Kingdom Hearts III Pre-Release Spoiler Discussion Thread

[Pokie]

I regret joining these forums. The leaks have made the worst of you worse and the best of you cringy.

It's a Kingdom Hearts forum.... where we speak about Donald Duck, Goofy and Mickey follow around anime boy with giant key.....and wins with the Power Of Friendship......

 

[Sephiroth0812]

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Okay, I'm not sure I buy the redemption of Xemnas or SoD at all. Why all of the sudden do they feel bad? Why would Riku EVER miss SoD? Xemnas used and abused his subordinates terribly and now he suddenly sees that he 'took them for granted' and that he is just a lonely sad boy? Idk, man...

Lolwut?

This is approaching parody territory.

 

[Chainofmemories]

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So Kairi is from Scala ad Caelum? I didn't understand very well. When MX slashes her is like he teleports back to past using Kairi as a link, right?

 

[Raz]

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Also low-key sad that Namine is still nonexistent at the Keyblade Graveyard point of the game. Maybe she has some relevance later when Scala is a thing?

 

[Absent]

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Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Best is back! I loved their reunion the best cause it had weight! Not gonna lie the BBS reunion made me smile but it didn’t struck me like the Day’s one. Their hug felt to me more warm and desperate.

And now a new thread is unveiled. The Mystery of Her.
.

 

[Grono]

Hey, mods? If you don't want to read spoilers yet again, ignore my spoilers posts I've been pretty good about not including links or anything, and I won't here. You guys are great; my spoilers are only for people who want to be spoiled

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Okay, I'm not sure I buy the redemption of Xemnas or SoD at all. Why all of the sudden do they feel bad? Why would Riku EVER miss SoD? Xemnas used and abused his subordinates terribly and now he suddenly sees that he 'took them for granted' and that he is just a lonely sad boy? Idk, man...

Spoiler Show

I wouldn't take Riku's line to heart. He's doing that thing that all anime protagonists do, where they have fought the villain so much that it's going to be weird seeing them gone. I'm sure he doesn't mean that he wants him around, though.

Xemnas' death was... good. Not my favorite by any means, but it worked. The loneliness thing kind of makes sense? Maybe harkening back to his times as a young boy. I dunno, it worked. I like seeing Xemnas have feelings, to say the least. Feels like they put a bow on his story.

Other related Spoilers...

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the Axel-Roxas-Xion reunion was beautiful. Seeing Xion break down crying trying to take Sora down was gold, and Sora using her name and waking her up was beautiful. Axel's defeat was less climactic than expected, but it still worked. The pathetic angle where he grabs Xemnas' heel was GREAT. Roxas' return was BAD-ASS and well-handled, I'm SO glad that they didn't try to pull some cheeky bullshit like Xemnas already saw it coming. He felt legitimately surprised when he showed up, and that boss battle after is KH gold. The only thing I wish happened was that after Axel's keyblade was shattered he used his chakrams in desperation, would have been so cool seeing him try to beat up Xemnas with his old chakrams.

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Terra's return was god damn amazing, I'm going to say it. Him being the guardian was shocking and honestly tragic, and the fact that the guardian was struggling so much even getting words out was a nice touch that added a little bit of realism since he'd been bandaged up and turned from talking for so long. His reunion with Ven was beautiful, and for the first time in this series I can say that the TAV trio felt like friends. I'm so glad that they're all reunited. I never thought I'd give that trio credit. I remember years ago that I was hoping that we'd get an explanation for the guardian, and now that we have one I'm more than satisfied.

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Kairi... unpopular opinion, but she's been great in this game. Forward, right in the heat of battle, while helping Sora along. All of her dialogue was great, I loved the Paopu scene, and her death honestly makes sense. She's a NEW keyblade wielder, so her getting kidnapped is honestly a better twist than Riku, who's more than capable. Even if that scene does have a twinge of princess peach in it, the fact that they actually kill her and with her previous scenes actually adding plot relevance just made it work more and made her a better character in the end. I can see why people have problems with it, but it works for me. Plus, Aqua and Xion are showing me that Nomura is starting to handle female characters better and better.

One last question for the audience...

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who is this "she" everyone is talking about? Axel and Saix, for example. I don't think they're talking about Namine, so who?

 

[Sephiroth0812]

I wanna read the rest but I am already way overdue and have work today, so I have to log off for bed.

Looking forward to how many pages this thread marches forward during my absence.

 

[rac7d]

Lolwut?

This is approaching parody territory.

Everything is Naruto and when its not its steven Universe

 

[shuyin_zer0]

Does anyone know who the new 7 princesses are? I really want to know.

It’s seven hearts, not seven princesses

 

[alexis.anagram]

So it seems people are now liking what is happening. Seems like KH3 fooled some people cause outright bashing it turned to praising it not even an hour later.

That's because
The Days trio and Xemnas are the best characters in the series, true fact.

So the main problem is pace and setup all over again. Most things are "good" but could be vastly better, just like it was in BBS and DDD.
Do I get it right in this vein?

The ideas and concepts are solid but the delivery/execution is rather abysmal. It's worse than KH2 in this regards, maybe a little better than DDD. Everything carries more weight due to the lengthy buildup for this game, though, so that both helps and hurts it: it's easier to write an "emotional" reunion scene when people are so pent up and anxious to see it happen that they'll ignore everything else to be in the moment, because they so badly [I]want[/I] it to succeed at earning their emotions. But also, when the context surrounding that moment comes under critical analysis, it has a lot more to answer for. This game does not seem to be tight or well-planned enough to cap off the series in a satisfying fashion: it leans a lot into the collective sense of anticipation people carry for it, so that fans will do the heavy lifting and make the scenes work for them even when they're sloppy and/or shallow. That's the impression I get.

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Okay, I totally cried at the RAX reunion. I couldn't help it. My babies have been through so much and they're finally together.

IDK why but the emotional payoff was way more present for them than for TAV? The acting/plotting of that sequence was just so much better.

I actually felt that TAV got the better scene, even though RAX is my preferred trio. But I think that had a lot to do with the fact that I wasn't feeling the lingering irritation surrounding Kairi's situation.

Also your theory makes a lot of sense and might help with some of the confusion with Roxas.

Does anyone know who the new 7 princesses are? I really want to know.

Based on everything we've seen so far
It really doesn't matter.

Spoiler Show

Okay, I'm not sure I buy the redemption of Xemnas or SoD at all. Why all of the sudden do they feel bad? Why would Riku EVER miss SoD? Xemnas used and abused his subordinates terribly and now he suddenly sees that he 'took them for granted' and that he is just a lonely sad boy? Idk, man...

Yeah, I see what you're saying. I didn't mind Xemnas's because it wasn't really redemptive, it just explained some of his personal motivations. I thought when he referred to his "companions" he was talking about lingering feelings from when he was Terra/Terranort which he actively wanted to cast away but that part wasn't very clear to me. If he was talking about the Org. members then yeah, that's not remotely believable, haha. Ansem SoD's was just limp, he's completely overstayed his welcome as is, Riku has no reason to miss him and neither do we. But Nomura likes his villains so I think this was his attempt to give them some sort of poetic send-off.

That said CAN I JUST SAY
I laughed my ass off when Mickey asked Riku and Aqua to come help him take down MX, and Sora steps out RIGHT IN FRONT OF AQUA and insists that he'll do it. Nomura should never be allowed near a female character ever again, please just write gay male fiction from now on Nomura, you're better at that anyway.

Also

I didn't really get the X-Blade stuff. How did MX forge the X-Blade? Didn't he need to combine a bunch of hearts together? Or was it just the fact that everyone fought that did it? And why can only SDG go into Xehanort's heart or whatever? If three people can do it, can't they all? Why can't the writers ever think up a reason for people to stay out of fights/scenarios that isn't "just stay behind and let me do it because I asked".

 

[Neo_]

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What I've seen today totally correlates with JWittz's latest video I watched yesterday; sure X "killed" Kairi, but you know she's coming back. There's no stakes; that's what's wrong with the series. No one dies and the heroes always prevail, but it was at least cool to see some level of desperation.

 

[Raz]

That's because

Yeah, I see what you're saying. I didn't mind Xemnas's because it wasn't really redemptive, it just explained some of his personal motivations. I thought when he referred to his "companions" he was talking about lingering feelings from when he was Terra/Terranort which he actively wanted to cast away but that part wasn't very clear to me. If he was talking about the Org. members then yeah, that's not remotely believable, haha. Ansem SoD's was just limp, he's completely overstayed his welcome as is, Riku has no reason to miss him and neither do we. But Nomura likes his villains so I think this was his attempt to give them some sort of poetic send-off.

Okay,

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that makes sense. I forget that Xemnas kept Aqua's armor in a creepy room and talked to it sometimes. He was probably talking about when he was Terra before he faded away, then.

And yeah, I was over SoD's return as soon as CoM. Like, he blew up so spectacularly when the door opened and after that he should've stayed gone.

 

[alexis.anagram]

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What I've seen today totally correlates with JWittz's latest video I watched yesterday; sure X "killed" Kairi, but you know she's coming back. There's no stakes; that's what's wrong with the series. No one dies and the heroes always prevail, but it was at least cool to see some level of desperation.

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Generally speaking I don't mind that nobody dies in KH, but in this case the stakes don't work out in its favor because it's such a one trick pony. The game keeps pulling the same stunts with characters getting beaten, incapacitated, "killed off" etc. and by the Keyblade Graveyard it's doing this every other scene. If characters can't really be expected to die, then the story can't rely on that mechanism to drive the drama: it's trying to have its cake and eat it, too, and it doesn't add up. It also hurts that the characters are reduced to being senseless/helpless in order to achieve this effect of turning them into constant victims. The cut scene direction in this game is also just not very good, the fight sequences are clunky, there's frequently no sense of space or perspective: I'm thinking of Aqua just standing behind Terranort for a million years before she just disappears and then shows up next to Ven, or the scene where they're all getting encircled by the Shadows (which one you might ask? my point exactly) and Aqua says, "Form up!" or whatever. Then all of a sudden they're super close together. Basically there's no tension in these scenes, just a lot of cutting back and forth from one person to the next with no sense of momentum to the proceedings.

 

[Pokie]

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What I've seen today totally correlates with JWittz's latest video I watched yesterday; sure X "killed" Kairi, but you know she's coming back. There's no stakes; that's what's wrong with the series. No one dies and the heroes always prevail, but it was at least cool to see some level of desperation.

I think it's because

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I read somewhere that Disney doesn't like death, which is beyond hilarious because this is coming from the animation company that's famous for Simba's Father dying and Bambi losing his Mum via Hunter and has it's villains die off in some of the most gruesome and brutal ways possible.

If it wasn't for this (hypocritical) rule, then if this is true, Nomura would've had more freedom for his visions and there might have been some stakes at hand. Though, not like Nomura's good at storytelling anyways, because this is the third time that Kairi has been used as a damsel so the plot can move forward.

This also makes me anxious for the FFVII R.

 

[destinykh]

I'm a bit confused at the dramatic reactions to the leaks.

I've watched the scenes, and it doesn't look like it's any difference in writing quality or cutscene direction post KH2? (in that its bad, but we all know this).

If anything, I'm quite pleased the Disney characters get into the action more (though I'm primarily in the series for the Disney of it).

 

[Raz]

While characters don't really die in the KH-universe they can get stuck in decades-long limbo states and that's kind of scary/threatening in its own way?

 

[UnicornisLord14]

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CGInfernoBlast tried to upload the final boss fight on an alternate YouTube account, bu tit was removed because it was too long.

 

[furusatoe]

I’m looking forward to coming back to this thread after finishing the game and reading all of these spicy takes I’m missing out on.

 

[Neo_]

Like everyone says the Disney worlds are filler, but the entire game is filler; you already know the ending before you even see it.

If anything, I'm quite pleased the Disney characters get into the action more (though I'm primarily in the series for the Disney of it).

Me too! It's a breath of fresh air to see characters like Yen Sid and even Sully having a significant impact on the story.

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CGInfernoBlast tried to upload the final boss fight on an alternate YouTube account, bu tit was removed because it was too long.

I have the link; if anyone wants it, PM me.

Edit: Just check his Twitter.

 

[Raz]

I wonder what Maleficent and Pete will end up doing and if we'll even be able to fight them. Maybe their story is going to be side-lined in favor of resolving all of these Xehanort loose ends and then will be picked up again in KHIV. I just miss when Maleficent was... important.