Ok, let's get this over with. I got a NaNo to work on! I mean, I'm totally enthusiastic and psyched to be doing this post, as you are to be reading it. Totally.
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Not a lotta news in the past couple of weeks, but we did get a li'l snippet, so hurrah. Well, more like a promise of eventual news, so whatever. Anyway, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is now confirmed to be making an appearance at Jump Festa this year. Yay! (Say thank you to Jump Festa's official site, FF-Reunion and andriasang for translation. YOU GUYS ROCK.)
Now, this was practically a guarantee beforehand, what with KH pretty much always showing up at Jump Festa. But now it's confirmed and confirmations are always good. Always. ._. Oh, em, Jump Festa is A Very Big Deal, being this large convention in Japan every year. This year, it's running from December 17th-18th, meaning we'll be getting a healthy dollop of KH wonderment in time for Decemberwe'en. Hurrah! Also, confirmation of a playable demo at JF. Hurrah of the highest proportion!
As for my own, personal expectations for DDD's appearance at JF, I think a more solid release date is pretty likely. Maybe even a general Elsewhere release date, too? *crosses fingers* A new trailer would be very much appreciated, especially if it shows another new world. So far, in the year-and-a-bit that we've known about this game, only two worlds have been confirmed: Traverse Town and La Cité de Cloches. I don't think another world would be too much to ask for. Maybe two, if they're gonna be showing off Sora and Riku in different worlds in the demo? Here's hoping...
New info is pretty much a guarantee, but I really don't want them to start going all spoilerific on us now. They did it perfectly at TGS, giving tons of new info (Dream Eaters, Realm of Sleep, NEKU), plenty to specualte over (the scene with AX comes to mind), but not so much that you can guess the entire plot. The whole thing is still a complete mystery; amazing, considering as how close to release it is. I really hope they don't trip up now and give a lot more ifo than they should. I hate feeling like I've been spoiled for something just by watching the freaking trailer. So, news is good, just not too much news. Or at least, not too much news from after the first fifteen minutes of the game.
I know I'm being greedy, but I'm kind of hoping that DDD won't be the only thing KH at JF. I refer once again to this little snippet from the Dengeki interview with Tetsuya Nomura (game director/tap dancing extraordinaire) from August (translation courtesy of andiasang!).
"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."
Still as mysterious now as it was back then. Ah, memories... Still have no clue what 'HD technical test' is supposed to mean, though. Anyway. Since this interview, the 10th anniversary hasn't been mentioned again once. Weird, especially seeing as we're nearing the end of 2011 and the anniversary is March 28th 2012 (for Japan, at any rate. NA is September 17th and Europe is November 15th).
So, this interview kind of a little bit maybe makes it seem sorta like a HD collection might be a possibility. Maybe. It would certainly fit the bill of 'getting new players into the series'. If it is a HD collection, it'll prolly have KHI and II, maybe Re:Chain of Memories, possibly Birth by Sleep... That last one might be asking for too much. Anyway, if a HD collection is underway, I sincerely hope that it'll include all the Final Mix stuff not released outside of Japan. Hell, throw in some extra extra cutscenes in there while you're at it. May as well.
If there is a HD collection in the works, it'd be awesome for it to be announced at JF, but I won't be getting my hopes up.
Now, back to the snippet. It keeps saying '...one thing they're hoping to address...', 'One part of this plan...'. Methinks there's gonna be more KH goodness in store for 2012. I can't really imagine there being another game for next year, so that pretty much rules out BBSv2 (which I still firmly believe is a game and not a movie or something). Hmm, what else can you have for a 10th anniversary... The only thing coming to mind is some kind of HD collection, but it seems like there's gonna be more KH wonderment for 2012 besides that (if we take it that Nomura is talking about a HD collection here). Special edition 3DS for DDD? I dunno. I'm bad at thinking. :c
One part of me is thinking that it's very likely that they'll announce something alongside DDD at JF. 2012 is so close, and we know that they'll be doing stuff for the anniversary, but so far nothing has been confirmed. Smidge strange, no? Then again, another, larger part of me is thinking that they won't want to overshadow DDD by clogging the show up with other KH loveliness. Yeah, they'll prolly just be focusing on DDD. Which is fine, of course. New junk is always fun!
Now, onto the next bit in the post title: Thoughts for DDD Plot. Joy of joys... Man, I don't know what's gonna happen. But I suppose it'll be fun when the game finally comes out and proves me completely wrong... 'K, we're doing this.
First off, the Mark of Mastery exam. Yen Sid, in the trailer from TGS (translation from SQEX GAL - thanks!) says that...
Yen Sid: From here, you two will take the Mark of Mastery Exam. ... Let’s open the keyhole of sleep. If you return back to this place, then I will consider you Masters.
...the MoM will take place in the Realm of Sleep and that Sora and Riku will have proved themselves as masters as long as they, y'know, don't die, or something. Now, this little snippet makes it seem like the MoM will span across the entire game as Sora and Riku are in the RoS. However, if we go back to a Nomura interview (translated by andrisang!) back before the first trailer in January...
The Mark of Mastery test will not span the entirety of the game. Only some parts of the game will cover the test.
...the MoM won't span across the entire game. Curious indeed. It certainly seems like Yen Sid fully intends Sora and Riku's excursion into the RoS to be fully focused on their MoM (*sniggers*), so the game plot not entirely revolving around it seems to be something they haven't planned for. As in, something has gone wrong. Interesting...
My money is on Xehanort doing something. He's always doing stuff... If my theory from my last post is correct and Xehanort was whisked off to the RoS after having his Heartless and Nobody destroyed and is currently looking for a way out, he could be causing hassle in the worlds to make Sora and Riku linger or gather more info on how to go about leaving the RoS or something else I couldn't be bothered of thinking of.
Of course, we always have to consider the possibility that the above fact is just simply outdated. It is from last January, so. Maybe they changed it later on in development and now the entire game is focused on the MoM? I wouldn't say so, though. Seems like a big plot point to just leave out. DDD's plot is supposed to be shocking and stuff, so everything going peachy for the entire thing seems rather unlikely.
Another cause of something going wrong could be Sora and his cockiness. I refer to the TGS trailer (HD prettiness courtesy of KH13)...
...and the line Sora says at 0:10 (translation courtesy of SQEX GAL)...
Sora, surprised: Even without taking it, no one can beat me!
As a joke, this line would be fine. In fact, when the translation came out first, I thought he was joking, just a bit of playful-yet-competitive banter with Riku like the good ol' days. However, his body language in the trailer makes it clear that Sora is being serious as he says it. Ok, yes, he has just saved the universe from falling to darkness twice at this stage, so he's probably still pumped after that.
But still, his body language just screams over-confidence, much more than we've seen before. Yeah, Sora's always been confident and a li'l cocky sometimes, but here he's in full-on "I'M BETTER THAN GODDAMN EVERYONE" mode. I mean, the MoM isn't even about winning, just about being worthy. I see trouble in Sora's future if he doesn't change his tune...
So yeah. I think Sora's cockiness is gonna get the better of him in DDD, leading him to take a big ol' slice of humble pie. He might do something reckless at some point, putting himself and those closest to him in danger. Would certainly be a wake-up call for a kid like Sora whose 'friends are his power'.
Something else I can see happening would be Sora falling to darkness, or at least getting fairly damn close. I refer to the tagline of DDD...
Darkness becomes light,
Light falls into darkness.
...and the words that pop up in the first January trailer (for which we can thank antisortep for the HD loveliness)...
Sleep & waking
Goodwill & malice
Sora & Riku
Man, I remember thinking that that trailer's gameplay was too impossibly fast... Looks downright tame to what we've seen of DDD since.
Anyway. All this talk of light falling to darkness seems to me like someone will be falling in this game (or 'dropping', as it were). Riku's been there, done that, but Sora has not. Maybe his cockiness leads to his downfall and departure into darkness. I s'pose that counts as 'shocking', right? Better not be the game's big gobsmacking finish, though. Seems a little too predictable for that. If even I could think of it, then you know it's way too easy.
Onto something closely related to Sora and darkness and whatnot: Vanitas. (As such, this next bit will be somewhat a little bit kinda (SPOILER) if you haven't played BBS, so. Just skip it if you wish to remain completely pure. Shouldn't be too bad, though.)
Vanitas will be making a return. He has to. They can't just come up with one of the most badass characters of all time ever and not use him again, y'know? I have a whole theory on why Vanitas is practically guaranteed a reappearance and how he will do so, but that is for another day. Basically, I think he's living inside Riku to complement Ventus chillin' inside Sora. But for the sake of him appearing in DDD, I think him just hangin' out in the RoS is more plausible.
Basically the exact same thing as my Xehanort theory, I think Vanitas could have been shipped off to the RoS after BbS as he didn't have someone to anchor him to the RoL like Ventus with Sora. It's possible. OR, if we incorporate my other theory about Vanitas being inside Riku's heart (which makes sense, I swear!), Riku could run into him that way. I have more to say on the 'Sora/Riku meeting folks inside their hearts' issue, so I'll say it later.
Continuing with Vanitas. If he is in this game, Sora needs to meet him. That'd be hella epic, methinks. You know it would. OR Riku could meet him and think that it was Sora and be all confused and think that Sora had been overcome with darkness and such and does some other things. Sorry, kinda ran out of steam on that last bit... But yeah. Something to that effect.
...Whatever. Just put Vanitas in this game. Or save him for KH3, I'm not fussy. As long as Vanitas gets his well-deserved reappearance, I'm good.
(/SPOILER)
So, something else I expect to see in DDD is Sora/Riku interacting with those that have hurt to be mended. I always thought that they wouldn't be saving anyone that needs to be saved in DDD, seeing as it isn't a main title game and that that plot line seems kinda uberly important. (Of course, it has been stated numerous times that DDD's impotance is on par with that of a numbered title, but still...) However, now I'm thinking that Sora/Riku will at least learn who has to be saved, or even interact with them in some way. Some of them could be saved in DDD, but I remain skeptical.
Firstly, those that have to be saved. The ending of BbS and coded have named Roxas, Axel/Lea, Xion, Naminé, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Ansem the Wise and maybe Eraqus as requiring some saving. We know that Aqua and AtW are in the RoD, so that pretty much rules them out for an appearance in DDD. Maybe in a cutscene or flashback or something, but I doubt anything beyond that. I can't really imagine Axel/Lea showing up, either. Maybe if my theory is true and recently resurrected Somebodies get shipped off to the RoS... Meh.
I think the most likely candidates would be Roxas, Xion, Ventus and maybe Naminé and Terra. As I've said on previous occassions (I think...), I believe that there will be a lot of CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT in this particular title. You can see Sora's over-confidence and Riku's lack thereof even in the trailer for DDD. Methinks that these two issues will be addressed through the power of CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.
What does this have to do with those that must be saved? Uh, I'm getting to that. Anyway. I'd say that at some point, Sora and Riku will be forced to look inside their hearts or whatever for some random purpose. To become Masters, to sort out their confidence issues, general CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, etc etc. Whatever.
Also, I think that hearts and dreams will be connected in this game. Any time anyone has visited their Dive to the Heart, they've always been asleep in some way. Sora in KHI was asleep on the beach until Kairi woke him up and called him a 'lazy bum' or something for slacking off and not gathering mushrooms for their dangerous voyage across the seas in an incredibly rickety raft. Roxas in KHII was transported-ified to his Dive to the Heart when a Dusk was about to attack him, but later woke up in his bed and thought that the whole thing had been a dream (this one is a little iffier, seeing as how this is only really Sora's memory acting up and junk, but still). Ven in BbS was in a coma while having his epiphany moment, so you can count it as a dream thingy. Then Sora again in BbS towards the end. While he wasn't strictly asleep, he did have to close his eyes in deep concentration and kind of 'woke up' at the end. ...That counts.
Anyway. A rather tenuous connection between hearts and dreams, yes, but one which I think they'll incorporate in DDD. Y'know, how just because everything is a dream doesn't mean it's not real and stuffs. Plus it'd be interesting to see Riku's Dive to the Heart and what different mosaic panel things he has in there.
Right. Back to the folks Sora has to save. (Wait, some more SPOILER coming up in regards to Days and BbS. They're kind of big ones, so... Skip it if you want.)
Well, when Sora is poking around inside the innards of his heart (which I think he will be at some point), he could very well come across Roxas, Xion and Ventus lurking inside. Would be a good way to introduce him to Xion and Ven, at least, and show him the hurting that they're feeling and how exactly to go about mending it. Plus, a scene with Roxas and Ventus would be rather great. And then Xion would be all 'HAI I'M YOUR CLONE LOL'. Then Sora'd be all like 'Well, basic anatomy would care to differ.' And lulz would be had. True story. Wait, what would Xion look like now? Would she still be female with black hair and junk, or would she now look like Sora? I'd say the former, just to make things less confusion-inducing and...awkward.
Anyway. ...Dammit. I completely forgot what I was going to say. It was important, too. I haven't been writing this for a few days now, so I've completely lost my train of thought. Goddamn.
Meh.
(/SPOILER)
I'll just say this and then I'll go. Probably. It's fairly likely that Sora/Riku will at least learn about those that they have to save because, as Nomura said back in the Famitsu interview in July...
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.
...and as AtW says in the BbS' secret ending, Blank Points (go to 6:26) (Also, thank you KH13 for the vid!)...
AtW: Back then, my heart was clouded with vengeance. I did terrible things, both to him and his friends. I brought unhappiness to more lives than one. I felt something must be done. Was that why, a means of clearing my conscience, or perhaps out of a sort of scholarly instinct, while the boy slept his long sleep, I hid the results of my research inside him, transplanting the data to where it might best serve a purpose? In fact, I would like to believe, maybe he can set things right, a boy like him who touches so many hearts. He could open the right door and save all those people whose lives I managed to ruin. So many are still waiting for their new beginning, their birth by sleep. Even me, and even you.
...MAN, that took forever to type out...
Anywho, the data inside Sora has to do with helping those who are hurting. Because Nomura says that this will play a role in DDD, I think it's a fairly safe bet that Sora and Riku will at least be told that they have a long list of strangers to save from eternal damnation. Zetta fun times.
I probably had other ideas for the plot, but me tired. :c If I think of any more... I dunno. I'll say it at a later point. Joy of joys.
~~~
I'M SORRY. I'M SO SORRY. It's been, what, a month since my last post? Stupid life getting in the way of more important things like ranting about a video game series to the internet...
tl;dr: DDD is confirmed for an appearance at Jump Festa this year (December 17-18). I have several predictions for DDD, such as: something going wrong during the MoM (presumably Xehanort related); Sora's arrogance/darkness getting the better of him; Vanitas (maybe) making an appearance; MAJOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT and Sora and Riku learning about those awaiting their birth by sleep, maybe how to go about mending their hurting, etc etc.
Ugh. I don't even know why I was so late with this post. I know I mentioned that I was doing NaNoWriMo in the opening line of this, but that didn't...happen. I think I have about 3-4,000 words, 1,000 of which I already had beforehand. And this is the last week. *shame shame shame* I hate myself...
Welp, time to go procrastinate some more!
Oh, em, there was some HUGE news in regards to the reveal of a NEW FREAKIN' WORLD. ------> 'Pranksters' Paradise', aka Pinocchio! :D <------. Just highlight inside the arrows if you wanna know now. If not, wait 'til my next post, which (might) be soon (maybe) to compensate from my terrible, terrible tardiness. There was also some LOVELY screenshots from both that world and City of Bells, so. STAY TUNED.
Laters.
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