Let me just preface this by saying that this is not me complaining about people not liking Kingdom Hearts 3D. Everyone is different, and everyone views things differently. Please don't take this topic as a trap or as me saying "the game is amazing! You guys are wrong!" I am not going to attack you or argue with you; I just want your opinion. This topic is purely for curiosity's sake. 

Kingdom Hearts 3D is one of my favourite Kingdom Hearts games. Like literally tied for first place with Birth by Sleep. No joke. Ever since I first played it it has been one of my two favourite entries in the series. I love the story, I LOVE the combat (particularly the flowmotion) and I love the flexibility of the Dream Eater party system. I always thought that this was a common opinion, that the majority of people loved the game as much as I did. It was only over the past couple of months that I noticed a lot of people citing 3D as one of the series' worst entries, some even calling it garbage. Needless to say, I was quite taken aback when I saw these responses, and it has since begged the question: Why do people hate this entry so much? If you don't like Kingdom Hearts 3D, please tell me why here. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on where this game went wrong. Again, this is not me criticizing or arguing. I just want to be able to see the big picture.

Thanks guys, and may our hearts be our guiding keys.  

Off the top of my head, the reasons people dislike it include but are not limited to:

Story standpoint:

- time travel as a major series plot point (as opposed to it being contained in a single world's plot)

- "Why can't people that die just stay dead?"

- more "everybody gets a Keyblade"

Characters:

- "Why is Sora so DUMB?"

Gameplay:

- having to take care of Dream Eaters, especially for Abilities

- balance

 

These are the handful of reasons I've seen people dislike it.

Edited February 24, 20196 yr by dabestgamer

Like with every entry, there is stuff I dislike about it, and some stuff I love about it. It's probably one, if not the most experimental KH game in both story and gameplay machanics, so it's gonna be hit or miss with a lot of people. I know gameplay wise I had a lot of fun with it. I know people blame the game for the story getting contrived and confusing, and even though I agree that the story has a lot of issues, I think BBS and even KH2 and Days could share some of the blame.

It's a flawed game and I agree with a lot of the storytelling issues people have with it. But you can't tell me it's worse then UX.

Oh god *flashbacks to 2012*

Never thought I'd see one these again anytime soon lol! 

For me it is the time travel and the further convolution of the plot. KH in general before 3D had a complicated but still easily understandable plot, lore, all of which fit very closely together and followed its rules really well.

With the time travel added into it and all the complexity that came with it, KH descended into the convoluted label. Not only descended but embraced it proudly and has never let go. And in doing so gave itself a lot more lore and weird rules to keep track of as well as outs for things. And keeping track of a this lore and rules for how things work became much more headache inducing and frustrating instead of complex, deep but understandable if you have a half hour. 

Now I cant help but feel like a crazy person trying to explain how this all works to people who aren't familiar with it all. Like that meme with the guy with the crazy hair and the board connected by red tape. 

It really raised the barrier to entry for this series too. Pre 3D, you could basically jump in anywhere and be drawn in, confused but still intrigued and become invested to play the other games to get the fuller picture of the story. 

Post 3D, or if you started with 3D I really really doubt that could be the case anymore. There is so much complicated lore and rules now that i cant imagine someone jumping in and not immediately going 'WHAT IS HAPPENING I DONT UNDERSTAND?!?!' because now they have to catch up on so much freaking complexity. And 3D has now saddled all future games with having to give time over to recapping this convolution.

I dont hate 3D as a KH fan and as a game by itself. I still play it, I love the game play, I loved the flow motion which now makes it so that every time I go play another KH game I palpably long for it. I loved how it brought good visuals for a KH game to the DS. (And at the time cursed SE for not having a Days remake planned fir the 3DS because now I saw what it couldve been) I loved the development of the characters- Riku, Sora, Lea, Yen Sid. I loved a lot of the worlds though I wish some of them had got more attention and time (hunchback*cough*).

But the direction in which it sent the series is what I really dislike about it. 

Edited February 24, 20196 yr by Fates Chance XIII

I don't think saying it is one of the worst in the series means they hate it. It could also mean it's just among their least favorite games in the series. For my part, I like all the games in the series (except UX), I just think some are better than others. In DDD's case, I personally have a big problem with the combat. You HAVE to rely on flowmotion and deck commands to do damage. The base combos are terrible and the enemies don't stagger if you're not using flowmotion, deck commands or a command style. People also didn't like that the game was unbalanced (you can spam balloon commands to beat tough enemies) and stuff like that. I still like the game though, the worlds are big and fun to explore. Flowmotion is fun to use and makes traversal much better than in previous entries. I personally thought the story was fine...I mean I never expect a masterpiece of storytelling when it comes to KH. And I actually thought 3D's story was super entertaining, even if a lot of it had nothing to do with the main storyline, the individual Disney stories did enough to keep me interested. It's a fun game overall, but it has flaws like every other KH game.

Edited February 24, 20196 yr by PrinceNoctis

i didnt know people disliked it until recently, i love it

personally I don't hate it by any means, but it's definitely the game that really turned the series on its head by introducing more new law elements such as time travel and the execution of the Disney worlds felt really lackluster, but the Pinocchio world was definitely the best cause of the different settings for both characters. it kind of contradicts things that happen in earlier games and make them feel really pointless and unresolved in the first place. But without it we would've have III. I love how characters from the world ends with you were included into the game as it was something I never really played all that much but did find interesting. and I hope they reappear in a future game someday too. Overall, this game sent the series down a dark path that it'll never be able to recover from, for better or for worse.

Thanks for your input everyone! This has put the whole thing in a much better perspective for me. They are all valid points, certainly, and very understandable. 

Can't say I hate it because I never played it. But I'll say this: Nothing I've seen of it makes me want to play it. It's the combat system mainly. It puts me off.

Edited February 24, 20196 yr by Novayon

I personally liked it a lot actually XD I liked playing with the Dreameaters and the combat, even if it got a bit difficult with it. Though I will say I didn't really enjoy Sora personality wise, not only did his voice seem really weird in that form but also he was a bit dumb. I found it more so hilarious that they threw in time travel but I really didn't care that it was in there. Though it does throw the game series for a loop (no pun intended). It's not my favorite game, nor is it my least favorite. Kind of stuck in the middle in a way, there were some definite problems with it but I liked it. Plus I'm way too forgiving of the convoluted plot so...

sorry why is sora being stupid annoy people, hes always been like that

The most substantial issue is the 3DS version's gameplay. They made it so enemies flinch much more eaisly in the HD version, but before that it was pretty awful, and the HD version is a bandaid solution so it doesn't really feel right.

 

Add really weak level design that doesn't seem to be aware that flowmotion exists, and flowmotion attacks that are really long, but strong so you're encouraged to spam them, but they never change or evolve, and you get a tiresome game experience

 

and then yeah, people had issues with the story

 

Oh, also Dream Eaters are by far the worst enemy type in the franchise, because their abilities trigger as quickly as a playable character.

 

Unpopular opinion: I think the newer kh games have gotten weaker in terms of strategy. I feel like bbs was the last game that actually contained some strategy in terms of how to beat the bosses. if you were ever in a pickle during 3d, you can just spam flow motion, balloon spells or link with your dream eaters and youll be invincible

Edited February 25, 20196 yr by Mkucherina

3 hours ago, Mkucherina said:

Unpopular opinion: I think the newer kh games have gotten weaker in terms of strategy. I feel like bbs was the last game that actually contained some strategy in terms of how to beat the bosses. if you were ever in a pickle during 3d, you can just spam flow motion, balloon spells or link with your dream eaters and youll be invincible

I will agree that the flowmotion kind of broke the game in terms of difficulty and strategy. And Balloon spells as well. Julius was cake because of balloonra and balloonga.

Honestly, Flowmotion was my favorite part of the game. Being able to play as two characters for the ENTIRETY of it was also nice as well, brought me back to having the two games in CoM on the GBA (much to my surprise! I had NO IDEA that Riku would have his own floors to ascend). But I can see a lot of the criticisms of the game. I agree that having abilities and skills tied to raising Dreameaters was one of the most infuriating things (my last playthrough I really wanted to get Leaf Bracer but didn't have the right spirits to do so or they were about 500AP short)

I wish that they had focused more on keeping the simple combat skill and ability system they had established in BBS, but expanding on it with giving you potentials for obtaining certain abilities and skills EASIER if you leveled up the correct dreameaters. Flowmotion I have always kinda felt should have been kept to movement, rather than tying attacks to it. They were definitely far too easy to abuse.

Tbh I actually loved the story, even if there was time travel shenanigans brought in.

Besides a little "..excuse me, the WHAT?" with the time travel, I don't recall disliking it much. Beyond it being on the 3DS, meaning I got to play less, it was solid enough for a KH sequel, and the normally forgotten Disney characters and TWEWY characters were refreshing. 

Unfortunately, like several people have pointed out, it did mark a point where newcomers were doomed: Trying to play DDD as your first or even second KH title is going to lead to a lot of head scratching.

I actually liked being able to break bosses with spam attacks, though, because breezing through hard battles made the game more fun. But that's just me. 

Edited February 26, 20196 yr by Heather Chandler
Two typos

Huh?  I didn't know people hated DDD, all I was doing at the time was just playing the game & enjoying having a new KH game. I don't have the time to find something to hate, I just go with the flow.   

For me it was mostly the time travel aspect that made me dislike DDD.  I felt like the plot started to get a little wonky with this game in general.  I also didn't care for Flowmotion, or the Dream Eaters.  There was a lot about this game that just felt kind of blah to me.  There was nothing particularly interesting about the storyline until the very end, and even that, as I mentioned, introduced time travel which I am not a fan of in the KH series.

I did, however, really enjoy some of the new worlds, and I didn't hate this game by any means.  It's just one of my least favorite in the franchise, if I were to choose one.

I'm honestly on the same boat you are, Allwil. Dream Drop Distance is one of my favorite entries in the series. It's my fourth favorite! (1 being KHIII, 2 being BBS and 3 being KHII.)

I loved the gameplay, I loved that you could switch between Sora and Riku, I loved creating Dream Eaters, and I thought that the story was a fantastic setup for Kingdom Hearts III! The ending scene where Xehanort reveals his endgame to the Guardians still stands as one of my favorite endings in the series as of yet! Never had I felt such hype and such determination to find out what was next! The wait for Kingdom Hearts III had only become more gripping for me at that point! But yeah, it's a great game, I love it!

On 2/24/2019 at 10:57 AM, dabestgamer said:

Off the top of my head, the reasons people dislike it include but are not limited to:

Story standpoint:

- time travel as a major series plot point (as opposed to it being contained in a single world's plot)

- "Why can't people that die just stay dead?"

- more "everybody gets a Keyblade"

Characters:

- "Why is Sora so DUMB?"

Gameplay:

- having to take care of Dream Eaters, especially for Abilities

- balance

 

These are the handful of reasons I've seen people dislike it.

The Balloon, Balloonaga, and Balloonera magic was annoying.  I never beat Julius.  There probably needed to be more secret bosses.  There was no Final Fantasy characters outside the Moogles.  The challenges you had to take up again after that world's Dream Eaters boss.  Master Xehanort not norting Sora because it was considered to "grim" even though Kingdom Hearts has had a history of being dark plot wise.  The Disney worlds, well mainly the Hunchback of Notre Dame's world being reduced to just some mediocre love triangle/friend zone romance and not getting Esmeralda's pet goat and Clopin in on the action.

I've been thinking lately: I wonder if the game's reception would have improved if they'd done a Final Mix version? I mean, the only handheld entry that got a Final Mix version was BBS, and I think it was because it's considered a main entry. And as a result I find it weird that they didn't do a Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts 3D because it's definitely supposed to be considered a main entry (at least in my opinion) since it's intended as a build up to KHIII. And the series' pattern has typically indicated that the Final Mix versions greatly improve each entry. 

I don't think reception would have improved much. BBS is still terribly balanced even in the Final Mix version (you could even argue it's worse because lol Zero EXP mechanics in the console ports), and 3D is even less salvageable. 

Edited March 28, 20196 yr by Karxrida

On 2/25/2019 at 4:57 AM, dabestgamer said:

- time travel as a major series plot point (as opposed to it being contained in a single world's plot)

- "Why is Sora so DUMB?"

- balance

^I'm all of this, and that to me it felt like fangirl pandering.

That would explain certain plot decisions. I don't hate that Lea got a Keyblade, I like him, but it was obvious fan-service. Dude was originally going to be killed off "for good" (though, that probably wouldn't have lasted). Kairi was probably always going to get one, since it was planned before KH2 in order to be in KH2. Yeah, they took a while to get to her training, but she received it in 2. 

Why couldn't we have Kairi and Lea training in this game instead? 

I'm probably wrong, and just being salty, but that was feeling the game gave me 6/7 years ago thattoenjjoythisgameyoumustbeasorikufan

Edited April 10, 20196 yr by Kittenz

Because Dream Eaters suuuuck ?

Really though, I haven't played it and probably never will, for gameplay reasons.

Can't hate something I never played, but I can certainly abstain from playing something I don't like the look of.

 

On 3/16/2019 at 7:02 PM, Allwil13 said:

I've been thinking lately: I wonder if the game's reception would have improved if they'd done a Final Mix version? I mean, the only handheld entry that got a Final Mix version was BBS, and I think it was because it's considered a main entry. And as a result I find it weird that they didn't do a Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts 3D because it's definitely supposed to be considered a main entry (at least in my opinion) since it's intended as a build up to KHIII. And the series' pattern has typically indicated that the Final Mix versions greatly improve each entry. 

You know, that's actually a very interesting inquiry, since Dream Drop Distance is in essence like a 2.5 before III. So the fact that it never got a Final Mix is curious indeed. Then again, it must've been that Nomura didn't really plan on adding anything else to the game.

I thought I had posted in this topic but it seems not. Quite possibly the best thing about KH3D is the opening. Some of the indivdual Disney worlds were nice and I did like the expanded Traverse Town, but practically everything else is a dumpster fire. I played the game last year just before KH3 released as I had never fully experienced DDD before, I only knew the main story beats from cutscenes and interviews and the like, and I played it on beginner because I wanted to rush through the story. Oboy. 

The gameplay is awful for one. You can get hitstun out of any commands that you used even before the animation is done. Abilities being tied behind dream eaters is somehow far worse than BBS tying them to command melding. At least that required some knowhow. Here I was forced to play nintendogs just to unlock some useful commands (balloonga). Abiliities should never be tied to anything that doesn't require combat to achieve. I haven't even talked about the stagger yet, or the drop system which is infuriating. 

The story also took a complete nosedive, and for the worst in my opinion. Not only did KH3D make a ton of retcons, it ruined some characters (Xemnas, for one) by completely changing their motivations. KH3 at least did a little course-correcting here, but I won't get into that. The whole "13 v 7" and time-travelling was such a crock of shit but hey ho. I also just remembered thw frankly terrible voice acting by HJO, that was a bit of a hot topic, as well as Sora's complete flanderisation.