Editorial ► KINGDOM HEARTS III First Impressions Review (Spoiler Free)

[Neo_]

I'm not sure what you mean about Meg

Really?

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I'm not trying to be a perv, but her knockers are freakin' pronounced! That's all I could focus on in the cutscenes; I thought she was obscenely sexy to begin with, but this put her over the top. Everyone's like "Xion best waifu"... pls. I can't be the only one who thought they went overboard.

 

[ultima-demi]

It's funny how i never noticed that. Guess i was just barely paying attention to her.

 

[Neo_]

No one pays attention to Meg. :frown: She's underrated.

 

[furusatoe]

Arendelle was very impressive. Clearly a lot of love when into that world - probably the longest of the bunch. From the trailers I thought that Kristen Bell and the others were phoning it in but, nope. Great performances all around.

Also, the fact that Sora doesn’t remember Marluxia or Larxene means that the Data Org battles aren’t canon, I guess? Then I suppose when Lingering Will shows up eventually they’re not going to remember him either, eh.

 

[furusatoe]

I try not to get annoyed with the plot but

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Aqua not using magic during her fight with Ansem was dumb, unless she can't use magic without the keyblade.

Yeah, this bugged me too. I wonder if they’re going to explain this. I still have two Disney worlds left . . .

 

[Elysium]

Yeah, I was surprised Sora didn't remember anything from CoM still. I thought that we were supposed to think he had a memory dump at some point in KH2, when a bunch of things randomly get uploaded to Jiminy's journal about the CoM members after one of the story points. Guess not

No one pays attention to Meg. :frown: She's underrated.

I love Meg. I wish she’d had a little more screentime, but I understand why she was sidelined.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

I wonder if any top the one from Toy Box tho ;p

I mean I guess I knew the songs from Frozen would be Visual Works. I guess it makes some sense the Caribbean relied on it a bit too give the graphics the were trying to go for.

I'll admit, Toy Box's intro was a smart way to alieviate Nomura's frustration about Final Fantasy XV.

What they did with Frozen and Pirates of the Caribbean seems cool at first, until you realise that Tangled did not have the Visual Works treatement until the very end. That sort of favourtism really irks me.

No one pays attention to Meg. :frown: She's underrated.

Nah, it's nothing to do with that. It's more to do with the fact that they wrote her in really awkwardly. Even the NPC's in Olympus feel more relevant than her. They could have done much more with her but bothered not to.

 

[Neo_]

Nah, it's nothing to do with that. It's more to do with the fact that they wrote her in really awkwardly. Even the NPC's in Olympus feel more relevant than her. They could have done much more with her but bothered not to.

At least they put her NPC at the entrance once you complete it -- it makes her feel like the mayor or something, unlike Phil, who I'm assuming just went and hid in the mountains because the loudest character can't talk apparently.

 

[Sora2016]

I guess the direction they went with the world made it hard to implement her? Without her just needing saved or something. But I guess it would have been cool if her and Pegasus at least helped some save people in the mean time? That's about all I can think of, other than her showing up with Pegasus before the Rock Titan fight.

But they clearly could have just...changed the structure to fit her in a bit more. Which I would have loved, I have always really liked her, and am always up for more.

I have been busy the past few days so I just finished up Monstropolis. I loved it! It was such a good world I loved the plot, I am glad Randall was involved even though he wasn't a boss. I guess I anticipated as much at this point. There seems to be only one big, important fight per world, which are always really awesome, but otherwise its just large groups of enemies. Which interact with the worlds a lot, so that's cool. I don't mind it per se, but I would love an extra boss or 2. I love cool Heartless designs, and also Disney bosses so you know.

That end scene was crazy tho. Sulley just freaking chucking Vanitas was amazing. And my boys Donald and Goody protecting Sora... So yeah. Not much else I could ask for other than a Randall mini-boss I guess.

 

[Neo_]

Not much else I could ask for other than a Randall mini-boss I guess.

Yep; the quickness of Sabor combined with the camo of Stealth Sneak in a closed-off room (just to add to the scare factor). I feel like the laugh canisters could've been used to some degree as well, like Randall throwing them and Sora deflecting them... too much potential. Idk what happened.

I was just watching Sunburned Albino's boss countdown video and watching gameplay of the sword fight with Captain Hook on the pirate ship... like why was that ok 17 years ago but not now? Idk if they're trying to phase out Disney or if it was Disney/Pixar's orders... I certainly hope the latter.

 

[Grono]

So... Who's tried making a donut ship with the gummi parts so far?

 

[Londonbridge115]

The amount of time and detail they put into this game is amazing. I’m having so much fun with it. I’m towards the end of Monstropolis and I’m enjoying the ride!

 

[Grono]

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Man, special ships used to be such a hassle to obtain & fly. I'm only like halfway through the game and getting these/using them is a blast! My favorite so far is endymion, but honestly all of them are so great. And DAMN, the design on the fortress! Using teeny ships in the past was also a giant hassle, thank god we can just use the game's pre-created teeny ships and mix & match them now!

 

[furusatoe]

My kids wanted me to show them Big Hero 6, but I was in the middle of the Caribbean. Tried to finish it quickly but I keep dying at one of these (last?) ship battles. Looks like I’m gonna need to hunt for some crabs and level up my ship . . . argh.

I’m at the point in the game where it’s clear I’m going to do a more thorough playthrough after this one, so now I’m just rushing trying to get through the story.

 

[Neo_]

I’m at the point in the game where it’s clear I’m going to do a more thorough playthrough after this one, so now I’m just rushing trying to get through the story.

Are you gonna 100% it first? There's so much backtracking that I'm just gonna 100% my Proud file before I plan on going through the game again.

 

[furusatoe]

Are you gonna 100% it first? There's so much backtracking that I'm just gonna 100% my Proud file before I plan on going through the game again.

I will probably aim to 100% my next playthrough. Right now I’m just dying to know how things wrap up, so it’s hard for me to take my time.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

I don't know whether it's just me, but I feel as though San Fransokyo suffers from the most flat faces. Also, is it the shortest Disney world? Because I had so much fun in that world that I felt as though I finished it rather quick.

And for those curious, the origin for the Riku who's part of The Seekers of Darkness is such a Kingdom Hearts reason, and it's all revealed in San Fransokyo.

 

[Neo_]

I will probably aim to 100% my next playthrough. Right now I’m just dying to know how things wrap up, so it’s hard for me to take my time.

There isn't technically a post-game, but you can save after the final battle so you keep your experience and stuff and then you can just clean up what you missed.

 

[Nala]

So I just finished the game. And let me say I really enjoyed it. While it's not the best game story-wise, it's definitely the strongest when it comes to gameplay. I loved to test all these different keyblade formations, the attractions, while being a little bit overpowered, were fun. Magic being a real option while fighting was definitely great. I hope they use this gameplay as base for the next games. I liked it.

Now one thing that irked me that could be a bit spoilery.

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I really, really disliked all the forced Sokai romance in this game.

The romantic feelings between Sora and Kairi were always implied and teased throughout the series. Especially in KH1 they obviously tried to tell us how much these two like each other. But that's it. Their romantic relationship was always tell, not show. Especially if you compare it to one of Sora's most developed relationships, his relationship with Riku.

I knew they would imply or tease Sokai again in KH3. And I knew it would eventually be canon. But how they handled it was pretty bad. Throughout the whole game Sora never really thinks or talks about Kairi. Right up until the end. And even then they don't really talk until we get the papou sharing scene. They probably talked before but again we didn't see anything. The papou sharing scene didn't feel romantic at all. Quite the opposite if you ask me. One moment Sora is worried about Riku, the next Kairi literally shoves a papou in his face, leaving Sora confused.

After that it seemed like they tried to put as much Sokai into these next few hours of the game as possible. From him shielding her with his body when Terranort attacked her (dude, block the attack with your keyblade, not your body?), to Kairi being the one to save Sora, to Sora remembering moments where Disney characters showed love when Kairi took his hand, to him going absolutely crazy when Xehanort killed her, to actually sacrificing himself to get her back.

Everything Sora cared about was Kairi suddenly. Every other relationship he had took a backseat in order to let Sokai shine. But none of it felt natural. Not to me at least. It seems like because they missed the opportunity to develop that relationship more slowly and naturally they just tried to cram everything into one game.

That Kairi was just a plot device again, doing literally nothing and just being there to give Sora some pain, didn't make that relationship any better. Why can't they just let Kairi be her own character first?

And I also disliked how much Sora's and Riku's relationship seemed to be completely ignored. Riku was pretty distant and I think it was really weird how he was just fine with Sora trying to find Kairi, well knowing there was a chance Sora mau never come back. It felt out of character for Riku to just accept that he may lose his best friend. Especially after his development and characterization in DDD.

I'm interested to see where we go next, especially after that secret ending. There are still many questions left unanswered. Let's hope we don't have to wait too long for the next KH game.

 

[furusatoe]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! [Pre-Keyblade Graveyard Spoilers]

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The Sora/Aqua and Aqua/Vanitas fights! I feel like they were both handled perfectly. Had chills. And then that save from Ven to cap it off - *chef’s kiss*. I’m still waiting for this story to “get bad,” as many people following the leaks were complaining about. So far, I’ve been very satisfied with everything from the pacing to the presentation. I can’t imagine it just nosedives after this.

Also, if I had my druthers I would have made Aqua as challenging as Zodiac Phantom Aqua, but I’ll take it.