Kingdom Hearts -HD II.5 ReMIX- (PS3) DEC 2 NA, DEC 5 EU
By Mirby,
September 17, 2011 in Community
Mirby
Ugh, triplepost. D:
-- Kingdom Hearts 3D was first announced at the same time as the Nintendo 3DS hardware. What made you so eager to bring the series to a new platform?
Nomura: We were impressed with the passion Nintendo put into the design of the N3DS hardware. And personally, I was excited by the idea of a Kingdom Hearts game that could be played in 3D in the palm of one's hands. That was certainly a big part of it.
-- Can you explain what the title-Dream Drop Distance-Means?
The story for this installment takes place in a world submerged in sleep, and from that "Sleep" we derived "Dream". "Drop", from the phrase "Drop off to sleep", is our name for the system in which players alternate between control of Sora and Riku during gameplay. And since Sora and Riku are progressing through the story on different storylines, we chose "Distance" to express the gulf between them. And of course, since all three words start with the letter D, it can be shortened to 3D to add to the meaning of 3D functionality.
-- What can you tell us about the overarching story of the game and how it ties into the future of Kingdom Hearts?
The story for this installment picks up where Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded on the Nintendo DS left off, making it the most recent chapter in the timeline. It's the story that takes place right before the final chapter of the "Xehanort arc", which began with the very frist Kingdom Hearts.
To give a brief summary of the game's premise, Yen Sid assigns Sora and Riku with visiting the Sleeping Worlds and open the seven Sleeping Doors as their Mark of Mastery exam, which they must complete in order to become Keyblade Masters. However, a mysterious boy in a black cloak appears everywhere they go, and nothing ends up going exactly as planned. That's the gist of it.
In terms of future Kingdom Hearts, I know fans are eager for the arc's final battle, and I hope to begin writing it soon.
-- In a previous interview, you mentioned that the Mark of Mastery exam won't span the entirety of the game. Could you elaborate on that a little bit?
As I just mentioned, the mysterious boy in the black cloak causes the story to take an unexpected turn. Whenever he appears, Xehanort and other characters that have been linked to him, like Ansem, seem to follow, even though they've already been defeated in the past. Their story isn't about the Mark of Mastery exam, so that plotline proceeds in a different direction.
-- How did you decide which new Disney worlds to include in the game?
Tai Yasue, the game's codirector, suggested that since the film Fantasia contained many worlds, we could use that in the game to separate the worlds that Sora and Riku traveled through. I've always wanted to visit Fantasia in a Kingdom Hearts game, so I jumped at the chance. It's a similar story with the other worlds. We considered how their worldview and settings could be used in interesting effect with the particular mechanics and scenario we had written for this installment, and selected them on that basis.
-- Why did you choose to make both Sora and Riku playable characters this time around?
Sora and Riku represent the theme of the Kingdom Hearts series, which is "the light and dark sides of the heart." This story takes place right before the final battle, and so we wanted to go back to the origin of the series and depict the polarity of light and darkness through their respective stories.
-- As big fans of The World Ends with You, we're excited to see its characters appear in Dream Drop Distance. What role do they play in this game?
In previous games in the Kingdom Hearts series, Final Fantasy characters made appearances and gave Sora guidance to help with his adventure. This time, it's characters from The World Ends with You who perform that role. The basic story is that the characters wandered into this world while playing the Reapers' Game, and became separated from their partners. Their stories begin with the teammates searching for each other.
-- Aside from yourself, did anyone on the Kingdom Hearts team work on the World Ends with You?
The illustrator who worked on TWEWY, Gen Kobayashi, is now serving as the art director for Dream Drop Distance. That games composer, Takeharu Ishimoto, has also created some music for DDD. Finally, the director of TWEWY, Tatsuya Kando, is working as this game's animation supervisor.
-- What are the origins of the Dream Eaters? And can you explain the difference between the two types: Spirits and Nightmares?
Actually, as you may have seen in the debut trailer, I was originally planning to go with Heartless and Nobodies. But when I started thinking about setting the game in a dream world with enemies who could grow and fight alongside the player, I felt that it wouldn't really make sense to be raising Heartless and Nobodies. So I came up with the Dream Eaters as a new kind of enemy that appears in Sleeping Worlds and that feeds on dreams instead of being focused on hearts the way Heartless and Nobodies are.
Nightmares are the Dream Eaters who eat dreams born in these worlds and sow nightmares instead; they appear as the main enemy for this installment. Spirits are good monsters who eat nightmares, and they fight alongside Sora and Riku as allies.
-- Will Sora and Riku fight alongside Disney characters at any point? Or do they strictly fight alongside their Spirit allies?
In this installment, they will be fighting almost exclusively alongside their Spirit allies. To be clear, this game isn't a spinoff, since it's a continuation of the series's main story. But when I'm working on a game in the series that isn't a numbered title, I like taking the opportunity to incorporate ambitious new systems like this.
-- The action in Dream Drop Distance is a lot faster and more frenetic than in the previous Kingdom Hearts games. What was the motivation behind that?
I have a clear direction for how I want the Kingdom Hearts series evolve, and this change is part of moving in that direction. The games in the series are known as RPGs with a high level of action, in which anyone can perform flashy moves. In order to make the gameplay even more dynamic, we've implemented a new system called Flowmotion. With that, I think we've taken another step towards our ultimate goal for the series.
-- In a recent trailer, we spotted various Nobodies like Xemnas, Xion, and Axel. How is it that they're around for the events of this game?
I can't discuss details just yet, but the mysterious boy in the black cloak has something to do with this. They will confuse Sora and Riku wherever they go.
-- Who would you say is the main villain in Dream Drop Distance?
I can't make a definitive statement because that would be giving away a secret, but I will tell you once again, the mysterious boy in the black cloak is the key to the answer.
-- Will this game take advantage of StreetPass or SpotPass?
The game does take advantage of StreetPass capabilities, and uses them in the Spirit-breeding system.
-- Who's composing the soundtrack for the game? Will it include a new theme song?
With this installment, Yoko Simomura will continue her role as the series's main composer. Takeharu Ishimoto and Tsuyoshi Sekito-who have worked on previus installments like Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep-will also be contributing music to this game. Ishimoto will not only be handling songs from The World Ends with You, but from other games as well. As with our previous titles, the theme music is going to be a song by Utada Hikaru.
-- Will all of the US voice actors from previous Kingdom Hearts be reprising their roles in Dream Drop Distance?
That's certainly a plan. In fact, the voice recording for the North American version is already underway.
-- This year marks the 10th anniversary of the series. Do you have anything special in store for 2012 to celebrate this occasion?
In Japan, we're planning to release a 10-year commemorative box set. We don't have any other solid plans, but the series has a lot of support from fans in North America, so I hope we can do something special for them as well.
-- Finally, if we ask nicely, would you share something about Dream Drop distance that you haven't mentioned anywhere else?
This is the first time we're doing this, but there's a surprise during the end credits. So even when the credits start to roll, don't put down your N3DS, and don't let your guard down!
Brandon Strader 19 posts
Chernabogue 23 posts
Moomba 21 posts
Mirby 95 posts
Darklink42
Well, now I know when I'm buying a 3DS. Just about the only thing I don't like is how much of a stretch Nomura has to make to justify the name and the reason for bringing it to the system. I believe it's okay to say "We're always releasing KH on the newest systems if we can. And the name was going to be 3D anyways, so we came up with something fun."
The only thing Nomura would have to say to you is:
"Please look forward to it."
What? So the "Drop" wasn't because the entire soundtrack consists only of Dubstep?
Damn. What have I been telling people?!
Overdriven
any non-console kingdom hearts is just shovelware
I would disagree. Days was VERY fun. Except for That One Boss, the one in the graveyard in Halloween Town, it was a great game. Re: Coded wasn't bad either. It was unorthodox, but fun.
I have hopes for KH:3D. Just sucks that I have to wait forever for it to get here to the US......
HATED that boss. Such a pain in the ass. And yeah, I liked Re:coded for how it experimented with the formula (say what you want, but I really enjoyed the shooting and sidescrolling sections).
Also, not necessarily. Judging by the fact that they've been recording the English lines and that they've been localizing it too, I'd estimate a May-July release.
Gonna disagree with Strader too. Birth By Sleep, terrible plot twists aside, was the best game in the series, IMO.
High quality scan dump!
Malaki-LEGEND.sys
Man this game looks so good.
Here have more, since 4gamer updated their site with a new article and new screens.
(more screens in Source link at bottom)
And now for the article's translation. Be warned there are some story spoilers (nothing major, just Clu's role in The Grid and more on the opening in Yen Sid's tower).
Rinzler is fightable, he uses disks which release spark-like things on contact, and he can also reverse gravity, which reverses controls for Sora/Riku. The Grid's boss is also shown, which is a giant dream eater you fight in a circular rotating stage. The boss hurls disks at the current PC, and can also summon bullets that rain down from the ceiling, upon contact with the current PC his drop gauge decreases.
Regarding the storyline, it is hinted that Clu has some sort of interest for keyblades as do the other Tron characters, but his motives seem evil or something. Also Young Xehanort is there and he apparently knows a lot about The Grid.
On the part about the Mysterious Tower, it says Sora and Riku go to it only to be met with Yen Sid having a worried look, there he explains to become keyblade masters they hvae to go to the dream world and release the keyholes there. Also it's confirmed that as always the journey begins in Destiny Islands.
Then there's Radiant Garden. One of the texts under the screenshots says Lea knows he's human again because he can see his reflextion once more, but he can't find all other Org. XIII members. On the one with Lenzo, it says he seems to possess a lot of information regarding Traverse Town.
Then there's the dream eaters nightmare/spirits section. First the spirits:
The one that looks like a little clown is called Ghost Clown, apparently it likes prizes a lot so it helps to pick them up. Its link attack is called Ghost Vacuum where he inhales enemies and then vomits them damaging them as well as whoever it vomits on. Next is Scissor Beetle, who can fire bullets from its chest, useful for long range attacks! Its link attack is called Trap Shot, where it fires a barrage of bullets from its chest to where the target cursor is placed, it also prevent enemies from moving after being shot; afterwards there's Idaten Kirin, its link attack is called Thunderstorm, where a bunch of consecutive bolts strike the enemy. The following one is Opportunist Bat, who goes flapping along the battlefield, it uses ultrasonic waves and drain attacks as its moves. Its link attack is Dark Fierce, where the current PC grows lonk dark nails from his hands and feet, allowing for quick long range kicks and punches finishing with an arc shaped attack.
Finally, the nightmares where two new kinds are introduced, first the Glaring Owl, who uses Libra on you to find your weakness and then exploit it. Then there's the Dendencargo, it's a pun I'm not sure how to translate, but it mashes up the Japanese word for snail and escargot, it hides in its shell but if you manage to turn it over it becomes defenseless.
As mentioned in earlier reports, once the drop gauge runs out you change to Sora/Riku and so forth, using drop prizes that enemies drop you get drop points, which you can use to enhance Sora/Riku. In between drops you can also see the event forecast for the current world you're in, these events include sales from shops or the chance to fight rare dream eaters.
As also previously reported, you can breed spirits provided you have their recipes and required materials, you can also name your spirits! Each spirit has its own distinct personality that affects their battle behavior but you already knew that.
Regarding battle commands, you can get them via shops, the spirits's ability link board and treasure chests; after that you can add them to your deck.
On the ability link board you can also get passive abilities, for example, if you want Riku to have the HP Up ability, you can have one of your spirits learn it, and once they have Riku can use it too!
The final part of the news article are new Reality Shifts, first up is the Fantasia inspired Symphony of Sorcery's, Fantasmic, where you have to tap notes as they appear on the touch screen. The Grid's Reality Shift is called Code Break, where you tap differently colored words on the touch screen to hack the world and produce a number of different effects, the one shown this time is Moving Spark which is, well, a moving spark.
Also, due to Ghost Clown's Link Attack, I'm gonna have to paint him pink and name him Kirby. Along with my triceratops who'll be named Cera.
Also of note: that last pic I posted here in this post shows Riku utilizing the giraffe's Link Attack to wield some guns temporarily and blast foes. Pretty sweet!
Edited March 4, 2012 by Mirby
Bleck
how and why is axel suddenly alive
same reason all the apprentices (we've seen axel, vexen, zexion, lexaeus, and xigbar return to life in these screens. or should i say lea, even, ienzo, aeleus, and braig) and xehanort are. when one's heartless and nobody are slain (in that order), the original person can return to life.
Took me what, eight tries to beat him? On easy?
As for Coded, I think the best section was the Coliseum's take on turn-based action.
But wow, a May-July release? Seriously? Wow, that gives me something to entertain myself with while waiting for the next Pokemon release set.....Plus a fun new game for down time during my various summer programs......
I need to get back to writing my FAQ on Re:coded's Olympus Coliseum. It's surprisingly deep for such a small section of the game.
Also, did you notice how Cloud retains his spell-casting motion and victory animation from FF7?
Game will be 35 hours; longer with minigames and Dream Eater training
Fighting style can be completey different depending on what Dream Eaters you use
The first package design for 3D featured King Mickey mainly, with Riku and Sora as side parts. Because the title didn't fit well and Nomura worried that it would be hard to recognize, he redesigned it with the current image and layout.
On the AR Code Dream Eaters: Buying KH3D comes with one card for one rare Dream Eater, but you'll be able to get the recipe for the other rare AR dream eaters through Street Pass.
The mysterious figure in the black coat isn't necessarily new, but they are important to the story.
About the key phrase, "Those who are asleep in sadness": Sora and Riku are preparing to rescue them.
At first they planned to have Sora go to original Tron world, and Riku go to Tron Legacy world.
Other than Ansem and Xemnas who appear often, Axel (Lea) and the silver haired boy are key characters.
In the end we'll finally see Xemnas/Ansem's true form.
Donald and Goofy couldn't be team mates this time because they are not Keyblade wielders. Thus the Dream Eaters were developed.
The growth system of the Dream Eaters is connected to Sora and Riku's growth.
Dream Eater's growth is like a breeding system, treating them well makes them grow better.
The command system is different than BBS, it's more of a mix between Days and ReCoded.
There are 4 types of Dream Eater personalities, they also change depending on how you do in battle, etc.
King Wondernyan isn't an evolution of a Wondernyan, they are separate Dream Eaters.
The main mini game you play with then is called Flick Crash, which combines speed and action aspects.
You can name your own Dream Eaters.
There are 50 sorts of Dream Eaters you can partner with, however boss Dream Eaters are not included.
The next issue of Famitsu will have more Nomura interview as well.
Inverse box art
more partials
Translations provided by sqexgal
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Another update. :3
Here, have a Nomura interview from Famitsu.
The meaning behind the main illustration!
— The package illustration has been publically revealed.
Nomura:To be honest, at first I had drawn a different picture. Sora, Riku, and King Mickey were the same as the current illustration, but I drew Mickey bigger and Sora and Riku were much smaller. However, design-wise it was difficult to use for the packaging, and when we tried it on the title screen you couldn't really recognize Sora or Riku (wry laughter), so I redrew it.
— There is another version of the illustration with different colors and the directions switched, can you tell us about that?
Nomura:When you look at this illustration inside the game package. I wanted it's composition and look to remind you of the title's catch copy, "Darkness becomes light, light falls into darkness." The two images make a pair; I think it's nice to consider the contrasts between them and how they reflect the storyline.
— Will we see this image within the game itself?
Nomura: Yes, if you play the game on the advance degree of difficulty you'll be able to see it.
— In the illustration, Sora has his eyes closed while Riku's are open.
Nomura:That's right. There's meaning behind that, but I think you'll understand it through playing the game. By the way, the 2 types of illustrations are not just merely reversed, but the change in color degree and overall balance has been reworked.
— We look forward to understanding that. Anyways, for the first time fans will obtain an enclosed AR card with the game. Can you tell us about the friendly Dream Eaters on those cards?
Nomura:The game package will contain one card that unlocks one of the following partner Dream Eaters at random: King Wondernyan, Circus Panda, and Nekuish. These 3 Dream Eaters are rare; however unlocking them through an AR card is not the only way to obtain them, you can partner with them in the game too. Still, if you do a Link Portal exchange through StreetPass, you can obtain the recipes for them. If you try to StreetPass regularly, you can probably obtain all three pretty early on.
Key people of the story!
— In the opener, we see a flurry of memorable scenes from the series while an orchestra version of "Hikari" plays, it's very moving!
Nomura:It was Nomatsu (Takeshi Nomatsu, the title's cinematic movie director) who managed it, he said himself "there isn't a next one", so he crammed it full of content.
— Parts of the opener were used in the Special Trailer that was released publically, where the keywords "those who are asleep within sadness" appeared. Does helping those people become the goal of this game?
Nomura:How will that go… (Laughs.) Well, first off Sora and company will have to make preparations for that.
— In the last part of the trailer, one of the points that stands out is when Aqua and Terra appear with the black coated character with the "nightmare" eyes.
Nomura:That black coated person is important to the storyline, but isn't necessarily a new character. The details of it are something to look forward to when you play.
— As for new worlds, the image of the world from Tron Legacy is very closely adapted. The people in it are drawn quite realistically.
Nomura:Since we adapted realistic portrayals in the past with The Pirates of the Caribbean in Kingdom Hearts II, we had a bit of know-how this time around. I was a bit apprehensive at attempting to do it on a portable device, but I think the end result has a high quality to it. I supervised over the production side of the movie parts and the scenarios of the storyline reflected well into it.
— Did you plan from the beginning to use Tron Legacy as a world?
Nomura:It was decided around the time the project was beginning. We had planned for Sora to visit the original Tron world and for Riku to go to the Tron Legacy world.
— Ansem and Xemnas, as well as Master Xehanort's forms appear, but are they the real thing?
Nomura:Well, about that… Ansem and Xemnas appear often, harassing Sora and Riku.
— Are Ansem and Xemnas key persons?
Nomura:If I had to say who the key persons were, I'd say they are the silver haired boy and Axel. This time at the end of the story, there will be the longest cutscene of the whole series where the true form of Ansem and Xemnas, as well as their goals and many other truths will be revealed all at once.
Raising Dream Eaters!
— How come this time instead of being joined by Donald and Goofy, our heroes team up with Dream Eaters?
Nomura:This time the story is about Sora and Riku taking the Mark of Mastery Exam. If Donald and Goofy participated in the exam without being Keyblade wielders, then it would be sort of weird. (Laughs.) Besides, those two are active characters in the numbering titles of the series, so I thought that it would be an interesting challenge to have an adventure outside of that.
— I see. So the Dream Eaters, you can create them by gathering materials to "breed" them. What lead you to develop this kind of system?
Nomura:The Dream Eater's growth is directly connected to the abilities of Sora and Riku, which serves as an axis of this title. To that extent, I wanted players to feel affection for their Dream Eaters, thus you start with them from their initial creation and watch as they grow alongside you.
— Unlocking the abilities of the Dream Eaters and doing the Ability Link to make Sora and Riku stronger is sort of like parts of the system in Re:Coded.
Nomura:That's right. At first, I initially wanted to develop another form of the command board from Birth by Sleep. Then I mixed the growth systems of Re:Coded and 358/2 Days and came up with a new idea that became the Ability Link feature.
— The Dream Eater's growth is one of the charms of this title, but it seems with the interacting on the touch screen, the Dream Eater's characteristics change rapidly.
Nomura:Their attitudes are different depending on their characteristics, for instance some prefer to attack aggressively while other prefer to support your character. One type of Dream Eater has 4 characteristics; even if they are same types of Dream Eaters, they each have their own personalities. So choose among the characteristics you like and have fun.
— How many types of Dream Eaters are there in total?
Nomura:There are a little over 50 types of Dream Eaters you can partner with. You can't partner with the boss ones, but outside of that you can breed all the Dream Eaters.
— With the similar Dream Eaters like Wondernyan and King Wondernyan, are they evolutions of the same form or are they from separate recipes?
Nomura:They aren't evolutions of one another, that is not how this system works. If you have the materials, you can produce two or more of the same Dream Eaters.
— As far as activities with the Dream Eaters go, there is the Flick Crash feature. What was the concept behind this feature?
Nomura:As the main mini-game of this title, I wanted to produce something that has the speed aspect of a card game fused with an action game. I said it had to be something frenzied with a "restless feel" to it, but it was hard to actually materialize. After repeated trials, I think it finally became something fun.
— By the way, it seems the Dream Eater's appearance and abilities can be customized and you can name them. It's a fairly different taste for the series compared to the past titles.
Nomura:Every time I try to make the taste of the game relate to its title, but in this game since the player can name their Dream Eater to their liking its quite straightforward. I put a lot of consideration into naming the titles interestingly, it's fun.
Big developments packed into a short time period!
— About how long does it take to clear the game?
Nomura:Probably about 35 hours? Upgrading and playing Flick Crash take time, so I think you could keep on playing it.
— The story and the system of this game are both packed with developments. Did you think the development period was going to be this long?
Nomura:It's really like one year since Birth by Sleep Final Mix. All the staff has worked very hard to make it here. The Osaka team took over development and even though they had only once worked with the Nintendo DS when they did Re:Coded, this is the first time they created a fully interactive 2-screened title. Even though this time the unreasonable demands were raised even more, I think their high level of creative consciousness really shines in this title.
— A lot of effort went into this title huh. By the way, we previously asked you about an announcement regarding Final Fantasy Versus XIII, is there any information you can share about when that would be?
Nomura: We hear from everyone that there is a high demand to release more information. We are almost finished preparing so we can respond to that. Even though we are in agreement, it's really not related to current developments so we aren't in a situation to release information about it. But since I'm not allowed to speak about it, I have no choice but to continue discussion in this way about it.
Have some Famitsu scans too.
And some more images too!
Edited March 16, 2012 by Mirby
Two more images.
Some cool new artwork... and this:
Also someone else needs to post here; I'm tired of double/triple/quadruple/dodectuple posting.
Zerothemaster
Mickey's got swagger. That is all.
CinnamonJihad
Okay, I have started to get the KH urge that I haven't felt in a long time. I think I'm gonna pick the series up again.
I have only played through KH1, Chain of Memories, and KH2. Um... which games will I need to play to actually get with the story? Do I need to play all of em? Or are there any I can skip?
You can skip pretty much everything but Birth By Sleep. The other games aren't bad, they just don't add much to the story.
Birth By Sleep though, sets up pretty much everything, and KH 3DS is going to be a mess to play without knowing it's story.
Since KH3D will tie all the previous games together. Birth by Sleep is one you should play, but you should also at least read up on the events in Days and Re:coded, considering they're being linked into 3D as well.
I always wanted to play Days since I thought that Organization XIII was a cool bunch of villains (Marluxia ftw, because of the scythe. yes, I am that shallow. Plus he has got an awesome color of hair), but my roomie who played it (Unstable Hamster) says that he thought it was pretty monotonous. So is it actually worth a runthrough in your opinion?
Well if he still has it you could always just watch the Theater Mode, provided he beat the game.
Oh, and if anyone's curious, you can see the
with some embellishments they added since it was at the Premiere Event at the beginning of the month. I recommend full-screen viewing, or you could make your way to the
which enlarges the top half but has background noise since it was recorded during the actual event and not beforehand. Edited March 23, 2012 by Mirby
... Sucks that we still don't have a release date for Europe and North America.
When do you guys think we'll get one?
Well Japan is getting it in 4 days, so I'm willing to bet some time around June or July here.