[UPDATE] Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Q&A Responses & Missing - Link Information

During the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary stage event, a lengthy Q&A session was held between fans and crucial staff members of the series. 

These questions and responses have been shared by event participants, and we have translated them below. Twitter users Aibo and toro_cocoron0te are among the most prominent posters of these questions and answers.

The translation work throughout this article has been done by our team's Ryuji.

Further, we will update this article accordingly when more translations are provided, and more questions are found:

• Q1. Does the finale of Dark Road imply that the Player's heart is now inside Xehanort's? 
  A1: Play Dark Road and you will find out.

• Q2. This is the first time in KH that there is a story branch (the Yozora battle). What is the meaning behind this?
  A2: Since Yozora is so strong, I thought it would be better to put something in the game "if he loses".

• Q3. Was Ephemer aware of the player's true intentions in Union Cross' finale?
  A3: It was a pretty sad farewell, but there's more to Ephemer than meets the eye. A "Missing Link", if you will. All of the questions will be answered once you play Missing Link.

• Q4: When did Naminé and Ansem first meet?
  A4: In Castle Oblivion. 

• Q5: Riku's hair was cut in Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. Who cut it for him?
  A5: Well, you all wanted his hair to be cut, so I answered your prayers...

• Q6: Please tell us about the return of Roxas and Xion.
  A6: There were some doubts on whether to bring them back or not, but everyone had such strong feelings for them, so we decided to bring them back.

More Missing - Link information was also revealed during this Q&A:

About Kingdom Hearts: Missing - Link

• Smartphone game, to be released for Android and iOS
• Promises to have action elements to be as faithful as possible to the main series
• Max of 6 players can play together.
• Screen orientation can be switched between portrait or landscape.
• The story, chronologically speaking, is between Union Cross finale and before Dark Road's start.
• All of the mysteries we've had so far will be explained.
• Keywords: Scala Ad Caleum, Founding Father Ephemer, Keyblade Wielders of a Secret Society
• Closed Beta Test is scheduled for Fall of this year (Details on how to enter are still unknown, however)
• Two systems: A story mode where you progress through quests, and a mode where you walk around (Comparable to Pokémon Go, but with ways to play it even without having to walk around in real life) 
• In this walking mode, you'll collect pieces and strengthen your Keyblades.

Q&A Corner tweeted out by @toro_cocoron0te 

There are however, these two questions: "Several questions regarding Demyx's true identity sparked among multiple attendants. Answer-wise, they just said: "Well, if I answer them NOW, I won't be able to draw their true potential, now will I? There are two people whose identities are not yet known in the Organization, all of which will be revealed in the future." "Human Nobodies are not marked. They're like pure-blooded Heartless, whereas the others are marked at birth."

About Kingdom Hearts IV

• Not much can be said from it. More information will only come at a very later date, way after E3’s period. (We only revealed this much to avoid it being leaked early.)
• All of the footage in the trailer is rendered in real-time by the game engine.
• Trailer’s engine is in Unreal Engine 4, but KH4 will be developed using the new Unreal Engine 5.
• The logo style has changed because we’re done with the Seekers of Darkness saga.
• A new world is currently in development.
• Nomura was uncertain on whether to call it Verum Rex or KH4, but ultimately decided on KH4, due to concern that the name Verum Rex would not connect to Sora.
• The narration on both trailers (Missing - Link and Kingdom Hearts IV) is done by a character you have known for a long time. (@toro_cocoron0te speculates it might be Young Xehanort)

UPDATE( 4/11/2022): Audrey of Aitai Kuji has provided translations for information we did not yet cover, viewable below. This information is sourced from the coverage of Japanese publication, Gamer. 

Quote

—Is the Nobody symbol already there when a Nobody is born? Or does Organization XIII mark them? Do the humanoid Nobody also have marks?

Nomura: The Nobody symbol is already there when a Nobody is born; however, humanoid Nobodies do not have them. You can consider the human Nobody to be akin to a pure-blooded heartless of sorts.

—Do you get new inspiration from Utada Hikaru’s songs?

Nomura: I think about the opening movie after she gives us her songs. In that sense, yes, I do receive inspiration from her music. It’s a necessary piece to our puzzle.

—In KHUx, the Player ends up in Xehanort’s heart, so does that mean that they’re still there?

Nomura: You will find your answer if you play Dark Road and get to the ending. You’re going to play right into my hand (laughs).

—In KH2, Riku handed a keyblade to Kairi, but where did he get that keyblade? Do you plan to write some backstory about that?

Nomura: If I say yes then…if I don’t follow up, it’ll probably be brushed aside so yes, we do intent to follow up with this.

—In KHUx, when Ephemer and Skuld were alone and escaped from the data world, why did a bunch of noise flow through the sky?

Nomura: Since you had already escaped from the data world, there’s not much we had planned that impacted the story regarding that. Since we showed that the data world and the real world were heading to ruin, it was just an effect of that.

—Did someone give Isa the scar on his face? Why does it seem like a mark of a heretic?

Nomura: There is a story regarding Lea, Isa, and the girl they tried to save…Since there is a backstory there, we are thinking of expanding on it. We hope you can look forward to it.

—During the Keyblade War, Master Xehanort could see what lies before him and took over Terra’s body in preparation. However, Young Xehanort should also have that power too. Why was he not able to use that power when he was younger?

Nomura: He just didn’t have the power or rather, he didn’t have enough power yet. In regards to Xehanort, I highly recommend playing Dark Road to see what happens to him. The secret to his hairstyle will also be revealed…

—What’s the difference between Riku and Aqua falling into the darkness versus when others become heartless (and form a Nobody)?

Nomura: There is a difference between falling into the darkness versus losing your heart. Even if your heart falls into darkness, you still are able to retain your heart. However, if you become a heartless, you lose your heart, and that’s the difference.

—It seems that Maleficent had glimpsed what was inside the black box, and I thought the reason would be shown in KHUx, but do you plan to finally reveal this plot point?

Nomura: In the scene with the darkness and Maleficent, instead of making it very clear what was happening, the portrayal was more along the lines of “oh, is it this?” It might be hard to tell for the player, but I think next time we might have her explain why she reacted in that way.

—In KH3, when Xemnas crushes Lea’s keyblade, he said that the keyblade was lost, yet Lea was still able to use a keyblade after that.

Nomura: We had a lot of these kind of running gags. It’s not like it was lost forever, but that the keyblade was just destroyed at that specific location. The meaning we wanted to convey was that even if Axel tried to bring back his keyblade, it would just get destroyed again in that moment with the nuance being it’s futile for him to use it at that time. Xemnas doesn’t have the power to actually permanently destroy keyblades.