Kingdom Hearts 3 Chronicles is my attempt to keep up with my thoughts on Kingdom Hearts III after every session. Today’s post will cover the 6th world. Also worth knowing that I am playing on Proud Mode, the hardest difficulty available from the start. There’s a bit more lore at the end as I get giddy about some of my favorite theories being confirmed.
Ugh I caught a cold over the weekend and missed a day of playing so I didn’t get to write anything. Let’s catch up. This part is about the Frozen world, Arendelle. It’s so big it actually took me 2 play sessions to finish. At first I wasn’t sure I would enjoy the experience because it suffers from Corona’s two major problems: really same-y landscapes and a strict adherence to the film’s story while Sora’s story is happening in parallel. Arendelle saves itself though by incorporating multiple set pieces, and an entire dungeon section separated from the rest of the world.
First, the dungeon. The Labyrinth of Ice earns its name by being a twisting, cavernous puzzle box. We get some really great exploration opportunities here, with rooms that connect in odd ways and loop back around on each other. The interesting thing here is how most of the “puzzles” to progress involve using Sora’s movement mechanics; a couple rooms require Flowmotion pole spins in order to rotate the room, and toward the end you have to airstep your way to the top. I like this because it relies more on your understanding of the game’s mechanics than on using outside logic to solve a more traditional puzzle. I mean I’d still like some traditional puzzles, but I think the execution here works.
The Labyrinth of Ice is a lengthy section of this level, maybe close to half of the overall playtime. I can see some people disliking it or feeling like it unnaturally pads out the level, but I liked it, since I wasn’t super into the idea of just doing the story from Frozen. When you get out of the labyrinth, you climb up the mountain only to be chased back down in the level’s second major set piece - an extended take on shield sledding. Also you’re being chased by three ice dragons.
The shield controls are surprisingly tight so you’re able to steer well enough to dodge enemy attacks, so even when they crank up their frequency you shouldn’t feel too much like you’re in danger. I liked this little section, it’s an energetic way to get you into the action after watching a longer cutscene (you’ve literally just watched Elsa perform “Let it Go” and then Larxene appears to tell you the stakes). It ends with a fight against the three ice dragons who are a lot of fun as enemies. They also become more regularly occurring enemies after this fight so you better be sure you learn how to defeat them quickly!
I should add that the Happy Gear Keyblade you get from completing Monsters Inc. is incredibly useful in this level (and really in general) because its second stage “Agile Claws” turns all of your dodges into attacks, so when you dodge roll your claws attack, when you air dash you attack, etc. The ice dragons move around a lot but also have multiple targets you can attack, so if you’re the type to stay back and play more safely you could use the Shooting Star or Winnie the Pooh to shoot at them but if you’re like me and want to play fast and aggressive, the Happy Gear is the way to go.
Anyway, after all the you finally meet Olaf, and I kinda feel like maybe Square was just contractually obligated to use this world and the earlier sections were because they didn’t know what to do with the actual world characters? Right after you meet Olaf and Anna and co. you play this dumb minigame where you have to find Olaf’s body - it makes zero sense and is easily the low point of the level, if not the game. Then Olaf and them run away when some Heartless arrive and you’re back to just doing your own thing, beating Heartless and making your way up the mountain. This part is pretty neat because at some point you’ll unlock a double jump and a second air dash (the latter may be tied to a level, I’m not sure offhand) which helps you get up the mountain a lot faster, and it just feels really cool to climb up this thing at speed.
When you finally get back to Elsa’s ice palace, they’re doing the bit from the movie where the giant snow monster named Marshmallow throws everyone out of the palace, and then you get to actually fight Marshmallow. Now, maybe it seems obvious in retrospect, but I did not expect to fight this thing going into this level. It’s actually a pretty solid boss fight; he even has an armor stage that means you can’t hurt him until you break his armor. Again, I’m all about Agile Claws here and just landing as many hits as possible while I can. Summoning Simba is also super useful, I’m assuming his fire magic is strong against Marshmallow’s snow because it did some major damage.
After you beat Marshmallow there’s another couple scenes, and then you see Hans from the movie walking away with Elsa’s unconscious body. I had to laugh here, because this part makes zero sense if you haven’t seen the movie. This is why I think Square just gave up on the story for this world, because of these moments where movie plot stuff just happens and it has no connection to anything that Sora is doing. So you start chasing after Hans and Marshmallow shows back up and joins your team which is suuuuuuch a good twist. At this point I had just given up hope that anybody in this world was ever joining my team, but our friendly neighborhood snow monster was ready to step up. And Marshmallow doesn’t mess around either, he has some strong moves and will take down enemies with ease. My one gripe is that his Team Attack is incredibly slow moving, so if the enemy is behind you when you start it you can pretty much give up on being able to turn around and attack them.
All right let’s dive into some lore and discuss my developing story theories. It’s starting to get real. So Larxene is in this level, which we already knew from the trailers, and if you recall from my last post, I believe she is a Keyblade master who does not remember being one, and also possibly Ansem Seeker of Darkness was looking for her before. If he was looking for her, he obviously found her because here she is. So after the level ends there’s a quick scene where Sora and the gang all catch up and re-commit to their mission. THEN we get a really crazy scene where Larxene meets up with some of her co-villains. First we see Marluxia, who was her chief ally in Chain of Memories, so it makes sense that they’d be paired up early. Demyx shows up next, who is honestly the most lackluster member of the Organization; he’s just never interested me and doesn’t have much of a plot or character to speak of. They’re all scheming, and Demyx reveals that Vexen has successfully started creating replicas, and that he’s been “benched” by one of them taking his spot in the Organization. While discussing the importance of their roles in the Organization, Xemnas appears to tell them they’re all important. Luxord, who we haven’t seen until this point, also appears, revealing his current job is to search for the black box that Maleficent is also searching for.
And if all that is too much to follow, here’s the bit that’s definitely important: Xemnas reveals that these four people were chosen to join the Organization because they have the power to awaken the “ancient legacy of the Keyblade.” This effectively confirms that Larxene and Marluxia are the same as Elrena and Lauriam from Union Cross, AND sets up that Demyx and Luxord were also Keyblade wielders in the past. The next memory becomes how this all happened, and why they no longer have that power. Roxas was able to wield a Keyblade as a Nobody, so there must be something extra going on that prevents these four from doing it.
I’m fascinated to see how it all comes together from here.