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  1. #1
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    Default Kingdom Hearts - This Game Makes No Sense!

    So as a massive Disney fan, I finally decided to delve in to the 19-year old game Kingdom Hearts. Only to find the story is nigh-indecipherable. So I've prepared a LENGTHY post showing my confusion in the first third of the game alone!

    Edits taken from information later in the thread are shown in bold.

    Chapter 1: Destiny Islands
    We start on a place called Destiny Islands, where three friends, Sora, Riku, and Kairi, in spite of the fact that they apparently have parents and families, are making a raft to ship off and explore “other worlds” (which for them, I guess, simply means other lands.) It’s mentioned that Kairi came from another “world” which she doesn’t remember.

    Meanwhile, in a world where Mickey Mouse is king, he suddenly disappears, leaving a cryptic note telling Donald Duck that he must leave because the stars have been blinking out. “There’s someone with a ‘key’ - the key to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him. Got it? We need that key or we’re doomed! So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He’ll point you in the right direction.”
    Boy, he sure seems to know more about what’s going on than he’s saying. I hope we get some elaboration, but I’m not sure we ever do. For now, he literally just leaves them by saying the stars are blinking out so go find someone with a key. But maybe Leon can tell us more.
    It’s only as Jiminy Cricket joins them on their trip do we learn that the stars blinking out means certain worlds are being erased, and Jiminy’s world was one of them.

    Back on Destiny Islands, a big black hole appears over the islands, and these small black monsters begin attacking. Riku runs out and fights them, and finds Riku. Riku seems to know exactly what’s going on, saying things like “The door has opened. Now we can go to the outside world! I’m not afraid of the darkness!” Riku is seemingly absorbed by the dark hole, and Sora gets this sword that looks like a key magically pop into his hand. Then he too gets absorbed into the black hole.


    Chapter 2: Traverse Town
    Goofy and Donald witness a star go out just as the darkness consumes Sora’s world.
    Sora wakes up on a new world called Traverse Town. So if this darkness is what’s destroying worlds, why did it transport Sora somewhere else? And Riku too, apparently. Riku wasn’t talking like the world was being destroyed, just like they were going somewhere. So is it a destroyer of worlds aor a transporter?
    Sora sees those same creatures appear and literally steal aperson’s heart before he and Donald and Goofy al run into Leon and his friends, Yuffie and Aerith. So here’s the explanation, right?
    They tell us the creatures are called the Heartless, and that they are attracted by hte darkness in everyone’s heart. They tell of a man named Ansem who was studying the Heartless and wrote down a report whose pages have been scattered all over the worlds. The king is apparently looking for these pages. Meanwhile, the keyblade is a weapon against the Heartless that chooses its master, having chosen Sora.

    So...There’s some species that are randomly attacking worlds, and some guy from somewhere who wa studying them, who Mickey somehow heard about and decided to chase down his notebook pages across the world, while instructing Goofy and Donald to go after the guy who has a special weapon, giving them 1/10th of the information he knew about it? And he knew about all of this how? And how do these people, Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith, know about all this? What more can they tell us? Who are they (I know they’re from Final Fantasy) and how do they know Mickey? Sora doesn’t ask. But because he is the keyblade wielder, they ask him to come with him looking for the king.

    So the basic story for now is that Sora is travelling from world to world with Donald and Goofy, them looking for the king, him looking for his friends. Just randomly looking in entire planets.

    Also, Merlin appears in Traverse Town, saying he’s been asked by the king to teach Sora magic.
    Meanwhile, we get a scene showing that a collection of Disney villains are somehow behind the darkness/Heartless, led by Maleficent.

    Chapter 3, World 1: Wonderland
    While in Wonderland, Sora sees Alice, but she mysteriously disappears. He then finds a special keyhole that he sort of instinctively points his keyblade at, firing a laser-like beam into it.

    Chapter 4, World 2: Olympic Coliseum
    Not much relevant to the plot happens here.

    Chapter 5, World 3: Deep Jungle
    In Tarzan’s jungle, Sora once again finds a keyhole and shoots a laser into it. We thenc acth a glimpse of the Disney villains saying that the boy remains “blissfully unaware of our other plan.” Wait, were we supposed to be aware of their first plan? I thought the Heartless were just randomly destroying (or not destroying?) worlds, while these guys looked for King Mickey who’s looking for pages a guy once wrote on them.

    Chapter 6: Back to Traverse Town
    So Sora goes back to Traverse town and only NOW do Leon and the others tell him that these keyholes are found in every world, and are what the Heartless come through, and that he can lock them to prevent the Heartless from coming through and destroying the worlds. Opening the world's keyhole will allow other beings to enter. The worlds are separated from each other.
    Riku then shows up, with no explanation of where he’s been or what he knows, and promptly vanishes again.
    The FF characters then tell Sora about Maleficent...sorta. They say she’s a witch who’s been “using the Heartless for years,” and that she’s the reason they lost their world. Doesn’t really explain anything, but okay.
    They do at least mention that Ansem was actually the ruler of their world. Maleficent, meanwhile, has Riku by her side, spying on the group, seeing that Sora’s *gasp* with other people, meaning he must have replaced Riku, and just like that he’s apparently on her side...Doing what, I don’t know. But Sora seals up Traverse Town’s keyhole.

    Chapter 7, World 4: Agrabah
    Jafar and Maleficent appear saying this world will be theirs as soon as they find the keyhole (because the Heartless will be able to take it over???), but they need all 7 princesses of heart to open the final door. Whatever that all means. Still not sure what these two are using the Heartless for.
    Sora seals the keyhole in Agrabah, but Jasmine, one of the seven princesses, is kidnapped by Riku. In return, Malfeicent shows Riku Kairi and tells him to go to her.

    Chapter 8, World 5: Monstro
    The team gets swallowed by Monstro-in-space. Riku shows up and tries to kidnap Pinocchio, saying he can help Kairi, who has apparently lost her heart (???). Riku goes to Hook’s ship where Kairi is, comatose. Maleficent says the Heartless took her heart, but he can help her by helping them find the 7 Princesses of Heart, to open a door to the Heart of all worlds.
    Well, that finally explains what Maleficent’s plot is, a bit. But it doesn’t seemt to have anything to do with the Heartless attacacking and destroying worlds. However, Maleficent seems to have the power to control the Heartless, which she gives to Riku.

    That should be adequate for an OP. If anyone has any way of clearing up this confusion, or just wants to talk about the games, please let me know.
    Last edited by Slimybug; 06-22-2021 at 11:21 AM.

  2. #2
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    On a side note, wikipedia claims that the game holds apppearances from over 100 Disney characters. I counted, and I only came to 83, from 21 different franchises.

    Mickey Mouse
    1. Mickey Mouse
    2. Donald Duck
    3. Goofy
    4. Pluto
    5. Minnie Mouse
    6. Daisy Duck
    7. Huey
    8. Duey
    9. Louie

    Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
    10. Snow White

    Pinocchio
    11. Pinocchio
    12. Gepetto
    13. Jiminy Cricket
    14. Cleo
    15. Monstro

    Fantasia
    16. Chernabog

    Dumbo
    17. Dumbo

    Bambi
    18. Bambi

    Cinderella
    19. Cinderella
    20. Fairy Godmother

    Alice in Wonderland
    21. Alice
    22. The Queen of Hearts
    23. The White Rabbit
    24. The Cheshire Cat
    25. The Doorknob

    Peter Pan
    26. Peter Pan
    27. Wendy Darling
    28. Captain Hook
    29. Smee
    30. Tinker Bell
    31. The Crocodile

    Sleeping Beauty
    32. Aurora
    33. Maleficent

    101 Dalmatians
    34. Pongo
    35. Perdita

    The Sword in the Stone
    36. Merlin

    Winnie the Pooh
    37. Winnie the Pooh
    38. Piglet
    39. Rabbit
    40. Owl
    41. Tigger
    42. Eeyore
    43. Roo

    The Little Mermaid
    44. Ariel
    45. Ursula
    46. Sebastian
    47. Flounder
    48. Triton
    49. Flotsam
    50. Jetsam

    Beauty and the Beast
    51. Beast
    52. Belle

    Aladdin
    53. Aladdin
    54. Jasmine
    55. Jafar
    56. Iago
    57, Abu
    58. Carpet
    59. Genie

    The Nightmare Before Christmas
    60. Jack Skellington
    61. Sally
    62. Zero
    63. The Mayor
    64. Dr. Finklestein
    65. Oogie Boogie
    66. Shock
    67. Lock
    68. Barrel

    The Lion King
    69. Simba

    Hercules
    70. Hercules
    71. Phil
    72. Hades
    73. Cerberus
    74. Rock Titan
    75. Ice Titan

    Mulan
    76. Mushu

    Tarzan
    77. Tarzan
    78. Jane
    79. Kerchak
    80. Kala
    81. Terk
    82. Clayton
    83. Sabor

    Maybe they counted the groups of nameless characters as characters. Counting each group as one, you get...

    84. Brooms (from Fantasia)
    85. Cards (spades)
    86. Cards (hearts)
    87. Dalmatian puppies
    Last edited by Slimybug; 06-25-2021 at 09:11 PM.

  3. #3
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    Chapter 9, World 6 - Atlantica
    Sora defeats Ursula and seals the Atlantica keyhole.

    Chapter 10, World 7 - Halloween Town
    Sora defeats Oogie Boogie and seals the Halloween Town keyhole.

    Chapter 11, World 8 - Neverland
    Sora arrives on Captain Hook’s ship just in time to see Riku take Kairi’s comatose body to Maleficent’s home base of Hollow Bastion. He also seals the keyhole that is actually in London, not Neverland.

    Chapter 12 - Hollow Bastion
    At Maleficent’s headquarters, there’s a new keyhole, or at leat a key-shaped hole, ready to open a portal to the world of the darkness (the master-force of the Heartless) by using the seven princesses of Heart. Maleficent finally details a bit of her scheme: Just as she’s been using the Heartless, she will use the power of the Darkness to rule all worlds.

    So a quick summation: All along there has been two basic plotlines: The Darkness, acting of its own accord, sending the Heartless to destroy worlds, and Maleficent, who has some sort of power to control the Heartless, gathering the seven princesses of Heart to open a portal to the Darkness’s world and use it’s power to rule all worlds. I THINK I got that right.

    Unfortunately, Kairi (the seventh princess)’s lack of heart (how did that happen again?) means she can’t contribute to opening the portal.

    To make things even more complex, Riku is now visited by a mysterious being who tells him to give himself totally over to darkness, which he does, transforming him. When he tells Maleficent to do the same, she becomes her trademark dragon, battling our heroes.
    When she dies, Riku reveals the Darkness were using HER.Riku is now possessed by Ansem, the true villain, who tells Sora to give Kairi back her heart because her heart is in HIM. (okay, HUH?). He tries to take Kairi’s heart by killing Sora. Sora defeats him and stabs himself with the keyblade to give Kairi her heart back.

    Sora needs to seal the keyhole with the keyblade, but instead retreats to Traverse Town.
    Sora returns to Hollow Bastion and seals the keyhole. Should be the end, right? But the darkness is growing somewhere else, somehow, wherever Ansem is.

    Chapter 13 - The End of the World
    Sora tracks Ansem (why is he a bad guy again?) down to a new world, goes through a random door and fights Chernabog,
    He then fights Ansem, who spouts some absolute nonsense about how the core of all worlds, Kingdom Hearts, is made of darkness, but Sora says it’s made of light….Okay. This making sense to anyone? Long story short, Sora defeats Ansem, but there’s a literal door that has to be closed to keep the Darkness away. They close King Mickey and Riku (who, remember, was bing possessed by Ansem) behind it. Why didn’t they come through? Who’s to say.
    Riku tells Sora to take care of Kairi, but for some reason, Kairi is transproted back to Destiny Islands, and Sora is not. So now they need to find a way BACK to Kingdom Hearts to save Mickey and Riku.

    Does this crap make sense to anyone? Am I missing something?

  4. #4

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    Oh boy, this was the easiest game to follow. If you are getting lost here, it's better you don't pick up the others.

    In traverse town, Sora is just a castaway. He survived the darkness taking his home and landed on Traverse Town.

    Riku didn't understand the world's was going to be destroyed or didn't care.

    Leon and the others are survivors like Sora. I assumed Leon met Mickey before the events of the game.

    In this game, the Disney villians are guiding the Heartless. They wanna take over the universe and have a specific plan in mind.

    Opening the world's keyhole will allow other beings to enter. The worlds are seperated from each other.

    Kairi lost her heart when Destiny Islands fell. Her body is essentially comatose. Somehow her heart survived by possessing Sora (Just go with it). Riku found her body and us working to Maleficent to get her heart back.

    Ansem was a scientist from the same world as Leon and the others. He created the Heartless and led to the destruction of their world. They didn't know that fact and believed Maleficent did it. This aspect could've been handled better if these characters had more interaction with each other. Having Ansem work with the Disney villians for his own end and betray them later would've been cleaner.

    Ansem does have reports scattered across the world's. You find them you get more insight. That mechanic would've fit a more curious character like Sherlock holmes. Sora just becomes a shonen jump simpleton and less appealing with each game.

    Sora and Ansem are having a spiritual debate about what is the nature of life.....I'm not kidding....

    The ending was supposed to set up a sequel. Mickey and Riku stay behind to save the universe from being overrun from Heartless again. Sora and the others can't join them because it's more practical this way.

    It would've been better if Kairi stayed with Leon and the others instead of returning to Destiny Islands.

  5. #5
    Extraordinary Member Hiromi's Avatar
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    yeah if you have trouble with the first one it only gets worse from there, largely because Square decided to split the story up amongst hand held and even mobile titles, makes the second game really confusing to just pick up

  6. #6
    Better than YOU! Alan2099's Avatar
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    The first one is fairly easy to get.

    After that, I'm not entirely sure anyone really gets it.

    If you really want to understand it, I recommend this video.

  7. #7
    Silver Sentinel BeastieRunner's Avatar
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    Awful long essay for not liking something.
    "Always listen to the crazy scientist with a weird van or armful of blueprints and diagrams." -- Vibranium

  8. #8
    Put a smile on that face Immortal Weapon's Avatar
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    The first game is very simple plot wise. Once you reach the sequels that's when things get non sensical and goes down a rabbit hole of ****. If the first game is messing you up this much don't even look at the sequels.

    As for the over 100 Disney characters, quite a few characters only appear as summons. Put some attention there if you want to find the rest.

  9. #9
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    I actually created this whole video, I was so eager to understand the plot.



    And y'all are right, I'm partway into Chain of Memories, and it makes even less sense!

  10. #10
    Put a smile on that face Immortal Weapon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slimybug View Post

    And y'all are right, I'm partway into Chain of Memories, and it makes even less sense!
    If you want to preserve your insanity I suggest stopping with KH2 (assuming you go that far). Beyond that any semblance of sense gets abandoned. If you do I only recommend Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance as those are the most plot relevant games that lead into KH3. Re:coded and 358/2 Days are skippable.

  11. #11

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    Kingdom Hearts is just an average shonen anime that takes itself too seriously. Most of the confusion comes from the series trying to connect everything but doing it poorly.

    In hindsight it would've been better if it was more episodic, with more standalone plots and a rotating cast of characters. Sora’s not compelling enough to keep your interest after the first game.

  12. #12
    Astonishing Member TheRay's Avatar
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    Just in case nobody told you, the first game is the easiest to follow.

  13. #13
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    I guess the main thing I'm still confused about in the first game is, if Ansem created the Heartless, how are they coming out from Kingdom Hearts, necessitating closing the door to Kingdom Hearts? Wouldn't they be coming out from his world?

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Slimybug View Post
    I guess the main thing I'm still confused about in the first game is, if Ansem created the Heartless, how are they coming out from Kingdom Hearts, necessitating closing the door to Kingdom Hearts? Wouldn't they be coming out from his world?
    Kingdom hearts is the birthplace of the universe. Darkness and Light came from it and Heartless were born out of Darkness. Ansem was experimenting with Darkness. So i guess the game was trying to say that the Heartless are here to stay?

  15. #15
    Once And Future BAMF Hellion's Avatar
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    Was the franchise's convoluted plot (specifically the earlier installments) really that big of a turnoff for people? I followed the story and enjoyed the games just fine until they jumped the shark with friggin' time travel.
    MAGNETO was right,TONY was right, VARYS was right.

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