• Hello everybody! We have tons of new awards for the new year that can be requested through our Awards System thanks to Antifa Lockhart! Some are limited-time awards so go claim them before they are gone forever...

    CLICK HERE FOR AWARDS

Would you prefer if Union X wasn’t connected to the story?



REGISTER TO REMOVE ADS

Absent

Nomura's Biggest Fan
Joined
Sep 16, 2013
Messages
3,342
Awards
17
Location
Outer Rim
Gaming is a luxury, not a necessity. Phones are slowly becoming more of a necessity because of how interconnected communication and money have become under a capitalistic led world.

That's my 2 cents on the whole phone vs console thing.

Regardless I still disagree with the premise of X as a mobile game.
 

Face My Fears

She's not an "it"!
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
5,386
Awards
19
Gaming is a luxury, not a necessity. Phones are slowly becoming more of a necessity because of how interconnected communication and money have become under a capitalistic led world.

That's my 2 cents on the whole phone vs console thing.

Regardless I still disagree with the premise of X as a mobile game.
I never said that gaming wasn't a luxury.

And OK... but smartphones are not a necessity. I would even argue that a cellphone in general is not a necessity.

My point was why lock a crucial story details of a game series heavily influenced by story on a device that is not even remotely in the realm of the rest of the series? Unlike the DS, PSP, PS2, PS4, the cellphone is NOT a gaming console. If we were to go with your "phones are a necessity" statement as true, then there would be no way for someone without access to a smartphone to play KHUX. While gaming systems as a luxury means that you could possibly find some way to borrow or rent a console and game to play it, then return it. There's no borrowing someone's smartphone just to play KHUX.

Also, I just think it was not smart to put KHUX on mobile. It isn't a different gaming console like DS/PSP, it's literally a different type of electronic in general. When BbS and Days were released, it was assumed that whoever had those gaming consoles, and if not too bad. At least that was in the realm of gaming and which consoles players chose to invest in. I shouldn't be isolated from playing or accessing the game because of the phone I chose to buy. I don't mind being isolated because I didn't invest in a Switch or Xbox One, but to be abandoned because of the phone I have? That's different.
 

KingdomKurdistan

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 27, 2012
Messages
329
Awards
4
Ironically, being a free mobile phone app makes it the most easily-accessible game in the entire franchise

I breezed through the game until I reached the Wreck It Ralph world. Suddenly, each fight was taking 60-70 minutes to finish if I survived the first two turns at all. I had 50-60 thousand jewels saved up and spent them on medals. Still nothing. A few more levels and I was stuck again. How is that accessible?
 

The_Echo

Anti-SENA Operative
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Messages
1,841
Awards
12
Also, I just think it was not smart to put KHUX on mobile. It isn't a different gaming console like DS/PSP, it's literally a different type of electronic in general.
It cannot be understated just how big mobile gaming is in Japan. Square Enix is a Japanese company. And even in the West there's a considerable market for it. It is considered by many, especially gaming companies, to be a legitimate gaming platform. KHUX's download numbers say it all (10 million as of last June).
Your personal circumstance doesn't dictate the value of this decision. Considering the game just hit its fifth anniversary, I'd say it's working out pretty well.
I breezed through the game until I reached the Wreck It Ralph world. Suddenly, each fight was taking 60-70 minutes to finish if I survived the first two turns at all. I had 50-60 thousand jewels saved up and spent them on medals. Still nothing. A few more levels and I was stuck again. How is that accessible?
Accessible doesn't necessarily mean easy, though frankly I have no idea how you spent 60K Jewels and came up relatively empty-handed. But if you were trying to blitz through the game as fast as possible, which it clearly isn't designed for, then I can see you lacking medal levels, traits, skills and Keyblade levels which would definitely underpower you.
 

Face My Fears

She's not an "it"!
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
5,386
Awards
19
It cannot be understated just how big mobile gaming is in Japan. Square Enix is a Japanese company. And even in the West there's a considerable market for it. It is considered by many, especially gaming companies, to be a legitimate gaming platform. KHUX's download numbers say it all (10 million as of last June).
Your personal circumstance doesn't dictate the value of this decision. Considering the game just hit its fifth anniversary, I'd say it's working out pretty well.

Accessible doesn't necessarily mean easy, though frankly I have no idea how you spent 60K Jewels and came up relatively empty-handed. But if you were trying to blitz through the game as fast as possible, which it clearly isn't designed for, then I can see you lacking medal levels, traits, skills and Keyblade levels which would definitely underpower you.
Yeah, my personal circumstance and all players' should dictate the value of the decision... that is, the DECISION TO INCLUDE MAIN STORY ELEMENTS IN KHUX.

KHUX could be exactly the same as it is right now, minus story elements and it would be perfect. Instead, tons of information is locked away to the select few that will play KHUX on their phone, let alone unlock the story by either wasting tons of time grinding or by paying up to get easy access.

I have no idea how you can call that business model and treatment of players "working out pretty well".
 

KingdomKurdistan

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 27, 2012
Messages
329
Awards
4
Accessible doesn't necessarily mean easy, though frankly I have no idea how you spent 60K Jewels and came up relatively empty-handed. But if you were trying to blitz through the game as fast as possible, which it clearly isn't designed for, then I can see you lacking medal levels, traits, skills and Keyblade levels which would definitely underpower you.

I put great care into my set-up until I smashed headfirst into the brick wall of Wreck It. Spent weeks trying to optimise things and follow all the advice before giving up.
 

Sephiroth0812

Guardian of Light
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
10,531
Awards
37
Location
Germany
In all honesty I don't even care about Ux as a game nor its gacha mechanics. I haven't put a single second into actually playing it and the important story beats can be easily followed by looking up the necessary scenes on the web.

So in terms of strict accessibility concerning the story it is much more accessible than older games such as the Final Mixes and the original Coded were back in the days when they were new, before the dozen ReMixes and ReMakes released in the mid- to late 2010s when it all was still Japan-only stuff.

My main gripe with it isn't even necessarily that it is connected to the main story at all, you can do that but it should be in a more generic manner instead of giving yet again overblown and too intricate connections to already known characters which considering how far in the past it is supposed to be is certainly awkward and does feel somewhat forced as well as out of porportions.

As someone else already mentioned: It makes the KH-universe look and feel smaller than actually bigger.
The whole thing could have gone without involving half of the Organisation XIII members, Ventus and even Maleficent at all.
 

The_Echo

Anti-SENA Operative
Joined
Mar 16, 2013
Messages
1,841
Awards
12
Yeah, my personal circumstance and all players' should dictate the value of the decision... that is, the DECISION TO INCLUDE MAIN STORY ELEMENTS IN KHUX.
Frankly we are long past the point of complaining that a game in this series contains critical plot information.
Trying to strike a difference between hopping across six different platforms and just one mobile phone game as if the former was the easier option for players doesn't really hold weight. "You can just borrow someone else's" might have worked out for you, but I didn't have any friends that played Kingdom Hearts, let alone ones that owned a PSP or 3DS. I happened to be lucky enough to get those platforms for more than just KH, but many fans weren't like me.
How you can consider this a better scenario than releasing a free app to one of the most ubiquitous pieces of tech in the modern world confounds me.
KHUX could be exactly the same as it is right now, minus story elements and it would be perfect.
And nobody would play it, because KH fans by and large come to these games for the story. It is an RPG series, after all.
Instead, tons of information is locked away to the select few that will play KHUX on their phone
If every UX download was a unique player, it'd have the largest playerbase of any KH game. By a wide margin.

I have no idea how you can call that business model and treatment of players "working out pretty well".
Because if it was a bad idea it probably wouldn't have lasted 5 years (7 counting χ[chi]).
Just because you hate it and just because you can't play it doesn't mean it wasn't a good move for Square Enix.
 

Face My Fears

She's not an "it"!
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
5,386
Awards
19
Frankly we are long past the point of complaining that a game in this series contains critical plot information.
Trying to strike a difference between hopping across six different platforms and just one mobile phone game as if the former was the easier option for players doesn't really hold weight. "You can just borrow someone else's" might have worked out for you, but I didn't have any friends that played Kingdom Hearts, let alone ones that owned a PSP or 3DS. I happened to be lucky enough to get those platforms for more than just KH, but many fans weren't like me.
How you can consider this a better scenario than releasing a free app to one of the most ubiquitous pieces of tech in the modern world confounds me.
And nobody would play it, because KH fans by and large come to these games for the story. It is an RPG series, after all.
If every UX download was a unique player, it'd have the largest playerbase of any KH game. By a wide margin.


Because if it was a bad idea it probably wouldn't have lasted 5 years (7 counting χ[chi]).
Just because you hate it and just because you can't play it doesn't mean it wasn't a good move for Square Enix.
If I remember correctly, KHUX was touted as a separate entity from the main story and would not have anything to do with it. That doesn't mean it can't have its own story. Ephemer and Brain and whoever else could have had their own story going on - not related to KH3 or KH4 - and been fine. I wouldn't have to give a crap about them and the fortunate players who can afford to play it get a KH game with a story. I'm all for Square Enix robbing people blind for a horrible game on a phone, Square do you. My issue is the MAIN STORY elements in KHUX. They had players and a fanbase, they didn't need to connect THIS MUCH to KH3 and KH4.

I'm not arguing whether it's a success or not; whether it should have its own story or not. I just hate that I have to jump through hoops to find out story elements for the future of the series ON A GAMING CONSOLE via a game on a phone. I settled on watching videos online of the story, but I really hate watching cutscenes only and I actually like playing the game to earn cutscenes. I despised actually playing Days, but adore its story. I would endure garbage gameplay - which KHUX has - to get to story, but I am just not able to. Shame me, if you must.
 

Sign

trapped in revamp hell
Staff member
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
17,751
Awards
36
If I remember correctly, KHUX was touted as a separate entity from the main story and would not have anything to do with it.
Despite all of us sharing this same thought/memory, I don't think a single person has been able to pull up an exact source stating that KHX was not canon. At this point I wonder if we all just made assumptions because pre-release materials left things open-ended.

Also the whole "phones are not for gaming" argument is so dated and specifically a western idea. Look around the world and see how gaming cultures exist in other countries. For countless people, mobile devices are just as good, if not better than a modern gaming console.

Your argument against the game is fair, but understand that you do not represent the majority experience.
 

Face My Fears

She's not an "it"!
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
5,386
Awards
19
Despite all of us sharing this same thought/memory, I don't think a single person has been able to pull up an exact source stating that KHX was not canon. At this point I wonder if we all just made assumptions because pre-release materials left things open-ended.

Also the whole "phones are not for gaming" argument is so dated and specifically a western idea. Look around the world and see how gaming cultures exist in other countries. For countless people, mobile devices are just as good, if not better than a modern gaming console.

Your argument against the game is fair, but understand that you do not represent the majority experience.
Well I really cannot comment that much on whether phones are gaming consoles or not because I am not really much of a gamer. I only got a DS and PS4 for KH. I'm going to get a PS5 when the release date for the PS5 KH game is announced and will probably only own KH games on there. I'm not really a tech person as well, so I'm not going to invest my money in a good phone just to play KHUX, when I've already invested money in a PS4 to play KH which is basically all I use the PS4 for.

Maybe I can't speak on the majority experience of KHUX, but from what I see... it doesn't appear that many people play KHUX or even know it exists. The KHUX section on here isn't very active, except for when a new story cutscene is revealed and uploaded (thanks to the person that does that). The KH fans I know in real life don't play KHUX, except one person. Other forums/discussion boards that I visit about KH no one talks about KHUX except for hating that it's a mobile game and/or hating that characters/story from it will be used in future KH games. I haven't actually seen people overjoyed about KHUX or really enjoying the gameplay. But that's just what I see, and I guess the numbers don't lie if 100 million people downloaded the game.

There may not be evidence of the story about KHUX not being canon, but I remember very clearly reading multiple sources and checking many times (back when it was announced/released) whether it was canon or not to avoid my current predicament. I wanted to make sure that I could skip it because when it was released, I definitely did not have a phone even remotely capable of playing it.
 

Alpha Baymax

On a scale of α to ζ.
Joined
Sep 5, 2015
Messages
4,782
Awards
23
Age
28
Location
United Kingdom
I have a sneaking suspicion people will stop complaining about the χ series being important to the story once we get a console remake

Absolutely, but it's a justified argument. Mobile games that require online functionality have an expiry date, a console remake of Unchained/Union Cross not only circumvents that issue but it also circles back to the Kingdom Hearts franchise being under one console ecosystem again. Besides, who wouldn't want to see the classic Disney world's recreated in the Kingdom Shader style?
 

SweetYetSalty

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 20, 2018
Messages
2,166
Awards
12
Age
34
I'm not sure where I stand on it really. I don't mind Union X as a whole. Mobile gaming is popular and KH dives into all sorts of gaming genres so in that regard, why wouldn't it make a mobile game? I'm not into mobile games but I know many others are and since a lot of people play these games, there's no harm in that right? So gaming wise, no problem. Not everyone is into mobile gaming, but for those that are and enjoy playing it that's great for all involved.

As for it be connected to the story, hmmm. I did like the Back Cover movie they did for Chi, was it? I know it didn't cover everything but it did enough to get me interested in the Zoo-Keys (Foretellers) so maybe once Union X gets a movie I'll be more invested in it personally.

My overall problem with it connecting to the main story comes to two things. One of them is something others have said. Having these old characters being in this timeline. Currently we have Marluxia, Larxene, and Ventus in the Fairy Tale age and the bulk of this Darkness story so far revolves around Laurium and Ventus. Two characters already established in canon. Yet we have new characters like Ephemer, Skuld, and Brain who don't feel fleshed out at all despite being around for a pretty long time now. They feel like a brand rather then characters that can stand on their own, and I wish this Darkness story was more about them then Ventus, which honestly feels like a retread of the Vanitas story. I've already nitpicked Marluxia and Larxene in great depth on why I'm not really a fan of what they are doing with them, because they are basically new characters in old character skins. All of them have inconsistent narrative now, and it feels rather silly how these characters are this old and never get memory recalls of events that happened to them, despite being around similar situations that should trigger something. Why does Marluxia's second death start to trigger his lost memories but not his first one? I am going to keep a open mind about this, but needless to say I would prefer it if Union X didn't have all these old characters in it.

My second concern with the story is it feels to samey to what we just did with BBS. A mastermind from the past before the events of KH1 is coming back, aka Master Xehanort. He existed with Braig/Xigbar and some Organization members before they became Nobodies, Ventus is here with a dark side called Vanitas. And now we have time displaced characters who didn't age fast forwarded to the future. It looks like we could be setting up the same thing again. Mastermind from even further back into the past (Master of Masters) before the events of all KH games is coming back. He existed with Luxu/Xigbar and some Organization members before they became Nobodies, Ventus is here with a dark side called Darkness. And potentially more time displaced characters are coming to the present, already teased with Subject X. Does this sound familiar? I know the series repeats themes, but this is almost copy and paste. But at the same time I'm at least excited for Master of Masters and the Foretellers, not so much the Dandelions. And Darkness would probably interest me a lot more if it wasn't tied to Ventus. I like Ventus, but if you are going to use him do something new with him instead of all this darkness pent up in him story.

So overall I don't know how I feel about it. I like the idea of telling these old stories from before the age of Xehanort, for lore purposes and history, like some of the Star Wars lore stories. Maybe even dropping some Easter eggs like how most Final Fantasy games references it's other games, but never goes deeper beyond. But the way it has basically forced it's way into current KH narrative to the point it hijacked a chunk of KH3, and making it known the next saga is more digging into the past, rather then setting up the present and future has me unsure. I could go on, but this is long enough. So I guess I'm half and half overall.
 
Back
Top