KH4 Re-Reveal Hopes And Expectations

[1millionsquats]

I realise what I'm opening myself upto here when I say this, but all I expect from KH4 is a Ratatouille moment where I'm mentally transported back to KH2 when I watch the opening video.

Small, small, tiny winy, little expectations

My posts probably make it seem like I hate every aspect of Kingdom Hearts 3, which is not true, but here's another one to add to the pile:

They need to make the Opening good again. I think Skrillex completely botched that theme song, and the visuals are so weak. For one, Dream Drop Distance already took care of recapping (most of) the series up until that point and tease the Master Xehanort confrontation. It also had way better rhythm regarding how scenes flow into each other.

In KH3's opening, they rush past every scene with these terrible smoke transitions and the camera spinning all over the place. Their attempt at creating a metaphor between the clash of light and darkness and the chess game also falls flat and leads to very bland, empty scenes where most of the space is empty.

It would be wonderful if they managed to give the new opening a dreamlike quality like 1 and 2's. There are so many cool visuals in those. KH2 right off the bat, hits you with Riku and Kairi fading, leading into Sora jumping off the Paopu tree as Destiny Islands and its sunset melt away. Bam! Sora falls onto the first platform of Hollow Bastion with Donald and Goofy. When he runs up the stairs to where he first meets Beast, there's a hard cut and he's already looking at an unconscious Kairi before facing off with Dark Riku. That's kind of how dreams go! I could go on and point out all of the amazing, creative transitions and ideas in this but then I'd just be describing every single shot. Whoever storyboarded these sequences is godlike.

 

[2 quid is good]

As far as it 'feeling' how KH2 made us feel... a lot of that is just choosing how seriously we take this stuff. I'm going to invest in the game in earnest to the best of my ability, rather than point and laugh at the contrivances and occasionally embarrassing dialogue. But in order to do that, one needs to alter their thinking and expectations a bit. You can't go in expecting Shakespeare. I can pick apart KH's storytelling all day, every game not called KH1 is loaded with story moments that I consider to be unfathomably stupid, but sometimes its easier to just focus on the characters, the moments that DO work, and the whimsy. I'll only be harsh if I feel like NOTHING is working, which, luckily, hasn't happened yet in Kingdom Hearts.

I agree with your post but just wanted to clarify that I was literally talking about the opening, but also if this is directed at me, I'm certainly not one of the KH fans who expect the level of writing from KH that I do from other games, and I DO in fact focus solely on the characters. I do think KH2 was very good for that, and I had very few expectations for KH3 but one of them was the continuation of characters plots. Which, iunno, I guess technically it was there, but not really at all.

I genuinely enjoyed the first 10 hours I spent with KH3, but the last half was torrid for me, I was practically begging for a reason for the game to make me care about what was going on, and in the end I decided to just turn off and enjoy the cool final boss rush. Like, I'm well capable of enjoying mediocrity but even this was a step too far for me. I hope you are right about KH4 but personally I'm more than happy to wait until there's a sort of consensus about the game before getting it.

 

[Launchpad]

but also if this is directed at me

Dw I was speaking generally! I definitely agree that character writing took a nosedive in KH3. Sora doesn't really activate as a character with personal motivation until Re:Mind, and the supporting cast also feels underestimated and under delivered upon. While the friendship of SDG was done extremely well, I also am desiring more storytelling with Donald and Goofy than KH3 (or the previous titles) gave... I know they're fuckin Donald and Goofy, I don't want them going through a depression arc, but it'd be nice to see them express specific feelings and have progressive character moments too.

As for the opening movie... yeah, KH4 should go full trippy. Less recap than before, just a few KH3 bits and then heaps of foreshadowing would be sweet

 

[GreyouTT]

I expect a Yozora tutorial showcase that just so subtly recreates the Vs13 2011 trailer.

 

[Darkspawn]

I expect a Yozora tutorial showcase that just so subtly recreates the Vs13 2011 trailer.

Whatever the tutorial is, I hope they don’t show us anything from it pre-release.

 

[PikaPal]

The trailers to not reveal every last little thing about the game. Like seriously they were exciting back then but it's crazy going back to them and realizing just how much stuff they showed including most of the end game stuff.

 

[OrionGold]

My posts probably make it seem like I hate every aspect of Kingdom Hearts 3, which is not true, but here's another one to add to the pile:

They need to make the Opening good again. I think Skrillex completely botched that theme song, and the visuals are so weak. For one, Dream Drop Distance already took care of recapping (most of) the series up until that point and tease the Master Xehanort confrontation. It also had way better rhythm regarding how scenes flow into each other.

In KH3's opening, they rush past every scene with these terrible smoke transitions and the camera spinning all over the place. Their attempt at creating a metaphor between the clash of light and darkness and the chess game also falls flat and leads to very bland, empty scenes where most of the space is empty.

It would be wonderful if they managed to give the new opening a dreamlike quality like 1 and 2's. There are so many cool visuals in those. KH2 right off the bat, hits you with Riku and Kairi fading, leading into Sora jumping off the Paopu tree as Destiny Islands and its sunset melt away. Bam! Sora falls onto the first platform of Hollow Bastion with Donald and Goofy. When he runs up the stairs to where he first meets Beast, there's a hard cut and he's already looking at an unconscious Kairi before facing off with Dark Riku. That's kind of how dreams go! I could go on and point out all of the amazing, creative transitions and ideas in this but then I'd just be describing every single shot. Whoever storyboarded these sequences is godlike.

I think the problem with some of KH3's prerendered action sequences were how fast some of them were.