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Things We Know from the Unreal Engine Trailers



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Grono

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Hey, guys. I noticed a couple of things that I haven't seen many people bring up about the Kingdom Hearts III trailers lately, and, being the type of analyst I am, I watched every trailer from E3 2015 - on and analyzed the gameplay to discover what new stuff has been revealed so far.

Do keep in mind that this list is mostly in chronological order for each trailer, meaning that each thing was written down as I was watching these. This means that similar topics might not be listed right next to each other under each topic, but will still be included. I also did not bother to mention stuff that was revealed after E3 2015 in 0.2; there was just no point to writing it.

Without further ado, here is what I noticed from each trailer!

Notes from Kingdom Hearts III E3 2015 trailer:
  • The first thing we notice in the gameplay is Sora’s athletic flow. When he approaches a rock, he climbs up the rock and continues to run, with the Athletic Flow capability being signified by a sparkle on the object. This is also shown when Sora steps on a pole sticking out of the nearby stream, on another tall stone, parkouring over a ledge, jumping over some pointed rocks to clear a gap, a large stone that appears next to the grounded horned heartless that can be climbed, and on the large wall Sora climbs to fight the Rock Titan. A version of this might also appear when Sora slips down a large hill and does a spin towards the end of it.
  • Heartless are shown interacting with the environment. When Sora clears the tall stone, four water-heartless (later called water cores in 0.2) appear from the water and ready for battle.
  • Dodge roll is shown to return to KHIII, as expected. Double jump returns as well. Guard returns during a ranged attack by the rock titan that appears to exert some sort of radius similar to the one created by large bodies.
  • Here is where some speculation can begin to occur – since water is now an established element of these heartless, could water be a spell that could be implemented into the final game? This will further be speculated later.
  • Two new keyblades that will be recurring objects first appeared in full through these trailers. These are going to be called the not-star seeker and the new Olympus keyblade.
  • Several new heartless appear in this trailer: a flying heartless with a Greek armor/plague doctor theme, a group of armored heartless with some sort of horned instrument that appear to charge and knock Goofy flying, a dandelion heartless that can spread itself into “seeds” one time, weaker versions of itself without the power to reproduce, and an archer heartless with a red hat that is grounded.
  • Sora jumps off a cliff in this trailer, showing the vast expanse of this land in this game. This is similar to scope from Dream Drop Distance, yet seems more lively.
  • It appears that Limits of some sort will be appearing, first shown when Goofy invites Donald and Sora into a group attack to shield off and break up the group of horned heartless.
  • Flowmotion appears to be further explored running up the Rock Titan. This is also shown when pushing against a wall later, that is combined with a keyblade stroke not too dissimilar to an attack that would be combined with flowmotion from Dream Drop Distance.
  • The attraction flow train ride reappears in this trailer from the original build of the game, as well as the boat ride that was shown along with it. A new tea cup ride is shown to exist, though not much about it is known from this trailer.
  • Aero is a confirmed magic in the game, bringing the confirmed magic to five: fire, blizzard, thunder, cure, and aero. This version of aero interestingly appears to be the offensive version from games like Birth by Sleep, as opposed to its original appearance in the first game.
  • The not-star seeker is shown to have a keyblade transformation that appears to come in two stages: one version is two separate guns, and the other version is a combined cannon. The first form also appears to combine with the ice sliding flowmotion at one point, shooting projectiles down at a large body Sora aims at. The new Olympus keyblade is also shown to have two stages of transformation: one that appears to be a shield and one that turns into a giant Pegasus of light driven by Sora in a chariot.
  • The keyblades are interactive with their magic, turning the respective color of the magic that they cast.


Notes from KINGDOM HEARTS III – Jump Festa 2015 Excerpt:
  • We learn first that the spreading of the dandelion heartless’ “seeds” can be forced if you use aero magic at it, showing that magic and the enemies in this game are interactive. These seeds are not destroyed if blown away, though.
  • Sora interacts with his environment more in this game, shown when bumping into Goofy in battle and having to react to it.
  • Lock-on returns, and with a large range to boot, tracking nobodies from way behind the tower.
  • Aerial dodge returns when Sora confronts the new Marluxia-themed nobodies, and Sora interacts with the petals by dodging them. It is unclear whether or not athletic flow was used to dodge these petals, as aerial dodge is also a very likely possibility to this.
  • New nobodies in the Marluxia-themed baddies return.
  • Sora uses flowmotion to create a launching point on a cliff behind Rapunzel’s tower, launching himself towards the new nobodies.
  • A new version of shotlock, called “flowchain”, is shown, where Sora uses it to move between the plague doctor-like flying enemies and later uses it to move around them and use a flowmotion strike. This is very similar to flowmotion abilities shown in Dream Drop Distance. Later Shotlock is used in a more traditional version.
  • More environmental interaction is shown when Sora gets caught in the river he is fighting next to.
  • From the looks of it, tech points may be implemented into this game. However, don’t take me as an expert on this; I never exploited these much myself, so I’m not too familiar with them or their appearance.
  • Several new elemental rhapsody–like heartless are shown, this time far more elaborate and with some sort of shield or weapon of magic that they can use against Sora. They could be redesigns of the originals, though, so take this with a grain of salt.
  • A new attraction flow, titled Shooting Ride that appears to be based on Buzz Lightyear’s Ranger Spin, seems to be an arcade-themed attack that records high scores and shoots enemies with laser bolts. This is also one of very little Kingdom Hearts-related elements that are first person, I believe. It ends with one combined blast of three colors, and immediately after the attraction ends Sora can fight again.


Notes from Kingdom Hearts III Orchestra Trailer:
  • Here, we truly begin to see the expanse of each world in this game. Olympus has a Thebes area, a Mount Olympus area, and a Heavens area, and each area seems to be the expanse of entire worlds in many of the previous entries, perhaps even bigger. The draw distance for the map, while impressive, is not amazing persay, and objects in the background randomly appear once you get close enough instead of fading in.
  • This is where diving is first mentioned anywhere. Here, we see Sora apparently diving into the world, a little bit like Dream Drop Distance, and the end of his dive is accompanied by a slam into the center of a platform where familiar heartless from the E3 2015 trailer appear.
  • You are now not required to drop a party member for another world-exclusive party member; rather, the party member’s HP bar now appears above the now permanent bars of SDG.
  • Hercules is confirmed as a party member in Olympus Coliseum.
  • Drive forms return, the first one being named Guard Form initially shown in a screenshot. This drive form is tied to the new Olympus keyblade, and appears to be the first form of the transformation of the keyblade that we later see turn into that chariot from the E3 2015 trailer. The second drive form shown here appears to be similar to limit form from the remix of the second game, where Sora’s Kingdom Hearts III outfit takes on the second game’s color scheme and Sora uses techniques he learned from that game. This drive form is tied to the Kingdom Key, where the Kingdom Key does not appear to transform.
  • Guardian form appears to have a special attack during its first transformation where several golden fists come out to punch the enemies; this appears to be some sort of combo finisher or perhaps the attack finisher, but it remains unclear.
  • Shotlocks appear to be keyblade specific, where flowchain remains consistent and the first attack is specific to the keyblade you’re wielding. In the new Olympus keyblade we see Sora using the “unleash” Flowchain option, which appears to be a giant golden ball that sparks everywhere and stuns enemies.
  • Another Limit-like command is shown off, where Goofy launches Sora and Sora picks up Goofy to launch him into enemies.
  • A new heartless is shown that appears to be a rhapsody-like heartless with a green color scheme.
  • Magic appears to take different forms along with your guard forms. For example, when using guardian form, thunder forms a defensive barrier that surrounds Sora.
  • Rail sliding is shown as a form of transportation in flowmotion, with the specific rail Sora is sliding on in this trailer not appearing to have any special properties attributed to it except perhaps a landing attack.
  • Interestingly, Hercules is a party members in Thebes but does not appear as a party member when fighting the Rock Titan.
  • Second Form Sora's finishers appear to be limits from the 2nd game, with sonic rave and ars arcanum being among moves being shown off while transformed.
  • Command menus turn yellow for standard battles and red for event or boss battles.


Notes from D23 2017 Trailer Excerpt – Hercules:
  • Rail sliding is explored more in this trailer, where Sora is seen sliding on a far larger rail somewhere in the heavens area of Mount Olympus. Here, we see three options while on the rail: blaster, which shoots enemies and is aimed by a reticle that appears once on the rail; superslide, which most likely just increases the speed of your slide; and jump, which is self-explanatory.
  • Flowchain is shown off more in this trailer excerpt, where it is used as a form of transportation between platforms. Now, a specific target appears on objects that can be flowchained, which consists of the same sparkle from the athletic flow icon with a square surrounding it.
  • The drive form for the not-star seeker is shown off with its first transformation, double arrowguns. Sora can spin/fly around with these guns and shoot magic arrows, harkening back to wisdom form, and can then transform them into their second transformation, magic launcher. Magic launcher shoots out a giant keyblade bomb-looking thing that appears to be made out of metal, which explodes into fireworks and damages enemies as a finisher. Magic launcher can also be used as both a ranged and a melee weapon.
  • The first Heartless boss appears, a giant rock golem with a large axe that is destroying Thebes. Sora is seen deflecting his hits, and we see that Thebes is in ruin. Speculation incoming: perhaps the fires being created around the town could be used to power up our fire spells during the fight?
  • Sora gets knocked back, and we see some more ragdoll physics from this game.


Notes from D23 2017 Toy Story trailer:
  • We are immediately introduced to a new heartless, themed like something to do with the buzz lightyear-themed franchise of Toy Story’s world that has a sci-fi blaster and can fly around on a jetpack.
  • Sora dispatches several heartless with a white spell. It is unknown what this is, but it could be anything from thunder to holy to a combo finisher. This is also shown later in what would appear to be, in fact, some sort of combo finisher.
  • Woody and Buzz are both confirmed to be party members, bringing two world-exclusive party members into the mix where the only game to do this previously would be Olympus Coliseum from Coded and the X universe.
  • It is confirmed through this trailer that you dive whenever you fall from a long height, and the smash is a bonus finisher you can make once you’ve touched the ground.
  • A new keyblade, what I’m going to call the Toy Story keyblade, was introduced in this trailer. The first transformation is called hyper hammer, and this appears to be the drive form called “Power Form” that was shared by Nomura on twitter before the Orchestra trailer. This form focuses on heavy hits and interacts with the environment by breaking up the ground below it. Its finisher is a large smack on the ground powered up by the rocket at the top of the hammer. The spell fire appears to take its defensive KHII form when used in Power Form. The next transformation is drill punch, where Sora drills into the ground and reemerges to attack enemies. He can also stab the ground and have spikes come out for what appears to be some sort of combo finisher for the form. It is unclear whether or not this is a feature of the entire form or just the drill punch version, but aero is also more stylized and punchy, forming a powerful column of air that Sora can propel himself on to use a flowmotion slam attack from the air. Keyblade transformations now have air combos as well, and the drill spins ant drives itself towards enemies when propelled in the air similar to sonic blade. The form finisher involves Sora summoning a claw with a laser cord to grab an enemy and slam it around the area, damaging other heartless in the other process.
  • A truly interactive experience from this world presents itself with the “Gigas”, giant toy robots that Sora can pilot. It is unclear whether these gigas are piloted by heartless or not before Sora takes them over, but Sora can attack them and they function as enemies as well. Each giga has blaster, punch, booster, danger dash, and eject, with each color of Giga also having their own signature attack that must be recharged over time. The red Giga has tackle, the blue Giga has exploder, and the purple Giga has cannon. The gigas are piloted in a first-person style, much like the shooting ride attraction flow, and are targeted via reticle much like that game.
  • It is worth noting here that Sora appears to be using the Toy Story Keyblade's drill as a form of movement while in power form.


Notes from d23 Expo Japan 2018 Monsters Inc. trailer:
  • In this trailer, we now see fully interactive command menus in the style of Kingdom Hearts II’s, with a Monsters Inc., Toy Story, and Kingdom of Corona themed one being shown off.
  • The unversed are confirmed to reappear in Kingdom Hearts III, with floods, a beatle-looking unversed that turns into some sort of large slug, and a snake-like unversed that is purple with wing-like appendages on the side of its face.
  • A new keyblade, here called the Monsters Inc. Keyblade, appears in this trailer, with its first transformation here being called quick claws, which quickly go around the field and attack the enemy. Its second transformation is twin yoyo’s, where Sora smacks people with razor-edged yoyo’s he’s spinning on his fingers. The finisher for the keyblade is a giant googly-eyed hat-monster that grabs a heartless between its jaws and clamps down on it until it’s destroyed.
  • On the rails here, you can “take cover” when a bolt of electricity is coming down on the rail. This may perhaps be a mechanic worked into multiple rails in the game. Interestingly enough, the options present on the Olympus rail are not shown on this rail; perhaps this rail just operates differently?
  • Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc. are party members in the Monsters Inc. world, and Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder are party members in Kingdom of Corona.
  • A new keyblade, here called the Keyblade of Corona, is shown to transform into one of its transformations in this trailer, the mirage staff. Here, Sora is seen in the same blue outfit from the not-star seeker’s drive form, and he is seen moving like Wisdom Form’s quick run had you move, implying that this form is a magic-based form. The finisher for the mirage staff transformation is a giant tower, reminiscent of Rapunzel’s, that shoots beams of light out. It's keychain is a frying pan (!!!).
  • Links are confirmed to be similar to D-Links, with the main difference being that their power is instead shown graphically in a form similar to summons. Links shown in this trailer include Ariel and Meow Wow, where Ariel summons a large pillar of water and Meow Wow explodes into hundreds of smaller dream eaters. Meow Wow was obtained by Sora after the events of DDD (hinted at by Famitsu).
  • Swimming mechanics are confirmed to be in the game.
  • We get further evidence that shotlocks are tied to keyblades, with the Keyblade of Corona getting an option called “spectral rays” when a shotlock is unleashed. The keyblade is also transformed when this shotlock is unleashed, interestingly enough.
  • A UFO-style boss in the Toy Story world is shown off, looking much like a gummi ship. This boss has two phases.
  • Sora is seen performing some sort of limit command with Buzz and Woody, riding a rocket into the boss. Another attack, where Sora bowls Mike into a bunch of heartless, is also shown, appearing to be some sort of limit as well. In the latest Famitsu article, these were translated as Link Attacks, and Mike Sulley's bowling ball attack is one of these. Scream Strike might also be one of these.
  • A very small point I should have noticed earlier, but there are separate animations for both combat and non-combat face avatars now.
  • Interactive flowmotion icons have that sparkle with the square again, as Sora spins around a pole attacking heartless in Monsters Inc. to perform a flowmotion attack harkening back to its debut.
  • A new heartless appears here, a blue rhapsody-like heartless with a blue plaid design.
  • A meter, called “laugh power”, is shown throughout the Monsters Inc. world, where it appears that Boo is involved. This meter possibly operates similar to the morale meter from Land of Dragons.
  • It is worth mentioning here that Dodge Cancelling is shown in several of these trailers and seems to be coming back.
  • Sora is struck while activating Meow Wow's link, showing that you do not get invincibility through link attacks.


Notes from KINGDOM HEARTS III Theme Song Trailer – “Don’t Think Twice” by Hikaru Utada:
  • The Sora model jumping into the Heaven’s area is now KHII Sora, and many have pointed out that a chest has ever so slightly changed position on the map.
  • The Olympus command menu is seen.
  • General refinement on character models.


This list will be updated with each new trailer and eventually compiled into sections, similar to Audo's thread, of things we know about the game. For any future moderators looking at this thread, I do apologize if you notice this, but if two updates happen close to each other or the thread becomes mostly inactive except for my bumps to let people know of new ipdates, I will have to double post from time to time.

Hope you guys found this informative! Was there anything you didn't know of before, or something you noticed that you've been dying for someone else to bring up? Whatever it was, comment below and let me know ~U~

~Many thanks to
:

Oracle Spockanort - cleaned up presentation
Chaser - confirmed that the "movement flowmotion" as I said earlier was actually called "athletic flow"
KH2Rulz - Gave me plenty of extra modifications to my original article, including Dodge Cancelling and movement command changes.
Sora2016 - observed that Hercules doesn't appear as a party member fighting the Rock Titan.
 
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Ranma

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Nice compilation of trailer details! I enjoyed rewatching them while reading this thread. (But why is this in the spoilers section?)

This got me thinking again... we saw both forms of the not!Star Seeker keyblade transformations in two trailers - E3 2015 and D23 2017. Is anyone else concerned that the aiming reticle was replaced with a more cinematic attack you have little control of? The original way reminds me of how Prompto gameplay works in FFXV, specifically with his bazooka (and I liked that)! I feel like it's a downgrade.
 
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Chaser

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The first thing we notice in the gameplay is Sora’s flowmotion. When he approaches a rock, he climbs up the rock and continues to run, with the flowmotion capability being signified by a sparkle on the object. This is also shown when Sora steps on a pole sticking out of the nearby stream, on another tall stone, parkouring over a ledge, jumping over some pointed rocks to clear a gap, a large stone that appears next to the grounded horned heartless that can be climbed, and on the large wall Sora climbs to fight the Rock Titan. A version of this might also appear when Sora slips down a large hill and does a spin towards the end of it.

This isn't flowmotion. This is actually something new called 'Athletic Flow'. I understand the confusion, it's a mechanic that is based on flowmotion but this parkour mechanic is different enough to have warranted a new name.

Finally, Nomura touched upon Athletic Flow, the name of which is subject to change in the English release of the game as localisation hasn't been finalised just yet. It is based upon Flow Motion, which was introduced in Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. As you can see in various trailers, Sora can climb up walls or jump over gaps in ways he previously was unable to. The ability to do so is Athletic Flow and can be expected in each world you visit in Kingdom Hearts 3.
 

Grono

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This isn't flowmotion. This is actually something new called 'Athletic Flow'. I understand the confusion, it's a mechanic that is based on flowmotion but this parkour mechanic is different enough to have warranted a new name.

My apologies, I wasn't checking interviews when I did this and completely forgot about it. It's been updated!
 

KH2Rulz

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Good analysis.

Other things:
1. Dodge-cancelling seems pretty much confirmed. In the newest D23 trailer, we see some dodge-cancelling during Tangled worlds, and we've seen it previously during the short Hercules feature before the 2017 D23 trailer (where Sora's fighting in front of the mansion). I speculate that the battle system is less about predictable revenge values and more about dodge-cancelling given the change in mechanics. This should also be viewed in the light of 0.2's jump-cancelling.

2. I don't think we see Counter Shield using Thunder. There's no MP usage or magic shortcut popup, and we know the UI is functional then. I think it may either be an AoE combo finisher or AoE combo starter. Moreover, you can see the Soldier closest to Sora flinch before the attack, making it more likely to be mid-combo or finishing combo.

3. Second Form's Finishers are almost certainly the Limits and they seem to progress from Stun Impact -> Sonic Rave -> Ars Arcanum. You can see Stun Impact turn into Sonic Rave as Sora lands enough hits just before he activates Sonic Rave.

4. The minotaur Heartless is likely a normal enemy. You can see the Command Menu is yellow in both the 2017 D23 trailer as well as the 2018 D23 trailer with the updated Command Menu. The Command Menu turns red for bosses, which we can clearly see against Rock Titan, and event battles, which we see with the battle on the Monsters Inc Bridge with Boo's Laugh Power.
Interestingly, the battle against the giant Toy Spaceship Heartless has a yellow Command Menu (I believe). Could it be a normal enemy?
Could it be an optional enemy a la Mushroom XIII (that also had yellow Command Menus) ? Could it just be a UI bug???


5. Hyper Hammer has a clear Quick Run movement option, while Drill Punch has Sora go underground, confirming that the dodge button changes with Transformations. The next question is - will Sora get Growth Abilities from Keyblades that let him use Quick Run in base form? We've seen Aerial Dodge/Double Flight (I'm thinking more Double Flight with the vertical gain), Air Slide and Dodge Roll. Hopefully he gets more movement options.

6. Still strongly think Mike as bowling ball is NOT a Limit - more likely a cutscene that ends or leads to the battle on the bridge. Once again - Heartless placement, lack of UI, the higher quality character models all strongly point to this being a cutscene. Happy to be proven wrong, and it may even be a normal Limit in the game - but in that instance in the trailer, I think it's a cutscene.

7. SORA GETS HIT WHILE ACTIVATING MEOW WOW. This isn't good. Hopefully they'll add more i-frames to these in-battle cutscenes (since that's what they essentially are)

8. Quick Claws is almost certainly a Power Form. Sora's jacket turns red during it. Also, the Finisher for the Quick Claws -> Twin Yo-Yos is just called Finish. Scream Strike is likely a Situation Command related to party members (and it's an event battle - remember the red Command Menu)

9. Sadly, it seems that Tangled KB/Mirage Staff only has one Transformation and it goes straight into a Finisher. Counter Shield likely is similar with the Finisher being the Pegasus Chariot move.

10. In the Orchestra Trailer, we see what appears to be an Upward Slash, where Sora launches a Soldier into the air before performing Sonic Rave. This could indicate square-modifiers to combos, which would be very nice. We also see something similar-ish in the JF2016 trailer where base Sora launches the smaller dandelion Heartless into the air, but not the big one, and he also doesn't follow them into the air.

11. What's the bet that KK's Shotlock is Ragnarok to fit with Second Form's theme of all of Sora's limits?

12. Looking at the speed of the earlier KH3 trailers (eg. E3 2015), I feel that Sora's base air combos are what we see there, and they eventually become modified to become what we see in the later trailers. You can see that the E3 2015 air combos are slow and consist of one hit each swing, while the later air combos include multiple hits and spirals.

13. I'm really curious about E3 2015's shooter parts. Was this a earlier version of not-Starseeker's Shotlock? We see in the JF2016 trailer what the Shotlock is actually like for that Keyblade, but was it originally planned to have an FPS element? Or are we seeing something else...

14. I have no idea what the weird double air-slide -> Blitz move that happens against the Dandelion Heartless in JF2016 is. I have a feeling a lot of the trailers before the Orchestra Trailer had semi-working gameplay and were just showing off animations...
 

Grono

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Good analysis.

Other things:
1. Dodge-cancelling seems pretty much confirmed. In the newest D23 trailer, we see some dodge-cancelling during Tangled worlds, and we've seen it previously during the short Hercules feature before the 2017 D23 trailer (where Sora's fighting in front of the mansion). I speculate that the battle system is less about predictable revenge values and more about dodge-cancelling given the change in mechanics. This should also be viewed in the light of 0.2's jump-cancelling.

Hey, I'll comment on all of these and include the ones I find appropriate in my post above :D Now, don't make fun of me here, since I'm only recently getting into studying gameplay, but what is dodge cancelling exactly?

2. I don't think we see Counter Shield using Thunder. There's no MP usage or magic shortcut popup, and we know the UI is functional then. I think it may either be an AoE combo finisher or AoE combo starter. Moreover, you can see the Soldier closest to Sora flinch before the attack, making it more likely to be mid-combo or finishing combo.

I mean, it could also be a combo finisher, I just put thunder there since the attack looked so much like a thunder-based attack. I would say, however, that the UI certainly wasn't being shown off at that point yet, so I wouldn't count magic out entirely.

3. Second Form's Finishers are almost certainly the Limits and they seem to progress from Stun Impact -> Sonic Rave -> Ars Arcanum. You can see Stun Impact turn into Sonic Rave as Sora lands enough hits just before he activates Sonic Rave.

Thanks, I'll update this!

4. The minotaur Heartless is likely a normal enemy. You can see the Command Menu is yellow in both the 2017 D23 trailer as well as the 2018 D23 trailer with the updated Command Menu. The Command Menu turns red for bosses, which we can clearly see against Rock Titan, and event battles, which we see with the battle on the Monsters Inc Bridge with Boo's Laugh Power.

Thanks for this! I don't think clarifying those minotaur-looking things are anything but just regular enemies, but the command menu turning red for event battles is a very good catch.

Interestingly, the battle against the giant Toy Spaceship Heartless has a yellow Command Menu (I believe). Could it be a normal enemy?
Could it be an optional enemy a la Mushroom XIII (that also had yellow Command Menus) ? Could it just be a UI bug???

I'm going to most certainly say a bug in the UI. I may be wrong, though.

5. Hyper Hammer has a clear Quick Run movement option, while Drill Punch has Sora go underground, confirming that the dodge button changes with Transformations. The next question is - will Sora get Growth Abilities from Keyblades that let him use Quick Run in base form? We've seen Aerial Dodge/Double Flight (I'm thinking more Double Flight with the vertical gain), Air Slide and Dodge Roll. Hopefully he gets more movement options.

I hope that those movement options are tied to the keyblades as well; I'll put that in a speculation box. I'll also add the thing about quick run, extremely good catch. Can you just clarify what you mean by dodge confirming to change? I don't think Sora was dodge-rolling with the drill punch, but I could have missed it.

6. Still strongly think Mike as bowling ball is NOT a Limit - more likely a cutscene that ends or leads to the battle on the bridge. Once again - Heartless placement, lack of UI, the higher quality character models all strongly point to this being a cutscene. Happy to be proven wrong, and it may even be a normal Limit in the game - but in that instance in the trailer, I think it's a cutscene.

I mean, limits and links are so cinematic in this game that it easily could be. Honestly, this one is the most disgustingly cinematic thing in any of the trailers if it is a limit.

7. SORA GETS HIT WHILE ACTIVATING MEOW WOW. This isn't good. Hopefully they'll add more i-frames to these in-battle cutscenes (since that's what they essentially are)

Do we even see him activating Meow Wow? I'm pretty sure there's not even a UI when he's doing this in the trailer, I don't recall this happening.

8. Quick Claws is almost certainly a Power Form. Sora's jacket turns red during it. Also, the Finisher for the Quick Claws -> Twin Yo-Yos is just called Finish. Scream Strike is likely a Situation Command related to party members (and it's an event battle - remember the red Command Menu)

I'll put down the finish for quick claws into twin yo-yo's, thank you. And I'm almost positive scream strike is not that, since Sora uses his keyblade to transform into them. It turns into two large claws with a hat and googly eyes and chomps down on the heartless.

9. Sadly, it seems that Tangled KB/Mirage Staff only has one Transformation and it goes straight into a Finisher. Counter Shield likely is similar with the Finisher being the Pegasus Chariot move.

Likely, but not impossible to change. We also could be looking at an unfinished version of that, though with the game coming this year I honestly am starting to believe some keyblades just have less they're doing than others.

10. In the Orchestra Trailer, we see what appears to be an Upward Slash, where Sora launches a Soldier into the air before performing Sonic Rave. This could indicate square-modifiers to combos, which would be very nice. We also see something similar-ish in the JF2016 trailer where base Sora launches the smaller dandelion Heartless into the air, but not the big one, and he also doesn't follow them into the air.

Oh yeah, I forgot to put a lot of combo modifiers into my thing. Generally, if it's something like an extra hit, I'm not including it in this, just because I honestly don't believe that they'll prove to be too consequential when I'm looking back at this list for the next trailer.

11. What's the bet that KK's Shotlock is Ragnarok to fit with Second Form's theme of all of Sora's limits?

We can dream.

12. Looking at the speed of the earlier KH3 trailers (eg. E3 2015), I feel that Sora's base air combos are what we see there, and they eventually become modified to become what we see in the later trailers. You can see that the E3 2015 air combos are slow and consist of one hit each swing, while the later air combos include multiple hits and spirals.

Now, this is something I was consider writing out. Do you think I should keep it noted in the Monsters Inc. trailer section or something?

13. I'm really curious about E3 2015's shooter parts. Was this a earlier version of not-Starseeker's Shotlock? We see in the JF2016 trailer what the Shotlock is actually like for that Keyblade, but was it originally planned to have an FPS element? Or are we seeing something else...

I think something altered a little. Either way, doesn't bother me too much. That transformation in the E3 2015 trailer looked both floaty and slow at the same time, and that aiming reticle made it look impossible to do anything substantive, which is weird, since it seems to work on-rails completely fine!

14. I have no idea what the weird double air-slide -> Blitz move that happens against the Dandelion Heartless in JF2016 is. I have a feeling a lot of the trailers before the Orchestra Trailer had semi-working gameplay and were just showing off animations...

Bingo. That's why so many things I considered in my analyses were just UI glitches or something, as I knew true gameplay from the game hadn't hit its stride quite yet. We're starting to see it now, but even then it's not perfect yet.
 

Chaser

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Do we even see him activating Meow Wow? I'm pretty sure there's not even a UI when he's doing this in the trailer, I don't recall this happening.
They mean when the Wonder Balloon finisher is used. As Sora rises on the back of the Meow Wow balloon, he is hit. This shouldn't happen since Sora is performing a special attack.
 

KH2Rulz

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Sorry, I'm too lay to quote individual parts - I'll just comment down here :D

Dodge Cancelling
Dodge-cancelling means that Sora can end an attack animation by dodging. For example, in KH2, you must finish your attack animations. You can't interrupt Guard Break or Explosion, and if an enemy hits you in the animation when you don't have invincibility frames, you'll be damaged.
With dodge-cancelling, it theoretically means you perform (for example) Explosion, but as soon as you see an enemy attack coming, you can dodge out of the attack and avoid the damage.
We see jump-cancelling in 0.2, where Aqua can end her Guard animation early by jumping out of it - which proves useful against the Phantom Aqua boss fight. In KH3, we see Sora perform combos and dodge out of them and you can even see the 'remnants' of the animation (namely the yellow streaks of attacks) even as he dodge-rolls, strongly suggesting dodge-cancelling.

Counter Shield
I think the UI was actually working in the Orchestra trailer, though I do agree the attack looks very Thunder-y. I guess it'll be one of the things we'll see in the final game.
Also, the fists - still unsure at what it is, but it's possibly a counterattack. You see the UI show Counter Slash and a 'selection' animation at the Command menu, but it seems incredibly overpowered for a counter.

Drill Punch
I was referring to how we see Sora go underground for Drill Punch rather than dodge-rolling, which confirms that his mobility options change while in a Transformation. I doubt his dodge would do that in Base Sora form, given he...doesn't have a giant drill.

Meow Wow
Sorry, was referring to the Finish command of the Meow Wow link. You see Sora very clearly getting hit as the summon enlarges, unfortunately. Given that we have no control over Sora at that point, it's a little worrying since you could potentially die as you activate the Finish Command - it makes it a risky, and therefore less useful, attack.

Twin Yo-Yos
Sorry, not sure what you're referring to. The two chomping things are the Finish command for Twin Yo-Yos. Three things that suggest this - there's no Finish command at the top of the Command Menu, the Twin Yo-Yo's display at the top of the Command Menu changes (they change during Finish animations - look at Mirage Staff + Drill Punch) and Scream Strike is still present (if it was used, it would vanish).

I was saying that Scream Strike is likely a Situation Command, much like 'Take Cover' in the door section, or 'Ride' with the Mecha. SCs are really just a catch-all term for RCs, Magic Finishers, Transformation Finishers, and Attraction Flow + possibly party limits (a la Wayfinder in 0.2).
Reaction Commands are basically back. That's what the 'Take Cover' and 'Ride' commands essentially are, much like how we could stomp on a tower in Timeless River, perform a Full Swing against Large Bodies after a Finisher and kick bombs off a pirate ship.
Nomura just added more actions to Triangle.

Air Combos
It's your topic :) Put it where you see fit. I'm just mentioning things I noticed looking at the trailers.

Other little things: Tangled Keyblades' Keychain is a frying pan:
https://imgur.com/a/I7Esy

We see a 'square' marker where Sora is jumping past the floating toy pigs against the giant Heartless. We see the same 'square' marker just before he FlowMos onto the pole on the battle on the bridge of Monsters Inc. It seems to suggest a FlowMo action orrrr that you can FlowChain Shotlock onto it.
Why do I say that? Because when you use Shotlock (eg. when using Counter Shield's Unleash in Olympus), you can see 'square' markers on the Minotaur Heartless, likely indicating that pressing square lets you use Flowchain. Same as when you Shotlock onto the floating square blocks in Olympus and use Flowchain.
Finally, when Sora lands at the top of the Flowchain in Olympus, you see the 'square' marker again without being in Flowchain.
https://imgur.com/a/fr6hw

And I think I'm pretty much out.
Oh, I have more ideas about FlowMo, but... a lot of it is based on comparing pre-E3 2015 trailers with post. It seems... interesting. I think Nomura solidified a lot of ideas between those two trailers.
 
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I have a theory about the Rock Titan

Seeing the trailers again I come up with the theory that we will actually have to fight the Rock Titan to get in the Olympus.

Like especially the first trailers we see Sora climbing a mount to go to Olympus and the fact the he is still waring the KHII outfit makes me believe that lol

latest


41c7f337bd93905f211634deb906457b3873de48_hq.jpg
 

Grono

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Sorry, I'm too lay to quote individual parts - I'll just comment down here :D

Dodge Cancelling
Dodge-cancelling means that Sora can end an attack animation by dodging. For example, in KH2, you must finish your attack animations. You can't interrupt Guard Break or Explosion, and if an enemy hits you in the animation when you don't have invincibility frames, you'll be damaged.
With dodge-cancelling, it theoretically means you perform (for example) Explosion, but as soon as you see an enemy attack coming, you can dodge out of the attack and avoid the damage.

Ah, that's cool! I'll include it in when I update my thing with your information!

Counter Shield
I think the UI was actually working in the Orchestra trailer, though I do agree the attack looks very Thunder-y. I guess it'll be one of the things we'll see in the final game.
Also, the fists - still unsure at what it is, but it's possibly a counterattack. You see the UI show Counter Slash and a 'selection' animation at the Command menu, but it seems incredibly overpowered for a counter.

See, I think it kind of looks like a counterattack too! But it also looks so incredibly overpowered that I don't want to believe that's what it is, you know? Maybe it'll be nerfed in the final product if it's that, we'll wait and see :D

Drill Punch
I was referring to how we see Sora go underground for Drill Punch rather than dodge-rolling, which confirms that his mobility options change while in a Transformation. I doubt his dodge would do that in Base Sora form, given he...doesn't have a giant drill.

Lol, you've got a point there. I see what you were getting at now.

Sorry, was referring to the Finish command of the Meow Wow link. You see Sora very clearly getting hit as the summon enlarges, unfortunately. Given that we have no control over Sora at that point, it's a little worrying since you could potentially die as you activate the Finish Command - it makes it a risky, and therefore less useful, attack.

Yikes, good catch on you and Chaser's behalf! I'll add that in!

Twin Yo-Yos
Sorry, not sure what you're referring to. The two chomping things are the Finish command for Twin Yo-Yos. Three things that suggest this - there's no Finish command at the top of the Command Menu, the Twin Yo-Yo's display at the top of the Command Menu changes (they change during Finish animations - look at Mirage Staff + Drill Punch) and Scream Strike is still present (if it was used, it would vanish).

Holy crap, you're onto something. I've ignored the Command Menu in these trailers because I assumed for some reason that they held no valuable information. I'll be sure to update that when I do the mass-update with your info.

Reaction Commands are basically back. That's what the 'Take Cover' and 'Ride' commands essentially are, much like how we could stomp on a tower in Timeless River, perform a Full Swing against Large Bodies after a Finisher and kick bombs off a pirate ship.
Nomura just added more actions to Triangle.

Yeah, although they are more involved than they were in II.

Other little things: Tangled Keyblades' Keychain is a frying pan:
https://imgur.com/a/I7Esy

Okay, so this sounds stupid, but I actually tried to find this thing frame-by-frame until I saw that. I swear I've been looking for that stupid thing way longer than I should have been.

We see a 'square' marker where Sora is jumping past the floating toy pigs against the giant Heartless. We see the same 'square' marker just before he FlowMos onto the pole on the battle on the bridge of Monsters Inc. It seems to suggest a FlowMo action orrrr that you can FlowChain Shotlock onto it.
Why do I say that? Because when you use Shotlock (eg. when using Counter Shield's Unleash in Olympus), you can see 'square' markers on the Minotaur Heartless, likely indicating that pressing square lets you use Flowchain. Same as when you Shotlock onto the floating square blocks in Olympus and use Flowchain.
Finally, when Sora lands at the top of the Flowchain in Olympus, you see the 'square' marker again without being in Flowchain.
https://imgur.com/a/fr6hw

Already put this in my thing, but good catch anyways.

Thanks for your contributions! You're actually really observant, I'm not sure if I'm more impressed with what you caught or more upset with what I failed to notice honestly haha

EDIT: here's a comment I put up earlier that I'm merging with this one

I have a theory about the Rock Titan

Seeing the trailers again I come up with the theory that we will actually have to fight the Rock Titan to get in the Olympus.

Like especially the first trailers we see Sora climbing a mount to go to Olympus and the fact the he is still waring the KHII outfit makes me believe that lol

latest


41c7f337bd93905f211634deb906457b3873de48_hq.jpg

So, Olympus in this game effectively serves as Sora's Mark of Mastery exam, if I'm correct. It happens immediately after 0.2 ends, so he hasn't changed his clothes yet or anything. The notion that the Rock Titan is holding his ticket into Olympus is almost certainly the case.
 
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Sora2016

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Its also worth noting Herc isn't a party member either, but is when they are fighting in Thebes. Either he ditches them for whatever reason, or yea the Rock Titan is the first boss of the game. I sort of think its the latter.
 

Grono

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Its also worth noting Herc isn't a party member either, but is when they are fighting in Thebes. Either he ditches them for whatever reason, or yea the Rock Titan is the first boss of the game. I sort of think its the latter.

Hmm, I'll keep that in the back of my mind when I go back to update this article again. Maybe he leaves because Sora should finish his journey without his help?
 

robotman

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SUPER observation guys, yeah, you lot are definitely right. Rock Titan will probably be at the very beginning of the game due to two things. First Sora is still is his KH2 clothes and second there is no Hercules as a party member, so by beating him you'll probably gain entry to Olympus or something like that.

Well done for dissecting those trailers!
 

Sora2016

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Hmm, I'll keep that in the back of my mind when I go back to update this article again. Maybe he leaves because Sora should finish his journey without his help?

That's the only justification I can think of as well, and as long as its the middle of the world I think it could work. Like maybe beating the Titan is his test to get his strength back? But I would hope he will at least be around again after the fight for the hopefully inevitable Hades battle ha. Its our first time with him as a party member, would be a shame to not have him around as much as possible, for me at least.
 
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I think it is the FIRST boss of the game lol

Then we had that other one that Nomura talked about and Hades as the final boss?
 

Grono

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I think it is the FIRST boss of the game lol

Then we had that other one that Nomura talked about and Hades as the final boss?

I mean, from what I remember, I'm pretty sure that the rock golem thing is a mid-world boss from a Nomura interview. It wouldn't make sense to descend from the heavens to defend Thebes, rather it seems that Thebes will be a step to getting up Olympus and then facing the rock titan.

Keep in mind, this is just speculation.
 
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