How should the characters be treated going forward

[Foxycian]

I Guess give a little more focus to the Characters who seems to be important to the New Sage?

• Characters who Should take back-seat (only temporarily in my opinion)

1. Riku
His Story Arc ended yet instead of getting a break he still getting more for some reason, I guess cause Nomura grew fond of him when he realized the similarities between him and Noctis lol, jokes aside I wish Riku would have taken a back seat a little

2. Roxas/Xion
Roxas and Xion Story Arc started in 358/2days and Ended when they both returned as their “own people” in kh3, Soo far they have no role other than to take a back seat, they can be given a new small roles for the sake of keeping them around

3. Aqua
The wayfinder trio started as protagonists sharing one game however Aqua alone still continued the journey even after bbs ended, her journey Arc in 0.2 was to return to Terra and Ventus’s side, she fulfilled that role when The three were reunited in kh3, thus that concludes Aqua’s Arc, but the Good news she was given a small role by being a mentor to Kairi

• Characters that at least should play a role in this new saga

1. Kairi
Kairi will most likely Gonna be important in this new saga, if she does end up getting more focus and has Aqua accompanying her then I hope Aqua will only play a small role just so she doesn’t overshadow Kairi cause that will be and sad and unfair, Aqua is more popular so giving her larger role than Kairi for the sake of favoritism/popularity is unfair lol Kairi wouldn’t stand a chance

2. Axel/isa
not sure but they both have a connection with subject X, Roxas and Xion can accompany Axel and Isa on their search for her, however they should have the most focus this time instead of Roxas and Xion

3. Ventus
I mean this one is obvious, he has to have a role in this new saga with all the foreshadowing that he gotten.

4. Namine (tbh she could just take back seat)
Only Cause she barely got anything to do, she needs a little bit more focus

5. Terra (not sure about him)
Terra is kinda of a mystery, is his journey Arc over after we saved him? Or Is it still going in the form of redeeming himself and try to control his darkness like Riku? Or maybe just train with Aqua and Kairi for the time being?

That’s just my opinion, all the characters ofc should be relevant and play a role however those who have more connection to the new saga like Kairi, Axel, Ventus, should at least play a bigger role cause that’s only fair.

 

[the red monster]

I think they should handle characters like what they did with aqua in 0.2 but as an episodes.

2-3 hours for each of them. Have kairi train and learn with aqua, isa and lea looking for subject X, MDG exploring scala etc. it won't take a full game and it will be enough for side stories and character development. they can make it as a DLC/season pass or whatever if there isn't enough time to add it with the base game.

Episode Kairi
Episode Subject X
Episode Mickey
or something like that.
i'm pretty sure that's what FFXV did.

but in reality we know it's not happening. and the only ones who are gonna get focus are Sora, Riku and Yozora.

 

[Swing]

Man. It's 2021 and "Sonic has too many friends!" is still seen as a legitimate criticism of the games.

Not to go too much off-topic here, but sadly, this is an issue the Sonic-series has. They can't really use most of their characters in a good way after their stories have come to an end. It is really hard to write for a character such as Shadow, Blaze, or Silver now since you can't really use them under specific circumstances. And the same goes for the KH-characters. Naminé is one of my personal favorite KH-characters, and I would like to see more of her, but her story technically ended already with KH: CoM. The same could be said for many other characters as well. Xion served her purpose in her debut game: KH: Days, and after that, it is really hard to write a story for her since her journey ended with KH: Days.

KH shouldn't really have had this many characters from the beginning. Most of them do not really feel like characters, to be honest. They serve more as a catalyst to further the story of someone else. Xion was this for Roxas and Roxas for Axel/Lea. Kairi and Naminé were this for Sora and Ventus for Aqua. This is probably the reason why I think this franchise should just concentrate on a small cast. In my eyes, I think from now on the only characters that should get the focus is Sora since he is the hero and Aqua since she could have a bit of potential to be explored deeper.

 

[A-Guest]

I don’t really care for the Wayfinder trio or sea salt trio. and Not sure why many here brings up Aqua... she isn’t interesting you folks are really blind, she has the personality of a blank-board, easily one of the most boring-dry characters and just overall insignificant to the story, ya’ll just horney for this chick, which is quite sad because she has nothing going on for her in the new story. At this point fans just want her around for the sake of milking her dry.

I’m only a guest and made this account to say I don’t care for other characters all that much right now, For the time being I just want to see what happened to Sora Riku and yozora. and maybe also Mickey goofy and Donald? Sure lets have them around.

 

[2 quid is good]

It is really hard to write for a character such as Shadow, Blaze, or Silver now

Silver and Blaze yes, there's a reason they have both barely been seen, Shadow is an emphatic no, pre 2009 he had great character writing. Also I feel like you ignored a lot of what I said. There's very few characters in the sonic franchise that are under the category of "story completed now no organic way to bring them back" compared to KH characters.

You said they can't really use most of their characters in a good way but that really only stands true for silver, blaze and marine I guess but nobody remembers marine. Literally every other character can pop up here and there to provide a better world for the games, which is also true for KH.

Having too many characters is not and has never been the issue that certain sonic fans think it is, honestly to me that argument is the equivalent of the green eyes argument.

 

[Absent]

I don’t really care for the Wayfinder trio or sea salt trio. and Not sure why many here brings up Aqua... she isn’t interesting you folks are really blind, she has the personality of a blank-board, easily one of the most boring-dry characters and just overall insignificant to the story, ya’ll just horney for this chick, which is quite sad because she has nothing going on for her in the new story. At this point fans just want her around for the sake of milking her dry.

I’m only a guest and made this account to say I don’t care for other characters all that much right now, For the time being I just want to see what happened to Sora Riku and yozora. and maybe also Mickey goofy and Donald? Sure lets have them around.

@Mods, I swear this is not my Alt account.

 

[Elysium]

I don’t really care for the Wayfinder trio or sea salt trio. and Not sure why many here brings up Aqua... she isn’t interesting you folks are really blind, she has the personality of a blank-board, easily one of the most boring-dry characters and just overall insignificant to the story, ya’ll just horney for this chick, which is quite sad because she has nothing going on for her in the new story. At this point fans just want her around for the sake of milking her dry.

Well, as a gay guy, I can promise you I don't like Aqua because of looks, lol.

If Nomura doesn't plan to cut the excess characters in the end, a game with Riku, Aqua, and Mickey teamed up to find Sora would've been awesome.

 

[A-Guest]

Well, as a gay guy, I can promise you I don't like Aqua because of looks, lol.

I heard this response excuse many times..

Just so you know I’m straight guy and I still find her boring, I do find her attractive and badass and I think about her form time to time but characterwise she is still flat out boring and not interesting, and those who say Aqua is more interesting than the other main characters are flat out lying Horeny fans, I know everyone has an opinion but everyone exaggerating her worth as a character, I don’t like many characters in kingdom hearts but I don’t want to sound like I’m attacking this specific character, right, I only care about What’s going on with the Yozora situation

and just like I said before I am a guest so I don’t plan on staying here and start a debate, I just dropped in to throw a piece of my mind, that’s pretty much it. Adios.

 

[Elysium]

It's not that. No one needs an "excuse" to like Aqua. It's just interesting the kind of explanations fans will come up with to write off the popularity of a female character. It would be like if I said Roxas was only popular because he has two Keyblades and no other reason.

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

Like actual people.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Just going by the thread title one word is enough:

Better.

The long version:

Without going into semantics about how only characters one personally likes should be featured, the current status of their story/character arcs (it doesn't matter if a character's arc is finished or has ended, as long as the character is available you can always open a new story or character arc for them) or what the current teasers may indicate on who is important, the main issue with the characters in KH is only on the surface their higher numbers as the series itself has a problem with general character dynamics and relationships regardless of which couleur it is supposed to be.

Nomura is either simply not that good in writing characterization and character dynamics in the first place or he's just not interested in it enough as KH tends to always place more emphasis on the big plot arcs with dozens of surprises, twists and deliberate "Mystery boxes" which either take years to unpack or which get forgotten when Nomura's interests switch.

Most of the characters have a compelling setup and far more potential than official KH material (except maybe to some degree the novels) ever taps into but when it comes to actually use them properly most fanworks do so better than the actual source material.
When I see some character analyses on the net about various KH characters it is astounding to see how much people get out from the underused, tiny scraps the actual source material delivered and really makes one think that some parts of the fandom care more about the inhabitants of the KH-universe than its own creator.

Imho, the demand to have better, more natural and compelling dynamics as well as interactions between the characters is demanding the second step already before the first.
In order to even have the groundwork for all that the ensemble of the characters would actually need to regularly interact with each other without it being just one or two scenes with only two or three lines per game.
So far the overarching plot of KH very often is structured to specifically keep large parts of the cast out of it for extended amounts of time instead of having them actually engage with everything and if they are involved for a short time (like i.e. Riku and Mickey in III or also Lea and Kairi) it is only for three things:
1. Being exposition fairies rattering down some twist or mystery
2. working on a task they always fail
3. getting into danger so that Sora (or the current playable character) has to save them.

If you structure it this way it is no wonder many of the characters seem to be either interchangeable or redundant despite the series' own mantra of how unique and special every single heart is.

 

[Xagzan]

The extended cast should interact with each other more often outside of their designated trio's. I want to see Terra and Roxas form a friendship, Ventus getting to know Kairi better whilst training her under Aqua's request, Lea and Isa befriending Lauriam and Elrena, Ansem the Wise taking in Hayner, Pence and Olette as apprentices etc. There's a lot of remixing of character dynamics that can be implemented especially now that Sora and Riku are no longer involved within the Kingdom Hearts reality.

Before Isa and Lauriam and Elrena start being all buddy buddy with everyone, they have a looot of apologizing to do to Xion and Namine, respectively.

 

[Vulpes XIII]

Before Isa and Lauriam and Elrena start being all buddy buddy with everyone, they have a looot of apologizing to do to Xion and Namine, respectively.

Yeah this definitely needs to happen, I just hope Nomura actually decides to address this plot point and not miss it out completely as it would be good character development for all of them. I also hope Nomura doesn’t do what he did with Roxas and Ven and only acknowledge the situation for a second, I know they were busy fighting Xehanort at the time but couldn’t they have done more with that scene than just have them stare and barely react to each other, Nomura really missed out on some good dialogue with that cutscene.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Before Isa and Lauriam and Elrena start being all buddy buddy with everyone, they have a looot of apologizing to do to Xion and Namine, respectively.

True, let's hope that's actually shown in cutscenes instead of being relegated to text format.

 

[Foxycian]

It's not that. No one needs an "excuse" to like Aqua. It's just interesting the kind of explanations fans will come up with to write off the popularity of a female character. It would be like if I said Roxas was only popular because he has two Keyblades and no other reason.

I don’t want to get involved in this but I think that is an unfair comparison, Roxas besides dual wield has many thing going on for him that makes him a very likable character

1. his cool dual wield keyblades and black coat
2. His tragic existence and back story
3. His realistic personality
4. Being part of a Cool evil organization
5. Can control nobodies to his will
6 . His realistic friendship with Axel and xion
7. Can uses darkness portals to travel to Disney worlds (not sure if he still has it)

Edit: forgot this one
8. The only character besides Sora to have his own “FULL” GAME detected to him

 

[Elysium]

I don’t think it’s an unfair comparison at all. Aqua fans have many reasons to like that character as well; this wasn’t a debate of how many *reasons* one character or another has to be popular. It was to point out how silly it is to reduce a character’s popularity down to something frivolous just because you personally don’t like them. And it's noticable it happens pretty regularly with Aqua even when popular male characters like Lea are trainwrecks writing-wise in comparison. Roxas himself doesn't feature the greatest writing either considering Days completely re-wrote his personality. Even his face was changed from when he first debuted, lol.

 

[AdrianXXII]

Agreed both Aqua and Roxas have a lot of reasons besides cool aesthetics to be liked. It's a bit frustrating to just boil it down to she's hot, I mean you can lobby that complaint on to most of the Org 13's popularity too. Like seriously I think part of the reason Zexion and Demyx where originally popular was because they fitted an attractive mold, doesn't mean that's that's the only reason. Personally when it comes to Aqua, I like the fact that she takes her responsibilities seriously and is struggling to balance what is expected of her and her friendships. I also enjoy her introspective nature.

---

As to the original topic of this thread. I think like @Sephiroth0812 said the first step would be to just have them interact more. I'd also hope for more consistent character writing moving forward. I feel like it'd also be okay to put some characters on the back burner for a bit and focus on a core, the advantage of a sizable cast like this is that you can rotate characters in focus for different story arcs.

I like the suggestion of treating the cast similar to confidants in Persona, where you can interact with them and go on side quests together and develop a storyline between the playable character and the others. This could also serve as a way to give worlds more use after the initial visit.

 

[Foxycian]

I don’t think it’s an unfair comparison at all. Aqua fans have many reasons to like that character as well; this wasn’t a debate of how many *reasons* one character or another has to be popular. It was to point out how silly it is to reduce a character’s popularity down to something frivolous just because you personally don’t like them. And it's noticable it happens pretty regularly with Aqua even when popular male characters like Lea are trainwrecks writing-wise in comparison. Roxas himself doesn't feature the greatest writing either considering Days completely re-wrote his personality. Even his face was changed from when he first debuted, lol.

Well ofc there are many reasons why Fans like Aqua, everyone has their reasons of why they like a character, here’s mine (just my opinion)

• Sora
1. The hero of the franchise
2. Selfless
3. Lovable personality
4. Can dual wield (ofc thx to Ventus and Roxas)
5. Has drive Forms and his gameplay is basically jack of all trades

• Riku
1. Controls both light and Darkness
2. Cool design (and Edgy looking keyblades)
3. A keyblade Master
4. has one of the best story Arcs
5. The rival of the main protagonist
6. Immune to Darkness

• Axel
1. Unique Chakrams Weapons (still has it)
2. Cool laid back personality
3. Loyal to his friends
4. Assassin

• Roxas
1. Can dual wield keyblades
2. tragic existence and back story
3. realistic personality
4. part of a Cool evil organization (was)
5. Can command nobodies
6. Realistic friendship with his trio
7. The only character to get a full game to himself

• Aqua
1. selfless
2. A keyblade Master
3. Cool design (tied with Riku as the best design for me)
4. Has mini Arc of her own 0.2

• Terra
1. Uses both light and darkness
2. Lingering will (his strong will to protect his friends)
3. His Keyblades are the equivalent of a great sword

• Ventus
1. Selfless
2. has Unique way of holding the keyblade
3. Has a Deep special connection with the protagonist
4. Unknown back story
5. The only male character that is Pure light in this franchise (and also has edgy counterpart rival that is pure darkness Vanitas)

• Kairi
1. The love interest of the main protagonist
2. Princess of heart (pure light)
3. Has a minor back story of her own

• Xion
1. Tragic Life
2. can copy moves from others (basically like mimic)
3. Selfless

Namine
1. Tragic Life
2. Has cool mysterious powers

that’s overall my opinion, I have other many reason why i like the characters but tbh these reasons I listed are the ones usually come to my head when I think of these characters, I find some others to have more cool traits than Aqua, she has cool traits but most of the time it’s nothing new and that’s why I didn’t list them.

 

[Elysium]

Good to know... I don't like several of those characters at all, jmo. My list of favorites are in my signature. But I can at least tolerate Terra since he's hot (and now we've come full circle ). Actually, now I have that on the brain, if hotness equaled popularity, Terra would be higher in the ranks, but he isn't. I don't think Riku's popularity is because he's cute either although it's probably one factor. Silver-haired bishonen and all that.

 

[AdrianXXII]

Good to know... I don't like several of those characters at all, jmo. My list of favorites are in my signature. But I can at least tolerate Terra since he's hot (and now we've come full circle ). If hotness = popularity, Terra would be higher in the ranks, lol.

Your list has a lot of reformed/reforming villains in it, I sense you might have a bit of a type.