Famitsu Interviews series Director Tetsuya Nomura about Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, Discusses Progress on English Recording

• Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover is being made with the same tech as Kingdom Hearts III.

Back cover looked amazing visually so if this is what we can expect from cutscenes in KH3...damn.

• Nomura anticipates that Kingdom Hearts III may hit Japan slightly earlier than the rest of the world, but it will be nearly simultaneous. 

I don't know how to feel about this...

• What is in the demo will be in the retail version of the game. He wanted to give the players something to explore in the demo, someplace where they would have to get up high to get a lay of the land before proceeding. Nomura says KH3 will have a similar feel, where free-running to a high place and scoping out the map will be necessary. 

Now this sounds amazing.

Holy cow! Black coat is the Master of Masters! That's amazing. Hope we see his face.

• Next year is the 15th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts, and also the 30th anniversary of Final Fantasy; he told fans to anticipate a lot of features next year relating to those series.

So that means something BIG will happen in 2017 for Kingdom Hearts. So Hyped.

I imagine he was referring to the fact that America releases games on a different day of the week from other countries--hence 'slightly earlier, but nearly simultaneous', though he didn't specify.

SAY WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!

THE GUY IN THE BLACK COAT IS THE MASTER OF MASTERS?!

OH MY GOSH!!!!

He flats out says that the black coat guy is the master of masters what the hell?! Where is the sixth person then!!!

DUDE LITERALLY SAYS THE BLACK COAT GUY IS THE MASTER OF THE FORETLLERS AND HE HAS NICKNAMES FOR THEM?????I CAN'T OH MY GOD.STILL CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR'S 15TH ANNIVERSARY! @ u @

DUDE LITERALLY SAYS THE BLACK COAT GUY IS THE MASTER OF THE FORETLLERS AND HE HAS NICKNAMES FOR THEM????? I CAN'T OH MY GOD. STILL CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR'S 15TH ANNIVERSARY! @ u @

Yup--when they asked 'Is the man in the black coat the Foretellers' master?' he replied with a straight 'Sou desu'. I was shocked! lol

Yup--when they asked 'Is the man in the black coat the Foretellers' master?' he replied with a straight 'Sou desu'. I was shocked! lol

Wow. Nomura dropping some bombs over here. Mark me down as very intrigued. I'm eagerly anticipating the release of 2.8, and how the story will continue to develop in 'season 2' of Unchained X.

Lol Nomura be dropping bombshells like it's nothing.

Peace!

Hopefully the "6th Apprentice" will appear, too.

Wait WHHHHHHAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!????? The Black Coat is THE MASTER OF MASTERS!? I could have sworn he was going to be the 6th Apprentice! If that's the case...then who's the 6th!? Where is he!? What role does he have!? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS!!! OoO"""""

I knew it! The guy in the black coat is the Master of Masters (Should be called the Grandmaster honestly). I cannot wait for Kingdom Hearts Chi (Back Cover) to show the mysteries surrounding the keyblade war, the origins of xehanort's keyblade and why it is special, the foretellers goals and motivations, the mysterious sixth apprentice, the traitor (if there is one), the Master of Masters purpose and other details which connects to the story of Kingdom Hearts 3.

So,, the intended play order is 3D》0.2》KH3. Okay. But are we supposed to watch BC before or after 0.2?

I still wish he'd give us an hour count for 0.2.

I'm honestly suprised Aqua can level up given how powerful her abilities are. I thought she'd be at lv 99 just for the heck if it.

I know it won't happen, but I really want a 2.8 demo now. Even if it were just the 3 demos that where at E3 (Sora in Traverse Town, Riku in Le Cité des Cloches, and Aqua in the "Castle of Nightmares" I'd be happy.

But, as the Master of Masters would say, "Nah, not possible"

Black coat guy being the Master of Masters was already stated in an interview last year, but somehow nobody caught on to it. So yes, it seems like he has more malevolent intentions in mind, as I suspected.

Him being the master and Nomura agreeing on it means there is some much bigger story behind this guy than "only" being the MoM.

Hmm so if the black coat guy is the Master of Masters and he's given nicknames to each of the Foretellers, are those nicknames the names we know them by? The fact that they are each named after the seven deadly sins seems to indicate nicknames rather than real names to me. Also if that's true could it be that he gave them those names to try and make them see darkness within themselves that wasn't really there? I mean Ava doesn't seem particularly greedy to me and Ira hasn't shown much wrath from what we've seen of him so far. Could it all be a ploy?

This is very good and intriguing and all but... what does "slightly before in japan" mean?... If it's 2/3 days or even a week it would be fine... but more... please Nomura no... that "nearly simultaneous" reassures me a bit at least

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I CALLED IT! I KNEW MR. HOODED GUY WAS THE MASTER OF MASTERS! I think Nomura intentionally spoiled the Master because his status is revealed early on.

But Nomura-san, you better give a simultaneous worldwide release for KH3, no Japan preference.

Famitsu asked directly if the Black Coat is the Foreteller's Master. Nomura says yes! He is a 'unique glue' between them, and he apparently has nicknames for each of the Foretellers.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?!?!?!?!? I was so sure he was the 6th apprentice

Kingdom Hearts χ [chi] is complete

this makes me sad

''but it will be nearly simultaneous''

''japan prefernce hurr huur''

*facepalms*

Idjets, listen. What he means is there maybe be a day or two or even just a couple hours difference. Whatever. That is not a big deal.

''but it will be nearly simultaneous''

 

''japan prefernce hurr huur''

 

*facepalms*

 

Idjets, listen. What he means is there maybe be a day or two or even just a couple hours difference. Whatever. That is not a big deal.

Yeah, seeing as how it'll probably be on a specific day, since Japan technically hits that day first, they'll get it like a day before, so I'm not too worried about that.

I'm hoping for the release date being next year.  REALLY hopping for that!

The Master of Masters gave upon five of his six apprentices one copy of the tome of prophecies... He has an eye that foresights the future... maybe this Black Coat Master never gave a copy to his sixth apprentice since maybe he wasn´t born yet, though he knew it would exist one day... and then Xehanort came to exist as the sixth apprentice! This would explain why he has such knowledge and foresight! He has one copy of the tome! But this is all conjuction... Nomura you! Why you doing this to us!?

 

He flats out says that the black coat guy is the master of masters what the hell?! Where is the sixth person then!!!

Famitsu interviewed Nomura, here are all the interesting parts;

—That's all we can do! In any case, before FF7 Remake, we have KH2.8 this year, don't we? This is also your 25th anniversary as a creator, do you think it is a turning point for you?

Nomura: Actually, on the day of my 25th anniversary, I'd thought of having a big celebration with my friends, but I got so busy and forgot all about it until a few days had already passed (laughs). They say 25 years is special because it's a quarter of a century, but next year is KH's 15th anniversary and FF7's 20th anniversary, and I think I'll jazz things up for them. At the next information releases, which will be this coming August at the KH concert and the Dissidia Final Fantasy tournament, I plan to start bringing more to light little by little, so I thank you in advance for your continued support.

—In the trailer, you announced a December worldwide simultaneous release, and that the next information on KH3 would be in winter.

Nomura:

It's likely that Japan will get it a few days earlier, but it will be basically simultaneous. KH2.8 is in the final stages of production, and as you may expect from the announcement of a worldwide simultaneous release, the English voicing has finished recording, and even though the timing of the deadline is a little tighter than usual, everything is progressing nicely. The reason we were able to prepare a demo version on such short notice was because we took it from the actual game. You will all be able to play in under half a year. Work on KH3 is progressing too, but as I said recently, I'd like you to first pay attention to KH2.8, which has an important position, so I am going to update you all with information on KH3 around when KH2.8 releases.

—I see. I get the impression that there are way more things to do than expected. Volume-wise, how big would you say this game is?

Nomura: At first I was saying it will be the length of one world, but when I did a playthrough from start to finish to check it, I thought, this is actually pretty substantial (laughs). I know there are some out there expecting it to be over in 30 minutes like a demo, but that's absolutely not the case.

—Hm? So if you think we will have questions about where Sora is in KH3, does Sora appear in the story directly before it, KH0.2…?

Nomura: Yeah (laughs)............... (I cut the rest off since it wasn't that interesting)

—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.

—You've said that it will support the PS4 trophy feature, and there are even more additional features, aren't there?  

Nomura: Yes. In addition to PS4 trophies, the trophies from the original game are also there as a separate feature. Other than that, drop times have been extended, and some enemy reactions are currently undergoing adjustment. And, as a series-first experiment, KH3D will be in 60fps. There, it differs fundamentally from the original.

To summarise

0.2 is bigger than we thought

KH3 news will be out around the time 2.8 comes out, he said he'd update us so it'll probably be through a twitter post or a short letter, he did that with 2.5 I think (Or 1.5, can't remember)

KH3 is still a big game despite things being brought over to 2.8

The next information release will be in August supposedly.

Drop times have been extended

The thing he said about enemy reactions could mean that enemies will actually stagger

Full interview/source: http://www.khinsider.com/news/Famitsu-Interviews-Nomura-on-KINGDOM-HEARTS-3-HD-2-8-FCP-Unchained-X-6667