Saying I’m excited for Kingdom Hearts III is an understatement. I preordered the game in June, have been waiting for it since 2005, cosplayed it in 2010, have played every little game in between then and now, and, most recently, conducted an orchestra playing the first game's theme Simple and Clean. I was tempted to take days off of work to play it. Kingdom Hearts is a childhood staple of mine; I have such great memories of sitting in the basement with my siblings and watching the jaw-dropping cut-scenes and intense boss battles. The fifth grader (KH), eighth grader (KHII) and high school sophomore (BBS & 358/2) in me is so excited! Kingdom Hearts III! I still can't believe it! I am going to the play the crap out of this game!
It doesn't matter if it's good.
And there is a lot fighting against it actually being good. Yes, technology and graphics from 2005 are completely different. The trailer looks amazing; it's got that FFXIII/FFXV vibe. The music is going to be baller; my girl Utada is back and I’ve heard clips of both her songs and I’m already obsessed with them. But how can anything live up to twelve years of hype? Especially when everything plot-wise is so convoluted and twisted that most people don’t even know what’s happening anymore? Kingdom Hearts is going to be a fun game. The Disney integration makes every world and task a childhood treat. But the game has to at least make a semblance of sense if it wants to be considered good. I’m worried that won’t happen.
Tetsuya Nomura, everything was almost going okay until you added time travel. What were you thinking?
On a more personal note, I have never played a KH game by myself before. Video games are a social experience for me. I find joy in sharing my emotions, with laughing and gasping and yelling with others. It magnifies everything and makes games, movies and television much more entertaining. All the main installations (and 358/2) I experienced with my brother and sister. It’s one of the main reasons why I adore the game so much. Oh, the nostalgia! A high school friend accompanied me on my Birth by Sleep journey (my favorite game in the franchise, don’t @ me). 3Ds was a solo run, but I didn’t like that game so I don’t count it. KHIII will be my first major Kingdom Hearts experience alone… and I kind of don’t want it to be. But my roommate and boyfriend have no interest in the games and my siblings are too far away, so I’m going at it alone. Will it dampen the experience for me? My fingers are crossed it doesn’t.
But, at the end of the day, none of this really matters. I will find Aqua. I will save Terra and Ventus. I will defeat Xehenort’s thirteen-ish iterations. I will fly on Bey-Max’s back through San Fransokyo and compete in my 800th Coliseum Tournament.
Will the game be good? At this point, that would just be a bonus.
