Kingdom Hearts Reimagining

[mattmanganon]

Kingdom Hearts has always annoyed me with how it's supposed to be a Final Fantasy/Disney crossover, yet the actual Final Fantasy stuff is mostly relegated to a few cameo's and kinda pointless/boring supporting characters, whilst the Disney stuff is mostly completely inconsequential to the story at large. It's its own original story that is chock full of all of the stuff that makes me hate modern Final Fantasy stuff. I want to love the franchise as a whole, i really do, but the only thing about it that keeps me interested is the stuff that is completely inconsequential to the story, and the things that i hate about it ((Mostly Orginization XIII and almost everything to do with them)) are the actual driving force of the plot. It wasn't so bad in the first game, because it was "All your favourite Disney villains have been gathered to help take over the world under a mysterious Final Fantasy-like, yet completely original villain." and, quite frankly, that is what i think they really should have stuck with.

Ok, so, rant over, i don't have an entire idea for what this will be about YET, but here's the idea so far:

*Keeping the "Multiple Worlds" idea, where every Final Fantasy game and Disney movie are separated into their own completely self contained world. (Yes, this will include Marvel and Star Wars, since Disney owns them and made an entire Wreck-It-Ralph movie about reminding you of this fact.)
*There are powerful forces that can strip you of your heart (It's your soul, but the game insists on calling it your Heart.) If this happens, then your consciousness creates a Heartless that will instinctively run around trying to find your heart, or replace it with someone elses, and your mortal remains become a Nobody.
*Each player takes control of a Key Warrior, each Key Warrior has a Key Weapon, not necessarily a sword. Your Key weapon can be anything, but it is key themed. This Key weapon is designed to open and close specific doors around the multiverse in order to allow certain entities to travel and to prevent others.
*Everyone starts off with a Destiny Link or "D-Link" with a canon Disney/Final Fantasy character of their choice. Your Key-Weapon will be usually be assosiated with this D-Linked individual. E.G. If you choose Merida from Brave, then you get a Key-Bow. If you choose Han Solo, you get a Key-Pistol. If you choose Freya from Final Fantasy IX, then you get a Key-Spear. If you choose Captain America, then you get a Key-Shield.
*Your character can come from pretty much any world from these two behemoth franchises. Maybe you are a Bangaa Warrior from Ivalice, or a high prince suitor from Agrabah, a Moogle from World of Balance, or a Tangean from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command?
*Your character's D-Link doesn't have to be with a character from their own world. People accidentally stumble through the cracks in the universe all the time, when they do, their heart will find another to latch onto to act as sort of a lighthouse to guide you. This is when your Key-weapon is forged and you have, unwittingly, become a Key-Warrior. I should also note that, because the person you are D-Linked to isn't aware of the link, you can link with a villain if you so choose, without having to play an evil character.
*This will be an Episodic RP, with each episode taking place on a different world, where twists and turns can happen anywhere. E.G. One episode finds you in the Pirates of the Caribbean world, however, instead of Davey Jones and his Kraken to worry about, the terror of the high seas is Captain Hook and his pet monstrosity, Sin from FFX, building their army of Heartless.

Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed

So, i've done a little work on how the 3 main enemy types work:

Heartless: Nobody knows exactly how the Heartless came into being, but ever since they did, they have been attacking people. They don't kill them, they simply suck their heart out, turning that drained heart into a Heartless and leave them as an empty shell. Heartless are creatures of pure instinct, mindlessly attacking everything with a heart. When they extract a heart, an immense amount of energy is unleashed, with the Heartless absorbing it. The more they extract, the more powerful they become. They seem to infect worlds like a virus, travelling in the same cracks between worlds as Key-Warriors.
Nobodies: After someone has had their heart drained, their physical body will slowly break down. If their will wasn't strong enough to keep themselves together, then they degrade into an amorphous form. These creatures are actually rather passive towards most people, only attacking when they feel threatened, but quite the opposite is true when they meet Heartless. The Amorphous Nobodies will relentlessly attack Heartless wherever they find them, in an attempt to retake their heart.
If the will of the person who's heart was stolen is strong enough, then they may retain themselves, physical changes can happen and they will lose all of their memories of their life before their heart was stolen. Without a Heart, however, they are no longer tied to their world, allowing the vast powers of the universe to flow into them freely. A Nobody like this can be an immensely dangerous creature.
Unversed: Although not technically related to the Heartless and Nobodies, their abilities are notably similar. The Unversed are created by the emotions from someones heart. If their heart is thrown into complete and total chaos, so utterly broken that they can no longer function, the Unversed spill from their hearts. The Unversed are creatures of purest chaos, wild emotions made manifest. They will attack everything around them, much like the heartless, but they will not try to extract hearts, instead opting to simply try and kill those around them, however they will follow the orders of whoever summoned them. Hearts that create Unversed are immensely powerful, meaning that Heartless are drawn to them. Whenever you encounter Unversed, it's not unusal to see the Unversed and Heartless fighting each other.

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CS Template

[hider=Your Characters Name][center][img]Picture of your character. URL goes here.[/img][/center]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Race:[/b] (What species is your character?)
[b]Homeworld:[/b] (Which world you come from)
[b]Key-Weapon:[/b] (What weapon form does your Key take?)
[b]Magics:[/b] (Name a few spells that your character knows)
[b]D-Links:[/b] (Characters throughout the multiverse that your character has formed an invisible bond with. You start the game with 1, you will get the chance to get more later.)
[b]Appearance:[/b] (Description)
[b]Brief History:[/b]
[/hider]

[vancexentan]

I guess I'll throw up a tentative interest how will we go about collecting all our characters into one group without massive cross over issues?

[mattmanganon]

@vancexentan Well, it could be that they are gathered by either long standing parts of the franchise, like Mickey or Yen-Sid? Or it could be that fate brought them together and now they have a common cause, chasing down someone who is making an army of heartless.

[Fabricant451]

I dunno, the Disney stuff was kind of core to the overall themes of the games, especially in BBS and 1 and even, at times, in 3.

[vancexentan]

What about aspects of each franchise? Do we just ban the force, or mutant powers from X-man? Because they're still going to get magic, and assess to fantasy stuff by virtue of their key weapons.

[Double]

What about aspects of each franchise? Do we just ban the force, or mutant powers from X-man? Because they're still going to get magic, and assess to fantasy stuff by virtue of their key weapons.

@vancexentan

It's almost like they aren't thematically appropriate or something! I kid, I kid.

But in all seriousness, I'm all for making Disney and FF more relevant (especially the latter, given the abysmal treatment it got in 3), but come one who doesn't love Aqua and Ventus? And... it's kind of hard to tell a very compelling story when you have characters like Goofy and Genie yucking it up alongside Cloud Strife's stonefaced angst. I'm guessing that's why the Organization stuff ended up being as popular as it was... consistency in its tone?

So my suggestion is thus: Maybe go in an Epic Mickey style of direction? Something dark and scary is encroaching on the worlds and draining the life and color from them and so you get a consistently dark tone upon initially visiting worlds but get to see them as they are meant to be once they've actually cleansed or saved or whatever.

[Rockin Strings]

I have a Keybearer (that's what they're actually called, as far as I know) that I could bring in on this if you don't mind him being a little out-of-the-box.

Also, will we be sticking with only Disney and FF? If so, does that include the FFU anime? If not, can I bring in a couple of aspects from the Overlord video games?

As for the spells, will we be sticking only to what they add in KH or will we bring in more of the FF spells?

[mattmanganon]

Wow, i go to sleep and find that people are actually interested. Wasn't expecting that.

What about aspects of each franchise? Do we just ban the force, or mutant powers from X-man? Because they're still going to get magic, and assess to fantasy stuff by virtue of their key weapons.

@vancexentan

Ultimately, i don't see the point in banning other powers. I mean, being that this is a narrative campaign, if a character needs to do something to progress the plot, then they will find a way to do it regardless. And thanks to the Key-weapon granting everyone magic, as well as a bunch of powers based on whoever you're D-Linked with, everyone is going to be on a relatively even power field anyway.

Character building is going to have my typical "Do what you like, but don't be a dick about it" rule.

It's kind of hard to tell a very compelling story when you have characters like Goofy and Genie yucking it up alongside Cloud Strife's stonefaced angst.

@Double

If anything, that was my favourite part of BBS, Terra was a typical modern FF protagonist, stone-faced and angsty and moaning about the darkness (A Cloud alagory that every modern FF game is contractually obligated to have) but the fact that he was forced to interact with all of these bright and colourful worlds gave him, at several points a "Oh, i can't stay angsty at you." feel to him. Like, he can't help but get into the spirit of things with Cinderella telling him that dreams really do come true and Stitch telling him that Ohana means family.

It was my least favourite part of modern FF being forced to interact with my single favourite part of classic Disney.

I'm guessing that's why the Organization stuff ended up being as popular as it was... consistency in its tone?

@Double

Wait, people liked Originization XIII? Everyone i have talked and all of the reviews i have read seems to agree that Orginization XIII is the single worst part of the franchise. Boring, cookie cutter characters with an overarching plan that is constantly getting retconned, and them constantly making really stupid mistakes. Like, in 2, there is a scene where one of them tells Sora the Orginizations MO, then the immediate next scene is the same character going "We shouldn't have told him that, now we've made things harder for ourselves." and i'm just looking at the screen going "Then why the fuck did you do it?" and in the third one where one of them literally falls for the old "Hey look, a distraction!" trick by not-Zell and his Twilight-Town gang.

I have a Keybearer (that's what they're actually called, as far as I know) that I could bring in on this if you don't mind him being a little out-of-the-box.

Also, will we be sticking with only Disney and FF? If so, does that include the FFU anime? If not, can I bring in a couple of aspects from the Overlord video games?

As for the spells, will we be sticking only to what they add in KH or will we bring in more of the FF spells?

@Rockin Strings

Love the enthusiasm, but hold your horses until we have an actual Character Sheet devised. Plus, please do bare in mind that a bunch of the stuff that is canon to KH is not going to be in this and if it is in this, it will be an immensely altered state. I might use Xehenort as a villain, but if it do, then fucking hell, i'm overhauling this guy to give him some kind of consistency to his plan, as well as a motivation that isn't "Shits and giggles." Because that was his entire fucking motivation:

"Why did you kill so many fucking people and bring the multiverse to its knees?"
"Eh, wanted to know what would happen if i did."

Also, i'm thinking of setting up a Discord channel to discuss this in.

[Double]

If anything, that was my favourite part of BBS, Terra was a typical modern FF protagonist, stone-faced and angsty and moaning about the darkness (A Cloud alagory that every modern FF game is contractually obligated to have) but the fact that he was forced to interact with all of these bright and colourful worlds gave him, at several points a "Oh, i can't stay angsty at you." feel to him. Like, he can't help but get into the spirit of things with Cinderella telling him that dreams really do come true and Stitch telling him that Ohana means family.

It was my least favourite part of modern FF being forced to interact with my single favourite part of classic Disney.

@mattmanganon

I'm not saying that's bad, but I am saying that I enjoyed it more in small doses rather than having the entire game be nothing but that. But oh well, agree to disagree.

Wait, people liked Originization XIII? Everyone i have talked and all of the reviews i have read seems to agree that Orginization XIII is the single worst part of the franchise. Boring, cookie cutter characters with an overarching plan that is constantly getting retconned, and them constantly making really stupid mistakes. Like, in 2, there is a scene where one of them tells Sora the Orginizations MO, then the immediate next scene is the same character going "We shouldn't have told him that, now we've made things harder for ourselves." and i'm just looking at the screen going "Then why the fuck did you do it?" and in the third one where one of them literally falls for the old "Hey look, a distraction!" trick by not-Zell and his Twilight-Town gang.

@mattmanganon

Okay, well the endless amounts of fanart and fanfiction would beg to differ regarding their popularity, but that's not the main point I want to make. And come on, that "Look a distraction!" scene was hilarious and effing glorious and don't you even try to deny it. As for Xehanort's motivations? Yeah they sucked, even in 3 where they tried to retcon it as him wanting to "save" the universe from Darkness by rebooting it, I won't deny that. But badly written motivations are not the same as having none at all. But again, we can just agree to disagree, it's all good.

At any rate, my real point was the suggestion I offered in that above post that seems to have slipped through the cracks. I'd still like to humbly suggest we take a cue from the likes of Epic Mickey, let the worlds not only be attacked by Heartless but also let them bring aspects of the Realm of Darkness with them as a way to visually show off what a world looks as it sinks closer and closer to being swallowed. Another suggestion I would humbly offer is to maybe start us off in the Realm of Darkness. Just, hear me out. We start off in our worlds, those worlds get swallowed up in our opening posts. It's in the Realm of Darkness that we encounter each other, maybe our Key-weapons protected us being turned into Heartless. Anyway the first act of the story can be us getting a first hand look at what happens when worlds are gone. We take a cue from Fragmentary Passage and see bits and pieces of former worlds as we search for a way back into the Realm of Light, the experience giving us all a nice juicy platter of motivation to want to save the rest of the worlds from suffering the same fate as well as trying to find way to restore the ones that were already lost.

[Rockin Strings]

@mattmanganon I'm a good guy to bounce ideas off of.

[mattmanganon]

Well, i've made a Discord if people want to discuss it in real time.

[mattmanganon]

Alright, so, i can think of two ways that this can go, i would really appreciate some input on which you guys would prefer.

1) What Double suggested. We are a team, working together to fight our way through worlds that are getting taken over by the Heartless, stopping them and the plethora of Disney and Final Fantasy villains that are controlling them.

2) We do more of a shared open world sandbox. Essentially, everyone is here to tell their own story and they don't need to worry too much about what everyone else is doing. You have your own story arcs, explore your own worlds, have your own supporting cast, your own main nemeses. Every so often, something big happens and all of the characters are brought together for a big boss fight, but appart from that, everyone is free to do as they please.

[mattmanganon]

I added a whole section to the OP about how the Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed work in this. Thoughts on that, as well as the other idea's would be appreciated.

[mattmanganon]

@vancexentan@Rockin Strings@Double So... Any chance of feedback on the stuff i've added?

[vancexentan]

Too be honest I am very hesitant on joining so itd probably be wise if I don't join

[druple]

*poke* Is this still alive?

If it is then I'm pretty curious to see where this goes. I'm a serious Kingdom Hearts fanboy and I'm always open to a new spin on my favorite franchises. I really liked Double's idea of the gradual sinking into the Realm of Darkness. It would feel much more like a race against time in each world. The only pause I would have about the do your own thing route is that a lot of roleplays die that way. Without interaction between characters, most players begin to sputter out as it becomes more difficult to advance the plot alone. If I wanted to advance my character's plot alone I'd write a book or fanfiction. :P I've put my vote in though and am okay with more discussion and whatever you guys decide.

I'm quite interested to see where this goes and will join the discord. See you guys there!

[mattmanganon]

@druple
Yes, we were discussing it on Discord last night. Feel free to join the Discord server.

[druple]

@druple
Yes, we were discussing it on Discord last night. Feel free to join the Discord server.

@mattmanganon

I did. :D More than happy to add my two cents in and critique. xD

[Rockin Strings]

Captain Hido

Name: Captain Gennosuke Hido
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Homeworld: Pirates of the Caribbean
Key-Weapon: Dual Key Sword

Example

Magics: Stop, Slow, Fire. (Stop and Slow only last for 5 seconds for him.)
D-Links:
Appearance: Captain Hido seems to be a normal ronin (masterless samurai) with a pair of katana, mainly to hide the fact he's a pirate captain. He wears a normal dark blue hakama with a dark purple haori and average geta sandals and white tabi. His hair, when not on his ship, is the regular samurai topknot, though it is always let loose upon the ship.
Brief History: (TBC)