PSA: Amazon preorder will save you 10 bucks on the standard version.

The time is near. My body is ready.

 

Also PSA: Digital Download from PSN or Xbox whatever gets you an exclusive keyblade, as does Amazon for the US at least, each of them with a different ability. All early game keyblades mind you but still.

 

Eta 12 hours (for me and Aussies only?)

I couldn't care less about the story, I just can't wait to play a gorgeous and fun action rpg.

 

Jesus christ. I hate the button layout...

X should be bump. Square attack. Circle dodge. It's been that way for years.

I get that's not how the originals are, but give me a standard layout option ffs...

The start of the game is also paced horrendously. Two steps followed be awkward af cut scene... Rinse and repeat...

Not a great start.

I'm playing on the hardest difficulty because i was told it made unlocking the secret ending easier... Regret that now given my controller issues...

Edit: I should clarify what i mean by awkward cut scenes. I've only played for an hour, but the game is constantly cutting to a cutscene to play out some 'banter' before resuming. It's infuriating.

 

So I put him a good amount of hours today and my impressions so far are... it's actually pretty damn good. Also Gengar, you know you can rebind things right? But anyways, imo one of the best changes is being able to level up your keyblade, I fell in love with the Mirage Staff transformation and thus its keyblade got put immediately to 6 (out of 10). That said, fuck hunting Hidden Mickeys/Lucky Emblems. If you're playing on Normal my suggestion is to ignore the side quest and just watch the secret ending on youtube or wherever. As for people on Proud, not sure how many we need but I'm hoping not too many. Although my one big gripe is load times, I mean I get they're basically loading the entire world at once but still. Those two thigns are really all I dislike about KH3, the gummi ship stuff is fun enough, most of the keybaldes are great, I refuse to ever use a Striker Form transformation however, and so far the worlds have been fun.

Also for those who haven't started yet, on your first choice go Mystic. +MP is way more useful than +HP in this game. For one potions are back to being a flat amount, for another the game throws HP bonuses at you, but is super stingy about MP increases. I'll probably have a more detailed review once I've beaten it and at least attempted post-game.

 

Just watching some streams of this makes me want to play it so much. It looks like so much fun, and even with all the derision the convoluted story gets, I enjoy it and I want to finish it. The game looks amazing, and it seems like it plays just as well.

I know it's probably a long shot, at best, but damn I hope this comes to the PC at some point. Square Enix has been moving in that direction, putting up ports, so maybe? I can dream.

If not, well, hopefully I can catch the used systems when the next Playstation comes out, or something.

 

Just beat it.

The loading screens weren't as bad as I was expecting, and they did actually fix all the lag issues that cropped up in the 0.2 demo, which was my main concern. The game is a bit on the easy side - I didn't use a summon all game, and the flashy cutscene moves pop up every few seconds. Button-mashers like me won't have too many issues, but there's a few places where you basically have to dodge and be more creative.

Story-wise, it's a KH story. So I'm still just as confused at what is going on as I was before playing.

Spoiler

Man I was *not* expecting all the trailers to come from the last 2 hours of the game. I thought they'd frame it differently, and actually have gameplay after the keyblade graveyard scene.

The disney worlds felt even less connected to the overall plot than in the other ones.

That said, still a 9/10 game. Lives up to the hype, in my opinion. Just hoping the next one doesn't take 13 years...

 

If anyone wants a full "relevant" story refresher, this is the best one I've found.

 

KH3 also has a 'the story so far' videos for all of the non-mobile games right after the intro cutscenes.

 

Rebind where? I'm not doing it on a system level if that's what you're suggesting. The only mention of controls in the menu is to change from type a/b, and the only difference between the two seems to be how you toggle your triangle abilities.

 

It's really barebones though. Doesn't get down into any of the details. Would have been so lost without a refresher on the masterXehanort>terra>xehanort2>fakeAnsem>xemnas nonsense, let alone all the shit with ventus/sora/roxas/xion hidden inside each other.
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The opening cinematic after the chess game was so fucking good I can't even.

Need to go watch it a hundred more times.

 

Okay just beat it and got the secret ending, can confirm you need less than 45 hidden mickeys to get it on Proud. Also Gengar you can rebind them in the configuration menu. Now onto final thoughts.

Overall my favorite world was the Pirates world, whether that'll hold up in the long run, who knows. For the most part I had a ton of fun... for what little there was. Kingdom Hearts 3 felt extremely short to me, probably a combination of how few worlds there were and how little meaningful optional content there is outside the gummi ship. Also maybe it's a PS4 basic only issue. But dear god the fucking load times were annoying. On the other hand, given how large an area they were loading I guess that makes sense? A minor gripe was that unless you go explore it yourself you never realize that destroying rocks and opening the gold treasure balls in the gummi stuff gives the Flourite, Damacus, Adamantine and Electrum you need to upgrade your keyblades like unless I missed it there was no indicator about that at all. Also striker form feels super underwhelming compared to Elements, Defender, Blitz and Second Form, can't speak for ultimate because I don't have Ultima Weapon yet. Part of the reason is how little Striker form transformations give compared to Elements and such. My final complaint is how absurd Ultima Weapon is this time. My "favorite" being you have to get 80 hidden Mickey's for one of the seven Orichalcum+.

Now for the good, I liked the keyblade transformations and the upgrading of keyblades, it made early game ones still viable even later. I ended up loving the gummi ship stuff although a lot of the missions against enemies are samey. Most of the Disney worlds felt connected to the main plot which is a first for me since KH1 outside of token efforts in Chain of Memories, Days, and Dream Drop Distance. The combat was a nice return to form from KH2 but that's just my dislike for the command deck from Birth By Sleep, ReCoded and Dream Drop Distance. I enjoyed the super attack gauge thing although I felt most of the attraction flows were kind of meh and not really that good. Also, again, Pirates world was super fun, was kind of worried going in because I had seen the ship combat and underwater stuff in trailers, but after the first time trying each I was surprised at how fun they could be.

Overall I feel Kingdom Hearts 3 Final Mix will be an amazing game. Kingdom Hearts 3 base? Well it needs some more content to be anything more than just good. Oh and the Secret Reports being locked behind post-game gauntlets is kind of lame but I also get why because they give a ton of background info that some might call spoilers or at the very least info you'd have zero reference points for until the end of the game anyways. Also the fact the mobile games Union Cross is so important is kind of annoying gives it's a mobile gacha game.

 

Can you stop posting bullshit please?

You cannot remap the buttons. The only thing you can change is how you cycle through the command skills.

 

I believe he is talking about PS4 settings>accessibility>button assignments, which lets you do a custom remap at the system level.

Great for games you're focusing on that have a setup you don't like. You just have to keep in mind that the action prompts and qte won't match your buttons.

 

It was my bad, I misread what the tutorial said, or i guess rather I overestimated what you could change. Not letting you rebind seems kind of weird though yeah but it probably just has to do with the triangle symbol they use for interaction like if you can talk to someone or not.

 

Bah. I should have chosen Vitality and Warrior. I forgot how garbage I am with rationing magic for when you really need it.

 

I went mystic / wisdom. Doesn't mean i fight only with magic, but i can nuke like a truck when i want.

 

I went Vitality and Guardian, it was overkill even on Proud Mode, going Warrior for my second playthrough. It sucks balls. Your early stuff is Combo Pluses/Air Combo Pluses which cost 4 AP per in KH3, and are still garbage besides. I heard Mystic gets early MP Haste and the Magic Finish Boost which I guess makes it the best of the early game options.

 

The story feels like its 75% filler and vast swathes of nothing happening, but I think I still enjoy the game. There's something about blitzing through a group of heartless and finishing them all off with a giant lightning bolt that whites out half the screen thats quite satisfying.

 

Yeah that's been a problem in KH since KH2 where the Disney worlds, and thus most of the story, are filler. Hell I'd say KH3 has done the best in a long time in making the Disney worlds not pure filler, just mostly filler.
Further update on picking Warrior, I'm level 18 and have yet to get anything of value. Also for anyone who cares to know, there are two optional keyblades,. One for getting a score, any score, in every classic kingdom game and one for getting an excellent on every standard recipe, or rather getting a 5 star ranking for the restaurant. Both keyblades are good in my opinion the the Classic Kingdom one even having more Magic than the Ultima Keyblade when fully upgraded.