It's believable enough.

That's a couple days after the release of the OST, which I've suspected from the start will get packaged with MoM in some sort of Collector's Edition.

Additional note, that's a Friday which is a normal day for games to come out so...believe?

lol i littaly said the it would be in the same month as the ost it make the most sense to do it that way

I hope so. It'll be great to have something to play during Thanksgiving.

November, so I can get this with the KH3 manga around the same time. That's pleasantly convenient.

I‘m Austrian and I‘ve never seen a game for 62,99€ lmao what a weird price. So probably placeholder or the price that retailer is selling it at...
i also never heard of this retailer but meh doesn‘t play a role I guess

I am choosing not to believe in this rumor based on my own emotional desire for the game to come sooner. If you express the belief that this is a rumor with credence, not only will I vehemently disagree-- I will consider you my Forum Enemy for the rest of my life.

I was predicting a December release for Christmas sales. But November is close enough. Whether or not it's true I hope an official announcement comes soon. We are nearing the end of 2020

If this is true, it'll be just in time to give me a much-needed pick-me-up after the US election.

Makes sense. i predicted november release since the reveal. black friday and christmas is when people spend their money and they know it.

Oh, I certainly hope so.

Assuming this is legit...man I called it. But that's just an assumption. Nov isn't too far away, just three months, I'm pretty hyped.

I just remembered why November 13th sounded familiar. Same day as Yakuza 7.

Off-topic, but I started playing Yakuza 0 for the first time, as a brand new fan, and I'm enjoying it! Now I'm gonna have TWO new games to spend time with this holiday season LOL.



Yeah, I mean it's a musical game, so... It's completely reasonable. Maybe they'll even put some Melody of Memory-exclusive tracks on the OST as well, since I'm sure MoM will have its own renditions of previous songs. Dearly Beloved, for example.

As for the price, I know it's a placeholder, but I do wonder what it'll actually be. There's so much to this game that we don't know about.

That price is utterly terrible, I can only assume it's some type of direct conversion from something else, either way, if this game is anything over 35/40 that's a huge no from me dawg.

Agreed. That price is damn steep for a rhythm game. The only explanations I can think of are that maybe it's a glitch on the site (most likely), the listed offerings are some kind of special edition deal with a host of extra collectible materials (which, even then, HELL no!), OR Melody of Memory is actually much more of a game than the trailers would have led us to believe. I'm hoping for the latter, because if that pricetag is any indication of what the game will cost in US dollars, then I'm noping the heck outta this and just watching someone's playthrough on YouTube. Ain't no rhythm game worth that much outta my wallet.

This is what I'm thinking. Then again, I think the Persona dancing games were full price, although those games were filled with remixes and actual dancing instead of simply rhythm-input. It all depends on what Melody of Memory really has in it. If it's a KH2.8 sort of deal with added content, then that's one thing. If it's a rhythm game alone at $70 and the game itself isn't really meaty, then that's bad on Square's part.

One thing to mention though is that they said that there's 4 modes in Melody of Memory, but I think they've only talked about three. I wonder what the last one is. Also, if Kairi's backstory is tied to Sora's memory, why is it that KH1 Sora's the one tying her past together, shouldn't it be Kairi herself? I know, her heart was in Sora's in KH1, but it still should be her.

If the price is true, then I think MoM is a KH2.8 sort of deal. But man, this is probably the most uneventful KH release ever. Even 2.8 had a lot more fanfare. Ray of Hope is a banger, we got the opening movie preview, stuff with Aqua to look forward to... Man we even had the Back Cover movie (which didn't tell us everything, BUT did tell us a bit about the Foretellers and was an entertaining watch regardless). KH MoM is like... "Oh yeah, we've got a new KH game coming soon............ See ya." COVID-19 is most likely a factor in all of this, so TGS is the next best thing, but dang.

Why? What makes a rhythm game less worthy of a full-priced release compared to anything else?
Just like anything else, there are rhythm games released at full price (Project Diva, DJMAX, Taiko), and budget titles released for less (Amplitude PS4, Invector, MUSYNX)

Maybe the fact it's using decade old assets and a gameplay system ripped straight from two previous titles? As much as I would love KH Theatrythm, there's nothing groundbreaking, visually or otherwise, that point to it justifying the same type of price that a 30 hour game with brand new graphics and a new gameplay system had.

Like you said, there are budget titles released for far less, and this is a budget title.

My impression was also that they only talked about 3 ways. 63 euros is a bit expensive.

UPDATE: Gameware removed the date from their website.

Because rhythm games are more rudimentary by design. If it can be mechanically tailored to simplistic mobile game markets, it's not an ideal format for a triple-A title. And, as 2 quid mentioned, it seems the game will rely primarily on outdated PS2-era graphics (though doubtless touched up a bit in UE4) outside of cutscenes, which also devalues the worth of the title.
I wouldn't pay $60+ for a game that looked graphically 20 years old and was gameplay-wise just a really long and glorified rendition of Candy Crush. The format that this series does best with (real-time action RPG) allows for a much greater scope of complexity, strategy, growth, and exploration than a rhythm game does, which sets this title far below the rest of the series proper in terms of quality and value, which in turn makes it unthinkable that they would even think of charging KH3 prices for it. Unless there's a LOT about this game we don't even know about yet.

Really it was more pointed at the attitude that rhythm games, as a genre, should not cost as much as others.
But the age or quality of assets isn't a determinate factor in price. Nor is, really, anything else.
Companies price what they think they can get away with.
This is Kingdom Hearts, and this is Square Enix, so you should prepare yourself for a $60 pricetag.
If it's lower that's great, but I'm not expecting it (and personally don't see a problem with it).

For reference, the lower-priced titles I mentioned were a Kickstarter game (Amplitude, the PS2 original having been full-priced), an indie game (Invector), and a very low-budget Korean game (MUSYNX, which ironically is the most expensive of the three).
The first two have tracklists of less than 30 songs, local and online multiplayer and leaderboards, and a handful of small scenes comprising a "story." 20 bucks.
MUSYNX has a big tracklist, but that's it. There isn't even really a menu, just song selection. 30 bucks.

So if that's what a budget title looks like, then Melody of Memory can easily justify full price by comparison with 140 songs, multiple playable characters, a story mode (which appears to have optional challenges to clear), co-op and versus modes. And there might even be more we don't know about yet.

The complexity of the game's design is not the metric by which games are priced. As stated before, there are a variety of full-priced rhythm franchises (of varying skill and complexity).

and was gameplay-wise just a really long and glorified rendition of Candy Crush.

Now you're just bein' nasty.

The format that this series does best with (real-time action RPG) allows for a much greater scope of complexity, strategy, growth, and exploration than a rhythm game does, which sets this title far below the rest of the series proper in terms of quality and value

I really don't like, and frankly don't even understand, this idea that rhythm games (in particular, it seems, as I've noticed this line of thought a lot in KH spaces recently) are somehow of inherently less value than any other genre of game, or that they're on-par with mobile games, or anything else like that.

The idea behind rhythm games, especially that of teathrhythm, is that they are largely existing music (the likes of which have been paid for literally ages ago), put on an on-rails visual background while you press keys in a lock/step fashion. Meaning, from a consumer perspective, they are "simple" games and "likely" don't require anywhere near the amount of manpower and talent to develop and release.

Of course, we all know that isn't even remotely true (game development isn't easy no matter what is being developed), but that's the idea.

I just want to add my two cents to this and mention that they aren’t just paying for development costs, but also song rights and royalties depending on the contracts they have. Rhythm games can get very expensive even when it is the company’s own music because of the sorts of agreements they have with composers and vocal artists.

Ishimoto and Shimomura are both rather expensive freelance composers. Not to mention the royalties they probably pay to Disney composers for arrangements of certain songs.

$60 USD might be a lot to people for a rhythm game, but there are a lot more intricate things happening behind scenes to make a game like MoM possible.

(That said, the 60 Euros price probably is inaccurate)

Sorry, but I remain unconvinced of it's price, but then again I was in a minority of people who felt Remind was overpriced. I suppose it boils down to personal preference at the end of the day, as with anything.

Realistically, the game will be $60USD, which is par for the course and should be expected from SE (see FFXV then FFXV Royal Edition, KH3 then KHRemind, then KH Al lin One). However, keep in mind that KHMOM will absolutely see a price cut 3-5 months in, which is also to be expected (KH3 went from $60 on launch to $30 in August 2019).

What majority believed Remind to be fairly (or worse, under) priced? It was less than 6 hours of extra content, half of it recycled lol

I think it is fine to personally not feel MoM would be worth it at that price point for you, but most people are worried you are undervaluing the work and licensing fees that is making it $60 to begin with.

Did people really think Remind was fairly priced? I think I remember plenty of discussion stating it was highly overpriced. Even if somebody were told spend forever playing the data bosses, $30 is not the normal price for any standalone DLC. I can’t say I liked the fact that it recycled segments. I do think that there is a difference in our own opinions and what SE felt was reasonable for the cost of labor, resources, and the various fees they pay.

When you look at it from that standpoint, the DLC is worth it for all of the resources that went into it.

I’m not going to attempt to change your mind on any of it, but they price this stuff where they do for a reason.

That all may very well be true, but I fail to see how these additional costs are fairly transferred to the price tag that the customer has to pay. I mean, I don't doubt that re-establishing the rights and whatnot behind the scenes for legal/development purposes is expensive, but it's not the same kind of expense as, say, high-budget graphics or something else which the player actually gets as a fresh new experience. And while yes, the player will technically "experience" the tracks in the game because of these costs, I don't think it's fair to count that as something for which the customer should be expected to pay, since most if not all the tracks in this game are tracks we've all heard in numerous other titles, none of them even remixed it would seem. I don't think it's reasonable to excuse the huge price tag on recycled content, no matter if the developers had to pay extra on their end to secure added rights. And if that is the case, then it seems an even greater blunder on SE's part—from a financial as well as gameplay perspective—that they would choose to make a rhythm game instead of a real action RPG title, seeing as all that extra expense doesn't translate into anything on the player's end.

None of us can do a genuine cost breakdown since we don't have access to that information or know just how they calculated what price point would make them a profit, but as consumers we are almost always taking the brunt of the development and licensing fees in the price tag given. This is just the reality of being the end user.

MoM might not have the same budget as something like KH3, but Disney's funding might play a role in cost. KH3 would have received a lot of funding from Disney whereas I imagine MoM, despite being a budget title, would have gotten significantly less money from Disney and that would require SE to offset the cost of developing and fees into the price tag.

The extra expense does translate onto the player's end. The game is rhythm game. The music is the core component of the game.

I don't particularly agree with MoM costing $60 knowing what we know about it, but I understand to a small degree where they would have gotten that price from if that ends up being the legitimate retail price.

I should state that I'm not arguing to defend the price, but rather I'm merely pointing out that we don't know what is going on internally but the music fees could be a big component of it.

Maybe I'm wrong and they will price it at $60 because SE is greedy ?‍♀️

I think the issue is that we don't know anything about MoM besides that trailer they kinda just added to the Kingdom Hearts 2020 video. So people's feelings towards a $60 game for something that seems straightforward isn't something we should dismiss. Square might feel it's justified, but if a lot of people don't, you can't blame them. People felt $30 for ReMind was too expensive, and while I personally found value in it, I get it. Not to mention that the game is canon, so it's not one you can skip either.

Everyone should be compensated, but it's still gotta be valuable enough for people to willingly buy it for that price. I'm still gonna buy it, but I completely understand those who feel like they'd rather put their money towards something else.

If there's over 140 songs, then that's not a short game by any means, but still. I think once we get an actual dedicated MoM trailer, people will be more excited though.

Yeah, nobody should buy this game at $60 if they feel that personally it isn't worth $60.

I think that is a completely different opinion from "this game is objectively not worth $60 because it's just recycled content/just a rhythm game/etc.", though.

They really need to get a new trailer out. It is really baffling to go this long without any promotional material to clear up what this game is. It doesn't have to be much, either. Just something so we aren't all confused. We know more about the OST than we do this game xD

Did people really expect a new kingdom hearts game with kh3 level of cutscenes and disney songs to not be 60$?

also you can always wait for sale. games like this will drop quickly into 20-30$ range after couple of months (unless you plan to buy it on switch lol)

We don't know the extent of the UE4 cutscenes, their nature (e.g. it's highly likely MoM UE4 cutscenes are cut content from ReMIND, which itself is cut content from KH3 repackaged), or even how "new" MoM is (see again the cut content argument). We just don't know. Anyone who is making blanketed statements about the price is going on the assumption that MoM is a standard rhythm game with sprinkles of KH story, we cannot say for sure one way or the other that the game ACTUALLY IS this or that.

KH games lose value really quickly so I ain't worried. The switch version on the other hand...

Just like you cannot say for sure that any of this content has been cut so it'd be greatly appreciated if you'd stop spreading that around as if it's fact.

I never did spread it around as fact. I purposefully qualified it with a "highly likely". (ReMIND itself is cut content confirmed from the man himself, but that's really not the subject of the thread.)

But even so, we still don't know the nature of MoM. I might have my opinion, and you yours, but we literally need to wait and see what develops before we can say it's worth this or that amount of money.

No one on staff has ever said they've cut content. Yasue made the point of reiterating that they didn't numerous times both before and after launch.

I don’t really see the point of arguing that something is “cut content” and is therefore worth less. It is pretty normal for content to be cut and used later across all kinds of media. Often it can be for the best as the ideas and concepts become more fleshed out as a result, making those ideas worth more than they would have been otherwise.

But in this case, I don’t think it is likely that this is cut ReMind content. Since the projects were being developed at the same time, Nomura probably planned from the start for these scenes to be in MoM rather than ReMind. I think MoM and Kairi’s story in it were always meant to be like a sort of companion piece to ReMind. Even the coda in the ReMind logo can be interpreted as an intended connection.

I'm not happy this game is $60 dollars if true, but still I will get it. I'm a Kingdom Hearts fan dedicated to this series, so I'm use to it and I've never bought anything Kingdom Hearts related that I regret due to price. I'd buy ReMind all over again with all the stuff it gave me that I love. Nomura already stole my heart, so it's only natural he steals my wallet, it's the fate of a KH fan. I'm looking forward to this game, and I think the story might shock us with some surprises.

Eh, that'll drop at some point. Maybe not as fast as the PS4/XB1 version just because Switch games stay higher for longer, but it’s a 3rd party game so it’s bound to see a drop. I can bet you by Easter of next year, it’ll be on sale for $20.

On the eShop at least Square Enix tend to put their games on sale fairly often.

Another one, this time from Belgium



Switch -> https://www.cld.be/showItem.aspx?id_art=120464

PS4 -> https://www.cld.be/showItem.aspx?id_art=120462

Might have updated after seeing the Austrian listing, might have updated because of info from the manufacturer or distributor, who knows. Always take with a grain of salt until Square Enix comes out and confirms a release date and an actual, non-placeholder price.

Nov 13...moar puhlease. We're edging closer and closer to a release, and with TGS right around the corner (Sep 24 if covid doesn't do its thing) we're sure to get more info and a trailer. BRING ON NOVEMBER

TGS is already an online digital event this year due to COVID. I don't think COVID will affect the trade show any more than it has already.

I hope they will release the TGS trailer early, iirc they did with KH3.

I know this isn't what you're saying, but I'm gonna say this anyway so people can read it -- Nomura isn't the one setting the prices on these things. There's a whole department that spends hours looking at pie charts and bar graphs that make those kinds of choices. I see people putting blame on Nomura for that, so I just want to say this now as a general statement (again, not to you specifically).

That being said though, if people here don't like people being skeptical about the price of MoM... Wait until we actually get a release date lmao. I'll still buy it, but it's still gotta justify a $60 price tag. We really don't know anything about the game, so I imagine once we get a bunch of news for MoM, we'll have a better idea of what's actually in the game.

Also, on another note, quick question. Where are people getting the idea that the Switch can't run Unreal Engine graphics on KH3's level? Because I'm seeing people also wanting a Kingdom Hearts collection on the Switch and if that's the case, then you can pretty much kiss a collection goodbye. You can't put most of the games on there and then NOT include one of the most important ones. In that case, you're better off sticking to PlayStation or Xbox. Surely the developers can tweak it to where it would run better on the Switch's hardware (if it needs that) and if that's the case, who's to say they won't do the same for Melody of Memory? I'm not saying we're literally gonna get a KH0.2/BBS Secret Episode type of scenario in MoM, but maybe we shouldn't write this game off as a 100% rhythm game just yet.

Discussion about the Switch's capabilities is like a pendulum, as in it swings from "The Switch couldn't run a toaster!" to "The Switch can run The Witcher 3!" and never stops in between.

If there was a short playable section I'm fully confident in the Switch's toaster power levels to run it. Maybe it'll be sub optimal but I still think it'd be just fine. And I'm not exactly someone who's a big fan of the switch either.

That's what I think too, I mean, isn't The Witcher 3 a particularly big game with a lot of resources? Double for Skyrim, and it runs those games fine as far as I can tell. I haven't heard anything about Doom, so... I think some people are taking the bare specs of the Switch and running with it more than I think they should be.

It's like when people heard the PS5 was going to be "weaker" than the Xbox Series X and ran that to the mountains, and then when the game showcases came out, that talk ended quickly. Most fans aren't developers, and that's no disrespect, but it's like asking a dude on the street how to make the perfect medium-rare steak instead of the guy who cooks food for a living. Maybe the random guy might be a chef who just ended his shift, or maybe the only thing he cooks are pizza pockets in the microwave (and there's nothing wrong with that). But who's opinion are you going to listen to more?

That's why I'm gonna assume the developers know what they're doing, but if the cutscenes are anything to go by, I'm thinking we're good.

And again too, if Melody of Memory is "too powerful" for the Switch to handle, then RIP to a KH Collection on the Switch, because KH3 would be a nightmare in that case. If some things are downgraded on the Switch, that's fine, but I highly doubt it's one KH world away from turning into a Hot Potato.

By people asking for KH collection, it means 1.5+2.5 which would run on the switch just fine.
it's also easy money for square so it's really weird that it didn't happen yet

Yeah, but business wise, it's not gonna make sense to port 1.5 + 2.5 when you're missing 2.8 and 3. It'd just be another version of buying multiple consoles to play the series. At that point, besides the portability, it makes more sense to play on a console that has all of the games. If I were a new fan and only had a Switch, I'd be pissed if I ended up having to buy new console anyway.

I just want KH games on switch because I want me some portable KH goodness to play, not to get "caught up" on anything. Creating a separate save file for each boss, so I can kill time by fighting every Disney boss in KH2 or very org boss was 1 of my past times back in the day & having that option on a portable system makes my mouth water.

It's not an issue to me that, say for example, Borderlands 3 isn't on Switch because BL1/2/Pre-sequel is still a ton of content for a portable system.

Also, Skyrim was a 360/PS3 game. Not on the same level as Witcher 3/KH3.

Right, but porting a game to a new console means an entirely different audience now has access to the series. There's plenty of existing fans that want a portable KH experience, but is that justifiable enough to port it to a system that won't get all the games? Because I guarantee you there'd be a lot of new fans coming in via the Switch. These are all conversations they'd have to have, and they have to keep new fans in mind, especially moving forward.

Think about how many people want Persona 5 on the Switch, but are salty that Scramble is the only Persona 5 game they're getting (as far as we know). Although in that situation, it doesn't seem to be a hardware thing, it's just Atlus possibly having an exclusivity deal with mainline Persona games probably, but still. In the end, they're gonna have to buy a PS4 if they want to play the full story anyway (if we're talking about Royal).

If Melody of Memory is a one and done thing for the Switch if the hardware is an issue, then it is what it is, but a collection is a different beast entirely. It all depends on what's actually in this game.

& literally the next day rumors of a Switch Pro in Q1 2021 start surfacing, with Bloomberg in particular saying it could be 4K. That would certainly change the discussion if there's a more powerful Switch that's more capable of running KH3.

It will be a pretty shitty move if only the switch pro will get it, screwing over the older switch users. but it won't be the first time.. new 3ds ran games that normal 3ds couldn't.

I don't understand people who are specific about what games are "worth" what prices. You can't quantify a creation's worth especially not by just looking at what the genre is. It only has to do with how much you want it, and then how much you enjoy it.

Wake the mods, Nov 13th release date confirmed:

EDIT: -Playable Roxas with Xion/Axel
-Switch exclusive mode with 8 players local
-Maleficent battle with The Encounter
-Aleous still doesn't speak.

MORE EDIT: The apparent boxart:

.... 59.99

Well that's me gone