VS Battles Wiki Forum

Yeah, now I see how it's like to be a Pikmin fan with those hiatuses

I recall there's been statements on each game being more laborous to do as the standards rise, and there being confirmed awareness on Marvel and Star Wars being popular requests would imply further back and forth than usual

Or imagine being a Twin Peaks fan and wait like 30 years for a new season, lol.

The balloning budgets of AAA games has been a topic recently; more detailed graphics, more content and playtime, larger soundtracks, so on and so on. Especially as Square Enix is pretty adamant that games like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts must be as grandiose as possible, meaning taking a more low key approach in any way is something they just won't do. This means longer pre-production and development cycles. What's scary is they are aware how risky this inevitable rise in costs and effort has become, not only by itself but also due to how nowadays due to the rise of free to play games, the market for traditional games is not growing anymore. Costs are bigger but sales are harder to get.

Lol, sometimes I totally forget that Star Wars and Marvel are Disney properties now. Imagine Sora getting a Keyblade Lightsaber and adding the Force to the abilities of the Heart. I'm guessing negotiations for that wouldn't be easy either.

Yeah, and it sure doesn't help that we'll very likely get DLC, given the precedent with KH3.

Big Hero 6 is technically already part of Marvel and is within KH already, so Marvel is more likely, but at the same time it'd be difficult to pick something that could fit.

I really doubt Sora will learn how to use the Force or anything like that, that kind of stuff would involve him getting too much into a world, which is usually avoided. That does remind me that I've had a lot of talks off-site on Palpatine being too similar/outclassed in relation to Xemnas fighting-wise for a battle involving him to be interesting. The only trailer we do have implies that a SW world would be set within Episode VI, so there won't be a Yoda appearance as he's dead chronologically.

DLC is almost unavoidable nowadays and more than that it's actually expected, so I say that yeah it will be coming.

I remember the Big Hero 6 world was in KHIII but had no idea that it was part of Marvel. And I agree that Marvel feels kinda hard to mesh woth KH, mostly because one thinks of the MCU and its more actiony and grittier feel. But I guess something more colorful must be around or maybe they can create an original world with superheroes (which Sora would most likely adore) and use that. They managed to pull of a world for Pirates of the Caribbean and well, KH itself is the unlikely crossover between Disney and Square Enix fantasy.

I was half joking on that, actually. The idea of Sora in Star Wars reminded me of this meme. Yeah, Xemnas and Xehanort already cover a very similar role to the Emperor, even if he was oomphed to be on the level of KH he would still feel too similar and even shallower given he would be the villiain of his world and not much more. Maybe Sora can be trained by baby Yoda.

On the bright side it does mean not having to buy the same game twice for a "Final Mix" release, TBH I feel that given the series is confirmed to not going to have its plot go on forever, the series should end in KH5, as not much else can be added after KH4 beyond conclusions to the inevitable extra plot holes made on purpose, and Nomura is kinda aging already.

Big Hero 6 is confirmed to be an universe within the Marvel cosmology, but beyond that it's kinda tangential, regarding a proper Marvel world I feel like it'd be very likely to simply be an original one without being particularly based on a movie, maybe even an original Marvel universe (kinda like how Marvel Vs Capcom is a part of the Marvel multiverse), although I'd then have to deal with the headache of the cosmological implications if that also happens to KH's version, but that's a problem for another day.

Honestly I feel that just some KH-original boss in the SW world would be the best option, kinda like how in KHII Xaldin is fought instead of Gaston.

Nomura is on his 50s or so, right? I say he still has some time left, though the development time of modern games is too long to not consider.

I really thought they were going to tie up all the loose ends of the Xehanort related events with KH4 and then start a new story altogether, though still with Sora and co. I guess it should have been for the best to also allow new blood get into the franchise, considering how tightly plotted KH is. So it was really surprising that the Xehanort stuff kept going after that.

I guess KH could go on indefinitely, but it would need to renovate itself after some time and allow for new people to take charge of it with a different direction of sorts. A single plotline cannot be stretched forever. Kinda like games that always have the same setting and basic elements, but have sagas consisting of a couple oif games before jumping to a new one.

I was thinking the same thing? Maybe not have the main Marvel universes, rather a setting especifically developed for KH? Have its own version of Spider-Man, the Avengers and whatnot. And maybe have the evil geniuses of Marvel research the Darkness instead of the Inifnity Stones or whatever. But yeah, if KH was canonized into the Marvel cosmology it wouldn't be a can of worms as much of a whole warehouse.

No one is left out of Kingdom Hearts like Gaston!

Nomura has said that the ending of KH would be done in a manner where there wouldn't be any potential continuation, so it should be rather definitive. Of course, Disney can still make use of the franchise independently of him, so realistically we'd probably get reboots and cameos after that. He did say that Sora would not be too far away from such ending, so it's unlikely that a drastic time skip for yet another generation of characters in the future is going to happen as far such ending is concerned.

Current theories just lead on there potentially being a KH for unreality, and then the last game should focus on some sort of real KH that fully encompasses both reality and unreality.

Giving KH a definitive ending sounds the best way to go IMO. Without Nomura's vision it would certainly be quite a gamble to see how things unfold without really shaking things up. A reboot could work I think, same universe but with different characters and a new conflict or a new take on the same stuff. But yeah, Sora's story should be allowed to finish properly, at least this one and start over. Unlike many games that feature different arcs, KH is too heavy on continuity to just jump to something new.

Unreality is the place where Sora ended up?

Yes, unreality is where Sora ended up, which so happens to be the place one could argue to be the afterlife as well, as that's where hearts that died move on, plus Strelitzia even calls it that in the KH4 trailer.

Ah, yeah I remember, though didn't quite understood at first what she meant. So essentially unreality would be a different place away from the worlds altogether, which should, in theory have its own Kingdom Hearts, and in turn the totality of everything could have a Kingdom Hearts for itself?

Correct, or at least that's what a theory currently thinks, there's not many other interpretations that aren't even more assumptive.

Yeah, not much we can go off without just start making things up. Any clue of who are going to be the antagonists? As far as I know Xehanort was dealt with between III and Memory of Melody. I was expecting that once he was defeated a new story arc altogether with a new set of villiains would begin (at least given how Nomura spoke of the story some years ago). But given he's looking to wrap up...

Nomura has already confirmed that the Foretellers and the Master of Masters will be the antagonists, and also said that if Xehanort came back he wouldn't be in an antagonistic role anymore.

Ugh, I don't remember them. Did they appear in spinoffs before KHIII?

Yes, they are main to side characters in the X Saga (aka, the one made mainly of the smartphone gachas).

Ah, right. That's why I had forgotten. I started watching the Unchained story in youtube a while ago, but I interrupted it to attend other stuff and lost track (I am planning to start over though). Speaking of, the mobile game that came out that was about Master Xehanort in his youth. That one how did it turn out story wise?

Oh, sorry for replying quite late, I don't frequent the wiki as much as I used to. Anyways, I presume you mean Dark Road, in which case it's basically a glorified kinetic novel now that the online features are gone, otherwise being an idle game, so you can really just watch the cutscenes elsewhere and not really miss much of note.
Ultimately it doesn't really add much to the lore beyond some potential implications for KHIV if Quadratum is really the afterlife, it also ties some stuff that's otherwise only covered indirectly regarding Ventus and Vanitas in BbS.

Dark Road yeah. Coincidentally around a week ago or a bit more, news popped up that they were having trouble with the mechanics or something. But I was under the impression that it was unreleased, though I was wrong.

Dark Road is about Master Xehanort's past isn't it. In that regard it, at the very least should fill some gaps regarding him and some background history before the main story. Though if it's optional, it's a bit better, realized how much info is added in the Final Mix version of the games and catching up with that first.

No, what's unreleased right now is Missing Link, it had a beta test and some cutscenes revealed, but it's still in hiatus. Dark Road is mostly for the next arc introduced in KHIV, as it expands more on Union X and KHIV than Birth by Sleep, so while less of a priority right now, I would still recommend to check it, especiall as it recontextualizes Xehanort's character (and the infamous roast made by Woody)

Ah, crap I had that totally mixed up and thought the games were a single thing. Thanks for clearing it up. Definitely checking Dark Road then. Maybe Missing Link will not be a bad idea when it comes out later on, especially since III trying to paint Master Xehanort as an extremist that had good intentions really felt off considering all his actions before were absolutely henious and self serving at best.