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

[Zaysho]

I'm really only disappointed the PS2 games likely won't see ports since those are the games I actually like. I couldn't imagine those need big concessions compared to Witcher 3 or a potential KHIII port or even the extensive remaking Dragon Quest XI required.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I have my doubts KH3 could be given a port without significant downsides, because apparently Unreal Engine 4 titles doesn't play very well with the Switch, but the PS2 games should have no issues, and the very idea of that being the case is absolutely ludicrous.

[Sonicka]

I want to say Square probably won’t port the KH1&2 HD Remix just because of the break in consistency of the story and main narrative as parts of KH2.8 and KH3 likely would struggle running on Switch.

...BUT Melody of Memory is coming. Not to mention every GBA, DS, and 3DS game had such disregard for a new entrant in the series.

At least Square’s decision making remains as consistently weird as ever.

[Perkilator]

Just generally speaking; if the next KH game after MoM inevitably ends up on PS5 and Series X, I want Square Enix to push it further then they did the PS4 and Xbox One for KH3. More expressive faces for the cutscenes and getting rid of the basic talking animations (at least for the cutscenes themselves) would certainly help.

[Radiant Hero Ike]

We got KH3 Kairi in the old render style! It looks really nice, to be honest. I always liked the old renders.

[Perkilator]

On 11/4/2020 at 8:44 AM, Radiant Hero Ike said:

We got KH3 Kairi in the old render style! It looks really nice, to be honest. I always liked the old renders.

After looking at that render, I can't see Kairi as anything less than playable, unless Nomura is trolling again even if it's only the final boss.

[Perkilator]

The game's out in Japan right now; I decided to spoil myself. No story spoilers from me, but I will say this:

Spoiler

They could only do Memory Dives for the KH3 Disney worlds when they could clearly make lower-poly versions of Sora and Kairi's designs, the KH3 version of the Keyblade Graveyard, and the Final World.

Let it Go, I can let go of (no pun intended), but this malarkey?!

 

[KHCast]

So, MoM. Okay let’s just do this.  mechanically the game works and does its job as a rhythm game, but uh...that’s probably about it I can say in terms of genuine positivity. I mean okay, story wise,

 

I personally like the whole Master of Masters, Yozora, alternate reality, plot line they’re going with. It’s interesting, and has the potential to start things fresh. Now I say “potential” because already Xehanorts possibly back and going to be a plot device needed in order to move this story forward, which if that’s the case, means Nomura’s claims of the Xehanort saga being concluded with 3 is bullshit, and that 3 wasn’t really a conclusion of anything. THAT, is when I’ll check out of this arc. You’ve got interesting ways to separate this from the xehanort saga. The fortellers, master of masters, Yozora, that shit interests me, and hey, even if the Disney takes a back seat for a game or two, honestly, given how much of a afterthought they’ve been lately, I probably won’t be too bothered by it, especially if it means a focus on final fantasy and square properties.(Id prefer that over just “proxy-FFV13”, even tho I find Yozora interesting.) so yeah, I’m open to seeing if this storyline can branch off into its own arc that doesn’t rely on the previous one much. So I got my fingers crossed.

 

Now...as for the rest of the game...yeah this ain’t $60 worth. Now short games aren’t necessarily automatically not worth full price, and price is subjective, but for me? This game is short, and offers very little reason to replay it. Maybe it’s cause I went with PS4, but a lot of the collectibles and extra songs, aren’t really all that tantalizing as incentives. They’re just...there. 
 

as for the song list, it’s honestly pretty underwhelming, a lot of songs are missing and KH3 has like barely anything to rep it. (Arendelle is just Let it Go, and the entire pirates franchise is missing as a whole). We got like 4 different versions of radiant garden/hollow bastions music, but none of the KH2 renditions of returning songs. no Disney castle, no 100 acre wood,  half the party members for certain worlds aren’t there, like good god is there a huge lacking feel to this game. I didn’t have my expectations high for it, but even with them low I was surprised by just how little content there was.

I didn’t mind the general presentation, I appreciated that you could use different teams in basically anything, though I wish you could have customized the teams basically to your hearts content. Let me have Roxas, Goofy, and Peter Pan or something. Give Riku’s team different dream eaters. Also, the world forms being absent, and no Unlockable costumes, incredibly missed opportunity. 
 

so yeah, I’d say for what it is and offers...imo wait for a price drop. A massive one. As far as rhythm games, it’s pretty bog-standard. I’d still recommend theatre rhythm FF or the Persona Dancing games in all honesty ,or hell, just guitar hero or rock band. Mod the KH songs into that and there you go lol.

oh also story spoiler

fuck that blatant misdirecting, advertising the hooded figure as the Master of Masters, and iirc nomura claiming the name was in blatant relation to him, only for it to be Xehanort. Again. Oh and sidelining Kairi AGAIN, in HER OWN GAME and having Sora just swoop in. I was like “oh shit that’s cool” at the time with how they did it, but then when I thought about it more, realized how fucking dumb and insulting to Kairi it was that she couldn’t even be the one to conquer xehanort’s lingering presence within her. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

About story stuff:

Spoiler

I like the idea of having a Square crossover, with stuff like Midgar from FF7, or you could have Shibuya from TWEWY, and include stuff like Chrono Trigger and all that in there, I think for a game, that could be neat.

But honestly I really still don't give a shit about Yozora, or whatever other shit Nomura seems so hell bent on pushing with the current story. I was already burnt enough having Kingdom Hearts 3 effectively act as some weird opportunity to push Nomura's scrapped VS 13 game. With Melody of Memory all but confirming that all of the pseudo VS13 things are going to be included in whatever the next mainline entry is, I just find myself caring less and less and less.

I love this series, and I've been engaged in it's plot for nearly 15 years now, but fuck I just don't care. I'm sick of having characters sidelined for dumbass shit to set up later games. I just wanted a game where Kairi finally gets to do something, and she's sidelined AGAIN while all the important plot stuff relates to all the VS13 bullshit.

And on the off chance that this is some really big push from Nomura to make Kingdom Hearts it's own thing, and split it off from Disney...just why? I love the characters and story of this series, but the Disney elements is half the charm, it's part of the fun. Not only that, but Kingdom Hearts games have been lacking story wise since Dream Drop Distance, so the idea of completely removing the Disney stuff from the series so we can just have Nomura's random Final Fantasy plotline (which honestly still feels like some kind of petty shot at Square due to FF15 replacing VS13), I'm probably gonna lose a lot of interest from there.  

 

[KHCast]

 

the Disney was nice, but it’s just been apparent that’s not where they want to take things so I’ve just adjusted my expectations with that in mind. Preferably I’d have liked them to keep shit simple and just keep going with disneys endless supply of properties, and hey, maybe we’re getting duped and they’ll still do that (the whole alternate dimensions shit could be a good way to introduce and explain the presence of Star Wars or marvel, which are entire lore based universes in of themselves), but if they don’t, well, I like the main cast of original characters, and Roxas and aqua and namine, so if we get more screen time for them, especially when Kairi will be training with Aqua, I’m open to seeing where this new arc goes. I’m loving the Master of Masters so far, and I think the fortellers had interesting personalities i’d love to see fleshed out, so if this can do this while adding some interesting twists and moments with Yozora, I’ll still keep a interest in the story. I checked out of the Xehanort saga, but I really am wanting this to interest me in some way, be it the story, the characters, their interactions, etc. anything. KH3 fell flat on all of that, but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t imo some promise here. 

 

That all being said, as I said earlier, ditching Disney is a ballsy move and I’d prefer they didn’t, but tbh under Disney’s eye, I kinda doubt it’ll be an extreme divorce from them, unless Disney themselves want KH to separate itself from their IP’s.

 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Spoiler

I'll go more into the VS13 stuff when I finish MoM for myself, that said:

The franchise's legacy in of itself is built upon being a unique blend of Square-Enix and Disney, that has been it's selling point from the beginning. If you remove that, it's going to have a gigantic impact on the game itself that zaps the charm from it.

The exact same way that KH3 suffered from removing EVERYTHING FF related, and thus removing a crap-ton of the interesting plot-threads from KH1 and KH2, this would do the exact same thing. The unique appeal of the series would be removed, several villains would just be screwed over (Maleficant and Pete especially). You can't just take a series that at it's very core is Disney meets Final Fantasy, and remove either ingredient without making it more soulless as a result. As much as I love Sora, Riku and Kairi as a trio, removing Donald, Goofy, and Mickey from that equation just doesn't make sense.

It didn't work in Dream Drop Distance, and it didn't work when they essentially sidelined Goofy and Donald right up until KH3 finally released. KH3 goes so far in showing why those three work so well as a team that just randomly deciding to erase them from the series so it can be a "stand-alone" series would be beyond lame.

 

[Salamander]

Spoiler

Disney literally owns Kingdom Hearts and all of its original characters, so it seems unlikely that the games will ever move away from Disney worlds.  There's a discussion to be had about the balance between classic Disney elements and elements unique to Kingdom Hearts, but the former are not going away.

 

[Wraith]

Where's this idea that Disney owned, Disney funded Kingdom Hearts ia going to stop focusing on Disney coming from? Is there any truth to it or is it just wishful thinking and hearsay 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

3 minutes ago, Wraith said:

Where's this idea that Disney owned, Disney funded Kingdom Hearts ia going to stop focusing on Disney coming from? Is there any truth to it or is it just wishful thinking and hearsay 

A lot of people are theorising due to the plot events in Melody of Memory that they’re going to start pushing away from the Disney elements and either go in on Square worlds, or attempt to make it its own thing altogether.

Sora and Riku are currently in a world where zero Disney characters are, and Goofy, Donald and Mickey are barred from entering. Obviously, it’s all speculation, but it’s becoming a common theory, which is why I commented on it.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Considering how the Disney WOrlds have factored less and less into the plot with each game, with characters from Maleficent going from major game players to mere side bits that don't even get their arcs resolved in the game, it's not a theory without merit.

[Wraith]

Maleficent has been a side piece since the second game. None of this actually sets off alarm bells for me on it's own. I'd sooner believe a Dream Drop DIstance style Sora/Riku game is just being set up before I'd believe they're going to abandon all the Disney assets they spent years making for something else. 

[KHCast]

Considering they blatantly tease Maleficent and Pete during the secret ending of KH3, they’re probably gonna play a role in the next mainline entry, especially given Maleficent’s ties to the Union X storyline. Like I said, I doubt they’ll seriously divorce Disney content unless Disney themselves are the ones asking them to do that, and that is just unlikely. If this is all just an excuse to explain Star Wars and marvel (Or even fucking Fox stuff) getting in, I’d rather believe that vs Disney stuff getting canned. Hell, alternate universe versions of Disney worlds we’ve been too (like wonderland, via the live action films) could be a possibility with this potential new plot device 

 

[Johnny Boy]

3 hours ago, KHCast said:

Considering they blatantly tease Maleficent and Pete during the secret ending of KH3, they’re probably gonna play a role in the next mainline entry, especially given Maleficent’s ties to the Union X storyline. Like I said, I doubt they’ll seriously divorce Disney content unless Disney themselves are the ones asking them to do that, and that is just unlikely. If this is all just an excuse to explain Star Wars and marvel (Or even fucking Fox stuff) getting in, I’d rather believe that vs Disney stuff getting canned. Hell, alternate universe versions of Disney worlds we’ve been too (like wonderland, via the live action films) could be a possibility with this potential new plot device 

 

I shudder at the thought of the live action remakes getting in. Literally the only one that I think would work in Kingdom Hearts in the live action Jungle Book (fitting as it’s the only good live action Disney Remake IMO). The characters in that movie like Baloo and Bagheera are much more combat oriented than their original counterparts so they’d make good party members. Plus King Louis and Shere Khan would make for some killer boss fights.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

3 hours ago, KHCast said:

Considering they blatantly tease Maleficent and Pete during the secret ending of KH3, they’re probably gonna play a role in the next mainline entry, especially given Maleficent’s ties to the Union X storyline. 

Considering the amount of set-up they had in Re:Coded, and pre-release material, only to be a literal non-presence in KH3, that means literally nothing. 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

4 hours ago, Johnny Boy said:

I shudder at the thought of the live action remakes getting in.

Well, Nomura's apparently a fan of the live action Maleficent. So, you better prepare yourself just in case.

[LeviTheGreat]

We may ju

4 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon said:

Well, Nomura' apparently a fan of the live action Maleficent. So, you better prepare yourself just in case.

 

29 minutes ago, Johnny Boy said:

I shudder at the thought of the live action remakes getting in. 

Lets hope the movie isn't like the first live action sonic or the perminant live action Mario! XD

[KHCast]

2 hours ago, Ryannumber1Santa said:

Considering the amount of set-up they had in Re:Coded, and pre-release material

All I can remember was Re: Coded, the incredibly forgettable side game, making them bad guys , and then the movie having Maleficent out of nowhere bring up the book of prophecy to get us ready for the UX stuff. I wouldn’t exactly call that setting her up for a big role in 3. 3’s pre-release material id need to look at again, did they hype up her and Pete much?

[Johnny Boy]

10 hours ago, Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon said:

Well, Nomura's apparently a fan of the live action Maleficent. So, you better prepare yourself just in case.

The only way I’ll accept live action Maleficent being in the series is if the original whoops her ass soundly. 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I did it, after a series of long, tedious days of play. I platinumed Melody of Memory. Here's the status I posted with my stats, and my overall thoughts on the matter.

Quote

I finally got the platinum trophy in Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory. This was a absolute mind-numbing grind. Whoever thinks its a good idea to put tedious grindy trophies in a rhythm game needs to revaluate things.

Here's some stats.

• 110 hours played overall (give or take some hours for idling on menus)
• Dark Dominion had to be played on Proud 117 times to grind the last 40k enemies for enemy buster
• 668 songs played 
• 202 full chains
• 898 collector's cards
• 282 missions complete
• Platinum Rank 1 gotten, plus 20 wins in COM battle
• 100,276 enemies defeated
• 176 Mickey summons
• 14,420 items gotten
• 139 chests
• Two teams grinded to Level 99 (Team Classic, and Team Days)
• Main Team: Team Days

I never wanna play this game again.

 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

How do you even make a Rhythm game this tedious to complete????