Kingdom Hearts III

[Tashasaurous]

Based on this latest interview, doesn't look like much if any of the Final Fantasy characters will be appearing in KH3, meaning that we won't be seeing the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, Cloud, Tifa or Sephiroth.

Click here to view the article

Sad, really.

Not to mention that a terrible/tragic ending is pretty much confirmed now. Guess I'll have to accept that only Sora will be able to survive and KH3 is the final game of the entire series.

 

[Carlie]

 

[Alex Strife]

Not to mention that a terrible/tragic ending is pretty much confirmed now. Guess I'll have to accept that only Sora will be able to survive and KH3 is the final game of the entire series.

You're SO incredibly obsessed with this that you spend your life looking for things that hint a very much awfully terrible and horrifying ending.

I read the link you posted. Found literally nothing that could be misconstrued as bad, not to mention "a terrible/tragic ending is pretty much confirmed".

This is going to sound confrontational and I apologise in advance, since I am saying this for your own good but...

- If you're not obsessed with this topic, then you NEED to get your reading comprehension checked.
- If your reading comprehension is generally good and only impaired because of your obsession with the game and wanting to avoid this awfully terrible and horrifying ending... then you obviously have your priorities upside down and you need to calm down.

Tash, you have reached a point where you are becoming a charicature. Like, you are this 'character' who understands things that are not there and these things always seem to point towards the worst possible outcome. Which, of course, never happens (if there's any Harry Potter fan here, I'm thinking of professor Sybill Trelawney). And I'm very sure you don't want to be reduced to that.

If you have such passion for certain series, you should try to at least channel it towards a good goal, instead of making life hard for yourself and appearing ridiculously and almost incomprehensibly pessimistic.

Also, just to help out, in case you were worried about the sentence "I just wonder if everyone will be okay", it's super obvious bait. It neither confirms nor denies anything. Except, perhaps, that the story will feature conflict. Which is... normal for stories.

 

[HylianMogget]

I really wasn't expecting Pirates to make a comeback, but I'm glad it did. Looks good - I love the pirate costumes and I'm looking forward to ship battles.

Based on this latest interview, doesn't look like much if any of the Final Fantasy characters will be appearing in KH3, meaning that we won't be seeing the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, Cloud, Tifa or Sephiroth.

Click here to view the article

Sad, really.

Not to mention that a terrible/tragic ending is pretty much confirmed now. Guess I'll have to accept that only Sora will be able to survive and KH3 is the final game of the entire series.

While I think it'd be a bit strange if the recurring FF characters don't come back (though I guess it could relatively easily be explained away), I think it does make sense that FF is being de-emphasized in KH. Dissidia pretty much fulfills the FF fanservice role that KH once did, so there's not going to be huge hype for seeing an older FF character modernized and voice-acted when the main characters and villains are already in Dissidia (and playable, not just cameos, assists, or secret bosses). I'd be nice to see characters that haven't made it into Dissidia (and might not make it in), like Celes, Beatrix, Balthier, Marche ("this isn't real, it's just a game!" ), etc, but at this point it's almost certainly never gonna happen.

I highly doubt KH3 is gonna be the last game of the series. It's a big series for S-E, I think particularly since modern FF is still kind of finding its way (and, honestly, kind of waning in the process), and I don't think Disney would just let it go (). Depending on how KH3 wraps up, maybe it's the last game for Sora and co. - again, I know nothing of the series' plot beyond KH2, but it looks like old characters from, like, all the games so far are coming back, so maybe it's going to be kind of a finale in that sense, but, who knows, Nomura could very well keep trucking along.

 

[Tashasaurous]

You're SO incredibly obsessed with this that you spend your life looking for things that hint a very much awfully terrible and horrifying ending.

I read the link you posted. Found literally nothing that could be misconstrued as bad, not to mention "a terrible/tragic ending is pretty much confirmed".

This is going to sound confrontational and I apologise in advance, since I am saying this for your own good but...

- If you're not obsessed with this topic, then you NEED to get your reading comprehension checked.
- If your reading comprehension is generally good and only impaired because of your obsession with the game and wanting to avoid this awfully terrible and horrifying ending... then you obviously have your priorities upside down and you need to calm down.

Tash, you have reached a point where you are becoming a charicature. Like, you are this 'character' who understands things that are not there and these things always seem to point towards the worst possible outcome. Which, of course, never happens (if there's any Harry Potter fan here, I'm thinking of professor Sybill Trelawney). And I'm very sure you don't want to be reduced to that.

If you have such passion for certain series, you should try to at least channel it towards a good goal, instead of making life hard for yourself and appearing ridiculously and almost incomprehensibly pessimistic.

Also, just to help out, in case you were worried about the sentence "I just wonder if everyone will be okay", it's super obvious bait. It neither confirms nor denies anything. Except, perhaps, that the story will feature conflict. Which is... normal for stories.

You have a good point. I'm really sorry for behaving like this. I mean I am well aware that KH3 is going into a huge epic battle, I'm really concerned that the ending will end up like either FFXV or Infinty War, and I'm a fan for happy and/or good endings without many casulties.

I'm thinking for the game to be at least a bit similiar to At World's End and move on to the next saga to find out what happens next.

I really wasn't expecting Pirates to make a comeback, but I'm glad it did. Looks good - I love the pirate costumes and I'm looking forward to ship battles.

Based on this latest interview, doesn't look like much if any of the Final Fantasy characters will be appearing in KH3, meaning that we won't be seeing the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, Cloud, Tifa or Sephiroth.

Click here to view the article

Sad, really.

Not to mention that a terrible/tragic ending is pretty much confirmed now. Guess I'll have to accept that only Sora will be able to survive and KH3 is the final game of the entire series.

While I think it'd be a bit strange if the recurring FF characters don't come back (though I guess it could relatively easily be explained away), I think it does make sense that FF is being de-emphasized in KH. Dissidia pretty much fulfills the FF fanservice role that KH once did, so there's not going to be huge hype for seeing an older FF character modernized and voice-acted when the main characters and villains are already in Dissidia (and playable, not just cameos, assists, or secret bosses). I'd be nice to see characters that haven't made it into Dissidia (and might not make it in), like Celes, Beatrix, Balthier, Marche ("this isn't real, it's just a game!"), etc, but at this point it's almost certainly never gonna happen.

I highly doubt KH3 is gonna be the last game of the series. It's a big series for S-E, I think particularly since modern FF is still kind of finding its way (and, honestly, kind of waning in the process), and I don't think Disney would just let it go (). Depending on how KH3 wraps up, maybe it's the last game for Sora and co. - again, I know nothing of the series' plot beyond KH2, but it looks like old characters from, like, all the games so far are coming back, so maybe it's going to be kind of a finale in that sense, but, who knows, Nomura could very well keep trucking along.

Yeah, but since Radiant Garden is returning and Goofy mentioned the Restoration Committee, not to mention that Cloud is almost the icon of Final Fantasy considering he appeared in most of the games since he's FFVII's main protagonist, you would think they would come back.

Not only that, but despite Disney owning all of the Kingdom Hearts characters, it doesn't mean they're full Disney characters.

Reasons:

1: Nomura designed and created the Kingdom Hearts characters and he's the Final Fantasy character designer for many years.

2: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Ven, Terra, and Aqua encountered Disney and Final Fantasy characters(more so for Sora than the Wayward Trio since they only met Zack).

3: Sora appeared as an DLC in World of Final Fantasy-a game run by only Final Fantasy characters with no Disney in them at all.

Therefore, if you really think about, all of the Kingdom Hearts original characters are Half-Disney-Half-Final Fantasy characters.

 

[Theozilla]

IIRC Nomura said he planned for KH3 to be finale of the Xehanort Saga for the series, but not the last game fo the franchise/series in general.

 

[Tashasaurous]

I know that, as everyone's pretty much sick and tired of Xehanort by now, and I'm already looking forward to KH4 even though would have to wait until after FFVII Remake.

However, considering he said that in 2013, there is a chance that through out those six years he could've easily changed his mind.


Edit:-About Final Fantasy characters: After going through a count given on Nomura saying the minimum numbers of Final Fantasy characters in KH3, maybe we'll hopefully see seven-Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, Cloud, Tifa and maybe Sephiroth, because the first two games had a good number while Birth By Sleep only had Zack.


KH1: Nine characters-Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, Cloud, Selphie, Tidus, Wakka, and Sephiroth(who made an appearence in the Final Mix version).


KH2: Seventeen including the returning six from KH1-Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, Cloud, Sephiroth, Selphie, Tifa, Seifer, Rai, Fu, Stezner(or however you spell his name, the guy from FF6), Vivi, Yuna, Rikku, Paine and Auron.


Seventeen is ten over seven when it add it up. So, hopefully, we might see the Restoration Committee return along with Cloud, Tifa and possibily Sephiroth. Seven Final Fantasy characters isn't that big for appearences in KH3, right? Unless Nomura doesn't want to confuse that despite that he already confused us for not Seven but fourteen Princesses of Heart.


Speaking of which, I wonder if Kairi both having Namine using the power of darkness to open corridors before the two fused together to make Kairi whole and Kairi also having become a Keyblade wielder made Xehanort decide to restort in seeking new Princesses of Light if Agrabah doesn't return either despite that Jasmine isn't a Keyblade wielder?

 

[Tashasaurous]

Just had a thought and this is very, very unlikely, but what if the "Hard to Swallow/Accept" meant something no one really wants or expects.

Like say, after Sora defeats Xehanort things start to fall apart and the only way to fix this is for someone to allow themselves to save the worlds by taking away their own life and as Sora is about to do it....

Xehanort realises the error of his ways and sacrifices himself to correct it while asking Sora and his friends to always protect the Realm of Light before he destroys the X-Blade and frees those he killed/or possessed before becoming engulfed in the explosion that kills him and Sora and others that survived are saved along with the rest of the Realm and everything.

Sure Xehanort is the "very" evil villian who doesn't deserve a change of heart like Barbossa(though given his love for apples and wanting nothing more than to become human again, I find him as a pity antagonist who later becomes a supporting protagonist), but there is that possibilty.

Then again that's light if Xehanort ends up good at the last second and dies by sarcrificing himself and KH3 is supposed to be the darkest of all Kingdom Hearts games.

Edit: On second thought, nevermind. Here's what I also found out just now.

As revealed by Jonathon Thornbush today in an IGN article, Tetsuya Nomura states that dark things are in store for the heroes in Kingdom Hearts III.

Nomura talked about the story's progress in an interview for IGN at E3, offering this comment in regards to whether this new entry would be the end of Sora's story.

"I do consider Kingdom Hearts to be Sora's story. But if I go into any more details, I think I'll be spoiling the game for everyone, so I just want to leave it at that," Nomura said.
​

The article continues, mentioning the other various games in the series. With the theme of the latest game being, "resolution," according to Nomura, it looks like the fans of the series will be able to look forward to an ending that's full of surprises.Quote

"There are going to be a lot of shocking scenes, especially toward the end of the game," [Nomura] said. "So I think you would definitely need to brace yourselves for them."
​

Many are hoping that, when it comes to the main characters, such as Sora, Riku, and Kairi, that their stories reach a satisfying conclusion. Nomura had this to say about the nature of friendships and how he wants to replicate the reality of those dynamics in Kingdom Hearts III.Quote

"Kingdom Hearts is not too realistic, but I do want my players to grasp a sense of reality from it as well," Nomura said. "For example, I'm sure you had friends when you were young, a good group of friends, but as you grow older things change and it doesn't always stay the same. I think all I can say is please play to the very end and see what happens. But I think Kingdom Hearts 3 does depict how each character feels about each other in this new story line."
​

What do you think this means for the ending of Kingdom Hearts III? Let us know in the comments below!

Kingdom Hearts III releases on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 25, 2019 in Japan, and January 29, 2019 to the rest of the world. You can now watch the latest Frozen trailer, Square Enix E3 Showcase trailer, and Pirates of the Carribean trailer!

Follow our coverage of Kingdom Hearts III at E3 2018 here, and our live updates on our Twitter!

Click here to view the article

I guess it pretty much settles it.

 

[Carlie]

 

[ForceStealer]

When do we get enough clout that we can go on EZA?

 

[looneymoon]

so decision time - should I get the HD collection now in anticipation of KH3? or should I put a pre-order on the Deluxe bundle and get everything all at once? I really loved those first 2 games a lot. My PS2 save files have 100% completion on both of them.

I'm still going through Breath of the Wild so I am totally cool waiting. There's also other games I would prefer trying out before revisiting Kingdom Hearts...

Why is saving money so difficult ;_;

 

[Theozilla]

I believe if you pre-order the the all in one deluxe bundle you get immediate access to the 1.5+2.5 and 2.8 content since its a digital bundle. So you can play them immediately without having to wait until the KH3 part of the bundle comes out as well.

 

[ForceStealer]

^That's pretty cool.

And I don't know how you feel about the various spinoffs, Rishi. But if you only play one - I strongly suggest Birth By Sleep. It might even be my favorite.

 

[looneymoon]

That's the one that has made me consider the HD release at all. That and the 2 main entries. I wouldn't mind checking out 352/2 Days if I ever have time because the music's good.

I'm also a little curious to find out firsthand how much more (or less?) sense the KH lore makes when actually experiencing everything firsthand

 

[Theozilla]

That's the one that has made me consider the HD release at all. That and the 2 main entries. I wouldn't mind checking out 352/2 Days if I ever have time because the music's good.

I'm also a little curious to find out firsthand how much more (or less?) sense the KH lore makes when actually experiencing everything firsthand

I’ve found that playing the KH series for the first time with the 1.5+2.5 release makes everything much easier to understand. Like KH’s plot is convoluted and its bread and butter is abstractation and abstract concepts but it’s not impossible to follow or understand.

 

[JechtShotMK9]

Minor pet peeve about BBS and 3D being called "spinoffs." They're spinoffs in the same way that Empire Strikes Back is a spinoff to A New Hope.

That is, if you skip it, you won't have a clue what the fuck is happening in Return of the Jedi. The handheld KH games aren't optional side content, they are essential, main stories in the series. KHIII will be totally incomprehensible to someone who hasn't played BBS, 3D, and, by the looks of it, CoM.

 

[Lestat]

Minor pet peeve about BBS and 3D being called "spinoffs." They're spinoffs in the same way that Empire Strikes Back is a spinoff to A New Hope.

That is, if you skip it, you won't have a clue what the fuck is happening in Return of the Jedi. The handheld KH games aren't optional side content, they are essential, main stories in the series. KHIII will be totally incomprehensible to someone who hasn't played BBS, 3D, and, by the looks of it, CoM.

Never played either so guess I'm fucked

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Don't worry. The overarching plot is still incomprehensible even if you have.

 

[Lulcielid]

Kingdom Hearts III will include a Story Summary Video.

 

[Tashasaurous]

Minor pet peeve about BBS and 3D being called "spinoffs." They're spinoffs in the same way that Empire Strikes Back is a spinoff to A New Hope.

That is, if you skip it, you won't have a clue what the fuck is happening in Return of the Jedi. The handheld KH games aren't optional side content, they are essential, main stories in the series. KHIII will be totally incomprehensible to someone who hasn't played BBS, 3D, and, by the looks of it, CoM.

And Coded.

Don't worry. The overarching plot is still incomprehensible even if you have.

The entire plot has been confusing and plot-twisting from left to right, with a bunch of secret endings and cliff-hangers that makes everyone want to know what happens next and when they do, they get hit with more questions and plot-twists. No different with some Final Fantasy titles.


And from the looks of things, Nomura's more towards the villans than Sora.

The Verge recently spoke with Series Director Tetsuya Nomura about his work with the Kingdom Hearts series over the past 16 years and the long-awaited Kingdom Hearts 3.



This series has the reputation of having a very convoluted story that even the most dedicated fans may have difficulty wrapping their heads around. Although he is expected, as the creator, to understand each and every little piece of detail, even he has difficulty following it all.

“I do have a general storyline in my head. What is the most confusing is that, because there are so many characters in this storyline now, it’s hard to keep track of who actually met who already. I’m always like, 'Okay, so who knows who in this situation, and who’s meeting this person for the first time?’ And that always gets really confusing.”
​

And while he had once felt very close with and related to Sora, even viewing him as a son, that relationship has since changed dramatically.

“I actually don’t sympathize or empathize with Sora at all,” Nomura says. Instead, he relates to the game’s mysterious villains, Xehanort or likely Ansem, anyone who’s fallen prey to their dark natures. “I think I’m closer to those characters, so Sora is like my enemy. How I always think of him is I would unleash my attacks on him, and then I draw him in a way that I think he will be able to make a comeback at me. In that sense, I really think that Sora is just like an opposite personality character to who I am.”
​

Of course, being the creator of such a notable franchise isn't all sunshines and rainbows. All that excitement from fans leads to high expectations, which puts a lot of pressure on him to deliver a good product.

“The fan expectations and excitement towards Kingdom Hearts III was much more than I had expected. I actually did feel a little pressurized for the first time pretty much in my life. But the best way to get rid of feeling pressurized is to just have confidence in yourself, that what you’re making is good.”
Right now, he says he feels pretty good about where the game is headed. “I really have confidence in Kingdom Hearts III, that it is a good game. I was really able to get rid of that pressure that I was feeling.”
​

Read the full interview on The Verge.

Personally, after KH3, maybe he should take a few months or a bit more off before continuing on FFVII Remake and (very unlikely) KH4 and the next saga(very likely without Sora now.)

 

[JechtShotMK9]

wut

 

[Tashasaurous]

Coded is set after KH2 and before Dream Drop Distance. That is mostly the reason of Sora supposedly meant to rescue those connected to his heart in the first place.

As for that interview, now I'm seeing a most obvious reason that Nomura had the whole thing reversed regards to Sora and Xehanort.

He said that KH3 is the final game with Xehanort and would end the Dark Seeker Saga and that Sora will always be the Main Protagonist even in the next Saga. Yet, what if in in reality it's the opposite?:

KH3 is the end of the Sora Saga and that Xehanort will always be the Main Antagonist.

I mean, as far it goes, everything Nomura says means the opposite of what he's attempting to do. That's how I'm seeing it anyway.

 

[JechtShotMK9]

I mean, you're delusional, but we all know that by this point.

 

[Tashasaurous]

I mean, you're delusional, but we all know that by this point.

Okay, maybe I am and I'm deeply sorry about that, but everything Nomura says is confusing, and it never hurts to have an alternate thought in the mind until we know for certain, and I re-think of what I said, because I've discovered yet another interview.

Boy, Nomura's doing lots of Interviews this month.

During the E3 2018 in Los Angeles Tetsuya Nomura, the Kingdom Hearts saga director and creator, had the chance to be interviewed by GNN.com on the new chapter of the saga, Kingdom Hearts III. During the interview, Nomura made a clarification concerning the chances of rescuing Aqua from her - unconfirmed - status of vessel.

You can check below for the fully translated interview (thanks to @Protoplasm_png):Quote

Q: The Kingdom Hearts series had already reached its third main instalment, will Sora's story end here?

Nomura: Sora's story will not end here, however, story since the first instalment (KH1) that lasts throughout these 15 years, including the fight with Xehanort and the Whole Xehanort saga, will be wrapped up in KH3.

Q: Kingdom Hearts III had been in production for a very long time, may I know the reason behind it?

Nomura: There are two main reasons. After the production had begun for about a year, the officials requested a change of game engine, hence we have to start from scratch, that is one of the reasons. Another reason being there are some internal changes with the team working on the game, therefore we were unable to meet the original date of release for KH3.

Q: Towards the end of the new trailer, Aqua had appeared. Does that mean the other two characters from ‘Birth By Sleep’, Terra and Ventus, will make their appearance as well?

Nomura: Generally speaking, in KH3 most of the main characters from all previous instalments will make their appearance.

Q: In the trailer it appears that Aqua have signs of being affected by the darkness, why are fans so concerned about it?

Nomura: As of now we cannot reveal the reason why Aqua is now in that state. However, that does not mean there are no chances of rescuing her, for that part it depends on the hard work of the players.

Q: There are many mountings in the new trailer, will there be more in the game?

Nomura: In KH3, Sora have many special attacks, and the transports are one of them. It’s just like games with theme park setting, there will always have that element. The transports are mainly for ‘attacking’ and not ‘transporting’. Different worlds will have different transport, for example in ‘Toy Story’ world there are robots for the player to ride on. However, in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, the pirate ship’s sole function is just transporting the player.

Q: Until now a lot of Disney characters had showed up, will there be any appearance of new ‘Final Fantasy’ characters?

Nomura: About the characters that have not showed up in the trailer, for now I cannot answer......
The characters from ‘Final Fantasy’ requires special care, as the characters are very unique. Hence it is difficult to portray how FF characters will communicate with the other characters in the game. However, please look forward to how the FF characters show up in the game.

Q: ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Marvel’ are under Disney branding now, will the characters from those franchise appear in KH3?

Nomura: They are under Disney, but they are not Disney’s original work, therefore they will not make any appearance.

Q: Characters from ‘Frozen’ are announced in the recent trailer, what kind of role will they play?

Nomura: I believe that the appearance of ‘Frozen’ in KH3 had mad many fans happy as ‘Frozen’ is quite demanded among the fans. However, due to the popularity of ‘Frozen’, there are many factors/details which we have to take extra care of, the plot will be roughly the same compared to the movie as adding original KH elements into the ‘Frozen’ world would be difficult. We will be using the original world/story in ‘Frozen’, and add a little element from KH. Although we cannot (???)

Q: In KH3 how many original worlds will show up?

Nomura: There are two categories for original worlds, which are ‘those that players can go’ and ‘those that players cannot go’. In this trailer, the place where Axel (TN: it’s actually Lea...) and Kairi spoke is a place where the players cannot go/explore. For original worlds... There are places where it will only appear for a while... Actually, there are many that will be showing up. Seems like I cannot reveal too much now.

Q: In the trailer, ‘Wreck it Ralph’ is being shown as a summon, are there any chances of it having it’s own world?

Nomura: For the worlds that have not been revealed so far, I cannot provide a solid answer.

Q: In the previous games, the seven princesses that represents light have a big role in the plot. In this trailer, the ‘New Seven Hearts’ is being mentioned, but no gender is specified. Is it possible that there will be any male characters?

Nomura:...There isn’t. Because there are many factors to considerate, there are no males.
​

Do you agree on the possibility of saving Aqua from her new form, or do you belive she's going to fight along with Xehanort? Let us know in the comment section below!

Click here to view the article

Though, a confusing thing is that lots of people I've spoken to outside this site think, based on the trailer, that Kairi and Lea are gonna be in a relationship, which I think is far too silly. It's more the case of they've become friends and Kairi forgives him for his actions.

And after re-watching the trailers, I really like Kairi's new outfit.

And at least there are no Star Wars or Marvel in Kingdom Hearts 3. I didn't like the idea of both of them being in KH3 and as Nomura said, they're not Disney Originals, which he's right about.

 

[Lestat]

I still don't get where your getting this "it's the end of Sora" aspect you keep posting about 0.o
I get what you say about Nomura always being a bit vague and confusing himself but those comments don't exactly establish a baseline for anyone dying/Sora not being the protagonist of the franchise anymore.

It's like saying the developers of call of duty have said their next game will be a shooter so ofc it's going to be an mmorpg.