News ► Tetsuya Nomura talks Drive Forms and more with Destructoid!

[Chaser]

Destructoid was blessed with the presence of Tetsuya Nomura and Tai Yasue yesterday at E3. Zack Furniss, the lucky writer for Destructoid, got to sit down with both of them and discuss Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII.

Mr. Nomura, I see that Sora is dressed in new duds. With your history of costume design, are we going to see changing outfits to go with form changes like in Kingdom Hearts II?

Yes. Form changes are being considered to bring back. I have enjoyed making different designs for different abilities in the past.

What is the process like when deciding which Disney levels are going to be in the game? Does Disney often intervene to make sure you're utilizing certain properties?

Disney sometimes does make suggestions, but the development staff has more sway over worlds and gameplay mechanics.

When KH began, Disney was a large pool to pool from, but now with the additions of the Star Wars and Marvel properties, it is goddamn huge. Has this made it difficult to parse between which franchises you would like to insert into the ever-expanding universe?

The fact that we have to pick, and the difficulty associated with that, is something we have faced with each installment since the beginning. We pick more IPs than necessary and consult the schedule and feasibility of actually getting our designs to work. It’s been a repeating process.

How much would I have to pay you to draw a small portrait of me in your signature aesthetic?

I do some work outside of my current projects. The tasks come and I do them without knowledge of how much money I will make. If I ever decide to leave Square Enix, I will determine a price! (I pull out my wallet and start taking out whole dollars. Tetsuya lets out an adorable giggle and shows a big, goofy [ha!] smile.)

With Final Fantasy VII being remade, are you more excited to finally remake this, or nervous because of the years of players' built-up expectations?

When I create anything, I feel no pressure for some reason. When the trailer was announced yesterday, I was texting Kazushige Nojima and Yoshinori Kitase, but I sensed that one of them was nervous and it was interesting to me. Seeing the reactions made everything worth it. Nojima said he is very determined to make this after seeing the reaction. I asked “you weren’t sure before that?” Haha. The news of the remake is impacting so many people. I couldn’t sleep last night because my phone was blowing up! So many people are congratulating me that I feel like “Oh wow, maybe I did do something profound here!

What kind of Drive Forms would you like to return, or any new abilities and forms you wish to see? With the current status of Disney having the biggest presence in Kingdom Hearts ever, maybe there will be forms created from various Disney party members.

 

[Lonbilly]

While I'm excited for the story, the gameplay is sounding more and more like KH2 with Flowmotion. I'm kind of bitter.

Glad to hear the staff has more say over what worlds are put in than Disney, though. Maybe one of them watched Kim Possible.

 

[Org14Kurix(Riku)]

Well this clears up some people's concerns about the issue. Personally I expect we'll see more anti-sora after the events of DDD. Though I hope this doesn't mean glide will once again be limited to Final Form. I also think Dual Wielding will be insane with keyblade transformations. Does this mean DUAL KEYBLADE TRANSFOMATIONS. I'm hoping combos will create awesome new things.

While I'm excited for the story, the gameplay is sounding more and more like KH2 with Flowmotion. I'm kind of bitter.

Were you expecting more BBS style gameplay.

Glad to hear the staff has more say over what worlds are put in than Disney, though. Maybe one of them watched Kim Possible.

I'm glad too. Also Kim Possible would be great.

 

[Lonbilly]

Were you expecting more BBS style gameplay.

I was expecting the series to continue the growth in gameplay the BbS started and that Re:coded and DDD continued with. Not the inferior system that was KH2 to return (which is definitely because of the casual fan base. Ugh)

I'm glad too. Also Kim Possible would be great.

Never givin' up that hope.

 

[Echoecho6]

I always preferred KH2 gameplay and if drive forms came back it would be amazing. I am surprised you say this is like kh2 at all though. Unfortunately it feels like one of the handheld games with all of the features of them. What with transforming keyblades, and annoying flowmotion (sigh), and sadly no summons it looks like. I was fearing this the minute I heard the Osaka team was working on the project instead of the original team. However it will still be amazing and I am pleased and impressed with what has been seen thus far!

 

[Org14Kurix(Riku)]

I always preferred KH2 gameplay and if drive forms came back it would be amazing. I am surprised you say this is like kh2 at all though. Unfortunately it feels like one of the handheld games with all of the features of them. What with transforming keyblades, and annoying flowmotion (sigh), and sadly no summons it looks like. I was fearing this the minute I heard the Osaka team was working on the project instead of the original team. However it will still be amazing and I am pleased and impressed with what has been seen thus far!

I apologize in advance I can imagine some of you face palming at my idiocy about this. Bear with me the last game I played was kh2 on the PS2.

But have you played the new games though, they were actually really fun.

 

[ultima-demi]

If they return i hope they're more balanced,after you get Final and Limit,Valor and wisdom are pretty much ignored completely.

Now with the battle system the only thing i really liked about BBS was the varied attacks,though with kh2 i didn't like how it was pretty much endless combo's but at the same time i preferred the fluid combo system of kh2 over BBS,especially on critical.

 

[gelandporn]

Honestly not sure how I feel about Drive forms returning. At some point, the breadth of gameplay gimmicks is going to hurt the depth of each. Nice for variety, definitely, but I've got a feeling there are going to be a lot of features that players won't even get around to using.

One idea came to mind, though, that could make this actually pretty cool. Instead of your traditional Valor/Wisdom/etc forms, I'd like to see variations on Limit form. Give me options for not just KH1 Sora's move set, but KH2 as well. And maybe other characters connected to Sora, like Roxas and Ven.

 

[KH2Rulz]

I was expecting the series to continue the growth in gameplay the BbS started and that Re:coded and DDD continued with. Not the inferior system that was KH2 to return (which is definitely because of the casual fan base

KH2's base combat system was heads and tails above BBS. It's combo system, strategies, variety and sheer smooth-ness was incredible.

BBS only featured a different way of accessing different skills. It's shotlock system was broken, aerial combos were fairly useless, form changes were unbalanced, bosses were made badly and dodge was completely broken.

If you had KH2's combo-system + magic, with BBS commands and 3D flow motion, you'd have the perfect game.

 

[Echoecho6]

But have you played the new games though, they were actually really fun.

I have played DDD, actually seeing flowmotion return I am going to replay DDD and try to use it more to force myself to like it so I can find away to enjoy the gameplay! I sadly never got the opportunity to play BBS but from watching videos I did not like how the gameplay was looking.

 

[Ballad of Caius]

I just hope Drive Forms and Keyblade Transformations don't make Sora OP.

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

Not sure how I feel about Drive Forms making a possible return. Aside from not really liking them to begin with (though Valor Form was okay) we already have enough variety with Attraction Flow, transforming Keyblades, and possibly regular summons (I feel like I'm missing one) that Drive Forms would be too much on something that could already be too much.

I was expecting the series to continue the growth in gameplay the BbS started and that Re:coded and DDD continued with. Not the inferior system that was KH2 to return (which is definitely because of the casual fan base. Ugh)

Same here. And Command Deck forever!

 

[ultima-demi]

Honestly Sora already looks incredibly OP,i don't think he can get any more OP than he is now.

 

[Ballad of Caius]

Honestly Sora already looks incredibly OP,i don't think he can get any more OP than he is now.

I presume we'll get the Keyblade Transformations later in the game. Maybe mid-game.

 

[king_mickey rule]

How are normal enemies even gonna be a threat to Sora? lol

 

[Ballad of Caius]

How are normal enemies even gonna be a threat to Sora? lol

Could the enemy difficulty be tweaked as you level up?

 

[Happyfunshineman]

Jesus, how many features are going to be in this game. We got free running, attraction flow, keyblade transformations, flowmotion, magic, unison attacks, and now the possibility of drive forms. I'm so curious how its all going to play. I guess this is why there going back back to the command menu instead of the deck.

 

[king_mickey rule]

Could the enemy difficulty be tweaked as you level up?

Still wouldn't matter all that much if Sora's bouncing around like a madman, summoning ships, trains and tea cups out of thin air and transforming both himself and his Keyblade, supposedly making him even more difficult to hit. He'd basically avoid getting hit at all times.

 

[Lonbilly]

KH2's base combat system was heads and tails above BBS. It's combo system, strategies, variety and sheer smooth-ness was incredible.

BBS only featured a different way of accessing different skills. It's shotlock system was broken, aerial combos were fairly useless, form changes were unbalanced, bosses were made badly and dodge was completely broken.

If you had KH2's combo-system + magic, with BBS commands and 3D flow motion, you'd have the perfect game.

I will agree that KH2 beats BbS in how it handles ground and aerial combos, as well as defensive spells like Reflect (my old friend that saved my life to many times), but majority of the spells in KH2 were kinda meh or improved in BbS and onwards. Fire returns to a KH1 style while Fire Surge becomes and evolved form of KH2's fire line. Blizzard and Thunder kind of become obsolete because of the OP versions you can get by melding. Magnet remains the same, while Gravity returns in an amazing way. Cure is pretty much the same in all games. But to add on to that, BbS and onwards added on a great multitude of spells, such as Balloon, Mega Flare, Time Splicer, etc. The only thing it lacked was KH1's Aero (which has never returned, sadly).

But also, remember, I said BbS onward. So I didn't mean strictly BbS. Form Changes were evolved fairly well in Re:coded (which I still, to this day, think has the best gameplay in the series). Shotlocks were definitely broken on normal enemies but for the endgame bosses and secret bosses were a huge blessing (and tbf, KH2 had a just as broken system as Shotlocks known as Drive Forms. DDD, however, got rid of both of these). The only bosses from KH2 I felt were better than BbS-DDD bosses were the Absent & Data Org battles, and that's only because they're endgame and require strategy, unlike majority of the KH2 bosses (which also required you to eitehr land a final combo hit to finish a boss or use magic, which was just ridiculous).

That being said, if KH3 has KH2's normal fighting style (combos) and BbS-DDD style of magic commands and attack commands, with the Flowmotion (which KH3's actually looks like an improved version, so yay there), then I'd fine that to be a perfect game. But it looks like the Command Deck is dead forever.

How are normal enemies even gonna be a threat to Sora? lol

100% convinced they'll only be a threat to Donald and Goofy, gameplay wise.

 

[Precursor Mar]

Very happy to see them return. Although I can't really think of any ideas for new forms, that is if they're even creating new ones to begin with. I'd personally like to see only 2-3 forms that are completely different from each other.

While we're on the topic of gameplay, I loved that the E3 trailer showed how they were taking the best from both the console and handheld games. I prefer the traditional command system over the command deck, KH2 had the best core combat IMO.