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violethowler · 4 years

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The Elephant in the Room

In my previous essays, I have covered how the Kingdom Hearts narrative follows Maureen Murdock’s template of the Heroine’s Journey, as well as how various characters and story elements tie in with the overarching themes of the framework. Before I can continue to dig further into other themes and archetypes, there is something I need to address first. While I have avoided directly touching on the topic in my previous essays, I have now reached the point where it is no longer possible to talk about the Heroine’s Journey in full without acknowledging the elephant in the room:

Romance.

In ongoing serialized stories such as TV shows and video games, conversations about potential relationships in canon are often treated as inconsequential to the overall story. Something that is separate from the main plot. At worst, I have seen fans who openly center a ship in their analysis and theories be dismissed and criticized as biased - or worse, delusional. They are treated as being so obsessed with their pairing that they try to make everything about their ship and jump on any excuse to declare that it’s viable in canon.

Among the Kingdom Hearts fandom in particular, this has often taken the form of someone trying to dismiss other fans’ hope for a ship to be canon by saying that the series is about friendship, not romance.

While friendship is absolutely an important theme in the Kingdom Hearts series, to insist that this is mutually exclusive from depicting the development of romantic relationships ignores the continued presence of canon Disney romances in almost every game in the series. In each “main” game where Sora is playable, he has directly or indirectly been involved in getting those Disney couples together in the KH universe. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility for the series to turn the tables and give some attention to his romantic interests for a change.

A story having other major themes is not mutually exclusive from showcasing the development of a romantic relationship. There are many popular movies, shows, books, comics, and video games in which a romantic relationship plays a central role in the narrative but there are still other plotlines going on that are equally as important as the romance. This is especially true for Disney and Square Enix.

The reason why it’s impossible to fully talk about the Heroine’s Journey without acknowledging romance elements is best encapsulated by this quote from She-Ra showrunner Noelle Stevenson about her show’s endgame pairing in an i09 interview after the release of the final season:

“The show’s not a romance show. It is about a lot of things. It’s about choice, destiny, fighting, tyrants, you know, all of these other things. I grew up with so many stories—like sci-fi and fantasy—that I was so passionate about. And it would be considered no big deal to have the hero get the girl and to have a kiss at the end, without it suddenly becoming a romance or ‘Oh, the shippers got what they wanted.’ It was just a part of the story. And to actually see it be a central part of the plot and to fulfill the arcs of the characters in a way that felt satisfying. I really want to take it beyond ‘Oh, the shippers got what they want.’ Like, it’s not just a ship for me. It is a plot point. It is the necessary conclusion of each character’s arc, separate and together.[1]”

While not every story known to follow the Heroine's Journey features a romance for the main protagonist, those that do make the romance an integral part of the narrative. It’s not something thrown in at the end to please shippers, but a central component of the story. Therefore, when analyzing a Heroine’s Journey story, it is vital to acknowledge and discuss textual support for potential romantic relationships in order to have a full understanding of the narrative.

Even if one is not aware of the Heroine’s Journey, Sora’s repeated interactions with Disney romances indicate that there is a high probability that he will be in a romantic relationship himself by the end of the series. Every story I know of that follows the Heroine’s Journey broadly adheres to a pattern in regards to how the romantic relationships of a main character are set up.

By examining the series through these patterns, we can narrow down who Sora’s endgame romantic partner will be.

Because the themes and character dynamics emphasize resolving internal conflict through balance, the Heroine’s Journey lends itself extremely well to Beauty-and-the-Beast, rivals-to-lovers, and enemies-to-lovers relationship dynamics. A major component of the Heroine’s Journey is the main character learning to accept themselves, and since the Animus as a Shadow figure can represent the parts of themselves that they haven’t accepted yet, it is simpler to symbolize that self-acceptance via a romance with the Animus rather than attempting to build a separate relationship on top of the existing story framework.

For these reasons, the Animus is more often than not the main character’s endgame love interest, their feelings for each other made into critical aspects of their respective character arcs. The only Heroine’s Journey stories with romance that I know of where this wasn’t the case are ones where executive meddling resulted in the finale being rewritten to kill off the Animus despite established narrative set up for them to have a happy ending together[2], while the protagonist was either forced into a relationship with a different character or left single.

And like I said in previous essays, the one character in the series who fulfills all criteria for the Animus role within this storytelling framework….

Is Riku.

[Image Description: Sora supporting Riku as they walk toward the ocean on the Dark Margin at the end of Kingdom Hearts II. End Description.]

As mentioned in my earlier analysis, this narrative framework emphasizes the importance of balancing contrasting attributes, which fits in extremely well with Kingdom Hearts’ focus on balance between light and darkness. For stories that follow the Heroine’s Journey in a visual medium, that dichotomy is often incorporated into the characters’ look. Height differences are common, while their color schemes and outfits are designed to make them complement each other. Further adding to the focus on balance between light and darkness, the visuals of the story frame the romantic leads with imagery associating each one with light or darkness to create Yin-Yang symbolism when they are finally in balance.

In Re: Chain of Memories, Vexen openly calls Riku the “Hero of Darkness[3]” as a counterpart to Sora’s role as the “Hero of Light”, and their combination attack in Kingdom Hearts II utilizes moves that reflect both elements. In the Ultimania for the original game, Tetsuya Nomura said that Riku’s look was intentionally designed to balance Sora’s[4], and the contrast between their respective color schemes is maintained in each of their new outfits. In Kingdom Hearts II and Dream Drop Distance, Riku wears white and blue, while Sora in those same games wears black and red. Two different pairs of contrasting colors. Kingdom Hearts III has them both in outfits that are primarily black and grey, but still emphasize the blue and red that have been part of their respective outfits since the first game.

In a Heroine’s Journey, the love interest is typically an active character in the story and usually serves as the deuteragonist. This fits with Riku having been a mandatory playable character in multiple games since 2004. In addition, series producer Shinji Hashimoto said before the release of the HD 1.5 Remix collection[5] that the main focus of the series is how Sora and Riku develop both as individuals and as a pair, which fits with how the central conflict of the Heroine’s Journey revolves around the dynamic between the Protagonist and their Animus.

A common viewpoint held by many fans of the series is that Kairi is Sora’s love interest, and it’s not hard to see why people get that impression. He has sacrificed himself to save her in two separate games now. He’s charged enemies head on in order to rescue her whenever she’s been captured. He even got down on his knees and begged for her freedom when Saix demanded he show how important she was to him. Multiple characters have talked about how special she is to him, and Roxas refers to her as “that girl he(Sora) likes.”

However, there are multiple elements in the narrative that point to them not being the endgame romance. Kingdom Hearts III foreshadows the final shot of them sitting on the paopu together at the end of the game with Sora disappearing from the cover of the 100 Acre Wood storybook, textually framing Winnie the Pooh as a parallel to Kairi. While many fans regarded their sharing paopu fruits in the base game as the beginning of a relationship between them, he still only refers to her as a friend in Re:Mind, and even compares his bond with her to the bond between Ventus and Chirithy.

Sora also does not treat his promises to her with the seriousness he would if they were going to end up together. The promises to return her lucky charm and to come back to her that he makes in the first game are never treated as anything urgent when he awakens in Kingdom Hearts II. Instead, he declines the opportunity to return to the islands and check in with her in favor of searching for Riku. When Kairi says in The World That Never Was that they’ll be together every day, Sora agrees, yet he was content to spend the rest of his life on the dark beach at the end of the game as long as he was with Riku.

Meanwhile, the most consistent theme regarding Kairi in relation to the Destiny Islands trio is the idea of childhood friends drifting apart as they get older[6][7]. This is particularly highlighted in Kingdom Hearts III, with Kairi writing letters to Sora that she never sends, thereby keeping her thoughts to herself. Merlin also emphasizes this when he talks about forging new connections after Sora’s visit to 100 Acre Wood. This parallel frames the ending of Re:Mind as the two of them recognizing they’ve drifted apart and choosing to put in the effort to renew their friendship by spending time together.

On a structural level, her portrayal does not fit with how love interests are typically depicted in the Heroine’s Journey, both as an individual and in relation to the main protagonist. There is no contrast between her and Sora’s designs or roles the way there is between his and Riku’s. Her color scheme is predominantly pink, which does not have the same contrast with Sora’s red as Riku’s blue. Because she’s a Princess of Heart, there is no dark and light contrast, and the combination attack she shares with Sora in Re:Mind only utilizes light-based moves. It took 17 years after her first appearance in the series for her to be made a playable character, and even then, playing as her is not mandatory. They are never portrayed as equals, and she is not an active force in his emotional growth.

The Heroine’s Journey was crafted for narratives revolving around identities that have been Othered by society for one reason or another. Murdock designed her template as a tool to help women deal with being shamed by society for expressing and pursuing their desires. In a similar way, LGBTQ+ people also face stigma from society for expressing and pursuing their desires. So it makes perfect sense that a framework for narratives of people overcoming internalized stigma against important parts of themselves would be ripe for stories featuring LGBTQ+ protagonists of any gender.

As mentioned in previous essays, stories that follow the Heroine’s Journey challenge the biases and blind spots of the audience. A relationship between Kairi and Sora does not challenge anything because she has largely been regarded as the endgame love interest by default since the beginning. Meanwhile, a romantic relationship between Sora and Riku challenges players to recognize heteronormativity within themselves and in the media around them. It challenges people to examine the lens through which they perceive the story and rethink how they look at what’s happening in the narrative.

In summary, the portrayal of Kairi and her bond with Sora is not consistent with how love interests are commonly depicted in the Heroine’s Journey, while the portrayal of Riku and his bond with Sora is. If Sora’s story is going to continue on this storytelling formula to the end, the structure of the Heroine’s Journey narrative leaves Riku as the only thematically viable candidate for the role of endgame love interest.

Now, as some people bring up in conversations about Soriku, there is a potential obstacle in the form of corporate executives. It is entirely possible that Disney will drag their heels and try to force the development team to downplay or remove any open same-sex relationship the series may try to depict. They do not have a strong track record of LGBTQ+ representation that isn’t a minor character who only appears for one scene. Given that their last IP to follow the Heroine’s Journey - the Star Wars sequel trilogy - crashed and burned at the end, executive meddling is my greatest fear for this franchise.

But the thing to keep in mind is that Tetsuya Nomura is stubborn as hell. One of the reasons the long gap between Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts III was because he was holding out for permission to include Pixar movies in the game, outright refusing to start work on KH3 until they were given that go ahead[8]. If you want further proof of how stubborn he can be, this is how he described the meeting where he first pitched the series to Disney in a 2012 interview with the late president of Nintendo[9]:

Iwata: Their ideas were different from yours, naturally…

Nomura: Yes. They appeared to believe that we would make whatever they wanted us to make and came up with rather specific requests such as, "We'd like the game to feature this character." They were really excited, explaining their ideas... To be honest, though, I wasn't really interested in any of them. (laughs)

Both: (laughter)

Iwata: You wanted to borrow Disney's characters in order to make a new game that could compete with Mario 64, and you already had a vision of what this game would look like. I suppose their ideas didn't fit in with this vision.

Nomura: They didn't, no. In the end, I actually stopped a presentation halfway through. We didn't have that much time, and it looked like it was all going to get taken up by various Disney presentations. So, I interrupted them and told them the conclusion by saying, "I won't make such games."

Talk about nerves of steel. This man basically said “we do this my way, or we don’t do it at all” TO MOTHERFORKING DISNEY, AND. HE. WON. If there is any human being with enough force of will to make the Mouse House cave in and allow the depiction of an openly LGBTQ+ relationship in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is Tetsuya Nomura.

I cannot say with 100% certainty how things will go. But everything I know about storytelling patterns and narrative structure is telling me that Kingdom Hearts is a textbook Heroine’s Journey with a romance between Sora and Riku at its core. A relationship between the protagonist and the Animus does not truly begin until the “Integration” stage at the end of the Journey, and we are rapidly approaching the point in the narrative where the two leads traditionally become aware of and acknowledge their feelings in order to be on the same page for the finale.

Sources:

[1] “She-Ra's Noelle Stevenson Tells Us How Difficult It Was to Bring Adora and Catra Home” May 18, 2020

https://io9.gizmodo.com/she-ras-noelle-stevenson-tells-us-how-difficult-it-was-1843419358

[2] “Death of a Dark Youth, Desecration of the Animus”; December 20, 2018. https://www.teampurplelion.com/death-of-a-dark-youth/

[3] Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories. Square Enix, 2007.

[4] “A Look Back: Kingdom Hearts Ultimania Gallery Comments Part 1″; August 30, 2019;

https://www.khinsider.com/news/A-Look-Back-KINGDOM-HEARTS-Ultimania-Gallery-Comments-Part-1-15519

[5] “How Kingdom Hearts III Will Grow Up With Its Players;” September 24, 2013.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/25/how-kingdom-hearts-iii-will-grow-up-with-its-players.

[6] “E3 2018: Tetsuya Nomura on If Kingdom Hearts 3 Is the End of Sora's Story”; June 14, 2018.

https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/06/14/e3-2018-tetsuya-nomura-on-if-kingdom-hearts-3-is-the-end-of-soras-story

[7] “Character’s Report Vol. 1 Translations”; Jul 16, 2014

https://www.khinsider.com/forums/index.php?threads/characters-report-vol-1-translations.195560/

[8] “Edge Magazine Features Kingdom Hearts III Cover Story”; January 9, 2019. https://www.khinsider.com/news/Edge-Magazine-Features-Kingdom-Hearts-III-Cover-Story-14331

[9] “Iwata Asks: Nintendo 3DS: Third Party Game Developers, Volume 12: Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], Part 2: It’ll definitely be fun”; April 2012.

https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/creators/11/1

#kingdom hearts meta #kingdom hearts theory #kh speculation #kingdom hearts analysis #kingdom hearts and the heroine's journey #soriku

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kitsoa · 4 years

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I'm still waiting for a trailer for it to really sink in the Kingdom Hearts tv series exists. I'm curious over what the series will be? Retelling of KH1? Seems most likely. Not that it's nessecary for newcomers to enjoy. Everybody and their grandma (literally) knows about KH. I know people who don't even play video games but religiously watch YouTube walkthroughs of the games because they enjoy KH. It's like how Detective Pikachu didn't even need Pokemon in the title. Everybody knows pokemon. -

might be why I also like the idea I read about the series taking place post KH3 with the leads being Mickey, Donald and Goofy revisiting all the Disney Worlds Sora's been to. We'd get all the Disney goodness, some possible FF cameos and maybe apperences from Riku and others. But that's just if it's an original work. I'd also love good retellings of the games if done right. I only want the characters/lore/fight scenes to be given justice/respect. Whoah. How does this fit into your meta theory?- KH is a videogame, a novel series, a manga, a mobile game and now a cartoon. KH is covering all it's bases in media. All we need is for Normura to dig his claws into the series and put in even more reality confusing elements. It's like Sora's traveling through all this different levels of media until he gets closer to reality itself (lol when we all first thought it was going to be live action. Now that'd be unsettling).

Let me level with you. I... don’t know how to hype responsibly. So to be frank, I not only believe the rumors (I was watching them unfold and I am no stranger to following leak and speculation scenes for fun) I am... ecstatic about the idea. Scared excited. But man, I’m a dreamer first and foremost. I’ll live with the disappointment when it finally lets me down. Could it be hot garbage? Totally, but a lot of my initial fears have been soothed by the rumor mill. My list was basically: no live-action, animation please, gimme some square involvement folks. And based on the reports we have that covered. I am okay with a little new vision coming into the fray because I will always give it a chance as long as the creative philosophy is guided properly. I think there’s some level of quality control on both sides of the agreement. And as long as the Disney+ folks understand that this is essentially Disney’s break into the anime market, then we can trust they will at least aim in the right direction. But I’ll be very clear-- I’m almost 100% sure this will be a retelling and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. Here is why: 1. This was D+ idea-- (the ‘mysterious 3rd project’ pitched to Nomura that he mentioned in his interview is almost certainly this meaning it wasn’t a part of the original plan) They aren’t anywhere near Nomura’s thought process of stories to tell within the timeline. 2. D+ has an insanely large and average consumer base-- barrier of entry cannot be high. There is no way you can engagingly infodump any of the lore or series of events in a way that doesn’t make executives and producers nervous. I know it’s different for everyone but from my perspective KH is rather still niche to the larger public. It’s well known in the gaming sphere as an icon but even to Disney fans it is either entirely new or simply elusive to attempt an understanding. I mean, it’s basically introduced to people as a meme because of this lack of general understanding. This isn’t lost to a network with their fingers on the pulse. 3. D+ approved of the KH brand-- harder to explain but basically, the identity and success of KH is most definitely the aspect that ensured the survival of a tv series into development. That identity comes almost exclusively from Sora, the keyblade, and world-hopping shenanigans. Keyword being Sora. The only story that fits the franchise identity is the first story. 4. Evidence has Disney VO cast returning and also a current casting-- meaning we have Disney characters serving an important role (as they do in kh1) and the need for original characters. While this might suggest a brand new story idea, both of these points together wouldn’t make sense. Sora hangs with the Disney crowd. No one else. Coupled with the above points I’m almost certain our boy is getting recasted. This would bother people (and believe me I adore HJO) but consider that HJO cannot do young Sora in a believable way anymore. KH fans can tolerate it, but not a grander audience. If it’s just a child-voice match then that’s all the better but new creative visions require new, marketable talent. (Think of the FF7R recast drama). ----- I personally want nothing more than for it to be a retelling. Mainly because it’s just a charming story with an interesting world and great characters. I like seeing how it would translate and what would have to be changed to make it more palatable to the medium. That and I think cinematics and great character acting can recontextualize an entire work in wondrous ways. If anything, a retelling almost certainly adds to that experience regardless of other shortcomings. To tie things into a meta reading, I would not put it past Nomura to take advantage of the series to slip in something to the hardcore base. Mind you, not something required for understanding, but something simply meant to imply what is to come. A little trippy thing or subplot that merely confounds the average viewers into a dead end but spins the heads of theoriest like me. If he’s simply acting as an advisor, then, of course, he can get away with something small. The first thing on my mind was the “KH3 Loop” Theory. The idea that Sora is experiencing his entire journey from the beginning, over and over again. The beginning of KH3 where we are playing as KH1 Sora and it’s got this double meaning of ‘seven hearts to save’. It’s hard to explain, but a retelling of the story is a great way to allude that this story has happened multiple times, with multiple variations. Be it due to how a player plays the game, or the manner in which the story is consumed (cutscene movie, manga, tv show)-- it has occurred countless times and Sora is simply a plaything of fate.

#kingdom hearts #kh series #kh meta #Anonymous

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gamer-chick-reviews · 5 years

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Kingdom Hearts 3 (PS4) Review & Discussion (Spoiler Warning)

Hey, everyone. This is going to be my first video game review. The Kingdom Hearts series has been an important part of my life, so I really wanted to get my opinion and review of the game out since I felt like the third game left a big impact on me. I have played all the previous games more than once and was excited for the last of the Xehanort saga. I beat KH3 the week it came out, but I was surprised at how fast the playthrough went. Please remember that you can always disagree or agree with anything in this review. You can think whatever you want for any game, book, or TV show.

Moving along, the way I will go about this review is in parts. First, I will talk about the gameplay, which will consist of the new keyblade transformations, magic, attraction flow, flow motion, links, gummi ship, and mini games. Then I will talk about the Disney worlds and the overall writing of the story. I am not going to go into the visuals and music as much. Just know that I thought they were amazing as always. KH never fails with their music, and the visuals have improved tremendously. The opening was okay, but only because the song was off-beat. (I watched the Japanese opening, and the song slightly matched up better.)

After these sections will be comments on some characters. Then I will finish up with the expectations I had for this game and hopeful ideas for DLCs that could be added later.

So for every game, players have expectations on what will happen in the story or what they will do with the gameplay. Of course, KH3 is no exception; but like all games, the creators will not be able to put in everything that we thought of. So of course I came into this game knowing that every idea I thought of would not make it in the game.

Okay let’s get started…

Gameplay:

The gameplay of KH3 has truly evolved since the last few games. I think I enjoyed the game mechanics for this game as much as I enjoyed Birth by Sleep’s gameplay. It was all very flashy, and it was nice to see the creators bring back abilities from the other titles.

Keyblade Transformations:

This function in the game was absolutely fantastic. It was a big throwback to drive forms in KH2, but with more of a combination of past abilities such as shotlocks. I think that being able to switch out keyblades in battle was a great idea because most of the time in the previous games, we would not use a keyblade after we got a stronger one. This enables players to use the weapons they like the most because of the keyblade forge/upgrade system. Also switching out weapons in battle really reminded me of Final Fantasy XV. I enjoyed the form transformations, but I did notice some of them were copies of others. Even though this was the case, I still think each one was visually unique, so I didn’t mind that they had the same abilities.

Magic:

The magic in the game has really been well developed throughout the years. KH 0.2 was the first to introduce players to how magic would be in KH3. I like that they introduced water magic, while they also made Aero more like how it was in BBS. It was cool to see the magic change slightly depending on which keyblade transformation Sora was in. Other than that, I do not have much to say about magic.

Attraction Flow:

Attraction flow was a game mechanic that was advertised very early for this game. They were fun to use, but there were times where I did not want to use them in favor of the other finishers. I did not notice until after beating the game that I could have switched between commands using L2. This was thanks to another Tumblr user making a post about it. I can confirm that none of the tutorials say you can switch between triangle commands using L2.

Flow Motion:

Flow motion has become more controlled in certain aspects since Dream Drop Distance. Wall running was something new that they added which was pretty cool. I did notice while my sister was playing that it was very hard to control the spin mechanic from pole to pole. It would get pretty ridiculous and out of hand. So air stepping was not my favorite thing, but I’m sure others had an easier time getting used to it.

Links:

The links were visually pleasing and had a lot of variety based on the Disney characters that they used. I honestly did not use them as much, which is not surprising since I have not used summons as often since KH1 where they were very helpful for those secret bosses.

Gummi Ship:

So in most KH games, my sister and I were never really invested with the gummi ship mechanics. I still feel somewhat the same way, but I do think it has become much better compared to other games. Post-game, I had to do more gummi ship missions to make the Ultima Weapon, so I got time to really explore more of the gummi ship system. I think they made the gummi ship system easier for players and the open exploration is great for people who don’t want to just be dragged into a battle.

Mini Games:

There were a lot of mini games in KH3. Some of the ones that really stood out to me were cooking at the bistro, Verum Rex, and some of the Flantastic 7 games (That cherry game was the worst for me.) Some honorable mentions would be Flash Tracer, Frozen Slider, Festive Dancer and any of The Hundred Acre Wood mini games. I honestly would have been happy with fewer mini games, but I think it was fine that they wanted to add more. The Classic Kingdom games got boring to me after a while. I played the ones that were in Union X to get the Starlight keyblade and already felt like those few games were enough for me.

Plot/Writing:

Main Story Focus/Theme:

So we all knew that in KH3, we would have to gather our seven guardians of light, which meant saving Terra, Ven, and Aqua. While we needed to locate those three, Re:Coded introduced that there could still be a way to help Roxas, Namine, and Xion. Because of the need to find and restore these people, a big theme for KH3 was finding your way back home.

This is a really good theme because so many of these characters have been separated from their friends and cut off from the realm of light. I also love this theme because home to these characters isn’t just a place, it’s their friends and overall the people they love.

Disney Worlds + Twilight Town:

Sora, who is trying to regain his power of waking, decides to travel to different Disney worlds hoping that some spark will create that opportunity. But as Sora travels to each world, it becomes very noticeable that he is not making progress in regaining that power. Sora, Donald, and Goofy even repeatedly question why they are in some of these worlds. And sure, Sora learns a lot in each world about friendship and love, but I feel like he already learned some of these lessons in previous games.

I am going to go over each Disney world briefly to talk about the pros and cons of the story in each one. It can relate to the specific world story or the main plot. Some Disney worlds will be paired together such as the Pixar ones or Corona and Arendelle because of the Princesses of Heart aspect.

Olympus: This world was a great way to start Sora’s new journey. It ties with the main plot on how Sora has to recover his lost powers (specifically the power of waking that I want to delve into more later). The story of the world finishes up nicely and gives Sora a hint to getting his lost power back: the words “with all my heart.” This ties into how Sora just needs to wish for the return of his lost friends in order to create a connection that will bring them back.

Twilight Town: One of the best things about the story in this world is how much I came to love Hayner, Pence, and Olette more. I thought they were alright characters in KH2 and Days, but their actions for finding Roxas even though they never really knew him really showed how selfless they were.. I really liked that, but I was sad that the world became smaller. I also thought the world would be more relevant in the later parts of the story. One part specifically was when Hayner, Pence, and Olette saved Ansem the Wise (omg I thought things were going to go so badly). I expected to go back to the world after that scene, but we didn’t have to… But I found that out because I went looking for the Twilight trio like, “Hey do you have news for me?” but got nothing.

The Hundred Acre Wood: There was not much of a story in this world. The world was one area that consisted of mini games. Sora’s connection with Pooh somehow weakens. Things are resolved too quickly, and I felt that was really lazy for the writers to do. Why the connection weakened is not explained in detail, but I thought it might relate to the theme of finding your way back home. I say this because Pooh considers Sora a part of his home. This relates to how a place can only feel like home because of the people in your life. I think I expected more of a story in this world, but at the end of the day, Nomura just added it to put in one more Disney world.

Toy Box & Monstropolis: I honestly think that the Pixar movies had the best storylines. Even though I had heard from other reviews that the story in Toy Box was anticlimactic, I think that it was relevant to the plot. Sora, who has decided to restore Roxas and Namine, comes into this world where toys have hearts. I think this world in a way went into how replicas were going to be brought back into the story. This is relevant to the plot because both the Organization and Sora’s gang have thought of using replicas to bring back people on their side. For Monstropolis, the story leads to Sora finally finding out Ven has been inside his heart this whole time. I think the setup of Vanitas being in Monsters Inc. makes sense because of his connection to negative emotions and the previous use of scream power in the facility. Monstropolis also has a Disney villain that is working with one of the Real Organization members which is how KH1 and KH2 made Sora and the gang more involved with the world. Overall, the characters were more involved in these stories, which was better writing from the staff.

Corona & Arendelle: These two worlds specifically showed how romantic love became a big theme in the story. Sora explains via instapost that Rapunzel’s power gave him a new outlook on how powerful love can be. It’s not like any of his powers, so he is surprised that it was able to bring back Eugene. There are also flashbacks to the endings of Corona and Arendelle when Sora meets up with Kairi again in The Final World that shows how those worlds affected him. These worlds mostly followed their movie counterparts storywise, but I felt like some aspects could have been added to make the Organization members more relevant. Corona was my one of my most-anticipated worlds. It added great interactions with Rapunzel, so I think they did better with that than in Arendelle where Sora, Donald, and Goofy were just in the background. Elsa really did just end up figuring things out for herself like Larxene wanted.

The Caribbean: The story was choppy like Corona and Arendelle, but I think it was a good world to go back to due to the connections that Sora made in KH2. I think Sora got to see how relationships change in this world through Elizabeth and Will. I mostly say this because despite KH2 not being too long ago, a lot of time has passed in The Caribbean. Furthermore, the ending of this world had a lot of foreshadowing towards the KH3 ending now that I look back on it. This world is also the only one that gives a vague hint to what’s in the Black Box. Luxord specifically says, “But they did say the box contains ‘hope’.” Other than that, this world’s story was okay because its connection to Sora, but could have been better if it was not another movie rerun. It did end up being the world with the best exploration. The pirate ship function was satisfying and probably fulfilled one of Sora’s dreams.

San Fransokyo: This was my second most-anticipated world. However, it ended up having one of the shortest stories. I do applaud the original story, but it was lacking in some way. It introduces again how hearts can take shape in any being, and I love that we got to have two Baymaxes in the end. I noticed that there was little time to explore the city due to the urgency of staying on the world-specific story path. I heard Hiro speak so many times while I tried to look around. This world also confirmed that the Organization had started using Replicas due to the appearance of Xehanort-Riku which was relevant to the main plot.

Original Worlds:

So the remaining original worlds ended up being less explorable which was a bit sad, but some of them did hype up the story.

The Dark World: We only play this world as Riku twice and as Sora when we rescue Aqua. I think I can accept this since we got to explore as Aqua in 0.2. One thing I did not expect was for it to feel like Riku and Mickey could not manage their main mission. By having Sora be the one to save the day, it showed how Riku and Mickey were not capable. It would have been better if I we got to use Riku to fight Aqua and have Sora as support. It just left me feeling bitter for Riku, but other than that, the scene where Aqua is saved is very good. It was the welcome home that she needed.

The Land of Departure: This part was really cool, because Aqua was the third playable character. However, this moment leads into the power of waking. During Sora’s hour of need, Ventus says he needs to wake up, but Sora still does not have the power of waking. But low and behold, Ventus says Sora has always had the power, and that it will work if he calls upon it in his time of need. I think it was a poor way to reveal Sora got his powers back because it made it feel like going to the Disney worlds was just an excuse to have Sora travel around. It made me see that the Disney worlds and main plot became more separate, which I did not like. The moment where Ven wakes up is still great, and I was happy with his reunion with the others. The scene with Aqua was sweet, while I loved the “second chance” line he said to Sora.

The Keyblade Graveyard/ The Final World: This is basically the set up for the clash of the 7 lights and 13 darkness where parts of the main plot are resolved. So we get the 1000 heartless battle which is good. It was a great throwback to KH2. Then the group encounters Terranort who basically annihilates half of them. A lot of parts of this moment made me mad at the writing. I’m just going to list it…

So Kairi does not have her keyblade out, so Axel takes the blow for her

Kairi still does not have her keyblade out, so Sora just hugs her rather than blocking the hit. (Everyone had their weapons out, so I have no idea why Kairi does not have hers out,)

Cure/items apparently don’t exist in this moment, cause no one heals Ven or Axel (I saw Donald heal in a cutscene in the previous games so it just doesn’t make sense to me.)

When the heartless tornado arrives, Aqua just gave up which is very ooc.

After that Sora goes into his moment of weakness where Riku had to snap him out of it.

So I think this moment is okay, but I think Sora falling apart if Riku was taken too would have made more sense. Riku was still there with him, so I would think that Sora would not have lost all hope.

So next up is The Final World, where Sora goes after they all die from the heartless tornado. So Sora meets Chirithy, and Chirithy explains due to both his heart and body perishing, he has ended up in this place where people are at the edge of life and death. Having this world was interesting because it introduces an afterlife in the series. I also like that Kairi was the one helping to bring everyone back. It is great that she is helping and shows more of her powers, but it doesn’t make me feel much different about how her character was handled before this all happened.

As Sora is collecting himself in this world, he encounters different “stars” which are also dead people who are in this limbo. One of the stars is Namine, which I felt was great to see because she has not been in the game until this very moment. She tells Sora that she will figure out a way to find a connection to Terra. This is hinted in the KH First Breath Concert, so I was already aware that Namine would help bring back Terra. There is also one more voiced star, “The Nameless Star” who Sora meets. This character is probably from Union X (My guess is Strelitzia). I am not going to go into that much, but I will say that the cutscene with this star and Namine are missable. I found this out through different Youtube videos, because I did see these scenes when I played. I think that having those missable was not ok at all because those moments are all story relevant. It also ties to how Lingering Will changes the groups fate later, so having that scene missable can cause some confusion later if not seen.

Just a side note, but Nomura really does not explain the Power of Waking very well. To my understanding, it is supposed to wake sleeping hearts, so the way Sora uses it, is to bring back hearts that have perished. He is basically bringing people back to life. People can argue that Aqua’s heart was not sleeping when they needed to save her in the Dark World, but they still wanted Sora to get the Power of Waking because that power springs from a connection to another’s heart which would have been helpful in finding Aqua since Ven was in Sora. During that scene in the Dark World, Sora did not have that power, but in his case he was able to reach the Dark World because of his connection with Riku and with some help from the keyblade that Aqua left behind.

Anyways Sora is able to save his friends, and meets up with Kairi who is his “light in the darkness.” They are able to go back in time before facing Terranort. It was weird how everything played out the same, even though I’m pretty sure Sora was aware of the time traveling and what had happened last time.

Now the battle is back on track, and the scene with the keyblade wielders from the past and Ephemera happen. That was a really cool scene, and a creative way to put the player in the game. Also the part where Master Yen Sid helps was a nice touch.

After that is the Organization fights. Those were all fun, but the biggest flaw in that moment was what they did to Axel and Kairi (especially Kairi). The reunions were some of the best parts of this game. The Wayfinder trios reunion was the most satisfying and tied up Terra, Ven, and Aqua’s characters. I feel this way because Terra got his redemption, while Ven was able to keep his promise. I got more emotional during those scenes than the ending to be honest.

During those scenes, Xehanort kidnaps Kairi. Kairi becoming the damsel in distress again was such bad writing. She is killed in order to forge the X-blade and to provide Sora with more motivation (that was such bs). Sora’s reaction was good, but Riku’s was lacking (You guys just watched your friend die, seriously)

Also did anyone else think that Terra was going to finally get his talk with Riku before they went to close KH? I was hopeful, but I think because of the urgency I see now why it did not happen. I also want to add, that Donald and Goofy going with us to fight Xehanort was great for old times’ sake.

Scala Ad Caleum: The world was very pretty, but not explorable. It was just the world for the final boss battle. So this is where the big bad, Xehanort confronts Sora and tells him why he wanted Kingdom Hearts in the first place. Xehanort is redeemed, and goes with Erauqs because his old friend has convinced him to entrust the worlds light to these new guardians.

The writing for Xehanort was ok to me, but I explain my thoughts on it more in the character section.

Erauqs being inside of Terra was something I expected because of fan theories. I like that they did this because Erauqs was able to apologize to his students and help his friend move past his harmful ambitions.

As per tradition, I expected to fight a final boss with many forms like in KH1 and KH2. That did not happen in this game, so it was very underwhelming.

The End

Sora going alone to save Kairi was not necessary. This was a missed opportunity for Riku to go with him to search for their best friend. Cause again, Kairi is Riku’s friend too. They missed out on the chance for Riku to say “We’ll go together!” which is a meaningful line in the KH series.

All the happy endings were great. I like that Isa got to sort things out with the others. It was unexpected and even if he had not shown up I would have been fine, but it was a good add on.

Ventus reuniting with his Chirithy was cute.

Namine being her own person was good.

The beach end was fantastic, but I was left feeling complicated because Sora disappeared. It really changed the whole mood.

Sora saving Kairi off screen if Kairi really was there, is not okay. I feel this way because it makes the ending feel not earned. I want to know how Sora saved Kairi because it would have provided more closure and acceptance to his fate.

Epilogue

Xigbar being Luxu was a good reveal. I did not see it coming. I hope they can explain later how Luxu summoned the other foretellers. What was in the Black Box was not revealed but I expected that after a while. I do think that this scene was a good setup for the next saga. Since this part is heavily focused on Union X, I want to add my thoughts on the girl Isa and Axel befriended. I think it was a smart way of adding something from Union X but many questions arise. It creates another 2 boy and 1 girl trio in the series. There is not enough information for this new girl, but I do think the girl could be Skuld. My reasoning for this is through the secret reports.

Secret Ending

I don’t know what was going on in that secret ending. There are rumors about Shibya from TWEWY being involve as well as a Verum Rex world. I have played TWEWY so having it as a world is actually really cool. I feel this way because it is a great setup for bringing Sora back. The Verum Rex part is up in the air for me. I think it’s mostly because it isn’t its own game yet. And yes, I know it is what Nomura would have hoped for Final Fantasy Versus XIII. I’m very iffy about the secret ending because it did not feel like any of the other secret endings. It was also one of the first ones without text to reveal what might be coming next.

Characters:

Sora: Sora has matured a lot since the first game, but I did not like that they made him a basic bishonen character that had to “go it alone” in the end.

Riku (will be talking about Repliku too): Riku has had the best character development in the game, but his character changed a lot in KH3 because Nomura did not have it in him to give Riku scenes with his best friends. He did not have Riku talk to Kairi at all in this game. I am not counting that part in the beginning because that was a recap from DDD. For a character who had realized in DDD that he found the “strength to protect what matters,” he did not insist to go with Sora to find Kairi. Overall, this choice did not make sense with Riku’s character development.

Repliku: They tied the story and character of Repliku really well. Giving Namine that replica was very meaningful.

Kairi: They did Kairi so dirty in this game. They hyped her up since she got a keyblade. I know she has the least experience but that was no excuse for her not to have her weapon out at the Keyblade Graveyard. What was all that training for if she was just going to get kidnapped and killed?! Also the whole “damsel in distress” trope is horrible. Overall, wasted potential in this game to make Kairi a better character.

Terra: Terra was actually the character that got the most justice in this game. I think he redeemed himself, and it really brought a close to the Wayfinder trio. I wish we got him in our party too, but I know there was no time for it. But wouldn’t it be cool if we got to control the guardian during the Terranort fight?!

Axel/Lea: Well Axel also got a keyblade by the end of DDD. I’m not sure if it’s just because he got paired with Kairi, but he got sidelined in this game. Xemnas broke his keyblade, but somehow when they had to close Kingdom Hearts, he had it again. It’s disappointing because I went back on Youtube to see how Axel fights during those Organization confrontations. In a way, he can do his own keyblade transformation because his key splits into his chakrams. I love Axel, and I think he had great lines in this game, but that was about it.

Xion: Not much to say about Xion, but her return was unclear. I wonder why she decided to side with the Real Organization because it did give hints on her remembering that she betrayed them and was friends with Axel and Roxas. I was glad to see her reunited with her friends, but I wanted an explanation.

Namine: They would mention Namine, but she barely showed up. She was not in the opening either. I also wish we had gotten a scene of her just arriving on Destiny Islands because it would have shown more character interaction. I think it would be very meaningful because it’s her first time meeting people in a not serious situation.

Vexen/Even & Deymx: I think the real secret in KH3 was Vexen betraying the Real Organization to get his research to atone. That was good, and I did not expect it. Deymx helping was nice too, but after that they failed to explain where he went at the end. All we know is that he is involved with Union X.

Marluxia, Laxene, Luxord: Not much happened with them, and I expected it. It was just weird that Xemnas bothered to reveal that they were all involved with the Union X storyline with Deymx because he made it seem like he was going to use that to his advantage or just for a higher purpose.

Ansem Seeker of Darkness, Xemnas, Young Xehanort: I don’t have much to say about these characters, but I think ASD and Xemnas had really good lines at the end. When Riku said he would miss ASD, I thought that was funny because I sure wouldn’t but Riku can think otherwise. Young Xehanort had no chill in this game, he was intense in a different way, but it really made me wonder what else happened in his life for him to come to that.

Vanitas: I actually like how Vanitas just remained a bad guy. This rarely happens in stories, so it was nice to see. His smile at the end made me wonder if they might bring him back in the next games. I do not know how to feel about that, but I thought he was a cool character.

Xehanort: I mentioned before that Xehanort was redeemed. He is shown to have not been an all bad guy but that doesn’t change the fact that he killed/harmed people. He was a character with good intentions but that is no excuse for all the bad things he did. He basically instigated Erauqs downfall and he killed Kairi. He caused all these characters to suffer, so I felt that he could have had better atonement if he had figured out a way to get Kairi back to Sora.

Expectations:

Of course, I came into this game knowing that every idea I thought of would not make it in the game. I do think my expectations were high, since this was one of my most anticipated games for a long time. The writing of the game did affect what they were going to add and not add into this game. There were a lot of missed opportunities, but what’s done is done. I will list out just some things I wanted to happen before or as the game went on, and probably briefly comment on some of them. I will also list out things that I wanted but got out of the game.

Things that I got

Sea-salt and Wayfinder trio reunions

Roxas and Ventus finally meeting (I do wish that we had gotten to see them talk)

Sea-salt trio/Twilight trio getting to go to the beach (making it the ending was just amazing)

New outfits for some characters

Namine being her own person

Things that I wanted

Better character development for Kairi (Reasoning mentioned in character section.)

Roxas to be the equivalent of how Mickey saves Sora during boss battles in KH2.

I thought it would be great to make him playable since he is Sora’s other self. The trailers made it seem like he would be there for Sora in his moment of weakness, but that was not the case. I thought the line in Big Hero 6 would have more relevance, but it didn’t. I was still happy that he at least got to be one of our party members, but he did not get enough screen time.

One thing I must say is that if Nomura going to make Roxas a secret, then actually make him a secret. There was nothing building up to that. From the trailers, we knew that he was going to come back in some way which is what everyone expected. If they really wanted to make him a secret, then they could have restored him earlier and had him doing some behind the scene things to help the others.

More character interaction

For a game that is about friendship, so many of the characters did not get to interact with each other. This is mostly due to so many important events happening at the end of the game, so I can see why it did not happen. The pacing of this game was bad, so squeezing everything at the Keyblade Graveyard gave no time for casual talk.

It was also sad that the other main characters didn’t get to interact with each other because this would have been some characters first meetings with some of the other characters.

Destiny Trio interaction

I know from an interview that Nomura stated that relationships were going to change, but I think they mostly changed because Nomura did not give this trio screen time together. They are supposed to be best friends, and it did not feel that way due to Kairi and Riku barely getting to talk to each other.

Everyone knows Sokai was going to be a thing, and that’s fine. I pretty much felt like Riku had accepted it too, but I think they should have shown Riku supporting and being there for them because they are best friends.

Skateboarding in Twilight Town

This is just a fun mechanic that I wanted to see again, so it’s not a big deal that it was not added.

Final Fantasy Characters

I know Nomura said that KH3 could stand alone without FF characters, but they brought a lot of life to the world and had personal connections with Sora.

Selfies for Riku

Another not as important game mechanic, but Riku did have a gummi phone.

Thank Namine

After The Final World cutscene with Namine’s star, I was really hopeful to see the official thank you. I think it was either off screen or just did not happen, because Sora disappeared at the end.

More exploration of original worlds

Twilight Town got smaller.

Yen Sid’s Tower was not added which was fine.

Other original worlds did not have much to explore and were purely for the plot or boss battles.

I don’t think they will make these more explorable, but a DLC could be done.

DLCs:

Sora’s journey to save Kairi

Kairi and Lea training (can be playable or just some extra cutscenes)

Riku and Mickey retracing Aqua’s connections through the worlds she visited or more gameplay in the realm of darkness

More playable characters during the 1000 heartless battle or during Organization XIII fights

Replayable boss battles like in Re:Coded and 358 ½ Days

Critical mode for players who want more of a challenge (Proud mode was actually ok to me, and it is probably because I was not under leveled)

More post-game content such as extra super bosses

Extra cutscenes or some kind of content where we get more character interactions (This probably will not happen, but I just wanted to mention it). One way for them to do this can just be adding the characters in the Keyblade Graveyard. Then players as Sora can briefly talk to them using the triangle command. This is very similar to how we just talk to our party members in the Disney worlds.

So with all that being said I only expect maybe 2-3 of these DLCs happening. That being critical mode and super bosses.

Verdict:

I give KH3 an 8.5/10.

KH3 was fun and nostalgic. The sass was on point in this game, where it really showed the established relationships of some characters (specifically Sora, Donald, and Goofy). I enjoyed the gameplay, but the writing needs a lot of improvement. It is so flawed, and it should not be this flawed for an ending to a saga.

I want to thank those who read this review. It’s my first one, so I know I rambled and recapped parts of the story in some places. I hope those at least helped you guys remember parts of the plot. If anyone wants to discuss fave characters or ships, feel free to send me a message.

Thanks again and hoping to write more reviews on games, TV shows, and even books.

Next up will probably be the video game The Liar Princess and The Blind Prince.

#kh #kingdom hearts #kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts 3 spoilers #ps4 #video games #video game review

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dukeofriven · 5 years

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Wither Tinkerbell? Part 1: Only 90s Kids Remember (KH liveblog)

I was doing a liveblog, wasn’t I, before the last week got so crazy I barely had the energy left to smash the reblog button. What was I liveblogging again?

*squints at hand* K... ka... Kangdamn Hats? Sure, I guess. Where did we leave off?

Sora - for those who don’t remember, an idiot - surrenders to Captain Hook because Captain Hook has Tinkerbell in a lamp. That’s Tinkerbell, who Sora has had all of one(?) interaction with, if by interaction you meant ‘bystander’. Tinkerbell, whom Sora has no relationship with or reason to give a damn about. Sora, who has basically just been told where Riku has taken Kairi - his sole motivating factor for hours of this game - decides ‘Oh no not Tinkerbell of course I will surrender, even though there’s a paltry bullshit number of enemies here that I could take instantly.’

FOUR HEARTLESS AND ONE DUDE WHO IS JUST A DUDE WITH A SWORD AND A PROSTHETIC HAND WITH LIMITED FUNCTIONALITY! (”What about Smee you ask? Ha ha - Smee won’t do shit and you know it.) Sora, it must be recalled, has at this point fought an Ursula 1000 times his size, an Oogie Boogie the size of a skyscraper, Jafar imbued with ultimate cosmic power, and... some British dude with a gun riding some kind of praying mantis? (It was not clear.) But here Sora’s like: “Oh, no, these are odds I cannot face. Not with poor sweet innocent... Tanker Ball, was it?” *Deep Breath* So I got a lot of messages over the last week, most of them about my Kingdom Hearts liveblog. Some of them were really complimentary and if I forgot to thank you personally please forgive me for doing so. Some were less complimentary. Some were what I might call, mmmh, ‘ornery’ or perhaps ‘snotty’ (Some messages were critical without being shitty - I’m not talking to you). You see, I had committed the grave sin of voicing an opinion about Kingdom Hearts without having first played everything in the series - indeed, I sometimes got the impression that I had committed some sort of sin by being born not already knowing the entire legendarium of Kingdom Hearts broader mythopoetic chronicle. At the very least, I was certainly not bringing enough nostalgic childlike wonder-reverence to the table to be able to judge the game ‘fairly.’ In this praxis, Kingdom Hearts - i.e. Kingdom Hearts I the first game - is beyond linear criticism: because any possibly flaw is explained or massaged away in subsequent works, any perceived flaws in the original are something on the order of temporal hiccups, mere quirks of chronological progression and best ignored. Like the Tralfamadorians, I should absorb Kingdom Hearts only as a holistic whole: as it is ‘complete’ in the future it is complete now, for all times are one time and past and future are only the observances of lesser mortals unenlightened enough to step without time. Let me offer a counter-proposal: THIS GAME BAD THIS IS A BAD GAME THE WRITING IS BAD, UNGOOD, AND BAD THE QUALITY I WOULD ASIGN TO THE WRITING OF THIS GAME IS ‘POOR.’ ON THE BADNESS SCALE OF NOT-GOOD, IT RANKS ‘BAD.’ IF ASKED TO OFFER A EXAMPLE OF A WELL-WRITTEN GAME, THIS WOULD NOT BE THE CHOICE THAT I WOULD MAKE

This is the scene that comes next:

Sora is made to walk the plank, Hook shits himself about the presence of the crocodile and buggers off, leaving Tink with Smee the Useless One. Peter then snatches Tink from his hand. It takes all of 10 seconds, and makes the entire point of the previous ‘surrender or Tink gets it’ moment as ephemeral as it is inconsequential. This game has a problem that I am starting to call ‘tension cul-de-sac’ - it’s when a scene introduces a problem or crisis that is resolved within the same scene, sometimes within the same cutscene. Tension is not allowed to grow or develop or have any impact beyond the moment - and frequently it’s undermined further by the game’s long and awkward pauses, it’s bad eyelines, or the intractable problem of lugging Goofy’s dumb ass across an entire game and trying to pretend anything can be given dramatic weight with that fucking clown. You know what, no, that’s unfair - let’s talk about A Very Goofy Movie for a moment. I wasn’t much of a Disney kid - to be a Disney kid generally required money, which we Did Not Have. The Disney channel sure didn’t air with any of the basic packages we could only sometimes afford, and you sure as shit didn’t get it as ‘the only channel we sort of got’ when we couldn’t afford it and had to rely on the aerial (look it up, children.) So I didn’t grow up watching the Disney channel. I am pretty certain that those times we did have the basic cable package it didn’t come with it - the Disney channel only came with the super fancy package with the 200 channels for middle class people with La-Z-Boy chairs. (Guys, you should know that I am old enough to remember the day when cable came to this country and the TV went past channel 29 for the first time - it was a literal event. The whole country had free cable for the first month or so, and for a least a month before cable went live the channels aired non-stop trailers of their future content, and it was so wild that you could could scroll for channel after channel and see something other than static. I feel so old.) Anyways, I wasn’t a Disney kid. As noted earlier I had a couple Disney movies, but I was taught pretty early on what a gross and shitty company Disney is - my mother was a poor progressive who did what she could to keep me woke, and I think it also helped her blunt any enthusiasm or ill-will I might have for never being able to go to Disneyworld. If I didn’t give a damn about Disney as a brand then that was a whole lot of merch we couldn’t afford that I didn’t want. (One day I will right a big old essay about how capitalism hurts poor kids with materialism, and why Pokémon, Disney, POGs™, Crazy Bones, and a whole lot of other 90s franchises predicated on mass purchases did so much to harm my self-esteem as a kid. But that’s not today.) No, I was a Looney Tunes kid, because they were A) Actually funny and had bite without being saccharine dribble B) aired on cheap channels, and C) outside of a weird trend of Looney Tunes in Hip-Hop clothing and that brief blip that was Space Jam, not highly marketed. But I did see A Very Goofy Movie. More than once - the library probably had it. I remember having righteous indignation about that movie. Goofy, who just wanted to have fun with his son, was treated like garbage, because Max was the worst kind of eye-rolling 90s teen who did not want to give a shit about anything that wasn’t ruthlessly contemporary. This scene?

MAN FUCK YOU, MAX! His dad was trying so hard and all Max could do was be a shit. I mean sure, I got what was getting under his collar: Roxanne was sweet and cute and who wouldn’t want to take her to a dance, and Pete had the world greatest god-damn RV, and Goofy’s verbal ticks can be somewhat grating - but for fuck’s sake, Max. As someone who often felt mortified by his father (my dad was the guy who would go tell older kids off if they were being BAD and kull wahad was that squirmingly mortifying) you’d think I’d have empathized with Max more but no - even as a kid I saw Max’s in-the-moment coolness desperation for the sad peacock display it was. (CONTINUED IN PART 2)

#tinkerbell #peter pan #captain hook #smee #max goof #a very goofy movie #roxanne #kingdom hearts #sora #donald duck #goofy #dukeofriven liveblogs kingdom hearts #disney

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xiiishadesofgrey · 5 years

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Kingdom Hearts III: A Long Time Coming

As we’re about a month after the release of KH3, I wanted to get out my thoughts on the game (there are spoilers below). I might be talking into the void, but hey, that’s what fandom’s all about. Anyway, let’s rock.

First things first: I loved the game. I’m biased, because I’ve been in love with this series ever since I saw the first trailer on tv all those years ago. I have some criticisms, but please never take those to mean that I don’t love this game because I do.

Story

My main issue with the plot of KH3 is that I think pacing was a weak point in this one. Now, I’m used to playing through mostly irrelevant Disney worlds the whole time and then getting a plot dump at the end. I know how this series works; that’s not my issue. The problem is that there are a lot of characters who would pop in to do something pivotal, and then make an equally swift exit without any real closure. Demyx and Vexen come to mind, but even the non-benched OrgXIII members didn’t do much besides serve in the boss rush and make their goodbyes (while the other fighters politely waited before continuing to rough you up). We knew there was going to be a huge cast of characters, but for the ones that served to move the plot forward, in a lot of cases I was left feeling like I didn’t have an answer for why the roles had to be filled by them in particular. (Connections to KHUX were blurry at best, though that’s more of an issue with series planning than with this game on its own. I’m okay with using Luxu as a cliffhanger, though, since that’s more of an intentional setup.) Motivations weren’t explored and many of the characters ended up just where they were before: lost, floating in the void.

I was also a little put out with the game’s treatment of the main heroes. Riku and Mickey spend 5/6 of the game throwing themselves against a wall, staunchly refusing Sora’s help. Meanwhile Sora (aka the player) is supposed to just wander around until the Power of Waking comes to him all deus ex machina style? That’s not a plan, and it makes for a meandering plot. And when you finally do get to the Realm of Darkness, lo and behold, the power was in him all along, meaning that we’ve all wasted a lot of time in what we’re supposed to believe is a pretty urgent situation. If I’m considering this within the framework of the KH universe, it means we should probably never take direction from Yen Sid again. If I look at if from a real world perspective, it’s a rather poor excuse for the player to visit the obligatory worlds while the main plot gets compressed to a cutscene movie at the end of the game. Either way, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

And finally, I was truly disappointed with KH3′s treatment of Kairi. I try to be understanding. I get it, she’s not the main character. But here’s the thing: the writers set Kairi up to be in a position of agency, if not power. She has a keyblade, she has the benefit of legitimate training in no less than a genuine hyperbolic time chamber (more than Sora has ever had the benefit of, mind you), and she has a history of being eager to pull her weight as a Guardian of Light. Plus, she’s a Princess of Heart. You’d think this would lead to her being able to contribute to the fight in more ways than just believing in Sora enough to keep him from keeling over when he loses his cool (another thing I took a bit of issue with, but I won’t digress here). But no, Kairi is demoted very solidly to damsel in distress when the plot finally sees fit to release her and Lea from their bubble. To be blunt, I call bullshit. I think she deserved better as a character, and I think if they weren’t going to do anything with her having a keyblade, they shouldn’t have wasted all that time making it happen. In the last fight, she and Lea were more liabilities than anything. I think they both deserved better than that.

End(?)

Obviously, the end of the game contains a culmination of the complaints I’ve mentioned. I’m overjoyed that my favorite characters get their lives back, but a lot of that takes place without direct player contribution (for example, Roxas showing up by himself, having melded with a replica body offscreen, or Namine being a footnote in the closing scenes). I acknowledge that the player character doesn’t need to (and shouldn’t) be the sole instigator of action in a game, but for some of these instances, having these points basically narrated to me felt like things were coming together because they had to for the plot to resolve, and not because our own actions had led to an optimal outcome. I didn’t feel like we had earned all of the pieces falling into place the way they did.

I mentioned unclear motivations before. All I will say about Xehanort is that I don’t quite see the connection between the story they’ve been selling us for him literally this entire time and the story he painted for his motivations at the very end. I don’t feel one way or the other about them trying to redeem him, but I don’t feel that that was a well-established path to try to take with the character they’d built. It’s important to give evidence throughout if that’s the final claim you’re going to stand on, and nothing in any previous game has ever hinted at the “noble reset” MO.

And then, there’s Sora. My precious sunshine child. They damseled Kairi so hard that Sora died got lost in an alternate universe. I had two problems with this: 1) it just made me sad, and 2) it was like...completely unaddressed. I get it, you’re leading into the next saga, and that’s admittedly an excellent hook. But like, I feel like a plot point as pivotal as the main character functionally disappearing warrants some sort of ... visible reaction from his friends and comrades??? To have that emotional fallout completely unaddressed makes me feel like the story wasn’t complete. And not to make a somewhat unrelated gripe, but I feel like if they had space to make us watch the entire Let It Go song, they had space to let the audience know that Sora’s disappearance actually had some effect on the people he’d saved.

Experience

So, given all that grumbling, what did I feel about the overall experience of the game? I actually thought it was very positive. The gameplay - both exploration and combat - was very smooth and exciting. The worlds we visited were well-executed and fun (though San Fransokyo felt deceptively small, somehow). The graphics were awesome. (I’d been concerned that the new engine would lose some of the Kingdom Hearts feel, but I think they really nailed it.) Yoko Shimomura triumphed as always with a stellar soundtrack. (I found myself humming along to the Arendelle and Corona themes for hours.) The plot, obviously, was great despite my issues with the execution in this particular chapter. I think that most of the problems that I mentioned earlier with pacing and details stem from there being what I consider to be too many plotlines to handle in one ~40 hour game. I wouldn’t want another side game of course, but I think that the telling of the story might have benefited from the Dark Seeker saga continuing into a KH4. The plot is sprawling, as we all know, and it just needed a little more space to resolve everything cleanly.

(Side note: I missed my FF friends, but I understand why they weren’t present. Like I said, there was too much going on as it is.)

Aside from that, I personally got to spend a lot more time with my brother than I have ... probably since KH2 came out, to be honest. We promised to only play together, and we took turns with the controller just like we had to do in the good ol’ days when we were kids. And we’ve always played the main games together, so this was a really nice throwback. Closing this chapter of the story was impactful for us as individuals, but sharing the experience was just as great. After several years of being pretty closed off, I feel like this reminded me how to be a kinder sister. So, I thank the KH franchise from the bottom of my heart for that.

All things said, I really enjoyed the hell out of playing this game. At the end of the day, I think that’s all you can ask of a game, really. This one did much more than that, though. It largely followed through on my hopes for the characters, and definitely fulfilled my technical expectations. Most importantly, it felt like it came through on my immense emotional investment in the series. I cried (a lot), like I knew I would. Heck, I might even play it again sometime. lol ...Maybe not right away, since I still have to heal emotionally. But yeah. Thank you for the ride, KH. I won’t make this sound like a goodbye because you still owe me some closure. But thanks.

Here’s to the next half a lifetime. :)

#kingdom hearts #KH #kingdom hearts 3 #KH3 #Source: me

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