Kingdom Hearts games all the time have a secret film, a particular hidden ending that teases what’s subsequent for the sequence – and the one in KH3 is essentially the most intriguing ever.
Or, no less than, it’s definitely a contender for essentially the most intriguing ending the sequence has ever provided. There’s one thing particularly iconic concerning the Deep Dive – Another Side, Another Story video that was discovered within the first game, the video introducing a now-iconic piece of Kingdom Hearts music and hinting at a deeper, much less particularly Disney-focused lore. It was additionally the ending tease least certain by layer upon layer of convoluted lore. The future for the Kingdom Hearts sequence was extensive open, and that in itself was particularly thrilling.
Later teases ended up more and more slowed down within the ever-expanding lore of the KH sequence, however the Kingdom Hearts Three secret ending does a lot to intrigue in the same solution to that outdated Deep Dive video. In many senses, the long run for Kingdom Hearts feels extensive open – but in addition concurrently inexorably linked to sure failed previous endeavours of sequence creator Tetsuya Nomura. The former is thrilling, and the latter deeply intriguing. And now KH3 has been out for a month, it’s properly value speaking about.
Naturally, this text will include spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 3’s most important story (although we gained’t go into element on most important story occasions) and can flat-out spoil the key film, which is basically disconnected from the occasions of the game. Consider your self warned. Here’s an embedded tweet of my preliminary spoiler-free response to the KH3 secret ending film. Scroll previous it and also you’re in spoiler city.
Just watched the Kingdom Hearts Three secret ending film pic.twitter.com/nVFvA3iAAd
— Alex Donaldson (@APZonerunner) January 31, 2019
As the embedded tweet suggests, the key film of Kingdom Hearts Three is, to be sincere, a bit psychological. The implications of it may vary from the mundane to the insane, and that’s why it’s actually value discussing. And why it offers the identical feeling of a future full of fascinating prospects because the Deep Dive video from again in 2002.
Here’s what the film reveals, in essence: having gone lacking within the ending of Kingdom Hearts 3, protagonist Sora and his greatest buddy Riku get up in what seems to be no less than a model of real-life Tokyo. Sora seems on the world well-known Shibuya Crossing, whereas Riku wakes up exterior the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building – a location that has particular connotations for Square Enix followers. Sitting atop that constructing is a mysterious new character gamers shall be acquainted with from earlier in Kingdom Hearts 3, Yozora. Here’s the film in full.
The film takes its title from that new character, Yozora, suggesting the character is the main target, fairly than the real-world setting. In Kingdom Hearts 3, Yozora is launched because the star of a faux Square Enix video game that’s featured as background artwork within the Toy Story world.
Yozora’s video game, Verum Rex, is described by the toys of that world as the present sizzling toy to personal, and the Toy Story degree is definitely launched with a lavishly produced CG trailer for Verum Rex blasting from the TV in Andy’s room with the toys watching it.
Any fan of Square Enix, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts or KH creator Tetsuya Nomura will clearly acknowledge Verum Rex from the trailer. It’s pretty clearly a pastiche of Final Fantasy Versus 13, the ill-fated undertaking Nomura helmed for years that may ultimately be rebooted, handed off to a distinct director and reappeared as Final Fantasy 15. Here’s the Verum Rex trailer as featured in Kingdom Hearts 3.
Those who keep in mind the preliminary trailers for Versus 13 will certainly get a well-known feel and appear from the Verum Rex trailer – it’s not likely a delicate reference.
Verum Rex is Latin for True King – and FF15 protagonist Noctis is, in fact, a king. Yozora itself makes it even clearer: Yozora, or 夜空, interprets to Night Sky. If you translate it over to Latin you get Noctis Caelo, which is… properly, it’s kind of the title of FF15’s lead. The True King moniker is fascinating, additionally. Did Nomura actually disapprove of the FF15 model of his imaginative and prescient that a lot?
So make no mistake: Verum Rex is basically a reference to Nomura’s ‘lost’ undertaking, Versus 13. While FF15 did ultimately launch, it did in order a considerably modified undertaking, to the purpose the place these near the scenario have prompt to VG247 that, in hindsight, Square Enix could even have been higher served by formally cancelling Versus 13 and saying FF15 as an all-new game, fairly than presenting it as one contiguous undertaking.
This brings us to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. This lovely constructing in Shinjuku has an iconic, recognisable mix of recent and gothic-style designs, and it was chosen by Nomura as key to Final Fantasy Versus 13. A model of the constructing served because the Citadel of Insomnia – the seat of energy in Noctis’ nation. This aspect survived by means of to FF15, and the ultimate levels of the game happen round and inside this constructing.
Thus the importance of Yozora sitting atop the constructing in a game helmed by Nomura turns into apparent: this can be a character designed as a nod to Versus, reunited with one in every of that undertaking’s most necessary visible cues. When the constructing is first proven in full, the music hints at however stops simply in need of enjoying the melody of ‘Somnus’ the primary theme from Versus 13 and FF15. The implication is clearly intentional.
The query is: what does this imply for Kingdom Hearts? Fans have been wild with hypothesis because the film was first revealed, and one conclusion some are drawing is that Nomura plans to revisit parts of his scrapped Versus design throughout the Kingdom Hearts sequence. It’s all the time appeared as if Nomura was by no means too joyful to let that undertaking go – and maybe that is his approach of revisiting it.
There are different implications to the video, nonetheless. For one, Yozora – a personality particularly outlined as a video game protagonist – has now come to life, making one surprise if different video game worlds and characters may seem going forwards within the sequence. Final Fantasy characters that appeared prior have been merely offered as inhabitants of the Kingdom Hearts worlds – not as video game heroes. Plus, in a single Kingdom Hearts spin-off Sora meets the characters from one other Nomura title, The World Ends With You, who themselves stay in Tokyo. At the top of the assembly, one indicators off “See you in Shibuya”. Was this foreshadowing all alongside?
Also, Sora and Riku are additionally now in the true world, or some model of it. Does the Walt Disney Company and its media empire exist on this actual world? How meta can this get? The Versus and Verum Rex stuff is already, let’s face it, fairly meta.
If nothing else, this secret film stuff is fascinating. With most of its core plot factors and its enormous forged of characters safely taken care of, a lot of the Kingdom Hearts story has been tied up neatly sufficient to go away behind. The sequence additionally faces a unbroken query – with each game, the variety of Disney worlds value visiting or revisiting grows shorter, however the sequence’ personal storylines have up up to now been so complicated that it’s labored in opposition to making them extensively compelling alone. From this teaser it may head in surprising new instructions or dwell on the previous – however the level is, the trail ahead isn’t apparent, laid out by hours of boring, overwrought exposition.
For as soon as, the sequence is extensive open once more – and that’s as thrilling now because it was in 2002.
Source
