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164-549: Kingdom Hearts III is a 2019 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , Windows , and Nintendo Switch . It is the twelfth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series, and serves as a conclusion of the "Dark Seeker Saga" story arc that began with the original game. Set after the events of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance , returning protagonist Sora

328-731: A Nintendo Switch version of the game might be created, but wanted to focus on the development and promise of completing the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions was thought. Nomura noted the long development was due to internal Square Enix corporate decisions, such as changing to the Unreal Engine 4 about a year into the game's development, which led to "extensive delays" and "a bit of time that needed to be rewinded and started over", and "certain timing and resources challenges within Square Enix", despite submitting and getting approved

492-478: A Princess of Heart and a novice wielder; Aqua , a Master trapped in the realm of darkness; Ventus , a comatose boy whose heart has merged with Sora's; Terra , a young man who was possessed by Xehanort; Axel/Lea , a former member of Organization XIII and fellow novice with Kairi; Roxas , Sora's Nobody , who merged his existence with Sora's; and Xion , a replica member of the Organization whose existence

656-524: A "bratty" youth who is always trying to act more superior than Sora in early appearances in the first game. However, in latter installments, he is described as a teenager who suffers from a notable identity crisis as due to the inner conflict he suffers with Ansem after giving up his self to the Darkness inside of him. In the book Kingdom Hearts II (Boss Fight Books Book 16) , Alexa Ray Corriea argues Terra managed to see Riku's full potential when giving him

820-446: A "role-playing shooter" due to the heavy RPG elements within the game, such as quest-based gameplay and also its character traits and leveling system. Half-Minute Hero (2009) is an RPG shooter featuring self-referential humour and a 30-second time limit for each level and boss encounter. Other action role-playing games with shooter elements include the 2010 titles Alpha Protocol by Obsidian Entertainment and The 3rd Birthday ,

984-593: A 1991 issue of Computer Gaming World criticized several computer role-playing games for using "arcade" or "Nintendo-style" action combat, including Ys , Sorcerian, Times of Lore, and Prophecy . In 1991, Square released Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden , also known as Final Fantasy Adventure or Mystic Quest in the West, for the Game Boy . Like Crystalis , the action in Seiken Densetsu bore

1148-506: A Japanese version. Both "Face My Fears" and "Don't Think Twice" were released on January 18, 2019. Utada requested that the producer Skrillex produce a remix of the song "Chikai" for Kingdom Hearts III , since it was known that he was a fan of the game. He proposed to instead make a completely new song. Utada agreed to collaborate with him and songwriter Poo Bear to write the song. Kingdom Hearts III only features English and Japanese voice acting and lip syncing, despite previous entries in

1312-579: A child, the English-language version of the character is voiced by Ty Panitz . Riku is a childhood friend and rival of Sora , who resides with him and Kairi on Destiny Islands. He appears as a non-playable character in the original game, where he is introduced as a 15-year-old boy. During the invasion of Destiny Islands by the Heartless, Riku immerses himself in darkness to discover new worlds beyond his home. Arriving at Hollow Bastion, Riku

1476-482: A fixed travel route as in previous games; and combat, which has increased its scale from previous games, with more enemies present. Gummi Ship customization also returns, with more options available than in previous Kingdom Hearts games. Various mini-games playable throughout Kingdom Hearts III , including a cooking-themed game featuring Remy from Ratatouille , and a music game in the Tangled world. Additionally,

1640-656: A game that "provide[d] satisfying answers to the biggest question marks" of the series, praising the combat and gameplay, but panning the sidequests, Gummi Ship mode and general "repetitiveness" of the final worlds. Writing for IGN , Jonathon Dornbush praised the technical advancements for the game and combat. GamesRadar was generally positive, but also panned the Gummi Ship game mode for its "blandness". VideoGamer panned it in general, finding it too simplistic and repetitive. Action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG )

1804-448: A general outline of the story he had planned for the world. It would take Pixar "several years" to approve the story and character designs, as Nomura and Square Enix were negotiating through Disney, not with Pixar directly. Nomura noted the approval process for each world was more difficult than with earlier games, because many of the worlds are based on some of Disney's more contemporary films, making it harder to take creative license with

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1968-650: A heart monitor to represent the player's Attack Power and Armor Class statistics. Another controversial aspect of the game involved taking drugs (instead of potions) that increase/decrease attributes, but with side effects such as heart-rate increase/decrease or death. Origin Systems , the developer of the Ultima series, also released an action RPG in 1988, titled Times of Lore , which was inspired by various NES titles, particularly The Legend of Zelda . Times of Lore inspired several later titles by Origin Systems, such as

2132-510: A lot of popularity on the 2010s with titles such as Warframe (2013), Destiny (2014) and Destiny 2 (2017), The Division (2016) and The Division 2 (2019). Riku (Kingdom Hearts) Riku was created and designed by Tetsuya Nomura who wanted him to be a foil for Sora's character and wanted his character arc represent the series' main theme of being able to choose light or darkness. His design and story are in parallel to Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep character Terra . He

2296-441: A massive change, it was still a notable evolution of previous visuals. Nomura also revealed that Sora is the same proportions as in previous games; however, they "muted the volume on his hair—it's not as wild." Regarding updating Sora's look from his Kingdom Hearts II design, Nomura noted that outfit's popularity, but felt the desire to change it since the game is the first numbered sequel since II ' s release. He added that

2460-538: A mission system and role-playing game mechanics, as well as MMORPGs with real-time combat systems. Allgame listed the following games released prior to 1984 as action RPGs: Temple of Apshai (1979) and its sequel Gateway to Apshai (1983), Beneath the Pyramids for the Apple II (1980), Bokosuka Wars (1983), and Sword of Fargoal (1983). Jeremy Parish of USgamer claimed that Adventure (1980)

2624-979: A more dialogue-heavy experience akin to the Baldurs Gate games and even older series like Falcom's Dragon Slayer/Xanadu series had its outing Xanadu Next with similar Diablo influences. The influences also come full circle when the first Diablo game was inspired by rogue-likes Umoria and Angband and in more recent years many games in the rogue-like genre are inspired by more classic dungeon crawler ARPGs that Diablo helped spawn. In this sub genre there are such recent titles as Path of Exile (2013), Grim Dawn (2016), Zenonia S: Rifts In Time (2015), Book of Demons (2018), Shadows: Awakening (2018), Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl Gold (2017), Titan Quest: Anniversary Edition (2016) and its expansions Titan Quest: Ragnarök (2017) and Titan Quest: Atlantis (2019), Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem (2020) and Minecraft Dungeons (2020). The prominence of Diablo 2 in

2788-483: A more traditional RPG-esque system, including experience points and levels with action game elements. Unlike its predecessor, Zelda II more closely fits the definition of an action RPG. Another Metroidvania -style action RPG released that year was System Sacom 's Sharp X1 computer game Euphory , which was possibly the only Metroidvania -style multiplayer action RPG produced, allowing two-player cooperative gameplay. The fifth Dragon Slayer title, Sorcerian ,

2952-502: A pawn. In Kingdom Hearts II , Riku is forced to harness Ansem's power to defeat Roxas in order to restore Sora's missing memories; Riku assumes Ansem's appearance as a result, only returning to his regular appearance after the explosion of DiZ's heart encoder. Riku acquires another Keyblade, the Way to the Dawn. He and Sora return to Destiny Islands together following Xemnas's defeat. Riku

3116-437: A plan for when more personal resources would be needed on the project. Regarding downloadable content (DLC) for the game, Nomura stated that "nothing is set in stone" regarding it, but he told the development team to "be prepared to be able to accommodate for something like that. We can't suddenly develop a system where we're accommodating for downloadable content. So it's not confirming or denying either way, but just so that

3280-725: A playable character in the Switch-exclusive crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the 20th anniversary of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, and was released on the Nintendo eShop alongside cloud versions of the 1.5+2.5 HD Remix and 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue collections on February 10, 2022. Kingdom Hearts III received an 83/100, indicating "generally favourable reviews", according to video game review aggregator Metacritic . Game Informer called Kingdom Hearts III "the series at its strongest",

3444-476: A playable character was praised by GamesRadar due his enjoyable gameplay. Comic Book Resources listed Sora's and Riku's fight against Xemnas as one of Riku's best action sequences in the entire series. Although Riku and Sora are friends, GamesRadar stated that the several cutscenes they share in the first three games of the franchise often result into attracting the Yaoi fandom to the point Sora's love interest Kairi

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3608-526: A skyscraper in a modern-day metropolis. If Sora wins, Yozora fades away before Sora returns to the Final World; if Sora loses, Yozora crystallizes him and goes to the Final World instead. Afterward, regardless of who wins, Yozora awakens in a car while a closing narration ensues in his and Sora's voices, with the battle's victor saying, "None of this makes sense to me." After Square Enix finished development of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix , Tetsuya Nomura

3772-725: A specific gameplay element, such as first-person shooter "Gigas" mechs in the Toy Story world, downhill sledding in the Frozen world, and naval, underwater, and aerial combat in the Pirates of the Caribbean world, which also features numerous smaller islands at sea which can be explored. The Gummi Ship also returns as a means of travel between the different worlds of the game. The mechanic has been split into two phases: exploration, which has been likened to being more open-world without

3936-542: A spirit. In a collaboration between Square Enix and Japanese fashion brand SuperGroupies, Riku's image was used to create clothing based on his design from Kingdom Hearts III . A perfume based on the character was also released. USGamer praised his role for giving the narrative a major impact as he takes over the role of the Disney villains in Hollow Bastion. The writer praised how strong he becomes as he defeats

4100-580: A strong resemblance to that of Legend of Zelda , but added more RPG elements. It was one of the first action RPGs to allow players to kill townspeople, though later Mana games removed this feature. Arcus Odyssey by Wolf Team (now Namco Tales Studio ) was an action RPG that featured an isometric perspective and co-operative multiplayer gameplay. In 1993, the second Seiken Densetsu game, Secret of Mana , received considerable acclaim, for its innovative pausable real-time action battle system , and its innovative cooperative multiplayer gameplay, where

4264-578: A world based on Winnie the Pooh was revealed. Shortly after, it was reported that the character of Winnie the Pooh would be censored in China . This was due to the Chinese government banning any depictions of the character after the character's appearance had been compared to that of Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping . To improve the Gummi Ship gameplay, a criticism in previous entries,

4428-672: Is "setup" for At World's End and the game would "have to end [the story] in the middle as well". The world also mimics the color palette from the film, being "deliberately washed-out", with the sky, for example being more grey-blue over "[t]he typical fantasy blue". Since the release of Kingdom Hearts II in 2005, The Walt Disney Company acquired Pixar , Marvel Entertainment , and Lucasfilm . When asked in 2013 if any of these properties would appear in Kingdom Hearts III , Nomura said he contacts Disney after he hears of an acquisition, though he noted that "Disney's pretty honest [on

4592-567: Is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Action role-playing games emphasize real-time combat where the player has direct control over the characters as opposed to turn or menu -based combat while still having a focus on character's stats in order to determine relative strength and abilities. These games often use action game combat systems similar to hack and slash or shooter games . The term "action role-playing game" may also describe action-adventure games , which include

4756-641: Is also present in the multiplayer mode of 358/2 Days . He also appears in the story mode, contacting Sora's replica Xion, and later as the final boss, where he faces Roxas as seen in Kingdom Hearts II . In Dream Drop Distance , he and Sora undertake the Mark of Mastery exam in preparation for Xehanort's return. Riku is promoted to Keyblade Master after venturing into Sora's dreams as a Dream Eater to protect Sora from Xehanort. He subsequently embarks with Mickey in Kingdom Hearts III to rescue Aqua from

4920-645: Is approached by the Fairy Godmother to meet Yen Sid, who suspects that they may find Sora through the dreams of Riku and two others. In Melody of Memory , Riku explains his dream of a modern metropolis to a girl called the Nameless Star, who recognizes it as a city called Quadratum in her world, allowing Riku to open a portal to the other reality and begin his search for Sora. Riku also makes an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as

5084-649: Is caused by Kairi's weakness similar to the sense of loss Cloud suffers in Final Fantasy VII after the death of Aerith but the Kingdom Hearts protagonists aim to bring back the comatose Kairi. Riku's tragic fate was also noted to be similar to Tidus ' disappearance in the ending of Final Fantasy X but his return in latter games made Riku look like shonen manga character as he becomes heroic due to typical themes portrayed in these type of manga involving friendship and perserverance. In Kingdom Hearts: A Search For Identity , writer Michelle Pina describes Riku as

Kingdom Hearts III - Misplaced Pages Continue

5248-544: Is considered the first example of an immersive sim , a genre that combines elements from other genres to create a game with strong player agency and emergent gameplay, and has influenced many games since its release. The engine was re-used and enhanced for Ultima Underworld ' s 1993 sequel, Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds . Looking Glass Studios planned to create a third Ultima Underworld , but Origin rejected their pitches. After Electronic Arts (EA) rejected Arkane Studios ' pitch for Ultima Underworld III ,

5412-493: Is joined by Donald Duck , Goofy , King Mickey , and Riku in their search for seven guardians of light as they attempt to thwart Xehanort 's plan to bring about a second Keyblade War. Their journey has them cross paths with characters and visit worlds based on different Disney and Pixar intellectual properties . Concepts for Kingdom Hearts III began as early as 2005 after the release of Kingdom Hearts II in Japan, with

5576-489: Is manipulated by Maleficent into aiding her plans for world conquest in exchange for knowledge to restore Kairi's missing heart. His signature weapon is the Soul Eater sword, a manifestation of the darkness in his heart. During the first game, Riku is revealed to be the rightful owner of Sora's Keyblade, which was bequeathed onto the five-year-old Riku by Terra during the events of Birth by Sleep ; however, his reliance on

5740-520: Is not intended to be the final game in the series, and serves as the final chapter of the "Dark Seeker/Xehanort" saga. Series producer Shinji Hashimoto stated in September 2013 that since Nomura was director of both Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV , it was expected that there would be a significant gap between the release of the two, "as [they] want each game to be perfect in terms of quality." Hashimoto also reiterated Nomura's statements about

5904-472: Is removed from such interactions. Additionally, Riku has a large contingent of LGBT fans who interpret him through a Queer Lens due to parallels seen in his journey with self acceptance and real life experiences of accepting one's sexual identity. Riku's quest to be free and the sacrifices he makes in the first game to save Sora were commented by William Humberto Huber from UC San Diego , to symbolize his loss of innocence something that Sora also shares in

6068-464: Is set one year after Sora's disappearance; his allies have since led an ongoing search for him, while Kairi has entered stasis after volunteering as Ansem the Wise's test subject to help Sora. During a visit to Radiant Garden, Riku analyzes digital copies of Sora and the Organization's members programmed into Cid Highwind 's computer, hoping to uncover clues to Sora's whereabouts through their battles. After

6232-498: Is similar to its predecessors, with hack and slash combat, which director Tetsuya Nomura stated would be along the lines of the system seen in Kingdom Hearts II , with an evolution similar to what was seen from Kingdom Hearts to Kingdom Hearts II , and closely tied to the gameplay in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance . He also revealed that the handheld games of the series were where he could experiment with

6396-430: Is something I'm really excited for." Nomura felt Pixar worlds were extremely important to include in Kingdom Hearts , specifically one based on the film Toy Story , and stated he considered not making Kingdom Hearts III if he could not get the rights to use Pixar properties from Disney. This world was the first submitted to Pixar for approval shortly after the completion of Kingdom Hearts II , with Nomura presenting them

6560-477: Is still there and they work with us on Frozen . Because we go directly to the creators, they have the most passion for their titles." In June 2013, Nomura discussed the updated visuals, saying that the development team tried to return the character's texture to the original "paintbrush art from Disney productions". The resulting visuals were referred to as the Kingdom Shader. Nomura felt it might not seems

6724-405: Is unlocked by clearing all missions in one of [the game's] worlds, and each individual world offers its own unique Keyblade transformation." He further elaborated stating there were two forms each Keyblade can take, with "multiple layers in terms of transforming" starting with one transformation and achieving the second after "successfully connect[ing] your combos". The Keyblade transformations active

Kingdom Hearts III - Misplaced Pages Continue

6888-535: Is voiced by Mamoru Miyano and Eiji Shima in Japanese, while David Gallagher and Ty Panitz voice him in English. Critical response to Riku has been widely acclaimed, particularly for his redemption arc. David Gallagher's performance of Riku was also praised by the media. Kingdom Hearts creator Tetsuya Nomura has stated that Riku's name can be interpreted as "land" (but also means Shore and Continent), since

7052-532: The HD 1.5 Remix collection and Square Enix's Business Division 3. Rie Nishi serves as the game's producer. The game began using the in-house Luminous Studio engine to develop the game after some initial development tests had been done using Unreal Engine 3 . Directly after E3 2013, Nomura claimed that Kingdom Hearts III was announced early, based on where the game stood in development. He continued by saying, planning alongside Final Fantasy XV " . Kingdom Hearts III

7216-860: The Princess Crown series, including Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade . Princess Crown had a more cartoon-like visual appeal. It still had quality visuals due to the George Kamitani style. LandStalker's 1997 spiritual successor Alundra is considered "one of the finest examples of action/RPG gaming", combining platforming elements and challenging puzzles with an innovative storyline revolving around entering people's dreams and dealing with mature themes. Ultima Underworld ' s influence has been found in BioShock (2007), and that game's designer, Ken Levine , has stated that "all

7380-599: The Disney Parks attractions Mad Tea Party , Big Thunder Mountain Railroad , Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters , and Grizzly River Run , and generic pirate ship and carousel attractions; these attacks draw visual inspiration from Disney Parks' Main Street Electrical Parade . Sora also has the ability to jump on certain enemies, such as ones shaped like a vehicle. Regarding traversal, Nomura noted

7544-616: The Dragon's Crown Artworks foreword: "The motif within Dragon's Crown is all the fantasy works that has affected me until now: the PC RPG Wizardry that I first came into contact with as a student; Ian Livingstone 's gamebooks; games like Tower of Druaga , Golden Axe and The King of Dragons ." He also cites his early 20s work on Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom as "truly something that I had aspired for". Dragon's Crown

7708-476: The Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Ultimania guide book, Nomura announced three upcoming titles, one of which was Kingdom Hearts III . However, Final Fantasy XV was still his primary focus, preventing him from starting production on Kingdom Hearts III . He later noted that Kingdom Hearts III would not see a release until after 2012, due to his continuing work on Final Fantasy XV , regardless of

7872-790: The MMO vehicular combat game Auto Assault (2006) by NetDevil and NCsoft . Other action RPGs featured both hack and slash and shooting elements, with the use of both guns (or in some cases, bow and arrow or aerial combat ) and melee weapons, including Cavia 's flight-based Drakengard series (2003 to 2005), and Level-5 's Rogue Galaxy (2005). Other RPS games include the Mass Effect series (2007 onwards), Fallout 3 and subsequent Fallout titles (2008 onwards), White Gold: War in Paradise (2008), and Borderlands (2009). Borderlands developer Gearbox Software has dubbed it as

8036-469: The Pixar -based worlds Toy Box ( Toy Story ) and Monstropolis ( Monsters, Inc. ). Two new original worlds created specifically for the game also appear: a limbo for dying hearts called the "Final World"; and Scala ad Caelum, a "seat of power" for past Keyblade wielders, where the game's final battle takes place. Returning Disney worlds include tutorial stage Olympus ( Hercules ), the Caribbean ( Pirates of

8200-457: The Re Mind downloadable content as the voice of new character Yozora, and was overjoyed with his character due to him liking Japanese role-playing heroes. Rutger Hauer voices Master Xehanort, replacing Leonard Nimoy after his death in 2015; following Hauer's death in 2019, Christopher Lloyd portrayed the character in the Re Mind downloadable content. Kingdom Hearts III was released for

8364-578: The Xbox One as a port of the PlayStation 4 version. Though some development and concepts for the game began during the seventh generation of video game consoles , it was always intended that the game would release during the eighth generation . Unlike Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II , which were developed by Square Enix's Product Development Division 1 team, Kingdom Hearts III was developed by Square Enix's 1st Production Department, who developed Birth by Sleep , Dream Drop Distance , and worked on

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8528-447: The first installment of its Ys series in 1987. While not very popular in the West, the long-running Ys series has performed strongly in the Japanese market, with many sequels, remakes and ports in the decades that followed its release. Besides Falcom's own Dragon Slayer series, Ys was also influenced by Hydlide , from which it borrowed certain mechanics such as health-regeneration. The Faery Tale Adventure offered one of

8692-408: The on'yomi pronunciation of Japanese word for "land" is riku ( 陸 ) , similar to how Sora's name is identical to the Japanese word for "sky", sora ( 空 ) . Riku's character represents one of the series' main themes, "the light and the dark sides of hearts," alongside Sora. In Kingdom Hearts II , Riku's Keyblade is Way to the Dawn, which Nomura designed to look like his previous weapon,

8856-423: The "Classic Kingdom" features over 20 games presented in the style of 1980s LCD games such as Game & Watch , while the 100 Acre Wood world features puzzle games . Members of the development team suggested each type of mini-game featured, with Nomura working on the "Classic Kingdom". Kingdom Hearts III also has a "Memory Archive" feature, which has several short films explaining the basic story elements of

9020-399: The "Meow Wow" from Dream Drop Distance , Wreck-It Ralph from the film of the same name , Simba from The Lion King , Ariel from The Little Mermaid , and Stitch from Lilo & Stitch . Remy from Ratatouille (who is referred to in-game by his nickname of "Little Chef") appears in one of the game's mini-games at the bistro. Most Final Fantasy characters were excluded from

9184-414: The 1990 games Bad Blood (another action RPG based on the same engine) and Ultima VI: The False Prophet , based on the same interface. Also in 1989, the enhanced remake Ys I & II was one of the first video games to use CD-ROM , which was utilized to provide enhanced graphics, animated cut scenes, a Red Book CD soundtrack, and voice acting. Its English localization was also one of

9348-653: The Beast and takes over the Keyblade from Sora. Although Riku ends up being defeated, he being used by Ansem was noted to keep giving the narrative a darker tone. Paste Magazine said that a vital part in Riku's characterization in Kingdom Hearts is how he embraces darkness in contrast to Sora especially after meeting Maleficent in a similar fashion to Terra during Birth by Sleep . The inclusion of Riku in Chain of Memories as

9512-899: The Caribbean ), and the 100 Acre Wood ( Winnie the Pooh ), while original worlds include Twilight Town, the Dark World, the Land of Departure, and the Keyblade Graveyard. Worlds such as Yen Sid 's Mysterious Tower, Radiant Garden, Disney Castle, and the Destiny Islands appear exclusively via cutscenes. The "Classic Kingdom" mini-games are inspired by classic Walt Disney Productions Mickey Mouse cartoons, including Giantland , The Karnival Kid , Musical Farmer , The Barnyard Battle , The Klondike Kid , and Mickey's Mechanical Man . The Toy Story , Monsters, Inc. , and Big Hero 6 worlds feature original stories, with

9676-474: The Destiny Islands, where a revived Kairi stays beside Sora before he fades away. In a post-credits scene , Organization member Xigbar summons the Foretellers and reveals himself to be Luxu, their fellow Keyblade apprentice. In a flashback to their youth, Eraqus and Xehanort—having finished a chess game reminiscent of Sora's final battle with Xehanort—begin a new game that predicts a battle with Luxu and

9840-505: The Foretellers. Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind is a downloadable expansion set during and after the climax of the game. It is divided into three separate scenarios—"Re Mind", the "Limitcut Episode", and the "Secret Episode"—which are unlocked in sequential order after the original game is cleared. The titular scenario depicts Sora's rescue of Kairi during the game's ending scenes. Assuming an incorporeal form, Sora travels back in time to

10004-409: The Keyblade Graveyard to battle the Organization, only to be consumed by a swarm of Heartless summoned by the possessed Terra. Sustained by Kairi's power, Sora awakens in a limbo realm called the Final World, where a Chirithy guides him in restoring his fragmented body. He then uses the power of waking to revive his friends and travel back in time to the moment before their defeat, which is averted by

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10168-423: The Keyblade. Unlike previous games in the series, players are able to quickly switch between different Keyblades seamlessly during gameplay rather than from the game's equipment menu, and each Keyblade can be leveled up to increase their abilities. Shotlocks also return, which use a focus meter that can target and lock on to individual enemies with the attack depending on which Keyblade is equipped. Each world offers

10332-517: The Organization's reserves, after learning that the Organization's time-traveling members are using the same method to exist in the present. Meanwhile, the Heartless Ansem abducts Ansem the Wise from the realm of darkness, but Vexen rescues Ansem the Wise. Revealing himself as a double agent, Vexen enlists fellow reserve Demyx to deliver a spare Replica for Roxas to inhabit. Riku and Mickey are attacked by Aqua, who has become corrupted by

10496-543: The PC-8801 computer in September 1984, it abandoned the command-based battles of earlier role-playing games in favor of real-time hack-and-slash combat that required direct input from the player, alongside puzzle-solving elements. In contrast to earlier turn-based roguelikes , Dragon Slayer was a dungeon-crawl role-playing game using real-time, action-oriented combat, combined with traditional role-playing mechanics. Dragon Slayer's overhead action role-playing formula

10660-658: The PlayStation 4 and February 25, 2020, for the Xbox One. The game was released with all downloadable content included for Windows on March 30, 2021, via the Epic Games Store . It was later released on Steam after three years of exclusivity on June 13, 2024. A cloud-streamed version of the game for Nintendo Switch including the Re Mind DLC was announced in October 2021 to coincide with Sora's inclusion as

10824-560: The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 25, 2019, in Japan and other Asian countries, and on January 29, 2019, elsewhere. In July 2017, at D23, it was announced that the game would release in 2018. Almost a year later, at an additional performance of the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra World Tour in Los Angeles, the game's North American release date was revealed to be January 29, 2019. Nomura spoke to moving

10988-543: The Soul Eater. This name came from a scene at the end of Chain of Memories where Riku said he would walk "the road to dawn." Though Riku has a minor role in Birth by Sleep , Nomura wanted to expand on his connection with Keyblade user Terra who would give him the ability to wield such weapon and upon growing older would meet him again. On the character's role in Dream Drop Distance , Nomura emphasized Riku as

11152-473: The analysis proves inconclusive, Riku is approached by the Fairy Godmother to meet with Yen Sid, who has determined a method of finding Sora through Riku and two others. The "Secret Episode" focuses on Sora, who has become trapped in the Final World since his disappearance. There, Sora encounters Yozora, who claims to have been requested to save Sora, but questions Sora's identity and battles him atop

11316-463: The appearance of Terra's lingering will. In the guardians' ensuing battle against the Organization, Terra regains control of his body and reunites with Aqua and Ventus, while Roxas and Xion—the latter of whom was duplicated as the Organization's final member—regain their hearts from Sora and reunite with Lea. After the other Organization members are defeated, Xehanort provokes Sora into attacking him by destroying Kairi's body, allowing Xehanort to acquire

11480-518: The basis for the resulting design is a mix between Sora's costumes for Kingdom Hearts II and Dream Drop Distance , one that is "a lot more sleek and sporty" in order to make him look more acrobatic. Riku and King Mickey also received updated outfits. When asked about Noctis Lucis Caelum ' similarities with Yozora, Nomura stated that while he noted there are several similarities between the two characters, they hold no connections. Roxas and Xion, popular characters from Kingdom Hearts II and other games in

11644-506: The battle between the guardians of light and the Organization, passing through the guardians' hearts to reach Kairi. Despite his initial failure, Sora finds and assembles fragments of Kairi's heart in Scala ad Caelum before his past self's final battle with Xehanort, restoring Kairi. After revisiting the Final World to invite Chirithy to the realm of light, Sora visits his friends' worlds with Kairi before his disappearance. The "Limitcut Episode"

11808-446: The battle to assist the player with specialized attacks. Sora faces Heartless , Nobodies , and Unversed in the game, with new variants of these enemy types appearing. In addition to these traditional "smaller" enemies, the player faces giant bosses, which give "Sora greater freedom of movement and room to experiment with attacks—including the new theme-park-ride summon attacks," known as "Attraction Flow". These attacks are inspired by

11972-535: The camera to some degree. As such, these are often grouped with other "isometric RPGs". The popularity of the Diablo series spawned such franchises like Divinity , Torchlight , Dungeon Siege and Sacred . Commonly, these games used a fixed-camera isometric view of the game world, a necessity of the limitations of 2D graphics of early computers; The Diablo series spawned many terms like being referred to as "dungeon crawler" "slasher RPG" "hack and slasher",

12136-426: The characters traveled to other worlds. Other actors include David Gallagher as Riku/Riku Replica, Bret Iwan as Mickey Mouse, and Alyson Stoner as Kairi and Xion. Jason Dohring , Willa Holland , Jesse McCartney and Mark Hamill reprise their roles as Terra, Aqua, Ventus, and Master Eraqus from Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep , respectively; McCartney also reprises his role as Roxas. Dylan Sprouse appears in

12300-456: The characters, setting the standard for first-person computer RPGs for several years. It inspired many other developers to make real-time dungeon crawlers, such as Eye of the Beholder and Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos . Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss , released in 1992, has been cited as the first RPG to feature first-person action in a 3D environment. Ultima Underworld

12464-505: The combat mechanics, and that some of the well-received additions could appear in Kingdom Hearts III . Nomura noted that new gameplay elements are the "skeleton" of the game, saying development starts with a "fun element" for gameplay or system to then build the story and concept around. Additionally, the development team "always want to try something new", taking previously introduced mechanics and making small "tweak[s]" to them so they are customized for Kingdom Hearts III . Sora returns as

12628-441: The dark realm's influence. Discovering Master Eraqus 's Keyblade on the Destiny Islands, Sora uses it to enter the realm of darkness and aid his friends, defeating and restoring Aqua. Aqua then travels to awaken Ventus at Castle Oblivion, which she transforms back into the Land of Departure. When she is attacked by Vanitas , Sora rediscovers his power of waking and revives Ventus, who fends Vanitas off. The seven guardians arrive at

12792-467: The developers to learn all the best qualities from the series to aid in creating III . Additionally, he stated the Kingdom Hearts team was sharing knowledge with the Final Fantasy XV team to expand the game and get the most out of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A gameplay trailer was released during the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra World Tour in Los Angeles in mid-June 2017. The possibility of

12956-493: The development team focused on creating "rich gameplay in an individual world... designed so players can take their time and enjoy the gameplay that's available" opposed to having "multiple different little worlds". The main protagonist and playable character of the game is Sora , a 15-year-old boy who uses a key-shaped weapon called the Keyblade to battle the forces of darkness. Sora is accompanied by Donald Duck and Goofy ,

13120-417: The development team found this feature difficult to properly support. A version of the game with Chinese subtitles will also be released. Kingdom Hearts III has full voice acting in optional dialogue moments outside of cut scenes, which is a first for the series. In the Japanese voice cast, Akio Otsuka , the voice actor for Xehanort's Heartless "Ansem", replaced his late father Chikao Ohtsuka , who played

13284-531: The development team who created the scrolling shooter 1997 game Einhänder was brought in to handle this portion of the game, along with other programmers and engineers who have worked on driving games . Development of the game was completed by November 20, 2018. Nomura revealed the Tangled world was one of the first determined to be in the game, as the development team wanted to include Rapunzel due to her strong personality and her hair, finding it fitting for

13448-434: The development team will be prepared". He would later add that he wanted to have some sort of additional content for the game, but nothing in depth had been discussed. Nomura was open to potentially adding customizable accessories, as was able to be done in Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage with Aqua, as that feature does not return for Kingdom Hearts III . Nomura also preferred DLC to expand or change

13612-475: The development team, who ultimately had to remake all of the characters, animations, and environments from scratch. Members of Pixar assisted with the creation of the worlds based on Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. , and for the Pixar characters in the game, Pixar shared their actual character models with Square Enix and had the original character designers consult on the game "to make sure everything looked as true to

13776-480: The development team. Supporting characters can explore an environment on their own if Sora idles momentarily, sometimes triggering additional cutscene moments. For example, Rapunzel responds if an Aero spell is cast on a group of dandelions. Speaking specifically to interactions such as this with Rapunzel, Yasue said "finding and activating these moments builds trust with" her and can lead "to additional combat scenarios and treasure opportunities". The game's soundtrack

13940-440: The end of Re Mind , GameInformer said Sora's characterization has been poor as he does not really go through a character arc despite appearing in several games to the point he is still a comic relief comparable to Ash Ketchum from Pokémon and Riku instead comes across more developed protagonist but as a result of tragedy which he does not want Sora to undergo. The performance of David Gallagher as Riku's English actor

14104-432: The films as we could make it." The design team would talk weekly with Disney, sharing their assets to receive feedback, with Disney sometimes asking "for minute alterations such as insisting a character show less teeth, having their eyelids move differently or their line of sight adjusted". The line of sight notes, which came from Pixar, "were instrumental in raising the general quality of the animation throughout" according to

14268-412: The final section of the game, though Nomura stated its contents were "something he's always wanted to do and put into Kingdom Hearts , ever since the days of working on Final Fantasy ... It is bound to surprise everyone." In April 2018, the "Classic Kingdom" mini-games were revealed for the game, while also announcing the games would be playable in the mobile game Kingdom Hearts Union χ . A selection of

14432-538: The first to use voice dubbing . The game received the Game of the Year award from OMNI Magazine in 1990, as well as other prizes. Another 1989 release, Activision 's Prophecy: The Fall of Trinadon , attempted to introduce "Nintendo-style" action combat to North American computer role-playing games. Action RPGs were far more common on consoles than computers, due to gamepads being better suited to real-time action than

14596-459: The first two main Kingdom Hearts games, it has a theme song written and performed by Hikaru Utada , titled " Chikai " in Japanese and "Don't Think Twice" in English. It serves as the game's ending theme. An additional theme, titled " Face My Fears " by Skrillex , Poo Bear , and Utada, is used for the opening of the game. Skrillex, a fan of the series, originally intended to remix "Don't Think Twice", before creating "Face My Fears", which also has

14760-413: The former set between the events of Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 , and the latter two set after the events of their respective films. This is different from previous worlds in the series, which have often loosely followed plot lines from the films on which they were based, including the Tangled , Frozen , and Pirates of the Caribbean worlds. On the amount of worlds featured in the game, Nomura noted

14924-462: The franchise, Osment faced the challenge of properly giving him the tone of a teenager. In retrospect, Osment found the idea of ending Kingdom Hearts III as an emotional moment as, while the series would not end with this installment, the narrative would give proper closure to the story started by the antagonist Xehanort. Tony Anselmo and Bill Farmer – who portrayed Donald Duck and Goofy in English were overjoyed with their multiple redesigns when

15088-448: The game is played from a third-person perspective. Players can customize their player character , which learns to cast spells, brew potions, and master combat abilities, eventually developing their own special combat style. In late 1987, FTL Games released Dungeon Master , a dungeon crawler that had a real-time game world and some real-time combat elements (akin to Active Time Battle ), requiring players to quickly issue orders to

15252-404: The game over releasing a Final Mix version as had been done with some past entries in the series. At D23 Japan 2018, Square Enix revealed the game was being developed in three sections, with approximately three worlds in each section. At that time, the worlds in the first section were said to be 90 percent complete and development of the middle section at around 60 percent. No update was given on

15416-581: The game titled Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind was released on January 23, 2020, for PlayStation 4, and on February 25, 2020, for Xbox One. A version of the game bundled with the DLC titled as Kingdom Hearts III + Re Mind was released on Windows via Epic Games Store and Steam on March 30, 2021, and June 13, 2024, respectively. The same version was released on the Nintendo Switch via cloud streaming on February 10, 2022. Gameplay in Kingdom Hearts III

15580-496: The game's announcement at E3 2013, as "the company thought it was about time it addressed speculation about the long-awaited conclusion to the trilogy." A short teaser for the game appeared at the end of the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix trailer at E3 2014 . Yasue revealed that the sequence seen in the teaser was the opening scene for the game. He added that it was created by Nomura, who had "a real clear picture of [what]

15744-447: The game's development not being officially announced until 2013, following years of rumors and speculation. The game features recurring gameplay elements from the series, while expanding parties to five characters total, introducing new "Attraction Flow" attacks that incorporate various Disney Parks attractions, and including minigames inspired by classic Mickey Mouse cartoons in the style of 1980s LCD games. Kingdom Hearts III

15908-448: The game's main focus as it shows the character's growth across the series. Despite using two protagonists, the game primarily focuses on Riku's growth across the series. As a result of the game's plot, both Sora and Riku appear in their younger forms from the first Kingdom Hearts game. However, to avoid misconceptions that Dream Drop Distance was a remake of the original game, Nomura decided to change Sora's and Riku's outfits for most of

16072-409: The game's mouse-based combat were mixed. In 1997 Blizzard's Diablo was released and became massively successful. It was an action RPG that used a mouse oriented point-and-click interface and offered gamers a free online service to play with others that maintained the same rules and gameplay. Diablo ' s effect on the market was significant, inspiring many imitators. Its impact was such that

16236-400: The game's release date outside of 2018, stating the development team had been told the original release date they had considered was not "good timing in the year" to release the game, especially considering "differences in holiday lengths and how stores behave in different regions". In addition, Square Enix requested the game be released as simultaneously as possible between Japan and the rest of

16400-445: The game, with Kingdom Hearts III introducing a new spell, Water. Team-up attacks are also featured, which combine Sora and various party members into one attack. Players can equip various abilities for Sora and his party members, with the system to do so "an evolution of sorts" from the system used in Kingdom Hearts II . Character summons make a return from previous entries, this time known as "Links", where an additional character joins

16564-537: The game. A deluxe edition of the game features an art book, steelbook case, and collectible pin. Another edition, exclusive to the Square Enix store, includes Bring Arts figures of Sora, Donald, and Goofy in their Toy Box outfits in addition to the deluxe edition contents. A limited edition Kingdom Hearts III -themed PlayStation 4 Pro and DualShock 4 controller was released on January 29, 2019, exclusive to GameStop and EB Games in North America. Following

16728-433: The game. When it comes to Riku's new design, Nomura altered its hair based on fan response following Kingdom Hearts II . For Kingdom Hearts III, Riku and Kairi's new designs were made to fit with Sora's; for example, Riku's main colour is blue in contrast to Sora's red, while Kairi's main colour remains pink as usual. All of the new costumes, including Mickey's, are given to them by Yen Sid, and because of that they share

16892-637: The gameplay" for the Hercules world, which led to its use in the other worlds. As a result, each world was able to have "more height, scale and sense of discovery." Situation Commands also return from previous entries, which can trigger the Keyblade transformations. Nomura revealed that Keyblade transformations were conceived as early as the development of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix and would be similar to Aqua's ability in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep , saying, "Each Keyblade transformation

17056-452: The gameplay, Nomura called the action "pretty frantic", as well as "really flashy and exciting. The enemy AI is a lot more intricate, too, and I think the gameplay will reflect that new dynamic balance." Sora can perform magic , with a new, powerful tier of each spell available to him, similar to what Aqua has available to her in Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage . Magic performs differently in underwater sections of

17220-503: The gameplay. The Pirates of the Caribbean world was included because Nomura wanted at least one world based on a live-action Disney film, stating that the Caribbean location allowed for "interesting" gameplay opportunities. He also chose to have the world be based on the third film, At World's End (2007), over other films in the series, particularly Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest , because Dead Man's Chest

17384-585: The gaming market and its influence on the MMORPG genre later popularized the strongly used mouse-oriented point and click combat. While in the Diablo series this type of combat does not have a lock-on key, World of Warcraft and most MMO games uses some kind of key to target an enemy, usually TAB, to lock into it, usually referred to as "tab-target". In tab-target combat the player's character automatic do attack animations with some kind of regular attack, while

17548-403: The gingham pattern. Riku's new Keyblade, Braveheart, was meant to contrast the Way to Dawn Keyblade which is destroyed early in the game. Mamoru Miyano voices Riku in Japanese, and the character's child persona is voiced by Eiji Shima. Miyano has performed Riku's voice for over 20 years, having first taken on the role as a teenager. In English, the character is voiced by David Gallagher . As

17712-645: The inclusion of Riku as playable character in the Kingdom Hearts III DLC but lamented his few possible fights. The character's inclusion in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building during the Kingdom Hearts III secret ending was the subject of analysis as whether or not Riku might interact again with the cast from The World Ends With You as well as Yozora, an original character resembling him as well as Final Fantasy XV lead Noctis Lucis Caelum . With

17876-473: The initial game release as Tetsuya Nomura felt that they would detract from the story, and that the Kingdom Hearts characters needed less support than they did before; the Moogle character returns as the item shopkeeper, while the Re Mind DLC sees previous Final Fantasy characters appear. Yen Sid begins preparing seven Keyblade wielders as guardians of light to counteract Master Xehanort's plan of forging

18040-521: The keyboard and mouse. Though there were attempts at creating action-oriented computer RPGs during the late 1980s and early 1990s, very few saw any success. Times of Lore was one of the more successful attempts in the American computer market, where there was a generally negative attitude towards combining genres in this way and more of an emphasis on preserving the purity of the RPG genre. For example,

18204-448: The largest worlds at the time, with over 17,000 computer screens without loading times. In 1988, Telenet Japan 's Exile series debuted, and was controversial due to its plot, which revolves around a time-traveling Crusades-era Syrian assassin who assassinates various religious/historical figures as well as 20th-century political leaders, The gameplay of Exile included both overhead exploration and side-scrolling combat, and featured

18368-433: The main playable character, once again joined in the party by Donald Duck and Goofy , with the ability to have two additional characters join the party for a total of five-player parties. This is an increase from previous main entries in the series, where players were limited to two additional party members at any given time along with Sora. Certain parts of the game have Riku and Aqua as playable characters. Describing

18532-464: The mini-games were made available in Union χ in its "χ3" mode added in September 2018, which enables players to obtain the "Starlight" Keyblade in Kingdom Hearts III by completing certain objectives. By June 2018, the secret film for the game had been created. Additionally, Nomura revealed the development team was concerned with the size of the game and if it would fit on the game disc. To help with this,

18696-477: The new mechanic, called "Athletic Flow" in Japanese, was refined from the Flowmotion mechanic from Dream Drop Distance , which players felt was "a little too free... and it was kind of hard to control on their end." "Athletic Flow" allows the player to utilize the environment to access previously unreachable areas. Co-director Tai Yasue stated this mechanic was created "to try something new" and "radically change

18860-403: The new ones as well" when choosing worlds for the game, including worlds potentially based on Marvel Comics and Star Wars properties. He expanded, saying, each world needed originally to stand out. Nomura had hoped to include a world based on Toy Story since Kingdom Hearts II , saying he felt "Sora really fit in and matched well with that world" and being "able to execute that into the game

19024-746: The player can focus on activating other skills and items by pressing other keys. Usually this type of combat is not heavily based on aiming or hit boxes thus the player can hit enemies from different distances and even from a far. Some tab-target MMOs have other targeting options such as an "Action mode". Shooter-based action RPGs include Strife (1996), System Shock 2 (1999), the Deus Ex series (2000 onwards) by Ion Storm , Bungie 's Destiny (2014), Irem 's Steambot Chronicles (2005), Square Enix's third-person shooter RPG Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (2006), which introduced an over-the-shoulder perspective similar to Resident Evil 4 , and

19188-426: The player's stats, or as a currency to purchase items, and penalizing player deaths without imposing an outright failure state. It also incorporated online features allowing players to leave messages in the overworld that can be read by other players, to temporarily join other players' sessions to assist them cooperatively, or "invade" another player's session to engage in player versus player combat. Especially after

19352-540: The possibility of an inclusion]. If the situation is really difficult, they'll say, it's really difficult. If it's impossible, they'll say it's impossible." He later stated that even though the Disney Company had acquired these properties, Disney Interactive Studios may not necessarily have the ability to license the content due to existing deals, such as Disney's deal with Electronic Arts for Star Wars games. Yasue added that they were "looking at all of Disney,

19516-644: The power of darkness caused the Keyblade to reject Riku in favor of Sora. He is later tricked into allowing Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem , to possess his body. Following Ansem's defeat, Riku helps Sora and King Mickey close the door to Kingdom Hearts, remaining on the other side with the king. In Chain of Memories , DiZ helps Riku escape from the dark realm. Initially rejecting his darkness out of guilt, Riku resolves to wield both powers of light and darkness to battle Ansem, whose essence lingers in Riku's heart. A replica of Riku also appears in Chain of Memories , having been created by Vexen from Organization XIII as

19680-510: The power to wield the Keyblade, claiming that while Riku was a child when they first met, Terra manages to see through Riku's original intention of wanting to protect others which might come across as a retcon the narrative said when contrasting with previous installments. Riku's new Keyblade, Braveheart, was commented by Syfy to be one of the most interesting designs from the entire game, citing parallels with Cloud Strife 's derived Keyblade Fenrir from Kingdom Hearts II . Hardcore Gamer liked in

19844-479: The present. I feel that it's not the right time to talk about the future of Kingdom Hearts ." In response to questions about the secret film in Final Mix , Nomura noted that it was of a "new series" in Kingdom Hearts rather than Kingdom Hearts III . When asked about Kingdom Hearts III , Nomura noted that fans and partners alike were interested in its release, and would work to "realize it" as soon as possible. In

20008-494: The realm of darkness to retrieve Aqua, while Kairi and Lea train as Keyblade wielders. Sora and Riku are contacted throughout their travels by former Organization member Ienzo , who uncovers research notes from Ansem the Wise revealing that the hearts of Roxas and two others—later identified as Ventus and Xion—are dormant within Sora's heart. Sora suggests implanting Roxas's heart in an artificial Replica body made by Vexen , one of

20172-470: The realm of darkness. Riku is also briefly playable at several points in the Dark World in Kingdom Hearts III and is playable in the Re Mind expansion of Kingdom Hearts III . He obtains a new Keyblade, Braveheart. During a visit to Radiant Garden, Riku analyzes digital copies of Sora and the Organization's members, hoping to uncover clues to Sora's whereabouts. After the analysis proves inconclusive, Riku

20336-514: The release of its spiritual successor Dark Souls (2011) and its sequels, other action RPGs emerged in the 2010s that incorporated mechanics influenced by those of Demon's Souls , which have been popularly referred to as " Soulslike " games. In 2013, Vanillaware released the fantasy beat 'em up ARPG Dragon's Crown , a spiritual successor to Princess Crown and a "deeply moving product" of Vanillaware director George Kamitani. Kamitani cites many classic RPGs as his inspiration, stating in

20500-491: The release of the game, Nomura confirmed the development of post-launch downloadable content , saying that the development team's current "top priority is on making DLC for KH3" with the intention of releasing a single content package of DLC in lieu of a separate "Final Mix" version like previous titles in the series. A DLC episode entitled Re Mind was officially announced in June 2019, with a slated release on January 23, 2020, for

20664-436: The royal magician and knight captain of Disney Castle, respectively. The three are supported by other Keyblade wielders, several of whom they must rescue in preparation for their final confrontation with Master Xehanort , the series' primary antagonist, as "guardians of light"; Mickey Mouse , an experienced Keyblade Master who is Donald and Goofy's king; Riku , a Master and Sora's best friend; Kairi , another of Sora's friends,

20828-558: The same year. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com argues that Japanese developers created a new brand of action role-playing game; these new Japanese games combined the role-playing genre with arcade-style action and action-adventure elements. Shaun Musgrave of TouchArcade also traces the genre's roots to Japan, noting that the "Western game industry of the time had a tendency to treat action games and RPGs as separate things for separate demographics". Jeremy Parish argues that action RPGs were popularized in Japan by The Tower of Druaga . It

20992-459: The second or third players could drop in and out of the game at any time, rather than players having to join the game at the same time. The game has remained influential through to the present day, with its ring menu system still used in modern games and its cooperative multiplayer mentioned as an influence on games such as Dungeon Siege III (2011). Most other such games, however, used a side-scrolling perspective typical of beat 'em ups, such as

21156-482: The secret ending. As with previous games in the series, a multitude of Disney characters appear in worlds based on their respective films and properties. Disney characters who serve as members of Sora's party include the returning Hercules and Jack Sparrow ; new to the series are Woody and Buzz Lightyear , Sulley and Mike Wazowski , Rapunzel and Flynn Rider , Marshmallow , and Baymax . Characters that appear as summon "Links" for Sora include Dream Eaters such as

21320-507: The series from the previous games. The story opens with the final scenes of Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage , and serves as a conclusion of the "Dark Seeker/Xehanort Saga" that occurs in most preceding games. Most of the worlds featured in the game inspired by Disney properties are new to the series, including the Kingdom of Corona (based on Tangled ), Arendelle ( Frozen ), San Fransokyo ( Big Hero 6 ), and

21484-399: The series having dubbing in other languages. Nomura noted that the development team wanted to prioritize a global simultaneous release for the game, and given the time and resources for recording the dialogue, this would not have been possible with additional language recordings. Though the game has both English and Japanese voice acting, it does not have the ability to switch between them, as

21648-411: The series was also heavily criticized by players and media for not being a proper RPG due to it being focused more on fighting enemies and creating character builds than following a proper narrative and dialogue-heavy journey. After its success many other games tried to mix its influences with different structures and narratives, there are multiple games like Divine Divinity that were an attempt to have

21812-449: The series, were originally not planned to appear, but positive response to their characters led to their inclusion. Speaking on the designs of the worlds, Nomura said the updated graphical capabilities allowed the development team "to depict the world[s] of the original film[s] as close to [their] original form as possible" after previously creating worlds to be "a stylized Kingdom Hearts world". Disney shared basic polygon information with

21976-505: The starting sequence" should be, and that the text seen and heard was going to "be a real integral part of the story". As Nomura stopped working on Final Fantasy XV , focusing his attention on other projects, including Kingdom Hearts III . Nomura revealed that the game had switched to using Epic Games ' Unreal Engine 4 , due to a "variety of reasons", with the development team having the full support of Epic. In January 2015, Yasue revealed that working on HD 2.5 Remix simultaneously allowed

22140-749: The story. The arrival of Heartless in Destiny Island is caused by Riku's Darkness which is an "allusion to the arrival" of Commodore Perry 's black ships in Tokyo Bay in 1853, which had a major impact in Japan. In The Kingdom's Shōnen Heart Transcultural Character Design and the JRPG , Rachael Hutchinson notes that the early characterization of Riku and Sora seem influenced by Sephiroth and Cloud Strife's respectively in order to portray and appealing rivalry with Ansem also carrying elements from Sephiroth's look. The conflict Riku and Sora are forced to oppose each

22304-506: The studio instead created a spiritual successor : Arx Fatalis . Toby Gard stated that, when designing Tomb Raider , he "was a big fan of ... Ultima Underworld and I wanted to mix that type of game with the sort of polygon characters that were just being showcased in Virtua Fighter ". Ultima Underworld was also the basis for Looking Glass Technologies' later System Shock . The 1988 Origin Systems title Times of Lore

22468-558: The team was turning some of the cutscenes into pre-rendered films to help reduce load times. Nomura had requested the use of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in the game, which he called his favorite Disney character, but was denied such a proposal. At E3 2018 , Nomura also provided an update to the development of the Big Hero 6 world, revealing all the gameplay had been created, with the cutscenes still needing to be completed. At X018 ,

22632-620: The template for many future action RPGs, even though it does not strictly fit the definition of later action RPGs. In contrast to previous action RPGs, such as Dragon Slayer and Hydlide, which required the player to bump into enemies in order to attack them, The Legend of Zelda featured an attack button that animates a sword swing or projectile attack on the screen. It was also an early example of open-world, nonlinear gameplay , and introduced new features such as battery backup saving. These elements have been used in many action RPGs since. In 1987, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link implemented

22796-427: The temples to refuse to level him up. Xanadu Scenario II , released in 1986, was an expansion pack , created to expand the content of Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu . Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness (1985) also featured a morality system. Eurogamer cites Fairlight (1985) as an early action RPG. An important influence on the action RPG genre was the 1986 action-adventure The Legend of Zelda , which served as

22960-411: The tenth anniversary of the series occurring in that year. The Nintendo 3DS video game Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance was announced to connect to Kingdom Hearts III , both in terms of gameplay system and story. Sony announced Kingdom Hearts III for the PlayStation 4 with a teaser trailer at its E3 2013 event in June 2013. Square Enix later confirmed the game's cross-platform release for

23124-468: The term "action RPG" has come to be more commonly used for Diablo -style games, with The Legend of Zelda itself slowly recategorized as an action-adventure. Very commonly, these games used a fixed-camera isometric view of the game world, a necessity of the limitations of 2D graphics of early computers; even with 3D graphic engines, such point-and-click games are still presented from a similar isometric view, though providing options to rotate, pan, and zoom

23288-713: The things that I wanted to do and all the games that I ended up working on came out of the inspiration I took from [ Ultima Underworld ]". Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski also cited it as an early influence, stating that it had "far more impact on me than Doom ". Other games influenced by Ultima Underworld include The Elder Scrolls: Arena , Deus Ex , Deus Ex: Invisible War , Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines , and Half-Life 2 . FromSoftware 's Demon's Souls (2009) emphasized unforgiving enemies and environments, combined with risk-and-reward mechanics such as limited checkpoints, collecting "souls" that can be consumed as experience points to increase

23452-553: The third game in the Parasite Eve series, features a unique blend of action RPG, real-time tactical RPG, survival horror and third-person tactical shooter elements. Shooter-based RPGs include Imageepoch 's post-apocalyptic Black Rock Shooter (2011) , which employs both first-person and third-person shooter elements, and Square Enix's Final Fantasy XV (2016) , which features both hack and slash and third-person shooter elements. The online live service version gained

23616-505: The track "Dearly Beloved" in order to fit the ending of the "Seeker of Darkness Arc". The soundtrack was released on November 11, 2022, the album of which contains 8 CDs. The soundtrack that plays during Xemnas, Ansem and Xehanort, "Forza Finale" ("last force" in Italian) was composed by Yasunori Nishiki , of whom Shimomura was a fan. Due to the game being released worldwide, the team decided to localise titles in multiple languages. As with

23780-487: The various "Formchanges"–Power, Guard, Magic, and Speed– and change Sora's outfit, similarly to the "Drive Form" mechanic in Kingdom Hearts II . Various Keyblades are linked to each form; for example, the Toy Story world Keyblade actives Power Form for Sora, with the Keyblade's transformations changing into a hammer and then into a drill. There is also "Second Form", which changes Sora's battle skills rather than transform

23944-578: The villain Master Xehanort. Miyu Irino returned to voice Sora and Vanitas as he faced more issues during recordings of the game. After finishing the game, Irino wondered if he might properly portray Sora in sequels due to his age gap. Mamoru Miyano also returned to voice Riku and his replica persona with similar difficulties to his more drastic age gap. Miyano reflected that Riku had to act more positive, especially when interacting with his replica, since he understood his mindset. Risa Uchida provided

24108-413: The voice for Kairi and Xion again, noting that Kairi had a more mature perspective such as when she befriends Axel; in contrast, Uchida felt that Xion was more relatable. Olaf received a new Japanese voice actor in an updated patch following the arrest of his original Japanese voice actor, Pierre Taki . Haley Joel Osment returned to voice Sora in the English version. Due to Sora's lack of growth across

24272-496: The world, and not wanting to move up the release at the expense of development, resulted in the January 2019 date being chosen. The game's epilogue was planned to be added to the game on January 26 for Japan and January 30 elsewhere, while the secret ending content was planned to be added worldwide on January 31, 2019. This was done in order to help prevent them from leaking beforehand, since Nomura called them "the biggest spoilers" in

24436-407: The worlds. He explained, "Previous to Kingdom Hearts III , I think these companies kind of saw it more as like, secondary rights permissions. They saw it more as a product, like you would a branded toy or something." Continuing, Nomura noted, "Because we are working with more recent titles, the staff who were on the original project are the ones we go to for approvals. For instance, Frozen . The staff

24600-470: The χ-blade and unlock Kingdom Hearts. Sora, Donald, and Goofy hinder Xehanort by transporting him to his boyhood home of Scala ad Caelum, where they eventually defeat him. In Xehanort's dying moments, Eraqus's spirit emerges from Terra and convinces Xehanort to surrender the χ-blade. After sealing Kingdom Hearts, Sora decides to use the power of waking to save Kairi, despite being warned about the grave consequences of doing so. Afterwards, Sora's allies gathers at

24764-461: The χ-blade. Sora, accompanied by Donald Duck and Goofy, resumes his travels across other worlds to regain his "power of waking", the ability to restore lost hearts, which he lost after nearly being possessed by Xehanort. Sora's group is antagonized by members of Organization XIII, who target the seven Princesses of Heart as substitutes for the guardians while seeking a new member for their thirteenth and final spot. Meanwhile, Riku and King Mickey search

24928-478: Was also one of the earliest action RPGs. Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu , released in 1985 (billed as a "new type of real-time role-playing game"), was an action role-playing game including many character stats and a large quest. It also incorporated a side-scrolling view during exploration and an overhead view during battle, and an early "Karma" morality system where the character's Karma meter will rise if he commits sin (killing "good" enemies), which in turn causes

25092-508: Was also released that year. It was a party-based action RPG, with the player controlling a party of four characters at the same time in a side-scrolling view. The game also featured character creation, highly customizable characters, class-based puzzles, and a new scenario system, allowing players to choose from 15 scenarios, or quests , to play through in the order of their choice. It was also an episodic video game , with expansion disks later released offering more scenarios. Falcom also released

25256-433: Was an action RPG with an icon-based point-and-click interface. Bad Blood , another Origin Systems game from 1990, would use the same interface. The designers were inspired by console titles, particularly The Legend of Zelda , to make their interface more accessible. The 1994 title Ultima VIII used mouse controls and attempted to add precision jumping sequences reminiscent of a Mario platform game, though reactions to

25420-610: Was an action RPG. Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton claimed that the Intellivision games Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1982) and Treasure of Tarmin (1983) were action RPGs. Shaun Musgrave of TouchArcade notes that Adventure lacked RPG mechanics such as experience points and permanent character growth, and argues that Gateway to Apshai is "the earliest game I'd feel comfortable calling an action-RPG" but notes that "it doesn't fit neatly into our modern genre classifications", though came closer than Bokosuka Wars released

25584-483: Was an ongoing rivalry developing between the Dragon Slayer and Hydlide series over the years. The Tower of Druaga , Dragon Slayer and Hydlide were influential in Japan, where they influenced later action RPGs such as Ys , as well as The Legend of Zelda . Falcom's Dragon Slayer , created by Yoshio Kiya, is "the very first action-RPG ever made" according to GameSetWatch. Originally released for

25748-406: Was approached by Disney, who expressed interest in a sequel. In regard to a possible release of Kingdom Hearts III , Nomura said "We have various ideas, but we're not at the point where we can say that." He added that due to the development of Final Fantasy XV —titled Final Fantasy Versus XIII at the time— which was being developed by the Kingdom Hearts II team, it was "physically impossible at

25912-408: Was composed by long-time series composer, Yoko Shimomura , and features additional contributions from Takeharu Ishimoto and Tsuyoshi Sekito . Shimomura felt pressure over working in the title since it was Square's first numbered game after several years. She wanted fans to look forward to the game, believing its content would appeal to the audience. The soundtrack includes a highly altered version of

26076-491: Was erased from her friends' memories. Organization XIII returns as the game's antagonists, led by Master Xehanort, with different members from previous games such as past incarnations of himself, as established in Dream Drop Distance . Kingdom Hearts III also introduces a new original character named Yozora, who features prominently in an in-universe video game commercial in the Toy Story world, and later in

26240-488: Was praised by GamesRadar and Hardcore Gamer as one of the best performances in Kingdom Hearts 3D and Kingdom Hearts III alongside Sora's and Aqua's English actors. His inclusion as a playable character in 3D was also praised due to his dynamic with fellow lead Sora. Koinya lamented the fact Mamoru Miyano 's work was never made available for the Western audience considering him talented alongside Miyu Irino (Sora). In

26404-575: Was re-released with a PS4 "Pro" edition in 2018. Assassin's Creed , a long-running Ubisoft franchise, also shifted towards the action RPG formula, inspired by the successes of The Witcher 3 and the Dark Souls series, with its titles Origins (2017), Odyssey (2018) and Valhalla (2020). Avalanche Software released Hogwarts Legacy in 2023. Set in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and its surrounding areas,

26568-403: Was released for arcades in June 1984, and was intended as a "fantasy version of Pac-Man , with puzzles to solve, monsters to battle, and hidden treasure to find". Its success in Japan inspired the development of Dragon Slayer (1984) and Hydlide (1984). Dragon Slayer , Hydlide and Courageous Perseus (1984) "vie for position as genre precedent" according to John Szczepaniak, and there

26732-453: Was released worldwide in January 2019 and received generally positive reviews from critics. Critics praised its visuals, soundtrack, art style, gameplay, and variety of combat options, while reception towards its plot and presentation was more mixed. It sold over five million copies within its first week of release, becoming both the fastest-selling and best-selling game in the series' history in North America. A downloadable content expansion of

26896-571: Was used in many later games. T&E Soft 's Hydlide , released in December 1984, was created by Tokihiro Naito, who was influenced by The Tower of Druaga . It was the first action RPG with an overworld . The game was immensely popular in Japan, selling 2 million copies across all platforms. According to John Szczepaniak, it "cannot be overstated how influential Hydlide was on the ARPGs which followed it". The same year, Courageous Perseus

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