Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua's Reveal
- Details
- Published on June 13, 2018 @ 03:06 am
- Written by Cecily
Gameinformer had the opportunity to interview Tetsuya Nomura about KINGDOM HEARTS 3 at E3 2018. In previous articles, they discussed other worlds still waiting to be revealed and the possibility of DLC.
Continuing on from that, they asked about whether or not Final Fantasy characters will make an appearance in this highly anticipated title. Although Kingdom Hearts began as a Disney x Square Enix collaboration, there are now many other crossover games where Final Fantasy characters gather together. While he can’t discuss any characters that have yet to be revealed, he feels that it’s not as big of a necessity to bring them together, eapecially in comparison to when he was working on the first title. But as always, he hopes fans will look forward to information coming in the future.
They also asked about the newly revealed Pixar character: Remy from Ratatouille! While many were under the impression that Remy is a link summon, he is actually featured in a minigame. Players will collect ingredients throughout the worlds and bring them to the little rat in order to create a full-course meal. Succeeding in the minigame nets you various status increases for a period of time, whereas nothing will happen if you fail.
Nomura was also surprised by the reactions to the Frozen trailer. The world was supposed to be the big reveal, but fans were arguably more riled up over Aqua falling to the darkness. Of course he knows everything that will happen in the game, so that reveal is of no surprise. Nomura teases even bigger surprises that await players in Kingdom Hearts 3.
Read the full interview on Gameinformer.
COMMENTS
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua
The characters things is interesting I wonder what he means
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua
I'm calling it now but one of the surprises is so gonna be that Terra is 100% gonna end up not being Norted anymore and is gonna have to be the one to save Aquanort and, by extention, Ventus. It's fitting for his arc and plays into the last words we hear from him/Lingering Sentiment in KH2 & BBS. Not to mention how he was already fitting back against Norty-kun rather well during the time of KH1. Maybe they'll actually be able to write Terra well this time.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
I wonder if Lightning in Olympus is still a possibility? If not Olympus hopefully a guard at Radiant Garden.
Also please let Kairi be one of the playable characters.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
And they say people don't care about the story lol It's a mess but we all still love it, mostly for the characters. And Aqua has been a fan-favorite for a while now with the plus of getting her own game. So I'm not surprised this would get people riled up. Plus, it was genuinely unexpected and adds some interesting conflict to the story knowing what Aqua's role.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
I wonder if Lightning in Olympus is still a possibility? If not Olympus hopefully a guard at Radiant Garden.
That would be nice. I wouldn't be shocked to see her in Arendelle either actually... female focused story, and she could totally have a bunch of lines complaining about another annoying ice user she knows. :P
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
| I just wonder if everyone will be okay. |
Lol Nomura's pretty clueless when it comes to fan reactions to Aqua, huh?
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Lol Nomura's pretty clueless when it comes to fan reactions to Aqua, huh?
Wasn't there an interview where he said he was surprised she was so popular considering she was the only non-clone/least connected to any of the original cast? And now here she is, a Xehanort clone. Oh, how the turned tables.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua
That would be nice. I wouldn't be shocked to see her in Arendelle either actually... female focused story, and she could totally have a bunch of lines complaining about another annoying ice user she knows. :P
Lightning would look cute in winter clothes, lol.
I'm calling it now but one of the surprises is so gonna be that Terra is 100% gonna end up not being Norted anymore and is gonna have to be the one to save Aquanort and, by extention, Ventus. It's fitting for his arc and plays into the last words we hear from him/Lingering Sentiment in KH2 & BBS. Not to mention how he was already fitting back against Norty-kun rather well during the time of KH1. Maybe they'll actually be able to write Terra well this time.
I actually had the same thought of Terra being free from Xehanort a few months ago. If Aqua, Repliku, and Ventus are the last three members then there isn't any need for Terranort is there? Which means we get to see him and Riku interact :)
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
He said the reason for the delay was the original reason date would have been bad timing?
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
I've noticed that Nomura and someone else connected to the game has specifically said, "Aqua has fallen to darkness". Is being Norted really the equivalent to falling to darkness? I mean sure, falling to darkness can lead to being Norted obviously, but, I dunno. Why not explicitly say "Aqua succumbed to Xehanort" or something?
If Aqua is not norted, maybe the yellow eyes aren't unique to Xehanort after all? Back when we saw the first footage of young Xehanort and Eraqus playing chess, I noted that it didn't look like Xehanort's eyes were gold, or that gold was mixed in with brown. And we know from the Xehanort reports that Xehanort purposely exposed himself to the darkness at some points during his life.
Could the golden eyes and possibly pointy ears actually be a sign of darkness and not just Xehanort? This would totally explain Braig's transformation by the end of Birth by Sleep because I'm pretty sure Braig was NOT norted yet when he and Aqua fought and yet he had golden eyes (and possibly pointy ears, I don't remember)
But I thought Nomura explicitly said the eyes and ears were unique to Xehanort, or maybe I'm misremembering.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
Well when it comes to Frozen everyone was expecting it lol. Specially after the you know what those months back...
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua
I actually had the same thought of Terra being free from Xehanort a few months ago. If Aqua, Repliku, and Ventus are the last three members then there isn't any need for Terranort is there? Which means we get to see him and Riku interact :)
Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks so. And as much as I love my girl Aqua, Terra is in desperate need of some character development and shining character moments, considering his scenario was pretty much filled with him failing at every turn and only screwing up Xehanort's plans SLIGHTLY at the end (whereas Ven and Aqua actually stopped/did the most damage to Xehanort's plans).
Plus a Riku/Terra reunion sounds hella dope and I'm all in for it.
I've noticed that Nomura and someone else connected to the game has specifically said, "Aqua has fallen to darkness". Is being Norted really the equivalent to falling to darkness? I mean sure, falling to darkness can lead to being Norted obviously, but, I dunno. Why not explicitly say "Aqua succumbed to Xehanort" or something?
If Aqua is not norted, maybe the yellow eyes aren't unique to Xehanort after all? Back when we saw the first footage of young Xehanort and Eraqus playing chess, I noted that it didn't look like Xehanort's eyes were gold, or that gold was mixed in with brown. And we know from the Xehanort reports that Xehanort purposely exposed himself to the darkness at some points during his life.
Could the golden eyes and possibly pointy ears actually be a sign of darkness and not just Xehanort? This would totally explain Braig's transformation by the end of Birth by Sleep because I'm pretty sure Braig was NOT norted yet when he and Aqua fought and yet he had golden eyes (and possibly pointy ears, I don't remember)
But I thought Nomura explicitly said the eyes and ears were unique to Xehanort, or maybe I'm misremembering.
I mean tbh if they really wanna throw everyone for a loop, Aqua could somehow be under the control of someone who isn't Xehanort and we (as well as the heroes) are simply supposed to believe she is. We still have no idea who, what, where and how MoM and Luxu tie directly into KH3 outside of the box but I could see a possible connection there (especially since time runs differently in the RoD, who's to say someone from the Chi era ISN'T running around there like Aqua as well?)
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
...he feels that it's not as big of a necessity to bring them together, eapecially in comparison to when he was working on the first title. But as always, he hopes fans will look forward to information coming in the future.
It's true that we have our much larger set of original castmates to concern ourselves with now that the series has been so successful, but he has to attribute that success in no small part to the perfect marriage of Disney AND Final Fantasy. It's not like I don't think we're not getting any (new) FF characters for III anyways, because I totally think he's yanking our chain with his flippant reply.
And if he's not Remy's the Iggy we'll never get.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
He said the reason for the delay was the original reason date would have been bad timing?
Where did he say that?
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
he said he wants it to be more closer to WW release
https://twitter.com/HMKilla/status/1006737666434523136
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Remy's the Iggy we'll never get.
Now I know what DLC Nomura has planned for KH3.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
And they say people don't care about the story lol It's a mess but we all still love it, mostly for the characters. And Aqua has been a fan-favorite for a while now with the plus of getting her own game. So I'm not surprised this would get people riled up. Plus, it was genuinely unexpected and adds some interesting conflict to the story knowing what Aqua's role.
Well, I would say so. For if people did not like the story at all. There would not be such a huge number of theories.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
I've noticed that Nomura and someone else connected to the game has specifically said, "Aqua has fallen to darkness". Is being Norted really the equivalent to falling to darkness? I mean sure, falling to darkness can lead to being Norted obviously, but, I dunno. Why not explicitly say "Aqua succumbed to Xehanort" or something?
If Aqua is not norted, maybe the yellow eyes aren't unique to Xehanort after all? Back when we saw the first footage of young Xehanort and Eraqus playing chess, I noted that it didn't look like Xehanort's eyes were gold, or that gold was mixed in with brown. And we know from the Xehanort reports that Xehanort purposely exposed himself to the darkness at some points during his life.
Could the golden eyes and possibly pointy ears actually be a sign of darkness and not just Xehanort? This would totally explain Braig's transformation by the end of Birth by Sleep because I'm pretty sure Braig was NOT norted yet when he and Aqua fought and yet he had golden eyes (and possibly pointy ears, I don't remember)
But I thought Nomura explicitly said the eyes and ears were unique to Xehanort, or maybe I'm misremembering.
Heartless have yellow eyes too (I think all of them do), so perhaps yellow eyes is not just connected to Xehanort but darkness overall.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
"I just wonder if everyone will be okay.".
Lol we're dead. If he didn't predict the reaction to dark Aqua, then we're all dead.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
I've noticed that Nomura and someone else connected to the game has specifically said, "Aqua has fallen to darkness". Is being Norted really the equivalent to falling to darkness? I mean sure, falling to darkness can lead to being Norted obviously, but, I dunno. Why not explicitly say "Aqua succumbed to Xehanort" or something?
If Aqua is not norted, maybe the yellow eyes aren't unique to Xehanort after all? Back when we saw the first footage of young Xehanort and Eraqus playing chess, I noted that it didn't look like Xehanort's eyes were gold, or that gold was mixed in with brown. And we know from the Xehanort reports that Xehanort purposely exposed himself to the darkness at some points during his life.
Could the golden eyes and possibly pointy ears actually be a sign of darkness and not just Xehanort? This would totally explain Braig's transformation by the end of Birth by Sleep because I'm pretty sure Braig was NOT norted yet when he and Aqua fought and yet he had golden eyes (and possibly pointy ears, I don't remember)
But I thought Nomura explicitly said the eyes and ears were unique to Xehanort, or maybe I'm misremembering.
You're not exactly misremembering, but it was never outright stated somewhere in-game, it was as so often in an interview:
Comparing the Organisation members when they were human to when they were in the Organisation, apart from Xehanort, only Isa and Braig have differently-shaped ears and differently-coloured eyes - why is this?
Nomura: It's a question of whether or not they're deeply connected to Xehanort. In Braig's case, comparing the scene where he's injured in his battle with Terra and flares up at Xehanort, his appearance afterwards changes, which hints that something happened with Xehanort in between.
It is given directly there that it has to do with a deep connection to Xehanort, although one has to concede that the interviewer is speaking about the golden eyes and the pointy ears with Nomura giving no further specification.
Xaldin for example has the pointy ears, but not the golden eyes.
If this has any meaning it has not been addressed yet.
In both BBS amd DDD though the camera flares up directly into Braig's remaining eye to emphasize the golden color.
There is of course still a window of interpretation that it could mean both in some fashion as Xehanort possession is clearly meant to be seen as a power of Darkness.
Many of the fan interpretations of it being a sign of Darkness and not only Xehanort also bring up the issue that the Heartless have yellow eyes as well (and the Darklings in X[chi] also have them).
Still, this would open yet another can of worms as if this is the case it would become harder to distinguish a victim of Xehanort possession from someone who "just" fell to Darkness.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
I think what he means by the FF characters is that we are unlikely to see a large gang of them like Leon and co. or Seifer and his buds again. When they include characters they are probably more likely going to be doing their own thing like Zack was, not that they aren't going to be in the game at all.
That being said, Lightning is probably a go then because she could very easily just be wandering around on her own.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
Nomura has implied back in the BBS interview that having yellow eyes and pointy ears point to Xehanort as we see Braig's changes in BBS. Riku and the Disney villains all tapped into darkness yet their eyes never got yellow. Yellow eyes, white hair and pointy ears are all signs of Xehanort influence if you have his seed inside him. DDD pretty much spells this out. So I still have no idea why people still hold on so tightly to this debunked misinterpretation of "yellow eyes = darkness".
Xehanort had all his features since he was a teenager and likely further back into childhood. Are we going to say that the back-then non evil teen gave into darkness which is why he looks like that?
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Obviously I fully acknowledge that yellow eyes and pointy ears are supposed to be traits of Xehanort and not darkness in general. I even remembered Nomura's statement correctly. I am only calling it into question because of how they have decidedto speak about the Aqua reveal. More than one person has said, "Aqua has fallen to darkness". The connection to Xehanort should be obvious yes? I dont expect them to use the term "norted", but they seem to be avoiding connecting the reveal to Xehanort. Or at least, it seems that way to me.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but we didn't see Xehanorts face before his future self came to get him. And as I speculated in my first post, his eyes in the first reveal do not look completely gold yet to me.
To sum up my current thoughts, maybe the yellow eyes and pointy ears are unique to Xehanort not because they are traits he was born with (i dont think his younger self had pointy ears), but because he purposely exposed himself to the darkness and developed those traits. Therefore, everyone connected to him will have those traits too.
What if the yellow eyes and pointy ears are a result not of just darkness, but the result of bathing in darkness for extended periods of time? Like legit DROWNING in it like Aqua has for 12 years of RoL time. A sign that darkness has eaten away and corrupted your being? In which case, Aqua would have fallen to darkness alright, but she is a "Xehanort" all of her own
Ps, sorry for massive mistakes, on my phone
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
His words on the reveals scare me lol. But his words on Remy's mini-game give me life. That is exactly what I was hoping for. Pls let me have a cookbook I need to fill...pls.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Obviously I fully acknowledge that yellow eyes and pointy ears are supposed to be traits of Xehanort and not darkness in general. I even remembered Nomura's statement correctly. I am only calling it into question because of how they have decidedto speak about the Aqua reveal. More than one person has said, "Aqua has fallen to darkness". The connection to Xehanort should be obvious yes? I dont expect them to use the term "norted", but they seem to be avoiding connecting the reveal to Xehanort. Or at least, it seems that way to me.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but we didn't see Xehanorts face before his future self came to get him. And as I speculated in my first post, his eyes in the first reveal do not look completely gold yet to me.
To sum up my current thoughts, maybe the yellow eyes and pointy ears are unique to Xehanort not because they are traits he was born with (i dont think his younger self had pointy ears), but because he purposely exposed himself to the darkness and developed those traits. Therefore, everyone connected to him will have those traits too.
What if the yellow eyes and pointy ears are a result not of just darkness, but the result of bathing in darkness for extended periods of time? Like legit DROWNING in it like Aqua has for 12 years of RoL time. A sign that darkness has eaten away and corrupted your being? In which case, Aqua would have fallen to darkness alright, but she is a "Xehanort" all of her own
Ps, sorry for massive mistakes, on my phone
But where's the proof that Xehanort fell to darkness at that young of an age? I will concede on the pointy ears since he didn't have them in DDD as Young Xehanort but the yellow eyes were with him from teenagehood and back then it was said he was just curious about outside worlds at best. Nothing about darkness at that time.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Have we seen his face before his implied first contact with his future self? Both of his cameos in BBS, his back is turned. During the scene in DDD when he meets his future self, his back is turned. And every face shot we see after, whether its "present" young Xehanort or "past" yound Xehanort, we're to assume he's already been "infected" eith his future self, but doesn't remember the events to come (as per the rules of time travel), right?
I am harping on this point and I mention for the third time, the first trailer we see of Xehanort in the new graphics, his eyes do not look pure gold/yellow yet. If that is technically the first Xehanort before all the time loop nonsense, then maybe his eyes weren't originally gold just like his ears weren't originally pointy. I think this idea is both reasonable and far fetched
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Have we seen his face before his implied first contact with his future self? Both of his cameos in BBS, his back is turned. During the scene in DDD when he meets his future self, his back is turned. And every face shot we see after, whether its "present" young Xehanort or "past" yound Xehanort, we're to assume he's already been "infected" eith his future self, but doesn't remember the events to come (as per the rules of time travel), right?
I am harping on this point and I mention for the third time, the first trailer we see of Xehanort in the new graphics, his eyes do not look pure gold/yellow yet. If that is technically the first Xehanort before all the time loop nonsense, then maybe his eyes weren't originally gold just like his ears weren't originally pointy. I think this idea is both reasonable and far fetched
Wasn't there some BBS datamining that had a model of Young Xehanort but with a face? He still had yellow eyes then.
And I really don't know if we should take those models of Xehanort and Eraqus back then as proof anymore since that was 2015 and they were still working on the models back then. I doubt they will look the exact same when the game's out.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
"I just wonder if everyone will be okay.".
Lol we're dead. If he didn't predict the reaction to dark Aqua, then we're all dead.
Exactly. Nomura will have to live with our blood on his hands after the game comes out. We are done for.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
KH3 is crowded with tons of mysteries and plot points it needs to resolve for the final confrontation with Xehanort so it's not really the game for introducing new Final Fantasy characters. I'm not that mad. But I do want the Cloud vs Sephiroth sub-story to be cleared up before we go to the next saga.
Nomura's "I just wonder if everyone is going to be okay" has me real scared. So, who's going to die? Aqua? Ventus? Riku? Place your bets and prepare for ultimate suffering.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Nomura's "I just wonder if everyone is going to be okay" has me real scared. So, who's going to die? Aqua? Ventus? Riku? Place your bets and prepare for ultimate suffering.
Considering the context of this statement being right after Nomura talked about his own surprise about the strong reaction from fans it is also possible that jab was actually at the fans, lol.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Considering the context of this statement being right after Nomura talked about his own surprise about the strong reaction from fans it is also possible that jab was actually at the fans, lol.
I'm almost positive he was talking about the fans. He knows whether the characters are gonna be ok or not. It's us he needs to worry about lol
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
KH3 is crowded with tons of mysteries and plot points it needs to resolve for the final confrontation with Xehanort so it's not really the game for introducing new Final Fantasy characters. I'm not that mad. But I do want the Cloud vs Sephiroth sub-story to be cleared up before we go to the next saga.
I agree, there are just so many unanswered questions, that the focus should primarily be on the story. A returning Final Fantasy character does seem more plausible with this statement...
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
I'm almost positive he was talking about the fans. He knows whether the characters are gonna be ok or not. It's us he needs to worry about lol
I'm inclined to agree.
Possible translation nuances aside, in the text of the Gameinformer interview it is worded like Nomura considers the "Aqua reveal" small fry compared to what else KH III has in store story wise so he's surprised about the fanbase already nearly freaking out on this one and wonders if "everyone will be okay" when further revelations happen down the marketing phase or if the minds of the fans (and the internet) will explode with these additional revelations.
Going by how Nomura talks, I am pretty sure by now that KH III will take the "it is darkest before dawn" approach and while things in BBS, Days and DDD were bad/painful for a lot of the characters it will generally get worse in KH III at least for the mid-game/early late-game period.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
Is it bad that I am way more excited about the cooking mini game than all of Classic Kingdom? Cooking Mama is like...my jam.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
He didn't answer if Remy's mini game is taking place in Twilight Town.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
He didn't answer if Remy's mini game is taking place in Twilight Town.
I’m 95% sure he’s there. We know there’s a restaurant there and, with these comments, we know he’s somewhere early on so that we can bring back the ingredients we collect.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
FF characters were always a cute addition but not something extremely necessary for me to enjoy KH, so I'm fine with whatever they do with them.
The Remy thing is so cute! But yeah, I don't think many were surprised about Frozen being in lmao. I saw screenshots before the trailer, and my immediate reaction was 'oh, finally' more than anything.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
I think he thought Aqua getting Norted was more obvious than it actually was. To his credit once you know the reveal in hindsight I've found you can see evidence of this idea going all the way back to BBS.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
To his credit once you know the reveal in hindsight I've found you can see evidence of this idea going all the way back to BBS.
Could it be you're thinking among a similar line I did in another thread?
Yea no, Sora is more in the same category as Terra in terms that he's determined to resist and oppose Xehanort and therefore he had to resort to more elaborate schemes.
Speaking of elaborate efforts to incapacitate heroes directly opposing him, I realize that maybe Xehanort did this with Aqua as well, although in a more indirect approach by letting the Realm of Darkness itself doing "most of the work" with Xehanort himself only making sure to keep any help Aqua could get busy with other things until it will be too late.
Like the moment Xehanort knew Aqua is trapped in the RoD he decided to let its properties and effects slowly wear down Aqua's formidable defenses in order to strike when she's exhausted enough?
Using his other plans to keep everyone who could help her busy until her time spent in the RoD became too long?
It's a devious thing but something I can see Xehanort pulling off from the sidelines.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
I find it kinda funny Nomura is surprised Aquanort got a bigger reaction than the Frozen reveal. We all knew that movie was a shoo-in from the very beginning, so it's not like we'd be surprised to see it. I think even PotC got a bigger reaction since we weren't really expecting it.
Also, it's just human nature to react more to what's shown last, especially when it had a better buildup than "Oh look, Frozen is here."
I'm inclined to agree.
Possible translation nuances aside, in the text of the Gameinformer interview it is worded like Nomura considers the "Aqua reveal" small fry compared to what else KH III has in store story wise so he's surprised about the fanbase already nearly freaking out on this one and wonders if "everyone will be okay" when further revelations happen down the marketing phase or if the minds of the fans (and the internet) will explode with these additional revelations.
Going by how Nomura talks, I am pretty sure by now that KH III will take the "it is darkest before dawn" approach and while things in BBS, Days and DDD were bad/painful for a lot of the characters it will generally get worse in KH III at least for the mid-game/early late-game period.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
At least Final Fantasy character were not denied for this entry, cause if they were, Nomura would have gone on record to say so.
I'm predicting an obligatory Final Fantasy character for Olympus (Lightning), and hopefully the Radiant Garden and Twilight Town characters returning.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
Could it be you're thinking among a similar line I did in another thread?
Like the moment Xehanort knew Aqua is trapped in the RoD he decided to let its properties and effects slowly wear down Aqua's formidable defenses in order to strike when she's exhausted enough?
Using his other plans to keep everyone who could help her busy until her time spent in the RoD became too long?
It's a devious thing but something I can see Xehanort pulling off from the sidelines.
Actually no but that is good though, I meant more in....structure.
BBS is very heavy on how Aqua will never give into darkness, how Aqua will never fall to darkness, and as I've noticed more and more shades of Riku to her character it's hard to not see those scenes now as parallels to Riku in KH1. You know the game never like actively professes that Sora will never fall to darkness or use it, it never really makes a big deal of it but more you just assumes he won't because of how bright he is. Then Coded actually DID make a big deal on how Sora won't give into darkness, how he'll be fine no matter the pain, and literally the very next game Xehanort showed us he had a way to make Sora fall to darkness and it worked. Sora only escaped because he had all his friends there to help. BBS is handling with Aqua is similar to Sora and Riku's in that she was so certain she wouldn't be consumed by the darkness/ makes a big deal she won't fall to darkness, that it's what made her vulnerable.
Next there is the fact that BBS ever so lightly played with the idea that Aquanort could even be a thing granted we didn't KNOW it was Aquanort until it was confirmed Vanitas is half Xehanort. Extra granted it was because of Aqua's light that Vanitas was going to use her, but this was BBS subtly planting that idea in our head at all. If Vanitas had done his plan and used Aqua instead we would have had an Aquanort right there in BBS her light be damned. DDD basically existed to reinforce the the idea that no light not matter how strong is safe from Xehanort, it shakes the idea of safety by what it did to Sora.
Then there is a fact that it's established you need Aqua's memories to get to Ventus, that only she can reach him. Xehanort has for YEARS been trying to get to Ventus's body, the plot has been making a point of it pretty consistently. It brings it up so often that I think narratively it never felt like a matter of "if it will happen" but when it will happen. As soon as you establish that Aqua is the only one with the memories that can reach Ven then you basically are painting a big "Xehanort will be going after Aqua" sign. This doesn't necessarily mean he was going to nort her, there were other ways he could use her, but the fact is BBS made sure to establish a reason for Xehanort would suddenly target Aqua just by first showing us all the failed attempts to the find the room then establishing Aqua is the solution he needs.
However the most obvious hint and one that I was face palming myself for missing. There was always an argument on which MF fight was canon when it was confirmed that it was, and the Xehanort Official timeline in the KH Works implied very oddly that all 3 fights were canon. With the time travel rules that never made sense because it said there needs to be a version of yourself at both "source and destination" translation when you arrive in a time period for the first time it has to be one in which a version of yourself exists and also there needs to be a version of you AT that spot you first appear in. Young Xehanort was able to use Terra, Aqua, and Ventus all as entry points and for two of those you could argue it made sense. Terra isn't Xehanort at that moment but he's destined to become Xehanort, from say the perspective of KH1 you could easily argue Terra was a past version of Apprentice Xehanort not unlikely how Roxas's "true self" is stated to be a combination of Sora and Ventus. Likewise while Ventus to our knowledge isn't a Nort Vanitas very much is and he's half of Ventus, and if that doesn't count enough Ventus was briefly norted when Vanitas and Ventus fused to make Venitus represented very well by looking like Ventus but having Xehanort's eyes. Aqua was the only odd man out not having any conceivable moment in which she could be considered a version of Xehanort past or otherwise, until now it is. Now while the timing of the fight is still hard to figure out how it could have happened it IS possible for YX to have used any of TAV as his entry points.
On top of all this there is a lot of...weirdness surrounding Aqua. We have the obvious one like Xehanort spending years talking to her empty armor. DDD with Sora's memory of meeting Aqua, one second he's remembering meeting Aqua but the next Aqua fades away and in her place is AnsemSoD, before we can find out more the memory was forcibly ended. How the game insists that Sora would be the one to save Aqua even though that was looking less and less likely, despite the fact 0.2 basically doubled back down on it with its opening only to then say Riku and Mickey were going to. And finally the fact that 0.2 if you believe Nomura was originally intended to be part of KH3 which to me reads that 0.2 was originally meant to specifically set up Aqua's fall by establishing both Mickey's meeting and all the sudden focus on Aqua's emotional pain the game doesn't really resolve.
Also 0.2 was made using asset that were already planned for KH3 so while you could read that as Phantom Aqua was always planned....you could also start to think an Aquanort battle was planned and they just took that battle, changed the pallet to look like a normal Aqua, and then came up with an excuse for us to fight her that wouldn't make players wonder "why was there resources for an Aqua boss fight in KH3?" which I think is even more likely now that we saw Demon Tide is a boss fight in Twilight Town in KH3. (Also continues the vein of each game's main secret boss hinting at a new foe we'll fight, Julius as sort of an exception for now but I'm still convinced he will be explained because he clearly both had a vendetta and against Sora and Riku...and also an ominous red and black glow with a sound effect we never happened was seen/heard just before he comes out of the sewer...part of me wonder if it's connected to that weird red and black portal thing Mickey was in but I digress)
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
I've noticed that Nomura and someone else connected to the game has specifically said, "Aqua has fallen to darkness". Is being Norted really the equivalent to falling to darkness? I mean sure, falling to darkness can lead to being Norted obviously, but, I dunno. Why not explicitly say "Aqua succumbed to Xehanort" or something?
If Aqua is not norted, maybe the yellow eyes aren't unique to Xehanort after all? Back when we saw the first footage of young Xehanort and Eraqus playing chess, I noted that it didn't look like Xehanort's eyes were gold, or that gold was mixed in with brown. And we know from the Xehanort reports that Xehanort purposely exposed himself to the darkness at some points during his life.
Could the golden eyes and possibly pointy ears actually be a sign of darkness and not just Xehanort? This would totally explain Braig's transformation by the end of Birth by Sleep because I'm pretty sure Braig was NOT norted yet when he and Aqua fought and yet he had golden eyes (and possibly pointy ears, I don't remember)
But I thought Nomura explicitly said the eyes and ears were unique to Xehanort, or maybe I'm misremembering.
We had Ansem the wise with yellow eye
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
Oh Nomura, underestimating our love of Aqua like always. Of course she'd be more shocking than Frozen. We knew Frozen was going to be in KH3 the second it made over a billion dollars.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
Oh Nomura, underestimating our love of Aqua like always. Of course she'd be more shocking than Frozen. We knew Frozen was going to be in KH3 the second it made over a billion dollars.
Luckily every other pick has been surprising on some level.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
If it would have been in 2014 it's possible reactions would had been more towards Frozen, but c'mon Nomura. Original Kingdom Hearts characters are like family for fans. Of course they come first.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua‘s Reveal
im more curiiose about other characthers that we might plays also how we get the famitsu stuff?
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua’s Reveal
the most surprising thing about aqua is we didn't think she would fall so easily to the darkness; so hes right about that. Although, she was struggling emotionally in 0.2 but Ansem the wise restored her faith, 11 years after BBS. so what changed drastically between DDD and KH3 for her to fall and with this, Nourma sort of confirmed thats really Aqua. I think we are missing some context.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua’s Reveal
the most surprising thing about aqua is we didn't think she would fall so easily to the darkness; so hes right about that. Although, she was struggling emotionally in 0.2 but Ansem the wise restored her faith, 11 years after BBS. so what changed drastically between DDD and KH3 for her to fall and with this, Nourma sort of confirmed thats really Aqua. I think we are missing some context.
Easily?
The events of BBS itself and an unhealthy long amount spending time trapped in the Realm of Darkness have over time slowly eroded the formidable defenses of Aqua's heart.
Add on top of that in 0.2 she is given several short bouts of hope that are cruelly taken away or crushed a few minutes later, i.e. finally meeting the "real" Terra who managed to project an image to her and a "real" Ventus, who despite being incapacitated subconsciously reached out to her, yet moments later she learns that nothing changed for the better since she fell into the RoD. Ventus is still comatose and hasn't healed yet and even worse, Terra informs her that Xehanort is again after Ventus shortly before Xehanort takes over Terra and thus reveals not only that she right now revealed important info to him in regards to Ven, no she also has to realize that her sacrifice at the end of BBS which made her fall into the RoD in the first place to save Terra was in vain.
He's still trapped in Darkness and tied to Xehanort while Ven is still in danger.
The next hope spot comes when she meets Mickey (who according to the dialogue was led to her indirectly by Terra and Ven) but that too gets crushed when after finding the Kingdom Key D and fighting to shield Riku she ends up trapped again.
Sure, in the very end she gives a brave speech about how she will make the best of the current situation, but that doesn't mean she's not worn down and very exhausted from everything.
When she meets Ansem the Wise in Blank Points she's rather somber and again gets no positive news in regards to Terra and Ven, on the contrary she gets told that the worlds already nearly fell to Darkness more than once and it is only the mention of Sora and what he has done so far that lights up another spark of hope inside her.
That's around the time of Re: Coded, DDD happens afterwards and while I agree we're missing several bouts of context Aqua certainly didn't "easily" fall to the Darkness.
On the contrary it is admirable how long she managed to hang on and resist, but even the strongest hearts have their limits and when one takes a closer look her experiences aren't too different from the whole ordeal Sora was put through in DDD.
I'll drop a quote here that fits this case as well as many others of the original characters:
"The higher up it is dropped, the worse the crash will be. Hope is the best spice to bring out despair."
This applied with enough time and perseverance will eventually break everyone, no matter how strong.
And if Xehanort is anything he's patient and perseverant.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua’s Reveal
I remembered this scene earlier today and it makes me think Nomura really did plan for Aqua to fall the entire time. And the way Mickey brushes off her concern, this was all leading to his development too. There's no way Aqua isn't about to rip into Mickey for 'abandoning' her or blame him for everything thanks to the darkness twisting her feelings
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua’s Reveal
I remembered this scene earlier today and it makes me think Nomura really did plan for Aqua to fall the entire time. And the way Mickey brushes off her concern, this was all leading to his development too. There's no way Aqua isn't about to rip into Mickey for 'abandoning' her or blame him for everything thanks to the darkness twisting her feelings
Ugh, this reminds me somewhat of Riku in KH 1 when Maleficent manipulated him into thinking that Sora abandoned him (and Kairi) and just replaced them with Donald and Goofy.
With Aqua having reached her breaking point and her judgement clouded by Darkness, she could be having a similar view now about Mickey replacing her, Terra and Ven with Riku and Sora, not coming to their aid because he has new allies.
If she's not completely under Xehanort's control and has some of her own agency left (Hey, Braig too can do some things of his own as can Vanitas) she might even still be interested in protecting Ven, possibly outright attacking Sora because in her Darkness-clouded view she believes Sora is holding Ventus prisoner just like Xehanort is holding Terra and her.
When seeing those scenes again though I can't help but facepalm. I and most other people know that Mickey is a caring person and the scenes that show how guilty he feels for not being able to save TAV (both in BBS credits and DDD) prove that he cares a great deal for them, but holy Chirithy does Mickey suck at comforting distraught people.
He may intend this sentence as uplifting and showing his unwavering trust in Aqua (like he also did in CoM with Riku), but doesn't realize that in this case it might not be enough.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua’s Reveal
I remembered this scene earlier today and it makes me think Nomura really did plan for Aqua to fall the entire time. And the way Mickey brushes off her concern, this was all leading to his development too. There's no way Aqua isn't about to rip into Mickey for 'abandoning' her or blame him for everything thanks to the darkness twisting her feelings
Wow.
I think I'm going to replay 0.2 tonight.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua’s Reveal
When seeing those scenes again though I can't help but facepalm. I and most other people know that Mickey is a caring person and the scenes that show how guilty he feels for not being able to save TAV (both in BBS credits and DDD) prove that he cares a great deal for them, but holy Chirithy does Mickey suck at comforting distraught people.
Yet another Idiot Ball moment that benefits Team Darkness and/or screws over Team Light.
Yen Sid: "Xehanort is a devious tactician. There is nothing we can do that he will not, to some extent, be able to predict."
Me: "Well, no wonder! He seems to be the only one around with a 3-digit IQ."
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua’s Reveal
If she's not completely under Xehanort's control and has some of her own agency left (Hey, Braig too can do some things of his own as can Vanitas) she might even still be interested in protecting Ven, possibly outright attacking Sora because in her Darkness-clouded view she believes Sora is holding Ventus prisoner just like Xehanort is holding Terra and her.
Oh my gosh, I've been wondering what her reaction to Sora would be all day. Would she mistake him for Ven and stalk him? Would she realize he was Sora and blame him too? But her viewing him as a prison would be an interesting take... but would she really? She was told Sora would be the one to save them all. Maybe she would view him as 'unworthy' instead?
When seeing those scenes again though I can't help but facepalm. I and most other people know that Mickey is a caring person and the scenes that show how guilty he feels for not being able to save TAV (both in BBS credits and DDD) prove that he cares a great deal for them, but holy Chirithy does Mickey suck at comforting distraught people.
He may intend this sentence as uplifting and showing his unwavering trust in Aqua (like he also did in CoM with Riku), but doesn't realize that in this case it might not be enough.
It's so obvious with the way she pauses before she answers, "Right." Mickey doesn't understand and Aqua is trying not to dwell on her sadness either, so they both ignore the big issue. Aqua, no matter how much she insists she'll keep strong and keep fighting, is slowly succumbing to the darkness. She is SO depressed when Mickey finds her, she was already on the edge.
Looking back at Blank Points too, it makes total sense that she's crying. She's way worse off than we thought. Maybe when she asked about Terra and Ven, she had the smallest hope that Mickey would have done something about it now that the worlds were saved. Who knows.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua’s Reveal
Yet another Idiot Ball moment that benefits Team Darkness and/or screws over Team Light.
Yen Sid: "Xehanort is a devious tactician. There is nothing we can do that he will not, to some extent, be able to predict."
Me: "Well, no wonder! He seems to be the only one around with a 3-digit IQ."
I wouldn't call that an idiot ball just yet as it may be just one of Mickey's general character flaws/ a trait of his character.
People who suck at comforting others despite caring very much do exist in the real world after all.
Furthermore, not everyone is capable of detecting the signs of mental and/or emotional trauma.
Oh my gosh, I've been wondering what her reaction to Sora would be all day. Would she mistake him for Ven and stalk him? Would she realize he was Sora and blame him too? But her viewing him as a prison would be an interesting take... but would she really? She was told Sora would be the one to save them all. Maybe she would view him as 'unworthy' instead?
It's so obvious with the way she pauses before she answers, "Right." Mickey doesn't understand and Aqua is trying not to dwell on her sadness either, so they both ignore the big issue. Aqua, no matter how much she insists she'll keep strong and keep fighting, is slowly succumbing to the darkness. She is SO depressed when Mickey finds her, she was already on the edge.
Looking back at Blank Points too, it makes total sense that she's crying. She's way worse off than we thought. Maybe when she asked about Terra and Ven, she had the smallest hope that Mickey would have done something about it now that the worlds were saved. Who knows.
It really depends on how much exactly her views have already been warped and if he's involved how much Xehanort already managed to manipulate her.
If she still believes in Sora she might even not attack him at all but possibly implore him to protect Ventus because she cannot do it anymore with Darkness and/or Xehanort clinging to her like a heavy flu, holding still out the hope that Sora and his friends can still solve the Xehanort problem once and for all.
If she does however see Sora mostly as part of Mickey's/Yen Sid's group who in her current view point took too long/abandoned her and by extension Ven and Terra, she might get the wrong idea about Sora harboring Ven's heart (in the BBS finale of her story Vanitas claimed "Ventus' heart is a part of mine now" and Aqua was royally pissed about that) and in that case I'd wager only Ventus projecting himself from Sora and clearing things up could prevent a violent outcome.
Worst case would be of course if in such a confrontation between her and Sora Xehanort takes direct control and forces Aqua to use her own Keyblade Master powers to extract Ven's heart from within Sora, capturing Ven this way and possibly weakening or incapacitating Sora.
Bonus drama points if while Ven is forcibly dragged away by a struggling Aqua Vanitas shows up to finish the job and kill Sora, with Young Xehanort standing in the background with his usual Trollanort behaviour.
It is somewhat a pity that Mickey so completely overlooks the indicators, although it might be explained by the stress he has already on his plate from the plot of KH 1 with countless worlds being destroyed.
He might also be convinced that now that he found Aqua they will stay together and eventually leave the RoD together, that they would be separated again wasn't Mickey's intent nor could he predict that.
Yea, mental and emotional wounds cannot be easily pinpointed if body language, voice and expression do not make it pretty obvious.
With Aqua it is now also again splintered over several media of the KH series, but if one puts everything that happened, from BBS itself over the Secret Episode, 0.2 and Blank Points together, it becomes feasible as to why Aqua might have become vulnerable enough to finally fall (either from her own depression or from a last final push from Xehanort who could have possibly waited for just the right moment).
She has resisted and stayed strong for very long, as even in the RoD where time is much slower than in the RoL at least several weeks of not months passed, but as her statement in the trailer insinuated, Mickey and associated allies simply took too long.
Aqua had not enough defensive reserves left to last the final stretch of time until Mickey and Riku finally find her.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Since a vessel's own agency was brought into the discussion with comparison between the Aquanort and Braig/Vanitas, I take the occasion to picth a thing I was thinking about : perhaps there are "degrees" to the Nortification.
As of now, only a few of vessels have grey hair:
- Young, for natural reasons
- Terranort
- Ansem and Xemnas, because they come from Terranort
- if a vessel, Aquanort
Some will also say Xigbar has partial grey hair but hear me out. Basically the only full-grey without proper explanation would be Terranort and Aquanort.
I was thinking back to DDD when Old Xehanort takes control of Young, and his eyes glow when that happens, and that got me thinking that if he perchance didn't have yellow eyes already maybe that's when he would've gotten them (I was discussing Marluxia with my friends before the new trailer dropped)
That got me thinking: Terranort is the only one who isn't just a vessel with a piece of Xehanort, but carried Xehanort's entire "self", unlike Braig or Vanitas.
What if grey hair is like the second tier, and you need not only a piece of Xehanort's heart, but his entire self? And maybe this counts for possession as well. Nomura did say Xehanort can freely possess any vessel, maybe he will pull that trick in KH III and when he does the vessel will also get grey hair on top of the yellow eyes.
And regardin Xigbar's stray grey lines... maybe that's just him aging and is a red herring. After all, doesn't seem like the "greyfication" happens overtime, you either get it or not.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Oh my gosh, I've been wondering what her reaction to Sora would be all day. Would she mistake him for Ven and stalk him? Would she realize he was Sora and blame him too? But her viewing him as a prison would be an interesting take... but would she really? She was told Sora would be the one to save them all. Maybe she would view him as 'unworthy' instead?
It's so obvious with the way she pauses before she answers, "Right." Mickey doesn't understand and Aqua is trying not to dwell on her sadness either, so they both ignore the big issue. Aqua, no matter how much she insists she'll keep strong and keep fighting, is slowly succumbing to the darkness. She is SO depressed when Mickey finds her, she was already on the edge.
Looking back at Blank Points too, it makes total sense that she's crying. She's way worse off than we thought. Maybe when she asked about Terra and Ven, she had the smallest hope that Mickey would have done something about it now that the worlds were saved. Who knows.
Eh, it would be a reach to suddenly claim her tears in Blank Points are of sadness or disappointment. She clearly smiles as she exclaims Sora's name in a hopeful manner. Unless you think she was just acting? I don't see why she would since she doesn't even know Ansem though.
Like she was disappointed initially about Terra and Ven but the conversation continues before she starts crying.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Eh, it would be a reach to suddenly claim her tears in Blank Points are sadness or disappointment. She clearly smiles as she exclaims Sora's name in a hopeful manner. Unless you think she was just acting? I don't see why she would since she doesn't even know Ansem though.
Like she was disappointed initially about Terra and Ven but the conversation continues before she starts crying.
That's not what I was implying. It makes sense for her to become so emotional upon hearing Sora's name or the hope that she really will be 'saved'. Or that Sora will save everyone else.
At that point, Aqua's hope had probably dwindled to nothing. I mean look at her, she finds a random old man in the darkness and is eager to have a conversation with him. When Ansem tells her the boy's name isn't Terra or Ven, she just deflates and goes silent until Ansem speaks again.
If at the time she met Ansem, she believed she was too far gone or close to falling to darkness... it'd be interesting if she cried knowing she would fall and eventually be saved by Sora. "Even if the worst happens to me, at least it's not permanent. I have one last hope."
(that part about Mickey and asking about Terra and Ven was a disjointed unrelated thought that I didn't separate into its own paragraph)
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
That's not what I was implying. It makes sense for her to become so emotional upon hearing Sora's name or the hope that she really will be 'saved'. Or that Sora will save everyone else.
At that point, Aqua's hope had probably dwindled to nothing. I mean look at her, she finds a random old man in the darkness and is eager to have a conversation with him. When Ansem tells her the boy's name isn't Terra or Ven, she just deflates and goes silent until Ansem speaks again.
If at the time she met Ansem, she believed she was too far gone or close to falling to darkness... it'd be interesting if she cried knowing she would fall and eventually be saved by Sora. "Even if the worst happens to me, at least it's not permanent. I have one last hope."
(that part about Mickey and asking about Terra and Ven was a disjointed unrelated thought that I didn't separate into its own paragraph)
Ohh I see, that makes way more sense to me then, I getcha.
Re: Nomura talks Final Fantasy characters, Cooking with Remy, Aqua�s Reveal
Oh my god it all makes sense now. But first: of course the "surprise" of Frozen wasn't as big as expected because everyone was expecting it already. ANYWAYS [possible spoilers] It's jsut a theory but what if Aqua is now possessed by Xehanort so he could gain knowledge and access the room that Ventus is in.
Leaferian
June 13, 2018 @ 03:10 amOffline