KHIII What I think Kingdom Hearts III is going need.

[Shaissa]

Since Kingdom Hearts III is going be out in the next year or two (hopefully at least) I think it is time that we talk about what Kingdom Hearts really needs now. Here is just my list, agree or disagree if you want, add what you think Kingdom Hearts must absolutely have (from a story standpoint, and maybe a little gameplay.)

1. A final end to Xehanort - Now before you all say "well this is the end to the Xehanort Saga!" Let me make this clear. I want a 100% end to him, I don't want him to like put himself in someone else's body, I don't want him to come back as a Nobody or a Heartless or... whatever else they will come up with next, I want him 100% dead, you basically have killed him 3 times now, no need to try and make him last longer than needed.

2. We need Sora, Rikku, Kairi etc to be older/more mature!- I realize that this game was made to attract kids, but it has been over 12 years since the first Kingdom Hearts, meaning if it was made at that time to attract let say 8-12 year old (I know that it attracted older people to but for argumentative standpoint let say that was the main audience at first.) these people are going be 20-24 at least, I think that it would be ok to make the main cast show that aged a little also, don't need Sora to act like a little kid from the island still, and all that stuff, we need them to be older, also Aqua Terra and Ven better be older than them, since they were around before Sora become a keyblade owner.

3. We get to see what Kingdom Hearts 100% is! - I wanna walk into Kingdom Hearts see what it really is! I don't wanna just hear that it is the "heart of all worlds" or "where all hearts gather" or anything like that. I wanna see the whole world! See what it really is with my own two eyes, no artificial world or just a door to light/darkness. I wanna be able to walk in it, fight in it! I mean this is the main purpose for Xehnort for what... 4-5 games now? Let us see in it!

4. An end to Maleficent and any other evils that survived this round - No bringing her back either! Let her be done, and don't make her into some good guy in the end like you did in KH II in a way. Let us have a three way war and see who will end up on top!

Now only a few gameplay things I really wanna see.

5. Controlling more than just Sora...and NOT ADD THIS FUNCTION AS SOME DLC! - I realize we are going get DLC, it is how all games are now day, but for this argument... Look we have Rikku, Sora, Terra, Aqua, Ven, Mickey, and Kairi all keyblade wielders now, I feel like the game should at least show us more than just Sora now that they opened the box to so many people having Keyblades. I wanna be able to use everyone I can, and see from more than just Sora's point of view.

6. The characters better be really strong - What do I mean? I mean they have spent so many years training and fighting heartless, nobodies and defeating these very powerful villains, I think it is only fair that they are very strong at this point in time! I mean I don't expect to start off at level 99 or something, but I don't expect us to get killed by the basic heartless either. Time to show off what a Keyblade can 100% do!

The finally thing I will add is...

7. NO CLIFFHANGER!- no message in a bottle, no people being separated, no "oh yeah there is a greater evil around now!" We need this saga to close 100%! Then you can reboot Kingdom Hearts into another franchise without Sora Riku and Kairi in it. For this game though, let it be done!

So what are your thoughts? agree? disagree? need anything to add?

 

[Davey Gaga]

In summary: tie up all loose ends and leave no room for a sequel?

There was a fairly strong rumour going around that the ending, in some capacity (be it official or secret), will feature Iron-Man finding Sora and asking for his help...

I kind of like the idea of Kingdom Hearts itself being slightly more abstract, leaving the players to imagine it a bit more. Sometimes things are better left to the imagination - I'm not sure what we'd gain from seeing a few rooms or landscapes beyond those doors. I think rhetoric about it being filled with "light", which can mean anything to different people, is enough.

As for Maleficent - she's supposed to be evil incarnate. Albeit the old image of Maleficent was torn down somewhat by Angelina Jolie, completely ending her seems unlikely.

I definitely agree about more playable characters - we learned from Birth by Sleep that it is possible and certainly entertaining; we learned from Dream Drop Distance that Riku is certainly capable of holding a story on his own (and about bloody time, too). I read somewhere that we'll definitely have the option to play as more than just Sora and, last I heard, Nomura was listening to everyone's pleads for a chance to properly play as Mickey.

I definitely agree about Xehanort - the story was only meant to be one-game long and Ansem was an after-thought; Maleficent was supposed to be the final boss, so they've done well in squeezing out loads of games. Not all great, but they've made sense and, at this point, fit together. Anything more is pushing their luck for the sake of it. It's getting a bit stale - there's only so many more times I can hear that Riku's not quite sure if he feels happy or sad that day.

The main-series games have been excellent and I'm confident Nomura will wrap up the story nicely. There will, inevitably, some kind of open-ending but I do believe them when they say this is the end of this saga.