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In a new interview with Young Jump, Kingdom Hearts series creator Tetsuya Nomura talked about the possibility of retiring from making games in a few years. He also discussed how they are having new writers working on that series, as well as the complexity of his stories. [Thanks, Young Jump!]

When asked if he sees the Kingdom Hearts series reaching a conclusion, Tetsuya Nomura joked that, since he only has a few years left before eventually retiring, he has to consider what will come first. This is when he said he has to consider either retiring or finishing the projects he's working on. However, the developer reassured fans by saying that he intends to finish his work on Kingdom Hearts 4.

When talking about Nomura’s scenarios and how complex they can be, the developer said that sometimes voice actors will have difficulty following the plot of the games. In these cases, Nomura and other staff will have to help offering details. However, Nomura himself encourages people to ask him about the scenario when in doubt.

As a new test or experiment for the series, Nomura said that he asked people who have never worked on the Kingdom Hearts series before to participate in the scenario writing for Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link. However, Nomura added that he will ultimately be the one in charge of the script.

Kingdom Hearts 4 is currently in development. The game was announced back in April 2022 and there is now target platforms nor a release window yet.

The post Tetsuya Nomura Is Thinking of Retiring in a Few Years appeared first on Siliconera.

During a History of Shinra interview involving Kazushige Nojima and Final Fantasy VII, Tetsuya Nomura art of young Sephiroth appeared. At around the 54 minute mark, discussions about Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis came up. This was followed by looks at Sephiroth. Then, at the 56 minute mark, the two images of Nomura’s take on the villain when he was young appeared.

Here’s a closer look at the Tetsuya Nomura take on young Sephiroth. He still has his trademark green eyes. The hair is at about the same length as the Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis version of him. 

As a reminder, Nomura worked on the original game’s art. He also worked on FFVII Remake as a director, FFVII Rebirth and FFVII Ever Crisis as a creative director.

For reference, here’s a side-by-side comparison of the Nomura design alongside the actual character portrait art used in the First Soldier episodes in Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis. The outfit is identical.

Young Sephiroth ed the cast of Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis at the end of September 2023. When people go through the First Soldier storyline with Glenn, Lucia, and Matt, they’ll see a glimpse into his past. In addition, new gear changing his outfit appeared alongside his launch.

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is available on mobile devices. FFVII Rebirth will come to the PS5 on February 29, 2024, with the exclusivity arrangement ending on May 29, 2024. 

The post See the Tetsuya Nomura Young Sephiroth Artwork appeared first on Siliconera.

Even more Kingdom Hearts merchandise is on the way to celebrate its 20th anniversary, and the newest items are postcards with Tetsuya Nomura art on them. There are three sets total, each with seven cards. Square Enix is taking orders for the $19.99. They are all expected to ship sometime in October 2022.

First, here's a look at Set A. This group focuses on characters from the main Kingdom Hearts games. For example, there are postcards with Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy on them. There’s also one with FFVII’s Cloud in his Kingdom Hearts look.

The postcards in Kingdom Hearts Set B all feature Nomura art showing various storyboards. These highlight different moments in the games. It also means folks like King Mickey, Terra, Ventus, Roxas, and Axel appear.

Finally, Set C features major characters from both the Kingdom Hearts mainline games and Union x. The batch here features people like Sora, Roxas, Kairi, Namine, Axel, Ephemer, Skuld, and Chirithy.

As for the back, each postcard features the 20th anniversary logo. This is common to recent merchandise for the series. For example, the various pin sets each include one pin with this logo on it.

If people want to see more Nomura art from the series, he created a 20th anniversary sketch as well.

The three Kingdom Hearts postcards with Nomura art will all appear sometime in October 2022. Pre-orders are open now.

The post Kingdom Hearts Postcards with Tetsuya Nomura Art Will Appear in October appeared first on Siliconera.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin producer Tetsuya Nomura explained the meaning behind the game's use of the Frank Sinatra song "My Way". In addition to some background details involving the game's final scene, Nomura revealed the game's originally intended title. Furthermore, Nomura discussed plans for the game's DLC. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

Editor’s Note: Nomura’s comments on the song "My Way" may offer spoilers for the game. l2m4o

In an interview with Famitsu, Nomura revealed that he had been listening to the song before production of the game had started, and that it was an important aspect of the game. Nomura described the lyrics of "My Way" as a perfect match to Jack Garland's story and the game's final scene. While the producer had considered using a cover of "My Way", Nomura personally believed that he would not have used the song had it not been Frank Sinatra's original version.

Despite starting at the beginning of production, the approval process for using the song reportedly took "a very long time". At one point, Nomura was worried that the team would not be able to use the song and had to come up with an alternative.

Similarly, Nomura had actually come up with the game's final scene before Stranger of Paradise had even been conceptualized. Nomura went as far as to say that it "wasn't an exaggeration that Final Fantasy Origin was created specifically for that scene." The producer also revealed that the game was initially supposed to be titled "Stranger of Paradise". It was later changed to include the Final Fantasy title so that people would better recognize its connection to FFI.

On the topic of DLC, Nomura revealed that one of the DLC stories will include missions involving the Warrior of Light that appears in the ending scene. The DLC will also add new weapons to the game. Specifically, for the DIFFERENT FUTURES DLC, Nomura points out that the title includes the letters DFF and NT, a possible nod to Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. However, Nomura also states that no one will be able to predict the mission's final boss.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is available on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. If you're interested in learning more about the game, check out our review.

The post Nomura Explains Why He Chose “My Way” for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin appeared first on Siliconera.

The latest Final Fantasy XI We are Vana'diel interview is now online and in it Tetsuya Nomura and Akihiko Matsui talked about Nomura's art and designs, particularly in regard to FFV. The interview talked about how Nomura got started with Square Enix. While things kicked off with an aside about his first day working on FFIV, it also went into his work on characters like Gilgamesh from FFV. A common theme that comes up is discussing how he'd make characters look "cool."

This came up as an explanation for why Tetsuya Nomura’s monsters’ designs for FFV were too big. He mentioned getting “no guidance whatsoever” when getting started as a designer. He said the following.

I was less than half my current age and was just drawing illustrations without any professional knowledge. When I was drawing monsters for FFV, a senior colleague from the graphics team instructed me to make my designs smaller because they were larger than the specified size. I pouted, “Okay, but it looks cooler if it’s bigger,” which made them furious.

Matsui also brought up the thought of Tetsuya Nomura striving for “cool” designs when working on Final Fantasy games like FFV.

That aside, Tetsu’s illustrations had a profound influence on my ideas of the fantasy genre. Before that, I used to be more of a traditionalist when it came to fantasy. However, Tetsu’s attitude was like, “Anything goes, as long as it’s cool,” and he was always eager to incorporate innovative designs. For example, characters like Gilgamesh from FFV, or Setzer and Shadow from FFVI wouldn’t really belong in what’s considered high fantasy*, but they look really cool. Seeing them made me think, “So ‘fantasy’ can be like this too!” and altered my perception.

While Tetsuya Nomura got his start on FFIV and deg monsters for FFV, he’s since influenced characters’ looks in many Square Enix games. For example, he most recently worked on games like FFVII Remake, Kingdom Hearts III, NEO The World Ends with You, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

The post Tetsuya Nomura Discussed Deg FFV Monsters in a New Interview appeared first on Siliconera.

In an interview with Famitsu, Final Fantasy VII Remake director Tetsuya Nomura revealed some key information about the games in the franchise. He explained each game's concept, revealed some details surrounding FFVII Remake Intergrade's character's and bosses, and how FFVII Ever Crisis will tie all of the games together. He also revealed that he's planning on ing the title of director to Naoki Hamaguchi from the next installment onwards. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

Nomura is currently the director for FFVII: Ever Crisis, The First Soldier, and Intergrade. Nomura added that he will continue to stay on as creative director for any games involving the FFVII franchise, and that this will not change how involved he will be with future titles.

Here are some highlights from the Famitsu interview:

• "Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis will be a compilation game that ties together all of the events of the FFVII games, including the events of the title FFVII The First Soldier. Each title in the FFVII storyline will get its own episodic release. This includes the events of The First Soldier, with scenarios written by [Kazushige] Nojima."
• "Since it's set before the founding of SOLDIER, players will also get to see the early days of a certain 'legendary hero'."
• "Character voices for Ever Crisis are still under consideration. I'm working on so many titles and have so many recording sessions scheduled that I'm trying to avoid adding new ones. We've even considered doing away with character voices entirely, but felt they may be necessary during battles. Regardless, if we were to add them they would be minimal."
• "I'm working on more titles now than I've ever worked on before. I'm starting to see some improvements that can be made, and since Final Fantasy VII Remake has already had a solid release, [Naoki] Hamaguchi (who was co-director on Remake) will be the director for the next installment. I will still stay on as creative director for any FFVII-related titles, and this will not change how much involvement I have with the titles."
• "We decided on Weiss as the antagonist in Final Fantasy VII Remake Integrade because we wanted a strong, intimidating alternative to Sephiroth. This will be the first game where Cloud and Weiss will fight; something that I personally wanted to see ever since the PS4 release."
• "There will also be a boss in Yuffie’s storyline that is different from Weiss in the new episode."
• "The title 'Intergrade' (meaning 'middle ground') was chosen to symbolize its position between Remake and the next installment. It's also an homage to FFVII International, the international release that added some tweaks and improvements to the game."

Square Enix announced Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, The First Soldier, and Remake Intergrade at the PlayStation State of Play. Both Ever Crisis and The First Soldier will be available on iOS and Android devices, while the FFVII Remake port will come to PS5 on June 10, 2021. The First Soldier will release in 2021, and Ever Crisis is slated for a release in 2022.

The post Tetsuya Nomura Final Fantasy VII Remake Interview Reveals New Game Details appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix’s latest figure taps into Marvel’s universe and lets a legendary artist present his take on a character again. The Tetsuya Nomura Thor Brings Arts character has been revealed. The $134.99 figure has a tentative January 2021 launch window, though the current pre-order price at the Square Enix Store is $121.49.

The Nomura Thor Bring Arts will be a standard figure, which means it will be around six inches tall and will come with a number of hands and effect parts so you can properly display him wielding Mjolnir, Stormbreaker, or both at the same time. He also has some lightning parts too, which can be combined with his hands or weapons to simulate attacks.

Here’s the full gallery of action shots. Included is a preliminary picture of Nomura’s Thor design that the figure is based on.

[gallery ids="845803,845804,845805,845806,845807,845808,845809,845810,845811"]

This is the fourth Bring Arts figure in a line of Nomura redesigns. The previous three revealed were Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Man. All three of those figures are expected to begin shipping out sometime in December 2020.

The Tetsuya Nomura Thor Bring Arts figure will launch in January 2021. This means that all four of these special variants will appear after the launch of  

The post Tetsuya Nomura Thor Bring Arts Figure Will Launch in January 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.

The Marvel Universe Variant Bring Arts figures designed by Tetsuya Nomura are now available to pre-order. There are currently three different ones to choose from, those being the Nomura Spider-Man, Captain America, and Iron Man. All three of these figurines have been designed by Tetsuya Nomura, and you can be sure that they carry his unique sense of design. Fans of the Marvel series and the Square Enix Director and Concept Artist can grab all three of these re-designs via the official Square Enix store. All three are currently available to purchase at a discounted price of $121. These figurines will cost $134 once the discount period is over.

As you can see below, all three figures come with a handful of accessories. Additionally, they have pose-able limbs for those that want to show off the range of dynamic poses they are capable of. If you'd just like to have these figurines on display, that's possible too, as each one comes with its own display stand.

[gallery link="file" ids="842532,842533,842534,842535,842536,842537,842538,842539,842540"]

The Nomura Spider-Man, Captain America, and Iron Man Bring Arts pre-orders have gone live only months before the scheduled release of Marvel's Avengers. This Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix title will allow people to play as iconic characters from the Marvel Universe, and even do so cooperatively with friends.

Marvel’s Avengers will release for the PS4, the Xbox One, and the PC on September 4, 2020. Next-gen versions will launch during the holiday 2020 window. The Nomura Spider-Man, Captain America, and Iron Man will be available in December 2020.

The post Nomura Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Captain America Bring Arts Figure Pre-orders Open appeared first on Siliconera.

As a warning, there are spoilers for the ending of Final Fantasy VII Remake and other various points of the game in this article.

With the release of the Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania, new information is surfacing not only about the characters, but also about what the developers have to say about numerous parts of the game. Translations have been posted online by Twitter aitaikimochi regarding multiple aspects of the game. These have included potential theories and connections established throughout the Final Fantasy VII Compilation. [Thanks, Audrey!]

Director Tetsuya Nomura had this to say about the ending of Final Fantasy VII Remake:

Initially there was another sentence that we were going to put, but due to various circumstances we decided to change it to what it is now. Kitase told me there should be something that connects to what lies beyond the ending.

Nomura says this in reference to the message that appears once the player has finished watching the final cutscene of Final Fantasy VII Remake. "The Unknown Journey Will Continue," seems ominous enough and with Nomura's statement, it seems like there is a lot of room to speculate.

Twitter aitaikimochi also shared translations of statements from both Nomura and Nojima regarding the development of the scenario for Final Fantasy VII Remake. Nojima mentions that "the story is about Cloud, the works from the "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII" have greatly increased over the years" and that he "wanted to make something that takes all of those works and combines it into one." You can read the full answer below.

[embed]https://twitter.com/aitaikimochi/status/1255184199541092352[/embed]

Final Fantasy VII Remake is currently available for the PlayStation 4. Check out more details on the Ultimania in our previous report.

The post Here’s What Tetsuya Nomura Has To Say About the Mysterious Ending of Final Fantasy VII Remake appeared first on Siliconera.

Final Fantasy VII Remake director Tetsuya Nomura talked about the development focus of making something that can delight both old and new fans alike, and more in an interview with 4Gamer.

4Gamer: Thank you for today. There's been a delay of a month, but is development looking favorable heading into its April 10th release date?

Tetsuya Nomura: "Yes, it's all right now. We needed a little more time for some of the last quality improvements, but it has already gone gold and there won't be any further delays."

I'm looking forward to its release, at last. I'd like to ask again, but as you remake Final Fantasy VII, I'm sure there was discussion regarding let's change this or let's leave this the same. What points did you focus on while developing the remake?

Tetsuya Nomura: "We were very conscious about capturing those who are familiar with the original Final Fantasy VII and those who aren't. I think that Final Fantasy VII is a famed title of ours, and many would say the same. However, 20 years have ed since the release of the original, so there's a considerable amount of people who don't know it."

The young gamers see the first PlayStation itself as a retro game console these days, after all...

Tetsuya Nomura: "And they might be wondering 'what was so great about Final Fantasy VII?' So, if we're going to do a remake in this era then it must be satisfying for the older fans, of course, and it must also be enjoyable for those who don't know it in today's generation."

Is that partially why it has action-based combat?

Tetsuya Nomura: "That's right. Real-time battles are the trend for games these days. While some may reject it, if we were going to make Final Fantasy VII in today's generation, then we must steer towards real-time. We decided that from the very start of planning."

If you make it in the same way as the original then it would end up being just Final Fantasy VII with pretty graphics.

Tetsuya Nomura: "While I believe some would be fine with that, if we were to remake it with the same structure from back then, we could have just supervised it and asked for external developers to do it. However, if we were going to do it ourselves then instead of doing the same as the original, we'd rather have something that can bring surprises to those who experienced the game back in the day. For that reason, we obsessively worked out the details for its making."

It was around the time hardware went from Super Famicom to PlayStation, so I believe Final Fantasy VII saw some of the surprise and interest that came with the jump to 3D graphics. I think that matching that level of astonishment would be a tall order in today's generation, but was there any pressure there?

Tetsuya Nomura: "I didn't feel any pressure at all. The game design was real-time from the start and we had a proposition for something that satisfies both old and new fans. All we had to do was keep moving forward. To be honest, I didn't have time to be feeling pressured. Of course, during development, I constantly thought about all the concerns from those who experienced the original, but I think it is shaping up to be a wonder for both new and old fans to experience. I look forward to having you play it."

Final Fantasy VII Remake will release for the PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020. A demo is now available to free from the PlayStation Store. You can also check out its free theme here.

The post Final Fantasy VII Remake Goes Gold; Tetsuya Nomura Talks Development Focus for Old and New Fans appeared first on Siliconera.

In January, Square Enix will hold a press conference just for Fabula Nova Crystallis. Yes, you read that right. The compilation of Final Fantasy XIII is having its own event. What is Square Enix going to show?

Tetsuya Nomura gave a few hints in interview with Famitsu and Dengei. Final Fantasy fansite FF-Reunion put all of the clues in one convenient post.

New screens of Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII will be released. Square Enix will announce new characters for Dissidia Duodecim: Final Fantasy. Several new titles will be announced at the show. And there will, of course, be some surprises.

The Final Fantasy event of 2011 takes place on January 11, 2011.

The post Tetsuya Nomura Drops Hints About The Fabula Nova Crystallis Conference appeared first on Siliconera.

Tetsuya Nomura has plans for the Kingdom Hearts series that go beyond Sora’s arc. Famitsu asked the creator of Kingdom Hearts if the series will end after a third game.

“Kingdom Hearts is Sora’s story, but the series in development now is also another character’s story,” Nomura replied according to a Famitsu interview transcript. “So to speak, that character is the focus of this series.” Famitsu asked about the “this series” bit, but Nomura couldn’t say anymore.

Nomura said there will be another “mystery” title that ties the series together. Wonder who is the star of the spin-off. Ansem, maybe?

The post Kingdom Hearts Spin-Off Series In The Works? appeared first on Siliconera.

In addition to Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and Final Fantasy Agito XIII, Tetsuya Nomura has some top secret projects in the works. That’s what he told Famitsu and we may have a glimpse at one of them.

The post Is This One Of Tetsuya Nomura’s Unannounced Games? appeared first on Siliconera.