Let’s start 2019 off right [citation needed] -- with a big dumb post on Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. Because we’re less than a month away from the fated release of Kingdom Hearts III, and…well, in order to know where we’re going, we have to know where we’ve been. Fingers crossed that neither route leads to the edge of a steep cliff.
Also, let’s go ahead and pretend the title of this miniseries is a clever play on KH Ultimania, i.e. the Japan-only (naturally) information books/strategy guides tied to the series. Not so much Hulkamania, for myriad reasons.
That said, I’ll gladly use this chance to embed Hulk Hogan’s classic theme song.
Fair trade, I’d say.
So this is actually going to be a pretty hard post to write. Part of that is because, despite this being another chance for me to rail against Squeenix/Nomura and crew/the KH franchise, I’m actually not that interested in doing it here. This post is going to be focused more on the gameplay, and what I really want to get to is the story. Because there is…much to discuss. And beyond that, the gameplay is actually the least of 3D’s problems. Of the two, it’s the stronger, and the reason why there’s any enjoyment to be had. And to be clear upfront: it’s not as if 3D is the worst thing ever. It’s not. There are some problems the size of Jupiter’s moons, but you can do a lot worse.
The bigger issue here is what to take issue with, and how severely. Praising or criticizing 3D at this stage means 1) considering what it’s trying to do and how well it executed those ideas, 2) considering how it stacks up to other games that have covered the same ground, and 3) considering how it’s aged since its original 3DS/2012 release. Granted I never played the original release -- just the PS4/HD remaster -- but given that it’s a relic of the same era as Final Fantasy 13-2 (which, to reiterate, is still at the top of my worst games of all time list), it’s worth thinking about it as a product of the times.
There are some parallels. But maybe I’ll talk about that another day.
Still, the whole “how well has it aged?” aspect is as good a place to start as any. So with that in mind, I have to make a bold statement: I’m glad I didn’t play the original 3DS release. How well did that version run? I don’t know. But the way 3D carries itself, I feel like trying to work it on a handheld is a pachyderm-sized hassle. I mean, the PS4 version has some camera issues and some busy action along the way. Is that 100% tenable on the 3DS, especially considering the game came out early in its lifespan? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…my gut tells me to give the cartridge the old stink-eye.
But my suspicions aren’t just for criticism. See, the scale of 3D’s worlds is a dramatic increase from what came before it; there’s been expansion on the X, Y, and Z-axis, a boost so massive that entirely new gameplay mechanics had to be introduced in order to make travel even remotely possible. I’m not saying that you can’t have that on a handheld do to excess ambition or technical limitations (otherwise the Switch would have to bugger off), but I would rather have that experience on a PS4.
Like I said, the worlds’ scale has gotten a massive buff -- majorly increased from KH2 and BBS, at a bare minimum. You’ve got terrain to traverse, platforms to reach, rails to grind on; one world has a massive Ferris wheel you can mount, while another has a post office that’s a nexus of ride-ready pipes -- and that room alone might as well be the size of an entire KH1 world. I’m actually really impressed by that, and the only thing holding back my praise (besides my usual suite of complaints) is the fact that KHIII is probably going to be equal or greater in size.
So how do you make it through such gigantic worlds? Sora and Riku may have feet the size of aircraft carriers, but those will only get them so far. The answer: the Flowmotion mechanic, which lets you blow through areas with magic-imbued parkour. Vault off poles! Spin around street lamps! Grind on rails! Wall jumps into wall jumps into wall jumps! Air dashes like you’re playing Guilty Gear! As soon as the option’s made available to you, you’re free to use a ton of skills right off the bat to gain speed, height, and distance. No need to spam dodge rolls or quick runs. Not even glide or superglide.
And, naturally, that’s where the problems start.
Flowmotion is a valuable mechanic, for sure; not only would the game be borderline unplayable, but some of the simple joy from Tony Hawk-style acrobatics would get lost along the way. But remember what I said? As soon as you get Flowmotion, you can do everything you need to do from start to finish. I don’t mean that in the sense that “oh, there’s no room to grow or improve your parkour skills over the course of 30 hours” -- although now it kind of does in hindsight. The bigger issue is that Flowmotion renders a lot of the other options pointless -- and more importantly, makes traversal a moot point.
I don’t think it even took me ten minutes to realize that you can use Flowmotion to gain infinite jumps. Granted you need a wall and can’t rely on the infamous Sonic Boom glitch, but it still means that there’s an anthill’s level of challenge in reaching the highest points of any given level. No treasure chest is safe. No platforming challenge (such as they are) is taxing. Flowmotion makes traversal easy, but it makes traversal easy. No need to come back later for rare materials with High Jump or Glide unlocked; just do whatever and you’ll get what you want. Speaking of Glide? You get it in the second-to-last world, and its usage is so situational that it’s barely worth remembering after you do what you need to do.
And what’s the exploration in service of? On one hand, it’s nice to just have those big spaces to get through -- a virtual playground, compared to the mostly-linear sidewalks of previous games. Completionists might have their hands full grabbing every treasure chest or reaching every challenge. And crucially, there are instances where Flowmotion helps out in boss battles; chasing down a warp-happy mole can sometimes mean using a theater’s terrain to vault around at warp speed. That’s good stuff.
On the other hand? Having those big spaces reinforces, once again, just how empty KH can get. Not counting remasters and re-releases, there are more games on portable devices than on consoles (which is both sobering and demanding of several pints of “the creature”). And for all that progressively-advanced handhelds have offered, they still have their limitations. There are no NPCs to interact with. Virtually no major or minor characters, FF or Disney, outside of cutscenes. You’ll get worlds with moving elements, for sure, but they’re still eerily static. The only signs of life are when Dream Eaters pop in from the ether. I know it’s not a fair comparison since it came out on the PS4 in 2018, but can you imagine if Marvel’s Spider-Man dropped you in New York with nothing but goons to punch? It’d be a national tragedy.
Then again, that game’s pretty friggin’ good, so it’d probably break even.
I think my overarching problem with 3D -- well, one of them, at least -- is that even if there are positive aspects to it, there’s a negative aspect for each one. It’s some Newton’s third law chicanery. Nothing can ever be good without a caveat or drawback. Case in point: the Dream Eaters. They’re the enemy you’re facing en masse throughout this game (the weakest so far, IMO; Nobodies > Heartless > Unversed > power gap > Dream Eaters). Unlike previous baddies, these guys come in two flavors. You’ve got Nightmares, which you’ll have to dispatch throughout your journey, and Spirits, which are your comrades and party members.
Not only do they help you fight battles, but they also give you active and passive boosts to combat. Setting aside their unique fighting styles, they’ll provide quasi-limit breaks for the two main characters. Sora gets team-up attacks with his Spirits -- some controllable, some canned supers -- while Riku gets Drives/Command Styles that enhance his combo strings. I personally found Sora’s versions more useful because of the invincibility period and/or free damage you get, but I’d think (or hope) someone managed to make Riku work. I didn’t.
Overall, though, I’m not really that fond of Dream Eaters from a gameplay perspective. Like I said, this game came out in the same era as FF13-2, and it shows; both games have you raising monster buddies instead of bringing along party members. Setting aside the loss of crucial banter, camaraderie, and development, the implementation is…iffy, if I had to sum it up. Your monster buddies determine what skills you’ll unlock and have available along the way, from new spells and attacks to passive buffs and resistances. Fair enough. Except that in a lot of instances, I was annoyed by the unlock requirements.
Spirits do level up in the traditional manner, but each one has a skill tree you have to burn through with a different type of EXP. Earning that isn’t nearly as fast as a level up, though there are ways to expedite the process. The problem is that said process is slow in its own right. Feed them food. Pet them. Play some minigames (which you can skip with an exploit, apparently). It severely breaks up the flow of the game -- not to mention tonal destruction when you have to hang out in cutesy alternate dimensions while you’re in The World That Never Was -- and adds steps to a process that may or may not even be worth it as you swap out Spirits for newer Spirits. Also, I’m pretty sure this song is going to haunt me for the next decade.
Probably the worst and most baffling addition to the game is the Drop mechanic. Sora and Riku are both in the “sleeping worlds”, and as such are…vulnerable to sleep…or something…for some reason. Basically you have a gauge by your HP that denotes how much time you have before your character of choice falls asleep, forcing a switch to the other character. On the plus side? You can get bonuses for a successful Drop, up to and including new moves. On the minus side? It’s a pointless mechanic that frustrates instead of adds complexity.
I’ve heard tales about Dropping forcing other players to fall asleep in the middle of boss fights -- and when they return, the boss has its HP restored. That never happened for me, thankfully, but in exchange? It was so annoying to be going on my way, following the character’s story, only to have to come to a halt because the Drop gauge was running low. It’s another flow-breaker. But, bizarrely, it’s a flow-breaker you can break if you want. Just switch your Command Deck to one that carries Drop-Me-Nots -- an easily-purchased item in the shop -- and then pop one so you can refill the Drop meter without a hassle. Soooooooooooooo…why is it in the game, exactly? For bonuses, I guess, but not once did I feel like those “gains” were worth it.
But enough about that. Let’s talk combat.
As a whole, KH -- 3D and beyond -- is dumb fun. That’s a blessing and a curse; it didn’t have to build its condo in the niche it dug out. While the original game had the benefit of the doubt by virtue of age (it came out a little over a year after the original Devil May Cry), there’s always going to be the question of how it’ll push the envelope in the wake of its contemporaries. We live in a world where Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising, and The Wonderful 101 exist -- alongside more mainstream titles like God of War 4 and Marvel’s Spider-Man…and in terms of Squeenix output, NieR: Automata. If Squeenix is going to compete -- if it’s going to put out a competent action RPG -- then it needs to show at least some semblance of evolution, of recognition of its contemporaries’ strengths. After all, Devil May Cry 5 is due out less than 2 months after KHIII.
It’s going to be interesting to see how -- if at all -- Squeenix adapts when they can’t use the excuse of “it’s on a handheld, so we have to hold back”. (Let’s set 0.2 aside for now.) But in terms of the original 2012 release? The answer to “can they adapt?” seems to be…
…
...Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhyeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanoooooooooooouhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmuhhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnbuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhjuhhhhhhhh.
...Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhyeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanoooooooooooouhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmuhhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnbuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhjuhhhhhhhh.
So yeah, it’s still dumb fun. But it’s better.
But also worse.
You can still do a lot of X button-mashing to get your basic Keyblade attacks out. How effective they are depends on your character builds, right down to affecting how many attacks you’ll get per combo. But like BBS before it, 3D uses the Command Deck system; you’ll slot in everything you want or need before a battle into your deck -- physical attacks, magic, healing, items -- and activate them with Triangle once you scroll through a list mid-battle. Once you use that “card” in your deck, it’s on cooldown and can’t be used again.
This is (well, was) my first experience with the Command Deck, and I can say it has its charms. You’re not crippled by MP costs this time around, meaning that you’re free to make the magic build you’ve always wanted. I sure did, at least. I made my Sora magic-based, while my Riku was physical. Despite the clear divide, I did more than just succeed in making and playing my characters my way; with proper card placement in the Deck, you can create a successive string of attacks that might as well be a combo from Street Fighter. Dash through with Riku to gain distance and keep up the offense with a Strike Raid, or lock foes in place with a Zero Graviza from Sora only to hammer them with balloons.
Speaking of which…
Here’s another con for the pro. Sure, you can make whatever build or combo you want, but why would you? The Balloon branch of spells is so ridiculously powerful -- OP as all get out -- that there’s basically no need for anything in your deck besides Cure spells. I’ve seen video footage of guys blowing through the toughest foes and bosses the game has just by spamming balloons. I can confirm that it works 100%.
One Balloonra on Sora was all I needed to launch incredibly-damaging, enemy-seeking orbs at a boss for obscene damage -- damage bolstered by the magic-buffing passives I had equipped. The game basically swung in the opposite direction from KH2, at least for me. And again, since I played on the PS4 version, it means that people had time to make their Balloon complaints (such as they are) heard…and Squeenix didn’t do anything to balance them. Competence!
Even without Balloon spam, the game was a cakewalk when I had Sora out and about. Even though it’s been years since KHII, enemies and bosses still generally have no clue how to deal with magic. I can think of at least one boss I cheesed out just by keeping my distance and shooting him in the face with thunder balls. The more things change…
The game was a cakewalk with my Sora. Not so much with my Riku -- which isn’t to say that it was hard; he just won in a different way, and most of his/my struggles came from the bosses. For whatever reason, his were the ones plagued with more camera issues -- flying enemies, mobile enemies, etc. I probably could have made things easier on myself by having him spam balloons, but I committed to making him the heavy hitter, and stuck with it. And to be clear, there was fun to be had from it. Satisfaction, even. Putting together combos and choosing whether to go for short sequences or dump everything into a massive string gave me some real satisfaction.
But again, there’s a con to the pro. 3D exists in this weird, largely-unfortunate place where it wants to be an action game, but doesn’t have the patience, technical skill, or nuance needed to bridge the gap. It wants to be platinum (and Platinum), but scrapes its way up to bronze. Combos are possible, but they’re not true combos. Maybe with extremely tight timing, but I suspect not. If you’re wondering what I mean, then imagine this: if I’m hitting your character in a fighting game and you’re holding block regardless, then if all of my attacks connect it’s a true combo. The hitstun is so great that you can’t do anything unless I drop the combo, and thus I get max damage safely. If I’m hitting your character, you’re blocking, and suddenly you’re able to block again, then my big sequence isn’t a true combo. The holes in it mean you can defend and punish when you have the chance.
The problem I have with 3D is that its lack of nuance means that the high-end skills and setups you use aren’t always helpful, or even consistent. Or even beneficial. Or even work, in some cases. Riku’s supposed to have a launcher built into his move set, but I don’t think I ever got it to launch a single Dream Eater, let alone a boss. Blocking with perfect timing lets him warp behind an enemy and use a counterattack, but that got me hurt more often than my opponents -- largely because they have the ability to just ignore your offense.
And sometimes they can recover faster than you can, even when you have the advantage on hit; without the full-on ability to cancel your attack animations (you can slip in a dodge roll as a substitution for your Keyblade swings), you have to put more thought into your offense than the enemies do. Many of which have some truly cheap, utterly garbage attacks keen to stunlock you into oblivion. You can’t begin to imagine how sick I am of those t-rex Nightmares.
These probably sound like the most negligible of nitpicks, and I’ll bet that for a decent chunk of people those problems won’t even register. But the lack of nuance does more than ensure KH stays forever dumb. It puts an artificial skill cap on players, ensuring that whatever evolution they have over the course of the game is limited. At the end of the day, 3D really isn’t that hard of a game. If I had every mechanic available to me, unsullied, then it’d be even easier. But they aren’t, so players have to make do with what they have. Spam balloons. Spam Flowmotion attacks. Rely on the most basic of basic mechanics, and don’t do anything fancy or else you’ll pay for trying to play optimally.
I want to close out this post by highlighting the disparity -- the extremes in quality -- that 3D suffers from. And to do that, I have to talk about my favorite boss fight, and the worst boss fight. My favorite fight is Sora versus Rinzler in Tron Sequel Land; setting aside the context (because it’s the most relevant to what can charitably be called a story), it tests you in a way a good boss fight does. Rinzler can still cheese his way to victory, but it feels like a fairer fight -- one that you can lose because you messed up. You have to learn his attack patterns, when to guard, attack, and escape; adapt to his ranges and shenanigans, and blow him up when you can.
The worst boss fight in this game, and maybe the worst boss fight I’ve ever experienced in anything ever, is the Riku vs. Anti-Black Coat Nightmare fight. There’s no context behind its sudden appearance; only conjecture at best, so that’s an immediate knock against it. More pressingly, it’s a boss you fight with an arena shrouded in darkness, meaning that you can’t read its moves half the time. I say that, because it has a penchant for warping around instantaneously, including into the darkness well out of your attack range. But not outside its range, oh no. While it can attack from up close, it’s fond of throwing out highly-damaging, hard-to avoid projectiles at or under you, just for kicks. Better hope you’re not already in the middle of an animation for anything.
But what really tips the BS scales is its special move. Because this is 3D, sometimes enemies and bosses will flat out decide not to flinch. The cruel trick to the Anti-Black Coat Nightmare is that it has a secret threshold -- an invisible Revenge Meter that fills up as you deal damage. If you hit that threshold -- including if you’re in the middle of an attack string, or otherwise striking from any range -- it’ll send out a long shadow across the ground. If the shadow touches you, you’re launched skyward and your HP drops to one; if the boss just so happened to trigger it at close range, then the HP orbs you drop will get absorbed by it, prolonging an already-unwelcome boss fight. Oh, and by the way: your Spirits can trigger that move with their attacks, too.
I had to fight the boss in constant fear of that move, and replayed it enough to get a feel for when that attack was coming -- an attack I purposely let my Spirits trigger with long-range attacks. Then and only then could I start my offense…only to run away when I suspected the Revenge Meter was filling up.
I’ve been holding onto my hatred of this boss for about half a year. Now you know why.
I don’t plan on plying 3D ever again. It’s not that I did everything (I barely touched the Flick Rush minigame, because screw that), and I’ve got no compulsion to fight the secret boss. Certainly, I had my fun with the game, and there’s a lot to like. But my frustrations are real, and lingering. Months and years out from my completion, my memories of the game are going to be both pristine and tainted. I like it. But I also dislike it. Good work was done. Bad work was done.
That’s my opinion, at least. But the real clincher -- the deciding factor -- is obvious. I’m on the fence about the gameplay, sure. That’s not the case with the story. That’s what will stick with me in the years to come. And it’s just one more reason why I’m supremely worried about KHIII.
And I’ll explain why next time. See you around till --
Oh wait, I just thought of something else I like about the game. Some of the Reality Shifts are pretty rad. The Tron one always gets me revved up, and dropping Monstro on a boss is basically 3D’s Rules of Nature moment.
Okay, that’ll do it. See you around till --
Oh wait, I just thought of something I hate. Can this franchise do ANYTHING to dampen the wailing siren when you’re low on health? It’s especially bad in 3D when you might be waiting for your healing spells and items to cooldown.
…
…
…Okay, now I’m done.
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