News ► Gamerescape Interview with Unchained X's Producer Hironori Okayama

[Churro]

Gamerescape had the opportunity to interview Hironori Okayama, Producer of KINGDOM HEARTS Unchained X, at PAX East 2016 this past weekend.

Producer Okayama explains that the game was always intended to be released in America, and the prototype for the game was actually created in English first for testing in America. However, as the development team is based in Japan, it's easier for them to work on that version, hence why it was released in Japanese back in September 2015. 

Those who have been following both versions of the game must be aware that there are currently 500 quests in the Japanese version, compared to North America's 250 quests. Because it may take some time to catch up, they plan on releasing 50 quests minimum each month.

One aspect of the game that players particularly enjoy is the vast selection of medals available at their disposal. The development team thinks about the abilities that would be necessary for players to progress through the quests, and considers which character would best fit that ability before assigning one to another. In fact, because any character that exists in the Kingdom Hearts series can exist in Unchained X, the team faces a lot of difficulty in choosing which ones they want to include as medals.

Okayama also reveals that they've planned to release medals featuring Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde from Zootopia in North America on May 2nd, though it may be subject to change.

You can read Gamerescape's full interview on their site.

 

[gosoxtim]

so we get the medals after them insead

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Awesome, so glad the Zoo' medals are not Japanese exclusive! I'd love to have Moana and Maui medals during Moana's release window.

 

[gosoxtim]

Awesome, so glad the Zoo' medals are not Japanese exclusive! I'd love to have Moana and Maui medals during Moana's release window.

they were never exculive they showd us the picture of zootopia costumes in the scene shoot

 

[Audo]

That's weird that they try to think of medals that match the abilities because largely I've been disappointed by how little I felt the abilities matched the character generally lol.

 

[TheRedMage]

*snipped*

Zootopia for KH3 sorta kinda confirmed maybe...?

 

[Audo]

Zootopia for KH3 sorta kinda confirmed maybe...?

This is more on par with Chicken Little in KH2 than it is suggestive of Zootopia being a full fledged world in KH3.

 

[ultima-demi]

If anything Zooptopia would just be summons in kh3.

 

[Launchpad]

The thing that made Zootopia fun to watch was the enormous amount of background characters. Doesn't work well in games as of now.

 

[Audo]

And especially not in KH, where we get things like this:

 

[gosoxtim]

well if the head boss of pixar helping with kh 3 development he amy be want to have npc in the backround to make it more lovely which could make zootopia dueable

 

[Audo]

well if the head boss of pixar helping with kh 3 development

w u t?

 

[FFxStrife]

w u t?

I had the same reaction to that post.

Exciting news though, I didn't think we would be getting those medals so soon.

 

[gosoxtim]

w u t?

remember that 2.9 leak before it became 2.8 well the peroan that poosted that he scheldre meetings with sqaure, disney and pixar well wouldn't John Lasseter have to be in these meeting since he the head boss

 

[Audo]

remember that 2.9 leak before it became 2.8 well the peroan that poosted that he scheldre meetings with sqaure, disney and pixar well wouldn't John Lasseter have to be in these meeting since he the head boss

what does that have to do with anything though? zootopia isn't pixar. and just because meetings about potential world usage may have happened that isn't at all the same as saying that these people are directly helping with development.

 

[gosoxtim]

what does that have to do with anything though? zootopia isn't pixar. and just because meetings about potential world usage may have happened that isn't at all the same as saying that these people are directly helping with development.

john lasseter is head of disney and pixar flim studios and the kind help i was talking about was asking sqaure to put npc in the background or what have you

 

[Chaser]

The producer / director's / head of department roles would not be helping with the actual making of the game. It would be approving designs and potential story lines the game could cover that is in tune with the characters and worlds they created.

They certainly would not be like "here take our technology and use it to make NPCs." If it is that simple, why haven't Pixar released that engine for game developers to purchase so they can make games that look like Pixar films?

 

[Sorakh212]

It was only a matter of time until we got the Nick and Judy medals. I'm glad they will be releasing at least 50 missions a month for the time being. If anything I bet it will keep us busy right up until KH2.8's release or something along those lines. While I've got mixed feelings on Unchained X I'm glad they're keeping fans from outside Japan in mind. Just wish other countries that don't have it yet could play it soon hopefully. I never did much care for releases that didn't coincide with one another or release at the same time.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

This is more on par with Chicken Little in KH2 than it is suggestive of Zootopia being a full fledged world in KH3.

Honestly, Zootopia has a 50/50 chance of being in the game. Square Enix clearly have a liking for the movie which gives it a strong possibility of being in KH3. There's Zootopia events, outfit, outfit accessories and medals: all Chicken Little had was a summon representation.

The producer / director's / head of department roles would not be helping with the actual making of the game. It would be approving designs and potential story lines the game could cover that is in tune with the characters and worlds they created.


They certainly would not be like "here take our technology and use it to make NPCs." If it is that simple, why haven't Pixar released that engine for game developers to purchase so they can make games that look like Pixar films?

Simple, because there hasn't been a Disney Pixar game to date that required that sort of asset transference. There's always exceptions to the rule and Kingdom Hearts III looks to be that exception.

 

[Launchpad]

DisneyPixars film assets are far higher poly than anything modern consoles can even come close to handling.