Ajexmi

I want that music box so bad... hope they do another tour outside of Japan sometime in the not-too-distant future

Congratulations @Kristi - I'll be in touch shortly. Thank you for sharing your memories everyone. It was heartwarming to read what you shared about your KH experiences, and if you grab a copy of the book I hope you enjoy it.

I'm glad to hear, and happy birthday! I hope you enjoy the book 😁

And it's publication day!! Physical editions of Simple & Clean: Unlocking Kingdom Hearts are now available alongside the ebook. If you decide to pick up a copy, I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for the support, and may your heart ever be your guiding key JLC

Thank you! Your support is much appreciated 🙏

I am the same myself! Owning a physical copy in your own two hands is the way to be. However I get why the appeal of a cheaper option or eLibrary peference is a thing... Anyway, not long to wait for the physical release!

It is with the greatest pleasure that I announce Simple & Clean: Unlocking Kingdom Hearts will release March 3rd 2022. 👑 ❤️ The book will recap and assess the entire Dark Seeker Saga. eBook pre-orders are now live, and will also be available in paperback and hardcover from 03/03/2022. Relive the magic of the entire Kingdom Hearts series to date with a full chronological plot summary, evaluation of character relationships and lore, critique of storytelling technique and narrative devices, and much, much more. Contents: Opening Foreword Introduction The Story So Far: ‘The Dark Seeker Saga’ A Short History WTF is ‘Kingdom Hearts’? The Time Line: A Chronological Summary Square Mouse Ears Who Is The Audience Here, and How Has It Changed? Disney Characters Square Enix Characters Symbolism & Usage Composition: The Evolution of Story, Structure and Style Evolution of the Gameplay Experience Music & Style Pacing & Division of Plot Powers of 3: Trios Stakes Critical Mode: Smudges on the Rose-Tinted Glasses Darkness of the Unknown Hope & Despair Body-Snatching & Puppeteering Identity Crises Riku as the Fallen Hero: An Arc of Grief and Trauma Atonement Isn’t This Bromantic? Boys, Boys, Boys Sora & Riku Axel & Roxas Lea & Isa Terra & Ventus KLAXON: The Feminine Situation Kairi, Larxene, Aqua, Xion, Olette and Naminé (KLAXON) The Bechdel Test Expectations vs. Outcomes The Many Faces of Master Xehanort A Man With A Plan The Author: Nomura as Xehanort Organization XIII X: The Recusant’s Sigil The Pay-Off Hearts Lineage of ‘The Chosen’ The Human Heart Hurt Re:Completion Afterword Secret Report Acknowledgements Recommended Resources Pre-orders for the eBook edition are open via Amazon worldwide - several links are included below: UK: https://amzn.to/3oRZGp9 US: https://amzn.to/3uTMMuH ES: https://amzn.to/3gTx9LD DE: https://amzn.to/3JyQs9l IT: https://amzn.to/3uXXDUG CA: https://amzn.to/3GQto4g I hope that this might be something to fill the time while we wait for news on April 10th. For those interested in physical editions, be warned the book is BIG - the hardcover making an excellent collectors item and companion text. Whether new to the series or a 20 years veteran, Simple & Clean captures the essence of Kingdom Hearts magic and explores many concepts within its own foundations - some of which the games themselves have yet to explore. As before, with Melodies of Life, this is part retrospect, part analysis and is written as a demonstration of applying critical theory and literary criticism to the video game medium in the hopes that one day there will be many, many more books about interactive storytelling and our favourite video games. Thanks for your attention - stay safe, everyone, and may your heart be your guiding key! - JLC

It's been out for quite a while - it's just not complete. The finale and offline mode are what we're waiting for. If that's what you meant, then still no word on a release date 🙁

Thank you for this - I hope you enjoy it if and when you get around to getting a copy So far people have only had kind things to say about it!

Just to be clear, this isn't MY book (though I have written a book on FFIX, Melodies of Life, and you can check that out in my bio). THIS book is by a man who is quickly gaining a reputation as THE FFVII Mythology Guy, M. J. Gallagher. He has another book in the works about Greek Mythology in FFVII coming out sometime next year too. Feel you there. I've been working intensely on a writing project and haven't been able to read, watch or play anything outside of resource materials for the last couple of months. Neil Gaiman is an excellent recommendation.

I'm struggling to find a source for it. There are unofficial sources that state that Riku and Mickey go to Merlin for their new weapons, but I can't find an interview or anything that would suggest that it was Yen Sid. The whole giving Keyblades away thing is notoriously glossed over in more than one area 😅

Hey everyone, finally got a hold of the new Kingdom Hearts Character Files, and a few things in here have made me stop and check what I thought I knew. There will sometimes be discrepancies in terminology due to translation either of the book or the in-game scripts, but this made me feel pretty certain it was an error... Anyone got some evidence on who exactly 'gave' Riku and Mickey new Keyblades? I was very much under the impression that it was (Former Keyblade Master) Yen Sid. I've been recently replaying all the games and haven't gotten to III yet to check in-game myself. I will post anything else I find that seems amiss or requires clarity, but I hope anyone who has any similar questions feels free to submit them to this thread.

Hey, FFVII fans and bookworms! Anyone heard of or read this? This was an amazing read, satisfying both my interest in learning about different folk lore and mythology but also my craving to understand the expansive story of the VII compilation. It was so accessible that even if I had known nothing about Norse lore I would probably have got on quite happily with it, and revisiting story from games like Dirge of Cerberus and Before Crisis was such a nostalgia trip. I'm quite surprised more people haven't heard of it, so I figured I'd see if anyone else here had gotten their hands on a copy and enjoyed it as much as I have.

Update: Melodies of Life is now available in hardcover, and the prices have just dropped to a new fixed rate. Also, if you are signed up to Kindle Unlimited you can read it for free! Please do remember to leave a review if you like the book, as it will help get the book to appear in more recommendation lists and help others find it. Available worldwide via Amazon. (I don't have too many tabs... Maybe you have too many tabs!)

This is a real trip reading back on theories from 2012 - and hard to see the truth contradict the brilliant Lea (who was totally right to suggest the silly nature of the situation). Personally, I have no beef with the Guardian being Terra and I liked the reveal, but from a storytelling and timeline standpoint it is a little.... questionable.

Update: the Kindle edition is out now! Available through Amazon along side the paperback. Thank you for your support, and if you do order a copy please remember to leave a review!

How the time flies, huh? It's crazy how long it's been since we both were starting out as mods together. Thanks so much for the support. Please share it with any friends who also love Final Fantasy IX and help me get the word out ?

Ah, a kindred spirit. I really do hope you enjoy it - let me know what you think of it or leave a review too! ? The tiredness was not something I expected. I have written two full length novel manuscripts that were less demanding! Then again, I took on this project 100% due to two different artists dropping out and not having much money to invest; so perhaps it's really not all that surprising! Thank you for this! While the ideal situation (as advised within) is that the reader has played the game, there is a breakdown of the whole story in the introduction that also serve as a refresher - so from what you say this should be fine with people less familiar/intimate as well! Please do let me know how you find it when you do get around to it. I am very much open to feedback and criticism, as they will only help produce better future works.

Thank you both! I feel... whelmed - simultaneously over and under - and it feels weird to not be working on it for the first time in months ? hopefully it is well received!

Hey people, I hope this isn't against the rules, but I just wanted to drop a vanity post to say that my book, Melodies of Life: A Final Fantasy IX Retrospect and Analysis, is out now in paperback. The kindle edition is open to pre-orders, and will be released 31/01/2020. (links at the bottom of post) I thought I'd drop the contents breakdown here, so if you're interested in checking it out - you have an idea of what you might be in for: Contents: A Voice From the Past, Joining Yours and Mine... Foreword Introduction The Party Plot Summary What it Means to be Alive Authenticity & The Artificial Either You Do, Or You Don't The Iifa Tree & The Angels of Death Identity & Autonomy Raison D'être Vivi: Golem Among Golems The Genomes With Soul: Zidane, Kuja and Mikoto Garnet x2 (or x3 or x4!) A Knight's Duty Lost & Forgotten Music & Narrative Echoes, Reflections and Foreshadowing Not Alone Melodies of Life Something to Protect The Storybook Motif & Nostalgia Legend, Lore and Callbacks Life's a Play, The World a Stage Who's the Bad Guy? Hierarchy & Rebellion Decadent Jesters The Will to Live vs. The Will to Power Et Tu, Kuja? Life Cycles & Internal and External Conflict Gaia & Terra Eternal Life/Strife Existentialism: The Reality of Mortality Love, Fealty & Self-Determination Relationships Why These Characters Work (And Work Together) Romance Personal Influence Respect Camaraderie And So it Goes, On and On... Afterword A Few Things You May Know... Acknowledgments Thanks for indulging me, and I hope this of some interest! A lot of work went into it, and any feedback/criticism is welcome. I am going to take a nap now.... US link: https://www.amazon.com/Melodies-Lif...keywords=jamie+L+cruise&qid=1611656028&sr=8-2 UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08TS5DY7B/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1611577360&sr=8-2 DE link: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08TW5GTM2/ref=sr_1_2?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&dchild=1&keywords=jamie+L.+Cruise&qid=1611656250&sr=8-2

Okay, I'm a little confused. Is this VR experience going to be the whole KH1 game? When I first saw info on this I could have sworn it was just a glance at some of the worlds through VR.

No word on an English or US/EU release?

And..... pre-ordered. I admittedly did it by mistake as I was trying to find out what the shipping cost would be at check out, but fate had other ideas.

Only the strong survive...

It depends how broad you're going with the category of 'strongest creature'. A strong heartless comes from a strong creature, or one with great darkness within. If you have a world populated by generally weak people and creatures, with very little malice (or other forms of internal darkness) - then heartless in that world would be limited. Visa versa for a world populated by strong people/creatures. The real question is whether the heartless are stronger than whom or what they are born from. To demonstrate an easy example, in the Sonic universe, who is the strongest 'life form'? The answer is likely to be Super-whoever - the operative term being 'Super': an alternative, stronger, version of the original. So the question really should be, is the heartless a stronger version of the heart's original host? To look at Kingdom Hearts examples, we have Ansem SoD and Terranort, Sora and his pitiful heartless and.... Scar and his heartless.... I'm already out of examples. Scar certainly seemed stronger as a heartless - if he truly became one at all - but Ansem SoD seemed no stronger than Terranort - perhaps weaker even. And with Sora, there is no question he was far stronger than his own heartless. What we can glean from these examples is that the balance of light and darkness varies from creature to creature/person to person. This means that the most powerful entity in a world, provided they have significantly less light than darkness in their heart, will produce a heartless weaker than itself. So, at least on an individual basis, there is no guarantee of the heartless being the strongest fictional creature in any given world. As an archetype, there may be some truth to this. If we are given to believe that there is more darkness than light in the average creature, then generally speaking that would mean that the average heartless is superior to the lost heart's original host. The key term here being average. As we have seen, it only takes one hero with an oversized key to save a world (also introducing the idea that the strongest in a world doesn't allow for the idea of 'visitors' or the premise of crossing worlds). If we take a HUGE step back and examine a universe, and ask ourselves the same title question, the answer is a clear no. If heartless were the strongest creatures in a universe, that universe would be long overrun before anyone could save it - not to mention it would require a small army of heroes (which thankfully we now have because everyone gets a keyblade these days...). Given this analysis, I would say no. The heartless form is not superior by definition, it is a form stripped of its light. Both light and darkness hold power, but very rarely in balance, and never in equal quantities creature to creature.