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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...
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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.
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