HeartlessAqua

I'm the kind of person who can respect another person's opinion, but still view them as wrong. I do not believe in bullshit like "It's my opinion and anyone can think what they want because there's no objective facts". Some things are totally subjective, like personal taste (We can all like what we want to like), but some things can be measured by a certain standard. A movie can be a bad movie. Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla 2 is a totally bad movie. It tries to do so many complex things and it tries to portray some honestly interesting ideas, but due to issues with production, the writers ended up creating a very confused mess. For instance, the writers TRIED to make it a movie about "nature=good, technology=bad", but the writing was so jumbled and confused that that message wasn't even clear. The movie feels more like an aimless series of events with no meaning, and so when the climax came along, I felt almost no care whatsoever for anything that was going on. Hell, the writing was so jumbled that I didn't even understand certain parts. I'm not saying you're wrong concerning personal taste. You can enjoy movies for whatever reasons you want to. You can even enjoy movies that are generally considered bad. And if you believe a movie that is considered bad is actually good, more power to you. What I cannot agree with is your belief that these movie "rules" are dumb or unnecessary. All movies, even very lowbrow entertainment, must be designed with care, effort, imagination, organization, and intelligence. The only exceptions I can think of are very artsy experimental films which purposely try to do things in a radical way. Otherwise, if a movie is lacking in these qualities, then this will often result in a movie that feels rushed, or nonsensical, or even downright lazy or careless. I will agree with one thing though. I HATE when people say stories HAVE to follow a certain formula. I HATE when people say "This character HAS to have lots of development" or "This story HAS to be deep and meaningful". I especially hate it when the people saying these are themselves very amateurish writers, as if they somehow have authority over what is universally good and bad. My belief is that movies, and stories in general, can come in a wide variety. They don't have to follow a strict formula, and they shouldn't. Otherwise, they'll all feel like assembly line productions, rather than free-flowing works of art. Not every character has to be deep. Not ever scene has to be loaded with philosophic messages. Not every movie has to be serious. Son of Godzilla is such a campy film with such simplistic characters and ideas, but it is still a solid film in which the creators knew what they were doing and thought things out. A movie should do what it NEEDS to do in order to achieve maximum entertainment value, or maximum emotional value, or whatnot. Every movie has its own unique needs. And in case anyone gets smug and says something like "I don't care" or "You're wasting your time, you're not changing my mind", let me just say right now that I don't CARE. I don't care if you disagree with me. I don't care if you won't change your mind. I'm not writing this post to change anyone's mind. I don't give two shits about what you people think of my post. I'm typing this to express my own beliefs on the subject, which interested me.

People really found the maze-like areas in the first game frustrating? I found them fun. Not great, but fun enough. It actually felt like I was exploring the worlds and using careful thinking to make my way through. I hate it when a world is mostly just small areas and long halls filled with enemies. It's boring, it's monotonous. At least when it's done too much, like in a variety of worlds in KH2 and BBS. I think a challenging maze can make games more fun, and the frustration a nice part of the experience. Shin Megami Tensei games are all about frustrating mazes, and they REVEL in frustrating the player and really challenging them. Heck, the mazes in KH1 weren't even all that challenging. The only slightly annoying parts I can think of are the camera angles and a few wonky button commands when you needed to do something special. If polished better, then I think mazes would do wonders for KH3. Not that I am asking for mazes. I don't care one or way or another, as long as the gameplay itself is fun. And it looks like KH3 might have some very fun, expansive worlds that are open for exploration and atmosphere. Still, if there were mazes, I'd welcome it.

I think random NPCs during gameplay are unnecessary and might take away time and effort that could be put into developing more useful things for the games. However, they would not necessarily ruin the games if they were included. As many people say, they would breathe some life into worlds which are supposed to be populated but look more like lifeless limbos. I personally don't mind lifeless limbos too much, in fact they give KH a weird neat style, but I can see the appeal in a few wandering NPCs in safe areas. The movies have plenty of "NPCs" anyway, in the form of incidental or background characters. KH does not need more NPCs, but if it did use more it could easily use some of those nameless figures. At the very least, I would not mind simplistic models or sprites used to represent crowds in scenes that are clearly supposed to have crowds. Cinderella's ball was ridiculous! And keep in mind that Traverse Town had plenty of NPCs in the first district, which I thought was nice. Really made the town feel like a place full of people, rather than some kind of creepy Disney version of Silent Hill. Not necessary, but very welcome.

I summon THE NEXT POSTER IN DEFENSE MODE!!!

Man, either it would be ridiculously gory or very awkward, seeing a realistic bandicoot or bandicoot-human hybrid exploding and leaving behind his eyeballs.

Ultimately, it depends on the game. Design style IS important, because it captures the tone/atmosphere/spirit of the game or story in an immediate visual way. If a game works best with a cartoon style (I presume that means a game which has notably exaggerated designs like you'd expect in a kids' animated movie or comic strip), then go with it. If a game works best with a more realistic design style, like Call of Duty, then go with that. Kingdom Hearts kinda needs a cartoony style due to the fact it features Disney characters and animesque Square Enix characters all over the place. Though I will admit it would be interesting to see a game that's very cartoony in spirit but has realistic-looking settings and characters, and vice versa.

Very epic action and smooth animation! Oh and, won.

Hi. I am fine. You?

The beautiful badass bluebird herself, of course! Hell, I'd love to play as her again if possible. In any KH game.

If I were to take a guess, Lightning is yours?

KH1 did the whole true hero moral, and KH2 covered some of the basic plot points of the original movie, so I hope KH3 just goes for some kind of cool original story involving the Olympians and Titans. Otherwise, I might groan at seeing Hercules go through the same dilemma he did in the second game. Kinda like most of KH1, whose stories were mostly original and creative, but still had certain scenes and settings which call back to the movies. I'd love to see more of that honestly, and not just retellings of the movie we've seen already but with some Heartless and extra obstacles thrown in.

Obviously it's a manifestation of Yog-Sothoth peeking into our reality.

I use Ghost Drive to finish off this thread and win the game for good!

Oh man. Summons based on Disney short films? That is so freaking appropriate! I'd love to summon Nessie in a battle! Maybe she could slip and slide around, or maybe she attacks by crying huge tear drops that rain down on enemies.

KH1, although kinda clunky, had some nice worlds with little secrets here and there and sometimes several different ways of exploring the same room. I liked those worlds better than most of the worlds in other KH games. Would be great if more worlds in the sequels could have this kind of detail, and gameplay that improves upon what the first game set up. But the other games aren't entirely devoid of such exploration. Maybe not to the same extent as KH1 sadly, but there's a little bit of it in BBS, and a LOT of it in KH3D, which had fantastically huge worlds full of secrets and extra rooms and corridors. Judging by the trailers, I assume KH3 will do what KH3D did. Huge maps with lots of little side areas in them. As for idle NPCs, I don't think they're necessary. I'd love them of course, but I don't think we need them a whole lot. The only time I actually cringed from the lack of NPCs was in The Hunchback of Notre Dame world, with a Festival of four people at most and a Gypsy population of one. Made Frollo look kinda goofy ranting and hating people who seemingly didn't exist.

Hello there! I see you're new to KH13. So am I. Hope you enjoy!

Yup. Which one was your favorite? I like the original series a lot and think it's better, but I actually love GX more. It's a lot more funny and exciting and weird.

Do you watch any of the Yugioh series like Yugioh GX?

Huh? *Falls down hole which formed beneath me* NOOOOOOOOOOOO-!

I summon, MYSELF in attack mode!!! *Appears on the field, standing in battle position*

As a kid, KH1 spooked me a little several times. Probably because of all KH games, it's the one that made me feel immersed in the world and story the most, like I was on an adventure rather than playing a cool game with a cool story. So eerie scenes like the Darkside rising from your shadow, the shadows attacking the island that was once safe and peaceful, the man getting his heart stolen in Traverse Town, and even being hunted by Sabor in Deep Jungle or dwarfed by giant Ursula in Atlantica got to me a little. Not in a terrifying sort of way, but in a tense, spooked sort of way. Kurt Zisa also scared the heck out of me as a kid, simply because I was not expecting him at all! I thought that talking to Carpet would just take me to the Cave of Wonders or something, but nope! Crazy ambush by a giant killer snake thing with huge blades!!!

Yeah. They're both very pleasant. Do you think Aqua can handle her jokes though?

Oh! It IS Palutena! Haha! I never noticed! Man, it'd be cool if she and Aqua met. Whether they have a friendly chat or a badass battle, it'd be interesting.

And what's your avatar? Looks interesting. Like a fiery ghost girl?

Thanks. I love Aqua in general. I chose this pose of her because she looks both fun and kinda goofy with that face.