Well, here’s the recap for the first half of the game.
Kingdom Hearts IV takes place three years after the conclusion of Kingdom Hearts III, after the defeat of Master Xehanort, the main antagonist from Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. At the end of the game, Sora and Kairi end up on Destiny Islands, alone. Riku had disappeared into darkness after the defeat of Xehanort. They vowed not to return to the island until Riku was with them. Unbeknownst to them, a sealed letter had just washed up along the shores of Destiny Islands.
Flash-forward three years into the future, Sora and Kairi are now twenty-somethings, still on Destiny Islands. One particular night, a meteor shower reigns down, over the islands, engulfing the two in a dark fog. When they re-emerge, they find that they are in Traverse Town, the first world Sora had visited six years ago.
Only now, Traverse Town had been completely abandoned after all of its residents returned to their original worlds. Then, the tutorial for the game begins. Afterwards, Sora and Kairi arrive at the former wizard, Merlin’s Mystical House, where they find King Mickey, Donald Duck, Goofy, Jiminy Cricket and Pluto. From one of the wizard’s bookshelves, Mickey reveals a book and tells them about the entire adventure that will await them.
The King tells them all about the enemies they will face, alongside the Heartless: the Unknowns. An Unknown is a creature which lacks a heart, yet still has a soul and a conscience. Their conscience gives them fierce instincts, even though it seems they lack any brain power.
King Mickey continues to explain by saying that this new species was all created by Maleficent three years ago, at the destruction of Radiant Garden. When Merlin risked his life to save Sora, Maleficent obtained the power of Merlin’s conscience, used her dark powers and resulted in the creation of these new enemies. However, these creatures turned against Maleficent and a new leader commanded their onslaught, along with a group of followers. Ever since then, Maleficent had gone into hiding, her whereabouts, unknown.
Now, the task for Sora, Donald and Goofy is to travel through the worlds, preventing any damage done to Kingdom Hearts, which is safely stored in the bowels of Disney Castle for the time being. They must protect and seal the keyhole of each new world they will encounter on this visit. They must also defeat the Heartless, the Unknown and their leader, and restore peace to all the worlds again. Jiminy Cricket travels alongside them, to chronicle their journey. King Mickey, Kairi and Pluto stay at Merlin’s House, where they continue their research about these strange and unsettling creatures. Sora, Donald and Goofy are excited to begin their next adventure and head towards the Gummi Ship!
They then return to Radiant Garden, which had been restored after its destruction three years ago. The Marketplace is hopping with several new shops. There’s even a new transit system, called the Electric Transit System, which, although frequent with breakdowns, is a great way to travel across the world. They reunite with the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, which includes Cid, Leon, Cloud, Aerith, Yuffie, Rinoa, Yuna, Rikku and Paine.
The town has slowly been falling under a strict governmental reign. Self-appointed governor, Rufus Shinra and his head assistant, Heidegger, have risen to power and are governing over Radiant Garden. During the reconstruction, they were supportive of the townspeople, but afterwards, they turned against them and used the townspeople for their own success. They reside in the new Radiant Garden Research Facility Center, which is located where Ansem’s Castle formerly stood.
On their way to the Facility Center, they meet a mysterious being, called Red XIII, who had been brought to Radiant Garden for unknown reasons. He also later joins the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee. Later, they meet Tifa working at the Research Center, as an apprentice to Rufus Shinra.
Then, their adventure throughout the Gummi Ship routes takes them through several different world, both familiar and new, sealing several keyholes along the way.
· Alpine Village (Pinocchio)
· Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) (Keyhole Sealed)
· 100 Acre Wood (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh)
· Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland) (Keyhole Sealed)
· Olympus Coliseum (Hercules)
· Mysterious Tower (Keyhole Sealed)
· The Land of Symphony (Fantasia/Fantasia 2000) (Keyhole Sealed)
· Monstropolis (Monsters Inc.) (Keyhole Sealed)
· Dark Rainforest (The Jungle Book)
· Port Royal (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End) (Keyhole Sealed)
· The Royal City (Enchanted) (Keyhole Sealed)
Sora, Donald and Goofy find themselves returning to Traverse Town. Once there, they find that the town is still deserted as ever. They explore the town, seemingly only encountering Heartless and Unknown.
They arrive at Merlin’s House, where they reunited with Kairi, King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Daisy and Pluto. They inform them all of the Unknown and what they’re plans are. King Mickey says to Sora, Donald and Goofy that the Unknown must be stopped at all costs. Sora goes out to investigate further, with Kairi.
As Sora and Kairi are finally alone together, they are about to express their feelings, but a large tremble shakes the town and a mysterious man appears, followed by four others. A large dark orb sends whirling, rough winds throughout the town, causing buildings to tear, the ground, ripping, the entire world becoming morphed and destroyed. Donald and Goofy come in just in time to rescue Sora from the overflow of darkness. Just as they’re about to escape, Kairi hands Sora her good luck charm. The Gummi Ship blasts off, leaving the fate of Traverse Town unknown.
The Unknown have accomplished their goal of acquiring Traverse Town as their new home base. The Unknown consist of the altered selves of several people who have turned into Heartless. Sarox (Sora), Raixik (Kairi), Leax (Axel), Xisa (Saix), and their currently unknown leader.
Sora, Donald and Goofy later arrived in Radiant Garden, where the Restoration Committee informed them all of how Rufus Shinra and his henchman, Heidegger, kidnapped Red XIII and was using him for their own purposes. Without a second thought, they decided to save him. Meanwhile, at the Research Facility Center, Tifa discovered that Rufus and Heidegger was using Red XIII to produce a new breed of monsters that could take over the world. She quickly left to find Sora and the others.
Sora, Donald and Goofy and the Restoration Committee successfully infiltrated the Facility Center and found Red XIII’s whereabouts. However, Heidegger blocked their path. After a brief struggle, Heidegger had been killed and Red XIII was set free, leaving them to escape the building. Rufus arrived on the scene and seeing his missing experiment and hisdead henchman threw him into a rage.
Upon leaving the Facility Center, the team encountered Sarox, Sora’s Unknown. After a battle, Sarox retreated, sending Sora and the others after him. In the meanwhile, Tifa boarded the ETS, as Rufus hijacked the cart control system. Rufus beat them to the Marketplace, where they made quick work of him, before following Sarox in hot pursuit.
Rufus continued to chase after the team, by boarding the ETS. Simultaneously, Sarox arrived into the Marketplace, approached by Aerith and Rinoa. The transit cart was moving so fast, that it was sent spiraling off its tracks, into the Marketplace, destroying everything. In the wakening of this devastating incident, Rufus Shinra, Tifa, Sarox and Cid had all been killed.
The following day, the majority of the Marketplace had been cleared out, leaving them the space to rebuild. The entire town hung with sadness, but it also meant new hope for the future of Radiant Garden, which is now a ruler-less land. The people of Radiant Garden are now free from dictatorship and it can only mean a brighter future for all of the residents and the world of Radiant Garden.
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Well, that's where we left off with the game! We still have the second half, which will all be wrapped up by th end of May. If you have any other questions or statements, don't hesitate to ask.