#the khux update was amazing to me

[serenedash]

For the character ask game: 2, 7, and/or 12 for Luxu?

[ask game] 2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

How much he cares for other people. It was the thing that immediately drew me to him as a character, like I thought he was interesting beforehand just because of his position as this "other" master but literally when we started getting trailers for Back Cover and Luxu asks "what about the others" I was like OHHHH MY GOD I LOVE HIM SO MUCH???? and then when we got the update where he was practically begging mom to let him watch over the dandelions because they're in danger I was just like. let me fucking lay down and cry. His kh3 secret reports where he's talking about reuniting with the other foretellers just got me so good like he just misses them so so so much he just wants to see them again he wants his friends/family back so badly and all of this everything he's done feels like it was done so he can see them again. Like yes Luxu has done bad things to other people over the years (mainly in his life as Xigbar but that just lends itself to his role and how khux is very much like doing bad for the greater good) but for the people he originally knew I'm just like. god.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like? + 12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Decided I'm answering these together lmao I love when people characterize Luxu's relationship with mom as just. genuinely awful. and manipulative. Like very much an abusive parent/child relationship, I headcanon this with mom and all of the foretellers. It's complicated, and messy, and bad, and Luxu is so dependent on him because that's all he has and he's thrown away everything he is and ever will be for mom and his plans. One person who I think just is AMAZING at characterizing Luxu in general is @/nicedracula like ohhhh my god I'm sobbing and screaming and throwing up EVERY TIME,,, also people saying Luxu is the favorite child and I think that lends itself a lot to the way we see Luxu be funny and sassy and a little bratty towards mom in khux like despite the terrible relationship with mom, Luxu can get away with all that lmao

[anguis-sapphire]

me and my sideblogs

Hello! My main name here is Void, but you can also call me Astral (or Aria, if you want to and we’re friends).

This is my primary blog! I used to use it for basically anything, but I've since set up a lot of series-specific sideblogs, so most of what used to appear on here that wasn't miscellaneous will now be on those. That doesn't mean there won't still be things being posted on or reblogged to this blog, though! I'm just going to be doing whatever feels right in the moment, honestly ^-^

Here is a list of my sideblogs:

Pokémon: @relic-fragment

Pokémon Reborn, specifically: @charous-hall

Kingdom Hearts (including KHUX): @forza-finale

Xenoblade Chronicles (plus some Xenosaga/gears maybe): @angel-engine

Kirby: @amazing-mirror

Dragon Quest (specifically IX): @sentinels-of-the-starry-skies

Splatoon: @tide-goes-out

The Elder Scrolls (specifically Skyrim): @last-dragonborn

Fire Emblem (specifically Three Houses/Hopes): @cindered-shadows

Final Fantasy (specifically XIV): @fell-court

Vocalsynths and song series: @synths-songs-and-stories

Genshin Impact (probably won't use much): @undying-admiration

I also have an archive blog of sorts (to hold any old art and writing from previous blogs) at @creations-from-the-void. I helped to set up the official Fatebreakers blog at @fatebreakers, as well, but that's a group blog rather than just being mine alone.

I'll try and keep this post updated if any URLs change!

[kitsoa]

The Master’s Figurative Language

A Breakdown of the Flashback in KHUX’s chapter “Cornerstones of Rebirth” 

----

The Keyblade War began when MoM was a child. 

MoM describes the Keyblade Wars of Old as a battle between light and dark. A description that matches the stories of the war in the series proper. But when asked if the forces of light and darkness resemble keyblade and heartless clash from Luxu’s understanding-- MoM’s response is more vague. 

Luxu:“The light? Were there other keyblade wielders besides you, Master?” 

MoM: “Hmm, I guess, but it’s not out of the question for there to be others besides me.”

What a strange answer. ‘Others besides me?’ 

Wait up. MoM created the modern keyblade. He modeled it off of the X-blade. 

Does he mean ‘others who created a keyblade to battle the darkness?’

There being others to have created the keyblade seems both unlikely and entirely impossible to be unsure of. Therefore we are not talking about a standard definition war and most definitely we are not talking about a kh style conflict.

So I’m lead to believe that MoM is referring to the ‘Keyblade’ as a figurative tool. After all, the keyblade has never been a mere object... it’s an extension of the heart. It’s the strength of the heart and the forces wielding the blades are many in that they are worthy to ‘fight with all their hearts’ so to speak. Therefore: ‘other’s like him’, can mean others who ‘wielded their hearts’ against the darkness. 

The Heart turns into the figurative heart. Emotion, passion, the self. 

The Darkness by proxy becomes figurative. Evil, negativity, hatred, violence, destruction. 

I believe MoM is equating the actions and purpose of a keyblade wielder (that Luxu understands) to a more general defiance against evil in his conversation. “I guess” is his casual admission to this. Therefore, the term Keyblade War isn’t defined as a clash between countless keyblades but a catch-all term to describe the universal conflict of good and evil. 

Luxu: “And the darkness? Were there the same monsters as there are now?”

Luxu’s understanding of the ‘monsters of darkness’ are simply the heartless from the books illusions. The heartless are the assumed opponents in the fated Keyblade War so their presumed involvement in this older war is a valid question.

MoM: “Well, if you ask if the darkness they fought was comprised of monsters... maybe so. They looked the same as us, so it’s a bit different from now.”

MoM isn’t saying that the forces of darkness in the ‘old war’ were the heartless. He’s equating them to the heartless. MoM is referring to the darkness not as a tangible force we are familiar with but as a figurative entity. And he’s saying that they are essentially monsters. 

Figurative Monsters. Savage, amoral, heartless. 

And they looked human. Monsters that look human. Again MoM is describing a very... general truth about evil in the world. The evil of our fellow man. The evil that makes them equal to monsters. MoM sticks by his insult though.

MoM: “Nah, I’m not saying they were humans...”

So we have a very... realistic depiction of the battle between light and darkness. MoM’s Keyblade War is not a fantastical battle... at least... it doesn’t have to be fantastical. It’s simply the passionate defenders of good values against a general evil. 

MoM: “Well, ever since they appeared in that form The Keyblade War continued on.”

'Ever since the forces of darkness appeared human’ The Keyblade War continued on. The War is clearly as stand-in for a grander, more universal idea. Now we have to reason that MoM is describing a turning point to a personal philosophy as opposed to an actual event. The ongoing Keyblade War is representative of the human struggle proper. 

And if I could play doctor to baby MoM. I’d say he is referencing the start of his personal, none-stop, ‘Keyblade War’. Perhaps he experienced a betrayal. Darkness in human form that has since sparked the war of what is good and what is bad. 

“The darkness changes forms. That’s why it can hide inside humans. That’s why this Keyblade War has raged endlessly.”

What is evil will destroy everything. What is good will bring it back.

The cycle of death and rebirth.

Which brings us to MoM’s goal to stop this. These ‘wars’ that are actually just battles in the endless war within MoM himself. He describes to Luxu exactly what happens in X. The battle commences. The world is destroyed. The light survives in the heart of children. That’s the light that will revive the world. 

Now, he doesn’t reveal it here, but MoM actually orchestrates the parameters that bring about this battle. He pits his apprentices again a fake a traitor. He plants the seeds of tension and distrust. He assures their destruction. And assures their rebirth through the Dandelions.

“We can’t erase the world and it’s stories that are left in the hearts of children. As long as that is left in their hearts, the world can be reborn. And in the same way we can’t erase darkness. But we CAN take a temporary break.”

I’ve had a long theory explain the figurative use of the lore term Worlds and how that word is synonymous with stories. Here we see that figurative language used in direct force. It’s not the abstract light in the hearts of the children, but the living stories within them that make them immortal. 

But that same immortal story brings with it the same immortal end. And the cycle never ends. 

So MoM’s reference of a ‘temporary break’ is strange as it is not a solution to the endless war but an escape. Flash forward to Union Cross and the Union Leaders have come to the harrowing realization that they are trapped in this digital reality. They have not yet fulfilled the cycle and revived the world from the destruction of X. They are simply trapped, playing house. Taking a break from the war.

“I know I’m tired, I want to rest soon too. From being a bystander at least.”

This line gets me. Bystanders are defined as people who watch. The Master watches when he vanishes and it is assumed that the presence of the gazing eye makes him a bystander to the war. But the rest he references is ‘soon’-- an allusion to his fading? It seems backwards. Unless he is looking farther ahead than his most immediate actions at the time of the flashback. Unless he is looking at a point in time more relevant to us players. The time where the Master stops watching and jumps into actions. An allusion for whats to come. 

MoM wraps up the conversation with a very on the nose and cryptic run down of exactly the Dandelion’s journey.

“Yep, that’s why I told Ava to gather the best of the best. The starting point in X. Their training in Unchained. The real deal in Union Cross. They ought to become very important cornerstones to the rebirth of this world.”

The Dandelion’s start and originate from X. That’s the original run. But in Unchained, as they go through the same events of X they are training. What they are training for isn’t clear but seeing how the ‘real deal’ is the phase where the world breaks away from the original run, we can assume that MoM is preparing them to break the cycle. Unchained has the Dandelion’s guided along their fates and eased them all the way to the big break that was the war itself. Now that the war is avoided, they must resist the war from cropping up again or fail the grand experiment. 

MoM wants the cycle of Darkness and Light to end... or at least he wants to see if it can end. Clearly, the Dandelion’s have a wealth of elements stacked up against them in their temporary break from the cycle. The insistence on Unions. The secret Book of Prophecies. The erased memories and encouragement to turn their blades on the image of their fellows. We can’t say at all that MoM was intending on them being successful.Or maybe there were more phases to this plot than just that of x, Unchained and Ux--

Actually of course there are more phases to his plot. Kingdom Hearts happened.

The conversation finally ends with a little foreshadowing. 

Luxu: “They’ll  be able to return to this world after its rebirth using the world borders, right?”

Luxu brings up what we understand is going to happen in UX. The light from after the war has to return to the ruins according to MoM’s cycle. Their temporary break will have to end. And as Luxu describes they will ‘use the world borders’ to do so. The exact nature and importance of this distinction is one to be contemplated but ultimately the return is nigh. We understand that Scala ad Caelum is built upon the ruins of Daybreak Town. We know the Dandelion’s will escape the program and rebuild the war. And we know they will eventually build the empire that creates Xehanort who will start the cycle anew. 

“Hmmm, Well it’ll be difficult for ALL of them.”

MoM is cryptically referencing that not every Dandelion will return. Some will get left behind. Or perhaps they won’t make it to the correct time (a reference to the time displaced Dandelions). Luxu makes a reference that the Leaders were the ones hatching the escapes which suggests that only the leaders return to the real world... which doesn’t seem accurate to what actually transpires. Grant it. We must consider the following:

The temporary break from the cycle must end.

The Dandelion’s are fighting to defy the fate of the War. 

The War is inevitable. 

So in final, this scene is extremely enlightening toward the Master’s motives and goal and hints to what will ultimately occur in the KHUX storyline. It is important to consider the figurative angle that the Master is potentially going on about. Because as we are consistently reminded, KH is a series that plays on the fact that it’s language has lore implications as well as thematic implications. 

There is a greater message in a ll of this.

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

ON̨L̴Y IN ̶TḨE DAR̀KNE͞S̡S ͡CA͞N ̶ÝO҉U̷ CH͘A̴NGE ́YO͝U҉R̕ F̸A͞TE̶ ͜T̀O̡ FÌN͘D Y̛O͢U̡R ON̕CĘ UPON ̧A T͠IME [x]

[fisherrprince]

*slides in on fuzzy socks* hi hello i was wondering. If you have any fic recommendations for kh. Because I just finished kingdom hearts three and am looking at the number of fics on ao3 and am Very intimidated so,,,, (dont feel like you gotta resp to this tho!)

oh anon, yes

I’m gonna break this into two categories, not because I have 100 bookmarks for you, but because organization makes me happy and I think just coming out of KH would make u more inclined to canonverse than aus or more conceptual fics… all of which I have!! And keep in mind a lot of really good fics on ao3 are ships. So let’s see here

canonverse/canon-adjacent

(I don’t need you to) worry for me - cigna_hime - I present you with an amazing fic about vanitas seeking out ventus way before he was supposed to, and ending up a wayfinder. Fic that makes me feel soooooo many emotions

Dandelion seeds - corishadowfang - khux likers do you want more dandelions? And Union leaders? Of course you do dandelion seeds is a collection of oneshots following ephy and the other leaders as they try to run daybreak town for four years together. This has made me cry as well. If you like this read her other work it has subject x skuld and treasure planet in it yes yes yes

Like some pitch moon - alcor - this one is very violent and it is also VERY SATISFYING, im not even a leaisa and leaisa go BRRRRR. also there’s some really cool stuff with ymx and kairi in here. Lea and Kairi enter the final battle of kh3 together, and something sure hits the fan.

runs on happy faces - bukkunkun - short, sweet, so sweet, so so sweet, sora grows up on the gummiship

the joining of unlike things - mousapelli - love this one!! worldbuilding about keychains!! Forging keychains! Roxas and riku and sora and aqua!

reminiscent - therasia - REMINISCENT GOOD. Ventus misses Vanitas (or at least the challenge) and goes to fight the vanitas remnant about it, to the detriment of literally just himself a lot. Tagged as ship but as it’s unfinished, it’s not really there yet

like old times (before we had a care in the world) - prototyping - I could prolly have a whole category about wayfinder fluff. I do have a whole category about wayfinder fluff psst hey kid

aus (outside of canon)

See you in shibuya - end-alls - TWEWY TIME this one is FUN. It’s a whole what if about yozora, Sora, and riku in the reapers game, and I love the spec worldbuilding and character stuff. also vanitas gets a leather jacket. What more could you ask for

they may pass - magicites - ventus vanitas ffx au! a sellsword and an al bhed summoner complete their pilgrimage. I’m on the floor sobbing my eyes out and the author knows I’ve done this multiple times and she laughs at me (not really she’s very nice.)

cough it out - ??? - verrrrry cute soriku confession fic. sora is sick and riku accidentally gets roped into not avoiding him anymore. Also sora is obsessed with Disney movies

cool sea turtle beats to relax/rehabilitate to - frootlups - dandelions run a sea turtle rescue and it’s literally one of the only chatfics I have ever found that feels like an actual discord server they would have. this one is so fun and Ephemer saying “I’m literally obsessed with you. Like wtf is wrong with you” is in my head forever

at the edge of hope - bookwormally - PACIFIC RIM AU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! currently being updated WHAT more could you WANT they pilot JAEGARS TOGETHER

umbra, penumbra - end-alls - vanitas-ventus roleswap. Ventus is spooky scary, and gets his hand licked by a darkness rat. I made fanart for this one it makes me go :]

a lot of these authors have many other very good works, and I have a stockpile of fics that are Similar (like my ten wayfinder fluff fics) - so, like if there’s only one oneshot here or only one cool au and you want more, lemme know and I’ll let you know if I have em! I kind of guessed and went for the medium long, some shorter

[colonelpancakes]

Slightly more cohesive thoughts on the update!

- First off, no I’m not ok.

-Second off, the animation was gorgeous?! Can we just appreciate all the little details. The spinning stained glass with the foretellers jumps to mind, but also the details in all the backgrounds, the way Ephemer’s tear quivers a bit before it falls, this was all done by two people, and it’s amazing.

- The master of masters is terrifying! :)

- Now I’m stuck thinking. What if the reason the keyblades all helped Sora in the keyblade graveyard was because he made friends with the spirits in ddd. He brought them comfort and took care of them for a while and they’re greatful.

- So, if dream eaters are sleeping keykids, then are nightmares the equivalent to darklings? The keykids become spirits, but when a spirit falls to darkness it becomes a nightmare, so, I guess?

- I will never be able to look at dream drop distance the same way again.

- This also puts a new sort of spin on Riku becoming a spirit in dream drop.

- I wasn’t ready for any of the scenes with Skuld and Ephemer but, god I love them so much. Skuld crying about daybreak town broke me a little. Because, I mean they just saw their home destroyed. It’s in absolute ruins. that’s gotta hurt.

- On a lighter note, I smiled so hard when Ephemer just scooped Skuld up and bridal carried her over to the pods. I love them so much.

- I also love the attention to detail with the fact that where Lauriam and Elrena wake up corresponds to their elements. Lauriam wakes up in a flower field, and Elrena wakes up in a thunderstorm.

- So Player is Xehanort huh? This makes a lot of scenes with Xehanort hurt just that much more!

- I want Xehanort to stay dead don’t get me wrong, but I’m also imagining an interaction between Ephemer and Xehanort...

- The fact that Ephemer and Ven were friends, and everything Xehanort did to Ven... I can only imagine Ephemer’s reaction being abject horror.

- I’m so sad about so many things right now but Ephemer having a statue in Scala, and Brain being so proud, but also so sad because it means he’s long gone... That’s definitely high on my list of things I’m sad about.

- Khux sure is a game isn’t it... It’s got it’s issues, and weird plotholes, and I mean it’s literally a mobile game with a cute chibi art style that’s all about war and murder... But it’s my mobile game with a chibi art style about war and murder. I love it so much, and I’m both happy that the story’s reached it’s conclusion, and so sad to see it go.

[khttrpg]

Hello! I'm hel, and I'm one of three mods that run a khux rp group. Quick background, we've been on hiatus for quite a while due to issues with how our battling and mission system was set up as well as a lack of story direction left by the mods we inherited the group from. So, when I saw your project I immediately shared it with the server. We are already integrating it in to - hopefully! - fully reboot the rp, and are working on restructuring characters right now to fit into the rules you've built. So far, the only stumbling block was that the number of stat and talent points you start off with - I believe located near the start of the character creation setting - were a bit hard to find, since we were expecting them to be in the stat and talents section. But, that's been literally it. I'll try and update you as we continue updating and once we hit the point when we can playtest. Finally, I just want to add that this is a larger group then your recommended 3 + mm, just as a heads up that we might run into more unusual issues.

Thank you so much for your time and hard work putting this project together, it already looks amazing, and we look forward to seeing what future versions hold.

!!! im so glad my system could be of use to you!!! i definitely appreciate the feedback - i had honestly thought that i had put a blurb on starting stats into the stats & talents section, so i appreciate the info!! its easy to overlook things on a doc youve been staring at for two months straight, haha. i definitely want to hear updates as your game progresses! if theres anything your group needs, please feel free to message me!! :)

[sojourntime-aux]

Happy KH Community Day!

Last year, my project was very daunting, so this year I decided to keep it a little more simple. This series has given me so much over the years, from wonderful friends, and an amazing partner, to one of my favorite mobile games, KHuX.

So this year, I created a hypothetical cover for a KHuX themed passion project. The project had been years in the making, but I finally got myself in gear shortly after end of service was announced to start writing, as sort of my goodbye to the game. I posted the first part in April of this year (2021) and have updated every month since.

So thank you to the wonderful people who made this series, and gave us KHuX. It will always hold a special place in my heart. I can't wait to see where the series is going and what happens next!

~~~

As a special treat, I saved the July update for the collection for today! The post for that will be posted on @keykid-database! Be sure to check it out!

[phoenix-downer]

How would you personally rank the Kingdom Hearts games? Storywise, that is.

In terms of story alone, discounting gameplay (and insert disclaimer here that this is all my personal opinion):

1. KH1 and KH2 are tied for first place for me. KH1 is just so magical. It has this sense of awe and wonder and mystery and hope and bittersweetness and nostalgia. Sora’s sacrifice for Kairi will forever stick with me, and everything that occurred from Hollow Bastion onward elevates the game from “really good” to masterpiece. And KH2 has the best ending of the series. I tear up every time I see it. So, so satisfying to experience after everything the characters go through up till that point. Sora and Kairi reuniting is just... it makes the ending of KH1 (which is beautiful in its own right) that much better, and it was so lovely to see Roxas and Naminé living on through them, despite what they’d been told about Nobodies having to cease to exist. 

2. KH3 including ReMind. ReMind really completed KH3 for me and elevated the whole game because it showed just how far Sora was willing to go to save Kairi, and his compassion for his friends’ suffering was really moving. That plot point has been teased since Re:coded, and this time he was able to bear their hurt without it breaking them. Being there with him for his journey over the years just makes me feel really proud of who he is now. And Kairi getting to fight is technically gameplay I suppose, but man was it satisfying, especially because we got to fight the guy who was responsible for her “death.” Her fighting by Sora’s side was what I’d been wanting ever since I played KH1 and KH2, so yes playing through ReMind was immensely satisfying, haha. 

3. BBS has such a good ending in Blank Points that it elevates not only BBS but the entire series. Plus I like the whole “tragic heroes” angle with the Wayfinder Trio, and Eraqus and Xehanort’s relationship fascinates me. 

(I keep waffling back and forth on how to rank KH3 and BBS. Without ReMind, I’d definitely rank BBS higher, and probably Chain of Memories and Reverse/Rebirth higher than KH3 as well, but again ReMind really elevates KH3 for me). 

4. Chain of Memories and Reverse/Rebirth. Really excellent, strong story for Sora, Riku, and Naminé. I loved the themes it dealt with, and watching Naminé stand up to her captors and Sora kick Marluxia’s butt was immensely satisfying. So was Riku’s journey to rediscover himself and forge his own path, and his moments with Mickey were really touching. 

5. Kingdom Hearts Coded/Recoded. Maybe it’s a surprise I have it here, but the ending was fantastic and actually made me cry. It set things up so beautifully for future KH games too with revealing to the audience what Sora needs to do to save his friends. Mickey being so supportive of Data Sora was the kind of Mickey and Sora interaction I didn’t know I needed. Data Sora and Data Riku’s interactions were great too, gave me Steve and Bucky vibes, and it was so nice to see even data versions of them get to work together like that. 

6. Kingdom Hearts 0.2. Really got me excited for KH3, and I enjoyed the deeper dive into Aqua’s psyche. The moment where Terra protected her and Ven are top-notch, and her battle to protect Riku stuck with me too. 

7. Back Cover. In some ways I wonder why it’s all the way down here on this list because the Master of Masters stuff was great and had me wanting more. I guess the lack of closure kind of hurts it, but it was still an enjoyable watch and got me interested in the Foretellers. 

8. KHUx. I struggled with where to rank this one, because the story itself is really intriguing, but the presentation of it is frustrating with updates being rare. I wish the game updated more frequently, and I hope the story is released as a cutscene movie at some point a la Back Cover because I’d love to experience it all at once. The recent revelations have been tugging at my heartstrings, so I can only imagine what it would be like to experience the story with full voiced cutscenes!

9. Dream Drop Distance. This one is so near the bottom because its highs are really high but its lows are reaaaaally low. The time travel stuff is a mess, Kairi barely being in the plot really doesn’t have a good excuse, and Sora’s characterization doesn’t feel consistent with how you’d expect him to act after KH2 (thankfully KH3 fixed this but I digress). However, the “you treat people like bottles on a shelf” speech from Sora to Xigbar is fantastic, the whole “Sora almost gets norted” plotline was also really good, Sora and Riku being so supportive of each other shows how far they’ve come since KH1 days, and Riku’s arc in this game is just so amazing that really, it almost makes up for everything else. I just wish Riku being such a badass didn’t have to come at the cost of Sora’s characterization, but like I said, KH3 fixed my issues with that (but then handed Riku the incompetence ball unfortunately, but that’s a discussion to be had another day). 

10. 358/2 Days. A controversial choice, I know, and please don’t take this to mean I think Days is terrible! Much like DDD, it’s a flawed game that does some things very well; I just enjoyed DDD more personally. Again, this is all pretty subjective, and I have been informed I did things wrong by watching the cutscene movie before playing the game. I think that probably impacted my experience of the story (plus Xion’s death was spoiled for me). The plot was also really overhyped for me I think? There just wasn’t any way it could realistically live up to the expectations people had set for me. I also don’t think I played the game at the right time of my life. The people who seem to love it the most are the ones who first played it as kids or teens, and I was an adult by the time I got around to it. So I think the theme of struggling with identity/what it means to exist just didn’t impact me as hard. It’s like if you try to watch My Neighbor Totoro for the first time as an adult. It just doesn’t land the same.

Thanks for the ask! Again, this is all just my personal opinion, and I’m curious to hear how you’d rank the games!

[azurefallingstars]

Re: KHUX: so it ended in Japan and the final story update involved the reveal that the player character ends up reincarnating into Xehanort. Which is AMAZING imo

kh keeps finding ways to surprise me oh my god 😂

[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.  

[r1ku]

💃Heya, Stef here,💃

A little update on how it's goin.

Oct.26.2020

I completed/deleted some game apps from ny phone.

But yeah for the longest time, all year basically, my time had been preoccupied with mobile games and discord and reading manga and webtoons, like a shit load of them, like hundreds almost.

And again, I think I'm starting to get better at grasping my time management for all the things I need to do in my life instead of hyper focusing on games and webtoons. It's very easy to feel left behind in games, when you are unable to dedicate a lot of time to it, especially if you play many ganes at once, to distribute time amongst them.

☆

Well, I want to actually try enjoying Genshin Impact, and fix all the weapons and dragons and wyrmprints in Dragalia Lost, and organize my medals and traits in KHUx, and try playing Guardian Tales more, I like that pixelated art story it's got goin on. Most of my focus has gone to Obey Me! Shall We Date?, that I absolutely love and am enamored with lmao.

The game I finished recently was Liar! Uncover the Truth, whose story has surprised me as its amazing the redemption they all get in the sequel. Always so much more goin on to people that you think you know and it showed that, and it showed them willing to change for the MC and the MC for them, for the relationship to start and work out and to go past any prejudices and assumptions both people had about the other person.

It's just a total damn shame that I wasn't playing the game in real time when it first released in 2017?/2018? So I missed out on a lot of special events, but oh well, I can see some special CG art on tumblr/twitter/instgram, at least.

☆

Then been reading so many webtoons, I plan to make a recommendation document sometime, actual concrete what I think are the best ones I'd recommend, not just curated "oh I think this person would like these particular ones".

☆

Well, now I'd just like to say that I'm doing well and I've been here chatting up with peeps, but not reblogging anything until my drafts reach 0.

So sadly, I've been missing out on some goods. I just like to have a process and planned way of doing things personally, so I'd planned that I would evenly distribute queue on both blogs up to 130 posts and reblog around 50 posts on each blog, to get rid of the bulk faster.

Then, when that is finished, I'd go through blogs I'm following to see what's going on with people since the 4 or so years I've been gone and see if I'm still interested in things or lost interest and unfollow blogs.

Then, I'd go thru my tumblr user tag, tag and find blogs to follow that have my current and newer interests.

Finally, I'd be good to go on just casually visiting tumblr to reblog and queue again, and finally look into all those masterposts in writing advice, book recs, art advice and utilize that. Use it, learn stuff. Excited for this!

☆

So yeah, pardon me if you see older posts being reblogged. They've just been hidden in my drafts for years. Stuff I'd been meaning to look at more closely later and never did.

As you can see, gosh I wonder how many will be from inactive or deleted blogs. When that is the case, I have no choice but to post on pink4walls because that's where the drafts are at.

But yeah again, this blog is main interests blog and appreciation for riku and the other one is aesthetic inspo blog to put anything else into.

One day a tagging system would be the bees knees but thats a long eventually lmfao. And updating the about me on desktop too.

☆

Updated my mobile bg, icon and color scheme for both blogs as well.

And that's that for now. Thank you for reading.💜

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Update November 25 2020

Just gonna not tag and hope i tag it one day

I just want no more drafts and to finally reblog current things

[greatace07]

Don’t read this if you don’t play KHUX, it’ll confuse you and you wont understand LOL. TL:DR Below

Okay well it seems everyone wants to know what i did in the hsc so hopefully this helps everyone out. So my set up was Key art 5 (Defense boost 2) Key art beginning (skill doesn't matter) iKairi2 (Second chance 2) Xaldin B (Defense boost 2) And Key Art Sky (max guilted, attack boost 4 max, ground enemy def 60) Shared Maleficent Dragon with Fenrir at 30. All that made 49% I think you can do it with 42% but not sure. With my setup i got a 6x attack buff, so you might need one key art medal to copy your buff medal. So this takes alot of rng to get the best run. If you don't have a guilted Xaldin b like me then you can use a copy medal to copy it. Like Namine hd on divine rose or key art Bonds with Sleeping Lion. you need attack boost 3 or 4 on the copy medal or Xaldin if they maxed guilted. He's the best single, 1 hit medal in the game so that's why i say him. You can't use a medal that hits all. I don't know if it'll work. But anyways go in the blue route then go all the way to the end where the Blue Copter and Wardrobe is. Buff yourself with whatever you have then use your copy medal or Xaldin b on the copter. It wont kill so they will kill you but that’s why you have  Second chance. Do the same thing again but you will kill the copter this turn. The Wardrobe is going to hit you but if you have defense boosts it wont kill you if they trigger. Now it’s your turn and this time don’t use any  buffs besides iKairi2 for the heal then use your copy medal or Xaldin b to hit the Wardrobe, it wont kill it, next turn it’ll heal up a bit if you survive it’s hits with more  defense boosts  triggering. Which is why this is so rng based, i did this like 20 times before i go it to work. Anyways, now buff yourself up and kill the  Wardrobe this time. Because it healed you’ll get more points. Now that you did that you have to do this again with the other Wardrobe that’s next to them. You’ll get more points cause it healed. Next go to the plants and kill the one in the middle. You’ll need more  defense boosts triggering so you don’t die. But you only need one this time. Kill the plants one at a time or just use nova. Now just kill everything with your  copy medal or Xaldin b if you can cause the more damage you do the higher points you get. But this is what i did to get the best score that i could. I got 13,033,686 with 49% So i think you can get 12.5 mill with 42% I have my Sky shared right now with AB4 so you can use that to do this i think idk if it’ll do enough damage as a shared medal xP But just put Xaldin before it. Doesn’t matter the keyblade if you use my share key art cause it’ll be doing all the damage. I don’t know if this will help anyone but just wanted to tell everyone what i did to get such a high  score. If you don’t have a guilted Key art BBS (Bonds, Beginning, Sky) then you should try to get one, they are really amazing!

TL:DR, You need alot of defense boosts RNG, Make the Wardrobes heal them themselves and kill everything one at a time with Xaldin B or Copy Xaldin with  Namine hd or with one of the Key Art BBS’s

I suck at writing so sorry if this was hard to read. Maybe i’ll update this with photos if some are confused. Anyways good luck!

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

my personal good things of 2021 list

back for the 7th year in a row!!!

Of course, just surviving this year takes all precedence. I’m very lucky to have not even gotten sick this year

I’m so sad about khux ending this year. But it was so fun to experience it firsthand with y’all, from beginning to end. I’ll cherish what it gave to me for so many years, and I’ll always carry a piece of it with me

I GRADUATED!!! Finally out of school hell and now on my way to figuring out what the heck I’m going to do with the rest of my life

I also finally caught up on One Piece after falling out of it for many years, which honestly feels like its own big accomplishment. I’ve also been getting into some new stuff too, thanks to friends

Though it hasn’t been KH stuff, I’ve been drawing a lot more this year. And I’ve started making digital art, which is super fun!

I painted and revamped my room! It’s a lot more cozy and neat now, and updated to suit my age instead of being stuck in its teenage state lol

POKEMON!! God remember when the music video came out? I still love it

I got into yoga thanks to this free program my school runs weekly and it’s awesome, I swear I’m so much more flexible now

I got to help out at a food drive for the first time and it was so amazing to see how much stuff gets donated, and just the whole process of how it gets sorted out

EDIT: Getting into Stardew Valley was super fun!!! I kinda fell off of it in the latter half of the year but it was so relaxing and really helped me through my last semesters

and finally, always a special shoutout to my lovely wonderful friends who keep me smiling, to my beautiful partner who keeps my heart warm and full. And to you! 🤗 May 2022 be good to us all (please) 💗💗💗💗💗

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

my personal good things of 2018 list

told ya I would get it done today

I did myself a favour and dropped this really tough philosophy class after 3 weeks of pain. It felt so good to let it go

we got Chikai/Don’t Think Twice!! I listened to it throughout the entire year

I started writing my self-indulgent fic Steadfast. It’s…still not done but I made a lot of progress in a year. Maybe I’ll upload the first chapter soon…..

I had a bunch of kitchen classes in which I got to make food with a lot of really nice people

addition to that: I skipped out on a class assignment in the kitchen with a stranger like a rebel (and we didn’t get caught). We got iced cappuccinos and just talked for like an hour, and it was one of the most unusual but amazing things that happened during the school year

After that, in April, things went bad.

“But Roadie,” You question, “I thought this was supposed to be your good things list.” and yeah, it still is, since the bad lead to the good.

That being said, things like losing sleep, being alone for several weeks, and even outright sobbing on the floor didn’t stop me from getting back up afterwards. I have my friends to thank for helping me through it (even if they don’t know they did) but I’d also like to give myself some credit for not giving up despite being so close to doing so

okay! now that the depressing stuff is out of the way, my summer was great!! I got to spend more time with people I care about, and even tried some new things, which mostly involved traveling downtown with a friend for a little adventure

one of those little adventures was to the art gallery, where we got to see Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms (after lining up for an hour or two), which were absolutely stunning

this has been a good year for art in general, since I learned how to make string bracelets, and I feel like I was also able to improve on my art style a bit, especially by participating in my first inktober!

but back to the summer stuff

I also took a class during the summer about comics. Since it was only that class, it was really nice to have my focus entirely on it, and it was a very interesting class too

I also got my first job! A temporary one, but I feel like I learned a lot and even met some great people there

then it was my birthday, and I got more birthday asks than I knew what to do with, and it filled my heart with so much joy. Sometimes I reread them just because they were all so sweet. Thank you again, everyone! ❤️❤️❤️

KH ORCHESTRA!!!! For most of it, I was just sitting there with my jaw dropped because it kept blowing me away

I passed the written test for a driver’s license and even drove my dad’s car a tiny bit…..we’ll see if I have the courage to do some actual driving next year 😳💦

I watched Tangled the Series and Deltora Quest with @aqua-phoric!!

Classic Kingdom was released! I got addicted to it immediately and finished the objectives for Starlight a few days after it came out 😅

I received an award for my food history class from the previous semester (the one where I would sometimes have classes in the kitchen)

the semester I just had was actually pretty pleasant. Of course I got stressed a few times but that was just because of deadlines, and never about the classes themselves

KHX NOVEL REVEAL YEAH BABEY!!!!

I got into watching The NyanCave, and seeing them play through the entire kh series was just really awesome and I’m glad I found them

I met so many fantastic people this year and I’m forever grateful to all of them for making my days so much brighter in their own various ways, but I’m gonna give a shout out to @stresslitzia for being a sweet snazzy cat and especially for appreciating my bad puns like the good friend she is 😌👌

KHUX FINALLY UPDATED THE MAIN STORY AFTER SO LONG……and snatched us all by the neck with the siblings reveal

I binged all of She-Ra, loved it, and I’m in the middle of working through RWBY right now, which I’m also loving so far

I didn’t make a post about it bc I didn’t really want a lot of attention and whatever but I now own a PS4 for the sole purpose of playing kh3 on it (though I might still watch cutscenes at some point whenever someone uploads them bc I’m impatient and need to consume the story immediately)

KHX NOVEL COVER REVEALED AND MY KIDS LOOK SO CUTE

I watched Into the Spiderverse and it was soooo cool. I’d love to watch it again sometime

and…..I think that’s a wrap! Hopefully I didn’t leave anything out!

may 2019 be good to us all ⭐️