credit goes to kh2.co.uk. This is the first section of the KH2 Ultimania interview's translated so.....YAY Not sure if this has been posted buit oh well
Tetsuya nomura interview
Around when was production completely finished on KHII?
I put a secret movie in the original because I was thinking "It'd be nice to make a sequel", but there were a lot of practical hurdles that I had to clear to make KHII. For example, I wanted to include Mickey in it more. I needed Disney to clear that for me. When that happened, finally we could begin to produce KHII.
When you started the project, what kind of product did you visualise KHII as?
One thing was that I wanted to pick up on the foreshadowing from the first game. I also wanted to take the points that people had criticised in the first game, and make it satisfactory. At the same time, I wanted to put more into the production itself and increase the amount of options available in battle. Like that, from the very start it was looking like the volume would be increased, so I kept in mind "We have a lot of things that we have to do, but let's get them all done".
Was the volume of the finished product the same as you had expected it to be?
No, I didn't think it'd become this big. I tried to stop the production, but the staff...(laughs) I thought that since we were getting pressed for time, we'd have to quit it, but the staff just wouldn't give up. I kept asking them if it'd be OK, and they always answered "Yeah, we can do it". I was really uneasy, but they managed to get it done in time, and I congratulated them on a job very well done.
I heard that the staff were thinking "We probably can't do this" about the huge battle with the 1000 enemies, but it was realized by the end.
Yes. I was always privately thinking "This is where we'll fall down", and I requested a little more from the staff. I was calmed down, thinking "No, they can't do that, but they can do a little bit less". And then the staff made it with a little more. (laughs) So I didn't think that the huge battle would get that far.
Compared to the past game, we get the impression that the jumping action has decreased, convenient help is displayed, and the difficulty has been decreased. Was this planned?
Yes. The previous game was created with a lot of unfriendly challenges, and of course I was told "That's not nice". (laughs) So this time, I put in information and a Navigation Map to make it more user-friendly.
Was there any trouble with it, since it's a sequel?
There was fear due to it continuing from the last story, because at the start, I hadn't had a continuation in mind. But right before release, I suddenly started thinking "Oh no. What will people who haven't played the original think of KHII?" But I was happy, because a lot of people bought it.
In just three days following its release, a million copies were sold. What do you think the reason is for the widening of the user base this time?
I think because of it being open to so amny, regardless of age or gender. I've heard people saying "My 6-year-old son is playing it", or "people in their 40s and 50s are playing it". Probably because of that, the user base is very wide.
Kazushige Nojima Interview
Mr Nojima, can we ask you what your motivation to take part in the KHII project was?
Around when work on FFX-2 was finished, Tetsu-san (Director - Tetsuya Nomura) casually invited me to, saying "Will you do it?" Well, not as much as invitation as "Dooo it!" (laugh)
You also worked on the previous game.
I wasn't a main staff member there, but I helped out towards the end. I mainly wrote the scenarios following Hollow Bastion.
There were a lot of mysteries left unanswered in the previous game. Was that your doing?
Mmmmm, if I did something like that, I'd be strangled. So I don't tend to. (laugh) I get the feeling it's usually Tetsu-san who leaves them there. After writing the scenarios and looking at the full game, I thought "Yeah, there's a lot of stuff there we don't know about". Watching the secret movie in KHFM also made me think "What's...going on here?" (laugh)
Did Mr Nomura give you the concepts for this game's scenarios?
Yes. I got the plot that Tetsu-san and the Event Team had thought up, and went to turn that into scenarios. At the very start, I got a huge plot from Tetsu-san for the stories of the main characters, Sora and Roxas. I thought "With this on its own I should be fine". And I only had the beginning Twilight Town bit written. (laughs) But because Tetsu-san always had a clear idea of what he wanted, once he told me about that I was givven free rein.
What kind of things did Mr Nomura say he wanted?
He said that he generally wanted to unravel the mysteries from the first game. At the very start, he gave me a "Mystery List" compiling all of the mysteries from the first game. When I asked him "Do I think up all of the answers to these?", he said "Right now, I've thought up a few of them." And I thought "What? Still not all of them?!" (laughs) There were a lot of keywords included in the last secret movie, and I was to incorporate as much of them as possible into the scenarios.
Was it difficult to put in lines from the secret movie, like "This time, I'll fight"?
Well, I knew from the start that I has to put them in, so I had to put together situations where someone could say that line. Of course, I couldn't make up a story to make them say that. (laughs) I was always conscious of that, so it wasn't all that troublesome.
The Seasalt Ice is a major item in the game. How did this come about?
The Seasalt Ice is something Tetsu-san said he wanted to put in. I originally wanted something as a symbol of Hollow Bastion, and to put in the Ice, I made it the computer password. I decided that Ansem, who chose that passowrd, would like Seasalt Ice because I wanted to show some of his humanity. Isn't it good to know that an adult likes ice-creams too? But I think it's a bit bad to put the name of a food you like as your password. (laughs)
On that subject, in the scene when they were looking for the password, Leon said "It's like grasping a cloud", and Tifa jumped in with "Trying to grasp who?". That was to do with "cloud" and "Cloud", wasn't it?
At the beginning, I'd thought of that pun and I wanted to make that scene from it. (laughs) Basically, because it'd make problems when foreign versions were being made, I try not to play around with those words. When it's translated into English, it'll stay as it is.
Tetsuya nomura interview
Around when was production completely finished on KHII?
I put a secret movie in the original because I was thinking "It'd be nice to make a sequel", but there were a lot of practical hurdles that I had to clear to make KHII. For example, I wanted to include Mickey in it more. I needed Disney to clear that for me. When that happened, finally we could begin to produce KHII.
When you started the project, what kind of product did you visualise KHII as?
One thing was that I wanted to pick up on the foreshadowing from the first game. I also wanted to take the points that people had criticised in the first game, and make it satisfactory. At the same time, I wanted to put more into the production itself and increase the amount of options available in battle. Like that, from the very start it was looking like the volume would be increased, so I kept in mind "We have a lot of things that we have to do, but let's get them all done".
Was the volume of the finished product the same as you had expected it to be?
No, I didn't think it'd become this big. I tried to stop the production, but the staff...(laughs) I thought that since we were getting pressed for time, we'd have to quit it, but the staff just wouldn't give up. I kept asking them if it'd be OK, and they always answered "Yeah, we can do it". I was really uneasy, but they managed to get it done in time, and I congratulated them on a job very well done.
I heard that the staff were thinking "We probably can't do this" about the huge battle with the 1000 enemies, but it was realized by the end.
Yes. I was always privately thinking "This is where we'll fall down", and I requested a little more from the staff. I was calmed down, thinking "No, they can't do that, but they can do a little bit less". And then the staff made it with a little more. (laughs) So I didn't think that the huge battle would get that far.
Compared to the past game, we get the impression that the jumping action has decreased, convenient help is displayed, and the difficulty has been decreased. Was this planned?
Yes. The previous game was created with a lot of unfriendly challenges, and of course I was told "That's not nice". (laughs) So this time, I put in information and a Navigation Map to make it more user-friendly.
Was there any trouble with it, since it's a sequel?
There was fear due to it continuing from the last story, because at the start, I hadn't had a continuation in mind. But right before release, I suddenly started thinking "Oh no. What will people who haven't played the original think of KHII?" But I was happy, because a lot of people bought it.
In just three days following its release, a million copies were sold. What do you think the reason is for the widening of the user base this time?
I think because of it being open to so amny, regardless of age or gender. I've heard people saying "My 6-year-old son is playing it", or "people in their 40s and 50s are playing it". Probably because of that, the user base is very wide.
Kazushige Nojima Interview
Mr Nojima, can we ask you what your motivation to take part in the KHII project was?
Around when work on FFX-2 was finished, Tetsu-san (Director - Tetsuya Nomura) casually invited me to, saying "Will you do it?" Well, not as much as invitation as "Dooo it!" (laugh)
You also worked on the previous game.
I wasn't a main staff member there, but I helped out towards the end. I mainly wrote the scenarios following Hollow Bastion.
There were a lot of mysteries left unanswered in the previous game. Was that your doing?
Mmmmm, if I did something like that, I'd be strangled. So I don't tend to. (laugh) I get the feeling it's usually Tetsu-san who leaves them there. After writing the scenarios and looking at the full game, I thought "Yeah, there's a lot of stuff there we don't know about". Watching the secret movie in KHFM also made me think "What's...going on here?" (laugh)
Did Mr Nomura give you the concepts for this game's scenarios?
Yes. I got the plot that Tetsu-san and the Event Team had thought up, and went to turn that into scenarios. At the very start, I got a huge plot from Tetsu-san for the stories of the main characters, Sora and Roxas. I thought "With this on its own I should be fine". And I only had the beginning Twilight Town bit written. (laughs) But because Tetsu-san always had a clear idea of what he wanted, once he told me about that I was givven free rein.
What kind of things did Mr Nomura say he wanted?
He said that he generally wanted to unravel the mysteries from the first game. At the very start, he gave me a "Mystery List" compiling all of the mysteries from the first game. When I asked him "Do I think up all of the answers to these?", he said "Right now, I've thought up a few of them." And I thought "What? Still not all of them?!" (laughs) There were a lot of keywords included in the last secret movie, and I was to incorporate as much of them as possible into the scenarios.
Was it difficult to put in lines from the secret movie, like "This time, I'll fight"?
Well, I knew from the start that I has to put them in, so I had to put together situations where someone could say that line. Of course, I couldn't make up a story to make them say that. (laughs) I was always conscious of that, so it wasn't all that troublesome.
The Seasalt Ice is a major item in the game. How did this come about?
The Seasalt Ice is something Tetsu-san said he wanted to put in. I originally wanted something as a symbol of Hollow Bastion, and to put in the Ice, I made it the computer password. I decided that Ansem, who chose that passowrd, would like Seasalt Ice because I wanted to show some of his humanity. Isn't it good to know that an adult likes ice-creams too? But I think it's a bit bad to put the name of a food you like as your password. (laughs)
On that subject, in the scene when they were looking for the password, Leon said "It's like grasping a cloud", and Tifa jumped in with "Trying to grasp who?". That was to do with "cloud" and "Cloud", wasn't it?
At the beginning, I'd thought of that pun and I wanted to make that scene from it. (laughs) Basically, because it'd make problems when foreign versions were being made, I try not to play around with those words. When it's translated into English, it'll stay as it is.
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