Hello all. I've finally finished the main story of Kingdom Hearts III on February 10th, just 12 days after its initial release. There are A LOT of things I want to get off my chest as a fan of the series since 2002 but let me first say this; it's super surreal that I even got a chance to play this game. Just to think that Kingdom Hearts II was released in 2006. 2006! Edge had just won the title two months before its release! The wait had been grueling, with several delays and completely missing the PS3/360 era but I'm just glad I was able to finish this 'trilogy' of gaming. I'm appreciative to Square Enix and Disney for completing this. Now, let's get to the nitty gritty. Kingdom Hearts III was NOT worth the 13 year wait.
THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR KINGDOM HEARTS III. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Let me finish. Do you really think anything that takes a decade to come out is going to meet every expectation that you have? I don't even think my expectations were that grand but it just seems that KH3 was lacking in areas that the other two titles or even the spin offs had. First off, it was a little on the short side. 27 hours is what my game clock said upon completion and I'm sure that could have been cut down had I not left the game running a few times while I was checking my phone or goofing off. Maybe the other games were just as short and I don't remember but I feel like like KH2 was much longer. That could be because KH2 not only had more worlds but had you go back to each world a second time, basically doubling the length. KH3's worlds are lacking. It was definitely nice to explore the Toy Story, Big Hero 6 and the surprising amazing Pirates of the Caribbean worlds. Tangled, Monsters Inc and Frozen were alright but 100 Acre Wood was a complete waste of time. A puzzle mini game that lasts barely 20 minutes? Pointless. And no offense to Hercules but did we REALLY need another Olympus world? How did Herc get featured in all three games? No Hades battle either? Come on guys! POTC was the best KH3 gets. They mixed KH with Assassin's Creed IV and it works SO WELL. Exploring all the little islands and finding treasure on each while blowing ships away? I would have played the world for 10 hours if I had to. It was that good. Big Hero 6 was so cool but it was over before it even started! I honestly feel like it was a one hour experience. Of all the worlds, this was the one I was looking forward to this the most and while it was definitely a fun experience, it was over TOO FAST. Another problem I had with the worlds were that they felt pointless compared to the end of the game. What was the reason for going through the worlds? To find other Keyblade wielders right? Do you even find anyone of them in the worlds? NO! This just makes Sora's journey dumb, especially when the real story of the game doesn't heat up until AFTER you finish the Disney worlds and get to the Keyblade Graveyard, where I think one of the biggest mistakes takes place.
You don't face any members of the True Organization XIII until you get to the Keyblade Graveyard and then you face certain members together with your friends and all the fights just feel boring. Mash X, heal, see a cutscene after beating one, repeat. You finally get to face the last three and it's the same thing. THEN, you finally face Xehanort and it's a pretty great fight, both the Armored and normal versions. You view the ending, the crazy mind bending epilogue and the secret movie and then you have more questions then answers for the future of the series. The epilogue features characters present in Kingdom Hearts χ , which is included with Kingdom Hearts 2.8. I lost track over the story to be perfectly honest but to those who have played every game, seen every movie and know all the characters by heart, I'm sure that cutscene got your minds racing. For me, I took a long hard look into the mirror and thought if I should continue to give a damn about this series.
Let's talk gameplay in KH3! It's super simple. Mash X, kill Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed. Heal occasionally. Only use guard and counter in the last fight because it was the most difficult. If in trouble, just use a super overpowered attraction move. Otherwise, you're good. This game is ridiculously easy. I read the IGN review before playing and they mentioned it was easy so I decided to play on Proud to give myself a challenge. I'm a much more experienced gamer than 9th grade Marcus so I said, what the hell? Kingdom Hearts III is still easy on Proud mode. The first time I died was when you played as Aqua and you fight Vanitas. That's basically near the end y'all. I never felt really challenged until I started doing the post game content. That's bad. If you add that to the fact that there are NO FINAL FANTASY CHARACTERS in the game, I came to realize something as I sat and watched the ENTIRE Let it Go musical scene in KH3, taken straight from the movie might I add; this is a Disney game. Obviously, all the KH games are Disney games but this FEELS like one. There is no Square feel in the game at all. Yeah, spiky hair on the characters is there but that's it. Even the villains feel like Disney villains. Speaking of that, Pete and Maleficent, big bads from the previous games, are shown in a few cutscenes but they never interact with the party. They watch the ENTIRE story from the sidelines and they even appear in the epilogue. That was severely disappointing. Even without any major Disney villains as bosses, the game still achieves a major Disney feel. While I think the story is made for fans of the entire series, the gameplay is made for children who want to experience their favorite Disney worlds. It worked as KH3 was the highest selling game in its series. Adding anticipation and of course the billion dollar princesses in Anna and Elsa will do that for you.
I don't want you to leave this post thinking I didn't like Kingdom Hearts III. I really enjoyed my time in this game. I just didn't like all the choices they did going about putting this game out. I'm extremely ecstatic that I was able to close out this trilogy but this game really has left me wanting more. Maybe a Final Mix version will fix this some of the grievances I have, like adding some more freaking optional bosses but we'll see. Overall, Kingdom Hearts III is a great Disney adventure. It is not, however, the same type of game we grew up on. Regardless, every fan of the series should experience this adventure.
Shenmue III, you're up next in August!
UPDATE: 2/12/19 - I wanted to do a brief update following all the post game content I did, which was forging Ultima Weapon, which involved doing several mini games, getting all the Lucky Emblems, and actually caring about the gummi ship battles. That took about 5 hours by itself even with Youtube videos and the like. The Arendelle sleding mini game was super tedious. Actually, the mini games in general were tedious. The only one I liked was the flan cannon mini game in The Caribbean. Shocker that the best world would have the best mini game as well. After finally crafting Ultima Weapon at 5am this morning, I picked up where I left off and finished the remaining Battle Gates, the thing I wanted to do most. With Ultima Wepaon in my grasp, no enemy stood a chance, The sole on foot optional boss, Dark Inferno, was an imposing figure but in the end, he's a freaking pushover. I thought there was going to be a lot of dodging and blocking but I found just mashing X, turning into Ultimate Form, healing when needed and having a Kupo coin on hand was enough. Seriously, I think I blocked a few times but then realized I didn't need it. Once I was hurt enough, I could just turn into Rage Mode and get two bars off of him. And again, this is on Proud Mode. Now that I've done all 14 Battle Gates, there's nothing left for me to do. Sure, I can do the gummi ship battle against Schwarzgiest but for what? I could also power level Sora to 99 as I finished up at level 56 earlier but there is no reason. Trophies are fine and good but I'm not a trophy hunter. I can now officially say I'm done with Kingdom Hearts III. I don't know if they plan to do DLC or not but honestly, trading it in for $30 at GameStop to any other major release this year sounds likely. Time to go back on the RE2 train.
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