So, I LOVED ReMIND, as well as the Limit Cut and Secret Episode, naturally. In my mind, the additions that the Osaka team have added onto the base KH3 not only vastly enhance its enjoyability both in the sense of story and gameplay, but I dare say the whole package taken together now ranks even above KH2FM imo.
However, as much as I loved the experience, and as much as I feel we got our fair share of questions answered in this addition, I still noticed that ReMIND dropped the ball on a couple of points where certain plot threads or mysteries were concerned:
1. The conversation between Xigbar and Luxord at the beginning of ReMIND feels pretty meaningless in retrospect. While it lets us know that Luxord was suspicious of Xigbar, both ReMIND itself and the trailers made it seem like this was going to be the start of some sort of deep investigation into Luxord's past and character. The fact that ReMIND started off on this scene led me to believe that we'd get some sort of shocking revelation regarding Luxord by the end of everything (and, well, I guess we did get a little something with that Good Secret Ending *wink wink*, but that's not really a revelation about Luxord so much as it is just more mystery). I was disappointed that scene never came to any kind of fruition.
2. Demyx was kind of a bust. In post-KH3 interviews, Nomura gave an infamously sly nod to Demyx's disappearance at the end of KH3, and even gave a mischievous little laugh. While not much on its own, this did lead me and many in the KH community to believe that Nomura was going to show us what Demyx was doing after his disappearance in KH3, and that it would be something shocking, perhaps even leading to revelations about his character, as we were led to believe with Luxord. Needless to say, I was kind of let down when all he did was just pick up the Namine replica and NOTHING else. Like, the way Nomura talked about him, we were all expecting to learn something about HIM. Heck, a lot of people even theorized that Nomura's hint meant that we might find out in ReMIND that Demyx was the Master of Masters all along. At the end of the day, just as with Luxord, this trail ended up being a dud.
3. The box. We all remember the disappointment of not getting to see what was in the box at the end of KH3, but even those of us who were disappointed held out hope we would get the answer in ReMIND. Now, on its own, that hope might seem far-fetched, except that Nomura EXPLICITLY STATED in an interview around the time Back Cover was released that the Master's "surprise" inside the box would be revealed in KH3. I, and many others, speculated that if we weren't going to get that answer in base KH3, then we would at least get it in ReMIND. Now, of course plans change, and perhaps Nomura had to work things around and save the reveal for another time, but it just sucks that he essentially lied to us about such an important reveal.
4. Darkness inside Ven. Now, granted, this is a smaller issue, because the Dark Inferno in Ventus' heart was never really a subject of much interest before ReMIND released, and it's pretty obvious that whatever answers we get to that sequence are being kept for Union X. But still, it felt abrupt and pointless, as Sora never references it again, even though it seems like a pretty important thing to keep in mind about someone, especially someone ostensibly of pure heart. It was clearly just a tease for Union X, and nothing more, so they probably should have just scrapped it altogether.
5. The time rift. I think we were all hoping ReMIND would clarify the absolute mess that was the time rewrite sequence in the Keyblade Graveyard. Alas, it didn't. It still makes no sense why some characters remember the past reality sometimes and not others. In fact, adding future heart-Sora into the mix, if anything, only further muddies those waters.
6. Rescuing Kairi. I'm not gonna lie—I have no idea what was going on with the whole bit about piecing Kairi's heart back together. I don't understand how Xehanort could fragment her heart, and I don't understand what going through the other Guardians' hearts had to do with retrieving hers. It's never once explained how going into the others' hearts allows Sora to procure Kairi. Like, what was she doing in their hearts? How did she get there? If Xehanort is the one who fragmented her heart, then why go through the other Guardians' hearts in the first place? Shouldn't all the pieces of her heart be in Scala, then? And if so, why were there only five pieces of her heart in Scala, while the other two were outside in the Guardians' hearts? The whole escapade just made no sense to me. I won't complain too much, because hey, we got our girl back, but I really would like to at least comprehend how we got her back.
7. The Replica Norts returning. How is it that the Xehanort Replicas managed to respawn and attack the Guardians? For that matter, how exactly did Master Xehanort come out and fight them concurrently with his fight with SDG? At first, I was willing to believe (and maybe this is the case) that the Nort Replicas simply fused to recreate his goat armor without the old man himself having to operate it, but you can see his face through the armor—he's definitely in there! Does the X-Blade/Kingdom Hearts give him the power to be in two places at once? I mean, I guess it could, so maybe that's all the answer I'll get.
8. Why can't Sora rewrite the past this time around? Chirithy mentioned this to him, but why? If he did it once, why not again? And, in fact, this turned out to be untrue anyway. Sora DID rewrite time again! He did it in the battle with the Sea-Salt Trio vs. Xemnas and Saix. That stuff didn't happen the first time around. A lot of the other things that happen with future Sora, you could imagine it occurring in the main timeline offscreen and we're just seeing it now, but the stuff with Roxas Xion and Axel and Xemnas was definitely a time rewrite, if an ultimately inconsequential one. But everything else is played as if it was always a part of the main timeline that we just didn't get to see, so it's hard to tell what's in line with KH3's original ending, and what's a rewrite.
9. The Data battles, while awesome, ultimately turned out to be narratively pointless. This isn't a big complaint, because I LOVED the data fights, and I'm surprised they actually made them narratively relevant this time around. But it's just funny that you go through all that trouble only to find out that nothing comes of it and Fairy Godmother just shows up with all the answers.
That's all I have to say. Sorry it's long, hope I haven't given anybody headaches. Tell me what you think, and tell me if I overlooked some crucial detail in the dialogue or something that might make some of these make a bit more sense.
However, as much as I loved the experience, and as much as I feel we got our fair share of questions answered in this addition, I still noticed that ReMIND dropped the ball on a couple of points where certain plot threads or mysteries were concerned:
1. The conversation between Xigbar and Luxord at the beginning of ReMIND feels pretty meaningless in retrospect. While it lets us know that Luxord was suspicious of Xigbar, both ReMIND itself and the trailers made it seem like this was going to be the start of some sort of deep investigation into Luxord's past and character. The fact that ReMIND started off on this scene led me to believe that we'd get some sort of shocking revelation regarding Luxord by the end of everything (and, well, I guess we did get a little something with that Good Secret Ending *wink wink*, but that's not really a revelation about Luxord so much as it is just more mystery). I was disappointed that scene never came to any kind of fruition.
2. Demyx was kind of a bust. In post-KH3 interviews, Nomura gave an infamously sly nod to Demyx's disappearance at the end of KH3, and even gave a mischievous little laugh. While not much on its own, this did lead me and many in the KH community to believe that Nomura was going to show us what Demyx was doing after his disappearance in KH3, and that it would be something shocking, perhaps even leading to revelations about his character, as we were led to believe with Luxord. Needless to say, I was kind of let down when all he did was just pick up the Namine replica and NOTHING else. Like, the way Nomura talked about him, we were all expecting to learn something about HIM. Heck, a lot of people even theorized that Nomura's hint meant that we might find out in ReMIND that Demyx was the Master of Masters all along. At the end of the day, just as with Luxord, this trail ended up being a dud.
3. The box. We all remember the disappointment of not getting to see what was in the box at the end of KH3, but even those of us who were disappointed held out hope we would get the answer in ReMIND. Now, on its own, that hope might seem far-fetched, except that Nomura EXPLICITLY STATED in an interview around the time Back Cover was released that the Master's "surprise" inside the box would be revealed in KH3. I, and many others, speculated that if we weren't going to get that answer in base KH3, then we would at least get it in ReMIND. Now, of course plans change, and perhaps Nomura had to work things around and save the reveal for another time, but it just sucks that he essentially lied to us about such an important reveal.
4. Darkness inside Ven. Now, granted, this is a smaller issue, because the Dark Inferno in Ventus' heart was never really a subject of much interest before ReMIND released, and it's pretty obvious that whatever answers we get to that sequence are being kept for Union X. But still, it felt abrupt and pointless, as Sora never references it again, even though it seems like a pretty important thing to keep in mind about someone, especially someone ostensibly of pure heart. It was clearly just a tease for Union X, and nothing more, so they probably should have just scrapped it altogether.
5. The time rift. I think we were all hoping ReMIND would clarify the absolute mess that was the time rewrite sequence in the Keyblade Graveyard. Alas, it didn't. It still makes no sense why some characters remember the past reality sometimes and not others. In fact, adding future heart-Sora into the mix, if anything, only further muddies those waters.
6. Rescuing Kairi. I'm not gonna lie—I have no idea what was going on with the whole bit about piecing Kairi's heart back together. I don't understand how Xehanort could fragment her heart, and I don't understand what going through the other Guardians' hearts had to do with retrieving hers. It's never once explained how going into the others' hearts allows Sora to procure Kairi. Like, what was she doing in their hearts? How did she get there? If Xehanort is the one who fragmented her heart, then why go through the other Guardians' hearts in the first place? Shouldn't all the pieces of her heart be in Scala, then? And if so, why were there only five pieces of her heart in Scala, while the other two were outside in the Guardians' hearts? The whole escapade just made no sense to me. I won't complain too much, because hey, we got our girl back, but I really would like to at least comprehend how we got her back.
7. The Replica Norts returning. How is it that the Xehanort Replicas managed to respawn and attack the Guardians? For that matter, how exactly did Master Xehanort come out and fight them concurrently with his fight with SDG? At first, I was willing to believe (and maybe this is the case) that the Nort Replicas simply fused to recreate his goat armor without the old man himself having to operate it, but you can see his face through the armor—he's definitely in there! Does the X-Blade/Kingdom Hearts give him the power to be in two places at once? I mean, I guess it could, so maybe that's all the answer I'll get.
8. Why can't Sora rewrite the past this time around? Chirithy mentioned this to him, but why? If he did it once, why not again? And, in fact, this turned out to be untrue anyway. Sora DID rewrite time again! He did it in the battle with the Sea-Salt Trio vs. Xemnas and Saix. That stuff didn't happen the first time around. A lot of the other things that happen with future Sora, you could imagine it occurring in the main timeline offscreen and we're just seeing it now, but the stuff with Roxas Xion and Axel and Xemnas was definitely a time rewrite, if an ultimately inconsequential one. But everything else is played as if it was always a part of the main timeline that we just didn't get to see, so it's hard to tell what's in line with KH3's original ending, and what's a rewrite.
9. The Data battles, while awesome, ultimately turned out to be narratively pointless. This isn't a big complaint, because I LOVED the data fights, and I'm surprised they actually made them narratively relevant this time around. But it's just funny that you go through all that trouble only to find out that nothing comes of it and Fairy Godmother just shows up with all the answers.
That's all I have to say. Sorry it's long, hope I haven't given anybody headaches. Tell me what you think, and tell me if I overlooked some crucial detail in the dialogue or something that might make some of these make a bit more sense.