While the announcement for Kingdom Hearts 3 came a little sooner than director Testuya Nomura may have wanted, simply getting confirmation is a relief for fans who have long been waiting for an official numbered sequel. The game is still in early stages of development, but Nomura did offer a few points on what we can expect.
Speaking with Weekly Famitsu, Nomura stated that they are still trying to decide what new worlds to introduce. The main crux of the game however, is the final confrontation with the series antagonist, Xehanort.
Sora, the main protagonist — having become a Keyblade Master in the previous game, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance – will now have the ability to change the shape of his Keyblade, much like the character Aqua was able to in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
As seen in the announcement trailer, some enemies will be large enough to ride on. This will be an option in battle with such enemies.
Online features for the game are also currently on the table, although Nomura did not specify the nature of these features.
On the visual front, the development team has settled on a visual style called the “Kingdom Shader” among the staff, which rather than opting for a more realistic quality, gives elements a softer Disney brush-like quality. Nomura noted that the graphics will be a much richer evolution of what players have seen up to now.
Asked whether players would be able to control other characters in the game like Riku and Kairi, Nomura only answered, “I will not deny the possibility of that.”
Nomura stated that he would like to make further announcements at this upcoming September’s Tokyo Game Show 2013.
ファミ通.com [ファミ通.com]
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21 responses to “Here Are Some Things To Expect In Kingdom Hearts 3”
So basically, if we haven’t played the hand held games, we won’t know what the hell is going on?
To be fair, I don’t really know what the hell is going on with those games anyway.
Master Xehanort was a keyblade master who tried to open kingdom hearts, but was stopped by the combined efforts of 3 keyblade wielders Terra, Ventus and Aqua. However he took Terra as his new vessal before losing his memories after the battle. Ventus’ losses his heart, which goes to sleep inside Sora, and Aqua falls into the realm of darkness.
Xehanort-Terra eventually lost his heart to darkness, and created the heartless who went by the name Ansem, and the Nobody who went by the name Xemnas.
Sora awoke his Keyblade and went on a jounrey to find his friends Riku and Kairi, while Riku had fell into darkness and was possessed by Ansem. Kairi had lost her heart which slept inside Sora, who had to release his heart to restore hers. Sora became a heartless, but Kairi revived him. They then defeated Ansem. Riku resolves to fight the darkness in his heart and regains his Keyblade.
Xemnas created the Organization and tried to open Kingdom Hearts, the combined efforts of Riku and Sora managed to defeat him.
Sora and Riku learn of the fates of Terra, Ventus and Aqua, and resolve to find a way to save them. During the Mark of Mastery exam, they learn that Master Xehanort has been revived, and is trying to create 13 Seekers of Darkness, to battle 7 Guardians of light which will open Kingdom Hearts. Riku passes the exam, but Sora fails.
What they shouldn’t have done and name every friggin guy a name with X
It’s confusing, but it serves a purpose, though. The “X”, plus an anagram of the original character’s name denotes a Nobody form, whereas the Heartless form generally just keeps the original name. Eg.
Sora + X = roXaS.
Ansem + X = XemnAs.
Xigbar – X = Braig
Axel – X = Lea (I think?)
…etc
With the exceptions of Xehanort and Namine/Kairi, this rule holds. Xehanort is an interesting case, because “Ansem the Heartless” and Xemnas the Nobody are actually Xehanort, who was impersonating his master, Ansem The Wise (aka DiZ), who is actually a good guy. I daresay Namine was named differently to keep her identity a secret.
It is also possible at Namine wasn’t I clouded for this trend due to the fact that she was born from Kairi’s heart but with Sora’s body. That’s why she is able to manipulate those who are connected to him.
Actually, Xehanort has anagrams as well. Taking out the X leaves an anagram for ‘No Heart’ or ‘Another’.
Welcome to Kingdom Hearts.
Everything story-wise post Kingdom Hearts 2 is so incredibly convoluted, I don’t blame you for not playing the handheld ones.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be lost in the new one, too. — Let alone even think of buying it.
I remember playing 2 and thinking…que?
Agreed, then there was birth by sleep and 358/2 days or whatever it was called..after that I gave up too many people with their heartless and nobody and shadow and who’s the fake and who’s the real
In the end, all we care about is Disney-Final Fantasy, music and gameplay…
I just like seeing what square enix characters they add in the games
it is indeed convoluted! i remember having to spend time with my younger brother trying to figure out what the hell is going on! after a while, the effort paid off and it’s actually quite satisfying :p
Could you blog the timeline of the story arc? From beginning to end- I’ll pay you in thumbs up!
I posted a very brief summary at the top of the comments section. I wrote a full synopsis from start to finish but it was wayyyyyyy too long haha.
It’s only convoluted because they kept screwing around with the continuity of the games.
God I need to read the KHwiki just to keep up with the story. I don’t even know the events in DDD and only played BBS partially.
Can’t wait though, this game will always have a place in my heart. I saved up 4 weeks worth of pay check’s delivering junk mail just so I can afford this game.
please bring this to pc, it would be great, since its coming on xbox one as well, i cant see why it coulndt be on PC
Don’t forget Wii U this would be a great edition to it
I never played the handheld games having never had the console, but I did watch the games on youtube Lets Plays. This’ll be interesting.
Errrrrrrrrrrrrrr this is WRONG.
Sora DID NOT become a Keyblade Master in Dream Drop Distance. He failed the Mark of Mastery test.
Whenever I play DDD all I think at that part is “Oh well isn’t that just bloody convenient?” Probably the worst story in all the Kingdom Hearts just for that failure at the end. I don’t care if Sora fails, that’s all well and good. But at least make his failure believable in some sense. I mean he’s battled the darkness in several games, never submitted once, overcame it entirely in KH1 just like Riku did and then in DDD they’re just like “Hey man, sorry, you can’t really fight the darkness so no master rank for you”
I dunno, I think I can’t take how the story relies on convenient things happening and then people being like “Oh we can’t beat this guy he planned it all along years in advance, damn he’s good.” Looking forward to 3 so the bad taste that DDD left behind can get washed out. At least Sora didn’t care and mope around about it so that was quite good, hopefully this mark of mastery thing can be left behind and never seen again. 😛
1: Sora isn’t a Keyblade Master. He failed his Mark of Mastery.
2: Everyone who is excited for this game, but hasn’t played the handheld games will have no idea what is going on. (I recommend at least watching the end of DDD on youtube since DDD is the link between KH2 and 3.
I understand a lot of people find the story confusing, but at least give it a proper go.
3: Can not wait until this comes out!
I think what they mean is that Sora passed the mark of mastery at the end of DDD. I remember seeing in the ending that he went back into the dream worlds, so it can likely be safely assumed that he has gained the mark of mastery by the beginning of KH3.