Before the Retcons

[Charme]

"As a researcher and ruler of his world, he studied the Heartless and delved into the many secrets of the worlds. While studying the heart and the darkness within it, he was possessed by darkness and ultimately destroyed his own world. He sacrificed his body to attain great power, and later possessed Riku's to regain a physical presence. Failure to stop him means the end of all worlds."

Let's all appreciate the original, standalone Kingdom Hearts. Before Nomura retconned everything, before Xehanort ever existed, when this tan, white-haired possessor of bodies was simply the best villain in creation.

Let's all talk about the original Kingdom Hearts and what could have been done better/let go with the subsequent games.

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I personally believe that the whole Xehanort thing should have been dropped entirely. I mean, what purpose did it serve? DiZ could have just as easily been a Lingering Sentiment than create a whole new character that would eventually lead to time travel. Ew.

Ansem and Xemnas, two halves of a whole. The Lingering Sentiment of Ansem the Wise grows to hate them after he falls to the Darkness at the fault of his apprentices.

I preferred when the Keyblade was something obtained through strength of heart, not through Masters giving them away at a whim.

[Aryn007]

THANK YOU!
Yes to all of this.

Er, for the rest of the games to be improved upon, they would have had to follow through on like every element they introduced and then ignored in the first game, starting with the OPENING.

I have studied that opening for a while and it establishes one really important thing: Sora is destined to open "the door." So far, Sora has not, repeat NOT opened any special door. So far, he's closed and locked some doors, but he has yet to open one. I think even Kairi has one-uped him on the door opening scene. In order for anything to go right, he needs to fulfill the destiny they spelled out for us in the beginning of the first game.

I mean what does a key do? A key opens doors. I find this beautiful and symbolic. So let's open some freaking doors, shall we? A forbidden door, a secret door, a door that leads to something we don't understand but want desperately. Everyone with a keyblade should be opening doors. Locking stuff is boring. Opening doors is cool.

On the subject of Keyblades: I recall the words "Keyblade's chosen one." Everyone was looking for "the Keyblade Master." Not "a" keyblade master but "the" Keyblade Master. Not a keyblade wielder. The freaking Keyblade Master. Call me CRAZY but I thought that meant something really COOL.

I liked the villains too. They made some sense. You have tiers: single-minded evil Heartless who steal your freaking heart and turn you into a zombie, smart but deranged evil witch, and calculating and misguided soul who lacked compassion for his fellow man but was hungry for knowledge and perhaps power as well. I find this character for more interesting than...what? A need to recreate a war? For some...purpose? Because we like war? Maybe it fuels the economy? I honestly don't get it. I don't see what a person actually gains here.

I know I might get pelted with rotten fruit for this, but things started to get stupid as soon as the Nobodies were introduced as a concept. They make zero sense and don't fit into the original story at all. It takes away the strength of the first game in big ways. It actually lowers the stakes. It means the man we saw die in Traverse Town on our first visit in the first game, was potentially wandering around as a Dusk just biding his time before becoming human again over time. That aside...it's pointless. The Nobodies don't serve a purpose. They're sad excuses for characters and largely unimaginative. With all the hundreds and thousands of Worlds out there, every single one of the fully-fledged Nobodies are beautiful, white humans who mostly come from the same two bloody worlds. If the KH series is made up of Disney Worlds and FF Worlds, Nobodies would reflect a mixture of this. A Nobody of Pocahontas, for example (too creepy? But we know she's strong-willed so why not?). If the Heartless reflect zombie of the worlds, Nobodies have to do the same thing since they're the aftermath or whatever.

Namine needs to GO. She is like...Neo of the Matrix; a bizarre anomaly that never should have existed. She could potentially be the most powerful being in all of KHverse. In a few bold moves, should could cripple everyone and proclaim herself Supreme Ruler of Everything.

She scares me.

[Charme]

I have studied that opening for a while and it establishes one really important thing: Sora is destined to open "the door." So far, Sora has not, repeat NOT opened any special door. So far, he's closed and locked some doors, but he has yet to open one.

I agree with this. Sora is destined, simply put. It's not Ventus's Heart inside of him that gave him his destiny, it's Sora's Heart. ALTHOUGH- Sora did open one door. It was known as the Final Door, the door that led to his Homecoming. It was the entrance to the final boss battle with Ansem. Which also holds some of the most powerful and amazing scenes/conversations in the entire game (which are points I feel have been lost or thrown aside.) -cough- Darkness is the hearts true essence -cough-

So let's open some freaking doors, shall we?

I thought the same thing in the first game. Sora's key could unlock any door, any chest- I soon realized that unlocking in Kingdom Hearts I was the opposite of what they wanted to do. To protect the Worlds, one must lock them away and prevent the Heartless from taking them. Even Kingdom Hearts- he wanted it locked away forever, the Worlds used to create it returned to their original form and also locked away. This is why I didn't really mind it too much.

In Kingdom Hearts II, Sora goes back and unlocks all of those Worlds though. He reverses all of the hard work he did in the first game. He was never supposed to see Leon or Yuffie again, and I was really surprised when they 'expected' him in Kingdom Hearts II. It was a goodbye forever. BUT- does this mean that, like Kingdom Hearts locks Worlds, does unlocking Worlds unlock Kingdom Hearts? Which is why I think that they totally blanked on the parallels between the World Hearts and Kingdom Hearts. Which is a little irritating.

I recall the words "Keyblade's chosen one."

Square has destroyed what it means to be chosen. It means the KEYBLADE chooses. And it did. It chose Sora after Riku submitted to the Darkness. But now they've made it to where Sora was just given the Keyblade by Ventus, which is crap through and through. Everybody and their uncle has a Keyblade now because apparently they're easy to obtain and not rare whatsoever. I remember the Nomura interview where he stated this: "As far as the King is concerned, he was on the other side from the beginning. He disappeared because he went to the world on the other side in order to find one of the two keys."

THERE WERE ONLY TWO KEYS. IN EXISTENCE. RIKU'S KEYBLADE WAS SYNTHETIC. I don't even know why there were so many arguments about this?? Nomura stated it more than once. Which is why I whole-heartedly agree with you, Aryn.

As for yer villain:
Master Xehanort is just a horrible character. Simply put, he's just bad. There's no dynamics in his character, his intentions rest entirely on a million retcons, and his connections to Kindom Hearts I are few and far between (and also break the initial story where the brown-cloaked man was Ansem, who had lost his form).

Nobodies

Nobodies were... A mistake. I don't think they wrecked the story, but they could have been done much better. Roxas's story was so important, it couldn't be missed. BUT at the same time Roxas isn't even a Nobody. -.- So honestly I feel that Namine and Xemnas are the only important Nobodies (and we don't even know what Namine is!!). Xemnas was well-done too. When Sora reprimanded him for not having a Heart I actually felt a flicker of anger at his ignorance. And at the end, when Xemnas said 'Unfortunately, I don't' I felt really bad. x.x; And that's what Square needed- the Nobodies weren't inherently evil, which goes along with their neutrality spiel, but the whole 'empty vessel' thing could have been improved on heavily.

In other words, the characters were important, but their creation was messed up. I think that Square could have done something better.

I think that covers most of the points I reflected on.

[Aryn007]

Ohhh you're right, I forgot about the Final Door.

Well, I want another one. A Super Door.