Was in one of those 'I want to play SOMETHING, haven't played anything in weeks, mostly been drawing, but I don't know what I feel like playing' moods and settled on a KH3 revisit. It's been awhile, haven't touched it since before the last patch. Got other games, y'know?
No, I haven't bought the DLC and likely never will. I'm personally disappointed by it, but emphasis on 'personal'. I've long recognized I am, to at least some extent, a very strange fan in terms of why I like KH and what I get out of it.
I will offer a warning in advance, this post is gonna get indulgent and perhaps a tad personal. Run while you still can.
I of course gave KH1 a chance as a kid, as someone that was not into RPG's (and still am not. The first two Paper Marios, KH1 and 3 and especially Bug Fables are the odd exceptions), merely because baby me heard Donald was in it and you'd get to fight baddies alongside him and Goofy. I was a D. Duck fanboy, so that was all I needed to hear. My RPG inexperience being obvious on my first playthrough was legendary, let me tell you (I didn't pay attention to items or equipment, so I stupidly suffered through Giant Ursula or Dragon Maleficent or that second Riku fight with Kingdom Key and no armor or accessories).
Anyway, I came for the duck, stayed because I came to enjoy the combat (once I came to understand it and RPG's in general, the very concept of 'leveling up' being foreign to me at the time) and especially the world exploration. I've played KH1 so many times, I've reached that embarrassing point where I can now remember what specific chests contain (this is where the dalmatians are, this one houses a useless gummi block but I'll open it anyway, etc). But above all else, I loved the trio dynamic, both in terms of story but moreso gameplay. In any game, I love having a partner (or partnerS) around. Really gives the journey a certain coziness and comfort, even in situations where the partner AI isn't especially helpful (there is no reason to have Tails around in Sonic 2, 3 and Mania, but you bet I habitually stop and wait for him to catch up because I like being a good friend, dang it). I wouldn't be nearly as captivated exploring Traverse Town without D&G to keep me company and see the world with me, searching for chests or trinity marks. It's practically a personal requirement for me to get into any exploration-focused game to be able to have a partner around. Breath of the Wild? Yawn, Zelda isn't fighting alongside me, what's the fun of exploring if I'm on my own? Who's supposed to keep me company and make me feel like everything's gonna be okay and I can take on this challenge, the horse? Hollow Knight, you can find Grimmchild and have him as a buddy? With him, I suddenly feel like I can handle any challenge, even if he's technically not doing a ton to help per se.
That has always been me with KH. Even as I got more and more decent as KH1/2 combat, I was still almost instinctively committed to taking care of D&G. Things like "oh last time we found a Defense Boost, I used it, so it's Donald's turn now" "Strength Boost, Goofy can take this one" or healing them on the battle field whenever possible. Would that make it a tad harder for myself here and there, to be so stubbornly fixated on taking care of them when I was better off looking out for me and me alone? Yeah, probably, but the game just feels better to play when I focus on my partners. They're an inherently comforting presence. Because of that, any optional encounter where I'm fighting alone (Sephiroth, Ice Titan), I wasn't terribly interested in. Fighting by myself in any KH game has always been dull to me in any context, but I understand when it's occasionally necessary.
Anyway, this is all an indulgent digression slowly making its way to a main point.
I LOVE hidden bosses when you get D&G with you. I love the idea of this super-dee-duper hard hidden opponent that can be only conquered when you and your pals have fought together and developed your skills enough, I love planning with them and having different set-ups. Grinding with D&G in KH1 and 2 was relaxing when it was all for the ultimate goal of eventually having the power and confidence to take on, say, Kurt Zisa, or Enigmatic Man (or whatever we called Xemnas at the time), or the armored dude in Disney Castle. Donald's of course prone to one-hit KOs on Critical/Proud since the poor guy never gets Second Chance/Once More, but I found a way around this to keep Don consistently out of harm's way (set his AI to independent so he more often keeps his distance from you, thus away from the boss' attacks). I love coming across them, having incentive to return to exploring worlds and finding that meaty compelling challenge waiting for you to reward your exploration (moreso referring to KH1, since KH2's idea of exploration beyond Cavern of Remembrance boils down to 'walk forward to watch another 3-hour cutscene in the hopes of eventually being able to play this video game', but anyhoooooo).
Thus approaching my main disappointment with KH3 as a package. As far the base game goes, there's certainly more to chew on than KH2's base before that Final Mix came along to redeem it. Lucky Emblems, plenty of hidden treasure chests that even on my fourth playthrough I have yet to completely ingrain into my brain, looking for A GOOD SPOT TO FIND SOME INGREDIENTS to have some snacks to give me a fighting chance against some of the game's scarier encounters on Critical. It's not quite on par with KH1 which had trinity marks, dalmatians AND a coliseum, but still, I'll put it above KH2's base which was rather pitifully empty. But, hidden bosses? No extra or secret areas to discover while exploring with D&G? I'm seeing so many opportunities to include exciting secrets to come across, and it's such a bummer to see that not realized. I could so giddily easily imagine some cool secret cave to find in the forest in Kingdom of Corona upon revisiting that world and finding some scary super tough hidden boss to trifle with, or some badass walrus monster to find in Arendelle, I don't know, just throwing that out there.
What's that, you say? Re:Mind added super tough bosses to sink my teeth into? Yeah, all fought alone. Not interpolated into the actual game's worlds. I love exploring Kh3's worlds and am left wanting more. It's nowhere near the level of frustration that base KH2 left me as a kid, but as is, KH1 still feels like the most 'complete' game, and that game had plenty to do even more its Final Mix!