Blackdrazon

I can't take credit for the base concept, but I've expanded on this one quite a bit. Since Xehanort will presumably be defeated in KHIII, it makes sense that the next villain might be someone trying to take advantage of the power vacuum. While you could probably make a whole game out of Maleficent trying to take over again, that's boring for our purposes, so my design goals are to create a villain that contrasts both Xehanort (for variety) and Maleficent (because they would have to actively contest Maleficent during the game). Just because Maleficent isn't the central villain doesn't mean she wouldn't try. The new villains would be a set of Light-extremists, who see Xehanort's fall as a chance for Light to reassert itself as the dominant force in the universe... at whatever cost. Because Light draws its strength from interpersonal connections, the villains would probably be a tightly-knit group of four or five villains with strong personal connections and detailed backstories (the low number of characters allows us to go into further depth with each). Their archetypes would be based on some of the more disciplined or control-oriented FF classes: Black Belt, Beastmaster, Blue Mage (it takes a lot of discipline to get a full set of blue magic), maybe something from FFXIII for some sci-fi variety (otherwise a Templar from Tactics), and I'm thinking a Mystic Knight / Spellblade / Rune Fencer as leader. I don't want the big bad to have another Keyblade, but seeing Sora clash with someone whose swords are literally alive with fire and lightning (and of course, Light) would be worth the ticket. For the Rune Fencer, I'm thinking a woman in her early middle years (40-45) but seems much older due to the stress of constantly fighting against the infinite evils of the universe. This is someone who was probably a lot like Sora in her younger years and probably wasn't that bad a person, until time began to tell, showing a possible alternate future for our hero he'll have to learn to avoid. Incorporate those signs of wear and tear into her design: broken nose, maybe a prominent burn. We want a slimmer design to contrast with Maleficent's flowing robes, so that means short hair and armour. A broken empress grasping at the world. The designs of the other Light villains would be based on which heroes we brought into the game. Aqua seems like an inevitable casting choice given the themes, and it would probably serve to give Ansem the Wise a foil, even if he's not actually present. Meanwhile, give Maleficent some real chaotic villains as allies: Madam Mim, Kefka if possible, maybe the Horned King and Doctor Facilier and their defiance of life and death. Minor enemies would be Soul-based, since the Soul is not vulnerable to the ravages of the real world (the Body) or the chaos of the Heart. That means a lot of ghosts, vapour effects, and empty shells, a lot of opportunities for a next gen particle or physics system to play around with. Naturally there would still be Heartless when tripping into Maleficent's territory. When on a world dominated by the Light villains, their impact would tend towards a sort of perverted stagnation rather than corruption: the plot of Atlantis may have come to a grinding halt because everyone feels too lethargic to move (or kill each other for that matter), the plot of Dinosaur has come to a grinding halt in the wasteland as they wander perpetually lost no matter what they do (which if you think about it, sounds like the actual hellish plot of Dinosaur). Also, I would continue my neverending campaign to get David Xanatos from Gargoyles into Kingdom Hearts and have him be an ally of the Light villains. He's the premier Disney example of Lawful Evil - he deserves to be here. Lastly, reference FFIII and make their final dungeon a Crystal Tower. Because they don't trust their Hearts to remember things for them, the Crystal walls of the tower could be full of records of hellish "True Memories" (from CoM) of the world that's beaten them down, so Sora knows exactly what he's talking about when he has to confront them with their actions later on. I can think of two approaches for this: either the True Memories would resolve a lot of long-standing mysteries from the plot, or they could, in actuality, be broken funhouse mirror versions of reality, letting them do some real fun stuff with level design for the finale. Throw in teenaged memories of the bad guys as true final bosses or superbosses, and you've got some interesting potential! Of course, Maleficent might make an even better final boss (or Kefka!). After all, the Light villains are gone now, and one good power vacuum deserves another...

I'm really hoping to upgrade this new Keyblade, since this is the only chance we'll get (well, who knows about next year...). But it's so expensive...

*nervous laughter intensifies* Well, we're here. The happiest place on earth!

I've been informed that one of the posts (the second post for the Traverse Town revisit) was missing a link to the next article for weeks now! Sorry about that! The first Agrabah page is here. If you haven't read past the last Traverse Town entry, I have new entries up through Monstro!For anyone worrying about missing posts through my screw-ups, you can always check the "Recent Posts" sections on the sidebar, click the Category links on the side bars for the Categorys' raw feeds, check the Directory Pages, or subscribe on Wordpress, email or RSS.I recommend either the Recent Posts section or the subscription options, since those are updated automatically and can't be messed up like the manual links.

I hope so! I don't see any reason why it wouldn't. FFRK has a four-character "friend code," it's pretty easy to work with. They'd be silly not to use it again!

From an out-of-universe perspective, I can see why things ended up this way. There's a different design intent between CoM and KH2 - CoM wants to subvert expectations, while KH2 wants to live up to expectations. As a consequence, there are times that characters react in different ways to similar situations. For example, Sora is more of a "paladin" when interacting with the Org in KH2, because he's living up to the audience expectation of "Good guy defeating bad guys." Sadly this also leads to contradictions at times. You're bang on the nose in that Sora becomes more hostile after he learns about the kidnapping, in fact I'd say there's a very clear line in his behaviour!

That's one way to go about it! I can't believe they haven't improved the party and friend-finding features in this game after two years.

I am, yes! I'm not as active I used to be thanks to FF: Record Keeper but I still put in a few rounds here and there. Welcome to the party!

Interviews have implied that the Foretellers themselves will be doing different things in upcoming story updates, but it's not clear what kind of things those will be. It's a gamble. For all we know, these could be minor things or they could be major things! You could be signing up with a saint, or a jerk, or an outright bad guy! It'll be a ~surprise~.

Great article, Vexen, things sure have changed over the past year. Events have been relentless - you must have joined during the last break we ever had. I haven't been so fond of their focus on special "weakness" cards lately, but you can see why the devs are fond of them! "Buy cards specifically for this event!" And the top-tier players will want to HP and/or ultimize those cards? I bet that prints money. The timezone issue is still such a pain, I could hope for so much better, but with only Unchained X being localized... One addiitonal benefit to levelling up is that it increases your CP, though that only matters for the first few dozen levels. I'm not sure how ultimizing factors in, but it used to stop being helpful around level 60 or so. Not much drive to do anything beyond that, just like you said. Here's to the second anniversary! May there be plot!

Thanks, Vexen, good to see you here too! And thanks again for the Guilt help!

Just a handful of general elements, really. The same Job Classes and spell names, some similar combat or character progression elements (though neither is consistent across the series), some of the same monsters (sometimes with their names dramatically mistranslated...). The first five games have a running theme of magical Crystals at the centre of the plot but that started to fall away in FFVI and now only appears about as frequently as any other element. It's essentially just the label Square gives to its headliner RPG-of-the-year, the one with all the money behind it. "Did you like that other RPG we made? Try this one!" Square has definitely made other good RPGs, like Live-a-Live, but what makes them call one a "Final Fantasy" and one not seems to be based purely on marketting and budget.

Thank you! I hope you continue to enjoy. I'm glad to see we had such similar experiences despite the age gap!

I got into Kingdom Hearts fairly late. I never even had a Sony console until I got a PS2 near or after the launch of the PS3, so 2006 or 2007. This has always left me in a bit of an odd position with the series: none of the teenaged nostalgia, but enough of the joy of playing the newer games along with everyone else and discovering the series' mysteries and high points. It's become an important part of my life, and it's for that reason that I've started this in-depth retrospective series, to talk about the series from end-to-end. This is is a series about joy - both Kingdom Hearts and this retrospective. It will be fairly detailed, taking a good long look at each moment, with a look at game design, narrative, art and art direction, and an attempt to capture both the perspective of an experienced fan and what I remember of being a new one. To better facilitate the latter, I try to discuss only what’s in front of us and what’s come before, to see what mysteries a new player could solve. Not so much "no spoiler" as "low spoiler." With any luck, someone unfamiliar with a particular game could read along and get almost as much from it as an experienced reader. I hope you'll come along for the ride. The Kingdom Hearts retrospective updates Tuesdays and Saturdays. Full Introduction Get Started Posts by World You may also be interested in my first-impressions Final Fantasy journal series!