Today at the XO18 event in Mexico City a new trailer was shown off for Kingdom Hearts 3. In this trailer, the Hundred Acre Woods was shown off for the first time, we got a good look at the evil Baymax from Big Hero 6, and there were all kinds of little nods and references littered in.
The trailer started off with footage that we had already seen before with Rapunzel and Flynn Rider in the boat, one of the better-known scenes from the movie Tangled and Sora and Co sitting on a dock watching all the paper lanterns go up. From that, we got to see Pooh and all of his friends in the Hundred Acre Woods. A new border effect seems to have been put on character models, at least for wide shots, that helped the characters look more 2D in a 3D world. Shortly after seeing everyone grouped together we then got a closeup of Pooh and the effect was immediately gone. This world will be filled with mini-games, as it always has been in Kingdom Hearts, and we got to see Rabbit's farming minigame that had Sora firing different fruits or flowers into a field pushing others out of the way to be harvested.
While it was great to see everyone back together again what comes next is the really juicy content for those interested in the continued story of Sora and are eager for next January to come so that we can finally wrap up what is now known as the Xehanort Saga. I'm going to be going through these in order of the trailer as well as giving approximate timestamps of when in the trailer you can see what I'm talking about. Of course, continuing on will be images of the trailer, and some analysis based on knowledge of Kingdom Hearts. If you aren't up to this point or don't want to know any more about what is a pretty story heavy trailer then turn back now.
0:26 - We see Hayner and Pence in Twilight Town where Ansem Seeker of Darkness is approaching the Old Mansion. Hayney screams "Hey Loser!" before trying to flying kick Ansem SoD. The last time that we saw any of the Twilight Town crew it was when Sora briefly met them during the events of Kingdom Hearts 2, we've seen in previous trailers that the group is back but to see an altercation like this shows how involved in the plot that they now are.
0:30 - Demyx is talking with Vexen (or Demyx's human form and Even) about how the Organization members aren't what you could consider friends. What is an interesting detail to note in this scene is that much like other Organization members no longer does Vexen have green eyes or Demyx have his cool Blue colored eyes but they're both sporting yellow eyes. This is either due to them having Master Xehanort put some of his dark essence within them or whether they've continued dabbling in darkness for too long. While there is still plenty of the True Organization 13 that we don't know yet this might mean that they too got the upgrade like Braig.
0:35 - In this scene we see Sora talking with a Chirithy, one of the Dream Eater guides that were originally made by the Master of Masters. We've only ever seen Chirithy appear in media related to Kingdom Hearts Unchained X so to see Sora interacting one is a pretty big deal. These Chirithy are also normally bound to a person, so whether this one is an exception or there's someone that it is used to following around is all up to speculation. Where this conversation takes place is also up to anyone's interpretation as it's an endless horizon with Sora looking like he's on a Mirror.
0:41 - Here we see Captain Jack and Davey Jones fighting one another over the Dead Man's Chest. This is a scene pulled almost entirely from the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Where we last left Jack was at the end of the plot of the original movie so Kingdom Hearts 3 may try fitting the second and third movie's plot into one.
We get another look at the world of Big Hero 6 and of some minigames in Hundred Acre Woods after that.
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1:05 - Back to a head scratcher the footage here shows Sora in a white world that is filled with other versions of him. The skybox is the same as when we saw him talking to Chirithy so it's safe to assume they all take place in the same location. As Chirithy is a Dream Eater and we know that the last time Sora entered into his dreams he lost his abilities. If he is to earn the power to wake up the sleeping one, Ventus, then it might mean another dive into his own mind. Fellow writer Courtney Ehrenhofler even noticed that it looks somewhat similar to the box art for Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance where Sora first encountered the Dream Eaters.
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1:10 - Here's where everything really gets into some deep story. This scene shows a large battle between light and dark as well as a boatload of enemies, maybe even more than the 1000 nobody battle in Kingdom Hearts 2. It looks like the battle is taking place at the Keyblade Graveyard. What we can clearly tell about the scene is that Sora, Donald, Goofy, Lea, Kairi, Riku, and Mickey are all present. That puts together 5 Keyblade wielders, now we're only two away from our 7 warriors of light that need to take on the true organization. From the enemies around them, we can see heartless like Shadows, and what looks to be an upgraded Soldier. The Nobodies are being represented by Dusks and flying scythe nobodies that look similar to Marluxia's third form from the end of Sora's Chain of Memories story. We also see a large crab enemy that is sporting the symbol of the Unversed. Having an Unversed present means that Vanitas will likely be around too.
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1:15 - Terranort is sporting a new Keyblade and facing off against the Lingering Will. For those who might not have fought the secret bosses in Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix the Lingering Will is the armor left behind when Master Xehanort took over Terra's body at the end of Birth By Sleep. This armor is what Terra used to travel between worlds and protect him from the darkness but when Terra's body was taken, his will to resist the darkness was left behind and now animates the armor. It has been waiting at the Keyblade Graveyard to fight against Terranort once more and reclaim his body. This might end up meaning that the one to save Terra is Terra.
1:17 - Here is a brief scene where we get to witness a lot of falling Keyblades. Due to their angles falling and the orange on orange coloring, it's difficult to get a good look at them all but again Courtney was able to come to my aid and spot that at one point you're able to quite clearly see the Sleeping Lion Keyblade from Kingdom Hearts 2. We tried to see what other ones we could match and while we got close with a lot we couldn't find any others that were dead on (Be sure to let me know if you spot any).
1:19 - The final frame of note is all of the True Organization 13 standing on top of a stone building. We can see Master Xehanort in the back with six members on either side of him. While we can't judge anything in terms of faces or voices we can see among the crowd is a variety of different body types. Aside from this all we really know is that while Master Xehanort has been searching for more members at the end of Dream Drop Distance he has since found them.
What did you think of the new Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer? Is there anything glaring that I missed? Did you enjoy this analysis article and would you like to see more? Be sure to drop a response in the comments!
