Kingdom Hearts X[chi] - The Story So Far...

[Blackdrazon]

Hi! I assume you're here after seeing GameTrailers'/KHInsider's collaboration episode Episode 4: The Foreteller's Prophecy. I'm here to provide you with a brief story summary of events in the game so far. I'm going to assume you've already seen the Episode, and will try to repeat as little information as possible.

As a long-time player (I've been here since August 2013, not long into the public launch), I still feel the best way to enjoy the game is to learn the interface with our guides and play along with a good translation, like the ones here at KHI, but I understand that's not for everyone.

I'm going to try to keep speculation to a minimum here, but be aware that speculation is the nature of the beast here at KHX. I'll do my best, but if you feel there is anything missing from the summary that seems certain, or of course if there are any inaccuracies, feel free to comment.

Obviously, there will be spoilers.


The Main Story

Spoiler Show

KHX opens with a voiced sequence involving Young Kairi and her Grandmother in Radiant Garden, not unlike the scene from Birth By Sleep. The scene is presented in a pop-up of an old book marked with the symbol of the Land of Departure, which serves as a central part of the game's user interface.

Following this old familiar story, the player is asked to select their Union and starting appearance. After this (presumably metaphorical) Dive to the Heart, their Station of Awakening is surrounded by Darkness and they are rescued by a small fragment of light: their Starlight Keyblade. Most wielders in the game is represented with a Starlight, though as you can upgrade your Keyblade in this game, your fellow wielders are often seen with a higher-level version.

Your wielder then finds themselves in Daybreak Town, a city dominated by a large clock tower situated over a river. This is their "home base" for the game, but is not perfectly safe. Daybreak Town is under attack by dangerous Heartless, including a Darkside that attacks our new hero. You are rescued at the last second by your Union's Foreteller, who comes with a group of other wielders, saying you can only defeat these powerful Heartless with the help of others.

This is a common theme in KHX, as explained by the GameTrailers/KHI video: your wielder draws power from others almost constantly, not only from the future using the Fragments, but from their fellow Union members. To this end, your Union assigns you to a Team of wielders. Your Foreteller warns you that your Union is fighting to defend the Light, but others (possibly a veiled jab at the other Unions) are fighting to control it, and that you should always be vigilant.

You are then introduced to your Chirishii (or "Chirithy," either fan-translation is valid) as well as a Moogle who is happy to sell you all manner of things. They introduce you to the basic gameplay. Your orders are to go to a number of adjoining Disney worlds to defeat Heartless and collect light in the form of "Lux." While your orders often have you battling specific enemies, you also have standing orders to defend Daybreak Town from boss Heartless, called Raid Bosses. To do this, you must battle alongside your teammates and those of a rival Union. By accomplishing these goals, you'll gather light for your Union, upgrade your Keyblade and cards, and progress the story.

Dwarf Woodlands

Spoiler Show

I'll only be covering the Disney worlds in brief, though they can be interesting in their own ways. The game expects you to clear out the first half of story from the first three worlds before proceeding.

Dwarf Woodlands sees you rescuing the Seven Dwarfs from various Heartless that have invaded their world. Only Doc is safe at the outset and you have to rescue the others from the swamps and mine. Eventually, Chirithy arrives with direct orders to defeat a swarm of Darkballs, which have also appeared in other worlds, marking the line between the first part of the game and the second.

Once you are able to return to Dwarf Woodlands, the story continues by introducing Snow White, whom you rescue from the woods (Chirithy is adamant you protect her - and even addresses her as a "Princess"). One day, when you are helping the Dwarfs in the mine, the evil Queen arrives in disguise and poisons Snow White. You and the Dwarfs chase the Queen to the cliffside, where her hatred has summoned a Heartless, the Witch Bomber, but you defeat it. But before the Queen can be captured or engaged in battle, she is killed by a bolt of lightning, as in the film.

Snow White is ultimately revived by the Prince. At the celebration party, Chirithy remarks on the bonds between hearts, and wonders if you've gained that power. An important thing to have, considering that's the power you use every day!

Wonderland

Spoiler Show

Much of Wonderland's early story is spent providing movement tutorials, as the world involves a lot of shrinking and secret passages. What story is included in the early half involves helping the White Rabbit and Alice prepare for a tea party, though the party doesn't take place until after the Darkball mission. At this point, Alice ruins everything by growing giant-sized inside the White Rabbit's house. You manage to fix that up, and then run off to the Mad Hatter's and March Hare's for tea. They aren't exactly inviting, but send you off on a series of fetch quests for more tea supplies before kicking you out for the usual Wonderland reasons.

At this point, Chirithy shows, telling you to stop goofing off, and to protect Alice if you can help it, because she's a Princess of Heart. What a coincidence, Alice needs protecting at this very moment! She's been put on trial on several charges. Most are frivolous (you know how the Queen of Hearts can get) but she is also charged with bringing the Heartless to Wonderland. You are forced to rely on the Cheshire Cat as a witness, but he proves Alice innocent, only for the Queen to order her executed anyway! You fight off the Card Guards, who form a house of cards to defeat you. Now safe, Alice decides to stay in Wonderland to see more curious things. Chirthy isn't exactly happy, but he says that the way she trusts the impulses of her heart might be her greatest strength.

Agrabah

Spoiler Show

While your character is a stranger to Agrabah at first, you make fast friends, getting to know both Aladdin and the City Guards (represented by characters that resemble Razoul and Hazeem from the sequel films and TV series). The guards are so fond of you, they practically draft you into the army as a freelancer, and hand out many of your missions, gradually penetrating deeper into the hostile Agrabah desert. Your trail leads you through a desert in perpetual sunset, where Chirithy greets you atop a perch of stone. Beyond this stone is a gap that you have not proven able to cross - not yet.

In one memorable incident, you return to Agrabah to find the city under siege by Heartless! Clearing this mission depletes the Heartless so severely that the city is safe for several story missions. At the end of the siege, you and Aladdin discover a Bandit Heartless, dressed with an odd chest on its head. Aladdin admits you to why he's been searching the city and desert so aggressively: this odd new Bandit has kidnapped Abu and taken him to wherever the Heartless have made their base. The City Guards are also looking for this base, with heavy hints that it is the still-lost Cave of Wonders. After the Darkball mission, Agrabah also remains unfinished.

Daybreak Town

Spoiler Show

While you initially just use Daybreak Town as your home base, you are eventually called there for specific missions after you defeat the Darkball incursion. This section begins with Chirithy telling a story about its creation (the first hint that Chirithy is a Dream Eater), and the story of the six apprentices. These scenes are also the first time it becomes clear there is more than one Chirithy, which until now was a mystery.

The missions in this portion of the game involve you meeting up with a group of fellow wielders, and you team up to defeat a pack of Neoshadows that have invaded the town. But when you are done exploring, your new friends do not arrive at your meet-up. It seems one or more of them was "erased by the Darkness" and we discover that if a wielder dies, their Chirithy fades away. Your Chirithy is so upset by this that they do not pass along the fact that your new friend died... nor do they mention that your Foreteller spoke to them, implying one of the five Unions was a traitor.

It's not clear how the other wielder was "erased by the Darkness." While they may have died in battle, in an earlier cutscene, your Chirithy spoke to another Chirithy (possibly the Chirithy who later died), who said that their wielder was being "apathetic." It may be that their wielder simply gave into the weight of the darkness and became a Heartless, and that this too destroys their Chirithy.

Olympus Coliseum

Spoiler Show

At Olympus Coliseum, your character gets signed up for the Games, because that's how things go at Olympus. You meet Hercules and learn Cloud is a contestant, and all seems well until the finals, when you and Cloud are locked in battle. Your fight is interrupted by the arrival of Hades, who hadn't planned on you entering the tournament. He wanted Hercules to enter, and rigged the entry contract so that the winner would owe him their soul. It's clear that Hades is about to make things messy, but Cloud is intrigued: he is still searching for Sephiroth at this point in the story, and he figures the Land of the Dead is exactly the kind of place where Sephiroth would hang out. To get inside to have a look, Cloud volunteers his soul. Hades decides something is better than nothing, and plans to make Cloud his protege.

You and Hercules arrange a rescue, but you lose track of one another, and Hades and Cerberus find you. Hades is having a bad day: Cloud has proven completely uncontrollable, and you defeat Cerberus. But he keeps his head, and offers you training in the ways of the darkness, ala Terra in BBS. Your character accepts - it's not clear why. It may be that they're just trying to buy time for Hercules, or maybe they really are intrigued. Hades makes you jump through a few hoops, and finally sends you to the base of the pit of souls for the true power of darkness.

There, you reunite with Cloud, who is watching a black feather descend from above. Hercules arrives as well, and then Hades. It seems Hades knew Hercules was running around, and has just been stalling, because now Hercules is being affected by the Curse of the Underworld from KH2 (Hades says something about gods being particularly susceptible to the darkness). He sends Hercules off in chains, but you're saved by his ego: he insists on going to the surface to destroy the Coliseum as a party. Cloud goes off to stall him, while you rescue Hercules. Together, you and Hercules arrive in time to save Cloud's life, and are able to defeat Hades. As you're leaving the Coliseum, Chirithy wonders if maybe you did learn something from Hades' training...

Olympus Coliseum's story may or may not be over. The plot ended by showing the logo, which has meant a world is over since KH2, but the Story button shows it as possibly having a continuation in the future.

Ephemera

Spoiler Show

It's at this point when your player begins to have disturbing dreams, including a vision of the Foretellers meeting with someone in an Black Cloak inside the big clock tower. You are there in the dream as well, but as you approach, you are swallowed by Darkness. While your Chirithy acts like this is a simple nightmare, after you go back to sleep, they speak to another Chirithy outside the window who seems to have darker fur. Your Chirithy blames the other for sending the darkness, but dark-furred Chirithy blames your pet for sending the dream in the first place. Your Chirithy implies they're just trying to keep you safe, no matter what happens to them personally.

On a mission in Daybreak Town, you discover another wielder has already intercepted your target, an Invisible. This wielder is a white-haired boy wielding a high-level Starlight. He is nearly killed by the Invisible, but you help out and he survives by the skin of his teeth. You help him up, and he introduces himself as "Ephemera" (another fan localization. Calling him "Ephemeral" would not be incorrect though isn't quite as snazzy). Ephemera is from a rival Union (no matter which Union you belong to) and he suggests you become personal rivals, but this quickly progresses to friendship. Indeed, Ephemera has a revelation for you.

He says that he's been sneaking around between missions, and has discovered something dire: the Disney worlds attached to Daybreak Town aren't real. How they aren't real is confusing, partially because word choice is sensitive. The root of his warning is that you aren't actually gathering Light from outside worlds, but from Daybreak Town itself. Ephemera thinks these fake worlds were created by the Book of Prophecy - you may recognize that this sounds exactly like Maleficent's plan from the GameTrailers/KHI video, and yes, one of the leading theories is that the Disney worlds in KHX are Data Worlds. That would explain why you experience plot here that would "happen again" in BBS and KH1, for example. But this is pure speculation at this point.

In exchange for this information, you tell Ephemera about your dream, and he's very excited. Together, you decide to check out the room where the dream took place. As you are leaving, you (the player, not the character) see the dark-furred Chirithy again, and your Chirithy suggests the dark-furred Chirithy arranged this meeting between you and Ephemera. This has led some to call the dark-furred Chirithy "Ephemera's Chirithy," though this is not explicitly stated.

You and Ephemera might be excited, but that doesn't help you get into the tower. There doesn't seem to be a door! You ultimately consult the Moogle, who points you to a way inside the sewer system (remember, the clock tower runs directly over the river). Together, you navigate the sewers, and Ephemera saves you from an Invisible, returning the favour from before.

Ephemera says that you should go back for now, because you've spent a suspicious time away from your handlers. He suggests you meet up tomorrow, but it's a ruse: he goes into the tower himself, worried about endangering you further. He does not arrive at your meeting place the next day, and your character, having been "rejected" by two groups of friends in a row, is downtrodden. Your Chirithy offers you a hug, revealing the Spirit sign on its back to an astonished player-base. We're still trying to wrap our heads around that one. This is where the Daybreak Town and main story presently stop.

Some months ago, the developers announced an upcoming "Dungeon Mode" feature, which included preview images of an ascent up the clock tower. This has led many to believe that Daybreak Town story updates are being withheld until Dungeon Mode can be completed, but there have been no signs of the mode since last November.

Guilt

Spoiler Show

One curious mechanic that is introduced outside the main story is Guilt, a mechanic that involves weaponizing the "sins" of the Heartless against them: you kill the right Heartless and gather their sins, enhancing your combat damage, especially against Raid Bossses. To do this, you are given a Strength Bangle when you reach level 20. This is given to you by your Chirithy, but the cutscene is strange. Your character is bothered by the Bangle (it does come off as a very dark artifact) and tries to return it, but Chirithy refuses, saying it's a gift. At the end of the scene, another Chirithy appears in the background and observes this scene with curiosity. This has led some to suspect that the first Chirithy was a fake, though it may simply have been an early hint that there were multiple Chirithy.

The Strength Bangle is not the only suspect part of your arsenal: besides getting training from Hades, your character also calls on the power of future villains via "Reverse" cards (Fragments) that channel the power of darkness into your attacks.

Crystals of Light

Spoiler Show

Early in KHX's run, the devs experimented with time-sensitive plot events, but quickly abandoned them (at least, by-and-large. See the 1st Anniversary, below). The first result of this experiment was the Crystals of Light event. During this event, it seems the Moogle is bullied by an unseen, off-screen character to goad the wielders into harvesting concentrated light. The Moogle is surprised by the fact that the off-screen bully needs the Moogle to work for them at all, implying that we might have listened to the person in the shadows, but they decided ultimately not to reveal their face. The mysterious person than vanished with a Chirithy teleportation effect (and is, indeed, a Chirithy behind the scenes - though this may have been used for quick access to the teleportation effect).

The event was run twice, and has not recurred since.

1st Anniversary

Spoiler Show

Lastly, the curious incident of the first anniversary, run in July and August 2014. During this event, players were surprised by the arrival of Mickey Mouse, Donald, Goofy and Chip and Dale in Daybreak Town, even though these characters should not be born for ages. They claim to have crashed their Gummi Ship, and you helped rescue its component parts from an army of industrious Heartless that had smushed them together into toys and war machines. Donald, Goofy and the chipmunks worked the repairs, while Mickey searched Daybreak Town, and was spied on in turn by a mysterious figure that observant players recognized as the Angius Foreteller.

In the end, the Disney characters restored their ship, and have not been seen since.

Lingering Mysteries

Spoiler Show

A number of mysteries remain in KHX. Who is the figure in the Black Cloak, assuming they are real and not just something you dreamed? Where is the sixth apprentice? What is the fate of Ephemera? If this game is set in the past, why are there Emblem Heartless even in "real" Daybreak Town - is it a plot hole the developers are exploiting for enemy variety, or a clue? What about Mickey and the others? If Chirithy is a Dream Eater, can Dream Eaters exist outside the Realm of Sleep, or is Daybreak Town inside the Realm of Sleep? Which Union is the traitor, or is there something even more insidious afoot?

Hopefully we'll get answers soon. Wonderland updates may continue at any time, and the second anniversary is due to start in mid-July. If you'd like to give the game a try, our starter threads are here for you, and those of us in the Walkthrough thread are always happy to help!

 

[ShardofTruth]

This a a great summary Blackdrazon, I think it should be sticked so it doesn't get buried here.

There are still a few things I'd like to point out:

Spoiler Show

• The "Head Bandit" isn't called that way even in the game files, it's just another fan given name. Also, even if it was called this way I wouldn't trust it since the Ursus Union is constantly refered to as "Wolf" in all game files for example.:wink:
• The feather is black, not white.
• I didn't even consider that the dark-furred Chirithy might not be Ephemera(l)'s but you're absolutely right, it's never acknowledged directly.
• There is no "Guilt Bangle", it's called "Strength Bangle" (ストレングスバングル).
• The Chirithy in the Guilt movie may or may not be the dark-furred one, although it'd made sense if it was. Since the movie is not available in Theater Mode we may never know.
  On a side note: The Anguis Foreteller wasn't replaced by the Unknown in the Anniversary movie when it was re-uploaded after the Theater Mode was implemented. In the beginning I thought she might be just a substitute for a black cloak character.
• Even though the character in the alley during the Crystals of Light movie is never shown directly, it does show the "puff effect" when a Chirithy is vanishing. So that could be a clue (besides that there really is a Chirithy in the game files).

 

[Blackdrazon]

Thanks Shard, I'll scrub out all those changes in just a minute. I never knew that Ursus thing!

Spoiler Show

I actually suspect the black Chirithy might be yours, but a Nightmare counterpart to your Spirit?

EDIT: Updated. For the Strength Bangle scene, I talked about how the scene is somewhat suspicious, but may have simply been an early clue that there were multiple Chirithy.