Was Birth By Sleep in development hell?

[AwesomeKHfan 1,250]

I was playing Aqua's story mode on my PS4 and I suddenly remembered the old interviews and development of the game. It's not because I think Birth By Sleep was rushed or anything hell I love it, it's one of my favorite games of all time even (Except Terra's story mode I always hated that mode and he well sucks as a person and I started to hate Ventus over the years to... Yeah, but that does not mean rushed game).

But I remembered suddenly some interviews and development for the PS2.

 

Correct me when I'm wrong on the development please:

I remember in interviews that the game was in development on the PS2 back in 2002 but it was cancelled for Re Chain of memories so they put a hold on it.

I remember there was a script written with Sora as the main protagonist in the storyline but we now have Terra, Ventus and Aqua as the main hero's of the game.

Most of the scenes here take place in different Worlds or are plain removed like Ventus asking Aqua to end him which still sort of happened in the game but different world's and characters.

Ventus wasn't able to explore Castle of Dreams and Terra and Maleficent seem to have a total different story around them in my honest opinion.

 

The game later was cancelled for the PS2 and brought back again for the PSP and they couldn't do the capes because of graphical issues from I remember and I remember that some parts of the story was censored like a baby fetus Sora talking to Ventus and the Unversed were much different (explains kind of there existence because even in the game it's still kind of weird, I understand though but still it's weird).

[Felixx 6,646]

Correct me when I'm wrong on the development please:

I remember in interviews that the game was in development on the PS2 back in 2002 but it was cancelled for Re Chain of memories so they put a hold on it.

I remember there was a script written with Sora as the main protagonist in the storyline but we now have Terra, Ventus and Aqua as the main hero's of the game.

 

Interview:

 

Realising the Absurd Volume

 

-- How did the Osaka development team get the chance to make 'Birth by Sleep'?

Yoichi Yoshimoto: It started around the end of June 2005, when Nomura (Tetsuya, creator of 'Kingdom Hearts') said "Let's get the Osaka team to make a new 'Kingdom Hearts' game."

Tai Yasue: At that time we hadn't decided what kind of 'Kingdom Hearts' title to make, so we were feeling our way while playing 'KHII'.

Yoshimoto: At first there was a period when we planned to develop it for the Playstation 2.

Yasue: We were making something very different to 'Birth by Sleep', with Sora as the prototype for the lead role. Then Nomura started writing the "Birth by Sleep" plans, so we worked on making our plans fit with his.

-- After that, you were asked to manage 'Re: Chain of Memories', right?

Yoshimoto: Yes. About half a year into making 'Birth by Sleep', Nomura asked us, "Could you make 'Re: Chain of Memories'?" There was less than a year until the development deadline.

Yasue: That's right (laughs). But it was a really good experience. We learned that the development process was very different in the Osaka and Tokyo teams, and came to understand the high level of quality required for making a Disney title.

 

 

So yes, BBS was put on hold because of Re: CoM, but that was in 2006, not in 2002.

 

About the first trailer and changes: Happened also with KH1. When you watch the announcement trailer of it you will notice several changes, like Disney Town being playable, the logo of Kingdom Hearts, or the original name being "Kingdom of Hearts". So I wouldn't call that "development hell", just simple and common gathering of ideas and scrapping/changing stuff in the early phase. Also happened with KH2, like the Behemoths that were supposed to appear in the 1000 Heartless battle as can be seen in the announcement trailer.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

As Felixx said, it's not that the game was in development hell, rather, what we saw was the earliest stages of development of the game, and like any game, beginning concepts make way to more improved ones, and there are changes made here and there until the final product ends up being something completely different from what was originally intended, ya know? So no, it wasn't in development hell, it's that the concept for the game changed with time.

[Connected 978]

Never knew it was original planned for the PS2. Wish it did...

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Never knew it was original planned for the PS2. Wish it did...

 

Yeah, it's something that was told early on during the development process, if I'm not mistaken! I'm definitely curious as to how the game would have ended up had it been on the PS2, ya know?

[ReverofE 698]

Yeah, it's something that was told early on during the development process, if I'm not mistaken! I'm definitely curious as to how the game would have ended up had it been on the PS2, ya know?

 

Probably the same but MAYBE worse.

 

One of the reasons why I believe it was changed to the PSP was because of the poor sales from Re:Chain of Memories (even though it was only released in America and Japan if I recall though bundled with KH2FM in Japan). Not to mention the PS2 was kind of on its dying legs back in 2009.

 

Gameplay wise I don't think it would have been THAT different. Though it may have been hard to sell a Final Mix version of that game on the PS2 in 2010/2011. Since BBS is the only non-numbered KH game to receive a Final Mix.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Probably the same but MAYBE worse.

 

One of the reasons why I believe it was changed to the PSP was because of the poor sales from Re:Chain of Memories (even though it was only released in America and Japan if I recall though bundled with KH2FM in Japan). Not to mention the PS2 was kind of on its dying legs back in 2009.

 

Gameplay wise I don't think it would have been THAT different. Though it may have been hard to sell a Final Mix version of that game on the PS2 in 2010/2011. Since BBS is the only non-numbered KH game to receive a Final Mix.

 

Well, it's something we'll never know. But you are right, the PS2 was dying out back then, as the PS3 was preparing to lay its roots permanently in place of the PS2, so I can see what you mean! But still, it would have been rather curious to see how Birth By Sleep would've turned out had it been for the PS2!