Ah, thanks Mako. No sarcasm, I think you're post really grounded in what to expect with this series. In that way I suppose this game is presented in a way that's consistent with how this series has been for the past 13 years.
Still, I'm not sure why there even is "fandom investment" anymore when this particular franchise? It just doesn't... make sense to me. Not even in the way that other stuff I'm not 100% into does. This is coming from a former mid-2000s scene/emo kid, which is very much the core demographic of the KH fandom. Like, I hate the MCU and hold pretty much every negative opinion that I can as a Movie-goer/worker/appreciator. But I still understand the value, in a decade's worth of films I've hated, coming together in Infinity War. Compare that to how bambooozled I feel for a similar thing happening with Kingdom Hearts 3.
I guess what I'm wondering is the fact that... me, and my social group, were definitely the target audience of the KH series as teens. I suppose it baffles me how there's such an excitement of people a whole generation younger than mine for this shit. I kinda understand it from the point of view of those who played the OG and got invested, because that is the only reason I've done as much as I have. But I am so confused as to how this game is inticing to newcomers, or passive fans. There are so many of my friends/age group peers who are soooo hype for this game, and I know for a fact that they have no clue wtf is happening. Which is hard to interact with, since I've made the effort to understand. All that understanding has done is made circle back to the "hater" category of commentators. And I love KH1 and KH2 as fun games with bomb music. It's just fucking frustrating how fucking dumb I think all this shit is otherwise, but still trying to abide by
the tenant of "let people like what they like."
I realise it's a masochistic relationship on my part. I've done all I can do with the YouTube work when it comes to understanding what's going on in this plot as it's developed in the side games. I've been obsessing for weeks over how fucking shit I think it all is. And not even in the ironic Nicholas Cage sorta way that's often legit brilliant, or so bad it's good. I've read and watched all the spoilers solely for the hope that everything would somehow be more cohesive that way. Even after all that, I'm just... at a loss as to how any of this is in any way rewarding.
Like, I'm the biggest fucking fucker for an excellent score / soundtrack. KH music has legit made me cry. Yet, every fucking musical note made for this series makes me confused as to what I'm even feeling, because it's tied to a bunch of narrative gibberish?
The more I see the more I'm willing to wait for used copies to come in. I'm glad I made the better choice in picking up RE2Remake in my $80 video game nvestment for this month.
I feel like a fucking failure for knowing as much about the Kingston Hearts universe as I do. i
At this point I think it best I just stop trying to make sense of anything about the whole thing.
Kingdom Hearts as a series is at it's best when it's grounded and focused on it's characters and core elements. Personally, what Nomura excels at is designing characters visually and their personality. In terms of him helming an entire meta-series plot... He substitutes an in-depth, well designed and written plot by retroactively connecting EVERYTHING to EVERYONE like a horrible telenovella/soap opera.
What made KH enjoyable are the relationships between the characters that I've followed up til now. The convoluted bullshit plot aside, take for instance the nobodies. I found them far more relatable and interesting because he brought them to life personality wise.
Larxene is a sarcastic, bitter bitch but deep down she has her pride and a core of emotions and people she holds dear. The fact her and Marluxia are besties through and through is really iconic to me. She basically followed Marluxia into the Org because they're just.. That close.
Saix and Axel's relationship, a bruised frienship that drifted apart, is an awesome stage for their conflict and eventual resolution. And I won't even go into the dynamic between Roxas, Xion and Axel. Nomura did the whole "nobodies have hearts after all" thing perfectly. We can also look at Sora and Riku, Namine, etc etc...
Kingdom Hearts is crap if you go into it for its meta-plot. The reason why it's good and memorable is because Nomura knows how to endear you to it's characters despite the utter ridiculousness of it's plot. The plot before with KH1 was simple and clean, pun totally intended. KH2 added a nice level of depth but didn't stray too far from it's core roots. Disney villains and unique villains working together with Sora and his crew trying to stop them, with FF characters and cameos sprinkled along the way.
Hell even with the added elements from BBS, the plot stayed true to it's core. The struggle between light and darkness. Three youths trying to find their way in terms of growing up, maintaining friendship, and choosing a side between light and darkness. It was simple, stable and memorable for good reasons.
Dream Drop Distance while interesting, was where the plot just got too far up its own ass.
I think the game is enticing to new comers because it has that hook of Disney and Square working together (both are powerful brands), coupled with the convoluted plot with it's dangling unanswered questions, looking "deep" when it's just..bizarre.
The reason why you and I got into the game was because it had the hook of FF characters and Disney together in a crossover RPG. It was such a wild concept that one can't help but be curious. The games had incredible, iconic moments from the beginning, and Yoko Shimomora is an incredible composer. There's a reason why she eventually moved on to Final Fantasy titles and was there for FFXV. I don't mean to call KH this derisively, but it was like "Baby's First Final Fantasy" in regards to it's concepts, atmosphere, design, and simplistic yet well done plot. It was good JRPG. And it was a gateway for many into Final Fantasy. Hell, the original worlds Hollow Bastion, Castle Oblivion, Twilight Town, and Traverse Town have such iconic musical themes, designs, architecture and events that they became favorites. They were memorable for positive and legit reasons.
Oh and the secret movies Deep Dive/Another Side, Another Story along with Birth By Sleep, the bonus movie of KH2 FM are arguably the best in the entire series. Those were well done secret, teaser movies.
It's such a shame they abandoned a lot of that now, and have just dug in deep on the stupid shit at the expense of what brought it such fame but that's just where Nomura's head is currently. Well, that and obsessing over the Versus XIII project he was never able to create
He wants to double down on random bullshit plot of excessive time travel, data worlds, a magical book that outlines EVERYTHING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED IN TIME because it was written by a hooded bloke from the past we've
never seen (because
everyone starts off as a blank black cloak here) who
plucked his eye out, put it in a keyblade with "No Name", gave it to Xigbar, ordered him to travel through time by bodysnatching all the way through to the "future," embed himself next to the most powerful darkness wielding keyblade master by pretending to be a fool and
then because of all that convoluted nonsense, he somehow sees everything in time and space so thanks to that, he wrote it said Book of Prophecies and...
Yeah, that makes no fucking sense at all.
Oh and this Master of Masters seemingly concocted a bizarre and potentially
unnecessary paranoid prophecy that made his students
go nuts and try to kill each other to try to find a traitor that
may or may not have existed... Thereby creating said Keyblade War that he and others said they wanted to prevent, but not really and...
Yeah, its nuts.
And now Xigbar has somehow magically brought back the dead Keyblade Masters no one gives a fuck about, and now they're all like.. "What the fuck happened? Oh I'm a unicorn by the way."
It's kind of ironic yet fitting that Nomura even admitted he doesn't relate or even like Sora anymore. He identifies and enjoys Xehanort the most
I feel the same way. It's probably because I've grown out of KH, at least in terms of the direction it's going. It's just silliness. It's too far up it's own ass, in terms of the overarching plot. But the series' strong suit are its characters. Which is a shame since he wants to focus on the stupid Keyblade Masters from X.
Maybe, just maybe.... Given the secret movie, we'll get a game with Sora crossing over with S-E titles and doing more from that angle, but given the fact Sora and the rest are
literally owned by Disney, I'm not optimistic. But I can't help but see the connection to "TEWY" and stuff. Who knows...
