Nomura discusses Kingdom Hearts 4, Missing-Link, and Dark Road in extended Famitsu interview

[Face My Fears]

No one at SE said anything to encourage anyone to make these assumptions, so it's definitely not intentional.

I mean that could be the strategy. If they understand how gamers will react to the teaser trailer, they show certain things to make fans think a certain thing. It's like when movie trailers only show you things from the first 30 minutes of a movie and mislead you on what it's all about. Showing only the Quadratum side and a five second DISNEY portion leads the audience to think things will be "more mature" ESPECIALLY when the reaction to the Yozora fight/end of KH3 already made people think that.

I don't get how people think it's "impossible" for Donald and Goofy to be in the more realistic Quadratum, when Nomura basically covered that in The Caribbean - which was obviously the test to see if it was even feasible to go forward with the Quadratum style.

 

[AdrianXXII]

I for one at least am pleased to hear about the prospect of finally having a more "mature" Sora. We've already had silly, doofus Sora for multiple games, time for some actual development for him. I don't want Sora to regress in maturity like Goku did in Dragon Ball Super.

It would also be interesting how other characters would react to this change in him.

Personally i feel like KH1 and CoM Sora was him at his smartest and most mature, since then he's kind of been sliding more into the dumb, kind hearted shonen protagnoist archetype.

 

[Face My Fears]

Personally i feel like KH1 and CoM Sora was him at his smartest and most mature, since then he's kind of been sliding more into the dumb, kind hearted shonen protagnoist archetype.

My head canon is that Roxas/Xion took away some of Sora's maturity in KH2 and future games lol.

 

[Squood!]

Personally i feel like KH1 and CoM Sora was him at his smartest and most mature, since then he's kind of been sliding more into the dumb, kind hearted shonen protagnoist archetype.

"CoM Sora = Smart and Mature"

He got pissed at Goofy and basically threw a tantrum cuz he got told to slow down and think ahead instead of rushing in like an idiot because "muh namine"

 

[Face My Fears]

"CoM Sora = Smart and Mature"

He got pissed at Goofy and basically threw a tantrum cuz he got told to slow down and think ahead instead of rushing in like an idiot because "muh namine"

I think it's mistaken as "Sora being smart and mature" versus the reality that "CoM's writing was smart and mature".

 

[Gandalf-the-Wise]

It is ironic that Sora was at his most mature, level headed self in the very first game. As @Face My Fears said, Roxas and Xion must have taken some of that away from him.

 

[palizinhas]

CoM Sora believed a shady guy who lured him into a castle that literally stole all of his abilities when he was told he'd find Riku and Mickey there. Sure, Naminé was already messing with him, but that fact proves that it's really hard to tell what in CoM is actually Sora thinking out of his own free will and what isn't.

 

[SuperNova]

I personally don't mind Sora being kindhearted and kind of dumb honestly. People often mistake maturity for being serious and grounded, aka what Riku is. What Sora lacks in intellectual maturity he has displayed a keen sense of empathy and in KH3 he has a great sense of emotional depth when it comes to relating to others. The only "maturity" I can see happening is him slowing down a little and being a little calmer, but I don't see him going the Riku route.

 

[NoWay]

What I don’t get is, what do you exactly refer to when saying KH3 Sora’s dumb?
I mean, he is very kindhearted and doing fun with Donald and Goofy but I wouldn’t consider him as stupid EXCEPT for the KG cutscene where he hugs Kairi instead of fighting Terranort

 

[Face My Fears]

I actually thought KH3 Sora was him at his best. He went on a journey to reclaim his strength and had doubts about it along the way. He had a moment where he gets re-affirmed that he is strong enough (saving Aqua and Ven), which gives him a confidence boost, so he isn't moping around... but then the ultimate climactic battle/test of his strength - he fails. Which is why his scream at the Keyblade Graveyard hit me really hard because Sora is so used to charging in and things working out. But this time around, he isn't strong enough AND this time around everyone he loves is there with him and not just Donald and Goofy AND they actually die and not just "something something darkness". Which made his choice to break the natural law and time travel was really impactful.

 

[AdrianXXII]

"CoM Sora = Smart and Mature"

He got pissed at Goofy and basically threw a tantrum cuz he got told to slow down and think ahead instead of rushing in like an idiot because "muh namine"

Fair, but that was largely later on when his memories were more strongly manipulated. Plus Sora was more introspective and insightful in this game than he has seemed since. But yeah now that I've seen a few of his actions pointed out, smart and mature might not be the right words, he just seemed less Shonen Protagonist I guess.

What I don’t get is, what do you exactly refer to when saying KH3 Sora’s dumb?
I mean, he is very kindhearted and doing fun with Donald and Goofy but I wouldn’t consider him as stupid EXCEPT for the KG cutscene where he hugs Kairi instead of fighting Terranort

Hm... I would have to replay/watch the game to say concretely, but I just remember Sora kinda feeling a bit ditzy in KH3. Like I don't mind him being a bit of a goof, but sometime it felt a bit overdone. Plus it felt like a lot of the characters treated him like a dumb goof, which kind of strengthened the impression of him kinda being on the dumb side.

 

[Chie]

It honestly feels like there's another weird plot thing going on in KH3 with Sora's odder moments, rather than him being dumb, but the game ends without revealing such a thing, so...?

 

[SuperNova]

Tbh KH3 Sora is great, I love how animated and insecure he can be. The stupidest Sora has ever been is DDD imo.

 

[Elysium]

For me, it will always be KH2. I wanted Leon and Mickey to bitchslap his ass at different points throughout that game, he was so stupid.

 

[SweetYetSalty]

This might be a hot take but one of my favorite Soras has to be Data Sora. I know he's not really Sora, but I found this take a lot more compelling then most Soras. I like KH1 Sora too, but at times I didn't feel he had a strong enough voice in the middle of the arc, and just went along with things. He had strong moments in the beginning and end of KH1, but the middle he kind of just went with the program unless Riku showed up. But he's probably my favorite of the game Soras, maybe?

I grew to appreciate KH3 Sora more and more as time went on. CoM Sora is so all over the place with his memory wiped personality that it's not really Sora but a Namine injected one. DDD Sora is a step above KH2 Sora but still has that problem of just going along with things at times.

KH2 Sora is my least favorite. He begins the dumb shonen protagonist route that Sora still occasionally has today, but with the added layer of his hypocrisy it makes all his speeches about "hearts" when dealing with Disney characters and Organization members moot. What was even the point of giving him a Nobody if it didn't change his outlook on the concept by the end of the game? This is why my favorite Sora is from the manga, despite not being canon lol.

 

[palizinhas]

KH2 is Sora's worst and DDD his dumbest. DDD is why I live in fear of Sora not having Donald and Goofy with him in KH4. SDG divide the comedic relief between them, with Sora alone or Sora with Riku Sora has to he stupid by himself for the Jokes.

 

[NoWay]

This might be a hot take but one of my favorite Soras has to be Data Sora. I know he's not really Sora, but I found this take a lot more compelling then most Soras.

Never thought about Data Sora, but you’re absolutely right! I love Data Sora, especially the final segment where he meets Naminé.

 

[Dreq the Dreck]

Happy to hear their adding another scenario writer to the team. The writing in NEO:TWEWY was pretty enjoyable for me so I hope she can pick up the slack of the more recent games. Though there's no saying how much influence she'll have in the end.

I'm still not sure how to feel about the whole Missing-Link game, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see. I feel like the perspective we've gotten of everything has changed a lot in the years since UX first launched. I still don't know how to feel over DR's revelation that most worlds have just come back to being recently and don't really have centuries of history of existing separately. With the new revelation that ML takes place 4 Generations after Ephimire's rebuilding of the keyblade society makes me wonder how far in the past UX really was. Everything feels less spread-out then I personally would have wanted.

Same. Turns out that "ancient times" weren't ancient at all and Luxu shouldn't have needed more than 10-ish vessels.