DDD at TGS - Day 2

And onto Day 2, where things continues to happen...

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Right off the bat we got two gameplay vids with Riku in Le Cité de Cloches courtesy of Gamespot, HD-ified by KH13.com. Thanks! The first focuses on Riku taking out a coupla Dream Eaters while the second shows the boss battle over Notre Dame. LET'S DO THIS.

(YouTube link) Ain't it purdy? We start off outside the cathedral with Riku kicking some general ass. You can see a load of assorted tents scattered about the place in the courtyard bit, which looks particularly lovely, especially considering how this is just a demo. One of his enemies is that blue panda thing Sora was fighting in the gameplay vid from the Nintendo conference on Monday. There are other enemies, but because of the sparkly lights it's hard to make them out. Ah well. Also worth noting is how the enemies become transparent if Riku is behind them, meaning they don't clutter up the camera and leave you completely blind. 'Tis nice.

Oh, before I forget... Turns out Riku doesn't gave a unicorn, which saddens me greatly. :C looks more like a ram stag thing. Here...

I think it has a horn on its head, though, which is something at least. I was looking forward to a proper unicorn, though... Unicorns are cool.

Continuing. Riku enters the cathedral, looks around for a bit and continues beating up random Dream Eaters. One off the first enemies seems to suck Riku up into his stomach using a vortex...or something. I s'pose this'll look snazztastic in 3D-o-vision. Also, something I'd like to point out, as Riku swings Way to the Dawn, the streaks of light it leaves behind goes from black to white, signifying Riku's preference of twilight over light or darkness. :3 Love it~

At 1.47-ish you can see Riku using Blizzard or Blizzara or whatever. Hurray for Riku, finally getting himself some elemental magic besides just plain ol' darkness! Good for him. I bet Riku will be really good at magic to complement Sora's whack-it-with-a-Keyblade philosophy.

Riku continues beating up Dream Eaters aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnddddddddd... End of vid. Before I move on to the next onto the next vid, I'd just like to point out that those pillars you see in the cathedral are apparently ideal for Freeflowing. According to the demo summaries I posted yesterday, anyway. Would have loved to see that in this gameplay video, but I'll happily take what we have.



NEXT VID!

And a boss fight commences. Gotta say, I LOVE this boss. Like how in the start it's there's a load of colourful confetti around it like in the movie during the Festival of Fools. And, and how its weapons are shards of stained glass, like the stained glass windows of Notre Dame? Yeah...

Almost immediately, the player activates Dual Link and Riku's Keyblade becomes all magical and elongated. Looks like the Bladecharge Command style from BBS and Riku's Final Limit in Days.

(Thank you, KH13!) Fairly magnificent looking, in any case. As expected, Riku's companions disappear as you activate Dual Link. Also worth noting is how the pink gauge underneath their icons begins to deplete, meaning the 'Drop' gauge (if it's still called that) fuels Dual Link. What's curious, though, is that it takes Riku a good while to revert back to mere-mortal mode, long after the two Drop gauges have been completely depleted at any rate. Not sure if this is just 'cause it's a demo, or... Also also worth noting when Riku's companions come back is that their gauges seem to refill when they get hurt, so kinda like MP Rage in that aspect I guess.

The player forgets they have Cura in their deck and dies, leading to a Continue screen. Standard KH, nothing new here. At about 1:28, we see Riku air sliding. He does it rather gracefully, fully twisting his entire body midair. Looks nice. At about 1:53, the player starts spamming the 'dodge' button. It looks like Riku doesn't use the standard Dodge Roll, but rather does a handstand thing instead. Like Aqua's cartwheel, but not sideways. Sora will most probably retain Dodge Roll, though, for which I am grateful. Love me ma Dodge Roll... I'm looking forward to seeing all the ways Sora and Riku are different in terms of gameplay.

More fighting. More dying. The player realises they can fly during this boss battle and does so. Riku uses some shiny attacks. Boss just throws Riku back to earth like it's nothin'. Vid ends. *applause* Oh, and Notre Dame looks particularly lovely from a birds-eye view. :3

Oh, something very important I haven't mentioned yet...

Y'know that curvy emblem from the DDD website? Yeah. Looks like it does denote 'good' Dream Eaters/Sora and Riku. It's seen floating above Riku's companions, on the back of the bat's back and on the back of Riku's jacket. (Side note: I left the map in the shot to show how not-awful it is. Also, we can now see that the bar under the party members' icons say 'Link'. Hurrah.) In contrast to the curvy emblem for 'good' Dream Eaters...

...We have they spiky emblem for 'bad' Dream eaters. I think my previuos theory of 'Dream' and 'Nightmare' enemies wasn't that far off. Maybe there are naturally good and bad Dream Eaters denoted by whatever emblem they have. Though I'm not too sure why Sora and Riku would adopt the curvy emblems too... Hmm. (Oh, seeing as Riku does indeed have the emblem on his back, I retract my comment yesterday that it no longer looked like Sora had one. He most probably does now if Riku's sporting it.) Someone on a forum suggested that Dream Eaters could naturally be good, but someone *COUGH*XEHANORT*COUGH* had created a new breed that were evil to do evil things regarding sleep. Evilly. *opens dictionary.com* Huh. That's actually a word. Go fig. Anyway, that theory is entirely plausible. Imma stick with the Dream/Nightmare theory for the moment, though.

I'm also fond of Riku's new icon. WHICH SHOWS HIS SHORT HAIR. In case you didn't notice. BECAUSE IT'S SHORT. SO SHORT. *still not over it*

Next up, we gots another impression. But this time, it describes Reality Shifts as well. Impression by GameWatch, translation by SQEX GAL. Thanks! (A lot of this we already know, so if you want to skip to the bit in bold that's fine. I won't judge. No, that's a lie. I'll judge a lot. *judging*)

Enjoy the evolved battle system of “Free Flow Action”!
As the first title of the Kingdom Hearts series for the 3DS, there are high expectations and for the first time in the world, a playable version is on display for the public. Since the crowds are expected to be very congested on the general admission days, if you’d like to try it out you are best off arriving early. When you try out the demo, you’ll have a choice of playing either Sora’s or Riku’s scenario.

Good advice.

Sora’s scenario, takes place in the series familiar “Traverse Town”. Sora seems to be separated from Riku when an orange haired boy appears. The boy is participating in some sort of game and is looking for a partner. There is a timer counting down engraved on the palm of his hand indicating the game is in effect.  Riku’s stage is “Le Cité des Cloches” where Quasimodo from the Bells of Notre Dame appears.

Aw. Neku. <3 OH. Something I didn't say in the last post. I really insanely hope we get a TWEWY-themed Keyblade off Neku that would be PERFECT. Especially if it was designed by CAT or something~ OH. Also not said in last post. When Riku gets to Traverse Town, d'you think he'll run into anyone from TWEWY? My money (and my dreams) are on Joshua. He would annoy the hell out of Riku. Aw. 'Twould be brilliant. Or if they have Shiki instead, she better have Mr Mew with her or SO HELP ME GOD. OOH. OR MINAMIMOTO AS A SECRET BOSS. NECCESSARY. ...Ugh, I'm getting too pumped for TWEWY in KH. My hopes are gonna be shattered. But I really hope someone else puts in an appearance. Preferably Joshua, just for the lulz. Utter condescending patronising prick, but I love him all the same~

One of the biggest characteristics of the series is how easy it is to play and create a bright, flashy display of action in battle; and that’s apparent within 10 minutes of playing this title. What was particularly fun was utilizing the “Free Flow Action” option which allows the player to do abilities like gliding, kicking off walls, and swirling around poles in an instant, creating high speed action. Since it offers the most refreshing action elements of the series with the capability to move limitlessly through the sky while unleashing a flurry of attacks, you could say that the action aspects have evolved remarkably.

Good to know that Freeflow isn't too difficult to ull off. I may have hope yet... I really wanna just play this game already, just to get a feel of it at least. Humph.

The method of utilizing the lock on markers has changed. By pressing the A and X button at the same time, you can invoke a “Reality Shift” which makes use of the touch panel screen and changes the operation mode of Sora and Riku. Since the battle can be interrupted while invoking a “Reality Shift”, you can mess with the touch panel screen without becoming impatient. The other uses of the touch panel include directing your 2 companion creatures called the Dream Eaters. Since all you have to do to put them in action is touch their icons, it seems that they will become powerful weapons in battle.

Here we go. New junk. Too bad I don't get it at all. O_O 'Operation mode'? What's that supposed to mean? Is this DDD's version of Command styles/Drive Forms? I just...what? No idea what it means... But pressing A and X, that's gotta be awkward and cumbersome. Perhaps the Slide Pad and its newfangled shoulder buttons will be of assisstance. And activating the companions by tapping their icons, eh? As in, activating their super special awesome abilities, or...? Hmm.

Furthermore, from the trailer shown in the open mega theater, we can confirm that there is an AR function that allows you to playfully interact with the Dream Eaters. Not only is the action enjoyable, but it seems there are various systems to look forward to in this title.

Good to hear. Wait, 'various systems'? As in, brand new features achieved with the 3DS such as AR or something completely different? Curiouser and curiouser.




Eh, I think that's it for Day 2... Well, Spheal and Woobat's names have been released; Wandanyan and Koumori Bat, respectively. No idea what the first one means, but 'Koumori' I'm pretty sure means 'Bat'. So Riku's companion has been dubbed Bat Bat. Nice.

~~~

So, yeah. Two days gone. Gawd, to think the amount of junk we know now that we didn't only 48 hours ago... Had someone told me Neku would be in DDD, I would have punched them in their lying face for teasing me. BUT IT'S TRUE. IT'S SO VERY TRUE. :D

tl;dr: New gameplay vids of Riku kicking ass in Le Cité de Cloches (City of Bells, Hunchback of Notre Dame). His unicorn is actually a stag ram thing (sadly). Epic boss is epic. Dual Link in this boss battle makes Riku all Bladecharge-ified; also epic. Dual Links use both party members and drains their 'Drop' gauge. Riku and companions share the curvy emblem while 'bad' Dream Eaters seem to sport the spiky one. Something called Reality Shift does...something; still pretty confused by that one. Spheal is now Wandanyan and Woobat Koumori Bat. JOSHUA IN KH WOULD BE EPIC TO THE POWER OF INFINITY. You know it would.

Ugh, I'm tired... Just one episode of Doctor Who will do tonight. Pffffftttt, nah, I'm watching at least two. I already know I'll be too weak to resist. My knees still wreck, by the way. Stupid bruises being sore...

Laters.

DDD at TGS - Day 1

Here it is. Tokyo Game Show is upon us. And with it, a veritable plethora of Kingdom Hearts related news. Specifically, news pertaining to the next game in the series, Dream Drop Distance. Let's do this.

~~~

Right, so, hmm. How best to do this. Em. Guess I'll just say everything in chronological order. That could work. First off, poster!

(Click for big.) So...wow. Lotta stuff here. Well, they're in Traverse Town. Obviously. We can see their new clothes in all their glory. Awesome. Sora is looking very hybrid-ish with elements of both his KHI and KHII outfits coming into play.

Jaysus, I never noticed how different KHI and II Sora actually were... Anywho, the current Sora looks pretty KHI, though, or at least more I than II. Darker hair, younger face, all that jazz. Actually, now that I see his jacket is mostly silver rather than black like I thought, I don't think there is an emblem on the back of it, as I said in my last post.

Yeah, now that I'm looking at it again, I think it's just a blurry silver rather than a white symbol. My bad. Back to the poster we go. I'm digging Sora's threads. Red really suits him. Was hoping to see another shot of his shoes to see if they are his large yellow KHI shoes... Whatevs. The crown pendant and fingerless gloves are present and correct. Good to see. Superfluous zips and belts, I see. I've always loved Nomura's superfluous zips and belts... Still has Kingdom Key. Gotta have Kingdom Key.

Onwards to Riku. HAIRCUT. SO SHORT. SHORT HAIR IS SHORT. Sorry, I don't dislike it, it's just...weird. Change is good, though. Will take some time to get used to, but I feel I will grow fond of it soon enough. As for the outfit, let's see...

His new attire actually bears little resemblance to his KHI outfit besides the black waistbands. In fact, he looks downright normal, unspeakable of a JRPG character. S'pose he still has the silver hair, WHICH IS SHORT, BY THE WAY. Sorry, but I can't get over how very short it is... Less baggy grey pants, less yellow and, of what I can see, snazzy runners. In terms of age, I'd say he's closer to KHII... (Yes, I realise this game is set after KHII, I'm just saying how old he looks like.) And of very notable note is his weapon, Way to the Dawn. In the January trailer, he was sporting his ol' Soul Eater. This proves that it is, beyond any shadow of a doubt, post-KHII Riku even if it looks like he's younger than that. Incredibly curious... I wasn't sure if it'd be dream versions of Sora and Riku in this game from days of yore, but this proves they must be older but just look younger. Interesting. I was also curious as to how you could customise weapons with different keychains if Riku only had Soul Eater, but now he can get different keychains just like Sora! :D Also, Riku's shoes have laces. I think that's a first in KH seeing as the majority of the main cast have strappy runners.

Continuing with the...creatures. There's a basically a Spheal next to Sora and a Woobat above Riku. More details on Sora's thing later, so you can read that when you get to it. Also, both creatuers have the same fuschia-pink colour of the logo somewhere. Spheal is masquerading as a unicorn with a pink horn and Woobat has pink wings and a pink upside-down Airbending arrow. (Ah, references...)

Underneath the logo we have a FRIGGIN' RELEASE DATE, PEOPLE. Well, more of a season than a date, per se, but still! Spring 2012 for Japan! Perhaps late summer/early autumn for elsewhere? Here's hoping. Depends what month it comes out in Japan, really. BUT STILL, EXCITEMENT.

That was a lotta drivel on a poster... Anywho, next bit of news. A trailer description from Famitsu, the translation of which is courtesy of SQEX Gal. Thanks!

The trailer begins with Yen Sid’s voice explaining the circumstances of the adventure taking place this time around. It seems Riku and Sora will be contending to finally become Keyblade Masters. It takes place in “the world submerged in sleep”, but the details are still unknown. Also, the enemies are called Dream Eaters, goblins who consume sleep.

Huh. Intriguing. "The world submerged in sleep", eh? Could that mean a world in the Realm of Darkness? Or, is there a world of dreams and junk and Yen Sid is just getting poetic? In any case, it doesn't sound like a computer simulation this time round. Awesome! And Dream Eaters... I like it. I knew the enemies would have something to do with dreams!

Once again, Sora descends into Traverse Town, calling in search for Riku, when he hears the voice of a new character say, “The Noise are horrible…”

O_O .........No. It-it can't be. It can't. ...Can it? But, he's not from Final Fantasy. Would they have a non-FF character? Could they?? Surely it's not, but who else would talk about 'Noise'?...

The guest character appearing is Neku, the headphones toting main character from “It’s a Wonderful World” (The World Ends With You).

YES.





YES.





OH HOLY GAWD YES. ...They did it. A non-FF, non-Disney, non-KH character in Kingdom Hearts. And what a character it is. The incomparable, unadulterated downright BAMF that is NEKU FUCKING SAKURABA. (I don't tend to curse, but in this particular instance it was neccessary.)

MIND. BLOWN.  JAW. DROPPED.  ELATION. SOARING.

Aw, it's Neku! NEKU. From The World Ends With You. In Kingdom Hearts. Meeting Sora. EXCITEMENT HAS REACHED BOILING POINT, FOLKS.

It seems Neku is caught in the Reaper’s Game, where if you cannot complete the mission given by the Reapers, your existence will be eliminated. But he doesn’t have a partner; it seems Sora may be lending him a hand?

Every fanfic writer has dreamed of this moment. Awwwwwwww, WANT. WANT RIGHT NOW. If you haven't gathered, I'm kinda in  love with TWEWY. Enough to rival my love of KH. So the two of them together? NEED.

Then suddenly the round form of an adorable creature appears.

*disappointed at lack of Neku in current sentence*

That creature is shown rolling about on the flat top side of a hand using the camera function [AR, I think]. Just like a puppy, you can see it’s belly. Seems you can pet it using the touch pad, it looks so cute when it’s eyes light up! It seems Sora befriends it, riding upon it during battle and hopping around upon it. Also, it’s so speedy it’s hard to tell what’s happening, but since the original concept of the title is “bold action”, it seems that the battles are more refreshing than anything in the series so far!

I think this creature is the same walrus-dog thing from the poster... Emphasis on 'think'. Anywho, sounds...nice. Not sure how useful the whole Nintendogs thing will be, but I'm sure it'll be cute. *shrugs* Now, riding it into battle? AWESOME. Should've opened with that! Hell, riding anything into battle is amazing. I wonder if Sora ever had a dog on Destiny Islands... I doubt it. Not sure why, but I do. Sora's gonna love a pet. Nice for him. :3

There is also a surprise in the final scene. There is a cutscene from Xehanort’s point of view, the camera faces Braig who says, “Has your memory returned?” Maybe this will be one of the memories explained in this title.

Oooooh, INTERESTING! Could this be part of the data DiZ put in Sora? That'd be awesome; going through the game finding memories of Xehanort. Like getting the Reports, but cutscenes instead. This could also be how DDD connects to Birth By Sleep as Nomura has stated. Aw, more info on Xehanort is always fun. FACT.



More new things! This is another trailer description, but from 1up.com. Thanks!

Neku appears as a guest character in Sora's side of the TGS demo -- though not a playable guest. Both Neku [I think they mean Sora here...?] and his rival/friend/frienemy Riku team up with captured dream-monsters this time around rather than fighting alongside licensed characters. Neku's role is more that of the Disney-world guests from previous games. He shows up, reveals that he's caught in a "game," leaving him 43 minutes to win or die. Naturally, he asks Sora to be his partner but ultimately decides the tousle-haired protagonist is "a weird guy" and takes off. Sora follows, riding rails in pursuit of Neku, but quickly encounters a boss battle set in a cul-de-sac of Traverse Town.

Yay, more info on Neku! :D And of course he insults Sora in the course of 30-seconds or so and leaves. Aw, Neku. Badass art thou name. I want to know the rest of the dialogue... Also, *GASP* They better get Jesse David Corti back to voice him, or SO HELP ME GOD THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Ahem. I wonder if that cul-de-sac part is a new part of Traverse Town. Hope so. And will we run into Neku later as well? Or at least during the credits when they wrap up everyone's stories? Hmm. So, 'captured dream monsters', huh? Does this mean they're Dream Eaters turned good or something? Intriguing... Was getting psyched for new Disney party members, though. :c

Both sides of the demo (Sora and Riku) are essentially the same, really: A brief story set-up, a few set encounters, and a boss fight. Riku interacts with Quasimoto from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is admittedly less interesting than Neku; on the other hand, Riku has a double-jump, which is always great.

Yes. Yes it is. And *GASP* RIKU IN NOTRE DAME. RIKU IN NOTRE DAME! Aw, it's gonna be great seeing him interacting with Dsiney characters that aren't Maleficent or Captain Hook. Y'know, just good characters. 'Good' as in 'nice', not good as in 'not crap'. Maleficent and Captain Hook are the shizz. Anywho, I recall Nomura saying back in January that Sora and Riku would have slightly differing control schemes or something. Is this one of those instances or will Sora learn double jump later too? Oh, wait, what? Double jump? No High Jump? Maybe Sora gets High Jump and Riku gets double jump? *scratches chin*

The demo is just enough to give a feel for what KH3D adds to the series. While the camera is still a hyperactive mess that makes boss battles a pain (all the 3DS's buttons are used, so there's no lock-on system that I could find), everything else about the game feels significantly improved over previous Kingdom Hearts. The action is fluid and smooth, with much more refined combat. Fighting enemies feels less like combo-driven button mashing that locks your hero into canned animations than in previous installments, and your skill set has been improved considerably. Both demo characters possess a standard repertoire of magic skills such as Cura and Blizzaga, which are activated and cycled through as they were in Birth By Sleep, but they also can perform special Dual Link attacks with their partners by pressing Y.

Annoying to hear about the camera. Hopefully the new Slide Pad thingy will fix it. And no lock-on? Pffftt. Rip-off. But, again, the Slide Pad has many new shoulder buttons, so hopefully that'll get the job done. So far, so awesome. Glad the Command Deck, or at least something very similar, is definitely staying. Gameplay sounds great! :D

Dual Link skills are context-sensitive and seem to vary according to your current partners, enemies, and positioning. You can pull off different skills while on the ground or in the air. A key part of these skills seems to be something called (inexplicably) Holy Rope, which are a series of nodes placed around battlefields. Pressing A and X while near one of these Holy Rope points freezes the action and allows you to use the touch screen to draw connections between points on the area map, which then sends Sora or Riku dashing through the air along the prescribed course. Using the Holy Rope paths to intersect foes allows you to pull off standard or special attacks while they're otherwise out of reach.

...Sounds confusing. But still great! Hopefully it's just one of those things you gradually get used to. That Holy Rope thing especially sounds confusing. Still good, though! I'm gonna suck at it, mind. I'll probably get the hang of it round the midway point of the game. That's usually how it goes for me.



Hey, y'know what we haven't had for a while? PRETTY PICTURES. AND NEKU. HERE'S BOTH.

(Thanks to superphi on Twitter!) ...That's weird. Un-spriteified, 3D-enized Neku. Weird. But...not as horrific as I had imagined. I think they're keeping him as anorexic as he looks in sprite-form, which'll be funny. Also his spindly arms. His hand looks weird, though, I have to say. Whatever. It's Neku. Doesn't matter how, it just is. I can only hope and pray that Squeenix are using KH to remind folks of TWEWY and get it more publicity so they can unleash a TWEWY2 at some point... Or at least a 3DS-port. MORE TWEWY IS NECCESSARY. I can't really tell what's going on in the other two screens, though. Lotta light. The second one has Sora's Spheal foating about the place though, I think... Oh, more about Neku. It's gonna be especially weird seeing him moving...fluidly, I guess. In TWEWY, the few animated cutscenes are like Flash animations with the static sprites being moved, or like a comic book kinda thing. IT'S SO PRETTY. MY TEAR DUCTS FEEL LIKE WEEPING WHEN WATCHING. But watching a 3D Neku move? Gonna be weird, calling it now...



MORE PICTURES, I SAY.

A zoomed out one of the last one. You can see on Sora's Spheal's underbelly the curvy emblem off the DDD website.

Maybe it is Sora's symbol, then. Or maybe it's the symbol of 'good' Dream Eaters or something like that. The spiky one certainly looks more sinister. More fitting for 'proper' enemies. I can't see any symbol on Riku's Woobat, so I dunno what the story is with that.

Riku definitely looks a lot younger in this shot than in the poster. He looks closer to KHI now. BUT STILL HAS SHORT HAIR. Like, it's REALLY short. Insanely short. Not neccessarily too short, but still, y'know, short. He looks like he's wearing jeans. Cute. However, he looks a little small for those clothes. Alsmost like they were designed for KHII Riku but KHI Riku wanted to try them on. Probably because it's very similar to his KHII clothes but has his KHI body. OH. JUST NOTICED. WHERE'S SORA'S CHAIN. Y'know, the chain of crowns he always has hanging from his left side? Yeah. WHERE IS IT. I love that chain! D: Ok, I just took another look at KHII Sora. He doesn't have it there either. WHAT THE HELL?!? He never had it in KHII?! EVERYTHING I KNOW IS A LIE. ...Sorry, I just really liked that chain... Seriously, it wasn't in KHII?! I'm actually gobsmacked by that revelation. Truly, I am. Oh, and Sora's shoes aren't quite the same as his KHI shoes (more black) but they're damn similar.

Very pretty screenshots abound. Especially love the top right one with Riku. Looking rather swish, there. Wait, top left screenshot with Neku showing his timer to Sora. Is Sora checking for a timer on his hand through his glove...? Love Sora's face in the top middle shot. Also love Neku's headphone in the shot there. Love the new area of Traverse Town in the one to the left of that, the one we saw at the end of the footage from Nintendo's conferene a few days back. Love the two pretty illuminated ones underneath the timer shot. Love love love~



MORE PICS AHOY.

This picture would be a lot more interesting if I knew a word of Japanese... Hopefully a translation will get out soon. Zoomed in one!

Ok, of what I can gather from the symbols and arrows, it seems like L, R and B or X will activate Dual Link while L, R and A will activate two of...something. Double jump? Awfully complicated for double jump, though. Could be something to do with the two party members. Other than Dual Link, of course. Underneath the party member icons, there's a bar with something on it. I can't tell if it's writing or symbols or what. Wonder what that's about. Also, the Drop gauge for each of the party members, is this how you use Dual Link? By using your team's 'Drop'? Hmm.

The things in the bottom right box are done using Y. These must be the Dual Link attacks aforemetnioned in the 1up trailer description. One shot shows Sora wall jumping. Is this not just a normal ability? As in, you have to have the right party members with you to pull it off? Bothersome. Hopefully it's easy to switch between partners seeing as they're creatures and don't look restricted to a single world like most other party members in KH.

Select and Start do the same thing(?) No, probably not. Though I can't remember how Days or Re:coded used Select. Start was Menu, as it should be. I can't see Select getting some super awesome function, but apparently it's getting used, so... I'm probably way off.

A and X activates Holy Rope, which is shown underneath. A and X... That's gonna be awkward.

I have no idea what's going on on the touch screen. ._.




Well, that's enough of me and my inability to translate. Time for another trailer description! This one is from krexia at KHInsider. Thanks!

SORA'S SCENARIO

We start off with Sora back in Traverse Town. He's got new clothes but... he apparently doesn't know why! It seems he's been separated from Riku, and Sora immediately yells out for his friend. It's then that we first see Neku Sakuraba from The World Ends with You. Neku promptly tells Sora to shut his noisy mouth and asks if he is a participant in the "Reapers' Game". Since Sora doesn't have the countdown stamp on his hand like Neku, it appears he is not.

Oh, Neku, you rude inconsiderate jerk... I always wondered how Sora would react to meeting Neku. Would he perservere and continue trying to befriend the douche or just break down crying at his mean-ness? The former, I suppose. I hope they don't have Neku talking too much. Then again, I want an entire game focusing on Sora and Neku's interaction. Or just Neku. Just Neku would be fine. Better yet, just make a sequel. Anyway. Interesting how Sora doesn't know why he's strutting around in new threads. Very interesting. Do they not know they're in "the world submerged in sleep" or whatever? Also, does Sora take off his glove at this point or keep it on like I said earlier? The latter is rather stupid, though the former is effort all round. Hmm.

Sora heroically offers his help to Neku as a friend. Neku retorts that Sora can't make friends that easy, to which Sora replies that it is easy. Neku then promptly dashes off into Traverse Town in midair in a cloud of sparkles.

...Sparkles? Does Neku have Sora/Riku's light aura thing now, or are they just being weird for the sake of being weird? I hope Neku just left Sora in mid-sentence. That'd be so Neku. And I don't know how Sora would react to that. Everyone he meets has always been courteous to an extent as he tried to befriend them, but Neku wouldn't be having any of it. Aw, I want this game NOW. Wait, who would Neku find as a partner in Traverse Town?! The FF characters are back in Radiant Garden, leaving only soulless NPCs and Disney folk. ...Neku's gonna die. Unless this is a special 'dream' Traverse Town with different peoples. OOH, or Neku finds a pet Spheal like Sora! That'd be brilliant, if Neku was forced to partner up with a walrus-dog... I know there's a fanfic in there somewhere.

It's here you gain control of Sora, fighting through Traverse Town. The X button on the 3DS is your "freeflow" button, which will allow Sora and Riku to do all sorts of crazy and fast maneuvers such as bouncing off of walls and swinging around poles. The idea behind this mechanic is freedom of movement based around objects in the environment.

Ok, so Y is Dual Link, X is Freeflow, A is (prolly) Attack and B is (most likely) Jump. Nice. The Freeflow thing sounds great.

While in freeflow you can attack by pressing the attack button, and it will be contextual to where you are in freeflow. It's particularly flashy and fun to execute. However, it seems that the camera is a bit slow with keeping up with these maneuvers.

Sounding nicer by the minute. I'm not too worried about the camera just yet, seeing as how the Slide Pad will prolly fix it. I really want to try out Freeflow now, just to get a sense of what it's like. Hopefully we'll get some footage soon.

Commands are structured just like Birth by Sleep and Re:coded in which you can cycle through abilities. Use one and there will be a cooldown before you can use it again. You get the idea.

Grand. Wonder what new abilities we'll be getting. Also, will you have to level up abilities and mix them withother ones to create new ones and all that jazz again? 'Cause that was good, I thought.

At the end of Sora's scenario he fights a boss. The boss can described as boxy with long arms. It can attack from a distance by shooting it's arms into the foreground. This looks particularly impressive in 3D.

Hurray. Wonder if this boss will be in the final game. It's another Dream eater, I suppose? Oh, will we be getting Heartless or Nobodies at all in this one at any point? Even BBS had a few Heartless, before the apprentices concocted the Emblems. I wouldn't say there'll be a lot, but there'll prolly be some.

After the boss is defeated, Sora's scenario ends.

Ah bless. What happens if you die, though? Does the demo let you? Does it just go back to the demo menu? Hmm.

RIKU'S SCENARIO

We see Quasimodo carrying Esmerelda towards the cathedral of Notre Dame when we first visit Le Cité des Cloches (The City of Bells). Riku is with them and also sporting a new outfit and shorter hair. It seems he is protecting them.

Aw, BRILLIANT... So now Hunchback is properly 100% no going back confirmed. We already knew in January, but there was definitely wiggle room. Now it's DEFINITE. And hurray for Riku having friends! :D

Riku battles inside the cathedral, and you can freeflow between the pillars inside. It's important to note that Sora and Riku are now accompanied by new companions we've seen in the keyart. Sora's companions are described as a panda-like creature and a smaller more "squirrely" companion. Riku's companions are described as something resembling a unicorn and a bat.

Lolwhut? Sora gets a panda and a squirrel while Riku gets a bat and a unicorn? *snickers very audibly* I mean, animal sidekicks are hardly unknown to Sora, but badass Riku getting a UNICORN?! XD Priceless... I am literally lol'ing right now. *wipes tear from eye* Anyway, do we get to change companions throughout the game, or do we keep the same ones? If it's the latter... Poor Riku! Well, knowing Riku, he'll find some way to make unicorns badass. ...I'm still laughing, you know. I just find the mental image of new (SHORT-HAIRED) Riku on a goddamn unicorn hilarious. Riding into battle, epic music playing, wind in his hair... No, you really can't add badassery to a unicorn. Well, if My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic made ponies acceptable... The freeflow inside the cathedral sounds AMAZING. WANT SO HARD. ...Pfffftttttt, unicorn... I just can't get over how funny that is!

When the group reaches the top of the cathedral, Riku's boss fight begins. It's a winged flying boss, and for this fight Riku is able to fly. You must jump up to the roof and chase it in flight around the cathedral. This is also impressive looking in 3D.

Is there freeflowing round the buttresses and arches of the roof? Hope it's at least in the final product. And a flying Riku... *GASP* NOMURA SAID THIS! When describing the 3D effect of DDD or something like that, he said something about a Riku that flies, a Sora that falls. Is this what he was on about? And a falling Sora... The many falling Soras from the January trailer, perhaps? Will that be in the actual game at any point? Curiouser and curiouser...



Just some quick pics of the game being played...

The girl in the last shot has headphones. I wonder how the game sounds so far. Have the recoded voices for the cutscenes? Did they get Neku's Japanese voice actor, Kōki Uchiyama, yet? He also voices Roxas and Ventus, so I wouldn't say it'd be too hard. (Wikipedia is such a godsend~)



Last bit, I swear! I'm far too tired to comment on every paragraph, so... It mainly describes the gameplay anyway. This summary comes from IGN. Thanks!

Apparently taking a squirrel-type creature and combining its power with a panda-type creature nets you one incredibly large, powerful and fat panda that proceeds to crush all enemies under its immense girth. The moment I managed to get Sora to execute a Dual Link with his two allies, I knew the TGS Kingdom Hearts 3D demo would please me greatly. For those of you not as concerned with fat pandas, there's plenty else about the latest chapter of Square's Disney franchise to keep your interest.

The primary enhancement to the Kingdom Hearts formula is a very fast, very chaotic agility mechanic that allows your lead character to essentially bounce off of walls, grind on rails and slingshot off of poles. That movement is chained into an attack system that, while chaotic, feels great and controls wonderfully. It'll take you a few minutes to really get a grasp of all the faculties at your command, including allies (see: fat panda) and special "deck" attacks, but once you do, you'll feel like a total badass.

At this point the game's biggest hindrance is that it's almost too chaotic and too fast. Having Sora surge forward for an all-out assault is a sight to behold... until you can't see him because the camera can't keep up or doesn't know how to properly track the action. L and R can rotate the camera, and there is a lock-on system which definitely helps, but I ran into several instances where the game wasn't quite sure how to deal with the constant wall-jumping.

Beyond that, Kingdom Hearts 3D is shaping up nicely. Visually the game is certainly looking strong - think good PlayStation 2 graphics on a small screen. (That's not a bad thing, honestly.) The 3D depth is also effective though not necessarily essential. One other interesting fact is it appears another Square franchise is finding its way into Hearts. Neku, from The World Ends With You, appears in an opening scene in Sora's half of the TGS demo. (The other half involves Riku, though you're effectively doing the same activities in a different Hunchback of Notre Dame setting.) He runs off before anything of real substance occurs, and you don't get to play as him, but no doubt fans of the critically-acclaimed series are going to be thrilled regardless.

Phew. DONE.

~~~

GAWD THAT TOOK FOREVER. Lot of news, loooooooot of news...

I fell today. Three times. Twice flat on my face, once just kinda skidded/stumbled for a good while, crashed into a lotta people, that kinda thing. We were filming something in school and I had to run a lot for a Charlie Chaplin-style chase scene. Always fell off camera, though, so you can just hear it in the background. I never fall, though. My my legs decided to fail me the day there was a camera around... Sigh. My knee is sore. My knee hasn't been sore for years. :c

And now I'm hungry... Imma go get some yoghurt and watch some Doctor Who to make my knee feel better. LIKE A BOSS.

Ugh, forgot I had to do a tl;dr...

tl;dr: New outfits for Sora and Riku, rather strpping. SHORT RIKU HAIR IS SHORT. Spring 2012 release for Japan(!) Sora and Riku are in 'the world submerged in sleep', according to Yen Sid. Enmies are called Dream Eaters, goblins that consume sleep. NEKU SAKURABA CAMEO (CANNOT EMPHASISE HOW AWESOME THIS IS). Sora gets a pet, able to interact with AR/touch screen. Scene from Xehanort's point of view as Braig asks if his memory's returned. Party members this time round are 'captured dream-monsters' (most probably Dream Eaters). Riku meets Quasimodo and Esmerelda in Le Cité de Cloches, epic gameplay in cathedral ensues. Same method of scrolling through commands as BBS and Re:coded. Also Dual Links, which are abilities depending on partners, enemies and positioning, activated with Y. Freeflow with X is for crazy fast skillage, including wall jumping and pole swinging. Holy Rope is confusing. Sora gets a panda and squirrel thing as companions, Riku gets a bat and *snickers* a unicorn. The only real complaint so far is that the camera has trouble keeping up with the fast and frantic gameplay, will prolly be improved with the Slide Pad though. It's looking beautiful and fun~

This post is far too long on its own to add anything else, so I think I'm gonna write on TGS for each day. Three more posts like this over the next three days. My fingers are gonna fall off.

Laters.

DDD Footage at N3DS Conference - 12 September 2011

Annoyance abound. I was writing up an in-depth spiel about a small 20-second incredibly blurry video of gameplay in Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance from Nintendo's 3DS Conference on Monday but I took too long and now it's Thursday and TGS has started and has made my spiel fairly redundant seeing as it has proved me wrong about various things. -_-" Sigh. Imma just plonk the video here, coupla screenshots maybe, and synopsise my mistakes. Cool beans.

(Thank you to KH13.com for the vid! Here's the YouTube link: less blur-tastic.) So, yeah. Pretty gosh darn awesome, if I do say so myself. It's far too fast for me to do a proper in-depth step-by-step analysis, so. Also, I have no clue what's going on half the time.

Soo, I thought the party members on the right hand side were Donald and Goofy, but now it's looking like they'll be enemy-but-also-ally-things. Yeah. I'll be putting up another post shortly after giving all the TGS junk in a while, so I'll elaborate there.

You may also have noticed that the Drop gauge shown in the January trailer underneath Sora's icon is gone.

Instead, it appears to have been relocated to under the party member things.

(I love the contrast in quality between the two screenshots...) Curious. Maybe Sora now saps energy from his new frienemies? Different 'Drop' from different creatures activates different abilities? Ooh, OR this could be what the tagline is about: 'Darkness becomes Light, Light falls to Darkness' or whatever. Maybe you have to convert enemies to light, per se, thus getting their powers. But if you abuse this ability (or some other condition), Sora/Riku get weaker as they fall to darkness. Or something. Whatevs.

Now, something else kinda hard to see due to the quality is that Sora's rockin' some new threads! Tetsuya Nomura (game director/excellent mind-screwer) said something back in January about Sora and Riku changing outfits so that people won't mistake this game for a remake, but I thought he meant have them change from KHII to KHI outfits. But no, new duds abound.

(Click for a bigger one.) Fairly swanktastic, wouldn't you agree? Predominantly red pants, black jacket, what appears to be the same yellow shoes from KHI... Seems like a hybrid between his KHI and II clothes. Now, of particular note is the last pic.

You can see that there's something white on his otherwise black jacket. Just what it is? Can't tell. However, I'd be willing to wager it's some kinda symbol or emblem. Which one? I'd also be betting on it being one of the new symbols from the DDD website.

While gambling on the many different aspects of Sora's jacket, I'd put some money down on the symbol being the one in the top left corner. Sora strikes me as more of a 'curvy' kinda guy whereas Riku would prolly be more 'spiky'. So, yeah. I think they're both getting symbols. Someone on KHInsider Forums suggested that Sora and his allies would share one symbol while Riku and his buds get the other. Riku's companions would be Sora's enemies and vice versa. Like, Riku chillax's with the cool dark kids while Sora hangs out with light folk or something. Definitely possible at this point.

Hmm, what else...? Oh, new areas of Traverse Town! GET IN. Toward the end of the trailer, you can see Sora flying through completely new parts of Traverse Town. 'Twill be awesome, no doubt. 'Cause Traverse Town is awesome. So, going by that logic, an expanded Traverse Town will be at least super special awesome. And some updated awesome music would be bliss~ Speaking of aural pleasure, I love the little 'pop' noise as Sora jumps at 00.17-ish.

Also, gameplay looks frantic and fun and amazing and wonderful. Me like the colours. :D Especially the Attack command, how it goes from red to green to pink... Simply bootiful. No idea what each colour represents though, mind. Seems like red for plain ol' Attack, pink for zipping around the gaff in an assortment of colour and awesome, but still no clue what green means. Hmm. Oh, and Sora used to have a gold aura about him while jumping around the place in the January trailer. Guess they changed it to silvery-purpley-bluey... Something not-gold, in any case.

Oh, also worth noting, first glimpse of new enemies! SCORE.

It appears to be a...blue panda of sorts. Right. If I had to pick a similar brand of enemy, it'd be the Unversed. Heartless have yellow eyes while Nobodies have either no eyes or normal human eyes. This guy has red eyes, though unlike Unversed they're not expressing happiness, sadness or anger. It's also colourful, like many Unversed. But it's not an Unversed. New enemy. ...Just making that clear. Oh, before I forget; the panda's stomach seems to have something on it. Could be one of the new emblems from the site. Or just a design feature. *shrugs*

Other important things... Sora's HP bar seems to be more yellow than green, while the party members' are the appropriate hue. I'm not sure if it's just the blurriness or if it's intentional and actually a very important plot point. Meh.

Last bit: on Nintendo Japan's website, they have confirmed the first coupla games to be compatible with their newfangled Slide Pad (essentially a second analogue cradle yoke). Of relevance is, you guessed it, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. The device will cost 1,500 Yen ($19/€14/£12-ish) and hits Japan on the 10th December. It will run on one AAA battery, therefore won't deplete the 3DS's already admittedly awful battery life. NOW FOR SOME PICTURES. :D

(Thank you, Nintendo 3DS Blog!) I'll admit it, I was one of the first to condemn this monstrosity when the first Famitsu scan went out making it seem uncomfortable and clunk-tastic. But then these pics came out and I saw that it actually looked fairly damn ergonomic and came with an R1, R2 and L2 (the R1 because you can't reach the original R). I still stand by my original thought that it should be free for people who already have a 3DS, but it's definitely growing on me now... Dammit. Hopefully this'll fix KH's track record of not haing the most, eh, graceful camera on handhelds. Hmm. Ugh, I'm gonna have to splash out on this, huh?

~~~

Far more pretty pictures in this post than any other I've done. Fancy that. I just learnt how to use 'Print Screen' recently and I guess I wanted to show off my mediocre computer skillz. Zetta fun times. I do not say 'zetta' often enough... I should work on that.

I got my Junior Cert results yesterday, by the by. (Exams in Ireland for 3rd Year ('bout 15-16 years of age). Teachers rabbit on about it for three years but the second you hand up your last paper they're all 'Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh, it's not really important. At all. Like not even a little bit. Have fun in Leaving Cert in a coupla years, the one that's actually kinda important!' -_-") Did quite well too, if I do say so myself. And I do. :D But this past week I've been more excited about KH, to be perfectly honest...

Ugh, guess it's time to start on my TGS post. Not sure whether to have four seperate posts for each day or keep it all together... Meh. That's an issue for later.

Laters.

Some TGS 2011 Details in Regards to KH

Ok, let's make this quick. Glee Project is at 8, Big Brother at 9 and I have to fit in as much Pottermore wonderment as possible before school starts tomorrow (NOT looking forward to that). And yes, I finally got my email for Pottermore! :D Ravenclaw, if you must know, and my wand is elm with unicorn core, fourteen and a half inches, quite bendy. Ok, none of that is relevant...

Perfectly honest? Not a lot of KH news has surfaced in the past two weeks, not even a full translation of that Dengeki interview (I just know there's more tantalysing information hidden in all that kanji...) However, I can't think of anything to say for a Theory post and I can't be bothered to do another Analysis one just yet. Believe you me, I will after TGS, don't worry.

~~~

Ok, so Square Enix has revealed a couple of days ago (August 26th) that, along with Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance being playable at Tokyo Game Show this year (September 15-18), there will also be a private screening showing something pertaining to the game. This screening will be open to 80 members of the public chosen randomly from Japanese Square Enix members that apply for it. (Source: KH13.com)

Also, today Squeenix have launched DDD's TGS site. It's rather sparse at the moment, but Shamedo and MisuzuKamio at KHInsider forums have translated the note-worthy three lines above the pic with Sora and Riku. (We already had this shot before, but this one is of higher quality and not a watermark in sight. Score!)

"Darkness becomes Light, Light falls into Darkness."

"A title for Nintendo 3DS in the Kingdom Hearts series!"

"The videogame on the show floor will be the world's first experience, please come visit us!"

There will be a new trailer and it will be playable on the show floor.

The first line is the game's tagline as seen on its official website, but is still insanely mysterious and intriguing. Does it mean Sora will fall to darkness during the MoM Exam, or when they're groping around inside him for the data that DiZ left behind? Does it mean Sora at all? It could be about Riku trying to unleash his full darkness, but ends up extinguishing his light instead. ...No, I think it means Sora. Or at least Sora and Riku. Or just the state of the worlds? Will more worlds be falling to darkness i.e. the Realm of Darkness? Deary me, confusion all round. Meh. Hopefully TGS might shed some more light on the issue. Or confound us all so utterly and completely with the bizarre convolutedness of DDD that we just forget it altogether. Whatever.

The second bit is obvious, so excuse me for not commenting further on it.

Now, the last bit? AWESOME. A playable trailer thing for the plebs on the show floor?! Pretty much a guarantee of shaky footage aplenty to be leaked onto YouTube in no time at all. Result! I wonder if it's gonna be the same demo thing that guy got to play in that Famitsu interview a while back... Y'know, the one that said there's gonna be new enemies and two 'surprising' party members in Traverse Town or whatever? That'd be damn exciting, right there. Yes, it'd be the same demo, but what an awesome demo it would be! We could actually find out what these new enemies are/at least look like and just who these party members are. However, this is just speculation on my part. The thing the guy played was a demo, whereas this translation says 'trailer'. Could be completely different, which is also awesome. I mean, a trailer after 9 months of nothing footage-wise whatsoever will be insanely epic/mighty appreciated. Hopefully Squeenix will keep their promise and get the official footage up online ASAP. I've no idea how fast they'll put it up, though. Is a coupla hours too ambitious? I like to keep my hopes down to avoid them being lowered forcefully by disappointment.

Now, remember that first bit of news? The one about a private screening for 80 lucky folks? Sure ya do. It just became a lot more exciting. I doubt they'd show the same footage on the show floor and then again behind closed doors. It's gotta be something different... Maybe it is a playable demo on the floor and a proper trailer at the screening? It has to be something to do with DDD and not BBSv2 or anything like that because their announcement definitely said DDD, rather than just KH. Yeah, I think a trailer/demo combo is most likely. In any case, 'twill be epic, sure.

I wonder if we're 'just' getting the trailer or whatever, though. Like, d'you think Tetsuya Nomura (game director/KH dictator) will give anymore plot details? I...don't want that, to be honest. Details on gameplay would be awesome, or on the general mechanics of the game. A vague release date (possibly the season/month for Japanese release) would be insanely amazing and cause me to simultaneously squee and die with anticipation. However, I want this game to stay as vague as possible. Though I only got into KH last summer, legend speaks of a time before BBS when a plethora of news was unleashed unto the world on a monthly basis, allowing the fans time to piece together the entire plot before it even came out. I reeeeaaaaally don't want that to happen with DDD, lest I may be forced to go hermit and forego the internet until its release in Europe. I hate going hermit... But yeah. TGS will be awesome. FACT.

~~~

...Aaaaaaaaaand, I think that's all I wanted to say on that.

tl;dr: Well, this post was short enough, nothing to really abridge... Em, TGS will be awesome and brimming with KH goodness. ...Yeah.

Oh, just letting ya know, I won't be posting again in exactly two weeks as, according to my calendar, that'll be on the day before TGS. No point blathering on about nothing when an explosion of news is set to go off over the coming few days, is there? 'Course not. I'll post something after, instead, so watch out for that.

Also, as mentioned previously, school starts tomorrow (boo). This means I'll prolly have less time for KH amazement. Bothersome. I'll probably have to start updating on the weekend instead, maybe less frequently... Stupid reality, interfering with the awesomeosity of the virtual world known as the internet...

Well, Glee Project's on. Love me ma reality TV... Far more than I should, it has to be said.

Laters.

Nomura/Kitase Dengeki Interview (DDD Info, 'HD Test') - 11 August 2011

Hey, my computer's all better. Hurray! Time to report on KH goodness...

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.

~~~

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."

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."

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."

Yeah, so pretty much the exact same junk. Just wanted to have another source. :D

~~~

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.

Naminé Theory

Jeez, been a while since my last dose of Kingdom Hearts-centric blathering, eh? Sorry, my computer has been acting stupid and can't find the internet access point dealy-o even though every other electronic device in the entire house can. -.-" I'm actually only up this early anyway (half 8-ish am) because it's the second day of Pottermore madness and I missed it yesterday, so... I got up at 7:40am specifically and it's still not up for today. >:[ I want me ma early access to Potter goodness, dagnabbit! ...Yeah, boring unrelated drivel over.

Time to get on with boring yet related drivel! Huzzah! So, in the past week-and-a-half-ish, there has been no news. Bothersome. So instead of doing another analysis thingy for a random KH-vid (due to my being on my sister's laptop at the mo and not being able to find the volume...), I thought it might be fun for a theory post. Specifically, a theory post relating to Naminé, one of the most mind-screwing characters in the entire series because of her mere existence. Hilarity ensues. (This entire thing is rather SPOILER if you haven't played BBS yet, so go do that first. Also, I've already posted this before on the forums at KHInsider, so some repetition is bound to occur. Considering I haven't changed the theory at all, and whatnot.)

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So, Naminé. Just...what? She's supposed to be Kairi's Nobody, but she's obviously special-case considering Kairi's still there, along with her body, soul and heart. So, what's left over for Naminé? Personally, as I shall explain, I think she shares more in common with Vanitas than a regular Nobody in terms of what she is made of, as in I believe her to be a shard of Kairi's heart in a similar vein to Vanitas being a shard of Ven's heart. Confusing, huh? Onwards to the theory!

KHI, Sora stabs himself with the Keyblade of People's Hearts. This releases Kairi's heart, turns him into a Heartless and sends his body and soul off to Twilight Town along with Ven's heart to form his Nobody Roxas. Fun times. Now, Naminé was also formed amidst all this confusion. Basically, I'm thinking that Sora accidentally tore off a small shard of Kairi's heart in the process of releasing it and that this shard went off to Castle Oblivion to form Naminé. Sora was using the Keyblade of People's Hearts (the one formed from six of the seven Princesses of Heart), which unlocks a person's darkness. Kairi, being the last PoH, has no darkness. Maybe that Keyblade has another effect on a heart of pure light and merely tears it a bit? I think that's...possible, right? Certainly by KH's standards of logic, at any rate.

Now, you may be disagreeing with me already. 'How can Kairi be up and at it between KHI and II without a bit of her heart? When Ven's heart was split, he was sent into a coma. Explain THAT, Random Fangirl on the Interwebs!' And indeed I shall, Imaginary Interwebs Complainer Guy! (...Man, I am NOT articulate this early in the morning. Damn you, Pottermore and your lack of punctuality!) Kairi and Ven were in a very different set of circumstances at their respective heart-shearing. Ven had just been fought by a huge pack of Neoshadows and was on the brink of death, thus rendering him a lot weaker at the time than Kairi, whose heart had been chillin' inside Sora for a good while at that stage. Ven was also about 11 at the time, whereas Kairi was 14. Not a significant difference, but enough to be noted... I'm also thinking that Naminé would have been a very small shard. DiZ said in the Secret Ansem Reports that she was an "extremely unstable being", whereas Vanitas was around for four years before the main events of BBS, which seems fairly stable to me. Naminé being a smaller shard would probably have put less strain on Kairi and prevent her going comatose again. However, I think that the most significant difference is that Master Xehanort forcibly ripped Ven's heart out of his body and tore off the darkness. Ouch. However, according to this theory, the shard of Kairi's heart would have already been taken off before it returned to her body, meaning she didn't have to go through that pain and perhaps saving her from staying in a coma. Also, she's a Princess of Heart. They're always doin' crazy stuff. ...Yeah, I dunno.

Continuing. Naminé is obviously something of Kairi because at the end of KHII she returns to Kairi, not Sora or anyone else. If she was just an entity of nothingness born out of a loophole, she wouldn't have had to return to anyone at all. Naminé had to have borrowed something of Kairi's and needed to return it. Now, we know Naminé can't be anything to do with Kairi's body or soul, due to those being comatose a short distance away when Sora stabbed himself. The only thing of Kairi's involved in the whole stabbing shenanigan was her heart. Therefore, it makes sense that Naminé was formed from her heart. Kairi wouldn't have woken up without her heart, so Naminé can't be the entire thing. Rather, I think she's just a shard that projected its own body. We know that this can happen in the KH-universe due to Vanitas's entire existence. So far, so plausible.

Now, similarities between Naminé and Vanitas. Let's start with appearances, shall we? Again, I'm on my sister's laptop at the moment, and I am awful at all things laptop, so sorry for the lack of pretty pictures. :c You know what they look like anyway. First, Vanitas. Black hair, amber eyes, black outfit with bits of red... Very 'dark'-looking, if you ask me. Fitting, considering he is the darkness of Ven's heart. So now we know that people made from shards of other people's hearts look like what the shard is made of. Or something. In stark contrast we have Naminé with blonde hair, blue eyes and a plain white dress. Of course, Kairi is a PoH, so her heart has no darkness. This means that were a shard to be taken from her heart, it would be made of light. Naminé seems very 'light'-looking. Coincidence? Could be. But for the sake of this theory, I THINK NOT! Yes, I realize that my logic is basically 'Naminé looks like a light shard, ERGO Naminé IS a light shard.' Don't worry, there's more damning evidence to come.

Moving swiftly on to personality. Vanitas is cruel, sarcastic, cunning and pretty much evil. Again, very 'dark'. His personality reflects him being a composition of a dark shard of Ven's heart. Slightly more articulate than last time, but still not making much sense... Anywho, Naminé is very different. She's remorseful, innocent, humble, fragile... Very 'light' to me.

Next up, emotions. Regular ol' Nobodies can't feel emotions, which further proves that Naminé ain't no ordinary Nobody. She obviously can feel, one of the most prominent examples being when she cries as she puts Sora into his pod-thing at the end of Chain of Memories. You need to have a heart to feel emotions, or at least a shard. Vanitas shows that even a shard of a heart has feelings; the Unversed are, after all, negative emotions. So, Naminé feeling emotions can be easily explained if she's a heart shard. Theory's still good!

Onwards to the shakier bits of the theory. First off, why was she born in Castle Oblivion? When Vanitas was created, he was intentionally extracted from Ven's heart, meaning he was just there in the Keyblade Graveyard. However, Naminé? She was more of a by-product, completely unintentional. DiZ kept saying in the Secret Ansem Report that the only thing Naminé had in common with a regular Nobody was the way in which she was born; that is, when a heart left a body (Kairi's from Sora's). When Nobodies are born, they get whoosed off to a world in the Realm of In-Between, neither light or darkness. CO just so happens to be one of those worlds. Maybe that's why she was born there? As for why she was born in CO specifically, I don't think there has to be an answer, but let's go for one! Maybe Kairi's connection to Aqua, after she cast the protection spell on her, is what made Naminé show up in Aqua's home town Land of Departure, which is now CO. Maybe Kairi's heart became connected to Ven's when they were roomies in Sora's, thus connecting Kairi to CO, etc. But again, I don't think the specific world Naminé's born in really matters, just the fact that she was born in the Realm of In-Between.

Now, why did Naminé have control over Sora's memories? ...Yeeaahh, I got nothin'. Well, Vanitas had control over the Unversed, which are negative emotions. Emotions come from the heart, which Vanitas is a shard of. Maybe being a heart shard gives you special heart powers? Memories are also stored in the heart, which could have given Naminé memory-powers. I reeaally don't like that explanation, though; far too...loose, I guess, and very ass-pull-ish. Why would being a heart shard suddenly give you super powers? I never really understood the Unversed though, or quite how Vanitas was able to make them...

Anyway, why did Naminé have power over Sora specifically? Well, she was born through Sora. ...*cough* Again, I have no clue. Her shard may have connected with Sora's heart when leaving his body, thus granting her memory-morphing powers... What I never got with Naminé is why she also had power over Donald and Goofy's memories as well and having to put them into those pods to restore them after CoM. I think I remember someone saying that Naminé had power over Sora's memories and those close to him. I have literally no explanation for that, not even an ass-pull. Well, maybe one. Sora is supposed to be the key that connects everything, so maybe by connecting with his heart Naminé was connected to everyone else as well. ...Ugh, I dunno.

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And on that optimistic note, I think I shall take my leave.

tl;dr: I think Naminé is a light shard of Kairi's heart in a similar vein to Vanitas being a dark shard of Ven's. Savvy?

Jeez, this one took me forever to write. I've been stealing my sister's laptop on and off for the past three days just to finish this... I have my early registration place thing for Pottermore, by the by, which is AWESOME. Still have no idea what Pottermore is, exactly, but I still want to get in first. :3

Laters.