Kingdom Hearts III Pre-Release Spoiler Discussion Thread

[alexis.anagram]

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At the risk of beating a dead horse... MX's fate is easily the biggest insult in the game, if not the series.

In multiple games, he dismissively subjected people to fates-worse-than-death left and right. Yet he himself gets nothing but a stern talking-to and a peaceful "death" (without even so much as apologizing to TAV, or something)? Yeah, glad I waited all these years for that.

If "time-traveling Horcruxes" was the straw that broke the camel's back, then this euthanized the camel altogether.

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He murdered Kairi in cold blood just moments before and it's written off as nbd. So, yes, it's insulting.

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The best part of the ending is that Xion's new outfit is really cute.

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It's very cute and I'm glad they allowed her to keep black as her primary color.

 

[Graceful Schemer]

Uh, just one thing:

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What is "Nameless Star"?

From the sound of it, it could be related to "No Name" aka the Goatblade?

Or is it a nickname for Strelitzia?

Wait a minute, isn't there in the opening a purple star that reflects in Xehanort's eyes?

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Nameless Star is a credited name in the Credits sequence.

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There is a girl mentioned in the conversation between the two Ansems and there is a she in the relationship between Isa and Lea. Since they are Moon and Sun (Fire), some think that she will be the third member of their (new) trio, the 'Star' of their group.

I believe 'she' is voiced by a female voice.

 

[ImVentus]

...uh, Not true. These Fashion trends showed up during the god damn European Dark Age. The most conservative and religion focused period in human history. All it is, is just fashion trends changing overtime. It's been a thing since ancient Greece.

Aw, come on! Don't slice the preachiness of that little story synopsis.
I guess even stories need to be taken serious these days. Who said (story time) was about accuracy?

 

[.:Mega:.]

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I gotta say, this ending stuff reminds me why I don't like SoKai at all.

It has nothing to do with disliking Kairi- on the contrary, I LOVE Kairi and feel she was treated awful in this game after all the hype. The manga did her way more justice.

But also... it's just so forced. Kairi seldom gets a chance to be more than a goal for Sora. Even her friendship with Riku seems sorely overlooked by comparison. It's everything I dreaded with regards to her in KH3.

Just... ugh. How disappointing.

There are some things I like about the leaked story bits I've seen, but Kairi and Aqua really deserved better. :/

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

LOL. I love this game and everything I’ve seen except anything in regards to a certain character. all of the sokai stuff. It’s so forced, and just paints Kairi as a non-character solely driven by being Sora’s love interest.

 

[ImVentus]

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Holy! The restoration cutscene of LoD, is like an entrance to It's a Small World

 

[Elysium]

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According to the End Credits: Hayner, Pence and Olette have been recast in Kingdom Hearts III and the actors are Zachary Gordon, Tristian Chase and Ashley Boetcher.

Also prepare for Dissapointment in the Disney Characters voices section, but sadly Mandy Moore did not return as Rapunzel for this game as her name wasn't listed here. Guess she wasn't asked by Square or she was still doing This is Us at the time


Also give yourself a pat on the back for most of you getting Drake Bell right as Young Eraqus

Also Tom Kenny (SpongeBob) is in the game apparently voicing Rabbit after he took over the role since the 2011 film and after Ken Samson passed away.

Will post more info regarding the credits soon.

Just more thoughts on the spoilers, no new info:

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Such a shame about Rapunzel and HPO (especially Hayner) being recast. I hate recasts. I wonder why Moore didn't return for KH2, much less in KH3 where she has an even bigger character she's consistently played. Strange.

I definitely don't mind there being "too much Sora" the way others seem to. Sort of like when people were upset when Riku was the other playable character--that didn't bother me either. They are the two main protagonists of this series, imo. Still, I'm sad that Namine got almost no screentime again, just like in KH2. Aqua is probably a bigger screw-up because she's the only female character that's had a sizable role. I don't care that Kairi got shafted because she's never had much of a role anyway.

On one hand I'm annoyed about "her," but maybe this means Isa will appear in future KH games since they're setting it up as something to be followed up on. I'm not sure if I like Isa being in TT though. I'd rather he went back to Radiant Garden, but who knows if we're ever going to see RG again.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

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HOW DID I LIVE IN A KINGDOM OF THIEVES AND PEOPLE WHO SAY THINGS THEY DON'T REALLY MEAN YOU'RE ONLY EVERYTHING I EVER DREAMED EVER DREAMED OF EVER DREAMED OF YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME DID YOU REALLY THINK I COULD SAY NO I WANT YOU FOR A LIFETIME SO IF YOU'RE GONNA THINK TWICE BABY I DON'T WANNA KNOW BABY I DON'T WANNA KNOW EVERYTHING IS JUST RIGHT SO IF YOU'RE GONNA THINK TWICE BABY I DON'T WANT TO KNOW BABY I DON'T WANT TO KNOW

I'm laughing that my years old fanfic about Isa giving Roxas and Xion ice cream and everybody's dreams about a beach party actually came true wtf Nomura hahahaha

 

[Sephiroth0812]

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He murdered Kairi in cold blood just moments before and it's written off as nbd. So, yes, it's insulting.

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I never said they weren't. That doesn't mean I want two characters looking like each other walking around, they aren't real twins. I would feel the same if Riku Replica survived.

Wat?

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Xehanort kills Kairi? WTF? Did they really pull out this old trope that stinks like a pair of socks that was worn years non-stop?
Let me guess: It happens directly in front of everyone (or just Sora) to drive the drama meter up to maximum.

Jeez, I sure hope that Xehanort's "send off" is only peaceful because he was actually beaten already without anyone outright forgiving him or shedding tears (in regards to him, tears in regards to other characters are ok).

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Then you better not watch or play any work with actual twins or plain old clones involved if mere appearance bothers you this much.

Wanting a character to die because the appearance bothers oneself is rather odd to put it nicely.

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Nameless Star is a credited name in the Credits sequence.

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There is a girl mentioned in the conversation between the two Ansems and there is a she in the relationship between Isa and Lea. Since they are Moon and Sun (Fire), some think that she will be the third member of their (new) trio, the 'Star' of their group.

I believe 'she' is voiced by a female voice.

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If it is from the credit sequence and has a voice actor it is probably a character involved in the epilogue and/or the secret ending.

Hearing that this might be related to both Isa & Lea as well as Ansem the Wise I guess this is part of the setup for the next saga which also tells us that it won't be a complete "fresh start" at all.

LOL. I love this game and everything I’ve seen except anything in regards to a certain character. all of the sokai stuff. It’s so forced, and just paints Kairi as a non-character solely driven by being Sora’s love interest.

Oh, so my impression that this whole thing feels like smashed in with a hammer just to follow up on what KH 1 & 2 implied isn't that rare it seems.

I certainly like the bits where Kairi functions as Sora's light, basically restores him (which is a callback to KH I no matter how different the visuals are) and leads him back to where the others are.
These things could have served as part of her own character arc but they just had to dumb it down.


That being said,


From what I've read and seen of accidental spoilers so far I have the suspicion that when it comes to some story parts and "solutions for character's problems" Nomura just wanted to "get over with it" and opted for the quickest and least impactful resolution available.

There seems to be a sort of rush to end the current saga storyline as quickly as possible in order to establish the new one whose setup is subtly but definitely placed throughout KH III itself, including all the pointers towards UX.

Like i.e. Roxas' return and how it happened is handled only with a few sentences spoken by him before the plot quickly moves forward again, he mentions Ansem the Wise having a hand in it and thus working to "atone" for what he once put him through but you never actually see anything in regards to it, them not even interacting once to show if their former antagonistic relationship somehow changed.

The "resolution" of Vanitas leaves one with a "what now?" face as while both Sora and Ven were willing to grant a second chance Vanitas just seems to be "lol nope, I like being evil" before he vanishes, the question if he's now gone for good or simply somewhere recuperating again not being answered (in Luxord's, Marluxia's and Larxene's cases it is outright stated they'll be recompleted as humans and Sora thinks he'll see them again one day).

In light of the two above I almost find the awakening of Ventus well done, even if what I read from some summaries the supposed special bond with Sora isn't really addressed much, they at least have some interaction, shake hands and Ven's return is actually shown compared to Roxas'.

Naminé seems to be almost non-existent while I haven't yet read anything too big spoilery about how Xion is handled, but the snippets I've come to know about Terra seem to imply that his case is handled the best.

 

[Recon]

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So Riku gets to give Namine his rendition of “Let me show you the world” in his flashy gummiship like the absolute boss that he is. I’m happy he “gets” some girl at the end.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

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So Riku gets to give Namine his rendition of “Let me show you the world” in his flashy gummiship like the absolute boss that he is. I’m happy he “gets” some girl at the end.

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...There is a lot to unpack in this but I'm not going there. But know my reaction was instant revulsion at the wording of your entire post.

 

[mriku90]

I really can't wait to see the epilogue and secret movie. It's gonna set up so much.

How long do you think the epilogue and secret movie will be as it's gonna set up the future of the KH franchise.

 

[Sakuraba Neku]

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Then you better not watch or play any work with actual twins or plain old clones involved if mere appearance bothers you this much.

Wanting a character to die because the appearance bothers oneself is rather odd to put it nicely.

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I will decide myself what I watch or play.

This is fiction and a War just happened. Having preferences of who I want to die/stay dead is just normal.
Roxas is my favourite character but he looks like Ventus and has nothing more to offer for the plot. I chose Ventus, because he's connected to UX story which Nomura is exploring now.

For someone like me who likes variety, to have two characters that look like each other in the cast is a no, unless they are real twins which I repeat one more time, Ventus and Roxas aren't. Roxas already had decided to say inside Sora's anyway.

Speaking of deaths, I also think Terra and Xion don't have anything more to offer so I would kill them too. There's nothing odd in wanting more casualties for the good guys.

Too many characters will just make the writting harder if the writer cares about all of them.

 

[Squood!]

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So Riku gets to give Namine his rendition of “Let me show you the world” in his flashy gummiship like the absolute boss that he is. I’m happy he “gets” some girl at the end.

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I'm just gonna copy what someone said on ResetEra here.

"I find it funny that "Hey good to see you're not diddlying dead, wanna come to my beach party?" immediately means pairing here"

Basically why are you immediately jumping onto a shipping train already

 

[brandedkarma]

As Nomura has said that the series does not end with KH3 and that this is just the end of the Xehanort Saga, and taking the ending with Sora vanishing into account, I think that the next game in the series is going to be a retelling of the mobile game just with Sora as the lead instead. I wouldn't be surprised if the epilogue or secret ending had Sora meeting with The Foretellers, Luxu or The Master of Masters.

 

[Scala's Hope]

(Spoiler about Xehanort resolution)

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About Xehanort's motivations:
I don't think it's a copout. There were hints of this in his dialogue and reports:
To Eraqus: "And when the darkness falls, will we be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of?"

Xehanort Report 4: the little light that remained in the hearts of the few gave rise to the World we know today: one made of many worlds behind just as many walls (I read a negative tone to this)

Xehanort Report 9:
As a boy, I dreamed of seeing the farthest reaches of the World. If I only went far enough, there had to be a world out there in which no one had ever before set foot. And now I know of just such a world. If I become the first to open Kingdom Hearts' door, I can create the Next World in which light and darkness exist in perfect equilibrium.

At least the idea of a unified new world existed since BBS, and while it was one of equilibrium, it was his objective. So it's not that far off from kh3

 

[Squood!]

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I just realized that Roxas and Ven looking at each other is just one hand motion away from being this.

 

[faemarch]

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Nameless Star is a credited name in the Credits sequence.

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There is a girl mentioned in the conversation between the two Ansems and there is a she in the relationship between Isa and Lea. Since they are Moon and Sun (Fire), some think that she will be the third member of their (new) trio, the 'Star' of their group.

I believe 'she' is voiced by a female voice.

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"Nameless Star" is also grouped with Ephemer and the Foretellers in the credits, so I'm guessing she may be/have something to do with Skuld, whose design also involves stars to some extent. I personally would like to see a new character, though.

As for Kairi, I'm also not a fan of how she was handled. Her getting fridged yet again just doesn't sit well with me.

 

[ImVentus]

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Other forums surrounding the unexpected twist are roasting Kairi to no end. That poor girl. The hard core fans that wanted a better written Kairi, have already lost their shit. Ho ho, Jan 29 arrive faster please.

 

[.:Mega:.]

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It is sad how the KH2 manga did Kairi SO much justice...

But the games fail in all aspects. Guh.