Kingdom Hearts 3

[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by amaterasu4

I believe Sora will get a new outfit in following trailers to avoid confusing gamers. The same happened in Dream Drop Distance when Nomura designed his red costume.

I hope Lea gets a new outfit before Sora. There is no reason why he should still be in his Organization cloak other than Square-Enix being lazy and saving money by recycling his Axel model.

[Vajra]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

I hope Lea gets a new outfit before Sora. There is no reason why he should still be in his Organization cloak other than Square-Enix being lazy and saving money by recycling his Axel model.

I wouldn't mind seeing something like a touched up version of his BBS outfit.

[Slayerx]

Originally Posted by Destined_Fate

I'm kinda hoping that we get a bundle of all the games thus far sometime down the line for the next gen and a way bit after KH3. Seems like it wouldn't be hard since they've remade most of the handheld games and Birth by sleep would only need a touch up.

Kindom hearts 1.5HD included KH1 and Chain of memories (and has cutscenes from 358/2 days)... it's been implied that there will be a Kingdom Hearts 2.5 that will include Birth by sleep and Re:coded. So far no word on word on dream drop distance, but i might guess that would wait until Kingdom Hearts 3.5.

Originally Posted by Xagzan

N
Oh, he's said he has a conclusion. Just not every single detail in between.

And when did he say he had this conclusion in mind? Was it before or after KH1/2? Cause really the set up for KH3 is such a convoluted mess that its hard to see how he not only had that it mind but didn't think it wasn't overly complicated... Seriously, just looking at the games i can see how a much similar but much simplier story could have been told

Sounds fine to me. I don't understand why that should be a difficult concept to grasp. Assuming they had played the game of course, and those descriptions would be spoilers, and I don't really think you would need to mention the Ven connection right away.

Besides, why would a newcomer start during or after KH2? If they do that, then it's really not my concern if they're confused. Start where you're supposed to.

Why not? Unless you are writing one continuous story with no breaks like lord of the rings, then each story should be self-contained enough that a newcomer does not need to read the previous stories to understand it. Its also how you know your story is not overly complicated because this means you can sum up what happened previously fairly easily

I mean the story of kindgom hearts is just such and confusing, convoluted mess that its difficult to sum it up even IF you've played the games. How would you go about including enough information in the 3rd game to understand anything that's going on. Heck not to mention the fact that its been YEARS since the previous games came out and a lot of gamers are not gonna remember; should a good writer really expect his readers to reread the old stories just to understand the new one?

Eh, I accept the reasoning that Ansem and Xemnas weren't accessing the real KH, so they didn't need the x-blade.

No, that's a result of nomura not planning anything out and thus having to come up with excuses.

And really the "chi-blade"? Ya way to make it confusing, you didn't have subtitles on you wouldn't have any idea what they were talking about... why not something simple like "the master keyblade" or the "Holy Key Blade". Heck i mean the main reason they were called "key blades" in the first place is because they locked and unlocked things like a key. Calling it a "chi-blade" kinda looses that meaning.

And come on, are you really trying to attribute biological accuracy to hearts in this series? You realize they're intended more as "spirit" than physical organs. And that part of BBS was hardly the first time in the series we had seen someone's heart in another body

Who's taking about biology; we're talking about what makes sense in kingdom hearts universe. Ven and Sora had nothing in common and yet they are not only connected but somehow Sora is able to repair ven's heart from across time and space? Since when was this a thing? I mean i would accept it if the two actually HAD a connection, like if they had met, shared a bond or something like that... that's sorta what terra and Aqua did when they met Riku and Kairi. Heck Xehanort was even gonna leave Ven on Desitny island of all places; would it have been so hard to have sora MEET the unconscious Ven to create this connection?

Really as it is, it just feels like a very lazy and half-assed way for Sora and Ven to have a connection. Heck i might even think that Nomrua didn't even plan out how Ven and Sora were connected when he wrote kingdom hearts 2; he just wanted to put in that twist with Roxas in the beginning of the game, but didn't want to give it away since making Roxas look like sora(like how other nobodies look like their full selves) would have made it too obvious that he was up to something

[MAX_COLA_POWER!]

I'm more interested in how they'll introduce 0.5 (BBS vol 2), those extra scenes after BBS final mix, I doubt they'd be scrapped to make way for 3, though I wouldn't mind it if they did.

[Destined_Fate]

BBS is a prequel, funny it may get in 2.5... Still, they will at least have KH2 in 2.5. BBS and Re:coded would work as well but I don't see them moving DDD for a long while and it's pretty important so it eventually will have to if they want to do a bundle of the KH3 Saga + Connected games in the very distant future.

Perhaps 2.5 will be KH2: FM, BBS: FM, Re:Coded and a 3.5 will be KH: FM and DDD.

Than a super Bundle far later, if it even comes to pass, of KH1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 all together.

[Xagzan]

Originally Posted by Slayerx

And when did he say he had this conclusion in mind? Was it before or after KH1/2? Cause really the set up for KH3 is such a convoluted mess that its hard to see how he not only had that it mind but didn't think it wasn't overly complicated... Seriously, just looking at the games i can see how a much similar but much simplier story could have been told

You just said he could have had a conclusion in mind and now you're saying there's no way he could?

Why not? Unless you are writing one continuous story with no breaks like lord of the rings, then each story should be self-contained enough that a newcomer does not need to read the previous stories to understand it. Its also how you know your story is not overly complicated because this means you can sum up what happened previously fairly easily

Cause it's stupid. You don't start Star Wars with Empire, or Harry Potter with Order of the Phoenix, so don't start this with KH2. Otherwise, your confusion is your own fault.

I mean the story of kindgom hearts is just such and confusing, convoluted mess that its difficult to sum it up even IF you've played the games.

Again, not really. Not until 3D hit at least.

How would you go about including enough information in the 3rd game to understand anything that's going on.

Why should KH3 be concerned with catching people up on every game that came before? That's what the HD bundles coming out now are for anyway. And if they really want to, they can just include that Memento feature 3D had in KH3 again.

Heck not to mention the fact that its been YEARS since the previous games came out and a lot of gamers are not gonna remember; should a good writer really expect his readers to reread the old stories just to understand the new one?

No, that's a result of nomura not planning anything out and thus having to come up with excuses.

I've already said he didn't plan everything out from the start, so you're just restating things. My only point was, despite this, much of it has fit together surprisingly well.

And really the "chi-blade"? Ya way to make it confusing, you didn't have subtitles on you wouldn't have any idea what they were talking about... why not something simple like "the master keyblade" or the "Holy Key Blade". Heck i mean the main reason they were called "key blades" in the first place is because they locked and unlocked things like a key. Calling it a "chi-blade" kinda looses that meaning.

Yeah, it's called a homophone. I'm not sure if you're looking for an actual reason or just complaining, but on the basic level the whole X/chi symbol ties back into the X in the Organization's names, the result of Xehanort's fascination with the symbol.

Who's taking about biology; we're talking about what makes sense in kingdom hearts universe. Ven and Sora had nothing in common and yet they are not only connected but somehow Sora is able to repair ven's heart from across time and space? Since when was this a thing? I mean i would accept it if the two actually HAD a connection, like if they had met, shared a bond or something like that... that's sorta what terra and Aqua did when they met Riku and Kairi. Heck Xehanort was even gonna leave Ven on Desitny island of all places; would it have been so hard to have sora MEET the unconscious Ven to create this connection?

Well, that may not be a development you like, but it's hardly confusing. Sora has moved more and more towards "the savior" role as the series has progressed, and him being able to reach out and touch others' hearts so easily is the manifestation of that. I think they mentioned something to that effect in 3D.

[Slayerx]

Originally Posted by Xagzan

You just said he could have had a conclusion in mind and now you're saying there's no way he could?

It doesn't make sense... if he WAS thinking ahead, then he should have seen how horribly complicated this story was and thus simplified it. Hence why it makes more sense that's his just been amking it up as he goes as that would explain why everything is so convoluted; he has to find ways to fit this games together when they were never meant to be together in the first place and that means filling up A LOT of holes.

Cause it's stupid. You don't start Star Wars with Empire, or Harry Potter with Order of the Phoenix, so don't start this with KH2. Otherwise, your confusion is your own fault.


Why should KH3 be concerned with catching people up on every game that came before? That's what the HD bundles coming out now are for anyway. And if they really want to, they can just include that Memento feature 3D had in KH3 again.

And yet, if you did you wouldn't be too lost and would probably still be able to follow those stories despite not starting at the very beginning. The sequels to a lot of stories are written with the impression that some people will be jumping on without going through the previous stories. They include enough background information and exposition so that anyone NEW to the story that's jumping on will be able to follow along; it doesn't take them all that much effort either since the events of the previous stories can be easily summarized.

And really doing so also helps encourage trying to make sure your story is not over complicated. Kingdom hearts, even if you HAVE been following the games is hard to understand because of how many twists and turns there are along with tons of unnecessary information. Heck another thing i take issue with is the fact that all of the in-between stories are also necessary to understanding the plots of the Main line of games. If you just stick to KH1, 2 and 3 it seems likely you will be confused without the side games; those side games contain A LOT of important elements. normally when you have a main line series and side stories, the sides stories are only meant to add something extra, not be important to understanding the plot of the main series. If they are so important then why aren't they PART of the main series; like BBS being kingdom hearts 0.

not to mention that movies are only 2 hours long and can be done in a single day where as the KH games would take several WEEKS to get through, making it even more irksome to expect 100% of your audience to replay ALL of them before moving on.

Again, not really. Not until 3D hit at least.

I've already said he didn't plan everything out from the start, so you're just restating things. My only point was, despite this, much of it has fit together surprisingly well.

Well too bad, cause 3D not only happen, but 3D explains how all these games are connected and sets up the plot for KHIII, and there is plenty that does not fit well...

Spoiler for rant mode:

Like if the true purpose of Organization XIII was to create 13 vessels for Xehanort, then why did they bother with that whole plot to create kingdom hearts? Why not just implant a piece of Xehanort's heart inside of them like they did Xigbar/braig and Siax/Isa? All trying to created kingdom hearts did was warrant the attention of Sora and the others which lead to the groups downfall... all in all, a whole lot of work for nothing. And heck, if Xehanort could just use incarnations of himself then why did he bother trying to use the nobodies in the first place(he even anticipated the plans failure)? He could have just skipped right to his time travel plan and saved a whole lot of time.

Same can be asked of what Heartless Ansem's purpose was in his plans... The 7 princesses of heart pretty much became meaningless since Xehanort's plans involved battling against the 7 guardians of light instead; Also what role did trying to open kingdom hearts through the princesses have to do with Xehanort's plot? Also what was the point of him trying to possess riku; after all creating darknesses was Xemnas's job. And y'know I don't recall them ever explaining WHY Xehanort started using Ansem's name (honestly can't help but think that after KH1, nomura just thought that "Xehanort" was a better villain name and just used the whole name changing as a convoluted way to change the primary villain's name)

Also thinking about it, why did the destruction of Ansem and Xemnas result in the recreation of OLD Xehanort? Those two were formed from Terra-Xehanort. Shouldn't Terra-Xehanort have been the most future version of himself and the result of his nobody and heartless being destoryed? When it comes down to it, Old Xehanort "died" when he fused his heart into terra; from their Terra-Xehanort, Xemnas, and Ansem would all come after him.

And what about the 7 lights and 13 darknesses... Why the uneven split? In BBS Xehanort put an emphasis on having two warriors one of pure light, the other of pure darkness, equal in power, to clash with each other to form the X-blade. If two forces of equal power were needed then why is it 7 and 13? why not 7 and 7, 10 and 10, or 13 and 13? If the X-blade is 7 lights and 13 darknesses then does that not mean that not mean that the X-blade was not balanced? Not to mention that not every keyblade wielder is equal in power, thus even if you have the 7 and 13 you need they could still be out of balance because the power of each individual is not the same... heck one interesting coincidence is that if you combine the 7 princesses and the 7 Guardians you do get 13 lights because Kairi counts as both; That could have made for a cool plot point, but i doubt that would be a plot point since we were directly told that the X-blade was made up of 20 pieces not 26. And Riku has flirted with darkness; would that not possibly interfere with him being counted as one of the pure lights... heck i might even ask what makes all those guardians count as pure lights; i mean i thought that was what made the princesses of heart so unique that they had pure hearts; but hey even Lea apparently has that

Also why did Xehanort try to make Sora one of his vessels? He NEEDS the light side to have seven lights, to clash with his thirteen darknesses. If he recruits Sora to his side then the light side would not be prepared to clash and thus the X-blade can't be formed. Basically making sure the good guys have there seven lights is just as important as there being 13 darknesses... in short his plans during Dream Drop distance were doomed to fail because even if he gathered his 13 darknesses right there and then, the light side would not have been prepared; the darknesses would return to their own times without forming the X-blade

It just goes on, and on like this... I barely even touched the time travel and all the problems THAT can cause. Time travel almost always makes things messy.

Yeah, it's called a homophone. I'm not sure if you're looking for an actual reason or just complaining, but on the basic level the whole X/chi symbol ties back into the X in the Organization's names, the result of Xehanort's fascination with the symbol.

It just makes thing even MORE confusing. I mean really despite the game having full audio the subtitles actually end up being REQUIRED to understand the story. if it weren't for the subtitles players would get confused over which "key Blade" they were talking about.

[Reality_Breaker]

Originally Posted by Slayerx

Really as it is, it just feels like a very lazy and half-assed way for Sora and Ven to have a connection. Heck i might even think that Nomrua didn't even plan out how Ven and Sora were connected when he wrote kingdom hearts 2; he just wanted to put in that twist with Roxas in the beginning of the game, but didn't want to give it away since making Roxas look like sora(like how other nobodies look like their full selves) would have made it too obvious that he was up to something

Well Sora and Ven couldn't meet because when Sora gives Ven a part of his heart is the moment Sora was born (it's explained somewhere, I for the life of me can't remember where), their connection is that moment where Sora helps Ven's heart recover, also by Sora doing that it's stating mwhat was said in KH1 that Sora has a strong heart which makes him the true keyblade chosen one (the whole RRiku being the true keyblade bearer was addressed in BBS when he gets the keyblade ceremony from Terra making Sora the only one who got his keyblade without getting the ceremony), I agree Roxas does look more like Sora than Ven he only looks like Ven because he has Ven's heart with a piece of Sora's heart inside of him. Maybe it was planned maybe it wasn't but at least he answered a lot of questions we had. I feel bad for the people who think they can just jump into KH3 without playing the other games, let's see how sales do on the xbone

[SilverSyko]

I guess we all have things we can't suspend our disbelief for. Personally though, I can for this.

Maybe the inevitable story "saga" that comes after KHIII ends will be constructed a little better for those who are more picky about such things.

[Shadow5YA]

I just want a straightforward story. No more time travelling, Xehanort/Sora heart outsourcing, or other weird loopholes.

Oh, and since this is going to be on the PS4, no recycled models. I can't tell you how lazy it was when they used Axel's model for Lea in 3D. They didn't even change his outfit like they did for Riku and Sora.

[SilverSyko]

To be fair they did remove the markings he had under his eyes, but that's incredibly minor.

PS4 is a pretty big step up from PS2 though so it's doubtful they can recycle much in the way of character models from previous titles anyway.

[Mad Pierrot]

Originally Posted by SilverSyko

To be fair they did remove the markings he had under his eyes, but that's incredibly minor.

PS4 is a pretty big step up from PS2 though so it's doubtful they can recycle much in the way of character models from previous titles anyway.

I doubt they recycle stuff unless they use flashbacks just like in Metal Gear Solid 4. Such PS3 grabbed frames from the PS1-PS2 games to let player see a flashback

[Destined_Fate]

I really want to see the end of Cloud vs Sephiroth fight in this franchise and Cloud and Tifa having their moment after Sephiroth is gone. As Sephiroth cannot defeat Cloud who has Tifa's light protecting him now.

Also want to see Aqua, Terra, and Ventus reunited and how Aqua and Ventus will react to an older Terra while Aqua and Ventus haven't aged at all.

Also in DDD distance Kairi as represent by Aqua, Sora with Ventus, and Riku with Terra. That could be just mean they're the ones they passed the baton down to or something else. I guess. Though I hope it doesn't mean Aqua x Ventus as he's quite young compared to her but than again Terra will be much older when he gets his body back. Hmmm....

[Mad Pierrot]

According to Nomura, Sephiroth and Tifa from Kingdom Hearts... are not even real. Sephiroth is apparently the personification of Cloud's darkness while Tifa represents his light.

[Hooves]

Originally Posted by Destined_Fate

I really want to see the end of Cloud vs Sephiroth fight in this franchise.

I kind of want to see this as well. Since throughout the first two Kingdom Hearts games. Sephiroth has always been this badass boss that is a pain for you to fight.

[Slayerx]

Originally Posted by Reality_Breaker

Well Sora and Ven couldn't meet because when Sora gives Ven a part of his heart is the moment Sora was born (it's explained somewhere, I for the life of me can't remember where), their connection is that moment where Sora helps Ven's heart recover, also by Sora doing that it's stating mwhat was said in KH1 that Sora has a strong heart which makes him the true keyblade chosen one (the whole RRiku being the true keyblade bearer was addressed in BBS when he gets the keyblade ceremony from Terra making Sora the only one who got his keyblade without getting the ceremony), I agree Roxas does look more like Sora than Ven he only looks like Ven because he has Ven's heart with a piece of Sora's heart inside of him. Maybe it was planned maybe it wasn't but at least he answered a lot of questions we had. I feel bad for the people who think they can just jump into KH3 without playing the other games, let's see how sales do on the xbone

Ya missed/forgot about that detail of when exactly it happened; can't recall where it was said either. Though that is part of the problem of making your story too complicated, miss just one detail and things get thrown for a loop and if its too complicated that gives poeple LOT they have to remember. Though even still the idea that Sora could connect with a complete stranger for no reason when he was born doesn't answer anything and only raises even MORE questions; it just doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. In contrast, something like terra and Aqua meeting Riku and Kairi and those meeting sbeing what gave them the ability to wield keyblades? Ya that makes more sense.

Though you did hit on another thing... KH3 will be on Xbox One; thus only INCREASING the likihood of having gamers who play only KH3 without the previous games. With the way things are moving, they will be completely lost. If Nomrua had kept the story simple, he could have written a Deeper and more compelling story without getting anyone lost.

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

I just want a straightforward story. No more time travelling, Xehanort/Sora heart outsourcing, or other weird loopholes.

Amen. Making your story more complicated does NOT make it deeper or more engaging. Heh, its like they say, sometimes less is more.

Oh, and since this is going to be on the PS4, no recycled models. I can't tell you how lazy it was when they used Axel's model for Lea in 3D. They didn't even change his outfit like they did for Riku and Sora.

It was not just lazy but it also didn't make much sense... Lea is still wearing his black cloak where as everyone else was in their normal clothing

Originally Posted by amaterasu4

According to Nomura, Sephiroth and Tifa from Kingdom Hearts... are not even real. Sephiroth is apparently the personification of Cloud's darkness while Tifa represents his light.

Actually Nomura's exact words on that was-

Nomura: In Nojima-san’s scenario, it explained Cloud and Tifa’s connection more in-depth but I deleted it away. I thought it would be more interesting to let the gamers think about it. For example, “If Cloud’s darkness is Sephiroth, then Tifa is light”; in that sense you can take it that Tifa isn’t really human. The reason Tifa doesn’t talk to anyone else besides Sora and co. may be because she doesn’t exist as a human. Of course, I also presented her in a way that she could also be a resident of Hollow Bastion, so I think you can feely think for yourself about her.

he wanted it to just be left up to interpretation. The idea that Tifa was just Cloud's light was an idea he had for one possible interpretation...

[Xagzan]

Originally Posted by Slayerx

It doesn't make sense... if he WAS thinking ahead, then he should have seen how horribly complicated this story was and thus simplified it. Hence why it makes more sense that's his just been amking it up as he goes as that would explain why everything is so convoluted; he has to find ways to fit this games together when they were never meant to be together in the first place and that means filling up A LOT of holes.

I've already addressed all this in my other posts, and I have nothing new to add.

not to mention that movies are only 2 hours long and can be done in a single day where as the KH games would take several WEEKS to get through, making it even more irksome to expect 100% of your audience to replay ALL of them before moving on.

You don't have to replay them. You can read up online about them, and in far less time than it takes to read the first books in a series. And I'm sorry, no matter what you say I'm not going to have any sympathy for people who start a game series after the first entry. It's not like an ongoing TV show, where maybe you can only watch it dictated by when the episodes are on. The games are available to you anytime you want. The HD collection is coming out for PS3. The summaries online are free to read at any time.

Spoiler for rant mode:

Like if the true purpose of Organization XIII was to create 13 vessels for Xehanort, then why did they bother with that whole plot to create kingdom hearts? Why not just implant a piece of Xehanort's heart inside of them like they did Xigbar/braig and Siax/Isa? All trying to created kingdom hearts did was warrant the attention of Sora and the others which lead to the groups downfall... all in all, a whole lot of work for nothing. And heck, if Xehanort could just use incarnations of himself then why did he bother trying to use the nobodies in the first place(he even anticipated the plans failure)? He could have just skipped right to his time travel plan and saved a whole lot of time.

Same can be asked of what Heartless Ansem's purpose was in his plans... The 7 princesses of heart pretty much became meaningless since Xehanort's plans involved battling against the 7 guardians of light instead; Also what role did trying to open kingdom hearts through the princesses have to do with Xehanort's plot? Also what was the point of him trying to possess riku; after all creating darknesses was Xemnas's job. And y'know I don't recall them ever explaining WHY Xehanort started using Ansem's name (honestly can't help but think that after KH1, nomura just thought that "Xehanort" was a better villain name and just used the whole name changing as a convoluted way to change the primary villain's name)

Also thinking about it, why did the destruction of Ansem and Xemnas result in the recreation of OLD Xehanort? Those two were formed from Terra-Xehanort. Shouldn't Terra-Xehanort have been the most future version of himself and the result of his nobody and heartless being destoryed? When it comes down to it, Old Xehanort "died" when he fused his heart into terra; from their Terra-Xehanort, Xemnas, and Ansem would all come after him.

And what about the 7 lights and 13 darknesses... Why the uneven split? In BBS Xehanort put an emphasis on having two warriors one of pure light, the other of pure darkness, equal in power, to clash with each other to form the X-blade. If two forces of equal power were needed then why is it 7 and 13? why not 7 and 7, 10 and 10, or 13 and 13? If the X-blade is 7 lights and 13 darknesses then does that not mean that not mean that the X-blade was not balanced? Not to mention that not every keyblade wielder is equal in power, thus even if you have the 7 and 13 you need they could still be out of balance because the power of each individual is not the same... heck one interesting coincidence is that if you combine the 7 princesses and the 7 Guardians you do get 13 lights because Kairi counts as both; That could have made for a cool plot point, but i doubt that would be a plot point since we were directly told that the X-blade was made up of 20 pieces not 26. And Riku has flirted with darkness; would that not possibly interfere with him being counted as one of the pure lights... heck i might even ask what makes all those guardians count as pure lights; i mean i thought that was what made the princesses of heart so unique that they had pure hearts; but hey even Lea apparently has that

Also why did Xehanort try to make Sora one of his vessels? He NEEDS the light side to have seven lights, to clash with his thirteen darknesses. If he recruits Sora to his side then the light side would not be prepared to clash and thus the X-blade can't be formed. Basically making sure the good guys have there seven lights is just as important as there being 13 darknesses... in short his plans during Dream Drop distance were doomed to fail because even if he gathered his 13 darknesses right there and then, the light side would not have been prepared; the darknesses would return to their own times without forming the X-blade

It just goes on, and on like this... I barely even touched the time travel and all the problems THAT can cause. Time travel almost always makes things messy.

Unanswered questions have been part of the series since the very beginning. I happen to like that aspect of it. It's fun to speculate about the mysteries, and Nomura usually answers them in a game or two down the line. Like he may for some of your questions.

But in the meantime, some of the people on gamefaqs actually have a good understanding of most of the subjects raised in 3D, so I'd address your questions to them.

But if I may attempt to answer some myself, drawing upon my memory of what they've said:

Spoiler:

1 & 2. Because Xemnas and Ansem's plans were their primary goals. Everything else they did regarding time travel and gathering lights and darknesses was backup in case both of their main plains failed. Which they did. Xemnas wanted Kingdom Hearts for the same reason MX did, to remake the universe. He only gathered the Organization, in my understanding, to ensure that if he couldn't get KH, MX's plan would be an actionable one. That's not the same as "anticipating failure" though. It's simply being prepared in case of failure, which is different. As for using the Nobodies, I'd imagine because it was a lot simpler than having to gather all the Norts via time travel. Oh, and also, one thing I've read on gamefaqs that makes sense is that Xehanort wanted (and now possibly has) a surplus of lights and darknesses, as he knew it was unrealistic he could keep all of them, as the weak would be weeded out. That's why the more the merrier.

Also, the 7 princesses of heart are not useless now. They're what guarantee Xehanort's victory. Because if the guardians of light fight his darknesses, he wins. If they don't, he uses the princesses, and wins.

#3 - We don't know, and are expecting it to be answered in KH3.

#4 - You're vastly overthinking the numbers. There doesn't seem to be any special reason why 7 and 13, but that's hardly an issue.

"In BBS Xehanort put an emphasis on having two warriors one of pure light, the other of pure darkness, equal in power, to clash with each other to form the X-blade. If two forces of equal power were needed then why is it 7 and 13?"

Did you miss the part in 3D where he said he realized that 1 vs 1 was the wrong way to go about it, that he had tried to take a shortcut that way and it had failed so he would do it properly now?

But again, I don't think we know exactly how the whole Guardians of Light thing works just yet, so hopefully Nomura explains more in the future.

#5 - Again, remember surplus. Even without Sora, Xehanort has more than the 7 light minimum. Not to mention, he probably thought it was worth a shot to neutralize the biggest proven threat to his plans. Plus, I don't think he was actually expecting the 7/13 clash to happen right there in 3D. We're not entirely sure what the purpose of that gathering was however. Some people think it was for pure theatricality, others think he just intended to unite all his darknesses as one heart, one mind. Because if you recall, some, like Isa and Braig are still not fully "Xehanort." They didn't achieve that union (like MX says), so that just means YX will have to gather them up again, which he was probably going to do anyway.

It just makes thing even MORE confusing. I mean really despite the game having full audio the subtitles actually end up being REQUIRED to understand the story. if it weren't for the subtitles players would get confused over which "key Blade" they were talking about.

Yeah, but there are, so it's not an issue. Besides, real life doesn't have subtitles. But I doubt you'd argue we should just get rid of homophones.

[Mad Pierrot]

Originally Posted by Slayerx

Actually Nomura's exact words on that was-

he wanted it to just be left up to interpretation. The idea that Tifa was just Cloud's light was an idea he had for one possible interpretation...

I think that Sephiroth could actually be real within Kingdom Hearts. In Birth by Sleep Zack compares Terra with his hero who is apparently Sephiroth. In the ending we see one of the black feathers.

[King Lycan]

Sephiroth is dead I believe unless, Kingdom Heart takes place before his is killed in FFVII

[SilverSyko]

They're not set in the same universe mate.