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1UP: Nearly every element of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance deals with the concept of dreams in some way. How did this theme influence the composition of music in the game? YOKO SHIMOMURA: I kept in mind the concepts of "dream" and "night." Many times, I came up with musical phrases that were sort of fun, out of the ordinary, and fluffy.
1UP: The music in the Disney sections of KH3D evoke the spirit of their sources so well, particularly Tron: Legacy and Hunchback of Notre Dame, without using music from the films. How do you go about capturing the essence of those worlds through the use of original compositions?
YS: Thank you. This is actually a tradition that I've kept since the first Kingdom Hearts. First, I get information on words that describe the stage (for example, it was "night" or "amusement park" this time). I also look at the artwork of the stage, and repeatedly watch footage (just small clips) of Sora moving around in that area. Then, I get my imagination going as I picture the original film in my mind. The important thing is not to watch the original films during the creative process. If it was a title that I've previously seen, I depend on my memory; if it was something I've never watched, I will watch it and wait for a while before starting the creative process. If I worked at the same time as watching the film, or immediately after watching it, then there's a possibility that the score will just be an imitation.
1UP: Dearly Beloved is a theme that became iconic after KH1, and yet it still sounds fresh in each subsequent installment. Please explain the process of going back to a theme and reimagining it for each new chapter in the series.
YS: There are times when I can say "Yes, I'll go with this feel" right after coming on board a project, and times when I just have to continuously wait until I come up with how I would like to proceed. Actually, I always try not to think too hard when coming up with a theme.
1UP: Are you forced to think a bit differently when composing music for a handheld title as opposed to a console game? How is the creative process in an entirely new project (such as Parasite Eve) different from one that is built upon an already existing foundation (like KH or Super Mario RPG)?
YS: Since KH3D used prerecorded music, it's actually a better sound source than the first and second Kingdom Hearts games on the console. (The first and second installments did not use prerecorded music, but used internal sound sources controlled by MML [Music Macro Language: a programming language that lets the console generate sound using its internal sound sources].) In the actual process, there are additional measures you can take to accommodate for speakers on a handheld device, such as making the bass come out stronger, or beefing up the low tones, but the synthesizer operator is very good, and so I don't have to worry about all of that and create my music freely.
In terms of entirely new vs. building upon an already existing foundation, the creative process is definitely different. If there is an existing foundation to a song, first and foremost I make sure to not disturb its world, and I try to lean towards that world as I get my imagination going. If it's entirely new, I try to come up with something a little crazy and explore the range and possibilities. It's as if I go out the furthest first, then come back in and refine my work by cutting into it from many different angles. But in either case, the process of "getting closer to the essence of the work itself" is the same.
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The demo is split into two sections, the "Tutorial" and the main section. On the menu screen, you have the choice of which you would like to play. "Tutorial" lets you play through the very part of the game on Destiny Islands (as Sora), where you are on a raft, shown the controls of the game, and have a short boss battle with Ursula, ending with some more tutorials in Traverse Town. You can see a recording of the tutorial below, thanks to Limen123 from KH13.
The main part of the demo takes part in Traverse Town, again, playing as Sora. When you arrive in Traverse Town, you are treated to a cutscene between Sora and Neku. After that, you can explore Traverse Town and fight Dream Eaters, with the demo ending after you beat the Dream Eater boss in the world. You can see a recording of the main part of the demo below, thanks to ELTheGeek.
Here is the cutscene from the demo, thanks to Blike from KH13:
After you complete the demo, you are treated to one of many random "thank you for playing" screens, featuring Meow Wow. Awesome! Make sure you play through the demo multiple times in order to see each one.
Lastly, since we've received so many pieces of news today, we wanted to make sure that you check out each of the articles below (all of which were posted in the last day).
- Kingdom Hearts to appear at Japan Expo celebrating 10th Anniversary
- European version of Kingdom Hearts 3D to contain AR cards
- New "Flowmotion" Kingdom Hearts 3D trailer from Square Enix
- Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary soundtrack announced
- Kingdom Hearts 3D demo now available on Nintendo eShop
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Square Enix and Nintendo Conference: “10th Anniversary of Kingdom Hearts” - Shinji Hashimoto, executive producer, and Yoko Shimomura, composer of the series, will celebrate ten years of the Kingdom Hearts series on Saturday, July 7 at 14:00 on the Video Games stage. Both will then be at a signing session in the Nintendo booth at 16:30. Update: Square Enix France have released a graphic to advertise the upcoming event. You can see this below.
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Update: As of yesterday, Amazon.de have updated with a pre-order page for Kingdom Hearts 3D in Germany. This also confirms the inclusion of the exclusive AR cards. Thanks to JayC from KH13 for the find.
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Update 1: The demo is also now available on the Nintendo eShop in both Europe and Australia. This version of the demo only allows for 15 uses, rather than the 30 uses which are possible in the North American version. Apart from this small difference, everything is the same.
Update 2: We have uploaded the demo announcement video from Nintendo Direct, in HD 720p. You can watch this below, or view and download it from our video archive.
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Update: Unfortunately Kingdom Hearts 3D did not win the award. The list of award winners are here.
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RPGSite: How did the decision come about to make this game for the Nintendo 3DS?
Yasue: There were a lot of demonstrations in Osaka, Tokyo with the 3DS and we really liked the hardware. It’s the 10th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts so we wanted to refresh everyone’s memory and bridge that to the future of Kingdom Hearts so I guess those are two reasons we’re excited about the handheld and also because we wanted to bridge the past and the future using this title.
RPGSite: Do you have an over-arching narration with Sora and Riku’s story—do you have this sort of plan where you’re going next with the franchise?
Yasue: Franchise-wise it’s all in Nomura’s head. We just hear from him so it’s surprising. For KH3D we had the plot and scenario from Nomura and we came up with the gameplay ideas in Osaka.
RPGSite: Will there be any changes between the Japanese and English versions of the game?
Yasue: Not really this time, there are no major changes actually between the English and Japanese version.
RPGSite: Do you think KH3D is a good entry for newcomers to the franchise?
Yasue: For KH3D we have a Memento system that sort of refreshes everyone’s knowledge of Kingdom Hearts. After cutscenes you get these mementos which you can open up in the campaign and they tell you the story of Kingdom Hearts, II and Birth by Sleep using graphics and text.
So by playing this you can refresh your memory or if you don’t know anything about Kingdom Hearts you can learn about it in this way. Obviously if you’re not that interested you can just play the game and play each Disney world as its own story, so you could enjoy that by itself as well.
RPGSite: When Kingdom Hearts first started, it was on the PlayStation 2 and since then it’s migrated to the DS and now 3DS so now the releases are about equal across both Sony and Nintendo platforms, do you feel that the series is a better fit on any certain platform’s audience?
Yasue: When we make each Kingdom Hearts we have new ideas for each of them and we make it for the hardware in a way. For 3D, the 3DS was the best for us. With Birth by Sleep we made it for the PSP so I think it really fit.
The DS gave us nice views of the map and with the PSP we had nice views with the bigger screen. For the 3DS wanted to use the touch screen in a unique sort of way and we did that with the reality shift. For each world you get this reality shift ability.
For example if you go to the Three Musketeers world you have to touch the screen for this comic book strip and by touching it you can damage enemies.
In Fantasia you can use the touch screen to create music, so we’re really excited about that.
RPGSite: What brought about enhancements to the combat system with the Dream Eaters and Flow Motion systems?
Yasue: With Flow Motion, we really wanted to take Kingdom Hearts to the next level. We wanted to make it for the handheld but it was if we wanted to make it for a [home] console in a way. We wanted it to be more dynamic and speed-based—you can kick walls, slide down ramps and everything. I think KH from now on will follow in that sort of direction. More dynamics and maps wider, bigger, taller—searchable maps. There’s a lot of hidden places for treasure boxes and whatnot.
For the Dream Eaters, we’ve never done gameplay where you can have your own pet, so we wanted players to feel really attached to their own spirit creature. You can chose your own creature and pet it using the touch screen and so we wanted to introduce that kind of gameplay as well.
RPGSite: With the 3DS supporting digital downloads including downloadable content, will Kingdom Hearts 3D see any DLC content released?
Yasue: No, really we’re not planning anything just yet.
RPGSite: Has Disney had any input on the new worlds that have been added this time around?
Yasue: Actually we come up with ideas first. What we do is come up with the concept paper and decide what we really want to do with each world. There’s a reason for each world coming into being such as the Hunchback of Notre Dame—there was a lot of user input from players who wanted that Disney world incorporated so put it in because of that.
For Fantasia we wanted a musical stage and for Tron Legacy we wanted to challenge what the 3DS could do in terms of making something console-like with the realistic characters. Each world has its own meaning and characteristics. The gameplay is really varied in each world and interesting
RPGSite: Are there any Disney worlds you would like to see in the series that haven’t made it in yet?
Yasue: Personally, and this isn’t an announcement but I really want to make a Pixar world like Toy Story. I think a lot of users share that feeling. I think they have a lot of fun ideas and I would love to work with the Pixar people in coming up with a new world.
RPGSite: The World Ends With You characters were introduced in KH3D… was that due to their popularity as a cult DS game?
Yasue: Nomura came up with the idea and wanted it incorporated. I think a lot of the characters have their own characteristics and we thought that would be interesting to mix with Traverse Town. This time we changed a lot of the features of Traverse Town and it sort of resembles Shibuya—a lot of the buildings, the graffiti. Mixing Traverse Town with TWEWY is something new and I think you’ll find it really fresh when you play it.
RPGSite: Do you have any other plans to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Kingdom Hearts?
Yasue: Kingdom Hearts 3D basically is the 10th anniversary presentation game.
RPGSite: Nomura-san recently shared his desire to return the series to consoles. Could you comment on that?
Yasue: I really can’t, but what I can say is that Kingdom Hearts 3D is directly connected to Kingdom Hearts 3 so if you play it, you’ll get a rough idea of the future in the secret movie for example. A lot of the gameplay, as I mentioned earlier will be taken to those future games as well.
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