Roxas (Kingdom Hearts) different from Roxas
After Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix was released, Nomura wanted to expand Roxas' role in the series to explain the events between his birth and his disappearance from Organization XIII. For Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, the staff thought that Roxas' role as a member of the group would be a suitable theme for the plot. Roxas was chosen as the game's protagonist as the staff thought that having a main character besides Sora would help to introduce gamers to the series' first Nintendo DS title. Co-director Tomohiro Hasegawa explained that Roxas' was originally shorter, and the staff decided he should grow taller as the game continued to develop. Nomura wanted to portray Roxas' activities differently from Sora's. In Sora's games, he is on a journey around the world, while Roxas always returns to Organization XIII after each mission. The staff constructed Roxas' interactions with the Disney characters differently from Sora's, as the Organization was meant to be secret in the game's story. Nomura told the writers that he wanted Roxas to learn something from each of his missions or just to have something to think about. Nomura later clarified that Roxas' personality was different from the one portrayed in Kingdom Hearts II, as he does not actively attempt to come into contact with other characters. With Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Nomura wanted to reveal why Roxas left Organization XIII. Although Nomura found it a sad story, he considered Zack Fair's ending in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII to be more tragic. Nomura felt Roxas' last words in the game were also the title's most significant, as he wanted them to connect to Kingdom Hearts II's first scene, which is actually the same scene. Uchiyama expressed sadness when the game's development ended as he would not play the character for a long time.Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix's secret ending features a character named Ventus who bears a strong striking resemblance to him. Nomura commented that, despite their similarities, Roxas and Ventus are not the same character. He also said that when playing Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, players will be able to distinguish Roxas from Ventus. In another interview, Nomura implied both characters are related, specifically to Sora, but he wanted fans to imagine reasons for such a connection. For the game Kingdom Hearts III, there is a possibility of Roxas being revived despite Sora being alive at the same time. Nomura says this will be explained by the fact that the character Xehanort whose Heartless and Nobody, Ansem and Xemnas, exist at the same time as the original one. Originally, Roxas was not meant to return to the game but positive response to his character led to his inclusion.