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GameInformer interviews Yasue on KH3's difficulty, post-game content, favorite moments



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FudgemintGuardian

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What happened with Laguna sounds just like what happened with Mickey Mouse in KH1, so maybe it is something that Square Enix feels funny about (but now they're throwing the same characters into a million mobile games. If it nets money...)
Reminds me that he's not in the current Dissidia and I'm still mad about that!

Dissidia needs more dads.

Indeed, yet it could also have just been Nomura being salty at FF in general and wanting his pseudo-FF Verum Rex being the only FF-esque characters present in the whole game.
Apart from the whole Ux-stuff and the new saga being now the stuff Nomura's most excited for, Yozora seems to be also high on his personal priority and favorites list.
I feel if it was from him being salty then I don't think he would have models made in the first place, but this would make sense why the team was apparently mad at him if their removal was from him being pissy.

With Verum Rex, I know a lot of people just take is as Nomura being salty, but for all we know he might have been planning to use Versus XIII in KH this whole time. We'll probably never know the whole picture, sadly.

The whole "too crowded" explanation falls flat on its face anyways as they even bothered to include Aeleus and Dilan, despite them never saying a word and only walking/standing around uselessly throughout the whole story.
^This. Phil also had no reason with being in Olympus and yet time was spent on making and shoving him in.

The worst part of the Restoration Committee's exclusion is how they're not acknowledged at all. Cloud, Auron, and stupid Seifer are mentioned in one way or another, but it was apparently too hard to have Sora ask Ienzo about them.

Maybe Nomura just wants to replace all already known FF cameos with KH original characters completely in the long run anyways, considering how nonchalantly both Yasue and him approach the issue, not to mention the high surprise of fans mentioning this issue so often seems genuine on their part.
That still bugs me. How they seemed genuinely surprised by it. The FF cameos has always been one of the top things fans yell about, so hearing them say otherwise is just...off. I mean, maybe they really didn't know, but it's something rather difficult to avoid.

That’s true, but I think it still aggravates the issue rather than soothe. Fans never stopped wanting Reno despite Nomura making Axel. Instead, they all wanted to see Reno and Axel interact back in the mid-2000s.

Or like now people don’t feel like their Noctis itch has been scratched with Yozora. Now I think people want to see Yozora, Riku, Noctis, and Sora all in the same room to see what happens haha
Fans just want KH to be a never-ending Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man meme.

The first game was billed as a collaboration between Disney and FF properties and for the third installment - meant to 'cap-off' what the first one started - to not acknowledge its roots is more than a bit jarring/odd. And from a storytelling perspective, the FF-crew in RG purportedly mean a lot to Sora and his development as a protagonist. It feels off not to have gotten to see them this time around. I don't even play FF but I felt the absence and missed the spontaneity of seeing how these characters would be incorporated.
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Sephiroth0812

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With many of the original characters now out of the series for good (barring Nomura changing his mind or making them relevant in KHUX), I can see new OCs being made.

But I wouldn’t want OCs made of Final Fantasy characters when we could have those Final Fantasy characters themselves (don’t hit me with that “their not exactly the same, y’all know what I mean).

Yozora, Aegis, and Magia are clearly the way they are due to Nomura’s childlike pettiness and that’s why we are getting OC characters based on Final Fantasy characters.

But for more characters like that? No thank you, give me Zidane and Balthier in Treasure Planet. Give me the Onion Knight in Dwarf Woodlands. Give me Rinoa in Radiant Garden along with everyone else.

Which characters do you count as "many"? From what I've observed only Master Xehanort, Ansem SoD, Xemnas, Young Xehanort, Eraqus and possibly Vanitas are out of the series for good. These departures are more than evened out by bringing back the Foretellers and introducing Yozora.
Count in possible Skuld as Subject X, Ephemer, Strelitzia and Blaine as well and the cast is already bigger than ever before.

Marluxia, Larxene and Luxord are outright implied to return later down the line while Isa, Lea and Ventus have laid out possible future character arcs connected to UX-Lore stuff.
If Lea and Ventus are involved though I doubt that Terra, Aqua, Roxas and Xion will just be thrown aside and play no more role whatsoever.
Ansem the Wise and the apprentices like Ienzo may get the treatment of wandering NPC in their own world only but they're still not out for good.

Yozora sets a precedence case though so the possibility of Nomura going this route is at least there.
Shoving the FF cameos more and more into the background and out already started with BBS itself when Nomura chose to scratch the planned child versions of Squall, Cloud, Yuffie and Aerith in favor of including Isa, Lea and Ansem's apprentices aka the "popular" Org XIII-characters instead which I now realize was practically an action repeated now in KH III.

I feel if it was from him being salty then I don't think he would have models made in the first place, but this would make sense why the team was apparently mad at him if their removal was from him being pissy.

With Verum Rex, I know a lot of people just take is as Nomura being salty, but for all we know he might have been planning to use Versus XIII in KH this whole time. We'll probably never know the whole picture, sadly.

^This. Phil also had no reason with being in Olympus and yet time was spent on making and shoving him in.

The worst part of the Restoration Committee's exclusion is how they're not acknowledged at all. Cloud, Auron, and stupid Seifer are mentioned in one way or another, but it was apparently too hard to have Sora ask Ienzo about them.

That still bugs me. How they seemed genuinely surprised by it. The FF cameos has always been one of the top things fans yell about, so hearing them say otherwise is just...off. I mean, maybe they really didn't know, but it's something rather difficult to avoid.

They might have been included in early drafts and test versions and if I recall correctly Nomura stated once that there was much stuff they had to cut in the end when they put all assets together. If him being salty did play a role I'd say the FF cameos were one of the first assets that landed on the cutting floor.

Like I sad above in answer to Chaser, we already had this very scenario back in 2010 with Radiant Garden in BBS.

It is certainly possible and even likely that Nomura planned to retool his "Versus XIII" vision and ideas for use within the KH series shortly after he was removed as Director from the actual thing which was then rebranded as FF XV.
It being planned for a longer time doesn't rule out it still being done in part out of spite or saltiness. It is remarkable that Nomura himself seems to have changed quite a bit in recent years as while originally characters like Sora, Luxord or Roxas were his favorites in the last three years or so he often cited Ansem SoD or Xehanort as more relatable and once even said he doesn't empathize with Sora at all.

For those who know KH's history the complete silence and omission of the Restoration Committee is certainly jarring and outright creepy, yet when I hear Yasue talk about how they prioritized appealing to younger and new audiences this could even be deliberate to establish Ienzo, Ansem the Wise & co. as the permanent "Mission control" and scientific assistants in RG for the main cast, completely taking over the roles once held by the FF cameos and thus make them in-universe what Nomura and Yasue meta-wise apparently already decided they are: Redundant and no longer neeeded.

I dunno, do Japanese fans also often voice demands for the FF cameos or is it more a western phenomena? As it looks like Nomura and co. apparently are not as versed about the interests and priorities the western fanbase seems to have, regardless of any possible PR claims of the contrary.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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I dunno, do Japanese fans also often voice demands for the FF cameos or is it more a western phenomena? As it looks like Nomura and co. apparently are not as versed about the interests and priorities the western fanbase seems to have, regardless of any possible PR claims of the contrary.

Japanese fans seem to want them as much as we do, so it isn't a regional discrepancy.
 

Sephiroth0812

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Japanese fans seem to want them as much as we do, so it isn't a regional discrepancy.
I see, so that can't be the reason.

Maybe they're just really determined to write them out and replace them with KH Originals after all?
That it happened twice already, once in BBS and now in KH III, makes me think it is a deliberate thing.
 

FudgemintGuardian

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Which characters do you count as "many"? From what I've observed only Master Xehanort, Ansem SoD, Xemnas, Young Xehanort, Eraqus and possibly Vanitas are out of the series for good.
And even then they could come back because damn this series.

Yozora sets a precedence case though so the possibility of Nomura going this route is at least there.
Shoving the FF cameos more and more into the background and out already started with BBS itself when Nomura chose to scratch the planned child versions of Squall, Cloud, Yuffie and Aerith in favor of including Isa, Lea and Ansem's apprentices aka the "popular" Org XIII-characters instead which I now realize was practically an action repeated now in KH III.
Jeez, how could I forget this? Would have been a better example for me to use than Laguna (or alongside it.)

They might have been included in early drafts and test versions and if I recall correctly Nomura stated once that there was much stuff they had to cut in the end when they put all assets together. If him being salty did play a role I'd say the FF cameos were one of the first assets that landed on the cutting floor.

Like I sad above in answer to Chaser, we already had this very scenario back in 2010 with Radiant Garden in BBS.
What's kinda funny with both cases is there's an issue with the games trimming the meat instead of the fat. Too much happening in BBS? Don't have us visit every world three times. So much time and space used on TAV doing nothing could have been avoided if some worlds were exclusive. Which also would have made the story go smoother. In fact having TAV visit every world just makes it look like there wasn't anything else planned at all so was padded it out as much as possible.

KH3 was too focused on making the Disney worlds big and 100 Acre Wood just exists to take up space. There's probably a few other things that'd count as "fat" but they're not coming to mind at the moment.

It is certainly possible and even likely that Nomura planned to retool his "Versus XIII" vision and ideas for use within the KH series shortly after he was removed as Director from the actual thing which was then rebranded as FF XV.
I meant more that he could have thought of doing that while he was still on the project. DDD I believe was near finished while he was still on Versus XIII, and with the TWEWY crew in DDD, it's possible he could have already been planning on using video game worlds in the future before he got kicked off Versus.

I just remembered something Nomrua said back in 2010.

Famitsu November 17th 2010 said:
-- We'll be waiting impatiently to ask about that. So, what about the evolution of the system? --

Nomura: The KH series are basically games where you control a single character. It's fundamentally different to the party play of the FF series, so the course of its evolution is also different. Each has its own things you can and cannot do, so things we couldn't put in "FF Versus XIII" will be in the KH series, and vice-versa.
Granted he's talking about gameplay here, but I still find it interesting.

It being planned for a longer time doesn't rule out it still being done in part out of spite or saltiness.
However this is very true.

It is remarkable that Nomura himself seems to have changed quite a bit in recent years as while originally characters like Sora, Luxord or Roxas were his favorites in the last three years or so he often cited Ansem SoD or Xehanort as more relatable and once even said he doesn't empathize with Sora at all.
That's pretty normal really. It's like when a kid loves the young main character and hates the "stupid adults", but as they get older their perspective changes and start to understand and relate with the adult characters while wondering why they ever liked the main character in the first place. The same thing happens with creators.

I'd say Nomura still likes Luxord considering he's one of the better implemented characters.

For those who know KH's history the complete silence and omission of the Restoration Committee is certainly jarring and outright creepy, yet when I hear Yasue talk about how they prioritized appealing to younger and new audiences this could even be deliberate to establish Ienzo, Ansem the Wise & co. as the permanent "Mission control" and scientific assistants in RG for the main cast, completely taking over the roles once held by the FF cameos and thus make them in-universe what Nomura and Yasue meta-wise apparently already decided they are: Redundant and no longer neeeded.
Would also explain why the original worlds themselves were given less emphasis, but now they have to deal with all these new fans asking where the FF characters are! *evil laughter*
 
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The Kid

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I mean, yeah now they do since it’s been the biggest complaint after “the game is too easy” and “tf did you guys do to Kairi”

It’s PR talk at this point. They probably either have a specific reason why they weren’t in the game that they can’t talk about or they genuinely didn’t think we’d care/notice.

We can still hope for something in the DLC. I don’t think it is too late.
I hope you're right! I really wanted to see Squall, Aerith, and Yuffie at Radiant Garden or Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth to resolve that plotline or even newer characters like Lightning and Rinoa. I hope they can still do something
 

Zettaflare

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I hope you're right! I really wanted to see Squall, Aerith, and Yuffie at Radiant Garden or Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth to resolve that plotline or even newer characters like Lightning and Rinoa. I hope they can still do something
Lightning and Rinoa were the two FF characters I was looking forward to seeing in KH3 the most. Based on her storyline in the games I thought Lightning would be the perfect candidate for Hades to recruit to fight the Gods.
 

Chaser

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Lightning and Rinoa were the two FF characters I was looking forward to seeing in KH3 the most. Based on her storyline in the games I thought Lightning would be the perfect candidate for Hades to recruit to fight the Gods.
The Final Fantasy characters in Disney stories write themselves. I have no idea why they decided against it, and I’m furious that they squandered that.
 
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