I wanted to open up a discussion thread about some comments Nomura made in the Famitsu interview regarding the story of KH3. I found them to be particularly interesting, and certainly something that I'm kinda curious about in terms of both how it'll actually play into the final product, and also how other people are interpreting that information.

 

The comments I'm referring to are these:

 

—Does spreading the story from not only KH3D but also KH0.2 mean that KH3 will be smaller in size? 

Nomura: It's not that I've spread the story out, perhaps it's more that I've separated the parts that would have ruined KH3's tempo if they were told then. In fact, KH3 is overwhelmingly big, so it's not that content has been shaved off, and it's something I've worried over how to handle. And then, to me, I've made a lot of RPGs so far, and I think rather than listening to long explanations at the start of the game, we want to enjoy the adventure right away, so I decided to try and keep the opening exposition part of KH3 as short as possible. Because of that, maybe people will be like, "why is Sora here?", feeling like KH3 begins comparatively abruptly. Of course, if you keep playing, you'll work out the minimum about the situation.  

 

Now personally, I find this to be the most enlightening and encouraging part of the entire interview because I feel like this is Nomura's way of saying, 'I understand that the mythology of this series has become so complex that it may be hard to draw new fans in, but I'm doing what I can to make it as coherent as possible for Kingdom Hearts III, for both the longtime fan and the newcomer.' Granted, I still have some reservations about the story, but I think I'm cautiously optimistic about KH3 in terms of story progression and such. (Also, it's apparently shaping up to be the biggest KH game yet. So that also gets me stoked.)

 

What do you guys think?

This is good news to me because it seems like Nomura's trying to fix his mistakes storyline wise in kingdom hearts 3 so it won't be a convuled mess when it comes out 

I was actually genuinely surprised when he said DDD was also originally part of KHIII's story that he cut out and made a whole new game. Personally, cutting that and 0.2 the way he did was a really good idea and especially inserting 0.2 into 2.8 was the perfect opportunity to show at least a piece of the full '0.5' and a way to lead into KHII. I'm not usually a fan of cutting pieces of games' stories but in this case, it seems like the best possible option.

This is good. 

 

So Nomura is gonna have the first couple of minutes be a quick recap of the series so far? If so, that's good. Also, thanks for putting this out, might help in educating an impatient fellow I found on Youtube comments.

Pretty much. Though I'm mostly excited at the prospect that KH3's story will be really huge. That's all I could have ever asked for. X3

This is good. 

 

So Nomura is gonna have the first couple of minutes be a quick recap of the series so far? If so, that's good. Also, thanks for putting this out, might help in educating an impatient fellow I found on Youtube comments.

 

No problem. c:

 

Pretty much. Though I'm mostly excited at the prospect that KH3's story will be really huge. That's all I could have ever asked for. X3

 

Oh, yeah. Same here. x3

Well, after the lack of narrative progression that Re: Coded made, I felt as though Kingdom Hearts III was initially too big for its own boots after Birth by Sleep and 358/2 Days. Dream Drop Distance and X Back Cover are games that really give the narrative of Kingdom Hearts III a grander scale.

 

Plus, there's the added benefit that splitting said games would not ruin the pacing of Kingdom Hearts III.

I was actually genuinely surprised when he said DDD was also originally part of KHIII's story that he cut out and made a whole new game. Personally, cutting that and 0.2 the way he did was a really good idea and especially inserting 0.2 into 2.8 was the perfect opportunity to show at least a piece of the full '0.5' and a way to lead into KHII. I'm not usually a fan of cutting pieces of games' stories but in this case, it seems like the best possible option.

Really? I was calling it part of KH3 once I finished it.

Well, after the lack of narrative progression that Re: Coded made, I felt as though Kingdom Hearts III was initially too big for its own boots after Birth by Sleep and 358/2 Days. Dream Drop Distance and X Back Cover are games that really give the narrative of Kingdom Hearts III a grander scale.

 

Plus, there's the added benefit that splitting said games would not ruin the pacing of Kingdom Hearts III.

 

Yeah. I like that Nomura is taking the pacing into consideration. It gives me some hope that maybe there will be a steady sort of escalation in the conflict, kind of like the previous numbered titles.

 

I personally think that the only 'spin-off' title that had good pacing was Birth By Sleep. Days was a really slow burn, Re:coded had a lack of overarching narrative progression like you said, and Dream Drop Distance was kind of this messy deal where it was a lot of nothing for a bit, then a whole bunch of developments. (Make no mistake, I actually really like that game. The character development for Riku in that game was pretty good, and the way they put a good amount of focus on Sora and Riku's friendship was definitely worth some feels, but in terms of pacing... there was a lot to be desired.)

Edited June 24, 20169 yr by Zay

I'm confident that Nomura will tie all loose ends from the Xehanort Saga in Kingdom Hearts III, and I think we'll thoroughly enjoy the story for what it is! I'm sure newcomers will be able to leave this game with a sense of wonderment, while we longtime fans will leave with a sense of nostalgia and accomplishment for closing the final chapter of the Xehanort Saga, ya know?

 

The fact that Nomura said that Kingdom Hearts III is overwhelmingly big always makes me happy, because that just means that Kingdom Hearts III will probably be the longest Kingdom Hearts game yet!  After all this time we've waited, that's what we need, a long game! So I'm definitely excited for how everything will go down in Kingdom Hearts III!

Really? I was calling it part of KH3 once I finished it.

I figured it was something he knew would connect to KHIII and would be the story directly leading up to it, but I never realized it was basically 'part of the script' until the interview. I guess I can see the cliff notes sounding much smaller than how the actual story would play it out. Like, 'Before our main characters begin their search for Terra, Aqua and Ventus, Sora and Riku take the Mark of Mastery exam' and it sounds smaller than it actually plays out in the game and when Nomura realized the extent he'd have to go into it (because skipping over it would be a little weird) he decided to just make a whole game around it. 

This is amazing news. The hype for KH3 continues.

Dang, he says KH3 is already massive..Can you imagine how crazy this would've been if DDD and 0.2 were still a part of it! I'm so happy Nomura removed 'em. He probably realized that the game was getting to ambitious and really overwhelming with DDD and 0.2. This would've turned into Versus XIII 2.0 but it looks like Nomura learned from his mistakes which is good.

"Because of that, maybe people will be like, "why is Sora here?", feeling like KH3 begins comparatively abruptly."

 

I'm calling it right now:

The introduction cutscene will be Eraqus and Xehanort playing chess. After that, we will immediately play as Sora in Cable Town without further explanation. Cable Town will be the place where Eraqus and Xehanort played chess, which ties the cutscene and Soras whereabouts together.