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Looking for information about the cut Mysterious Tower world



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ShardofTruth

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As you may know there was a point in the development of DDD when the Mysterious Tower wasn't just a cutscene world but part of the main gameplay itself. All that's left of it is the logo animation at the end of the game, some replacement art in the game files and some hint of the world's image in the Ultimania:
Mysterious_Tower_KH3D.png


The teasers over at Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] released a bigger (incomplete) version of it a while ago:
Spoiler Spoiler Show


Is there any information available why this world was cut in the end? It has probably something to do with the Symphony of Sorcery which includes the same tower.
On the other hand Nomura mentioned in an interview that the last fight against Armored Ventus Nightmare was included very late in development so I think there wouldn't have been an explorable Mysterious Tower at the very end of the game.

I think it would have been originally added before The World That Never Was as the (seemingly) true end of the Mark of Mastery exam, but again, I found nothing to support this theory.
 

WastedPenguin

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As you may know there was a point in the development of DDD when the Mysterious Tower wasn't just a cutscene world but part of the main gameplay itself. All that's left of it is the logo animation at the end of the game, some replacement art in the game files and some hint of the world's image in the Ultimania:
Mysterious_Tower_KH3D.png


The teasers over at Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] released a bigger (incomplete) version of it a while ago:
Spoiler Spoiler Show


Is there any information available why this world was cut in the end? It has probably something to do with the Symphony of Sorcery which includes the same tower.
On the other hand Nomura mentioned in an interview that the last fight against Armored Ventus Nightmare was included very late in development so I think there wouldn't have been an explorable Mysterious Tower at the very end of the game.

I think it would have been originally added before The World That Never Was as the (seemingly) true end of the Mark of Mastery exam, but again, I found nothing to support this theory.

The reason this world was cut as playable was probably due to lack of time for development, thats mostly the reason why content gets removed from games if its not due to some copyright issues or if its too much for the consoles hardware to handle. Every Kingdom Hearts game has at least one world or some other content that has been cut due to different reasons. For example, in KH1 it was the Disney Castle world which only appeared in cutscenes but there are early development screenshots that show that this world was intended to be playable originally, there was even a Lion King world intended to be in KH1 but because the game had difficulties with this world it was cut and later appeared in KH2 thanks to its different engine. I dont want to count all the other content that has been cut in other KH titles, best you look them up in KH wikis for yourself.
 

ShardofTruth

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The reason this world was cut as playable was probably due to lack of time for development, thats mostly the reason why content gets removed from games if its not due to some copyright issues or if its too much for the consoles hardware to handle. Every Kingdom Hearts game has at least one world or some other content that has been cut due to different reasons. For example, in KH1 it was the Disney Castle world which only appeared in cutscenes but there are early development screenshots that show that this world was intended to be playable originally, there was even a Lion King world intended to be in KH1 but because the game had difficulties with this world it was cut and later appeared in KH2 thanks to its different engine. I dont want to count all the other content that has been cut in other KH titles, best you look them up in KH wikis for yourself.
There is still a difference since the Mysterious Tower is a central Kingdom Hearts world meaning instead of providing just another Disney episode it would have had major impact on the story meaning that the story of DDD changed.
It changed not during mid-development but towards the end since we have finalized artwork that doesn't appear anywhere in the game itself, I'm just wondering if there is more to it and if anyone here knows more about it since I didn't read or can't remember all interviews or miscellaneous information.

This is the world symbol the Mysterious Tower has in the game files by the way, some sort of old concept of Prankster's Paradise (maybe from 358/2 Days?) that was made before it was decided to go for spheres instead.:
770-wi_yt.ctt.png
 
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Antifa Lockhart

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Keep in mind, 3D's ending had to be overhauled. It was originally darker. I suspect that Sora was originally left in a comatose state, similar to CoM.
 

Hirokey123

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That's not true, I mean the ending was different that's true but it wasn't darker people just sort of assumed that was the case when they heard things changed. But we were actually told what things were changed and added and understanding those we can understand why the ending had to be rewritten. And there is nothing inherently less or more dark about these changes.

Spoiler Spoiler Show


On the subject of the missing world image I suspect that was just an alternate logo for Symphony of Sorcery or it's going to be something they add into the Kingdom Hearts DDD HD since the DDD cards have been using HD images long before we had a DDD HD announcement.
 

Sephiroth0812

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Keep in mind, 3D's ending had to be overhauled. It was originally darker. I suspect that Sora was originally left in a comatose state, similar to CoM.

I really don't know from where you people get the conviction that the "original" ending was darker?
Anything Nomura ever said that the original planned ending was different and that it did not get approved as well that he constantly added boss fights that weren't originally there.
There was no mention about what the originally planned ending actually was about. When people spread around the false notion that it was originally "darker" I get more the vibe of wishful thinking and pandering to the thoughts of those who think KH should be as grimdark and as cynic as possible.

On topic though, I don't really see why Mysterious Tower should have been a world of its own. Not only is it incredibly small (only the tower itself and that patch of land before it), it is also already present in Symphony of Sorcery so it would have been somewhat redundant to make it a world of its own.
 

Muke

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I really don't know from where you people get the conviction that the "original" ending was darker?
Anything Nomura ever said that the original planned ending was different and that it did not get approved as well that he constantly added boss fights that weren't originally there.
There was no mention about what the originally planned ending actually was about. When people spread around the false notion that it was originally "darker" I get more the vibe of wishful thinking and pandering to the thoughts of those who think KH should be as grimdark and as cynic as possible.

On topic though, I don't really see why Mysterious Tower should have been a world of its own. Not only is it incredibly small (only the tower itself and that patch of land before it), it is also already present in Symphony of Sorcery so it would have been somewhat redundant to make it a world of its own.

I agree to this whole post -- especially the last segment.
If they really wanted the Mysterious Tower to have a own 'world' they could've transformed the world (ala Kingdom Hearts II Hollow Bastion - Radiant Garden), imo.
 

Antifa Lockhart

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I really don't know from where you people get the conviction that the "original" ending was darker?
Anything Nomura ever said that the original planned ending was different and that it did not get approved as well that he constantly added boss fights that weren't originally there.
There was no mention about what the originally planned ending actually was about. When people spread around the false notion that it was originally "darker" I get more the vibe of wishful thinking and pandering to the thoughts of those who think KH should be as grimdark and as cynic as possible.

Because according to an interview in Famitsu, Nomura said that the original ending wasn't approved. Translations at the time suggested it was vetoed because of the content but now it does seem that originally it was more vague.

It does beg the question, if the ending wasn't approved because it was too dark then why wasn't it approved?

You people,
come after me.
 

Wonderful

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Because according to an interview in Famitsu, Nomura said that the original ending wasn't approved. Translations at the time suggested it was vetoed because of the content but now it does seem that originally it was more vague.

It does beg the question, if the ending wasn't approved because it was too dark then why wasn't it approved?

You people,
come after me.
there isn't really evidence that the original ending wasn't approved and the connotations that might imply.
- Will the ending of this title also be a heart wrenching one?
Nomura: The ending for KH3D is a little unusual, the plan up until now had been different... But every once in a while I think, it's good this way. In fact, the first ending I thought up quickly became no good due to various circumstances, but now the ending is something that I worry quite a bit about. As a result, we tried to do something unique for the ending this time.
all he says is that the first ending became no good due to various reasons.

as for the larger conversation, personally i think the world image was likely just a placeholder until they made one more symbolic of the fantasia elements. given that you can still roam the tower in that world, i don't really think there was a cut world like that. that might just be me though :3
 
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Antifa Lockhart

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there isn't really evidence that the original ending wasn't approved and the connotations that might imply.
all he says is that the first ending became no good due to various reasons.

Yes, those are the translations that came after the initial ones. I'm going off of a memory of the same article, but again, an earlier translation - which considering its original source, I shouldn't be surprised differs from the final interpretation. Four different sites translated that thing, so it goes
 

Muke

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Yes, those are the translations that came after the initial ones. I'm going off of a memory of the same article, but again, an earlier translation - which considering its original source, I shouldn't be surprised differs from the final interpretation. Four different sites translated that thing, so it goes
Hmph. Which translation is true? Are we even able to tell that?
 

Wonderful

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Hmph. Which translation is true? Are we even able to tell that?
if i remember correctly, the first translations weren't translations of the article itself but rather a japanese fan's bulletpoints/summary of the article which explains the big discrepancy. the full article translation was definitely done by someone who is a credible and established translator though, so i think we can be pretty confident in its translation.
 
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