Big Hero 6 trailer shown at Playstation Lineup Tour Japan

I'd admit that of the models shown thus far the characters that are original to the series need the most work. Square is obviously working on them on a day-to-day basis but perfecting those models should be the priority when showing them in trailers. Seeing Riku yet again with different hair is a bit discouraging, as if they can't decide on what exact they like, same can be said for Young Xehanort who seemingly is improved and altered with each new trailer. I'm overall happy with the amount of polish that is going into it and I believe that Square will continue to further polish the game up into release.

 

I don't want that to be the case for KH3. For example, Xigbar's face is looking a lot shinier than before and like plastic again although it looked a lot smoother before and did not glow.

I just think that the cutscene between Young Xehanort and Young Eraqus looked better overall because, despite less focus on lighting and shadows, they worked a lot more on expressions, like movement of the lips, eyebrows, eyes/eyelids and overall face, even the more miniscule movements which make them look organic and natural even if they aren't actively noticed by some people most of the time. And they also made sure the skin looked less like an overblown balloon at times. Yeah, the hair was less structured than now, but it fit together nicely. It seems that now that their backgrounds are more detailed, they are focusing too much on shadows and other details which can make a comic style look strange and artificial.

A lot of animations in that style tend to keep lighting to a minimum to better showcase what the character is feeling. The better you see the face and the eyes, unobstructed by too many shadows, the easier it becomes to display emotion and pick up on them as the viewer. That's probably why anime/manga and also western animated shows and movies can move people and make you feel for a character that doesn't look realistic in our sense.

I feel they should focus on that more again. I love the detailed worlds and everything but if the characters, which carry the story no less, suffer from that, I wish they stuck more to the old scheme of simple but effective.

Don't get me wrong, overall it evolved in a positive manner. But when I look back at the reveal trailer with its simplistic and bright colors and scarce lighting, it looked more like Kingdom Hearts. It did not necessarily look better but the faces were more alive before they focused too much on backgrounds and the like.

Anyone else notice that Land of Departure being restored might have been lowkey confirmed. Vanitas might be abducting our boy Ven D:

My fear for the safety of everyone has only worsened! My heart can't handle this! Why can't all the main characters just be safe and happy for once? 

I would like to see what this game's main menu shall look like.

What types of options shall be available?

How shall we set abilities?

What about team members?  It doesn't look like Baymax is doing much in that trailer.  Could there be an option to temporarily disable a party member this time?

So many questions, so few answers....

Don't get me wrong, overall it evolved in a positive manner. But when I look back at the reveal trailer with its simplistic and bright colors and scarce lighting, it looked more like Kingdom Hearts. It did not necessarily look better but the faces were more alive before they focused too much on backgrounds and the like.

To be honest there are some things that concern me as well, which is natural for a thing people have been looking forward to for years now. I....have been fearing that they might be aiming too high with this game. I do think they shortened the overall world list (including original worlds) then they originally planned to focus on expanding the worlds. Which on one hand is a good thing by making the worlds feel more like worlds that people live in and not just some areas and I do generally look forward to exploring them. But I also fear that might be so big that it takes like over 5 hours to finish a world. Now, if it's mostly side missions or something that you don't need to finish to continue that is fine, but even if I love the world I'm gonna want to move on to continue the story. And with them saying they fear how much space the game is gonna take has me a little worried.

Also yeah, I agree the original characters need to be more expressive. The Disney characters are really great with their facial expressions and lively movements, more than ever before when sometimes they would just stand around and talk. Hopefully it's better in the finished game though.

Now don't get me wrong, I have high hopes for this game but it's nice to discuss concerns. There is still a lot more that I am really excited for (the Disney characters all look wonderful and I'm sure the original characters will in the end of the day look great. We just have to wait and see.  

Probably to not disturb the music... I'm not too fond of Chikai being slapped into every single trailer since its reveal, regardless of whether the song fits or not. I'd rather like to hear some more of Shimomura's new scores and battle music.

 

Other than that, I still feel the faces and movements are a little static at times in cutscenes. Especially eye and face movement is not nearly as lively as before and I sure hope that one Xigbar scene did not suffer from the same problem of overdoing the lighting once again such as 0.2 did. (Where the skin looks plastic and inflated.)

Xemnas' hair is also still practically glowing, the skin too dark and his face is still too broad and the eyes a little small in my opinion

 

BH6 is looking pretty good so far, despite San Fransokyo looking a bit too similar to Monster Inc. during the night since both are big cities. I sure hope they're gonna be set apart more clearly in the end since we o ly caught glimpses so far. I'm also interested in how the scaling of buildings will work. The artwork suggested that Baymax may serve as some sort of helper to fly, but whether that will really be implemented is not yet clear.

 

Young Xehanort also looks quite a bit better. In the demo he still looked comparably strange, but perhaps that was fixed now due to the repeated comments about that.

 

It may sound overly negative, but after playing some other games releasing next year, or rather set to release, I still believe KH3 could use quite a bit more fine-tuning. I'd also like to play the game as soon as possible, but especially games like DMC 5, while not the same style, felt much more complete than KH3 in most aspects. And after talking to some people, the game is done without having a specific release date, unlike KH3. I don't know how reliable that is though, judging from just a demo.

 

Either way, while still having my personal issues with certain things, it's still coming together nicely it seems. I'm just concerned they will rush the last parts just to get it out. Not to be overly negative, I still enjoyed the demo a lot and like quite a bit of what is presented, the game nust doesn't seem that complete yet.

For example, Sora's reactions are not nearly as expressive or lively as before and what always intrigued me most about KH was how expressive the eyes, eyebrows and faces in general were. KH3 doesn't contain that to such an extent where the eyes are constantly showing a natural movement but remain unusually static instead. That's probably what bothers me most apart from model issues.

I agree with you in relation to the music, I know it's a new song and all, but it would make a change to hear field/battle material or even a revamped old song. I just find it slightly out of place, especially in relation to the gameplay sections.

To be honest there are some things that concern me as well, which is natural for a thing people have been looking forward to for years now. I....have been fearing that they might be aiming too high with this game. I do think they shortened the overall world list (including original worlds) then they originally planned to focus on expanding the worlds. Which on one hand is a good thing by making the worlds feel more like worlds that people live in and not just some areas and I do generally look forward to exploring them. But I also fear that might be so big that it takes like over 5 hours to finish a world. Now, if it's mostly side missions or something that you don't need to finish to continue that is fine, but even if I love the world I'm gonna want to move on to continue the story. And with them saying they fear how much space the game is gonna take has me a little worried.

 

Also yeah, I agree the original characters need to be more expressive. The Disney characters are really great with their facial expressions and lively movements, more than ever before when sometimes they would just stand around and talk. Hopefully it's better in the finished game though.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I have high hopes for this game but it's nice to discuss concerns. There is still a lot more that I am really excited for (the Disney characters all look wonderful and I'm sure the original characters will in the end of the day look great. We just have to wait and see.

 

I tend to agree. I like vast worlds but in regards to the overall story, more diversity may be better for the story. I can't say for sure of course but I hope they're not too extensive because it's still Kingdom Hearts.

Especially seeing the Disney and Pixar characters look really good makes me wonder if Disney has been focusing too much on their own priorities. Judging by interviews, it seems like working with those two has become harder than for past games and while this is merely me being suspicious and not a confirmed fact, I can't help but think that Disney's involvement may have become harmful for KH because more than anything, they care about their own characters to look good and may prioritize that over the game's original cast.

As I said, that's just my own suspicion but Disney seems much more interested in KH3 than they were in any other game of the franchise. Interviews of the past claimed that Nomura barely received any restrictions from them but more recent interviews make it look like it's a struggle working with them and their expectations about how things have to look like.

That's just my opinion but it seems like there was pressure to make characters originating from Disney look great first before focusing on the actual main characters. I guess it would be better if they had stayed more in the background if they really have become more involved.

I also think it's no shame to discuss concerns. Not everything is peachy so far and for a game nearing its release, it just seems like there are many construction sites left, even if a lot of them are minor. But they add up.

I also talked with other people about this (someone from Nintendo too who told me his favorite game was actually Kingdom Hearts despite working for them ) and they also said that the expectations may become its downfall before even getting a chance.

I love the hype and I also have countless hopes for the game, but I can't overlook things which are simply bothering me just because it's my favorite franchise. At the ebd of the day, it may have been better to give them a little more time.

I tend to agree. I like vast worlds but in regards to the overall story, more diversity may be better for the story. I can't say for sure of course but I hope they're not too extensive because it's still Kingdom Hearts.

 

Especially seeing the Disney and Pixar characters look really good makes me wonder if Disney has been focusing too much on their own priorities. Judging by interviews, it seems like working with those two has become harder than for past games and while this is merely me being suspicious and not a confirmed fact, I can't help but think that Disney's involvement may have become harmful for KH because more than anything, they care about their own characters to look good and may prioritize that over the game's original cast.

As I said, that's just my own suspicion but Disney seems much more interested in KH3 than they were in any other game of the franchise. Interviews of the past claimed that Nomura barely received any restrictions from them but more recent interviews make it look like it's a struggle working with them and their expectations about how things have to look like.

That's just my opinion but it seems like there was pressure to make characters originating from Disney look great first before focusing on the actual main characters. I guess it would be better if they had stayed more in the background if they really have become more involved.

 

I also think it's no shame to discuss concerns. Not everything is peachy so far and for a game nearing its release, it just seems like there are many construction sites left, even if a lot of them are minor. But they add up.

I also talked with other people about this (someone from Nintendo too who told me his favorite game was actually Kingdom Hearts despite working for them ) and they also said that the expectations may become its downfall before even getting a chance.

 

I love the hype and I also have countless hopes for the game, but I can't overlook things which are simply bothering me just because it's my favorite franchise. At the ebd of the day, it may have been better to give them a little more time.

I would almost agree with them needing more time, but we have also waited for the game for around five years I think? Anyways if they wanted much longer hype would surely die down a lot. Not to mention they would need to make more trailers to pass the time. It was already supposed to be out this year and already got (officially) delayed once I'm sure they would not want to do that again. We have only seen a few scenes in the trailers, it's probably (hopefully) more done then we realize.

I'm really happy with them putting more work with the Disney characters. But I do agree that that should not be at the expense of the original characters though. And I hope Disney, while it's good that they are taking more interest in the franchise, aren't holding Square back for creative reasons. But this is also Disney, so it would not surprise me. 

I would almost agree with them needing more time, but we have also waited for the game for around five years I think? Anyways if they wanted much longer hype would surely die down a lot. Not to mention they would need to make more trailers to pass the time. It was already supposed to be out this year and already got (officially) delayed once I'm sure they would not want to do that again. We have only seen a few scenes in the trailers, it's probably (hopefully) more done then we realize.

 

I'm really happy with them putting more work with the Disney characters. But I do agree that that should not be at the expense of the original characters though. And I hope Disney, while it's good that they are taking more interest in the franchise, aren't holding Square back for creative reasons. But this is also Disney, so it would not surprise me. 

Yeah, I can understand that side of the argument as well. Even with the engine change it's been 4 years and while that is still within regular production times of big titles, the early announcement made the wait much longer than for other games. Because there's a difference between knowing a game will come eventually and a game definitely being in production. Another delay may make people, especially the more invested fans, even more enraged. Despite the hype, with some people there is also this underlying feeling of sitting on a box of dynamite ready to blow any second.

Then again, Breath of the Wild got delayed more than one time and not only a month but years. It makes me wonder if half a year would be really so bad if the game is good in the end. I also want to play it sooner rather than later, yet I think that, especially due to the high expectations, having an incomplete/inconsistent game might be worse for the franchise than having to wait. I'm not expecting the greatest models ever, just consistency and looks which do not make me want to laugh and that can carry emotion. Other companies manage that too, even with new engines.

Still, I get your argument. It's been a long time for fans and while 0.2 was nice and all, it was not KH3. And perhaps you are right and they are more done than what is assumed. I'm just a bit concerned with the inconsistent looks which should be gone by now. I've never seen a game struggle with that this late into production. Also the comment that they hadn't even started with some worlds at the beginning of the year made this sentiment not a whole lot better. Percentages are a fickle thing to describe progress but it was not a positive outlook.

Yet again though, you are right that this may reauire just a littke bit of fine-tuning and that their order may have gotten messed up with the new technology they had to work with, etc. Disney's involvement could have also made things harder than necessary. I second that it wouldn't be surprising if Disney did that. While I love some of their works, they also made questionable decisions and their contracts and expectations for their own properties (despite owning KH and its original characters as well although not designing them) may even exceed our own for the game. They are very protective of them and the larger a franchise gets, I feel the harder it becomes to please them because it's not just a little niche game a few people enjoy.

In the end, I just hope we get a game that can be called KH and won't become one of the worst games. It already can't live up to all of the expectations in my opinion, but as long as it manages to wrap things up nicely, get the characters to look right and makes the gameplay enjoyable, it doesn't have to be better than the rest. It just needs to fit in with the rest of the franchise. With 0.2, people could overlook a lot of flaws but KH3 is what everyone has been waiting for and it would a shame if it would disappoint beyond repair because they were not granted half a year or so more. There are just feelings a patch can't fix later on and that is the first time playing a game, not to mention one people have been waiting for for such a long time, and being let down because the quality is not up to par with the rest.