Let's see how much mindscrew a single game can contain! (KH 3D)

Neku and Traverse Town and Dream Eaters, oh my!

Following Sora's death defying plunge we arrive in Traverse Town. Our valiant hero is ready...wait, why is he asleep! Dammit Sora, wake up! Sora begins by stating the obvious fact that he's in Traverse Town and quickly realizes his clothes have become awesome. Okay I added the awesome part but that is an awesome outfit.◊ It strikes a nice balance between his KH 1 and KH 2 designs in my humble opinion. We then pan out to show more of the first district of Traverse Town. The surrounding calm is broken by a strange figure that flies across the screen, slams into a wall, and jets off in another direction in a purple burst of light. We'll find out who that is in a few seconds. The title screen of Traverse Town comes up and it has a lot of fireworks and some strange sound effects that remind me of a DJ screwing around with the records he's playing (I don't know what the term is. Sorry).

Anyway Sora realizes Riku vanished and starts screaming his name. We are then treated to a voice saying "Shut it, talk about noise. Sora falls...forward, for some reason. It's surprise I guess but generally people fall backward when they're surprised. Either way the figure that spoke to him drops down from the roof and is revealed to be NEKU!!!◊ For those of you who don't know Neku is the main protagonist of The World Ends with You (hereafter TWEWY). A remix of this song also starts playing. It's TWEWY's main theme. Boring explanation done. Neku somehow knows Sora and asks if he's a player. Rather than wait for an answer he examines Sora's palm. He then shows his which has a glowing red timer on it that's ticking down. He says that since Sora doesn't have a timer he can't be his partner in the game. I have to say that while I like TWEWY's 2D style Neku looks good in 3D. Explanation.*

Sora offers to be his partner and Neku asks, "Time out. Do you trust every total stranger you meet? Either way, my pact is with someone else." The answer to that is yes, Neku. When that doesn't work Sora offers to be his friend and Neku is annoyed and says it's not that easy. Neku, have you learned nothing from your own game? Neku then jets off along a grindrail and I gain control of Sora again.

I skip the flowmotion demo since I played the KH 3D demo and got pretty good at it. I spend the next few minutes exploring first district. Sadly I can't get into any of the buildings because boxes block the entrance. I do find two treasure chests though. Before I proceed I open up the menu and look at a few of the categories. There are various types of items which are: key items, keyblades, dream pieces, and training toys. My starting abilities are zero exp (I leave it off) and scan which is just like BBS. My stats are 100 HP (that's a lot...), 11 attack and magic, and 6 defense. Next I check a section called "reports". There's a lot of stuff here but the glossary entries catch my eye. I have three right now so I'll briefly summarize what they say:

Keyblades- Key-shaped weapons created by man during the age of fairy tales. There are three basic kinds: light, dark, and heart with the first being the most common. Sora and Riku use light keyblades. A wielder must prove their worth before getting a keyblade and can unlock any door and defeat any non-agent of light once they've obtained it (curiously it doesn't say dark entity. Does this mean neutral beings are harmed by them too?). Special keychains can be used to alter the shape and form of the keyblade
Keyblade Masters- Guardians of the balance between light and dark. By "bequeathing" they can choose an individual to become part of the next generation of keyblade wielders (bequeathing is apparently the localized term for "rite of succession". I prefer the latter but whatever.). Only an existing master can pass on the title and its associated powers (then who made the first master?) through the "Mark of Mastery exam". One Master will be chosen as the true "successor", the individual that is charged with being the caretaker and guardian of the "Land of Departure" (The first world in BBS).
Master Xehanort- Arguably the most powerful Keyblade Master to ever live and one of the biggest advocates for a world of perfect balance. He allowed his heart to be consumed by darkness to attain more knowledge. Years ago he attempted to replicate the Keyblade War but was stopped by three young wielders and lost his body. However, before he perished Master Xehanort freed his heart from his body and transplanted it into another vessel. Since then he has fought with Sora under numerous guises.

Interesting stuff. Hopefully this should make it easier for newer fans to get into this game. If you want a bit more of an explanation on something feel free to tell me. The last section I look at is titled treasure and it shows the number of chests I have to unlock and the contents of those I did unlock. There are 66 for both stories which is more than I expected. Anyway I save and enter second district.

I'm presented with a tutorial on reality shifts but I skip it. Basically when an enemy has a pinkish mark around them pressing X+A makes you do a reality shift. This can have various effects but it generally deals damage and requires using the bottom touchscreen. I try out my flowmotion abilities by going up to the roof of one of the buildings but a cutscene interrupts me.

Sora asks what Neku's name is but before he's answered a crowd of brightly colored cats and bats surround them. Neku shouts "Dream Eaters" which prompts the response "That's a weird name." Come on Sora, I thought you were smarter than that! Neku summons a strange looking cat and runs away saying they should split up. Before he vanishes he says his name is Neku Sakuraba. I get a tutorial on deck commands but I skip it again. After beating up all the enemies (including some that look like psychedelic pandas) I gain a level! We get a cutscene where Neku explains Dream Eaters to Sora which grants me another Flasback called "Dream Eaters." The flashback has Yen Sid explaining that Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery exam is to find and unlock seven sleeping keyholes so they can find TAV. To find them they need the help of Dream Eaters. There are two kinds, Spirits (which is what Sora and Riku use) and Nightmares (which are enemies). I then get a glossary entry for Heartless and a Meow Wow recipe.

Using the recipe I make my first Dream Eater. It's a Meow Wow which is basically a really fat cat with a horn. To make them I use dream fragments (gotten by killing enemies) and a potion command (this adds a special ability that activates when the Dream Eater is in my party). My first Dream Eater is a Meow Wow named Spunky (name of my actual cat) and is made from 4 rampant fragments (1 more than is required), 2 vibrant fragments, and a potion. Its stats are HP 43, attack 8, magic 11, defense 6, resistance to all -5%. It also starts at level 2 and gives me an HP boost because I used extra materials in the creation process. You can pet Dream Eaters by rubbing an image of them on the bottom screen. This increases their level, affinity, and gives me link points. Using link points I can buy slots on the ability link board and gain new commands, abilities, and other stuff. This system is reminiscent of the sphere grid from Final Fantasy 10 by the way.

After that's done I open a bunch of chests in second district and proceed to third. Neku says he brought me here and that he wants the bargain upheld. A black cloaked figure appears and attacks Sora. Neku says the deal said Sora wouldn't be hurt and attacks the cloaked man. Sora prepares to help but begins to grow drowzy. He falls asleep.

Now I get to play as Riku! His first dive section has him in his KH 1 attire and gives him the Way to Dawn keyblade which he got in the end of KH 2. I do better this time and get a B (silver diver) but still not good enough to get a prize. Riku wakes up in front of the third district fountain. He notes that his clothes have changed and that he's apparently in Traverse Town. Overall I'm kind of meh on Riku's new design.◊ While the shorter hair is nice the clothes are a little bland in my opinion. Riku notes that his keyblade appeared without his prompting after the Ursula fight.

We are then treated to a very effeminate voice saying "Wow! Where's your portal? It takes something special to jump between grounds without one." A rather crappy remix of Calling starts up and we pan up to see Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu"◊ sitting above the fountain. Nice to see you Joshua, still as ambiguous and snarky as ever I see. He lectures Riku about how it's rude to ask questions before saying his name. He then explains what he meant by portals. He says they're gateways that link worlds and that Traverse Town has been split in two. Portals link the two halves. He then gives a brief philosophical speech about how the world is whatever we want and it's different for everyone before offering to help Riku find Sora if he locates a girl named Rhyme.◊ Joshua hops down and Riku agrees to help him find Rhyme. The camera pans upward as he walks toward Joshua. Okay that pothole is just me being an ass but I'm sure there's a fanfic about that somewhere.

Anyway I'm now in control of Riku! Before I begin I'm given a tutorial on link portals. Basically marks appear on the bottom screen map and if you press them you can do challenges like defeating enemies in a certain length of time or without using deck commands. This one is timed and I fail miserably so I don't get the bonus for completing the challenge. I open the menu and check Riku's commands. It looks like he has sliding dash, fire, sleep, and five potions. I zip around third district getting chests and leveling up in the process before entering second district.

Riku and Joshua are walking through the back alley of second district and discussing their true feelings. Okay, they're not but it would be hilarious if they were. Riku asks why Joshua never gets attacked by Dream Eaters (gee, is it because he's not helping me and vanishes outside of cutscenes? No, that's silly!). Joshua responds by saying they only attack if you're a dreamer but he has plenty of dreams too so he doesn't get why they ignore him. Joshua talks about a friend who said he never dreamed of anything despite having the most powerful dreams of all. This is obviously a reference to Neku. He then says Riku reminds him of Neku which makes sense since both are angsty bishonen. He says Dream Eaters are the physical form of dreams in this world and gives me a Komory Bat recipe to make one. I make the bat (which I name Count) and notice he has a disposition (whatever that is) named "wingman". I am now imagining Riku and the bat sitting in a bar filled with a bunch of assorted Final Fantasy characters. God that needs to be written.

Okay, enough of that. I proceed down the pathway and encounter Daisukenojo "Beat" Bito◊ who talks like he grew up in Brooklyn despite living in Shibuya, Tokyo his whole life. Anyway he has apparently been tricked by the cloaked man. Joshua tries to calm him down but he says, "Can it! Your inverse psychiatry ain't gonna work!" Okay that makes no sense but whatever, he attacks me with a giant panda Dream Eater. I defeat it by using a dream link with Count which gives me a dark aura and a much faster attack rate.

For defeating the enemies I get Flashback: Keyblade War and the glossary entries Kingdom Hearts and X-blade (pronounced just like keyblade). Beat sits down and says "I just wanna protect the one person who matters" which is something that Riku says he can relate to (is that Kairi or Sora though?). Riku then falls asleep. I watch the Flashback which has Yen Sid explaining the origins of the x-blade and Kingdom Hearts. I'll just summarize the glossary entries rather than describe the scene since it's mostly him defining these two terms.

Kingdom Hearts- The source of all true light according to legend. Xehanort has made two artificial ones by amassing the hearts of worlds and, after that failed, the hearts of people. The Kingdom Hearts made from the hearts of worlds had a door leading into the Realm of Darkness while the one of people's hearts was believed to restore a heart that was lost.
X-Blade- Kingdom Hearts is a lock with this blade being the key. Without the X-Blade the Keyblade War might not have occurred; after all, you cannot possess what cannot be unlocked. The X-Blade is what inspired the early keyblade wielders to fashion their weapons. The "X" can be pronounced either "key" or "kye" and is created by the perfect fusion of light and darkness. Another X-Blade can be made if two hearts, one pure light and another pure darkness, clash. It is believed that the Recuscant's Sigil (even I have no clue what this is. It will likely be explained a little later although I believe a recuscant is some kind of heretic from the Middle Ages.) derives from the letter "X".

I also have two other glossary entries and I can't recall whether or not I get them before or after this part so I'll just summarize them here.

The Keyblade War- An ancient war from the age of fairy tales. It erupted over a sacred place called "Kingdom Hearts". Keyblade wielders of both light and darkness clashed to control Kingdom Hearts and destroyed the world's light as a result. This caused the world to fragment into the form we know today, one of a vast number of world floating amidst a sea of darkness. Legends say that the light of children's hearts was what saved the world from total annihilation.
Heartless- Living embodiments of the darkness within our hearts. Although they're born from hearts they lack them, hence the name. They instinctively seek out hearts and reproduce by stealing them. They have no true leaders. There are two varieties. The "Purebloods" arise spontaneously and are the original form of the Heartless, having existed since ancient times. "Emblem Heartless" were created artificially by Ansem, also known as Xehanort.

Alright, that's enough for now. Next time we continue our adventure as Sora.