Ranking the Disney Worlds of Kingdom Hearts III

[Allwil13 754]

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!

[Novayon 192]

Personal ranking and the best parts of each:

Spoiler

1. The Caribbean
2. San Fransokyo (Open world, good story, nice music)
3. Olympus (Nostalgia, beautiful locations)
4. Corona (Good story, nice interactions with Rapunzel)
5. Toy Box (Cool level design, best minigame)
6. Monstropolis (Felt like a PS2 game, in a good way)
7. Arendelle (Labyrinth was the best part)
8. 100 Acre wood (I don't have anything good to say about this)

I definitely agree about the Caribbean! I think it has the best level design, the most amount of exploration (underwater helps), and the ship battles I enjoyed. Plus I like the POTC series (well, only 1-3) so I'm biased. And coastal locations in games are often my favourite.

 

[TakenKing 29]

My personal ranking of best to worst

1. The Caribbean

2. Kingdom of Corona

3. Arendelle

4. San Fransokyo

5. Monstropolis

6. Toy Box

7. Olympus

8. 100 Acre Wood

The Caribbean was my favorite world by far. The ship battles are intriguing and I like that they can be challenging at times. I have a soft spot for underwater stuff. Always have since I was a kid and it was the thing I was most excited for. Every world that had water in it I was trying to go under water so I was a bit disappointed that The Caribbean was the only world we could go under water. DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE MUSIC. The music playing while you’re in port royal is like the best world theme in the game. I find myself going to port royal just to listen to the music, I won’t even move literally just there for the music at times. My one complaint of The Caribbean was that the boss much like every other boss in the game except for the final bosses and the secret boss, was very easy. Overall still my favorite world in the game.

[Allwil13 754]

Maybe I was wrong about the Caribbean being the most polarizing world. On the discord a lot of people complained about it, lol.

 

[TakenKing 29]

That’s the beauty of opinions and people being able to experience things differently.

[Allwil13 754]

On 2/9/2019 at 1:33 PM, TakenKing said:

That’s the beauty of opinions and people being able to experience things differently.

Yeah, and this community is great when it comes to being fair and understanding towards everyone else's point of view. I love that I can share these things without fear of judgement or attack.

[Movies798 1,357]

After playing Kingdom Hearts 3 twice and finish the game. Here's my ranking of the Disney Worlds in Kingdom Hearts 3 from best to my least favorite.

Edit: Hmm now that I think about it I only love the first six Disney Worlds. The last two Disney Worlds were my least favorite ones.

 

1.) San Fransyoko - One of the reasons why it's my number one favorite Disney world is because it's an original story and not a rehash of the film's plot. There's some real interactions between Sora, Donald, and Goofy and the cast of Big Hero 6. They all develop a real friendship. Seeing the Big Hero 6 characters involve with Sora's story against the Organization XIII. And the original story is fresh and interesting and it doesn't feel like a filler.

2.) Monstropolis - Love the new monster designs of Sora, Donald, Goofy. The interactions between Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mike, Sulley, and Boo. They all develop a real friendship. Vantias reappearing again. Although it's a little disappointing that the story is similar to the movie, the plot about getting Boo back to her door. But it adds some originality because it's set after the first movie and it has Randall coming back for revenge. However, my favorite scenes were Donald and Goofy protecting Sora from Vantias, and seeing Mike and Sulley becoming true bros and help Sora by throwing Vantias through a bunch of doors and shred them.

3.) The Caribbean - This world is so much improvement over Port Royal in Kingdom Hearts 2. Bigger world, actual exploration in the seas, fun ship battles, Luxord's return, seeing Sora, Donald, and Goofy in rage and attack Davy Jones with their bare hands after Will was stabbed, and of course fighting Davy Jones!

4.) Toy Box - Absolutely love this world! Love the world's original plot, Woody and Buzz as party members, fun Gigas battles, fun doll battle, seeing the relationship building between Sora, Donald, Goofy, Woody, and Buzz, and exploring Galaxy Toys.

5.) Olympus - Definitely one of the best tutorial stages I ever play. Xigbar's return. Hercules as a party member. Huge improvement from the previous games. Kinda rehash the film's plot but exploring the world truly makes up for it. Hercules trying to help Sora's problem. The relationship between Sora and Hercules. Seeing actual NPC's to make the world feel more alive! And finally seeing the Realm of Gods!

6.) Kingdom of Corona - Well even though it's pretty much a rehash of the film's plot but it's fun having Rapunzel and Flynn as party members. I actually like this world very much because it's fun seeing Sora, Donald, and Goofy's reactions toward Rapunzel's unique personality. The world's field music is beautiful and the exploration is fun. The gameplay is very unique because I love seeing the relationship building between Sora, and Rapunzel during the dandelion scene, the water splash scene, saving the rabbits scene, and the scene where we bring the birds to Rapunzel. Truly unique but it's disappointing that Sora, Donald, and Goofy got sidelined after we reach the kingdom. But overall I still had fun in this world.

7.) Arendelle - Arendelle was definitely my least favorite Disney World in Kingdom Hearts 3. So much potential and yet they drop the ball on this one. It's nothing more than a rehash of the film's plot. There's no relationship between between Sora, Donald, Goofy, Anna, and Elsa. In fact Sora, Donald, and Goofy barely interact with Anna and Elsa at all! They didn't develop any sort of real friendship like the other characters from the other Disney Worlds. Plus, the songs were definitely not needed at all, the songs were just a bunch of fanservice and they were totally unnecessary. Disney really drop the ball here. Especially not adding Elsa as a party member to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Seriously Rapunzel was our freaking party member, her weapon was her freaking long hair AND Rapunzel was a new member of Princess of Heart as well! Elsa has freaking ice powers and yet she wasn't a party member? Jeez Disney really mess up on this. Arendelle should've have an original story and have Elsa as a party member. The only good parts in Arendelle I really like was Larxene! Larxene and her Labyrinth of Ice was one of the fun parts in Arendelle, the music in Labyrinth of Ice was great, and Larxene's interaction toward Sora is great. The other good parts I like was Marshmallow as a party member. In my opinion, Marshmallow was a MVP and one of the best party members, His team up with Sora was dope and the way he stop that dark ball was epic! And finally the last good part in Arendelle was the Skoll heartless battle. Despite some god moments but man Arendelle was definitely wasted here, so much potential in that world.

8.) 100 Acre Wood - Yeah the only part I like was Sora discovering that his connection to Pooh was getting weaker and he doesn't want to lose his friends. But everything else in 100 Acre Wood was so boring. Sorry Lumpy but even you couldn't save this boring mini game world. I still love Winnie the Pooh though.

Edited February 16, 2019 by Movies798

[Green Sparrow 795]

From best to worst. CI = Character Interactions (as in, interacting with the world's characters: Elsa, Hiro, etc.).

1. Toy Box: Great music, story, and CI. Woody throwing shade at Young Xehanort is amazing.

2. San Fransokyo: Wish there was just a little bit more to the world and CI, but overall a fantastic world.

3. Arendelle: Labyrinth is GREAT, beautiful world (but just a hallway), decent CI, and Elsa should've been in the party.

4. Kingdom of Corona: GORGEOUS world (I love forests), lovable CI, and screw the temporary party member idea :(

5. Olympus: Impressed me. It would be higher ranked, but I just love the other worlds/movies more.

6. The Caribbean: Great aesthetic and ship mechanics, but the story and CI are laughably bad.

7. Monstropolis: Shallow story, ironically the only world not to make me laugh, and mostly an actual hallway wtf.

8. 100 Acre Woods: What a f***ing waste of a world. I'd prefer they cut this to make Twilight Town slightly bigger.

For the record, I actually REALLY like numbers 1 through 6. Toy Box, San Fransokyo, and Arendelle are actually really close in my eyes, but you gotta rank them somehow. I've softened my hatred for Monstropolis, but it's still boring to me, and seriously, Pooh is just the worst.

[Allwil13 754]

6 minutes ago, Green Sparrow said:

From best to worst. CI = Character Interactions (as in, interacting with the world's characters: Elsa, Hiro, etc.).

1. Toy Box: Great music, story, and CI. Woody throwing shade at Young Xehanort is amazing.

2. San Fransokyo: Wish there was just a little bit more to the world and CI, but overall a fantastic world.

3. Arendelle: Labyrinth is GREAT, beautiful world (but just a hallway), decent CI, and Elsa should've been in the party.

4. Kingdom of Corona: GORGEOUS world (I love forests), lovable CI, and screw the temporary party member idea

5. Olympus: Impressed me. It would be higher ranked, but I just love the other worlds/movies more.

6. The Caribbean: Great aesthetic and ship mechanics, but the story and CI are laughably bad.

7. Monstropolis: Shallow story, ironically the only world not to make me laugh, and mostly an actual hallway wtf.

8. 100 Acre Woods: What a f***ing waste of a world. I'd prefer they cut this to make Twilight Town slightly bigger.

For the record, I actually REALLY like numbers 1 through 6. Toy Box, San Fransokyo, and Arendelle are actually really close in my eyes, but you gotta rank them somehow. I've softened my hatred for Monstropolis, but it's still boring to me, and seriously, Pooh is just the worst.

It seems like the 100 Acre Wood is the winner so far for the least liked/most hated world of the game. And it's no surprise: the world is boring. 

[ocean's rage 770]

may i rank all of them equal first bar olympus which is just a spot lower and 100 acre wood

[2 quid is good 2,209]

Disney worlds being filler has never bothered me all that much like it has others, so keep that in mind with my ranking:

Spoiler

1) The Carribbean - Port Royal has always been my favourite world, and this world had the second best boss in the form of Davy Jones. Honestly it feels like it could be a game all on it's own.

2) Toy Box - Even though I got a little lost at times, just the sheer fact that I could play in Andy's room, something that i've daydreamed about for literal years, astounds me. But the gigas........

3) Olympus - I am disappointed that we didn't get a coliseum and hence no tournaments, but that doesn't put a damper on the world itself. Olympus has a hugely different feel from the rest of the game and the best Disney Boss(es).

4)Kingdom of Corona - Pretty boring story, but visually stunning. The dancing minigame is also pretty good when you finally understand what it is you're supposed to do.

5)San Fransokyo - By this point in the game I was really very frustrated at how I was so close yet so far to the actual plot, and I sped through the world at max speed. It looked great and the story wasn't that bad but I found myself outright skipping cutscenes just so I could get to the endpoint. A really good world, it just suffers from where it's placed in the story, and how the story was framed.

6) Monstropolis - I'm going to be honest here and say that for me there is no difference in quality between worlds 4,5 and 6. It's just the way the cookie crumbled. Monstropolis was fine, that end cutscene was pretty damn great too.

7) 1(00) Acre Wood - Oh God. I don't think you even need to know me to tell how much I love this place. This was a huge slap in the face for me, and incredibly disrespectful to the history of Pooh in Kingdom Hearts. It was heartbreaking doing those minigames and thinking that I could drop in and out for the rest of the game only to find out that that, was indeed that. It was at this point that I really started to tune out of the Disney shenanigans and what came next made it worse.

8 ) Arendelle - Literal Trash. The only good thing about it was Larxene. At least 1 Acre Wood was over and done with in 2 minutes; I had to traipse up and down this bloody mountain for almost 2 hours. The worst part is it's almost a guaranteed returning world for future instalments. This world broke me. There should have been a really strong midgame section after this world because I was so burnt out and burned by the game at this point and just wanted to get to the end so I could know what was going on. I sped through POTC and BH6 like mad. I'm not too sure it was worth it in the end.

 

[Mkucherina 84]

I really enjoyed Toybox and Kingdom of Corona. During my initial playthrough, I thought POTC was really annoying. There was definitely a bit of a learning curve when it came to the ship battles. I also really hated searching for all of the white crabs. Once I got the hang of it all, I really enjoyed it. Exploring the open world post game was awesome. I was really disappointed with how Twilight Town turned out. That was a world I was really excited for and was very disappointed with the size of it. I also wanted to explore Scala ad Caelum