How do you go into a game of a series after waiting over a decade since its last mainline entry? Kingdom Hearts not only is one of my all time favorite gaming series, but it sort of shaped me into the person I am today as far as gaming interests go. I'm now more into RPG's than I ever was, hell I'm positive I had no interest in the genre until KH came along. I've also cosplayed from the games and have made some remarkable friends through our shared admiration of these titles. I admit I wanted to take my time with this game due to the excruciatingly long wait but with seeing people already clearing it on my feeds, I had to rush in order to not get spoiled. That being said, I've seen a lot of back and forth over the game's difficulty, how it overall felt lacking in terms of the story, too flashy, etc. I certainly didn't want other opinions to influence mine however it did cause me to reflect on some parts after I beat the main story.
Therefore there are some gripes I now come to have through thinking about these thoughts in addition to ones I generated on my own. With all that out of the way, let's dive in shall we? KH3 takes place pretty immediate after the conclusion of Dream Drop Distance where Sora now has to go reawaken his powers after they were pretty much stripped by Xehanort. This is mainly to prepare for the incoming clash which will bring about a new Keyblade War. Though, for someone who's had their powers taken away, Sora's pretty overpowered :O.
Right off the bat I want to let you guys know, that this game as a whole was very easy to clear. I played KH3 on Standard like I normally do with first runs but hey, even Proud Mode probably would have been a better decision for me. The only times I ever "died" in the main story were through losing dumb ship battles in The Caribbean world. The gameplay is very flashy and I was excited majority of the time to mash the X button whenever I was gaining activators in combat. Sora has a plethora of new abilities such as Attraction Rides which interrupt the fights to summon Disney theme park rides for even more damage. I found myself avoiding these unless I was in important mob fights and boss battles. The Mad Tea Cups have to be my favorite though!
Summons also make a return but I only mainly used Simba's cause he's a badass. Really though, has any KH player ACTIVELY used summons unless they were for achievements? A first for the series is the ability to equip up to 3 Keyblades for Sora and you're able to switch them on the fly. This ties in to what's called Formchanges. As you use moves with both the Keyblade and magic, you build up the gauge up at the top of the menu. These situation commands allow you to transform your keyblade into a whole new piece of weaponry. These vary by keyblade and each have a unique finisher, the Monsters Inc keyblade gives you claws and summons dozens of yo-yo's--or the Frozen keyblade allows you to use ice claws and then soon skate on the ground while attacking. Magic is probably the most fun ever in the franchise. Mass using magic can unlock a situation command of a one time use of the next tier of magic up.
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| I only just figured out you could MOVE the ship like last week. |
I'll say it right here, KH3 is one pretty looking game. The worlds are especially massive and allow much to be explored. Flowmotion does make a return but I barely used it as I didn't really enjoy it in the 3DS title. Running up walls, shotlocks return (which I used a lot in this game) for devastating multi hit moves, plus the addition of more than 3 party members. The chemistry that Sora has with Donald and Goofy is honestly the best it's ever been and I found myself laughing at some of the dialogue. Overall some parts had me cringing (the massive repeat of "Sora, Donald, Goofy" had me go OK YES I GET IT). Team attacks return as well and thankfully, don't take up your whole MP bar like it did in KH2.
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| Donald actually heals you this time around! |
Tons of little additions were added so players could keep on exploring the worlds they visit. Taking pictures and selfies with the Gummiphone (the characters do react when pointed at them and do cute poses which I really enjoyed seeing), gathering materials and cooking up food with Remy from Ratatouille, taking pics of Hidden Mickey symbols hidden throughout each world and several more which I won't mention since they weren't that great (Stop falling apart Olaf!).
Compared to the previous games, the Gummi Ship section has actually been VASTLY improved. Going to different worlds have turned into an open world segment of travel. The classic on rails shooter returns only when you run into groups of enemies, kind of like a random encounter in Final Fantasy. And that's where the gripes start coming in. There are no Final Fantasy characters in KH3 whatsoever aside from mentions and mascot representation. Being one of the main selling points Kingdom Hearts as a whole, this was hugely disappointing to me. The story did what it set out to do which is wrap up the Xehanort saga but it was paced horribly as I think back on it. All the real good stuff honestly happens when you make it to the last area of game. Pure fan-service erupts with characters we've grown up with interact and fight each other. I got the most joy in that section.
My favorite worlds have got to be both Pixar representations in Toy Story and Monsters Inc. Not only were these stories completely brand new (and apparently canon in the grand scheme of things?) but the worlds were beautifully designed. Plus while the original VA's of these worlds weren't present, who they got did a pretty damn good job at replicating it. Woody's VA in KH3 is Tom Hanks' actual brother! The princess worlds were just retellings of the movie with Sora and co. as stand ins, though I marveled at the total recreation of Let It Go done shot for shot. The Caribbean had all the main characters incredibly life like that at some points it felt like I was watching one of their movies instead of playing the game. Massive props to James Arnold Taylor at voicing Jack Sparrow!
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| These loading screens are brilliant XD |
One more gripe I have is that there should have been more opportunities to play as other keyblade wielders since they give that option at some story moments. So how did all of this play out? For a game I've been anticipating for so long (next to Final Fantasy XV) I certainly did enjoy myself. Sure some of the story felt like slowing things down and I wish it was done more so like KH2 handled things but I had the most fun I did with the combat. The keyblade transformations made me feel like an absolute god and I was smiling through each scenario I was thrown in. The voice acting was fantastic even though some lines felt robotic in their delivery OH AND THE MUSIC WAS BRILLIANT as always. Yoko Shinomura knocked it out of the park! The story really came together at the last section with the Epilogue and Secret Movies having me both gasp in surprise and more confusion (which honestly, I should expect since this is Kingdom Hearts). Here's hoping the next game doesn't take a decade to develop!
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| Synthesis returns with the option to power up your Keyblades! |
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| Really would have loved more game time with my favorite boy ;-; |
All the images you see are screenshots taken from my play-through! This is something I'm gonna try to do more in Game Reviews from now on :)
Should you Play this Game?
This is honestly tough cause I feel like most people would enjoy Kingdom Hearts 3 if they were already heavily invested in the series. The story will not make 100% sense unless you go in having played the other games (easy to do with all the remasters out in convenient packages) or read up on a Wiki site. If you have ANY interest whatsoever in the Kingdom Hearts series then yes give this game a shot. Go hit up friends who are invested in the series or do some reading if you have any story questions XD. If no interest is present to see Mickey Mouse use Ultima on the big bad, then skip it.
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