News ► Hobby Consolas interview Nomura on Kingdom Hearts 3's dubbing, translations, and more!

[Sign]

Hobby Consolas, a Spanish video game and entertainment news site, had the opportunity to interview Tetsuya Nomura at Gamescom 2018. He discusses the reason why KINGDOM HEARTS 3 is only dubbed in English and Japanese, the translation process, and more.

-- 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. [Editor's note: Yes, we know it's not simultaneous anyways.]

-- 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 othertimes 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.

 

[DizneyXBirds95]

Well RIP to German, Castilian Spanish, French, Italian and Latin Spanish dubs for KH3.

 

[Dandelion]

Well RIP to German, Castilian Spanish, Italian and Latin Spanish dubs for KH3.

It's been confirmed for some time now that there wouldn't be additional language dubs for KH3.

 

[DizneyXBirds95]

It's been confirmed for some time now that there wouldn't be additional language dubs for KH3.

Yup ever since E3 this was confirmed we wouldn't be getting international dubs of the game, guess the people internationally have to roll with the punches.

Guess I underestimated about their being a Latin Spanish dub for KH3 as the vídeo for the Mexican voices of Hiro and Baymax were recording a video game, wouldn't be surprised if it was actually the Lego Incredibles video game that came out in Latin America in June. Not to mention that Square Enix doesn't have a huge presence in LA which is why you don't get big franchises such as the Final Fantasy and the Kingdom Hearts games dubbed here. Mostly it's for other titles like Tomb Raider, etc...

Also RIP to Franch dub as well.

 

[bagcifreak]

Yeah how come Tomb Raider comes with +10 dubs this time but KH doesn't have more than 2. I know TR is more of a western franchise and has a bigger audience in Europe/US but I think KH3 deserved to have at least a couple dubs like Final Fantasy 15. Especially considering they have such a large young audience and not everyone speaks/understands English that well.

 

[Chaser]

wouldn't be surprised if it was actually the Lego Incredibles video game that came out in Latin America in June.

There were no Disney voice cameos in the Incredibles Game, only Pixar, so Baymax and Hiro weren't in Lego Incredibles.

Trust me, I'm just as confused as anyone about what 'game' they were recording for.

 

[DizneyXBirds95]

There were no Disney voice cameos in the Incredibles Game, only Pixar, so Baymax and Hiro weren't in Lego Incredibles.

Trust me, I'm just as confused as anyone about what 'game' they were recording for.

Yeah sorry about that, I should've corrected what I written down before you you replied back lol. I know there were NO Disney cameos, it's just that the video games that Memo Aponte works on have been Disney related, the exceptions being the EA Sports game and Star Wars Battlefront II.

I'm ambivalent if the video game they were working was KH3, cause aside from the fact that a German SE manager confirmed that their were no additional dubs for KH3 back at E3 in June, Nomura said that cutscenes and gameplay for the Big Hero 6 world was completed. Who's to say?

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Yeah how come Tomb Raider comes with +10 dubs this time but KH doesn't have more than 2. I know TR is more of a western franchise and has a bigger audience in Europe/US but I think KH3 deserved to have at least a couple dubs like Final Fantasy 15. Especially considering they have such a large young audience and not everyone speaks/understands English that well.

Those two games are not comparable whatsoever, especially considering the volume of characters and the star cast that Kingdom Hearts has over Tomb Raider. Adding more languages is just going to delay the game further, at best, Square Enix could release language patches over time.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

There is clearly an issue with time, scheduling, and budgeting that SE and Disney don’t want to deal with. Having to schedule actors + hire in new ones for the ones who don’t come back, having to pay them, having to rerender scenes with the new lipsync, manually adjusting for languages that cannot be auto sync’d, debugging, getting the patch/DLC certified and approved by Microsoft and Sony...

If people keep showing they want it, I could see them adding it after the release but at this point I think they don’t see it as necessary or even worth the hassle when they are probably in an endless crunch mode with the game itself right now. On top of that, they clearly have had issues just recording and syncing for the English dub if the lack of Mandy Moore in the last trailers speaks to anything. They can only do so much.

 

[Chaser]

I’m clueless as to why Ms. Moore hadn’t recorded before June. Filming for “This is Us” season 3 began a month ago and she was very recently recording for the third season of Tangled. That downtime a few months ago seems like it would have been the perfect opportunity. I would just hold out hope that the master mix of her voice work wasn’t complete or finished.

The script is done, Corona has been developed with gameplay and cutscenes, and Rapunzel’s Japanese voice is in. Get that script to Disney ASAP Mr. Yasue and get Ms. Moore into a booth!

 

[gosoxtim]

I’m clueless as to why Ms. Moore hadn’t recorded before June. Filming for “This is Us” season 3 began a month ago and she was very recently recording for the third season of Tangled. That downtime a few months ago seems like it would have been the perfect opportunity. I would just hold out hope that the master mix of her voice work wasn’t complete or finished.

The script is done, Corona has been developed with gameplay and cutscenes, and Rapunzel’s Japanese voice is in. Get that script to Disney ASAP Mr. Yasue and get Ms. Moore into a booth!

maybe disney schedule certain world in different months like say tangled has to be done in a certain month

 

[Chaser]

maybe disney schedule certain world in different months like say tangled has to be done in a certain month

They do give blocks of time for the people to record in, and it’s a jumbled, confusing, and out of context mess so no one can piece the story together (it’s why Jesse McCartney and Brittney Snow thought they had much bigger roles than they did in KH2).

But I’m just saying it’s odd that they didn’t take advantage of a period of time where Ms. Moore might have had some more spare time to record. And if she had recorded, why chose to include the footage of Rapunzel that requires voice work? It’s bad enough people think the game doesn’t have sound effects during cutscenes, but to believe there’s no voice work for some characters is awful.

 

[Darkspawn]

I empathize with those who want more dubs as I know I would be hurt if I weren’t able to play KH3 in English. However, I hope those who are fighting for it realize why the battle won’t be won until at least after the game gets released.

Due to the release gaps with previous games, Square Enix was already getting returns on the game from Japanese sales during the localization process. It was a lot easier to justify investments in multiple dubs when they were already making money and the dubs were less expensive to produce. With only five months until release, there is just no way they can turn around and implement more dubs without delaying the game for those territories, if not the whole world. To do so would mean cutting content or neglecting polishing and bug fix work to save the extra time.

This is already likely one of the most expensive games of all time and a business can only do so much with the time and resources that they have and SE is allocating those towards what they believe will result in the most successful product. Whether this approach will be effective will depend on the consumers buying the game or not. If the game doesn’t perform well in non-English or Japanese speaking territories, they might decide to make a sub to raise the appeal.

But I’m just saying it’s odd that they didn’t take advantage of a period of time where Ms. Moore might have had some more spare time to record. And if she had recorded, why chose to include the footage of Rapunzel that requires voice work? It’s bad enough people think the game doesn’t have sound effects during cutscenes, but to believe there’s no voice work for some characters is awful.

This is a reason why I’m kind of glad we haven’t gotten anymore trailers since E3. I’m hoping that the next trailer will look and sound like a consistent and complete product, even though the game as whole isn’t finished yet. At five months to release, I don’t think it would be a good look if cutscenes are shown without sound or with unfinished animations/lighting.