Modern Final Fantasy games have been trending in a direction towards darker atmospheres, stories, and characters. This stands in stark contrast to the bright visuals and more light-hearted narratives in the Kingdom Hearts series. While Final Fantasy was a huge part of the inspiration for the Kingdom Hearts series, the most recent game left out the characters that were a big part of the older games.
As Kingdom Hearts fans settle in for the long wait until the next mainline installment, questions about the future of the franchise are on many minds. Kingdom Hearts has long been linked to Final Fantasy, with many iconic characters from the series serving as early guides and friends to Kingdom Hearts' Sora. That led to some backlash from fans after their absence in the main game of Kingdom Hearts 3. The series has been looking to distinguish itself from its roots, but the complaints from veteran fans are likely to mean a bigger appearance from Final Fantasy characters in the next mainline title. The question is whether some of the new characters will be a part of the Kingdom Hearts story.
Modern Final Fantasy is Very Different from Kingdom Hearts
Final Fantasy has never been a stranger to some heavy themes and storylines. The deaths of main characters, villains ultimately succeeding, and devastation of worlds are just some of the events common throughout the three decades of Final Fantasy. But the "classic" Final Fantasy games are typically still vibrant and colorful. The worlds are also full of light-hearted ways to break the tension like Chocobo racing in FF7 or Blitzball in FF10. Even as the fans and cast of Kingdom Hearts mature, this mold fits its brand better than a lot of the newer Final Fantasy games.
Square Enix, which created and publishes both properties, has been bringing a much darker tone to Final Fantasy in recent years. While it still features some whimsical elements, the world of FF15 is still an incredibly somber place. Fans have theorized that the main protagonist Noctis displays some aspects of clinical depression, and the overall tone of the game is pessimistic. The idea of self-sacrifice isn't unknown to Kingdom Hearts, but not so much in the very literal way it's approached in Final Fantasy 15. And even a quick glance at the trailer for Final Fantasy 16 gives away a much more oppressive atmosphere and the world that feels closer to Dark Souls or Bloodborne than traditional Final Fantasy games.
It will be interesting to see if Noctis, Clive, or maybe even Jack from the recently announced Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin could ever find a home in Kingdom Hearts. Jack is an obvious long-shot, partly due to the game's Mature rating and its status as a spin-off game. But it's worth mentioning the game because it still points toward the direction that Square Enix has been moving the Final Fantasy brand. Clive is also likely not going to make an appearance unless there's a big tone shift for Kingdom Hearts as well.
The interesting outlier is actually Noctis. While the protagonist from FF15 hasn't made an appearance in Kingdom Hearts, there's a clear parallel between him and Yozora. Yozora appears at first to be a character from an in-world video game that seemed like a tongue-in-cheek joke about Final Fantasy. After the Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC ending, however, some threads from Final Fantasy Versus 13 were tugged in a cinematic that directly mirrored the original trailer from more than a decade ago. This connection is interesting because Noctis himself was one of the only elements from Versus 13 that wasn't heavily changed as it became FF15.
With Clive coming from a world likely too dark, and Noctis seemingly having a mirror with Yozora, it's unlikely that any of the modern Final Fantasy will be represented in future Kingdom Hearts games.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.