You can read the questions and answers below:
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You can read the questions and answers below:
We have already published a summary of highlights of the feature, including discussion points on the plot and characters in Kingdom Hearts III, information about its worlds and gameplay, and upcoming updates on the Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] story.
You can read the summaries here and here, and look at the scans of the magazine below:
You can read the full translation of the interview below:
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Check out the first half, translated by Katie Armstrong, below:
Tetsuya Nomura would like for you to wait for the next report, which will be some time in 2018.
There was some last-minute post-editing on the D23 and the Orchestral Concert PVs; Nomura wanted to tie things back to something with the word "dive," thinking back to the original concept of KH.
There were some strong feelings about the Toy Story world, because Nomura wanted to include it in KH2. Nomura's been negotiating for it since the first KH game. He met with John Lasseter when he came to Japan and told him about every element he wanted to include.
The Toy Story world does not take place during the original story, but picks up somewhere after Toy Story 2 and is consistent with the timeline of the movies.
This isn’t in the PV, but there is a scene where Sora is mistaken for an action figure of a game character by Rex.
Sora and company’s Toy Story world looks were designed by art directors who interacted to combine designs; the first team’s design was similar to action figures while the other group tried to match the aesthetic of Toy Story. The two had to come together and discuss and convince one another to arrive at the final design.
The staff was surprised at how easy it was to reproduce the graphic appearance of the original films. The looks of other worlds and gimmicks and such have been difficult for this game.
The Toy Story world’s percentage [of completeness] and quality was high enough to be seen earlier, but based on our PR plans it wasn’t shown until now. When they announced the Big Hero 6 world, Nomura could only show one illustration because it was a somewhat sudden request, so this time Nomura wanted to show video.
Production on the Big Hero 6 world is going well, though the matter of the last selected world is still ahead of them.
Multiple battle commands are displayed in the PV because there is always a choice in what to do in battle, there’s some tactical fun in assembling combos of your choosing. It might seem tough, but I want to reassure you that you can pull off some fancy techniques with the right button combinations.
Check out the second half, translated by News Team member Dengojin, below:
Each world will have it's own guest party members and they will have their unique collaboration commands, since it is a new system it will be introduced in details later.
Riding a robot to fight was an early idea sent at the beginning of the development to the dev team, each floor of the toy shop will have it's own gimmick.
The toy shop will be the main area in the Toy Story world you can enjoy other gimmicks with various toys sold there.
There is surprise in the future.*
The world where Young Eraqus and Xehanort is an original world. Also he mentions that KH3 will have less Disney worlds than KH2 in numbers, but they will be richer and more playable.
There are so many characters, so the story is dark and he is not planning it to end it all at once.
Each character story must be settled. This will involve members from the former Organization XIII.
Nomura is not directing anything else beside the announced titles, but he is involved with many.
Kingdom Hearts Union χ[cross] fifth Union leader chapter has been written and it will be released early August.
Nomura would like to give us more information about Kingdom Hearts III battle later.
*Pretty vague, maybe referring to the Toy Story world to be full of surprises?
Toy Story is the latest world revealed for Kingdom Hearts III through the trailer unveiled last week at the D23 Expo in Anaheim. The Weekly Famitsu feature, which will recap the event and include an interview with Tetsuya Nomura, will be published on July 20 in Japan. Stay tuned with us for updates and translations!
UPDATE 1: The Weekly Famitsu issue has been released! Check out full scans of it, as well as full translations, here.
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Kingdom Hearts had made an appearance at D23 Expo Japan in 2015, showing off a new Kingdom Hearts III trailer and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. This event was called the Kingdom Hearts Premium Theater.
UPDATE [Nov. 18, 2017]: The official D23 Expo Japan website has revealed the Kingdom Hearts Fan Event's date and time at D23 Expo Japan 2018. It's a part of the Disney Magical Theater program on Saturday, February 10th, 2018. It's planned to be from 4:00 PM - 5:20 PM JST, which is 11:00 PM - 12:20 AM PST, 1:00 AM - 2:20 AM CST, and 2:00 AM - 3:20 AM EST. Find out more in the full article here.
What do you expect out of the Kingdom Hearts appearance at D23 Expo Japan 2018? Let us know in the comments below!
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Despite series executive producer Shinji Hashimoto's reassurance, some fans have still been questioning the existence of a future "Kingdom Hearts 2.9", especially after the epilogue of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- bearing the name "2.9: The First Volume". But Nomura dispelled that concern stating that the epilogue has already bridged the gap to Kingdom Hearts III. He said:
Nomura also talked about some plot points in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III. He said that Maleficient and Pete are working separately from the (new) Organization XIII without conflicting with them or Sora. His statement is as follows:
In regards to the scene in the Kingdom Hearts III Orchestra trailer where Xemnas asks Sora if he is ready to "call upon the darkness", Nomura stated that that scene "is actually a bit longer" and suggestive to Xemnas and Ansem Seeker of Darkness - Xehanort's Nobody and Heartless - existing at the same time.
In regards to the exclusive scene performed by Kairi's Japanese voice actress for the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour -, where Kairi narrates a letter she wrote about training with Lea, Nomura only said that in Kingdom Hearts III, she is training in a timeless environment to face the battles ahead.
Nomura also stuck with his initial statement about summons returning to Kingdom Hearts III.
He said that they've been avoiding showcasing more information on Attraction Flow as they feared they've shown it "so many times" in the previous trailers (such as the Kingdom Hearts III - E3 2015 trailer), and that the team is interested in showing it off again when when the right opportunity arises.
Nomura also followed up on his previous statement about almost all the worlds in Kingdom Hearts III (apart from Olympus Coliseum) being new worlds.
When discussing the development team's approach to choosing a Disney world for the game, Nomura said they would firstly look at projected fan enjoyment. He said that if two worlds had a similar theme, for example two jungle worlds, or if two levels had similar content, the team would shortlist only one.
Nomura talked again about Athletic Flow being a refined version of Flowmotion after processing fan feedback of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. Athletic Flow is shown off in the Hercules excerpt of the Kingdom Hearts III D23 2017 trailer when Sora jumps from rock to rock.
Nomura stated that the focal point of the Toy Story arc will be at Galaxy Toys.
Lastly, he concluded by saying that the players can expect more variety in the gameplay, and that fighting in first person perspective with the mechs is just one of several engaging gameplay elements in the Toy Story world.
Stay tuned with KH13.com for more upcoming information on Kingdom Hearts III!
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The KH3 development team have been planning for a Toy Story world since Kingdom Hearts II, but had to go through a number of negotiations for it to finally appear on KH3.
The story in the Toy Story world will take place after Toy Story 2, and will follow its canon timeline rather than taking place in a parallel storyline.
At the beginning, Sora is mistaken for another character from a new game being sold.
Riding a robot to fight was an early idea sent at the beginning of the development to the KH3 development team.
Development on the Big Hero 6 world is going well, and the next information on it is on its way.
The number of Disney worlds in KH3 are less than in KH2*, but they will be vast and have more content in them.
The number of cutscenes in Final Fantasy VII Remake is greater than in KH3, and they are taking a long time to develop.
Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura is designing the organization members for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. It was a request that came from his old mentors who used to take a good care of him when he was a newcomer, and he couldn't refuse that request.
There are no unannounced titles that Nomura is directing, but he is involved in many.
*There were 12 Disney worlds (excluding original Kingdom Hearts worlds) in Kingdom Hearts II, implying that the number of Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts III may be less than 12.
Toy Story is the latest world revealed for Kingdom Hearts III through the trailer unveiled last week at the D23 Expo in Anaheim. The Weekly Famitsu feature, which will recap the event and include an interview with Tetsuya Nomura, will be published on July 20 in Japan. Stay tuned with us for updates and translations!
UPDATE 1: Since the summary of the highlights was posted online by Esoteru, more leaks have released from Hachima. Some parts of this have already been covered in the aforementioned highlights summary, but now, we have the information in more detail and new information as well. You can check it out here.
UPDATE 2: The Weekly Famitsu issue has been released! Check out full scans of it, as well as full translations, here.
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This August 3, 2017 issue of Weekly Famitsu will release on July 20, 2017. You can view the teaser scans for the issue below:
UPDATE 1: A summary of the highlights of the Weekly Famitsu segment has been posted online by Esoteru. You can check it out here.
UPDATE 2: Since the summary of the highlights was posted online by Esoteru, more leaks have released from Hachima. Some parts of this have already been covered in the aforementioned highlights summary, but now, we have the information in more detail and new information as well. You can check it out here.
UPDATE 3: The Weekly Famitsu issue has been released! Check out full scans of it, as well as full translations, here.
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Nomura mentions that Kingdom Hearts III will have many options when it comes to attacks, such as Keyblade transformations, magic, and head to head combat. He says that Attraction Flow is another ability in the array of different abilities you can use.
So, in a way, they don't want to force you to use just one kind of attack, but Nomura's sure that we'll enjoy the Attraction Flow system, which has glowy and surprising animations, or, in other words, a visually compelling presentation in which, without the use of many buttons, you'll be able to enjoy a visual spectacle on screen.
Thanks to neil98 for translating!
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Below are some of the highlights of the interview.
Nomura stated that he is confident about releasing Kingdom Hearts III within the given release window. He talked of the planning of the development process, and reiterates why the development of the game had been taking longer than planned.
In fact, as stated previously in a GameSpot interview, there was a decision made by the company to change to an external engine, the Unreal Engine 4. In his interview with DualShockers, he stated that this decision was made after a whole year of development of Kingdom Hearts III. He reiterates that this delay was not due to any problems with the development team, and that he was not part of making the decision to switch engines.
In regards to directing Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII Remake at the same time, Nomura agreed that while it is the biggest challenge, he is not finding it as difficult due to the games being so different from each other.
Nomura admitted to feeling a “little bit of pressure” in managing expectation for Kingdom Hearts III. However, he will not be deviating from his original vision and plans for the game, (“which was ambitious to begin with”) and that there are fewer chances now to make last minute changes and do trial-and-errors.
He cannot comment on the number of worlds in Kingdom Hearts III, but repeats that they will all be most likely revealed leading up to the release.
As with his interview with GameSpot, he also repeats that while nothing is confirmed in regards to DLC in Kingdom Hearts III, he has told the development team to prepare for downloadable content in the future.
He briefly commented on how Keyblade transformation was one of the main transformation assets they focussed on. You can read more about it in this interview he had with Game Informer.
He recapitulated how the development team is allocating more “fun and gameplay” into individual worlds than in previous titles, rather than making many small different worlds.
You can read the full interview here.
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They also talked with Nomura about the various Disney-themed worlds in Kingdom Hearts III. Check out what he had to say on the subject in the full quote below:
He was then asked if they were already planning downloadable content for the game. View his response below:
And further speaking about the worlds, Nomura stated:
What do you think about this interview with Nomura? We'd love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to share them in the comments below!
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You can check out the quote from Tetsuya Nomura below:
Furthermore, Nomura also discussed summons and how it's more pretty compared to previous games, and how they're expressing summons in Kingdom Hearts III. You can check out the quote below.
Nomura also confirms that Keyblade transformations are based on what Keyblade you use, and there are 2 different forms that each one can take. However, Keyblade transformations are not finalized yet and they are subject to change.
You can check out the quote below:
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He is quoted below:
Nomura also talked about the return of Gummi Ships in Kingdom Hearts III. He reiterated what he stated in a previous interview with Game Informer:
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