Thanks for clicking on my video. I appreciate all the support my channel has gotten over the past few months and I plan to keep working hard on more content so that my channel may continue to grow. I have a ton of different things I'm working on and I look forward to sharing it with you guys! Clearly I love KH3 and I hope you all are able to get the same level of enjoyment out of it that I am! Edit: Regarding the ending of this vid, I never said people who dislike this game/were dissapointed by it are wrong or stupid. I mention multiple times how those feelings are of course valid. However, I do say that those who expected KH3 to be EXACTLY what they had imagined for 13 years are indeed idiots.
My heart sunk when I went to RU-vid to see others discuss their love of kingdom hearts 3 only to be hit with the most unfortunate opinions I've seen about games. I do believe a lot of the issue was people forgetting a lot of the prior kh games since one of the biggest complaints I've seen was the ending and xehanorts "out of no where flip from hardcore dark to light from nothing" but it's also been hinted at in previous games that things weren't as simple as light and dark, good and evil even things xehanort said made it pretty clear he wanted people to be able to live without the fear of darkness which sounds more like fighting to help people rather then hurt. Desperation is rough and when you believe it's your only option but suddenly you see physically right in front of you a person who has proven that there is another way of course he is going to be go towards light he no longer needed the darkness as it wasn't the only option. Everytime I see that ending discussion between eraquis, xehanort, and sora it gives me chills. Love it completely 100 out of 10 scene.
I agree with the fact that the Final Fantasy gang wasn't required for the plot of kingdom hearts 3, however with Sora being [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS] it makes sense to have them work with the scientists of Ansem the wise to look for sora
@@johnpantag472 When most people's complaints have to do with expectations people had for the game and a lot of story complaints just don't make sense I'd say the game isn't bad. One of the complaints I see most often is how it's just running through trying to get to the end well that's typically how a conclusion works we have had several several games of set up why do we need even more we had a lot of the info we needed. Another xehanort switched sides out of no where wasn't out of no where when there's things layered throughout the games that it's not as simple as light good dark bad xehanort says he wants a world where people live without fear out darkness obviously not a word for word quote but it very much shows that he's not doing this for the sake of being evil. There's hints of this pre kh3 and makes xehanort go from an evil villain to a person who believes they are in the right which is a very big difference. Even if you don't want to believe it's been hinted that xehanort isn't exactly fighting to let darkness take over everything just to be controlled by people then you can go towards the later games when they start talking about how too much light is just as bad as too much darkness and that's not just some lie which highly doubtful then xehanort was trying to balance things out the entire time which doesn't make him evil for the sake of being evil. If it's gameplay that you believe is bad that's just wrong other then the keyblade transformations but that's about it. Yes he bashed some other kh games mainly kh2 which I don't exactly agree with the bashing but it also isn't fully wrong kh2 has issues just like each of the games does. If we want to be completely honest as kh fans then the worst kh game story wise would be kh1 ebecause of basically nothing of importance to the actual story recoded bringing up the book of prophecies is more important then most of what happens kh1 yet no one is saying kh1 is a bad game. You may dislike kh3 that's fine everyone is entitled to there opinion but it doesn't make it correct objectively kh3 is a great game people just didn't want a conclusion or don't know how a conclusion to a story works.
@@tbenigma4817 It's best to not to interact with him. He's known to go on KH3 videos, regardless if the topic is about praising or bashing on the game, and spout out his hate and attack anyone who likes KH3. He also spews misinformation by saying stuff like this. He said this video gave him the vibe of bashing on other games to make KH3 look superior when the guy said he's not doing that and defended the game and brought up the points without doing that. He's just plain salty just because others like KH3.
Between this and KingK’s video, it’s nice to see some genuine defenses for this game pop up more frequently. Obviously, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it gets so annoying when people just have to say you’re wrong for liking this game, or they have to say “KH3 could never” whenever something positive is said about another KH game, usually KH2. I know the people who love KH3 can be equally annoying sometimes, but it’s seemingly never even close to the same frequency. I just wish everyone would get over themselves. As for the video itself, I only really have two major bits of criticism. The first one is that I do think you should have brought up the gummi ship. It’s easily the most fleshed out it’s ever been. Heck, we even have super-bosses and an Einhander reference. My other criticism relates to Xehanort. While I do agree that they could have fleshed him out more in KH3 itself, it was established in BbS that he thought he was in the right. He talks about a “precious light to be found” while talking with Eraqus, and his journal entries go into more details on his thoughts. He’s never really been a two-dimensional villain, even if he can sometimes come across that way. Otherwise, the video was really great and you said many things I’ve been thinking for years. It was a pleasure to watch.
Tbh i watched a friend playing it and seeing the spammable attraction moves come back from DDD was enough to turn me off the game and the series as a whole
That means more ppl don’t like the game then do and it’s not for no reason. What’s do u want those who didn’t like the game to not voice our opinion if u love the game you are in the minority. Kh3 got all warranted hate it’s not for no reason
I was a Kingdom Hearts 3 hater until I saw the error of my ways and have seen the light. This game does not deserve all the hate that it gets from the fandom.
This community is just a big echo chamber of casual people that like to repeat the same shit regardless of how wrong they are. All the memes about Donald not healing make me cringe because he actually heals and if he's not healing you then he's got no magic or you're not low enough and if you care that much you can set him to only prioritize healing you. Anyway kh3 is the best kh game 2 is second best (lol)
agreed. personally i'm not a KH3 "hater" perse, when i played it i thought it was..... fine. it was absolutely incredibly overhyped and is not getting a second playthrough from me, and the story, which is the only reason this game is worth playing in the first place, was lackluster at best. the ending was a little disappointing that it left on a fucking cliffhanger which is very frustratingly unsatisfying. but kh3 is a different game compared to KH1 and KH2. it was created by the same people that made BBS, which is a completely different team with a completely different combat style. i think it's a little unfair to compare KH3 to its predecessors. KH3 is a better BBS in my opinion, with a lot more movement options and abilities to customize your playstyle. i think the only thing that personally pissed me off was it's piss-poor launch, however i can look past that because they've fixed a lot of the community's initial gripes with the game. lack of critical mode, enormous amount of bugs, an absolute garbage pile of the fucking disney attractions that were so incredibly annoying and free to spam at will.
@@mac_sour Bugs? What are you talking about? The game didn't have any Bugs when it first released. What kind of bugs are you even talking about? Bug Bloxs?
49:12 The reason why they have memories of the future and then not is simply because they come from the future into their old bodies. They merge and because you can't change the past (normally) they get the same memories as their old bodies they get into. Basically everything they know from the future gets overwritten in a few minutes or seconds. Really good video though. You are doing the exact right stuff. You criticize what is to criticize and I think you are right at the most points there and you praise was there is to praise. Thank you for this. You speak out of my soul^^
That makes sense, I always figured it was kind of like one of those deams you'll almost immediately forget if you're not actively focusing on it, and obviously seeing terra and whatnot would definitely take away my focus
@@jib-o-jub4643 I'm not sure exactly where it was mentioned but it must be in DDD. I guess it was in the context that Young Xehanort will just live his normal life without knowing about the future after DDD.
You do not understand how much I've waited for someone else to not only have these thoughts, but explain them perfectly in a medium that even the most fervent hater can understand. I waited 13 years for Kingdom Hearts 3 and when I finally got to play it, I genuinely cried at the title screen. It was the most beautiful and fun gaming experience I have to date and somehow the world hates its because "it's too disney" and "Not true to the kingdom hearts formula." Thank you so much for this video essay, I've never been happier seeing another fan fight tooth and nail for this game❤
Tbh I get the "it's too disney" complaint. I would never want Disney worlds removed, but I did find the lack of FF disappointing. That being said KH3 is still my favorite in the series after playing all of them back to back, so I do think it's overhated. Disney worlds are at their absolute best in this game though, and I hope they continue it going forward.
Absolutely. The feeling of first putting in the KH3 disc and saying to myself "damn, this is real, it finally happened" was honestly like a dream come through. But the entire first experience was had through a pair of pretty rosy glasses. I wanted the game to be good, but I just couldn't hang. It's not a bad game. It's just a bad Kingdom Hearts game. They lost the plot over the past 13 years because they've been building a different plot that isn't Kingdom Hearts. If you look at KH3 from the standpoint of purely technical experience and child-like wonder, it's fine. But that's not what makes a series into a series. It's the overarching plot that actually reminds us that this game is part of the same IP it gets its name from. In that department, Kingdom Hearts 3 absolutely falls flat on its face.
@hadouradiance3566 Not only that, but the Disney Worlds had *NOTHING* to do with the plot. Throughout the journey, Sora is trying to find the power of waking. When he makes into Ventus' heart, Sora asks Ventus how he should obtain said power of waking to which Ventus responds, "You just gotta believe." If that was really all Sora had to do, then there should not have been anything stopping us from saving Ventus.
I think that the only real issue that I had with this game was the amount of times that characters would bodyblock attacks in cutscenes while having a perfectly good keyblade already in their hand
I feel like the Ultima was so much cooler looking in kh1. I mean I prefer kh2 in terms of gameplay but even the one in 2 was worse. Though kh3 ultima is atrocious. Edit: (RU-vid autocorrected it to ultimate lol)@@Fiiilll3
Great video, although I'd like to point out regarding Xehanort's final speech there's a mistranslation in the English version, he doesn't want to make a world of light, but rather a world without either light or dark to end the cycle which is closer to his stated goal in BBS of balance. Or as Nomura put it in an interview "His motivation [dissatisfaction with the world] remains the same, but his method [from forcing a balance to total reset] has changed between games"
Those “dark moments.” Are exactly what made KH Special and non-cheesy feeling. Those thunderstorms of complete darkness and grief made the lightness of sora and the concept of “light” in general more prophetic and profound. Xion’s death, Roxas’s sacrifice, and BBS’s endings added a coat of darkness that complimented the light so well. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad the BBS crew is back because they never really died (just had tragic cliffhangers) but Xion and Roxas coming back in such a lazy way is so bad it hurts. I cried during the 358 ending and I wanted KH to get that deep again but it never did. Even if the disney worlds were meh in the other games, the story (when focused) was always amazing.
I agree. Ventus waking up to finish his arc makes sense but the sea salt trio shouldn’t have come back. Their Story arc was that they wanted to be together as friends, they could have achieved that in a different way, Perhaps as ghosts in the afterlife? But I will say it was cute how they finally went to the beach together, even though the story didn’t bring much that to attention that
I can see both sides of the coin but playing through 8 consecutive 2 hour + disney worlds isn't enjoyable to me. The main reason I dislike the game will always be the pacing with a lack of narrative driven gameplay features. The disneyworlds are the best they've ever been, and I would've enjoyed them a lot for about an hour or two shorter seperate visits like in all the other games. On a seperate note; I think another big issue for me (which isn't really KH3's fault) is that through all the other games, Sora isn't my favourite character anymore (not even my protaganist in the series I guess). So when all the other characters got their happy ending it made me uneasy because I've been playing with this bloke just to get to their parts of the story and it felt rushed.
@@brightwolfz I look at BBS and DDD as split visits as well because you get the full story of the world through multiple visits by different characters, even though each character visits the world only once.
@@AxelRoxasXionKH I feel that's a fair take. So, uh, fair enough. To be honest, I would also like the visits to be split up a little as I always like coming back to earlier worlds with more tools and stuff. I think that is why I partially count BBS and DDD as all one visit as it feels more like you are playing the same one large experience once over as the level of power doesn't really change between the three (or two) visits you go there. It's almost like doing a second run or second campaign as compared to revisiting a world. Kind of like how in CoM, I wouldn't call all of Riku's worlds second visits, I would just call them a second playthrough of the game with a different character. Although, I think the way you view it is also a very fair assessment when it comes to games like BBS and DDD.
@@brightwolfz Also, Traverse Town is a multiple visit world in KH1 and KH3D. There's really just no place to ground the player because it's just one disjointed adventure to the next in KH3.
I played kh3 before watching any critic viedeos and it felt MAGICAL to play it. I literally felt like a kid playing kh1 again. No game made me feel this passionate about it in a long while. Then i did watch the long critic essays to see what they mean. Honestly it's just really about what someone values most in a game. For me artistic value is the most important. And it fulfilled me to the max. Most bad opinions come from people that need a specific type of combat to even consider a game playable.
Thank you for this. For the longest time I've felt like I was one of the very few people who unironically loved this game the moment I was finally able to play it, so to say that this video makes me feel vindicated is an understatement.
I feel horrible about KH3. I didn't have a PS4/Xbox1 when it launched so I watched the cutscenes and loved the story, I thought it was exactly what I'd wanted out of a conclusion to the KH series. Then I went onto the internet and was somehow immediately pulled into "KH3 is trash" mentality. Zoom forward to the PC release and I play KH3 for the very first time and loved it. It's now my most replayed title beating out KH1 and it's 13 rereleases. It became my first platinum trophy when I got a PS5 and the all-in-one collection. I find KH3 to be the best in the series and wish the hate for it would stop much like you. Also the leveling system and stealth missions are amazing in days and I will die on that hill
53:23 So glad u brought up this point. Dark Road expands on this a lot more, but the whole point is that Xehanort is blinded by his pride and self-righteousness since he quite literally believes that he's the chosen one who will bring light to the world, not realising, or perhaps being wilfully ignorant of the fact, that he's causing the darkness to take hold far more than it had due to his obsession. I honestly view it as much better than having him be a moustache-twirling villain who was just excited by old stories. It helps contextualise the non-chalant attitude he possesses throughout the series, he genuinely believes he's right, using the ends to justify the means. KH3 doesn't deserve anywhere near the hate it gets. It is not perfect by any means but calling it a waste of effort really reflects how spoiled I think some members of the fandom are. It's fine if its not your cup of tea but acting like the game has no redeeming qualities and is just a lazy effort that doesn't try is just rude considering the literal years of passion and creativity that were poured by so many people into the game.
I'm one of those people who waited a long time for this game and also thought about what could happen in this game for years. But it honestly not only met my expectations, but exceeded them as well. This is honestly my favorite entry in the series. So many satisfying payoffs, such incredibly fun combat, tons of memorable scenes, an amazing OST across the board, and as a massive Disney fan I've never been more blown away by the worlds in the series than in this game. I felt like I was having an religious experience lol. And I'm so glad that I'm seeing more and more people actually showing their love for the game and understanding what it is rather than what it's not. Small correction on one thing though. Nomura actually was the one who included Let It Go in the game ( which honestly I want more musical numbers to be recreated after watching that ) and how the story in the world was told, not Disney. He's actually the one who ultimately gets to decide what happens in the Disney worlds. The only thing Disney Animation had a hand in was the visuals of the world, and that's basically it ( to my knowledge at least ). It's unfortunately a too common misconception that Nomura has no control over the Disney stuff. But that's just wrong. I mean he literally said that KH3 won't happen if he can't use Toy Story. The man knows what he's doing.
I want to thank you for making this video. I honestly love kh3 despite its flaw and it's honestly one of my favorite kingdom hearts games (heck it's one of my favorite games of all time). This game was just so much fun and I absolutely love the story. This game in my opinion didn't deserve that much hate that it had gotten. Kh3 is amazing and I'm excited for kh4.
Tbh, my only complaint was the story before getting to Aqua, there was no reason we couldn’t start in another mission or as Riku and Mickey to give Sora time to recover
You have made my day. Thank you so much for making this video. I agree with everything you said. Hell, you even made me change my mind about the "floaty" combat. Of course its floaty! Most of the enemies are larger or in the air. It makes sense for you to be able to stay in the air after a combo finisher.
Honestly you’ve gotta watch that waste of effort video if you havent(I haven’t seen your video yet but I am looking forward to your arguments!). It has a hyperbolic title to attract attention but the video is FULL of valid critiques.
I genuinely felt that rant at the end, and I agree with it, KH3 isn't my favorite but I still loved it, and I do get sick of seeing the disingenuous trash talking I see online
Loved this vid and i had a thought involving the FF cast. Imagine if there were hidden side quest involving an aspect that relates to a character in each world. (Clouds coming to terms with who he is, Squall stepping forward as a reluctant leader, or even more fitting Cecil forsaking his darkness to save those he loves and cares for.) All of which ends with you getting to summon them to fight with you (like Simba) with the finisher being a team up between that character and Sora doing a sudo version of that characters most popular move.
"Never felt so out of touch with public opinion" Man... I've been struggling with how to articulate this exact sentiment, but you summed it up so well. This is EXACTLY how I feel about KH3. It wasn't my favorite game in the franchise, maybe Top 3. But I have felt like it didn't remotely deserve the hate it got because at the end of the day, it's STILL Kingdom Hearts, it STILL offers us that unique gameplay you can only find in this series. It's STILL convoluted and intricate and presents more questions than answers by the end. I think people just let their expectations grow to heights that no game could ever live up to, as a result of some of us waiting literally since KH2 for the next numbered release.
If you are going to wax philosophical about why people didn't like this game, which rarely includes "it wasn't exactly what I pictured in my head" Then you should have no problem accepting getting brushed off as a fan boy.
Although I didn't agree with all your points here, I acknowledge how well crafted and genuine this video is, which earned my like. Though I will say that the AskYourUncle video was genuinely a pretty good video. Yes it's a clickbait thumbnail and title and yes it's 5hrs long. He even acknowledges a few times in the video how stupid long it is lol (although not exactly weird that someone would put that much time into a video essay about a game they found disappointing since they love the series just saying). But he said that if the game seems good or even perfect in your eyes then that's perfectly fine. He wasn't trying to get other people to hate the game or anything. It's just him the game is not all that good. He made valid points in the video and unlike what most people may think, he didn't spend the entire video shit talking the game. He gave the game genuine praises at points, even during the base game. He even talks about KH2 and the flaws that game has despite being one of his favorite games, but most people wouldn't know that. I didn't even agree with him on every point he made, but most were legitimate points talking about the story's pacing, the story itself, the combat and the game's writing. All that good stuff. My opinion on 3... Finna just keep it "short". I liked it at first but the more I played it the more I started disliking how the game feels in terms of combat flow but that's just me. The main story I feel was not well written and the bad voice direction does not help it at all. Long awkward pauses, very slow talking, and terrible delivery on certain lines. All that good stuff. It also feels like the actual plot of the game starts when you've finished all the Disney worlds. Xehanort not using the 7 princesses as his main plan was something I always thought was stupid. The data battles and yozora are the highlights of 3 for me gameplay wise. Though I did enjoy some elements of the base game. Shit this getting a bit too long. "Finna just keep it short" btw lol Tldr: you can enjoy the game all you want. If you like it then I'm happy for you. I on the other hand have grown a slight disliking towards it as time went on. I don't think it's bad.... (anymore) I think the game's okay at best. But very mid for the most part. Both sides are in the wrong when it comes to the debates defending and slandering the game. We'll just have to agree to disagree. KH4 looking pretty cool though Thanks for listening to my Talk Ted
AskYourUncle’s video being used as an example of how not to review something (from the video man here) is ironic, seeing how in the same opening for this video, he claims that people calling the game “bad” and leaving it at that are making reductionist claims. Strange.. so it’s reductionist to say that a game is bad without extensive elaboration, but then someone actually elaborating because they have a lot of thoughts to say is somehow voicing their opinion “wrong?” Very strange.
Let’s be real for a second…even the people that don’t like KH3 are also some of the biggest stans. For every one person that dislikes KH3 and played it once, that same person has played KH2 10 times lol
57:30 I like to think Cloud and Sephiroth after disappearing into the light ended up in the world of smash brothers only for Sora to join up with them after disappearing at the end of 3, only to wake up in Quadratum after the world of light stuff ended. lol
My main problem with Kingdom Hearts III is the lack of resolution in the game. The only resolutions we got was finally getting an end to the Darkseeker Saga and the Birth By Sleep characters and Roxas getting a come back, other than that everything else was a massive sequel bait. Also I know this is clichè as this point to say but, Arendelle was pointless and contributed nothing. The way how they also did Kari dirty in this game has bothered me as well. Understandable that she (and also Lea/Axel) weren't Keyblade masters but they were just treated as plot items to say "look we have our seven lights".
That’s the serial storytelling formula that exists since the first game. Some answers are revealed and it also sets up new plot points. The whole series is guilty of this. Not just kh3. At least kh3 had multiple plot resolutions that concluded multiple character arcs. As far as Kairi and lea, how do you feel about the REMIND DLC, that gives them both multiple chances to shine and addresses the very things you’re talking about, like seeing Lea fight with all the guardians, seeing Kairi and Lea fight Xemnas and Xion, and playing as Kairi with Sora against Xehanort. At least in the DLC, they do address those criticisms.
7:42 Another very useful feature to Dual Arrowguns is that you get access to the Dual-Casting Style which lets you cast multiple spells in one. At base Fire it's only two but when you're at Firaga it's now six and when you do Firaza it's eight Firazas coming at them. So damn good.
@@you-mustenter-a-name1467I do agree they are very poorly balanced in the way of balancing and world design (although I will admit I appreciate DDD’s focus on verticality in some places). That said, I think it’s the command deck that makes them stand out in terms of raw gameplay. It’s extremely unbalanced gameplay even on harder difficulties, but it’s the creativity of the system that makes them work for me personally.
I'm not fine with the use of "Kingdom Hearts 3 Was A Waste Of Effort" by AskYourUncle in the given context. He explained quite well why the title was what it was, to the point where I actually watched the whole thing twice even though I agreed with his stances from the start. Granted, I love KH3, but, while still calling it one of my favorites of all time, it was a waste of effort. 59:36
Calling a game like this “a waste of effort” is one of the dumbest and most bad faith things you can possibly say about it, regardless of what his point was
The title of the video makes it sound a lot more negative than it actually is. Ultimately, the video is pretty level-headed and not overly negative. I think it makes a lot of good points and is so much more than what the title says it is. It's just the whole "RU-vid Title Metagame" thing completely screwing it over.
Phenomenal video. I fully watched Kingk's and this video in its entirety, only thing missing was the gummi ship but its whatever. You said everything that needed to be said. This game was effort put to good use and now paves the road to kh4!
Saying things are "great" "perfection" "well-designed" is not going to do much to convince people that don't already agree with you. I did agree with some of your positive points, but they really didn't change my overall negative outlook of the game because they didn't really touch on what I hated so much about it.
yeah, I was looking for someone here in the comments that felt the same, this guy relies a bit too much on saying things are good "objectively" and leaving it at that
I’m happy to see a recently wave of positivity towards KH3 after having to deal with so many biased slander videos towards the game for not being this “specific game” for people for a few years. It more than earns its place to stand alongside KH1 and KH2!
I loved kh3 too. The only issue I had was story related. I didn't play all the side games since they were spread across systems I never owned. RU-vid was very helpful there. I also think the story suffered somewhat for having to tie up so many loose ends. Otherwise the gameplay was awesome. And my 4 year old loves watching me play, which is a lot of fun!
I hope you get everything you want in life, I really didn’t understand why it had so much hate. They did have to restart with the Engine they probably had so many other Ideas. Thank you for speaking on this.
OK, when you are defending DLC for adding context and content that could and should have been in the original/base game; you aren't allowed to tell people that they aren't supposed to be angry or call them dumb. I had this game preorded and played it to near 100% when it came out; but when I got to the ending, it was a massive let down and felt kinda pissed that so much was left open ended so that I would need to buy Kingdom Hearts 4 to see how Sora's and Kari's story may end (which it probably won't). And yes I was also really annoyed that after a year of being let down with that cliffhanger of a ending that I could get a little more content for the low price (equal to half the games value) of $30. As a fan of Kingdom Hearts since the first game, it felt really shitty and disrespectful for fans who wanted to see resolutions to the Kingdom Hearts instead of bait for what is to come next in the series. Also the way how you are criticizing the "KH3 Sucks" videos are parallel to the criticisms you have; those videos have stated the games modes outside of Critical are too easy; and you can button mash to win; the same way how even you described.
Do you feel the same way about the final mix versions of kh1, kh2, and KH bbs? In those games you had to buy the game twice to get the extra bosses, epilogues, and endings that weren’t in the original releases. But only if you could import them in Japan since they didn’t release overseas. Finally they brought them onto overseas with the ps3 hd remixes. But then the performance and loading times sucked. So you had to buy them again on ps4 to get good performance and low loading times. So in those games you had to re-buy the full priced games at least 2-3 times to get the best experience. KH3 you only had to buy dlc which wasn’t even the actual games ending, just added more context to it, you didn’t need to buy it.
@@Erikthedood I think the Final Mix crap was stupid too. I never understood why people say "Oh just play Final Mix for the _real_ content" and not recognizing how abhorrent it is that they sold us a game without the end game content and stuff that Final Mix had in the original release!! I have the same issue with KH3, after SO many years since the PS2/PSP era, I thought we'd be over this but no, yet again buying extra content to make the overall game feel complete, *again.* I hated it with KH1/2 Final Mix, same with BBS, and I still hate it with KH3. Just release the base game with the standard you set in the series prior and build up from there, or stay consistent.
Thanks to you im going the buy the 1.5+2.5 collection for pc and KH 3 Re:mind, what a way to reignite my love for Kingdom Hearts.... Thanks man, cant wait for kingdom hearts 4, no matter how much time passes i will eagerly await for one of my favorite game series
Thank you chief. Thank you for reminding me that I wasn't the only one of the VERY few who actually played this game, and payed attention to its developments in characters, theming, emotional upbringings, and gameplay complexities. I felt like a crazy person when this game first released because I was absolutely enTHRALLED by what Numora and the team brought to the table. This game is not perfect, far from it, but calling it "bad" is just asinine and ignorant. I've played a lot of games in my time, and I know what a bad game looks and feels like, Kh3 isnt even remotely close, and I can only feel sorry for all of the people that never truly let this game show what its got. I also cant help but believe that a lot of the problem stems from the fact that a lot of people hopped on after not playing MOST of the series because they were believed to be "side-games," so they were just left confused, but thats their own fault, and I hope this series going forward doesn't suffer for that. Well done video, keep going holmes.
There’s worse,I saw one review that complained that the game didn’t made any sense and when pushed a little, the reviewer said that he skipped all cutscenes. Granted, it’s a game, I’m the first one to say that gameplay is the most important element of a game (and KH3 rocks in that regard too) but come on, KH is mostly a story based game, an RPG y’know…
@@islandboy9381 if they were newer fans they had access to the story so far and all in one collection that put yknow the entire story all onto the ps4 minus extra bits in khux that didnt make it into back cover. So the scattered console release really shouldn't have been a problem for newer fans, older ones yes but thats a different situation
as regular pat has mentioned before regarding the wall sheen, there’s an alternate universe where the devs didn’t include it and everyone was confused & pissed about not knowing which walls are walkable, and for once im glad to be in this universe where they included a wall sheen… the man convinced me
Oh you touched on things that are so relevant when it comes to Xehanort. Check out Dark Road and his character will make even more sense. I used to think the same too, that he is a 2 dimensional character. But when it all connects, it's just.. AHH. This can be said to Kingdom Hearts in general tbh. The satisfaction and enjoyment is when all of the things connect and things are recontextualized
The fact is that Kh3 is middling and does deserve the hate it gets. It was over hyped and relatively short and lackluster for that decade+ wait. Graphics were amazing, the voice acting was done right, the sounds weren't off and the gameplay was fun for what it was. But things that held it back and caused it to get negative reviews is the story being a mess and not worth the decade+ wait for that finale, the game play wasn't as fun as kh2 and 3ds, and the length of the game was hella short for what was supposed to end an almost 20 year long story. The game was such a mess story and length wise that they had to make a dlc that was basically a patch to try and pad game time and fill in the story gaps but it wasn't enough and was overpriced for the experience we got from it. The mods basically make the experience now and is what people will remember it for now.
As someone who hates KH3, after this video, I still hate KH3 honestly. Not attacking you or your perspective, but as convoluted and confusing as the Kingdom Hearts story is (and the criticisms of that story are 100% valid) KH3's storytelling is nonsensical at best and downright lazy at worst. In KH1 felt like the world visits were building up to an overarching plot and everpresent threat. For 9/10 worlds in KH3, the Overarching plot and everpresent threat is completely forgotten about in favor of the trinity gang involving themselves into whatever the local problem is, to the point that Sora keeps forgetting why he even came to the world in the first place just to be told "Your power of waking is in another castle -- i mean world". This would be fine in a game about a 14 year old orphan boy looking for his friend and the adventure of the greater universe, not in the final climactic battle between light and dark for the fate of reality that 13 years of Spinoff filler prepared us for. The game we were promised doesn't start till Keyblade graveyard and then it ends an hour and half later. Im also not a huge fan of the combat system since BBS onward, it feels super floaty, animations lock for way too long. Also not a huge fan of driveforms being the only mechanic from previous games not to return in a meaningful way, Keyblade forms are close but they still dont represent the risk vs reward gamplay loop that KH2 really mastered. That being said, the mod community saved this game for me. Light and Darkness mod plus the KH2 combat redesign mods make the game legitimately enjoyable for me from a combat perspective because the actual combat encounters are really well designed. All in all, I dont hate people for liking this game, I envy them, I waited 13 years to play this game and hated it, I wish I didn't.
DAMN!!! At the end he turned into John Moschitta Jr. He talked really damn fast. Unless it was sped up, which likely isn’t the case since the music stays at the same speed.
I think the biggest point against KH3 is that it starts in the middle of a story. It’s the Endgame to Dream Drop Distance’s Infinity War. While the first two games could stand alone as relatively self-contained stories, KH3’s relies heavily on the games that come before it. For people who haven’t played 3D in advance or had to wait so many years for this narrative like they did in real life, I could see how they’d be disappointed. That being said, this type of story isn’t automatically bad. Just look at “Return of the King” or the aforementioned Endgame. Final act surprise can still be really great and satisfying.
If players were disappointed because they foolishly skipped Dream Drop that's on them. They should have learned their lesson after skipping CoM before 2 like a good chunk people did back in the day.
Dude only the first game works as a standalone story, if you play KH2 as your first game or even without playing CoM, you won't understand why Sora is sleeping or how did he end up on a chamber and why the Organization XIII didn't have 13 members at that time or how Riku and Mickey got out the realm of darkness I think even BBS expects you to know the basics of what a Keyblade is
the only things i dont like about kh3 is the fact that every disney world is just a 1:1 recreation of the movies (except for toy box and monstropolis) and barely tie in the actual story of kh into these worlds. on top of that, the game didnt rlly feel like the story was starting until all the disney worlds were completed. i also think the combat is alot worse than kh2
If you're a mega fan then that's fine. But the story and the way it was paced is objectively horrendous. They jammed then entirety of the plot into the the ending and to understand vital portions of the story you had to buy the DLC. For example, to understand how bad the pacing was you can visit just about any world where there is an Organization member sighting, if they did appear at all or had any dialogue, it would not matter towards the entirety of the story. Knowing they were there is all we needed to know and the dialogue they gave Sora was just the same foreshadowing. At the least, the game needed a mid-point map, similar to Hollow Bastion's introduction that turned the story for a loop. Just like in KH1 when Sora finally met Riku again and you learn vital information like him turning evil or Sora not being the true wielder of his Keyblade.
What you say about the pacing is the same problem every game in this series has, including KH1 and KH2. The “midpoints” you speak of serve as simple spectacle distractions to fool you into thinking the actual plot is happening yet. In actuality, nothing like that happens until the end, in every single game. So you have to apply that criticism to the whole series equally. At least KH3 just had you do everything from Point A to Z, instead of padding out revisits that serves little purpose or plot relevance, other than spectacle to distract you from the fact that nothing story wise has really happened yet. By the way, Hollow bastion isn’t the “mid point,” of KH1, it’s more like the “80% of the game is done,” point. You didn’t need the DLC to understand the game’s ending either, if anything it over explained the plot *again* to the point that I almost feel like I’m being explained to like I’m stupid, which maybe it’s necessary because some people still don’t understand a plot of a Disney game made for children. Excluding the xaldin fight, organization 13 shows up pretty much exactly as they do in the Disney worlds in kh2 in kh3. So, not getting that point.
I honestly prefer kh3 to most other games in the series. Now I am biased since it was my introduction to it, but it’s mostly just cause of the movement. Kh2 had an amazing story and I loved playing it, but it hurt my soul when I couldn’t do any of the movement options presenting in kh3 and made the game so much more difficult since I had gotten accustomed to the high mobility and the fun of it while in the early kh games you get handed a stick and some rollerblades lol
Kingdom hearts 3 didn’t hit the nail on the head for me and clearly others. I’m glad you were able to connect with it. The game does some things great. Overall combat is super fun but the game was way to easy on proud mode. I’ll have to give critical a try sometime. I also liked most of the Disney worlds but I do wish they had more of a synthesis in design between KH1 and 2. What I mean by that is have the improved movement or KH2 but include platforming to compliment the movement which KH1 had some platforming. It’s hard to say in a RU-vid comment but I think a metroidvania approach of unlocking abilities that allow you to backtrack and progress to new areas with new movement that you unlocked ie glide, or double jump/air dash or even the trinity symbols from KH1. Last few points why kingdom hearts 3 doesn’t work. The final fantasy characters are absent and they always added a little extra charm to the ridiculous cross over that the series is based on. I really would have liked a final fantasy world although from what I understand the reason the final fantasy cast is spread amongst the other worlds is because the heartless destroyed theirs in the first game either way I wish they returned in this game. Lastly for me and others the story doesn’t land on its feet by the end. I understand that’s a hard task to start since KH2 tried to tie everything up and for the most part did so acceptably. It’s not like the spin off games had bad stories though I personally think 358/2 days has a very emotionally. Dense story and birth by sleep does a great job of connecting 3 different stories together with unique perspectives for each character. I’ll just wrap up by saying kingdom hearts 3 isn’t bad but it is missed potential for me and many other fans. I’ll give critical mode a shot though and maybe I’ll appreciate it more.
When I first played kh3 I was disappointed. But as time went on, and seeing the depth of story in the phone game. It became more than disappointment. Kh3 misses on every beat, and it's so sad cause some of them are simple fixes the magic "improvements" would have been so much better with just a little effort from the story to explain it. And that would have helped with the story issues throughout the different levels. The same with the Disney rides, if those had to been collected and unlocked as part of a quest for Donald it would made the using then so much more satisfying, as well as explaining where they came from. But the poor story telling, and lack of depth, as well as changing character motivation was what I couldn't get past. Kingdom hearts has always had complicated lore and story issues. But every game up to dream drop was interesting and held my attention. But kh3 was just so lacking. I think though the major “problem” with kh3 is that I'm not 14 anymore and gaming has changed. Square talked about how they wanted kh3 to be accessible to younger generations. But all the Kingdom hearts fans I know are millennials. I'm not saying that kh3 needed to be like the last of us. But it should have realized that it's for fans are millennials and we wanted a slightly more mature game. And it's frustrating to see that more mature story telling in a phone game. Kingdom hearts has been setting up Roxas to be the missing part needed to wake ventus up for a long time and then sora just points his keyblade and problem solved. The terra reveal should have so amazing, but because of the poor storytelling up to that point I felt nothing. It was a cool detail, but it had no punch cause nothing else paid off. Nothing matters until sora saves the day. What's truly frustrating is that there was an amazing story to be told in kh3 it should have had tragedy, betrayal, touching moments of reunion, mind blowing reveals, and reversal of fortune. Yes there should be happy endings, but there needed to be some sacrifices to make that happiness feel earned. Xion’s sacrifice in 358 shouldn't have just been undone. Aqua should have been giving more time to shine, the same for riku. Your point about people missing what was going on with aqua is valid. But it's easy to miss cause we spend no time with her. We aren't really given any time with any of the other characters, they get tiny little moments. Aqua gives a nice speech about what she will do in the realm of darkness at the end of 0.2 and she seems the same until she is thrown in the dark lake, then comes dark aqua only to be saved by Sora and then she just stands to be taken out by the demon tide. The way you describe how she is feeling is how it should have presented in the base game. kh3 should have been like infinity war, and we needed to spend more time with the different characters. if killing kairi was something they wanted to do there was so many better ways to do it. Kh3 just misses in the worst ways and it shouldn't. Kingdom hearts deserved better than what kh3 was. And I would like to think that square is capable of better. That said you made a good video. I disagree with most of it. But still your points were well reasoned. And I don't think the fact people disagree with it hate a game should take away from your enjoyment. I love final fantasy 13. It's a bad game and has so many story issues. But still I love it.
@@joshuafears4123 i completely agree, even after the break down on how the dlc builds more to the story. I don’t see myself paying 40 bucks for that tbh. I tried replaying and nah.. rather play remake
TL:DR - game doesn't suck, but the ins-and-outs of the story irked me too much to ignore. Like many things, KH3 was indeed victim of internet hyperbole. To me, it was disappointing in areas that I can easily point out; down to voice lines and direction. In fact, I myself will die on the hill of my own opinion that everything from when the group first engages Terranort, straight up to where LW shows up the second time around, is like the worst part of the game's story. There are several things I hate about that part that are too numerous to go into. I am just big on story, writing and scene direction; the latter of which is often overlooked. Some of the more common things like Disney world issues or pacing I can somewhat agree with most people, but don't feel as strongly about. But even the videos I see that agree with the sentiment that the game is disappointing often go too far in areas. I mean I get that content's gotta be in-your-face and extreme hot-take material, but people love to exaggerate. For the record, I haven't even been a Kairi fan since after KH2. Since then, I've just been observing to see how they either butcher or improve the likes of her, or Riku or any of the original characters. And it's the feeling that hits upon seeing Kairi kidnapped again, that overshadows any other experience of negativity in the writing that I've had in past games of the series. Which wasn't even helped when they tried to do something with her in the DLC. Honestly I can't even say that my disappointment for KH3 was based on me thinking they would do something specific and them not doing it. Even if I went into KH3 without having played any of the other games, there's still a lot I'd have ripped on it for. It's a disappointment based solely on the expectation that what they chose to give us would be executed as well as it could possibly be. I can praise the SDG interactions, I can praise the organization's more charismatic members, I can praise certain payoffs, I can praise combat, soundtrack, level design etc. I'm even fine with how things wrapped up with Xehanort as it was consistent with lines from BBS which people often overlook. But as a total package I can only say I had a more net enjoyable time with previous main entries (not DDD), cause their writing didn't ever appall me *as much* as KH3 or MoM did. And yes, FF characters do have a part to play in that net enjoyment. Cause for better or worse, the hype levels when new FF characters show up just provide more serotonin than listening to Xehanort explain time travel, or playing minigames with Pooh, or even hearing Aqua tell Ven good morning. Anyway, -KH fans- Square fans forgive a shit-ton of writing and direction quirks. Quirks which I also notice in other recent Square games nowadays. But I just can't. --- And since I've been called out as an "idiot" in the video (I forgive, but do not forget), I'll have to give my 10 cents on the Aqua PTSD debacle. Aqua giving up wasn't originally a big problem in of itself, but coming off the previous events of the awful Terranort fight, it just compounded to make the whole cast feel inept and in some ways inconsistent. It's the snowball effect. For Aqua in that following moment, the script delivered her character's feelings poorly and probably hurt more than helped. For one, the line "it can't be" is too obtuse without the DLC context, cause everyone else there can most certainly believe that "it CAN be" a huge wave of heartless growing in front of them, as the demon hordes that were already there are merging with more. And so focus is taken away from her feelings of PTSD with that line, and instead we're now wondering what she thinks is so impossible about heartless reinforcements. Could it be yet another Nomura secret being hinted at? At that point, everyone should still try to escape as suggested. The sheer whiplash of her being the most confident and telling everyone to stay and fight, to then giving up is too abrupt if they're not going to show what she sees in her mind. For the scene to be interpreted naturally, she should have started exhibiting PTSD symptoms on sight of the initial wave, and *not* be the one giving out confident orders. In that way, I'd easily believe that she would be giving up in the face of even the smaller wave of heartless. Although they'd still really have to sell it, cause she fought hard against depression when she was alone in darkness, so failing when supported by the light of her friends really needs to stick the landing. The fact that they had to later explain her mental state by showing visions of her own shadows (something that was not there originally) means that, even to the developers, the original scene as is would *not* make total sense if it was just PTSD due to the heartless wave. Otherwise they could have just slapped an inner monologue over Aqua in that scene, maybe linger on her expressions more, and generally just point out how she feels without having to insert extra models into the tornado. Models which entirely change the perceived threat level because a horde of shit-talking Anti-Aqua's is GG for real. On top of that, it wasn't an impactful trauma response from Aqua, which would have also helped to actually sell how she felt way better. Could have even done the classic "girl puts hands over her heart and begins trembling" thing. But Square has never been that great with having characters express their more negative emotions in their animations. Sora's yell was one of the better expressions of grief, but even that was carried by voice acting and then quickly plateaued into having the tears on his face do most of the work. His face was hidden for most of the exchange with Riku, and opted for a calm and resigned display of sorrow rather than keep up the desperate painstaking grief that the yell initially set up. Essentially, nobody ever ugly-cries in square games. But just cause that's a standard expectation, doesn't mean that it doesn't end up being noticeable. Also, I'd have preferred if Sora's sorrow was more locked into the fact that he'd never see his friends again, rather than how he's useless without them. But I guess that better explains why his sadness wasn't *as* intense as I'd have liked. Great review. I'm not convinced, as my qualms still stand, but I respect the defense of the truly good parts, as it's something I also have to do for various other disliked games. You got heart.
My biggest problem with critical in KH3 is that the size of the rooms feel unbalanced with the fact you can get one shot from off screen, resetting all your progress in the room. The Toy Box and Kingdom of Corona were particularly difficult in my Crit playthrough, with the large central areas that can easily set you back an hour or so of exploration from one mistmed block or dodge. That said, I do agree with what you've said about Crit making you engage with the whole toolkit, I just wish that death didn't reset the whole room. Edit: As much as I like the multiple climactic moments in the beginning of the Keyblade Graveyard, that whole level had a serious case of Nomura being unable or unwilling to kill his darlings. Between the 10k heartless fight, supermassive Demon Tide, and Yen Sid parting the heartless sea, at least one of those scenarios probably should have ended up on the cutting room floor just for pacing or logistics of the villains' plan. I really began to question why all this was happening by the third "endless onalaught of heartless" moments as far as how it fits into Xehanort's master plan. It really feels like the inclusion of all three was Nomoura (or another scenario writer) saying, "oh, this is cool, it would make an awesome setpiece" without considering that there's already two other setpieces with nearly identical setups or the willingness to cut one in favor of another.
@@robertocortes8773 So someone saying Kingdom Hearts III is great means they're out of touch with reality? Are you sure about that? I think that is dumb AF. Having that opinion about any game does not make a person out of touch with reality. One man's trash is another man's treasure. And fantasy ride? Are you implying he's riding KH3's dick?
No. This game is horrifying, no matter what anyone says. Good ideas, I understand where they were going (especially with my man Sora), but the execution was SO poor, I completely deny this game's existance and seek fanfiction to fill the void. It's even worse that no world played any role in the final battle. And the lack of "FF"... That one hurt. Although I must confess, the perspective of the trauma "ReMind" presents... If only Nomura had remembered that perspective on the main game. That is how it should have been.
I loved your take on this game!! I first played Kh3 when it originally came out and was too excited to actually play the game to see any issues at the time. I was just having too much fun! Now that I’ve had time to calm down (only a lil tho) I do have small issues with certain things in the game but those are personal and get overshadowed real quick whenever I’m having fun with it! Your rant at the end was AMAZING btw, I was practically bouncing in my seat while cheering as you went off!
Actually, the "twist" of Xehanort's motivation doesn't come out of nowhere, in fact it was revealed all the way back in Birth by Sleep, in which Xehanort straight up writes in his secret report that his main goal is to find the world of pure light hidden within Kingdom Hearts and use its power to completely remake the world, which coincides with what he states in KH3, so his motivation isn't a twist at all since it was already revealed in a previous game And sure, the secret reports in these games may be an optional collectible throughout the games, but they are still some of the most important story details and lore in the franchise, which reveal major revelations and completely change your perspective on the story, and any KH veteran will tell you that reading all of the secret reports in each game is absolutely vital to understanding the overall story
I don't know man. I was promised a second keyblade war and all I got was 7 people vs 13. Not quite the war I pictured so yes I'm a little disappointed.
Yea…..I’ve seen people getting called delusional for not thinking that the game is bad and someone say that anyone who thinks this game is good is not a true KH fan and that is just ridiculous.
I was extremely underwhelmed and then Terranort dunked on the entire seven lights and Guardian threw hands and the game finally gave me everything I wanted in a KH3. I will also die on the hill that BBS and DDD were great games.
Hell I have LOVED KH3 from the beginning. The only world I was kinda disappointed with was Frozen's and even then I enjoyed the look of the winterscape. Even enjoyed exploring the maze Larxene made. Yes it followed Frozen's story a bit too close but whatever. Tangled did the same thing story wise but the whole point of that world was to marvel at everything like Rapunzel who'd just left her tower for the first time in her life. So that never bothered me like so many complain about. And the rest of the world's world's just plain enjoyed. Heck I was ecstatic we actually got to captain a pirate ship this time and not just have them as fast travel dressed up. And all the little detail! I Love the fact they made Sora tech illiterate lol! So I'm So happy someone isn't dragging it for a change. Yes it has flaws but nothing is ever perfect.
Alright. I'm less than 10 minutes into this video and I already wanna just say THANKS. I've never really understood the hate that KHIII gets and seeing a video essay defending KHIII is so refreshing. A bit of history about me and my experience with KH: I first played the first game waaaayyy back when it was on PS2. It was always one of my fav games. But I never got the chance to play any of the other games. Until about 4 years ago when I finally got a PS4 specifically for Kingdom Hearts. I was shook and overwhelmed that there were SO MANY GAMES other than just 1 and 2 haha. So I got the collections and just binged it. And...wow. It was one of the most emotionally cathartic experiences I have ever had with video games. And then I got to 3 and it was juuuuust so good for me. I cried a whole lot haha. And while 3 isn't my fav of the series (that'd be Birth By Sleep, LOLOL), it def affected me the most deeply and emotionally. And I'm SO excited for whatever comes next. Anyway. Thanks for the video. It's made my day.
I personally enjoyed KH3. I was just let down that we weren't able to select different keyblade wielders for data battles. They already let us play as them in ReMind. Sure, they weren't as fleshed out as Sora, but it still would have been a fun challenge to try and take on all Org members with Axel or Roxas.
you were making really solid arguments and I was being understanding of your position (I never voiced any hate towards kh3) but literally the last 2 minutes of the video contain the most insane amounts of salt and pettiness that I never expected based on the previous hour-long calm appeal to the game's criticisms, the point at which you called detractors effin idiots (I hope yt doesn't flag my comment quoting something you said) I just went "ok" and felt like I wasted my time. Next time, avoid using words like "objective" all the time, or putting down other games as validation to your point. You weren't trying to convince anyone, just attacking the opinion you disliked. KH3 haters might do the same, but wouldn't you of all people know that's not gonna do any good?
So, the biggest thing you immediately threw out is that this game +DLC is equivalent to KH2 FM, which is indeed true, but it seems like you just completely forget that the base version KH3 existed. A version where attractions are the bane of existence and is just generally way too easy to be engaging. KH2 was a bit easy on release as well, but no where near the level of KH3 And you keep mentioning huge worlds like that this supposed to be a good feature, but that’s a major downside for me. You know the saying that less is sometimes more, and they really should have scaled down the worlds just a tiny bit. There’s a line somewhere in there between an engaging open world and just blandness, which unfortunately KH3 crossed into just being too big. The level design is great though. At one point you kind of mention being happy with the lack of Disney bosses (or maybe just a specific few), but I’d say they should have taken the approach they have don in the past where they do a Disney boss and then a non-Disney boss. I think we just had a general lack of bosses compared to what we used to get. I think there were a total of 6 Disney bosses and one secret/optional boss? Anyways, the biggest issue is that they really backloaded this game. Everything happens in the last 3 hours or so and it’s just a slog to get through. The pacing is absolutely atrocious. The only requirement is that they all fight each other. Nothing really says it has to be at the exact same moment and clearly that isn’t the case if Sora has time to go participate in all the fights. So they should have just had these fights happen across the world as you are adventuring. I kind of almost disagree with the final thoughts on Xehanort just being an evil bad guy. He had the right intentions and the execution wasn’t ideal, but look at the choices he saw. Either let the worlds succumb to darkness or help it all start anew. Can you really say that this was completely rooted in evil? He’s not the hero, but it’s more complex then just being the villain for the sake of it. Music is subjective, sure, but at the same time, if everyone is saying that it lacked something compared to the older games, then something is definitely not right. Saying music is subjective is just as much of a waste of breath as it is for someone saying they didn’t find it enjoyable. Then again, it’s just that difficult to beat out those KH2 boss themes and music in general, lol. Anyway, I did enjoy the attempt at trying to finding redeeming qualities of KH3. Gameplay wise, it’s great. You spent a large amount of time trying to sell the gameplay, but I don’t think anyone had an issue with that. It’s everything else that you kind of skimmed over. They literally had a roadmap of what to do by looking at KH1/KH2/side games, but they couldn’t capitalize on that. That’s the disappointment that folks are feeling. I do agree that hating the game is a bit much, but all they had to do was do what they did before. I’ve played KH1/KH2 at least three times so far, but I barely made it through one clear of KH3. I’ll give it the time someday, but it’s just not as fun and I really wanted it to be.
Overall the game is really good i just wish they were a bit more creative with the overarching narritive. I feel Xehanort took a huge backseat in this game despite being extremely centered around him. I was definitely hoping for more exposition and backstory. Furthermore i feel as though they also couldve but a bit more effort into completing all the character arcs that were supposed to come to fruition in this game. Other than that i loved the gameplay and the worlds were a lot of fun. PotC and Toy Box are some of the best KH worlds ever made.
I respect your take, and reason as to why you loved KH3. I can't entirely agree. I think it’s a matter of taste, but you made a lot of valid points as to thematic relevance for the characters, setting, and events that took place. I would have liked the game to feel more in the tone of KH1 Hollow Bastion for 2 acts of the story where things are a bit direr. KH is a series of several games with multiple protagonists, and I feel KH3 should have embodied that more. Similar to an Avengers team-up. The stakes going into the game lend themselves to that. The 3rd act felt very disjointed. It would have played better if we had multiple perspectives and groups trying to stop Xehanort. (Sora, Donald, Goofy/ Axel, Kairi and Aqua/ Riku, and Mickey.) in the process, maybe they don’t stop the Organization's plans, but they awaken all of the thoughts to be sealed Keyblade wielders. You can still have the Keyblade Graveyard be the big battle, but it has to feel like the heroes are struggling.
I don't think the defense entirely works because every criticism towards the game is either brushed off dismissively (for example Hans being a complete non-character in KH3 was okay because he wasn't very good in the movie anyways) or treated with open hostility without considering how the game could've been at fault for leading people to the wrong interpretation. To me KH3 is a game that excels at areas in a vacuum but falls apart when it's all brought together because it lacks efficiency at delivering its themes and at times seems more concerned with setting up the next story arc before being done with what it already had, something that would be acceptable for Final Mix/DLC content but not in a base game where focus is critical to its narrative. Both Black Box and missing girl subplots are a load of nothing in the scope of this game and the fact Corona/Arendelle's contribution to the story can be summed up in one throwaway sentence to excuse why the main cast can't just sit around and refuse Xehanort's fight (even then there's no in-universe reason why they couldn't just use the previous princess characters whereas the real life reason for their replacements are obvious: they wanted more modern and recognizable characters to fill the roles) is pretty telling that to some extent there's wasted effort on the game's part.
Exactly, this game felt slapped together and poorly written. There are great ideas, elements, and themes. But they aren't explored out developed at all. Aqua having PTSD from her time in the realm of darkness is interesting, but it is never shown or hinted at. Sora losing hope loses all it's impact when right away he just fixes everything. the heroes first rule should have been no one goes to the keyblade graveyard. And they should have been collecting the princess' of heart and taken them to a secure place. The bad guys should have been rounding up the princess'. That should have been the focus of the Disney worlds. So many story elements and character motivations are absent. Why are the good apprentices good now when previous ansem reports made it sound like they were willing co-conspirators? So much of this games flaws stems from its poor writing.
The thing is most of the Complaints about kh 3 can easily Be applied to kh2 to even Worst degree in some cases "Some disney worlds un kh3 Don't matter to the stroy" Literally no disney worlds Aside from two Exceptions matter to kh 2 (tron and breasts Castle) "Kh3 has Pacing Issues" Kh2 has the worst pacing in the series it goes Twilight town > A whole bunch of nothing or multiple worlds > Radiant Garden Second visit > A whole bunch of nothing For multiple Worlds > The world that never was "Kh3 Sets up too much stuff while kh 2 Wraps up everything" Ignoring the Set up to days and bbs With multiple scenes "Kh3 needed dlc to be good and was to easy" Kh 2 Didn't have half of its post game Content or Critical mode with its base version or a freaking Dodge roll it has Sephiroth and that's it For post game content Like legit the only thing it does objectively better is game balance
@@Gibs491 I think it's more on the execution of what each game was trying to do and be, along with the expectations that the fans have. Kh2 has its flaws, but they don't detract from what it was trying to do. And yeah it's not fair kh2 only had the weight of off kh1 com, while kh3 has wrap up everything and carry the weight of at least 7 games. But for a conclusion to so much, it felt so weak. And at least for me that is the ultimate failure of kh3. Your right so the other things are straw on the camels back. But the story problems are so egregious to what should be the strongest part of the game. Also kh3 should be better than kh2. It should have been improving everything kh2 did well, and fixing the short comings of kh2. It's also on a much more powerful system, it could have done so much. And yet the majority of the defense of kh3 is ripping on kh2. The only thing kh3 does better is it's graphics, and given the huge gap in system capabilities that's not saying much. And what's truly frustrating is that kh3 had most of the building blocks to be a great game, but square and numora didn't use them, or fumbled them. 1 Where's the final fantasy characters? There are so many places they would have fit. 2 Why isn't Kairi used? From a theme perspective kh1 is about Sora, kh2 about riku, kh3 should have been about kairi 3 This game has all our characters brought together and yet we never really get to play as them. Birth by sleep shows they have the capability to have 3 different main characters. Why not at least attempt the same in kh3?
@joshuafears4123 i know. This might be Up to opinion but kh3 did several things better then 2 Kh3 Level design is way better then kh2's hallways The large bosses are way more fun to fight in 3 because you can actually Stagger them with keyblade Transformations Party members actually are useful in 3 unlike in 2 where the only thing useful about them are thier limits Yozora and kh3 data organization > lingering will and kh2 data organization in terms of boss design especially when it comes to the organizations The lack of final fantasy characters in the base game is Regrettable but it's not really a deal breaker for me because they're most just Cameos and Bonus boss fights and aren't really that important to the kh plot I can understand if you think differently thou I agree with the kairy being wasted in 3 but kh 2 was not about riku it was more about sora and roxas if anything ddd was riku's game heck chain of memory's had More development for riku And at least in my mind I'm not shiting on 2 to prop 3 up ( Granted my Dysalexic So i'm not always the best at wording stuff) I'm just pointing out Hypocrisy like looking at it unbiasedly how is it a major problem in one but not the other and not the other Especially in some cases it's worse and I don't find the whole "kh2 is older then then 3 so it gets pass" Argument doesn't compelling me that much because kh 1 Didn't suffer from those problems nearly as much either And like 2 does do stuff better then 3 and I can get Why People thinks it's better The game is more balanced Limits and Summons Are better implemented in 2 (I probably should have mentioned this earlier in the first comment) it Has a much stronger prologue In terms of story I just wish people would actually bring that up Instead of stuff kh 2 Does Debatably way worse then 3
your angry rant at the very end said it pretty well, Kingdom hearts can be silly and weirdly paced, and not always the best; But it's got Heart (Pun intended), and I love it for that.
The video is just 6 hours of him regurgitating the story without any actual context of what’s happening and attacking how dumb he thinks it is in the most bad faith and reductive way imaginable. And saying that the game sucked and was a waste of time. I’m being charitable. I’ve watched the video. It fucking sucks
That video was nothing more than just him spouting the same thing as all people were saying with nothing adding into any value. If anything, he was just spouting misinformation here and there. Honestly, anyone liking that video is just them satisfying their hate for the game.
@Redxan600 thats honestly a biased take and you know it. Just because it's a popular opinion that it's unliked in the series doesn't mean that it's "misinformation". I've played 6 times and didn't catch this so called misinformation you're talking about. It's ok if you like the game, but you don't need to be salty that you're in the minority.
@@SaintSpace It's not just me, there are plenty of other people who don't like the video as well. And there were plenty of misinformation like how he was saying the Disney worlds doesn't contribute to the plot when it actually does.
@@Redxan600 About half the people who I've seen say bad things about KH3 Was a Waste of Effort have proudly admitted to not having watched it, which ... yuck. And the other ones hardly seem to point out any specifics. All you really just said is "nah he's wrong". If I am to assume what you mean, was it the Disney worlds contribute the new seven princesses of heart as the Xehanort backup plan so that Sora and gang has to fight at the end? He sure doesn't learn the power of waking there. Personally, I've watched it several times, and it's become a bit of a comfort video to go back to every once in a while. I'm a little curious how you could say his video added no value to the conversation whatsoever, when it's the go-to scapegoat for people who want to claim the haters are absurd and over-the-top. Also, do I take that to mean you disagree with his positive points as well?
Thanks for providing perspective. I have watched the 5 hour takedown of KH3, and both that video and yours have points. This video felt like an appeal to just enjoy things that are great and not be cynical, where as the critical essays-often correctly-dissect the details and gameplay system, which WAS borked at launch. Comes down to each persons perspective as enjoyment of media always has. I prefer enjoying games more than not. Even if most of what you pointed out as positives DIDNT exist or redeem the game, someone might still enjoy the hell out of it anyway. You have to acknowledge flaws and blatant mishandling when it happens if you're goal is to review but that doesn't mean anyone's wrong for enjoying the game. I had assumed Disney screwed over the game by insisting on the rides tbh. Seriously I didn't play past Olympus just because the rides were really really annoying. That's all. I didn't let online discourse color my opinion, I didn't engage with it till after I tried the game. Now that I see the common knowledge is to play on critical mode and disabling attractions I'm going to give KH3 another shot. Again, thanks for being willing to defend something you enjoy, its refreshing.
I don't think it's entirely reasonable to dismiss certain types of critiques people have towards the game as objectively wrong, while inflating your own, even though I agree with this video more than I agree with any vid that dubs it the bringer of Aids 2.0. There are sprinkles of other opinions throughout that I disagree with (but I've done enough ranting about the story on this site), otherwise, this is a level headed set of takes and as much I do consider the game a disappointment, I still find the gameplay both blatantly flawed and generally 9/10. I've said before that if you like KH for specific attributes, like purely the Disney worlds or purely the gameplay, I could fully see why this would be your favourite. That's just not me. Either way, good listen, keep it up.
I feel the game Plays fantastic, its the Story Pacing I have issues with. Its that the Disney Worlds feel so disconnected this time around. You could remove them Story Beats from them and it wouldnt really have any impact. The only ones that really matter are those after the Disney Worlds, not that I dont like them mind you. It felt like Squenix wanted to start removing Disney from the Franchise and just included them because it was expected. Thats just how I feel about them.
I can see that, but KH3 was sort of desinged to be backloaded as shit. The Disney worlds served as more of the calm before the storm, as it set all the pieces for the big finale. The game is less of an epic journey across the worlds and more of a setup for what's gonna happen. I can see why people don't like it, but at least it has build up unlike some other backloaded games. Kirby is a huge offender of this where it had no plot for the whole game and then suddenly ALL OF IT.
Actually realized how stupid I was being with this game about 2 years ago (I was playing through all the games to celebrate the boy making it into Smash, haha) and I remember dreading getting to KH3 as I hadnt played it since it launched and I thought it was a let down. Then, something crazy happendd when I got to it.... I actually enjoyed it lol. Its crazy what expectations can do to your view of a piece of media. I found myself liking the combat more than I thought I would, the story wasnt as stupid as I thought the first time I played and I actually enjoyed the ingredient hunting this go around. It wasnt exactly what i wanted, but it definitely makes me feel silly for saying it was a garbage game and now I actually like it. So much so that I main the KH3 Sora skin in Smash when I thought I'd never use anything other than the KH2 skin lol.
For me I managed to keep my expectations in check because I was aware that this is not the same team that worked on 1 and 2, as well as the issues they had during development. So what I expected the most was for Osaka to fix some of their bad habits from their previous games and give me a satisfying conclusion to the Xehonart Saga. I still say it succeded very well in both, so much that it was just like a breathe away from dethroning 2 for me with only a few small cracks holding it back but no where near enough to ruin my experience. And the best part is that now they have their foundation set with Unreal Engine, their all set to push themselves even more with 4 and that has me super excited.
This has been my favorite since release. DLC made it even better and solidified its place in my mind. Getting a pc and mods just elevated that entirely.
Most people can't accept the fact they miss their life when the older games came out. So they dislike whatever is newer because they themselves are less happy than they were when they played the previous title. Same thing happens with album releases or even movies sometimes. It's a terrible thing people do under the guise of critique.
You put down those videos complaining about kh3 even knowing that those videos came out when kh3 first dropped. Yet your video arguing why it's good is after all the updates, like being able to turn off those theme park rides, were introduced...
I Loved KH3 too! Definitely the most nuanced of games that hit different as someone who played KH as a kid, and KH3 as an adult. Sure there was room for improvement due to the unfortunate events at Square Enix that also affected FF15, but KH3 definitely landed where it needed to the most. When I first completed it, I definitely remember feeling satisfied. Btw The Last Jedi is genuinely divisive, there isn't really a unanimous public opinion on it! I personally love it to pieces.
KH3 was weird for me. I had a lot of fun playing it but the story was the issue. As a conclusion to the Xehanoer saga it was was bad for me. It focused way too much time on the Disney side so the actual storyline felt rushed, they had to shoehorn in Kairi being a useless damsel again(I'm sorry Kairi fans but I wish they just deleted her and paired Sora up with Riku if they must have a love story subplot because that would at least make more sense than Kairi's milquetoast a** just appearing randomly with Sora just inexplicably in love with her). Like they barely used that actually cool story stuff because every world had to be focused on Disney IMO. But the game was super fun so I would never call it bad, just the story I would call bad.
"sora hasnt had a low point". oh so we just forgetting kh1 him losing his keyblade and only being spurred on because of beast, or chain of memories where he leaves everyone just for namine to tell him the truth and being all torn up about that, or DDD where he almost succumbs to darkness. you only mention kh2 even tho thats the most half assed low point he's had. like im fine with the rest of the video, but thats just straight up wrong
Those weren't internal low points though. He never gave up in those moments. In KH1 he even faces Riku with full confidence even though he has no weapon. The only one I'm unsure of is COM because I don't remember that moment exactly.
@@whatif9854 Completely disagree, in kh1, he's able to go agaisnt riku because he rose above his low point, the man is on his knees in despair, and only comes up because he notices beast is still trying to find belle while hurt, somewhat similarly to kh3 might i add, that he feels hopeless, but because of rikus act, and kairi keeping him kinda alive, he keeps going in the final world and beyond. the only difference is that he doesnt yell and explains what hes feeling to someone per say (I do really like the moment in kh3 btw, but i feel like a lot of people dismiss a lot of moments where sora struggles and develops because normally sora moves from them faster than they would want, i guess)
That's a fair comparison. That KH1 moment is one of my favorite sequences in the series so it's weird that I wasn't thinking about it when making this video. Thanks for pointing that out!
thank you for helping me re-invigorate my love for this series. No cap after 3 I came pretty close to being done with this series. I got my fix for the dark seekers saga and I was ready to be done. but I found myself re-using KH as my comfort place whenever I feel down, and boy is that apparent in this day and age. I do love KH and 3 is not perfect. but you made me realize this game is the definition of Kingdom Hearts, CONVOLUTED DISNEY ANIME TRASH MASH UP THAT MAKES LOVEABLE PERFECT NO SENSE...time to go replay KH3
I wish I could like this video a thousand times. I play this game Proud Level 1, it's so brutal. Critical is great, but it's just as easy to win as it is to die. I like doing chip damage until I pull out big moves, and having the ability to survive an attack and exist in a critical state for a while before I'm annihilated for depleting my resources. Long grueling battles, pulling out all the stops. KH1 will forever be my favorite because it's the only action RPG in the series, every other game is just an action game. But KH3 is one of the best action games I've ever played. The decision making is entirely in the mechanics and encounter design, no meter forcing you into a repetitive loop, no endless stun locking combos. The story of KH3 was good, but the presentation slightly lacking in finesse. The framing, the animation, and the music scoring is all kinda lackluster in general. There's good music, but I think Yoko really brought the impactful pathos that was the key ingredient to selling and transcending the anime cheese of the first two games, and that was missing in key places for KH3. THANK YOU for explaining the Aqua thing. I'm glad I'm not the only one on the planet who didn't need that explained when I first saw it. It's like when you spend 9 hours on a boss fight and you restart and immediately miss a window at the beginning - you know you'll survive if you try, but you give up anyway because they broke your spirit.
