When KH3 was near release, I was dreading the thought of not being able to play this game on time, as someone that primarily buys games on the Switch. I became so desperate that I ended up winning an auction for a cheap PS4 and utilized my coupons at Newegg to finally get the game. I watched story recap videos of the Xehanort saga and a few impression videos while awaiting the package to arrive. When I held the physical game in my hands, it was unbelievable. I thought to myself, this is the game that will close part of my life and end the story in a satisfying conclusion. After playing this game for nearly a month, slowly taking my time through exploring and completing each Disney world to the final battle, my impressions of this game is that it is a good game with a lot of charming moments and good gameplay elements, though story-wise and in a few gameplay aspects, Kingdom Hearts 3 is underwhelming. Finishing this game was not satisfactory.
Gameplay-wise, I think the Shotlock, upgradable/transforming key blades, team attacks, and flow motion made playing through the game quite fun. The level-designs are quite excellent too in pacing me as a player. I do not see the worlds as overwhelmingly huge as some fans think. The only thing I have complaints about the Disney worlds this time is the lack of notable areas like not being able to explore the actual town of Arendelle or not visiting the barbarian bar in Corona to visit the vikings. The Lucky Emblem collecting and Ratatouie side-quests are fun too and added to the exploration value. The Gummi Ship missions are quite fun this time around too. At first, I just wanted to get from point A to point B and not bother at all with Gummi missions, but at a later point, collecting blueprints, customizing my gummi ship, and completing missions with an A rank became a fun addiction.
There are some gameplay aspects I find unnecessary. The attractions are too overpowered and they get introduced in the game in a sudden, very anti-climatic way. I found myself wanting the timer to count down for attractions so that I could use other special moves instead. Most of the Classic Kingdom mini games sucked and I dreaded playing some of them when I was trying to complete it for the sake of completion. Although the mini games are a small/neat novelty, I feel there could have been a better retro-inspired alternative that would have made discovering these games in treasures far more rewarding. I would’ve liked something akin to Layton The Last Specter’s Town Life minigame over plain G&W games. The biggest problem I have is the lack of a coliseum mode in Olympus and a lack of substantial post-game content. The Battlegates did not do much for me (although the secret boss was fun to play against) to keep me further occupied with the game, although they were a useful grinding tool. The Coliseum not being present is a downer, and that mode is what made KH2 have strong replay value after going through the main story.
To get into the story in terms of Disney worlds, some are underwhelming. Frozen, Pirates, and Tangled all have cut story content from their films that it makes watching cutscenes jarring sometimes. Setting aside the hilarious ending, Monster’s Inc’s story of Sully trying get Boo back in her room is an underwhelming plot that is just too simple. A lot of potential with character development was wasted with Olympus and 100 Acre Wood with not enough substance. The only worlds that have actually interesting stories are the Toy Story and Big Hero 6 worlds, though the latter ends in an anti-climatic moment.
In regards to the original, main plot of Kingdom Hearts, I do not see it as bad. But, the more I spent time thinking about the characters post-game, the more I thought about the wasted potential. Kairi is the biggest victim in the story, as KH3 doesn’t really flesh her out into an actual interesting character, moreso being a princess waiting to be rescued. Aqua, Kairi and Roxas could have had some side-story/playable roles in the Disney worlds that would have made progressing through KH3 more satisfying. Instead, all of the story is dumped in the final battle. The final parts just felt off to me, even when I was enjoying plot twist reunion following another plot twist reunion. And Master Xehanort’s inner motivations to acclaiming Kingdom Hearts was just flat out bad. The way the conclusion was handled made finishing this game less rewarding than expected.
Am I glad that I played KH3? Yeah, at least for the unbelievable task of actually finishing a game that’s practically a myth to me. I feel more care was put into fleshing out worlds and gameplay more than story, and that is a bit disappointing. Will I get back to Kingdom Hearts if there is a sequel? Yeah, but only if certain Disney worlds are present (Zootopia, Inside Out, Wreck-it-Ralph and Coco come to mind easily) with huge levels to explore. Though story-wise, if these worlds ever happened, I get the feeling the execution of some will be underwhelming with flat writing and occasional top-tier moments. Whatever the actual story for KH4 is, that is no longer going to be a selling factor for me, since I hold large skepticism that Nomura will actually pace the story well and actually accomplish good character arcs in a sequel. Admittedly, I am a bit curious about where the story is going after seeing the epilogue and secret movie, but I still hold my doubts. I wish I was not disappointed in KH3, but that is how I honestly feel about this game.
If only haha…