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Did the Mobile Games Worsen KH3



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darknessofheart

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Dramatic thread title, but in all honesty, did the mobile games of X and Union put too much weight on KH3 from a story/lore perspective?

Certain story elements, particularly the box and Luxu, became plot devices in that game and many actually played KH3 hoping to learn the contents of that box only to learn that it was going to be a MacGuffin for at least a few more years. I think the mobile games and Backcover were pretty misleading in the sense that they seemed to be building up to the finale of KH3 while they were actually building towards phase 2. Who knows if that was even the original intention but I think it made Kh3 have way too much story baggage.

Thoughts?
 
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MarKreationsStudios

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Dramatic thread title, but in all honestly, did the mobile games of X and Union put too much weight on KH3 from a story/lore perspective?

Certain story elements, particularly the box and Luxu, became plot devices in that game and many actually played KH3 hoping to learn the contents of that box only to learn that it was going to be a MacGuffin for at least a few more years. I think the mobile games and Backcover were pretty misleading in the sense that they seemed to be building up to the finale of KH3 while they were actually building towards phase 2. Who knows if that was even the original intention but I think it made Kh3 have way too much story baggage.

Thoughts?
Honestly, having just finished KH3 for the first time ever earlier today (meaning I may have a temporary bias lol), I do feel like it could use some slack. The Keyblade Graveyard section was fantastic in my personal opinion, but I can see why people were expecting more. I know I did. I thought Roxas and Aqua and Ventus and all the others would come earlier, not be saved right at the very end. Would have been nice to see Axel and Kairi training together too.

Also that Yozora ending really threw me off and kind of knocked me into a depression a little XD
 

Sign

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Wait, people actually went into KH3 expecting it to tie up all the loose ends from the X series? That's just baffling. When KH3 released, UX was still chugging along, doing its own thing at its own pace. The whole glitch thing hadn't even happened yet, and WIR had yet to be introduced.
 
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jacklak

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I’ll say for me I knew the story of the mobile game at the point backcover came out. And I was excited to see more behind the scenes with the fore tellers. But I remember watching and thinking that this is asking a lot more questions then it’s answering. And then the master pulled out the box and I rolled my eyes at nomura thinking this is now another thing you have to answer.

my curiosity really peaked when nomura confirmed that the master wasn’t going to be in kh3, but the box was. I knew that kh would continue after the xehanort saga but always thought nomura would start completely fresh. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to continue with the new phase since the first one took 20 years lol.

but when kh3 ended the way it did especially with luxu and the fore tellers I felt so stupid that I didn’t realize what nomura was doing. He didn’t answer questions in backcover because that story was just beginning. And then of course the master shows up in the secret ending and remind. And it really seems like phase 2 is where the real story of kh can begin. Xehanort wasn’t a pawn necessarily(which I would have hated) but he was not the ultimate evil he was just one part of this bigger plan we are just starting to piece together.

both mobile games clearly are designed with the future in mind especially if xehanort learns about quadratum somehow in dark road. I gotta give nomura his credit. Dude is an evil genius lol.
 

Chaser

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I think the whole thing around the expectations SE were setting for UX and KH3 were the main catalyst for the fans disappointment with the connection between the two.

It was massive when Re:coded got an extra scene added to it's HD compilation that was about Maleficent talking to Pete about the Book of Prophecies. It was an "oh shit" moment that formally tied the main series with X. Then a year later Back Cover gets announced and it seemed like that would provide the basis for a bunch of stuff for KH3 to answer (when in reality, all that really was taken away from Back Cover was just knowing which character was named what, seeing the box, and knowing about the dandelions for that one scene).

The marketing for 3 would, for some odd reason, fixate on Maleficent a bit and her whole thing was about the Box. And they put the parts about Luxord speaking about the Box into the Pirates trailer and Chirithy speaking to Sora. It felt like SE was getting UX set up as a basis of things to know that KH3 would answer, that you would play UX's story every month to learn stuff that 3 would answer.

Then 3 comes out and the parts related to UX are confusing and unfulfilled, and you realise that 3 was actually the set up for UX. Things weren't answered and instead were dangled alone. There were hints and teases about the UX story and characters that hadn't occurred in UX itself, and it just felt like the carrot that was dangled was ripped away.

I don't think I'd say UX worsened KH3, but SE shouldn't have focused so much on the characters and plot devices in UX when showing off 3.
 

AR829038

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The problem isn't the story of UX per se, it's the form. Nomura tried to have it both ways: He wanted to make UX a mobile game with a much narrower appeal than other forms of games, but he also wanted its story to be increasingly relevant and necessary. That was the biggest mistake to me. And yes, I do believe it hampered KH3's story to a good extent.

See, the thing is, if the UX story had been released as a console title, or even a handheld title, from the beginning, then it wouldn't be that big of a deal, because A) people actually LIKE those kinds of games, and B) people wouldn't have to hang on through 3 years of filler just to learn important information.

But because only the hardcore fans would even touch a mobile game—let alone a mobile game whose story dragged on for YEARS with VERY LITTLE of importance actually happening leading up to 3's release—it severely impacted the enjoyability of 3's story. KH3 tried too hard to please everyone—it wanted to reward devoted fans who'd spent years playing the mobile game and learning all the backstory and lore, but it also tried to play catchup for the newcomers, which ended up pissing off both camps.

Personally, I think 3 could have done with less than half the references to UX, or even close to none at all. It really didn't need to lean on it so much. And frankly, I think the only reason there WERE so many references was because Nomura wanted to pull eyes to the mobile game to grow its audience: "Oh, you guys don't understand what these people are talking about? Well, lucky for you, there's a FREE mobile game you can download to learn more..."

I think UX has done immense damage to this series in general, if I may be so blunt. The series was hard to follow and expensive to keep up with before, for sure. And DDD didn't help in regards to the convolutedness of the narrative. But by god, I would have taken twenty more DDD's instead of a bland, plodding, free-to-play pay-to-win cashgrab that only justifies its existence by leeching its tendrils into the story of the games people ACTUALLY want to play. Hell, at least DDD was FUN for all its ridiculous plot!

Honestly, I really do believe that KH3 would have been better if UX had just come after it instead of before, as the first installment of the new saga. Pretty much everything in KH3 that has to do with UX's story, you could have cut out. We didn't need the references to Marluxia and Larxene's backstories; we didn't need to see Ephemer at the KG in order to understand that the past Keyblade wielders were saving Sora; we didn't need to see Ven reunite with Chirithy, not that makes any goddamn sense anyway; we didn't need to hear "may your heart be your guiding key" ten thousand times; Maleficent looking for the box could have alluded to her time traveling in the UX story without us having to know about it beforehand (Example: Pete: "Hey, uh, Maleficent, where'd ya hear about this box, again?" Maleficent: "An old friend told me. Maybe someday I shall tell you as well...").

Actually, come to think of it, the whole box thing would have worked better if they HADN'T released Back Cover first! Think about it: If not for BC, then we wouldn't have had any expectations of seeing what was in it, because it wouldn't have been built up. On the other hand, if they'd introduced the box in 3 and then did Back Cover AFTER, then it gives us backstory to the box in a way that expands our knowledge of it without actually revealing what's inside it. The way they did it, it just ended up feeling like a bait-and-switch.

Everything else having to do with Daybreak Town could have been kept in, and they would work better, because it would have built up what Daybreak Town was, the same way CoM built up Twilight Town before actually revealing it in KH2.

Really, the only thing you'd need to have played UX to understand is the Xigbar/Luxu reveal and the return of the Foretellers at the end of the game. Other than that, I can't think of a good reason why all the UX stuff couldn't have just been put off until after KH3 was released, and cut out most of the references. It would have made the story feel much less crowded, much less confusing, and much less artificial. But as it is, UX remains a permanent scar on KH3's plot. And I pray to God that Nomura doesn't make the same mistake with another title in the future.
 

Absent

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I won’t outright say it made things worse but it definitely didn’t help it.
I had only ONE expectation regarding UX/Back Cover and that was the damn box. It didn’t help the advertising drew more attention to it, and the game mentions it like 3 or 4 times only for it to go absolutely nowhere. Even when most people forget about the sub plot, the Caribbean world brings it back to remind you. They wanted the player to remember.
The Xemnas speech about connections I could let pass, the Chirithy/Ven reveal not being fully explained I could live with, Ephemera helping I could tolerate because of the themes of this series, but the box fiasco is easily the biggest troll of all and it baffles me that people defend Nomura’s and crew’s decision to string us along with it.
If it weren’t for the foreteller and Luxu reveal I think people would’ve focused more on that failed aspect.
 
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