New scans and interview! Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

September 27th 2007 Posted to Kingdom Hearts 3

New scans have appeared online from the latest Famitsu, and they feature the game in action! Let me be the first to say, the PSP and DS iterations look fantastic! This second article will deal with the myriad of scans released featuring Birth by Sleep!

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Before we delve into the individual games, we’d like to announce that Daisuke Watanabe, the main writer of KH1, as well as the co-writer of FF12, and an addition writer on KH2, will be writing all three projects with story help from Nomura. In other words, Kazushige Nojima, writer of FF7, 8 and 10, as well as KH1, CoM, KH2, FF7AC, Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core, has officially jumped ship.

A much larger update here with Birth by Sleep, but we’re here to debunk all myths. Firstly, not all of these images are related to Birth by Sleep – we’ll go through these scan by scan.

The first scan is all Birth by Sleep in the blue section only, the bottom stuff is from KH2 on the left, and KH1 on the right. Nothing major featured in terms of Birth by Sleep, mostly gameplay, but Sleeping Beauty’s Forest/Castle at night-time looks breath-taking.

The second scan is all Birth by Sleep’s cut-scenes, and these are looking great. Terra’s really come into his own here, no more of this ‘Zack-look-alike’ business we’ve been hearing about. Ven definitely seems important (see: the second shot at Hollow Bastion), and Master Xehanort is featured.

The third scan is a Birth by Sleep character-rundown. Terra, Ven and Aqua we all know, as well as King Mickey (obviously) and now Master Xehanort, but the masked apprentice to Xehanort is obviously the new mystery character, just as with the Unknowns in KH1 Final Mix and Chain of Memories.

The fourth scan is, once again, excellent-looking cutscenes. Terra and Ven seem to have some kind of Zack-Cloud relationship going on here, as seen in Crisis Core. The second shot is the scene from Destiny Islands, with Ven looking quite troubled by something – also note that another character can be seen in the form of a shadow… The third shot is Xehanort, and the fifth is an ideallic look at Destiny Islands again.

The last scan is just looking at the battle scenes, and mentions ‘speedy action battle’ and gaining points from doing combos. Pretty much a combo-based version of the usual battle style!

As for the interview, it is now confirmed: the team behind Chain of Memories is developing Birth by Sleep, not the Crisis Core team! Nomura then states that this game was actually began before Re:Chain of Memories, and was paused for Re:CoM to be done. He also states that it will be the last to hit the market out of the three. The KH2FM secret ending, called ‘Birth by Sleep’ as well, is actually a scene from the PSP game of the same name.

OK, reading through, this next part is MAJOR! The game takes place TEN years before KH1 – Sora is 4 and Riku is 5, hence why young versions of them can be seen on the beach in the trailer! The gameplay style is actually more similar to Chain of Memories, just without cards, Mickey probably isn’t a King at this point, Ven’s relation to Roxas (and Sora) will be revealed, the new enemies (not Heartless or Nobodies) will be featured, and there will be voice acting and cutscenes in the same way the PS2 titles used them.

That was A LOT of info, sorry I couldn’t cut it down into better installments. Anyways, click “Read the article” to check out the full interview (the translator being FF7AC Reunion, who believes Nomura is hinting that the KH2FM secret ending is the end to Birth by Sleep), and I’ll update next on Coded – you’re in for a surprise.

Sources: KH Vids, FF7AC Reunion and Spira’s Destiny.

Interviewer:So what about the development of Birth by Sleep?

Nomura:The developer of re:COM will be working on KH:BBS. During Development, the production of KH:BBS was stopped, for the production of re:COM. At first it felt a bit weird starting the project again. I believe this project started before the other two, of the three Kingdom Hearts games, and I also believe it will be the last to hit the market.

Interviewer: It still relates to Birth of Sleep? (KH2 FM+’s secret ending)

Nomura: The Secret Ending, is an image for a scene in BBS, therefore the title of the game is also the same. However because it is difficult to express a violent battle as a playable content, The Secret Ending, is an image to the end. (Is he hinting that this is how BBS will end or something else?)

Interviewer:How much talk was put into it, for this, as it seems to be the past to the “KH” Series.

Nomura: The game is the farthest in the past timeline of Kingdom Hearts, and will take 10 years ago from the KH series. There is a screenshot of two children playing on the beach, and I believe the fans can understand what that means.

Interviewer: In the Story it’s said that “Three Scenarios spelt by Three Heroes”. Is there a relation between each scenario?

Nomura: There are three Heroes, Terra, Ven, and another character in KHBBS. A story is already prepared for all three of them. Therefore in a way you can say three games were made at the same time. (Laughs) It’s difficult to zap through the explanation right now due to Scenario creating. However the beginning will be a bit hard to understand, but by completing all three Scenarios you will understand the entire story.

Interviewer: Do the names of the three heroes represent something?

Nomura: In Kingdom Hearts, Sora meant Sky, Riku meant Land, and Kairi meant Sea. In this game, the three meanings make a large impact on the game.

Interviewer: Are all three Scenarios happening around the same time?

Nomura: All of the Scenarios do take around the same time, however there are also some gaps between the timelines. Also there are times when all three heroes will meet.

Interviewer: Is the playing order decided yet?

Nomura: I believe it would be better if we gave the players a freedom of choice. However this is still being talked about, but I believe it would be better to choose whoever you want out of the three.

Interviewer: What place is the story’s viewpoint from.

Nomura: To bring a point. The word that comes up in Kingdom Hearts 2, is Xehanort. The game will bring up answers to several things though like. “Why is the Elderly person who appears in BBS bring up the same name?” and “Why is he wearing the same clothes as Ansem in KH1?” Another thing I want to bring up is that Ven has the same hairstyle, face, clothes, and voice to Roxas who appears in the Kingdom Hearts series. Who is he?

Interviewer: Is the voice actor of Ven the same as Roxas?

Nomura: Yes, it is the same actor. Therefore the person who played, will only look at Ven as Roxas from KH2.

However, is Roxas and Ven really the same character?

Moreover, what’s the mystery for the existence of Ven, and Roxas?

These are keys that can be fully understandable, when playing KH:BBS. You will be able to seperate Ven from Roxas with ease, I will hint though by connecting the Story between Roxas and Sora, you will understand who Ven is.

Interviewer: May I believe that the one you fight in KH2FM+, and Terra are the same person? Because they both use a very similar kind of Keyblade.

Nomura: If they really are the same person, or not is uncertain, though it doesn’t matter if you think they are the same person.

Interviewer: In BBS, after all three are divided, the king appears?

Nomura: It may be deeply related to the story, however I cannot tell rather or not that is a “King” from that current age. This is because the development of BBS will be a very serious story.

Interviewer: In BBS is the gameplay done by choosing action commands lined up in command list?

Nomura: I believe it is neccessary to say first. The Command Menu that was shown to the public (A.K.A scans, and video) has now changed. A system close to that of re:COM has been created successfully feeling like a command deck. However the present screenshots show it was a bit too close to the idea of re:COM. The battle screens you see in the images now, have already been changed. However the operating sense is similar to that of the Kingdom Hearts series. The gameplay has a slight influence from the DS game “It’s a Wonderful World”

Interviewer: Are there any features for the Growth System? (Leveling System)

Nomura: A new Growth System has been added into the game, it is when you have to match four obligations with the scenario (?). We tried this variously because it was a bit hard with the PSP. However we made the best use of it’s Analog.

Interviewer: Are there new enemies you can confirm that are not shown in the screens?

Nomura:The new enemy is not a Heartless, or a Nobody. Because the story takes place before even they appear. I can give out more information little by little as time passes, an example being like the Shadow enemies that are heartless, and the Dusk enemies that are nobodies.

Interviewer: With the PSP will it be possible for two people to Communicate by any connection method?

Nomura: It’s too early to answer that however, there will be some features that will be taking advantage of the PSP.