Kingdom Hearts 3 may not signal the return of fan-favorite villain Sephiroth, its game director has said.
Speaking during an interview with The Mirror, Tetsuya Nomura admitted that the iconic, silver-haired baddie, who appeared in the first two Kingdom Hearts games, is not guaranteed a place in the upcoming sequel as no decision has been made as of yet.
“I can’t say for certain, I hope, hint hint hint. I can’t say for certain. In terms of Sephiroth, do you feel like you want to battle Sephiroth again?” said Nomura-san. “We can’t say anything at this time, but in terms of Sephiroth specifically, my development team are worried that we’ve had him come back so many times so they’re maybe worried it might be redundant at this point. We’re still deliberating on it.”
Sephiroth has become one of the most iconic videogame villains of all time since his debut as the chief antagonist in 1997’s Final Fantasy VII, and was brought back for the 2005 CGI flick, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children as well as the PlayStation Portable title, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. He’s also made guest appearances in other titles outside of Kingdom Hearts, including the brawler Dissidia: Final Fantasy, LittleBigPlanet, and Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2018. Square Enix recently confirmed that the game will feature a new world based on Pixar’s Toy Story franchise, which takes place following the events of the second movie in the much-loved franchise. Nomura also said that the reason the game has taken so long to develop is primarily due to a shift in game engine after 12 months of production.
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