Tetsuya Nomura discusses Kingdom Hearts III's story, including the power of awakening, Roxas, and the game's secret ending requirements

[Raxaimus 300]

Kingdom Hearts III director Tetsuya Nomura took part in an exclusive interview with Famitsu, just before the release of the game! This interview is quite lengthy, so we're separating it into multiple articles to make it easier to digest.

In the first segment, the game's story was discussed, as well as the game's secret ending requirements, which we've separated into a spoiler tag. Some new screenshots also accompanied this publication. You can read a translation of the interview below.

Quote

Kingdom Hearts III will be released on January 25, 2019. Tetsuya Nomura, director of the game who is preparing its release, took time to let us interview him.
 
——I was able to play ahead, all the gameplay elements are packed! After clearing a world, you can continue to explore and play mini-games. Even story-wise, there is a feeling that the missing pieces of the puzzle will fill in, and that the fans won’t be able to bear it.
 
Nomura: Thank you very much. KH III is, so to speak, “the story of defeating Master Xehanort”. With that, the Dark Seeker saga is complete and leads to a big break for the series, as many mysteries are solved.

——Can you can explain Sora’s goal a bit this time, for those who will play for the first time? First of all, please tell us more about the “power of awakening” that Sora needs in order to rival Master Xehanort? 

Nomura: There are some characteristics, but to put it briefly, it’s "the power to restore a heart that is not in its normal state". “You can open a closed one, and recover it from there”. In KH3D, they opened the gate to the sleeping worlds… got rid of what was standing in front of the entrances and entered each world. That was also a training to get the power of awakening. However, with Master Xehanort's intervention, Sora could not properly obtain it. Therefore, at the beginning of KHIII, his goal is to regain its power. 

——It means that the power of awakening is needed to prepare the Guardians of Light to counter the darkness, right? Another thing, “resurrecting Roxas” is also a goal, but what was Sora’s original idea of Roxas’ “resurrection”?  

Nomura: It is to revive him as an independent personality and a body. In "KHII", it seemed that everything was resolved by Roxas returning to Sora. However, in KH3D, Sora was in contact with Roxas' heart and memory, and conveyed the thought that "Roxas should exist as Roxas". Sora thinks that his resurrection is necessary for the fact that Roxas himself has a heart, that there is someone waiting for him (Axel), and this time to borrow his power as a Guardian of Light. 

——KHIII is a work that will become a milestone of the series, but the series itself will continue, right? While KHIII solves many mysteries, new questions arise…

Nomura: Of course it will continue. While the Dark Seeker saga ends, if you include KH Union Cross the series are not complete in itself. Regarding future plans, you will be able to see and enjoy the epilogue (releases on January 26) and the secret movie (releases on January 31). I think that your imagination will be aroused.

——Are there conditions to unlock the epilogue and secret episode? 

Nomura: Since the epilogue is shown after the ending, if you download it after its release day, the 26th, you can watch it after finishing the game. The Secret movie will be released on the 31st, but the unlocking conditions will be related to the number of "fortune marks"/"Marks of Fortune" photographed. [T/N: These items might have an entirely different name in the final localised English version.]

——That's taking pictures of Mickey head silhouettes with Sora’s Gummi Phone, right? 

Nomura: Depending on the degree of difficulty you choose at the beginning of the game, the number of pictures you’ll need will differ. If you are in the easiest "Beginner" mode you need to shoot all of the marks, but it’s okay if you miss some in "Standard" or "Proud" to a certain extent. The amount needed in Proud mode is quite small, but I think Standard mode is not that severe, either.

▲ Fortune marks/Marks of Fortune are located in various places, and rewards are given when you take pictures with them. As you can see from this picture, it is skilfully hidden in the background!

――Are there any other conditions?

Nomura: No, the only condition is the number of shots taken with the Marks of Fortune. This time, the secret movie can be seen without satisfying multiple conditions.

Translations are courtesy of KH13 staff member Mio-chan! As stated above, we will continue to publish more of this lengthy interview as soon as we can!

Kingdom Hearts III will release in Japan in less than an hour, on January 25. The game will release worldwide next Tuesday, on January 29!  Stay tuned for more info and the international release!

Follow our coverage of Kingdom Hearts III here and on social media!

Recent articles:
- Kingdom Hearts III releases in Japan
- Worldwide reviews for Kingdom Hearts III published
- Tetsuya Nomura discusses the power of awakening, Roxas, and secret ending requirements in Kingdom Hearts III
- Tetsuya Nomura discusses writing the scenario (including dialogue) for Kingdom Hearts III and the game's own Instagram-like social network

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[Azure Flame 670]

Nice!

 

So for the first time in KH history you can view the Secret Ending in Beginner mode.  I also like that it's something more simple with the hidden Mickey's, rather than say KH2's Standard difficulty needing you to 100% the journal to unlock.

[Iamkingdomhearts1000 1,170]

No Critical Mode? 

[ocean's rage 772]

say how spoilery are the requirements? 

[2 quid is good 2,209]

10 minutes ago, ocean's rage said:

say how spoilery are the requirements? 

Not spoilery at all, you just need to collect the hidden mickeys.

Did anyone else pick up on Nomura stating his dissatisfaction with the leakers. He's really thinking of just not having anymore worldwide releases.

 

Thank you so much SENA. Thank you so firefrucing much.

[Tails 6,690]

53 minutes ago, 2 quid is good said:

Not spoilery at all, you just need to collect the hidden mickeys.

Did anyone else pick up on Nomura stating his dissatisfaction with the leakers. He's really thinking of just not having anymore worldwide releases.

 

Thank you so much SENA. Thank you so firefrucing much.

Leakers seriously ruin everything. I swear. If Nomura decides on no more worldwide KH releases because of this I will be so sad.

[Raxaimus 300]

1 hour ago, Iamkingdomhearts1000 said:

No Critical Mode? 

Crit is in the game, but only on subsequent playthroughs. It's not available from the start.

[Katherine Duncan 24]

I'm honestly glad about the secret ending requirements not being too hard to get. I'm not a great player, so not having to worry about playing on the hardest difficulty to unlock it makes things less stressful.

[VocaloidLover13 165]

No worldwide releases means no english dubbing right? Either way, I am confident he won't took that decision.

I was hoping for more requirements to get the secret ending, but I am okay with that. Also, I hope the secret ending is playable like Secret Episode (KHBBSFM). It'd be a blast.

[Iamkingdomhearts1000 1,170]

10 minutes ago, VocaloidLover13 said:

No worldwide releases means no english dubbing right? Either way, I am confident he won't took that decision.

I was hoping for more requirements to get the secret ending, but I am okay with that. Also, I hope the secret ending is playable like Secret Episode (KHBBSFM). It'd be a blast.

Doubtful since this IS Kingdom Hearts III after all, too much of a good thing can somewhat have a downside effect, something of the sort at least.

[2 quid is good 2,209]

You guys are all misunderstanding, if course the game will be released internationally, but he's reconsidering simultaneous releases

[ITzDarthLordRevan 291]

I heard some of the hidden Mickeys are somewhat hard to find though since the worlds are so big.

[ocean's rage 772]

3 hours ago, 2 quid is good said:

Not spoilery at all, you just need to collect the hidden mickeys.

 

thanks 

[Aquaberry 759]

On 1/24/2019 at 5:27 PM, Raxaimus said:

Crit is in the game, but only on subsequent playthroughs. It's not available from the start.

 

On 1/24/2019 at 3:54 PM, Iamkingdomhearts1000 said:

No Critical Mode? 

While Nomura talks about a critical mode, we have heard from multiple sources who have played the game that there is no critical mode in KH3 at the time. Some of these sources have beaten the game on proud.

So I'm not sure whether Nomura is wrong, or our translations are wrong (we checked them multiple times!), or if the transcript is wrong, or if there is indeed a critical mode that hasn't been unlocked yet

1 hour ago, Kenneth Choo said:

 

Sorry I accidentally quoted u and now I can't delete this quote box on mobile lol

[Mystics Apprentice 2,397]

Friendly reminder to please stay on-topic and be mindful of others' opinions.  Thank you.

 

[FlipMode 141]

That's cool. I'm bad at videogames but love trying to spot hidden Mickeys in Disney movies and the parks so now I know to be on the lookout for those when we play KH3. And also its just adorable that Sora, Donald and Goofy can take selfies together in front of Hidden Mickeys. 

On 1/24/2019 at 6:08 PM, VocaloidLover13 said:

No worldwide releases means no english dubbing right? Either way, I am confident he won't took that decision.

I was hoping for more requirements to get the secret ending, but I am okay with that. Also, I hope the secret ending is playable like Secret Episode (KHBBSFM). It'd be a blast.

I thought he just meant that it won't be a simultaneous world wide release next time. So Japan will get it first and then we will get it once its localised. Which I would be okay with. It always was that way and with a lot of JRPG that's the way it still is, its not that bad. Its not like we get the game any sooner, its just we won't get it until its actually localised and ready, which I suppose unless you wanted to play it in Japanese anyway wouldn't really matter.

[Pixxz 30]

3 hours ago, Aquaberry said:

While Nomura talks about a critical mode, we have heard from multiple sources who have played the game that there is no critical mode in KH3 at the time. Some of these sources have beaten the game on proud.

UPDATE: Famitsu has recently updated their interview to say 'proud' instead of critical. We have updated our translations to reflect that:

 

Edited January 25, 2019 by Pixxz

[Kittenz 4,281]

On 1/25/2019 at 3:15 AM, 2 quid is good said:

Not spoilery at all, you just need to collect the hidden mickeys.

Did anyone else pick up on Nomura stating his dissatisfaction with the leakers. He's really thinking of just not having anymore worldwide releases.

 

Thank you so much SENA. Thank you so firefrucing much.

Seems like a bad course of action, imo. Sure, us untrustworthy westernerstm do kinda deserve it, but wouldn't that make it worse?

[LunaCatte 169]

9 minutes ago, Kittenz said:

Seems like a bad course of action, imo. Sure, us untrustworthy westernerstm do kinda deserve it, but wouldn't that make it worse?

Basically what he's thinking is this:

The past releases have been much further apart and there weren't leaks of this caliber. This is the first time for almost simultaneous launches and a WESTERN version was leaked so it MUST be because we pushed for near identical release dates!

That's a fairly common thought in Japanese companies who view their main base as Japan anyways. While it doesn't mean this will actually come to pass, as other games that have been released from SE with near simultaneous launches didn't have this issue (this has just been a terrible time period for pre-launch leaking, take Smash Bros for example) it's something that they don't really see about their base because if they do manage to get it early, they don't give it to other people and start posting stuff until after the official release. And most people HERE wouldn't either. The way that he's kinda seeing it is that a few bad apples spoil the bunch, which would ultimately be harmful as the world pushes for more global simultaneous releases, in my opinion.

I genuinely hope he is just venting his frustration, as that's more likely to be the case than anything else.

[ienzo628 548]

On 1/24/2019 at 9:15 AM, 2 quid is good said:

Not spoilery at all, you just need to collect the hidden mickeys.

Did anyone else pick up on Nomura stating his dissatisfaction with the leakers. He's really thinking of just not having anymore worldwide releases.

 

Thank you so much SENA. Thank you so firefrucing much.

I just think he's probably better off going digital now.