If 358/2 Days got the Re:Com treatment it could be a masterpiece

[UmbraTsuki]

Umm, yeah, we knew about them existing. But we didn't know they were "hurting" and needed Sora to save them.

I personally felt like it was pretty clear they were "hurting"... Sora needing to save them was the new part.

Which I also adressed:

I actually just couldn't tell which game you were talking about at that point asdfjkal;

Which we didn't need to know for the overall plot of the franchise

It's not a plot detail, but it's a background detail. Which is still nice to have.

So? That doesn't change the fact that it was first revealed in Coded.

I know, and I'm pointing out that Days first revealed certain information as well.

Again, Days didn't add much to the overall plot, it just didn't. If Days hadn't existed at all (also meaning, yes, Xion not existing at all) and we got straight to BBS, we wouldn't really lose anything plot relevant

My point is not that we'd lose overarching plot things, but that details to the plot would be absent. If the point of Days was giving background for Roxas leaving the Organization, it wasn't meant to progress the plot, but to provide certain details/background.

 

[Elysium]

Well, "masterpiece" is a stretch, but it would be much better game if the gameplay was smoother and the graphics were the same as the rest of the series. I wish it could've got re-made, and yet I don't want them wasting time they could be spending on new installments.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

What are the only two ever quoted, just out of curiosity? (Or is that Axel's shout and Xion's death?)

Yeah, it's those two. The fact that hardly any other event is mentioned when discussing about Days good points kinda speaks for itself.

Maybe it's because I like focusing on detail so much and tend to focus on detail more than bigger pictures, but the changes in routine with certain points/days in the game are subtle but significant. Because breaks from routine are significant, even if it's by a little bit -- for some people, at least. In that sense, they did some "show-don't-tell" things with it.

I like the show don't tell type too, but I've seen far better attempt at it. Meaning I think Days borders more on "we made several scenes identical to each other due to our lack of narrative skills" rather than "we made scenes nearly identical but it's all a well-crafted metaphor about routine or something."

Doesn't evolve? The whole game is about them trying to become their own people. The major difference between them is that Roxas never stops trying to be his own person, while Xion accepts her role as just another part of Sora. They go from strangers, to friends, to enemies... I'd call that evolution.

That's change. Not necessarily linked to evolution. (also saying they became enemies it's a bit ofa stretch)
No, their personality and how they approach at life don't evolve at all. Theystart as sad, insecure teens who are metaphorically always screaming at therest of the world and they end on the same note, not acquiring real confidenceor knowledge in the process.
Like, I know from KH II Roxas will betray the Organization right? Then if Daysshowed me (as I would imagine was the whole point) a Roxas who trusted the Organization and only then changed his mind, then I could talk about the evolution of a character.

But Roxas was introduced as someone with all the reasons to betray them from the beginning. He and Xion never fit with the group, they didn't have a single relationship outside of Axel, questioned everything everytime, and so on.
Let's not mix up story progression with character development: they did stuff, but remained monotone.

I'm not saying their purpose or goal was wrong or anything, but it was always there. It can be good, but not a proof of development.

I think that's kind of point. Even Axel didn't expect to become friends with Roxas, but the whole Saix turning into a walking douche monster pushed Axel towards Roxas and Xion who were some of the only good people in the Org. I thought the whole Axel + Saix relationship was written really well, and was one of my favorite parts of the Days story.

It was written well for a behind the scenes sideshow. The main friendship of the game is the issue, and while Saix's change and how Axel reacted to it might be interesting topics, they don't suffice to justify his almost instantaneous Roxas-boner. (I use boner in a comedic way, I'm not strictly talking about a love relationship.)

Org 13 has always been portrayed as people who manipulate things from the shadows. From COM - KH2 they only really fight when they have to (Like Lexeaus fighting Riku to unleash his darkness, Demyx fighting Sora only because he was ordered to, or Vexen fighting Sora to get Data from his memories).

If we're talking about the very same Organization that:
- Met Sora face to face while on the Princesses' radar in order to get some of his memories
- Stole the Olympus Stone and smacked Phil without making sure he didn't spill the beans (also ran around the Underworld for no better specified reason)
- Tried a frontal attack through Hollow Bastion's gates
- (probably) Freed Jafar Genie to wreak havoc upon Agrabah
- Actively showed themselves to steal Port Royal's medallions
- Actively manipulated the Beast
- (probably) turned a dragon into a Heartless to wreak havoc on the imperial city
- Kept infesting Twilight Town with Nobodies
- Played an active role in Hollow Bastion's all out war

Then I think we played two different versions of the KH games. Organization XIII interfered a lot, and various npcs saw them and described them to Sora. Leon and his gang already knew about them on their own.
They did most of that in order to push Sora in their clutches? Yes. But they never cared for subtlety, because they had no reason to. I mean, they also remove their hoods just to talk and reveal their faces.
Xaldin fought when he had no reason to, same for Demyx: who cares if they were orders, facing Sora at that point was a lose/lose situation for them, in any case not necessary at all.

You kind of contradict yourself here. Days DEFINITELY has flaws, and it's easily one of my least favorite KH games from a gameplay stand point. But the mere fact that I think the story was great and you think the story is awful, proves that the game's quality isn't objective. It's all about how heavily the pros and the cons are weighed by the individual. I see where you're coming from though.

Not really.
Both of us saying we liked/didn't like the story is subjective.
Me saying the story isn't really good from a pacing, narrative, development point of view is more of an objective statement.
One can retort it just isn't true, and okay, but... usually the products we look up to as the best examples of narrative and storytelling are kinda opposed to what Days did, so.

 

[UmbraTsuki]

Well, "masterpiece" is a stretch, but it would be much better game if the gameplay was smoother and the graphics were the same as the rest of the series. I wish it could've got re-made, and yet I don't want them wasting time they could be spending on new installments.

I actually agree. It's my favorite game and I'd always loved the idea of a remake, but I don't think it will happen. And new content would be more exciting, anyway. It's fun to daydream about a remake though.

Yeah, it's those two. The fact that hardly any other event is mentioned when discussing about Days good points kinda speaks for itself.

Huh. To me, that's strange. I guess since I haven't discussed the game in a long time, but I wouldn't have thought those would be the only two points brought up. I guess for emotional fanart value, I do see those a lot, but there are so many other moments in the game that stood out to me more.

I like the show don't tell type too, but I've seen far better attempt at it. Meaning I think Days borders more on "we made several scenes identical to each other due to our lack of narrative skills" rather than "we made scenes nearly identical but it's all a well-crafted metaphor about routine or something."

Perhaps, but the key word is also "attempt." Like they probably meant for more meaning in it, but failed to get that across. I still interpret it as the latter, but everyone will interpret things differently. And I can agree they could have done a better job.

Like, I know from KH II Roxas will betray the Organization right? Then if Daysshowed me (as I would imagine was the whole point) a Roxas who trusted the Organization and only then changed his mind, then I could talk about the evolution of a character.

But Roxas was introduced as someone with all the reasons to betray them from the beginning. He and Xion never fit with the group, they didn't have a single relationship outside of Axel, questioned everything everytime, and so on.

I somewhat agree, but I also don't think he didn't trust the Organization from the beginning. He did question everything, but he seemed to accept answers from other members of the Organization as well (sometimes with reassurance from Axel, sometimes not).

 

[alexis.anagram]

I like the show don't tell type too, but I've seen far better attempt at it. Meaning I think Days borders more on "we made several scenes identical to each other due to our lack of narrative skills" rather than "we made scenes nearly identical but it's all a well-crafted metaphor about routine or something."

More like it's a well-crafted metaphor about time. From its title to its framing to the repetition of its structure, Days is interested in questions about time: specifically, what its characters do with it, who they spend it with, and most of all, what they do when their time is up. The text is stacked with references to this motif, from some of the very first words we hear Roxas and Axel exchange ("You're early." / "No, you're just late.") to the chapter-like progression of the plot, which looks a lot like a countdown. The slow movement of the time RAX spends together is directly juxtaposed with the urgency of Sora's (and, by extension, Namine's) situation, which is appropriate as, similarly to how Xion draws memories from Sora and tangles them up with her own, she also comes to understand over the course of the game how she's stealing his time and how hers must, necessarily, be cut short in order to restore the flow of time as it is intended to occur-- what Xemnas might refer to as "marching at destiny's own time." Ice cream, an inevitably temporary treat, is used as a constant visual reference to this end (esp. in the HD collection, where Xion is repeatedly shown during key scenes holding her ice cream just over her heart when she's speaking with Roxas and Axel), while the seashells Roxas and Xion trade back and forth invoke a notion of time and space, and how one is not necessarily affixed to the other: Xion hears the sound of the waves despite being far removed from the beach (Destiny Islands lol), and they remind her of a "past life"; she leaves a single seashell behind after she disappears (Chekhov's seashell?).

Of course you can disagree with the manner in which the story is presented; I can understand how someone would find Days boring in that it doesn't prop up its narrative with the same blockbuster gusto of other games in the series, but that doesn't mean its lacking in intention or technique. You argue the objective perspective and make this statement:

usually the products we look up to as the best examples of narrative and storytelling are kinda opposed to what Days did, so.

But Days lives up to almost every example that comes to mind in its preference for subtext and its mapping of characters as emotional points of reference rather than mouthpieces for plot set up. It uses dynamic imagery like those of its dream sequences to convey meaning the script can't and shouldn't, is clever in its foreshadowing ("red" certainly does travel the farthest; Roxas does forget the boss's name), and grounds it all with a clear, purposed refrain: ice cream at sunset.

 

[Nukara]

If you create something only, after KH3.

 

[Muke]

Ugh please not even after 3, let's just move on from this saga finally.

 

[Zettaflare]

Personally, instead of a rewrite I would have just cut Days entirely and went straight to BBS. It just wasn't a story that needed to be told.

Maybe Coded as well but that's a discussion for another day

 

[DarkosOverlord]

Well it's past midnight here soooo...

In my opinion Coded's only mistake was coming out when it came out, in a period where BbS set the new storyline and almost everyone was pumped out for what would've come next. "Next" in a lot of ways, since at the time KH II was still the furthest the story went (minus BbS' secret ending)
With this premise, it's at least understandable that many people were unable to look past the fact that Coded Sora still had KH1's outfit. And when the old worlds and characters made their debut, Coded's downfall was pretty much set. "A worst CoM", "unnecessary chapter", "yet another retelling" are only some of the names thrown from day one till... well, till today honestly.
I got to really enjoy Re:Coded's when I stopped seeing it as the new KH title I had to hurry up and finish in order to get the important bits out, and spent an entire summer playing it in my spare time (playing it like a videogame basically).

I end this tiny retrospective by returning a little bit in-topic: Re:Coded it's fine, but that's a title I would've liked better after KH III, as some kind of "lost chronicle" that explored the datascape and all those maguffins. Because, while Re:Coded's contents are important and the game introduced quite the topics (so saying it's worthless it's just wrong), there's no denying many of them could've been introduced easily in another, and perhaps better, way.
Now, would this apply to Days as well? Some kind of lost episode after the deed was done could've been a better solution? Mh...

Considering how much the game is about Xion, and that right these days we're having a thread about her character, I'd say no. Days is a game made specifically for when it came out, if you catch my drift.

 

[Deleted member]

a remake wouldnt really fix the game's garbage writing, which was my biggest problem with it, so nah.

 

[Nukara]

Swoosh,Maybe Days is not informative, but it does not take these qualities. There is a very touching and lamp-like story. And the best trio.
But this is just my opinion :smile:

 

[Deleted member 246005]

Most rants I've seen about the Xehanort saga have complained about the games either being   misfires (DDD/BBS) or fillers (358/coded) so fixing up the story as well as the gameplay would win over the jaded.

But I feel people are sick of remakes/remasters so it would be better if you just do a whole new game instead. Focusing on Axel's time in the organization would satisfy the fans who wanted to focus on the organization. Having him try to make amends for some of his actions during the ten years he was with the organization would be a good story to tell.

You could have Yen Sid send him on a mission to find the 4 remaining organization members. He suspects Xehanort would use them in his true organization so he sends Axel and Kairi to go find them. Along the way Kairi learns about some incidents Axel rather not talk about so she starts pushing him to try and make amends.

For Coded, literally just do a game about anything else. You could do a game about Ven and Vanitas waking up in Sora's subconcious and fighting over it. You could do a game about the first time Leon and Mickey met. You could do a game about Kairi visiting Radiant Garden. Sora has a resemblance to Sion from the Bouncer so having them be relatives could be a fun way to add to his character. Just do something different than before.

These may be too ambitious but i rather let sleeping dogs lie and try something different. 358/2 days is what it is and i rather we just move on rather tham focusing on what should have been.

 

[SweetYetSalty]

I wish this game got a remake like Chain of Memories got. This is actually my second favorite Kingdom Hearts game of all time, but so many things prevent it from living up to it's full potential gameplay wise. 358/2 Days deserves better. I love this game but I wish it wasn't made on the DS.

 

[TruestSyn]

I myself feel that they should NOT revisit ANYTHING prior to KH3 at this point. I don't want to learn about what Namine did inside Kairi, I don't want to see Xion floating in non-existence, and even though Terra is my favorite Wayfinder, I do NOT want to discover how he was coping wherever his consciousness was floating.

Give me where the Trios go post game, give me a new title with other key wielders doing things to restore balance to the worlds, give me new plots involving new villains. I want to see where it goes FROM 3, I don't want to revisit plots they've already had time to tie up in 3. Honestly, unless it's a DLC or a side game following other characters, I want Square's next KH focus to be on 4 because 4 will be the 1 of the new saga.

 

[Grono]

If it was remade like that, I would probably actually finish the game for once

 

[MATGSY]

Sorry for the big ol' necrobump, but I was thinking about this idea today & then found this thread so I figured, why not?

So anyway I'm kinda thinking it could be possible to see a remake on the Switch. The main reasons why I think this:

A. The Switch allows for more multiplayer options
Oh sure, PS4 & XB1 would obviously have online multiplayer & potentially split-screen too, but Switch can do both of that & bring back the multiple handhelds style of the original version. The popularity of NS in Japan, in particular, would likely encourage S-E to wanna make a multiplayer driven game as they did back in the DS days.

B. We now know a lot more about some org members.
Or that we now know that is more to know about said members. Xigbar, Marluxia, & Larxene, Demyx, & Luxord all have stories yet to tell in the KH universe. RE: Days could have new scenes with any of them exploring that.

C. Square can now devote resources to Days/Coded remakes with KH3 released.
The reason Square gave for why the Days was just a movie in 1.5 was because a full remake would take too many resources & manpower away from KH3. Well now that KH3 is out & I seriously doubt they need the full team for the DLC, maybe now they can finally get to the DS games.

D. Square could stand to have a new multiplayer-focused game on Switch
They were all over this in the DS years. In addition to 358, they had DQIX & 2 Crystal Chronicles games. With 3DS there wasn't as much but there was that FF Explorers. Everything they've put on Switch so far has been single player based so they may want a new multiplayer game now.

E. Any new portable spinoff these days will likely be mobile
The times have changed since the DS. Mobile gaming is where the money's made & UX will surely not be the last KH on smartphones. At this point, a remake is more likely to happen than a new spinoff on consoles.

F. We're probably about due for a major Square Enix related announcement on Switch soon
Maybe this is more of a gut feeling but it was about a year ago that a crap ton of FFs got announced. Since then, all but Crystal Chronicles have been released (what the hold up is with CC IDK), FFVIII is releasing soon as is DQXI, which is by far the biggest Square release on the system yet. (hard to top "the main character got in SSB") Plus we have TGS on the horizon & rumors swirling of another major Nintendo Direct for this September. The time is about right for Square to announce what's next.

I mean yeah, they'll probably just port 1.5+2.5 (or the Lightning trilogy for the real betting odds) but let's fun with this anyway! What I think a remake needs to be good:

1. Less filler missions in Story Mode, have exclusive (& new) missions in Mission Mode
2 sides of the same coin here. SM suffered for being too long & bloated. MM suffered for not anything to do that you didn't already do in SM. Nomura said they actually cut missions & a whole world because it was making SM too long.....well why did they have to cut all that from MM as well? It's the single biggest brainfart with this game, the insistent need to have parity between the 2 main modes. They didn't. Cut even more filler missions from SM & make them MM exclusive. Create hundreds of more MM exclusive missions. Have new bosses that are so powerful they practically require 4 players to take down. Time-sensitive missions that require players to split up to cover more ground.

2. Do more with Disney
I don't care what the BS in-universe excuse for it is, the limited presence of Disney characters in this game is infuriating. They are all such an afterthought. We never actually see Xaldin & Beast meet, never learn why Beast even listens to a word he says. Aladdin & Jasmine just stand around & complain about the weather. Peter Pan & Hades don't even show up. How does Peter Pan not appear in his own freaking world? This was Wyane Allwine's final role as Mickey & it was just grunts.

2.5. More Disney bosses
How the heck is even possible to have a KH game where the only Disney villain bosses are Pete & Lock/Shock/Barrel? I had loads of ideas for bosses before the game came out & none of them happened.
-Snake Jafar. Roxas & Xigbar find Jafar's lamp & are unwittingly responsible for his escape from the Cave of Wonders. The pair argue over how to spend their wishes, Roxas wants to wish back Axel, Xigbr tries to trick him into wishing for what he wants & Jafar has his own agenda on top of that. A series of schemes & backstabs over multiple missions eventually leads to Jafar getting fed up & attacking Roxas once the 3rd wish is used up.
-Flying Captain Hook. Years of stuffing Tinkerbell in the same damn lantern has caused quite a build-up of loose pixie dust to line the bottom. Hook uses this pixie dust to achieve flight in an attempt to get even with Pan.
-Nessus. A monster from Hercules yet to appear, he would be a competitor in a colosseum tournament.
-Giant Queen of Hearts. Well normal sized technically. The queen drinks from the growing bottle & towers over Roxas.
-Gaston. Roxas & Xaldin save The Beast's life from Gaston's attack. There, I just answered the question the game couldn't be bothered to & got a Disney boss out of it too.

3. Use the Command Deck (or just ditch the stupid limited spell casts)
Putting a limit on the number of spells that can be cast utterly kills the magic heavy characters. Afterall, an attack based character can do just as much damage but they don't run out of attacks, now do they? Command Deck would let guys like Zexion maintain usefulness for a full mission.

4. Actually, ditch the panels altogether
I should not have to be worrying about fitting all of my level ups in a backpack. Just let me be the damn level I grinded to.

5. More playable characters in Mission Mode
Surely Terra/Ventus/Aqua would be viable now? Oh, & Kairi of course. I also ant more playable Disney characters but that'll never happen.

6. Play as other characters in seect missions in Story Mode
Another big brainfart: the biggest gameplay hook is multiple playable characters yet you only ever control one guy in SM. Missions where we get the POV of other org members would've been great.

7. Unlockable alt costumes
This basically falls in the bonus content camp. Enough black robes, give me something else to wear. Pretty much everyone except Demyx & Luxord has an alternate look now. Heck, give those 2 new outfits anyway, make it a mystery for the fandom to chew on for years the meaning of said clothes.

8. Nobodies as summons
Tech limits made this impossible, although they could've had like a single Samurai as a party member back then IMO.

9. Local Wireless, Split screen, & online multiplayer
Cover all of the bases this time around.

10. Naturally the graphics would be better than PS2 level
Note that I saved this for last. Because IMO graphics was the least of the game's problems. If anything the graphics was 1 of 358's greatest achievements. It absolutely pushed DS hardware to greater limits than anyother game & should be commended for that. It was a better DS game than it was a KH. But yeah, Switch is basically at if not above PS3 graphics, let alone PS2.

 

[Absent]

I knew people hated Days here but not this badly.
Regardless I loved the script. I loved how much subtext is in every Disney world.
I loved how Beast Castle is used to contrast their living conditions.
How Agrabah is about trusting and giving friends their privacy and space.
I loved the buildup and how character focused this game was.

I loved how it didn’t add anything major to the overall plot, it knew its place and kept to itself.

My opinion hasn’t changed, Days has the best Roxas scene in the whole Saga. His last mission in Agrabah where he questions everything is heart wrenching to me. So much emotion is stored in that scene and it’s not even voiced. That’s how great the script was.

The game’s tag line is so fitting for this discussion:
“What mattered the most, was remembered the least.”

 

[Deleted member 246005]

Honestly I rather just give Xion a spinoff set in the present. It's a better way to win people over to her because it allows Xion a clean slate. She can finally be her own person because her future is now her own versus trying to add her into a story we already know how it goes.

 

[Face My Fears]

I loved everything about Days except for the gameplay. I didn't have much fun actually playing the game and the only reason I powered through it was to get to the cutscenes/chats with the Organization.

If they were to completely remake Days, especially now that we're post KH3 and Nomura basically knows where all the Organization members are headed (even Xigbar and the KHUX ones), I think it would be a great opportunity to expand on their characters.

I'm not sure if adding more Disney will be a main point since KH3 itself only had 3 Disney bosses (only 1 of which can really be said to be the true villain of that world). I would love to see more Disney because it'll be worlds that -- at the time of Days' release -- people were "fed up" of, but I'm sure that people would be more than happy to revisit Halloween Town and Agrabah in KH3 quality graphics.

Honestly, I would prefer Days get the KHX Back Cover treatment. It's not a game I'm dying to replay, but I rewatch the scenes from it all the time. I would love to see a fully HD (KH3 quality) rendered version of the story. Just thinking about Xion's death scene in beautiful KH3 quality is making me tear up :'(

 

[Scoobert_Doobert]

Sorry for the big ol' necrobump, but I was thinking about this idea today & then found this thread so I figured, why not?

So anyway I'm kinda thinking it could be possible to see a remake on the Switch. The main reasons why I think this:

A. The Switch allows for more multiplayer options
Oh sure, PS4 & XB1 would obviously have online multiplayer & potentially split-screen too, but Switch can do both of that & bring back the multiple handhelds style of the original version. The popularity of NS in Japan, in particular, would likely encourage S-E to wanna make a multiplayer driven game as they did back in the DS days.

B. We now know a lot more about some org members.
Or that we now know that is more to know about said members. Xigbar, Marluxia, & Larxene, Demyx, & Luxord all have stories yet to tell in the KH universe. RE: Days could have new scenes with any of them exploring that.

C. Square can now devote resources to Days/Coded remakes with KH3 released.
The reason Square gave for why the Days was just a movie in 1.5 was because a full remake would take too many resources & manpower away from KH3. Well now that KH3 is out & I seriously doubt they need the full team for the DLC, maybe now they can finally get to the DS games.

D. Square could stand to have a new multiplayer-focused game on Switch
They were all over this in the DS years. In addition to 358, they had DQIX & 2 Crystal Chronicles games. With 3DS there wasn't as much but there was that FF Explorers. Everything they've put on Switch so far has been single player based so they may want a new multiplayer game now.

E. Any new portable spinoff these days will likely be mobile
The times have changed since the DS. Mobile gaming is where the money's made & UX will surely not be the last KH on smartphones. At this point, a remake is more likely to happen than a new spinoff on consoles.

F. We're probably about due for a major Square Enix related announcement on Switch soon
Maybe this is more of a gut feeling but it was about a year ago that a crap ton of FFs got announced. Since then, all but Crystal Chronicles have been released (what the hold up is with CC IDK), FFVIII is releasing soon as is DQXI, which is by far the biggest Square release on the system yet. (hard to top "the main character got in SSB") Plus we have TGS on the horizon & rumors swirling of another major Nintendo Direct for this September. The time is about right for Square to announce what's next.

I mean yeah, they'll probably just port 1.5+2.5 (or the Lightning trilogy for the real betting odds) but let's fun with this anyway! What I think a remake needs to be good:

1. Less filler missions in Story Mode, have exclusive (& new) missions in Mission Mode
2 sides of the same coin here. SM suffered for being too long & bloated. MM suffered for not anything to do that you didn't already do in SM. Nomura said they actually cut missions & a whole world because it was making SM too long.....well why did they have to cut all that from MM as well? It's the single biggest brainfart with this game, the insistent need to have parity between the 2 main modes. They didn't. Cut even more filler missions from SM & make them MM exclusive. Create hundreds of more MM exclusive missions. Have new bosses that are so powerful they practically require 4 players to take down. Time-sensitive missions that require players to split up to cover more ground.

2. Do more with Disney
I don't care what the BS in-universe excuse for it is, the limited presence of Disney characters in this game is infuriating. They are all such an afterthought. We never actually see Xaldin & Beast meet, never learn why Beast even listens to a word he says. Aladdin & Jasmine just stand around & complain about the weather. Peter Pan & Hades don't even show up. How does Peter Pan not appear in his own freaking world? This was Wyane Allwine's final role as Mickey & it was just grunts.

2.5. More Disney bosses
How the heck is even possible to have a KH game where the only Disney villain bosses are Pete & Lock/Shock/Barrel? I had loads of ideas for bosses before the game came out & none of them happened.
-Snake Jafar. Roxas & Xigbar find Jafar's lamp & are unwittingly responsible for his escape from the Cave of Wonders. The pair argue over how to spend their wishes, Roxas wants to wish back Axel, Xigbr tries to trick him into wishing for what he wants & Jafar has his own agenda on top of that. A series of schemes & backstabs over multiple missions eventually leads to Jafar getting fed up & attacking Roxas once the 3rd wish is used up.
-Flying Captain Hook. Years of stuffing Tinkerbell in the same damn lantern has caused quite a build-up of loose pixie dust to line the bottom. Hook uses this pixie dust to achieve flight in an attempt to get even with Pan.
-Nessus. A monster from Hercules yet to appear, he would be a competitor in a colosseum tournament.
-Giant Queen of Hearts. Well normal sized technically. The queen drinks from the growing bottle & towers over Roxas.
-Gaston. Roxas & Xaldin save The Beast's life from Gaston's attack. There, I just answered the question the game couldn't be bothered to & got a Disney boss out of it too.

3. Use the Command Deck (or just ditch the stupid limited spell casts)
Putting a limit on the number of spells that can be cast utterly kills the magic heavy characters. Afterall, an attack based character can do just as much damage but they don't run out of attacks, now do they? Command Deck would let guys like Zexion maintain usefulness for a full mission.

4. Actually, ditch the panels altogether
I should not have to be worrying about fitting all of my level ups in a backpack. Just let me be the damn level I grinded to.

5. More playable characters in Mission Mode
Surely Terra/Ventus/Aqua would be viable now? Oh, & Kairi of course. I also ant more playable Disney characters but that'll never happen.

6. Play as other characters in seect missions in Story Mode
Another big brainfart: the biggest gameplay hook is multiple playable characters yet you only ever control one guy in SM. Missions where we get the POV of other org members would've been great.

7. Unlockable alt costumes
This basically falls in the bonus content camp. Enough black robes, give me something else to wear. Pretty much everyone except Demyx & Luxord has an alternate look now. Heck, give those 2 new outfits anyway, make it a mystery for the fandom to chew on for years the meaning of said clothes.

8. Nobodies as summons
Tech limits made this impossible, although they could've had like a single Samurai as a party member back then IMO.

9. Local Wireless, Split screen, & online multiplayer
Cover all of the bases this time around.

10. Naturally the graphics would be better than PS2 level
Note that I saved this for last. Because IMO graphics was the least of the game's problems. If anything the graphics was 1 of 358's greatest achievements. It absolutely pushed DS hardware to greater limits than anyother game & should be commended for that. It was a better DS game than it was a KH. But yeah, Switch is basically at if not above PS3 graphics, let alone PS2.

WOOOOOOOOWWW huge blast from the past here. I completely forgot I that I even posted this lol.

(Also, the bitter irony of a remastered/remade version of this game coming out on the switch when that's the one new console I don't own would probably be enough to kill me.)

But uh, yeah... I'm down with pretty much everything you're suggesting here, I just seriously doubt that if this game ever got remade for the switch, that they would make any major changes to the mission structure or the core elements of the gameplay (like the backpack).

That kind of goes for the story as well. I don't see them rewriting any major moments, but what could be interesting is if they use the new context we have for some of the Org XIII members (like you mentioned) to hint at future games. Like the time frame for the release of this game (and maybe some other remakes) could go between whatever KH game is next after 3 and the official KH 4 release.