Lea possibly being playable? *SPOILERS for those who haven’t played or beaten DDD

[Scorseselover]

That ending of Dream Drop Distance showcased that Lea is trying to learn to become a Keyblade Master. Could that possibly hint at him being playable at one point or two in Kingdom Hearts III? I think it’s unlikely but it would be an interesting direction for the series to go, plus Lea is my favorite character in the series.

 

[Grono]

That ending of Dream Drop Distance showcased that Lea is trying to learn to become a Keyblade Master. Could that possibly hint at him being playable at one point or two in Kingdom Hearts III? I think it’s unlikely but it would be an interesting direction for the series to go, plus Lea is my favorite character in the series.

I think the only thing that it's foreshadowing is exactly that - that he will be participating in the final story with a keyblade at some point. That being said, it has also been said by some people that Lea could be foreshadowed to be a Guardian of Light, which, while a long shot, could happen. I think Kairi is more likely to be playable and a guardian, but even then I don't think she'll be playable.

 

[Zettaflare]

He probably won't be playable but I could see Lea and Kairi as our two party members in Radiant Garden.

 

[AtDuskIThinkofU]

That would be really awesome! Lea/Axel is my favorite character! But, unfortunately, I don't think that's what's going to happen. He'll definitely be in the story, but as for being playable, unlikely.

 

[Deleted member 246005]

Lea's my guy so I'd be down with him being playable.

if he gets his own spinoff thats even better.

fingers crossed for a DLC episode.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

I swear, if the tutorial is Lea being playable with Kairi as an additional party member, I'd be outright insulted.

 

[no1BLEACH~KHfan]

I think it would be crap if Lea is playable over Kairi tbh if they are picking one of the two :/ she is one of the main trio

 

[OathkeeperRoxas XIII]

I swear, if the tutorial is Lea being playable with Kairi as an additional party member, I'd be outright insulted.

What if it's Twilight Town they're going to, because there's that odd thing about Sora and company going there first but Aren't they going to Olympus first as 0.2 confirm

 

[Alja]

I swear, if the tutorial is Lea being playable with Kairi as an additional party member, I'd be outright insulted.

This exactly. ANY playable character that isn't Kairi will be bad enough, but to give us one that hasn't been playable in their own game before (i.e. Sora, Riku or Aqua) will be a HUGE fuck you towards Kairi. That girl has been on the sidelines for freaking 16 years and Lea walks in, becomes a dev fave and suddenly gets all the glory? I will be positively furious if Lea gets the cake once again and Kairi doesn't. It was bad enough in DDD that they thought of HIM first although KAIRI has the freaking Keyblade already. I don't even care, send Donald and Goofy to Destiny Island, they SAW her use the Keyblade. I still say giving Lea the Keyblade was stupid and blatant fan/dev service, he could've made an amazing ally outside of the Keyblade thing with his Chakrams and without hogging the actual main character's screen time again and again AND AGAIN.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Oh dear, I'm trying very hard to not burst out laughing here as during the last two years or so I've noticed the general reaction and direction of any thread concerning playable characters outside of Sora tends to go the exact same way with a few differences in details after a while:

1. If any additional playable character introduced is not Kairi that is unacceptable, ruins the game and is eeevilll (or sexist/misogynistic/ignorant or whatever the buzzword of the day is).

2. Characters who were already playable (including Aqua) should not be playable again except if it is Riku because favoritism (or what?).

3. Not making Kairi playable is apparently an insult to the entire fanbase, the greatest sin that could possibly be done and anyone who dares to say he/she doesn't care about her being playable is dismissed as an unreasonable Kairi-hater.


Note: I'm deliberately exaggerating here because I noticed the general direction such threads tend to take, not to insult anyone personally nor do I disagree with the notion that Kairi as a character has been neglected and needs to be included more.
The certain aggressiveness of dismissing any alternatives in terms of other playable characters (that aren't Riku) is somewhat exhausting though.

---

On the original topic:

I've thought about how they technically already have playable assets for Aqua from 0.2 and then making Lea available as well would give the game one playable character out of each the main original trios.

Make Mickey playable as well and you have also a representative of the fourth (Disney)-trio playable.

 

[Alja]

I think the favoritism concerning Riku doesn't only stem from the fact that people like him, but also from the fact that it makes the most sense to have him playable in the Realm of Darkness parts, with him supposedly saving Aqua and all, so I understand why someone would choose Riku over her, but only for story reasons, otherwise, they're pretty equal in my book.

I mean I personally would even understand if they went with Eraqus or even Xehanort for the tutorial, but the favoritism concerning Lea is just what grinds my gears, especially since it further pushes Kairi away from being truly important on her own for the first time since KH1. I personally wouldn't call the game bad or a failure then (and it's certainly something I've seen fans do and I agree - wtf is up with that?), but it would very much my experience unless they manage to balance it out with great plot. I mean, I'm even a little fed up with Riku although I absolutely love him, simply because he got so many times to shine already. I really hope they change this up and seeing how every member of every trio already got their time to shine in a game (or several games) by being a protagonist or heavily involved in the plot despite Kairi is just... disheartening. And picking Lea would especially add insult to injury, seeing how the devs just squeeze him in everywhere lately.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

I think the favoritism concerning Riku doesn't only stem from the fact that people like him, but also from the fact that it makes the most sense to have him playable in the Realm of Darkness parts, with him supposedly saving Aqua and all, so I understand why someone would choose Riku over her, but only for story reasons, otherwise, they're pretty equal in my book.

They could also as easily make Mickey playable, who hasn't been playable yet outside of a few battles in KH 2 only under certain circumstances or expand on the assets they already have for Aqua herself from 0.2 (as I mentioned already) and tell the story from a flipped point of view with occasional cutscenes of Riku and Mickey interwoven with Aqua's gameplay and a central objective being them meeting up eventually.
The possibilities there are pretty vast actually and Riku already was playable more than any other character except Sora himself.

I mean I personally would even understand if they went with Eraqus or even Xehanort for the tutorial, but the favoritism concerning Lea is just what grinds my gears, especially since it further pushes Kairi away from being truly important on her own for the first time since KH1. I personally wouldn't call the game bad or a failure then (and it's certainly something I've seen fans do and I agree - wtf is up with that?), but it would very much my experience unless they manage to balance it out with great plot. I mean, I'm even a little fed up with Riku although I absolutely love him, simply because he got so many times to shine already. I really hope they change this up and seeing how every member of every trio already got their time to shine in a game (or several games) by being a protagonist or heavily involved in the plot despite Kairi is just... disheartening. And picking Lea would especially add insult to injury, seeing how the devs just squeeze him in everywhere lately.

I get the sentiment when it comes specifically to Lea pretty easily, yet these tendencies to insist on that Kairi must be playable across the net aren't limited to when it comes to him alone.
It almost comes over as some 3/4year olds in the defiant phase throwing a tantrum over this whenever the topic of additional playable characters comes up despite actual playability not being any guaranteed ticket for actual better involvement and characterisation.

That's why I stressed I am making a general observation on the topic, I wasn't pointing fingers at anyone in particular.
Forcing Kairi down people's throats won't really work I'm afraid and may on the contrary hurt her standing even more in the long run and if not her as the character itself, certainly the reputation of her fans will be.

The main issue with Kairi is also that unlike nearly all the other major original characters, she has close to no prior setup for an arc that could be continued going into the final game of an entire saga.
The only one I could imagine having a similar predicament is Naminé, but she did at least gain some small premise by apparently being able to somehow contact the Lingering Will/Terra and aiding in somehow bringing everyone together at last, but what has Kairi?

With all the stuff already going on on top also constructing a whole arc for Kairi on her own confined to KH III's boundaries is certainly not impossible, but in order to be pulled off truly well would require more focus solely on her that I don't think KH III can reasonably provide without harming other already existing arcs needing to be addressed.
It would have been a better solution if DDD actually took care of the setup of an arc for Kairi to follow up upon in KH III, and that's where I am in full agreement when it comes to Lea being pushed to the forefront being an error, yet that's the status quo one has to deal with.

 

[Alja]

They could also as easily make Mickey playable, who hasn't been playable yet outside of a few battles in KH 2 only under certain circumstances or expand on the assets they already have for Aqua herself from 0.2 (as I mentioned already) and tell the story from a flipped point of view with occasional cutscenes of Riku and Mickey interwoven with Aqua's gameplay and a central objective being them meeting up eventually.
The possibilities there are pretty vast actually and Riku already was playable more than any other character except Sora himself.

That's all true, Mickey would be actually quite fun to play for real and it would open up an interesting possibility for the late game play! Though I personally feel like they'd want to stick to using original characters for the main gameplay, but that's of course totally subjective (as is all in this thread... oh well xD)

It almost comes over as some 3/4year olds in the defiant phase throwing a tantrum over this whenever the topic of additional playable characters comes up despite actual playability not being any guaranteed ticket for actual better involvement and characterisation.
That's why I stressed I am making a general observation on the topic, I wasn't pointing fingers at anyone in particular.
[...]
With all the stuff already going on on top also constructing a whole arc for Kairi on her own confined to KH III's boundaries is certainly not impossible, but in order to be pulled off truly well would require more focus solely on her that I don't think KH III can reasonably provide without harming other already existing arcs needing to be addressed.
It would have been a better solution if DDD actually took care of the setup of an arc for Kairi to follow up upon in KH III, and that's where I am in full agreement when it comes to Lea being pushed to the forefront being an error, yet that's the status quo one has to deal with.

Don't worry, I got that I just like explaining myself since most of the reasons I read for including Kairi are definitely not the ones I support, so I wanted to offer my personal view there. I totally agree with you that this should have been set up in the early-mid DDD gameplay to offer an arc to build upon and I guess that's part of the reason why I am so unsatisfied with that game and how it handles basically everything. Involving Kairi is going to be hard and at the point where she stands right now plot wise, it's even harder considering she will have to stay at Merlin's for a good chunk of the game. To be honest, I feel like KH3 definitely bit off more than it can chew with how many character arcs they want to finish in this game. That's probably another reason why I am kind of tired of seeing the Nobodies again and again although their story kind of has already been finished (mostly) by KH2, but that's probably a can of worms I shouldn't be opening in this topic because I know the Nobodies can be quite a sensitive subject matter to discuss.

 

[Luminary]

They could also as easily make Mickey playable, who hasn't been playable yet outside of a few battles in KH 2 only under certain circumstances or expand on the assets they already have for Aqua herself from 0.2 (as I mentioned already) and tell the story from a flipped point of view with occasional cutscenes of Riku and Mickey interwoven with Aqua's gameplay and a central objective being them meeting up eventually.
The possibilities there are pretty vast actually and Riku already was playable more than any other character except Sora himself.





I get the sentiment when it comes specifically to Lea pretty easily, yet these tendencies to insist on that Kairi must be playable across the net aren't limited to when it comes to him alone.
It almost comes over as some 3/4year olds in the defiant phase throwing a tantrum over this whenever the topic of additional playable characters comes up despite actual playability not being any guaranteed ticket for actual better involvement and characterisation.

That's why I stressed I am making a general observation on the topic, I wasn't pointing fingers at anyone in particular.
Forcing Kairi down people's throats won't really work I'm afraid and may on the contrary hurt her standing even more in the long run and if not her as the character itself, certainly the reputation of her fans will be.

The main issue with Kairi is also that unlike nearly all the other major original characters, she has close to no prior setup for an arc that could be continued going into the final game of an entire saga.
The only one I could imagine having a similar predicament is Naminé, but she did at least gain some small premise by apparently being able to somehow contact the Lingering Will/Terra and aiding in somehow bringing everyone together at last, but what has Kairi?

With all the stuff already going on on top also constructing a whole arc for Kairi on her own confined to KH III's boundaries is certainly not impossible, but in order to be pulled off truly well would require more focus solely on her that I don't think KH III can reasonably provide without harming other already existing arcs needing to be addressed.
It would have been a better solution if DDD actually took care of the setup of an arc for Kairi to follow up upon in KH III, and that's where I am in full agreement when it comes to Lea being pushed to the forefront being an error, yet that's the status quo one has to deal with.

I don’t have any issue with Mickey being playable other than they may still want to focus on the OG characters. He’s super OP in KH2, but at this point, I think Riku is almost his equal as a Master so it wouldn’t feel too much like they’re unequally yoked. My personal preference would be to play through the Realm of Darkness scenario as Riku with maybe some segments as Mickey like if Riku gets KO’d, but once we beat it, we can revisit explored areas (maybe including ones from .2) and play as Riku, Mickey, or Aqua at will.

The main reason I wouldn’t want the RoD gameplay to focus on Aqua is because that seemed like the point of .2, which was a direct lead in to KH3 and specifically set up for Riku and Mickey’s plotline. I don’t think there is much story for her now other than waiting for Riku and Mickey to get to her. They’ll likely find her shortly after she meets Ansem the Wise, syncing up the two plots in a way that leaves little room for additional stuff from Aqua’s perspective.

For Kairi and Lea, I totally get why the lack of set up for Kairi’s playability might be frustrating, but pretty much every other plot line seems prestaged going into the game. I don’t think it would be so bad to have some variation where Kairi’s arc actually begins in the game itself. And it is at least set up that she is in fact training. The way they present her at the end of DDD even makes it seem like she could be a secret weapon. Since time is compressed where she and Lea are training, it’s likely they’ll be fairly advanced wielders by the beginning of KH3. So even though we may get to see some of the training process, I’m betting it’ll either be abridged or we’ll start their scenario towards the end of their training.

Like Mickey, I have no issues with Lea being playable. But I think Kairi should be the primary/initial playable character for story reasons. If Lea is the focus, Kairi will most likely come off as a bystander or like she’s just being dragged along by someone who’s treated her terribly in the past. By making her the character the player experiences the scenario through, it will be more like Kairi is in control of the situation, if that makes sense. She’s helping him, but it’s on her terms. Then as we progress, the events become much more centered on Kairi than she would have expected. Destiny is never left to chance and all that.

I think part of her motivation could also be to restore Namine, who would probably be the most likely to know how to help Xion return. That would give her and Axel a common goal to work towards. Plus, they both have pasts in Radiant Garden that could be touched on. I think Kairi still has buried memories from her time there that could reveal some important stuff. I think there’s plenty of story material to work with if Kairi is playable so that her character won’t be problematic.

Again, it’s a case where Lea could be playable in specific circumstances. Then once the scenario is over, we could go back and play as Lea and whoever else joins their party.

This is all just based on my hypothetical thinking of where the story might go. I certainly don’t think Kairi should be playable yet remain inconsequential. But I think it would be a nice natural progression between the main titles that Sora was playable in KH1, Riku was briefly in KH2, and then Kairi in 3. But I hope they just do what is best for the story they decide to tell. Until we know what that is, it’s hard to say who the best playable characters would be. At this point, it’s entirely subjective as it’s all based on speculation and personal opinions.

I do like your thought of having a playable character to represent each of the trios though. Honestly, at some point in the game, I’d like to see each of our protagonists playable.

 

[raccoonscity]

I swear, if the tutorial is Lea being playable with Kairi as an additional party member, I'd be outright insulted.

This exactly. ANY playable character that isn't Kairi will be bad enough, but to give us one that hasn't been playable in their own game before (i.e. Sora, Riku or Aqua) will be a HUGE diddly you towards Kairi. That girl has been on the sidelines for freaking 16 years and Lea walks in, becomes a dev fave and suddenly gets all the glory? I will be positively furious if Lea gets the cake once again and Kairi doesn't. It was bad enough in DDD that they thought of HIM first although KAIRI has the freaking Keyblade already. I don't even care, send Donald and Goofy to Destiny Island, they SAW her use the Keyblade. I still say giving Lea the Keyblade was stupid and blatant fan/dev service, he could've made an amazing ally outside of the Keyblade thing with his Chakrams and without hogging the actual main character's screen time again and again AND AGAIN.

Same here.

What if it's Twilight Town they're going to, because there's that odd thing about Sora and company going there first but Aren't they going to Olympus first as 0.2 confirm

0.2 does confirm that this is Sora's first world, but it was stated in an interview that Twilight Town would be the tutorial of the world. All of the trailers of Sora in Twilight Town feature him in his KH3 clothes, not his KH2 clothes, which he is wearing at the end of 0.2 as he prepares to arrive on Olympus.

At the end of BBS's secret episode, there is that cryptic ending (for BBS vol.2) when Aqua sees Cinderella's Tower. We know that parts of it were included in BBS 0.2 (such as Mickey and Aqua). There is that one scene of Kairi with Hayner, Pence, and Olette in front of the TT mansion. Who's to say how much of vol.2 has now been scrapped or rewritten, but there seemed to be an intention to have Kairi come back to TT again, unless this was referencing her visit to TT in KH2.

 

[Alja]

At the end of BBS's secret episode, there is that cryptic ending (for BBS vol.2) when Aqua sees Cinderella's Tower. We know that parts of it were included in BBS 0.2 (such as Mickey and Aqua). There is that one scene of Kairi with Hayner, Pence, and Olette in front of the TT mansion. Who's to say how much of vol.2 has now been scrapped or rewritten, but there seemed to be an intention to have Kairi come back to TT again, unless this was referencing her visit to TT in KH2.

That's definitely an interesting detail from the original Fragmentary Passage and it definitely was no reference to her first visit simply because there is no time for a flashback in a teaser trailer. And even if there was, Kairi stared at the mansion way too intently to mean nothing - and seeing as Sora meets Ansem and Xemnas in front of the mansion in the Orchestra trailer, this plotline involving Twilight mansion definitely survived, no matter which character it uses.

I actually kind of hope that Kairi, Riku and Mickey visit Twilight Town together. We know from KH2 that Yen Sid's Tower is connected via train and we know that Twilight Town is in the Realm Between. Having Mickey and Riku "escort" Kairi to some place in Twilight Town from where she can travel to Radiant Garden and the two of them can find a way into the Realm of Darkness would actually make a lot of sense and it would set up an interesting tutorial stage, where we could have Riku and Mickey giving tips and not only relying on info screens. Of course, this could just very well use Riku or Mickey who would then go on to be playable in the Realm of Darkness...

 

[Luminary]

Wait a sec... is it ever specified that the “temporally flexible” place is in Radiant Garden? I know that seems suggested because of Merlin’s involvement, but what if they’re in Data-Twilight Town? Even though time seems to flow the same there in KH2, I could see where a data world could be programmed for time to flow faster.

Plus, if Ansem the Wise created the data before Xion disappeared, maybe some clue to her existence is still there? It would also make use of an established concept rather than using a new area that for some reason wasn’t mentioned or used until now.

Just a thought.