ssceles

Pass or fail, Yen Sid needs to pass on important knowledge to them and its kind of just protocol to see if they're ready for it. To show that they can defend themselves and not fall prey to their own ambitions, and do whatever task is at hand while looking out for others, not themselves. If they are to be judged as harshly as Terra was, they'd both fail. Sora had anti!form issues all through KH2. That might be a real problem, if his darkness can be tampered with by an outside source. Sora's also quick to jump to conclusions and fight what he's told is bad and side with whatever appears good. He could be fooled too easily by an enemy pretending to be a new friend. In Riku's case... well that poor boy needs therapy forever. Whether he's too afraid to think or too pissed to think, 'Ansem' appearing at all is only going to set him off into an emotional extreme. That and he has major issues with forgiving himself. Both have their obvious imperfections, and they'd both fall short. But they need to be passed on anyway, because it no longer matters if they're the best the worlds have to offer: They're the only ones the worlds have. Sora's reaction to a mark of mastery test? What? I just saved the worlds twice over, I thought I already was one. Riku's reaction? Not interested. I've had enough crazy stuff happen. Both will continue to want to defend people who need to defending. Neither should feel they need a master's title.

Mmmm... yes, I thought it was David~ If he has a larger role I don't know if they can really keep using David. Especially if he's in a scene anywhere near something to do with Riku. He tried really hard to make it not sound like Riku, but after listening more than once it really sunk in. Unless, in some wacky way, Riku and Xehanort are more connected than we thought. =w= I definitely want to see more of y!MX. And while I really hoped that they'd bring Billy Zane back for re:CoM (and I will always prefer him), Epcar ended up being just fine. If Epcar is -capable- of sounding younger, perhaps he could even do it.

Oh right... Jigglypuff are someplace else in Pokémon Yellow. My bad.

Not a weeaboo... but I am an otaku. Proud of it? Ehhhh. Not really. But its so much FUN being lazy and not having a job right now. *would dodge flying objects from roommate* . . . . . I really need a summer job. No social life? Check. Love life? Oh, I've got one of those. And that's the real reason I need to get out of my apartment more - she shouldn't be the only one paying the rent. Pass the time watching anime? Ahh... less than most people, actually. I haven't touched a 'new' anime since last fall and I don't keep up to date very well. Video games? Hell to the yes. Surfing the internet? Almost every waking moment. Nerd? Hacker? Programmer? .....*holds up nearest books the size of textbooks* PHP, MySQL, and Actionscript 3. I've got a folder on my desktop called 'AwesomeSauce' in which I keep everything related to a very lame server I host myself. Aside from the stuff no one understands but me, I'm sure you can all understand what a Flash game is. I experiment with making those in my free time. The coolest thing about me isn't that I'm a nerd. It's that I'm okay with it. At least as an otaku I get to sit behind the scenes and make people happy with stuff I make. And with all the rest of my free time? I practice my art. So when the last person says "not in the negative sense" its all perspective. There's nothing negative about being a loner or productively learning about computers. There IS something negative about not getting out of your room to work. T_T But that's my only regret.

Art. . . IT. Psychology. >3

Seeing Riku in other forms: Do want! And with the oddity of them being younger for the test, I'd like to see Captain Hook again, since Riku dealt with him in KH1. Agrabah? There is so much more that place has to offer.

If you make a mobile site it would also mean it'll load a lot better in my PSP. Sometimes when I decide I want to sleep in I use my PSP to get online in the morning. If you find you can't make the entire site mobile, no worries. Just make a mini site at like kh13.com/mobile or something and connect it to the news feed and I'll be content. ^^

Yeah, you could breeze through it faster... but taking your time fighting little battles with your friends and fighting the Heartless before continuing will put you at a slight advantage because you get experience from those, ending you up at a slighter higher level. It's a bit hard to rush KH and still be able to have the levels behind you need to keep pressing ahead. Just go at whatever pace is comfortable. Now, there are also times, especially in KH1, where I would get so backwards lost and take forever because of it... Wonderland is confusing, in Deep Jungle I missed the tree I was supposed to climb, Atlantica was awkward, and Hollow Bastion is just a maze. I fondly remember my first play through leaving me stuck quite a few times when I didn't know how to continue.

If dreams are relevant to the plot I hope nightmares are, too. >3 That was my first thought.

While there's nothing else going on, by all means, talk about the site and ask us questions. Fan-made stuff (especially contests) would also be nice to hear about during a long lull without new information. But I suspect once the ball starts rolling again and we actually get updates about new stuff going on (E3 and other future events), that news take priority and needn't be pushed down too soon by random other stuff. Headline news should stay headline news for a while, yeah?

Terra and Mickey both refer to Yen Sid as 'Master Yen Sid'. As to why Eraqus never called him that but called Xehanort 'Master Xehanort' is probably for one very simple reason: Yen Sid is retired. I believe he was their master, yes. And despite what others believe, I believe he's older than the both of them. Disney logic hacks. Afterall, none of the Disney characters seem to age at all. Ever. =/ There's no exact proof, either way, but maybe it'll be clarified in Dream Drop Distance.

Just a hunch, but... it was night time. Just like night happens on Destiny Islands. No matter how bright a place is, time of day still changes.

It's hard to say what Xemnas remembers and what he doesn't, even though its easy to say what he feels about what he can: nothing. Random 'if' conclusion. IF Xemnas had MX's memories as well as Terra's, it might then be obvious. MX would know that Eraqus would have taught Aqua how the lock the world when she became a Keyblade Master, and, where better a place to hide Ven from him? o_O But I don't necessarily know what to believe - that he does remember his life as MX, or even Terra? Could it be he thinks of himself as in third person and might have memories of both, but chose to live on as neither, combining their wills to formulate new goals that are neither here nor there with MX's original intentions? That's just as likely to me as Aqua's armor talking. I think Xemnas was just talking to himself in that case, but what do I know?

So long as the text scenes appear in a theater mode like they did with re:CoM, I won't mind too much. The thing I really hate about text scenes is that its hard to remember where they take place and what exactly is said if I'm trying to find something specific - and almost no one has YouTube videos of text scenes with normal cutscenes, unless it also includes gameplay. I don't want to skim through gameplay and get to the point where the text scene is and *hope* the person doesn't just quickly press through it. I don't always have save points at convenient locations to just go hunt for details that are off the beaten track. (It's why a lot of 358/2 Days is lost on me, because I've seen the scenes dozens of times on YouTube, but the text scenes only -once-.)

Are you trying to say you think Birth by Sleep Vol. 2 would be about when Eraqus and Xehanort were younger and taking their Mark of Mastery, and perhaps how Xehanort came to know how much about the Keyblade War in the first place? I think that'd be awesome, but I have no idea if that's going to happen. Then again, I never thought they'd seriously go farther into the story behind the apprentices of Ansem the Wise, and suddenly that feels like a possibility around the corner. Even so, looking back at the past isn't as wanted as finally moving forward with the series. Still, I'd like to see flashbacks.

*hops on the photo bandwagon for no particular reason*

It is interesting that Namine was born there, considering Aqua's ties to little Kairi and Ventus' connection to Sora. I'm not sure what it boils down to, though. Locking the castle as Aqua did, I think the exact thing said was 'so the secrets aren't found'? I believe it was so Xehanort could never find Ventus, and this was Aqua's decision. This means Terra can't find him, either, sadly. The castle may like Namine because of the Kairi ties to Aqua, or it may be related to the fact Kairi was inside Sora with Ven, and when Namine was created, she may have taken some of Ven with her. (That said: Sora's Nobody looks like Ventus. If Sora has Ven's heart and his own, and presumably all hearts left him, shouldn't Sora and Ven and Kairi have Nobodies, meaning there should be one more besides Roxas and Namine? If Roxas is a combo of Ven and Sora, it's just as easy to say Namine is Ven and Kairi.) (unrelated: I also think Riku ended up in Castle Oblivion not because of Sora, but because Ansem was inside him, and when Ansem was defeated and all the worlds were restored, everyone was taken back to where they belonged. Castle Oblivion had been the Land of Departure, Terra's home. Xehanort and Riku had both forsaken their homes, but Terra never had. Riku showing up there because of the Terra in Ansem makes sense to me, even without proof.)

@tomtom: You'd think that, but the series is maturing in a lot of ways and plenty of dark, irreversible things happen. Even in the first game, I went 'woah, isn't this a little dark for a Disney game?' but then I realized that most Disney things are in fact kind of dark. It's hard to name Disney characters that still have both their parents. Take a moment to go watch a Disney movie you haven't seen since you were really little. Watch it by yourself without friends or family around and really let it sink in. I actually think I teared up during Beauty and the Beast and that's not something I would have done if I hadn't been alone. It was like watching it for the first time, but from the perspective of my current age. There are also lots of adult jokes you just wouldn't catch as a kid in those movies. Point here is: We won't outgrow Kingdom Hearts. We'll laugh to our friends and say we have, but, it'll always have a place in our hearts. I don't know about you, but I didn't even get into Kingdom Hearts on the first wave of its fandom. It was someone introducing me into it that made me look into at all. Disney was behind me at 16, but I then realized that there's some major stress relief that comes with beating up bad guys I was afraid of when I was -six- with something as ridiculous as a giant key. And now I'm 20. Birth by Sleep showed maturity that I appreciated seeing. I don't know how younger fans feel about playing Terra and Aqua but I imagine it's the same as ten year olds watching the shows on the Disney channel that focus around teenagers in highschool: older characters act as role models. Kids can feel mature, and those of falling into adulthood can take the time to feel young again. When and if we finally see an older Sora, how will we even react? Will he be tall? Will he actually look handsome? We expect him to stay this dorky little carefree kid forever, as if he is a symbol for our own inner child. But by the end of KH2 he's emotionally no longer a child. All the serious, life threatening situations he's been in and the friends he's lost and nearly lost, are really doing a number on Sora. Seeing the younger model of Sora for 3DS is something, and I can't wait for the official explanation. Psychologically, they must realize what keeping us working with a younger Sora does to us as fans. We can't grow up until Sora does. That's the hook. The news is really slow right now and it feels like forever... have patience, it'll be worth it. It's also just another way of pulling you in.

Trying to ask questions this deep right now is like speculating on creation theory. It's a hard lesson, but victors write history. Light, in it's purest, may be no different than Darkness in the pure, no matter what people believe. The perception of good and evil, right and wrong, might be... what's the word... arbitrary? To put the world into black and white, dark and light, but be a dangerous assumption for the main characters to make. The blindly faithful, no matter how good they think their cause is, lose sight of what's best for everyone in their own ambitions. Mixing theology of the real world with Kingdom Hearts also isn't a good idea, but with introducing a world like Hunchback of Notre Dame it really does concern me. It's one of those controversial Disney films. But you have to remember that in that movie's scenario, it still wasn't the church that was the enemy, it was one pompous, self-righteous vigilante who made himself out to be more important than basic human values. It's bad to make generalizations, one way or the other, the gypsies are people, too! We have a villain who thinks he's in the right in this case. The only reason I brought the last paragraph up in regards to a 'realm of light' theory is that if such a thing exists, it's supporters may be no better than the villains we've seen in the past who worked with the Heartless. The main cast may be fooled into believing they're doing the right thing, and it'll be through Riku's common sense that good and bad don't come down to light and dark. (If we have a Pocahontas world, I can see similar issues: Both sides thought they were in the right.) To compare for a second to real world theology, even darkness can be associated with the goodness of the earth element, mother earth, and new life. There may even be worlds out there where they don't see it in any sort of bad at all. Something Master Xehanort said in Birth by Sleep still draws my attention: "will we be worthy of that light?" He may be working with darkness because it's what he's had on hand, but I think light is his true goal, or may be just as worthwhile in his mind. If perspective alone can make a person right, he's warped enough to think he can justify anything and everything he's ever done for a greater good. And I think that's exactly where his insanity lies, that he thinks he's right, no matter what he does. The worlds have been in some sort of separate harmony since breaking into many worlds, but things have become rather stirred things up, haven't they? I think that if Heartless will be in imbalance, the light itself -may- spring up and take form similar to Heartless to fight back, but I don't think escalating tension is what's best for the worlds. We'll have to wait and see a bit more before I can make real guesses, and even with more information, it'd be very easy to misinterpret. It really comes down to how the creators want to spin it and there are so many ways they can. It's just as likely they'll gloss it all over and try not to make it important. Sora never thinks too hard about what he has to do because he follows his heart, but even he can be lead into risky, stupid situations if he's emotionally upset over his friends.

I'm also going to wait until a US release date is confirmed for the new KH game, and hope at that point in time someone wants to buy a used DS. And 358/2 Days. And Pokemon. People always want to buy used Pokemon games, right? >_> I figure if I resell enough things, I'll be able to afford it no problem once its been out for over a year. ^_^;

It's sad that all this arguing happens (happened on my first and only thread, as well). People here don't like theories and assume they're right absolutely when someone else brings up a plausible idea. This was never a problem I was faced anywhere but here. I'm going to agree with the poster. Sora_Kuno's thoughts are the same as mine on the matter, even without exact proof. There's a lot we don't know and there's a lot there will probably never be cleared up even if we do a closer look at Terra!nort's stay as an apprentice and fall into darkness. I'd give the exact logic of why I agree, and cite -my- sources, but since the last time I did something as -shocking- as that, I was told I was assuming things when I was quoting from the game itself. =/ Please forgive the members of this forum, as we're not all squabbling adolescents. Drawing conclusions from examples and statements 'set in stone' by characters in the game and the creator himself won't be enough for some people. And for these 'some people', who get to disagree for no reason, I can easily agree with just as little proof. I'm with happy with anyone who can look at Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, that is, and take full note that he is an -Emblem- Heartless in human form with a large -Pureblood- Heartless attached to him. Considering he has -two- hearts, Terra's and Master Xehanort's, it makes perfect sense to me that the Pureblood is the one who clearly gave up his heart on screen, MX, and the Emblem was Terra's. Sorry if this logic isn't crystal clear, but what proof can you provide otherwise? You think he's wearing that symbol for the fun of it? It's possible. But please explain why he has two bodies if not for the fact he indeed has two hearts.

Because Hayner said they were at the mansion looking for Kairi. To quote myself in the first post: What am I making up? Be specific. Fact: Data Sora is a digital copy of Sora. Fact: DiZ's digital copy of Twilight Town is a copy. Copied occupants are copies. Copies are copies. Fact: Axel goes into the digital Twilight Town to retrieve Roxas and fails. Fact: In KH2, Sora goes to the digital Twilight Town on instructions from Mickey, which Mickey got from Riku, touches the beam of light, goes through a Dark Portal to Betwixt and Between, and Axel sends them through a portal to TWTNW (and presumably, back out of the digital existence into reality). What more do you want from me? I played the game, I'm telling it as it is and not making anything up there. Then kindly leave this thread because you're far from helpful. It's nice to hear pessimism, because it helps clear things up sometimes, but plain ignorance does not help. - In the end, its safe to say there was no other way to shuffle Sora from point A to point B without using a dark portal. Sora was sent into the digital Twilight Town, simply so he could meet Axel there, and be sent back on through to the other side. Axel was probably there because it was the best place to hide from Saix. /thread.

Why would you go someplace to look for someone if you didn't think they were there? That's exactly what I said to begin with. Which part? The part where I stated two different things that actually have happened? Data Sora in re:Coded was a copy. Hayner, Pence and Olette were copied for DiZ's digital Twilight Town. Roxas, Axel, Mickey, Sora in KH2 etc. were sent there completely, leaving no traces of themselves in the real world. This makes the digital world act like an alternate dimension if no trace of you is left in the physical world. The Axel Organization XIII sent through their computer was the real Axel. The Axel that Sora saw die was also the real Axel, I'm only left wondering how and why Axel was in the digitized Twilight Town again to help Sora portal back out of the digitized world. Forgive me for referring to exactly what the game itself said. The alternate world Hayner, Pence, and Olette referred to was the digital copy. The word 'alternate' was used in the game. Honestly, if I have to correct you at at every turn you could at least start citing your sources like I do. =_= (Furthermore, I'll take this opportunity to point out the giant plot hole that Mickey went with you into the digital Twilight Town and is there when you exit from Axel's portal in Betwixt and Between into TWTNW, but Mickey was not there to help you and Axel fight the dusks?)

They were there when I got there. They were also passed out. where Hayner very clearly says: "We came here looking for Kairi." (On the same lines as this' date=' its very interesting that BBSFM's secret ending shows the Twilight Town gang with Kairi at the mansion in the same location. Who knows on that, though.)