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rusticsqualid · 5 years

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Kingdom Hearts III is not that bad?

The most common complaint is that the game feels rushed/the pacing is horrible. This is not necessarily a problem. Any game developer worth their salt knows that the level design should be in harmony with the level itself. There’s a narrative, and the level design should make players feel whatever emotion fits the narrative. So, overall, in the most general sense, the game design should be derivative of the game’s story. Easiest example: players should feel scared in a horror game. Therefore, in a game where the characters are rushing to achieve their goal, the player should be rushed to reach that goal. The characters are well aware that Xehanort’s Keyblade War is right around the corner, and reiterate to Sora that he must attain the Power of Waking as soon as possible every chance they get. There’s not much time before the war in the story, so should we really be surprised when there’s not much time getting to that point through the gameplay? Subsequently, people complain that there’s not much worlds/worlds are too quick. I think this point boils down to the placebo effect. The idea of what content is and the expectation of such content fools people into believing that there’s a lack of content. It’s all relative. More worlds mean less time per world, and less worlds mean more time per world. There’s a trophy for beating Kingdom Hearts 1 in under 15 hours. I don’t know about Kingdom Hearts II, maybe it has been beaten in that timeframe, but I think 20-30 hours sounds about right. Having played Kingdom Hearts III for the first time, I made it to Scala Ad Caelum at around 28 hours. I think I could cut it down to making it at somewhere between 20-25 hours. At this point, I can average 45 minutes per world in KH1 except for Hollow Bastion and I think End of the World as well. Hollow Bastion, due to two trips, takes about 1.5 hours and End of the World, is maybe that long, maybe closer to an hour, I can’t remember. Anyway, point is: Kingdom Hearts 1 - 15 hours. I have played the first Kingdom Hearts far more, and I haven’t timed myself on the second, but if I had to guess, 45 minutes sounds about right for the first world visits and 30 minutes for the second world visits. All things considered, it really would take 20-30 hours to beat KH2. Kingdom Hearts 3 does have less worlds, but less is more. Disney worlds in other games would rush their movie’s narrative by jumping from plot point to plot point with no fluff. Disney worlds in this game have all that additional narrative between key points. They took an average of 2-3 hours to complete. The game may seem rushed, but on the other hand, you’d have players going “I keep hearing how we have to hurry up and prepare for the Keyblade War, but then we keep doing all this other stuff and it’s taking us forever to actually be ready.” There’s a purpose to why Kingdom Hearts 3 lacks content. Then again, if you cut out all the fluff, the game would basically be the length of A Fragmentary Passage. On the other hand, as opposed to the other games, this one has come out in an age where DLC is so mainstream, that we may see Kingdom Hearts games do with their storylines that the Destiny games have done with theirs.

Another complaint is Kairi’s character development or lack thereof. She’s apparently no less useless than before, but could we honestly expect much from her? “Maybe we were wrong to expect much from Kairi given how new she is to combat [and how little time she had to train] when Yen Sid himself told Mickey that Sora and Riku [two experience combatants] had to be made Masters to face Xehanort.” That quote alone sums up my defense of Kairi, but it’s part my rant on a problem that does needs addressing. There is someone else who needs character development more than Kairi: Yen Sid. The way his character was handled in this game is far more disappointing (Though I do admit we care more about Kairi than Yen Sid, but still). This is where the game is wrong according to my responses in a discussion I was part of:

And how is Merlin going to train Keyblades wielders? Is Merlin the wizard suddenly retconned into being a Keyblade wielder for plot convenience now? My God Yen Sid is so lazy to the point of being a pointless character. In 12 years, he's only gotten up once. I don't think he even left that chair to use the bathroom.

I wanted him to die in the war for the sake of "spring cleaning" but no, they take out Kairi instead who is a marginally more useful and significant character. Everyone told me "they won't kill the guy who is named after Disney". I get he's old, but even Geezernort managed to pull off a Keyblade War.

I mean, come on now. When you think about it, all things considered... Kairi rescued Sora from the realm of Darkness not once, but twice, three times if you count the letter, she fought albeit momentarily in the Castle That Never Was, and she did end up fighting in the Keyblade War. Yen Sid shows up out of nowhere and waves his hands and that's supposed to make up for years of doing nothing? "Sora, Riku, you must save these new characters post haste because even though I am a seasoned Keyblade wielder who could do it, this important mission is the responsibility of you scrubs while I sit on my wrinkled fat ass and to do it you need the power of waking which I, a great Keyblade master, doesn't even have and I should keep an eye on you in the realm of sleep but I won't and let the Organization come in and steal Sora" Kairi has done more in two years then Yen Sid did in twelve. Yen Sid is like that negligent parent that's all coked up while their toddler runs around the neighborhood in a dirty fiaper while eating glue. Somebody call the Keyblade Association, Yen Sid needs his Keyblade license revoked.

Yeah, I'm not saying people are wrong about Kairi, I'm just saying that Yen Sid is as deserving, if not more of criticism than she is, and hasn't been criticized as he should be. It looks like he's a worse character, and personally, I had been saying for two years that his existence is so pointless that he'd be better off getting killed off. If you go back and watch my Keyblade War theories video, it exposes Yen Sid for just how little of a difference he makes to the series. While this game wasted it's opportunity to develop Kairi, Yen Sid has several games worth of wasted opportunities and has had far more screen time to boot. Maybe we were wrong to expect much from Kairi given how new she is to combat when Yen Sid himself told Mickey that Sora and Riku had to be made Masters to face Xehanort.

They wouldn't have needed Kairi if they actually freed Roxas instead of just talking about doing that. They materialized a marble, a pouch, and a photo. They could materialize a vessel. No one in this series is known for seriously thinking. The great mighty master OG_YENSID_69 could have whipped out a Keyblade, stretched his hamstrings and his aching back, and have been the seventh guardian, but no. Why have as many Masters as possible fighting the big bad when you could have a team of scrubs?Kairi could have been fine chilling on the islands, but no. It's all Yen Sid's fault.Heck, if Xehanort could bring past selves to be seekers, the others could bring past selves to be guardians.

So, while Kairi should have become a better character, Nomura isn’t necessarily wrong for keeping her the same. Yen Sid, on the other hand, has no excuse.

Those are the two big issues people have with the game, but the real issue is that expectations were not met. Square Enix has its reasoning for the game’s development. It is what it is. I don’t want to say that the game is bad, or that they made a bad game on purpose, but I think Square Enix has the capacity to learn from its mistakes and will consider all criticism. If we look at the game from their perspective and appreciate it for what it is instead of hating it for what it’s not, then Kingdom Hearts III is not as bad as it seems.

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