Hobby Consolas Interview with Tetsuya Nomura

Meilin Lee · Aug 23, 2018

Spanish video game publication Hobby Consolas has published an interview it conducted with 'Kingdom Hearts' series director, Tetsuya Nomura, during Gamescom 2018, where Nomura discusses the decision to only dub 'Kingdom Hearts III' in English and Japanese, the work into creating the story of 'Kingdom Hearts', and whther the upcoming entry is a good entry point for newcomers in the series. Check out the interview below (translated version courtesy of KHInsider):

Kingdom Hearts 2 was dubbed in Castilian. Why is this not the case with Kingdom Hearts 3?

Nomura: Kingdom Hearts 3 is completely voiced [in English and Japanese] and proper lip syncing has been included for both languages, so we had to consider how much it cost to do that. With the difference in quality between current hardware and that of when Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2 were released, we had to make the decision to shift gears. The casting for each region, as well as the recording, the staff schedules and work process had to be performed the same way for both the English and Japanese versions. Even just recording the voices would take a lot of time and resources, and consequently means we wouldn't be able to launch the game worldwide simultaneously. We wanted to prioritize this as Kingdom Hearts 3 will be the first game in the series to be released this way.

There's an impressive attention to detail in the translations of Square Enix games. How is the translation progressing and what is the process like?

Nomura: We've spent a lot of time making preparations so the original text has been translated as directly as possible, whereas for the different Disney worlds, we've asked the translators to keep the original dialogue from the films. The translation for Kingdom Hearts 3 is done internally, and we follow a multi-layered process where Co-Director Tai Yasue, who speaks English, will check the text first, and then Disney will look it over again later.

How do you create the global history of Kingdom Hearts 3 and that of different worlds? Is Disney involved in this process?

Nomura: First, I create a general base for the overall narrative, which another scriptwriter will use to fill in a more detailed plot. Then I take it and begin writing the entire story, sometimes referring to it only as a guide and other times taking bits and pieces from the original. Then we'll send it to Disney for final edits and approval. The process is slightly different in sections that take place in Disney worlds. After I've completed the outline of the story, the process will continue as I've just explained. However, as a rule, I have the writers take into consideration what each level design team will require when writing the script. The first version of this will be sent to Disney for revisions, then it comes back to me so I can include my own edits and arrangements so that they fit into the general progression of the game and narrative flow. Finally, it's sent back to Disney for further checking.

For those who are new to the saga, do you think Kingdom Hearts 3 is a good starting point, or should they have played all of the other titles?

Nomura: There are not many examples [of this situation] in video games, but I think there are cases in films and television series where the audience can jump in halfway. We have included several elements in Kingdom Hearts 3 to explain the story and get the new players up to speed with the basics, as well as a series of videos that explain the story so far. I would be delighted if players who play Kingdom Hearts 3 will become interested in the saga and go back to play the rest of the titles.
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Hobby Consolas Interview with Tetsuya Nomura

Meilin Lee RPG (Red Panda Girl)

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