One of the very first lessons in story telling that I learned in 1st grade was DO NOT LET YOUR CHARACTERS BE  PAWNS FOR YOUR PLOT. This is where the story of BBS falls apart for me.

I don't mind it that much.  It's more of a game to explain to us why things are the way they are.  As a Kingdom Hearts fan, I really liked finding out the reason behind a lot of what had happened in the previous games as I played BbS.  I still think we got good characters and a good story.  It was just approached in a different way.

 

The game also is meant to introduce us to the true main villain of the series.  To me, the way the characters were handled in this game showed us just how dangerous Master Xehanort is.  From the moment the game started, everyone (except for Aqua, who just found herself stuck in the middle of everything until the end when Xehanort used her to push Terra over the edge) was a pawn in Master Xehanort's plan.  He had the entire thing planned out, and it almost worked, which I think can sum up all of Xehanort's plans in a nutshell.  He may be a brilliant man that has backup plans for everything, but they never end up succeeding in the end.  It's like Ansem the Wise said, hearts are unpredictable.

While I do love the story and the characters, it is riddled with problems. Most importantly that the main characters never communicate what they've learned to one another and no one reports back to Eraqus. Honestly though, the biggest problem is Terra.

 

Only a couple of minutes into the game and he takes advice from Master Xehanort who he doesn't know and who contradicts everything Eraqus says. The same Eraqus that he considers a father figure and has been his teacher for years. The fact that Terra just accepts it all is mind boggling. He never questions anything even when they go against everything he was taught. Also, unlike Aqua who can sense darkness and evil intent, Terra can't and is duped by numerous villains. Remember we are told he is at the level of a master so this should be a skill he aquired long ago.

 

I could go on, but ultimately I don't think the protagonists being pawns in Xehanort's plan is necessarily a bad thing. You can make Xehanort a genius who manipulates them as long as they themselves aren't completely incompetent. As much as I love this game, how can I really be expected to believe Master Xehanort is as powerful and intelligent as he is when everyone around him makes poor choices. It just makes the protagonists (who are fantastic characters) look awful and it makes Master Xehanort only look slightly above average in the intellect department.

 

Overall the story only really falls apart (in my opinion) when you notice the many mistakes that our protagonists make, especially when you remember that they have been trained by a master and therefore should be more logical.

Edited October 26, 20168 yr by clatter411

One of the very first lessons in story telling that I learned in 1st grade was DO NOT LET YOUR CHARACTERS BE  PAWNS FOR YOUR PLOT. This is where the story of BBS falls apart for me.

THANK YOU..............FREAKIN THANK YOU

 

In one sentence you summed up why I hate this game so much

While I do love the story and the characters, it is riddled with problems. Most importantly that the main characters never communicate what they've learned to one another and no one reports back to Eraqus. Honestly though, the biggest problem is Terra.

Only a couple of minutes into the game and he takes advice from Master Xehanort who he doesn't know and who contradicts everything Eraqus says. The same Eraqus that he considers a father figure and has been his teacher for years. The fact that Terra just accepts it all is mind boggling. He never questions anything even when they go against everything he was taught. Also, unlike Aqua who can sense darkness and evil intent, Terra can't and is duped by numerous villains. Remember we are told he is at the level of a master so this should be a skill he aquired long ago.

I'm not saying this is an excuse, but I think Terra kinda felt betrayed by Eraqus, so when this other guy acted like he believed in him, Terra ran with it. I do think Terra should have known better, but his emotions got in the way.

 

That being said, I've seen that people on YouTube have said the story reminds them of Star Wars, and I can see the similarities.

I don't mind it that much.  It's more of a game to explain to us why things are the way they are.  As a Kingdom Hearts fan, I really liked finding out the reason behind a lot of what had happened in the previous games as I played BbS.  I still think we got good characters and a good story.  It was just approached in a different way.

 

The game also is meant to introduce us to the true main villain of the series.  To me, the way the characters were handled in this game showed us just how dangerous Master Xehanort is.  From the moment the game started, everyone (except for Aqua, who just found herself stuck in the middle of everything until the end when Xehanort used her to push Terra over the edge) was a pawn in Master Xehanort's plan.  He had the entire thing planned out, and it almost worked, which I think can sum up all of Xehanort's plans in a nutshell.  He may be a brilliant man that has backup plans for everything, but they never end up succeeding in the end.  It's like Ansem the Wise said, hearts are unpredictable.

Or summed up more succinctly, the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley

 

I feel like this game was a watershed moment for the series, but for different reasons to different people

Honestly I don't get why people hate Bbs (and DDD) story. It was meant to tell us the events that lead to Sora's adventure and it did this good, I really liked the characters and their stories, I don't care if the villains managed to manipulate them.

 

In my opinion BbS is the most exciting and emotional KH, why? because of plot-twists and Aqua'story

Edited October 26, 20168 yr by MasterLorX

I don't mind it that much.  It's more of a game to explain to us why things are the way they are.  As a Kingdom Hearts fan, I really liked finding out the reason behind a lot of what had happened in the previous games as I played BbS.  I still think we got good characters and a good story.  It was just approached in a different way.

 

The game also is meant to introduce us to the true main villain of the series.  To me, the way the characters were handled in this game showed us just how dangerous Master Xehanort is.  From the moment the game started, everyone (except for Aqua, who just found herself stuck in the middle of everything until the end when Xehanort used her to push Terra over the edge) was a pawn in Master Xehanort's plan.  He had the entire thing planned out, and it almost worked, which I think can sum up all of Xehanort's plans in a nutshell.  He may be a brilliant man that has backup plans for everything, but they never end up succeeding in the end.  It's like Ansem the Wise said, hearts are unpredictable.

 

Ditto.

 

See, the problem is that the three main characters aren't given much of a back story or much insight to their personality. I think that's where most of the hate comes from since they're kinda just shoved into our faces like "oh look a new trio! love them cause you're gonna see them more from now on!" I like the BBS Novel because it shows their thoughts and reasonings behind certain actions, but they still lack backstories.

 

Personally, I loved the game and I love it's characters, but I can still respect other's opinions. Sure, BBS is not perfect but that doesn't mean it sucks. There's more to the game than meets the eye. 

That being said, I've seen that people on YouTube have said the story reminds them of Star Wars, and I can see the similarities.

Well, sure, but it's Revenge of the Sith without all the years Palpatine spent grooming Anakin. Between the first two prequels and all six seasons of The Clone Wars, there is a lot of history between the two, and Anakin trusting Sheev, a guy he knows since he was 9 years old, makes a lot more sense than Terra trusting a guy he met once before. When that guy brought a kid who literally couldn't remember anything but his own name. I love, love Star Wars, it's my favorite franchise out of anything ever, but it's also really poorly written most of the time (as far as the movies go, TCW is amazing and Rebels is great), and BBS manage to use story beats from RotS while ignoring everything that makes me not absolutely hate that movie.

 

I love BBS, it's a great game and I love replaying it, but it has a very inconsistent story. Mostly I just hate that the sixth game in the series is the one to introduce the guy the whole saga is named after. But TAV are fine, inconsistences and all. I adore them.

well for me i really liked BBS and "Which i haven't played yet but watched some videos about it" DDD well BBS tells us WHY sora and riku exactly had the keyblade you wouldn't think sora possessed the key for nothing? and you wouldn't think riku could create his own weapon for nothing? All these answers were found at these 2 games and BBS was a spotlight for that except terra's ending was a bit annoying He said "i had gone astray but no more" But then master xehanort said to him to transform his hate into darkness and what? terra did exactly as he said? He should be an enemy to be honest but i honestly think BBS is the best story game i have ever played and experienced i hope i experience DDD in the 2.8

Well, sure, but it's Revenge of the Sith without all the years Palpatine spent grooming Anakin. Between the first two prequels and all six seasons of The Clone Wars, there is a lot of history between the two, and Anakin trusting Sheev, a guy he knows since he was 9 years old, makes a lot more sense than Terra trusting a guy he met once before. When that guy brought a kid who literally couldn't remember anything but his own name. I love, love Star Wars, it's my favorite franchise out of anything ever, but it's also really poorly written most of the time (as far as the movies go, TCW is amazing and Rebels is great), and BBS manage to use story beats from RotS while ignoring everything that makes me not absolutely hate that movie.

 

I love BBS, it's a great game and I love replaying it, but it has a very inconsistent story. Mostly I just hate that the sixth game in the series is the one to introduce the guy the whole saga is named after. But TAV are fine, inconsistences and all. I adore them.

I admit I've only seen that movie once (my cousin practically dragged me to the theater), but I remember enough to know that there are a lot of similarities. Both of those jerks pretty much had the whole thing planned with the intention of starting a war that would only benefit one person - themselves. The main differences are that Ventus was also being used to create a weapon, and Aqua did succeed in in temporally stopping MX. She bought the worlds more time. Also, Terra didn't completely turn and is still fighting. I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan (I love Rebels) but as I was reading the YouTube comments, I was like "yeah, that makes sense."

Honestly for a game like BBS that focuses so much on character development and their "tragic past", the end result is kind of underwhelming. 

 

First rule of making ANY tragic story: make relatable characters who create and demonstrate believable and legitimate friendships and qualities that MAKES you like them. The character and their interactions with one another is pivotal to any good story that's going for that type of "tragic sad ending" theme, yet BBS falls flat on its face for that.

 

Terra, Aqua, and Ven have zero relationship. It bothers me when people claim BBS to have the saddest ending in the series, because I honestly couldn't see why. The characters and the way they interact sucks, and their friendship was rushed and seemed forced. I didn't view the three as friends even though the game told me to; I saw them as just characters, because the game failed to demonstrate they actually "care" for one another, and instead just sort of said "Yo, these people are friends. Like them." And that's the inherent issue. The game ends with the three meeting tragic ends, but it didn't hurt me because I knew so little about them...which was a pretty big disappointment.

 

Also yeah, their personalities kinda suck too. Terra's a complete idiot, Ven is a less interesting Sora, and Aqua, while a good level-headed motherlike figure, was still bland. Bleh, BBS characters are just not very well done.