DDD at TGS - Day 3

Lotta news, not so much time. LET'S DO THIS. (Today marked the first day TGS was open for mere commoners (aka not press), explaining the onslaught of news.)

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First off, Twitter updates regarding DDD's gameplay from Tetsuya Nomura himself (game director/builder of much hype). Translation courtesy of andriasang. Thanks!

Free Flow Action

These are the "flashy" actions Nomura has mentioned in the past. By pressing Y, you can make your character kick off walls, swing around poles, slide down rails, and so-forth. You can string together these actions. You can also connect into other moves -- pressing A or a powerful attack, or B for a jump.

Sounding very nice indeed. Can't wait to get my hands on it!

Reality Shift

       When you're attacking enemies, objects and enemies will sometimes be highlighted with a cursor. Press X and A simultaneously, and you can perform special attacks through the lower screen.


Ohhh... Right, right... Much clearer now. Thank you. That whole 'operation mode' thing yesterday confused the hell out of me. This is a lot better. A and X still sounds rather cumbersome, but I can't wait to see what kind of badassery you can unleash using Reality Shift. Also, interesting name... Will it have more significance? Also also, this appears to be the first time KH won't completely ignore the second screen, giving it a higher honour than simply being reserved to maps and menus. Awesome! :D

Dual Link

        In DDD, you fight along side demons known as "Dream Eaters." In the TGS demo, you start off with two of these in your party. As you build up a gauge, the Dream Eater's icon will begin to flash. Tap the icon on the lower screen, and you'll be able to do a team attack. You can also team up with both Dream Eaters simultaneously.


Sounds simple enough. How do you 'build a gauge', though? From Riku's gameplay yesterday, it seemed like they get 'Drop' simply by being bashed around a bit, similar to the ability MP Rage. There has to be an easier, less violent way. ...Right?





That was a nice dose of info. Official, too. Next we got some Sora gameplay! Exciting stuff indeed, lads. This is bits and pieces of Sora's demo as watched and commented on by editors of Famitsu. Here's the original, and here's a nice cropped version. Higher quality, too. Thank you, Kidchurro!

You hear the editors commenting in the background? Yeah. You're gonna hate them in a minute. I mean, thank you so ever insanely much for uploading the video, but did you really have to drown out the really important bit? *sigh* Whatever. Footage is footage. I shouldn't complain.

Ok, so we kick off with the logo closely followed by Sora on that balcony bit of the First District in Traverse Town. I'm glad we'll be able to go back and visit old skool Traverse Town as well as get acquainted with shiny new areas. Sora's looking at his brand new geddup all '........Um?', which I find freakin' adorable. Especially as he's testing out his new swanktastic shoes by hitting them against the ground... Anyway. Up pops the new Traverse Town logo.

Even from the logo, you can tell Traverse Town is a lot bigger this time round. For comparison...

Yeah. Oh, hey. I never noticed the Lady and the Tramp fountain was in the logo as well... Cute.

Continuing. Sora jumps up onto the railing and starts calling for Riku. A voice comes from behind him and he sees someone just hangin' from the roof. Sora is understandably startled and falls like the graceful chap he is. (I have to say, I found this scene hysterically funny. I love Kingdom Hearts <3) Sora is in pain while the mysterious lad in white shorts jumps down in a flurry of badassery and reveals that he is no other than NEKU. SAKURABA. Man, I still cannot get over how truly epic this is...

Of course, the editors are also shocked by this new revelation. Not shocked into silence, though. Shocked into uncontrollable laughter, meaning it's damn near impossible to hear Neku's voice. Anyway, Neku yanks Sora's hand to see if he has a timer. Even though Sora is wearing gloves, Neku concludes he does not and shows his own, which is ticking down from 43 minutes 10 seconds. Can I just say at this point that Neku is really working those three dimensions. I thought it'd be weird and ick-tastic, but it actually looks great. Loving his facial expressions as well, like the ULTIMATE POUTING MANOEUVRE he executes as he grabs Sora's hand at 00:42. Also, if you listen reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaally closely, you can kinda make out Twister playing in the background, especially at 00:52. EPIC. Aw, more TWEWY soundtrack to come, please!

A bunch of japanese comes up, explaining Free Flow Action and...some badass technique from pressing A. I dunno. Before the gameplay wonderment starts, we get a nice glimpse of Sora's back.

We can see that Sora's Wandanyan (which I have since discovered means 'Wonder Meow' - riiight...) has the curvy emblem floating above it like Riku's companions. Sora's panda pal prolly has the same thing over it, too, but you'll notice that Sora's back has a severe lack of symbols of any nature, which is weird considering Riku does. Huh. may change in the final product, of course, but... meh.

Sora runs forward and automatically draws his Keyblade when the 'bad' Dream Eaters show up, like in KHII. Of note: Dream Eaters appear to erupt from a flurry of purple hearts.

Huh. ...Wait, what?? O_o ...Aaaaanyway, Sora performs a Dodge Roll over to the lamp post but, instead of crashing spectacularly, he starts twirling around on the pole by the teeth of his Keyblade, hits everything in sight as he climbs said pole, leaps off performs a Doughnut of Doom on the ground. All while covered in a shower of light. ...I am crying tears of joy, right now.

THIS.

GAME.

LOOKS.

AWESOME.

Anyway, Sora continues killing a lot of things while I watch in awe/lust. He jumps and crashes to earth all while light dances around him and is just generally amazing in every conceivable way. The scene skips ahead to that part of Traverse Town that was at the end of the last gameplay video of Sora from the Nintendo conference, where Sora continues to kick ass. There appear to be tiki torches in this area or something. Huh. More on this place later.

Another change in scenery and Sora is standing in front of a little bridge that leads to a wrought iron gate. Wonder Meow is skipping along in front of it while Sora attempts to jump into the area to the right of him. Doth my eyes deceive me, or is that a river? Are we getting to swim again?! Sadly, the video cuts again before we can see if that bit is water or concrete.

Next up is a boss which appears to be a kangaroo boxing box thing(?) Sora does many a badass thing that I cannot describe accurately enough without fangasming all over this footage, so I won't. I have to say, though, Sora's flashy abilities are dealing a LOT of damage. Me like.

A Dual Link is activated and it shows Wonder Meow truly FREAKIN' OUT in front of some stars, or something. We can also see Sora's panda pal rather clearly here as well.

It seems to be similar to that blue panda enemy, just, y'know, orange. We can also see that it has the curvy emblem on its stomach and, most probably, the same floating emblem over its head. After this little scene, SORA IS RIDING AROUND ON A GIANT WONDER CAT WREAKING DESTRUCTION IN HIS PATH. YES. MERE WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW EPIC THIS IS. NOR CAN MERE CAPS LOCK. It's even doing a solid amount of damage. Calling it now. BEST. PARTY MEMBER. EVER.

Boss dies. Gameplay over. Well, that was fun.




Now, some more fun. The transcript of the trailer from Aibo from FF-Reunion and a translation from SQEX GAL. Thank you sooooooo friggin' much, guys~!

It starts in Yen Sid’s room, Yen Sid sits in his chair behind his desk, Sora and Riku stand across from him. They appear in their KH2 outfits, but Riku’s hair is short.

Riku cut his hair after KHII?! O_o Weird... Apparently in Japanese culture, cutting your hair signifies a new beginning, so that's probably what he was doing. Like Zuko and Iroh after leaving the Fire Nation. (Oh, how I love Avatar...)

Yen Sid: From here, you two will take the Mark of Mastery Exam.
Sora, surprised:  Even without taking it, no one can beat me!
Riku, facing downward: Having walked the path of darkness, I wonder if it’d really be right for me to wield the Keyblade. You’d have to make sure.
Sora: Riku…

Sigh... I love how Sora's so cocky from the get go. To be fair, he has just defeated Organization XIII and saved the universe. Twice. But, of course, Riku has to dampen the mood with his emo darkness whinging... Don't get me wrong; I love Riku. But he's just CONSTANTLY moping about falling to darkness or betraying his friends or whatever. Get over it! Everyone else has. Sorry, I'm just complaining for the sake of complaining again.

Yen Sid: Let’s open the keyhole of sleep. If you return back to this place, then I will consider you Masters.

O_o ...Uh, Yen Sid, being a little harsh there, dontcha think?! 'Be a legendary master or die'. All Eraqus made Terra and Aqua do was fight some bubbles and then each other. It wasn't even a duel to the death or anything... Anyway, keyhole of sleep? Veeeery interesting...

Sora on a balcony, opens his eyes.
Sora: Huh, where is this place? My clothes changed! More importantly, where’d Riku go?
Sora leans over the balcony and calls out in a loud voice: Heeeey! Riiiikuuu!
A mysterious boy descends from a rooftop in ambush: You’re so loud, stupid Noise.
Sora is surprised and jumps off the balcony.
Neku: You’re Sora…

So this bit is the beginning of Sora's demo. And Neku knows Sora's name? Who could have told him? I suppose he could've 'opened up his senses' and read Sora's mind, but Sora wouldn't have been thinking his own name at that precise moment. And the '...' at the end makes it seem more like he's only pretty sure it's Sora, as if someone gave him a brief description. Maybe it was an omnipresent awesome sauce condescending know-it-all...? I'm just looking for an excuse for Joshua to be in this game, to be honest. But Neku knowing Sora's name is definitely weird.

Yen Sid: A large number of Heartless reside in the world of darkness. Instead, in the world submerged in sleep there exists a particular key. That is, creatures who consume dreams known as the Dream Eaters. Searching for the Dream Eaters will guide you to the key of sleep.

Ok, lotta information to cope with. Hmm. So, DDD takes place in some sort of Realm of Sleep, then, where Sora and Riku must use the Dream Eaters to find the key of sleep. Right. AWESOME. So, a key of sleep, eh? Is this the 'key' to ending everyone's sorrow? That is, giving everyone their 'birth by sleep'? Ooh, I'm getting excited, lads! :D

(Battle action sequences of Sora are shown.)
Neku, showing Sora the scarlet mark on his hand: This is from the Game. All the participants have it engraved upon them. I can’t afford to lose this Game!
Sora: I don’t really get ‘the Game’, but maybe I can lend a hand?

Hmm. Neku saying 'I can't afford to lose this Game' sounds awfully familiar... Didn't he say that to Joshua on Week 2? Does this mean... Nah, I won't put it here; pretty spoilerific. But does this mean this is Week 2 Neku? Would explain how he knows so much about the Game already... Also, 'Aww' to Sora offering to help. I love Sora. Just how after 3 seconds of meeting someone he's already all 'OMG LET'S BE FRENDZ K??'

The scene changes to the world of Notre Dame.
Riku is speaking with Quasimodo who is holding Esmeralda: Quasimodo, where did the creatures go?
Quasimodo: To the rooftop of cathedral.
A Dream Eater with wings like a butterfly descends upon them.
Quasimodo: Me too, me too, I’ll fight too!

Oooh, Quasimodo wants to fight, eh? Does this mean that at some point we may get him as an assisst character or something? I HOPE SO. *psyched*

The scene returns to Neku and Sora in a plaza inTraverse Town.
Sora, facing Neku: Come to think of it, I didn’t ask your name.
All of a sudden several Dream Eaters appear around them!
Neku with surprise: Dream Eaters!
Sora: That’s a weird name.
Neku, pointing at the Dream Eaters: Not me, those!

Aw, I don't know how many times I've heard some variation of that joke, but this was friggin' hilarious to me. Neku's gonna HATE Sora and his obliviousness. With a passion. A loathing deep enough to rival his hatred of even Joshua. And a swarm of Dream Eaters showing up when Neku's still around. Does this mean... *GASP* WE'RE GETTING NEKU AS AN ASSISST CHARACTER IN THE FINAL PRODUCT?!?! That. Would. Rock. I mean, Neku would be all badass with his pins and Psychs and whatnot and be awesome and amazing and wonderful~ THE HYPE IS SO HIGH RIGHT NOW. Oh, hey. How did Neku know what the enemies were called? First Sora's name, now this... Sora didn't know what they were, so Neku couldn't have read his mind. I'm gonna be so disappointed if it's not Joshua telling him these things.

Yen Sid: Opening the keyhole of sleep, along with finding a new power, the power locked in sleep will become revealed as well.

Ok, confusing Yen Sid talk is confusing. Geez. *rereads an embarrassing number of times* ...Ok, b going on this journey through the Realm of Sleep by hopping through the keyhole of sleep, Sora and Riku will find some awesome new power. The power to defeating Xehanort? Or just the key of sleep mentioned earlier? Hmm... This will require some time to think about.

The trailer continues, showing the AR capabilities of playing with the Dream Eater pets, it’s a lot like Nintendogs. Maybe you’ll be able to raise them up too?

Perhaps. I love how the trailer just skips so suddenly from real serious shizz to friggin' Nintendogs... Should be a bit of harmless fun, though.

In a laboratory somewhere, a researcher has collapsed.
From this person’s POV, Xigbar becomes visible.
Xigbar: Xehanort! Have your memories returned?
From the view of the person referred to as Xehanort, a Keybalde appears before his eyes.

O_O     HOLY. CHEESE. I...what...words fail me...huh? More info on this later, so I shall speculate there. VERY EXCITING, THOUGH.

The screen then blacks out theatrically, displaying KINGDOM HEARTS 3D Dream Drop Distance, Spring 2012.

And that's the trailer in a nutshell. Very exciting stuff indeed, lads, very exciting stuff indeed...





We also got some bigger pics and translations of said pics. Thank you, krexia of KHInsider!

(Bigger-ified here) Ain't it purdy? Now, that screen of Sora in Traverse Town in that new area...

The sign on the building on the left definitely reads 'Colosseum'. Some people have speculated that this is an entryway to Olympus Coliseum, but I beg to differ. For one thing, this Colosseum spells it right. For another, just above the archway you can see two crossed battle axes and a crest of sorts; outside Olympus Coliseum there are two statues with swords and shields. Axes seem, to me, more medieval than ancient Greek, especially with a crest there. I think this is just an entrance to the tournament area of DDD, or something similar to the Mirage Arena in BBS. I've no idea what that building on the left is, though. Looks Christmas present-y, though, but not at all Christmas Town-y. If that makes sense. Which it doesn't. Ah well. Also, loving the Dream Eater float thing!

Now, translation.

Dream Eater:

The Heartless are made up of darkness.

But in "The world enclosed by sleep" a different darkness exists.

Monsters who eat dreams, "Dream Eaters"

These are divided into two types:

"ones that eat dreams and plant nightmares" and "ones that eat nightmares"

OOH, INTERESTING. I wasn't that far off with my Dream/Nightmare versions of enemies, then. Hurrah for me! *toots own horn* So I guess this is what the two emblems mean, then. Curvy denotes nightmare-eating Dream Eaters and pointy dream-eating Dream Eaters. Nice, nice. Not sure why Riku is sporting the symbol while Sora isn't, though... Also, if Dream Eaters are the Heartless of the Realm of Sleep, does that mean we're defo not getting any Heartless in this game? That would make it the very first game in the series not to, I think. Huh. They'll prolly show up somehow, though, like in a cutscene or something. Pesky Heartless...



MOAR PICTURES!

(Bigger-ified) PLUS TRANSLATION!

Darkness becomes light,

Light falls into darkness.

Dreams are connected to each other--

When you fall into a dream,

You are connected through dreams to "The world enclosed in sleep".

And if you open the "Keyhole of sleep" in that world,

The world will be released--

So, we've known those first two lines for some time now, but the rest is Very Interesting Indeed. So, by opening the Keyhole of Sleep in these dream worlds, they're released and plonked into existence. YESSSS. One of my biggest concerns with this game was that it would just end like 'It was allll a dreeeaaaam...' in a similar fashion to Re:coded being confined to a journal. As in, that it wouldn't really matter in the grand scheme of things seeing as how it didn't really happen. But if these dream worlds are gonna come into proper existence, grand.

Hmm. Connected through dreams to the realm of Sleep, eh? Does that mean if you wake up, you lose this connection and have to start over? Maybe this is why you swap between Sora and Riku. If Sora wakes up, Riku can still continue on his end. Or something. No, nevermind, scratch that. Sounded better in my head...





And, finally, the trailer itself. Thank you sooooooooo friggin' much, Sora Syndrome of Tumblr! Now, here's a HD yet very skinny version by Kidchurro and a zoomed in yet lower quality version, also by Kidchurro. Which one to go for... Because I only have a small space here, Imma go with the zoomed in one. Thank you, Kidchurro!

We start off in Yen Sid's office with KHII Sora and Riku but SHORT RIKU HAIR IS SHORT. MY GAWD, SO VERY, VERY SHORT. LOTTA SHORT UP IN THIS HURR.

Anyway. It cuts to Destiny Islands, back to that same scene from the January trailer masquerading as an actual scene from KHI. Yes, the dialogue was in the first game (something like S: 'But how far could a raft take us?' R: 'I dunno. But if we have to, we'll think of something else') but that was at sunset, on the paupou fruit tree and with Kairi. I suspected somethingfunny was going on then, but now something DEFO is, what with SHORT RIKU HAIR and all.

As opposed to the January trailer...

I know that things have obviously changed since the January trailer. I just used a sceen from that trailer to show how Riku's hair is much shorter from KHI to the new trailer. Short Riku hair must mean that it is post-KHII Riku in KHI Riku clothing on Destiny Islands. Someone on KHInsider Forums suggested that it could be the tutorial of the game, or something to do with the data inside Sora showing a memory of KHI days of yore but with DDD Sora and Riku acting it out almost. Very curious, whatever it is.

Things get very weird indeed as Sora falls through a load of clouds beside a swirly vortex kinda thing. I assume it looks awesome in 3D. OH. Just remembered that quote from Nomura-san ages ago describing a Riku that flies and a Sora that falls. Could be related to this. Maybe this is the entrance to the Realm of Sleep? *shrugs* I think Sora's wearing his DDD geddup, though.

Onwards to Traverse Town. It's basically an abridged version of the demo when Sora meets Neku. Then gameplay happens. Sora wall jumps, swings on a lamp post, kicks Dream Eater ass, zips down a wire in another new bit of Traverse Town, kicks some more Dream Eater ass, rides around on Wonder Meow, breaks a glass floor of sorts and messes up a boss. All while looking good. Damn good. CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS GAME. Riku kicks some ass too, of course. We see him in Le Cité de Cloches doing exactly that.

Back to Neku grabbing Sora's hand. Then off to Quasimodo carrying Esmerelda. They look good in 3D. Hurrah. Back to Neku and Sora swarmed by Dream Eaters. Dream Eaters that look like this...

You may have noticed that it's basically a re-coloured version of Sora's Wonder Meow. It also has the pointy emblem on it, meaning it must be a dream-eating Dream Eater. So I guess this means there are good and bad variations of the same Dream Eaters. This also goes with the fact that Sora's panda-like companion looks like an orange version of the blue panda enemy. Interesting.

It then shows Wonder Meow and Bat Bat chillin' in real life thanks to the AR camera of the 3DS. Hurray.

Next bit shows a Reality Shift and Holy Rope, I think. We can't really see more than a large white blur at the moment, but I'm sure in the HQ version Squeenix will be releasing later it'll be a lot clearer.

Aha, now we get to the fun stuff! We see the same computer room in Radiant Garden where you enter Space Paranoids in KHII. It's from a first person perspective and the person seems kinda disorientated. It's actually Braig, not Xigbar, who asks 'Xehanort! Have your memories returned?', as you can tell by the red scarf thing he wears. Then Xehanort BUSTS OUT MASTER XEHANORT'S KEYBLADE. You can't really tell, but it kinda looks like Xehanort starts charging at Braig at the end. Logo, release date, the end.

Geez, ok, where to start... Lotta people are disagreeing about when this scene takes place. Some are saying that this is during DDD when Xigbar is his Somebody Braig again and Xehanort has returned. Others argue that this is after BBS when Xehanort and Braig are still apprentices under Ansem the Wise. I'd be inclined to go with the latter. It seems like they had just finished an experiment of sorts to get AX's memory back and it worked somewhat well. Well enough for him to summon a Keyblade, at any rate. Not just any Keyblade. MASTER XEHANORT'S KEYBLADE. Hopefully this means we'll be getting more insight into AX's past, maybe seeing how the memories were split between Ansem Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas or why Xemnas chose not to use a Keyblade.

Because the quality isn't great and we can't really tell what's happening, I won't speculate as to why AX seems to be attacking Braig at the end. Other folks claim to see two bodies on the floor as well, but for the life of me I can't make that out. When the HQ version comes out, I'll give it another go, but until then I'll  restrain myself.

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...And that, folks, was the day known as three. Zetta fun times. BUT I'M SO TIRED. IT'S 3:00AM ALL UP IN THIS LOCATION.

tl;dr: More info on Free Flow Action, Reality Shift and Dual Link; sounding awesome. Sora gameplay looking amazing, as is 3D-ified Neku. Traverse Town looking MASSIVE. Translation and blurry video of trailer; both awesome. Neku knows Sora's name and about Dream Eaters; is he more important than other cameos? GAWD I HOPE SO. Dream Eaters are split into two; those that consume nightmares and those that consume dreams and plant nightmares. These are the enemies of the Realm of Sleep. Sora and Riku must enter this realm through dreams and release worlds into existence by unlocking the Keyhole of sleep. They also have to look for a key to sleep by searching for Dream Eaters. At the end of the trailer, Xehanort busts out Master Xehanort's Keyblade, though it's currently unknown when this took takes place.

So...tired... This one took forever... Too much KH goodness!! D: Though I'll be coplaining in a few weeks 'bout the utter lack of KH goodness available... C'est la vie~

Last day of TGS tomorrow. Hopefully Squeenix will release the trailer in HQ, and maybe have some more KH surprises up their wily sleeves. Did I just describe sleeves as wily? You bet I did. ._.

Laters.

EDIT: Blogger's being weird. Making my entire post in bold font, adding superfluous lines where I did not require superfluous lines... Try to ignore it. I certainly didn't try to do any of this, and none of it comes up in the 'Edit post' bit, so I can't get rid of it... Bothersome.

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.