Thoughts on Project Xehanort?
Well, I have mixed feelings about this new game, but I will say that I am interested in it. Most likely, I’ll play it. I’m very interested in Xehanort’s character.
First reservation is about the platform. I actually think that smaller KH games can be better in many ways. Days had so much character development because it didn’t have to follow the console KH formula. It could do something different and offer a “slice of life” feel that wouldn’t be possible in a regular KH game. The characters benefited tremendously from this. Especially Axel. It’s why he’s my favorite.
In many ways, KH3 was a victim of its enormous budget and its need to appeal to everyone, even the most casual of KH fans who don’t care about the intricacies of the story and characters. So, a smaller release like Project Xehanort may have more creative freedom. It might be just the game Xehanort needs to flesh out his character. But like with Union X, tying so much essential backstory to a mobile game can be a problem in the future. And then there’s the focus on micro transactions, which sets mobile games apart from PSP or DS games.
Presently there are 4 main untold stories to consider: “the period of the King’s absence”, “the period of Riku’s absence”, “Roxas’s time in Organization XIII” and “Xehanort’s past”. In this case, the story of “the period of the King’s absence” is set in the realm of darkness. I am examining a way to tell these 4 stories so I might be able to find a way to tell them soon.
At the same time, I have to look at this game for what it is. Xehanort’s past was one of the blank periods Nomura wanted to cover. No doubt, this was going to be covered in BBSV2.
—In KH BbS, Master Xehanort’s goal behind opening Kingdom Hearts was to “create a new world.” But in this game, he says it is to “reset the world.” Why the difference?
What was revealed in this game was another piece of the truth: his goal was “this world is no longer any good, and we have to recreate it from scratch.”
—We are interested in why Xehanort would come to such a conclusion.
At first, I did want to use a next game to dig down into how Xehanort went from that simple boy playing the chess-like game to an admirer of the darkness. But, if I do that, then the Dark Seeker Chronicle wouldn’t have ended with KH3 after all (laughs.) Some ideas had solidified to a degree, but it’s shelved for now.
After that was canceled, Nomura didn’t think he’d get the chance to cover Xehanort’s past at all, because the Dark Seeker Saga was supposed to be over. IMO, we’re lucky to even get this game. And it shows just how badly Nomura wanted to show Xehanort’s past.
So, I am interested in this game and unless it’s just absolutely terrible, I will play it. But at the same time, since it’s coming out in 2020 instead of 2011, I don’t think it’s going to be the same backstory we were originally supposed to get for Xehnaort. Like KH3 itself, ten years ago, this game would have been a lot different.
I mean, Look at Lea and Isa. I am 99.9% sure that their original backstory was that they were test subjects in the experiments on the darkness of the heart. They were so obviously set up for that role. Around 2010/2011 BBSV2 gets cancelled. The leftover plot threads get repurposed to fit a new story arc. Suddenly Lea and Isa are no longer former test subjects. Oh, no. They were just friends with a girl who was a human test subject. In other words, their backstory was repurposed to fit the change in direction. If KH3 came out in 2014/2015, there’s not a doubt in my mind that Lea and Isa would have still been test subjects (I wish they were getting the Xehanort Project treatment, too).
And that is no doubt going to be the same situation with Xehanort’s backstory. I’m sure there will be many elements that are going to be the same, and that is the main reason I’m excited for this game. It’s a rare opportunity to get some cancelled scraps from the ill-fated Xehanort Saga and KH0.5. I’m very excited to see Xehanort and Eraqus’s past together, if that gets shown in detail. But is it going to be the exact same backstory as it was originally conceived before the story got butchered? No. It’s too late for that, unfortunately.
This game is going most likely to be half-Xehanort Saga and half-New Arc. IMO, we should have already learned more about those black things from Scala ad Caelum before the end of KH3. These are the Dark Seekers. These dudes are the true nature of “Replicas,” including Xion. The Xehanort Saga was obviously NOT READY TO BE FINISHED when KH3 released, since we never even leaned what the fuck those guys were.
“Pitiful Heartless, mindlessly collecting hearts. And yet they know not the true power of what they hold. The rage of the Keyblade releases those hearts. They gather in darkness, masterless and free…until they weave together to form Kingdom Hearts. And when that time comes at last, we can truly exist.”
He almost sounded as though he were reciting an incantation.
From what I can gather of the original story, Xehanort—or the entity possessing him, No Heart–needed 13 empty vessels so that each one of those black replica clone guys could have a body as a host. Those beings wanted to truly, finally exist, and that’s why they wanted KH to be completed so badly. Xehanort himself was just a pawn to them and was not entirely human by the time the story began. Saix was also NOT HUMAN. He was Isa’s empty vessel inhabited with one of those horned replica guys. That’s why he was so fucking creepy and it sounded like he was reciting an incantation when he said the above quote. They were going somewhere with all of this.
Portals from the corridors rippled and opened atop the chairs of the Round Room, like candles lighting in negative, and a few members of the Organization appeared in their black cloaks. Numbers 1 through 7 took their seats—Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, and Saïx.
“Why are we allowing a novice to attend?” Vexen complained.
The aforementioned “novice”—Saïx, the lowest ranked of those present—didn’t even glance up from the dais.
The whole goal of Organization XIII was to bring those black horned dudes into the Realm of Light. That’s why the organization felt like a satanic cult with the black robes and “candles”. They all gathered around the Nobody symbol in a circle. The Demon Tide was a harbinger of something bad happening. Honestly, I just want that story to be finished. KH morphed into something unrecognizable over the long wait for KH3. It’ll never really be the same as it used to.
