The Japanese side of IGN have released their D23 report, which contains a few new tidbits about Kingdom Hearts 3. @MysticDistance on twitter translated these tweets and, thanks to them, we have some more information about the development of Kingdom Hearts 3, as well as the colossal effort to get Rapunzel's hair to work.
New KH3 info:
-Footage of the Tangled world took a long time to show due to process of rendering Rapunzel's hair
-Rare Heartless will appear in KH3.
-Mickey's Giantland is in KH3 in some way.The article also states that the Tangled world had many private houses and shops, and that there were many NPCs walking across the city.
At least 80 employees at Square Enix are involved with the BG modeling for Kingdom Hearts 3. Studios from overseas are also involved, making this the most extensive modeling team in the series thus far.
Nomura states that it took a lot of time to render Rapunzel's hair. Long-haired characters are harder, and in development, the hair would float up in the sky.
In the video, Rapunzel's hair is used in the environment of her world. It floats in the wind and falls down when there are steps. Her hair can also wind up towards a tree. Nomura jokes that this is "the most persistent hair in a game yet."
Rapunzel's hair has been programmed to react accordingly to the terrain in the world.
There was no specific information on how "Giantland" will appear in KH3. A simple image with the text was shown during a development video, but there's no specifics as to what its involvement in KH3 will be.
Nomura states that Rare Heartless will be an important element in KH3, and that there are specific missions prepared. They can be distinguished by the top of their heads and can be defeated with specific tactics.
According to the development team, "This 'Kingdom Hearts' title is in a league of its own." in regards to the brand new gameplay elements.
No specific details on the last stage in Kingdom Hearts 3 were revealed, but Nomura and developers refer to it as something they have wanted to since when Nomura was developing FF. They state "anything is possible" and that it could be a culmination of everything up to now.
Final thing to add to this: Gummi Ship exploration now takes place in a 360 degree space akin to an open world with a "Battle" and "Exploration" phase. Customization also returns and is richer in content than ever before.
Once again, thank you to @MysticDistance for translating these. We are currently working on full translations of the IGN article.
Giantland is a Disney short from 1933. It is a Mickey Mouse version of Jack and the Beanstalk. Kingdom Hearts has a history with using old Mickey Mouse short films, such as Timeless River compiling various shorts together to make an entire world, and Julius, the secret boss from Dream Drop Distance, was taken from Runaway Brain (1995).
In the Kingdom Hearts 3 D23 trailer, we got our first look at Kingdom of Corona team mates Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. Flynn uses a frying pan in combat, but Rapunzel uses her hair to her advantage. We saw her swing around trees to do damage to the Heartless. It is impressive just what Square Enix has pulled off!
