Kingdom Heart 3's development took about twelve years overall but the game fanbase still held strong through Square Enix and creator Tetsuya Nomura trollings. The game kept getting release dates only to constantly being pushed back. Fans began to think that the third game to the franchise would never come out or that the game would come out generations after the first two games. Finally the game got a release date that was set in stone. When Kingdom Hearts 3 was released the long awaited game was met with positive reception across the board. There was/still is negative opinions about the game online but the game still ended up selling over five million copies worldwide, making the game the top best selling game of January 2019 in America and the third best selling game of the following month.
Sora continues his journey to learn how to awaken the Power of Waking after the events of Kingdom Hearts dream drop distance. He must also find the lost Keyblade warriors to stop a revived Organization XII and their leader Xehanort from opening Kingdom Hearts: The heart of all worlds. Another bunch of whole new Disney worlds awaits Sora and his friends…..
I've played almost all of the original Kingdom Heart games. I didn't play the remixes or Kingdom Hearts: Recoded but I have a good idea of the story even after not playing the series for so long. My opening thoughts about the game remain the same as the other games, Players get a fantastic looking opening matched with a fantastic theme song sung by Utada Hikaru before you get a tutorial on the basics of gameplay. Kingdom Hearts is an RPG game that uses real time battles and this time around the game controls are much more slick to use. All in game actions feel very fast, including the new features of climbing up walls, bouncing off poles, plus switching weapons at the press of button. Being able to use two Keyblades at the same time would have been sick… I'm still sad about that. Battle controls give players a ton of options to use for victory. Sora can use magic on top of special attacks which include summons or team attacks with Donald and Goofy. There's hoards of enemies(known as Heartless, Unverse, and Nobodies in the game.) you have to beat throughout each Disney world. You can choose to fight these enemies without some of the abilities you are granted for more of a challenge. Just don't believe what you might read online about this game being an easy one button mash session. Those comments are not true, You need to do a little bit more than hit one button to win certain battles. I do agree with some people saying that the boss battles at the first half of the game are a little easy. If you are a first time player of the franchise, The first boss you fight will scare you, especially if you don't know his weak points. I had problems with one or two bosses because of the mechanics needed to beat these bosses. Other than that, the real challenge comes in when you get to the latter half game leading up to the final battle. You can do a lot of little mini games and stuff to boost your attributes in battle but none of it really effects the outcome of the game. Well, unless you want to count the lucky emblems you have to take pictures of that are hidden in different worlds to unlock a secret movie at the end of the game. My biggest complaint about Kingdom Hearts 3 was the Gummy ship travel that turned into a real world exploration. the old Gummy Ship travel between world was less of a headache in my opinion. This new improved way of travel was so hard to control that I dreaded the thought of having to travel to a new Disney world every time I completed the world I was currently in. The controls to move the ship are absolutely awful. I spent more time crashing into things than having a smooth ride on my journey. My upmost priority became getting to the new Disney world after awhile otherwise a detour would have made it hard for me to return on the right course toward the next world. Lord have mercy, It frustrated me to no end. Who ever made the Gummy ship travel system like that should be ashamed of themselves. Customization of your ship wasn't really needed either. I guess this feature is for people who want to do the most. You can win the space boss battles without do much to your ship. Just putting that out there for those who would were wondering. Other than that, I enjoyed playing Kingdom Hearts 3.
The story of KH3 was good and in-depth on the questions that needed to be answered. I would say at least for fans that know the whole story. Nomura claimed that new players can enjoy KH3 without playing the other games. He's telling a lie. I don't recommend you playing this game unless you have knowledge from the other games. People who don't understand the KH universe will be confused by all the characters. Even some people who played the first two games might get confused. I think you need to at least play the remix games of Birth By Sleep and Dream Drop Distance if you can. Chain of Memories, 358/2 days, Birth by Sleep, and Dream Drop Distance are all KH games that are VERY IMPORTANT in order to fully enjoy KH3. A lot of character backstory are in these games which tie into KH3's plot. I'm not sure how much the remix games retell the story of the original games but they're good for people who didn't have the game consoles to play the older games when they were released. I was one of the losers that held on to my PSP instead of selling it around the time Birth By Sleep came out originally.[INSERT ME LAUGHING.] Somehow the flow of KH3's story goes so fast to a degree of not realizing you're approaching the final battle. I wouldn't say the story is rushed. Instead there just wasn't much else to tell outside of the overall reason for why the events of the first two games happened and reuniting all the characters across the other games. Each new Disney world was fun to experience excluding the fact that another two worlds before the final battle might have helped make the game feel longer. No, I mean another two worlds before the two you are forced to go to thanks to the events of the game. Players are then blindly walking into the final boss without realizing that that's the end of the road. I know I did. KH3 normally gives players a strong vibe that you are about to enter the last battle. Kingdom Hearts 3 mentions a final battle but you don't take the cutscene seriously until it's in your face. I though that there was more time so I walked into the final boss having zero items on me and fought the final boss using mostly spells to heal myself or depended on Donald to heal me. KH3's final boss is the most epic boss battle of the series. You have to be on your toes for those hard hits cause the opening battle alone will make you sweat. Kingdom Hearts isn't over yet. Xehanort's saga is over though. The ending was like a punch in the gut….. Poor Kari never gets a break. Just when I thought a happy ending was coming my way. Lastly, Kingdom Hearts always had a youthful atmosphere because of the affiliation to Disney. Wannabe hard asses complain all day about how the KH series has disney characters. It wouldn't be Kingdom Hearts if Disney wasn't apart of the game. It doesn't take away from the magic of the story at all. Sora's character was really child like fun loving for a guy in his twenties during the game but that's his character. The story tries at certain points to aid comic relief using Donald, Goofy, and Mickey to lighten up the mood toward the darker parts of the game. Certain sections of the game are not for children. Especially during the last few battles.
Kingdom Heart 3's graphics show years of hard work the creators put into the game. Not a thing in this game looks flimsy appearance wise and the colors of the Disney worlds pop on your TV screen as if you were watching a film. Even pictures taken by Sora in the game look like priceless memories when you look at them later on. Battle graphics don't blur in color no matter how fast you move around the battle field. They keep up with your movements for a lush gaming experience. This is how Kingdom Hearts should be.
Was Kingdom Hearts 3 worth the wait? My answer is yes mostly. Was it the best game of 2019? I don't know about that yet. However, it was a good enough game to end a game saga that needed a conclusion before 2020.
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