Shaded Hearts

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Director Interview


The last part of our special is an interview with
director Tetsuya Nomura. The man who created the series talks of this
latest game in the series that has been waited by fans.

“There is enough packed into this game that it is on par with a console title.”


You have to watch the secret movie


--- The release date is almost near isn’t it? First, I’d like to ask you some things about the story.


Nomura: I really don’t think I’ll be able to say much (laugh). With
the story we have this time, if I talk about it even a little bit it’s
a spoiler.

--- Well that’s a problem (laugh) One
interesting point of this game is that you can choose which of three
main characters you want to play with. But which order do you
recommend?

Nomura: Terra, Ven and Aqua is the best order. We wrote the
scenarios in that order, and you’ll probably understand why while
you’re playing it. Also, Ven is very easy to use, but Terra is a little
heavier and moves slowly. So you could begin playing with the character
that best fits your play style. But if you choose to play as Ven first
and then go on to Terra, you’ll probably feel too slow.

--- So the scenarios for the three characters are really quite different?


Nomura: Yes, we set it up that way. If three friends were to play
the game and choose different characters, after ten minutes the story
would be completely different. If you choose to play as a different
character than your friend, you both should be careful of spoiling each
other.

--- Instead of using one character until the end, can you play each character a little bit at a time?


Nomura: For the most part yes, you can. When you first create a
save, it creates saves for all three characters. But if you play them
together it becomes confusing, and I wouldn’t recommend it.

--- Alright then, now can you tell us what kind of characters the three heroes are? Starting with Terra.


Nomura: Terra, as we’ve shown in trailers and screenshots, becomes
[closer? entangled?] with darkness, which is the highlight of his
story. But he doesn’t just fight the darkness in his heart, he tries to
hold back his desire while being invited into the darkness. He can also
use the moves that we saw from “Lingering Sentiment” in KHIIFM, so that
will be fun.

--- Next, I want to ask about Ven, the one everyone is wondering most about.


Nomura: Since Ven has a lot of mysteries about him, I can’t really
say clearly what sort of character he is. But when you play the game,
you’ll find out more about who he really is. While the connections in
the series haven’t been explained, we’ve made it so you can imagine who
he is. Also, as I said before he will be an easy character to use for
newcomers, since he is the quickest.

--- And Aqua is watching over the both of them.


Nomura: Yes that’s right. Aqua’s position is what I guess you could
call their “guardian”. And unlike Terra and Ven, you can’t easily see
how she connects to the series. I’d like for everyone to watch her to
see what lies in her future. Since she is a magic type character, she
has trickier moves than we’ve seen in the series to date. Also, like
Final Form in KHII, she has a Style where her keyblade floats in the
air.

--- How will their Master be involved in the story?


Nomura: Master Eraqus and Master Xehanort used to be fellow
students. Their way of thinking is different, but deep down they are
connected in some way.

--- And what about the mysterious Master Xehanort and Vanitas?


Nomura: Vanitas wears a mask and we can’t see his face, but
eventually we will find out who he is. I want you to watch out for how
Master Xehanort connects to Ansem the Wise’s apprentice Xehanort that
was introduced in KHII.

--- In screenshots we see Master Xehanort saying something about the “Keyblade Wars”...


Nomura: The “Keyblade Wars” were something that happened quite a
long time ago, so there is no one who actually experienced the war can
explain more about it. They can only speculate on what happened. But
that isn’t really what is important, what I want you to pay attention
to is the “Mystery that is hidden within the keyblades” that is in
connection with the war. The place where Xehanort is talking about it
is close to the climax of the story, and all of the story’s highlights
will be summarized there.

--- We see quite a lot of characters that look like Organization XIII members in Radiant Garden, don’t we?


Nomura: But they don’t have a lot to do in the story, they just
appear as residents in Radiant Garden. Except for Braig, since you
fight him and he is quite involved in the story. In KHIIFM and KH 358/2
Days there was a lot going on with him, and he is a character I think
you should pay attention to.

--- Of course you usually have a secret movie at the end, do you have one this time too?


Nomura: Yes there is one. Except this time it isn’t a pre-rendered
movie that gives a hint as to how the story will develop later, but is
shown like an event scene. There is dialog, and in all it runs about
ten minutes. It is set up as one episode. Instead of showing us what
will happen in the future, it is more like a true ending. I would
really like everyone to see it. There are characters that will only
show up there in it as well.

--- I wonder what sort of things will be required to see the event.


Nomura: Of course there are lots of requirements. This time too, it
depends on the difficulty. It’s pretty difficult to get on Standard
Mode, and on Proud it becomes easier. On Beginner you can’t see it at
all. Well, I’m sure fans of the series can imagine the requirements.

An enemy even stronger than “Lingering Sentiment” will appear!?


--- Even just playing it a little bit, I found
the Deck Commands quite interesting, but in the beginning you can only
equip three.

Nomura: If you give lots of options in the beginning it actually
makes things more difficult. It’s because you have that limitation that
it becomes fun. If you were able to equip lots of them in the beginning
it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. You can have up to eight slots by the
end, and probably the urge to get more Commands will give people more
of a motivation to play.

--- This time even the Finish Commands have
levels, it seems that having to think about leveling them will make it
a little confusing?

Nomura: Even the our development team said as you go through the
game that maybe there were too many levels. Well, I think that there
will be some people who will get into having that sort of leveling
system. But beginners can just have fun and don’t really have to bother
thinking about all that.

--- Using keyblades to move between the worlds
looks quite interesting.
Nomura: Unlike before with Gummi Ships, they aren’t a mini-game, but
instead you can use the Keyblade Ride to have a race. Also, this time
the worlds screen is like before, and you can choose which world you
want to go to freely.

--- I’m quite happy that when you play on
wireless you can upgrade your Deck Commands, you can bring those over
into single player as well.

Nomura: We didn’t want to have a separation between multiplayer
and single player. For KH 358/2 Days there were people who said that
they couldn’t gather all of the Mission Crowns, so we were thinking
about that. In “Mirage Arena” there are items you can’t get anywhere
else, but you can get them all even if you are playing offline by
yourself. Of course it is made for several people to beat together, so
it would be quite difficult by yourself. The strongest enemy that
appears in multiplayer is about equal to the hidden boss in single
player.

--- There is a hidden boss this time too!?


Nomura: Yes there is. We wanted to make it even stronger than
Lingering Sentiment. But, you can only defeat it by having a certain
set of Deck Commands. You’ll have to wait until you see it. You could
also say that if you don’t think about your attacks [or it’s attacks?]
you won’t be able to win.

--- Something even stronger than Lingering Sentiment must have taken quite a lot of fine tuning...


Nomura: We had Debuggers who are really good at action games help
us with it, so we were able to make it into quite a difficult boss. It
is strong, but it doesn’t have high HP. It is just a battle of attack
against attack.

--- With both single player and wireless, I’m a little worried about loading times...


Nomura: I very much recommend Data Install. There are three
different sizes you can choose from, but please choose the largest one.
It will change the way you play the game. You can also go into Config
and change the speed and color mode.

Braig is a Dark Horse!


--- This time there will be quite a few things, I
think, but in the story and battles what do you think is the highlight
of each?

Nomura: In the story, it’s the connections with the rest of the
series. Since Sora isn’t the main character we didn’t give it a number,
but there is no difference between this one and the PS2
games. I think the KH series has a story with lots of mysteries that
the player can have fun imagining what will happen next. They don’t
have to imagine something from nothing, there are lots of little hints
left everywhere in the story. So everyone can take those hints and
imagine what will happen. For battles, the actions using the Deck
Commands. With Shoot Locks and Dimension Links, there are lots of
different ways you can fight and have fun with it.

--- So which character do you think people should be watching out for?


Nomura: Definitely Braig. Everyone is thinking about all the other
characters, but no one is watching Braig. But he will have quite an
impact on the story.

--- “KH 358/2 Days” had quite a sad story, but what about this story?


Nomura: I’m sorry to say, this one is also pretty sad (laugh). The
stories I make usually make the character sad, or they have lots of
troubles along the way. But since the theme this time is “bonds”, I
think the story connects to a bright and hopeful future.

--- “KH coded” has reached it’s climax, so are you thinking of what is going to happen in the future?


Nomura: Of course I’m thinking about it. But right now I’m too busy
with “FF Versus XIII”. Of course it wouldn’t be any good to make our
fans wait for years for it, so we’re planning something. But first I’d
like you to enjoy this latest game. All the fans who are excited for
the game, I think you ought to pre-order it.

Quelle: khinsider.com