Kingdom Hearts Online

Kingdom Hearts Online is an MMORPG set in the Disney-Final Fantasy themed world of Kingdom Hearts. Set about twelve years after the main story arc, it follows the exploits of the students of the Radiant Guardian Keyblade Academy and the rise of both Nobodies, Heartless, and a new faction of foes, the Amnesia.

Setting
Kingdom Hearts Online takes place in the same world as the rest of the series, a multiverse-like collective of worlds based on both Final Fantasy and Disney worlds (it should be noted that in all of these worlds, time has progressed proportionately since the previous story arc.) The main center of this domain is Radiant Garden, or more specifically, the Radiant Guardian Keyblade Academy, the first major institution for Keyblade wielders since Birth By Sleep. Built on the ruins of Ansem's old castle, as well as the castle used by Malificent, the school serves as a hub world of sorts, for students to get oriented before engaging missions.

Gameplay
As an MMORPG, Kingdom Hearts Online has many aspects to it unique from the other installations in the series. For one, the character is almost completely customizable, complete with special clothing, settings, and even weaponry. Another unique feature is the Class system, where players can assume classes that grant them special abilities or form shifts, as well as special fighting styles (Paladins and Warriors use a traditional broadsword type style, Samurai wield slimmer keyblades and employ moves seen in Kendo and Ken-Gi Aikido, and Shinobi wield a pair of shorter keyblades like Eskrima Kali sticks.)

The massively multiplayer world in which KHO take place also promotes teamwork, and party creation in the form of "Heart Bonding". This will allow players to work together to take on towering bosses too difficult for lone players, as well as grant assistance to one another, with sets of new support and team moves specifically designed for the game.

The most notable of this game's features is the possibility of falling to darkness and becoming a Nobody or a Heartless. If a player falls, and is not revived by teammates, he/she will have to take the form of a "Guide Lantern", and return to the player's felled form before darkness takes over.

Nobody/Heartless Gameplay
Once corrupt by darkness, the player is introduced to a menu not unlike the first Character Creation menu, where they select whether they become a Nobody, or a Heartless. From this point, the player is remade as an enemy with slightly less experience, and has to move back from a generic enemy (like Dusks or Neoshadows), to more human and unique forms.

Whereas RGKA students fulfill missions to defend Kingdom Hearts and mantain order, the antagonist forces' missions are fashioned to do almost the exact opposite; to obtain Kingdom Hearts to further their own goals. In more intermediate levels, this may even lead RGKA players, and Nobodies or Heartless players in PvP combat.

Story
As an MMORPG, little of the story is present, besides the background of the Kingdom Hearts world. As the players are free to go out and explore the world, going so far to make their own smaller stories in their clashes against one another, the story is primarily to set the stage for the game itself.

The RGKA
Built some time between the end of Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts Online, the RGKA took the foundation of the same castle where Sora faced Ansem for the first time, and refashioned it into a benevolent institution to train the next generation of Keyblade wielders. Taking promising young wielders, many of them still scattered refugees from worlds claimed by Heartless invasions, the RGKA wasted no time in training them to keep order in the worlds. In this school, Sora, Riku, and Kairi serve as guides and teachers, indirectly helping to hone the students' skills through Virtual Reality combat simulations and magic training, etc..

Rise of the Heartless
Banished from Radiant Garden for seemingly eternity, Malificent and her cohorts begin work on corrupting the worlds once again, this time from a Heartless hewn from a world itself. This world, "The Black Hole", is part of their grand scheme, a quick and convenient way to devour worlds with a hundred times the speed of a Heartless insurrection. Meanwhile, many of the Heartless begin to display bizarre changes, becoming similar to the Ansem Heartless in their humanoid form and sentient thought. Rather than being threatened, Malificent instead tasks these new Heartless with helping to destroy rebellion on worlds being prepared for Heartless consumption.

The Nobodies' New Order
Meanwhile, in the snow covered ruins of the Castle That Never Was, the vestigial stuff of Riku's being (a ghostly entity lost while Riku was under the control of the Ansem Heartless, and behaving in the strange way previously seen in Roxas) joins the remnants of the Nobodies' last traces of willpower to become Xiruk, essentially Xemnas' successor. Using the last remaining ruins of the Tower of Memories, and leftover data from the Replica program, Xiruk manages to creates replicas of nine of the original Organization (exempting Xemnas, Marluxia, Xion, Axel, and Roxas), and begins trying to enable these replicas to all wield Keyblades to speed the unlocking of Kingdom Hearts, all the while trying to fill the last three positions to fully remake the Organization, and creating himself as a complete and stronger Nobody by tormenting Riku to turn back to darkness.

The Amnesia
Serving a small role in this game are the Amnesia. A mysterious new threat to the worlds' safety, and a common foe to everyone, the Amnesia are more or less a cameo compared to the main arc focusing on the three way rivalry between the RGKA, the Heartless, and the Nobodies.