Translation
[spoiler]
[Lauriam is resting in a field of flowers]
???: Brother. Lauriam.
[Strelitzia walks towards him]
S: You're here, just as I thought. Napping again?
Lauriam: I'm already done collecting Lux for today.
S: Eh? But it's still the middle of the day?
L: I finished this morning. It's too simple, beating these monsters.
[Strelitzia gives a shocked expression]
L: Oh, that face.
S: Ah, uh, uh. Geez! I was just so surprised, you're like a genius!
L: Hahaha.
[Strelitzia sits next to Lauriam]
S: Me, I've just been chasing them around. It's been a real problem~
L: But, your magic's better than mine. If you just calm down and deal with it, you can do it by morning.
S: That's very... you're good on the front lines, but I'm better standing back. You sure we can't do it together~?
L: It's for your sake we don't. You've got to get stronger, enough to protect yourself. Even to surpass me.
S: Eh~~ no way I could~~
L: Besides that, about this Dandelion thing.
S: Oh...
L: You still haven't decided?
S: Being separated from my comrades is sad... and...
L: Hm?
S: I don't have friends but, there's someone I want to talk to, and if that person isn't a Dandelion...
L: Hmm?
S: No, no no no no no! It's not like that!!
L: With that too, just calm down and bring out your courage.
S: Nooooo, it really isn't like that!!
L: Ahahaha. Strelitzia, you need to get familiar with your surroundings. That'll definitely become an important power for everyone's sake. To hold a belief in yourself.
S: Ehhh... is that how it is... I didn't do anything to get praised like that...
L: No, you've already received that power. You get bored and tired, but then you think "tomorrow, I'll do my best," and that gives you energy.
S: Then in that case, every day we can--
L: Nope. Well, if something were to happen to you, I'd come running.
S: Nope.
L: ?
S: This is the test I've been waiting to get from you. For me to become even stronger than you!
L: Ahahaha.
[The wind blows petals into the sky, and they watch together.]
[When Lauriam turns around, Strelitzia is gone]
L: ! Strelitzia!
???: Brother.
[Lauriam turns around to see a girl in a white coat]
L: Strelitzia...?
???: Brother, I...
[She floats in the air, and Lauriam wakes up in the machine room]
L: Strelitzia... That's right. I fought that witch...
[He struggles to his feet and limps to the door]
L: So she ran away... Strelitzia... I'm...
END [/spoiler]

TL;DR Strelitzia is CUTE

Yeah, more padding. Is this white cloak of any significance?

I guess the Darkness has further use for poor Strelitzia? I wonder if ends up being something focused specifically on torturing Lauriam or if it is a more general byproduct of their machinations.

I wouldn't say giving us character interaction between two siblings who until now had not shared a moment of screentime is padding.
But that's just me.

No way, the Seekers of Light are going to be a thing, now. I'm guessing we'll have seven of them for obvious reasons. Maybe that's one of the subtle connections between Union Cross and Dark Road.

You are probably right, I really hope we see Strelitzia again or else all of this is too little too late.

After forever, she finally reappears.

Final video is currently processing but I've added goldpanner's translations to the OP in the meantime!

That last part was a touching and also somewhat eerie moment, but as usual, I can't say I'm anything but underwhelmed at the paltry progress we continue to make. I was hoping for more plot progression. I'm really so sick of these drips. They killed the interest in the story for me long ago. I just want answers for the future games' sake.

Preach it. I never feel like theorising at all with Union X because it takes so long to get information that my interest in a certain topic dies like Strelitzia did. I mean, it's been two and a half years since we first met Strelitzia, that's so crazy (and it was back in a time when they'd release 15 quests in one go, not 5)!

I'm just glad a coat person has turned up, despite the main art being a black coat.

Exactly. What little we've gotten in terms of story is inexcusable given how long it's been going on. And what's really insulting is, it's not even a visually or mechanically complex game—it shouldn't take long at all to make. So why do they make us wait so much for so little? Oh, but they can throw tons of Event Quests and Banners at us to waste our time or siphon our wallets. If this were a next-gen PS4 title, I'd probably understand, but as it is, there's no excuse. It's just so damn insulting, and it's the main reason most people are not at all enthusiastic about Dark Road.

Watching her float up like that was oddly disturbing.

The white robes a nice touch, I hope the light becomes the new enemy in future games but doubt. I'll add the scene was written quite well, or maybe it was the translation :), but I liked it a lot.

Lauriam: "Once you're stronger - strong enough to protect me - I'll think about it. Let’s say, strong enough to carry me on your back?"

Tsk. It's amazing how prior to this game I was neutral on Marluxia, but as soon as I learned he was part of a tragic sibling duo I care more than I probably should.
They are SO cute. I hope he gets resolution soon.

So, they decide to write, two and a half years later, the sequence that's really supposed to make us feel for these two as siblings? The sequence is fine, but the pacing for this thing... Just why? This could have been vastly more effective if it happened before Strelitzia died.
Btw, what was the schedule for the story updates?

Fillers for May and June, main scenario resumes in July and August.

Given Laurium's dialogue guess Maleficent really did defeat him.

The white cloak was a nice touch. Reminded me of the one Xehanort put on Ventus after damaging his heart

Of all things they decide to connect to this 'distant past' thing...they put this.

[S]One thing that just came to my mind, Strelitzia isn't the first person we saw with a white robe. In BBS there was also Ven at the very beginning, after Xehanort was done with him. Not sure if that's going to mean anything serious or of the rope. Is it something for the dead/ supposed to be dead to wear?[/S]
Just rewatched the scene, does less look like a robe but more like an... I can't find the correct word... anyway, not a robe. Edit: Just noticed that someone mentioned it before. Well, whatever...

What is left for me to say is, that I really like the dynamic between the two of them. Poor Lauriam, if he has to do the Sora method of solving issues and has to beat sense in that poor girl until she is resqued (if it's not once again Sora himself who is going to do that).

Could the next saga be the Light Seeker Saga?!
Didn't see the white coats coming. Ravus had that in FF Versus 13 trailers. :p

She died in the same month she was revealed and we didn't even know they were siblings for quite a while

Strelitzia has to go now, her planet needs her. That is all I thought when she floated up in the air like that.

It's mind blowing they are giving Marluxia's COM mech a story. When can we learn about Xemnas's Nobody dragon? In all seriousness it's good to see interaction between these two as I'm starting to like Strelitzia as a actual character now. The white robe made her look like a White Mushroom Heartless. Hope we get our corrupt light baddies next.

I still remember the days when we blamed Lauriam for Strelitzia's death. Oh, how naive the fandom was back then.

Seven seekes of light? But what about the black chess pieces Eraqus put on the chessboard in the epilogue? Unless the seekers of light are a separate group from the Foretellers.

Another thing to add to the pile of Versus references in KH

sigh
[IMG width="263px"]https://i.redd.it/8rufndgtctvz.png[/IMG]

One thing I’ll say for the major lack of story progress or a “short” update. Wreck it Ralph will keep going each month. And they are very close to the end of this story now. I would imagine part of the reason for holding off for two months is to line it up even closer. And once wreck it Ralph is done as a world there is nowhere else to go except back to daybreak town.

I think some of this is nomuras fault but he clearly wanted kh3 to come out before some of this other stuff started getting addressed. Some of that is on Disney for being picky about everything.

To be fair, they did use Lauriam’s character model for the shadowy figure. But I imagine the devs just put that in as a placeholder at a time when even they didn’t know where Nomura was going with the story. Kinda like Saix being used for Mysterious Figure in BBS.

It'll be interesting to see where UX goes after Sugar Rush. Traverse Town? New Disney worlds? Crazy amount of main story?

Not to mention Dark Road, the story of which we know nothing about.

Hmm, I don't think that's the case. Based on the concept art, Strel was always intended to be Marluxia's long lost sister. There's even one version of her with pink hair. I think using Marluxia was meant to mislead us. Or maybe, whoever did the act took that form on purpose to dig the knife a little deeper as she was dying. We know for sure whoever did the deed is a shape shifter since they're pretending to be Ava, right?

"Unless... you'd be my vanguard while I protect the rear." [ATTACH type="full"]12562[/ATTACH]

Kind of ridiculous that the one game where characters interact with each other outside of their specific groups is..... Union Cross.

UX lost me hard in 2017 when the Ven/Marluxia twist was revealed, and it's just been downhill from there. How did it possibly take Nomura 2 years to come up with this scenario? I don't believe it. It's hard to believe there was a time when UX had almost no advertisements [s]and 200 missions for 4 months[/s]

This is such a glacial pace that I really wonder if this game will ever end. It just feels like more and more of a burden the longer it goes on

That was at least somewhat plausible theory until the replacement (according to the list) was revealed. Now people are blaming Ven, so things have gotten worse. :(


Or maybe the shadowy figure actually is Lauriam. He doesn't necessarily need to be on the scene to save Strelitzia, because of how complicated death and afterlife are in the series, but it's possible that he was there.


Good point. If the Player Character needs to be present in the next part of the main story, they cannot continue it until Wreck-It Ralph is done.

Ven/Marluxia Twist actually really brought me into Union X. Before that it was mainly a story that we knew was connected to the current story but in some a "Its just backstory, so I don't really have to play it or pay attention to it" way. By introducing them into the current scenario it became a question of how would it lead up to what we know. I mean the original arc of X was good, and we already knew that the Dandeleaders would take over after the KB War but the question of how was that relevant to anything after the big event happened that was the end of everything we knew.

I don't think that it took Nomura 2 years to come up with it. I would say that it is probably done or at least more finished than it is now, its just being stretched out by the company to inflate the time its playerbase continues playing. There also might be an element of "Whoops this twist can't come out until this trailer for so and so comes out." or "This would spoil my ideas for this game, but is also the conclusion of stuff before so it needs to be delayed".

The whole thing is a mess and it makes me wish Union X had never been made important. I would have preferred it just stay this superficial yet benign spin-off game with little bearing on the story. Frankly, I despise having to follow this story just to understand the later games that I actually want to play. It's an objectively TERRIBLE game. If it weren't part of this franchise, I wouldn't even touch it. But after waiting for five years (seven if you count the JP Browser title) for this goddamn narrative to unravel, I would have preferred Ven and Lauriam and Maleficent just stayed out of this and Nomura had just let this be a totally unimportant title. This is FAR worse than any of the handheld games of the past, and if Nomura wanted to make the story important, he should have made it a full-release console game, or a handheld AT THE VERY LEAST. The way they've done this just makes it so undigestible to any but the most dedicated KH fans, and forcing people to play it in order to understand the main series just ensures that more casual players will be turned off to it.

As strange as it sounds, I see it as still possible that Lauriam was actually the one who killed Strelitzia, after having seen his dream.

It hints at that something was going to happen/ has happened to his sister. But I don't think it was Lauriam of this time, it was more Lauriam from the future (Sora & Co's time) after having learned something about the white coats, including that his sister is one of them. Strelitzia was one of MoMs chosen, so there is the possibilty that the same can happen to the others, if they share a trait important for this (if Lauriam would see Skuld, Brain and Ephemer in the future with white coats alongside Strelitzia he would have a strong reason for getting his sister as far as possible away from there). Future Lauriam would also have the chance of knowing where they were back then (in a data world) and that it's possible to bring dead people back (you basically only need the heart and a replica). So slaying Strelitzia and letting her heart flow away somewhere where she is more save could be a way in Lauriams point of view to save her from this change. But - in order to lay one tragic twist on the other, since it may have been supposed to happen and as we learned in DDD some events cannot be changed (atleast if you're not Sora, I guess) - he accidentally triggered what would cause her change and caused what he tried to stop in the first place, causing the dream of his past self.

As for the switching, first, Marluxia was able to use illusions in CoM (the first Marluxia fight), taking the appearance of someone else should be a possibility.

Second, from his time as Union Leader he is probably going to learn who was switched with his sister (Ven), so his future time traveling self would know to who he has to give the book in order to avoid changing the events he was familiar with.

Thirdly, someone who knows that light will pose a threat in the future would have reason to call himself Darkness, so something which opposes this light. Future Lauriam would know that there are people in the future which will bring Maleficent back, since she was present in KH3. Helping the witch would also be a part of the things future Lauriam had to do in order to change the events he knew would happen not to much. To clarify this, he didn't want to cause an unintended butterfly effect (meaning changing something he didn't want to), so he followed the rest of the scribt thinking that he has changed enough.

Lastly, Future Lauriam could have used a sleep spell on his past self. At that time he might have realised that his actions didn't had the effect he wished for, so he wanted to ensure that past Lauriam is going to dream what he dreamed.

I hope I didn't miss a loophole/ logic error here, but yeah, it could be possible in some way.

I agree to a extent. I like the story of this, but I don't like that this is a mobile game and the wait is so tedious, especially for me because I can lose interest in something pretty quickly. Like we're just now getting to see Lauriam and his sister interact? One of my biggest fears going into KH4 is I'm not going to be invested in many of the Union X characters who are being groomed to be the next batch of 'saveable souls' Other then MoM and the Zoo-Keys (Foretellers) I haven't found a favorite among the Dandelions half and this worries me for the future.

Agreed. I want to like this story—I mean, I REALLY want to love this story. But so little of this game is actually DEVOTED to the main story that nothing feels substantive about it. 358/2 Days was a grind as a game, but at least most of the missions gave you more character development with Roxas and the Sea-Salt Trio that made their story more immersive. Here, not only is, like, 70% of the game's story just filler, but you don't even play as a character who has any real place amongst the Union leaders (or any personality for that matter). Like, seriously, the ONLY main characters the Player ever has any interaction with is Ephemer and, to a much lesser extent, Skuld. And, sorry to say it, but Ephemer and Skuld are styrofoam levels of boring. Roxas, Xion, and Axel these characters are NOT. The only characters with any modicum of interest are Brain, Ventus, and Lauriam, but even they don't really have much development, and now that we know that Brain is neither the killer nor the impostor, all of his mystique for me is gone.
I've been a KH fan all my life, and I'm still all in for the future games in the series. But it's just impossible for me to feel emotionally invested in characters that the GAME ITSELF doesn't even bother to invest in. I pray to God they flesh these guys out more in future games (REAL games, not more mobile garbage!), because right now, if these guys are going to be the main focus of the next saga, I'm not very hyped.

Notice how there isn't specific trios that ignore everyone else not in it and how much better character dynamics are cause of it ?.


---



Anyway, I've seen a lot of opinions for KHUx, and a lot of fans are invested in the story and feel it's one of the better ones, lore wise. Trust me, I'm the first person who will shit on how KH is going downhill and how Nomura is a hack, but the mobile games (gacha games) and handhelds are legitimately booming in Japan. More than consoles. They get loads of money and in general, it's a smart investment. So for "casual players" not getting access to this isn't really a problem over in Japan since all this is a thing.

It only becomes a problem overseas.

There's no real solution to this except wait for the eventual remaster. There's no way they are going to stop the gacha games with how much of a market there is for them.

So like, everyone is free to bitch and all but at least make the effort to contribute something to the topic of discussion? If you can't do that, please take your comments to another thread.

He actually just writes them a few months in advance. If you recall in his September letter, at the time he had only written 2 of the 4 big story updates.

I've stuck with the KHX saga since the beginning. If this is the price I have to pay for quality writing, then it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Let's hope that isn't the case. If the majority of KH games go mobile, I don't know if I'll be able to continue running with this series. The mobile games are just so painfully un-fun, and I'm not at all interested in following the franchise if that's what it's going to become. At least the handheld games were fun, even if I would have preferred them on full consoles.

Does this confirm that the player is a male? Since lauriam was teasing Strelitzia if she liked him.

I think the setting for the Siblings scene looks really good. I like how varied and colourful all the flowers are and the misty view of Daybreak Town was a nice touch. I actually really like the art style in UX and think it suits the story well.

Not at all.

My first thought when I saw that field of flowers was that we will see that location again and it will become another one of the “important” spots where several key storyline points will either happen, or be tied to

I love the idea of Ventus having a dark side to him before the creation of Vanitas. It gives him a sense of depth that I felt was missing in Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts III.



I genuinely hope that one of the two Kingdom Hearts game is a Union Cross remake for consoles. The game seems to be drawing to a conclusion, and with the ability to play Dark Road through Union Cross, the possibility seems to line up nicely.

I doubt the majority will go all mobile. What I'm saying is that KHUx makes sense within Japanese trends. The unavailability of the story and it not reaching fans/casual players are only an overseas problem.

2BF, I had wondered if there was something to the angel nobody thingie. If Ansem's bodyguard gets an origin...

The format of this specific mobile game makes it easier to write than the ones that are visual novels so I can believe that: what I meant to say was that they are most likely planned in advance. I do wish the Disney Worlds were a bit less... filler and thus more substantial to the plot developments, but that has been a problem in the series since KH1, and has worsened with time, probably because what can and can't be done with the properties.

On another note, its funny how Lauriam's whole conversation keeps being compared to Marluxia's boss fight. I mean that was likely on purpose, but it's also kind of sad. Assuming that Strelitzia's essence isn't inside of that giant metal woman, it feels like his regret towards an unfulfilled promise, which is a great reuse of a out of nowhere boss.

Thank you for the videos and translations!

Aww finally some sibling bonding time! So wholesome! I need more now lol. Was that a new or remixed BGM for them?

Strelitizia being in a white coat now raises some questions. If the dark coats protect from excess darkness, does the white ones protect from too much light? Maybe Darkness, despite being kind of shadowed out right now, is in fact cloaked in a white coat as well. Darkness could perhaps be creating its own group to counterbalance the MoM and the Foretellers. I'm curious to see where Sora and company fit into all of this if that's the case.

Mobile games might be nice NOW, but I hope they have a long term solution to forever cement these games into the series later. You can't really take mobile games and put them on a shelf with the rest of your collection. And someday, when the games die, newer phones/technology won't support them/can't support them/they purposely make it unavailable (like the browser game).

Onto the story, still firmly against Ven being the murderer.
Also pretty sure it is not Lauriam either, time travel or not. There is no motive to kill her, thery're both union leaders and everything.

It's definitely Darkness, but the question is how and why.

We know that Ven didn't fall into darkness, because his Chirithy hasn't turned into a nightmare. And him being the killer without that would be a huge and very disruptive retcon on how darkness works and how people can protect themselves from it.


This is a problem on all platforms, not just mobile. The correct solution to it is to release the source code of the game and let people port it to whatever device they prefer to use. There are plenty of games (mostly FPS, think Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D...) from ~25 years ago that are still popular today because this was done.

That's when they'll port the game. There are a lot of games that needed wifi and are obsolete now, like many of the DS era Pokemon games. If you can't play it they'll likely make a movie for this stuff like they did for Re:Coded and Days. Because those two haven't been ported or remade I suspect Square doesn't expect anyone to play them only watch their movies in collections. They did this with Backcover too.

And the killer is obviously Skuld. She's playing everyone for a fool by just being breathing background and framing Ventus for her evil deeds. And she did it because Gula has invaded her heart and taken over her vessel in true Xehanort fashion. It's really all Gula's fault XD

But I still have PS1 games I can play. I still have PS2 games I can play. (I don't have a ps3). When PS5 comes out, I'll still have all my PS4 games I can play. Because they're physical, unless it's some always online BS (which is why I avoid those games), I can play them whenever I want as long as my console still works.

But a phone? As soon as they cut the connection from their end, the game is dead and completely unplayable and the story lost except youtube videos.

No, it means Strelitzia is canonically bi. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.

What was his Chirithy doing in the final world though? That part always makes me wonder.

I think we should make a separate thread to salt about the very fact mobile gaming is the current trend in Japan, and we the overseas fandom like it or not, because cultural difference and all, as now every KHUX story update would have someone complaining about it. Not to say you can't do that, but this is a story thread, not complaining about mobile trend thread.



That being said, yall remembered in CoM Marluxia have some wind-element attacks? Gale of Severance, Whirlwind to the void.... Also, a gust blows when Strelitzia disappeared, as if it's the wind who takes her away, and Ventus is Latin for wind... more clues Ventus is the culprit?

Besides that, there is a phrase like this, isn;t it? Oh dandelions, may the wind carry you away ? I really cannot remember that phrase though so maybe it is planned at the first place? I dunno

Ava says ''Let the wind carry you far far away... my Dandelions" in Back Cover, if that's what you are thinking of.

yeah that's it

This isn't related to this update but official localization has decided to go with "lifeboat" instead of "ark" and I'm just going to say they can fuck off with that nonsense.

Between this and Special Attack Bonus, I'm starting to wonder if this is actually being localized by 4Kids

Your body shall be the lifeboat that sustains me!

Yes, that is very obviously wrong.

Am I the only one who interpreted the part where using it destroys one's body as a reference to the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark?

I've seen the idea floating around that the white coat might actually be Data-Strelitzia, mirroring Data-Riku as having been chosen as a vessel for the Book's data to protect it from the bugs.

Honestly, I buy it

Why do localization teams do this? Is it laziness/indifference towards the material? Are the translators not well versed? How does one go from ark, which is epic sounding and fits in this fantasy/technology setting to.... lifeboat? Are we on the titanic?

Like I kinda get it, saves lives, keeps people afloat, takes them to safety. But ark is still more suitable for the setting.

It's a completely intentional rewrite. The only question is why rewrite it.

The Japanese word is「箱舟」which is quite literally the kanji and words for "box" and "boat" put together.
There are a number of Japanese terms for "lifeboat" including「助け船」(verb "to save" + "boat") and「ライフボート」(the English word "lifeboat" in kana), but not 箱舟. You can paste it into Google and see how the word translates practically (cargo ships).
So whomever translated this had to have seen what the word actually meant, and decided to replace it with something vaguely similar, I guess, kind of.

Swear to God if "lifeboat" makes it into voiced dialogue in a later game I'm gonna freak

It’s just sheer ignorance imo—Ignoring already established themes to try and dance around any religious references.

Problem is that the Foretellers already are named after the seven sins. They tried erasing guilt from the game but it completely backfired. This might not backfire on them as much but it just sounds dumb and yet again destroys the implied themes here.

"Special Attack Bonus"

"Lifeboat"

"B r a i n"

Honestly I still prefer Ephemera.


............ Oh God I sound like an FF7 Aeris boomer

Haha, it still has a nice ring to it. I've let it go but I still pronounce it with the 'a' in my head.

You guys, lifeboat is the correct translation because we've seen the original form of that strange machine almost six years ago. Nomura the absolute madman has done it again.

Haven't considered that, but I can see it going that route.

I'm trying to imagine how someone can look at what the ark is and think "Yeah, I can call that a lifeboat."

This huge story gap between Japan and the rest of us gives the the translator/localizer no excuse for not knowing the context.

Watch Joshua being changed to "Steve" in future games.

I wanna chime in and say that the actual translation work for Kingdom Hearts has usually been pretty good, historically. Likely the fault isn't entirely the actual translator's or the adaptation team but may have come from above or someone in the Western team saying "now wait a minute"

These kind of rewrites and mistakes happen in every game, though I feel they've increased in frequency since DDD. (It's also evident in FFXV, WoFF and VIIR so it's not just KH either.)
For example, when Riku tells Sora that "there can't be two Keyblade masters" in KH1, the actual JP dialogue says "we don't need two heroes." And that scene wound up making a huge part of the Western fanbase wrongly believe (many still do) that there was only supposed to be one "Keyblade master" period.

I'd say like 90% of KH dialogue is faithfully translated, maybe more.
But that other 10% kind of really sucks

We'll never know how much of this is on the localization team themselves, or the result of meddling from higher up.
Either way, I don't like it

you're splitting hairs. Riku was an "unreliable narrator" at that point in time, people only believed him because that's how the typical hero story is told. Even with the proper translation, fans would probably still assume there was only one keyblade master anyway.

Dialogue is also rewritten in ways that simply appeal more to the west. Imo, things like minor translation errors are significantly less important than the cultural context that is lost. That is to say, in order to really get the full message of the game translated into english you would have to add dialogue and footnotes in order to explain the nuance in the japanese character dialogue. I don't know how often this sort of things happens in KH because I'm not familiar with the JP version of the game at all, but in manga and anime it happens all the time.

Although there are three Keyblades present in KH1, people still hold onto the idea that Sora is "the chosen one" largely due to the choices made during localization.

Dialogue is also rewritten in ways that simply appeal more to the west.

Too often is this an excuse for rewriting the script. In all cases I would rather they prioritize the meaning and intent of the original writing than rewriting it into "what the West would like more."

Imo, things like minor translation errors are significantly less important than the cultural context that is lost. That is to say, in order to really get the full message of the game translated into english you would have to add dialogue and footnotes in order to explain the nuance in the japanese character dialogue. I don't know how often this sort of things happens in KH because I'm not familiar with the JP version of the game at all, but in manga and anime it happens all the time.

That sort of thing typically happens when a work references Japanese history or culture in some way, or a pun is being made that doesn't translate.

The only point that I know of where this happens in KH is in Re Mind when Xigbar tells Luxord about the black and white goats passing letters to each other. But because he's actually explaining the story, nothing needed to be added for a non-Japanese audience to understand what he meant.

Wait a minute. White coats, "Graceful Assassin".....



Well mobile games do love their random crossover events.

And riku saying there can't be two heroes isntead somehow undermines that idea? "Hero" or "Keyblade Master" the idea in the west of a young man inheriting a sword tends to lend itself to the idea that they were a "chosen hero".


No, I'm talking about common Japanese themes in stories that are less relatable to western audiences due to our predominately Christian values. This sort of thing comes up all the time in dialogue, but most people are content chalking many of those moments up to "those crazy, eccentric Japanese" stereotypes when there is some historical/cultural context for the way Japanese people/characters tend to act

I can see reasons why this piece of dialogue was changed, so I can't completely blame them on this one nor put in in the same box as "lifeboat". The timing would be off if using a straight translation and they may not have been able to lengthen it without it sounding clunky. "Heroes" itself might have sounded off to the translator. It doesn't help that this was done on the idea that this would be the only game.

I'd say like 90% of KH dialogue is faithfully translated, maybe more. But that other 10% kind of really sucks

^ When the translating matters the absolute most, it falls on its face.

So how long until the names of the books in Hollow Bastion's library get an origin story?

A hypothetical Data!Streritzia being the Book of Prophecies' data will is an interesting idea.

I'd also like to add the possibility of a white coat meaning the existence of Guardians or Seekers of Light (like a fellow member suggested). That, or she's someone that can freely traverse between the Final World and the world of the living.

By the way, we still haven't received explanation of the scene from the end of KHx with the Seekers and Guardians, unless it was intended to portray the fight in kH3.

Personally I find this "Seekers of Light" theory to be incredibly trite and kind of boring. Just playing role-reversal for new antagonists feels like an AU fanfic, y'know?
I think the white coat's significance is less material and more thematic.

By the way, we still haven't received explanation of the scene from the end of KHx with the Seekers and Guardians, unless it was intended to portray the fight in kH3.

I believe Player's vision was just a wink and nod foreshadowing to KHIII.

Possible, like applying Occam's razor: she's just dead.


Yeah, but if you take into consideration that there was possibly a war before the one in KHx, then it's also a possibility. But, again, Occam's razor: foreshadowing kh3.

Yeah but before Re Mind Occam's razor made it seem like the Nameless Star was Strelitzia and she was talking about Marluxia so who knows. Honestly, Kingdom Hearts seems to work on the opposite principle to Occam's razor a lot of the time. Like Nomura's follicle stimulant or something.

Haha, which is why sometimes the series' story is called "convoluted"

Which is why this will totally happen. :LOL:

With the Foretellers seemingly set up as the new antagonists, it appears we have pretty much got that.

I think the force to contrast the Foretellers will be the Union Leaders. Assuming Subject X is Skuld, you've got pretty much of the Union Leaders in the present: Ventus, Lauriam and Skuld.

It might even be that the White coats aren't antagonists for Sora and the gang. They might be neutral or maybe they don't matter too much in the long run. Kind of hard to theorize based on a very straightforward dream sequence.

It could also be a callback to the white coats we already saw in KHX: the capes of light. Along with the bracelet of light, which shows a similiar design to the strings on the black coat, it was speculated that they share a similiar origin.