Squeenix Kingdom Hearts 3 - Announced for Xbox One and PS4

[aweigh]

rapunzel COOM

 

[karoliner]

People who play Kingdom Hearts deserve to be raped.

 

[aweigh]

SoRapunzel is the new ship.

KH 4 needs to be about Sora traveling to different Disney worlds and banging each princess. Even the mermaid ones.

Spoiler

 

[jungl]

This is the most JAP'd story in video games. If you thought metal gear solid was corny and dumb at times have a go at the kingdom hearts franchise to see the king.

 

[Derringer]

This is the most JAP'd story in video games. If you thought metal gear solid was corny and dumb at times have a go at the kingdom hearts franchise to see the king.

 

[Ataraxia]

KH3 DLC secret ending spoiler:

Spoiler

Kingdom Hearts Versus XIII?

 

[Derringer]

I skipped the intro, got to Olympus and uninstalled it since I just didn't care. Shiny and more bearable to play compared to KH2 but I don't ever think I'd ever actually bother. There's nothing to explore. It's just a big open area of nothing just like 2, in some places it actually looks uglier which I don't even get.

 

[aweigh]

BTW, just in case anyone cares for the best play-order of the KH games (movie-games and rhythm games excluded), then it's apparently:

1. KH 1 Final Mix (found in Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 Final Mix Collection on PC).

2. KH 2 Final Mix (found in Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 Final Mix Collection on PC).

3. KH 2.5 "Birth By Sleep", originally a PSP game, tells the prequel stories of the original 3 keyblade masters (found in Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 Final Mix Collection).

4. KH 2.8 "Dream Drop Distance", originally a 3DS game, the story of sora and riku's keyblade mastery exams which happen just before KH 3 (found in Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Collection).

5. KH 2.8 "Birth By Sleep 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage" tells the story of Aqua after the events of the PSP game "Birth By Sleep", serves as an immediate prologue to the events of KH 3 and is made using the KH 3 engine (found in Kingdom Hearts 2.8 HD Collection).

Excluded:

- KH 1: "Re:Chain Of Memories", a Game Boy Advance game, excluded because it's 90% a re-telling of the first KH 1 game with only some minor content which places Sora where he begins in KH 2.

- KH 1: "358/2 Days", cutscene movie compilation thing and not an actual game, completely worthless. Only watch if you truly hate yourself.

- KH 2: "Melody Of Memories", it's a mobile rhythm game. No reason to play this unless, I dunno, you like rhythm games I guess.

- KH 2: "Re:Coded", cutscene movie thing that recapitulates previous scenes with minor additional content, not an actual game. Completely worthless. Only watch if you truly hate yourself.

- KH 2.8: "Back Cover" cutscene movie garbage thing, not an actual game, completely worthless. Only watch if you hate yourself.

 

[Thac0]

- KH 1: "358/2 Days", cutscene movie compilation thing and not an actual game, completely worthless. Only watch if you truly hate yourself.

- KH 2: "Re:Coded", cutscene movie thing that recapitulates previous scenes with minor additional content, not an actual game. Completely worthless. Only watch if you truly hate yourself.

These two are actually games btw. Square cheaped out a bit in the final mixes and only touched up the cutscenes, cutting the gameplay out completely.
385/2 is the better and more interesting game, as you play as Roxas in the Organisation XIII.
Re:Coded doesn't really have many saving graces, the olymp world has traditional turn based combat which isn't half bad and should have been the combat system for the entire game. The final boss is fun. Worst story out of any KH title.

- KH 1: "Re:Chain Of Memories", a Game Boy Advance game, excluded because it's 90% a re-telling of the first KH 1 game with only some minor content which places Sora where he begins in KH 2.

Chain of memories had interesting card combat, which is quite rare in JRPGs and I like it a lot. The remaster didn't click with me at all tho, it was more fun on the GBA.

Not that playing all of these games makes the story magically better, the story is impressively dogshit ever since KH2. It is almost as bad as the story of FF XV on release, with completely random developments and massive and critical parts of the plot just being skipped over.

The combat is not bad tho, and durdling around in the Disney Worlds is always fun. I consider KH1, KH2, DDD and KH3 worth it for the gameplay and the worlds.
Birth by Sleep is supposed to have better story than average KH, but the gameplay is pretty bad so I never got into it.

 

[aweigh]

Nice, thanks for clearing that up.

I looked into the games because I am just continually surprised at how much fun KH 3 is being, I really did not expect to enjoy this game this much. It's already got me hankering for more KH so I was looking into what to play. I stopped my KH 3 playthru in order to quickly do Fragmentary Passage, gonna knock that one out today then jump back into KH 3 and finish it.

I played both kh 1 and kh 2 back on PS2 when they originally came out but that was like 16 years ago... I only have vague memories of them. I'm thinking of going into kh1->kh2->BBB->DDD after finishing fragmentary passage/kh 3.

Or I might not, I dunno. Depends on how burnt out of KH combat I feel after I finish up fragmentary passage/kh 3.

Still have Xenoblade Chronicles X waiting for me, plus I have a Trails In The Sky FC playthrough pending, took a break from it right when you get to the 3rd town (the first big town). We'll see!

 

[Thac0]

I looked into the games because I am just continually surprised at how much fun KH 3 is being, I really did not expect to enjoy this game this much. It's already got me hankering for more KH so I was looking into what to play. I stopped my KH 3 playthru in order to quickly do Fragmentary Passage, gonna knock that one out today then jump back into KH 3 and finish it.

Yeah I don't get how much contrarianism there is over KH3. Everyone to have really damn high expectations to be this disappointed by it, it has some issues but I'd say it is better than all of the spinoff games.
The worlds are such a big step up from KH2s world design, platforming and hidden treasure is back in fashion. And unlike DDD, which has good worlds aswell, it isn't completely rendered obsolete by flow movement this time. Although the air dodge cancel makes platforming way too easy still.
Perhaps people are comparing it to their nostalgic memory of KH, not to the actual games.

Btw this girl is from 385/2 days, and she becomes really really relevant at the end of KH3, so from the games you currently have on your not play list that one makes the most sense to bump up, should your KH craving not be satisfied after the premium games.

Spoiler

Trails In The Sky FC playthrough pending

Nice, Jinn sweettalked me into giving those games another shot in the shoutbox. Apparently you are NOT supposed to play them on Nightmare, as it makes some fights really stupid. I had to kill some bosses purely by chaining limit breaks as only those did more than 0 damage lol.
My third and last attempt to like those games, maybe third time is the charm.

 

[aweigh]

Yeah I don't get how much contrarianism there is over KH3. Everyone to have really damn high expectations to be this disappointed by it, it has some issues but I'd say it is better than all of the spinoff games.
The worlds are such a big step up from KH2s world design, platforming and hidden treasure is back in fashion. And unlike DDD, which has good worlds aswell, it isn't completely rendered obsolete by flow movement this time. Although the air dodge cancel makes platforming way too easy still.
Perhaps people are comparing it to their nostalgic memory of KH, not to the actual games.

Btw this girl is from 385/2 days, and she becomes really really relevant at the end of KH3, so from the games you currently have on your not play list that one makes the most sense to bump up, should your KH craving not be satisfied after the premium games.

Spoiler

Nice, Jinn sweettalked me into giving those games another shot in the shoutbox. Apparently you are NOT supposed to play them on Nightmare, as it makes some fights really stupid. I had to kill some bosses purely by chaining limit breaks as only those did more than 0 damage lol.
My third and last attempt to like those games, maybe third time is the charm.

If you don't want to re-do hours of game play in TITS FC you can edit the save game to change the difficulty https://steamcommunity.com/app/251150/discussions/0/350543951938255688/

 

[mogwaimon]

out of the games on said 'do not play list' I would at least bump Chain of Memories up to a 'watch a video' because despite the retelling of KH1, the other story bits are pretty much essential if you don't want to walk into Kingdom Hearts 2 and wonder 'WTF happened'

As Thac0 said before, 358/2 Days becomes essential by virtue of KH3, but you can safely just watch a video for this one. The game itself was aight but nothing super special.

Re:Coded was garbo

Back Cover is probably going to be relevant post KH3, it's a video tie-in to the mobile game which has dropped a number of story elements in it that are somewhat relevant to understanding some of the stuff in KH3, but right now I would say it's safely skippable. Mobile game is ending very soon as well so good luck actually playing it. Probably safer and better to just watch a synopsis rather than play a shitty mobile game.

 

[aweigh]

So I paused KH3 in the Frozen world and knocked out A Fragmentary Passage and really enjoyed that, it was harder than the base KH3 game and I actually had to use blocking for a change. I really enjoyed Fragmentary Passage, I found it actually accomplished the mood and tone it wanted, which surprised me. That's something that keeps happening to me with this exposure to Kingdom Hearts games right now, I keep being surprised at how enjoyable they are.

It also made me realize how overpowered Sora's attractions and shotlocks are in KH3, and changed how I approach the base game again. But anyway, I then took another break from KH3 (still in Frozen world) and wanted to play either Birth By Sleep or Dream Drop Distance, but since BBS was a prequel story I decided to jump into Dream Drop Distance instead since it segues into KH3, plus I was curious to see what it's like since I read that it's the one with the most mechanics in it, and it is quite the change indeed ...

Some immediate things I noticed is that combat is slower-paced due to less enemies present and due to your attacks literally being slower, and I also see why people complain about the flow-motion attacks and how the entire game is spamming those. So far the game feels like it has a ton of abstract shit in it, especially the two concurring storylines and how you play through each area twice with Sora and Riku.

I really like the Spirit/Dream Eaters thing and I like how they're tied to your ability progression and stat buffs, I'm actually looking foward to acquiring more of them. I'm currently in the Hunchback of Notre Dame world. However the drop gauge thing is bugging me, it almost made me rage-quit the game because it ran out on me in a Sora-only section in Traverse Town while I was trying to find how to progress and that *really* pissed me off, so much so that I think I'm gonna see if there's some way to just cancel the drop gauge via some mod or a trainer.

I do understand the concept, I did traverse town both ways and I understand the dual storyline thing, but I just do NOT want a repeat of being forced out of my current character during a moment where i'm exploring. I just don't, and I will not have it.

One thing I wish is I wish it had the shortcut buttons from AFP/KH3, because man... the deck system and cooldown system is kind of painful. Took some getting used to but at least now I have more command slots in Hunchback of Notre Dame world, and I assume I'll get even more. Still the shortcut buttons are sorely needed.

EDIT: Question regarding the petting, does it matter how you or when you pet them? Currently I'm just petting them in circles until I notice they stop gaining LPs, then I wait and do it again later or feed them some random food.

EDIT 2: And yes I know those are TWEWY characters in Traverse Town. Never played the game but now I might...

 

[aweigh]

Ah... fuck it, I'm playing every single game starting from the first one.

THE POWER OF THE KINGDOM HEARTS HAS MADE ME GO FULL AUTIST. I'VE GONE KINGDOM HEARTS CRAZY.

I decided I'm just gonna go and play every single fucking KH game from the beginning.

TLDR: KH3 gameplay was so fun I decided to pause my current playthrough of it and work my way back through the previous titles until eventually decided to just say fuck it and play the entire series in order.

EDIT: Oh and BTW, I did indeed find a Cheat Engine table that freezes the Drop Gauge for anyone who's interested. You can find it in Fearless Revolution forums.

 

[Ataraxia]

These games' storylines are pretty bizarre and all over the place. Some of the scenes and dialogue made me cringe hard and some I just shake my head; There are times where I wanted to ask the writer (Nomura?) what he's smoking when he wrote them. The stories are messy and sloppily written but at the same time they're... quite intriguing to delve into? I actually find them to be pretty charming and not that hard to understand at all!

They're so interesting to me such that even though I haven't played any of the games yet, I already had the storyline of the entire series spoiled for me just by spending hours watching kingdom hearts related videos on YouTube, including those commentaries and retrospectives running the whole gamut of fans gushing over the series on one end then onto the harshest of critics lampooning the games on the other.

and because I just find the Salty Nomura meme funny (WARNING! Spoilers for KH3 ReMind DLC):

Spoiler

So, what I am saying is... I guess I'm a fan of the series now? that hasn't even played a single game in the entire series(And I consider myself as gameplay > story gamer, lol I guess I'm full of it.)

Anyway, because I feel invested in the series now, I am going to share in the speculation by sharing a video of someone who i think is going to be the main antagonist in the next game Kingdom Hearts 4, a.k.a. The world ends with kingdom hearts versus xiii: Verum Rex Reconnected:



and his theme:



Also fun fact: The Master of Masters and the Lantern King in Pathfinder Kingmaker share the same voice actor - Ray Chase. M.O.M. and The Lantern King are both manipulative, scheming, and very cunning but in contrast, are shown to have easygoing and jovial personalities - they both fit into the 'Trickster' archetype. And also if I remember right, in one of the mobile kh games, one of the character named Chirity said outright that m.o.m. is a trickster.

 

[aweigh]

So, what I am saying is... I guess I'm a fan of the series now? that hasn't even played a single game in the entire series(And I consider myself as gameplay > story gamer, lol I guess I'm full of it.)

You should give them a try, the gameplay in these games is great. I put like 7 straight hours today into KH 1 and even though it is the most bare and simplistic of all the games it still managed to get me hooked, line and sinker, and addicted to the gameplay loop just as much as the much more advanced and free-flowing KH3/A Fragmentary Passage did; mind you I have played KH1 and KH2 before, this is not the first time, but I played them back when they originally released on PS2 as rentals and I never finished either of them and this was like 16 years ago. I literally barely remember them.

Anyway what I'm trying to say is that you will find a whole new appreciation for these games when you finally do play them because yes, they are incredibly charming (fully agreed with you), but they are also very, very fun to play and quite addicting.

EDIT: Here are easy-to-apply executable patches for KH1 and KH2 Final Mix games that make the cutscenes run at 60fps (game play runs at 60fps but the cutscenes are still locked to 30fps). I'm using the patch right now with KH1 Final Mix and it works perfectly fine, both cutscenes and game play now at 60fps:

https://www.reddit.com/r/KingdomHea..._25_pc_stuttering_fix_cutscene_framerate_fix/

EDIT 2: Also wanted to add that I do understand how/why someone can watch a lot of content about a game franchise without bothering to play them simply because they find them interesting because I do it too, in my case It's with the Soulsborne games. I've watched probably hundreds of hours of videos analyzing them, playing through them in full, going in depth over the lore, story, characters, or even out-of-boundary secrets and other random things, but I don't play them. I just find them interesting from a game and design and writing perspective and I find they lend themselves well for analysis, but don't really have much interest in playing them. So I understand you and your situation with KH.

 

[mogwaimon]

Enjoy the journey. In terms of story I still think KH2 was the perfect ending to the series buuut considering we've been through like 20 more games since then, nothing wrong with going through them all. And, as Ataraxia hinted at we've got some interesting things ahead of us yet

 

[aweigh]

Enjoy the journey. In terms of story I still think KH2 was the perfect ending to the series buuut considering we've been through like 20 more games since then, nothing wrong with going through them all. And, as Ataraxia hinted at we've got some interesting things ahead of us yet

I resolved myself to play through *every* game because fuck it, might as well do it right, so I'll be emulating the GBA/NDS ones that aren't in A Story So Far. I don't give a fuck I'm gonna do it! The power of the Kingdom Hearts!

 

[mogwaimon]

the only thing I'd change in the playthrough order, I'd go KH1 -> CoM -> KH2 -> 358/2 if only because 358/2 sort of spoils of of the big twists of KH2 and was produced and meant to be played afterwards. You probably already know the twist though, having dipped your toes into KH3, DDD, and Fragmentary Passage already

 

[aweigh]

the only thing I'd change in the playthrough order, I'd go KH1 -> CoM -> KH2 -> 358/2 if only because 358/2 sort of spoils of of the big twists of KH2 and was produced and meant to be played afterwards. You probably already know the twist though, having dipped your toes into KH3, DDD, and Fragmentary Passage already

yah i'll just do game release order.

By the way, something that kind of shocked me today when I started KH1: Sora has parents.

I didn't remember that, hell I never even questioned it. I just assumed the whole parents thing is never mentioned because Nomura, but no you can hear Sora's mom call him for dinner before the island goes to shit, I was actually like "what the fuck who is that?? is that Sora's mom???".

LOL

 

[mogwaimon]

kek yea, and she was promptly never heard from again...maybe one day. Guess she's being kept in Nomura's back pocket for the next big surprise reveal that no one saw coming

 

[aweigh]

I gotta say I really enjoy the combat of KH 1.5 Final Mix.

It's very simple but it's also straight-foward, and it rewards timing and button-discipline. I like that the keyblade attacks are much slower and feel a bit weightier, and I like that you can parry enemy attacks or bat away enemy fireballs and get special points for it, and I like that the game also rewards you for using hard counters.

It's so, so different from KH3 combat but at the same time you can clearly, and very obviously, see how KH3 evolved from this. In some ways I prefer the KH1 combat, and the game itself is also much harder than KH3. I find myself really looking foward to every Level Up and every miniscule attribute increase or new Ability in KH1 as I know that I *will* be needing it, a feeling I never experienced in the half of the game that I played of KH3 (left the playthrough paused during Frozen's world, so technically it's still possible it becomes more difficult but I doubt it).

I guess I just enjoy that it's not so flashy. I actually appreciate the straight-fowardness of it and have begun to really enjoy it. I gotta say, when I eventually make my way back to KH3, I think I'll be turning off all the Attractions and Links and all the extra shit where the game gives you free damage. I might even re-start it in a harder difficulty...

EDIT: I also like that KH 1.5 FM punishes you for getting hit with noticeable amounts of stun, and in a rare few instances you CAN get stunlocked by Heartless if you insist on mashing attack and never dodging or moving. I actually found myself positioning myself to preemptively avoid an enemy attack before commencing my combo so as to make sure I don't get hit into stun beforehand.

Also enemies can hit you out of a magic cast, which I also found "fun". Kinda makes me respect the Heartless a bit more

 

[aweigh]

I'm really, really struggling with trying to enjoy RE:Chain of Memories remake.

I was really gung-ho about playing through every single KH game but I think I can't do it... main problem isn't so much that the game is bad, but rather that I don't like playing it, and every time I force myself to boot it up all I wish is that I could *FINALLY* move on to KH2 so I can actually have some fun and enjoy my time playing video games again. This feels terrible, I think writing this post was a way of making my own internal decision, I think I'm just going to YouTube the remaining story scenes and move on to KH2.

I just want to have fun playing a video game I enjoy. I don't want to play something I find unenjoyable.

 

[aweigh]

Oh, and KH 1 was fucking amazing. I loved every second of it. I'm really glad I decided to go back to the beginning before resuming KH3, I'm finding a whole new appreciation for these games and, I guess also for Tetsuya Nomura?