VentureBeat Interviews Tai Yasue on KINGDOM HEARTS 2.8

[Sign]

VentureBeat had the opportunity to interview Co-Director Tai Yasue on KINGDOM HEARTS 2.8, the upcoming installment that includes Dream Drop Distance HD, Birth by Sleep 0.2, and X Back Cover that is set to be released December 2016.

Fans may recall that the long-awaited KINGDOM HEARTS III did not make an appearance at E3 2016 last month, and Yasue admits that it was a difficult decision for them to make. However, there is a right time for everything, and the team wants each announcement to be done right in order to exceed fans' expectations. But because 2.8 is releasing globally at the end of the year, they felt they should concentrate fully on it for the time being. 

Yasue also expands on the new battle systems they've created for KH3 and 0.2. While they were able to experiment a lot with the various handheld titles, they've decided to return to the command menu from KH1 and 2 and use what they've learned to improve upon that for the new generation. One example would be with magic spells which dynamically interact with the environment and enemies in unique ways, such as with Blizzard creating an ice slide to ride on.

The Kingdom Hearts series has seen a number of different Keyblade wielders throughout the years. When trying to create unique gameplay for each of them, Yasue explains the easy concept they've applied, where they focus on certain keywords that can define the character in both story and gameplay. Aqua, who is protagonist of 0.2, is related to water, skilled with magic, and is strong and elegant. They incorporate these keywords into her movement and abilities, creating a character that uses powerful magic in a flashy manner.

The reason they chose to focus on Aqua for 0.2 was her story after the events of Birth by Sleep had never been told before. She had been trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and the team felt that those events had to be explained. Aqua's story also ties into Sora's adventure as well, and they wanted to give players more reason to care about her and understand her struggles when everything comes together in KH3.

Kingdom Hearts 3 will be released on PS4 and Xbox One, but 2.8 and the other HD collections are all exclusive to Playstation, causing some concern among Xbox players about missing important parts to the story. Yasue feels that while it's nice to experience every title, players will still be able to enjoy KH3 without following the entire saga.

Read VentureBeat's full interview on their website.

 

[skyfoxx]

Yasue feels that while it's nice to experience every title, players will still be able to enjoy KH3 without following the entire saga.

"enjoy it," certainly. But "understand it," I highly doubt it.

But yeah, the lack of KH3 news was probably for the best. It would've drowned out anything related to 2.8. Besides, the longer we wait for a trailer, the bigger contrast we'll see in progress from the last trailer to the newest.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

The Kingdom Hearts series has seen a number of different Keyblade wielders throughout the years. When trying to create unique gameplay for each of them, Yasue explains the easy concept they've applied, where they focus on certain keywords that can define the character in both story and gameplay. Aqua, who is protagonist of 0.2, is related to water, skilled with magic, and is strong and elegant. They incorporate these keywords into her movement and abilities, creating a character that uses powerful magic in a flashy manner.

Heheh, makes one wonder what the "keywords" they use for the others are.
Building on the above, just for the BBS crew I'd assume that the keywords could be:
Terra is related to earth and darkness, skilled with phyiscal attacks, and is powerful and direct.
Ventus is related to wind and light, skilled with speed, and is agile and unpredictable.

The reason they chose to focus on Aqua for 0.2 was her story after the events of Birth by Sleep had never been told before. She had been trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and the team felt that those events had to be explained. Aqua's story also ties into Sora's adventure as well, and they wanted to give players more reason to care about her and understand her struggles when everything comes together in KH3.

Well duh, another reason is certainly that she is the only "other Keyblade Wielder" of the others who is still capable of acting at the moment and has still a story to explore.
Terra is right now split in several different parts no one knows the whereabouts of while Ventus is still a coma-patient as the very last scene of DDD revealed.

Nevertheless the prospect that they focus a little more on her on purpose is something that is certainly needed for the character. Terra and Ven would of course need such a treatment as well, but the way the scenario is build certainly prevents that in the current time period 0.2 covers.

"enjoy it," certainly. But "understand it," I highly doubt it.

Hits the nail on the head, and yet still one has to somehow wonder why people really expect a sort of understanding when practically looking at the final episode of a season of a series.

---

On a side note, I somehow love just how Yasue completely dances around specfically the part of one question relating to the Final Fantasy aspect, speaking only about the Disney and "Sora's" aka KH original aspects.
There is also an error on the part of the interviewer as the summons never came directly from Final Fantasy, they were always Disney-related from the start.

The thing about KH III being the only Multiplatform title is also somewhat funny in how it is addressed in the interview. Don't know if one can read out of this that the Xbox One getting it was really just a decision by the upper Square management section because Microsoft waved with coffers full of money while the actual developers do not care that much about that version, but it is certainly giving that vibe somewhat.

It's also telling that they completely ignored X Back Cover in the whole thing.

 

[Chuman]

"xbox players will be able to enjoy III without playing the rest of the series"

translation - "we only developed for xbone because we jumped the gun and thought it'd get sales so now we're stuck developing III for this console but at least not the rest of the franchise"

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Yasue ; ~;

GamesBeat: What would you say makes up the Kingdom Hearts fanbase? Is it Square Enix fans, or Disney fans, or this unique combination of the two?

Yasue: We have great fans. They’re very passionate, very warm, very supportive. They’re very special. For me, I think they’re the reason why we’re doing this, more than anything. Compared to other games — it’s hard to compare. But I feel they’re warmer, nicer on the whole. That’s my honest opinion. They seem a lot nicer than some others.

GamesBeat: They’ve got a bit of Disney in them.

Yasue: I guess! They’re wonderful. Today I talked to a lot of people, and they’ve been very supportive.

Today being E3 week, and I imagine it was the day he did the Twitter thing that did not happen nope never haha goodbye and the 2.8 talk on SE Presents.

(Please never let him look at FB or Twitter posts ever. ;~; )

 

[Squood!]

I got a bit sad at the part when he said that the fans are very supportive. It's like he doesn't know what the other fans are like.....and that's probably for the best.

 

[VoidGear.]

The reason they chose to focus on Aqua for 0.2 was her story after the events of Birth by Sleep had never been told before.

Liar! The reason is boobs!

I wonder how they elaborated on Roxas' fighting style in KH2.
"A lot like Sora, but a bit slower, and don't forget to let him jump even WORSE THAN SORA DID IN KH1 WUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Anyways, thanks for the news, haha...
The problem is that now fans are expecting a big explosion regarding KH3 when the next news come, and not just 30 seconds of gameplay we've already seen. I wonder if they'll keep up with that.

 

[WhinyAcademic]

It's been really hard to shrug off the idea that it's just another Fragmentary Passage. Aqua runs around, destroys Heartless, and then fights a boss that probably has literally no explanation.

And yet the continuing evidence is the contrary, that it will have some actual relevance to the story. *lol*

Still difficult to shake off the feeling for some reason.

That being said, I'd love a straight up remake of Fragmentary Passage in next-gen graphics. End of the World too. Hell, all the Realm of Darkness related places, I'm sure they'd look gorgeous!

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

It's been really hard to shrug off the idea that it's just another Fragmentary Passage. Aqua runs around, destroys Heartless, and then fights a boss that probably has literally no explanation.

And yet the continuing evidence is the contrary, that it will have some actual relevance to the story. *lol*

Still difficult to shake off the feeling for some reason.

Well, Secret Episode was always more of a demo and proof of concept than a story. 0.2 was going to be the prologue of KH3. That alone should reassure you that it isn't just a straightforward expansion on Secret Episode.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

"xbox players will be able to enjoy III without playing the rest of the series"

translation - "we only developed for xbone because we jumped the gun and thought it'd get sales so now we're stuck developing III for this console but at least not the rest of the franchise"

I love Yasue, but that statement is the most corporal shill I have ever heard. If that was the case for Square Enix, if that really was the case, Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover and 0.2 are pointless. It's a bit of a double standard to tell Sony fans this...

[video=youtube;pAWlmVkHUSM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAWlmVkHUSM[/video]

And then tell Xbox fans, "Hey, it's not really necessary for you to have these previous games were currently working on!"

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I love Yasue, but that statement is the most corporal shill I have ever heard. If that was the case for Square Enix, if that really was the case, Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover and 0.2 are pointless. It's a bit of a double standard to tell Sony fans this...

[video=youtube;pAWlmVkHUSM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAWlmVkHUSM[/video]

And then tell Xbox fans, "Hey, it's not really necessary for you to have these previous games were currently working on!"

Not to be crass, but...duh.

They don't really care about the XB1. That was likely a joint decision made by Disney and executives at SE when Matsuda became president because of the unknown landscape of next gen sales. The projection was that XB1 would top the market again, so SE wanted in on that but was given a surprise when PS4 ended up being the leading console. They couldn't back out on the promise to offer FFXV and KH3 as multiplatform, but they have clearly corrected course because almost all of their upcoming games from Japan are PS4 or PS4/PSV titles.

As it stands, it is highly unlikely that SE plans to ever offer XB1 users any way of catching up with the series because the profit margin probably doesn't exceed the costs of porting the games. Maybe once KH3 is finished they can look into that if KH3 sales are significant enough on XB1, but for now the goal is to:

1. Sell the remaster and 2.8 on PS4 which means overselling their importance
2. Reassure XB1 fans that they don't need those games by underselling their importance

They are targeting two different markets here, so obviously they will take two different approaches to it. It's corporate shrill, yes, but what else are they supposed to do? SE put them in this position in the first place.

 

[hemmoheikkinen]

When trying to create unique gameplay for each of them, Yasue explains the easy concept they've applied, where they focus on certain keywords that can define the character in both story and gameplay. Aqua, who is protagonist of 0.2, is related to water, skilled with magic, and is strong andelegant. They incorporate these keywords into her movement and abilities, creating a character that uses powerful magic in a flashy manner.

Those keywords are precisely the things that come to mind when I watch Aqua move around and fight. They incorporated them really well!

 

[BlackOsprey]

I love Yasue, but that statement is the most corporal shill I have ever heard. If that was the case for Square Enix, if that really was the case, Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover and 0.2 are pointless. It's a bit of a double standard to tell Sony fans this...

[video=youtube;pAWlmVkHUSM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAWlmVkHUSM[/video]

And then tell Xbox fans, "Hey, it's not really necessary for you to have these previous games were currently working on!"

You know, speaking from personal experience, it's possible to really enjoy a KH game even if you have no idea what's going on story-wise.

 

[VoidGear.]

The remixes didn't release on any Microsoft console either (let alone the original releases) so I'm really not that surprised.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

You know, speaking from personal experience, it's possible to really enjoy a KH game even if you have no idea what's going on story-wise.

I'm not saying that he's outright wrong in saying that (as I jumped into the series with Dream Drop Distance), It's just a stupid double standard from Square Enix's part. And I don't say the word "stupid" lightly with a guy like Tai Yasue. That kind of response angers both Xbox owners that wanted 1.5 and 2.5 playable and the ones who just want to play Kingdom Hearts III.

...Sqaue Enix's partial justification to the ignorance of Xbox for Kingdom Hearts may be due to the fact that Xbox One is selling even worse than the Sega Dreamcast in Japan. Even if that hypothesis were to be the case, it's still stupid given the install base of Xbox one in the west.

Not to be crass, but...duh.


They don't really care about the XB1. That was likely a joint decision made by Disney and executives at SE when Matsuda became president because of the unknown landscape of next gen sales. The projection was that XB1 would top the market again, so SE wanted in on that but was given a surprise when PS4 ended up being the leading console. They couldn't back out on the promise to offer FFXV and KH3 as multiplatform, but they have clearly corrected course because almost all of their upcoming games from Japan are PS4 or PS4/PSV titles.


As it stands, it is highly unlikely that SE plans to ever offer XB1 users any way of catching up with the series because the profit margin probably doesn't exceed the costs of porting the games. Maybe once KH3 is finished they can look into that if KH3 sales are significant enough on XB1, but for now the goal is to:


1. Sell the remaster and 2.8 on PS4 which means overselling their importance
2. Reassure XB1 fans that they don't need those games by underselling their importance


They are targeting two different markets here, so obviously they will take two different approaches to it. It's corporate shrill, yes, but what else are they supposed to do? SE put them in this position in the first place.

I respect that outlook from a monetary perspective, but from a Kingdom Hearts fandom perspective, I just feel as though that Square Enix should have outright pulled the plug on the Xbox One production when they seen that the system wasn't performing as well as they expected it to in Japan. Making it a PS4 exclusive saves costs of porting Kingdom Hearts III, because unlike 1.5 and 2.5, it's using HD assets through the form of Unreal Engine 4 from the ground up.

I'm not an Xbox owner but even I feel as though this is a lack of acknowledgement of consumers that bought the Xbox One for Kingdom Hearts III. My initial point still stands.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I'm not saying that he's outright wrong in saying that (as I jumped into the series with Dream Drop Distance), It's just a stupid double standard from Square Enix's part. And I don't say the word "stupid" lightly with a guy like Tai Yasue. That kind of response angers both Xbox owners that wanted 1.5 and 2.5 playable and the ones who just want to play Kingdom Hearts III.

...Sqaue Enix's partial justification to the ignorance of Xbox for Kingdom Hearts may be due to the fact that Xbox One is selling even worse than the Sega Dreamcast in Japan. Even if that hypothesis were to be the case, it's still stupid given the install base of Xbox one in the west.



I respect that outlook from a monetary perspective, but from a Kingdom Hearts fandom perspective, I just feel as though that Square Enix should have outright pulled the plug on the Xbox One production when they seen that the system wasn't performing as well as they expected it to in Japan. Making it a PS4 exclusive saves costs of porting Kingdom Hearts III, because unlike 1.5 and 2.5, it's using HD assets through the form of Unreal Engine 4 from the ground up.

I'm not an Xbox owner but even I feel as though this is a lack of acknowledgement of consumers that bought the Xbox One for Kingdom Hearts III. My initial point still stands.

Except their hesitancy over porting the games has everything to do with the Western market. Japanese games just don't do well on the XB1 when they are made and released on Xbox consoles. They will get units sold on the XB1 for KH3 because of it having a bit more mass market appeal due to the Disney stuff; not enough to be hugely successful but significant enough that they will make money off of it.

And again, they likely could not back out of the XB1 version. It was likely locked in through an iron clad contract once they announced it. And even so, they don't lose too much just porting KH3. UE4 is compatible with XB1 and PS4 so the porting process shouldn't be expensive or time-eating at all. They might have to take a bit more time to optimize it on XB1, but it isn't work that would change the release frame or overall budget for KH3.

Porting the rest, though? It's a waste. And it is a shame for those fans on XB1, not to mention it sucks for players who won't get to experience KH from the start of they are new to the franchise, but this should have been expected.

 

[kirabook]

Maybe this is another part of Nomura stating they announced KH3 too early. Back then, well, the future wasn't all THAT clear. If they had announced it just last year or this year, I think XBOX would be out of the question or not even considered.

 

[LightUpTheSky452]

There is also an error on the part of the interviewer as the summons never came directly from Final Fantasy, they were always Disney-related from the start.

I think there was a possibility the interviewer was saying that the idea for summons in KH in general came from Final Fantasy, probably? But who can say, really.

But if that was the case, they didn't get across what they were trying to say at all.

But if they really were asking about FF summons in KH, than they're just completely misinformed, as you said.

 

[Chaser]

For a company that forced Crystal Dynamics to delay the PS4 port of Rise of the Tomb Raider by 6 months just so they could announce it as a multiplat title after all that shit went down, I really doubt Microsoft would let Square Enix out of the FFXV / KH3 deals lmao.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Except their hesitancy over porting the games has everything to do with the Western market. Japanese games just don't do well on the XB1 when they are made and released on Xbox consoles. They will get units sold on the XB1 for KH3 because of it having a bit more mass market appeal due to the Disney stuff; not enough to be hugely successful but significant enough that they will make money off of it.

And again, they likely could not back out of the XB1 version. It was likely locked in through an iron clad contract once they announced it. And even so, they don't lose too much just porting KH3. UE4 is compatible with XB1 and PS4 so the porting process shouldn't be expensive or time-eating at all. They might have to take a bit more time to optimize it on XB1, but it isn't work that would change the release frame or overall budget for KH3.

Porting the rest, though? It's a waste. And it is a shame for those fans on XB1, not to mention it sucks for players who won't get to experience KH from the start of they are new to the franchise, but this should have been expected.

Still, doesn't change the fact that it's such a corporal shill by Square Enix. I'm dissapointed by Tai Yasue confirming this. What a low blow by them, treating the Xbox Kingdom Hearts consumers like additional means of convenient profit as opposed to genuine fans. Yeah, I get that Square Enix is business and they have to maximise their profit margins, but at the expense of the ignorance of an entire console base of consumers is as corporally biased as you can get.