While Tetsuya Nomura didn’t have too much to say about keyblade transformations in Kingdom Hearts 3, he did leave players with a juicy tease. Unlike in past games, where a few weapons might have a transformation, it sounds as though every keyblade in the third game with have at least two.
Moreover, Nomura clarified that the keyblade transformations won’t be as cut and dry as those seen in early previews of Kingdom Hearts 3 where there was one option for attack and one for defense. Apparently some might offer new gameplay opportunities beyond that.
Although the Kingdom Hearts series has changed up gameplay in its various spinoffs and side adventures, the two main entries have kept things fairly familiar. Nomura’s quote, however, suggests that there will be a growing diversity in how players can take on enemies and in how they will interact with each keyblade.
Alongside talk of keyblade transformations, Nomura also shed a little light on the giant Heartless seen in a prior screenshot. At the time all fans knew was that the giant Heartless enemy was in the Thebes area, which comes from the Disney animated feature Hercules.
Some even speculated that this enemy encounter was part of a trial for Sora, as he tries to either regain his powers or strengthen his powers as a keyblade wielder. This theory is further supported by the events of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep – specifically the Kingdom Hearts 3 teaser at the end of the spinoff.
According to Nomura, the giant Heartless in the image is called a Rock Troll, and it will be treated as a mid-boss for the Thebes area. What could be the main boss is still unclear, but at the very least fans now know what to call the enemy.
And if there were any wondering what the ‘Link’ command is seen in prior Kingdom Hearts 3 footage, Nomura knows that fans are curious but the Square Enix development team is not ready to talk about that feature just yet. Perhaps at E3 2017, then.
Kingdom Hearts 3 will be available for PS4 and Xbox One.
Source: Famitsu, Gematsu
