Kingdom Hearts 3 has "far bigger" worlds than previous games in the franchise

Kingdom Hearts 3 will have "far bigger" worlds than other games in the franchise.

Speaking with Engadget at E3, (thanks, Gematsu) director Tetsuya Nomura said despite the size, the load times have seen a “huge decrease” compared with previous titles.

“While the world may not be comparable to massively open-world titles, it’s far bigger than previous Kingdom Hearts titles,” he said. “In previous games, you’d run to the end of an area and it would go dark before transitioning to the next stage — now it’s become seamless."

Real-time actions will also affect the landscape, said Nomura, using the tornado spell as an example. It "will swirl the blades of grass surrounding it.”

Battle controls will be similar to Kingdom Hearts, but the team is currently considering ways to use the DualShock 4's touchpanel in some capacity.

The team is also has quite a few ideas on how to extend the games longevity with an online component.

While Nomura said online is part of his "wish list," he doesn't want the functionality to be "tacked on". Plus, the team hasn't reach a point in development to where it can test any ideas pertaining to online.

Kingdom Hearts 3 announced for PS4 and Xbox One during E3 2013 and a new trailer was shown during Square Enix's E3 2015 stage presentation.