[DISCUSSION] Looking back at KH2

[Ballad of Caius]

Hey.

After making some threads discussing the prospect of KH3 thanks to replaying KH2, I think we can pretty much try to pinpoint what's in-store for us in KH3 as we look back to KH2:

* More than two party members is a natural evolution of the series. If you remember back to KH2, in Timeless River, Pete helped you defeat the other Pete, while in Olympus Coliseum, Hercules helped you momentarily debilitate Hades.

* I have a suspicion that the overworld map will be open world in the sense that you can traverse through it, and so choose to initiate a Gummi Ship mission. It won't be a railway segment like KH2's iteration was, even though that iteration was an evolved form of KH1's.

* The final boss will be a Xemnas-Dragon on steroids. Nomura said he wants to do something he's been meaning to do ever since his first FINAL FANTASY title (most definitely referring to Versus XIII, seeing as how his first FF was five, but he was monster designer). Nomura first worked on KH2 and then on Versus, meaning that it's possible that the idea he wanted to implement on Versus, was originally a thought he wanted to explore in KH2, but due to technical limitations, I imagine he decided not to, and we got the final boss fight we got. Okay, if you think back to the No Heart armor and the Dragon, and you take a look around, you're essentially floating from space, back to the World That Never Was whenever No Heart would push you back. My theory is that the final world will not be the Keyblade Graveyard. When you land on it, you'll trigger the fater encounter fight, Xehanort will acquire Kingdom Hearts and create a world in the rift between both Realms of Light and Dark. Once in the world map, you'll have a prompt to enter that rift, warning you that it will be a long, final battle. Once you've done so, you'll enter what is essentially Xehanort's world. The fight will consist of something similar to the Armiger segment between Ardyn and Noctis. While in that game you traversed a part of a city, you'll basically be flying and landing around places in Xehanort's world. You'll exchange hits in a location, and he then will either move an area adjacent, or something completely far away.

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Now, these are my thoughts regarding what awaits us in KH3, as I took a look back to KH2. You can share your thoughts, and can also use the other games to try and theorize what KH3 has in store for us.

 

[Launchpad]

I think it's clear that KH3 wants to hearken back to KH2's core gameplay. 0.2 felt like diet KH2 but with better magic and presentation, and they're obviously trying to work up the combat mobility to KH2 standards. I hope it succeeds, as it gets a little better in every trailer!

 

[KeybladeLordSora]

I wonder what Xehanort's world would look like. He wants perfect equilibrium between light and dark, so I just wonder how that would look in KH3.

 

[Sora2016]

I really want the final boss to be more of World of Darkness-esque. Mostly the horrific flesh ship kinda deal lol, I love when FF bosses become horrid abominations as well. Its just a thing I enjoy, the Dragon was too plain for me. Tho the artwork for the weird mesh of Centaur and King things they tried to implement in KH2 looked creepier.

 

[Ballad of Caius]

I think it's clear that KH3 wants to hearken back to KH2's core gameplay. 0.2 felt like diet KH2 but with better magic and presentation, and they're obviously trying to work up the combat mobility to KH2 standards. I hope it succeeds, as it gets a little better in every trailer!

I just think KH3's gameplay will be a mesh between BbS and KH2. Where Keyblade Transformations are like a ReMix (giggles) between Forms and Styles.

I wonder what Xehanort's world would look like. He wants perfect equilibrium between light and dark, so I just wonder how that would look in KH3.

Something like the World That Never Was comes to mind, but with valleys and such.

I really want the final boss to be more of World of Darkness-esque. Mostly the horrific flesh ship kinda deal lol, I love when FF bosses become horrid abominations as well. Its just a thing I enjoy, the Dragon was too plain for me. Tho the artwork for the weird mesh of Centaur and King things they tried to implement in KH2 looked creepier.

I think the closest we'll get to World of Darkness is a monstrous Ansem. I think it's obvious that we're going to fight the 'norts at their peak (zebra robed Xemnas and World of Darkness or something close to that Ansem SoD). Yeah, that King bit looked interesting, but in a sense we got it: the Dragon is pretty much attached to TWTNW.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Hey. After making some threads discussing the prospect of KH3 thanks to replaying KH2, I think we can pretty much try to pinpoint what's in-store for us in KH3 as we look back to KH2:

* More than two party members is a natural evolution of the series. If you remember back to KH2, in Timeless River, Pete helped you defeat the other Pete, while in Olympus Coliseum, Hercules helped you momentarily debilitate Hades.

I want to microscope this point further because I feel that people are really underestimate the significance of this element. A lot of the Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts III often have two Disney party members because those move narratives are heavily tied to two characters (Woody/Buzz, Sully/Mike, Rapunzel/Eugene, etc). However, Big Hero 6 is a confirmed world, and I highly doubt that they'll just limit the party members in that world to just Hiro and Baymax.

Basically, what I'm saying is that Big Hero 6 will be the only world in which we swap party members, but that solely because all of the key characters are capable of fighting outside of the mythos of the Kingdom Hearts Universe.

 

[Luminary]

I want to microscope this point further because I feel that people are really underestimate the significance of this element. A lot of the Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts III often have two Disney party members because those move narratives are heavily tied to two characters (Woody/Buzz, Sully/Mike, Rapunzel/Eugene, etc). However, Big Hero 6 is a confirmed world, and I highly doubt that they'll just limit the party members in that world to just Hiro and Baymax.

Basically, what I'm saying is that Big Hero 6 will be the only world in which we swap party members, but that solely because all of the key characters are capable of fighting outside of the mythos of the Kingdom Hearts Universe.

I actually think they could be similar to assist characters in KH2. I think Hiro and Baymax will probably be the only true party members. It would be cool if they’re interchangeable, but I’m not sure it’ll happen.

That being said, I’d love for all the worlds to have assist characters at certain points, such as Jessie and Bullseye once we save them, Pegasus, Maximus, etc.

 

[Gambler]

I wonder what Xehanort's world would look like. He wants perfect equilibrium between light and dark, so I just wonder how that would look in KH3.

For a while, I actively considered Xehanort's endgame to be unlike what we've seen before in previous final areas. Possibly with influence from TWTNW, End of the World and by extension the Keyblade Graveyard (albeit KBGY would be in a more minor case.)

I considered his world to have the quintessence of the culmination of both Ansem SoD and Xemnas' 'world' past the initial fight. Though I am easily theorizing that a reunion of the worlds back to the "Age of Fairy Tales" is possible.

 

[Ballad of Caius]

We're assuming we'll have party member limits. With the fated encounter, I think we'll have all Seven Guardians as party members.