Kingdom Hearts - This Game Makes No Sense!

[Slimybug]

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.