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Oracle Spockanort

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I feel like CoM created the potential for so many good-to-great ships. Riku/Namine, Riku/Repliku, Namine/Repliku. Not surprising considering it's one of the best-written in the series, it fosters your emotion for all those characters so well. I'll be honest that I was happier about Repliku and the other CoM characters being brought back over most of the other returning characters in 3, lol. I wouldn't be surprised if Repliku shows up again eventually in some way.
I liked them coming back too and I feel like they deserve some screen time the most.

But if Repliku comes back, I hope it’s with a drastic design change.
 

Elysium

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I don't know, I sort of like having a character there that looks the way Riku used to since the real Riku has been changed so much, having lost both the long hair and the cyan eyes. That said, something about Repliku's hair hung weird in the new graphics compared to design of the series pre-0.2. Kind of reminds me of how someone joked about Marluxia's hair in KH2's opening FMV looking like it would stink.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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I don't know, I sort of like having a character there that looks the way Riku used to since the real Riku has been changed so much, having lost both the long hair and the cyan eyes. That said, something about Repliku's hair hung weird in the new graphics compared to design of the series pre-0.2. Kind of reminds me of how someone joked about Marluxia's hair in KH2's opening FMV looking like it would stink.
That’s mainly why I want the change. The way they render him in the new engine is not great.
 

Face My Fears

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Because the KHIII ending was about Riku Replica and Naminè, not Riku, even though he chose to portray it like some shoujo manga nonsense that had absolutely no purpose. And...no. Like, why does Riku need a love interest? He's fine single, he's happy single, and that's perfectly okay. I cannot comprehend the insistence to throw him some girl. Someone halp me understand.

Granted, the whole Riku Replica and Naminè thing is equally nonsensical and one-sided. The girl bears no mention of him for...games, and I mean, games, and suddenly he matters to her and wants to...see...him? Not to mention the brainwashing.

Ugh, whatever. Nomura just fucked up with Naminè in all types of ways. And people think Kairi has it bad.





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As for AkuRoku, I never personally liked it, I felt Axel was a bit of a creep with his behavior concerning a 14-15 year old, and it was in the era of immense yaoi fangirls who for the most part, liked male/male ships to fulfill their fetish and fantasy. Not that it applies to all. If people still ship it, whatever. That's their prerogative. And it isn't canon. But it was always sus to me, unlike the SoRiku ship where they are within proper age range and finding one another wasn't portrayed as so...needy. Sometimes you gotta let people be. A lot of fans jumped ship and I hardly see it anymore.
Who said that Riku needs a love interest? I just said that a ship I would like to see is Riku/Namine. The KH3 ended was about Riku Replica/Namine, but that doesn't mean that Namine can't feel something for Riku. He is the character that she spent the most time with besides Ansem The Wise and the Organization.

Also, the way you responded makes it seem like Riku's been in endless relationships and that's all his character is about. The fact is that the KH series has NEVER had an actual romantic relationship confirmed for the original characters. It's one of very few franchises that I can think of that never had original character romances. Riku being in a relationship and NOT being obsessed with Sora endlessly might actually be an interesting progression for his character, especially after his whole darkness arc in the Dark Seeker Saga. Riku needs something fresh for his character, as was evident by how he didn't do much in KH3.
 

palizinhas

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I just want Riku to have someone to interact with besides Mickey and Sora. I don't care if it's romantic, but he just needs more relationships.

And Riku and Naminé had some interesting interactions in CoM. I don't think the idea of them dating is bad in and of itself, but I'd need it to not be some kind of "Riku received Repliku's feelings for Naminé and now he loves her too", I'd want it to be about THEM, not about Repliku.

I don't think it's happening though lol. At least let Riku make friends with Yozora's boys or something. Just let him expand his horizons and I'm happy.
 

Face My Fears

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I just want Riku to have someone to interact with besides Mickey and Sora. I don't care if it's romantic, but he just needs more relationships.

And Riku and Naminé had some interesting interactions in CoM. I don't think the idea of them dating is bad in and of itself, but I'd need it to not be some kind of "Riku received Repliku's feelings for Naminé and now he loves her too", I'd want it to be about THEM, not about Repliku.

I don't think it's happening though lol. At least let Riku make friends with Yozora's boys or something. Just let him expand his horizons and I'm happy.
Yeah I would hate for Riku to "get Repliku's feelings for Namine", that would be crap writing. Honestly, I want Riku and Namine to share more scenes together - even if it's not romantically - simply because if you get connected to Riku, that means you're going to get screentime and I just want Namine to do more. At this point, Namine's sole purpose/storyline now is to wait and get an on-screen "thank you" from Sora. Ugh.

By all that is good in the world... I'm hoping that Namine is somehow used in Quadratum with Riku. Maybe she is able to communicate with Riku in Quadratum or maybe she can see what he sees, but can't communicate with him, so she can sort of be the team's radar for what is happening with Riku? If there's anyone that could fill that role with a poor explanation as to why, it's Namine since her powers are so vague anyway.

On a side note, I can see Terra and Aqua becoming friends with Riku. I would love to see Aqua and Riku take on a leadership role for the team (basically give them the scenes that they would normally give Yen Sid). That way you can see them strategize together and maybe argue about methods.
 

*TwilightNight*

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Who said that Riku needs a love interest? I just said that a ship I would like to see is Riku/Namine. The KH3 ended was about Riku Replica/Namine, but that doesn't mean that Namine can't feel something for Riku. He is the character that she spent the most time with besides Ansem The Wise and the Organization.

Also, the way you responded makes it seem like Riku's been in endless relationships and that's all his character is about. The fact is that the KH series has NEVER had an actual romantic relationship confirmed for the original characters. It's one of very few franchises that I can think of that never had original character romances. Riku being in a relationship and NOT being obsessed with Sora endlessly might actually be an interesting progression for his character, especially after his whole darkness arc in the Dark Seeker Saga. Riku needs something fresh for his character, as was evident by how he didn't do much in KH3.

That's incredibly false as well and an inaccurate account based on assumption. 358/2 Days basically debunks this by showing us Day 255. Riku and Naminè legit just had a business meeting to update him as to what was going on and they greeted each other as if they have not seen each other for a while. It's pretty clear they weren't and never were attached at the hip and didn't interact with one another. Otherwise, there would be no reason for Riku to catch up with her personally. Working under Diz does not mean they spent a year in one another's company. He spent more time galloping off with Xion for...I forgot how many days. Not to mention the whole conversation with Naminè was cordial and about Sora, which was what he cared about (complete contrast to how she talked to and exchanged words with Roxas). Literally no chemistry. And suddenly for there to be any out of nowhere doesn't make any sense. Now Riku's off looking for Sora while Naminè is chilling in Twilight Town.

The comment was concerning your last sentence about Nomura maybe adding or keeping another girl in store for him in Quadratum(?). He does not need that. He doesn't have to have a female created for him to be a love interest. He can be happily single.

Both Kairi and Riku revolve around Sora. I always find it unfair that Kairi got flack for that. Yet Riku also had an individual arc about overcoming his guilt, mistakes, and darkness that had nothing to do with Sora specifically.

Naminé's "SPECIAL CONNECTION" to Repliku: never mentioning him a single time after CoM.

Guy didn't even get to be part of the "people who are hurt and need to be saved" in coded despite apparently being adrift in the Realm of Darkness the whole time.
Exactly! Lol. And now from left field it matters? What.

See the thing that bothers me so much about this is that Naminé still never actually says any of this herself. Sora kinda just tells her? (and he would know this.. how exactly??) and Nomura says it in an interview. The only characters Naminé herself has expressed any interest in being with/around are Sora, Roxas and (kinda) Kairi. Repliku/Naminé has always come across incredibly one-sided to me (he has a more heartfelt farewell with Sora in CoM ffs, I don't even recall him having a proper conversation with Naminé let alone an emotional goodbye to her) yet so many people just accept that it (and by extension Rikunami) is canon.

I think I spoke about this relentlessly in terms of Nomura and his sexism. I'll refrain from derailing the conversation, but people talk a lot about Kairi's mistreatment in KHIII -- Naminè is up there with her. Wasn't in the opening, didn't return until the very end, and when she did, she was relegated to be a prop for closing Riku Replica's arc instead of her own with people she actually did care about, like Sora, Kairi, and Roxas. No, it had to be about Riku Replica. And Nomura had the audacity to have Sora speak for her without any basis or clue as to how he even got this information. What, is he a prophet now? He has clairvoyance? He just "magically" knows someone is going to pick her up later on? Dude doesn't even remember Repliku. Hell, Naminè was given no chance to express her sentiments about it at all. She was just "thanks Sora". Because it wasn't her that mattered, it was Riku Replica.

It was so badly done, it was so badly executed, and it's an example of the travesty of the character writing in this game. And Nomura simultaneously romanticized brainwashing. Oh look, how sweet, how cute, you can feel da speshful connection~ that was never mentioned once in the games between the victim and his brainwasher. Does Repliku even really know Naminè? No. What matters is that it's "real" to him...as a result of being brainwashed.

It...it just boggles the mind.

Repliku legit got more effort than Naminè did, and he's an off side character. It's nearly an insult.
 

Zackarix

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Wasn't there a line in an Ultimania or character guide saying that Namine is living with Xion post-KH3?
 

palizinhas

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Wasn't there a line in an Ultimania or character guide saying that Namine is living with Xion post-KH3?
The Character Files had something like that, yeah. Unclear whether those are even canon, but as there isn't anything saying otherwise I think everyone has been assuming that yes, Nami's in Twilight Town.

They are seriously running out of space in that clocktower if that's the case.
 

Zackarix

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"Two!?" —Axel, to Roxas :LOL:
This is why Namine didn't play a part in Melody of Memory despite the fact that it would have made more sense for her to be involved. Dating both Roxas and Xion is taking up all of her free time.
 

palizinhas

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Riku's gonna call Roxas for help in Quadratum but Roxas's gummiphone will be on mute because he's busy spending all of Isa's money on an one year anniversary gift to his girlfriends.
 

Elysium

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That's incredibly false as well and an inaccurate account based on assumption. 358/2 Days basically debunks this by showing us Day 255. Riku and Naminè legit just had a business meeting to update him as to what was going on and they greeted each other as if they have not seen each other for a while. It's pretty clear they weren't and never were attached at the hip and didn't interact with one another. Otherwise, there would be no reason for Riku to catch up with her personally. Working under Diz does not mean they spent a year in one another's company. He spent more time galloping off with Xion for...I forgot how many days. Not to mention the whole conversation with Naminè was cordial and about Sora, which was what he cared about (complete contrast to how she talked to and exchanged words with Roxas). Literally no chemistry. And suddenly for there to be any out of nowhere doesn't make any sense. Now Riku's off looking for Sora while Naminè is chilling in Twilight Town.
I think there's enough basis off of the period Sora is asleep for Riku to be shipped with Namine or Xion (or Roxas for that matter). Nearly all of Namine's actions revolve around Sora the same as Riku and I disagree that Riku and Namine lack chemistry. I thought they had an interesting dynamic in their interactions at the end of CoM anyway. SoRiku will never happen in canon; I think there are much, much worse ships than Riku / Namine. I'd say I like the idea of that couple more than SoKai really. At this point, I feel like there's a greater likelihood Roxas would end up paired with Xion in canon if any character.
 

pastel.goblin

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This is why Namine didn't play a part in Melody of Memory despite the fact that it would have made more sense for her to be involved.
I'm still so salty it wasn't a Nami game. It would've fit so perfect, the name referencing CoM, Nami's powers essentially being made for it, her connection to Kairi. It would've worked around the NaMiNé CaN't HaVe a GaMe cOz ShE dOeSn'T fIgHt rubbish, with the rhythm stuff being a representation of her powers. But nah, magic memory computers. She should've been the one guiding Sora through the Guardians hearts in Re:Mind too.
 

Zackarix

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I'm still so salty it wasn't a Nami game. It would've fit so perfect, the name referencing CoM, Nami's powers essentially being made for it, her connection to Kairi. It would've worked around the NaMiNé CaN't HaVe a GaMe cOz ShE dOeSn'T fIgHt rubbish, with the rhythm stuff being a representation of her powers. But nah, magic memory computers. She should've been the one guiding Sora through the Guardians hearts in Re:Mind too.
Right‽ And to top it off when you get a bunch of notes in a row it's called a CHAIN! I understand that Kairi is in desperate need of time in the spotlight, but Namine would have made more sense as the narrator than Kairi and Chirithy combined.

I can easily imagine an alternate version of Melody of Memory where the plot is Namine going through the memories of all the main characters in search of clues about what happened to Sora. But even if we keep a similar plot if Namine had been working with Ansem and his apprentices there's no way it would have taken an entire year to recover a single memory.

But to get back on topic, I ship Namine X Plot Relevance.
 

palizinhas

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Honestly, I ship all the girls with plot relevance. Nami and Xion have barely done anything since the game they were introduced in and Kairi and Aqua just got benched through the means of Kairi's Endless Training that Aqua will apparently be stuck in as well.

That added to the fact that Nameless Star is stuck in the Final World, Riku's game has every indication it will be "original female characters will have two lines, one of which is a boy's name" like DDD.
 

Face My Fears

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That's incredibly false as well and an inaccurate account based on assumption. 358/2 Days basically debunks this by showing us Day 255. Riku and Naminè legit just had a business meeting to update him as to what was going on and they greeted each other as if they have not seen each other for a while. It's pretty clear they weren't and never were attached at the hip and didn't interact with one another. Otherwise, there would be no reason for Riku to catch up with her personally. Working under Diz does not mean they spent a year in one another's company. He spent more time galloping off with Xion for...I forgot how many days. Not to mention the whole conversation with Naminè was cordial and about Sora, which was what he cared about (complete contrast to how she talked to and exchanged words with Roxas). Literally no chemistry. And suddenly for there to be any out of nowhere doesn't make any sense. Now Riku's off looking for Sora while Naminè is chilling in Twilight Town.

The comment was concerning your last sentence about Nomura maybe adding or keeping another girl in store for him in Quadratum(?). He does not need that. He doesn't have to have a female created for him to be a love interest. He can be happily single.

Both Kairi and Riku revolve around Sora. I always find it unfair that Kairi got flack for that. Yet Riku also had an individual arc about overcoming his guilt, mistakes, and darkness that had nothing to do with Sora specifically.


Exactly! Lol. And now from left field it matters? What.



I think I spoke about this relentlessly in terms of Nomura and his sexism. I'll refrain from derailing the conversation, but people talk a lot about Kairi's mistreatment in KHIII -- Naminè is up there with her. Wasn't in the opening, didn't return until the very end, and when she did, she was relegated to be a prop for closing Riku Replica's arc instead of her own with people she actually did care about, like Sora, Kairi, and Roxas. No, it had to be about Riku Replica. And Nomura had the audacity to have Sora speak for her without any basis or clue as to how he even got this information. What, is he a prophet now? He has clairvoyance? He just "magically" knows someone is going to pick her up later on? Dude doesn't even remember Repliku. Hell, Naminè was given no chance to express her sentiments about it at all. She was just "thanks Sora". Because it wasn't her that mattered, it was Riku Replica.

It was so badly done, it was so badly executed, and it's an example of the travesty of the character writing in this game. And Nomura simultaneously romanticized brainwashing. Oh look, how sweet, how cute, you can feel da speshful connection~ that was never mentioned once in the games between the victim and his brainwasher. Does Repliku even really know Naminè? No. What matters is that it's "real" to him...as a result of being brainwashed.

It...it just boggles the mind.

Repliku legit got more effort than Naminè did, and he's an off side character. It's nearly an insult.
The whole reason I even stated that Riku may find a female love interest in Quadratum was me trying to understand Nomura's choice to go out of his way to debunk/shut down Riku/Namine in the KH3/ReMIND ending. I wasn't saying that I want that to happen, I was just trying to understand why Nomura felt the need to definitively shut down Riku/Namine.

And you can make as many assumptions as you want about Riku/Namine's relationship off of the limited footage that we're shown in Days. That game's focus was on Roxas/Axel/Xion, NOT Riku or Namine. Obviously they will not focus on Riku or Namine's time, unless it's in regards to Roxas/Axel/Xion. No one can say for sure what happened with Riku and Namine pre-KH2 because no one knows. I just think it's way more plausible to think that Riku/Namine/Ansem The Wise spent time together since they had a joint mission, rather than thinking they all stayed far away from each other and only spoke for 5 minutes in regards to the mission/Sora and then avoided each other for a month or two.
 

pastel.goblin

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The whole reason I even stated that Riku may find a female love interest in Quadratum was me trying to understand Nomura's choice to go out of his way to debunk/shut down Riku/Namine in the KH3/ReMIND ending. I wasn't saying that I want that to happen, I was just trying to understand why Nomura felt the need to definitively shut down Riku/Namine.
I can only assume Nomura debunked Rikunami because he was asked and it's just not what he intended with the scene/story, rather than because he's got a new love interest lined up. I know this is the shipping thread but romance is definitely not a thing KH excels at, and I can't really see every character being canonically paired off by the end.
 

Face My Fears

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I can only assume Nomura debunked Rikunami because he was asked and it's just not what he intended with the scene/story, rather than because he's got a new love interest lined up. I know this is the shipping thread but romance is definitely not a thing KH excels at, and I can't really see every character being canonically paired off by the end.
Again, I'll just state that it's odd to me that Nomura went out of his way to change the scene. Even me as a Riku/Namine shipper didn't really make anything out of the end of KH3 except "OMG Riku came to pick up Namine", I didn't investigate closer and think certain physical/eye movements or whatever confirmed Riku/Namine. So even with the change in ReMIND, I'm still believing in Riku/Namine because they go out of their way to show Riku coming out to pick up Namine for the ride to the party. If Nomura really wanted to debunk Riku/Namine, he should have redone the scene with the Gummi Ship parked in Radiant Garden and Namine walking out to it - no Riku to greet her.
 
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