Spoilers ► KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Re Mind DLC Spoiler Discussion Thread

[GreyouTT]

Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

 

[Violet Pluto]

Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

...Xehanort?

 

[GreyouTT]

...Xehanort?

 

[drew0512]

Interesting to see two almost polar opposite views one after the other.

I know, right?

 

[U.N. Owen]

I thought the crystalization sounded familiar. It's the same sound the Armiger makes when Noctis summons it.

 

[Zettaflare]

I still can't believe

Spoiler Show

Sora has been dead and Kairi stuck in coma for a whole flipping year

. That's just hilarious

 

[SweetYetSalty]

Spoiler Show

I guess I'll give my thoughts on ReMind now. It wasn't perfect. I didn't like having to redo some of the fights as well as sit through so many old cutscenes to see new one. If I ever see that Terranort scene again I'll go mad.

Surprisingly playing as other characters did not excite me as much as I thought. I had more fun playing as Kairi and Roxas then Aqua and Riku, but even then I felt like I was just playing a gimmicky character that wasn't as powerful as Sora. Someone already said this, but we should really have made them customizable for these segments.

The new cutscenes...some I felt didn't do enough. Namine to me was wasted potential in KH3 and ReMind did not change my opinion on how the character has been badly used and how forgettable she's becoming in the game universe (Novel is a different story, where she is awesome). The Luxord/Xigbar cutscene wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be either.

What I did like, which ranges from enjoyed to love. Of course I love the RAX extended scene, just look at my avatar. But for some reason their Sigil is now important? That's their bond? I thought it was the years worth of ice cream they consumed on a clock tower that bonded them. Shows what I know. I don't care for the sigil itself but since RAX care about it I am forced to mention it. Glad they cleared up how Xion's data records still existed in Vexen's notes. That's what I and many figured. And I'm guessing when Xion's portrait leaves Roxas's station that represents her heart. Whatever I love me some RAX so I don't care, just give me more of them.

I also enjoyed MoM and Young Xehanort. It leaves me with questions but was good.

My favorite scenes were the Guardians vs the Xehanort clones and Mickey's final stand. The mouse really got to show a awesome side of him. I kinda sucked playing that part and as Mickey got knocked down several times lol. But eventually I won. But this part was easily my favorite cutscene of ReMind and battle. The banter between the characters. Teaming up to fight evil nort clones, the music playing when they first flew out of dark Kingdom Hearts to fight Riku and the gang, awesome stuff yo.

The Sora and Kairi parts were fine. Didn't love it as much as the Guardians vs nort clones part. It was almost too little too late, but it wasn't bad. Kairi was better here even if she still dies via story. And exploring Scala was decent. And best of all Terra and Riku interact and it's one of the best moments of the DLC.

Limitcut has me frustrated. They have 13 new bosses and so far I've managed to beat only two of them. That's not the problem. The problem is the one boss fight I wanted to fight, the only one I was truly interested in mastering and spending a long time to study is not available until you beat the first 11. What a rip-off! So I have to beat 11 different superbosses just to fight the one I want who should be available from the beginning? Not cool square! You all know who I'm talking about and it ain't old man Xehanort I was itching to see in action.

The Restoration guys are back. Glad to see them. Yuffie is always a treat to listen to as is Cid.

With all that said the number one best thing about ReMind is Data Greeting! Thank you for giving me the power to do whatever I want. So far I have created these wonderful masterpieces

Kairi and Vanitas on a date in Radiant Garden

Kairi attacking Riku in Arendelle while everyone watches

Old man Xehanort and Aqua hugging in Corona's waters

Terra and Goatnort in a dance off judged by Namine

Xion and Olette on a date in Twilight Town

I've been busy. Overall ReMind wasn't perfect and I wish they had done certain things better but I still enjoyed most of what was added. Still not done with Limitcut so I have things to do. Honestly most if not all of ReMind should have been in the base game. At least the Keyblade Graveyard stuff. So I liked it 8/10.

 

[Mirby]

Spoiler Show

I think the reason the Sigil is their bond isn't because of the Sigil itself, but more the fact that through Xemnas giving it to each of them they were able to meet and become friends. That's why they don't care if it disappears along with Xemnas, Roxas just wanted to reclaim it so that way it was them who had it thus removing Xemnas from the equation. The Sigil they fought together to get that allowed them to meet in the first place is now something they earned themselves, not something some egomaniac bestowed upon them anymore.

 

[SweetYetSalty]

Spoiler Show

I think the reason the Sigil is their bond isn't because of the Sigil itself, but more the fact that through Xemnas giving it to each of them they were able to meet and become friends. That's why they don't care if it disappears along with Xemnas, Roxas just wanted to reclaim it so that way it was them who had it thus removing Xemnas from the equation. The Sigil they fought together to get that allowed them to meet in the first place is now something they earned themselves, not something some egomaniac bestowed upon them anymore.

Spoiler Show

Hmm, well when you put it like that, then I like the Sigil storyline. Well at least for them, still found it kinda weird in DDD. But without their X's does that mean Roxas and Xion are now Roas and Ion?

 

[Mirby]

Spoiler Show

Nah they just don't have an actual Sigil anymore, their names are the same lol

 

[2 quid is good]

The sigil kinda bothers me too but I've just decided to not look too deep into anything like this anymore, clearly Nomura doesn't xD

I thought the crystalization sounded familiar. It's the same sound the Armiger makes when Noctis summons it.

One more thing to add to my growing list of Fabula Nova Crystallis connections, great find!

 

[Twilight Lumiair]

Overall, I think the best way for me to describe this dlc is that it's a weird, convoluted, flashy, pandering, transparent, soupy mess that's frankly not worth the price point (unless you're really into the superbosses). I'll mainly be going over my issues, but I will note a few positives as well as once we come to them.

Spoiler Show

To start, the dialogue was REALLY clunky, awkward, and forgettable throughout almost the entirety of the ReMind scenario. I can't recall a single point where any of it felt truly natural or organic, and the sheer amount of pandering and exposition dumps was so annoying.

Both of Terra and Riku's conversations, in addition to feeling forced, were incredibly underwhelming and cliche. "I have nothing left to teach you", in particular, was a line that felt so bog standard and out of place that I couldn't take it seriously. Terra… you haven't taught Riku anything. Did the game forget how little it actually developed their relationship, or was that supposed to be due to another time skip? Ah, but maybe I shouldn't talk about that just yet.. Anyway, am I the only one who thinks the whole "it's a secret " BS is getting old really fast? Aqua could fucking sense that Terra gave Riku his powers back in BBS. Who do these ding dongs think they're fooling?? In general though, a lot of discussions like this really needed more room to breath.

It didn't help that the voice acting wasn't particularly strong this time either. I'm not sure what the heck was going on with the vocal direction, but Vanitas and Terranort felt even more like clowns here than in the base game (though the latter did have me dying of laughter over one line). Aqua sounded really tired; her performance was much stronger in BBS and 0.2. MoM felt almost flanderized, and his silly moments became a bit grating to listen to. Master Xehanort's new VA is definitely the most bland of the bunch, imo. Xemnas' VA felt like he wasn't putting nearly as much effort into his performance this time, but it could've also just been his weak script that made the character's presence feel so lacking (I'll get to that later). Sora, Riku, Lea, Mickey, and the FF gang had pretty consistent performances though. And I did like a lot of the newer battle quotes for the data fights.

Also, Fairy Godmother was surprisingly well voiced this time around

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Now, let's talk about the premise.

To be frank, it was just... bad. Plain and simple. Sora knew he had incorrectly abused the PoW six times in the past, and he was already warned by Young Xehanort that if he continued with that course of action, he'd disappear. So, knowing this, why would he put himself at such an unnecessary risk? Riku has the PoW too, and unlike Sora, he hasn't already worn himself down by abusing it the wrong way. So why couldn't he just let him handle it, since he had a better chance of not vanishing? We're never told. And so when I see Sora disappear at Destiny Island (for a second time), I STILL don't feel anything. Not just because death no longer holds weight in this series, but also since as far as we know, this was entirely avoidable. Note that this was an issue I already had with KH3's base game, but it's even more pronounced here since we actually had to drag through the whole process and we're still never given an answer.

The way in which they chose to structure the ReMind Scenario as an overlap of the base game, honestly felt really cheap from a narrative standpoint. Because for much of this story, you're essentially forced to tread through shit that was already in the game, which makes it feel like only a portion of the story is actually new.

Also, the fact they had Sora use the PoW on top of time travel, on top of body hopping, on top of randomly jumping out of people's memories to fight beings like Terranort (despite the fact that he should've lacked a corporeal form), is REALLY stretching the line coherency. That crap was absolutely not necessary, and just turned the whole thing into a big soupy mess.

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Speaking of unnecessary, how about we look at that Terranort scene again? No, I'm not talking about the one from the beginning of the KG (although they did force us to watch that twice for some stupid reason), but rather, when Sora goes to "help" Lingering Will. Now, one might logically think that Sora intervening in that battle is silly, since A) he said that "no matter who gets hurt, it's bad for Terra," so he can't possibly fight Terranort without contradicting himself, B) he can't change outcomes that have already occurred, as per the rules of time travel, and C) he has no reason to think LW even needs help, since the only thing he saw was the armor wrecking Terranort. So what does he do? He goes and interferes anyway. And what happens as a result? LW still gets obliterated, and Sora loses, getting cast out into darkness. So what was the point of this entire section? I have absolutely no idea. All it does is demonstrate more of the problems that plagued the end of KH3's main story. He sticks his head into Terra's business, because like Riku, Mickey, Aqua, Ventus, Lea, and Kairi, Terra can't beat his enemy on his own (despite the fact that he won outright the last time he challenged Terranort). Nope. Literally everyone has to be Sora's damsel in this game because their own agency no longer means shit. Oh, but we'll get more into that very soon.

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For now, I'd like to breifly point your attention back to the redundancy that is Sora traversing between the hearts of the Guardians. Why did he need to do this again? For all the game does in trying to explain the process for Sora to find Kairi, we're never actually given a reason for why he couldn't have just jumped to Kairi's heart immediately once he went back in time. He could freely travel to the hearts of everyone else, so why not Kairi's? Also, the fact that Sora is now canonically present helping Aqua, Riku, Roxas, and Mickey during what's supposed to be their big moments (even if it's in a spiritual matter), only detracts from their agency even more than constantly losing all the time already did.

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Next, let's go over... the RAX segment.

While I appreciate that they gave Roxas and Sora some actual dialogue with eachother, it was entirely devoid of any personal weight. Nothing about their actual relationship and feelings toward one another gets addressed or expanded upon. It was just a vague exchange about something we're lead to believe is important, but really isn't as big a deal as the game thinks it is. That Sigil nonsense was just a convenient way for Nomura to have RAX feel nostalgic and "re-affirm" their bond, rather than actually referencing events from their history and what they were able to achieve through their struggles. For some inexplicable reason, Xion's sacrifice, the thing that proved she was more than just some puppet, the thing that led to the downfall of Xemnas' plans, was STILL never brought up (nor were the circumstances leading up to it). Roxas' entire relationship with Xemnas, that up until this point was never properly explored, was STILL never addressed. In fact, they just threw their whole connection with Xemnas completely under the bus, rather than properly acknowledging it and getting some real closure with him (unlike Sora, who gets far more meaningful closure with almost every single Seeker by comparison, including Xemnas).

By the way, what was Sora's plan in this moment exactly? He told Roxas to wait for his signal, but what did he expect him to do? From a strategical standpoint, charging at Xemnas was one of the most cringingly obvious things he could've done. There was no finesse, no skill, and Sora was shrugged off immediately anyway (no one even moved till Sora was already on the ground). Xemnas wasn't left anymore vulnerable from the attack, and it didn't help Roxas or Xion deal with him either. All it accomplished was nearly getting himself and Kairi erased on the spot, which is ironic considering what the premise of this dlc is about. Also, on that note, the fight between RAX and their former superior was underwhelming as hell, and a complete waste of potential. Not only does Xemnas never take a single one of them seriously (laughing at Roxas and Xion's assault, before casually tossing them away), but he also doesn't acknowledge anything they were able to achieve through defying destiny (nor do they gain a better understanding of his character). From beginning to end he only viewed them as "useless pawns", which is boring, meaningless, and makes his later revelation about "taking his companions for granted" even harder to swallow. And so because Xemnas wasn't affected by the encounter, and the trio didn't actually manage to destroy him, there was no added catharsis in having them all fight in the first place (you could've just as easily had them talk about their friendship after Sora left, and nothing would've been lost). Which is…. Really freaking sad. They could've done so, SO much with that confrontation, and instead they chose to go with something that just wasn't necessary beyond the meta of wanting the trio to get some semblance of a throughline in this series (which just goes to show how poorly they were handled in this stupid game). Anyway, before we move on, I also have to ask: What was Roxas trying to do again? Why was he so hell-bent on ripping that sigil out of Xemnas? He claims he wanted Sora to help him "end this battle once and for all", but they don't actually change anything by fighting Xemnas or taking the mark. Was he just trying to prove a point? If so, what was he trying to say? To who? That entire fiasco was so pointless, confusing, and.. weird. I shouldn't feel like I have to ask to ask these questions.

Also, Roxas' gameplay was easily the weakest of the bunch (they couldn't even give him Glide for some reason). Ironically enough though, half of the moves he originally had in KH2 went into Sora's Double Form, so you know they could've easily done more with his moveset if they really wanted to. I despise when people cut corners like that tbh.

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As a brief aside, I wanted to touch on the whole Vanitas nonsense. It's blatantly obvious that the writers had NO idea what they wanted to do with the character, and it's honestly sad to watch. BBS, DDD, and KH3 were all very explicit about what Vanitas was, and he himself has repeatedly referred to them both as two halves of the same whole. Then, out of nowhere, he thinks Sora "defines" him as much as Ventus does (despite the fact that he didn't even know Sora existed up until KH3), and starts calling them both "brothers". Now, in less than a minute of calling Ventus his home, Vanitas is claiming he's NOT the same as him? Am I honestly supposed to buy that? And the worst part is that Ven was finally ready to rejoin with Vanitas in this scene (which would complete his established arc from BBS), but the moment was completely shut down by this obvious out-of-left-field retcon. And that drives me beyond insane. On the bright side though, Terranort mocking Ventus for being so upfront about wanting to reclaim Vanitas had me laughing every time. XD

Also, "Dark Inferno χ" mucks up this whole equation even worse.

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Moving on, let's discuss that group fight against the Xehanort clones. First of all, it's confirmed that the GoL "holding back KH" didn't do shit, and the whole sequence only proves how pointless it was for them to stay behind in the first place. Then the Replica Xehanorts appear out of nowhere, despite the fact that they should've already been fused into the old man by that point. But once you get past that faulty premise, the actual action and cinematography itself is admittedly well done for the most part. Seeing Aqua, Mickey, and Xion take up a supporting role was also pretty interesting, and it really solidified their status as magic wielders first and foremost. A lot of the tacked on side comments were hard to hear, but they were… wholesome (if also just more obvious pandering). Unfortunately, once the action settles down again, we get right back into the problems. Despite all that effort, the GoL still manage to lose, and need to, once again, be rescued by Sora "connecting the light." Why? Why is it that none of these characters can get a single victory without Sora being present to help in some form? It takes away a lot the appreciation I otherwise would've had with this sequence.

The Mickey segment was also pretty cool, but the idea that he was miraculously the ONLY who didn't get launched to god knows where really distracted me. Like… they didn't even try to make somewhat realistic. Also, because the GoL's loss was so sudden, the whole thing really felt like it came out of nowhere. Beyond all the flash, I'm still not entirely sure what was even going on in that scene (what the hell were all those keyholes?).

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Other than that, it should go without saying that I obviously hated the one year time skip. It was pointless, and frankly, incredibly awkward. They could've had that be four months, and no one would've batted an eye. Also, I have to ask how they even managed to keep Kairi asleep for a whole year when she's seemingly just… sitting in a chair? Like, at least with Sora, he was essentially put into a comma by Namine's powers, and then his body was suspended inside a chamber so as not to be disturbed. With Kairi, she's just kinda there. I dunno.. it was a very odd choice, visually speaking, for a game that cared so much about flash and spectacle. Thinking about it again, there really was nothing going for that moment, lol.

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Finally, if had to comment on the Secret Episode, it would be that:

I... don't care about it, lol. I was never on board with the idea of adding Yozora to the story KH, and as I said before, I'm not invested in Sora's downfall either. It's just "meh" for me. Though what they ended up doing with Nameless Star was a bit of a waste, imo.

I'll probably add future thoughts individually after this, but for now, this is generally where my feelings are at with this subpar dlc.
*Edited for Grammatical Errors*

 

[2 quid is good]

Overall, I think the best way for me to describe this dlc is that it's a weird, convoluted, flashy, pandering, transparent, soupy mess that's frankly not worth the price point (unless you're really into the superbosses). I'll mainly be going over my issues, but I will note a few positives as well as once we come to them.

Spoiler Show

To start, the dialogue was REALLY clunky, awkward, and forgettable throughout almost the entirety of the ReMind scenario. I can't recall a single point where any of it felt truly natural or organic, and the sheer amount of pandering and exposition dumps was so annoying.

Both of Terra and Riku's conversations, in addition to feeling forced, were incredibly underwhelming and cliche. "I have nothing left to teach you", in particular, was a line that felt so bog standard and out of place that I couldn't take it seriously. Terra… you haven't taught Riku anything. Did the game forget how little it actually developed their relationship, or was that supposed to be due to another time skip? Ah, but maybe I shouldn't talk about that just yet.. Anyway, am I the only one who thinks the whole "it's a secret " BS is getting old really fast? Aqua could fucking sense that Terra gave Riku his powers back in BBS. Who do these ding dongs think they're fooling?? In general though, a lot of discussions like this really needed more room to breath.

It didn't help that the voice acting wasn't particularly strong this time either. I'm not sure what the heck was going on with the vocal direction, but Vanitas and Terranort felt even more like clowns here than in the base game (though the latter did have me dying of laughter over one line). Aqua sounded really tired; her performance was much stronger in BBS and 0.2. MoM felt almost flanderized, and his silly moments became a bit grating to listen to. Master Xehanort's new VA is definitely the most bland of the bunch, imo. Xemnas' VA felt like he wasn't putting nearly as much effort into his performance this time, but it could've also just been his weak script that made the character's presence feel so lacking (I'll get to that later). Sora, Riku, Lea, Mickey, and the FF gang had pretty consistent performances though. And I did like a lot of the newer battle quotes for the data fights.

Also, Fairy Godmother was surprisingly well voiced this time around

------​

Now, let's talk about the premise.

To be frank, it was just... bad. Plain and simple. Sora knew he had incorrectly abused the PoW six times in the past, and he was already warned by Young Xehanort that if he continued with that course of action, he'd disappear. So, knowing this, why would he put himself at such an unnecessary risk? Riku has the PoW too, and unlike Sora, he hasn't already worn himself down by abusing it the wrong way. So why couldn't he just let him handle it, since he had a better chance of not vanishing? We're never told. And so when I see Sora disappear at Destiny Island (for a second time), I STILL don't feel anything. Not just because death no longer holds weight in this series, but also since as far as we know, this was entirely avoidable. Note that this was an issue I already had with KH3's base game, but it's even more pronounced here since we actually had to drag through the whole process and we're still never given an answer.

The way in which they chose to structure the ReMind Scenario as an overlap of the base game, honestly felt really cheap from a narrative standpoint. Because for much of this story, you're essentially forced to tread through shit that was already in the game, which makes it feel like only a portion of the story is actually new.

Also, the fact they had Sora use the PoW on top of time travel, on top of body hopping, on top of randomly jumping out of people's memories to fight beings like Terranort (despite the fact that he should've lacked a corporeal form), is REALLY stretching the line coherency. That crap was absolutely not necessary, and just turned the whole thing into a big soupy mess.

------​

Speaking of unnecessary, how about we look at that Terranort scene again? No, I'm not talking about the one from the beginning of the KG (although they did force us to watch that twice for some stupid reason), but rather, when Sora goes to "help" Lingering Will. Now, one might logically think that Sora intervening in that battle is silly, since A) he said that "no matter who gets hurt, it's bad for Terra," so he can't possibly fight Terranort without contradicting himself, B) he can't change outcomes that have already occurred, as per the rules of time travel, and C) he has no reason to think LW even needs help, since the only thing he saw was the armor wrecking Terranort. So what does he do? He goes and interferes anyway. And what happens as a result? LW still gets obliterated, and Sora loses, getting cast out into darkness. So what was the point of this entire section? I have absolutely no idea. All it does is demonstrate more of the problems that plagued the end of KH3's main story. He sticks his head into Terra's business, because like Riku, Mickey, Aqua, Ventus, Lea, and Kairi, Terra can't beat his enemy on his own (despite the fact that he won outright the last time he challenged Terranort). Nope. Literally everyone has to be Sora's damsel in this game because their own agency no longer means shit. Oh, but we'll get more into that very soon.

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For now, I'd like to breifly point your attention back to the redundancy that is Sora traversing between the hearts of the Guardians. Why did he need to do this again? For all the game does in trying to explain the process for Sora to find Kairi, we're never actually given a reason for why he couldn't have just jumped to Kairi's heart immediately once he went back in time. He could freely travel to the hearts of everyone else, so why not Kairi's? Also, the fact that Sora is now canonically present helping Aqua, Riku, Roxas, and Mickey during what's supposed to be their big moments (even if it's in a spiritual matter), only detracts from their agency even more than constantly losing all the time already did.

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Next, let's go over... the RAX segment.

While I appreciate that they gave Roxas and Sora some actual dialogue with eachother, it was entirely devoid of any personal weight. Nothing about their actual relationship and feelings toward one another gets addressed or expanded upon. It was just a vague exchange about something we're lead to believe is important, but really isn't as big a deal as the game thinks it is. That Sigil nonsense was just a convenient way for Nomura to have RAX feel nostalgic and "re-affirm" their bond, rather than actually referencing events from their history and what they were able to achieve through their struggles. For some inexplicable reason, Xion's sacrifice, the thing that proved she was more than just some puppet, the thing that led to the downfall of Xemnas' plans, was STILL never brought up (nor were the circumstances leading up to it). Roxas' entire relationship with Xemnas, that up until this point was never properly explored, was STILL never addressed. In fact, they just threw their whole connection with Xemnas completely under the bus, rather than properly acknowledging it and getting some real closure with him (unlike Sora, who gets far more meaningful closure with almost every single Seeker by comparison, including Xemnas).

By the way, what was Sora's plan in this moment exactly? He told Roxas to wait for his signal, but what did he expect him to do? From a strategical standpoint, charging at Xemnas was one of the most cringingly obvious things he could've done. There was no finesse, no skill, and Sora was shrugged off immediately anyway (no one even moved till Sora was already on the ground). Xemnas wasn't left anymore vulnerable from the attack, and it didn't help Roxas or Xion deal with him either. All it accomplished was nearly getting himself and Kairi erased on the spot, which is ironic considering what the premise of this dlc is about. Also, on that note, the fight between RAX and their former superior was underwhelming as hell, and a complete waste of potential. Not only does Xemnas never take a single one of them seriously (laughing at Roxas and Xion's assault, before casually tossing them away), but he also doesn't acknowledge anything they were able to achieve through defying destiny (nor do they gain a better understanding of his character). From beginning to end he only viewed them as "useless pawns", which is boring, meaningless, and makes his later revelation about "taking his companions for granted" even harder to swallow. And so because Xemnas wasn't affected by the encounter, and the trio didn't actually manage to destroy him, there was no added catharsis in having them all fight in the first place (you could've just as easily had them talk about their friendship after Sora left, and nothing would've been lost). Which is…. Really freaking sad. They could've done so, SO much with that confrontation, and instead they chose to go with something that just wasn't necessary beyond the meta of wanting the trio to get some semblance of a throughline in this series (which just goes to show how poorly they were handled in this stupid game). Anyway, before we move on, I also have to ask: What was Roxas trying to do again? Why was he so hell-bent on ripping that sigil out of Xemnas? He claims he wanted Sora to help him "end this battle once and for all", but they don't actually change anything by fighting Xemnas or taking the mark. Was he just trying to prove a point? If so, what was he trying to say? To who? That entire fiasco was so pointless, confusing, and.. weird. I shouldn't feel like I have to ask to ask these questions.

Also, Roxas' gameplay was easily the weakest of the bunch (they couldn't even give him Glide for some reason). Ironically enough though, half of the moves he originally had in KH2 went into Sora's Double Form, so you know they could've easily done more with his moveset if they really wanted to. I despise when people cut corners like that tbh.

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As a brief aside, I briefly wanted to touch on the whole Vanitas nonsense. It's blatantly obvious that the writers had NO idea what they wanted to do with the character, and it's honestly sad to watch. BBS, DDD, and KH3 were all very explicit about what Vanitas was, and he himself has repeatedly referred to them both as two halves of the same whole. Then, out of nowhere, he thinks Sora "defines" him as much as Ventus does (despite the fact that he didn't even know Sora existed up until KH3), and starts calling them both "brothers". Now, in less than a minute of calling Ventus his home, Vanitas is claiming he's NOT the same as him? Am I honestly supposed to buy that? And the worst part is that Ven was finally ready to rejoin with Vanitas in this scene (which would complete his established arc from BBS), but the moment was completely shut down by this obvious out-of-left-field retcon. And that drives me beyond insane. On the bright side though, Terranort mocking Ventus for being so upfront about wanting to reclaim Vanitas had me laughing every time. XD

Also, "Dark Inferno χ" mucks up this whole equation even worse.

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Moving on, let's discuss that group fight against the Xehanort clones. First of all, it's confirmed that the GoL "holding back KH" didn't do shit, and the whole sequence only proves how pointless it was for them to stay behind in the first place. Then the Replica Xehanorts appear out of nowhere, despite the fact that they should've already been fused into the old man by that point. But once you get past that faulty premise, the actual action and cinematography itself is admittedly well done for the most part. Seeing Aqua, Mickey, and Xion take up a supporting role was also pretty interesting, and it really solidified their status as magic wielders first and foremost. A lot of the tacked on side comments were hard to hear, but they were… wholesome (if also just more obvious pandering). Unfortunately, once the action settles down again, we get right back into the problems. Despite all that effort, the GoL still manage to lose, and need to, once again, be rescued by Sora "connecting the light." Why? Why is it that none of these characters can get a single victory without Sora being present to help in some form? It takes away a lot the appreciation I otherwise would've had with this sequence.

The Mickey segment was also pretty cool, but the idea that he was miraculously the ONLY who didn't get launched to god knows where really distracted me. Like… they didn't even try to make somewhat realistic. Also, because the GoL's loss was so sudden, the whole thing really felt like it came out of nowhere. Beyond all the flash, I'm still not entirely sure what was even going on in that scene (what the hell were all those keyholes?).

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Other than that, it should go without saying that I obviously hated the one year time skip. It was pointless, and frankly, incredibly awkward. They could've had that be four months, and no one would've batted an eye. Also, I have to ask how they even managed to keep Kairi asleep for a whole year when she's seemingly just… sitting in a chair? Like, at least with Sora, he was essentially put into a comma by Namine's powers, and then his body was suspended inside a chamber so as not to be disturbed. With Kairi, she's just kinda there. I dunno.. it was a very odd choice, visually speaking, for a game that cared so much about flash and spectacle. Thinking about it again, there really was nothing going for that moment, lol.

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Finally, if had to comment on the Secret Episode, it would be that:

I... don't care about it, lol. I was never on board with the idea of add Yozora to the story KH, and as I said before, I'm not invested in Sora's downfall either. It's just "meh" for me. Though what they ended up doing with Nameless Star was a bit of a waste, imo.

I'll probably add future thoughts individually after this, but for now, this is generally where my feelings are at with this subpar dlc.
*Edited for Grammatical Errors*

While I agree with your assessment of the premise and the story, like I said it's by far still the weakest in the series for me, it didn't have a serious impact on my enjoyment purely because I found the Guardians and Mickey set pieces pretty damn fun, and it just outweighed the cons for me. However I seriously agree with your points about Vanitas, and that's one of the largest reasons why I will never accept UX has a good or interesting plot like people are trying to claim all of a sudden recently.

 

[Chaser]

Re Mind:

Spoiler Show

If this was a classic Final Mix, then half of this would not have happened. The Keyblade Graveyard scenes, and other playable protagonists would have been thrown into the main game and Re Mind itself would have started with Sora going back into Scala itself.

I understand the complaints about a lot of the rehash content. It's a lot to get through, especially if you follow on from Kingdom Hearts III itself where you had just gone through all of these battles.

I LOVED Scala. When I found the underground area, I was in utter awe. It's scale was impressive and I loved the life the Osaka team tried to put into it (despite it being an empty world). I am increasingly interested in the story of how Daybreak Town breaks and becomes Scala ad Caelum, but with the pace that UX goes at, not to mention them taking a break come Spring, I feel like what I'm interested in is two years away (which is a common feeling with this game).

I was not prepared for the CG ending to be upgraded to showcase Sora and Kairi being behind the scenes of those events. It reminds me of when film sequels do time traveling and when you rewatch the first film and think "so these characters are behind the scenes just over there." Chirithy was adorable as always though. Missed opportunity to put them into Data Greeting.

Limit Cut:

Spoiler Show

I'm not a difficulty shamer. I'm a difficulty supporter. It's well within my rights to have restarted Kingdom Hearts III completely from scratch and blasted through the entire main game and Re Mind on easy difficulty in 5 hours just have have a shot at defeating the Organization.

They are so freaking tough, but I think a lot of my frustration with them is because I'm an offensive player, so I'm attacking without wanting consequence, which goes against the very nature of these fights.

I give kudos to all those who defeat these bosses on Standard, Proud, and may the Lorde have mercy on those who beat them all on Critical.

I really liked the short story Limit Cut had. It was a nice way of including Final Fantasy into the game, and I laughed at the whole reasoning for this DLC coming down to Cid importing Sora's data and it bringing the entire real Organization with it. It's absurd but joyful.

On that note, I hope the next game has more classic Disney because Osaka did a fantastic job of making the Fairy Godmother so animated and fun to watch and listen to. She was fantastic, and I love that they used her to tie a little bow on Sora's disappearance while teasing what comes next.

Secret Episode:

Spoiler Show

Even on beginner difficulty, Yozora was tough. I used EZ mode the first time and when I opened up data greeting and saw he had 50-ish attack poses to take pictures with, I knew that the actual fight would be absolute bullshit.

And it was! Oh my god, his attacks were crazy! I feel proud of myself for recognising some openings but I'm not quick enough to use them all the time. I was floored when the Gigas were incorporated into the battle but that orb needs to be destroyed in hell! Also, was it just me or were there some Darkubes being used by Yozora during the battle?

I couldn't believe that Dylan Sprouse voiced Yozora. That is some crazy casting, but even crazier how well he did. It's no secret that I hate the Versus XIII tie-ins and I think Nomura needs to get over it, so the recreation of an old Versus trailer does irk me. Call me back, Nomura, when we actually get something with Yozora in the next game that ties into Kingdom Hearts itself rather than just being a Versus rehash.

I'm happy that the identity of the Nameless Star is over. Her name is Sora as well, right? Or did I misinterprete that?

 

[2 quid is good]

I'm happy that the identity of the Nameless Star is over. Her name is Sora as well, right? Or did I misinterprete that?

I don't think this is quite true, if only because Nomura is really hot on his naming tendencies. If she's supposed to be Stella then it stands to reason she'll have a star themed name. I think the Sora thing is still a mystery as of now

 

[Chaser]

I don't think this is quite true, if only because Nomura is really hot on his naming tendencies. If she's supposed to be Stella then it stands to reason she'll have a star themed name. I think the Sora thing is still a mystery as of now

Spoiler Show

I think I misinterpreted Yozora's "Why are you using Sora's name" which was mixed in with a comment I saw before I watched the cutscene which said that her name was Sora. Whoops.

 

[SuperSaiyanSora]

Giving it more thought after a while, and... I think I'm more willing to get on the "make it cheaper" train. I can understand if you're not for the Superbosses, it's sort of not really worth $30. I personally am getting my entire value out of it, but I can see why someone who only cared about ReMind would feel pretty slighted. Although, as much as there's an issue with the pricing now, a year from today, this won't be what people think of. If the biggest concern from most people regarding the DLC is only the price and the "rehash"...

Spoiler Show

(and while it might be, there's more depth to it, so it's worth the journey... in my opinion. Plus like what Chaser said, it would've just been added in the Classic Final Mix anyway.)

...then that's a win.

I just wanna say though, I really hope nobody's out here thinking it's Nomura who gets to decide what price the DLC was going to be lol. Pretty sure that wouldn't be within his control, although I could be wrong.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Before I say anything on the subject, I'm honestly really curious what you personally hope the answer is going to be (and conversely, which one you'd find the most undesirable). You're easily one of the most hardcore Ventus fans I know, so I'm sure you're full thoughts would be particularly interesting.

Gee thanks, yet I wonder if I really come over that "hardcore", lol. Besides Ven I still have Naminé and Sora up on 1st place when it comes to favorites and when it comes to how KH III treated her I would be tempted to go all hardcore in a negative sense if I still had the time for my old days essay-long posts. <__<

When it comes to Ventus and his status

I'll say it is a mixed bag for me. On one hand I'm looking forward to see his backstory expanded while on the other I'm on the verge of facepalming every second time something gets "revealed" or teased because it gets all forcibly hung back to the atrocity that is Union X. When it was still the browser game I was pretty much on board with its story because it had a good premise and setup (as so many of Nomura's ideas have) yet when it comes to the continuation I'm getting more and more annoyed not only because of the truly abysmal pacing of the story but also due to the constant shoehorning of already existing characters into that era.
You can't be faulted for forgetting much stuff about its story since it takes ages for just two meager story scenes to be released and the existing characters shoehorned in so far are either a) window dressing or b) don't match up with what is already known about them.

When it comes specifically to Ventus he's actually one of the few I don't mind much being included in the chi-era even if I would have preferred a less convoluted approach to his backstory.
There are some hints made about his mysterious past in the series beforehand so it is a possible setup that can be chained to existing stuff and yet, so far the story of Ux hasn't focused on Ven at all and the only things we did get to see that he's indeed very similar to his present self in the areas of being kind, innocent and pure but which are also things we already knew from Xehanort's BBS reports. His yearning to have friends like in BBS is also already present. What is new to a degree is his general diffidence and insecurity and of course that he's at age 10 or 11 there.

That combination however is like a very good setup to be manipulated or tricked so a dark entity pretending to befriend him and then hijacking his body is certainly a possibility that would make sense and has to be kept in mind.

The whole "sealed inside" scenario however has also its merit when one remembers Ven's sacrificial streak and if something evil has to be sealed away he wouldn't want any of his newfound friends to have to bear it.

For both of these scenarios, it is still possible that Ven does indeed have his own darkness despite the whole "too pure" statements, although it would be laced and originate mainly from fear, insecurity and loneliness, nothing actually malicious although a malicious intended being could still exploit it just like Xehanort exploited Terra's.

Ven being a natural pure heart of light would be a new development that would shake up or affect quite some other parts of the overall lore and literally make him the opposite of Sora thematically in terms of "just ordinary boy" as then he would be marked as a highly special entity.
Perhaps he was even the one MoM intended to have the BoP originally, as in all the whole "false light" stuff he mentions with Xehanort?
There are so many possibilities.

All three of these scenarios I would be acceptable to a certain degree as it could be a good further development of Ven's character.

There are certainly even more possibilities, but if I had to put my foot down the only scenario I DON'T want to see is that Ventus' shown personality is just an act and even as a 10/11 year old he's actually an evil shitbag.

Spoiler Show

If Ventus was a pure light all this time then he’s the first prince of light omg. Let it be canon, I always dreamt of it. Especially the Snow White parallel with him in 0.2. Sure it’s a retcon but Prince Ventus is what I want.

It would certainly be something new, no questions asked. The scenario and narrative possibilities one can play with are also manifold.

 

[cakito123]

Everything regarding Vanitas and Ventus isn't only new, but absurdly unexplained since BBS. I've been waiting for a moment when Nomura would start hinting at his past and his lighty nature and Vanitas origins, since in BBS it isn't explained really well what Vanitas actually is and how did he come to life.
So yeah, I'm not against the expanded lore ReMind seems to hint regarding our dumb boy Ven

 

[Ballad of Caius]

Sooo... anyone asking themselves if the MoM can really return at any moment without Luxu's and the Foretellers help? I mean, we see him speaking with Young 'nort, unless he jumped Worldlines into that specific time and then jumped into a different Worldline and got stuck to that one?

Also, does anyone wonder what that exchange between Yozora and Sora was about? Yozora saying Sora sees him as Yozora and Sora using Sora's name? But the Yozora we see is the real deal, since we see that same figure in the car.