Kingdom Hearts III Pre-Release Spoiler Discussion Thread

[Senzura]

Spoiler Show

I just can't wait to see what sort of spaceship Xehanort turns into

I asked him whether this was the case and he never responded. I have a feeling we'r'e just going to get a string of humanoid fights like the last few games.

 

[Fatal Mode]

Does anyone know if it's a multi-phase boss? I thought the leaker said the ending was boss was anticlimactic? I just assumed that it's a one on one fight because Sora is in Scala ad Caelum alone.

I haven't heard anything either way! Just following suit from I and II!

 

[SuperSaiyanSora]

Yeah... ironic how the Kingdom Hearts fandom really stressed everybody to play the collections, but it's now being used as the version to be compared to against Kingdom Hearts III.

It's almost as if we forgotten that Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II original incarnation did not have the Final Mix moniker.

Anyway, if people are not liking what Kingdom Hearts III has become, I say for those people to have their opinions, and I'll just stick with mine.

Most fans I think did forget. KH2 on its own is a good game, but stuff like the Roxas fight was only a cutscene. We didn't even get Linit Form until the Final Mix. Forget the Data Battles. Hell, Xemnas speaking to Aqua's armor sparked so many theories alone.

I know people want to compare KH2FM to KH3, but this is why Final Mixes exist.

Spoiler Show

And as for the Coliseum, their frame of thinking is probably like... Sora is in a completely different location, so why would there be a tournament? But I definitely see that being added in after.

 

[ZJGamer]

Most fans I think did forget. KH2 on its own is a good game, but stuff like the Roxas fight was only a cutscene. We didn't even get Linit Form until the Final Mix. Forget the Data Battles. Hell, Xemnas speaking to Aqua's armor sparked so many theories alone.

I know people want to compare KH2FM to KH3, but this is why Final Mixes exist.

Spoiler Show

And as for the Coliseum, their frame of thinking is probably like... Sora is in a completely different location, so why would there be a tournament? But I definitely see that being added in after.

I thought by now we had moved away from the Final Mix phase. I figured Final Mixes weren't going to be a thing going forward and the stuff we would normally get with a Final Mix would come with the base game. I know a lot of people did not want a Final Mix for KH3, they assumed Square was done with that.

 

[Seighart]

I can't believe people are starting to think KH3 is incomplete and basically treating it like FFXV because the side/post game content isn't data battles and stuff

Did KH2FM really impact people that much?

No. Nostalgia did. KH1 and KH2 were good. The final mixes made them great. I expect the same to happen with KH3. They're definitely adding more through DLC. Nomura told his team to prepare for it. No one compares KH2FM to KH1 so this comparison imo speaks of entitlement. We will get the FM treatment via DLC to at least hold us over until KH4 or FF7Rs completion. Like it's incredibly obvious at this point because of Squares business model. XV isn't even a good comparison because KH isn't an open world game.

Birth By Sleep didnt receive backlash for not having all of this extra content. Sure it isnt a Numbered title, but it still got an improvement with a final mix.

I just dont get why a bunch of the things that werent in the most recent titles suddenly bother people that they aren't in now. It being a numbered title doesnt really mean much to me besides having abilities return.

 

[MrFranklin95]

I guess I'll add my two cents in, since I didn't care much for spoiler anyway. It's just never been something that bothered me or ruins my personal experience.

That being said... I don't know how to feel about all this until the game comes out but I can't help but feel disappointed. Even though I've waited for this game since literally the day I beat the original KH2, I never had any high expectations. I always assumed it would be the best in the series but honestly, in my eyes, that's just KH2 with more involved Disney world, updated graphics, and pretty much doing everything that the original games did. It didnt really need to do anything else. Which is why I'm disappointed by everything I'm hearing in ways I didn't expect. Things I assumed Noruma and his team would've been fully aware off and I believe still are, which makes the reveal content of the game even more disappointing.

But either way, I'm going to enjoy this game no matter what. This is coming from the guy that loves Final Fantasy XV, where all its faults doesn't effect my enjoyment of that game like others and it'll likely be the same with KH3. But it seems like it has even less content then the previous two, even taking out the Final mix stuff.

The Disney worlds thing is the less disappointing out of the bunch because all the worlds so far surpassed all the past worlds as far as scope and gameplay but still, having the least amount of worlds of all three mainline games, especially since this is the finale, is not a good look no matter the scope. And there is also the fact that the Disney selection feels like promotion for the newest Disney films rather rhen inspired choices. Even though they didn't have much of a chance, I would have rather seen Peoncress and the Frog, Jungle Book, Treasure Planet, Atlantis, a Lilo and Stitch world, and newly formed Radiant Garden. Its not that I don't like the world list and can't wait to play them but they all feel like quotas made by Disney themselves and not Noruma feeling inspired. I could be wrong though.

Final Fantasy characters being almost completely non-existent is strange to me. Maybe it's a Disney decision, I don't know but they've been a staple of the mainline games and to completely cut them out, not even to make Radiant Garden, a place where two of the main character lived, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

No tournaments battles is even stranger. I don't know understand the decision to not include them. Maybe it toke too much time? I don't know but that's very disheartening to hear.

No secret bosses is disappointing as well. Especially if Sephiroth is not even in the game. That is seriously going to get on some fans nerves, if not all fans of the series. It just makes me keep asking the question why they're cutting all this content out? Were they short on time? Did they need another delay but didnt want to deal with the PR nightmare? I just don't understand the logic behind any of it.

And Riku being the only playable character is just frustrating. There are seven characters on the Hero's side and not a single one of them is playable something fans have been demanding for years? Again, this just feels Noruma and Square are just ignoring fans demands or ....DLC.

As far as story stuff, I'm not gonna believe anything until I play the game but the story and gameplay seems like the only saving grace and to be honest, that's what I'm mostly hear for. It just sucks that Noruma and team thought it would be fine to cut all the staples of the franchise out of the game entirely. Even the base KH1 and KH2 had tournaments and a secret boss. Which, yeah, speaks to me as a business move by either Square or Noruma or Disney or all three.

Which makes me believe even more that all of this is going to be in DLC final mix pack. Tournaments, Radiant Garden, secret bosses etc. It speaks to Square's business model. I can't see that not happening otherwise, regardless of gameplay and story, their will be a fan outcry if all of this doesn't come to pass. It may not be huge but it will be significant enough that I couldn't see Noruma and his team saving all the cut/dismissed content for DLC just so that fans don't start already labeling this game as the worst amongst the trilogy of mainline games.

But like I said, I'm going to enjoy the game no matter what. If I was able to enjoy Final Fantasy XV with all its problems, then I think I'll be fine here. It will most likely be a very good game but not the one I was hoping for with all the content intaked that either wont be in the game at all or will be saved for DLC. Which, in whatever I look at it, is just disappointing. But that's the gaming industry for ya.

 

[Xblade13]

Personally for me, extra FM content has always just been icing on the cake, and not necessary for the game to be "good" in the first place. And KH2, even FM, wasn't near the top of my list of favorite KH games mainly because I hated the story so much. Even less so than DDD honestly.

I think, and it'll hurt a lot of people to think about it this way, that maybe the BBS/DDD method of KH story setup is just how KH is always going to be now. And for me that's ok, because I actually enjoyed those games a lot. For me I played KH -> CoM -> Days -> KH2 -> BBS -> Re:coded -> DDD. And honestly KH2 was the low point of the series for me. Gameplay has always been just ok in these games, so it was lower on my list of priorities. And since that's basically the only thing KH2 has going for it at all, it just falls short for me.

That's just my two cents though. KH3 could be BBS2 and I'd be perfectly fine with it. Honestly.

 

[dlppictures]

Birth By Sleep didnt receive backlash for not having all of this extra content. Sure it isnt a Numbered title, but it still got an improvement with a final mix.

That might have something to do with the fact that the international release of BBS had extra content that the vanilla JP version did not. Though as I didn't really follow news on BBS back in the day, I cannot remember what other than MF.
I just remember some discussion about how everyone felt that the added content over the JP version made it feel like an international FM.
And then BBSFM was announced, and it would include even more, and everyone complained over being left out again. You know, the usual.

 

[Leaferian]

That might have something to do with the fact that the international release of BBS had extra content that the vanilla JP version did not. Though as I didn't really follow news on BBS back in the day, I cannot remember what other than MF.
I just remember some discussion about how everyone felt that the added content over the JP version made it feel like an international FM.
And then BBSFM was announced, and it would include even more, and everyone complained over being left out again. You know, the usual.

Maybe, but I don't think the larger fanbase is too well-read on JP vs US content.

 

[U.N. Owen]

This leaker isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. He really went on Twitter to say he didn't steal the game and how that somehow absolves him of blame. Then he promptly goes on about his "precautions" to prevent him from getting busted.

 

[rokudamia2]

People forget that it’s standard for vanilla oh games to only have one super boss.

Kh1 vanilla had Phantom

Kh2 vanilla had Sephiroth

BBS had Vanitas remnant

DDD had Julius

And 0.2 has the last Phantom Aqua fight.

 

[Insomniac]

People forget that it’s standard for vanilla oh games to only have one super boss.

Kh1 vanilla had Phantom

Kh2 vanilla had Sephiroth

BBS had Vanitas remnant

DDD had Julius

And 0.2 has the last Phantom Aqua fight.

I’m just wondering out of pure curiosity but, was the Ice Titan Gold Match in the Vanilla KH1? I honestly remember that being in the base game but it could just be me misremembering. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rokudamia2]

I’m just wondering out of pure curiosity but, was the Ice Titan Gold Match in the Vanilla KH1? I honestly remember that being in the base game but it could just be me misremembering. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Nope Ice Titan Kurt Ziza and Sephiroth we introduced in the International version.

 

[Hirokey123]

I thought by now we had moved away from the Final Mix phase. I figured Final Mixes weren't going to be a thing going forward and the stuff we would normally get with a Final Mix would come with the base game. I know a lot of people did not want a Final Mix for KH3, they assumed Square was done with that.

I mean this in the nicest way possible...but there was zero reason to believe that and I honestly would sooner fault the people for such expectations than the developers. The FM was done again and again because they could dedicate time to it now that the big hurdle, which if the game itself, was done. A lot of time people see FM's essentially as cut content (even though very little of the content is actually cut) instead of the developers going "okay all the hard/long game development stuff is done, the game itself is complete, let's see what we can add to make it better and let's take this chance to improve on some the areas fans felts were lackluster.

Likewise moving forward development has largely only gotten harder not easier and so while the systems are more powerful, it takes significantly more time and effort to just make the base game alone. So you need to have real expectations here not just idealism, and it's basically always been unrealistic to think KH3's initial release was going to match KH2FM+ from the get go. The most one could hope for, and the level at which KH3 appears to have successfully achieved, was to still be the best vanilla game in terms of content and gameplay which just going by what we know it seems to have. In fact from a gameplay perspective it's looking better tighter than even KH2FM+ did but if it actually is remains to be seen.

We haven't moved away from FM's we've just moved to an era where now FM's can/should be DLC content. They'll only need to focus on the new content instead of porting or remaking the game and likewise they can sell the content at a reduced price instead of asking us to buy the entire game again.

 

[ZJGamer]

I mean this in the nicest way possible...but there was zero reason to believe that and I honestly would sooner fault the people for such expectations than the developers. The FM was done again and again because they could dedicate time to it now that the big hurdle, which if the game itself, was done. A lot of time people see FM's essentially as cut content (even though very little of the content is actually cut) instead of the developers going "okay all the hard/long game development stuff is done, the game itself is complete, let's see what we can add to make it better and let's take this chance to improve on some the areas fans felts were lackluster.

Likewise moving forward development has largely only gotten harder not easier and so while the systems are more powerful, it takes significantly more time and effort to just make the base game alone. So you need to have real expectations here not just idealism, and it's basically always been unrealistic to think KH3's initial release was going to match KH2FM+ from the get go. The most one could hope for, and the level at which KH3 appears to have successfully achieved, was to still be the best vanilla game in terms of content and gameplay which just going by what we know it seems to have. In fact from a gameplay perspective it's looking better tighter than even KH2FM+ did but if it actually is remains to be seen.

We haven't moved away from FM's we've just moved to an era where now FM's can/should be DLC content. They'll only need to focus on the new content instead of porting or remaking the game and likewise they can sell the content at a reduced price instead of asking us to buy the entire game again.

Maybe it's just a case of me growing up in a different era of gaming, but I feel as though after almost 2 generations of technology between KH1 and KH2 we should expect to get more content upfront for our money. Isn't that what technology is mean't for: to give us more? On top of that let's not blame the difficult development of KH3 or any other recent Square-Enix title (Cough Cough FFXV) on just newer technology being the issue. Square-Enix itself has been stubborn with the use of their own custom engines, instead of using mainstream engines like Unreal Engine 4 for development. I also feel there is a lot of mismanagement going on at Square-Enix. I mean other companies have given us games with a large amount of content this generation. So why can't Square-Enix do the same? If this was an issue that was affecting every other gaming company you might have a point, but no it seems to just be Square-Enix that has this issue. I just feel like people are giving Square-Enix a break, when there is no reason to defend them since we know other developers have proven they can make content heavy games in less time than Square-Enix does and they end up being fantastic games.

I mean I look at amazing games like God of War and then I look at something as lack luster as Final Fantasy XV, and it becomes obvious that something is wrong at Square. In fact I really think Square has had issues since the HD era began. I mean every game since Final Fantasy XIII has been controversial. I was hoping Square-Enix was finally going to get back to making masterpieces, but this generation is not looking good for them so far. I love Square, but IF Kingdom Hearts III does not deliver, and that's still an IF, the fanbase needs to acknowledge that something has to change at Square-Enix.

 

[Seighart]

Maybe it's just a case of me growing up in a different era of gaming, but I feel as though after almost 2 generations of technology between KH1 and KH2 we should expect to get more content upfront for our money. Isn't that what technology is mean't for: to give us more? On top of that let's not blame the difficult development of KH3 or any other recent Square-Enix title (Cough Cough FFXV) on just newer technology being the issue. Square-Enix itself has been stubborn with the use of their own custom engines, instead of using mainstream engines like Unreal Engine 4 for development. I also feel there is a lot of mismanagement going on at Square-Enix. I mean other companies have given us games with a large amount of content this generation. So why can't Square-Enix do the same? If this was an issue that was affecting every other gaming company you might have a point, but no it seems to just be Square-Enix that has this issue. I just feel like people are giving Square-Enix a break, when there is no reason to defend them since we know other developers have proven they can make content heavy games in less time than Square-Enix does and they end up being fantastic games.

I mean I look at amazing games like God of War and then I look at something as lack luster as Final Fantasy XV, and it becomes obvious that something is wrong at Square. In fact I really think Square has had issues since the HD era began. I mean every game since Final Fantasy XIII has been controversial. I was hoping Square-Enix was finally going to get back to making masterpieces, but this generation is not looking good for them so far. I love Square, but IF Kingdom Hearts III does not deliver, and that's still an IF, the fanbase needs to acknowledge that something has to change at Square-Enix.

It's been apparent ever since that new CEO took over. I knew something was up when Nomura said he didn't even know he was directing FF7R until he saw his name on the announcement trailer.

 

[Fatal Mode]

Maybe it's just a case of me growing up in a different era of gaming, but I feel as though after almost 2 generations of technology between KH1 and KH2 we should expect to get more content upfront for our money. Isn't that what technology is mean't for: to give us more? On top of that let's not blame the difficult development of KH3 or any other recent Square-Enix title (Cough Cough FFXV) on just newer technology being the issue. Square-Enix itself has been stubborn with the use of their own custom engines, instead of using mainstream engines like Unreal Engine 4 for development. I also feel there is a lot of mismanagement going on at Square-Enix. I mean other companies have given us games with a large amount of content this generation. So why can't Square-Enix do the same? If this was an issue that was affecting every other gaming company you might have a point, but no it seems to just be Square-Enix that has this issue. I just feel like people are giving Square-Enix a break, when there is no reason to defend them since we know other developers have proven they can make content heavy games in less time than Square-Enix does and they end up being fantastic games.

I mean I look at amazing games like God of War and then I look at something as lack luster as Final Fantasy XV, and it becomes obvious that something is wrong at Square. In fact I really think Square has had issues since the HD era began. I mean every game since Final Fantasy XIII has been controversial. I was hoping Square-Enix was finally going to get back to making masterpieces, but this generation is not looking good for them so far. I love Square, but IF Kingdom Hearts III does not deliver, and that's still an IF, the fanbase needs to acknowledge that something has to change at Square-Enix.

Yea I've noticed they seem to do less with more time than other companies. FFXV, FF7: Remake. It's pretty interesting. I still have high hopes for this one though!

 

[mriku90]

This leaker isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. He really went on Twitter to say he didn't steal the game and how that somehow absolves him of blame. Then he promptly goes on about his "precautions" to prevent him from getting busted.

At most he could get fined by SE and Disney for a couple hundred but they cannot target this person against the theft that happened.

I love Square, but IF Kingdom Hearts III does not deliver, and that's still an IF, the fanbase needs to acknowledge that something has to change at Square-Enix.

Square Soft was incredible. Ever since they changed the name to Square-Enix there's been a significant drop in quality. But when it was Square Soft it was literally one of the giant kings of the gaming companies in the world. Because every game they put out was quality, even something like The Bouncer was enjoyable for what it was and a new experience.

I forgot when the change officially happened but it was after KH2 for sure.

 

[notnow123487]

At most he could get fined by SE and Disney for a couple hundred but they cannot target this person against the theft that happened.

He can be liable if he purchased the stolen goods knowing they were stolen, and he knew they were stolen.

 

[mriku90]

He can be liable if he purchased the stolen goods knowing they were stolen, and he knew they were stolen.

Yes he would have to pay a fine but that's it. He won't get much of anything else, not even close to what the actual thief will get.