I used to be waaaaay more cold on this game quite honestly.

I played it all the way back on the 3DS and could not finish it cause it caused really bad hand cramps for me (do your wrist stretches everybody) to the point where I could play it in fairly small bursts until I eventually gave up because I just wasn't enjoying myself all that much with it.

So I waited for a remaster or cutscene compilation given the remasters steadily coming out at the time, plus 0.2 cause like hot DAMN that shit is fire I cannot wait to write about that one.

So eventually I picked up the 2.8 collection but didn't really finally get around to it until KH3 was almost out which in hindsight was kind of a stupid decision. I was rushing the first real playthrough of this game so that I'd be ready and prepped for 3. I feel like I wasn't quite the most charitable to this game in my excitement and overall more direct want of 3 which sucks but sometimes ya get caught up in the moment ya know!

Something about this game didn't really click into place for me at the time, everything with Sora annoyed me initially, I had at the time felt like the game meandered a bit too much, I didn't really love the worlds, the one thing I DID majorly love was the ending mainly because of how much it goes about setting up for 3.

So going into this I had my worries and concerns about it given the last time though I was still open to trying to really give it that second look and I'm really glad I did especially after playing 3+ReMind.

Dream Drop Distance is such an improvement over Birth By Sleep from a gameplay standpoint that it's kinda fuckin wild that this is seemingly from the same team. They clearly learned a loooot of really good lessons from developing that game and its systems. The movement and feel of the game feels a lot faster and looser, the addition of flowmotion as a system has ya bouncing and zooming around levels like nobodies business, the way it flows into the combat and meshes with how you tangibly interact with the game even brings back a tiny bit of that 1 style exploration and curiosity of its landscapes in my eyes though not to the full degree it could. Honestly I think 3 does that better but again still not to the 3D platformer experimental way that 1 specifically did it.

Dream Eaters are such a good choice for both allies and enemies here. They cute, they hunger, they attack, they heal, they defend. They're really cool and I like them! I like that you can name them whatever ya want and really make them your own. KhimarisSon was a real one and got me through many a battle by the end.

The level scaling this time works pretty well as the game goes on, at no point did I ever feel like I was behind after finishing a location, I felt like the game gave me more than enough in each world to do in terms of battles that by the end I felt properly leveled and ready for whatever was going to pop up next.

The real only gameplay downsides are that some bosses still have the Birth By Sleep problem of just not being able to get hitstunned or any kind of real major knockback at points, making you essentially wait for your turn to do anything before waiting 5 minutes for your next swing which is a bit lame! I know this problem is fixed in 3 at least but it was still pretty annoying to deal with and I feel like this problem more-so only majorly popped up near the end but it was absolutely still there in a way that annoyed.

As for the narrative, I dig the dual split drop in style of the entire thing. This dual perspective seemingly parallel world perspective of both Sora and Riku's adventure. I remember the first time I played through this I was confused on how exactly the world split stuff works even though the game quite literally tells you multiple times so that was on me!

I also used to think that they made Sora WAY too dumb in this game for his own good and to at least be fair to that, he still kinda is for like the first half of the game. I feel like while Sora has always been a real one who takes to other people really easily, there are multiple times here where he almost feels like a parody of himself at points. Maybe that's supposed to play into something of the dream logic kinda weird vibes going on but idk it felt too off in a way that felt wrong at points. Tron onwards though I feel like that problem goes away for the most part at least which I was thankful for.

Sora is dealing with an insecurity about his connections with others that has been deep in there but hasn't really been dug out until now. This tends to be reflected within all the worlds in some capacity ESPECIALLY TRON but especially given that most of the worlds are about some kind of outcast trying their best to connect with others in some kinda way, trying to get some kinda recognition or some kind of value. The pain that others in his life are facing and how much he wants to help them from having to feel any of that pain or despair. It's real good!

Riku's story is a continuation of his arc from the other games, his insecurities around falling to the darkness and the fear it inspires, his want to keep distance out of fear but others not letting him, him learning to rely on others and especially the one he looks up to the most, him choosing to fight on despite the deepest despair he could possibly fall into, seeing others fall prey to similar situations that ailed him and going out of his way to stop them from going through the same. This game has him really look in a mirror again and really dig through a lot of what he's done and was manipulated to do again and really find that groove within himself.

There's a really good moment near the end that's a callback to 1's beginning questionnaire with him and I really think it's a perfect tail end to his entire story within this game and all the games that led up to this point. I think Riku's half of the story is the best part of the game and that while Sora's half is also very important, he's the real protagonist of this particular story with everything that it's doing by the end especially.

If I had any major story complaint, it's that some of the world's (MAINLY TRON) sometimes don't give Riku much of anything which is a bit strange. Tron especially feeling like Riku's section gives more to the movie while Riku kinda hangs around which is a bummer and a bit of a problem with 1 or 2 worlds in 3's case.

Also I just wanna say, the end of this game is absolutely fuckin BONKERS dude, like you've probably seen some shit floating around from it at this point, the reveals, the setup for 3, mickey mouse getting slammed against a pillar like a DBZ fight, it's all here.

Things setup all the way in the first game are reintegrated in order to be paid off or used in a completely new way, characters reveal themselves, new mysteries are setup, seeds are planted, it's so fuckin cool, I genuinely think the end of this game narratively is up there with KH2's in just how much it throws at you and how much it pays off by the end. It's fuckin rad as hell.

Also we wanna talk banger fuckin music. Holy F U C K they brought it hard yet again. That fuckin violin man. An absolute treat of the senses from beginning to end, I really gotta make an OST ranking list for this series on here at some point. 2, 3, DDD and BBS are all a bit tied though so I dunno lol.

This is my constant reminder that I finally need to play The World Ends With You sometime I love the cast here.

Whilst I’m not exactly one who enjoys being combative about how other players tackle something, after replaying Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (which, for the sake, of brevity, we'll just call DDD) with some restrictions attached on both Proud and Critical, I found myself thinking about that the negative receptions this game has garnered feel a bit unwarranted. You could make some point about how Kingdom Hearts as a series has produced a fandom that spends too much time arguing about game quality comparatives instead of emphasizing how said series made for children is accessible to any age or any level of player across the board - that instead of paying attention to how each entry experiments and plays to its own strengths, they punch down at one game for not doing all the right another does - and I would wager that factors into how this one has been received.

Because, while I definitely think that DDD is a game with an acquired taste necessary to maximize your enjoyment of it and is not in the same quality I hold the three mainline entries to, I see many comments that make me wonder if they didn’t try different tactics that aren’t basic melee attacks or spamming the balloon spell to buzzsaw through sections. You definitely can do those things, yet just simplifying the game down to that either/or binary when there’s evidently more going on sells the title short.

What worked for me as far as appreciating DDD was viewing it through the lens that it’s an action title more in common with KH1-styled maximizing RPG mechanics. That is to say, if you’re going to focus upon blocking and melee alone, you might not get the best out of the combat system. Rather, thinking outside the box - i.e. experimenting with enemy weaknesses/gimmicks - is, for my money, the best way to find value in this game.

Like any of the KH games, you have your general abilities, emphasis on combos, defensive options (blocks, counters, dodges, air dashes), et cetera. To augment those features, DDD has a number of additions in how it handles optimizations with party members and environmental movements.

Starting with the latter, flowmotion allows your characters to bounce off of walls or use poles to attack enemies offensively or to gain some aerial defenses. Moreover, with sturdier enemies, you can even dash into them to trigger a grab to toss into other foes - because this ability will cancel out any of those enemies’ committed attacks, it’s one of the go-to options for crowd control. The only real danger with flowmotion is that smaller arenas with walls (e.g. Traverse Town’s Third District) can lead to a player using flowmotion without meaning too, but that can be mitigated by turning the associated abilities off or with some basic situational awareness.

Dream Eaters are the second major crux of DDD’s system and it’s where the RPG concepts emerge to align with your playstyle. Instead of characterized party members, the Dream Eaters (or DEs) are synthesized through collected loot drops. Once made, you can select which ones will serve in your party. In combat, they add to your playstyle in several ways:

-One, directly attacking enemies to build meter. Once their set meter is maxed out, Sora or Riku can activate unique special abilities. In Sora’s case, he can use Link Attacks, where he becomes invincible and can deal extraordinary damage to anything on the battlefield. Riku, comparatively, absorbs the Dream Eater to get a buffed, specialized combo moveset - in exchange for the lack of invincibility, his Link Styles specials last longer.

-Two, certain Dream Eaters will have specialized kinds of support. Some may fight directly alongside you, others may have certain unique buffs they can cast on your character, and, arguably the most essential facet, depending upon what Dream Eater you have, they have a unique kind of support abilities the player can equip. As the game progresses, it becomes invaluable to pay attention to the Dream Eater’s skill tree, seeing what kinds of ancillary defenses they offer to decide how to stay safe and proactive in combat. However, with how these skill trees work, you have other things to consider, namely what kinds of permanent, additional abilities you can obtain.

That is to say, constantly using links or fighting alongside the DEs is incentivized in order to unlock better abilities. For instance, one Dream Eater offers an omnidimensional block for Riku, but another may provide the player iframes when they heal. All of these cost points, and those points are only obtained through combat interactions. Personally I’m not keen on the Dream Eaters conceptually nor using skill trees, but thinking about what to obtain in relation to what Dream Eaters will offer the best support by encounter adds nuance to your decisions

(I’d be remiss to forget that the other way to get link points is through a pet simulator series of games with the Dream Eaters. Since this is a game for children, I don’t think this is something you can be upset about, but, if you don’t want to interact with it that much, giving treats or auto-entering and exiting minigames will build up link points quickly.)

Furthermore, the command deck established from Birth by Sleep is in full utility here - and it’s where the game’s combat fully incorporates RPG-stylized mechanics. At the player’s discretion, you can organize your deck with spells, powerful attack options, et cetera. With how potent each ability is, the cooldowns are necessary to prevent players from being too strong. While you can actually stack the command deck with the same commands should you have multiple copies of them in ways that can break that aforementioned balancing act (e.g. the balloon tactics many use), but that choice to do so remains your own. Operating a successful, versatile command deck and willing to change it according to your party allocations and the enemy encounters is how you’ll get the best out of DDD. Like any RPG, whatever you chose or chose not to use is entirely up to you - you create your own build and fun that way.

It’s probably important for me to say that, with two playable characters, keeping some differences between them to affect some playstyle was essential. I’ve already covered the link-based offense, but generally speaking, I would say Riku holds more versatile attack and safer defensive options (especially as far as maneuverability), yet I’d argue he’s not capable of dishing out the punishment Sora’s combo-based abilities. Riku holds an omnidirectional counter, but Sora’s counter is longer and can transition to more offense based upon proximity. You can structure similar command decks and party layouts, though the distinctions between both characters close and open some doors on what to think about.

(The drop system is an interesting touch because it keeps you on a time limit to switch between characters. I don’t think it’s inherently a negative to pay attention to your progression and, even if you aren’t into said system, being able to drop back whenever you’re not in combat manually makes it sort of a non-issue personally. It’s more a gimmick than a positive or negative the way I see it.)

With enemy design, I don’t personally think the regular mobs will stand out in a series known for producing foes like Large Bodies or Sorcerers, though they do distinguish themselves enough and have the teeth to be very threatening if you aren’t being proactive. You’ll have enemies that will launch projectiles, employ some grabs, or even cast status ailments on you - there’s a lot going on to keep you aware. For example, a late game enemy has the ability to cast Stop, you’ll want to probably stay away or take them out. One tactic is launching them, another is using your own stop magic (by the way, you can cast status ailments on enemies too, it’s all fair game) to keep them pinned while you prioritize other threats. Recognizing these things is important with mob control in any action game - how you handle it is up to you and means having the willingness to play around with your arsenal to maximize rewards. I, again, don’t think I can qualify DDD’s enemy design as a standard bearer (and there are some projectile or grab-happy enemies whose hitboxes almost certainly need some tweaking because of how easily you get stunlocked) yet it does it’s job enough.

Bosses in DDD are perhaps the most interesting topic because the popular consensus is rather negative. To be completely honest, it’s a sentiment I disagree with. Perhaps the biggest misconception is that these bosses operate randomly as far as stagger rules. This isn’t the case, although how it does actually work is fairly niche. Specifically, bosses have a set resistance value to being hitstunned - that is, they can take a set number of hits before their poise disappears. Once said resistance value is depleted, depending upon the boss itself, they become punishable. Giant bosses will kneel down into a passive state temporarily, allowing players to wail on them. Humanoid bosses are even more interesting because they do stagger, but certain ones will stagger only for a set amount of blows, even sometimes just one time. The question is, why? What does it teach?

If I had to guess, it’s tied into how each boss has a set weakness or exploitation. For instance, an early game boss, Rinzler, only attacks in melee. You can parry and counter his telegraphed moves, though his resistance and stagger values are at 1 point each. The trick to understanding Rinzler is recognizing that he’s a boss you have to play a hit-and-run game against and that he’s weak (like many enemies in his level) to Thunder. Ergo, equipping your command deck with attacks that let you counter or get out of dodge quickly works wonders - even better, you may have early game commands like Thunder Dash or Spark Dive, which do the above whilst dealing Thunder-based damage. Every boss has a trick like this with their weaknesses or what sorts of attacks they launch at you, you just have to find them (and yes, there are bosses who can be afflicted with status ailments like poison or slow).

I can assure you though, it’s not the RNG that many players insist to you - how things work is incredibly consistent for the vast majority of these bosses. While their aforementioned gimmicks may not be for everyone, I don’t think I can, after two playthroughs, believe there’s a boss without some thought put into how they work. In particular, the endgame gauntlet particularly shines, being home to some of the most intense fights of the series. The penultimate boss is among my all-time favorites, having some unique gimmicks that make it a hell of a rewarding test to figure out, and even demonstrating how some humanoid bosses in DDD have similar pattern-based openings to being staggered like Kingdom Hearts 3’s acclaimed Data Organization.

Asking about DDD’s story is its own conversation best left to others than myself, though it’s best seen as a /transition to set up the final act in KH3. The substance lies in giving one of the main characters one of their greater lows to bounce back from and the other a moment to show just how far they’ve come. So long as you look at it that way, I think it does its job.

I want to emphasize that again that, while much of this writeup can be construed as a personal defense of DDD, I’m, again, not about to pretend it won’t be for everyone and that choices here will come down to preferences - and I think that if it doesn’t click, it’s fine. There certifiably are better games in this series and there are aspects of DDD that just don’t click for me personally, such as the dedicated time to Dream Eater interaction, some of the aforementioned enemy issues, certain hitbox and hurtbox inconsistencies, and so on. Having said that, I definitely maintain that this one has an undeserved reception. Maybe it’s just me and my obtuse desire to make the most out of every title I play leaving me blind to shortcomings, but I’m not going to apologize for it. In my view, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance is a functional, fascinating game that you should respect for its willingness to play with established mechanics and add new ones without necessarily achieving the critical acclaim the best of the series does. I would give it more of a chance to appreciate it on its own terms.

Last notes:
-For both playthroughs, I intentionally played around with my lineups and options to ensure that combat was never strictly the same. This included some restrictions, such as limiting usage of certain commands to one slot (or not at all), intentionally avoiding flowmotion-based attacks in some bouts, or even practicing some fights with minimal uses of commands. In the process, I discovered several useful AI loops and aforementioned, specific enemy weaknesses.
-Like every game in the series, the OST is always fantastic. The final act in particular has some of my favorite tracks in the franchise. Symphony of Sorcery is basically a nonstop orchestra ensemble.
-Lowkey, I find DDD encourages far more offensive-based playstyles than the majority of the franchise. That is to say, between mobility, balancing link meter, and powerful commands according to mob control and boss stagger, being proactive and constant with offense is important. You’re only going to get hurt if you aren’t being selective with said offense.

The only KH game I had never completed until now. I looked up the story cutscenes before 3 came out originally, but I never fully played it. I got it for 3DS when it originally came out and dropped off about halfway in. At the time I felt like the series was far past what I had invested into it.

Playing it again was nice! It’s definitely in the same tier as the other handheld games - though it is for sure my least favorite story compared to BBS and 358/2. It’s not bad but it is almost exclusively a build up for KH3. It still has some great qualities though. It’s Riku’s game really. He develops the most here and it’s great to see him taking on a role that sora usually has. The gameplay is snappy if a bit slippery at times. It’s fun though! It plays better than BBS but the story is a fraction as interesting to me. It has plenty of wonderful and creative moments though. There’s a lot of “buts” here. Every praise comes with a criticism. I keep in mind that it was a 3DS game originally, and for that it’s pretty cool. I love seeing traverse town again and the levels are big and vast (and empty) and it’s fun to blast through!

Overall I liked it though. If we exclude re:coded for now - I’d rank the handheld games as
358/2 days > Birth By Sleep > Dream Drop Distance.

I know people slam the series for making these so critical to the overall franchise, but seriously it’s not like they’re a chore to play. They’re all very fun and easily accessible on one console now. Yes KH3 seems convoluted because it provides closure for all these games, but playing those games are pretty simple experiences in isolation. No YouTube essay will catch you up in the same way as playing them yourself. It was totally worth playing them all before my replay of 3. It’s not only helping the story make complete sense to me, it’s giving me the intended emotional investment and reframing KH3 as an incredible game for me. I was fairly disappointed on my first playthrough. I turned around on it a lot for my second and loved it. My third playthrough could end with me seeing it as a near masterpiece. Like my review on the FF13 series, I’m glad I took the time to reevaluate and invest myself in these. I’ve exchanged a disappointing experience for a completely satisfying one. In these regards I love admitting when I’m wrong.

not hugely fond of the gameplay in this one. dream eaters never really clicked for me as a mechanic, which is unfortunate considering that you can't easily access certain spells, abilities and passives without investing into it. also the drop mechanic is pretty bad and given how easy it is to straight up ignore I have to ask why it even exists. the combat feels less stiff than BBS but I found it less interesting to explore.

the story kinda flew over my head in some aspects, but I was surprised by how Riku-centric it ended up being toward the end, and Lea has quickly become one of my favorite characters. Definitely feels like its putting all the pieces into place for KH3, which I'm excited to see.

brownie points for using the TWEWY gang I love to see it.

Dream Drop Distance is a game so mystifyingly poorly outlined in narrative scope and creative ambition that I have a genuine confusion as to its existence as a title. There's a lot of legitimately interesting lore packed into the latest moments of this game that players jumping and tentatively becoming uninterested would have no earthly idea of its existence.

What sees you as both Sora and Rikku world hopping from select Disney properties eventually involves some of the entire KH story's most important figures and integral plots. Not only was the story pacing misaligned, but difficulty and overambitious mechanic additions muddy what could have been a rather interesting title.

Whatever compelled Nomura and company to add another confusing and unnecessarily obtuse mechanic in its Chao-Buddy-Pal Thing system is a mystery to me. Just because you're adding another game in the series doesn't mean you need to reinvent the wheel on combat... just make it playable. DDD adds an entirely new layer and forces the player to learn it for no additional value. Couple this with routine gimmick boss fights and you have a beyond frustrating game to actually... play.

Enemy design is again repetitive, but what is most worthy of scorn is once more the inundated placement of monotonous foes throughout each realm you visit. It's one thing to fight the same group of enemies, its another when you are doing so at every single clearing/zone possible, and its another when you're doing it twice over as the game sees you re-tread each world you visit as both Rikku and Sora. I don't understand the infatuation with the KH dev team to force the player into physically playing the same locations (this is twice in a row now with Birth By Sleep) just to soak in some extra narrative. They explain it in DDD, but could and should have easily been bypassed through other means. It's alright to do things once... sort of, but making you run through everything you've just seen to move the story along is inexcusable.

Dream Drop Distance really could have been something interesting if it pressed the story that makes KH actually interesting into the earlier elements of the game, drip feeding it throughout, instead of waiting until the last moments of the title to do so.

For all the things I enjoy about this game, the music, the later worlds, and the idea behind Spirits, everything for me just ended up feeling unsatisfying. The combat never felt great, there's not as much incentive to experiment with commands as there is in Birth by Sleep, and the story while I didn't outright dislike I felt didn't explore the idea's it introduced and made the journey feel like a slog until the end. I like the idea of Spirits, but they never had a major impact as party members, and basic combat skills being locked behind certain fusions means I was just never going to have the combat flow I wanted unless I went out of my way to grind. The Drop gauge is another cool concept on paper but it should of been used as a narrative tool more than a random 30 minute timer. The world's you visit didn't last long enough to leave an impression, which wasn't helped by the back and forth of the drop gauge meaning I was doing each world twice at almost the same time. The latter worlds in the game I felt did this better, but by then I was pretty burnt out. Don't think I want to revisit this one.

a historia desse jogo é basicamente o sora fumando maconha pela primeira vez, que história viajada da porra mas apesar de tudo "da pra pegar" o raciocínio do nomura nesse roteiro. embora a história seja boa e hype mt pro kh3 a gameplay é extremamente frustrante e na minha opinião piorou em relação ao birth by sleep e re:coded (que apesar de so ter visto video me parece melhor). o sistema de comandos sem ter como criar magias e habilidades como no bbs, prendendo vc a essa coisa chata de dream eater foi uma ideia terrível e nada me tira da cabeça q foi estratégia pra vender no 3ds com essa mecânica chata de pokemon vai tomar no cu. no geral o jogo é mediano com uma história boa, uma gameplay mais ou menos e um sistema de "progressão" péssimo q você upa mas não progride vai entender né, é kingdom hearts no final das contas.

Mediocre beginning, really fun middle, ending could’ve been great but it drags a bit and some of the bosses were real annoying

Coming back to Traverse Town was cool, but idk anything about The World Ends With You, and I didn’t get very attached to any of the characters from that game. Once I started going through all the Disney worlds, I was actually having a great time using flowmotion. I was looking forward to the final world, but it feels like it lasts too long, especially since a couple of the bosses there were just annoying to deal with and unlike BBS, it wasn’t that easy to get the stuff needed to make them feel fair. I wasn’t a fan of using dream eaters for commands and I actually kinda miss melding them somehow. Like before, I don’t think I like the actual story all that much, I just adore basically every character in this series.

I was really hoping for some Sora and Riku interactions and it’s a shame that we pretty much only got that at the very end, but I really liked what we did get

Gonna be honest, I just can’t wait to play KH3 soon