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What would you change about the KH:BBS storyline?



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magic713

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So, now we are up to BBS. What would you change to improve the story of the game? Big or small, I'd love to hear thoughts. (When I was rewatching vids for this one, I think I got dizzy from lore overload XD)

Well, firstly whatever world each character starts in should be part one of the world's story, if the first world to visit is not optional. I do like the form of storytelling, where you get to see different points of view, but I do understand it could be annoying to revisit the exact same worlds, so I guess it depends.

For Terra (besides axing his chronic gullibility), I wouldn't want him to be possessed by Xehanort, but to be taken hold by the darkness he wields. That Xehanort's plan was to simply pass the darkness to another person, but to do that, the vessel needed to be open to darkness otherwise the person could not hold it. It cannot be given away, but has to be taken by someone in combat, defeating them, before it passes onto the victor. And maybe the name Xehanort could be more of a title than a legit name. Once Terra is corrupted by the darkness, the name is his. And also, instead of first meeting Xehanort at the start of BBS, at least leave it implied that he was someone who had frequently in the past showed admiration towards Terra.

For Ven's story, in the flashblack of Eraqus and Xehanort fight with them looking much younger than their current appearance. Make it look like Eraqus had years to think Xehanort gave up on creating the X-Blade, which is why he was welcomed to LoD. In regard to show, don't tell, let info on Ven's past slowly be uncovered throughout the story. No exposition dump from Xehanort.

I would throw out Enchanted Dominion and have Maleficent as a bigger antagonist in the game. Working with Xehanort, as an ally of his, and hoping to use him to gain access to Kingdom Hearts. And she is pitted more against Aqua to deter her from interfering with his plans, in different worlds. (I didn't like that we had the Sleeping Beauty storyline in the game as I prefer Maleficent's dragon form being her inner darkness unleashed by the evil keyblade in KH1, and not a form she could take on her own, like in the film.) Maybe Maleficent starts recruiting other villains, like Hook (as he somehow has a ship that can safely voyage passengers through worlds safely without using dark powers) and Hades to help her for KH1. Also, Aqua's "Master" status really doesn't seem to mean anything. I really don't see a point to it. It feels like her story is to watch helplessly as her friends suffer and unable to stop it. Perhaps because she had no role in the bad guy's immediate plans, unlike Terra and Ventus.

Maybe the game could have lightened up a bit on the foreshadowing stuff. I saw no point in some scenes, besides fanfare, like Lea and Isa appearance.
 
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MATGSY

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All things considered, I have less issues with the overall story of BBS than other games & wouldn't really change too much.

That said, Terra's Anakin Saga was a bit of a cop out in making him more of a gullible idiot working with Disney villains than someone actually giving in to darkness as a means to an end. This is still a guy who was ok with taking Snow White's heart but relented only because she was a PoH. Guess if it was some other random woman then it would've been fine. Over time this facet from earlier in Terra's story has kinda been dropped.

Definitely some dialogue that could stand to be rewritten. 4 year olds do not talk like that!

& the Roxas foreshadowing with Ven meeting so many future org members doesn't really make sense in hindsight when KH3 insists on treating the 2 as separate entities anyway.
 

Absent

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  • Ease up on the suspension of disbelief. The gullible Terra bit got old real fast.
  • Stop force/reminding me that TAV are friends, show me.
  • The whole intro scene with Ven/Sora and the ending is a complete mess and the fact that most fans don't understand the connotations is a big screw up. We're supposed to believe a newborn heart has a mature enough conscience to seek out and communicate?
  • Everything about Aqua, she felt like a vessel for the player to insert themselves into the story. Give her something personal to overcome and change by the end, you know basic development.
  • Delve deeper on Master Eraqus and clarify that it wasn't the Light that blinded him, but that he unknowingly gave himself to darkness because of his fear and obsession.
  • NOT have Donald and Goofy at the Mysterious Tower. They had the PERFECT world for them to make sense with the lore.
  • The whole trio confrontation in Radiant Garden was so bad, either delete it or redo it with a better lead up. Everyone felt so out of character.
  • Ease up on the member berries. Even, Dilan, Aeleus, and Braig was perfect. Isa and Lea was ok, Ienzo was pushing it.
  • No Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony, unless they literally inherit like Aqua and MX/Braig.
  • The Keyblade ceremony is still to this day misunderstood. People still believe Sora can wield the Kingdom Key because of Ventus.
  • Make Sora and Riku act more childish? I have a hard time believing they were 4 and 5.
  • Small world syndrome. MX being from DI to parallel Riku but it doesn't go anywhere. Kairi was reason enough to inspire him, we don't need extra.
  • Make Maleficent more prominent and have her appear in radiant garden, setting the stage of what's to come.
 

Soldier

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  • NOT have Donald and Goofy at the Mysterious Tower. They had the PERFECT world for them to make sense with the lore.
  • Make Maleficent more prominent and have her appear in radiant garden, setting the stage of what's to come.
Donald and Goofy appearing at the Mysterious Tower makes sense from a lore standpoint, given the fact that they'd return 11 years later in KH 2 they likely haven't been there in a long time, as the lanes between were closed until the barriers broke prior to KH 1. Plus it gives you their D-Links, which while not absurdly powerful compared to Mickey's, are still a nice reference to their original KH styles when fully leveled up.

Maleficent appearing in Radiant Garden during BBS would be difficult for her to do, as the heartless haven't been created yet. It's established that Maleficent was able to go on her planetary genocide BECAUSE of the heartless and broken barriers between the worlds, and given that it's supposed to happen when Leon and the gang were still children, it forces things to be a bit more... planned out.
 

Zackarix

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Sometimes I like to imagine a version of Birth by Sleep that wasn't held back so much by being on a handheld system. So worlds can be more than minimal and party members exist.

What if Lea and Isa were Ven's party members in Radiant Garden? The story could feature them breaking into the castle instead of it happening offscreen. There they meet guards Dilan and Aeleus and have a super difficult boss fight that while technically winnable is designed for the player to lose. It doesn't help that Lea and Isa are actually pretty terrible party members when it comes to fighting, because it turns out that untrained juvenile delinquents aren't the best back up. Afterwards Ven is released to Terra and Aqua's custody, providing some build-up to the spat and falling out they have later.
 
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Absent

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Donald and Goofy appearing at the Mysterious Tower makes sense from a lore standpoint, given the fact that they'd return 11 years later in KH 2 they likely haven't been there in a long time, as the lanes between were closed until the barriers broke prior to KH 1. Plus it gives you their D-Links, which while not absurdly powerful compared to Mickey's, are still a nice reference to their original KH styles when fully leveled up.

Maleficent appearing in Radiant Garden during BBS would be difficult for her to do, as the heartless haven't been created yet. It's established that Maleficent was able to go on her planetary genocide BECAUSE of the heartless and broken barriers between the worlds, and given that it's supposed to happen when Leon and the gang were still children, it forces things to be a bit more... planned out.

what’s established is that Master Xehanort taught Maleficent about the existence of the Keyblade and the worlds beyond her own. What’s also established is the takeover happened 9 years before Kingdom Hearts 1, per Leon’s words in Traverse Town.

Lest we forget that important cutscene of Maleficent bailing Pete in the Lanes Between or whatever they call it now. So we see her traveling in BBS and trying to find the resources necessary to begin her venture. I’m not asking for the takeover, just the beginning of the operation.
 
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Zettaflare

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Have more scenes or flashbacks with the trio as friends as others mentioned. After their big argument in Radiant Garden they could have met in any of the Disney worlds after before the final battle to sort out their problems.

Minor nitpick but I also would have given TAV and Vanitas slightly younger designs in the four years prior to the start of the game
 

Zetta slow

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The one thing that bugs me about the game:
*deep breath*
TERRA COULD’VE JUST TOLD VEN THAT ERAQUS HAD GIVEN HIM AN ASSIGNMENT INSTEAD OF JUST SAYING “OH S’ALL GOOD!” AND ZIPPING OFF ON HIS HOVERBIKE! That way VEN would’ve just STAYED HOME, and there’s less chance of all the X-blade stuff happening! Or at least Ven would wait until Aqua and Eraqus could explain everything to him!
 

SweetYetSalty

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What would I change about BBS story? Kinda a tricky thing because honestly this is where the Xehanort/Dark Seeker Saga truly begins and changing one thing means changing the course to KH3. That being said I'll be copying what has already been said. Strap yourselves in this is long.

1) TAV actually being friends. I like them well enough as individuals, but as a group I never bought into them. The BBS novel warmed me up to TAV with a single chapter of them acting like a real family with Eraqus and it was better then anything they have in the games. Showcase moments like these in the game and maybe even extend the tutorial with Terra, Aqua, and Ven doing a few more activities together with Eraqus overseeing them so we can see more dynamics with them and connect with them.

2) Explain why they want to be Keyblade Masters. This trio kinda lacked a endgame motivation. Sora's group wanted to travel to see outside worlds being tired of their islander life, and wanted to find Kairi's homeworld. RAX wanted hearts to become human and live a real normal life. Why do Terra, Aqua, and Ventus want to be Keyblade Masters? Why is it their dream? Were they inspired by someone? Dive deeper into it to get to know them better. This could really help flesh them out.

3) Terra's darkness story. I like Terra, but he's one of the most misleading characters in BBS. Promotions and even the BBS opening suggest he's drawn to darkness. In the actual game Terra is anything but that. So if you want to have him be darkness make him jealous that Aqua's ahead of him or give him a actual backstory that warrants such darkness.

4) Kairi on Destiny Islands. I'd have her on the islands showing how she first met Riku and Sora and how the boys grew infatuated with her and vice versa. Would have been cute seeing all three play together as toddlers on the beach and reinforce their friendship for the future.

5) Tone down Riku's maturity a bit. The same kid who doesn't believe in Santa Claus now believes in magic keys? I feel like they wanted Riku to be more like his KH2 counterpart. BBS Riku was a little too mature to grow into KH1 Riku. So let him act more like a kid with Sora.

6) Explain Vanitas's face in story. Correct me if I am wrong but the game never explains why Vanitas looks like KH2 Sora and if it did it wasn't through the story. I don't even think the game explains Ventus met Sora twice. This needs a in game explanation.

7) Donald and Goofy at Yen Sid's tower. Probably one of the most infamous KH changes next to DDD's time travel. But this is a easy fix. Have them at Disney Town instead and not even know Mickey is a Keyblade wielder, as he keeps that life secret from them. This fixes a huge plot hole in the series.

8) Isa actually being a friend. Isa is basically Saix junior, and I never understood what Lea ever saw in this guy until KH3, almost a decade later. Fix that here, still have him snarky but also show a friendly side of him or just something that equals good qualities to have in a friend. Ven and Lea were better friends for crying out loud.

9) Ventus and Aqua having better stories. After the Radiant Garden segment, these two lack reasons for still travel to worlds. Ven has a good story overall but after Radiant Garden he reaches a slow point in the game. I would simply give him a real reason to keep traveling. Same with Aqua who just becomes leftovers at this point.

10) Keyblade inheritance. This ones all over the place. We have two Keyblade ceremonies in this game and neither meet the requirements of a proper ceremony according to the lore of how this is suppose to work. And if you can get the ceremony and still not get a Keyblade out of it, then what is the point?

I might do a part 2, because there is so much more like Master Xehanort, Eraqus, Maleficent, the apprentices, Terranort/Apprentice Xehanort, Radiant Garden, the theme of balancing light and darkness, Disney worlds, Mickey and more. But as always this is too long as it is.
 

Zackarix

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I know that it probably would been badly received in a mobile game, but BbS would have benefitted greatly from a KH2-style extended prologue. One of the big complaints about BbS is that it focuses on a friend group that much of the audience doesn't buy. Seeing what TAV's life is like when they're together and not in times of crisis would go a long way in selling their friendship. And maybe fewer people would be so dismissive of Eraqus if he had more screen time that didn't involve him failing his students.
 

Elysium

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I wish I could wipe this game from existence. The only good things that came out of this thing are Aqua and the Command Board, imo.

I suppose if I have to accept its story is needed and how to fix it... Well, they could start by making the characters act more real and be less hollow / plot-driven. That's a vague statement, but it would require dialogue improvement and so on, not simply an easy story change. So much of this game just leaves no emotional impact... I mean, the scene where ATV are interacting at the beginning and laughing, it's so awful and robotic. And the confrontation between the three at Radiant Garden is equally stilted. Terra's story is so unbelievable because he just acts way too stupid to be real--plot-induced stupidity.

Also I would've streamlined this game a great deal. Maybe three scenarios would've been great with better characters / story to work with, but nevertheless we're working with this game. I think the Drop mechanic--or, rather, something like it--would've suited this story more. I wouldn't have had all three characters go to every single world outside the princess worlds, Radiant Garden, and the final world. After Radiant Garden, I'd have them each only go to one or two worlds tops each before the ending begins for each character.* Instead of having scenarios, the game would've been better to switch from character to character in some kind of ordered format, imo, to make it less of a slog.

I still hate that we see nothing of Radiant Garden's past that would actually interest me to see (the Apprentices' experiments, Maleficent's takeover, the FF characters). The FF characters could've easily been involved in this game without much trouble, but I'm not sure about the other two since all the characters are sort of stuck in a timeline set before that. Maleficent could've at least been on the outskirts of the story of Radiant Garden, perhaps spying on Ansem the Wise and his apprentices. It would've been interesting if the Enchanted Dominion's world ended with Aqua defeating Dragon Maleficent, but Maleficent ultimately winning as the Heartless destroy that world in a sort of lost-the-battle-won-the-war tactic on Maleficent's part. (We know Enchanted Dominion was destroyed after all, why not show it happen.) Naturally Maleficent would disappear into a portal with Aurora. It would be sort of dark, but then the stepfamily get killed when they didn't have to in this game... Oh, that reminds me--the Heartless should've been the enemies, not the Unversed anyway. I almost forgot about that. The Unversed were always a dumb enemy type to me, especially since KH2 made it a fact that the Heartless exist in the worlds even when the walls aren't broken.

As for how to show more of the what we know is in Radiant Garden's past, perhaps the final episode where Aqua fights Terranort could be set a little farther out in the future from the rest of BbS. As in, she searches through the worlds looking for Terra for ages before stumbling on him at Radiant Garden in the form of one of Ansem the Wise's apprentices--perhaps in the middle of one of some of his experiments after Ansem the Wise has already been exiled? And perhaps Maleficent's takeover could begin while she's fighting Terranort and before she ends up falling into the realm of darkness trying to save Terra. Terranort's unconscious body could be shown being swarmed by the Heartless and we see the beginnings of the Organization with Xemnas' "birth," too.

*On that point, I would have swapped out Disney Town or the Coliseum for Atlantica. Ursula is a character that naturally suits Terra's story (unlike Hook or Hades), the backstory Triton gives us in KH1 could've been explained by Terra mucking things up (perhaps he helps Ursula's attempt to takeover before she's exiled), plus having a costume change somewhere would've added a little freshness in the second half. I'd prefer keeping the Coliseum over Disney Town since we get to see teen Herc as well as Zack (and I always hated Disney Town), but either/or, that's just my personal preference.
 
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Soldier

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I still hate that we see nothing of Radiant Garden's past that would actually interest to me see (the Apprentices destroying the world, Maleficent's takeover, the FF characters). The FF characters could've easily been involved in this game, but I'm not sure how else to make the other two part of the game since all the character's are sort of stuck in a story set before that. Maleficent could've at least been on the outskirts of the story of Radiant Garden, perhaps spying on Ansem the Wise and his apprentices. It would've been interested if the Enchanted Dominion's world ended with Aqua defeating Dragon Maleficent, but Maleficent ultimately winning as the Heartless destroy that world in a sort of lost the battle, won the war plot. (We know that world was destroyed, why not show it happen.) Sort of dark, but then the stepfamily get killed... Oh, that reminds me--the Heartless should've been the enemies in this game, not the Unversed anyway. I almost forgot about that. The Unversed were always a dumb enemy type to me, especially since KH2 made it so the Heartless exist in worlds even when the walls aren't broken.

*On that point, I would have swapped out Disney Town or the Coliseum for Atlantica. Ursula is a character that naturally suits Terra's story (unlike Hook or Hades), the backstory Triton gives us in KH1 could've been explained by Terra mucking things up (perhaps he helps Ursula's attempt to takeover before she's exiled), plus having a costume change somewhere would've added a little freshness in the second half. I'd prefer keeping the Coliseum over Disney Town since we get to see teen Herc as well as Zack (and I always hated Disney Town), but either/or, that's just my personal preference.
Nomura dropped the FF characters from being involved as it would've made things too complicated. And it seems that you forget that the events of BBS were the reason WHY the heartless were made. It's because of Xehanort's actions that they become such a threat to the worlds.
(Though I do admit I'd love to see a story focused around Maleficent gathering her league and enacting planetary genocide, we still know so little about how that came to be).

Ah, TAV really did need world forms for their game, it's been such a staple that so many people have wanted it for nearly every character. I could imagine combat would be a nightmare, but it'd be interesting to see what sea creature they'd turn into (maybe a Coelacanth lower body for Terra, given his whole "rock" deal).
 

Elysium

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And it seems that you forget that the events of BBS were the reason WHY the heartless were made. It's because of Xehanort's actions that they become such a threat to the worlds.
The Emblem Heartless anyway. They do become more of a threat because of that, but I don't think it would be unreasonable to think Vanitas as well as Xehanort and Maleficent in combination could've drawn out more pureblood Heartless than might have appeared naturally on their own. Destiny Islands after all is overthrown by shadows and a Darkside, with no Emblems to be seen.
 

magic713

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Ease up on the member berries. Even, Dilan, Aeleus, and Braig was perfect. Isa and Lea was ok, Ienzo was pushing it.
Ienzo could have only appeared with Ansem, the Wise in after credits, instead of being a silent, unresponsive (and a bit unsettling) child in Ven's story. The appearance of Lea and Isa had no real point, and felt too random. Like the writers just really wanted an appearance of Axel and Saix's Somebodies, the writing was finished so the just shoved them into a scene with no deserved context.
 
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Soldier

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The Emblem Heartless anyway. They do become more of a threat because of that, but I don't think it would be unreasonable to think Vanitas as well as Xehanort and Maleficent in combination could've drawn out more pureblood Heartless than might have appeared naturally on their own. Destiny Islands after all is overthrown by shadows and a Darkside, with no Emblems to be seen.
Ah, but even purebloods at this time were very rare, as Ansem encountered the shadows in the deepest parts of Radiant Garden's castle and his discovery of the keyhole. True, Master Xehanort brought out some Neoshadows to bring out Ventus's inner strength, but the chances of him bringing up an entire army seems like it would've taken considerable time/effort.

As for purebloods taking over DI with no emblems... I've got a theory on that. The way the world map is laid out in KH 1 is very simple: The closer you are to the end of the world, the stronger heartless you encounter. Because I imagine DI was somewhere off to the left of Disney Castle, it was the furthest point away from the Heartless's artificial homeworld and thus was less likely to warrant stronger heartless like soldiers, for comparison.
 

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The appearance of Lea and Is a had no real point, and felt too random. Like the writers just really wanted an appearance of Axel and Saix's Somebodies, the writing was finished so the just shoved them into a scene with no deserved context.
I saw a theory once that Lea and Isa took the roles that were originally intended for young Leon and Cloud. They would have been around the same age but once it was decided to not feature FF characters in Radiant Garden they were swapped out for popular KH OCs who were in need of more backstory. And considering the wacky histories we're getting for the other neophytes I'm glad that we got something relatively down-to-earth for Axel and Saix.

But then again, I was much fonder of the original implied backstory that they ended up being test subjects rather than what KH3 eventually went with.
 
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kirabook

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Hm, let's see how long I can make my laundry list
  1. Not ever character should have a story in every world. At most, 2 of the 3 should have a story in each world. There should still be enemies and collectables for the 1 character that doesn't officially have to be there.
  2. Based on the first point, since most worlds would only have 2 characters, there should be at least 1 or 2 worlds where TAV are together doing something before splitting up again. Examples: (Dwarf Woodlands being Terra and Ven only, Castle of Dreams being Aqua and Ven only, Enchanted Dominion being Terra and Aqua only, Hercules a joint world, Radiant Garden partially joint world before split, etc)
  3. Because of point #1 and #2, there would be more time for each character to spend time in the world/story. They would also get more time together.
  4. Although I personally don't feel Aqua's role was lacking nor was she a self insert, but having the story split up this way would have given her more opportunities to not just be cleaning up/closing out worlds for Ven and Terra who left things a mess (even though that's kind of the point of her story)
  5. Give Mirage Arena a purpose. I mean, I don't mind that it's a random blob in the middle of nowhere, but at least give it a little lore??
  6. Be a little less campy. They had Ven meeting all the org members. It's meant to be fanservice because "Hurr hurr Roxas", but Ven isn't Roxas. Why not have Terra meeting some of those characters? At LEAST Vexen.
  7. I feel like Terra was a bit too naive yeah. We were told he craved power, but didn't REALLY see him seeking out power? He was clearly jealous of Aqua, but still it probably isn't clear enough. Even with the Radiant Garden blow out. Maybe Terra ends up in Maleficent's castle first and he's impressed by her power and control over the darkness and she agrees to help him grow stronger as well -but actually tricks him into taking Aurora's heart-. Sorta like that KH2 plotline where Hades tricked Sora into opening the Underworld Colesium, or Days where they tricked Roxas and Xion into fighting each other. It's at that point he should at least know not to trust people like Maleficent. But maybe he is just so impressed with his strength that he questions Eraqus's methods and decides to "see for himself if it's bad" and uses it more, with maybe worse results.
  8. For the Radiant Garden blow out, I've been saying for years they could've made one minor change that would make it all make sense. SHOW AQUA SEEING TERRA DOING SHADY THINGS. Even if what he's doing isn't shady, at least make it appear to her that he is. Show her making excuses for him until there's like a clear and obvious "third strike" that makes her accuse him like that in Radiant Garden. Don't have Aqua acting all confident Terra wouldn't do anything in front of Maleficent and then turn her around and accuse Terra anyway. It's just... so weird. Something was missing. They had this fight planned out from the getgo likely but failed properly building up to it so it ended up being a bit awkward.
  9. In the original trailers of BbS, Xehanort appeared to be stalking Ven, showing up in random places where he was and .... it kinda looked like hypnotism or something to be honest. Anyway, it'd be nice for there to be more lore drops with Ven earlier in the story and throughout rather than backloaded at the end. Like, maybe at first Ven ran away to catch up with Terra, but why not include him having weird flashbacks and other stuff that doesn't make sense which enourages him to keep going through the worlds to learn more about himself. Even at the beginning of BbS, Ven was on the cusp of remembering something and Aqua interrupted his thoughts with a lie "But you've always lived here with us." Explore that concept.
  10. Not release this game on PSP? As cool as it is and I like the battle system, I would've preferred this on the PS2/PS3. I know PS2 was going out of fashion, but everyone still had a PS2 and they games were selling well??? Just a weird decision. I know japan is big on handhelds though so eh.

Things I don't mind:
  1. Riku and Sora. Maybe Riku was a little mature, but I think they sounded their age. Especially Sora. Sora even acknowledges Riku says weird sh!t sometimes so I think they know.
  2. I don't mind that it was Sora connecting his heart to Ven's either. If hearts are recycled and reborn, I don't think it's too weird that a newborn heart may still have some brains before completely melting away. The newborn heart didn't do anything big brain either? It was like "I saw something shiny and came to come see it. Oh you're hurt? Here, I'll kiss your boo boo." I think it takes the magic out of things to insist a newborn heart being literally goo goo ga ga baby. The only way I could think of it changing is if the newborn heart said absolutely nothing and just bumped into Ven and fixed his heart like fate/coincidence. But something like that I think is hard to represent visually compared to how they decided to do it.
  3. Hm, I don't think Maleficent was too bad. We got early indications that she was big brain and her knowledge reached beyond her world. This is something every other KH game since has forgotten. None of the villains know jack about the outside world except Maleficent and like, Hades. I think at this point, it was just too early for her to start making power moves. It might've been too campy to start seeing her interacting with villains already. We've only really got... Hook and Hades in this game? I just can't picture her popping up on their worlds to have a chat.
  4. Vanitas's face. You see, back in the dayyyy, the story used to be that Roxas/Sora were pretty much identical except their hair. The same could be said for Ven and Vanitas. But, was it around BbS time that they gave Ven a makeover and made him look... different somehow. So even though they look the same they aren't exactly the same. The REAL question is why Sora looks like Ven and by extension, Vanitas. But, I think the answer is because their heart touched and they basically became soul family and started resembling each other a bit.
 

Max

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The End of Time
1) TAV actually being friends. I like them well enough as individuals, but as a group I never bought into them. The BBS novel warmed me up to TAV with a single chapter of them acting like a real family with Eraqus and it was better then anything they have in the games. Showcase moments like these in the game and maybe even extend the tutorial with Terra, Aqua, and Ven doing a few more activities together with Eraqus overseeing them so we can see more dynamics with them and connect with them.
I've been curious about the Kingdom Hearts novels lately, and this alone make me want to at least read Birth by Sleep. When I was a kid/teenager, I wanted KH novels so bad. I settled for the manga, but I wanted books for whatever reason. Now they exist and I'm not as excited for them as I once would have been, but the kid in me still wants to check them out.

As for what I would change in Birth by Sleep? I'll leave it at one big thing that would have really improved the experience for me anyway: change the story presentation. I really wasn't a fan of running through the entirety of Terra's story, then all of Ven's, then all of Aqua's. I would have much preferred something in the vein of how they handled it in Dream Drop. It made Birth by Sleep feel a little disjointed several times for me, it pulled me out of it a little bit too everytime it was time to restart, jumping from an epic final battle back to the same Disney worlds I started to want to be done with. I just know, for me anyway, I would have enjoyed the story a lot more if we jumped between characters when necessary like in Dream Drop.
 

magic713

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As for what I would change in Birth by Sleep? I'll leave it at one big thing that would have really improved the experience for me anyway: change the story presentation. I really wasn't a fan of running through the entirety of Terra's story, then all of Ven's, then all of Aqua's. I would have much preferred something in the vein of how they handled it in Dream Drop. It made Birth by Sleep feel a little disjointed several times for me, it pulled me out of it a little bit too everytime it was time to restart, jumping from an epic final battle back to the same Disney worlds I started to want to be done with. I just know, for me anyway, I would have enjoyed the story a lot more if we jumped between characters when necessary like in Dream Drop.
I see what you mean. I do like that form of storytelling, getting to see the story from different viewpoints, but it is honestly more of a narrative device suitable for films than for games, especially when the narrative only switches when you played the entire campaign of a character and have to repeat multiple times.
 
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