Dark Road ► Dark Road Finale Megathread

[Chaser]

I think the use of family is specifically in the context of Keyblade Society, which is the center of all these prequel games. Technically this was established from BBS' description of Eraqus' bloodline.

Of course by the time of BBS, the society has completely dwindled to random masters training kids they found alone, and then by KH1 there is no keyblade society, and the weapon can only be taken up by children who know nothing of all of this. And so family is not very important in the present day.

Yeah, family ties due to legacy makes sense now, and I get why it's coming into the series now. It's just a bit of whiplash for me that I'm still adjusting too aha.

Like I said, one of the unfunniest jokes is Sora's mothers dinner and that's been around since 2002. People have wondered about family since then. We've heard of Sora's father, Kairi was raised by the mayor etc. but the way the KH games worked, we were told that family wasn't important (and even over a decade ago, this forum would "flame" people for asking about parents and linage, saying it isn't important.) I'm just getting a bit of narrative whiplash, that's all. Now when Quadratum has a dating simulator mini-game and Sora has to meet the parents, I'll be kickstarting this conversation up all over again .

It was interesting to see Eraqus starting his Keyblade Mastery journey by having him feel like it's a requirement due to his heritage, and then come into his own and finding what he wants out of it. I enjoyed that aspect and I'm keen to see how bloodlines affected Scala during Missing Link's timeline.

 

[2 quid is good]

....why is Player body hopping? This feels like something that was established as villainous.

Hades when he played the UX update that changed Ark to Lifeboats

Me, but replacing arc with Ephemera or Blaine haha

 

[Chaser]

Just finished. Urg, that was so good.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

....why is Player body hopping? This feels like something that was established as villainous.

Me, but replacing arc with Ephemera or Blaine haha

Player isn’t body hopping. It isn’t like what Luxu has been doing (unless that gets retconned). They are just reincarnating. It looks like everybody gets a certain amount of lives to live like a cat haha

 

[Squood!]

I thought DR would upstage XC3 but no, it didn't. I don't feel bad for Xehanort, I don't have any empathy or sympathy for him unlike I did for my boy N. The difference between them is the writing, timing, and the callousness Xehanort always had versus N's once being an upstanding member of society.

Xehanort was always interested in towing the line of dark, even crossing over it, and he never showed his cards. Why? We will never know. Eraqus' friendship with him wasn't the same as his friendship with Eraqus. E seriously valued his buddy-turned-brother, even in their old age he loved his brother. Xehanort did not. Eraqus did move to kill Ven, but NOT Xehanort. Why? Because even after the scars, he STILL loved his brother. Xehanort killed Eraqus like a bitch too, and only when Xehanort himself was on death's door did he finally give in to Eraqus' wishes.

Looking back, we see Xehanort's callousness too when he kills Baldr. He wasnt supposed to kill him, just rid him of darkness. Thats why Eraqus was with shocked expression.

You thought a game with almost no budget and only two animators would upstage a big budget Nintendo game?

 

[kirabook]

Spoiler Show

Random thoughts this fine day. Yesterday I was speculating what if Sora was player reborn. We play as Sora for much of the series and it'd be very funny if Player thought they were raising the "child of prophecy" when in reality THEY were to be the "child of prophecy" in their next life.

But it just doesn't seem quite right. And I started wondering how Riku played into all this... and it got me thinking, what if RIKU is Player reborn. He sorta fulfills a similar role as Player, protecting the "child of prophecy". His natural desire for adventure, him seemingly looking up to Xehanort "the one kid that left the island". Looking for the strength to protect his friends... dunno. Feels like it fits.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Spoiler Show

Random thoughts this fine day. Yesterday I was speculating what if Sora was player reborn. We play as Sora for much of the series and it'd be very funny if Player thought they were raising the "child of prophecy" when in reality THEY were to be the "child of prophecy" in their next life.

But it just doesn't seem quite right. And I started wondering how Riku played into all this... and it got me thinking, what if RIKU is Player reborn. He sorta fulfills a similar role as Player, protecting the "child of prophecy". His natural desire for adventure, him seemingly looking up to Xehanort "the one kid that left the island". Looking for the strength to protect his friends... dunno. Feels like it fits.

I’m pretty certain that the Child of Destiny is bs.

I think every single person who was supposed to be but failed or hasn’t even been revealed to be one IS the Child of Destiny, and Sora is self-made because he was never meant to be one.

It’s one of those dumb prophesies that are true only because people put belief into it.

Riku will be one. Kairi will be one. I bet Aqua and Terra were probably believed to be it by Eraqus until Ven came into the picture.

I think it is Sora’s role to guide these people back onto their rightful paths. And I also believe MoM will see Sora go through his trials and tribulations in KH4 and also write him off as a Child of Destiny but in reality Sora will, with all of the other “children”, rise up. And Sora will just shrug at the whole thing and go “I don’t believe in that! I just believe in my friends” or something…

I feel like Player will show up in another role moving forward and not as Sora or Riku.

 

[SuperNova]

I really do hope that this Child of Destiny is just the ancient keyblade wielders being stupid again. A self fulfilling prophecy that has no real bearing on the future but causes characters to fall for it time and time again like a bait and switch.

If Nomura keeps insisting that Sora is just a normal kid then keep him that and don't make him into the super special child of specialness now.

 

[The_Echo]

Child of destiny and bloodlines/birthrights/whatever are definitely going to be things that are invented by Scalan society. And judging by the trailer, likely the core conflict of Missing-Link.
Helgi went ahead and spelled it out, people see "darkness" in those they disagree with. So imagine how a light-zealous society worshiping the bloodline of their founder and convinced there's a hero of prophecy might turn out...

 

[darknessofheart]

Pretty much exactly what Oracle Spockanort said.

I think the whole child of destiny is pretty much keeping in line with Sora and Riku's heroics throughout the entire series, just with another layer added on.

Riku was meant to inherit the Keyblade and was viewed as the traditional hero. He knew that and viewed gathering power to become stronger was what was needed when the Keyblade choose Sora. Sora just wants to help his friends and people in general and that enabled him to truly earn it.

Now with the destined child, people at Scala obviously felt strongly about Xehanort, so they thought they could make it come true by raising him on Destiny Islands. That obviously didn't work out lol. Riku was probably viewed as the same, but almost, and quite literally did for a little bit, become another Xehanort.

Characters in the series are so drawn to destiny that they keep ruining entire lives trying to prevent it or facilitate it. Sora's attitude is, whatever happens happens: I'll stay true to myself and hope that's enough. It's what makes him different from Xehanort, Luxu, and the Foretellers.

I think the MoM might also believes destiny is never defined, but knows mostly everyone thinks it is, so he uses that to his advantage. It would certainly fit his silly personality of viewing most things as a joke in spite of the dire circumstances.

 

[Nazo]

My favorite part about this was how they further addressed the dilemma of moral ambiguity in terms of light and darkness. KH has always had an appearance of "light = good, dark = bad" but yet repeatedly insists that neither is inherently good or evil in the narrative. For a series tethered to the Disney brand, it's very mature and thought-provoking to have the story discuss the idea that good and evil are virtually impossible to identify objectively, that everyone thinks they're right which justifies their actions to themselves, and that conflict is born from opposing beliefs rather than "this person good, this person evil". I imagine it's also a risky theme to tackle, also due to being tethered to Disney.

I never put together before why Fairy Godmother told Aqua "You're too young to know" in BBS when responding to her questions about darkness. Now, it makes sense. There's a certain level of self-awareness required to contemplate the idea that most things aren't black and white, and that good and evil are not so easily categorized or defined in the real world. It really gives Xehanort that extra level of depth to his motivations that he needed

Tetsuya Nomura; combining childhood nostalgia with college philosophy lectures since 2001

 

[Alpha Baymax]

This i have to agree with. game is not long enough to have this many characters.
they died way too fast to have any sort of connection with them, which lessen the impact of their death.
still pretty good for the amount of time they had though.

I forgot to mention the fact that people are tired of the Kingdom Hearts X asthetic. That style was designed way back in 2013, it's nearly a decade now and that asthetic has definitely shown its age.

 

[The_Echo]

I forgot to mention the fact that people are tired of the Kingdom Hearts X asthetic. That style was designed way back in 2013, it's nearly a decade now and that asthetic has definitely shown its age.

I-I still like it...

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I forgot to mention the fact that people are tired of the Kingdom Hearts X asthetic. That style was designed way back in 2013, it's nearly a decade now and that asthetic has definitely shown its age.

??? The style is really cute and adorable and very timeless. Unless you mean the animation which…yeah of course that is dated. It’s literally Flash.

 

[Chie]

There's basically no reason for "Child of Destiny = Sora" to actually become a bigger plot point because the thing it prophesizes has already happened from our perspective (KH3) without him even knowing about it. Which is perfect.

I'm pretty sure the reason it's brought up at all is more because it puts the final capstone on Xehanort's character. Think about it - he grew up being told he's the Child of Destiny who can save the world from darkness, so of course he grows up to think things like "I need to live 14 different lives" and "I'm the only person who can reset the world". Probably all the way until the end in KH3 he thought he was the anti-hero protagonist, saving the world because he's special and told he would.

 

[bcsimaoo]

Was I too hyped for this game?

Think about it, they are getting no money from this game, and yet they work for a whole year to make it available. I really expected there would be a great amount of important revelations to be told I'm this game. However, except for the player thing at the end, the magic mirror guiding to Ven, and Vanitas being a kind of Dragon Ball radar for the true darkness, the rest feels like a big filler....

We haven't seen Xehanort getting his Keyblade....
We haven't seen his eyes turning yellow...
We haven't seen how he is aware of the consequences of misusing the PoW...
We haven't even seen when he really decided to become the seeker of darkness...

Don't understand me wrong, I found it a pretty enjoyable experience as a KH new chapter, but really, what was the purpose of this game?

 

[Chaser]

We haven't seen Xehanort getting his Keyblade....

Didn't they say it was a Mark of Mastery bequeathing gift since Master Odin retired?

 

[Chie]

Don't understand me wrong, I found it a pretty enjoyable experience as a KH new chapter, but really, what was the purpose of this game?

It's characterizing some important characters.

It also goes further into several themes that were already brought up before such as the way keyblade society makes people paranoid over abstract concepts, and the "world order" referring to a kind of narrative the world has to follow (i.e. the movie plot).

 

[Mexican Sora]

The Vanitas scene looks a bit worrisome at first, but turns out to not contain anything new at all. He is still mostly Ven's own darkness, enhanced by the remains of the Darkness that got beaten and almost destroyed by Ven in UX. And that's how it should stay until Ven finds a way to redeem what belongs to him.

From what Master Xehanort told Vanitas, he stated that he wasn't born from Ventus AT ALL but rather latched onto him. Remember in Union Cross we find out that Ven is actually pure light and he uses this to give Darkness a form.

As of KH3 Ventus had already taken him back. I don't know why people keep confusing the past Vanitas we defeat in the graveyard as the present one.

 

[Mexican Sora]

Guess that semi-confirms Xehanort still being around in some form, huh?

I wouldn't put it past Xehanort if he casted part of his heart away in the same machine he sent Kairi off during his time as an apprentice.