I’m not sure how to write this without it taking a million paragraphs. I guess to sum it up, it’s a bloated mess of a game with too many ideas and obligations to fulfill that it becomes a burden on itself, yet it leaves me with a good feeling about the future of the series.
The game has to fit in so much. It has to show the Disney worlds (ranking from best to worst: Tangled, Monsters Inc., Toy Story, Hercules, Big Hero 6, Pirates, Frozen). It has to wrap up the plot of the last 17 years of Kingdom Hearts games. It has to hint at where the story is going next. I’d say it does all these individual things well, but the fact that it’s doing all these things makes the game feel way too full. If you're just playing for one of these parts, you're gonna loathe the rest of them.
The cutscenes take forever, and aside from the occasional funny line or dramatic character beat, they’re presented in the most boring way imaginable. I think I’d prefer a lot of them be presented how games like Genshin Impact or NieR Automata present their less dynamic scenes, as just voice-acted text boxes (preferably with the player able to move the camera around). Some of the audio also sounds really low-quality, particularly voices during the Re:Mind segments. This was pre-pandemic, so I’m not sure what the excuse is.
Maybe the cutscenes feel like a drag because the gameplay is so fun. The combos feel like they’re worth a damn without the magic having to get nerfed (especially post-update). The flowmotion got nerfed, but now Sora can run up some walls, which feels like a fair compromise. Team attacks make Donald and Goofy feel like actual partners. Shotlocks and air-step allow big areas to handle one-on-one fights. There are some things I prefer about KH2’s combat (Sora’s weight and getting to decide for myself when to use forms, for example). Also, while I enjoy the large mob fights, I do wish there were more one-on-one fights like Dark Inferno. Even most of the climax is big team brawls. Limit Cut adds a lot more one-on-one stuff, and they’re incredible (albeit maybe too hard). The improved combat (compared to previous Osaka team games) and the setups for future storylines that make me excited for KH4 or whatever happens next.
Oh yeah, and the PC port is really good. Good framerate, easy to access save files, and a smart keyboard layout (KH always felt like the controller couldn’t handle everything it wanted to do). I’m excited to see the mods for this, and I hope future KH and Square Enix games get PC releases too.
Also apparently this was the 13th game I beat in 2021? Huh. Neat!
The game has to fit in so much. It has to show the Disney worlds (ranking from best to worst: Tangled, Monsters Inc., Toy Story, Hercules, Big Hero 6, Pirates, Frozen). It has to wrap up the plot of the last 17 years of Kingdom Hearts games. It has to hint at where the story is going next. I’d say it does all these individual things well, but the fact that it’s doing all these things makes the game feel way too full. If you're just playing for one of these parts, you're gonna loathe the rest of them.
The cutscenes take forever, and aside from the occasional funny line or dramatic character beat, they’re presented in the most boring way imaginable. I think I’d prefer a lot of them be presented how games like Genshin Impact or NieR Automata present their less dynamic scenes, as just voice-acted text boxes (preferably with the player able to move the camera around). Some of the audio also sounds really low-quality, particularly voices during the Re:Mind segments. This was pre-pandemic, so I’m not sure what the excuse is.
Maybe the cutscenes feel like a drag because the gameplay is so fun. The combos feel like they’re worth a damn without the magic having to get nerfed (especially post-update). The flowmotion got nerfed, but now Sora can run up some walls, which feels like a fair compromise. Team attacks make Donald and Goofy feel like actual partners. Shotlocks and air-step allow big areas to handle one-on-one fights. There are some things I prefer about KH2’s combat (Sora’s weight and getting to decide for myself when to use forms, for example). Also, while I enjoy the large mob fights, I do wish there were more one-on-one fights like Dark Inferno. Even most of the climax is big team brawls. Limit Cut adds a lot more one-on-one stuff, and they’re incredible (albeit maybe too hard). The improved combat (compared to previous Osaka team games) and the setups for future storylines that make me excited for KH4 or whatever happens next.
Oh yeah, and the PC port is really good. Good framerate, easy to access save files, and a smart keyboard layout (KH always felt like the controller couldn’t handle everything it wanted to do). I’m excited to see the mods for this, and I hope future KH and Square Enix games get PC releases too.
Also apparently this was the 13th game I beat in 2021? Huh. Neat!