So, I've been thinking about one of the discrepancies between KH3 and the previous main titles in the series (KHBBS, KH1, and KH2) that's been bugging me for a while: the prologue sections.
It seems to me that the main games in the series share the common element of a tutorial/prologue level that is very different from the rest of the main game, in that these opening levels usually constitute certain characters going about their daily business in their homeworlds doing relatively mundane activities contrary to the adventures and battles throughout the rest of their respective games. And I was thinking about how much these prologue levels did to establish the atmosphere of their respective titles.
Destiny Islands with its fetch-quests and beach rumbles was an iconic way to set the stage for the playful and energetic gameplay and story of KH1; Twilight Town with its lackadaisical small-town charm, its communal intimacy, and its underlying unsettling mystique perfectly foregrounded the more dramatic and complex tone of KH2; and as short as it was, the Land of Departure in BBS did a decent job depicting the disciplined, cloistered, tightly knit, and battle-focused lives of its main characters as they each expanded their respective horizons throughout the game.
And when I played KH3, I noticed that it was the first main title game to be lacking such an opening, which I think is what made the rest of the main narrative afterward feel a bit less...fulfilling.
In the finished game, Olympus is of course supposed to serve as the prologue level. And it's a great level, don't get me wrong. But there are two problems with it: 1) it's the first intro world in the main series to be a Disney world, and not an original world that can set the tone for the rest of the game; and 2) it throws you headfirst into the adventure and the action, which came off to me as rather jarring.
As I understand it, Aqua's adventures in the Realm of Darkness in 0.2 were originally supposed to be KH3's prologue level before development decided to release it as a glorified demo title. I think that would have served as a slightly better intro level than Olympus, but honestly, it still doesn't quite do the job for me.
Here's what I would have put as the intro level:
I would have made the opening level Scala ad Caelum, where we would play as Young Xehanort, going around the world and doing missions and attending classes with Eraqus and the other young Keyblade wielders we see in Dark Road. And over the course of the intro, we could have had multiple interactions between Xehanort and Eraqus showing Xehanort's slow turn to the philosophy that directed him towards the darkness in his older age, and have him learn bits and pieces of the lore behind Kingdom Hearts, the X-blade, the Lost Masters, and all of these other mythologies that slowly captivate his mind.
And the end of the prologue would have been a fast forward to his older self in the present, now beginning to gather together his thirteen selves as he prepares for the Keyblade War and the realization of his childhood ambitions, with the title flashing up before switching over to the Olympus level.
Not only do I think that would have provided a MUCH more engrossing introduction into 3's main story, but it also would have developed Xehanort's character better given that 3 was meant to be his climactic final stand, and it would have also been a great source of exposition for information as to the lore that new players might not have been able to understand if they hadn't played the earlier games. Not to mention, it also would have allowed us to explore more of Scala, and it would have better set the grand, massive tone for the worlds throughout the game.
As I write this, I bemoan that this is an intro that we'll never get, because I think it works infinitely better than Olympus or even 0.2 as preludes into the final game of the Xehanort saga.
What do you guys think?
It seems to me that the main games in the series share the common element of a tutorial/prologue level that is very different from the rest of the main game, in that these opening levels usually constitute certain characters going about their daily business in their homeworlds doing relatively mundane activities contrary to the adventures and battles throughout the rest of their respective games. And I was thinking about how much these prologue levels did to establish the atmosphere of their respective titles.
Destiny Islands with its fetch-quests and beach rumbles was an iconic way to set the stage for the playful and energetic gameplay and story of KH1; Twilight Town with its lackadaisical small-town charm, its communal intimacy, and its underlying unsettling mystique perfectly foregrounded the more dramatic and complex tone of KH2; and as short as it was, the Land of Departure in BBS did a decent job depicting the disciplined, cloistered, tightly knit, and battle-focused lives of its main characters as they each expanded their respective horizons throughout the game.
And when I played KH3, I noticed that it was the first main title game to be lacking such an opening, which I think is what made the rest of the main narrative afterward feel a bit less...fulfilling.
In the finished game, Olympus is of course supposed to serve as the prologue level. And it's a great level, don't get me wrong. But there are two problems with it: 1) it's the first intro world in the main series to be a Disney world, and not an original world that can set the tone for the rest of the game; and 2) it throws you headfirst into the adventure and the action, which came off to me as rather jarring.
As I understand it, Aqua's adventures in the Realm of Darkness in 0.2 were originally supposed to be KH3's prologue level before development decided to release it as a glorified demo title. I think that would have served as a slightly better intro level than Olympus, but honestly, it still doesn't quite do the job for me.
Here's what I would have put as the intro level:
I would have made the opening level Scala ad Caelum, where we would play as Young Xehanort, going around the world and doing missions and attending classes with Eraqus and the other young Keyblade wielders we see in Dark Road. And over the course of the intro, we could have had multiple interactions between Xehanort and Eraqus showing Xehanort's slow turn to the philosophy that directed him towards the darkness in his older age, and have him learn bits and pieces of the lore behind Kingdom Hearts, the X-blade, the Lost Masters, and all of these other mythologies that slowly captivate his mind.
And the end of the prologue would have been a fast forward to his older self in the present, now beginning to gather together his thirteen selves as he prepares for the Keyblade War and the realization of his childhood ambitions, with the title flashing up before switching over to the Olympus level.
Not only do I think that would have provided a MUCH more engrossing introduction into 3's main story, but it also would have developed Xehanort's character better given that 3 was meant to be his climactic final stand, and it would have also been a great source of exposition for information as to the lore that new players might not have been able to understand if they hadn't played the earlier games. Not to mention, it also would have allowed us to explore more of Scala, and it would have better set the grand, massive tone for the worlds throughout the game.
As I write this, I bemoan that this is an intro that we'll never get, because I think it works infinitely better than Olympus or even 0.2 as preludes into the final game of the Xehanort saga.
What do you guys think?
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