Oh my baby girl is going out to destroy people!
News ► Square Enix shares new renders of Kairi in action!
- Thread starter Sign
- Start date
|
REGISTER TO REMOVE ADS |
|
- Status
Looking fresh Kairi, glad to see her back on the spotlight again.
Looking at this just make the possibility of both Riku and Kairi being playable characters.
Looking at this just make the possibility of both Riku and Kairi being playable characters.
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2005
- Messages
- 6,801
- Awards
- 8
This series keeps acting like a character getting a keyblade is a promotion for that character, that they've ascended in a sense. But in practice it's removing their unique qualities and making them yet another wielder.
-Kairi could've had a fighting style based on her PoH power, something akin to how Roxas fights when he's keyless in KH2FM.
-Riku's arc should've been him moving on from desiring a keyblade. Besides Soul Water was a cooler looking weapon anyway. RIP best sword.
-Axel/Lea had a unique weapon and fighting style. Now he doesn't. Plus his capture of Xion is Canon proof he didn't need a keyblade to defeat a wielder.
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2015
- Messages
- 447
- Awards
- 5
I mean I really couldn't agree more regarding Lea, but I think you are wrong in why he has a keyblade. It isn't because he needs it to defeat his enemies, he needs it because the keyblade has special attributes that will allow him to save his friend Isa. However I definitely am upset about the whole thing because his chakrams are way cooler and make him special to the franchise.
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2015
- Messages
- 145
I was grinning ear to ear upon noticing where Kairi got her fighting stance from. That's sweet; also noticed that her other render has Kairi using a certain (formerly) blue-head's magic casting stance. Really do hope Kairi's finally playable this time around; I don't even mind if Riku is playable again as long as the whole Destiny Island Trio is together. Come to think of it, she's the only prospective Guardian of Light who's never been playable in any form up until now (Axel and Mickey technically having been playable in Days).
There's nothing saying Kairi can't mix her Princess of Heart powers with her Keyblade, but receiving Destiny's Embrace symbolized the crystallization of her resolve to not just wait around for Sora and Riku to come back and take matters in her own hands...
...Mind you, it took 14 real-world years for her to really step into the ring, but the point still stands.
Reflecting on the examples of Riku and Axel/Lea, getting a Keyblade of their own seems to signify that a heroic character has completed a significant part of their hero's journey is ready to fight for the Light's future; those two transitioning from anti-hero/anti-villain to more straight-forward heroes. I do agree that Lea ditching his chakrams is disappointing, but the hard truth of the matter is that there are things he wants to accomplish that only a Keyblade can help him do... but maybe he'll have a Keyblade transformation that incorporates his old trademark weapons.
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2005
- Messages
- 6,801
- Awards
- 8
There's like others way to show heroic resolve than giving someone a keyblade. & Lea could've just as well ask a wielder for assistance for whatever he needs.
What the Keyblade symbolizes in-lore and what it represents irl can be two different things.
Obviously in the game Kairi and Lea didn't receive the Keyblade neither because Yen Sid took them to a corner and told them they would've been useless fodder without it, nor was Nomura EXPLICITLY thinking "and now let's drown their characters in averageness!" when he did so, but that doesn't necessary mean it wasn't part of the equation.
Of course you can find moving reasons behind this or that decision, you almost always can, but the truth is that as a matter of fact Kairi wasn't seeing even a glimmer of fighting and relevance before getting in the Keyblade Club, that I'll be very surprised if we'll see her using PoH powers again, and that I can think of many ways for Lea to still save Isa without a Keyblade, especially since all of his new friends now have one.
Like Aqua said, one Keyblade is enough for any friendship. 's not like Lea unlocked some secret powers unberknownst to anyone else.
In fact, exactly because one of the secondary lessons in BbS (and kinda in X/Ux as well) was that MAYBE there were too many people with doombringing keys roaming around and that's how shiz hit the fan and that in the bigger picture the entirety of KH1 and KH II is basically "here's what can happen if one wielder goes rogue" only strenghten my resolve that so many free keys could've been avoided and that it kinda goes against what the series is trying to teach.
"With the power of friendship and good heart even an ordinary boy can overcome anything! Oh, but anyone who's going to matter needs a Keyblade, otherwise is a no-no."
Certainly each of these characters getting a Keyblade is supposed to make you feel like it's a part of their arc and growth, and a big deal.
But to some of us it just seems cheap, makes the whole thing lose its magic, deprives characters of other possible uses killing off variety, and gives the impression that you now NEED one for the plot to even consider you.
It also makes the narrative universe feels less alive, should the 13 Norts also get Keyblades this final battle would become less of a big historical milestone and more of an internal affair between Keyblade wielders.
I am excited of having Kairi doing stuff and be relevant, but I wished she could've done it in a different way. Same with Lea.
Obviously in the game Kairi and Lea didn't receive the Keyblade neither because Yen Sid took them to a corner and told them they would've been useless fodder without it, nor was Nomura EXPLICITLY thinking "and now let's drown their characters in averageness!" when he did so, but that doesn't necessary mean it wasn't part of the equation.
Of course you can find moving reasons behind this or that decision, you almost always can, but the truth is that as a matter of fact Kairi wasn't seeing even a glimmer of fighting and relevance before getting in the Keyblade Club, that I'll be very surprised if we'll see her using PoH powers again, and that I can think of many ways for Lea to still save Isa without a Keyblade, especially since all of his new friends now have one.
Like Aqua said, one Keyblade is enough for any friendship. 's not like Lea unlocked some secret powers unberknownst to anyone else.
In fact, exactly because one of the secondary lessons in BbS (and kinda in X/Ux as well) was that MAYBE there were too many people with doombringing keys roaming around and that's how shiz hit the fan and that in the bigger picture the entirety of KH1 and KH II is basically "here's what can happen if one wielder goes rogue" only strenghten my resolve that so many free keys could've been avoided and that it kinda goes against what the series is trying to teach.
"With the power of friendship and good heart even an ordinary boy can overcome anything! Oh, but anyone who's going to matter needs a Keyblade, otherwise is a no-no."
Certainly each of these characters getting a Keyblade is supposed to make you feel like it's a part of their arc and growth, and a big deal.
But to some of us it just seems cheap, makes the whole thing lose its magic, deprives characters of other possible uses killing off variety, and gives the impression that you now NEED one for the plot to even consider you.
It also makes the narrative universe feels less alive, should the 13 Norts also get Keyblades this final battle would become less of a big historical milestone and more of an internal affair between Keyblade wielders.
I am excited of having Kairi doing stuff and be relevant, but I wished she could've done it in a different way. Same with Lea.
of all the keyblades kairi tell her story and i love it here a very good anylsis of it
https://phoenix-downer.tumblr.com/post/180693403023/destinys-embrace-a-closer-look
https://phoenix-downer.tumblr.com/post/180693403023/destinys-embrace-a-closer-look
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2015
- Messages
- 145
I'm aware of Aqua's "One Keyblade is enough for any friendship" stance, and Lea as Axel saw how Roxas and Xion were treated as tools for their ability to wield them. Since KH2, we've seen a lot of the dark side of what wielding a Keyblade entails and how Xehanort's used his to cause untold sorrow and destruction upon the Realm of Light...
...That having been said, I think that KH3 is set to reconstruct the Keyblade's ability to be used for good and to save friends rather than tear them apart. As Sora noted in 3D, he sees his Keyblade as both a sympol of his connections to his friends, and as a chance to make everyone happy. This is the light I see Kairi and Lea getting their Keyblades as signifying, but I do see the other side of that argument that you've taken as a valid one.
Also, supposedly, Kairi had been sparring during Sora and Riku's year-long absence, but this wasn't said or shown in KH2 proper. Bad story-telling form, but it wasn't exactly that game's only example, so...
Woah BABY! My fantasies are running!
I agree that the way in which certain characters have accessed their Keyblades (Kairi and Lea in particular), in terms of its presentation, have been poorly handled. To this day it's hard for fans to get a real grasp on how/when Kairi's Keyblade came to her, and while I don't dislike the (probable) explanation for how it works offered by Spockanort, the way in which the narrative evades the issue and then drops her from the story so that it doesn't get explored and possibly never will is just shabby-- not because everything has to be explained, but because Kairi's Keyblade needs to mean something to her, and to exist as a dramatic extension of her call to agency, just as Sora's and Riku's are for them. Lea's is even worse to me, because it practically satirizes the Keyblade's "legendary" qualities and symbolism in playing it off like a punchline. This is the same iconic weapon which has been so heavily dramatized for game after game and then DDD comes along and it just comes down to a flick of the wrist. Yeah, way to really get the audience invested in Lea's journey to the side of the heroes by taking the shortcut right through to Guardian of Light with no questions asked.
That said, if we're to understand that the KH series has been, at least since BBS and arguably since KH2, premising the eventual rise of a "New Keyblade Order" of sorts, there's nothing inherently wrong with expanding the number of Keyblades and wielders from among our main cast. These are characters we are, presumably, already attached to, so it's natural enough to establish a precedent with them and move from there. The problem is balancing that inclination with narrative substance: characters need actual arcs and an emotional/dramatic rationale for earning a Keyblade, and we as the audience need to be given an opportunity experience and connect with it. Otherwise, there's a factor of diminishing returns with every new wielder who's introduced, of just the sort which we've witnessed.
That's why I don't mind that Riku has one. It symbolizes his redemption and his newfound resolve, and while I agree that his new Keyblade's design is not good, we're seeing his relationship to the Keyblade (and thus the nature of the relationship between a Keyblade and its wielder) further complicated and explored through this turn of events. Maybe.
With Kairi, there's an opportunity to show her strengthening her connection to the Keyblade, and learning to be one with it. While playing as Sora, we've largely been conditioned to take that for granted, but I'd love to see her actually struggle to make it work for her and have it give her cause to search deep within herself for what it is she wants to achieve. For so long she's been content to wait around for others, to only act when called upon: she keeps saying that she's not going to get left behind, and yet it keeps happening to her. What is she going to do to prevent that moving forward? And how can the Keyblade help her accomplish it? I think there's a great chance to use this as a vehicle for growing her as a character beyond her archetypal, magical princess framing-- or at least an opportunity to reconstitute what that means in her own terms.
For Axel, I just want him to lose the Keyblade once he gets Roxas and Xion (and maybe Isa) back. I feel firmly that he only earned a Keyblade through the strength of his desire to see them all again, and once the moment has passed, the Keyblade will have no reason to remain with him. It lends some of that conscious quality to the Keyblade from the earlier games which I always liked: a Keyblade chooses its master, but can just as easily leave that master behind.
It'd be great if MX's Keyblade did this at a crucial juncture, just like, "Nope, done with you." More likely though, it will survive beyond him and become a part of the next storyline.
I dont see any real reason for Lea to lose his keyblade. If the other wielders get to keep theirs I doubt he would be the exception.
Riku's losing his Keyblade already.
And he got a new one. Besides Way to Dawn was broken by Dark Aqua. I'm sure if that encounter never happened his keyblade wouldnt just suddenly leave him at the end of KH3.
You mean like it left him for Sora at the end of KH1?
That was only because Riku's heart was weak at the time. And it's not like that keyblade disappeared, it just chose a new wielder.
As long as Lea's heart doesn't weaken or fall back into darkness his keyblade should remain with him. For all we know he could enjoy being a keyblade wielder and intends to be a master along with Kairi.
It looks better in the new engine and with the floral details being in 3D than it has in the other games, but yeah, I too was hoping she'd get a new design.
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2016
- Messages
- 881
- Awards
- 3
it really does look nice in 3D but can't help but think her keyblade looks like a regular keyblade you'd get in a Disney princess world and it just doesn't look like a keyblade meant for the main story
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2016
- Messages
- 289
- Awards
- 10
Personally I think her keyblade looks pretty decent here even though I didn't like its design in the past. I think rendering it in full 3D helps make it look more cohesive and less busy.
Really happy to see some combat renders. I was excited about the possibility of her joining the fight at the end of KH2, and felt pretty ripped off that she got pushed to the side in subsequent games. Hoping she gets a major part to play in this one.
Really happy to see some combat renders. I was excited about the possibility of her joining the fight at the end of KH2, and felt pretty ripped off that she got pushed to the side in subsequent games. Hoping she gets a major part to play in this one.
- Status