News ► KH3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

[Sign]

The KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere Event was held in Santa Monica, California on May 17~18. Press, influencers and VIP guests were invited to attend and had the opportunity to be one of the first in the world to play the game. Staff members Cecily, PJ and Arielle were fortunate to receive an invitation to go hands-on with Kingdom Hearts 3. Over the week, we will publish recaps, impressions, and critiques, so please look forward to it.

To start off, here is a summary of the developer's panel held at the KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere Event on May 18th. Producer Shinji Hashimoto provided an opening statement. Participating in the panel were Community Manager Sunil Godhania, Translator Aileen Matsuoka, Director Tetsuya Nomura and Co-Director Tai Yasue.

(This does not include the presentation by Pixar's Jason Katz and Tasha Sounart, which was held the previous day.)

Series Executive Producer Mr. Shinji Hashimoto kicked things off by welcoming us and thanking everyone for arriving!

Next, the panel with Kingdom Hearts series Franchise Director Mr. Tetsuya Nomura and Kingdom Hearts 3 Co-Director Mr. Tai Yasue truly began. Here are some tidbits from that panel!

The theme of the Kingdom Hearts series as a whole is heart.  For Kingdom Hearts 3, the theme is resolution. Nomura believes you'll see all the problems set up in the series so far come to a resolution.

When asked if Kingdom Hearts III would be darker than previous entries, Nomura had this to say:

Nomura: The series as a whole has had a serious storyline so it'd make sense if you think Kingdom Hearts 3 will have a serious storyline as well. But because it is a resolution of things that have been happening until now, I think there will be many surprises that you may not expect to happen.

If you have been playing Kingdom Hearts Union X[Cross] on your mobile platform, you would know that we have foreshadowed that light will be defeated by darkness. So you may see what happens with that being foreshadowed. I actually do believe it may have some kind of a "difficult ending" that you may find a bit difficult to grasp.

It depends on whether or not everyone can go against all odds and overcome what's being foretold.

When asked about the inclusion of Pixar, Nomura stated that having pixar worlds in KHIII was a necessity to him. Yasue said the worlds were developed to both be large enough to hold the fun things they wanted to do but to also be totally unique.

Next, they showed the development BTS video from D23 Japan. Yasue walked us through how a cutscene is created and showed off unfinished areas in the Monsters Inc world and the Tangled world. Rapunzel's hair was incredibly difficult, but thanks to Disney and a special middlewear made just for Rapunzel's hair physics, it's working out beautifully.

They directors closed off the panel stating that there were plenty of surprises to find in the demo, even if we'd been following the coverage from that morning. 

Yasue said that he loves watching the American youtubers because they're so expressive and he was happy they were there. Nomura said that they're going to be revealing so much information next month that it'll be hard for daily vloggers to keep up. 

 

 

[gosoxtim]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

so judjing for what nomura said the propech will come true unless they find a way to not make it true by the everyome menaing the darkness side is just someone pawn in someone game

 

[Silver_Soul]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

So information is gonna start flowing pretty soon. How much more do we need to learn? We know how attraction flow, athletic flow, links, keyblade transformations, and reaction commands work!

I'm worried all we are to learn is gonna spoil too much story

 

[Nazo]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Man, I cannot wait for the big info dump Nomura is speaking about. Only about 3 more weeks and the floodgates will finally open.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Literally, I think SE will kill us with information. We will beg for the dead days of not knowing anything.

 

[Leaferian]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

News blitz eh?

 

[Zettaflare]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

So the "hard to swallow" ending was referring to Union cross and not KH3. Good to get some clarification

 

[gosoxtim]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

So the "hard to swallow" ending was referring to Union cross and not KH3. Good to get some clarification

that make more sense now kh3 is about resultion

 

[Launchpad]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Do y'all ever think of how the Youtubers built their careers on your hard work and just laugh?

 

[DarkosOverlord]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Oh, this version of the KH III finale will clear up a bunch of ongoing misunderstandings and discussions.
Thanks for the hard work, as always.

Literally, I think SE will kill us with information. We will beg for the dead days of not knowing anything.

Yup.
I'm *already* kind of full and needing nothing more, so... I can only dread.

Do y'all ever think of how the Youtubers built their careers on your hard work and just laugh?

Dear sir I will not stand for this mockery, especially in the thread of TGJ's future 100% original content.

 

[Zettaflare]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Nomura's comment about Pixar worlds being a necessity makes me wonder if there will be a third Pixar world. It might not stop at just Toy Story and Monster's Inc.

 

[Sora2016]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Literally, I think SE will kill us with information. We will beg for the dead days of not knowing anything.

Eugh, honestly seeing this much of Toy Box was a bit much for me tbh. I don't want to see 30% of any of the other worlds, and certainly no more of that one in particular lol.

I really want to know all the worlds and like a bit more of story but yea I am worried they will go too far.

 

[Sign]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Eugh, honestly seeing this much of Toy Box was a bit much for me tbh. I don't want to see 30% of any of the other worlds, and certainly no more of that one in particular lol.

I really want to know all the worlds and like a bit more of story but yea I am worried they will go too far.

I'm of the opinion that Toy Box may be the exception to the rule, because of what it represents as the first Pixar world to make an appearance when they've wanted it for so long, and having recreated that world and its characters so faithfully.

I think SE may be aware of possible overexposure though, which is why they established recording limits in the event embargo. Attendees could record up to 30 minutes of footage, but it can't be posted in its entirety (like, it needs to be spliced). Of course, most people don't seem to remember this though :\

 

[AR829038]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Calling it right now: The KH team are going to pull an Infinity War-style ending on us.




SPOILER ALERT BELOW!!!!



Not necessarily that everyone will die, but judging from what they're saying, I'd bet cash money that they're going to fulfill the prophecy and have the darkness take over, and the new dark universe will be the setting for the next saga of Kingdom Hearts. Actually, that could be incredibly interesting.

 

[Sora2016]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Calling it right now: The KH team are going to pull an Infinity War-style ending on us.




SPOILER ALERT BELOW!!!!



Not necessarily that everyone will die, but judging from what they're saying, I'd bet cash money that they're going to fulfill the prophecy and have the darkness take over, and the new dark universe will be the setting for the next saga of Kingdom Hearts. Actually, that could be incredibly interesting.

I mean, was it ever said darkness prevailing changes the worlds? I always thought worlds would just get erased again, which sorta makes it hard to set the next saga in a universe like that lol. Maybe if it happened slowly like in Kh1.

I do expect Xehanort to win at first for what its worth, that's a super obvious way to finally show us what its like for him to achieve the true Kingdom Hearts. But I also kinda figured they would defeat him after, snatching away his victory. Dunno if that would just undo any darkness that spreads or yea maybe there will be left over issues for the next game.

I'm of the opinion that Toy Box may be the exception to the rule, because of what it represents as the first Pixar world to make an appearance when they've wanted it for so long, and having recreated that world and its characters so faithfully.

I think SE may be aware of possible overexposure though, which is why they established recording limits in the event embargo. Attendees could record up to 30 minutes of footage, but it can't be posted in its entirety (like, it needs to be spliced). Of course, most people don't seem to remember this though :\

Yeah, that's true. I do hope that's the case. I guess, I didn't see 30% of the world in videos really lol. I know there is an area with a Pizza Planet truck and stuff but never saw it, for instance. And no one really showed much gameplay of the 3rd floor where the doll boss is.
But yeah, people are ignoring a few regulations it seems...that doesn't help.

 

[UltimaXOmega]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Clusterf*** ending confirmed. I really wish they'd clarify if it's 30% of Toy Box's story or size. The world looks small but if there was 70% more, I think it would have been shown.

 

[ultima-demi]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

So the "hard to swallow" ending was referring to Union cross and not KH3. Good to get some clarification

I swear if they just kill of everyone not named Ven and Laurium. Besides the only thing that would be hard to swallow is if everyone isn't what they really seem.

Skuld is a mass killer and was in cahoots with Ven this whole time. Ephemer was really Kairi this whole time. Brain was literally a brain in disguise.

 

[alexis.anagram]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

So information is gonna start flowing pretty soon. How much more do we need to learn? We know how attraction flow, athletic flow, links, keyblade transformations, and reaction commands work!

I'm worried all we are to learn is gonna spoil too much story

I feel like we think we know more than we actually do, like regarding the plot we all have a basic notion of its direction from previous games and a couple of tangential assertions of concepts like the Key to Return Hearts, but we still haven't been provided with a concrete framework for how the ensemble cast slots into that broader story. Even with Sora, we know from 0.2 that he heads to Olympus in order to regain his strength, but beyond that we don't know what his specific mandate or plan is to combat the New Organization.

I feel like almost all of the material which has been provided prior to the KH3 premiere was proof-of-concept, focusing on isolated big ticket reveals like the confirmation of Pixar worlds, and we're heading into the stage of marketing where we start to see the overall shape of the game come gradually into view. In that sense, I'd imagine there's still a lot of ground to cover: we still need those plot details filled in, there's the Gummi Ship mechanic, all of the remaining world reveals, clarification as to which key characters will (and won't) be appearing and in what capacity, as well as all of the things we don't even know we don't know because the KH team hasn't talked about them up until this point.

 

[Sora2016]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Clusterf*** ending confirmed. I really wish they'd clarify if it's 30% of Toy Box's story or size. The world looks small but if there was 70% more, I think it would have been shown.

Why would they show it? They showed even less of the Olympus world in the demo?

And I mean we have seen at least 2 more areas of Toy Box for what its worth.

 

[Silver_Soul]

Re: KINGDOM HEARTS 3 Premiere: Part 1: The Developer Panel

Nomura's comment about Pixar worlds being a necessity makes me wonder if there will be a third Pixar world. It might not stop at just Toy Story and Monster's Inc.

A bugs life to keep with the new Sora transformations.