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Did you enjoy the character arcs in Kingdom Hearts III?

Somni

Somni

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
942
This series has a considerably large cast of original and licensed characters, one that continues to grow with each new title. Naturally fans will find themselves drawn to or empathizing with certain characters over the course of the series.

Those of you invested in certain characters' storylines, how were their arcs handled in this latest title?
 
Musubi

Musubi

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,738
Good. Except for
Kari. I think she really got the short end of the stick with how her arc in the game played out.
 
Xenosaga

Xenosaga

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,001
Yes for the most parts. Some character arcs could have been better and more fleshed out but overall I was happy with how things turned out.
 
Xtortion

Xtortion

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,679
United States
Xehanort's psuedo-redemption crap was beyond awful. Completely unearned, and I'm pretty sure it directly contradicts his previously stated goals of 1. Summon KH just to see what happens and 2. Create a balanced world of both light and dark.

It's somehow even worse to me because if he came out and said that in the first place, he probably could've legitimately swayed several characters to his side who would have thought he was a straight up good guy.
 

Normal

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,296
I was really disappointed that Nomura actually brought all these characters back that were supposed to be dead or evil. I knew it was going to happen, but it was cheesy and lame when it actually happened and it was rushed so there was no emotional impact. Kairi was a joke.

I liked Replica Riku's "arc" tho.
 
BurstLayer

BurstLayer

Member
Feb 6, 2019
236
Yes for the most part except for

Kairi. Holy crap. Might be one of the worst written characters of any video game ive ever played.
 

Deleted member 1413

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,617
Not particularly. Riku and Mickey don't change, think Axel got a bit of a downgrade, this was Kairi's chance - don't think she ever uses the keyblade.

Lots of characters I wish stayed in their last games, not necessarily because I dislike them but because their story was over.
Nice that Axel got all his friends back, makes for a nice moment but likely at the expense of everyone's character development.
Think Axel having a moment with Kairi, Ven, and Saïax would've been as good and allowed them to shine more
 
Xenosaga

Xenosaga

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,001
Somni said:
Any characters in particular?
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I thought Xehanort could have been handled better. I didn't really like the sort of redemption kind of thing he got. I always wanted him to end as evil...
I am sure many people will mention Kairi and I agree with her as well, although I don't care about her in general so I didn't really mind..
 
carlsojo

carlsojo

Shinra Employee
Member
Oct 28, 2017
34,012
San Francisco
What character arcs?

Do you mean giving all the (endgame spoilers)
Organization XIII members scenes after you kill them where they pine about their life choices? lmao

Xenosaga said:
I thought Xehanort could have been handled better. I didn't really like the sort of redemption kind of thing he got. I always wanted him to end as evil...
I am sure many people will mention Kairi and I agree with her as well, although I don't care about her in general so I didn't really mind..
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These two in particular were the worst with how their characters were handled.
 
Jocund

Jocund

Member
Mar 9, 2018
826
How you gonna give the girl Kairi a keyblade and let her hit a motherfucker maybe once out of 34 hours of game and a purported shit load of time spent in a fucking hyperbolic time chamber?

And Namine? Come on, man.
 

Deleted member 283

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,288
Thinking about it, no. Because for the vast majority of the cast, there is no character development/arcs happening in 3. Their characters pretty much stay exactly as they were as of KH2/DDD.

The main exception to this are
the villains, once you defeat them, who the game tries its hardest to redeem at the last possible moment. Yes, including Ansem SoD, Xemnas, and even Master Xehanort himself. But that stuff is all pulled out if nowhere at the last second, so its not very satisfying. The one exception I suppose being Saïx/Isa who wraps up nicely but otherwise bleh.

Beyond that though, characters like Sora, Riku, Aqua, and so forth are pretty much exactly who they were when we last saw them , so there's just not much to say in this particular aspect.
 
Massicot

Massicot

RPG Site
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
2,232
United States
I wish I was more positive, but not really. I felt like the whole last 10% of the game had 90% of the character arcs resolve themselves in this awkward, mechanical way.

Xehanort's semi-redemption felt unearned, Xion's ability to exist entirely seperate from Sora/Roxas now felt unearned and feels like pure fanservice (the normal kind). The BBS trio resolution is heartwarming, I loved the scene with their charms at the very end, but I was pulled out of it a bit when Eraqus asked TERRA of all people to watch over the other two lol. Riku and Mickey, despite the amount of screen time, don't accomplish much at all, or interact with the rest of the cast in any interesting ways. Roxas and Namine are barely present, but at least Namine has a nice optional interaction with Sora in The Final World. Honestly, with that interaction counted, it's probably the most Sora talks to any other character other than Donald or Goofy.

TLDR, the game feels like it just ties up the necessary things introduced in the last decade and is far more interested in the MoM/Luxu plot moving forward from this point on.
 
PurgeVIII

PurgeVIII

Self-requested ban
Banned
Dec 21, 2017
565
United States
RIKu and Mickey were pretty trash since they're supposed to be masters but they kept getting bodied by devil's waves. Aqua is another master that was not treated well. She stood there like an idiot and got bodied towards the end. Kairi and Lea both jobbed. Sora is treated like an idiot who can't do anything but he's the only one who gets shit done. The pseudo redemptions for org 13 weren't earned. Only org members who stayed true to themselves were YX and Vanitas.
 

Deleted member 1413

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,617
Do we need spoiler tags for a thread about character arcs?
Xenosaga said:
I thought Xehanort could have been handled better. I didn't really like the sort of redemption kind of thing he got. I always wanted him to end as evil...
I am sure many people will mention Kairi and I agree with her as well, although I don't care about her in general so I didn't really mind..
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Dude kills Kairi and then "I was a good guy all this time in my own way" is weird
 
Woozies

Woozies

Member
Nov 1, 2017
19,119
No, not even slightly. It actively damages a lot of what I enjoyed about the game as a whole. There are a few exceptions, but by and large it's just a big no.
 
AnansiThePersona

AnansiThePersona

Started a revolution but the mic was unplugged
Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,682
Riku Replica's arc surprised the fuck out of me. He only showed up for 2 games and is literally a copy of another character and he got a better arc than most.
 
Voxl

Voxl

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
234
Kyari said:
They handle this character about as well as they have been for the entire series ... so still basically just a plank of wood.
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nomura just isn't able to write compelling female characters. Aqua isn't better in any shape or form. She is basically the prototype of a "traditional" japanese wife / mom. Her whole purpose is "holding the family together" while sacrificing herself in the progress. What do we know about her that stand in no context to terra or ventus? Terra has his own struggles, Ventus has his. Aquas struggle is simply the fact that ven and terra are struggling with stuff. That isn't what I would call "good writing".
 
Woozies

Woozies

Member
Nov 1, 2017
19,119
Voxl said:
nomura just isn't able to write compelling female characters. Aqua isn't better in any shape or form. She is basically the prototype of a "traditional" japanese wife / mom. Her whole purpose is "holding the family together" while sacrificing herself in the progress. What do we know about her that stand in no context to terra or ventus? Terra has his own struggles, Ventus has his. Aquas struggle is simply the fact that ven and terra are struggling with stuff. That isn't what I would call "good writing".
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I mean, that same criticism can largely be levied at Sora.
 
Tabby

Tabby

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,391
There were character arcs? The only thing we got
was a single scene for each of the XIII when they died
 
RROCKMAN

RROCKMAN

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,861
Lol no. Everyone was garbage,
Aqua Jobs, Mickey Jobs, Axel/Lea Jobs, Xehanort was laughable, Kairi is arguably worse than Sakura at this point,
wth ever is going on with the phone game characters Erauqs straight up Adresses Terra as the leader as if Aqua wasn't out here getting slapped around for the fun of it

Like the only good moment for me was Roxas popping out taking names and even then that felt super unearned.

Riku Replica managed to get a better arc than most characters again and he's just a clone
 
Dary

Dary

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,427
The English Wilderness
What arcs?

Also, regarding Xehanort, let's remember that this is a dude more evil than Scar.

So obvs he gets to fade into the light with a smile smh
 

Deleted member 9971

User requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
9,743
Xtortion said:
Xehanort's psuedo-redemption crap was beyond awful. Completely unearned, and I'm pretty sure it directly contradicts his previously stated goals of 1. Summon KH just to see what happens and 2. Create a balanced world of both light and dark.

It's somehow even worse to me because if he came out and said that in the first place, he probably could've legitimately swayed several characters to his side who would have thought he was a straight up good guy.
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yep in bbs he literally said he wanted to create a world in balance of darkness and light his original goal was to make light and darkness the perfect balance.
 
badcrumble

badcrumble

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,745
Kairi and Master Xehanort weren't great (and I think there'd be a number of different ways to write his last scene that would have kept all the broad beats of what happens the same while making it a much better scene - not asking for dramatic plot alterations here, and I'm even fine with the concept of redeeming him a little bit - it's just that *how* they do it is bad), and Namine is basically a nonentity in the game. Riku's kinda finished his character arc and while he had a role in the plot it felt like he didn't necessarily have any kind of real *character* moments (outside of some genuinely surprising and nice stuff with his replica).

Probably the best Sora writing we've gotten, though (outside of maybe Chain of Memories). And while it preserved some of the "Sora, Donald, Goofy" tics of KH2, I think it's the best Donald/Goofy writing too (if only because it really feels like they have a history now).
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
116,569
Regarding Terra:

Eraqus was trying to tell his "son" that he believed in him. Half the reason BBS ended the way it did was because Eraqus didn't trust Terra and that lack of trust and support pushed him toward people who manipulated him. Eraqus wasn't calling Terra the leader, just giving his son the acknowledgement he failed to give him the first time around.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
116,569
Cartridge Games said:
The coolest part was when we found out that
Ansem's "Stand" was Terra this whole time...but then what's Terra's Armor?
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Lingering Will was just leftover thoughts and anger and fighting spirit. It was essentially manifested by the feelings in Terra's mind at the moment Xehanort possesses him. Which is why the only thing it can do is mutter Aqua and Ven's names and rage about Xehanort. It was essentially a ghost.
 
RROCKMAN

RROCKMAN

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,861
PlanetSmasher said:
Regarding Terra:

Eraqus was trying to tell his "son" that he believed in him. Half the reason BBS ended the way it did was because Eraqus didn't trust Terra and that lack of trust and support pushed him toward people who manipulated him. Eraqus wasn't calling Terra the leader, just giving his son the acknowledgement he failed to give him the first time around.
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Ok, I interpeted that wrong. My mistake. But this only a bucket of water on a forest fire at this point.
 

Deleted member 5535

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Yes, except for
Kairi which was my major disappointment on the entire game. I have minor problems with the game but holy, Kairi was a mess. And it's not like the writers can't do a good job with female characters as Naminé, Xion, Aqua, Larxene and others are good to great but Kairi got her potential as a fighter and character thrown in the trash in the best opportunity the character had so yeah.
 
Flame Flamey

Flame Flamey

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Feb 8, 2018
4,628
I appreciate the final scenes and end points of the characters, but the actual work of getting there isn't really a thing in KH3; their arcs are very abbreviated. There's the pre-KH3 stuff which is fine because it focused on them, but then KH3 (understandably) doesn't have the time to continue that work, and just gives them all a scene to conclude their arc.

I mean, honestly, it's probably better than what I expected, since it wouldn't have surprised me if it had been a complete disaster with just how many characters Nomura had to juggle. I guess not juggling them is better than trying and failing.

Aqua's role didn't sit right with me, and Kairi continues to be a complete mess. Master Xehanort's stuff is absolutely a retcon too; I like it for what it is, but it doesn't match with what he was before, so unless you really lean into the corruption angle, it doesn't land right. I suspect Nomura came up with a better idea for him, after BBS came out, and maybe even after KH3D, and just decided to go with it.
 
Voxl

Voxl

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Oct 27, 2017
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Cartridge Games said:
The coolest part was when we found out that
Ansem's "Stand" was Terra this whole time...but then what's Terra's Armor?
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ansems stand is a heartless, so you could argue that Terra's armor kinda serves as a nobody (literally). As far as we know, nobodys are husks + the will of a person, while the heartless are essentially hearts overtaken by darkness. And since xehanort took Terra's original body, his will took the armor instead, hence the name "lingering will" for the armor in KH2FM
 
Asbsand

Asbsand

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,901
Denmark
Yeah regarding Xehanort (you know, the actual one with the twisty fingers and always-sinister glare), that was some phony-ass baloney.

You're telling me after all this he just had some wait-in-line destiny to become the co-founder of Kingdom Hearts with his chess-player bro? Then why is he doing all this faux evil shit? He had no goal, he was just doing his thing and making a big scene out of it making the whole world of Keyblade-wielders fight for a nonexistent cause. God this was silly imo.

As for Sora, Donald and Goofy they were as they usually are imo. I just felt like the part where Sora was like "I only got my powers because they were here!" reminded me of something in KH1 but I can't remember it well. It just felt like KH3's plot followed the template of the first game too much at times but maybe that's unfair. Goofy will never not be completely mischaracterized in these games though, never actually goofing up and always giving the most elaborate expository lines of dialogue in any given scene he has a part in. Donald has some sick-ass snark sometimes though, and he's great.
 
NoalleGospell

NoalleGospell

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Dec 3, 2018
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Other than Xehanort and Kairi like everyone else has said the only thing I really found annoying was
Axel staying in the organization coat until the very last cutscene!
 
carlsojo

carlsojo

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Oct 28, 2017
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Cartridge Games said:
Do we need spoiler tags for a thread about character arcs?

Dude kills Kairi and then "I was a good guy all this time in my own way" is weird
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The only way that whole
"Xehanort being remorseful" could have been redeemed would be if Sora would have just walked up and been NOPE and killed him.
Now THAT would have been a character arc: Sora finally being over this shit.
 
Kyari

Kyari

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,861
Voxl said:
nomura just isn't able to write compelling female characters. Aqua isn't better in any shape or form. She is basically the prototype of a "traditional" japanese wife / mom. Her whole purpose is "holding the family together" while sacrificing herself in the progress. What do we know about her that stand in no context to terra or ventus? Terra has his own struggles, Ventus has his. Aquas struggle is simply the fact that ven and terra are struggling with stuff. That isn't what I would call "good writing".
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Agreed wholeheartedly.
 
Woozies

Woozies

Member
Nov 1, 2017
19,119
carlsojo said:
The only way that whole
"Xehanort being remorseful" could have been redeemed would be if Sora would have just walked up and been NOPE and killed him.
Now THAT would have been a character arc: Sora finally being over this shit.
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That's demonstrably not Sora.

Even if that would have been the best.
 
Inuhanyou

Inuhanyou

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Oct 25, 2017
14,214
New Jersey
Woozies said:
I told you. I warned you, dawg.
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Well, i can't say Kairi had a real arc in the previous games either, but there's no real point to build up for something in DDD if it wasnt for something. I understand what she can do is limited since she just started training as a keyblader in the first place and was never training as a swordsman, but still that's too rough. I dunno what will happen in the next stage of things, but i hope that's done better than in this arc
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

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116,569
carlsojo said:
The only way that whole
"Xehanort being remorseful" could have been redeemed would be if Sora would have just walked up and been NOPE and killed him.
Now THAT would have been a character arc: Sora finally being over this shit.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I kind of half expected Terra to do exactly that when he interrupted their dialogue. Then he started glowing and I was like "oh, right".
 
Woozies

Woozies

Member
Nov 1, 2017
19,119
But seriously.

One of Terra, Aqua or Ventus should have stabbed Xehanort in the fucking face.
 
Woozies

Woozies

Member
Nov 1, 2017
19,119
What irks me is that you could just ever so lightly tweak some scenes and a lot of character moment go from garbage to fantastic.
 
CocoaFusion

CocoaFusion

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Oct 28, 2017
1,130
I thought they were handled great, can't really think of a better conclusion to them maybe some needed a bit more time or fleshing out as mentioned above, but otherwise I was more than satisfied and sniffled/cried during a lot of moments. The benefit of the long-running series is that I care for everyone including the villians. So their own arcs, even if sometimes they are not the main focus as the various protagonists, make me emotional too for whatever resolution they have.
 
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