Tetsuya Nomura opened up about the challenges of developing Kingdom Hearts 4

Tetsuya Nomura recently opened up about Kingdom Hearts 4, discussing the inclusion of Final Fantasy characters and the challenges of newer, better graphics. As the graphics improve, the director of Kingdom Hearts feels it can limit what sort of Disney areas future games can travel to.

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Kingdom Hearts 4’s Tetsuya Nomura offered insight on the upcoming game

Is Kingdom Hearts 4 going to bring back the Final Fantasy characters? Tetsuya Nomura discussed this during an interview with Game Informer. He said that many fans consider the point of Kingdom Hearts to be a meeting between Final Fantasy and Disney, but that’s not really the purpose.

The Final Fantasy characters were used because the Kingdom Hearts cast was unknown, so the cameos were used to put familiar faces in the games. That way, fans will likely find themselves playing Kingdom Hearts.

Nomura said:

"Now, there are so many original characters from Kingdom Hearts that are so well-loved, and people want to see more of those characters. With Kingdom Hearts 3, since we did have so many original Kingdom Hearts characters, it was hard to find room for including more Final Fantasy characters.”

The Kingdom Hearts 4 cast has plenty of memorable characters, and it’s not quite as necessary to have those non-Kingdom Hearts cameo appearances. Nomura said he’s trying to find some manner of balance between guest characters. The director also said the game might feel different from previous titles in the series.

Does that mean there will be no Disney cameos either? That’s not the case at all, according to Nomura. While it’s going to “feel different,” there will be some Disney worlds sprinkled into Kingdom Hearts 4. It was an interesting talking point from the director.

Each Kingdom Hearts game gets prettier and prettier with each bit of graphical improvement. While fans love to see the games look better, it can also limit what Disney titles they can accurately portray. The game looks more realistic than previous games, so it’s less likely to show off the more cartoony Disney areas that fans may be familiar with.

Tetsuya Nomura did specify that Kingdom Hearts 4 will be spending more time in the world Sora lives in. This place, Quadratum, was originally revealed in Kingdom Hearts 3 and will be the main area the game takes place in. From there, players will head to other worlds.

Players will get to see Sora have a daily routine and get more involved in the character's real life, which promises to be interesting. The developer didn’t mention any specific Disney worlds other than to briefly mention Pirates of the Caribbean.

Nomura said it was the most realistic world they have visited in the series, but that it was it. This could mean that fans will return to the Pirates' lands or that fans should expect other, more realistic, less cartoony Disney areas in Kingdom Hearts 4.

When it comes to more hints on Kingdom Hearts 4, the director stated that players should keep an eye on Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link. It will have a closed beta this year, and while not everyone’s a mobile gaming fan, it will be worth it for franchise fans as there will be some information and hints about the upcoming mainline entry. He also teased that some of the characters in Missing-Link are linked to the next game, making it all the more enticing.

While the next game has no release date as of yet, Tetsuya Nomura went into a fair amount of detail discussing challenges in developing the game. Fans will just have to keep an eye out since the game does not have a release date to give just yet.