The introduction of Organization XIII into the Kingdom Hearts franchise created endless possibilities for the continuing of Sora’s story and adventure. Thirteen new, mysterious and tricky villains would harbor new obstacles, worlds, possibilities, and alliances in the universe of Kingdom Hearts. Although having said that even something as fresh and intriguing as these nobodies comes with its set of drawbacks.
Unstoppable Faction Or Not!
I feel that, while the concept of this group is truly original and fantastic, there actually being thirteen living and fighting forces for Sora to confront is a bit of an overkill. The fact that half of the group is eliminated in Chain of Memories alone takes away the danger this once thought unstoppable faction held.
Their deaths, while also blamed on the fact that there was an internal strife within the Organization that led to their defeat as well as Sora’s strength, does not take away from the fact that meeting a new member every other floor of Castle Oblivion was beginning to become repetitive. It had lost its charm and uniqueness after several victories.
Let’s Pull A Roxas
After playing all of the current Kingdom Hearts games, what I feel would have been an interesting concept would be not to have introduced every member. Pull a Roxas, by which I mean, he was the missing member, the rogue. Have the Organization hold thirteen nobodies, but they don’t all have to be in the same place, fighting for the same goal.
Creating conflicts within the conflicts of Marluxia’s band could have spared some of the members and held onto their mysteriousness a bit longer, perhaps even going so far as to not even introduce one or two of the nobodies, or already have some dead at the start. These ideas would have, I feel, helped create more of an impact with the members that Sora did meet and confront and I wouldn’t have just groaned and complained about having to stop what I was doing to fight another Organization XIII member.
Instead, I would have been much more excited, such as when Sora is first introduced to these black cloaked figures and I thought that Kingdom Hearts couldn’t possibly get any cooler.
So What’s The Up Side
It’s not all negative though, when it comes to the Organization. Linking the group to the antagonist of the first game was genius but introducing those like Roxas and Axel was a truly awesome. These two give sympathy to the group, make them human, in a sense. Not all of the members are out to destroy Kingdom Hearts, the keyblade and Sora, there are those like Axel, who mirrors the struggle of Sora in trying to find his best friend.
Axel creates problems for our heroes, but he is a conflicted character, desperately in search of his only friend, Roxas, and that leaves Sora with confused feelings towards Organization XIII, good drama for any role playing game.
Final Words
I love the Organization and I feel that they fit into the world well, even adding a bit more darkness to it, since Sora is older and it’s necessary to up the danger for any sequel. Organization XIII is still being explored with the soon to be released 358/2 Days and this game is looking to promise more development with the many characters as well as the introduction of a new one.
Oh and a big thank you to allzquiet for the image used in this article.