It’s here. It’s finally here.
Kingdom. Hearts. III.
Let’s go.
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Okay, wait. Hold on. I’ll do you one better.
Ah, it’s like the chorus of angels. How befitting of this franchise. For…some reason.
All right, let’s get down to brass tacks. No, I haven’t finished Kingdom Hearts III yet. Given that I’m still (purportedly) a human being that needs food and sleep, it’s impossible for me to have cleared it by this point. With that said, I have managed to put in about 8 hours as of writing, with more likely to follow shortly after this post gets locked in the Blogger dashboard. So if you’re expecting the most complete analysis of the franchise’s latest, look elsewhere.
By the same token? This post is by no means a final judgment on the quality of the game. It’s definitely too early for that; given my experience with other KH games -- and other Squeenix games, more appropriately -- the probability of the gameplay and/or story taking a nosedive into a volcano is extremely high. Consider this the earliest of early impressions. Likewise? No matter what I say here, always remember that subjectively or objectively, the “final score” could go way down. But it could also go up.
I feel like I have to tag on that last line at the end -- because as it stands? Kingdom Hearts III is good. Pretty good? Kinda good? That I haven’t decided yet. But the fact that I want to get back to it ASAP should tell you plenty. So for now? Let’s give it a tentative seal of approval.
Don’t get me wrong, though. This is still a KH game, which means it’s still got some dumb trash in it -- even at this early juncture. There are strengths that help improve the experience, weaknesses that still drag it down, improvements, failings, and everything in between. Sorting through them all is going to be an endeavor, but we have to start somewhere. Might as well take it from the top, point by point.
Also, I’m going to do my best to minimize exposure to spoilers -- by which I mean my exposure to spoilers. Because YouTube is already trying to flood my recommended videos with spoilers for the game, and I don’t need that in my life. So in the interest of avoiding that, I’ll need to avoid every resource I can except for the ones already used for this blog. Maybe I’ll do what I did for Danganronpa and just resort to pictures of bears. We’ll see how it goes.
All right. Now we can get started. With (mostly) gameplay miscellanea.
--I hate to start this thing off with a con at the word go, but…yeah. I’m not really a fan of the opening cutscenes. Both the one that plays before you press anything (featuring the chess game and the series recap/credits) and the one that fires up for a new game. The music is probably the big culprit here; the orchestral rendering of the new theme song -- “Don’t Think Twice” didn’t do much for me, and “Face My Fears” did even less. The latter actually grated on me, so while I recognize the quality of the CG sequence, I’m not about to run to YouTube to watch it again anytime soon. Or ever.
--Okay, so how many Xehanorts are we being forced to follow in this franchise now? Not counting those that got norted, I think it’s six? I’d do an official count, but I’m worried my brain would split my skull apart and vomit neurons from the gaping, makeshift maw if I did. I mean, promotional videos and this game’s opening sequence have implied that there’s going to be another young Xehanort bumping around, and I’m not looking forward to it.
--Also, why do I get the feeling that this game is going to run back Eraqus’ death? They’ve run back virtually every other death, save for the Disney villains (and even then that rule plays fast and loose, given Maleficent and Oogie Boogie), but it’s a big gamble. Revivals and resurrections don’t mean as much when it’s basically a given for every named character; plus, I feel like it’d mean a lot more for the narrative if at least one person -- especially that particular person -- stayed dead. Removed from the canon in all forms, so I don’t even want to see his younger self make a surprise appearance.
--Also, I don’t want to give Terra the satisfaction of having one of his many mistakes scrubbed from the record. His suffering pleases me.
Fuck yoooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
--I said as much for 0.2, but it holds true here as well: this game has some serious money behind it, and it’s better for it. Okay, to be fair, it’s money, time, talent, and general resources, but saying “money” is good enough for a shorthand description. Admittedly there’s an unusual quality about the framerate that I can’t put my finger on; it’s not a consistent 60fps that you’d expect from a Platinum release, but there’s a speed and smoothness that puts it above 30. By no means is that a deal-breaker, because there’s more to the presentation than framerate.
--Based on where I am right now, I can say that the worlds thus far have been pretty linear. However, we’re not talking about the dreaded hallway of the FF13 days. There’s enough space horizontally and vertically to explore, with spaces that widen and narrow as you progress -- all the better for Heartless/Nobody battles. More to the point? The worlds are teeming with all sorts of decor and life; foliage, fauna, and townsfolk (!) are in place, and do their best to make these virtual playgrounds feel like actual places, not just tubes broken up by the occasional scuffle. Beyond that? Can confirm: the Unreal engine has been tapped to provide some impressive lighting and fidelity without sacrificing the color palette (barring mood/stylistic choices from scene to scene). Ah, if only the industry learned that a decade ago…
--Effort has been made to give KHIII more life in its cutscenes -- more animation, more dynamism, more, more, more. It’s all in an effort, I hope, to do the Disney brand justice. That effort is only possible with stronger hardware and more money, even if it’s a bitter truth to accept. On the plus side? It means that KHIII is living up to its promise of Disney representation far better than it ever has -- not just in terms of raw visuals, but expressions, movement, and action. The days of lukewarm composition from the portable games are over; not only are there nearly one-to-one recreations of movie scenes, but Sora, Donald, and Goofy are more than capable of putting on a hell of a show…even if it means getting launched into the sky at 200 mph.
--Let’s step away from the AV aspect for a bit, though (the music’s not worth getting riled up about; KH has many problems, but the soundtrack is never one of them). Flowmotion is back from 3D, but outside of freely being able to run up walls? Its implementation is more reserved compared to its game of origin. It’s still there, for sure; in fact, certain magic spells like Blizzard and Aero give you chances to Flow off of them and launch into attacks. But thus far, I haven’t had nearly as many opportunities to zip around a world or flood combat with them.
--There’s a part of me that wonders if the mechanic’s been changed under the hood; not only do you have to unlock certain previously-included abilities as you level up/progress, but it feels like it’s actually harder to chain your techniques together. Maybe I’m wrong on that. Maybe I’m right. More research is needed.
--A page has been taken from FF15’s book -- which to be fair was a page hard-copied from multiple Tales games -- so now you can cook meals for Sora and the boys to chow down on before combat (thanks to an assist from Ratatouille’s “Little Chef”). Eat one meal item, and you’ll get a status buff for a little while. Eat five at once to create a full-course meal, with as big a boost as you’d expect. It might be crucial for taking on bosses, so the option is there to power up as much or as little as you want -- and by extension, partake in the cooking minigame as much or as little as you want. Or just be lazy and buy whatever the Moogles are selling. Just like me in real life! Sans an inordinate amount of food to be thrown into the microwave and/or eaten in a bowl, because who needs Michelin stars when you’ve got hot dogs?
--Sora gets a phone in this game (and actually uses it in story sequences, meaning that they can potentially close logic lapses/plot holes that FF13 couldn’t be arsed to). On the plus side, you’ll use it to take pictures of the landscape and enemies to fulfill Moogle requests and get extra items -- or, alternatively, find the Mickey Mouse ears embedded throughout the multiverse that function as the game’s prime collectible. Also you can take selfies, if that’s your jam.
--On the minus side? Apparently, the KH universe now has a Twitter-like platform, and it’s about as wince-worthy as you’d expect given the franchise’s sterling writing quality. And the posts are inescapable, because they show up in every loading screen. Kairi has one in particular that’s rough. Though I guess it’s to be expected; I’m sure there are plenty of 15-year-old girls that go through that phase. You know the one.
--As was foretold, combat skews more toward KHII than any of the others (sorry CoM fans; no sleights this time around). There have been some changes across the board, though. For one? You’ve got an air dodge built in by default. It’s a defensive tool, yeah, but it didn’t take me long to realize that you can hit your air combo finisher, air dodge, and then start up a new combo using your inherent, gap-closing attacks. It wouldn’t surprise me if that was the key to some extended combos -- though how well it works on different enemies remains to be seen.
--Launchers are back! For real this time! The input’s on Circle now instead of Square, though that’s a change I can deal with (barring muscle memory I didn’t even know I still had); this time around, Sora does a big spiral as he heads skyward, so I wonder if he can hit multiple enemies into the air at once. Either way? Even if it’s not mentioned in the description, you can also use your launcher in midair combos. That might come in handy. We’ll see if you unlock new offensive options over the course of the game beyond simple launchers -- although you can smack enemies into walls, soooooooooooooo…wall combos confirmed? We Tekken now?
--Sora doesn’t have the barrier guard that Aqua did; he’s still using the same animation he did in KHII. The plus side is that, near as I can tell, it’ll still cover you from whatever angle you need it to; the downside is that you can still block way too early and end up with, oh, I don’t know, a chunk of a tornado-torn building thrown into your face. To compensate, the “Reprisal” mechanic gives you a counterattack after a successful block. Right now I’ve got a basic swing that launches and easily leads into a combo, but given that the game implies there are more to come (and you can only have one type of Reprisal equipped at a time), I’m eager to see what other defensive options there are.
--With that said, there have been multiple instances thus far where I’ve felt like defense doesn’t matter, and you should focus purely on offense -- which is true of several other KH games, to be fair. If not that, then certainly, mobility is your defense; Dodge Roll is back with a vengeance, and having an aerial version of it in your air dodge (or Air Slide, if we’re being technical) just clinches it. Why bother blocking if you can just avoid the attack entirely?
--If we had to assign the options to a hierarchy, then it’s simple. Offense > power gap > power gap > mobility > power gap > defense. You have way more offensive options here than anything else, to the point where taking advantage of them will save you more decisively than a simple roll or guard. Your attack strings are one thing, and an effective one at that -- but you’re encouraged to stay on the offensive as much as possible to access your higher-tier -- and thus life-saving -- abilities.
--There’s a distinct play-it-your-way mentality built in, though, so your offense is in your hands. Formchanges are there if you want different/better attack strings. Attractions are screen-clearing super moves, more or less (you can still take damage during them, and in order to even activate one you have to strike the right enemy before a timer ticks down). Grand Magic is there for the MP-heads like me, tacking on a big hit without losing the flow of battle or control. Team attacks are in play, and sometimes multiple times per battle. Links let you summon others to fight alongside you, altering your move set along the way. Presumably that’s how you’ll get access to guys like Wreck-it Ralph and Ariel, but right now I’ve only got the Dream Eater Meow Wow. Not my favorite Link Summon, but it’ll do. For now.
I should probably get around to watching Vrains at some point.
--That’s a lot of ways to kill enemies, but by no means is it an exhaustive list. Indeed, it can be just as chaotic as it sounds; while the camera and lock-on work, there have been plenty of instances where I’ve had to fight it or bumble around, whether it was to search for an enemy or to clear up my view of the action. That’s not helped by the Squeenix-standard effects that run wild throughout, or the abilities that have you going this way and that. And as always, the need to press the attack leads to a lot of button-mashing -- some of it satisfying, as you’d expect, but some of it’s mindless. I’d like to play intelligently, but sometimes I ask myself “Why bother? Playing dumb works just fine.”
--That all said, there’s a reason why you have so many options at your disposal besides just “mash X”. General skirmishes in KHIII are much more involved than earlier titles; more enemies fight you at once, and more often than not, there are multiple waves to shut down in a single space. If the Drive system from KHII got imported wholesale, I suspect you wouldn’t have the resources needed to survive multiple encounters. Same with the MP system. Having Situation Commands that give you special forms, attacks, and nukes disguised as amusement park rides evens the odds decisively.
--Pre-release, I had one big question on my mind: how gimmicky are all of these mechanics going to be? The answer at this stage? Somewhat. Here’s the catch, though: in a fight, you’re not supposed to use just one Situation Command and be done with it (the dreaded I Win Button, of sorts). You’re supposed to use all of them. Chain them together when you can, and you’ll do more than just win an encounter. You’ll have fun.
--The spectacle level of this game is reaching Metal Gear Rising levels, and I’ve only gotten through three worlds so far. Remember in KHI when fighting the Ice and Rock Titans were major endeavors that could only be attempted with endgame-appropriate levels? Now, you’re not just fighting them as early-game bosses; the Rock Titan’s one of the first major bosses, and you fight two more simultaneously with a third assisting from the back -- only to fight the fourth head-on for the final round. By the way, the fourth is a living tornado. So, like…it’s not that the scale is too much; it’s that I don’t know where the hell you go from there.
--The scale’s been buffed, but the difficulty hasn’t. Not really. I’m playing on Proud Mode right out of the box (because I think I’m hard, son), and while I’ve died a couple of times against that tornado boss, I can’t say that there’s been a rigorous challenge yet. Close calls? Certainly. But I’ve pulled out of them with preparations beforehand, and clutch saves mid-battle. I can only assume that the heat will come later -- I’m still at the start, give or take -- but I’d prefer it I the heat came sooner. Right now, the deck’s stacked in my favor.
--I’ll probably eat those words later on. Then again, nothing can possibly be worse than the Anti-Black Coat Nightmare. (Not counting the BBS secret bosses, because I ain’t about that life.)
And that’s just about all I’ve got for the gameplay. Next time, I’ll go into early story impressions. But if you’re not sold yet -- and still here after reading some 3000 words’ worth of gibberish, here’s the only fact you need to know: in this game, you can turn your Keyblade into a giant goddamn cartoon bazooka.
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…I’m not saying this is the game of the year. But it’s inching toward that point.
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