The elevator pitch for Kingdom Hearts (literally, the game was born out of an elevator meeting) has always been Final Fantasy meets Disney. That first Kingdom Hearts game had an abundance of Final Fantasy characters as the supporting cast, first on Destiny Islands and in Traverse Town, then at various points throughout the game. The more games that came out, the less we saw Final Fantasy characters interacting with our leads in any big ways, even though they always had some kind of presence.
One of the most noticeable absences then to every Kingdom Hearts III trailer that we’ve seen is the lack of Final Fantasy characters. Square Enix has been keen on showing off new and returning Disney worlds, but there’s been a significant empty space for anyone that remembers that original elevator pitch that made a bizarre idea a reality more than 15 years ago. Where are the Kingdom Hearts III Final Fantasy Characters"
In an interview with USGamer, Nomura addressed the missing Kingdom Hearts III Final Fantasy characters. Part of the reason we haven’t seen any is due to the complex story that the series has been building up to. “When you look back on the first Kingdom Hearts, Sora was still a new character, so we kind of had the Final Fantasy characters as supporting characters,” Nomura said. “But now that it’s been 15 years, the original characters are more polished than they were before, so I don’t think think they need the Final F...