This literally just popped into my head while I was making breakfast this morning so it isn't the most fully baked idea but hear me out.
A lot of people have been questioning how Disney properties are going to be represented in the series going forward, especially in one of the future teased titles of Riku heading off to Quadratum. A lot of us are assuming the game is going to be playing exclusively as a solo Riku game as he navigates this new...universe? But I realized that, potentially, the game won't be as completely one-sided as that. At the moment we still don't have any development on what the Foretellers are planning and their role in the upcoming conflict. I have a feeling that, in order to keep up tension, it would make sense to have a simultaneous look at Riku's attempts to find/save Sora as well as having a sense of urgency created by having the Foretellers make a move somehow.
If that is the case, it would make more sense to have the story being a little bit split between Riku doing stuff in Quadratum (with exclusively OC content) and a representative in the "KH universe" developing the Foreteller storyline, which could very likely be seeing the representative heading off to Disney worlds like they usually do. This would allow them to still "include Disney" in the game, while continuing to have an entire unreality universe of potentially non-Disney/FF/Square properties. Basically, Quadratum would become the new "hub world" for the game, but one exclusively visited and explored by Riku (so far).
Now, here's my other thought: I am assuming the representative going to Disney properties is going to be Kairi. Why did I think this? Well, there was a bit of a hanging plot-line in KH3 with the whole "new seven hearts". Kairi is one of them (and still is, as far as we know), but we only know of 3 others, leaving 3 still unaccounted for. What if, for whatever reason, Kairi has to try and use her own light/princess powers/whatever to try and figure out where the other new seven hearts are? Presumably Kairi would be able to tell if another princess had "the light" or not, right? She might be doing this because, in true KH fashion, the baddies are after the princesses. OR maybe the princess light is somehow necessary to rescue Sora, or Stella, or Yozora or any number of people. It's magical Disney princess light, it can do whatever it wants.
If this is the case, we would potentially see Donald and Goofy as companions for Kairi heading off to worlds like Moana, Brave, Princess and the Frog, heck maybe even a Frozen or Tangled revisit just to check in on Anna, Elsa and Rapunzel again while trying to find other princesses. Kairi finally off on her own adventure, and if collecting that light is ultimately going to help Sora or Riku it is obviously something she would be motivated to do.
While I know searching for the princesses could also be a joint venture, (I could certainly see Aqua heading off to Moana) the whole "Donald and Goofy as partners, traveling around to Disney worlds" role would presumably go to Kairi in Sora's absence. TAV never really had Disney "partners" for a significant time, and unless Donald and Goofy are going to be ignored for a while they need to have a replacement partner somewhere. Kairi lost both the other members of her trio so she is a perfect candidate.
So, yeah--I dunno if "find the princesses" is going to be another plot point, but if their light is needed now it would certainly make sense then for Kairi to be in charge of that front. It would be a way for the game to very easily include Disney, with significance to the plot, without even having to sacrifice whatever OC content they have planned for Quadratum because who knows if Disney even exists there. It would just require the game to be split across protagonists again, either DDD style or BBS style-- but if all the Disney is front-loaded on one character I assume a scripted flip back and forth makes way more sense than BBS style of playing one whole side first.
I don't know what I envision TAV and Axel would be up to, but maybe they would be off dealing with Ven's memories somehow. Or meeting up with Lauriam and trying to track down Girl X. Depending on how many playable characters they are going to give us (or how the level up system would work) we could potentially end up visiting quite a lot of Disney properties through those characters-- enough that the game will be a decent balance between OC and Disney.
Nomura did say he was planning on shaking the formula up for future games, so I assume there is going to be less emphasis on "visiting random Disney worlds" but I doubt they would cut the concept altogether.
Anyway, just felt like mentioning my thoughts since I feel like a game designed in this way might potentially make most people happy in terms of representation and fair share of character screen time.
Maybe I am just clinging to my desperate wish to have a Kairi and Riku game.
Opinions?
A lot of people have been questioning how Disney properties are going to be represented in the series going forward, especially in one of the future teased titles of Riku heading off to Quadratum. A lot of us are assuming the game is going to be playing exclusively as a solo Riku game as he navigates this new...universe? But I realized that, potentially, the game won't be as completely one-sided as that. At the moment we still don't have any development on what the Foretellers are planning and their role in the upcoming conflict. I have a feeling that, in order to keep up tension, it would make sense to have a simultaneous look at Riku's attempts to find/save Sora as well as having a sense of urgency created by having the Foretellers make a move somehow.
If that is the case, it would make more sense to have the story being a little bit split between Riku doing stuff in Quadratum (with exclusively OC content) and a representative in the "KH universe" developing the Foreteller storyline, which could very likely be seeing the representative heading off to Disney worlds like they usually do. This would allow them to still "include Disney" in the game, while continuing to have an entire unreality universe of potentially non-Disney/FF/Square properties. Basically, Quadratum would become the new "hub world" for the game, but one exclusively visited and explored by Riku (so far).
Now, here's my other thought: I am assuming the representative going to Disney properties is going to be Kairi. Why did I think this? Well, there was a bit of a hanging plot-line in KH3 with the whole "new seven hearts". Kairi is one of them (and still is, as far as we know), but we only know of 3 others, leaving 3 still unaccounted for. What if, for whatever reason, Kairi has to try and use her own light/princess powers/whatever to try and figure out where the other new seven hearts are? Presumably Kairi would be able to tell if another princess had "the light" or not, right? She might be doing this because, in true KH fashion, the baddies are after the princesses. OR maybe the princess light is somehow necessary to rescue Sora, or Stella, or Yozora or any number of people. It's magical Disney princess light, it can do whatever it wants.
If this is the case, we would potentially see Donald and Goofy as companions for Kairi heading off to worlds like Moana, Brave, Princess and the Frog, heck maybe even a Frozen or Tangled revisit just to check in on Anna, Elsa and Rapunzel again while trying to find other princesses. Kairi finally off on her own adventure, and if collecting that light is ultimately going to help Sora or Riku it is obviously something she would be motivated to do.
While I know searching for the princesses could also be a joint venture, (I could certainly see Aqua heading off to Moana) the whole "Donald and Goofy as partners, traveling around to Disney worlds" role would presumably go to Kairi in Sora's absence. TAV never really had Disney "partners" for a significant time, and unless Donald and Goofy are going to be ignored for a while they need to have a replacement partner somewhere. Kairi lost both the other members of her trio so she is a perfect candidate.
So, yeah--I dunno if "find the princesses" is going to be another plot point, but if their light is needed now it would certainly make sense then for Kairi to be in charge of that front. It would be a way for the game to very easily include Disney, with significance to the plot, without even having to sacrifice whatever OC content they have planned for Quadratum because who knows if Disney even exists there. It would just require the game to be split across protagonists again, either DDD style or BBS style-- but if all the Disney is front-loaded on one character I assume a scripted flip back and forth makes way more sense than BBS style of playing one whole side first.
I don't know what I envision TAV and Axel would be up to, but maybe they would be off dealing with Ven's memories somehow. Or meeting up with Lauriam and trying to track down Girl X. Depending on how many playable characters they are going to give us (or how the level up system would work) we could potentially end up visiting quite a lot of Disney properties through those characters-- enough that the game will be a decent balance between OC and Disney.
Nomura did say he was planning on shaking the formula up for future games, so I assume there is going to be less emphasis on "visiting random Disney worlds" but I doubt they would cut the concept altogether.
Anyway, just felt like mentioning my thoughts since I feel like a game designed in this way might potentially make most people happy in terms of representation and fair share of character screen time.
Maybe I am just clinging to my desperate wish to have a Kairi and Riku game.
Opinions?
