#expect from disney in some respects but kh is SO disney. like they could have told the elevator story and it would have been so cute!

[oveliagirlhaditright]

So, the Walt Disney (company) 100th anniversary special that was on TV last night was really good. Oh my gosh.

[themattress]

I just felt like making an official "mea culpa" post for Kazushige Nojima.

For years, I have been on this man's case for the way that KH2's Scenario turned out: a good story that got placed in the creakiest, wobbliest frame imaginable, which is in stark contrast to how solidly KH1 and CoM's scenarios held together. And let's make this clear: he is not in any way blameless for the flaws in KH2's Scenario; this fact still holds true. But with that said....

He is absolutely the least at fault between him, Masaru Oka and Tetsuya Nomura.

Did he not represent Nomura's Base Story and concept the best he could have, and frequently mischaracterize Sora, Riku and Kairi? Yes. But the bigger fault here lies with Nomura being terrible at communication, something that is consistent whether it be with his own employees, his higher-ups, interviewers, and even the audience. Hell, he's admitted that even he can't keep his own shit straight in his own head! So how could Nojima realistically be expected to turn out a flawless Scenario according to Nomura's desires when Nomura's desires are so convoluted yet vaguely expressed that Nojima reasonably has no idea what the Hell he's even talking about? As I recall once bringing up before, Nomura couldn't even convey how the central threat of Xemnas manifesting Kingdom Hearts worked, so having it be a large moon in the sky ala KH1's cover art was Nojima's idea of how to make it work. Similarly, as an artist by trade who cares the most about aesthetics, Nomura doubtlessly only had Sora, Riku and Kairi described in the most basic of ways with their most surface level traits, leading Nojima to default on writing them like previous characters he's written that share those traits (Tidus, Cloud and Rinoa respectively) rather than as fully organic continuations as to who they were in KH1. And hey, at least they still felt mostly like themselves anyway due to Daisuke Watanabe being on hand to help in the Scenario construction (the part before dialogue is scripted). So I can excuse Nojima on all this.

Then there's the Disney worlds. I'm disappointed Nojima couldn't find a way to link all of the world visits' stories closer to the main plot, but the onus for this still largely lies with Oka, as he could have made all of the world visits' stories linked to the main plot to start with and he didn't. Furthermore, Nojima honestly did the best he could with the several lackluster revisits. His dialogue, character writing and battle staging honestly helped them be far more tolerable than they would have been otherwise based solely on Oka's plotting. There are some great moments in these revisits that only exist thanks to Nojima, and he deserves credit for that.

Even Nojima's three biggest blunders aren't wholly his fault. Yeah, his Cloud/Sephiroth/Tifa story arc sucked and always would have since he was just writing it to promote Advent Children than advance anything in the KH universe, but it might have been better had Nomura not edited it into being vaguer and having less input from Sora, Donald and Goofy.

Yeah, him neglecting to provide a proper reason why the world revisits happen instead of just rushing to Twilight Town to follow up on the clues Riku left behind is stupid, but Nomura clearly caught this error and instead of having it corrected through gameplay in the most obvious way - the Dreadnought fleet blocking Twilight Town off right away with no way to engage it until the Space Paranoids revisit - he put in these dumb sequences of Chip and Dale claiming Sora going around helping people in revisits makes a scan reading of the Organization's base and its connection to Twilight Town more visible even when once the main story resumes this never gets brought up and the heroes act like they're here due to Riku's clues. Nomura is the game's director, so the buck ultimately stops with him here.

And yeah, him giving so many "Telling, Not Showing" scenes, particularly at the midpoint of the game and in a way that shafts certain character arcs like Ansem the Wise's, is bad, but not only could Oka have tried to make these scenes more engaging through his event direction and he simply didn't (a problem he will continue to have across the whole series), but remember that Daisuke Watanabe and Harunori Sakemi were helping construct the rough draft of the Scenario before it became a full-on script. Why couldn't they have done something about it? So then why couldn't they have given Ansem the Wise more scenes where we get to see his change transpire? And again, Nomura is the director. He edited out a lot in the Cloud/Sephiroth/Tifa story arc. Why didn't he make the requisite edits to all the clunkily written expository scenes? Nojima screwed up because everyone allowed him to!

Lastly, the net positives he provided outweigh the negatives. The character dialogue and interactions; the intentional humor, heart and dramatic weight; the game's universe feeling like a cohesive whole; the superbly staged boss battles; and all sorts of little things like the thematic connections he weaves between all the worlds even if they aren't plot-relevant, the small moments that say so much without saying much at all like the scenes with Roxas and Sora involving the Twilight Town train, and the incredibly precise choice of words that will hit hard emotionally like "You're home" being what we close on before the credits....it's fantastic.

Thank you, Nojima-san. You were never the best...but you were never the worst, either.

[officialotakudome]

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New Post has been published on https://otakudome.com/reviews/kingdom-hearts-melody-of-memory-review/

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory Review

Step up to the beat in the latest spinoff from the Kingdom Hearts series; Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory. Following the events of Kingdom Hearts III: REmind, the game has Kairi going into her own heart in an attempt to find Sora who supposedly sacrificed his life for hers at the end of the events in Kingdom Hearts III. Kairi now in a deep sleep must retrace her memories as she searches for Sora’s own heart.

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a 2020 rhythm action game, it is developed by Square Enix Creative & Indieszero, it is published by Square Enix. It is currently available on Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.

Editor’s Note: Near complete to complete spoilers for Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory may be present within this review. Slight spoilers for Kingdom Hearts III and Kingdom Hearts III: REmind may also be present within this review.

Kingdom Hearts changes the tune of battle in Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.

In what honestly only felt like natural progression, Kingdom Hearts finally has a rhythm game. The music featured in Kingdom Hearts has (pun intended) always been one of it’s most memorable elements. It sort of feels like this should have been done ages ago, but the same could be said with a Kingdom Hearts fighting game. Which coincidentally was the original plan for Dissidia Final Fantasy, yes it was initially meant to be a Kingdom Hearts spinoff, but Tetsuya Nomura felt uncomfortable seeing Disney characters legit fighting each other. Eventually, Nomura would be more comfortable exploring Kingdom Hearts into different genres and even gave a Dissidia inspired mode to Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. And as many probably expected, it should come to no surprise that Kingdom Hearts as a rhythm is an almost effortless adaptation.

Play out the much beloved Kingdom Hearts OST in ‘Melody of Memory’.

THE GOOD: Taking place after REmind, Sora sacrifices his heart & thus his life for Kairi’s own revival having been killed by Xehanort prior to their victory over him. Kairi goes into a slumber Ansem the Wise who’s being aided by a few of the Nobodies that recovered their hearts at the end of Kingdom Hearts III. As she sleeps Kairi enters her own heart in order to investigate clues into finding Sora through memories of herself and Sora. There she encounters an illusion of Xehanort who nearly takes over her before she’s protected by the remnants of Sora’s heart proving he may still be alive somewhere. Kairi (being controlled by Sora) defeats Xehanort and as a reward the latter helps Kairi by reminding her of her childhood. Kairi awakens and tells Ansem about her findings and Xehanort’s “other side” clue. This is apparently a fictional world existing outside of their own reality according to Ansem. Kairi & Riku learn about a girl from Other Side who can currently be found in Final World, after Fairy Godmother takes them to the girl. Riku tells her of his dream of Shibuya who determines that it’s a city from her home world Quadratum. Riku opens a portal to Quadratum to continue the search for Sora as Kairi returns to their reality to finish her keyblade training now guided by Master Aqua. Yen Sin tasks Donald & Goofy to tell their friends of the current situation & Mickey to Scala ad Caelum to investigate the revived ancient Keyblade Masters & their possible connection to Quadratum.

For the first time in series history Kairi takes over as lead protagonist (sort of).

Kairi being the focus of the story is a nice change of past, feels like we’ve delved plenty into the individual stories of Sora, Riku, King Mickey, and the BBS crew. While she’s not exactly 100% playable (which is a bit of a ball buster) she’s clearly the main star of about 80% of the game’s plot. It’s mostly about her attempting to revive Sora, but we do get more backstory into her past which is always neat. I think Kairi is one of the weakest characters in terms of development despite her popularity and the fact that people have wanted to see her wield a keyblade for several years. A full on 2.8 like experience with Kairi training under Aqua would be a neat parallel to the actual 2.8 that featured a playable Aqua traversing the World of Darkness prior to the ending of Kingdom Hearts 1. The combat is like any other rhythm. The goal is to time the on-screen button commands within the limit to press said button command. In ‘Memory of Melody’ this is representing in the shape of basic & advanced Kingdom Hearts attack animations towards Heartless and Nobody enemies. The more difficult the command prompt, the more unique the attack. The main object is to reach a high enough score with level ranking increasing to move on to the next world. The leveling is actually required for the next world to be unlocked which at times can feel like a bit of a grind, but it also adds on to the practice necessary for these games. Sora and co. have a health bar and if you miss the timing on a button command this can lead to hp dipping with an empty health bar obviously meaning game over.

Rhythm combat is an unsurprising fit for Kingdom Hearts in Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.

There are boss fights in certain stages which sort of changes things up a bit and they each include their own boss track. Disney characters also have their own worlds with their respective characters being playable, but these are expectedly not the focus of the game as it’s based within Kairi’s memories. Multiple characters throughout the core cast can be unlocked, though the Disney characters are mostly locked to their respective worlds. These worlds have unique sound and button commands for added difficulty and variety. King Mickey acts as a support character for healing and it also has summons. Clearing objectives per stage unlock new songs from the 140+ song catalog. There’s some co-op featured like getting the highest score, facing off against AI in three out of fives, and best 2 out of 3 that has unique features such as moves to stop your opponent from scoring. The Switch version (which is being reviewed) features a Battle Royale mode supporting up to eight players.

Believe or not ‘Memory of Melody’ features a leveling system.

THE BAD: This game is (depending on how you see it) surprisingly hard. Like crazy difficult small mistakes and poorly timed presses come frequently. This can lead to a hair pulling marathon of low level scores and low level scores means slow leveling & perhaps more importantly slower progress because you have to be a certain level for certain doors leading into new worlds. At the same time though you have to commend Square for keeping the rhythm game aesthetic authentic. These games have a history of being extremely difficult often taking a ton of practice to get the hang of (my time spent with Guitar Hero & Rocksmith still haunts me). The story is kind of sort only taking a few hours to complete depending on how much trouble you have, but it is a spinoff rhythm so don’t come in expecting a huge game because of that reason. Granted you’ll get more hours if you complete everything but if you’re only chasing the story it’s roughly about 8-10 hours. Apparently completing the game can take upwards of 60 hours depending one individual experience so there’s that to look forward. Unfortunately, outside of the initial theme and end credits no new songs specifically for the game were developed.

Play as multiple characters in the new musical based battlefield.OVERALL THOUGHTS: Kingdom Hearts: Memory of Melody in some ways is a typical Kingdom Hearts spinoff, but in a lot of ways Square Enix really went a fair bit of distance to provide a unique KH playthrough something that’s also typical of the spinoffs (which is a good thing). It’s disappointing that this is probably the only game, to my knowledge that doesn’t feature music exclusive at the time of release to it. However, it’s possible that an original score of sorts was in the works but COViID-19 got in the way before the finalization of these songs coming into production was possible. As it stands though, for what feels like a much lower budgeted title compared to past spinoffs ‘Melody of Memory’ stands on it’s own as a good side game with follow-up storytelling that connects to the future of the series. And it takes Kingdom Hearts’ into it’s rightful place in the realm of rhythm games. I’m especially impressed with the game’s performance as a series first on the Nintendo Switch. Hopefully this entices Square to at least port Kingdom Hearts 1.5, 2.5, and 2.8 over to the hybrid console in the very near future.

[nadziejastar]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leo Traits

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

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

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

Caring

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

He cares very much for his friends.

Optimistic

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

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

Kind

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

He was always willing to help stray puppies.

Loyal

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

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

Straightforwardness

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

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

Faithful Partners and Good Friends

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

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

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

Arrogance

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

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

Inflexibility

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

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

Laziness

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

He likes to have fun.

Pride

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

Oh yes, he is very proud.

Domineering

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

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

Impatience

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

Axel never liked waiting around.

Jealousy

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

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

Cancer Traits

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

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

Moody

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

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

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

Unpredictable

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

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

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

Negative

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

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

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

Clingy

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

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

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

Suspicious

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

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

Cancer Traits

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

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

Intuitive

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

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

Kind

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

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

Emotive

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

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

Faithful

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

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

Loving

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

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

[ashenpages]

6 Things That Would Have Saved Kingdom Hearts III

So, I’m a lady gamer, and I loved 80% of this game. The other 20% is deal breaking for me.

Spoilers below the cut:

I know that Kingdom Hearts is a JRPG. Japan isn’t always good to its female characters and they can’t include canon queer content in their games without sacrificing their all ages rating; but I at least expected an open ended happy ending for our Destiny Trio the same way we got for the Wayfinder Trio and the Sea Salt Trio, and I REALLY  expected them to respect their female characters--especially after making Aqua such a big deal in BBS and a Fragmentary Passage.

Since they couldn’t deliver on any of that, here are the six ways I would fix Kingdom Hearts:

1. Have the Destiny Trio share a Papou Fruit.

It’s not inherently romantic, and no matter what you ship you get to be happy about the three of them always being a part of each other’s lives. Yes, the current Papou scene is sweet, but Sora and Kairi don’t know each other anymore. Hell, I would argue that Kairi has spent more time with Lea/Axel than she has with Sora in the last three years. The scene relies heavily on the mirroring the cave wall drawing from KH1 and heterosexual norms of “the guy getting the girl” more than it does any build up to Sora and Kairi actually being close. A pact between the three friends to be part of each others lives and finally getting to move forward together--whatever that might mean for them down the line, including any ship you stan--would do both the characters and the fans a lot more justice.

I’m personally a sorikai shipper, so don’t spam my inbox calling me a Kairi hater. I just think she deserves to fall in love with Sora as he is now instead of being forced into it for plot purposes. And vice versa, and also both of them with Riku. But notice how I’m not saying it should have been a pan-poly free for all. Much as I would love that, it’s just not in the realm of reality for a JRPG affiliated with Disney. Not YET, anyway.

2. Have Kairi meet up with Sora after he’s restored himself in the Final World

So, Sora regains his form, and BOOM: there’s Kairi. We have a sweet scene with her and him flying in light holding hands, and then instead of going back to the real world, they go to save Riku together. Some prime Kairi and Sora ONLY combos ensue, and then Riku is awakened, and sticks with Sora and Kairi to go save everyone else--courtesy of the papou Fruit bond they all shared earlier.

This gives Kairi an active roll in her light powers (instead of continuing to make her a character that could easily be replaced with a vase) and gives the Destiny Trio a minute to hang out, interact, get some party banter, and act as a party--not to mention let Kairi and Riku actually have a conversation.

It also gives us time to see Kairi as the badass magical power tank she deserved to be. You can’t tell me a Princess of Heart with her link to light and a keyblade doesn’t have crazy resilience and fucking devastating magic. Not after how OP Aqua’s magic swordsman shtick was in BBS. Kairi deserved better.

3. Personalized reaction commands for every ally in the Keyblade Graveyard. 

You remember Riku and Sora’s limit from KHII. Make one of those for each person Sora teams up with in the Keyblade Graveyard, and special ones for three person party mechanics.

4. Aqua doesn’t get felled by plot after her fight with Vanitas and something other than another damsel in distress situation is used to pull Ven out of his sleep.

Maybe a rousing speech from Aqua about how her friends are the most important thing to her, and she’ll fight Vanitas over and over again, or something. Mickey says Aqua is like Sora, so let’s see her pull Ven out in true Sora style instead of being forced to lose a fight she could have won in her sleep. Seriously, if I was supposed to lose, that fight should have been harder. But I pounded Vanitas with ease. His patterns haven’t changed since BBS and my girl Aqua has been leveling up and up and up in the realm of darkness, she did NOT deserve to robbed of that victory just because “I don’t drink my respect women juice” Nomura couldn’t think up another way to plot this.

5. Riku makes in-character decision regarding Sora and Kairi.

Riku stood back during the Aqua fight, didn’t hang with his friends on the island, and didn’t offer to go with Sora to find Kairi at the end. For a boy that spent all of the KH franchise either getting chased by Sora, chasing Sora or Kairi, or working for someone to help reawaken Sora, that doesn’t make a lot of sense.

So, instead, let’s have Riku team up with Sora for the Aqua fight. Let’s also have him go with Sora at the end of the game to find Kairi instead of being forcefully paired off with Namine. They can get separated due to plot later (See KH secret ending), but the way it is now, Riku has been plot zombied in order for Nomura to work out his FFXV bitterness. We get it, Nomura, you’re sad you didn’t get to make FFXIII versus, but don’t write my boy out of character just so you can have your way, please.

6. Namine gets to do more than just wake up at the end, and Kairi has a hand in saving her.

Maybe in the diving into everyone’s hearts sequence, we save Namine’s heart too. Or, when Xehenort strikes Kairi to make his 13th key, Kairi uses this an opportunity to guide Namine’s heart into the replica that’s still very much on the battlefield. Then, Namine gets to use her powers to somehow help in the final battle or the aftermath, and Kairi also gets to fulfill one of her missions--again, getting to be an active member instead just an object to force male character growth and action. Also, Namine doesn’t get forcefully paired off with another boy. They did it to her with Roxas, now they’ve done it to her again with Riku--even though it’s Repliku who cared about her. Also, don’t we still have Even? Repliku could have just waited it out in Riku’s heart for another body.

My conclusion:

All in all, I can’t justify giving Square Enix any more of my money based on the way they plotted this game.

Every time a woman picked up a keyblade she lost, got kidnapped, or was used as emotional leverage for male character growth and action. Nomura also seems more interested in working out his Final Fantasy XIII Versus/XV angst than he does in writing Riku realistically anymore. And poor Sora has become a cash cow for crossovers--even if it is going to be a TWEWY cross over.

Given the way both KH3 and FFXV treated their female characters, I can’t in good faith continue to support them as a female gamer. I’m very sad to say it, as both franchises have been very dear to my heart for almost as long as I’ve been playing games, but with awesome fem led, fem respecting, and queer inclusive indie games that could use my dollar more on the market, I will be taking my business elsewhere. 

[violethowler]

My thoughts on Kingdom Hearts III

My initial reaction to the ending of Kingdom Hearts III was equal parts confusion, devastation, and just being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of how much time was spent on the final battle. I had a lot of conflicting opinions about how some things were handled, but unlike when that happened with the final season of Voltron, I feel a lot better about everything after a good night's sleep, because I was up late at night finishing the game. I'll get into the spoilers under the cut.

So, for starters, let me put my reactions on a scale of negative to positive:

Major disappointments that should absolutely be done better in the next saga:

After Kairi was hyped up for so long that she'd have a more important part to play in the story, her role in the final battle was a letdown. I can swallow her not being as amazing a fighter as the others because she's never been in combat before and she's been effectively thrown into the deep end on her first day, but I at least expected her to resist when Xemas grabbed her, instead of passively standing there like a helpless damsel in distress. The only in-universe explanation would be if after stress and panic of the previous fights, she froze up when Xemnas made a more for her. But after seven years of being built up as a Keyblade Wielder, and her relationship with Sora, she could have done so much more. I sincerely hope that Testuya Nomura learns from this and lets her shine in the next saga.

With trailers and interviews hyping up how big the worlds were this time around, having Twilight Town and 100 Acre wood be just one small area each was seriously disappointing. I was really looking forward to seeing more of the 100 Acre Wood. They could have fleshed out the whole "Sora disappearing from the cover mystery" for at least a little bit, maybe let us run around the other characters' houses instead of just Rabbit's. And for Twilight Town, I would have liked to have been able to see how the other districts looked.

Going straight to the endgame after San Fransokyo. I know that the creators decided to focus on quality over quantity when it came to the worlds in this game, but I was hoping for just one surprise Disney world that could give fans one last breather after rescuing Aqua and Ven. If not a Disney world, then I would have at least liked to have been able to explore more of Land of Departure or visit Radiant Garden outside of cut-scenes. I love RG's look from BBS and I would have loved to walk around and see the world restored to its former glory.

Vanitas was frustratingly underused in this game. For all the hype surrounding his return, I expected more from him. Especially because the Kingdom Hearts concerts kept including his theme music with the "heroes and heroines" meddley, tantalizing us with the possibility of him getting a redemption arc. And instead, he just dies all over again, only this time, he's calmly accepting his own demise instead of freaking out like after his final fight in BBS. As someone who loves the idea of him getting redeemed, that was a big disappointment. The only thing I'm hoping for is if he somehow comes back in the next saga, because it was kind of unclear whether he's really dead, if there's a way for him to come back, or if he's just faking it like Xigbar was.

Things I wish had been handled differently but I can ultimately live with and hope are handled better in the next saga:

The lack of focus on or explanation of the X era mysteries we've been pondering for years disappointed me on first playthrough, but now that I've had time to think about it, I realized that X/Unchained X/Back Cover/Union X/Whatever-They-Change-The-Name-To-Next isn't truly a part of the Xehanort Saga, but rather, the connective tissue that sets the stage for what comes after Xehanort. It was supposed to set just enough things up that we'd know who the Foretellers were and what Xigbar being Luxu meant. But because it was released before KH3, the fandom built up our expectations that the mysteries of what happened would ultimately be answered in III, so when they alluded to Marluxia and Larxene's past as Dandelions without following up on it, I was kind of disappointed. But now I realize that it was meant to open the door to them playing larger roles in the Lost Masters Saga.

Maleficent and Pete just lurking in the background despite trailers and previous games hyping up her interest in Luxu's box and the Book of Prophecy. This is something else that was clearly being set up for the sequel, but I wish Maleficent had at least had more to do. A boss fight with Pete followed by a conversation to establish that she's waiting for the dust to settle between the Guardians of Light and Seekers of Darkness before she makes her move would have been nice.

The sudden introduction of this mystery girl. At first, I thought when they kept mentioning this girl, they were talking about Kairi, and that we'd be starting to learn more about her past in Radiant Garden. I soon realized that the implications of Kairi's life pre-Destiny Islands were a red herring, but the more they kept bringing this girl up, the more I was expecting there to be some kind of explanation for who she was in the game itself. I can understand in retrospect why Isa and Ansem SoD would suddenly bring her back now, because both knew they were going to die (Isa at least had the promise of recompletion) and wanted closure on burning questions they hadn't thought about in years. Considering that the epilogue and secret reports imply she's amnesiac Ava, I think this is another case of planting seeds for future installments in a way that I wish had been done better.

After years of Aqua being celebrated as a badass Keyblade Master, her not really getting to do anything in this game is upsetting. Sure, things make sense from an in-universe perspective: she sent her Keyblade to Destiny Islands as a beacon for Sora, Riku, and/or Mickey to find her, which weakened her already worn down defenses when Xehanort’s heartless came for DiZ. With how much warping Terranort does, I figured he’d attacked Ven at speeds so close to superhuman that Aqua didn’t have time to react. And in Land of Departure, Nomura wanted to have Ven’s awakening be a dramatic moment where he swoops in to protect someone he cares about. But having Aqua kick Vanitas’ ass only for her to get taken down by a single Firaga spell feels like a poor way to achieve the desired result.

While having some Disney worlds follow the plots to their respective movies was expected, Sora, Donald, and Goofy's presence their felt a little insubstantial. I mean, I'm not saying they should have just copied the movie shot for shot with SDG there in the background, but it felt like they missed out on large chunks of the movies. It was forgivable in Kingdom of Corona because they were there for the important parts and Marluxia basically told them what they missed re: Rapunzel. With Arendelle it felt weird that they were really only involved with Elsa running away, the Marshmallow fight, and the ending. The rest was pretty much spent with Larxene coming up with elaborate ways to keep them away from the plot of the movie. With Pirates it was just ridiculous. They were really only there for the escape from Davy Jones locker and then just ran around with fake!Jack doing their own thing until it was time for the final fight of the movie. It's hard to not know the plots of Tangled and Frozen due to pop culture at this point, but if you're playing this game with no knowledge of the pirates of the Caribbean movies, you're going to be very confused on what's happening in the maelstrom fight.

Minor quibbles:

An explanation for what happened to Demyx would have been nice, but then, that could just be another mystery to be addressed later.

The whole "rewind time and replay everything before Sora's near-death until things change at the last moment" thing didn't really make a whole lot of sense, but it wasn't too big of a deal, and Xigbar's "we don't need you to make a second blunder" implies that he had something to do with it, which can hopefully be explained properly at a later date.

Little moments that weren’t necessarily big for the story, but I enjoyed anyway for personal reasons:

At first, I was crushed by Even’s return to the Organization because I loved the fanfic Why The Sun Sets Red where he becomes a surrogate parent figure to Xion, and wanted that relationship to be a reality in canon. Then when he saved Ansem, Hayner, Pence, and Olette from Fake Ansem, my head was saying “this is probably a trap”, but my heart screamed #ShittyScienceDadConfirmed. And I was so relieved when my heart turned out to be right. I will probably end up writing a post-III fanfic of Even bonding with his Science Daughter at some point.

I generally stay away from shipping in the KH fandom, but after years of having SoKai as my first OTP, I came to start shipping SoRiKai, and as upset as I am about Sora’s fate (I can’t really complain about that too badly since Nomura already promised that Sora would still be the main character in post-KH3 installments so having this kind of ending should have been expected, if not for 3 than for a future title), I at least take comfort in the fact that there’s enough wiggle room for SoRiKai headcanons set after Sora’s inevitable return.   

Everything else that I absolutely loved:

The visuals were absolutely freaking gorgeous. On every single world, they went out of their way to make the graphics as beautiful as possible.  The 2D fire effects on Olympus, the different shaders used each world to make Sora, Donald, and Goofy fit with the aesthetic...

The Skein of Severance. While I wish we'd gotten to explore more of the Keyblade Graveyard during the final battle, or that the maze was a little more elaborate, I loved having to fight multiple members of the new Organization simultaneously, and oh dear god the aftermath of every fight: Xion's return, Terra regaining control of his body, Saix's death.... I was sobbing after every boss fight.

Despite how complicated the lore has become, the story itself was actually pretty straightforward. It was pretty refreshing and reminded me of KH1 and BBS, where the heroes have a clear overarching goal and a reason for why they're traveling to other worlds.

As much as I wish that Unchained X had been held until after KH3, there's a stroke of genius to the epilogue: Because of Xehanort's whole "balance between dark and light" obsession and Riku's whole "dark is not necessarily evil" character arc, I've seen a consistent idea within the fandom that the main villain of the next saga after Xehanort should be one of those who fit into the "Light is not good" trope. And by implicitly setting up the "Lost Masters" for that role in the epilogue, they've both ensured a masterful conflict between the Keyblade Wielders of the past and the ones of the present, and ensured that the next saga will be as heartbreaking as possible by ensure that the fandom is already attached to these characters.

Honestly, despite the issues I've had with the game above, I absolutely enjoyed Kingdom Hearts 3. It was worth the wait in my opinion, and I can't wait to see what the future holds. My only hope, given the epilogue and secret ending, that we get an announcement of Kingdom Hearts IV within a year or so. Doesn't need to release next year, but it definitely needs to be announced for development.

[nomilart]

Final Thoughts on Kingdom Hearts 3

I’m gonna gush and bash this game in great detail in a sort of rant/ organized essay manner

Spoilers… duh

               I’ve been a longtime fan of the Kingdom Hearts series. I’ve played every single damn game. The only two I haven’t finished were CoM (Could never get into the gameplay) and Ux (The story isn’t even finished yet… which I’ll get to). I have lived and breathed KH for most of my life and anticipated the climax to my favorite video game series for so long. Upon finishing Kingdom Hearts 3, I was washed with a tidal wave of emotions. I just finished the game I have been waiting on for 5 years upon confirmation that it even was a thing and anticipating it for even longer. There was so many amazing things about this game. Plot points involving characters I longed to make a return in some form were tied together. Things like the reason for why Xemnas and Ansem have returned were answered or what happened to replica Riku. The triumphant return of Aqua, Terra, and Ven and my personal most favorite the reuniting of Axel, Xion, and my favorite character Roxas! On top of super fun gameplay, graphics that dazzled my eyes even playing on the base ps4, a solid ost as usual thanks to Yoko Shimomura, and Disney worlds that really complemented the flare and grandiose of the rest of the game, this Kingdom Hearts game was shaping up to be my favorite among the entire series. Upon finishing the game, despite trying to overcome my biases of Kingdom Hearts 2, am still unsure of if I think I consider KH3 to be better or worse than KH2.

               Story:

               Whoooo boy what a STORY. The KH series is (understandably) mocked for its ridiculous and often convoluted approach to writing and storytelling, but I have stuck with every cheesy line and dumb plot point until this very day. I like to think of KH’s story telling as some kind of weird Avant-garde experience that is really just something that the series director, Tetsuya Nomura, comes up with as he goes along. The often awkward yet charming writing definitely comes from this.      

               KH3 starts off with Sora trying to regain his lost strength from the events of DDD and he is to search for the “power of waking” in order to rescue the hearts tied to his so he can help assemble 7 guardians of light to hopefully overcome Xehanort and his 13 darknesses. All is good until Sora finds out that Xehanort is very close to completing his 13 and just deciding to avoid waiting for the 7 guardians to assemble so he sends his “real organization” to search for the new seven hearts of light instead (these ultimately have little significance to the plot). Towards the end of the game Sora manages to save Aqua because for some reason Riku and Mickey just were too incompetent to go along with their mission even though Sora was allegedly the one who wasn’t strong enough to join them in saving Aqua. After Aqua is singlehandedly saved by Sora they all travel to Castle Oblivion were Aqua reverts it back to the Land of Departure in a really cool cutscene. They find Vanitas and stop him from preventing Ventus from waking up and get ready for the big fight after Sora dives into his heart. Sora and his friends all seem to die but not really after some weird stuff I’ll talk about later goes on. In short the last parts of the game are Sora stopping the remaining organization members and hearing their reasons for joining. Eventually they reach Xehanort and he merks Kairi and screws off to Scala ad Caleum. To be completely honest I’m still lost as to why this place has as much significance as it does besides the fact the Xehanort states it to be the Nexus of all worlds but upon further research, HOPEFULLY it makes more sense (I was caught in the heat of the moment). Xehanort’s motives are revealed and he reconciles after we defeat him and he *seemingly returns to Kingdom Hearts with Eraqus (This is only my theory). Afterwards Sora uses the x-blade in order to *seemingly free Kairi from death. All is well and everyone saved lives in harmony in a really touching scene but we soon learn that Kairi’s return seemingly costed Sora’s life or ability to be enjoy the peace with his friends because he fades away before the credits roll.

               Oh boy that was a real basic summary but now I’ll talk about things I liked. I loved Sora so much in this game. He has grown on me more than ever because he displays so many more emotions than just being happy go-lucky most of the time. While that I the core of who he is, I know he has experienced pain (hurt is a silly word in KH) in the past but it was never this serious. He lost one of his best friends because he wasn’t strong enough to save her in time, he kind of understandably beats himself up for losing his strength and having to rely on his friends for strength, dealing with the pressure of being the bearer of a lot of people’s hearts while simultaneously being expected to rescue them, and last but certainly not least, seeming to sacrifice himself in order to save a friend/ potential love interest. I thought I’d hate the way Roxas and every other nobody would return based on the trailers seeming they were going to get all the data versions of them and implant their memories into them. While that is still somewhat how it goes down, it’s handled slightly better. Instead of using the bodies of data Roxas or Namine, they only use a “vessel” which I like to think is basically a human shaped husk that can only be a human when a person’s heart and memories are placed into it. It sounds goofy but I can get behind that. While a part of me wishes Roxas, Xion, and Namine stayed the way they were because I think It’d give the series some seriously needed consequences, I’d be a damn liar if I said I wasn’t glad my favorite character gets to be his own person. While the whole “Vessel” program can be seen as a cop out, I think it could have been handled much worse. I loved the interactions Sora and the gang had with the Disney characters and I 100% feel like this is the best integrated Disney worlds in the entire KH series. My definite favorite moments include Woody roasting Young Xehanort, Sulley yeeting Vanitas out of the world, and Sora going ham on Davy Jones. I also really liked the reveal that Ansem’s guardian was Terra, it was so badass. Although I totally called Xehanort being a villan who had good intentions but went about them in the worst way possible, I still liked the way it was explained how he got to where he was. I loved the ending scene where the wayfinder trio pay their respects to Master Eraqus (REAL DEATH CONFIRMED IN MY KH GAME?!) as well as the sea salt trio hanging out with the twilight town trio and SAIX/ISA. Also the secret reports have some super dark implications and it only makes me wish they were actual cutscenes. I haven’t read all of them but my favorite so far is one where Saix writes about how Lea and him snuck into the chamber of repose and heard screams of children being experimented on. They also mention a girl they were friends with (WHiCh ill GeT INto LaTeR).  Pretty content with the story as a whole.

               Now I talk about some things I did NOT like very much or at least still don’t understand at the moment. The main thing that REALLY peeved me off was the amount of KHUX stuff that is not only connected to the story of the XEHANORT SAGA but the fact that a lot of it is infuriatingly still not answered like the damn black box or why Maleficent specifically wants it so bad. On top of that there’s a lot of set up for the next entry in the series or what my personal cynical theory is, more backstory for KHUX that will be revealed in future updates. What I’m referring to is characters like Marluxia/ Lauriam , Larxene/ Elrena, Demyx, and Luxord who are intentionally left with super vague backstories. Lauriam and Elrena were revealed to be important to KhUX so I can only assume Demyx and Luxord will follow suit, especially after being revealed to have connections to the keyblade. What’s worse is that Marluxia and Larxene only seem to remember this after Sora defeats them… again… Luxord also gives Sora some assistance with this mystery card and it lowkey pissed me off. Oh yeah speaking of stuff that pissed me off, the “final world” section was super frustrating to me not because it was inherently bad, but because it was blatant setup for KHUX/ next game in the series especially with Sora seemingly* being transported to this limbo like area where the spirits of people who have died roam. One of these supposed spirits seems to be either a friend of Ephmer, Ventus, or Isa and Lea. It is intentionally vague and there only to spark speculation especially after she tells Sora a secret (Or was it the Chirithy? I don’t remember). I’m all for speculation and theorizing, I AM a KH fan afterall, it’s that this is speculation with a character we have no clue who it could be despite our best efforts and they throw her on us like she’s been part of the series this whole time…ESPECIALLY when Saix and Axel bring her up… I have my theories on who this girl might be but it ultimately doesn’t matter or doesn’t feel like good speculation because their might be multiple “mystery girls”. I personally think this mystery girl could be Strelitzia, Skuld, or some new character because Nomura hates us. The problem with it being either Strelitzia or Skuld is if it really IS one of them who is in this world or friends with Lea and Axel, then it leaves us wondering what happened to the other.  Ugh. Next this is really a gripe but I’m just lost to be honest. I have no idea what happened to Demyx or Vexen. They both defected and while Vexen/ Even helped out with the “real replica” or “vessel” program, I either missed what happened to Demyx after providing the vessel for Roxas or they actually just forgot to write a conclusion for him.  While I liked the interactions between Kairi and Axel I wished they actually showed Axel and Kairi training with their keyblades especially since they don’t do much with them in the final battle anyways… Kairi especially. It’s no secret that Kairi is literally worst girl in the KH series but I had hope that she’d get some much needed character development. My hopes were dashed when I found out she was just as useless and bland as ever and on top of that results in getting our sweet boi Sora sent to the shadow realm or wherever he gets sent to at the end of the game. A lot of annoying ship people really think that Riku and Sora were going to get together at the end of the game, and while I don’t blame them for thinking that way because honestly I would love to see that happen, the setup from KH1 and Com forbids that. I however, DO take issue with Riku taking a back seat in the story and honestly not contributing a whole lot besides motivating Sora do complete his mission. I like that Donald and Goofy were so charming in this game and that they joined us in the fight with Xehanort, but I still really would prefer that Riku also joined us like in KH2. We still have no concrete idea on what Kingdom Hearts itself actually is but as usual, I have my theories. The Kingdom Hearts that Xehanort summons in BBS and KH3 is the heart of all people and I think it’s the KH equivalent of Heaven or the afterlife because that’s where Eraqus and Xehanort go away to. The Kingdom Hearts in KH1 s the heart of all worlds and is apparently “light”. I’m also indifferent to the reveal of Xigbar being Luxu...anything to do with the black box or KHUX honestly bothers me. I know I must sound like I hate the story but I actually think it’s still the best out of all of them, I’m just expressing my concerns because I love the series and take serious issue with some of the choices made.

 Gameplay:

               The gameplay of KH3 is arguably the best of the series depending on who you ask. The general fan who mostly meanders through the game on the easiest difficulties on each entry might not really appreciate the depth of the combat and just stick to the go-to mash x to swing keyblade or triangle to do cool move. I however normally play on the hardest difficulty not only to seek a greater challenge, but to be forced to see how good or bad the game’s combat really is. I never really liked the argument of floaty combat because neither side really understands the real issue/ consequence of floaty combat. It all really comes down to enemy design, behavior, and placement. When a game has floaty combat and bad enemy design, (Enemies that don’t stagger or randomly stagger, shoot projectiles that do a lot of damage, big and un-telegraphed attacks) it cause the player to play the game in a really uncomfortable way. In BBS spamming dodge, surge moves, and shotlocks was essential in order to stand a chance against some of the bs that the game would throw at you. In DDD, flowmotion was far better than normal attacks because they gave you super armor, did better damage, and could be spammed. Balloonra was also OP AF. In KH1 Sora felt like a rock and while I personally enjoyed how it felt to control him, I can understand why someone wouldn’t like a lot of jumping and attacking over and over. Kh2 however, has the best combat in the series to this day in my opinion because of all the options you have. Your basic keyblade attacks are effective on every enemy in the game but at higher difficulties, the game suggests you branch away from mashing x and experiment with magic and summons. Then you realize how good it is. On top of solid enemy design, KH2 is probably my favorite game to play for action rpg gameplay.

               Going into KH3 I set my expectations on the gameplay low based on the 0.2 gameplay and the seemingly super floaty gameplay of the trailers. Although KH3 does have its floaty feeling, I can say that the game is designed to be fun while having the best floaty gameplay in the series. The enemies almost all stagger to your basic keyblade attacks and larger enemies that don’t consistently stagger to finishers and keyblade transformation attacks. Magic feels AMAZING to use and is clearly useful early on. Team attacks, while I feel are still better as limits you can individually choose, are still fun and satisfying to use when provided. Attraction Flow was my least favorite feature not because they are all useless, quite the contrary as the pirate ship and splash run seem pretty good, but because I don’t have the option to turn them off. They fill the situation command slots with too much clutter and I’d like to turn them off since I don’t use them much anyways. As for combo modifiers, it’s pretty subjective what you prefer to run with but personally I only used one air combo plus and no combo pluses for my ground combos, speed slash as my only equipped finisher, and the air launch move to render my enemies useless while I air comboed them Marvel vs Capcom style. Shotlocks while useful, aren’t busted as they were in DDD. I recently found out that the Hero’s origin shotlock, when not fully charged, actually heals you a little which came in handy in the battle gates. Links or Summons, are actually pretty bad except for Simba and Stitch. The reason they are so bad is because they cost a FULL mp bar to use and they all leave you vulnerable to damage, granted you take less damage but doesn’t really matter on harder difficulties or battlegates. Simba and Stitch are good because their damage output makes up for the full mp bar. Links also fully heal you but I think that’s because you don’t have I frames and the devs just hope you wouldn’t notice. All in All pretty solid gameplay. Not better than 2 in my opinion but I wouldn’t laugh at someone for saying KH3 has their favorite combat. Regarding the final bosses they are all designed great but they come in groups which I don’t like and wished there was a way to fight them individually. I know they come in groups because it makes it the endgame drag less but, it result in super short fights that have too much going on in them and abruptly stop when you beat one member one by one. I also wished we fought Ansem and Xemnas in their final forms instead of all 3 in a group (Also they have the best boss theme and it should’ve been the final boss theme but the real final boss theme is still good). Every other boss is SOLID my favorite was definitely the ice wolf and mother gothel’s heartless thing.

               Last but not least, Music

               It’s Godlike. The end.  

[ronitas]

Ok welcome to my Kingdom hearts blog where my motto is FDB Kairi, Vanitas and Sora deserved better, Repliku deserved to be with Namine or at least say goodbye to her before disappearing, Sora and Riku shared the paopu first and the ending of kh3 is the result of the paopu gods being pissed because Sora shared the paopu with another and you cant tell me otherwise, Soriku is canon fars Im concerned and every Sokai moment in this game was awkward and forced af, Namine, Roxas, Xion and Ventus all deserved more screentime, we have a million Sora’s but we cant have 2 Riku’s? come on man

So anyway to sum up my main view points

FDB Kairi, KH3 literally made me hate her when before I just simply disliked her

Namine, Xion and Aqua are best gals

Roxas, Vanitas, Ventus and Sora are best boys

Riku’s cool although not my fave he has my respect

Vanitas and Ven should have reconciled in KH3 and possibly reunited, if not then the two should have reconciled and actually had a heart to heart instead of just ‘I am darkness goodbye’ ‘ok’ that is NOT how that should have gone, Xehanort gets to reconcile with Eraqus but not Vanitas with Ventus? gtf outta here man, I didnt expect Vanitas to have some big sappy ooc moment I just pictured something similar to Naruto at the waterfall training with Bee fighting his darker half and only after he learned to accept and embrace it could he move forward, THATS what I expected but nope, what was the point of even bringing Vanitas back if you werent gonna let these two make peace? this whole game has been villains having change of hearts and the worst one of all being Xehanort even has one but Vanitas just goes out as ‘I am darkness’ which makes all the build-up to Vanitas redemption till this point just to have it end like this in the end of the Xehanort saga is a huge slap in the face, so in that regard I guess I empathize with Kairi fans who expected her to do something but did absolutely nothing

Nomura unintentionally confirmed Riku did the paopu ritual with Sora back in KH1 by confirming in this game that the whole sharing of the paopu legend didnt require you to eat it but just giving it to the other person, proven by Kairi simply giving Sora the paopu but neither of them actually eat it yet that was supposed to represent them finally doing the legend thats been built up since KH1 which was supposed to be a huge Sokai moment but it just ended up becoming a huge Soriku one instead lol

Sea Salt trio is best trio next to the Lost trio

Sora and Riku are the best duo

Kairi should have never had a keyblade and not because of my personal bias but because HOW she got to be able to use one shouldnt even be a thing, you shouldnt be able to just touch the handle of a keyblade wielder and be able to use a keyblade no, it should be like what Terra did formally bequeathing Riku that ability the same should have applied to Kairi and everyone else, Sora touching Riku’s light is excusable because the keyblade chose him which is the ONLY other way someone should get a keyblade is if their CHOSEN by the keyblade itself, please tell me why the keyblade would choose Kairi, what has she done to EARN or DESERVE a keyblade? be a princess of heart? shouldnt all of them have keyblade then? no? of course not cuz thats bs, there is no reason thats why she needed just a half-assed excuse as to why and how she got one, hell even Axel had to prove himself to earn his keyblade, Kairi’s literally the only one who it was just handed to with minimal explanation

I love Sora but I swear in some areas in KH3 it felt like I was watching 2 different people, our Sora and whoever the hell that was

Kairi should have stayed dead in KH3 not just because of my personal feelings toward her but because they literally set it up in POTC with Wills death and Elizabeth being strong and going on without him and then Xehanort kills Kairi and although I knew it was unlikely I figured it was even MORE unlikely that Sora would be the one who dies because hes the protagonist and Nomura literally said Sora would continue to be the protagonist in future games so it’d make more sense for Kairi to die and Sora just having to learn to live on without her and accept the fact that no matter how hard he tries he CANT save everyone, but nope Nomura just pretty much tossed that opportunity for growth and development with Sora and just lets him abuse the power of waking and die for some chick who didnt deserve it that he already killed himself once for this SAME person in KH1 only this time it was alot less impactful but just really infuriating and unnecessary and just overall pointless

Kairi shouldnt have been in the final battle, PERIOD, Roxas should have been brought back earlier on and HE be the 7th light needed while Kairi hangs back and keeps training with Merlin, the fact that anybody let an amateur into the final biggest most dangerous fight ever for her first time using a keyblade on the battlefield boggles my danm mind that even Sora or Riku or Yen Sid didnt tell her to sit this out because she WASNT ready or hell Kairi HERSELF saying she shouldnt go acknowledging that she herself isnt prepared for this serious a battle and she doesnt wanna get in their way and risk them getting hurt trying to protect her, the fact that NEITHER of these happened boggles my friggin mind and please dont say ‘well they needed a 7th light and Roxas needed a spark yatta yatta yatta thats why’ because I can make a whole separate post about why thats bullshit and how it could of happened if the writing was actually GOOD and SENSIBLE there

I cant stress this enough but I DO NOT CARE about the pairings in Kingdom Hearts and I wanna be very clear on this

I do not care if Roxas ends up with a friggin tree or Axel smashes a toaster or Riku with Xion or Sora with Isa IDGAF about shipping in KH because there is way more important things going on then to worry about who gets with who, the only reason I care about Sokai is because I love Sora but despise Kairi and think he can do so much better and even if that ends up bein a frog IDC just as long as it aint her so its really not about the ship but more about what a garbage character Kairi is

I have plenty of ships that I like, but I could care less whether or not they become canon because to me thats just a bonus not a necessity I’ll still enjoy the pairings regardless

KH is supposed to be a combination of Disney and Final Fantasy, if Nomura separates from FF hes makin a huge mistake, you cant remove part of what literally started the franchise in the first place

I think thats about it but If I think of anything else I’ll add it here but yea thats pretty much it, those are my basic views for the series so far so either take it or leave it, if you disagree then just agree to disagree Im not tryin to change any of your opinions and you cant change mine, scratch that you cant change my opinion on Kairi but Im open minded on just about everything else so maybe my opinion CAN change in some areas but Kairi is the one area it wont

[pedrobrvs]

Wreck-it Ralph 2 Analysis

  With almost all the Disney princesses (that belong in the "Disney Princess" line) appearing in Disney's newest movie, many people went crazy, many more went "oh. that's neat i guess", but it caused some discussion. The changes done to all the characters to fit with the Wreck-it Ralph universe were disappointing to those who were looking forward to see a more faithful recreation (like me), and some people even brought up the argument of "Same face syndrome" again. 

 Since I absolutely adore Disney animation (It being the job of my dreams and all), I'm making this post in hopes of shining light on the resemblances and differences and arguing that maybe these adaptions are more respectful to the originals than people give them credit for. 

For that I'm comparing most of them with the originals, for obvious reasons, and when applicable I'll also compare with the gaming franchise Kingdom Hearts, since rather than adapting the models to fit an uniform style, Square-Enix decided to recreate them as closely as they could. Head under the cut to see all of them!

SNOW WHITE (1937)

 Before I explain the similarities, I want to point out something about the first 3 princesses. Snow White, Cinderella and to a lesser extent Aurora were all animated with heavy help of a method called rotoscoping (where you draw on top of live-action footage) and consequentially have more realistic proportions than almost every other princess.  Sleeping Beauty would be one of the first movies where they'd start experimenting more their human characters, but it is still restrained. 

 Anyway. Snow White has chubby cheeks, very round eyes with softer corners and 3 larger eyelashes that are very characteristic of her.  Her lower lip is large and round, and her eyebrows are simple curves. She has a button nose. She is animated as a comedic, exaggerated version of her original self, mainly symbolized by the way she holds her hands (pictured) and the little head shakes she does when singing.

CINDERELLA (1950) 

Personally out of the 3 original princesses I find Cinderella to be the most different from the cartoon. Not just because, well, she has ears now but because I don't seem to get any cues of her original version from the animation. Then again the original Cinderella is animated with gentle, delicate slower movements movements while this one is making a shiv out of her shoe. However, she does keep some of the original design in the model itself. Her eyes are a bit round, with the upper eyelid being rounder than the lower, but the corners of her eyes are evident without causing the eye to look almond-shaped. I'd pull her outer corner a little bit more outwards or at least add an eyeliner but nobody is perfect. Her nose is slightly pointy but mostly round. I'm hoping that when we get to see more of her she'll demonstrate more of her slower, graceful nature. I don't mind that all those characters are more energetic and cartoony in this movie, but in Cinderella's case it seems to go against her very personality.

AURORA - SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959)

Aurora has a very diamond-shaped jaw, and while she appears to have a rounder one in this movie screencap, she demonstrates this diamond-shaped jaw whenever she's not facing straight forward.  Her lower eyelid has a very prominent "corner" to it like the original, making it kinda look like she has two outer eye corners. Her nose is pointy and thin. Her inner eyebrows could go lower and be closer together but the general thickness is very close. Her mouth isn't as wide as the others and her smile is V-shaped.  My gripe with her design is her hair, because IT SHOULD CURL THE OTHER WAY.  Her body language captures a lot of the gracious, romantic behavior she exhibits while awake in the movie. It differs from Cinderella's posture because Cinderella behaves more in a motherly, warm and kind fashion while Aurora behaves more "professionally" and in a more reserved way. 

ARIEL - THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989) 

 Ariel is one of the closest to the original IMO, but she has subtle differences. Her eyes keep the same general curves, with the upper eyelids being more curved and bending more towards the inner face. However, in the new version they are less vertical. Her nose is small, pointy and turned a little bit upwards, her lips are thin and don't have a cupid's bow. She has big cheeks but they are not as round as Snow White's, and her forehead is more forward, giving her the curve seen in the 2D version. For her the biggest difference is the eyelashes, that are way less uniform and are way thinner in the 2D version.  She still keeps the bright-eyed, curious expression, being very similar to Rapunzel in behavior.

In a side topic, I'm extremely glad to see her hair being done properly in 3D, by comparison with Kingdom Hearts 3. Her hair is a huge part of her animation and what made it impressive (as important to her body language as Rapunzel's hair is. Strange how much the two of them have in common) I was disappointed that in Kingdom Hearts 3 she kept the stiff hair she had in the first games even with the advance in technology. Her eyes are also closer in shape to the original than the Kingdom Hearts edition even if that one got the general face proportions right.  KH is closer in proportion while Wreck-it Ralph is closer in specific shapes. 

BELLE - BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991)

Belle is also one who I didn't see a lot of her original personality, though she was very gentle and gracious in the original as well, which contrasts with her more cartoony animation here.

She has a larger nose than most princesses and it's also one of the most round, and her lips, while they have a cupid's bow, are less defined.

Her eyes are more almond-shaped, having the outer corner being higher up than the lower. Her eyebrows are pretty close in shape, thickness and distance to the original (considering the change of art style).

One thing that could be done was to make her laugh lines more prominent in the 3D model, since they tend to appear when she's grinning in the original. Going back to Kingdom Hearts, i must say that Belle's appearance there is not very accurate. I think that something is off with her face in Kingdom Hearts 2, like her face looks squashed, longer and different from the original.

JASMINE - ALADDIN (1992) 

Jasmine for me is one of the most accurate to the originals, with her almond shaped eyes, characteristic nose, sculpted lips and more oval shaped face. Her eyebrows also look slightly more accurate to the original than the KH counterpart, with the inner edge not being round (though they should be thicker). She shares a lot of the posture of the original, specially with the tendency of stopping with one leg in front of the other and bending her torso in a way that kinda highlights her butt (but you do you Jasmine) 

POCAHONTAS (1995)

So, Pocahontas is one of the most unique-looking movies in the Disney canon, having the most realistic body proportions of Disney canon in decades.

Her movie is also characterized by having stronger edges and a more angular shape. That entire proportional yet angular look is mostly out of the window, but her face still has the most geometric features of them all. 

A strong chin, a big triangular upper lip, a nose with up-turned nostrils that has a kind of v-shaped outline... Also even with the change of art style she has a slightly stronger build than the rest of the princesses. 

In terms of animation she has that classic impossible hair, and keeps the dignified and mysterious attitude she has most of the time when she's not trying to see what's just around the riverbend. 

MULAN (1998)

She is definitely really close to the original, though the proportions got shifted around for the art style. 

Her round face, almond shaped eyes with a single eyelash going outwards in the corrner, and her very caracteristic lips are there (her lips are one thing they did more accurately than Kingdom Hearts as well). Though I think her nose should be slightly flatter to be closer to the Original and the Kingdom Hearts rendition. 

 I haven't seen enough of her facial animation to form an opinion on expressions, but she does enter the scene with that jump kick she does in the end of "Be a Man" so there's that.

TIANA - THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG (2009)

Same case with Mulan, the biggest differences are just to accommodate for the art style. Her characteristic smile looks pretty great in 3D, dimples and all (though I think Coco did a better looking dimple for Miguel, those look a bit fake) 

Since the movies are so close together, being technically released in the same "Disney era" with way more artist overlap than previously (as in, more people who worked in the two movies), the animators already have a lot of practice animating her so I expect that she'll be pretty accurate.

RAPUNZEL - TANGLED (2010)

Speaking of accuracy, we're finally on the realm of 3D disney princesses. I like this comparison that @constable-frozen made (I apologize for not asking first/Lo siento no haber pedido antes/Desculpa por não ter perguntado primeiro). It shows that even the 3D princess got changed to fit the movie so it's not the 3D that is to blame for this change and that it was very much intentional rather than just lack of skill from the artists. But back to the comparison, I find it amazing how apparent the improvement in technology is, with Rapunzel having more natural skin and more strands in her hair (as well as the hair also looking more natural). Like i mentioned before, Rapunzel's hair was ground-breaking for Disney, since they spent years perfecting the technology for it. 8 years later and it looks greater than ever.  The whole lighting in the scene looks more natural as well, taking away the slight "PS3 game cutscene" feel the original gives me. Speaking of her hair, Kingdom Hearts 3 still didn't give us a look at her face, but the developers keep telling us of how much work they put into making her hair and turning it into a gameplay element as well. Seems fitting that a story about a girl with long hair would cause innovation in hair simulation for both animation and games.

MERIDA - BRAVE (2012)

Ok so this will definitely take some using to. In this pic specially she looks a bit like a baby. Though from other pics I think they at least nailed the facial expressions. Still, seeing her with those big bright eyes makes her almost look like Jessie from Toy Story, both having red hair and a very round face.

MOANA (2016)

To finish, here's Moana, from their last movie, to exemplify again that the change in art style is pretty much intentional. Larger eyes and eyebrows, smaller nose and mouth. Thin neck. Pretty much what happened to everyone else. Wreck-it Ralph stylized them to make them fit with each other and with the place they appear in. Otherwise they keep the basic shapes and ideas of the originals, only following the general style of the current artists. I hoped they'd keep the proportions and styles as close to the original as possible, but I won't pretend they didn't put any effort. All characters presented in those images belong to Walt Disney Animation Studio and Pixar Animation Studio.

PS: ANNA AND ELSA - FROZEN (2013)

I couldn’t get decent enough pictures for the both of them for me to make a comparison while I was writing. Might edit the post with the pic tomorrow.

In the original, their eyes are larger than most princesses and their noses are pointier. The two of them look really alike because they're sisters but there's differences:

Anna has chubbier cheeks and curved eyebrows while Elsa's eyes have a drooping lower eyelid common in smug/sexy characters, as well as L-shaped eyebrows.

The changes from the movie to the Wreck-it Ralph 2 version are essentially the same as Moana's (larger upper face, smaller lower face), plus an extra difference of them having bigger, more voluminous hairdos than what they had. 

PS: PS: On the off chance Tumblr messes up the images, I posted this entire thing on Imgur

[dramaticviolincrescendo]

Spoiler-Free KH3 Review

This review will not contain any spoilers for the story content of Kingdom Hearts III; the only mechanics I will mention with regards to gameplay are the ones that we have seen in the trailers. As this may get a little long, the rest is under the cut.

First of all, let me preface this by saying that I am exceedingly biased. I am one of the originals; I am one of the ancients who remembers when the first game came out and what it felt like to see the groundbreaking technology it used in 2002 when I was twelve years old. I’ve had every game at launch and been fortunate enough to keep up with the various handhelds and consoles that the series has spanned. Kingdom Hearts has become an ingrained part of who I am, and I find it difficult to remember a time when it didn’t exist. After all, it’s been around for far more than half of my life now, so it’s as if it’s always been there. That isn’t to say that I don’t recognize that it has shortcomings, but that’s the same with any game or other media. It’s made by humans, and as such, there will always be room to improve. Nevertheless, I am a hardcore Kingdom Hearts fan and love this series more than this post will ever intimate. That said, I am going to attempt to keep this review as impartial as possible. Let’s see how well I do, shall we?

Gameplay:

Honestly, this was the part I was most nervous about. As I watched all the trailers, it felt like an overload to see just how much you could do in this game compared with the prior installments. Adding that to the upgraded technology we saw them using, like a smartphone, and I began to wonder... Was this going to feel like a Kingdom Hearts game? Would it be as magical as the others? Don’t get me wrong: all the new mechanics looked exciting and spectacular. I simply felt that it would be hard to keep it all straight and that updating the technology would mean leaving behind everything that made the series so special to me. 

It turned out that my concerns were unwarranted. KH3 has my favorite gameplay system yet. Running up walls is still a little disorienting, but the rest is magnificent. Summons are fun and interactive in a way that previous entries weren’t, offering the player more opportunities to interact with the environment rather than merely wait for the summon to do their thing while mashing X or triangle. Attraction flow was phenomenal and extremely useful, and alongside older additions like flowmotion and shotlocks, they created a much more diverse experience. Even the standard combos were more artistic and gave you options for what to do next. As someone who has always been more of a melee person than a magic-user, I had a blast with the magic in this game. (Pun intended.) There were a lot of instances where I used that more than my physical attacks. And all that new technology Sora uses? It turns out that it was just as magical as ever. A different type of magic, sure, but magical all the same. There was nothing about the gameplay that was less than stellar to me.

Graphics:

Good Lord, do you have time? I’ve never been a snob when it comes to graphics. As long as the story is captivating, I’m good with just about any art style. Even so, I’m being entirely real when I say that some of those cutscenes made me cry purely because everyone looked so beautiful. The team really brought the thunder and showed us that the extra time they needed to get used to this engine was not in vain. On the contrary, it’s easy to see that these talented artists are experts in their field when you get a load of what they managed to accomplish. The style shifted with the theme of the world; many of them upped the ante and had full, opening-quality CGI cutscenes at the end or at various other points. If you ever felt like you were pulled out of the experience because of the more cartoonish elements of the previous games, then fear not. You’ll forget there’s a real world as you traverse some of these.

Music:

Another triumph. Everything is perfectly balanced between new tracks and the familiar ones we recognize from as far back as the first game. That’s something I personally appreciate a lot, even though it may be nostalgia talking. As someone who is very attuned to emotion as it is conveyed through music, I felt that they used the songs we revere at just the right times to evoke an emotional response in anyone who played the other games. And the new tunes? Oh, man. Every time I think there’s no topping what they’ve already done, Yoko Shimomura and the other composers that have contributed to the series prove me wrong. I can’t wait to buy the soundtrack when they make it.

Easter Eggs:

If you’re an old hand like me, then you’re going to love all the little surprises hidden in the dialogue, the worlds, and the situations. If you’re not… Well, I hope that they make you want to go back and see what the references mean!

Story:

Yup, I saved this one for last as I think it is the most important. Kingdom Hearts is a series built on its extensive storyline. (Notice that I said extensive and not convoluted. Sorry, but I’ve never seen it as being hard to understand, although I recognize and respect that not everyone agrees.)

Let’s start with the Disney worlds. I already mentioned that they are stylistically gorgeous. There are many instances where you can’t tell that you aren’t really playing inside that particular movie. The only exception is in the Caribbean, but that’s pretty understandable; even so, the animation is spectacular and makes it look real without the uncanny valley sensation. There is a typical balance of worlds that rehash what happened in their movies as well as ones that have original storylines designed to act as sequels of a sort. Both are done phenomenally well. I think the only thing that gave me pause was the length of some of the cutscenes. Again, that’s understandable given how much content they had to pack into this game in order to provide closure, and since I am always a big fan of story over gameplay, it didn’t bother me. Just be aware that if you prefer to have short cutscenes or none at all, there will be a lot of them.

Speaking of cutscenes, they did a fantastic job with pacing this game. Rather than traveling to a set number of worlds before advancing the main plot, you see what is going on with our collective heroes every time you complete a world. As such, you end up with a more solid flow that shows there is progress on all fronts and connects what Sora learns in each world to the larger plot, especially when Organization members come into play in the worlds he visits. I know some people have said that the “relevant” plot is only in the last few hours, but I honestly felt that there was a lot of very important information and development between world visits that was absolutely necessary. It also served as a nice break since each world was significantly longer than any of the others in the series thus far.

Now, about the original, non-Disney storyline. As I said, I’ve been in this fandom for seventeen years—I am very well aware of the various criticisms that the series has received. Some, I understand even if I don’t agree; others, I’m afraid I just can’t wrap my head around. Needless to say, my mind was boggled when I finally logged back into all my social media to see that there are actually people claiming the game is incomplete. It seems like every game is “incomplete” these days if it didn’t have every single thing that people wanted. That being said…

This game is complete. Period.

Once again, I think perhaps you have to have lived with the series for a long time to understand that this is how it works: you tie up a major plot point and then get punched in the gut with a new mystery to look forward to deciphering in the next game. Admittedly, that sucker-punch was more of a sucker-here-let-me-throw-you-off-a-cliff-and-send-your-heart-into-eternal-torment this time, but still. We’re accustomed to this formula. It’s something specific to the Kingdom Hearts series, whereas many other games tend to tie up everything as a single experience and then create a brand new storyline if they make a sequel. That’s just not how Kingdom Hearts works, which is fine by me. As promised, the Xehanort Saga has indeed come to an end. Kingdom Hearts, however, is still going to continue, and they clearly built the game with that concept in mind. That’s all I will say about that to avoid spoilers.

…Actually, no it’s not. A word of advice: have tissues handy.

Okay, that is all I will say about that to avoid spoilers.

Overall Rating:

A+++++++++++++

This game won’t please everyone. No game or anything else ever does. Regardless, this was worth every second of the years I’ve waited to play it, and I finished the game pumped to hype up the next one. I tried to go in with no expectations to avoid disappointment, but I shouldn’t have bothered. This is a phenomenal conclusion to the Xehanort Saga, and I am so grateful to Nomura and his team for the time, energy, and love they put into this game.

If you’re a KH fan, I don’t have to tell you how amazing this is. If you’re not, then this is still a super fun gaming experience that will keep you interested if for no other reason than the gameplay and Disney elements. Either way, I wrote this review because I had to get it off my chest before the stuff I reblog (all marked #kh3 spoilers, of course) hits my dash. I hope you enjoyed my take, and may your heart be your guiding key!

Whew. There. Totally unbiased opinion.

Totally.

[khdiscussions]

Kingdom Hearts Attraction

So uh, for those of you not up to date: This was said as a mention about the idea of Square and Disney collaborating for this and if it gets off the ground it will be huge. Right now, it’s nothing more than a pipe dream, but I’d like to address this anyways since I come with a very unique perception in that not only do I live near the Disney parks, but the parks might be the only thing I’m more obsessed with than Kingdom Hearts.

(Going under a read more because when I talk about parks I get rambly.)

So first off, if this becomes a thing, which it still needs to be discussed with a bunch of people first, it will very likely start off in one of two parks. The more likely Tokyo Disneyland or the Walt Disney World Resort. Tokyo Disneyland is likely due to...well...Japan. Japanese video game company, I shouldn’t have to spell it out for you. Disney World, however, has already had a history with the parks as early as 2004 when costumes of Sora, Donald, and Goofy were actually able to have meet and greets due to Mickey’s Not So Scary, as well as a couple other tiny easter eggs. Furthermore Walt Disney World is still the number one tourist destination in the world, so really there’s a 50% chance of anything new starting there between the four parks. Admittedly Disneyland is possible due to the Dandelion meet up taking place in Anaheim, but like with Disneyland Paris being the park Nomura visited for inspiration on attraction flow, it doesn’t feel like enough to lock in that park for a likely location.

So limiting ourselves down to Tokyo Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort, there’s really only six parks it can go in. So let’s break it down:

Animal Kingdom: If Disney still has a shred of self respect for themselves and their theming, they won’t do this. This might be the combination that could have KH make me cancel my Disney park pass and that’s all I feel should be said on the subject.

Tokyo DisneySEA: I would normally consider this likely, however, Disney has just announced a huge expansion opening in 2022. With this in mind, it’d be bad business practice to announce the KH anything here next year (since if I were them I’d announce summer 2019 so long as it ends up being worked out) since that’d be opening around the same time and be horribly overshadowed. It’d be like if they decided to open a KH ride in MGM in 2019 when Star Wars land opens. It just isn’t going to happen.

Tokyo Disneyland/Magic Kingdom: Admittedly, I don’t know a lot about the Disneyland clone over in Tokyo, but what I do know is that it shares similarities with the park we have here (down to both parks having Cinderella Castle), as such I feel confident in lumping it in with Magic Kingdom. If they were to build the ride here, it would fit in best with Fantasyland theming, which touches on the various Disney movies and high fantasy elements, it’d work pretty well. On the flip side, a Gummi Ship based attraction could fit in well in Tomorrowland, and exclusively in Tokyo Disneyland there’s also Toontown, which might work decently. So long as they stay out of the Adventureland and Frontierland skinned areas (and even then if done properly Adventureland could be justified), it would work. (This applies to any of the Disneyland clones, do Anaheim and Paris apply here too.)

Hollywood Studios: I mean it’s unlikely because it goes against theming but also at the exact same time this park is identity-less and bad anyways so I wouldn’t even be mad if they did destroy theming here for it. I’d just be excited to have a reason to care about the park. I don’t even care about the principle I just really hate this park.

Epcot: This is the most likely location for a Kingdom Hearts themed attraction at the Walt Disney World resort, if not period. Not only is the park due for major refurbishments soon (Guardians and Ratatouille being the start of that) but the park also has two locations it could work. Future World, using the same excuses as Guardians and making a Gummi Ship explorations attractions, something in Innoventions perhaps, putting the empty space to good use, or in the Japan Pavilion as an attraction. Personally I’m not the biggest fan of this idea since I don’t really care for the direction Epcot seems to be going in and I’m very protective of the park, but I can accept it.

Disney Springs and the like: Unlikely as all get out but for once I’m literally going to let my bias come into play and concept: Cancel the stupid NBA experience and make Disney Quest 2.0 with a heavy focus on Disney’s video game related properties such as Wreck it Ralph, Disney Infinity, Epic Mickey, and Kingdom Hearts. It’d be so much better of an idea and can you tell I’m still salty about Disney Quest being torn down?

Anyways, basically it’s going to be in one of the main parks (Disneyland/Magic Kingdom/Disneyland Paris/Tokyo Disneyland) or it will be in Epcot due to openings, announcements, and theming.

So that being said, what can we expect from this? In truth um...not as much as you’re thinking.

As much as I’d love to go blasting the drums and screaming for a whole Kingdom Hearts theme area, not a lot of things get the same treatment that Star Wars and Pandora got. And trust me, considering my opinions on those franchises I would much rather KH get that attention. If I’m honest, I hesitate to even propose the idea that Kingdom Hearts should get a ride.

Looking at the ride types, the only attraction the ride could feasibly get would be a coaster, a dark ride, or a screen ride. A dark ride is immediately out of the question imho due to the story of KH being impossible to do anything with in that format. A screen ride, while doable, is a gamble since they can run the gambit of really good (Star Tours and Flight of Passage) or really bad (Jimmy Fallon at Universal Studios is the worst ride I have ever been on) and runs the risk of being underwhelming, since it could be simply a sit down show. Which would then bring the problem of these rides are meant to be enjoyable for non fans too, or else it would be shut down. A coaster would be the easiest to implement and most likely to succeed since nobody has to know the theme to enjoy a good coaster, so I could see them doing that, but coasters require a decently large amount of space to build, especially when compared to a screen ride, which creates its own problems.

So what do I think KH will likely see? Well for one: Merchandise. Even if they don’t make a cooperative effort into a ride or attraction, KH might still have a presence in the gift shops like Magic Kingdom’s Emporium as time goes on, or even simply a new pin available at Pintraders. The game is huge and people care. So some merchandise coming from Disney milking the cash cow is inevitable. You might also see some small shout outs such as changing a store name or a restaurant name to feature Sora and co. Hell maybe even a new one will be built as part of promotion. Or we’ll get new costumes for Sora this time around.

However, I think what will most likely be seen is a new game sort of thing. Similar to how Magic Kingdom has Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot had the Kim Possible and, later, the Phineas and Ferb missions, an interactive game could be an easy fit for the series. Similar to how Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom allows players to fight eight iconic Disney villains, a game like this could easily have players aid Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they take on Heartless and iconic Disney villains around the parks. It doesn’t require extensive knowledge of the series and a final showdown with Xehanort or even an entirely original villain or Maleficent herself could make for a fun way to kill the day. It’d keep in the spirit of KH and not distance it too far from Disney properties. It could also end up similar to VOID, the new Star Wars laser tag experience at Disney Springs, and focus in on the Keyblade War instead and have vr whacking people with stuff. Is it what I want...well no. I’d actually really like a VR coaster for this, but I think it’s a safe bet and gives them the ability to update either Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom or the Phineas and Ferb world showcase adventure, both of which haven’t had changes in a very long time. It also puts KH in a position where if the attraction doesn’t do well it doesn’t feel like a huge waste of investment and allows Square and Disney both to test the waters to open up the gates to a more grand Kingdom Hearts attraction.

Anyways, that’s my two cents. Really I’ll be happy with any representation at the parks since for years all we’ve had is a Sora shirt, sweatshirt, three Disney pins, and a hidden poster at Epcot, but who knows, maybe we could see something a little bit more at long last along the horizon.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I don’t know if I can properly do a review for Neo the World Ends With You. I can talk about the bullet points about the plot and how it’s the perfect sequel to TWEWY there, but other than that... I feel like it’s just going to me being like, “It’s good. It’s good. It’s so good” and gushing about my favorite parts. But you know what? Here I’m going to try it, anyway:

So, I saw someone complaining about how the artwork for Neo wasn’t original, because if you put it beside TWEWY (the Switch version), if you didn’t know any better, you might think you had two copies of the same game... And that’s because the creators tried to make this “TWEWY 2″ in every way possible, even with the box arts being so similar. And I just- I love that so much! 

I feel like Neo is almost moreso now an act two to TWEWY--the final act--than a sequel, per se.

But, like, a lot of us were theorizing from the beginning that Rindo’s mask thing might be tied to him not speaking up, like Neku’s headphones were tied to how he shut people out. And this was true. And, ahh. What a beautiful thing this was. To have such protagonists for the two games and to see them grow. And while I expected Rindo’s character arc, it was honestly a lot better than I was expecting. I grew to like him a lot more than I thought I would. And I loved him making the decisions to go back and try to save his friends, even though he knew it might make things worse, when before he could rarely make a decision on his own. I really felt his struggle here, and it was executed well and this was pay-off after everything that came before it.

TWEWY gave us Taboo Noise and Neo gave us Plague Noise. At first, this kind of bothered me. Because I thought if one could make Plague Noise, surely someone like Sho or Mr. H would have tried that in the first game, when they were trying to become Composer and save Shibuya, respectively. But now that I get what they were going for with it, I’m all for it. And TheDeliveryGod points out that they might be a reference to Covid with the “Plague” name and with Rindo wearing a “mask”, which I hadn’t thought about. I know they started coming up with some of this before that, but maybe. Edit: This all ties into Neku and Rindo’s character arcs, too. Originally, Neku didn’t want anyone to force their values on him and probably would have been happy if they all thought like him. But in the end, everyone IS thinking alike and it’s not what he wanted at all. In Neo, Rindo has a problem of speaking up and making decisions. And in Neo, this leads to people not being able to think at all.

Anyway, TWEWY had everyone brainwashed by the end and Neo had it so they couldn’t think at all. And oh my gosh, I did not think that Nagi and Fret’s psychs would come in to save the day (and Neku and Tsugumi’s as well), but this is another amazing payoff and I could watch this segment again and again. Eep! It was such a beautiful text bubble scene and cutscene!

And when I was first playing the game, I was starting to worry if they’d delve deep into the characters... and really explain everything, make me care about everyone and everything and add replay value. But they did. They really did. I never thought they’d make me care about the Shinjuku Reapers, but here we are. I feel so bad for that tragic family now. And ahh! Knowing that Shoka is Swallow now has so much replay value! ...And makes her and Rindo even more shippable, of course. I’ve gone back and played a few chapters and I can see it now. Ahh. And of course, the character development is spot-on. Which is what TWEWY is all about. I never should have doubted. I really loved all the flashbacks with our girl Shoka, too, and seeing her and Ayano’s relationship, and what she was like before she found herself with Gatto Nero.

Rindo gets pulled back into the RG similarly to Neku’s ending! And at first, you think that’s his happy ending, too! But all is not right, of course. But because Neku’s struggles (him finally letting people in) got the attention (a change of heart) of another higher being (the Composer, Joshua, and he gave Neku and the gang their happy ending), it does the same thing with the angel Haz. And can I just say... there’s something about this whole segment that is just sublime? I want to watch it over and over and over again. It oddly might be my favorite part of all of TWEWY now, and that is really saying something. But Neku’s story was about letting people in and he did that, so story out. But Rindo’s was about making decisions... and he has one more important decision to make--the biggest one--before he can get his happy ending, and Haz leads him to it, subtly. Sort of like how I think Joshua was subtly trying to get Neku to change his mind about destroying Shibuya in TWEWY.

Oh. And you finish off the big bad by doing a Fusion with your whole party again, and you all sort of land/flash on the ground afterwards like you did in TWEWY, too!

And I’ve rambled enough about the new NeShiki scene in my NeShiki posts since Neo. But that essentially being a continuation of their scene from TWEWY: MMM. My heart! It almost makes not seeing Shiki’s face all these years worth it for that moment. Almost.

And then the title changing to “The World Begins With You” again, but with Neo this time... is just the most beautiful and awe-inspiring thing they could have done and I can’t thank them enough for it.

And the sheer joy I felt when I realized that this game had Another Day, too.

There are other smaller things, too. Like I’m pretty sure shark Noise start appearing on the day they did in the original (the day Rhyme got erased). And how Transformation--a song that plays as boss battle music against Sho--plays when you first meet him in TWEWY.

Neo really is TWEWY2 through and through, even though the developers didn’t want to call it that (so newcomers knew they could play it without knowing the first game), and I can’t thank them enough for that. What a wonderful world this was. ^_^

Oh! And the ending scene with Rindo and Shoka playing FanGo was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen--the perfect ending, really--and felt like it came straight out of a Disney movie.

It makes me wish I could rewatch all of this in one-go... except I can’t. Haha.

Oh, and of course I love that we get a new menu art, ala what FFXV did, where the darkness is gone and we have Neku in the art, too:)

...

And now onto a few tidbits of some of my million favorite scenes: 

I love that Beat calls Nagi Pinny. LOL. I love everything about Beat in this game. Speaking of:

That one quest where that one guys becomes possessed with Noise and is fretting about his sister and you fix him up, and Beat says, “I love a guy who cares about his little sis.” :)

And when you’re exploring the urban legends (that is very Twilight Town KHII, I must say. Side note: Stealth Sneak from KH, I can’t believe you made it here, too), and you’re doing the stair ones, and Nagi falls down them and Beat’s like, “Yo, Pinny. You, ai’ight?!”:D:D:D

I think this was another part of the urban legend day, but when that guy imprinted on that girl to just end her friendship with all her friends, since she was stressing about friends growing further apart, so he decided to just cut her losses. And Beat was like, “How about I imprint you to stick your hand up where the sun don’t shine, yo?”

Or in Another Day, when Beat says to Neku, “We’re not getting much screen time,” and Neku replies, “Let’s let the kids have it. That gives us more time to...” Beat: “That’s right: Tin Pin Slammer!” Nagi: “Those two sure seem to have gotten themselves into something exciting over there.” Shoka (I think it was Shoka): “Oh, they’re playing that game that was super popular three years ago.” Hahaha. I also loved the reference to Reaper Creeper with Rhyme and Coco, and Nagi and Fret being like WTF is that?

All of the character interactions are wonderful, and you know I’ll be making posts upon posts about them. But I love that we passed the Bechdel Test with some sweet Shoka and Nagi moments.

That whole scene where Joshua helps Shoka and Rindo is just the greatest. I keep watching it over and over. I love that he helps her in such an asshole-y way. Everything’s a game to him (though you know what? Maybe it’s also a reference to Rindo and Shoka meeting and bonding through FanGo) Oh, Josh. But maybe that was the only way he could do it. The Neku and Josh scene is also wonderful (he tried to help Neku after Coco shot him. He did... even if it was to lock Neku in Shinjuku for three years, because he didn’t trust him to blab that Josh was the Composer? I’m kind of with Neku on that one, “Oh, brother”. But it all worked out in the end, and the following moment with Neku and Josh is really special).

Though I really am wondering why he didn’t help more, and why no one thought to get the Composer for help... probably because he couldn’t interfere. Got to get those secret reports to explain everything, I’m sure. You know what? I’m sure he was actually pulling some strings behind the scenes.

Adore all the stuff with Rhyme. I’ve gushed about that in other posts. She’s so cute now! Always was. And I’ve so proud of my hacker daughter!

Shutting up now. And expect a million more Neo posts in the future. What a game. What a series! So glad I can say that about TWEWY now.

Edit: And I’m so glad that angels were in here, and that that plot got expanded on from the original!

[orangedodge]

Instead of flooding my blog with a deluge KH posts, I figured I'd do just one in-depth one about the end reveal.  

At least until the next trailer comes out, and my inner nine year old breaks out once again.

So despite Nomura's limitations as a writer, and his occasional technical naivete, I've always been a bit surprised that he's never really given his due as a director. He has good storytelling instincts, and can be skilled at framing information on screen to highlight what he wants, while making his audience ignore what he doesn't want them to pay attention to. His team can also cut a trailer very well. The 2.8 trailers were masterful at presenting actual spoilers, but framed within an artificial context that hid their meaning, and led to the audience anticipating story beats that did not actually exist. The respective natures of Aced and Gula as people, in particular, was something he was highly successful at concealing.

E3 trailer spoilers below the cut

The first E3 trailer drop, which I think we're calling the "Frozen" trailer, reminds me a lot of what he did last time, with those 2.8 trailers. The reveal at the end, and it's implication that Aqua is now evil, is driven by two lines,

SORA - "I wont let her fall to darkness"

and

AQUA - "You're too late"

The combination is framed to suggest that it's specifically too late for Aqua, but as these lines occur in two entirely different scenes, and this structure is unlikely to be preserved in the actual game, the thematic bridge they create is an artificial one. It's unknown what the full context of each scene actually is, particularly the latter scene with Mickey, Aqua, and Riku. Instead, Aqua's lines are being set up with by potentially false context by Sora.

What actually happens in that scene? I think the position of landmarks, and the continuity in way the scene is lit, is sufficient to establish that it most likely takes place within the same span of time as the previous trailer's Riku and Mickey scene, in which Riku's Way to Dawn Keyblade was broken.

By combining the two Riku scenes, I would posit that the chain of events is as follows: Riku and Mickey arrive at the Dark Margin > Aqua attacks them in her new shadow form > Mickey is disarmed, and Riku's Keyblade broken > Aqua stops fighting and reveals herself > Aqua picks up Mickey's Keyblade.

If the line "This Keyblade..." is native to that scene, and not something that was simply placed out of context in the trailer to create false context (a trick Nomura used with Phantom Aqua's dialogue in the 2.8 trailers), then it could be possible that she didn't recognize her opponents until she saw that Keyblade. Either way, I believe it's likely that she fought them until they were both disarmed, whereupon she stopped, and revealed herself to them.

Two things grabbed my attention,

Is breaking Way to Dawn, the Keyblade with one of Xehanort's creepy time-travel spy eyes (that we've been warned about), actually an inherently aggressive act? She appears to have been completely shrouded/cloaked in darkness, if not actually invisible (if that was a Red Eyes effect Mickey was under), when she arrived. Assuming that the two Riku clips are in fact one continuous scene, than it seems as though she didn't let them see her until that Keyblade was out of the way.

Why pick up Mickey's Keyblade? It was established ages ago that a Keyblade can't be stolen from its wielder, so unless that's being retconned, I don't see why she'd benefit from picking it up unless to demonstrate to them that she's still capable of doing so. And that's being done in a state where she's not just possessed by darkness, but seems to have been totally transformed into it. The only precedents I can think of for that are Anti-Sora and Ansem. Anti-Sora didn't have access to Keyblades, and Ansem could only wield one through Riku's body (and presumably Riku’s heart, since he lost his access to the Keyblade once he cast that away).

So is Aqua currently fallen to darkness? Almost definitely, unless this is just Phantom Aqua messing with Mickey, or a physical manifestation of an impression she left behind when she lived there, or the result of some unique circumstance like Aqua-removed-her-Heart-from-her-body or Aqua's-looking-for-Ven-in-the-realm-of-sleep that that would render her condition a temporary side effect.

Is she 'norted? It seems probable, but I'm not one-hundred per cent sure that it actually follows from what's been shown. Xehanort's never shown the ability to discorporate into dark fog or become invisible, I mean, and it seems like that would be a fairly useful ability to make use of if he had it. It seems not unreasonable to assume that it's therefore an ability newly unique to Aqua, and not something connected to a 'norting. I'm going to leave the changers to her hair aside because it's appeared that shade before (for example, in the daylight Wayfinder sequence at the start of the 0.2 trailer), and I'm not sure how much of the color change is being influenced by the lighting conditions, or even if the lighting is finished. The eyes seem like a big give away that she's 13th 'nort, as we've only ever seen glowing amber eyes in humans with Xehanort's vessels... but we don't actually know why he has those traits in the first place.

It could be nothing of consequence, just a unique aspect of his character design that made an easy shorthand for showing who he was possessing. Or it could be that amber eyes are actually meant to represent something in this setting (connection to Heartless?), and what specifically that is just hasn't come up yet, except as through the brothers and sisters 'nort. So it's possible that her eyes don't really mean what we assume they do, and it's just a fun way to use the trailer to mess with us.

(And because this series is so weird, it may also be worth remembering that incomplete beings have been shown to take physical forms influenced by the expectations of the people viewing them. Think Xion's magic flippy-floppy hood, or Aqua perceiving Ansem as Terra. So depending on what the meaning of Aqua's shadow form actually is, the way she appears to Mickey might not be what she actually looks like, as opposed to just the material consequence of how he expects her to look, reflected back upon his own reality. I... ugh. This series is something else.)

(There's also a possible exception to the only-'norts-have-glowing-eyes rule with Terra, who did have glowing amber eyes before he was 'norted, but portions of those cut scenes may now be apocryphal)

But even if Aqua is 'norted, does it automatically follow that she's now an evil puppet of the arch villain’s? I'm going to just throw this out there, and give a hard no. Could be! She could be evil now, she could even be a boss fight and a resulting fetch quest to fix her Wayfinder to bring her back to normal, or be a recurring super boss introduced to give the heroes someone more threatening to fight than Vexen and Marluxia, or anything else. But it's not absolutely necessary and it's a truly strange assumption to make, given past experiences with 'norts and people consumed by darkness.

Riku was 'norted for... really the entirety of the first three games in one way or another, and after a few initial close calls, he got his second wind, and was fine. Vanitas and Braig both seem to do whatever they want; it just so happens that they want to be evil, but I don't think Xehanort has ever shown any supernatural capacity—resorting instead to threats and possible torture—to modify their behavior if they wander off to undermine him. Terra is... well his body has been possessed for decades now, but also obviously is not being controlled in any meaningful way, unless Xehanort actually planned to choke himself and get whipped in the face by chains. Axel also didn't seem to have any problems with just throwing Xehanort out, when he was a heartless shell that theoretically had compromised means of resisting a takeover.  

So Xehanort is clearly not always in complete control of his vessels, other than Young Xeno (himself), Ansem (his own literal heart), and maybe Xemnas (some proportion of his own heart in Terra’s empty body), who could all be unique exceptions. And even the vessels that have been with him the longest have habit of doing as they please. I should find it strange should Aqua be the absolute only exception in the series. And thinking on it, all that's really said of the final confrontation is that you have 13 seekers and 7 guardians... but there's not really a rule that they have to form two opposed teams and stick to them no matter what.

To just fly off into blind speculation though, what I'm personally leaning towards is the possibility that Aqua has just become a part of the realm of darkness. That Mickey is “too late” to reach her before a point of no return, and now she just cannot leave. She doesn't sound particularly angry, or upset to see him. It sounds like she's just stating a fact, or just speaking with resignation. Mickey and Riku, in the clip where Way to Dawn is shown broken, also do not seem as defeated as one might expect them to if they had experienced complete and total failure. They seem pretty sure of themselves, whatever has happened.

I'm hesitant to add this in, given my own bias, but it actually seems not unlike they're saying goodbye. Perhaps just letting go of something, if they've failed and are moving on, or if Riku is just saying goodbye to the chapter of his life represented within Way to Dawn. Or they could be getting ready to split up.  

I've seen a lot of speculation, that I think rings true, that Disney would prefer for Mickey to not be involved in the final fight, whacking recognizable humans in the face with a sword-like weapon. The rumor's line of reasoning follows that he needs to be swapped out for someone else, and Aqua seems like the most fitting possibility. Maybe literally? One stays, so another can go? Thematically, she took on Terra's punishment for him, trapping her there in the first place. Mickey taking it on for her, so she can leave, would be a fitting continuation. And it seems to be what he wants. Edgy, traumatized, Mickey Mouse is a weird concept to introduce to a story, but it almost pulls it off where his trauma re: Aqua is concerned. This is clearly meant to be the great unhealed wound in his life, and to not just free his friend, but take her place in the underworld for a while is one way to help him patch it.

[karla-the-elemental-dreamer]

KH x KB Headcannons - Riku

Bond: Level 3 (High)

1. How Riku Treats Me In My Dreams

Riku is my current dream guide (started on 22 MAY 2020). According to my laws, a dream guide has 4 essential roles that can be exercised at any given time; ‘parental figure’, ‘teacher’, ‘friend’, ‘therapist’.

At the start of his service period, Riku was a cranky old grandpa; he didn’t trust me; would try and palm me off to his friends if I really needed help but he didn’t want to do it. He’d manage to upset me quite a few times.

In an odd dream here and there, he’d apologise for making me upset. But then in subsequent dreams, he’d “f***in’ do it again! (Goofy meme reference)”

Riku has changed since about mid-March 2021.

Now if Riku can’t do something / needs a break / sees something as not right / has a miscellaneous idea, he’ll tell me clearly.

Good listener.

If I ask Riku for advice, he doesn’t sugar-coat things.

>> (i.e. 1) If he thinks I’ve hurt someone, he’ll tell me to try and correct the situation with them.

>> (i.e. 2) If he thinks I’m being manipulated, he’ll tell me, and he will tell me to get out of there (or stay away) whether I like it or not.

He’s respectful of my moral compass and tries to support it.

He tolerates my tendencies.

>> (i.e. 1) in a dream, if I somehow got into Quadratum, he would perhaps run into the scene in panic and yell at me (like if you lost your child in a supermarket or saw them trying to cross a busy road), but then he’d let me stay and serve my purpose on the condition that I don’t leave his sight.

>> (i.e. 2) If I didn’t follow his previous advice and still complain about a situation, he might sigh and reiterate his stance, but he will still listen and claim he understands.

>> (i.e. 3) If I hug him out of nowhere, he’ll usually hug me back (unless the situation wasn’t appropriate, which is not as often).

He’ll try and explain my tendencies to others if it’s warranted.

If someone is truly a bully in my IRL and they try to get me in-dream (also in the case of an unknown nightmarish/negative entity), Riku will yell / go off at them.

>> (note): In most cases, the perpetrator leaves after that. In some high-risk cases, this warrants fellow Kingdom Hearts (or even Disney) members coming to take further action on the entity, especially if Riku was the one to remove me from the situation but the perpetrator still had to be dealt with.

He respects my dream laws. If I say he is incompatible to interact with some (i.e. his voice actor, IRL muns of him, Nomura himself, etc.), he gracefully stays out of those dream character(DC)’s sights, but still helps me from the side-lines if he can.

>> (note): If something was going on with such DCs and I needed a dream guide’s help with them (directly to them), an older dream guide (earlier in the timeline) would see them.

If I am nervous / annoyed about something I have to do IRL, he reassures me that he’ll be there with me (in spirit that is).

Happens to have a driver’s license and own a white four-wheel-drive (keeps the car very clean) that he uses to drive me to places.

He can manifest a range of appearances.

>> (i.e. 1): If I wrote on my phone before I went to bed that I wanted to see him in KH2 Blindfold, he would come wearing the coat and blindfold.

>> (i.e. 2): No matter what appearance he’d have for a regular scene; if the next scene was Quadratum, he’d always (without fail) manifest the appearance that he had in the IRL secret movie.

When Riku knew I could sing, he was blown away. If his friends are nearby, he’ll also get them to listen.

2. How I Interact With / View Riku

I see myself as his de-facto child (I sometimes say dream-child), however, I can be more mature and independent when I need to be (dream + rp).

I feel comfortable telling Riku everything that’s on my mind, even admitting weaknesses/secrets I wouldn’t share with anyone else (dream + misc-irl + rp(within-reason) ).

If Riku is having / has had a bad / dark episode, I usually feel sad for him and want to try and help him; whether it’d be a spontaneous hug, going with him to a Disney world to help him connect with others, etc. (dream + rp)

I need(?) to be hugged and/or touched by him a lot (dream).

If someone hurts/manipulates/deceives Riku, I will be stepping up and going after them (dream + rp).

I find it hard to follow his brutally honest advice sometimes (misc-irl).

In the early days, if Riku told me he was going to do something / go somewhere, I’d be sceptical and think he was using an ‘avoidance tactic’. These days, if he tells me such things, I know it’s with a genuine intention and I let him do it without major questioning (dream).

My parents know who Riku is, and they said he’s their favourite based on the stories they’ve heard (compared to when I told mum the ways of 18-Volt) (misc-irl).

My parents and I negotiated that I was only allowed to get one KH plush (currently darn expensive for my budget is why); I got Riku (misc-irl).

Because Australia has the poorest (least) KH merch out of anywhere, I printed and laminated paper cut-outs of each Guardian of Light. There are multiple (though different appearances) of Riku (misc-irl)

It’s 2:05 AM over here now, so I cannot write more for now. Took WAY longer than I expected for this piece. So I will be moving onto Sora, later... Today... When I wake back up.

[nadziejastar]

A big problem with KH3 is that it was written to cater to audience priorities without much thought given to what the characters might care for from an in-universe perspective. Lea's childhood friend might not be with the bad guys willingly, but RAX is more popular so their reunion is celebrated while Isa is a distant second at best. Roxas had a budding friendship with Namine in KH2 which was only a few months ago for them, but for the audience that was a long time ago so they never interact.

Bingo. KH3 practically killed all of my enthusiasm for the franchise by doing this. It was a total mess. Arendelle wasn’t allowed to service the story of Kingdom Hearts. Disney wouldn’t let Sora interact with any of the Frozen characters in any meaningful capacity. But they made sure “Let it Go” got in. Because it’s popular. Sure it was totally useless to KH. But it’s popular.

I found it funny that there were conveniently just enough replicas for Namine, Roxas, and Xion to return. But not Riku Replica. Sorry, buddy. Looks like you didn’t score highly enough on the popularity polls, so you don’t deserve to come back to life. He should have stayed dead. That’s basically how I feel Isa got treated. Shoved aside for more popular characters. Perhaps that’s why Riku Replica was brought back, anyways. Roxas was going to be too busy with Xion and Axel to care about his budding friendship with Namine. So they’d just divert all her attention to Riku now, so at least she has some purpose.

I think a similar thing happened with Lea. He’s still alive, but his personality has been warped into the most popular fan interpretation of him. Which is more of a comic relief type of character. I’ll use my sister as an example, though I know many more casual fans who have similar views. She’s a casual fan (she knows I hate her KH opinions, lol). Only played KH1 and KH2, but was eager to play KH3 since the series is nostalgic for her, and KH3 was a pretty hyped up release. I think she was the type of person Square and Disney were mainly targeting with KH3, since people like her probably made up the majority of the sales. Not people like us. And this was her opinion going in: “Who are Lea and Ventus? I don’t care about BBS. I don’t care about spin-offs. I don’t care about any Lea or Ventus. I want to see Axel and Roxas.“ I even explained most of the plot ahead of time to her. She still said that “Lea” was not Axel, but just some kid with a scarf she had no interest in. Axel was the only one she cared about, because he was “cool”. She had a similar shallow view on Roxas. He was “more cool” than Ven and he could dual-wield. *eyeroll*

I found it very telling he wanted to be called “Axel” again in KH3, despite not wanting to be in KH3D. If you asked my sister, Axel is an easygoing guy who makes funny comments. Of course he only wore his black robe to stand out and look cool. He had no tragic backstory that she was aware of. No people he cared about from his past. As far as she knew, Axel’s only concern in life was seeing Roxas again. She didn’t know that he awakened his Keyblade while looking for Isa. She had never heard of Isa, so she didn’t give two shits about him. And unsurprisingly, she had no complaints with the way Isa or Axel’s personality was handled in KH3. They’re exactly how all the casual fans who only played KH1 and KH2 like her remember them! Flat. Shallow. Like they were kept in stasis for people like her. Not allowed to grow or build on their previous character development. If anything, they regressed.

Lea’s main role in the final fight was supposed to be saving Isa as his friend. Roxas and Xion returned in the fight to have a final show-down with Saix as their enemy. These are two completely opposing interests. They are mutually exclusive. You can’t do both. So, I think one of the reasons they decided to go with Saix/Isa being portrayed as more of a bad guy was for Roxas and Xion to have a better fight. It’s NOT what Isa’s story was building towards. At all. But it was considered more important to cater to popularity, and it’s how most people remember Saix, anyways. A villain. A flat, shallow, boring caricature for Roxas and Xion to have an “epic” fight with.

Terra got a whole game to differentiate himself from Xemnas, to justify being a good guy. But Isa didn’t get enough screentime to properly differentiate him from Saix after BBSV2 was cancelled. And I think this was a huge factor in the way he was written in KH3. Not enough of the fandom cared, so it wasn’t deemed important enough to write his character with a modicum of respect. Instead of sticking with the story they had been building up for YEARS, they just decided to throw it all in the garbage and replace it with fanfiction-y pandering. Roxas and Xion got the red carpet treatment, simply because they were popular.

Their return made NO sense at all, but it didn’t matter. Isa got thrown by the wayside despite him being the most important person in Lea’s life and the driving force of his character arc. Again, it made NO sense from a story and character perspective, but it didn’t matter. Roxas/Xion had a whole game devoted to them as good guys. I truly wonder how Isa would have been handled if BBSV2 hadn’t been cancelled. Probably a lot different. Which just goes to show how much of an unfinished mess the Xehanort Saga truly was. You shouldn’t have to rely on fan pandering or popularity to tell your story. That’s bad storytelling at its finest.

My sister’s major complaint was that Axel and Kairi were “useless” in the final battle. That pissed her off. I would argue that they were so useless BECAUSE of Roxas and Xion coming back. Those two hijacked the whole fight and there was no ROOM left for Lea or Kairi to shine. Lea getting saved by Isa after his Keyblade broke would have been a victory for Lea’s heart. Because it represents that their bond was strong enough to break Xemnas’ control. Lea getting rescued by Xion doesn’t have that kind of narrative value. It was more like, “where the hell did she come from and why does he remember her all of a sudden?” All it did was make Lea look weak and unhelpful in his moment of glory. And Kairi effectively got replaced by her replica. Of course Lea and Kairi are gonna seem useless. Their entire fight was stolen from them! What do you expect? LOL.

[attract-mode-collective]

Review: Metal Gear In Concert

This past weekend, Metal Gear In Concert made its long awaited debut on US soil. And because the performance took place literally in my backyard, that being the Washington Heights portion of upper Manhattan, and also because I'm such a Metal Gear diehard… I was naturally there.

It was held at the United Palace, a non-profit cultural & performing arts center that's also a church (with the best god damn acoustics imaginable). Was my second time at the venue actually; the previous was for, funny enough, Kingdom Hearts Orchestra last summer. Anyhow, impressions of my Saturday night...

Let's start with the biggest positive first: the seventy musicians on stage did an absolutely wonderful job breathing life into various compositions hailing from the seven mainline Metal Gear Solid tiles (assuming you consider Ground Zeroes & Phantom Pain as separate entities). As for the arrangements themselves, I found some creative choices to be rather... curious... but the musicians performed the notes that they were given, and again, they were outstanding.

So onto the biggest negatives; there's two. First, the order in which the source material was presented. Whomever thought it would be best to present the games in chronological order. Meaning the first thing we hear is the opening to Snake Eater, and the last is the final piece from Guns of the Patriot. BTW, alongside the music is footage from the games, cinematics that have been edited to add context to the music.

Adhering to the narrative is something most diehard fans might prefer, but given how any casual members of the audience would have no idea what the hell is going on… which admittedly would have resolved if the aforementioned highlight reels were better produced… I believe an opportunity was lost as it pertains to highlighting the evolution of the series by not presenting the games in the order in which they were produced. Am mostly talking about how the music evolved here, but the same goes with the visuals.

Instead of using the occasion as a conversation starter among aficionados of orchestral music, to not just heighten awareness of Metal Gear but the medium of games as a whole, it was simply for the fans. Which is fair enough, though my second primary gripe is ultimately responsible for the first one and is purely via the lens of a fanboy: there was an overall lack of polish when compared to Kingdom Hearts Orchestra. Broad strokes-wise, it was the same deal; various songs were chosen from various games, accompanied by footage. In fact, both were produced by the same organization La Fée Sauvage, which specializes in producing licensed music concerts. They also do show based around Final Fantasy and… One Piece?

A key difference between the Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear showcases is how the former simply had more to work with; there are simply more KH games than MG games. As the saying goes, less is more, so considering the reduced amount of material to breathe life into, every creative decision ends up taking on greater importance (and lends itself to increased scrutiny). At the same time, the length of time between MG installments is greater than KH's. There's also greater technological leaps, as well as gameplay advances, let alone gameplay variety. Hence why each Kingdom Hearts entry... while certainly unique... is more or less identical.

Not true with Metal Gear, and not to sound like a delusional fanboy, but whereas every entry may appear similar, below the surface they are wholly unique to each other. As well unlike any other game, to such a degree that they've helped to redefine the medium. A large part of the appeal of KH is the characters, and while I’m a fan of MG’s colorful cast, what makes Metal Gear… well, METAL GEAR… is the gameplay, the breaking of the fourth wall, etc. So with all that in mind, perhaps focusing a more tangible aspect like the narrative, was the only real option among the parties involved? 

I believe the main reason for such a difference in approach and quality, despite both shows being produced by the same entity, is how other names were involved in the Kingdom Hearts affair. Specifically, Disney Concerts & Square Enix; me thinks that last name is the most important one, because Kingdom Hearts is such a valuable asset for SE. The previous concert took place right when production of KH3 was heading towards the finish line, so it was just another thing to keep the fanbase excited. Basically, Square Enix cared about their concert, because they had a serious investment in it, which was clearly on stage for all to see.

Meanwhile... and no need to state what every diehard fan of the franchise knows already, but... Konami cares very little about Metal Gear. It’s just another IP, just another source of revenue, not even one that’s coveted; Konami’s name being barely visible in any of the press releases I’ve received is yet another sign that they weren’t very invested, or interested, in the performance. And it goes without saying that the series creator was still involved, those sizzle reels would have been vastly superior. 

Something else that needs to be pointed out: the turn out for the show was rather disappointing. It definitely was not a sellout. Not sure why… this past Saturday night’s performance was originally schedule for last October, so perhaps the change had an effect? I don’t think so… Perhaps the ever-increasing shittiness of this city’s mass transit had an impact? Again, maybe a little. Perhaps it was the cost of entry? A more likely factor… full disclosure: I attended for free, as a member of the press.

Ultimately, I fear the poor turn out simply speaks of the current state of the Metal Gear fanbase, which has deteriorated in recent years, something that Konami themselves is responsible for.

And… because this report is turning out longer than expected, I’m just going to go down my additional points, in semi-bullet pointed fashion:

- Alas, one couldn’t tell it was a high ticketed affair by looking at the majority of its attendees. Generally speaking, one usually will dress up… or dress nicely…. for an event of this type. But not for Metal Gear in Concert. Lots of t-shirts & jeans.

As for what they wore, I saw far less Metal Gear related attire than at the Kingdom Hearts shindig, which again was a sign of how lively the fanbase is. Translation: I recall lots of KH related merch, fairly recent stuff, whereas hardly anyone was wearing anything of note among the MG camp… saw two instances of shirts from that Uniqlo line about ten years ago, that was it.

- Speaking of merch, what they had for sale at Metal Gear In Concert was downright embarrassing. Attendees were clearly expecting to blow money, and had only two different shirts to choose from, both of which were subpar Redbubble-caliber.  At the very least, I was expecting a commemorative design to mark the performance near the George Washington Bridge, but nope.

And speaking of the GW, when the opener from Metal Gear Solid 2 was highlighted, it predictably got one of the loudest reactions from the crowd (no joke, that bridge is legit a few blocks away from the United Palace).

- There were a few cosplayers in attendance, and sitting directly behind me was a dude dressed as Naked Snake, with his 5 year old son, dressed the same. Which was cute until it was clear that the kid had zero familiarity with dad's fave game; the kid was clearly bored and uncomfortable.

Once again, nerd parenting is often some of the worst parenting I've encountered, a topic of discussion that I have many strong opinions about, but now is perhaps not the time or place.

- The definitive highlight of the evening for me was witnessing Donna Burke perform Sins of the Father live, which again due to the order of the source material, was a super early into the proceedings crowd pleaser. Snake Eater was the first of two songs performed as the encore.

Hate to say it, but her take on Cynthia Harrell's signature song... while certainly respectable... further validates my previously alternate approach to the concert, meaning Snake Eater could have been an excellent means of warming up the crowd, and both Phantom Pain selections (the other being Heavens Divide) still closing the show.

... So yeah, that was Metal Gear In Concert. If you're a fan of the games and live music, it's definitely recommended. Even if it doesn't hit all the right marks and is ultimately a somewhat sad reflection of the enthusiasm for Big Boss, Solid Snake, and the rest of the game... or lack thereof.

Or maybe the turn out will be better for the next performance, taking place in Los Angeles ion April 6th at Wilshire Ebell Theatre? And if you go... while you don't have to... for God's sake wear a button up shirt at the very least, geeze.