I finally took my time to check out Dark Road after postponing for a while. I absolutely hate Xehanort and Eraqus so I really did not want to get into a game all about those two, but I love KH way too much to avoid it, so here I am with my first impressions and current thoughts.
1. The Xehanort from this game is.. quite a surprise. He's not like the clown that was YX from DDD/KH3, being more like a refined version of the one from the chess games in 3, which I like.. but I really did NOT want to like a version of Xehanort, at all.
2. I wasn't sure what to expect of the rest of the class, but seeing them in action pretty much answered my questions: they're just generic sideliners. Their designs are cool, but in a generic brand of way; they all look like player characters from X/UX. I only really made that connection on what irked me about them when I saw their armors and realized they're just modified versions of the union armors from the previous game. That coupled with the implication that they are all dead makes me worried about their roles at all, but since this is only the first chapter I'm gonna withhold from making further assumptions as all could change. Personality wise, none of them made a proper impression on this first chapter; I don't really remember them besides Bragi (?) being the smartass.
3. I'm REEEALLY interested in this whole class-perspective and how it seems like they are finally going to explain some aspects of the franchise that had always been left open to interpretation, like the flow of time in the worlds. I hope that wasn't a one time kind of thing and we can see more of that going forward.
4. I absolutely loved Scala ever since it was first revealed, but I love it even more now with the revelation of the abandoned lands and the implication that the world is quite big and no one really knows everything about it past the ocean. Out of all the hub worlds we've had in the franchise so far, it's easily my favorite one taking the spot from KH2's Radiant Garden. I love the imposing castle, the white marble aesthetic inspired by greece, the vast blue ocean and the ruins of forgotten lands. I hope we get to see a lot of it and that they go back to explore those abandoned parts.
5. I'm really invested in who Baldr might be and what fate is reserved to this character, as well as the upperclassmen. One of them is most likely going to be Luxu, but that still leaves us with 7 "new" characters to expand the mythos. While some of them are definitely going to be faces we already know, I hope we get more cool designs.