Nomura Famitsu Interview (Survey, DDD, Future of KH) - 14 July 2011

A smidge late on the uptake, I know, but I've been busy, what with my surgery and all. Sure, it was just to get my four wisdom teeth removed, but surgery is surgery, dammit! ...My mouth is so sore. :c

Anywho, the last issue of Famitsu (this uber big gaming magazine in Japan) had an interview with Tetsuya Nomura (game director/fairly awesome guy). I didn't think that there would be much in this interview, what with TGS just around the corner (September 15-17, I think?) but it was actually fairly filling. A greatly appreciated glass of water in this 6-month news drought, if you will.

Now, how to write this out... I think I'm just gonna write the actual interview out in a different sized font/colour, followed by my inane comments at the end of each paragraph or so. That sounds like a good plan... ONWARDS.

~~~

(Interview from Famitsu and translation from sqexgal at KH13.com! Thanks a bundle, guys! Oh, and stupid remarks from me, I guess...)

The first bit of the interview was just about a survey conducted on Famitsu's website about KH. It was in Japanese, but I actually tried filling it out by plonking it into Google Translate, translating the resulting Engrish myself to the best of my ability and getting the names of characters and junk in Japanese off the KH wiki. Zetta fun times... ANYWAY.

- From the survey, most fans like Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix the most.
Tetsuya Nomura: Since I often hear that fans usually like one title in particular, it was a little unexpected to see that Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix was the top and that Kingdom Hearts II ranked second. Birth by Sleep is a subtitle, but since it’s a part of the main series, I’m happy to see that it ranked highly.

I know that a lot of fans don't like KHII for whatever reason, but I actually loved it and as a result I am glad it ranked highly. Yeah, what now?? I think I actually voted KHI as my favourite, though, but I was under pressure and I honestly can't pick a proper actual favourite in the series. I guess I'm just cool like that...

- The results of the survey show that the part people like most about the series is the story. You are write out the plot for all the titles of the series, so when writing up the story what do you focus on above all else?
Nomura: Making it “surprising.” While I’m writing out the plot, if things seem that you can predict the outcome on your own, then I think of a different, unexpected development.

I also voted for 'Story' as my favourite dealy-o in KH. Sure, half the time I'm ripping out my hair trying to decipher what on earth is going on, but that's all part of the fun, right?? I'd rather KH be the convoluted mess that it is rather than have an easy and, dare I say, typically 'Disney' plot that some people think it is just 'cause your chillaxin' with Donald Duck and Goofy half the time. KH is complicated stuff! You would think having Disney characters scattered throughout would minimise the level of brain power needed to follow the story, but it really doesn't. One of the many reasons I truly love this series, really. :3

- You really can’t predict the ending of every title. Do you discuss and make decisions on the final outcome of the story with the staff?
Nomura: I don’t. I ask the staff to flesh out things for the scenarios, even with that I make the final supervisions. Since I’m the only one who knows the whole story and the developments that take place afterward, I have a hard time figuring out how much to tell the staff about. (Smiling wryly)

...Really? '(Smiling wryly)'? Almost as bad as '(laughs)'... And I found this point kinda interesting. So it is true that only Nomura knows what the hell is going on the whole time. Go fig.

- Are there modifications to the story to suit overseas fans?
Nomura: I believe that if the story is interesting, it will be well received; so it isn’t regulated only for specific regions. Though those at Disney said it has a very Japanese sense about it, I guess you could call it ‘Eastern thinking.’ (Laughs) Still, I had been thinking that I would make the story more clear and simpler. But while I was developing the first Kingdom Hearts, I received a single piece of advice from Sakaguchi-san*. That was, “If you don’t make it more complex like with Final Fantasy, you won’t be able to compete.” So accordingly, I decided to develop the story in a way that fans could imagine on their own the remaining story how they like.
*Hironobu Sakaguchi is a former developer who had worked on the Final Fantasy series for Square.

...I jinxed the whole '(laughs)' thing with my last remark, didn't I? Sigh... And I don't know about you, but I really hate when the almighty Creator of any of my fandoms tells me to 'use my imagination' and figure out the rest of the plot. No. It's YOUR job to tell me the plot, not mine. I hate using my imagination... I just keep thinking that there's 'my' answer, and then the 'right' answer. I'd rather the latter, thanks. But KH does generally answer the questions they pose from earlier titles, even if it is at a much later date. So whenever there's a particularly confunding plot point, I tend to just shrug it off and wait for a later game to elaborate. Continuing...

- Is the story of Kingdom Hearts 3D mysterious too?
Nomura: It’s fairly complicated. Right now I’m telling Disney about the scenarios, but it’s hard for them to understand it all at once. I’m explaining the reason and the established connections for each mystery one by one. It’s difficult since their approval is necessary to move forward with localization, but there are many people in Disney who love the Kingdom Hearts series as well. They want to create the game accurately too, so somehow they’re following along with me.

It's a Kingdom Hearts title. OF COURSE it's complicated. Especially going by the scarce few details we have on it so far. Sheesh... Anywho, I'm rather intrigued as to why Nomura is mentioning localization this soon. I mean, the Japanese one isn't even finished yet! Have they started localization already?? Hopefully this means a shorter time between Japanese and Elsewhere releases... *crosses fingers*

– Along those lines, looking at the age group of those who responded to the survey including the overseas fans, it seems the series appeals the most to a young generation.
Nomura: There’s a sense that Kingdom Hearts appeals to wider age range of fans compared to Final Fantasy. Also that ratio wise, it seems more fans are female. I’m especially happy to see that there is strong support for the series from fans in foreign countries too.

Seriously? More females? Huh. I definitely would've said KH had a wider 'male' base... Interesting. And hurrah for fans in foreign countries! :D

- Sora was the top ranked favorite character.
Nomura: It must be because he’s an uncomplicated guy. (Laughs) For the promotional trailers, we look for scenes with particularly good lines to highlight. But he gives us trouble finding lines that are suitable for the trailers; since Sora is a simple guy who doesn’t think too deeply about things, he doesn’t really say lines we can use. (Smiles wryly)

-.-" Ok, NOW he's just doing it to tick me off. And yyyeeeooowww for Sora being the favourite character! He's mine too. :3 And I suppose that is a fair point; Sora rarely says anything all that useful. I never considered that being a problem for trailers and junk before, but I suppose it must be. Huh.

– Roxas ranked second, his heartrending destiny seemed to influence the top rated favorite scene.
Nomura: Roxas is someone the fans think a lot about, they say he’s like a Final Fantasy type character. Along with his friendship with Axel, they’re an impressive set, huh?

I think the favourite scene was Sora's fight with Roxas in KHII, though I could be wrong. That happens sometimes, believe it or not. And Nomura mentioning Roxas' 'friendship with Axel' made me lol just a smidge. I wonder if Nomura knows about AkuRoku or not...? (And no, I'm not THAT kinda fangirl.)

- What scenes left an impression on you?
Nomura: The most impressionable scenes for me were the endings of KH1 and KH2, after that the scene in KH2 when Roxas’ summer vacation ends left a deep impression on me.

The most impressionable scene for me was probably the ending of KHI. That one was the closest to making me cry. I started KH last summer so I knew that there were another five games to go and that Sora would most probably reunite with Kairi in that time, but I was still all :'C, especially with Kairi drawing the paopu fruit as well... Just, aw!

- Next are the results concerning the favorite abilities. Glide and Dodge Roll were popular.
Nomura: I’m not surprised those two abilities were the most popular. They have a reinvigorating feel to them, I like them too. Even in Final Fantasy Versus XIII we’re including a one-handed rotation ability similar to Dodge Roll too.

I voted High Jump as my favourite ability, 'cause I'm old skool like that. Whenever I finally get High Jump in a KH game, I'm just like 'Yesssssss...' Gotta have me ma High Jump! But yes, Glide and Dodge Roll are supremely kickass as well.

- Continuing, what about your favorite Keyblade?
Nomura: Oathkeeper carries a deep meaning with the story and the design of it is clean, so it’s the one that I’m most pleased with.

Yes, Oathkeeper is fairly splendiforous and were I to take this survey again, I would probably change my answer to it. Instead, I put down Decisive Pumpkin, as I have no sentimental value. Yay! :D I dunno, I just like the look of that Keyblade... It IS fairly epic looking, I'm sure you'll agree. Plus, it's one of the strongest Keyblades in KHII, so... Don't judge me!

- About the worlds, Twilight Town was the most popular. A lot of people said they liked the music.
Nomura: We really fussed over embodying the image of coming from school as the sunsets; it’s a world that left a deep impression on me too. As for the song, I gave Shimomura-san* a lot of trouble and pushed her to improve it. We had an image derived around another artist’s song, but it really worked out well, the result was a song with a completely different sort of anguish.
* Yoko Shimomura is the series music composer.

I think I ended up putting down Wonderland as my favourite world... Ok, so maybe I'm a smidge biased to Nightmare Before Christmas and Alice in Wonderland, but they're both kickass enough to be biased to. I did love Wonderland in KHI. It's probably one of my favourite Disney worlds in that game. How you could enter the Bizarre Room from every angle, having to get bigger and smaller to unlock junk... It just had a very 'Wonderland' feel to it, as it should. However, I'm not so crazy about it in Days and Re:coded due to the lack of illogical-ness that makes Wonderland Wonderland and the severe over-use of friggin' mazes. NO ONE enjoys mazes. Ever. Seriously. I was kinda surprised that Twilight Town was voted the favourite, though. I guess that the over-long prologue of nothingness and not-Sora-ness in KHII and the increasingly irritating and insane amount of Sea Salt ice-cream in Days kinda spoiled that world for me. *shrugs*

- On the flip side, the most unpopular world was Atlantica.
Nomura: It’s difficult to move around there, huh? Sorry about that. When you are in the water, you are not just swimming, but fighting enemies, we had trouble adjusting the character’s movement to do both simultaneously.

Yes, because Atlantica in KHI was the big issue. I mean, all that exciting gameplay and change in pace really ruined that game for me. How DARE they integrate one of the best Disney movies ever into Kingdom Hearts in the only way possible by making Sora swim around?? They really redeemed it in KHII, though. I mean, singing about 'Finny Fun' in a predictable yet no less annoying music rhythm mini-game?? YES PLEASE. </sarcasm>

- The top ranked favorite enemy was the very familiar Shadow Heartless. Out of those appearing in the ranking, which ones did you design?
Nomura: The Shadows, Neo Shadows, White Mushrooms, Dusks and so on; I drew them myself. The enemies dictate the overall design aspects of the series, so I work them out with the staff afterwards.

Seriously, Shadows were the highest ranking? I always find them rather annoying... Sure, I guess they're great for nostalgia's sake, but... I dunno. I think I voted Gamblers as my favourite. If you win their game, you get a ton of munny, which is always nice. But if you LOSE, you get turned into a card or a dice! Awesome! :D ...Sorry, I just always thought that was pretty cool...

- Oppositely, the Dancer Nobody was the least popular.
Nomura: It was formidable enemy, so of course it wasn’t popular huh.

Seriously, the Dancers? Why were they the least popular? They're not nearly as bad as Beserkers, are they? Now, Beserkers. Beserkers suck. So much. Keep pwning me with their damn double basses... (Never did find out what those things actually were...) I voted Eliminators as my least favourite, though. The first time you run into them on a System Sector in Re:coded, you just think it's a re-coloured Defender and thus no big deal, right? WRONG. SO VERY WRONG. Teleportation, those blasted bubble things that can inflict any status conditions, uber friggin' strong... NIGHTMARES. *rocks back and forth in corner, sobbing quietly*

- Well, let’s move on to the topic of mysteries people are interested in. There is a lot of interest about Organization XIII’s past.
Nomura: Most of it isn’t related to the main story of the series, so I haven’t paid too much attention to it. (Wry laughter)

...Nomura. Stop. Weren't just content with '(Smiles wryly)' and '(laughs)', huh? Had to go for the whole shebang and mash the two together? Christ's sake... What the hell is 'wry laughter' anyway?! Annoyance aside, this somewhat disappointed me, considering I think I put this as my answer. I hope we at least see the Somebodies of Members IX-XII at some stage, and surely Saix's past is kinda important, right? They better explain how he fell to darkness, at least... That's the only way he could've gotten pointy ears and amber eyes between BBS and Days. I really think that that's gonna be imprtant later... Anywho, moving swiftly on...

- Many fans brought up the “data concealed within Sora.”
Nomura: That’s what Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance deals with. The other mysteries will be something to deal with another time.

Veeeeeeeery interesting indeed. I don't think I've really considered the data inside Sora as a possible plot point for DDD, which is kinda silly in retrospect. Shoulda seen that coming... But yeah. Interesting. I wonder how the Mark of Mastery exam and this data is supposed to intertwine, considering the two will be important in DDD. Maybe Sora can't take his exam until they extract the data...for some reason. I'd say that the data is why Sora and Riku are in their KHI attire; if it's some sort of simulation, data world, dream, etc that they have to enter in order to explore the data, then that could be why they're in their old geddup. Also, for some reason. And this could be why Riku's involved in these shenanigans, too. I mean, Sora is useless at computer junk, so this 'data' crap would be utterly confounding to him. Riku, on the other hand, had an entire year of chillin' with Ansem the Wise (AtW) to learn computer skills. Also, AtW could have explained to Riku about the data, how to access it, what to do with it, etc etc. ...I dunno.

- Alright, last question on the topic. There are an overwhelming number of people who want Kingdom Hearts 3 to be released.
Nomura: The answer for them has been prepared in KH3D.

Right. Of course. Personally, I'm not really in any rush to have KHIII out. I'm fine with all these side stories and side games because they're all gonna tie into KHIII in some form or another. There, I said it. And we've known for a while that DDD will be tying directly into KHIII and be the bridge game between II and III, so this really isn't that big a surprise.

- Many fans want the series to keep continuing afterwards as well.
Nomura: The series that has developed so far as “the Xehanort saga” should end once and for all in KH3. However, I’ve outlined a tentative plot that takes place afterward, so we could continue onto a new chapter. Sora would remain the main character; that wouldn’t change.

Again, we already knew this, but I suppose that the confirmation of at least a 'tentative plot' for the next saga already is nice, so huzzah.

- By the way, the 10th anniversary of the series is next year. The number of titles in the series has really increased since it started. Some have said they want to play HD remakes of the past titles…
Nomura: Whether we release one or not is a different story; we’re concerned with the HD technical limits of the past titles.

HD re-releases would be nice, but I'd have to get a PS3 first... Hmm. Also, I hope they'd remember the rest of the world and not just release them in Japan or North America. *still seething about Re:CoM*

- As for the current developments, how is KH3D coming along?
Nomura: I’d say the development status of KH3D is about 40%-50%? We’ll start recording the voices soon. The theme this time was “bold action”, but we also wanted to stress the importance of the story’s tempo. Though the story is important to fans as shown by the results of the survey, it won’t be drawn-out.

Also interesting. 40-50%, eh? That's pretty good, considering they started last September or October. I'm thinking an early Japanese release is looking more and more likely... And a non-drawn-out story? Isn't DDD's story supposed to be on par with that of a numbered title or something? Hmm. Whatever. I hope they don't condense it unneccessarily or something... I'm reading too much into this again, aren't I?

- Does that mean you’ll be decreasing the number of cutscenes?
Nomura: Not meaning that we’ve decreased the number of cutscenes, but having each one explained one by one reduces the tempo of the game, so we’re introducing a new system to make up for it. It’s a directionally different system like what’s being introduced in Final Fantasy Versus XIII which won’t have cutscenes; it’ll be a sort of integration where you can play during the event scene. Along with that, Sora will fight alongside different friends. There’s also a secret movie being prepared, so please look forward to it.

Wait, wait, wait. Back up. Playing during cut scenes? Does this mean we'll be switching between Sora and Riku even during cut scenes or something? Interesting... Will you need to run through the game again to make sure you've seen each scene? Hope not. I hate when I miss bits of plot... But then again, it might be like Re:coded where you can replay specific worlds to collect Trophies and junk. I wouldn't mind that, now... Just easier than starting up a new save game, y'know? ...Don't mind my incessant rambling... And Sora fighting alongside different friends? Also interesting. Does this mean the first handheld with different party members in different worlds? I SURE HOPE SO. That'd be pretty snazztastic, IMO... But why does Nomura single out Sora? Is Riku not getting any pals? I hope he does. Riku needs to get some friends. Soon. And not just Mickey Mouse. And then the secret movie. Not exactly a surprise, considering nearly every game has one, but a confirmation is always nice. This'll probably be about BBSv2 or KHIII; my money's on the latter, seeing as how this game is supposed to tie directly into III.

- It’ll be a while until our next follow up report, huh. Well then, what’s the last message to all the fans.
Nomura: I’ve had your support for almost 10 years. Thanks to you guys, Kingdom Hearts has become a long series. To everyone who gave their opinions, I’ll read them very carefully. Thank you so much. Also, from this summer to next spring, we’ll continue releasing information and sales dates for KH among other titles from the first development department, so please look forward to it.

Ah, bless. Does this mean an end to the news drought? Dear GOD, I hope so... So thirsty...

~~~

Now, also in Famitsu was someone's impression of the game after playing a demo. Again, thanks to sqexgal for the translation!

I was able to play a little of the demo version. You can play in the familiar Traverse Town world. Two characters whose names aren’t revealed yet are there*. The bright bursts from the battles are even more illuminating than before. You’ll be able to climb up buildings. The battle system is large scale and has a flashy action style, it has a fun feeling. I’m surprised that the party members will be characters who haven’t appeared before. I think it seems the [main] battle opponent won’t be Heartless or Nobody.

 

*The magazine edited out the two names.

 

Party members? Plural? In Traverse Town?? Weird... They wouldn't edit out the names if it was just Donald and Goofy, so it must be two other characters... But who? I can't really see there being two Disney party members in Traverse Town, and I don't THINK they'd be Final Fantasy characters either... I dunno, I just think that they're gonna be original characters. But new characters this late in the series? They say that they're surprised that these characters haven't appeared before, so they're probably not original characters, actually. Maybe they ARE FF characters? I really have no clue.

 

And climbing buildings, eh? How so? As much climbage as there was in KHI, or can we go even higher? I hope it's the latter; climbing junk is always fun. Always. ._.

 

As for the new enemies, VERY interesting. On the DDD website (here) there's two banners that show miscellaneous symbols from Kingdom Hearts. The swirly KH heart, the Hidden Mickey sign, the crown-key-thing, the Heartless emblem... But then there are also two new symbols. Looks like there's only one, but lo and behold there are two. One looks like the Heartless emblem with curvy wings and the other the same but with pointy wings. (That's the best way I can describe them...) There's subtle differences here and there between the two, but one looks Pointy and the other Curvy. I thought that these would be new enemies when I saw them, and now it's looking more likely. I'm thinking that they're gonna be very similar enemies, but subtle differences. Maybe one is for Sora specifically and one for Riku? If it is just gonna be one big dream, then maybe one lot are 'Dream' enemies and the others are 'Nightmares'? Maybe light and dark variations of the same enemy? Oh, the possibilities!

 

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

Well, that interview was a hella lot more detailed than I thought it was gonna be. Result! Well, gotta go. Michael McIntyre is on TV, so I''m sure you can understand.

 

Laters.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Volume Two - Trailer-Thing Analysis

Because that last trailer analysis for Dream Drop Distance was just so much fun for all involved, I decided to do another for the enigmatic Birth By Sleep Volume Two. Joy of joys. I think this goes without saying, but this entire post is SPOILER if you haven't played BBS, so just watch out for that. (Although, admittedly, I myself haven't played BBS due to a severe lack of funds with which to buy a PSP. However, I've watched a walkthrough on YouTube, so I think I'm up to date.)

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Basically, in Birth By Sleep: Final Mix (the super fancy-pants version with bonus junk only released in Japan) there was an amazingly confounding...trailer, for lack of a better word, for something called 'Birth By Sleep: Volume Two'. Thus far, there has been no confirmation as to what this actually is, though I'd put my money on it being the 'Mystery Title' Tetsuya Nomura (game director/almighty Creator) has been hyping up for a while. So, without further ado...

(Credit for the videos goes to pacey8444!) Sorry, I can't find a video with both parts of the trailer dealy-o together, so bear with me as I comment on this first bit and then the second bit later.

Ok, so first we have Sora lying on the beach in Destiny Islands, as we have seen in the beginning of KHI. It shows Kairi running towards him and then the camera zooms in on Sora's slumbering face, which twitches a bit as if he's having a bad dream (fair enough, considering at this point he's fighting a big ass shadow monstrosity thing in his Dive to the Heart). Then it cuts to black and a golden '1' appears, indicating that this is showing Kingdom Hearts I.

Next up we see Aqua walking towards DiZ at the Dark Margin in the Realm of Darkness (RoD) like she does at the end of BBS. Again, it fades to black and shows a golden '0'. BBS is often referred to as Kingdom Hearts 0, so this is just reiterating that fact. Fun.

Then things get interesting. The scene starts to rewind like a video tape, showing random scenes from the ending of BBS until it cuts to black again and says 'Zero point' in gold. The scene fades in to Aqua on one of the bridges in RoD looking at her glowing Wayfinder. She holds it to her heart and says 'As long as we remain connected, I'm sure that I'll be able to return home.', referencing Terra and Ven.

Aqua continues walking for a while, feeling rather hopeful, when she takes out her Wayfinder again, which is glowing more faintly this time. She looks sad when some rumbling occurs and makes her exclaim 'What?'. She gasps and looks at the...sky, I guess, which suddenly has a large circle of light amidst all the darkness. The light is all awesome for a while, but then a huge column of darkness flows into it, obscuring the light. I wonder what caused the plume of light, though... It could be something to do with Apprentice Xehanort (who here on out shall be referred to as AX) opening the ominous door to the heart of Radiant Garden (RG) and breaking down the walls between the worlds. Or maybe it shows that a world has just fallen to darkness and so has left the Realm of Light (RoL) and entered RoD. Perhaps it’s one of AX’s experiments causing a bunch of Heartless breaking out of RoD to raid RG. Oh, the possibilities...

Aqua is FREAKIN' OUT and looks at her Wayfinder again, which has stopped glowing altogether. 'What's going on?' she asks, holding the Wayfinder to her heart once more. Then she looks all determined when the screen fades to black and shows a golden '0.5' Considering that the other two numbers were referring to games and their place in the KH timeline, I think it's fairly safe to assume that this number also refers to another game, but more on that later.

NEXT VIDEO!

To be honest, I find this one a whole lot more interesting, even if it is a lot shorter, which means I get to write even more on it. YAY! ...Your groans are audible from over here.

Aqua is now walking along in a dark forest of sorts, which is in stark contrast to the rest of the rather bland scenery of RoD, when the colours of the scene are inverted for a split second, looking like lightning. Aqua is startled and says 'That is...?' It slowly zooms out, the lightning (as it shall now be known) flashes again and the music gets epic-ified to honour the appearance of Castle of Dreams. This is most probably after Maleficent has kidnapped Cinderella and plunged her world into darkness, thus it's appearance in RoD. It's covered by a fog of darkness and purple and just looks awesome. Hopefully we'll get to see 'dark' inhabitants of this world, maybe even a dark Cinderella or something. I've no idea how they would justify that, what with Cinderella being a Princess of Heart (PoH) and currently chillaxin' in Maleficent's crib all, but... Aw, I hope Disney wouldn't object to Square making their beloved princesses evil-ified, 'cause that'd be one kickass boss battle. *crosses fingers* Maybe all PoHs have an evil twin, for lack of a better term, that have hearts of pure darkness rather than light? Whatever. I just want my dark princesses. Now.

Lightning once more, screen turns to black and the phrase 'A fragmentary passage' appears in gold. Hmm, intriguing... What do they mean by 'passage'? A physical passage, as in a path of sorts that is difficult to traverse due to it being broken? It could be something Aqua has to face in RoD. Or a path in the more figurative sense, as in a difficult jourrney Aqua has to make even though it is unclear, hard, etc. It could also mean passage as a portion of writing. Maybe Xehanort's Reports, 'Ansem's' Reports or the Secret Ansem Reports are incomplete and therefore fragmentary? Or is there some other written...thing we don't know about yet? Maybe the data Ansem the Wise (AtW) put in Sora is written, but fragmentary? Gah! Too many possibilites! Though I don't think I've found the right one yet... It's obviously gonna be important, but what does it mean...?

Continuing, next we have King Mickey looking all determined and junk in his Chain of Memories geddup with his Star Seeker Keyblade. Because he doesn't have Kingdom Key D yet, I think it's safe to assume that he's just arrived in RoD to look for it, therefore making this scene set during KHI. (Re:coded secret ending SPOILER) Mickey said in Re:coded that they were close to finding out where Ven's heart is, to which Yen Sid replies that that leaves only Terra. Mickey then says that they've gotta save all three of them, implying that they must already know where Aqua is. (/SPOILER) Therefore, I think Mickey must have run into Aqua in RoD on his brief visit. What confuses me is why he couldn't bring her back, or at least let her tag along when he goes to Castle Oblivion. She would have been a BIG help there, y'know, unlocking the Chamber of Waking where Ven's comatose body is and saving them the effort of doing it later... Anywho, why didn't Mickey save Aqua from RoD? He obviosly knows she's there, so he must have at least seen her. Plus he had an entire year between KHI and II to go back. Why didn't he? Is she just plain not able to leave yet? Is something else stopping her? Most confounding...

Next up is Riku holding a comatose Kairi at the Clock Tower *cough* Big Ben *cough* in Neverland. This scene doesn't seem to hold any significance, but it's been mentioned a few times now, making me wonder if it does indeed have more importance. I can't remember if it's in anything else, but it's definitely in Re:coded. One sec...

(Credit goes to EmiruTheKnight for the vid!) Skip to 9:33. Data!Riku shows Data!Sora Actual!Riku on top of the Clock Tower trying to steal the moon, I guess. He then looks over to Actual!Comatose!Kairi sitting down. Data!Riku explains that he showed Data!Sora this memory because he wanted to show Data!Sora the hurt Actual!Riku and Actual!Kairi were feeling. He then explains that Data!Sora will always makes the right choices and that he will never lose himself, even if he feels like he will. Huzzah.

Anywho, the Clock Tower scene here is just for Data!Riku to show Data!Sora the hurt that Riku and Kairi will feel later. I don't know why they would put it into the BBSv2 trailer as well, though. Will the entire 'hurting' spiel be addressed in this game? Y'know, the whole 'Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it' mantra constantly reiterated in Re:coded. I can't imagine Sora saving anyone from their hurting just yet, not before KHIII. That whole plotline just seems too...important for a non-numbered title. But will this game elaborate on what 'hurting' each person is actually feeling and how Sora will have to mend it later? I think it's a likely-ish possibility...

Next in the BBSv2 trailer is Donald and Goofy looking around Traverse Town. I think it's fairly safe to say that this is at the beginning of KHI when they're looking for Leon and Sora. Again, why is this important? Is it something to do with Mickey? At the beginning of that Re:coded video I plonked up there, Mickey says that he was in Traverse Town the same day Sora arrived. Interesting... Why was he in Traverse Town when he should have been in RoD looking for Kingdom Key D? Has he even been to RoD yet? Why's he taking his sweet-ass time in Traverse Town? What business does he have there?? I'M SO CONFUSED!

Ahem. I wonder if Mickey ran into Leon & Co and just told them not to tell Sora & Co he was there. But seriously, WHY was he in Traverse Town?? Gah. I can't imagine that scene having any significance whatsoever if it didn't involve Mickey, which I think is gonna be very important indeed. I mean, they wouldn't just say out of the blue in Re:coded that Mickey was in Traverse Town that day if it didn't bear any significance at all or if they weren't going to address it again later in more detail. Quite the conundrum...

Continuing with the trailer, we have Kairi, Hayner, Pence and Olette looking up at the Old Mansin in Twilight Town. Very interesting indeed... I'm thinking this hasn't happened yet, as in it happened after KHII. When Kairi was in Twilight Town last time, she landed in the Usual Spot and HPO were all 'LE GASP!'. The scene cuts back to Sora doing whatever, but when you go to Twilight Town, Pence explains that Kairi had just finished telling them her life story when Axel came in and kidnapped her. I suppose it's possible that when Kairi first arrived, HPO could've been all like 'AW, JEEZ. There's a stranger here that just fell out of  mysterious dark hole in the wall... Let's show her around Twilight Town before coming back and asking her to explain why the hell she's here! That seems like a good plan!' Possible, but not likely. It seems far more likely that Kairi arrived in the Usual Spot, told them what had happened and then got stolen-ified, thus never leaving the Usual Spot.

So how did Kairi, accompanied by HPO, get to be at the Old Mansion? She's in front of HPO, making it look like she led them there. Maybe during DDD, Kairi decides to actually do something now that she isn't kidnapped for once and go on an adventure of her own. Perhaps Naminé told her to go back to the Mansion, maybe to investigate the data DiZ had put in Sora? A tantalising possibility... I just hope that this scene means that Kairi will be leaving her role as a DiD and actually start doing something while Sora and Riku are off becoming Keyblade Masters and being generally awesome. Though how Kairi would get to Twilight Town on her own, I've no idea... Maybe she inherited the ability to open corridors of darkness from Naminé? I don't think they would damage her heart with darkness and whatnot due to her PoH status, though I could be completely wrong... Meh. Just typing while I think, here.

Onwards, and we see DiZ presumably putting the mythical 'data' inside Sora as he sleeps in the special pod deealy-o between Chain of Memories and KHII. Because Sora has already gone through his growth spurt / full bottle of hair dye, I'd say this is closer to KHII regarding timeline. At the end of BBS, DiZ tells Aqua that he had put the results of his research inside Sora. Wait, lemme get it here...

(Credit goes to KH13.com for the vid!) I may well end up doing an analysis dealy-o for Blank Points too, if I get time... Ah well. Skip to 6:26. 'Transplanting the data to where it might best serve it's purpose'... Interesing. But what does it mean? We know he was doing research on the Heartless and hearts and all that jazz, but is that what the data is about? And why the hell did he put it INSIDE Sora?? Surely it would have been easier to just write it down or something for when he woke up, no? *sigh* Then again, this is Kingdom Hearts, where making entire digital worlds for Nobodies to inhabit for about a week or 'digitizing' a journal for a data replica of someone to gallivant through are considered the most sensible solutions to minor problems. (I still love Kingdom Hearts, though. :3) Anywho, data. This is surely gonna be important, though I've no idea how. It'll probably be a big thing though, so... Yeah.

Next we see Roxas and Xion strolling through Twilight Town during 358/2 Days while Riku watches from a distance. While blindfolded. Yeeaahh. Again, I can't really see the significance. I'm guessing that Riku is just keeping an eye on Sora's body while he's asleep (except, y'know, less perv-tastic). But we already know this, so why are they hinting that this will also be addressed in BBSv2? Is it more important? I think it must be. I've something else to say on this, but I'll say it later. STAY TUNED!

The ol' lightning comes back and we see those oh-so familiar boots walking down the beach. It shows Young Xehanort (YX) facing the sea in Destiny Islands, most likely thinking that 'this world is too small', or whatever. He starts turning around, but before we see his face there's another FLASH and we see Xehanort's Heartless (XH). He continues turning around and (FLASH) turns into Xemnas. Just as he has turned around, it FLASHES again and shows a hunched-over Master Xehanort (MX) when the camera does a creepy close-up of MX's ever-so-creepy old man face for a split second. Maybe all the many Xehanort's acts as foreshadowing to show that their all coming back or something? Or maybe it's just reminding us that Xehanort is, in fact, returning. I dunno.

Next is veeeery interesting indeed. We see Sora on the paopu fruit tree looking out to sea. It quickly FLASHES and the next second he's gone. FLASH, Ven chillaxin' in the Chamber of Waking, FLASH, no more Ven, one more FLASH and the title 'Birth By Sleep -Volume 2-'  appears in gold and the mind-screwing begins (the rest of the vid is just pacey8444's battle report. You need not pay it any heed). I've no idea what the disappearing double act is all about, but a lot of people are considering *gulp* time travel. I really, really, REALLY hope not. Kingdom Hearts is convoluted enough without throwing time travel into the mix! This theory comes from the time powers of Mysterious Figure (MF), an optional boss in BBS. Lemme get a video...

(Credit to Keytotruth!) Sorry, couldn't find a better one that shows his time-warping moves. That, and I couldn't be bothered. :P

Ok, first off look at how MF holds his (it could very well be a girl, but I don't want to have to type 'his/her' everytime, so I'm just gonna assume it's a guy for the moment) lightsaber thingys at 00.40. He holds them almost like two hands on a clock. Next, skip to 4:12. He actually rewinds time to regain HP like the heap of douchey awesome he is. This is quickly followed by him splitting into...6, I think(?) and pwning your ass so elegantly so. Furthermore, the Keyblade you get for beating him, No Name, looks rather time-y (no idea what the adjective is...) (pic over here: http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/No_Name) The top seems to be a stopwatch while the Keychain looks like an hourglass. All signs are pointing to Mysterious Figure being something to do with time travel. Meep. (I'll probably do a more in-depth analysis on MF later, but not now. Too tired.)

We know that time travel already exists in the realm of KH (what with Timeless River in KHII) so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for MF to have gone back in time and disposed of Sora, thus killing Ven, thus explaining their disappearances. However, as I've said, I REALLY don't want this to happen! It would just be...sticky. There, I said it. Maybe it's just showing that Sora can't stay on his paopu tree forever and just represents how he has to leave again. Maybe Ven's disappearance is just simply showing that he does get saved and has simply left. However, I have a feeling that it's something more sinister than that. I think it's gonna be this huge...thing that's...bad. Dear, I'm finding it harder and harder to articulate my thoughts with eloquence and style as I get more sleepy... Oh bother.

Anywho, Birth by Sleep Volume 2. We haven't got any confirmation yet, but it has to be the 'Mystery Title' Nomura's been going on about. It looks like it'll be tying up all the loose ends before KHIII, so it might very well be the Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary thingy-ma-jig, which is in 2012(!). What platform d'you think it'll be on? I'd say PSP or Vita, though I've no idea which. PSP makes sense as BBS was on it and Vita will only be relatively new (if my hunch on it being out in 2012 is correct). However, Vita also makes sense as it marks the end of PSP's reign of terror and, if my hunch is wrong and BBSv2 comes out in 2013 or later, then it'll have been out for a good while. Hmm, conundrum, but I think I'm leaning towards Vita as the most likely candidate through the sheer fact that it's shiny and new, and we all know how the latest KH games like shiny and new consoles, despite our wallets protests. It really doesn't affect me either way, though, considering I won't have enough money for either PSP or Vita and thus will have to resort to YouTube yet again. :P

I think it'll be very similar to BBS due to it being a sequel. Y'know, Command Styles, three different scenarios, the whole shebang. Now, regarding different scenarios, who do you think will get the honour? Aqua is pretty much a given, what with her traversing through RoD and seeing a dark CoD (which will be AWESOME). Methinks many, if not all, of the worlds that have fallen to darkness will make an appearance. As for the other two protaganists, who do you think will be picked? I doubt Comatose!Ven is up to the task, nor Terra, unless we get control of Apprentice Xehanort, though I can't see that being interesting from a gameplay aspect. Sure, the story is rather important and I hope that we get more insight into what he / the Organization (especially Xemnas and the Somebodies of members IX through XII) was doing between BBS and KHI, but AX really doesn't do anything worthy of a playable character. They better find a way to show what happened to all of them between BBS and KHI, though...

Hmm, other characters... Well, I distinctly remember an interview with Nomura after KHII when he was talking about the furture of the series (tried to do a search, but I just simply cannot find it anywhere. How bothersome... Something like the Another Reports...?) Anywho, he said something to the lines of KH currently having four untold stories that he wants to tell before moving on. 1) Xehanort's past (already dealt with in BBS). 2) Roxas' time in Organization XIII (see Days). 3) Riku's shenanigans between KHI and KHII. 4) The King's absence during KHI. It's the latter two I'm interested in. I wouldn't have thought that either would be important enough to pay much heed, but the fact that Nomura said that they were, even back then... I also wouldn't have thought that Xehanort's past would have been all that significant, but BBS is obviously a Very Big Deal, it being (probably) the most important handheld entry in the series plot-wise.  Now I'm curious as to why Mickey and Riku's stories were considered as important... Unless you consider Riku's story already told in Days, but he hardly did anything there. No, I think it's something more important, so we could very easily be seeing Riku and Mickey getting scenarios in BBSv2. The only reason I'd be against Mickey is because, y'know, Disney. He's not an original character, so it might be kinda weird... I dunno.

Another character I was considering was Lea/Axel. I think we're only ever gonna get scenarios from 'good guys' and he's is probably the closest we're gonna get to relevant Organization members. There's still a lot of mysteries regarding the Organization, and I think Axel could help with clearing some of them up if we got to play him. However, I'm more interested in Lea because I think Isa is gonna be very important and I can see playing Lea witnessing his best friend falling to darkness. Something obviously happened to Isa between BBS and Days. In BBS, Isa has green eyes and normal ears, whereas Saix in Days has amber eyes and pointed ears. ERGO, he  fell to darkness in that 10-year timespan. I'm thinking Isa might be one of the roads MX may choose to take; as in, Isa was one of his back-ups. I think Isa was gradually falling for a while before he fell completely and became a Heartless/Nobody, leaving Lea devastated and soon following suit. Or maybe AX's experiments on people's hearts caused him to experiment on randomers in Radiant Garden, including Lea and Isa and basically breaking them. I think we'd get a lot of plot mysteries sorted out if Lea/Axel gets a scenario, but a problem I can see is that he isn't a Keyblade wielder. I love how in every game you can attach a different Keychain and switch it up as you see fit. The only time we've had a character not use a Keyblade in their scenario is Riku in Chain of Memories and, if they don't change it by the time it comes out, Dream Drop Distance. In both, he has Soul Eater instead. But CoM used cards instead, so that explains the lack of customisation. As for DDD, I've no idea how they're gonna change Riku's Soul Eater because I can't see Sora NOT changing his Keyblade, y'know? Ok, I'm de-railing. Anywho, I think Lea/Axel is another possibility for a scenario.

At the top of my head, I can't really think of anyone else who can have a scenario. Maybe...Kairi? If my suspiscions are correct and this is the first game that sees her doing anything, then she very well could have a bigger role to play and turn into a, dare I say, Action Girl. I'd love for her to get a chance to do something because so far all we've seen her do is be stuck in a coma, stuck on Destiny Islands or just plain kidnapped. Kairi has to do something awesome and soon. I think this game could be a good way for her to do so.

Oh, I forgot to stick this in, and I can't be bothered to find where it would fit better. Ah well. In KHII, Riku gives Kairi her first Keyblade (awww) which is Destiny's Embrace. I've no idea if this is actually Kairi's own Keyblade or just a loan, but I wonder where he got that specific Keychain... I think at some stage during his stay in RoD, be it before CoM or after, he ran into Aqua. We know she had that Keychain, so it fits. But again, why couldn't Riku save her if he ran into her?? *sigh* Hopefully this will all be addressed in BBSv2...

~~~

Wow. That was a lot. Sorry...

tl;dr: I think BBSv2 will be a game wrapping up loose threads before KHIII; dark worlds will be awesome, as would dark princesses; I think Mickey's escapades in RoD and Traverse Town will be important; I think Mickey and Riku both ran into Aqua in RoD and there's something stopping them from saving her; I think that the whole 'hurting' thing introduced in Re:coded will be addressed and elaborated on but not quite sorted out yet; I think Kairi might finally be given a bigger role than just DiD; I think the data DiZ put in Sora will be very important; Xehanort is creepy, FACT; I hope the Sora/Ven vanishing act isn't due to time travelling shenanigans; I think BBSv2 will be on Vita and might be the 10th Anniversary dealy-o; I think there'll be three scenarios: Aqua as a definite, Riku as a very likely candidate, and the last from Mickey, Lea/Axel and Kairi. Maybe.

So, yeah. ...My fingers are sore. :c I gotta learn to stop rambling for five hours about nothing. Like what I'm doing right now. Yes, stopping would be good for all involved. Soon. For example, right now.

........Laters.

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance - Trailer Analysis

Deary me, my first post. Exciting stuff, lads. Now, I picked a rather ick-tacular time to start a KH-centric blog because, as you may be well aware, there has been no news since...January, I believe. We were CONVINCED E3 would be flooded with KH goodies, but alas, 'twas not meant to be... *wipes away imaginary tear* This news drought has allowed me to believe that there simply has to be something stupendous planned for TGS (Tokyo Game Show) in September, though I was also so certain of E3... Fingers crossed!

In any case, I have decided to do a quick analysis of the DDD trailer from way back in January. This basically just means I have another chance to fangasm all over the awesome-itude of that kickass video yet again and squee for a good while before making some incoherent comments on it. So let's go!

Gawd, how many times have I seen this trailer now... Anywho, starts off with the Disney and Square Enix names and with the scene at the end of KHII. Riku asks Sora if his mind's made up and Sora says yes. Splendid. Not much to say about this bit. I assume this is just chucked in to remind people that this game is, in fact, set after KHII, despite Sora and Riku's KHI clothing, as Tetsuya Nomura (game director/general overlord) has stated before. (Can't be bothered to look for a quote right now, so you'll just have to take my word for it. :P)

Next up is a bit of the secret ending in Re:coded, so, spoiler if you haven't seen that yet, I guess... Yen Sid asks Mickey to summon Sora and Riku. When Mickey asks why, Yen Sid says it's to show them the Mark of Mastery. Again, nothing too splendiforous here. We've known for a while from Nomura that this game will include Sora and Riku taking the Mark of Mastery exam that was introduced in Birth By Sleep (basically just a test to make you a Keyblade Master). Now, Nomura has also confirmed that the exam won't span the entire game, but rather just a portion. Personally, I think it's gonna be something like Sora and Riku arrive to take the exam, something bad happens, exam is interrupted while they kick some ass elsewhere and only continue the exam at the end of the game when sufficient ass has been kicked. Then the SHOCKING ENDING will happen-ify and the player will be left thoroughly mind-screwed. Thoughts?

Anywho, back to the trailer. Now, THIS bit is confusing. KHI Sora and Riku are gazing out to sea. Sora asks how far a raft can take them. Riku says he doesn't know, but if they have to, they'll think of something else. Now, this conversation is in KHI at the very beginning (at the end of the first day, I believe) but it's in a completely different setting. Wait, gimme a second...

Skip to 00:30. See? This time, it's late, they're on the paopu fruit tree and, oh yeah, Kairi's there. I have no idea why they changed it so much in the DDD trailer... I mean, it's the exact same script, just everything else is different. I doubt Sora and Riku had the exact same conversation the next day without Kairi, or something... Hmm. The last two scenes in the trailer are very important; the first one establishes the timeline while the second establishes the basic premise of the game. So why is this altered scene chosen to be as important? I bet it's not at all and I'm just looking too much into it, but...still. Ugh, less than a minute into the trailer and I'm already hopelessly confused... The game takes place after KHII, so it can't be something like 'What if Kairi never came to Destiny Islands?'. Also, Kairi was the one that inspired Riku to think of sailing away to other worlds in a clearly unsafe homemade raft, so they wouldn't be having that conversation if they never met Kairi... Argh. My brain hurts. :C But, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Moving swiftly on, the first 'D' appears: 'Dream'. I always knew this game would have something to do with dreams! Before we knew the actual title and just knew that '3D' was the subtitle, I figured it'd be '3 Dreams'. I wasn't THAT far off the mark... Now, I think this is why Sora and Riku are in their KHI gear; it's a dream. Simple as. However, Nomura said that the reason they're in their KHI clothes is for some very important, undisclosed reason. I've no idea why simply 'they're dreaming' would be a very important reason, but... It's all I got. Deal. So, yeah. Methinks the majority of this game will be in a dream.

Onwards to Riku being surrounded by Shadow Heartless in the Second District of Traverse Town. He's freakin' out, until he sees a star twinkle in a Team Rocket-esque fashion that turns out to be a falling Sora. It then zooms in on Riku's 'AW, JEEZ!' reaction before showing the next 'D': 'Drop'. This action is carried out by many, many, MANY unconcious falling glowing Soras. ...Yeeaahh. I really don't have much to say about this other then '...whut?'. Ugh, this entire game is just gonna be one long trippy mind screw, ain't it? This is shaping up to be one darn confusing game, even by KH standards. Anywho, one of the Soras lands on his feet in the middle of a swarm of Heartless in front of the fountain. Yay.

It then shows the word 'Distance' and sh** gets real. Just...wow. Any negative comments I had about this game so far, I take back. I take it all back because...aw, wow. Just look at it! Sooo pretty...

Ahem. You see Sora in all his golden light glory sliding down the roofs of the Second District, doing multiple flips in the air, jumping 12 feet at a time as he goes roof to roof... Wow. Also, I just want to point out that the camera seems fairly...good, at this stage, in stark contrast to quite a few KH games so far (re-playing KHI at the moment. *shudders at memory of camera*). Hopefully they've got that mess sorted out. Fingers crossed yet again! So, in conlusion, *drools*

Next, it says 'Sleep & Waking'. Another reference to dreaming, perhaps? Maybe it means that their dreams will kind of be integrated into the real world, as well as in their heads. Y'know, like their 'dream' selves will be in the real world, or something... I dunno.

Next next, it shows Riku bouncing of the walls like it's nothin', flipping in the air and doing some fancy sword-work before finally landing with extreme finesse, if I do say so myself, and a silver lightshow accompanying him the entire time.

*recommences salivating* OHMAIGAWDITSSOAMAZINGCHRISTIWANTITNOW -

*recomposes self* Ahem. Back in January, a week after this trailer came out I believe, Nomura said that the wall-jumping was extremely tricky and only the programmer who actually made it could do it. I assume that they're gonna make it easier by the time it hits shelves, if not already. ...Well, that's enough analysis. *continues gawking in awe*

Next up, it says 'Goodwill & Malice'. Interesting. Will this game have stuff to do with Sora/Riku doing something they think is out of goodwill, but is actually out of malice, making them question their very being? I predict a lot of self-conflict and character development in this game. Hurrah!

The next bit is so friggin' fast, I don't even know where to start. So, we have Sora sliding down one of the wires in the Third District (at this bit, you can see not only his golden light show, but also electricity from the wire. DETAILS!! :D ) followed by a mini wall-jump to fling himself to a lamp post where he begins SWINGING AROUND BY THE TEETH OF HIS KEYBLADE. *vomits from excitement* He then swings to another and DOES IT AGAIN *faints from awesome*, jumps to the electricity box thing in the corner to get charged up (INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENTS RETURN! *dies from epicostiy*) to form an almost 'light drill' through the air (the best way I can describe it) to DIVE TO THE CENTRE OF THE HEARTLESS SWARM IN A FLURRY OF STARS AND AWESOME BEFORE BACK-FLIPPING FOR THE HELL OF IT. *is reborn from amazingness of it all*

Sorry for the excessive amount of Caps Lock there, but this trailer really deserves it. Not much to say other than WOW and I'm probably gonna suck at this game. A lot. I don't really do 'fast games', per se. I like to take my time, stroll along, check every last nook and cranny... To summarise, I'm very boring and I fear this game is a lot cooler than I am. Oh dear.

Next it says 'Sora & Riku'. Veeery interesting indeed. The last two have been exact opposites of one another, so are they saying that Sora and Riku are exact opposites as well? Yes, Sora uses light and Riku uses (mostly) darkness, but is there more being implied here? Curiouser and curiouser...

Now we get the first confirmed world; Sora is seen running through the bell tower of Notre Dame. YES. Aw, brilliant... I can already imagine flying around the flying buttresses and arches of the cathedral with DDD's frantic gameplay... Oh, yes please! Sora then jumps into the square below, a scene that will undoubtedly be phenomenal in 3D. (...God, I'm such a tool...)

I'm really looking forward to having Hunchback in DDD, especially if my prediction is correct and we're gonna be having Sora and Riku learning a lot about themselves in this one. On the DDD website, the tagline is something like 'When light and darkness stand next to each other, light fades to darkness'. I dunno, something like that... It's in Japanese, so... (http://www.square-enix.co.jp/kingdom/3d/ - should you wish to see) Therefore, I think light and darkness is also gonna be big. A lesson that Sora really needs to learn that Riku pretty much kinda already knows is that light =/= good. I think that Sora is still of the disposition that darkness is definitely always bad and light will forever be good and magical because, y'know, no ones's told him any differently. He needs to learn that it's not so black and white and I think the perfect Disney villain to exemplify that light isn't always good is Frollo. I can imagine Sora landing in the world and hearing Frollo rabbitting on about how he follows the light (they could very easily exchange 'God' with 'light') and eradicates creatures of darkness. Sora joins him on his quest but soon realises that Frollo is FRIGGIN' INSANE. And blam. Sora now knows that light can blind you as easily as darkness can engulf you, and therefore Sora has learnt a valuable lesson. Huzzah! Again, thoughts would be appreciated at this point.

Next is a very interesting scene indeed. Riku runs into the Second District and draws his Soul Eater upon seeing Ansem Seeker of Darkness on top of the fountain (side note: Riku's sword makes a clanking sound as if being pulled from a sheath even though it's being pulled from thin air...?). It zooms in to Ansem SoD and you can kinda sorta see a transparent Xemnas standing behind him. Next comes Sora, doing the exact same except this time he's facing Xemnas and Ansem SoD is behind him. Some dramatic camera angles happen and the logo shows up, thus ending one of the most EPIC. TRAILERS. EVER.

Ok, back to analysis. Some people are theorising that Ansem SoD and Xemnas are just hologram-things designed to make Sora and Riku fight each other with all they've got for the Mark of Mastery exam, kinda like Roxas and Xion in Days when thay saw each other as that...Heartless...guy... The strong one with the orange chainsaw, or something... Anyway, I'm not entirely crazy about this theory. I mean, way back in BBS (SPOILER), Aqua and Terra didn't need no stinkin' holographic projections or whatever to make them fight one another at full strength. The only reason they would hold back is if only one could become a Master, which isn't true. Eraqus told them that it didn't matter who won or who lost; all that mattered was their strength of heart or whatever. Therefore, either could become a Keyblade Master without endangering the chances of the other. (/SPOILER) This is most probably the same as with Sora and Riku; doesn't matter about the actual outcome of the fight as long as their hearts are strong enough. If both can become Masters, neither would need to hold back to let the other win or anything, making the whole 'Making Sora/Riku look like Anem SoD/Xemnas to get them to fight for realz' rather pointless. Also, it looks like Ansem SoD/Xemnas might be the main antaganists this time round, meaning they would be a part of the entire game, really. If the MoM exam is supposed to only span part of the game, then Ansem SoD/Xemnas can't be anything to do with it. My two cents, anyway...

I have a small theory as to what's going on, but it's not perfect, by any means. Anyway, in the Re:coded secret ending, (I would say 'SPOILER', but that would kind of make this entire paragraph 'SPOILER', so...) Yen Sid basically tells Mickey that by destroying the Heartless and the Nobody, Xehanort will return. (I love how he knew this but still told Sora to kill Xemnas in KHII... -.-") However, he wasn't very specific on the details. I think that something went wrong in the fusion process, leaving Ansem SoD and Xemnas in the same body, but not quite...'merged', I guess. As in, they each still have their own sense of self and their own minds which are in conflict in the one body. This, I think, would lead to his appearance changing from Ansem SoD to Xemnas depending on the relationship he has with whoever is looking at him. ...Wow, that was complicated... Basically, Riku is more connected to Ansem SoD, so he sees Ansem SoD. Sora has a greater connection to Xemnas (due to Roxas being inside him, I'm guessing), so he sees Xemnas. And so Sora/Riku must kick some ass, I guess. I dunno. Of course, this theory doesn't really explain why Ansem SoD/Xemnas hybrid-guy would be inside Riku/Sora's dream thing or whatever, or why Sora/Riku are in KHI gear... *shrugs*

I should probably talk about the Command menu and all that jazz now. Sorry, I was too distracted earlier by the pretty colours of the gameplay to pay it that much heed... Both Sora and Riku's menus say 'A' for 'Attack' and 'B' for a Command (I'm not sure what the order is, but they both have Fire, Blizzard and Thunder). I hope the 'B' is changed to 'X' at some stage to be closer to Re:coded and so 'Jump' can be moved to 'B', where it belongs. So far, it's looking like the Command system from BBS and Re:coded is staying. I like Commands, so huzzah. I wonder though, is this gonna be a permanant thing? Will every KH game have Commands now? Hmm... I certainly wouldn't mind it.

Onwards to the more mysterious 'Drop' gauge under the HP bar. Veeery curious. Both Sora and Riku's gauges have a 1.5 underneath and three grey arrows pointing right. It looks like something you build up, like the Drive gauge from KHII. How do you build it up, though, I wonder? And when you reach the top of the bar, what happens? Do you enter super fast light show mode when you fill it? Or do you swap to the next character? Nomura said that throughout the game, the player will be forcibly switched between Sora and Riku. It won't just be at special cutscenes, or anything, but can happen when you're walking down the road or in the middle of a battle. Nomura also said to think of there being something like a countdown always in play to swap you around. Maybe this gauge is that countdown? Oh, the possibilities!

~~~

Geez, that was a lot. Anywho, hopefully I didn't completely bore you, though I know I did.

tl;dr: I'm uber excited, the scene with Sora and Riku talking about the raft is confusing, I think the game will be in a dream, the gameplay looks AMAZING, a world based on Hunchback of Notre Dame will undoubtedly be amazing, I think Ansem SoD/Xemnas are there to show that Xehanort has kind of reformed but kind of not and the Drop gauge is mysterious.

So, yeah. They're my thoughts on the DDD trailer thus far. Do with them what you will. Please comment; that'd be awesome. :P

First post is DONE. Huzzah! Laters.