How should the characters be treated going forward

[Foxycian]

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.

Well it’s true that Girls also simp for male characters but tbh you’ll find it more common that boys Simp for female characters more often, as a long time anime Fan I can confirm that, Terra despite being good looking and husbando material, honestly only few fans I see comment on his looks, while Aqua it became one of her traits of why she is a great character, there will be someone who must always mention how hot and waifu material she is.

 

[Elysium]

I can't say I agree. I've literally never read anyone say they liked Aqua because she was hot, either here on KHI or on past forums like KHUltimania. But there are usually fanclubs for silver-haired bishies online. If it seems more common, I suppose it could be that gamers are predominately straight men... Probably the same reason the bitching over Atlantica and Arendelle are ever-present.

Regardless, Aqua isn't Cidney from Final Fantasy XV. I never realized the real life misogynist critiques of “She got where she is because of her looks” / “She slept her way to the top” could be translated into a dismissal of a fictional female character’s popularity as well, yet here we are.

 

[Foxycian]

I can't say I agree. I've literally never read anyone say they liked Aqua because she was hot, either here on KHI or on past forums like KHUltimania. But there are usually fanclubs for silver-haired bishies online. If it seems more common, I suppose it could be that gamers are predominately straight men... Probably the same reason the bitching over Atlantica and Arendelle are ever-present.

Regardless, Aqua isn't Cidney from Final Fantasy XV. I never realized the real life misogynist critiques of “She got where she is because of her looks” / “She slept her way to the top” could be translated into a dismissal of a fictional female character’s popularity as well, yet here we are.

Well don’t worry about that I no longer think her being hot is the main reason why she is popular, however what I said is that her being hot is one of the traits that make her popular, and tbh that’s kinda true in a way, in the past Aqua was one of my least favorite characters but now she is one of my favorites but I noticed most of the time Her looks are always mentioned when they talk about how great of a character she is, (ofc being attractive isn’t the issue) if I had to list everything about Aqua all the reasons I come across of what fans say when they say what they love about this character then here it is

1. She has the title of a keyblade Master
2. Her design is cool
3. She is selfless
4. Her fighting style and magic is awesome
5. She’s badass female keyblade wielder that can fight
6. She is motherly
7. She is Hot and a waifu material
8. She isn’t a useless female character
9. Step on me Anti-Aqua (lol the meme jokes)
10. She is legal

there are also inappropriate reasons like her chest and her exposed back and ofc ، I don’t even want to go into detail lol

like I said Aqua has many reasons why fans love her, some are good reasons and some are not that important, however Roxas and few others outranks her for having more interesting unique reasons that actually make their character look cool and stand out and not because of their gender imo, many fangirls simp for Roxas for sure, and they would talk about his looks, still they often talk more about the stuff that what makes him great as a character, like his iconic dual wield and back story and other reasons as well

Also my bad I don’t want to drag this any longer since the topic isn’t about this soo that’s all I have to say.

Edit: I don’t agree that much with that Guest person said about Aqua, but I mainly replied to you cause I disagree with what you said about Roxas, he has many reasons why fans love him.

 

[Foxycian]

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.

I agree with this, maybe not entirely, but I still think it’s a cool idea to give characters their Episode Arc.

 

[Elysium]

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

I do tend to enjoy villains because they're often more entertaining than protagonists. Growing up Disney villains used to be my favorite parts of most of those films, for example. KH doesn't have that many compelling antagonists, imo. I'm more attached to Vexen and Larxene when they were straight villains in CoM. Isa and Riku are a bit of a different case for me. While I thought they were both very good as villains, too, in 1 for Riku and 2 / Days for Saix, I was also attached to the evolving plots explaining why there was so much vitriol (mostly tied up in reactions to Sora and Lea, respectively). It's a question mark for me how much I'll like Larxene and Vexen once we get more of their past selves or recompleted selves going forward, if we even see very much of them.

I haven't stayed caught up with the mobile games, so I don't know how Elrena is depicted there. For some reason I imagine her being like Seifer.

 

[DestinyIslander]

They need to flat out get rid of some of these characters, or just not focus on them at all. Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Xion and Axel, for example, have all fulfilled their purpose, so if they somehow get playable parts again in future games, that would be unbelievably stupid...

 

[Foxycian]

They need to flat out get rid of some of these characters, or just not focus on them at all. Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Xion and Axel, for example, have all fulfilled their purpose, so if they somehow get playable parts again in future games, that would be unbelievably stupid...

Not sure why you And kh fans in general continue to feign ignorance... You might be correct about all of them have already fulfilled their purpose But clearly not Ventus...

“Terra”
finally freed from Xehanort thus concluding his Arc story (tho all he is missing is to get the title of a master to feel like he completed his long journey)

“Aqua”
was saved from the realm of darkness and finally returned to her friends, and that concludes her story Arc

“Xion”
Came back and was allowed to be her own person and be with Roxas and Axel, which concludes her story Arc

“Axel”
Got Roxas and Xion and Isa back which concludes his story arc (subject X tbh felt like Saix story arc so I don’t associate it with Axle much)

“Roxas”
Came back and no longer needs to live in someone’s shadow and got both Axel and Xion back, which concludes his story Arc

“Namine”
Same as Roxas she came back and now she is her own person, not sure if it’s even a story arc but she got what she wanted a life of her own instead of being Kairi’s shadow

“Ventus”
Like it or not Ven didn’t finish his story yet, he is literally connected with Union X, what’s the point of all the foreshadowing of Ventus just to sideline him? His story arc didn’t end yet, he needs to face his past and move forward and get stronger, soo many things can be done with this character why fans choose to ignore that? If it’s cause he is not your favorite character than it’s understandable but it’s still being selfish just cause Fans only want to see their favorites getting more spotlight while ignoring the ones who actually have more important relevance roles in the story.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

It really depends on which characters Nomura actually wants to use and what role they will play in the new overall story arc.
Just because a character has finished their current story or character arc doesn't automatically translate to "having served their purpose" and in turn to "should not be featured anymore".

We don't know what new story arcs the second saga incorporates nor how the major characters feature into it and which new character arcs and story plots may be opened.

It's baffling that the take of "character finishes personal story arc => should be thrown aside and no more focused on" is still so prevalent in some circles.
It is obvious that Nomura as a storyteller has problems (or no deeper interest) in effectively using the bigger cast of major characters as a whole group and actually bring deeper dynamics between them to the table, but the better answer than simply throwing some characters literally aside would be a rotating focus on different smaller groups of characters, ideally while at the same time eventually breaking up the whole strict and appearing forced trio-concept.

It's also somewhat amusing to hear the complaints about the cast of KH being "too big" when there are literally several dozen works around where the number of major and important characters is even higher than what KH has and it works better in these.
Which again leads to the observation that not the actual number of characters is the main problem but how they are (not) used.

 

[kirabook]

Unfortunately (or fortunately for some folk), Nomura and team have added in new hooks so that every trio will have some relevance in the future.

SRK = Sora missing
TAV = Ven's ties to the past
RAX = Whoever X is

If I had to guess, Nomura may break down the trios into new games again (BbSv2, DaysV2, etc) to explore the side stories and bring them all together again into the next big KH game.

I don't think that structure benefited Kingdom Hearts for KH3. There were just TOO MANY. But I don't think the concept itself is bad. In the hands of a better planner, I think such a concept is a good way to explore side characters to feed into the main story. If KH3 had gone a little better, I would feel more comfortable with Nomura trying this tactic again because maybe that means he improved. But..... I don't think he has.

Anyway, I like the idea of each character getting their own side stories Persona style. We need more opportunities to get to know and bond with all these characters. The way things are now is..... eh... to say the least.

In my opinion, the next focus characters are going to be Riku, Ven, and I guess Axel/Lea. I feel pretty meh about it myself. We've had SO many Riku focused games, I'd love to focus on someone else. Ven is ok I guess, his past interests me and TAV is my favorite so I'm biased. And Axel/Lea.... I don't know. I still just feel like he's mostly here because he's popular. This new thing with the X girl kinda sucks. Just my personal feelings on the matter. I guess for personal reasons, I don't find Axel interesting enough to have a whole game based on him.

If I were the one planning the next "side" games that lead into KH4, I would've split up the parties/games as
Riku + Kairi
TAV
RAX

And Namine would be the connecting link between the three teams compiling all the information and "links" they find.

Each of these parties have a deep connection to Sora that could lead them to different answers, and Namine who also has her own close connection to Sora is the one with the literal power who can maybe piece it all together.

Now that all these games are happening "at the same time" and everyone knows each other for the most part, there can also be a lot more crossover and they can spend less time trying to make certain events fit into the past or future (if that makes sense)

They should play around with having a different "leader" for each team as well (though TAV is kinda hard since they're kinda all evenly the leader in BbS).

 

[HakaishinChampa]

Unfortunately (or fortunately for some folk), Nomura and team have added in new hooks so that every trio will have some relevance in the future.

SRK = Sora missing
TAV = Ven's ties to the past
RAX = Whoever X is

If I had to guess, Nomura may break down the trios into new games again (BbSv2, DaysV2, etc) to explore the side stories and bring them all together again into the next big KH game.

I don't think that structure benefited Kingdom Hearts for KH3. There were just TOO MANY. But I don't think the concept itself is bad. In the hands of a better planner, I think such a concept is a good way to explore side characters to feed into the main story. If KH3 had gone a little better, I would feel more comfortable with Nomura trying this tactic again because maybe that means he improved. But..... I don't think he has.

Anyway, I like the idea of each character getting their own side stories Persona style. We need more opportunities to get to know and bond with all these characters. The way things are now is..... eh... to say the least.

In my opinion, the next focus characters are going to be Riku, Ven, and I guess Axel/Lea. I feel pretty be about it myself. We've had SO many Riku focused games, I'd love to focus on someone else. Ven is ok I guess, his past interests me and TAV is my favorite so I'm biased. And Axel/Lea.... I don't know. I still just feel like he's mostly here because he's popular. This new thing with the X girl kinda sucks. Just my personal feelings on the matter. I guess for personal reasons, I don't find Axel interesting enough to have a whole game based on him.

If I were the one planning the next "side" games that lead into KH4, I would've split up the parties/games as
Riku + Kairi
TAV
RAX

And Namine would be the connecting link between the three teams compiling all the information and "links" they find.

Each of these parties have a deep connection to Sora that could lead them to different answers, and Namine who also has her own close connection to Sora is the one with the literal power who can maybe piece it all together.

Now that all these games are happening "at the same time" and everyone knows each other for the most part, there can also be a lot more crossover and they can spend less time trying to make certain events fit into the past or future (if that makes sense)

They should play around with having a different "leader" for each team as well (though TAV is kinda hard since they're kinda all evenly the leader in BbS).

Ven makes the most for the BBS group because his Union X ties but when it comes to the Days trio...I kinda want to see something different.

Isa is part of the Days trio group now, I would assume, why not have him as the focus character? My man sold his soul in the Organization and I know many don't like him but I think he deserves to be a playable character. He doesn't even need a Keyblade and if he does get one - he can switch back to his Claymore like Lea switches to his Chakrams.

Plus they can tinker around with having a character swap mechanic, you don't have to play as just Ven or Isa. You can swap between all the characters like Final Fantasy 7R.

 

[Keyblade Knight 1st Class]

Something that I think would be very interesting is a game that features Ventus and Roxas as dual protagonists. The interactions between these two have the potential to be extremely fascinating.

 

[Dark Rot]

Thinking in terms of, "Who would have the most interesting interactions with Sora or Riku (or Sora/Riku types)?", even if they started writing these characters with more care, the cast we have still doesn't feel like enough. Overall, I like them, but it's a lot of stiffs, and even the edgelords aren't edgy enough. There really needs to be a jock character to get in some faces and shake things up. Even better, a KH character who is a complete freak. Or a ditzy hippie. Or a creepy clown. I know Nomura has certain types that he likes, but a fuller garden of personalities would help his favorites shine by giving them a more vibrant cast to reflect off of. Even if they fully integrated Disney and FF into the story, which they should, I still think we need new blood. They added a bunch of new guys to Dark Road, but none of them seem to have that spark I'm looking for, from what we have to go off of. These are essentially games about wizards, and wizards should be weeeeird.

I think we'll get there eventually, but I'd like to see family finally confronted. We should meet the parents. Get a little insight into Riku's home life and why he's got an edge.
I want to see an adult who knows what they're doing. If Sora (or whoever) had a meaningful relationship with a mentor or a parent, there's just so much emotion that could be explored. If we are headed to a "realer" chapter of Kingdom Hearts, I'd hope we're rooted in a more fleshed-out world and community, where your adventure is more than a Disney daydream away from home. Or, if they wanna keep things abstract, cool, just feature at least one really solid relationship dynamic that pulses through the whole story.

I think it's time to bump the romance up, to match the many Disney worlds with all their love stories. There has got to be a BALL in a KH. Where you dress up and go on a date, and then yeah of course some magical mayhem will ensue. And ideally, you'd get to pick your date.

 

[OrionGold]

Thinking in terms of, "Who would have the most interesting interactions with Sora or Riku (or Sora/Riku types)?", even if they started writing these characters with more care, the cast we have still doesn't feel like enough. Overall, I like them, but it's a lot of stiffs, and even the edgelords aren't edgy enough. There really needs to be a jock character to get in some faces and shake things up. Even better, a KH character who is a complete freak. Or a ditzy hippie. Or a creepy clown. I know Nomura has certain types that he likes, but a fuller garden of personalities would help his favorites shine by giving them a more vibrant cast to reflect off of. Even if they fully integrated Disney and FF into the story, which they should, I still think we need new blood. They added a bunch of new guys to Dark Road, but none of them seem to have that spark I'm looking for, from what we have to go off of. These are essentially games about wizards, and wizards should be weeeeird.

I think we'll get there eventually, but I'd like to see family finally confronted. We should meet the parents. Get a little insight into Riku's home life and why he's got an edge.
I want to see an adult who knows what they're doing. If Sora (or whoever) had a meaningful relationship with a mentor or a parent, there's just so much emotion that could be explored. If we are headed to a "realer" chapter of Kingdom Hearts, I'd hope we're rooted in a more fleshed-out world and community, where your adventure is more than a Disney daydream away from home. Or, if they wanna keep things abstract, cool, just feature at least one really solid relationship dynamic that pulses through the whole story.

I think it's time to bump the romance up, to match the many Disney worlds with all their love stories. There has got to be a BALL in a KH. Where you dress up and go on a date, and then yeah of course some magical mayhem will ensue. And ideally, you'd get to pick your date.

Now that you mentioned it, I really do want a character who is unafraid to speak their minds. Someone who is good at heart, but not afraid to talk up a storm when they feel legitimately frustrated with another, regardless if the latter is good or evil. They are just someone who is willing to criticize and talks like a real person. They don't go talk about hearts, light, or darkness; they just tell that person "Dude, you are an asshole and I am not gonna lend an earful to what philosophizing gibberish you about to say". That character is just done with everyone's shit and just wants to take care of the problem.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Not sure why you And kh fans in general continue to feign ignorance... You might be correct about all of them have already fulfilled their purpose But clearly not Ventus...

“Terra”
finally freed from Xehanort thus concluding his Arc story (tho all he is missing is to get the title of a master to feel like he completed his long journey)

“Aqua”
was saved from the realm of darkness and finally returned to her friends, and that concludes her story Arc

“Xion”
Came back and was allowed to be her own person and be with Roxas and Axel, which concludes her story Arc

“Axel”
Got Roxas and Xion and Isa back which concludes his story arc (subject X tbh felt like Saix story arc so I don’t associate it with Axle much)

“Roxas”
Came back and no longer needs to live in someone’s shadow and got both Axel and Xion back, which concludes his story Arc

“Namine”
Same as Roxas she came back and now she is her own person, not sure if it’s even a story arc but she got what she wanted a life of her own instead of being Kairi’s shadow

“Ventus”
Like it or not Ven didn’t finish his story yet, he is literally connected with Union X, what’s the point of all the foreshadowing of Ventus just to sideline him? His story arc didn’t end yet, he needs to face his past and move forward and get stronger, soo many things can be done with this character why fans choose to ignore that? If it’s cause he is not your favorite character than it’s understandable but it’s still being selfish just cause Fans only want to see their favorites getting more spotlight while ignoring the ones who actually have more important relevance roles in the story.

Buddy, Nomura can introduce new narrative arcs to all of these characters if he so pleases. Aqua is training Kairi so we already have a new plot narrative for her and Lea is still determined to find Subject X with Isa, Isa never wanted to find her by himself.

You can't just definitively say that a character has no further room for narrative relevance or character development in Kingdom Hearts. Look how long it took for Marluxia to be relevant again after Chain of Memories.

 

[Foxycian]

Buddy, Nomura can introduce new narrative arcs to all of these characters if he so pleases. Aqua is training Kairi so we already have a new plot narrative for her and Lea is still determined to find Subject X with Isa, Isa never wanted to find her by himself.

You can't just definitively say that a character has no further room for narrative relevance or character development in Kingdom Hearts. Look how long it took for Marluxia to be relevant again after Chain of Memories.

Umm Well yea, I’m aware of that, even those who don’t have roles can easily get new ones, actually I said that many times in other various topics, however the point I try to make is, that some characters now seem to have a clear role more then others in this new saga, and they should be allowed to play an important role, Those who had their time to shine can still stick around but they shouldn’t keep hogging the spotlight, also Aqua training Kairi tbh felt like an excuse to just put her on the sideline, (but we will never know until we wait and see I guess), If that is her role than sure but my point is, some characters should take back seat or better say a little break for other characters to shine

those with no role, can obviously still stick around and be given a new roles for the sake of sticking around, I’m not saying they should disappear entirely.