#It does have GOOD Rinzler characterization

[keytextsfromkh]

Dream Drop Distance: The World That Never Was/End Game

- Look who's back with a brand spanking new theme song.

- And this is why I enjoy Gothic!Dick Roman, he's nice enough to walk us through his entire plan. There'll be no getting confused tonight.

- That move I just did there? Took hours of practice, but the look on the players face? Totally worth it.

- I don't like this Kingdom Hearts: VR experience game.

- Oh boy, looks like Sora's heart is kind of going through a breakdown.

- It's ok Sora, she's used to being forgotten.

- Hey, look who's here just for the paycheck.

- (Roxas thinking Sora is the more important of the two) And honestly, I kind of wish it was the other way around.

- (Roxas deserving his own self and identity) A sentiment that people are still rejecting to this day.

- That's right Sora, listen to the black sky, don't go chasing your dreams, wait until they come to you.

- I don't know if this game is trying to out-mindfuck the previous games but it sure is succeeding

- And in one cutscene, a good chunk of pre-2012 fanfic suddenly becomes hilarious in hindsight.

- (Why lie to the original Organization) Easy, for the lulz.

- Well at least this story is open about it's whole assimilation plot rather than trying to be vague about it like Mass Effect was.

- Oh no, you've angered Dick Roman, now you've really fucked up.

- Oh shit, he's going all Magneto on your ass.

- I would love if the game just ended there. Sora has been taken by the Darkness, his Heart has been protected by Ventus and we have to wait until the next game to see how he gets saved. It would have gone totally "Infinity War" on us and I would have been happy.

- But sadly no, now we get Riku's little journey.

- (Anti-Black Coat) And winner for creepiest fucking thing in this entire series...this guy.

- Well I guess it's better than belonging to the fattest part of my ass.

- Something tells me that Nomura saw Inception before writing the plot of this game.

- (The Dream Eaters helping Riku get to the castle) Well that just ruined the mood

- I know this place. It brings back memories.

- Organization XIII-2

- (In Mickey voice) It's fine now. Why? Because I am here!

- I guess it was kind of silly to use time powers against a Chronomancer.

- I'm starting to wonder if the Mysterious Figure we fight in Birth By Sleep wasn't /this/ version of Xehanort but a slightly older one, one who existed between this version and Ansem. Because while this Young Xehanort can use the same time powers, he's not nearly as overkill with them as he was in BBS. So maybe we fought a more experienced version of him.

- Mad Watch! There's only one way to stop a mad watch.

- Two days slow, that’s what it is.

- Old Man Xehanort, back from the dead.

- Fuck, now's not the time for a big damn heroes moment. This is all meant to end on a downer note.

- (Lea has the worst timing) Yes, the worst!

- Well, everyone else is here. Why not, let's bring these guys in too. Maybe Pence and Olette will join us in a few minutes.

- I thought it was Muriel

- Welcome to Sora's Heart, the happiest place not on this Earth.  Please be aware that in the interest of quality, your journey may be recorded  If you know your party’s Heart, please call for it now  For Roxas, press 1  For Xion, press 2  For Ventus, press 3  For Vantias, press 4  To repeat this menu at any time, press 5

- So now it comes down to this, who will win, a former asshat or one inky boi.

- I guess we'll call this one Symbiote!Sora or possibly Symbiote!Ventus, it's a bit hard to tell.

- And the winner is, the asshat.

- He is pure pureness in it's purest form.

- So does that mean that between the events of Chain of Memories, right up until the end of KH2, Ansem never knew Riku by name?

- No, it's drink your /goddamn/ tea. Get it right. You of all people should know better.

- All good questions that won't get answered I'm sure.

- Yeah Donald, why don't you just shut the fuck up for once?

- Called it

- But that wouldn't be very "Dark Rescue" of you.

- And that's probably the biggest twist in the game.

- The more I think about this game, the more I can see how it could have been greater and more sinister and unsettling, especially considering the end. The general plot seems to be about breaking Sora down mentally while lifting Riku up and showing him how much of a hero he really can be. This is sort of reflected in the stories of each world but falls short with the bosses. I think the only time they get it right is during one of the few actual Disney villain fights with Sora against Rinzler. Imagine if Traverse Town worked to show Sora that not everyone who works with him is going to help him, Hunchback could have shown him that through Frollo, not everything that's considered "morally right" is actually good. They get it right with The Grid by having both something (the world) and someone (Tron) that he developed a connection to being corrupted and twisted. Prankster's Paradise would have been the idea of Sora's child-like personality being perverted and a dark take on the concept of childish innocence. The Musketeers comes across like a breather episode when you think about it, it's not too harsh and it does drive the point home that Riku is more of a hero than he believes he is. The Fantasia world seems to be a culmination of it all and as others have pointed out, the symbolism of Sora and Riku's worlds reflect their characterization; Sora goes from being in the clouds, in a heavenly location to the ground below while Riku goes from a dark, secluded wooded area into the open, beautiful snowy night (the music helps this even more) and then they just drop all sense of subtlety and have him fight the Devil. You could even view the final bosses that Sora and Riku fight as more of this, Sora fights Xemnas (and to a lesser degree Xigbar/Braig) while Riku fights the Anti-Black Coat, Ansem, Xehanort and finally "Sora". With Sora's battle, he faces against two characters who were also corrupted by Xehanort, Terra and Braig (although how evil Braig was to begin with is up for debate) and in fighting Xemnas, Sora becomes corrupted himself (or at least is placed on the edge and saved at the last possible second) while Riku's battles are him fighting manifestations of corrupted Darkness and Xehanort himself in a series of sequences that feel like Riku is finally dealing with his inner demons. The battle with "Sora" at the end could even be seen as a reflection of the Riku fight in KH1.

[swapauanon]

Why I Love Dream Drop Distance

This is one game I feel gets too much hate. While I do agree that there are problems (and I’ll make a post detailing what I would have done instead), this post is instead all about what I felt the game did right. So, as follows:

Xemnas finally has a consistent personality and goal. Up until now, he had no personality and his end goal changed from cutscene to custscene.

By making Xemnas a liar, the lack of consistency in his characterization in previous games is given justification.

The laws of Time Travel that are put forth keep the past set in stone, so there’s no chance of it being used to render an entire arc completely pointless.

Xehanort is shown to learn from his mistakes.

We finally know why there are seven people whose hearts have nothing but light in them.

While she should’ve had a bigger role, we finally get proof that Kairi’s gonna do something important! Too bad 0.2 bungled this by revealing she’s going to be in a single room for most of KH3.

Sora’s not a genocidal bigot anymore, and tells Roxas he deserved better.

The developers acknowledge that Kingdom Hearts 2 was a mistake.

The only genocidal characters are villains.

The reveal that Nobodies can grow hearts makes sense, and shoots down any argument that they are inherently lesser beings.

The Grid, while horrible design wise, does an excellent job of foreshadowing the conclusion.

Rinzler is an epic and emotional boss.

While coded was the first game to state this, we get confirmation that Sora is not going to leave Roxas in an “And I Must Scream” state.

With the Dream Eaters, the developers brought back the idea that darkness isn’t inherently evil, with the Spirits, while having brighter pallets than their Nightmare Counterparts, being made entirely of darkness.

Riku finally forgives himself in this game.

The Spirits have better AI than party members in previous games, and so don’t die every five seconds (which is good because of the potential permadeath they can undergo).

Richard Epcar gives a chilling performance towards the end of the story that proves that he can do Ansem’s creepy side just as well as he can do his hammy side.

We get confirmation that Ansem the Wise did learn from his mistakes, and that he planted his research inside Sora in hopes that he’d be able to help him undo them.

Xion isn’t going to just waste away in Sora’s subconscious.

Roxas’ and Namine’s fates are treated as tragic as opposed to exactly what they deserve.

Basically, it’s one long apology for everything Kingdom Hearts 2 did wrong, and I love it.