Kingdom Hearts 3 Chronicles is my attempt to keep up with my thoughts on Kingdom Hearts III after every session. Today’s post will cover the 5th world, and also a “bonus” world of sorts. Also worth knowing that I am playing on Proud Mode, the hardest difficulty available from the start. Fair warning, I really go deep into the lore this time as the story starts to ramp up.
So far the Pixar worlds are just dominating the experience. Like Toy Box before it, Monstropolis expands the mythology of its source material to craft a new adventure in the spirit of the original that leads to unique gameplay opportunities. The basic plot of Monstropolis is similar to Monsters, Inc - the goal is to get Boo back to her door while avoiding conflict with Randall - but the journey to do so takes you into previously unexplored areas of Monsters Inc. itself. There’s this great moment where you get to do a version of the “clinging to the doors” set piece from the movie, with extra action added by having Sora do his rail sliding thing along the rails the doors travel on. These sections are short enough that they don’t wear out their welcome, and in general are a welcome change of pace to the world. We also get to see the outside of the factory in a new way, as parts of it are attacked and even explode, requiring us to use our water magic to put out fires. While Toy Box excelled at making small sub areas within a larger location, Monstropolis succeeds by pushing you through set piece after set piece in entirely new locations. Monsters Inc. doesn’t feel as unified as Galaxy Toys did, but that’s by design, and it’s just as effective in its own way.
From a story perspective, this level cranks up the core stakes of the universe in a major way, way more than any other world so far. We’re reintroduced to Vanitas, who made a minor appearance in Dream Drop Distance but otherwise hasn’t been seen in action since Birth by Sleep. Sora remembers meeting him, but Goofy and Donald have never seen the guy before. Also I don’t think Sora currently knows that he and Vanitas have the same face. I tried not to pay much attention to press running up to this game, so while I knew that Monstropolis was a level, I didn’t know in advance that the enemies weren’t Heartless, but Unversed. As soon as they showed up though, it was a dead giveaway that Vanitas was going to make an appearance, since he has power over that particular baddie. His appearance here is brief but aggressive and important. He reveals to Sora the truth that Ventus’s heart lives inside Sora’s heart, and there’s even a brief moment when it seems like Ventus’s heart may be called forth from Sora. Deep lore for a second: the big moment here is not just Sora finally getting caught up to the player’s understanding of the world, but in the fact that Vanitas is apparently capable of drawing out Ventus’s heart all on his own. That complicates the situation a bit because it potentially makes it much easier for Vanitas to get what he wants. Also you have to wonder if he is acting in accordance with Master Xehanort’s plans here or of his own desire to reunite with Ventus. Originally Vanitas and Ventus were supposed to combine together to forge the X-blade, but the whole plot of this game so far has been about the 13 darknesses and the 7 lights preparing to fight to do that, so is Vanitas just part of the back-up plan? We will see.
After you clear the world you get a couple cool scenes - one where Ienzo confirms to Sora (again, player’s that have been in it will know this, otherwise it’s fresh news) that there are 3 hearts connected to his - the gang deduces it must be Roxas, Ventus, and a mystery person. I can’t remember offhand if the third person is Xion, but that’s my guess now anyway. They also speculate on the possibility of returning those hearts to bodies using Vexen’s research, which again they will struggle to do because he has returned to Organization XIII.
Next there is a scene that really gets crazy. So for starters we don’t know when this scene takes place, and I have a suspicion it’s actually a flashback. We meet Aqua and Ansem the Wise in the Realm of Darkness, on a beach that appears to be the Dark Margin. Now the reason why this scene is likely a flashback is because that’s the same beach where Riku and Mickey earlier had looked for Aqua and couldn’t find her, with Mickey remarking that she had sunken into a deeper darkness. Aqua and Ansem the Wise are having a nice chat when Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (Xehanort’s Heartless, I know the multiple Ansem thing is confusing) shows up and demands Ansem the Wise tell him the location of a girl he once experimented on. He is also interested in the fact that Ansem the Wise has gained the ability to return a person’s memories (that’s what he does in Kingdom Hearts II to get Sora’s memories back after he lost them in Chain of Memories). Ansem the Wise refuses, so Ansem Seeker of Darkness tries to take him by force, only for Aqua to step in, but she doesn’t have her Keyblade anymore so she’s beaten, hit with some darkness, and tossed into the water, where she sinks into the deeper darkness that Mickey refers to when he’s looking for her. Ok, this scene is crazy because it shows us what happened to Aqua and Ansem the Wise, it establishes that the Organization have Ansem the Wise in their hands, and that they’re looking for a girl with the intentions of pulling memories from her. This last bit is what really makes me theorize, if only because there are so few female characters in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Instinct says to think of Kairi, but Ansem SoD already knows about her, so there’s not really a reason for him to need to ask Ansem W about her (also Ansem W likely has no idea where she is). This train of thought though did make me wonder about Ansem W’s relationship to Kairi, given that Ansem W was once the leader of Radiant Garden, and Kairi is originally from there. Kairi in the first game was called a Princess of Heart, so does that make her the princess of Radiant Garden? And if Ansem W was really its ruler, does that mean he is her father/grandfather/some relation? We know for a fact that Kairi has a grandmother that she’s mentioned before, but that’s as far as has ever been discussed. Now I don’t believe we’ve ever gotten a very specific timeline about when Kairi first arrived on Destiny Islands, but based on the events of Birth by Sleep we know it’s after Xehanort becomes Ansem the Wise’s apprentice. As far as I know offhand (it’s hard to fact check and avoid spoilers) we also don’t know the reason Kairi was taken to Destiny Islands. So it’s possible that Xehanort knew about Kairi when she was living in Radiant Garden, some stuff went down there, and then Kairi was spirited away to Destiny Islands for her own safety. Meaning it’s possible that despite knowing about Kairi, he doesn’t know she is the same person he’s now looking for.
I have a second theory thought: he’s looking for Larxene, to bring her back into the Organization. The screwy thing here is that we know for a fact Larxene is in this game based on game trailers, but if this scene is in fact a flashback (which it has to be, it’s just weird that there’s nothing pre-empting it, it just happens) we can safely assume it takes place before Larxene rejoins the Organization. To explain why any of that matters, I have to get into a bit of Kingdom Hearts Union Cross, which I mentioned briefly when discussing Marluxia. So recently in Union Cross, a Keyblade wielder named Elrena was introduced. Fans immediately suspected that Elrena is actually Larxene before she became a Nobody, because “Elrena” is an anagram for “Larxene” without the “X” - and we know that Xemnas adds the “X” to their names when they join the Organization. If Elrena is in fact Larxene, that means at some point in the past Larxene had the ability to wield a Keyblade and lost it. My theory here is that in this sequence Ansem Seeker of Darkness is looking for Elrena (who would have become a person again after her defeat in Chain of Memories) and that he wants Ansem the Wise’s memory technology in order to pull the memories of the Keyblade out of her so she can wield a Keyblade again for the Organization. I think the same thing is going to happen with Marluxia too, who fans speculate is another Kingdom Hearts Union Cross character named Lauriam. There’s a possibility they’re looking for a completely different girl, but I think this memory thing is tied to those two learning how to use their Keyblades again. This also sets up that Xehanort and co. know that Larxene and Marluxia used to be Keyblade wielders, which is an interesting development in its own right.
Just fascinating stuff all around, I’m loving how this game is piecing its world together, it’s really rewarding for someone who’s been invested from the beginning.
After you finish Monstropolis you get a call to visit Merlin in Twilight Town, and you’re able to visit Winnie the Pooh in the 100 Acre Wood. Pooh’s world here is incredibly short compared to both other worlds in this game and his past appearances. It’s more like a little interlude than a world all its own. The entire thing is a single area (Rabbit’s House) comprised of 3 minigames, which are really 3 levels of the same minigame. In the first one you help Rabbit harvest vegetables, the second one you harvest fruit with the added danger of the fruit falling into the river, and finally you harvest flowers with the added goal of clearing room for honey pots to fall into Pooh’s hands. All 3 utilize a version of those popular bubble shooter games, where you have to line up the bubbles of the same color in order to clear rows of bubbles, combined with something resembling a Match-3 game, where matching colors can cause cascades of other colors. They’re a simple diversion but that’s it. The best thing about the level is the slight change to the art style, which manages to look more hand drawn than the rest of the game. When you move you can catch the edges of things and it appears you really are in a book. Top marks for that detail. Also the Keyblade you get is ridiculous, basically a version of the Shooting Star Double Arrowguns but instead it of shooting energy beams it shoots honey.
No stray thoughts this time, I’m mostly just in awe at the little story threads that are beginning to emerge.