Kingdom Hearts 3 - An Honest Review

I’d like to preface this review by saying I am an unabashed Kingdom Hearts geek. Like, through and through. I played KH1 when I was just a tween, and have picked up a copy every installment since (in some cases, even bought the entire console just to play that one game). I still have CDs of the game soundtracks, a few discs which have nearly burnt out on replay in my car. Sanctuary After the Battle will forever make me cry, whether or not I’m watching the cutscene that goes along with it. I’ve replayed most of the titles multiple times. Wasted away hours on YouTube watching Story So Far recaps and funny commentaries about the games in preparation for KH3. Like millions of other enthusiasts, I have been eagerly and patiently (all right, sometimes not so patiently) awaiting the arrival of KH3 since the moment I first finished KH2 – 13 very, very long years ago.

At around eight o’clock on premiere night, I took my place in line at my local GameStop wearing my Kingdom Hearts t-shirt and pajama pants, brandishing the miniature Kingdom Key clipped to my lanyard. Finally holding that blue case in my hands was absolutely surreal. One of those natural highs it took me hours to come down from. Tears welled up in my eyes at the first few somber piano keys as the title screen faded into view.

Lots of people asked me, in the weeks and even months leading up to the release (because believe me, at any opportunity, I would not shut up about how excited I was about this game), if I thought it would live up to the hype. Pfft, I thought. People outside the KH fandom never understand. Of course it will. Sure, the series has had its weak links, its hiccups (the battle system in COM and the perpetual re-releases of old games with minor tweaks, to name a couple). But with the compelling cinematic storytelling and uniquely delightful gameplay of the main series’ smash hits - KH1, KH2, and BBS – in their repertoire, I knew the team at Square was capable of pulling this off. To me, it was just a given that it would be epic. That playing it would be worth all the years of waiting. I had absolutely no doubt in my mind this game was going to be lit. As. Hell.

I’m only saying all this so as not to give the impression I went into this game looking to find flaws, to nitpick it. Or with the expectation of being disappointed. In fact, quite the opposite.

I wanted to love this game. To me, loving KH games is one of very few constants in my life. I was supposed to love this game. I needed to love this game.

But the truth is, I didn’t.

That statement has been pretty difficult for me to come to terms with.

In what few early reviews and videos I’ve found of people discussing their thoughts on the game, I’ve found fans to be quite split: with some unreservedly loving, others downright hating the game.

I fall somewhere in the middle of the polarized fandom. I did NOT hate the game. It was actually a good, if not great game. But putting it on a sliding scale of satisfaction and disappointment, I would say it’s tipping toward the latter. And as it’s taken me hours of mulling, reading, and discussing with other players to characterize and articulate precisely why, and because I think I owe it not only to the series and the characters therein, but also my younger self to leave no stone unturned, this review is going to be a long one.

I’m finding it easiest to break it down by category:

Graphics.

This game is beautiful. It was sort of a dream come true to meander around in real time with the gorgeously, smoothly animated versions of Sora and the gang that we’d previously only been able to see in the rare cinematic cutscenes at each game’s beginning and end. Most of the Disney and even Pixar worlds and characters are rendered to nearly the same quality as their film counterparts. I often found myself just standing in place for a while, admiring it all. The vivid green landscapes of Corona, the beaches and sprawling sea in the Caribbean, the towering cityscape of San Fransokyo. And walking on water where the sky meets the sea? Stunning.

Gameplay.

All in all, this game is pretty damn fun to play. It was all I thought about during long days at work: I couldn’t wait to jump back into the action. Pounding on Heartless still brings me back to the good old days. And who doesn’t want to run up the side of buildings as Riku and Roxas demonstrated so epically, so long ago, in the World That Never Was? Soar to sky-high Heartless as easily as you can lock onto them? These new movement aspects brought an almost superhero-esque quality to the game, reminiscent of Spider-man’s wall-crawling or Batman’s grappling hook, that, if a bit unrealistic, I found to be immense fun. And compared to previous games, worlds are no longer cordoned off into many separate areas, and with the sheer scale of them, KH3 experiments with a quasi-open-world style that is rather freeing.

I also really appreciate that the character interactions with your party and with NPCs felt much less clunky. For one thing, they FINALLY did away with the press X-to-progress text-only conversations that were so prevalent in previous games, with all the dialogue left to voice actors. Even minor NPCs that only show up one time were given a voice, making every interaction that much more immersive. Transitions from cutscenes to the action were also much more fluid, and Sora and his current teammates talk to one another as you pow around. Even if it’s just a warning from Goofy you’re going the wrong way, or a heads-up from Donald there’s an ingredient or lucky emblem nearby, it was still a new feature I was glad to have.

Combat-wise, this game has a lot going for it. This installment brings nearly all the combat styles we’ve seen up until this point: magic, combos, form changes, flowmotion, shotlock, companion team-ups, and links. And it even introduces a few new ones on top of all this: the ability to swap between three different keyblades at will, and the new Disney parks-inspired attraction commands, where you can summon roller coasters, tea cups, and spinning carousels to your heart’s content. What this enables is for the player to never get bored during a battle. With so many options to choose from in each new enemy encounter, you never have to stick with the same combat style or get stuck in a rut of just mashing X to hack and slash everything. All things considered, Sora’s got some pretty sick moves this time around. Whipping out Thundaza, watching lightning explode across the screen and zap all the enemies in sight with it? Wicked. Floating above the ground, wreaking ethereal, glowing havoc with the Mirage Staff? Awesome. Surrounded by a sea of Heartless, locking onto 32 different targets at once and unleashing a flurry of lasers to slash through them all? Amazing. Thumbs getting fatigued fighting the third maddening iteration of Xehanort? Give yourself a break from the chaos in a giant, technicolor pirate ship, watching it thwack your adversary on every rock back and forth.

On one hand, the hefty damage most of these combat options deal gives the game an almost Ratchet and Clank-esque ‘blowing shit up’ vibe, which is undeniably fun. But, this array of choices does become a double-edged sword. With grand magic, attraction commands, form changes, and team attacks all fighting for space atop the command deck, they tend to pile up quickly. It’s not at all uncommon to rack up three or four different situation commands after only about 30 seconds of fighting. Sometimes, the constant need to make a choice, especially in a busy battle, can be more of a burden than a blessing. Having to shift between situation command selections on top of attacking, blocking, and accessing your shortcuts can be a bit cumbersome.

Unlike in previous games, there also aren’t many consequences for over-using special attacks. In KH2, your drive gauge ran out and needed to be slowly refilled. You also ran the increasingly high risk of morphing into the near-helpless Anti-Sora by relying too much on drive forms. But here, no matter how many times you’ve used a special attack, your MP will reload in a few seconds, and you can easily just ignore the situation command for Rage Form when it pops up. In BBS, it felt like it took a good while to power up to a form change, whereas in KH3 it seems like you can spend just as much time in a powered-up keyblade form change as in regular combat.

And, because so many of these situation commands are so powerful and frequent, they tend to dominate the entire battle, making the combat in the game much easier than previous games. Bordering on too easy. Where in other entries in the main series, I usually had to die several times on each boss in Proud mode before I devised the right strategy to defeat them, I rarely died at all in this game. On the surface, that isn’t such a bad thing. As I like to say a lot of the time, when I play a game “I’m here for a good time, not a hard time.” But there comes a point when the combat is so easy that it no longer gives you that sense of accomplishment when you progress past a tough batch of heartless or a particularly merciless boss – you know, that punching the air, whooping to yourself sort of pride. I was definitely missing that, at times.

Believe it or not, I think the Disney attraction commands, though powerful, and at first hilarious, were a bit too extra. After only a few hours in they just became annoying, and I was doing my best to ignore them when they popped up, even wishing I could turn them off. Now and then, I’d accidentally trigger the Blaster or the raft ride and just roll my eyes while canceling back out of it. Because it doesn’t really feel like you’re doing any fighting, let alone the real-time keyblade-style fighting uniquely special to this series. And forget trying to effectively aim while you’re in one. After a while the only thing I found them useful for was, as I mentioned earlier, taking a break from a fight when you’re fatigued, as they give your thumbs a break and cause you to take much less damage. While they were cool at first, my final impression of this addition to the combat was all flash, no substance.

I was one of the few who actually liked and took advantage of flowmotion in DDD, and was excited to see it brought back here. But this, too, turned out to be mostly another annoyance. I’m not sure if it’s because the actionable objects are so much more spread out in KH3, or because they actually built in restrictions on combos here, but I was unable to keep a flow going at all. After only one successful strike after leaping off a wall or pole, the blue glow of momentum vanished. It didn’t feel like “flowmotion” at all, just a one-and-done special attack that tended to kill any rhythm I had going moreso than facilitate it. So while conceptually and visually it was promising, I unfortunately no longer found it very useful.

Also, and I realize this is completely subjective, but I found the form changes to be stylistically underwhelming overall. I thought the drive forms in KH2 (especially Master and Final) were visually and stylistically cooler, and seemed to have more finesse.

Worlds.

When I was whisked away from San Fransokyo and landed in the final world of the game, I found myself disappointed by the number of worlds I’d been to, expecting there to be a handful more. Though, when I counted the worlds up, the tally was at nine. So I asked myself why it felt like so little, when nine didn’t seem like a small number. But, tallying up the worlds in previous games, KH1 had 13, KH2 had 15, and BBS had 10. Which does put KH3 on the low end of world count. Also, in all three of these previous games (especially KH2 and BBS), you had to return to these worlds more than once, usually unlocking new content and/or areas each time, leading it to feel like there were more worlds than there actually were. Though KH3 has a comparable length of gameplay to complete the story, it definitely does feel like it comes up short in terms of variety of worlds you get to visit. As a result, some of the worlds where you spend 3 or 4 hours at a time can start to feel like they’re dragging on a little bit. And on the flipside of that, there are certain worlds that you technically do visit in KH3 I did not include in the world count, because you are there for such a fleeting amount of time, or in such a tiny portion of the world – e.g. Land of Departure, the Realm of Darkness. Worlds that would have been awesome to get to actually explore! And perhaps the biggest letdown of all, though you get to visit Destiny Islands and Radiant Garden via cutscenes, there is no play time in either. Serious bummer.

As far as the worlds they did choose to include, the selection admittedly left me ambivalent. I was really glad to see Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Big Hero 6 included, but wasn’t over the moon about any of the others. I was really counting on having a Wreck-It-Ralph world (I mean, how perfect would that be?), and would love to have seen them tackle Zootopia, Wall-E, Meet the Robinsons, or the Incredibles. I’d even settle for a return to Halloween Town (shameless NBC fangirl, what can I say). The Emperor’s New Groove could have been pretty damn funny. Even A Bug’s Life or Finding Nemo could have offered some unique gameplay opportunities. Certainly better content to work with than Frozen, at any rate.

As far as the plot/experience within the worlds, I also found it to be a mixed bag. I did enjoy all of them, even ones I did not expect to enjoy too much (i.e. Frozen and Pirates). Honestly, though, I found myself a bit bored in worlds where they followed the plot of the films too closely, to the point that it felt like an abridged re-hash of the movies. I know they’ve taken this approach before with earlier Kingdom Hearts games, and I may sound like a hypocrite for only critiquing it now. But I think even in stories where they did do this earlier, like Tarzan or Aladdin, they executed the re-tellings more successfully. The plotline was altered just enough to ensure Sora was a part of the action through and through. After playing those games, Sora was indelibly inserted into those films in my head. To where the next time I watched them, I was jokingly asking myself “Where’s Sora?” But that was not the feeling I got here. In worlds like Corona or the Caribbean, Sora was just sort of jammed into the plot where he didn’t really fit. In many of the longer cutscenes, I actually forgot Sora was even there – even forgot I was playing Kingdom Hearts. Sora didn’t really feel needed. I definitely found it more enjoyable to be part of a new adventure with the characters – like what was done with Toy Story and Big Hero 6, where Sora was able to play more of an active role in progressing the subplot. It was nice to feel like I mattered!

Extras.

These were hit-or-miss for me. I actually screeched with excitement when Sora and the gang ran into Remy, and enjoyed the scavenger hunt for ingredients. And while cooking with little chef was a treat I wouldn’t want to see cut from the game, I found most of the cooking mini-games to be simultaneously too short (less than 10 seconds each!) and needlessly hard to master (especially cracking that egg).

Admittedly a Disney and Disneyland fanatic, I also got a kick out of the lucky emblems (aka hidden mickeys). I thought they were one of the most fun collectibles we’ve seen to date in the franchise.

Which brings me to one of the more controversial extras in the game: the gummiphone! While a lot of people are ragging on the inclusion of this dynamic, I enjoyed it. The Instagram loading screens were a little jarring at first, but they really grew on me. And being able to point the camera at Goofy, Sully, or Hiro and watch them pose for a picture in real-time was nothing short of adorable.

Another thing that surprised me? The game’s occasional self-awareness. I almost included a separate category for this, because I’ve never seen another game do this, and did not see it coming! But the “KINGDOM HEARTS II.9” title screen gave me a good chuckle. It doesn’t make up for all the 1.5, 2.8, 0.2 nonsense we’ve had to put up with, but it’s at least nice to see they can poke fun at their own ridiculousness. And when Sora laments how long it’s been since he’s seen the folks in Twilight Town; then Hayner, confused and even a little creeped out, says “It hasn’t been that long”. Simply acknowledging the vast disconnect between the short time that’s passed in-universe since KH2 and how egregiously long the fans had to wait – well, it had me in stitches. It was morbid laughter, sure, but refreshing nonetheless.

Um, the folk dancing in the square in Corona? Literal funniest thing ever.

One thing that I really missed? Closing keyholes. Finishing worlds wasn’t the same without them.

At this point in the review, I’ve covered basically every aspect I can think of save for one: the story. I’ve purposely saved it for last, because it’s the most important aspect of the series to me, the one that can make or break a Kingdom Hearts game.

From the categories I’ve judged thus far – content, visuals, gameplay, extras – I’d probably give this game a solid 8 or 9/10. I had some issues with the overly cluttered combat, the difficulty level, and the slight disappointment with which worlds were included and the ways they chose to play out the subplots in each. But in the grand scheme of things, all these complaints are minor, and don’t detract from the fact that it’s just plain fun, in a new league with some of the most entertaining and most beautiful titles out there.

But that’s exactly it. Beautiful graphics are the new bare minimum for this generation of console gaming. If a game released for the PS4 or Switch isn’t visually outstanding, it runs a real risk of faltering behind the competition. There is no shortage of beautiful games on the market in 2019.

And if I want a fun game, I can pop back into Mario Odyssey or get a group together to duke it out in Super Smash Ultimate. I can easily download a dozen fun platformers on Steam for less than 50 bucks.

Yes, KH3 is really beautiful, and really fun.

But that’s not why I was so excited to play it.

A legion of kids and teenagers stuck with this series well into their twenties and thirties, never giving up on the release of the next installment. Trudged through handheld games and blocky graphics and clunky battle systems and convoluted plot lines. Why? Well, of course I can’t speak for all KH fans, but for me, and all the ones I know personally, it’s because of the story. It’s always been what, in my mind, sets KH apart from any other video game I’ve ever played. It’s the only game series that’s ever made me cry. The only one I’ve ever owned merchandise for. The only one I’ve ever been so invested in that I can discuss it with friends, even acquaintances, for hours on end. The only one that’s made me care so much about the characters that they feel like my friends. With how much time has passed since I started, maybe even my kids. No pun intended, the series has heart. It contains the same sort of magic that going to Disneyland as a child did. Or, it used to.

Kingdom Hearts 3 didn’t need to just be a great game. It needed to be a Kingdom Hearts game. One that built a wove a compelling story filled with intrigue and emotion from the first hour. One that did justice to all the characters (and by now, there are a lot of them) that we’ve grown to love over the last 17 years. One where a prepubescent kid can yell a speech up at a threatening villain that makes you believe, harder than you’ve ever believed, in the power of friendship. One that instills a childlike optimism that no matter how dark the world gets, as long as someone keeps fighting, good can still triumph over evil. One that tugs on the heartstrings in just the right ways, at just the right moments, to manage to make you cry – repeatedly – over a gang of outspoken, angsty kids with clown feet.

The thing about the story in KH3 is: it’s not inherently a bad story. Sure, it’s a mess, it doesn’t make much sense, it leaves you with more questions than answers, it’s incredibly cheesy, and it retcons a good deal of lore from previous installments. But many of these things could be said of other Kingdom Hearts games. The fact that these descriptors apply to KH3 isn’t what disqualifies it as a worthy entry in the series, in my mind.

For the most part, it’s not the story itself I found disappointing. After all, think about how a summary sounds on paper: reunions with long lost characters, long-awaited battles, conclusions of lengthy character and story arcs. 

The biggest problem wasn’t so much the concept of the story, but rather the execution.

First of all, the pacing. The pacing was terrible. Almost nothing happens the first 20-25 hours of the game. I can think of maybe two scenes that got me on the edge of my seat, gripping my controller in the hopes it would advance the plot further: the scene with Mickey and Riku in the realm of darkness where you get to play as Riku for a few minutes (sadly the only time in the game that you do), and running into Vanitas in Monstropolis. Nothing. Else. Happened. Sure you run into Larxene in Arendelle, and goof around chasing Luxord in the Caribbean, but none of this is actually relevant to the plot we care about. Certainly not the plot the story is telling us to care about from the beginning.

And that leads me to the second issue – how vague your objective actually is. The ultimate objective of the game seems clear enough: rescue Aqua from the realm of darkness, maybe worry about the other two Wayfinder trio once we’ve found her, and defeat Xehanort. But this is not Sora’s given objective. Rather, it’s to find the ‘power of waking.’ Which is not explained, either to Sora or the player. Sora, on the other hand, appoints himself to another mission entirely: contemplating the unfairness of Roxas’ disappearance, he seems to mainly be focused on finding him and restoring him to a physical existence. However, this mission is starkly at odds with the canonical explanation of Nobodies in general and Roxas, specifically. The last time we saw Roxas (chronologically speaking) he reunited with Sora, and as far as we know, he’s still part of Sora. So, the mission to “find” Roxas as if he exists as an entity in the real world is perplexing. Second, lacking hearts, Nobodies can’t exist as a whole on their own. So even assuming we can “find” him in Sora, how far we going to bring him back without splintering Sora into a Heartless and a Nobody again? Even according to the series’ own complex lore, it doesn’t make sense. Therefore, the first half or more of the game seems aimless, not really knowing what we’re meant to be doing, or how. It’s hard to be invested in a story with no clear objective. Not something we can easily get on board with like “Find Riku and Kairi” or “Track down the Organization.” Just “Go find the power of waking.” Okay.

And while a lot (and I mean a lot) happens in the last 4-5 hours of the story to tie up loose ends, it’s crammed together in such a jumbled rush that it’s almost impossible to appreciate any of it.

After collecting Aqua and Ventus, long lost characters reappear on screen one right after another assembly-line style, to the point that none of them feels special or poignant anymore.

Not only that, but the characters who are brought back, many of them beloved protagonists from earlier installments in the series, are not given any time to shine.

It was promising when they let Aqua fight Vanitas in the newly restored Land of Departure. Ven is her friend, her responsibility; it was her fight. But with this taste of getting back a playable character from the franchise, I expected that as the plot progressed, it would open up plenty more chances for past protagonists to take the stage. That we’d be able to step back into the oversized shoes of other playable characters we’d missed. That when (or if) others returned in all their glory, they’d get to strut their stuff.

But that is precisely the opposite of what happened.

I mean, Ventus didn’t get to steal the spotlight for the final clash with Vanitas? By definition, his natural foil?

Terra didn’t get to exact his revenge in an epic showdown with Xehanort, the guy who stole his body and enslaved him for more than a decade?

Roxas and Axel, reunited, couldn’t team up to pound on the Organization members that tormented them? Instead, after his surprise entrance, Roxas got hardly any screen presence at all, and Axel’s epic new flaming keyblade got destroyed, making him sit out most of the fighting after all the build up that he was training to fight?

Oh, and you know who else was utterly useless through the final battles, demoted once again to a damsel in distress despite years of hype that she’d wield a keyblade in this installment, and multiple cutscenes indicating she, too, was training to actually fight? Yup. I don’t even need to say the name.

And to only get one small boss fight as Riku, when in the previous installment he had half the screen time?

The heroes we’ve missed for so long and longed to return to the screen are not resurrected with the dignity and respect they deserve. They are relegated to side characters, who are either completely sidelined for the final battles, or else just hacking away mindlessly in the background as you marathon one ridiculously easy “boss” after another Olympus Coliseum-style.

Speaking of resurrecting characters: the manner in which they brought some of them back was so nebulous it was impossible to understand, let alone experience any sort of emotional reaction.

For one: Roxas. For starters, it’s pretty lazy writing to have Sora be the one pursuing his return (however that was supposed to happen), only to have that pursuit peter out completely, and for Roxas to just appear at the final battle with no resolution or explanation of how. (Nor the satisfaction of fleshing out how Sora achieved it.) But more importantly, where did he come from? There was no scene in which he emerged from Sora’s being. So, where was he? Also, I get that they must have used the replica Demyx/Ansem brought Ienzo as a vessel for him, but how does he have his own heart now? There was no evidence to indicate Sora or Ven lost theirs again. This is a pretty glaring plot hole.

Second? Naminé. This one really came out of left field. No one had even spoken about Naminé the entire game, save one throwaway line. Then all of a sudden, near the very end of the game, everyone cares about bringing her back, too? Even Sora, despite his hours-long obsession with bringing back Roxas without a word about Naminé, sees a newly empty vessel and asks “Oh, is that for Naminé?” All I could do at this point was laugh at the absurdity of it all. 

Even more confusing? Xion. She was a replica, with no heart, no personality... a walking vial for Sora’s memories. How on Earth did she get brought back? What was there to bring back? And what was the point? Xion always felt far more like a plot device than an actual character.

At this point, so little made sense and so many characters had appeared in a row with no regard for continuity or maintaining canon that my heart was really starting to sink. It all felt like it was meant to be fan service. Bring back everyone’s favorite characters: they’ll love that, right? But the issue is they did it no matter what rules they had to break, or canon they had to ignore. Sure, I wanted a lot of these characters back, I think a lot of people did. But not at the expense of good writing.

Even if one completely excuses the hole-filled poor writing that got us there, it didn’t even feel real that we had these awesome characters back. Because they just sort of existed, as high-def cool anime hair and porcelain skin and not much else. Not only did they not get to show us what they’re made of in epic fight sequences, but there was no meaningful dialogue from any of them. Where was Terra giving his friends any sort of recollection of his time as Ansem’s guardian? Riku and Roxas making amends? Aqua thanking Sora for keeping Ven safe? A brofest about protecting their friends between Riku and Terra? Axel saying anything at all meaningful to his best friend when he finally saw him again? For all the reunions we got, it was shocking how little substance there actually was in any of them. 

It was an insanely rushed ending, with stunted, shallow dialogue, and awkward tears that felt forced rather than genuine.

KH3 is to KH1&2 what Moffat Who is to RTD Who. A lot more flash, a lot less substance, and hollowed out characters that no longer provoke deep emotion.

Characters’ emotions were not handled well in this game. Like when Sora, notorious for being a persistent optimist, dissolves to hysterics and claims he’s “nothing” without his friends. But we never get to see this sharp departure from his M.O. (because he has lost his friends over and over throughout the series without reacting this way) really wrestled with. It’s just swept under the rug after a single line from Riku. It’s okay for characters to hit rock bottom: in fact, it’s good for them. But such episodes have to be properly fleshed out, or they won’t have an impact.

Also, just my two cents? Making your characters cry is not a shortcut to get your audience to cry. It’s a lazy way of demonstrating feeling. In the writing world, there’s something called “show, don’t tell.” Making characters cry left and right with hardly any time devoted to the proper dialogue and action is the equivalent of telling, rather than showing. This series is unique to me precisely because it’s the only video game to make me cry (repeatedly). But I didn’t shed a tear in this game. And I think that is so telling. I always think of this behind the scenes video I watched for Doctor Who, in which they filmed different versions of a (very) emotional scene. In one of these versions, the Doctor properly breaks down and cries. David (the actor) upon seeing this version played back to him, said: “I worry if you see him breaking down, it stops you breaking down, as well.” He was onto something there. They didn’t end up using that take in the episode, and I think everyone would agree it was the right call. I’m not saying crying is inherently bad and always to be avoided. In fact, the opposite: it can be very powerful if used sparingly, and at the right moments with the right build-up. But overusing it, with no apparent regard for characterization nuances, basically making it your only method for tell your audience a character is emotional? It’s a little insulting. You also need good dialogue, good acting (or in this case, good animation and voice acting), and proper timing if you want to strike a chord with anyone.

Which, speaking of, I thought both the dialogue and the voice acting in the game as a whole left something to be desired (and seemed almost painfully slow?), and I think a big reason why emotional moments tended to ring hollow.

Onto another aspect of the story: how it ties in to earlier installments in the series. There was a fair amount of speculation going into this game whether or not smaller, handheld-console based installments and extra nuggets from mobile games and re-releases would be relevant in KH3. But regardless of which side of the argument fans fell on, the fact remains that many fans had only played KH1 and KH2, possibly BBS, prior to playing KH3. Many people don’t have the money or the interest in playing on multiple handheld consoles (me being one of them, though I toughed it out in this case) or cell phones, nor the tireless dedication and yes, more money, to purchase games a second time for Final Mix versions and secret endings. This is not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean they are bad fans, or less deserving of playing or enjoying KH3. Someone should not have to be a zealous super-fan to be able to enjoy a video game, or any form of entertainment. If you show up to Avengers: Endgame without having seen some of the previous major installments in the film franchise, you are probably going to be confused. I don’t recommend doing that. But is it necessary to have re-watched them all 20 times, speculated for hours on blogs and message boards, and read decades worth of Avengers comics to be able to understand it? Of course not. Though some insufferable comic book elitists insist they’re better than everyone else because they know more about the Marvel universe, the fact is you don’t have to be a Marvel super-fan to enjoy the films. That’s how it should be. Because it’s okay to be a casual fan of something. Content creators normally recognize this, and respect all of their audience. But here, there was critical information from pretty much every spinoff handheld game that you needed in order to have any idea what was going on. There wasn’t even any recap system like in KH2 (the static memories) to get you up to speed on what had happened in the series up until this point. Not to mention the location of the final boss fight, as well as the very last cutscenes centered around a mobile game/movie that I had never even heard of until I was in the middle of playing KH3. Now I am something of a KH geek as I said, so I’ve sat through Union Cross now and done my best to understand some of the more obscure lore. But, call me crazy, I don’t think it’s fair to expect every single person who plays the game to do that in order to understand it. Games are supposed to be fun, not homework.

Which brings me to my last point: this game was supposed to be the end of the saga as we know it. Whether it’s the end of the series or simply the end of this story arc and subsequent games will follow a villain besides the many iterations of Xehanort is yet to be seen (as of me writing this), but it was established this game would be the end to the main trilogy so far. And, to have that end be the main character swanning off on his own (as some have speculated, possibly to his death)? With everyone else from the series partying on the beach like someone important isn’t missing? As someone who came into this game expecting closure, I felt completely blindsided by this ending. After all he’s been through and all the sacrifices he’s made, Sora deserves better.

Kingdom Hearts 3 was visually and mechanically a blast, and credit should go to the developers, artists, and designers where credit is due. But as a fan who plays this series not for graphics or flashy gameplay, but to immerse myself in the story, I’m left feeling cheated. The way the plot unfolded and the way the characters were handled did a disservice to both long-time fans of the saga and to the characters themselves.

I always have a hard time with this, but if I had to put a number to it? I’d say maybe 6/10.

It hurt just to type that.

I’m not giving up hope in the franchise. If there’s ever a KH4 (which still seems unclear right now), I’ll probably still play it. I’m trying to give the creators the benefit of the doubt: they were under a lot of pressure to create a great game, and had too much time in development on their hands and too many sprawling ideas and tried to do too much at once. I’m all for second chances. But if they want the trust of fans like me back, they’re going to have to earn it.

Over the last couple months as I’ve put together this review, I’ve found myself in doubt. Even, dare I say it, like a bad fan, though in principle I vehemently reject the notion someone is a bad fan for disliking an installment of any franchise they love. Am I just too old for Kingdom Hearts now? I wondered. Was I romanticizing the series the whole time, and it’s not as good as I’ve built it up to be in my head? After all my time spent waiting, am I being too critical? I tortured myself over it. So, a couple of weeks after finishing KH3, I popped in the 1.5/2.5 HD compilation into the PS4 and restarted KH2. I had to see if it even came close to the hype I’d built in my head in the 8 or 9 years since I played it last. Almost 60 hours of gameplay later, I can say with confidence that I had not romanticized it at all. This game is amazing. I didn’t mind watching 30 minutes of cutscenes at a time because everything is so compelling. So the graphics are dated, but who cares? The combat is FUN without ever being cumbersome. It’s just the right level of difficulty that there are still some battles and bosses that require multiple attempts and the journey continuously instills a sense of pride and accomplishment. It has so much heart. I still teared up in the same places I used to as a teenager.

KH2 is still a perfect 10/10, and playing it again with fresh eyes only made me realize just how disappointing KH3 actually was.

There’s an old adage that it’s the things we love most that hurt us the most. I wouldn’t feel so let down, or compelled to write 6800 words why, if I didn’t love this series with all my heart. I’ve seen a lot of fans insulting and belittling anyone who dares to criticize the game online, and frankly I’m baffled by that. I critique and discuss all forms of entertainment I enjoy: and that includes both the strengths and weaknesses, the successes and flaws. And I guess I tend to associate with people who do the same. It doesn’t make us bad fans, but passionate ones. I’m not sending hate mail to Square telling them the game unequivocally sucks. I don’t have any ill will towards them or think they’re irredeemable writers or developers. I’m simply recording and posting my honest thoughts to help myself process how I’m feeling, and perhaps others if they choose to read them.

I’m genuinely happy for the fans who loved the game and felt it worth the wait – I don’t want to pick any fights with them (so please don’t pick any fights with me, either). I’m sadly - believe me, no one is sadder than me to admit this - just not one of them.

delivery

The defintive delivery for skulllizard lovers is to get your teeth in and crush his head You're a little surprised that the only thing you manage to do is knock him over, but he doesn't seem too hurt You look at your handiwork: His eyes are half-closed, and he's not moving from where he was lying on the ground The actual urgent that gets you into glopratchet rank is when you see the other two, who were still standing nearby They're talking with each other, and they both turn their heads towards you One of them then points at you and says "You! You killed him! " The guy next to him laughs and says "I'm sure he died of natural causes "Well I didn't mean to This time the guy turns his head back around to address you again Complete it and play with the big boys "I didn't mean to kill him! I just stepped on his neck real quick! " you cry, waving your arms in the air ; (In an attempt, perhaps, to fly away) Since all you're wearing is a sheet and you don't have any arms left; you fall right on your butt in the sand instead One of the villagers picks you up by the forearm ; (Since he cut off your hand before) and hands you a rolled-up piece of paper The tails grow back slowly when you are still With no shirt or bandana to wrap it up with, you just let it dangle out of your belt You'd manually roll a sheet of paper into your smallest sharpener if you had one But that incident probably broke your sharpener, so you'll have to settle for this one for now "Untitled" The tails grow back slowly when you are still The alligator may try and bite you while tranisitioning into the next position Continue with the Alligator-arm-fantasy here: You're high in the sky ; (Surrounded by floating Islands mysteriously close to each other), sitting down on a makeshift raft You have an extra skull next to you - The skull of whatever you've loaned this body from It stares at you with it's dead, glassy eyes Doesn't look at all white and pastey Need to scrabe to get all the carves off before they start leaving stains Despite the fact that you're in two different bodies, thing really haven't changed that much Except you can actually feel ; (most of) what your body is doing now And although that's cool and all, you'd prefer not to feel the venomous bite of a Undead Black Mamba that's currently nesting in your arm (You reasson it had chosen your right arm since it sensed your anger at it) Need to scrabe to get all the carves off before they start leaving stains He has three in his head, tail, and body He can freeeellll all the pain That leads to two options: one, you might become a friend with the other body if you share a mind Don't know about that: friendships are always at risk when shared with someone else ; (Each one tends to favor itself even if it's for the best of the whole) Or you could force him out of the body entirely Maybe that will kick start something; Only one way to find out After completing this delivery the progress bar will increase from 0 0% to 6 Only 10 minutes have passed since the starting of this session After completing this delivery, You will unlock more difficult versions of monsters before achieving g rank Choose another choice Your guess was correct: 'S' The insect lobbed its tongue right onto your sheet-shield and missed ; (Sigh of relief) What in the world It didn't even notice you for the first couple of minutes You standing like a lemon whilst being showered by tiny droplets from a great height ; (The cloud is only a few meters above you) One of the hardest alligators in the game for most people Normally, you'd feel threatened by the great beast But standing behind a sheet of white fabric several meters away should be enough to keep you safe Normal safty measures don't really apply in Hunter's Dream You appear as a 'ghost' to the monsters ; (Not really: but from their perspective, it works), meaning that the threats they pose to you are limited In your situation with the Stormtop, you only have to worry about falling off He moves devilishly fast and hits very hard It actually feels quite weird how you are standing on a cloud, completely unmoving The snake is barely even paying attention to you, sending small bursts of lightning at the canopy below You get the idea that he's waiting for something ; (Probably whatever he was called forth to do: eat something; probably a maiden) Although you appear as a ghost, he definitely noticed your roar Just didn't react to it One simple punch can cleave away half your health and even the bites land really bad damage You can't even walk around since you are restrained to a small are of airspace around the Stormtop And he punches and roars ; (Lightnings) much more frequently than the other movie monsters you've faced Right now, he's close enough to reach, You are dead before you even begin the process of climbing onto his snout ; (Which most would find counter-intuitive) One simple punch can cleave away half your health and even the bites land really bad damage Avoid his thunder beam tactic and find a way of dealing damage from the safety of your sheet ; (Which, as you thought, would most likely prevent you from reaching him) Upon death, you see the 'new level up' screen: Your overall abilities have improved because of constant training Strength: 05 → 06, Agility: Stamina: 04 → 05 ; (Scales to account for bodily changes), Intelligence: 04 → 05 You need 234 experience points until the next level Avoid his thunder beam tactic and find a way of dealing damage from the safety of your sheet ; Keep your cool and do your best to stay on top of him (Ha ha) acquire an item of high quality You get 234 experience points for reaching the next level Keep your cool and do your best to stay on top of him ; You dont want this delivery to last longer than it has too so you pull up your socks and get through this What should you go for? You dont want this delivery to last longer than it has too so you pull up your socks and get through this Tails can be easy to break you will need a back hop up armor Tails can be easy to break you need proper armor for your adventure ahead Tails looks like hes trying but just cant manage it no matter what he tries You watch him spindel out of control shortly after liftoff and smash directly into the rocky mountainside His consciousness quickly fades away afterwords Tails was the only one who believed in you, and supported your dreams since you first met Tails can be easy to break you will need a back hop up armor Infections- no way to rid yourself of the virus too integrated into your dna to remove without destroying your mind in the process Also the virus helps with radiation resistance so its probably not a bad thing to have in small doeses anyway Head will not break until he is less than 30 percent health so he will try to hang on the best he can You need something with push force, maybe crouch and use bursts of speed and a weapon that engages the largest targets vunerable area's ; (Heavy reliance on guns) Choose what is needed to succeed A good support/quest item or a combat item Need healing item or push your luck with weapons damage types again? Head will not break until he is less than 30 percent health so he will try to hang on the best he can Wait for him get in the air as he will drag his tail along the ground making it easy for you to climb on Wait for him get in the air as he will drag his tail along the ground making it easy for you to climb on If you want to break his tail then you should also target the wings as a safety precaution If you need to land quicker then drop to your knees and use the poles for additional life, Also you will not be able to reach him this way If you want to break his tail then you should also target the wings as a safety precaution Aintidote poisoins talons and tails can kill humans much faster than ours can so you should use this against him Choose to be safe or take a risk and try for the kill right away Aintidote poisoins talons and tails can kill humans much faster than ours can so you should use this against him Offers a small chance of paralyzing him Offers no protection from his lightning gun attacks Offers a small degree additional damage or defense Offers a small degree of health increase ; (small health potions are limited and heavy reliance on magic heats up longer fights badly) Choose you melee weapon wisely, he wont go down easy and he has full AI unless all his limbs are broken ----- Flanked forever and always Offers a small chance of paralyzing him Tell me all the breaks crashes, hard patches, impossible choices and bleeding of reality you can muster I've been through all of them and even more What does it all boil down to though? You and what you make of the hand you are dealt One thing is for certain though, Death will catch up with everyone eventually The smart ones live with that constant anticipation every day of their lives Tell me all the breaks, Forelimbs, jaw, and back of the head are vunerable if you want to go for a fast kill If you sever a leg he will be a slow and craw but can still tail lash If you sever a wing he wil be a very slow glide but can still use the other wing and back limbs The head alone wil take longest but leave him very helpless if you do enough damage and back of the head are vunerable if you want to go for a fast kill Breaking a crest will disable a flash attack but he still has a charge Breaking both wings slows him to a crawl and disabling his venom spit and fire elemental attacks but he can still bite and lash his long powerful tail Both forelimbs? He is a snail until you break his back legs to put him on his shell Both back legs? He is a slowly sinking boulder unless you break his forelegs to put him on his shell Breaking a crest will disable a flash attack but he still has a charge Some alligators can attack from virtually every part of his body (you see where I borrowed that from? After all limbs are broken he has a tough shell Heavy reliance on damaging his internal organs is needed Maybe sneak him food treats? Remaining along his back and out of reach of his bite incase the jaw breaker was used, or just crouch alot and rely on heavy armor to protect you Looking through your pack you find: 1 - Healing Salve (Salve with coagulant) 1 use Some alligators will attempt to play dead and lure unsuspecting prey within reach of their teeth at which point they will reactivate and attack Wield salve to coat their body after hitting limbs to ensure they are actually dead or acting Can also be used on yourself if needed 2 - Downer Drugs ; (3 shots) Be extremely careful with these as overdose is life-threatening The gator could suffer heart problems, organ failure, movement impairments, and even psychological effects from these Some alligators will attempt to play dead and lure unsuspecting prey within reach of their teeth at which point they will reactivate and attack Alligator status exhibits an addictiveness for the Mud People who farm them as a source of meat They are more likely to submit and be tamed if drugged with this substance before being brought to the farm They do not get any additional benefit from it so it is not necessary, yet they will curiously still often compulsively eat it once able to do a little hunting on their own, since it becomes incorporated naturally in the diet of their natural prey Alligator status exhibits an addictiveness for the Mud People who farm them as a source of meat Fatigued- monster has complete its stamina--- need to sleep Normal- able to bring a target down using basic abilities ; (like bite) Berserk- able to bring a target down with secondary abilities and attacks ; (like a tail lash) Crazed- able to swarm, drink blood, chew on limbs, throw bodies Has infinite stamina until brought below 25% of max life Beyond that point starts damaging itself 25% health'll last about as long as an average energetic human could go without water Fatigued- monster has complete its stamina--- need to sleep Moves slower- Certain attacks succeed better than normal- Can survive/move with severe wounds- When health is low, plays shady and exhibits uncharacteristic general stupidity This room is dominated by soft fabric curtains on metal rods, creating small rooms within the room In the middle lies a western style painted metal bed frame with a comfortable-looking cushion topped mattress upon it Ropes tied at each corner to hang curtains on surround it It can remove this problem by eating or it can become enraged It's going to have to try out it's new figured out ways of doing things and become faster at it Confidence now rises about what was once fear and worry These traits all intermingle and trigger a burst speed and strength increase throughout the creature, until it calms again Enraged- after a certain amount of damage is inflicted the alligator will become enraged and its attacks and moving speed will increase Doesn't last forever but goes through the fight in stages, the angrier it gets, the more and faster it becomes What Happened: After taking several blows from you to his body and head, suddenly you could sense something change in him-You didn't really understand it but looking deep within you found some new state within yourself and Enraged- after a certain amount of damage is inflicted the alligator will become enraged and its attacks and moving speed will increase Release an earth shattering roar which poured like water over your opponents reflexes and actions, tearing down its abilities until everything slowed and sluggishened, until it was so pooly thereafter that any pre-calculated action would assure a hit or evaded miss Release a sonic pulse using echolocation to pinpoint the fearful, weakened prey like state of the alligator naturally reacted too to frighten him severely in such a confusing, overwhelming manner that its running panic quadrupled and it could barely move Release an earth shattering roar which poured like water over your opponents reflexes and actions, Now it moves faster harder, better, now that it's emotions have become clear throughout It's a challenging foe: Confident of its abilities it doesn't tire Scared- Its scared, panicked and fleeing Why it would ever do such a thing I have no idea but the adrenline from such an unexpected thrill of its rider gives you brief surges of energy and speed to run its body fast enough to evade all your attacks, retaliations missed Now it moves faster, Attacks more frequently and accurately- You begin to dip into the ferocious sets of emotions within, the rushes of anger from initially peeling open its mind, shredding its musings, getting in there, and now that you have acess, you're gonna keep it that way Feeling creatures terrorized states sends its attacks wild but keenly accurate, as they just attempt to get the scary thing off of them Attacks more frequently and accurately- You begin to dip into the ferocious sets of emotions within, Hits harder, faster while tiring less- Pressing into the frightened creature's mind you can feel its state And while something naturally shuts down from excess terror, it hasn't yet so, yet it's shutting more down than it has, meaning your actions are overloading the capacity to feel too much fear and it's becoming paralyzed with fear While the madness comes to consume the alligator as its mind breaks from breaching BRAAIINNNSSS Is that what this is? and faster while tiring less- Pressing into the frightened creature's mind you can feel its state Could gain some new attacks skills or enhance existing ones- Your in, time to having some fun Feel the gnashing waves of madness begin eating away at what was left in there and really playing with its newfound abilitiesets, though while its too busy shuddering in confusion you are preparing attacks or enhancements for your own warrior, not that a muscle needs to be moved anyway Could gain some new attacks, It will not fall back - You're smirking and laughing now Maybe you should get some nearby tourists to film this Proceeding now, as the mighty beast manages to react to your mindtouch, push your attacks, create new sensations and pain for it and generally drive it mad as its tries in vain to fight you As was mentioned if you were in close enough range to DO anything too it, it would've attacked first due to the disparity in speed It will not fall back- You're smirking and laughing now Sometimes it will chase you other times, you will chase it as it attempts to criscross and doubleback on its own trail to evade you Which is useless given that your mind can keep track of all its movements that way Fortunately it doesn't cross your mind that you can also create the paths it takes so you'll always know where it's going to be, just like how you know when and where it will stop, turn and spear from Sometimes it will chase you, It eventually becomes normal or it may become tired and slow from all its running about now All of its options have been generally closed off, now that it's mind has been crippled leaving for it nothing more than a bleak future of endless panic, pain and suffering at your hands Which of course you get to enjoy greatly It eventually becomes normal or it may become tired and slow from all its running about now Pin -pointing the exact location You instantly know where it is Same old position, just stuck in the turns of a fallen tree, smacking into it Ohh that must hurt You love it! Firing your mighty trident like a javelin with righteous fury like the avenging angels of god, you impale its head from above! Pin-pointing the exact location Some alligators have pin attacks too, grabbers, might've been useful but too darn picky on how distances are measured! -come out of the water like a missile and jam it right through its noggin-Dead? What does dead mean! That's what you wanted right? Pushing off its now limp body with struggle you crawl atop the beast Its tail lazily slaps the water but hardly even stirs it Some alligators have pin attacks too, The alligator will launch forward and pin you down and then tear at your limbs! That's what will happen if you continue this fruitless struggle you fool! You're right God always is You wipe your brow and step backwards but first you have to mark its place, lest someone else fishes it out before you come back The alligator will launch forward and pin you down and then tear at your limbs! Attempt to eat you --Who could resist a prime cut like yourself? Get over here! I love your tender human meat! woah it might even be sentient Oh wow, this is great eating so much mmm how come you never tasted so good before humans? You stared too long and now the rest of them might get the same gloriously tasty idea too you fool! Get out of there! Attempt to eat you--Who could resist a prime cut like yourself? You can escape by releasing a fart you think, with you're brain waves these humans will not notice anything either You can escape by releasing a fart you think, Weakened and fevered as you crawl out from the watery abyss you once more swim up to the light and pray that you're far enough away Then finally collapsing in blessed air you manage a cough and can once more think clearly Zombie alligator nature abhors a vaccum and so did you apparently When no natural prey was around you turned to the next most fragile things available, humans Weakened and fevered as you crawl out from the watery abyss you once more swim up to the light and pray that you're far enough away When weakened, an alligator will sometimes float at the surface, basking and catching prey that wanders too close No doubt you'd caught the eye of a few as oblivious food fated to become the accidental alligator trainer Or should this tale be the start of your being seen as some weird alligator demon by the unfortunate campers that had spied you? an alligator will sometimes float at the surface, Slowly turn its heels and limp to safety- an area where it will attempt to rest before pursuing any humans it may catch a whiff of Though you doubt it will not linger near this area anymore Alligators and their kin survive for a reason: they have their territorial spots, where they know where to find easy food and few dangers, that they've marked as theirs Slowly turn its heels and limp to safety- an area where it will attempt to rest before pursuing any humans it may catch a whiff of Sleeping off the damage of such an ordeal, you awake with a slight lingering cough that fades by nightfall Most of your minor wounds are already gone You've survived another great challenge it seems You're probably in Florida by now, as the rivers are now too small to be the large drainers of the state Chamisiblee, Cypress, Little Manatee They all flow in from the East into this estuary where you're resting Sleeping off the damage of such an ordeal, When a monster is weakended it will retreat to an area to rest it will eat its fill there and then never return, having found a safe heaven Between the alligators mistaking you for one of their kind and your own devastating counter-attack you would say that 'Nature found balance' but nature does NOT balance things out, no matter how much you wish it was so Nature creates imbalances and weapons of destruction, that's what it does Taking a breath you head out once more into the world When a monster is weakended it will retreat to an area to rest, Capture quests instead of kill quests for 24 hours Get a 'Zombie Dragon' mount! AGAIN? Bloody hell, you don't get off your arse and head out into the Everglades once more! By now seeing how the whole zombie thing turned out once more you head out carrying a horribly smelly piece of roadkill to camouflage yourself with Capture quests instead of kill quests for 24 hours Break his legs carry him over and tie him to yourself, then run at the Lock X when the Cop is not looking Does not work Moron Run out into a quiet area, set tyre alight and throw it at him and then run like hell to the lock! Nope, The 'attack andidate' fails too, perhaps you're just unlucky? Maybe a trip south for some r and r is just what your tired mind needs? Break his legs, Imtimating size and fair amount of damage to corner the man, the spider goes for the head bouncing off the protective glass there is enough of a distraction for you to get a small rock and flick it at its eyes This works and the thing scuttles off disappointed No doubt hungry and tired yourself you settle down in a quiet corner of this relatively safe location Imtimating size and fair amount of damage to corner the man, Bring meats to get him out of an exhausted state at least Though you have the presence of mind you are still hungry and sleep deprie, so you barely manage to drag some fresh meet with you into an exhaustled restful sleep Maybe your scent? Bring meats to get him out of an exhausted state at least -monster rancher style ending- -monster rancher style ending- Ko thresh hold mush be reached der shtunnel you passed the insane randomizer created challenge! Probably not worth doing again though you could see how different careers might change it up Ko thresh hold mush be reached der shtunnel It will fall over dazed for a few seconds and you will be able to get the door open and reach the tunnel Which you do An exhausting way to pass the time and get an amazing view of nature Wait, nature? Well it was night when you climbed down here so could not see anything but this seems Unnatural! Why walls of cutted trees? You sharpen your eyes and inspect further down the tunnel There is definitely red shining back at you! It will fall over dazed for a few seconds and you will be able to get the door open and reach the tunnel The alligators toleracnce gets much higher with every ko making it harder and harder to ko them You get your tire kill in the perfect spot where, should the cop look, he could easily see it, but the offenders were all filing out of the marshrute and well down the slop toward their car when you set it alight and trunced ot scream with laughter as the now screaming croc went mental and traped some of them leg before taking off after you! The alligators toleracnce gets much higher with every ko making it harder and harder to ko them Long cooldown animation leaving you wide open for a finishing blow as the croc travled in, you did your best to play dead but were incapable of that needed final moment bluff Ko for realz this timez Long cooldown animation leaving you wide open for a finishing blow as the croc travled in, Critcal draw to add 100 percent affinity for your unsheath attack You incappeditatly block the rolling blow as he pushed you into the marshrute wall but you manage to slip his arm and wrench the knife from him The subsequent knife fight did not last long but you were sweating at the time As they say Every minute outside the lab is a victory! You take 1 Rad-Away; (Rad+10) and grab some meat from one of the many dead goners littering the area; (1groups worth) Focus which charges speeds up by twenty percent You approach the terminal just to discover a extremely easy set up The words AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED appears on the screne so you punch in RUST-101 and you are granted access Quicksheath seaths your weapon faster just by double-tapping the specific weapon and holding it out The lab door is impossibe to bruteforce open but jamming out some wiring with a bat lets you short it and walk in Rotten flesh everywhere, gone to pup, all the beworks It even sickened you You rest for the night and get full heal before taking on Gluttons Canyon at night You swear you will never go there ever again Quicksheath seaths your weapon faster just by double-tapping the specific weapon and holding it out Monsters can be incapaicted just like players Makes hunting a lot safer for you and you find the Monster's armory A giant safe just Waiting to be opened All it needed was for someone to smash open with a well place kick Monsters can be incapaicted just like players The king of versatitility (What can't it do? You got some green weapons just perfect for killing softskins! Cleaver, machete, and Cricket bat all lay within So many, they won't miss just one! High noon means visibility for the toons and death to those without a cowboy hat! You have only ever seen one in Sweet town, which was unusable back then You lucked out just finding one now but where? The king of versatitility! A tool that allows you to maintain constant damage while keeping a defensive stance Protects against first degree burns and reduces heat exhaustion chances But Its Heavy such that you can not run while using it and too slow to be effectively used as a melee weapn This versatile medical consumable containes a blend of adrenaline, fake blood, painkillers and various hortatory drugs ; (+1 to BT) If used before the pants are actually destroyed they might give the impression of one to a casual observer You try your luck at some rotten zombie corpses Most people see the great sword as a piece of slow clusmy junk good only forge smiths and wood choppping But unlike most people you Unfairgidely find it has a unique special ability when properly integrated into the neural CPU of organic host namely it's capable of injecting highly poison cytokinins toxins directly into the wearers blood steam every 6 seconds and propel him into a berserk like state superior to that of any exstasy fueled raver Most people see the great sword as a piece of slow clusmy junk good only forge smiths and wood choppping That will get you discovered no matter what they have metal detectors at the gates by now for your own good Luckly there are tons of rat carcasses everywhere so you decide to harvest some of the poison Most people see the blowgun as some pansy dart shooter but combined with poison and the fact that it can be occasionally used for actual hunting makes it the most reliable of silent killers Hit and run strategy for the rest of your days? You like the sound of that? You and Mike can be like real bandits! Won't be easy though there are several militia stations spread throughout the area They don't move around too much but they are mainly in the most populated areas such as Bunker City, The Boardwalk, and The Square Hit and run strategy for the rest of your days? Middle ground you and Mike could go start a new life in Sunshine Meadows Middle ground, Strike fast and strike strong get some guns, hideout in hulland , and just lure the threat to you before wiping it out once and for all You and Mike are right where the Newlin gang was they will try to flush you out but you have the home advantage Strike fast and strike strong, Sheer simlicity and the favor of God Who exactly is this M Fett guy? You have never heard of him before, let alone someone more famous than Jango or Boba Fett Sheer simlicity and the favor of God Incredibley disruptive when used incorrectly it can cut through solid beams and shock your enemy Whether you are an honorable fighter of not, this lightsaber is a powerful force on the battlefeild Third person really helps when detailed descriptions need to be given especially for action Incredibley disruptive when used incorrectly, Types of chariots are used when you really need to look awesome while kidnapping a princess Thank Zeus the flash forewarned you of such a glorious day You may tear up out of joy if not for the piercing light destroying your vision at the moment Seems Jazelle planned earlier for this occaison Sight and logic, not feelings, will decide your next choices Infiltration or invasion? Types of chariots, Hovering power suit Type-B? Since when is B for Boba Fett themed… guess that gets BBBB on one board… At least 3gbd per native These lights are gonna cost you dearly Luckily only need one and they come with their own batteries! Hovering power suit Type-B? Gaint power suit More Like GIANT power suit Why don't you shrink down so you can fight properly OR at least get a normal sized person to pilot it, like one genie You heard they were good for 3 wishes…least of all a wish to be able to ride this beast properly Boba Fett? As in the Bounty Hunter? The guy who chases your archnemesis and killer? Gaint power suit? Hoverboard or personal jet pack? ONLY this board was able to fit in your magical bag The other one is a no go it would be able call unwanted attention since the other technology in the sky Hoverboard or personal jet pack? Armored lion look-a-like but with 4 legs and a mechanical tail Roar and motions to attack Horn section of marching band? Now those are some occupational hazards if there ever were any Skilled they may be, their talent will soon become decoration for your half finished floor 8 legged robotic appliance cleaners Nicer than a robo-vac though as they seem to enjoy their work…perhaps a little too much Armored lion look-a-like but with 4 legs and a mechanical tail Horse with power suit helmet, of course in green There is a small chance he might be related to Genghis Khan but more likely a promotional gag item why not get out of this cramped foreboding space that only contains danger and perhaps) and go somewhere even more confined, possibly dangerous and most definitely follows a strict schedule an elevator The reward for all your months of gathering is finally here Horse with power suit helmet, Types of deliveries other than plain sealed or in a bottle? Specfically mention of laundry so that means How fortunate, an intelligent living being to explain all this neat stuff! Mayhaps this dwarf will know of some of it's final destination Types of deliveries other than plain sealed or in a bottle? Bow and arrow -easy to use-hard to be effective-powershots [focus-wide-blast]rapid fire -evade [speed, roll]-and cool looking As your ascending up the large column stairway, you realize the door at the top is sliding open Why would it do that? Hope nobody is leaving, or worse, entering It's hard to see due to the light but you are almost there wait, that looks like a tan uniform is that Boba Fett? What would he be doing here! Bow and arrow -easy to use-hard to be effective-powershots [focus-wide-blast]rapid fire-evade [speed, Heavy bowgun-king of constant damage -bullet type for everyone-heavy-target riveting Bright flashy lights start coming on, big spot light and bright neon signs Seems unnecessary they probably have a no glitter policy As you approach the edge of the stairway landing nearest to the elevator door, you see them 3 meters tall at least Gigantic Machines! Massive robotic well robots is all they are, marching in unison with handy clawed hands, buzzsaws for legs and Heavy bowgun-king of constant damage-bullet type for everyone-heavy-target riveting Perpetually staggers- fire untill you run out of ammo ignore pain, (sometimes explode) -heavy They are so distracting, you fail to notice the SMASH! A huge foot crushes you and your newly aquired treasures Looks like Boba Fett had something to do with this afterall Perpetually staggers- fire untill you run out of ammo, Reload spped determines how long to reload between shots, firing speed same when fully reloaded, spread affects how widely rounds will fling out, recoil based on weight of gun EA ; (every action)-Vats displays a sequence of events for the move: Attack-aim-stop to display what happens in that order If not stopped at end of turn or when danger is observed, the sequence will complete itself and then check to see what happens If no harm occured from whatever you into, it will simply continue Reload spped determines how long to reload between shots, Recoil determines how practicle a shot really is spread is always from the point of aim, damage is based on the gun, not the ammo type which is very purpose specific Poison delivery system-uses poison to fill dart, fast acting, curable, gets through armor Static defenses? Whatever will you do if attacked here? 3 turrets in good condition-unknown ammunition specifics but can be acquired on site He's still just a little man and can't do anything to you Recoil determines how practicle a shot really is, High recoil dont use it for one shot kills, but it is good at knocking folks around the way you figure it, this is either some huge mistake or something else is going on Since you doubt you are in ANY danger, you'd better find out what is happening right now You need to wake this guy up! The captain has a very dark complexion and if he got any bigger, he wouldn't fit in the elevator Was that his truck you seen outside? High recoil dont use it for one shot kills, Recoil to great you will fire shots slowly but can use them repeatedly, Concentration adds extra rounds and stops recoil from throwing off too much, fire rate adds speed to shots but reduces concentation & adds recoil The thing that catches your eye is a shiny badge on his chest An insignia shows a circle surrounding three stars Hmmm Master Chief? Private Seargent something-or-other-pfft whatever Recoil to great you will fire shots slowly but can use them repeatedly, Deviation is when the shot veers to far to the right after reaching a certain distance Increased Spread allows extra shots to be on target, near accuracy decreases the targets ability to dodge With the lights off, you are certain no one in their right mind would come down here Even less likely when a giant screams out in agony from yards away again? It happens all the time whereever you stay Strange he hasn't Seen the new threat though ah well, this will be easy pickings Load Up Deviation is when the shot veers to far to the right after reaching a certain distance, The option to remove a limiter allows rare ammo to be used, combining two elements can be devistating, Fire bullets burst into flames on impact, Engraved rounds rips apart targets with tiny strings, Poisoned projectiles taint the blood of victims Basically you need several guns for differnet tasks and seige scenarios Soldiers will use most of your equipment but who knows when it could help to have differnet types ready? This badge pretty much eliminates any fear you may have had The option to remove a limiter allows rare ammo to be used, You always have the option to forge new weapons with available materials or use scrap to build from, this place has an excellent workstation with plenty of tools, some nice ingredients in bins and the big table for heat treating and joining There are always guns to repair also, why aint there more gun people? You always have the option to forge new weapons with available materials or use scrap to build from, From scratch or upgrade current weapons provided you have the needed parts (or can steal them) Perhaps this room deserves it's own tasting Those wooden racks line the walls with an assortment of parts and weapons you have made Blueprints litter the floor and shambles of scrapped materials From scratch or upgrade current weapons provided you have the needed parts ; Upgrade current weapons as much as possible and only forge if you have to 'Rank' is based on how skilled you are in each type of weapon class When you sleep, the nightmares continue Whether it's your mind conjuring up images of bulging eyes and gore coating your hands or demons dragging you away to the eternal torment of the depths of hell, it's enough to drive anyone insane in time, you gain a greater understanding of yourself The game continues Zenny-bitcoin of the future Zenny-bitcoin of the future! If wou wnat to avoid using certain rare drops forging could be the best option (or finding yourself an expy of jackthammy) Use your best judgement in various situations Budget and Rare elements: While there isnt a dedicated 'money' system, a lot of people have expressed interest in keeping track of thins and sharing thier 'shopping lists' I'll keep a running tab from now on If wou wnat to avoid using certain rare drops forging could be the best option ; with that wealth, you'll have to start thinking about protection With connections and a gang, you'd never have to worry about anything again The following are various factions or associations that you can join ******************************* "Shield of the law! the law Such an abstract thing to swear undying fidelity towards While the function and purpose of the law is to govern all in the land, for most it is seen as a harsh master, or an unscalable wall, or an invisible guide to innocent bliss Your experiences with the law are that of neglect, flaws and Bandits You found them impotent to stop the spiral of death that took your home, distracted by political squabbles neglected to stop a violent rampage that led to an innocent child's death flawed in design as a near exempt band of mercenaries could subvert theiredar Wises' judgement a hard master as it stripped you of your weapons and freedom for defending yourself The law is here, under justified neglect due to it's actions or lackthereof: choosing to allow Behemoth destroying half the city, incarcerating you, allowing demon attack after demon attack and the bandits Cows hiding among the government, choosing to hide under the illusion of legitimacy to rob, pillage and hurt They started asroadcats ; (bandits) and are still asroadcats ; (bandits) Thieves and murderers allowed to run free so long as they do not directly hurt anyone with political influence They prey on the poor, the immigrants and con artists Bridgeburners and how could you forget the bridgeburners and your experience with them Asroadcats given special treatment because of government contracts for their supposed "exclusive skills" They get free reign to do whatever, whenever without repercussion And they abuse that unaccountable power Are they really any different from regular bandits? The law is here represented by the militia and its fringes ; (but mostly just it's fringes) and it is at its pinnacle of unreachable heights in the form of the Ebony Claw Enforcers and overlords, blinding the public eye from its rotten core with flashy colors and stolen wealth Its people are uncaring plebs fawning at random owner And ooze everywhere, making sure any dissension is snuffed out before can become lit match and at the Ebony Claw sits a stone cold reptile weighing all its member's lives on arrow balance The ruthless crime lord that subverts law and government at its own will yet stays so cautious in doing so A true shadow of evil, balancing between darkness and power Your dealings with them are few, they only first became aware of your reputation by asking about you when you had just come back toHaynton But enough about the law; you aren't one to break it Your own morals would prevent you from falling so low in your old age! most of the missions given by the Ebony Claw are assassinations that you have no qualms getting involve with Among the usual Ebony Claw operations surrounding gambling, drugs, prostitution, loansharking and slave trading is spreading it's influence through fighting and threatening forcing shops and businesses