Kingdom Heats Re: Melody of Memory

"I won't let him be alone, not for a second longer. I'm going to look for him."

― Kairi

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a 2020 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows.

It is the fourteenth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series. The story takes place after Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind and features Kairi as the main protagonist as she traverses through new worlds in an effort to find a clue regarding Sora's wherabouts, while she explores the memories she lost after Xehanort cast her to Destiny Islands.

Premise
Kairi, feeling responsible for Sora's fate & driven by her love for him, sets out on a journey to - hopefully - bring him home. She travels various Disney worlds searching for clues to Sora’s whereabouts, growing in strength & skill along the way – eventually, she ends up searching her own heart to recover the memories of what Xehanort did to her and being sent to the Islands.

Her arc would be centered around her ‘uselessness’. She feels as though her training was all for naught. She is in pain because she couldn't keep her promise to Sora, so she sneaks off on her own quest to find him and redeem herself. The overall concept is that memories are ‘forgotten, but not lost’ – you can get flashes of things you might not recognize but are somehow still familiar. After certain worlds, Kairi unlocks a forgotten memory from her past.

I like the idea of the game’s theme being music related and would like to expand upon that as well. As well as a musical Command Style called Melody’s Chord, the enemies in the game make everything around you sound ‘mute’, your keyblade makes musical crashes when attacks land similar to Symphony of Sorcery in DDD, and when Kairi unlocks a hidden memory, it’s the music note game that’s featured in the actual MoM.

Worlds

 * Dive to The Heart
 * Mysterious Tower
 * Destiny Islands
 * Fields of Bravery (The Sword in the Stone)
 * Fated Highlands (Brave)
 * Game Central Station (Wreck-It Ralph)
 * Symphonic Forest (Fantasia)
 * Twilight Town
 * Montunui (Moana)
 * Wastelands (Epic Mickey)
 * Land of The Dead (Coco)
 * Radiant Garden
 * World of Memories
 * Final World
 * Quadratum

Growth Path
The player can choose their growth path in the Dive to the Heart. The first set of options are Wisdom, Vitality, and Balance, with the first focusing on MP, the second on HP, and the third focusing on both HP and MP equally.

The second set of options are Guardian, Warrior, and Mystic, with the first being focused on Defense, the second on Attack, and the third on Magic.

Combat Features
Her playstyle will be the same as it was in Re Mind, with the more brute force take; Her barrier block, the Seven Hearts command, Heart of A Princess shotlock and a dive attack. I also would like to add more things to make her playstyle a little more refreshing / unique. I want her to have a Command Style, similar to Rhythm Mixer from BBS, called Melody’s Chord -- A musical Command Style that uses rhythmic sounds to attack enemies. As well as a light version of ‘Rage Form’ called ‘Pure Form’ — Though this could only be triggered during low HP and MP. This ‘Pure Form’ can stun enemies upon transforming; Its movements are mostly leaping and skipping. It’s faster than Anti-Sora and when dodge-rolling you turn to white sparkles. This form uses mainly acrobatic / ballet-based attacks, runs up walls and can ‘surf’ on her keyblade.

Kairi's spells consist of Waterga, Firaga, Thundaga, Curaga, Sandga, Flowerga, Sparkga, and Holy.


 * Sandga works like quicksand and traps enemies in palce.
 * Flowerga inflicts the target with poison and their HP will gradually deplete.
 * Sparkga summons rings of revolving rainbow crystals that deal light damage to enemies.
 * Holy sends pillars of light bursting from the ground and causing damage to everything in range.

Travel
Kairi obviously doesn’t have a Gummi Ship, nor does she have Keyblade Armor or the ability to use Corridors of Darkness. I did a lot of thought as to how she can travel other worlds alone and liked the idea of the Star Shard. However, Miraclekid92 on deviantart took this idea and far surpassed what I was thinking. The concept would be a ‘Space Sailor‘ type vehicle, based off the Solar Surfer from Treasure Planet. It has a Star Shard sitting on the front that allows it to travel. My main idea from where it comes from is, she made it! Have it something she was working on herself back at home on Destiny Islands. “Sora, let’s take the raft and go—just the two of us!”

After she gets the Space Sailor and realizes it cannot work on its own, she would steal the Star Shard from Yen Sid. The Star Shard works in a mysterious way – it’s supposed to take you ‘where you want to be the most,’ however, if the user does not know how to control the shard, it activates its power randomly and the traveler never knows where they will land. I imagine when you go to world from world, you ‘surf’ along rhythmically while attacking and avoiding enemies. The best way to describe it would be the SoS Reality Shift in DDD.

Enemies
So, obviously, Heartless are no longer wandering and attacking worlds, nor are there any Nobodies or Unversed left. So this game would have to have a different enemy type — No̷̤͑ise.

These are obviously from TWEWY. They would typically be shaped like an animal or creature (shark, bear, dragon, etc.) but I would go for a very abstract design. Visually, they would look like glitches in the world, monstrous entities with a mysterious origin that look like they don’t belong. They teleport around, attacking in quick, swift motions and act very primal, similar to the Dark Hide from BBS. When I picture them, I imagine their design a mix of Nightmares and Unversed.

While they’re essentially just glitches, they have a strong physical presence in the real world, capable of influencing people's thoughts, resulting in rash decisions and negative emotions on the victim's behalf. They can possess people, electronics, machinery, etc. Unlike Heartless or Nobodies, they cannot be controlled.

As Kairi travels from world to world, she starts to suspect these creatures must be a sign of Sora, somehow. As the game goes on, she discovers the creatures don’t show up until she does. Is she following them, or are they following her?

Eventually it will be revealed that these enemies are ‘spirits’ from Quadratum; evil projections of Sora’s thoughts. The more Sora thinks of Kairi in Quadratum, the more the No̷̤͑ise are attracted to her.