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The Kingdom Hearts Series: KINGDOM HEARTS 4 ANNOUNCED! STAR WARS POTENTIALLY TEASED (page 175)


KHCast

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Half the people: it feels like a mix of 2 and 0.2 and combat is great

other half: combat is shit and nothing like 2 and not at all good

 

welp. Super split fanbase on this looks like

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17 minutes ago, Sean said:

I finished the first world in KH3. So far my impressions are that it has by far the best world design I've ever seen in a Kingdom Hearts game. I loved exploring Olympus and checking out every corner of the map. I liked that it doesn't railroad you into one set path and there are multiple ways to get to your goal at the top of the mountain and the realm of the gods. Exploring the city after you complete the world is also great, I wasn't at all expecting it to be changed up to such a degree and it makes it worth exploring a second time.

On the other hand the combat is not good. It's a downgrade from KH2FM's in every way, and there's so many different types of command reactions that the game hands you for doing the most basic shit. Forms, attractions, limits, buffed spells, dream eaters. I'm sure I'm forgetting like a bunch more. There's WAY too much shit and it doesn't feel balanced at all. They give you so many different toys to play with that it feels impossible to lose almost any battle, especially when you can stockpile them and chain them for an immediate win. Hell, I think KH1's combat is a lot better and more refined than KH3's. Movement doesn't feel good either - Sora's handling reminds me a lot of Sonic's from the boost games, almost like a racecar with too high acceleration or something. I knew I was in for a bad time when I replayed 0.2 after 2FM, but I was hoping they would have improved it in some meaningful way and bring it closer to 2FM's feel and depth. I was wrong to get my hopes up; compared to some games that came out 15 years ago it plays disappointingly worse.

Also I'm playing on proud mode, which I've never done for any past KH games (I attempted it on KH1 PS2 and gave up due to its sluggish combat). So why the fuck am I having an easier time with this game than I ever did on standard mode for the past two main games? The difficulty is an absolute fucking joke, and despite being on the hardest setting I feel like I'm on autopilot the entire time.

This was definitely first impression coming off the Hercules world so I can't blame you. I think it gets a bit better once you unlock better "toys" and start to separate the ones that are actually fun and useful from the ones that aren't(avoid attraction flow like the plague) but overall the combat system leaves a lot to be desired. They drop a bunch of shit at once on you too instead of the dripfeed style of the previous games so it's easy to get overwhelmed. 

The difficulty thing pretty much never improves until the end though. The game is a cakewalk, and that's saying something since KH1 and 2 aren't particularly difficult games. Even when they start throwing actual fights at you in the end game it goes too far in the other direction and feels kind of cheap imo. 

I'd say stick with it for a couple of more worlds and see how it feels. I had to shake off any inkling of it being like KH2 to enjoy it but even then it's got a lot of issues. Theres no need to waste a whole 30 or so hours on the game if you're not feeling it though.

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Naw dude I gotta stick it out for the world design. The Disney fanservice in this game is incredible, and the character interactions seem a lot more endearing and genuine than before. In fact combat issues aside I'm having a decent time with it so far.

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I think everyone can agree it’s not the second coming of KH2 combat. And it certainly encompasses other combat styles the series has created. And yeah, it’s certainly a easier game. So naturally I expected a divide on feelings on it. However this clear divide so suddenly is just kinda funny for some reason idk. Maybe I’m just used to sonic games typically taking a few months before that divide starts

My advice: don’t do attraction flows, and don’t use the remy buffs. They’ll almost totally take out any and all challenge save for the endgame stuff.

the enjoyment isn’t gonna come from the difficulty for most people, it’s mainly from the combat itself and world design, and content within the game. I can find enjoyment from this regardless similar to how generations despite being easy, had a lot of fun going for it. But if that stuff isn’t gelling for you, it probably won’t be the game for you 

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6 minutes ago, Sean said:

Naw dude I gotta stick it out for the world design. The Disney fanservice in this game is incredible, and the character interactions seem a lot more endearing and genuine than before. In fact combat issues aside I'm having a decent time with it so far.

Well alright it sounds like you'll be where I was at with it by the end then lol. The disney stuff in this game is glorious.

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I’m really enjoying the keyblade leveling system. That’s not something I see discussed often. Wheel of Fate is the best keyblade so gonna focus on maxing that out 

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So, over the last month or so I ended up learning the entire story to Kingdom Hearts through various means, and there are a few things that stick out to me:

Mickey Donald and Goofy in Kingdom Hearts are so weird to me. I think it's a holdover of when they intended for Mickey to be the main character (Probably the three of them going around in some  Disney crossover RPG), but all three are really weird for basically being the only three Disney characters who aren't in character.  Mickey being this extremely well informed authority figure is so weird when most of his cartoons are about him getting himself in over his head and cartoon logic-ing his way out.  Donald and Goofy are almost even weirder for being these ardent members of Mickey's royal court when they were really just friends of his when they appeared in the same cartoon at all.

The villains almost universally have the ability to come and go from Sora's immediate area basically no matter what.  It really seems to undercut the significance of ongoing events when the villains can come and go with zero effort or risk to themselves, or weirdly, seem to chose not to.  The former is exemplified in BBS when Aqua beats up Vanitas and then he laughs, hops up, and runs away.  If he was beaten up, why is he able to just run away like that? If he was holding back and wasn't actually beaten up, why did he run away at all?  Then an example of the latter, where the Organization XIII members just sticking around to die in CoM or Big Boss not retreating when the fight isn't going his way in 2.  This ends up with Sora seemingly having no agency until the final battle.  

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8 hours ago, KHCast said:

I’m really enjoying the keyblade leveling system. That’s not something I see discussed often. Wheel of Fate is the best keyblade so gonna focus on maxing that out 

As someone who often never paid mind to the keyblade stats over their aesthetics,  why is that the general consensus?

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3 hours ago, JokerJovahexeonJoranvexeon said:

As someone who often never paid mind to the keyblade stats over their aesthetics,  why is that the general consensus?

It’s got ridiculously broken range when you get it in its transformation stages, and seems to stagger enemies more and just in general land more attacks. It’s also got a crazy powerful shotlock. Sora also becomes harder to hit, at least it feels like that 

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1 minute ago, KHCast said:

It’s got ridiculously broken range when you get it in its transformation stages, and seems to stagger enemies more and just in general land more attacks. It’s also got a crazy powerful shotlock. Sora also becomes harder to hit, at least it feels like that 

Huh. Funnily enough, I just stuck with it the most because it came from my favorite world and I thought it looked te coolest. Heh, guess that was a keen call. 

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I prefer Shooting Star myself, as well as Happy Gear/Crystal Snow. I primarily use Wheel of Fate too, but I swap it out every now and then when I want to change up my playstyle.

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On 1/31/2019 at 6:37 PM, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Monsteropolis spoilers:

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Can we please talk about how Sully just totally fucking destroyed Vanitas in probably the best scene in this series

 

Spoiler

How about the scene where Lea says: "Ok, even I can't memorize all of this..."

 

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I just stick with the Xbox 'blade, since it really powers combos once you activate its ability. I've got the Olympus one also loaded, so I'll probably use it a bit more in the next world of Monstropolis.

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Some thoughts on this game's story and how they chose to end it.

 

Spoiler

I never thought 3 would be the end of Kingdom Hearts but I was hoping it would serve as a good enough jumping off point. That's really not the case due to one decision at the tail end, but otherwise it functions, kind of. Nomura decides to take the scene where Sora un Heartlesses himself by just caring about Kairi THAT much and push it to it's logical extreme. Present the laws of the universe, and then show how you can break it all over your knee if you care about someone enough. That's got to be kind of a pain for everyone taking notes for the wiki or for those of us who want our stories to have more weight and consequence, but it's hard to hate on how earnestly the series believes in this message. There's nothing more 'Disney' than overcoming all odds with the help of someone you care about. The thing about using the same trick over and over again is that it's bound to eventually lose it's punch, but some of these characters have only ever known tragedy. It's hard for me not to feel something when Roxas, Axel and Xion reunite because they've never had a victory like this before. 

I think the ending on the whole feels a bit rushed. KH3 feels mysteriously low in stakes and that's not just due to the game's focus on humor. Sora and crew wander aimlessly until they learn of the Organization's back-up plan that you spend the next 20 hours trying to keep from coming together. There's also a subplot about Maleficent searching for a black box that doesn't even get resolved if I remember correctly. The back-up plan feels like a last minute addition to bump up the significance of the Disney stuff since it ends up not really mattering at all.

The climax is triggered in a way that makes it feel like it could have happened at any point in the game. Mickey and Riku search for Aqua in the same spot for the whole game and the climax doesn't trigger until she decides to spawn in and the plot can ACTUALLY start from here. For the vast majority of the game I didn't feel like I was working toward anything. The Organization members are causing all kinds of trouble in the worlds, so the game feels more episodic now, but almost every time it ends with them dumping a Heartless on you and running away(lol). We learn some tidbits about them here and there and get some great moments with the Disney characters tell them to fuck off but there just wasn't a lot of urgency or pacing to it knowing that we were playing into their hands and waiting until everything to get set up for the actual conflict to start. It's not that different from KH2 here really but...I don't like everything about KH2's story either lol. I like the honest attempt to care more about the Disney shit here a lot, but what I really wanted was a plot that involves them more heavily. An overarching story driven more by their actions ala KH1. This is still VERY good though. Please, don't regress on this. It was good. The moment-to-moment interactions were a huge step up from previous games and that's the direction I wanted them to go in.


I had a friend suggest to me that the game should have actually STARTED with the battle in Keyblade Graveyard and the premise of the game is going around to the worlds, find thing the 'hearts' of the friends you lost during the fight and restoring them like you do during the litch section. I think this would have upped the stakes of the game but it might have made it kind of a downer which I don't think they wanted lol.

Oh yeah I guess there's the ending with Sora. I think it's a moment that would work a lot better if his relationship with Kairi was fleshed out. The last big emotional hook relies on a black hole of a character that's barely been a participant in the series. I can say with all honesty that if Riku had been the one to get killed instead and Sora traded himself for him it would have touched me more. Overall I don't think what they did with Sora was the right choice but it would have worked better for me if they had done that.

 

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11 minutes ago, Wraith said:

Some thoughts on this game's story and how they chose to end it.

 

  Hide contents

I never thought 3 would be the end of Kingdom Hearts but I was hoping it would serve as a good enough jumping off point. That's really not the case due to one decision at the tail end, but otherwise it functions, kind of. Nomura decides to take the scene where Sora un Heartlesses himself by just caring about Kairi THAT much and push it to it's logical extreme. Present the laws of the universe, and then show how you can break it all over your knee if you care about someone enough. That's got to be kind of a pain for everyone taking notes for the wiki or for those of us who want our stories to have more weight and consequence, but it's hard to hate on how earnestly the series believes in this message. There's nothing more 'Disney' than overcoming all odds with the help of someone you care about. The thing about using the same trick over and over again is that it's bound to eventually lose it's punch, but some of these characters have only ever known tragedy. It's hard for me not to feel something when Roxas, Axel and Xion reunite because they've never had a victory like this before. 

I think the ending on the whole feels a bit rushed. KH3 feels mysteriously low in stakes and that's not just due to the game's focus on humor. Sora and crew wander aimlessly until they learn of the Organization's back-up plan that you spend the next 20 hours trying to keep from coming together. There's also a subplot about Maleficent searching for a black box that doesn't even get resolved if I remember correctly. The back-up plan feels like a last minute addition to bump up the significance of the Disney stuff since it ends up not really mattering at all.

The climax is triggered in a way that makes it feel like it could have happened at any point in the game. Mickey and Riku search for Aqua in the same spot for the whole game and the climax doesn't trigger until she decides to spawn in and the plot can ACTUALLY start from here. For the vast majority of the game I didn't feel like I was working toward anything. The Organization members are causing all kinds of trouble in the worlds, so the game feels more episodic now, but almost every time it ends with them dumping a Heartless on you and running away(lol). We learn some tidbits about them here and there and get some great moments with the Disney characters tell them to fuck off but there just wasn't a lot of urgency or pacing to it knowing that we were playing into their hands and waiting until everything to get set up for the actual conflict to start. It's not that different from KH2 here really but...I don't like everything about KH2's story either lol. I like the honest attempt to care more about the Disney shit here a lot, but what I really wanted was a plot that involves them more heavily. An overarching story driven more by their actions ala KH1. This is still VERY good though. Please, don't regress on this. It was good. The moment-to-moment interactions were a huge step up from previous games and that's the direction I wanted them to go in.


I had a friend suggest to me that the game should have actually STARTED with the battle in Keyblade Graveyard and the premise of the game is going around to the worlds, find thing the 'hearts' of the friends you lost during the fight and restoring them like you do during the litch section. I think this would have upped the stakes of the game but it might have made it kind of a downer which I don't think they wanted lol.

Oh yeah I guess there's the ending with Sora. I think it's a moment that would work a lot better if his relationship with Kairi was fleshed out. The last big emotional hook relies on a black hole of a character that's barely been a participant in the series. I can say with all honesty that if Riku had been the one to get killed instead and Sora traded himself for him it would have touched me more. Overall I don't think what they did with Sora was the right choice but it would have worked better for me if they had done that.

 

 

what do you think of the setup for the next game possibly being Sora in twewy ‘s shibuya participating in the reapers game and the whole Xigbar thing? I think it COULD if done well be a interesting setup for the new arc. Especially if they can incorporate Disney more this time around 

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3 minutes ago, KHCast said:
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what do you think of the setup for the next game possibly being Sora in twewy ‘s shibuya participating in the reapers game and the whole Xigbar thing? I think it COULD if done well be a interesting setup for the new arc. Especially if they can incorporate Disney more this time around 

Spoiler

I'm leaning toward what we're seeing in the epilogue being something they have planned for DLC and not an all new game. 

I'm not sure what to think of the foretellers stuff. I don't play UX so I don't know what the implications are. Xigbar as a baddie is ultimately not that different from Xehanort so I'm not like, excited at the prospect or anything.

 

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1 hour ago, Wraith said:
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I'm leaning toward what we're seeing in the epilogue being something they have planned for DLC and not an all new game. 

I'm not sure what to think of the foretellers stuff. I don't play UX so I don't know what the implications are. Xigbar as a baddie is ultimately not that different from Xehanort so I'm not like, excited at the prospect or anything.

 

 

I’d argue that Xigbar doesn’t at least seem as infatuated with darkness as Xehanort does, and considering the fortellers were painted as warriors of light, having Sora face against people similar to him in that regard could prove interesting. It’s obvious the Masters is Master, Scala, etc will all be playing some deeper role, so it depends on how these characters and plot elements are used. They could make Xigbar not a Xehanort if they really tried.

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I finally beated the game! It felt great playing a game where I got to go on a super big, colorful adventure again with really great animation, cinematics, climactic confrontations, and music. I hate tying everything back to what I want out of Sonic but... you know.

Anyway, I've got a lot I want to talk about but the overall impression I have is that this is a great game. It's not the greatest of games. However, I do feel like out of all of them, it managed to deliver on pretty much everything I wanted aside from a few things. There are a few essential things that Kingdom Hearts 1, 2, and Birth By Sleep probably have over it but I'm at least happy to say it's up there with those games and not on the bottom rung with the others I... didn't like as much. 

This game goes for different things in terms of combat and trying to sort out which is better between them all is a bit daunting since I appreciate different things about them all. It'll probably be a while before I form a solid opinion. Right now though, I probably did like this game's combat the most. KH1 still has the best story in my opinion. BBS might be second and this is probably 3rd. Then KH2. 

Had quite a few issues with KH2's story. Still enjoyed it.

Anyway, nitty gritty stuff...

Gameplay and Presentation

Spoiler

This is the stuff I'll have to keep pretty brief since it's the stuff I'm the least inclined to talk about. Just going into what I felt, I enjoyed it a whole lot. I worried a bit about being overwhelmed at the beginning of the game due to how many power-ups and special moves it throws at you but as it went on and I was able to navigate what I could do better, it ended up being easy to handle. I stayed a couple levels above the intended ones for each world but I have a feeling that it'd have been relatively easy if I had been at the intended level still. Which is fine. I've never been one of them Proud boys. I play games to explore neat worlds and be apart of interactive epic stories. I can handle a challenge but I don't mind games being easy. Not one bit.

I also like that unlike in KH2, you can beat the bosses without having to land a combo finisher. That was a dumb thing to do in the first place and should be something left up to the player. I managed to initiate that myself plenty without it being forced upon me. 

The summons (or links) weren't something I used much until I discovered the magic that was Simba. Dude literally felt like a win button to me, which I was okay with. I tried Ralph first. I did that twice before I realized I didn't like it. I tried out Stitch once during the final Master Xehanort fight. Didn't like it. I never even used Ariel.

I love, love, love the fact that you can switch between three keyblades while on the field. Made experimenting a lot easier.

I greatly appreciate how beautiful and flashy everything looked. The game, especially, looks impossible. It looks like something that can't exist but it does. It's so beautiful. The in-game cutscenes look like something that once upon a time would be indistinguishable from CGI cinematics. It's unreal. Their fingers don't look all square now. Ventus and Roxas don't have weird chiseled polygon faces. They look like young boys now. 

This is a solid A++ for me. Don't really have a ton to complain about. I guess I wish I had Reflect.

Story

Spoiler

I really, really enjoyed how much more genuine all this felt to me. I'm just going to say that right off the bat because I was totally not expecting to come out of this feeling that way. This game still has a lot of issues with being way too corny and cheesy at times but I feel like it was toned down just enough to make the emotion come through when it needed to... at least compared to the games of the past. Most of them.

I also liked how the Disney stuff was handled in this game. This is probably the first Kingdom Hearts games since the first one that felt like it relied heavily on the fact that it was utilizing Disney characters and Disney worlds to strengthen its narrative. A lot of that has to do with the very smart decision to make the Organization a lot more active in the worlds they're in now. It wasn't just Xaldin fucking with the beast and Luxord having fun playing pirates in the background (though he did still do that). Some of, if not, the best scenes came from when they took action.

The best scene in the game has to be when Sully grabbed Vanitas and tossed him into the door Mike opened. And then they just kept throwing doors into each other over and over. Then they shredded it. That was great. Woody telling Young Xehanort that no one ever loved him was fantastic. Jack breathing on Luxord and making him fall into the water... all of this is great. We needed more of it.

The Toy Story world was a sufficient enough mystery and it's open-endedness (that seemingly got resolved in the credits) was intriguing. I liked that the area they were in was a big play-place, essentially. The Tangled story had a number of holes in it but was, ultimately, fairly okay as far as an adaption goes. I didn't hate it.

Monstropolis was probably the best handled world in the game. Takes place significantly after the movie and had an appropriate conflict. No super cheesy dialogue. No pretentious nonsense, not even with Vanitas present. Very well done. Frozen Land had probably the worst adaptation as far as following the story of the movie. SO much was cut out that even I, as someone who saw the movie, had a bit of trouble following it. I did appreciate teaming up with Marshmallow and the use of Let it Go, which genuinely shocked and excited me. Hans... I guess was just a heartless...? I'm actually cool with that. Hans wasn't that great a villain anyway.

I had never seen any of the Pirates sequels and only saw bits and pieces of the first one. Most of what I know about the first Pirates I actually got from Kingdom Hearts 2. So this story was one of the more intriguing ones for me. I feel like I followed it fine and the climax was EPIC as fuck. Holy shit dude. THAT was cool as hell. I figured it had to be At Worlds End since I remember seeing that scenery in the trailers for that movie but again, that's all I knew. The level itself could have been better. It was mostly a collection of mini-games. As for Big Hero 6, it was nice seeing the others again. It had some great music. It had a neat atmosphere too. Not much in lue of a narrative though. I probably would have really liked this one more had it stuck with the whole thing about needing to keep the original Baymax destroyed. It didn't though and now we have two... so that's fine. I guess the double hug was fun. Also, Sora not knowing what a Fist Bump is. Well let me tell ya Sora. TOGETHER WE CAN SHOW THE WORLD WHAT WE CAN D-

My favorite part of the game was the finale in the Keyblade Graveyard though. I really did appreciate the fact that it was genuinely wrapping things up and not coping out for the sake of extending more mysteries (at least until the VERY end but that's for later). I really liked that all these battles were happening around them and that I could choose between two to go to. I also really loved that I could choose which ones to defeat first. That was a really well appreciated way of doing it. I could see the characters and who they were fighting and decide for myself which story I wanted to see closed off first.

Plus, so long as a game has a thrilling epic conclusion, chances are I'd be a sucker for it.

That said, during my time leading up to it, I was wondering where my "World that Never Was" build-up level was. I feel like if I had that, it'd have made the climax even more powerful. Luckily, it was strong enough that I ended up not caring by the time it was done.

Now I shall talk about the characters and how appropriate I felt their fates were. I'll talk about them in the order I defeated them.

Luxord

I don't know why but this dude was always my favorite organization member. I loved his design. I loved the way he carried himself. I loved his gimmick. All throughout fighting him, I kept saying to myself "Come on man. I know you're not a bad dude." And then the ending cutscene hit where he gave Sora the "wild card" and said they should play again when he's a normal dude again. That was great. I really liked being able to see an emotional moment with the dude for once.

Marluxia

Here we got a pure expression of someone regaining lost feelings and being thankful for their defeat. It was nice to see. I hope he lives well. Nothing much else to say here.

Larxene

You know, this was perfect. All throughout the game she didn't feel particularly loyal to the organization but went along with it anyway. Then when she's defeated she's still being a bitch. Then she lightens up just a bit for the first time ever to hold back information from Sora. That was nice. I'm perfectly fine with these guys having their heart-warming, sympathetic ending. 

Riku-Replica

I didn't even know that this dude was still around and kicking. I didn't even fully understand how and why until he was defeated. When I did understand, I did ultimately feel his inclusion did warrant a significant enough amount of importance, if only to provide them of their precious vessel. Also, to have the Replica get a slightly more happy and satisfying end. At least it actually WAS an end too. I'm glad they didn't see fit to try and save his ass. Commit to losing some people why don't ya.

Xigbar

Dude, dude, DUDE! My man! Not done yet! Haha! No way! As if! I don't know or care what either people think about the Luxu twist but I love it. It means I get to see more Xigbar and it also means my dude out-lasted Xehanort himself. Bwahahaha~! Eat it!

Vanitas

I really liked this one. This one is another that felt like it was committing to having Vanitas face the fallout of his actions. He didn't turn to good. He didn't regret anything. He also didn't even really proclaim that they were all that wrong for doing what they did. He was the darkness and that's what he chose to be. And Ventus, instead of saying he was wrong, just said "Okay." And that was that. Neat. 

Terra-Xehanort

The scene where he was waving his arms about while controlling the chains was hilarious. Other than that, this was pretty much the expected ending. It being expected doesn't mean it was bad of course. I liked being able to finally see it happen and it got the job done. I liked the little touch of the guardian being Terra too. Him and his weird blue tongue.

Xion

I don't care about Xion and I still don't. She's black haired Kairi and if she had stayed forgotten I probably would have found it funny. That said, now that she's back and sharing ice-cream with everyone again, all their connections are here again too. I can at least be sympathetic towards the others that they're happy. Plus, she might stand a chance at being of some interest going forward. Maybe. It's not like I hold any hatred for her but the superfluousness of her character in that overlong, boring story in 358/2 still lingers. It's going to take a while to completely forgive her for wasting that much of my time.

Saix

This one I felt the most for ironically. It's weird. We didn't see a ton of Isa and Lea together but there are some ideas and concepts that hit me hard without having to do much. The idea of two best friends getting wrapped up in a situation that they didn't know was going to fuck up their lives and then splitting because of that, when their initial intentions were good... something about how unfair and tragic that is, feels the most genuine to me. It was great that he showed up with the ice-cream at the end. 

Roxas

I was iffy on Roxas coming back until he actually came back. The way he came back by way of Demyx getting a replica and Ansem the Wise to Zexion while also having Roxas's heart travel through time to reach it (I think) is convoluted and weird in the usual Kingdom Hearts way... as always. I was kind of enjoying how there felt like there was way more stuff I actually understood going on here though. If this time traveling bullshit weren't here, it'd probably feel way better. 

Young Xehanort

This battle was a clusterfuck so I ended up beating him first by happenstance. For some reason, he's the only one that goes out being a 100% unrepentant asshole. He just laughs in Sora's face and says that he's done for. I appreciate the douche meter still being on full display here. I was expecting it to be the same way for the other two but that wasn't the case... not really. 

Xemnas

When someone is on the verge of death I tend to be more forgiving of any lamentation they tend to do so long as it's not a full on thrust into sympathy. I don't really agree that any of these deaths quite hit that mark of anger inducing forgiveness for their actions like some people claim. I think what Xemnas said here fit fine. He hates having a heart because feelings hurt. He gets it back and he feels loneliness. Sora tells him that pain is a part of being human. Xemnas says it must take a lot of strength. That's fine. I don't mind villains showing last second sentiments like that so long as they don't go into territory reminiscent of "We're actually not gonna kill you anymore. Let's be friends." or "You know... he was a good guy deep down." No, he was still an asshole. But I don't mind seeing that side of him.

Ansem, Seeker of Darkness

This one, however, felt a tad more confusing. I wasn't entirely sure what they were going for here. I don't even really know what Ansem was talking about. Even seeing that scene twice I don't entirely get it. But whatever. See ya Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. It's been real.

Master Xehanort

I actually did wonder what happened the Master Xehanort's philosophy that there had to be a balance of light and dark. I did appreciate it coming back here in this way. Orchestrating all this madness so that he could recreate Kingdom Hearts and return the world back to what it originally was as it's savior is a fitting villain motif. It's a very "ends justify the means" approach. No matter what horrible things I do, it's alright, because the outcome I strive for is one that ultimately benefits the world. They probably did lay it on a little too thick at the very end of his life there with him returning with his old friend in his younger form and yucking it up. Probably should have just stuck with him being over his shoulder and just giving a small, soft smile.

I also did really like him handing over the keyblade to Sora and saying "Very well done." 

There's certain ways to do this kind of thing. I think, for the most part, they handled it well. They definitely didn't have as harsh an end as they did in Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 but they also didn't go full-blown "We're just MISUNDERSTOOD!" either. Thank God. I kind of expected they might.

Ienzo and Ansem the Wise

Just wanted to say, it was cute seeing them reunite. I knew Ienzo was just a young boy when all this began so seeing him react the way he did seeing Ansem come back was great. I could only imagine his reaction to initially hearing he'd gone mad. Must have been tough. Everything's cool now though.

Donald and Goofy

I like that the game stuck with the three of them being at the end game and finishing off Master Xehanort together. They weren't in any of the fights down below so having them show up so that they could do the final, final world together was great. Mickey must be proud. These three are great together. I kind of don't want that to change.

Sora

The ending was bullshit. It was bullshit and then the second I thought it might not be bullshit, it turns out it was bullshit. I guess a part of me did think they'd go for something like this. What with this being the end of the Xehanort saga, pulling something like this with Sora was probably in the cards. I knew it was a possibility but I didn't fully want to believe it. Oh well. Kingdom Hearts gonna Kingdom Hearts.

That was a lot of shit I wrote.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the story and actually followed and UNDERSTOOD it, which is more than I can say for a lot of the stories in the other games. Even Kingdom Hearts 2, to be honest. I was satisfied by pretty much every genuine conclusion we got, give or take a few things, and excluding that one really big bullshit thing that happened at the end before the credits. I also do agree that it did feel rather low on stakes despite it being the fabled conclusion everything was leading up to. It was an odd feeling. Something huge happening before all the stuff at the Keyblade Graveyard felt a bit warranted. Like if they had an actual war with a ton of people and then this select group made it to this final area and then the ending played out the way it did.

Something to make the climax have a better lead up. The climax itself I liked quite a whole lot. I wish it could have been supported by something a bit stronger leading into it.

Also, I can't wait for Maleficent and Pete to shine again. I know it's coming. 

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About the Black Box - 

Spoiler

The box contains the Book of Prophecies and that’s why Maleficant wants it. This is very badly explained because it doesn’t tell us why or how she wants it, but from what Union X showed (as in JP Union X because lol at English being caught up) - Maleficant in one point of time travelled back to the past to try take over Enchanted Dominion, only to fail. During this time, she meets Xehanort who explains the box, and then this memory is etched into her heart.

As for the mystery itself, it isn’t cleared up because it seems to tie into the next saga. All we know is Luxu (Xigbar) and the foretellers bar Ava have the box now and intend to do something with it.

 

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@Dr. Detective Mike

Spoiler

About Xemnas and Ansem, I’ve heard theories that a key reason their motivations differ a bit from Xehanort is because their creation made them a combo of Xehanort and Terra. And whilst Xehanort has majority control, there seems to be some kind of portion of Terra present that made them regretful of their actions.

In depth - Ansem’s Issue is that he knew fully that they’d likely fail in the end and everything would’ve been for nothing. He knew the full time that he was pretty much just a pawn to set the motions in place before being killed by Sora.

Xemnas on the other hand realises that he was wrong to mistreat the organisation, which is why he says he finally has a heart again, and the only thing he can feel is loneliness. That at the end of the road, for all his grand schemes, it just ultimately left him empty and hollow inside once he finally regained his own heart again.

 

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I finished the story and there’s still a section on the gummiphone that hasn’t unlocked. What is it and how do I unlock it?

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8 minutes ago, Ernest the Panda said:

I finished the story and there’s still a section on the gummiphone that hasn’t unlocked. What is it and how do I unlock it?

Secret Reports, you get one for every time you finish a battle portal.

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Welp I got a lot of the stuff done today. Stayed up all night and got my Ultima Weapon, all the pictures for Lucky Emblems and the Moogle, did all the battle challenges, all treasures collected, and killed the Super Boss. But I just gotta say....good lord Ultima Weapon is obscenely overpowered in this game. I went through the task to get Ultima in all the numbered titles, but never has it been so disgustingly powerful as here. It annihilates everything! Not even the Super Boss of this game can stand up to it's ridiculous power. People say the game is devoid of challenge, well wanna make it even easier? Pick up this baby and watch everything melt before it.

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Man, this game is amazing. It's everything I wanted it to be and more. My first playthrough was on Standard mode, and I do admit that it was pretty easy (despite dying 3 or 4 times).

It seems like if I want any kind of real challenge I'd either have to wait for them to add Critical mode or play Proud Mode at Lvl 1.

And speaking of adding stuff, this game feels like it had cut content at a couple of points.

Spoiler

In the early days of Kingdom Hearts 3, we saw gameplay of the Mysterious Tower but in the actual game you can't even visit that world. And for that reason, maybe it's why Twilight Town is so small, I would've really loved to see "The Usual Spot" from KH2 in HD or even run up the Clock Tower with Sora.

Another part (which is easily the worst part of the game for me) is 100 Acre Wood. That world was atrocious, you literally play the same minigame three times and then you're done. It's so short and pointless, makes you wonder why they even included it in the game in the first place. In KH1 & 2, you had to collect pages scattered around the worlds, and then you'd be rewarded with new cutscenes and minigames. It was a real disappoint for me.

Also why can't I walk on Destiny Islands? The entire place is fully modeled and ready so just let me run around in it, Nomura!

With that said, there's a lot of potential here for DLC and free updates. I'm personally hoping for some sort of multiplayer mode like the Mirage Arena in BBS, playing cooperatively with my cousins back in the day was such a great time.

Also something like the Data Org in KH2FM would be nice.

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