With only several weeks until the Japanese release of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix on 20th January, Tetsuya Nomura has given an interview to the Japanese magazine Degenki. He mentions several of the exclusive additions to this version of the PSP title. In this game, we learn in particular that No Heart and the Master's Armour will have no connection to the storyline and will only be added enemies of the Mirage Arena. Nomura also reveals several details concerning the Secret Episode, a new part of the game linked to the story.
English dubbing
The deadline for the development of Birth by Sleep Final Mix has been reached. It was difficult to adjust the release date with those marked for release in the new year. Many players appreciate English dubbing. Since it has already been recorded for the Western version of the game, they decided to release a game including the English voices. In their opinion, among the three protagonists of the game the voices of Ven and Aqua are closest to their Japanese originals. Miss Toyoguchi, who voices Aqua, said that she also found the voices similar.
No Heart and the new bosses
They made No Heart a powerful enemy so that those who have played Birth by Sleep suffer from the difficulty. Having gone to the trouble to include an extra boss, it would have been a shame had he been easy to defeat.
"I thought the fans would love to try to challenge this boss."
Nevertheless, it is difficult enough facing him alone; taking him on as a group is Nomura's preference. Subtle changes have been made here and there between No Heart's armour and that of Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts II. They couldn't, for example, use Xemnas' enormous cape. The latter remained seated during battle, but No Heart will be able to get up. Once standing, No Hearts moves around a lot, so be careful!
The team initially wanted to do cutscenes in order to introduce No Heart and the Master's Armour, as was the case for the Unknown (Mysterious Figure), but this idea was rejected for creating inconsistency with the plot. Their strength and their abilities are the same as those of the original forms, but the two in armour are treated as revived data and exist separately from the original plot.
If the bosses were ranked according to their strength, it would go: Vanitas Sentiment < the Unknown < Master's Armour < No Heart. The two in armour are in particular at a strength which assumes that you are battling them with three people, so they won't go down easily.
The Secret Episode
The additional Secret Episode is the continuation of the Final Episode of the original game. In contrast to the secret movies and cutscenes up until now, you will progress by playing the character yourself. They lessened the conditions required to unlock it so that all the players could play it. It will also be available to play on Beginner Mode.
"As always, the final impact expands."
The extra episode concerns Aqua's story. After having fallen into Realm of Darkness, ten years have passed before she meets the cloaked man on the beach, and this talks of what happened after her fall into the Realm of Darkness. After the events of the Secret Episode, important events connected to the start of Kingdom Hearts begin.
"This is how the story of the series is connected in so many ways."
The Secret Episode is dubbed in Japanese. As in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix +, you can switch between English and Japanese for all the cutscenes in Theatre Mode, except the Secret Episode which is dubbed entirely in Japanese.
Ven's Memories
They've added an additional cutscene concerning Ven's story - straight after his first meeting with Vanitas - in which he regains his memories. This scene is present in the Western version. It expands on the reasons why Ven looks up to Terra so much. The scene was originally planned to be in the original game but it was removed for various reasons and has now been restored.
Monstro, the Disney boss
They wanted a large Disney character to appear as an enemy; they had already used Ice Titan in the past so the idea of using another Titan surfaced, but they wanted something with a bit more of a twist. The Osaka team proposed Monstro and they decided to use it.
So several elements have been added to the Japanese version and Nomura hopes that everyone can have a go and experience it themselves - in particular the Secret Episode, exclusive to the Final Mix edition. Furthermore, he thinks that the players will be happy with the English voices in the game. The main characters, Eraqus and Xehanort will be voiced by foreign actors and actresses, and he wants you to be full of anticipation.
