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Nomura shares new KHIII & 0.2 details and more in latest Famitsu interview

Ydelnae

Member
About Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep 0.2
0.2_KH2.8_1.png
  • The demo we saw at E3 is taken straight up from the beginning of the game.
  • 0.2 will include more than one playable Disney world and every world will have different gimmicks. In Enchanted Castle, we have to collect "gears" to manipulate time and restore the town.
  • Spoiler:
    Cinderella's castle won't be playable, once Aqua enters the castle she will find herself in another world consumed by darkness.
  • The only way to make Aqua stronger in the game is to level up, since there won't be multiple keyblades.
  • There will be side content for completionists.
  • Nomura said in a past interview that the game had a length similar to a regular Kingdom Hearts world, but now that he's played the final game, he says people will be surprised at the duration. It's definitely not a 30 minute demo.

About Kingdom Hearts III
  • Both Dream Drop Distance and 0.2 act as a prologue to KH3. He says he wanted the tutorial section from KH3 to be shorter than KH1 (the opening at Destiny Islands and Traverse Town) and KH2's (Roxas' story), so he put all this story elements on these two prequels so we would start KH3 without any need to listen to long explanations about what's happening.
  • KH3 begins abruptly, people will be left wondering "what is Sora doing here?". He wants new players into the series to follow along, but also wants to reward people who have been following every piece of the story.
  • The way KH3D and 0.2 end give hints about how KH3 begins. KH3D spoilers:
    The game ends with Sora revisiting the Realm of Sleep and training there to be a Keyblade Master.
  • The next piece of information about Kingdom Hearts 3 will be shared around KH2.8's release.
  • Next year marks the 15th anniversary of the Kingdom Hearts franchise and he's planning plenty of things to celebrate it. Nomura will share more details about it in August.

About Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD
  • There will be new Dream Eaters in the HD remaster. Every Dream Eater included in the 3DS version will be available, even those obtained through AR cards.
  • The game will run at 60fps.
  • They reworked the touch screen mechanics to work in the regular PS4 controller.

About the Kingdom Hearts χ games: chi, Unlimited and Back Cover
  • We can expect Kingdom Hearts 3 cutscenes to look as good as χ Back Cover.
  • The Master of Foretellers is revealed to be
    the black coated figure that appears in the trailer.
  • He's happy about the reception Unchained χ has had overseas.
  • The PC version of regular KHχ will end its servers this September. The last story update is scheduled to go online this August. Players will only have one month to play the ending and finish the story.
  • The story of KHχ (PC) and KH Unlimited χ (iOS/Android) will split soon.
  • As of now, we've experienced "Season 1" of the overall χ story. Once KHχ ends, "Season 2" will begin on KH Uχ.
  • As of which story is the canon one, he says he can't talk about it yet, he wants us to find out playing the game. Note: KHχ is exclusive to Japan and there are no plans to localize it.
  • KHUχ will still receive support and story updates for a long time, even after Back Cover is released.

About Final Fantasy VII Remake
  • The game is coming along well, Nomura wants us to not worry about it just because he hasn't shared info about it in a while.
  • The timing for the next piece of information about VIIR hasn't been decided yet but he wants it to be a big info blow out instead of just sharing small details.

The source which translated the article has a full trascription and scans of the magazine, so I don' think I'm allowed to link to the article. If I'm wrong, just tell me and I will update the OP.
 
"The next piece of information about Kingdom Hearts 3 will be shared around KH2.8's release."

That seems to point toward PSX given that 2.8 is releasing in December.
 
KH3's begins abruptly, people will be left wondering "what is Sora doing here?". He wants new players into the series to follow along, but also wants to reward people who have been following every piece of the story.

One one hand, it's good that he's avoiding having a long, plodding opening like KHII.

On the other, this pretty much indicates that III is going to have a cold open just like KH3D does, which means it's gonna be hella confusing for anyone that didn't follow the series since II or played the remixes. That should be fun.
 

sappyday

Member
Those Back Cover cutscenes don't look good though :/


Also Nomura, I think every player will be thinking more than just "why is Sora is here" at the start of KH3.
 

Famassu

Member
Nomura said in a past interview that the game had a length similar to a regular Kingdom Hearts world, but now that he's played the final game, he says people will be surprised at the duration. It's definitely now a 30 minute demo.
I'm guessing you meant to write "it's definitely NOT a 30 minute demo"?

Regarding length. Earlier Nomura said to expect something that is about the length of a single world. Recently he said that it means KHIII scale world which are obviously far bigger than the old games' worlds that were separated into relatively few "rooms". I'm guessing it'll be something one can rush through in an hour or two on first try, add another hour or two if one explores some and another hour or two to 100% it (without guides).

"The next piece of information about Kingdom Hearts 3 will be shared around KH2.8's release."

That seems to point toward PSX given that 2.8 is releasing in December.
Jump Festa is more likely, that's more Nomura's turf, though they could have stuff at PSX too.
 

The Lamp

Member
"As of which story is the canon one, he says he can't talk about it yet, he wants us to find out playing the game. Note: KHχ is exclusive to Japan and there are no plans to localize it."

This man is crazy. This is not the kind of thing you do to a story like KH.
 

kenji

Member
Next year marks the 15th anniversary of the Kingdom Hearts franchise and he's planning plenty of things to celebrate it. Nomura will share more details about it in August.

give me dat 1.5 and 2.5 ps4 announcement Nomura
 

raven777

Member
"The next piece of information about Kingdom Hearts 3 will be shared around KH2.8's release."

That seems to point toward PSX given that 2.8 is releasing in December.

I am expecting Jump Festa. Nomura usually likes to put KH stuff at Jump Festa. Also since I expect FF7R at PSX, I doubt they would put both at the same show..
 

Famassu

Member
"As of which story is the canon one, he says he can't talk about it yet, he wants us to find out playing the game. Note: KHχ is exclusive to Japan and there are no plans to localize it."

This man is crazy. This is not the kind of thing you do to a story like KH.
The story is practically identical.
 
I'm expecting KH3 to be at Jump Festa and D23 and FVII to get a trailer at PSX and then a Uncovered event sometime next year.
 

Zomba13

Member
"As of which story is the canon one, he says he can't talk about it yet, he wants us to find out playing the game. Note: KHχ is exclusive to Japan and there are no plans to localize it."

This man is crazy. This is not the kind of thing you do to a story like KH.

Unchained χ has to be the "canon" one, if any really even are (and he doesn't just decided "Screw it! The recap/ending/whatever in 2.8 is the canon one!"). I gave up on Unchained around 100 missions in I think? It just got a bit boring and the plot was just "do quest for this Disney town, now this one, now this one, now the first one again, now the second one again, now a weird thing in Daybreak Town with Donald and Goofy and Mickey and they shouldn't be here, wtf is going on? Back to side quests!".
 

Asd202

Member
About Final Fantasy VII Remake
  • The game is coming along well, Nomura wants us to not worry about it just because he hasn't shared info about it in a while.
  • The timing for the next piece of information about VIIR hasn't been decided yet but he wants it to be a big info blow out instead of just sharing small details.

This sound so familiar.

So are FFVII & KH3 coming out next year or what? I have trouble trusting Nomura sticking to the schedule. :\

No way for both. KH3 has a chance with 2017, VIIR absolutely not.
 

Asd202

Member
1.5/2.5 PS4 Remaster confirmed

You know what would be good for the 15th anniversary? Releasing the damn KH3.

One one hand, it's good that he's avoiding having a long, plodding opening like KHII.

On the other, this pretty much indicates that III is going to have a cold open just like KH3D does, which means it's gonna be hella confusing for anyone that didn't follow the series since II or played the remixes. That should be fun.

Can't wait for the Xbox fans to jump in.
 

Dark_castle

Junior Member
It's cute that Nomura still cares about the story of Kingdom Hearts series even if it had sunken into one huge deep mud.
 

Famassu

Member
So are FFVII & KH3 coming out next year or what? I have trouble trusting Nomura sticking to the schedule. :\
We don't know. You'd imagine that Kingdom Hearts III with its ~5 year development time (by mid 2017) would be a lock for 2017, but you never know. FFVII Remake has been in development for a little while shorter so that's a bit less likely for 2017, though not completely impossible if they've jumped into & advanced with its development efficiently since it's "only" a remake and not a fully new game where they need to figure out every little detail from scratch.
 
I can't believe some people actually wanted this guy to stay on as director of Versus/XV lol. I'm not necessarily worried about FFVII but I believe they blew their wad too early.

EDIT: someone get Huber to do one of those story explainers that he did for MGS before 5 came out lol. Cuz I sure as shit am not playing all of the games in order to try and get an idea as to what's going on.
 

Famassu

Member
Unchained χ has to be the "canon" one, if any really even are (and he doesn't just decided "Screw it! The recap/ending/whatever in 2.8 is the canon one!"). I gave up on Unchained around 100 missions in I think? It just got a bit boring and the plot was just "do quest for this Disney town, now this one, now this one, now the first one again, now the second one again, now a weird thing in Daybreak Town with Donald and Goofy and Mickey and they shouldn't be here, wtf is going on? Back to side quests!".
There's actually some storytelling past mission 250-275! Even the Disney plots (for the couple of worlds since) have gotten a bit more interesting and more meaty, closer to what you'd expect from a KH game's Disney storylines than the fetch-quests & monster elimination back & forth running before that.

I am expecting FF7R pt.1 to come out next year. I am sure they wouldn't want to miss anniversary year.
Well, technically FFVII's 10th anniversary runs from January 31st 2017 to January 31st 2018 (if we go by the OG Japanese release), so they could release it in 2018 and still keep it within the 10th anniversary. :p
 

ackl

Member
lol @ FFVIIR comments sounding like versus.

I personally don't think this is Versus all over again. Considering we got gameplay footage 6 months after the announcement I really do think development is going well (relative to Versus I guess..).
 

raven777

Member
We don't know. You'd imagine that Kingdom Hearts III with its ~5 year development time (by mid 2017) would be a lock for 2017, but you never know. FFVII Remake has been in development for a little while shorter so that's a bit less likely for 2017, though not completely impossible if they've jumped into & advanced with its development efficiently since it's "only" a remake and not a fully new game where they need to figure out every little detail from scratch.

Nomura did mention last week that they had to start almost from scratch when they changed the engine to UE4, so they had to change the schedule.
 

Famassu

Member
I can't believe some people actually wanted this guy to stay on as director of Versus/XV lol. I'm not necessarily worried about FFVII but I believe they blew their wad too early.

EDIT: someone get Huber to do one of those story explainers that he did for MGS before 5 came out lol. Cuz I sure as shit am not playing all of the games in order to try and get an idea as to what's going on.
There are already fairly adequate KH story recaps (up until Dream Drop Distance) from Gametrailers folk (with help from some KH superfans) they did a year or two ago that one can watch on Youtube, if one doesn't want to play all the games to get up to speed with what's going on.

And Nomura is a good director and would have made a better FFXV than Tabata, that's for sure.
 
I've played Kingdom Hearts 1, 2 and Birth by sleep but I'm so confused now. I've seen 1.5, 2.5, 2.8 and something called dream drop distance now.

Is there a chronological list of the cannon games?
 
I've played Kingdom Hearts 1, 2 and Birth by sleep but I'm so confused now. I've seen 1.5, 2.5, 2.8 and something called dream drop distance now.

Is there a chronological list of the cannon games?
Just play in release order.
Kh
Kh:chains of memories
Kh2
Kh:days
Kh:BBS
Kh: coded
Kh:DDD
Kh:0.2

Or

Kh 1.5
Kh 2.5
Kh 2.8

Simple
 

raven777

Member
How far along are they on it?

and there's an anniversary every year, lol

who knows. They are making it multi-episode game so they should be able to ship the first part sooner than normal game.

Next year is 30th anniversary of Final Fantasy and 20th anniversary of FF7, so it's not just any anniversary year.
 

kurahador

Member
I've played Kingdom Hearts 1, 2 and Birth by sleep but I'm so confused now. I've seen 1.5, 2.5, 2.8 and something called dream drop distance now.

Is there a chronological list of the cannon games?

Birth By Sleep
1
Re-Chain Of Memories
358/2 Days
2
Re-Coded
Dream Drop Distance
 

Famassu

Member
I've played Kingdom Hearts 1, 2 and Birth by sleep but I'm so confused now. I've seen 1.5, 2.5, 2.8 and something called dream drop distance now.

Is there a chronological list of the cannon games?
1.5, 2.5 and 2.8 are just collections of all the games released so far (& story recap movies of a few games not worth remaking for consoles).

1.5 has Kingdom Hearts 1 + a couple of side-stories (one of which is important, the other one, not so much), KH2.5 has Kingdom Hearts 2 + a couple of side-stories (one of which is important, the other one the least important KH game so far), KH2.8 has Dream Drop Distance which is a direct sequel to KH2 and a straight lead-up to KHIII + a couple of side-stories.
 

DKHF

Member
This won't be like Versus again because this time there's no BS SE proprietary engine that they have to use (among other factors but that being a major one). Nomura actually has a competent engine at his disposal. And in the interview he says about FFVII (thanks to KH Insider):

"We are currently getting specifics ready for the next information release, and just like we've done with KH2.8 this time, we plan to bring a whole lot out in one go instead of dribs and drabs, so please look forward to it. I am looking forward to the reveals myself."

If they were going to stay quiet on the game until next E3 or something I highly doubt they would be getting the specifics ready for the next info release. I think there will be a big trailer at PSX. And I'm pretty confident that Part 1 will release in fall 2017 (as I've said a lot on here in the last few days lol). And KH3's development has been significantly extended by them switching to Unreal, that set them back a lot. So it shouldn't really be used to guess FFVIIR's dev length IMO.
 
The reason they're keeping FFVII:R in the shadow for now is obviously because they don't want to embarrass Tabata and his FFXV.
 
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