Kingdom Hearts 3launched in 2019, bringing with it a feeling of uncertainty as to what the next fullKingdom Heartsgame will be. The ending of3, and extended ending of theReMindDLC, threw the doors of possibilitywide open forKingdom Hearts 4. There’s no telling what could happen next, but one thing that seems certain is that Sora and co.’s adventures are far from over. There are plenty of things for the extended cast to do, and for the first time in the franchise, it seems like the entireKHroster is moving with purpose, even if some of that purpose is to figure out where they need to be moving to.
The big reason for this is that, above all else,Kingdom Hearts 3was a celebration ofKingdom Hearts. Basically every living character, and a few that were either dead or mysteriously vanished, was brought back to cap off the Xehanort saga. The entire Organization XIII, the main villains from every past game, and even characters and locations from the mobile entries were all present for the insane fever dream that wasKingdom Hearts 3. However, in the midst of all this celebrating, fans couldn’t help but notice a few important characters from past entries who were missing. While it would be best forKingdom Hearts 4to execute on whatever new thing it’s trying to do, it would also be nice to get some closure on these characters.
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Final Fantasy 7’s Side Story
One of the loudest outcries surroundingKingdom Hearts 3’s launch was aroundthe lack ofFinal Fantasycharacters. TheKingdom Heartsfranchise had always been predicated on an original character exploring a hybrid ofFinal Fantasyand Disney worlds. While the Disney worlds often took precedence, there was always a core group ofFinal Fantasycharacters populating a sort of hub world and backing Sora up. There were also a couple others spread out across a handful of worlds, most notably Cloud, Zack, Auron, and Sephiroth in the Olympus Coliseum.
However,Kingdom Hearts 3made the controversial decision to focus on Disney worlds and original characters at the total expense of allFinal Fantasycharacters. In the base game, only shop Moogles appeared to representFF.ReMindremedied this a little by having the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, staffed by Leon, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith, make a brief appearance, but many didn’t think that was enough. In particular, the running plot throughout the rest of the series regarding the battle between Cloud and Sephiroth, with Tifa trying to follow them, has remained in stasis sinceKingdom Hearts 2. With any luck, theFinal Fantasycrew is waiting for Sora and friendswhereverKingdom Hearts 4will take place.
The World Ends With You And Its Charm
CountingKingdom Hearts 3and its DLC, there aren’t any other characters who feel left out in quite the same way Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth do. There wereUnion Xcharacters missing, but that may have been a deliberate storytelling choice. However,The World Ends With Youcast fromKingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distanceis also noticeably absent. This crew, consisting of the playable characters from the firstThe World Ends With You, serves as the replacement for the usual Traverse Town/Hollow Bastion crew. They aren’t terribly important in the larger context ofKingdom Hearts’ plot, but they’re cool to have around.
WhileThe World Ends With You’s cast didn’t add a lot toDDD, there’s still plenty of room for them and other Square Enix characters — perhaps even ones who have not appeared inKingdom Heartsyet — to appear inKingdom Hearts 4. Each new series featured in theKingdom Heartsseries brings its own unique charm and potential for storytelling and combat to the series. It would be great to see more variety, possibly including the new and returning cast members ofNEO: The World Ends With You, in a futureKingdom Hearts.
