Kingdom Hearts to appear in Japan Expo 2013

Chevalier · Jun 5, 2013

SQUARE ENIX France has posted on their facebook that both Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts will be at "full force" during the japan expo.

For those wondering, the Japan Expo is an event that covers Japanese culture---video games being a great part of it. SQUARE ENIX key staff such as Yoshinori Kitase, Motomu Toriyama, Naoki Yoshida and Shinji Hashimoto will make an appearance.

Japan Expo will be from July 4th to July 7th.

What do you think? Will they show something new in regards to Kingdom Hearts? Will we see more of 1.5 or something else? Tell me your thoughts by posting! ; >

Patman · Jul 5, 2013

SE kept it secret, but apparently visitors were in for a treat this year : Naoki Yoshida, Motomu Toriyama, Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura all took a plane for Paris to give a public conference and a bunch of private interviews. French forums haven' t put what they have online yet, but they' ve released a few snippets.

FF XIV : Players can unlock a Lightning and a Snow costume in subquests, and the game also features a sequence involving a fight alongside Lightning herself.

FFX-X2 : They' ve showed 2 min out of the 30 min bonus content. It' s an audio drama happening right after X2. You' ll have to complete both games to unlock it.

Lightning Returns : The two vids they showed have already been posted in the appropriate thread. If any interesting detail pops up in interviews with Toryiama & Kitase I' ll also post it there.

KH3-FFXV : No word on KH 3 yet, but Nomura confirmed that using cars to drive around in FFXV was still a thing (with all that happened to that title we can legitimately wonder whether what was said about it before still stands or not). He also said that the game becoming a full-fledged numbered entry has had consequences on its gameplay. The full interviews with Mr Nomura should be published shortly, I' ll translate them here as soon as I can.

Patman · Jul 7, 2013

Everything started with an e-mail from the Square Enix France Community Manager, Sacha Ramtohul, warning us that Tetsuya Nomura himself was about to catch a plane for Paris and that we' d be allowed to speak with him for 45 minutes (in the end we spoke longer than that). An extraordinary opportunity that left us speechless. We had to plan what we' d ask, such an opportunity doesn' t exactly present itself everyday, keeping in mind the obvious fact that some of our questions would be left unanswered.

It was 12 o' clock when Nomura and his translator received us in a press room adorned with Kingdom Hearts 1.5 promotional posters.

Some of us were probably quite intimidated at first, but more than that we realized how privileged we were to be in that position. Nomura, seldom used to deal with the community, was probably just as anxious as we were. He kept looking at the translator at first, then as the discussion unfolded he became more open, more generous, and probably more relaxed. We spent about an hour with him.

Very focused, he spoke with a lot of passion about Kingdom Hearts, his habits, and also spoke at lengh about FF XV. We thought he wouldn' t speak much about it since he was there to promote Kingdom Hearts 1.5, but the discussion naturally converged on his future projects and he revealed quite a few interesting details.

We hope you' ll have as much fun reading this interview as we had doing it, we' d like to thank Square Enix France infinitely for giving us this opportunity.

FFDream & Finaland : Kingdom Hearts 1.5 includes Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, which had a few additional scenes, will we still have a French dub ?

Tetsuya Nomura : Unfortunately we haven' t dubbed those scenes, so you' ll only have subtitles this time.

FFDream & Finaland : How did you split the development team in two ? How much are you personally involved in making KH3 ?

Tetsuya Nomura : The team that handled Kingdom Hearts 1.5 had never worked on Kingdom Hearts before, they dealt with everything on their own. For Kingdom Hearts 3 the other team is doing tests to decide what will or won' t be in the game, that kind of thing. We' ve worked like this for quite a few years already.

As for my involvment in KH3, I' ve always been much more hands on about it than any other project I' ve worked for or directed. The team working on KH3 is located in our building in Osaka, and as you know Osaka and Tokyo aren' t close to each other, but we' re having a lot of meetings and phone calls. We' re always in touch because I' m very active on this project.

FFDream & Finaland : Since Disney now owns Marvel and Star Wars do you intend to pick elements from those licences ?

Tetsuya Nomura : (laughter) Of course ! It' d be amazing to use them ! However Disney throws a lot of rules and restrictions in our way so we can' t use everything people ask us to use. Those are difficult decisions to make, but we have surprises in store so keep your eyes open for more informations in the future.

FFDream & Finaland : Cause, you know, Kitase -san is a big Star Wars fan, so you have to do it !

Tetsuya Nomura : (laughter) That' s quite irrelevant, that' s not the way we make those decisions, but we have talked about it since Disney recently aquired Lucas Arts. When I heard the news I was like "Wow ! Wow !". Obviously, it' d be great to use it, but as I said that' s up to Disney. We don' t know yet if it' s possible, we' ll see ...

FFDream & Finaland : Can we look forward to a multi co-op mode in KH3 ?

Tetsuya Nomura : Sora has always been the main character in the series so we want him to be the main, as a playable character that is. But KH3 will be the last main numbered entry, so if people want other characters to be playable we might listen. We promise there will be a few surprises.

FFDream & Finaland :You watch a lot of movies, how does that inspire you ?

Tetsuya Nomura : I watch a lot of movies, and I do mean A LOT. Two or three a day on average. I watch so many movies I can' t even remember all their titles. I do get inspiration from movies, true, but I can' t tell you which inspired what exactly. When I watch a movie I just go "Oh that' s kinda cool", that kind of comment.

FFDream & Finaland : Your characters clothes are getting more and more elaborate, have you actually studied fashion or do you just have an interest for that topic ?

Tetsuya Nomura : I obviously use the latest trends when I design my characters, but this time around for FF XV we hired an actual fashion designer. A professional team made the clothes for real and brought them in our office so that we could replicate them in CG.

It' s much easier that way because before people kept asking me "Is that leather ? Is that cotton ? What percentage ?", yaddy yaddy yadda ...

FFDream & Finaland : Nomura-san, you direct a lot of projects at once, how do you pull it out ?

Tetsuya Nomura : Actually, I' m not that good at management, especially when it involves juggling with many projects. I can do that because my teams are very competent. Co-directors are especially crucial, they take care of everything urgent, they' re the reason I can hold such a position.

FFDream & Finaland : Of all the characters you have created, which is your favorite ?

Tetsuya Nomura : Hmm, if I had to pick one it' d be Sora, and Noctis too. Why them ? I' ve been guiding Sora for ten years now, it' s the first time I stick that long around a character so he' s very special to me. Besides, Disney adopted him so he' s obviously a good boy. A good son even.

As for Noctis he hasn' t shown himself in genuine in-game sequences yet, but he will soon. Did you know that Sora means sky in Japanese, and that Caelum also means sky ? Noctis Caelum would be night sky, which makes them polar opposites. That' s deliberate. Noctis is my last born, my baby boy, I want him to be smarter than Cloud.

FFDream & Finaland : Hideo Kojima said he' d really like to play a FF VII remake. How about you ? Would you like to play a MGS remake ?

Tetsuya Nomura : Just to play it ?

FFDream & Finaland : Yes.

Tetsuya Nomura : Of course I would, if he ever makes one that is.

FFDream & Finaland : What can you tell us about the differences between the Fox and the Luminous engines ?

Tetsuya Nomura : I think they' re very different in terms of what they can do in-game, each can do stuff the other can' t. It all depends what you' re trying to do, but both are very different.

FFDream & Finaland : About FF XV, what kind of vehicles can we expect ? Any chance to pilot an airship ?

Tetsuya Nomura : We don' t really have a plan about vehicles , you can spot a few of them in the latest trailer.

Your main vehicle will be your car. The second would be a Magitek armour, the same as the one seen in the trailer. We might add more in the future.

FFDream & Finaland : How about a motorbike ?

Tetsuya Nomura : (laughter) You always control a team so ... five guys on a bike ? I' m not sure that' d work.

FFDream & Finaland : Like a gang, Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo style !

Tetsuya Nomura : (laughter) Yeah, not sure that' d work in-game.

FFDream & Finaland : Why did you change Stella and made her much younger ? Is that for story related reasons or because of a poll ?

Tetsuya Nomura : No reason. We wanted to make her prettier, not younger.

FFDream & Finaland : She was already pretty back in 2007, her new design is fine but she does look younger.

Tetsuya Nomura : She wasn' t really my type and in the 6 years that have passed she came closer and closer to my tastes.

FFDream & Finaland : In the trailer there' s a sequence with a red-eyed Noctis, is that a power ? Do they give him an edge in combat ?

Tetsuya Nomura : That' s what happens whenever he can teleport.

In the game you can' t really bring the camera close to his face, not to mention he moves a lot, If it is possible to see him up close we' ll keep them but we haven' t figured that out yet.

FFDream & Finaland : The game looks very dramatic and pessimistic, do you plan to include lighter scenes and mini-games ?

Tetsuya Nomura : We are indeed trying to think about that kind of things, but our focus remains the main game. Depending on how the development goes everything might not make it into the final product, but yes, we' re thinking about it.

FFDream & Finaland : Some places are inspired by Shinjuku in Tokyo or Venice in Italy, is there any place based on France ? On Paris for instance ?

Tetsuya Nomura : Don' t you have games based on France already ?

FFDream & Finaland : Well, there is an Arc de Triomphe in Delling City (FF VIII).

Tetsuya Nomura : If we' ve done it before I doubt we' ll do it again (laughter). I think there are tons of European elements in RPGs in general, yet you think that' s not enough ?

FFDream & Finaland : We' d just like to see more of them in Final Fantasy, we think it' d be executed brilliantly.

Tetsuya Nomura : We' ll think about it, that' s all I can say.

FFDream & Finaland : Thanks a lot. As of today a lot of male characters have been revealed, any chance for a female character to join the team ?

Tetsuya Nomura : I can' t say anything specific but ... it would be hard to have a playable female character.

FFDream & Finaland : We' re at the Japan Expo, there areover 200 000 people gathered here who all love Japanese culture. We' ve just watched Advent Children entirely in Japanese. Can we hope to have the Japanese dub in the European version ?

Tetsuya Nomura : It depend how much space is left on the disc. If we only fit the voices the lip sync would be screwed. Would you want the Japanese dub in spite of that ?

FFDream & Finaland : Actually, we have a suggestion : make a limited edition with Japanese voices and French subtitles.

Tetsuya Nomura : You want it that much ?

FFDream & Finaland : YES, YES and YES ! We really want the original dub.

Tetsuya Nomura : (laughter) You' d have to bring that "YES, YES and YES" to SE, not to me. If that sentiment is shared by the community at large you should mention it to SE France or Europe, they' d tell SE Japan and they' d consider it.

FFDream & Finaland : THANKS ! Is it game over if Noctis dies ?

Tetsuya Nomura : That' s what I said back when it was Vs XIII, but now that it' s a main entry all bets are off. We haven' t decided yet.

FFDream & Finaland : Can we customize weapons and equipments ?

Tetsuya Nomura : Sorry, I can' t answer that for now.

FFDream & Finaland : Could Noctis appear in a Dissidia game ?

Tetsuya Nomura : I' m not involved in Dissidia, but if Mitsunori Takahashi wants to include him I' ll think about it when the time comes. There' s nothing planned for now.

FFDream & Finaland : You made two videos for E3 in ARTNIA,, how excited were you and how glad are you to be back ?

Tetsuya Nomura : I was really really busy, I didn' t plan those presentations at all.

FFDream & Finaland : It was AWESOME.

Tetsuya Nomura : (laughter) Yes, we made them in ARTNIA with the marketing team. They didn' t even have a mic there so it' s a miracle you heard anything I said. I was very surprised when Sony warned us they needed videos, we shot them just a few days before E3.

FFDream & Finaland : What did Type 0 producer Hajime Tabata bring to the table ?

Tetsuya Nomura : We welcomed him to the team because he kept telling me he wanted to work on FF XV. I included him for his vitality, his high spirit and his motivation. Tabata-san will probably come here to promote the game eventually, you can ask him in person when that time comes.

FFDream & Finaland : Will you start working on FF XV-2 as soon as the first is finished ?

Tetsuya Nomura : I' d love to work on it again of course, but we haven' t decided yet. There' s no substancial plan for a sequel. It would be great, but we can' t announce anything nor reveal any detail yet.

FFDream & Finaland : Last question. Nomura-san, this is the first time you ever come to France and meet the community, we' re very glad to meet you. Do you think you' ll come back again ?

Tetsuya Nomura : I' d love to, but there are many people who' d also love to meet their fans abroad so we' ll decide depending on what kind of opportunity arises. Though it looks like you want to see the same face every year so (laughter), we' ll see.

FFDream & Finaland : We always see Kitase-san, Toriyama-san and Hashimoto-san. We' ve met them yearly for FF XIII, XIII-2 and Lightning Returns. When we met Hashimoto-san in 2010 we spoke about Vs XIII, we asked him if we' d be able to teleport and his answer was "Oh I' m not sure Nomura-san will do that". Apparently you did, which is awesome.

Thanks a lot for your work, we hope all your endeavours will be successful.

Tetsuya Nomura : I was supposed to speak about Kingdom Hearts 1.5 (laughter). I can' t really speak in details about FF XV right now, but once we' ve set a launch date and start the marketing campaign you' ll probably see me again. Thanks a lot.
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Kingdom Hearts to appear in Japan Expo 2013

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