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Japanese Response to KH III?



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Face My Fears

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While listening to the Japanese version of Don't Think Twice (Chikai/Oath), I was wondering if anyone knows how Japanese audiences reacted to KH III? I've only heard Western reactions to KH III, so I would love hear how it was received in Japan.
 

htmsd

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Actually, you wouldn't be want to read the Japanese react to KHIII.
The review is pretty bad on amazon Japan

"It is said that the story is complicated and difficult, and it is necessary to prepare for other works, but I think it's just a poor proficiency. Even if I pre-parsed and understood everything, what is ahead is the emptiness of the contents, I feel like I only feel a sense of stress. "

"I recommend if you want a new KH with operability, but the story was below expectations. "

"I was surprised at the fact that the video of PS2 era was used calmly from the beginning. If you want to show the evolution of graphics, please remake the old scene for PS4. If you are using it at least, you should avoid scenes that use low-poly models that are just textured."

"The scenario for each world has nothing to do with the basic part "

"The story gets so messy that I feel sleepy."


Mostly, they praise the graphic and gameplay. But they (and us) are disappointed with the story.
 

Zettaflare

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Damn, those reviews are straight up scathing. Especially the one were the player fell asleep during the story bits.

Maybe if Nomura read some of these reviews it might motivate him to improve his writing.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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Damn, those reviews are straight up scathing. Especially the one were the player fell asleep during the story bits.

Maybe if Nomura read some of these reviews it might motivate him to improve his writing.

Idk if I’d call the sleepy review “scathing”. I honestly had the same thing happen to me and not for a lack of trying to understand or wanting to pay attention.

The game literally threw so much in at certain points that you feel drained and tired. After I beat KH3, I took a nap for 4 hours in the middle of the day because I felt really exhausted and mentally strained. I imagine the reviewer may have experienced the same thing from the way they describe their sleepiness.

Nomura’s comedic timing, writing for character moments, and cool factor writing was at its best but man...those last few hours of the game really beat a person up mentally.

You just literally want to shut down haha

Nomura doesn’t need to improve on his writing, but rather he needs somebody who understands pacing to reign him in when he starts overloading the plot with details at the end. Essentially, he needs a damn editor and another co-writer.
 
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DarkosOverlord

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Man, those are some low stars being given. Then again, I'm also not sure how reliable Amazon is when it comes to those things, having never used its review system.
I was also kinda curious about the Japanese reception, given I was and am pretty much blind when it comes to things like that.
Interesting to see the overall response to the story and pacing.
 

Nukara

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As I see most disappointed in KH3. Sadly
 

Twilight Lumiair

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This is to be expected honestly. Story and pacing were definitely two of KH3's biggest weak points for sure. Even as someone who went into it with a critical eye, I never expected to have quite as many gripes as I ended up having (especially with the story and character utilization,or lack thereof). That, and the Disney worlds felt like unnecessary padding; ultimately being inconsequential to both the good guys and the bad guys. In a way, this makes me kind of hopeful that Nomura will finally start listening to criticism and take the necessary steps to ensure a higher quality narrative experience. But I won't push my luck, lol
 

SuperSaiyanSora

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Just in case people didn’t know, Amazon Japan’s review section is known for being the place to be negative about any product in general. Not saying the criticisms posted above are wrong because I do agree with some, but Amazon Japan (or Amazon in general) is not the best place to get an accurate consensus on anything.

Yeah, it's notorious for being a not-so-positive place for reviews.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are Japanese fans who feel lukewarm about the game too, but Amazon JP has a reputation for a reason lol.
 

allenleonardo

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Never knew that Amazaon JP was that bad but at the same time seeing how some review stuff even on the german or englisch Amazon I should not be surprised.

I remember reviews for games where they gave it one star just because the delivery was bad. Most of the time I do read some of the bad ones and the five star ones to get a feeling, but for me the most accurate ones are those inbetween. (People just more often imo give reviews when they are disappointed with something. At least I do post such amazon reviews more when I either was totally amazed by it or if it was bad, the rest mostly gets nothing for me because I cant be bothered to do that...😓)

I am also not sure if they changed it but as far as I can remember, as long as you are logged into amazon you can write reviews to anything, even stuff that you dont own.

And taking in the knowledge that Amazon JP is way more negative:

1.189 people have given their votes. 29% of them have given it full five stars and 16% four stars. Thats 45% of the reviews. 18% are in the middle of it with three stars and 37% are either two or 1 stars. So at least 63% were quite fine with it. So even for that site its not that bad imo.

To compare it, the english Amazon, it has less votes, half a star more and most of the people seems to be quite happy with it. 61% gave it a five star rating, 10% each for four and three stars and 19% for two and one stars together. So at least 81% of those that put a review there were still fine with it.

Of course that rating should be taken with a grain of salt because I saw some that posted five stars with the message that people should stop giving it 1 or two stars for stupid reasons and then I saw some one stars that gave it that because the disk was broken or they did not get their codes..which has nothing to do with the game at all.

But of course I would be interested in how other sites are seeing this but imo I doubt that most are truly hating the game.
 

Sakuraba Neku

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Good to know I'm not alone in this. As someone who doesn't like to skip cutscenes unless I lose a battle and I'm "forced" to watch it again (PTSD from Dark Riku boss battle in KH1), I always like to watch the cutscenes.

However for the first time, I did feel the urge to skip some stuff. Some cutscenes are just too long for their own good and during those parts KH3 does feel more like a movie than a game. I definitely felt exhausted during my playthrough and that was one of the main reasons why.
 

Rydgea

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The reviews are all pretty even across the board though, which means amazon.jp voices a pretty mediocre impression.

For the skeptics, where would be a fair assessment of how Japan feels be collected?
 

siegleeagle

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The reviews are all pretty even across the board though, which means amazon.jp voices a pretty mediocre impression.

For the skeptics, where would be a fair assessment of how Japan feels be collected?

Honestly, the internet is not going to give accurate examples for most things whether it be a game or something else. When it comes to entertainment, the internet is going to only hold the vocal-kinda vocal crowd for either side of an idea/argument. Most people don’t go onto the internet after every piece of media they consume to voice opinions. I would say most people only comment on a little under half the things they consume via internet sites. I for one mostly only lurk on the internet and hardly ever respond to anything online.

For example, this game sold in the millions. But, I highly doubt millions of people express their opinion in any detailed way on the internet. I would say it would be in the thousands to 1 million range for people who did go to the internet to voice an opinion. However, you can get a a good idea of the good and the bad of a piece of media. But your probably not going to get a accurate overall consensus of the masses.

The best way to get any overall gauge would be to go to as many Japanese sites as possible where there are review sections, polls, forums, and places to leave a comment. The bigger your sample size the more accurate it will be. Then also take into consideration things like, website biases toward negative or positive of the media, the knowledge level of the site involving the media, or other things like Amazon Japan where they are known for being negative in the reviews of anything and everything. Thinking about those things will determine how accurate the consensus would be.

Also sales would be something to consider as well. But just remember sales are influenced by marketing manipulated by the company too. So I would look at its marketing too and then sales after the initial launch period.
 
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DraceEmpressa

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Well,if Amazon review isn't reliable, what about NND comments? I heard that site's comments are pretty reliable
 

Rydgea

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@siegleeagle - There just seemed to be so much disparaging of Amazon as a haven for negativity, when really there is no bias I can see. In KH's case, each of the 5-star rankings are pretty evenly sitting at 20%. If not from consumer reviews, what's your best indicator? Famitsu? No, sir/ma'am.

You're right to test from as many sources as possible to get the most accurate results, obviously. But I think discounting this source is a bit of a defensive maneuver for the butthurt.

And sales numbers =/= a good game.
 

siegleeagle

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@siegleeagle - There just seemed to be so much disparaging of Amazon as a haven for negativity, when really there is no bias I can see. In KH's case, each of the 5-star rankings are pretty evenly sitting at 20%. If not from consumer reviews, what's your best indicator? Famitsu? No, sir/ma'am.

You're right to test from as many sources as possible to get the most accurate results, obviously. But I think discounting this source is a bit of a defensive maneuver for the butthurt.

And sales numbers =/= a good game.

Its not really a bias to Amazon per say as more of as its just a known/is hotspot for bashing products in Japan since its really easy to do so without even purchasing the item from them or owning it period. I also worked for Amazon customer service for a few years. So I got to see first hand the back end of the different countries Amazons and its almost the same for every country but there is a higher leap of negativity on the Japanese review sections than most of the other countrie. But in saying this, I also don’t think it should be discounted as a source since it is a good place to get the bad parts of a product before you buy. Its just a touch over zealous at times.

As for sales, I never said sales = a good or bad game. I said it should also be something to consider because it can indicate a little of the reception. I also said that the initial launch period is going to be heavely influenced by the companies marketing, which obviously will be biased toward higher purchases regardless of quality of product. Thats why I also said that you should consider how much marketing a game because of possible bias and the sales after the launch period. Sales after the launch period will be more about positive recommendation from word of mouth. Right now its still kinda early in KH3’s life so we don’t have much to go on here for after launch sales.

I am also not defending either side of is Kingdom Hearts 3 a good or bad game. I agree with almost every complaint raised against 3 on those reviews, but I also really enjoyed the game and my experience with it. So I fall almost in the middle of like and dislike.

My only goal was to let people know that they should get as many sources as possible for a big sample size, take into consideration the website they are viewing and anything that is special or known about it like Amazon Japan for example, and that the internet is most likely not going to have the majority of fans opinions on it.

OMG by the way. I love your signature and avatar. They are so adorable :D
 
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Rydgea

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@siegleeagle - And I should note, I'm of the opinion that whatever you felt while you played the game was true, and none of this stuff should really affect you or belittle your experience anyways. You don't need all of these voices telling you what to like or not like. If you loved, hated or felt impartial to the game, that was honest, and reviews shouldn't affect your own perception. That doesn't mean you won't encounter new feelings post-discussion, subsequent playthroughs, etc. Still, the "negativity" always seems to be regularly matched with a "defensiveness".

So then, I ask where a good place to get a gauge for Japan's reception of the game lies. There's not really a definitive answer for that.

As someone who generally despises Amazon, it's funny that only the Japan branch seems to be under scrutiny for this type of thing. Since I can only speak as an American user, I see product rankings raked through the mud over issues that have nothing to do with the product itself, shipping errors, miscommunication, or user errors. And it's all. the. time.
 
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allenleonardo

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@siegleeagle - There just seemed to be so much disparaging of Amazon as a haven for negativity, when really there is no bias I can see. In KH's case, each of the 5-star rankings are pretty evenly sitting at 20%. If not from consumer reviews, what's your best indicator? Famitsu? No, sir/ma'am.

You're right to test from as many sources as possible to get the most accurate results, obviously. But I think discounting this source is a bit of a defensive maneuver for the butthurt.

Of course one should not just throw away that source but its also good that people pointed out that it can be more negative there. Together with the problem that anyone can leave a review there it should not be taken as THE source to see how fans are feeling. Its just one of the many. Just like how metacritic should not be the only source on the english side.
 
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