Sigh, would this game have benefitted from another year in development.

[Soldier]

Before you all get angry, hear me out.

After playing through KH 3, I loved some of the interactions. Toy Box is probably one of my favorite worlds for the sheer amount of enemies and things to do. But as I played, i couldn't help but feel like it's missing something, like a proper ending to everything we've done so far. Without giving anything away it left a sour taste in my mouth and I wound up more frustrated than satisfied. This game reminds me of another disney game I played where characters incessantly talked about EVERY SMALL DETAIL and had a lackluster ending in my eyes. What was that game called again?
Epic Mickey 2
Yeah, i went there, but when you think about it, this game really does feel kind of rushed. especially since this was supposed to end the Xehanort saga and tie everything up nicely. But we don't get any of that and have to wait for KH4. And the worst part is KH 2's ending is STILL more of an ending than KH 3's, everyone's home, the worlds are safe once again, and evil is vanquished. It just doesnt sit well with me how much time was dedicated to the disney worlds and so little to the overarching plot. And don't get me started on the secret boss, there are two bridges in the game, why couldn't gilgamesh appear?

 

[Face My Fears]

I was always a firm supporter in giving Nomura as much time as he needed. I don't think we will ever know if this is the final product that Nomura was happy with or if he was rushed to get something out the door. If this is what Nomura deemed the final product that he was happy with, then I don't have any issue (I enjoyed KH3 thoroughly).

My opinion is that KH3 needed to get out of the way to open the door for future titles. The crazy hype KH3 had, a game just couldn't live up to it, and with that level of hype I think KH3 managed to deliver despite many fans' over-the-top expectations (mine included).

 

[Sign]

Of course it would, especially when you remember that they lost a year of development because of the engine switch. However, I also think it's easy to say things like "I would have been fine waiting another X years" or "they should have spent more time with it" now that we actually have the game in our hands, because the behavior of the fanbase prior to release absolutely does not reflect that line of thinking.

 

[Elysium]

I doubt more time would've changed the problems I have with KH3 (the lack of FF characters, the nonexistent original worlds). And this is all assuming they didn't--wouldn't have--just cut things out to re-sell as DLC later anyway.

 

[SuperNova]

Honestly, I don’t really know how KH3 would benefit from having another year of development. The things that most fans wanted (Including FE characters, a coliseum mode, and better pacing) probably wouldn’t have happened regardless. As I see it Im glad that the bandage has been ripped off and that now we have the game in our hands we can finally move on to a game that won’t suffer from the same massive fan expectations and hype that KH3 had.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

Nah. I mean, sure, it definitely would've changed some things, more time is almost always better, but a lot of flaws come from a distinct mindset they have at the headquarters and a corner Nomura started to back himself into way before KH III.

I guarantee you that even with a year later we would've still heard a bunch of "there wasn't enough time" and looked at Kairi being just as badly implemented.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I don’t think it is worth thinking about this kind of what if. It’s like an exercise in futility. All we have is what we got so we should look to what they should do to try and improve on it.

Yeah, they could have used an extra year but I doubt that would have fixed anything beyond maybe actually getting a bulkier Riku segment. All of the issues I personally had came from what they decided to take out earlier on in development or story things that would have stayed the same regardless because Nojima remains to be the worst thing to happen to Kingdom Hearts.

 

[alexis.anagram]

Unless there's some way they could have added actual drama, stakes and payoff in a year, I'm not sure how the extra development time would have helped with the issues KH3 has.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

I'm just going to wait for what the Final Mix package has in store for us. Square Enix can use that as the perfect opportunity to add in content that was not possible under the development of the game itself.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but DLC post-release may be seperately budgeted from the main game itself, so that can be used to Square Enix's advantage.

 

[NoWay]

I am totally fine with KH3 because I love it as it is. However, I think the only things that would have needed more development time are San Fransokyo, Twilight Town and the Riku segment.
As long as they fix these issues in further DLCs, I am totally fine with it.

 

[Hoarse_Phuqer]

If it's a proper ending you think the game is missing then it's very unlikely an extra year would have made a difference. Nomura had well over a decade to plot out a satisfying conclusion but at the end of the day the fact remains his story telling skills are not up to par. That or he wrote himself into a corner given just how how big of a clusterfuck the plot of the Seeker Saga became.

At most an additional year of development could have served to polish the game further, maybe fill out the worlds a little more, add more detail or expand Twilight Town. Maybe even include all the dlc planned for the game in the final product. The plot would have remained largely the same which is a shame seeing how many fans out there could have come up with a much more satisfying pacing, progression and ending to the story.

Oh what could have been...