It is not the premise itself that is the problem, but the way how it is achieved and presented in-game that most people have a problem with.
Very true, and a big reason why DDD was a huge flop for me.
Since COM you have this Org. XIII whose sole purpose is to revive Kingdom Hearts, get their hearts back- basically heed Xemnas's orders, whatever purpose they serve. So it makes sense that when we find out it'll be 7 lights against 13 darknesses, the 13 darknesses would mostly be comprised of whatever's left of Org. XII. But what with the old replica plan, the Xehanort's possessing(?) members of Org. XIII, and now with the time-traveling, getting more Xehanorts from different points in his life .....I feel like the plot is just going to explode. There's just too much going on in Xehanort's big plan that it doesn't even seem like a big plan anymore, it seems like someone just making things up as he goes along. Nomura, pls.
Seriously. The only entry that has more wasted potential than BbS is Days. I mean, you hear they're making a prequel set 10 years before KH1, what are the things you'd want or expect to see from that time? Maleficent taking over RG, young Squall and the other FF characters fighting Heartless and abandoning RG, the apprentices screwing over Ansem the Wise, the Heartless experiments (including Isa and Lea, perhaps?), Pete being banished from Disney Castle by Mickey, what Keyblade wielder Triton met in Atlantica, Kairi's life at RG and then her first arriving at Destiny Islands, maybe TRON's world being changed because of Xehanort and Maleficent beginning her villains group, etc. We only get very vague ideas about everything happening in RG, Xigbar's backstory, and the beginning of Maleficent's arc. Seeing Hercules when he was young was also a nice idea. Otherwise, it doesn't touch on any of the things you'd expect to see in a KH prequel.
Very, very, very true. And like someone else on this thread said, it wasn't like the writers
had to stick to that one year in KH history, ten years before KH I. We should've seen more of these things instead of being told the same, vaguely meaningless story from 3 different perspectives. While TAV are important characters of themselves, I kept getting the feeling that they kept accidentally and painfully briefly brushing past the Main Plot (seeing Maleficent, interacting with SRK, meeting those who would later become Org. XIII and so on) but then go back to their own dull story. The game was such a tease in that way- "Oh you wanted to know about the big events that shaped KH's story? Here'sapeek- that's enough now, back to Ven's search for Terra."
WE DIDN'T EVEN GET TO MEET ANSEM THE WISE. WE DIDN'T EVEN GET TO GO INTO THE CASTLE. 90% OF THE THINGS WE CARED TO KNOW ABOUT WERE IN THE ENDING CUTSCENES. </rant>
True, but it's particularly noteworthy for this game because it didn't really have an excuse. She was fine in KH1, in all game set between that and KH2 she was on the island with no way to follow all year. I don't know why a data version of her was nowhere in Re:Coded, but that's a different gripe and doesn't go into developing the current her. DDD was the first game set after KH2, where Kairi said the three of them were going to stick together from now on and where she got her keyblade.
The only real reason behind her not being allowed to sit at the tower like Donald and Goofy (especially since she'd be safer sticking with them than staying along at Destiny Islands again) was because the twist secret ending relied on you either forgetting Kairi exists or forgetting that she can wield a keyblade.
The problem with this is because Kairi was reserved as the big surprise ending in DDD, she's now definitely going to be pushed to the sidelines in KH III. DDD would've been the perfect time to train Kairi like they took the time to train Lea. KH III has too much going on for it to add training session for Kairi
and let her fight alongside Sora and Riku at all- it took them several games to get to the level they'll be at now- let alone have her fight as one of the 7 lights! The idea of Kairi training at Yen Sid's throughout the game and magically being ready to fight 13 different Xehanorts is ridiculous.
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