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[JuanLatino]

GamesTM Magazine had an Interview with Director Tetsuya Nomura about his upcoming project Kingdom Hearts 3


about the switch of the Engine:

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.

the battlesystem:

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.

the number of playable characters:

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.

More at: http://www.gamestm.co.uk/interviews/rebuilding-kingdom-hearts-with-tetsuya-nomura/ (disneys influence on the series and nomuras creative freedom, the missing ps3 generation)


Lock if old

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Playable Riku and Aqua

 

[Nightengale]

Playable Riku and Kairi

Fixed that for you.

 

[Arkeband]

"Two playable characters" is being pretty fast and loose, considering you technically can also play as Mickey Mouse and Riku in addition to Roxas... but it isn't like you're ever given a choice or any of them are remotely as involved as Sora is gameplay-wise.

 

[Grylvak]

Great read. This makes me really excited for KH3.

 

[stryke]

Wow OP, you actually copy and pasted the whole article. Well done.

 

[threelights]

Nice to see they still have a lot of creative freedom.

Can't wait for November.

Playable Kairi and Aqua

Fixed that for you.

Fixed that for you.

 

[JuanLatino]

Wow OP, you actually copy and pasted the whole article. Well done.

not allowed?

 

[Skyward Sheep]

Wasn't there like four playable characters in KH2?

 

[stryke]

not allowed?

Neogaf TOS:

C. Copyrighted Material

Full transcriptions of articles and whole or partially-scanned images (e.g. magazine scans) are prohibited. Standard fair-use policies apply, and sources should always be attributed.

 

[PtM]

not allowed?

Pretty much.

 

[glassgannon]

multiple playable characters has been his intention from the beginning.
he even said so back at e3 2013,
his reasoning was that since it was the last romp for so many beloved characters he like to have them be playable.riku/sora is pretty much a given but i wonder if theres gonna be a magician type character like aqua.

 

[Rymuth]

Nomura doesn't age....what's the secret to his immortality?

 

[stryke]

Wasn't there like four playable characters in KH2?

I recall Sora, Roxas and Mickey. Sure, you control Riku a bit in the final battle but I'd hardly count that as playable. Am I missing anyone else?

 

[Newtype-001]

Nomura doesn't age....what's the secret to his immortality?

1up for every zipper he adds to a character.
Satans deals are cruel

 

[pizzacat]

I recall Sora, Roxas and Mickey. Sure, you control Riku a bit in the final battle but I'd hardly count that as playable. Am I missing anyone else?

The little dice sora from that one fight

 

[Napalm_Frank]

I recall Sora, Roxas and Mickey. Sure, you control Riku a bit in the final battle but I'd hardly count that as playable. Am I missing anyone else?

Chicken Little FPS mode yo.

 

[JuanLatino]

Neogaf TOS:

ok didn't know that. thanks

 

[kewlmyc]

Chicken Little FPS mode yo.

I forgot Chicken Little was a thing. Both in the game and the movie.

 

[threelights]

I recall Sora, Roxas and Mickey. Sure, you control Riku a bit in the final battle but I'd hardly count that as playable. Am I missing anyone else?

You can play as a die and a card when you fight Luxord. =P

edit: beaten.

 

[ffdgh]

If there are multiple playable characters, please let them all have super glide access.

Traveling with Aqua(terra's slide is actually useful for something) and Riku was a pain lol.

 

[Piers]

Keyblade transformations don't make sense story-wise because we never saw him develop that sort of ability during the Mark of Mastery.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Keyblade transformations don't make sense story-wise because we never saw him develop that sort of ability during the Mark of Mastery.

Its implied he took it again and given what aqua,ven and terra could do it makes sense

 

[Jimnymebob]

It mentions that Sora gets the Keyblade Transformation ability from going through the Mark of Mastery Exam. So,

Spoiler

does that mean Sora is going to pass it during the tutorial/opening, or is being asleep through it sufficient enough to earn that ability?

 

[jiggle]

the number of playable characters:

 

[KeyChainDude]

Exciting, seems like they're baking a new leave of news about the game for us. But again, this is Nomura so lets not get too hyped.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

It mentions that Sora gets the Keyblade Transformation ability from going through the Mark of Mastery Exam. So,

Spoiler

does that mean Sora is going to pass it during the tutorial/opening, or is being asleep through it sufficient enough to earn that ability?

I

Spoiler

m thinking it will either be a hidden/last cutscene of 0.2 or tutorial for 3

 

[Napalm_Frank]

Exciting, seems like they're baking a new leave of news about the game for us. But again, this is Nomura so lets not get too hyped.

They have already confirmed KH3 stuff for D23 Japan next month.

 

[NoctisVsStar]

Lighting and Noctis.

 

[Hot Coldman]

you can play as Sora, Riku, and the Brave Little Toaster

 

[jiggle]

Lighting

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Lighting

wouldn't mind maybe she'll get a good game to star in for once

 

[Hot Coldman]

who the hell is Lighting

 

[mocolostrocolos]

Exciting, seems like they're baking a new leave of news about the game for us. But again, this is Nomura so lets not get too hyped.

It's Nomura without boundries or other distractions.

I'm hyped as fuck.

 

[Nightengale]

other distractions.

 

[stryke]

They have already confirmed KH3 stuff for D23 Japan next month.

I hope we see something a bit more than just a new world announcement.

 

[Famassu]

"-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."

It wasn't a huge stretch to expect that we get to control characters other than Sora in KHIII, but this basically confirms again that it's going to happen in one form or the other. Now we'll just have to wait and see how many of the 7 keyblade wielders we get to play as (I don't dare hope for all of them, but I'd hope at least 3-4) and if it's more like KHII (only temporary segments) or if we'll get to have at least some level of choice over the matter. Is it too crazy to hope for coop as well? They've dabbled with it before in the spin-offs, though only in missions/separate arenas. Would be fun if me and my friend who also likes KH could play KHIII together.

If they are going for multiple playable characters, I don't think they should repeat the BBS/DDD formula where you have characters going through the same worlds with them all experiencing small parts of the overall story. That said, I'm not sure if Nomura will want to make the game so that you could just pick any character from the start and ignore Sora altogether, given he has said numerous times he thinks Sora is the main star of the mainline KHs. If he still holds true to those words, I'm not sure how they'd execute having multiple playable characters without taking attention away from Sora. If/when they don't offer total freedom of choice over characters, I'd be pretty happy if, at first, other playable characters would maybe be tied to story specific segments (i.e. Aqua in the dark realm, Kairi training, Lea on some kind of mission given to him etc.) and then maybe other characters open up to be playable more freely as the game progresses past some point in the story. That's of course assuming we'd get to play as all the good guys. If they limit it to just a few, I'm hoping for at least 3 of the 4 from Sora, Riku, Aqua and Lea. Don't mind if Ven, Mickey & Kairi aren't playable...

 

[threelights]

I hope we see something a bit more than just a new world announcement.

They confirmed video footage iirc.

Hopefully it's actual video footage and not that guy cosplaying Xehanort again...

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

who the hell is Lighting

the most popular female FF character

Spoiler

according to a japanese poll

 

[Dereck]

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.

Some things never change, this sentence does not make any sense, as expected.

 

[Napalm_Frank]

They confirmed video footage iirc.

Hopefully it's actual video footage and not that guy cosplaying Xehanort again...

Shaky cam of Treasure Planet concept art.

 

[PtM]

who the hell is Lighting

the most popular female FF character

Spoiler

according to a japanese poll

He's about that typo.

 

[Famassu]

Some things never change, this sentence does not make any sense, as expected.

He says playable characters other than Sora are still a secret and then acknowledges that saying so makes it seem like there's something to be revealed about said subject. He then says they can't really say anything, but teases that there might be something to be revealed on that front in the future. Not all that hard to descipher.

It mentions that Sora gets the Keyblade Transformation ability from going through the Mark of Mastery Exam. So,

Spoiler

does that mean Sora is going to pass it during the tutorial/opening, or is being asleep through it sufficient enough to earn that ability?

There might be a bit of a time skip between DDD & KHIII during which Sora will have earned the Keyblade master title. And you kind of missed the point of DDD if you think Sora was "just asleep".

 

[Dereck]

He says playable characters other than Sora are still a secret and then acknowledges that saying so makes it seem like there's something to be revealed about said subject. He then says they can't really say anything, but teases that there might be something to be revealed on that front in the future. Not all that hard to descipher.

 

[Village]

Am i going to play as actual coolest main character riku?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

He's about that typo.

ah missed that

 

[Famassu]

It's just Nomura's usual style of "I'm not saying it's there, but it's probably there *wink, wink*" teasing when PR people have decided he can't talk about some aspects of a game yet, but he doesn't want to stay completely quiet on a matter. This is as close as we are gonna get to an announcement of other playable characters prior to the marketing department thinking it's the time to start revealing such features.

 

[oldboss]

Am i going to play as actual coolest main character riku?

No. As phantom Riku.

 

[Jimnymebob]

He says playable characters other than Sora are still a secret and then acknowledges that saying so makes it seem like there's something to be revealed about said subject. He then says they can't really say anything, but teases that there might be something to be revealed on that front in the future. Not all that hard to descipher.


There might be a bit of a time skip between DDD & KHIII during which Sora will have earned the Keyblade master title. And you kind of missed the point of DDD if you think Sora was "just asleep".

I didn't say he was just asleep because that was what I took from the story, I just couldn't be bothered to write that

Spoiler

he fell into a coma when he got brought into TWTNW while Riku was fighting the nightmares in Sora, because the Organization wants to use him as a vessel for one of their XIII Xehanorts.

and what have you, because saying that he was asleep was quicker, and still true. The whole

Spoiler

time travel thing

went over my head when I was playing through it at first because of how ridiculous it was, but the Sora thing made perfect sense for a post KH1 Kingdom Hearts plot point.

 

[Kouriozan]

Everyone will be playable*

(* in the multiplayer modes like 358/2 days)