If you could go back in time to KH3's development, what changes would you make?

[Perkilator]

It's no secret that KH3's final product is divisive among fans of the series. If you could go back in time to make changes that would reflect more positively among the fans (without trying too hard to please them), what would you suggest to Nomura (without revealing that you're from the future)? For me:

• Add the following worlds as playable:
  • Kuzcotopia (Beta) from The Emperor's New Groove (follows the plot of the movie) in Starlight Way
    • Kuzco and Pacha would be the party members
  • Bewtiched Bayou from The Princess and the Frog (following an original plot involving a revived Dr. Facilier) in Misty Stream
    • Tiana and Louis would be the party members
  • Agrabah (following the plot of Aladdin and the King of Thieves) in a new world map section called Galactic Ocean (moving the Caribbean and San Fransokyo to this section)
    • Aladdin and Jasmine would be the party members
  • Radiant Garden (for a brief segment as Riku and King Mickey, and then fully explorable later in the game about as far as would be allowed) in Misty Stream
    • Think of how far 13th Vessel managed to get, but a little toned down
    • Leon would be the party member
• Move Olympus and Twilight Town to an early game world map section called Glimmering Sky
• Make the following story changes:
  • Aqua becomes corrupted during the first half of Misty Stream, and is fought and saved in Radiant Garden after completing Misty Stream
  • Saix goes to Arendelle instead of Larxene (who pays a visit to Agrabah), with Vexen dropping by for a bit
  • Vexen is by himself in the Caribbean (Luxord goes off to the Bewitched Bayou)
  • Sora, Donald and Goofy search for the Chamber of Repose while Aqua's recovering
  • Kairi fights alongside Sora and Riku against the Nort Court, only to be sacknapped by Xehanort right before the final battle
  • Riku and Aqua join Sora, Donald and Goofy in the final battle
• Allow Yoko Shimomura to compose the music for the final FINAL boss battle
• Make Dream Eaters the Toy Box enemies, and make Unversed the Arendelle enemies (alongside Nobodies for the latter)

 

[Cumguardian69]

•Delay ReMIND (and/or KH3) by a whole year so that the 1.09 gameplay is the core gameplay, balance enemies and bosses in main story around that gameplay.

•All cut/unfinished content from MoM included in the ReMIND action package instead of an unrelated rhythm game

•Separate remind orchestra tracks from remind and sell them with MoM instead

 

[The_Echo]

Pull Disney out of the development process.

From what we've been told through interviews, it seems a lot of development time was spent (wasted, I'd say) on back-and-forths with Disney staff who were a combination of unnecessarily particular and just plain unhelpful.

I think everything would've fallen into place just fine if Nomura and his team didn't have Disney staff breathing down their necks about things like... the way Remy's tail moves or telling them not to mess with Elsa's hair even though it literally wasn't working.

 

[Face My Fears]

1) Find out which Disney worlds were allowed to have Disney boss fights and use those and/or get Disney boss fights in the worlds. This should have been applied to the majority of Disney worlds, if 2/3 had giant heartless then so be it, but there should have been a greater ratio if Disney boss fights.

2) Rethink the pacing of the game - for example, have Aqua be saved after you clear Toy Box/Corona. Have Ven be saved after Monstropolis/Arendelle.

3) More cutscenes where characters are face-to-face and less Gummiphone. Also, more cutscenes for characters like Kairi and Riku.

4) Kairi/Axel training actually being shown and a little follow up: since Disney was hellbent on Frozen being a replica of the film, the party members for Arendelle could have been Kairi/Axel as part of their final training. It would also have been a nice moment for Axel/Larxene to chat and for Kairi/Elsa/Anna to have a PoH moment.

5) Throw in at least 2 more Disney worlds (Agrabah and A Bug's Life), so that the main plot could get fleshed out a little more during the story, rather than all rushed at the end.

6) Expand Twilight Town. I mean... we finally have Flowmotion to run up walls and we're denied visiting the clocktower?

7) Have areas where you can talk to non-Disney characters (like Aqua).

8) More interaction between the cast.

9) Namine actually appearing before her 1 minute voice-from-beyond scene in the Keyblade Graveyard. Maybe a conversation between Kairi/Namine.

10) Disney music being used in worlds. "I See The Light" would have been perfect in Corona and "Immortals" could have been used during the lab upgrade video in San Fransokyo. Also, "He's A Pirate" should have appeared in the boss fight in the Caribbean.

11) More exclusive things to do in each world. When you revisit the worlds, the Disney characters can have some problem with heartless that they need your help with and you go on a mini-adventure to help them and get rewarded with stuff (that helps you create Ultima Weapon).

12) More secret bosses. Data Organization is included on original KH3. I would also include secret bosses in each Disney world (special heartless that are all unique, like Phantom/Kurt Zisa). In The Caribbean, I would have a boss fight with Fran/Balthier on one of the smaller islands where they crash landed.

13) Maleficent/Pete more active in the story until they realize they should back off (when discovering more information about the box). I think it would have been great to actually SEE them discover that Xigbar/Luxu was up to something and to wait until after Master Xehanort/Sora's conflict. Which would explain their appearance at the end of the game.

 

[GrovyleTheThief]

- Add Deep Space as a returning world, and Forgotten Capital (Atlantis: the Lost Empire) as a new world.

Deep Space would have a Hawaii section, and outer space areas, such as Jumba's Lab, and more areas in the Turo building. You'd use the free-roaming Gummi ship in the world and have a few ship fights. Parts of the plot would be very loosely based on Leroy and Sttich. Terranort would be in the world, so they'd meet him before the Keyblade Graveyard.

Not sure about the plot for the Atlantis World, but maybe Demyx could be in there (matching how he was in a similar underground place in Olympus, and his water element)...even though he's supposed to lay low until he can help the good guys?

- The old Princesses of Heart should be relevant, despite having successors in the new seven hearts. Maybe Agrabah could also return as a world.

- Minor Disney characters should play a role in the story, like King Triton and his knowledge of the keyblade. What they've been doing with the Fairy Godmother in ReMind has been very good.

- The added interaction scenes between characters in ReMind were nice, but they should be in the base game, and have some more scenes.

- Two new summons:
WALL-E and EVE as the electric element summon and a Pixar summon. They replace Stitch (since he's a party member), and you get their charm in Deep Space.

Bahamut as a Square summon, recycled from the scrapped KH1 concept. I've seen people talking about a Bahamut superboss idea in ToyBox, so I'd go with that idea for the charm reward.

- There are many things I'd change for the finale in the Keyblade Graveyard war and such, but that's a whole new can of worms.

 

[ImVentus]

This will be fun

WRITING

- Be open for change! Hire younger writers for the script, checking through the drafts, put more emphasis on character development for the main cast. Not a 180, but a natural progression.

- Suggest more variation between properties used for the game. Overall suggesting elements that would follow a target audience that would sit well w teens. All of the previous KH titles ( even DDD ) prior to 0.2, had a feel to it that still took its emotional or dark nature serious. That feel was not present in 0.2 or KH3. Because of it, something felt missing in scenes were the audience is meant to care. This is after all supposed to be a story about an inevitable war, why am I prancing around in Corona, not having any idea of what I'm doing? Meanwhile Aqua is waiting in literally hell. Ventus being verbally insulted by Vanitas as usual.

- Scrap the time travel schtick altogether. Ive read way too many well written drafts from individuals that been attached to the series since youth and they have demonstrated what the running team at SE have been missing out on. Drop time travel, drop the immortality rule from the series. Just focus on the main characters development. Make them interesting, add quirks to their personality, have them grow.

. SCRAP the focus on filling up re - animated cutscenes from likes of Tangled, Frozen use this time and resources to focus on the original cast. Add chapters where Ven hangs out with Roxas, Aqua interacting with Kairi alone
Sora, Riku & Kairi walking the Destiny Islands reminiscing how time has changed them,
Lea sharing about his life before Axel for Roxas & Xion. Mickey reuniting with the way finder trio.
Maleficent betraying Pete, to add more fuel in Pete and demonstrate the mistress we all know and love.
I would have loved to see the way finder trio getting introduced to sea salt ice cream by the sea salt trio.

- Move on from Versus Xiii! Look no one likes to lose power over their beloved babies ( stories ) but in order to not dwell on the past you must move on and try out new stories that doesn't remind you of the time you lost. This whole Yozora rex bull**** is just a trigger for the canned Versus and it has no place in KH. Because of this, Nomuras new love child being Yozora, he's far more passionated & motivated to write about it than he is about say ... ( ring a bell ) Kairi!
Or at all the Destiny trio.

IN GAME ASSETS, PRESENTATION

- Include Disney/Pixar antagonist as final bosses. The fact that we couldn't fight Randall was bogus. counterargument, these days Disney promotes mobile games where Disney characters battles in combat, so the excuse of hurting their image is a load of horse s***
And to add more sense of life in the battle scenarios, staying true to Nomura's word
( from an interview in 2013 after the teaser trailer was released )
Let npc assists in the battle.
This would have thrown any previous KH entry out of the open and would have been lots of fun.

- Expand the customisation wardrobe change. A nod I'll give to 0.2 for introducing it to the series, this should have been further explored for the following entry which was KH3. The gummi phone was fantastic. However, wardrobe change would add to the experience.

- First, create room assets inside of the buildings in worlds, so Sora can enter rooms and explore. This is an aspect that I always wanted the most since first introduced to the series. Ex Twilight Town houses, San Fransokyo buildings, Lucky Cat Cafe, Rapunzel's tower, kingdom.

- toughen up on the difficult mode

- Add option to skip for summons cutscenes

- Embracing the world building, with Disney properties that lack scope & potential for worlds. Likes, the Aristocats roaming in the streets of twilight town, Chocobo farm in Disney castle, Genie visiting Mysterious Tower. Remy's addition was wonderful, it should have been further explored with unpopular Disney IPS.

- Giving three options to face MX in the climax. ( SDG ) ( Destiny trio ) ( Sora, Ven, Roxas )

- Have at least 1 animal based world. Monsters does not count!

- Have Destiny Islands as a playable world. Both the island and the town expanded.

- End the game with a Sora dive through the credits. I really enjoyed it in DDD.

 

[cakito123]

3 things

I'd add an entire section where we play as a different character, like Riku, Aqua or Kairi/Axel.

I'd add second visits like in kh2. Each Org XIII member would have a boss battle in the second visit, leading to their deaths. I'd spread the happenings from half of Keyblade Graveyard in Disney Worlds, pacing the game a little better in the end.

I'd add more CRAZY FINGERS to xehanort. I'm still baffled how his hand is so boring in Kh3.

 

[Perkilator]

- Add option to skip for summons cutscenes

You can already do that with Attractions and Links.

 

[Soldier]

Oh this will be fun,
CHANGE #1 scrap the entire world of Arendelle, I think I speak for most people in saying that Arendelle was one of the worst worlds to be implemented into this series. I don't care how popular the film is in Japan, pick anytihng else. All it did was cash in on the film's popularity, (I am aware that's the entire POINT of KH's existence, but still) and detract from the main plot. If Maleficent wanted to gather all 7 princesses of light again and destroy Arendelle in the process, I'd be all for it.

 

[Elysium]

- Use new platform artwork of the new PoHs we know of so far for the opening tutorial. So one stage for Rapunzel and then one other for Anna / Elsa.
- Have a Coliseum in the open area behind Zeus that is a recurring minigame post-Olympus. Four or five tournaments wouldn't be that big of a deal to put together.
- Allow you to enter Rapunzel's tower and Elsa's ice palace. Provide the clocktower area even if we couldn't go inside the station.
- Make Anna and Kristoff party members.
- Use "I See the Light" as part of Corona. It would've fit since they showed the boat scene almost verbatim anyway, and made the musical scenes in Arendelle feel less out-of-place compared to the rest of the worlds in that regard.
- More battlegates.
- The major change I would've made--since I would imagine the above wouldn't have been that big of a deal to put together as far as time goes?--to this game is for Radiant Garden to be included at the midpoint. Even if it was relatively small just like the Keyblade Graveyard, 100 Acre Wood, and Twilight Town were--for example, a small town area where Merlin's house is and the characters congregate inside / outside it and when you leave that area it cuts to black to take you straight to Ansem the Wise's office and the super computer / lab where Ienzo and the others are. That would have been enough if they didn't have time to build gardens, the castle, etc. Kairi, Lea, and Merlin would all be here instead of TT.

 

[KingMickeyMouse]

Since when was KH3 “divisive”?

The overwhelming majority of fans loved the game.

 

[2 quid is good]

Whisper relentlessly in Nomura's ear to make Watanabe the scenario writer again

Frankly this is probably something that should have happened in pre production or early production but someone should have ensured original worlds were given the same treatment as disney worlds, even if it would have increased dev time by a year or so.

I feel a little silly for even talking about it

Since when was KH3 “divisive”?

The overwhelming majority of fans loved the game.

Hah.

 

[KingMickeyMouse]

Hah.

“Hah” doesn’t refute its 85 OpenCritic Mighty Rating.

 

[Hedginka]

Since when has a critic score represented reception accurately? Final Fantasy XIII has a high metacritic score. How beloved was that title again?

And yeah, KH3 is extremely divisive. You can easily find tons upon tons of people who love it, but the same can be said for those who dislike it as well.

Either way, my changes are the same as what everyone else wants. Larger original worlds, more character interactions, better pacing, you know the drill by now.

 

[KingMickeyMouse]

Since when has a critic score represented reception accurately?

For Kingdom Hearts? Always. Every single game’s critic score has coincided with its general fan reception.

Final Fantasy XIII has a high metacritic score. How beloved was that title again?

FFXIII does not have anywhere near as high an accumulative score as KH3, so that comparison is irrelevant.

And yeah, KH3 is extremely divisive.

By what definition, exactly?

A 50-50 would be devisive. An 80-20 is not “divisive” by any definition of the word.

You can easily find tons upon tons of people who love it, but the same can be said for those who dislike it as well.

Not according to actual statistics.

 

[2 quid is good]

Pfffftt, you'd definitely be the type of guy to yell "Toxicity!" because someone has a differing opinion to you.

It's not worth carrying on this conversation if you're being so obstinate

 

[KingMickeyMouse]

Pfffftt, you'd definitely be the type of guy to yell "Toxicity!" because someone has a differing opinion to you.

It's not worth carrying on this conversation if you're being so obstinate

Pretty sure no one here was talking about their own personal opinions, so that’s a really strange tangent you went on there...

I was simply correcting the statement about the game’s general reception — which is a matter of actual, statistical objective fact and not your subjective personal view.

Saying you don’t like KH3 = opinion, and it’s perfectly fine.

Saying “half of other fans don’t like KH3” = invalid, as shown by evidence.

 

[Face My Fears]

Pretty sure no one here was talking about their own personal opinions, so that’s a really strange tangent you went on there...

I was simply correcting the statement about the game’s general reception — which is a matter of actual, statistical objective fact and not your subjective personal view.

Saying you don’t like KH3 = opinion, and it’s perfectly fine.

Saying “half of other fans don’t like KH3” = invalid, as shown by evidence.

You simply have to check a few threads on here or videos on YouTube to see clearly how divisive KH3 was. I'm one of the fans that loves KH3, but the amount of vitriol I have seen spewed about KH3 has been immense. I've been seeing reactions to KH3 for over a year now and I can honestly say that it seems like it's either fans that loved it or hated it, and it's about 50-50. I don't have a statistical analysis report to confirm that, but I think the statement is pretty much accurate.

 

[Cumguardian69]

☆KH3 wasn't "divisive". It wasn't 2FM. Base KH3 plays like slow clunky shit and instead of final mixing the game to rebalance it, remind/1.09 actually breaks the story mode by reusing 2FM attacks that move faster than story mode can keep up (Double Form is busted, yeah, but even D/L form and base ReMIND Sora move faster than most enemies).

•HP was never rebalanced for early game bosses, Lv1 was never rebalanced for Base Sora, food still exists, etc.

○Remind scala mobs aren't difficult, they're not strategically placed, they just throw numbers at you to kill you. Compare that to Nobodies 3 or even Heartless 1

♤mandatory mini game bosses were cancer

◇Backloaded plot was a common complaint even among critics

♧Reuses Phantom Aqua instead of toning down Zodiac Aqua

■Fails to introduce badass boss fights in the basw game (Dark Inferno? LMFAO)

₩yes

 

[DanChaos1]

Seems like the complaints department has it pretty much covered but I'll add this: Christopher Lloyd should have been the replacement voice actor for Master Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts 3 instead of Rutger Hauer. His scenes in ReMIND had more gravitas when you compare the identical lines from the base game.