Kingdom Hearts III

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Posted by Meilin Lee : Oct 3, 2015 at 3:49 PM ( 1 , 1,210 )

gamesTM recently sat down with director Tetsuya Nomura to talk about Kingdom Hearts, where Nomura discusses the relation with Disney, the hurdles of switching game engines, and hinting at additional playable characters in KH3. The interview can be read below:

--DISNEY IS VERY FRANCHISE-ORIENTED – WE’LL NEVER SEE THE “FINAL” MICKEY MOUSE STORY – IS THERE A PRESSURE TO KEEP KINGDOM HEARTS GOING FOREVER?

Nomura: The discussion of the end of Kingdom Hearts has never come up between me and Disney, so I don’t know what their intentions are. But while creating Kingdom Hearts, with each generation I think to myself “This should be something that can’t be accomplished by just Disney”. It has to be something uniquely Kingdom Hearts. So it’s a matter of how long can I keep creating for Kingdom Hearts! I don’t know if the fans would enjoy it as much if it was just Disney, if it wasn’t a combination of Disney and my own creativity.

--HAS THERE BEEN ANYTHING THAT DISNEY HAS STOPPED YOU FROM DOING?

Nomura: I don’t feel they inhibited anything. The Disney worlds that appear within our game are their franchise so they’re interested in maintaining those worlds. But anything unique to Kingdom Hearts hasn’t been a source of disagreement from Disney. Of course, sometimes when we’re writing the story then sometimes they ask us to give it a lighter tone or happier ending – but they haven’t stopped us from doing anything.

--WHAT HAS SKIPPING THE PS3 ERA ALLOWED YOU TO DO WITH THIS NEW ITERATION OF THE KINGDOM HEARTS SYSTEMS?

Nomura: There wasn’t a specific intention to skip a generation other than Kingdom Hearts being on a console has a very high bar to reach. Fans who love the series would want something even greater than Kingdom Hearts II. Unfortunately, during that period I didn’t get the chance to start on a project that big and other key developers were working on other projects. We needed to get our experience and polish our skills at creating Kingdom Hearts games so that there was a proper preparation for a big title like Kingdom Hearts III. It just happened that this preparation took the life cycle of the PS3.

--SINCE YOU SWITCHED ENGINES DURING DEVELOPMENT, WHAT WAS THAT TRANSITION LIKE? DID IT TAKE THE TEAM A LONG TIME TO ADAPT TO THAT NEW ENGINE OR WAS IT RELATIVELY SMOOTH?

Nomura: The transition was quite a process. We pretty much had to start from the ground again. We had to make sure that we could recreate our key effects in the Unreal Engine and that the effects we specifically needed for Kingdom Hearts could be adapted. We were also developing a Kingdom Hearts-specific shader and we had to make a lot of adjustments so we could use that shader on the new engine. That goes a long way to explaining the long distance between the announcement and now, when we’re able to reveal more information about the title.

--ARE NEW BATTLE SYSTEMS BASED ON MODIFICATIONS YOU WANTED FOR THE PREVIOUS GAMES BUT COULDN’T ACHIEVE ON THE PREVIOUS HARDWARE?

Nomura: I feel that going through the different spin-off titles and ideas for battle systems, how the gameplay there works, we kind of learned from that and implemented a new battle system as well as introducing new and unique moves. There’s also the Keyblade Transformation which is involved around the plot point where Sora has gone through a test of mastery so it makes sense story-wise that this transformation is part of his combat. There have been many bold additions to Kingdom Hearts III in combat and those are only possible because we have access to the better hardware but it hasn’t necessarily been things I couldn’t have done then. It’s more that I learned from the experiments of the spin-offs.

--IN THE FIRST GAME THERE WAS ONE PLAYABLE CHARACTER, IN THE SECOND THERE WERE TWO – WILL THERE BE THREE IN THE THIRD?

Nomura: It’s a secret but by saying that we imply that maybe something’s going on. We can’t disclose anything but, maybe, something will happen there.
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Source: gamesTM

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Dengeki Interview with Nomura on 2.8

Posted by Meilin Lee : Sep 23, 2015 at 3:02 PM ( 6 , 2,178 )

In a new interview with Dengeki Playstation, director Tetsuya Nomura discusses the final remaster before Kingdom Hearts III, where he further clarifies the difference between X[chi]/Unchained X[chi] and Back Cover, how the decision to make 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue came to be, and some hints on what to expect from 0.2 Birth by Sleep (including how it was originally planned to be included in KH3!). The fully translated interview can be read below:

--When were the plans for 2.8 set into motion? Could you tell us the aim of exclusively using the PS4 console again?

Nomura: We started thinking about it after completing 2.5 HD ReMix. It was about the time that we had finished deciding on the packaging, when we thought “What about a HD version of KH3D?” We had been talking about KH3, but since KH3D is such an essential preface to the story, I thought that, no matter what, I wanted to make an HD version of KH3D before KH3 was sold. When I was thinking about whether or not to release KH3D HD on its own, the time until we could play KH3 became shorter--rather than being affected by a change to the KH3 engine's initial plans. I knew I wanted everyone to get a taste of the world of KH3 as quickly as possible, no matter what. That being said, just like with 1.5 and 2.5, I thought about how I wanted to package KH3D's essential story with a product that was a part of KH3 and its technology. In result, it was inevitable that the console would be the PS4.

--I'm really excited to play KH3D on a non-portable console, but in regards to X[chi], why did you decide to make the story into a theatrical production?

Nomura: Kingdom Hearts X[chi] and Kingdom Hearts Unchained X[chi] are both still running games, and they've still got a lot left to cover. For that reason, our intention is actually not to show the story as it is right now. In X[chi] and Unchained X[chi], from the players' perspective, the story is continuing onward, but in Kingdom Hearts X[chi]: Back Cover, the story is told from the character of the players' affiliated unions, the Foretellers. Since X[chi] and Unchained X[chi] are online games, there are probably fans that think the hurdles to jump are too high. However, in order to tell the full story of Kingdom Hearts, the Foretellers are very important characters, so I wanted to make sure players encountered the world of X[chi] and Unchained X[chi] some way or another. The Foretellers aren't really characters that can be fit into the timeline somewhere, so we are dedicating their story to a theatrical production.

--Please tell us more about the details and aim of the brand-new supplement based on BBS, which is different than any of the HD remasters so far.

Nomura: Actually, this was what I worried about the most. We showed this for a bit in the secret episode of BBS: Final Mix, but the concept for two chapters of BBS is something we've had for a while, and because of problems with time, it's become just a morceau. That concept itself is living on as a setup, so it was our plan to show it at the beginning of KH3, but since the volume of material in KH3 has increased, I was thinking it was something we just touched on a little. Just as I explained in your previous question, we won't show the whole thing of the initial concept, but we decided to show it ahead of KH3 as a short episode.

--Could you please tell us precise release dates, as well as the progress in development at this time?

Nomura: It's not quite time for us to give an exact release date, but we're planning on a release in 2016. As far as production goes, since we're working on it alongside KH3, we're using the same technology in some parts, and I can't talk about what current phase we're on.

--Can you tell us more about what you've had to change for KH3D, such as going from two screens on the handheld to one on the console, etc.?

Nomura: Since everything in the original was developed with the idea of having two screens, we're having to reproduce everything so that it fits one screen, so it's much different than the other HD releases, as it is more of a “remake.” Since the original design for the 3DS was a lot of fun to play with, in order to keep that same fun while remaking it for the PS4, we're having to cover a lot of ground and make lots of changes. I will have more details in the next interview, so please wait until then.

--Do you have any kind of added elements decided?

Nomura: Unlike 1.5 and 2.5, we're working with three productions that are not simply a change to HD. As I said before, we're combining KH3D into one screen so it's basically a remake, and the other two productions are completely new and both utilize KH3 technology--since the density of the original products are so great, we don't really have any big added elements. There will be items to collect that are newly added, like what you saw in 1.5 and 2.5.

--Will the movie for Kingdom Hearts X[chi]: Back Cover be a completely new product?

Nomura: Yes, it's completely new. We're making it with the same technology used in KH3, and the characters that appear are all new characters, so the Foretellers and Chirithy will need voices, so we have to work on casting as well as making their models, the scenes...everything will be made from scratch. However, while deciding the scenes, we were writing scenes for the base game Kingdom Hearts X[chi] at the same time, so we inserted some of those scenes into X[chi]. So, the story will be one that players of X[chi] will more easily understand in the timeline.

--Can you tell us what you mean by the title “Back Cover”?

Nomura: Both X[chi] and Unchained X[chi] were made with the concept of a “fairy tale,” so based on the other side we chose the title “Back Cover.” X[chi] and Unchained X[chi] are told from the players' perspective--the front side, so the perspective of the Foretellers is considered the “back side.”

--Could you tell us more about the movie's details and highlights, as well as the amount of content?

Nomura: People currently playing X[chi] and Unchained X[chi] already know this, but we have not really seen much of the Foretellers as individuals outside of each of their organizations. In this production, we hope to make clear the thoughts of each Foretellers, as well as why they formed their unions, and I think what they'll have to say will be very interesting. As far as the content volume goes, since this won't be the length of a full game, I can only tell you that it will be in the format of a short story.

--Will Aqua be the main character in the realm of darkness for Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep? Also, will the story be about what's happened in the ten years that have passed? (As in, the period of time before the BBS secret episode, where she met Ansem the Wise?)

Nomura: That's right. Aqua is the main character, so the story will follow Aqua through the realm of darkness. However, the flow of time in the realm of darkness is different, so it's not simply ten years that have passed. The beginning of the story is after the secret episode in BBS: Final Mix, but the story's ending is the finale, so I can't talk about it. Actually, we prefaced to it in the secret episode, but in the opening, just before the new journey in KH3, we'll tell you about King Mickey meeting Aqua again, who has been hidden away all this time...it will be that kind of introduction.

--As far as gameplay goes, how has the system and action changed? Please tell us about this along with the content volume.

Nomura: It is similar to the flow of BBS, but we plan to include a portion that resembles KH3. For details, please wait until the next information release. As far as volume content goes, this short story will be about the length of one world in the usual KH series. We want to give the players something they'll be satisfied with by letting them experience KH3 gameplay in a sample size.

--Can you tell us about the meaning of 0.2's title, “Fragmentary Passage?

Nomura: As far as content goes, we can't include a full volume of content to play with like the second chapter of BBS, so it's just a “fragment,” and we left that part of the subtitle. '0.5' is one of the letters and numbers that appeared in the secret episode of BBS: Final Mix, and that meant full volume, so we decided on '0.2' this time, to indicate that there will be more content to come. However, the remaining passage will be told in KH3, so we wanted to show that this production is closely related to KH3.

--Finally, 2.8 will be an extremely important bridge title to KH3, won't it? Can you tell us about any noteworthy points in that connection?

Nomura: For 1.5 and 2.5, we added the word 'ReMIX' to the title, but for 2.8 we're adding 'Final Chapter Prologue'. This is not to say that this is the final chapter in the KH series, but it does mean that 2.8 will continue to pull the curtain closed on the story of the Dark Seeker. As I stated earlier, the content serves as a preface to KH3, starting with the Dream Drop Distance HD, and Kingdom Hearts X[chi]: Back Cover will also be very important to the KH series. I mentioned this in a previous answer, but 0.2 Birth by Sleep is closely related to KH3. It's definitely no mistake to say that the three productions packaged in 2.8 are all in preparation for KH3.
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Source: KH13.com

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LinkedIn Page Hints at 'Kingdom Hearts 2.9' and Pixar Worlds for KH3

Posted by Meilin Lee : Sep 8, 2015 at 3:05 PM ( 12 , 1,803 )

Over at LinkedIn, a game designer named Richard W. VanDeventer, who worked on several projects such as Mighty No. 9 and Lost Planet 3, has listed two Kingdom Hearts projects he has worked on from August 2014 to this last June. One of them is obviously Kingdom Hearts III. The other Kingdom Hearts project is called Kingdom Hearts 2.9 (listed as a PS3 and PS4 game). A screenshot of VanDeventer's LinkedIn profile can be viewed below:

Could Kingdom Hearts 2.9 be a Dream Drop Distance HD remake? Also, based on what VanDeventer wrote under the Kingdom Hearts III section, could we finally be seeing Pixar worlds in KH3?

via LinkedIn*

* - Need a LinkedIn account to access the profile page.

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Disney Reveals Kingdom Hearts Event at Japanese D23

Posted by libregkd : Aug 19, 2015 at 3:05 PM ( 8 , 1,696 )

Fresh of the heels of D23 held in Anahiem, CA, Disney has announced more detailed plans for Kingdom Hearts at the expo's Japanese counterpart. The "Kingdom Hearts Premium Theater Event" will be held on November 3rd, once from 13:00-14:30 JST and a second time from 16:00-17:30 JST, and will feature special guests as well as the latest footage for the Kingdom Hearts series.

Source: Gematsu

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Big Hero 6 World Confirmed for Kingdom Hearts 3

Posted by libregkd : Aug 16, 2015 at 2:28 PM ( 28 , 4,110 )

Just announced at D23, Square and Disney has confirmed that Big Hero 6 is the latest world to be apart of Kingdom Hearts 3! Along with this announcement, Square Enix had a piece of concept art
showing off Sora and Baymax fighting above San Fransokyo. The world is set after the events of the movie where the darkness possess the body Baymax has left behind in the portal.

(Click to Enlarge)

EDIT: The Official Kingdom Hearts YouTube Channel uploaded a video of Producer Roy Conli from the Walt Disney Animation Studios give us the first details on San Fransokyo in Kingdom Hearts 3. This was shown to the crowd at D23.

EDIT 2: Now with higher res artwork!

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Kingdom Hearts III