No KH3 at E3 2014

[Aulayna]

As mentioned in our E3 preview article, Shinji Hashimoto has confirmed that KH3 will be a no show at E3 this year.

http://home.eyesonff.com/content.php/3126-E3-2014-What-Can-We-Expect

[Freya]

I refuse to believe this :(


It'll be there.


It will. :(

Please.

[Formalhaut]

What else are they working on that is preventing them from working on Kingdom Hearts 3?

I'd say it's a bad move. Kingdom Hearts has had so many 'spinoffs' (I know they're important to the storyline and all, but they aren't a numbered entry) that they need to refocus everything that's happened since Kingdom Hearts II, and just consolidate the story.

The multiple games passed out since Kingdom Hearts II, I'm sure, are great (not that I can play most of them...) but seriously, Kingdom Hearts III just needs to be released as soon as it's polished up.

[Shauna]

What else are they working on that is preventing them from working on Kingdom Hearts 3?

Final Fantasy XV.


But seriously, sadface. :(

[Formalhaut]

What else are they working on that is preventing them from working on Kingdom Hearts 3?

Final Fantasy XV.

But seriously, sadface. :(

It's now turning into a situation where there's two 'larger' gentlemen trying to walk through the same door at the same time. They get stuck, and are squeezed in the narrow doorway, slowing them both down.

This is basically what I think has happened.

[Fynn]

They're gonna probably give us more on II.5 HD reMIX, though.

[Ouch!]

It's now turning into a situation where there's two 'larger' gentlemen trying to walk through the same door at the same time. They get stuck, and are squeezed in the narrow doorway, slowing them both down.

This is basically what I think has happened.

Except that development of Kingdom Hearts III has been going on for only slightly more than a year at best. For that analogy to make since, Kingdom Hearts III would have needed to be in development since around 2006 when Final Fantasy Versus XIII was first announced, but that's apparently not the case. Nomura commented (I believe it was in a Famitsu article) that he thought announcing KH3 last year was too soon because they've only just started the development process (notable with the Osaka team responsible for Birth by Sleep, which I think is a good thing).

As for consolidating the story, polishing KH3, and pushing it out the door, I think you're severely overestimating exactly where we are in Kingdom Heart III's development cycle and also severely underestimating how important most games are to the series's narrative. With the exception of Re:Coded, every "spin-off" title on the various handheld consoles are crucially important.

This isn't going to be like Kingdom Hearts II where you can go in without having played Chain of Memories. There is no mechanism through which Sora has forgotten what happened so you can be just as confused as he is as you go along. While Re:Coded itself is virtually useless to the story, it informed major characters about some of the events of Birth by Sleep and 358/2 Days. They've put themselves in a position where they can't just pretend these games didn't happen for those who haven't played them. This is why we're getting the re-releases for PS3 bringing all of the disparate handheld games onto a single platform (with the exception of Dream, Drop, Distance, which itself is hugely important).

The series doesn't make sense only because they've put some maybe important pieces of the plot on so many different devices, and if you haven't been able to play all of them, it's very difficult to make sense of the greater whole. Hopefully Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and Kingdom Hearts 2.5 can help bridge that gap before KH3 comes out, but we need to be realistic--we're not getting it any time soon, even if they have moved to a new development team and are no longer waiting on the core team that developed KH1 and KH2 to finish FFXV.

[maybee]

I really don't think that KH 3 & FF XV are really going to come out till 2016 or 2017 at best.


Hoping for 2016 because it would have a strange 10 year anniversary thing.

[Formalhaut]

It's now turning into a situation where there's two 'larger' gentlemen trying to walk through the same door at the same time. They get stuck, and are squeezed in the narrow doorway, slowing them both down.

This is basically what I think has happened.

Except that development of Kingdom Hearts III has been going on for only slightly more than a year at best. For that analogy to make since, Kingdom Hearts III would have needed to be in development since around 2006 when Final Fantasy Versus XIII was first announced, but that's apparently not the case. Nomura commented (I believe it was in a Famitsu article) that he thought announcing KH3 last year was too soon because they've only just started the development process (notable with the Osaka team responsible for Birth by Sleep, which I think is a good thing).

As for consolidating the story, polishing KH3, and pushing it out the door, I think you're severely overestimating exactly where we are in Kingdom Heart III's development cycle and also severely underestimating how important most games are to the series's narrative. With the exception of Re:Coded, every "spin-off" title on the various handheld consoles are crucially important.

This isn't going to be like Kingdom Hearts II where you can go in without having played Chain of Memories. There is no mechanism through which Sora has forgotten what happened so you can be just as confused as he is as you go along. While Re:Coded itself is virtually useless to the story, it informed major characters about some of the events of Birth by Sleep and 358/2 Days. They've put themselves in a position where they can't just pretend these games didn't happen for those who haven't played them. This is why we're getting the re-releases for PS3 bringing all of the disparate handheld games onto a single platform (with the exception of Dream, Drop, Distance, which itself is hugely important).

The series doesn't make sense only because they've put some maybe important pieces of the plot on so many different devices, and if you haven't been able to play all of them, it's very difficult to make sense of the greater whole. Hopefully Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and Kingdom Hearts 2.5 can help bridge that gap before KH3 comes out, but we need to be realistic--we're not getting it any time soon, even if they have moved to a new development team and are no longer waiting on the core team that developed KH1 and KH2 to finish FFXV.

They've shot themselves in the foot with the multiple platform strategy. They basically HAVE to release the 1.5 and 2.5 games so fans who don't own every console can catch up.

[Ouch!]

I don't really know if "shot themselves in the foot" accurately describes what they've done, given that they seem to have made a shit load of money on the strategy.

[Formalhaut]

Financially, they stand to gain alot, purely because they've released so many games to the series that they're going to be making money on them, let alone the 1.5 and 2.5 and 3.14159 games as well.

Financially, definitely they're going to make a killing. Having said that, the multi-platform strategy can risk alienating fans (like myself!) who either can't afford all the consoles, or think these handheld games are merely spin-offs and not a numbered entry, therefore don't bother (I know they're crucially important to the story, personally).

1.5 and 2.5 are compromises, yes. I just can't help but feel slightly put out by the whole thing honestly.

[Sephiroth]

I am waiting for this longer than Final Fantasy XV. And I am a bit sad that none of both apparently is shown.

[Freya]

The clip shown at Sony was from dream drop....


So... Are we about to hear about an HD dream drop?

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Dream Drop Distance is the only one that will be unavailable on the PS3, so it would make some sense to give that a release there too. It's pretty important in leading up to KHIII. I kind of doubt that will happen though (but I didn't see any of the E3 conference stuff so I really have nothing to go off of.)

[Shauna]

Well, might have been no KH3 but... http://kotaku.com/this-is-the-intro-to-kingdom-hearts-iii-1589443754?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

[Wolf Kanno]

The big thing to understand is that KHIII is a long way off. It is good that SE is releasing the HD Remixs though it screws fans of the other two consoles but who knows, they might (not likely) get ports down the road as we get closer to KHIII being a reality.