Gino DiGioia
Full Details from Kingdom Hearts III Premiere Event
Like, I have as much as I could get. I didn't even go, either.
05.18.18 - 8:38 PM

Well, today has been a fun day: Square Enix hosted an invite-only special presentation for Kingdom Hearts III. This presentation showed the first global demo for the game, featuring the Toy Story and Hercules worlds. This article will feature all of the info released since this morning regarding the event. Let's get to it.

Special mention and credit goes to KH13 and KHInsider as the info we collected came from their efforts and Twitter accounts.

New Summons and Keys

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Kingdom Hearts III is taking the summon game to the next level. We already saw Ariel, but now we have the burly Wreck-It Ralph from.... Wreck-It Ralph. When summoned, Ralph helps Sora build constructs and destroys them to wreck enemies using his summon Link, "8-bit Blast." More info about Ariel was also mentioned: she uses fountains of water to help Sora attack. Her Link is called "Lagoon Showtime."

The below footage shows gameplay in the Toy Story World, also known as Toy Box and features Ralph towards the end. (Despite the Japanese title, the footage is in English.)

I mentioned keys, didn't I? Well, the names for the different Keyblades were also included for the three new Disney worlds.

  • Toy Story: Infinity Badge

  • Tangled: Ever After

  • Monster's Inc. Smile Gear

As previously revealed, Keyblades in this game can transform and become uber powerful. Well, today it was also revealed that you can use up to three Keyblades in battle and switch between them on the fly using the D-Pad, even in mid-transformation.

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Toy Box, A Giant Arena of Fun

The Toy Story world, also known as Toy Box, was at the center stage during today's presentation. Not only did we get footage, but also story details, world exploration details, and a bunch of side things. Paragraph form is boring, so let's do the bulleted version.

  • Toy Box was shown to have two major areas: Andy's House and surrounding areas, and Galaxy Toys.

  • Galaxy Toys is a three-floor behemoth that is as big as a mall with each floor being fully explorable, even the air ducts.

  • There is an area transition between both areas.

  • Dialogue outside of cutscenes are shown to be close-up shots with the NPC saying a voiced line without a textbox.

  • Rex, the green dinosaur, is sure that Sora is a character called Yozora from a game he plays. He grinded Yozora to lvl 47 but still can't beat Bahamut.

  • Fun Fact: Yozora is Japanese for "Night Sky" which is the same translation for Noctis Caelum from Final Fantasy XV. Wonder if Rex is playing the Comrades expansion?

  • Dissidia Final Fantasy NT summon figurines are shown in Galaxy Toys. They include Ifrit, Odin, Ramuh, Leviathan, and Alexander.

  • If Sora runs on a record player in Galaxy Toys, he can have the Frog Orchestra play music.

  • Helium tanks are found in the game, if you don't move away fast enough, Sora's voice gets squeaky.

That's not all, as we have story details too. Spoilers for the game, of course.

Andy and the other toys were captured by Young Xehanort and forced into an alternate world. Young Xehanort has invaded Toy Box and reveals that he has split the world in two to better understand how Hearts work. Upon arriving at Galaxy Toys, Young Xehanort somehow turns toys to life, and of course they are evil toys. Hamm is eventually kidnapped by a possessed Doll and there is a quest line to defeat the doll to rescue Hamm. It seems rescuing Andy and the other toys from the alternate world will prove to be a more difficult task than first expected.

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Nomura and Yasue Reveal All

Ok, well, not all. But Famitsu sat down with Director Tetsuya Nomura and Co-Director Tai Yasue to discuss the game and recent details. Here is the highlights of the interview:

  • KH3's main theme will be "resolution" as this will be the final game of the Xehanort saga.

  • The game will have the normal amount of serious moments as previous games, though the tension leading to the final battle will be present throughout the game. The ending in particular will be surprising.

  • Each world adopts new features. Olympus Colosseum uses its wide mountains to allow for immense flowmotion, like running up cliffs. Toy Box allows for controlling robots and interacting with the different toys in the area.

  • The Classic Kingdom, the 8-bit minigames shown in a previous trailer, can be playable through a device called the Mobile Portal. It will have over 20 different minigames that will be collectable throughout the game.

  • The Mobile Portal will have other uses besides the minigames and might run Jiminy out of a job.

  • A lot more info will be revealed in the next month and this event was a taste of things to come.

To read the full interview, including details about the development process, please check it out here.

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Final Comments

Nomura mentioned that the release date will be revealed early next month. It is rumored that we'll hear it before E3. The biggest Kingdom Hearts event to occur before E3 is the Kingdom Hearts concert in LA on June 9th. So, keep your eyes peeled for that. Why am I mentioning this last? How else will I get you guys to read the whole long article? Regardless, Nomura is really excited about us fans enjoying the game and it might be hard to keep up with the information coming out. Bring it on.

To end it, here is footage of Sora fighting the Rock Titan in Olympus. In English, of course.

Kingdom Hearts III is slated for a 2018 worldwide release on PS4 and XB1. Like mentioned, the release date will be revealed in early June, probably at E3 or the LA concert. Check out our gallery for new screenshots and please stay tune to RPGFan for all current and future Kingdom Hearts III news.


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