Kingdom Hearts

[Mattias]

Has it been that long? For me the reason I didn't pick up those collections was the portable nature of the offshoots. I like KH gameplay, but the minimizing they had to do for handhelds was always an issue for me. It's ironic, since 358/2 has the most KH-ish gameplay of the spinoffs and it's the one that only got a compilation movie in the collections.

[TomPen94]

Coded did too.Still there is some importance to Union X beyond what was shown in Back Cover, and that didn't make it to any collection.

[OverMaster]

Sadly the no FF characters part is likely a result of Nomura being extremely burned out on FF in general from the troubled development of FFXV and VII Remake.

If he feels burnt out that's his own problem, but he still should be professional enough as to see the plots he left hanging resolved for the fans who still care despite his personal feelings. If he didn't want to keep going with the FF characters he should have just wrapped them up already instead of just dropping them with no pretenses of explanation.

Also accoridng to him at first they were there to draw in new people to an unfamiliar franchise, which really isn't necessary at this point given the established popularity.

Bait, then?

I imagine the Disney content will be the next to go then so he can play to his heart's content with his own Fanfiction OG set, but then gain maybe that's for the best for all parts involved. By this point the association just feels glued on and falling apart.

[Imperial]

Nomura had no incentive to wrap up the FF sub-plots when he can use them to honeydick the audience into buying KH IV.

[OverMaster]

But they either are useful as promotional hooks or not. You can't cut these characters out with the reasoning being they aren't necessary to keep the audience's interest and then use them to keep the audience's interest on the next installement.

[TomPen94]

Just Beamu isn't Imperial though.
Jusy Beamu thinks FF characters are no longer included because KH now has its own fanbase.
Imperial thinks they aren't alluded to in order to bait the audience into buying KH4 in the hopes of seeing them again.

Different reasonings.

[Imperial]

I'm just being obnoxious. I don't actually expect Nomura to do any of that in the next game. I'd bet good money that it's all Moogles from here on out.

Leon looking at the letter with Rinoa's symbol at the end of II or Sephiroth abducting Zack at the end of BBS were fan service for the VIII and VII crowds more so than actual plot threads. The FF crew's significance pretty much began and ended with how much hype they could generate and how much exposition they could dump on Sora about the nature of the Keyblade, Radiant Garden, King Ansem, etc.

They were never meant to be major characters. What do any of them really accomplish or add to the story over the course of I and II? Not a whole hell of a lot.

[Megas]

I'm kinda disappointed about how back-loaded the story is again.

Like, it's not quite a bad as 3ds but it's pretty bad.

Just finished up the Disney worlds and heading into endgame here.

Also l feel like the Disney worlds were more variable in quality than usual here.

Ultimately I think this game isn't as good as kh2 was. Probably ranks lower on my list than BBS as well.

[OverMaster]

Each Disney world on itself feels more integrated and better handled on its own (except Frozen, God, that was a hot mess, pun intended), and yet somehow overall the whole of Disney seems to be even more tacked on and an unnecessary Artifact from the franchise's start than ever before.

Whoever thought it'd be a better idea to team us up with the freaking snowman Hulk with no personality than with the actual star of the movie with awesome powers, multi-million dollar recognition power, and, you know, a character arc, should be dunk in boiling water. It's like going to Agrabah and being teamed up with Rajah the tiger while Aladdin sits in the background and waves as you leave him behind.

On that topic, at the very least we were spared the 1,000th visit to Agrabah this time. It was fun the first two or three times, but seriously, by the time we went there freaking again for Days I just wanted to throw things at walls.

[Megas]

Frozen was the worst storywise, pirates was the worst gameplay wise

[TomPen94]

Arendelle is only passable because of the 'Let it go' sequence. Not a fan of Frozen (Tangled is better, fite me), but the amount of effort that went into that scene shows, and I can only appreciate it. That being said, Ice Labirynth instead of a level in Elsa's castle? Boo. Unable to visit the actual kingdom? Boo! Having Elsa's castle visible in the map but you can't enter it? Now you're taking the piss.
Also yeah, not having any actual character from the movie as a partner sucks too.

But in general I really like the worlds in this. It's only Arendelle that sticks out as a sore thumb. Though I also have issues with San Fransokyo cuz my sense of direction is shit and I kept getting lost in the city, and you can't visit the bridge freely.

[Reign]

I think my favorite world was Toy Story. I appreciated that it wasn't just reliving the movie, and I liked the way the the toys' bond with Andy played into the metaphysics of the series. The toy store was fun to navigate, and that last scene between Woody and Youngnort was fantastic. The mechas weren't fun though, it really could have gone without those. Apparently the folks at Pixar actually were heavily involved in making that world, and if that's true then it shows.

[TomPen94]

Lol why is the Flanmeister trophy silver and the Cornucopia trophy bronze?

I need to beat every Flantastic Heartless to get every ingredient soo... what gives?

[Spartacus]

So... I just finished the game.

impression

I like most of the combat, the keyblade upgrade forms are pretty fun. But I really wish they handle the attraction better, they are not fun at all, too powerful and appears too often. I like most of the Disney world and exploring them, Toy Story and Pirates of Carribean world are my favorites, Frozen and Tangled are my least. I think I enjoyed the game the most by exploring the worlds searching for hidden mickey symbols.

I like that the Disney character is integrated with the story. Woody verbally roasted Youngnort, Sulley smacked Vanitas and Donald one-shotted Terranort is satisfying; all of these guys are the main villains of their past games. But I dislike the lack of Disney boss, I feel like it would be great if there is a brainwashed Buzz and Randall boss battle, fighting yet another mega heartless is very uninspiring imo. And even though I know the world is much more bigger, I liked it more if we have plenty of smaller worlds like in KHII, it feels much more crossover-y that way.

The story is unsatisfying in a way that everything from the past game is resolved way too quickly. I mean most of these are the center of tragedy in past games, and we suddenly resolve all of them super fast.

I enjoyed this in the end, definitely enjoy this more than the handheld games and FFXV, but this is no KHII. If KHII a 9 out of 10, then this is a 7.

[Wolf Paladin]

Honestly I had fun with game so I am satisfied but here are some of my positives and negatives :

Positives:
- Disney worlds and characters are better integrated : Toy story and Monster inc are the best examples of that and even Donald and Goofy are back to being important again (Zetaflare, the final battle,etc ...)
-The new mechanics are fine : free running is fun and not as annoying as the old flowmotion and can make exploration fun, Keyblade forging allows for any Keyblade to viable so you don’t have to worry about stats, freeroming in the gummi ship is fun and gives a bigger sense of adventure in space.
-The story was at the very least followable this time around which is WAY better that KH3d did. At the very least it had some self awareness of how it was.
-Better screentime for some old characters that needed it : Zexion was great in this game and we got a bit more from Saix

Negatives :
-This feels more like a Disney game rather than a KH game : the inclusion of the Frozen songs and the attractions commands doesn’t feel natural and while it is good that Disney characters got more involved it came at the price of having no FF characters (and no I am not counting Yozora even though he is obviously Versus XIII Noctis)
-Some of the worlds still rehash the movie’s plot expect with Sora expect this time it felt even worse and more obvious than before
-A followable story still doesn’t make it good and the resolution feels half-assed and from a Justapancake video. Also wasn’t this supposed to be a Keyblade war so why did only 1/3 of the Organization have a Keyblade ?
-I already mentionned this but the Attractions are bad : they don’t feel natural, they take forever to start and they are cheap. Sure you don’t have to use them but it feels like an unwanted addition to the game.
-They regressed Kairi even though they hyped her up. Like at this point Kairi is pretty out of chances to prove herself.

[Skull]

Y'know, I haven't finished the game yet (I just got to Pooh's book) but considering that both Toy Story and Frozen have upcoming sequels, it made me wonder on whether or not cross-promotion for those sequels had any role in deciding what Disney/Pixar worlds got chosen for KH3.

Just a thought I had...

[ItsaRandomUsername]

Nomura definitely wanted Pixar worlds in, and given how demanding and particular Disney can be--and was--to work with, maybe it's a bit of a Column A+Column B situation.

[Mattias]

So I just finished the game

Spoiler:

I loved most of the gameplay. Keyblade forms were a really fun addition, even if some of them could have benefited from more differentiation (Shooting Star/Honey Launcher, multiple Claw forms, etc.) I didn't mind the attractions so much since I mostly only used them when I wanted to pull a screen clear anyways. Flowmotion I never used, same with Shotlock, they just took too much away from the flow of combat to really use. Free roaming gummi ship was great, I just wish it was clearer with the map, showing enemies and terrain rather than waypoints, worlds and loot planets exclusively. Also a way to show if you've already A ranked a Heartless mission so you don't keep redoing the same ones looking for new blueprints. The levels were nice, but the lack of backtracking with new trinities and abilities made them seem smaller. I really liked Pirates for basically being Assassins Creed Black Flag, having my favourite Sora outfit, and my favourite Keyblade. Monster's was also one I liked, even though it was just one long hallway, maybe because It was so up front about it. Every other linear map was basically the same only with much larger hallways. The Toy Story map was the only one that felt like a KH world, with a large common area and bunch of areas branching off from there. On the other end San Fransokyo was annoying for being too open. Ground level, Rooftops and midlevel nooks and crannies is way to tedious to search for items, especially with standalone map function. Minigames were a mixed bag. Hundred Acre Wood not only left out best character Eeyore, but just repeated the same minigame. The Flan's were a mixed bag, with some being fun, and the shield slider being a dumpster fire. The Frozen version is better but still not great, due to needing a bunch of collectables. The Cooking was fun, though the timing on the pepper shaker was odd where you needed to hit well before the ring hit the strike zone. The story is the thing that left me most disappointed though. A sequel hook is normally some minor plot point that gets brought to the foreground in the final few minutes, not something that is explicitly brought up multiple time in the narrative and never resolved. That's a dropped plotline. It is rather fitting though that for the whole game Neither the heroes nor the villains are actually looking for anything meaningful. The Box has no effect on anything in Xehanorts plan whatsoever, and Sora is supposed to be looking for the BBS cast but the minute he touches down on a world he forgets all about it. At least 1 and 2 had a reason for him to travel world to world, and an objective to reach while there. What was the deal with the lower Orginasion memebers anyways? They make a big point that they were recruited for a specific reason, but it had to be more than that their deaths would forge keys, since Xehanort was lat least 6 of those by himself. I loved the boss rush in the labyrinth. Good fights (fuck you, Luxord), great story beats (358 cast reunion, Terra is the Stand), even the shoddy attempt to copy Neir Automata's E ending. But that fight against Xehanort was really up and down. The mock XIII was good idea but annoying because of how often they flew out of range and teleported around. The first form was really fun. Second underwater was worse because of the boring underwater controls. Third in the air was the worst since its even harder to maneuver in mid air than in water. Final form was good, even if it boiled down to just countering and dodge rolling around the magic attacks. But that final blow was the limpest thing. That 1000 lightsabers in 2 was so goddamn epic, and here the final attack literally does nothing. Then the villain reveal he's actually the biggest idiot in the whole story, complaining about there being too much darkness in the world when he is the one that is constantly bringing it there. Then he gives up after a "Just Stop". And he is sort of redeemed? Splitting Kairi from Sora is just expected at this point, but even so, in KH1 she had a reason to be out of contact since she was an essential part of the plot. And in KH2 Sora was the one who was lost and trying to find her again was his goal. But here they spent a lot of time knowing where the other was and still don't interact at all outside of the final assault. I did like the Twilight Town gang in the final montage, gave me some feels. And now Sora's in Shibuya? Overall I liked a lot of the small things the game did, the blandness of the overall muted a lot of the better moments.

[Reign]

[Skull]

Because Nomura's wild ride never ends, it's time to revive this thread for discussion and pointless speculation.



Also, because I totally slept on the whole "Versus XIII" phase of FFXV's development, I didn't actually know much about it and had to watch a video breaking it down which I'll share for any fellows like me.



So yeah, how are you all feeling about it now that the adrenaline of the reveal has passed? I'm cautiously optimistic. The whole Yozora business sounds cool but I'm a little worried how much it might conflict with hopping through Disney Worlds which forms so much of the bulk of KH's DNA. I'm also taking that gameplay presentation with some sodium in case it doesn't end up being that cool in the final product.