The Kingdom Hearts Series: KINGDOM HEARTS 4 ANNOUNCED! STAR WARS POTENTIALLY TEASED (page 175)

[NegaMix]

Late to the KH3 party, but so far I'm enjoying the game. I think I'm about halfway done? (Spoilers below)

Spoiler

Just finished the 100 Acre Wood (the biggest letdown of the game for me right now, next to Twilight Town's reduced size) and my next destination is Arendelle. But that won't be for another week... which, considering I've heard it's often regarded as the worst world in the game, leads me to believe that I'm just delaying the inevitable disappointment...

Er, anyway! My favourite world overall so far is probably Monstropolis, with Toy Box coming second. I think what made the former stick out to me a little more than the latter, was the dialogue and interactions with Sulley and Mike compared to the toys. I felt like Sulley and Mike's actors managed to sound and act closer to their original film selves (thus immersing me in the world more) than, say, Woody and Buzz.

...Well, that and I thought the final cutscene with Sulley getting rid of Vanitas was hilarious.

 

[DabigRG]

Ah, we have a relative newbie here! Conveniently noted.

 

I think I'll finally get around to talking about one of my critiques with the game's story sometime soon. As for now, I'll briefly talk about a detail I thought would've been neat: Roxas and Ventus 

Spoiler

So Roxas and Ventus look more or less alike, enough that Ventus's first reveal confused people. 

Birth by Sleep does somewhat address this through the reveal that a part of Ventus's heart joined with Sora's when he was little, which somehow caused his "Heartless" to resemble an older Sora(or vice versa?) and make Sora's Nobody resemble Ventus.  Now Kingdom Heart 3 has Sora accompany Aqua to revive Ventus's comatose body in the retransformed Castle Oblivion, which in turn leads to Ventus meeting Roxas prior to the final battle.

However, the identical appearances between the two is never really remarked upon by anyone, even as at least one moment has the two standing right next to each other. What gets me even more, however, is the fact that with Ventus's heart returned after being within Sora's for so long, the original connection has essentially been broken and yet the two vastly different boys are essentially twins. 

Shouldn't one of the two or/and even Vanitas have received an altered appearance to represent things being fixed? This is particularly notable from an out of universe standpoint, in which you literally have to two character designs that look exactly the same aside from attire--something the numerous other cases within the series diverged on. Their distinguished personalities, lifestyles, experiences, and circumstances should have been reflected in some visual fashion, given Mr. Nomura's stylistic design choices and all.

In particular, I think it would've been neat if, upon being awoken with a decade or so of time having moved on and any shared experience his heart might have received over the coarse of the series, Ventus's body would have aged up accordingly. This in turn could've broken the Geodesic Cast trend of short spiky boy, tall cool guy, and __ __ girl by having the youngest friend suddenly appear older, hairier, and even taller than his dearest friends. Which would no doubt make the reunion with his other two kinda hesitant but no doubt overdue. 

Alternatively, I suppose they could've also had Roxas, who of course inhabits a replica in the climax, simply take a form that combines those of Ventus and Sora with one that feels more at home with Nothingness. With Sora's new haircut and Vanitas somewhat resembling KH2!Sora, perhaps it could've resembled an inverted middleground with a brighter hair color bordering on white. In other news, Vanitas is an interesting case where he could either remain the same due to supposedly accepting what he is for the worse or take on something closer to Ventus's former appearance when partly unmasked at the end as a relic of what youth/innocence he lost because of Master Xehanort.

Either way, I thought it would've been a neat aesthetic decision.

 

[Big Panda]

I’ve personally never been much of a fan of Roxas and Ventus being two individual people.

My belief before Dream Drop Distance was that Roxas was literally just Ventus inhabiting Sora’s nobody (when Sora split into heartless and nobody, Ventus’ heart stayed inside the body, making the nobody resemble him instead of Sora).

[DabigRG]

16 minutes ago, Ernest the Panda said:

I’ve personally never been much of a fan of Roxas and Ventus being two individual people.

My belief before Dream Drop Distance was that Roxas was literally just Ventus inhabiting Sora’s nobody (when Sora split into heartless and nobody, Ventus’ heart stayed inside the body, making the nobody resemble him instead of Sora).

Oh ho, really?

I mean, that doesn't sound wrong given the context.

[DabigRG]

Let's address the implementation of a particular Seeker of Darkness into KHIII

Spoiler

So, Xion is not only still existent, but turns out to have been [based on?] an actual somebody the whole time. This is quite a revelation, considering [as far as I understand] she was supposed to be a heavily modified Replica that intentionally made itself appear in a manner that is affecting to whoever looks at  her. Her programming naturally came with the goal of gradually absorbing Roxas into herself so that she may act as a more controllable answer to him for Xemnas. To this end, she appeared as a blackhaired Kairi due to Sora's feelings for her and perhaps also due to her indirectly motivating Roxas's creation and developing a personality emulating that of Sora and/or Kairi's. Unfortunately, this also enabled her form a genuine bond with Roxas & Axel on top of becoming her own person, necessitating the unsuccessful override to prematurely absorbing Roxas entirely that proved fatal to not only her existence, but everyone's memories of her.

But no, as it turned out, Coded and Dream Drop Distance revealed that she is indeed a separate being that Sora needs to rescue from her Hurt and restore with the power of Waking, leading into this game. So, to be a little fair, there was definitely foreshadowing to her before going into KHII and within it. From Sora having three people sharing his heart, to the Organization XIII bringing back previous villains to fill out their ranks, and most importantly, to Lea and the revived Saix reminiscing that they were originally hoping to save some girl from Ansem's disciples. The problem is that there was not really a complete buildup to Xion herself showing up.

There is fair gap between said conversation at Twilight's Town Clock Tower and The Keyblade War being the 7 Lights and 13 Darknesses. And yet, it only near the last half of the latter event that the hooded Xion suddenly shows up alongside Xemnas and Saix himself with no lead in and almost as little fanfare. This is unlike every other member of the Organization, who have showing up throughout the game to antagonize Sora in the right direction, investigate New Princesses of Heart and other potential vessels as a backup plan, and gradually collect the necessary assets to being ready for the Keyblade War. Even the fresh-after-being-possessed-and-then-restored-into-a-somebody Terranort is brought in to singlehandedly assault the Keyblade Warriors before the War brought.

So to address this issue, the obvious solution would have been to give Xion her own custom introduction before the Final Battle. However, to contrast the brutality & shock value of Terranort's return (and also to dance around the fact that I'm unfamiliar with Xion's powerset), her integration with the story development should be focus on her pseudo-restoration by the Organization themselves.  The most straightforward way to do this would be to have a scene where either Vexen(before defecting) or Xemnas(as Terranort's Nobody) is putting on the finishing touches of the special Replica that was foreshadowed around Vexen's own reintroduction. This can even happened right after San Fransokyo, which perfect due to it's plot centering around placing Negative emotions into a non-living vessel and being pretty late in the game if not the last World Sora visits.

 

 

 

[DabigRG]

I've been watching HFC's KHIII playthrough from time to time and just got to Part 39: People thought Kairi and Axel were related?

[NegaMix]

Oh, right! Forgot to say, but I finished KH3's story a few days ago. Overall, for the price I payed, I felt it was a fun experience with some great moments here and there, wonderfully coupled with the same fun gameplay that got me into the series to begin with.

Story-wise, though... eh. I won't go into super spoiler-y details right now, but I will at least say that by the end of the game, I was rather puzzled by some of the narrative choices made with certain characters.

[DabigRG]

4 hours ago, NegaMetallix said:

Oh, right! Forgot to say, but I finished KH3's story a few days ago. Overall, for the price I payed, I felt it was a fun experience with some great moments here and there, wonderfully coupled with the same fun gameplay that got me into the series to begin with.

Story-wise, though... eh. I won't go into super spoiler-y details right now, but I will at least say that by the end of the game, I was rather puzzled by some of the narrative choices made with certain characters.

You are not alone.

[Nix]

The new DLC was shown off during the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra concert.

Spoilers in the trailer.

Kingdom Hearts III: ReMIND.  Coming this winter.

Spoiler

More Aqua and Riku gameplay.  Roxas is also playable.

Young Xehanort talks with MoM(?).  Xigbar talks with Luxord.

 

[KHCast]

Okay this is pretty awesome holy shit. Still sad there’s no news on FF characters or coliseum. Hopefully something will be revealed soon. Winter can’t come sooner.

and yeah, I figured Young Master Xehanort wasn’t done. His arc ended pretty abruptly and he teased a lot of information to Sora Master Xehanort didn’t even seem to know or care about. Wouldn’t be surprised if he somehow found a way to change his destiny and is a alternate timeline Xehanort now

[Big Panda]

Official upload:

 

[KHCast]

I JUST NOTICED OATHKEEPER AND OBLIVION ARE BACK! (Well they only showed off the Oathkeeper for now, but it’s pretty safe to assume oblivion is back.)

Finally!

[Big Panda]

I just noticed in Roxas’ gameplay, it seems to be Roxas, Xion, and Axel vs Siax, even though it was Roxas, Xion, and Sora in the actual story...

[KHCast]

2 minutes ago, Ernest the Panda said:

I just noticed in roxas’ gameplay, it seems to be Roxas, Xion, and Axel vs Siax, even though it was Roxas, Xion, and Sora in the actual story...

It’s probably during the time Sora was fighting Xehanort. Maybe the darknesses came back for one more fight due to Xehanort’s darkness 

Also, there’s this theory about Luxord going around...

 

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Overjoyed that Roxas is playable, the man got done dirty in the base game, bar a satisfying conclusion. Getting dual weld Roxas is even cooler.

Very disappointed that the trailer just shows fights we already know about, only played with different characters. Technically, the only part of this trailer is new is Roxas himself, and Oblivion. 

[Bobnik]

I actually liked the trailer, even if there's not much actual new stuff shown.

One, ya boy Skinnype-- I mean Roxas is playable and he looks to be without any sort of changes, including the damage output. Yes please!

Two - can't believe I'm gonna be talking about Luxord in 2019/2020, depending on when the DLC gets released (since "this Winter" can be early 2020 for all we know)

Three - glad to see Oathkeeper back in the game. It doesn't get a proper transformation, only a new form, but I don't mind too much, cuz these combos are kinda nuts. And it's free thankfully!

Four - nice to know they aren't spoiling too much this time, since we know there's gonna be a Limit episode - most likely harder refights, as well as a Secret episode with a new boss. I hope at least the latter doesn't get spoiled, have to leave something for a surprise.

Five - give me more stupid lore in galons pls ty.

Overall, while I can see people being disappointed in this trailer, I'm not one of those people. That said, I still have my expectations in check, so that I don't burn myself later on.

[Meta77]

So is it just dlc replaying fights we already fought but just as roxas and aqua at the end? If so that is dissapointing. I know I was lying to myself but I had hoped the dlc would tie into the "ending" if you catch my drift

Spoiler

you know the crazy world sora ends up end.

 

[Meta77]

On oathkeeper. Isnt ultima more powerful than oathkeeper? But Okeep has longer chains of attack?

[DabigRG]

...Is this the one about the photograph?

So this about giving a little more background on Xigbar post revival it seems? I guess I'm down; it comes with more screentime from KHIII proper.

Couldn't help but notice Riku, Aqua, and Roxas are playable. Not sure what that's gonna be about, but okay.

Where Kairi at, tho?

16 hours ago, KHCast said:

Okay this is pretty awesome holy shit. Still sad there’s no news on FF characters or coliseum. Hopefully something will be revealed soon. Winter can’t come sooner.

 

  Hide contents

and yeah, I figured Young Master Xehanort wasn’t done. His arc ended pretty abruptly and he teased a lot of information to Sora Master Xehanort didn’t even seem to know or care about. Wouldn’t be surprised if he somehow found a way to change his destiny and is a alternate timeline Xehanort now

I didn't.

Spoiler

I just assumed he was going back to his own time for stability's sake since his part in Master Xehanort's plan was pretty much fulfilled.

15 hours ago, KHCast said:

I JUST NOTICED OATHKEEPER AND OBLIVION ARE BACK! (Well they only showed off the Oathkeeper for now, but it’s pretty safe to assume oblivion is back.)

Finally!

Is that the one Kairi made?

5 hours ago, Meta77 said:

On oathkeeper. Isnt ultima more powerful than oathkeeper? But Okeep has longer chains of attack?

I assumed it was Ultima, which I have never gotten myself.

[JayRaR]

From the trailer, the only thing that piqued my interest is the mystery behind Luxord. Although I wonder how they'll handle the Disney worlds in the DLC.

I'm not really that fussed about playing as characters I've played before (but dual-wield Roxas would be fun to play outside of that one fight).

I was expecting some perspective from Axel and Kairi, but it wasn't to be.

[DabigRG]

Clarification: I've seen some people refer to the girl that the Organization were talking about as a mysterious character.

Spoiler

Is she not who Xion used to be?

 

[Big Panda]

25 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Clarification: I've seen some people refer to the girl that the Organization were talking about as a mysterious character.

  Hide contents

Is she not who Xion used to be?

 

Xion was created from Sora’s memories, she’s not a true nobody.

[DabigRG]

2 minutes ago, Ernest the Panda said:

Xion was created from Sora’s memories, she’s not a true nobody.

The heck? I thought that was retconned into a complicated cover fpr her appearance.

[Big Panda]

Some new details about Re:Mind.

[KHCast]

https://gamerant.com/kingdom-hearts-3-pixar-toy-story-canon/

 

I know this is a controversial topic, but reading this, it really does come off as if Pixar genuinely insisted to Nomura and Square that the only way to do their worlds in KH was to have the KH characters actually visit the actual official canon lore(at least regarding Toy Story). 

 WHEN I FIRST BROUGHT THIS TO PIXAR AND I ASKED ABOUT DOING THAT, THEY WERE LIKE, ‘ACTUALLY, NO. THE TOY STORY STORY IS COMPLETE. IT’S A COMPLETE PACKAGE THE WAY IT IS, AND WE CAN’T REALLY CHANGE THAT.’ I TOLD THEM IF I’M GOING TO DO THIS IN THE KINGDOM HEARTS WAY, THEN IT’S GOING TO BECOME A CASE OF, ‘ACTUALLY, SORA AND HIS FRIENDS DID COME INTO THE WORLD.’ “

 Pixar ultimately approved the approach, even accepting that the events of Kingdom Hearts 3 fit into the animated series’ canon.

Like, maybe this can be interpreted to still mean it’s not actually canon, but idk...Seems like the words used make a strong case for it actually being canon to the films