Don't get me wrong I see and understand what you meant with Riku's motivation for discovering other worlds. Basically you are saying that that were multiple factors that led to Riku doing what he did and the new information presented in BBS serves to expand upon Riku's ideals.
However, I still feel think it feels a bit more retconned than it does plot twist or just an expansion of his ideals. Mainly because of his quote to Kairi being
"If you hadn't come here I probably would have never thought of any of this."
Really gives off the vibe of him never thinking about going to other worlds until Kairi showed up here. Like Riku had always wanted to get off the island on go on adventures and Kairi coming to Destiny Islands was basically sort of like his meal ticket. It was also probably another reason why he wanted to save Kairi so badly. Not just because they were best friends or because he distanced from Sora but because she was the main reason/motivation why he left in the first place. Again I know this is because of the whole KH1 was meant to be a standalone thing but it still feels like a retcon.
Which is kind of similar to Aqua's reaction to Ansem saying Sora and Riku's names in the Blank Points despite her already knowing about their heroic deeds (yeah even Riku) in 0.2. You COULD look at either them as a factor adding towards that scene or a retcon that changed their motivations. I say this knowing you think that it's both (which I agree with) but it sort of leans more towards retcon.
Ah, a fair point to be sure. If one takes this statement literally of course there is a little mismatch and considering the originally stand-alone-status of KH 1 one can come to the conclusion about this retconning Riku's motivations/ideals somewhat.
Most of the things BBS brought to the series' overall lore were planned and thought about by Nomura while he was working on
KH 2, so by the time of KH 1 or CoM anything coming from there definitely wasn't yet set or planned for inclusion.
Then again though, retroactively expanding some parts of the lore aren't neccessarily something bad as long as they don't totally overthrow the in-universe logic.
By in-universe logic, it is also feasible to explain this statement of Riku away with the fact that Riku was
five when the whole thing with Terra happened and when then there were ten years of nothing happening Riku simply switched to other priorities first/didn't think about leaving by himself and Kairi's arrival simply pushed him towards the realization that he was sick of waiting and start to take a proactive role.
So many of the more vocal fans complaining about Nomura's storytelling also apparently forget that
very few storywriters or authors actually plan ahead everything in advance. Not even famous authors like J.R.R. Tolkien or G.R.R. Martin do this.
It's how such changes are implemented which do the trick.
Riku having more reasons for his motivation to leave Destiny Islands and explore the universe rather than solely Kairi's arrival isn't necessarily a total gamechanging thing that turns the whole lore around or makes Riku in any way OOC.
The addition of Mickey revealing Sora's and Riku's names to Aqua in 0.2 is, honestly, a more severe thing with the current state of information we have. Ansem the Wise only ever spoke of Sora in Blank Points by the way, but that isn't the "problematic" point here but rather that the way Aqua talks and asks in Blank Points comes over as if she
hasn't got any information about what happened in the Realm of Light since she fell in at the end of BBS.
Now 0.2 however shows us that she was filled in on events by Mickey at least concerning KH 1 and while she meets Ansem a whole year later (CoM and KH 2 happened during that period which she doesn't have any info on as far as we know), which
can explain her reactions by asserting that she was surprised about the worlds being in danger more than once and then relieved that while there's still no sign of Terra or Ven, Sora is still active and helping everywhere he can, according to what Ansem tells her about
how Sora acts and what he does.
In 0.2 Mickey merely tells her that Sora and Riku are helping him without any further details while in Blank Points Ansem goes much more into detail (funny since he's supposed to be the one with almost no memories left, yet as I've stated earlier, one of Mickey's flaws in the KH-verse definitely seems to be that he's rather forgetful).
Now, while you can fit these things in and together without it becoming a total mess it certainly does take away some part of the "gravitas" of the original impact of this particular part of Blank Points, so I won't say that anyone who doesn't like this development is just a "dumb hater" or "one who can't put it together logically".
You
can put it together logically and have it make
sense in-universe (which is practically a sort of hobby for me personally), but that doesn't mean it is actually
good storytelling or pacing.
As several others in the community already pointed out when 0.2 was new, I am as well of the opinion that it would have been better and more smooth to have Mickey and Aqua being separated
before the events of the KH 1-Finale happen.
Yea, Aqua could have assisted Mickey in retrieving the Kingdom Key D, they could have even made this into a nice quest like Castle of Dreams and Dwarf Woodlands already had, having to face a boss there would also have been the prime opportunity for the break-up as the reasons to do so are manifold, like time running out and Mickey
needing to hurry but not wanting to leave Aqua behind, yet she
has to send him ahead and prevent the boss from falling into Mickey's flank.
This way, Aqua could have contributed to Mickey being there during the KH 1 finale in time
without needing to be personally present
and providing a reason for why Mickey didn't save her there and then that works better than the current one.
Precisely. Something I like to add that I find interesting is how Ansem the Wise's face appears while as DiZ. He looks like Xehanort's Heartless, but...why? I could understand him not wanting to be recognized by his old apprentices, but was that face the best choice? Unless he figured "Well, if you're gonna use my name, then I'll use your face." But even then...
Speculation is speculation, but the more I look at Ansem the Wise's design as DiZ, and his character, the more it looks like Nomura planned for him to be the real one, but he didn't have ideas as to how, or too many ideas. Anyone remember those old theories on how DiZ was secretly the Organization's leader? In looking at the character, I'm starting to believe that DiZ and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness were originally planned to be the same person early on, but was changed to what we know do to circumstances like the creation of Xemnas.
It could have been a deliberate ruse/red herring to throw off the audience, or indeed being part of an early concept that was changed later on during the production cycle.
As said, Nomura was planning and evaluating stuff for KH 2 while making CoM (just like he was planning concepts for BBS while making KH 2) but we don't know how the initial concepts looked like and how much and what was changed over time, so your idea certainly cannot be ruled out to be one of those early concepts.
You just haaaad to remind us of that particular incident, didn't you?
It's the most obvious example of what a full and true retcon of the lorechanging variety would be, sorry.
I'd really love to see the apprentices having to deal with this dingus calling himself Ansem, but as for the citizens, do we really know if Ansem the Wise's face is well known among them? I mean, I would assume so, but even if they do know, that doesn't mean that Apprentice Xehanort was prancing around town yelling "I'm Ansem!" to everyone he saw. When he and the other apprentices banished the real one, they probably would just tell the citizens that Ansem the Wise couldn't be out in public anymore, but hey he's trying some weird experiments. Want to volunteer?
Full agreement.
I doubt that Xehanort actually went around Radiant Garden in person and impersonated Ansem the Wise to the populace, that wouldn't have worked.
The apprentices, as far as we know, were in cahoots with him at least concerning the Heart experiments so one of them addressing the populace on "official events" (most likely Even or Braig) would probably always find some excuse/explanation as to why Ansem can't attend in person.
Of course it is possible that some citizens got suspicious as to why Ansem the Wise was never seen in person for quite some time, but you can bet that those people were likely the first "non-voluntary" test subjects for the more heinous experiments, courtesy of Dilan and Aeleus who as palace guards had quite some high authority and where probably strong enough to overpower almost any regular RG citizen.
