"From Past to Present" - What previous games did right that should be incorporated into KH3
Over the years Kingdom Hearts has released seven cannon titles (not including remakes), and naturally fans of the series have claimed different games as their personal favorite. In a series like Kingdom Hearts it's not uncommon for fans to have missed (or never played) certain games in this series. So without further ado, I'd like to go over a few things that made each game great that should be incorporated into the game we've all been waiting for, Kingdom Hearts III.
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Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts, a game that not only fused the universes of Final Fantasy and Disney, but also the game that introduced us to this beloved series. While this game was released over 10 years ago, it still holds a certain magic to it. There are several things that this game did right, but most of all...
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Naturally Kingdom Hearts 3 should have other new things as well, so far we know it will be using the Kingdom Shader tool which looks interesting, we also know that Nomura plans to make full use of the next gen hardware. What will be in store for us when we finally receive KH3? At this point, I doubt even Nomura knows. However, the games in this series have held all sorts of great concepts and gameplay elements that if combined could make KH3 amazing.
The Xehanort saga will soon receive the finale we've all been waiting for, so if there was anything that you felt that I left out, post it here and I may add it to my list! Anyways, feel free to post comments or talk about things that you'd like to see in KH3.
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
Over the years Kingdom Hearts has released seven cannon titles (not including remakes), and naturally fans of the series have claimed different games as their personal favorite. In a series like Kingdom Hearts it's not uncommon for fans to have missed (or never played) certain games in this series. So without further ado, I'd like to go over a few things that made each game great that should be incorporated into the game we've all been waiting for, Kingdom Hearts III.
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Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts, a game that not only fused the universes of Final Fantasy and Disney, but also the game that introduced us to this beloved series. While this game was released over 10 years ago, it still holds a certain magic to it. There are several things that this game did right, but most of all...
- Involvement of Disney Villains - This is something that every title since has missed, KH2 touched upon this somewhat, but the Disney Villains were only secondary there and have been even less ever since.
- Tech Points - What happened to these? These were a fun way to get bonus exp.
- Platforming/Puzzles - Again, what happened to these? As far as platforming goes this series has no consistency, games like KH1 and Dream Drop Distance have great platforming, while KH2 forwent the idea completely. The puzzles however, they just went "poof", they were nice additions.
- Secret Bosses - These guys are generally too tough to beat before you go after the final boss, but they do make for a good post game goal.
- Tournaments - This game was the first to introduce tournaments and it did them great, outside of this one KH2 and BbS had tournaments too. Not if but when (because let's face it, tournaments NEED to happen) we see tournaments in KH3, they should have online functionality, give you exp, have various foes, and possibly a PvP?
Chain of Memories
Chain of Memories was the second installment in the series and served as a bridge between Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2, this game was very mysterious in nature and introduced us to a multitude of new concepts and characters. It was originally released on the Gameboy Advance, then released and remastered for Playstation 2, then remastered in HD for the Playstation 3 Bundle - Kingdom Hearts 1.5 ReMIX. Some of the things that made this game great include...
- Reverse/Rebirth - Aside from doing the same worlds a second time without any story within them... Reverse/Rebirth was actually a great addition to Chain of Memories. Players got to take control of Riku, who last we saw in Kingdom Hearts 1 was on the other side of the Door to Darkness. Riku had his own story that actually continued past where we finished with Sora, not to mention how gameplay with Riku was different. Only two other games in this series has held similar experiences, those being Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance.
Kingdom Hearts 2
Kingdom Hearts 2 was the second major installment in this series, it picks up where 358/2 Days left off and when originally released held many mysteries. The game was later completed in the form of "Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix", where the game gained what seemed like a second half.- Minigames/Sidequests - More than any other game, Kingdom Hearts 2 (the final mix especially) gives players more to do than simply following the story and beating the game. The value of minigames is pretty high, instead of sticking another game into your system when you want a break, you simply play a minigame. Sidequests keep a game from being too linear and will give a sense of depth at the same time, making them a nice addition as well.
- Reaction Commands - "Press Triangle to Win!" All joking aside, reaction commands were an interesting way to combat foes. They were however, painfully easy to do. If these were to be incorporated into KH3 they should be more difficult to do, make the time bubble available to press triangle short (or vary depending on the difficulty you choose), for bosses and more difficult foes make it a string of different buttons
Coded
Coded, believe it or not, was actually the first game released after KH2. The reason most fans weren't aware of this sequel was because it was released as a Japanese exclusive cellphone game. Roughly two years later it was released on the Nintendo DS and this "Re: Coded" is what most fans are more familiar with.- Multiple World Endings - Alright so you just beat a particularly long world, what is your reward? The same cutscene everybody gets... LAME. In Coded depending on what you do you can actually get a different ending when you beat the worlds of Castle Oblivion. Now I know what you're thinking "Multiple endings in KH3 would just make the game worse", well I have just one word for you "WRONG". Believe it or not we've already gotten this in Kingdom Hearts, anyone remember having to do a little extra to unlock a secret ending? I think KH3 should reward players for doing a little extra in each world and give them a more complete ending or something to that effect.
358/2 Days
358/2 Days is the Organization XIII game, it focuses on Roxas and features essentially the same gameplay seen in the first Kingdom Hearts game, with a few new additions/tweaks. Not only that but Days also features a proto version of the Command Deck that has been a staple of Kingdom Hearts games post KH2. Great parts from Days include...- Mission Mode - The fatal flaw of 358/2 Days was its Mission system, the missions start to get redundant after a relatively short period and the only redeeming grace to their redundancy is the bits of story you get between them. Why am I listing Mission Mode in a list of "Great Things" then? Because after you've done all those boring missions, you get to go back and do them as any character within Organization XIII, that's right! You can play as any member of the organization, not only that but you can do it with friends too. If that weren't cool enough, the roster isn't actually limited to Organization members as you can also play as Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, and Mickey. Each character has their own fighting style, a couple different weapons, and individual stats. A good example of the stat spreads is how Lexaeus is immensely strong If this were to be incorporated into KH3, it should be done in a similar manner as how the Mirage Arena was done in Birth by Sleep.
- A Story Not Sora - Sora's a cool guy and all, but he's not the only character in this series. A chance to play as someone else is always nice, which isn't to say that Kingdom Hearts III should exclude Sora, but to say that Kingdom Hearts 3 should do Sora and more.
- Limit Breaks - So you've taken a beating and you need a way to fight back? Limit Break. Limit Breaks (although called different things in different games) are a staple to the Final Fantasy games, and are usually awesome attacks that you get to use once every so often. Outside of Days we get to see FF characters using limit breaks during cutscenes & tournaments, and the BbS trio have shotlocks which are similar in nature. Limit Breaks would be another nice addition to KH3, each character could have their own thing that they do.
Birth by Sleep
Birth by Sleep has been referred to as "Kingdom Hearts 0", although it was the 6th game released it's actually a prequel to the first Kingdom Hearts game and takes place ten years before that game even starts. It's an interesting game in that it shows how everything got started, a lot of mysteries were revealed here and while a lot of new characters/concepts weren't introduced, you actually got to see a new side of characters you already knew. Great things include...- Mirage Arena - I already went over this with 358/2 Days, but a fusion of this and Mission Mode would be an awesome addition to KH3. Getting to play a great game with friends is fun, it's as simple as that, multiplayer through the story itself would also be nice.
- A Story Not Sora - I'm trying to not repeat myself with these things that made each game great, but Birth by Sleep and Days did this a little bit differently. While the previous record was two characters with two different stories in Chain of Memories, Birth by Sleep gives us three. To avoid repeating the same story over and over, each character (while still visiting the same worlds) visits each world at different times so we see different parts of the story unfold as we play as each character. This is something that would be nice to see in KH3 except for one thing, where BbS had each character go through the same worlds it'd be nice if you could play as different characters going to different worlds, naturally tasked with different missions.
- Post Game Story - Mmkay, so after you beat each game you unlock a 10 minute cutscene wrapping everything up, right? Well with Birth by Sleep after you beat the game, they give you more to beat... Basically after beating the game with a few characters, you get to do it for a final ending and it just feels like icing on the cake.
Dream Drop Distance
Dream Drop Distance is the game that leads to KH3, and despite it being released on a handheld console it arguably has the best gameplay we've seen thus far. In this game you play as both Sora and Riku traveling through the sleeping worlds in order to complete the mark of mastery. Great things from this game...- Flowmotion - This singular addition to DDD boosted the gameplay experience by quite a bit. Flowmotion made it to where you could interact with the environment in interesting ways, want to scale a wall? Go for it!, want to grind down a rail like a pro? GO FOR IT! Things that could make it even better would be if you could run up walls (like at memory's skyscraper), running on water, or some other sort of expansion.
- Replay Boss Battles - So you've beat the game and want to enjoy a particularly enjoyable boss battle again without having to start a new game? Just go to where you fought them and battle them again! 358/2 Days was the first with an option like this through Mission Mode, but DDD definitely got this concept right. This would be a cool thing to add to KH3, but it would be even better if whenever you fought them a second time they were either a set higher level or the same level as your character. (Mentioned by AdrianXXII)
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Naturally Kingdom Hearts 3 should have other new things as well, so far we know it will be using the Kingdom Shader tool which looks interesting, we also know that Nomura plans to make full use of the next gen hardware. What will be in store for us when we finally receive KH3? At this point, I doubt even Nomura knows. However, the games in this series have held all sorts of great concepts and gameplay elements that if combined could make KH3 amazing.
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