Dream Drop Distance: Information from Famitsu

Mike · Sep 21, 2011

Hello KH-Vids! If you thought the news regarding Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance has stopped; wait until you read this update. It's been about a week from today since the Tokyo Game Show kicked off and to say the least; fans from the Kingdom Hearts series were quite impressed.

Now we have a big update on recap news and additional information from Famitu, but seriously you don't want to miss this one. Are you ready!? I know, I'm such a tease. I should be like Nomura (laughs). Also special thanks to our forum member "P" for letting me know and SQEXGAL for translating the new article from Dream Drop Distance. Special thanks to Toma_Kisaragi from Twitter.

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Introduction
The â€œWorld Submerged in Sleepâ€ is said to be connected to dreaming, it can be opened by unlocking the â€œKeyhole of Sleepâ€ that exists in that world. Instead of Heartless, in this world there exist creatures that devour dreams called Dream Eaters. There are two kinds of Dream Eaters, those that consume dreams and plant nightmares and those that eat only bad dreams. Investigating the Dream Eaters becomes the key guiding to the â€œKeyhole of Sleepâ€.

Yen Sid says to Sora and Riku, â€œWhen you unlock the Keyhole of Sleep and return once more to this place, youâ€™ll be acknowledged as Keyblade Masters.â€ It is with these words that the adventure takes off.

From the trailer, we can confirm that Sora and Riku have new outfits and that Rikuâ€™s hair is cut. The Keyblade that Riku uses is â€œWay to the Dawnâ€.

Traverse Town
Two new areas are introduced, â€œDistrict 4â€ and â€œDistrict 5â€. In the lit up streets of this place the â€œReaperâ€™s Gameâ€ is taking place.

Character: Neku Sakuraba
A 15 year old boy who grew up in Shibuya, Tokyo first introduced in The World Ends With You. He is accompanied by a cat type spirit called â€œNeko Catâ€ whose tail is like a music note. He has strayed from his partner and since Neku says that having a partner is necessary in order to win the Game, Sora helps him out, though he doesnâ€™t really understand the Game.

Dream Eaters
There are two types of Dream Eaters, your enemies called â€œNightmaresâ€ and those that fight alongside you as companions called â€œSpiritsâ€.

Spirit: Koumori Bat
It is a furry bat like Spirit. It is the first Spirit that Riku has.

Spirit: Wonder Cat
Though itâ€™s hard to see what part of it is cat like, itâ€™s a plump animal with a blue back and a white belly. Itâ€™s the first Spirit that Sora has.

Nightmare: Kuma Panda
Itâ€™s a panda with bear like claws that wears a short cloak and a slightly atrocious glare.

Nightmare: Torpedo Fish
This fish flies midair. Overall itâ€™s about as long as Sora?

Nightmare: Wonder Cat
The Nightmare version, itâ€™s slightly more sinister with red eyes and body and itâ€™s black back.

Looking at the screenshots, it seems that Nightmare and Spirit versions of each.

System
Coop Techniques
When you fill up the pink gauge, you can consume the earned points to do techniques with the Spirits and your companions. They utilize both the buttons and the touch screen. You can utilize both your Dream Eaters at the same time. For instance, Sora can ride atop Wonder Cat and attack while jumping around, and then do a technique where you can manipulate enemies like the Kuma Panda and fling it away.

Rikuâ€™s interactions with the Dream Eaters are more direct; they instead attack with the Keyblade as one.

Free Flow Action
When you face a wall or pole and press the Y button, various actions occur, during which if you press the A button you can do the strong Free Flow Attack ability. You can also do the high jump and sky slide actions from this. The Kick Dive ability is one the Free Flow Action that lets you kick off a wall, where if you face toward the ground after doing so you can unleash a strong attack. The Turn Cutter ability lets Sora hang off a pole with the Keyblade and spin, mowing down nearby enemies.

Reality Shift
When a special marker appears over enemies heads during battle and you press the A and X buttons simultaneously you can do this ability. Sora/Riku disappear from the screen, and on the bottom screen special operations can be done. Sora dives under and gathers force up to dive out at the enemies. While you are operating the bottom screen, the battle temporarily pauses.

Interview
Interview with series director Tetsuya Nomura.

About the story
Nomura drew the illustration featured at the TGS booth in a hurry. He drew the Dream Eaters that would be your companions.

Nomura drew the new outfits according to how the Osaka team wished. Theyâ€™re like their older outfits with minor changes.

They are versions between KH1 and KH2, which become the outfits for this title.

Rikuâ€™s hair grew during the time he was away to show the passage of time, now his hair is cut immediately after that.

The â€œWorld Submerged in Sleepâ€ is a complex story, but there were worlds other than those that Sora restored in KH1, some that were not submerged in darkness. Like the worlds of the princesses and Dumboâ€™s, etc. In the end of KH1 it was established that some of those worlds were restored, but not all of them. Those that were neither in light nor in darkness, but those that were submerged in sleep.
Since those worlds are essential asleep, the dreams of those worlds become the setting.

Sora and Riku will travel to those worlds to awaken them from their sleep.

When a world is awoken from itâ€™s sleep, it will be restored to itâ€™s original form.

This title involves taking an exam in order to qualify for the Mark of Mastery, so itâ€™ll also be concerned with events that took place in BBS.

All the Disney worlds appearing wil be new, and there will be new areas in existing worlds.

Temporarily taking on their KH1 forms, theyâ€™ll enter into the worlds of sleep . Additionally, Yen Sid says that in order to become a Master, the self taught way that they use the Keyblade will be reset and that it is necessary they learn how to use the Keyblade appropriately from the beginning. When they request to take the exam, Sora says he doesnâ€™t need it, but since Riku has been overwhelmed by darkness before he doesnâ€™t have the self-confidence. Also, Sora and Riku will be taking it together.

The opening of this title will be in Xehanortâ€™s point of view. Additionally, there will be a surprise unlike anything seen before in the last scene.
About Dream Eaters

The Dream Eaters do not approach anyone and consume dreams in the World of Sleep where there are no Heartless. If Sora/Riku donâ€™t use the power of the Dream Eaters, they canâ€™t go to the other worlds.
Their abilities too are related to the Dream Eaters.

The Dream Eaters were designed not to be traditionally cute, but to have charm that couldnâ€™t be disliked. Wonder Cat was drawn to share that idea.

The mark of the Dream Eaters started with a heart as the base and the image of tremors. Nightmares have that sort of bad feeling.

The mark above your own Dream Eaters shows your ownership, itâ€™s also displayed on the map. The boss fights are elaborated in a different direction, where youâ€™ll have to use the mapâ€™s characteristics to your advantage. For instance, the floor will break out from under you and the field area will expand. Using the map, youâ€™ll be able to identify your location quickly in that sort of situation.

The color scheme is new this time; itâ€™s more pastel unlike what weâ€™ve done before. However, youâ€™ll be able to change the colors of your companion Dream Eaters.

The leveling up of the Dream Eaters is directly related to the growth of Sora and Riku. So far weâ€™ve only seen 2 at a time in battle, but if you give it your all youâ€™ll be able collect all the types.

Nomura isnâ€™t quite sure off the top of his head, but there are dozens of Dream Eater types.
About Neku

Nekuâ€™s appearance in Traverse Town was by special means that have to do with his reason for being there. Heâ€™ll show up in District 1, etc.
Beginning in Traverse Town as usual youâ€™ll meet your party member, but since I wanted to put in a fresh character, we put in Neku from The World Ends With You.
This time Traverse Town is constructed around the reason that Neku and co. have come. He has been separated from his original partner Shiki.
Weâ€™ll go into more detail about Shiki and the others in a follow up report.

Concerning a sequel to The World Ends With You, there may be something going on.

Abilities and 3D Vision
The Reality Shift ability in Traverse Town has Sora sink to the bottom screen where he can aim at the enemies. Itâ€™s different in each world, and Rikuâ€™s ability is different too. In Rikuâ€™s Reality Shift you can touch the bottom screen to connect enemies and objects in a line creating chain that Riku will attack following along on the upper screen.
The way Sora and Riku interact with their companion Dream Eaters is different. Sora can ride atop the Dream Eaters and be thrown off, while they serve as power ups to Riku.
Like shown in the TGS demo, Sora can have two companions at the same time and use them both to do the Dual Link ability where the two Dream Eaters combine into one big Wonder Cat. Filling up the gauge, youâ€™ll be able to use the Reality Shift and Dual Link abilities successively.

Since the concept of the game was bold action, this title really makes use of the Free Flow Action ability. Though you have a lot of battle options, with this alone you can do many actions like spinning around and jump kicking depending on the terrain.

Since itâ€™s hard to watch even in 2D because the movements are so intense, in 3D your eyes may become tired after playing for a long time. There is depth in the 3D vision, when Sora jumps out of the screen, itâ€™s almost becomes a burden to oneâ€™s eyes. I think itâ€™s probably best to use the 3D vision during cutscenes.

There will be multiplayer functions, weâ€™ll explain more in a follow up report.

Final Notes
KH3D is set to release Spring 2012 in Japan.
Itâ€™s currently about 60% to 70% complete.
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Kaidron Blaze · Sep 22, 2011

Llave de Espada said: ↑

If they keep the tradition of a world keyblade, we should be seeing many new ones as almost every world is a new one we have not yet ventured to. As for as something like the X-Blade, i think it is fairly plausible that it could be emerged in "sleep".
Click to expand...

But the "sleep" is meant to be a keyblade you can only get in the relms of sleep so it must be a new one maybe a keyblade with simmiler abilities as the X-blade, I would of thought if it was that one they would of done the whole sleep thing in BBS

CloudStrife2k9 · Sep 22, 2011

Finally, more Riku gameplay! I loved playing as him in KH ReCoM.
Will Riku have like, a Darkness mode? Like in Re:CoM ? I'm assuming not, but aye, never know.

Void of Self · Sep 22, 2011

Docyx no15 said: ↑

But the "sleep" is meant to be a keyblade you can only get in the relms of sleep so it must be a new one maybe a keyblade with simmiler abilities as the X-blade, I would of thought if it was that one they would of done the whole sleep thing in BBS
Click to expand...

I agree with you. But i think it's going to be pretty awesome, whatever they have come up with. Well, in theory at least.

Llave · Sep 22, 2011

Docyx no15 said: ↑

But the "sleep" is meant to be a keyblade you can only get in the relms of sleep so it must be a new one maybe a keyblade with simmiler abilities as the X-blade, I would of thought if it was that one they would of done the whole sleep thing in BBS
Click to expand...

Well essentially, there really cannot be a keyblade to rival the powers of the X-Blade, as it is the ultimate key. I dunno if the "key" is a keyblade, or even the X-Blade itself (too vague to fully support however). But it could be an alternate route MX took... (doesn't make too much sense, but Ansem the Heartless and Xemnas are there, so there should be some sort of connection besides conquering the ultimate "nightmares".)

CloudStrife2k9 said: ↑

Finally, more Riku gameplay! I loved playing as him in KH ReCoM.
Will Riku have like, a Darkness mode? Like in Re:CoM ? I'm assuming not, but aye, never know.
Click to expand...

It could be, he was uncertain at the beginning of the exam whether or not he was worthy to be a master, so there may still be some darkness left...

Geezernort · Sep 22, 2011

It's such a shame they used Tidus as a character already. A KH game all about dream versions of real worlds made by sleep/dreams would've been PERFECT to add adult, FFX-style Tidus as a temporary party member ala Auron in KH2. Then again, I suppose they could always have Jecht filling that role. I'm looking forward to this and I'm hoping Riku and Sora only look younger because of the Dream Worlds. It seems to me Nomura has retconned their ages a little and I really like mature Sora, Riku and Kairi so let's hope they start off looking KH2 aged then look younger in the Dream Worlds then look KH2-like again at the end. I'm hoping they add Hawaii as a world, but perhaps call it something else to avoid using "Real-world" names. I believe they've avoided calling Notre Dame by it's real name. Also, in KH2 they avoided referencing that Beauty and the Beast was set in France. Here's hoping! Can't get enough Stitch, especially because I want to do more fan-dubbing again (I used to be on here as Geezernorts_Apprentice and I did a few Stitch VO's for Mike a while back before I forgot all my details)

Llave · Sep 22, 2011

Geezernort said: ↑

It's such a shame they used Tidus as a character already. A KH game all about dream versions of real worlds made by sleep/dreams would've been PERFECT to add adult, FFX-style Tidus as a temporary party member ala Auron in KH2. Then again, I suppose they could always have Jecht filling that role. I'm looking forward to this and I'm hoping Riku and Sora only look younger because of the Dream Worlds. It seems to me Nomura has retconned their ages a little and I really like mature Sora, Riku and Kairi so let's hope they start off looking KH2 aged then look younger in the Dream Worlds then look KH2-like again at the end. I'm hoping they add Hawaii as a world, but perhaps call it something else to avoid using "Real-world" names. I believe they've avoided calling Notre Dame by it's real name. Also, in KH2 they avoided referencing that Beauty and the Beast was set in France. Here's hoping! Can't get enough Stitch, especially because I want to do more fan-dubbing again (I used to be on here as Geezernorts_Apprentice and I did a few Stitch VO's for Mike a while back before I forgot all my details)
Click to expand...

That's true, if they do use Hawaii, they would most likely change it's name.

Jecht would be great to add in one of the dream worlds! I hope they have a good bunch of FF characters in 3D as well. Zack was perfect for BBS, but i do wish they added more there too. But regardless, having Neku from TWEWY is a good addition!

ShibuyaGato · Sep 22, 2011

Well, this is a nice update.

I'm glad they made minimal changes to the outfits for this game, but Riku's hair STILL bugs me.
Anyway, i'm glad that Square is dedicated to this game and I hope they raise the bar for the quality of their handheld entries.

Thanks for the update Mike.

ChaosFinale · Sep 25, 2011

KH3D is definitely a must play of the series. It shows how Organization XIII was created. Shows how Sora and Riku become full-fledge Keyblade Masters. I'm really looking forward to playing this next year when it comes out in the states. If the release works like BBS back in 2010, I suspect Japan will see a March 2012 release and the United States and Europe see a September 2012 release date.

Llave · Sep 28, 2011

ChaosFinale said: ↑

KH3D is definitely a must play of the series. It shows how Organization XIII was created. Shows how Sora and Riku become full-fledge Keyblade Masters. I'm really looking forward to playing this next year when it comes out in the states. If the release works like BBS back in 2010, I suspect Japan will see a March 2012 release and the United States and Europe see a September 2012 release date.
Click to expand...

That is plausible, that's usually the sequence of when the English releases come out... I remember Nomura stating he was making a priority to get this out. I know it will have a release date sometime in the spring of 2012. The only thing i do hope they don't repeat from the BBS, is how long it took to actually get it out for Japan... was it not a year to 2 years behind the planned release?

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Dream Drop Distance: Information from Famitsu

Mike Chaser

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