ReBirth Wings has posted up more magazine information from Dengeki Games. This time in the form of an interview with Tetsuya Nomura. She has written out the details of the interview for us, and I have started translating them here. Like before I'll do them in sections until the translation is complete.
Dengeki Games Nomura Interview Details
-- We’re at the part in development where we’ve just finished recording voices and are now getting to the best part. How we should present the credits at the end, what day we should release it, now we’re just starting to think about these things concretely.
At TGS you can play as each of our three characters, and even try out the multiplayer in “Mirage Arena.” There will be four different types of modes you can play in. Cooperative games in the Arena will be be short mission type games that will be found in the Arena only.
-- We aren’t planning for this game to be like Days, where the multiplayer and single player have equal importance. We feel that the main story for this game takes precedence.
-- [The armor they wear in the Arena] isn’t so important for battles, as it is for the story where they will wear it frequently.
-- The story will start out with the three of them together, which will continue until a certain point where you’ll have to choose a character. After that you’ll have to play until that scenario is finished. Once you’ve finished one you’ll have to choose another character again at the same time as you did before. There will be different endings for each character “Actually that part was a bit difficult, we considered making seperate credits for each of the three main characters (laugh)”
You can tell the love and effort that went into this game by how much there is of it. Even though it’s the same world, there will not only be differences in the scenario but different bosses to fight for each character. For example, in Cinderella’s world Aqua fights the pumpkin carriage as a boss, but Terra fights a boss that uses musical instruments.
-- The main characters actually meet several times during the story. Like when they get to a new world they’ll meet one of them, or it will be just after one of them had been there. So only after you’ve finished all three of the scenarios will you understand why a certain scene happened in a certain way. “That’s why if your friend is playing too, you probably shouldn’t talk about the story with each other. You’d probably spoil each other for the story. So it’s probably best to wait until after you’ve finished all three scenarios to talk about it (laugh)”
-- In what order you go to each world will vary by character, but you do have a little bit of choice in where to go.
-- You can’t fly in Neverland. “I won’t tell you why, I’ll just say that 'They are people who don’t need to fly.'" If you play all three scenarios until the end, will there be something? He says, “That’s a secret. (laugh)”
Continued (by krexia):
- Style changes will automatically happen during battles. Many users of the KH series avoid complex control systems, so this time the idea of "making the battle control system as uncomplicated as possible" was an important concept. For that reason, you can easily have fun with Style changes just by hitting the same button. In terms of Finish Commands and Style changes, you can change Styles if you satisfy certain conditions. When your style changes, your attacks' attributes change. For players who are good at action games, they can try to accurately control the timing of Style changes.
- In the past one concept of the KH series has been that players who are bad at action games to feel like they can fight well, and that continues this time, with players able to enjoy even more furious action. However this has made development pretty difficult (battles have to be adjusted for 3 people). The Co-Director, Mr. Yoshimoto, is creating battles himself.
- [Speaking about a screenshot of Shoot Lock mode, where there are vast numbers of enemies visible in the scene] "We wanted even just locking on with Shoot Lock to make you feel good (laughs)." Actually the Shoot Lock systems itself is an idea that's been around during the making of previous KH titles but has only now finally been implemented. There are several other ideas that have been on the backburner and now put into BbS. "The Deck Commands were also around during the making of hte GBA game, "KH Chain of Memories".
- The Deck Command system has been in Nomura's head since CoM. You customise it beforehand, then simply use it during battles. You have to recharge before you can use the same move again, and in that time you can keep the battle flowing using Base Commands or another Deck Command. There's no stock to run out of. You can easily use a rich variation of attacks just by continually hitting one button. "The commands are each very personalised and all look cool. I think that when you play, you'll be absorbed in watching your own gameplay."
- There's a simple slot format for setup. "After using a move, you have to wait for it to recharge to use it again, like the system in 'The World Ends with You'."
- [Responding to a question about whether the origins of Sora's moves are seen in the 3 new characters' moves] "I wonder (laughs). Well, you might find yourself thinking, 'Haven't I seen this move somewhere before?'" The battle direction is colourful and intense, showing the power of the Keyblade. The reason being that these three are more accustomed to using the Keyblade than Sora.
- [Since this is new information, it's copied word for word from the article]
So is the Dimension Link system something like the Summons in previous titles?
"That's right. You carry the power of Disney characters, and adapt it for use in your personal style. The extra content you can gain from linked characters varies, so that can become the basis for various tactics. Collecting symbols gives you power-ups while linking, and if you collect the maximum of 2 you can perform a big flashy finish move.
In Cinderella's case, icons with the motif of the pumpkin carriage advance towards the stairway; there are things like this that evoke images of the original films. When you link with Stitch, you get a musical performance style with a ukelele, which feels like a music game.
This time we wanted to have battles where you were constantly using attacking moves, and didn't want the Summons to interrupt the battles, so we created the Dimension Link system."
- There aren't many buttons, but the sense of operating them is quite different when compared to the series up to this point. Actually, we're always worried about where to assign the button for camera control - it was the same with Days. We come up with several different patterns, and investigate which is best by having people try playing them.
- There've been no official announcements about the growth system yet, but I think it's a system that will surprise people. This game's growth system isn't exactly "systematic", I think when we release it to the public people will think, "What's this?" The idea itself had been there for a while, but when I saw the graphics I was surprised myself. "Some people will probably say, 'I've never seen a system screen like this.'" If I were to give a hint, it's not so much a system for playing, more like "you can play even though it's a system". Looking just at the screen, it's like a separate game.
- The truth is, the game hasn't been put in UMD form yet, and Nomura himself is wondering about the capacity. "I keep asking, 'Will it fit? Will this fit?' even though the staff keep telling me, 'It'll be okay,' (laughs)."
- When asked about whether Final Fantasy characters will appear, he says "Wait for a later interview (laughs)."
- What kind of beings the Unversed are will be explained in-game. They don't appear in later time periods, so we'll probably get an explanation for how they disappeared too. The meaning of the name is "unversed = not versed in, lacking knowledge". In the game they're depicted as "beings who lack knowledge about life".
- This time you'll automatically move around as the storyline progresses. You do use a certain method of travelling around, but that probably won't have much of an influence in actual gameplay. There will be no Gummi Ships this time. "It's been split into three people's parts. This time everything has been split into three people's parts (laughs)." One reason for the lack of Gummi Ships is that they haven't been discovered yet in this time period.
- Different treasure chests will appear for each character on different worlds.
- The King hasn't been shown to the public yet, but this time he'll be called "Mickey". He's also a Keyblade user in training, and there will be scenes where he meets the three protagonists. "Even though he has a different teacher to the other three." The three protagonists' teacher is someone who hasn't appeared in the series before. "It's a new person who will have deep connections to the plot, so look forward to that."
- The badges the three of them wear have the seal of their school. "If you look closely you might see that it resembles a certain mark..."
- The design concept was sketched out based on the armoured figures that had previously been revealed. The colouring was based entirely on the armour. Terra and Aqua's clothing have a bit of a Japanese feel. There's a meaning behind Ven's clothing, so I want you to consider than when you play the actual game.
Dengeki Games Nomura Interview Details
-- We’re at the part in development where we’ve just finished recording voices and are now getting to the best part. How we should present the credits at the end, what day we should release it, now we’re just starting to think about these things concretely.
At TGS you can play as each of our three characters, and even try out the multiplayer in “Mirage Arena.” There will be four different types of modes you can play in. Cooperative games in the Arena will be be short mission type games that will be found in the Arena only.
-- We aren’t planning for this game to be like Days, where the multiplayer and single player have equal importance. We feel that the main story for this game takes precedence.
-- [The armor they wear in the Arena] isn’t so important for battles, as it is for the story where they will wear it frequently.
-- The story will start out with the three of them together, which will continue until a certain point where you’ll have to choose a character. After that you’ll have to play until that scenario is finished. Once you’ve finished one you’ll have to choose another character again at the same time as you did before. There will be different endings for each character “Actually that part was a bit difficult, we considered making seperate credits for each of the three main characters (laugh)”
You can tell the love and effort that went into this game by how much there is of it. Even though it’s the same world, there will not only be differences in the scenario but different bosses to fight for each character. For example, in Cinderella’s world Aqua fights the pumpkin carriage as a boss, but Terra fights a boss that uses musical instruments.
-- The main characters actually meet several times during the story. Like when they get to a new world they’ll meet one of them, or it will be just after one of them had been there. So only after you’ve finished all three of the scenarios will you understand why a certain scene happened in a certain way. “That’s why if your friend is playing too, you probably shouldn’t talk about the story with each other. You’d probably spoil each other for the story. So it’s probably best to wait until after you’ve finished all three scenarios to talk about it (laugh)”
-- In what order you go to each world will vary by character, but you do have a little bit of choice in where to go.
-- You can’t fly in Neverland. “I won’t tell you why, I’ll just say that 'They are people who don’t need to fly.'" If you play all three scenarios until the end, will there be something? He says, “That’s a secret. (laugh)”
Continued (by krexia):
- Style changes will automatically happen during battles. Many users of the KH series avoid complex control systems, so this time the idea of "making the battle control system as uncomplicated as possible" was an important concept. For that reason, you can easily have fun with Style changes just by hitting the same button. In terms of Finish Commands and Style changes, you can change Styles if you satisfy certain conditions. When your style changes, your attacks' attributes change. For players who are good at action games, they can try to accurately control the timing of Style changes.
- In the past one concept of the KH series has been that players who are bad at action games to feel like they can fight well, and that continues this time, with players able to enjoy even more furious action. However this has made development pretty difficult (battles have to be adjusted for 3 people). The Co-Director, Mr. Yoshimoto, is creating battles himself.
- [Speaking about a screenshot of Shoot Lock mode, where there are vast numbers of enemies visible in the scene] "We wanted even just locking on with Shoot Lock to make you feel good (laughs)." Actually the Shoot Lock systems itself is an idea that's been around during the making of previous KH titles but has only now finally been implemented. There are several other ideas that have been on the backburner and now put into BbS. "The Deck Commands were also around during the making of hte GBA game, "KH Chain of Memories".
- The Deck Command system has been in Nomura's head since CoM. You customise it beforehand, then simply use it during battles. You have to recharge before you can use the same move again, and in that time you can keep the battle flowing using Base Commands or another Deck Command. There's no stock to run out of. You can easily use a rich variation of attacks just by continually hitting one button. "The commands are each very personalised and all look cool. I think that when you play, you'll be absorbed in watching your own gameplay."
- There's a simple slot format for setup. "After using a move, you have to wait for it to recharge to use it again, like the system in 'The World Ends with You'."
- [Responding to a question about whether the origins of Sora's moves are seen in the 3 new characters' moves] "I wonder (laughs). Well, you might find yourself thinking, 'Haven't I seen this move somewhere before?'" The battle direction is colourful and intense, showing the power of the Keyblade. The reason being that these three are more accustomed to using the Keyblade than Sora.
- [Since this is new information, it's copied word for word from the article]
So is the Dimension Link system something like the Summons in previous titles?
"That's right. You carry the power of Disney characters, and adapt it for use in your personal style. The extra content you can gain from linked characters varies, so that can become the basis for various tactics. Collecting symbols gives you power-ups while linking, and if you collect the maximum of 2 you can perform a big flashy finish move.
In Cinderella's case, icons with the motif of the pumpkin carriage advance towards the stairway; there are things like this that evoke images of the original films. When you link with Stitch, you get a musical performance style with a ukelele, which feels like a music game.
This time we wanted to have battles where you were constantly using attacking moves, and didn't want the Summons to interrupt the battles, so we created the Dimension Link system."
- There aren't many buttons, but the sense of operating them is quite different when compared to the series up to this point. Actually, we're always worried about where to assign the button for camera control - it was the same with Days. We come up with several different patterns, and investigate which is best by having people try playing them.
- There've been no official announcements about the growth system yet, but I think it's a system that will surprise people. This game's growth system isn't exactly "systematic", I think when we release it to the public people will think, "What's this?" The idea itself had been there for a while, but when I saw the graphics I was surprised myself. "Some people will probably say, 'I've never seen a system screen like this.'" If I were to give a hint, it's not so much a system for playing, more like "you can play even though it's a system". Looking just at the screen, it's like a separate game.
- The truth is, the game hasn't been put in UMD form yet, and Nomura himself is wondering about the capacity. "I keep asking, 'Will it fit? Will this fit?' even though the staff keep telling me, 'It'll be okay,' (laughs)."
- When asked about whether Final Fantasy characters will appear, he says "Wait for a later interview (laughs)."
- What kind of beings the Unversed are will be explained in-game. They don't appear in later time periods, so we'll probably get an explanation for how they disappeared too. The meaning of the name is "unversed = not versed in, lacking knowledge". In the game they're depicted as "beings who lack knowledge about life".
- This time you'll automatically move around as the storyline progresses. You do use a certain method of travelling around, but that probably won't have much of an influence in actual gameplay. There will be no Gummi Ships this time. "It's been split into three people's parts. This time everything has been split into three people's parts (laughs)." One reason for the lack of Gummi Ships is that they haven't been discovered yet in this time period.
- Different treasure chests will appear for each character on different worlds.
- The King hasn't been shown to the public yet, but this time he'll be called "Mickey". He's also a Keyblade user in training, and there will be scenes where he meets the three protagonists. "Even though he has a different teacher to the other three." The three protagonists' teacher is someone who hasn't appeared in the series before. "It's a new person who will have deep connections to the plot, so look forward to that."
- The badges the three of them wear have the seal of their school. "If you look closely you might see that it resembles a certain mark..."
- The design concept was sketched out based on the armoured figures that had previously been revealed. The colouring was based entirely on the armour. Terra and Aqua's clothing have a bit of a Japanese feel. There's a meaning behind Ven's clothing, so I want you to consider than when you play the actual game.
