A special Focus Group Event was recently held for Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link at Square Enix ARTNIA cafe in Japan. Key members of the development team including Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura, series producer Ichiro Hazama, character designer Miki Yamashita, and lead planner Shirakami participated in a Q&A to speak to attendees on the development of the upcoming title.
Thanks to KH13 staff member Ryuji we have translated major points from the Q&A provided by attendees @rikunami13 and @aibo_ac7.
Note that recording of the Q&A was prohibited. The Q&A below is based on testimonials from the event attendees and an official transcript is currently unavailable.
QuoteQ: Why did you decide to develop a game that is practically a 180º from Kingdom Hearts Unionχ Cross?
Nomura: We are now in an era where there is practically little to no difference between a smartphone game and a console game, so I've wanted to use the increased hardware horsepower for some time now. So if we're going to do it on a smartphone, I want it to be something that is unique to smartphones.
Q: We would like to use controllers in various aspect of play.
A: Such features are in future plans.
Q: Will there be any additional Keyblades?
A: There will.
Q: I'd like to see some sort of collaboration with Disney on the Astral World building.
Nomura: This is still a secret.
Q: When do you plan to release Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link?
Nomura: As you can probably guess from my expression, we're working as fast as we can to release it as soon as possible.
Q. Are Navigators different from Keyblade wielders? Is there a navigator for each of the Societies?
Nomura: They are Keyblade wielders. They just don't use it. There are no navigators in each of the Societies. Only Freya. And, by the way, this isn't like Union Cross, where you can choose your favorites. You're assigned one in the story, and that is fixed.
Q. Will the cutscenes be movie events like this prologue instead of text-based events like in Union Cross?
A. Not all of them, because if we make everything to the level of this prologue, it will be more than a year before Missing Link releases. I’ve already shot enough for cutscenes for the official release.
Q. What is your favorite part about Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link?
Shirakami: Lock mode consumes one-seventh of your battery. In lock mode, you can defeat enemies even while riding a car or catching the train.
Yamashita: The background is beautiful, so I want you to pay close attention to it.
Hazama: While there are usually regional disparities in GPS-based games, [Missing Link] does not.
Q. Can I form a party with the main characters of Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link story?
A. There are opportunities within the story, like you’ve seen with Remus. However, as for “freely forming a party with them,” we are not considering such a feature at the moment.
Q. Will there be any limited-time events?
A. We’ve already discussed the events internally, but that is something we cannot answer yet.
Q. How big will the scenario be when the service starts?
A. There are so many new characters, voiced dialogue, and cutscenes that there we are reviewing the structure, but we have no intention of making it be compact. I’d say it will be about the same as the previous Kingdom Hearts.
Q. I’m curious: how often will the story be updated?
Nomura: Honestly, how many months did it take for some updates back in Union Cross? That kind of thing is just unforgivable nowadays.
Q: Will there be additional characters for raid bosses?
A: Yes, I can't be more specific, but we will add more characters in the future.
Q: Will there be updates to the gacha presentation?
A: Currently it skips with one tap, but we will enhance the direction, and we ask for your patience.
Q: Are there any plans to implement a friend request function?
A: Yes, it may take some time, but we will will add it.
Q: What about player housing?
A: It's currently under consideration, though this is not a requirement for putting it in.
Q: Is there weekly/monthly billing, like a subscription or a VIP pass?
A: Well, we are going along with the idea that we will do something of that kind. It's not functional yet, but you can see we already have a menu for that in the Closed Beta, but it will be different from your typical subscriptions.
Q. Is it difficult to make the app hands-free while running in the background? Does Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link have to stay open?
A.We tested it several times, but it is difficult. Battery consumption drops to 1/7th of normal when the game is in lock mode. Hands-free usually stops working after 20,000 steps, but if the app is open while in Lock Mode, it works even after said amount is passed. I think this is an advantage that other location games do not have.
Q. Is it possible to cook any dishes that increase stats?
A. We have a character that acts like a cook, and we are preparing to include them, but we ask for your patience.
According to event attendees after the Q&A concluded footage was shown highlighting various worlds, Olympus, a world with a tunnel speculated to be based on Snow White, and a world with a body of water speculated to be based on Pinnochio, alongside several other mysterious worlds.
Other interesting tidbits to note:
- Remus, the red haired character was modeled after a reliable older brother. His character design was made by Yamashita not Nomura
- There are three character designers working on Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link but they always consult with Nomura
- Nomura mentions that the protagonist hat took many retries to get just right due to the long dragoon like parts on both sides of the hat
- On the character Freya Nomura said: "There is a great secret hidden in Freya, but may I tell you the secret?" and then followed with "Some speculate she has a connection with Ephemer, but she doesn't."
- Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link was written by Ruiko Fukuzawa (Final Fantasy XIV) but Nomura took over the process midway
Attendees were also gifted a Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link themed tote bag and sticker as souvenirs from the event. You can view them in our gallery below.
What do you think of the newly shared information from this event? Let us know in the comments below!
Update 12/3/2023: We have updated with additional information and Q&A responses including potential future features to the game such as friend requests, player housing, and cooking as well as additional responses regarding the game's gacha, raid bosses, and performance.
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