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News ► Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory Releases November 13 2020



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Recon

Art of War
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What's it gonna cost me, bucko?
tenor.gif
 

AegisXIII

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Is it me or the graphics with the old engine seem a little more polished or cartoonish? Looks like they added a filter that makes it more stylized.
 

AegisXIII

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Have you seen how the world that never was looks more like the cgi from deep dive? It's way darker and less blue-greenish
 

Hirokey123

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On the subject of Kairi I do think KH3 improved her treatment a bit even if she still can't pass the bechdel test and was still somewhat shafted. We got to see Kairi have a friendship outside Sora and Riku. We got to see Sora and Kairi's relationship advance including them finally having their long awaited world tour together. We got to hear Kairi's actual thoughts and feelings for one on people and not just Sora (namely Namine). Like it was a particularly nice piece of characterization hearing Kairi write a letter to Sora but then explain that letter isn't actually for Sora, it's for her a, a coping mechanism she uses to process her thoughts because Sora is her happy place where she feels most comfortable. We got to play as Kairi for once and fight and defeat MX, the Xehanort saga got to end with Kairi beating Xehanort then joining the group as they all did the final blow together.

She got have like flaws the start of an actual arc. Promising to protect Sora and holding her own against the generic mooks, but freezing up in her first Xehanort fight which is understandable. Easy to forget when Sora first faced a terrifyingly seemingly powerful foe he turned around and tried to run away until he realized there was nowhere to run to, Kairi's reaction was pretty fittingly in the middle of Sora and Riku who were flight vs fight. She still managed to make a come back and one-up her only meaningful contribution, the saving of Sora in KH1, to now have saved Sora and by extension all the guardians as she is the only thing that kept him tethered enabling him to save the others.

She reaffirms that she will keep Sora safe and from that point on she held her own even against Xemnas until she got caught and fridged. However the fridging wasn't just a way to cause Sora pain it set up the entirety of Re:Mind, this game, and basically is the catalyst to the core plot going on. It was a mistake, an actual failure, with serious long term consequences. I wouldn't have done it this way myself but you know this is something everyone but Kairi has had. A tragedy, a mistake, a personal failing that affected everyone including the people closest to them in a negative. Kairi promised she protect Sora and instead Sora had to save her and was erased as a consequence. That had to hurt, to give her such a complex knowing that Sora is gone and no one's life has been able to return to normal and move forward because they all have spent the last year trying to save Sora. Kairi finally gets to join Sora, Riku, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Roxas, Axel, Xion, and Namine in being a character with flaws that lead to failure and long lasting problems. Instead of the perfect do nothing pure maiden whose effect on plot and on people has been minimal to non-existent.

Finally as pointed out Kairi didn't just return to the island and wait. She went to RG to try and use herself in their research to find Sora doing all this melody of memory dive stuff, and who knows what else since we know at some point she is going to end up in TFW staring down a cloaked figure. Point is that she IS doing things and not just waiting...even if her and Riku's doing things to find Sora amount to playing video games where they play as Sora. :p

Can and does Kairi deserve a hell of a lot more than this? 100% without any single question yes, but I think it's often downplayed how much better KH3 and onward has been treating her. It's still not anywhere close to good enough but compared to where she was previously? The distance between her treatment in KH1/KH2 vs KH3 is like the distances from north pole to the south pole.
 

LightUpTheSky452

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Applauds you, Hirokey. While I prefer KH1 and KH2 Kairi, because she had more personality back then; and Nomura hadn't forgotten to write her in those few years, and actually seemed to see her (in some ways) as more than a means to Sora's pain, I've defended my KH3 girl time and time again.

And what she's doing in KH3 is Leaps and BOUNDS more than she ever got--or could've done--in the past games. I think the fridging thing is just a road block we had to get through--and that we will get through--because Nomura and Japan are obsessed with that trope.

But there's no denying that how Kairi's been treated since Re:Mind and now in Melody of Memory--even KHIII itself some--is much better than she's ever gotten... somewhat sadly. I think Nomura and the team are finally listening to us about her, as NO one was happy with her murder in KH3. I definitely think Re:Mind with Kairi was a response to our rage. And that we might have gotten DDD 2.0 (though we still might get that), with nothing for Kairi at ALL, if the team hadn't (thankfully) seen the Internet's want for good things for Kairi.

I still want way more of course. But the point is this is all a step in the right DIRECTION. Finally.

And Kairi's track record of actually becoming more avtive with each new game she's in, is continuing.

There's also a part of me thinking Kairi MIGHT, in this saga, be what Riku was in the last one. But we'll see. They might not do that, since it would piss a lot of people off and Nomura loves Riku. But maybe we'll at least get way more Kairi. And maybe a lot of this saga will be Riku and Kairi (hopefully working together) trying to find Sora. Who knows?

Also, Hirokey... I'm glad that you're happy she got to be a part of the team that blasted Xehanort and defeated him with them. I am, too. In KH1, Kairi wanted to go with Sora to find Riku, but didn't when he told her not to. But she still showed up at the End of the World right when the fight was over. In KH2, she went into the final battle--and some of the other fights--but was knocked out of it. In KH3, she fights in most the fights and almost made it to the Final Battle and I was sad she didn't. But Re:Mind made it so even though she was taken out of the fight for a minute, she finally got to have the final say with the other heroes and it's nice.

Also, y'all talking about her in Re:Mind are forgetting how she ripped Xemnas a new one.
 

Face My Fears

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I hope they do trailers like this moving forward. It gave away nothing, except gameplay aspects, and teased the story immensely without spoiling anything.

They don't need any other trailers after this one, I'm good. I just don't want to see "Final Battle - Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory" popping up on YouTube in October.
 

SweetYetSalty

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With Kairi front and center this gives me hope they'll make the Sora, Riku, Kairi fight that never happened in the Dark Seeker Saga. This will be better because now when Kairi stands with them it'll feel earned rather then it just being a requirement. So I'm hoping from here on out Kairi truly is treated like the tritagonist of Kingdom Hearts.
 
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With Kairi front and center this gives me hope they'll make the Sora, Riku, Kairi fight that never happened in the Dark Seeker Saga. This will be better because now when Kairi stands with them it'll feel earned rather then it just being a requirement. So I'm hoping from here on out Kairi truly is treated like the tritagonist of Kingdom Hearts.
Same.

They deserve a fight together...I'm still miffed over how they didn't get a single brawl against Xehanort together.
 

MATGSY

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Honestly I doubt Kairi would have stood a chance against Xemnas in KH2. Even with her latent PoH powers.
Thing is, KH2 was a game with a bunch of not-quite-party members, Herc, Mickey, Axel, assorted FF guys. If it didn't make sense to have Kairi as a party member, this would've been a viable Option B.

But ya know, a much better way to make her strong enough is not wait until the very end of the damn game to give her a keyblade.
 
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