I'm just going to rattle these off as they come to me:
The Worlds
Recently, worlds have been a joke in the KH franchise, most games completely reuse worlds, yet DDD, a game featuring all new worlds managed to be just as boring by having worlds that combine the boredom of traversing large open worlds with the lack of freedom previous KH games have offered. Additionally, while previously, KH1 and KH2 featured assorted background NPCs, as well as frequently giving you the opportunity to talk to party members and Disney characters, previous games have shied from this completely, leading to a sense of isolation.
The Command Deck Delgitimizes Magic
You may or may not know, but I love the command deck. I think it's a great addition to the KH franchise... however... it is only great when you want to use flashy special moves. Using magic as your primary fighting style was never overtly encouraged in KH, but it was very possible with some doing in KH1 and 2. Not so in new games, with the command deck. Now, if you want to rattle off three fire spells, you need to put three fire spells in your deck, which is half of your deck, by the end of the game. The command deck is overall bad for weak attacks because they still offer long cooldown periods, longer animations, no possibility for a combo, yet not much of an increase in damage either. Days had a similar problem, thanks to the panel system
We're Losing Options
With each passing game, the tactics available to the player decreases. In KH2, arguably the peak, you could attack using magic or physical attacks, as well as use various forms with unique abilities, and summons. Additionally, parties and abilities could open up new possibilities, and using a form completely changed how both magic and physical attacks were used. Birth by Sleep still offers freedom, though abilities no longer offer new techniques, but rather are purely supplemental. Party members were lost as well. That said, shotlocks, D links and command styles, in addition to a flexible command deck is still plenty of variety. But that variety has been slipping away ever since. Days and Re:Coded feature very limited assets, while Dream Drop Distance only has flowmotion and link attacks/styles to its name, while simultaneously severely limiting the command deck.
There is too Much Focus on New Playable Characters
Stop and think about it. While you could briefly control a limited version of Mickey or Riku in KH2 (As well as a heartless in KH1) every game since has made it their goal to have multiple playable characters. Not only does this lead to problems with the narrative is most cases, it is also most likely the cause of our loss of options
Flowmotion Destroyed the Environments
This one is obviously specific to DDD. Flowmotion was poorly implemented. It is far too easy to find an invisible wall in the game, most jarringly in places where they don't belong. Nomura has said that it was intended to let 'clever' players find items before getting abilities such as high jump and the like. Only it doesn't take a very clever player to find out that if they wall jump and slide back into the wall, they can get anywhere. Because of this, you cna get any treasure chest in the game right off the bat, which in turn means there is almost never anything worthwhile inside and that they are rarely well hidden. This leads to my next point
Treasure Chests are Becoming Meaningless
As the games have gone on, the contents of treasure chests have gotten less and less exciting. What could have once held stat boosting items, useful synthesis material, or even a whole keyblade now tends to contain more junk than anything; commands you probably got ages ago, potions and the like, or if you're lucky, something actually useful. This is probably most noticeable in DDD, where most chests hold ONLY potions, and other minor items that can be bought for spare change, while the big 'special' chests, which appear infrequently, will ALWAYS give you a command; probably not one you'll be using.
The Story is Wallowing in the Fact that it's Convoluted
I'm fairly certain at this point that the writers are doing it on purpose. Compare the final moments of these games:
KH1- Sora completes his journy to stop the destruction of all worlds by going to a place called the End of the World, he battles through versions of all of the worlds he has been to, and ultimately finds the main villain, Ansem. He is able to defeat him, and thanks to his friend's sacrifice, is able to thwart his plan. Sira then finds himself in a open field, and prepares for a new adventure
CoM- After finding out the truth about his tampered memories, Sora confronts Marluxia. Namine gives him a choice to either keep is fake memories, or to gain his old ones back. He chooses the latter but promises to find a way to remember her. He then falls asleep for a year in order to regain his memories
R/R- Riku finally comes to a decision about how to handle the darkness, defeats his inner demons, and decides to walk a path between light and darkness, in order to help Sora regain his memories
KH2- Sora's chase of Organization XIII as well as Riku culminates in The World that Never Was. Sora fights his way to the top of the castle located in this world, trying to reach Xemnas, an entity created when Ansem was created, only Ansem isn't the real Ansem, but in fact Xehanort. Riku has taken the form of Ansem previously, but regains his true forms when the real Ansem sacrifices himself in order to thwart Xemnas' plan. After defeating Xemnas he and Riku are transpaorted to the Dark Meridian. they believe they are trapped until they find a message in a bottle sent from another planet, which opens a door made of light that transports them home. Later, they get a letter from mickey Mouse and prepare for their next journey.
Days- Roxas has an existential crisis and defects from the Organization that raised him in order to go after a puppet made from Sora's memories of Kairi who takes the face of different people depending on who is looking at her. She decides she wants to rejoin with Sora, so she fights Roxas to the death. She bursts into crystal and everbod forgets her, though Roxas remembers that she told him to stop Xemnas, his boss, and free Kingdom Hearts. Roxas gains another keyblade and storms The World that Never Was, only to be stopped by Riku wearing a blindhold who took the form of Ansem from the first game. Afterwards Roxas was taken to a digital version of a world he visited frequently, given a new personality, and proceeded to live through the last seven days of Summer vacation in order to throw off pursuers from the Organization.
BBS1- An elderly keyblade master named Xehanort lures Terra Aqua and Ventus to the Keybladed Graveyard. He announces his plan to start a keyblade war by having his pupils; Ventus and Vanitas (Vanitas being made of the darkness in Ventus' heart, Ventus being the light in his heart supported by a four year old Sora) fight, creating the X Blade, which is pronounced key blade. He fights Terra, who gives in to the darkness, allowing Xehanort to free his heart from his body and possess Terra. However, Terra;s armour gains a will of its own and fights Xehanort, after a fight, the armour curls up and rests, while Terra/Xehanort has possibly lost some memories. Meanwhile, on the ground, Aqua saves Ventus after Xehanort freezes him and fights Braig who has been possessed by Xehanort, but is knocked out by Vanitas, causing Ventus to get so angry the ice melts off of him. Ventus fights Vanitas but it turns out that him dying was part of the plan, as it would force them to become one; forging the X Blade. Inside Ventus' mind, he fights Vanitas, which in the real world causes the X Blade to be damaged as Aqua fights Ventus possessed by Vanitas, wielding said X Blade. When they both simultaneously defeat Vanitas, they X Blade begins to fall about causing gigantic explosions and such. Aqua risks her life in order to save Venus, and takes him to her home; The Land of Departure, which she transforms into Castle Oblivion as a safeguard, as well as creating a safe haven for Ventus' now comatose body, as his heart has now taken shelter in four year old Sora's. Aqua then hears a psychic plea from Terra to put an end from him, so she tracks him down, and finds that he most most of his memories when the X Blade blew up. She fights him and he falls to darkness, but Aqua sacrifices her keyblade by turning it into a ahang-glider and using it to fly him to safety. Meanwhile she remains trapped in darkness. Terra, possessed by Xehanort, but without most of his memories, goes on to be a sicentist, and would eventually be split into the forms Ansem and Xemnas in future games.
Coded- A data recreation of Sora defeats a data version of his heartless in a data world with the help of a non data Mickey Mouse, successfully clearing the journal of Jiminy Cricket of glitches. Data Sora then resets and is taken to data Castle Oblivion, where he fights Data Roxas in order to find Data Namine who reveals that there is data hidden in the real Sora.
DDD- Braig, still posessed by Xehanort, lures Sora into a dream within a dream along with Xemnas, brought back from the past, as an attempt to lure Sora into the darkness by using his dreams to have him remember the many hearts connected to him. He calls upon his friend's for power, and defeats Xemnas, causing him to fall to darkness and be taken to teh real World that Never Was by a young form a Xehanort broguht from the past. Meanwhile, Riku explores the Wolrd that Never was and finds Sora sleeping, he attempts to wak him and and defeats a red eyed cloaked figure. Ansem, brought back from the past, shows up and tells Riku that he dove into Sora's dreams without either knowing and became a Dream Eater in order to protect him. He explains that succumbing to darkness is the only way to save Sora from succumbing to darkness, but Riku rejects him and defeats him. He then enters The Hall Where Nothing Gathers, and finds Sora, sleeping on a chair. Young Xehanort, brought back from the past, explains that in the first game, when Ansem left behind his body, he traveled in time in order to tell young Ansem, in his original time, that he should gather the thirteen forms of Xehanort in the future at this exact point. Old Xehanort, brough back from the past, begins to appear, when Mickey Mouse appears and freezes time, stop Xehanort from completely travelling through time. Young Xehanort breaks through time being stopped and fights Riku. Time unfreezes and old Xehanort appears, explaining that he plans to possess Sora, as hearts regrow whenever lost, infinitely. He also explains that Organization XIII wasn't actually a group of people attempting to get their hearts back, but instead a group of people intended, but ultimately rejected, for being possessed by Xehanort. Mickey tries to stop him but is stopped by Xemnas, brought back from the past, and Riku is similarly stopped by Ansem, brought back from the past. Xehanort is almost able to possess Sora, when suddenly Lea, the complete from of Axel, appears and blocks the possession with fire. He rescues Sora and the three prepare to deal with their problem, when the forms of Xehanort all start to fade. Xehanort announces that they are out of time, and are returning to their own times. In the real world, Sora is still asleep, so Riku dives into his dreams again in order ro bring him back. He finds Sora, who is encased in the armour of Ventus, whose heart is proetecting him, which has been corrupted by darkness and has become a nightmare. defeating Sora/Ventus allows Riku to go deeper, where he meets data versions of Roxas, Ventus, Xion and the real Ansem, the latter of whom gives Riku the data within Sora in teh form of a bottle with a letter in it, In the rel world again, Sora and Riku pass the exam, and Riku is made a keyblade master.
Seriously, look at that. A complex plot doesn't mean an overabundance to of plot twisty explanations to previous plot points. Previous KH games were complex in their mythos, and their use of abstract ideas as real world laws. Recent KH games have simply filled missing plot points with bigger plot points, to the point of stuffing, with a ridiculous disregard to any attempt to bring in new fans, or even appease more casual ones.
Worlds are Treated as Levels-
More and more KH worlds have been devolving into "Visit world > get abridged plot points > fight boss"
This might not be so obvious as first: you might say that all previous KH games did this, but that's not the case. Previously, a world could end with a fight against a group of enemies, or no fight at all. A boss could occur right in the middle. Now every world treats it as though bosses are a strictly 'end of level' affair, even when it makes no sense, and an enemy is simply brought in in order to have a boss fight. In KH1, a boss rarely ended a world, as the keyhole still needed to be found, while KH2 opted to instead mx up the boss formula; you may fight a boss in the middle of a level, or some such. You would get things like the big heartless fight at Hollow Bastion, which was a mash up of fights with exclusive party members, a boss fight with Demyx, and ended with a battle against 1000 heartless. We don't get stuff like that anymore.
There is too Much Focus Being Placed on Introducing New Characters-
It feels like the developers are worried that if they don't introduce an exciting new character to steal the show from Sora, Riku, Roxas and the like, they are failing at their job. Additionally, fan outcry is weighed too heavily, at the detriment to the story. I mean, Axel has been revived four times! Each time emerging more perfect than before.
Moves are Getting too Flashy and Feeling Progressively Less Satisfying-
In KH1, Sora had a pretty basic menagerie of moves, but pulling them off all had a nice and effective feel to them. KH2 had a massively improved combat wardrobe, but managed to make all of the options satisfying. This has not been the case in recent developments. Sure, at the press of a button you can send your character into a triple flip teleport whirlwind death slash, but during that entire animation, your enemy probably wont flinch one bit. In fact, they'll probably be ATTACKING you the whole time, probably dealing more damage to you than you are to them. And that leads to my next point;
Enemies are Getting Worse-
Enemies are getting ridiculous. In a misguided need to accommodate for the player's increasing repertoire of death, enemies are getting more and more overpowered. From crazy countering, to an inability to flinch, to being able to use powerful moves instantaneously, to simply comboing you to death, these enemies have you covered. Heartless and Nobodies made for great enemies; they had clear tells that meant that in theory you could guard and counter them. Even if you did get hit, it wasn't a very big deal, as it simply meant retreating and healing, and that was only if you got hit a LOT. But now enemies love to fly across the screen, raining death in completely unpredictable ways. Whether an Aura Lion is teleporting in from offscreen to hit you from an angle you can't block, or you're being sniped by a Mandrake, or simply fighting the butchered versions of the heartless in Days and Re:Coded, the fact remains that these enemies are getting ridiculously unfair. I feel special mention needs to go to DDD, which seems to be motivated entirely by what looks cool as opposed to what actually works ingame. here's an example: in the final boss against Ansem, the hitbox for Guardian's punches hit WELL BEFORE the actual punch connects (This should be clear to anybody who blocks those punches) the reason being that the Guardian's punches strike SO fast, anime style. This is something that looks cool, but is unfair to the player. Additionally, the Dream Eaters have access to the same moves as Sora and Riku... only they can swarm at you, and spam.
Nobody Wants Status Effects-
More specifically, nobody wants things like frozen and air tossed, or time stopped of zero gravitied. Why? Because they waste your time. Odds are an enemy will never hit you when affected by one of these... they just waste your time by taking control from the player.
Attention is Being Drawn to the Lifelessness of the Worlds-
Things like Terra looking for the crowd cheering for him at Olympus Colosseum. I can understand not wanting to make a bunch of Hercules style NPCs... but don't draw attention to it and then never explain it. But the lifelessness of the worlds is getting worse, which is strange considering...
There is Less Content with Each Game-
It's strange, a LOT of games have an excuse; they are pushing for new technology, and expanding, and that costs a lot of money. KH doesn't have this excuse. They've been using the same graphical style for years, and reusing worlds at a constant rate. Yet there are fewer NPCs, minigames, bonuses, keyblade, items, you name it... with each game in fact...
There are fewer Worlds and Yet...-
They are lighter on content. There are only a few cutscenes in each wordl in DDD, and it has the fewest worlds in the series to date. people may argue that the worlds are huge, however, this is note the case; there are large maps, but still only a few rooms, and considering most of the area has become wasted space to be used by nothing, they might as well be small.
There are No Longer Alternate and Extra Scenes-
In KH2, things like being defeated by Seifer and Setzer offered unique scenes. Similar siutuations could occur by losing to Leon or Cloud in KH1. There were lots of optional moments to pursue as well; Olympus Colosseum was mostly optional, there was the whole bit with Sephiroth. The extar scenes you get by talking to scrooge in KH2. All sorts of odds and ends. What ever happened to those?
Sora has Stopped Evolving-
In KH2, you could play as Roxas, who functioned like a slightly smoother KH1 Sora... then you got your hands on Sora. His moves were faster, more stylish, more focused. He was a big improvement and it showed how his skills had evolved. Fast forward, any playable instance of Sora has been INSISTENTLY the KH1 version. Rather than go with the smooth moves of KH2, or even evolve him further, we are constantly saddled with KH1 Sora's awkward chunkiness.
i may continue with more. I have more to say, but I can't think of anything at the moment so I'mma publish.
I'm just going to rattle these off as they come to me:
The Worlds
Recently, worlds have been a joke in the KH franchise, most games completely reuse worlds, yet DDD, a game featuring all new worlds managed to be just as boring by having worlds that combine the boredom of traversing large open worlds with the lack of freedom previous KH games have offered. Additionally, while previously, KH1 and KH2 featured assorted background NPCs, as well as frequently giving you the opportunity to talk to party members and Disney characters, previous games have shied from this completely, leading to a sense of isolation.
The Command Deck Delgitimizes Magic
You may or may not know, but I love the command deck. I think it's a great addition to the KH franchise... however... it is only great when you want to use flashy special moves. Using magic as your primary fighting style was never overtly encouraged in KH, but it was very possible with some doing in KH1 and 2. Not so in new games, with the command deck. Now, if you want to rattle off three fire spells, you need to put three fire spells in your deck, which is half of your deck, by the end of the game. The command deck is overall bad for weak attacks because they still offer long cooldown periods, longer animations, no possibility for a combo, yet not much of an increase in damage either. Days had a similar problem, thanks to the panel system
We're Losing Options
With each passing game, the tactics available to the player decreases. In KH2, arguably the peak, you could attack using magic or physical attacks, as well as use various forms with unique abilities, and summons. Additionally, parties and abilities could open up new possibilities, and using a form completely changed how both magic and physical attacks were used. Birth by Sleep still offers freedom, though abilities no longer offer new techniques, but rather are purely supplemental. Party members were lost as well. That said, shotlocks, D links and command styles, in addition to a flexible command deck is still plenty of variety. But that variety has been slipping away ever since. Days and Re:Coded feature very limited assets, while Dream Drop Distance only has flowmotion and link attacks/styles to its name, while simultaneously severely limiting the command deck.
There is too Much Focus on New Playable Characters
Stop and think about it. While you could briefly control a limited version of Mickey or Riku in KH2 (As well as a heartless in KH1) every game since has made it their goal to have multiple playable characters. Not only does this lead to problems with the narrative is most cases, it is also most likely the cause of our loss of options
Flowmotion Destroyed the Environments
This one is obviously specific to DDD. Flowmotion was poorly implemented. It is far too easy to find an invisible wall in the game, most jarringly in places where they don't belong. Nomura has said that it was intended to let 'clever' players find items before getting abilities such as high jump and the like. Only it doesn't take a very clever player to find out that if they wall jump and slide back into the wall, they can get anywhere. Because of this, you cna get any treasure chest in the game right off the bat, which in turn means there is almost never anything worthwhile inside and that they are rarely well hidden. This leads to my next point
Treasure Chests are Becoming Meaningless
As the games have gone on, the contents of treasure chests have gotten less and less exciting. What could have once held stat boosting items, useful synthesis material, or even a whole keyblade now tends to contain more junk than anything; commands you probably got ages ago, potions and the like, or if you're lucky, something actually useful. This is probably most noticeable in DDD, where most chests hold ONLY potions, and other minor items that can be bought for spare change, while the big 'special' chests, which appear infrequently, will ALWAYS give you a command; probably not one you'll be using.
The Story is Wallowing in the Fact that it's Convoluted
I'm fairly certain at this point that the writers are doing it on purpose. Compare the final moments of these games:
KH1- Sora completes his journy to stop the destruction of all worlds by going to a place called the End of the World, he battles through versions of all of the worlds he has been to, and ultimately finds the main villain, Ansem. He is able to defeat him, and thanks to his friend's sacrifice, is able to thwart his plan. Sira then finds himself in a open field, and prepares for a new adventure
CoM- After finding out the truth about his tampered memories, Sora confronts Marluxia. Namine gives him a choice to either keep is fake memories, or to gain his old ones back. He chooses the latter but promises to find a way to remember her. He then falls asleep for a year in order to regain his memories
R/R- Riku finally comes to a decision about how to handle the darkness, defeats his inner demons, and decides to walk a path between light and darkness, in order to help Sora regain his memories
KH2- Sora's chase of Organization XIII as well as Riku culminates in The World that Never Was. Sora fights his way to the top of the castle located in this world, trying to reach Xemnas, an entity created when Ansem was created, only Ansem isn't the real Ansem, but in fact Xehanort. Riku has taken the form of Ansem previously, but regains his true forms when the real Ansem sacrifices himself in order to thwart Xemnas' plan. After defeating Xemnas he and Riku are transpaorted to the Dark Meridian. they believe they are trapped until they find a message in a bottle sent from another planet, which opens a door made of light that transports them home. Later, they get a letter from mickey Mouse and prepare for their next journey.
Days- Roxas has an existential crisis and defects from the Organization that raised him in order to go after a puppet made from Sora's memories of Kairi who takes the face of different people depending on who is looking at her. She decides she wants to rejoin with Sora, so she fights Roxas to the death. She bursts into crystal and everbod forgets her, though Roxas remembers that she told him to stop Xemnas, his boss, and free Kingdom Hearts. Roxas gains another keyblade and storms The World that Never Was, only to be stopped by Riku wearing a blindhold who took the form of Ansem from the first game. Afterwards Roxas was taken to a digital version of a world he visited frequently, given a new personality, and proceeded to live through the last seven days of Summer vacation in order to throw off pursuers from the Organization.
BBS1- An elderly keyblade master named Xehanort lures Terra Aqua and Ventus to the Keybladed Graveyard. He announces his plan to start a keyblade war by having his pupils; Ventus and Vanitas (Vanitas being made of the darkness in Ventus' heart, Ventus being the light in his heart supported by a four year old Sora) fight, creating the X Blade, which is pronounced key blade. He fights Terra, who gives in to the darkness, allowing Xehanort to free his heart from his body and possess Terra. However, Terra;s armour gains a will of its own and fights Xehanort, after a fight, the armour curls up and rests, while Terra/Xehanort has possibly lost some memories. Meanwhile, on the ground, Aqua saves Ventus after Xehanort freezes him and fights Braig who has been possessed by Xehanort, but is knocked out by Vanitas, causing Ventus to get so angry the ice melts off of him. Ventus fights Vanitas but it turns out that him dying was part of the plan, as it would force them to become one; forging the X Blade. Inside Ventus' mind, he fights Vanitas, which in the real world causes the X Blade to be damaged as Aqua fights Ventus possessed by Vanitas, wielding said X Blade. When they both simultaneously defeat Vanitas, they X Blade begins to fall about causing gigantic explosions and such. Aqua risks her life in order to save Venus, and takes him to her home; The Land of Departure, which she transforms into Castle Oblivion as a safeguard, as well as creating a safe haven for Ventus' now comatose body, as his heart has now taken shelter in four year old Sora's. Aqua then hears a psychic plea from Terra to put an end from him, so she tracks him down, and finds that he most most of his memories when the X Blade blew up. She fights him and he falls to darkness, but Aqua sacrifices her keyblade by turning it into a ahang-glider and using it to fly him to safety. Meanwhile she remains trapped in darkness. Terra, possessed by Xehanort, but without most of his memories, goes on to be a sicentist, and would eventually be split into the forms Ansem and Xemnas in future games.
Coded- A data recreation of Sora defeats a data version of his heartless in a data world with the help of a non data Mickey Mouse, successfully clearing the journal of Jiminy Cricket of glitches. Data Sora then resets and is taken to data Castle Oblivion, where he fights Data Roxas in order to find Data Namine who reveals that there is data hidden in the real Sora.
DDD- Braig, still posessed by Xehanort, lures Sora into a dream within a dream along with Xemnas, brought back from the past, as an attempt to lure Sora into the darkness by using his dreams to have him remember the many hearts connected to him. He calls upon his friend's for power, and defeats Xemnas, causing him to fall to darkness and be taken to teh real World that Never Was by a young form a Xehanort broguht from the past. Meanwhile, Riku explores the Wolrd that Never was and finds Sora sleeping, he attempts to wak him and and defeats a red eyed cloaked figure. Ansem, brought back from the past, shows up and tells Riku that he dove into Sora's dreams without either knowing and became a Dream Eater in order to protect him. He explains that succumbing to darkness is the only way to save Sora from succumbing to darkness, but Riku rejects him and defeats him. He then enters The Hall Where Nothing Gathers, and finds Sora, sleeping on a chair. Young Xehanort, brought back from the past, explains that in the first game, when Ansem left behind his body, he traveled in time in order to tell young Ansem, in his original time, that he should gather the thirteen forms of Xehanort in the future at this exact point. Old Xehanort, brough back from the past, begins to appear, when Mickey Mouse appears and freezes time, stop Xehanort from completely travelling through time. Young Xehanort breaks through time being stopped and fights Riku. Time unfreezes and old Xehanort appears, explaining that he plans to possess Sora, as hearts regrow whenever lost, infinitely. He also explains that Organization XIII wasn't actually a group of people attempting to get their hearts back, but instead a group of people intended, but ultimately rejected, for being possessed by Xehanort. Mickey tries to stop him but is stopped by Xemnas, brought back from the past, and Riku is similarly stopped by Ansem, brought back from the past. Xehanort is almost able to possess Sora, when suddenly Lea, the complete from of Axel, appears and blocks the possession with fire. He rescues Sora and the three prepare to deal with their problem, when the forms of Xehanort all start to fade. Xehanort announces that they are out of time, and are returning to their own times. In the real world, Sora is still asleep, so Riku dives into his dreams again in order ro bring him back. He finds Sora, who is encased in the armour of Ventus, whose heart is proetecting him, which has been corrupted by darkness and has become a nightmare. defeating Sora/Ventus allows Riku to go deeper, where he meets data versions of Roxas, Ventus, Xion and the real Ansem, the latter of whom gives Riku the data within Sora in teh form of a bottle with a letter in it, In the rel world again, Sora and Riku pass the exam, and Riku is made a keyblade master.
Seriously, look at that. A complex plot doesn't mean an overabundance to of plot twisty explanations to previous plot points. Previous KH games were complex in their mythos, and their use of abstract ideas as real world laws. Recent KH games have simply filled missing plot points with bigger plot points, to the point of stuffing, with a ridiculous disregard to any attempt to bring in new fans, or even appease more casual ones.
Worlds are Treated as Levels-
More and more KH worlds have been devolving into "Visit world > get abridged plot points > fight boss"
This might not be so obvious as first: you might say that all previous KH games did this, but that's not the case. Previously, a world could end with a fight against a group of enemies, or no fight at all. A boss could occur right in the middle. Now every world treats it as though bosses are a strictly 'end of level' affair, even when it makes no sense, and an enemy is simply brought in in order to have a boss fight. In KH1, a boss rarely ended a world, as the keyhole still needed to be found, while KH2 opted to instead mx up the boss formula; you may fight a boss in the middle of a level, or some such. You would get things like the big heartless fight at Hollow Bastion, which was a mash up of fights with exclusive party members, a boss fight with Demyx, and ended with a battle against 1000 heartless. We don't get stuff like that anymore.
There is too Much Focus Being Placed on Introducing New Characters-
It feels like the developers are worried that if they don't introduce an exciting new character to steal the show from Sora, Riku, Roxas and the like, they are failing at their job. Additionally, fan outcry is weighed too heavily, at the detriment to the story. I mean, Axel has been revived four times! Each time emerging more perfect than before.
Moves are Getting too Flashy and Feeling Progressively Less Satisfying-
In KH1, Sora had a pretty basic menagerie of moves, but pulling them off all had a nice and effective feel to them. KH2 had a massively improved combat wardrobe, but managed to make all of the options satisfying. This has not been the case in recent developments. Sure, at the press of a button you can send your character into a triple flip teleport whirlwind death slash, but during that entire animation, your enemy probably wont flinch one bit. In fact, they'll probably be ATTACKING you the whole time, probably dealing more damage to you than you are to them. And that leads to my next point;
Enemies are Getting Worse-
Enemies are getting ridiculous. In a misguided need to accommodate for the player's increasing repertoire of death, enemies are getting more and more overpowered. From crazy countering, to an inability to flinch, to being able to use powerful moves instantaneously, to simply comboing you to death, these enemies have you covered. Heartless and Nobodies made for great enemies; they had clear tells that meant that in theory you could guard and counter them. Even if you did get hit, it wasn't a very big deal, as it simply meant retreating and healing, and that was only if you got hit a LOT. But now enemies love to fly across the screen, raining death in completely unpredictable ways. Whether an Aura Lion is teleporting in from offscreen to hit you from an angle you can't block, or you're being sniped by a Mandrake, or simply fighting the butchered versions of the heartless in Days and Re:Coded, the fact remains that these enemies are getting ridiculously unfair. I feel special mention needs to go to DDD, which seems to be motivated entirely by what looks cool as opposed to what actually works ingame. here's an example: in the final boss against Ansem, the hitbox for Guardian's punches hit WELL BEFORE the actual punch connects (This should be clear to anybody who blocks those punches) the reason being that the Guardian's punches strike SO fast, anime style. This is something that looks cool, but is unfair to the player. Additionally, the Dream Eaters have access to the same moves as Sora and Riku... only they can swarm at you, and spam.
Nobody Wants Status Effects-
More specifically, nobody wants things like frozen and air tossed, or time stopped of zero gravitied. Why? Because they waste your time. Odds are an enemy will never hit you when affected by one of these... they just waste your time by taking control from the player.
Attention is Being Drawn to the Lifelessness of the Worlds-
Things like Terra looking for the crowd cheering for him at Olympus Colosseum. I can understand not wanting to make a bunch of Hercules style NPCs... but don't draw attention to it and then never explain it. But the lifelessness of the worlds is getting worse, which is strange considering...
There is Less Content with Each Game-
It's strange, a LOT of games have an excuse; they are pushing for new technology, and expanding, and that costs a lot of money. KH doesn't have this excuse. They've been using the same graphical style for years, and reusing worlds at a constant rate. Yet there are fewer NPCs, minigames, bonuses, keyblade, items, you name it... with each game in fact...
There are fewer Worlds and Yet...-
They are lighter on content. There are only a few cutscenes in each wordl in DDD, and it has the fewest worlds in the series to date. people may argue that the worlds are huge, however, this is note the case; there are large maps, but still only a few rooms, and considering most of the area has become wasted space to be used by nothing, they might as well be small.
There are No Longer Alternate and Extra Scenes-
In KH2, things like being defeated by Seifer and Setzer offered unique scenes. Similar siutuations could occur by losing to Leon or Cloud in KH1. There were lots of optional moments to pursue as well; Olympus Colosseum was mostly optional, there was the whole bit with Sephiroth. The extar scenes you get by talking to scrooge in KH2. All sorts of odds and ends. What ever happened to those?
Sora has Stopped Evolving-
In KH2, you could play as Roxas, who functioned like a slightly smoother KH1 Sora... then you got your hands on Sora. His moves were faster, more stylish, more focused. He was a big improvement and it showed how his skills had evolved. Fast forward, any playable instance of Sora has been INSISTENTLY the KH1 version. Rather than go with the smooth moves of KH2, or even evolve him further, we are constantly saddled with KH1 Sora's awkward chunkiness.
i may continue with more. I have more to say, but I can't think of anything at the moment so I'mma publish.
Edited by hatok