Kingdom Hearts 3 Continues Sora's Story
The Keyblades
Years have passed since Sora left the island home that he remembered from the first game with his friends Riku and Kaira in Kingdom Hearts, the brilliant Square Enix mashup of the Final Fantasy franchise of games and Disney characters. Though the inital idea for the game, explained as a Disney Final Fantasy made fans of both franchises both intrigued and nervous, the payoff was began a fantasy world where the cross over of both characters from worlds could come together to battle the evil known as the Heartless.
While the timeline of what started the original Keyblade War changes a bit in the "half steps" between main games, instead of releasing DLC full games made of unused material and flashbacks fill the void between the first and second game and now a 2.8 version filling the gap between the second game Dream Drop Distance and Kingdom Hearts III.
Where the games deal a great deal with time travel, and a big bad that knows that he will eventually see another Keyblade War because he has already sent himself back in the form of an apprentice to oversee the events that will start the next war- Sora finds himself chosen to be one of the wielders of the keyblades, a weapon that can seal off worlds and cleanse all the Heartless and their minions from the picturesque Disney backgrounds.
Guided by famiiar Disney characters in each world, Sora and reunited with his companions Donald and Goofy for 3 takes Sora to the world's of Monsters Inc, Rapunzel, and Toy Story.
Bringing the best of the both Disney and Final Fantasy together, Kingdom Hearts guides characters Sora and Riku, as well as playable characters through worlds both familiar to the Disney fan as well as made up hubs like Traverse Town bringing together Final Fantasy favorites and composites to the likes of King Mickey untied to rid the world of the Heartless.
Dream Drop Distance And Beyond
In the original Kingdom Hearts the worlds were themed around the seven keyblades representing the worlds of the seven princesses. When Sora visits a new world, coming across new friends like the Hunchback, Simba, or Ariel, Sora and his companions are able to transform into what best fits that universe, for example changing to animals that fit the environment and be "part of their world", such as the merperson costume for Sora when he visits Ariel.
Taking on the enemies that fit each franchise as well, commanded by the leaders of the Heartless.
By the second game and the the contend in between, Riku has overcome his temptation to be among the evil, but he still sometimes feels the pull and explains that he isn't sure that he is worthy to be one of the keyblade holders. His friends explain though, when needed he did chose the side of goodness and love and has proven the darkness of the Heartless can not take him.
Dream Eaters of a new variety join the fray, beautifully colored creatures that somewhat resemble real animals, that help Sora battle Heartless. These creatures can be changed out in battle, and are able customize their abilities, allowing the Final Fantasy aspect of the game swapping whoever is needed into the party. Unlike Final Fantasy, fans can enjoy having control of characters during battles and using the environment around them to swing off poles or "combine" with their Dream Eater for a short period of time for an additional power up, that maybe that will continue into Kingdom Hearts III?
Sora, remembers his island home and sometimes longs for the serenity of its calmness with his friends before the Heartless first came and the keyblade had called out to him to be its defender. Taken up the mission to help King Mickey restore the light, Sora is not tempted by evil as Riku is, and spends part of the first game trying to bring his friend back from the point of darkness.
Will the Dream Eaters continue into the next game? These adorable creatures can lend their powers to Sora for a short period of time and provide new attacks against the Heartless.
Meeting new friends in this game like the gang of Frozen, Sora will gain new powers that fit the environment of the current world, as well as fitting costuming that have to go with world.
Part Of Their World
Back to the original party, and showing the return of the Gummy ship, rather than the overly complicated quick time events that took up a lot of Dream Drop Distance, including the touch capability for fans that played the game on the 3DS, navigating the Gummy ship was much easier than letting the character just drop and hope they collect enough stars to get into the next world.
Sora, Goofy, and Donald will be meeting up with characters from Monsters Inc, Rapunzel, Frozen, and Toy Story to name a few.
Each world will allow the heroes costuming and powers that fit their environment just as other games. Sora and his friends look adorable as always.
Meeting characters from Frozen, Toy Story, and other recent Disney classics, Kingdom Hearts fans wonder if characters from the newest Final Fantasy installment will make the cut from the newest game.
What character are you the most excited to see in Kingdom Hearts III
Pixar Years
Slated for a release on January 29th, Kingdom Hearts III will be for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, proving that the current generation of consoles are still getting some strong games in their last days. While the graphical capabilities for this game will be must better than anything we have seen before, I hope that the cartoonish splendor of the Disney environment isn't lost now that the game has caught up to the Pixar Years.
With incorporation of the Pixar animation style, the game looks just as seamless against the characters of Goofy and Donald.
Adding more modern controls to these games, and hopefully less QTE based like the ending of Dream Drop Distance, Kingdom Hearts III has the potential to be the best in the game franchise ever.
Kingdom Hearts III comes this January.
