Personal Disappointments and Pleasures in KH3

[Dream_wielder]

Overall, Kingdom Hearts III was an incredible in my opinion. I enjoyed the story, the size of the worlds, and even the improved swimming feature applied to The Carribean after it was always such a frustrating task in Atlantica (KH1). But there were definitely things that irked me into disappointment. *I WOULDN'T READ PAST THIS POINT IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED THE GAME*. In particular, Twlight Town’s explorative value was vastly diminished. I’m sure I’m not alone when I expressed dismay at trying to venture up the cobbled hill to the train station only to realize it was just an exit to the world map. Not a single Final Fantasy character made a return (which meant no new Sephiroth showdown). Also, it was much less overall challenging than previous installments. That may be a biased outlook for myself and other seasoned KH vets who were already familiar with the largely unchanged controls and skill sets. But the combat was fluid, the story came together a little more clearly, and it was just such a relief and a dream come true to actually have the game to play. So, what were the things you were most pleased and disappointed about when it comes to III?

 

[Vivi-gamer]

While I was dissastisfied with the compressed Twilight Town, I will say the areas we did get were packed with so much content, from interesting NPC's to an outdoor cinema! But like you I first wen't to get out the Gangs Den only to be dissapointed by the World Exit prompt.

I think the biggest problem I have is the lack of Post-Game content... I know we could be considered spoilt by the Fnial Mix version of past titles but it's very bare bones in comparison to their original versions too - No Collusuem Battles!

Also the lack of FF presence was an issue yes - Especially considering they had the FF Toys in Toy Story's World - I cannot believe Bahamut was not a Post-Game Boss, Especially after how Rex refferences it in the cutscene!

With all that said, I adored the 40 hours playthrough from Start to finish! I really did! Exploring the seas of The Carribean was bliss! And I loved Donald's sass during the story, teasing Sora any chance he got. But I felt very content with the majority of the story, Birth By Sleep related content inparticular was handled wonderful.

 

[UltimaXOmega]

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Original worlds were a hallway,empy and a boss area. Scala is bigger than Twilight Town yet not playable? Tf. My only other complaints are minor. No FF characters,lack of Non-Disney Keyblades and copy/pasted transformations. It's still a 9 but it's such an easy 10 with DLC.

 

[TepidShark]

100 Acre Wood being in there was pointless. I mean it's literally one small area and one mini-game that has three variations. Weird they thought they had to include that as part of a numbered title but not arena battles in Olympus (the area behind Zeus could totally work).

 

[David/Vaddix]

100 Acre Wood being in there was pointless. I mean it's literally one small area and one mini-game that has three variations. Weird they thought they had to include that as part of a numbered title but not arena battles in Olympus (the area behind Zeus could totally work).

Coliseums seemed to be replaced by the battlegates, but I really am thrown off by Twilight Town and 100 Acre Wood. I didn't expect anything to be smaller in kh3 & the fact that they're so limited is kinda infuriating. Overall, the game is great but this makes me kinda confused and upset. A DLC expansion would be nice😀.

 

[MATGSY]

In contrast to Woods & TT, I thought Corona & Arendelle were too big. Or more specifically the forest & Mountain regions respectively. I'm surprised at not being able to visit Elsa's ice palace or the kingdom itself.

Davy Jones sucked as a boss. Barbossa or heck Hook were more engaging.

 

[Face My Fears]

I feel like it was sort of an exchange. The coliseum fights were basically done to give depth to Olympus Coliseum (in KH1) due to the world being basically 2 small areas. The other worlds were also not that large to explore, so they needed something to give us something to do postgame. Now that the Disney worlds are huge, having one set place to fight a bunch of heartless (in the same setting) compared to having multiple large worlds to do that same thing doesn't seem as relevant. The only thing the coliseum would have over exploring the worlds and fighting heartless would be the challenge of doing it and fighting exclusive bosses (like Leon/Cloud etc). I haven't played the game after beating it, so I don't know what's after (apparently more bosses), but I really wish the coliseum was there just to feature Final Fantasy boss fights.

 

[Recon]

The game's incredible. But if I had to nitpick it's the silly ending and the lack of FF characters that's a bit of a let down. I really don't care anymore because I'm enjoying the game very much.

 

[The Dark Mamba]

I was disappointed that we've gone back to KH1 days where we have characters in cutscenes awkwardly not having a voice. Phil has been the character we've consistently interacted with the most in most of Olympus Coliseum's appearances and yet in his two scenes not a word from him. Was disappointed to see Hans get the voiceless treatment also.

A blatant writing flaw stands out in Corona also. In the film Flynn leaves Rapunzel after the lantern scene to give the Crown to the Stabbington brothers. But they're not in KH3 and yet the same scenario happens when he leaves her and gets captured with no explanation. Worlds should be written to where seeing the film isn't a prerequisite to understanding what's going on. They didn't even try to explain Hans' role to someone who hasn't seen the film.

100 Acre Wood.......wow. What a disgrace. Not cutting them any slack on this one since it was marketed as an actual world, not the 100 Acre Garden. Twilight Town sucked too. Such a letdown to have that level of detail yet we're restricted to basically 2 areas from KH2.

A flagrant lack of non-Disney keyblades. Would've liked to have been wielding something more epic looking during the final section.

I was probably expecting too much but I thought Kairi and Lea would play a more active role in the story prior to the Keyblade Graveyard.

That's the major stuff that disappointed me while I was experiencing the game. There's stuff like no FF or Radiant Garden but I pretty much knew about that stuff going in. Doesn't make it any less disappointing. The other stuff mentioned were things that surprised me while I was playing.

 

[omegalucas]

I heard phil wasn't given a VA this time because his VA or the person that played phil died and they kept his character silent in this game in order to show respects to him

Both Robert Constanzo (Phil's voice in Kingdom Hearts) and Danny DeVito (his voice in the movie) are still alive.

 

[Deleted member]

Both Robert Constanzo (Phil's voice in Kingdom Hearts) and Danny DeVito (his voice in the movie) are still alive.

I think they mean the Japanese VA.

 

[Squood!]

After thinking, I do have one disappointment.

It should've been Sora, Riku, and Kairi as the main party. Or at least have them be members 4 and 5.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

The game's incredible. But if I had to nitpick it's the silly ending and the lack of FF characters that's a bit of a let down. I really don't care anymore because I'm enjoying the game very much.

Outside of a Final Fantasy character for Olympus, I really don't know how you could have weaved in Final Fantasy with this considering everything that it was tackling.

Also, some of Master Xehanort's delivery for certain lines were really questionable, especially the battle lines.

 

[The Dark Mamba]

I heard phil wasn't given a VA this time because his VA or the person that played phil died and they kept his character silent in this game in order to show respects to him

You don't just awkwardly dump on a character just because the VA died. If that's the case then MX should've been silent too.

 

[Onion Knight]

This game delivered in pretty much everything except for Xehanort's motivation. I can't tell if it's poorly presented or just plain stupid.

 

[Harmonie]

Good things (I am posting spoilers, just warning, I know this is the spoilers section, but still...):

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Overall the Disney worlds were all done very well. It was amazing to see Tangled and Frozen really put into a video game. The cutscenes were spot on, too! I loved how Olympus got revisited but it wasn't just the same Olympus Coliseum we've been seeing for years. They really expanded the world and Thebes was beautiful. The worlds in general felt much more alive, which was always a common complaint with the old games.

The Disney character writing was also great. Hades was hilarious. I also love the interactions with the Disney characters and the KH villains. Woody telling young Xehanort off was great. Also the end of the Monsters Inc with Vanitas and Sulley/Mike was completely unexpected and amazing.

Aqua. Of course, this game better do her justice after how much build up she had in the II.8 BBS fragmentary passage game. Getting to fight her to save her from the darkness, and then her getting to a fight herself later on. She felt like the one 'lost' guardian of light that got to do enough and got enough screen time.

(EDIT: After reading "the treatment of women in KH series" topic I'm seeing that I was wrong about Aqua's treatment here. I'm happy she got screentime and her own battle, but yeah, she's a keyblade master, she should have been treated way better. Just compared to Kairi's horrible treatment, I missed this.)

Getting to see Roxas and Xion come back (and reunite with Axel/Lea) was great. It also felt inevitable and was so short-lived, but I still cried. The same, of course, goes for Terra, Aqua, and Ventus.

I want to say the music, but it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. So I would put this more in between. There were some great tracks. Certainly enough to look forward to buying the OST when it comes out.

Lastly, character interactions in the KH series have always felt pretty stiff which has contributed to it feeling overtly cheesy. This time the stiffness was greatly reduced and the characters felt much more alive, which made the emotional scenes so much better than ever before.

Disappointments (Very end game spoiler heavy!):

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Kairi was a disappointment. Do I really need to say anymore? She actually played a great role in the end game up until she was kidnapped to just become fodder motivation from Sora. Ugh, was that even necessary?

The portion of which Roxas and Xion got to be in the game and fight felt too darn short. I would have liked for all of the guardians to get as much attention as Aqua, who was done really well IMO. I understand the way that the fights were done in the end-game, but I still think there could have been a way for a scene where Roxas, Xion, and Axel/Lea met together on the field but still got individual fights (maybe even that we could control?) I don't know, maybe I'm asking for too much... But these characters have been built up for so long and seeing them come back meant a lot to me, and the time with them just felt too short.

For a series that has been so notoriously drawn out over the years, it just felt rushed to have all of that crammed into such a short amount of time.

Also, related to the first disappointment, the fact that they used the Roxas/Xion/Axel (Lea) reunion to kidnap Kairi just really ruined what was a legitimately good moment. Ugh.

Another small disappointment. In Olympus/Thebes, I really liked how the game implemented a special use of Goofy and his shield to traverse over the fires. This really led me to believe that exploring the worlds would include more features like this with Goofy and Donald. I was disappointed to see that wasn't really the case.

As others have mentioned, Twilight Town being cut down was disappointing. The parts that we got were gorgeous, but I was shocked to see the world so much smaller than on the PS2 and I was hoping that the rest would be unlocked to us later or something.

 

[mytomxxx]

I'm a bit disappointed because they said they wound't show the final bosses of the worlds, and they did, almost all of them.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

After did all that can be done with it, Imma say it: KH III has by far the best Gummiship section of the series.
And it's not the "least worse", it's actually good and engaging.
There's still a bunch of stuff you have to figure out on your own, but that's nothing new.

 

[Harmonie]

After did all that can be done with it, Imma say it: KH III has by far the best Gummiship section of the series.
And it's not the "least worse", it's actually good and engaging.
There's still a bunch of stuff you have to figure out on your own, but that's nothing new.

I suppose. But for me the Gummi Ship stuff was just a waste of time and I didn't want to have to do it. It was neat that you were actually flying around in an open space where you could direct yourself where to go, but I just couldn't get myself to care about it. The boss fight music was pretty good, though.

 

[Absent]

Pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing, pacing.

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Spoilers, I'm warning you

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Pacing