#their interactions in kh3 were one of my favorite parts of that game

[wyrdify]

@purus-lumen​: Ventus and Vanitas

Aesthetics | Currently accepting.

low rumbles from distant thunder | warm summer breezes | double-sided coins | a tempest in the middle of the ocean | “Siblings that say they never fight are most definitely hiding something.” | freshly picked crab apples | an abrupt crescendo played on violin | flickering nightlight in the hallway | a clear empty vase | speeding down an empty road at night | you who I called brother | the shadow you cast | coffee mug smashed into pieces on the floor | telling ghost stories by a campfire | a piano sonata played in Eb minor | two swords forged at the same time | you are not alone | gallows humor | grilled cheese sandwiches split into perfect halves | unwilling participants in a tragedy | the moment before a tornado touches down

[gavillain]

Cinderella and Sora?

Okay, last ones for this set of this meme, let's go!

Cinderella

First impression - I always liked her just fine, but her movie was never quite on my radar in the same way the other princess movies were for the simple fact that Lady Tremaine wasn't as big of a villain as Grimhilde or Maleficent was.

Impression now - I adore her! Now that I've sort of grown and taken an adult's perspective on Disney, I can see very plainly that Cinderella is one of their best films, and that's in large part thanks to Cinderella herself. She's such an interesting and compelling character, and I think her story is just inspiring and so important for a lot of us.

Favorite moment - I think "Sing Sweet Nightingale" and her subsequent wrath towards Lucifer is the moment that stands out in my mind when I think of Cinderella. Just the way it showcases her effortless beauty and grace and then immediately contrasts that by showing what a spitfire she can be if she gets pushed.

Idea for a story - I'd be interested to see the version of Cinderella from Cinderella III get to travel through time to meet her self from the end of the first movie. I just think it'd be really interesting to see Jennifer Hale's Cinderella and Ilene Woods's Cinderella having a chance to meet and sort of compare and contrast them.

Unpopular opinion - She's not a bad feminist figure, and it's actually doing more harm than good painting her as the emblem of everything feminism is supposedly against because it alienates women in traditionally feminine roles and it treats surviving abuse as a weak character trait. It's lazy to dismiss her like that, and there's more relevant discussions to be had when it comes to gender.

Favorite relationship - Cinderella reconciling with her stepsister Anastasia and picking up the pieces there is one of the most interesting dynamics that the series touched on, at least for me.

Favorite headcanon - I like the idea that she was the one to handle most diplomatic relationships for the kingdom after she became queen. She's got a sort of "steering without letting you know she's steering" quality to how she interacts wit the world, and I feel like as a leader, she'd be much more effective at it than lovable himbo Prince Charming. She faced down Lady Tremaine. Hostile foreign powers got nothin' on that.

Sora

First impression - I actually thought he was very weird. The spiky hair, the fact that he had" girly" eyelashes and a "girl's" name, the fact that he was the main character of a game I thought was supposed to be a Disney crossover... it all just kinda turned me at first. It took a while when I was a kid for me to really get into the game and his story.

Impression now - He grew on me a lot! I came to love him and for him to be one of my favorite video game protagonists... then Kingdom Hearts 3 kinda just soiled the franchise for me. I'm still trying to pick up the pieces with him. But I do still care about him.

Favorite moment - KH1, cutscene before the first fight with Dark Riku when he gives the original (and best) "My friends are my power!" speech. Honestly, just a perfect moment!

Idea for a story - A Soriku Sleeping Beauty story where Sora finds himself trapped in slumber like he was in Dream Drop Distance and Riku having to face Maleficent and all the forces of Hell in order to wake him with True Love's Kiss.

Unpopular opinion - He's not himself in KH3. He was so full of life for most of the franchise, but in KH3 the animation makes him look dead behind the eyes and Osment's voice work and the dip in writing quality made him feel that way. I miss the person who Sora was before the series started turning to crap, but it's kinda hard to parse things out.

Favorite relationship - Sora/Riku is genuinely the greatest Disney love story that never happened. It's a true shame that the franchise never canonized it because the writing and the groundwork was ALL there, and it would have been so important!

Favorite headcanon - Both of his parents are very loving and friendly people who became sort of a second home for Riku. His mom is actually a head taller than his dad, a source of many inside jokes in the family.

[cyberramblings]

Kingdom Hearts BBS, DDD Blind Thoughts

Spoilers for Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and earlier titles in the series. Also warning that I have insomnia and these are utter ramblings on the last 24 hours of blindly binging the Kingdom Hearts series as a total newcomer to the series. Haven’t played three yet and just started Dream Drop Distance. With that warning.....

Birth by Sleep was a ton of fun. We ended up needing to grind a little to make Aqua playable, but that ended up forcing me to learn the game mechanics much deeper, and even my friends leveled up their playing of the game! It was really cool to unlock some of the high tier spells like Triple Firaga and Thundaga Shot, although I do wish we had gotten to chance to unlock even more. I should remember how much more fun the game was after some internet research.

It was very satisfying to unlock the true ending so easily. We had only missed 2 of the 12 required Xehanort Reports. The 2 we needed involved grinding the arena for maybe an hour total and then 5 minutes of finding a treasure chest. We were then able to roll smoothly from Aqua’s finish into the final episode.

Aqua’s fight against Braig was laughable easy, but the final fight against Vanitas/Ventus was slightly tougher. The real challenge was fighting Terra/Xehanort but then the REAL challenge was phase 2 of that fight. I got them all on the first try! It was a really enjoyable flex of my gaming skills in front of the friends.

From a story standpoint, Birth By Sleep had my favorite story of any KH game so far, by a huge margin. I liked certain elements of the KH2 ending (Riku and Sora teaming up, Kairi’s keyblade) but BBS has been the only game where I had any sense of purpose or desire to see how it ends. They did a great job of having each of the 3 routes reveal new information even if played out of order (Xehanort taking over Terra, Vanitas having Sora’s face, Aqua taking care of comatose Ventus).

Obviously it helps to have Leonard Nimoy and Mark Hamill join the cast, plus Aqua’s VA absolutely dominates every scene she’s in. Terra’s VA reminds me a lot of Leon’s monotone edgy boy voice acting (David Boreanaz or otherwise). Of course Ventus shares a VA with Roxas, but the twist of Vanitas being Haley Joel Osmont is really great because he sounds so much older. I think it would have been easier to predict that twist if I had recently heard more of HJO’s Sora voice in Dream Drop Distance or KH3.

Aqua is, of course, the great standout character from BBS. From the start, we got attached to her because of her known prevalence in KH3 on top of her cool design, Arrow voice actress, and the fact that we could finally play a girl (plus one with more human proportions than Kairi). It worked out really well how we saved her for last and had to kind of unlock the secrets of her play style by finally mastering the various gameplay systems.

I much prefer the command deck system compared to the gameplay of KH2. To be fair, these are the only two KH games I’ve beaten. I’ve only barely touched KH1 and Chain of Memories. I felt like BBS did a good job of fusing the action gameplay of KH2 with the (potentially) satisfying deck building of CoM.

Re: Coded is a fucking mess. I might actually go back and play it on a DS emulator just to see the gameplay, but god damn the story is a flimsy excuse for a retread. I almost wish we had skipped it entirely, but just watching the opening and ending worked out pretty well. In the end, it’s literally just “Mickey is gonna give Sora the memories of all the other protagonists” which is badass but probably going to be mentioned again before being relevant. I will say that the ending with Riku and Sora being summoned by Yen Sid for the mark of mastery test is fucking badass and elicited quite the reaction from all three of us. The series is finally starting to have that feeling of “the stakes are high and I want to see what happens with these characters”.

This was expressed most fully in the intro to Dream Drop Distance. Step 1: invoke Disney Magic with a silhouette of magician Mickey. Step 2: Orchestral Simple and Clean. Step 3: use entirely new cinematic footage instead of splicing together an AMB. Step 4: show every keyblade wielder standing side by side. Apparently that’s enough to make me actually cry. We all got very excited by this intro, so it was a bit of a let down to start the game and be seemingly replaying KH1 again.

Of course that’s not the whole game, but I’m still not sure what the whole game is. Riku and Sora have to...wake the seven sleeping worlds to earn their mark of mastery? Are they dreaming all of this, or what? Seeing The World Ends With You was cute for like a second before realizing that I know almost nothing about it. Flowmotion is similarly kinda neat at first but quickly becomes annoying, but maybe it will grow on me with time.

Speaking of fun at first but quickly annoying: Dream Eaters. The Pokémon-esque system seems like a time waster that’s perfect for 3DS but maybe not so much for our tourist play through. The Dream Eater designs are cute when they’re on your team, but strike me as a bit annoying when fighting the same ones over and over. Heartless and Nobodies felt more generic, but that made them feel a little less repetitive to fight over and over. I see the same god damn rainbow colored Panda every god damn fight. To be fair, I think each world randomly contains certain types of Dream Eaters every time you visit it.

Speaking of Worlds, I’m not really looking forward to Hunchback of Notre Dame or Pinocchio world, but at least they’re new worlds instead of retreading Halloween Town, Agrabah, Olympus, Neverland for the millionth time. What I am looking forward to is The Grid from Tron Legacy! I don’t think we’ve seen any Disney world that specifically spotlight a sequel to a Disney world we’ve already seen. We revisit Halloween Town, Agrabah, Beast’s Castle, Olympus, Atlantica but only for some minor follow-up fluff. The Tron world in KH2 meant a lot to me having just seen the film. The Lightcycle combat could’ve been a little more true to the original, but the visuals were so faithful plus having Tron’s actual actor was so fucking cool. Sora and gang getting Tron outfits was so cool too. Also would’ve liked to have a disc fight, but the Sark/MCP fight was spot on. Hopefully we can get both of more in DDD!

It’s a perfect excuse to revisit The Grid since Legacy looks so different from the original. Now, The Grid is not a true world in KH2 but instead part of Hollow Bastion’s computer system. I’m curious if The Grid in DDD is a sleeping world or something that exists within another world, or if it is somehow connected to the KH2 Tron world (which would get real weird real quick if that version of the Grid is a copy of the original, but Legacy is supposed to be set in The Grid 30 years later).

Oh, I like that DDD has the command deck system but I don’t like the pets, I don’t like the link system, I don’t like reality shift, and I don’t like flowmotion. It just seems like BBS with all the RPG features crammed into the pet system with a bunch of gimmick infused into the combat system. Admittedly, gimmick is one of the biggest strengths of the KH franchise, but flowmotion just seems silly. Perhaps I’ll like it more when I get used to it and potentially get to customize the moves.

I’m not sure yet how I feel about the drop system, but I do like getting to play as Riku. I think multiple protagonists is a smart way to stretch the assets and tell 2 stories per world. I rather enjoyed the way Aqua, Terra, and Ventus interacted with some of the Disney worlds. Hopefully we get something similar in some of these worlds.

The dive mini game is definitely gimmicky nonsense clearly designed for the 3DS. In general though, all the games in these collections look great and feel great. I suppose that is why Days, Coded, and Back Cover are cutscenes: to keep the average quality of gameplay roughly somewhere in between KH1 and 2 between all the titles. In fact, I think KH1 is easily the worst feeling out of all the ones thus far. I’ve always complained about KH hopping between systems, but now I can’t really complain about that anymore. My complaint still stands about the games being overly complicated. Plus, the games are clearly taking themselves way too seriously, but that’s very clearly part of the charm.

Really, I suppose the games aren’t that complicated if you heavily condense Chain of Memories, cut out Coded, and try not to think too hard about the phone games. Then it just becomes: Sora defeats the heartless, Sora defeats the nobodies, Roxas backstory, Aqua/Terra/Ventus, training/prep montage, then KH3. Oh, and try to forget that somehow the upcoming rhythm game is canon.

[stormdive]

       well  ,  i expressed these sentiments not too long ago with the anniversary for KH3′s release  ,  but what the heck  , this sort of stuff bears repeating  &&  why not explore further with some intense sap  :          i am forever grateful to this series for all it has given me  &&  so many others  .  yes there is plenty to pick apart  &&  some things did not age well         hell  ,  you’d have a tough time convincing me to play KH1 again with its combat system  &&  janky camera without some very heavy incentive           but in a lot of ways it grew  with  me  &&  through that it truly means so much to me  .          kingdom hearts 2  (  which is what i technically started with  ,  though it quickly drove me to play from the beginning afterwards  )  ,  &&  the concept work of tetsuya nomura specifically  ,  is what inspired me to dedicate myself to art as a craft  &&  passion  .  i still remember looking up the artwork of the series  &&  falling in love with the characterization  &&  style across the entire series  ,  motivated to become a concept artist myself  .  drawing is truly the closest thing i feel to a ‘purpose’ in that i feel most at peace when i am doing it  .  for all the struggles  &&  very low places i have reached in my life  ,  i am not over-exaggerating when i say the inspiration provided by this series has  fundamentally  changed my life for the better  ,  if not saved it at times  .          beyond that  ,  i remember the exact moment something clicked in my head while playing KH2  :  that video games themselves were an art form  ,  both collaboratively with individual pieces  (  through the music           oh god  ,  the music           the character design  ,  the levels  ,  the writing  ,  as applicable  )  &&  on their own with a unique ability to tell stories in a way no other medium can by merit of being interactive  .  this was so fascinating to me that it drove my venture towards college  .  in fact i literally wrote my college admission essays on the 43 second cutscene that takes place before the 1000 heartless battle in KH2  ,  exploring it as an example of how a video game can uniquely guide a player’s experience from a story through mix of their own input  &&  the information given through accompanying film techniques  &&  . . .   well you get the idea  .  i really like this sort of stuff  .   i am truly passionate about video games as a medium  &&  kingdom hearts is what really inspired that too  .           &&  then there’s the people it’s brought together  .  people’s fondness for the series varies in its intensity  &&  reason  .  you’ve got nerds like me drooling over basically ever piece of it as some larger whole  ,  you’ve got people who just love some good real-time action combat  &&  others who really like being able to explore their favorite disney worlds  .  some like the writing  (  some hate the writing but like what they imagine they would write instead lol  )  ,  the philosophies  &&  themes found in the series  ,  while others might just see every KH game as their next level 1 critical mode challenge  .  a lot of people love the characters  .  this particular piece of the community wouldn’t exist otherwise  .  &&  .  .  .  well to be honest some people just love to hate it  &&  man do these people bore me to  death  to listen to  ,  but they still count lol  .            either way it has still connected  a lot  of people  &&  that’s just really cool to me  !  all these different folks  ,  excited about the same thing when a new game comes out  .  all these new people who discover it  &&  join in on caring about something that thousands of other people care about too  .  something fun  !  ‘ silly ’  !  a video game  !!  what a uniquely human thing  !!             i would not have met a great deal of you without this series           perhaps none of you  ,  it’s impossible to say for certain  .  &&  that would be a shame  ,  because some of the best influences in my life are sitting behind computer screens  maybe  reading this post from one silly roleplay blog to another  .  the creativity  &&  support  &&  my close friends here  &&  even just the broad company of being part of this community is an undoubtedly positive facet of my day  ,  every day  .              so i am grateful to this series for giving me that  .  for bridging a connection  ,  even faintly between myself  &&  so many wonderful people  &&  so many people i will probably never know  .  or  ,  to wrap things up with the most deliciously cheesy bow  &&  quote a certain dull  ,  ordinary boy  :  i'm proud to be a small part of something bigger  .            happy anniversary  .

[yo-namine]

Okay, time to talk to myself about Re:Mind and Limit Cut Episode. 

Spoilers galore under the cut!

I'm just gonna start off by talking about how the DLC handled my biggest gripe with base KH3, which was obviously how Kairi was written in the last few hours of the game. Like I said in my other post, Re:Mind doesn't totally fix those problems, but... Well, here's what we get:

Kairi's "murder" is reframed a bit in the DLC. Base KH3 presents it as Xehanort killing her just to provoke Sora et al. into "clashing" with him to make the final key. In Re:Mind, we learn that Xehanort was actually stowing Kairi away (by "crystallizing" her, which... means she wasn't dead? But Sora still takes all the steps Chirithy gives him that are specifically for restoring a heart from death, and it works, so...?) as a fail-safe of sorts in case he needed another Light. Xemnas foreshadows this a bit when he says that Kingdom Hearts needs the Princesses of Heart in case the whole 13 Clashes of Light and Darkness thing doesn't work out. And for what it's worth, I do think this is a little better for Kairi as a character just because it shows that she was "killed" due to something unique and special about her, rather than what she was to Sora. She's still being used, and she's still sapped of her agency, but presumably no other character could have worked in that role against Xehanort, so... that's something, I suppose.

During the Xemnas/Saix/Xion fight, there's an added scene where all the Lights get to take a shot at Xemnas, and Kairi actually broke that motherfucker's guard and made him stumble when no one else could... And then she got captured, bloop, but at least this time it was because she was actually fighting and simply got bested. I can appreciate that. I liked seeing her shield Axel from Xion's attack, too.

And of course, she does get the chance to take on Xehanort later. She has a nice battle set-up (a sort of warp dash ability similar to Riku's and Roxas's, shotlock, reflect, and a GORGEOUS link attack with Sora), and it's a little cathartic to play as her taking Xehanort down. However, I don't think she ever learns that Xehanort took her as a safety measure for his plan or why she was the one chosen for this in the first place. She doesn't speak to Xehanort at all, which makes her big battle with him at the end feel rather... impersonal? And never mind him "killing" her in KH3; Xehanort's ultimately responsible for her losing her family when she was four years old, as well as the destruction of her home world. I'm not saying Kairi and Xehanort needed to have some long overwrought conversation or anything, but there definitely should've been some dialogue between them.

Kairi's actually involved in Naminé's restoration after all!!!!!!!! I remember the Ultimania's explanation of Naminé's return leaving a bad taste in my mouth because it seemed like they framed Kairi's death as ultimately a good thing, because hey, at least her murder freed Naminé from her heart. But that's not what actually happened; instead, Kairi and Sora go to Radiant Garden at the end of the game, and she lets him use the keyblade to release Naminé's heart from hers. And honestly, that scene right there? That was probably my favorite part of this entire DLC. The fact that Kairi really did play a part in restoring her Nobody is a much better payoff to her earlier lines in the game about wanting Naminé to have her own experiences. She wanted to give Naminé her life back, and rather than that being something wrenched from Kairi against her will, it was something she did for Naminé of her own volition.  I just. 😭

/tl;dr thoughts on kairi

As for everything else in Re:Mind:

I loved the background moments with Sora and Kairi in the ending cinematic. Each one is framed so that you can't see their faces, so they all feel like you're looking in on something secret. The "Behind the Curtain" trophy name is pretty fitting (and just downright cute, lol). And like I said above, I loved the scene where Kairi and Sora restore Naminé's heart. You just see him pull the keyblade away from her chest, and then she cradles Naminé's heart in her hands and fjsldfjskd. I teared up at that. It was just such a sweet and gentle little moment. Sora and Kairi taking Chirithy to Ven (and Sora even giving them a little push, lol) was really sweet, too. I loved their body language while they watched Ven run off, how you see them turn toward each other just slightly.

I also like how Sora and Kairi's relationship evolved from "Even if we're apart, our hearts are always connected" to "Heart connections are nice and all, but I'd much rather actually be with you."

Demyx and Riku interacting was something I never knew I needed. Riku's like "PLEASE be careful with that vessel, it's very important--" and Demyx is just "Bro, I got this," and hoists it over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Sora and Roxas actually talk to each other! I liked the scene where Sora's Station of Awakening starts to peel away to reveal Roxas's, and you get little glimpses of Roxas's memories. And it turns out that Sora actually did release Roxas's heart from his, and it wasn't just Xemnas kicking Xion into his chest that did the trick, lmao. I like that change.

Xemnas mentions that the original Organization doesn't remember Xion, but they do have records of her. That's a nice little tidbit to have for my Day 4 AU. 👀

Saix says the Guardians must be desperate if they're getting a Princess of Heart involved in the war, and Axel's like "Nah, she's our trump card." Aw. I also thought it was interesting how Saix purposefully uses Axel and Roxas's names to try to trigger Xion's memory of them.

I had to watch the recusant's sigil bit like four times before I understood what the hell was happening, lmao. The sigil represents the Sea Salt Trio's actual connection to one another that they had to "reclaim" from Xemnas, which... okay, but why was that needed? The thing I always liked about this trio is that they're the only one that we see develop fully from the beginning to the end of their relationship. They were always the most believable (canon) trio to me because of that, so throwing in this whole "The sigil binds us together!" thing just seems kind of stupid and unnecessary. They're friendship is good enough as-is. You don't have to add in this nonsense to represent their bond; their relationship development itself already did that. But whatever, they still had a really cool combo attack.

Scala ad Caelum is expanded on! I really enjoyed exploring it and solving the little puzzles to put Kairi's heart back together.

I LOVED THE GUARDIANS VS. NORT REPLICAS BATTLE SO MUCH I HAVE TO YELL ABOUT IT. I ACTUALLY DIED THE FIRST TIME BUT I DIDN'T CARE THAT I HAD TO REPLAY IT BECAUSE I WAS HAVING SO MUCH FUN. THE TAG TEAM ATTACKS!!!!! AQUA, XION, AND MICKEY'S COUNTER-ATTACK!!!!!! EVERYONE ACTUALLY WORKING TOGETHER!!!!!!!! IT’S ALL I EVER WANTED!!!!!!!! 

There are so many cute dialogue exchanges during the Guardians vs. replicas sequence, too! Ven and Roxas compliment each other, Aqua scolds Axel for talking too much (twice, I think? Axel fusses at her the second time, lmao), Terra says something to Riku that I couldn't quite catch, and Riku's like "All thanks to you!" It's just so cute and charming, and it really made the Guardians finally feel like a team.

Mickey Mouse straight-up Boromir-ing his way through the Nort replicas was... I think I loved that? Yeah, no, I loved that. I was laughing through half of it because I kept getting knocked back, but it was a great sequence (visually and gameplay-wise).

Connecting all the keyholes was very satisfying, and was just a beautiful visual altogether.

Sora and Kairi's reunion was adorable. And then Sora sees Goatanort enter the scene, and he just looks at Kairi and is like, "You ready, B?" and Kairi's like, "FUCK yeah, I'm taking his trachea through his kneecaps!!!!!" Okay, not really, lmao. Actually, Kairi's surprised when Sora asks her that, like she didn't expect him to let her help, or maybe she felt like she wouldn't even be able to, but she says she's ready anyway. Kairi’s under-confidence in her fighting skills is a little more apparent in the DLC. Like she says "I can do this" right before the final battle, but it comes off as her trying to reassure herself. She even has a counterattack where her battle quote is "Please work!" and I don't remember hearing her say that in the base game. Girl knows how outclassed she is compared to most of the other Guardians (and Xehanort), but she fights like hell anyway. Attagirl. 🎉

And as for Limit Cut:

Aww, I love that Terra calls Riku "a great leader."

Cheers to David Gallagher for saying "Are you sure about this?" with the exact same inflection as the John Cena meme.

Riku's a master now, right? When will he get some spiffy keyblade armor???????

Okay. Riku is having dreams about looking for Sora. Sora is dead (?), and "the edges of sleep and death touch." Kairi has been asleep for the past year so that the Radiant Garden team can study her heart in effort to find Sora. Nomura? Nomura? Nomura. You cannot fuck this up, man. You can do this. You can write the Destiny Trio working together again. You can write a full story in which Kairi has an active role. You can write her and Riku interacting. You can do it. I believe in you.

The data battles are so hardddddd. I wound up just watching all the LC cutscenes on youtube, lmfao. But I do want to try to beat at least some of these bosses. Tragically, Riku is TRAPPED IN MERLIN'S HOUSE, so you can't leave to grind or anything. Boo.

I don't really care about Yozora. I think we got a confirmation from Sora that Nameless Star is Stella (?), and that's cute for her I guess, but I genuinely don't care, lmao. But I definitely understand the compulsion to include beloved characters from old cancelled projects in your newer ones, so I hope Nomura has fun with that. ...That sounded sarcastic, lol, but I meant it. I hope he gets to do something cool and creative with this recycled cast. It just might not be a story I'll end up following, is all.

Data greeting is SO much fun. I sank a couple of hours into that the other night just creating scenes and playing with effects. The controls are really easy to use, and it's even fun to just explore environments like Radiant Garden and Scala ad Caelum without messing with photos at all. I hope we can unlock more character outfits and poses in the future, but I can definitely enjoy it as is for now.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this DLC. True, about half of Re:Mind is a rehash of the Keyblade Graveyard scenes with some extra content here and there, but it's sort of justified story-wise since we're in a timeloop. I enjoyed the extra Kairi scenes and the interactions between the Guardians the most. Limit Cut is mainly just bonus bosses, but like I said, I do want to actually beat those once I can figure out a strategy for them. And I'm obviously having way too much fun with Data Greeting, lmao, so yeah. Not a bad update.

[nadziejastar]

It's sad that they're trying to make Lea and Isa's duo into a trio by adding Skuld because Skuld is so underdeveloped that she barely counts as a character. All she does is hang out with Ephemer and neglect her friendship with Player. Maybe if she actually did things I'd be able to muster up some excitement over the idea of her becoming friends with my two favorite characters, but with the current situation she could be replaced with a cardboard cutout and no one would notice any difference.

Yes, thank you! This is a huge reason KH3 was such a letdown for me. I’ve heard people say that fans just got themselves too hyped up and their expectations were unrealistic. Nope, that’s not the case with me nor do I think that was the reason for most of the disappointment within the fandom. I wasn’t even overly hyped. KH3 just didn’t accomplish what it was supposed to. But more than anything, the characters were NOT treated with respect. That was my biggest disappointment.

Before KH3 came out, I was actually excited about KH4 and beyond because of the fact that we now have a pretty large group of main characters and they have so much potential. We wouldn’t have to focus on just Sora, Donald, and Goofy anymore. There are so many characters to develop and they all have solid personalities. We have the Destiny Island trio, the Wayfinder trio, the Disney Castle crew, and Lea and Isa. 

I have an attachment to all of them based on all the previous games and all the years they’ve been developed. I wanted to see them interact with each other once Xehanort was defeated and everyone was rescued. Not get dumped in favor of new characters. Of all the characters Lea and Isa could form a relationship with, Skuld is the WORST choice. There are sooo many more interesting characters to focus on. Lea and Isa could grow close to Sora, Riku, Kairi, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Donald, Goofy, or Mickey! Yet, they’re getting shoved aside for Union X characters that you need to play a mobile game to be familiar with. Skuld wasn’t even included in the Back Cover movie. Even if you played all the KH remasters, you still won’t know who she is!

I’ve actually seen all the cutscenes for Union X and I agree with you wholeheartedly. The characters were inoffensive, but they all had the personality of a wet paper bag. Nomura said Kingdom Hearts X, as it was originally called, was not supposed to have a heavy focus on story. Nothing I saw gave me the impression that characters like Skuld or Ephemer were meant to be anything more than mobile game characters. They were there for the player’s avatar to interact with, to give him/her a voice, since he/she is silent. But they are ancient history and should have perished during the Keyblade War. 

Ehpemer comes from the world ephemeral, meaning “lasting a very short time”. The three Norns are the Goddesses of fate in Norse mythology and are described as deciding the fates of people. Their names are Urd “What Once Was” (Old Norse “Urðr”), Verdandi “What Is Coming into Being” (Old Norse “Verðandi”) and Skuld “What Shall Be” (Old Norse “Skuld”).

My point is that these characters seem more suited as background characters. They are part of the mythology and history of the Keyblade War. They are not on par with the established characters and are not suitable to be the new protagonists. Now they are being teased as the main focus for the upcoming plot arc. I think this was a big mistake on Nomura’s part. Hardly anyone is going to be excited for them. I’m certainly not. I feel like there is very little to look forward to anymore.

You’re right. Skuld has no personality. And to add insult to injury, since she’s Subject X now, Lea and Isa had everything stripped from them in order to prop her up. Skuld isn’t interesting enough to be introduced on her own, so she has to ride on the coattails of Lea and Isa and the human experimentation subplot. This is such bullshit. New characters should NOT come at the expense of old ones. Lea needed a sad backstory as a test subject, and he needed his friendship with Isa to be properly developed so his fight at the Keyblade Graveyard felt emotionally engaging (which it didn’t).

Isa needed to be Subject X to redeem him. Saïx didn’t have much of a “personality”. This was the whole point. He was never likable the way Axel was. He was rude, condescending, cold, and vicious. According to Axel, he showed no human emotion besides sneers and snide remarks. But he was Norted, for crying out loud! Saïx was not meant to be one of the protagonists. Isa was!! They threw away two amazing characters for this flat underdeveloped Union X one. Very foolish and shortsighted. it’s definitely gonna bite them in the ass.

Lea and Isa were always meant to be a duo. For some fans, it seems like only trios are valid, but that’s not true. SRK are Sky, Land, Sea. TAV are Earth, Water, Wind. Well, Lea and Isa are Sun and Moon—complementary opposites. I’ve heard people say that Skuld would be “Stars”. Well, I think Terra, Aqua, and Ven were meant to be the stars. Skuld is redundant and not needed to “complete” Lea and Isa. 

Even in canon, she is a stranger to them. They spoke to her a few times in the shadows and couldn’t even see her face. She had amnesia. They literally knew nothing about her and weren’t sure if she even existed after a while, yet now their whole backstory revolves around her. She doesn’t complement them at all or make them more interesting. She detracts from them.

On the other hand, Isa definitely complemented Lea and made him a more interesting character. That’s why I liked him. He provided Lea with someone to humanize him and to give him a poignant backstory. He gave Lea a goal while becoming a Keyblade wielder. And Isa’s chemistry with Lea was adorable. Isa was sarcastic and brought out a different side of Lea than Roxas and Xion did. They also had an actual history together. They went to school together, ate ice cream, and also played with a dog. Probably played fetch with the frisbee (aww).

Lea was closer to Isa than anyone else—period. I was much, MUCH more excited to see Lea and Isa’s past and their friendship get developed than the potential relationship they have with Skuld get teased. No, I’m not excited for them to be a trio and I’m not excited for Skuld to get in the way of Lea and Isa’s friendship and make it all about her. She seemed like she fit in better with Ephemer anyways. Also, I think Lea and Isa have waaaaay more personality than Skuld. They are both colorful characters with a lot of charm. She can’t hold a candle to them.

Leo Traits

Leo is the fifth sign of the zodiac and has the Sun as its ruling celestial body. Bold, intelligent, warm, and courageous, Leo star sign is a natural leader of the Zodiac. Leo is an adventurer, seeking to balance an intense life of social obligations and travel with plenty of downtime to relax and luxuriate. 

A Leo is a typical outgoing and jovial kind of person. He has a big friend circle and likes to boss around. Appreciation and admiration are the two important things for getting close to a lion’s heart. He likes to be flattered and pampered.

Skuld just doesn’t fit in with Lea and Isa’s theme. They are Sun/Moon opposites. She’s a third wheel. In KH2, Axel didn’t have a lot of development. He was clever and cocky, but we didn’t know a lot about him, especially as a human. When they decided to flesh him out, they definitely decided to make him a typical Sun personality. I thought Lea was surprisingly cheery and positive.

Caring

At their best, the courageous Leo is strong, and has an amazing, protective attitude towards their friends. They care very deeply for those close to them.

He cares very much for his friends.

Optimistic

Leo is an optimist who is able to see the silver lining to life. They are optimists who are always able to find the positive side of any situation, and they prefer to revel in the good than dwell over the bad.

Even though Axel could be quite pessimistic, Lea was a natural optimist.

Kind

They are always willing to help out a loved one in need, and they will go to great lengths to make sure that those they care about most are happy. Leos have a compassionate heart, and they tend to be extremely kind and generous creatures.

He was always willing to help stray puppies.

Loyal

If there’s one thing that you can say about Leo with certainty, it’s that they are some of the most loyal people that you will ever meet. Leo is the bravest sign in the Zodiac, often doing whatever they are required to do despite being scared or in danger.

He is amazingly loyal. He always wanted to bring his friends back, no matter what. Even when he thought Isa tried to kill him.

Straightforwardness

Mincing words is not in the nature of a Leo. They speak their mind and like to express their thoughts clearly. Frankness is therefore, one of the biggest strengths of Leos. It is because of their straightforwardness that they are able to confront opinions and thoughts, they do not approve of, directly. This is also one of the reasons why they get things done fast.

He is very straightforward. He lied a lot to Roxas and kept secrets, but that wasn’t who he really was.

Faithful Partners and Good Friends

Leos are romantic and passionate lovers. They are faithful partners and exhibit extreme sensitivity  while in a relationship. This is also the reason why they are vulnerable to getting hurt. Thus, Leos need to find someone whom they can trust before they shower their love and kindness on that person. 

One of the special traits found in Leos is helping friends in need. Lending emotional support to friends in difficult times is a rare quality found in these people. It enables them to make lifelong friends. Behind all the aggression, ego and other domineering personality traits of a Leo lies a sensitive heart which cares for the dear ones. Leos take pride in protecting their close ones and would do so with all the energy and wit they possess. It is observed that the bossy exterior of Leos often eclipses their sensitive nature.

He is a wonderful friend, but has a deeper side, more sensitive side. All very accurate. 

Arrogance

At times, their dominance and confidence can be seen more like arrogance and conceit. Leo individuals ooze with confidence. They think that if they are the first to arrive at some conclusion, then they are right.

Lea was arrogant in a playful way. Like when he challenged Ventus to a fight. Axel was like that, too.

Inflexibility

They’re inflexible for other people, but they’re also inflexible for themselves. When they’ve made a commitment to something, they’re going to stick with it, regardless of how much they hate it.

Basically, Lea did whatever he wanted. Even Saïx said this about him.

Laziness

Though full of ambition and enthusiasm, Leo has to admit to a lazy streak and, given the opportunity, will take the easy way out, especially when a situation offers little fun or glory.

He likes to have fun.

Pride

This sign is represented by a lion, and as such, Leos are born with all of the pride and glory of the maned creature.

Oh yes, he is very proud.

Domineering

Leos have a hard time learning when to stop ruling and start listening. For this reason, Leos are extremely domineering and tend to overpower those around them.

Lea was the accelerator and Isa was the brake. Lea never listened to Isa, though.

Impatience

Impatience is one of the negative traits exhibited by a Leo. This trait of Leos get reflected in their habit to get things done fast. Impatience may lead to development of anxiety and restlessness in these individuals.

Axel never liked waiting around.

Jealousy

Leos may exhibit a possessive nature. This trait is closely related to the jealousy they exhibit. In fact, they are jealous because of their possessive nature.

Saïx was very jealous. But Lea probably had a side like that as well. He would not like it if Isa alienated him.

Cancer Traits

Cancer, the fourth sun sign of the Zodiac, has water as its element, is feminine, and is ruled by the Moon. This sign is represented by crabs, and similar to their nature, these people can be the sweetest and most sympathetic people at one moment, and turn into the most cranky and irritable ones the next.

Even though Isa was an NPC, he was not just “Lea’s friend”. He was certainly far more deserving of character development than ANY Union X character, that’s for sure. Isa seemed like he was more of a feminine archetype. Therefore, he is unlike any other male character in the series. I thought he was very refreshing and unique. He brought something new to the table. Also, based on the way Saïx acted, Isa was not just a cardboard cutout, either. He had interesting flaws to provide him with depth. Evidence suggests he was a typical Moon personality.

Moody

Cancer individuals are also known to have a moody attitude, especially whenever they are jealous. Normally protective and courageous, Cancer signed people could become very brooding and moody if they feel that their emotional needs are not being met. Cancer is all about needing emotional security and trust in a relationship, like all of us of course. But they take it to another level.

If a Cancer feels as though he can’t trust you or if he’s just an insecure guy in general, then his possessive and jealous side is going to come out in a major way. He’ll make snide comments about what you’re wearing and ask you questions about what you’re doing and who you’re with that can rival the time of being a teenager under your parents’ roof.

Man, dos this sound like Saïx or what? He was insanely jealous. While I think Saïx was a totally different personality from Isa, I still think he reflected much of Isa’s personality in him, due to having his memories and captured heart. In the novel, when Roxas was upset he pushed the wrong button, Axel said he knew what it felt like to have something be wrong and not know the reason. Based on the way Saïx acted, Isa sounded very emotionally needy towards Lea. I definitely think he’d be jealous if Lea didn’t spend enough time with him. He might be passive aggressive about it, too.

Unpredictable

Cancer, being a water sign, is very emotional and sensitive. They are very touchy, and can get hurt at the slightest provocation. It is this sensitivity, which makes them hide in their own shell, away from the world, to protect themselves from getting hurt. When they retreat into this shell, and refuse to talk to anybody, people may find them to be moody and unpredictable.

It doesn’t take much for them to go from friendly and outgoing, to totally introverted as a way of protecting themselves. And it can prove quite confusing and unpredictable to the people in their lives. Cancer needs a strong partner who can deal with his various sides and complexity. You never know what will trigger his moods and his evasiveness and his habit of being indirect makes you question if you ever really knew him.

Saïx could also be surprisingly moody and oversensitive once he began to awaken a heart. Axel had no idea why he suddenly started berating Xion and calling her a failure all the time. He wouls walk on eggshells to avoid upsetting him. It was probably easy to push the wrong buttons with Isa and he might not tell Lea what was bothering him right away. In the novel, Axel tried to get Saïx to open up to him by putting his hand on his shoulder, but Saïx brushed it away. This upset Axel and made him think how different things were between them. This said a lot about their relationship as humans. Lea had to put effort to get Isa to open up, but Isa was receptive to it.

Negative

Cancer people are ruled by the Moon, which is ever-changing, and thus they can have moods that can grow dark and darker. It’s common for people with this zodiac sign to struggle with low self-esteem and hold a lifelong grudge against someone. They are someone who sees the glass as half empty rather than half full.

Another trait being their lack of trust in people, they tend to have a negative outlook of life. They become prone to depression, and are unable to enjoy life. They can get hurt at the drop of a hat, and rarely express their resentment and anger.

I think this was why Isa felt like a burden on Lea and was down on himself a lot. Isa needed Lea to be the upbeat optimist for him. Isa was probably snarky and nitpicky with Lea, but in a more playful way. He was the brake, while Lea was the accelerator. This is also a dynamic unique to Lea and Isa. Axel had to be the mature and responsible mentor figure with Roxas and Xion. But with Isa, he was more playful and mischievous. Isa would scold Lea, but Lea never would listen.

Clingy

Cancer is a sign of fertile imagination and deep emotional needs. Cancer individuals are sometimes over-imaginative, which can get them in trouble. They will obsess over the situation until they have all of their answers.

Cancerians are very possessive about their relationships. They can be very clingy, and try to hold on to relationships, even after they have ended it. In relationships, they give much more and expect very little in return. Being emotional and sensitive, they are very easily influenced by their loved ones.

Yep. This is exactly how I think Isa was with Lea. Isa was very attached and gave his whole heart to Lea.

Suspicious

The empathetic crab is inclined to protect themselves. They only trust when they feel safe within relationships, often resorting to their inner world when they do not feel trustful or safe. He needs his moods and anxieties to be understood and if they’re not then he will retreat to his shell and come back out when he feels safe.

Definitely sounds like Isa. He was shy and couldn’t open up to just anybody.

Cancer Traits

Cancer star sign, the fourth sign of the zodiac is all about home. They are a nurturing and maternal sign. These people love their home and family more than anything else in this world. Cancerians are blessed with strong intuitive and psychic powers that help them judge people well. These people tend to be hard on the outside and soft inside. But they also have a tougher side to their personality.

So, Saïx exhibited all of the typical Cancer flaws. So, it stands to reason that Isa would also exhibit Cancer’s positive attributes, too.

Intuitive

Cancerians are known to be psychic, and can almost guess things before they actually happen. This comes from their highly developed observational powers. They can truly understand human behavior, and rarely forget things. All these make them highly intuitive and psychic.

This is a side of Isa we definitely never saw in Saïx. His scar is on his third eye chakra, which is the center of psychic awareness. It’s why he couldn’t see Xion or understand why Axel acted the way he did. It’s sad actually. A big part of his personality was shut down.

Kind

Emotional strength and intuition will always define Cancer’s top strengths and traits. This is emotional, but kind-hearted and compassionate personality type that makes for an outstanding friend.

I’m sure Isa was very kind and a wonderful friend, which is why Axel was so desperate to have a “best friend” to fill the void.

Emotive

Cancers are known for their traits like loyalty, their emotional depth, and their parenting instincts. Cancer individuals are emotional and intense; they are also extremely intuitive and compassionate. People belonging to this zodiac sign are highly emotional. Just like the crab that represents them, they are hard from outside, but very soft and mushy from within.

Isa scolded Lea a lot, but only because he cared. He was compassionate and selfless, like the Moon Rabbit. If there’s anything KH3 got right about Isa, it’s that he’d try to comfort an imprisoned girl and want to help her.

Faithful

Cancer is the most concerned with a secure and faithful relationship. Cancer individual loves home and family and is not happy unless they have deep emotional ties. Cancer is usually very nurturing and tends to take good care of everyone they care about.

Isa was serious when he said he’d never forget Lea. I definitely think Isa was the one who first gave Lea the WINNER stick, too.

Loving

Cancer individuals are very loving and caring. As the most sensitive sign of the zodiac, a Cancer does everything with love in mind and in the heart. Because of this, they are the most tender lovers.

Yes, I do think Lea and Isa were envisioned as a couple. Isa loved Lea. His Bunnymoon weapon has a rocket being launched by a heart. Lea also loved Isa, and this is why Axel was so depressed whenever he thought about how different Saïx was compared to Isa. Axel desperately missed feeling loved by someone. They had an extraordinarily interesting relationship. I don’t think Skuld adds anything except getting in the way and watering down their bond.

[phoenix-downer]

Did you ever consider Xion to be Sora and Kairi's "love child" of sorts, given her circumstances?

Thanks for the ask!

I absolutely think Sora has a soft spot for Xion - how could he not, when he looks so much like his beloved Kairi? By now he is probably aware of her sacrifice for him, too, which he would no doubt be very grateful for. And I think she might look up to him - he’s her source, her origin, after all. Yes, she looks like Kairi and draws her appearance from her, but she wouldn’t exist without Sora, either. They both have a hand in her becoming the person she is today. 

Speaking of Sora and Xion, though, I’ve been wanting to talk about their interactions together in KH3 for some time, so why not now?

Xion’s Name Scene

An entire post could be made about Roxas and Xion’s interactions in this game (and I’m sure many have been already), but in this post I’ll be focusing mainly on Sora and Xion. So with the assumption that yes, Roxas’s heart is influencing Sora’s in this scene, let’s focus on what Sora himself seems to be feeling here. Because I absolutely think we’re seeing Sora’s compassion and concern for Xion as well.

First of all… look at how he looks at her. Pure compassion. 

And can I say how much I loved that he was the one who talked to her like this? She sacrificed herself so that he could wake up again, and I think on some fundamental level he knows. 

He appeals to her better nature:

He doesn’t try to fight her. He asks her not to attack her friend. He knows she doesn’t want this, he knows she doesn’t want to do this. He believes she’s capable of feeling, capable of reasoning. He KNOWS she has a heart. Otherwise he wouldn’t try so hard to appeal to it.

This isn’t for his sake, it’s for hers. He shows how much he cares by putting her wants and needs above his own. Again, he knows she doesn’t really want to do this, that she’s being coerced into doing it. He knows how much it would break her heart to hurt her friend, and he’s pleading with her on her behalf (as well as Lea’s, of course) not to do it.

And his appeals don’t fall on a hard heart. Xion audibly reacts, hesitates. She gasps…

…and the camera zooms in on her mouth:

But her moment of hesitation is short lived. She turns away because she can’t bear to look at him. Perhaps she knows that if she does, she won’t be able to do what she thinks she has to do.

And she just ruthlessly attacks him. Over and over and over again, taking out her rage and pain and abandonment, perhaps. 

And he takes it. He doesn’t fight back. Doesn’t try to hurt her. All he does is guard against the blows. Because if she hurts him, that would hurt her, too. Clearly they take a lot of effort to guard, based on the sounds he’s making, but he doesn’t once retaliate.

He begs her to wait…

…and she lands one more heavy blow:

At this point there are already tears in his eyes. Look closely and you can see how red and watery they are. His teeth are gritted, too.

He’s distressed by her distress…

…and when he sees that she’s hesitating…

…he tries to appeal to her heart again. 

She doesn’t have to do this. He’s willing to take on her anger and pain and hurt, but he wants her to let go of it.

Because it’s okay now, her friends are here, she isn’t alone anymore, they’re going to make sure she’s okay. 

Her pain matters and it’s very important to Sora that she be comforted.

And she reacts to his words again:

He repeats himself…

…tears now visibly streaming down his face…

…and then Roxas says her name through Sora. I can’t think of a better way they could have done this, really. Names are such an important part of personal identity, and by saying her name, Roxas through Sora is giving her her personhood back, her agency back, her identity back. No, you’re not a puppet, you’re not a copy of Sora with Kairi’s face, you’re you.

And by refusing to attack her, Roxas is making up for how he failed her before. Before, he did attack her and fought her. But not here. Not anymore. Sora refuses to fight her or attack her and in doing so Roxas perhaps is able to atone for his role in her “death.” He hurt her once before, but he refuses to do it again. And Sora will absolutely not hurt her. He will make right what went wrong. She deserves to exist, and he wants her to know that.

And Xion loses it. Just absolutely loses it. 

She thought no one remembered her. She thought she’d been abandoned, forgotten. All for the sake of the boy who didn’t even remember who she was. 

But no, she hasn’t been abandoned and she isn’t forgotten. Not anymore. Sora knows her name and she heard it through Roxas’s voice.

Tears stream down her face…

…and she drops her Keyblade.

Sora immediately lowers his Keyblade…

…and reaches out to her to try to comfort her…

…then hesitates…

…then reaches out again:

The whole time she has her breakdown, he’s clearly concerned for her wellbeing:

And when Xemnas kicks her back…

…he tries to shield her with his body:

Powerful, powerful scene that got me good. There were definitely tears.

Reassurance Scene

One of my other favorite moments was when Xion went out of her way to comfort Sora, showing that 1) She cares about his feelings and his grief - she cares about him 2) She cares about Kairi’s safety and wellbeing 3) She is returning Sora’s earlier kindness to her by being kind to him in return.

I don’t have a whole lot of time to go in depth with this scene right now, but perhaps for another post. For now have these two screenshots I took:

Sora really needed some comfort in that moment, and I’m sure hearing it from Xion (because of her connection to Kairi) really helped. 

Great interactions, all of them.

(I’ll be posting video links for the screenshots in either the comments or as a reblog because tumblr is hiding some? all? posts with links in them from the tags)

[didsomeonesayventus]

okay long time spending in gestation but I imagine that someone out of the followers I have wants to know my onion on KH3 is 

Overall, good!

so consider wordbarf of very repeated and tired onions no one actually actively asked for below:

Alright so I’ve been trying to figure out how to make these words and what my opinions even are considering this game has been out for almost a year now (KH3 existing is wild imagine it turning a year old) so this will be. mostly bullet points + incoherent and unorganized rambling forgive me

BAD THINGS FIRST lets get the salt out of the way

Literally everything with Kairi was oof. I still feel her relationship with Lea is incredibly rushed given the last time they were interacting in canon he was literally kidnapping her but go off I guess nomura they’re brother/sister friendsy now at least the fandom can sell me on that better than you can. I seethe with rage recalling that they didn’t even try to hide that killing her off was a classic case of fridging (“You lack motivation” FUCK OFF) and I have been angry since the day I was spoiled by leak stuff accidentally. I wouldn’t have minded her getting her ass handed to her if they made it look like she tried and gave us some moments where she did defend herself and get some victories and not conveniently cut away from the actually badly needed training montage (surprise! this is why we have training montages!!!!) and I get she was instrumental in rescuing everyone and the fact she wasn’t THAT bad speaks for how much she improved but it still just. bites that she still feels more like a satellite love interest than ever. 

Kairi was bad enough to get her own thing but tbh everyone who isn’t Sora also.. really suffers. The writing is really Sora-centric here and that’s not inherently bad (see good list) but it leaves a lot to be desired, especially since they dog pile the extended cast moments in at the end. There was no big confusion at Ven and Roxas sharing a face, no talks between characters who would have interesting interactions given their histories and circumstances, no obvious sign of development from anyone except maybe sea salt family and Aqua. They’re here to be more one-note than usual and resolve their arcs. Ven in particular (I’m totally not biased clearly /sarcasm) I feel is a big example given he was kinda in a really rough mental state at the end of bbs?? and 3 is exceptionally vague on just how conscious ventus was during his nap so I can’t even answer if he was able to give himself therapy the past 12 years or whatever

Anti Aqua is a damn cool concept but ultimately kinda pointless and I think we could have received it better if it wasn’t spoiled in trailers and wholly out of left field. Plus Sora coming in after what was pretty clearly set up as a Riku moment- while it gave us the incredibly gay press triangle to Sora + use a big keyblade made from ur love moment -was uh! really cheap!!!! and ruined what was clearly set up for being Riku’s thing with an almost nonsensical SIKE ITS SORA (it’s saved from being wholly nonsensical by 0.2′s opening foreshadowing + it still kinda makes sense for sora to at least help but damn if the narrative wasn’t leading us towards a riku moment)

Also everyone was hit really hard with the nerf effect in-narrative so unless you’re the dream team you’re screwed I guess and that. doesn’t quite work since it makes everyone else look... not great. And I think this is kinda a miscommunication on part of Nomura and the fans (IM MAKING ASSUMPTIONS TAKE WITH SALT) in that we kept saying we wanted people “saved” but meant having their arcs resolved in a reasonable way that preserved their agency and power and relationships, but got interpreted literally as “alright Sora comes in and solves every problem, is tough on stains, and makes julienne fries”

And yet there’s also a lot of mean spirited “oh no sora’s dumb and helpless w/out a second braincell” which was kinda funny the first couple times and I failed to pick up on it first go I’ll admit, but honestly? Yeah. they pick on sora too much. Donald and Goofy are the most guilty, and everyone else by virtue of not seeing Sora that much actually in-narrative are off the hook from me because they probably didn’t know how much teasing he’d been getting from his pals, but it felt kinda like they didn’t know what to fall back on between the three besides “oh donald and goofy pick on sora” which is cute once or twice but the amount he gets and how it clearly leads to his breakdown at the end is uhHHHHhhhHH hm.

As always the pacing is pretty awful where the disney worlds are somewhat relevant at best and then the end is 0-1000 but that is a usual KH gripe so its pretty low on the bar

Attraction flow is cute and neat at first but it gets.. really wearing towards the end and in the serious fights at the Keyblade Graveyard BOY are they a mood breaker

the “repeat the plot” worlds- Tangled, Frozen, Pirates -REALLY stick out like a sore, ugly thumb compared to the worlds that went out and did their own creative thing, and Big Hero 6 was.. cute? but kinda maybe too much of a breather.

Frozen also get an extra award for “Audio mixer most in need of firing!” because who the hell allowed the do you want to build a snowman scene.

They did nothing with Scala and I want a refund on that aesthetic if they’re not gonna do anything besides a framing device with it

HEY WAIT THERE WAS GOOD THINGS TOO!

Good news point that may or may not come to pass: Re:Mind DLC might fix some of the above salt! We shall see and probably know by the time this post is a year old sfjhdsakjgh

SORA! Sora was actually a character again!!!! holy cow they pulled up from the utter nose dive that was DDD!! god i love this dork and it was really fantastic to see him back to normal.

The graphical upgrade lost a lot of the squish and stretch that the OG graphics had but you know what? pretty. tastey. good graphics and better at doing more subtle emotions and hey have i mentioned Pirate’s glow up? Pirate’s glow up. The details in Olympus to recreate the swirly aesthetic of the clouds and explosions and lava is a great touch.

Worlds as far as levels go?? really good! They feel legitimately like worlds and explorable and with their own flavors and I LOVE battle and field themes x2 its really great I’m down for less worlds if they keep the quality. Hell we have NPCs!! maybe even too many npcs.

Writing OVER ALL/ON AVERAGE I’d say has improved a lot! It’s still not a literary masterpiece or anything but I found the disney worlds really cute and easier to get invested in even if long term they were less relevant than I hoped they would be. In every world there was at least one scene I found myself actually invested in. Like there was something to the writing that was legitimately more endearing than usual on average, and toy box and monstropolis were strong contenders for really good overall imo

honestly there were moments that- as moments -were incredible. Wayfinder reunion scene will haunt me, and Sea salt’s was good too, final world and rescuing everyone was jaw dropping, getting the LoD Back was also good, Union X, Xigbar exiting left stage pursued by a bear, wayfinder trio making a grave for eraqus, all the gummi ship scenes had great chemistry, beach party ending, hanging out with rapunzel for the first half of Corona is adorable as hell, all the nods to scenes in the movies, the easter eggs, like the game is not consistently amazing but it is peppered with stuff that I feel in a bubble ignoring surrounding context just work really really well

Damn if the end boss rush wasn’t thrilling as hell and honestly??? really good. Hard to parse out first flush but I think this was a good decision and added a lot of blood roaring urgency and wild turns, and even if I want to overhaul a number of things about the endgame I think this can definitely stay

Kingstagram is a beautiful gift man

OST? A fucking banger all around and I love how they’ve made cutscene-specific tracks that play with the leitmotifs throughout KH’s illustrious musical history

Over all there’s some really glaring issues, but overall it’s KH really at its best. I’m not sure if it’s my favorite entry and I’m still really mixed + befuddled on just how exactly I feel and I think a lot of that is I had pretty high expectations and my own ideas of how it would play out since like. 2012. it’s really hard to detach from those feelings and ideas sometimes. But KH3 wasn’t bad! It could’ve really been worse, and the fact that it got out the door in the state that it was is a good deal

now here’s to the wait for Re:Mind and to see if it’s basically the content we’d get in Final Mix that could definitely bump up my opinion

[violetstar-writes]

Here's my opinion on how good each world was in Kh3:

Olympus: The music here was so triumphant and bold. Defintely giving off the hero vibe. The intro to this world was so cheesy and corny, as well as the rest of the dialogue and interactions. I found myself cringing from it one or two times, but it didn't last long. I smiled and chuckled for most of it. Can anyone explain to me why Hercules yeeted Sora, Donald and Goofy off into the sky atop his statue instead of just...letting them climb up the rubble to the little girl? Seemed pointless. That part confused me.

Fighting the Titans was just so....epic. That's the only way I can describe it. Seeing Sora break the laws of physics and just Naruto run up a cliff to beat up a giant rock monster pretty much sums up what the combat of this series is. I love it for that.

A pretty solid intro to the game. Maybe tone it down a little on the cheese next time? Lol

8/10.

Toy Box: I mean, come on. It's Toy Story. Little (Lego???) Toy Sora, Donald, and Goofy were adorable. You get to hear "You've Got A Friend In Me" as the main theme in this world, which fits way too well with Kingdom Hearts as a whole. The plot was original, rather than a rehash of the movie. I liked this! Woody and Buzz are very nicely portrayed in this game (and possibly the most accurate), as well as being excellent party members (their special move is the rocket from the first movie!!! I adored that!!! I'm glad it didn't blow up on them!!!). There was so much to explore inside Galaxy Toys, and being so tiny really made you feel that. Woody roasting Young Xehanort and calling him out on his convoluted darkness crap was the best thing ever.

Friends are definitely your power. I'm probably experiencing too much Disney nostalgia. 10/10.

Twilight Town: Very calming music and a beautiful atmosphere to be in, despite being stuck in perpetual evening. Not that that's a bad thing. It was great to see Hayner, Pemce and Olette with updated looks. Seeing the bistro and cooking with Remy was so cute and entertaining. I like how they introduced both the Lucky Emblems and Classic Kingdom in this world. My second favorite line in this game is and always will be Hayner screaming "HEY, LOSER!!!" as he tries to dropkick an extremely dangerous man in a black coat. I only wish more of this world was accesible. There was a lot of the town that was blocked off that you could only see from far away.

I'd like to see the tower out of a cutscene eventually. 9/10.

Corona: This world was gorgeous. The lush green landscapes, the water (holy crap the WATER), the contrast with the mines/cliffs and the marsh (which had the best music in this world in my opinion), the town and the festival...

THE FESTIVAL. I DIED WHEN I SAW SORA DANCING. HE WAS HAVING SO MUCH FUN, AND HE'S SO GOOD AT IT. I WISH I COULD DANCE THAT GOOD.

The lantern scene was so pretty to look at. I'll admit though, the story itself felt a little... choppy? I could tell some parts were cut out from the original movie for Sora's POV to be more prominent, but if you haven't seen Tangled before...it probably won't make a lot of sense. A lot of important points in the movie were left out. Frozen suffered from this as well. I guess the developers assumed most people have already seen these movies, but even in the older games it felt like the disney plots along with the kingdom hearts plot were more balanced than this.

I still enjoyed it, though. Rapunzel and the others were also portrayed accurately. 8.5/10.

Monstropolis: I still don't know how I feel about Sora, Donald, and Goofy's design in this world. It's equally appropriate and kinda creepy. Perfect for a world of monsters, I guess. Sully, Mike, and Boo were all fantastic in this world, though. I liked the callbacks to the movie, and the fact that this story was completely original like Toy Story's! It was a great change of pace to see events after the first movie. There was even a brief callback to the first Kingdom Hearts game! (Sora saying "cheeeese!" and making a weird face, which made Donald and Goofy laugh hysterically. Of course it worked on Boo lol)

And of course, my #1 favorite scene in this game: Sully just not having it with Vanitas or the rest of the kingdom hearts plot, grabbing this edgelord like he's nothing and throwing him into 10 different doors. I wish I had recorded this. I would have watched it on repeat and laughed every single time. It's in the theater, and probably on youtube. I...might go do that in a bit.

Equally as charming as Toy Box. Thank you, Pixar and Square Enix. The soundtrack for this world was pretty dope too. 10/10.

Arendelle: My least favorite world. Suffered from the same issue as Tangled with the plot in that it was choppy. The world as a whole was a bit too plain and "samey" for me to look at, mainly because it was nothing but snow. At least they stuck to the source material. And for some reason this is the only world with actual singing? It was just a copy and paste of "Let It Go" with the game graphics (it was funny to see Sora, Donald and Goofy randomly standing there and watching Elsa though), then a bizarre version of "Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?" with Anna trying very hard to talk over a younger version of herself that was already singing loudly. She could've just as easily not talked, or they could have left out the song....

Ok, some postives. Having Marshmallow as a teammate was great. Just an anime kid and his giant snow monster friend, hanging out. I have to admit that hearing Sora get annoyed with falling off cliffs constantly made me laugh. There was a lot of falling off cliffs in that movie. And while I'm not a fan of Larxene, she was easily the most enjoyable Organization member that Sora interacted with (aside from Luxord of course, and Demyx who Sora didn't see but was in the game). I sort of admired that in a way, she was showing respect to Elsa's need for some space by telling Sora to keep his distance (although putting him in a labriynth was a bit excessive). The boss fight for this world was the best part; that wolf heartless design was incredible to look at.

This wasn't a bad world. Just not a very good one to me, either. 7/10.

The Caribbean: Has the most stunning graphics out of all the other worlds. Sora's pirate design (along with Donald and Goofy) are equally fitting and appealing to look at. They blend in a lot more with the realism of POTC than they did in Kingdom Hearts 2 (in which they stuck out like a sore thumb haha). Using the pirate ship to battle heartless, as well as battling heartless underwater was very clever (though I'm wondering how on earth Sora could BREATHE underwater, but oh well it's a video game). There's so much to explore in this world, both on land and in the sea. You'll probably find something new during each visit.

The plot was also pretty solid, though Tia Dalma was quickly "benched" from the story, as the organization likes to call it. She didn't show up even once after the beginning. Which is strange, considering how important she is to the story. She's one of the driving plot points for why Davy Jones is how he is.

Overall, still a fun world to be in. 9/10.

Big Hero 6: The story was pretty short, but sweet. I like how Hiro has two Baymaxes now. Sora even wanted one, lol

The world itself was...a bit confusing to navigate? Also a bit samey with one or two buildings that looked exactly the same. I also...did not understand Replica Riku's explanation entirely as to how he was there. It was debunked later on too, which seemed nonsensical. As for the reason why, it made much more sense. Poor original Baymax. At least Hiro saved you.

Fun! But complicated to understand (story-wise) and traverse. Hiro and his friends were on point, thankfully. 8.5/10

The Dark Realm/Realm Of Darkness: Despite being the second shortest segment in the entire game, I felt it needed to be adressed. It's the ONLY OTHER world where you get to play as someone that isn't Sora: Riku. Who controls very nicely, by the way. It also has one of the most epic and heartbreaking boss battles in the entire game: fighting against Dark Aqua. Despite not lasting very long, this fight defintely got the point across; that sometimes you're just not strong enough on your own, and it's okay to get some help from people who care. You're not alone.

I still tear up thinking about it. 9/10.

The Land Of Departure/Castle Oblivion: The shortest segment in the game, only visited once and never again. Nothing to explore, aside from staircases and a shiny throne room. But considering how the story pans out during this part, it makes sense. You're only there to help a now restored Aqua get back one of her missing friends: Ventus, who is still sleeping. And by god, do they deliver on this. Just as Sora and Aqua reach Ven, they get confronted by Vanitas, the dark half of Ventus. Aqua then decides that she has to fight him on her own, despite her weakened condition.

And this is when once again, you finally get to fight as Aqua. This fight is also short, but important as it shows her raw determination to defend her friend. Even after everything she went through, she refuses to give up.

She does lose this fight, but before Vanitas can do anything to her, Ventus finally wakes up (with Sora's help) and rushes in to defend her as well. Proving once again that friends are their power.

Friendship. It's a big deal in this game. I like that. 9/10.

The Keyblade Graveyard: Still as haunting as ever. The ominous theme (now with a spoooky organ) really adds to the fact that this is place where thousands of people died. Young children, to be more exact. Each broken, lifeless keyblade in this place has their own unique design (that must've been a DOOZY to program in), and even the atomsphere itself feels cold and lifeless with nothing but cliffs, rocks, and dusty winds.

And the plot. Oh god, the PLOT. I was happy. I was depressed. Then I was angry. And it just kept going back and forth between all these feelings. I was emotionally drained when it was all over. It felt that some spots were rushed a bit, but I can forgive Square for that for at least conveying most of the character's emotions extremely well.

As a whole, this world was handled wonderfully. 9.5/10.

The Final World: Possibly the most confusing world, but also oddly relaxing to be in. The theme is orchestrated beautifully, and despite being nothing but a sky and a watery ground (along with clouds and pillars?), it was enchanting to run around in. A nice atmosphere for a place supposedly between life and death.

How poetic. 9/10.

Scala Ad Caelum: For a world that directly translates to "Stairway To Heaven", it certainly does fit its name. The buildings all reach up to the sky high enough that they probably could reach heaven. And despite the eerie silence accompanied by the theme playing quietly in the background, you can just stop and admire this nice little town with some plants, flowers, and other greenery next to the sea. It reminded me a bit of the bathhouse in Studio Ghibli's "Spirited Away".

You don't get to explore much of anything in this world, but it compensates for that by taking you through a quick tour with one of the craziest boss fight(s) in the series. Still a lot of fun, and VERY nerve-wracking. That's Kingdom Hearts for you.

I would've wanted to explore more, but it was at least nice to see another new place. 9/10.

One thing I didn't like was how exploring the Disney worlds, although fun, seemed....pointless. There was no real purpose for Sora to go out and visit these worlds. Let me explain:

-In Kingdom Hearts 1, you had to explore each world to seal the keyholes in them with the keyblade (which is its primary function). In doing so, these worlds would be more or less safe from the darkness and ths Heartless threatening to destroy them.

-In Kingdom Hearts 2, you visited each world to reopen the pathways between worlds and reconnect them all. Because Sora had locked the keyholes from the previous worlds, then Kingdom Hearts and the Door To Darkness in the first game, these links to the worlds had been severed. It was the only way to keep the worlds safe at the time.

-And in Kingdom Hearts 3, you're supposedly supposed to visit them not to keep them safe per se, but just to...make Sora strong again, and regain a power he actually had the whole time...? So it was all kind of pointless fun and grinding? He could have just as easily trained with Merlin, as Lea and Kairi did. They did touch on the idea of "Seven New Princesses Of Heart", but it was never explored beyond Organization 13 going "oh yeah they exist, they're out backup plan. Oh the main plan works? Guess we'll drop that idea". They didn't even find 7 princesses, only 3. I'm assuming they'll address this more in the next game.

You don't fight the Organization in these worlds, either. Just watch them antagonize Sora and occasionally get served by Disney characters who don't understand why all these anime characters showed up with monsters. If anything, in this game they were more like..."The Organization Of Mild Incoveniences" in the Disney worlds. That has a nice ring to it. I think.

You could also say Sora explored these worlds so Nomura could expand on his character, but...I dunno. That still seems kinda weak. Maybe in the final mix version, Square will fix some of these issues. But I had fun with the game either way!

[palizinhas]

Riku and/or Finm for the character meme?

Riku

First impression

I don’t remember much of playing KH for the first time. I was 8, and I couldn’t understand most of it because I was playing in English. But I really liked Riku? I thought he was a fun antagonist, and I think his boss fight was one of the highlights of the game for me (though I didn’t struggle with it as much as most people seem to). The scene where he stands up to Ansem SoD to stop him from hurting Kairi stayed with me even when I didn’t really know what was going on.

Impression now

I adore Riku! I think he’s such a likable character, and his is the only redemption arc in KH that doesn’t suck (I love Lea and Isa, but it’s TRUE). He’s come a long way, and I mantain that KH3 did him dirty by having him fail his big quest in the whole game just so Sora could look good.

Favorite moment

It’s a quiet moment, but Ansem the Wise’s Legacy is my favorite scene in the whole game, and Riku is a big part of that. I love him chilling in Sora’s heart with all the people in it, and that little moment at the end when Ansem asks him his name and Riku says it proudly... my son.

Idea for a story

I just wanna know WHEN HE GOT HIS KEYBLADE!!

Unpopular opinion

I think most people don’t agree with me that KH3 failed Riku (though not as much as it failed Kairi and Aqua, ofc). I just... think they shouldn’t have made such a big deal of his and Mickey’s quest for Aqua if the one who was going to save her was gonna be Sora. At least have Riku as a party member in the Aqua fight, is that really too much to ask?!

Favorite relationship

I’m gonna go against the usual and say it’s Mickey. CoM Riku is my favorite Riku, and his relationship with Mickey in that game is so GOOD.

Favorite headcanon

I want to believe that after the dust settled in KH3 he went to Roxas and apologized to him for what he did. Riku could have handled that situation so much better, even though I know it didn’t seem like it to him at the time, and I think he’s grown enough to realize that.

Finn

First impression

I started shipping Finn/Poe before the movie came out, so I guess my first impression of him was that he was going to be a hero and he was gonna be great and I was going to love him.

Impression now

All of those things turned out to be true. He’s great, and he’s such a highlight of the SW sequels for me. He’s probably my favorite of the sequel characters, as well as just being one of my favorite SW characters in general.

Favorite moment

Going up against Kylo in TFA even after watching Kylo straight up kill Han. He’s so brave!!

Idea for a story

I wanna see him try to connect with Stormtroopers, try to help them because ultimately they were brainwashed just like he was, and the fact that they didn’t manage to turn against it like he did doesn’t mean they’re weak or evil. It would be nice.

Unpopular opinion

I... don’t know?? I’m so far away from the SW fandom now I don’t even know what the popular opinions about him are these days.

Favorite relationship

Finn and Poe were the biggest ship of my life, I may not talk much about it these days, but I still love it. Just!! Everything about them in TFA was so GOOD. I wish they had interacted more in TLJ.

Favorite headcanon

He’s force-sensitive. I said that years ago and I stand by it.

[mellz117]

Mellz plays KH Re:CoM, Reverse/Rebirth (Riku’s Campaign) part 3

Check out parts [1] and [2] if you haven’t seen them yet. Part 1 also has a link to Sora’s campaign

Below the Read More is the endgame and my final thoughts

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Riku is met with Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, yet again, who still can't fathom why Riku's resisting his advances. Close your damn jacket!

Final battle! I lost twice? I think? Not many times but I think it was 2. But god damn not as many times as I lost to Repliku. That sucked. I don’t get mad about dying multiple times in a final boss, that’s kind of the point of final bosses...

Ansem has a great voice btw, like if there’s gonna be a voice for G-Dorf in Breath of the Wild 2, I want Richard Epcar or Dave Boat (Lexaeus) to voice him. I doubt it’ll happen but those are my picks!

This guy sure does talk a lot for someone who's supposed to be dying.

Ansem explodes in a thick fog of darkness that envelopes Riku and Mickey comes to the rescue. Technically Riku won so he’s allowed to relish in his victoy AS WELL AS be carried off my a floating mouse.

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 IDK where the basement is supposed to exist here because the door Riku reaches the ground floor through is the same door Sora goes through to LEAVE the ground floor. Is it like a hill? Gotta go upstairs to go downstairs?

Idk. I wanna see the full interior of the castle, I want blueprints.

“What now Riku? You going home?” Your Majesty. Mickey, my dude. You can’t just GO HOME after killing a man. Riku’s got some shit to go through, he can’t return to a normal life after this. There is so much more tha nthis!

I’m glad a MOUSE can understand darkness is a thing that just exists, can coexist with the light. Good on him for keeping an open mind! It took how long for anyone to realize light and dark are two sides of the same coin? Twilight Princess was all about this. ...Riku is the twilight princess.

Mickey wants to follow Riku down his path of light and dark and they’re friends now. When did they get the time to bond between KH1 and CoM?

How old is Mickey? He’s BFF’s with a teenager now, how old is he? I’m not saying child and adult friendships aren’t and shouldn’t be a thing, I may use Tumblr but I’m not THAT Tumblr. I’m just wondering what kind of grown-ass adult WANTS to be friends with a teenager lol. Mickey tells Riku, since they’re friends now Riku should call him my his name, rather than his title. So... No one else gets this talk? Donald? Goofy? No? OK.

I deadass expected Simple and Clean to start playing after a hard cut to black despite actually remembering the final confrontation with DiZ.

Riku and Mickey don the black coats DiZ presented earlier then they leave Castle Oblivion behind. The duo meets up with him at a crossroads and immediately Riku’s on the defense. I love Riku, he’s tired, he’s annoyed, he knows the world isn’t black and white, light and darkness, and the literal path he chooses reflects that. He’s accepting the darkness and using it to fight for his friends. I’m so proud of him. I wonder where these paths actually lead.

THE SUN IS RISING I DIDN’T NOTICE THIS UNTIL EDITING THIS WHAT?KJVBLSDFKJVBDLJ

NOW Simple and Clean plays, albeit after a fade to black.

During the credits cinematics we see Riku and Mickey travelling through Hollow Bastion, the same location where the 1,000 Heartless battle in KH2 takes place if I recall correctly! That was cool to see. Riku is having a difficult time. Help him.

The next one we see Roxas again. He stops and looks at the Twilight Town gang when they pass him and Axel tries leading him away. I can only assume the following went down:

“I wanna try that”, Roxas says and gestures to the ice cream the aforementioned group was eating. So he and Axel buy some ice cream and go up the clock tower, Roxas seems to be enjoying himself but Axel doesn’t seem to like this treat at all. I think he just eats it now for Roxas’s sake, he pretends to like it to make him happy.

So I don’t know the timeline of this part of the game. Is Roxas not part of the organization yet at this point? Is Axel trying to recruit him? Is this after Roxas defects and is forgetting his time with them?

The third clip we see a very brief shot of Riku a few months later and he’s looking good. Doesn’t cut his hair.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Final clip, after the credits shows Roxas and at this point he’s either friends with Hayner, Pence, and Olette or they’re inviting him for the first time to hang out with them.

“Beyond the path without you is a forgotten promise to keep. We may have walked side by side, but now we go on back to back. And though our paths may not cross, all paths are connected somewhere. When I arrive at where you are, we may not appear to be as we were...”

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So, final thoughts of the game overall. I enjoy longish games but when the length is just padded out with such shallow worlds I get bored really easily. I like to explore the map but I can’t do that in this game. Riku’s campaign is very short in comparison to Sora’s, for better or worse. For someone who just REALLY, REALLY wanted to move onto KH2, this was welcome lol. Sora’s half put me to sleep and I had a hard time trudging through it. Not that the story wasn’t engaging enough for me, I just didn’t want to play.

Didn’t care for the card based battle here. I preferred the combat more in Riku’s half because card management wasn’t really a thing which I ended up growing to appreciate for Riku once I got used to it. All I had to do was level up and get an extra card if I felt like it. The duel system was really fun and made boss battles go quickly, when I actually took the time to INITIATE them. Most of my frustration was just me NOT doing what the game aggressively suggested. At least I admit when it’s me and not accuse the game of poor gameplay like a certain grumpy gamer but that’s none of my business. I think this game may have felt better on the Gameboy Advance, I wouldn’t know.

I wanted to cry. I missed these kids so much. I love them so much. I’m a god damn crybaby now so a lot of moments just ended me and sometimes I needed a moment to sob while I hug my cat.

The (original) characters.

I can feel bad for Vexen to a point, he was a bastard but he just ultimately just wanted to do sciency stuff. A lot of questionable science but whatever. He creeps me the hell out. I know he hated Marluxia but was he really willing to spill Marly’s plans to Sora JUST TO SPITE HIM? Or was he actually trying to help Sora? That might explain some things later on down the road...

Lexaeus was always boring so no comment.

Zexion is a cutie pie, I don’t know why I think this I guess it carried over from 10 years ago. I have a soft spot for him. And I didn’t post a single picture of him so here’s one.

Axel, my favorite bastard. I will always love him. Chaotic neutral. He’s not much of an antagonist in this game, more of an obstacle, but he’s certainly working in favor of his own interests. I’ve been reading Inkheart and he reminds me of Dustfinger? Fire and all i guess.

Marluxia is also a bastard but as an antagonist I don’t dislike him. He mostly has his good looks to help him with that. I’m not sure why he wanted to overthrow the Organization but it got him dead so GG my dude. Not sure why Xehanort invited him and Larxene back.

Larxene.

Repliku. Brat, very much a brat. He immediately had beef with Sora because apparently it’s too unreasonable for Sora to “forget the quiet girl who moved away” when you were four and five years old. I could barely remember this game let alone any memories from when I was 4. I would have liked to see him interact with Riku during the time he thought he himself (Repliku) was the real one. Imagine the DRAMA. I do feel bad for him, his struggles with his identity and his jealousy towards Riku. I love how he is with Namine, so soft spoken and gentle. But we all know that’s based on false memories which is so sad. But like Sora said, the memories might be fake but the feelings are real.

Namine is a very good girl, a victim, a child who, when given the courage to, will stand up against her captor to protect her friends. She’s very sweet and smells like Kairi! (Riku, that’s weird) She’s brave as hell and I stan her. She just wanted a friend.

Sora... He’s so pure, so wholesome. He’ll do whatever it takes to save his friends. He had a little moment of weakness and cast Donald and Goofy aside but he got better pretty quickly. He was willing to give Repliku a chance despite their interactions being negative. He forgave Namine, knowing she had no choice but to do what she was forced to do. Sora. Just Sora. Love him.

Riku. I couldn’t stand him in the first game, he was just a punk-ass teenager (which makes me wonder why he and Sora were ever friends in the first place) with a super inflated ego who just, kinda does a 180 after you beat Ransem and is good? But my god. I just fell in love with this precious bean in Re:CoM. I remember the best of Riku from KH2 (let’s pretend KH3 doesn't exist for a second here because that is in my opinion the BEST Riku) and it was so welcoming and CoM really bridged the developmental gap between 1 and 2. It’s nice to see him struggle with this darkness and then learn to utilize it in a safe manner. We see a lot of vulnerability from him too, when he’s being constantly mocked by Ansem and the few embers of Org13 he meets here, his own doppelganger touting how much better he is, not having his one form of support physically be there on the majority of his journey. Riku’s super snarky throughout the game overall though and I love that. He’s the complete opposite of Sora at this time and he’s absolutely done with everyone’s bullshit.

Ansem is really persistent. He’s the guy who just can’t take a hint, I can’t imagine his dating life is very successful. I don’t like him but I don’t hate him either. He definitely makes more of an impact as a bad guy in this game, frequently showing up to harass Riku. Obligatory mentioning my mistake in saying that HE was guiding Riku in the beginning of the game when it was actually DiZ.

DiZ is formally introduced in this game and he’s cryptic as shit. I dig his design but what the hell made Ansem the Wise take this form? With all those bandages he looks like a burn victim (I haven’t played BbS if this is what happened Im sorry) but the call of fashion still rings in his ears. Why belts on his head though? That was this series aesthetic until KH3 pushed plaid. Anyway he is also a character I don't have any particular feelings towards

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I think I’m going to take a break from KH for a bit. I got the Spyro Reignited Trilogy the other day for XBOne, so I’ll be playing that. I’ve never played Spyro before, I hope I like it!

[nyctospoilers]

Favorite thing of every world?

Olympus: I really liked exploring olympus as a heavenly city. I liked looking at the gold and marble textures. This game was my FIRST PS4 game ever so I was surprised at the unreal’s textures and details asdfasdf. I also liked that you can tell Sora and Herc are genuine friends. Every other disney world is sora’s first visit, besides pirates, and even that one Sora and Crab Jack are aren’t close. So the chemistry was nice and genuine with Herc.

Twilight Town: I do appreciate the new found detail and the NPCs, but I still think my favorite part were the character’s interactions. I loved the twilight town trio, both ansems, vexen. Just a lot of fun cutscenes in this world

Toy Box: I can’t help but appreciate all the individual detail that went into this world. Every world had detail, of course, but i feel like there’s a difference between details of buildings and forests, and details of individual toys and boxes all with their own labels and price tags. And they all genuinely looked like fun modern toys, not stuff obviously made by adults were out of touch with the times.

Kingdom of Corona: okay this world kinda made me feel like i was playing a barbie videogame but like, a GOOD WAY. idk everything was just so princessy and i fucking dug it. The town, the bunnies and birds, the music, i felt like a little girl again and idk I just liked it :) Esp. because girl games were of course always half-assed, so this was like “here’s your childhood game except GOOD.”

Monstropolis: This and arendelle are a bit harder because I didn’t enjoy them as much (NOT to say I didn’t like them! because I did!). I think I like Vanitas’s role in this world. I like that it’s present him, and no just past vanitas. The use of child negativity was really clever to tie in.

Arendelle: I like a lot of Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s interactions in this world. Sora being cold, Sora being annoyed at going up the mountain again. The trio with Marshmellow and his sad roar of “Elsaaaa :(” Just a lot of fun banter, esp. with Larxene

100 acre wood: Probably Lumpy because I watched the Heffalump movie recently asdfasdf. And I did like the book cover of KH3 sora with pooh

the carribean: I loved that tia dalma had a soft spot for sora. She just like. spoke to him once, knew there was more to him than meets the eye, then made a fake jack and a fake boat so that he could have some fun as a pirate, while still loathing the brethren court. it was great! lmaoo

san fransokyo: I LOVED the part of Sora showing off in the city, which gave everyone inspiration for updating their weapons. Sora was so belittled in this game that when he finally was like “fuck yeah I’m amazing” I was holding up my camera telling him he’s doing amazing, sweetie

Keyblade graveyard: I can’t even fucking answer this one there was too much that I liked about it asdfasdf. maybe that time loops/rewinds were confirmed a thing? maybe the Union Cross keyblade scene? trio reunions? I DONT KNOW!! 

The Final World: I really am impressed with how they pulled off transparent Sora. You could clearly define him, and polygons from the opposite side of the camera weren’t visible so he didn’t look like a big mess. ((I also love that the Memory archives with Chirthy walking around the books with little ripples in her footsteps were reference to The Final World))

scala ad caelum: ugh this is also a hard world asdf. I’m torn between it’s design and connection to daybreak town, and the ending cutscene with sora talking to xehanort atop the tower. or the past scenes with eraqus and xehanort?? IDK TOO MANY

[flamereign]

🔥 - no one axes axel

come get your salt / @enigmatias

deep breath, i’m just hhhh 

alright listen, i’m not gonna say i hate kh3 because despite everything there were so many things i loved about it, but the amount of character potential they squandered with so many characters will never stop grinding my gears.  now with lea in particular there were aspects i really loved abt his part in the game.  the resolution he got with saix.  the fact that they showed he was struggling with internal guilt ( no matter how short that was ).  his face crumpling and his tears when he hugged roxas and xion?? beautiful.  his tears when he remembered xion in that scene with kairi? gosh my heart.  but fuck if it couldn’t have been so much more than we were given. this is a character that started out as an antagonist. his storyline as axel throughout com, days and kh2 (both in game and manga) was one of my favourites because it really showed his progression and change in who he was as a person, that slow turn about from antagonist to anti-hero which culminated into that final act of sacrificing himself to help sora as the first step on his path to redemption. now i’m someone who doesn’t really like the whole ‘killing a character as way of redeeming them’ because that just makes it way too easy on that character so you can imagine my excitement when i heard they were bringing him back as lea. at that point i honestly thought that as with riku, we would get another character where we saw them actively working on fixing past mistakes and becoming a better person in the course of it. like i really wanted that further redemption for him.  and despite my many gripes with kh3d’s gameplay and story,  it did set it up further by giving him a purpose and a possibility for that redemption by having him fight alongside sora et al. and have him train with kairi in wanting to fulfill his promise to get his friends back. 

and then we get kh3.  kh3 where he is basically reduced to nothing but the comic relief, despite those few moments i talked about above. kh3 which kept on pressing our noses on the fact that the only reason they apparently brought him back was because he was a fan favorite. all he is good for is breaking the fourth wall and shooting off sassy one liners – and nowhere was this as apparent as in that scene where he says that line. aside from the fact that i believe they made him keep axel as a name despite the way he kept insisting on everyone calling him lea in kh3d just so they could put in that one dumb ass pun, his entire interaction with xemnas just felt so jarring. it made him look stupid. not just that, but it made him look weak.  instead of taking this opportunity to show his inner anger and desperation, instead of taking this opportunity to give us a fight where we got to control lea and have him take on xemnas, even if he did lose in the end, no he sasses off like a dumbass to someone who’s been basically the cause of a lot of his traumatic experiences and then gets his ass kicked 0.10 seconds later and i, frankly, hated it.  it just felt like the writers being smug. it felt ooc to me. i wish i could yeet that dialogue straight into the sun. 

[thefinalkey16]

Which game did you prefer: KH2 or KH3 and why?

I like a lot of different things about both KH2 and 3, here’s my little review of what I mainly liked and disliked between the two.

The battle system is a lot better in KH2, there are a lot of battles where you have to give up abilities, and strategize on which spells and drive forms to use. I prefer the battle system in KH2, because it always feels like you’re leveling up as you go, like you’re growing stronger along Sora’s journey, it feels natural. Except for not getting Dodge roll in the original KH2 what the heck Nomura. I hated how easy KH3 Was, but with critical mode it’s much more enjoyable. It’s just annoying that the first playthrough of the game was spent basically on beginner mode. That’s it, either beginner or critical, no in between really lol

When it comes to worlds I have to say I like KH3 a lot better. While I’m not the biggest fan of Arendelle, the other worlds are extremely enjoyable and fun to explore! I love how large the worlds are now, and I love the integration of The Hidden Mickey’s, it gives you something fun to look for and to go back to previous worlds to find the ones you missed, kind of like the Dalmatians in KH1! I was never a fan of how they split up the worlds in KH2, the first runthrough of each world is basically just the plot of the movie except Sora’s there, except for Olympus. The second run is much more fun because they coincide with the actual plot, we see more organization, we search for Riku more, it’s a lot more enjoyable then just “let’s relive the movie minus the songs!”

I really liked how in KH3 The Trinity Trio felt like they were really there in the worlds, they helped out, they were a part of the plot. In Corona we have sections where we see Sora and Repunzel playing in the water, we help Repunzel sing with birds, and we even use magic to create a rush of dandelions so Repunzel can see it. There are character interactions and it feels like all of them genuinely made an impact on Sora across his journey. Woody and Buzz reaffirmed his belief in how strong the heart is, Repunzel showed him the strength of true love, in Olympus he’s reminded of what strength is, it isn’t just how hard you can hit, it’s what you’re willing to do to protect the ones you care about. In Monstropolis Sora learns about the power of laughter, in the Caribbean he learns more about Love and how important small moments between loved ones are, in Arendelle hes reminded of how strong true love is, whether romantic or not, and in Sanfransokyo he learns that friends are never truly gone, they’re all connected and that means they’ll always be together, lesson that he looks back on during the keyblade war. These worlds shaped him, unlike the worlds in KH2.

When it comes to plot, I’m a little conflicted if I’m honest. I love the way that the plot fits in with each world in KH3, but the way that it forces all of the important parts to the last few hours of the game makes it feel very rushed. In KH2, we had a break in the middle of the game with the 1000 heartless battle and then were guided into the heavier and more plot centric parts. I feel like KH2 did a better job handling the timeline of the game, and how spread out everything was.

When it comes to characters, KH2 is definitely the winner in my opinion. In KH3 the characters feel... off, like watered down versions of themselves. Riku feels very different, and once we see the Dark Riku, it’s hard not to notice how bland Riku feels throughout the game. Riku doesn’t really grow throughout KH3, nobody does really. In KH2 Riku had to accept himself and forgive himself, choosing not to let the darkness control him anymore. In KH3 he has no personal goals, he just wants to get Aqua back and win the keyblade war, which he does. In KH2 Riku’s mission is to keep Sora and Kairi safe. He comes in multiple times to check up on Sora throughout his journey and helps when needed, and rescues Kairi before Saïx can hurt her, proceeding to put her safety first throughout the rest of the game (in the beginning of the battles of the organization members, Riku’s always guarding Kairi). I know I only did a summary on Riku, but I feel like he’s just an easy example to put. Other than Kairi, because KH2 Kairi was best Kairi, especially manga Kairi. If anyone wants me to do an analysis on the KH3 characters and their counterparts in other games feel free to ask!

I think I’d have to say my favorite game of the two is KH2. Even with the beautiful graphics of KH3, KH2 Just has more personality, more... heart if you will. KH2 is by no means a perfect game, but that doesn’t make it less enjoyable. I love both KH3 and KH2, but you might find me playing KH2 more often.

Out of the whole franchisethough, my favorite is 1 ^^

[dawnblxde]

[Kingdom Hearts 3 Review]

Welp I’ve finally done it, finally played and finished KH3! - After intentionally delaying doing so with my day one copy after finding out for some silly reason - it lacked multiple world visits for development sake and had no Final Fantasy characters - so I decided to finish the games I was in the middle of then replay the entire KH franchise, except the ones you could watch. Gonna leave my thoughts below. Just in case there are those out there still trying to avoid legit spoilers!

There were good and bad elements to this game.. Plenty of my experience that I enjoyed, but I believe more so that I didn’t - which made me want to pull out my hair. But I like my head shaved, so that wouldn’t work lol I liked the graphics, beautiful but I knew a PS3 could handle them as the quality of Woody in this game was the same as him in Toy Story 3 (2010 Video Game). Enjoyed the gameplay, though it felt like a flawed, floaty and broken version of Kingdom Heart’s 2 near perfect improvement of Kingdom Heart’s gameplay. A problem was the fact that in the first two main games, even when I was level 50-60′s - I always felt like I could DIE. It was always a fear during major combat moments. I had to concentrate so much just to be successful. Even if I tried to be a higher level then recommending through grinding. I never felt like that in KH3, every moment was such a cake walk. Even the final battle. Did they even try. Regardless, I had a good time with the gameplay and the visuals. But I wasn’t as drawn in as previous games. It did the game no favors and was a massive flaw, it lacking Final Fantasy characters. We should of been able to explore Radiant Garden or had other worlds relevant to FF characters. They were really important to Sora’s development as a Keyblade wielder. Cloud and Squall for sure. Sora wouldn’t be who he is if he hadn’t encountered and spoke to them. They’d of been useful in multiple sequences. We deserved the next part to Cloud’s issues with Sephiroth. That wasn’t resolved. See how Squall/Leon and the others reacted and dealt with what was going on at Radiant Garden. They’re capable of other world travel, seeing how they’d react to some of the new worlds would of been great as well. Nomura confirmed the only Noctis he’d put in KH was his Noctis. Versus XIII Noctis. And interest in doing so. Yet he wasn’t in the game, when as an Anti-Hero of both light and darkness would of been interesting. Seeing he’d take neither side. Also has important factors in common with Rapunzel and Elsa. Seeing them relating over this would of been nice. The lack off FF adds to factors that make KH3 be disappointing experience - along with an enjoyable one. One of the things that still makes KH2 the best. Was how awesome it was to watch the Final Fantasy characters and Disney characters team up in the battle of 1000 Heartless. One of the best aspects about the franchise is the concept of it being a FF x Disney - a Final Fantasy and Disney collaboration. Multiple visits were really needed. Some of the worlds were quite enjoyable and not frustrating. But they all have different percentages of feeling rushed and not fleshed out enough due to one visit. And some annoyingly treated Sora like he didn’t matter. Just acted like making you watch rushed unfinished version’s of the original Disney movies. Sora’s just there like. Oh look, it’s Sora over there! Hi Sora! You don’t matter here! Shouldn’t be like that. The Disney characters should be well blended into the Kingdom Hearts plot and Sora in the plot of the Disney world. The story made me feel emotional, I enjoyed all the Kingdom Hearts parts, even if I felt some of them were rushed or not written well. Tears did leave my eyes. I liked how Aqua didn’t actually give into Darkness, it was Ansem’s fault. I liked the reunion, final battle sequences and all the stuff leading up to it. My favorite parts to praise are the deaths of all Org 13 members, each made me feel emotional and I wanted to see those character’s again reborn. Not so much young Xeraxnort. But Ansem and Xemnas? Oh the feels there, they were strong. I clapped. I felt there could be more with Larxene in the game in general, including her end. Luxord’s! Clap, really want him to come back and play cards with Sora. Riku Replica’s was great too. Both Riku Replica’s. Marluxa’s.. Vanitas’s was disappointing. However, these great moments aren’t enough for me to forgive those disrespected by this game. The one’s from the worlds you could visit. I’ll get to the unforgivable bits last. Toy Story’s new story and world were great. I loved exploring that world and playing through it. The development was great. Only flaw was what they did with Buzz, he’s stronger character then they take him for. He wouldn’t lose himself to the Darkness. Otherwise, everything was great. Pretty sure it’s my favorite. Hercules’s world was the level of quality I expected! It was decent, I miss the goddamn tournament's, Phil’s voice - but I did love the exploration of his city and meeting his father! Shame no boss fight with Hades's, they’re great and fun! Twilight Town sucked! I liked seeing the gang again, Uncle Scrooge and little chef. But that doesn’t make up for the fact that more then half of Twilight Town is cut and it doesn’t look like the same place! I liked exploring the entire world, not just a portion of it. Monsters Inc’s sequel to the first film with that world experience was great! I had a blast! I always wanted to see Sully’s reunion with Boo! It wasn’t perfect, but I had a good time! Pirates of Caribbean felt like it changed things from it’s canon, but it was an emotional blast! Jack Sparrow scenes and Will scenes, it was just great! The Big Hero 6 world! Oh it was great! It was emotional to lost Baymax in the film, to get him back was great! Kinda sucked to not see the big brother come back, but they’re saving that version of events for the sequel. Two Baymax’s. The only thing I didn’t like was how the whole cast was shrunk. Best example being Honey should of been taller then Jack Sparrow’s model, but she wasn’t. These worlds could of really done with multiple visits. Even more so the three left, that were wronged and disrespected. Don’t try to praise/defend what was done to them, they deserved better. Winne the Pooh deserved better. I liked not having to collect Torn Pages, but even if you didn’t have to. In the previous games, The Winnie the Pooh worlds lasted about an hour or so doing all the activities, helping out all Pooh Bear’s friends - stuff like that. Then you have KH3′s version, which is less then 20 minutes, doing the same activity three times. That was awful. Pooh’s universe deserved better. We deserved better. This is a massive flaw. Can’t forgive this. I love Pooh Bear. Now, as someone who love’s Rapunzel, not fond of how they treated her world either. It was basically the movie with bits cut out and skipped. She hardly interacted with Kingdom Hearts lore, Sora hardly stuck around her. It was just like. Now and then, Sora’s there. Why were they so scared of showing Rapunzel kissing Flynn? There were so many moments Sora should of got to interact with? Where were the two bad guy twins? Rapunzel just generally deserved better in this game. Last but not least, Frozen. Probably the worst world in the game. Because you spend most of it just falling off mountains. They hardly let Sora interact with Elsa or Anna. Or left them get involved in Kingdom Hearts lore. Sora would of been able to relate well to Elsa if they let it happen. You can’t explore the palace, Han’s has no lines and you’re forced to listen to Let It Go again with Sora basically just there. Like hi Sora! All I liked was Snow guard getting more of a role. Don’t even get to explore the city. Just the snowy place. No real development, it’s like - what was the point? There really was none. Why did we go there? Why was Larxene there? Elsa and Anna deserved better then this. Also while not all Disney worlds could of returned in KH3, due to their stories being settled. A lot definitely could! Also, Kairi deserved better then pretty much being a plot device, hardly getting development at all just to go poof. And the idea that Sora’s sacrifice to get her back doesn’t lead to the priority of everyone to find and/or bring him back somehow instead of chilling. Just made the whole ending sequence an OOC moment for me.

Verdict! 

Kingdom Hearts 3 is a decent game and fun experience, but it’s also a flawed mess. Like handling in a English report that gets a low C and just barely hits the passing grade. It is not the worst in the franchise, but Kingdom Hearts 2 easily beats it and so does Kingdom Hearts, the original one. Funner to play then Dream Drop Distance, Chain Of Memories, Recoded and the Roxas focused game! But the rest defeat it! I have no interest in a new game plus, roleplay wise I intend to amend the flaws. The Disney worlds that were wronged will get justice. Add back Final Fantasy and the missing Disney worlds. Make it what it should of been! I had a good time, I really did. But once was enough. After finishing, it now shocks me that an amount of people I can count on just one of my hands tried to either tell me KH3 was good enough or superior to all the other games, even KH2. My assumption now is, they hadn’t recently played the other games before playing 3, were lost in Nostagla or something else was going on. Just how.. How could this possibly beat the two other main titles? The only thing superior is the more then three team mates tbh. xD

7/10

I really feel like I’m being generous here, but if I went lower then I’d think I was being too harsh. It’s not FFXV and Bound by Flame 5/10 quality, but it’s certainly not The Walking Dead (by Tellale) and The Last of Us 9/10 quality. So this will have to do. Nomura, I strongly advise you to look back at Kingdom Hearts 2 and what made it so great, before you work on your next main title. 

[kenzichi]

Here’s my KH3 review:

I would like to start off by saying I enjoyed this game very much. I have a lot of good to say about this game, but also a lot of bad. I tried to keep it spoiler free, but once I reached the cons it was inevitable. Heads up on that. And I also tried not to dive too deep into critiquing the story itself too much. I did sorta do that at the end though, but I felt it was okay to include the points I mentioned because they’re about Org. 13 and X and this game concludes their story arc.

Pros: The game is visually stunning. The worlds are GIGANTIC. It was a little intimidating actually. I always had the thought that I was going to miss something in the back of my mind. But it was still a joy to explore. The scenery really felt alive. The grass moved with you, the water rippled, you can see Sora’s hair move when it was windy! My favorite world in 3 is Kingdom of Corona. It’s just so beautiful and so fun! In this world especially, you interact with Rapunzel as she explores her environment because she’s never experienced it before. It’s really cute and really gets you involved in the world besides just being the guy that takes out heartless.

 Another pro is: Yoko Shimomura did it again! Her music compositions for 3 are AMAZING! I got into the music right away and eventually found myself humming to every background song in no time flat. I also enjoyed how every world had more than 2 themes this time. Usually we had a ‘calm’ world theme and a ‘battle’ world theme. Yoko went beyond that and gave us a different theme per situation… for EACH world! One example is in Frozen: we had a theme for the mountain, a battle theme, and a theme for after they met Larxene (and she did the thing if you’ve played the game lol). My favorite theme is the one for Hiro’s Garage in Sanfransokyo. It’s so soothing; I could listen to it for hours. The theme for Aqua’s battle is totally creepy and it fits so well. I enjoyed all of the music.

 Game play is fun and really nostalgic. They brought back equipping abilities (with AP), the old command box from 2, and accessories. Magic is better than ever in this game. One problem I had with 2 is that I could only use a few spells and my MP level would quickly run out so I felt it was a waste of time. In 3, even just starting, I didn’t have to worry about running out as fast. It was a relief not having to worry about watching my MP levels and I used magic a lot more in this game.

 A new combat feature for 3 is the keyblade transformations. When you finish a world and gain a keyblade, you can unlock special abilities with that keyblade. For example: if you equip the Toybox keyblade, and you bash enough heartless with it, you can transform your keyblade into a giant hammer. I wasn’t too excited about it when they first revealed these new abilities during development, but they’re actually super fun and totally optional if you really don’t dig it. You can also switch between 3 different keyblades during combat easily if you feel one keyblade isn’t working out against an enemy. I love this new feature. My favorite keyblade transformations are the Toybox hammer and the Monstropolis Yo-yos. Sora is channeling his inner Killua with the Yo-yos and I am all for that lol.  

 Another pro is Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s interactions. Like, omg, they are so cute. They are so genuine. It really felt like I was watching Sora and his two Disney dads. It gave me life and I felt so many emotions watching them. This trio was the best developed trio in 3.

 Cons: Pacing y’all. My biggest problem with this game as a whole. It started off good, but once you finish the Disney worlds and get into the real plot with Xehanort it’s like a rollercoaster and not in a good way. All the things we were hoping to happen, that we’ve been waiting for for years, happen so quickly and then it’s over like… did it even happen? I felt I didn’t get to be as emotional about those scenes as I could have been because they immediately thrust us into another scene. I didn’t have time to appreciate those moments like I wanted to.  

 Kairi…. Poor Kairi. Nomura screwed her over again. He let us get hyped about her finally training to become a keyblade wielder, gave her a new outfit, and showed her willing and ready to fight in the Keyblade Graveyard and yet? Screwed all of us. I wasn’t expecting her to be a badass, but I was expecting her to be SOMETHING. I was really hoping she’d develop a personality and presence in this game, but she fell flat yet again because Nomura doesn’t know what to do with her. She literally only exists as a plot device and love interest for Sora (I’m not going to get into that here lol).

 Also disappointed they hyped playable Riku, but it was only 2 times, for 2 battles and frankly switching between Sora’s magic command menu to Riku’s with no time to look through it and get accustomed to it other than during actual combat was a pain. Also sad Sora, Riku, or Kairi didn’t travel to ONE world together. Not one. I was hoping to have them in my party as least once, but nope. I’m generally disappointed in the lack of Destiny Island trio interactions. There were no moments between the 3 of them and there was no interaction between Riku and Kairi and barely any between Sora and Riku despite growing so close in DDD. It goes to show Nomura didn’t develop this ‘trio’ as well as the others.  

Another problem I had were almost all the Organization members ended up… being ‘good after all’ or something. For over 10 years they gave no indication Luxord, Larxene, and Marluxia were nothing, but just evil just because and they had no feelings towards Sora other than a boy that was in their way, but once they start fading away for good it’s suddenly, ‘you’re a great person, Sora. Let’s meet again’ or in the case of Larxene, just giving Sora the time of day and actually talking to him civilly just felt so random to me. Including Xemnas. He suddenly revealed how he felt sorta bad for betraying the old organization members, but there was literally no hint of that before?? Idk, it just felt out of place. I was kinda cringing the whole time, haha. I’m actually surprised YX was the one that disappeared the most unremorseful for his (future) actions.

 And then there was Xehanort, omg. He literally destroyed the lives of dozens of people, almost sent the world into the apocalypse, and had this grand scheme for the last 15+ years that he literally invested multiple lives to see fulfilled, but once his old bff Eraqus tells him ‘you’re done’, he went, ‘okay’. Lol wat? That’s it? I’m sure he knew he lost, but I expected more of a grumbling, complaining old man on the brink of death than just a nonchalant, ‘you done good kids’ while giving the x-blade to Sora with a damn smile on his face. I cringed. It all felt unfulfilling to me at that moment because X gave up too easily and was so OOC. I think Nomura just wanted to wrap up this story real quick and move on with his life.

 And another thing! 3 didn’t go into Xehanort’s past. They gave us some cutscenes of X and Eraqus playing chess and flirting, but that’s it. When did their relationship change? What made Xehanort so obsessed with dark and light balancing? When did he meet Braig? What happened to Scala ad Caelum? Does it still exist? Like…. They didn’t go into X’s background AT ALL. I was really hoping to see more about his character.

 Neutral feelings: I remember reading somewhere that 3 was supposed to be the longest game in the series, but I finished the game in about the same time as the others. So maybe they meant longest game gameplay wise and not story wise. On the plus side, there is a TON of stuff to do in this game like a bunch of mini games, cooking with Remy, finding lucky emblems, and exploring worlds after they’re completed. On the downside though, even just 10 more minutes of cutscenes could have helped the pacing in the later part of the game. The gameplay and story are imbalanced and they should have focused on solidifying the story rather than adding so many different gameplay elements. I honestly find them all overwhelming. I stopped trying to remember them all.

 The Disney attraction rides. I don’t really have a like or dislike for these reaction commands. Good thing is that some are fun to see visually like the train and the tea cups (Sora is so dang cute in those teacups). Downside is some attractions don’t seem to fit with the heartless that activate them. For example: that shooting attraction ride is terrible with flying type heartless and yet I get that command a lot with them so it’s pointless. I never hit them.

 This is a con for me, but maybe not for others. They closed a big chapter in the game, but kept a lot of plot points open too. I think my main problem with 3 was that I was hoping it would be more conclusive. Nomura made it seem like it was more conclusive. I already knew 3 wasn’t the end of the series as a whole, but you can still end a storyline with a definite conclusion while still being open to new adventures. 3 didn’t do that. They closed a bunch of chapters, but also left us with a lot of new questions.

 Most of the voice acting is great in this game! Haley really delivered as Sora and I honestly think this was his best performance as him to date! It was genuine, totally cute, and fit Sora perfectly. You can tell he had a great time voicing this game. I also really enjoyed Larxene which is something for me because I felt her VA was trying too hard in CoM. She really improved in 3 and it was fun to watch her. On the other hand, the voices for Xehanort and Marluxia fell flat. Xehanort’s is just unfortunate and I don’t think anyone could have captured him as well as Nimoy did no matter how much they tried. Marluxia sounded like he belonged in an infomercial. Totally hated his voice.