UPDATE (12/24 6:00pm): Changed Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep’s platform listing from the PlayStation Vita, to its correct original platform, the PlayStation Portable.
If Square Enix and Disney’s collaborative role-playing game series Kingdom Hearts can’t take advantage of gamers’ nostalgic brain bits, nothing can. And Square’s certainly bet on those rosy memories. The publisher closed out 2014 with its second collection of remastered games from the franchise’s past.
Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix bundled updated versions of the PlayStation 2 blockbuster Kingdom Hearts II and the standout PlayStation Portable RPG Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep with the remastered cutscenes from Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, originally on the Nintendo DS. Both Kingdom Hearts II and Birth by Sleep also contain all of their special edition content from their formerly Japanese-only “Final Mix” editions.
Tai Yasue, the co-director of Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix, recently spoke with me over email, shedding some light about what it takes to bring some of the most fondly remembered games in this beloved franchise into the HD age.
Above: According to Yasue, fan feedback was the most integral part of most of Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix’s design changes.
GamesBeat: Was there any part of the fan response to your first remastered Kingdom Hearts collection (1.5 HD Remix) that you incorporated into the 2.5 Remix’s development?
Tai Yasue: Because we received positive feedback on Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, we were torn on how we could make it even better. …There were three points in which we especially placed great effort on.
First were the trophies. In Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, we heard many players mention that the trophies for the Gummi Ship were very hard to obtain, so we made sure to not only add more variety to the trophies but to adjust the difficulty for these quests in order to achieve a better balance.
Second would be the cutscenes from the Re:coded Theater Mode. In Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, players had mentioned they would like to see battle scenes as well, so we included battle sequences — much like an action movie — so that players will have a better understanding of the overall storyline. Personally, my favorite is the battle between Data Sora and Dark Riku because it’s so dynamic!
Last … are some of the bosses in the Mirage Arena in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. The responses from the fans about humanoid bosses have always been very passionate, so we put a lot of effort into [the boss characters’ A.I.] to give them more dynamic movements. We also tweaked the balance so that it would challenge the players’ skills.
Above: Closing the gap between the original games and the PlayStation 3 hardware meant a lot of updates to the original character models.
GamesBeat: Were there any mechanical challenges moving Kingdom Hearts II — and particularly, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep — onto the PlayStation 3 hardware?
Yasue: The original Kingdom Hearts II was for the PlayStation 2, so I would probably say the difference in the screen aspect ratio was a challenge. With HD, the screen is wider, which meant there wouldn’t be VFX or menus to fill the sides. In addition, characters didn’t display properly, so we needed to create various things to supplement the screen. On the upside, however, the field of view widened, so the battles became easier to see.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep was for a handheld device. Therefore, we needed to [fully] remake the models. Aqua’s, Ventus’, and Terra’s faces, as well as the keyblades, have become especially gorgeous, so I hope that the players take a close look! Finally, we added lots of ambient noise, such as the sound of a water fountain, so players can enjoy an elaborate world in even further depth.
GamesBeat: At the start of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix’s production, was there a consensus on what would see the greatest amount of re-release tweaking? For example, cutscene and cinematics have seen a great deal of remastering, but character lip flaps still don’t always match up with all the dialogue.
Yasue: There were a couple of major decisions, like “add battle scenes in the theater” and “raise the quality of the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep player characters.” But most importantly, we placed a heavy emphasis on the iteration of creating, checking [what appeared] on-screen, and fixing. We constantly aim for the highest quality, so we never thought of this as a lesser amount of tweaking. We ultimately take the fans and GamesBeat’s comments seriously, and we hope to apply it to our future development.
Above: Square took great effort in making Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix feel at home on the PlayStation 3, especially for new players.
GamesBeat: Was there an effort to change parts of this re-release to appeal to potential new fans of the franchise? If so, how was that goal balanced with the need to pay reverence to the series’ diehard, pre-existing fans?
Yasue: We were very torn about this. In Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, the fan reception was extremely positive. So we made sure to not touch the good parts of these games, such as the overall balance of the battles. Conversely, because we were porting to the PlayStation 3, we wanted to make sure we were up to [hardware] standards on graphics, sound quality, and compatibility with the PlayStation 3 controller so that new fans can experience this game just as they would with today’s games. With the improvement of the graphics and sound quality, I believe we were able to bring out the potential of Kingdom Hearts to 120 percent.
GamesBeat: In terms of Kingdom Hearts II, were there any surprises you discovered when going back into the design documents and assets for this almost 10-year-old game? Did hindsight provide any interesting perspective on the game and its place in the industry?
Yasue: I have not read the specification documents for Kingdom Hearts II in detail, but it is a title I constantly think about. I actually have the game set up on my PlayStation 2 at my work desk and frequently check on it. Specifically, if we’re planning for the player mechanics or actions, I would compare Sora’s detailed movements and tempo with the game I’m currently working on. The dynamics of the movements in Kingdom Hearts II are very well made. For example, the character would [have a short pause] after spinning the keyblade before striking with great force; these kind of subtle movements are the key to enjoyable and exhilarating gameplay.
GamesBeat: In an Electronic Entertainment Expo interview, you mentioned that you added additional materials to Yoko Shimomura’s score for the re-release. Can you elaborate on that process?
Yasue: The sound in the PlayStation 2 version of Kingdom Hearts uses what’s called “software instruments,” which plays back a combination of sound data that was previously prepared. However, in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix, the songs were performed using live instruments and were recorded. A professional orchestra comprised of various instruments including strings, oboe, clarinet, and flute perform these songs, which makes the sound quality so different and so much more expressive!
Above: There are some surprises hidden in Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix that players may have missed in the original game releases.
GamesBeat: Given Kingdom Hearts’ tendency for deeply hidden secrets, are there any new surprises in store between these two games that gamers didn’t find the first time around? Perhaps hints at some Kingdom Hearts III content?
Yasue: Yes, there are some surprise elements in the game, but we’d like to give the players the opportunity to discover these by playing through the game.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix released on Dec. 2 in the United States, exclusive to the PlayStation 3.