I have NO idea how to decide which world I'm looking forward to the most. I can say it's not Arendelle, purely because from what they've shown so far the world doesn't have any environments that stand out to me and show anything particularly interesting. They're hiding the Ice Maze so I'm sure that'll be a hoot but at the moment it's not really my most anticipated world.
I'll just explain why I'm so excited to play through all of these worlds and maybe that will help me realise which one I look forward to the most.
With Olympus, it's so much more than just closing off the storyline. The world has us climb the mountain to the Heavens above and there's such a stark difference in the environments that we see throughout that single level. I'm excited to close off the story of Hercules and I'm thrilled to see what Osaka has achieved. The environments look great, the 2D to Unreal Engine 4 looks amazing, and Sora regaining his lost strength in that world is a great way to tie Disney into the actual plot.
Toy Story is a big get. It's been wanted by Nomura since KH1 but implementing it has been a struggle so I'm sure that they understood the juggernaut that they were dealing with when developing the world. It's massive, taking on average 90 minutes to explore Andy's House and two levels of Galaxy Toys. We know there's more behind it so I'm excited to see the other secrets they've hidden away.
The gameplay looks fresh with how it's all been adapted to working as toys. We can jump on plush toys to get a boost, ride robots to activate a first person shooter mini-game, and fight toys corrupted by the Heartless. Having small unlockables tied behind toys like the Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em robots is inspired as well, and the use of the Dragonfly toys to platform your way to chests really makes me reminiscent of Kingdom Hearts 1. Plus the plot of this world is canon to the movies. I'm so excited to see how diddlying balls to the wall Pixar let Nomura get with knowing this is all canon.
Monsters Inc is a toughie because they haven't really shown much from the world! The only time a character from this world has spoken in a publicly released trailer has been Mike at E3 (Randall's English scene was in the Orchestra trailer that wasn't released). From what we've seen though, it looks like they've taken great care to consider what the rest of the Monsters Incorporated building looks like and how it all works together. I'm excited to see references to the film and I really hope that the CDC helping put out the fire means we have more interaction with them (and Roz???).
The oil boss looks fantastic because that's an element the series hasn't tapped into before - and it's devastating because it's during the fire which means you have to be extra careful to not get burnt. It's an original plot and it's set after the film so I'm excited to see how they explain how Boo and Randall are around. The mystery surrounding the world, as well, has me excited.
The Caribbean has such a shake up since we last saw it. We are engaging in navel combat and exploring new lands. Port Royal in KH2 was like three zones with around 4 small rooms per zone. It wasn't inspired, it copied the film, and it was a bugger to traverse. With free reign on the ship (?) we can explore various islands as well as Port Royal itself. I can't wait to see the people living in that town, as well as seeing how it looks fully realised. It'd be AMAZING if we could also purchase ship upgrades in that town as well. Make it feel like we are a part of the world and actual pirates. Plus we get Davy Jones as a boss fight, which is amazing!
It's such an upgrade over the universally disappointing Port Royal world in Kingdom Hearts 2. I think Nomura took the feedback about the world to heart (and no doubt he had the same issues during development back in the day because he usually takes such care with getting characters to blend in and offering reasons for them to blend in so I'm sure how Port Royal was originally done did disappoint him).
San Fransokyo is amazing! I love Big Hero 6 so much so it's nice to see stuff from the film faithfully recreated, such as empty streets at night
. But seriously, I'm happy that all of the team members are there and they are really involved in the big threat of the world. With Dark Baymax having such potential for KH plot revelations and maybe providing Sora with his first clue as to how to purify a Heart from its darkness, I'm excited to see how everything in the world plays out.
I'm thrilled that the original cast is returning (I'm thrilled that Khary Payton is returning as Wasabi because he kills it in the TV series) except for one of the people who I think should not have been asked back. This world is unlike anything done in Kingdom Hearts before and I appreciate how much care has been put into it and why it took so long for it to be properly revealed. There are some areas of the city which look a bit iffy, and I hope that the last few months before going gold had them fix it up, but I'll just be happy with whatever they got done because it's very ambitious.
I would love to know more about the world but unfortunately we will probably have to wait until the game launches next year, so that's a high reason as to why I'm excited for it.
The 100 Acre is very striking with it's visuals. I was surprised that we have a dedicated mini-game world (actually, this hasn't been confirmed yet but it looks likely that it'll follow in the same vein as KH1 and 2) but it'll be nice to have some part of Kingdom Hearts 3 where Sora can kick back and teach Pooh the meaning of friendship.... again. There's not much known about this world so I'm not particularly excited about it, but I certainly appreciate that it has returned. I hope it's a world that is enjoyable and has some good rewards (Bambi summon in KH1 and Cure in KH2 certainly made it worthwhile).
The Kingdom of Corona has me excited because I adore Rapunzel and her world. There's so much to see and do in Corona, and I'm so happy we can explore all of that with Rapunzel. We can explore the city with various NPCs around us, go swimming, and fight themed heartless all across the forests. I'm happy it's following the plot of the movie, but I'm thrilled that they are actually adapting it and twisting it so the main games story is working at the same time. Sora, Donald, and Goofy are involved in what Rapunzel and Flynn are going through, and Marluxia is there actually causing trouble rather than watching from the side lines.
I don't think I can say this is my most anticipated world despite being a big fan of Tangled and Mandy Moore, but that's only because I have no idea how everything in the world all connects together and works. When I have a bigger idea of how a world works I'm excited by the potential it has but Tangled hasn't quite given me that yet. I'll be so happy playing through the world come January 29th though, I know that much.
Unfortunately writing this all out hasn't really given me any clarity. I only rediscovered what I'm excited for in each world and the joy and beauty all of them possess. I will say though, thinking about The Caribbean really made me appreciate the lengths they've gone to this time around to make that world be the best that it can so I think I'll choose that one, but it's all very close.