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Should Kingdom Hearts Get Rebooted?



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kasukichips

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Let's say you have been hired by Square Enix and given the job of rebooting the storyline of the Kingdom Hearts series. They've decided that they've convoluted the story too much and snarled the continuity beyond recognition, so they want to start over. You can remake the story from the beginning however you want.

You do have some restrictions, though. You have to try to stay true to the basic themes of the series. I'm sure you know what I mean. There are heartless, you fight them with keyblades, friendship is a reoccurring focus, that sort of thing. It should be obvious what's in the spirit of the series and what isn't.

You are free to change as much or as little as you want. What sort of things do you have in mind?

I would

- Keep Kairi's design from KH1 the same, but instead of turning her more girly in each entry, she is more of a tomboy who is strong and independent. i would scrap the "damsel in distress" aswell as a PoH. Her keyblade will change.

- Make it darker as the story goes on.

- All New Disney worlds (Atlantis, The Jungle Book, Princess and the frog etc.)

- New voice actors (but keep Jesse and Quinton)

- Make the graphics like the secret ending (Yozora)

- Not make Sora dumb and happy-go-lucky all the time.

- Replace Donald and Goofy. (with whom idk lol)
 

eiczerofour

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I know you are asking how we would reboot it, but to answer the title of this thread, I do not think it should be rebooted. If it where to be, keep it canon by making it another parallel universe, since they are confirmed to be canon thanks to kh3 now.
 
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I wouldn't reboot it because people are super attached to it. Plus keeping the same creative team you'd fall into the same trap and waste the opportunity.

At best I would create a new cast to take over and set it in the future centuries after the dark seeker saga/foreteller stuff.

If I had to reboot I probably would start fresh with a new core cast. I don't mind using the existing characters but this felt cleaner.
 
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Noivern

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I don't think the series needs to be rebooted, no. But If I were to do it, I'd make Kairi the protagonist instead of Sora. She's a cool character who gets expanded on the manga and Aqua proved that Kingdom Hearts could easily have a female lead.
 

FATE

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You could argue that the series will already go through a soft-reboot with the next game.

Most characters from the main cast have basically have their character arcs finalized in KH3.
I'd say about 80% of the characters from this point have no reason to come back save for a few flashbacks and references.
Plenty of room to expand the series with a brand new take.
 
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ImVentus

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I sorta would like to explore the origins and lore of the keyblade. Setting a story that takes place further back in time than the age of fairy tales. Discovering where it all started and how it influenced the lives of a set of characters that could be a group of non-humans. The whole gazing eye with MOM sorta gave the feel that there could be other creatures out there.

ugh, time to start writing . . .
 
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If i had to use the existing cast I'd probably use a different lead and put a new take on them.

For example, I'd probably use Kairi as the main lead and she'd have more spunk. She'd take cues from Avatar Korra and be the chosen hero lead. Sora and Riku would be her Donald and Goofy. They are a team for the first quarter of the game but go their seperate ways for the other 3 quarters (this might be a better plot later on).

The Disney worlds would be better integrated into the story like the first game and not relegated to the backdrop like from 2 onward.

FF cameos would be less because i want KH's lore and characters to be seen as equal to the other FF games. It should feel like FF 17 instead of FF's annoying little brother.

We will have 1 ff world per game but thats about it.

Tone-wise its closer to the first 4 seasons of Digimon than ash's continuing saga over in the Pokemon anime.

Instead of the Xehanort saga i rather the games would be more standalone. There is overeaching plots and elements that carry over but its not as continuous.

The characters would age more consistently rather than getting stuck as 15 for over a decade in real time.
 

Onion Knight

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If you want more "female empowerment at the expense of romantic subplots" in video games, then go play games with female protagonists that cater to SJWs like you and leave Kingdom Hearts alone. It's fine as it is.
 
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To further elaborate on my Disney comments-
-we would have Disney villains with grander ambitions than their own worlds like Malificient's council in the first game. Each game should have their own primary Disney antagonist such as the Phantom Blot is the antagonist of DDD.
- Pete is more of an antagonist for Goofy than Mickey even though he has beef with him too.
-we'd explore the Disney worlds/characters outside of just rehashing the movie plot ie, the Union era has ancient versions of Agrabah etc.
- Some of the Disney worlds would have nobodies native to the world i.e, https://www.deviantart.com/balletvamp/art/Chaxcen-Sheet-by-Trin-156836361 or certain existing characters like Prince charming would have become a nobody.

I actually would do a Nobody as a protagonist instead of a keyblade weilder (they just tend to be cooler).

https://www.deviantart.com/rousteinire/art/KH-Older-Sora-Kairi-and-Riku-481560634
If I still use Sora/Riku/Kairi as the leads they'd have similar design to this and other weapons than the keyblade. Sora would have a connection to Sion from The Bouncer and maybe a lion's tail (like a Faunus from RWBY).

If we do train them to be keyblade wielders(still optional) their design would be more like this than that what the canon did- https://www.deviantart.com/mcashe/art/Riku-concept-KH3-550267600

Namine probably wouldn't be Kairi's nobody as I never cared for that evelopment.

If you want more "female empowerment at the expense of romantic subplots" in video games, then go play games with female protagonists that cater to SJWs like you and leave Kingdom Hearts alone. It's fine as it is.

There are games that do both such as FF10, FF13-2, RE6, Enslaved odyssey to the west, Prince of Persia 2008, Persona to name a few. You don't have to have one aspect at the expense of the other. In fact having well-developed characters can lead to a better executed romance.

I'm not advocating we drop romance completely just do it better.
 

Onion Knight

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I'm not advocating we drop romance completely just do it better.

You maybe not advocating, but the original poster sure as heck does. "Make Kairi a strong and indepedent tomboy who needs no man. Oh, and also reduce Sora and Riku to just sidekicks. Yeah, that will show men how to represent us in media."
 

Alpha Baymax

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Honestly, if you're going to reboot Kingdom Hearts, create an anime series or have the manga deviate more from the games.

That's the best compromise as it does not tarnish the legacy of the games, yet we get ourselves an alternate take.

The only rebooting the series needs is keeping Nomura OUT OF THE WRITERS ROOM.

But without Nomura, we wouldn't get iconic lines like "Roxas, that's a stick!".
 

Onion Knight

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Honestly, if you're going to reboot Kingdom Hearts, create an anime series or have the manga deviate more from the games.

That's the best compromise as it does not tarnish the legacy of the games, yet we get ourselves an alternate take.



But without Nomura, we wouldn't get iconic lines like "Roxas, that's a stick!".

You mean, I'm not the only one who appreciates the series just the way it is? Good to know.
 

Taochan

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If you want more "female empowerment at the expense of romantic subplots" in video games, then go play games with female protagonists that cater to SJWs like you and leave Kingdom Hearts alone. It's fine as it is.
You don't have to sacrifice a romantic subplot to have female empowerment or at least have the female characters not be relegated to a DiD trope consistently despite the writing leading towards something else.

You're being inflammatory. It's not being a "SJW" to want to see women be characters with agency, especially when a large base of the players for this series are women.

You maybe not advocating, but the original poster sure as heck does. "Make Kairi a strong and indepedent tomboy who needs no man. Oh, and also reduce Sora and Riku to just sidekicks. Yeah, that will show men how to represent us in media."
This thread is just about what the OP would like to see and has nothing to do with "showing men". If you can't engage in discourse with even a modicum of civility, you'll be banned from the thread.
 

Ballad of Caius

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Love it when people want the creator of a series thrown out. Kingdom Hearts without Nomura is like Metal Gear without Kojima.

No one said to throw Nomura out of the franchise, but rather out, keep him out of the writing and only see him as an ideas man.

And Metal Gear is above Kojima. Ask him himself: METAL GEAR SOLID 2 is an ode to his team being capable enough.
 

Sephiroth0812

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The only rebooting the series needs is keeping Nomura OUT OF THE WRITERS ROOM.

I wouldn't even go that far.
Nomura can still be involved with the scenario but he certainly needs a team of writers to proofread his stuff and actually tell him when shit makes no sense.

The main problem is Nomura doing all the scenario writing alone.

That being said, an actual reboot is not needed at all.
I swear this topic seems to pop up every second year or so.
 

Griewer

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No one said to throw Nomura out of the franchise, but rather out, keep him out of the writing and only see him as an ideas man.

And Metal Gear is above Kojima. Ask him himself: METAL GEAR SOLID 2 is an ode to his team being capable enough.


If you keep him out of writing, you get a completely different game with a different story and a completely different atmosphere. The whole thing is infused with Nomura as every creation is infused with the soul of its creator. And I do know that making a game or a film is not a one person job, but usually the heart of the group is the director. The developers help realize their vision, not the other way around.

And that is being modest. Metal Gear is above Kojima, as he didn't make it single-handedly. But without him, Metal Gear probably wouldn't be what it is.
 

des97

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The only rebooting the series needs is keeping Nomura OUT OF THE WRITERS ROOM.
Oh my god finally someone with the audacity to speak the truth. The plot, alongside with the character development is a total mess and needs to be rebooted. I personally love Kingdom Hearts, but the best critiques come from the ones who can truly put their feelings aside and face reality: Nomura does not know how to write a coherent story. He is an amazing character designer though, we need to acknowledge that. But yeah, I would definitely want the whole Dark Seeker Saga to be remade, while keeping the main plot points of course. I would never accept huge changes. At that point, it wouldn't be Kingdom Hearts anymore. I would personally start by making each game tie to the others in a better and more fluid way, for example by introducing various characters at the very beginning. Let me explain: the very first scene of KH1 would be Ventus connecting to Sora. That's it. Leave it as a mystery and make people go crazy when they think it's Roxas but it's actually not him. But if you introduce all the characters at the right moment, the plot will feel more satisfying. As of now, it just feels things are being added while trying not to f**k up what's been said before, even though sometimes it's impossible and you can clearly see where they messed up. And this, folks, is not a correct way to write a story. Sorry for the rant but I wish more people understood this
 
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Griewer

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Oh my god finally someone with the audacity to speak the truth. The plot, alongside with the character development is a total mess and needs to be rebooted. I personally love Kingdom Hearts, but the best critiques come from the ones who can truly put their feelings aside and face reality: Nomura does not know how to write a coherent story. He is an amazing character designer though, we need to acknowledge that. But yeah, I would definitely want the whole Dark Seeker Saga to be remade, while keeping the main plot points of course. I would never accept huge changes. At that point, it wouldn't be Kingdom Hearts anymore. I would personally start by making each game tie to the others in a better and more fluid way, for example by introducing various characters at the very beginning. Let me explain: the very first scene of KH1 would be Ventus connecting to Sora. That's it. Leave it as a mystery and make people go crazy when they think it's Roxas but it's actually not him. But if you introduce all the characters at the right moment, the plot will feel more satisfying. As of now, it just feels things are being added while trying not to f**k up what's been said before, even though sometimes it's impossible and you can clearly see where they messed up. And this, folks, is not a correct way to write a story. Sorry for the rant but I wish more people understood this

Please do tell me how would anyone confuse Ven with Roxas now that we know they are different. Rebooting a game without significantly changing the story has a huge flaw -> the fact that there are no surprises left for us. Nobody would be surprised at anything. Yes-yes certain plot points or scenes would be done better (I'm looking at the infamous Riku vs Roxas scene, which is quite weird now), and of course Kairi would actually utter proper sentences for a change. But at the end of the day you wouldn't change the main plot points, which means that most of the things you didn't like, would remain quite the same.

And to be honest, people went mad when they first saw Ventus, because they thought he was Roxas, but he wasn't. You merely changed the order. That ain't a big achievement.
And of course they added stuff as the game went on. Since neither Disney, nor SE knew how profitable the game would be, they didn't start out big. As the game grew, the story grew along with it. And they might've fucked up. Stories that evolve and expand usually reach that point, where the story doesn't fit as much as it did previously.

Also, what feels satisfying is really a personal thing. I found this series, this story to be absolutely satisfying. And having a random guy rewrite the whole thing would feel like the game was gutted.


---

Also in my version of the reboot, we would erase Kairi after KHI because her only role in the rest of the games is to be in the way of the truest pairing of all. :D
 
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