DDD in Famitsu's Most Wanted, Symphonic Fantasies, Hint at New Xehanort & Some Gameplay

'Sup. I was gonna do a thing about my expectations for DDD, but instead I decided to go for a recap of the miscellaneous small snippets of news that have come out over the past two weeks. Actually a fairly plentiful batch of news, if we compare it to the drought of news from January to September. Here's hoping it stays like this...

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First off, a Famitsu survey. The Japanese magazine asked their readers to list their most anticipated games, regardless of platform. Why is this relevant? Scroll down to 22...

1. Final Fantasy Type-0 (PSP)
2. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3)
3. Mario Kart 7 (3DS)
4. Monster Hunter 3G (3DS)
5. Dragon Quest X (Wii)
6. Dragon’s Dogma (PS3)
7. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
8. Super Mario 3D Land (3DS)
9. Persona 4: The Golden (Vita)
10. Fotokano: Picture Girlfriend (PSP)
11. New Love Plus (3DS)
12. Animal Crossing (3DS)
13. The Last Guardian (PS3)
14. Gundam Extreme Versus (PS3)
15. Metal Gear Solid Rising (PS3)
16. 7th Dragon 2020 (PSP)
17. Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3)
18. Project Diva Extend (PSP)
19. Monster Hunter 4 (3DS)
20. Uncharted 3 (PS3)
21. One Piece: Unlimited Cruise (PS3)
22. Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (3DS)
23. 2nd Super Robot Wars OG (PS3)
24. Ni no Kuni (PS3)
25. Armored Core V (PS3)

Well 'hurrah' for that! I thought it might be higher, but DDD will undoubtedly climb the charts as it gets closer to release. I'll admit, I am a bit miffed that New Love Plus got so much higher, being at no.11. Really, Japan? Really? New Love Plus is basically a sequel to the (somehow) popular DS game LovePlus where you adopt a skimpily-clad Japanese school girl as your new girlfriend. Yeah. Oh, those kooky Japanese and their creepy girlfriend simulators...

MORE NEWS, I SAY.

Righty-o. So, Squeenix will be hosting their big Symphonic Fantasies concert in Tokyo from January 7th-8th. This will have music from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross and - you guessed it - Kingdom Hearts. So far, these tracks have been announced to make an aural appearance...

• Dearly Beloved (lovely Main Menu music)

• The Other Promise (music used when serious/sad shizz is goin' down)

• Happy Holidays! (battle theme for Christmas Town in KH2: Final Mix.)

• A Fight to the Death (epic boss theme of epic)

• Hand in Hand (Traverse Town battle theme)

(Credit for vids go to RoxasMyHero and KH13. Thank you! :D) There will be more, but at the moment these are the only confirmed tracks. Here's Squeenix's symphony site and thank you to FF-Reunion, KH13 and KHInsider for the tip!

MORE THINGS!

Ok, this one is veeery interesting indeed... Keep in mind, the next coupla paragraphs will be pure specualtion on my part, so we can safely put this in the 'RUMOUR' category for now.

Anyway, someone asked Richard Epcar a question on Facebook and he gave a damn mysterious answer. Oh, Richard Epcar is the voice of Xehanort's Heartless in KH2 and Re:CoM and Terranort in BBS. (XH was voiced by Billy Zane in the first game, but we don't talk about that...) CONVERSATION TIME.

(Click to zoom-ify. And thank you to KHInsider for the screen!) See? Interesting... 'The next Xehanort'? Ok, before my brain frazzles with the infinite interpretations, Imma just talk about the boring real-world implications of this. It seems like Epcar already knows some of the future KH plot, or at least his own role. Seems like. Don't quote me. Anyway, if he means what I think he means, that means they've already started localisation, seeing as Epcar is the English VA. I hope it means they've started localisation. Less wait between Japanese and Elsewhere releases and junk. Hopefully...

Now onto in-game interpretations. Much more fun. :3 Best case scenario: Epcar is referring to a brand new Xehanort in DDD. Worst case scenario: Epcar's just assuming the next Xehanort will be awesome. Let's talk about the former first. Or, rather, let's have me type away on the matter and have you read it at a later date.

Continuing. If it's a new Xehanort, my money's on a dream/imprint/whatever lurking in the Realm of Sleep. We don't know the full process that goes into reforming a Somebody after they have been split into Heartless and Nobody. Sure, we know that if you slay the Heartless and then the Nobody in that order, the Somebody can come back. But maybe it's not that easy? We don't know how long it takes, if there's any extra steps, etc. But we do know that the Somebody must be transported elsewhere, seeing as how Nobodies and Heartless always disappear after you slay them. If the Somebodies didn't sprout up elsewhere, then Sora and riku would have had a much harder boss battle on their hands at the end of KHII with fighting Xehanort straight after Xemnas.


My hypothesis at the moment is that the Somebody gets transported to the Realm of Sleep. I mean, when worlds are restored from dakness, some of them end up in the RoS.

The “World Submerged in Sleep” is a complex story, but there were worlds other than those that Sora restored in KH1, some that were not submerged in darkness. Like the worlds of the princesses and Dumbo’s, etc. In the end of KH1 it was established that some of those worlds were restored, but not all of them. Those that were neither in light nor in darkness, but those that were submerged in sleep.

Since those worlds are essential[ly] asleep, the dreams of those worlds become the setting.

Sora and Riku will travel to those worlds to awaken them from their sleep.

When a world is awoken from it’s sleep, it will be restored to it’s original form.

(This is from the Famitsu interview with Tetsuya Nomura (game director by day/super hero by night) after TGS last month.) Maybe the same thing has happened with Xehanort, as in he is now 'asleep' and his 'dream self' is in the RoS? Definitely a possibility at this point. Xehanort could be orchestrating the entire plot of DDD, making sure Sora and Riku reach the Keyhole of Sleep, becuase as Yen Sid explained in the trailer at TGS...

Yen Sid: Opening the keyhole of sleep, along with finding a new power, the power locked in sleep will become revealed as well.

Maybe Xehanort has copped that the only way he can reawaken and be all badass in the Realm of...Waking is by Sora and Riku findin ghtis Keyhole and restoring all the worlds and junk. Then the 'surprising ending' would be Xehanort fully awake and rampaging across the RoW all "Thanks for saving me, guys, gonna go destroy the universe now, kthxbaii." Maybe he traps Sora and Riku in the RoW, or incapacitate them in some way, ending the game on a COMPLETE bombshell and leaving the player all "O_o ................Crap." Calling it now~

That's what I think is most likely, and to be perfectly honest I can't be bothered going on about any other theory.  Not that I have another one, mind... I suck at theorising. :c

LAST BIT OF NEWS!

And this is probably the most exciting. Behold! Some new footage! (This came from Nintendo's recent 3DS conference on October 21st.)

Thank you KH13, for 720p HD loveliness! Now, not a whole lotta newness, but still exciting nonetheless. ANALYSIS TIME!

Starts off with Neku and Sora meeting in Traverse Town, a scene we have already seen before thanks to Famitsu back at TGS. However, this time there aren't editors cackling over the conversation, meaning we can actually hear what they're saying. Hurrah! In case you forgot...

Neku, showing Sora the scarlet mark on his hand: This is from the Game. All the participants have it engraved upon them. I can’t afford to lose this Game!
Sora: I don’t really get ‘the Game’, but maybe I can lend a hand?

(Translation of TGS trailer from SQEX GAL, whom I cannot thank enough.) I've already ranted about this scene numerous times before now, so forgive me for not doing so at this moment. I'm just very uberly excited for Sora and Neku forming a badass pact of epic and being partners in the Reapers' Game~

Anyway. In the background, you can hear Twister playing (a TWEWY song). The weird thing? It's in English. As opposed to Japanese. Huh. Why would they purposefully pick the English one when the rest of the footage is in Japanese? Confusing... Though probably completely unimportant.

But Twister in KH gives hope for more TWEWY tracks appearing at some point. I is excite. TWEWY had one amazing soundtrack, it has to be said. However, I'm not sure if I would prefer the TWEWY songs to be played straight or for Yoko Shimomura (KH composer of music/dreams) to fiddle with them a bit, like most of the FF themes. I think I'd prefer/expect the latter, just so TWEWY doesn't get special treatment over FF. Also, I think that, for the most part, the lyrics should be taken out of the TWEWY tracks. Just to make it more KH-ish.

Also, frequency of TWEWY tunes. I wouldn't say TWEWY will completely replace the soundtrack for Traverse Town, but I'd wager that some TWEWY tracks will play when new characters are revealed, maybe for the boss battles against reapers (which I sincerely hope there will be), possibly for important cutscenes... I dunno. But I hope there's more besides Twister.

Next up, we see Sora kicking some general ass in the same area as that last gameplay footage thing from Famitsu at TGS. Sora rushes towards the lamp post, twirls around by the teeth of his Keyblade and jumps off in a flurry of circular awesome. Dream Drop Distance! Y u no in my 3DS already?!? *sigh* Anyway. Looking spectacular as always~ Nothing new to add, really, except that when Sora is flying around the pole he seems to create a vortex of magenta streaks that draws in enemies so you can kill them easier. Always fun.

We then see Sora unleashing an awesome sauce ability on an unsuspecting Nightmare (I think it's the same baby green dinosaur thing we saw before in those screenshots after TGS...)

I think it's a baby dinosaur... Sure hope so, at any rate. Baby dinosaurs are the shizz. Anyway, Sora's ability is all awesome, with him circling through the air all epicly and prettily. Still can't get over how gorgeous this game looks... Also, the shop in the background. Looks to me like a jewellery or bag shop of sorts, with displays and the like. Reminds me of the clothes/shoe/hat stores in the 2nd District of Traverse Town, so it's probably just an aesthetic thing. I loved all the store fronts in KHI, so hopefully they're making a return in the new districts of TT in DDD.

But also of slight note in the background of this scene is the pink zipline wire thing running down the steps behind Sora.

This is similar to the next scene, where Sora...

...is travelling down another zipline at great speed and ends up in...

...that Courtyard of Many Things place. Ashe doesn't tumble down the zipline and end up in that area with the shop, one can safely assume that there are multiple ziplines across the new Traverse Town. Me gusta. Certainly more fun than actually walking down the stairs like a mere pleb. Sora then twirls in the air and smacks down on the ground in a flurry of epic (even if he doesn't actually hit anything...)

In the next clip we see Sora reach for his crown pendant...

...to initiate a wondrous light show...

...to summon his Spirit cohorts to start...

...UNLEASHING HELL UPON HIS ENEMIES. Hell in the form of a Giant Wonder Meow, of course. I love how there's proper columns of fire erupting from the ground as Wonder Meow wreaks his destruction. Somewhat interesting to note; this Dual Link has completely depleted Kuma Panda's pink gauge, whereas Wonder Meow's is still rather plentiful. It drops pretty rapidly, but it seems to replenish a bit each time you hit a Nightmare. Handy.

Something I also wanted to mention is the green building to the side. Just take a gander at it from the above screenshots and this one...

Red, green and white as the pre-dominant colours; what appears to be fairy lights and candy canes; a general holiday vibe... Why is there a Building of All Things Christmas in Traverse Town?! Definitely curious... Now, it's not confirmed that this place has anything to do with Christmas, but all signs seem to point to yes. There's a definite Christmas feeling about it... Huh. What could it be for? The only other mention of Christmas in KH was Christmas Town in Hallowe'en Town in KHII. But I doubt that it's anything related to that. Maybe a Christmas-themed world just fell to darkness and ended up stuck onto Traverse Town, like so many other worlds do? *scratches head* This one's a conundrum, for sure...

Last thing I wanted to say; the battle theme for TT seems to be a revamped version of Hand in Hand. Seems darker and less adventure-y. I still like it, mind.

Last bit of footage involves Wonder Meow falling down the stairs of the 1st District and just being overall adorable while the lovely reprise of Dearly Beloved from KHI plays in the background. Aw.

And...that's it, folks. Hurrah.

~~~

Phew. Told ya it was a lot of news, all things considered. Nomura did say back in July in the Famitsu interview that...

...from this summer to next spring, we’ll continue releasing information and sales dates for KH...

...so hopefully the healthy batch of news this month means that he's sticking to his word. Maybe at least one big-ish piece of news each month 'til release? Just something to make the wait all the more bearable... As long as it doesn't completely spoil DDD and its mysterious plot. I hate when trailers and junk do that...

tl;dr: DDD came no.22 on Famitsu's readers' 'most anticipated games thing' list. KH tunes shall be present at a Squeenix orchestra in January. Richard Epcar has HINTED at a POSSIBLE new version of Xehanort. MAYBE. We gots some new footage of Sora gameplay from Nintendo's recent conference, which is always fun. Looking as stunning as ever~ Wonder Cat is fairly damn adorable, it has to be said...

Yeah. Ugh, I'm tired. Stupid school, making me exert energy...

Laters.

Hope for KH at Jump Festa + Wishes/Dreams for TWEWY in DDD

It's time for another Kingdom Hearts-related blathering, folks! A-hyuck, hyuck! ...Yeah, done with that. I should really be doing my homework or something, but effort of that, y'know? Anyway.

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So, not much news has arised since that last Famitsu interview two weeks ago, which was a rather wondrous interview indeed. However, it has come out that Square Enix will be attending Jump Festa this year. Hurrah! (Thank you, andriassang for translations and junk!) Jump Festa is basically a huge-o convention in Japan mainly revolving around anime, manga and games. This year it shall be held from December 17th-18th just outside of Tokyo, as per usual. Entry is free, which makes it all the more annoying that I can't go, what with my residence in Ireland and all. Bother.

Squeenix shall be attending again, as they do every year, along with these folks...

Exciting indeed. Now, we don't know for sure if Squeenix will be unveiling anything new in terms of KH goodness, but I'd say they will be. As far as I know, Jump Festa is the next big event for Squeenix, meaning this'll probably be our best bet for KH stuff this year. ...If that makes sense. Whatever. Also, Nomura mentioned the series' 10th anniversary next year a while back in that Dengeki interview in August.

"The interview also touched briefly on the future of the Kingdom Hearts series. Nomura admitted that it's become difficult to get new players into the series at present. This is one thing they're hoping to address as part of the series' 10th anniversary. One part of this plan is some sort of "HD technical test" for the series."

Thus far, nothing else has been said on the matter. Rather strange, considering 2012 is only three months away(!) Man, 2011 has flown by... Anywho. This extract makes it seem like DDD won't be the only thing planned for next year. December seems like a good time to announce something big and anniversary-related, and what better venue to announce it than at Jump Festa? Seems logical to me... At any rate, I'd say it's pretty much guaranteed we'll be getting something at least DDD related. Perhaps a new trailer or a slightly more concrete release date than just 'Spring 2012'? I'm salivating already.

Now, onto that other bit in the title, my wishes/dreams for The World Ends With You in Kingdom Hearts. As such, this post will be fairly damn spoilerific if you haven't played TWEWY or at least rather boring as you won't know who or what I'm talking about. I'll put in an obnoxious SPOILER if it's properly majorly spoilerific, but it shouldn't be too bad as a whole. In all seriousness, though, go play TWEWY. SO. GOOD. ._.



Yeah. So we already know that Neku shall be making an appearance (still can't get over how epic that is~) and will be Sora's party member in Traverse Town.

Beginning in Traverse Town as usual you’ll meet your party member, but since I wanted to put in a fresh character, we put in Neku from The World Ends With You.

(Imma mostly be referencing the Famitsu interview from two weeks ago in this post, so go read that to be up to speed and junk.)

So, Neku as a party member. I'm wondering how he'll fight. Yes, with pins, obviously, but the majority of his psychs seem better suited to special abilities. They're pretty flashy and wondrous. Wait, should prolly elaborate for folks that haven't played TWEWY... Neku uses badges, or pins, to activate different kickass abilities, called psychs, that you use to fight with in the game. Some psychs I think would be great for special abilities in DDD include Pyrokinesis (creates a path of fire), Lightning Arrester (fires a bolt of lightning), Massive Hit (charges up for a while to unleash HELL upon thine enemies) and Cure Drink (replenishes HP by drinking some soda). Of course there are others, but they're the ones I thought of first that would be easy to implement in DDD.

However, it's harder to think of less splendiferous psychs that Neku would use on a regular basis, as in non-special abilities. Just regular ol' attacks for the majority of the time. Shockwave would be a good one (attacks enemies by...slashing, I guess), as would Stellar Fury (jabbing at the enemy). Again, definitely more, but my lack of bothered-ness prevents me from going on. Of course, they don't have to make sure every attack in Neku's moveset is a specific psych from TWEWY, but it'd be a nice touch, especially for special abilities.

One of my favourite things about TWEWY is it's incredibly distinct gameplay mechanics method thing. You basically control two characters at the same time; Neku on the bottom screen using slashes, taps, drags and more on the touch screen and his partner on the top screen using the face buttons. It gets insanely frantic and is near impossible to grasp immediately, but give it a while and you'll master controlling both screens in no time.

A small part of me is hoping beyond hope that they will use this unique gameplay dealy-o in DDD, but I doubt it. Seems like a lot of superfluous effort just for one world. You'd have to switch up the entire control scheme just to control Sora on the bottom screen and Neku on the top. I seriously doubt it. :/ Though having it in a mini-game would be great. Or maybe we could get Fusions? They're super special awesome moves performed by teaming up with your partner, so pretty much like Dual Links. It's be great if they turned the game momentarily 2D and TWEWY-ified for Fusions, but again that would seem like a lot of effort. Ho hum.


Oh, wait, Neko Cat.

How are they gonna incorporate Neku's Dream Eater Spirit Thing? Will it act as its own party member or will it only be able to attack with Neku for special moves or whatever? Oh dear, I hope it's not that Neku channels his spirit or whatever into Neko Cat, meaning you only actually have Neko Cat as a party member... They better not give some bull excuse for not having Neku fight. They wouldn't do that. That's just stupid. I really hope Neko Cat counts as its own party member. Here's hoping!

Now, Sora as Neku's partner in the Reapers' Game.

...He [Neku] has strayed from his partner and since Neku says that having a partner is necessary in order to win the Game, Sora helps him out, though he doesn’t really understand the Game.

Aw, can't wait~ Ugh, more elaboration required. So, in TWEWY, Neku is a Player in the Reapers' Game. This is a seven day-long game run by the Reapers that involves completing a mission each day within the time limit (the red timer ticking down on Neku's hand).

Fail the mission, or get beaten by Noise (the monster-esque enemies of the game), and you get erased. The only way you can fight Noise is by using psychs and if you have formed a pact with another Player. Also, if you don't have a partner, you get erased (which is a Very Bad Thing). Sorry, I would elaborate further, but I don't want to get too spoilerific. Just go play it! It's so good!

So yeah. Sora as Neku's partner. Sorry, I don't know how to go on without spoiler-ifying this next bit. 'Tis rather spoilerific. You can still read it if you haven't played TWEWY or if you're only halfway through it or whatever, as I shall strive to not be too specific, but please don't. That game deserves to be played non-spoiled. c:

(SPOILER)


Sora'll prolly count as an illegal Player, given that he doesn't have the, uh, qualifications to be playing the Game for reals. But will he be more like Joshua, sneaking his way in undetected, or Beat, barging through and not taking 'no' for an answer? The main difference, I think, is that the Reapers knew about Beat but only Minamimoto knew about Joshua, and he wanted him playing. This meant that Beat had to pay an entry fee whereas Josh got off scot free. Will Sora have to pay such a fee? Would certainly be interesting in terms of character development, seeing what Sora's entry fee would be, but I kinda doubt it. His fee would prolly be his friends or his connection to his friends or whatever, and I can't imagine DDD continuing without Sora's friends. Especially Riku, seeing as he's actually a playable character. Sure, it could be just Kairi or something, but that still seems like it would take too many important plot points away from the story, I guess. *having difficulty articulating thoughts*

I'd say that Sora being an illegal Player will be an easy means to answer some otherwise difficult questions. Presumably we'll be able to leave Traverse Town to explore other worlds, something you wouldn't be able to do in the actual Game in TWEWY. Neku will probably be all "I can't leave, being a Player and whatnot. But you go on ahead. I'll just be chillin' here. Whatevs..." Or something. As in, that'll be the excuse why Sora can go off galivanting across the universe while Neku'll be stuck in Traverse Town; Neku's a proper Player whereas Sora's illegal.

They're probably gonna be very lenient with all the rules of the Game. Obviously they can't put all of them in DDD, like not being allowed to leave the specified playing area, being unconcious until the next day, maybe even entry fees as a whole. (But Neku says something like "I can't afford to lose this Game," or something in the trailer, meaning he probably has paid an entry fee and needs it back. He says that line in TWEWY, or at least something like it, in Week 2 about his entry fee then... Whatever.) I'm just saying that they won't be able to keep all of the rules from the Game in DDD; they would probably contradict some KH rules anyway. They prolly won't get into the nitty-gritty of everything, but they should have a fair enough general gist of the Game. Aw. Can't wait! :D


(/SPOILER)

Hmm, what now... Let's go into possible partners for Riku! I assume he'll get a partner, seeing as how Sora has Neku. The most obvious one, I think, is Shiki.

Why I think she's the most obvious, you ask? She's the only TWEWY character (apart from Neku) that Nomura mentioned by name in the interview.

...He [Neku] has been separated from his original partner Shiki. We’ll go into more detail about Shiki and the others in a follow up report.

Neku was partnered up with Shiki, and now that they got seperated, logic stands that Shiki must be wandering about partnerless too. Cue Riku. And Shiki would be a great party member, especially if she still uses Mr Mew to fight.

This'll need some explanation if you haven't played TWEWY... Shiki has a toy cat called Mr Mew for which she uses a psych to control and inflict severe injuries upon her foes. And. It's. AWESOME. Mr Mew is a freakin' legend. Look at him, standing there, hands on his hips like a li'l boss. Aw, if Mr Mew ends up being Shiki's Spirit or something... <3

Shiki as a party member for Riku would be pretty great. They'd get on well together. Shiki would prolly remind Riku of Sora, what with her perky optimism and tendency to be a smidge slow once in a while... (Still love them both, mind.) Ugh, I'm awful of thinking of ways for characters to interact with one another...

So, yeah. Shiki seems downright probable at this point, with her being confirmed to be playing the Game at the mo and currently (presumably) partnerless. The only disadvantage to Shiki, I think, is that she's not this guy.

Oh, come on. You know Joshua needs to be in this game. He'd be brilliant as Riku's partner just for the sheer hilarity. Riku would hate Josh-Josh so friggin' much, enough to rival even Neku's loathing for the little prick. Their interaction would just be amazing, purely for the lulz.

Joshua would make an epic partner specifically because, well, hello?! SUPER JESUS BEAMS. IN 3D. OOH, CROSSED WITH RIKU'S DARK AURA. MAKE IT HAPPEN. NAOW. Aw, the hype is strong. Man, if that ends up being their Fusion/Dual Link/Whatever... Might not happen, but it could. It should. Aw, my hopes are gonna be ruthlessly dashed, aren't they? *tries to maintain positive attitude*

Partner or not, Joshua is making an appearance. Mark my words, Internet, Yoshiya 'Joshua' Kiryu of The World Ends With You fame shall be in Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. Or so help me God... But in all seriousness, he's gonna be there. My confidence comes from this little gem from the interview.

Neku’s appearance in Traverse Town was by special means that have to do with his reason for being there.

'Special means'? I won't get into too much detail, seeing as how I don't want to have to spoiler-ify everything again, but it has to mean Joshua at least played a part in his appearance in Traverse Town. Has to. Well, could be Mr H, or something, but... I'm still thinking Joshua and his various shenanigans played a fairly large role in the whole Traverse Town fiasco. Can't wait to see why exactly they're all chillin' in TT... Gonna be awesome~

The only other character I can see as a feasible party member for Riku would be.... *drum roll*

...Daisukenojo Bito! (Or 'Beat' for short.) The only reason I think he could be Riku's party member is because he's the only other player that we get to see fight in TWEWY. Beat uses his skateboard to crush all those in his path. Not too dissimilar to how you can do so in KH2, now that I think about it... Anyway. Beat would also be great for hilarity, if only to hear his Beat-erisms all over again.

However, to be perfectly honest, Beat strikes me more as another random cameo rather than a full-fledged party member. Shiki and Joshua just seem to be better candidates for that role. I'd love for Beat to make an appearance at some stage, though, especially if he was with his sister Rhyme.

They'd be great as recurring characters in Traverse Town. Maybe Beat and Rhyme could also be Players that you run into now and again? Here's hoping...

So, they're my candidates for Riku party members. How 'bout's some random NPCs now?!? There's only really one that I think needs to be in DDD, and that is Sanae Hanekoma.

Or 'Mr H', for short. Huh, never noticed he wore sandals before... Meh. Anyway, Mr H needs to be in this game. I can't really get specific on why exactly he has to be, but it wouldn't make sense if Mr H wasn't playing a part in the Game. Even if it's just for one scene, we need Mr H up in this here game. If they put his coffee shop Wild Kat in Traverse Town and had him as the shop keeper, I would be forever happy. Man, that'd be awesome... Here I go setting my expectations too high again~ But yeah. Mr H needs to happen.

Now, you can't have the Reapers' Game without Reapers. My preference?

Well, duh. Did you really have to ask? If Sho Minamimoto isn't in this game, there will be blood. He's basically a deranged sociopath with a strong affinity for art and maths that randomly spouts various mathematical terms and mnemonics. He's also very badass. Minamioto is one of those characters that really shouldn't work, but they do. They do so well... He'd be great for DDD because...hell, it's SHO MINAMIMOTO. No explanation required!

*sigh* Ok, I'll give one anyway... I'm guessing that this Reapers' Game will need a Game Master (the Reaper that calls the shots for that week). Minamimoto actually was a Game Master in TWEWY, meaning it's definitely not out of the question for him to reprise that role. He also made for one of the best/hardest boss battles in TWEWY, meaning he'd be brilliant as the final boss of Traverse Town (or maybe just even a secret boss?). Finally, Minamimoto is awesome. He's a major fan favourite, so even if they just plonked him in for fan service... Whatever. Just let Minamimoto be in this game, Square! *crosses fingers*

Of course, there are a lot more Reapers and random NPCs in TWEWY, but the characters I've mentioned thus far are the ones I think are most likely. I'd love for Kariya and Uzuki, Konishi, Kitaniji, Higashizawa and, hell, even Mick to be in DDD. But sadly, they probably won't have that many TWEWY cameos in one game. They probably won't even have the seven I've mentioned. As long as Neku, Shiki, Josh and Mr H are all present and accounted for, I'm good. Ugh, that even seems like it might be too much... Grrr.

Actually, they could have more TWEWY cameos if they wanted too. I mean, Traverse Town has been specifically orchrestrated around TWEWY in DDD.

This time Traverse Town is constructed around the reason that Neku and co. have come.

See? Rather than the normal FF characters that are just scattered across various worlds, Traverse Town is going to entirely revolve aroung the TWEWY gang. Maybe it'll have as many TWEWY characters as yer regular Disney world, then. Aw, please let it be so!

Continuing with that quote, it seems like there won't be anything else in Traverse Town apart from the Reapers' Game and junk. As in, this won't just be a little sub plot; it IS the plot. Gonna be important~ Which I love. Sometimes I find it a little weird that they just randomly plonk an FF character in Olympus Coliseum, or randomly state that they're originally from Radiant Garden or whatever. With TWEWY, it seems like they're going to fully integrate Neku & Co into the overall KH plot, completely intertwining the two worlds. I am excite.

Also, I wouldn't say that you'll complete the Reapers' Game in one visit to Traverse Town and never return. No, I'd wager that you first arrive in TT as Sora, form a pact with Neku, complete Day 1, bugger off to save another world somewhere, return to TT, complete Day 2, leave again, etc etc. As in the Reapers' Game will span across the entire game rather than just being completed in one sitting. OH, and at the end you get a TWEWY-themed Keyblade. Styled like CAT graffiti. Make it happen. *snaps fingers*

Hmm, what else can I ramble on about... Well, in TWEWY, pretty much all of the cast tends to curse, whereas in KH, they...don't. Well, in the original Chain of Memories, Axel says "Give me one hell of a show!" but that's about it. But their profinity for cussing and the like is what made the TWEWY cast so realistic and awesome. Sure, they probably won't be able to go too far in KH (like 'bastard' or 'bitchin''), but I hope they'll at least keep 'hell' and 'damn'. That shouldn't be too much to ask for, right? If they completely censor the TWEWY characters, then, well, they won't be TWEWY characters anymore. Their cursing is an intrinsic part of their character. Aw, come on Square, don't screw this up with unneccessary censorship...

And, yeah. I think that's all I've got to say on the matter. At least, for now...

~~~

I know, I know. I'm three days late on my 'Updated fortnightly' promise. But, hey. I did say 'fortnightly(-ish)', specifically for situations like this. Hurray for loopholes!

tl;dr: Squeenix will be at Jump Festa, meaning there's hope yet for a KH appearance. I have great expectations for TWEWY in DDD. Neku as a party member will be badass, as will having Sora as his partner in the Reapers' Game. I think Shiki and Joshua would be the most likely candidates for Riku's partner, assuming he's playing the Game as well. Beat and Rhyme as cameos would be great, as would Mr H, Minamimoto or any character ever from TWEWY. Methinks the TWEWY plot will be extremely important indeed, rather than just a random little sub plot just plonked in for little reason. They better keep the TWEWY characters' cussing.

MAN, I'm excited for Dream Drop Distance! :D If more wondrous news comes out in the next two weeks, I'll write some random junk on that. If not, eh, I'll prolly write something on my expectations for DDD, who's gonna get saved, connections to 'Birth By Sleep', etc etc. Maybe. If I'm bothered.

Oh, credit where credit is due, and junk. Thank you SO FREAKIN' MUCH to the TWEWY wiki for pics and helping me remember the names of junk and whatever. Yeah. Thank you! :D

I gotta go make cupcakes and Mars Bar Squares now. Fun times.

Laters.