(Major spoilers for KHDR)
One thing that struck me about Dark Road was how practical and realistic the writing felt at times, avoiding certian common story cliches. Three examples come to mind:
The All-Knowing Magic Mirror: In many stories, when the main characters find an object as overpowered as this, they use it maybe once to solve some specific problem, and then the next moment, completely forget that this super convenient object exists. Usually this happens because the writers don’t want the characters to have the ability to solve every single obstacle or conflict with such an object (it’d be a very boring story otherwise), and maybe the writers either forgot or didn’t care to write in an explanation for why this object never gets mentioned again. But in Dark Road, not only do the characters use the mirror twice, they discuss going back to use it a third time. Who wouldn’t? It only makes sense. Obviously it is Xehanort who ends up providing a logical plot reason for why they can’t use the mirror anymore, but even then we get to see how Eraqus and Bragi go back to try anyway. Because something that powerful is still worth pursuing as an option in their eyes, plot contrivances be damned.
The Magic Carpet: When I first saw the scene of the magic carpet trying to discretely follow after Xehanort, Hermod, and Urd at a distance, I thought this was going to lead to that one type of gag where the main characters have a super delayed reaction to something weird and shocking, and then have an over-the-top “Whaaaaaaat!?” type of response when it finally hits them. But no, the characters look back at the carpet, and then have a completely calm discussion about it. Which makes sense! They’re keyblade wielders for one, they know that magic exists and that each of the outside worlds has their own unique order and laws of nature. Plus, like Hermod mentions, they’ve already been to Wonderland, where a bunch of animated poker cards are running around. It’d be really silly and out of character if this scene was written the more “typical comedy” way, and let’s face it, the gag they went for instead was way funnier.
Vor and Baldr at the End: We’ve seen scenes like this so many times in all sorts of media, even in KH! A character gets killed by the bad guy, dies in someone’s arms, manages to have a 5 minute monologue despite being in the process of passing away, and then the bad guy just stands awkwardly ten feet away off screen, not even trying to get a sneak attack on the heroes as they sit there with their backs turned to them. But Vor only has a couple of lines of short dialog before she goes, and Baldr? When the camera pans back to him, he’s moved to a different position in the room and is casually leaning up against the window, right next to Xehanort and Eraqus, like he decided not to interfere because watching them suffer as their friend died was entertainment to him. And also because Baldr is so confident in his ability to kill them that he doesn’t feel the need to take advantage of their vulnerability in this moment.
I loved Dark Road so much that I actually felt compelled to read the credits for once in order to see who was responsbile for the story writing for this game, and lo and behold, Tomoco Kanemaki, the KH light novelist who helped intimately with Days’ story (which is possibly my favorite story in the entire series), was among the names. I wonder if this more natural and realistic sort of writing was her influence? If so, I really hope she keeps on returning to write for more KH games in the future.
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