Playstation.com Europe – E3 Interview

One of the most famous designers in gaming opens up about the eagerly anticipated sequel to the bestselling Square Enix / Disney crossover role-playing game.

If the name Tetsuya Nomura isn’t familiar to you, then the characters he’s created for some of Square Enix’s finest games most certainly will be. After all, this is the man who brought the world the utterly memorable likes of Cloud Strife and Sep...

Amidst the cacophonous backdrop of E3, with all of this year’s new hardware announcements, with all the techno-catchphrases and industry jargon flying around, and with the overload of next-gen eye-candy getting most of the headlines, you’d think it would be easy to overlook Kingdom Hearts II. But then you generally don’t overlook a game that has, between its PlayStation 2 debut (Kingdom Hearts) and its GBA follow-up (Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories) sold ove...

Dengeki: Please tell us what the current stage of development is.

Nomura: The scenario is at least twice as long as the previous installment’s and now we are at the crucial point of figuring out if we can get it all in. Also, we are nearing the stage when we can have a round view of all the worlds.

Dengeki: We were allowed to get another feel of the gameplay this E3 and we felt that the combos are considerably speedier.

Nomura: In the previous inst...

We’re finally really close to a release but how have things been going?

The volume is beyond comparison. When I showed it to my boss the other day, he said “There’s 4 games’ worth in there.” In fact, what you have all seen so far is the mere “tip of the iceberg” if you will. Even within the worlds that have been presented there is much more to the real thing. The challenge is to see if we have managed to make that a trend for all worlds. As we...

GMR: Why did you guys decide to make a Kingdom Hearts game for GBA? Why not tell this entire story within the context of Kingdom Hearts II?

Tetsuya Nomura: The story for Kingdom Hearts II already existed when we worked on the original Kingdom Hearts. At the time, the story for Chain of Memories wasn’t concrete. Kingdom Hearts II continues where we left off in the original, but a year later. Initially, we weren’t planning on telling the story of that one &ldq...

Q: Sora does the drive mode with Goofy in the demo. Are there other drive modes with different characters in the game?

Nomura: I can’t really say.

Q: Are there any other characters that aren’t Disney but help the main character?

Nomura: I can’t answer that.

Q: How often do Disney reps see the game?

Nomura: They don’t really see it in development at all.

Q: Are there problems working with Disney?

Nom...