Kingdom Hearts 3D/Headscratchers

• I honestly have no problem with Sora and Riku going back to their old outfits. However, what annoys me is how they look younger, akin to how they look in the first game. Meanwhile, this game is said to take place AFTER KH 2. Compare the look of Riku in the trailer to how he looked in KH 2. Big difference. Since this game takes place after KH 2, so why not use Sora and Riku's KH 2 look, or at least keep them older looking?
  • Traverse town shouldn't really exist anymore, either, since it was made of world-shards of destroyed worlds, as I recall, and even if it did exist it should be long-crumbled and aabandoned. My guess? Plot stuff involving diaries, virtual worlds, journies to the center of the mind, memories, yadda yadda. Wait for the game to come out.
  • Something about dreams is part of the plot.
  • In the 2/23/12 issue of Famitsu, a screenshot has Yen Sid explain it: Yen Sid: I will have you go back to Destiny Islands, as it was when it was swallowed by darkness and sleeping. So presumably their appearance matches their KH ages because that's where they start in the dreams.
• If the Realm of Sleep contains worlds not fully restored, how did Traverse Town become part of the dreamworld? It was intact by the end of Kingdom Hearts 1, and its keyhole was sealed, which should have prevented any heartless from destroying it.
  • Well, Traverse Town was basically refugee town made up almost entirely by people who had their own worlds destroyed in KH1, So i wouldWMG that the world itself might just be composed entirely of wreckage or atleast having been "damaged" enough that it started attracting things into itself in attempt to restore itself, thus making it "incomplete", I am fairly sure that it was mentioned that Traverse Town got a "special" placement like The World That Never Was in a interview, Albeit it was few years ago i read said interview.
  • Traverse Town is "special" in the sense that it is located in the Realm Between, along with Twilight Town, The World That Never Was, and Castle Oblivion/Land of Departure. Now, I'm not sure about this "Realm of Sleep", but it's not unreasonable to think that Traverse Town would hold a gateway to it, considering its location is a crossroads of two Realms (Light and Dark) already.
  • That and it's a Dream Copy of Traverse Town.
• The ending of the recent trailer where Xehanort recovers his keyblade and attacks Braig shortly after apparently killing Even and Ienzo, seems to imply that Organization members 2-6 didn't join up willingly like we thought before. Rather, they were forcibly turned into heartless/nobodies by Xehanort. Not only does this seem to run contrary to what we heard in KH2, but it also brings the question of why any member of the Organization would follow Xemnas, considering his murderous rampage as Xehanort is what got them all into this mess to begin with.
  • Well, if they did willingly join Xehanort/Xemnas afterward (perhaps out of fear, perhaps not), then his charisma could've won them over. After all, the Organization is very much like a cult. It's also possible that Unreliable Narrator was in effect with what was disclosed before, with the real set of events lying somewhere in the middle. I'm certain that more and more of the real story will slowly reveal itself in due time.
  • It could be a Retcon. It would be far from the first time this series has had one (example: Ansem says in his reports in KH2 that he found Xehanort and nursed him back to help "some years back", and that particular report is written at a time before Xehanort betrays him. But in BBS, he finds Xehanort 10 years before the original KH...and in there, it was said that the destruction of Hollow Bastion happened 9 years ago. Which means he just had Xehanort for an apprentice for little over a year!)
  • An alternate possibility is that this was not the event that turned them into Nobodies. If you recall from Kingdom Hearts you saw 5 'pods' in Hollow Bastion/End of the World, implying the Apprentices went into them voluntarily. Perhaps what as seen was an experiment (which in Kingdom Hearts II we were told were being run on Apprenice Xehanort's heart, in order to restore his memories) gone awry.
    • Going off of this, it's possible that the attack simply unlocked the darkness in the other apprentices' hearts, similar to when Rikunort used the Keyblade of People's Hearts on Maleficent. This possibly made them more susceptible to the darkness experiments they were performing (as well as, possibly, their exile of Ansem), eventually leading to the them using the pods seen in the first game.
  • KH 2's backstory was told from Ansem's perspective, not Xehanort's. It's not unreasonable to assume that Ansem misinterpreted the situation.
• A new world is The Three Musketeers (Disney version). What doesn't make sense is that Mickey, Donald, and Goofy (supposedly) never leave the Realm of Light. In one of the trailers, you can see Donald, Goofy, safe-ish to assume Mickey is off-camera, in Yen Sid's tower with Sora and Riku. And it's sort-of-said by Yen Sid in the same trailer that only Sora and Riku enter the Realm of Sleep. Yet here they are, in a world of their own.
  • They're not the real Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. They're the Dreamworld's versions. The real ones are still in the Realm of Light confronting Maleficient at Disney Castle.
    • That or maybe it has something to do with time working differently between worlds?
• So, Neku's in here. Along with Shiki, Beat, Rhyme and Joshua. They're all back in the Game, too. Why's that? Would this be a kind of "TWEWY events set in a parallel dimension, and crossovered with KH" sort of thing?
  • Why don't you wait and play the game and find out?
  • Anything involving The World Ends With You can be summed up as: Joshua is a jackass.
    • Why that's true, it can be better summed up as: all according to Mr. H's plan.
  • You can probably assume that they have the same thing going for them as the Final Fantasy characters, where while the characters and some of their issues are there, they're done differently.
    • To be fair, a case can be made for one character (Auron) to be from their original continuity. Nomura may or may not be afraid to play it that way with TWEWY since it's a stand alone title. IMO, still too early to tell what the deal is here.
  • Thay are Dream Copy of themself.
• Heartless cannot enter the Realm of Sleep. But Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness appears in Notre Dame. He is a Heartless. There is an inconsistency here.
  • Assuming it's really him and not simply an apparition.
  • Well Ansem (SoD) isn't your typical Heartless. On top of that, there's all these Xehanorts running around, so there could be an explanation. If nothing else, these are dream worlds, and no one knows yet what's real and what's not.
• Why is it every time Xion is seen in these trailers fans go crazy? 358/2 explained what she was and that she cannot come back without F-ing up Sora royally. I understand the conflict that her presence will present in Sora for this game, I just want to know why fans honestly think she can come back?
  • Because it's Kingdom Hearts? Because we're dealing with Disney characters, the Power of Friendship, and a heart shaped moon that's said to be able to create an entire world, and absolutely anything can happen at this point?
  • I think the answer to this question is thus: Throughout Days, Roxas (and by extension, the player) has a deep emotional connection to Xion... and then WHAM! Cessation of Existence. When the credits roll, we're thoroughly convinced that she'll never so much as be mentioned again, let alone seen again. Therefore, whenever Xion shows up in the trailers for KH3D, it's kinda like seeing the love of your life, who died 3 years ago, standing right in front of you saying they got better. Who cares about the ramifications? That can wait 'till after the welcome-back glomp.
  • Though Xion's existence in Days was causing problems for Sora, that may not be the case if she returned. As it stands, thanks to Namine in coded, Mickey knows that she existed, and based on Roxas' use of plural pronouns in the trailer, he presumably remembers her as well.
    • Thank you for giving the most unbiased answer regarding this question. Although to question your point further, wasn't it clearly stated in Days that Xion's existence was preventing him from being whole? I cannot see any logical route in having Xion "come back" without there being complications with Sora as her whole being is centered around his memories.
    • I don't believe it was stated that she couldn't be saved, only that Naminé didn't know how. Whether justified or not, saving Xion was the last thing on her, Riku, or DiZ's minds at the time.
    • I think it may be possible for all of them to co-exist at the same time. Before Sora was put to sleep in COM, him, Roxas and Xion were all pretty fine till Sora's memories were screwed around with and said stated events needed to happen. If they could do it then, why not again? Then again, this game IS taking place in Dream World's and based on the recent trailer the Xehanort's are all gathering together, looking pretty stabe and fine. But, once again, based on that trailer, Sora is going to apparently be, as you said, royally screwed with (and suffer a Heroic BSOD, but it's implied that that has to deal with EVERYONE inside Sora (and the bastards known as the Xehanort's), not just Xion.
• How is it that the unknown resembles a young master Xehanort? When did he have time to make another incarnation? Do they seriously expect us to believe that he could have done that while being stuck in New-Xehanort, Ansem Seeker of Darkness, and assumingly Xemnas?
  • You do realize that a lot of the game is in dreams right? And that it's not out yet? It'll probably be explained when the time comes.
  • While it's not an explanation, it had been said this unknown figure (who's confirmed to be the Unknown boss from BBS) somehow has dark figures show up wherever he goes. Case in point: Vanitas shows up, when he's supposed to be GONE. And also, from the way things were explained, if the Heartless and Nobody are destroyed, the original person comes back (meaning the others are never seen again). But Ansem SOD and Xemnas are shown to be around, even as Master Xehanort is back... and also, Nomura said that the BBS Unknown's 'laser blades' have a look of time-travel about them, or something of that nature.
  • So really, we don't quite have a clue about this Unknown figure (yet), but everyone of the Xehanorts are back (except Terranort, unless this Unknown is him, somehow), and trouble's brewing.
  • Unknown/Mysterious Figure is Young Master Xehanort. It's unknown if (spoiler warning) Terranort is back along with the rest of the new Organization XIII (or should I say--mind the pun--Organortzation XIII), but Master Xehanort notes something along the lines of one of the seven hearts of light being in his possession, so it's very well possible that he was referring to Terranort, who could possibly be one the remaining and yet revealed six members of the new Organization.

• Why is Chernabogs boss fight so simple? KH1, big, scary, epic fight. KH3D? Dodging and lovetaps. The hell?
  • It was in Dive Mode, too. Maybe the devs thought, since it's such a long way to go to get to him anyway, they'd make it easy?
• If Master Xehanort returned from the defeat of Ansem SoD and Xemnas, what about Terra? His heart and Xehanort's inhabited the same body when the Heartless and Nobody were created. Does this mean Terra has regained his body?
  • Pretty much, yeah. They probably just have to find him at this point, which will probably will be a minor plot point in the next game.
• Probably due to the lack of a proper translation, but what exactly is Young Xehanort's deal? Is he an alternate timeline Xehanort, a Stable Time Loop Xehanort, a Xehanort from an alternate timeline converted into a Stable Time Loop? Various places (even on this site) say varying things.
  • It's a bit hard (and confusing), but the gist of it is below:

Original Young Xehanort grew up into the Master Xehanort we all know
Birth by Sleep's events happened, and he became Terranort
At one point, he split into Ansem So D and Xemnas
Somewhere along all their scheming and plotting, Ansem So D traveled back in time and found Young Xehanort, both influencing him to become Master Xehanort in the first place, AND travel forward in time to help all his future selves. So yeah, Xehanort was more-or-less responsible for his OWN Start of Darkness, thanks to ample use of Stable Time Loop.

• • Ansem didn't influence Young Xehanort in any way. All Ansem did was send him on a journey throughout time to retrieve all the incarnations of Xehanort, both fused and splintered, to prepare failsafes in case Xemnas plan to turn all the Organization XIII containers for Master Xehanort's heart (Which he did; only Isa and Braig were turned.) Young Xehanort is going to return back to his time after helping his older self forge the X-Blade by fighting the seven lights and will have no recollection of events that happened outside his time. Thus, Ansem did NOT create a Stable Time Loop; Young Xehanort is still going to leave the islands and turn evil because the past cannot be changed.
• Okay, So Dream Traverse Town is made out of Rhyme's memories, Okay I would buy that. BUT... Why did Rhyme have a Memories of Traverse Town?, Did she been to Traverse Town or what?
  • Yep. Shibuya was destroyed by the Heartless. Guess where the survivors went.
  • Where the FanFic of the TWEwY in Non-Dream Traverse Town?
• So Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu tell me why, O why Shiki is in Eri's appearance?
  • Presumably for 2 reasons:

Her true appearance is spoilers from the game, and Joshua knows this.
Her current appearance is the most eye-catching, for both the audience and everyone else.

• So. Could anybody PLEASE explain to me WHAT the deal with Xehanort's plan to assemble 13 Dark Hearts and 7 Lights is?! So, basically, he needs 13 hearts of pure Darkness and 7 hearts of pure light to create a PERFECT x-Blade, one that won't shatter on the first-best oportunity, like Venitas' did. So far, so good. However, it's been stated SEVERAL times that the only pure-light hearts are the 7 Princesses of Heart, who were part of the first X-Blade too, meaning that he will NEED those to combat his Organization of Clones, everything else wouldn't work. OK, OK, that still makes sense. HOWEVER, suddenly, he claims he was also trying to gather "7 Protectors of Light", keyblade wielders, to start the Keyblade war with. OK, OK, now, what did I miss? If he gets his X-Blade by just sending his Organization XIII.2 to merge with the Princesses, why would he want 7 Keyblade Wielders to OPPOSE him?! He sure as hell can't forge the X-Blade for them, Riku and Lea are partially Darkness Users themselves and even if they weren't, it's CLEAR none of them are hearts of pure light, not even Mickey or Sora. So are the 7 Protectors of Light meant to serve as bodyguards for the Princesses? The Secret Ending heavily implies this to be the case. But why would Xehanort WANT bodyguards for them? Why would he WANT them to be protected when he comes to take them? And if there is a reason, why would Yen Sid play right into the plan by assembling the 7 Protectors of Light himself when Xehanort fails at it?! Why?! Why do it HAVE to be 7, can't they just, like, just have 6 and place two princesses under the protection of one? I'm sure Riku could pull that off, he's become pretty overkill during the game. And why, in Light's sake, did they decide to make Kairi a Protector of Light herself?! Is she supposed to be her own bodyguard?! With only a few months of Keyblade experience?! Nice job, playing the Cosmic Keystone right into Organization XIII.2's hands then, Yen Sid! ...Uhh... My brain... it hurts... X-x
  • Since there's a lot questions, I'll start with a few at once.

Why is Kairi gonna protect herself? Considering she's in danger anyway, being a Princess of Heart, what better way to defend herself than being experienced with a keyblade? And also, if she's gonna be guarded anyway, it's safer to be guarded AND be able to defend herself.
Why does Xehanort want bodyguards for the 7 Princess's? Considering Master Xehanort's rigged use of Crazy Prepared, The Plan, Xanatos Speed Chess, and other tropes... he's probably gonna have plans for them, for his own amusement, while still being able to take the 7 Princess's. Plus, he'll need the 7 Protecters for when he forges his perfect X-blade, so he can see what a 2nd Keyblade War looks like, you know, For Science!.

• So what did happen to Shiki before Riku run into Young Xehanort?
  • Not sure... but if I saw the scenes right, all that really happened was that Shiki lost Mr. Mew, appearing very nervous and scared (but apparently unharmed) later. Considering she's defenseless without that thing, she had good reason to be so. But whatever happened was offscreen, so we can only guess.