KH as Story Arcs

I’ve talked about this idea before a time or two but in a talk with @blackosprey we expanded on it a bit and I honestly think it would’ve been one of the better ways to handle the story.

I know the series wasn’t planned out from the get go (as Nomura admits here) aside from ideas but the thing about this is that it didn’t need to be.
All that had to be done was treat things in phases. Start an event and resolve it. For example:



KH1, CoM, & KH2
This would’ve been the “story arc” of Sora and his friends. However the “phase” of the story would be Ansem & Xemnas.

The story isn’t even changed. Sora’s journey begins on the islands in KH1 and it ends with him, Riku, and Kairi on the islands in KH2. You start all the threads around them and you resolve them.
The only hints you should have in KH2 is the notion of Apprentice Xehanort’s amnesia. Something only in the journals that you could ignore or pursue.

This keeps the three games a self contained story but one that can grow.



Birth by Sleep, Volume 2,& KH3
This would be Aqua’s arc of the ongoing narrative. BBS explains the lingering mystery of Xehanort and this becomes the “master xehanort” phase of our story.

It already explains where TAV was by Sora’s time or how SRK got keyblades (for better or worse) and it ends with Aqua in the realm of darkness. This lets us bring her into the present.

BBS is the prequel but Aqua’s first game and Volume 2 is her escaping the Dark Realm and Terranort’s return.

You can even note the parallels. Sora and Aqua are acting as the “leads” of these arcs undoing the events Xehanort creates. Sora undoes Ansem & Xemnas’ mess but in turn undoes “ansem” which restores Terranort memory and all.

The KH3 equivalent of this arc (I wouldn’t call it KH3) ends with Xehanort’s final defeat. Terra & Ven are saved and the secret scene is Jiminy finding unusual entries in his journals.

Naturally, this are expands on Soras but is also self contained. This is even reflected in SRK’s role in the arc since they’d be supporting cast. The secret unlocked scene is your expansion you can ignore or choose to pursue.



Days, Coded, & KH3D
This arc focus’ on the effort to decipher the Journal messages which soon becomes a desire to decipher the data. This arc would jump around cast more since Days would be the story of Roxas and Xion.

Coded is in the present as Jiminy finds the messages and later data in which Sora dives into the newly made datascape to decipher it. (yes real sora)

KH3D would have Sora and Kairi as leads because the ones they seek to save (Roxas, Xion, and Namine) are beings derived from their own.
You can even introduce the Realm of Sleep as this mystery. Xehanort returned in KH3 but none of the other nobodies did.

This is revealed to be due to the Sleeping Realm. When a heartless and nobody die they dont just reform, the reformed self must complete the “Reapers Game” to return as their former self.
Xehanort completed this task with ease while Axel is still trapped in the game. The other Org failed and were claimed by death.

It’s Sora and Kairi’s job to complete the game and bring RAX & Namine back.

This arc exists for me to place these three games in a more meaningful set up. It explores Roxas life, gives Coded a simpler but important purpose, and with Joshua in KH3D we already have an excuse to one time revive people.

In other words, Days is the tragedy, Coded is learning how to undo the tragedy, and KH3D is their salvation.

It doesn’t even have to follow this flow either, this is just my idea of how to make these three titles an “arc” of their own. It’s self contained and ties up any lingering questions of the previous two arcs.

There is no secret scenes or hints this round.



Chi, UX, & Beyond
This one is still ongoing but the war story of the original browser game was self contained enough to make it’s own arc of games if you add UX and Back Cover elements into it.

It builds up your next villain group and I’d open the arc with Xigbar. It’s shortly after the final battle with Xehanort in KH3, he claims the Goat Blade and smirks sayings it’s “finally back where it belongs”.

The Foretellers appear, we’re curious now, and then the arc begins as if Luxu himself is retelling the story.



Of course, these are just my simplified ideas. We all got story specific beats we’d change but overall a “story arc” system would’ve worked a lot better.

All Nomura had to do was control his boner love for “surprise” twists and connecting everything. Just tell one story at a time man.

 

I hadn't even thought about the accessibility aspect, it really would've helped it so much. I used to wonder how many fans it lost due to the foolish console spread it did over the years.

 

I know many also just didn't buy them cause they weren't gonna waste money on a system for one game. All of this is reminding of of way back when with KH2. Many fans had missed CoM cause it was on GBA and began this mess. I bet some had crappy internet like I did as well, I couldn't watch videos until a few years ago.
Heck even the collections aren't the whole thing now since they're using a mobile game to set up a new plot.