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Tai Yasue discusses Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue & Kingdom Hearts III with GamesBeat, KH 2.8 slated for early December


Jake

GamesBeat, a video game-related website, recently interviewed Tai Yasue, co-director of the Kingdom Hearts series. In their interview, they discuss topics such as the combat system in the Kingdom Hearts series, the console exclusivity for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and more. One important quote by Tai Yasue is that he states that Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is slated for an early December release. This means that we shouldn't have to wait too long into the month of December to get our hands on the game.

 

You can check out the full interview below.

 

 

GamesBeat: One of the things I find interesting about Kingdom Hearts is the combat system. It’s gotten a bit flashier and more complex as the series goes along. Is that a challenge when designing the Final Chapter Prologue and Kingdom Hearts III? Is it something that you felt the need to rein in, or did you want to make more complex?

 

Tai Yasue: With our handheld games, we did a lot of experimentation with new systems. With 0.2 and 2.8 we’re coming back to the basics, I guess, but at the same time, Kingdom Hearts 0.2 is sort of a continuation of Birth By Sleep. So we wanted to incorporate a lot of the moves from Birth By Sleep. Aqua’s magical spells, for example, and her style changes. We wanted to change toward an enhanced version of that.

 

The moves look a lot flashier, but at the same time not too difficult. We have the same sort of command menu as the numbered titles, II and III. That’s very similar in 0.2. It’s sort of a mixture between Birth By Sleep and Kingdom Hearts III, both aspects of that coming together.

 

GamesBeat: Kingdom Hearts II came out in America in 2006. Since then, the series has seen a number of games on handhelds, and they’re still important to overarching story. Do these compilations make it easier for players to catch up?

 

Yasue: Definitely. The story is very complex. There’s a lot of threads. Right now we’re sort of depicted the Dark Seeker side, and all the portables as well. We wanted — when we were planning for Kingdom Hearts III, we wanted all of our previous Kingdom Hearts titles in HD so everyone could play them again, and new players could be introduced to the Kingdom Hearts series story.

 

GamesBeat: Kingdom Hearts II.8 was at E3, but Kingdom Hearts III hasn’t made much of an appearance at the show. Is a reason to hold it back from E3?

 

Yasue: It was a difficult decision for us. We want to share as much as possible. We’re excited about Kingdom Hearts III. But II.8 we’re releasing globally at the beginning of December. We wanted to concentrate on that first. We want what’s best for the moment. We’re currently making III and 2.8 at the same time, but we wanted to concentrate on 2.8 right now.

 

GamesBeat: You talked about experiments with the battle system. It’s seen a lot of variety. It had a mana system, like in the first game, and cooldowns in some of the recent games. What works best for Kingdom Hearts?

 

Yasue: Each has its own fun aspects, but I think the magical points system, using MP, is very accessible. That’s worked well. But we don’t want to do the same thing over and over again. In Kingdom Hearts III and 0.2 we wanted to enhance this system for the next generation. Using magical spells, we wanted the environments and enemies to react in a meaningful way. It doesn’t just explode. It lingers on afterward. If you shoot a Blizzard, for example, it creates a place where you can skate on the ground. We wanted the magic to dynamically interact with the environments.

 

GamesBeat: When the series started, the Final Fantasy element was very important — not just in story, but in gameplay. The magic came directly from Final Fantasy, as did the summons. A lot of those aspects seem less prominent now that Kingdom Hearts has developed more of its own identity. Is it fair to say you’re doing more things that are unique to Kingdom Hearts?

 

Yasue: As a whole, the story and the worlds and the gameplay — everything we incorporate, we want aspects of the Disney world throughout. For the combat systems as well, we don’t have that much for 0.2, but having Disney aspects combined with Sora’s aspects is important. Obviously the worlds, for example, we don’t want them all to be Kingdom Hearts original worlds. We want the rich Disney worlds as well as the original worlds.

 

GamesBeat: At this point we’ve had a lot of playable Keyblade users. First Sora, then Riku, and many more. How do you differentiate all these characters from a gameplay standpoint?

 

Yasue: When we first come up with ideas for the characters, we have an easy sort of concept. For 0.2 Aqua, she’s a female character, she’s related to water, and she’s very strong with magic. She’s also very strong and elegant. You have these keywords for each character, enemies and player characters alike, to define them. That’s very much linked up to the story. We want to integrate those keywords into her movement and her abilities. Aqua uses powerful magic in a flashy way because she’s a magical character.

 

GamesBeat: Why focus on Aqua for 0.2?

 

Yasue: For 0.2, that was sort of the untold story that we hadn’t shown our users yet. At the end of Birth By Sleep, she was trapped in the dark world. We felt we had to explain her story. When you have a good story, it makes you care about each character. Sora’s adventure is intertwined with Aqua’s story as well. We wanted to give players a reason to care about Aqua and her adventure. That way, when you play Kingdom Hearts III, you understand Aqua’s standpoint, and that makes Sora’s experience richer as well.

 

GamesBeat: With Kingdom Hearts III tying up all these plot threads and being the last installment in this series of Kingdom Hearts, would you say there’s a lot of pressure on that game specifically?

 

Yasue: Definitely. There’s a lot of strings and a lot of strands in the previous Kingdom Hearts. They all come together. Right now we’re depicting the Dark Seeker saga, with Xehanort and his group that Sora’s battling. Them and the other Keyblade masters will have a sort of showdown. And so I think all the — everything is going to come together at the conclusion of the Dark Seeker saga in part III.

 

GamesBeat: A lot of people want to know what’s the next Disney thing for Kingdom Hearts III. Has it been stressful to keep so many secrets about development?

 

Yasue: Like I said about not showing much of Kingdom Hearts III at this time, there’s always a right time for everything. We want each announcement to be special. We want to exceed our fans’ expectations and we want to do it in a good way. We want to plan things out, the way we announce things. It’s not that stressful, at least for me.

 

GamesBeat: Do you think there’s a chance that I.5, II.5, and 2.8 could ever be bundled together into one package?

 

Yasue: We haven’t really decided on bundles or how we’ll set up things for how we’ll sell those. No decision or announcement has been made.

 

GamesBeat: 2.8, is that just PlayStation 4, or is it also Xbox One?

 

Yasue: It’s PlayStation 4 only.

 

GamesBeat: But Kingdom Hearts III is multiplatform.

 

Yasue: Right.

 

GamesBeat: Is there any fear of Xbox One owners feeling left out?

 

Yasue: Kingdom Hearts III is very much — it’s a game that will be better if you understand all the other stories. But at the same time, you can enjoy it without following the whole arc. As you know, all the Kingdom Hearts stories have a conclusion at the end of each Disney world. You can still enjoy that as well. For the whole arc, it might help to understand, but there’s still a lot of fun in each Disney world.

 

GamesBeat: What would you say makes up the Kingdom Hearts fanbase? Is it Square Enix fans, or Disney fans, or this unique combination of the two?

 

Yasue: We have great fans. They’re very passionate, very warm, very supportive. They’re very special. For me, I think they’re the reason why we’re doing this, more than anything. Compared to other games — it’s hard to compare. But I feel they’re warmer, nicer on the whole. That’s my honest opinion. They seem a lot nicer than some others.

 

GamesBeat: They’ve got a bit of Disney in them.

 

Yasue: I guess! They’re wonderful. Today I talked to a lot of people, and they’ve been very supportive

 

What was your favorite part of the interview? Let us know in the comments below!

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Posted (edited)

Date of Interview: JULY 16, 2016 (6:00AM)

 

Yup, this is definitely a new interview. Glad that they highlighted the singular release of Kingdom Hearts III on Xbox One.

Edited by Guest

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That was nice! Thanks for sharing this interview :D

No problem thats the first time I've found an interview before anybody else.

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GamesBeat, a video game-related website, recently interviewed Tai Yasue, co-director of the Kingdom Hearts series. In their interview, they discuss topics such as the combat system in the Kingdom Hearts series, the console exclusivity for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and more. One important quote by Tai Yasue is that he states that Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is slated for an early December release. This means that we shouldn't have to wait too long into the month of December to get our hands on the game. 
 
You can check out the full interview below.

 

 

 

GamesBeat: One of the things I find interesting about Kingdom Hearts is the combat system. It’s gotten a bit flashier and more complex as the series goes along. Is that a challenge when designing the Final Chapter Prologue and Kingdom Hearts III? Is it something that you felt the need to rein in, or did you want to make more complex?

 
Tai Yasue: With our handheld games, we did a lot of experimentation with new systems. With 0.2 and 2.8 we’re coming back to the basics, I guess, but at the same time, Kingdom Hearts 0.2 is sort of a continuation of Birth By Sleep. So we wanted to incorporate a lot of the moves from Birth By Sleep. Aqua’s magical spells, for example, and her style changes. We wanted to change toward an enhanced version of that.
 
The moves look a lot flashier, but at the same time not too difficult. We have the same sort of command menu as the numbered titles, II and III. That’s very similar in 0.2. It’s sort of a mixture between Birth By Sleep and Kingdom Hearts III, both aspects of that coming together.
 
GamesBeat: Kingdom Hearts II came out in America in 2006. Since then, the series has seen a number of games on handhelds, and they’re still important to overarching story. Do these compilations make it easier for players to catch up?
 
Yasue: Definitely. The story is very complex. There’s a lot of threads. Right now we’re sort of depicted the Dark Seeker side, and all the portables as well. We wanted — when we were planning for Kingdom Hearts III, we wanted all of our previous Kingdom Hearts titles in HD so everyone could play them again, and new players could be introduced to the Kingdom Hearts series story.
 
GamesBeat: Kingdom Hearts II.8 was at E3, but Kingdom Hearts III hasn’t made much of an appearance at the show. Is a reason to hold it back from E3?
 
Yasue: It was a difficult decision for us. We want to share as much as possible. We’re excited about Kingdom Hearts III. But II.8 we’re releasing globally at the beginning of December. We wanted to concentrate on that first. We want what’s best for the moment. We’re currently making III and 2.8 at the same time, but we wanted to concentrate on 2.8 right now.
 
GamesBeat: You talked about experiments with the battle system. It’s seen a lot of variety. It had a mana system, like in the first game, and cooldowns in some of the recent games. What works best for Kingdom Hearts?
 
Yasue: Each has its own fun aspects, but I think the magical points system, using MP, is very accessible. That’s worked well. But we don’t want to do the same thing over and over again. In Kingdom Hearts III and 0.2 we wanted to enhance this system for the next generation. Using magical spells, we wanted the environments and enemies to react in a meaningful way. It doesn’t just explode. It lingers on afterward. If you shoot a Blizzard, for example, it creates a place where you can skate on the ground. We wanted the magic to dynamically interact with the environments.
 
GamesBeat: When the series started, the Final Fantasy element was very important — not just in story, but in gameplay. The magic came directly from Final Fantasy, as did the summons. A lot of those aspects seem less prominent now that Kingdom Hearts has developed more of its own identity. Is it fair to say you’re doing more things that are unique to Kingdom Hearts?
 
Yasue: As a whole, the story and the worlds and the gameplay — everything we incorporate, we want aspects of the Disney world throughout. For the combat systems as well, we don’t have that much for 0.2, but having Disney aspects combined with Sora’s aspects is important. Obviously the worlds, for example, we don’t want them all to be Kingdom Hearts original worlds. We want the rich Disney worlds as well as the original worlds.
 
GamesBeat: At this point we’ve had a lot of playable Keyblade users. First Sora, then Riku, and many more. How do you differentiate all these characters from a gameplay standpoint?
 
Yasue: When we first come up with ideas for the characters, we have an easy sort of concept. For 0.2 Aqua, she’s a female character, she’s related to water, and she’s very strong with magic. She’s also very strong and elegant. You have these keywords for each character, enemies and player characters alike, to define them. That’s very much linked up to the story. We want to integrate those keywords into her movement and her abilities. Aqua uses powerful magic in a flashy way because she’s a magical character.
 
GamesBeat: Why focus on Aqua for 0.2?
 
Yasue: For 0.2, that was sort of the untold story that we hadn’t shown our users yet. At the end of Birth By Sleep, she was trapped in the dark world. We felt we had to explain her story. When you have a good story, it makes you care about each character. Sora’s adventure is intertwined with Aqua’s story as well. We wanted to give players a reason to care about Aqua and her adventure. That way, when you play Kingdom Hearts III, you understand Aqua’s standpoint, and that makes Sora’s experience richer as well.
 
GamesBeat: With Kingdom Hearts III tying up all these plot threads and being the last installment in this series of Kingdom Hearts, would you say there’s a lot of pressure on that game specifically?
 
Yasue: Definitely. There’s a lot of strings and a lot of strands in the previous Kingdom Hearts. They all come together. Right now we’re depicting the Dark Seeker saga, with Xehanort and his group that Sora’s battling. Them and the other Keyblade masters will have a sort of showdown. And so I think all the — everything is going to come together at the conclusion of the Dark Seeker saga in part III.
 
GamesBeat: A lot of people want to know what’s the next Disney thing for Kingdom Hearts III. Has it been stressful to keep so many secrets about development?
 
Yasue: Like I said about not showing much of Kingdom Hearts III at this time, there’s always a right time for everything. We want each announcement to be special. We want to exceed our fans’ expectations and we want to do it in a good way. We want to plan things out, the way we announce things. It’s not that stressful, at least for me.
 
GamesBeat: Do you think there’s a chance that I.5, II.5, and 2.8 could ever be bundled together into one package?
 
Yasue: We haven’t really decided on bundles or how we’ll set up things for how we’ll sell those. No decision or announcement has been made.
 
GamesBeat: 2.8, is that just PlayStation 4, or is it also Xbox One?
 
Yasue: It’s PlayStation 4 only.
 
GamesBeat: But Kingdom Hearts III is multiplatform.
 
Yasue: Right.
 
GamesBeat: Is there any fear of Xbox One owners feeling left out?
 
Yasue: Kingdom Hearts III is very much — it’s a game that will be better if you understand all the other stories. But at the same time, you can enjoy it without following the whole arc. As you know, all the Kingdom Hearts stories have a conclusion at the end of each Disney world. You can still enjoy that as well. For the whole arc, it might help to understand, but there’s still a lot of fun in each Disney world.
 
GamesBeat: What would you say makes up the Kingdom Hearts fanbase? Is it Square Enix fans, or Disney fans, or this unique combination of the two?
 
Yasue: We have great fans. They’re very passionate, very warm, very supportive. They’re very special. For me, I think they’re the reason why we’re doing this, more than anything. Compared to other games — it’s hard to compare. But I feel they’re warmer, nicer on the whole. That’s my honest opinion. They seem a lot nicer than some others.
 
GamesBeat: They’ve got a bit of Disney in them.
 
Yasue: I guess! They’re wonderful. Today I talked to a lot of people, and they’ve been very supportive

 

What was your favorite part of the interview? Let us know in the comments below!


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I really do hope we get it early. I don't this whole special moment thing for their reveals though?

 

They dont want the internet to be over saturated with content and reveals, especially with another game coming out, so much that some of them lose their luster in comparison to others.  Gives us one thing to focus on until the next thing.

 

For example, if they released everything we know so far at once, the Big Hero 6 world may be overshadowed by how cool the Rock Titan fight looked with the roller coaster.  This way we were able to focus on each of them separately and each reveal has its own special moment in the light

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I like how he still dodged certain questions. Like that KH3 on XBone question, he didn't say anything that really addressed that, other than "Yeah it's better to be caught up on all of the story, but it's also fun to enjoy on it's own." This is the only thing I have a problem with, they're making such a big deal over making sure the series is available for more people to get caught up to enjoy KH3 better...yet they show almost no interest in doing that for Xbox users. It really makes the action of having KH3 on the Xbox One at all completely pointless. Regardless of how fun it is on it's own, players will have NO context unless they own Playstation or other sytsems (but if they do then why bother getting it for XBone if you have a PS4 to play 2.8 on?). How can they get invested in something that they know almost nothing about? It feels more like they just put it on the XBone to increase future sales, but I feel like the PS4 version is just going to outsell the XBone version because of the higher amount of games available on Sony systems and the larger group of fans or newcomers who have had more exposure to the series before that point. Users are really being left out here, I don't understand why they aren't doing anything to address that. Hell, Yasue doesn't even acknowledge those users directly. I'm not an Xbox user and it's looking less and less likely that I ever will be, but I still care for any potential user who might even be a tiny bit interested in playing KH only to be disappointed that they don't have access to the games with the only system they can reasonably afford right now. If they ever do any kind of bundle for the remasters in the future, they had BETTER work in an Xbox version of all of those, cause these users deserve at least something damnit.

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I like how he still dodged certain questions. Like that KH3 on XBone question, he didn't say anything that really addressed that, other than "Yeah it's better to be caught up on all of the story, but it's also fun to enjoy on it's own." This is the only thing I have a problem with, they're making such a big deal over making sure the series is available for more people to get caught up to enjoy KH3 better...yet they show almost no interest in doing that for Xbox users. It really makes the action of having KH3 on the Xbox One at all completely pointless. Regardless of how fun it is on it's own, players will have NO context unless they own Playstation or other sytsems (but if they do then why bother getting it for XBone if you have a PS4 to play 2.8 on?). How can they get invested in something that they know almost nothing about? It feels more like they just put it on the XBone to increase future sales, but I feel like the PS4 version is just going to outsell the XBone version because of the higher amount of games available on Sony systems and the larger group of fans or newcomers who have had more exposure to the series before that point. Users are really being left out here, I don't understand why they aren't doing anything to address that. Hell, Yasue doesn't even acknowledge those users directly. I'm not an Xbox user and it's looking less and less likely that I ever will be, but I still care for any potential user who might even be a tiny bit interested in playing KH only to be disappointed that they don't have access to the games with the only system they can reasonably afford right now. If they ever do any kind of bundle for the remasters in the future, they had BETTER work in an Xbox version of all of those, cause these users deserve at least something damnit.

I think that KH3 is on the Xbox One because the higher ups at Square Enix wanted their major releases to be multi-platform. The game was announced before the launch of both platforms, with the PS4 now the out and out clear frontrunner why bother wasting time developing 2.8 for the Xbox One as well? So players don't get confused? The fanbase is already crying that they are confused no matter how much SE gives them remasters of the older titles. Sure it sucks for those who game on the Xbox platform, but when you think of Kingdom Hearts you don't think of Xbox. New user or not.

You look at any of the big (Japanese) games coming from Square Enix and only Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III are heading to the Xbox One. I wouldn't say Yasue dodged the question, but rather answered it the best he could as there are no announcements towards the series being on the Xbox. 2.8 aside, the effort that would have to go into the button graphics alone in 1.5 and 2.5 make it a waste of time to port to Xbox if people want to see KH3 any time soon.

 

In short, I think Nomura and his team aren't really fussed about those that play on Xbox. Likewise for Square Enix, they'll no doubt have far higher sale projections for the PS4 version. Unfortunately for those on Xbox, that's just the way it is...

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Note: Quote is suppose to be above what Rob said. lol
 
Rob: Such savagery.
 
Seriously, it's been explained many times for years since 1.5 to 2.8. After Type-0 HD, Hashimoto and Nomura went on record saying where the future of their Japanese games are heading and what console they want gamers to buy. The answer has been in our face without SE needing to answer any questions. Three Japanese games from SE on Xbox One this gen, and the last being announced in 2014, speaks for itself. Not surprising as Japanese games on Xbox have always been a problem, hence the inconsistent releases. You want KH3? buy the Xbox One or PS4. You want to experience the whole KH series? Buy the PS console(s) and Nintendo handhelds...before those handheld games are re-released on PS consoles. Just saiyan.

 

 

GamesBeat: 2.8, is that just PlayStation 4, or is it also Xbox One?
 
Yasue: It’s PlayStation 4 only.
 
GamesBeat: But Kingdom Hearts III is multiplatform.
 
Yasue: Right.

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I wish they has asked about the posibility of a downloadable public demo, even as unlikely as it is. I'd be fine with just what they had at E3, small segments of Sora, Riku and Aqua gameplay.

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Thanks for this article, Jake, it was awesome! :D

 

That was a pretty good interview!  What I'm most excited about it is that we've been revealed that 2.8 is to come out in early December, and I think that's most likely within the first two weeks! Gahh, I can't wait, the hype is real!!! :D

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