Where do I start with this one? As a huge fan of the franchise, I was hyped, ecstatic and excited when I first saw that Kingdom hearts 3 trailer. Sadly the endproduct did not live up to the hype instead, it almost killed the entire franchise.
Regine of terror
That was Square Enix’s current status in the gaming industry. With games such as Final Fantasy 13 / Final Fantasy 15 and beforehand Final Fantasy X2. Everyone and their mothers were looking forward to Kingdom Hearts 3. But, with every trailer they released, we started seeing more and more of stuff we should not be seen gameplay-wise. However, not only gameplay-wise story-wise too. Square Enix where spoiling the heck out of this game.
They left nothing unspoiled. From how to use certain in-game mechanics. To which one they are and how many they are. How many keyblades are there? What they stand for? Where to find them? How to use them? The showed it all. Every level besides the final world of an in-game level you can power up your keyblade. The end result was a mess, it felt like I was playing all of these trailers all over again. There was nothing special anymore nothing exiting nothing interesting. Cause, you knew almost everything that was going to happen before it even happening.
The Art of Storytelling
Square Enix should go back and ask their previous self for how to create a story that actually makes sense. Sadly Kingdom Hearts 3 is not that story. Way too many plotholes that actually makes you question what the hell just happened? How are you able to do this thing? While we just started the game and in the previous game, you never showed any shred of such ability? Why all of a sudden you can go inside this place while previously not being able to do so?
Very rarely are games filled with soo many plotholes. Maybe Square Enix wrote themself into a corner with this one. Also, I am aware of the DLC existence. I just chose not to play it yet cause, to be honest, Kingdom Hearts 3 DLC should have been part of the main game! The fact that they released a DLC means they knew that the story made no sense, they just wanted that extra money.
Final Fantasy characters
Did anyone see any of those? I did not. How do you have a Kingdom Hearts game without any shred of any Final Fantasy cast member? Having Auron being with me during Kingdom Hearts 2 was such a blast. Auron is one of the best characters for me in Final Fantasy X, he is such a badass. And that’s what was missing in Kingdom Hearts 3 final fantasy cast (Moogels do not count) cause, they don’t fight with you. Time and time again Square Enix seems to find ways to remove the identity of what makes a certain game itself.
First, they did that with Final Fantasy 15 summons (How they made it almost impossible to summon in Final Fantasy 15). Now its with kingdom hearts 3 with the Final Fantasy characters nonexistence. (I know they are now with the current DLC. But we all play the Kingdom Hearts games for their Final Fantasy crossover among other things.)
Missed opportunity
Amazing gameplay Kingdom Hearts 3 took everything we wanted/needed from the previous one and made it better. The gameplay is smooth fast-paced and plain fun+ the game looks amazing! But, what? Of course, there was going to be a but you knew it was coming. Why is the game soo damn easy? Also, why can you break the game by having these Disney attractions you can use?
Also, how do these things even work? Tt’s not like you had to learn them, you just use them? It made 0 sense! And then there is this whole post-game content why is it lacking? Why is Sepihroth not in there? Why was he in 1 and 2 but not in 3? How does that even make sense? Instead, we got a lame-ass boss that I defeated while chugging potions no strategy no hardship no satisfaction just a semi mini-boss that hits hard lame.
In short, Kingdom Hearts 3 is a terrible game filled with plotholes, the game is easy, and saturated with too much Disney. That means the game focused too much on Disney, none of the previous games did that. Just when I thought there was no hope left. Cloud out of all freaking people Cloud and Barret came in to save the damn day with that Final Fantasy 7 remake!!!!!
