I love the Kingdom Hearts franchise. I have played the games since childhood and they quickly became a staple in my free time. I've easily sunk 300 hours into Kingdom Hearts 2 over the past 13 years, and nearly as much in the first game. Beyond that, I feel like I understand the series. It's a notoriously convoluted plot which I believe I have some semblance of understanding of. The point is I know Kingdom Hearts, so obviously I have been patiently (lol no) waiting for Kingdom Hearts 3. Imagine my joy when, for Christmas, my girlfriend revealed she had pre ordered it for me! This is my Kingdom Hearts 3 story, review, and... love letter.
I've never been so excited to receive a package in my life. I've never held a yellow sleeve of packaging so gently and carefully. I've never so precisely opened a piece of mail.
January 29th, 2019, I opened up Kingdom Hearts 3 with the excitement of a 9 year old.
Back when I actually was 9, I saw my brother in law (my siblings are much older than me) playing a weird game. It looked like sort of like Final Fantasy but it was brighter and more cartoony. The main character's spiky hair was reminiscent of Cloud or Squall from Final Fantasy 7 and 8. In fact, very quickly Siefer, an antagonist from Final Fantasy 8, appeared on screen. In a cutscene he called out the Protagonist, but was quickly rebuked by... Donald Duck of all people. I was confused... and intrigued. My older brother had gotten me into Final Fantasy when I was like 4 and of course I knew and loved Disney even longer. Naturally I was drawn to this weird medley. Now if you know the series, you'll be able to guess that this was actually Kingdom Hearts 2 I was being introduced to. Maybe that's why it's my favorite installment in the series, but after I went home and ranted and raved to my parents about how cool it was they knew exactly what to get me for Christmas. That's how I got Kingdom Hearts, the original. Since then I have never looked back, enjoying any play-time in the series I've had access to.
Well, this brings me to Kingdom Hearts 3. Like I said, I was excited to get it, my girlfriend is perfect, and I popped it in my Xbox. After a cutscene recapping the events up until now, I was eased into my main menu... OH MY GOODNESS... all of you go find a recording of Dearly Beloved from Kingdom Hearts 3 RIGHT NOW. I've never been so pumped up by a slow somber orchestral piece on a white background with a watercolor-esque painting of a japanese anime guy! That description may sound silly, but to an outsider its what was happening. Anyway, hype aside, I started the game and after a gorgeous tutorial and gripping set of cut scenes, I already decided to give the game a 20/10 review. I kept playing--for 3 days I played until I beat the game and nearly 100% completed it. My journey started with joy and wonder as I explored new Disney worlds, fell in love with redesigns of series-staple worlds, and spent a lot of time playing with the new camera feature. The new character designs are just phenomenal and really bring it all together. Likewise, relationships between characters have been revamped as each character had gained greater purpose in their journeys. The combat system implemented the best of the old and the new, bringing back reaction commands from 2 but expanding them into fully controlled combos, and reintroducing Shotlock from Birth by Sleep which causes massive damage to enemies from afar. It feels like Sora is at his peak performance. At times it even hands over the reigns of keyblade masters Riku and Aqua, who feel like absolute gods to play as. The new improved movement system is phenomenal and attacks can be chained together better than ever.
But there is a big problem. Something that loomed through the whole experience.
The issue is that Kingdom Hearts 3 feels like it isn't the best it can be. Every second is fantastic, but as you watch mouths just flap to the dialogue, usually not even matching up, you're mind can't help but drift to Red Dead Redemption 2. While playing I couldn't help but wonder why 13 years amounted to a game that seems like it would have worked just fine on PS3.
Beyond its graphical imperfection, the game was also surprisingly shallow. In previous Kingdom Hearts games, you could play for hundreds of hours before completing everything, seeing every story, unlocking every ability, and finding every collectable. With Kingdom Hearts 3 I've 100% completed the game at level 65 in about 40 hours. I don't feel a connection to any new character introduced, and I was actually distracted by the lack of Final Fantasy characters, which drew me to the franchise in the first place. Oh yeah thats right, there isn't a single Final Fantasy character in the game pitched as Final Fantasy/Disney Mashup. The story is artificially drawn out by a massive series of boss battles during end game that just quickly tied a knot and a messy story that really should have had more time spent. Example, it is never explained how Xion shows up as when last we saw her she was being ERASED FROM EVER HAVING EXISTED. She was wiped from everybody's memory so how could the Organization known to bring her back. It just doesn't make sense and they don't even attempt to explain.
The point is, it doesn't feel like as full of a game as previous entries, but rather feels like they are haphazardly tying up loose ends while setting up plot threads for future entries. If this were "Kingdom Hearts 2.95 final previous chapter: sleep wake" then maybe that would be ok, but this is the main line title "Kingdom Hearts 3." Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 each had their own stories which, while they certainly set up plot threads for future games, had their own hearts. They had a beginning, middle and end which all made sense. KH3 feels like just a middle that hints at an end but then opens another bottle of "what the heck just happened?"
So... everything I just said looks pretty bad, huh? You probably are thinking "Nathan, if you love this series so much and want me to play it, why are you trashing it so much?" Well, sometimes you have to break something down to build it back up. Kingdom Hearts 3 is not up to graphical par, it doesn't hold up as its own story like previous games have, motivation as a character to progress the story is almost nil. However, if you look back in gaming history, it's not the graphics or similarity to other games of the franchise people view in the long run. It's the gameplay and how the game makes you feel, and in those departments Kingdom Hearts 3 is far beyond anything out there right now. Simple, straightforward, and perfectly over the top, the combat system is a huge breath of fresh air next to the run and gun cookie cutter of all modern shooters, the complexity of fighting games, and the intensity of Dark Souls. You really can have fun fighting enemies, chaining combos, and pulling off massive attacks. The chaos, though overwhelming to an onlooker, feels perfectly at home under the control of the player. It feels very childlike yet also complex enough to keep an adult entertained. Along with the gameplay, the characters interactions between one another are just beautiful and really make you feel for each and every one of them. The phenomenal music score coupled with emotional cutscenes makes you love not only the main characters, but also the side characters--and even the villains.
Speaking of music, THE MUSIC! Square as a company has always recognized a fundamental truth of game design: Soundtrack can make or break a game. Kingdom Hearts is no exception as they have never spared any expense on the games' gorgeous soundtrack. In Kingdom Hearts 3 that has clearly reached a peak. As previously mentioned, just entering the Start Menu you are greeted with a beautifully orchestrated rendition of the classic Kingdom Hearts theme "Dearly Beloved." This new version captures so many emotions at once, starting with tranquility, then easing into a new excitement, and ending with the melancholy knowledge that as the song ends, so does the series (as we know it). This concept remains even as you enter Disney worlds, which have their own songs from the films they depict; however, many are adapted to work in a playable area or to bring the focus to different plot points. All in all, the music helps to make every moment of the game touch just the right feeling you're looking for as you play.
All fiction, be it written or on screen, is based around the concept of materializing the abstract truths of reality into a fictional world, being, or object. Kingdom Hearts 3 perfectly exemplifies this, and as such stands as a shining light, not necessarily to storytelling as a whole, but certainly to using story as a means define the world around us. It allowed me to see the world once again through the eyes of a child, a young me. Nostalgia is very prevalent in this day and age, but Kingdom Hearts 3 manages to not only capitalize on it, but create something new from it. The developers put their whole hearts into this game, I only hope you will too.
9/10
So... everything I just said looks pretty bad, huh? You probably are thinking "Nathan, if you love this series so much and want me to play it, why are you trashing it so much?" Well, sometimes you have to break something down to build it back up. Kingdom Hearts 3 is not up to graphical par, it doesn't hold up as its own story like previous games have, motivation as a character to progress the story is almost nil. However, if you look back in gaming history, it's not the graphics or similarity to other games of the franchise people view in the long run. It's the gameplay and how the game makes you feel, and in those departments Kingdom Hearts 3 is far beyond anything out there right now. Simple, straightforward, and perfectly over the top, the combat system is a huge breath of fresh air next to the run and gun cookie cutter of all modern shooters, the complexity of fighting games, and the intensity of Dark Souls. You really can have fun fighting enemies, chaining combos, and pulling off massive attacks. The chaos, though overwhelming to an onlooker, feels perfectly at home under the control of the player. It feels very childlike yet also complex enough to keep an adult entertained. Along with the gameplay, the characters interactions between one another are just beautiful and really make you feel for each and every one of them. The phenomenal music score coupled with emotional cutscenes makes you love not only the main characters, but also the side characters--and even the villains.
Speaking of music, THE MUSIC! Square as a company has always recognized a fundamental truth of game design: Soundtrack can make or break a game. Kingdom Hearts is no exception as they have never spared any expense on the games' gorgeous soundtrack. In Kingdom Hearts 3 that has clearly reached a peak. As previously mentioned, just entering the Start Menu you are greeted with a beautifully orchestrated rendition of the classic Kingdom Hearts theme "Dearly Beloved." This new version captures so many emotions at once, starting with tranquility, then easing into a new excitement, and ending with the melancholy knowledge that as the song ends, so does the series (as we know it). This concept remains even as you enter Disney worlds, which have their own songs from the films they depict; however, many are adapted to work in a playable area or to bring the focus to different plot points. All in all, the music helps to make every moment of the game touch just the right feeling you're looking for as you play.
All fiction, be it written or on screen, is based around the concept of materializing the abstract truths of reality into a fictional world, being, or object. Kingdom Hearts 3 perfectly exemplifies this, and as such stands as a shining light, not necessarily to storytelling as a whole, but certainly to using story as a means define the world around us. It allowed me to see the world once again through the eyes of a child, a young me. Nostalgia is very prevalent in this day and age, but Kingdom Hearts 3 manages to not only capitalize on it, but create something new from it. The developers put their whole hearts into this game, I only hope you will too.
9/10
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