The Making of Birth By Sleep – Director

1up has updated their “Making of Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Developer Blog” and this new entry is done by the series director, Tetsuya Nomura!

Hi everyone, I’m Tetsuya Nomura, Director of the KINGDOM HEARTS series. It’s hard to believe we’re just a few days away from the North American release of KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep. I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks of the game.

The North American version of KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep has a lot of new elements, including Critical mode, which takes the difficulty level beyond Proud mode, Keyblades, abilities, mini-game maps and songs. We’re also unleashing a mystery enemy for North American fans, so hopefully everyone will enjoy the challenge.

Speaking of new, you can look forward to some Disney worlds that have never appeared in the KINGDOM HEARTS series before. I always wanted to include the three princesses’ worlds in KINGDOM HEARTS, and was finally able to make it happen with Birth by Sleep. The princesses’ worlds were such a perfect fit for the story. I think it’ll be really fun to explore the classic Disney animation worlds, recreated in full 3-D. Because I was so excited about these worlds, I made sure they were the first ones players would visit in the game.

As many of you may know, Zack Fair from CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII- makes an appearance in this game.  Because KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep is set the furthest in the past in the series, I wanted to choose a FINAL FANTASY character that lived in the past, so there would be no conflict between the Birth by Sleep time line and the featured FINAL FANTASY character’s time line. In FINAL FANTASY VII, Zack was portrayed as someone who lived in the past, so that’s why I chose Zack.

KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep has three main characters, each with their own story. But don’t worry if you’re not sure which character to start with; everything is part of one big story, and there is only one final destination. Fans of the series who already know what happens beyond KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep might be able to predict where the three are headed. I thought that separating the story into three perspectives and having the player choose the order of progression would deepen the mystery, making the journey all the more interesting. Even if you complete one character’s story, you’ll become even more curious as to what happens to the other two, and eager to see how everything comes to a close for the three.

And to wrap up this entry, a little bit about the multiplayer mode: In KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 Days, you were able to visit different worlds to accomplish missions, but this time around players can gather in a world called the Mirage Arena to defeat target enemies. Up to three players can play co-op, or against each other three on three. There are also mini-game battles that are new to the series: Command Board and Rumble Racing. We utilized the hardware’s wireless capabilities and capacity to the fullest to offer mini-games that people can jump right in and out of. This way, players can enjoy the variety of battles and worlds that the game has to offer.

I hope everyone is ready to play!

Source:  1UP