Neoshadow99

Well, I am not mad, or even upset, about this game's ending. If anything, I am getting hung up on the many details of the lore that have made the ending difficult for me to understand. For instance, I still cannot fathom how Sora was able to "time travel" with the Power of Waking, after his initial defeat in the Keyblade Graveyard. From what we know about the Power of Waking, it is a means of restoring one's heart to one's body, or awakening a "sleeping heart" that has been consumed by darkness. There is also the bit about using this power responsibly or irresponsibly, when it comes to traversing hearts to reach worlds, or the opposite. Is this how Sora was able to travel to special locations, namely the Realm of Darkness? I know he had the Master Defender keyblade, which Aqua had been using previously. Perhaps it was only because of that keyblade's connection to Aqua's heart that allowed Sora to reach her exact location. There are other instances that have certainly caused confusion for me, too. We can only hope (and speculate) that Re:Mind will answer more of the pressing questions that pop up, towards the very end of the game.

That is a good point. Perhaps Kingdom Hearts is really just a collection of hearts that still belong to the living. If that is the case, why couldn't Master Eraqus find his way back to his original body? I do recall Chirithy saying that when the body and heart perish together, only the soul remains. This could potentially explain why Eraqus could not retain his physical form, even after having been freed from Terrra's heart. What we saw of Eraqus may have only been his soul, but that wouldn't explain why he was able to ascend to Kingdom Hearts itself, which should only accept one's heart.

Hey everyone, I have some questions about The Final World and Kingdom Hearts, based on what we saw of them in KH3. Before this game, many of us likely thought that Kingdom Hearts itself was a "heaven" of sorts for wayward hearts, ones that cannot be physically reunited with their bodies. It is the collection of countless hearts that have passed on, and is also the source of all light, in the Realm of Light. However, the introduction of The Final World changed this perception, at least for me. 1. What exactly is the main purpose of The Final World? I have tried looking up as much information as I can, but I have only somewhat concluded that it is a limbo/purgatory for hearts that are unable to move on to Kingdom Hearts, due to having a strong bond with the physical world. However, the "stars" that are depicted there appear to be either the remnants of hearts, or the actual souls of those who have not truly "died", waiting to be reunited with someone they care about deeply. 2. Which then brings me to another other point - if there is nothing beyond The Final World, is it a realm where the dead truly linger, or is it a place where one is neither living nor dead? Unfortunately, Chirithy's explanation was still too vague for me to truly understand what The Final World is as a realm of its own. 3. With everything we know, which may not be much, about The Final World, was Sora actually "dead" to begin with, following the first encounter with Organization XIII in the Keyblade Graveyard? He did retain much more of a physical form than expected, a watery silhouette of his former body, rather than just being a fading star like the other (hearts or souls) he encounters. I do understand that all of his friends bodies were consumed by darkness, or destroyed, and that their hearts were being held captive by the "Lich", which attempted to ferry them into the depths of darkness. 4. At the very end of the battle with Master Xehanort, he is weak and fading. Master Eraqus appears to guide him up to Kingdom Hearts, as all that is left of him is presumably his heart or soul. Why were they able to go straight to Kingdom Hearts, and not The Final World? It seems that both locations are resting points for wayward hearts, and it is not clear to me how one can willingly choose to go to Kingdom Hearts. I hope these questions are straightforward enough. I have been thinking and researching a ton about the plot of this game, and I just can't seem to draw definite conclusions of my own. If anything, KH3's plot and overall story has given us fans so much to ponder, until the next game's release.

I still have some questions about the events leading up to the ending, as I mostly understand what happens at the very end. Thanks for helping to clear up some of this confusion. I thought the epilogue and secret ending would generate even more questions, but I honestly have a pretty good handle on what happened, even if it is a lot to take in at once.

I know what you mean about the strong amount of negativity. The Kingdom Hearts subreddit has been a real roller coaster of positivity and negativity for this game. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm very close to the endgame, in that I'm about to begin the final series of battles. I have been loving most of what the game has to offer, but have also been disappointed by how lacking the original worlds are, in playable content. That said, most of the Disney worlds have been very satisfying to explore, especially with the awesome new mobility/traversal mechanics. I would have to say that KH3 has some of the best designs for certain worlds in the whole series, and Square Enix definitely demonstrated the great potential of the Unreal Engine.

Hello everyone, I have a specific question regarding what actually happened to Aqua while in the Realm of Darkness, after a certain encounter.

I thought it was pretty much guaranteed that Roxas and Xion would return, considering how they are still "hurting" in their own ways. After all, they were denied the right to exist as themselves, and were instead being used to serve the needs of, and to complete, another person. I want to see both of them return as themselves, as fully realized beings. As for Namine, I was never really sure about her. I thought her story had pretty much concluded, and she was more or less forgiven for what she did to Sora and co. The only thing I can think of to justify here return is restoring Sora's memories of Castle Oblivion, without rearranging or wiping away his current memories. Sora and co. will most likely have to make their way back to CO in order to reawaken Ventus, unless something else happens in the plot where that isn't necessary. Speaking of epic returns or comebacks, how about Vanitas? I've always wanted to see him in future games after his incredible debut in BBS. Sure, he was soundly defeated in several fights, but was quite the antagonist nonetheless.

We can be sure that there will be a specific explanation for the reappearance of Xemnas and Ansem. I have a theory that another time loop was started, and was based on the first time loop created by Apprentice Xehanort's Heart and Young Xehanort on the Destiny Islands. Meaning, Young Xehanort may in fact have knowledge of what had happened previously, even though he stated he would lose all of his memories when returning to his own time. If he were able to regain his memories while traveling through time for the first time, he would know exactly what to do when gathering his future selves/incarnations the second time around. This could very well be a contradiction to the laws of time travel established in DDD, but what would be stopping any incarnation of Xehanort from lying about said laws? After all, Xemnas completely lied about the presence of a heart in a Nobody, and was able to gain the trust/support of most of the original Organization's members through this lie. What if there is at least one other element of time travel that has yet to be stated or explained, an element that makes the reappearance of past incarnations possible a second time?

Ah, the endless speculation continues. This has to be the absolute longest production cycle for any KH game, ever. Even so, as long as Square is really taking their time with the details and core gameplay mechanics, the quality will really show. I can wait for KH3, seeing as I haven't even started 1.5 + 2.5 on PS4 yet :lol: But I understand why others are growing more anxious or impatient. Every trailer we've seen has been showing that the game is getting better and better, that there will be a certain "depth" to it, at least from what I gather.

The trailer was frickin' awesome! My hype levels for KH3 are once again rising, after a period of time when they were dropping. The gameplay looks like a perfect fusion of KH2 and BBS, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what else is offered for combat/exploration. I would like to see Larxene's Somebody return and do something unexpected in the plot. I have a feeling we will be seeing several familiar faces from the old Organization. Even better if some of them will become Sora and company's allies in the battle against Master Xehanort. There's just something very appealing about old enemies becoming allies, when facing a common (new) enemy.

I hope Sora DOES eventually remember his time at Castle Oblivion. So much happened there, not to mention the urgency in finding Ventus and returning his heart. Who knows, Sora may actually return there with Aqua, as only he can reawaken Ventus, unless Ventus' heart is transferred from Sora to someone else. With Nomura logic, you just never know what will happen next!

Thanks for all the replies, folks! I think there is a consensus among us that, until stated otherwise by Nomura (or someone else from Square Enix), Terra and Aqua are roughly anywhere from 18-24, and Ventus is definitely 15, not counting his time-travel shenanigans. I do find it hard to believe that Terra and Aqua are any younger than 18, or even just 18. Both of them are much more physically developed than Ventus, so I personally think they are 20-22. Who knows, I could have this all wrong, as appearances can be deceiving, especially with age.

Thank you for the detailed, well-thought out post! I agree with your age estimates for TVA, though I had Terra and Aqua at around 19-21, but Terra could be a little older than that. As for Ventus, I always thought he was 15-16, around the same age as Sora and Roxas. My confusion regarding the Keyblade War bit comes from Ventus' character page on this site. It states that he was chosen to become a Union leader a century before the events of KH BBS/KH1, and had met other survivors of the war in the Keyblade Graveyard. The description made it sound like the war and the selection of new leaders all took place a century earlier. Could a massive amount of time have passed between the war and the meeting of the surviviors, or was this all around the same time? Before this major story update for Unchained Chi/Union Cross, I think it's safe to say that many of us had assumed that the Keyblade War had taken place thousands of years before BBS, especially since it was considered the end of the "age of fairy tales", whatever that even means.

It took me SO MANY tries to defeat Ansem-Riku! I didn't have much trouble with fighting regular Riku, on either Destiny Islands or at Hollow Bastion Entrance Hall. But fighting Ansem-Riku was a torturous part of the game for 11-12 year old me, especially with the enormous cutscene that was unskippable every time. At least KH: FM rectified that, and made all scenes skippable. Actually, I used to have trouble beating Riku in the obstacle race on Destiny Islands. That gave me more trouble than fighting him at the beginning of the game :tongue:

The "default" expressions never actually bothered me that much. I can see why they would be off-putting in 2017, though. Still, what KH1, and especially KH2, accomplished on the technologically-limited PS2 is nothing short of impressive. I'm definitely looking forward to jumping back in to all these games on 1.5 + 2.5, though I finished BBS: FM earlier this year. And playing through COM is always a great experience, too, mainly due to that dark story with escalating tension. Some of my favorite scenes in the series are from COM, and rightfully so.