So it's not a million miles away from UX, but not quite the same. I'm feeling a little optimistic about the points system for getting cards. Obviously that can still be monetised to hell but right now there is a bit less of a hardcore gacha vibe.

Agrabah and emblem heartless? How the heck is this going to work?

I'll stick to KHinsider's YouTube.

so another gotcha game, cool.

All reused assets and KHUX was already starved for content. they must have like 5 people working on these mobiles games. jesus.

This is underwhelming. The only potential silver lining I can conjure is that, perhaps, this means they’ll be phasing out Union X soon. Which ~hopefully~ might mean they can move onto releasing it as a cutscene movie à la Back Cover.

But honestly if I see another copy-and-paste Agrabah I’m gonna lose my mind ?

I'm relieved that it's not actually a completely separate app.
Wonder why they made a separate Twitter account, that being the case.
Should we consider Dark Road a separate game, or just lump them together as Union χ Dark Road like the logo?

Also, the gameplay is markedly different from the normal game, and feels a bit nostalgic for χ[chi]
I'm excited.

Japanese notice does state that this is the "double feature" Nomura mentioned in September.

I'd like to know how the heck they're gonna explain how there's Emblem Heartless around...

Great.
Same childish chibi art style.
Same reliance on cards/medals (no evidence yet that this will be another gacha mechanic, but I'm 100% sure they're going to go that route—it IS the exact same team, after all, and these people have proven they have NO shame...)
And more Agrabah... UUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!
They couldn't even be bothered to separate it and give it its own app.
I can only pray that they won't manage the story the same way they've managed Union X. If they put this out in little drips the same way, I'm not playing, even if it's free.
I'm so disappointed in Nomura that this was the best he could do as a way to tell Xehanort's story. I can only hope that making it on this device and making it essentially an outgrowth of the UX application means that there isn't actually much story he wants to tell, and that this whole story will be over and done in quick order—a small little side story like 0.2.
I can't even say I'm that excited to see more of Scala in this game. Not if it's like this. I want to see more of it in a real game, not mangled and warped into this bite-size world with its bite-size avatars and two-dimensional art style.
God, I just hope this game crashes and burns. I know only a little bit about it, and I already hate it. I just want it to die quickly so Nomura/Square Enix can finally take the hint that we don't want these godforsaken mobile games. Give us the story on the consoles they deserve to be on! I never thought I'd miss the days of handhelds...

I don't know what I had hoped for this game, but eh? I'm not into mobile games so I'll just follow the news on this one. If I know KH like I think I do, this game will introduce a girl that is very important to Xehanort and Eraqus that we never heard about and she will play a role in Xehanort's downfall to darkness by either dying or being in some limbo state for Xehanort to save her, he forgets about her and falls in love with darkness instead and he and Eraqus never speak of her until it becomes relevant. Don't let me down Kingdom Hearts XD

hahahahahhahahahahaahah paying UX players already have an advantage over Dark Road players because of their medal collection THANKS I HATE IT

The only way they can make me visit Agrabah again is if Eraqus, Xehanort, or any one of the other new characters flirts with Cassim the hottest dad ever

God, I hate this. I really hate this, but I'm too curious to not try it out. I don't think this is going to work out the way they expect it to. UX is slowly dying and the reception to this is rather tepid.

I really hoped they wouldn't but they did anyway

So is this an actual story that will be completed in the one download of the game or do I have to wait years with separate updates to get the full story?

Also, is the Agrabah that they visit Data Agrabah from KHUX or the real Agrabah from 50 or so years before KH1?

Also, how are embless heartless there if Ansem creates them 50 or so years from when the game takes place?

At this point, I'd rather another 3 hour movie to what is being shown here.

So does this mean Union X is ending soon to be replaced by this?

Something to consider: Speed and reflexes being integral to the gameplay will prolly make it impossible for me and many other disabled people to play. This was the case with the classic kingdom games too; I didn’t have enough range of motion or speed to play most of them. Not to derail the thread, but what do you all think the chances are of Dark Road having accessibility options?

mobile games make me cry I’m so sad

Insisting that we cover KHX all those years ago continues to be my best idea ever.

With regards to Disney Worlds, the only possible redeeming quality I could think of is if there are new characters. If this takes place 75+ years before KH3, it would be a cool opportunity to introduce some unique history to Disney characters.

But now that I think of it, I don't think Disney would ever allow that, especially in a mobile game. Please don't tell me Xehanort runs into the same characters, even though it's decades before they should even exist.

My expectations for this were low, but holy eff. And I'm pretty conservative. Watch the Emblem Heartless appear because the Book of Prophecies has been passed down and Eraqus' line and that's what they're using to train. Also, I don't think Dark Road will phase out KHUx. I think it's a complimentary feature to try and breathe some life into KHUx before they finally shut it down.

They are traveling through time right? So Eraqus is now a time traveler? Huh. So are Terra and Aqua the only non time travelers from the BBS era?

Well at least I know it'll run on my Kindle Fire.

Is Xehanort going to fight Jafar and send him to the lamp for the 100th time in this series?

Eraqus: wow a new world!
Xehanort: ...I don’t like sand...it’s coarse and irritating, and it gets everywhere

If Xehanort is touring worlds projected from the future, then it's no wonder why he considers them a mess. The future worlds are ravaged by darkness because of what his future self does.

So is Wonderland and Neverland going to be worlds in this too? Aren't they usually a shoe-in for redoing KH worlds? How is this going to work in the KH timeline...which is already crazy.

Walking through the story in Eraqus and Xehanort's perspective is a high selling point, but looking at it now, I still hate it. Especially now seeing Agrabah again, gosh, there is nothing I hate about KH more than Agrabah. Funny to see they kinda revamp the X[chi] system into this game and breathed in a bit of COM gameplay vibe. And I cried in laugh when I saw the logo: Union X Dark Road.

I will stick with youtube anyway.

The screenshot is said to be of a development build. Agrabah could just be a placeholder location.

I fully expect reused worlds, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll just be "Aladdin feat. Xehanort" or that there won't be new/DR-exclusive worlds.

I expected Dark Road to be another cash grab like KHUX turned out to be. My bar was set pretty low.

But this... this is worse than I could have imagined. They don't even have the decency to make it it's own game. This is how we're going to have to see Xehanort's story...

What is happening to KH?

This is my nightmare...

Anyone else feel like brand new game was kind of false advertising? I really wonder how in depth this will be if it is sharing app space with UX...

So as someone who has been playing UX since basically the beginning and back since its Browser Days actually, I'm a little excited. UX in terms of gameplay is actually in a really great place now, it has been for awhile. They've had a lot learning they did and taken in a lot of feedback to improve the game. It's still a gacha game unfortunately but at it's actually pretty decent as a game. The problem is UX bears a lot of the scars so to speak of all the growing it did. Lots of dead mechanics, lots of excessive resources that no longer have purpose, and they messed up the power creep early on (they again got much better at that later on) that kind of messed up the direction the combat had to go. Since people pay for these medals they also couldn't do nerfs and tweaks they basically just had to keep trucking on. UX needs clean up it can't have, so starting over using what they've learned and making a new game without all the baggage is the right move.

Now let me run a little analysis because it actually seems fairly different combat wise....

The combat system right away looks more action based if only because on the left side you can see a turn order and there are two people, YX and YE. We know there are more characters as well to come it may be that you will actually have a party like FF mobile game or really any square RPG ever. UX has played around with temporary party members but they were more a single extra attack. From the look of things Eraqus gets multiple turns that implies at the very least two characters to control with decent depth.

On the subject of the cards I get not Chi or UX vibes but flick rush vibes. You most likely flick the cards up rapidly to perform attacks, there is no visible AP or anything like that so I'm guessing it has to do with that HUD that the cards are sitting in as it looks like it's either emptying or refilling. The handling of the buffs at the top is strange it looks like the exact same buffs twice, my guess is this has something to do with Eraqus and YX like it's showing both their buffs twice or something. The heartless number could either be how many heartless you have slayed collected or how many heartless you've yet to slay. BP is probably a currency or exp of some kind.

Something to note is that while at first glance the system seems like the same cards we've known, the potion stands outs. The shadow and queen of hearts look like damage medals/cards with the attribute on them. But the potion has a shield instead of an attribute, this implies it doesn't deal damage but is instead pure support. Neither Chi or UX had something truly like that which makes me think that this is more like CoM than either of those (well chi sorta did but only sorta), with attack and non-attack cards. Chi had potions but they were used to continue a failed battle they couldn't be used in battle.

Those keyblades absolutely look designed to evolve and transform, at the same time the card we see has a picture of the keyblade on it which is puzzling. Is it showing that the keyblade is increasing the damage of the cards or are the cards increasing the damage of the keyblade's attack?

With the story I am going to prematurely assume that my initial theory that the pilgrimage to the world written in fairytales was YX traveling through the worlds of UX somehow, was correct. This would probably be where YX actually met Ventus and other ancient wielders. If not the real things then holograms of them or something and thus explain how he knew of them.

It's weird because we also know what happens right after Xehanort's done with his pilgrimage.

[IMG width="387px"]https://i.imgur.com/O8vx6oU.png[/IMG] [IMG width="385px"]https://i.imgur.com/RJPECbz.png[/IMG]

Anyway, it's Flick Rush! I actually enjoyed that part of DDD so this'll be fun. I am sad that it isn't a completely new game though. It would've been awesome to have revamped worlds that aren't split up by missions like Peace Walker. Still I'll definitely enjoy the gameplay for this.

My guess is that from the sound of it YX met and was betrayed by someone, like how Sora suffered a serious betrayal by Riku, Donald, and Goofy in KH1. But unlike Sora who can understand hearts and the emotions within and was able to bounce back and take it in stride. YX who finds understanding hearts difficult ultimately took his betrayal to heart and it literally killed his hope for the people and the world, turning him pessimistic and hopeless.

I'm mostly okay with this because UX's main story is hands down KH at its best. If Nomura can match that quality of writing for DR then I'm fine with putting up with more of, well, this.

If Nomura was going to reuse assets, why didn't he just make Dark Road like 0.2. Throw in Young Xehanort and Eraqus. Have them visit the Disney worlds that we visited in KH3 and that's it. Even if it's just 3 of those worlds, I can see Toy Box (using Stinky Pete or Lotso Bear's backstory as the story they witness), Monsters University (or Waternoose's backstory), and an original story with Calypso in The Caribbean.

After all the spinoffs that we've endured, THIS is how Xehanort gets his story told!? We get two separate games that are basically KH1 retellings (CoM/Coded), one game that explained stuff that should have been in KH2 and also went out of its way to introduce then write out a character (Days), and another game to set-up KH3 because Nomura ended KH2 somewhat definitively and decided to retcon/add story elements (BbS). Nomura went out of his way to have actual console releases for those games and Xehanort, one of the games most interesting characters with a backstory EVERY FAN is curious about and clearly a backstory RELEVANT to the main plot... gets a mobile game with visits to Agrabah for the millionth time?

Referencing another thread, I'd rather any Disney straight to VHS film plot in a main console game over a mobile game visit to Wonderland/Agrabah that's data/foretold in the Book of Prophecies/whatever... and we all know that's coming in this game.

Hey did anyone notice that there seems to be new attributes in play?

At first it looks like it's just red=power, green=speed, and blue=magic like Chi. However on the page that shows more details there is a blue rhapsody heartless card with a blue icon but the icon is a dream wand not the sword. There is also a red card that is a potion with the shield. So all and all we see..

Red, blue, and Green Cards
Upright and Reverse Cards
Sword, Wand, and Shield cards

Also I think this game will probably be structured more like an actual adventure, because this looks like it was YX/YE's pilgrimage that changed Xehanort. It was a journey not a day to day life for years on end, that heartless counter up there also implies either you kill or have to kill a lot of heartless meaning a large world or at least more enemies to fight. KHUX missions did not have anything close to 64 heartless in its missions they were much more bite sized.

Can’t wait for the subtext between Xehanort and Eraqus.

i need
better quality artwork ?

[ATTACH type="full" alt="1582093967220.png"]12268[/ATTACH]

Edit: Here's another one:

I have an idea how emblem heartless works: it’s MoM following Xehanort from behind the scenes and using his Book of Prophecies

So much for hoping this would be a more fun and fulfilling experience than Union Cross... Not that I could even play it, seeing Union Cross hasn't opened up on my phone for months now.

Also it's pretty telling that all reactions I've seen to this so far have ranged from "meh" to "Thanks I hate it". This is a story that many were curious about for years and the moment we get any detail on it, all excitement just died. It seems to me that they'll just be reusing assets from UX, if Agrabah isn't just a placeholder, which isn't all that promising either.

Seeing this is the double feature, I take it UX and DR will play into each other, which could be interesting in 2 to 5 years when the story really gets going. It feels a bit silly to call these two games when they're in the same app and basically running on the same system.

E...emblem heartless?

Nomura why.

Stop. Just stop. Anything but fighting the very things he himself creates 65 odd years into the future. Not like this.

It being essentially an add-on to UX really doesn't do it any favours. I wasn't expecting a different art style or significantly different gameplay, but I had some hope it would at least make SENSE without being shoehorned in with time travel/projection bs like UX.

Sigh.

Whilst everyone is talking about the game being mobile.
Can I just say that the screenshot depicting cartoon Scala Ad Caelum looks amazing.

*sigh* ... I just... I mean... well... god, I got the biggest headache reading this.

Does... does Noruma care? Like, does he actually care about any of this? I'm not saying giving what the fans want and only that but the way he's telling this story; is this truly the best he and his team can do with this material?

I dont know. I REALLY don't want to sound ungrateful because I love this series. I really do. I just spent the last six hours STILL trying to beat Yozora and still failing miserably because I enjoy KH that much. I liked KH3 despite it's still many glaring issues that Noruma seems to want to ignore. But there's still some genuine merit left for this series and it's not like these mobile games are easy to make. Clearly, the devs still work hard on these games...but good lord man... what the actual ....

I'll admit, maybe I'm being slightly dramatic but man, I'm generally more optimistic about KH then most fans I listen or talk too. Even when I have problems, I still find ways to have fun with this series for what it is. I even had my fun with UX despite its darker moments but this is just... this just left biggest taste of "you've got to be kidding me" in my mouth. Like, I'm honestly baffled.

Why are we doing this? And especially like this? Do they not know that UX's numbers are just going down for VERY obvious reasons. Do they not know that this whole thing would be much better off and probably more successful as an online MMO console game with a complete story we don't have to wait months for and without having like three or four different versions of it? A Xehanort game that doesn't included a card system that NO ONE asked for?

Look, I'm still a fan, I dont think I'm anywhere near abandoning the series because there are things the recent entries have done right and at the end of the day, they don't really owe us anything. If this is how they want to tell the story, fine. You do you but I'm gonna be honest, this is making me worried for the future of this series and this is already on top of a lot of questionable decisions the series is already making.

Could this be fun? I honestly doubt it. If this is a way for them to breathe some new life into UX, this is a horrible strategy. I can't see this doing anything but pissing people off. Say what you want about the impossibility of a console version of UX and A Xehanort game but those titles would've been far more well received and garnered some actual hype this whatever the hell this is. This just does not look fun at all.

And if this is all just for money, then again, this is not a good strategy. Because the only people playing UX are hardcore fans and even they are getting sick of it. And now you add this on top of that. Sure, a console version of these games would cost a pretty penny but I have no doubt in my mind that they would have a higher percentage of getting its money back then this.

I don't know what more I can say about it, this is just mind boggling. This is the first thing in KH that I can honestly say that I really hate. And I know, I havent played the game yet and I'm not going too. I honestly see no reason for this game to exist in it's current form and its gameplay system is a HUGE turn-off.

Holy mother of God and I thought the whole Yozora thing was really unnecessary and one of the possible bad signs of where this series is going but that has some genuine intrigue, at the very least (and a pretty fun boss fight.) This is just... *sigh* what are we doing...?

Well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see. At least it'll make for some nice YT videos.

Kind of tired, just woke up. This is exactly what I expected. A game that uses the UX graphics seeing that we knew it was by the same team, happy that they didn't just reuse the battle system of UX, though didn't expect that they both launched from the same app (unfortunate seeing that my phone doesn't have enough space to download UX) also glad because maybe the staff can make a better balanced game this time.

Knew that the fans would be disappointed but it's nothing new. Still irritated that people are blaming Nomura for this, when this is the only way he was ever going to put this story out. Square shut the first version of this down after all, and I'd rather a mobile game than not have it at all. Also yes, this is a cheap alternative to actually making a new game; that's probably why Square greenlit it.

Emblem Heartless are back (?) development picture, but they could have used Shadows if they wanted to though it might just be an oversight or placeholder. If they are Emblem Heartless, it might have something to do with the fact that the emblem in KH3 can be seen in Scala ad Caelum as a part of their Language so it could be that Xehanort used a previously existing symbol on those Heartless. Iunno.

We can definitely say that the KH series took the dark road.
I knew this would happen... what a let down, anyway. Well, as many others I won't invest my time in this kind of game and will follow the story on youtube instead.
I really hope this thing doesn't succeed and more and more people keep leaving Union X. I hate all gacha games in existence. I never wanted KH to follow this path, but X/UX paved the way and here we are. And it will get worse until people stop playing these things so that they are not profitable anymore.
Please Square, start development of DDD2 or whatever the next proper game is and forget about smartphone games forever.

Considering they have those other new projects, I don't think another (albiet smaller) console game was really on the table for this. Especially when it was the UX team who apparently approached Nomura about doing this.

Per this thread and Twitter, reception for this game is horrendous. I think it may change once we get to see more about the story and gameplay. I'll definitely give the game a try.

Oh gosh this already seems like it will be confusing. How are there emblem heartless? Is it some weird "this is a copy of the original story but it's not exactly the same but still the same" like KHUx again? I feel like they could have come up with some more original worlds and heartless.

I can't wait to go to Agrabah again, pointlessly run around for 10 "story" quests and smack enemies with my rock-paper-scissors ptw cards! That's like, miles away from Ux. So excited.

Seems like a desperate way of having new fans installing the Union X app to play Dark Road and hope one day they try Union Cross too, so Square can suck more money from the fanbase. The only cool thing is that we can play with young Eraqus and young Xehanort, but everything about this is so boring that's still a no from me.

I will be following the main story updates on youtube whenever they get released..One day they will remake this as movie for PS5 ou PS6 anyway...

My excitement died with the screenshots, this looks like just another soft reboot of KHUX. Maybe some old features from KHX return with the cards like fully explorable worlds, but I'm not too optimistic.

That Starlight variant of the Master's Defender though, I'm a bit intrigued to say the least.

I would love searching for Abu personally :D

___________________________________________________

Eraqus aged so well in comparison because he skipped looking for Abu day.

Well that’s underwhelming... but fans wanted to explore Xehanort origins for long time now so I can coop up with that.

Agrabah.....emblemed Heartless....more continuity thrown out the window? And if I had to guess, Agrabah'll just be a retelling of the first movie.........again. But hey, if that's so, people get a Snake Jafar fight......again.

Chain of memories style,I guess..

This has nothing to do with the game mechanics but is anyone else wondering why the Master bothered with the whole giving his keyblade and the eye to Luxu to pass down so he could see the future, if he can just travel there himself and be hanging out with young Xehanort?

*Looks at thread title*
Oh good! new info! hope it at least shows what the actual game will look like
*Reads previous posts*
..... What the HECK!
You've got to be kidding me?!?! Agrabah AGAIN!? and emblem heartless no doubt. Does anyone else remember when the heartless were a legitimate issue/threat and had an established lore on why they were there. They were the invasive species of the game, ruining the ecosystem with little opposition compared to their sheer numbers.
Now, they're just used as generic enemies when it would probably be more coherent to just use Disney armies like I suggested in another thread.
The reason for them being in this game better not be time travel, because that excuse is getting old. If it's just illusions like in COM, that MIGHT make things better.
And Agrabah, really? even some of the most stalwart defenders of that world being in the franchise on this forum are getting sick of it, and you know you've messed up when you do that.
Wasn't planning on purchasing it at first, now I definitely won't. Guess Nomura needs more pocket change
#Nomuragohome.

I hope they don't bring up that anxiety inducing luck based feature that happens when you tie with commands. I remember flicking like crazy to get three of a kind before the AI.

I'm gonna be honest... I think while it's fine to be disappointed, some of the reactions all around the internet like "Kingdom Hearts is ruined!" and "THIS IS THE WORST THING TO EVER HAPPEN!!!" are absolutely outta pocket lmao. Freaking out so much, even Chicken Little is like "damn bro chill." Let's all relax and eat some Sea Salt Ice Cream.

First off, I know it's cool to #BlameNomura for everything regarding KH, but let's not forget the interview he did not that long ago when the UX Team came to him with a "groundbreaking idea" which will become the "double feature". He didn't come up with it, they did. Proof:

[URL unfurl="true"][/URL]

In regards to KH scenarios, I wrapped up the story for Re Mind, as well as the two story quests for UX. All that is left is to finish the remaining two story quests. However, I have received another mysterious request... Let’s just say this request involves an unannounced 3rd story line for KH. Once I complete this mysterious request, I’ll complete the 2 remaining story quests for UX.
And once all of that is complete, the 3 story lines will ○○○○○○○……
Very intriguing, right?

Now that things have calmed down after the release of KH III, the KH Series has been growing with many more phases with many things in the horizon. Please continue to love and support KINGDOM HEARTS Union χ[Cross]!
The other day, some UX Staff members came to me for some shocking consultation. I think a revolution of change may fall upon UX.
The hint is “double-feature.”
Until next time!

Secondly, while it would've been great to have a full console game for Xehanort (and it's not impossible to get this in the future eventually), remember that Nomura himself said that he didn't have the time to do it, because the saga wouldn't end if he did. But with the Foretellers/Master of Masters coming to the forefront, Xehanort defeated, and Union X possibly reaching its climax with all the mysteries currently unfolding, it might really be important for us to know what exactly Xehanort saw that made him change.

What's the "quickest" (Iol not really when you look at UX BUT technically...) way to get the story out? A Union X-style mobile phone game. Dev time wouldn't be as strenuous as a fully-fledged AAA title, the art style and system is familiar so it's not requiring a huge overhaul (which is why it'll be in the UX game launcher), and despite what people say, we all DO care about the story very much. So when you consider what would be the most efficient, this makes a ton of sense. Everyone would love a 0.2/BBS style Xehanort game, but if our choices are either UX-style or nothing, at least we're getting something. Besides. When UX JP updates the story every month, it's a big discussion on KH Twitter. The fact that we have potentially TWO stories updating every month makes things a lot more active, so while it's not the A1 idea we all want, it's a lot better than silence from DDD to X[Chi] to BBS 0.2.

Thirdly, I'm interested in the premise of the battle system. On the left-side, it has something that reminds me of FFX's CBT (or Conditional Turned-Based Battle/Count Time Battle), where it shows the Act List and how many turns Xehanort and Eraqus have before the Enemy strikes. They've said it's more fast-paced, so this is most likely going to be less like UX where you just use all your medals in one turn and hope it's enough to defeat your enemy before they nail you on their turn, and more like a turn-based system with the cards either doing different attacks or having certain abilities attached to it (so one card does damage x0.5, one card could paralyze the enemy, meaning you gain an extra turn, and so on).




What's interesting is that there's no HP bars for the enemy. Instead, there's a Heartless icon and BP icon with numerical values, a back button and an Info button... So there's most likely more to this new system than what we can see from one screenshot. Next to Xehanort's HP Icon, we see Status Boosts, three small icons with a space between the next three, so three might be for Xehanort and the other three for Eraqus. The more I'm looking at this, the more I think that there's definitely a lot of reworking done into this system, so I'm gonna remain optimistic! I'm digging it.

Also, you can see in the empty slot where the cards are held, the emblem for the Book of Prophecies is present. Maybe like the medals in Union X, the Book of Prophecies is granting them powers throughout this experience. As a matter of fact, it's strange how Eraqus and Xehanort even had an opportunity to explore the Age of Fairy Tales, because as far as we know through regular time-travelling means, that shouldn't be possible. There's that weird machine thing that was revealed in the latest UX update, and we saw that machine all the way back in KH1, but as far as we know... That machine was never finished (unless it eventually was?), so that might not be it either.

The only other idea I have is that the whole world tour is a projection itself, sort of like what was going on in UX, but in reverse. Young Xehanort and the Master of Masters are shown meeting in the ReMind trailer (YX was given the black coat by the MoM), and MoM seemed to know all about YX going on that journey. So it couldn't have been the first time they met. What if he was the one that allowed all this to happen, and that's why Emblem Heartless are showing up? Timeline-wise, they shouldn't exist. But if it's all a projection, it would make sense. The precedence is there.

Overall though, I think while it's natural to be disappointed, I think we should wait and see because there might actually be more to this than we know. Of course, it doesn't help that there's barely any information out, but they did say it's a standalone title, so there'd have to be reasons for this. If not, they could've just done what they did for the Keyblade War and make it a special event or something.

CMIIW, but didn't they say UX will be shut down next year? And DR is part o UX? Does it mean both story will wrap up next year anyway?

well, I didnt expect much but still has a littlw hope for good gameplay or at least some action game and action mobile game do exist but okay. Never mind , they are not jusy good at creating decent mobile game anyways so I dont think I will even install this.

I'm so glad... that Nomura made us aware that there is two other unannounced Kingdom Hearts project in development. This is the worst reveal for a Kingdom Hearts game to date. I get it, video games are a profit venture, and maximising profits while minimising costs is what every business strives to do, but this game just reeks of monetisation just by looking at it.

At least Xehanort's story is over. If we're going to be moving past the Xehanort saga then I want the new console titles to not have direct connections to Xehanort. If there's going to be lore carried on from Dark Road then let it be the other original characters involved that provide us with important connections.

I was expecting something like this so I'm not surprised or really disappointed. It makes sense to connect it with UX so no surprises here either. It's hard to get excited about the story though, considering that UX updates once in a lifetime.

I don't think they're concerned about the game aspect and really only care about getting the story told. Nomura wasn't able to make a console prequel like he wanted, presumably because SE higher ups wanted to get KH3 over and done with. So UX team comes to him with an offer, to use their game as the vehicle he needs to tell the story he wants. It's much lower budget and they'd be able to recycle loads of assets, something the suits would be pleased with.

Or at least that's how I'm rationalizing this to myself.

I would have taken a graphic novel drawn by Nomura over this "game". KH is fun to play and I love the story, but it's bothering me that gameplay seems to be taking a backseat for these "games". I tried KHUX on a phone that could play it and I just didn't find it fun at all.

What Chaser and Spock said are basically why I feel a Switch exclusive game will never happen.

On another note this also has the perk of all future console games using the same (obviously updated as Unreal updates) engine as 3 going forward. So that'll likely cut costs and dev time a bunch.

And I only see them having one mobile app at a time (as evidence by the fact that they just combined DR into UX as if it were a ReMix collection), so that means a lot less series fragmentation going forward as well.

So in conclusion:

[IMG width="346px"]https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/490/511/148.jpg[/IMG]


Of course I hope the next mobile game has a new everything. There's so many ways a mobile KH could go, like a semi-3D world in the vein of Castelia City in Pokemon B&W. The possibilities are endless!

So basically, "Kingdom Hearts will never have any spin-off games that focus on other stories unless they are mobile." That's... really disappointing. Like at the very least, a Xehanort game, a Union Cross on console, and DDD2 shouldn't be too much to ask for a series that I feel like should be expanding beyond its mobile limitations to gain new fans and new ground in its story but also in the media and gaming landscape before KH4 gets started but I guess it is. And I understand why, it's not like I expect those things to happen all at once but still... I guess it just shows that gaming isnt same as how it was in the early 2000s and 10s.

Man, I feel old...

Well.. at least I hope DDD 2 still happens, which I think it will. It just sucks that a console version of UX seems incredibly unlikely even though at this point, it's in pretty high demand and would do a lot to tie people over between DDD 2 and KH4.

This whole thing is just... ugh. I hate it. I just want KH to be the best it can be. And I dont want to I sh*t on anyone who is perfectly fine with this but it just feels like the only thing fans can do is compromise or get beaten down so much by disappointment that they just have to accept outcomes they don't like deep down while Sqaure Enix and Noruma just do whatever they want regardless they know fans will buy anyways. Even when they do listen, like with Re: Mind, it's not executed in a way that's completely satisfying.

I'm still excited by things for the future of this series. I'm excited for the foretellers arc, I think MoM is the perfect villian and breathe of fresh air from Xehanort and I hope (even thought it's a pipe dream but I'm holding out hope) thag DDD 2 is the Destiny trio game come true but ...a lot of things about the series right now is very demoralizing and I haven't felt this way about the series at all since I've played it back in 2006. Things have disappointed me before but not to this extent were I feel very... sad about how this is going to turn out.

But... maybe that's a bit dramatic. Again, I'm still excited about certain aspects of the series and I still REALLY like KH3 and I love its ending. And in a lot of ways, I do believe Noruma still cares at some level but now... I can kind of feel the burnout; and maybe that's due ti the way this company as treatws him and the fact that it feels like he hasn't a break in a almost a decade but the passion feels almost completely gone... and if that's the case, maybe Noruma should... I don't know, take a break? Maybe let someone else take charge for this new arc? And again, all this might not be on Noruma entirely and it would be foolishly to think so. Sqaure as a company hasn't been making good decisions in the past decade and a change in leaders may have done some good in some cases but in others, a lot decisions feel like a step backwards that is willing to sacrifice creativity for monetary gain and prioritizing certain series over others.

I don't know, I just love Kingdom Hearts. There is so much potential in this series for it to be one of the best franchises in gaming. I just dont want it to crash and burn due to its creative heads feeling burnout and not putting enough into a franchise that deserves more due to how unique its story and even its characters are.

And again, I'm not saying that Nomura and his dev team don't do enough. I don't want to sound ungrateful but Kingdom Hearts really needs that EXTRA push to become more then what it is right now. KH3 made a lot of good steps forward for the franchise but it also created a lot of steps backwards; some due to probably laziness and cost but also some that isn't really there own fault.

And of course, I'm not in the production, so it's hard to say if that's the ENTIRE case. There are just certain things that even Noruma can't control but either way, it doesn't look all that great from the outside and THIS just felt like a giant punch in the face because I strongly feel like this is going to backfire so hard.

Unreal Engine 4 has an optimization engine for Nintendo Switch. They could develop a game that isn't very graphically and performance demanding on then optimize it for the Switch.

I am more of Team I Will Believe When I See It. A lot of things happen behind the scenes and nothing is promised so anything can go south easily.

I've never thought the aesthetics of UX cheapened it, but the pacing has always been a real issue. And christ on a cracker, its Agrabah is the most Agrabah that ever Agrabahed.

Even with my rose-colored glasses on and the Follow-KH-off-a-Cliff blood oath at my breast, I can see why a lot of gamers aren't excited for this.

Being intrinsically linked with KHUX and #TeamWhale is not exactly inspiring a playthrough from me, personally. The way UX, in particular, has been told and rebranded and made into one of the worst projects of the HD collection is a very disjointed microcosm of some of the worst attributes the KH series posesses as a whole.

Does anyone know the likelihood of KHUX and Dark Road being turned into films like Back Cover? Was there ever a discussion by Nomura on why he chose to create Back Cover?

Honestly, I feel like KHUX and Dark Road having so much crucial main story information locked into a mobile game is a horrible idea. I thought Nomura learned from the complaints about multi-systems that the series suffered from before and when it seemingly was fixed... we have to deal with KHUX and Dark Road. I know that I can just YouTube videos or read up on the story, but shouldn't Nomura actually WANT us to play these games and have fun with them? Even if I were able to play KHUX or Dark Road, the one time I played KHUX on someone else's phone, I didn't have ANY fun at all playing it.

Yeah, that’s gunna be a no from me, dawg

The KINGDOM HEARTS III devteam, to the best of my memory, took a couple of days off and then they returned to continue development on the next KH title. It is also to the best of my memory that only a fraction of the KHIII dev team was used to develop Re:MIND. Meanwhile, the KHUnionCross devs pitched the Dark Road idea to Nomura, he liked it and now they're co-developing KHUx and DR. That leaves us with two other teams working on something KH related.

Gacha in anno domini 2020? Huge yikes.

Reminder that KHUX still hasn't answered any of its questions it dredged up years ago ahaha.

Are you ready for drip-feed monthly 5 minute textscenes that go nowhere? Because when KHDR "releases" in either April or August, that's all you'll be getting. Oh wait, thats all you're getting RIGHT NOW with KHUX, and DR is merely a continuation of that.

I know, it's nearly effortless cashgrab from SE but goddamn i wish the same devs doing the mobile crap could be used instead to produce some more KH3 content. I'd pay another $30 for additional character episodes and more post game content

I’m actually excited! I’m not fan of the graphics and gameplay but we will explore scala properly this time ?

I just want to delete the boring, microtransaction memory hog UX has become.
I didn't have high hopes for this, to be honest. But this is just...

I wonder if ANYTHING serious will happen in that game. For example in UX is some kind of threat supposed to come closer.. but since the first X Chi on the browser there wasn't really happening something. They just talk all the time about it...

Yeah, Keyblade War, Darklings and Data worlds... But whats the point of Xehanort and Eraqus running through deserts of Agrabah without ANY context of the story? Will they continue the story in 5 monthly story quests as they did in UX?

Whats so important that they need to do another side-cashgrab-paytowin-time-steal-travel-darkness-light game?

Cards

I'm very sad to discover that this game is for IOS and Android and not only that gameplay is the same Kingdom Hearts Union X... I really hope they would create the whole cutscenes as they did with Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover from Kingdom Hearts 2.5 remix back then...But...if, one day they publish this game access PS4 or PS5 game where I can play as Xehanort.....I will die happier... Because he's my favourite as I don't care about their negative opinions of him...Know why...? I knew he was never a villain from the start! The more thee event unfold, the more mysterious path to find more secrets! I'm curious how Ansem or Master of Masters connect to Xehanort. Ah, let's not forget that Xehanort's new keyblade up there! How did they move to Land of Departure from their hometowns!? I too am interested to know what Luxu was looked like when he first met Xehanort and give him No Name Keyblade. How did he fell in the darkness? Besides,how did Xehanort know about the power of waking? Did he tried to save someone else but soon learnt the truth and decided to leave one dying for nothing? Who is true mastermind and villain than Xehanort?

However, there's one thing more I want to know... How did Kairi move to Destiny Island from Radiant Garden? Did Kairi meet Xehanort the Apprentice somehow? Either way, I'm interested to find out!

They had to transfer it to a PC. But, apparently, they did not want to have a competitor for their 14th.