Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance or better known as Kingdom Hearts 3D (KH3D) was initially released for Nintendo 3DS. Which makes one question if the developers purposely made the title have 3 D’s in it because it was being released on the 3DS. But that is not the purpose of this post. Instead I will go over the plot of KH3D and talk about my thoughts and feelings as I played the game.
After the events of KHII and Re:Coded Yen Sid wants to prepare for the return of Xehanort (the main antagonist in the series). To prepare he wants to turn Sora and Riku into Master keyblade weilders and unlock the power necessary to defeat Xehanort. Even though Sora with the help of his friends has stopped Xehanort multiple times he still needs to be trained apparently . . . . Anyways for their exam they are sent to seven worlds that are trapped in a sleeping state after being destroyed by the heartless. Their goal is to unlock each world and restore them.
During the gameplay you switch between playing as Sora and Riku and instead of Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as your companions you have Pokémon I mean Dream Eaters. There are two types of dream eaters: Spirit and Nightmares. Spirit Dream Eaters are allies formed from materials gathered throughout the game. While the nightmares are the ones you fight against; making this the first game in the series where the minions are not Heartless. It's different and makes the game feel new.
If I am being honest I did miss having Donald and Goofy as my companions even though I give Donald one job he never does it . . . healing me. With the new companions I enjoyed the game mechanics they brought. The more you use them the more abilities Sora and Riku will learn. I just wished I swapped them out more often than I did. Usually the abilities I wanted took a long time to get so I kept the same Spirits with me for most of the game.
During the exam Sora and Riku encountered a young Xehanort being accompanied with Xemnas and Ansem (who are also Xehanorts). We find out that Xehanort can see in the future (I will explain how in a post about χ Back Cover) and send a portion of himself into the dream world to capture Sora and turn him into a Xehanort. In the past few games Xehanort has tried to do the same with Riku, but after many failed attempts he has switched his focus to Sora, mirroring the initial keyblade choice. Apparently, Riku was meant to get the Keyblade in KHI, but sided with the Darkness to escape the island so it was passed to Sora instead.
During this period Riku finds out he is in Sora's dream; a dream in a dream aka inception. He encounters young Xehanort and tries to free Sora from him. Like any evil mastermind he reveals why he needs Sora to Riku: Young Xehanort was tasked to assemble thirteen incarnations of Xehanort across time into a new Organization XIII. After Riku defeats young Xehanort the revived Master Xehanort arrives and gives exposition about their need to have thirteen seekers of darkness against seven guardians of light to achieve his goal of recreating χ-blade to unlock Kingdom Hearts. Before Sora becomes a Xehanort, Riku is aided by Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Lea (aka Axel) and escape.
After returning to Yen Sid’s tower, Sora is still unconsious becoming a Xehanort so Riku enters Sora’s dream one more time and rescues him. After he is saved he finds Ansem the Wise, in Sora's dreams. He gives Riku data he left in Sora’s heart. After Riku and Sora’s return. Yen Sid appoints Riku as Keyblade Master and Lea becomes a keyblade wielder.
Yen Sid explains that Xehanort can use
the seven Princesses of Heart (like in KHI) or seven keyblade wielders to make the χ-blade
and decided it’s better to gather seven wielders to prevent Xehanort and asks
Riku to summon Kairi to be trained as a Keyblade wielder. While that is happening Sora enters the Dream world once more to be with the Spirit Dream Eaters.
Overall, I enjoyed the game. I liked that Riku ended up facing the final boss. I thought it would be Sora because it’s always him and the game made me feel that it would be him because he faced the mid boss of the game. For lore many questions were answered with new questions surfacing. This is the first game without any Final Fantasy Characters which is very sad for me. I knew it was coming, but I liked the mix of Final Fantasy with Disney. I am sad to see them absent like Sora and Kairi's relationship.
The story is complex and I don’t know how Square Enix
keeps this straight. There are details I left out that I hope will not be important in future installments. Knowing the franchise it will be. Anyways, what did you like about this game?
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