Square Enix published the second part of the Q&A regarding Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind: the 13 Questions of Darkness with Tetsuya Nomura. Kingdom Hearts‘ Director chatted about the DLC’s content and most notably mentioned that while it’ll take a while for the next main Kingdom Hearts game, other games are coming soon. An announcement regarding Kingdom Hearts Union X will also happen on January 23.
Note that I have merged and summarized questions 1 and 2 together in my translation as the answers simply summarize previously known information.
『KHIII Re Mind』発売記念「7つの光と13の闇 Q&A」”闇編”を公開！ #KH3 #_KH #KH3_ReMind pic.twitter.com/C0xKIgM4qP
— キングダム ハーツ (@_KINGDOMHEARTS) January 22, 2020
1&2/ What’s different about past Final Mix games and the Remind DLC? What’s the difference between the KHIII version 1.07 Free Update and the Remind DLC?
“Unlike Final Mix games which added new elements and balance changes to the whole game, Remind is independent content you can enjoy after clearing the main game. You can think of Remind as the Final Mix equivalent of Kingdom Hearts 3. The Free Update also adds new content that would have been included in a Final Mix version in the past, like the new Keyblades and abilities.
3/ Are you planning to release a “Kingdom Hearts 3 Final Mix” game later on? Or a physical version that includes the Remind DLC?
“At the time, we have no concrete plans for that. Maybe we’ll think about it if Kingdom Hearts 3 is ported to a new platform. I didn’t think about whether that could be a Final Mix or not either.”
4/ When does the additional scenario of the Remind DLC takes place? And what does it depicts?
“Some parts are skipped, but if you take Sora as the reference, it starts from the end of the final battle in the main game and goes until the ending. And it depicts Kairi’s rescue. The player has a broader point of view on the story than Sora’s point of view, so the Sora in Remind has a broader point of view than in the main game. It’s difficult to explain, But “KHIII” ended in “KHIII“, and its ending leads and connects to Remind‘s ending.”
5/ Does the Remind DLC affects the story shown in the main game?
“There are no changes to the main game’s story. Remind doesn’t affect it as it can only be played after clearing the main game. As for the cutscene corrections in the main story included in version 1.07, those are things I wanted to do but couldn’t until now for various reasons. Specifically speaking, it concerns the depiction of damage in cutscenes and the depiction of the sky.”
6/ Why the Final Fantasy characters didn’t appear in Kingdom Hearts III? And why did you make them appear in the Remind DLC?
“In KHIII’s story developments, there are no reasons to visit Radiant Garden, and we had some development problems regarding that too. The story developments in Remind necessitate the appearance of the Final Fantasy characters, and it would please the fans, so we added them. Even if they don’t play a big role, it conveys the fact that they’re still here.”
7/ What should we look forward to regarding the Limit Cut Bosses? Which ones are the most interesting?
“We decided from the start the Limit Cut Bosses would be fights against the Real Organization XIII members, but we disagreed about whether we should include Xion or not. I consulted Tai Yasue about it during development. Xion almost didn’t make the cut. So I hope you’ll enjoy her boss fight and struggle just like we struggled about whether to include her or not. She’s really strong.”
8/ In the past you said you wished to add one World’s worth of content with the Remind DLC, did you manage to do so?
“The truth is, at first we started to plan and design an actual new World, but it just didn’t feel right to me to add a new world by itself. If we try to do that again one day, I think it would be better if we had it from the start among our list of possible Worlds to add. To make up for that World we didn’t do, Remind has even more than 1 World’s worth of content. In particular, we had a hard time developing so many new bosses.”
9/ Can you tell us more about the Secret Boss & Episode?
“They include my thoughts regarding what comes next in the series. I don’t think you can predict them with the information you have now. The Secret Boss battle also turned out into something pretty different than what I initially ordered from the development team.”
10/ Why does the Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind DLC Final Trailer includes a line from the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 1?
“I wrote that line so I could reuse it someday if I had the occasion. I don’t think you’ll get what I mean at all, but back then, adding that line is what made the world of Kingdom Hearts approved. This mystery won’t be resolved now, but I think we’re at the entrance of the way leading to it.”
11/ Are you planning to do any new updates or DLCs following Remind?
“We don’t have any plans for future updates, but maybe more could come. As for DLCs, Remind is the first and last one. I’ve already moved on to the next game.”
12/ Can you tell us more regarding the future of the Kingdom Hearts series?
“It’ll take some time until the next main Kingdom Hearts game. But on January 23, an unexpected announcement from the KHUχ team will happen. Moreover, besides the KHIII development team and the KHUχ development team, two other teams are currently at work, and one of these two teams’ games will come out unexpectedly quick.”
13/ Do you have a message to share with the fans?
“After KHIII‘s development ended, some organizational changes happened. Because of that, we made you wait longer than expected for the Remind DLC and I apologize. The Remind DLC is packed with awesome content. I thought we’d focus on story elements, but most of the development time was spent on the boss battles and new systems. I hope you will enjoy all the merciless battles we could only add through this DLC. Co-director Yasue said he wanted to see players fight against the Secret Boss, so we also removed nearly all the Share restrictions. I hope you’ll enjoy the DLC.”
Square Enix also published some gameplay footage of boss battles in the DLC:
【DLC紹介映像③】いよいよ後数時間後に迫ったDLC『Re Mind』のリミットカットボス戦の一部を公開。#KH3 #_KH #KH3_ReMind pic.twitter.com/bxxKJEVySs
— キングダム ハーツ (@_KINGDOMHEARTS) January 22, 2020
If you wish to hear my unneeded opinion about all this. I’m one of those who disagree about the opinion that Kingdom Hearts‘ story is overly complicated, though I do agree it is needlessly complicated at times. And God, translating Tetsuya Nomura’s words when speaking about the series feels the exact same. Sometimes I wish he’d just stop Kingdom Hearts and announce The Bouncer 2 on PlayStation 5.
We also translated the “7 Questions of Light” with Tai Yasue regarding the Remind DLC. You can read more about the DLC’s content with our previous coverage here, here. here, and here. We also translated past Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind interviews with Tetsuya Nomura.
Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind launches on January 23 on PlayStation 4. It’s already available in Japan as I’m writing this. The DLC will be available a month later on February 25 on Xbox One.
The post Tetsuya Nomura On Kingdom Hearts 3 Remind and the Series’ Future by Iyane Agossah appeared first on DualShockers.