Merilly

Oh, I didn't mean to say you couldn't hope. It was not out of the question anyway that that it would appear after all. Not a deal breaker either, but I would admittedly be a bit disappointed if they included yet another city-themed world. I have nothing against them but that would be one to many in my opinion since I'd like to see some variety. Of course each city is different but the colors are more similar to each other than let's say a desert and the depths of the ocean. It would be nice if the remaining worlds would implement other colors than primarily grey. So yeah, it's not a deal breaker but it would be boring to have basically the same environment three times in a game that lets you travel to a vast variety of worlds. That's not to say they couldn't implement the story of TWEWY but I'd rather they save that for the next game.

It's not that TWEWY wasn't great but rather that KH3 doesn't really need more big city environments. I also can't see them in BH6 since the characters seem to be bound by their actual plot from the game, unlike most of the FF characters who partly have different personalities and backgrounds. Another reason would be that they weren't really fleshed out in DDD and would require a bit more work to function in their own world as more than somewhat shallow interactions. Unless you played TWEWY, their inclusion was confusing and even as someone who has played the game, it felt lackluster. KH3 is about resolutions. I feel like TWEWY's plot would be something that could span more than one game and would feel unfulfilling in KH3. I would definitely like to see it used beyond KH3 when they have more time to focus on the characters and their story since it doesn't seem to be something they can do in the span of one Disney world. I'm fully content with just having the original KH characters. I would honestly be more disappointed if Leon & Co. do not appear. They may not be as important anymore but I still feel fond of them because they did play roles beyond the confines of their own world. They grew up in Radiant Garden and are now working to rebuild it, so if we're talking about "resolutions", I of course want to see what they accomplished. Because it was them who also fought for their home even though they weren't responsible for its destruction. Having them removed just like that, or even Radiant Garden as a world you can't visit, would be such a waste without a proper conclusion. It has such potential and while Nomura does not feel the need for FF as much as before, then you could also say the same about some of the Disney stuff. (Honestly, I'd be immensely disappointed if 100 Acre Wood returns but not Yuffie, Leon, etc.) TWEWY on the other hand... their cameo was great but I don't really feel much of a connection between them and KH. At least not much more than between them and any other characters they met once. And as I already said, their world is too similar to BH6 and perhaps Monstropolis, but their story too complex to have it be some side story in San Fransokyo. Though to be fair, they'll also need new worlds in the future.

Thanks for the advice! I mostly use my old phone to watch YouTube so at least I don't have that theater mode playing on its own but it's really hard to avoid once you know it's there. It's just so tempting, especially since we both don't seem to be the type to be against spoilers at all, just against revealing plot twists and the like which aren't really necessary. Unfortunately, I can't avoid YouTube because my professor likes to have us analyze videos on there and even without being logged in, it's impossible to be certain. I also think the opening is really unnecessary to show beforehand... The openings mostly consist of events that already happened so it probably won't spoil much but it's still something special to see for the first time whsn booting up the game. Another thing is that I feel it does little to contribute to promotion. The CGI style they use is mostly absent in the game itself, it doesn't show how the gameplay works and it also doesn't give you insight on how the cutscenes look in reality. For some fans it may be okay but like with live action and pre-rendered commercials which don't actually show in-game footage, I feel it's false advertising. It is in the game, sure, and I love the openings but those who are not familiar with them may feel cheated to see that only the opening has that sort of quality. It sets a different standard if you've never seen the look of Kingdom Hearts. So yeah, I can understand why people want it but I would prefer seeing it for the first time when playing it. It just has that "It's finally here!" feeling this way and not a "Nice, I've already seen it though" vibe. ^-^ Awe, that would have been so great! At the same time, it might be better that it's after your birthday so you can really immerse yourself. At least in my case, I have some friends and family who like to spend my birthday with me and knowing that I have KH3 lying there would distract me from them. My friend and I will go into hiding for at least a week when it comes out. We already took time off our respective obligations and made a plan for food, sleeping etc. <_<

It's somehow really hard to type off my fanfiction... I've only finished 20 pages out of 55 so far. Granted, I was sick again and my head felt all woozy but I wanted to have it done by the end of last week... It doesn't help that I'm unhappy with so many passages and want to rewrite them a second time but then I'm just brooding over it without actually improving anything. My long absence has really made my works worse and my register seems non-existent.

True. We've really received a lot, more so than most other games did, and while they could probably show off even more without spoiling too much, it's not like the game didn't get enough promotion. Everything new is just a sweet extra and the game and its sales won't suffer even if it were to reveal nothing exceptionally new until release and just go with trailers such as the new Tangled one. There's no harm in being surprised when the game comes out after all. That would be why I don't watch them either. With games, the competition is fairly strong and people like a lot of different things. It would be hard to predict at times but with Anime, it's often reduced to a few shows that appeal to the masses and not just certain people. Which is a shame because there so many great niche Anime which deserve at least some recognition... Award shows are nice ways to give back a little to the developers, etc. but I find them boring because knowing that this or that received an award won't make me change my opinion toward the media at hand. It won't make my favorites worse if they don't win nor make me wanna play a game I dislike if it wins. I guess most peole won't be swayed by it either when deciding to purchase something since they don't show a lot of what's nominated. But to each their own. I think they're catered to the masses and other opinions are often disregarded. In the end, they rarely reflect more profound opinions. I'd rather watch nicely done press conferences than those types. You can actually see more of the games and compare them directly. And yeah, you often have the same nominees for a lot of categories which makes it boring... And sometimes you don't understand how something won this because it's so subjective and biased at times.

If we think about it, it's not that long until December anyway. There are two more events which could have something but the chances are not so great. The Game Awards is always fairly boring to watch in my opinion and I feel that news appearing there are mainly to keep people interested in watching it. Though that might just be because I dislike award shows.

And it would be very hard to completely lock out information, even if you abandon the internet entirely. In the worst case, you might hear others talking about it. It's always easy to say "then don't watch it if you don want to see more", but even with all the block lists, muted tags, etc. it's impossible to avoid spoilers, even if you stay away from the obvious websites, mainly because lots of people don't tag their stuff properly or use the spoiler buttons/threads. With 0.2, I immediately got recommendations featuring the ending scene on Youtube before it was even out in Japan. Simply because I watched KH-related content a lot and YT went "here, have more of that". It wasn't that bad because 0.2 didn't have that many revelations to begin with. As you said, 0.2 needed the hype in the shadow of KH3 being already in production, but they don't need to reveal it beforehand for KH3. But no one can expect you to stay off the internet for a month or more and abandon all communication with others just because they decided to reveal too much. (Though it's of course debatable what is considered too much...) I'm all for trailers, I didn't even mind the Aqua fight being shown since it was hinted at before, but there are things which they don't need to show for people to buy it and that includes the opening and the final world/battle as well as key scenes. What we've seen so far was fairly out of context and most of it not super surprising so it's still alright but balance is important.

I can't and won't tell you how to feel about this since those emotions are your own, but I personally did not expect either of the things you mentioned to appear, except perhaps a world reveal, though that would have been a lot. Personally, I don't consider panels to be that extensive. I've been to a few myself and have seen streams but small panels, like this one apparently was if the selfie is anything to go by, quite often don't provide any grand news. Lucca would have never even been on our radar if they had not announced it. To be frank, I think we should lower our expectations a notch. KH3 is getting a lot of exposure in comparison to other games which get maybe a trailer or a screenshot every other month. Of course there are also those which get more, but I somehow have the impression that it's hard to even please a part of the community at this point. For some it's not enough information, for others too much and if we do get a trailer even that is not good enough because it doesn't show anything too substantial this time, while others complained that the Aqua fight reveal was too much at TGS. If Jump Festa is the last event we'll receive a trailer at, then that's fine for me. But there's also the possibility they'll drop a trailer at any moment because it would reach just as many people if it suddenly were to appear on social media. If they wanted to show something. The best example is the TGS trailer, which did not actually debut at TGS but before. I can understand the desire to know more, especially in regards to KHUx since that one has been neglected really badly in the past year despite the new story update, but its release is not that far away. On a different note, I sometimes wonder why Youtube seems to mess up colors so much. The lighting looks atrocious at times even though it likely isn't in reality. I'm still concerned about Sora being fairly expreasionless and hope it's just unfortunate editing. I'm missing all those tiny and more extensive movementa of the eyes, mouth, eyebrows, habds and arms. They seem to be lacking in what I've seen so far... This close to release, I'm somehow doubtful they can change too much. (Hopefully those glowing walls can be removed at least.)

I would keep my expectations low. Since there's nothing confirmed, it could potentially end up being a panel where we will see nothing or just a few bits here and there. Which would be fine by me but I already saw people blow a fuse that it won't be streamed and complaining about exclusivity when there is not even any proof there will be something substantial coming out of this that the general public won't be able to access at some point. (Sure, it would be nice to see but since I speak neither Italian nor Japanese, I likely would not understand a thing anyway. At least my guess is that it will be translated into Italian for the audience since the event is in Italy...) I guess most of us wish for a trailer or a world announcement but hyping things up and then getting disappointed isn't exactly great for anyone. The convention doesn't have such a huge history and while they do seem to put an extraordinary amount of effort into it, it could just be a panel with regular questions and answers (i.e. "What were some of the difficulties during development?" or "How was working with Disney and Pixar?" and so on), sharing some stories and whatever people do at panels. They don't always present something groundbreaking there. I also appreciate the kinds of presentations where they just share what we normally wouldn't see in the final game. I'm sorry, I don't understand your Daylight Savings Time comment to be honest... And for Europe, that was already last week. So what exactly did you mean by referring to that? And Ventus is a separate person from Roxas, not his true name.

I'd be worried if it wasn't complete by now... That would not be a good sign. Polishing up the last bits and pieces is a different matter but if the game itself isn't complete 3 months prior to release, I could only imagine that it would be delayed or be released in an unfinished state (which would be worse than a delay imo). I'm carefully optimistic about Saturday. Since nothing has been announced, I won't be disappointed if we end up with little or no news but I do find it strange that they seemingly put a quite a bit more effort into this event than, let's say, PGW. TGS is one thing since it's Japan, but all that for just a panel with a few tidbits and lots of "we can't answer that yet" sounds strange. Then again, the event doesn't have much of a history with news appearing, which is why I'm careful with being too excited. I guess I will also be happy if we get to hear a few things about the development process, etc. Despite ultimately wanting the game of course, I also enjoy reading/hearing about behind the scenes work.

Thanks for the clarification, though I was aware of that function. It's not that I'm completely against it and the site overall looks cleaner, better assorted and easier to navigate. I appreciate the work that went into it. Though I also liked getting an overview of the most recent updates by just visiting the front page. No customization necessary. It's only natural that there will be a new focus, otherwise it would make little sense to restructure it in the first place, but it will also take some time to get used to not seeing everything on the front page anymore. Meaningful content is of course admirable but I also like seeing just the small updates in life within the community since I'm not that much into social media and some statuses don't need in-depths discussions, which subjectively have become a little less since Discord. So yeah, it's not a big deal in the end. Just different, but different doesn't need to be worse in the long run. I think the good is far more notable than, what my personal opinion considers, the "bad". (Though it's not even bad but just feels strange.)

And a reboot will always be compared to the original anyway and quite often, it doesn't manage to uphold certain standards because the things fans loved the most are missing. Of course that's not the case for every franchise, especially if there's a good reason for a reboot that doesn't come down to just easy money, but the PoC franchise feels complete, regardless of what people like or dislike. Mainly because those who dislike the franchise won't watch the reboot either. I feel like companies are so afraid to try something new nowadays and rather stick to quick money prequels, sequels and reboots instead of going for different IPs. Finish PoC and then be done with it.

It's bit harder now and I wish we had a window for recent status updates again. I don't mind that it's like this but the reactions seem to be fewer because you can't come across them by chance anymore when skimming through news. May be due to the Discord server too that discussions are held there instead?

I don't even know why they need a reboot... The franchise may not be the youngest anymore but they still look good and I see little need for a reboot. I could understand it for other movies due to their age/quality/relationship to other movies, but there's nothing like that going on for PoC which would warrant a reboot, except for money. (But I like the Hugh Jackman idea.)

It's probably uncommon to have that many because developers tend to announce their games when they're almost done and not when they start development. Due to that, Square has to appease the fans by giving more or less frequent updates and to be honest, I found it interesting see how much has changed in the course of 5 years. (Then again, 1 1/2 hour movies also get 2-3 trailers if they're popular enough so for a game that is supposedly around 50 hours long and also needs to compete with countless other games, it's not the worst idea if fans want it.)

I never understood the need to block them anyway... Those who want to record footage can do so without that function and bypass the restriction, so those scenes are not a secret and does not prevent them from being shown. Must be some strange contractual stuff again like with the music in games. But it's good that this was lifted now.

I wouldn't be against Disney Castle, though I think it probably won't be too big by itself like in KH2. Mqybe even comparable to Mysterious Tower. Especially with recent developments in UX and the whole data thing, Disney Castle doesn't seem so farfetched since they used a computer there to access the datascape. Or perhaps as a gate to the Keyblade Graveyard since they fought Lingering Will by going there first. Other than that, I don't really see much of a purpose to have it present since most of the world's main characters are on a journey already and it would probably be a bit dull on its own unless it's only a short visit. I personally think around 1-2 full Disney worlds are left. (So I wouldn't count 100 Acre Wood since that would probably be reduced to a minigame world again if it reappears.) I'm also still hoping for Atlantis because they could really use it well for the narrative, though they might save that for the future too. Treasure Planet would be great but likely too similar to PoC. What I'm currently not hoping for are more Pixar worlds. I think there are enough and I'd like to see one more world from the handdrawn era to be honest to add some variety. Be it Pocahontas, Treasure Planet, Atlantis, Princess and the Frog or a returning world, I'd be fine with it. I'd just like a completely different setting, so it would be great if there are no more modern suburbs or cities as the main focus.

With so much merchandise popping up for KH, it only makes me wonder why they're not giving away licenses to companies to make better quality figures. I know Disney likes the lower quality but cheap alternative and Square has its own figure line with its PAKs &Co., but what would I give for some decent quality static arts, like the ARTFX J Series from Kotobukiya or something. It's not even that Square seems to hold exclusive rights for figures... I have bothing against PAKs but they do lose some of the quality by having joints and the face paints are always a matter of luck. I'm not a fan of Funko, due to to the weird shape and all this exclusive nonsense, so that's a pass for me but I think it's great that KH is getting so much love recently. Though it's arguable if you really need all those Sora Funkos because most of them look really similar due to their size and shape of the head.

It's still kinda weird that PGW is an event where we can potentially be treated to news. It's by no means small but after that 2.8 opening reveal there, it's somehow gotten more important to the community than before. I'm not expecting a trailer but I do think it's possible, despite the panel. (Mainly because I feel that panels are more for discussions from what I've seen up to this point and not for extensive presentations.) It would definitely be a good time since it's pretty much in the middle of TGS and and Jump Festa and if the interviews are correct, we can still expect one more Disney world at the very least.

Perhaps because they didn't like their performance or something, though I can't imagine that being the case for her. Not all voice actors that are chosen are also the best, or even an adequate, choice, though that's a matter of personal preference. For example, I don't like some of the singing voices, especially in the English Disney movies. But that might also be because I grew up with the German ones. Either way, in this case I'm not against it at all. And even if I were, her role is probably fairly minor so that's something anyone could overlook. If anything,I consider it a good thing that they're putting effort into this and not taking anyone who has little experience. (Still hoping for Mandy Moore to return as Rapunzel because I really like her work and the movie. >_< I believe she's the only one of the main characters that is unconfirmed.)

To be honest, I'm always happy about consistent ratings. I may be over 18 and can play what I want but since Kingdom Hearts definitely also wants to appeal to a younger audience, it would be terrible to find out you're not allowed to play the third game because of a different rating. Those below a certain age probably won't mind it much since the focus is different but KH did that before. Imagine getting into a series and then not being allowed to continue it until you're old enough, at least from a legal standpoint. KH3 will likely be rated USK12 then and I think it's suitable. As we saw in KH1, even at USK 6 you can have a 14 year-old stabbing himself... How profound a game is is not necessarily determined by the rating. It just restricts certain things but the difference between T and 10+ is not really something I'd consider problematic for KH3. Another thing is that having it rated higher, which would be USK 16 here, would require a little more than these themes, i.e. sexual content, blood and the like. KH won't suffer from the E10+ rating and it will be as usual. I don't think it will change either. The alcohol which will likely be referenced at least in the PoH world prevents a lower rating and, regardless of it being Disney, KH isn't prone to other topics requiring a higher rating. It doesn't make it more mature either just to have it rated T. Suddenly changing that formula would make me question it.

I honestly didn't notice since the app was working just fine for me the entire evening. Just saw the comments on Twitter and was confused because I was watching videos throughout the day.

I love playing horror games but in recent years, I've been having a hard time getting scared by them. I flinch at jumpscares but that's a most natural reaction and not because I'm afraid. In terms of horror aspects, I'd say Amnesia and Outlast are pretty good, though Soma had an intriguing story. Silent Hill is also a great franchise, despite the sometimes ridiculous parts. Unlocking a chest with a horrendous amount of locks for a strand of hair.... Though one game that's completely free and still did an amazing job is Cry of Fear. I usually don't enjoy horror games where you are given weapons as much but it really had a lot to offer for a Half-Life mod. I'm also surprised that the Outlast franchise has two spots in the poll and The Evil Within has none. I know it's impossible to list every game but all other games are treated as a franchise.

Months is putting it kindly. It took them 13 months to update something lore relevant and you only understand a bit of it because the rest is not explained yet again. KHUX is a mess story-wise. I still play it regularly but I do agree that the gameplay has boiled down to grinding and just owning the best of the best at this point. It would be better to wrap up certain things in a real recap video with the current graphics for everyone else.

Especially because it's badly explained. YX and his incarnations all coukd travel back to their own time and bow Maleficent says it's impossible to travel forward? I thought that only applied to the future and not returning to their own present. I also love this series to death but time travel with cryptic explanations or none at all could really be the death of understanding any of it. With so many layers, you don't even know where KHUX plays anymore. What's real, dream or data?