(SPOILERS) Union X: Siblings

[Sakuraba Neku]

Could the next saga be the Light Seeker Saga?!
Didn't see the white coats coming. Ravus had that in FF Versus 13 trailers.

 

[The_Echo]

This could have been vastly more effective if it happened before Strelitzia died.

She died in the same month she was revealed and we didn't even know they were siblings for quite a while

 

[SweetYetSalty]

Strelitzia has to go now, her planet needs her. That is all I thought when she floated up in the air like that.

It's mind blowing they are giving Marluxia's COM mech a story. When can we learn about Xemnas's Nobody dragon? In all seriousness it's good to see interaction between these two as I'm starting to like Strelitzia as a actual character now. The white robe made her look like a White Mushroom Heartless. Hope we get our corrupt light baddies next.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

I still remember the days when we blamed Lauriam for Strelitzia's death. Oh, how naive the fandom was back then.

 

[Zettaflare]

Seven seekes of light? But what about the black chess pieces Eraqus put on the chessboard in the epilogue? Unless the seekers of light are a separate group from the Foretellers.

Could the next saga be the Light Seeker Saga?!
Didn't see the white coats coming. Ravus had that in FF Versus 13 trailers.

Another thing to add to the pile of Versus references in KH

 

[Absent]

I mean, it's been two and a half years since we first met Strelitzia, that's so crazy (and it was back in a time when they'd release 15 quests in one go, not 5)!

sigh

 

[jacklak]

One thing I’ll say for the major lack of story progress or a “short” update. Wreck it Ralph will keep going each month. And they are very close to the end of this story now. I would imagine part of the reason for holding off for two months is to line it up even closer. And once wreck it Ralph is done as a world there is nowhere else to go except back to daybreak town.

I think some of this is nomuras fault but he clearly wanted kh3 to come out before some of this other stuff started getting addressed. Some of that is on Disney for being picky about everything.

 

[Luminary]

I still remember the days when we blamed Lauriam for Strelitzia's death. Oh, how naive the fandom was back then.

To be fair, they did use Lauriam’s character model for the shadowy figure. But I imagine the devs just put that in as a placeholder at a time when even they didn’t know where Nomura was going with the story. Kinda like Saix being used for Mysterious Figure in BBS.

 

[The_Echo]

One thing I’ll say for the major lack of story progress or a “short” update. Wreck it Ralph will keep going each month. And they are very close to the end of this story now. I would imagine part of the reason for holding off for two months is to line it up even closer. And once wreck it Ralph is done as a world there is nowhere else to go except back to daybreak town.

I think some of this is nomuras fault but he clearly wanted kh3 to come out before some of this other stuff started getting addressed. Some of that is on Disney for being picky about everything.

It'll be interesting to see where UX goes after Sugar Rush. Traverse Town? New Disney worlds? Crazy amount of main story?

Not to mention Dark Road, the story of which we know nothing about.

 

[kirabook]

To be fair, they did use Lauriam’s character model for the shadowy figure. But I imagine the devs just put that in as a placeholder at a time when even they didn’t know where Nomura was going with the story. Kinda like Saix being used for Mysterious Figure in BBS.

Hmm, I don't think that's the case. Based on the concept art, Strel was always intended to be Marluxia's long lost sister. There's even one version of her with pink hair. I think using Marluxia was meant to mislead us. Or maybe, whoever did the act took that form on purpose to dig the knife a little deeper as she was dying. We know for sure whoever did the deed is a shape shifter since they're pretending to be Ava, right?

 

[5glitchers5]

"Unless... you'd be my vanguard while I protect the rear."

 

[2 quid is good]

Kind of ridiculous that the one game where characters interact with each other outside of their specific groups is..... Union Cross.

UX lost me hard in 2017 when the Ven/Marluxia twist was revealed, and it's just been downhill from there. How did it possibly take Nomura 2 years to come up with this scenario? I don't believe it. It's hard to believe there was a time when UX had almost no advertisements and 200 missions for 4 months

This is such a glacial pace that I really wonder if this game will ever end. It just feels like more and more of a burden the longer it goes on

 

[LoneFox]

I still remember the days when we blamed Lauriam for Strelitzia's death. Oh, how naive the fandom was back then.

That was at least somewhat plausible theory until the replacement (according to the list) was revealed. Now people are blaming Ven, so things have gotten worse.

To be fair, they did use Lauriam’s character model for the shadowy figure. But I imagine the devs just put that in as a placeholder at a time when even they didn’t know where Nomura was going with the story. Kinda like Saix being used for Mysterious Figure in BBS.

Or maybe the shadowy figure actually is Lauriam. He doesn't necessarily need to be on the scene to save Strelitzia, because of how complicated death and afterlife are in the series, but it's possible that he was there.

One thing I’ll say for the major lack of story progress or a “short” update. Wreck it Ralph will keep going each month. And they are very close to the end of this story now. I would imagine part of the reason for holding off for two months is to line it up even closer. And once wreck it Ralph is done as a world there is nowhere else to go except back to daybreak town.

Good point. If the Player Character needs to be present in the next part of the main story, they cannot continue it until Wreck-It Ralph is done.

 

[Violet Pluto]

Kind of ridiculous that the one game where characters interact with each other outside of their specific groups is..... Union Cross.

UX lost me hard in 2017 when the Ven/Marluxia twist was revealed, and it's just been downhill from there. How did it possibly take Nomura 2 years to come up with this scenario? I don't believe it. It's hard to believe there was a time when UX had almost no advertisements and 200 missions for 4 months

This is such a glacial pace that I really wonder if this game will ever end. It just feels like more and more of a burden the longer it goes on

Ven/Marluxia Twist actually really brought me into Union X. Before that it was mainly a story that we knew was connected to the current story but in some a "Its just backstory, so I don't really have to play it or pay attention to it" way. By introducing them into the current scenario it became a question of how would it lead up to what we know. I mean the original arc of X was good, and we already knew that the Dandeleaders would take over after the KB War but the question of how was that relevant to anything after the big event happened that was the end of everything we knew.

I don't think that it took Nomura 2 years to come up with it. I would say that it is probably done or at least more finished than it is now, its just being stretched out by the company to inflate the time its playerbase continues playing. There also might be an element of "Whoops this twist can't come out until this trailer for so and so comes out." or "This would spoil my ideas for this game, but is also the conclusion of stuff before so it needs to be delayed".

 

[AR829038]

Ven/Marluxia Twist actually really brought me into Union X. Before that it was mainly a story that we knew was connected to the current story but in some a "Its just backstory, so I don't really have to play it or pay attention to it" way. By introducing them into the current scenario it became a question of how would it lead up to what we know. I mean the original arc of X was good, and we already knew that the Dandeleaders would take over after the KB War but the question of how was that relevant to anything after the big event happened that was the end of everything we knew.

I don't think that it took Nomura 2 years to come up with it. I would say that it is probably done or at least more finished than it is now, its just being stretched out by the company to inflate the time its playerbase continues playing. There also might be an element of "Whoops this twist can't come out until this trailer for so and so comes out." or "This would spoil my ideas for this game, but is also the conclusion of stuff before so it needs to be delayed".

The whole thing is a mess and it makes me wish Union X had never been made important. I would have preferred it just stay this superficial yet benign spin-off game with little bearing on the story. Frankly, I despise having to follow this story just to understand the later games that I actually want to play. It's an objectively TERRIBLE game. If it weren't part of this franchise, I wouldn't even touch it. But after waiting for five years (seven if you count the JP Browser title) for this goddamn narrative to unravel, I would have preferred Ven and Lauriam and Maleficent just stayed out of this and Nomura had just let this be a totally unimportant title. This is FAR worse than any of the handheld games of the past, and if Nomura wanted to make the story important, he should have made it a full-release console game, or a handheld AT THE VERY LEAST. The way they've done this just makes it so undigestible to any but the most dedicated KH fans, and forcing people to play it in order to understand the main series just ensures that more casual players will be turned off to it.

 

[Tobi]

Hmm, I don't think that's the case. Based on the concept art, Strel was always intended to be Marluxia's long lost sister. There's even one version of her with pink hair. I think using Marluxia was meant to mislead us. Or maybe, whoever did the act took that form on purpose to dig the knife a little deeper as she was dying. We know for sure whoever did the deed is a shape shifter since they're pretending to be Ava, right?

As strange as it sounds, I see it as still possible that Lauriam was actually the one who killed Strelitzia, after having seen his dream.

It hints at that something was going to happen/ has happened to his sister. But I don't think it was Lauriam of this time, it was more Lauriam from the future (Sora & Co's time) after having learned something about the white coats, including that his sister is one of them. Strelitzia was one of MoMs chosen, so there is the possibilty that the same can happen to the others, if they share a trait important for this (if Lauriam would see Skuld, Brain and Ephemer in the future with white coats alongside Strelitzia he would have a strong reason for getting his sister as far as possible away from there). Future Lauriam would also have the chance of knowing where they were back then (in a data world) and that it's possible to bring dead people back (you basically only need the heart and a replica). So slaying Strelitzia and letting her heart flow away somewhere where she is more save could be a way in Lauriams point of view to save her from this change. But - in order to lay one tragic twist on the other, since it may have been supposed to happen and as we learned in DDD some events cannot be changed (atleast if you're not Sora, I guess) - he accidentally triggered what would cause her change and caused what he tried to stop in the first place, causing the dream of his past self.

As for the switching, first, Marluxia was able to use illusions in CoM (the first Marluxia fight), taking the appearance of someone else should be a possibility.

Second, from his time as Union Leader he is probably going to learn who was switched with his sister (Ven), so his future time traveling self would know to who he has to give the book in order to avoid changing the events he was familiar with.

Thirdly, someone who knows that light will pose a threat in the future would have reason to call himself Darkness, so something which opposes this light. Future Lauriam would know that there are people in the future which will bring Maleficent back, since she was present in KH3. Helping the witch would also be a part of the things future Lauriam had to do in order to change the events he knew would happen not to much. To clarify this, he didn't want to cause an unintended butterfly effect (meaning changing something he didn't want to), so he followed the rest of the scribt thinking that he has changed enough.

Lastly, Future Lauriam could have used a sleep spell on his past self. At that time he might have realised that his actions didn't had the effect he wished for, so he wanted to ensure that past Lauriam is going to dream what he dreamed.

I hope I didn't miss a loophole/ logic error here, but yeah, it could be possible in some way.

 

[SweetYetSalty]

The whole thing is a mess and it makes me wish Union X had never been made important. I would have preferred it just stay this superficial yet benign spin-off game with little bearing on the story. Frankly, I despise having to follow this story just to understand the later games that I actually want to play. It's an objectively TERRIBLE game. If it weren't part of this franchise, I wouldn't even touch it. But after waiting for five years (seven if you count the JP Browser title) for this goddamn narrative to unravel, I would have preferred Ven and Lauriam and Maleficent just stayed out of this and Nomura had just let this be a totally unimportant title. This is FAR worse than any of the handheld games of the past, and if Nomura wanted to make the story important, he should have made it a full-release console game, or a handheld AT THE VERY LEAST. The way they've done this just makes it so undigestible to any but the most dedicated KH fans, and forcing people to play it in order to understand the main series just ensures that more casual players will be turned off to it.

I agree to a extent. I like the story of this, but I don't like that this is a mobile game and the wait is so tedious, especially for me because I can lose interest in something pretty quickly. Like we're just now getting to see Lauriam and his sister interact? One of my biggest fears going into KH4 is I'm not going to be invested in many of the Union X characters who are being groomed to be the next batch of 'saveable souls' Other then MoM and the Zoo-Keys (Foretellers) I haven't found a favorite among the Dandelions half and this worries me for the future.

 

[AR829038]

I agree to a extent. I like the story of this, but I don't like that this is a mobile game and the wait is so tedious, especially for me because I can lose interest in something pretty quickly. Like we're just now getting to see Lauriam and his sister interact? One of my biggest fears going into KH4 is I'm not going to be invested in many of the Union X characters who are being groomed to be the next batch of 'saveable souls' Other then MoM and the Zoo-Keys (Foretellers) I haven't found a favorite among the Dandelions half and this worries me for the future.

Agreed. I want to like this story—I mean, I REALLY want to love this story. But so little of this game is actually DEVOTED to the main story that nothing feels substantive about it. 358/2 Days was a grind as a game, but at least most of the missions gave you more character development with Roxas and the Sea-Salt Trio that made their story more immersive. Here, not only is, like, 70% of the game's story just filler, but you don't even play as a character who has any real place amongst the Union leaders (or any personality for that matter). Like, seriously, the ONLY main characters the Player ever has any interaction with is Ephemer and, to a much lesser extent, Skuld. And, sorry to say it, but Ephemer and Skuld are styrofoam levels of boring. Roxas, Xion, and Axel these characters are NOT. The only characters with any modicum of interest are Brain, Ventus, and Lauriam, but even they don't really have much development, and now that we know that Brain is neither the killer nor the impostor, all of his mystique for me is gone.
I've been a KH fan all my life, and I'm still all in for the future games in the series. But it's just impossible for me to feel emotionally invested in characters that the GAME ITSELF doesn't even bother to invest in. I pray to God they flesh these guys out more in future games (REAL games, not more mobile garbage!), because right now, if these guys are going to be the main focus of the next saga, I'm not very hyped.

 

[*TwilightNight*]

Kind of ridiculous that the one game where characters interact with each other outside of their specific groups is..... Union Cross.

Notice how there isn't specific trios that ignore everyone else not in it and how much better character dynamics are cause of it .


---



Anyway, I've seen a lot of opinions for KHUx, and a lot of fans are invested in the story and feel it's one of the better ones, lore wise. Trust me, I'm the first person who will shit on how KH is going downhill and how Nomura is a hack, but the mobile games (gacha games) and handhelds are legitimately booming in Japan. More than consoles. They get loads of money and in general, it's a smart investment. So for "casual players" not getting access to this isn't really a problem over in Japan since all this is a thing.

It only becomes a problem overseas.

There's no real solution to this except wait for the eventual remaster. There's no way they are going to stop the gacha games with how much of a market there is for them.

 

[Sign]

So like, everyone is free to bitch and all but at least make the effort to contribute something to the topic of discussion? If you can't do that, please take your comments to another thread.

I don't think that it took Nomura 2 years to come up with it. I would say that it is probably done or at least more finished than it is now, its just being stretched out by the company to inflate the time its playerbase continues playing. There also might be an element of "Whoops this twist can't come out until this trailer for so and so comes out." or "This would spoil my ideas for this game, but is also the conclusion of stuff before so it needs to be delayed".

He actually just writes them a few months in advance. If you recall in his September letter, at the time he had only written 2 of the 4 big story updates.

I've stuck with the KHX saga since the beginning. If this is the price I have to pay for quality writing, then it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.