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More Playable characters moving forward



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AdrianXXII

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So ever since KH3's trailers have come out there seems to be an interest in playing as multiple characters. An interest Square Enix has seemingly picked up by adding more fights, in which you take control of characters other than Sora in Re:Mind.

This desire seems even more obvious with all the recent mods that have been popping up showcasing other battles with these playable characters and the hype around them.

I honestly feel like them not including character switching for the Data boss fights in the DLC was a missed opportunity. It looks really fun in the mods.

Something I'd love to see, is a game in which you play through multiple episodes as different characters exploring different plot lines. Kind of what I imagined BBS vol. 2 was originally going to be. At the end you could visit any of the worlds featured in the different episode as different characters.
Otherwise I'd also be happy with something like with Re:mind, but afterwards there's a arena or tournament somewhere where you can switch between different characters and fight different bosses or mobs.

So I'm curious how how likely do you guys think it is that Square Enix will take note and offer more opportunities to play as the various characters moving forward? And how would you like to see it implemented?
 

Face My Fears

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I think that the numbered titles should always be Sora playable for the main game. There can be segments of other playable characters, but Sora is the majority of the game. After you beat the game and complete other tasks, you can unlock the feature to play as other characters during certain fights (like the coliseum or whatever). I always remember this Spiderman film game that let you play as Green Goblin once you did certain things. I feel like KH can apply that to numbered titles. After you complete everything in the game, it can unlock new game plus which allows you to play through the game as whichever character you want (that was playable). No dialogue or anything changes and cutscenes will just go back to Sora, but you can play as the character.

The side games should always be multiple characters. I wouldn't necessarily do it like BbS IE the same story through different lenses. I would rather pick three characters that you can rotate (for example: Roxas, Xion and Axel) doing one main plot. You can switch characters only at save points (as it may be too OP to switch characters on the battlefield). I think that will also enhance the RPG side of things since now you will have to think about who to give Attack/Defense/Magic boosts etc. instead of giving all the best stuff to Sora.

The only deterrent I can think of from this is that Sora will end up lacking interaction with other characters, as he would always be on his solo adventure while everyone else did their thing. It would be even better if we got a side game with three characters that weren't an established trio (like Aqua/Kairi/Xion), to see more interactions that we never got before. Maybe even have the Sora story intertwine with theirs (say some event happened in Radiant Garden that had Sora meet up Aqua/Kairi/Xion, then we could see the event from Aqua/Kairi/Xion's point of view).

Anyway, I definitely think a feature that should happen is character switch for Data boss fights (after you beat the game) or coliseum fights (any sort of contained fights outside of main plot). I mean, if the characters are programmed why not use them as much as possible? They can even make that a trophy. Imagine having to beat Yozora using Kairi or Aqua (I wouldn't be able to because I barely won with Sora), but having more options and content in the game with the assets already plugged in should be a no brainer. They could even do an online mode where you can fight other players using whichever playable characters.

Lastly, I just want to throw in that even though I want more playable characters, I think the ultimate goal should be more character interactions. Having more playable characters doesn't magically fix that issue. I want to see Sora/Terra talk, Namine/Ven, Xion/Aqua etc. seeing the characters grow and have actual friendships that aren't locked and imposed upon by an arbitrary trio-belief system is what the series is lacking. The characters have all reached a point where we need to see them beyond their established trios.
 

Foxycian

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I think that the numbered titles should always be Sora playable for the main game. There can be segments of other playable characters, but Sora is the majority of the game. After you beat the game and complete other tasks, you can unlock the feature to play as other characters during certain fights (like the coliseum or whatever)
The side games should always be multiple characters. I wouldn't necessarily do it like BbS IE the same story through different lenses. I would rather pick three characters that you can rotate
Honestly I 100% Agree with this soo much, and yea the characters need more interactions.
 

Alpha Baymax

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I have a good feeling that Yozora, Ephemer and Skuld are going to be playable characters in the future. All three of them just seem too important not to be.
 

Sephiroth0812

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For meaningful character interactions you need the other characters to be regularly present and also being part of the current flow of the plot, be it the great overarching story or a subplot.
So far the KH series tends to deliberately keep the characters away from each other except for a few scenes which are then often filled with rather awkward dialogue and/or more heavy story exposition instead of being about the characters themselves and their relationships.

If the KH series would finally implement a true party system which also involves in-the-field interaction between party members you could implement all that and possibly even more without necessarily having to make a dozen characters directly player-controlled.
 

Dark Rot

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I'm glad the next game is another Riku/Sora quest. If I had to guess I don't think they'll use the drop system, or maybe they'll just let you swap between them without the timer. I wouldn't mind if the sequence you play as Sora and Riku respectively is predetermined, but I think they'll let you switch it up freely between worlds. I wonder what they'll do for party members. Sora and Riku as a team you can switch between mid-battle sounds nice, if and when they're reunited.
BTW I'm sick of "side-games" where they think they can just get away with doing less. Please make every game a full JRPG epic that stands on its own. I'm skeptical about the Quadratum game, since KH3 lowered the bar so significantly... but also they can't do much worse!

I like the idea of characters other than Sora (or whoever the lead is) getting their own playable segments in a future game. I think it was reasonable of fans to have expected Kairi to be playable in the KH3 prologue, and Riku to get a full Realm of Darkness experience with Mickey.
A Reverse/Rebirth (or Nier: Automata) scenario where you play through the game again from another perspective would I think be better for storytelling than the awkwardness of BBS.

At this point, there aren't any original characters besides Sora and Riku that feel worth playing as. Maybe Yozora. I wouldn't mind playing as Axel, Isa, Namine, Dilan... but I don't see it. Everyone's been so devalued after KH3. I'd rather new characters if we're taking a break from Sora. I barely care about the mobile game cast, and hope they remain in their flash prison as much as possible.

Playing as a Heartless again would be cool. I'd like more Heartless characters.

It would be nice to be able to swap to Donald and Goofy and a few other Disney characters too. I'd like to play as Jack Skellington and Alice in KH. Maleficent would be epic. I would rather extra playable characters besides Sora did not use keyblades, including Riku. That would be better as just his thing, even if we're way past that point.
 

Launchpad

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obligatory 'more playable characters means less singularly robust character experiences' post, just to keep the point circulating.

KH3 mostly only focused on Sora, with a few brief interludes where you play as other characters. Most of the dev focus was on Sora, and I'd say he wasn't really THAT fun to play as until the DLC/updates made him more versatile and fluid. Splitting that effort among the 3, 4, 5 characters that everyone wants, well, it probably wouldn't lead to anything good if BBS and DDD are anything to go by. Even in KH3, Riku, Roxas and Aqua feel a lot less fun than Sora. Kairi is oddly more polished than the rest (still sus about it. they're saving her for later.) but none of them feel like they'd be complex or polished enough to carry a game.

Less playable characters moving forward please, history has shown it works out better
 

Elysium

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I'd rather Sora (and/or Riku) were the protagonists always. I don't really get much joy out of playing as most of the other characters that have been available. Aqua was the only other one I liked. Like I've said before, I wouldn't be mad at a RAXI game, and yet at the same time part of me hopes the side characters will be benched after 3.
 

AdrianXXII

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For meaningful character interactions you need the other characters to be regularly present and also being part of the current flow of the plot, be it the great overarching story or a subplot.
So far the KH series tends to deliberately keep the characters away from each other except for a few scenes which are then often filled with rather awkward dialogue and/or more heavy story exposition instead of being about the characters themselves and their relationships.

If the KH series would finally implement a true party system which also involves in-the-field interaction between party members you could implement all that and possibly even more without necessarily having to make a dozen characters directly player-controlled.
The series constant need to keep all it's main cast seperate does seem to be one of it's bigger issues. We're kind of missing out on smaller character interactions and when we do get them, they're usually cut pretty short.
But it makes sense the main plot usually requires the characters to be together and if they're apart for most of the story, there's little time for actual meaningful interactions outside of the plot.

A proper party system would probably be a good way to get more interactions. You'd have more time with the cast and be able to use the world as backdrops to further develop the characters and their relationships. That said I doubt we'll get a true party system, seeing the series has kind of created its own version of a party system. What I could see them doing is having some of the main cast tag along to certain world to get a similar effect.

Still even, if we got them as long term party members, many would still want to play as these characters.

obligatory 'more playable characters means less singularly robust character experiences' post, just to keep the point circulating.
This is probably the best argument I've seen against including more playable characters, that the more characters that need to be realized the less time will actually be invested in polishing them.
On the other hand you could easily just build upon the world from a previous game instead of reinventing the wheel the way this series seems to between every game that way the existing characters would become increasingly more polished as time goes on.
 

Foxycian

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obligatory 'more playable characters means less singularly robust character experiences' post, just to keep the point circulating.

KH3 mostly only focused on Sora, with a few brief interludes where you play as other characters. Most of the dev focus was on Sora, and I'd say he wasn't really THAT fun to play as until the DLC/updates made him more versatile and fluid. Splitting that effort among the 3, 4, 5 characters that everyone wants, well, it probably wouldn't lead to anything good if BBS and DDD are anything to go by. Even in KH3, Riku, Roxas and Aqua feel a lot less fun than Sora. Kairi is oddly more polished than the rest (still sus about it. they're saving her for later.) but none of them feel like they'd be complex or polished enough to carry a game.

Less playable characters moving forward please, history has shown it works out better
Tho I kinda agree with Face My Fears,

In the Numbered Title Games it should focus on Sora the most while other characters get to have only small segment of field or battles

while Side Games (Like Re:Chain of memories, Birth by sleep, Dream drop distance, Melody of memory) should be all characters (including Sora) to be Playable.
 

Face My Fears

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obligatory 'more playable characters means less singularly robust character experiences' post, just to keep the point circulating.

KH3 mostly only focused on Sora, with a few brief interludes where you play as other characters. Most of the dev focus was on Sora, and I'd say he wasn't really THAT fun to play as until the DLC/updates made him more versatile and fluid. Splitting that effort among the 3, 4, 5 characters that everyone wants, well, it probably wouldn't lead to anything good if BBS and DDD are anything to go by. Even in KH3, Riku, Roxas and Aqua feel a lot less fun than Sora. Kairi is oddly more polished than the rest (still sus about it. they're saving her for later.) but none of them feel like they'd be complex or polished enough to carry a game.

Less playable characters moving forward please, history has shown it works out better
I mean all the other playable characters were obviously going to be less polished than Sora. I actually didn't really have much fun playing as any of the other characters and kept dying. But if they're going to be programmed into the game and we're in the day and age of people modding games to play as those programmed characters, I don't see the harm in just making it a feature to play as whoever is programmed into the game. It may be a crappy experience in the long term, but if someone wants that option, why deny them if it's easy to do? Like they could have had a feature that if you get the platinum trophy in vanilla KH3, you could unlock playing as Riku in the main story (nothing changes except that you play as Riku).

Honestly, I think the best way to approach this would be:
Side game - 2 or more playable characters that you can swap around during the playthrough
Main game - Sora is the focus with small segments playing as another character (if needed by the story). Using assets from the side game and if there are characters playable in the main game, you can unlock them after getting the platinum trophy for the game
Rinse and repeat

I would have loved being able to run through KH3 as Kairi or even just use her in field battles or the battle gates.
 

Alpha Baymax

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BTW I'm sick of "side-games" where they think they can just get away with doing less. Please make every game a full JRPG epic that stands on its own. I'm skeptical about the Quadratum game, since KH3 lowered the bar so significantly... but also they can't do much worse!

I like the idea of characters other than Sora (or whoever the lead is) getting their own playable segments in a future game. I think it was reasonable of fans to have expected Kairi to be playable in the KH3 prologue, and Riku to get a full Realm of Darkness experience with Mickey.
A Reverse/Rebirth (or Nier: Automata) scenario where you play through the game again from another perspective would I think be better for storytelling than the awkwardness of BBS.

At this point, there aren't any original characters besides Sora and Riku that feel worth playing as. Maybe Yozora. I wouldn't mind playing as Axel, Isa, Namine, Dilan... but I don't see it. Everyone's been so devalued after KH3. I'd rather new characters if we're taking a break from Sora. I barely care about the mobile game cast, and hope they remain in their flash prison as much as possible.

Birth by Sleep was such a successful Kingdom Hearts entry that it's the only portable entry to receive a Final Mix edition. And for as divisive as Dream Drop Distance is, it's a game that definitely stands on its own with the introduction of The World Ends With You cast being arguably the best narratively implemented Square Enix characters.

Kingdom Hearts is in uncharted territory now. The Xehanort saga is complete, we've gotten Pixar in Kingdom Hearts and Quadratum is the biggest WTF in the Kingdom Hearts series to date. The extended cast are still important, they haven't been devalued just because Xehanort has been defeated. Of course, it's good to temper expectations but what can you expect when we don't know what to expect?
 

OrionGold

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Honestly, if we were to ever get another KH game where we play as multiple characters, I would find it suggestable if they did something similar like Yakuza 0, 4, and 5 where after a couple of chapters, you switch to another playable protagonist.
 
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i'm still betting on an open world Yozora game where we play as Yozora and do underground missions in his game and fight Bahamut and eventually get to the creation of Gigas and how they took over his world and see why nameless star was taken and why Yozora is dreaming in his game allowing him to discover the PoW
 
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