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E3 2013: Kingdom Hearts 3 Coming to PS4
Square's long-awaited sequel is finally confirmed to be in development.
by Marty SlivaJune 10, 2013

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Sony dropped a bombshell at their E3 2013 press briefing by announcing that Kingdom Hearts III is currently in development for the PlayStation 4. This came directly on the heels of the company's announcement that Final Fantasy Versus XIII is also coming to PS4, under its new moniker: Final Fantasy XV.

Kingdom Hearts II, the last numbered installment in the series, was a PS2 exclusive when it released back in 2006.

With Disney's recent acquisitions of Marvel Entertainment, Pixar, Studio Ghibli, and Lucasfilm, there will be no shortage of locations and characters for Sora to visit and meet along his adventure.

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E3 2013: Kingdom Hearts III Heading to Xbox One
Coming soon to a next-gen Microsoft console near you.
by Richard GeorgeJune 11, 2013

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Today at its Final Fantasy spotlight panel, Square announced that Kingdom Hearts III will be coming to Xbox One.

Kingdom Hearts III was announced yesterday for PlayStation 4 and will mark the first time an entry in the Kingdom Hearts franchise has appeared on Xbox.

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Just a side note, the key Sora picks up in the trailer looks identical to this one:

Master Eraqus is a Keyblade Master featured in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. He is the master of Terra and Aqua, and he also serves as the second master of Ventus.

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Now, for not so good news, but it may work out?:

Kingdom Hearts 3 Being Developed By Square Enix’s Osaka Studio
by IshaanJune 11, 2013

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Kingdom Hearts 3 isn’t being worked on by the original Kingdom Hearts team. Series creator Tetsuya Nomura himself is busy on Final Fantasy XV.

Instead, Kingdom Hearts 3 is being developed by Square Enix’s Osaka studio, the publisher revealed this morning at a Q&A. The Osaka studio worked on Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts 3D, and are also working on Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix.

Square Enix also confirmed that, like Final Fantasy XV, Kingdom Hearts 3 makes use of Direct X 11.

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Kingdom Hearts III is Coming to PS4 and Xbox One, Story Details Revealed
by Jason DunningJune 11, 2013

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After knocking our socks off at the Sony Press Conference yesterday, Square Enix is now ready to offer up some details about their upcoming line-up of next-gen titles, starting with Kingdom Hearts III.

First off, it won’t be a PS4 exclusive title, as it will also be available on the Xbox One. While no release window was given, Square Enix did give us an overview of what we can expect from the story, which features “a mature Sora…who sets forth on an adventure with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy through new and legendary Disney worlds:”


Sadly, no mention was made of Final Fantasy worlds or characters being included within Kingdom Hearts III, so we’ll have to wait and see if they’re completely missing from the game.

If you want to play some Kingdom Hearts this year, the 1.5 Remix is out this September, which will help drive sales for a franchise that has already shipped 19 million units worldwide.

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I personally think this is bad news:

Online Multiplayer “Under Consideration” for Kingdom Hearts III
by Chad AwkermanJun 11th 2013

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During a Square-Enix Presents E3 Live segment, Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura was asked about the possibility of multiplayer being added to the latest iteration of the title, Kingdom Hearts III. Through a translator, he said:

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This one isn't so much news as much as it's pulling at strings that may or may not be there:

Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III PC Version Hinted by Tetsuya Nomura
by Giuseppe NelvaJun 11th 2013

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Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III Director Tetsuya Nomura just dropped a bomb at the end of his interview on the Square Enix Presents E3 livestream.

When asked by the interviewer for a confirmation on the release of the two games on PS4 and Xbox One, he was quick to point out:


That’s a pretty obvious hint to the possibility of a PC release for the two upcoming Square Enix flagship titles, especially considering that PC is the only remaining platform capable of supporting DirectX 11. It’s also interesting that Nomura-san wasn’t directly asked about other platforms by the interviewer, but touched the topic on its own initiative.

PC gamers might not be getting Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, but there might be better things coming their way sometimes in the future.

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Kingdom Hearts 3 Announced with More Details Released Today
by Chris PenwellJune 11th, 2013

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REJOICE KINGDOM HEARTS FANS! Kingdom Hearts 3 is finally coming and is currently in development! Kingdom Hearts 3 will be available for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Wii U is currently not planned at this moment. Even though that information may be enough for some, Square Enix and Tetsuya Nomura have been able to provide us with more details including the battle system, story and which developer is working on the game.

According to Square Enix’s press release, “Kingdom Hearts III features a mature Sora as the main protagonist who sets forth on an adventure with Mickey, Donald and Goofy through new and legendary Disney worlds.” In addition to that, “Kingdom Hearts III will make full use of next generation console technologies to showcase a stunning universe packed full of worlds based on Disney properties.”

The plot of Kingdom Hearts III revolves around Master Xehenort trying to keep balance between light and darkness by sparking a war against the “tyranny of light.” Throughout the game, Sora, Donald and Goofy look for the remaining seven guardians of light and the “Key to Return Hearts.” Meanwhile, King Mickey and Riku will search for previous Keyblade wielders.

During the Future of Final Fantasy conference at E3, it was also announced that the Osaka studio who created Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is working on the project (as I previous predicted) while the initial Kingdom Hearts team is working on Final Fantasy XV. This may cause some fans to worry but Dream Drop Distance, in my opinion, is one of the best in the series and helped evolve the series’ battle system with the new Flowmotion mechanic. Flowmotion allowed Sora to bounce off walls and jump off enemies which leads to believe the Osaka team have the next generation creativity that the franchise needs to move forward.

Unlike the previous portable iterations of the game, Kingdom Hearts III will return to a party based format and what seems like the drive system if the initial gameplay teaser is to be believed. Nomura during an interview on the Square’s Event YouTube channel, however, has stated that he believes the gameplay system is sticking to what the core games are known for but may add some inclusions from the experimental gameplay mechanics within the portable titles as well.

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Tetsuya Nomura Talks Disney, Kingdom Hearts 3 & Final Fantasy XV
by DenisJune 11, 2013

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Square Enix and Disney are at it again! Sony came prepared during their Press Conference with a surprise announcement from Tetsuya Nomura showing of Final Fantasy XV and a small look at Kingdom Hearts 3, which is still in development. If you missed the trailers, we have you covered here. Square Enix Presents sat down with Tetsuya Nomura today during E3 and he discussed the origin of Kingdom Hearts and how it came to be, Nomura explains it was a long process but the outcome at the end was well worth the hard work.


Tetsuya Nomura On Disney & Kingdom Hearts:

Square Enix presents started their interview talking about where the name “Kingdom Hearts” came from, how it originated and the problems they faced with it. Nomura responded with…

” Originally I wanted to find a title that fits Disney because its a Disney video game and when I first thought of this game I thought of Amusement parks, I wanted to create something that you can imagine through Disney land, I knew of the name animal kingdom at that time so Kingdom became the first name in my mind. The development team was calling the game ” Kingdom ” itself but I couldn’t get IP for that so I thought of ” Heart ” as a core part of the story, we just combined those together and were satisfied with the name Kingdom Hearts. ”

The host of Square Enix Presents followed that question with how the collaboration with Disney came about. Nomura’s response….

” Originally our producer, Shinji Hashimoto became friends with a Disney employee, we had offices in the same building so he chatted with the people of Disney and both parties agreed that a game between the two companies would be great. Later on he came back to me and asked if this was something that would be successful, that is how ultimately the franchise begun. Our relationship with Disney has been great, we have been working with Disney for 10 years. ”


Nomura On Kingdom Hearts 3:

The host asked about the battle system of Kingdom Hearts 3 and if it was anything that we experienced in the past games. Nomura’s reply…

” For the previous titles, especially Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2, they were core games and I wanted to make sure I had appropriate involvement in the games, and for the spin off titles I wanted to experiment with new challenges and new styles. Since this is a core game, I feel like it is appropriate to have a core style. Kingdom Hearts 2 had a lot of praise for the battle system and Kingdom Hearts 3 will take some of that and implement it, the experiments we did do on the spin off titles were very well received and we would also like to include some of those into Kingdom Hearts 3. ”

The host also asked if there will be any Final Fantasy characters in KH3 and will we get to play as King Mickey… Nomura’s response,

” Final Fantasy characters in Kingdom Hearts 3 is something that is definitely under consideration. I definitely think it is time to include some real Final Fantasy characters. As far as playing as King Mickey, I know a lot of fans want to play as King Mickey so I am taking that into consideration as well. Sora is the main characters and it would be nice to have other playable characters and that again is under consideration. ”

Regarding the worlds, Nomura said he definitely wants to have some stable worlds and some surprises. He actually wants to definitely implement a number of surprising worlds this time to KH3, so we should definitely anticipate them. Star Wars anyone?

Nomura was also asked about multiplayer in KH3 and if it was possible, he did say it was also in consideration especially during this time where multiplayer is popular.

More things he said…

• Nomura said that in previous KH titles, we could summon Disney characters, but this will be different in KH3.
  

• We will also definitely see more of the Organization, since Master Xehanort is behind it and it won’t be the end of nobodies.
  

• He was also asked if we would see the actual Kingdom Hearts and his response was surprising saying, ” I think it will appear “

Final Fantasy XV, Nomura’s Take

During the interview a battle was shown between Noctis and a huge monster, the gaming is visually stunning and the battle system looks like what the fans have been asking for. We even saw glimpses of battles on walls, that’s right WALLS! The host asked why the name change in which Nomura responded,

” 1 to 2 years after Versus was announced we had long discussions of changing it to Final Fantasy XV because of the scale of Versus and the concept of the game so it was only appropriate to have it as Final Fantasy XV. About two years ago after still discussing it, we heard reports about new generation consoles so at this point it was only right to rename it. ”

The host asked Nomura to tell us a bit about Noctis, Nomura’s response…

” Noctis is a very cocky guy and through the story you learn that really hes not as cool as he thinks he is. ”

Not a lot was revealed about XV but Nomura said hang in tight because news will start coming in fast!

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This is an Opinion post, not news:
Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV Should Have Remained Exclusive
by TreezyJune 12, 2013

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With the recent news that both Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV will be arriving on the Xbox One, it has me wondering exactly what happened between Sony and Square Enix?

First let me start off by going into both games and explaining a little bit about them. I would like to clarify that this piece is not saying that the game would better perform on one console in any way, but these titles would have highly benefited the PlayStation 4 if they were to remain exclusive.

Let's start with Kingdom Hearts III. Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II were groundbreaking titles that rocked the PlayStation 2 over a decade ago. Multiple handheld titles have graced both Nintendo and Sony's handhelds, but the console games have always been Sony exclusive until now.

The news that Kingdom Hearts III will also be hitting the Xbox One is slightly confusing to me. Why on earth would Square Enix want to carry the main franchise of Kingdom Hearts over to a company with absolutely no Kingdom Hearts' history? Another confusing aspect is that there are currently no plans for a Wii U version of Kingdom Hearts III, which is odd considering the history Nintendo has with the Kingdom Hearts brand. You would think that if the series were going multiplatform it would at least show support to a company that has history with it.

"In the end it's all about the money". While this may be true and the most likely case, it still doesn't make sense. Square Enix currently has the opportunity to spread the Kingdom Hearts series to even more gamers, but have chosen to release their upcoming Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix exclusively on the PlayStation 3. It's weird that Square Enix would choose to release an HD collection on one console and release Kingdom Hearts III on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. I'm not saying that this is wrong, I'm happy more gamers will be able to play what is sure to be a great game, I just do not understand the logic behind SE's decision other than money, money, money.

Let's talk about Final Fantasy XV (previously known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII). Production for Final Fantasy XV began in early 2006 and for seven long years it has been under wraps and marketed as a "PlayStation 3 Exclusive". Several years ago remarks were made that hinted at an Xbox 360 release, which caused major backlash with fans. Fans were then "re-assured" that Final Fantasy XV would be releasing exclusively for the PlayStation 3 only and that there were no plans for a 360 release.

Now that the game has been re-branded it's alright for Square-Enix to announce that it's going multiplatform on next gen systems? When I really think about it, this is probably the reason why we have heard so little about Final Fantasy XV in the last few years. If that happens to be the case, then SE should have saved everyone the trouble of worrying about the game's development. SE should have confirmed that they had intentions of going multiplatform when it was first slightly mentioned years ago. If SE would have acknowledged that, we would more than likely have gotten more updates on the game's development, and would have been spared from numerous rumors saying that the game was doomed and likely to be canceled.

The big question popping through my mind is how did Sony not retain exclusivity for this title? Every hardcore gamer knows the hype surrounding this game and it has been building for years. You would think Sony would have approached Square-Enix and try to negotiate a deal to keep Final Fantasy XV exclusive to their console, especially a next gen console. It leads to my same conclusion with Kingdom Hearts III, except I sort of expected Final Fantasy XV to go multiplatform, I just wish SE would have confirmed it ages ago.

Regardless of why Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy Versus… crap… XV (I have to get used to saying that now) are going multiplatform, they would have been killer titles for the PlayStation 4 if they would have remained exclusive. Sony would have had two more games to add to their line up of awesome exclusives and would have shown that they were clearly ready to dominate the next generation of console gaming. Sony's E3 press conference clearly displayed success when both these games were unveiled, it appeared that Sony would dominate the next gen without competition.

Obviously two games can not dictate the entire success of a console, but a popular series can. How many times have you heard someone say they purchased a console because they just had to play an exclusive game? It happens all the time and with these two games in particular it would have benefited Sony a lot if these titles were to remain exclusive to the PlayStation 4. Sony still has a load of great exclusives and will likely impress us with future exclusives. Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV will more than likely be heavily promoted for the PlayStation 4, sort of like Call of Duty is promoted to look like it's for the Xbox only.

In the end gamers who enjoy all aspects of gaming will get two games from Tetsuya Nomur that will more than likely be great.

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Kingdom Hearts’ Creator Speaks on Disney’s Recent Acquisitions
“Woah…they’ve done it again”
by Marty SlivaJune 12, 2013

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There’ve been a handful of mornings over the past few years where Tetsuya Nomura, creator of the Kingdom Hearts series and director of Final Fantasy XV, woke up to some pretty interesting news. It turns out, these were the mornings where he awoke to hear word that Disney had purchased another in a litany of interesting companies. From Pixar and Marvel Entertainment to Lucasfilm, Disney has been quickly evolving into an entertainment Goliath.

With news that Disney now owns the rights do these various companies and their respective properties, of course Nomura would get interested and begin imagining the possibilities for those new characters and worlds inside of the Kingdom Hearts universe. In an E3 interview with IGN, he explained, “Whenever I hear of the news, I always say, ‘woah…they’ve done it again.’”

“The first thing I do when I find out this news is contact Disney and see if it’s something I can use [in Kingdom Hearts].”

We followed up by asking him if Disney had ever answered with a yes, to which he replied, “Disney’s companies are all very different. Sometimes the answer is ‘absolutely no,’ and sometimes the answer is, ‘…hmm, we don’t know...’”

Nomura was obviously a bit coy about specific details regarding specific Disney properties, especially considering that Kingdom Hearts III was just announced at Sony’s press conference a few days ago, followed by word that it's coming to Xbox One as well. But he was willing to elaborate a bit more on his relationship with the media giant, saying that, “Disney’s pretty honest. If the situation is really difficult, they’ll say, it’s really difficult. If it’s impossible, they’ll say it’s impossible.

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Kingdom Hearts III Director Nomura Talks About The Game’s Current Progress
By SatoJune 12, 2013

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After releasing Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance last year for Nintendo 3DS and more recently revealing the latest trailer for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, it came as a big surprise to see Square Enix announce Kingdom Hearts III for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Director Tetsuya Nomura talked about the game’s development in an interview with Famitsu.

Nomura started out by talking about the recent reveal:


On this note, Famitsu pointed out that the game’s visuals are already looking solid.

Nomura replies, “We call these visuals the ‘Kingdom Shader’, within the development crew. The characters will look like in the original worlds. The shader will adjust according to each world, so Disney’s worlds will have their own fitting visuals.”

The next-generation Luminous Studio engine was first introduced by Square Enix during last year’s E3 showing of the Agnis Philosophy tech demo, which is also being used for Final Fantasy XV. Nomura and his team are currently using the Luminous as the base and developing in an “overspec” environment. We assume this means PC, as FFXV is being developed on PC, and both it and Kingdom Hearts III use DirectX 11.)

The battle parts that were shown in the trailer actually weren’t recorded while running on the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, Nomura shares, but are representative of the level of quality he hopes to achieve. Nomura says the footage in the trailer is very close to what it will look like running in real-time. (The demo was running in the overspec development environment.)

Famitsu then asked about how Kingdom Hearts III’s action has evolved:


In concluding, Nomura leaves the following message for fans:


Kingdom Hearts III is currently in development for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

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Nomura details Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III in Famitsu
by Erren Van DuineJune 12, 2013

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Nomura’s at E3 this year – that we already know; however, finding interview with him is few and far between – unless you’re Famitsu it seems.

The magazine went behind closed doors to interview the director of both titles, gleaming from him a few more details we’d not known previously.

Of interest, Nomura says the line in the trailer “about the fifteenth coming” was more of a gag joke than anything – it will not be in the game. He acknowledges that the “A world of the VERSUS epic” tagline at the end of the trailer specifically refers to the possibility of turning the setting into a series of its own. He says the story in FFXV will reach a climax, but it is like the conclusion of a single part of a larger epic poem. There will be room for more stories to be told – so don’t be surprised if a FFXV-2 shows up at some point.

Nomura is aware that for large scale console development projects, there might be a need to keep people interested in the long term with online elements (multiplayer) rather than just offer a short term single player experience. There are no concrete plans as of yet but he’s looking at all possibilities to see what fits.

Square Enix is also interested in expanding new FF experiences to the PS Vita – note that XV will be playable through it by Sony mandate anyway – as well as smartphones and tablets. In terms of the types of content, they will be new experiences instead of tried and true FF ones.

Those worried about another FFXV media hiatus need not – Nomura promises there will be more of XV from now on, especially at larger events such as Tokyo Game Show.

Onto Kingdom Hearts III, Nomura says they’re calling the shading technique in the game the “Kingdom Shader” and shaders will change with each Disney world to create more authentic visual experiences based on source material. In regards to the actual engine for XV and KH3, the teams are looking to use Luminous Studio as the main engine. By developing on an Overspec PC environment, it makes porting content to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One quite easy.

The battle footage shown for KH3 is a pre-rendered movie as the tools they’re using have difficulty outputting stuff on the actual systems right now – though Nomura promises it runs in real time in the development environment and it should look the same given time.

The two biggest new things in KH3 which he talks about are “crazy scale action” and way better enemy AI. He confirms that there will be a three character party in the game, but NPCs and allies in each world will also join in battles, and there will be crazy epic aerial action sound like KH. He also talks about enemy AI being more complex and being able to interact with the player, like Sora riding on a vehicle type enemy and so on.

The team is also considering online features for KH3, as well as other features that have not been in a KH title before.

Finally, Nomura thinks that it would be great if they can time the release of more information on KH3 at the D23 Expo Japan in October along with TGS. KH3 is seen as a rival production for FFXV, currently in development at Square Enix’s Osaka studio while the main team works on Final Fantasy.

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Kingdom Hearts 3 Announced 'Too Early' Says Nomura
by Darryl KayeJun 13th, 2013

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Square Enix managed to recapture the imaginations of a whole horde of Kingdom Hearts fans during the Sony press conference, as they announced that Kingdom Hearts 3 was in development. However, the series' creator Tetsuya Nomura had some words of warning.

In an interview with Famitsu, Nomura stated that he feels the game has been announced too soon, but understands why it needed to be done.

"Since the release of Kingdom Hearts II, I believe that many fans were feeling impatient due to our continuous releases of spin-off titles, so we decided to announce it at the same time as Final Fantasy XV. However, looking at the current development status, I think we may have announced it a little too early."

This doesn't bode all that well, as Square Enix don't have a fantastic track record for releasing games too close to their announcements. Could this mean a release in 2015-2016?

Nomura stated that more information about Kingdom Hearts 3 would be revealed at Disney's D23 Expo Japan in October, as well as this year's Tokyo Game Show in September.

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Opinion:
Why You Shouldn’t Get TOO Excited About Kingdom Hearts III
by Ryan BrownJune 14, 2013

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When Kingdom Hearts came out in 2002, my little 11-year-old mind was blown. Having grown up on hack-and-slashes, RPGs and action-adventure games (as well as platformers and horrors, though that’s irrelevant), it was a perfect combination of everything that I loved about gaming at the time. At that young age, I didn’t follow video game news – I just impulse purchased games that looked good by the box and I’d liked previous Square-Enix titles, so I picked it up a year after its release.

I played the game and loved every minute of it. At the time, its story felt humongously epic, the graphics colourful and charming, its gameplay perfect for my tastes, the characters (the original characters, anyway) iconic and, for the first and only time in my life, I enriched myself in a game’s fandom. I recall reaching the Maleficent battle and thinking ‘this is probably my favourite game of all time’ and pre-ordered a game for the first time when the sequel was announced. Though I somehow missed Chain of Memories at the time, I even enjoyed 358/2 Days on the DS — in short, I was a fan.

It’s surprised me then that, having been such a large fan and still regarding the series quite highly, I’m not quite as excited by the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3 as I once thought I would be by the news – and here’s why.

My interest in the series has been dimmed by many factors but first and foremost, Square-Enix really underestimated how damaging excessive spin-offs can be, especially when they’re spread out over a spectrum of platforms. When there’s more spin-offs of a franchise than primary titles, you know you’ve gotten off track a fair bit. The problem with this is that, barring perhaps Kingdom Hearts Coded for the mobile and Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded on the Nintendo DS, each title is integral to the running plot of the series.

This means that in order to follow the game’s storyline and own every title, you’d have to purchase a PlayStation 2, a Game Boy Advance, a Nintendo DS, a Nintendo 3DS, a PSP and soon a PlayStation 3 (for the HD re-release). This means that the series’ plot convolution and over-complexity that began with Organization XIII’s first appearance (bringing with it an attempt to shake off much of the Disney vibe) has continued from platform to platform, bringing with it the typical RPG-esque flaw of an insane Lost-like plot structure.

I specifically remember explaining the entire plot of 365/2 Days and its significance to the first two titles to a friend one day and realising just how unnecessarily complicated it all was. I worry that if I still haven’t played Birth by Sleep or Dream Drop Distance by the time Kingdom Hearts III is released that I’ll be slightly out-of-the-loop.

It should be kept in mind that what has now become the upcoming next-gen title Final Fantasy XV has been in development for seven years since it was announced. Honestly, don’t be shocked if Kingdom Hearts III suffers the same fate — it was announced much earlier than it should have been and you’ll most definitely be waiting for years still before you see this game. Don’t take much notice of tentative 2014 dates buzzing around the internet as that estimate it’s simply false – the game’s going to take a while, so don’t get too excited yet.

Let’s hope that they don’t introduce yet another monster type in the next game. The way they explained Nobodies sort-of made sense, but they’re seemingly clutching at straws now and I’m more than happy enough with just the Heartless and Nobody archetypes. Let’s also hope that Kingdom Hearts III sticks to classic Disney worlds (even Tron and Pirates of the Carribean worlds were pushing it), seeing as Star Wars and Marvel properties are now possibilities.

To make a game out of this that will live up to the first two numerical titles’ standards will be a miracle. I’d be lying if I said it’s not still one of my most desired upcoming games; perhaps I’m just being cynical with age, perhaps I have legitimate concerns. Either way, it’ll be years before we get to see what they come out with.

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Final Fantasy XV Director Tetsuya Nomura Impressed by Titanfall, Watch_Dogs, Battlefield 4, Metal Gear Solid V
by Giuseppe NelvaJune 17, 2013

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Legendary Director Tetsuya Nomura Inpressed many at E3 with Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III, but what games impressed Tetsuya Nomura himself? Quite a few, as he said during an interview for the Japanese gaming site Dengeki Online. Interestingly, none of the titles he mentioned was a RPG:


If you’re surprised about the JRPG legend Nomura-san mentioning a bunch of shooters, you probably shouldn’t be. In the past he went on record several times stating his appreciation for first and third person shooter games, mentioning that he tried to implement shooter-like mechanics in Kingdom Hearts games. Some of what we’ve seen of Final Fantasy XV also resembles cover-based shooters.

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Kingdom Hearts III all but ruled out for Wii U
by BrianJune 18, 2013

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Square Enix made a surprise announcement during Sony’s E3 2013 press conference last week. Kingdom Hearts III, a title fans of the series have been dying to see for many years, was finally revealed. It was later confirmed that an Xbox One version is in the works as well.

Sadly, Square Enix’s tradition of not releasing Kingdom Hearts games on Nintendo home consoles will likely continue. Tetsuya Nomura all but ruled out a Wii U version of Kingdom Hearts III at Square Enix’s Future of Final Fantasy E3 event a few days ago. When asked about the title possibly coming to Wii U, Nomura explained that the team is developing it using DirectX 11. Square Enix can only bring the game to hardware that is “appropriate” for Kingdom Hearts III.

The Wii U’s inability to properly support DirectX 11 is apparently one of the major reasons third-parties pointed to when asked why their PlayStation 4/Xbox One games aren’t planned for Wii U. That could be a significant problem for the console and Nintendo going forward.

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Kingdom Hearts 3 detailed by game director Tetsuya Nomura
by Kevin GiffordJune 19, 2013

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Kingdom Hearts 3 had its first trailer unveiled at last week's E3, but other than the fact it's a PlayStation 4 and Xbox One game, we don't know much about it beyond the rumors of the past few years. Famitsu magazine attempted to get some solid answers out of director Tetsuya Nomura in this week's issue, and here are the results:

Nomura confirmed that KH3's story begins where Dream Drop Distance's left off. "We're proceeding along with which worlds we'll be selecting for the game," he said. "It's the final episode in the 'Dark Seeker' saga that began with the original KH, and it'll depict the final battle with Xehanort."

The new visual style seen in the trailer reflects the results of a long trial-and-error effort. "We spent a while figuring out what direction to take KH's visuals in the next generation," Nomura said. "Should we go for a more realistic look like in recent projects, or try something else? Along the way, we remembered that these KH characters were originally paintbrush art from Disney productions, a texture that was one of our original aims, and that it was time to return to that. So [chief creative director Takeshi] Nozue went through a series of tests, and the results are the visuals that we refer to in the team as the Kingdom Shader. It may look like a pretty drastic change, but I see it as a rich evolution of everything we've shown you up to now."

How is KH's gameplay evolving? "We have a demo version running on the actual hardware, but the action's pretty frantic. The really bold action we've always had is getting even crazier. KH3 has three-person parties, but NPCs and other characters join the fight in each individual world, and the resulting action is really flashy and exciting. The enemy AI is a lot more intricate, too, and I think the gameplay will reflect that new dynamic balance. For example, there's a foe that's shaped like a vehicle, and Sora may jump on it and fly around; that's already implemented."

It'll still be a while before KH3 comes out, but Nomura promised that it'll be back in the public spotlight soon, either at the Tokyo Game Show this fall, the Disney-oriented D23 Expo Japan event in October, or both. "The FF15 and KH3 teams are aware of each other," he said. "They're constantly honing their work at this point in development. Even though KH3 is still pretty early in development, it's already producing some great scenes in Square Enix's internal conferences. We're discussing new developments never seen in any KH before, so keep an eye on further updates."

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Tetsuya Nomura: Porting Kingdom Hearts III to PS4 and Xbox One “Very Similar”, Introduces the Kingdom Shader
by Giuseppe NelvaJuly 02, 2013

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Tetsuya Nomura doesn’t seem to have much of a preference between the two platforms that will host Kingdom Hearts III, as he expressed as part of an interview interview for the online spin-off of the Japanese magazine Famitsu.

When asked about using Luminous Studio with the game he talked about porting the game to PS4 and Xbox One, and shared an additional tidbit of trivia about the trailer we saw at E3:


He also shared some very interesting information about a new shader the development team is using for the game and that will ensure a high degree of visual variety:


This is actually quite interesting, as the different worlds are one of the main features of the Kingdom Hearts series, and giving each of them a different visual feel will most probably add even more flavor to the game. Bring it on, Nomura-san, our bodies are ready!

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Nomura-san gets interviewed at Japan Expo
speaks about KH3 and FFXV
by Humad Ali ShahJuly 07, 2013

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Tetsuya Nomura, the director of Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV showed up at the Japan Expo in France and was interviewed by Finaland and Final Fantasy Dream about his two upcoming games.


The complete interview is as follows:

Finaland & FFDream: Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMIX includes Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, which was released exclusively in Japan. How then will the new cutscenes be localized for the Western version? Will it be dubbed in French?

Tetsuya Nomura :Unfortunately we didn’t have any opportunity to put the french voice over in this 1.5 version so it’s going to be french subtitles only.

Finaland & FFDream : How did you come to split the development team into two teams? How far are you involved in the development of Kingdom Hearts III?

TN : For this HD version of Kingdom Hearts 1.5, the main programmers never actually worked in the Kingdom Hearts series before and they did all the remastering, all the processing, all the actual work by themselves and for Kingdom Hearts III the other staff is doing all the testing, deciding which kind of elements we want to put in the game and everything.

So there’s one team doing HD 1.5 and another one doing KH3, that’s how we’ve been working for the last couple years.

Regarding my personal involvement in Kingdom Hearts III, I always have been heavily involved in this project compared to the other games i’m actually producing or directing.

The team creating Kingdom Hearts III is in the studios in Osaka, and as you guys know Osaka and Tokyo are a little bit far away from each other but we meet enough with meetings quite often and we’re doing telephone conferences too. So we communicate all the time as I am quite heavily involved on this project.

Finaland & FFDream : With the acquisition of Marvel and Lucas Arts by Disney, could you imagine adding some kind of stuff from these licenses in the game ?

TN : (laughs) Of course it would be great if we could add those licenses as well. But there are lots of rules and restrictions by disney so we can’t actually put everything people want, so it’s a quite difficult decision but we’re gonna prepare some surprises for you so, just wait for the informations.

Finaland & FFDream : Because you know that Kitase-san (Yoshinori Kitase) is a big fan of Star Wars ! So you have to do that !

TN : (laughs) We’re not going to decide it whether Kitase-san likes Star Wars or not but we’ve been talking about Star Wars itself since it became Disney’s content recently. When I eared the news I was like “Wow ! Wow !”. Yeah obviously it’s gonna be great if we could add it, but like I said there are a lot of restrictions and rules by Disney so we don’t know what’s gonna happen but yeah, we’ll see.

Finaland & FFDream : Can we expect a multiplayer cooperative mode with many playables characters in KHIII ?

TN : The Kingdom Hearts series always had Sora as the main character, so we want to make the most of Sora, playable Sora of course. But again, Kingdom Hearts III is going to be the last chapter of the Kingdom Hearts main numbering title series, so lots of fans actually want to play as their favorite characters in Kingdom Hearts III so we will consider that, we will listen to what fans wants but hopefully we could give you some surprises in the future announcements.

Finaland & FFDream : You watch a lot of movies, how does that inspire you ? Do you pick some ideas in the movies you watch ?

TN : I watch movies a lot, I mean A LOT (laughs), normally like two, three films a day, it’s my pace. I watch quite a lot so I don’t always remember the names or titles even. So I watch and then I get a bit of inspirations from films and stuff, I can’t name the actual titles of the movies that actually inspired me to create games but when I’m watching movies sometimes I feel like “ Oh ! That’s nice !” or “That’s good!”, something like that.

Finaland & FFDream : Nomura-san, your character outfits are more and more detailed. When we saw Cloud for the first time in 1997 and now Noctis in 2013, there’s a lot of greatness in them. Have you received some fashion lessons or do you just follow fashion ?

TN : Obviously I always think about the current kind of trend and fashion and everything when I create the characters but this time for XV and Noctis and all the main characters that have been revealed, this time we actually asked for a professional brand to create the characters outfits, we also have the actual clothes in the office so our CG team and all the teams can actually see the clothes with their own eyes to create exactly the same image in the game. And that’s really easier because previously when I created the characters, all the CG team and all of our entire development team always asked me “Is this leather? Is this coton? Is this nylon? How many percentage ? Dadadada” That’s a lot of detailed questions so it’s always difficult to precise what kind of texture are the clothes made off and stuff like that, so that’s why this time we had the actual clothes made and then we take it from there and put it in the game.

Finaland & FFDream : Nomura-san, you work on a lot of project like Final Fantasy XV, the Kingdom Hearts Saga, The World Ends With You. How do you manage all the projects you have at the same time?

TN : Actually I am not very good at managing myself, especially at managing lots of different projects, but because of my staff and all the staffs are very very intelligent, very good and very capable I’m able to run all the different projects at the same time. And also the most important are the Co-Directors in each project, again they are very capable and skilled people, they are the people actually managing the actual everyday job on the ground. That’s why I’m here, they are supporting me all the time.

Finaland & FFDream : You’ve created a lot of characters for the Final Fantasy series. What’s your favorite character between all those you’ve created ?

TN : Hmm if I had to choose a favorite character, I would say Sora, and Noctis. Why them? Of course Sora, I’ve been together with him for more than ten years now, this is the first time i’ve been with a character for such a long time, so he’s very very special for me and he’s been adopted by Disney also, so he’s a very very good boy. More like a good son actually.

Also there is Noctis, he hasn’t been in front of you, I mean moving etc yet in a real gameplay but he will soon, in the future.

Do you know the name Sora mean the “sky”, in japanese and Noctis, his family name is Caelum which mean sky as well so basically, Noctis mean “night sky”, so they are kind of complete opposites to each other. There is a reason why I named these characters as opposites. Noctis is kind of like my latest boy, or latest son and I expect him to be more clever than Cloud.

Finaland & FFDream : Okay, one question Tetsuya Nomura, very important for us, and for Hideo Kojima because Hideo Kojima said he’d love a remake of Final Fantasy VII, but what about you ? Would you like to play a Metal Gear Solid 1 Remake ?

TN : To play ?

Finaland & FFDream : Yes, to play.

TN : Of course I’d like, if he were going to do a MGS remake.

Finaland & FFDream : And what do you think about the differences of the Fox Engine and your own Luminous Engine ?

TN : I think the Fox Engine and Luminous Engine are totally different engines because they each got different kind of abilities and skills and stuff that we could use in a game. One engine can do certain things the other engine can’t for example. It depends on what you want to do, but I think they totally are two different kind of engines.

Finaland & FFDream : A Final Fantasy XV question, what should we expect in terms of vehicles ? Can we pilot airships and explore the world of Final Fantasy XV and discover its secrets ?

TN : We don’t have any big plans for having different type of vehicles and stuff like that. There’s one you saw in the recent trailer of course.

Well two things you probably could use, first, the car, the car is gonna be the vehicle you’ll use probably the most in the game. The other one, the magitek armor, you can actually control and ride the magitek armor as well, in a future reveal you’ll probably find more.

Finaland & FFDream : A motorbike ?

TN : (laughs) In Final Fantasy XV you play as a party, you’re always with your friends so five guys riding a motorbike together, I’m not sure if this would works.

Finaland & FFDream : In a gang ! Like Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo.

TN : (laugh), yeah maybe it doesn’t look very good in a game.

Finaland & FFDream : Why did you change Stella’s design and made her look so much younger. Is it because of story development or because you made a survey with the audience ?

TN : There is no specific reason behind hit, but we didn’t want to make her look younger, we just wanted to make her a little bit prettier. That’s all.

Finaland & FFDream : But in 2007 she was very nice ! She’s very nice and still pretty but she’s still a little younger.

TN : When I created Stella, back in 2007, I actually created something that is not my type of character, but obviously time has past since then, about six years now, and then she actually became something that I quite like now.

Finaland & FFDream : In the trailer we could briefly see Noctis with red eyes. Will the red eyes give him some sort of special power during the battles ?

TN : In the last promotion trailer, Noctis got red eyes because he got the ability of teleportation, so that’s why when he did that, his eyes got red. Actually Visual Works created the trailer back then in 2007.

When you actually play the game, you can’t really see and zoom in the face of the character anyway. And he moves very fast as well so… if the character’s face is actually seen in a zoomed-in on the screen, we probably could still make his eyes red but we haven’t decided whether we’re gonna need the red eyes or not.

Finaland & FFDream : The game looks very serious and fatalist. Have you planned to add some sort of fun moments or funny mini-games ?

TN : We are actually thinking to have some sort of fun elements in the game, but for the moment the priority is to create the main game itself. I will add or not add stuff like that depending on how the development of the main game goes , but yeah we are thinking about that.

Finaland & FFDream : About the artistic direction of the game. The appearance of the Kingdom of Lucis is much like the Shinjuku district in Tokyo and Accordo has the same feeling of Venice, in Italy. Can we hope to see some places inspired by the french regions perhaps ? Paris perhaps ?

TN : Well do you have any games actually based in Paris ?

Finaland & FFDream : Deling City from Final Fantasy VIII with the Arc de Triomphe.

TN : If we’ve used it before we might not want to use it in a new game (laughs). So i’m not sure about using Paris. In my opinion, in lot of RPG games there are many European motives, European things, cities and stuff where your characters live and play but you guys still think like you need more European things or French things?

Finaland & FFDream : We’d just love to see that in Final Fantasy, we are sure it would be very nice.

TN : Well we’ll thing about that, that’s all I can say.

Finaland & FFDream : Thank you very much !

We’ve seen a lot of male characters with Noctis and his friends. Is there going to be girls as playable characters as well ?

TN : I can’t say anything specific now but it would be… quite difficult, to have a girl playable.

Finaland & FFDream : Question about this place, we are in Japan Expo, there are more than two hundred thousand people there, loving japanese culture so much. We actually watch anime in original version and we watched Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete only in japanese.

Can we hope to get the original japanese voices for Final Fantasy XV in Europe.

TN : That all depends of the capacity of the disc. The two main reason are the disc space and also the lip sync, because if we’re making the game, with the characters speaking in english but with the voices in japanese, the lip sync would not match. Even though you’d prefer having the japanese voices?

Finaland & FFDream : Yes, actually, please, we have a solution for you, can you think of a limited edition with only japanese voices and french text, would it be possible to do that?

TN : You really want this that much?

Finaland & FFDream : YES YES YES we really want japanese voices.

TN : (laughs) You’ll have to say this YES YES YES to Square enix though for not to me. If you guys really want THAT kind of request very much from all the fans and all the community side and everything, it would probably be best to tell Square Enix France or Square Enix Europe to make that happen. Square Enix France of Europe could speak to Square Enix Japan and it probably could make it happen, but we’ll see.

Finaland & FFDream : Thank you !

Next question, is it Game Over if Noctis dies ?

TN : At some time I said that the game was gonna be over when Noctis died, when we were talking about Versus XIII, but now as Versus XIII became Final Fantasy XV we haven’t decided it actually so we can’t really say if it’s going to change or not, we’ll see.

Finaland & FFDream : Will we be able to customize weapons and equipments of our characters ?

TN : I’m sorry but we can’t say anything about that, yet.

Finaland & FFDream : What can you tell us about the future of Dissidia, on PSVita or PS4 maybe ? With the addition of Noctis ?

TN : I’m not that heavily involved in Dissidia project, but if director Takahashi want to include Noctis in the next Dissidia game, I would probably think about it then, but I can’t really say anything so far.

Finaland & FFDream : You made the two video presentations for E3 from Artnia the place for all your fans in Japan

The announcement was so exciting for us, how do you react to that and are you glad to be back?

TN : I was very very busy, I didn’t prepare enough to do that video message recording at all…

Finaland & FFDream : It was GOOD !

TN : (laughs) Actually that recording was, yes, happening in Artnia, recorded by the promo and publicity staffs. There was not even a microphone there, so it probably was quite difficult for you guys to listen to what I actually said. I was myself really surprised as well because Sony said they needed a video message so that’s why we did it, only a couple of days before flying for E3.

Finaland & FFDream : What will the addition of Hajime Tabata, the great producer of Final Fantasy Type-0 bring to the FFXV team ?

TN : The reason why we bringed Tabata-san into the team is because he always said to me that it wanted to join the Final Fantasy XV project. I asked him in the team, his vitality and mentality are always very motivated and very high. In the future campaign and until the game is out, Tabata-san himself will be going to speak in front of you guys more often so please ask him in details when he’s available.

Finaland & FFDream : Nomura-san can we imagine that you’ll work on Final Fantasy XV-2 just after finishing the first one?

TN : Obviously we haven’t decided yet. We don’t have any concrete plan for a future sequel of FFXV, it would be good if we could do that but we can’t announce it or say anything into detail for the moment so wait for future informations.

Finaland & FFDream : Last question, Nomura-san it’s the first time we saw you with the fan communities in France, we are very happy to see you. Do you think that you will come again next time ?

TN : Of course i’d love to come again, but other people working on my project obviously want to come to meet the fans and meet you guys as well, so we’re gonna decide depending on what kind of event or opportunity we’ll have in a future. You guys definitely want to see the same face every year so (laughs) we’ll see about that.

Finaland & FFDream : We always see Kitase-san and Toriyama-san. Hashimoto-san too. We saw them every year for XIII, XIII-2, Lightning Returns. I saw Shinji Hashimoto in 2010 and we talked about Versus XIII and we were talking about teleportation in the game and he said “Oh I don’t know if Nomura-san will do that” and now we actually see that in the game and it’s just amazing.

Thank you very much for your work and we all hope that you will succeed with this project.

TN : This time I came here to promote Kingdom Hearts 1.5 (laughs) so it’s a bit early for me to talk to you about the details of Final Fantasy XV, but when we’ll have to decide when to release, or for the campaign kick-off i’ll probably come back again, we’ll see, and thank you.

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Tetsuya Nomura Would Like Voice Recognition With Kinect and PlayStation Camera in Kingdom Hearts III
by Giuseppe NelvaJuly 08, 2013

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Kingdom Hearts III Game Director Tetsuya Nomura seems to be definitely interested in the features coming with the Xbox One and the PS4 thanks to Kinect and to the PlayStation Camera, and his personal favorite seems to be voice recognition, as he stated as part of a larger interview on the French fansite KHDestiny.


How do you feel about it? Do you actually think the idea would be nice, or (like me) you still prefer the old dear controller and its traditional and trustworthy buttons? Whether you like the idea or not, I guess the option can’t hurt, as long as it’s just an option, even if the ability to order Disney characters around like puppets does seem somehow appealing, especially for emergency commands.

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Talking Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts & Development Philosophy with Tetsuya Nomura
We chat to Square Enix's most prolific designer.
by Alex DonaldsonJuly 16, 2013

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For readers of a site like RPG Site, Tetsuya Nomura really needs little to no introduction. To most he is the character designer of Final Fantasy VII, arguably the most beloved in the series, but his career extends far beyond that. He's responsible for much of the design in the eigth, tenth and thirteenth FF titles, too, and is the creator and Director of the Kingdom Hearts series - a franchise with unprecedentedly rapid growth that led it to even threaten eclipsing Final Fantasy sales for a period.

It's no surprise that so much of the current Japanese output of Square Enix hinges of the creative juices of this particular individual. He's now at the helm of both Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III, the company's two biggest next-generation bets. In a sense, Nomura embodies all that Square Enix currently is - and after rocky financial returns, his vision needs to produce results.

We catch up with Nomura at the tail end of a rare slew of interviews. He's known for his privacy, preferring to remain with the team working than head out on press tours, and this is his first time being interviewed in Europe since around 2006. He tells me he's very tired, but still puts in the effort to answer my questions on development, philosophy and the bizarre sort of fame his characters have gifted him in detail.



RPG Site: It must be an interesting time for you right now - in Kingdom Hearts 1.5 you're revisiting a major milestone in your career, while building two new ones in Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III. When you look back at your older titles, such as KH1 or FF7 and 8, what do you see? Do you see changes you would like to make, or do you release your creations once complete?

Tetsuya Nomura: Well, as a creator I always create something new - I keep challenging myself to create something new. Looking back on my old games and everything I was involved in, I often think to myself 'I could have done this' or 'I could have added that,' and stuff like that. It's part of the process.

Right now, though, for Kingdom Hearts specifically - the original game was released more than ten years ago now, but looking back, the original Kingdom Hearts Final Mix... I don't feel like I should add this or that, or any more. Back then, it was perfect as it is.

Even though I've played this HD version of the game knowing its age, I don't feel that it's very old when I play it. I can still feel the passion I had back then in this original game - so, yeah. If we remake a game, maybe we then go and think about adding new elements and sequences and stuff like that, or making large changes - but I think a HD remaster, with the visual upgrade, is the right thing for this particular game.



RPG Site: One thing that fascinates me about you, as with Kojima-san, is your taste in and love of movies. I saw a great quote from you at E3 about Les Miserables. I'm curious about your personal taste in movies and how that inspires what you do - can you tell us a bit about that, and how your taste in moves effects your game creation philosophy?

Tetsuya Nomura: Hmmm... Well, yes, I watch movies a lot. I mean -- a LOT. Sometimes I watch a film to try to get some inspiration from it, and sometimes I just watch them for fun, with a really flat feeling about it, not thinking anything. Basically, normally, I'm not feeling anything - I just put the film on and watch.

Because I watch so many films, I struggle to remember specific ones that I got my inspirations from, but if we were talking genres, I love watching horror films probably the most. If you look at my work on Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts -- [laughs] Is there any horror influence there? For me personally, it doesn't work that because I have been inspired by something I then create something similar - it doesn't work like that for me.


It all depends on the genre, and the kind of feeling I get from a particular movie - that all depends on what I feel after I've watched a film. Maybe I get something, maybe I can't.

If you take Les Miserables, which you mentioned - I don't like the musical genre anyway. It's not because I like musicals I liked that film -- but as a total score, that film was really good.

It's not like I love one particular type of film - it's all about the balance. The balance of artwork, actors and actresses, also story - if everything matches, it can make one particular film great, like Les Miserables.

Les Miserables and Romeo and Juliet [The 1996 movie version], which of course I also like - they are old, traditional plays that have been updated. I've never actually seen the original stage play, but the reason why I really like those classic plays is because of the total balance of everything - the balance of all the levels.

For me, especially the last scene of Les Miserables where everybody is singing together - that scene was unbelievable.



RPG Site:Even the dead get their encore, right?

Nomura: [laughs] It's amazing, isn't it? Very moving - all the music, it's a very powerful scene. That kind of classic play always has a really good total balance.



RPG Site: You use the word balance a lot; is that something you seek in your game design? Do you think there's a parallel between movie and game creation?

Nomura: To an extent, but of course there's a massive difference between balance in films and balance creating a game. Especially creating some games for next-gen consoles - because the next gen consoles have a high spec and a lot of new functionality and everything - there's a kind of gap between the film-making and game creating at the moment.

Especially at the moment for game-making, there's just loads of staff involved... as a director, I can't do anything by myself! A director on a film can control things more, but I can't instruct all the people by myself. If the game is triple-A, a big, big project... the way I can use my power, and how to direct people... it's very difficult!



RPG Site: After the E3 announcement and showing, a lot of people online are defining FF15 as having Kingdom Hearts style combat. When 15 was Versus, I always figured it as an experiment - that your team would then go on to KH3 after completing that - but now Osaka is on KH3, which also looks to have that signature gameplay style. Does that concern you - that the two games could end up too similar in gameplay?

Nomura: Okay, so... [pauses] Two games. Both directed by myself. [laughs] However, both games are developed by two completely different teams. The two of them - they don't fight, but they compete - in a friendly way - and they try to create better things together. Both sides are, of course, developed for next-gen consoles as well.


There's a difference between the two, of course; Final Fantasy XV is a numbered title - the big history behind Final Fantasy, the task they have on their shoulders is huge, because it's the latest Final Fantasy game and has to live up to that history.

For the Kingdom Hearts team there is less history, but there are thousands of people around the world who are so passionate about the Kingdom Hearts series and have been for years - and this of course is the first announced numbered Kingdom Hearts title in many years, as well. People's hopes and expectations are very, very high there, as well - so that is on their shoulders as well.

So, the two teams have different kinds of tasks, different kinds of missions they have to complete and accomplish. That's the most important thing for both teams.

From the user's point of view, I don't think they worry about these things, or think 'which is better?' or anything like that - both teams look in a different direction. The most important thing for me is that they focus on the tasks - the missions - that each team has.



RPG Site: It's appears it's all about sequels and spin-offs now. There were many Kingdom Hearts titles between II and III, while on the FF side we have sequels - X-2, XIII-2, Lighting Returns - and you've already announced FF15 will have sequels. How does planning for multiple titles at a time instead of just one effect you as a creator?

Nomura: To start, the reason why we have had so many Kingdom Hearts spin-off games... well, look - it's above your imagination, seriously, believe it or not - creating a HD game is unbelievably difficult. [laughs]

People think it's easy - even a HD remake like 1.5, they think 'Ah, easy job' - but it actually isn't like that at all. Everything is difficult in the process, even with a HD remaster of a game. For 1.5 for instance, when we decided to make it, we had to decide where we were going to concentrate because it was so difficult, there was so much work involved.


The main reason why we had so many spin-offs for Kingdom Hearts is because we couldn't start preparing for Kingdom Hearts III for a while - for a long time - because... well, because of some reasons, basically. However, if we didn't release any Kingdom Hearts games after the second at all, people might forget about the game, might forget about the series.

Obviously, I didn't want to do that - that's why we decided to make a spin-off game until the preparation for Kingdom Hearts III was ready to do.

So, in a way, because of this, if there were no spin-off games, there was no Kingdom Hearts III. It was kind of needed to have all those spin-offs - a lot of spin-offs - because the time was quite long before the Kingdom Hearts III preparation started.

With Final Fantasy, each game has a different reason why we decided to do sequels and stuff - for Final Fantasy X, for XIII... Of course, with Final Fantasy XV, we announced at E3 that there will - probably - be a sequel to this game, as well.

There's a lot of different reasons, and they all depend on the game and the situation as well. Of course with FFXV I wanted to release the previous version of the game constantly - but it was very, very difficult to do so.

Now we have re-revealed the game, I'm excited to bring more information in the future.



RPG Site: For creators like you, your famous characters will follow you forever. Cloud, Squall, Sora - and now Noctis - they'll follow you everywhere, and likely live on long after your career is over. In turn, you have become somewhat famous for creating them. I once asked this question to Sakaguchi-san, and he said that he did sometimes think this - Do you ever wish you could escape that legacy, and create something as an unknown, like 20 years ago?

Nomura: I've never actually felt that way ever before! [laughs] I'm not sure if you know the term, but in Japan I'm what you'd call a salary man! [laughs] The company's slave, basically - I don't feel any fame too much. I never feel the pressure - and because of that I've never felt the desire to drop my name and go anonymous.

I've really never felt burdened at all. All the characters I've created up until now... they're my kids! My children. I've obviously never thought about dropping or abandoning my kids! [laughs] Really, I've never felt that way before.

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Tetsuya Nomura speaks KH III and FFXV
by Humad Ali ShahJuly 17, 2013

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RPGSite, who managed to speak to game director Tetsuya Nomura, asked questions about Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV and how the two games will be different, along with their previous questions.


Tetsuya Nomura is the director of both Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV. Both these games are coming to next-generation consoles; both these games have a large fan-base and high expectations; both these games were announced together. Since they share some similarities, one wonders how these two games will be different. Will Nomura perhaps show us similar elements in both games, hence causing each of them to lose it’s charm by forgetting to be a unique experience? After all, Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV are sharing a similar real-time combat system. Anyone can notice the striking similarities by watching their trailers.

“Okay, so… two games. Both directed by myself,” Nomura said, laughing. “However, both games are developed by two completely different teams. The two of them – they don’t fight, but they compete – in a friendly way – and they try to create better things together. Both sides are, of course, developed for next-gen consoles as well.”

The fact that the two teams are competing is a good thing here. Each team will strive to bring something new into the game; something that the other team does not have. This will certainly make the two games different.

“There’s a difference between the two, of course; Final Fantasy XV is a numbered title – the big history behind Final Fantasy, the task they have on their shoulders is huge, because it’s the latest Final Fantasy game and has to live up to that history.

“For the Kingdom Hearts team there is less history, but there are thousands of people around the world who are so passionate about the Kingdom Hearts series and have been for years – and this of course is the first announced numbered Kingdom Hearts title in many years, as well. People’s hopes and expectations are very, very high there, as well – so that is on their shoulders as well.”

The topic of sequels and spin-offs was also raised. Square Enix has been known (and sometimes blamed) to produce sequels and spin-offs, some of which like X-2 and XIII-2, were quite unnecessary, according to many fans. Others, however, like Crisis Core were met with great enthusiasm. According to Nomura, “creating an HD game is unbelievably difficult.” A sequel or two are already being considered for Final Fantasy XV – even before it’s release!

“Of course, with Final Fantasy XV, we announced at E3 that there will – probably – be a sequel to this game, as well,” said Nomura. “There’s a lot of different reasons, and they all depend on the game and the situation as well. Of course with FFXV I wanted to release the previous version of the game constantly – but it was very, very difficult to do so. Now we have re-revealed the game, I’m excited to bring more information in the future.”

Speaking about HD remasters, “Everything is difficult in the process, even with a HD remaster of a game,” explained Nomura. “For 1.5 for instance, when we decided to make it, we had to decide where we were going to concentrate because it was so difficult, there was so much work involved.”

Nomura also explained that the reason Kingdom Hearts spawned spin-offs was because the third main title could not begin production, for reasons that he could not share. In order to prevent the Kingdom Hearts series from being forgotten, the spin-offs were created.

“So, in a way, because of this, if there were no spin-off games, there was no Kingdom Hearts III,” said Nomura. “It was kind of needed to have all those spin-offs – a lot of spin-offs – because the time was quite long before the Kingdom Hearts III preparation started.”

I wonder… would the story of Kingdom Hearts III be different if no spin-offs had been created? Or would their stories have been delivered to us in the third game itself?

What are your thoughts on Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy XV and this new information? Let us know in the comments below.

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Kingdom Hearts 3 Not Possible Without Spin-Off Games
Without the many Kingdom Hearts games we've seen as of late, there'd be no Kingdom Hearts 3.
by Josiah RenaudinJuly 17, 2013

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Disney and Final Fantasy fans are some of the most loyal, dedicated groups out there. These two brands carry a weight that few can match, so when Kingdom Hearts released years ago on the PlayStation 2, you could almost hear the cheers of millions of people who’ve kept their Sephiroth-themed backgrounds on their laptops from miles away. Each subsequent release brings in excited members of the community in droves, but the continued success of the franchise has never been a guarantee. In the eyes of series director and creator, Tetsuya Nomura, spin-off games had to be made to keep the brand alive.

Speaking with RPG Site, Nomura admitted that the many Kingdom Hearts games we’ve seen without a “3” on the end were made so that people wouldn’t forget about his believed action-RPG.

“The main reason why we had so many spin-offs for Kingdom Hearts is because we couldn't start preparing for Kingdom Hearts III for a while - for a long time - because... well, because of some reasons, basically,” he said. “However, if we didn't release any Kingdom Hearts games after the second at all, people might forget about the game, might forget about the series.”

We may never know what these “reasons” were, but it’s fortunate that they’ve been resolved. Kingdom Hearts 3 is now in the works, and that could have only been possible through the many non-numbered releases.

“Obviously, I didn't want to do that - that's why we decided to make a spin-off game until the preparation for Kingdom Hearts III was ready to do,” Nomura continued. “So, in a way, because of this, if there were no spin-off games, there was no Kingdom Hearts III.”

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Tetsuya Nomura is ready — at last — for ‘Kingdom Hearts 3” to progress
by Todd MartensJuly 26, 2013

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It’s been seven-plus years since the last core “Kingdom Hearts” game was released in the U.S. Although there’s been no shortage of spinoffs in the Disney-meets-”Final Fantasy”- role-playing-game series, a 10-year-in-the-making story will finally reach its conclusion when Square Enix publishes “Kingdom Hearts 3″ on next-gen consoles.

So how did series architect Tetsuya Nomura know he was ready to start bringing many of the branching plot points outlined in the numerous “Kingdom Hearts” to an end? He just did.

“First and most important,” said Nomura, speaking through a translator, “is the determination in my mind. That will launch the project. It’s difficult to explain what kind of determination I am talking about. As you can imagine, expectations by the fans for franchise with sequels go up each time.

“Fan expectation for ‘Kingdom Hearts 3′ is extremely high,” he continued. “To respond to those expectations, I have to provide something really good. Technology is really important, as is the [Disney] world.”

Unlike other franchises that Nomura helps shape, such as the “Final Fantasy” series, “Kingdom Hearts” has a more complicating element: Nomura must work closely with Disney. Throughout the games, heroes have traversed numerous Disney-inspired worlds, encountering universes built around properties as diverse as “The Little Mermaid” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Disney looks different today than it did in 2006, when “Kingdom Hearts 2″ was released in the U.S. Disney, for instance, has long since completed an acquisition of Pixar. Characters from Disney and Pixar films will collide in August’s “Disney Infinity” platform.

Could Pixar-inspired lands make their way into “Kingdom Hearts 3″? Nomura wouldn’t budge on what’s confirmed for the game but said the biggest challenge in designing the “Kingdom Hearts” titles is working with Disney to see which brands Square Enix will have at its disposal.

“What world is available for the title is an important question,” he said. “The story — it has to be great enough to meet the expectation of the fans. When that’s ready, and I feel like I am ready, then the game can start. The counterpart that I’ve been working with at Disney the past 10 years is the same person. We have very heated discussions about this franchise, and we’ve done that for the past 10 years, but we have a steady relationship.”

And though there was never any doubt that “Kingdom Hearts 3″ would eventually be released, Nomura bristles when the word “trilogy” is used. He intends the primary games in the series to tell a story, but the franchise will continue long after “Kingdom Hearts 3″ is released. To get fans up to speed for the next-gen edition of “Kingdom Hearts,” Square Enix will release “Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix” for the PS3 in September.

“There was never a plan,” he said. “As a core game, this is finally the third, and 10 years have passed. I couldn’t call this a trilogy. There have been so many spinoffs. In ‘Kingdom Hearts 3,’ the battles that the characters have been fighting for the past 10 years will come to a conclusion. That is the plan. But the series will continue. Only the particular enemy they have been fighting the past 10 years will come to an end.”

From a design standpoint, Nomura suggested fans get their hands on “Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance” if they’re looking for clues as to where he’s heading from a game-play perspective. The 3DS game was released last year and Nomura said he is using the hand-held title’s combat functionality as an early guide for “Kingdom Hearts 3.”

“We tried many experiments in that game that will be applied to ‘Kingdom Hearts 3,’ ” he said. “If you play ’3D,’ you will get some hint of ‘Kingdom Heart 3.’”

Nomura notes that all of this, of course, is open to change. ”Final Fantasy Versus XIII,” for instance, was announced years ago and after prolonged silence on the project was officially rebranded as “Final Fantasy XV” this spring.

“Square Enix changes its philosophies pretty often,” Nomura said. “That’s something I can’t do anything with. I’m just one of the employees, so if the company decides to change, I have to follow. I’m a so-called ‘salary man.’ Of course, the creative policy I have stays the same. “

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Kingdom Hearts 3 marks the end of a 'trilogy,' but not the series
by Andrew YoonJuly 26, 2013

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Kingdom Hearts 3 represents the end of a trilogy. Well, it's technically not a trilogy because as series creator Testuya Nomura admits, "there have been so many spinoffs."

Still, the story that started in the first Kingdom Hearts on PS2 in 2002 will be coming to something of an end, Nomura explained. "In Kingdom Hearts 3, the battles that the characters have been fighting for the past 10 years will come to a conclusion," he promised.

Of course, while KH3 may end one arc, it's far from the end for one of Square Enix's best-selling franchises. Speaking to The Los Angeles Times, Nomura said that "the series will continue. Only the particular enemy they have been fighting the past 10 years will come to an end."