R for reload. - Xigsanne Barr
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Being critical towards something you love isn't a bad thing. It could be cathartic to vent your feelings out. It could get messy because stories are emotional bonds and emotions are rarely simple and clean (i just had too...).All these comments again caused me to become depressed.((
If in KH the story is not very, then what is the franchise good for? (Well, in addition to the gameplay and music), because the plot in it plays an important role if you think so and if it's bad then what's good. Maybe I just have a bad taste ...
Being critical towards something you love isn't a bad thing. It could be cathartic to vent your feelings out. It could get messy because stories are emotional bonds and emotions are rarely simple and clean (i just had too...).
So i refer you to this video which explains it so much better.
[video=youtube;HoLhcdapmqg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoLhcdapmqg[/video]
All these comments again caused me to become depressed.((
If in KH the story is not very, then what is the franchise good for? (Well, in addition to the gameplay and music), because the plot in it plays an important role if you think so and if it's bad then what's good. Maybe I just have a bad taste ...
All these comments again caused me to become depressed.((
If in KH the story is not very, then what is the franchise good for? (Well, in addition to the gameplay and music), because the plot in it plays an important role if you think so and if it's bad then what's good. Maybe I just have a bad taste ...
Well, here I go.
As someone who came out very recently from a phase where Kingdom Hearts just seemed pain and ruins of what was once good, I think I can share some insight about the writing.
I’ll try to be as clear and concise as I can, for this could be a very big topic if we’d have to analyze everything.
KH1 – CoM era: the best writing can be found here. CoM especially, it might just be THE best written KH in my opinion.
It gave us great characters, a good story that had riddles but fairly easy to follow (and resolved in the same title). Already exstablished characters were explored in different directions: angry Sora lashing out at Donald and Goofy is such a dissonant scene, and it works for the same reason, and Riku started his redemption arc. Newer characters were also really good: I know I’m a fanboy so I might sound biased, but Larxene’s performance was always on top. Marluxia too, even Vexen. Eh, Lexaeus tries. Axel KILLS every scene he’s in.
The scene where Sora says “make me like I wasâ€, and you then see Naminé’s shiver as she tries to hide the sadness… those were pure emotions, man. No further words or bloated explanation were needed.
The game opening with Sora entering the Castle and ending with Riku exiting was such a good way to show the story going full circle: what happened in the Castle, stayed in the Castle.
CoM made full use of its set of characters and its self-contained story, and many of his moments quickly became iconic in my book.
KHII – Days era: BbS might’ve been the turning point, but the gears started moving during KH II. This is where you could see that while the overall story was still good enough, there were cracks and unpolished elements.
There’s a wide range of what I could point out here—from the beginning of the movie reharsal to the Nobodies stealing pictures and the word photo just because, and because they apparently can. I would’ve liked it more if it resurfaced somewhere later on, like if in Tron’s world the Nobodies were messing with the data, or if they did something to Pooh’s Book, but nope. That whole picture bit happened, and that was it. So much for the smart and cunning Nobodies who are so much better than the Heartless. Also the fact that people see a Dusk and say “it was a strangerâ€. Man, back in KH1 people run away from Heartless, and with good reason.
KH II is also guilty of mishandling characters: Maleficent and Pete really lacked involvement, especially in the second half and finale, and the prologue builds up DiZ and Naminé just to shove them into a corner for the next three quarters of the game. DiZ especially, could’ve been a great addition to Sora’s journey: someone who was against the Organization, but was too ruthless and judgemental for Sora to follow. I can only imagine the good moments (and perhaps even a boss fight in his digital town where he can just freeze time) we could’ve had.
Honestly, minus a few things, what KH II brought was wasted potential, rather than something truly egregious. You see the good stuff, and then you think about just how much better the whole package could’ve been.
And “wasted potential†is Days’ middle name.
BbS – DDD era: The games where most people have problems. Let me say this out of the gate, I still like BbS. Heck, I like it more than KH II, just because the elements managed to click with me more.
But in my mind a good BbS fan is a fan who also sees what didn’t work… more than what Nomura himself did, sadly.
BbS needed to move things forward and launch a new standard for the franchise, but at the same time it’s like it constantly tries to get the audience’s approvation, which can be a deadly combo.
The story itself runs on some very simple (yet revolutionary for the in-game universe) concepts, but they’re repeated over and over, and what’s worse without adding anything to it. Terra will risk it with the Darkness and elaborate how he will never screw up in every world, Aqua will put her hand on her chest worrying about her friends in every world, and so on. And the game is so eager to jump into it that doesn’t really give a solid starting point, such as throwing Ventus into his journey with one of the most randomly worded and only vaguely threatening… something. Eraqus NEEDS to be the stern Master who will eventually fall, so let’s just say it happened, let’s not actually provide a good reason for him to fall into the enemies’ trap.
As many stated before, in BbS people are dumber than Xehanort is smart, and if the main four just stopped and talked with each other all could’ve been avoided.
The shaky “friendship†between TAV was discussed so many times, I trust don’t need to go back over it.
Add to this some questionable dialogue choices such as comparing your friend to a mass of burning gas and plasma, and it’s easy to see why some disliked, or even turned away in horror at this title.
The whole Keyblade Order retcon? I… liked it. Conceptually, it was cliche, but good. It’s also kinda neat to realize that the previous three games and all that galactic war happened due to a single Keyblade wielder gone rogue, and in BbS you see just another level. If the series had done a better job to convey this, we would march into KH III with the utmost terror and marvel about what could transpire.
The Ceremony was dumb, and Nomura himself doesn’t even respect it all that much. It would’ve been better to just keep the Keyblade appearing for divine providence or fate or an unknown will.
Then there’s DDD.
DDD explains and shows what it’s about, but… ugh. I think when Nomura sees DDD he sees a very different game and story than the one I played. There IS some good stuff, but it’s buried over the same issue of reiterating stuff, MINUTES of monologuing and trying to explain an absurdly complex concept, and stuff that just doesn’t tell itself. At this point we fan had to understand half of the game by interviews, which says all that there is to say about its writing.
The mishandling of characters continues and only gets worse, with iconic villains turned into mindless puppets, a new villain resulting in a character whose purpose, power, even will and personality are borrowed, and the illusion of this game being the one where all the stories would start to converge just to not do that at all. Oh, the characters are all there, but every one of them is an island secluded from the rest. Mickey still refuses to call TAV by name.
Current era: X was good, Union isn’t. Back Cover was more of a cutscene graphic showcase and put some info that only lore fanatics can truly appreciate (and doesn’t do jack to help newcomers understanding what X was about). 0.2 started good, then lost itself in the final act so hard I believe Aqua got Norted just by that.
What about KH III? I dunno. I didn’t really like the Toy Story cutscenes, but I liked the dialogue in Frozen.
But both instances are far from the complete experience that it’s impossible to judge.
True, writing only got worse going on… but I was also pessimistic about the gameplay experience, and E3 quickly proved me wrong.
KH III might just be this ace in the hole people are building it up to be.
Interesting perspective. Both Days and CoM adhere to the same structure for delivering their narratives, and are driven by mirrored themes and intentions, which make them the two strongest stories in my opinion.Chain of Memories is written well.
358/2 Days is written poorly.
Everything else is somewhere in-between.
Great post. On this point, I think it's telling that Nomura consistently references DDD as a sort of first act for KH3, actually developed using content that he claims would have been cut from KH3 due to its scale...and yet he doesn't seem to acknowledge how vacant DDD is as a story, and how heavily it leans on pretense throughout before taking a hard turn into the 5% of "relevant plot stuff" which is all reduced to exposition anyway. Nomura's stated intention doesn't cohere with the game that actually got made: DDD didn't really lay the groundwork for KH3, sure there are a handful of conceptual blueprints which will be reexamined and probably redefined in KH3 anyway, but the game spends the majority of its time complicating its self-contained narrative to the benefit of no one, then does a half-measure in untangling the snarl of its invented technicalities and calls it a day. That's what sets it apart in some ways, for me: with divisive games like Days or BBS, or even KH2, while I totally get the case to be made for lost potential (and the overcooked plotting that touches every installment in the series), I don't get the sense that these games failed to accomplish what they set out to do fundamentally. They have their issues in terms of the execution of their popular mandate, but they don't so much actively undermine the stated purpose behind them. KH2 caps off the first trilogy of games and provides an ending of sorts while expanding the scope of the KH universe in franchise-building fashion; Days is a staid character piece examining the story (perhaps not the anticipated or desired story, but nonetheless) behind Roxas' time in the Organization; BBS does the actual work of setting up KH3 for delivery and consecrates all of the disparate elements of the series into one overarching narrative.DDD explains and shows what it’s about, but… ugh. I think when Nomura sees DDD he sees a very different game and story than the one I played.
They are both character-driven narratives with themes of memory and identity, but those things do not a good story make.Interesting perspective. Both Days and CoM adhere to the same structure for delivering their narratives, and are driven by mirrored themes and intentions, which make them the two strongest stories in my opinion.
Mm, and more power to you. I also stand by what I said before: all of those items you listed are intentional in their presentation, and the game is stronger for them. But I've likewise gone on and on about why Days is great and ~deep~ (fate, choices, time, identity), so I'll leave it at that.I feel very confident when I say that Days is the worst story in KH.
Xion was just the opposite much. So much so that even many people complain that it took too much screen time.Day's main problem was using Roxas as the lead. He's a good character (i prefer him over sora) but his story was already told in full with KH2. It left no room to add Xion and her character as well as Days became a dimishing return to his arc in 2.
The story would have benefited from a different character as the focal point. One with more wiggle room and less of a close loop.
The lesson here is to be a bit more careful post kh3 about who give prequels to.
"Moments of great characterization but the plot makes no sense." - my review of Kingdom Hearts.
CoM and the first game were pretty engaging both plot-and-character-wise, though, in my opinion.