Well, guess I'll be one of the few to say that I loved KH3 and experiencing it made me fall more in love with Kingdom Hearts and renewed my faith and excitement in the series going forward. I've said this all before so I'll try to be brief about it, but I went into KH3 deciding to do away with expectations or projections and to just try and accept the game for what it is and to react to that. And I loved it. I loved playing it. It was absolutely the most fun I've ever had playing a KH game. I had big dumbass grin on my face pretty much from start to finish. I found the game legitimately funny (a first for this series), full of charm, and love and just an absolute joy. That's really what KH3 felt like to me, just this big giant Ode to Joy in every aspect of it brimming with life and passion. It felt like, to me, the closest the series has gotten to realizing the potential of the Disney worlds and was probably the first time I felt like I was actually full-on loving and enjoying the Disney content instead of just going through it to get to the next main plot beat. I found a lot of stuff to like or downright love and adore in every single Disney world, which is the first time I could ever say anything close to that about this series. I think the game is incredibly ambitious. I loved how every world tried to incorporate some unique gameplay mechanics based on the world. Helped make each of them feel more realized and distinct, more alive and fun to play. I liked how Disney and OCs interact more. The fact that the Disney characters actually talk back to, fight back, have strong moments with the Org was fantastic for me. I think Toy Box and its implimentation, how it gives us an original plot, how it builds on the setting and universe, how it actually uses the themes of Toy Story and what make it unique to create something new in KH and realize it in KH's universe in an impactful way, etc etc. Idk, for me, Toy Box is a series high point. The Disney worlds and their implementation in general is a high point. After KH3, I don't want to ever go back to the old way of how Disney worlds were done.
The sheer variety in this game was just an absolute treat for me. And I feel like with all the trailer and build up, people just got
used to KH3 and what it was doing. Like kh3 does all of these downright amazing things but by the time people actually played it it became commonplace to them. like the fact that you go to pirates world and you can full on traverse the seas??? discover hidden islands??? do ship battles??? make your ship jump 1000 ft in the air and then crash into enemy ships??? like this is objectively amazing shit, unlike anything kh has ever done before and like nearly every world has something nuts like that. suddenly kh becomes a pirate ship game, a cooking game, a mech fighting game, a dancing game, a sledding game, a mountain climbing game, an open world city game, a LCD game, a shoot-em-up open-world-esque space exploration game, a contemplate-death-and-purgatory game. you can use theme park rides for special attacks. your weapon can transform into a sword, a shield, a chariot, a giant hammer, a drill, claws, yo-yos, skates, a magic staff, a giant tower, guns, a cannon, a lance, a flag, a fucking giant frying pan, like a hundred swords at once while you float and teleport all over the screen. like!!!!!!
there is so much variety. so many off-the-wall crazy ideas. so much flash and excitement. like it's amazing. it's fun. it's unlike anything else out there, imo.
And some of people's sticking points just feel flimsy to me. Like Sora's reason for visiting the worlds in KH2 isn't any better than KH3's. Or the lack of resolutions to plot threads.
in kh2 the reasons for going to the worlds are basically twofold:
1 - to look for riku/mickey
2 - because of the organization
that’s really it. some people think Sora is locking the keyholes like in KH1 but he’s not. further more, for the vast majority of worlds these reasons don’t even come up???
like Sora is “looking for riku/mickey” but it almost never actually gets brought up in the story of the worlds, he never really looks for them, or even mentions them. and aside from one instance in land of dragons, he never even comes close to finding them in the disney worlds or learning anything about where they are or what they have been up to.
And then the organization!!! like, most of the worlds don’t even have an Organization member show up in them! There is no Organization member in: Pride Lands, Agrabah, Atlantica, Halloween Town, Disney Castle/Timeless River, Space Paranoids, and honestly I would count Land of Dragons since Xigbar has a two second scene where he takes off his hood, says he isn’t riku and then runs away and that is it.
The vast majority of the time Sora just shows up, gets swept up in the plot of the movie, and then leaves, only to come back a second time for something mildly different but still not that meaningful (literally KH2 is perhaps the game most known for the disney worlds being at their filler-est).
In KH3 the reasons are similarly, largely twofold
1 - to regain his lost strength (not just the power of waking)
2 - because of the organization
And in every single major world Sora encounters the Organization and they are involved in the plot of the world. They interact directly with the Disney characters (in KH2 literally only Xaldin and Luxord have scenes with Disney characters). They interact with the themes of the world, with the story and messages, and actually shake up the worlds.
Like let’s just compare Xigbar’s Disney world appearances in KH2 and KH3.
Land of Dragons: He skulks about the Palace. You ask if he’s Riku. He takes of his hood and says no. Summons bad guys. Runs away. Doesn’t interact with a single Disney character. Says nothing about the themes or story of the world.
Olympus Coliseum: He has a similarly short appearance but he has a long conversation with both Sora /and/ Hercules. He questions the validity of sacrificing yourself for others, that it often just puts other people in danger to try and save you if things go bad. That it isn’t something ordinary people can do and that Herc can get away with it because of his demigod status (wow all major themes for this game, and for its ending!) He also foreshadows Sora’s demise at the end of the game. During the conversation Hercules talks back to him, argues with him, and after reassures Sora that Xigbar is wrong, and that their sacrifices are worth (again playing into themes of both the Disney world and the story as a whole). Later on he watches Pete and Maleficent search for the box which sets up his second thread, foreshadows his big reveal.
Like even in the case where an Org Member’s involvement is on the minor side, it still blows KH2′s handling of it out of the water, imo.
here’s an off-the-top of my head list of all the things kh3 resolves or answers/addresses:
- Aqua is saved.
- Ventus is saved.
- Terra is saved.
- Wayfinder Trio is Reunited
- Land of Departure is Restored
- Xion is saved.
- Memories of Xion are restored.
- Roxas is saved.
- Naminé is saved.
- Seasalt Trio is reunited.
- Repliku returns, saves Naminé, and his fate is resolved.
- Sora and Kairi share the Paopu Fruit
- Kairi officially becomes a Keyblade wielder
- Saix’s motivations are revealed.
- Why Isa and Lea were breaking into the castle is revealed.
- Why Saix and Axel were backstabbing the Organization is revealed.
- Why Saix was trying to rise up the ranks is revealed
- Saix is saved.
- Roxas and HPO are reunited.
- Ansem the Wise is saved.
- Ansem and the Apprentices are reunited.
- Ansem’s Atonement + Redemption is resolved.
- Vexen’s Atonement + Redemption
- Saix’s Atonement + Redemption (YMMV)
- Lingering Will returns.
- The Truth About the Guardian is revealed.
- Xigbar’s motivations and identity are revealed.
- The remaining members of the Real Organization XIII Are Revealed
- The remaining members of the Guardians of Light are Revealed
- The state of Luxord Post-KH2 is Revealed.
- The state of Demyx Post-KH2 is Revealed.
- The state of Marluxia Post-KH2 is Revealed.
- The state of Larxene Post-KH2 is Revealed.
- The Replica Program finally ties back into the main plot and gets resolved
- (Yen Sid Does Something For Once)
- What Death Means in KH is revealed
- Ansem is Defeated Once and For All
- Ansem and Riku’s relationship is resolved.
- Xemnas is Defeated Once and For All
- Xehanort’s motivations are revealed fully.
- Eraqus returns, and move on.
- The Organization is defeated once and for all.
- Master Xehanort is defeated once and for all and moves on.
Like, virtually every major emotional lingering thread of the Dark Seeker Saga is resolved or touched upon in some way. Like, yeah, KH3 does
also introduce some new threads and mysteries to make up for the fact that it pretty much just resolved everything from this saga, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t resolve a ton of stuff? Pretty much the only things that weren’t resolved or answered are things connected to the next saga/khux, but even then there was still forward movement in those areas. (Such as, What Happened to the Box, Where is the Master of Masters now, What Happened to the Foretellers, What Happened to Luxu, (Broadly) What Happened to the Dandelions, etc.)
Idk. I feel like people are just bent out of shape because KH3 didn’t
only resolve things, and that there are some mysteries connected to the next saga introduced or not yet answered fully, but that was kind of to be expected? And it doesn’t really take away from the sheer number of things that it
does resolve. There needs to be some connective tissue leading from one saga to the other. Just feels like people just wanted KH3 to resolve everything they cared about so they could clean their hands of the series and move on and are mad the break isn’t clean enough or something.
I don't know. I can see how someone could be disappointed if they literally were only playing KH3 for the main original plot. But to me, I don't know, that's just not how I experienced KH3. For the first time, aside from maybe KH1, I really felt and understood that the Disney stuff was a fundamental part of the story, not just filler that happens between the opening and ending. It was there that the story was built up, that the themes of the game were established and built upon, where Sora grew and learned things as a character, where the Organization learned and applied things. To me it all worked together, and then even after every world, there would be main plot focused stuff to help move that along too. To me, it worked. I cared about the Disney stuff. I got great enjoyment out of it. I felt the worlds were incredibly strong, and even the weaker ones still had a lot of things for me to like or brought up interesting twists and understandings on the themes and ideas of the series. Sora and Donald and Goofy finally getting to interact again, and play off each other, and be a team was an absolute delight and the game is strong for it. When Donald tells Sora he's a whole pint by himself in the KG I tear up every time. When Donald and Goofy walk beside him and enter the frame as he's about to go to Scala I get emotional. When Donald and Goofy cry out through the controller for him in the final battle I was absolutely shaken.
There is so much to love in KH3. So many strong emotional moments. I honestly could go on forever about the stuff I love. Even as I write this I keep thinking about more and more things I could say or point out or gush over. There is no end. I find my love and admiration for KH3 to only grow and expand since launch and that doesn't even get into things like Critical or the QOL changes they've added since that only makes me appreciate it more.
So, yeah. KH3 made me fall back in love with the series. It renewed my faith in it and made me excited for what comes next. I'm so thrilled to see what KH will become now that this big looming thing that has hung over the series for years is finally settled. The characters are saved. MX defeated. And where the story goes next is big and open and I can't wait to see it.
If anything though, KH3 has made me seriously question one part of this series that has been with me since the very start: the fandom. I've felt the fandom was in decline for years before KH3, but post-KH3 it is at is absolute worst and most worthless. It's just... not an enriching community. It doesn't lead to appreciation or deeper understanding or new and interesting perspectives, it's just filled with cynical burned people who like, openly admit they no longer care about the series at all, and yet for some reason stick around to shit talk it and the devs and poison the well. It's very reminiscent of the Steven Universe fandom in a lot of ways. It just seems the only role the larger community wants to play is to beat down people into disliking things more, to just constantly fuel a negative atmosphere until it snuffs out anything remotely positive, and that's just... not something I want to be a part of anymore.
I think there is value in constructive criticism. It definitely has its place and its use. But largely I feel like for the most part people don't actually engage in constructive criticism (it sure isn't taking pot shots at the devs, at the human beings who spend their lives making these games), but also, I feel like fandom needs to be more than that. It needs to build up, not tear down. Otherwise, what is the fucking point of it? What good does it do, to stew around in ceaseless hate and cynicism for days on end, where you can't even enjoy the thing you spend your time talking about? There is constructive ways to criticize the series (essays, meta, fix-it fanfic, art, exploring alternate concepts, etc) but whatever this is, it just isn't it.
I've visited and posted on this site since the pre-CoM days but lately, every time I poke my head in here to see what's being talked about, or how things are being approached, I never find anything of value. Nothing that enriches. Often I just leave feeling worse for having come here at all. And that's not a KH3 thing alone. For years that's where this community has been heading, KH3 just feels like the final nail in the coffin of this community's potential to be more than what it is.
So, this will probably be my last post on these forums. A lot of years were spent here. And I've admired a good number of you and enjoyed discussing or riffing or making jokes, having fun with this series. But I have to face the truth that I don't get any enjoyment or enrichment out of being here anymore. It's just a negative source. And I don't want to spend the next four+ years between now and the next KH game having the same discussions, the same ceaselessly negative threads and lists of disappointments over and over again. It's old and tired. It was already old and tired a month after launch, and looking through the threads now, not much has changed 6 months later either. Free time is already so limited. I'm not going to waste it feeling bad about stuff I like.
I wish you all the best.
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