Multiple playable characters...(Fun discussion)

[vaderskywalker]

does anyone think we can get multiple playable characters at some point in the next saga, similar to BBS, DDD, and COM, and yes, I realize there are too many characters to do that individually for each character, but there is a way around that, teams of three, one group would be Sora, Donald, and Goofy obviously, another would be Mickey, Riku, and Kairi, another would be Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, and another would be Roxas, Namine, and Xion, (just because there has never been a trio of two girls and one boy), and that was just an example, what are your thoughts?

 

[Rydgea]

I honestly thought that this type of thing was going to happen in the Keyblade Graveyard in III. FFXV had already implemented the practice (by switching to different characters with the D-Pad, I believe). If you could still manage the AI of the characters you are currently not controlling, which we've been able to do with systems that have been around since KH1, like calling your team over, having Donald heal constantly, etc. then I would think we're pretty prepared to have multiple playable characters in a party.

I'd love to see the OG Destiny Island trio having at it, personally.

 

[Launchpad]

At the risk (that I always take) of being repetitive, I'm gonna say what I always say in response to the 'multiple playable characters' conundrum: no!!!

While fun and value are always a matter of perspective, there's a certain level of fact to the notion that in KH3, Riku, Aqua, Roxas, and Kairi were interesting and fun diversions in their brief playable outings, but they paled in comparison to Sora in terms of fluidity, mechanical depth, and their moves either lacked distance-based utility or felt laggy and not well thought out. Again, this is just my opinion, but Sora himself didn't feel fleshed out and snappy to play as until the DLC dropped and added those extra moves (and tightened up the cancel windows and timing on his existing kit).

What I'm saying is, I'd rather the dev team not stretch themselves thin making a bunch of different characters function and feel different, when the beauty of mainline KH has always been the depth and ever expanding utility of Sora's kit. Above all, I want the game to launch with a very good Sora before we even have to think about bringing other characters into the mix.

 

[Elysium]

On paper, I'd prefer the story stay with either SDG or Riku, but I think a 3-scenario game with SRK + D&G, ATV, and RAXI as the three scenarios could be fun. Although I'm not sure how Nomura would pull it off story-wise; it would have to happen after some of the next saga's story has been built up, I suppose.* And within those scenarios, it would be nice if you could alternate between characters like in XV, as someone mentioned already.

* If Nomura was interested in that kind of idea though, he could've easily done it with KHIV by having Riku & Kairi + Donald & Goofy / ATV / RAXI going to Quadratum in three different directions to find Sora. Instead he reduced the characters down to Sora, Riku, and D&G, which feels more like a back-to-basics decision by him considering those four were always the central characters to me.

 

[vaderskywalker]

At the risk (that I always take) of being repetitive, I'm gonna say what I always say in response to the 'multiple playable characters' conundrum: no!!!

While fun and value are always a matter of perspective, there's a certain level of fact to the notion that in KH3, Riku, Aqua, Roxas, and Kairi were interesting and fun diversions in their brief playable outings, but they paled in comparison to Sora in terms of fluidity, mechanical depth, and their moves either lacked distance-based utility or felt laggy and not well thought out. Again, this is just my opinion, but Sora himself didn't feel fleshed out and snappy to play as until the DLC dropped and added those extra moves (and tightened up the cancel windows and timing on his existing kit).

What I'm saying is, I'd rather the dev team not stretch themselves thin making a bunch of different characters function and feel different, when the beauty of mainline KH has always been the depth and ever expanding utility of Sora's kit. Above all, I want the game to launch with a very good Sora before we even have to think about bringing other characters into the mix.

Well, I didn't mean a numbered title, I meant a game similar to BBS, but with each character having party members, (permanent ones), and having their own story.

 

[Face My Fears]

I think we've reached the technological stage of being able to have either a DLC expansion focused on one character (this being paid DLC I will hate) or just having something like Reverse/Rebirth unlockable. I wouldn't want this unless it actually enhances the story or is vital. I think the best choice for playable character would be Riku or Kairi. I guess it all depends on this story. Oh the other option could be the tutorial level being another character (like Roxas in KH2). It would be cool if the tutorial was Kairi being trained by Aqua, then you get details about what's happening in the "real world" search for Sora (maybe Kairi goes with Donald and Goofy to The Underworld). Then eventually you swap over to Sora in Unreality.

 

[vaderskywalker]

I think we've reached the technological stage of being able to have either a DLC expansion focused on one character (this being paid DLC I will hate) or just having something like Reverse/Rebirth unlockable. I wouldn't want this unless it actually enhances the story or is vital. I think the best choice for playable character would be Riku or Kairi. I guess it all depends on this story. Oh the other option could be the tutorial level being another character (like Roxas in KH2). It would be cool if the tutorial was Kairi being trained by Aqua, then you get details about what's happening in the "real world" search for Sora (maybe Kairi goes with Donald and Goofy to The Underworld). Then eventually you swap over to Sora in Unreality.

I liked the way BBS did it, DLC is the worst way to go, not everyone has access to a credit card.

 

[Willow A113]

I liked the way BBS did it, DLC is the worst way to go, not everyone has access to a credit card.

BBS was built around that system, though.

 

[vaderskywalker]

BBS was built around that system, though.

That's what I'm talking about, a non-numbered game, that's after KH4, and similar to BBS.

 

[Face My Fears]

I liked the way BBS did it, DLC is the worst way to go, not everyone has access to a credit card.

Well if KH4 has DLC, it should be free.

 

[Launchpad]

So... you guys want multiple playable characters in at launch, and any additional content to be completely free of charge. Isn't this known as having your cake and eating it too?

 

[vaderskywalker]

Well if KH4 has DLC, it should be free.

Agreed.

So... you guys want multiple playable characters in at launch, and any additional content to be completely free of charge. Isn't this known as having your cake and eating it too?

Again, this is about a future game that is AFTER Kingdom Hearts 4, as for the free DLC thing, Spider-Man did it. (partially)

 

[kirabook]

I wouldn't mind more BbS structured games AS LONG AS they've taken the criticisms over the years to heart and improve from their previous work. I love BbS to death BUT you can tell how much it's suffered being originally a PS2 game trimmed down to fit the limitations of the PSP.

A few problems with BbS that I think a newer game should be better at:
- More interactions between the trio. If they're not gonna be on screen 24/7, they still need to be on screen 24/6. A lot of people couldn't and didn't feel their familial friendship because of how little time they spent together on screen
- More team battles. I think TAV only had 1 battle together the entire game. That's just crazy. There should be more opportunities to team up as duos AND trios.
- More showing less telling. In the story of BbS, they had to make Terra innocent and guilty at the same time. To do this, they had Terra doing shady stuff and then the villains telling Aqua and Ven that he was doing shady stuff. No. Aqua and Ven should've WITNESSED Terra doing the shady stuff instead. At least in that case, their misunderstandings would be reasonable. "I definitely saw you doing this!" "It's not what it looked like!" situations. In whatever story they cook up next, let the characters WITNESS and experience things rather than being told things.
- More world variety/visitation. Maybe ALL the characters don't have to visit ALL the same worlds. This would cut down on repetitive story telling. repetitive world boxes and give each character their own unique journey through the worlds. They can bring different experiences and information to the table. It gives the characters a reason to get together and talk about what they've seen and heard.

I think that's about it. Although TAV shared a lot of similar skills, they also had plenty of skills that made them each unique. Not to mention their different movement sets.

I really don't mind if Nomura has a few side games so that each trio can get their time. BUT..... Nomura and writing team should take more care to make sure all those plot threads he's building up to are meaningful in the final arc. I'm not someone who thinks KH3 is terrible, but I won't lie that I was expecting some revelations and reunions to have way more oomph. (namely regarding the Sora/Ventus/Roxas/Vanitas situation. Like what was that. They didn't stew on that at all after all the build up)

 

[vaderskywalker]

I wouldn't mind more BbS structured games AS LONG AS they've taken the criticisms over the years to heart and improve from their previous work. I love BbS to death BUT you can tell how much it's suffered being originally a PS2 game trimmed down to fit the limitations of the PSP.

A few problems with BbS that I think a newer game should be better at:
- More interactions between the trio. If they're not gonna be on screen 24/7, they still need to be on screen 24/6. A lot of people couldn't and didn't feel their familial friendship because of how little time they spent together on screen
- More team battles. I think TAV only had 1 battle together the entire game. That's just crazy. There should be more opportunities to team up as duos AND trios.
- More showing less telling. In the story of BbS, they had to make Terra innocent and guilty at the same time. To do this, they had Terra doing shady stuff and then the villains telling Aqua and Ven that he was doing shady stuff. No. Aqua and Ven should've WITNESSED Terra doing the shady stuff instead. At least in that case, their misunderstandings would be reasonable. "I definitely saw you doing this!" "It's not what it looked like!" situations. In whatever story they cook up next, let the characters WITNESS and experience things rather than being told things.
- More world variety/visitation. Maybe ALL the characters don't have to visit ALL the same worlds. This would cut down on repetitive story telling. repetitive world boxes and give each character their own unique journey through the worlds. They can bring different experiences and information to the table. It gives the characters a reason to get together and talk about what they've seen and heard.

I think that's about it. Although TAV shared a lot of similar skills, they also had plenty of skills that made them each unique. Not to mention their different movement sets.

I really don't mind if Nomura has a few side games so that each trio can get their time. BUT..... Nomura and writing team should take more care to make sure all those plot threads he's building up to are meaningful in the final arc. I'm not someone who thinks KH3 is terrible, but I won't lie that I was expecting some revelations and reunions to have way more oomph. (namely regarding the Sora/Ventus/Roxas/Vanitas situation. Like what was that. They didn't stew on that at all after all the build up)

That is what I mean, but my idea was for multiple party's, and one of the teams, is Terra, Ven, and Aqua, as one of the teams, instead of them being split up again.

 

[MATGSY]

That is what I mean, but my idea was for multiple party's, and one of the teams, is Terra, Ven, and Aqua, as one of the teams, instead of them being split up again.

Reminds me of when one of my wilder ideas for KH3 before it was announced was it would 3 games across different systems with different parties. SRK on PS3, TAV on 360, and MDG in Wii. Each with different worlds and chunks of the overall story of 3.

Ok, I'm not saying it was a good idea, just a wild one.

 

[vaderskywalker]

Reminds me of when one of my wilder ideas for KH3 before it was announced was it would 3 games across different systems with different parties. SRK on PS3, TAV on 360, and MDG in Wii. Each with different worlds and chunks of the overall story of 3.

Ok, I'm not saying it was a good idea, just a wild one.

Well, this would be just one game, on one console, besides, the already got a bunch of backlash, for the multiple consoles thing, and this just would have made that worse, I mean I would have gotten my hands on the PS3 and Wii Version anyway because I already owned them, but I definitely would be missing out on something if that had happened, because the Xbox is the one console I never got into, I was always more of a Nintendo and PlayStation fanboy, except for GameCube, the only Nintendo console I never had, but yeah definitely a wild Idea if it had happened, I guess it would be like Prince of Persia: the Forgotten sands, had the ps3 version once, then got my hands on the Wii version at some point, and was surprised by the differences, different story's across, different platforms, I thought it was weird, doesn't mean I didn't have fun though.

 

[MATGSY]

Well, this would be just one game, on one console,

One game that's multi-platform is better.

 

[vaderskywalker]

One game that's multi-platform is better.

Or this, this works too.

 

[MATGSY]

Or this, this works too.

Except for when the Super Switch Advance 4K gets stuck with the cloud version.

 

[vaderskywalker]

Except for when the Super Switch Advance 4K gets stuck with the cloud version.

Don't remind me, please.