The site is looking fresh:)

But I'm seeing the Sora and Kairi figures they have there (of Sora in his thrones, in the one KHIII promotional image, and Kairi in her throne in the MoM cover art), and I'm trying to remember if we knew that those were being made before, or if that's new news, as well:)

Hmm what is this Union X updated? I thought Dark Road is the last we are looking forward to?

Eyyyy we finally got da website

Gosh darn it Square, stop targeting my wallet with merch. The Kairi and Sora Thrown figures and the Chess Board both look really tempting.
The website is really nice, though I am a bit amazed that they're already going live now, but I guess they want to build up hype for the 20h Anniversary event.

They're succeeding.

I am just worried, if they can deliver on a 6 month hype build up. What they have planned must be something big, if they're making the Switch announcement now and along with the DR and Smash Bros. announcements.

I'm just having a hard time imagining what they could deliver in March that'd live up to 6 months of hype, my best guess is the next main KH game being announced along with one or two non-numbered games? Anymore ports or remakes seem kind of out of the question now that the Switch versions have been announced in advance.

They could announce the Quadratum game, the unknown team game and the Disney+ series all at once if they want to

That would live up to the hype. Even if they only announce the Quadratum game, that would still live to the hype too

It's looking good. Haven't been this excited since Melody of Memory. Has the series ever been bigger then it is right now?

True, if the Disney+ series is announced too, that'd also make a big enough splash to probably satisfy most people given the build up. But personally, I don't think the Quadratum game alone would be seen as big enough to satisfy most peoples excitement for such a long build up. Mainly because I feel that game is kind of a given for most people.

I actually forgot that besides MoM and UX/DR there was one more unknown game in development along side the next main entry. So likely that'll be announced, hopefully one of these games will also release in 2022 as the anniversary game.

It’s new and was revealed in the anniversary trailer, but because it is an Ichiban Kuji prize (a raffle game of sorts), there isn’t much to say about it until next year when they provide more info about it.

UX is receiving an update where it will be viewable as a theater mode in offline mode. You will be able to see all of the costumes and put your player in them and watch the game cutscenes. There will also be a medal gallery and other features.

Could've sworn that was already a thing

The theater mode and the avatar customization are already available, but the medal gallery and whatever the other features are haven't been implemented yet.

I think there's good chances that a 20th anniversary collection for PS5 and Xbox Series X might happen.

I’m never gonna rule it out, but I hope not unless they have a third party work on it. I think everything currently out there is already as good as it needs to be. The newer consoles already improve the performance as it is, so I don’t see a point unless they’re going to add additional content or huge graphic upgrades, haptic feedback, etc. I’d rather get FFXIII series remasters, tbh.

I also don’t think they’d announce or release them until after the Switch versions are out since some people would probably save their money for those instead if they know a superior version is coming.

I've grown to miss portable/side story KH games tbh. 2022 will mark 10 years since DDD and I could go for another title of that caliber. Besides, the Switch should get at least 1 game that's A. an action RPG and B. actually on the hardware. I'd say this could where Kairi finally gets her own adventure while Sora and Riku are off in the main console game but we all know that ain't happening.

I don't really want to see another collection happen, at least not yet. Maybe it's because I don't have a PS5 (yet), but I just don't see the point of the developers spending time on another collection, when they should be focusing on main game titles. It's going to end up being like when the teams were split up and overworked. Now that the Dark Seeker Saga is finally over and it's a clean slate, I think Nomura should just work 1 or 2 games at a time now.

Also, I think there's only so much you can fix and redo. Just let the previous collections be good enough for now. It also kind of seems tacky as a cash grab, which I really don't want associated with the pristine KH legacy.

Oh and I wish they included a screenshot of The Caribbean for the home page, just to flex some more.

But they could absolutely do a collection. The Epic Game Store version of the KH series has waaaaaay more features than the PS4/XB1 version and should either be added into those versions as an update or...in a PS5/XBX port.

What features? Couldn't they just patch in whatever is missing, instead of making us pay for another collection? Unless it's story related stuff or actual items/abilities to use in the game, I don't really care about features.

I used to remember the days when people were adamant that Kingdom Hearts III would be the definitive finale for the franchise.

I won't mind KH3 PS5/Xbox series remaster. ray tracing and 120fps option/native 4K/faster loading with the SSD/turn the settings to high/another new version of kingdom key for each/native HDR etc. as long it's done by third party.

I have wonderful news, my friends: the chess set description has finally, officially identified who each of the gold and silver pieces used in the game is meant to represent. It can all be found under "Additional Information".

Gold pieces, from left to right: Master Xehanort, Ansem, Xemnas, Xigbar, Saix, Young Xehanort, Marluxia, Vanitas, Larxene, Demyx, Vexen, Luxord, Xaldin, Dark Riku, Xion, Terra-Xehanort
[ATTACH type="full"]14359[/ATTACH]

Silver pieces, from left to right: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Roxas, Axel, 7 Starlights
[ATTACH type="full"]14360[/ATTACH]

What's Xaldin doing there? He wasn't a darkness, Dilan didn't even speak in KH3.

Guessing it's a leftover from early drafts they had for the character that ended up not working out. His piece was also included over Riku, Xion and Terranort's in the Ultimania; feels like someone should have caught that and made sure to exclude him.

Honestly, if they told us that piece was supposed to represent Maleficent, I'd believe it.

What is this I'm seeing about an "Integrum" cloud game for the Nintendo Switch on the anniversary website? Is that what "Melody of Memories" is called in nihongo? That's quite a title change... Unless it's actually what Nomura is going to call the UX/DR "game" in the console stores?

Also, really enjoying that there are more minority characters being introduced in Dark Road. Here's hoping they get enough screen time to flesh them out rather than having them sidelined almost right after introducing them.

The KH Integrum Masterpiece collection was the name used for an SEJP e-store exclusive bundle that included KH3 and the remaster collections; their version of the All-In-One Collection basically, with a few extra additions. They're reusing the name for the Switch release of these games, which is only available through cloud streaming - no physical or digital releases.

Let's hope Xaldin/Dilan still has a future in Kingdom Hearts because I loved the character in Kingdom Hearts II and I was hoping that he'd have a role for Kingdom Hearts III.

Xaldin's piece is in there out of respect for his intense boss battle in KH2. Dude beat my ass a couple of times and then doesn't even speak in KH3.

Honestly Xaldin being one of the Darknesses would have made more sense than some of the guys that did make the cut.

I like to think of Dilan as someone dealing with a lot of survivor guilt. Think about it: if you subtract Xehanort & Luxu, he's the first actual traitor to AtW, with Even/Aelous/Ienzo following him. But those 3 all got wiped out in CoM while he survived to KH2. At the time most of the org didn't know that the original somebodies would reform so as far as he knew they were dead for good.

My headcanon is Xaldin blamed himself for their deaths, thinking they wouldn't have betrayed the king if he hadn't done it first. Thus Xaldin became the most obsessed with the completion of the fake KH of anyone in the remaining org, as he saw that as the only possible means of resurrecting the lost members (Note that in KH2, Xaldin was the first character to namedrop Kingdom Hearts in-game). Thus his actions got a lot darker as he got more desperate, hence his attempts to corrupt the Beast.

Now that all of the apprentices have reconstituted anyway, Dilan has new guilt to deal with: the guilt of his actions against Beast that ended up not even being necessary at all.

Xaldin was most likely originally going to be one of the Seekers of Darkness during Dream Drop Distance. In DDD he's in the same state as Even, was loyal enough to the Organization and had many traits Xehanort would want in a vessel. Xaldin will always make more sense as a seeker over the CoM traitors from a loyalty standpoint. But given how the Seekers selected all had some kind story to either finish or carry over it made sense why he would be a character to be dropped. He really had no personal story and wasn't shoved into the ancient past or Keyblade legacy so yeah.

It's sad that we have to fill in characterization ourselves instead of it being in the game.

Wasn't Dilan left out of DDD because his voice actor was arrested? Even was left out because his seiyuu died.

Dilan and Even being in comas because they were planned to be seekers doesn't work with the plot. Why wouldn't Young Xehanort and Xigbar take them at the same time that Isa was taken? I'm pretty sure that Vexen only ended up being a member because of the replicas, but I don't think that was planned at the time DDD was written otherwise the time travel wouldn't have been necessary.

He was in the end video :P