Uh, by the time I read something about Gula I realized it was a spoiler. SEPH WHY.
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Thank you for the award, Seph! I will wear it proudly, always.
Yeah, it's been a few months. xD I'll try my best to stay atop of it with the new year approaching! Speaking of which, I wish you a early Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
How are you doing lately, Sephy?
I'm near sighted, but I can't see far away. I can make out stop signs, but I can't read words on highway signs. Thankfully, I don't drive. So it isn't too much of a problem. lol. xD
Even before I was a mod, I was terrible about responding. I just have too many friends, happen to be lazy, life gets in the way, vacation, or I'm reviewing stories. @.@ Therefore, it's okay, cause that's the truth. I do wish I were better about it- speaking of which, I won't be around too much during Christmas because, I'll be spending time with my family and siblings, who happen to be on break. So it's up to you when you'd like to message me again. xD
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If you wanted to talk about creating characters aka Creating a Warrior, you're more than welcome to do in the Creative Writing section. It'd be a cool topic to have, and seeing the different aspects of how people go about it. C:
I can imagine it'd be difficult balancing Kairi out. It is amazing seeing what bonds she's proven to have thus far. I really like the moments she was with Namine, and learning what she needed to know from her. I'd love to see what it'd be like for her to bond with Sora or Riku, considering both are sort of comatose at the moment? It's been awhile since I've read Hearts in Unison. But take it from me, you're doing a great job balancing it out with personality and fleshing the characters really well! Even if it takes awhile to update, you'll still have loyal fans eagerly reading the next chapter you put out.
Everything health and work wise still going well?
Do you get a break any time soon from work, Sephy? :3
Haha, it's not so bad being reliable on making supper and stuff. I like to cook, and cleaning makes me feel like good, somewhat.
Were you able to complete everything in BBS?
I feel the same about 2.8 despite not playing Unchained X. It'll be nice to see what's in store with Back Cover and BBS 0.2, cause if it implies things for KHIII, then that's something really worth getting excited about. Of course, DDD did that too. But compared to having it in Aqua's perspective, I can see the hype for it. I like that Ventus and Maleficent will become more important too.
I wouldn't of known the difference with Ephemer having an 'a' or not. xD However, I was surprised to see you change it after how long you had Ventus in your avatar for!
If you say so. I remember playing it a few times and being stuck on it on the PS3. Admittedly, I agree it's better on a new system in comparison to the PSP though. I wonder which song it was that made you feel a bit crazy with it's beat?
Dynasty Warriors sounds like fun when you can beat up Adolf Hitler. Lol. xD
260 characters is a lot. I imagine you've most likely made a lot more since then though. :3
Unfortunately, I don't know who that is in your spoiler box.
Heh, guess it's time for a new vessel, eh?
Happy Birthday, German friend.
Thanks! I never saw the visitor's message until now, lol. I really should check my notifications more properly, haha.
A little bit of that, a bit of the private stuff. My opinion on the world is my biography lol. I guess I'm more depressed than anything.
I've been a busy guy. XD Things have gotten pretty crazy lately. Things... Have changed. And I feel kinda lost actually.
Hey. It's been a while since we last talked. Or really since I've spoken to anyone on here. How's it going?
Just wondering, does it have a story? I know it's an extremely cute nostalgia-romp but given that it's an SE title, I couldn't help but wonder...
Let's hope that the baby horse chicken and all the other figurines cost less than $50. Fans won't have anything left after FFXV and KH 2.8. x'D
Yeah, I like that idea. Having unlimited access SOUNDS fun, but being overpowered gets old fast. It'd be kind of like the same concept behind the shortcut magic system of KH1: you're limited to only a few options out of many, so you have to think carefully about which ones you chose to equip. Consider their different advantages and weaknesses, the kinds of enemies you're facing, everything... or choose to completely disregard those options if you so choose. Only instead of spells that last for only a second, you're choosing between gameplay mechanics...
To be honest, I was pretty indifferent towards Command Styles. They usually weren't all too helpful against bosses, but they did add some extra flair to regular fights.
Now just imagine Geezernort screeching "Magic wand, make my monsters GROW" and turning Ansem and Xemnas into the Gutship and Blue Eyes White Dragon for a final showdown.
... Why am I even surprised, Disney rules everything now, ha.
Speaking of Power Rangers, what're your thoughts on this... reboot movie that's in the works? Some of my friends saw it during movie theater previews and they were caught completely off-guard by the Power Rangers title at the very end.
Alright, thanks. I've been taking my sweet time on writing it (unfortunately) but it should be done, especially since I'm taking a brief break from internet lurking.
Guess button-mashing does it for me, because I enjoyed the game from start to finish (on Critical Mode anyways, lol). Gotta say I'm really glad that I'm not stuck with the vanilla version, because I enjoyed the data battles too. Sometimes, I'd start up the game just so I could go and clobber Xemnas a few times. D'you have any data battles that you enjoyed in particular?
That's what I've heard, and I have to admit that it's discouraged me from ever trying. I'm not as big of a strategist as you, but there's something satisfying about using some actual problem-solving to vercome a challenge rather than relying on dumb luck. Take that out, and the fight just isn't worth the trouble.
To be fair, Nomura's not a writer by trade and gameplay takes precedence over story in the development of each game, for better or worse. The story's made to justify the gameplay scenarios rather than the other way around. It doesn't dismiss the fact that the writing can be very off at times and is flawed overall, of course, but it's also been proven time and again that good gameplay has an easier time making up for a lacking story. Isn't that right, massive KH2 fanbase? =w=
I didn't even have much interest until I saw that Omen trailer. Back when I first joined KHi, I saw discussions about the game, but I either had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, or the constant negativity over pretty much everything Tabata said or did (that whole Stella thing, or graphics, or tweeting about how the design crew was studying boulders for environment-building) drove me off real quick. The KH-esque real-time battle system and the music by Shimomura had me a little intrigued, but something about that trippy 3 minutes of dogs, guns, and inception falling moved me more than all those screenshots and gameplay clips I'd seen in the past months.
Just imagine if Shibuya was in KH3. Big ol' city, Noise-inspired Heartless, Shiki dragging Riku, Kairi, and possibly Lea to clothes stores to get em clothes that normal people would wear. ... hopefully it'd have at least a few NPCs, come to think. The whole "empty world" thing would seriously clash with a setting that's pretty much defined by the diverse swarms of people everywhere.
*sweats* Half the country must be made up of those kinds of people, because they've been having a meltdown since election day. What do they even think they're going to accomplish? e_e
i really have no faith left in anything anymore. i understand how and why this happened (morbid stupidity), but i still dont comprehend it.
sorry its 3am near me so i'm not the brightest right now so dont mind me
those were all meant as jokes in the worst kh pairing thread, i thought it was forum insanity but hey, good to know i'm still the same prick i've always been.
Hm, maybe if I can get it for $50 or less, I might reconsider. The cuteness has been… persuasive. I haven’t seen more than what’s been posted on this site besides a gif of all the chibis dancing, and I’m tempted to add it to my to-do list.
Ha, it can’t be Final Fantasy without having at least a few giant eldritch abominations that’re impossible to draw.
See there it goes again, I’m thinking of forking over cash over a baby horse chicken and a Moogle plushie that looks like it’s saying “deal with it.” :’D
Well, even Drive Forms do turn out to be just as broken and ridiculous as in KH2, they’ll still be completely optional (other than possibly using them to get mobility upgrades, but you can just stop campaigning to grind a bit if that’s the case). It won’t be like, say, Command Styles in BBS, where they’re automatically activated and used whether a player wants them or not.
Pfft, that was great. I’ve actually made a silly habit of humming “Go go Power Rangers” whenever TAV transform. Power Ranger Jedi Knights. I thought this was a Disney-Square crossover. x’D
“Basic Bullshit Script?” Thank you, I’m dying from laughter now.
I was thinking of posting this theory in the main forums. Would you mind if I mentioned some of the points you made too? I’m kinda curious about what others might add to it now.
Really? I think you’ve got to be the first person I’ve ever met who’s claimed KH2’s battle system was one of the worst. I mean sure, the game is usually so easy that basic Keyblade whacking is more than enough to cruise right through, but when it’s used to its fullest potential (ie the Lingering Will fight), it requires a level of thought and skill to win. Whereas BBS makes haxy approaches like dodge and surge spam the only viable way to defeat the likes of No Heart and Trollanort.
… Geez I keep bringing up BBS whenever I start talking negatives of KH. I gotta stop that.
I often hear authors talk about how much their stories change from draft to draft, sometimes to the point where the final draft looks nothing like the first attempt, and how their characters take on a life of their own and develop in ways that the authors themselves “never expected.” I suppose having a more concrete and detailed outline can work if it’s a one-shot or a short story, but if it’s going to be a saga that will stretch over several volumes and many years… Well, it might be best to allow it to emulate real life, and allow for unplanned developments and unexpected little details along the way. Keeps things engaging for both the reader and the writer, doesn’t it?
You missed the FFXV Brotherhood anime up until now?? I woulda thought everyone had seen its announcement during the Uncovered event.
Just one big friend circle, huh? I’ll take it.
Ok I need this Kairi-Neku tag team in my life now. Please, SE… make Kairi relevant and Shibuya present for the snark’s sake…
But no matter the specifics, I think we can conclude with certainty that Unchained DOES refer to one’s ability to transcend their current state of reality. That much was more or less implied or confirmed in Chi, right?
That’s true, but I kinda doubt that the Foretellers had that sort of positioning to benefit them. As you noted some time before, this Keyblade War is something of a tactical fustercluck. Plus normal armies don’t usually have units that can use crazy magical attacks or leap so far and high that they might as well be flying.
It’s more likely that they’ll be the last ones standing just because it’s a standard device for creating climactic drama. e_e
I wish. So many people are apathetic or lazy to the point that they don’t even know who George Washington was. I can’t see them benefitting from any education on Western civilization, no matter how good the teachers are, if they can’t be bothered to pull their heads out of their sports teams and movie stars to give a flying fudge.
…Ugh sorry, I didn’t mean to go all pessimistic there. But even at an expensive, high-level school, we still have a number of lazy bums who make god-awful grades, not because they're stupid, but because they just don't care. If it happens here, it’s bound to be a problem elsewhere.
I’m currently trying to save up for future titles, plus I don’t have much nostalgia for the series, so I’m passing on World of Final Fantasy, but damn if everything in that game isn’t adorable. I mean that chibi Sephiroth. The way that the seriousness of his whole attack sequence is coupled with a cinnamon roll who knows he’s too fabulous for the world is just precious.
And now, thanks to that game, for the first time ever, we’ve got an incarnation of Sora with teeny tiny shoes. (And in-game recognition outside of his own series.) 8D
I was pretty surprised by the reveal of Drive Forms, then a bit concerned about the balancing of the game, but I’m now not too worried about those forms being too overpowered. Just because they were borderline broken in KH2 doesn’t mean they will be in KH3, kinda like how Flowmotion seems to be a bit toned down from its OP DDD incarnation. This mechanic will have to share space with around half a dozen others, so it’s more likely that they won’t be outstandingly broken.
If anyone’s got Power ranger suits, it’d be TAV. Even if the armor is purely cosmetic from a gameplay standpoint.
“Actions speak louder than words” and “a picture’s worth a thousand words,” after all. Especially when both action and image are detailed, beautiful, and very metaphorical. Poetic description can turn the most mundane things into profound, mind-blowing experiences.
If only we’d gotten Dorky Terra instead of discount Anakin Skywalker…
Cie’th stone… Geez, that’s harsh. So, a heart can’t die, it just gets a fate WORSE than death.
Disjointed memories, huh? That could actually even play into a gameplay-storyline integration, being the reason why a Player can take on so many different appearances and why the story can be seen through more than just a wielder’s perspective. Take a bunch of bits and pieces of the same event from a bunch of different people, swirl em all together, and make a dream out of it… it’d make sense that the Player’s appearance could be so volatile, and why we get to see snippets of events that the Player never witnessed (such as Ava’s meeting with Luxu or the death of that one Chirithy).
Mhm, my first question would be “why would there by Player memories lingering in Luxu’s Keyblade?” After all, Luxu seems to have had next to no contact with anyone for most of the story and never crossed blades with any normal wielders that we know of.
…Perhaps the best answer is both. The Goatblade ripped open Ven’s heart, but he was also in the Keyblade Graveyard when it happened. That vulnerable state might’ve allowed for lingering fragments of memory to “latch on” to his heart (possibly creating that Badlands background on his Station), while whatever was in the Goatblade left a bit of an impression (namely, things that the Player DIDN’T experience) at the same time.
Of course this is all nearly baseless speculation. I have no way to prove that dead people’s memories could behave in such a way.
Narrative-wise, KH2 is a sloppy fustercluck, but it has excellent gameplay (on Critical Mode…) and a lot of polished mechanics as its saving graces, which were apparently enough to set KH2 as the status quo for good KH gameplay ever since. BBS, unfortunately, had neither exceptional storytelling nor gameplay to help itself out. Sure, it’s not as overwhelmingly bad in either field as KH2’s story, but it’s just kinda mediocre all around. Which is arguably worse.
So by “gardener,” folks like present-day Nomura and Martin are sorta setting up a frame for a kudzu plant to grow all over, rather than methodically trimming a bonsai into a perfect predetermined shape or just letting the vines just grow rampant all over the ground. It’s controlled (somewhat) and has a base structure (mostly), but the storyline still takes on its shape by growing naturally.
Now if only Nomura could’ve been a bit more diligent with pruning his kudzu’s vines when it needed it…
I’m pretty sure some FFXV spoilers could’ve kicked me in the face and I wouldn’t have noticed. The most I know is some names, the existence of some gameplay mechanics, and the basic premise for the story.
… Nah, I’d be happier if Kairi and Lea could just be a duo. We already got enough trios as it is. And aside from their rocky past, just from what I’ve seen from Axel’s interactions with Roxas and Xion during Days, I just wanna see him get stuck with someone with a bit of snark. Kai’s been hinted to have a bit of this in her personality (though it’s actually been SHOWN in the manga more than anywhere else), and I’d like to see some of that in action.
Hm, ok. We’re assuming that Unchained is the “upper layer,” and those who get “closer to the truth” are the ones who become Unchained and (presumably) escape to that layer… Oh, and if we’re assuming that Luxu’s Keyblade had something to do with Ven being involved…
Alright, so here’s some guesswork. KHUX is the dream created by whatever’s lingering in Luxu’s Keyblade. The inner layer- plain ol’ KHX- is formed up by a collective of fragmented memories that were floating around the Keyblade Graveyard and latched themselves onto Ven when the Goatblade tore his heart open. Which would also mean that Ven is the one exploring both dreams.
Yeah, but Josh and Riku were both visitors in the Realm of Sleep and highly aware of where they were. They’re outsiders so to speak. I just wasn’t sure if someone who’s part of the dream (assuming that Ephemera, Skuld, and everyone else are parts of the dream and not Realm of Light visitors) could become aware of their state of being. Most of DDD didn’t seem to support this idea.
Memory shenanigans… oh oh. If KHX is formed primarily by scattered memories, that might be why attacks took the form of cards just like in CoM. Medal attacks are based off of memories that are yet to be made, and cards are based off of the wielders’ memories of using those attacks.
Yeah, having the leaders outlive the armies of mooks IS standard storytelling I guess… I probably am just looking at this from too realistic of an angle. Plus Ava did manage to keep most of the wielders as powerful as the Player out of the fight.
If there’s one thing I’ll brag on my school about, it’s the history program. Up until last year, the last time that my history class focused on American history was… five years ago holy diddly. But yeah, we started in ancient history, moved onto Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire the next year, and then talked allll about Bismarck, the Bohemians, Bavarians, and defenestration the next. Most of what you mentioned was covered about 4 years ago, so unfortunately my memory on all of it has become pretty cloudy.
*sits down in a daze*
Well holy mother of everything, the 27th was one of the most unexpectedly awesome days of all time. An epic FF XV trailer, KH3 screenshots that confirmed drive forms and Mount Olympus, unbelievable Pokemon news, AND that incredible 0.2 intro. The entire KH narrative will be on a single console. And Skyrim remastered came out on Friday. *u*
Seriously though, aside from the sheer beauty of that 0.2 intro, y’know what really got to me? The fact that, within 3 minutes of voiceless visuals, I got a better sense of a powerful relationship between those three than I ever did during BBS. All it took was some metaphorical visuals and facial expressions, and suddenly I cared about the fact that those three looked so happy while falling into the ocean together.
Ha, fear of failure is a universal motivation after all.
As eternal as they may be, it doesn’t seem like it’s out of the question that hearts can be lost, possibly forever. Now that I’m thinking about it, what does that say about hearts that are straight-up shattered, and don’t have a host heart to use as an ICU? Not corrupted by darkness, not sleeping, just smashed to bits and given no help, kinda like Ven at the start of BBS if Sora’s heart hadn’t encountered him. Do they just… disappear? Hearts are eternal because their existences aren’t tied to the soul or body, but there’re ways to physically tamper with and harm a heart; we’ve seen it for ourselves, but we’ve never really seen THE worst case scenario of a case like Ven’s… *scribbles down “things to ask in a Nomura interview” list*
… Um right, back to the conversation at hand.
Oh, that’s true! Geezernort was probably using the Goatblade when he met Ventus and passed the power to him. That feels like much less of a stretch than Ven happening to come across and absorb the lost heart of an ancient wielder, especially considering that the Goatblade apparently has a sort of will of its own… possibly a consciousness that could have some bizarre effects on an impressionable young heart.
We never get to see Ven’s station before he became a wielder, only after. That picture of the Badlands might be a sign of some pre-existing quality that made him a worthy choice, or it could be that “impression” that Luxu’s blade left behind.
I guess I could buy the “Namine memory bullshit,” though it makes me wonder why she got Mickey Mouse Syndrome and just forgot to mention that she found THAT slew of memories on top of whatever else she found. Unless she didn’t actually find those memories, just passively stirred them up.
And so the examples of why a delayed but complete game is better than a rushjob that was released on time. =__=
In all plans, whether it’s the outline for a story or the constitution for a country, it’s pretty important to leave a lot of things open and nonspecific, especially if you’re in for the long haul. Though I sometimes wonder if this series could’ve really benefitted from some more concrete future planning than it got…
Meh, my stance on spoilers is “I don’t care.” It’d be better if I avoided spoilers, but I don’t think they’d ruin the experience for me. The only KH games that I played totally unspoiled were Re:Coded, Days, and DDD. I watched let’s plays of all the others because at the time, with only a 3DS and no console, I believed I would never get the chance to play them. I ended up really enjoying them all despite knowing the story forwards and back by the time I got my hands on a PS3 and the ReMixes. It’s not too much unlike re-reading a decent book, and besides, watching and knowing isn’t the same as playing.
Heh, Riku’s always been a lot quicker on the uptake than most of the cast, and most of the fandom for that matter.
Exactly, while Ven and Roxas definitely have major differences personality-wise, it’s not as plain to see as the direct contrast between Sora the protagonist and Vanitas the sneering ax killer.
I’ve seen some ideas to put Kairi and Axel- gah I mean Lea- on a sort of “Keyblade novice tag team.” Don’t let Lea’s personality overshadow Kairi’s but let the two play off of each other. And, y’know, actually develop Kai’s personality in the process rather than just imply tomboyishness or sass like usual.
I don’t have any blood relatives who are outstandingly tall, at least none that I know of. Everyone’s either average height or remarkably short.
We’re missing a ton of pieces to the Chi puzzle, but the piece that bothers me the most is everything related to the “dream” hints. It’s becoming fairly clear that this isn’t waking-world reality (what with the Dream Eaters and “multiple reality layers” going on), but…
1) Who’s doing the dreaming? One of the fallen wielders? Daybreak Town? The Player? Ventus? Kingdom Hearts itself??
2) How did this dream get multi-layered (assuming that’s the case)? The only other instance we had of this involved someone diving directly into another person’s heart and wandering around the dreams that heart produced. If something similar happened to create both Chi and Unchained… well, refer back to question one. Who’s dreaming?
3) How much of this is memory rather than dream? Were the Dream Eaters there at round zero? Was Ava or anyone aware of this “outside world” back then? Was Unchained even a thing until this became a dream??
4) AND if this is a Sleeping World, how did Ephemera, Ava, or ANYONE become aware of this, unless they came from the waking realm?
Ugh, now that I think about it, could “unchained” refer to memory shenanigans on top of whatever else we’re assuming it means? This series has used chain imagery usually in reference to memories, and memory and dreams are already shown to be intrinsically linked…
Oh, I can vaguely see an endgame scenario already… Geezernort succeeds in forcefully patching the X-Blade back together, but although it’s enough to drag the original KH out of the darkness, it’s not enough to patch the thing back together. Bad things start happening (use your imagination as to what that implies, school’s drained my creativity for today) because of the presence of a massive, smashed-up heart. The Norts are the only ones OK with this. Endgame boss sequence, yadda yadda, Norts get rekt permanently, and Sora uses whatever technique he used to save Roxas and all the others one last time to restore Kingdom Hearts.
I always hear people criticizing the fact that Ven’s armor got possessed by the darkness… Talk about missing the point. If that armor hadn’t been there, that darkness would’ve gone straight to Sora’s already wounded heart. He would’ve been permanently lost whether he’d been Norted or not.
Chances are Ira didn’t even take the possibility into account because he believed his chances of surviving were slim to none. Think about it, if you were charging thousands of armed warriors with the goal to kill them all, would you expect to survive that?
I don’t know how, but you just compressed about 3 years of my history classes into a few paragraphs. Funny, looking back, it seems like everything I learned from 8th to 10th grade was just exposition for the Franco-Germanic grudge that no longer exists.
I’ve noticed that normally dismissive and impatient people sometimes will be rather patient when someone shows even marginal interest in their passion (myself included, ha), and gathering and analyzing information is what science is all about.
We’re still assuming that the Keyblade War took place a very, very long time ago so I have to wonder how and why a presumably centuries-old heart survived for that long (since, with the exception of PoHs, any heart separated from a body for even a short amount of time gets swallowed by the darkness), and why it wound up piggybacking in Ven of all people. Not every day an 11-year-old (or possibly younger) kid just happens to absorb the heart of an ancient warrior, right?
I’m a bit more inclined to believe that it’s a style change. Everyone, not just Ven and Roxas, seems significantly less complex and spiky in their designs.
Besides, BBS couldn’t be bothered to give Ven a younger-looking model for those flashbacks (which is kinda silly now that I think about it, no one looks like their 15-year-old self when they’re only 11), I doubt anyone wants to break the visual continuity for no real reason.
Ohh, I forgot about that particular coma. That’d make more sense, especially considering that all the dream-projections of Ven in DDD had him keep the pauldron and straps.
Yeah, I have. I swear, Nomura plans none of this out and yet all these symbolic coincidences of wind and sky and dandelions just fall right into his lap.
I’m debating on whether I should take a break from the fandom until I finish the game a few times and form my own definite opinion on it, possibly for the sake of positivity and my own sanity. e_e
Ha, I hope the writers have the sense to capitalize on those comedic opportunities because I’m already half-expecting everyone to be able to recognize each at a glance and never even bring up the fact that their faces are identical. :’D
Alternatively, you could always have more Roxas angst when he finds out that even his own appearance isn’t his own~ (I saw a comic about this actually, but I’m not sure where it is now. :I)
I’m actually much more interested in hearing the story behind the Stations than anything about the blue eyes. First impressions can be very powerful, and for whatever reason, Square decided to start this Disney game with stained glass circles (with very gothic patterns on the sides of the pillars) and a mystic, haunting chant. I’m pretty sure all of that is the LAST thing anyone thinks of when they hear “Disney” (unless they’re a massive Hunchback of Notre Dame fan), so what inspired em to create those?
True, it’s harder to mix up two characters when one’s a cinnamon roll while the other giggles like a lunatic while trying to murder people. ;P
… I would say that DDD’s secret ending is reason enough to believe that Kairi won’t be shoved aside yet again, but given this series’ track record, I almost wouldn’t be surprised if such a thing were to happen. e_e
Ohhh yeah he does, he was on swim team all summer and sometimes does football and swimming in the same afternoon. I’m pretty sure even without all that, he’d still be about as ridiculously tall as he is right now.
Snippets indeed, if I recall correctly we had a time skip of several months between Ava’s Dandelion invitation and the Keyblade War. I have a hard time believing that nothing of note happened during that time. Or… wait, that “special episode” must be taking place during that time skip. The Keyblade War wasn’t “just a dream,” it’s just something that has yet to happen and the player keeps having recurring nightmares about it.
What a simple way to keep the story going stretching it past the apocalypse.
We even got evidence that Keyblades will break if their wielder’s heart shatters, since saw Ven’s Keyblade shatter in his hand after smashing his own heart. Whatever happened to Kingdom Hearts must’ve been even more severe than what happened to Sora in DDD, since that Armor Nightmare was still able to summon and use the Kingdom Key despite Sora’s condition.
Seems like he really took the “no survivors, no victor” thing to heart.
That reminds me though, I know that Ava was shaken by whatever she learned from Luxu and it seems like it pushed her into fighting, but why would that prompt her to bring her union with her? Aren’t they all pacifists for the most part? (Or am I getting fact mixed up with assumed truth that’s been floating around since the Rebirth Theory’s creation?)
o__o I think I might’ve heard about the Maginot line in history class, but we barely studied any military history so I had no idea about any of that. All that bitterness that lead to the Treaty of Versailles makes even more sense now…
Assuming that they are actually trapped in sleep. Sure, the whole world of Chi has some very Realm-of-Sleep-ish things going on between the Dream Eaters and that secret episode, but we also got “escaping to the outside world” and becoming “Unchained,” whatever those phrases entail for the Dandelions who achieve them.
Please for the love of all that’s holy, NO FFX PLOT TWIST. I might actually join the usual complainers and rage if this whole series turned out to be “just a dream” in any form.
… Look I know this entire series was opened with the main character wondering if any of this was real or not, but that doesn’t mean we have to go back and actually answer…
As far as the “best friend” relationship goes, yes. I certainly wouldn’t label Roxas’ relationship with Vexen the same way as with Xion or Axel, it’s kinda like if you took their interactions from the recon mission tutorial day and developed it from there.
Some kinda connection huh… the easiest one to make based on next to no evidence would be that he’s directly descended from Keyblade War survivors. Otherwise, I’d guess that he somehow accessed the Chi era as a Sleeping World pocket dimension during that 10+ year long coma, but that wouldn’t work if we’re assuming that th shorter hair in that Key Art means a younger Ven.
Yeah, and then start a whole flamewar over whether it’s SE’s fault for making it complicated and that we eat out of Nomura’s hand. =__=
Ha, twin-based humor’s old as time, if they don’t take advantage of it, I’ll be very disappointed.
Perhaps… Nomura is secretly a Neo-Nazi and is using his character designs to plant subliminal messages about blue eyes in the young generation’s mind!!
Okay but in all seriousness, next time KHi gets a chance to interview him, I want them to ask two particular questions: what gave him the idea for the Stations of Awakening, and why so many darned blue eyes.
If I had to guess, Ven relies on speed and agility not just because his physique allows for it, but because he HAS to, or the first direct hit would snap him like a matchstick.
I feel the need to point out the irony of the fact that Vanitas is a character made up almost completely by reused assets (Sora’s appearance and VA, a recolored version of Riku’s hula skirt of darkness, and even a stance similar to Riku’s) and yet he has more individuality than most of the characters introduced in BBS. :I
*grumbles something incoherent about Kairi not sharing said brofit*
Yeah, height REALLY varies around this age. Like this friend of mine sitting across from me right now, I’d guess he’s about as tall as Terra, while the guy sitting next to him probably would be a few inches taller than KH1 Sora.
Now that I think about it, Riku’s probably what my brother’s gonna end up looking like physicality-wise. Right now, he’s just 13 but already is taller and more muscular than most of the seniors at my school. x’D
Chances are we’re missing some very vital information thanks to being mostly restricted to the player’s PoV. I mean, just from that perspective, Aced came off as some bloodthirsty tyrant trying to establish the Bear Reich, but as you’ve mentioned, his portrayal in the Back Cover trailers paints him in a less overtly negative light. I doubt this sort of thing will be limited to just Aced. As of now, we have a skewed, limited perspective and not much to go on even with that.
Ah, I remember suggesting something like that some time ago. A massive blood heart sacrifice, enough to rattle the repository into close proximity in the physical realm. Wait, so that means… ohhh, ha. If KH is a massive heart, and if you flood it with massive amounts of despair and pain all at once… you break the heart of all existence. The X-Blade resonates with this accordingly and physically shatters.
That actually works perfectly with the behavior of hearts that we’ve seen in the past.
Hey, when you’re faced with a powerful and determined destructive force, the only thing you can really do to stop it is throw an equally or more powerful force at it. It’s pretty obvious that negotiations aren’t going to work with Aced anymore, but to Ira, total annihilation was favorable to the creation of a fascist tyranny, so what else could he do? He was mainly responding to Aced’s stubborn conviction.
Yeah, and we already get enough horrifying war stories when the combatants are 18 or older… The old folks say one of the greatest tragedies of war (on a large scale) is the way that it can completely annihilate the new generation. No matter who wins, your population of young people is cut down to almost nothing.
I mean obviously the Dandelions survived to become the children who saved the world, but still…
As a matter of fact, no, Roxas' relations with the other members aside from Vexen (and the obvious exclusion of Axel) stay more or less the same as in Days. And while it's true that Vexen didn't have many connections past Zexion, consider this fact: he's the one who created Xion, his magnum opus. (He's basically what the author refers to as "a shitty science dad" and it's done incredibly well.)
Ha, with all the hints that Ven might have some kind of role in Unchained, I can already see it now...
"Why is Roxas in this game"
"Why is he acting all non-angsty"
"wtf why no dual wielding why's he holding that weird Keyblade backwards"
"waah kingdom hearts makes no seeeeeense"
Yeah a visual difference as subtle as eyebrow color is not gonna be very helpful for the most part. It's too minuscule of a difference, especially when everything else about Ventus' head model is identical to Roxas'. I personally never noticed this difference til you pointed it out some time ago.
Seriously, why couldn't Terra have gotten hazel eyes instead? Not only is it a very nice eye color, but the mix of green and brown would play perfectly into a ground/earth theme. AND it would've given him a unique look. I mean blue eyes look very pretty but we need more variety! *flips table*
What's funny is that I almost never hear anyone mistaking Vanitas for Sora. Not only are their attitudes and battle stances completely unalike, the visual differences alone are more than enough to clue most people in that they're not one in the same at first glance. (Of course, there's bound to be people who thing that Vanitas is just an "evil Sora" and ignore that he's actually Ventus' darkness incarnate, but most won't insist that he IS Sora.)
As for his eyes, I think that it's equally possible that it could be a thematic choice rather than a Nort hint. That particular shade of gold is the exact inverse of Sora's (and Ven's, by extension) eye color... ah heck, it's probably both.
Kinda fits what Nomura was going for with Riku, doesn't it? He mentioned in one of those interviews that Riku was that kind of FF-hero- lots of inner conflict, worries about lots of things, has a more realistic approach to things. Meanwhile, Sora's that "childhood hero" that Nomura admired, the simple, idealistic optimist. The concepts kinda shine through their designs, with Riku's design heading towards realism with every incarnation. Those bright hues of his KH1 design become more muted and faded, disappearing almost entirely in that Key Art design, and the design itself wouldn't look out of the ordinary in the real world. Meanwhile, Sora's kept the exaggerated and fantastical look about him and has kept the domineering red and black colors in his KH3 appearance, although both the exaggeration and hue is much more toned down.
... Riku's grown into an adult, and Sora's still got a childlike heart, even if the events of the past games have nudged him towards that direction.
*shakes fist* You keep coming up with all these great ideas, dammit!
If this malevolent darkness-using force never made any pretenses that they were trying to save the world, they aren't really a traitor, are they?
Ah, the clock tower being a light-dark measurement device? That's a neat idea... though iirc, the Keyblade War was never what forged the X-Blade, it's just what broke the thing. Sounds like the key itself has existed alongside Kingdom Hearts, for as long as a light-bathed RoL has existed.
I'd put my money on indiscriminate slaughter, yeah. Ira went to war to "make sure a victor isn't born," which strongly implies that he's planning to kill pretty much everyone involved. Can't have a victor when no one is left alive, right?
I wonder if most of the wielder kids even had any idea of what was actually happening. There might've been some who were around to hear their union leaders yell about such things, but I'd bet the vast majority just followed like sheep into a valley of steel.
Soooo even though we will never have the piles of mutilated corpses a la Battle of the Bastards, we still have the image of hundreds of nearly clueless kids realizing that they're trapped in a warzone and can do nothing except try to not get cut down... and they all get slaughtered anyways. Over some bullshit war that no one really understands.
... Yeah it's an overused theme, but you've never seen it done as a combination of a child army, FF magic, and giant key swords!
Sometimes simple implications can be much more horrifying than anything we actually see. Disney knows how to pull this off better than just about anyone, and KH certainly does not need to be more graphic and gritty to come off as disturbing or dark.
(tfw an expired token kills your reply... twice...)
I'm not gonna lie, my favorite part about this fandom is probably the AU's and retellings that crop up from time to time. The series' flaws don't bother me to the point that I've given up on it, but it's still really exciting to watch someone rearrange the story so that it works even better than the original (the KH2 and Days mangas being prominent examples), or creates their own interpretation of KH elements entirely.
Come to think, that reminds me. I read this excellent KH fanfic some time ago called "Why the Sun Sets Red." It's basically 358/2 Days if Vexen had been the sole Castle Oblivion survivor instead of Axel. It's a pretty simple premise, but by doing so, the story bypassed all the melodrama of the original and developed the characters effectively and... y'know what, I'll just leave a link to the story here. I'd really recommend checking it out if you have the time.
People as a whole have a bad habit of jumping to conclusions just based on what they see with their eyes. I'm not sure why Nomura didn't think that making 2 seperate characters identical twins would be a bad idea. Really being able to differentiate between the two of them relies almost entirely on their mannerisms and understanding the context of the world around both characters. You'll know it's Ven because he's, say, interacting with Aqua and Terra and acting a lot like Sora. To a newcomer, Ventus would probably look like Roxas in different clothes (and characters changing outfits isn't unheard of), and they wouldn't know the context of BBS- in other words, they won't know that it takes place 10 years before KH1, or the fact that Roxas was nonexistent when Ven was still running around. And if they're looking at either a static image or a clip like the KH2 super secret ending, they probably won't be clued in on his Sora-esque personality either.
... What I'm trying to say is that it's pretty easy to figure out the difference between those two if you pay attention, but the visual similarities make it far too easy for people to create and believe in complete misconceptions. This whole issue could've been bypassed by giving Ven his own appearance or maybe just green eyes.
I get the feeling that the wacky anatomy is a design choice left over from the days when KH was going to be much more Disney-centric and Nomura wanted his OC's to mesh with the exaggerated cartoony characters. It's kinda funny how the earliest concept art of Riku, Kairi, and Sora looked so Disney-like, especially compared to how they're always drawn in that real crisp and sharp FF style these days.
Ehh, Xehanort's gone as far as to literally backstab his adoptive brother while he was down. He's stooped to that level, he just does it with more finesse and purpose than a hot-blooded schoolyard bully.
So something like this? =w=
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