translations from the Ultimania:
-Q: When Sora and co leave the Final World, why did they return to the moment before their deaths? Nomura: The power of waking is originally meant to be used to restore a sleeping heart to normal, but because it was used to strongly pull the hearts of (Sora’s) friends back to where they were, the effect caused a singularity and caused reality to be overwritten. Depending on the rewrite, it can make everything “as though it never happened”
-“As for the next Kingdom Hearts, there will be at least one KH title that will release before a ‘KH4’”
-There will be a complete pack released once all the DLC is out, much like Final Mixes have been in the past.”
-"They can’t talk about the next title, but there are “concepts for various works” that come up in the interview."
-"After looking over the interview there’s some further explanations of various KH3 scenes, some things that weren’t well covered in KH3 that will be followed up on later, and a little bit more explanation of the secret ending."
-Marluxia, Larxene, Luxord, and Demyx were invited into the Organization to search for an ancient keyblade wielder
-the 12 "selves" of Xehanort in Scala are “replica Xehanort's”
- Eraqus is a blueblood. It says that his ancestor is SOMEONE IN THE DANDELIONS, not the foretellers or MoM
-That was Masters of Master making the heart towards the moon with his fingers in the secret ending confirmed by Nomura
-Nomura: People might assume that Verum Rex is the same title as a game I was planning in the past (Versus XIII), but says it isn't.
-Nomura: "We promised Neku that we will return to Shibuya in DDD, but this time it isn't directly connected to it. Says this is a Shibuya in a different reality compared to the real one. "
-Nomura says there wasn't much room for the Final Fantasy characters to appear due to amount of characters who are already present in KH3's main story. That's why they were absent. Initially, they did make a polygon model for Leon.
-Nomura: the tutorial of KH3 shows what's going on in the mind of Sora during the ending of the game.
-"What is the meaning of the card Luxord gave to Sora? Nomura: This will be effective in the future. He hinted that this card could hold the key to Sora'a return."
-"Lea's Keyblade name is loosely translated to 'Flame Liberator'"
-Mickey's Keyblade names: "1) Kingdom Chain D. 2) Kingdom Chain W. 3) "Kingdom Chain W."
-Demyx’s bio says he did return to being a human after Sora defeated him, but willingly became a Nobody again to join the Real Organization XIII just like the others
-the Terranort from BBS and the Terranort from KH3 aren’t the same one. The picture caption says the guardian isn’t Terra’s heartless.
-Saix rejoined the Organization to atone for what he did in the past. He drifted away from Axel and put Roxas through a lot because of his jealousy and displeasure, but vowed to do good for the sake of both Axel and Roxas.
-Talking about Secret Report 8, the replica that Vexen and Demyx brought to Radiant Garden was used to bring back Roxas
-Ava chose Strelitzia to be a Dandelion leader, but as we know from KHUx this didn’t happen. Additionally, the “lady of magic” is indeed Maleficent
-Report 12. Luxu followed the 5 union leaders to a different worldline and, at this time, discarded his original body. This began his chain of inhabiting new vessels. Also, the MoM’s keyblade was handed down until it eventually reached Xehanort
-The interviewer asked, during the conversation with Namine in the Final World, if “the person Namine most wants to see” is Riku. Nomura says that in picking up Namine from Radiant Garden, Riku was acting on Replica Riku’s wishes, and that the bond between Namine and Replica Riku can be strongly felt.
-Nomura was asked how Namine could come back if Kairi isn’t there. He says that when everyone lost their lives initially, Namine’s heart went to the Final World. Later, when Kairi took Xehanort’s blow, Namine’s heart escaped outside of her. Also He plans to explain more about this later, a little.
-Q: How was Roxas able to come back? Nomura: Using the replica body Vexen and Demyx prepared, Ienzo used the data from the fake Twilight Town to mostly complete Roxas’ body. It’s similar to how Xion was made from Sora’s memories. In the Keyblade Graveyard Roxas, as a heart inside Sora, could sense that his best friend was in danger and his heart was able to return to its new body, completing him.
-Q: When Marluxia is defeated, he says he has finally remembered why he exists and what he is there for. Is he talking about his past memories from KHUx? Nomura: Yes. If you’ve played far enough in KHUx you’ll understand.
-Q: When Larxene is defeated, she mentions (in the jp version of the game I assume) that she “just wanted to tag along with [him]”. Is “he”...? Nomura: Yes, Marluxia. It’s not determined whether or not Larxene still has her old memories, but something drew her to join the Organization and she became traitorous partners with (him).
-Q: Are the “ancient keyblade wielders” Xemnas is looking for Marluxia and Larxene? Nomura: I won’t say yet, but it will eventually become clear to the player in KHUx. By the way, the reason Xemnas was looking for the Chamber of Waking in Days is because Ventus is an ancient keyblade wielder too.
-Q: Wait, so does that mean Xehanort knew that Ventus was an ancient keyblade wielder? Nomura: Guess that just means I have to show their meeting.
-Q: I want to ask about Terranort. When Ansem SOD and Xemnas were defeated in KH1 and 2, were both Master Xehanort and Terra revived? Nomura: Ordinarily, Terra should have been revived at that point, but because his body was possessed by Xehanort, his heart didn’t return, and only his body did. That body was used as the vessel for the heart of Terra (from BBS) that was called from the past. So basically, the heart of Terranort in KH3 is his past possessed heart from BBS and his body was recompleted when X was recompleted.
-Q: How long was Terra’s heart inside the guardian? Nomura: Inside Terranort, both the hearts of Terra and Xehanort we’re constantly clashing. During this time, the heart of Terra continually traveled back and forth between the guardian and his body continually possessed over and over. By the way, the guardian’s real name is “The Person Behind (you)”
-Q: What happened to Lingering Will after the fight? Nomura: When Terra came back, it disappeared, as did the armor. However, a Keyblade wielder’s armor, like the Keyblade, will come back to them if the conditions are right.
-Q: When Young Xehanort disappears, he warns Sora about something. What was the meaning of that? Nomura: He meant to say, “You will disappear from this world”. It was supposed to give a hint about the ending. Before that, he also warned that there is a large price to pay for using the power of waking recklessly. That power isn’t meant to revive people, but Sora used it to bring his friends’ hearts back and reverse time. YX was able to imagine that this would cause Sora to disappear.
-Q: Why does Maleficent know about the Black Box? Nomura: After the events of KH1, Maleficent ended up in KHUx. She then returned to the present day in KH2. The fact she can travel between the current time/future is related to why the ancient keyblade wielders are in the current day.
-Q: Maleficent seems to think the Book of Prophecies is inside the box... Nomura: Yes she does. It’s still not clear when she came to think so, but but it will be revealed in KHUx going forward.
-Q: In BBS, it’s revealed that Xehanort wants to open KH to create a new world. But in KH3, he wants to reset the world. How is this different? Nomura: The most essential part is that he thinks the current world is a failure, and wants to remake it.
-Q: I’m interested to know why Xehanort came to think that way (that the world should be remade). Nomura: Initially, I wanted to dive deeper into the naive, untainted Xehanort who we see playing chess in the next installment (before KH3 was made), but if I did that, the dark seeker arc wouldn’t have ended (lol), so I decided to shelve it for now.
-Q: Underwater in Scala ad Caelum, we can see part of what looks like the tower in Daybreak Town. Was Scala originally Daybreak Town? Nomura: Yes. The staff member who made the model sheet presented me with two options: put the tower standing upright on the bottom of the sea, or put it upside down. In the end I went with the second one.
-What does the joker card Luxord gave to Sora mean? Nomura: It’s to be revealed, but it can be thought of as a key to Sora’s revival.
-Nomura is a big fan of Hades, he will most likely return in future entries
-The DLC will include Superbosses
