Many of the gamers excited for Kingdom Hearts III were first interested in the series when it was revealed that the first game would crossover with an unprecedented number of Final Fantasy characters. Fast-forward over 15 years later and Square Enix has seemingly forgotten its roots, showing loads of crossover worlds in Kingdom Hearts III but revealing nothing even remotely FF-related. Thankfully, game director Tetsuya Nomura has revealed why exactly our favorite, strangely named characters (that’s you, Leon) have been missing in action.

In a recent interview with USGamer, Tetsuya Nomura revealed why we haven’t been seeing any Final Fantasy characters in recent trailers for Kingdom Hearts III. “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 they need the Final Fantasy characters’ help as much as they did before.”

While this does make sense, it can’t be denied that the crossover with Final Fantasy characters was at least part of Kingdom Hearts’ charm. Additionally, it’s not like they can’t bring back the same characters that have been used in the previous games like Cloud and Sephiroth, as they are already established in the series and won’t need long drawn out exposition that takes away from Sora & friends. Unfortunately, the Square Enix team doesn’t seem to think doing Final Fantasy character crossovers is worth it anymore, with Nomura saying that “nowadays, there are an abundance of titles that do that, so I don’t see the value of having that kind of feature in the game anymore.”

While this all seems pretty damning for Final Fantasy characters, it is important to note that it doesn’t mean that they are entirely out of the picture. Even if Moogles are used as synthesis vendors again, or something along those lines, at least Final Fantasy will still have a place within the universe. That said, FF characters aren’t necessarily completely out. “I can’t disclose too much about the Final Fantasy characters or whether or not they’ll be in Kingdom Hearts III, because I can only speak to what’s been shown. That doesn’t mean that I’m saying that there won’t be any Final Fantasy characters. Please look forward to future information.” Here’s hoping we won’t have to wait long to get a concrete answer either way.

Kingdom Hearts III releases for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 25, 2019.

So, thoughts on the potential lack of Final Fantasy characters in Kingdom Hearts III? Which character would you miss the most? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!