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Was KH2's Story Really That Good Compared to 3?



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Ballad of Caius

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Why are people saying that KINGDOM HEARTS III's Worlds were filler? They did two things: introduce Organization members and add to the overall narrative.

* Toybox metaphorically told us how they would get Xion
* Kingdom of Corona showed us that the Organization has a Plan B with the New Seven Hearts
* Monsters Inc. explained Vanitas' comeback
* Arendelle has Larxene
* San Fransokyo the idea of replicas turning into full humans
* The Caribbean I would argue isn't as impactful for the full narrative
 

Genocide

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Hands down, the Gummi Ship was better. The stories were apples and oranges for me. Especiallly since CoM and 1 had better stories than 2.
 

Face My Fears

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Why are people saying that KINGDOM HEARTS III's Worlds were filler? They did two things: introduce Organization members and add to the overall narrative.

* Toybox metaphorically told us how they would get Xion
* Kingdom of Corona showed us that the Organization has a Plan B with the New Seven Hearts
* Monsters Inc. explained Vanitas' comeback
* Arendelle has Larxene
* San Fransokyo the idea of replicas turning into full humans
* The Caribbean I would argue isn't as impactful for the full narrative
I would also add that Arendelle reinforced not only the 7 Hearts, but that the Organization was putting pressure on Sora to move forward in his quest and towards the ultimate showdown. If not, he would force the Organization into harming the princesses. Sora also learned about "true love" and sacrifice in Arendelle -- which was key to later events and even a nice bit of foreshadowing. Finally, although I know Disney's strict orders was the reason for this and nothing intentional, but Arendelle also taught Sora that he can step back and let other people resolve their issues, he doesn't have to take care of everyone (possibly useful especially for ReMIND?)

The Caribbean focused on the black box, a being that existed without a heart (but was not a heartless/nobody), true love, and touched on actual death -- which would be important for later on in the game. Also, I feel like it helped flesh out the Sora/Luxord relationship more from KH2 and made Luxord's death scene and "wild card" gift not seem random and out of place.

Even though the execution could have been better in KH3, at the end of the day KH3 at least tried and did implement more mainstory elements into the Disney worlds. KH1 was still the best at it IMO because all the worlds sort of built up and/or enhanced the build to the climax. KH2's Disney worlds were the very definition of filler minus Beast's Castle, Port Royal and Space Paranoids -- all to an extent -- since those worlds just had Organization involvement, but nothing that specifically was key to the main plot or had something to do with Ansem.
 
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Even though the execution could have been better in KH3, at the end of the day KH3 at least tried and did implement more mainstory elements into the Disney worlds. KH1 was still the best at it IMO because all the worlds sort of built up and/or enhanced the build to the climax. KH2's Disney worlds were the very definition of filler minus Beast's Castle, Port Royal and Space Paranoids -- all to an extent -- since those worlds just had Organization involvement, but nothing that specifically was key to the main plot or had something to do with Ansem.

I personally thought the the Disney world in KH 3 were the best handled in the series. Even though more of the worlds in 1 'mattered' in the sense of there being a princess of heart in them, I feel that only in KH3 did the Disney worlds actually each have a thematic link to the main story, which to me is more important than plot events.

What I mean is that in KH1 you go to worlds with princesses of heart and they get kidnapped and are used eventually to open a door. Save Kairi, the identities of each princess and their own world is not relevant to their role, Jasmine's role in Agrabah is not related to her role as a princess of Heart.

In KH2 the worlds generally matter in an even less individual way; Sora defeats Heartless in them. In some of them the Organisation release powerful Heartless or try to turn Disney characters into Heartless but that's generally the only connection to the main story for most worlds and it's not really tailored to each world.

In KH3, the connection of the worlds to the main story is tailored to that world, even if the connection is thematic rather than a advancement of the plot. It makes sense for Sora to be in Olympus to talk about regaining strength, foreshadowing about puppets and creation of hearts are perfect for Toy Box and San Fransokyo. The link between Vanitas' negative emotions and children's screams works perfectly for Monstropolis.

In the worlds with the new seven hearts, we actually see the princesses use their powers within their own worlds, so their identities actually have relevance to their main plot role this time.

The Carribbean's plot is a tad impenetrable but it naturally allows for discussion about the box. I absolutely love the sudden tonal shift when Luxord says 'No one knows what's in the chest we're looking for' and how, to me, it doesn't seem too contrived in context.

Even 100 Acre Wood is more interesting than previous entries. It's unusually dark at the end, with Sora worrying about losing his friends and what's happened to his heart.

I do also believe that there is foreshadowing of things to come in ReMind in most of the worlds; particularly in Toy Box and San Fransokyo but in most every world. This includes Corona and Arendelle; I don't think Sora sees flashes of Rapunzel and Anna and Elsa when returning to the Keyblade Graveyard for no reason.

Then there are the odd dèja vu moments peppered throughout all the worlds (c.f. Sleeping Realm theory), which have kept me reviewing cutscenes from every world, something I have not been motivated to do for previous games.

I am not saying you can't argue that KH3's convoluted story is bad but I do get annoyed when people say the Disney world's matter less than in previous games.
 

Ballad of Caius

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Worlds in KINGDOM HEARTS III better handled the link to the main narrative because worlds were longer. In KHII, worlds han an hour campaign and a 15 minute second visit campaign. In KHIII, worlds have an almost three hour campaign. It's the reason as to why there are less worlds: more attention to detail = sacrifice of quantity.

The only problem KH3 had was dealing with the original property, but I wager that Nomura and the team have seriously heard the backlash.
 

Twilight Lumiair

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I would also add that Arendelle reinforced not only the 7 Hearts, but that the Organization was putting pressure on Sora to move forward in his quest and towards the ultimate showdown. If not, he would force the Organization into harming the princesses.
He already knew this from the beginning of the game, and any added "pressure" didn't make him anymore urgent or had a notable affect on his conduct. Nothing comes from Arendelle or Corona aside from introducing the NPoH, since that's the only lasting impact either of those worlds had, and it's something Yen Sid and Sora shrug after breifly discussing it anyway.


Sora also learned about "true love" and sacrifice in Arendelle -- which was key to later events and even a nice bit of foreshadowing.

Finally, although I know Disney's strict orders was the reason for this and nothing intentional, but Arendelle also taught Sora that he can step back and let other people resolve their issues, he doesn't have to take care of everyone (possibly useful especially for ReMIND?)
Yet that's all he seems to do afterwords, isn't it? How can someone claim this after Sora continuously said that he wanted to go to the RoD because he didn't want Riku and Mickey (two Keyblade Master's) to solve it on their own? And then, rather than focus on his own goals, like getting Roxas back or regaining the PoW, he instead barges into the RoD and steals Riku's only moment in the whole game. Then he tries to take care of Vanitas in LoD, despite the fact that Aqua should've been more than enough to put the fucker down, and even if he didn't know that, he still bassically told her to step aside while he fights. Litterally the exact same thing she ends. Then he goes on to barge into everyone's fights in the Keyblade Graveyard for no good reason, and last, but certainly not least, he denies Riku, Mickey, and Aqua the chance to be useful and bring Xehanort down in the final fight. There is absolutely no conceivable reason he had to be the one to fight when he could've just as easily been left behind to (not) help Kingdom Hearts shut.

I'm probably missing a whole bunch more examples, but I just had to comment on that. Like seriously, name ONE time Sora willingly opted to stay out of someone else's conflict in this game.
 

XAndrew

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I'm just going to say this. Both games do things differently. Both of them have pros and cons in how they handle their stories. One's not objectively better than the other just different. If you find one better than the other? That's fine. I just don't get these comparisons between the two.
 
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