February is an exciting time for Kingdom Hearts and Xbox. Not only is the Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind DLC launching tomorrow, but earlier this month Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue released digitally on Xbox for the first time ever.
To commemorate these releases, Square Enix sat down with Kingdom
Hearts III Director Tetsuya Nomura and Co-director Tai Yasue, to discuss
what fans can expect in the DLC. From new possibilities to customize your
gameplay experience to heart-crushingly difficult boss fights, read on below
for all the details.
Square Enix: You’ve added the Premium Menu in the Re Mind
DLC; can you tell us how to best use this feature? Additionally, EZ Codes
aside, what was the intention behind preparing Pro Codes, which put yourself at
a disadvantage?
Tai Yasue: The Premium Menu is a function that allows
you to customize various game settings in the Camp Menu, and you can select
either EZ Codes or Pro Codes immediately after you start a new game.
EZ Codes are settings geared towards people who want to move
right along in the game and includes things like Auto-Guard (automatic guard).
Pro Codes include settings for people who want to enjoy the game at a high
difficulty level and includes things like HP Slip (HP decreases at regular
intervals of time). Additionally, EZ Codes and Pro Codes have specific
achievements, and by changing settings to make new adjustments, you can aim
toward obtaining these achievements.
Among the EZ Code achievements, we’ve prepared some curve
balls like one where you must get all the way from the top of Rapunzel’s tower
to the Kingdom of Corona without setting foot on the ground very much.
SE: Are the Real Organization XIII members that appear during the main game and the Real Organization XIII members that appear as the Limit Cut bosses different? Or, are they strengthened versions? Which boss puts up a particularly tough fight?
Tai Yasue: They
are completely different. We created everything anew, including AI and action.
There are characters
that you must have good defense to beat, characters that you must have good
offense to beat, characters whose movements are just so difficult to read –
they all have different strengths and ways to enjoy them, so the characters
that are tough to beat differ depending on the person. However, Xion and Master
Xehanort are stronger compared to others.
In fact, after beating
them, my hands kept shaking for about 15 minutes – the nervousness and feeling
of accomplishment is ridiculous.
SE: To you, what is the highlight of the Limit Cut
bosses? Which character do you want players to keep an eye out for?
Tetsuya Nomura: I had already decided that the Limit
Cut boss lineup would be comprised of the members of Real Organization XIII,
but as the development progressed, I started to feel conflicted as whether to
keep Xion as one of the bosses or not.
However, by the time I mentioned my intentions of possibly
removing Xion to Mr. Yasue, she was already in development. With this
background in mind, I’d like the players to experience their own inner turmoil
when they take on Xion. She’s quite a tough boss to beat!
SE: While we’re on the subject of boss fights, did the
“Secret Boss” that Nomura-san requested to be “So strong that it makes you cry”
actually turn out to be so strong that it makes you cry?
Tai Yasue: We took a survey of developers and testers
who had beat the past secret bosses in the Kingdom Hearts series thus far, and
we received feedback that it is “so strong that it makes you cry.” Its number
of attack patterns is particularly high – it’s a secret boss that takes time to
figure out how to get past.
However, as was the case for The Real Organization XIII in
the Limitcut, there is a way to get past all of the character’s movements, so
its strength isn’t unreasonable, and you can win without sustaining any damage
if you have a perfect playthrough.
SE: Can you share any additional details regarding the
Secret Boss and Episode?
Tetsuya Nomura: I put my ideas of how the Secret Boss
and Episode will lead the way for the next installment into it, although it is
probably not possible to work out what that will be from the details that have
already been released, even though it might just look like you can.
Additionally, some of the battle construction itself was quite different to
what I ordered. I was surprised, and so decided to go down this route this time
around.
SE: Finally, is there anything you’d like to say to the
fans?
Tai Yasue: The DLC has been expanded in all its
facets, including battles, story, and system. Its contents are made to allow an
even deeper enjoyment of Kingdom Hearts III.
We’ve prepared a wide array of contents for many different
tastes – Re Mind for those who want to enjoy the story and new
controllable characters, Data Greeting and Slideshow features for the creative,
the Limitcut Real Organization XIII for those who want to challenge themselves
to a formidable foe, and orchestra video for those who want to experience a
beautiful world of music and images. We hope you give it a try!
Tetsuya Nomura: After work on Kingdom Hearts III
finished, several things happened and there was some internal restructuring, so
I am very sorry to have kept everyone waiting longer than initially expected.
In Re Mind we have been proactive in adding in new
elements that give players enjoyment from playing around and exercising their
creativity. It is easy to be drawn to the story, but most of the time spent
developing this expansion was focused on adding the new battles and mechanics
changes.
We hope players really enjoy these kinds of merciless
challenges that you can only really do as DLC. We also greatly expanded the
sharing features of Kingdom Hearts III, unlocking pretty much
everything. Yasue has been saying that he wants to see everyone’s secret battle
videos, so we have opened that up as far as we can too. See if you can take
these fearsome foes down!
Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind launches February 25 on Xbox One. Have fun!
KINGDOM HEARTS Ⅲ Re Mind
SQUARE ENIX
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