Summary
AKingdom Hearts 3dataminer recently uncovered a hidden detail that would have connected the game toFinal Fantasy 15.Kingdom Heartsis a crossover betweenFinal Fantasyand Disney’s line of animated classic films, telling an original story of a boy named Sora traveling the worlds of said moves alongside his friends on a quest to defeat the forces of darkness. This quest reached its zenith in 2019’sKingdom Hearts 3, where Sora and his allies battled the evilMaster Xehanort and his Organization 13 minionsfor the fate of the universe.
WARNING: This article has SPOILERS for Kingdom Hearts 3
This battle was greatly expanded upon inKingdom Hearts 3’sRe MindDLC, which added new boss fights to the game’s climax alongside a pair of new story campaigns that detailed what happened to Sora after he mysteriously vanished inKingdom Hearts 3’s ending cutscene. This culminates in the “Secret Episode” chapter, in which Sora encounters and duels a sword-wielding teen named Yozora. Yozora quickly drew comparisons to Noctis Lucis Caelum, the young hero of 2016’sFinal Fantasy 15- which was initially meant to bepart of theFinal Fantasy 13seriesbefore being refitted into a standalone mainline entry.
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The similarities betweenKingdom Hearts 3’s Yozora andFinal Fantasy 15’s Noctis might run deeper than their similar hairstyles and taste in black leather battle attire, as a dataminer by the Twitter username of TruebladeSeeker recently uncovered a secret ability that was dummied out of Yozora’sKingdom Hearts 3DLC boss battle. Named “Shift Break,” this move has Yozora teleporting around the map by tossing his sword - just like Noctis could inFinal Fantasy 15. In fact, the name “Shift Break” is what Noctis’s Warp Strike move was called in the original Japanese version ofFinal Fantasy 15, and Yozora’s uncovered attack is nearly identical in the footage TruebladeSeeker shared.
Much about Yozora is still shrouded in mystery, but it is believed that he will serve as asupporting protagonist in the upcomingKingdom Hearts 4. Before his intense boss battle against Sora, Yozora makes a brief cameo appearance in the Verum Rex game trailer inKingdom Hearts3’sToy Storyworld, and the Nameless Star in the Final World asks Sora to help him find his missing heart. It still isn’t clear how this request will play into Sora’s sudden appearance in Quadratum or the larger Lost Master Arc that will begin inKingdom Hearts 4.
Fans have been hoping thatKingdom Hearts 4willinclude moreFinal Fantasyelementsfollowing their diminishing role in the last few entries, and it seems like Yozora carries some strong connections toFinal Fantasy Versus 13, the planned spin-off that eventually becameFinal Fantasy 15. Director Tetsuya Nomura might have had an even deeper connection planned between Yozora andFF15’s Noctis judging from this hidden attack that would have seen the former teleport around the battlefield just like the latter.
Kingdom Hearts 3is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
