TheKingdom Heartsseries is heavily influenced by theFinal Fantasygames from which it was born. After all, players meet various characters from theFinal Fantasyseries as they traverse the multitude of worlds that populate the universe ofKingdom Hearts.The first two mainline entries wore those influences on their overly-zippered sleeves, with Cloud and Squall joining Sora in a climactic battle against the Heartless inKingdom Hearts 2. Later titles moved away fromFinal Fantasysomewhat in what seemed to be an attempt to setKingdom Heartsapart as its own franchise, but revelations from theReMindDLC forKingdom Hearts 3seem to point toward a coming resurgence ofFinal Fantasyinfluences.
Kingdom Heartsis nearly twenty years oldnow as a franchise, and thus has had a lot of time to set itself apart from itsFinal Fantasypredecessors. The last mainline title,Kingdom Hearts 3, originally featured noFinal Fantasycharacters at all. Some long-time fans were initially put off by this, but in its story-expandingReMindDLC, the game reintroduced some of the characters that had been mainstays inKindgom Heartslike Squall and Yuffie. Interesting developments through the DLC might also indicate that Yozora, originally portrayed as just an in-universe video game character, may become a vehicle for bringing in elements fromFinal Fantasy 13andVersus 13.
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Yozora’s Impact On Kingdom Hearts
In the original chunk ofKingdom Hearts 3, Yozora is seen inside of a trailer for a video game being watched by some of the Toy Story characters. At first glance, this seemed to be a sort of cheeky reference toFinal Fantasy Versus 13and its impacton modern Square Enix games likeKH3and the upcomingFinal Fantasy 16. The trailer showed three characters that seemed like reflections of Sora, Riku, and Kairi engaging in futuristic battles in a world reminiscent of sci-fi styleFinal Fantasygames. Main character Yozora bore an unmistakable likeness to the early concepts for Noctis inVersus 13before the project evolved intoFF15.
Questions about Yozora’s inclusion as more than just a reference sprung up after players discovered the secret ending toKH3that shows Sora and Riku waking up in what seems to be the real-life Shibuya district of Tokyo. This immediately started uptheories about where the nextKingdom Heartswould be headed and if it may be looking to separate itself somewhat from Disney as much asFinal Fantasy. As the two protagonists are wandering through the dreamy cutscene, the camera pans to show that they are being watched from afar by Yozora. Theories about whether this meant that they had been transported into the game world or whether Yozora was real have spread since that secret ending.
Midway through last year the story DLCReMindwas released to expand on the ending ofKingdom Hearts 3. The expansion added some features that fans had been hoping for in the original like the ability to play as other characters like Roxas and Aqua, if briefly, and ended on a scene that threw many fans for a loop. In somewhat of anEaster egg forVersus 13, ReMindconcluded with a battle against Yozora. The battle leads to two different endings based on whether or not players are victorious. Both endings include a direct reference toVersus 13and its original trailer, but when players lose in the struggle against Yozora, they watch as Sora is turned into a crystal statue. Yozora vows to “save” Sora after this event and seems like a somewhat subtle toFinal Fantasy 13proper.
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Final Fantasy 13 Might Become a Big Part of Kingdom Hearts 4 (In a Way)
Being turned into crystal after one of themost intense battles inKingdom Heartsseems to be a direct reference toFinal Fantasy 13.Versus 13was originally planned as a spin-off title within the same universe, but since not much about the game’s original trajectory was known, it’s not known for sure but seems likely that some elements would have been congruent between the two. In the world of Gran Pulse and the floating biodome of Cocoon, the backdrop ofFinal Fantasy 13, powerful beings known as fal’Cie create servants out of normal humans by cursing them as l’Cie. The humans are granted powerful magic abilities but are assigned a Focus, a specific mission in service to the fal’Cie. If the l’Cie fail to fulfill their Focus, they are transformed into crystalline statues of themselves.
Kingdom Heartshas similarities toVersus 13andFinal Fantasy 13in a number of ways, aside from having famously convoluted storylines, but it seems like Square Enix is looking to tie some themes together between the three. Sora being transformed into a crystal statue seems to be a reference to the l’Cie inFF13and could mean a myriad of things when considering the future ofKingdom Hearts. It seems unlikely that Sora will be revealed to be a l’Cie in a direct sense, but it’s possible that some similar relationship had been established between him and either the Darkness or the Keyblade. Sora doesn’t discover his magical abilities until his original encounter with the Darkness and the Keyblade, so it’s possible that the idea of a Focus could be adapted to fit theKingdom Heartsnarrative.
That seems could easily be a stretch, though, as longtime players have seen the aftermath of Sora losing a battle a number of times. While it’s just the game over screen, seeing Sora floating in the dark with his heart floating above him implies that the failure for Sora is often becoming a Heartless.FF13andVersus 13’simpact onKingdom Hearts, however, is plain, and it seems like more of those themes are likely to find their way into the nextKingdom Heartsmainline game. Whether the protagonists are now under the rules of a new world or pressed by a new threat remains to be seen.
Final FantasyandKingdom Heartsare two franchises that inspire a lot of fan theory and speculation. After the events ofReMind, it seems likely that Square Enix is looking to meld elements ofFF13andVersus 13intoKingdom Hearts. Having such direct references to the two titles are made even more interesting by the ending (good and bad) ofReMindthat sees Yozora and Sora speaking the first words of theKingdom Heartsseries in unison. It’s even possible to imagine aKingdom Hearts 4where Sora isn’t the main character, or that aspin-off to reviveVersus 13but in parallel toKingdom Heartsis happening. But with likely years to come before the next mainlineKingdom Hearts, eager fans are left with little but their theories at this point.
Kingdom Hearts 3 ReMindis available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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