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Posted by on Mar 20, 2012 in Uncategorized | 15 comments

Roundtable: Should Kingdom Hearts Be Rebooted?

Roundtable: Should Kingdom Hearts Be Rebooted?

Kingdom Hearts has always been one of the weirdest series in gaming. Who would have thought that a game about Disney and Final Fantasy characters could grab such a large and devoted audience? Nine games later the story seems to have gotten out of hand and convoluted. The editors of VGutopia ask the question: Should Kingdom Hearts be rebooted?

Roundtable: Should Kingdom Hearts Be Rebooted?

Matt Mobley
Editor
Opinion: NO

 

It’s no secret that I am not a huge fan of the Kingdom Hearts franchise. I’ve played some of the portable games but the only ones I ever finished were 1 and 2. If you’ve played Kingdom Hearts, you know that the first one is pretty straightforward, while the second one went and complicated things with Nobodies and the Organization. I’ve recently noticed that there is a total of eight titles in the franchise, and still we have yet to see Kingdom Hearts 3, which is what I really want.

 

I’ve always been kind of iffy on the series, honestly. When I first heard that they had Disney characters in it, I was skeptical. Even though I saw they balanced Final Fantasy and Disney characters fairly well, I still wasn’t keen on the whole thing. I mean, honestly, each Disney level is basically the movie with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the Heartless spliced in, but that I can deal with. The real problem I’ve had is how complicated the plot has become.

Seriously, can anyone explain to me what Kingdom Hearts is even about anymore? Eight games and we still haven’t gotten into Kingdom Hearts, and I still have no idea what Nobodies even are. Also, how many Nobodies did Ansem really have? Last I checked, the last boss in the first game called himself Ansem but it wasn’t really really him, then there was DiZ and then Xemnas. How many more did he get between now and then? Is it like a kind of like a horcrux, except you have to kill somebody and a piece of your soul materializes into a whole new being? What are they?

When I think about it, Kingdom Hearts has gone too far to get rebooted now. I don’t think Kingdom Hearts needs to be rebooted, I think they just need to release Kingdom Hearts 3.

 

Kem Alily
Editor
Opinion: Maybe

Kingdom Hearts combines two of my childhood loves: Square and Disney. The two main games are epic with some of the best gameplay and graphics of their generation. The spin-offs are hit or miss, mostly miss. Story has never been a strength of the franchise and the plot of the series is as convoluted as a Michael Bay film is expensive.

That being said, under no circumstance do I want a reboot. I really enjoy the core character relationships and their respective growth. Goofy and Donald “the man” Duck are hilarious and enjoyable to interact with. Riku is simply awesome, verily, I wish he was the main character to the series instead of the man-baby that is Sora. Kairi is a solid character. She’s nothing special but she adds a sense of calm and is necessary for the underage love triangle to function.  I have not even mentioned the greatness that is King Mickey, Hercules, or the Final Fantasy characters.

The characters are what keep me from wanting a reboot. If one did happen, I am not confident that Tetsuya Nomura would be able to create characters that keep their Japanese roots and captivate a larger audience.

A reboot should be the last resort. The Kingdom Hearts story is fixable and Kingdom Heart 3D will be out later this year. Nomura has said that it will be about 35 hours and will set up the finale of this set of characters. All I can hope for is that he keeps the story simple, understandable, and consolidates what sensible plot points he has left.

 

Joshua Mobley
Media Director
Opinion: YES

I love the Kingdom Hearts series, but honestly the canon story line is getting really confusing. After beating Birth by Sleep I couldn’t tell you what the secret ending meant. At this rate, the main plot of the story is getting so convoluted that I doubt anyone can follow it anymore. I dare you to explain to me why Ventus and Roxas look exactly the same. You know why you can’t? Because nobody knows. Even the Kingdom Hearts Wikia doesn’t have any reason why they do.

I’m not suggesting that we throw out the entire canon story line but maybe there should be a reboot with a new character and story. We could have references to the older series but the game could be a great jumping off point for new players. After this happens, Square could make sure that the story doesn’t get any more out of hand than it already has.

So should Kingdom Hearts be rebooted? Yes, I really think so. Nine games later I think it’s really hard for anyone to get into the series and understand everything that’s going on. A reboot could do this series some good.

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Joshua Mobley

Project Director at VGU.TV
Internet Media Guy / Comic Book Writer / Podcast & Show Host / Founder of VGU.TV. He also runs a Tumblr blog! http://joshlikesgames.tumblr.com/

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  • Joe M

    Yikes you guys, I can respect the original intention of the article but when one of the writer’s (Matt) has only finished two of the titles, you can’t help but brush the article aside. No doubt the series has become complicated, but thats part of the beauty of it. Playing the multiple titles and getting different bits of the mythos and history is a large appeal to fans like myself. And yeah, it does suck to have to own different consoles to get it all in, but I suggest that next time to lend more credit to an article like this, that you actually play most of the series you are trying to judge.
    P.S. How is it that the one guy who hasn’t figured out what a Nobody is, doesn’t want a reboot and instead wants part 3? Just seems to me he would end more confused. Lend the poor guy a PSP and Birth By Sleep. Thanks

  • Cam H

    I agree with Joe. Matt, as soon as I read you’ve only played the first 2, I instantly disregarded most of what you had to say after that. I’ve played and beaten every KH except Birth by Sleep(I don’t own a PSP). I actually took the time to read all of what you had to say and all I have to say is, play the rest and you will understand why the story is that complicated. Each one takes you through a different portion of the storyline and slowly pieces together all the parts of the puzzle. That being said, a puzzle is hard to decipher when you’re clueless to what the rest of it’s parts are like. The part about the series most fans like is wanting to know how what will happen next and how each piece to the puzzle ties in. When Tetsuya Nomura finally decides to give the fans that final piece of the puzzle, everything will make sense, part of the charm of the series and pretty obvious to see coming. Also with KH3D’s secret ending already confirmed(And confirmed that there is one) by the man to be linking to the next game, it’s a pretty clear idea that he wants people to play through all of the games to really figure out this grand puzzle he’s made for his mass of fans. Sorry for the rant, but I just feel Matt didn’t do his homework very well(not to mention he’s pretty anti-KH from the get go) to be taken anywhere near seriously.

    P.S. Maybe after the series has finished they should do a reboot, or maybe a portable version, just to catch some people up with the series. In all honesty though, I don’t think they should. They just should focus on finishing the story for people to enjoy.

    • Joe M

      Also, there’s really only been 6 games as far as I can tell. You can’t count KH Chain of Memories and KH Coded twice as they were just remakes ported onto different systems. I HIGHLY suggest you guys tackle the games in this order (more or less) : Birth By Sleep, Kingdom Hearts 1, Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, Kingdom Hearts 2 and finally Re:Coded. If you could skip any I would say Re:coded, as it added the least to the overall story and really only hinted at what was coming in KH 3D.
      And FINALLY, to maybe clear up the secret ending of Birth By sleep for Joshua ****SPOILERS****, I believe the secret ending really came down to xehanort and Terra fighting for control of Terra’s body. Terra was able to fight as long as he has been because he contained Eraqus’s heart inside himself. Aqua is stuck in the dark world and meets an Ansem who survived the explosion in part 2, and talks about Sora. What the most recent titles have been pointing at, is that Sora has to save the people who have met harsh fates (aqua, ventus, terra, xion, maybe Roxas and Namine) and defeat Xehanort now that hes back after his heartless (Ansem The Seeker of Darkness) and Nobody (Xemnas) were defeated.
      P.S. There might be more to it that could be revealed in future titles, but its strongly suggested that the reason Roxas looks like Ventus is because Ventus’s heart resided inside Sora after it was fractured in the fight against Vanitas.

      • Kem

        I agree with most of the points that you all made. Like I said in my post, I do not want a reboot in the series. The story can be frustrating but there are moments where I truly enjoyed it. Cam you are right, the story is like a puzzle. I guess the fact that I cannot fully comprehend it bothers me a tad and drives my excitement for KH 3D. So in that aspect, it works as a great marketing tool.

        In regards to the play order, I would play them first as they were released and then play them again in the order of the story. I know that sounds strange but I feel if you start from the birth by sleep you lose a bit of the overall grandeur and mystery that is beauty and partially frustrating.

        Also have you guys played the final mixs? I got my hands on the KH2 final mix but not the original one. I was wondering what your thoughts would be on the final mixs supplanting the originals. For me having played KH2 final mix, I would rather play that version han the original just because of the additions and added elements.

        • Cam H

          Yeah, when you figure out that the series in itself is a puzzle and you will kinda get why each game is just a “piece” of the storyline. I would definitely say it’s a great marketing strategy(It’s darn well kept me wanting to know more and wanting to play all the games to figure out where all the parts fit and how they correlate).

          As for the Final Mixes, no, I haven’t gotten the chance to play them. Considering that even with the extra additions the games have, but how they don’t have much extra in terms of storyline(just extra bosses, a little hidden dialogue, and a new form for Sora). I say it’d be a pretty good idea to supplant them, but not doing so still won’t leave you lost. I too wish I could have played those versions, maybe I will one day when I finally decide to find an import.

    • http://www.vgutopia.com Matthew Mobley

      I wouldn’t have contributed to the article if I had ONLY played 1 & 2. While I didn’t finish the others, I did get very far in a few of them before I just found them boring and not worth finishing. Even still, I’m on your side, guys. I don’t want it to get rebooted, at least not until KH 3 finally releases.

      • Cam H

        Man, I’m about to sound like a hardass right now. Matt, the point I’m trying to make, which you still keep giving evidence of, is that you don’t really knows the series that well. I feel if you’re going to go about writing an article on something professionally, you’d at least want to have to have down your homework and and know the background of the subject you’re talking about. Even more so, you’ve only completed the first 2 main games, others you’ve gone partially through, and as a whole found the series boring. So what I’m getting at is that your “contribution” was more of a controversy seeing as you’re not interested in the series from the get go. We’re on the subject of a reboot for a game within a series. Why not put someone who actually gives a damn about the series on the article so they can at least give an educated opinion about it? No offense to you Matt(You can even call me some hardcore fanboy if you like), I’m just saying it’s like me trying to say whether or not they should reboot Mass Effect, a game I have only played partially through, somewhat care about, and have limited knowledge of. I also wouldn’t consider myself a major fan. Nobody would take what I had to say legitimately. Just some food for thought. Like it or not, it is typically the FANS of the series that tend to determine to companies whether or not they should go through with a reboot of a game.

  • Beasttrik

    Sora can weild 2 keyblades because he has two hearts, his and ven’s, that’s why roxas looks like him is because he has ven’s heart and he can weild two keyblades because Xion was a copy of Sora’s allowing her to have a keyblade when roxas absorbed Xion he could then dual weild the oathkeeper and oblivian for the memories of riku and Kairi from Xion having sora’s memories. When Sora absorbs Roxas back into him he can then dual weild since he has ven’s heart back but does not have a 3rd keyblade from Xion since it was a copy of his already.

  • Dean Cook

    The reason Roxas looks like ventus is because Ventus’s heart is in sora, so when sora’s nobody was made, it took the appereance of Ventus.

  • Matt W

    The thing about the story-line in Kingdom Hearts is that it’s similar to how things happen in real life. Instead of the normal story telling of “Point A so Point B” It shows how a lot of things can go on at once and end up affecting each other (although, really the only games that share the same time period is the end of the original, Days, and Com and even then it’s pretty simple to follow). If there was to be a “reboot” honestly I’d just want a graphics change to where things were PS3 style, and for Days/Coded to be redone for home systems.

    In regards to the statement “I still have no idea what Nobodies even are. Also, how many Nobodies did Ansem really have? Last I checked, the last boss in the first game called himself Ansem but it wasn’t really really him, then there was DiZ and then Xemnas. How many more did he get between now and then?”

    When a person loses their heart to darkness, it becomes a Heartless, the Nobody is the remains of that person (kinda weird that the Heartless is the heart and the Nobody is the body, but whatever) this was explained in Kingdom Hearts 2. The real Ansem is Diz. While under Ansem’s apprenticeship Xehanort was conducting experiments Ansem didn’t approve of, so Xehanort banished him to the Realm of Darkness where he took on the title of Diz (Darkness in Zero). Xehanort then took on Ansem’s name (I believe because the experiments had been begun under Ansem and he wanted to give him credit). During the experiments he lost his heart to the darkness and became a heartless (Ansem from KH1) his (ONLY) Nobody is Xemnas (From KH2 and makes an appearance in KH Final Mix)

    Also, the statement “I dare you to explain to me why Ventus and Roxas look exactly the same, you know why you can’t? Because nobody knows.” is kind of off balance. In the opening of Birth By Sleep, Ventus’s heart merges with Sora’s newborn heart. So during the entirty of KH, Sora has three hearts inside of him, his own, Kairi’s, and a part of Ventus’s. When he sets Kairi’s heart free he becomes a heartless, and thus has to have his nobodies Namine (made from the power of Kairi’s heart that was inside Sora) and Roxas (made from the power of the merged hearts of Ventus and Sora)

  • reivax

    nop!

  • disqus_BfYZ8r5Tvq

    It actually isn’t too hard to explain why they look alike… As long as you’ve played and payed attention to the games and are willing to accept the rules of the games universe (mainly with hearts) as you would for the universes that any game/movie/book are set in.

  • Guest

    Ventus and Roxas look alike because Sora shared his heart with Ventus when Ventus’s heart was shattered. Roxas is a part of Sora (Sora’s Nobody) therefore he just got a piece of Sora’s self when he seperated from Sora, which incidentally was a part of the Ventus piece. Therefore they look alike, just like Lea looks like Axel, ect ect. The story is actually pretty easy to understand if you pay attention to everything they say. This story is like the Metal Gear story, if you miss a part of a conversation, you may be confused at something in the game forever.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003834352118 Alvarado Manuel

    Ventus and Roxas look alike because Sora shared his heart with Ventus when Ventus’s heart was shattered. Roxas is a part of Sora (Sora’s Nobody) therefore he just got a piece of Sora’s self when he seperated from Sora, which incidentally was a part of the Ventus piece. Therefore they look alike, just like Lea looks like Axel, ect ect. The story is actually pretty easy to understand if you pay attention to everything they say. This story is like the Metal Gear story, if you miss a part of a conversation, you may be confused at something in the game forever.

  • Alvarado Manuel

    Also if you if they ever rebooted, they should keep the same characters, especially Sora as the main character, I like Riku, but he is way too emo and mature for me, we need a touch of childness in this game, I can’t imagine a very serious game with disney characters in it… and besides, I’ve grown so close to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, that I would hate to see another main character, even if it was Riku or a completely whole new character.