TheDanMan

Saw this back in Summer 2014 on KHI. It's definitely possible; pretty solid.

2017. II.8 and FFXV come out in 2016; they're occupied then and wouldn't want to risk cannibalizing sales.

Lol at the hexagonal Goofy shield. And Mickey looks pretty freaky.

Interesting. Very well could be the case. Hype is rising.

Roxas. He's my favourite character and it would meen potential spoilers.

Glad that you think a couple hours of gameplay and a video that will be uploaded to YT almost immediately is worth $60. It's a crap deal; even if you take 3D into account, (a) most of us here have played it, (b) even if there is new content in it, it won't be very much, and © 1.5 and 2.5 sold with a lot more content at an even lower price point. Why are people hyped for this, again?

I think the "Playstation love" is more "II.8 isn't going to sell all that well; why bother porting?"

...You do know the game is being developed on PC and then ported to both consoles, as most games are? Both the Xbox One and PS4 have hardware architecture nearly identical to PCs, meaning that porting between the three is much easier than before. The Xbox One release is as much of a port as the PS4 release. I know I'm repeating myself, but working off of what was said above, very few resources are spent on porting between PS4, Xbox One, and PC, meaning that they don't need too much of a return for the Xbox One version to earn them money and be a success. Cancelling the Xbox One port, as a previous poster suggested, wouldn't save on development time. The Xbox One version is happening. People (like me) will buy it. It will make Square money due to lower than ever porting costs. End of story. ...Wow. Just... wow. Entitlement, much?

1. Not that I disagree with you, but it's an overarching (and circular) issue. Japanese companies were biased against it, resulting in fans of Japanese games not buying it. Whenever a Japanese publisher does release a game on it, it doesn't sell that well because the initial bias crippled the chances of high sales on the console line by pushing the fanbase away from it. 2. Or it's because big name + cheaper than ever ports = money. Why would they "regret" a decision that would get them money? They're a business. As long as the port recoups costs and then some, it's worth it. 4. The touch screen is suplementary; outside of the map on the bottom screen, it's just used for Reality Shifts and Dream Eaters. None of it seems like it would be hard to re-map to use a conventional controller. Heck, my bet's on them having done that for the PS4 version. Anyway, to answer the main question: 2.5 didn't sell all that well. II.8 has even less content at a higher price-point. The most likely reason it's not on anything else is because Square doesn't think it's going to do super well on PS4 in the first place.

Isn't the RoD an entire, well, realm in iteslf? I'd imagine it's vast, as a representation of all the Darkness in the worlds. They easily could have just never met eachother. Alternatively, she needed to stay for some important reason that Mickey withheld until now.

Though most unlikely unofficial, neat nontheless. Taking the Rebirth theory into account, this may have been intentional.

Does 3D even need touch controls? With a little bit of effort reality shifts and the dream eater related stuff could be made to use conventional controls. Or their mainline games are big sellers in general, and since porting costs are lower than ever, they're guaranteed to make at least a bit of money off of them. As for your examples, Dragon Quest is very niche outside of Japan (and we should all know Japan's bias for domestic companies), and Final Fantasy 7 is currently ambigous; "First on Playstation" implies porting sometime after the initial release. As I said in a similiar thread, the decision to forgo an Xbox One port makes little sense: KH3 is releasing on it, so releasing this on it would help grow the brand on Xbox and pretty much guarantee more KH3 sales. The only reason I can think that isn't "lol Japanese domestic company bias" is that the projected numbers are so low they don't think a port would be able to recoup the costs (and, considering how 2.5 was far from a best seller, this may be the reason). I still think any mainline releases from here on will be multi-platform, due to reasons stated above.

While I would be lying if I say I didn't prefer Riku over Sora, what else is there that can be done with him to make a fulfilling gameplay or character arc? He's going with Mickey to the RoD to find Aqua, but that is just one part of a much larger picture. Every character should have their moment in the sun, but the gameplay spotlight should stay on Sora; I don't have much faith that he would be developed much if the perspective keeps bouncing around between character. Keep in mind, I'm not saying I wouldn't want Riku to be playable; what I am saying is that Riku is the much more believable and developed of the two, and having him hog the main spotlight from Sora when Sora needs every bit of fleshing out and development he can get isn't the smartest idea.

As much as I'd like this, Riku got his time in the sun in 3D. I'd prefer a Sora-centered story that focuses on developing him, instead of breaks to other characters at the expense of his development. I'd like both, yes, but in an either-or situation, I'd prefer the former. Anyway, my biggest hope is that the game will offer closure to all major plotlines and -through doing so- guarantee a fresh start for the next game in the franchise.

I'd say the combat was much better and expanded upon in the Osaka games. Though it could have used some polish, it changed things up and made magic much more useful. Though the command deck will be missed, it's nice to see flowmation back, albeit slightly toned down. (Also, your two statements are exagerations.) But anyway, my second biggest fear is as Master Eraqus said: Star Wars and Marvel getting in. What's my biggest? That the game won't offer closure and leave a major plotline open.

Honestly, I feel like a Kingdom Hearts tile post-3 should distance itself as much as possible from the other games. Though the series has passed 20 million sales, those 20 million are pretty front-loaded; the side games and lore have scared people off. The next game after KH3 needs minimal connections to the Xehanort Saga; it should feel new and fresh, and not have plot elements from the previous games carried over. To do this, KH3 must offer closure and answer all the big questions. I'm also not a big fan that Sora will probably return. I'm not asking for a full re-boot, but I think he's had his time in the sun; unless KHIII is able to develope him as a character, he's going to end up as Ash Ketchum. As for the main question, I'd say no; we've had the majority of Kingdom Hearts games without them, and it's not like they've ever really been developed. As with Sora, unless they start getting it in KH3, I don't want them back in a future title.

I actually didn't find it that hard. Really, once you've grinded for dark roll in Flick-Rush, everything Riku has to do becomes a lot easier.

I'm really not sure. It would certainly be interesting to see how she's changed, what with her relative inexperience when BBS was recorded.

How was it "delusional" to think that a 2016 release was unfeasible? FFXV could be a summer release, putting KH3 as a holiday one. It's the sudden announcement of II.8: Final Chapter Prologue that all of sudden deconfirms a 2016 release.

The game doesn't have to sell super well. All it has to do is break even, and then some. Porting costs are low enough that it wouldn't be too hard. Also, hey! Kingdom Hearts fan here who played 3D and happened to get a working PS3 from a garage sale, and owns an Xbox One instead of a PS4.

Yeah. Most of us here already own 3D, and X:BC will inevitably be uploaded to youtube within a week of release. The "playable episode" pretty much confirms it's our Ground Zeroes; not that I'm still a bit envious I won't be able to play it, but it's probably going to have, what, an hour or two of gameplay? $60 is definitely overcharging things; but what can I say, it's Square.

Not the happiest about II.8: Final Chapter Prologue. Tryhard naming + we forgot Xbox = not negligible amounts of sodium on my part.

A fair few people were hoping KHIII would have a late 2016 release; II.8 pretty much deconfirms that.

But here's the thing that doesn't quite make sense: KHIII is already coming to Xbox One and they're putting this out on PS4. What with porting costs being lower than ever, why wouldn't they make this multi-platform? Even if it just breaks even, it still grows the brand on Xbox and pretty much guarantess more KHIII sales there. They're releasing FFXV on it, and released Type-0 HD as well. Yes, the Xbox One version had much lower sales numbers, but did it break even? Plus, it grew the brand on Xbox and netted in a few people who would buy FFXV on it. Unless they lost money with the Xbox One version of Type-0, this doesn't make sense.