So, in the 500th issue of Dengeki Playstation (big magazine in Japan) they had an interview with Yoshinori Kitase (KH Producer) and Tetsuya Nomura (KH Overlord) about various Square Enix titles, including Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. As the title of this update implies, this issue came out a while ago, on August 11th. I've been waiting this long to write junk about it because, to the best of my knowledge, a full translation has yet to surface. However, overviews of the interview have come out, which is awesome. If a full translation comes out...I dunno, I'll probably just update this post. So, yeah. Onwards, I guess.
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Ok, this first one comes from andrissang, so thanks! (I've taken out the bits pertaining to Final Fantasy and unrelated shizz 'cause, hey, I'm only required to ramble on about KH.)
"...In this week's Dengeki PlayStation (as summed up at Sokuho@Hokanko), Tetsuya Nomura reveals that the company plans on having playable versions of Final Fantasy XIII-2, Final Fantasy Type-0, Kingdom Hearts 3D and Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.
...TGS should end up being our first chance to get hands-on time with Kingdom Hearts 3D and Theatrhythm."
...TGS should end up being our first chance to get hands-on time with Kingdom Hearts 3D and Theatrhythm."
AWESOME. JUST AWESOME. Aw, first hands-on with DDD! Brilliant... Oh, TGS stands for Tokyo Game Show, basically Japan's E3 and starts September 15-18. I really wanna know how the whole control scheme works in DDD and how easy it is to manoeuvre Sora and Riku around the place. Are they in light show mode the majority of the time, or is it just a limited power-up kinda thing like Drive Forms in KH2? I'd say it's the former, what with Nomura always going on about how this game will have 'bold action' or whatever... And I'd say people will be taking videos left, right and centre of the gameplay and junk. Aw, excitement all round, lads! First smackeral of gameplay since the trailer all the way back in January... The ecstasy within my very core is over-whelming right now, I don't even know where to start.
"Joining the playable titles, Square Enix will have its usual Open Megatheater showing the latest game footage. Nomura hopes to release the footage from this online as soon as possible (you'll recall that they managed to do this last year, much to everyone's surprise.)"
And the excitement continues. Not only will there (most probably) be shaky, bad quality footage from various camera phones, but also official, high quality wonderment from Squeenix themselves. Awsome sauce! I've no idea how fast it went up last time, but hopefully it'll go as smoothly this time round as well.
"Nomura had some strong words for KH3D, saying that its quality is at the level of a console game. The motions that were shown in the game's trailers have been fully realized, right down to running on the walls. KH3D will have the flashiest motion of the series thus far, he promised."
The urge to squee is friggin' brobdingnagian right now and I am not even joking. ._. We already knew that DDD would be the quality of a console title, but it's always wondrous to hear it again. And running up walls?! YES PLEASE. We saw wall jumping with Riku in the last trailer in January (i.e. the only trailer), which is epic in itself, but we're getting running on walls as well?! Aw, I need to see this for myself. September can't come soon enough. (No student should ever, EVER say that, but at this point the only thing on my mind is TGS wonderment. (Not that I'm actually able to go, mind.)) From what we've seen so far, DDD is indeed looking spendiferously flashy. I can't wait to see what else we'll be able to do... As I said before, from how the game is being described, it seems like the spectacular light show awesomeness will probably be the majority of the gameplay and not just a power-up kinda thing. I know I'm gonna suck at it, but I honestly don't care.
"The development schedule for KH3D has reached high pitch, Nomura said. He hopes to release it as soon as possible following the start of the new year."
"The development schedule for KH3D has reached high pitch, Nomura said. He hopes to release it as soon as possible following the start of the new year."
O_O Doth my eyes deceive me?? Has my extremely optimistic prediction come true?! YYYEEEOOOWWW! Excitement has officially reached fever pitch, people! Exclamation marks abound!! Aw, early 2012 release... That's epic, right there. Sooo, if Japan gets it early Q1, let's say, maybe the rest of the world will start getting it mid-late Q2, early Q3? I think that's fair.
Also, in the last interview in July, Nomura said something about localization. Wait, lemme get it here... "...Right now I’m telling Disney about the scenarios, but it’s hard for them to understand it all at once. I’m explaining the reason and the established connections for each mystery one by one. It’s difficult since their approval is necessary to move forward with localization ..." I know it's not a concrete confirmation that they have definitely for sure started localization, but the fact he was talking about it that early, when the game was only 40-50% complete... I'm not saying they'll release the Elsewhere-versions on the same day as Japan or anything, but methinks that if they have indeed started localization already, then a shorter gap between the Japanese and Elsewhere releases shouldn't be completely out of the question. At least shorter than the gap for Birth By Sleep, which was ridiculous (9 months - yikes.)
"The interview also touched briefly on the future of the Kingdom Hearts series. Nomura admitted that it's become difficult to get new players into the series at present. This is one thing they're hoping to address as part of the series' 10th anniversary. One part of this plan is some sort of "HD technical test" for the series."
Veeeeeery mysterious indeed... See, this is why I wanted to wait for a full translation of the interview, just to get a slightly more accurate wording. I know that with translating some of the wording is bound to be off but... Anyway, what on earth is a 'HD technical test'?? Is it just seeing how easy it would be to configure earlier titles into HD for a HD collection? A HD collection would certainly fit the 'make it easier for new players to join in' part... But 'HD technical test' is such a confusing term for something pretty simple. A lot of people are taking this as a definite confirmation of a HD collection for the 10th anniversary (which is 2012, by the by), but I don't think it is. I think that, at most, it's just seeing if KH1 and 2 (maybe Re:Chain of Memories and possibly BBS?) can possibly be turned into HD, whether to see what KH3 will be like or too see how viable a HD collection is. If it was just 'Yep, we're doing a collection. Definitely,' then surely he'd say that, right? Ugh, I'm confused. :c But, at the same time, cautiously optimistic. A HD collection would definitely help new players get into the series, so hopefully...
Also, am I the only one that read "...one thing...as part of the...10th anniversary...one part...'? Sooo, there's gonna be more? This makes me happy. Very happy indeed. Roll on KH goodness in 2012! I've no idea what else they could do, but I hope it isn't all Japan-exclusive... Also, if there is a HD collection in the works, I sincerly hope it'll include junk from the Final Mixes (super awesome mega versions of the games only released in Japan). That reminds me, d'you think DDD will get a Final Mix? To date, no other Nintendo console'd KH game got one. But BBS did, and that was a handheld KH game that had a story on par with that of a numbered title, as is DDD... Hmm. Meh. Off topic.
Ok, onto the next overview-thingy I could find. This is from duckroll at NeoGAF, so thank you ever-so-much!
"In the big interview with Nomura, Dengeki talks to him about various developments in the current games he's involved in. They also talk about the Kingdom Hearts series. There are some interesting tidbits there. Nomura talks about how development on KH3D is progressing rapidly, but their schedule is pretty tight. He wants the game to have the quality of a console title, without compromising just because it is on a portable. He also mentions that the game is mostly up and running now, and it looks great. The motion and animation is supposed to be particularly impressive because of the various flashy moves you can do, such as Sora's wall jumping. He says the game is supposed to have the most impressive character movement in gameplay in the series so far, and honestly since it's from the BbS team, I believe him completely.
He also talks about the 10th Anniversary of Kingdom Hearts, and how their priority right now is to finish KH3D, but he is also thinking about other things. One element he is concerned about is how hard it is for new gamers to enter into the KH series. This inaccessibility for the series is something they are currently investigating, to see how they can introduce new gamers into the series in a better way. Another thing they are looking into is HD technology for the series. They are evaluating the options they have carefully.
As for when KH3D will be out, he says there is nothing to announce at the current moment, but he is definitely aiming to release the game not too far in the future. It sounds like he wants to release it by early 2012 if possible. KH3D will be playable on the TGS show floor."
He also talks about the 10th Anniversary of Kingdom Hearts, and how their priority right now is to finish KH3D, but he is also thinking about other things. One element he is concerned about is how hard it is for new gamers to enter into the KH series. This inaccessibility for the series is something they are currently investigating, to see how they can introduce new gamers into the series in a better way. Another thing they are looking into is HD technology for the series. They are evaluating the options they have carefully.
As for when KH3D will be out, he says there is nothing to announce at the current moment, but he is definitely aiming to release the game not too far in the future. It sounds like he wants to release it by early 2012 if possible. KH3D will be playable on the TGS show floor."
Yeah, so pretty much the exact same junk. Just wanted to have another source. :D
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Are you excited yet? YOU SHOULD BE OMAIGAWDTHISISSOFRIGGINEPICIMSOEXCITED. Very much so.
tl;dr: Nomura's hoping to get DDD out for as soon as possible after the new year. DDD will be playable at TGS in September. It's looking rather swish and swanky. The 10th Anniversary is next year and they're planning awesomeness accordingly. One part of this is looking at the HD capabilities of older games.
So, yeah. If a full interview comes out, I'll prolly put it here somewhere. Oh, I'm also thinking of updating this blog dealy-o just fortnightly now, instead of weekly. Weekly is hard. :c I'll run out of theories and junk to analyse fairly soon if I do that, so I won't. Fortnightly it is! For the moment, anyway. I may get bored with that, too...
Unrelated Junk: I'm still waiting (im)patiently for my Pottermore Welcome email. I hope it comes before school starts; I wanna clock up some good hours first before school saps all my strength and bothered-ness for life! :C Meh, whatevs. It'll come. Preferably sooner rather than later, though...
...Laters.
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