“True Nature” of Kingdom Hearts 3 Still to Come, ‘Attraction Flow’ a Major Part of the Game

Yesterday at the Square Enix E3 2015 press conference, we were given a new look at Kingdom Hearts 3 gameplay, along with the confirmation that a world based on Tangled will be in the game.

Following this, Game Director Tetsuya Nomura went on the Square Enix Blog to post this message:

After we announced Kingdom Hearts III, we went through some redesigning associated with the change in the game engine. Since we were prioritizing those tasks, we were not able to reveal much new information, but this time, we premiered footage that shows the game in action on the new engine.

Calling the gameplay video a “snippet,” he believes we can get a “glimpse of all the challenges that the development team is taking on.” While they leaned toward the flashiest of scenes due to the time constraint at the conference, he hopes you can get a sense that the new world of Kingdom Hearts is something you can enjoy, not only in the battles, but also when you’re exploring the map.

He adds, “That being said, the true nature of Kingdom Hearts III is still to come, so please stay tuned for further information.”

Nomura and Co-Director Tai Yasue were also interviewed on Square Enix Presents at E3. For Kingdom Hearts 3, Yasue revealed that the Keyblade taking onmany forms will be a major element in the game:

In one of the first meetings with Nomura, we talked about the first transformation of the Keyblade. And we wanted to incorporate a system where they Keyblade transforms in real-time to form another weapon. For example, there’s the double bow gun where you’re shooting arrows, as well as the magic blaster, where you’re shooting blasts of magic. You have one Keyblade, but different forms it can take. And that’s one of the major elements that are going to be featured in Kingdom Hearts III.

Aside from the Tangled world, you’ll see other Disney worlds in the game, which are “going to be primarily newer areas that may have not been experienced before.” We should hear about the next world very soon.

As for Sora’s new costume design, it’s a mid-point between Kingdom Hearts 2 and Dream Drop Distance. Since this is the first proper numbered title in some time, Nomura “did have the desire to change it,” and the staff members further pushed him to change it.

This new outfit is also sleeker because, “as you may have seen in the trailer, Sora does a lot more movements, more acrobatic movements, more action-oriented movements, so we wanted to make sure that it is a sporty fit and that he can move comfortably.”

Yasua then talked about the Disney attraction attacks:

A major part of the gameplay, as you have seen, is what we call the ‘Attraction Flow.’ These are basically like rides. You see the spinning teacups, or the roller coaster, or the viking ship. We wanted to bring out the sense of thrill and excitement of riding these different theme park attractions. At one point, we had the camera angle so that you’re in the perspective of Sora, so that you’re spinning around in the teacup, but the camera movement was just too severe that some of our testers got a little motion sickness from that, so we’ve made adjustments there. But we definitely want to recreate that excitement and fun of the theme park. Hopefully we can incorporate many different types of attractions so that it’s as if you’ve through all of the rides in the theme park.

Nomura is hoping to reveal more Kingdom Hearts 3 information at D23 in November, adding that there was “plenty of material that we couldn’t bring today. So hopefully we will be able to share it with the fans that are waiting for more new information.”

[Source: Square Enix Presents (skip to 5:20:20), Square Enix Blog via Gematsu]