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nagichi-boop · 5 years

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KH3 Review / Opinions

So some people wanted me to post my thoughts on KH3 and I'm super bored rn so I'm gonna try to do it.

Please keep in mind that this will have spoilers in it, so if you don't want that, don't keep reading this. Without further ado, here are my thoughts:

Pros:

The game included a lot of fun new mechanics, which made attack choices more varied. Some of these were awesome in my opinion - such as Anti Form, the different Keyblade forms and having more new team members in different worlds - and others were...not so great, but I'll get into that.

For the most part, the worlds were very fun to explore. Olympus, while not my favourite world, certainly did have one of the biggest areas to explore. This sometimes meant that I got lost, but it was nice to be able to roam freely without having to wait for sections of the map to load whenever I went into another area. The Kingdom of Corona was such a pretty place to explore and being alongside Rapunzel and Eugene was so fun.

The background music in this game was amazing. I don't tend to pay attention to background music and such, but I noticed that the music fit each area very well. For example, Toy Box had an instrumental version of "You've Got a Friend in Me", which was very fitting and Arendelle had a very upbeat and enchanting song, though hearing it over and over on things like the Kingdom Hearts trailers and adverts did kind of exhaust it for me.

The cutscenes. Oh boy, were there a lot of cutscenes. My dad even came in at one point and asked me why there was more cutscenes than gameplay, and I suppose some people may have found it annoying to beat one round of enemies and then have a 5 minute cutscene, but for someone like me who isn't necessarily the best at games and is more interested in the story, I quite enjoyed it. Plus, unlike other games, I didn't think any of the cutscenes were lazily animated. Each character had unique movements in each scene and it was very charming to see the characters interact with one another.

Being able to play as different characters was nice, even though it was only Aqua and Riku. I heard that they did have other characters sorted with move sets and stuff, so I'm low-key hoping that as a DLC, you'll be able to go back to the worlds and play as different characters. Like imagine Ventus visiting Corona and maybe having a small cutscene of him and Rapunzel being all soft and stuff, hhh.

Some of the characters were treated to some nice development this game. Sora still had his cheerful tone and determination to help his friends, but he was also given a few other traits that I liked. I loved how sarcastic he was at points such as in Arendelle when he falls down the mountain after X amount of falls, which perfectly reflected how I felt at that point in the world. He also showed that his reliance on friends cut into his own self worth a little, and so being alone trying to save everyone must have been confusing to him and certainly very difficult to find the resolve to keep fighting. Another character I thought was treated well was Roxas. I don't know what it was but he really stood out to me. He came at just the right moment to save his friends and had an assertiveness towards Xemnas that was much appreciated. He also ran towards Xion when she started crying, which was very cute. Ienzo was also really cute, my goodness. I didn't care about him when he was an Organisation member but he was such a sweetie in KH3.

The animation in major cutscenes was also gorgeous. The ending cutscene has such pretty animation and lighting, I loved it.

Although it's only a minor detail, I thought having NPCs talk their lines instead of having to read them yourself was a nice subtle touch that was much appreciated.

That Donald upgrade tho. He had a much more proactive role in this game which was awesome. I also felt like his and Sora's interactions and having them insulting each other were a very nice addition.

I don't know if I got lucky or if I'm secretly okay at video games, but I didn't find any bosses to be so difficult that I was stuck on them for hours. I think the most I died was the final fight, where I died 2 or 3 times? But even then, it didn't take me very long to defeat Xehanort and generally throughout the game, even bosses I thought I'd die to didn't kill me, or if they did, it wasn't more than once. Unlike in KH1 where I spent an hour the Wonderland candle thing and in KH2 where I spent two hours on the Demyx boss.

XION'S, LEA'S AND ISA'S OUTFITS AT THE END, OH MY DAYS!!

Don't hurt me but I ship Sora and Kairi and so having them be shown more as lovers than friends was just the fangirl fuel I needed.

Favourite world in Kingdom Hearts 3: probably the Kingdom of Corona for me. I love Tangled and being able to play through that world was amazing. The small interactions between Sora and Rapunzel were also super sweet and pure. I also liked San Fransokyo because it had an original story and I love that movie, too.

Cons:

As much as I loved most of the worlds, there were a few issues with some of them, one of which being some of the stories. Worlds like Arendelle really annoyed me as it didn't really feel like you were part of the story. You just went up and down the mountain observing Elsa. You also didn't get an ally until right at the end of the world's story which was a bit annoying. Arendelle wasn't the only one though. The Kingdom of Corona also felt like you were just a spectator to the story, though to me it didn't feel as intense because only certain cutscenes felt this way (such as the boat scene and the scene where Eugene "dies"). I wish each world had a unique story instead of focusing on the events of their respective movies.

Another issue with the worlds was the exploration. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy exploring, but some weren't as fun as others. I hated the boat mechanic of the Carribbean world and when looking for lucky emblems, I found myself trying to escape fights because I didn't want to go through with them. I didn't hate Monstropolis like a lot of people, but I do see why people would hate it as a lot of the rooms do kind of look the same. And as much as I enjoyed San Fransokyo, I do wish you could explore a bit more. The city was also quite hard to navigate as everything looked the same. Even just opening up the bridge would have given us a bit more to explore.

I literally forgot that the 100 Acre Wood existed until I looked up worlds just now for wiring this post, oof. I did go there but you literally did different versions of the same mini game for about 30 minutes and that's it. I did like the cutscene when he leaves the book though because it foreshadows later events. (He says something about not wanting to lose his friends, I don't remember the exact quote tho.)

While I appreciated having so many different ways to fight, I did find a few things quite annoying. Like I did have a few moments outside of battle where I just wanted to open a chest but I'd accidentally trigger an attraction or form change. Apparently, there was also a button to switch situation commands but I literally found out about that after someone read this review so that’s fun. I remember being so annoyed because I couldn’t use the command I wanted to use but apparently that was just me being stupid. Attractions also weren't always appropriate to the situation, which sometimes meant using an attraction and not really dealing a lot of damage or having difficulty trying to aim and attack enemies. Or maybe I just suck at video games, idk.

Because there were so many different mechanics, I never felt the need to be creative with my battle strategy. I never really went to cook with Remy because I didn't feel the need to and I also never really touched magic unless it was needed, either. I guess I just enjoyed being able to hit A and Y to get through the battles. Yes, I played the Xbox One version, don't kill me (A is X and Y is triangle to you PS4 people).

While a few of the characters were treated well, a lot of them were done pretty dirty in my opinion, probably because of having to bring together ALL of the characters. One of these is the infamous Kairi, who severely suffered from a lack of development, which caused a lot of people to hate her and also meant a lot of people hating the portrayal of Sora and Kairi's relationship (I still love her tho because of how people in the fandom characterise her). Another character is Naminé, and while she's not really my favourite, I can see why people were upset. If you missed a certain cutscene in the Final World, you would only get to see her in the end cutscene. The fact that you could miss a whole cutscene with her is kind of strange. I missed it when I played it. Also, I thought Lea sort of suffered a bit, too. He did have some scenes that showed him off nicely, but people forget that he was also quite weak like Kairi for some reason (but now isn't the time to go into that debate). He had his Keyblade destroyed very easily and struggled to protect Xion. I don't know if he just lost his other weapon but I would have thought he could have at least yeeted them at Xemnas, at the very least to distract him.

I thought the labyrinth section of the Keyblade Graveyard was very...strange. I did appreciate that the fights weren't particularly hard (because I'm not a particularly great gamer imo) but what I did find weird is how everyone except Vanitas was redeemed and how quickly everything happened. Like Luxord and Marluxia suddenly became super chill like "I know we tried to ruin your life, Sora, but you're actually pretty chill". Like...what?? (I know Marluxia is in Union X but I haven't gotten to that yet and in the main games, he wasn't a particularly interesting character to me, so I didn't really care that he became "good".) And while I do appreciate Xehanort getting some sort of redemption, it felt a bit off. He tries to destroy the universe and also murders a bunch of people, but then his bff comes along and says "yo, stop that" and suddenly he's good? Like he doesn't even apologise to everyone or help bring Kairi back or whatever, he just poofs away.

Speaking of things being rushed, I felt like I was getting whiplash nearer the end of the game. One second Aqua is bad, the next she is in the realm of light. Ventus is asleep, Sora suddenly gets the power to wake him up. Terra tries killing his friends and then he comes back. I love my children and I'm glad they're happy but it felt like a lot of it happened so quickly that I couldn't process what was happening.

I feel like the game would have benefitted from a bit more character interaction. I know that's asking a lot from a game with so many characters, but even small things would have helped. Like @chachacharlieco suggested in a recent post, even having the characters coming into Yen Sid's tower for a small interaction could have helped, like Kairi and Riku quickly talking about what had happened, then having Sora come in and complimenting them both on their clothes or whatever. Also, maybe having her give Sora her letters would have made their relationship a bit easier to swallow for people who don't ship them because it did feel somewhat underdeveloped at times.

Why was Kairi sitting alone in the end cutscene? Like I get that she was having a sentimental moment of reflection for what Sora had done and wanting him back, but I feel like even having Riku stand near her and share some understanding eye contact or him putting his hand on her shoulder would have been reassuring. It just felt weird for everyone to be having fun while she seemed to be the only one to remember Sora.

I thought the game would be a nice closing point but it wasn't. I would understand just having the cliffhanger of Sora being gone because not all stories have a happy ending and it still would have closed that chapter and we would assume maybe the next arc would be saving Sora. But also having the whole Luxu reveal and having there be uncertainty about that? If this is setting up the next arc, so be it, but it did feel a bit weird to have the end of a story line but still have so many loose ends and questions.

This isn't to do with the game in particular, but I feel like some things in the trailer should have been left out. Like showing Saïx meeting up with Lea, showing Scala Ad Caelum or showing Sora screaming and being mad in the Keyblade Graveyard. Could you imagine playing the game without knowing about Scala As Caelum and just seeing it for the first time? And could you imagine hearing Sora scream for the first time in game and feeling that raw emotion blind? Plus, I felt like the trailers built up that scene in particular a lot and I remember feeling underwhelmed in that scene because everyone just...died.

Least favourite world in Kingdom Hearts 3: The Carribbean. I wanted out. The pirate life ain't for me.

So I know I sound like I'm one of those people who hated the game, but I really didn't. I enjoyed the game quite a lot actually. I think I mostly enjoyed the cutscenes, which there was a lot of. Being able to see the characters interact with one another and having them be animated and not just standing still made the game feel a lot like a movie for me, which made the cutscenes more fun to watch and pay attention to. I do feel like the game could have done with just a couple extra cutscenes to address some character problems outside of a couple shots of chess and some paopu fruit but I understand that there was a lot to cram in and I'm sure this isn't the last game that we will see all these characters in. I didn't think that everyone would survive Kingdom Hearts and they didn't, but I thought we would lose more characters tbh. Plus this isn't the end - I'm sure Sora will come back.

I can't wait for the next Kingdom Hearts game and the start of a new chapter in the story!! Coming to store in 2158.

#kh3 spoilers #kh3 #kingdom hearts 3 #kingdom hearts

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