[Spoilers] Ven's KH3 Final Review!

[Ventus_ 396]

Reviewing, particularly video games isn't my usual avenue of writing, not to mention that there are so few KH games that I've completed but so many comments and critiques started to nag at me as I played through this game that I had to start jotting them own in OneNote. 
Now that I've finished the game (last week to be exact), I can wrap it up and thought I might as well share it.  

Main Plot:

The resolutions to the dilemmas all the previous games left delivered a profound emotional impact that even the smallest and most simple of moments resonated with the depth of pain, loss, self-worth, and hope such as how Aqua's one line: "When did they [the Destiny Islands] fall to darkness?" was ten years in the realm of darkness in a single sentence. 

Among them, the right amount of subtitles were maintained to lead into the next direction such as Lea and Isa's unidentified missing female friend who'd been subjected to experimentation by Ansem the Wise. 
My favorite part was Chirnithy in Final World hinting at her relationship with Ven:
"No, he doesn't remember the past and I think he's happy with his new friends"
They're reunited in the end credits but does he actually remember her or did he just take an interest in her as a lost stray creature? I so hope we'll learn what brought Ventus forward in time from the age of fairy tales even though the mystery has an appeal of its own. 

The scene that got me the most emotional was the spiritual appearance by Master Eraques. His reference to himself as "foolish teacher" just felt so wrong when the proceeding interaction between him and the wayfinders felt so familial. 

However, each resolution as well as other aspects of the overall plot contained holes and/or was too fast-paced. 

Although I get the feeling it was an intentional point, I felt the organization's lackluster oppositions of Sora and Co. when compared to KH2 fell flat and the overall pacing was uneven.

From the beginning through the final Disney world had a steady appropriately slow build-up then suddenly the union of the seven guardians and their entrance into the final battles are piled on in somewhat of a rush and with a level of simplicity that kind of spat at the direness of cliffhangers such as Days and BBS.

Let's examine Ventus's awakening, the strongest example. It was a lot like the time I thought the internet was down then discovered the power strip the router is plugged into had just been accidentally flipped off. Sora's need to acquire the power of awakening was developed as this perilous shortcoming that is made profound when he reaches Ventus's side still lacking it and then he obtains it in around 30 seconds just by being told that it's been in him the whole time. Then ice that with Aqua's casual reaction. 

Something that bothered me most was an ignored aspect of Aqua's rescue. 
Riku's connection to Aqua via their similar struggles with darkness and his reconciliation for being too inexperienced to rescue her when their paths had first crossed was stunning. This, however, received too much focus considering Aqua had never expected a thing of Riku and eclipsed Aqua's underlying breaking point that dissolved her resistance; her feeling of abandonment by Mickey. Ani-Aqua even made a point of targeting Mickey but that issue is not addressed upon her return to the realm of light and neither get to make peace with each other.  

The other reunions confused me in areas as well. 

- Terra/the Guardian. 
Apparently, Terra's heart has been repeatedly bouncing between his body and the Guardian the whole ten years because on one end Nort is managing to boot it but how was it making the round trip? 
- Roxas and Xion
First of all, I might have missed it but I didn't get how their appearances happened. How did their hearts get from Sora to the replicas without Sora having to release them as he once did Kairi's, where was the replica for Xion even obtained (the one Demyx delivered to Ienzo was Roxas's and the one Sora and Riku vacated in the labyrinth went to Namine, was there a third that I missed?) and how did they get to the Keyblade graveyard? 
On a similar note, I got annoyed that Sora pretty much brushed off the discovery of Ven's and Xion's hearts inside him, that Roxas was his primary focus.
 

We also have a continuation of the conflicting logic behind keyblades. 
 In the very first game, the portrayal of the Kingdom Key is suggestive of two things:
- That a keyblade is made of the light in its wielder's heart.
- That the relationship between keyblade and wielder is similar to that between wand and wizard/witch in the Potterverse in that a keyblade only accepts one wielder of its choosing. 

The entire concept of the Keyblade Graveyard was the first defiance of this in that it gives Keyblades a more objectifying form and now in KHIII we have two Keyblades changing hands several times:
- Aqua took possession of Eraques's keyblade
- Sora then used Eraques's keyblade to enter the RoD
- Anti-Aqua stole Mickey's keyblade. 

How were Riku and Mickey able to break their keyblades and not just acquire new ones but the allegiance of those keyblades? 
Was it the devastating concentration of darkness in the RoD that was able to break them?
Did their hearts need to be brought to a state at which they could summon new ones?
BTW, I quite like Riku's new keyblade, if I am not mistaken it's the first to be modeled after a modern key.

On another note, how were the wayfinders able to bring Eraques' keyblade back home with them to place as a makeshift grave for their fallen master? 
Why didn't it remain in the Keyblade Graveyard to rest? What are the criteria for that? 

The guardians are made to look weak in the labyrinth by requiring Sora to come, white knight, them rather than allowing the player to fight as them and Kairi becoming the damsel in distress again was not only redundant but didn't make a lot of sense to me. 
I didn't get why Nort needed her to finalize the opening of Kingdom Hearts nor how she was described in the end as being out there somewhere requiring Sora to find her. Isn't she dead?

Worlds:

The roster containing almost all new worlds was appreciated though it doesn't include those I wanted most and the increase in world sizes particularly the high scaling were breathtaking.
The exclusive party members; getting up to two instead of just one and without having to switch out either Donald or Goofy with interactive dialogue throughout the travels are a lot more engaging than in the previous games.

I'm, however less impressed with the plot side of things. Not all the Disney worlds fulfill the originality that was promised and the stories were weak with disjointed events.

Olympus

As one of few returning worlds in this game, Olympus was much more enjoyable as a full plot based world rather than for the most part an optional extracurricular. 

The inclusion of Thebes and Mount Olympus itself added substance and the titan boss battles, the sheer scale of them were awesome though I felt that the wind Titan battle was very similar in style to the Genie Jafar battle in KH2. 

While I thought it smart and somewhat overdue to incorporate Hades' coup with the Titans, I felt that as a continuation of an established timeline within the KH-verse, it was abrupt. I didn't feel it connected enough with the previous uses of the Hercules based world or Hades's character.  A short flashback of the Fates explaining the prediction with the planets aligning would have helped this somewhat.

The brief and exclusively film-based use of Zeus's character was also disappointing. Although he's not usually supposed to interact with mortals I'd expected him, as an immortal god, to have original substance and experience. Remember the 'Look inside your heart' conversation in the film? That would have been a good line to incorporate in regards to Sora's quest to regain his lost powers.

Twilight Town

The popular opinion of this world is that it's now too small with the elimination of the train station and 7 wonders but where most see this as a flaw, I see it as trimming off unnecessary edges. There are even characters who explain the reasons we didn't need these areas in this installment.
Olette: We already finished our project for school.
Random male townsperson: I wish I'd been the one to debunk the 7 wonders!

What new excuse could there have been to send Sora and Co. to those areas?

I will, however, grant that it would have been nice to be able to explore the mansion to follow up on Pence's attempt with Ienzo to access the Data Twilight Town.

The Toy Box

Unfortunately, the originality achieved by the first Pixar based world in Kingdom Hearts was largely an excuse for the believable functionality of a world featuring inanimate objects and no doubt to get out of using characters they couldn't get voice actors for such as Mr. Potato Head and Jessie.
The concept of a mirror image of the world to isolate the toys' hearts and harness the strength and vulnerability of their innocence is genius but the lack of development left it feeling hollow.
We didn't learn what this mirror world was made of or how it was made, is it a data world like the mirror Twilight Town and I feel like it should have been filled with dream eaters which better represent the foundation of toys, a child's imagination not heartless.

I was a bit put off by Buzz playing a lot of the distrusting, Andy-attached role played by Woody in the third film and his concern about being turned against his friends would have been smart had this been set after the 3rd film in which he was reset to factory/'real space ranger delusion' mode but I believe Numora had said it was set between the 2nd and 3rd films where it's random.

Then we have one of the most bullshitty resolutions in the franchise to date.
Once the final boss is defeated and Young Xehanort flees, the toys just go 'Looks like we're stuck here…oh well. We remember Andy and our other friends, that's what matters.'
Just NO!

Anyone who knows the films knows how wrong it is for them to be content to live out their lives in an empty false world where they'd never again know the love of a child. That was the whole theme of the 2nd film!

Kingdom of Corona

A complete utter waste of the film plot with disjointed, almost non-existent storytelling and a 'sixth finger' incorporation of Sora and Co.

There are no backstories or explanations to engage Sora and Co. in the film's plot or it's significant elements causing some abrupt unclear reactions from him such as his congratulating Rapunzel on being able to return to her real home and left them in a pointless, unnecessary role.

There are scenes that don't make sense.
Two which give the roles of Flynn's thug associates to thin air;

1 . Flynn being set up to appear to be ditching Rapunzel with the crown
2 . Mother Gothel using her film line: "Let's go quick before they come to" when the attack here was carried out by ONE Nobody. 

and Marluxia's putting Sora into a sleep state that couldn't be lifted with shaking or yelling but could with a horse lick. I didn't even see the point, really. It just seemed like unnecessary draw out as did the birds and dancing. 

Rapunzel's magic hair and Mother Gothel's character were massive missed opportunities. Mother Gothel had been harnessing the power that came to reside in Rapunzel's hair for centuries before Corona existed. Centuries ago there was a war for light in which just small shards of that light survived. The flower that then transferred into a princesses hair should have been one of those surviving shards.

The best that was achieved by this world was a small mention of Rapunzel's light tying into the guardians that were never followed through. 

Monstropolis

The use of the scream energy concept as an excuse to re-introduce Vanitas and the unversed were brilliant and I adore Sora and Co's monster forms.
Continuing where the film left off was a great idea but it was underdeveloped, a bit empty of characters and there was an inconsistency that kind of bugged me. Although we don't see her, I'm pretty sure Boo sounded at least a couple of years older when Sully enters her room in that last moment of the film.  Mike did say it had taken a long time to repair her shredded door.

Vanitas's  re-entrance, while great needed some backstory and while I understand that sending Sora and Co to Monsters Inc. while screams were still the resource would have not inspired their sympathies, Vanitas lends himself well to role of Waternoose alongside Randall and the concept with the 'scream extractor' to manufacture darkness would have been  a smart use of the film.

100 Acre Wood

While I loved the introduction of Lumpy and the graphics have a beautiful, vibrant illustrated feel, the world was unfortunately short and plotless.

I was concerned about a redundant entrance via the destruction of the book and that Pooh just needed a visit from Sora so Sora doesn't fade from his heart was actually worse.  At least having to fix the book and the distress the destruction causes the characters makes sense even if that as well added nothing to the main plot.
I also don't think Tom Kenny does a good Rabbit at all.

Something revolving around the gang's reluctance to trust Lumpy because of what he is, a creature that they believed to be threatening, would have been great.

Arendelle

In a similar case to Corona, Sora and Co were more side characters here in a worthless, hole filled film plot adaption that made the development and follow up I felt was missing from the film itself look like nothing.
The 'Let it Go' scene was nothing but a gimmick to showcase the popular song and Hans' character was less established than Gothel. He's seen with an unconscious Elsa slung over his shoulder permeating darkness and the next thing we know he's got a sword over her head and hold up…how did Anna get there? What happened to her returning to her true love? 

We only even hear the name Hans once as the name of Anna's supposed true love with no connection made. Players who haven't seen the film (and I imagine there must be some despite it's immense popularity and that I had felt like the last person on the planet who saw it when I made it to the theater) were not made able to understand the importance of this name or the character or that the two are the same.

The events are just thrown out there quite randomly with no explanations, Kristoff's trust of Sora and Co based on Anna's judgment bugged me, he has a whole song about how he doesn't trust people and Larxene's angle with Elsa made no sense. Since when does the organization want anyone to figure things out for themselves rather exploit or manipulate them. If the idea was for the isolation to cause Elsa to withdraw into herself and embrace the darkness of her powers that needed to be made more clear.

Admittedly, being a wolf lover I did kind of love the boss here even if it's yet another element that made no sense.

The Caribbean

Now plot-wise I can't critique this world as I've not seen the films, I couldn't get into the franchise but could still tell that the film plot was tied into the KH-verse and with the cleverness missing from Corona and Arendelle in the form of Davy Jones' box being mistaken for the MoM's mysterious black box and at last, an actual Disney villain boss battle.

The less likable parts of this world were the ship battles and the swimming underwater.

I found the ship controls heavy and slow and the water wall defense wasn't all that effective since one can't shoot in the brief moment that it's up.
For me, the underwater controls were more work to remember vs. those of Atlantica in I and II, it took me a bit of time to stop reflexively attempting to apply the Atlantica controls.

San Fransokyo

As a lover of cityscapes I loved the world design and views from the highest points in the city were breathtakingly realistic.
This was the most properly engaged Disney world in the game with a smart incorporation of the film plot in an original follow up and some real action from the organization…if Data!Riku is a legit member. It's difficult to tell considering that he's not seen again after this and I'm pretty sure it was Data!Riku and not Replica!Riku because of his use of the data blocks that littered the datascape worlds in Coded. 

The return of the original Baymax who'd gotten lost in the space between dimensions as a threat was so smart.  Sans Data!Riku it's great film sequel material. It's a sequel I'd look forward to and I almost NEVER look forward to sequels especially Disney sequels. 
The only thing I felt was a missed opportunity was that when Hiro decided to destroy the chip that he created to give Baymax his fighting skills and the team tried to tell him that it wasn't necessary, he needed to acknowledge that the chip's darkness was his own because he created that chip out of rage and a thirst for revenge.
I also wish we'd gotten to explore the bridge more.

Keyblades, Transformations and Attractions:
I felt a lot of the Keyblade designs in this game were clunky particularly Favorite Deputy but appreciate their being made more interactive with the transformations and leveling up system. 
I'd have to say that my favorite is the Carribean's Wheel of Fate due to it's dark and cohesive design and harpoon inspired transformation though I also loved the agile claws and twin yo-yos of Monstropolis's Happy Gear. 

The attractions seemed designed more for aesthetics than function. While visually stunning they're kind of abrupt and are essentially an escape from a tough battle. 

Overall I'd give this game 3.5 out of 5 stars. 

 

 

[Allwil13 754]

Awesome review, Ven! I love how thorough you were with everything and you've made some points that I never really thought of until I read them just now.

I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one disappointed with the recycling of Tangled's script and plot in Corona and the same issue with Frozen's script in Arendelle. I was starting to think I was the only one, lol. 

Great review, though! Loved reading it!  

[Ventus_ 396]

10 hours ago, Allwil13 said:

I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one disappointed with the recycling of Tangled's script and plot in Corona and the same issue with Frozen's script in Arendelle. I was starting to think I was the only one, lol. 

I'm glad not to be the only one as well. 

[Allwil13 754]

26 minutes ago, Ventus_ said:

I'm glad not to be the only one as well. 

Such a shame. There was so much they could have done with both those worlds. I've never seen the KH team be so lazy with a Disney world before. 

[Ventus_ 396]

4 minutes ago, Allwil13 said:

Such a shame. There was so much they could have done with both those worlds. I've never seen the KH team be so lazy with a Disney world before. 

I feel the same, that the level of laziness is just so utterly revealing that they didn't care except to exploit the films' popularity.

[Allwil13 754]

1 minute ago, Ventus_ said:

I feel the same, that the level of laziness is just so utterly revealing that they didn't care except to exploit the films' popularity.

Agreed. Here's hoping that this was just a little slip up and they'll be sticking with their usual approach from now on. 

[Ventus_ 396]

10 minutes ago, Allwil13 said:

Agreed. Here's hoping that this was just a little slip up and they'll be sticking with their usual approach from now on. 

It kinda pisses me off that they chose to exploit Tangled and Frozen over incorporating my two most wanted films Atlantis and Treasure Planet but here here. 
My hope remains strong for KH4. 

[Allwil13 754]

Just now, Ventus_ said:

It kinda pisses me off that they chose to exploit Tangled and Frozen over incorporating my two most wanted films Atlantis and Treasure Planet but here here. 
My hope remains strong for KH4. 

I was actually excited for the Tangled world. I ejoyed the film and felt that Sora, Donald and Goofy could add something new to the story. Which made me even more disappointed when I saw that they just recycled the script. I didn't really care for Frozen, but I knew it would be a world in KH3 due to its popularity. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the world itself; I thought it was nice having a winter-themed world for a change. However, the awkward inclusion of "Let it Go" and "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman" crippled my enjoyment of the world. They were so obviously shoehorned in for fanservice and added nothing. Sora, Donald and Goofy didn't even do anything; they just stood there watching/listening.

I know what you mean with Atlantis and Treasure Planet, too. I think Atlantis could be an absolutely fantastic world, with all the cool technology and everything. Same with Treasure Planet, though I prefer Atlantis, myself. And yeah, it was disappointing that they didn't make the cut. However, I wasn't really surprised. Like I said, I knew Frozen would be in there. No surprise there.

But there's always hope. KH4 will come eventually, and with it, potential for more DIsney worlds like Atlantis, Treasure Planet and others.

[Ventus_ 396]

1 hour ago, Allwil13 said:

I was actually excited for the Tangled world. I ejoyed the film and felt that Sora, Donald and Goofy could add something new to the story.

I was excited as well because as I said, I thought they'd tie in the magic flower and Gothel's age in relation to the keyblade war. 

1 hour ago, Allwil13 said:

I knew Frozen would be in there. No surprise there.

Same, hell everyone knew it when the film was still in the theater! 

 

1 hour ago, Allwil13 said:

However, the awkward inclusion of "Let it Go" and "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman" crippled my enjoyment of the world. They were so obviously shoehorned in for fanservice and added nothing. Sora, Donald and Goofy didn't even do anything; they just stood there watching/listening.

Exactly, the 'Let it Go' scene, in particular, was hardly different from just watching the film. 

[Allwil13 754]

40 minutes ago, Ventus_ said:

Exactly, the 'Let it Go' scene, in particular, was hardly different from just watching the film. 

Do you Wanna Build a Snowman was the one that really irked me. Sora and Anna were just chatting, and then Anna randomly starts singing at him for absolutely no reason. I was just sitting there like "O...kay?"

I didn't even watch the Let It Go sequence much. I didn't skip it in my first playthrough because I was nervous that skipping it might skip any additions to the scene, but when the song started I muted the TV and went into the kitchen to make a sandwich. No joke. I just kept checking the TV every 30 seconds to see if the scene was over.

[jbmasta 67]

Another plot omission in Corona is Flynn telling Rapunzel his name is actually Eugene, so it comes out of nowhere at the end.

The Arendelle boss is called Skoll, after the wolf in Norse mythology who chases the sun to bring darkness.

The storyline I think could have been expanded more is the seven new hearts, particularly as it could have given Kairi more to do as well as develop that bit of lore from the very first game. Yen Sid even mentions them in the build up to the Second Keyblade War, as Xehanort would target them if the Guardians of Light didn't assemble and he'd be after Kairi anyway due to her being a Princess of Heart. Another angle is Ventus as one of the seven new hearts, as his is a heart of pure light like the Princesses of Heart are. It's mentioned in Birth by Sleep when he visits Enchanted Dominion, one of the good fairies notes his heart is like Aurora's, but it's never referenced directly beyond this.

On 5/8/2019 at 10:01 AM, Ventus_ said:

It kinda pisses me off that they chose to exploit Tangled and Frozen over incorporating my two most wanted films Atlantis and Treasure Planet but here here. 
My hope remains strong for KH4. 

Especially when those were two movie plot based worlds were Sora and co had the least impact on the plot while following the native characters around. Arendelle is literally running up and down the mountain, ending up at the bottom each time the top is reached at least two times. At least in the Caribbean Tia Dalma's crab constructions kept them out of the way until the climax of the world and we got the naval exploration.

[Ventus_ 396]

10 hours ago, jbmasta said:

Another plot omission in Corona is Flynn telling Rapunzel his name is actually Eugene, so it comes out of nowhere at the end.

That indeed was another piece of random information alongside Sora's random of Rapunzel's real family. 

10 hours ago, jbmasta said:

Arendelle is literally running up and down the mountain, ending up at the bottom each time the top is reached at least two times. 

I can't believe I forgot to mention that, the whole scaling the mountain around three times just to be thrown off each time and end up on the ground in the opposite direction for the climax was BS that revealed how clueless they were as to what to do with the film's plot.

 

10 hours ago, jbmasta said:

The storyline I think could have been expanded more is the seven new hearts

That's what I was getting at when I mentioned that Rapunzel was tied in as the supposed key to the seven new hearts but never followed up on. 

[johnkhfan95 18]

On 5/7/2019 at 6:01 PM, Ventus_ said:

It kinda pisses me off that they chose to exploit Tangled and Frozen over incorporating my two most wanted films Atlantis and Treasure Planet but here here. 
My hope remains strong for KH4. 

Me too i'm hoping for Treasure Planet and Atlantis for Kingdom Hearts IV cause Kingdom Hearts 3 didn't give us our hopeful Two Worlds for Kingdom Hearts 3 so i'm hoping for Kingdom Hearts IV to have Both Treasure Planet and Atlantis the Lost Empire