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KHInsider Group Review



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jahob000

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(Minor spoilers)

Hello All,

I just beat the game and I know many of you along with myself are eager to either speak your opinions or hear other's. In reality I should wait until replaying the game or until more time has passed but I'm impatient :D.

So anyone who would like to give their own breakdown and 0-10 score based on whatever categories you feel to review, E.G.:

Visuals - I don't think anything needs to be said here unless you are intentionally looking for flaws.

Music

Worlds/World building - Replay value. Will they be tedious if you played through them again?

Gameplay - Such as mechanics, camera, difficulty, strategy, options, play time

Story - Such as Pacing, development, continuity,

Characters - Such as behaviors, interactions, development

Other - Any other category that you want to expand on.

Here's mine

Visuals 10/10 - Do I really need to say anything here? The only somewhat negative thing I have to say here has nothing to do with the game itself but the fact that I'm desensitized to 3d graphics to where it seems so normal to see. However even with that, The game is draw droppingly gorgeous.

Music 07/10 - As usual the music was excellent as always. My only gripe is some music is rehashed from KHI KH2. Think about KHI and KH2 music. Other than necessary character themes, the music was completely different. (I'm not talking about character themes or reprisals, those are fine).

Worlds 09/10 I was going to give this a score of 07/10 for gameplay reasons but I won't knock it for that and I'll explain later. The game does what it can to get you to not only explore the worlds but to take your time in doing so since they put so much hard work into creating these worlds. They do this by having mini side quests similar to the first Kingdom Hearts. Also Sora and the gang feel more involved in the worlds in terms of character interactions and makes things feel more natural than in previous games (with the exception of Arendale).

Gameplay 06/10 - I know what you're thinkin lol. It's as bad as it looks. I've lumped a bunch with this category. The game gives you a ton of options of how you choose to play. The main problem is the difficulty. On Proud mode, it felt like I was playing on easy. So by the time I start to utilizing my battle style, the enemies are already defeated. Yes I know that you can use zero exp to increase the challenge but I don't ever recalling proud mode being that simple. I feel like with zero exp mode, it will feel like regular proud mode or an easy critical mode. Also, I wasn't sure to attribute this to visuals but the camera is too close to Sora in terms of exploring the worlds. They should have included an option to zoom in or out. I wanted to see so much more of the world view when running through it but the camera is so close to Sora that I'm missing out unless I'm on a high cliff.

Story 03/10 - I'm sorry guys. Without going into a long drawn out paragraph here's my opinion on this. The main plot point's pacing is terrible. The story lines in the worlds are good and they'll throw someone in from the main cast to keep remind you of the main story. There's no main story progression. Once you're done with the worlds, the main story takes a great leap from beginning to end in an underwhelming way. There's no true buildup to anything. It just happens. Not to mention the story itself has always been all over the place. I'm not saying I hate the story because I still had genuine exciting moments. I know that they are trying to setup the next stage in the series but I personally think they shouldn't have interwoven KHUX into this one.

Characters 05/10- Despite the score, this is the one I was very happy with. Sora, Donald and Goofy are just a joy to watch, especially with Disney characters. My favorite thing is having Disney characters interact with the main villains. Like how Woody, Buzz Sully have their speeches and even take action against them. Maleficent and Pete didn't even need to be in this game to be honest which is a shame to say. Their only purpose was to create mystery for the next game in the series. Also I like the interactions between the other trios in this game than any of the others. They seem someone more legit than forced. I have to say that I was severely disappointed with the organization characters. I'm more so referring towards the end of the game.

Overall, my score is a 6/10. Beautiful and enjoyable game. I'm sure the Final Mix will bump that score up a notch.

I'm not a reviewer but I've said what I wanted. So what are your reviews for the game?
 
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Elysium

Be Wiser Than the Serpent
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Visuals 9/10 ~ The game is gorgeous. I don't think the characters look perfect though in normal game. The Caribbean characters look...iffy aside from Davy Jones. Mostly good, but sometimes the faces look off to me around the nose / mouth. The fact that it only bothered me a little is a big accomplishment on their part, because I was never really excited for the change in how Riku, Sora, Saix, etc. looked from the rest of the series in the final entry of the 'saga.'
Music 7/10 ~ There was nothing bad about the music, just nothing beyond the title menu music really stood out to me? Even the orchestra version of "Don't Think Twice" just doesn't hit for me as much as the orchestra versions of "Sanctuary" and "Simple and Clean." The only themes that left much of an impression are Toy Story (which, while just being a hummable version of a well-known song, is less annoying that it could've been), Arendelle, The Caribbean, and The Final World.
Worlds 8/10 ~ I thought the worlds were mostly great, the best designs in the series (even if I miss some of that maze feeling of the KH1 worlds). A great mix of lush environments. Corona being a weak-pill version of the movie, Winnie the Pooh being one room and over in the blink of an eye, the low number of Disney worlds, the lack of Radiant Garden, and the tiny original worlds are all serious criticisms. If anything, I'm being way too nice with an 8.
Gameplay 10/10 ~ Best gameplay in the series, hands down. I said that before and I still feel that way. If I knocked the game down for anything it would be the lack of a Critical Mode.
Story - 6/10 ~ I didn't mind the story. I think KH's story on a good day isn't going to get any higher than a 7. The only exception is KH1 and CoM, imo; they were perfect.
Characters 7/10 ~ There could've been more done for a lot of characters. That said, almost all the characters I've liked throughout the series got time to shine, except for Namine. Riku didn't get too much to do either, but that was more than Terra, Roxas, and Xion. I know reaction to Aqua's parts in the game has been mixed; nothing bothered me greatly though, and she did get more screentime than others. Kairi gets the shoddiest treatment, but she always has, so... Wait, no, Dilan and Aeleus got the shoddiest treatment, because they don't even get lines. The character interaction between SDG was more in line with KH1 and CoM than KH2, thank God.

They did a lot with SDG both as a trio and as individual characters (Sora and the power of waking; Donald & Goofy in the Keyblade War 1.0 scene). And, as I've said before, others characters I've never really cared about, I found more interesting this time--Demyx, Luxord, Ienzo. There was a lot of interaction between Disney characters and the original villains other than in Arendelle/Corona/100 Acre Wood. My major complaint is the FF characters just vanishing. 1 point for that and 2 for Namine, Terra, Roxas, Xion, and Kairi getting very little to do (or just being poorly used in Kairi's case).
Voice Acting 9/10 ~ The Xehanort replacement is obviously a fail, but what can you do? Stoner doesn't do well as Kairi, but she's not a bad voice actress in general. Mickey is the biggest weak link in this game. He seemed better at the end than the beginning, so hopefully the actor is getting a better handle and won't be this bad in future games.
Post-Game Content 7/10 ~ Most of the recipes are done before the end of the game for me? It's a nice diversion though. The battlegates are okay, but definitely feel skimpy when you remember that 3D had around 12 of them per world rather than 1-2. I like the Hidden Mickeys although I'd have preferred trinities and the world designs give a lot of hiding places for them + treasure chests. The Gummi ship is great, but...I've never enjoyed Gummi ship enough to want to do all this. :x The black-and-white Mickey games are cute. That's all I got. I would only ever play them to complete the journal. And, yes, the lack of an arena side quest feels pretty stupid to me.

So, around an 8/10 for the game overall, one of the best games in the series.
 

ImVentus

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Visuals - Solid
Obviously not surprising that KH3 steals the show with it's unreal engine, it's such a contrast from the previous instalments. And even looks more updated than 0.2 did. The Unreal Engine demonstrates many pros here, but I can't give it a masterful score. There are so many obvious flaws spotted in the character animation and the textures of hair, teeth. Gonna be honest, hair looks really off and the skin of the models look like plastic toys. For the character animation you'll have fish face expressions in situations that are supposed to build tension, humour and intimate connections. Many times I was rubbing my head since I strongly stand for that, the character animation feels robotic and repetitive.
Disney characters such as Mickey, Yen Sid & Donald take a strong offence for this treatment. Mickey is as stale as rock and you can't get any emotions out of him. Donald has the least amount of emotive reactions in the SDG trio, Goofy also doesn't feel very emotive.
Repeated stances, awkward pauses, dead eyes, the list goes on. Especially minor characters, they're the butt of a joke here. I'm gonna say that I feel (while previous KH games suffered fish face syndrome) they were better to emote and spark a connection with the player. Looking at the intense scenes, there is a huge draft between what the two engines could and can't do. When Sora is supposed to be vicious and brutal in unreal, he looks like he's smiling. It completely ruins the acting and tension. There is just something about the character animation that feels off.

Music - 8/10
Overall the soundtrack was beautiful and a little repetitive. The original tunes such as in Corona & Monstropolis were highlights. Dearly Beloved yet again proved why it's such a peaceful core of the franchise. And DTT Instrumental was even better than I had expected.

Worlds - 6,5/10
Most worlds feature nice detail with some population in the halls, that are the worlds textures and environment. But as a whole the worlds felt like they were lacking. There were so many invisible walls. You couldn't even enter Elsa's ice palace or head up to Rapunzel's kingdom above the square. How lame that you can't enter Rapunzel's tower, yet it's polished and has a mapped room. Aside from halted areas, I didn't feel any satisfaction when finishing any of the worlds. Re-visitng selected world just felt empty and bland. With only three worlds written with an original plot, the rest felt like a carbon copy of the selected film. And most worlds are spending an insane amount on cutscenes that make you feel like you're watching a lower budget movie.
Also, did not feel any real diversity in the selection of worlds. Too many human, non-anthropomorphic based worlds. Kingdom Hearts (2002) may not have had an animal based world, but the surrounding of the worlds and summons had great diversity. From classic to by then present hits. You only visit a monster world in this game (closest to anthropomorphic) with a lack of monsters appearing in more-so an empty factory. Because it's set during night. But there just wasn't enough to feel a range of variety. Really wouldn't have hurt to add in a animal based world along with a space themed world. The world list just falls short for me, and I rather prefer having a 2nd story visit to any world, so it doesn't stay so empty & soulless. After all, I want these worlds to played through, not seen through like a movie. And it's a real shame that orig KH worlds were cut down or scrapped. Should have cut down on the amount of cutscenes.

Gameplay - 7,9/10
Fast combat, lots of choices, but it felt a little too OP and out of control. The attractions weren't that useful and just spammed pretty looking animation footage. Seemed like there was no real balance for those that felt for more of a challenge. Choice of objectives and heartless felt very repetitive and boring after a while. And I don't feel that flow motion was necessary this time around. And those confounded mini games.

Story - Lacklustre
Poorly paced thematic conclusion aimed at a new generation of players. Meanwhile it's a disgrace for those that grew attached to the side games and their characters. Don't expect any respect for any orig KH characters past SDG. There's so much nonsense in the story that I'm surprised Wonderland wasn't brought back again.

Characters - Blank as paper
There really is nothing to cheer for here. Aside from Terra who stole the show.

Humour, tone, themes - 3/10
This was where I said it's time to drop hope that the franchise will have potential beyond it's safe barriers. Humour was not clever nor funny, there was no specified tone and themes were thrown around in the load of bunk that was the atroscious dialogue. And don't worry the un-pleasant awkward laughter is back in this game.
"Let me keep you safe"

Gummiphone - 9/10
To make up for the lack of memorability, taking selfies across the journey was a blast. This accessory saved and embraced the fun experience for me.
 
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saintfighteraqua

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[FONT=&quot]Visuals 10/10 - [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This game is beautiful, I found myself blown away with the attention to detail and all of the characters except for in menus looked amazing.[/FONT]
I would have to stand back and just take in scenes from worlds like Tangled and Toy Story and I felt my breath catch when I first entered the Gates of Olympus. It was incredible. All of the expressions and detail in Sora's face, even Donald andGoofy's were great.
I could nitpick a few things and in the Caribbean, there was some texture delay on the humans that bugged me a couple of times, but overall, visuals were a 10. (Waterga is my new favorite spell).

[FONT=&quot]Music 08/10 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I thought the music did a great job but fell short of a perfect 10. The reason being, some of it is forgettable and dull or loops in an annoying way. Tangled and Frozen had some of my favorites. Frozen's seemed to bounce between Anna'splayfulness and Elsa's solemn nature, reminiscent of "First Time forever" while that beat in Tangled just felt great. The music in the original worlds felt a little too generic or like rehashed stuff. And even though I have grown to love both "Face My Fears" and "Don'tThink Twice", I still think Sanctuary and Simple and Clean were moredefining.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Worlds 07/10 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This is where the game started faltering for me. There was more to these worlds but at the same time, they somehow felt emptier in other ways. I ended up enjoying the choices and some of these are new favorites for sure...but others felltotally short. Twilight Town and 100 Acre Woods were so boring andshort...don't get me started on the tease that was Scala ad Caelum! Part of mewants to give the worlds a lower score and part of me thinks they deservehigher simply for looks, but overall, the worlds themselves were kind of ho-hum.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Gameplay06/10 - [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The actual combat is fun and I like a few of the new gimmicks, but the majority became annoyances. I should not have to fear of summoning the MagicTeacups when I open a chest or get thrown from a ledge when I try to harvest some berries because the game thinks I want a ride on the Pirate Ship. Incredibly stupid design choice and I do not fault user error. It happened way too often. I even went looking for a way to cut these things off. Spoiler: You can't.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The mini[/FONT]-games[FONT=&quot] were [/FONT]lackluster[FONT=&quot] and went from [/FONT]mind-numbingly[FONT=&quot] easy to [/FONT]frustratingly difficult. Why is breaking an egg such a problem for me?
[FONT=&quot]Also,this game is way too easy. I get it, make it easy for newcomers. But when I choose Proud mode, I except some challenge and this game is no joke easier on proud than past titles were on Easy. I suck at hard games, so I am not humblebragging. I'm so glad I took a gamble on Proud right off, I can't imagine how easy it must have been on lower difficulties.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I don't want an extreme challenge, I just want to have to try a little. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Also, the camera in some boss battles almost reaches the levels of the ones in FFXV, which in my opinion has the worst boss fight camera of any game this gen.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Story 05/10 -[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
The UX stuff was a bit much. I personally think most of the UX stuff is bad, anyway. And having it feel rather shoehorned in this title hurt it. I don't mind it being used to build up the next game, but there were placesI'd have definitely taken some more plot from the past games being dealt with than seeing these faces I have little to no care for.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The story feels rushed anyway. It has little to it for the first half of the game.What little we got in the Disney Worlds was bad, just "Hey Sora, you suck!Maybe there's a princess here, lol, dead plot points, bye!"
Then the second half takes all those huge plot threads, all that suffering and rushes it in your face at such a pace you find it hard to care that so-and-sojust saved what's-her-name from years and years of agony. No one seems to care. The story is as flat as a KH1 eye.
I did enjoy it, I cried a few times, even. It had moments where it was beautiful and everything I wanted, then it would just dismiss important things and wave it's hand as if it never mattered that you'd put hours and hours into those spinoffs.
The story in the Disney Worlds themselves was all over the place.
Hercules was...fine. Could have used more stakes for Herc, but due to past games, they couldn't really.
Toy Story's was pretty good but fell flat at times.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Tangled and Frozen's were kind of embarrassing…how they mostly ignoredSora.
Monster's Inc was decent, POC was pretty bad (loved the world, though) and BigHero 6's was good near the end. I feel these should have been split into two visits like KH2.
[/FONT]



[FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Characters07/10- [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
Sora, Goofy, Donald all great.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Most everyone else garbage. They were really, really held back in what could have been shown.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]My favorite, Aqua, bland and lifeless.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Ven, Roxas, Terra, soulless.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Lea…useless.
Villains, flat as pancakes. They had a few standout scenes and the rest was just bad. Especially Org. 13.
[/FONT]



[FONT=&quot]Overall, my score is a 7/10. If you asked me I'd probably say 8/10, but by these standards, it's a 7.
Hopefully, we get patches with story content, some rebalancing and more that raises this for me. I can't see them ever fixing it enough to be a 10 though.
[/FONT]
 
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jahob000

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After calming down a bit from the hype and hearing other people's opinions and views on here and on Youtube. I'm going to be dropping my scores down more. I gave it those scores earlier because I'm a bit too accepting with things when I shouldn't be. I keep ignoring things that are clearly a problem or that stand out. So these are going to be newer scores with a few additions added in to my previous ones.

Visuals I'm still leaving at 10 - For me, I don't play games too often so I won't really notice imperfections that you all would.

Music 6/10 - I've loved Yoko's music but as some of you mentioned already, a lot of it was forgettable (again excluding character themes and reprisals). Nothing stood out to like in KH1 and KH2. For me my favorite theme was Olympus Colosseum when roaming the mountains.
I also agree about the "Don't Think Twice" and "Face My Fears". I've tried to warm up to them but they just don't shine like Utada's other themes. At least not for this game anyway. I still can't get used to the Remix Intro. It's more distracting than anything. All of the reprisals are great and all but because the ending is so rushed, you don't get any time to really appreciate it and take it in.

Worlds 05/10 - Not counting the visuals, some of these worlds seem like they would be a bit annoying to play through a second time. When creating the worlds, it's like they created it without thinking of the replay value. I know it hurts designers to hear this but yes, eventually people will get over the flashy looks of the game. So you need to make it more immersive so that when they play it again, it's not tedious. Even characters keep telling you how great the game LOOKS. I found myself forcing myself to be immersed. It's like Disneyland, not a lot of exciting rides like Six Flags but it's fun to look at. Someone else pointed out that there could have been Worldy enemies besides heartless. Like wolves in Arendelle, thieves in Corona or actually having pirates or noblemen to fight in the Caribbean. I tried my best to take my time and enjoy the visuals but still, when I beat Olympus and saw the world logo come up, I couldn't help but think...Is that it?

Gameplay 04/10 - What this game lacked severely is options. Having the ability to turn things on and off is a big thing. Again, I know it sucks to have worked so hard to create something only to have players skip it, but that's life. Eventually we're going to get over the wow factor and are going to want to play seriously or in a competitive way to improve how we play. Too many things get in the way of that. The camera as I mentioned before, you can't cycle through or remove the triangle options that popup. I'm fighting Xemnas and trying to recognize a few patterns and then whale on him but I can't use the move that I want because the Pirate Ship or Teacups is in the way. It also would have been better if they would have incorporated the Triangle moves into whatever combo you do rather than it being it's own flashy thing. In other words, if you're trying to utilizes your moves and not spam buttons, these moves are only good for mob fights and nothing more. Also, it was such a waste for any of the main stuff to only happen at the end of the game. Like in KH1 and KH2 They should have allowed us to battle some of the Organization Members in the middle of the game in some of the other worlds AND the people who needed waking should have been awakened earlier in the game. Then they should have added them into your party. Not directly because it would just be fanservice but maybe where we can summon them in temporarily or we can swap out Sora and play as them for a certain amount of time. For me this is a huge opportunity that could have been exploited. It's a low score and that doesn't mean that some things were fun. I gave a low score because there were missed opportunities and other things that got in the way.

Story...01/10 - Yes...I dropped it from a 3 to a one. This is what happens when you try to explain something in your series that's supposed to be mysterious lore. As Kingdom Hearts fans, we're more accepting than other players but this is too much. Can you imagine if some Disney movies focused on explaining the mystery of how things worked? There's 5 versions of Sora, 2 for ven, 3 for Kairi, 3 for Riku, 5 for Xehanort...it's a mess. Then you have time travel and Data versions of things. I know these all existed before KH3 but hearing them all brought together makes things ridiculous. I honestly didn't care about any of the story at any part of the game. Not even the Disney worlds. This part is a bit biased but KHUX shouldn't have been cannon, at least not for this saga anyway. It's like digging a deeper hole than the rabbit hole even goes.

Characters 04/10 - I changed this mostly because all of the characters that we awakened, got "last minute" treatment. Sora, Donald and Goofy were the saviors in this category. It felt so natural and fun with them.

The final score that I'm going to give it doesn't mean that I hate the game but it does mean there was a lot of misdirection of focus and lost potential. It's like they put looks above all else. There was no consideration for replay value because they figured you'd still be enamored with the game like it's always going to be your first time playing through. I get the challenges that they had. They had to not only make a transition to untouched territory for them onto a brand new platform but they also had to come up with something new and different that stepped away from DDD and BBS. We could have gotten something much worse but this game was in the right direction but it's just missing a lot. I'm going to play this game again with zero EXP and see if there are good things that I don't see.

My revised overall score 04/10. Beautiful, somewhat decent with a lot of lost potential. Hopefully Final Mix can put it's cape on and save the day.
 
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drew0512

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Visuals 10/10 - Not much to say here.
Music 8/10 - I would have given a 7 because the music in the game is so low that you can hardly hear it, but after listening to it again without battle noises, it's a 8. I enjoyed the remixes and some original tracks are already among my favourites (like Pirate's battle theme, San Fransokyo's garage and Scala ad Caelum).
Worlds 9/10 - The worlds are beautiful and fun to explore (excluding Monstropolis) and a massive improvement. I was used to KH2's and BBS's extremely mediocre level design so I wasn't expecting much with this game but I was pleasantly surprised. If I have to take into account original worlds too though, it's a 8. I'm fine with the lack of a playable Radiant Garden (just because the plot doesn't really justifies a visit there) but Twilight Town, although extremely beautiful, should have been bigger because it feels too claustrophobic. Scala ad Caelum being explorable would have been nice too (I was actually able to explore the arena in its entirety, but maybe it was a bug or something?)
Gameplay 10/10 - Easily the best one. It inherits KH2's dinamism but without feeling as boring and repetitive as its numbered predecessor and it inherits BBS' and DDD's customization without feeling as floaty and bad to play. It's fun, flashy and has depth, it only needs a Critical mode to truly shine now.
Story 7/10 - I enjoyed the story, it was nothing more and nothing less from what I expect from a Kingdom Hearts game. KH1 and CoM still take the crown as the games with the best storytelling and I'm glad that KH3 wrapped up the saga without too many ridiculous plot twists and revelations like KH2 and BBS. Having a mid-point would have helped the pacing a lot but again, a bad pacing is one of KH's biggest staples and it doesn't bother me that much anymore after 17 years. I also liked how every Disney world has a purpose and tie into the overarching theme of the game. It's the same approach KH1 used and it has been missing ever since.
Characters 8/10 - I'll start with my only complain: Kairi. There are some moments that I really liked, but it always feel like they're ready to make the next step with her, but it actually never happens. Other than that, I'm pretty satisfied. I feel like every character got the time that was needed, especially when I look back and see the the games as a whole. One thing I like a lot is that KH3 made me care for secondary characters like Ienzo, Repliku or HPO, while fleshing out some characters a bit more like Vexen, Demyx and the others. It's also the first time that I felt like I knew something about the bad guys except for "they're bad and you need to kill them". It would have been perfect with FF characters (the RG crew, because they needed closure too - hopefully they show up in the future) and an unskippable Naminé scene in the Final World.
 

Grono

KH ☼ D&D ☼ Music ☼ Wack.
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My review is going to be abridged since I plan to do a more in-depth review at a much later date when the fog has cleared.

Visuals 9/10 - not much to say, they're just great. The only things that looked visually odd were the NPC's, which looked underdesigned at points.
Music 9/10 - Yoko's music is always amazing, and KH has literally ALWAYS reincorporated themes from previous games into the greater soundtrack collective. The score for Kingdom of Corona was especially wonderful imo, and some of the new battle themes were rife with a kinetic energy. While I won't say that I hate Face my Fears, Don't Think Twice definitely hits a more positive note with me in that sense and definitely is a theme song that I think people will only continue to like more and more for this game. Dearly Beloved is just the BEST in this game. It's so beautiful and just made me cry a stream of tears when I first heard it. (the only reason why I wrote more here is because I'm a musician in real life so I feel like I add a lot to the conversation with music, but more on musical analysis later)
Worlds 8/10 - Dang, DANG. The Disney worlds have never been this consistently amazing! I wish they saved Symphony of Sorcery for this game just so I could see it in those updated graphics and even bigger and wilder than Dream Drop's version of it! The score for these drop two points because of the fact that there's only really two original worlds that are pretty meh and that Scala is only explorable if you're comfortable with the fact that you can only explore it while in a boss fight for your life.
Gameplay 7/10 - the gameplay is great and the keyblades feel better than ever! Score is only 7/10 because the shotlocks should have stayed away from being connected to specific keyblades and some elements (like limits, formchanges, summons and attraction flow) should have strayed away from being semi-random button presses and instead drained a focus meter or magic meter like in previous games.
Story 7/10 - I loved the story, just wish there was more original stuff.
Characters 7/10 - gah, EVERY TIME we think Kairi is going to do more she gets shoved! I appreciate her being the reason that the lights lived through the dark tornado, but after that she just seems to be a piece of meat. Also, she should have had an interaction with Xion since she was FIGHTING HER EARLIER! WHY, NOMURA?!

Overall, about a 7.8/10 for the game. If there's more postgame content getting released, this may even bump up to an 8.5.
 

j_kazmi

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Visuals: 10/10
Music: 8/10 - not as memorable as some of the older games but that might change as I listen to it more
Worlds: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Story: 4/10 - entertaining story but very poorly structured and the dialogue was terrible(as expected)
Characters: 4/10 - characters just feel very lifeless probably due to the poor cutscene direction.( I can’t deal with listening to Rikus boring voice anymore lol)

Overall I would say it’s a high 8 possibly a 9/10 (still haven’t made my mind up). I didn’t really like the story that much and the big moments felt really impactless to me but the rest of the game was amazing and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s more KH with sora Donald and Goofy whats not to like.
 
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Phantom

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Visuals: 10/10 - They're great.
Music: 8/10 - like the new tracks, but there's not so many of them compared to KH2. Like the remixes as well, though.
Worlds: 7/10 - Majority of the Disney worlds are great, but 100 Acre Garden was garbage and the original worlds are too small. Really disappointed Scala ad Caelum wasn't fully explorable, and I wish Radiant Garden has been included.
Gameplay: 8/10 - quite enjoyable, but I don't like the attractions (they feel overpowered and unnecessary) and felt the game was really easy compared to past titles.
Story: 5/10 - Honestly not that good. It was rushed and they shouldn't have shoehorned the UX stuff into the plot. However, I'm glad the Dark Seeker saga has been wrapped up, and hopefully the next saga won't have as complicated plot as this one.
Characters: 6/10 - I feel a lot of the characters didn't get enough screentime. Was also disappointed how useless Kairi was once again. Sora, Donald and Goofy were great, although sometimes their humor was a bit irritating (as well as their obsession with finding ingredients).
Overall score: 7/10
 

Laurel

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Visuals- 9/10: I didn't give it a 10 because there were times that the characters looked like plastic and it didn't look right. Other than that, the visuals were beautiful and it was great looking at all the details, especially in POTC.

Music- 9/10:
the field/battle music for the Disney worlds weren't as memorable as previous ones, but the tracks for Scala, Anti-Aqua, and the remixes of the different Xehanorts were great.

Worlds- 7.5
/10: A majority of the worlds were beautiful and fun to explore, my favorite was probably Tangled in terms of environment and interactions with the characters, but then we got Frozen which was pretty much the opposite. I wasn't that upset with Frozen, but it would've been nice if we could've explored the ice palace and Arendelle, y'know, the name of the actual world. It felt like KH1's Neverland where you're never at Neverland, just on a boat and the clock tower. But I think the biggest insults were no playable Radiant Garden, a smaller Twilight Town and barely an explorable Scala. Sure, it was great that Twilight Town was more alive than in KH2, but we could've at least got to visit the clock tower.

Gameplay 8/10, I thought the gameplay was fun and I liked how the keyblades had their own transformations. At first I was fine that there weren't that many keyblades, but after playing I really wanted four or five more. It would've been awesome to get Oblivion and Oathkeeper and see what their transformations were. And even though I enjoyed the gameplay, it did get a bit repetitive and I didn't like how fast the transformations and attractions appeared. The attractions should've been something to unlock at the end of every world or something.

Story- 4/10, The more I think about the story the more I dislike it, especially with how the Keyblade Graveyard events unfolded. The pacing was messy, there wasn't enough interactions with the guardians, soooo much cringy dialogue, a lot of characters weren't handled well (looking at you, Kairi) too many questions were left unanswered and it ended with a cliffhanger. As being the conclusion of a saga, there wasn't much of a conclusion which is very disappointing. Another thing is that the game feels pretty childish, yeah it's a Disney game but it doesn't mean the series can't grow up with its audience. Heck, KH1 felt more mature with its darker atmosphere. I dunno, I guess I'm just a bit bitter about how everything was executed in the end, especially since this game has been in development for 6 years.

Characters- 7/10: The seven goes to Roxas who's the real MVP and deserved more screen time. I've already talked about how there wasn't enough interactions between the characters, but I will admit that SDG's interactions were good and it was nice that Donald and Goof joined Sora to fight MX. Though it would've been even better if the rest of the guardians came along to help but ugh, there was a lot of missed opportunities during those battles. Well, at least Roxas made a great entrance. Anyways, I liked how the Disney characters interacted with SDG, except for Frozen, that was dumb. But I especially liked Sora's interaction with Rapunzel, Sora had more chemistry with her than with Kairi who's a stick. I'm not gonna go into Kairi since everyone has said everything that was wrong with her. And that's a shame coz there was so much build up with her, it was infuriating.

At first I gave the game a B but now I'm leaning to a C+ since I keep thinking back on how messy the story is. Well it's already messy but this game just made it messier and it doesn't help that the game feels more like a set up than an actual conclusion. I did have fun playing it, but I wished that it had a bit more. Hopefully if there's a DLC, my mind can be changed, because I do enjoy this series and I hate to feel disappointed by it.
 
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