Kingdom Hearts III DLC 'Re:Mind' announced

[Azuren]

HylianSwordsman said:

Azuren said:

Sorry, you're wrong. You know what the single biggest complaint about KH3 was? People didn't know what was going on because they assumed every other title was just a spin off and not a main entry. They might not be numbered, but they're not spin-offs. They don't just have important plot elements in them, they tell entire sections of the plot that are necessary to understand the majority of Kingdom Hearts 3. And if you think you don't have to watch any of the other MCU movies to understand Avengers... I mean wow, man. To a comic guy, yeah. I can figure it out because there's source material I can reference internally and come to conclusions. But average viewers?

Intertwining with a story and being absolutely integral to the story-telling process are two different things. You think Chain of Memories is a spin-off, but it's a full-fledged game with a second scenario and without it the player would have no idea why the game starts with Sora in stasis. From running through a field to waking up inside a big white sleeping lotus. You think Dream Drop Distance is a spin-off, but without it the player would have absolutely no idea why everyone is hanging out at Yen Sid's Tower and why Xehanort is suddenly everywhere. From reading a letter on the beach to having failed an entire Mastery Exam and losing all of your power after nearly falling to darkness. Shadow the Hedgehog gives additional details on something inconsequential to the plot of SA2. Non-numbered Kingdom Hearts titles are literally the next sequential act in the same plot.

Again, clearly you still haven't read the definition of spinoff. And yes, average viewers can understand Avengers without watching the rest of the MCU movies. They just won't be as invested in the characters if they don't watch the other movies. You don't have to watch the Iron Man movies to get Iron Man. He's Batman, but with robotics genius instead of self-taught martial arts, and he makes his own gadgets. You don't have to watch The Incredible Hulk to get the Hulk. He's just "Hulk Smash!" and that's about it. Radiation or something made him that way, now he's strong. Hawk Eye and Black Widow never got movies yet that didn't stop people from getting their characters in the movie, they just cared less about those characters. Russian Spy Girl Femme Fatale and Guy With Special Arrows And Uncanny Aim, we get it. Thor is just Thor, the literal god of thunder from Norse mythology, except those gods are aliens and their magic is technology, but you don't really have to think about how it works so whatever. That just leaves Captain America, which is the most self explanatory superhero not called Superman. He's a super soldier from WWII frozen until today, and he's super patriotic themed. They're all very easy to understand, and from there everything you need to know is contained within the Avengers movie. If you like those characters, you can go see the other movies, but you don't need to watch all the superhero movies to watch Avengers.

Again, I've played them all, and I get that the numbered games are difficult to understand without the context of the side-stories, but they're still spin-offs. They fit the most straightforward understanding of what a spin-off is. And I still don't get why you're so worked up about it. I'm guessing you still don't care to share?

Coming from the person who calls integral chapters of a story spin-offs just because they lack a number in the title, your words lack a lot of weight. And no, they can't. It's literally why my sister-in-law hated Infinity War- she had no idea who anyone was or why the Infinity Stones were important because she doesn't watch Marvel movies. No matter how much you try to play the "but Batman is Batman, everyone knows Batman" card, Infinity War and Endgame have a plot that you need to watch specific Marvel Movies for. Marvel movies that you could consider spin-offs of Avengers, or at very least spin-offs of Iron Man. Your argument falls flat out of the gate on this one.

And they're not difficult to understand. They're impossible. You're talking about literally 75% of the series prior to the release of Kingdom Hearts 3, and that's not counting Fragmentary Passage. Players wouldn't know who Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Xion, or Eraqus are. Players wouldn't know why Apprentice Xehanort is an old bald dude now. Players wouldn't know why Axel keeps having flashbacks of a girl he doesn't know. Players wouldn't know why Organization members are returning, or why Time Travel is suddenly a thing, or why Sora is so weak, or why Riku and Mickey are going to the Realm of Darkness. Hell, players wouldn't know why they didn't go sooner. The only aspect of "spin-off" that they fit is that they don't have numbers in the titles in a series where literally some of the games have sequential numbering.

We're not talking about the year Daxter spent as an exterminator while he was looking for Jak. We're not talking about the details surrounding Shadow the Hedgehog's inconsequential time spent with Maria. We're not talking about the time everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom stopped what they were doing to have a go-kart race. We're talking about things like how the actual plot of KH3 was set up and explained in another game, and without playing that game you're expected to sit there and say

 

And the reason it matters is because calling the majority of the series "spin-offs" devalues their perceived impact on the story. If that notion wasn't correct, then guess what? The leading complaint on the game wouldn't be that no one knew what was going on.