LogFAQs > #986616240

#19. Kingdom Hearts III (2019)
Total Points: 13
List Appearances: 6
First Place Votes: 1
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Writeup provided by StifledSilence
Do people like this game? Is it remembered fondly like 1 and 2? Ikind of dont think it is. I mean like, ok, it made this list, so some people clearly like it. But I dont think I have ever had a conversation about this game with ANYONE outside of my wife and son who watched me play it. Technically my daughter saw it too, but she was just born at the time. But you know what? I thought it was pretty great. It had some hiccups, sure. I thought the opening song was weird as hell and didnt fit the tone of what felt at the time like it was going to be a conclusion to the story. Some of the levels were noticeablysabotaged by Disney. Some of the story beats were sugar high dopamine rushes that made no sense whatsoever but I cried anyway so dont you dare judge me! But other than that? It was super fun! Lets discuss!

Pirate ships! I REALLY liked the pirate ship level. It was so fun having battles on the high seas! It made me think of this game that had a massive AAA budget and was supposed to be a big ship combat type of thing. The name escapes me, but I remember people said it utterly failed at doing what it set out to do. And here we are with a single level in Kingdom Hearts 3 knocking it out of the park! Good for you, Squeenix. I thought the Toy Story level was pretty great too. It had giant robots that you could control! I appreciated the unique little bonus play styles tossed in to mix things up.

And the combat! I loved the combat! The combos feel so good to control. Everything felt fairly fast and fluid. And Id be willing to bet some probably didnt like this, but I LOVED the ridiculous things that happened when you pushed a prompted triangle button. I dunno about you, but pushing a button to do an absolutely bonkers 200 hit combo with a god damn ride from Disney World is PEAK flashy nonsense to me. It never got old. Anytime I saw that triangle button prompt appear, I mashed that bad boy as fast as I could. Some fights became a ton of flashy, campy chaos happening all around Sora and it was incredible.

The big thing the entire Kingdom Hearts series has done well and continues to do here is the anticipation. They give you delicious morsels of plot at the beginning, leave you completely and utterly confused, and then slowly build up the tension to the reveal throughout the rest of the game. Playing through each one, I was always on the edge of my seat anticipating what would happen with the story next. Every Disney level would sprinkle in little bits of plot but they were never satisfying enough. But the tease was always just enough to make me keep pushing forward. With the added feeling that this may be the storys conclusion, that anticipation was as present as ever in KH3, which I was glad for.

My favorite thing about the game though? Watching my son get AMPED UP every time enemies appeared on the screen. He would jump out of his seat and start swinging a foam sword around, pretending to be Sora. He was fighting heartless right alongside me! Anytime I think back to my time with Kingdom Hearts 3, this is the first thing I think of. He also did this with Final Fantasy 7 Remake where he pretended to be Cloud, but Sora gets credit for doing it first. My wife would also drop in when she had time to watch where the story went. She had played through the first two games when she was younger but didnt want to play this one. Shes not as into video games as she used to be. But there are a few games I have good memories of her watching and commenting while I played. Life is Strange was another good example of that. But Kingdom Hearts 3 will always be a game that gives me the warm and fuzzies because above all else, it was a nice family memory for me.