-Sora-Roxas-Axel connection, or perhaps he grows a heart, sitting on that clock tower overlooking the (ALWAYS SETTING) sun of Twilight Town and eating sea-salt ice cream. Eventually he turns on the organization, proving his loyalty is to his friends and even joins the main cast as a Keyblade wielder, turning the tides on some occasions (he really makes the end of DDD worth it). It helps that he has a wicked-cool design. His element is Fire and he wields twin Chakrams, boasting two tear tattoos and incredibly spiky hair. His relationship with Kairi is a cute element to the story, I wish (aside from some more combat or like ANY AT ALL) they had more scenes together and overall relevance to the main storyline. My favorite moment, aside from him rescuing Sora from his peers in DDD, has to be when he executes Vexen in Castle Oblivion.

From Axel, the most closely linked member, aside from Roxas and Xion, is SaÏx (no. VII). SaÏx is a warewolf. The moon sends him into a trance and he is often plagued with anger management issues. Berserk is his Nirvana. Him and Axel go way back and there is still a storyline to be uncovered there, judging from the secret reports found in KH3. In the end, his motivations aren’t really clear and fully explored, so his presence is not much more than Axel’s right arm, who happens to have a big “X” scar on his face. Sorry SaÏx – maybe see a therapist. At least you got a happy ending! SaÏx was one of the last Organization members to fall, in KH2. One of the last defenders of the Castle in (one my my all-time favorite KH worlds), The World That Never Was.

Another of the final defenders and members of the Organization to be vanquished at Sora’s had is – *drumroll* arguably MY FAVORITE OF THEM ALL, the incredibly hot and suave Luxord (no. X). Now – this guy is blonde. Has facial hair. Earrings. A British accent (maybe that’s just in my mind) and makes me look up his voice actor just to drool over that sweet sweet voice. He is the “Gambler of Fate” and shows up in the POTC world to basically taunt you and play a few games. Everything’s a game to this guy, even fighting. Which I can’t say he is great at… For someone able to control the element of Time, he’s kind of a pushover. But he’s still got a place in my heart – and maybe we’ll get to see him again, since he was the one who gave Sora that “wild card”… “Parlay!” more like “Let’s play strip poker pls”.

Who next… well let’s round out the oddballs with this guy. Ladies and gents, fans of the underground metal, garage bands and mohawks – I give you… Demyx (no. IX)! The Melodious Nocturne! …although there is nothing ‘nocturnal’ about him. This guy irradiates happiness and excitement and joy. I suppose he is just pretending, since Nobodies can’t really feel, rather they remember what it was like. Dem-dem too is a fan favorite. He is very young and has a different disposition than the rest of the members, he’s just your lazy, average Joe that just wants to spend his days jamming out on his Sitar. He is the first Organization member to fall in KH2, and is considered “not much of a fighter”. I would obviously disagree with this BECAUSE DANCE WATER DANCE MOTHERF***** is hell. Hell! Still, Dem-dem brings some lightheartedness to the game and the entire group, so he is a welcome addition. He is shunned even in KH3 but that’s just a side note of his… personality traits, I suppose. Never forget when he ‘drops the act’ just before turning on Sora, before what would be his final battle. Demyx controls the element of Water.

And since when it rains, it pours; and when it pours, usually it thunders (at least here in Portugal), that seems like a decently-crafted segway to the next member – Larxene (no. XII). Larxene is… a bitch. I don’t say that lightheartedly, I consider myself a feminist and I never forget that quote “when a man is assertive, he’s called a Boss. When a woman is assertive, she’s called a bitch.” But Larxene is just MEAN. She’s the mean girl of the bunch – together with her GBF Marluxia. Larxene poses some of the hardest fights in CoM but sadly, and like most female characters in this series, she’s shunned in favor of other members. This is a critic I have with the entire KH series – Aqua is virtually my favorite character but she’s really the only female character that is given storyline, relevance and overall strength. And like most fans I was DYING to see Kairi kick ass in KH3, but… we all know how that went. Not much to say about Larxene, her lightning-fast attacks and knives give her a pretty sharp demeanor and she’s not afraid to play every trick to her advantage. Standout moment is, unfortunately, her demise in CoM, fading into darkness. Oh and that laugh.

Larxene’s ‘somebody’ appears in KH: Unchained, together with Marluxia’s somebody. Marluxia (no. XI) controls the attribute of Flowers.

Yes.

Flowers.

He also boasts pink hair and – the best part – a huge pink scythe. His nickname is “The Graceful Assassin” but aside from plotting to overthrow the Organization and posing as the main antagonist in CoM, he doesn’t really do a lot of killing. The fights against him in KH2: Final Mix are among my favorites, especially with that countdown as he swings about the field. It seems he has quite a role in the Mobile game, so maybe we’ll get to see more of his backstory in the future. His final parting words were somewhat mysterious. Together with Larxene and a sneaky Axel, Marluxia betrays the Organization and his fellow members in Castle Oblivion, for his own agenda.

The assignment to Castle Oblivion introduces us to 3 other members of the organization – Vexen (no. IV), Lexaeus (no. V) and Zexion (no. VI). And 3 character tropes. The mad scientist, the jock, and the emo kid.

Vexen, aka “The Chilly Academic”, controls my favorite element, Ice. He is, ironically, killed by Axel in a flurry of flames, in a very dramatic moment in CoM. Vexen merely wants to conduct his experiments in peace – he doesn’t care who rules, what happens to the worlds, even who might or not be possessing him. He only cares about his “Replica” program. The Replica program consists on the creation of “puppets”, bodies able to function who are only missing a heart. He plays quite the role in KH3, effectively redeeming himself. Vexen is one of the creepiest characters around – he has long blond hair and green eyes, but really that ‘mad scientist’ vibe is all that transpires. Shout-out to his English voice actor, Derek Stephen Prince, for giving him a creepy vibe. He’s not much of a fighter, with his weapon of choice being an icy shield called “Frozen Pride”.

Zexion is one of the younger members of the Organization – perhaps even younger than Demyx. He is also arguably one of the smartest. Like Vexen, he cares mostly about his research and specific topics of interest *cough* Riku *cough*. However, his young demeanor reflects some innocence – he is the only member you don’t fight against in CoM, ending up murdered at the hands of Axel (with a little help from a Replica…). I really like Zexion, to battle he wields a book (the Lexicon) and would rather dazzle the opponents with some crafted illusions than hit them hard. He is one of the most prominent figures in KH3 and his reunion with his Master, Ansem the Wise, is very touching and reveals once again his innocence. He is often accompanied by Lexaeus, who is essentially a shadow of Zexion, a silent guardian to the smaller member. It is suggested he has been protecting Zexion since the latter was a small child.

Lexaeus fights Riku at one point, effectively forcing Riku to unleash the darkness in his heart just to defeat him. The Organization member is a towering figure and barely ever talks – he is just muscle, but emanates a safe and caring feel outwards, especially in his interactions with Zexion. To battle he wields a huge hammer-like weapon (which totally reminds me of Rikku’s weapons from FFX) called the Skysplitter and commands the element of Earth.

These 3 members are one half of the initial 6 apprentices, who formed the Organization. These founding members all worked together under the tutelage of Ansem the Wise and range from the scientists like Vexen and Zexion to the guardians like Lexaeus and Xaldin.

Xaldin (no. III) is very much… wasted. His virtually only appearance is in KH2, in his vain attempts to turn The Beast into a heartless. His most evident feature is his sideburns. Xaldin’s sideburns are thick, dark and intimidating. He also wields a lot of lances – like, more than 3, which he uses his wind powers to attack you with. He has a really cool attack where he forms a dragon out of wind and blows you to pieces with. Other than another “werewolf” look, that’s pretty much it. Mickey to the rescue!

Then we get to Xigbar (no. II). Xigbar, or Braig, or Luxu, OR ONE-EYED PIRATE, I’m not sure there is much of a difference, became a usual presence throughout the series. Apparently he’s been around for a loooooong time, ever since the forgotten time of the mobile game. He is a cool dude. His “As If” will go down as a pretty cool quote. Xigbar’s nickname is The Sharpshooter and he immediately stands out from the bunch. We are still unaware of his agenda and interests, not knowing to what extent he is controlled or, rather, he is controlling the narrative. He is overall an awesome character, essentially sniping you from afar with his stylish gun-like weapons. He even fakes his own death in KH3! In what is one of the best moments from the final act. His interactions with the rest of the Organization are always funny to watch, especially with his on-and-off younger lover, Demyx. The standout moment against him is undoubtedly that moment during his fight where he corners you and forces you to run around trying to avoid the millions of blue bullets being aimed at you. One of the best members overall.

And then there was I. Mr. Xemnas (no. I) aka “The Superior of the In-Between” (seriously bro, that’s the nickname you’re gonna pick?) aka “MANSEX” among the fans, aka “Xehanort’s nobody”. He is the man behind the Organization, the one really pulling all the strings. I’m gonna skip the part behind his motivations, they’re murky and the writers decide to change them between games, and I’ll get right down to the cool bits – THE SWORDS. Yes, Xemnas wields two red lightsabers. No, he is not Darth Maul, just a fan. He is calm and has a raspy voice, never really getting too flattered (that one’s yours, Axel). The coolest interaction with Xemnas is the final battle against him. Besides his black and white coat, he eventually summons a plethora of red projectiles which surround Sora and Riku, as they (in a very realistic, grounded and believable moment), deflectem with their respective keyblades. Xemnas ends up falling a bit short when compared with Ansem, Seeker of Darkness… He was just never that menacing of a villain, especially with his always calm behavior.

And that’s it. That’s the full list of the organization members. This turned out to be more of an exposé on each of the members, than anything else. I thought about trying to find real-life personalities to match each of the members, but eventually came up short on that. Organization XIII’s struggle to “be whole” and regain the part of their humanity they had lost – their soul, the ability to feel, always struck me as a really interesting motivation. For quite some time, the idea that you could shed the part of you that is able to “feel” struck me as something good, something to be envious of. I was, of course, wrong – even the dark feelings within us are what gives us the ability to connect and empathize with others.

So be sure to deflect those projectiles, and someone PLEASE give my number to Luxord,

                                                                                               -João A. (Pachiren)  

[zdbztumble]

So About That Roxas…

Well, it’s that time - time to invite unholy disdain upon myself for my blasphemous views on fan favorite Roxas!

OK, that’s an exaggeration. I don’t know how unpopular what I’m about to say really is. And to make this perfectly clear up-front - I don’t dislike Roxas. I think he’s a fine character, and his (very) long prologue is one of the strongest parts of KH II. But I do find Roxas more valuable and compelling in how he relates to other characters, and in the fact that he is an aspect of Sora, than in his own right. All on his own, I don’t find Roxas to be particularly active or interesting.

And that isn’t a flaw. Given what Nobodies are (prior to DDD, at least), I would expect that from Roxas. Almost every member of Organization XIII isn’t terribly dynamic or dimensional on their own merits - their personalities are one-note (if that), which can be by turns tragic, obnoxious, or an effective foil for the protagonists. When Roxas draws jealousy from Hayner, general confusion from his friend group, some amount of pathos from Axel, mixed emotions from Riku and disdain from DiZ, and attraction from Namine, he’s a great example of the latter. I never find him obnoxious, and when he is on his own, there is a sense of tragedy with him. Because while Roxas may have agency, and does display a curiosity - almost an obsession, after a while - with gaining answers for the strange things happening to him, he’s ultimately empty. None of his joys, none of his curiosity - and not even his rages and despairs - last. He ends up defaulting, always, into a quiet, resigned, and hollow state, and he doesn’t seem happy about that. 

This is true of the Twilight Town prologue, at least. In the brief flashbacks we’re given in KH II, and at the beginning of the Sora/Roxas fight, a different Roxas appears. He’s still empty at the core, but his front to the world is crueler, dismissive even of the words of his supposed best friend Axel, and predatory. We learn later in the game that DiZ altered Roxas’s personality when he dropped him into the digital Twilight Town, and it’s not hard to see why. Even with the altered personality, the strongest display of feeling Roxas can manage is anger. It’s only when Roxas confronts Sora, accepts him as “a good other,” and fully rejoins with him, that Roxas appears genuinely happy and alive in KH II.

But I do have problems with how Roxas is used, in KH II and especially in 358/2 Days. To start with II - there are some pretty big missed opportunities. Roxas was a member of Organization XIII, presumably working toward their goals (to go just on what we see in KH II), and every member of the Organization who sees Sora recognizes Roxas within him. Wouldn’t it have been nice to have someone else do the same? If, when visiting one of the Disney worlds that Sora hasn’t been to before, there was a character who had a negative encounter with Roxas, and therefore fears Sora and the Keyblade?

The lack of any such scene speaks to a larger problem with Roxas in KH II: his limited relevance once the prologue ends. He does come up here and there throughout the play time, which I do appreciate, but he doesn’t really have an impact on Sora before their clash other than as a source of mild confusion. Sora’s reactions to being called by Roxas’s name never progress much past “huh? Cut that out!” and he has no real reaction to learning that his own Nobody was a member of Organization XIII. Had Roxas’s activities over the past year created a negative consequence that Sora had to deal with, that might have invited some internal conflict within Sora’s heart, culminating in a much more emotionally charged clash with Organizers like Xibar and Saix. Hell, even without such a scene, the knowledge that a part of him was a member of the bad guys could have, and should have, made Sora feel at least a little upset. That’s not to say that the absence of such a mini-arc is a dealbreaker for KH II; what we did get works well enough. But, much like Roxas himself, something seems to be missing.

A future game might have been able to address this issue...had it not been for 358/2 Days.

This isn’t a revisit of Days; I can’t very well revisit a game I only ever played the first few minutes of, years ago, before losing touch with the friend who had the DS card for it. You’ll get no views of the gameplay here. But I am familiar with Days; I’ve read the breakdowns, researched its writing, and watched the movie multiple times. And I gotta tell ya - I know the game has its fans, and it may have some strengths and concepts missing from other titles, but I really don’t care for its story. And that has a lot to do with how it mishandles Roxas.

I’ll start with a caveat - I am not the audience for Days. At no point while playing KH II did I ever want to know any more about Roxas or the Organization than that game saw fit to reveal. What we got was enough for them to work as the villains in that story, and that’s all I ever needed them to be. This was always going to be an easy title for me to skip, or at least not take any real interest in. But that’s a matter of taste. Plenty of people take more interest in the backstories of Roxas and the Organization than I do, and this was perfectly acceptable as a subject for a midquel game. But the execution, IMO, is a complete mess. It ignores or retcons several of the snippets we get about the Organization in KH II, to poor effect, and fails to expand on any of the villainous Organizers in a way that might turn them from one-note video game bosses and elements of a hive mind into fleshed-out characters. Axel is given several coats of whitewash, and his history with Saix lacks any resonance when Saix is left as such a hollow villain. There’s no playing alongside Disney characters in a game so given over to original KH lore, and that lore is rewritten in ways I don’t like. The trends of mystery for its own sake and teasing histories and future events at the expense of the story at hand continue, the same few points of lore and logistics are over-stressed, and the dialogue and voice acting just isn’t good (and can anyone tell me why they re-dubbed Christopher Lee in the HD movie version? I mean...it’s Christopher Lee!)

But as I said, the real problem is with Roxas. For a character meant to be the protagonist, Roxas cedes a lot of narrative real estate to new character Xion. Like Days itself, I know Xion has fans - ardent fans. I can’t argue with that, nor would I want to; you can like what you like, and I won’t assess and critique her as a character here. But all I can say about Xion is that, as a writer, she strikes me as redundant. A member of Organization XIII, unusually lacking in knowledge about their life beforehand, wielding the Keyblade, inducted into the Organization within this game, derived from Sora through unusual means, with a connection to Kairi and whose existence arrests Sora’s full restoration from the events of CoM; setting her character aside, Xion’s narrative function is exactly what Roxas’s was established to be by KH II.

One could say that the game makes a point of this, turning it into an orchestrated conflict between the two by Xemnas, but practically speaking, this means that Roxas spends a key chunk of the story displaced. He becomes a friend on the sidelines as the real meat of the story concerns a character who, from the very beginning, anyone who played KH II would know isn’t going to matter past this game. This ends up making Xion more important, and more interesting, than Roxas within Days itself. But almost everything that Xion goes through could have easily been given to him by dint of what we see in KH II. That Sora’s restoration is upset because his memories of Kairi are being absorbed into another being would have been especially appropriate for Roxas, since Kairi’s very name is always fractured in the restoration process during II’s prologue at first, and the process itself is at such a low number despite a year having passed until Roxas is in DiZ’s hands. Those character elements unique to Xion herself, and the conflict between her and Roxas engineered by Xemnas, aren’t enough to justify her presence in the larger KH story IMO, and end up confusing elements of the lore (replicas, memories, etc.) If she had been cut, and those aspects of her story relating to Sora’s restoration given to Roxas, the story and lore integrity would’ve been better for it.

But that wouldn’t have solved everything wrong with Roxas in Days. Let’s look back at what KH II shows us of a pre-DiZ Roxas again. A cold and predatory figure; the Dusks who first come for him in Twilight Town address him as their “liege,” implying that they served him the way other Nobodies serve the Organizers; the Organizers themselves seem to have been quite close to Roxas, taking his betrayal hard and referring to him as “brother.” And Organization XIII, as we see it in KH II vanilla, is a collective, with no real secret about its motives within the ranks - that motive being, in so many words, to let the remaining Heartless continue their genocide across the worlds just so that they can swoop in with the Keyblade, harvest the captive hearts, and offer them up to their Kingdom Hearts in a mad bid to gain hearts of their own.

So why is Roxas so innocent in Days?

That cold exterior, the flashes of temper - that’s not what we get from Roxas here. What we get is a blank slate who becomes a puppy as he strikes up a buddy-buddy relationship with Axel, and who later performs the same function for Xion. He talks about fighting the darkness and asks hopefully if he’s performing “good” deeds. His interactions with his friends show him to be cheerful and open. The Samurai are supposedly under his command, but that’s a detail relegated to the reports. His relationships with anyone in the Organization other than Axel and Xion don’t even warrant scenes in the movie, and nothing suggests that they would deem him “brother;” Saix and Xemnas regard him as no more than a tool . And even though he’s destroying Heartless with the Keyblade, and those hearts are becoming part of the Organization’s Kingdom Hearts...somehow this is a point he needs explained several times? And he and Xion openly doubt why they need hearts at all - a point presented as one to be sympathetic toward, despite everything from KH II and a good chunk of this very game stressing that it is in fact a problem that Nobodies lack hearts?

This is not what was indicated in KH II. What’s worse, it’s boring. A far more effective choice IMO would have been to let Roxas be villainous. Go the dark protagonist route; give us a cold hunter of a character, with the impulsive anger and fractured psyche Sora showed in CoM, fully aware of what the Organization is up to and the price that others will pay for it and still committed to the cause. Then, when the events of CoM play out in the background, and fragments of Sora’s memories find their way to Roxas (assuming we still cut Xion in this scenario), that’s the turning point. That’s when Roxas can doubt the Organization’s cause, when he can begin to question his lack of memories and his true identity, and betray the Organization by setting out to find Sora. Give him two separate fights with Riku, to justify the dialogue claiming such in KH II. Let him develop some awareness of Namine after he gets Sora’s memories; Namine’s dialogue in KH II indicates that they’ve never met before, but a connection at a distance could serve to give more substance to their relationship, and supply Namine with opportunities to develop as a character. Depict the scenes where she first comes into contact with DiZ and Riku, agrees to take on their help in restoring Sora’s memories, and feels conflicted about the moral gray area their harsh but necessary actions occupy. Let her be ultimately responsible for setting Riku on the right trail that ends up bringing Roxas into their hands.

Of course, one reason why they may have opted not to do this is because having a dark protagonist complicit in an evil scheme involving the deaths of countless people may have been difficult to pull off while still earning an E10 rating at most. And honestly, the story told by Days doesn’t strike me as  necessarily the best fit for a video game even as-is. They might have been better off with planning it as a proper movie from the get-go, instead of a string of cutscenes divorced from the gameplay as they ultimately presented it in the HD collections.

And another objection to this approach might have been that a villainous Roxas and morally ambiguous Namine might have been less “likable,” and therefore less usable in future titles. To that I say - so what? I didn’t want Roxas and Namine as characters in any titles past KH II anyway - not because they were bad characters, or because I didn’t like them, but because their stories concluded. Concluded on terms they chose, and were at peace with. It was tinged with a bittersweet quality, but they did get a “happy” ending. If a midquel story complicated their morality, that wouldn’t negate the events of KH II or the resolution they received; it would have created a journey to get them to that point, starting from a much darker place, and given more weight to the idea that it was necessary for them to rejoin with Sora and Kairi. I’d argue that would enrich what we see in KH II, whereas the actual route they took in titles like DDD and KH III disregards or undermines everything that made the ending of KH II work.

[bluerosesburnblue]

Considering Sora is gone I'm curious how his dissapearence will be handled the next games? Will one game be about our Key gang looking for Sora and getting him back before KH4? Will Sora still be lost and we'll play a Sora w/different party members in a different worldline (until Donald and Goofy reunite with him)? For all we know if the Sora retcon theory is true then we might have 1 whole pre kh4 game just about Kairi and the others remembering who Sora is (KH2 proved there's no way Kairi-

would ever forget Sora. She didn’t have proof of him being there like Riku, DIZ or Mickey did. No she kept focusing on that weird feeling until her heart remembered him on it’s own. I also believe Namine would recall Sora too thanks to her connection of memories to him) after a lot of there’s something missing. Where did Roxas, Xion and Namine come from again? Kairi who are you crying over? Then KH4 flips to Sora as everyone tries to reunite w/him. You know what. That’d be a awesome turn of -

events. Let the next saga be about everyone Sora’s sacrificed for busting their own butts to protect/save him. Get Kairi her man back (seriously Kairi’s warped reality itself for Sora. I’d be scared to mess with her)! Riku his other Bestie! Donald and Goofy their Keyblade son! Seriously I do feel like Sora’s in even more personal danger next saga. Sora’s got a weird connection to all this Chi/Cross stuff. MoM definitely knows Sora and he might even be in the same place now. X\

Regarding a game before KH4, Nomura did have this to say in his Ultimania interview:

—The fans would love to know what’s coming next in the KH series…

Nomura: No official projects have been decided, so I can’t say anything at this point. The current top priority for the KH series is the KH3 DLC, and we are also in the middle of preparing a large update for KH Union Cross. For the time being, I do have two ideas for future developments, and there’s another special project I have to think about. I hope to be able to tighten these up into two future titles. Also, there are things that need to be depicted before KH4 can be made, so I am also considering the possibility of doing another title in between. So that we can move on past the Dark Seeker Saga, I hope for the support of the fans of the KH series.

So one or both of those scenarios is likely! There’s apparently something big enough plot-wise that Nomura’s even considering a full game between KH3 and KH4 and Sora’s friends remembering and trying to save him could very well be it!

(Also, love how Nomura admits that while KH3 was supposed to be the end of the Dark Seeker Saga we’re still stuck with some holdovers that he’s trying to get rid of. Dude, if you spent more time tying them up and less time sequel baiting, this wouldn’t be a problem!)

And Sora being the main character is only a rule for numbered titles, so another game where he’s not the main protag? Very, very possible. I’d be down to see everyone try to save Sora! And it’s be kinda poetic if KH4 started with Sora being saved after KH3 ended with his disappearance and the “how” of it happened in a game in-between (like, that would actually be less jarring than how KH1 and KH2 line up if you exclude CoM) So yeah! This is an idea that I can get behind!

[oveliagirlhaditright]

So, I met another KH fan at my high school bestie’s wedding reception the other night.

And now I’m worried she was a super Kairi fan, and maybe I gave her the impression I didn’t like Kairi... when if you know me, that isn’t the case. At all.

But apparently she bought some sort of Kairi swimsuit, and showed me a picture of herself in it on the beach--after I asked if she knew Kingdom Hearts, and this was her answer to my question--to which I said something like, “I love Kairi, even if her writing isn’t always the greatest. I love her for her potential... that I really hope goes somewhere someday.”

At this point, I just assume I have to explain to people why I like Kairi to KH fans in real life, because otherwise they might be aghast (sadly), but maybe that’s not the right position to take?

That’s also why I didn’t list her as one of my favorites--and only listed Sora and Roxas--when really she is... and maybe even my number one favorite, tbh.

I then got talking about how in the scene where Lea cries when he sees Kairi because she reminds him of Xion... that as much as I love it, I hate that it’s no one really caring about Kairi herself (Lea, or Nomura), and that Nomura sees her as/treats Kairi more as a plot device than anything else. (This scene got brought up because my friend who was there was talking about how he loved this scene.)

It’s at this point I’m worried she thought I was a hater, or critiquing Kairi, rather than the rabid Kairi fan I am.

I didn’t think of any of this until after the fact... She said her favorite is Axel, and I believe her... but looking back at it, she has dyed red hair like Kairi and a Kairi swimsuit... maybe she really loves Kairi (though I do think Axel is her top favorite), and was afraid to say anything in case she stepped on my toes with it?

Hopefully my saying how I love Kairi and want her potential realized (and am annoyed when no one really takes a look at Kairi as a person, and her thoughts and feelings on things) said otherwise, but now I’m worried. Haha.

Oh, what a sad situation to be in... And how sad it is, that the fandom makes you be on the defensive about Kairi when really you want to sing her praises and your love for her.

[davidmann95]

Some Kingdom Hearts future thoughts

Have to get ‘em out! Went into some thoughts with my psuedo-review of III, but I’ve got others and stuff worth expanding on. I’ll put them under the cut since it clearly goes into spoilers, except for my boldest, most controversial guess: along with being announced either this year or next (since Kingdom Hearts has never reached the end of a calendar year after a release with nothing on the horizon) I think Kingdom Hearts IV is going to be a 2022 release. I recognize that sounds like an intensely generous timeframe, but I have several reasons:

1. Above all else by far: once again, Square Enix and Disney are going to be on Nomura’s ass, nose to the grindstone, to get him to start delivering these on a consistent basis again. Do you think they’re looking at Kingdom Hearts III topping sales charts and thinking “well, it sure was worth the wait”, or do you think they’re going “gosh, these are some nice sales, sure would be nice if it came out years ago and we had a bunch more similarly-selling titles by now, let’s try and aim for something closer to that in the future”. Especially-especially since Nomura and the actors aren’t getting any younger and the series is at a point where the core fanbase for the franchise as-is is going to be the primary target rather than new audiences, which means it has to wrap up in a timeframe where that’s still a viable market. So rapid, priority development and few if any more spinoffs. I mean, not as if there’s really a handheld platform for them to be on anymore.

2. My understanding (and this is going somewhat into the technical side of things, so I’m going thirdhand here based on what I’ve heard from others) is that the lifecycle of the current console generation isn’t going to run out for quite a bit yet, so they can reuse a lot of the assets and whatnot from III.

3. A big deal was made about Dream Drop Distance coming out on the 10th anniversary of the franchise, and given 20 is a much wilder number for this series than most equivalents when it’s about a single cast of characters going through a single story, I can’t imagine they won’t want to push that as at least a similarly big deal.

4. Finally, when things don’t go as catastrophically off the rails as III did, these games seem to have a fairly consistent 3-4 year development span (even III, once they announced the beginning of development in 2013, would have come out 2017-early 2018 if not for switching from Luminous to Unreal Engine), and for the reasons I listed above I think this is going to be on the speedier end of that.

* Firstly: the main discussion I’m seeing at this point regarding IV is “it’s gonna be a Kingdom Hearts/The World Ends With You/pseudo-Final Fantasy Versus XIII crossover!”, and I really expect and hope that isn’t the case. Not that I’ll be pissed if it is, I’m sure it would still be rad, but it strikes me as both unlikely and the lesser outcome. I don’t know that I see the powers that be diverting resources in one of their biggest cash cows towards a sequel to one of their minor games - one that’s already been in Kingdom Hearts, meaning its inclusion here wouldn’t reasonably be a huge enough deal to base a lot of the full story on - and a way to reimagine another project. And for that matter it strikes me as conceptually small-scale given the setup. Nomura went with a name in Yozora that doesn’t just have the bent meaning of Sora’s name but actually literally sounds like him, went with a setting that aside from the one cameo sign mainly screams to viewers “Sora’s suddenly in the real world, holy cow”, and unless I entirely misread it Verum Rex was presented as a total self-roast in Toy Box. It doesn’t strike me as spot-the-reference (even though that’s 100% in there) nearly so much as establishing a tonal contrast to Kingdom Hearts.

I joked initially about this being a Flash of Two Worlds! (linking to a description for non-comics readers who are here because I tagged Kingdom Hearts)/’Kingdom Hearts goes to war with its own gritty fanfic’ setup, but...I actually suspect that’s pretty close to what’s going on here? This seems like a send up of Final Fantasy’s relative self-seriousness and over the top Super Cool characters, as a contrast to Sora’s goofy open-hearted sincerity and optimism. It’s the Secret Movie aesthetic that some want not just more prominent but as the actual main tone of the series morphed into an entire universe all its own, and Sora, out of place, has to find his way through and back home even as the real threat mounts, and probably has to save this world and get through to its heroes who aren’t likely prone to grinning through off-the-cuff monologues about the heart. That is not only entirely my kind of ridiculous meta jam, it feels like a logical next step for the series: if the first trilogy was in part about growing up, the next (and I suspect last, as the Master of Masters and his Foretellers have been set up as the primordial antagonists of the entire mythology and this is where they’re coming to the fore; my old theory of Eraqus being the big bad of an intermediary trilogy looks solidly shot to hell) could very well be about reaching adulthood, in which case it makes sense Sora would have to pass through a near literal fire of Adolescent/Adult Cynicism.

* Speaking of where Sora ends up: I kinda doubt he’s literally dead, or that if he is it’ll last past the opening of the game. They’ve already made a big theatrical production of Sora dying twice now, the second time in the most literal way possible and just a few hours prior to this, so while third time’s the charm I think there’ll be more to it than that. The again common thing I’ve been seeing is that he’ll have to play the Reaper game to win his life back (not something I’m much familiar with but I think I’ve got the basics), but again, while it’ll certainly be part of the game I don’t think TWEWY is going to be the big thing here (like they’d really make that a bigger deal than the Final Fantasy elements have been), and he just dealt with the afterlife and had to essentially play a game to win his soul back, and this wouldn’t even be a game he’s unfamiliar with. My impression is he’s incorporated back and whole - if likely powered down from the ordeal to justify him being back at level one - and the mystery is less whether or not he’s truly alive so much as how he ended up here and how to get back.

* On the other end of things - and I realize it’s a risky prospect to suggest after her getting a shockingly small role compared to everyone else in III was the damning weak aspect of its otherwise basically perfect finale - I think this is where Kairi is actually going to start to come to the forefront. She and Riku would be at the head of a search that everyone would be a part of (they were there when it happened, they know death is negotiable in their world, and they’re good people who all owe him), her especially since he’s her boyfriend - they may not declare it outright but there’s clearly no ambiguity between the two of them as to their situation anymore - and the one he sacrificed himself for, and she’s out there fighting now even if she’s inexperienced. And Riku seems like he’s going to end up lost himself on the search, leaving her behind as the sole Destiny Trio representative. So even if she isn’t a playable co-lead I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the one going on a more traditional Kingdom Hearts adventure searching with the rest while Sora and later Riku deal with the genre mindfuck. On the bright side if nothing else, she’s died twice now too and they’ve both been presented as dead in a “maybe this time for real” way for a finale, so while again third time’s the charm, I figure she and Sora are relatively bulletproof from here on out.

* Speaking of Riku, while this seems more like an old-school proof of concept trailer from I and II rather than the more recent actual scenes, meaning his appearance might well change just as Kairi was different in I’s Secret Movie than she really was in II, it’s very notable that he hasn’t aged at all. So likely instead of another tragic I to II scale timeskip of Sora being lost from his friends, it looks like IV will be picking up immediately and the search for him won’t take long to succeed. Also speaking of Riku, I seem to see people thinking he’s with Namine now? Not that that seems impossible, but while the scene as a whole is romanticized in that it’s basically a princess being carried away by chariot to her happily-ever-after, it reads to me less as an actual romance than Riku fulfilling his ‘brother’s promise. Though if Square/Nomura does want to really get into romance with the next trilogy, since Sora/Kairi is locked down maybe they’ll just say fuck it and do a whole Riku/Namine/Xion/Roxas Love Square situation.

* Actual prediction rather than analysis of evidence: I suspect this is the last major time the Destiny Trio is going to be split up, at least in the searching-for-each-other, not-knowing-if-everyone’s-alive sense. I was the search for Kairi, II for Riku, and now IV for Sora - that cycle looks to be completing. Wouldn’t be surprised if V and/or the finale was finally the three of them as the adventuring party as fans have wanted for so long, with III as the grand finale to Sora/Donald/Goofy.

* It seems early to predict the main villain, but at the same time everyone was accurate in assuming a Keyblade-wielding Xehanort would be the final boss of the trilogy circa 2006, so I’m gonna go ahead and say Xigbar/Luxu is gonna be the end-all with IV. The Master of Masters is still the end of the road, and perfect for it because he’s a real-world normal savvy guy who can manipulate this world of straightforward classical adventurers with ease, while Sora at the opposite end of the scale is silly and sweet even by that world’s standard. But Luxu addresses the same ideas in a way that’d be perfect for this game in particular as it seems to be set up, he’d be the villainous connective tissue as this game moves from one trilogy to another, and he has the dangling personal thread of the ‘reward’ he suggested was coming for Sora. Or hell, since now it looks like she’s at least somewhat privy to what’s going on, maybe Maleficent will finally step back up.

EDIT: Ooh, just remembered, speaking of what Xigbar says to Sora, his Olympus conversation also predicts Sora’s fate? The whole “if you leap in to save somebody, you might just end up in the clutch needing to be saved yourself” lecture, i.e. the premise for IV. Maybe his teach isn’t the only one privy to future events?

* Not both, they’ll wanna space it out, but I’m like 70% sure this is where Marvel or Star Wars are gonna happen.

* Finally, while I’ve heard speculation that the Mystery Star is one of the Foretellers or the person who died in that Union X game, I don’t think she’s one of them given it’s a new voice actor and she cites a name Sora knows. More likely she’s ‘Subject X’ (I went ahead and looked up the Secret Reports, haven’t gone back and done all the bonus challenges myself yet and won’t I imagine for some time), who does seem to be from that time but is I think someone new.

[matthew-niverse]

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days: Another Side, Another Story

What is this, Mrs. Rivera’s class? Don’t let the game’s mathematical title confuse you, the meaning behind it will be explained. Something else that will be explained is the backstory of Roxas, as mentioned in my previous blog post. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days was a DS game released in 2009 that was eventually remade into a movie in 2014. The game became rather popular due to the success of the DS as well as the success of Kingdom Hearts 2 which released previously. With solid -though tedious- gameplay and another emotional story, 358/2 Days was one of the better DS games.

4 years after KH2, fans were excited to hear the backstory of Roxas, who mysteriously took up the spotlight at the beginning of KH2. To repeat, Roxas is the Nobody of Sora, created when he sacrificed himself with Riku’s Keyblade of Hearts.

Once he materialized in Twilight Town, Xemnas finds him and gives him the name, “Roxas”. (“Sora” rearranged with an X, a common trait for Organization members) Namine, also created through Sora’s sacrifice, materializes in Castle Oblivion and is quickly found by Organization 13. 

Roxas, being the Nobody of Sora, has the ability to wield the Keyblade. Xemnas gives Axel the task of tutoring Roxas on missions and the two grow close. 

After missions they visit the Twilight Town Station Tower to share some Sea-Salt Ice Cream. Axel explains to Roxas how Nobodies are without hearts, and lack true emotions. Roxas appears to have more emotions than the other Nobodies do however.

Due to Roxas’s ability to wield the Keyblade, he is told to defeat Heartless with the Keyblade to release their hearts. He gains some of Sora’s memories as Sora loses them in Castle Oblivion. The Organization’s supposed goal is to gather many hearts together, creating their own artificial Kingdom Hearts.

Xemnas tells the Organization that if they can complete Kingdom Hearts, they can use its power to grant themselves the hearts that they are missing. Shortly after Roxas joins, a new member shows up. Number 14, Xion. 

Unbeknownst to Roxas, Xion is meant to be a replica of Roxas, created by Vexen as a fail-safe incase Roxas fails a mission. She is also absorbing Sora’s memories as he passes through Castle Oblivion. Xion, being an imperfect replica, has a different appearance depending on the perceptors relationship with her. 

Meanwhile, Axel and other Organization members are sent to Castle Oblivion where the events of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories takes place. Roxas goes on missions with Xion and finds out she too can wield the Keyblade, due to her connection to Sora.

Roxas has fragments of Sora’s memories due to Namine’s connection with him, so Xion takes off her hood to reveal a look similar to Kairi. Axel returns to the Organization’s castle from the Castle Oblivion drama and becomes friends with Xion, making the trio grow close.

Shortly after, Roxas begins to experience illusions of Sora’s memories in his mind as Sora is being restored by Namine.

He begins to question the Organization’s motives. Meanwhile, Xion runs into Riku, who tells her to find Sora and give him back his memories so he can wake up. 

Xion doesn’t want to leave her friends and returns to the Organization. However, Sora’s memories begin to absorb more into Xion than Roxas, making Roxas weaken. Upon seeing Roxas’s infirmity, Xion finds Riku and decides to go to Sora. Roxas notices Xion is missing, and confronts Axel.

Axel tells Roxas the truth about Xion’s futile existence. Roxas decides to look for Xion despite Axel’s warning that the Organization would destroy him for betrayal.

Xion finds Namine who tells her that she’ll disappear after returning Sora’s memories.

Xion agrees to this sacrifice but is interrupted when Axel finds her.

Axel brings Xion back and Xemnas reprograms her. Having absorbed so many of Sora’s memories, she takes on a new form, almost resembling Sora exactly.

Xion finds Roxas and tells him that they must return to Sora.

She tricks Roxas into a battle and forces him to defeat her in self defense. 

Roxas holds Xion as she fades, returning all the memories she absorbed to Sora.

She asks Roxas to stop Xemnas’s plan and free Kingdom Hearts, expressing for his and Axel’s friendship, before completely disappearing.

This is the iconic scene that made many fans of the series pass out crying. The soundtrack of this game is truly beautiful and Xion’s theme song gives you so much emotion.

After witnessing Xion’s tragic fate, Roxas runs into Riku while on his way back to the Organization and the two battle. Xion’s lingering spirit tells Riku to stop Roxas, as she feels he’s not ready to face Xemnas.

Roxas nearly defeats Riku, but he removes his blindfold to tap into the darkness in his heart and transforms into a new form that resembles Ansem.

Riku easily defeats Roxas so he and DiZ can capture him to bring the last of Sora’s memories back.

To hide Roxas from the Organization, Diz digitizes Roxas and puts him in a digital Twilight Town after wiping his memories, leading into the events of Kingdom Hearts 2. What a ride Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days was. Despite having rather tedious gameplay with the numerous missions, the story of 358/2 Days really hits you in the heart.

Oh right! 358/2 Days represents the 358 days that the story takes place in, and the fact that Sora’s memories are being split between Roxas and Xion. It essentially means 358 Days over the perspective of 2 people! Tetsuya Nomura is always rather cryptic with the way he writes stories. This makes Kingdom Hearts such an interesting series! There’s so much plot to dig into that even a little side game like 358/2 Days has so much meaning and emotional weight to it. 

[key2destne]

idk what ships heather sent you before but I'm not giving you numbers as much as just saying "either pick ten question per ship yourself or use a randomizer" so you can still have different questions even if there's doubles so yeah. Cafe Trio, Ray/Sera, Garrett/Dashy, Sora/Kairi/Riku

I love answering for a ship more than once~ owo

Cafe OT3:

49. Who is the driver/ Who is the passenger? Kat knows how to drive, but Chris doesn’t and so Dorothy’s the designated driver 24/7. XD

28. Who is the book worm? Kat, 100% Kat, you can’t tell me otherwise. XP Chris probably reads a lot too, and so does Dorothy, but Kat reads the most.

16. Who is scared of thunderstorms? Chris is scared every time, just because of what happened during that one storm… so the other two hug him tightly.

50. Who is the hopeless romantic? Chris. He makes paintings of the girls 24/7 to show his love, that’s devotion. XD

22. Who goes all out for Valentine’s Day? Chris gets everyone’s help for his first Valentine’s Day and just makes a HUGE celebration in the cafe. Naturally Kat and Dorothy are touched~

25. Who wears the other ones clothes? Kat, she probably just occasionally grabs Chris and Dorothy’s clothes and makes a cuddle pile out of it when she’s lonely. ;w;

3. Who hogs the cover/ Who loves to cuddle? They all huggle together, it’s adorable to watch~ owo …Well, so Maya says… Dammit Maya, stay out of their home. XD

17. Who works/ Who stays at home? All three of them technically work in the same place they live, though occasionally Kat will go to the house she, Noire, and Ebony have. XP

19. Who loves to call the other one cute names? Chris. Kat looks so adorable when she gets red from the names~ owo

7. Who sweats the small stuff? Probably Dorothy, since Chris won’t, though Kat often one-ups her in that area too. ;w;

Ray/Sera:

5. Who usually has nightmares? They both have nightmares until they start sleeping together- Ray of his darkness days, and Sera… well, of HER darkness days. They comfort each other~

37. Height difference or age difference? Sera says age, Ray retorts with height- and oddly enough, it’s to make the other one more important. XD

26. Who likes to eat healthy/ Who loves junk food? Sera’s constantly spoiled with sea salt ice cream what do you think? XP

20. Who is dominant/ Who is submissive? Ray’s just a dominant guy, though Sera WILL push back teasingly. XP

39. Who buys cereal for the prize inside? Probably Ray if it’s a toy of a manga or anime… he needs all the merchandise okay? ;w;

7. Who sweats the small stuff? Sera, just because Ray doesn’t sweat the small stuff. No, he sweats about the big stuff more. ;w;

50. Who is the hopeless romantic? Ray if you count his physical actions. XD He just… can’t believe such a wonderful girl is with him~

47. Who has the more complex coffee order? Sera, Ray just goes “black. That’s it. No fancy bullshit!”

10. Who likes sweet/ Who likes sour? They both loooove sweet things, though Ray used to love sour things before Sera got him into sea-salt ice cream. owo

48. Who loses stuff? Probably Sera- Ray’s so freaking disorganized Sera can’t find a thing, but he always knows where it is. XD

Garrett/Dash:

29. Who is the better cook? Probably neither of them. They both suck at cooking, though Dash just… always charbroils it. XD

32. Who likes to have really long (deep) conversation? Garrett in one of his more philosophical moods, but in general neither of them really get that philosophical in general.

44. Who is active/ Who is lazy? Dash gets up to run at 5 in the morning. Garrett? He stays in bed, he knows where to be. XD

25. Who wears the other ones clothes? Garrett definitely- he loves the smell of Dashy’s shirts. owo

5. Who usually has nightmares? Garrett, probably- he still has nightmares about RoC and it’s what gets him so worried all the time. ;w;

24. Who is the talker/ Who is the listener? They exchange the roles, depending on what happened during the day. If Dash did something heroic, Garrett listens, and Dash listens about a heist Garrett did~

11. Who likes horror movies/ Who likes romance movies? They’re both horror movie buffs all the way. :3

27. Who takes a long shower/ Who sings in the shower? Dash does~ Well… right up until she realizes Garrett recorded it. Then she does everything in her power to try and get that recording. XD

20. Who is dominant/ Who is submissive? It’s always a playfight in the bedroom- neither of them knows who will be topping this time until it happens~

35. Who goes overboard on the holidays? Probably Dash, though Garrett can help out sometimes. owo

Destiny Trio:

39. Who buys cereal for the prize inside? Sora, that’s never gonna change no matter who it is. XD

32. Who likes to have really long (deep) conversation? Probably Riku starts it, and then they all go off of each other.

42. Who is the neat freak? Kairi SHOULD be, buuuut… eh, she’s too lazy to actually clean up. It just bugs her when something’s dirty. XD

11. Who likes horror movies/ Who likes romance movies? Riku’s a horror movie fan, and so is Kairi- but Sora? Hell no, he’ll take on the entire Organization before then. XD

25. Who wears the other ones clothes? Kairi steals Sora’s clothes and Sora steals Riku’s clothes. Riku’s just constantly like “gimme back my shi- Kairi no give Sora back his hoo- SORA!”

34. Who would wear “if lost return to…” t-shirt/ Who would wear “I am…” t-shirt? Riku wears the “I am…” shirt, Kairi and Sora need the lost shirt all the time. XD

49. Who is the driver/ Who is the passenger? Kairi’s the most responsible driver, even if she goofs off occasionally. Riku’s 100% the backseat driver, and NOBODY trusts Sora near the wheel.

26. Who likes to eat healthy/ Who loves junk food? Sora loves his sea salt ice cream thanks to Roxas and Xion~ Riku and Kairi go along with it so long as he eats healthy otherwise.

47. Who has the more complex coffee order? Kairi’s got the most complex order, Riku just orders it black, and Sora… well he never drinks coffee. XD

45. Who is more likely to get drunk? Riku never gets drunk if Sora or Kairi are drunk already- they tend to get the other person drunk, after all! Buuuut they tend to spike his drinks… whoops~

[spoofenshmirtz]

so because I like rambling about various things, lemme talk about Kingdom Hearts 3. spoilers and whatnot under the cut! it also got extremely long and rambly so I apologize for that in advance for anyone who wants to give following my thoughts a shot

so, like most other fans of Kingdom Hearts, I’ve been waiting for KH3 a long time. not the 13 years lots of people like to spout, like dumbasses, but definitely for a long while.

and, honestly? I have some mixed feelings about this. one of my friends already talked about how KH3 doesn’t feel like the “finale” he was looking forward to, and how it raised more questions than he had answered - which, valid, but seeing as I’ve gone deep into KHUX I don’t think I’m as confused as some people might be - and I understand and empathize with that notion. KH3 isn’t a grand finale, it’s a new fork in the road on our path throughout this crazy world.

would it have been better as a grand finale? I don’t know. I do feel like Nomura’s been biting off more than he can chew, especially regarding the specific ways he’s been tying some stuff together - through time travel?? - but on one hand, many characters’ stories did seem to reach an at least somewhat satisfying end. Axel, Roxas and Xion were finally reunited and can live on together; Isa joined them, showing Lea and Isa’s reconciliation; Terra, Aqua and Ventus are finally back together after a decade apart; and Eraqus and Xehanort were finally reunited. Sea Salt and Wayfinder Trios’ endings were the most satisfying, in my opinion, and it was kind of obvious that Nomura wanted to wrap these up for sure.

the rest? kind of set aside, to be honest. even our original trio, the Destiny Trio, kinda took a backseat at times - although Sora’s breakdown over being worthless without his friends was pretty great. like many others, I’m also displeased with the game’s handling of Kairi, which is too bad, because I’ve honestly grown fond of her over my years of growing out of my dumb “I hate fictional girls for breaking up my OTPs” phase. especially her interactions with Lea were particularly fun, and I kind of wish there had been... you know, more.

that’s my main complaint, really. that there wasn’t more. the story we’re told almost feels like a summary, like we’re supposed to assume things about the relationships between characters that we’re not... you know, shown. that’s been a problem when it comes to Sora and Kairi for ages; that their relationship isn’t really shown, ever, and Sora and Riku’s is explored much more. I feel more for Xion now than I did before, because with her you’re actually shown a lot of her internal conflicts and her hurt; while with Sora and Kairi, you’re just kind of supposed to assume that they care for each other a lot. probably based on the knowledge that he’s a boy and she’s a girl alone. “he was a boy, she was a girl... can I make it anymore obvious?”

the same can actually be said about the main antagonist, too. Xehanort. I get what was going on, but... I kind of wish there’d been more with him and Eraqus from their early days, before they had all their conflicts? you don’t really get to feel their conflicts so hard when the times before aren’t shown, like, at all. it would’ve been incredibly cool with a... you know, a prologue in a similar vein as KH2, where you get to play as Eraqus and explore your relationship with Xehanort before everything goes to shit. or adding an episode in the middle where you start following them for a while. it could’ve been done as a really cool parallel story thing, even more than their game of chess - which, don’t get me wrong, was really neat! I’ve always been a fan of chess symbolism, for whatever reason, and that was really cool! but there’s not a whole lot of substance to it, other than their fun, competitive spirit.

let’s just agree that KH3 has a lot of “tell, don’t show” problems. or, even worse, “assume, don’t show”. there’s not a whole lot of substance to the stories told in the game, because there’s still a lot of it missing, it feels like. I mean, the fact that Nomura rewrote the ending so many times (as he admits to in the preface to the artbook that was released with the Deluxe Edition) should probably hint to problems with coherent storytelling...

it is unfortunate, I must say. because I LOVE this game. gameplay alone was incredibly satisfying in ways I’ll get into later, but the way the story feels so.... you know, not finished, really does put down my joy a bit.

let’s not even talk about the epilogue. not yet. I’m so goddamned confused by Xigbar’s role in... well, everything. although I guess it makes a bit more sense for Xigbar to having been number II in the Organization now... knowing that he’s been around for centuries and is just here to wreak havoc, pretty much...

I’m all for the secret movie, though!!!! Sora’s finally going to Shibuya!!!!!! HELL YEA

anyway, got a bit off track. KH3 has a lot of storytelling issues, even with the disney worlds, which is real unfortunate because they’ve usually been pretty narratively solid. the developers’ obsession with exactly recreating some scenes really did pull down the quality of the storytelling, because the way they chose scenes to recreate didn’t consider the effects of the storytelling in the original movies... although recreating Let It Go with Sora, Donald and Goofy in it was an absolute power move and I’m still knocked on my ass from it.

anyway, the worlds with new stories - Big Hero 6, post-movie; Toy Story, in between 1 and 2; and Monsters Inc, post-movie - really were more narratively coherent, while the worlds following the original storylines - Tangled, Frozen and Pirates of the Caribbean - suffered from losing a lot of crucial scenes and (would you look at that!) relationship-building.

okay, but ENOUGH ON STORY CRITICISM! I think we can all agree that Nomura built himself too much to work with and may have gone a bit overboard with it, but honestly, overall? it was still pretty damn good! not entirely solid, but satisfying enough and emotionally engaging that I definitely enjoyed it as an experience! and the reunions of the Sea Salt and Wayfinder Trios brought me to tears for solid minutes at a time!! I’ve been very emotionally engaged in these kids’ specific storylines and their conclusions were more than I could have hoped for!

and like I already said, playing the game itself was THE most satisfying experience I’ve had in AGES! the game itself is so smooth, and just the fact that transitions from cutscene to gameplay were done SEAMLESSLY is enough to make me cry out of joy!

fight systems? great!! I love the way situation commands and such were handled, I love the drive forms connected to the keyblades themselves, I loved the boss fight patterns!

graphics? AMAZING!!! I had to stop and stare at stuff all the time, cry at the beauty of the different worlds, marvel over textures and lighting in different places, and WATER PHYSICS!!!! the game is so goddamned beautiful I can’t stop thinking about how amazing it all was, how many different kinds of scenery they handled and how well they did that! snow physics in Arendelle had me crying, lighting in Kingdom of Corona made me shout with glee, textures in the Caribbean made my jaw drop! underwater levels didn’t even suck!

minigames? honestly? I loved them. cooking is amazing fun (although I kinda suck majorly at cracking eggs), the 100 Acre Woods minigames may have been the same minigame rehashed twice but they were different enough to be fun - plus they’re only really necessary for farming for ingredients, which is pretty cool, sailing in the Caribbean was honestly fun, and the goddamned Verum Rex in Toy Box... *chef kiss* I LOVE it. I know lots of people dislike the multitude of minigames in KH games, and I do get it when it comes to sledding - the one I consistently had the most trouble with - but honestly? I don’t hate a single one of them!

lucky emblems? well. I haven’t really tried to discover all of them yet, but I have had the problem of a character going “look! a lucky emblem!” and me just not being able to find it anywhere a couple times. the concept of taking photographs is itself great, though!

and music? Yoko Shimomura is goddamned DELIVERING, again. the music is so beautiful in KH3, and the opening (with Skrillex) and ending themes by Utada Hikaru were great, as usual. I’ve cried to these songs more than I can count.

so, SUMMARY? the story has kinda gone out of Nomura’s hands, and storywise I still find KH2 to be the best at both telling a story and engaging you in it; but gameplaywise, the series has grown so much since the first game that I barely can’t believe I’ve lived to see the growth of the series as a whole? it’s kind of an amazing feeling knowing you’ve grown with a series like this, and I’m thankful for having been born the time I did so that I got to experience it! KH will always have a special place in my heart, and I will surely keep following this series to see where Nomura is taking it!

[thatbookcritic]

Kingdom Hearts 3

Title: Kingdom Hearts 3

Media: Video Game

Developer: Square Enix

Criticism written by: Kai

Editor: Julie

The Review:

Hey there everyone. I just finished playing Kingdom Hearts 3 and I need to vent about it. What better way than to do a review on it. I’m simultaneously amazed but disappointed by the game. It’s beautifully crafted and hit all the right notes for the nostalgia. There were many occasions that got me to tear up as I recall my childhood that this game shaped. Yet despite the shine and sparkle that was the gameplay, design, and music; the story was extremely lackluster. For the story that were all waiting for, it wasn’t delivered properly and it was cheap. I’m sure many of you have already seen “kingdom hearts 3 disappointment” appearing on your search recommendations when you type up the title. I know there are those who like the game and others who are defending it tooth and nail, but I hope you all can understand that nothing is immune to criticisms and improvement.

That being said, this is all a warning for you all about spoilers. If you haven’t played the game yet, I highly recommend doing so before reading my review. For those who stayed, let’s review Kingdom Hearts 3.

Before actually talking about the story, I want to first say that I won’t dive into the lore and past games of the series. I’m going off the assumption that everyone reading this review knows the story and all the information pertaining to the series. If you need a refresher, I suggest looking up a TL;DR video on youtube about all the games.

Anyways, Kingdom Hearts 3 immediately picks up from Dream Drop Distance. Sora failed his Mark of Mastery test while Riku passed. Riku and Mickey went on to the realm of darkness to save Aqua. Sora, on the other hand, is tasked to go to other worlds and try to reclaim the “power of waking”. Skipping over the disney worlds since they’re literally not important for the big picture here, Sora learns about the three people who are currently living in his heart and how to free them via replicas and finding Ventus’s real body. It’s just one big scramble where team light is trying to find their seven members and team dark flexing on them by going “lol we got our 13 members already.” There’s also some side story about Maleficent and Pete looking for a black box but that’s never addressed except once by team Sora. Moving on, Sora saves Aqua which then leads into Aqua waking Ventus. From this point, the game goes from 0 to 100 in pacing. The team jumps straight into the final battle quest. Fought an army of heartless and nobodies, Kairi ex machina (will explain later), killed 12 members of darkness, exposition, final battle, “the villain was misguided!”, cliffhanger, epilogue, and secret end. That’s literally the chain of events at the end of the game. I finished this final portion in under 2 hours…. With breaks in between.

If you seen people complaining about how short this game was, they aren’t joking. This game is insanely short for what it should have been. The story was at least 24 hours long… that might sound like a long time but it’s not. At least, not a long time for a game. Kingdom Hearts 3 was released on January 29. Eight days passed and there are already guides on where you can find all the collectables. Eight days after a release date… that’s insane. You might say it’s due to “speed runners” or devoted fans with too much free time, but as a casual player myself, this was a short game. I finished it just under 24 hours… and that was me taking long periods of breaks (dealing with friends, going to work, doing chores, ect.) Needless to say, the story had a lot of wiggle room to expand instead of rushing to tie up loose ends.

Another thing to point out is the number of worlds included in the game. There weren’t a lot, let me tell you that. Just eight worlds (excluding the Final World and Caelum). Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 have about 14 worlds each (excluding the other games since they aren’t “main” games). Some might argue that even if there’s less worlds, there’s more content in each world. I say bullshit. Are you talking about the mini games and collectables from the worlds? I bought this game for the main story, not the mini games. If I wanted mini games, I would have gotten mario party instead. As for the story each world present, they didn’t take long to complete… the story may be longer than other games but I still managed to finish two worlds for one sitting… one world if I’m getting rushed by my mom to go to bed lol. Needless to say, this part of the game wasn’t it chief.

Finally, let’s talk about story here. When it comes to Kingdom Hearts, you kinda gotta accept that the story isn’t going to make 100% sense, have plot holes, inconsistency, and lots of recons. That’s just how Kingdom Hearts gonna be but the story was still good. If a story can suspend your disbelief for the entire ride, then it’s a good story. And Kingdom Hearts is good at “story first, questions later”. But with this, the pacing is so fast that it broke the fantasy way too soon.

Now… in anticipation for Kingdom Hearts 3, I ran through all the lore and game stories once again to have a good idea on what’s going on. Leading into KH3, there was a long list of tasks that was left over from all the previous games. We have to save the Birth by Sleep crew. We have to save Roxas, Namine, and Xion. Sora isn’t a Keyblade Master. We got Xehanort and his norted group. The Masters of Master and his black box. The Keyblade war. The Dandelions. Maleficent and more. We got a long checklist here yet the script writers seem to just… gloss over all these details. With how long these cutscenes are, I’m honestly surprised how fast they zoom past the story. Honestly, there were many points where the writers could expand on something and actually lead to more gameplay. For example, for saving Roxas, Namine, and Xion. They just toss these three at the very end in one scene before moving to the next. Like… lmao what? It would have been interesting if they had Kairi… you know, actually being useful and chilling in Radiant Garden or something. Goes up to emo scientist and be like “Yo! Let me just free Namine in your conveniently placed replica and… boom!” Maybe toss in like “I remember this place” and give some background about Kairi. Then with Namine, she could have been useful in drawing up memories about Xion which would lead into that quest. These three could have been a great main quest in unlocking for main story. Would have been also great to see some interactions between Ventus and Roxas too and toss in a bullshit explanation on why they look the same. The same with how Vanitas look like Sora; instead of, again, glossing over it at the end. There’s just… so much where the writers could have expanded on and actually make the game a bit longer to make it more satisfying to play. Yes, I understand this was supposed to be the end of Xehanort’s arc but it was distastefully done. It was cheap and rushed. That ending where it’s revealed the Xehanort opened Kingdom Hearts to bring the worlds back together and was more or less well meaning about the whole thing (basically, he’s not doing this for the shits and giggles) but it doesn’t explain anything still. I honestly think it was an idea given to him and not something he came up on his own, judging on his ending cutscenes about him. Can I point out how funny it is that Xehanort was a more fleshed out character than fucking Kairi… a main character? Oh my god, this fucking bitch. Kairi is so useless storytelling wise. She’s just a deus ex machina for anytime Sora feels down in the dumps and only there to get kidnapped. “I’ll protect you Sora!” *Immediately gets kidnapped after*. Even in the one time she fights by our side, she instantly dies on me and left killing three bosses on Sora and Axel. She’s not even good canon fodder like Donald or Goofy in a fight. Just… there’s so much this game could have done with story and it just failed.

Some people might use the argument that we have high expectations for this game so “of course you would get disappointed.” Honestly, yeah! This is a valid point and we’re in the right for having high expectations. I don’t see how this was our fault? We all literally waited 14 years for this game. We were given all these puzzle pieces and waiting to see the finish picture. The hype was massive… and don’t say that it was just the fan’s hype. It was very much advertised to be the “conclusion” for Kingdom Hearts. The trailers that advertised the “end”, the names of the songs being used for this game (“Face my fears” and “Don’t think twice”), the fact that this is the third game (when it comes to series in media they usually end in trilogies (but of course I’m not saying that this is absolute)). It’s just that the hints that the developers were giving us were making us think in a certain direction… that is deception… and it wasn’t a good trick. Another argument to tackle is that: “A lot of time passed. You’re expecting the same thing as the original games. You’re not the same person as before, so you won’t experience it the same way anymore.” It’s one thing if you’re harping that the game doesn’t give you “the feels” anymore, that argument fit this issue. But it’s entirely different from the disappointment of reading a half assed story, no matter the age, I think anyone would be annoyed. I also want to toss out the argument of “You’re not the marketed audience”. Then… who’s the marketed audience then? People who aren’t fans of the game? This is the third main game in a series with a crazy fucking lore. You kinda need to be a fan to keep up here, mate. This isn’t an issue about age. The fact that there’s disney characters in it should be a sign that this game isn’t going over a pg-13 rating. So most people aren’t expecting a mature, “adult” story here. But we are expecting a “good” story… and that is an issue everyone can relate to. You! You are a consumer! You can expect more from a creator sometimes! I agree on respecting a creator’s visions, art, ect. I’m a writer myself. But at some point, you gotta realize that some people would shit in a bucket and try to sell it to you as art. Be a little critical sometimes. It’s fine. If anything, creators want some criticisms to know where to improve. So just don’t take this sitting down!

Kingdom Hearts 3 was an good game if you’re looking at this objectively. But for what it could have been… well… just wasted potential. Pity.

Overall Score: 6/10

(Btw, if anyone want some theories about Kingdom Hearts 4, I believe that they’re going to tie it in to us. The player. I mean, besides the obvious secret ending where it looks like the real world (we can use the same ending to point toward The World Ends With You so this isn’t strong enough evidence). I’m mostly basing this on a storytelling perspective and Union X. From a storytelling point, Kingdom Hearts tackled every single trope so far. Time travel, doppelgangers (the replicas), amnesia, multiple selves, body possessions, time passing at a different rate, alternative worlds, data worlds, ect. We can go on, but the one trope they haven’t touched yet is the 4th wall. I honest to god wouldn’t be surprised that they would do this for both storytelling but to also say a big “thank you” to the player. They already got closed to it by including the usernames of players from Union X in the Heartless Tornado. Talking about Union X, there’s still the Dandelions. Based on the current story known, the Dandelions are keyblade welders who are still alive in the dream realm… one of the welders being you… the player.  Also, the alternative game at the end that Master Eq- however you spell his name, talked about. It was seven darkness but an unknown amount of light. I suspect that it’s a number flip from the original 13 darkness and 7 light. It would make sense if you do a counting of the current cast. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Terra, Ventus, Aqua, Axel, Xion, and Roxas (I’m excluding Namine for now since she can’t fight). 12 fighters, right? Well… it becomes 13 if you count yourself since… we are fighting through Sora. Well… I could just be egotistical and give the writers way too much credit lol.)

[nadziejastar]

Hi! Totally agree that Ventus and Roxas were supposed to end up as one person (Xion and Kairi too). But why do you think Nomura didn’t do that? I know you suggested that it might be because of the expectations from Roxas and Xion fans. But judging from interviews and some of his past decisions, it always seemed like Nomura’s the type to do what HE wants. I do know FFXV affected him in a big way but he has SO MUCH control over KH compared to an FF title so why bend to the will of fans so much??

- Additionally: I really feel Nomura ran himself into a corner a bit by giving weird answers to “Is Roxas Ventus?” questions. But even then he would still retcon himself in many other cases so why not this important one?

I think Nomura had a lot less freedom with KH3 than past KH titles, due to Disney.

What’s the relationship with Disney like? Disney’s attitude to games has changed in recent years to become focused on mobile and social games. Have you noticed their attitude change much?

The relationship with Disney has [remained] the same. Actually the contact person at Disney is still the same person from Kingdom Hearts 1, and Disney has given us lots of requests in terms of the Kingdom Hearts franchise and they did mention some smaller titles for other platforms, but our common, most important goal was to [complete] Kingdom Hearts 3. So it’s the same.

This interview is from June 2013, very early in development. And back then, Nomura said everything was fine and the contact person at Disney was the same. 

I can say that it has actually been increasingly difficult to get approvals from Disney. That’s mainly because in the past Kingdom Hearts titles, the creator wasn’t around anymore or the team that used to create those titles wasn’t there anymore. There was just this one person that we would just have to go to and they would approve it and we’d be fine and good to go. But because we’ve been featuring recent titles, they still have existing teams for existing creators that are still working in Disney and still working on a certain title. That feedback process just has been a little bit more difficult than before. And each team would have a different set of rules and guidelines and they would say different things, or they would look at different things.

It’s just been a little different that how it used to be because Kingdom Hearts is a bigger title than it was before. I think that whenever we would bring our previous titles, a lot of people at Disney, and this is my assumption, but I do assume that they probably didn’t know what Kingdom Hearts was. They’d go, “What’s Kingdom Hearts? I have no idea.” But now that it’s become a bigger title, a lot more people have been involved in than before. In that sense the relationship with Disney has changed quite a bit. Emotional changes I don’t really know if there has been any changes emotionally for me. But at least physically I can say those were the changes that we had with Disney.

This interview is from June 2018. So, five years later. He said before that KH was kind of obscure to Disney, so he just kinda worked on it quietly in the corner. Now that it’s bigger, it was a lot more difficult to get approvals form Disney. A lot more people were involved. The relationship changed. Nomura was non-commital about whether there were “emotional changes” for him.

The Kingdom Hearts series has become a huge title nowadays and back then it was more like I was making it secretively in the corner, but now that a lot more people are involved I do feel that it’s not my title anymore, it’s everyone’s title. And just talking about all this … It actually kind of makes me really sad. 

In an interview from around the same time, he fessed up. There were emotional changes for him and they were negative. KH3 became very big and Disney took a far more active role in the game’s development. It no loner felt like Nomura’s title anymore, but everyone’s title. And he feels depressed over it.

—The story’s endgame where all your friends and foes gather at the Keyblade Graveyard was a masterpiece.

I know each fan has their own different beloved character, so I wanted to give each one an appropriate moment. But in the end there was too much story that had to be told then, and I ended up being restricted to the minimum necessary to move Sora forward. The truth is, the Keyblade Graveyard was the toughest part I faced when writing the scenario. Shining the spotlight on each character one by one allows you to depict the unfolding developments with time and care, but the flow of the game requires the player to control Sora and fight battles. Ideally, I should have had characters with connections fight it out one by one and settle things that way, but that would have required too much exposition. On the other hand, I did think of limiting the number of enemies you actually battle and finishing others with cutscenes, but it didn’t feel right. At the end of deep worry and thought, I narrowed my aim and ended up with the way it is now, which prioritizes rhythm.

Other things that made me feel Nomura didn’t have full creative control? He said that in the KG, he was “restricted” to the “minimum necessary to move Sora forward”. Who told him that? Higher-ups. Seemed like he wanted the KG to have waaaay more story and exposition, but higher-ups thought it would probably be too much for a game targeted at casuals, so he had to cut it. He had deep worry and thought over it? Yeah, Nomura didn’t have real creative freedom on KH3.

“The fan expectations and excitement towards Kingdom Hearts III was much more than I had expected. I actually did feel a little pressurized for the first time pretty much in my life. But the best way to get rid of feeling pressurized is to just have confidence in yourself, that what you’re making is good.

Disney probably played a big role pressuring Nomura to make KH3 the way THEY wanted it to be and I’m sure they put pressure on him to try and make it please everyone (which never works). Fans had certain expectations and Disney was aware of that. So, every popular character had to be brought back. Disney didn’t care, really. They just thought if every popular character came back, they could make more $$$.

“I do have a general storyline in my head. What is the most confusing is that, because there are so many characters in this storyline now, it’s hard to keep track of who actually met who already. I’m always like, ‘Okay, so who knows who in this situation, and who’s meeting this person for the first time?’ And that always gets really confusing.”

I don’t think it was Nomura wish, though. Nomura flat out said there were “too many characters”. He had a hard time remembering who has met who. He’s had the idea for KH3′s story since the end of KH2. If he can’t even keep track of who has met who, how well planned was all these characters coming back? The scene in Yen Sid’s tower where Axel got confused about the Roxas/Ventus thing felt like it was written to vent Nomura’s frustration with the story and make fun of how silly it is.