So, thinking back to my childhood, there was a lot of things I liked about the original Kingdom Hearts. From the Disney themed levels to the voice acting to the graphics, there was a lot to like. And, despite the fact that a lot of people disagree with me on this, I loved the level design most of all. It was full of different platforms for you to jump on, and some areas proved to be inaccessible until the late-game, making it feel like you're legitimately evolving with the game itself. From the trees in the hippo lagoon to the gliding in the expansive End of the World maps to getting all of the trinities and finally being able to lock Olympus Coliseum, this game just felt like it progressed and evolved as you progressed and improved.
Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories was quite an odd game, and, while some maps did include much platforming, I don't really consider it much of a platformer, so I'll leave that one up to the reader. Kingdom Hearts II, as much as I enjoyed it as a kid, really left me bugged when I was traversing a Disney world, or even the organization's world, and I couldn't understand why. As an adult, i realized that Kingdom Hearts II changed a lot of things from the original game that I grew up with; the gummi ship was radically altered to be a on-rail shooter (and a fun one at that), nobodies were added and introduced a new way at looking at the world of Kingdom Hearts, and the level design was significantly streamlined and added an objective bar at the top of the screen to tell you what you were doing. It didn't feel right to me; everything was extremely linear and felt practically gift-wrapped to me as opposed to the generally open-feeling level design of the first game. The objective bar told me exactly what to do in each mission, and that killed exploration for me. Overall, there just wasn't much to this game's level design (barring cavern of remembrance).
And that proved to be a problem for the later games; Re:Coded was generally linear and not all that varied, Days was restrictive and claustrophobic, Kingdom Hearts Unchained X was just as restrictive as Days, and Birth by Sleep had huge maps with absolutely nothing to fill them with.
And that brings the question: what about Dream Drop Distance? Well, I am happy to say that, after making my decision during my playthrough of the Symphony of Sorcery, I have determined that the level design for Kingdom Hearts III is in very, very good hands. Seriously, the maps are absolutely enormous and full of things to do, the music, especially for symphony of sorcery, is atmospheric and delightful, the backgrounds are stunning and interactive, and the environments... do I even have to say more? This game showed me everything I wanted from the maps in Birth by Sleep and amplified it by ten. And I thought to myself "Sure, this is great and all, but flowmotion ruins the platformer aspect for me"... And then I got to play 0.2 Birth by Sleep and I was blown away yet again. The environments are jaw-droppingly gorgeous and filled to the brim with detail, they're wonderfully expansive and packed to the brim with challenging enemies, and the exploration aspect and vertical platforming was a well-received addition to the short prologue that I think we all have needed since Kingdom Hearts II. Overall, I started to realize something; I don't need to kid myself when looking at the Kingdom Hearts III trailers, the platforming really does look that good, and it really will turn out that great in the end.
Overall, I wanted to ask all of you a question; are you excited about this new vertical approach to level design that Kingdom Hearts is taking, or do you prefer the more obvious, streamlined approach to level design previous games have had recently? Comment below, and let me know *v*
Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories was quite an odd game, and, while some maps did include much platforming, I don't really consider it much of a platformer, so I'll leave that one up to the reader. Kingdom Hearts II, as much as I enjoyed it as a kid, really left me bugged when I was traversing a Disney world, or even the organization's world, and I couldn't understand why. As an adult, i realized that Kingdom Hearts II changed a lot of things from the original game that I grew up with; the gummi ship was radically altered to be a on-rail shooter (and a fun one at that), nobodies were added and introduced a new way at looking at the world of Kingdom Hearts, and the level design was significantly streamlined and added an objective bar at the top of the screen to tell you what you were doing. It didn't feel right to me; everything was extremely linear and felt practically gift-wrapped to me as opposed to the generally open-feeling level design of the first game. The objective bar told me exactly what to do in each mission, and that killed exploration for me. Overall, there just wasn't much to this game's level design (barring cavern of remembrance).
And that proved to be a problem for the later games; Re:Coded was generally linear and not all that varied, Days was restrictive and claustrophobic, Kingdom Hearts Unchained X was just as restrictive as Days, and Birth by Sleep had huge maps with absolutely nothing to fill them with.
And that brings the question: what about Dream Drop Distance? Well, I am happy to say that, after making my decision during my playthrough of the Symphony of Sorcery, I have determined that the level design for Kingdom Hearts III is in very, very good hands. Seriously, the maps are absolutely enormous and full of things to do, the music, especially for symphony of sorcery, is atmospheric and delightful, the backgrounds are stunning and interactive, and the environments... do I even have to say more? This game showed me everything I wanted from the maps in Birth by Sleep and amplified it by ten. And I thought to myself "Sure, this is great and all, but flowmotion ruins the platformer aspect for me"... And then I got to play 0.2 Birth by Sleep and I was blown away yet again. The environments are jaw-droppingly gorgeous and filled to the brim with detail, they're wonderfully expansive and packed to the brim with challenging enemies, and the exploration aspect and vertical platforming was a well-received addition to the short prologue that I think we all have needed since Kingdom Hearts II. Overall, I started to realize something; I don't need to kid myself when looking at the Kingdom Hearts III trailers, the platforming really does look that good, and it really will turn out that great in the end.
Overall, I wanted to ask all of you a question; are you excited about this new vertical approach to level design that Kingdom Hearts is taking, or do you prefer the more obvious, streamlined approach to level design previous games have had recently? Comment below, and let me know *v*