Canonically, Did Riku Win?

Discussion in 'General & Upcoming Kingdom Hearts' started by A Zebra, Mar 4, 2014.

  1. A Zebra Chaser

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    I was actually going to make this point, but I looked it up and... it's actually wrong. The Highwind is ONLY in FF7 (And Tactics, but there it's implied to be the same ship)
    And Highwind is a VERY regularly occurring name in FF, but it is commonly associated with Dragoons, not Cid. The first instance of the name was actually Kain Highwind from FF4, and if you think about it, having Highwind associated with Riku in the sense is logical. He very much fits the typical 'lancer' role of a five man band, and as a character is fairly similar to Kain
     
  2. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

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    ...I swear there was an airship named Highwind from one of the pre-VII games... Eh, not sure what I was thinking of but yeah, same dif. Good point about the Kain/Riku parallels too. And Riku even gets his own little jump attack in CoM, so that's a nice tie-in, intentional or no.
     
  3. A Zebra Chaser

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    I know! I could have SWORN there was another Highwind airship, and another Cid Highwind, but the wikis say otherwise
     
  4. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

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    You know what it is? Maybe they were retconned in some of the Advance versions. I know they liked to go back and add references and mythology gags like that a lot. Anyway, digressing now :L
     
  5. Calxiyn Keyblade Master

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    I really like this explanation, and it fits with Sora's character. He obviously missed Riku a lot (Because he like, cried for a whole cutsceen) so I'd make a lot of sense for him to name the ship that in Kingdom Hearts 2. Even at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 1, he could have named it Highwind because he missed Riku, cause if you think about it, he didn't really get to say goodbye to him or anything like that. Riku could have been like, taken by the darkness and never seen again. I assume they had this ship made for Sora with the intention that he would use it. It is Mickey's ship, but for Mickey to be traveling around he would need his own (Or that thing he had in BBS). I think it's safe to say that Mickey probably just was like "It's his ship now fellas." and was done with it.

     
  6. Labrys King's Apprentice

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    If it's Kh2 we're talking about, then I got an idea.

    You know how Riku and Mickey arraigned for Sora and friend's arrival at Yen Cid? Perhaps the Gummi ship was a gift from those two and Mickey could'nt figure out the name of it at the last minute. So Riku was like, "I got you bro'", and named the gummi ship Highwind just to remind Sora
    who the winner is.
     
  7. Shuhbooty moon child

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    Pretty much this. I never thought to much into this, but I believe that Sora just missed Riku entirely.

    But also as Misty stated before Cid was egotistical xD He would defiantly name at least one thing after himself. Which makes a lot of sense.
     
  8. Sokhu Merlin's Housekeeper

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    What i'm going to say is maybe stupid but it'll worth a try I think xD

    I think that Riku still though that Highwind was a good name, and since he's in relation with Mikey since KH CoM, when Mikey gave them a Gummi Ship in KH2, Riku maybe helped him to name it, so it was called Highwind. So here we go, Sora maybe won the race in KH 1, but the Highwind name remained in Riku's mind as it reminded him of their thoughs of adventure, and Mikey used it for his ship u_u
     
  9. Allen Tor Destiny Islands Resident

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    Such in-depth discussion about such a small question, well I guess that's Kingdom Hearts for you. Anyway I always assumed that Riku won the race. When I played the games as a kid I figured that was the best explanation as to why the Gummi Ship was called what Riku wanted to call it in 2. There's also the fact that Riku was implied to be better at pretty much everything than Sora around the time Sora's story started, a notion which is also reinforced by the gameplay if it's your first time playing the game. Think about it, how many times did you guys lose the fight and the race against Riku on your first playthrough.
     
  10. Loxare Hollow Bastion Committee

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    My first playthrough, I had already watched my brother try and fail a few times. So I whacked Tidus around for a bit and won the fight. The race though, heh, no, I lost that soooo many times. I think it was because Riku had the advantage of practically growing up on this island. Sora did too, but unfortunately, he's being controlled by the player who has no idea what to do or where to go.
     
  11. Sokhu Merlin's Housekeeper

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    Hahah I love the explanation of our humiliating defeat xD

    Same for me, I was always loosing. Pretty much because the first times, I didn't know how the map was, everything was on the way, it was so annoying. And omg these trees at the end... When I used to pass on the side, Riku won the race by jumping from a tree to another. When I tried the tree for Riku to take the longer route on the side, I couldn't help but falling every single time from one, and having to use the side path... How frustrating it was !
     
  12. Mixt The dude that does the thing

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    Not as satisfying of an answer but I always thought it was simply that they wanted to reference the race for the name of the default gummiship. Since the victor has no significant impact to cannon, and what the player put in the box in the previous game was unknown, the opted for Riku's choice. Plus Riku is supposed to be better than Sora at everything back then. You can argue player skill, but things like the end of KH2 "I always thought you were better at everything too" makes the intent pretty clear.