So I have been itching to post a topic relating to my experience with KHIII for the past couple of days. However, I haven't finished the game yet due to work, various other commitments, and the preparations for our move to a new apartment at the end of this month. I have reached the final world of the game though, so the next thing to do is the endgame. However, now that I've finished all the Disney worlds, I would like to share my thoughts on them. I will do so in a spoiler tag, however, in case anyone hasn't played the game or finished with the Disney worlds yet. So, y'know, don't say I didn't warn you.
The rankings will go from worst to best. And like always, I would like to preface this by saying that this is just my opinion. If you liked a world that I ranked low on the list, that's totally fine.
Spoiler
8th place - The Hundred Acre Wood
Yeah... So if you've known me for a decent amount of time you probably know that I'm not a huge fan of minigames, especially when they're mandatory. As a result, I've always had issues with the Hundred Acre Wood in this series, and KHIII is no exception. Minigames aside, I find the Hundred Acre Wood is just plain boring. The first game it was nice because... well it was the first game, so none of the worlds felt old or recycled. But then they just kept bringing this world back without changing the premise or gameplay at all and it was just so boring. The minigames in KHIII both irked me and were simultaneously a relief, if that makes any sense. basically, they irked me because they were all exactly the same minigame! Not kidding, it was exactly the same strategy, the same buttons to press, the same premise. The only difference was what you were expected to move/sort. At the same time it was kind of a good thing, because since the games were all exactly the same I didn't have to start at square one with each one. As a result, the world was mercifully short, clocking in at no more than 15 minutes. This was a huge relief. In conclusion, needless to say this was the only world in the game that I did not like.
7th place - The Kingdom of Corona
This world was probably the only major disappointment I had (I don't count the 100 Acre Wood as a disappointment because I haven't liked this world since the first KH game, so I didn't have high hopes for that one anyway). I loved the movie Tangled and I was excited to see what they would do with the story once Sora, Donald and Goofy were added to it. Aaaaaand that's where the disappointment happened. After about half an hour in this world my excitement was crushed when I realized that they had basically just recycled the film's script. Literally about 95% of the lines from Rapunzel, Flynn and Mother Gothel were just ripped directly from the film, and there was a disappointing lack of interaction between Sora, Donald and Goofy with the film's characters. None of the previous KH games did that with their Disney worlds (at least not to this extent). In previous KH games, it was clear that the writers put a lot of time and effort towards writing Sora, Donald and Goofy into the story and having them interact with the characters, and that included only using a handful of lines from the films. But not here, which made this a colossal disappointment. Which is a real shame because the world itself is absolutely beautiful! Full of colours, and rolling hills and interesting environments. But the story really pulled it down.
6th place - Arendelle
I never really cared for the film Frozen. It's not bad, exactly, just kind of... mediocre. But I'm not here to talk about the film, I'm here to talk about its inclusion in KHIII. And for the most part, this world was actually pretty enjoyable. It was nice being able to explore a winter-themed world for a change, and having Marshmallow in the party was a nice bonus. Unfortunately, similarly to Corona, my problems with this world were in its story. While it didn't have nearly as big of a problem with recycled film lines as Corona did, the inclusion of two of the film's songs felt really weird and out of place. During the "Let it Go" sequence, for example, Sora, Donald and Goofy don't even do anything. They just kind of stand there and watch Elsa singing while she builds her ice castle. It just felt weird and really shoehorned in, like they felt like they just had to include Let it Go or else people would hate the world. To be honest, during this sequence, I muted the TV and then got up and made a sandwich. Do You Wanna Build a Snowman had a similar issue. Sora and Anna are just sitting and chatting and then Anna just randomly starts singing at Sora for no apparent reason. It just felt really lazy and a lot like fan service. My last issue was the completely pointless inclusion of Hans. He was on screen for barely a minute and he didn't even say anything. In fact, I don't even think we saw his face! They basically included him just to have a source for the final boss. He was even more pointless here than he was in the film.
5th place - Olympus
I was actually pleasantly surprised by this world. I wasn't expecting it to be as big as it was, and I certainly didn't expect to see as much as Thebes as I did. For a tutorial world this was great, because it actually started out the game's plot as well as taught the player how to play the game in the process. I also loved being able to actually go to Mount Olympus and visit the Realm of the Gods, which was just as amazing as I thought it would be. Finally having NPCs was a nice bonus too. All this being said however, I found that this world still had a slight sense of "been there, done that". Not an overwhelming sense of it, mind you, but a definite air of repetitiveness. The final boss was totally epic, and I'm glad that we finally got the chance to take on the rest of the Titans. My only gripe with the final battle was that the final section against the Wind Titan launched me into the air for the remainder of the battle and after that I couldn't use items anymore, which meant I couldn't heal. So I ended up winning the battle by the skin of my teeth. And hey, maybe you can use items in that section and the game just glitched out or something. But it was still annoying. Regardless, it was a really fun world to explore.
4th place - Toy Box
I was excited for Toy Box, to be able to interact with the characters from Pixar's first ever feature film and go on an adventure with them. And let me tell you, this world did not disappoint in the slightest. For a first non-tutorial Disney world, this was awesome! First of all, it was huuuuuuge! It also did a great job of setting the stage for the rest of the game's worlds, what with all the bosses included during the journey through the world as well as the lucky emblems hidden throughout. It was also amazing to look at, with lots of colours and interesting things to look at. I especially loved the obvious Final Fantasy reference in that game Rex loved so much. Honestly the fact that the world was so self-aware throughout was just so clever and enjoyable to experience. I loved that Sora was a reference to a video game character in that world. This world was just a lot of fun and so well designed. I loved it!
3rd place - Monstropolis
Of all the worlds announced for Kingdom Hearts III, this was the one I was most excited for. I always felt that if they were to add worlds based on Pixar films, this would be the best choice since monsters would make great heartless and I wanted to see Sora, Donald and Goofy transform into monsters. So you can imagine my excitement when this world was first leaked and then announced. And like Toy Box, this world did not disappoint in the slightest. I loved the sheer size of this place, as well as the fact that we got to explore areas of the Monsters Inc. Factory that we never got to see in the film. I especially loved checking out the vending machines in the warehouse areas; some of the candy bars have some funny names. Also, I thought the flowmotion sections involving grinding on the door rails was a particularly ingenious gameplay element. The only real complaint I had about this world was the final boss, which wasn't even really bad. I just found that it was really repetitive and had waaaay too much health. Honestly though, this is just a nitpick. Overall this world was really well done and super fun to explore.
2nd place - San Fransokyo
I didn't really have a ton of expectations for this world. The only gameplay element I was excited for was flying on Baymax, which wasn't as readily available as I thought it would be. Regardless, I was surprised by how much I loved this world. We've never gotten a city world before (aside from The World That Never Was) and it was just as much fun to explore as I hoped it would be. The obstacle course was kind of annoying the first time I did it, but the second time went a lot smoother and was actually pretty fun. I found that this was one of the worlds that was the most fun to explore. I loved wandering the streets, checking down alleys, and looking on rooftops for stuff like chests and Lucky emblems; it made me actually enjoy doing a thorough search for some reason. It was also really refreshing to have a game make a city world that actually feels like a city and not just some attempt at making a big city and failing. I actually felt like I was in the big city, and I loved that. Again, my only big complaint with this one was the final boss. Flying on Baymax wasn't exactly as fun as I thought it would be, and I found that hitting the boss while flying was harder than it should have been. Regardless, I still loved this world. It's probably the world I've spent the most time in.
1st place - The Caribbean
Dollars to donuts, I am positive that many of you are scratching your heads and wondering why on earth The Caribbean is my number one choice for the best disney world in Kingdom Hearts III. From what I've seen, it seems like this is the world that people have the most mixed feelings about. And at first, I was one of those people too. I found the ship battles annoying and the underwater battles tedious. But as I did more of the world and figured out the strategy to the ship battles, I actually found that this world was SO. MUCH. FUN. There is just so much to do, so much to see and find, so many places to explore! This world is absolutely packed with stuff to do and I loved every second of it. Like the other worlds, it's not perfect. There were a few story issues (mainly stuff happening off screen that would have been fun to watch), and I found the final boss to be embarrassingly easy, but all in all this world was an absolute blast and I had an awesome time with it.
So there you go, my rankings for the Disney Worlds of Kingdom Hearts III. None of them are perfect, but I didn't hate any of them. Each one brought something new and fresh, albeit with some flaws. All this being said, however, I still think the game has been amazing so far. Most of my issues were just nitpicks, with a few more major issues. However, nothing has been so bad up to this point that it ruined, or even sullied my experience so far. I would still rank KHIII in my top three KH games so far. i plan on finishing the game tomorrow, so my full review will come in the next couple of days. In the meantime, please enjoy my rankings, and remember, this is just my opinion. Thanks for reading!
So I have been itching to post a topic relating to my experience with KHIII for the past couple of days. However, I haven't finished the game yet due to work, various other commitments, and the preparations for our move to a new apartment at the end of this month. I have reached the final world of the game though, so the next thing to do is the endgame. However, now that I've finished all the Disney worlds, I would like to share my thoughts on them. I will do so in a spoiler tag, however, in case anyone hasn't played the game or finished with the Disney worlds yet. So, y'know, don't say I didn't warn you.
The rankings will go from worst to best. And like always, I would like to preface this by saying that this is just my opinion. If you liked a world that I ranked low on the list, that's totally fine.
8th place - The Hundred Acre Wood
Yeah... So if you've known me for a decent amount of time you probably know that I'm not a huge fan of minigames, especially when they're mandatory. As a result, I've always had issues with the Hundred Acre Wood in this series, and KHIII is no exception. Minigames aside, I find the Hundred Acre Wood is just plain boring. The first game it was nice because... well it was the first game, so none of the worlds felt old or recycled. But then they just kept bringing this world back without changing the premise or gameplay at all and it was just so boring. The minigames in KHIII both irked me and were simultaneously a relief, if that makes any sense. basically, they irked me because they were all exactly the same minigame! Not kidding, it was exactly the same strategy, the same buttons to press, the same premise. The only difference was what you were expected to move/sort. At the same time it was kind of a good thing, because since the games were all exactly the same I didn't have to start at square one with each one. As a result, the world was mercifully short, clocking in at no more than 15 minutes. This was a huge relief. In conclusion, needless to say this was the only world in the game that I did not like.
7th place - The Kingdom of Corona
This world was probably the only major disappointment I had (I don't count the 100 Acre Wood as a disappointment because I haven't liked this world since the first KH game, so I didn't have high hopes for that one anyway). I loved the movie Tangled and I was excited to see what they would do with the story once Sora, Donald and Goofy were added to it. Aaaaaand that's where the disappointment happened. After about half an hour in this world my excitement was crushed when I realized that they had basically just recycled the film's script. Literally about 95% of the lines from Rapunzel, Flynn and Mother Gothel were just ripped directly from the film, and there was a disappointing lack of interaction between Sora, Donald and Goofy with the film's characters. None of the previous KH games did that with their Disney worlds (at least not to this extent). In previous KH games, it was clear that the writers put a lot of time and effort towards writing Sora, Donald and Goofy into the story and having them interact with the characters, and that included only using a handful of lines from the films. But not here, which made this a colossal disappointment. Which is a real shame because the world itself is absolutely beautiful! Full of colours, and rolling hills and interesting environments. But the story really pulled it down.
6th place - Arendelle
I never really cared for the film Frozen. It's not bad, exactly, just kind of... mediocre. But I'm not here to talk about the film, I'm here to talk about its inclusion in KHIII. And for the most part, this world was actually pretty enjoyable. It was nice being able to explore a winter-themed world for a change, and having Marshmallow in the party was a nice bonus. Unfortunately, similarly to Corona, my problems with this world were in its story. While it didn't have nearly as big of a problem with recycled film lines as Corona did, the inclusion of two of the film's songs felt really weird and out of place. During the "Let it Go" sequence, for example, Sora, Donald and Goofy don't even do anything. They just kind of stand there and watch Elsa singing while she builds her ice castle. It just felt weird and really shoehorned in, like they felt like they just had to include Let it Go or else people would hate the world. To be honest, during this sequence, I muted the TV and then got up and made a sandwich. Do You Wanna Build a Snowman had a similar issue. Sora and Anna are just sitting and chatting and then Anna just randomly starts singing at Sora for no apparent reason. It just felt really lazy and a lot like fan service. My last issue was the completely pointless inclusion of Hans. He was on screen for barely a minute and he didn't even say anything. In fact, I don't even think we saw his face! They basically included him just to have a source for the final boss. He was even more pointless here than he was in the film.
5th place - Olympus
I was actually pleasantly surprised by this world. I wasn't expecting it to be as big as it was, and I certainly didn't expect to see as much as Thebes as I did. For a tutorial world this was great, because it actually started out the game's plot as well as taught the player how to play the game in the process. I also loved being able to actually go to Mount Olympus and visit the Realm of the Gods, which was just as amazing as I thought it would be. Finally having NPCs was a nice bonus too. All this being said however, I found that this world still had a slight sense of "been there, done that". Not an overwhelming sense of it, mind you, but a definite air of repetitiveness. The final boss was totally epic, and I'm glad that we finally got the chance to take on the rest of the Titans. My only gripe with the final battle was that the final section against the Wind Titan launched me into the air for the remainder of the battle and after that I couldn't use items anymore, which meant I couldn't heal. So I ended up winning the battle by the skin of my teeth. And hey, maybe you can use items in that section and the game just glitched out or something. But it was still annoying. Regardless, it was a really fun world to explore.
4th place - Toy Box
I was excited for Toy Box, to be able to interact with the characters from Pixar's first ever feature film and go on an adventure with them. And let me tell you, this world did not disappoint in the slightest. For a first non-tutorial Disney world, this was awesome! First of all, it was huuuuuuge! It also did a great job of setting the stage for the rest of the game's worlds, what with all the bosses included during the journey through the world as well as the lucky emblems hidden throughout. It was also amazing to look at, with lots of colours and interesting things to look at. I especially loved the obvious Final Fantasy reference in that game Rex loved so much. Honestly the fact that the world was so self-aware throughout was just so clever and enjoyable to experience. I loved that Sora was a reference to a video game character in that world. This world was just a lot of fun and so well designed. I loved it!
3rd place - Monstropolis
Of all the worlds announced for Kingdom Hearts III, this was the one I was most excited for. I always felt that if they were to add worlds based on Pixar films, this would be the best choice since monsters would make great heartless and I wanted to see Sora, Donald and Goofy transform into monsters. So you can imagine my excitement when this world was first leaked and then announced. And like Toy Box, this world did not disappoint in the slightest. I loved the sheer size of this place, as well as the fact that we got to explore areas of the Monsters Inc. Factory that we never got to see in the film. I especially loved checking out the vending machines in the warehouse areas; some of the candy bars have some funny names. Also, I thought the flowmotion sections involving grinding on the door rails was a particularly ingenious gameplay element. The only real complaint I had about this world was the final boss, which wasn't even really bad. I just found that it was really repetitive and had waaaay too much health. Honestly though, this is just a nitpick. Overall this world was really well done and super fun to explore.
2nd place - San Fransokyo
I didn't really have a ton of expectations for this world. The only gameplay element I was excited for was flying on Baymax, which wasn't as readily available as I thought it would be. Regardless, I was surprised by how much I loved this world. We've never gotten a city world before (aside from The World That Never Was) and it was just as much fun to explore as I hoped it would be. The obstacle course was kind of annoying the first time I did it, but the second time went a lot smoother and was actually pretty fun. I found that this was one of the worlds that was the most fun to explore. I loved wandering the streets, checking down alleys, and looking on rooftops for stuff like chests and Lucky emblems; it made me actually enjoy doing a thorough search for some reason. It was also really refreshing to have a game make a city world that actually feels like a city and not just some attempt at making a big city and failing. I actually felt like I was in the big city, and I loved that. Again, my only big complaint with this one was the final boss. Flying on Baymax wasn't exactly as fun as I thought it would be, and I found that hitting the boss while flying was harder than it should have been. Regardless, I still loved this world. It's probably the world I've spent the most time in.
1st place - The Caribbean
Dollars to donuts, I am positive that many of you are scratching your heads and wondering why on earth The Caribbean is my number one choice for the best disney world in Kingdom Hearts III. From what I've seen, it seems like this is the world that people have the most mixed feelings about. And at first, I was one of those people too. I found the ship battles annoying and the underwater battles tedious. But as I did more of the world and figured out the strategy to the ship battles, I actually found that this world was SO. MUCH. FUN. There is just so much to do, so much to see and find, so many places to explore! This world is absolutely packed with stuff to do and I loved every second of it. Like the other worlds, it's not perfect. There were a few story issues (mainly stuff happening off screen that would have been fun to watch), and I found the final boss to be embarrassingly easy, but all in all this world was an absolute blast and I had an awesome time with it.
So there you go, my rankings for the Disney Worlds of Kingdom Hearts III. None of them are perfect, but I didn't hate any of them. Each one brought something new and fresh, albeit with some flaws. All this being said, however, I still think the game has been amazing so far. Most of my issues were just nitpicks, with a few more major issues. However, nothing has been so bad up to this point that it ruined, or even sullied my experience so far. I would still rank KHIII in my top three KH games so far. i plan on finishing the game tomorrow, so my full review will come in the next couple of days. In the meantime, please enjoy my rankings, and remember, this is just my opinion. Thanks for reading!