As I boringly clicked around IGN today I noticed there was an article discussing what should be done to make Kingdom Hearts 3 an awesome threequel. I didn’t even bother reading the article because most IGN articles simply state the obvious and most of IGN in general, beyond the comics and movies sections, is pretty much drivel as far as I’m concerned. However the article title alone provoked me into thinking about a third Kingdom Hearts game for the first time in a long time and made me think about what I’d like SquareEnix to do with the third installment once they’re done devoting far too many resources to Final Fantasy XIII.



Allow me to quickly state my views of the first two Kingdom Hearts titles so that you guys can grasp my view of things a little bit before continuing on. Most people consider the first Kingdom Hearts game to be the better of the two console titles while I however found Kingdom Hearts 2 to be the more fun, but noticeably easier, game. The story in the sequel seemed to flow a lot better then the predecessor and everything had a slightly more epic feel to it making me theorize that there were a few less Disney executives breathing down the next of SquareEnix, allowing for a little more breathing room to integrate newer characters and not lean heavily on a pre-manufactured Disney villains. However, both Kingdom Hearts games still have noticeable room for improvement that need to be addressed by the third game to avoid risk of becoming stale.

No More Roxas
While I said I found Kingdom Hearts 2 to be the more fun game of the two, the prologue featuring Roxas and his friends made me nearly quit the game. Roxas’ segments in KH2 were all far too long and the characters revolving around him for the most part were simply annoying, resulting in me literally begging to have Donald and Goofy back. If Roxas or his pals return in any sense for a third game it needs to be strictly a cameo appearance and nothing more then that, please just keep the player in Sora’s shoes.



Fully Integrate Final Fantasy
Squall, Cloud, and the others have been cameo characters in pretty much anything related to Kingdom Hearts since it’s birth (yes, I called him Squall by the way). While the Final Fantasy cast was utilized a whole lot more in the sequel, I think the half-assing needs to stop with them and I think its about time that Sora gets to explore some actual Final Fantasy worlds. Lets see Sora, Donald, and Goofy fight Heartless in the slums of Midgar, lets see some of FF8’s gardens get taken over by Nobodies. In short if you’re going to have these characters in your game then do it right. They lightly hint at some of the Final Fantasy storylines in the games (Cloud versus Sephiroth, little tidbits of stuff during the first games end credits, etc) so why not flesh everything out a little and shine some light on classic stories, and reinvigorate a little interest in some of the older Final Fantasy worlds at the same time. I’m sick of amalgamation worlds that simply exist as a fan-service melting pot for some rather legendary characters.

More Depth with Combat
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 weren’t exactly challenging games, combat was pretty much simply “hit X to win and use a spell here and there”. Both games only became challenging when you went out of your way to look for a challenge, like with the two Sephiroth battles and other optional encounters. Running through the game’s storyline however is a rather easy experience that makes even Twilight Princess seem like a challenge. The combat system in the series needs an extra level or two of depth and enemies that force you to use said combative tactics. Instead of hitting X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X and X to do a combo, how about something like X-Square-Circle-X-Triangle-Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right or something that actually brings in a risk of punishment for making an error? Add some variant physical attacks to the mix that require the use of more then one face button and actually let the user build some of their own combos? I think that would be kind of fun, I like not watching the same combo over and over for a full game.



When you strip away the graphical differences and look just at the guts of them the combat systems of Kingdom Hearts and Devil May Cry aren’t very different at all. They both require you to upgrade things in order to improve your abilities (spells/abilities in KH and styles in DMC), you have melee and ranged attacks (spells-KH / guns-DMC), and potions and other miscellaneous items to assist you along the way. The only differences being that Devil May Cry’s combat is noticeably faster and has a deeper-then-expected combo system. While I’m not saying Sora suddenly needs to become Dante, I’m saying that the combat in the game needs to be cranked up a little and Kingdom Hearts needs to make the next evolution in its fighting engine in order to keep fans of the series challenged instead of bored, because in all honesty if I wanted to hit one button for a good portion of the game then I’d load up Heaven or Hell mode in Devil May Cry 3 and simply mash the gun button.

Why Just Final Fantasy?
As kind of a continuation of the earlier Final Fantasy section, why not integrate further SquareEnix properties into the Kingdom Hearts Universe? Since this universe seems to be one giant amalgamation universe, it would seem to be the next logical step to include more properties. How about the Gummi Ship segments instead become more Einhander like? Dragon Quest fans might like to see cameos by their favorite characters and see them fight alongside Sora. Share some long deserved love for Secret of Mana. Or why not integrate the Chrono Trigger world into the mix since SquareEnix is so intent on stopping fans from doing anything with the property… not to mention imagine the possible coolness of time-traveling with Crono into the past to recreate epic moments from the first two Kingdom Hearts games. While I absolutely love seeing more of my Final Fantasy VII characters as much as possible, I won’t deny that more love needs to be given out overall.



Allow More Diverse Parties
This one always made me scratch my head in the first two games. If you’re going to allow the player to put a different party member in place for Goofy or Donald, why restrict it to one world? And if you know that you’re going to lose Simba after you’re done with the Pride Rock world, is there even a point to leveling him up? The various characters who can join your party should be able to move with you from world to world on your quest and not be chained to their respective levels, because really if Aladdin knows the whole fricken universe is at stake would he really stay behind to take care of Agrabah? Yes I’m aware that one of the key story elements revolves around Mickey assigning Donald and Goofy to watch over Sora and the keyblade, but that doesn’t mean others cant join in on the fun! I think I speak for everyone when I say I’d like to have the option of making my party consist of Sora, Cloud, and The Beast. I again fall back on saying that more variety will keep the franchise fresh, because if I have to hear “Gawrsh Sora!” one more fucking time I swear The Heartless will be the least of Disney’s problems.

Release The Fucking Final Mix in America or Don’t Fucking Do It At All!
The ultimate thing that pisses me off about the Kingdom Hearts franchise, and SquareEnix and the Japanese game developers in general, is that North America tends to constantly get screwed when it comes to content for games of Japanese origin. I’m not sure if it’s because they think post-release special editions won’t sell well overseas or if it’s because of some underlying bitter grudge against the Americas and other regions (cuz of that whole World War 2 thing), but we just never seem to get many director’s cuts or anything that would be aimed at hardcore fans of the franchise, and don’t think I’m excluding you too Euro pals because I know you guys are getting screwed too. Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix were Japan only releases of the games that are viewed as the ‘complete’ versions of each title. There was extra content, keyblades, and all sorts of other little goodies that make me ache when I know I can’t get them in my version of the game. Hell, the Final Mix of the first game even foreshadows the arrival of Organization XIII and introduces a side boss who is actually the final boss of Kingdom Hearts 2, and even fights in the same style in both games with the near exact same musical score. SquareEnix, if you’re going to pull another one of these special edition re-releases then do it right and let everyone enjoy it or don’t fucking do it at all. And if you’re not going to do it at all, go and finally remake Final Fantasy VII for the love of God.