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Community KH-Vids Annual User Awards: Category Suggestions Open!

Posted by . : tale_wind : Jun 22, 2018 at 8:53 PM ( 0 , 946 )

Summer is here again, which means it's time once again for our annual KH-Vids User Awards!

Join us in a friendly, non-serious (lol) competition to elect your favorite members and content for a variety of categories! Nominations are not yet open, but keep your eyes peeled! In the meantime, you can suggest new categories for the awards right now until June 30! After that, we'll kick the awards into gear! This year we're celebrating not only the past year, but also the ten-year anniversary of the User Awards!

For more info on how the awards work, check out the Info & FAQ thread.
To suggest categories, head over to the Category Suggestion thread.

Got any questions? Message tamale, and I'll do what I can to help out!

https://kh-vids.net/forums/kh-vids-user-awards.105/

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GameSpot E3 Interview w/ Tetsuya Nomura

Posted by Meilin Lee : Jun 21, 2018 at 7:39 PM ( 1 , 787 )

Adding another interview to the list of E3 interviews he has conducted, Tetsuya Nomura sat down with GameSpot to discuss all things 'Kingdom Hearts III', such as how his work on the game differs than previous KH games, what Marvel character he would love to include if he had the chance, as well as throwing some shade at the newer Final Fantasy titles. Check out the interview below:

Kingdom Hearts 3 has been in development for quite a few years now. How does it feel to finally have a release date announced?

Until now the thing that I was told the most was to just release the game, like, "Don't worry about it, just release the game," or, "When is the release date?" So now that we [have] arrived, to finally be able to say our release date or announce a release date, I feel that they gave me the opportunity to actually say what I want to our fans and have them listen to what I want to say. So I'm really happy about that.

Did it feel like you always needed to do more to achieve what you want or was it just the case of development issues that resulted in the lengthy development time?

Just one year into development we had to change the engine that we were working off of. This was a directive from the company that set us back a year and that was definitely a blow that we took. And then as we started development after that, we were gradually increasing the number of staff we had on our team, but the increase in staff just did not go as I had planned, so we couldn't really get full momentum for a while. So it's not that we had difficulty in development of the title, it was just a lot of company decisions that we just couldn't avoid.

Given how long the game has been in development, fan expectations for it are incredibly high. Do you ever worry about not meeting those fan expectations and how does that impact you as you're developing the game?

I just naturally don't really feel pressured and that's always been fortunate for me. That's been leading me to successes, but at least for Kingdom Hearts 3 the fan excitement was a lot more than I had expected. So [for] the first time in my life I did feel some kind of pressure from it. But when I thought about why I didn't really feel pressure until now, I realized that it was because I always had the confidence that my game is going to be good and fun. Because I have confidence that Kingdom Hearts 3 will be great as well I think that's probably why I don't feel too pressured or I don't feel too scared about fan expectations or meeting expectations. I also have experience working on Final Fantasy titles as well, but Kingdom Hearts is a very unique one where a lot of people that are on the title really love Kingdom Hearts 3. They're overflowing with love. They're just like our fans as well. So because their love towards the title is so high, they've been creating the game with that much love and so I think that we are able to push out a game that meets expectations or even more than what you might expect.

You've grown up as a person and as a designer alongside the players and it's been so long since the last Kingdom Hearts was released. How has your perspective on making the game changed over time? Do you still have that passion for it? Or is it just like you feel more of a responsibility to people to make it and end it?

I'm getting older now, so my body really can't take all that difficulty anymore. When I was younger I was definitely more aggressive and I was the one pulling everyone forward, but now there's a lot more energetic staff around me who are more aggressive, so I feel like I'm more like a sage now. Like I'm in the sidelines just telling people what to do. The Kingdom Hearts series has become a huge title nowadays and back then it was more like I was making it secretively in the corner, but now that a lot more people are involved I do feel that it's not my title anymore, it's everyone's title. And just talking about all this … It actually kind of makes me really sad.

People are putting a lot of big things on you between making the sequel to Kingdom Hearts and the Final Fantasy VII remake. Is it a similar thing for that as well where you're letting other people guide you? Are you trying to train up the next generation to take over the things that you gave the world and created for Square-Enix?

I'm not really good at teaching people, so I haven't been really telling people what to do, how to make games, or how to do it best. But because of where I am right now, all the decision making is up to me and because I've had a lot of game creation experience, I can finally feel that I could actually decide on one thing and I could actually make myself stop from deviating from what I've already decided. In a sense, I think all that experience does help me to become more mature. But there's still a lot of things that I can't readily decide as well. It's not that I've been educating all my teams, but the coder, Tai Yasue, has been with me so long that he knows what I'm looking for. He knows what I don't like and he knows if whatever he has on his plate is something that I can approve or not. In that sense, [it could be said] I have been educating him. The staff that I have, they actually have this image of me that, "Oh, Nomura-san won't approve if it's like this. It needs to be better." They just have high expectations for themselves or they think that I have really high expectations for them. So when I actually go ask to see something early in development, they say, "Oh, I can't show it to you yet. It's not finished at all." So what they usually tend to do is that they would take whatever order I give them and just create something that's of a higher quality than what I've asked them to do. So if you look at the trailer, I think it's pretty apparent, but they have been pushing out things that are really high quality. I'm very grateful for that.

One of the big things that fans are responding to in the new trailer is Aqua and her seemingly falling to the darkness. A lot of people are quite excited and also showing trepidation about seeing that. Can you talk about the decision to change and grow her character in such a way?

First of all, I didn't really think that people would be the most surprised with Aqua. I did receive a lot of questions about her during interviews and I've seen that it's become a hot topic online as well. The way that I write my scenarios, I don't really have clear thoughts of what I'm gonna do at each moment. I always start off with having a goal at the very end and maybe have smaller goals in between that I know that I have to go through to be able to achieve that larger goal, and then I'll start writing scenarios that go in between to make sure that I reach that goal at those points. So it's an ongoing process for me, but while I'm writing towards those smaller goals, I already know what happens, so in my mind I already have this expectation of what will happen next. But once in a while, I will come to a point where I would actually want to go against my own expectations and that's basically why Aqua became like that.

In another interview you said the reason why it's shocking to other people is because they don't know the path that you've created and you know where it's going to end, so you know how to get there. How far have you created that path? This is supposed to be the end of Sora's story. Do you have another story that goes beyond this or is this the end for you as well?

The way that I make games is that while I'm creating the current title, I'm always thinking about what's ahead of that. That hasn't changed from [the first] Kingdom Hearts, so it's the same for Kingdom Hearts 3 as well and it's all in my mind. But that doesn't mean that we will be able to create that game or we will eventually create the next game. I do this so that it doesn't contradict what I see in the future of Kingdom Hearts. Like I said earlier, it's just not that it's a definite yes or no as to whether or not there will be [another Kingdom Hearts] title, but I do have something in mind.

We've seen a lot of new characters and returning favorites, but we haven't really seen a lot of the Final Fantasy characters and obviously they played such a huge role in the earlier games. Are you just not showing them off right now or do you feel that you don't need to bring them back for the new game?

They obviously appeared from [the first] Kingdom Hearts, but at least for Kingdom Hearts 3, there's going to be a lot of [original] Kingdom Hearts. So most of the main characters from the Kingdom Hearts titles will appear and they will all have their problems that they need to resolve in the game. Because of that, Final Fantasy characters that actually do not have problems of their own … it's just a little bit difficult for them to appear in the game. But, obviously, the trailers that we have been showing until now is not everything. So all I can really say to that is just wait for a little more update to that. Actually, in interviews throughout E3, I think every single interviewee has asked me about Final Fantasy characters and so I realize that that probably means that everyone's actually looking forward to them. There weren't that many titles out in the world that had all these Final Fantasy [characters] comes together in one [place], but nowadays there's just so many games out there that incorporates all these different Final Fantasy characters together, so I actually felt that it might not even be necessary to have another one of those in my game. But now that I've been talking with everyone, I've realized that maybe it is necessary, so I'm a little surprised by that.

Returning to Aqua and changes made with her, is that something that you want to do further with other characters? Do you want to kind of change perspectives on characters and maybe turn things upside down in the same way that you did with Aqua so people aren't as comfortable with everything?

It's not to say that there will be similar situations for other characters as Aqua, because I think that actually if I did that too often in the game, it will just lose the surprise element or it'll just feel very boring. But I can say that there will be a lot of surprises in the game, and future trailers may reveal it, but there are some surprises in there that I don't even know if it's okay to even put it in a trailer. Maybe we should just leave it in the game without revealing it beforehand so it'll be like a surprise in the game. I think all I can really say is to just please look forward to that. But let's say, so it's not like I'm changing your perspective on a character or not, but there will be some moments in there that you will definitely be surprised.

One of the other major questions people have is: are there limits to the characters you can now pull from, because Disney is changing massively and there's new characters being added to their roster. We now have Star Wars characters and Marvel characters [at Disney]. Are they [franchises] that you can pull from?

So Star Wars and Marvel are under Disney, but they are a completely different company, so it's just completely different. It's not that we could just freely ask for those characters as well. And I do get asked this questions once in a while, as well, but even to have Pixar characters in Kingdom Hearts, they actually started negotiating for it over 10 years ago. It wasn't like a simple ask and it took that long to [get to where] we're finally able to realize it. Currently, there's really not an option for me to use [Star Wars and Marvel characters].

If you were given the opportunity to have a Star Wars or Marvel character and you would granted it instantly, who would you pick?

If I answer to this question, I think a lot of people will actually be like, "Oh my God. It's confirmed. It's going to come," but it's not like that. But just simply as a character, I really love Tony Stark.

The game was recently delayed and it was a message that was delivered at a concert to fans first. Can you explain a little bit about why the delay was revealed that way, and can you tell us what state the game's currently in and why the delay was necessary?

As for the reason why we announced it at the concert, it was because this title is a multi-platform title, and so we wanted to be fair to everyone, and so that is why we decided to announce there. As for the reason for delay, because we really wanted to release the game as simultaneous as possible, this was a big request from our overseas team, our Western teams, so we had to think of that for this title. Until now, we would decide on a release date for Japan, and then the rest of the world would follow, so we would only have to think about situations in Japan. But now that we're looking towards a global release, we have to think of distribution and software production lines in global terms. If it was only like about 10,000 or like 50,000 units, then I think it would have been a little bit more of a simple matter, but since we're trying to produce more at once, we really had to think about those issues. For instance, like one country might be able to distribute a game towards the end of the year, but another might not be able to because of their holiday season. So the higher-ups actually were very cautious about this, and they really wanted to make sure that we did not run into any issues, and so that is why we decided that this date that we have is the safest to be able to achieve a global simultaneous release, or as close as possible. And of course, with developers, it's much easier to push the release date a little back than to make it earlier, and so that is why we decided on this date.

Kingdom Hearts means a lot of things to a lot of people. For some, it represents their childhood or it's a story about friendship. What does Kingdom Hearts mean for you?

It's probably the title that represents who I am. When I was a starting as a developer, like I wasn't an industry veteran yet, when I was creating Final Fantasy titles with Mr. Sakaguchi, the father of Final Fantasy, and at that time, he said that Final Fantasy is a game that has everything in it. I don't think that there are that many people left in Square Enix that have actually worked with him on Final Fantasy. Of course, Final Fantasy is still continuing on--they still are committing to push out titles. But when I started creating Kingdom Hearts, that was when I kind of had this time away from Final Fantasy. And of course, I am working on a Final Fantasy title right now, but it was at a time when I was not working on a Final Fantasy title, and I really wanted to realize what Sakaguchi-san said about Final Fantasy, that it is a game that incorporates everything, to Kingdom Hearts. So I brought that idea to Kingdom Hearts. Currently looking at the newer Final Fantasy titles, to be honest, I don't think it really incorporates that idea of having everything. So I think that Kingdom Hearts, to me, is a game that has everything in it.
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Source: GameSpot

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Kingdom Hearts III

KH3 Appears in Famitsu + Interview w/ Tetsuya Nomura

Posted by Meilin Lee : Jun 20, 2018 at 5:55 PM ( 0 , 853 )

The new issue of Weekly Famitsu has released in Japan, and it featured 'Kingdom Hearts III', as well as an interview with the director, Tetsuya Nomura! Check out scans from the magazine below:

In addition to the scans, the main point from Nomura's interview have been summarized. While we wait for a fully translated interview, check out the main points below:

In 'The Caribbean', the box from the second movie (most certainly referring to the Dead Man's Chest) is linked to the black box that Maleficent and the "true" Organization XIII are searching for.

The "Remy's Delicious Restaurant" mini-game can be played in Twilight Town.

Tangled's world has a rhythm-based mini-game

Everything the staff has been suggesting has been mostly implemented.

The Classic Kingdom is a project By Nomura himself (he wanted to create and add as many mini-games as possible). Even if it’s for running around, Nomura thinks that having the game in hand can be fun.

Using Situation Commands, strategies can be planned within a limited time.

It doesn’t matter if you use the Situation commands while you’re unfamiliar with them, just press buttons and try them!

Attractions are activated under certain conditions, in certain places and according to the previous command.

Even if you don’t intend to use the Keyblade's new system, it remains fun as you can perform various techniques. If you’re skilled enough, an efficient strategy can be established.

You can experiment different actions through their transformations. Non-transformable Keyblades perform special moves. The Kingdom Key allows Sora to use techniques he used in the past.

Links have been changed several times, and the shape of Disney characters’ borrowed power is yet to be decided and are named when you settle to use them in combat. Not only are characters from previous opus along with their skills back, but the player can also intervene when linking with them.

The Summon system allows you to call a Meow Wow and all kinds of Dream Eaters. All of them couldn't make it into the game, but with the Link you can make a lot of Dream Eaters appear.

Sora has less decorations to match his more dynamic action and active image.

Nomura affirms that Sora, Riku, and Kairi's outfits match each other slightly, eg. all have plaid.

Vanitas resurrects, and the other Organization members, after turning back into humans, once again turn into nobodies and resurrect in a different way. The ones that collaborated with Sora resurrect the way they are.

The place where Lea and Kairi are training is a new location where you can't go to.

Aqua has surprised everyone more than expected. The King and Riku appear in a scene where they are in trouble. Aside from Aqua, there are a lot of other characters that will have everything explained about them, so writing the scenario was very hard.

A secret movie for Kingdom Hearts III has been made, but is not finalized yet.

It's difficult to give a figure for percentage completion at the time. A major concern for Kingdom Hearts III is its high volume being met by capacity shortage. This is exacerbated by some cutscenes that are being made into movies for load time reduction, but consequently require more capacity than expected.

Lip sync data is also a concern; switching between Japanese and English audio is very tough.

A Final Mix version isn't under consideration since there's also the problem with running out of space. Nomura has plans to release updates as DLC, so even if they do that, it won't be a Final Mix.

About DLC, they haven't decided on details, but Nomura wants it to be something that expands the ways you can play in. They won't be working on that until they are finished with the main game.

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Source: KH13

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Kingdom Hearts Recap Videos Released

Posted by Heart ❤ : Jun 18, 2018 at 10:36 PM ( 1 , 1,003 )

In some of his most recent interviews, Nomura has spoken about releasing a five-part series to recap the Kingdom Hearts series in preparation for Kingdom Hearts III. It seems that this project has just launched with it's very own (Japanese) website! The website includes links to all five videos (all of which are under five minutes long) and are split into various titles.

These videos are titled (according to the YouTube video names):

The Chapter of Departure, which summarizes Kingdom Hearts I
The Chapter of Memory, which summarizes Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
The Chapter of Twilight, which summarizes Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
The Chapter of Dawn, which summarizes Kingdom Hearts II
The Chapter of Darkness, which summarizes Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and parts of Dream Drop Distance.

These videos can all also be found on the Square Enix Japan YouTube channel. The videos are (as stated previously by Nomura) narrated by Chirithy from Kingdom Hearts χ. These videos are currently avaible only with Japanese audio and no English subtitles.

Thanks to Project Destati for posting about it on their Twitter!

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KHV Union χ Weekly Leaderboards: 6/11 - 6/17

Posted by . : tale_wind : Jun 18, 2018 at 11:19 AM ( 0 , 838 )

Welcome back to Daybreak Town! Everyone ready to see how your hard work has stacked up?

In fifth place this week is KHV_Vulpes with a total of 60,310,951 Lux! The top scorer was @Lije with 44,026,938 Lux—about 73% of the party's earnings. @Fearless followed with 16,284,013 Lux.

In fourth place this week is KHV_Ursus with a total of 354,774,018 Lux! The top scorer was @tamale with 354,766,597 Lux—about 99% of the party's earnings. @O.KnightofTwilight followed with 7,421 Lux.

In third place this week is KHV_Leopardus with a total of 1,333,540,542 Lux! The top scorer was @Cat~ with 1,152,904,071 Lux—about 86% of the party's earnings. @Haseo followed with 53,072,083 Lux, and @Noizless with 50,539,493 Lux.

In second place this week is KHV_Anguis with a total of 24,338,499,469 Lux! The top scorer was @Explode with 23,608,463,802 Lux—about 97% of the party's earnings. @~Acy_XIII~ followed with 699,515,174 Lux, and @Aurum with 30,520,493 Lux.

In first place this week is KHV_Unicornis with a total of 49,294,217,007 Lux! The top scorer was @GarrettFinch with 24,350,413,454 Lux—about 49% of the party's earnings. @Plums followed with 16,015,859,626 Lux, and @Swordsman_John with 7,754,630,326 Lux.

KHV_Unicornis
KHV_Anguis
KHV_Leopardus
KHV_Ursus
KHV_Vulpes

Congratulations to the Keyblade wielders of KHV_Unicornis! Master Ira would be thrilled with all your work! Maintain your top position for one more week to earn the Party Don't Stop pin!

Special congratulations to this week's top scorers from each party—Lije, tamale, Cat~, Explode, and GarrettFinch! You'll all be sent special pins to commemorate your accomplishments if you've not yet received one!

If you want to join in the competition, you can still sign up for our official KHV parties here!

NOTE: If your Player ID is not already recorded in the party sign-up thread, please post it there in order to facilitate the creation of these leaderboards every week!

See you all back here at the fountain plaza next week!

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