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>Coded, Japanese website
Wed 08 Jul 2009 11:35:23 PM EDT
All images are from Square Enix's official website.
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>358/2 Days Ultimania
Wed 08 Jul 2009 11:35:23 PM EDT
All images were scanned by HEARTSTATION.ORG.
How did the concept behind Kingdom Hearts, one of Square Enix's most successful new concepts in recent years, come about? "I don't remember the details, but I was talking with [current Square Enix corporate executive] Shinji Hashimoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi," producer Tetsuya Nomura told Famitsu magazine in an interview. "The topic came up that it'd be nice if we could make a game with Disney. I had been wanting to make an original action RPG by that time, and I had had the basic game system for KH in my mind for a while by that point. I thought it'd be a good opportunity for me, so I raised my hand and told them to let me handle it." The three sides didn't see eye-to-eye on everything, of course. "Square wanted to make a game starring Mickey Mouse, and Disney wanted a Donald Duck title. Meanwhile, I wanted neither," Nomura said with a laugh. "So I built a project plan for KH and began negotiating with both sides. That plan was largely what you see now; a game featuring lots of characters without focusing on any particular one."
People often have the impression that Nomura, given his artistic background, designs games based off story and characters ahead of gameplay. "That's not really the case," he notes. "I thought of the Keyblade in KH from the beginning, and that made 'keys' an integral keyword in the story."
"Actually," he continues, "the first weapon I showed Disney was a chainsaw. It was this chainsaw-like weapon that I had a rough sketch of when I first showed my concepts to Disney. Everyone got this scrunched-up look on their face and nobody said a word in the entire room. Dead silence. And I thought 'No, I guess this wouldn't work, huh?'"
Nowadays Nomura is occupied with the DS's Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, out now in Japan and due for a September release in America. The game's been a remarkable sales success in Japan, with Famitsu and other publications calling the title the furthest the DS has ever been pushed technically. "I have my doubts about how the world is turning toward 'serious' titles [such as Brain Age]," Nomura said. "I don't think that can be the industry's main focus. I'm here to make games, obviously, and that attitude played a major part in [358/2 Days] development. A lot of gamers don't play anything except the really big names, like Dragon Quest and FF. Look at it another way, though, and as long as you can grab their interest, they'll play your game. That's the userbase I want to attract here. You have to, or else you'll never challenge yourself. I'm not here to analyze the game industry or anything. All I believe is that if you make a fun game, people will play it."
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―Is there a connection in 358/2 Days between Birth by Sleep and Coded? [b]Nomura:[/b] At the moment Coded does not have any connections with 358/2 Days, but Birth by Sleep is deeply linked. Birth by Sleep has connections to all the games in the series.
―As for Coded, Chapter 2 will be distributing.
[b]Nomura:[/b] From Chapter 2, the story becomes progressively longer. The story of Chapter 1 had the nuance of a tutorial, but from Chapter 2 item synthesizing increases, and after a stage is cleared, other side quests become available. Since linkage with Avatar Kingdom also becomes full-scale, please look forward to it.
―How is the development status of Birth by Sleep?
[b]Nomura:[/b] It’s doing alright. You could say it’s becoming a confident title. I’ve kept you waiting, but I think some new information will be sent out during summer. Since the plan is to present a trailer showing off the game’s fighting spirit at Tokyo Game Show, look forward to it.
Kingdom Hearts Insider have been busy translating content from the book, and so far, they have translated two interviews and an explanation of the game's Secret Reports. You can read the first interview here, and the other pieces here.
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