About FF characters.
It did come as a bit of a shock when on this very forum I've heard people taking the FF characters situation so seriously, and looking back I kinda reacted badly due to how disconnected from my own personal feelings it was.
I had no prior knowledge of FF when I first played KH1, so that was whatever. I played all first 10 chapters by the time KH II came around, and I've never felt any love for the FF chars in that game. If anything my knowledge of the original versions only worsen the take KH took.
And it speaks volumes that, after finishing KH III on my own, I had to watch a stream of the game elsewhere and read a random comment saying "So where are the FF characters?" to finally take notice that they weren't in.
I don't... really have a fluid answer because I think this debate goes to variosu places, so I'll do a list of points:
- I think in KH1 Leon and the gang were important as heck. The people who explained Keyblade and Keyholes and all that stuff, had ties to Hollow Bastion which was a pretty relevant spot, had the "our hearts will connect us again" moment (so important it's an unskippable cutscene lol), and in general are the HQ people Sora always comes back to when it's time to regroup and analyze the situation. That other characters could've done what Leon and the gang did, that they could've done even more and that OTHER important stuff happens without them doesn't really disprove any of this.
Tidus Wakka and Selphie are cameo fodder. Cloud too.
- In KH II the commitee is an in-between. They DO feel like they don't belong into the main conflict and that now that Nobodies and even crazier anime fights are involved they are out of their jurisdiction. And they are less present in main story conversation unless they involve what concerns them directly (Ansem and the town). Riku, Kairi, Roxas, the artificial Kingdom Hearts... none of that is tied to them.
Still that doesn't necessarily means they're at the lowest level of fodder. I think this is ultimately the weak point of this whole discussion, there's not just black and white to it.
Leon and co. are the secondary plot. Above Disney worlds' self-contained events, and below the whole Organization front of things.
One of the many changes I'd make to KH II was to unite their plotline to Maleficent and Pete's, perhaps having one last confrontation during the last visit to Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden (basically inserting Maleficent in the MCP visit).
Seifer's gang is more fodder. Cloud, Tifa and Sephiroth are too, they are the "Disney story" in that world, a one and done thing with no relations to the rest of the game.
- This regards FF in the past. Now, does KH III still work without them?
I mean, yes? But that was amply demonstrated by previous KH games. You can have a main story with only main characters and Disney worlds and it works.
But that's the thing, this only proves, well, this. It only demonstrates that you CAN do things this way, not that you MUST.
Like, if this is about arguing that Final Fantasy makes Kingdom Hearts then sorry chief, that might just not be it. At the same time I also don't feel like standing proud for demonstrating Final Fantasy isn't necessary. Many things could be removed from the games without fundamentally breaking them or what they tell, doesn't mean it should happen.
So it goes like this for me regarding Final Fantasy rep:
KH1: important
KH II: B-plot
Onwards: not even present/a cameo in Coded
Right now with KH III we're in the third slot, but if some would like to go back to the second or even first tier of relevance then sure. As in, they're free to wish for it and it doesn't come off as weird or unjustified to me.
Not because Final Fantasy absolutely MAKES Kingdom Hearts, but simply because it was a component of previous games, so there are basis for its comeback.
Whether it's still possible to write them in major roles despite the crazy anime turns the series took, I feel like that's a personal judgement.
On one hand this is a new saga so maybe a fresh start, on the other Luxu ands the Foretellers still give me an "end of Naruto Shippuden" vibe, so it might be though.
Lexaeus: "And then there's Verum Rex. Who knows what that one will bring to the table."
Thanks, Lexaeus.
This whole thing feels like Kairi to me. Some want her to get all she can get, because they feel like she has potential and isn't superficial or a waste. Some think her time has passed and we need to move on. And others yet argue she was never important or good to begin with.
That doesn't mean that if you think Kairi is irrelevant then you also need to think the same for FF or vice versa: anyone will stan what they feel the most, and there's nothing wrong with that.
