Nomura talks vertical gameplay, Disney Attractions, and Roxas in Kingdom Hearts III

[Aquaberry 759]

In an article written by Engadget's Nick Summers, he reviewed his experience of playing Kingdom Hearts III and connecting his commentary with remarks made by Tetsuya Nomura, Kingdom Hearts series director, at E3 2018.

For instance, Nomura commented on expanding the gameplay dynamics of Kingdom Hearts III to add more verticality to it.

  Quote

"There are a lot of open world games. I think a lot of them just focus on trying to go bigger and bigger in a horizontal map. But when I thought about having dynamic actions, I felt that verticality should be very important to these types of games."

He also talked about the reason behind adding Attractions to Kingdom Hearts III.

  Quote

"Disney theme parks are a place that everyone gets excited [about] once they step right in. It doesn't matter if you're young or old, and [many people] will have some kind of fun memory from one of those theme parks. I just wanted to recreate that in the game. I also wanted some kind of move in the game that was fun just by looking at it."

While admiring just how close the world of Toy Box seemed to be to the real one created by Pixar, Summers added in a comment Nomura made about how the development team has tried to achieve the sense of stepping right into a movie with the worlds in Kingdom Hearts III.

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"And I think that's a really close to the concept that we originally had for Kingdom Hearts - which is to just immerse yourself and enter the world of Disney films. I think we were able to achieve that kind of goal that we had in mind when we first set out with the series."

Nomura also acknowledged Roxas, whose character has been often brought up in Kingdom Hearts III trailers in the scene with Xemnas and Ansem (Seeker of Darkness) in Twilight Town, both in the past and recently, and in the Square Enix E3 Showcase 2013 Trailer when Ienzo explains that Roxas's full data was needed to complete the data version of Twilight Town. Nomura said:

  Quote

"Roxas is the utmost secret for Kingdom Hearts III. He's the top secret actually for Kingdom Hearts III so I really can't say anything about him."

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 Caribbean trailer!

 

Follow our coverage of Kingdom Hearts III at E3 2018, and keep an eye on our Twitter for live updates!

 

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[Joanie 291]

It's interesting that Square is keeping Roxas's role a secret. I hope he's not a Xehanort.

[Movies798 1,360]

Well even though that Frozen trailer ruined my excitement for looking for Aqua in the realm of darkness but at least he's keeping a secret about Roxas's role in the game. As long as Nomura and the trailers don't spoiled any more details about Roxas then I'll be excited to play this game even more.

[Karxrida 154]

Best Character is the game's top secret? I'm down with this.

[Dracozombie 4,554]

I dunno, I love Roxas, but... really Nomura? He's the big secret? Favorite KH character and all that good stuff, but why does he need to be the top secret of the game? 
That is, unless revealing what's going on with Roxas would reveal an even bigger secret that Nomura's not in a position to disclose. That I can buy. Like... something along the lines of the real Kingdom Hearts? Y'know, that thing that's been in every title since KH1?

[PrinceNoctis 1,011]

Great article as usual, but you wrote E3 Showcase 2013 instead of 2018.

[SkyEmerald 73]

  On 6/14/2018 at 12:38 AM, Dracozombie said:

I dunno, I love Roxas, but... really Nomura? He's the big secret? Favorite KH character and all that good stuff, but why does he need to be the top secret of the game? 

That is, unless revealing what's going on with Roxas would reveal an even bigger secret that Nomura's not in a position to disclose. That I can buy. Like... something along the lines of the real Kingdom Hearts? Y'know, that thing that's been in every title since KH1?

 

Yeah, it's kinda odd. Roxas must play a large role in the plot... makes me think that maybe Roxas really could be Ventus (even though we saw them as different people in DDD), seeing how Ventus played a large role in the summoning of KH back in BbS

Edited June 14, 2018 by SkyEmerald

[Komali 594]

I get flashbacks to the KHX Back Cover Credits with Roxas theme.

 

Don't tell me Roxas is Luxu.

[SkyEmerald 73]

  On 6/14/2018 at 8:20 AM, Komali said:

I get flashbacks to the KHX Back Cover Credits with Roxas theme.

 

Don't tell me Roxas is Luxu.

 

That would be 0_o. I mean, he's Sora's nobody who looks like Ventus. Unless if Roxas is Ventus and Ventus is Luxu...