Calling Kingdom Hearts 3 one of the most hotly anticipated releases in the industry over the last decade (if not more) would not be an overstatement by any means. Now that it’s finally out, a bevy of giddy fans across the globe will be experiencing Sora’s final trek through the worlds of Disney and Pixar. To help you along on the journey, here, we’ll be taking a look at fifteen basic tips and tricks that you should keep in mind while you play Kingdom Hearts 3.
HIDDEN EMBLEMS
Hidden Lucky Emblems shaped like Mickey Mouse are littered throughout the entirety of Kingdom Hearts 3- while many players might not want to go out of their way to seek this out in the environment, it’s recommended that you do so. Among other things, these Emblems are also they key to whether or not you’re able to unlock the secret movie at the end of the game, so if you wan the full story, make sure you find and photograph with your Gummiphone as many of these as possible.
TURNING OFF ATTACK CINEMATICS
Attraction attacks are some of the flashiest, most visually explosive things you’ll see in Kingdom Hearts 3, thanks to some excellent Disney-themed animations for these attacks, which function almost like summons. But once you’ve seen them enough times (and they can be pretty long, too), you might not want to continue to sit through them. Thankfully, you can go into the configurations menu to turn off cinematics for Attractions- in fact, you can do so for Link abilities and Keyblade transformations as well.
COLLECT MUNNY USING THE GUMMI SHIP
The Gummi Ship has a pretty major presence in Kingdom Hearts 3, even in terms of gameplay, and while these sections might not be the most fun to play, they can come in pretty handy in certain situations. For instance, flying around in space with your Gummi Ship is often a great way for collecting pretty decent sums of Munny, of which there’s a lot to be found in space. If you’re ever strapped and find yourself in need of more Munny, jumping into space for a few minutes can usually solve that problem.
ALWAYS HAVE A CANON ON YOUR GUMMI SHIP
The Gummi Ship is, of course, customizable as well, and while there aren’t any requirements or restrictions for things you have to equip your ship, it’s always a good idea to have at least one basic canon equipped. You’ll need these to shoot treasure spheres and Munny boxes- also, do remember that lock-on canons only work on enemies.
UTILIZE LINK ABILITIES WELL
Link attacks are going to be something you use quite often, as they summon Disney characters to aid you in battle. But it’s worth remembering that not only do these attacks help you deal massive damage, they can be used defensively as well- because when you use Link attacks, you replenish your health as well. Keep that in mind in case you ever need health urgently, and time and make use of your Link attacks accordingly.
MANAGE THE MAGIC METER
Somewhat similar to managing your Link attacks (but maybe in the inverse) is managing your magic meter. It’s worth remembering that healing spells deplete your entire magic bar- however much of it you have left. So if you want to use offensive spells as well healing spells, use the former first, and then use the latter to deplete your bar.
USE THE SHORTCUT MENUS
You’ll be making use of plenty of magic attacks from a vast number of spells available in Kingdom Hearts 3, but the game makes life easier for you by letting you assign them to shortcut menus. Rather than repeatedly going into menus and scrolling through long lists, which would obviously break up the action, you can switch between three shortcut menus on the fly and use whatever spells you have set to them.
YOU NEED TO MANUALLY RE-EQUIP DEPLETED ITEMS
This is quite important, because it’s very easy to miss, and can at times prove costly in battles. Make sure that you re-equip all your items between battles. If you use up all the items of a particular variety that you had equipped, you will have to manually re-equip them, and not doing so will mean you head into the next battle without them.
Alternatively, you can set the auto-reload option so that you don’t can to manually re-equip items.
UTILIZE YOUR RARE SYNTHESIS MATERIALS WELL
Make sure that you save up any rare synthesis materials you find. Though you might be tempted to use these up, it’s worth remembering that most mid-level gear is easily found via other means, such as in shops. As such, it’s a good idea to save up rare synthesis materials for the best gears and upgrades.
MASTER THE BLOCK
This one is probably a little obvious, but it’s still worth mentioning, because of how important it’ll be on several occasions- especially in the later stages of the game. In tougher and more hectic battles against more challenging foes, using the block perfectly is not only helpful, but also at times crucial. Get this move down as early as possible.
EXPERIMENT WITH ALL KEYBLADES…
There’s a litany of Keyblades to play around with in Kingdom Hearts 3, and they all come with different powers and abilities- make sure you experiment with all of them. It’s a good idea to try them out as you get them to see if any of them has any particular attribute or attack that appeals to you.
… BUT FOCUS ON UPGRADING THE ONES YOU LIKE MOST
That said, don’t invest into upgrading all your Keyblades- it’s advisable to decide which ones you want to be your main, primary Keyblades, and then upgrade those few fully, rather than spreading your upgrading resources too think across a large number of them.
PRACTICE THE COOKING MINI-GAME WITH EASIER RECIPES FIRST
The cooking mini-game is something that will come in handy quite a bit (more on this in a bit), but when you’re getting started, don’t move to the best and most useful dishes right away. Practice with the easier dishes first to get the hang of the mini-game, because any resources you lose are lost forever, and you want to save the really rare ones that yield the good stuff until you know you’re going to get something for your efforts.
EAT FOOD FOR BUFFS AND BONUSES
Following on from the previous point, it’s also worth investing plenty of time into the cooking mini-game. Doing so rewards you with dishes that can provide buffs to various attributes, from strength and defense to max HP and max MP.
STOCK UP ON TENTS
Tents are quite a cheap item to purchase in Kingdom Hearts 3, so you should stock up on as many of these as you can (well, don’t go overboard). You can use them at any time when you’re not in the middle of battles, and doing so fully restores your health, magic, and focus, so they’re great value for money, too.