Perhaps the most surprising thing about Kingdom Hearts III’s long-belated release-aside from the fact the game evidently didn’t lose its way during its protracted development-is that the game won’t be the most distant sequel released in 2019. Although the game was officially announced at E3 in 2013, it was in development as early as 2010, and discussions between Disney and director Tetsuya Nomura started as early as 2006. It took only three and a half years for Kingdom Hearts II to come out, but the next direct console sequel languished in development hell for more than 13 years before proving it wasn’t vaporware. Only in Japan, granted, but barring a catastrophe-which wouldn’t be a shock where Kingdom Hearts is concerned-the supremely long-delayed sequel to 2005’s Kingdom Hearts II will arrive worldwide on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One next Tuesday, bringing an end to a path to publication as labyrinthine as some of the series’ game titles ( Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue?) and plot points.Ĭounting mobile, handheld, and browser-based games-but not counting collections and remasters- Kingdom Hearts III is the 12th installment in the Kingdom Hearts series, an action-RPG crossover between Disney and Square Enix (the makers of Final Fantasy) that first appeared on PlayStation 2 in 2002. This really irked me, considering what Kingdom Hearts was originally fashioned to be a Disney/Final Fantasy cross-over role playing series.On Friday, it finally happened: Kingdom Hearts III came out. As well as the noticeable absence of any Final Fantasy characters, what-so-ever. Heaps of plot points and expositional scenes that made these Disney movies enjoyable were cut out, ironically removing the heart of these classic tales. Also, being a huge Disney fan worked slightly against my overall experience, since there were several missed opportunities to expand on the worlds that already existed. On top of this and this is more a personal critique, but the number of Disney worlds could have also been fleshed out to include at least two others. This left me wondering why there wasn’t any additional story content to fill out an extra 10 hours, at least. I managed to finish the main story and all six main Disney worlds in just under 30 hours, something I had never managed to do any other Kingdom Hearts title. For a game saga’s final chapter, tying in nine games was always going to be a difficult task, but the writers did a good job of it, almost too well, in fact. While I can not stop singing my praises of Kingdom Hearts III, there were some issues I found myself coming up against time and time again, to the point where I was left a slightly bitter taste. This feature certainly would help newer players ease themselves into the game and even provided me with a quick rehashing of previously played games. Luckily, Kingdom Hearts III has taken a fair chunk of the main story and created 5 short tales that players can watch before starting the game, found at the title screen. Trying to explain the story of Kingdom Hearts to new players can be difficult, especially if you don’t have hours on end to discuss the intricacies of its complicated history. Being a huge fan of the series, I had waited patiently to witness the end of the Seeker of Darkness saga, and without spoiling it too much, I got everything my heart could dream of in a finale, and more. Arguably, it would be hard not to expect anything short of gaming perfection from a release like Kingdom Hearts III due to its lengthy production. The road leading up to Kingdom Hearts III has been long and winding, with several new side stories and many re-releases of previous titles one had to wonder if we’d ever see the final chapter of Sora’s story. The thirteen year-long wait for Square-Enix’s Kingdom Hearts III is finally over.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |