Kingdom Hearts III Featured in Famitsu Weekly (Updated)

Kingdom Hearts III

The latest release of Famitsu Weekly has covered all the fantastic news that was announced at E3 2013 including the long awaited announcement of Kingdom Hearts III.

Famitsu was able to interview Tetsuya Nomura again and some of the details that were mentioned was that first nothing has been decided if Riku or Kairi will be playable characters and that Kingdom Hearts III was the end of the Xehanort Saga. Nomura also again touched on the Kingdom Shaders that his team are planning to use to give a more Disney look with each world.

Nomura has also stated that more Kingdom Hearts III information will appear at Tokyo Game Show in September and Japan’s D23 Expo in October.

So this is finally it. The news we’ve been waiting for is starting to finally come in!

UPDATE: Zephy from KHInsider has translated more information from the article:

・Director: Tetsuya Nomura
・Co Director: Tai Yasue
・Composer: Yoko Shimomura
・Producer: Rie Nishi

・In the story, Sora goes off to find a “key that returns hearts” and travels to various Disney worlds.
・The CG characters that were introduced are: Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

Q & A from Director Tetsuya Nomura

・It is a direct continuation from KINGDOM HEARTS 3D and the selection of new worlds is underway. It is the final battle between Master Xehanort in the last chapter of the Seeker of Darkness saga.

・Other than Sora, will we be able to play as Riku and Kairi?: I can’t say no to the possibility.

・Visuals: We continued to explore on how should a next generation KINGDOM HEARTS should look like and we tried to make the textures to closely resemble those of Disney illustrations. From there, it was updated.

・From numerous attempts by Mr. Nozue, the “KINGDOM SHADER” developed visuals that created those textures.

・Action: In the demo, the moments were a lot more rampant. There will be more adventurous experiences, KINGDOM HEARTS III will utilize three party members, in every world NPCs can also participate in these flashy battles. As one progresses, the AI for friends and foes become different.

・Sora learned the Keyblade’s truer strength during the Mark of Mastery Exam.

・The development team of FINAL FANTASY XV and KINGDOM HEARTS III have a friendly competition between each other. There is also a response to a sneak preview, online compatibility is being considered and please wait for more information in the future. This year, TGS in September and also D23 Expo Japan will be revealing more information.

Update 2: Thanks to ArikaMiz, we have an image from Famitsu Magazine showing Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s KH3 renders:

Source: aibo_ac7, KHInsder, Sokubou @ Hokanko, ArikaMiz