The biggest disappointment I've ever played.
I started the Kingdom Hearts series somewhere around late 2018. I either played through the game if I had the console for it or I would watch the cutscenes to understand the overall story. I got invested in these characters and, once I finished the available games, waited for KH3 to come out. That last month of waiting for the game's release was grueling, but I managed to persist with only some stuff being spoiled, the secret boss and the opening movie. I bough the game day one and spend the next 3 and a half days straight, after accounting for sleep and classes, to beat the game and see the rest of the story unfold. Unfortunately, after beating the game, I felt like i wasted my time. Not immediately, but after about 2 months. Not only was the main chunk of the story behind 20 hours of the worst disney worlds in the series, but the last 4 or so hours that I had been waiting for were just not interesting at all. There was only a single moment during the last parts of the game I enjoyed, and it was basically just fanservice. In the end, this game made me no longer interested in the series. I'll still keep up with the series, but I'm no longer counting down the days until the next game comes out. Still need to play Melody of Memory, but I'm not too interested in keeping up with the story anymore. Gameplay was alright I guess.

i feel like on absolute critical thoughts its a step back from both kh1 and 2. But I can say by not much at all and there are things this game stands out with as well. It feels like this game is rather easy even on proud mode as the game does try to celebrate its return by handing out wonderous moves that are fairly powerful and strong all the way to the end. It defintely has the most options and spectacle out of the three and it continues to be more over the top and exciting however I think it lacks polish or cohesion compared to both 1 and 2. This game defintley tries to tackle a lot with all the spin offs and even adding more details to 1 and 2 to which I feel can be hit and miss. Never outright awful. I'm happy given its develpoment hell and probably reason to why some things feel off or missing, I cannot express how ps2 it feels in the best way possible. Scripted setpieces or event always give the player control or are optional, unlike games of the modern era where interactivity is stripped away to give priority to the "cinematic" elements of the game. KH3 never shys away from being a video game and fully embraces it and even if its not as tight as the other ps2 games. This is the single best trait of kh3. Its uncomprised and unwilling to bend over backwards to make it broader to more players by dumbing anything down but by going really hard on this crossover action rpg. Hopefully the next sequel can shake the baggage of engine change dilemmas and maybe returning the dialouge to the 1st two's more natural delivery. The game has some good dialouge but it is highly expositry and a bit slow and monotone. Also screw you sqaure dlc should still not be $50.