What I Learned Photographing NPCs in Kingdom Hearts III

My deep dive into the character design, clothing, worldbuilding, and ambient dialogue of NPCs from Kingdom Hearts 3, after I spent a year watching and photographing NPCs.
KH3 is fascinating because in adapting worlds from a variety of different properties, it pulls details from each of those properties in vastly different ways. Let's dive into how it tackles its Disney worlds: the 3D animated, the adapted from 2D, and the adapted from live action... and of course, how it tackles the townspeople of its beloved original world Twilight Town. How do the game's NPCs compare to the vibes established by their source material? As a camera-wielding Sora might say... "Let's see!"
This video is excerpted from a longer deep dive into several games I photographed NPCs in. See below.
NPCs of Gaming Year in Review 2021 (Full Video): • What I Learned Photogr...
======== Kingdom Hearts III Articles ========
“Kingdom Hearts 3: The Challenges and Rewards of Working with Disney” by Joe Skrebels
www.ign.com/articles/2019/02/...
“KH Insider Interviews Tasha Sounart”
• KHInsider Interviews T...
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[@YMilkshake]

As a 3D artist this is such a cool topic to talk about. I never realized the NPC's in the Tangled world were so 1:1 with the movie, great catch!

[@SolidArf]

Thanks so much! Yeah, I think that was the find I was most excited about (with the office in Port Royal a close second). And huge respect for 3D artistry. Best of luck with your projects. :)

[@YMilkshake]

@@SolidArf Awh thank you so much ^^

[@keybladeterra]

I never realized how much attention to detail there was in the NPCs. This is a great showcase of the team's care for this game.

[@onlyacomentarynothingspeci2419]

Its extra sad that people endlessly shit on the game its to the Brim filled with love and a lot of the complaints are really unfair

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

@@onlyacomentarynothingspeci2419 It is a commercial product being sold for money, and people want it to be the best it can be. You're the one being the most unfair.

[@Waltersop]

It was utterly wasted ressources . They just made open arenas without really knowing what to do with it

[@voidangel6973]

@@onlyacomentarynothingspeci2419 a shit game is a shit game, no matter how much love is put in a game

[@dawk7]

@@onlyacomentarynothingspeci2419 To take a more constructive approach to the obligatory "this game is shit" responses, the problem is that there is a truckload of love and care put into these details, and frankly, this whole business brings a smile to my face... ...but nobody cares, nobody cared, nobody is going to care *unless you point it out to them.* It's effort put into the wrong places when more serious effort should've been put into more important business, like pacing the main story. It reeks of Disney meddling with the quality of their worlds, which mind you is absolutely understandable practice when dealing with intellectual property and there are several ways that can be a good thing, but in this case? In this case they screwed the pooch in favor of the mouse. Or yanno, tl;dr people are pissed that they put effort into things people didn't ask for, and not enough effort into things people expect out of a basic story.

[@caldw615]

I didn't even realise the NPC's in Twilight Town looked like updated versions of the ones from KH2. The attention to detail in this is so good.

[@lolyoutoobe]

Wow this makes me appreciate the small details in the game.

[@breadeater1194]

I had no idea KH3 was so alive. I mainly play these games for the fights, so I hadn't realized that difference.

[@pennyjpie]

Remember when we used to make fun of KH2 for that infamous Olympus Coliseum scene? Now KH3 is one of the few current gen games that actually put time and effort into the background npc characters instead of just pulling them from Unreal Engine 4’s open source catalog or something. Even FFVII Remake couldn’t do that. Thanks for this refreshing take, I feel like KH3 is often talked about in terms of what it “isn’t” a lot and people seldom pay attention to how the game shines at all the attention to detail it puts in. They didn’t have to go as far as they did with the NPCs, and yet they attempted to be as accurate at recreation to the feeling of these films as possible whiled still managing to fit Sora, Donald and Goofy into each different world pretty effectively. 1:00 - also the film term for “extras” in animation is called “Incidentals”! It’s not a well known term outside the industry so don’t sweat it for not knowing. I even just looked it up on google and no one mentions that term so I guess it really is just a specific animation industry only term.

[@SolidArf]

Hey thank you so much! Love this comment, and I totally agree. I quite liked KH3 -- though I can understand why not everyone did. But I think details like this really do highlight that the game has a lot put into it. I remember rewatching Nightmare Before Christmas as a kid and thinking "How cool would it be if these other monster designs could just hang out in the background next KH?" -- and now we've gotten basically that! I can’t help but adore the game for what it is. I didn't know about "incidentals" so thank you!

[@moonlightwite]

This gives me an even bigger appreciation for KH3 than I already had. I never bothered to use the camera feature, but this makes me want to play through the game again, taking my time to soak in the atmosphere of each level more.

[@kierancampire]

The fact that so much detail went into it, like recreating exact characters, all the detail in clothing, unique appearances, refering the movie/game, that's awesome! But then the ways you can interact, also seeing old KH2 NPC's get recreated weirdly almost got me emotional. Played through this game and have seen a fair few videos on it, yet never noticed any of this! That is awesome!

[@FlorianHeart]

I started crying when you showed how the NPC in Twilight Town had their KH 2 designed updated to in KH 3. It's so beautiful to see them get a glow up.

[@mochhhhee]

Me too 😭 for some reason it made me so emotional

[@sixthcairn]

This channel is a gem.

[@timurkral3781]

Like my balls.

[@xanderkatt1391]

The two people on the beach I’m FFXV some reason warms my heart

[@Adriancitos]

I just got this in my recommended and honestly I'm really glad I did. KH3's NPCS were a thing that while I obviously noticed as a difference versus the rest of the games I did not realize how much detail each one of them had and it's amazing to see. Going to watch more of your videos right now and subbed! It's an interesting subject that I don't think I've seen being talked more than a few times and your script+editing+presentation is truly on point.

[@phantomroxas2002]

I remember being blown away by just how much the quality and scale of the worlds was ramped up from KH2 when I played 3 for the first time- There was a lot more to explore and a lot more people present that made the environments feel real and alive, but even then I never noticed how meticulous they were with every small detail- Wouldn't have even known about how the NPCs are designed with such attention to detail from past games and even their movies without watching this vid- Which just makes the worldbuilding of KH3 even more of a masterclass in atmosphere. Great stuff, can imagine how much work and attention to detail this one required. Really looking forward to future vids.

[@PhoenixFlight8D]

I personally love how in twighlight town, when two npcs are talking to eachother and you bring the camera up to them, they stop and look around awkwardly

[@Starpotion]

I absolutely adore how your companions will also make different poses and comments when you face them with the camera, Rapunzel even having ones for pre and post haircut, crazy amount of detail

[@oluvids]

This is pretty cool! I wonder how the npcs will be in KH4's Quadratum

[@mattwo7]

Probably similar to the ones in FFXV (even if it's not Versus XIII, Nomura's fingerprints are all over it, like how Legacy of the Lucii is basically Omnislash Version XIII) and FF7R I'd wager.

[@GarnetBlazeAnimator]

I'm an animator and while my main focus is more prominent lead characters, crowd control has always fascinated me. It's interesting to see when background characters are still frames, versus given a small bit of animation that doesn't overshadow the focus. Since I am currently working as a one person team, I put a lot of care and attention into my extras.

[@SayonWyiet]

I once thought about making a series following the npcs of Elder Scrolls Online, because there's a surprisingly amount of stories they tell that's completely unrelated to any quests or gameplay objectives. Things like seeing someone sneak off and worship an evil statue that suddenly glows, or lovers having a secret meeting, or a healer taking a break by themselves to go cry. It's cool when devs take the time to make their npcs so interesting.

[@basilchi8058]

This is so cool! Really makes you appreciate all of the effort that goes into games especially AAA.

[@luminosity01]

You wish they put more effort in the terms of story, gameplay, and the overall feels of the 3rd game

[@timurkral3781]

I appreciated nothing

[@nerdychocobo]

This really highlights all the love and attention put into building kh3

[@Starpotion]

Really excited to see how KH4 expands on environmental details like this as it was one of the strongest parts of KH3, but also felt like they were just barely scratching the surface.

[@courtflakes9242]

One of my favorite things to do in open world games is to stalk NPC’s and watch what they get up to and listen to all their dialogs. I’m glad other people appreciate this aspect of games

[@extradips4376]

Thank you for the deep dive!

[@ID0W0nderz]

11:11 mike wazowski getting covered up in pictures is still the best joke

[@SolidArf]

You are the first person to notice, and on the 100th comment too. I am finally free.

[@SuperLegendOf364]

Can't wait to see the NPCs they could pull for the eventual Wreck-it Ralph world. The 3 main areas of that film have such a diverse cast and I can't wait to see 'em. Also Star Wars will be insane. I can't wait to see the attention to detail of those characters.

[@mattwo7]

5:55 Don't forget Athens in the animated series.

[@skelenize]

Underrated channel. Glad I found it

[@amydaskilewicz9076]

If KH3 has one thing, it has ~beautiful~ locations and towns that feel very real and lived in

[@Patrick_Spack]

You should check ouy Kena: Bridge of Spirits for a pretty advanced ingame camera! The world is also breathtaking, and the few npc's that exist, do interact with the camera too. I probably spent 20 hours taking photos and playing for like 10 haha

[@SolidArf]

Picked it up earlier this year! Your comment made me even more excited to get around to it, sounds very much my speed. 😄

[@mattwo7]

8:12 That song is of course in the original ride and now Jack Sparrow sings it in the 2006 revamp.

[@mochhhhee]

This is amazing ♥️ subscribed! I’m glad the recommendations out you in my radar

[@kicksyo2171]

This video is awesome! I too loved looking at the NPCs around the worlds.

[@DevaneiosInsalubres]

Watching this vid was amazing, thank you for making it.

[@julhabulha]

your channel is very good dude! it made me appreciate how much work goes into the worldbuilding of these games.

[@davesinsanestudio8072]

Never really thought about this. Great video.

[@MistromLuthane]

Genuinely fascinating. Glad i found u

[@azolaun]

This is so interesting. Probably my new favorite KZbinr now

[@samuelturner6076]

Dang this is really interesting and informative, definitely earned a like and sub.

[@Sora-o]

Very interesting video! Thanks!

[@GNOtaku13]

Love this!

[@J0hnLeee]

Your topic is interesting and certainly not something people really pay attention to. Nice work

[@mossasaur]

Honestly, I completely forgot there were NPCs in this game! They’re charming in their own way :)

[@youngrootv]

I do this too. I have put so much effort and taken so many pictures in A LOT of different games that people will never see lol 😅😢

[@puricodraws]

what a lovely video! makes me want to revisit kh3 😍

[@mattwo7]

11:43 It is really weird that there's a Dissidia NT stand in Toy Box when it _should_ be in Quadratum.

[@6darren6]

lol it’s so crazy that no matter how many subs someone has if they upload a quality video related to Kingdom hearts in any way the video gets crazy amounts of views

[@Leopardeye]

“Being a hater doesn’t make you cold.” 😂 These npcs are a trip.

[@NicolasDarknessWolf]

It is good for square to get a lot of references for Corona , but it really affected the development of the frozen and tangled level, since the script in some parts is way more different

[@ThatOneLegendEmerald]

You seemingly didn't mention this but you forgot to mention one crucial bit of dialogue in Twilight Town where they mention Seifer, Fuujin, and Raijin went off on a Warrior's Journey in between games. Wish we knew what happened to best boy Vivi Ornitier though...

[@SolidArf]

Yeah, I had some trouble getting that line to trigger while I was recording footage unfortunately. But it is absolutely one of the best exchanges. I like to think Vivi's still around somewhere. Personally in the camp that misses FF representation quite a bit!

[@PrettyGuardian]

The models from Hercules did have a distinct look to them.

[@RPGgrenade]

I did notice something to an extent about the NPCs, mainly that they were... interesting, and doing things! Not only had I barely ever seen that in a game, but it was (ironically) very off-brand for kingdom hearts, but in a way I could appreciate, but also sort of miss. All the NPCs being there really makes the world feel alive, but there was always something that left a more interesting feel about it being kinda empty, a small sense of isolation that's lost in KH3. But hey, these are some the best NPCs I've seen in videogames in general

[@flappletarts]

“Way to suck the magic out of everything, *science*.” Is the entire plot of KH summed up in one butthurt sentence.

[@IllyasArt]

As an overall artist and solo dev, the 3D models, level design, and particle effects in KH3 truly amaze me. Really took UE4 has far as they could. I don't know if they used Cascade or Niagra for the particle effects but either way, no one has made better particle since KH3 came out. I can't wait to see what they're going to do with KH4 using UE5 :D

[@IJustWantAMocha]

I had no clue! This is amazing lmao thanks to you me and others now know about the smallest details. This is just wow. Lmao

[@kerozine819]

This is why kh4 needs some type of side quest

[@mikaeldp]

While 1 had the amazing grounded story and was such a unique game at the time; 2 was more of the good things 1 had going but with better combat; the strength of KH3 over the other 2 mainline games really is the exploration/immersion aspect. The detail and care put into each world were amazing. It's not a game you should rush playing. Even though the story isn't as strong as the first two mainly because of how many story threads it had to close for the cast that grew so much bigger since KH2, KH3 has the best in combat and out-of-combat gameplay BY FAR.

[@FusionRey]

Subbed! I love this! I feel like these are unique videos in regards to visiting the games we love. Seeing all the small details that normally go unnoticed in video games. I was wondering if you were thinking of doing Breath of the Wild sometime, since that has a camera system?

[@SolidArf]

Thank you so much! I actually have a section on Breath of the Wild in my larger NPC video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5bNnJyuqa50nNk around 10:19! It's a short section, because the thing with BotW is that every NPC in it has already been meticulously documented and has their own Wiki article; so I couldn't think of much new to add. I talk a lot about the Sheikah Slate camera instead!

[@FusionRey]

@@SolidArf Ah cool, thanks! I just watched that. Such a shame that they didn't enable exporting of the photos in the original.

[@mrconga6701]

The thumbnail got me like GUS FRING IN KH3 REAL?!

[@KitKat-sv9qp]

5:48 is that keith silverstein? I didn't even know he voiced in this game 😮😮

[@SolidArf]

Looks like he's credited for Additional Voices. I think you must be right!

[@KitKat-sv9qp]

@@SolidArf oh that's so cool, i wouldn't have known if not for this video :o thank you so much!

[@andrewpotts]

Wow, THE Vector the Crocodile in Kingdom Hearts? Neat.

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

There is so much effort into NPCs... which is often a concern when a game doesn't often interact with the NPCs especially with how fast Sora moves. Hopefully future products can find a better balance.

[@devilovesdevil]

I do the same thing omg and I love ffx2 music in the op

[@ms.pirate]

Finally, someone with brains who knows that kingdom hearts is a shared property of both square enix and Disney

[@onlyacomentarynothingspeci2419]

Even the KH Original Charakter Design resembles more of a Disney Style with theire big Eyes and unproportionate Bodys, they are a clear clash against the more realistic Looking Final Fantasy Charakters, thats why Sora looks so different now in the KH4 Trailer

[@jebronlames987]

I really hate to shatter your ego, but using your own eyes, you can see that on literally every single Kingdom Hearts product, it says (c) Disney, Disney/Pixar. It’s been stated by Disney execs that they consult Square Enix on decisions with the franchise as a courtesy, not as an obligation. I have Kingdom Hearts socks and shotglasses that have only Disney and Kingdom Hearts characters, and there’s no mention of Square Enix in the copyright info. Square only DEVELOPS the games and owns their Final Fantasy characters. Please stop being a shithead.

[@ShieldofTerror]

I really wish more creativity had been permitted for the princess worlds. I found them the least engaging to play in because of how railroaded to the original movies they were. But a strict adherence to the movies doesn't really feel unusual or surprising. They did that in KHII a lot. Toy Story was _the best world_ because it was the most unchained from their movies' plots.

[@rikukeyblademaster1575]

Yeah another thing that I noticed too is that when I play through the frozen world and the tangled world I noticed that those are the only two that tend to follow the events of the movie and they said that frozen was done very poorly because of the fact that Disney had too much corporate influence in what Tetsuya no morals designs for the world should have been. To be honest I agree because the kingdom of corona and frozen felt really dry in other words are you going to those worlds and usually I’m OK with following the movies ply but they went on with their own stories in kingdom hearts one and I feel like that’s what you’re more really should have trusted his own instinct and not listened to corporate greed because even he stated that the world would have turned out better if they could have went between Arendelle and Elsas castle and they originally we’re gonna have Elsa as a party member after they get into a fight with the sort of thing we know as skuld. To be honest I can see why the didn’t do that because Elsa was practically a role model for the younger generation and they said they didn’t want that to be ruined however there’s a lot of things that they themselves have ruined in the past and if they keep this up they might just drag the series into the ground and I don’t want that I really don’t because we had a long journey ahead of us and I don’t want to see it and Without a proper ending to the series I don’t care how many games it takes I just hope that they don’t end up ruined like KH3 was as a person who is partially blind the world of Erindale was very rough for me to get through you see I have severe retinal scarring and optic nerve damage that I got when I was born from Hydro syphilis and LMC as well as multiple sclerosis and yeah I wasn’t even supposed to look past the age of two years old but now look at me I’ve got the perfect ideas for so many amazing things my brain is like A super computer service speak :-) granted sometimes it’s a gift as well as a curse but sometimes it’s the other way around either way it’s the hand I got dealt and if it wasn’t for Dr. Hutchinson and I was city beating out the other five teams that wanted to have my mom get an abortion let’s just say I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t be able to experience these amazing things or get to meet you guys. Usually it’s five against one and the five wins but this time the one overpowered the five and thank God it did too you’re welcome to check out both of my channels if you wish:-) i’ll give you the names and you’ll be able to find them the first one is Riku Key blade master and angel of the dawn :-) I hope to see you there and I hope we can bounce ideas off of each other :-) sorry for the long time and it’s just I’m kind of new here so yeah I wanted to get everything out right off the bat so there isn’t any awkwardness if you get my drift :-)💜

[@reffa2858]

The first thing I tried to do in the Toy Story world was create curse words with the blocks. But the damn devs were smart enough not to put together blocks that would synergize into whole curse words. Like you'd have an F but no U. Or an H but no S. And the hit boxes on the blocks were so wonky it was hard to place them next to one another. But I was able to spell the N-word (dont worry, its cool because Im black. Right?) And Tit. Anyway I took a picture of it and donald and goofy posed for it perfectly. I have it set as my xbox home screen to this day. It took me about 2 hours to organize and its Literally one of my highlights in the game.

[@noblesseoblige319]

.... Am I the only one who didn't know the npcs talked amongst themselves?

[@Lazzzzz99]

But the people behind frozen made it so hard for square to put work on it and thats why frozens world was so lackluster

[@andrechris-sargent9921]

Amazing. After all that extra work, they still look absolutely lifeless and corporate.

[@chuudles]

Really enjoyed this! As much as I don't enjoy KH3's story, they really did put a lot of love and care into the details and large-scale world of it all.

[@2yoyoyo1Unplugged]

Makes me sad that people just crap all over KH3 when so much love was put into it

[@ambientNexus]

Even though so much effort was put in, a lot of people would consider it a waste when the story and main gameplay seemingly got pushed to the back. Quite literally, in the story's case. Sora's journey through the disney worlds was rendered almost entirely pointless because it contributed nothing towards him being able to use the power of waking again, and yet it still took up the large majority of the game. Kinda made a lot of it pretty anticlimactic.

[@2yoyoyo1Unplugged]

@@ambientNexus Gotta disagree.

[@kefkaexdeath]

what's the game with the huge clock face at 12:14?

[@SolidArf]

It Takes Two (2021) by Hazelight Studios!

[@lizardlord4k]

I have my issues with KH for a lot of different reasons, but one thing I will hand it to them is that on a visual level every KH game does it damndest to look as closely as possible to the source material as possible. And that's not an easy thing to do for a host of reasons, and that's worthy of respect.

[@Mikhailnoise]

This is actually kind of an issue I see w a lot of games but especially w Square in general. There's so much focus in those fine details but overall, the product definitely lacks from it.

[@Skelecool]

No Nightmare Before Christmas in KH3 so its not a good game

[@rikukeyblademaster1575]

Anyone is welcome to come by you see I’m someone who is not going to be to judge you or anything considering that I’ve been judged well misjudged practically my whole life until now still going through it, people are scared of what they don’t understand and I think that’s why they result in doing what they’re doing because of the fact that they just don’t know how to handle a contact creator that has amazing capabilities not only do I come with a photographic and I do like memory but I also have wicked sing singing talents and voice acting too :-) I can’t edit out the gear or the other sounds behind me I really suck at editing no joke! L O L so all of the strikes I got against me were literally beyond my control and that’s why I created angel of the dawn that way I can have a secondary channel to fall back on I’ll make a third one if I have to but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there :-)Let’s just say you’re dealing with an entity that is very resilient and honestly like Lazarus I just keep knocking back up you can’t break down what can’t be broken for crying out loud! :-)

[@aortaplatinum]

I can't believe they didn't put Herculad in Olympus this is fucking blasphemy For as disappointing and corporate as KH3 is, it's really impressive how detailed the first NPCs in a Kingdom Hearts game are. Previous games' worlds felt so empty, but the gorgeous worlds of 3 are so enhanced by these NPCs that it makes me deeply and eternally loathe squeenix a teeny tiny bit less

[@nilsonpetrin1882]

I love these things in games so I can appreciate every detail. I'd love for you to take a look at Dragon Quest 8's photo mode for 3ds. There's a lot of beautiful things there.

[@EviIM0nk3y]

Yet no ff characters…. 😞

[@________________6325]

schizophrenia

[@pupylver]

now if only kh3 was any good!

[@Zistheone2]

Shouldn’t the title be “What I *Learned* Photographing NPCs in Kingdom Hearts III?”

[@dubwub4667]

Thanks Disney for ruining my childhood favorite game series -_-

[@redkingblaze9808]

Everyone is hype over the details in graphics and NPCs but we can't forget the game was shit lmfao pretty faces lie

[@Lazzzzz99]

But the people behind frozen made it so hard for square to put work on it and thats why frozens world was so lackluster

[@redtutel]

I remember I realized Larxene represents Disney’s IP team’s approach to Frozen, and everything about the world’s story began to make sense

[@Lazzzzz99]

@@redtutel how so?