After Dream Drop Distance and Union X the Kingdom Hearts series seemed to have stopped. I mean sure we had the 1.5, 2.5 and 2.8 compilations but aside from 0.2 in the 2.8 collection there wasn’t any major story expansion from where DDD left off. But after all these years we’ve finally made it kiddos. We finally have Kingdom Hearts 3 in our hands for over a year plus the Re:Mind DLC and is it worth it after these long years? Short answer, yes, long answer just give me a few paragraphs and I’ll explain what I feel KH3 could have improved on at the time of this article and no the plot is not one of them! Except for some stuff near the end but that’s major spoiler territory.
But concerning the story; before this game itself there's several compilation movies in the opening menu to give new players the clip-notes version of the story so far that cover the major story points of the Dark Seeker saga. There’s even a handy dandy glossary to explain the terms the series loves to drop at light speed as they're mentioned so if you still complain about how nothing is explained then you only have yourself to blame. As the title of this review says Kingdom Hearts has more then a few parallels to Metal Gear Solid in that both have mountains of backstory to explain who everyone is, why we’re even doing all of this silliness and this game essentially is a G rated Guns of the Patriots. What I mean by that is that this is a sequel in every sense of the word, the story was made for people that have been with the series since day one but unlike MGS4; KH3 does give you the cheat sheet before hand so if this is your first time in the series, proceed at your own risk.
Anyway the story doesn’t even bother with a mandatory tutorial as we see Sora, Donald and Goofy (take a shot) start at the world of Olympus to ask Hercules for help with Sora reclaiming the Power of Waking after he lost it when he nearly became one of Master Xehanort’s vessels at the end of DDD. From there he decides to “let his heart be his guiding key” to lead him to the various worlds that the Organization is causing trouble in with their armies of Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed in order to stop their pet projects and recover the power of waking to help save Aqua who’s been stuck in the world of Darkness for at least 11 years and I’d bet that she desperately needs a shower as well as several years of therapy.
Now unlike the pervious games where most of the Disney worlds we visited mostly felt unrelated to the overall plot and just felt like fan service; this time around most of the Worlds we visit serve the plot with the Organization members taking a much more active role in the trouble each of them face. For example Toy Box and San Fransokyo were targeted to further the Organization’s experiments in creating a heart from nothing and how to infuse a living heart into an inanimate object. Kingdom of Corona and Arendele is where three of the new princesses of heart are and the Organization might need them to create the x-blade in case Sora and his crew can’t produce the Guardians of Light in time. As for the Caribbean and Olympus not only are they searching for Luxu’s black box but in the Caribbean they’re also observing Davy Jones and trying to learn how a creature can still exist without his heart without creating a Heartless and Nobody. As for Monsters Inc Vanitas has targeted it to reconstitute himself with Scream Energy since he is created from negative emotions like fear and sorrow.
Also the main plot does get touched on after completing the worlds. Though some of it is just reiterating what we already know but what the characters (mostly Sora) don’t so that everyone is on track. I believe this change can be attributed to Tetsuya Nomura taking full writing duties over the previous writer Daisuke Watanabe who from what I've heard tends to work better as a scenario writer as opposed to being the overall writer. When Watanabe was writing the events of the Disney worlds tended to feel rather isolated but under Nomura he wants to make the plot this time as tight as he can. But the one thing that anyone can follow is the combat.
Let me just say that this incarnation of Sora is the strongest he’s ever been despite whatever Yen Sid is going on about; at least on Proud Mode and below, Critical Mode on the other hand; yeeesh! You have your standard magic spells to start with, fire, blizzard, thunder etc etc which if you cast the same spell in succession you’ll be able to cast that spell in the next tier of power. So say you kept casting Fire you can eventually use Fira before you’ve actually unlocked it in story, the same goes for every spell aside from Cure obviously since it uses up all your MP once you use it. But on top of that you also have form changes, shotlocks and attraction commands. Though yes the Attraction Commands come right the hell out of nowhere, are OP as hell and can make combat feel rather pointless because once you get that thing going and ride you'll take any and all challenge out the window.
Form changes are special transformations that are tied to what Keyblade you’re using at the time. Just keep hitting the enemies with your Keyblade enough times and bam there you go. The Kingdom Key, Star Seeker and Ultima Weapon may only have one form but the Disney themed ones and the free OathKeeper and Oblivion have two. Some may be variants of the same form but there are the odd ones who have a wholly unique form. Speaking of Keyblade specifics we have the shotlocks back from Birth by Sleep.
It works pretty much the same as before but instead of equipping specific shotlocks they’re tied to the Keyblade you’re using. Most Keyblades only have two but some have three for when you’re fighting a larger than normal enemy. You fire one by charging up the shotlocks gauge to max and the other by only as much as you want so give them a try and see which one works for you. Now let’s say you have a favorite Keyblade that you want to keep using but are afraid that it won’t be as powerful as later Keyblades that you really don’t like but at least want to experiment with. The first problem is solved with the Keyblade forge, all you have to do is gather certain materials, bring them to the Moogles, click the button and BAM there you go an extra strong Keyblade that may have a new built in ability on top of the extra stats.
The second problem is solved by now being able to equip and switch between three Keyblades at once. Personally I highly recommend the Favorite Deputy since it has Lucky Lucky as its starting skill which means grinding for synthesis materials is that much easier on top of how easy it already is in this game. But for those materials that aren’t dropped from enemies there’s shooting down meteors in the Ocean between with the new Gummi ship. The Gummi ship this time around is basically a mix of the best parts of Gummi ship travel from the first two games. Instead of linear shooters this time you actually get to fly around in the depths of space and do whatever you want.
You can take part in Gummi missions for more parts and Exp for your ship, unlock treasure spheres for parts and synthesis materials and of course discover new worlds all on your own. Basically if you’ve played Legend of Zelda Wind Waker and Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in time you’ll get the gist of what the Gummi ship is like in this game. Though be forewarned if you are looking to forge the Ultima Weapon you need to finish off the last mission in the last sea of stars before the Keyblade Graveyard. I highly recommend taking down the Schwartzgeist beforehand for hands down the best Gummi ship in the game to even stand a chance. Though speaking of the Keyblade Graveyard I now have to give my thoughts on the ending.
Now up to this point everything is easy to follow if you’ve been paying attention, but when we get to the Keyblade Graveyard things start to go pear shaped. Even though this game has been out for a year at the time of this review still want to warn you that I’ll be getting into major plot spoilers at this point so here is your final warning. If you want my overall opinion I recommend this game warts and all.
Now some initial questions that I had before Re:Mind were addressed with the DLC but then there's several more that popped up. Where did the Master of Masters scurry off to after his conversation with Xehanort after his journey AKA Kingdom Hearts Dark Road? What exactly was Vanitas talking about when he mentioned that he was something else that was hidden in Ventus for a really long time? If Xion's memories have overwritten the one that the New Organization made does that make the current Xion a clone or a reincarnation or something? Also what in the wide, wide world of sports was Yozora going on about "saving Sora?"
Oh and speaking of Yozora, if you are going to take on the Data Organization 13 and Yozora, do yourself a favor and do it on a Beginner Playthough. Or any other mode aside from Critical like I did! Maybe do a Beginner mode play-through using the Pro Codes to save yourself some time and headaches. Oh and free tip, Strength, Magic and Defense boosts are not affected by the Pro Codes, you're welcome. Though if you are going for the Re:Mind I suggest waiting till it's on sale or part of a future collection because 29.99 American, is a bit pricey for my taste.
I personally recommend getting the All In One Collection that includes 1.5, 2.5, 2.8 and 3 for only 99.99, trust me it's a steal. #Notanad #NoSponsorship #Freepromotion But after all these years of waiting and a year to asses my thoughts I believe that Kingdom Hearts 3 as a conclusion to the Dark Seeker Saga is satisfactory. But as a game I honestly still say that Kingdom Hearts 2 is still my favorite in the series but KH3 does come close after all of the free updates and if they decide to expand on it more then I'd be up for it but at a more reasonable price if you'd be so kind Square? Now to start the clock on when the next major Kingdom Hearts game comes out (that isn't on Mobile please?) Happy New Decade and may your heart be your guiding key.
Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios, Tetsuya Nomura, and Shinji Hashimoto.
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