text: [[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bbs300_8552.jpg]][[caption-width-right:300:[[DoomedByCanon Destiny is never left to chance]].]]->''That would be the last night we ever spent beneath the same stars...''-->'''Terra, Ventus, and Aqua''', at the end of the tutorial/prologue.'''''Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep''''' is a prequel to the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series set 10 years before the first game. Terra, Ven and Aqua are three young friends who are training together to be Keyblade Masters: chosen warriors of light tasked with protecting TheMultiverse against the [[TheDarkSide corrosive powers of darkness]]. After years of hard work, Aqua is successfully able to earn the title; however, Terra fails the final examination (after he is unable to control [[TheDarkSide his inner darkness]]) and Ven is too inexperienced to even take the test.Aqua's first assignment is to track down a missing Keyblade Master named Master Xehanort, whose sudden vanishing coincides with the appearance of mysterious monsters called "Unversed". Eager to prove himself, Terra embarks on his own investigation, and Ven follows after a shadowy figure convinces him that his friends are in danger.The story is split into three separate scenarios, each focusing on one of the characters' efforts to locate Master Xehanort and Vanitas. While the characters will be alone most of the time during their journey, there will be times when the characters' paths will cross (a storytelling gimmick previously used by Squaresoft in ''VideoGame/TreasureOfTheRudra'' and ''VideoGame/ThreadsOfFate'').All three of the characters are equally important story-wise. The game focuses on several main themes such as Ven's identity and connection with Sora as well as the mystery behind the memories of the original series' primary villain, Xehanort. Each character's story takes between 8 and 15 hours plus additional prologue and epilogue chapters, for a total of at least 30 hours of gameplay.The player can play the three different routes in any order they so choose, but the recommended route (and the route that makes the most sense story-wise) is Terra, Ventus, then Aqua.''Birth by Sleep'' was released in the ''HD 2.5 [=ReMIX=]'' collection in 2014. Aqua's story after the events of this game's Secret Episode will continue in '''''Birth by Sleep 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage''''', a playable episode [[note]]which was originally planned to be its own full-fledged game before being cancelled until now[[/note]] included in the PS4 collection '''''Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 [=ReMIX=]: Final Chapter Prologue''''', to help lead into ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''.----!!This game provides examples of:[[foldercontrol]][[folder:# - G]]* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Pete putting on a costume and trying to be a "hero" causes everyone in Disney Town to hate him. When he loses the Million Dreams Award, his [[SoreLoser ego]] causes him to be banished, triggering his FaceHeelTurn when Maleficent busts him out.* AbortedArc: What kick-starts the plot is the rise of the Unversed and the threat they pose to the Princesses of Heart. The three worlds with the Princesses are visited first, but once you hit Radiant Garden they're forgotten and subsequent worlds focus solely on fighting the Unversed. Fittingly, Radiant Garden is where the three begin to follow their own agendas. Terra [[spoiler:believes himself a failure and is charmed into becoming Xehanort's apprentice]]. Thereafter, he's focused on trying to find Vanitas and put an end to him. Ventus never had the mission, and is intent on finding Terra, and Aqua is essentially scrambling to find the both of them and keep them together.* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: The game contains the standard level 99 cap. Just playing normally without any LevelGrinding will have you beating each character's story with their levels in the ''30s''. This results in it being very easy to be over-leveled without realizing it -- if you backtrack through the worlds to get the items you missed, you may end up being around Level 40 or higher, at which point most of the final bosses are incredibly easy to beat. The Bonus Bosses will call for higher levels, however, especially the ''Final Mix'' ones.* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Despite that [[spoiler:the Unversed all died at the end of Ven and Aqua's episodes with the "death" of Vanitas]], in the Final Episode, you can still fight them. You can use the experience.* ActingForTwo:** In-universe example: Pete dresses up as a hero called Captain Justice, or a darker counterpart of him called Captain Dark. It's all part of a scheme to win a popularity contest in Disney Town. None of the other Disney characters are fooled. In the end, Pete winds up with a ZeroPercentApprovalRating, is dubbed the town pariah, and gets banished.** Maleficent, the Evil Queen, and Lady Tremaine are all voiced by the same actress, Susanne Blakeslee. It's to be expected with Maleficent and Tremaine, whose original film incarnations also shared a voice actress in Eleanor Audley.* ActionGirl: Aqua, amongst other characteristics.* AdorablyPrecociousChild: [[CuteMute Ienzo]] and all of the future Destiny Islands trio, though Riku is especially bright for a five-year-old.* AfterTheEnd:** The Secret Episode, which takes place at least a year after [[spoiler: Ventus goes into his deep sleep, Aqua is trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and Terranort is taken in by Ansem the Wise. It has Aqua traversing the Realm of Darkness, and eventually finding the Castle of Dreams trapped there thanks to Xehanort.]]** The Blank Points cutscene, which at the end has Sora, 11 years after the events of ''Birth By Sleep'', resolving to take the Mark of Mastery in order to save the trio and the others connected to him.* AIBreaker: When fighting [[BonusBoss Vanitas's Lingering Spirit]], running behind the large rocks in the battlefield will cause him to try to run through them to you without attacking. As long as you keep him there, you can cherry tap him to death with Strike Raid and its variants without retaliation since they go through the rocks, or heal yourself with potions.* AllYourPowersCombined: The BonusBoss Unknown seems to gather the best attacks from the series: he's got Meteor, Tornado, Sonic Rave, Doom, Vanitas's X-shaped projectile attack, Mega Flare, Raging Storm, and Restore Barrier.* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Master Eraqus is the Square equivalent of Disney's Master Yen Sid. While Yen Sid is based off of Walt Disney, Eraqus is based off of Hironobu Sakaguchi: former president of Square, creator of the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series, and an executive producer of ''Kingdom Hearts''. Just as Yen Sid spelled backwards says "Disney", Eraqus's name almost-backwards is "Square".[[note]]The "qu" was not reversed, presumably to preserve [[BuffySpeak can-be-pronounced-ness]].[[/note]]* AmazonChaser: Zack's attraction to Aqua seems to be this.* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Terra's fate.]]** Alleviated slightly by the fact that [[spoiler:Master Xehanort's stuck in the exact same way. At least he's got someone to taunt.]]* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Briefly, and not ''completely'' different, but: At the end of Terra's story, [[spoiler:you stop ''directly'' playing as Terra, and fight against the body that Xehanort just committed GrandTheftMe on... with the Lingering Will, the suit of armor that Terra left behind. Although the Lingering Will does have Terra's memories and motives, essentially making it the remains (or a new incarnation) of the original Terra.]] Whether this trope applies or not is a matter of personal taste.* AnimatedArmor: [[spoiler:When Xehanort takes over Terra's body, his armor, still possessing Terra's memories and part of his spirit, fights him.]] 2 of the Bonus bosses are similar. [[spoiler:And, in the Final Story, Aqua temporarily animates her armor to get Terra out of the Realm of Darkness.]]* AntiFrustrationFeatures: The Mirage Arena prior to ''Final Mix'' had a 999 cap on how many medals you could win from events. ''Final Mix'' removed that, making it much easier to farm medals and thus buy the rather expensive items for sale.* {{Antihero}}: Terra, who allies himself with Disney Villains in his drive to find Xehanort, and later on, [[spoiler:embraces Xehanort's words about Darkness being safe to use, in the hopes of being a Master in ''someone's'' eyes]]. Aqua and Ven worry about him JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope. However, he doesn't generally follow the villains except when he is tricked by them into thinking that they are trustworthy. Which is often. Unfortunately, he stays like this throughout the game.* ArmorIsUseless: Well, more specifically, it only plays a role in story rather than in gameplay. It's designed to protect you from the power of darkness and basically acts like a space suit when the three protagonists travel through the void of space to other worlds. It has no apparent effect on your actual defense stat. Of course, that doesn't stop the trio from activating it for the finale because [[RuleOfCool it looks awesome]]!** Expecting this trope to be averted, Terra becomes slightly WrongGenreSavvy when [[spoiler:Master Xehanort tries to take over his body. Not only is the darkness of Xehanort's heart so great, but Terra's heart has been weakened by the dark powers he embraced.]]* ArtEvolution: Every character who appeared in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' got a new, much prettier model. It's most obvious in [[Disney/SleepingBeauty Aurora]], who goes from having TaremeEyes to having TsurimeEyes.* ArtificialStupidity: The computer simply sucks at the Command Board.** The objective of the Command Board is to acquire a pre-set amount of GP by circling the board earning GP and buying tiles, then be the first person with that amount of GP to make it back to the start panel as quickly as possible. AI opponents will frequently earn enough GP to win and keep circling the board like normal. ** AI opponents rarely make decent use of their cards, either using them very rarely or using them too much and thus being unable to buy panels. Exceptions are Peter Pan on the Skull Board and Tigger on the Honey Board. Both make liberal use of Magic cards to roll two or three dice at a time, but conserve their other cards. Additionally, AI opponents will always use Joker cards for Joker's Fortune/Golden Fortune, depending on how many they receive at once (mostly because you can't place Jokers on panels).*** Altered somewhat in ReMIX (and possibly Final Mix) with the addition of another "personality": Experiment 626 knows how to hoard Jokers and use Golden Fortune when he has enough. Most other AIs will still use Jokers immediately, however, only using Golden Fortune in the rare event of drawing three Jokers at once.** The AI doesn't pay attention to Special Squares, which usually activate some helpful effect to boost GP. In particular, the Secret Board and Keyblade Board Special Squares let the person who landed on them warp to any square they like. This means there will be times when the AI character rolls and comes to a fork, where going one direction takes them to the path to the next checkpoint, and going the other direction takes them to a Special Square that lets them warp to the checkpoint immediately. They'll still ignore the Special Square.** Aqua's AI will irrationally avoid the Keychain of the Keyblade Board, despite one of the Checkpoint squares and a Special Square being located there. ** The AI will rarely, if ever, buy out your panels to add to your own. [[TropesAreNotBad Of course]], as the main point of the Command Board is to level up your commands by placing them on panels, this may be meant as an [[AntiFrustrationFeatures Anti-Frustration Feature]].* ArtisticAge: There are flashbacks where, given that Aqua is [[VagueAge approximately]] 18-20 in the main story, she can't be older than 14-16. Not that you would know that from her character model, which is unchanged. The characters do seem to act younger, at least. Ven, however, has a somewhat younger looking model.* AscendedExtra:** Xigbar didn't play too large a role in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', only showing up in a few cutscenes and was never implied to more important than most the other Organization members. His original self, Braig, gets more screentime, is revealed to be Xehanort's [[TheDragon right-hand man]], and [[spoiler:guided the amnesiac Xehanort to betray Ansem the Wise]].** Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora also fit this role seeing as how they didn't have voices in the first ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' and were barely even mentioned in ''Kingdom Hearts II''.* AwesomeButImpractical: Especially for weapons, where there's a [[SerialEscalation descending tier]] of AwesomeButImpractical:** The No Name and Void Gear keyblades in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep''. By the time you get them, you've already beaten the game and there are only a handful of enemies worth using them on. Aqua's and Ven's [[InfinityMinusOneSword Infinity Minus One Swords]] are also a bit more suited for them, anyway, and Aqua gets a weapon that better suits her for the TrueFinalBoss. They can still be quite useful for the Mirage Arena, unless you've already cleared ''that'' out, too. Which, by the way, earns you ''another'' Keyblade: Ultima Weapon, which is between the two extremes offered by Void Gear and No Name. If you have all three of those, congratulations! You'll ''never need them again.''*** In ''Final Mix'', three more [[BonusBoss Bonus Bosses]] were added that were designed to be so strong that it's recommended you don't fight them in groups of less than three, so you'll probably want any edge you can get for those fights. When you beat them as well, you get ''yet another'' Keyblade, Royal Radiance, which matches both the Void Gear and No Name's best stats, while also filling the Command Gauge faster. By this point, you've trounced every enemy that could possibly pose a threat and probably [[LevelGrinding grinded]] to the [[{{Cap}} level cap]] to do so.*** Also in Final Mix, the Secret Chapter is where the Royal Radiance would see some actual use, given that it's a fairly lengthy area filled with [[spoiler:Pureblood Heartless]] that can and ''will'' kill you, especially on Critical. You can't use it because the game locks you into [[spoiler:Master Eraqus's Keyblade, the Master's Defender]].*** Transcendence as well. While it can be synthesized by melding a random chance Rare command with an -aga level spell, which is pretty impractical to begin with, in Final Mix [[spoiler:Aqua]] can pull it from a chest in the Secret Chapter. Basically it creates an impenetrable bubble area and shoots all enemies around inside it ForMassiveDamage. The one battle it would seem to be incredibly useful where the game is constantly spawning [[spoiler:Heartless.]] Since they can become invincible for a short period and escape the initial gravity effect, they can kill you since the spell locks you down until it completes, like most other dual-slot spells/commands.** A few moves are just better for taking out mooks than they are for bosses. Most of them don't hold still long enough for you to use Salvation or Glacier.** Speaking of Salvation (Ven only), it's not useful considering that you still do take damage when you charge for it (meaning that it's possible to be killed) and it can get interrupted... although it's still good for clearing out trash mobs. It's still useful; just not on the enemies you'd ''like'' to use it on. (However, it is possible to use it to recover HP on Vanitas Remnant)** Reversal and Teleport. They allow you to get behind the enemy by pressing Square when it's about to attack, but most of the times you'll want to block instead. Many attacks, such as the Bruiser's shockawaves, can be blocked but are not avoided by teleporting behind him, so they're kinda useless.** Trinity Limit, normally something that breaks the game, gets hit with this. On one hand, it costs 1400 medals (earned only in the Mirage Arena), takes up three slots in you command deck (out of a maximum of ''eight''), and only hits maximum power with two friends to back you up (which isn't even possible in the HD [=ReMIX=]. On the other hand, you might ''want'' to get SidetrackedByTheGoldenSaucer just long enough to cough up 1400 medals and bring it with you to the storyline in Radiant Garden because ''it's freaking [[ThePowerOfFriendship Trinity Limit]]''.* {{Badass}}: Maleficent -- well, she ''is'' the Mistress of All Evil after all. She wasn't just given that name for no reason!* BadassGrandpa: In ''Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix'''s secret trailer (which turned out to be the penultimate scene in everyone's scenario), Master Xehanort makes a ''mountain'' out of nothing and smacks around the trio with a Keyblade ''tornado''. It takes half the video for Terra and Ventus to even get to him and when they do he kicks their asses in about ten seconds. He manages to hold down Terra, the strongest of the trio, ''without even straining.'' All with that [[SlasherSmile little grin]] on his face.* BaldOfEvil: Master Xehanort.* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind:** [[spoiler:Ventus and Vanitas's final showdown.]]** The secret ending also implies that [[spoiler:Terra and Master Xehanort will be doing this in Terra's mind ''indefinitely'']].** During the battle with [[spoiler:Terra-Xehanort, Aqua herself can briefly enter Terra's mind (somehow). If she can evade Xehanort's guardian {{familiar}} and make it to a comatose Terra (''[[GuideDangIt without attacking him]]'') in time, she can join him for a CombinationAttack meant to purge Master Xehanort's heart out of Terra's body. It doesn't (fully) work, although it ''can'' be a OneHitKill if done correctly.]]* BeamOWar: [[spoiler:Ventus and Vanitas, at the very end of their final fight.]]* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible: Terra's chasing after any number of things, Ven's chasing Terra, and Aqua's chasing after both of them. In this massive amount of chasing around, there's quite a bit of bystanders from Disney worlds who can be questioned for assistance and many of them are quite unhelpful. The Magic Mirror? Speaks only in riddles. The Seven Dwarfs? Openly hostile to Ven even after he saves Snow White! Maleficent? Takes every opportunity to sow seeds of discord between the ThreeAmigos she gets, [[ForTheEvulz just for the evil of it.]]** ''Veeeeery'' slightly averted when Aqua asks Scrooge [=McDuck=] for information on Terra's whereabouts. Scrooge answers as helpfully as he can, but because her description of Terra was so vague [[note]]she had even called him a boy, instead of a young man[[/note]], Scrooge sends her after where he last saw ''Ventus'' instead of Terra.* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Even at age ''four'' Sora is able to see the light in darkness. The secret ending also [[spoiler:ends with it implying that it is Sora's destiny to unite all hearts.]]* BewareTheNiceOnes: Aqua is the most soft-spoken of the ThreeAmigos but she's also capable of putting the hurt on in ways they can't approach.* {{BFS}}:** Terra's Keyblade.** [[spoiler:The χ-blade.]]** Under certain moves in battle, Terra's Keyblade will also transform into a [[{{BFG}} ridiculously large]] ''[[{{BFG}} rocket launcher]]''...** Terra and Aqua's Keyblades also become this during the Bladecharge Command Style.* BifurcatedWeapon: The Unknown combines his blades during combo finishers and lunges and even combines them into a WhipSword.* BigBad: Master Xehanort.* BigDamnHeroes:** [[spoiler:From Ventus's perspective, when he's about to be destroyed by Master Eraqus, Terra comes out of NOWHERE.]]** Mickey does this ''twice''. First to protect Ven when he's outmatched by Vanitas, and again when [[spoiler:the Vanitas-possessed Ventus is about to strike down an unsuspecting Aqua with the χ-blade]].** Terra does this for Captain Hook and Smee in his entrance to Neverland.* BigNo: Ventus, [[spoiler:which, combined with his defrosting himself through sheer willpower and the pace-quickening of Vanitas's battle theme, stops Vanitas from killing Aqua.]]* TheBladeAlwaysLandsPointyEndIn: The Keyblade Graveyard consists of thousands of keyblades stuck into the ground or the surrounding cliff walls. Every single one is driven point down in the earth; not a single one is lying on its side.* BlatantLies: A real-world example - Tetsuya Nomura said ''Birth By Sleep'' may not see a ''Final Mix'' re-release, depending on how much extra content was added to the Western release. Did anyone really believe him? (To his credit, he said "''may'' not", not "''will'' not.")* BonusBoss:** [[spoiler:Vanitas Remnant]], accessible only after playing through every character's storyline and obtaining all the Xehanort Reports.** A new one exclusive to the international releases and ''Final Mix'' is dubbed the Unknown, a man in a [[BlackCloak black coat]] who [[DualWielding dual-wields]] [[ReverseGrip reverse-gripped]] {{laser blade}}s that he can [[BifurcatedWeapon combine]] to result in a [[BladeOnAStick lance]] and WhipSword. Just look at [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIRjW-tO8Yc him.]]** And yet four more bosses in the ''Final Mix'' version: in the Mirage Arena, [[Disney/{{Pinocchio}} Monstro]], Armor of the Master [[note]]seemingly Master Eraqus' armour given form[[/note]], and the Strongest one, No Heart [[note]]a Keyblade-wielding armour which appears to be Master Xehanort's armour; it resembles Xemnas' armoured stages in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII II]]'''s final battle, but wields Master Xehanort's Keyblade[[/note]]. The Secret Episode has "Red Eye", who Aqua fights [[spoiler: in the Realm of Darkness post-game]]. Mercifully, none of them are quite as [[SpamAttack relentless]] as the Unknown, though Nomura mentioned that they were intended to be multiplayer bosses. That said, No Heart is definitely harder than Unknown when you fight him alone, due to his incredible strength, speed, and attacks. But, there is alot of reprieve when you have 2 other players fighting alongside you.* [[spoiler: BonusDungeon]]: [[spoiler: The Realm of Darkness, in Final Mix.]]* BookEnds: One of the earliest battles in the game, [[spoiler:Aqua vs. Terra]], is revisited as [[spoiler:the final battle, entirely playable and much more tragic]].** In the opening, Xehanort is at the Destiny Islands [[spoiler:to [[PetTheDog give Ventus a peaceful death]] following Vanitas' creation]]; after reminiscing a bit, he says to [[spoiler:Ventus]] "There, you see? An empty world, like a prison. I imagine you'll be right at home." At the end of Terra's story, after Terra strikes him down and [[spoiler:χ-blade happens]], he points behind Terra and says "There, you see?"* BoringButPractical:** Sonic Blade can quickly turn into this, considering that you can even get [[spoiler:Vanitas during the final battle]] with it, even [[spoiler:Xehanort and Terranort, assuming they ''hold STILL'' (and if they won't, the upgrade Chaos Blade can cover that)]].** Thunder Surge is another one. Technically, it's even weaker than Sonic Blade, but it racks up quite a bit of damage while covering ground, fills up the Command Gauge alot plus it triggers the Thunder Bolt command style with all three characters, and it recharges fast enough to be spammed all over the place. This is one of the more effective ways to defeat the Unknown and No Heart.** One of the most efficient ways to kill hard bosses, especially in Terra's campaign, is to just wait for them to attack, block it, and then counter with Counter Hammer. It doesn't send him flying across the field like Ventus and Aqua, and deals a lot of damage. Some bosses, like [[spoiler:Eraqus]], are almost ''trivialized'' by it with how predictable their attacks are; and the final form of the final boss more or less ''requires'' you to exploit this.** Good ol' [[BeamSpam Ragnarok]] is easily one of the [[DiscOneNuke best early Shotlocks]] that are available to all three characters, despite it being essentially the same attack that it was in the first game.** Magnet magic + Aero magic makes any non-boss round in the Mirage Arena easy - and considering the boss rounds are 50% [[SNKBoss Iron Imprisoner]], that makes Keepers of the Arena just about normal difficulty.* BossRemix:** [[spoiler:Vanitas']] battle theme is a more tense remix of Sora's and Roxa's respective themes. Conversely, the final battle theme against [[spoiler: Vanitas]] is, itself, a more darker remix of this exact same battle theme.** The Mirage Arena {{Bonus Boss}}es added in ''Final Mix'' each get one--Armor of the Master remixes the Land of Departure battle theme, Monstro remixes the first game's Monstro battle theme (interestingly, the remix is ''slower'' than the original), and No Heart gets a mashup of Dark Mode Riku's battle theme from the first game and Xemnas's third battle theme from ''[=KH2=]''. Inverted with Terra's theme, which is a slower version of Rage Awakened. [[spoiler: It comes full circle when Xehanort steals Terra's body, Lingering Will forms and its theme kicks in.]]* BossRush: The final Mirage Arena match in the Non Final Mix versions, Villain's Vendetta.* [[spoiler: BoundAndGagged: Master Xehanort, when captured by Braig, though he's merely chained to a pipe. We later learn that it's a FakedKidnapping.]]* {{Bowdlerise}}: Braig got his sniper rifle removed, again. Then again, adding it back at this point could only cause confusion.** A scene was also changed from the Japanese to the English versions...then again, what were they censoring? In the Japanese version, the wicked queen ''somehow'' gets angry at the mirror and her anger possesses the mirror. In the international versions, she throws a potion at the mirror that makes it go berserk.*** This could be a callback to [[Disney/SnowWhite the Disney movie the wicked queen came from]], where she uses all manner of potions to transform into the ugly apple-dealing hag.* BraggingRightsReward: Beating either BonusBoss nets you a special Keyblade...but if you ''can'' beat either of them, you clearly don't need it.** [[NintendoHard Not]] [[UpdatedRerelease so fast.]] There's 3 more bosses for Final Mix players,and even getting a keyblade from one of the Bonus bosses helps immensely with the others, depending on your tactics.* BrickJoke: ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts ...all share the same]] [[GeniusBonus sky]]...''* BreatherEpisode: Disney Town. No boss battles, nothing connected to the overarching plot. Just some fun minigames to relax with.* ButtMonkey: Captain Hook is in this game - and naturally Square-Enix gives you ''so'' many opportunities to make his day into a living nightmare just like in the first game. And among them, you can knock him into the water where the crocodile will bite him. * CainAndAbel: Xehanort mentions in one of his reports that he sees Eraqus as his brother. Now consider what Xehanort ends up ''doing.''** Drizella and Anastasia, as well. In this game, their hatred towards [[Disney/{{Cinderella}} Cinderella]] caused them to [[spoiler: attempt to ''[[MoralEventHorizon murder]]'' her!]] Unlike with Eraqus, [[spoiler: she is saved, while they are [[BurnTheWitch executed]] by the Cursed Coach]].* CallForward:** "My friends are my power, And I'm theirs!!" - Ventus.** [[spoiler:From the true final boss (Xehanort) fighting JUST like Xehanort's Heartless first form (Guardian and all). Also, when Master Xehanort possesses Terra, his first lines are the "His heart has returned to darkness" speech Xehanort's Heartless gives Sora before you fight him in ''[=KH1=]''. Xehanort is full of these.]]** Vanitas's suit resembles Riku's Heartless suit (minus the Heartless emblem on it, natch), they share a fighting stance, and the demonic appearance of his Void Gear closely mirrors that of Riku's Soul Eater. In the intro FMV, Vanitas and Ven re-enact the scene from the [=FMV=]s of ''I'' and ''II'' where Riku [[TakeMyHand outstretches his arm]] and Sora runs after him.*** And, in one of the opening scenes, a young Master Xehanort stands on the shore of Destiny Island and says 'This island is like a prison'.** Xehanort wears the Org XIII coat in one of the opening scenes, and in his normal clothes he wears the same boots that Ansem and Org XIII wear (you get to see them in Terra's story, at least).** One line in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' from Xigbar, where he says that the Keyblade picked a dud "this time" and that Sora wasn't half the hero the others were... Meaning Aqua, Terra, and Ventus. ** Near the end of the opening scene with Ventus at the Station of Awakening where he talks with [[spoiler: newborn heart Sora]], mention is made that they will "open the door", something that is told to Sora by a mysterious voice in KHI. What makes it double as {{Foreshadowing}} is that if you listen closely when Ven says the line, you can hear [[spoiler: Sora]]'s voice speaking alongside his.** It's not all serious stuff, either. Aqua waking up Ven the same way Kairi woke Sora up in ''KHI'', complete with "Gimme a Break, Aqua.", and Terra saying [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts "Come on, Ven. I thought you were stronger than that."]]. The beginning scene also mimics ''KHII'', where Ventus wakes up in the same manner as Roxas.*** In addition to Terra's line, [[spoiler: Ventus-Vanitas says "What's wrong? Giving up already?" as a CallForward ''and'' a CallBack!]]** Another one (that retroactively doubles as {{Foreshadowing}}) is [[spoiler:Master Eraqus' death scene. As he [[DisappearsIntoLight fades into light]], his body phases through Terra at the last moment. Much like the whole [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong Sora-Kairi deal in the first game]], Eraqus' heart is locked away inside of Terra's as revealed by "Blank Points".]]** From the epilogue:-->[[spoiler:'''Terra''' (''inside his mind/heart, conversing with Master Xehanort''): "Wrong. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor You're going to get shown the door]], old man."]] [[note]]And as we all know, [[spoiler: in KH1, when the door to darkness holding Kingdom Hearts is opened, Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem, is destroyed by the immense light coming from the door, since Kingdom Hearts is pure light.]] [[/note]]** From Aqua's meeting with Sora and Riku at Destiny Islands:-->'''Aqua''' (''to Sora''): "So then, if something happens, and Riku is about to get lost--or say he starts wandering down a dark path alone--you make sure to stay with him and keep him safe."*** [[http://monjava.deviantart.com/art/Aqua-meets-sora-and-riku-184775868?q=gallery:monjava/27230077&qo=28 "Why do you say it like it's a pre-determined thing?"]]** In a flashback to Master Eraqus confronting [[spoiler:Master Xehanort]] about his objectives:-->'''Master Eraqus:''' ''"Would you [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts blanket all the worlds in darkness?]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII Reduce them to nothing!?]]"''** After Lea introduces himself to Ventus, he says something quite familiar:-->'''Lea:''' "We're friends now. [[CatchPhrase Get it memorized]]."* CameraScrew: Occasionally, the camera will end up behind your target instead of you, which will have you running the wrong way. More annoying, however, is when the Lock-on will randomly ''un''lock, potentially making you attack and guard in the ''wrong direction.'' Usually (but not always) the camera only unlocks after you get a certain distance from the target but it also shows no ability to realize whether it's locked onto a barrel or an enemy. This can make fights in some areas a headache if you can't switch targets quick enough.* {{Cap}}: The damage cap against bosses prevents them from losing more than 25 HitPoints per hit. Meaning, you can't obliterate most of their health bars in mere seconds like you could in ''[=KH2=]''.* CatsAreMean: Lucifer, the cat of [[EvilStepmother Lady Tremaine]] of ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'' is a boss. This might not seem like a challenge except that you happen to be the size of a mouse at the time.* ChainedByFashion: The Secret Episode's final boss and the Iron Imprisoner.* ChekhovsGun:** At the part where you choose who you want to play as, Ven's description notes he holds his Keyblade backhand. This might not seem important at first. However, at the end of Aqua's story, [[spoiler: Ven gets possessed by Vanitas.]] When this happens, [[spoiler: Possessed!Ven holds his Keyblade out in front, showing that he isn't really Ven.]]** At the start of the game, Aqua, as the newest Keyblade Master, is "entitled to certain knowledge", that the player doesn't get to see, even when playing as Aqua. You finally find out what she was told in the Final Story: [[spoiler:that being the true nature of the Land of Departure, its significance as a world of balance, and how to turn it into Castle Oblivion]].** The Wayfinders are given a lot of focus throughout the game, Aqua's in particular getting a lot of screen time. [[spoiler: Said Wayfinder becomes the keychain for her InfinityMinusOneSword during the final chapter when she fights [[FanNickname Terranort]].]]* CherryTapping: Subverted for the Sweetstack Keyblade, which is actually very powerful despite being designed around ice cream. [[note]]It has an Attack stat of 6 and a Magic stat of 4, though its real power comes from its 100% [[CriticalHit Critical hit rate]] [[/note]]* ComboBreaker: The Payback moves allow the player to do this, to some extent, by retaliating immediately after being knocked back by an enemy.* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard:** Most A.I. players in The Command Board. Most notably though is [[Franchise/WinnieThePooh Tigger]], who can go from 2000 GP below you, to 2000+ above you in a grand total of one turn. Tigger seems to understand how to play the Command Board better than anyone else, which is funny, given [[CloudCuckoolander how he is normally.]]** Averted by Pooh himself, who can't seem to process what's going on, which is pretty par for the course with him.*** Which makes it kind of baffling ''when he wins''.** The computer will almost always get the best rolls. On numerous occasions, you can attempt to get several consecutive tiles on the command board, only to watch as suddenly, your opponent manages to get ''just'' the right roll to get in between you, whereas you'll be lucky to get it.** Normally, the Confusion effect causes you to randomly pick a direction whenever you get to a crossroad, rather than being able to choose which one. However, the AI's have an annoying habit of getting the direction they were going to go anyway more often than not, making the effect a lot less useful on them than on a human player (though still potentially devastating when it does work).** It also seems like that once Captain Dark/Justice becomes available as a random special panel event, the computer seems to get Captain Justice far more often than Captain Dark, while the reverse mostly applies to you. Thankfully you can just leave Captain Dark to harrass other computer opponents if you're close to them and steal their Captain Justice the same way.** In Rumble Racing, [[RubberBandAI the computer players are able to catch up to you regardless of how far ahead you are.]]** In the wrap-up sparring matches for the Tutorial battles, Terra has Counter Hammer a full three worlds[[note]]Two if you go to Castle of Dreams first, but the timeline says it's Terra's third[[/note]] before the player can get at it.** [[spoiler:Terra-Xehanort's version of Ars Solum goes by twice as fast as Terra's own.]]* ConspicuouslyLightPatch: The corner of a balcony in Maleficent's castle is colored darker than the rest. It gets broken apart during Aqua's escape with Phillip.* CurbStompBattle: It's sad how badly [[spoiler:[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehgwv0CwQuA the trio]] get beat down in their cinematic final battle against Xehanort and Vanitas]].* CreditsMedley: The "complete" credits sequence after you beat all three scenarios features one of these. It combines Terra's, Aqua's, and Ven's {{leitmotif}}s with the battle themes from Never Land, Enchanted Dominion, Castle of Dreams, and Dwarf Woodlands and "Dearly Beloved".* CrosshairAware: Terra when he fights Braig.* CrutchCharacter: ** Or command. In any case, [[DiskOneNuke if you go out of your way to make it early on]], Mega Flare is an absurdly powerful screen nuke for all characters, but on Terra, it's only really useful early on and the mid game. Late game, it starts to fall behind thanks to Terra being a MightyGlacier and his magic stat beginning to slow down in growth with each level up. Additionally, he gets a Keyblade during the end game that boosts his attack stats to sky high lengths, but decreases his magic stat as well, making Mega Flare even less useful. By the time you get to the end game areas, it'll be very unlikely that Mega Flare will even take half the HP off of most enemies there as a result. ** D-Links are very useful early on when you only have access to a limited amount of commands, with Aqua's in particular being useful because it gives access to cure commands without having to level it up first, unlike Terra and Ven's D-Links, which have to be maxed out before you can access their cure commands. However, once you reach mid-game and start getting better commands, D-Links quickly fall behind because the commands they offer are usually under-powered in comparison to the commands you can fuse at that point.** Of the three protagonist, Terra has by far the easiest early game thanks to being a MightyGlacier while Ven and Aqua have to deal with EarlyGameHell, thanks to being a FragileSpeedster and SquishyWizard, respectively. However, as the game goes on, Terra slowly begins to fall behind as Ven develops into a JackOfAllStats and Aqua becomes a LightningBruiser, while he more or less stays the same. With a lot of end game bosses dealing high damage regardless of a characters defense, and a lot of {{Bonus Boss}}es being able to one-shot all the characters regardless, Terra quickly falls behind them in terms of handling the after game, to the point certain {{Bonus Boss}}es are nigh impossible with him because of how slow he is.* CutsceneIncompetence: In any cutscene where the heroes confront a villain, they're completely ineffectual. Special mention to Ventus' first battle with Vanitas, which is a HopelessBossFight. Even if you're effortlessly crushing Vanitas, once the fight stops and the cutscene plays, the story treats Ven as being helpless against him and it's only through Mickey's intervention that he's saved. And of course there's then the final cutscenes, where the heroes fail to even get close to Master Xehanort and Vanitas and are thrashed as they try.* CutscenePowerToTheMax: Averted by Master Xehanort. Blasts of ice, a storm of Keyblades, raising plateaus of earth? Those are all things he does when you fight him.* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Spend ten or more hours playing as Terra and you'll take quite a bit of getting used to the style of the next two characters. Especially Aqua.** There's a reason why the player characters are ordered Terra, Ventus, Aqua. Terra is all physical, with poor magic stats on his exclusive Keyblades and not a lot of exclusive magic to use. ''ALL'' of Aqua's exclusive commands are magic, due to her heavily relying on spells. Ven is the halfway, plus speed.* DarkReprise: The battle against the Armor of the Master uses one of "Future Masters", the Land of Departure's battle theme. It is fittingly called "Master, Tell Me the Truth."* DarkerAndEdgier: This installment plays on the darker elements of the Disney movies it's adapting a little more. Particular note is the game's version of ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'': After she tries on the glass slipper and is about to be taken to the castle, [[spoiler:Lady Tremaine and her [[CainAndAbel daughters]] give into their [[ThePowerOfHate hatred]] towards her and try to [[MoralEventHorizon murder her]] with an Unversed called the Cursed Coach, but after Aqua saves her, they [[DeathByAdaptation seemingly die]] or [[FateWorseThanDeath get turned into Heartless]] (most likely [[DarkIsEvil the]] [[AlwaysChaoticEvil latter]]) when the Unversed accidently [[BurnTheWitch drops a bomb on them]]]].* DeathOrGloryAttack: Ven's Tornado can be used to incapacitate and deal massive damage to almost any enemy in the game, [[spoiler: Vanitas]] included. However, the spell also leaves him a sitting duck for the duration with no way to cancel out, so any enemies not caught in it are free to retaliate with impunity.* DevilInPlainSight: Master Xehanort can't be anymore antagonistic looking if he were to wear a sign on him saying "I'm evil, nyahahaha!"* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: The Exp Walker ability gives your exp just by walking around. A common exploit players found is using tape or an elastic to fix the analog stick in place so your character runs in a circle, then just let the game sit. Except, the devs anticipated that and programmed a failsafe - if you just walk in one direction without pressing any buttons, after about a minute your character will stop moving.* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler: Master Eraqus dies in Terra's arms, sort of, after their battle. Even though Terra wounded him, it was Master Xehanort who killed Eraqus.]]* DiscOneNuke:** In Maleficent's Castle is a ledge in the corner with a chest on it, normally requiring Glide/Air Slide to reach it during endgame. However, a simple jump and Sliding Dash in midair will get you there on the first visit. It contains either Tornado Strike or Ice Barrage, both ultimate 2-slot commands.** With proper playing of the Command Boards and a bit of luck, you can easily acquire high level commands very early. For example, if you play the Boards to level them up, you can meld commands to create a second-tier spell like Blizzara or or Thundara, then meld that with something else to get the third-tier command. This can be done in the first world you visit as soon as you can access a Save Point. All you need is patience and knowledge of what commands can create what. *** As detailed on the YMMV page, if you know what commands you need for it, you can get Mega Flare and EXP Walker as soon as you can access the Mirage Arena, which occurs after you complete the first world in each story. Mega Flare is the ''acknowledged'' game breaker that kills pretty much everything in sight instantly, and EXP Walker grants you experience for walking around, a huge boost to level grinding.** Also, in Ventus's story, you can get Super Glide before you're even able to access Glide just by jumping and using Slide Dash twice to get to a ledge in Disney Town that should only be accessible via Glide.* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:The secret ending reveals Ansem the Wise's HeroicSacrifice in ''Kingdom Hearts II'' to be this.]]* Franchise/DisneyPrincess: Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White have a larger role than they did in the [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts first game]].* DistantFinale: [[spoiler:The final scene in the game takes place a bit after ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''.]]* DivergentCharacterEvolution: Terra, Ven and Aqua are a MightyGlacier, FragileSpeedster and SquishyWizard, respectively, but at the beginning of the game they all play more or less the same. As you proceed through the game you unlock their unique abilities a bit at a time, and come the final world their unique playstyles are firmly established.* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The relationship between the three characters is certainly... ''interesting'', to say the least. Terra and Aqua's "friendship" is slowly challenged over the game due to a lack of communication and Terra's aloof behavior throughout it, but despite what's going on between them, they're both willing to put it aside for their "friendship" with Ventus, who went chasing after Terra during the start of the game over the worry that when he got back, their "friendship" wouldn't be the same anymore, and when he finds out that [[spoiler: Aqua was sent to spy on Terra to make sure the darkness wouldn't overcome him, and that she was sent to take him home]], he's ''pissed'' by it, and goes chasing after Terra again more actively, much to Aqua's dismay. Then, when Terra continues to be aloof towards him, despite showing that he still does care, Ventus begins to act out by continuing to explore the world on his own, and met new people to try and replace them, but eventually comes to realize their "friendship" is too important to replace with new people... Over all, the dynamic between the trio seems more like a family slowly crumbling apart and risking a divorce than a friendship that's being challenged. Notably, in the Japanese version of the game, when Ventus gives Terra and Aqua their passes to Disney Town, it was because he was told to 'bring his parents'... yeah.* DoomedByCanon[=/=]ShaggyDogStory: Considering the many events hinted to happen in this game and the conspicuous absence of a Keyblade-centric order in the other games, it's pretty much to be expected.* DoppelgangerSpin: [[BonusBoss The Unknown.]] The Spirit of the Magic Mirror pulls this off multiple times, too (which should be expected, given it's a ''mirror''.)* DoubleEntendre: Arguably, Vanitas' battle quotes, "What's yours is mine!" and "Show me anguish!" The former is supposed to {{Foreshadow}} Vanitas [[spoiler: being Ven's dark half]], and the latter is just there to show what kind of person he is, but if you know what anguish ''[[MindRape means]]''...* DownerEnding: Implied, like the rest of the "prequel" ''Kingdom Hearts'' games, by virtue of the fact that none of the main characters are seen in the present time. Especially with the "old" worlds known to be devoured by the Heartless as early as the first game. [[spoiler:Let's just say that none of the trio come out that well, either.]] ''However,'' [[spoiler:the secret ending heavily implies that Sora will eventually gear up and set out to save everyone who's met with a terrible fate, twisting the series resolution to a likely EarnYourHappyEnding status at the end.]]** [[spoiler:ShaggyDogStory: As of ''3D'', although all of the protagonists survive and are implied to play a role in the plot later on, the failure with Vanitas reminded Master Xehanort that he was creating the X-Blade wrong, resulting in the entire rest of the series and the pain brought to the worlds as a result of Xehanort's incarnations' combined XanatosGambit.]]* TheDragon: Not just Vanitas to Master Xehanort; it's implied that Xehanort recruited [[spoiler:Braig]] for his efforts, [[spoiler:possibly in advance for after Xehanort successfully pulls off his GrandTheftMe gambit]], which would certainly go a long way towards explaining [[spoiler:Xigbar becoming No. II in Organization XIII]].* DramaticUnmask: Vanitas. The visor of whose helmet just sort... of melts away when he pulls this off. Note that he's previously been shown with the entire helmet off (and with his face off-screen, natch).* DualBoss:** Aqua takes on Hades ''and'' the Ice Colossus. She in fact turns down Zack's offer to help.*** Averted because Hades leaves you alone until either the Ice Colossus is defeated or Aqua attacks him, whichever comes first.** Terra's final boss sequence begins with him fighting [[spoiler:Master Xehanort and Vanitas, but Vanitas does most of the attacking and it ends automatically after you do a certain amount of damage]].** Zack and Hades in the Mirage Arena.* DualWielding: The Unknown.* DubNameChange:** 13 of 14 Keyblades' names were changed, although some were pretty minor (e.g. "Mark of Hero" vs. "Mark of a Hero"). 12 of 35 enemies also had their names changed.** Some of the Command Styles also had their names changed, such as Aqua's "Magic Wish" becoming "Spellweaver", Terra's "Fatal Mode" becoming "Critical Impact," and a few others.** Most of the Trophies had their names embellished, going from titles like "Step Trophy" or "Munny Trophy" to "Power Walker" or "In the Munny."* DullSurprise: ** This is Terra's standard reaction to just about everything he encounters. Although this seems to be more to do with the nuances of Jason Dohring's acting method rather than Terra's characterization.** Willa Holland (Aqua) dabbles a bit in it too. That being said, both characters ''can'' emote, but Terra is usually subtle about it (if his friends [[spoiler:and later on, Xehanort]] are the subject of choice, ''then'' Terra starts to break out the passion).* DummiedOut: ** Hackers have found remnants of an [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxX9huOsGF0 unfinished world]] based on ''Disney/TheJungleBook'', the one completed room being King Louie's temple, along with a few partially unfinished jungle rooms including the edge of the man-village. They also found [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100629010307/kingdomhearts/images/2/21/Light_Seeker.jpg the Light Seeker]], a Keychain for Ventus that resembles Mickey's Kingdom Key D. It can still be accessed using cheat codes, but only in the Japanese version.** Pleakley was originally going to appear in Deep Space. An untextured model for him remains in the game's code.** Certain cutscenes which appeared in early trailers - shown at events such as the Tokyo Game Show and Jump Festa - were later altered for the game's final release. For example, the scene in which Master Xehanort [[spoiler: reveals his plan to forge the χ-blade to Ventus]] was originally meant to appear in Olympus Coliseum, rather than the Keyblade Graveyard. A scant few scenes were also omitted, including one where Terra watches a young Sora and Riku partake in a swordfight, as well as individual lines, such as Terra telling Aqua that searching for the light Master Xehanort is after will lead them to him or Ventus at Destiny Island telling Aqua to erase him. ** The final Mix also includes graphics related to the ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3D'' Demo (most strikingly the title card). The 2 best guesses to why they're there so far is that they either used BBS graphics as a placeholder for the actual game or they intended to have some sort of demo for ''Dream Drop Distance''.** The Mirage Arena was originally going to have a story, and feature [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Laguna Loire]]. However, Square ultimately decided to have Laguna in Dissidia 012 instead.** A texture for a large Treasure Chest for the Land of Departure appears in the game files, but does not appear in-game.* EarlyGameHell: Both Aqua and Ventus experience this, due to being a SquishyWizard and FragileSpeedster at the start of the game, respectively. Not only do they have incredibly low HP and defense starting off, but don't gain access to a cure spell until after their first boss fights, and thus have to rely on a limited amount of potions until then. Terra at least has it a bit easier, thanks to being a MightyGlacier and thus can take hits far better than they can. [[note]]Fortunately, the other two characters' D-Links give them access to Cure spells, though you need to max out Ventus' and Terra's D-Links, and the Terra D-Link only gets the weakest Cure spell, as opposed to Ventus' and Aqua's, which have Cura.[[/note]]* EarnYourHappyEnding: While the game's normal ending is a DownerEnding, the secret ending implies that this is what will eventually happen to the main characters. After all, [[spoiler:although they lost, the three really fought like lions and they DID manage to derail most of Xehanort's scheme by destroying the χ-blade and Vanitas. I mean, come on, all that effort should be rewarded.]]* EasyModeMockery: If you play the game in Beginner mode, you won't get to see the secret movie.* ElementalPowers: Terra and Ven get powerful exclusive [[DishingOutDirt Earth]] and [[BlowYouAway Wind]] based abilities and spells, curiously however, Aqua doesn't get a powerful [[MakingASplash Water]] spell or ability, other than her starting Bubble Blaster Shotlock. That's because she kicks ass with [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[ShockAndAwe Lightning]], [[AnIcePerson Ice]], [[TimeStandsStill Time]], and [[LightEmUp Light]].* EnemyWithout: As the tutorial prologue shows, Ventus literally has a broken heart; all the darkness got ripped clean out of it, and he'd have died of this if not for the outside intervention of a mysterious force. Things get a little more sinister when it becomes clear that his shadow didn't just go away, either...* EscortMission: Each character has to clear one in the first batch of worlds.* EvilCounterpart: Vanitas [[spoiler:is a copy of Ventus made from the darkness in Ventus's heart.]]* EvilIsDeathlyCold: Xehanort and Vanitas both have prominent ice powers; poor Ven gets almost totally iced over at one point.* EvilLaugh: Vanitas does a couple throughout the game. Captain Hook gets a glorious one too.* EvolvingAttack: Every character has Finish Commands that level up and unlock new Finish Commands in a branching system. Their exclusive Finish Commands unlock stronger versions of themselves--Ven gets Air Flair that evolves up to Level 4, then to Stratosphere as his Level 6 finisher, while Aqua gets Magic Pulse 1-4 with Teleport Spike as her Level 6. Terra's break the naming pattern, Rising Rock 1, 2, then Dark Star 1, 2, then Demolition, but Dark Star is essentially still a powered-up versions of Rising Rock.* ExclusiveEnemyEquipment: You can obtain a black and white version of Vanitas's Keyblade, called Void Gear.* {{Expy}}:** Ventus looks like Roxas and it's been said by the creators that Ventus, while having some of Sora's characteristics, has Roxas's seriousness. So in personality, he's a mixture of both, like his duds.** [[spoiler:Vanitas is basically an evil Sora with black hair and yellow eyes (and ''the same voice''; [[EvilSoundsDeep only deeper and more sinister]]), and he is Ven's EnemyWithout.]]** Terra somewhat resembles [[CrisisCore Zack Fair]], and both of them are [[spoiler:{{tragic hero}}es.]] He is also quite similar to Riku, hence the shared name meaning, though due to his older age and maturity, in his delving into darkness he rises from his angst and {{jerkass}}-itude faster than Riku did.*** The number of similarities beween Terra and Cloud and striking. Tricked by Hades? Check. Uses Darkness powers? Yep. Not very people friendly? [[LampshadeHanging Pointed out for both by Hades.]] With almost the same line. Claims he's not a hero? Uh-huh.* EyeScream: At his first canonical appearance, Braig still has two functional eyes. At the end of the game, he's wearing his famous eyepatch. Figure out what happens.* [[spoiler: FakedKidnapping: Braig appears to capture Master Xehanort, but it was all a set-up to get Terra to further trust in the latter. Of course, the kidnapping would cost Braig one of his eyes.]]* FashionableAsymmetry: Terra and Ventus, since they both wear a single chunk of armor on one arm, but Ven thought he'd [[http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/File:VEN1.png go for the gusto.]] There's actually a reason they wear it like that: touching the shoulder pad will activate their full armor.* FastballSpecial: Aqua is both the thrower (with Stitch) and the... throwee (with Prince Phillip). Ven follows the same pattern with Stich and with Hercules.* FeministFantasy: The game stands out from the rest of the franchise for not only providing the first playable Heroine, but turning classic Disney films on their head a little with how she fits into their narratives. The story begins with Aqua earning the rank of Master, and being charged with locating and bringing home her TrueCompanions when they go astray. She spends much of the game struggling to save Terra and Ventus from the darkness threatening them, [[spoiler: and is the sole protagonist of the Final Chapter]]. An equal balance of LadyOfWar and LadyOfBlackMagic, she is an exceptionally skilled warrior and the most level-headed among the PowerTrio. When encountering classic Princesses, she is the one who actively facilitates their happy endings -- escorting Cinderella during her escape from Lady Tremaine, defeating the Magic Mirror and the Evil Queen to help save Snow White, and rescuing Prince Phillip from Maleficient's castle before they face down the sorceress-turned-dragon together. [[spoiler: In the Final Chapter, it is revealed that she was the one that laid many significant pieces of groundwork for the main story -- providing Kairi was the power of the Keyblade, creating Castle Oblivion to protect Ventus, and foiling Xehanort's original plan by destroying the x-Blade and leaving his new host (Terra) without memories. She was also the one to first encourage and warn Sora to watch over Riku, and never give up on him should he go astray in the future]].* FieldOfBlades: The Keyblade Graveyard. The ruins of many keys who took on the powers of their masters are here in the place, where there was a fight between light and darkness.* FighterMageThief: The three playable characters. Terra's the fighter, Aqua's the mage, and Ven's the thief.* FightingYourFriend: [[spoiler:Possessed versions of both Ven and Terra serve as Aqua's two different {{Final Boss}}es.]]* FinishHim: [[spoiler:Lampshaded in the final battle with Vanitas with Ven. Given that the "information" is likely to be the POV of the player character, it was likely the joke was not lost on the translators.]]* FireIceLightning: The non-character-specific Command Styles are Firestorm, Diamond Dust and Thunder Bolt. [[spoiler:There's also a second ice-themed one, Frozen Fortune, except it's ''ice-cream'' themed]].* FiveBadBand: Master Xehanort creates one with the allies he recruits from different worlds:** TheBigBad[=/=]TheEvilGenius: Master Xehanort** TheDragon: Vanitas** TheBrute: Braig** TheDarkChick: Maleficent** TheSixthRanger: Pete, although we see how he came to be Maleficent's henchman.* FlashStep: Master Xehanort and Vanitas use these liberally, as do {{Bonus Boss}}es [[spoiler:Vanitas Remnant]] and the Unknown. Some special attacks usable by the player also make use of them, like Teleport and Magic Hour. Aqua's [[SuperMode Command Style]] Ghost Drive ramps this up to insane levels --''every'' normal attack she uses in this mode is a Flash Step, to the point of {{Teleport Spam}}ming.* ForegoneConclusion: The game takes place only ten years before the first ''Kingdom Hearts'', where none of the protagonists are anywhere to be seen. [[spoiler: The only one to actually ''be'' seen, mind, is Terra, who is nothing more than an animated suit of armor so deeply entrenched into his own rage that he nearly kills Sora when he encounters him in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix.]] All of them can be expected to meet an untimely fate, it's just a matter of finding out what each of their unfortunate ends is.* {{Foreshadowing}}:** Watch the ending of the introduction movie closely. [[spoiler:After Ventus descends from his Awakening and transforms into a ball of light, if you look real close at the next scene, you can see him enter Sora.]]** At the beginning of the game, we see [[spoiler:a younger Master Xehanort, who looks very much the present day Xehanort, as well as Terra. He even appears to be voiced by both Creator/RyotaroOkiayu and Jason Dohring (who voice Terra). When Terra picks Riku to be his successor, we see a brief silhouette of Young!Master Xehanort and then Riku circa ''KHII''.]] [[HarsherInHindsight This should make you cringe]], as [[spoiler:when Terra performed the [[TakeUpMySword Keyblade Rite of Succession]], he didn't intend for Riku to end up being body snatched by Xehanort like he was.]]** Note how Tinker Bell met Ventus in Neverland... suddenly her interactions with Roxas in ''Days'' make a ''LOT'' more sense! ** Pay close attention to Braig's sudden change from when Terra [[EyeScream knocks his eye out]] and when he confronts Aqua at the climax. Near the climax of Dream Drop Distance? [[spoiler: Braig drops the WhamLine: "I'm already half Xehanort!" and ''points at his yellow eye.'']]** At Destiny Islands, Aqua muses [[spoiler: "One Keyblade is enough for any friendship...I wouldn't want to wish our lives on all of them.]]** When [[spoiler: Master Eraqus]] was killed by Terra while he was trying to protect Ventus, [[spoiler: Master Eraqus]] faded in the same way Master Xenahort faded away when he [[spoiler: unlocked his heart in order to possess and steal Terra's body]], as well as [[spoiler:the way Ventus faded away while he was moving into Sora's heart at the end of his own story]]. As it is revealed later, [[spoiler: Eraqus deliberately put his heart inside inside Terra's body so that he could help him overcome the darkness in his heart and as well as help him resist Xehanort's influences]].* ForScience: Xehanort's plans: [[spoiler: 1: Forge the χ-blade to summon Kingdom Hearts and get Keyblade wielders fighting over it. 2: Possess Terra to live through to the end of the new Keyblade War, and watch the universe be destroyed. 3: See what happens next.]]* FragileSpeedster: Ven. The quickest of the three, yet not as resilient as [[MightyGlacier Terra]] and [[MagicKnight Aqua]].* FreezeFrameBonus: Look closely on Ven's bookshelf in the scene where Vanitas corners him. [[spoiler:One book is titled ''[[TitleDrop Birth by sleep]]'', another is ''Kingdom Hearts'', and a third is labelled ''[[AllThereInTheManual Ultimania]]''. Ven's been reading the strategy guide!]]* FunWithSubtitles: We probably wouldn't be able to understand half of what Jaq says without it. Made even more funny when you occasionally ''do'' catch what he's saying and realize they are translating his strange way of speaking and verbal tics into normal English.* GameBreaker: [[invoked]] WordOfGod admitted Mega Flare was one, doing high damage to all enemies over a wide area, executing quickly, and doing the damage over a period of several seconds so it could hit waves of spawning enemies as they appeared. As a result it was nerfed for the Final Mix release by doubling its reload.* GameplayAndStorySegregation:** Each world has events beyond what one character sees. Often there's a BrokenBridge stopping a character from exploring an area, but another character will fix that bridge. However, chronologically, this should mean if that first character comes back to the world after the in-game timeline says the second character has visited, the bridge should be fixed for them too, right? Wrong. Generally, if a character somehow unseals a sealed area in their story, that area will probably remain sealed for the other characters. However, this is sometimes subverted -- in Ven's story, returning to the Enchanted Dominion after completing it will reveal some balconies in Maleficent's castle have been destroyed, because Aqua visited the Enchanted Dominion after Ven and destroyed them during her escape. Curiously though, the trope is played straight for Terra, who throughout the game will have his path to Maleficent's castle blocked by flames, but they're dispelled in Ven's story and stay that way through his story and Aqua's.** After Aqua discovers King Mickey Mouse passed out in the Lanes Between, it is still possible to D-Link with him if you visit another world before taking him to the Mysterious Tower.* GameWithinAGame: The Command Board is a full version of Square Enix's long-standing ''VideoGame/ItadakiStreet'' series, rules and all.* GenderBlenderName: ThemeNaming aside, Terra is ''still'' [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI a girl's]] [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans name]].* GenreBlind: Just about ''everyone'' in this game. Come on... Xehanort is ''obviously'' evil. Yet everyone's trusting him, even Master Eraqus, who [[spoiler:even TRIED to kill him in the past but failed]]. More to the point Master Eraqus knew [[spoiler:that Xehanort had used the darkness to grow stronger than Eraqus and wanted to recreate the Keyblade War and yet Eraqus still never saw fit to warn ''anyone'' about any of this leading directly to a [[PoorCommunicationKills situation that could have been avoided]] if he had just bothered to give some information.]]* GetBackHereBoss: Braig is ''[[ThatOneBoss somehow even worse than his Nobody counterpart]]''. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O28p6phnig See here.]] Played with since one of the strategies to beating him is to simply use Block to reflect all of his regular attacks right back at him and to dodge every attack that can't be blocked.* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:** Hades gives Aqua a once-over and a rather suggestive leer. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJPpbbJZbbU See here.]]** When Phil offers to train Aqua, Hercules protests he had to beg Phil to train him. Phil's response is "Sh, pipe down kid! You and she ain't got the same attributes, [[LampshadedDoubleEntendre if you know what I mean]]."** Tinker Bell {{Panty Shot}}s. Consistent with her original design, anyway, that one-piece has a ''really'' short skirt.** Maleficent gets to keep the line "See for yourself all the powers of hell!" "Hell" typically isn't a swear word if you are talking about the biblical place, but this deserves special mention. (Even when she used it in [[Disney/SleepingBeauty the movie]], it was rated "G".)** One of the seven dwarfs remarks he will miss Snow White's 'dapple lumpkins - er, apple dumplings.'** During Ven's Boss fight with Hook, if you use any sort of fire command, it will go right towards his butt. (Even if you aim for his face!) He will immediately start smacking it crying out "Hot, Hot, Hot!" And then there's the not so bad thing of his randomly crying out, "I will send you to the Lord!"* GettingTheBoot: At the end of the game, Lea and Isa are caught trespassing Hollow Bastion by Dilan and are kicked out.* GlassCannon: A BonusBoss has only one bar of HP, but dishes out {{One Hit Kill}}s without remorse. However, it also averts NoCureForEvil by healing to full HP whenever the player uses Cure (items don't seem to trigger this, mercifully) so really it's no more of a Glass Cannon than you are.** Vanitas ([[spoiler:the original version of said BonusBoss]]) is like this too. He has the speed and strength of a LightningBruiser, but his defense is somewhat poor. Of course, his aggressive, NoHoldsBarredBeatdown-styled attack pattern makes it somewhat hard to notice this.** As opposed to [[MightyGlacier Terra]] and [[FragileSpeedster Ven]], [[SquishyWizard Aqua]] grows into this mold by endgame. She's quick (although not quite to Ven levels) and possesses deadly magic, but due to her low HP, she cannot take a hit. ''Ever''. [[spoiler:Good luck with [[FinalBoss Ventus-Vanitas]] and [[TrueFinalBoss Terra-Xehanort]]!]]* GoKartingWithBowser: Hey guys! Let's stop trying to destroy the Unversed and race with them instead!* GoryDiscretionShot: What happens to Cinderella's step-mother and step-sisters is downright brutal.* GracefulLoser: The Servant of the Mirror, to Aqua.-->The queen is gone, my service done.-->Adieu, oh victorious one.* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:Master Xehanort takes over Terra's body at the end of Terra's story, which explains how he appears as Ansem's apprentice.]]** [[spoiler:Not to mention what Vanitas did to Ventus. Didn't last, though.]]* GravityIsAHarshMistress: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Zero Gravity.]] Upgrade it to get [[UpToEleven Transcendence]], which traps its helpless victims and ''bounces'' them around like rag dolls.* GreenEyedMonster: One of the motivations behind Lady Tremaine and her daughters [[spoiler:attacking Cinderella after she's freed from their tyranny]]. Also, the reason why Braig has allied himself with Master Xehanort, since [[spoiler:he wants a Keyblade for his own]].* GuideDangIt:** Three characters means you have to get the treasure chests and stickers three times. [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/943347-kingdom-hearts-birth-by-sleep/56459918 It was bound to happen.]]** Melding commands. Oh, sure, you can find or purchase items that let you see what you'll get ahead of time, but even then...** The Xehanort Reports. Most of them are available by playing through the story, but Terra has one only available in the Mirage Arena, Aqua has one only available from a treasure chest and Ven has ''two''.** The two CriticalHit stats of Keyblades - the rate of criticals and their damage multipliers. They're described in relative terms, but you'd have probably given second thoughts to the Keyblades described as having high critical rates if you knew that usually meant as much as ''seventy-five percent''.** The locations of the Prize Pod enemies, which you'll need to hunt down if you want all the ice cream recipes, can take forever to find without a guide since whether or not they'll spawn at the designated point is [[LuckBasedMission mostly random]] and if they don't spawn, you need to leave the area or room you're in and come back, which is something you wouldn't normally do unless you knew where they're supposed to spawn.** Unlocking the Secret Episode in the final chapter [[spoiler: that has Aqua traveling through the realm of darkness.]] On standard mode, one of the unlock requirements is to ''complete everyone's journals to 100%, beating the {{Bonus Boss}}es with everyone included''. Sure, playing on proud or critical takes that part off of the unlock requirements, but how the heck is the player suppose to know this before hand?[[/folder]][[folder:H - Q]]* {{Hammerspace}}: Besides the {{Justified|Trope}} Keyblades, Lea's weapons come from nowhere and Ven ''somehow'' manages to carry a full size wooden toy keyblade with him for 90% of his story.* HardModePerks: If you begin a game on Critical, you start with five command deck slots for attacks, instead of the three you start with on the lower difficulties.* HarmlessFreezing: Nope! Ventus getting frozen is certainly ''not'' harmless, as it clearly hurts a lot and nearly gets him killed. For that matter, getting frozen in itself causes a lot of damage in gameplay and sets you up for even more (both you, and the enemies).* HartmanHips: Aqua's [[http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/File:Aqua_armor.png suit of armor.]]* HeroAntagonist: [[Disney/LiloAndStitch Gantu's]] either this or a type of KnightTemplar.* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:During the credits, Mickey blames himself for all the crap that happened and tries to turn in his Keyblade. Yen Sid won't have any of that.]]** [[spoiler:Aqua would have gone suicidal in the epilogue had it not been for the [[BigDamnHeroes timely appearance]] of Terra and Ventus's Keyblades giving her a renewed sense of hope and the will to smile again.]]* HeroicResolve: Ventus: [[spoiler:As he lies frozen and helpless on the ground, Vanitas strikes Aqua down and prepares to finish her off. Through nothing more than sheer willpower, Ven thaws himself out just in time to stop him and engage him in combat.]]** Terra: [[spoiler:After Master Xehanort commits GrandTheftMe on him, he begins to walk away, when a barrier suddenly surrounds the plateau. The camera pans over and we see Terra's armor has reformed itself, through what is apparently his lingering emotions and ''will''. [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII Terra's Lingering Will]] proceeds to battle Xehanort on its own, giving us a very satisfying ThisCannotBe moment]].-->'''Xehanort''': [[spoiler:Your body submits, your heart succumbs-- so why does your mind [[LargeHam RESIST]]?!]]** Aqua: Despite everything that happens, she keeps on going long after the other two, and even [[spoiler: spends eleven years alone in the realm of darkness without cracking--[[InterruptedSuicide although she did come close, but it was fortunately averted by the timely arrival of Ven and Terra's Keyblades to give her the drive to keep going.]]]]* TheHeartless: The Unversed, who were the Heartless before the Heartless, so to speak. Instead of devouring whole hearts they feed off of stray emotions. Pureblood Heartless in the form of Neoshadows and Darksides show up at significant points in some cutscenes, however. (A tad consistent with some of the Ansem Reports; reporting shadowy creatures.)* HollywoodSpelling: Averted and lampshaded with [[spoiler:the χ-blade. When it is first mentioned, Ventus mutters "Key...blade?" in confusion due to how the word is pronounced. Master Xehanort then explains the spelling is different despite the identical pronunciation, and produces an image of the χ letter as he explains its origins. He even notes, "Some say 'kye', but the meaning is the same.]]" Played straight with Terra and Aqua, though, who have it spelled correctly in their subtitles and don't seem at all confused.* HolyHandGrenade: Ven's exclusive skills Faith and Salvation.* HotBlooded: Vanitas's battle taunts certainly sound as if his [=VA=]s had fun with the role. Creator/MiyuIrino and Creator/HaleyJoelOsment were obviously enjoying themselves playing [[spoiler:a character who looked like Sora but was his ''exact opposite'' in terms of personality.]]* HowWeGotHere: Sort of--the cinematics before the final battles in the three storylines are the same as the original trailer for the game at the end of ''Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix'', with some scenes changed up and voices added. ''Birth By Sleep'' is the story of how things built up to this battle.* IdiotBall: Yes, [[spoiler:Aqua, it is ''obviously'' the right thing to do in saving the now gone Terra, allowing the evil that is Xehanort (or a form of him!) to ''ravage and destroy the worlds for the next decade!'']]* IfICantHaveYou: Cinderella's evil stepfamily would rather have her [[spoiler:murdered]] than married to a prince, but only because they hate her.** The journal entry for the Symphony Armor claimed that it was created from the Tremaine family's hatred towards the "unknown girl" at the ball. [[spoiler:This implies that the trio were going to use the Unversed to murder everyone at the ball because neither Drizella or Anastasia were picked]].* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Aqua vs. [[spoiler:both Ventus (possessed by Vanitas) and Terra (possessed by Xehanort)]].* ImCryingButIDontKnowWhy: Young Sora in the ending. It's actually because of [[spoiler:his connection to Ven's heart]].* IncomingHam: The moment that [[spoiler:Terra-Xehanort]] talks and you hear those familiar tones of [[spoiler:Creator/RichardEpcar]], you immediately understand that ''he is going to be hamming it up... and is going to do it with aplomb.''* InfinityMinusOneSword: Chaos Ripper (Terra), Bright Crest (Aqua), Lost Memory (Ven). Sweetstack also qualifies for all characters, being easily obtained [[GuideDangIt if you know how]] and providing a 100% CriticalHit rate.* InfinityPlusOneSword: The protagonists get a third version of the Ultima Weapon, which includes nods to both of its previous (future?) designs. There's also the Void Gear and No Name, both rewards for defeating one of the Bonus Bosses. Between them the Ultima Weapon has well-rounded stats, the Void Gear has a higher Strength boost but lower Magic boost, the No Name has a higher Magic boost but a lower Strength boost. In the Final Mix, defeating No Heart gives you the Royal Radiance; the supreme Keyblade, with Void Gear's attack and No Name's magic.* InsurmountableWaistHeightFence / BrokenBridge: Out in full force, with certain areas in worlds being blocked to exploration from certain characters or until certain conditions are met. Sometimes there's a barrier, other times the character just decides "there's nothing important this way" and won't go any further.* InterfaceScrew: The Confuse status effect.* JerkassHasAPoint: Master Xehanort is a bad guy who uses [[DarkIsEvil darkness for evil]]. But he does make sense saying that [[LightIsNotGood light isn't automatically good just for being light]]. This leads to the downfall of [[spoiler: Eraqus]].* JigglePhysics: Aqua has some, but it's not too noticeable unless you look closely. Apparently, it was enough for the ESRB as they label the game having "Mild Suggestive Themes" because of this. (Or maybe a few things that got listed as "getting past the radar" didn't ''quite'' do what we thought it would).** It's most noticeable in the cutscene near the end where [[spoiler: Terra, Aqua, and Ventus [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb1R7TG9Z3s#t=5m8s gather at the Keyblade graveyard.]] Look at 'em bounce!]]* JigsawPuzzlePlot: You have to play as all three characters to get the whole story.* JustBetweenYouAndMe: Vanitas does this without shame, confident there's nothing the heroes can do about it. [[spoiler:And he's ''right'', more or less.]] Well everyone except [[spoiler:[[SpannerInTheWorks Aqua who proceeds to kick his ass and derail Master Xehanort's scheme, but even then she winds up becoming inadvertedly responsible for Xehanort being able to make his ''other'' schemes work]]]].* KnightOfCerebus: Master Xehanort.* KungFuWizard: No Heart, who turns his Keyblade into armour and kicks / punches you with it.* LampshadeHanging: When Braig confronts Terra in Radiant Garden, he comments on his Keyblade, saying that "it seems like everyone has one of those things these days."* LargeHam:** Master Xehanort and Vanitas, ''in spades.'' Creator/LeonardNimoy[=/=]Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka and [[spoiler:Creator/HaleyJoelOsment[=/=]Creator/MiyuIrino]] definitely had too much fun being villainous.** We're not sure, ''how'' it is physically possible, but [[spoiler:Creator/RichardEpcar[=/=]AkioOhtsuka ''out hams the past version of himself!'' He's obviously having one hell of a time when it comes to recording the words!]]* LaserBlade:** The Blade Charge Command Style (Aqua, Terra) forms a huge one around the Keyblade, Squall-style. Ven's Wingblade style gives him SIX of these, which by default float at his back like wings.** [[spoiler:Aqua, via [[ThePowerOfFriendship the lucky charms she made for herself and her friends]], creates one to destroy the χ-blade.]]** Defeat the Unknown and you'll get yourself a [[LaserBlade Laser Keyblade]] called "No Name", akin to the laser blades it wields.* LastLousyPoint: Looking for a Focus Block to complete Terra's Command Collection? It's only found on the Castle of Dreams Command Board, either as one of the Bonus Panels (which don't appear if you're playing from the Mirage Arena), or as one of the Commands Cinderella can lay down.** Several of the Shotlock commands that you can only obtain on the Command Board can be this (ex: Ragnarok).* {{Leitmotif}}:** Terra, Aqua, and Ven all get their own. One shared between Xion, Roxas, and Axel from ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 358/2 Days]]'' also makes an appearance when Ven and Lea meet for the first time.** Nomura has stated that [[BonusBoss Mysterious Figure's]] battle theme is also this. [[spoiler:It takes cues from Rage Awakened (Terra's Lingering Sentiment), Darkness of the Unknown (Xemnas's final battle theme in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''), and Lord of the Castle (Marluxia's final battle theme in ''Re: Chain of Memories'')]].* LethalJokeItem: Sweetstack, an ice-cream-themed Keyblade that just so happens to have a 100% critical rate.* LightningBruiser: Terra briefly becomes one during his Sonic Shadow Shotlock.** [[spoiler:Terra-Xehanort. The physical prowess of Terra plus the dark powers and Keyblade of Master Xehanort equals one very imposing opponent.]]* LikeASonToMe: Eraqus, to Terra - and probably Aqua and Ventus as well, though he never says it out loud.* LimitBreak: Filling up a meter in gameplay allows each character to unleash one of these. More can be learned as the game goes on.* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: A ''[[UpdatedRerelease Final Mix]]'', of course.* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Only partially played; while everyone can learn some really powerful magic like Meteor (Terra), Tornado (Ven), and Glacier (Aqua), it's Aqua who gets the ''best'' and most practical ones like Triple Blizzaga, Triple Firaga, Seeker Mine, etc. Also, everyone is technically really powerful, but Aqua's the most due to story purposes and this trope. As you can bet, Terra's final boss is ''super'' hard, especially if you didn't take the time to find out all the useful abilities like Second chance and EXP walker. Aqua meanwhile is ''VERY'' fragile in the beginning until you get her some useful early-game abilities (like Barrier Surge and Wishing Edge) or even the DiscOneNuke (Which is naturally deadliest in Aqua's hands thanks to her magic stat) Course everyone is powerful at the end though; just at their different things.* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: You're going to spend a lot of time staring at that spinning blue heart. The game also frequently freezes to load when you activate a Command Mode or D-Link. You can install the game onto your PSP Memory Stick to help with this, which drastically lowers the loading times, and removes it all together in some places.* LostForever: As Terra and Aqua, be sure to return to [[spoiler: Land of Departure as soon as you can. Though you can still pick up any lost chests after Xehanort sends it to the darkness. You just have to beat the Unknown first.]]* MagicKnight: The three protagonists qualify, although Aqua is the straightest example.* MagicMissileStorm: There are generally three types of Shotlocks -- fire several projectiles in waves, fire a barrage continuously, or perform dash attacks. Many of the former two categories fit this trope.* MalevolentArchitecture: The Land of Departure lies directly between the light and dark realms. It was later clarified that the castle houses a mechanism that transforms it to invoke this trope should it fall into the wrong hands, and ''that's'' how Aqua made [[spoiler:Castle Oblivion]].* ManlyTears:** Eraqus sheds a single tear [[spoiler:before locking blades with Terra]].** Terra also [[spoiler:when he almost kills Master Eraqus and realizes what he has done.]]* MayTheFarceBeWithYou: More of a homage than a parody, the story outside of Ven and Vanitas has significant parallels to Episode III of the saga, with several character parallels.** Terra, a Keyblade apprentice, is refused the rank of Master due to his lust for power and lack of discipline in spite of outstanding talent. Xehanort plays on his insecurities about his skills and his master, tempting him to use the powers of darkness to his advantage instead of rejecting them as he has been taught. At this time a crisis ensues that forces Terra and Aqua to depart from Eraqus** Xehanort is kidnapped by Braig and Terra channels dark powers to rescue him, but it turns out Braig is working with Xehanort and the kidnapping was staged to lure Terra to darkness.** [[spoiler:Xehanort tricks Terra into fighting Eraqus, weakening him so Xehanort can kill him, and he reveals his true colors to Terra as he destroys the Land of Departure]].** [[spoiler:Aqua hears from Yen Sid about what's become of Terra and sets out to find him, finding him under Xehanort's possession and consumed in darkness. The two do battle, Aqua being lost in the Realm of Darkness while Terra is "reborn" as the new Xehanort]].** Additionally, Eraqus advises Terra "Fear leads to obsession with power, and obsession beckons the darkness," mirroring Yoda's famous advice to Anakin about fear lading to the dark side of the Force.* MarathonBoss: No Heart from the final mix. Nine hit point bars and nonstop attacks.* MediumAwareness: The Symphony Master boss seems to conduct in time with the battle music.* MightyGlacier: Terra swings his [[{{BFS}} Keyblade]] in slow, wide arches. He hits like ''hell''.* MilkingTheGiantCow: Master Xehanort does this even more than the modern one--watch those fingers coil.* MindScrewdriver: This game is this for the previous ones, but [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsDreamDropDistance the effect doesn't last.]]* MirrorBoss: [[spoiler: After possessing Terra, the new Xehanort uses his fighting style instead of that of his old body. He can even block, counter and heal.]]* MoodWhiplash: Terra and Aqua enjoy a peaceful break at Destiny Island before things go bad: After she leaves the islands, Aqua [[spoiler:finds a weakened Mickey and heads to meet Yen Sid who tells her Eraqus is dead.]] As for Terra, [[spoiler:he leaves the islands only to be contacted by Xehanort, who sets him up to kill Eraqus shortly after.]] Ven avoids this--his visit to the islands is just as traumatic as the events that occur after and before it.* MookMaker: [[spoiler:Vanitas is the source of ALL the Unversed. He's been visiting every world he can and spawning as many Unversed as he can, like a WalkingWasteland. This is actually a pretty impressive power and just hammers home that he's really MadeOfEvil.]]* MundaneMadeAwesome: Opening of large treasure chests comes with swinging camera angles and dramatic Keyblade swings to open the chest.* MusicalAssassin: The Symphony Master, though it has nothing on [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII Demyx]].* MusicalSpoiler: [[spoiler:Vanitas']] battle theme is a remix of Sora's and Roxa's respective themes. Ventus looks like Sora. Put those two together, and you'd realize the fact that the music's spoilering TheReveal that [[spoiler:Vanitas is Ventus' evil counterpart]].* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Both Terra and Eraqus do this after fighting each other to near death, and the latter additionally for nearly killing Ven. Then Xehanort finishes the job.]]* [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya My Name is Master Aqua.]] [[YouKilledMyFather Now return my friend's heart]] [[PrepareToDie Or pay the price!]]* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Yen Sid experiences this throughout the game. [[spoiler: Sora and Riku also experience this, during the ending. This leads to Sora accepting Ven's damaged heart into his own.]]* MythologyGag:** Zack asks Aqua on a date, like he did when he first met Aerith in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''.** Whenever Zack gets excited or pumped up about something, he starts doing squats, a reference to his habit of doing so in ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' which was in itself a reference to his characterization in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', as seen in the Nibelheim flashback. They're also not proper squats, but rather what counts as a squat in said game.** [[spoiler:Xehanort]]'s speech when he first appears is the same speech Ansem gives at the end of the first game.** In ''Disney/SleepingBeauty'', Aurora fell under Maleficent's spell of sleep when she was drawn into the pathway Maleficent created behind the fireplace in the castle. In this game, you can go through the fireplace in the Enchanted Dominion's castle to find... the Sleep spell. Appropriate.** In the Dwarf Woodlands as Aqua, you can also find Poison near the cottage.* NecessarilyEvil: [[spoiler:Master Eraqus really doesn't want to kill his student, but he sees no other alternative to keeping Xehanort from getting the χ-blade.]]* {{Nerf}}: The base reload time of Mega Flare was doubled from 25 seconds to 50 in the international release.** Here's one nerf that most players are actually ''glad'' for: in Final Mix, the BonusBoss Unknown has had some of the hitstun removed from [[ThatOneAttack its Collision Magnet attack]], allowing players to escape it before being hit again. This was done to make the two new {{Bonus Boss}}es look even stronger.** Aerial attacks were slowed down considerably compared to how they are in other games, so if you're one of those people who like to [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros SHFFL]] your aerials to get extra damage on enemies, weep.* NeverSayDie: Surprisingly inverted--Master Xehanort uses "die" rather frequently, most explicitly in one of [[spoiler:Ventus's flashbacks: "you would rather die than use the power?"]] At the same time, though, the three heroes tend to use euphemisms (examples, [[spoiler:Aqua talking about how Eraqus was]] "struck down", [[spoiler:Ventus asking his friends to "put an end" to him, though he says the idea of the χ-blade "scares him to death" in the same scene.]]). However, both instances could be attributed to not wanting to use the actual word under the circumstances. Disney characters still use the verb as well, such as the Queen telling Terra to kill Snow White, or the three good fairies in Enchanted Dominion chanting "evil die and good endure".** It also might be the sign that [[spoiler:Master Eraqus]] has [[JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope gone]] [[LightIsNotGood too]] [[KnightTemplar far]]: [[spoiler:"Let the darkness die!"]]* NiceJobBreakingItHero:** [[spoiler: Aqua saved the amnesiac [[FanNickname Terranort]] from the Dark Realm, thus allowed his misdeeds from the entire rest of the series to get set into motion.]]** Master Eraqus is no better. [[spoiler:His attempt to destroy Ventus sealed Terra's fate. Even he seemed to realize this just before he was killed.]]** Vanitas reveals near the end of Ventus's story that [[spoiler:the Unversed come from him, and the negativity of every Unversed destroyed flows back into him and makes him stronger.]]* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Eraqus was based off of Hironobu Sakaguchi, the former president of Square.* NoCureForEvil: Averted by the first BonusBoss, who heals himself whenever you use Cure, and by [[spoiler:Terranort, who can use cure spells when fighting the Lingering Will or Aqua]]. The second Bonus Boss has access to Restore Barrier, which lets him regain health if you attack while it's up. He also has the ability to [[TimeMaster reverse time when he's hit]], undoing the damage.* NoFlowInCGI: The original previews for ''Birth By Sleep'' (which were pre-rendered movies) depicted the Keyblade Armor with capes. They were removed in the game itself because rendering them used too much processor power.** There's a good chance that the capes will be brought back in the ''Birth By Sleep HD'' remake for ''2.5''. It will be on an actual console, which will allow the armor to feature capes easily.*** Sadly this turned out to not be the case, aside from [[spoiler: the final scene with the Lingering Sentiment where it makes the pose you find him in in II.]]* NonCombatEXP: The game has the EXP Walker ability, giving you Exp just for walking around.* NonStandardGameOver: Each character has to do a different minigame in Disney Town. Doing poorly means getting sent automatically to a Game Over screen.* ObviouslyEvil:** Master Xehanort. [[BaldOfEvil Just]] [[BeardOfEvil look]] [[SlouchOfVillainy at]] [[PsychoticSmirk him.]] It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't a well respected character by the good guys.** His apprentice, Vanitas is even worse. And worse still, Terra allies himself with The Evil Queen, Maleficent, Hades, and Captain Hook (though he does at least plan to double-cross a few of them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't).* OminousLatinChanting: The Final Episode boss theme [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewhYdzHZ1Vo "Dismiss"]].** Actually, Dismiss is a remix of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbeHo6c_a8o "Destati"]]. It's really [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous Italian Chanting]].* OminousPipeOrgan: Same as above. Also used in "Beyond the Door".* OneWingedAngel: Averted in all three storylines, which may be a first for this series. [[spoiler:Unless you count Terra-Xehanort calling the Guardian in the Final Episode.]]* PaintItBlack: [[spoiler:Vanitas falls into the EvilTwin variation, being a [[RavenHairIvorySkin black-haired, pale-skinned]] Sora.]]* PaletteSwap: The Unversed get different color schemes in Final Mix for the sake of variety, and and Unversed forms assumed by the[[VoluntaryShapeshifting Illusion]] spells have a yet another palette.* ParentalAbandonment: Despite that the three see Eraqus as a replacement father, and he even sees ''himself'' as one, Terra, Aqua, and Ven don't seem to have mentioned any of their parents. Even Sora had his mom... [[InvisibleParents sorta appear]] in the first game.* PinballZone: Pete's Rec Room* PoorCommunicationKills: The primary source of the heroes' troubles come from the fact that nobody can talk straight to anybody, allowing the villains to sow discord and turn them against one another. By the time the truth finally comes out, it's too late to do anything about it.** One notable example is the climax, in which [[spoiler: Master Xehanort and Vanitas respectively lure Terra and Ven to the Keyblade Graveyard by telling them that they will kill the other two members of the PowerTrio there. Aqua herself winds up there when she locates both Terra and Ven there thanks to Yen Sid. Effectively, it's a SelfFulfillingProphecy.]]* PostClimaxConfrontation: [[spoiler: The TrueFinalBoss battle, which takes place in the town square of [[WalkingWasteland a darkened]] Radiant Garden (where Aqua had previously fought Vanitas), and comes after the climax in [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon The Keyblade Graveyard.]]]]* PowerCopying: ** This is roughly how the new Dimension Link system works. The protagonist makes a personal connection with another character, and this allows them to temporarily shift their moveset to something approximating what that other character uses. Terra, notably, gets to D-Link with ''Maleficent'' (and all three heroes can D-Link with Pete in the [=PAL=] / Mix versions). In his final boss battle, Ventus has a one-off D-Link with [[spoiler: Vanitas.]]** The BonusBoss [[spoiler:Armor of Eraqus]] is implied to be doing this, changing its arsenal of attacks depending on who you fight it as, said arsenal resembling a cross between the current player character's fighting style and Master Eraqus'.* PowerGivesYouWings: One of [[spoiler: No Heart]]'s attacks involves [[spoiler: turning his Keyblade into a pair of wings which he uses to fly around.]]** The Exclusive Wingblade Command Style for Ventus. It's considered one of his strongest Command Styles, and it gives him 6 Blades of Light that act like Wings for him, and he attacks with them relentlessly.* ThePowerOfFriendship: Quite possibly '''the''' definitive example of this trope in this series is the [[TrueCompanions powerful bond]] between Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. Aqua might be more of a [[LoveFreak Friendship Freak]] than ''Sora''. Expect tears to flow like the Nile and hearts to be warmed... sometimes in rapid succession.* ThePowerOfHate: This is how [[spoiler: Lingering Sentiment]] comes to be in order to [[spoiler: battle Xehanort for Terra's body]].** Also, Lady Tremaine and her daughters hate Cinderella so much, that said hatred created two Unversed; one to [[spoiler:kill everyone in the ball because the Prince danced with an unknown girl]]; the other to [[spoiler:directly murder her because she is now freed from their tyranny]].* PowerUpLetdown: Terra's Sonic Impact, which adds a second dash to his normal Slide ability that carries him farther and can deal damage...which is actually not helpful at all, for several reasons: it does little damage, the second slide ''doesn't'' provide temporary invincibility like the first one does (which is the whole point of the dodge abilities), and the recovery from it is longer than the first Slide. Just to throw some GuideDangIt into the mixture, you get it right before Terra's battle with Zack; he has an attack that is extremely difficult to dodge any other way than just mashing Square to keep dodging -- which you can't do if Sonic Impact is equipped. This isn't to say it is completely useless (it's good in the "Defeat countless Unversed" sections, for instance), but leaving it unequipped will allow you to dodge a far greater number of deadly attacks with ease.** That said, it is quite amusing to take out the first two of Terra's three final bosses by ''[[CherryTapping headbutting them]]''.** In fact, all of the powered up dodge moves seem to be hit by the same issue in that while they do let you deal damage, it comes at the cost of the invincibility frames you had with the originals which are FAR more useful.* PrecisionFStrike: Though not the kind you're thinking of--Aqua snaps "You freak!" when Vanitas [[spoiler:breaks Ven's wooden Keyblade]]. Considering this ''is'' Disney, that's about as extreme as the language can get so the effect is the same.* {{Pun}}: Hades remarks that Terra's name is a bit "earthy".* PunnyName:** [[spoiler:"χ-blade". As in, the Greek letter. Chi Blade. And Chi is pronounced as "Key" in Japanese.]]** Vanitas was picked not only because it means [[spoiler:"Emptiness"]] in Latin, but also because [[spoiler:it sounds like "Ventus" and the kanji for ''sora'' (空) means both "sky" and "emptiness".]]* PureIsNotGood: [[spoiler: Despite being born of pure "darkness" Vanitas still has the ability to wield a Keyblade and, more specifically, the χ-blade.]]** [[spoiler:Master Xehanort explained this when he told the trio that Keyblades of Light and Darkness fought during the Keyblade War. So, ignoring the fact that he started out using a Keyblade of light, it is just as possible for pure darkness to wield a Keyblade. They don't seem to be very picky.]]* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler:The 3 heroes stop Xehanort from getting to Kingdom Hearts, but they all meet terrible fates. Terra's body was stolen by Xehanort and what's left of his mind is trapped in his armor at the Keyblade Graveyard, Ventus' heart was shattered by Vanitas' defeat and his body is comatose, and Aqua gets trapped in the Realm of Darkness after she saves the amnesiac Xehanort from being trapped there himself.]][[/folder]][[folder: R - Z]]* RageAgainstTheMentor: [[spoiler:Terra takes on Eraqus when he catches him trying to kill Ven. It goes too far, but that's mostly Xehanort's fault.]]* RashomonStyle: The game's narrative method.* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: As in the ''Stitch'' movie, the Grand Councilwoman is ''extremely'' reasonable. She may still want Stitch locked up, but she has more than blind rage to back up her reasons, like Gantu, and she's willing to hear Aqua out.* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:** Terra to Xehanort at the end. [[spoiler:"You will pay, Xehanort! Was my Master--no, my father, Eraqus not enough for you? ''Leave my friends alone!''"]]** And then there's Ven's speech to Vanitas immediately preceding their battle. [[spoiler:"At least I have some [friends]! I've become a part of their heart, just as they've become a part of mine. My friends are my power... ''and I'm theirs!''"]]* RecurringBoss: Expect to fight Vanitas in ''every'' story mode.* RecurringRiff: Bits of "Rage Awakened" can be heard in a few other songs.** Fate of the Unknown (KHII Final Mix Secret Ending Music) is heard multiple throughout the game, most noticably in Terra and Aqua's themes* RedOniBlueOni:** Terra is red, Aqua's blue.** An evil variation occurs with Master Xehanort and Vanitas: MX is the Blue, Vanitas is the Red.* {{Retcon}}: [[DonaldDuck Donald]] and Goofy knowing about the Keyblade (when they didn't in the original game) and actually being present at Yen Sid's Tower (Donald's reaction to the tower in ''Kingdom Hearts II'': "Master Yen Sid lives HERE?!") As explained by Nomura, the tower's floors have been constructed differently.** There's also another one - well, almost... In Kingdom Hearts II, Goofy says that "His Majesty (meaning Mickey) banished Him (Pete) to another dimension a long time ago." yet in Birth By Sleep, Minnie banished him; this is averted by neither Donald nor Goofy actually being present at the time. *** Which actually occured due to [[PronounTrouble Pronoun Trouble]] from the Japanese version of KH2, which left ambiguous whether [[RoyalWe it was Mickey or Minnie who banished him]]. Note this only pertained to that line of dialogue; in both versions of KH2, Pete's journal entry [[AllThereInTheManual outright states it was Minnie who banished him]]* RegeneratingMana: Spell uses restore themselves.* RegionalBonus: The international version features the Crown Stickers sidequest, an extra boss, Critical difficulty mode, more cutscenes, more songs for the Ice Cream Beat mini game, more Keyblades, more types of enemies, altered battle balance, and additional multiplayer options. As per usual with the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series, this was expanded to a [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] ''Final Mix''.* {{Retcon}}: In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', Goofy mentions that King Mickey banished Pete for constantly causing trouble. The game shows that Queen Minnie is actually the one to banish him.* RetiredBadass: Master Yen Sid is retired from Keyblading, with Mickey taking his place, but he still keeps in contact with Master Eraqus and Master Xehanort.* TheReveal:** The last leg of the game shows that [[spoiler:Castle Oblivion was created by Aqua from the remains of the Land of Departure to protect Ven's sleeping body inside the Chamber of Waking]].** [[spoiler:Terra and Master Xehanort merge to become the Xehanort that caused the events of the first and second games]]** [[spoiler:Terra chose Riku and Aqua accidentally marked Kairi as future Keyblade wielders.]]** [[spoiler:At the end of the game, Ven's heart enters Sora's body and resides there which causes the Keyblade to choose Sora over Riku in Kingdom Hearts 1 before Sora gained the power to wield his own keyblade in Hollow Bastion, and having Ven's heart also allows him to dual-wield the Keyblade, and is also why Roxas looks like him and has the same skill.]]** Within the game's story itself, Master Xehanort revealing his true intentions directly after [[spoiler:killing Eraqus]], as well as Vanitas's true identity: [[spoiler:a physical form of the darkness within Ventus that looks like a black-haired Sora]].* ReverseGrip: Ventus and the [[BonusBoss Unknown]].* RocketTagGameplay: Near mid to late parts of each characters story become this. Even [[MightyGlacier Terra]] can't take all too many hits from a lot of late game story bosses, but in turn, bosses in this game have the far lowest HP of any KH game, as well as the main characters themselves. As a result, it often comes down to a match of who can kill who quicker, especially if you haven't [[GuideDangit figured out how to synthesize leaf bracer, once more, or second chance yet.]]* RubberBandAI: Very apparent in Rumble Racing. If you pull ahead of your opponents, they'll speed up until they're on your tail again, and often even get a burst of speed to pull out in front of you. You don't get any such mercy if you fall behind, but fortunately the rubber band is removed on the final lap. If you don't fall behind too much before then, that's your chance to secure your victory.* RuleOfSymbolism:** The keychain for [[spoiler:the χ-blade]] as well as the crest on the lower half of its blade mirror the symbol for the "Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven". Also, [[spoiler:χ]], pronounced as "Chi", is often used to substitute Christ. [[spoiler:That's where "X-Mas" comes from!]] This leads to some awesome FridgeBrilliance: the Kingdom Key and Kingdom Key D (read: Mickey's Kingdom Key) are a silver key with a gold handle and a gold key with a silver handle, and together they can open the door to Kingdom Hearts. The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven are often shown as a gold and silver key crossed over each other.*** That's not even the weirdest part: [[http://www.antiquelocksknowledge.com/keySym.html Read this]]. Gold keys and silver keys are possessed by St. Peter, and the former are representative of the gate to Heaven, silver it later states, are associated with birth. That is, silver represents gates to the physical world and gold represents the spiritual world. Think of the implications for Sora and Mickey.** Adding to the Christianity symbolism: [[spoiler:Ven (as a result of having a heart of pure light) is the only character that has access to a version of the Holy spell. And his exclusive Command Style, Wing Blade, can be seen as a reference to the seraphim, six winged angels who were closest to God; each sword of light that floats behind Ven's back can be considered a wing.]]** In Literature/TheBible death is said to be simply a deep sleep, and that the dead will only awaken when [[MessianicArchetype Jesus]] returns for his Second Coming. Basically, [[spoiler:Sora and by extension, Ven]] is ''KH''!Jesus.** On the lighter side, the Million Dreams Award is a unique flavor of icecream that is customized to best represent whoever wins the award. Terra's is reminiscent of the series staple Sea-Salt ice cream, while Ven's and Aqua's resemble Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, respectively. Note that you would have to play through two character's storylines twice to see all of them in the game.* SaveTheVillain: Justified. [[spoiler:Aqua saves Xehanort, who is possessing Terra. Since Aqua's not going to leave a friend to die and Terra is showing signs of FightingFromTheInside, this was the logical choice. Too bad it blew up in her face and caused the events of the rest of the series to occur.]]* SayMyName: In the Secret Ending of ''Birth by Sleep'': [[spoiler:regardless of their state of existence, Namin�, Roxas, Axel, Xion, Ven, Terra and Aqua pray to Sora's name across time and space.]] Can be a strong TearJerker or complete, utter {{Narm}}.** This may be a case of LostInTranslation. [[spoiler: Roxas, Xion and Axel suddenly look up as a group to watch the sunset, and Terra and Ven are just noticing a shooting star when they say Sora's name.]] So, for those two groups, it's possible they were calling attention to the sky (sora) in the Japanese version, which loses its double meaning in English.* SceneryGorn: The Keyblade Graveyard.* SchrodingersGun: The only part of the game dependent on what order you play each of the three characters as is the cutscene where the Million Dreams Award is given out within Disney Town - the cutscene will only play for the third character you play as within the town, with it altering accordingly depending on who said character is (with [[MergingTheBranches The canonical version of said cutscene]] being Aqua's).* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler:Aqua gives up her armor and her Keyblade to save Terra. While she turned out fine, she has to spend the next decade stuck in a hostile world at a serious disadvantage and saving Terra turns out to set most of Xehanort's evil deeds in motion.]]* {{Sentai}}: Pete is dressed like a reject from a {{Toku}} series. Two of 'em, actually!* SequelDifficultySpike: After the other games had begun to rely on ButtonMashing, ''Birth By Sleep'' takes a step back to make things more strategic. The game does not hand overpowered attacks and abilities to you in progress with the story, you need to use Command Meld to get them. You have to construct your Command Deck with a strategy in mind because which commands you use affect when Command Styles you can use, which significantly changes how the characters fight, and thanks to reload time you can't spam your Command Deck attacks continuously. Further, bosses can blink out of stunlock combos, they're smart enough to just avoid finishers and Shotlocks, and most bosses are immune to effects that would stun them. The game is not all that difficult, but it is significantly more challenging than previous ''Kingdom Hearts'' games.* SequelHook: ** The series is known for this with their secret endings, but this time really takes the cake. [[spoiler:Sora's ready to go on another journey to save all the hearts connected to him--including this game's main trio, Roxas, Xion, Axel, and Namine.]]** [[spoiler: The Final Mix adds a nightmarrific one for Birth by Sleep -volume two-, but that project was unfortunately scrapped.]]* SequenceBreaking: There's several items that normally the characters need advanced movement commands to get, like High Jump, Glide, etc. Hpwever, the basic Sliding Dash command, a DashAttack, lets players bypass this need by using Sliding Dash in midair to get to these places.* SetBonus: Collecting all of the tiles in a color block in Command Board results in a 50% increase in all tiles of that color's value.* SexyBacklessOutfit: Aqua, so much so that the designers covered her up more because they thought it was too revealing.* ShakyPOVCam: Used in the Secret Episode's boss battle.* SheFu: Aqua. For example, her dash is a ''cartwheel''.* ShirtlessScene: Ventus in his awakening.* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:VideoGame/KingdomHeartsDreamDropDistance does it to this game by showing Xehanort's TimeTravel XanatosGambit that means Terra, Aqua, and Ven ultimately suffer for nothing, even ''helping'' him in the long run.]]%%ShoutOut isn't Trivia. Leave it here.* ShoutOut:** Upon accessing the Trinity Archives after unlocking the Dairy Devotee trophy[[note]]by entering the Frozen Fortune command style 30 times, which happens randomly when eating ice cream[[/note]], the game proudly proclaims "You are a [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 WINNER]]!"** Terra's first [[LimitBreak Shotlock]] command is called "[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic Shadow]]".* SignificantAnagram: In addition to Yen Sid being Disney backwards, Eraqus is an anagram of Square.** Xehanort without the X can be re-arranged to become "No Heart, and Another". [[note]] No Heart also means Heartless, and Xehanort's heartless is Ansem. Another obviously is talking about Nobody, and Xehanort's Nobody is Xemnas. [[/note]] With the X, his name can be rearranged to "X No Heart", the X being a staple in the names of the Organization.* SingleTear: All over the place. [[spoiler:Master Eraqus sheds one before fighting Terra, Aqua does as well in the secret ending when she is given her first glimmer of hope and recognition that all she did wasn't entirely in vain after eleven years lost in the darkness, and Sora is completely baffled by the sudden appearance of one when he unconsciously picks up Ventus' heart, getting hit vicariously by the full force of the TearJerker ending.]]* SkySurfing: Ven's Keyblade Glider.* SlasherSmile: [[spoiler:After Aqua battles the hybrid Ven and Vanitas, Ven-hijacked-by-Vanitas flashes a surprisingly eerie one at her. Twice.]]* SNKBoss: Any BonusBoss, leaving players ''very'' little time to move, less to heal, [[PerfectPlayAI and even less to attack]].* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler:Again, the entire trio, although Aqua did the best job of screwing with Master Xehanort's grand schemes. However, Xehanort is CrazyPrepared, [[XanatosSpeedChess so]]...]]* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Due to differences in Japanese pronunciation, fans in the western world initially believed the Unversed were going to be called the "Unbirths". ''Erakwusu'' was also instantly recognized as a counterpart to Yen Sid by the fandom and a fair-sized faction assumed it'd be a straight SdrawkcabName (Erauqs); turns out it's Eraqus (the slight scrambling ''might'' be a parallel of the space in the middle of Yen Sid).* StandardStatusEffects: You can inflict blindness, poison, confusion and sleep upon enemies, and they can inflict a few of these on you as well. Doesn't work equally though (see "UselessUsefulSpell"). Hilariously enough, Vanitas is affected by Sleep.* StartOfDarkness:** This game explains how Xehanort became Ansem's apprentice. [[spoiler:He took Terra's body to regain his youth and (apparently) lost his memory after being defeated by the Lingering Setiment and later Aqua. Ansem finds him in the Radiant Garden after the fight with Aqua, setting the later games into motion.]]** Pete started working for Maleficent because he was banished from Disney Town and she finds him in the realm he was banished to.* SupernaturalGoldEyes: Master Xehanort has yellow eyes. Braig's remaining eye becomes golden after being blasted in the face with a beam of darkness (and around the same time, he's developed darkness-related powers to back up his gun skills). Not to mention Terra's turned yellow at the end of the secret movie in ''Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix''. And Vanitas has them as well. Gold eyes are usually associated with someone who's been exposed to the power of darkness and/or uses it (in his guise as [=DiZ=], even Ansem the Wise had them). As do TheHeartless (the ones that aren't TheFaceless anyway,).* SuperheroSchool: The Land Of Departure, where the main trio seem to have spent most of their lives training for the Keyblade.* SuperMode: Filling up the Limit Break meter with certain attacks transforms your character, changes your movelist, and grants a new Limit Break. Filling the new meter a certain way grants a higher tier super transformation and all that it entails.* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Yeah their backstories are different, but could you really tell the difference between an Unversed and a Heartless if they didn't have symbols on them?* SwissArmyHero: The "Illusion" set of spells to be added in Final Mix allow the player to transform into various Unversed, such as a Tank Toppler, a Mandrake, or a Shoegazer.* SwordBeam:** Vanitas. ''Friggin' Vanitas''. [[spoiler:This extends to Vanitas Remnant too.]]** The Unknown uses both his blades to perform a crossed one, similar to Vanitas' SwordBeam.* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: [[spoiler:The χ-blade, a {{BFS}} that is the ultimate Keyblade and can open the door to Kingdom Hearts.]] Unfortunately, it's wielded by [[TheDragon Vanitas]] who acquires it [[spoiler:by fusing with Ventus, merging Ven's heart of pure light with Vanitas's heart of pure darkness.]] Ven faces Vanitas wielding an incomplete version of the Keyblade, while Aqua and Mickey face him with the completed version.* SwordPlant: The Lingering Sentiment drives his keyblade into the ground after he wins his battle.* TakeYourTime: Nothing ever starts until you get there. There's a part early in Aqua's campaign where Cinderella is attacked by a massive Unversed. No problem; just head to the save point and play on the Command Board until you're ready, she's not getting burned up! That said, this particular instance comes after several scenes and another sequence where you have to [[EscortMission escort Jaq]] to a mouse hole. You can skip the cutscenes, but not ''that''. This may be ''slightly'' justified at the end of Terra's story, given that [[spoiler:Master Xehanort needs him to be the vessel for his GrandTheftMe scheme.]]* TallDarkAndHandsome: Terra.** Braig is a [[TallDarkAndSnarky snarkier]] version of this.* TeamDad: Terra. While he's more of a BigBrotherMentor to Ven ([[spoiler:this relationship later escalates into a KnightTemplarBigBrother complex during the last fourth or so of Terra's scenario]]), there are quite a few times when the dynamics between Terra, Aqua, and Ven resemble that of two parents (Terra and Aqua) and a child (Ven). More mature and reserved than his friends, Terra can come across as strict, while still intending the best for them. [[spoiler:And his BigDamnHeroes moment to save Ven and the [[RageAgainstTheMentor subsequent battle against Master Eraqus]] ''definitely'' qualifies Terra as a PapaWolf.]]** It's even {{lampshaded}} in the Japanese version of the game, where Ven hands Terra and Aqua the Disney Town passes and says that he was told to bring ''"his parents"'' ("two grown-ups" in the American version).* TeamMom: Aqua to her friends and also to Peter Pan and the lost boys.** MamaBear: Hoo boy!* TearsOfJoy: [[spoiler:Aqua sheds one and then smiles during the aforementioned "SayMyName" bit.]]* ThemeNaming: The trio's names mirror the "sky, sea, and land" theme of Sora, Kairi, and Riku (''ventus''/wind, ''aqua''/water, ''terra''/earth)* ThemeSongReveal: Vanitas's battle theme [[spoiler:takes cues from Sora's AND Roxas's themes]]. As well as [[spoiler:Ven's, although such to be expected, considering TheReveal.]] There's also a small snippet from [[spoiler:Xion's theme]].* ThreeAmigos: Terra, Aqua, and Ven.* TieredByName: [[spoiler: Bonus Boss Vanitas Remnant]] in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Final Mix'' has more attacks than the original, all of which {{One Hit Kill}}s you if you did not set your abilities up right.* TimeTravel: It's [[ImpliedTrope implied]] that the [[BonusBoss Unknown]] is a time traveler due to its strange "fade into existance" entrance, utilizing a technique that rewinds time to undo a powerful attack inflicted onto it, and the prize for beating it being a Keyblade with a clock motif. [[spoiler:''3D: Dream Drop Distance'' confirms that this is true, as it's Xehanort from the past.]]* TitleDrop: Yen Side muses that Ventus is waiting for his "birth by sleep".** There's another one after 100% completion.* TitleThemeDrop: What is probably the most poignant arrangement of "Dearly Beloved" yet plays during the scene detailed under "SayMyName".* TookALevelInBadass:** A major subplot is King Mickey going from rookie Keyblader to the MemeticBadass we all know and love.** ''All three'' of the main characters.*** Terra: After accepting the darkness in his heart, he gains great strength [[spoiler:but ultimately weakens his heart to the point that Master Xehanort can possess his body. Xehanort thinks that he's won, but Terra [[{{Determinator}} refuses to submit]], [[HeroicWillpower his mind and soul re-animating his suit of armor]] [[UnstoppableRage through hate and anger]]. Terra ([[AnimatedArmor as the Lingering Will]]) then proceeds to ''kick his own ass'' (at this point, Xehanort was theoretically at his ''prime''), and--to this day--is still fighting Master Xehanort for control of his body. His response to when MX [[EvilGloating triumphantly boasts that]] [[CrazyPrepared his grand scheme could take one of several routes]]?. [[ShutUpHannibal A confident smirk.]]]]*** Ven: When he first encounters Vanitas, it's a HopelessBossFight. [[spoiler:The paradigm shifts at endgame, when Vanitas [[CombatPragmatist knocks out an unsuspecting Aqua]] and then decides to [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown go for a deathblow]]. Ven, who was just [[AndIMustScream frozen]] by Master Xehanort earlier, literally ''defrosts himself with his anger'' and shows Vanitas no mercy. During his subsequent BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Ven delivers an absolutely stunning one-two punch of a PatrickStewartSpeech and a TalkToTheFist to Vanitas. More asskicking ensues, with a hyperkinetic battle that causes Ven's Awakening station to shatter, culminating in a zero-g fight where Ven cribs off of Vanitas by D-Linking with him and ultimately [[CurbstompBattle walks all over him]]. And remember, [[PyrrhicVictory Ventus was well aware that Vanitas's defeat would destroy his heart in the process.]]]]*** Aqua: She didn't have as long a route to take, already starting as a Master. Notably, [[spoiler:Aqua uses ThePowerOfFriendship to create a LaserBlade that ''destroys'' the ''[[InfinityPlusOneSword completed]]'' χ-blade. That's the equivalent of cutting through {{Wolverine}}'s [[MadeOfIndestructium adamantium skeleton]] with a ''twig''. She then faces Terra-Xehanort and his Guardian {{familiar}} (beginning the struggle with an [[MamaBear empassionated]] [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya My Name Is Master Aqua]] moment) and ''wins'', her actions temporarily allowing Terra to break free and [[LaserGuidedAmnesia lock away Terra-Xehanort's heart]].]]* TornadoMove: Ventus creates a huge tornado called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Tornado]] that sucks his opponent into the tornado but leaving him vulnerability to upcoming attacks.* TragicHero: [[spoiler:Terra.]]* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The opening movie borrows a few scenes from the original "Birth by sleep" video that played at the end of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII: Final Mix''. This scene is actually of the trio's final confrontation with the ObviouslyEvil Xehanort and Vanitas. How things got to that way, though, and what lies beyond, are thankfully unspoiled.** On the other hand, a few trailers did contain lines from the secret ending, [[spoiler:including the page quote and some descriptions of Sora as the savior of people's hearts]].* TransformationTrinket: The chunks of armour on their shoulders.* TrueFinalBoss: Completing the three scenarios, as well as collecting all the Xehanort Reports, unlocks the Final Episode, [[spoiler:in which Aqua battles Terra-Xehanort]] which in the Final Mix unlocks the Secret Episode [[spoiler:where Aqua fights an "alpha heartless."]]* TsurimeEyes: Aurora's got 'em. So does Terra.* TwoGuysAndAGirl: The above trio, in a parallel to Sora, Riku, and Kairi.* {{Ungrateful Bastard}}s: The Seven Dwarfs in Ventus' story. He saves Snow White's life and is responsible for bringing her to them in the first place, but they ''still'' treat him with scorn and distrust, telling him to get out. By the time Aqua comes around, the time they've spent with Snow White has mellowed them out considerably though (especially Grumpy, as in the original movie.)* UpdatedRerelease: ''[[http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Kingdom_Hearts_Birth_by_Sleep_Final_Mix Birth By Sleep Final Mix]]'', with new bosses, a new Keyblade, and a new epilogue story with Aqua.* UsedToBeASweetKid: Ienzo, Lea, and ''especially'' Isa, which has made several fans wonder why Sa�x's eyes are ''yellow'' in ''358/2'' and ''II''. And where he got the scars...* UselessUsefulSpell: Inverted and reversed, believe it or not. They can affect you, too, but they're more of an annoyance than anything. On the flipside, status effects work for ''quite'' a bit of enemies. It is ''VERY'' easy to destroy enemies with Mini because all you need to do is just stomp on them. Magnet and Zero Gravity are ''very'' easy ways to get the command gauge filled up. And even bosses are affected by status ailments. Ven can put Maleficent to sleep, and Slow or even stop Captain Hook (With Twisted Hours, most reliably). You can use Aeroga to shut down almost ''anyone''. Also, need a breather from Vanitas? No problem--just inflict Sleep or use Zero Gravity on him.* VagueAge: Terra, Aqua, and Ven are never given official ages, unlike Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Though if you take some things into consideration, such as Ventus being physically identically to fifteen-year-old Roxas and information that [[spoiler:Xemnas is about thirty]], it's not that much of a stretch to assume that Ven is fifteen and Terra is nineteen. All we get for Aqua, though, is that she's younger than Terra and older than Ven.* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The Keyblade Graveyard [[spoiler:(though, while it is ominous, it's actually pretty short)]]. Oddly, though, Terra and Ven visit it multiple times for cutscene purposes [[spoiler:(and, in Ven's case, to fight Vanitas the first time)]] before the endgame. However, they don't actually visit the titular graveyard itself, but part of the world surrounding it, which is apparently called "The Badlands".* VillainousBreakdown: The one time Master Xehanort loses his cool, [[spoiler:by all appearances, he's already won, having taken Terra's body. But then a force-field surrounds them, Terra's ''armor'' rises up to face him, and he snaps. "Your body submits, your heart succumbs--''so why does your mind resist?!''"]]* VoicesAreMental: A variation; see this game's section on the "FridgeBrilliance" page.* WakeUpCallBoss:** Vanitas for both Ven and Aqua's stories, who is significantly more difficult than previous enemies. In comparison for the same point in the game, Terra faces Braig, who while [[GetBackHereBoss annoying]], is not nearly as tough to tackle.** The Wheel Master for Terra. Part of its difficulty is the fact that you're generally around level 4 when you fight it, but by figuring out the strategy behind it (no you can't bruteforce it at that level, he's much stronger than you), it teaches the player about timed blocking and dashing out of otherwise unavoidable attacks.* WeaksauceWeakness: The Unknown BonusBoss is very vulnerable to Thunder Surge, a comparatively weak command. What makes it so effective is that it deals multiple hits and makes the user invincible for the duration, allowing the player to not only do decent damage but allowing them to attack through the Unknown's own attacks, potentially halting them, and it hits all around the user so any doppelgangers he has out will be dispersed. And to boot it recharges fairly quick and has fair range for a melee attack. With Terra especially since he's a MightyGlacier and Thunder Surge is a physical command, he can knock off half an HP bar with one Thunder Surge if all potential hits land.* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Once he realizes Ven's importance to Xehanort's scheme, Eraqus tries to kill Ven to save the universe.]]** Also, [[spoiler:Master Xehanort started out this way, but he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumped off the slippery slope]]...]]* WhamShot: If you skipped the intro and have failed to otherwise put two and two together, then it comes when Terra first punches his pauldron in the last cutscene of the Land of Departure. That muscled armour figure in gold and bronze is unmistakable to anyone who has fought the KHII Final Mix Bonus Boss: [[spoiler:''this'' is the poor, unfortunate soul who ends up as the Lingering Will]].* WhamEpisode: The Secret Ending [[spoiler:qualifies as one not just for the game, but turns the whole franchise on its head]].** The Final Mix Secret Ending [[spoiler:qualifies as well... as it shows that the worlds aren't quite destroyed when consumed by the darkness...]]%%%% WhatCouldHaveBeen is trivia and goes on the Trivia page. Please do not add it here.%%* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never see the Dwarf Woodlands' Queen's final fate. Her profile in Aqua's episode implies she met the same end as her movie counterpart, but off screen.* WhatTheHellHero: Happens several times. [[spoiler:During the trio's reunion in Radiant Garden, Aqua calls Terra out for his alliances with Malificent and the Evil Queen.]] Later, when you get to Disney Town, Terra is greeted by this for stepping on the racing track.* WhenTreesAttack:** Ven's Dwarf Woodlands boss, the Mad Treant. It's basically a thematic combination of the evil queen's poison apple and the trees Snow White believed were attacking her.** And also, When Pumpkins Attack, when the Unversed combine with the Wicked Stepfamily's hatred to create a twisted version of the pumpkin carriage that lobs pumpkin bombs. [[spoiler:[[HoistByHisOwnPetard That didn't go well for the Tremaines]]]].* WhosOnFirst: In the Dwarf Woodlands, Terra is hired by the Queen to kill Snow White and bring back her heart in a box. This causes Terra to think that the Queen is also after the Hearts of Light [[DramaticIrony when in reality]], she ''[[BeatStillMyHeart really means her heart,]]'' ''[[NotHyperbole no metaphors]]''. When Terra asks her if she ''is'' after the Hearts of Light, the Queen clearly has no idea what he's talking about and just claims that she had enough of Snow White's light.* WolfpackBoss: The Jellyshade swarm.* WomenAreWiser:** Aqua is the only one of the trio who qualifies to become a Keyblade Master. Ventus is too inexperienced to apply, and Terra [[{{Antihero}} has too much darkness in him]], partially because of circumstances outside of his control. As a further example, take the Deep Space world. Both Terra and Ven have to constantly evade detection by the ship's inhabitants as they clear out unversed and help Experiment 626 (better known as [[Disney/LiloAndStitch Stitch]]) escape, which includes being attacked by the ship's defensive turrets. Aqua, on the other hand, simply walks up to the [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure nice lady in charge]] and explains why she's there. Of course, that could have been just luck; if the Grand Councilwoman wasn't there and it was just [[JerkAss Gantu]] in charge, Aqua would've gotten herself [[TooDumbToLive tossed in the brig even faster than Terra]].** Inverted with Queen Minnie, See DisproportionateRetribution above.* YinYangBomb: [[spoiler:The χ-blade]] can only be created when pure light and pure darkness clash, which is why [[spoiler:Master Xehanort ensures that Ven and Vanitas are set up against each other from the start.]]** During Terra's story, Master Xehanort preaches the virtues of this idea to him, telling him that Eraqus's complete opposition of darkness is as bad as succumbing to darkness, and that the proper way to protect the worlds is to wield both in equal measure. [[spoiler:He's full of crap. He just wants to get Terra to give into the darkness and feeds him this line of thought to encourage him down that road. There may be some truth behind what he's saying, but as they say, the best lies are the ones made out of truth.]]* ZettaiRyouiki: Aqua.[[/folder]]------>''Sad to say, the worlds nearly fell to darkness more than once. But at every turn, that boy arrived with Keyblade in hand to save the day. In fact I would like to believe maybe he can set things right. A boy like him who touches so many hearts, he could open the right door, and save all those people whose lives I managed to ruin. His name is...--->'''[[spoiler: Ansem the Wise]]'''