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Previously, two Q&As were released on the Japanese Twitter of Square Enix, dubbed the 7 Questions of Light and 13 Questions of Darkness. We already covered them with translations previously, which you can view here and here. Today, Square Enix released an official translation of the two Q&As! WARNING: The following interviews and Q&As contain spoilers about Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind. Reader discretion is advised. View full article

Since Tai Yasue, the co-director of the Kingdom Hearts series, is going to the Game Developers Conference, what are you hoping to hear from him?

Kingdom Hearts III Co-Director Tai Yasue will be making an appearance at the 2019 Game Developers Conference in San Fransico, California. Yasue will be talking a bit about the game while at the event. The conference runs from March 18th to March 22nd. Be sure to keep up with KH13.com for the latest updates. View full article

IGN have recently published a feature and a video on talking with members of the Kingdom Hearts III development team about working with Disney in this project. Toru Yamazaki (art director), Kayoko Yajima (lead facial animator), Tai Yasue (co-director), Koji Inoue and Munenori Shinagawa (animation directors), and Tetsuya Nomura (series director) talked about the rewards and challenges working with Disney and Pixar for the game. The video also shows the Square Enix developers show off some of the work they used for the development. (For those who haven't player or finished Kingdom Hearts III yet, be aware that the video contains some cutscene and gameplay footage from the game.) In the video, Yamazaki explained how in previous titles they would recreate the characters from scratch based off the properties, whereas for Kingdom Hearts III they asked Disney to share their resources with them. Disney have provided the original polygon shapes of characters with guidelines on how to add more detail, such as hair and clothes) on them. However, things didn't always go as planned as those resources were not originally made to be used in a video game. For example, models' joints weren't defined and so had to be added manually and physics-enabled objects like capes needed to be particularly revisited. Of course, making sure your game is as accurate to the film as possible means there needed to be lots of things to be approved over time. Both Disney and Square wanted to make sure that the team were doing an incredible job at recreating their magic and sometimes were there approving things every step of the way. It seemed that every single detail in the process had to get approved before even moving on to the next scene, and any change that they had made needed to be explained. Disney and Pixar not only required changes after things were made; Square needed their approval at almost every stage from concept to finished product. According to Yasue, cutscenes were the most inspected element in the game perhaps due to portraying the source material most intimately. With things needing to be approved almost every minute, other things they had an easier chance with. As it turns out, the crazier the change to the original property the more likely it had a chance of being approved. This is because changing the character so it is not the same but still recognizable, Disney didn't make a fuss due to perceiving it as a new character altogether. For gameplay, they team brainstormed ideas that they thought Disney would be likely to approve for its world and characters before letting them see a walkthrough and accepting comments. Painstakingly, every single gameplay action was scrutinized to the smallest detail. However, Disney's role was not only to correct, but to collaborate as well as things had to have some sort of continuity. For instance, Inoue mentioned that when Square approached Disney with a story about a Wreck-It Ralph summon that pounds the ground, Disney recalled a scene from the movie where he did exactly that. Inoue also talked about how pleased Pixar animators were to see their IPs, such as Monsters, Inc., recreated with technology superior to what they had when those movies were first made. Along with making the Disney experience in Kingdom Hearts III more authentic, getting feedback for their project ended up helping the Square developers in the long run to become better animators and storytellers. Working with Disney was one thing, but also working with Pixar was very different. Pixar was in fact more attached to their property, approving more stages of production and participating in weekly conference calls with the animation teams to ensure the most accurate representation of their IPs. Both Disney and Pixar kept their teams of animators intact following the release of their IPs - and they all had a say in the reproduction of their work in Kingdom Hearts III. Nomura went on to explain how it was working with both companies, how they reacted differently to the same issue (even within the same studio) with how the plot of the world should go as well as how it should look. He also had some convincing to do for the studios to fall in like with his longtime vision of Sora and friends canonically arriving to the Disney worlds. View full article

The worlds of Pirates of the Caribbean, Frozen, and Tangled were recently previewed by IGN as a hands-off demo by the Kingdom Hearts III co-director Tai Yasue. Jonathon Dornbush has published his impressions on the preview of these worlds, giving insight into new gameplay elements from the worlds. Below are some highlights from his review; they do not include any story-related spoilers. The Caribbean Jonathon described The Caribbean (he calls it Port Royal in the article) as a "mini Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag" and "one of the most intriguing Kingdom Hearts levels yet" due to its impressive levels of exploration. He talks of the many explorable islands that provide an incredible treasure hunting experience, which extends to beneath the sea. All means of travel - on air, water, land - and transitions in the world has been described as seamless. Underwater travel is also more agile than past games in the series, and in air, you can jump from one Heartless to the next freely. Combat styles change from world to world. Goofy's special bombardier attack involves him being swallowed whole by a sandworm Heartless in this world, only to attack from within. Magic attacks such as Blizzard, Thunder, and Water behave differently underwater. The fish in the sea can be brought back to Remy in Scrooge McDuck's restaurant in Twilight Town. Arendelle Jonathon briefly described a boss battle in this world. You can read about it in the spoiler box below. Yasue said that the development team collaborated with the Frozen team to design enemies true to the style of the world. The Heartless in Arendelle, which behave differently in air and land, were described by Jonathon to have a similar scope of entertainment as boss battles. Yasue showed one of the first sledding experiences in Arendelle, which branched off to numerous paths and offered many treasures. Jonathon commented that it felt a bit too lengthy. Kingdom of Corona Rapunzel's character and personality have been blended into the gameplay of this world. Scenes involving Rapunzel's wonder for the outside world can be triggered by, for instance, casting Aero on surrounding dandelions. Following Rapunzel as she wanders off by herself to a nearby lake will also trigger an interaction. Yasue said that activating these triggers are part of building up Rapunzel's trust in Sora. Following Rapunzel will also lead to combat scenarios and finding treasures. Jonathon commented that Corona's fights become "a crazy ballet of oversized household items swiping through the air and Disney characters hurling themselves at baddies." Some enemies in this world had armor to break through first instead of HP, and others had human-like appearances, showing a great deal of variety to be expected in enemy design. Did you enjoy our highlights? Then you will enjoy Jonathon's full review of these demos even more! View full article

Newsweek have published an interview with Kingdom Hearts III co-director Tai Yasue, who discussed the development of various gameplay elements in Kingdom Hearts III. He started by mentioning how the Kingdom Hearts III team took some time to adapt to the switch from the Luminous Engine to the Unreal 4 engine. In regards to the wall-climbing mechanics, he said this was originally planned for Olympus, but was then adapted to fit into all the worlds along with other Flowmotion-like actions. The idea of using Attractions in gameplay came from brainstorming gameplay that would be unique to Kingdom Hearts and also incorporate a classical Disney experience. In regards to choosing Disney worlds, Frozen and Tangled were picked mainly because they excited the development team, as there are many things in terms of gameplay that one can do with a beheaded snowman or a princess with very long hair. Yasue also gave some examples of the different types of specialists hired to enhance specific parts of the game - including someone to make dandelion seeds extra fluffy! Fans can expect a lot of surprises in gameplay, as Yasue described Nomura as a creative force that took the development of the game to unexpected places. "Sheer scale and accessibility" will make Kingdom Hearts III stand out from any other games in the series; due to its wide variety of gameplay, Yasue described it as a "celebration of gaming, old and new." The feature that will contain the series recap videos in Kingdom Hearts III is called the Memory Archive, which will lets fans, new and old, to catch up with key parts of the story so far. Yasue concluded the interview by stating that the Gummi Ship is his favorite part of Kingdom Hearts III; fans can expect a massive overhaul of this standard Kingdom Hearts mechanic, including a vast universe, more freedom, more Gummi blocks, and unique and interesting skins. Yasue is currently making a ramen stand Gummi Ship that can shoot fireballs. You can read the full interview below. View full article

So if you are some of the few who hasn't seen the SEP KH2.8 livestream with Tai Yasue, SE uploaded that segment for your viewing!

So we got some peeps from PlayStation Blog talking to Tai Yasue about KH2.8. Just a brief talk about each games of the collections.

Hey there everyone, how's it going? Well then, as you can all guess, I'm happily enjoying my copy of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMix, as I've begun playing Terra's story in Birth By Sleep Final Mix! And well, with this sudden but amazing surge of Kingdom Hearts news, I can safely say that all of us are pretty much hyped! Anyways, during the day, I checked the site and saw two articles regarding Tai Yasue about possibly porting the ReMixes to next gen consoles and about considering Marvel and Star Wars to be in Kingdom Hearts III. So then, I'll start with my opinion on the ports. If Nomura and the gang decide to port the ReMixes over to the PS4 and XBox One, that will probably be a very wise decision on their part. For the obvious reasons, those who have PS4's must obviously want to play the ReMixes, and if the port to PS4 was possible, then fans could be able to have the ReMixes for their PS4's. Also, even though I really don't pay any attention to the XBox line of consoles, I have to admit that there's some mighty potential in releasing a port of the ReMixes for the XBox One. Just think about it. Wouldn't it be weird if Kingdom Hearts III was the only Kingdom Hearts game on a Microsoft console? Those who can't afford Sony platforms would probably want to get in on the ReMixes, so releasing a port of said ReMixes to the XBox One would be a huge step in attending to those fans, plus, attracting Microsoft players who've always heard about the Kingdom Hearts series but have never bothered to buy a Sony platform. From a business standpoint, there's a lot of potential to make big money with these ports, and like I said, even though I'm not really into Microsoft's systems, porting the ReMixes over to the XBox One would greatly increase the probability of attracting new fans! So, if Nomura and the gang go for next gen ports, I say good for them! Now, on to the other part of this topic. So then, I also read that there's no restriction on Disney properties for use in the Kingdom Hearts series, with Tai Yasue saying that they are considering Marvel and Star Wars to be in Kingdom Hearts III. Now then, I realize a lot of you are very skeptical about this, but remember that they are only considering the option, they haven't confirmed it. As for myself, I'll be as blunt as possible. As much as I love Marvel and Star Wars, I'm a bit skeptical of having them appear in the Kingdom Hearts series. Okay, so we got two huge universes, each filled with many potential stories to draw from, but each universe is so big that it's hard to choose what to go with. But, if Nomura and the gang find a way to make these properties work within the Kingdom Hearts Universe, I'm sure they'll make it work. I mean, who ever thought that Tron or Pirates would fit into Kingdom Hearts? Well, they took the risk, and bam, they are among our favorite worlds in the series! What I'm saying is, if the time comes that Nomura and the gang confirm that Marvel or Star Wars(or both) get included into Kingdom Hearts III, or any other entry thereafter, we'll just have to have faith that they'll be able to handle things and see how they make it all fit into the Kingdom Hearts Universe. And so, I shall give my beloved Kingdom Hearts creative team the benefit of the doubt. You know, I could probably be proved wrong, and Marvel and Star Wars could probably end up being big hits in Kingdom Hearts, but like I said, I'm still skeptical. I will admit though, as a Marvel and Star Wars fan, there's a heck load of content they can use. In my opinion, the only Marvel worlds I could see fitting into Kingdom Hearts are Thor and Big Hero 6. Thor's homeland of Asgard is a fantasy setting, and as such, would fit well within the series, and Big Hero 6 is perfect, I think Nomura will probably choose this film to add as a world in the game! And as for Star Wars, everything in that universe is science-fiction, with no real world locales, so I'm sure Nomura could find some way to incorporate that universe into Kingdom Hearts. Also, for those who know a lot about the Star Wars films, you can't deny the fact that Birth By Sleep has many similarities to Star Wars, and I think it's kind of obvious. But yeah, back to my point, let's have faith that Nomura and the gang will handle things right if they decide to incorporate Marvel and Star Wars into the Kingdom Hearts Universe! Lol, okay, so that's my opinion on those two matters. For those of you who stuck with me the whole topic, I thank you for taking the time to read it, lol. Now then, go on and post your opinions on what you think of the latest news given to use by Yasue. Please, I beg of you all, don't start fights or insult anyone because of their opinions, as you could see in the paragraphs above, I talked about these matters in the most respectful way possible. So please, let's have a clean, friendly discussion, okay? Thank you all for taking the time to read this, my fellow Kingdom Hearts fans! The hype is real! God, this is a good time to be a Kingdom Hearts fan!

Who else thinks Tai Yasue should direct his own Kingdom Hearts game in the next saga? After co-directing Re:CoM, Birth by Sleep, KH3D and now KH3 I think he's fully capable.