The Curse of the Handheld Side Games

[Scsigs 119]

Now, call them what you want; games just as important to the overall narrative to KH, side games, or spin-offs, but there's a stigma attached to every single one of them. The handheld KH games don't do much but set up later games, or answer questions no one was asking. Now, Birth By Sleep at least tells the story of new characters and answers why Roxas looks nothing like Sora, but let me ask, what are the other games' purposes for existing? Set up.

Chain of Memories: Set up to KHII by introducing Organization XIII into the mix.

Coded: Set up Birth By Sleep.

Birth By Sleep: Establishes Terra, Ventus, and Aqua, yes, but also introduces Master Xehanort.

Dream Drop Distance: Set up for KHIII by introducing time travel.

0.2: Set up to KHIII.

 

The only side game that is wholly its own is 358/2 Days, since it's a prequel showing the story of Roxas and expands upon him & Axel's characters. The game was fully needed to delve into them, even though it goes on too long in terms of game time. Chain of Memories has the problem of going on too long as well. What should've been a 10-15 hour game gets stretched into 20-25/30 with both of those games. Chain of Memories' plot is so paper thin, which made sense at the time it came out, since it was a handheld game. The problem is that what little story it has was important set up to KHII that people missed out on.

 

Now, sometimes the way they make these games is ok, like Birth By Sleep, which then led to Union X, & introduced us to 3 new tragic characters. Doing a prequel to the entirety of the other games before it was a good idea, since the side games can't be allowed to expand the story too far due to less people playing them. I don't know why they bother, since they tend to treat these games as just as important as the main ones anyways, albeit half-heartedly most of the time, but whatever. The prequels are the better stories of these games, no doubt, but I'll say Birth By Sleep is the only side game thus far that's worth playing rather than just knowing the story, as well as its short sequel, 0.2.

 

Then we get into Dream Drop Distance. This is a side game that truly didn't need to exist story-wise. It's Sora & Riku taking their mark of mastery exams, nevermind that Sora should be awarded that already due to the last 2 main games, but whatever. It's also where we get Master Xehanort coming back and announcing that he's used time travel to gain a new vessel, which I'm trying to think, did he not recombine with his Heartless at some point, still in Terra's body like the other nobodies? Maybe that'll be finally answered in 3. But, yeah, the game answered where some worlds are (not that anyone was wondering that outside of maybe Traverse Town), established why Xehanort was following the plan he's been doing (which, I don't think people needed that answered because you'd assume he found out about the X-Blade at some point, took an interest in it, then did what he did in Birth By Sleep because of that), then had Xehanort gather together himself at different ages to get Sora in the dream world. Why? Shouldn't the game be simple for Sora & Riku finally being dubbed Keyblade Masters? Can't Xehanort being back be established in a post-credits scene at the tail end of the game? Dream Drop Distance is SO convoluted in its story that it makes you question the series as a whole. All in the name of setting up KH3.

 

My point is this, outside of 358/2 Days & Birth By Sleep, none of the other side games really need to exist. Chain of Memories has the main characters be stuck in pods to untangle their memories. Main reason? To depower Sora as a plausible reason to have him at level 1 for the second main game, which is also the reason for DDD, by the way. Coded uses a virtual Sora, and the only justification to it is to establish the protags of Birth By Sleep, which didn't need to happen because that should've been tacked on to the end of that game's story. Seriously, Nomura LOVES to make long games out of short plot threads. Nowhere is this more the case than 0.2, which feels like a title drop scene after a prologue for KH3, just put on 2.8 to both justify its price & entire existence.

 

Anyone else feel this way? I don't mean to sound negative, but that's, honestly, how I've come to see the games in the series since I started playing it last year. Tetsuya Nomura is a good director & designer of RPGs, but I think he's overextended the series to a degree that's detrimental to it overall. It's to the point that he felt the need to introduce time travel into the mix. I have no problem with the franchise's mythology, or its overly complicated ways of telling its stories. They're easy enough to understand as long as you pay attention, but having so many of these side games tell crucial stories wasn't the best idea. I know Nomura loves to have each game matter, but if you want each game to matter, have them actually do, not half-heartedly matter & not matter at the same time. Then again, he also LOVES continuity, which can come in handy for plot elements & writing, but when you have continuity as strict as it's been in KH, it can be daunting to have every game try to be as important as the rest.

 

Update: I have something to add to this. It's a reason I feel the games suffer. The writers of each game. Most of the games are directed by Tetsuya Namura, with some other directors like Tai Yusue, Hajime Tabata, or Tomohiro Hasegawa as co-directors, or, with the first 3 entries, he was by himself. I'm also certain Nomura has ideas that he puts into the games for the writers to develop in a story sense, or helps with the writing in some capacity. I bring this up because a director is only as good as their writers let him be & vice-versa.

 

Kingdom Hearts was written by Jun Akiyama, Daisuke Wantanabe, & Kazushige Nojima.

 

Chain of Memories was written by only Watanabe, with only Nojima returning with him as a script supervisor. It was also apparently co-directed by Yusue from what I've read.

 

Kingdom Hearts II was written by Nojima primarily, judging by the credit, although his personal Wikipedia page also credits Watanabe & newcomer Harunori Sakemi.

Nojima's also one of the main writers of Final Fantasy XV & is writing the remake of Final Fantasy VII.

 

358/2 Days was written by Yukari Ishida & Tomoco Kanemaki. It was also co-directed by Hasegawa.

 

Coded was written by Nomura & Watanabe & is also co-directed by Tabata, who'd go on to direct FFXV.

 

Birth By Sleep was written by Watanabe & newcomer Masaru Oka & co-directed by Yusue.

 

Dream Drop Distance was written by Nomura & Oka & also co-directed by Yusue.

 

0.2 was written by Oka & co-directed by Yusue.

 

Kingdom Hearts III, we don't know who's written it yet, but I'd put money on either Tabata, Watanabe, &/or Oka.

 

So, yeah, we've only had 2 writers from the first game stick around, which is fine, but the majority of the side games are written by people that were never involved with Kingdom Hearts before those games. In some cases, it was fine, like 358. However, in sme other cases, like Coded & DDD, I don't think it worked too well. Then again, that could always be Nomura's fault, since those are the only games he's written the script for rather than just directed. Looking at these games, the characterization problems I have with Sora in them make sense, since these are people who'd never written one of these games before, nor were they writing with the writers of the first 2 main games. Being co-directed by Yusue, while he's most likely just taking care of things Nomura has him doing, also probably doesn't help.

Chain of Memories has some real characterization problems with Sora that he didn't have in the first game, or KHII. Being written primarily only by 1 of the people from the first game's team & co-directed by Yusue most likely didn't help. The next game to have characterization problems for Sora? Coded. Granted, it's a data replica of Sora made from a computer going on what was written in a book, but if it's supposed to be a representation of Sora, the computer did a terrible job. Birth By Sleep has Sora as a kid & he doesn't appear long, so it's fine, but Dream Drop Distance portrays Sora as happy-go-lucky & doesn't have any other emotion or way of thinking than that. I don't know why Nomura seems to only view Sora as an Idiot Hero, but it's clear that's why he's the director & not the writer of his games. Yeah, this is what's lead to the problems in the writing I have. Nomura's experimentation with the combat system didn't help. It's clear that these games are meant to satiate people's wait for the next main entries, but Nomura didn't want the games not to matter in the long-run, which has also lead to the story problems. Again, I only think the few games that needed to exist in the first place story-wise were 358/2 Days, Birth By Sleep, & Dream Drop Distance. Chain of Memories & Coded are worthless as games, Coded especially, since it has such a weak justification for existing. Everything in Chain of Memories could've been done in a prologue to KHII before Roxas' story, or revealed as the game goes along, given the game loves it's overly long cutscenes & revealing plot details the way it does. Chain of Memories also works better as a prequel to KHII than it does a sequel to KHI, honestly, but it's too long for its own good.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Scsigs

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

I can understand what you're trying to say, but you answered your questions in your very same post, ya know?

 

I'll explain:

• As you said, Birth By Sleep introduces us to new characters and to Xehanort, and it expands on the mythology of the KH series by having the game take place 10 years before the first Kingdom Hearts, therefore giving us the scope of there having been more Keyblade Wielders aside from Sora and Riku.
• For Days, like you also said, the game served to establish Roxas's character, to give him depth and fill in the blanks of all the mysteries regarding him in Kingdom Hearts II. And we also got great character development for Axel, and Xion was a tragic character, which added to the story's emotional factor.
• For Coded, it was basically to bridge what would happen in Dream Drop Distance. Namine had hidden the message in Jiminy's Journal about the people Sora needed to save, and thanks to Data Sora and Data Riku, Mickey and friends were able to extract this information to let Sora know about all these people that were connected to him. 
• For Chain Of Memories, it was also important because it paved the way to Organization XIII, introducing us to these enemies that would prove to be the main antagonistic force in the series. In KHII, we knew that Sora and friends had eliminated half of them, but without CoM, we wouldn't have known what happened beforehand, of how Sora had actually encountered the Organization before losing his memory. 
• Dream Drop Distance basically served to further develop Riku's character, as the game was mainly focused on him, and as you said, it served to build up to what Kingdom Hearts III will be, to set up the final end game!
• 0.2 was going to be the introductory piece to KHIII, but since Nomura stated in an interview that KHIII was already a long enough game as it was, they decided to cut 0.2 out and put it as a technical "demo" to what KHIII would be like.
• And Union X, the tale of Keyblade Wielders in the Age Of Fairy Tales.

All the games in the series are important, as they bridge into one overall narrative. Think of it like watching an anime series! At first we get the story, but throughout the course of an anime, we get backstories and details we hadn't known previously that shed light and make things look like a piece of a bigger picture by the end, ya know? 

 

I understand what you mean, though, but Nomura has his way of doing things, and I honestly love it. Playing Kingdom Hearts is like watching a riveting anime series!

[Scsigs 119]

I can understand what you're trying to say, but you answered your questions in your very same post, ya know?

 

I'll explain:

• As you said, Birth By Sleep introduces us to new characters and to Xehanort, and it expands on the mythology of the KH series by having the game take place 10 years before the first Kingdom Hearts, therefore giving us the scope of there having been more Keyblade Wielders aside from Sora and Riku.
• For Days, like you also said, the game served to establish Roxas's character, to give him depth and fill in the blanks of all the mysteries regarding him in Kingdom Hearts II. And we also got great character development for Axel, and Xion was a tragic character, which added to the story's emotional factor.
• For Coded, it was basically to bridge what would happen in Dream Drop Distance. Namine had hidden the message in Jiminy's Journal about the people Sora needed to save, and thanks to Data Sora and Data Riku, Mickey and friends were able to extract this information to let Sora know about all these people that were connected to him. 
• For Chain Of Memories, it was also important because it paved the way to Organization XIII, introducing us to these enemies that would prove to be the main antagonistic force in the series. In KHII, we knew that Sora and friends had eliminated half of them, but without CoM, we wouldn't have known what happened beforehand, of how Sora had actually encountered the Organization before losing his memory. 
• Dream Drop Distance basically served to further develop Riku's character, as the game was mainly focused on him, and as you said, it served to build up to what Kingdom Hearts III will be, to set up the final end game!
• 0.2 was going to be the introductory piece to KHIII, but since Nomura stated in an interview that KHIII was already a long enough game as it was, they decided to cut 0.2 out and put it as a technical "demo" to what KHIII would be like.
• And Union X, the tale of Keyblade Wielders in the Age Of Fairy Tales.

All the games in the series are important, as they bridge into one overall narrative. Think of it like watching an anime series! At first we get the story, but throughout the course of an anime, we get backstories and details we hadn't known previously that shed light and make things look like a piece of a bigger picture by the end, ya know? 

 

I understand what you mean, though, but Nomura has his way of doing things, and I honestly love it. Playing Kingdom Hearts is like watching a riveting anime series!

My point was more so to say that, outside of BBBS & CoM, none of these games really need to exist, or don't have enough reasons to exist. Like i said, BBS is a prequel, as is 358/2 Days, which I give them leeway, since they're actually worth knowing their stories. Roxas needed his backstory explained & BBS showing Terra, Ventus, & Aqua was fine & it expanded the mythology. That's what a prequel should do. It was also freed from the franchise's curse of the side games both being important, yet unimportant at the same time, since they're allowed to tell full stories that aren't just set up to future ones. These games were actually justified in existing.

 

The thing about Coded is that it doesn't need to exist. Have you actually looked at the plot? You can seriously just redo the entire game into a few minute cutscene at the end of BBS to show Mickey & Jiminy receiving the message from Namine through their computer scanning in the journal into their computer. They would then inform Sora of what they found out. Again, flimsy excuse for existing. There's NOTHING in Coded that couldn't just be done in a cutscene for one of the other games. Thematically, it would work a lot better at the tail end of BBS. Why do you think that they didn't try to convert it to an actual game for consoles rather than just remaster the cutscenes other than time? Seriously, just change how Mickey finds out from Namine about the protags of BBS & the game doesn't need to exist. What actually requires the rest of the game to exist? Not much.

 

Chain of Memories, though it had a decent set up, falls apart really fast. Like I said, the game is FAR too long. It, at max, is a 10-hour plot stretched to 20. And, what does it do? Sets up some things for KHII. On top of that, the combat isn't that good. It's interesting...for the first few hours, but then gets old fast. The story doesn't even really matter in the end because the main characters forget it through the process of restoring their memories. Don't even get me started on Sora's massive jerkassness either. I think this game works better as a prequel than a sequel, but that doesn't help its faults. At the time, it was Kingdom Hearts on the GBA, which makes sense, but that novelty wears thin when you don't play it that way. There is far too much filler in the game & the story bits you get don't justify the rest of the game for me. I know that there are others that agree with this statement. Riku's story in it is short, but good considering he's the most developed character in the franchise, but Sora's is way too long & told badly. I just consider the game a waste of time.

 

Dream Drop Distance, like I said, should've just focused on Riku &/or Sora becoming full Keyblade masters. I expect Sora to either be like Harry Potter & be a keyblade master unofficially like Potter's a full wizard unofficially (since he didn't go back & finish his schooling at Hogwarts), or for him to be dubbed an actual one at the end of III. Like CoM, it's more a game you play for Riku's development, but I still ask, was it worth it? I don't think it was, since Riku ends up on another travel with Mickey anyways, mostly to find Aqua. Whether or not Riku did what he did in this game, I think he still would've went with Mickey to find her when Yen Sid informed them of her being in the Realm of Darkness, considering his characterization. Also, the game didn't do anything we didn't already expect KHIII to do with Xehanort. You don't just show him in BBS & not do anything further with him. I just don't see anything in DDD that we couldn't, & most likely are gonna, get with KHIII, y'know? Also, change some of Mickey's involvement in 0.2 so that unfortunate implications don't come about from him knowing Aqua's trapped in the Realm of Darkness. His entire reason for being there was already there, not much more was needed. It also unnecessarily changed/negated the Blank Points secret ending of BBS by making Aqua's statements weird considering what they're talking about & what transpired slightly before it. It does what prequels shouldn't do & plays too close with the previous continuity so that things don't make as much sense as before you know about it, or makes LESS sense. Nomura didn't write the last bit of it too well.

 

Union X, I don't mind existing, hence why I didn't talk about it much. It changes the Keyblade's prior lore by having it be less special that Sora got one in the first game, but I, honestly, don't mind that it does what it does.

 

Yeah, thinking of it as an anime series makes it more exciting, & I don't mind the series overall, but like some of the greats, some of these games serve as uninteresting filler or setups to later games. I already see Sora & Riku's developments as similar to what Kishimoto would later do with Naruto & Sasuke, but in a more tragic & believable way. However, the storytelling is something more akin to Dragon Ball. Nomura starts off by having these mystical elements about the series & characters we like, but then he tries to have things make sense, or be explained more than they should. For example, a parallel between the 2...

Why does Goku have a tail & transform into a giant ape at the full moon? The original explanation was that he's based on Son Wukong from Journey to the West & it's a fantasy series. Later, it's retconned that he's an alien & that's part of his genetic makeup. Why does Sora have a Keyblade? Originally, it was because the Keyblade chose him in a time of need, as well as the series being a sister series to Final Fantasy, so he needed SOME kind of sword-type weapon. Later, it's retconned that his heart's connected to Ventus' &, thus, Sora can summon one like Ventus can. Not bad retcons, but that's what they are; retcons to make things make more sense when it wasn't really needed. Now, we got some good things out of these retcons, but it's just the nature that these ARE retcons.

And like Dragon Ball, KH suffers from the same kind of filler problems the original shows of DB & DBZ did at times with the side games, though even SUper suffers from similar problems as well. CoM is a lot like some of DBZ's worst filler-filled arcs, mostly the Frieza saga. You have the setups, you have the characters, but there's a TON of filler, especially towards the end, that's superfluous to the overall story they wanna tell. The main difference, though, is that while the Frieza saga had all new story, CoM rehashed a LOT from the first game, but lazily. Then again, a lot of the Frieza saga's filler is lazy too, so there you go. 358/2 is like Battle of Gods from Super; a plot only mean for a movie stretched too thin over a longer period than it should've. I could go on, but I think I've made my point. Not all of these games needed to exist is my problem, nor to I feel what we got from the ones that didn't was worth it, considering that they could've been told in shorter ways & we wouldn't have been lost. I just feel like not a lot of these games have a lot of justifications for existing, even if they expand on things. You even admit to DDD setting up KHIII, so there's something to what I'm saying here.

[Isaix 924]

My main problem with those side games beside BBS(and maybe DDD,never played it)is that gameplay-wise they are not fun to play,they feel like striped down versions of KH1,so why even bother.At least COM was ambitious for a GBA game,but even then it's not fun.When you play a handheld Mario or Zelda or Sonic they are still fun and interesting and offer an interesting experience,but the handheld KH have almost nothing interesting,they're not terrible,but VERY average and it feels like not enough though went into making those games original and fun.Just look at KH3,there is so much more creativity gameplay-wise from the trailers alone,they put effort in that game,same for BBS,it's a lot of fun

[Scsigs 119]

My main problem with those side games beside BBS(and maybe DDD,never played it)is that gameplay-wise they are not fun to play,they feel like striped down versions of KH1,so why even bother.At least COM was ambitious for a GBA game,but even then it's not fun.When you play a handheld Mario or Zelda or Sonic they are still fun and interesting and offer an interesting experience,but the handheld KH have almost nothing interesting,they're not terrible,but VERY average and it feels like not enough though went into making those games original and fun.Just look at KH3,there is so much more creativity gameplay-wise from the trailers alone,they put effort in that game,same for BBS,it's a lot of fun

Yeah, that's a problem I have too. It's why I'm not sore that they just remastered the cutscenes only of the DS games. Birth By Sleep at least adds versatility to your arsenal at the cost of the MP meter; a trade-off I don't care for, tbh, but it is what it is. Dream Drop, though, kinda feels like a watered down version of BBS in terms of the combat, with the flowmotion meant to make up for not having shotlocks & melding, but I don't think that's a good trade-off. 358, after I saw SomecallmeJohnny's review of the game, informed me that I wasn't missing out on anything there with the gameplay & the same with Re:Coded. Chain of Memories at least had an interesting setup with the card system, but I don't find that system too fun after a while & the storytelling's, honestly, the worst in the series with Sora's character being just awful for no reason.

That's another thing I hate about the side games. It's as if the scripts for the dialogue are written by someone other than Nomura because Sora keeps getting flanderized into a different person than who he actually is; a kid with attitude, but also a good heart. A multi-dimensional one with a good amount of depth. He keeps getting turned into an idiot hero who's overtly good nature gets in the way of common sense. His characterization in these games is comparable to Goku. When written properly, Goku's a character who's a combat pragmatist who cares for his family & friends, likes to train, likes to eat, & is always looking for a good fight. In Super, the writers of the anime have only 1 trait for Goku; idiot manchild who likes to fight. There's a certain nuance to Goku that the anime writers are missing. It's similar with Sora. When not written properly, Sora turns more into Monkey D. Luffy. I mean, I like Luffy, but the way he's written is very one-note most of the time. He rarely expresses any other emotion than happy-go-lucky or gets any depth other than that. Sora's like that at his most flanderized. Even Data Sora's like that in Coded. There's a distinct difference between his characterizations in the main games & the side games in that he's actually capable of thinking through things more thoroughly & react accordingly, as well as having emotional depth. You can even see this in some of the KH3 trailers that his character's been rerailed from DDD.

Not surprisingly, this goes with my words of the side games being half-hearted most of the time in their writing. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they handed off the script-writing duties to someone who usually doesn't write the games who only kind of understand the series, rather than someone who understands it fully.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Scsigs

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

My point was more so to say that, outside of BBBS & CoM, none of these games really need to exist, or don't have enough reasons to exist. Like i said, BBS is a prequel, as is 358/2 Days, which I give them leeway, since they're actually worth knowing their stories. Roxas needed his backstory explained & BBS showing Terra, Ventus, & Aqua was fine & it expanded the mythology. That's what a prequel should do. It was also freed from the franchise's curse of the side games both being important, yet unimportant at the same time, since they're allowed to tell full stories that aren't just set up to future ones. These games were actually justified in existing.

 

The thing about Coded is that it doesn't need to exist. Have you actually looked at the plot? You can seriously just redo the entire game into a few minute cutscene at the end of BBS to show Mickey & Jiminy receiving the message from Namine through their computer scanning in the journal into their computer. They would then inform Sora of what they found out. Again, flimsy excuse for existing. There's NOTHING in Coded that couldn't just be done in a cutscene for one of the other games. Thematically, it would work a lot better at the tail end of BBS. Why do you think that they didn't try to convert it to an actual game for consoles rather than just remaster the cutscenes other than time? Seriously, just change how Mickey finds out from Namine about the protags of BBS & the game doesn't need to exist. What actually requires the rest of the game to exist? Not much.

 

Chain of Memories, though it had a decent set up, falls apart really fast. Like I said, the game is FAR too long. It, at max, is a 10-hour plot stretched to 20. And, what does it do? Sets up some things for KHII. On top of that, the combat isn't that good. It's interesting...for the first few hours, but then gets old fast. The story doesn't even really matter in the end because the main characters forget it through the process of restoring their memories. Don't even get me started on Sora's massive jerkassness either. I think this game works better as a prequel than a sequel, but that doesn't help its faults. At the time, it was Kingdom Hearts on the GBA, which makes sense, but that novelty wears thin when you don't play it that way. There is far too much filler in the game & the story bits you get don't justify the rest of the game for me. I know that there are others that agree with this statement. Riku's story in it is short, but good considering he's the most developed character in the franchise, but Sora's is way too long & told badly. I just consider the game a waste of time.

 

Dream Drop Distance, like I said, should've just focused on Riku &/or Sora becoming full Keyblade masters. I expect Sora to either be like Harry Potter & be a keyblade master unofficially like Potter's a full wizard unofficially (since he didn't go back & finish his schooling at Hogwarts), or for him to be dubbed an actual one at the end of III. Like CoM, it's more a game you play for Riku's development, but I still ask, was it worth it? I don't think it was, since Riku ends up on another travel with Mickey anyways, mostly to find Aqua. Whether or not Riku did what he did in this game, I think he still would've went with Mickey to find her when Yen Sid informed them of her being in the Realm of Darkness, considering his characterization. Also, the game didn't do anything we didn't already expect KHIII to do with Xehanort. You don't just show him in BBS & not do anything further with him. I just don't see anything in DDD that we couldn't, & most likely are gonna, get with KHIII, y'know? Also, change some of Mickey's involvement in 0.2 so that unfortunate implications don't come about from him knowing Aqua's trapped in the Realm of Darkness. His entire reason for being there was already there, not much more was needed. It also unnecessarily changed/negated the Blank Points secret ending of BBS by making Aqua's statements weird considering what they're talking about & what transpired slightly before it. It does what prequels shouldn't do & plays too close with the previous continuity so that things don't make as much sense as before you know about it, or makes LESS sense. Nomura didn't write the last bit of it too well.

 

Union X, I don't mind existing, hence why I didn't talk about it much. It changes the Keyblade's prior lore by having it be less special that Sora got one in the first game, but I, honestly, don't mind that it does what it does.

 

Yeah, thinking of it as an anime series makes it more exciting, & I don't mind the series overall, but like some of the greats, some of these games serve as uninteresting filler or setups to later games. I already see Sora & Riku's developments as similar to what Kishimoto would later do with Naruto & Sasuke, but in a more tragic & believable way. However, the storytelling is something more akin to Dragon Ball. Nomura starts off by having these mystical elements about the series & characters we like, but then he tries to have things make sense, or be explained more than they should. For example, a parallel between the 2...

Why does Goku have a tail & transform into a giant ape at the full moon? The original explanation was that he's based on Son Wukong from Journey to the West & it's a fantasy series. Later, it's retconned that he's an alien & that's part of his genetic makeup. Why does Sora have a Keyblade? Originally, it was because the Keyblade chose him in a time of need, as well as the series being a sister series to Final Fantasy, so he needed SOME kind of sword-type weapon. Later, it's retconned that his heart's connected to Ventus' &, thus, Sora can summon one like Ventus can. Not bad retcons, but that's what they are; retcons to make things make more sense when it wasn't really needed. Now, we got some good things out of these retcons, but it's just the nature that these ARE retcons.

And like Dragon Ball, KH suffers from the same kind of filler problems the original shows of DB & DBZ did at times with the side games, though even SUper suffers from similar problems as well. CoM is a lot like some of DBZ's worst filler-filled arcs, mostly the Frieza saga. You have the setups, you have the characters, but there's a TON of filler, especially towards the end, that's superfluous to the overall story they wanna tell. The main difference, though, is that while the Frieza saga had all new story, CoM rehashed a LOT from the first game, but lazily. Then again, a lot of the Frieza saga's filler is lazy too, so there you go. 358/2 is like Battle of Gods from Super; a plot only mean for a movie stretched too thin over a longer period than it should've. I could go on, but I think I've made my point. Not all of these games needed to exist is my problem, nor to I feel what we got from the ones that didn't was worth it, considering that they could've been told in shorter ways & we wouldn't have been lost. I just feel like not a lot of these games have a lot of justifications for existing, even if they expand on things. You even admit to DDD setting up KHIII, so there's something to what I'm saying here.

 

Yeah, I get what you're saying, and I understand your argument. There are things that could've been fixed up or condensed in a way that didn't require extensive procedures, but in the end, I enjoyed all the entries. True, I and II are absolutely amazing, and the other games build upon those two, but in more condensed versions and with experimental procedures, as Nomura took each non numbered entry to flesh out gameplay and experiement with ideas and such. And also, another probable reason, aside from world building and mythology expanding, is that he made these games to buy time while we wait for Kingdom Hearts III. Not that I have a problem with that, ya know?

 

But hey, let's see how KHIII ties up all these threads in the end!

Edited April 15, 2018 by The Transcendent Key

[Scsigs 119]

I added an additional thought to the first post if anyone wants to entertain the thought.

[Scsigs 119]

Yeah, I get what you're saying, and I understand your argument. There are things that could've been fixed up or condensed in a way that didn't require extensive procedures, but in the end, I enjoyed all the entries. True, I and II are absolutely amazing, and the other games build upon those two, but in more condensed versions and with experimental procedures, as Nomura took each non numbered entry to flesh out gameplay and experiement with ideas and such. And also, another probable reason, aside from world building and mythology expanding, is that he made these games to buy time while we wait for Kingdom Hearts III. Not that I have a problem with that, ya know?

 

But hey, let's see how KHIII ties up all these threads in the end!

I mean, if they wanted to build upon things established in the first 2 main games, I have nothing against that. There's a reason I actually like 358/2 Days' story after all, but if the games are too long for their own good, or are just set up for the next games, what's the point? I mean, unless it's a game that can do both setup & tell its own story, rather than the setup being the entire reason for the game. That's where I feel the side games shine when they do.

Like, just think. Chain of Memories tries to tell it's own story, which I think it does decently, but the storytelling's off when they made Sora an unlikable asshole. It also goes on 5-10 hours too long, especially when it was on the GBA. Not only that, but it gets repetitive, which gets boring.

Re:Coded, it establishes the characters from Birth By Sleep. The thing about this is that it's not the real Sora who finds out about this. He supposedly finds this stuff out through the letter he got at the end of KHII. This game didn't need to exist. Here's also the thing, this game's reveal could've also been at the end of KHII in a post credits scene, which I think it was. Just add Mickey's narration to that scene talking about it & it'd be fine, or tack it on to the end of BBS in a similar manner. That game didn't need to exist.

Then we have Dream Drop Distance, which turns what should've been Sora & Riku going through their Mark of Mastery exams into more setup by including Xehanort in many different incarnations. Why? What Xehanort did in this game didn't need to happen & his involvement in the plot of 3 could've easily been established in a post credits scene. I mean, the point of a side game or spin-off is to do something that you're not gonna do in the main ones & I know Nomura loves setting up later games early, so that would be a nice setup for them without needing to play these games. What's the point of all of these games needing to be so interconnected & badly told as they an get? There really is none.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

I mean, if they wanted to build upon things established in the first 2 main games, I have nothing against that. There's a reason I actually like 358/2 Days' story after all, but if the games are too long for their own good, or are just set up for the next games, what's the point? I mean, unless it's a game that can do both setup & tell its own story, rather than the setup being the entire reason for the game. That's where I feel the side games shine when they do.

Like, just think. Chain of Memories tries to tell it's own story, which I think it does decently, but the storytelling's off when they made Sora an unlikable asshole. It also goes on 5-10 hours too long, especially when it was on the GBA. Not only that, but it gets repetitive, which gets boring.

Re:Coded, it establishes the characters from Birth By Sleep. The thing about this is that it's not the real Sora who finds out about this. He supposedly finds this stuff out through the letter he got at the end of KHII. This game didn't need to exist. Here's also the thing, this game's reveal could've also been at the end of KHII in a post credits scene, which I think it was. Just add Mickey's narration to that scene talking about it & it'd be fine, or tack it on to the end of BBS in a similar manner. That game didn't need to exist.

Then we have Dream Drop Distance, which turns what should've been Sora & Riku going through their Mark of Mastery exams into more setup by including Xehanort in many different incarnations. Why? What Xehanort did in this game didn't need to happen & his involvement in the plot of 3 could've easily been established in a post credits scene. I mean, the point of a side game or spin-off is to do something that you're not gonna do in the main ones & I know Nomura loves setting up later games early, so that would be a nice setup for them without needing to play these games. What's the point of all of these games needing to be so interconnected & badly told as they an get? There really is none.

 

Yeah, well, remember, one of the biggest reasons for this, aside from Nomura's love of this franchise, is money. Just look at all the money that the Remasters have made alone, and well, the more KH entries there are, the more money Square gets. Like Union X. Apparently, that's a money making machine if there ever was one! I haven't had to spend a single dime on the game as of yet, but I've heard of people who have cashed in considerable amounts of money on the game's microtransactions and whatnot, ya know?

[Scsigs 119]

Yeah, well, remember, one of the biggest reasons for this, aside from Nomura's love of this franchise, is money. Just look at all the money that the Remasters have made alone, and well, the more KH entries there are, the more money Square gets. Like Union X. Apparently, that's a money making machine if there ever was one! I haven't had to spend a single dime on the game as of yet, but I've heard of people who have cashed in considerable amounts of money on the game's microtransactions and whatnot, ya know?

The problem is that not all of the games are worth playing, either for bad gameplay (COM, R:C, 358), or bad storytelling (COM, R:C, DDD), so it's not like, especially since they were on handhelds first. Also, the HD remasters, you're forgetting, are what have become the definitive ways to play the games, due to them containing the previously Japan-exclusive Final Mix versions of KHI, KHII, & KHBBS, which contain exclusive content that were not in the vanilla releases which were never released overseas because Nomura didn't wanna release them everywhere else for some stupid reason, all remastered in HD & widescreen. On top of a new generation of gamers getting into the series through these sets because they haven't had a straight console release of these games since the PS2, people who're still fans of this franchise that wanna relive the games through these, as well as catch up on the other games, that's why they're selling incredibly well (which is why I still don't get why they haven't released Xbox ports of the collections already due to the good word of mouth & hype that's been generated in the last year alone & the fact that the PS4 ports have made well over their budgets back by now). The HD remasters also trim a lot of the fat of Re:Coded & 358 by only having the cutscenes, so you can't really say that, with the likes of KHI, KHII, & BBS on the discs, all of which WAY better games, that people are getting the games for the cinematic versions of the other games, or Re:COM. I personally got the collections because I hadn't gotten any of the games in the series before &, since they're now the go-to definitive way of experiencing the stories of the games.

 

Union X is a different thing to these altogether, since it's a free mobile game that uses microtransactions rather than a full console or handheld game that's $40-$60. Free mobile games are designed to encourage pay-to-win formats, where full console games are meant to have the full experiences on them already. Not only that, but making Union X a free mobile game made it instantly more accessible than the console games, due to everyone having a smartphone at least, even if they don't own a console. I can't speak to the quality of Union X because I haven't played it, but it's increasingly easy to get compared to the console games.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

The problem is that not all of the games are worth playing, either for bad gameplay (COM, R:C, 358), or bad storytelling (COM, R:C, DDD), so it's not like, especially since they were on handhelds first. Also, the HD remasters, you're forgetting, are what have become the definitive ways to play the games, due to them containing the previously Japan-exclusive Final Mix versions of KHI, KHII, & KHBBS, which contain exclusive content that were not in the vanilla releases which were never released overseas because Nomura didn't wanna release them everywhere else for some stupid reason, all remastered in HD & widescreen. On top of a new generation of gamers getting into the series through these sets because they haven't had a straight console release of these games since the PS2, people who're still fans of this franchise that wanna relive the games through these, as well as catch up on the other games, that's why they're selling incredibly well (which is why I still don't get why they haven't released Xbox ports of the collections already due to the good word of mouth & hype that's been generated in the last year alone & the fact that the PS4 ports have made well over their budgets back by now). The HD remasters also trim a lot of the fat of Re:Coded & 358 by only having the cutscenes, so you can't really say that, with the likes of KHI, KHII, & BBS on the discs, all of which WAY better games, that people are getting the games for the cinematic versions of the other games, or Re:COM. I personally got the collections because I hadn't gotten any of the games in the series before &, since they're now the go-to definitive way of experiencing the stories of the games.

 

Union X is a different thing to these altogether, since it's a free mobile game that uses microtransactions rather than a full console or handheld game that's $40-$60. Free mobile games are designed to encourage pay-to-win formats, where full console games are meant to have the full experiences on them already. Not only that, but making Union X a free mobile game made it instantly more accessible than the console games, due to everyone having a smartphone at least, even if they don't own a console. I can't speak to the quality of Union X because I haven't played it, but it's increasingly easy to get compared to the console games.

 

You make good points. And well, for all that's been done, we can't fix what's already there. The best we can do is be excited for what comes next. And yes, I agree, the ReMixes are definitely the most sure fired definitive way to enjoy the Kingdom Hearts series. The Final Mixes in and of themselves are like Director's Cuts with added extras and important story bits that add to the overall whole of the narrative, and that's something I really loved! 

 

And well hey, I'm sure that after Kingdom Hearts III and when Nomura takes a small break from the KH games, he'll see all the good and bad of his creations, and he'll ensure that his next saga is one that's even more amazing than this current saga, ya know? Even looking at Kingdom Hearts III, you can tell that this game will push the boundary of what a Kingdom Hearts game can be, ya know? And I couldn't be more excited!

 

You should play Union X. It's pretty fun! Granted, the story's pace is a bit slow for the important parts, as a lot of the missions you play are Disney worlds, but like any KH game, Disney worlds are a part of the structure of KH. But if you don't have time to play the game, then just watch Everglow's playthrough of it on Youtube, or his KH Timeline series he's currently airing, in which he tells the story of Kingdom Hearts in chronological order, starting from X, all the way to 0.2! It's a massive undertaking, but I think that with his years of dedication on the Kingdom Hearts series, he'll definitely make this a comprehensive guide to understanding Kingdom Hearts all the better, ya know?

[AwesomeKHfan 1,250]

Before I start with my problems with the ''spin off's'' I'm more convinced that Nomura didn't actually knew that there would be so many Kingdom Hearts games that were not called KH3 over the years or he had ideas but never really developed them, Dream Drop Distance is one of the games that had the shortest development and Nomura and others were still thinking how to do the story from an interview I believe when they were in the last three month's of the development.

I think one of the biggest reasons why these games exist that are not called KH3 is obvious... MONEY! We were hungry for KH3 anyway and still are now and we were able to eat anything they threw at us.

 

My problems with the side games are that Birth By Sleep is the only one that needed to exist beside Chain of Memories.

 

-Chain of Memories was a game developed for the GBA and more an inbetween story that set's up KH2, while having interesting concepts with memory it could've been much better and starting the game with just Sora not sleeping would make Roxas part look even weaker.

 

- Coded/Recoded: This game was pure to exist to give new comers an small taste of the KH universe and doesn't do anything and didn't need to exist, for all we care Namine could've spoken through Kairi in someway or made contact with Sora in the real world anyway because Namine is not just a normall Nobody SHE IS Kairi's Nobody and she is a Princess of Heart AKA Light. Her body stayed in the real of light and that doesn't happen often in the KH universe and was never fully explored and there is still room left to this date to explore this.

The only thing that was worth it in the end was the end scene which should've been a secret ending in KH Birth By Sleep and Mickey, Recoded is so easily to rewrite or Retcon because it isn't worth existing and Nomura most likely knew this because HE THREW A BOOK OF PROPHECY scene later in a remaster years after the release to make it more important and for our hunger for KH3.

 

- 358/2 Days: Not much to say here because it's just supposed to be a fun spin off game... And than DDD happened and how Nomura handled Xion. See here is the problem with Xion and it involves that she does the story that SHOULD'VE been Roxas from the get go! I do understand that Nomura tried to put more twists in the Organization which I don't mind and IF the hole game focused on Roxas than I would be wondering why the Organization even bother's with trying to turn Roxas to the Darkside.

 

Saix: Xemnas, didn't the ''traitor's'' not try to control Sora and fail miserable?

Xemnas: Yes.

Saix: Well we tried to control Roxas who has no memory's of Sora or anything and he was a easy to manipulate...

Xemnas:.... Yes?

Saix: Well... We failed to control a dumb teenager who is dumber than Goofy himself and his Nobody what say's it will work this time?

Xemnas: Ooh I get it... We promise him a new life?

(From a writing's point of view Roxas will just turn again against the Organization).

 

So letting Xion do important things isn't that bad (She still shouldn't exist though! freaking Retcon they even forgot she existed because she doesn't make sense to exist in the story of KH2!) but she takes the role of Roxas and things just happen with her... They just happen and she just responds and it FREAKING ANNOYES ME! I was reading the Manga version and after reading half of the manga or so she suddenly becomes number priority one for the writers and things just happen with her! that's it... She doesn't develop as a character and just turns into a manifistation or reactions to her situations... You can like her for all you want I don't care but when half your fanbase is split on her you know you did something either bad or good and I don't consider this a good thing.

 

Birth By Sleep: This set's up everything ALMOST perfect for KH3 but Nomura needed to clear things more up: Apparently Sora doesn't wield a keyblade because of Ventus no no no Ventus gives you a reason why you can wield two keyblades because Nomura stated that in a interview OOPS! now people who haven't read that interview are making videos on Youtube why it's a retcon that Sora has these ability's because of Ventus even though it isn't true because the writers screwed up here hope KH3 is more clear on this.

 

The end scene of KH Recoded works better here in a secret ending, KH 0.2 Passage should be a secret level here to, Aqua staring forward with a smile on her face from DDD should be in this game FREAKING TO!

Look the friendship between Ven, Terra and Aqua isn't perfect and is somehow weaker than Sora Riku and Kairi (Kairi orders you around on tutorial island while the only interactions with Riku are beating him up and racing him outside a few nice cutscenes together but they still felt more like friends than BBS characters) but it could have been better.

 

DDD: This game didn't do anything really and Yen Sid wants them to forget their older fight style which they thank God ignore, they told us why some world's didn't return which I found oke but it's so poorly edited, problematic written and Sora is so out of character here that it just makes you wonder WHY it needs to exist. KH2 has proven Sora and Riku are strong Keyblade Masters and even without a Title Yen Sid should just give them new powers and close them up in a time chamber to train maybe but that wouldn't be exiting.

It's just a excuse game for the 10th birthday of the franchise and once again Xehanort's return should be shown in BBS I guess and Riku... Well his arc was oke it was his game after all:)

 

0.2: Stupid retcon ending and this should be part of BBS but I do say I really really like the idea that Aqua saving Riku (parallel to Terra falling in the darkness and well he and Terra are a bit the same here and Riku reminded Aqua of Terra) and it gives Riku a more personal reason to go save Aqua... But the problem is this doesn't need to exist because it feels so FORCED in the ending of 0.2 because Aqua wasn't a thing back in KH1 nor even mentioned which is why it sometimes feels like BBS just appeared out of nowhere to me. Xehanort wants to destroy everything enough of a reason anyway and his Heartless took over Riku's body and in DDD Riku got to meet Xehanort in flesh and blood while Sora was just taking a nap when Xehanort tried to put his Heart in him hell if there is one character here that needs to be motivated to take on Xehanort it should be Sora.

 

Ven, Terra and Aqua: Xehanort ruined their lifes personally while interacting with him.

 

Mickey, Lea, Eraques, Riku: Xehanort almost ruined their life with a smile on his face, taking over body's by his Heartless, injured Eraques, threw Mickey in space, almost screwed Lea over when he tried to save everyone and has Saix with him, Young Xehanort fought Riku...

 

Donald and Goofy: Young Xehanort attacked Mickey (their King and friend) in the back, Ansem was holding Riku and Mickey hostage, he tried to take over Sora's body and both of them took down Ansem's GUARDIAN thingy while seeing Xehanort in person.

 

Sora:.... Just listened to Young Xehanort untill he was put to sleep and didn't even knew he was almost a vessel for Xehanort but he was just taking a nice nap when Xehanort was talking... Guess KH1 KH2 and end of the universe are his motivation.

 

MMO: Some stuff that is oke to be canon but is forced to be part of KH3 because it wasn't originaly canon and now people have to play an unfinished game.

 

Sorry for my grammar and rant but I mean it... Birth By Sleep should've been the bridge and not everything that came after that and should be developed for the PS3 back in the beginning.

[Scsigs 119]

To respond to that post, first, because there's no easy way to say it, the only grammar issues I have with that post is that apostrophes are only used either when something's possessive, or you fuse a word with another one for a contraction, like "is," "not," or something like that. It is not used when something's plural.

Also, it's "then," not "than." As in, "This happened, then this happened," or "I'd much rather this happened than this other thing."

 

And to the rest of what you said...

 

Yes, Nomura had absolutely no idea with where he wanted to take the series when they started. That's as obvious as the first game, since they leave some things rather vague to fill in the pieces later. However, you can tell that Nomura overthought a lot of this stuff. The worst thing that came out of this is DDD, where it answered questions absolutely no one was asking.

 

Chain of Memories definitely made sense to exist, but I hate the storytelling & length of it. It was on the GBA too, so it didn't make too much sense to be as bloated as it is. I don't know what you were talking about with him not sleeping would've made the Roxas part look weaker. Realistically, the writers could've easily had Riku or someone knock Sora, Donald, & Goofy out, then put them in the pods and erase those last few moments from their memories with Namine so that Roxas could reassimilate into Sora like he needed to. Maybe they could do something more creative with that idea, but that's what professional writers who do multiple drafts of scripts before making them into stuff do with ideas. The main point of the game was to get the trio, & Jiminy, into the pods so they can wake up in Twilight Town to start their adventure. It also introduced the concepts of the Organization XIII & Namine & set Riku on his path to redemption, which are good things to do, but the storytelling is utter shit, to be honest.

 

That's exactly what I said about Coded. You can redo the entire point of the game (the reveal to Mickey about Terra, Aqua, & Ventus) into an ending cutscene in BBS & you would lose NOTHING.

 

The whole point of Xion was for the Organization to have a backup plan for Roxas to harness Sora's power in case he betrayed them. Not a bad plan. A bit premature on their parts, but not bad. I don't even think it was a retcon for them to forget about her. She was a retcon in the first place, but that doesn't mean they've totally forgotten about her. I mean, look at Sora. In KHII, it's stated through Kairi's dialogue that everyone forgot about Sora when he was in the pod for that entire year. Why? I have no idea. Why was Xion forgotten about when she died? No idea. In fact, nothing about those makes sense even in this world, but it's what happened & for Xion, there was precedence for it. Considering Roxas & Riku partially remembered her in their fight, it's entirely possible that they still have the memories of her, they're just locked away. I'm wondering if it's Namine's work that makes that possible, considering the Organization XIII members & Riku remembered Roxas after he reassimilated into Sora. Also, she did make sense to exist in KHII, but she wasn'tt IN KHII, which is why they wrote her as they did in 358.

 

As for 0.2, no. It really shouldn't have been in BBS. 0.2 feels more like it's a small few hour scene from KHIII that was chopped off & completed separately for 2.8, since it plays more like the opening for KHII to get people back into the swing of things by having combat elements from both KHII & BBS. KHIII is already showing those as well as some slight combat elements from DDD. The fact that it ends with Sora & Co going to Olympus Coliseum after Aqua's scenes & it feels like a glorified demo of KHIII, that seems like the more likely thing about it. Now, it DID play it a bit too close to the chest with its ending that completely changed what happened in BBS' secret ending. It does what BBS avoided & do what prequels shouldn't do & made Aqua's importance to the KH universe more than it should've been & made Mickey look like a total asshat for not saving her after the whole ordeal, since he knows where she is.

 

DDD, I've already given my peace on, since it answers questions no one was asking & feels like Nomura really wanted one of these handheld games to finally really matter worth a damn & overshot it. Again, BBS avoided this, but DDD really didn't do a lot of people many favors in its attempt to be really relevant tot he series, since 358/2 & Coded really weren't & BBS didn't involve any of the principle cast from the past games outside of cameos.

 

And since this really bothers me, I'm gonna correct your response. Sorry.

 

Before I start with my problems with the "spin-offs", I'm more convinced that Nomura didn't actually know that there would be so many Kingdom Hearts games that were not called KH3 over the years or he had ideas but never really developed them. Dream Drop Distance is one of the games that had the shortest development and Nomura and others were still thinking how to do the story from an interview, I believe, when they were in the last three months of the development.

I think one of the biggest reasons why these games exist that are not called KH3 is obvious...MONEY! We were hungry for KH3 anyway and still are now and we were able to eat anything they threw at us.

 

My problems with the side games are that Birth By Sleep is the only one that needed to exist beside Chain of Memories.

 

-Chain of Memories was a game developed for the GBA and more an in-between story that sets up KH2, while having interesting concepts with memory it could've been much better, and starting the game with just Sora not sleeping would make Roxas' part look even weaker.

 

- Coded/Recoded: This game was pure to exist to give newcomers a small taste of the KH universe, doesn't do anything, and didn't need to exist. For all we care, Namine could've spoken through Kairi in someway or made contact with Sora in the real world anyway because Namine is not a normal Nobody, she's Kairi's Nobody and Kairi is a Princess of Heart AKA Light. Her body stayed in the realm of light, which that doesn't happen often in the KH universe, and was never fully explored. There's still room left to this date to explore this.

The only things that were worth it in the end was the end scene, which should've been a secret ending in KH Birth By Sleep and Mickey. Recoded is so easily to rewrite or Retcon because it isn't worth existing and Nomura most likely knew this because HE THREW A BOOK OF PROPHECY scene later in a remaster years after the release to make it more important and for our hunger for KH3.

 

- 358/2 Days: Not much to say here because it's just supposed to be a fun spin off game...And then DDD happened and how Nomura handled Xion. See here is the problem with Xion; it involves that she does the story that SHOULD'VE been Roxas' from the get go! I do understand that Nomura tried to put more twists in the Organization, which I don't mind, and IF the hole game focused on Roxas, then I wouldn't be wondering why the Organization even bothered with trying to turn Roxas to the Darkside.

 

Saix: Xemnas, didn't the "traitors" try to control Sora and fail miserable?

Xemnas: Yes.

Saix: Well, we tried to control Roxas, who has no memories of Sora or anything, and he was a easy to manipulate...

Xemnas: ....Yes?

Saix: Well, we failed to control a dumb teenager who is dumber than Goofy himself and his Nobody, what says it will work this time?

Xemnas: I got it. We promise him a new life?

(From a writing point of view, Roxas will just turn against the Organization).

 

So letting Xion do important things isn't that bad (she still shouldn't exist though! Freaking retcon they even forgot she existed because she doesn't make sense to exist in the story of KH2!) but she takes the role of Roxas and things just happen with her. They just happen and she just responds and it FREAKING ANOYES ME! I was reading the Manga version and, after reading half of the manga or so, she suddenly becomes number priority one for the writers and things just happen with her! that's it. She doesn't develop as a character and just turns into a manifestation or reactions to her situations. You can like her for all you want, I don't care, but when half your fanbase is split on her, you know you did something either bad or good, and I don't consider this a good thing.

 

Birth By Sleep: This set's up everything ALMOST perfect for KH3 but Nomura needed to clear things more up: Apparently Sora doesn't wield a keyblade because of Ventus, no no no. Ventus gives you a reason why you can wield two keyblades because Nomura stated that in a interview OOPS! Now people who haven't read that interview are making videos on Youtube why it's a retcon that Sora has these ability's because of Ventus even though it isn't true because the writers screwed up here. Hope KH3 is more clear on this.

 

The end scene of KH Re:Coded works better here in a secret ending, KH 0.2 should be a secret level here too. Aqua staring forward with a smile on her face from DDD should be in this game FREAKING TOO!

Look, the friendship between Ven, Terra, and Aqua isn't perfect, and is somehow weaker than Sora Riku and Kairi's (Kairi orders you around on tutorial island while the only interactions with Riku are beating him up and racing him outside a few nice cutscenes together but they still felt more like friends than BBS characters), but it could have been better.

 

DDD: This game didn't do anything really and Yen Sid wants them to forget their older fight style, which they thank God they ignore, they told us why some world's didn't return which I found ok, but it's so poorly edited, problematically written, and Sora is so out of character here that it just makes you wonder WHY it needed to exist. KH2 has proven Sora and Riku are strong Keyblade Masters, and even without a title. Yen Sid should just give them new powers and close them up in a time chamber to train maybe but that wouldn't be exiting.

It's just an excuse game for the 10th birthday of the franchise, and once again, Xehanort's return should be shown in BBS. I guess and Riku, well. his arc was ok, it was his game after all.

 

0.2: Stupid retcon ending, and this should be part of BBS, but I do say I really, really like the idea of Aqua saving Riku (a parallel to Terra falling in the darkness and, well, he and Terra are a bit the same here and Riku reminded Aqua of Terra), and it gives Riku a more personal reason to go save Aqua. But the problem is that this doesn't need to exist because it feels so FORCED in the ending of 0.2 because Aqua wasn't a thing back in KH1, nor even mentioned, which is why it sometimes feels like BBS just appeared out of nowhere to me. Xehanort wants to destroy everything, enough of a reason anyway, and his Heartless took over Riku's body, and in DDD Riku got to meet Xehanort in flesh and blood while Sora was just taking a nap when Xehanort tried to put his heart in him, Hell, if there is one character here that needs to be motivated to take on Xehanort, it should be Sora.

 

Ven, Terra and Aqua: Xehanort ruined their lives personally while interacting with him.

 

Mickey, Lea, Eraqus, Riku: Xehanort almost ruined their lives with a smile on his face, taking over bodies by his Heartless, injured Eraqus, threw Mickey into space, almost screwed Lea over when he tried to save everyone and has Saix with him, Young Xehanort fought Riku...

 

Donald and Goofy: Young Xehanort attacked Mickey (their King and friend) with his back turned, Ansem was holding Riku and Mickey hostage, he tried to take over Sora's body, and both of them took down Ansem's GUARDIAN thing while seeing Xehanort in person.

 

Sora: ... Just listened to Young Xehanort until he was put to sleep and didn't even know he was almost a vessel for Xehanort, but he was just taking a nice nap when Xehanort was talking. Guess KH1, KH2, and the end of the universe are his motivation.

 

MMO: Some stuff that is ok to be canon, but is forced to be part of KH3 because it wasn't originally canon and now people have to play an unfinished game.

 

Sorry for my grammar and rant but I mean it... Birth By Sleep should've been the bridge and not everything that came after that, and should've been developed for the PS3 back from the beginning.

Edited April 25, 2018 by Scsigs

[Allwil13 754]

I definitely understand people's issues with the handheld games. There are quite a few of them and you have to own a bunch of different systems in order to be able to play them all (or you used to before they released the HD collections). However, I disagree that they don't need to exist. Birth By Sleep was stated several times by Nomura to be incredibly important, in fact he said that the game should be considered "Episode Zero". Kingdom Hearts 3D doesn't just set up KHIII, it relates to the previous games and ties up loose ends. Chain of Memories introduces us to Organization XIII and nobodies in general, not to mention Namine and Ansem the Wise. I do agree that the amount of side games can be incredibly overwhelming, especially for newcomers to the series, but Kingdom Hearts is a massive story.

 

To say that the side games are all set up and therefore don't need to exist just doesn't make sense to me. Every big story is going to need some amount of set up in order for the final act to work well. If we look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are so many films to get through. Why do these exist? So that we can get to know the characters and become involved in the early workings of the story before the series' climax. To me, Kingdom Hearts is in a similar situation. Like I said the story is just massive. It has become so much more than just Sora's quest to find Riku and Kairi; it is now a literal war between light and darkness. A situation like that is going to need some massive build-up.

 

Looking back however, I do think that they probably should have tried to limit the handheld games to one single system (or at least one company, like either Sony or Nintendo). Getting excited for a new Kingdom Hearts game only to learn that it was coming to a system that I didn't have at the moment did get pretty frustrating, but getting the games was worth it in the end. If I were to pick one that didn't need to exist, I would say the one that comes closest would be Coded. Don't get me wrong; it is still relevant to the series, but you could probably get away with skipping it and you wouldn't miss much. All in all I found that one to be pretty forgettable.

 

Again, I do understand this argument, but I have to disagree that the handheld side games don't need to exist. I think they make the experience of the series richer and more fulfilling as a whole.