Hero of Light XIV

I mean, I'd like to consider myself a hardcore fan, but I don't typically speedrun. I see the point you're making in that speedrunners should ALSO be considered hardcore fans considering how familiar and dedicated they have to be with the game in order to speedrun it, but it's not like that's the only qualifier for being "hardcore". There's lots of different ways to play intensely, just thought I'd put that out there.

Mostly Peter, Miles, and Gwen, but I'm probably leaning more towards Miles since this will be the first time we ever get to see him in a cinematic setting.

Damn it, I JUST made a post about it too! Must have beat me to it while I was making it. Still, way more informative than mine, I didn't even know about the non-PowerUp Rewards members option. And wait, you CAN purchase more than just 15 entries!?

I feel like it will feel unique like each game tends to, but it will also feel like every game so far in certain ways. And really it should be, considering the kind of title it is. It's nice when big games like that try to incorporate the best of each prior title, it's a great way of acknowledging just how big it's become. This should feel like the MGS4/MGSV of the KH series, every little bit of the best of each prior title should have their time to shine here so that it feels truly conclusive to everything that came before and at the same time should be unique enough on it's own that it feels like it would be ridiculous to ever try and go backwards.

They were never TOTAL failures. He still got his first vessel, he still got most of his 13 Darknesses (possibly even all of them at this point), he still managed to forge a X-Blade, and the battle between the Seekers and Guardians is still going to happen anyway. This was his end-goal the whole time and whether he succeeded in his smaller goals or not is irrelevant since they still ended up furthering his current goal anyway. And none of that does anything to discredit whether he would be able to see through a rather lazy disguise as changing eye color and ear shape. You can say he failed to at several different facets of his other smaller plans but that doesn't make him an idiot who can't use his freaking brain.

Alyson does a good job at Kairi, so I don't mind her voicing her in KH3. Yeah it's a bit disappointing that not all of the OG cast will be together after they were able to at for 2 other games and at least one other occasion, but as long as Kairi is voiced real well in KH3, I think we'll be just fine.

The fact that he is still ultimately getting what he wants no matter how many backup strategies that he has only proves that he's still a master strategist. He at least still learns from each failure and had enough foresight to at least consider failure with each plan so that he could have backups ready in case he did fail. A good strategist not only tries to prevent failure, but also anticipates it.

That's not true at all, Nomura had no thoughts in mind about any Dark Seeker Saga while he was making Kingdom Hearts 1. The idea of the expanded saga didn't really start to form until he was working on Birth By Sleep, so at best he didn't start considering early ideas until later into Kingdom Hearts 2's development. Furthermore, no, Marvel and Disney never once looked to Kingdom Hearts as any sort of inspiration for how their movie franchises would expand and continue, they all just moved at their own pace independently. The MCU started well before Birth by Sleep was even released, let alone while it was in development. I'm afraid you're making some huge assumptions and are leaping to big conclusions just because you're noticing some similarities between storytelling styles.

People have been rightfully pointing out that Aqua is NOT being "Norted", but rather is turning into one of those Darklings from UX. You can tell by their color pallet, namely the red hands. Any similarity to Vanitas is purely coincidental at best, and even then that's a bit of a stretch. Also I'd like to point out that it's very likely that the Land of Departure scenes with Vanitas are just a metaphysical scene. I'm pretty certain that while Aqua is being corrupted by Darkness, her mind is going through a mental battle trying to fight off embodiments of that invading Darkness. In this case, that Darkness is represented by Vanitas, as well as possibly Terra-Xeanort's Dark Guardian. It's the only thing that makes sense, it's much more plausible than Vanitas somehow getting forcing Castle Oblivion back into the Land of Departure when it's something that only Aqua can do, and she can't do that from the Realm of Darkness. And consider this, why would Vanitas be without his coat if he was really there, when in every other scene with the confirmed Seekers, they are always wearing their coats? Unless they wanted to just randomly break their own pattern, it must be a metaphysical battle with an imaginary Vanitas. It's Kingdom Hearts, they've done this before. Also, unpopular opinion, but that CAN'T be Data-Riku. It makes no sense for him to be a Seeker of Darkness. Xehanort never showed any signs of having his eyes on him and he's too based off of Darkness-resistant Riku to ever effectively be a pawn of Darkness. The only way he could ever be corrupted would be through the Bugs, but even then his force of will was strong enough to resist them anyway, so you could see him physically struggling against their influence. Ergo, that can't be what's happening here. So he's not being possessed by Bugs, and he isn't suitable to give in to Darkness. Unless that whole "secret double-agents within Xehanort's Seekers of Darkness" thing turns out to be true, there is really no reasonable way that that could be Data-Riku. Hence why I am fairly confident that it is actually Riku-Replica. He's a much more fitting candidate, is exactly what Xehanort would be looking for in a vessel, and his personality better fits that line of dialogue in the trailer. And before someone brings up the Bug Blox again, I'd like to just point out that the Bug Blox are essentially just "Dark-Data", and as Xemnas said in Dream Drop Distance, data is easy to manipulate and use. By that logic, anyone in Xehanort's Seekers could use the Bug Blox simply because they're Dark-Data, so it isn't necessary to have it be Data-Riku since he's never been depicted with any particular control of the Bug Blox before. Riku-Replica could easily use them since they're literally just made to be used anyway. Also, I have my doubts about the whole "secret double-agent" thing. While I could buy slightly more benevolent figures like Demyx and Even not actually being vessels, does anyone HONESTLY believe that Xehanort would be tricked by some fake yellow eye contacts and pointy ear makeup? I'm pretty sure he knows how to tell who's got part of his heart inside them and who doesn't, so unless you have a way to circumvent that there's no way any optical tricks are going to fool that old geezer. Does MASTER STRATEGIST mean nothing to you people?

Riku-Replica. You can call coated Riku-lookalike "Data-Riku" all you like, but either way I am convinced that he is somewhere in this title.

I'm talking about the KH-themed PS4 Pro if that wasn't obvious.

But the idea of it being Data-Riku is still flawed. His personality never made him that compelling as an antagonist, only as a supporting character. At best he would have to be corrupted again in order for this to work, but as we saw he has a strong enough will to actively resist being corrupted, he had to be strong-armed into doing Pete and Maleficent's doing. Everyone else on the Seekers side seems to be much more willing to follow Xehanort's will, whether it's for their own motivations or if they all just buy into the promises he's been giving them. Either way, it's asking A LOT to try and convince me that a character who has no place in being a villain is suddenly supposed to be a villain now when there's clearly a better candidate out there ripe for the picking. Aesthetics alone are not enough to convince me.

Personally I'm hoping for Christopher Loyd. He can reach a pretty similar range for Nimoy's Xehanort, so I think he'd be a good fit. Plus, I just really want to make "I was frozen today" jokes. I'm kinda simple like that. X)"

Vexen actually. I was pretty convinced he was going to stay a good guy considering how he wasn't initially picked up in Dream Drop Distance.

Ok, neato, but is there anything ELSE KH-themed you'd like to release in North America Square? Something that, I don't know, a PRO would like?

What do I think? I think they should just hurry up and announce both the Slim and Pro versions for the U.S. and other western audiences right away because GOD DAMN IT SQUARE, HOW CAN I GIVE YOU MY MONEY IF YOU WON'T LET ME!!??

Still holding out hope for a Treasure Planet or Atlantis world. I mean, might be redundant since we already have a world that has both ships and LOTS of water, but god damn it those movies were beautiful and underrated and I want to see my childhood fully reimagined in this engine! T3T"""

Despite Vanitas' weird fashion sense, Riku Replica doesn't necessarily need to wear his suit under his cloak. And again, Data-Riku feels like a very odd choice for a vessel, there was like no build up to him ever being evil, and his personality seems to be a complete 180. He sounds more like Riku-Replica than anyone else. Also we still have no idea what the nature of that scene on Destiny Islands is. For all we know, that might just be a metaphorical conversation Riku has with himself, coming to terms with how vulnerable he used to be. It could still end up being Data-Riku after all, but a lot of things don't add up. You can't just throw Bug Blox and a hooded young Riku in there and call that a day, there needs to be some explanation for why he's acting like one version of Riku instead of how he typically acts, especially when one Riku-clone is more fitting of a vessel in context than the other.

Pretty sure that's Riku Replica. I know people like linking him and the Bug Blox together, but really think about it. Data-Riku is a benevolent character, and one that seemed to be off Xehanort's radar. Why would he care about a being made of data when Riku Replica could work just as well, has a physical body that was literally designed to be filled up in the first place, and has a much more open appreciation for Darkness? Data-Riku was unwilling in his corruption in Coded, and yet if this is supposed to be him then why is he suddenly fine with being taken over now? It just doesn't add up, even if you wanted to argue that he was being controlled by Bugs like before, there's still a clear difference. He was visibly struggling to keep the Bugs and the Darkness within him at bay. If we're supposed to believe that this is indeed Data-Riku, then why the sudden 180? What's the motivation, where is the struggle, why is he just fine with being a pawn when he was very obviously against it earlier? At least Riku-Replica being evil is more believable, he already has a clear motivation to want to become a Seeker of Darkness, to become different from and better than the real Riku. He has enough resentment for Riku that his Darkness would be much more to Xehanort's liking, raw rage like Vanitas, easy to control and manipulate. Data-Riku is about as passive as the real Riku was in CoM, KH2, and 3D when it comes to Darkness, it wouldn't make sense for him to suddenly be okay with using it in an evil manner. If anything he would just use it in a similar manner to the real Riku, on the road to dawn. And there's one more bit of evidence against it being Data-Riku. Said Riku-lookalike muses about how competitive he and Sora used to be. That harkens back to the scene in Hallow Bastion all the way back in KH1, where Riku literally said "We've always been rivals haven't we? You've always pushed me, as I've always pushed you." It's a reference back to when Riku was under the sway of Darkness. Data-Riku never speaks that way, he never behaved that way, he always seemed to work as a sort of composite of Riku as he was in CoM and what he became in KH2, level-headed, witty but non-competitive, focused on the bigger picture. Riku-Replica on the other hand is VERY based off of how Riku used to be in KH1. He's cold, ruthless, bitter and spiteful towards Sora as well as the real Riku, he only cares about strength and his sense of identity, the Darkness isn't something he thinks he needs to fear or manage safely, he thinks it's the greatest thing about him, he thinks it makes him better than anyone else. Even with his false memories of Sora and Namine, he constantly tries to bring up his and Sora's supposed past friendship, how they were always at odds with each other, how Riku had a reason to be resistant to Sora. That sounds much more in line with the kind of twistedly nostalgic Riku-lookalike we saw in this trailer. There's nothing so far that suggests that Data-Riku is the only one who would be able to summon and use Blox in that sort of way, the Bug Blox are just Darkness in data form, and as Xemnas said before, data is very easy to manipulate, and I would imagine that "Dark-Data" is even easier to manipulate for staunch Darkness-users like the Seekers of Darkness. I could be wrong and this could still end up being Data-Riku after all, but I have to say that would be kind of unsatisfying given the kind of person who he was before. I know we see that Demyx and Vexen end up being evil as well, but we never really got to see if they got any better after turning into humans. For all we know they were still just as bad as they were when they were Nobodies. Data-Riku was never bad to begin with, so it just feels so wrong to make him evil out of nowhere now. I know there's still the possibility that they just corrupted him unwillingly like they were trying to do with Sora in the first place, but that doesn't make it any less unsatisfying if that turns out to be the case. You could have at least teased the idea of him having some sort of moral conflict that was more than just a mirror/retread of Riku's character arc before you turned him over to the Dark side, but no, he never showed any signs of being in danger to giving in to his own Darkness, any instance close to that was due to outside influences, not his own weaknesses, apart from being ashamed of having Darkness inside himself, which would make him joining the glorified Darkness Club completely random. And before anyone brings up the possibility that it's just KH1 Riku pulled out of the past, that still makes no sense. There's no reason that they would ever be trying to win Riku over in 3D if they already got a past version of him who's much more submissive to Darkness in the first place. Otherwise they would have just tried stealing a past version of Sora as well. So at best, this "other Riku" would have to be a separate entity, meaning he's either Riku-Replica or Data-Riku, and I already gave my arguments about why I feel it's the former instead of the latter.

Please please PLEASE let Master Xehanort either be voiced by Nimoy pre-recorded WAY in advance (kind of doubt they were VAing that early, let alone with poor Leonard being sick at the time and all) OR voiced by Christopher Loyd. "Ventus was FROZEN TODAY!!!"

Sora, duh. Neku might be interesting, but Sora would leave a larger impact.

Pull a reverse-E3 and announce the Western release of the KH-themed PS4 Pro.

Everything listed PLUS getting the Starlight Keyblade for Kingdom Hearts III.

Hoverboard. Just give me a freaking hoverboard, in a game or in real life, and I'm good. X)

I don't know. I mean I've often considered how stupid it would be for a company to announce a special edition console at an AMERICAN gaming convention and only release it in Japan. But then I remembered that this is Square Enix we're talking about.