I’ve been waiting a long, long time to talk about Kingdom Hearts 3. 13 years. I waited 13 years for the sequel to Kingdom Hearts 2 — a game encapsulating everything I loved about gaming at the time. It was grand in scope, had larger-than-life villains, and it still felt like Sora was a character and not a vehicle for jokes and stupid questions.
I was even a fan of the Reaction Commands in KH2! For as much as people claim to hate Quick-Time Events, the Commands gave boss encounters a cinematic air. To this day, I’ll still quote random Xemnas lines from that game! “Nothingness… is eternal.” There was so much to love about Kingdom Hearts — silly, convoluted plot and all! Then, Kingdom Hearts 3 showed up and nuked my goodwill for the franchise.
‘kingdom hearts 3’ is a shell of its former self
I’ll start with the plot seeing as that’s the big running joke of the franchise. I adore the Metal Gear Solid series; I like overly complex narratives! But Kingdom Hearts 3 overstays its welcome with minimal net positives by the end.
If you can believe it, there was a time when the Disney part of the Kingdom Hearts equation actually meant something. Those elements were woven into the overarching insanity — allowed to breathe and push Sora and the plot forward. In KH3, the plot doesn’t actually start until the final few hours of the game once we’re past all that stupid Disney stuff. Then, after hours of what’s effectively filler and side content masquerading as the main plot, the game remembers it has handheld and mobile games to wrap up, too.
It doesn’t help that Sora fails to grow as a character. Say what you want about the goofy idiot, but at least he always had something more to do than bicker with Donald. If this is meant to be his “Last Hurrah” (Spoiler Alert: it wasn’t), shouldn’t he be challenged more in the final stretch of the “trilogy”? But, fine, perhaps you’ll dismiss that as “pedantic” or “Well, you obviously weren’t paying attention!” How about the fact that the game doesn’t have a soul?
an exercise in corporate trickery
Kingdom Hearts 3 is the most empty, vapid ghost of what the series used to be. It’s like someone put everything that was great about the series into a blender, poured it into a cup, accidentally spilled most of it, had a little bit left, and said, “…Well, maybe if we add water, nobody will notice?”
When I go to Monstropolis, you know what I expect to do? Go through some damn door portals. You mean to tell me one of the coolest things about Monsters, Inc., I can’t even do? Instead, I’m fighting Randall. Oops, no, I’m sorry. I’m fighting an “Unversed” working for Randall. Great.
When you go to the Toy Box, you expect to fight varied, interesting action figures and toys. Yeah, you fight, what, one or two? Most of the time, though, you’re fighting robots from an in-universe video game. In an unpopulated mall. That was the time to pull out all the stops. Wouldn’t it have been cool to sneak through a crowd of people and have to press triangle to “play dead” when they saw you? Or, if y’all don’t like that idea, why couldn’t the level be mainly set at Pizza Planet?
Kingdom Hearts’ Wasted potential
What I’m getting at is Kingdom Hearts 3 had the chance to go all-out and make each world a unique experience. Instead, the only Disney villains I fought were the Elemental Titans at the beginning and Davy Jones. Everything else was a big, stupid Heartless/Nobody/Unversed. Mother Gothel? Turns into a Heartless. Hans (who doesn’t even have any voiced lines)? Turns into a Heartless.
And for the longest time, I thought I was crazy for thinking all of this because it felt like everyone else loved it! It reviewed well, it got people excited for the franchise’s future, and I couldn’t help but think, “…This product? This Skin-walker pretending to be Kingdom Hearts?”
People liked that the game decided “Oh, no, that Organization XIII was fake! Here’s the real Organization XIII!” People enjoyed watching the cutscenes where it’s a 1:1 recreation of a scene from a Disney movie with Sora passively watching in the distance? That’s the chain of agency: the player watching Sora watching a Disney movie.
in conclusion
I know this reads as a hit piece for a game most people seem to enjoy. But I mainly just want Kingdom Hearts 4 to take the franchise back to its creative roots. Back to the thrill of smacking a Disney villain with a Keyblade. I want to feel the magic again. I’m only so impassioned about my distaste for Kingdom Hearts 3 because I want the series to be what made most people fall in love with it in the first place.
That’s it. I hope Kingdom Hearts 4 is a return to form! I want to like the franchise again. I’m a disappointed, upset lapsed fan, yes. But I can be won back, Nomura. Prove me wrong, king.
The post I’m Scared ‘Kingdom Hearts 4’ Will Be Like ‘Kingdom Hearts 3’ appeared first on VICE.
The post I’m Scared ‘Kingdom Hearts 4’ Will Be Like ‘Kingdom Hearts 3’ appeared first on VICE.
