EDIT: Just letting you know, I have already seen the Remind DLC trailer for the game. However, the points I make still stand since this is towards the main game itself when it first came out. I ain't going easy on it because of some future update that would improve the game after the release. Just getting that straight before anyone tries telling me otherwise. However, the DLC is why the review is more delayed than before... so yeah. However, sections 1-3 are written before the DLC came out, so what I said in these sections may be inaccurate in some places due to the changes.

Here we go, my review of Kingdom Hearts 3. Never thought I'd do a review of all things, but there's a first for everything. But, before I dive into the future of this series, I NEED to put out my opinion on Kingdom Hearts 3 and just the series in general as it does affect this story. It's... such a clusterfuck on what it tries to do and contradicts in order to 'succeed' with the plot. I'm gonna break this up into sections:

1. Gameplay (As this would likely be the longest section to do)

2. Worlds (What I think of the worlds and how they were integrated)

3. Story/Characters (This kinda goes in hand and hand, so I'll just put them together)

4. The DLC (Does it improve or diminish the experience?)

5. My opinion overall/ my experience with the series

6. What this means for Azure Keyblades

With all that said, let's jump right in!

Gameplay

I'm starting out with this. I had fun playing this game. It's great to play a new KH game that returns to the original system. The additions that they put in this time however were... questionable, honestly.

The two new additions in the series are Attraction Flow and Situation Commands, which seemed like nice ideas at first that now just annoy me. The way you get them are just dumb. AF are obtainable by attacking certain enemies in battle that have a crown marker on it. Question, why not just have it like the link system? You know, where you manually choose to use it instead of just a simple strike? And why are a bunch of commands random to get, like the grand magic spells? Why doesn't the tutorial tell you about scrolling through the triangle menu with L2?

Here's my idea of what they should have done by bringing the dual menus from KH2 back with these options:

Attack (Both menus with the Keyblade switching feature)

Menu 1

1. Magic (Has the spells and all, along with the Grand Magic ones you earn near the end of the game that would cost a great deal of MP to use. More on this later.)

2. Items (Does what it does)

3. Forms (Where the Formchanges are where they function similar to Drive forms. Ex. Strike being the Valor equivalent and so on. More on this later.)

Menu 2

4. Attractions (Where the Disney rides are)

5. Links (Where the Summons are, since you have everyone in your party this time around that I'll elaborate on later.)

6. Limits (Where the team attacks are)

The situation commands are now just for the Keyblade transformations of the ones you have equipped at the time. Along with the proper damage scaling and time lengths, this can work on making each option viable and fun to use.

For the extra inclusions from previous games, they combined the Drive forms and Command Styles into one with Formchanges. This I really like, as each keyblade (for the most part) have transformations that are tied to a specific form that have abilities of their own.

Shotlocks return as super attacks and a new way to zoom around the field along with Flowmotion. Shotlocks are similar to Attraction Flow in terms of damage scaling, as in a lot of damage. Flowmotion was thankfully nerfed and is now just a more mobile way of attacking.

For the shotlocks, I was thinking of using a normal one would do average damage and a fully charged one does more damage in exchange of the entire meter. The zooming option can be used no matter how much meter is left. Though, that's just me.

1. Magic got a huge buff in this game, which makes the mage route more viable, but pretty much breaks the game. I mean, have you seen Fire?

Here's what I think would have worked too:

Fire would still have the Surge form from KH2, does small damage with multi-hit properties. The grand magic version has meteors spinning around you that do pretty good damage.

Water should have been this game's Reflect spell, surrounds you in a bubble shield that pops when it gets hit, doing splash damage around you. The grand magic version summons a bubble big enough to surround the party if they are in the vicinity and pops after getting damage, making a wave that pushes enemies away.

Blizzard is fine on its own. The grand magic version adds an explosive blast on impact that freezes enemies in its radius.

Thunder is all right, but should have its juggling properties from before. The grand magic version has a gravity effect that brings any enemies in the air to the ground.

Aero is the game's Magnet spell, pulling in enemies while doing chip damage. The grand magic version brings in every surrounding enemy in the battle to the tornado, making it easier for the player to continue the assault.

Along with Sora and Kairi learning some light spells and Riku having the dark variants, that would have been cool to have them more distinct from each other.

3. Forms would be this game's Drive Forms, along with growth abilities of their own.

Now you may be thinking, what about Second and Ultimate Forms? Well, since they are directly tied to a keyblade, they don't count. Same with Rage Form, but it should work similar to Anti-form with a visible point counter you can keep track of. Also, since Sora is stronger than before, he could use these forms without taking out party members from the battle. All forms also level up the same way, defeating enemies while in use.

Strike Form is focused on strong physical attacks with lower magic stats. The growth ability would be 'Omega Finale', allowing the player to use their finishers in the middle of combos. The upgraded versions increases the amount of finishers to use in a row. However, it would have an innate Combo Boost for the ground and air, so it wouldn't do as much damage as regular finishers.

Guardian Form is a balanced offense between physical and magic stats with strong defensive properties. The growth ability would be 'Barrier', conjuring a shield around yourself to protect from damage and can retaliate by bursting it, briefly stunning surrounding enemies. The upgraded versions increases the amount of time it would stay out. In exchange, the barrier burst doesn't do damage and just has a stun effect.

Element Form is focused on strong magical spells and has basic attacks changed to long range projectiles. The growth ability would be 'Aerial Flight', a combination of Doubleflight and Aerial Dodge respectively. Along with being a second jump, it will have a protective aura surround you that acts as super armor, allowing you to get past enemies safely. The upgrades wouldn't increase the distance or the duration of the aura, but makes the super armor stronger for that brief animation. It only protects you during the animation, but the strength of that attack hitting the aura changes. (Level 1 - Basic enemies, Max level - Bosses)

Blitz Form is more focused on mobility/evasive abilities with a balanced boost to the other stats. The growth ability would be 'Glide', allowing you to... glide around in the air. The upgrades slows the descent speed and increases the flight speed, basically like KH2.

4. Party members work differently now since they can be in the group without switching them around. Though, while this is a great feature, the Keyblade Graveyard is where things change.

From the save points, you can switch around your team members to either preferences or effectiveness. The members you can have are:

Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Riku, Kairi, Lea, Aqua, and Ventus. Later on, you receive Roxas, Xion, and Terra after their respective boss battles.

OR my second suggestion, which will take more time and effort:

They take the Days route and make every character playable with their own movesets. Yes, even the world-specific ones when you are in their world. (Ex: Baymax in San Fransokyo, Captain Jack Sparrow in the Caribbean, etc.)

This feature is available from the beginning after the tutorial level, starting with the classic trio of Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Then as the story progresses, you unlock more characters to use.

Would this affect the story? No, as the player can only choose from the worlds you go to, not the set pieces separate from it. So, don't expect Riku to suddenly join Sora and the others to the worlds just because. (Though, that would be awesome.)

5. Keyblade Switching

I like this feature, as now you can choose between three keyblades without having to activate a drive form to access them. It also implies that if Sora could, he can be strong enough to even tri-wield!

However, this also confuses how the keychains work. In previous games, it makes sense that you weren't getting a whole new key, you're just getting a cool little keychain that you can switch out on your keyblade. Now, it's saying that they ARE whole keyblades instead of just a keychain.

How it suppose to work is you can switch them in between combos and even do this to hold onto the Formchanges longer. I have seen some really cool ways that players can perform this stuff, so this feature has depth if you experiment around in battle. Also, I like the idea of upgrading them to make them stronger, so having your favorites on to the end is possible if you have the materials for them.

6. Attractions, Links and Situation Commands

These are similar in that you summon them to use in battle. The Attraction Flow is a good idea, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Like I said, you attack a mark that shows up on an enemy to activate it. Why? Just make it like the links since some Attractions are better than others in many situations you run into. (Ex. Single tough enemy, activate Blaster Blaze. Surrounded by a group, use Mad Tea Cups. etc.)

Links are good for summon substitutes from the previous games. I also like how they designed them this time, like Simba being the king of fire, Ariel being the princess of the sea, and Stitch being the electric alien. Some are more useful than others, but all are viable to use in battle. Though, I rarely use them personally.

I know they wanted to promote the Situation Command system, but I only see it as a worse version of the Command Deck. Like I said, since the tutorial doesn't really tell you how to select between them, a first-time player will use the filler before the one they want. And since they don't know about making them shorter or even turning them off in the Options, they have to watch the cinematics before cancelling them or using them for extra damage. Trust me, I've done that until my second playthrough and it can be quite cluttered if you aren't paying attention.

7. Overall

I can see what they wanted to do, expanding upon the ideas that KH2 did while bringing in the other games on top of adding something entirely new. But, like various action games, this can be overwhelming to newcomers. Once they figure it out, they can narrow down which options are better than others and either exploit them or avoid them to have a better challenge. The more options you give a player, the more time you have to invest to make sure they are balanced out with clear costs in exchange of using them.

With how many options they put on the new Situation Command system, it can be pretty confusing in the midst of battle. I honestly wish that they would apply more sensible options than just trying to promote a new feature to high hell. I ain't saying that the gameplay isn't fun, but it can be repetitive if you just use the options that do the most damage or avoiding them to use the ones they want that will drag the battle out more.

The combat itself, such as the animations, are nice and flashy to look at until you realize that they are still a bit slow. Not as slow as previous Osaka Team games, but it's still evident. Seriously, I had a lot of times that I know I attacked first, but the enemy says no and hits me first. Hell, even with the finishers, they don't really have invisibility frames to protect you from cheap shots, so don't be surprised if you actually die from that.

Some moves I question, but that's just a minor issue. I know it's been said before, but it doesn't seem like gravity exists to these guys since they can easily do air combos without even jumping off the ground sometimes. Ground combos are there for a reason, guys! Add some weight to these characters!

Either way, I like the gameplay, but it could have been much better in terms of execution and balance.

Worlds

This is where I slightly derive from the usual stuff you hear from others. Yes, these in the overall plot doesn't matter, even if they could have done that easily, but the original stories isn't that much better. All of them have to follow the 'guidelines' from previous games, so it's still just as confusing and stupid.

The worlds in the game are a different selection this time around:

Olympus, Twilight Town, Toy Box, Kingdom of Corona, Monstropolis, Arendelle, San Fransokyo, The Caribbean, and the Keyblade Graveyard.

Now let's dive in with the details:

1. Olympus returns for the third installment, unlike other worlds from previous games. Instead of the coliseum, we finally get the city of Thebes and Mt. Olympus. Here's what confuses me about the world this time around. Previous games had their own little story that has already established certain aspects from the movie, such as the Titans, Hercules' appearance and his relationship with Meg. However now, it tells us that Hades' plan from the movie is now in effect, even though we have already faced AND defeated two of the titans.

So, where were the other Titans? Did they stay in the prison while the Rock and Ice Titans managed to break out? Already, the story makes no sense as it shoots continuity in the face with what they already done before. NONE of Hades' plan was even brought up until now!

Anyways, we show up in the city of Thebes as it is getting destroyed. Instead of the Cyclops or any of the Titans, it's the Heartless this time. I'm all right with this as the Heartless were established to destroy worlds. Also, they FINALLY SHOW US ACTUAL PEOPLE! After so many games, we are saving people from the Heartless without it being a barren world. The city part had some issues, such as the fire part (Seriously Sora, you have WATER magic now!), but it was done well enough.

The journey up the mountain was all right, nothing much really happens aside from the heartless getting in the way every now and then. The fight against the Rock Titan was OK, just avoiding boulders and attacking his legs until landing the finisher. Like I said, this fight would have been more exciting and interesting if we HAVEN'T faced him beforehand.

The Realm of the Gods was the highlight as it had some really nice visuals. Though, it would have been cooler if we met some of the other gods and helped them face off against the Heartless or something. We had people in Thebes, why not the other gods aside from Zeus and those Hercules freed from their chains? Anyways, the Titan boss fights were just meh as the lack of gravity makes it easy to hit them without the climbing and Flowmotion.

2. Twilight Town returns with an updated map of the Trans Common, The Woods, and the Mansion Entrance. This is the smallest world in the game right off the bat, which is very sad as there are some locations I wish we can go to like the Clock Tower, the Sandlot or even Sunset Town. Also sucks that Seifer and the others are just mentioned like the others, though his reason was a journey.

We start at the Trans Common station, where we see a sudden Demon Swarm show up! OK! The fight itself was annoying, but I think this isn't the first time Heartless showed up in the actual world. Chain of Memories and Re: Coded don't count since they were empty reflections, so that only leaves Days as the only time this happens in the real world.

As for the new additions, I like how different they made the place. There's a classic cartoon theater, the hole in the wall is patched up, and Scrooge McDuck has opened a new bistro with Remy as the chef. In order to get to the woods, you have to go through a sewer system to reach it and then the mansion. Also sucks that you only go in the mansion in cutscenes as we could have seen what it would like now.

The story within the world is OK. It touches upon how they can bring back Roxas without having to sacrifice Sora again, but that's about it. The Twilight Trio has nice new designs and... that's pretty much it.

3. Toy Box is based on the Toy Story movies, which I really liked as a kid growing up. Seeing it in Kingdom Hearts was a nice new addition to the lineup of worlds in the series. The execution, on the other hand...

We start out in Andy's room where we see the heartless has already arrived and meet up with Woody's gang. They do give an in-game reason as to why the entire gang isn't there, so I wasn't too bothered by their exclusions. Once they team up, we head on out to the new 'Galaxy Toys' place to find out what was going on.

The stores within the place are nice and varied for exploration from a store of action figures to a video game store and even baby toys, along with having more than one floor to climb between.

The world was mostly executed pretty well, but two things that bothers me was the twist and the ending... I'm not lying when I say that Re:Coded may have been made JUST so we have a reason as to why the toys are running around without the humans finding out. The latter is bittersweet, since it ends with them trapped until the end of the game.

Other than that, the world itself was a nice addiction.

4. I love the movie Tangled, so I was super excited about the world being in Kingdom Hearts 3. However, there were some things I dislike about the execution.

The visit starts out early enough with the trio meeting Flynn Rider while he is getting chased by Heartless, which replaces Maximus and the guards in their place. Sadly, the guards don't show up at all even when we get to the kingdom. We also don't get the criminals and the bandits, which is a shame since they were great characters. Replacing them are the heartless and nobodies lead by Marluxia, which is not even much of a factor in this world anyways since Chain of Memories doesn't exist in Sora's head.

Once we get to the tower and recruit Rapunzel into the party with Flynn in tow, we travel through the forest to the kingdom. I like the various things we get on the journey, such as the water splash fight, escorting the birds, and sliding down a flower-filled meadow towards the riverside. Once we get to the kingdom itself, it was really cool to see the festival in full swing and even participate in the dance before the night of the lanterns.

Then it kinda stumbles when we get to Mother Gothel 'saving' Rapunzel and Marluxia knocking out Sora somehow, before being woken up from Maximus licking him instead of splashing water from the river on his face or even a funny callback to KH1 with Donald casting Thunder on Sora. However, Maximus struggling a bit with carrying them all was a nice little scene that actually makes sense, which then becomes more impressive when he runs full speed ahead with all that weight.

The boss fight of the world was interesting, a heartless tree beast that takes advantage of the surroundings with thorns and the tower itself. Once defeating it, we get the fake-out death scene with the tear of healing with Sora and gang in the background before cutting to the closing scene. One neat detail is that after completing the world, Rapunzel isn't in the party since she doesn't have her golden hair anymore.

Overall, I like the world and some of its ideas, but it honestly could have benefited much more with following the movie beats and actually attempting to do the romantic plot between Rapunzel and Flynn since that is a big part of why the movie worked so well.

5. It's been awhile since I've seen Monsters Inc., but I thought it was a pretty good movie. The inclusion in Kingdom Hearts was unexpected, but turns out to be better than I expected.

The visit takes place after the movie, which is a good point already since they have more freedom to integrate Sora and the others into the world without intruding. The way they integrated how the world runs on emotion with the Org. member being Vanitas was a really good decision.

Not gonna lie, there isn't much about this world that I didn't like in terms of story. Traveling the world is pretty fun. The boss was eh, though.

6. Wow... just wow. What the hell happened here? Arendelle got shafted so hard! Seriously, what's the excuse!?

Getting the positives out of the way, the fact that Marshmallow becomes your party member is pretty cool. The boss is also pretty cool, as well as the keychain. That's it, now the negatives.

Now, I guess that the story was a masterpiece since they didn't want Sora and co. to interfere with ANY of it. You meet Elsa early on once, you meet Anna and co. once, with the latter being a mini-game. Then Hans shows up out of nowhere because movie plot, who doesn't even speak at all. After that, it just ends? The mere fact that this was done pisses me off. Like, if I was writing the series and I couldn't do it the way that I would like it to be, then I ain't adding it! Seriously, what was Disney thinking!?

Also, Larxene is the villain for this world who somehow can control ice and just makes a straight-up labyrinth in seconds? And doesn't use ANY ice powers in her boss fights later? Yeah, they just placed a filler level in an already barren world!

By the way, anyone else really liked how you traveled this world? It must be the most vertical world since we go up and down, up and down, UP and DOWN! No castle town, no enchanted forest, not even the trading post and sauna! Just snow and mountains with plenty of trees! We don't even explore the ice palace, only able to see the front entrance since it's just a display in this game!

Also, we can get Rapunzel and Flynn, but not Anna and Kristoff with Sven? Not even a sled mini-game where we fight off the wolves? We can just get separated from them after the fight with Marshmallow, where we then team up with it to replace the two. After completing the world, we then have the option of having all three at once. It's not really hard. I can kinda understand why Elsa wouldn't be a party member since she would be the story objective as we travel with the others up the mountain.

Also, did anyone else liked the recreation of 'Let it go'? It's kinda funny since Sora and co. are seeing a straight-up musical number from the outside. You know, what Disney movies are famous for? I honestly didn't care at that point.

Again, this would have been much better if it followed the movie from an earlier point. Sora and co. shows up during Elsa's coronation where the story starts at Arendelle Castle, having them getting to know the characters as they are before the reveal of her ice powers. Once that happens, we join Anna on her journey to find her sister. Boom! Already a better story.

In conclusion, worst world in the game, hands down.

7. As a big fan of Big Hero 6, I was very excited about the inclusion in Kingdom Hearts. Another world that takes place after the movie too, so that's a plus. Though, I do have my negatives about it.

First things first, why are certain areas selective? The bridge and the garage are only accessed by certain methods, either by a battle portal or a save point. The city itself is awesome in terms of scale and exploration, but why just that one section? I would have loved to go to the district where Aunt Cass has her shop or even the warehouse where they met Yokai. Heck, even Fred's mansion would have been sick! But, that's beside the point.

As for what we got, it's still quite serviceable. Keyblade Hero 3 enters the world as the team are fighting heartless, establishing a common goal for them right out the gate. After the fight on the bridge, the trio joins the six and goes into the city to dispose of the remaining threat while having some bonding time afterwards.

Then, Dark Baymax! A bit of a waste, honestly. Like, it could have been a bit more emotional and a cool little one-on-one with Baymax 2 before the final fight, but that's just me.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time here. Solid world.

8. I really liked the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, but its inclusion in KH2 was weird. Real life and cartoons are always tricky to pull off when put together, especially in terms of aesthetics. This obviously stuck out like a sore thumb, but the execution of the story was OK. Second visit better than the first, honestly due to the Grim Reaper heartless.

I vaguely remember the second movie, never bothered with the rest. From what I've heard, they aren't as good as the first since the story was focusing on the wrong character. With the world's return in KH3, visuals improved with the characters attempting to fit together this time instead of the weird combo. In terms of plot, since it took place during the third movie, I was lost and didn't care about it. The story it has with Sora and co. was strange, like the fake Jack Sparrow and the implied knowledge that Calypso had about the keyblade, was meh at best.

Though, the gameplay is interesting. Sailing the sea on a ship while engaging battleships and exploring the surrounding islands for treasures and secrets? Sweet! I know about the parallels people make with other games, like Black Flag that I have also played, but I still enjoy what this feature has to offer.

Overall, it's pretty good. Though personally, if they wanted to add in a similar world, Moana would be a great pick. Great movie, by the way.

9. Since this is where the main story actually happens, I'm saving my opinion on that for later.

In terms of areas and exploration, this place was good to go through. We still get the graveyard from Birth by Sleep and get a new labyrinth later on, traversing through it to reach the various Seekers of Darkness to defeat before the final battle that takes place at Scala ad Caelum. Though, the Final World we briefly go to is very interesting. Both places are really cool in terms of visuals and concept.

10. Finish

The worlds in this game are a good selection this time around. I wasn't as bothered about the fan favorite worlds being excluded (Agrabah, Halloween Town, Beast's Castle, Hollow Bastion, etc.) like other people, but it would have been nice to revisit. Still, I feel like most of these needed more time to work on in terms of story importance and content.

Story/Characters

Oh boy, here we go! So, this story... is so all over the place on what it's doing. It's like they realize that the Disney worlds were kinda insignificant in the later games that they tried to make them important with contrived reasons.

First reason, the Power of Waking. They mention this throughout, but never elaborate on what it does. I know the name is kinda indicating on the ability, but why is it so important? Why can't we save Aqua without it? No answer came, so screw it.

Second reason, the Seven New Hearts. Yep, the plot device from the first game gets a horrible revisit. Seriously, why is this a thing? I think they only mention it once as a backup plan, but there's no point. The Guardians of Light are gonna fight the Seekers of Darkness in the end no matter what!

Once again, ideas that are introduced and have poor execution. And that's just the plot!

The characters are why I kept going, so let's see what they had to offer in the game. I'm not going over every character, just the ones that I have something to say about.

1. Sora - There was an attempt. My god, there was an attempt on this happy-go-lucky kid to be more than just that. Hopefully, we get a more serious Sora in future installments due to what he endured. By the way, the 'Dumb Sora' gag can exit stage left and never come back. Addressing an actual writer's choice for a character's 'trait' and making it a joke instead of fixing it is worse than just ignoring it.

2. Riku - I've always been a sucker for the 'fallen hero' trope in stuff as it has a character know the evils of their previous actions and actually finding redemption to change for the better. My boy being a Keyblade Master and mastering the darkness, we get him losing my favorite keyblade and replacing it with another one. Yeah, that's nice. Some parts, he was strangely written like he's still distant or just not talking with people beforehand about important stuff, but it didn't ruin it that much. Plus, playing as him was really fun!

3. Kairi - OK, why is she still being the cheerleader? Keyblade, Princess of Light, Light Magic! Yet, she still IS BEING TREATED LIKE A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS! WHY!? She can probably take on like half of the Seekers if she was given the chance to! BUT NO! Captured by Xemnas and KILLED by Xehanort, which didn't really matter AT ALL since she still comes back! All I ask is that she is given more attention in future games.

4. Xehanort - So, an old man that is letting curiosity be his main motivator to start another Keyblade War and uses darkness like it's his life source... was actually trying to give humanity a second chance to start again by getting rid of the Light's 'tyranny'? I would have been fine with this if that WAS his motivation from the BEGINNING! Plus, since when did humanity and the light ever came into the actual plot of the series!? Whatever, at least his saga was finally reached its conclusion.

5. Aqua - This woman endures hell for a whole decade and gets back just in time for war. She has EARNED her vacation time at this point! Still, she keeps going on sheer willpower (except when she doesn't), just to help her friends. She's one hell of a warrior!

6. Ventus - A decade long coma ain't gonna stop this kid! Or man? Either way, he fights on with my personal favorite fighting style and faces his shadow one last time.

7. Terra/Terranort - God damn, this man wasn't kidding about his vow! A vessel of pure willpower and is the 'guardian' heartless, he comes back from limbo to finish the fight. On the other side of the coin... ONE SCENE! ONE SCENE made me bang my head against the wall with Terranort being the center focus. You know the one, people! ALL of it before the Zettaflare, before the Lingering Will, and is up there with the Demon Storm later on, made me do this! YUP, that scene is why this review is EVEN a thing! And don't get me started on that rewind bullshit!

8. Roxas - Comes down from the sky after going ludicrous speed through the cosmos with Oblivion and Oathkeeper in both hands to kick some serious ass, this boy is a force of nature!

9. Xion - Comes out of nowhere with barely an explanation as to how she kept her appearance without being norted and is just suddenly remembered, I don't really know how to process that. Nice to see her again, though.

10. Axel/Lea - Always a highlight, our fiery assassin is determined to fight to protect and be the self-aware one of the cast.

11. Saix/Isa - Has a rather meh motivation since it was never really established beforehand, his interactions with Lea makes him stand out a bit more from the other Seekers. Personal opinion, my favorite epilogue outfit. I was legit surprised upon seeing it!

12. Master Yen Sid - I don't care if you're a former Keyblade Master, I will kick your ass if you say that Sora isn't a Master at this point! His back may as well be BROKEN from carrying the final battle since everyone else got their ASS KICKED! And do we need to mention his previous accomplishments!?

13. Donald/Goofy - I like them. Their interactions with Sora is mostly nice to watch. Though, I would scold them for those moments that they even suggest that Sora CAN'T fight by himself. Again, do I need to mention what this boy can do!?

14. Final Fantasy Cast - Where they at? I kinda understand the Hollow Bastion gang, but what about Cloud? Tifa? Sephiroth? Auron? Hell, Zack even? Not even for post game content? So much for a crossover series.

Everyone else was fine. Either I wasn't bothered by them or just forgot, since I haven't played the game all the way through in awhile.

Overall, the story was what I expected, attempts to make the new stuff important and completely forgets them by the end. This 'finale' was made to set up the next saga, which shouldn't be your main reason when you write an overarching story.

To elaborate on THAT scene, I never really liked curbstomp battles, especially if it was done wrong. The way I see these types of 'fights', they have to be short and sweet to establish an immediate threat to the heroes with a motive that makes sense. Here, all of those are tossed in the trash! Why fight them by yourself!? Why kill them when you need them for your goals!? Why are the heroes suddenly not able to fight against this guy!? WHY DO I NEED TO SEE IT MORE THAN ONCE!?

...OK, OK. Enough about that. Story is convoluted, let's move on.

The DLC (Remind)

Well, didn't expect them to actually do DLC this early. All right, what does it have to offer and does it improve the game?

1. Gameplay - Wow, they actually listened! While the base combat still has the problems mentioned, they did try to balance it out with new abilities and additions to make it flow better. Some totally not from KH2, but I ain't complaining at all! The new forms are awesome to use and the boss fights with OTHER playable characters were a joy to play! The data battles were challenging and the super boss was quite the battle!

2. Story - Pinnacle Nomura, ladies and gentlemen! Writes a scene, sends it out, writes to elaborate on what's actually happening later. However, we didn't wait years just to get an answer that leaves even more questions. Although, I didn't have many questions since he shows us the other side of the battle.

Lingering Will's fate (which got a legit 'oh shit' out of me), the Guardians' own fight against the empty Seeker Armors, Mickey's shining moment, Kairi's return, the expanded Scala ad Caelum, more on Xehanort's backstory, the plans of the Seekers, Riku's plan to find Sora with the returning Final Fantasy cast, and Sora meeting Yozora.

So, with all these added into the game, what does my opinion on the game come to?

Overall Opinion

My experience with the series is kinda complicated. I got into the series thanks to one of my old friends and my love for Disney movies, as my love for video games was still growing and my interest for crossovers was getting up there. The first game was fun to play and simple to understand, though it ain't perfect. Characters and worlds are hit or miss, certain story points are dumb, and some parts are harder than others.

I was among those that skipped Chain of Memories and jumped into KH2 confused as hell. Though at the time, I wasn't too focused on the story element, so the gameplay more than made up for it. This is when I officially got into the series at that point.

Long story short, I mainly kept up in terms of lore and theories until the re-releases came out. Both PS3 and PS4 collections since I enjoyed them back then and didn't have a PS4 for a long time while my PS3 was my main system until then. Got KH3 around launch window and here we are.

KH3 is a game that was one of the many video game fables among DMC5 and Half-Life 3, all those years having us raise our expectations to the point that seemed impossible to reach. Where DMC5 succeeds, KH3 falls short in many areas. Still, DLC or not, it's still a good game that is fun to play once you know the mechanics and do some experimentation.

So, there is my whole review on Kingdom Hearts 3. The ups, downs and all arounds may annoy me at times, but that annoyance is usually overridden with sheer curiosity as I will still follow the future of the series.

Now, for those who are mainly curious about the crossover story, here is your answer!

Azure Keyblades: Do or Don't?

Considering that this series is the reason why I'm serious about my writing now, it's the former.

Seriously, I would be a fool not to do this series. However, there are gonna be some major differences:

1. This is NOT gonna follow the canon story anymore! Those days are behind me now, so sorry to those who expect that to happen.

2. The established rules of Kingdom Hearts, such as the keyblades and enemies, are gonna be reworked. Don't worry, the personalities of the characters are gonna stay close to how they were portrayed in their original games. At least, as close as I can write them.

3. Speaking of characters, I will be only including those that will have importance in the overall plot. Disney and Final Fantasy characters are staying since this series was originally a crossover between the two, though those may change as well.

However, this may not happen for some time since I do have other stories as my main priority right now. And again, I seriously apologize for the long wait, but I wanted to wait for the DLC to give you guys a full review.

With ALL of that said, thank you all for your patience and thanks for reading! I'll see you guys later!