Kingdom Hearts 3
Jan. 30th, 2019 12:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zaliachimeraKingdom Hearts 3 came out today. I played for about 6 and a half hours and damn, I needed that. This is gonna be my non spoilery post!
First? It looks gorgeous. They have stepped up their game. I mean, I always thought they did a really smart thing with the look of KH. They didn't go for photorealism, they went for the slightly cartoonish style and it has served them well. The original games have aged *way* better than other games from the PS2 era which went for a more realistic style.
But Kingdom Hearts 3 has made the most of being on PS4 (and XBox One). For example, the stained glass section near the start looked stunning. They've added so much depth to the level design too. One thing with previous games is the levels always felt a bit hollow, a bit like Sora was on a set, rather than in a real lived in place. I mean, KH1 every section of a world felt like it was in a box. And now? Everywhere feels a lot more like a place where other things could happen.
I'm also really getting a sense of how much crossover there was from FFXV. FFXV was obviously a trial run for a lot of the features in the game. You can take photographs! You can warp to distant points and switch between keyblades! Even small things, like in one section you can see the rooftops of buildings, is very reminiscent of FFXV. They've done a great job at learning lessons and implementing them, while still keeping it feeling like Kingdom Hearts.
And finally, I love how earnest these games are. It would have been so easy to have sly winks and nods, snide looks of 'we know this is ridiculous' and 'wow, pretty dumb and naive right, adults?'. But they don't. They play it totally straight. These are games that are unabashedly, unashamedly, about hope, and love and the power of friendship. And sometimes we need that.
First? It looks gorgeous. They have stepped up their game. I mean, I always thought they did a really smart thing with the look of KH. They didn't go for photorealism, they went for the slightly cartoonish style and it has served them well. The original games have aged *way* better than other games from the PS2 era which went for a more realistic style.
But Kingdom Hearts 3 has made the most of being on PS4 (and XBox One). For example, the stained glass section near the start looked stunning. They've added so much depth to the level design too. One thing with previous games is the levels always felt a bit hollow, a bit like Sora was on a set, rather than in a real lived in place. I mean, KH1 every section of a world felt like it was in a box. And now? Everywhere feels a lot more like a place where other things could happen.
I'm also really getting a sense of how much crossover there was from FFXV. FFXV was obviously a trial run for a lot of the features in the game. You can take photographs! You can warp to distant points and switch between keyblades! Even small things, like in one section you can see the rooftops of buildings, is very reminiscent of FFXV. They've done a great job at learning lessons and implementing them, while still keeping it feeling like Kingdom Hearts.
And finally, I love how earnest these games are. It would have been so easy to have sly winks and nods, snide looks of 'we know this is ridiculous' and 'wow, pretty dumb and naive right, adults?'. But they don't. They play it totally straight. These are games that are unabashedly, unashamedly, about hope, and love and the power of friendship. And sometimes we need that.
