Kingdom Hearts 3 World Speculation

[Jetmann]

After years of anticipation, Kingdom Hearts 3 is finally on the distant horizon. As with all Kingdom Hearts games, one of the most highly speculated/anticipated part of the game is what worlds we will be able to play through. And that's why this thread is here! Please feel free to contribute your ideas about what worlds you want/think will appear in the upcoming third (technically eighth) entry.


So far, we have four confirmed playable worlds:
Twilight Town
NEW Tangled (Kingdom of Corona)
NEW Big Hero 6 (San Fransokyo
Hercules (Olympus Coliseum)

And two that have only appeared in cutscenes so far:
(What is presumed to be) Land of Departure
Destiny Islands

For reference, these are the Disney properties that have already had their own world in previous Kingdom Hearts entries:

Spoiler

Steamboat Willie (Timeless River)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (Dwarf Woodlands)
Pinocchio (Monstro, Prankster's Paradise)
Fantasia (Mysterious Tower, Symphony of Sorcery)
Cinderella (Castle of Dreams)
Alice in Wonderland (Wonderland)
Peter Pan (Neverland)
Sleeping Beauty (Enchanted Dominion)
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (100 Acre Wood)
Tron (Space Paranoids)
The Little Mermaid (Atlantica)
Beauty and the Beast (Beast's Castle)
Aladdin (Agrabah)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Halloween Town)
The Lion King (Pride Lands)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (La Cité des Cloches)
Hercules (Olympus Colesium)
Mulan (Land of Dragons)
Tarzan (Deep Jungle)
Lilo and Stitch (Deep Space)
Pirates of the Caribbean (Port Royal)
Mickey, Donald, and Goofy: The Three Musketeers (Country of the Musketeers)
Tron Legacy (The Grid)

And these are the worlds that have been made specifically for Kingdom Hearts:

Spoiler

Destiny Islands
Traverse Town
Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden
End of the World
Castle Oblivion AKA

Spoiler

(Land of Departure)

Twilight Town
The World That Never Was
Mirage Arena
Keyblade Graveyard
Disney Town/Castle (because it's not based off a specific property and is just based off Disney as a whole I decided to put it in this category)

Also, to keep discussion going, if you want to make a list of which worlds you want/think will be in then please elaborate on why you thought they'd be in/want them in.

 

[finalark]

Personally, I'm crossing my fingers for a Treasure Planet world and an Atlantis The Lost Empire world.

Both of which would probably just be called Treasure Planet and Atlantis, obviously.

Aside from that, if they want to go more obscure they could always do a world based on The Black Cauldron. It's not a very good movie but it could make for a decent level.

 

[Jetmann]

Personally, I'm crossing my fingers for a Treasure Planet world and an Atlantis The Lost Empire world.

Both of which would probably just be called Treasure Planet and Atlantis, obviously.

Aside from that, if they want to go more obscure they could always do a world based on The Black Cauldron. It's not a very good movie but it could make for a decent level.

In regards to Treasure Planet, Roy Conli (Disney film producer) is working very closely with SE to help with the Disney aspects of the game. So far two of the three films he has produced are already in the game (Tangled and Big Hero 6). The other film that he produced was Treasure Planet, so maybe he has a say in whether it can be a world :^)

And if they do Black Cauldron, I hope that they make a new story for it. I mean Taran and Elionwy are pretty bland and while the Horned King is pretty intimidating he doesn't really do that much. But I think that with some retooling it would be among the best Disney worlds in the entire series. And although I don't know much about Final Fantasy, a Black Cauldron world (I believe the kingdom is called Prydain) does seem like the perfect setting for a few FF characters.

 

[finalark]

And if they do Black Cauldron, I hope that they make a new story for it. I mean Taran and Elionwy are pretty bland and while the Horned King is pretty intimidating he doesn't really do that much. But I think that with some retooling it would be among the best Disney worlds in the entire series. And although I don't know much about Final Fantasy, a Black Cauldron world (I believe the kingdom is called Prydain) does seem like the perfect setting for a few FF characters.

As somebody who knows a lot about Final Fantasy, I feel like Black Cauldron's world might be a decent way to slip in some cameos from the older games or even the MMOs. Which would be nice because a vast majority of FF representation is focused almost exclusively on VII, VIII and sometimes X.

If any FF characters were to make a cameo and any world I'd like to see Bartz from FFV show up in the Tangled world. It doesn't need it, but since both of them and comedies taking place in a fantastical medieval setting it could be a fun mash up.

Outside of your standard Disney properties, I'd really be down for seeing Darth Vader as a secret boss. Star Wars as a world doesn't really interest me, especially after seeing how off putting realistic characters next to the likes of Sora, Donald and Goofy is in the Pirates world. But as a secret boss who gives you a rad light saber themed keyblade? Now that'd be cool.

 

[Jetmann]

Outside of your standard Disney properties, I'd really be down for seeing Darth Vader as a secret boss. Star Wars as a world doesn't really interest me, especially after seeing how off putting realistic characters next to the likes of Sora, Donald and Goofy is in the Pirates world. But as a secret boss who gives you a rad light saber themed keyblade? Now that'd be cool.

I'm a little apprehensive about including the likes of Star Wars in addition to Pixar and Marvel, as I feel it kind of takes away from the whole "Disney" aspect and starts to head more towards "let's include anything that Disney has bought in the past 10 years." I mean there's so much lore within Star Wars that if there were to be a world in KH3, then you basically introduce an entire universe to the series at the end of a saga when there's already so much to wrap up and finish. I like your idea of implementing Darth Vader though, as it feels a lot more natural and would be a really cool "oh my god I can't believe this is in the game" sort of thing. It sure would make a lot more sense than Mickey going "Well fellas there's an evil empire that's planning on blowing up planets and we thought it was better to keep this information from you until now."

 

[dezeray112]

Well at least I got a universe based on the Big Hero 6 franchise which is one of my most wanted Disney universes.

I still think a universe based on Frozen is very likely to happen considering how well the franchise is doing. Other than that I think they could fit the story into the game very well.

 

[Zink Imp]

I'm nervous for the world selection. I'm not a huge fan of the newer Disney movies. But that's probably the route they're going to go. The worlds I want to see are worlds that are never gonna happen...

Like a Lady and te Tramp world
Or a 101 Dalmatians world
Or a Bambi world
Or a Dumbo world

Nomura said that almost all of the worlds are going to be new worlds, so we probably won't see a Sleeping Beauty world again. Or Wonderland. I would be over the moon if Wonderland was back and it was totally redone. Alice is my favorite Disney movie but Wonderland in KH1 was terrible. It was short, not a lot of locations and there weren't that many characters.

Truthfully, I don't want to see any Marvel or Disney worlds. Maybe Darth Vader as an optional boss like Sephiroth would be cool...

Speaking of which, can Final Fantasy characters come back? And not have them be wasteful cameos?

 

[Jetmann]

The worlds I want to see are worlds that are never gonna happen...

Like a Lady and te Tramp world
Or a 101 Dalmatians world
Or a Bambi world
Or a Dumbo world

Nomura said that almost all of the worlds are going to be new worlds, so we probably won't see a Sleeping Beauty world again. Or Wonderland. I would be over the moon if Wonderland was back and it was totally redone. Alice is my favorite Disney movie but Wonderland in KH1 was terrible. It was short, not a lot of locations and there weren't that many characters.

I'm honestly surprised that Dumbo hasn't been done if only for a Pink Elephant boss fight. Seriously. It would be awesome.

And I totally agree on Wonderland.
As far as characters there is no
Mad Hatter (just in a picture)
March Hare (same as above)
Dormouse
Dodo
Bill
Tweedle Dee
Tweedle Dum
King of Hearts
Caterpillar
Talking flowers (they had generic flowers in KH1 but not any of the main flowers like the Rose)
And for locations:
The ocean/Caucus Race beach
The Queen's ACTUAL court
Tulgey Wood
The White Rabbit's House (they had the Bizzare Room but no the actual house)

The way AiW has been handled throughout the series really ticks me off. Especially how you can SEE THE CORNERS OF THE SKY and there's just so much untapped potential.

On a related note, I feel the same way about how watered down Prankster's Paradise (basically Pleasure Island from Pinocchio) and La Cité des Cloches (Hunchback) were compared to their actual film. I know that Disney wouldn't want Pinocchio smoking or Frollo talking about his lust for Esmerelda, but their worlds lacked any sort of tension. Jiminy was practically smiling saying "Oh yeah every kid turned into a Donkey" when in the actual movie it was a very intense and dark sequence. It sucks even more because we'll probably never get to go back to those worlds ever again to remedy these problems. Hopefully that kind of thing won't be a problem again.


ANYWAYS on a more positive note (kinda), I have the feeling that there's going to be a "surprise" world in the vein of Steamboat Willie in KH2 and The Three Musketeers in DDD. Maybe it'll be Dumbo or Silly Symphonies or if they're still sticking with live action movies, Mary Poppins (probably Burt's chalk drawing so Sora and co don't clash so much with their surrounding environment as they did with Pirates).

 

[finalark]

I wanna see Agrabah come back in only because the last act of the third Aladdin movie takes places in an ancient city on the back of a giant turtle and it could make for an incredibly awesome world.

 

[Jetmann]

I hope that if Agrabah comes back it
A. Has the Sultan and Jasmine's tiger Rajah
B. Let's you explore the palace and the Vanishing Isle (giant turtle)
C. Has sunset/night sections so it doesn't look just like all the other KH games
D. Reference "A Whole New World" in some way (EX: Jasmine and Aladdin could be on a date but get ambushed by Xehanort/heartless mid flight)
E. Has more people to make it feel like an actual world and not a backdrop with some Disney characters

And it would probably never happen because he's dead, but I'd love to battle Jafar in his cobra form.

 

[finalark]

E. Has more people to make it feel like an actual world and not a backdrop with some Disney characters

This is a problem with most worlds in KH. Like in DDD when Quasimodo's epic "SANCTUARY! SANCTUARY!" line falls flat because nothing's on fire and there's like, four people in the plaza total.

Or how about in KH2 when Herc gets all down on himself for "putting people in danger" when the Hydra destroys the Colosseum but it comes off as ridiculous since there was nobody there to get hurt.

EDIT:

Speaking of the Colosseum, if they decide to expand on it in KHIII I'd love to see a cup where you fight an antagonist from each FF game. I imagine I'd go like this:

FFI: Garland or Chaos
FFII: The Emperor/Leon (not to be confused with Squall, who for some reason is called Leon on the KH series)
FFIII: The Cloud of Darkness (her design might need to be changed to keep the game E10)/Xande
FFIV: Golbez/Zeromus
FFV: ExDeath/GILGAMESH
FFVI: Kefka
FFVII: Sephiroth (round three)/The Turks
FFVIII: Edea/Ultimacia
FFIX: Kuja/Garland (assuming FFI Garland isn't used)
FFX: Seymour/Sin
FFXI: Shantotto
FFXII: Gabranth/Vayne
FFXIII: The Pope/Orphan
FFXIV: Lahabreha

 

[AustarusIV]

I would like to see the Lion King world return if it meant having Red XIII make a cameo appearance. He would have been an almost perfect fit in the African Savannahs, but I'm not terribly surprised that Nomura decided otherwise apparently.

Other than that, I know it's unlikely that it will make an appearance as a world in KH3 if the interviews are of any indication, but I honestly believe that Frozen would make a perfect world to visit in Kingdom Hearts.

 

[Jetmann]

I found this on tumblr on how Elsa's fear of her own powers and Malifecent's influence makes her succumb to the darkness. It's pretty interesting and is kind of reminiscent of the whole "Dark Baymax" thing they have going on for San Fransokyo.

Spoiler

Wanted worlds aside I think it's crucial that the Disney worlds and characters become more important to the overall story. Disney has always been integral to the game's design but after KH1, the concept just kind of got misused and the Disney worlds became nothing more than road blocks in between the story heavy parts of the games (like how in KH2 the majority of the Disney worlds were filler in between the Organization XIII part of the game). Coming up with original stories for each Disney world (or integrating characters that aren't native to that specific world as shown above with Maleficent) would make everything feel much more cohesive and you'd get the feeling that these characters are actually part of a larger universe instead of saying "hey it's a watered down version of a movie I've already seen."

 

[finalark]

Coming up with original stories for each Disney world (or integrating characters that aren't native to that specific world as shown above with Maleficent) would make everything feel much more cohesive and you'd get the feeling that these characters are actually part of a larger universe instead of saying "hey it's a watered down version of a movie I've already seen."

I feel like this has been an ongoing problem with the KH series. In the first games the worlds took elements of the movies they were based on but ultimately found a way to tie those elements into the overarching narrative of the game. As you said, starting in KH the worlds basically became filler. In KH2 you don't even get properly introduced to the main antagonists until you're already half way through the game. Hell, DDD barely has a story until the final stretch of the game.

KH2 had the best game play, but KH1 had the best story. When you get down to it, it's pretty standard RPG fare. Hero's home town is destroyed, his love interest in kidnapped, turns out he's the chosen one so he goes on an adventure to fight evil alongside a few like-minded individuals. But the thing that made KH special was the fact that it used the charm of its Disney theme to great effect, pulling you on a nostalgic trip through all your old favorite movies while still making them feel like they're a part of something greater instead of isolated incidents. Throw in some likable characters, two best friends picking opposite sides to personalize the drama and a fake out final dungeon with a straight forward plot twist (the guy whose research notes you've been collecting this whole game? Yeah, he's evil and behind everything) and you got yourself a winner.

Unfortunately, the sequel managed to vastly complicate what was a very straight forward narrative by focusing on plot twists instead of explanations. There's a reason why people still argue Org XIII's morality to this day. Now that I've played the spin-offs I get why they had to be stopped. If they weren't, Xemnas would get his heart back effectively resurrecting Xehanort. However, KHII does a very poor job explaining Org XIII's motivations besides that they want Sora to kill heartless so they can gather hearts to open Kingdom Hearts (anyone want to explain to me exactly what Kingdom Hearts is? At the end of KH1 Sora says that "KINGDOM HEARTS.... IS LIGHT" but we don't get much more of an explanation beyond that) so they can become human again.

For years this confused the hell out of me. It sounded like Sora and Orgy XIII could easily work towards a common goal but didn't because Orgy XIII kept pursing their goals through completely dickish acts that they seem to commit only so the story can convince us that they're evil. Honestly, if KHII had just hammed home that Xehenort was a seriously bad dude who we did not want to bring back from the dead instead of trying to make Orgy XIII kinda sorta sympathetic along with WOAH I BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING plot twists maybe the story would have been better for it.

 

[Jetmann]

Unfortunately, the sequel managed to vastly complicate what was a very straight forward narrative by focusing on plot twists instead of explanations. There's a reason why people still argue Org XIII's morality to this day. Now that I've played the spin-offs I get why they had to be stopped. If they weren't, Xemnas would get his heart back effectively resurrecting Xehanort. However, KHII does a very poor job explaining Org XIII's motivations besides that they want Sora to kill heartless so they can gather hearts to open Kingdom Hearts (anyone want to explain to me exactly what Kingdom Hearts is? At the end of KH1 Sora says that "KINGDOM HEARTS.... IS LIGHT" but we don't get much more of an explanation beyond that) so they can become human again

There are actually three Kingdom Heartses (stupid I know).

The first lesser Kingdom Hearts was in KH1 and functioned as the heart of all worlds and doubled as a link bewteeen the realm of light and the realm of darkness.
The second lesser Kingdom Hearts was in KH2 and was the heart of all men.
The TRUE Kingdom Hearts was seen in BBS and it's the galactic metaphysical repository for all hearts that have passed on, from both people and worlds (basically it's heaven but just for hearts) so anyone who has access to it has access to limitless knowledge and power. The only way it can be summoned is when equal forces of light and darkness clash (this is what Xehanort is trying to do in KH3).

Speaking of which, in KH3 Kingdom Hearts needs to be the final world. I don't care if it's a giant blank space or something that neither Sora nor the player can comprehend. After the series has been going on for thirteen years and is freaking named after the place we need to GO there.

 

[Zink Imp]

I'm honestly surprised that Dumbo hasn't been done if only for a Pink Elephant boss fight. Seriously. It would be awesome.

And I totally agree on Wonderland.


The way AiW has been handled throughout the series really ticks me off. Especially how you can SEE THE CORNERS OF THE SKY and there's just so much untapped potential.

The corners in the sky also irked me. Some of me thinks they did that on purpose, maybe thinking Wonderland takes place in rooms or something, but it doesn't look that way at all in the movie. Also the court isn't even in the garden! I wouldn't be surprised if that was the first world they ever did.


I also really want to see the Disney worlds have story arcs that connect with the overall plot like in the first KH.

Remember Atlantica in KH1? It was a great fit to the theme and motifs of the game. Seeing other worlds, being trapped inside. It was great. They made an original plot for Ariel and Sora and it totally fir with the game. Also King Triton's knowledge about the key blade and keyhole. It felt like that Sora wasn't just going to the Disney worlds and redo the movies. It was like going on a connected journey to the Disney worlds. And it was so cool to team up with Beast in Hollow Bastion.

But in KH2, all the Disney worlds felt like mandatory side quests and you knew exactly what was going to happen if you saw the movie. I guess the only exceptions could be the Beast world and Tron world. But for the most part it was a watered down version of the movies + Donald Goofy and Pete + anime character.

And they really dropped that idea that Sora can't "meddle in the affairs of other worlds" really quickly. He meddles with everything in KH2. You can't say that joining the god damn Chinese army wasn't meddling.

BBS kinda returned to this. Again, a lot of the worlds were designated to the plots of the movies, but I guess they did tie in with the main plot. It's been a whole since I played it, but I do recall a scene in Hollow Bastion where Braig and Xehanort talk about Princess Aurora and her heart of light.

It does sound like they're going back to a cohesive narrative in KH3.


Please bring back FF characters, Square and make them important again.


But no more FF7 characters.


Please.


And stop giving everyone and their mother a keyblade.

 

[finalark]

Really hoping we see some more characters from the SNES/NES era. It would be some mad fan service if they went as far back to the pre-VII days.

Also, please don't shoehorn Lightning into the game. Sqeenix touting their waifu reached the point of ridiculousness when she showed up with amnesia for no reason in FFXIV.

 

[dezeray112]

I would like to see Cecil Harvey and Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV as cameos.

Other than that, I'm not exactly certain which worlds from previous games I would like to see in 3, but I would like Pride Rock (Lion King's universe) to be in this.

 

[finalark]

I would like to see Cecil Harvey and Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV as cameos.

I'd like to see the cast of V, III, IX and VI make appearances (and maybe FFII if they want to go really obscure). Setzer made an appearance in KHII and so did Vivi, but both of them were far removed from their original counterparts. I'm convinced that Setzer only made it in because he has long silver hair and Square was hoping to springboard off of Sephiroth's popularity. And I think Vivi was there because he was highly requested, but then they did absolutely nothing with him aside from making him vaguely creepy for no reason.

 

[Jetmann]

Toy Story is a hotly debated topic when it comes to Kingdom Hearts (thanks in part to the cancelled Buzz and Woody summon for KH2: FM) and most people seem to be for it. However, what irks me about it is how people try to implement it. It's often described as *audible sigh* just a retread through the first movie with Sora, Donald, and Goofy plopped in as toys. If Square Enix were to go this route, then there'd be lots of things that just wouldn't make sense. For example, why would Sora be the size of a toy in a world filled with humans? Why would Xehanort/Maleficent even bother with Andy or even Sid (yes Sid was the main antagonist of Toy Story 1 but he's still just an average kid)? I believe that the best way to make Sora's presence believable would be to have a world similar in design to the Toy Box Mode from the Toy Story 3 video game (which in itself is based on the intro sequence from TS3).

Spoiler

Having a world like this would make a lot more sense for Sora to be the size of Buzz (because everything in the world would be a toy). Due to the lesser amount of restrictions this world would face compared to a TS1 world, it would be much easier to implement content from the rest of the Toy Story series (such as Jessie, Bullseye, etc.).
In addition, because the world is essentially based off a kid's imagination, Buzz would be able to actually fly and shoot lazers and Zurg would be a legitimate threat (there are probably other things like this that could be done however I can't think of any at the moment). Plot wise, I don't know how it would fit into everything, but I feel that if something like this was done, there would be much more freedom from a story and design standpoint.

I kinda just came up with this so it's not super fleshed out but I'd like to hear all of you guys' ideas on it.

 

[Zink Imp]

I would like to see Cecil Harvey and Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV as cameos.

Dude, I would kill to see Cecil. The fact that he hasn't been in yet is a crime. He's the perfect Final Fantasy character to be included in KH. Cecil had to wield and fight darkness and find "the light" within him. What's Kingdom Hearts about again?

Toy Story is a hotly debated topic when it comes to Kingdom Hearts (thanks in part to the cancelled Buzz and Woody summon for KH2: FM) and most people seem to be for it. However, what irks me about it is how people try to implement it. I

I think a Toy Story world was planned to be a world in KH1. There's concept art of the world appearing on the world selection map. I think it had the pizza planet place and Al's toy house on it. I guess they were gonna combine 1 and 2.

Entirely possible and probable they would go a different route now.

 

[dezeray112]

I also would love to see Terra Branford from Final Fantasy VI in there too.