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Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories Retrospective



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Rolands

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I see what you're saying but I think they needed to say "Now that I've protected Namine, I've got nothing." Riku goes to lengths prior to this to say "Even though my memories are false, I'll cling to them and that will make me happy," and I don't think they can undo that many blunt statements of intent with mostly off-screen inference. And even that's just one way. More cutscenes in R/R, like actually showing Axel tempt Repliku, would have been even better!

Although... now that I'm thinking about it, my impression of Riku might be corrupted by the remake. Riku saying that he was fine was a remake addition, wasn't it? Hrm, so it maybe the remake that's got me thinking Repliku was in better shape than he really was? Darn it, I liked that edit!
I think it's worth noting, that the Replica walks away at the end at the end of Sora's story mode. Namine is right there, and she very well might need him in the future, but...he walks away. To me that sends a very clear message. It says he's not content with the way things.
 

Blackdrazon

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Some of you may have caught my accidentally uploaded draft this morning, but for those who didn't: CoM ends tonight! All that will be left is my brief review of the manga, and I'm strongly considering putting that aside as emergency filler. If I do, that means we can start the new year off right with KH2!

I also think that I'll be doing a double post to start KH2 off. My thoughts on the opening sequence went a little long, and it wouldn't make sense to glob it together with the entirety of the prologue's Day 1 (or worse, to split itty bitty Day 1 into two pieces). If that's the case, I'll make sure to post appropriate links and backlinks. One way or another, I'll see you all in the KH2 forums in a week or so!
 

Muke

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Some of you may have caught my accidentally uploaded draft this morning, but for those who didn't: CoM ends tonight! All that will be left is my brief review of the manga, and I'm strongly considering putting that aside as emergency filler. If I do, that means we can start the new year off right with KH2!

I also think that I'll be doing a double post to start KH2 off. My thoughts on the opening sequence went a little long, and it wouldn't make sense to glob it together with the entirety of the prologue's Day 1 (or worse, to split itty bitty Day 1 into two pieces). If that's the case, I'll make sure to post appropriate links and backlinks. One way or another, I'll see you all in the KH2 forums in a week or so!
Fantastic!! Already looking forward to KH II. :33
 

FudgemintGuardian

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and on top of the bandages: two overlapping belts. Yes: belts around the head!
Ansem the Wise is trying so hard to be hip with the kids. He's like "well, belts are really popular with the kids these days. So if wear a hundred of 'em I'll be the coolest cat around! No kid will be calling me a square with all these belts I'm strutting around in!"

and will protect the wearers from being sensed by the Nobodies.
Given how Zexion had no problem smel...sensing his fellow members (and seemingly even being able to give a play-by-play on sme-SENSING agh curse this game) I question how well the black coats can protect the wearing from this.

Some of you may have caught my accidentally uploaded draft this morning, but for those who didn't: CoM ends tonight! All that will be left is my brief review of the manga, and I'm strongly considering putting that aside as emergency filler. If I do, that means we can start the new year off right with KH2!

I also think that I'll be doing a double post to start KH2 off. My thoughts on the opening sequence went a little long, and it wouldn't make sense to glob it together with the entirety of the prologue's Day 1 (or worse, to split itty bitty Day 1 into two pieces). If that's the case, I'll make sure to post appropriate links and backlinks. One way or another, I'll see you all in the KH2 forums in a week or so!
I did indeed catch that. XD

As much as I want the new year to start with KHII, ending with the tie-ins make for a nice breather between Retrospectives. But whatever you decide on I'll be fine with.
 

kuraudoVII

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Welp, I finally managed to catch up on the Retrospectives. Anyways, I really love how the Chain of Memories Retrospective played out. That moment where you freaked out about having to review Reverse/Rebirth after beating Sora's campaign was f***ink hilarious! XD

At any rate, I'm excited about the upcoming Kingdom Hearts II Retrospective and the eventual Final Fantasy VI Retrospective. Keep up the excellent work, my friend.

Also, I thought I'd present one of my favorite moments from the Super Gaming Brothers' Let's Play of the game.
 

Muke

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So, umm, is the next one gonna be the Manga Post, or are you gonna start with KH II? A bit confused. :3
 

Blackdrazon

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So, umm, is the next one gonna be the Manga Post, or are you gonna start with KH II? A bit confused. :3

Oh, yes, sorry, I should have made a post here. I will, in fact, be doing the manga post next, and the double KH2 post on Tuesday. I got caught up in other business and needed some extra time.

In other words, remember when I said I'd keep the manga post for filler? I, urm, needed it for filler.
 

Muke

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Oh, yes, sorry, I should have made a post here. I will, in fact, be doing the manga post next, and the double KH2 post on Tuesday. I got caught up in other business and needed some extra time.

In other words, remember when I said I'd keep the manga post for filler? I, urm, needed it for filler.
Okay, no problem. I kinda wanted to read what you thought about the Manga anyway, so. :D
 

FudgemintGuardian

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In other words, remember when I said I'd keep the manga post for filler? I, urm, needed it for filler.
tumblr_nzyj7rifwC1um0safo1_500.gif
 

BlackOsprey

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Gotta say that I agree with your opinion of the CoM manga. The waaay over-the-top cartoonishness was such a big turn-off for me. I just remember this one part that had... Repliku finding some half-eaten food and declaring that it was a lucky charm or something. Yeah no. The humor felt like it had no regard for anything.
I think Amano figured out the right balance of source material and slapstick comedy once he got to the KHII and Days manga. Or maybe it worked better because there wasn't as strong or dark of a narrative in those games as CoM.
 

ShardofTruth

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I just finished reading the rest of Riku's chapters and I really liked them and your overall conclusion of CoM, I laughed tears in the Twilight Town chapter.:biggrin:

Since you're essentially finished I just wanted to mention some things that stood out to me: The Twilight Town Chapter is named after Traverse Town (or did I miss a something here?), the Halloween Town/Olympus Coliseum chapter contains two different variants for a chapter introduction (you probably forgot to delete one of them) and there seem to be some questions regarding the timeline of Sora's and Riku's adventure in the castle.

In case you don't know, the CoM Ultimania contains a official timeline for the events and according to it there is only a larger gap in the overlapping stories during the fourth and third basement floor. You can find it here.

Thanks for the wonderful retrospective, I'm going to read KHII now.
 

ChickenRun

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Jiminy's journal was an interesting point for me too- because it is an actual concrete written thing, and Naminé says at the very end of the game that "memories never go away, I just break the links and muddle them up". So wouldn't that mean that the journal returned to normal as well, the same way it had been before Naminé messed with it? Me and my brother were joking around that Jiminy was actually illiterate for the entirety of Kingdom Hearts I and really didn't write anything but scribbles in his journal at all. Then, when he and the gang were traipsing around Castle Oblivion and started forgetting everything, it was the perfect moment for Jiminy to pretend that the journal had "gone blank all of a sudden!!" and he'd have to start over. Then it magically "went blank again!!" after Naminé refurbished all of their memories in the pods. Finally, during all the cutscenes in kingdom hearts II, the chronicler was finally able to get book in hand and learn to write...
 

Blackdrazon

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CoM's little-explored angle of memories modifying real-world objects is probably to blame for the journal being blanked, though like I said that's honestly an inconsistent and frankly bad idea and so they never return to it. As a result, the blank journal is essentially the starting point or an entire game, but relies on a dropped plot idea that never occurs outside of CoM.
 

Rolands

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I'd take a moment to say that I don't really get what narrative purpose the lesser nobodies are supposed to serve. From a Lore standpoint they're...bizarre. Nobodies are the bodies and minds of people strong enough to continue living after their hearts were stolen. If that's the case...why don't any nobodies except the organization members seem to have any sort of higher intelligence? Their role in the game never amounts to anything, you could replace them with heartless and nothing would change. In fact, that would make even more sense, since given the organization's plan there is never a reason for them to attack Sora with nobodies. Frankly, the only reason they seem to exist is to create a new enemy type for Sora to fight. But with a bit of redesigning, why couldn't they just be heartless? Were the developers so enamored with the color white for this game that they couldn't do it any other way?
 

Oracle Spockanort

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Nobodies are the bodies and minds of people strong enough to continue living after their hearts were stolen.

Not necessarily. They are the bodies and souls of all of the people changed into Heartless, not just the strong ones. Underneath those fancy "outfits" and armor, there is a humanoid-creature body. Without a heart, their forms become disfigured.

It is only the ones with strong hearts that get to retain their human form.

If that's the case...why don't any nobodies except the organization members seem to have any sort of higher intelligence?

They have intelligence, but they are directly controlled by Nobodies stronger than them. Consider them just soldiers following orders in an army.

But with a bit of redesigning, why couldn't they just be heartless?

Because Heartless are mindless even when controlled. Their primary goal is to steal hearts, so they can't be ordered to do things that require finer detail like steal objects and data which we have seen Nobodies do.
 

Ultima Spark

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Not necessarily. They are the bodies and souls of all of the people changed into Heartless, not just the strong ones. Underneath those fancy "outfits" and armor, there is a humanoid-creature body. Without a heart, their forms become disfigured.

It is only the ones with strong hearts that get to retain their human form.

Every official source I can find/recall (most recent being the Memorial Ultimania) has consistently stated that only the strong-willed become Nobodies, and only the strongest-willed of those retain whatever form they had in life.
 

Blackdrazon

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Frankly, the only reason they seem to exist is to create a new enemy type for Sora to fight. But with a bit of redesigning, why couldn't they just be heartless?

I also feel there's a gameplay answer to that question - I get into it briefly when the Heartless show up at the Mysterious Tower, but I really go into detail after the fight with the Berserkers on Sora's return to Twilight Town. I'm not entirely sure what inspired SE to do it, but it's there all the same.
 

Rolands

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Because Heartless are mindless even when controlled. Their primary goal is to steal hearts, so they can't be ordered to do things that require finer detail like steal objects and data which we have seen Nobodies do.

We see heartless fulfill orders more complex than just "take this heart." The Pot Centipede heartless' objective was to escape with Princess Jasmine. Heartless in this very game are shown to be capable of guarding things or being directed even at targets that don't have hearts. I don't think it's a stretch to assume that Heartless can fulfill simple commands like "look for this kid." Heck, the fact that the nobodies couldn't distinquish between pictures of Roxas and the real thing makes it pretty clear that the average lesser nobody doesn't have much in the way of intelligence. For the role they fill in the plot, lesser nobodies really are functionally identical to heartless.

I also feel there's a gameplay answer to that question - I get into it briefly when the Heartless show up at the Mysterious Tower, but I really go into detail after the fight with the Berserkers on Sora's return to Twilight Town. I'm not entirely sure what inspired SE to do it, but it's there all the same.

Looking forward to it.
 
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