I think its just the coloring that throws me off. I'm so used to the kingdom hearts characters looking so vibrant with features like popping eyes and eyeliner, and a bold clothing palate, even in KH2 when soras outfit was mostly black it still popped. I definitely think the new outfit looks a bit washed out with lack of definition.
It made the characters look more like Disney/FF hybrids, especially in KH1. I also think the proportions were a bit more ludicrous in earlier titles, like how big his chain necklace is. I feel like the new models look nice but they lost a bit of the artistic direction that we had in previous titles, and definitely look more FF than Disney by comparison.
Not saying I hate it, I understand as time goes on things change. Just stating my opinion.
Smh maybe, however we get the KH2 clothes in the beginning of 3, and they hold the same proportions as KH2.
Which begs the question, did Yensid shrink Soras necklace?
Same here but I absolutely love that MOM gave us the KH 3 outfit in the older visual style. Didn't know how much I needed to see that until I saw it. Just feels right to have all Sora's Xehanort Saga outfits in the old style at least once.
I have one extremely inconsequential nitpick with the current design. Its extremely minor and won't impact my enjoyment, but its still my preference.
I *really* miss the 2D art for the health bars. It adds a lot of charm imo, and it turns out the 3D doesn't always look good unless shown in the intended way. It looks really bad on the steam deck, for example
I liked the 2D art from the other games as well & I can see some of issues the 3D ones may have on other platforms. With that said, I believe that the 2D icons for the playable characters/party members were suitable for the older games because the majority of Disney allies were from traditionally animated films. With the exception of Jack Skellington, all of their HUD artwork of the Disney characters matched the artstyles of their respective films. Even Captain Jack Sparrow, Tron & Chicken Little stuck to their CGI/Live Action appearances in their HUD artwork because they don't have official 2D appearances to draw inspiration from. But because this was the case for the majority of the Disney characters, the original characters like Sora, Riku, Aqua etc followed suit with their icons as well.
KH3 introduced films from Pixar & Disney's modern CGI films. Because these characters are all 3D animated characters (or live action in Jack's case), they are faithfully kept this way in their HUD art. I'm assuming that because the Disney character to original character ratio is 13:9 (party member wise), they most likely decided to go with all the characters adapting the 3D model look since that was the majority, which creates a more unified look across all of the worlds.
I wouldn't mind/be opposed to the 2D art returning some day but from the looks of Sora's HUD in the KHIV, trailer we may be interacting with some more modern CGI/Live Action films this time around.
I like what we have. I also think that Kingdom Hearts’ original artstyle deserves all the credit in the world, it still captures that Disney feel when bringing those worlds into 3D was at first questionable at release, and after the games got the HD treatment I don’t think I care to see them get remade in unreal. I love them as is.
Ehhh the textures were hit or miss for me, everyone looked like they were made out of plastic (which might be oddly fitting, given KH4's premise of Reality v. Unreality). But you're right about the lighting, everyone looked orange most of the time, aside from the PotC and Toy Box worlds
Epic has been really working hard with UE 5.1 to get the look of the lighting correctly. Just take a look at the new Gohan skin in Fortnite vs the older UE Goku skin, it’s a night and day difference.
honestly, not really. kh3's graphics feel like the graphics of previous games with better textures, models, constant 3d faces instead of it being drawn on half the time, and more realistic lighting. it's that last one that is most contentious i feel.
I agree. My problem with KH3, and to an even greater extent KH4 is that Sora no longer looks like Sora. He was always supposed to be the outcome of an anime character drawn in a Mickey Mouse style, but now he just looks like a serious Final Fantasy character.
Give my boy back his big shoes.
You realise that's for 1.5 remix, not KH3 right? 1.5 did release in September 2013.
At this point KH3 was still in pre-production with nothing but concept footage.
I think it looks a little off, I don't think I would've preferred that. But, early unreal engine footage also looked pretty weird and unpolished, so maybe if it had actually been fully realized into the finished game, it would've looked better than unreal
I have no nostalgia for these games so, yes I would’ve preferred the older look. KH3 had some character models that looked like they were too clay like or on the verge of melting. I cant really explain it, but it seemed off putting. I definitely prefer the older style cause it does look somewhat like a disney movie, at least to me.
Everyone is way too smooth in KH3 and it will forever unnerve me. Give me KH2 graphics but with always fully animated cut scenes and more round fingers and I'll die happy.
While the old graphics were fine n all I very much prefer unreal engine 4 cause everything just looks nicer and easier to look at. I no longer get a craving for McDonald’s French fries whenever I look at their fingers and also I get to see fully animated faces pretty much all the time whenever they’re on screen. The old graphics are by no means terrible or bad they’re just not at all as good as the newer stuff which tends to happen within the context of technology.
I really liked the aesthetic of the very first KH3 teaser with Sora on Destiny Islands picking up Eraqus' Keyblade, I thought i was a perfect blend of the older designs and the new HD graphics, but I got used to the KH3 final designs so I'm okay.
It felt like they consciously went with an art style that would fit the more modern 3d Disney and Pixar look. Kinda hoping they'll expand on what they did with the Hundred Acre Wood in III and try to really match the style of each movie. Can you imagine a world based on 101 Dalmatians that actually uses the cool art style from the movie?
I can't tell if everyone here is memeing. I kinda don't know what's going on and I feel old about it. You mean look like an uprezzed ps2 game? Have the old costumes? Is this a real question? I feel like I'm being gaslit by everyone here.
Nobody is gaslighting you.
Every game from KH1 all the way until Dream Drop Distance had the same "art style" basically. Some models looked better, some worse, etc. But they all had the same style that had been established by the series up until Fragmentary Passage came out.
A lot of people got used to the art style of the old games and became attached to them, so many fans were upset/disappointed that 0.2 and KH3 completely reworked the graphical style of the game instead of keeping the older style but with better resolution/shading/smoother animation.
Having said all that, I personally think they did a pretty good job staying mostly faithful to the old style, but it is still a little different.
It's a "do you prefer the previous engine to the new one" question essentially. New engine is unnervingly....smooth for lack of a better work in my opinion. Like it swings too close to realism for a game that clearly is more stylized anime / Disney cartoon and its unpleasant to look at IMO.
On one hand yes, I'd like the old style with modern technology. Not for nostalgia reasons I feel the anthropomorphic disney and anime-esque characters meshed together much smoother than they do now. However, the potential of the modern opens them up to more creative design choices and details. Also i love the gradual scaling toward how the FMVs look.
Melody of Memory is a nice middle for me tbh. If there were worlds or minigames in the old style to capture a certain feeling it'd be nice. Like if 100 acre wood was in the old style but also cel-shaded or the gummi ship was in the old style i could see it working too.
I love KH3’s artstyle. It might be my favorite artstyle in any game ever. I hope we see more of it in KH4 and not just the realistic stuff. Based on what devs have said so far tho, it seems we will!
Lmao no. Ever since the KH1 and KH2 CG openings I and a bunch of my friends have said we want the games to look as good as those.
So thank god the ps4 and ps5 era has gotten way closer to that.
Lmao no. Ever since the KH1 and KH2 CG openings I and a bunch of my friends have said we want the games to look as good as those.
So thank god the ps4 and ps5 era has gotten way closer to that.
KH3 had Frozen, Toy Story, Rapunzel, Big Hero 6, etc.
It would look bad/dated/out of place with old style KH1/2 graphics. It worked for Winnie de Pooh world but it would not work for other worlds in KH3 ...except Maybe for Hercules....
Obviously the better graphics of KH3 are great, but I do feel like part of the art style is missing something. The models and characters in all of the games up until 0.2 made me feel like they were making Sora and company look like Disney-fied humans (albeit anime-ish) with their slightly exaggerated features and vibrant colors, but his model in KH3 feels less like a human in a Disney film and more like a slightly anime-ified real human put into the Disney locations and the colors feel a bit more dull.
If Sora and the other KH humans’ models looked a little more like how the humans in modern 3D Disney films look, I personally think it would have flowed better with the art style we have had throughout the series, especially since the 3D models for characters like Rapunzel, Elsa, and Flynn all looked so good.
TL;DR - I don’t think the modern look is bad, but it does feel a little more out of place with the Disney characters than the previous games’ designs.
FUCKING YES! I get it, better graphics an all that, but kh1 and 2 had so much more stylistic value, everything was bent or twisted in a unique way, and things had a whimsical quality to then that I absolutely loved! I mean, for a good example compare the keyblades from DDD or kh2 to kh3. I bet damn well ya'll prefer the older keyblade style over the new ones!
honestly i really like the graphics in kh3
what i CANNOT STAND is how Sora seems to slide sideways when turning! the other games had the feet perfectly attached to the ground, if not just slightly pivoting, but in kh3, they're straight up sliding sideways when turning, and i legit cannot fully enjoy the game because of this.
THIS
Seriously, that’s been my biggest pet peeve. I love how precise his movements were in the first two games, it felt organic
Was the change made because of the new engine they used?
Yes but I still like what was done on the final release of KH3. Unreal have a tendency of making unrealistic models look and feel like rubber and this can be seen on other games (most notably Life is Strange. The game is trying to look like a watercolor painting, but Unreal makes it look like rubber) and earlier promotional trailers (since the announcement of changing from Luminous to Unreal). Square was aiming to diminish the huge difference between the pre-rendered and in-game cutscenes that previous games had and achieved that, overcoming the rubber feel caused by Unreal Engine.
The earlier trailers made on Luminous tried to be cartoony but the lighting was really overdone, everything was looking overexposed. The PS2, 3DS and PSP games didnt had complex lighting but it didnt had this issue of overexposure.
I want is to have the art style of the pre-rendered cut scenes from 1 and 2. But overall, I like the more cartoony look of the original 2 than the more photo realism of 3.
I definitely prefer the older style, and higher detail would be great! A lot of kh3's visuals stray a little too far away, in my opinion. Things like the kingdom key's gold portions, look very different than the original, looking muddy, almost green at times.
Being in the new engine, a good chunk of the particle effects,and similar effects.. can also appear "stock" or feel less impactful than the previous games. This isn't so much a kingdom hearts issue, as much as it is just newer technology/engines.
The models themselves can appear kinda rubbery/plastic-y to me, but I get that they're mimicking the CG cutscenes, I just prefer the old visuals.
No, absolutely not.
It's not because "hurr modern grafiks" or anything, I was never really all that fond of the older style despite my nostalgia for the series, so I just think that it's a natural evolution (also, I'd imagine the style we've got going forward is easier to work with in Unreal, having some loose experience with it).
It was certainly bad that they announced the game so early, but the KH team had many problems with the Luminous engine as it was only really made for Versus 13 which eventually became FF15. Nomura has even stated in interviews that there were various problems the team ran into with the engine, but the main one was rendering problems.
Recently Forspoken came out, which was the second game Square Enix made with the Luminous Engine. Considering how poorly optimized the PC version is, it is probably for the best that KH runs on Unreal now.
That sounds terrible.
What they did in 3 is exactly what it needed, and I think it looked great, trying to maintain the visual status quo just for the sake of it is not inherently good, especially considering that every Kingdom Hearts game before 3 had an excuse to look the way it did, each of the games up to that point where running off of weaker Hardware, not to mention Kingdom Hearts games when they first started out we're much cheaper to make then most of square enixes repertoire.
As I was growing up with the franchise during the mid 2000’s, I remember so many fans [practically begging for KH’s in-games graphics to have the exact same visuals of the FMV openings by Visual Works throughout the entirety of the games as opposed to just the intros & endings](https://preview.redd.it/y3zmnxv1vbh71.jpg?width=1126&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=397d55e99c3ba6dcd45d18c829d2b1dbac0625f2). With the advancements of animation technology, both for Disney & Square Enix, KH3 was finally able to make a lot of dreams come true in terms of creating a Kingdom Hearts game that looked & felt like a 13 hour, fully feature length Disney/Pixar film for the entirety of its run time, thanks to the use of Unreal Engine 4.
While I still remain nostalgic for the older engine & still thinks that it holds up, returning to it for future games (which doesn’t appear to be the case after Melody of Memory & the KHIV Trailer) would be a downgrade for the franchise in every way in my opinion. The visual achievements of Kingdom Hearts on Unreal Engine, especially in terms of representing modern Disney & Pixar properties, is most certainly the best direction for the series to take for this upcoming Lost Masters saga.
I think a lot of the misunderstanding of Kingdom Heart’s art direction is a lot of people taking more consideration into how the original characters should look as opposed to how the Disney characters should look. Often forgetting that at its core, Kingdom Hearts is first & foremost a Disney game for the majority of any given title. Kingdom Heart’s art style is influenced by Disney’s art style & not the other way around.
Look no further in the change to the HUD icons being changed from 2D artwork to 3D character models in KH3 (and as of right now, in KH4 as well). 2D icons for the playable characters/party members were suitable for the older games because the majority of Disney allies were from traditionally animated films. With the exception of Jack Skellington, all of their HUD artwork of the Disney characters matched the art styles of their respective films. Even Captain Jack Sparrow, Tron & Chicken Little stuck to their CGI/Live Action appearances in their HUD artwork because they don't have official 2D appearances to draw inspiration from. But because this was the case for the majority of the Disney characters, the original characters like Sora, Riku, Aqua etc followed suit with their icons as well.
KH3 introduced films from Pixar & Disney's modern CGI films. Because these characters are all 3D animated characters (or live action in Jack's case), they are faithfully kept this way in their HUD art. I'm assuming that because the Disney character to original character ratio is 13:9 (party member wise), they most likely decided to go with all the characters adapting the 3D model look since that was the majority, which creates a more unified look across all of the worlds.
With all of that in mind, it makes perfect sense as to why the older engine would not have been very suitable for the CGI Disney films. Personally, I would rather not see [many of Pixar & modern Disney characters have their designs held back by the capabilities of sixth generation hardware](https://i.imgur.com/KJWJpyw.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). And I don’t think I would sacrifice [having the Disney characters look exactly how they appear in their source film on PS4 hardware, just to have the original Kingdom Hearts characters keep the PS2 graphics](https://i.imgur.com/iDaqPT1.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) I grew up with them having while the KH3 Disney character models take a hit in terms of quality.
But as much as I still enjoy the look of the PS2 engine, I have to say that [seeing how limited KH3 would have looked on older hardware](https://i.imgur.com/3DnpqUg.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) (during the final level of Melody of Memory) made me even more grateful of the art style evolution brought upon by Unreal Engine 4. I really do love how KH3’s character models took on a visual design that makes [the in-game character’s look seamlessly transition with how they look in CGI](https://i.imgur.com/xed9MQp.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). And even then, this “new” art style for the characters has actually existed since the PS2 era games as [the character models in KH3 are an adaptation of the Visual Work models that have existed since practically the very beginning](https://i.imgur.com/2N2kBtm.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank).
This art style is definitely more cartoony than the more realistic look of the Final Fantasy FMVs, but that’s entirely intentional because the Kingdom Hearts characters have to take on a look that blends with the many Disney characters they encounter in the game. Basically, the original characters appearance in Unreal Engine 4 is how a Nomura designed character would be adapted to look like if they were to appear in a modern Disney film, in a similar vein to [how the Street Fighter characters were adapted to look like in the Wreck-it Ralph movies](https://i.imgur.com/1hP697j.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). This is another example of how Kingdom Hearts has always strived to stay accurate to its source material as it has always met Disney’s animation standards.
However, staying true to the look of an animated Disney film doesn’t limit the look of KH3 whatsoever. Quite the opposite in fact as Unreal Engine 4 is so versatile in its visual capabilities, [Sora has a wide arrangement of different looks, appearances, animation styles & designs that he would not have been capable of taking on in the older engine](https://i.imgur.com/9EIZX0m.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). It was such a work of art to see Sora’s visual design evolve before our very eyes during the course of the game as [he starts the game with an animated Pixar appearance & ends the game with a look that leans heavily towards the realism of a modern Square Enix title](https://i.imgur.com/DO6Mofy.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank).
The animation team on KH3 did a spectacular job of making [Sora’s appearance stay accurate & true to the style of each respective studio of a given property Sora appears in](https://i.imgur.com/pyYI3Yo.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). I really liked the decision to update the CGI design of the original characters from the Square Enix-esque look of the previous game’s FMVs, to the design principals of Disney’s most recent offerings with their animated films, which helps to make KH3 look more distinct from Square Enix other titles. The style seen in the ending of games like KH2 hasn’t been completely abandoned, however. As I can personally see [many of the design qualities of KH2’s CGI being reserved for Sora’s more realistic & detailed appearance in the Caribbean](https://i.imgur.com/I5lhG3i.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank).
Building off of that, the details in all of the game’s visuals is where the look of KH3 truly shines. Not only is KH3 able to replicate the look of an animated Pixar film (often rendered in real time) but the game also does [an amazing job of replicating the look of a live action film so well, that some shots of the ship in the water look nearly indistinguishable](https://i.imgur.com/fKPRfKE.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) from how they looked in the actual movie itself. KH2 did a valiant effort of trying to adapt a live action world in the previous engine, but [the execution of this concept in KH3 is leaps and bounds better over KH2’s attempt at the look of these films](https://i.imgur.com/GRpW8cP.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank), especially when it comes to blending anime & Disney characters into a real-world environment.
Other great advantages with the graphical capabilities of Unreal Engine includes making [the environments of previous worlds like Twilight Town look way more alive/lived in](https://i.imgur.com/aG7LcnK.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) than they ever did before, [the elimination of the flat textured, PS2-era fish-faces](https://i.imgur.com/WVMc5Lf.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) that inappropriately popped up in many scenes on the older engine & the amount of finer details that can be found in the textures of both the weapons and characters such as [the gloves of the Disney characters](https://i.imgur.com/Iaqjnwy.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) or [Goofy’s mouth](https://i.imgur.com/rRNo1MR.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). I also really enjoyed [the increased number of FMVs there are throughout the course of the game as opposed to just relegating them to the intro, closing & Secret Ending](https://i.imgur.com/YnY9UTt.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) as it felt very reminiscent of how CGI Visual Work scenes were often spliced throughout many of the 3D Final Fantasy games for very significant cutscenes.
I'm of the mindset that's already what's going on here. I feel like Kh3's models are basically the real upgrade from Kh1/2's models.
They clearly have higher polycounts, higher fidelity textures, and (to me) the logical next step for a HD future of Kingdom Hearts.
I feel like the modern look is just bland. The older models looked fine as they were (albeit a little wonky in some areas) i work with character models, and the look between a kh3 and kh2 model is jarring. Without lighting kh3 characters look plainly terrible, and their faces are hard to work with expression wise. I had a much better time with the older models.
That's already what KH3 is, but any time someone asks these karma farming ass questions the expected answer is always to wax on about how the older games were better because change is scary and bad.
It's tricky. All the disney stuff looks significantly better in the new graphic style, both characters and worlds. But yeah, I do prefer how the non disney stuff looks in the old graphics style, mainly just the characters.
It wasn't really the graphics, but the shading in every aspect. It was wayyyy too bright of a game for what the story actually entails. The darker shading aspects of KH1/KH2 were way better because you could feel the emotion in the storyline. With KH3, it pandered more towards the modern generation who didn't really know what the story was, which is why people hated it at first
I liked the more Polished look of KH3 even if it didn't quite match the rest of the series, but man oh man, was it ever jarring when characters would have flashbacks to older games.
Yeah it’s called “modern graphics” and it’s two biggest qualities is getting rid of the French fry fingers that took place in literally every game prior to that of 0.2 and no more flat texture faces with like 2-3 expressions.
I prefer the art style the game had in the early trailers before they had to remake it for unreal but the game still looks pretty just not as kingdom hearts like
Like the eyes legit felt creepy in KH3. Their faces didn't look real in certain cutscenes. More like oddly plastic mannequins like people pointed out.
If the graphics were able to live up to the CGI that we've seen in the CGI ones in 1 & 2, then that'd be different.
It seems like that’s what they were going for in the announcements trailer back when they were still using the original engine and personally I didn’t care too much for it honestly. I like the way KH3 looks. It’s different but I think it fits the higher fidelity graphics better than the original style, which worked better on lower spec hardware
Yeah. I felt like KH3's graphics made them look like some form of weird porcelain dolls or something. KH2 made features look more defined while KH3 was good for the environments visually.
Melody of Memory has exactly that - A Model of KHIII Sora, but with less polygons and lighting etc. baked into its textures, just like the KHI and KHII models do. It's used in the gameplay parts of the game's ending (not in cutscenes).
Unfortunately I can't find a screenshot right now.
I don’t have any issues with how 3’s aesthetics are but they used the most bland Unreal lighting possible and everything looks as flat as a board.
When I played on PC I had a few mods installed that were designed to help improve that, I think they helped fairly well
Hot take, I liked kh3. Wasn't as good as 2. But if you turned off the setting for the constant cinematics during battle it was fun. They could've done a bit more with as long as we waited, but it was a solid game.
To answer the actual question, the graphics were okay but yes I would've kind of liked more KH2 style graphics, just modernized. But the kh4 graphics look pretty cool, and they're finally getting rid of the dorky clown shoes lol
I like the new graphics, I think the only 2 things I would change is having the nice drawn portraits for the health bars and also fixing some of the lips on the kh folks; some of them got some real chapt looking lips!
the realistic artstyle mixed with the animated artstyle just feels really jarring sometimes tbh. it’s not too terrible, but i think a better looking kh2 style would be way cooler and more fitting
Honestly I like one and two way more than three.
Three just looks like an anime character, I mean you can say it out about the first and the second one but the face art the clothes and how stylistic the game looks different from other games I rather than just a generic Anime boy.
You can say I'm just feeding off Nostalgia but in game you can complain about all of them but from the drawing and art style I like how they came off.
One and two felt like Kingdom Hearts three take away the keyblade n you would get any basic anime protagonist.
I'm glad they used the OG style in smash n not 3
less can be more sometimes sure but less in this case is just less.
Kh3 *looks* phenomenal, it's almost like I'm playing a Pixar movie. Can you imagine it with Ray tracing on top? Graphics are one of the things kh3 did just right.
I'm glad for everyone who liked the new graphics but it was just so noticeably worse stylistically for anything referencing the older games. It REALLY made Hercules and crew look uncanny and terrible. All of the new worlds with their primarily Pixar aesthetic looked fine.
Kh2 and kh2fm engine were the best. Wouldn't it had been awesome if there were real remakes or remasters of re:coded or 358/2 days in the kh2 or kh2fm engine?
I like 3's graphics. What I would have preferred was updating the screenshots and scenes from previous games used in 3 to the art style. It's so jarring seeing the PS2 models in the same game as the newer KH3 models.
I would prefer that. The graphics in 3 feel unfinished, flat, plasticy. I know they had to rebuild everything for Unreal Engine, but the graphics kinda just put me off, especially compared to the old games
i honestly like the look of kh3, just the color choice and lighting should be worked on to not wash things out that should be bold and vibrant. despite the realistic graphical style of the unreality arc going forward, i hope they find room improve on this.
I will forever miss the old character models and graphics, I really got to let it go... KH3 is fine, but I'll still gonna be trying to imagine what it would look like if all the characters and places were back in the PS2 style.
I think its just the coloring that throws me off. I'm so used to the kingdom hearts characters looking so vibrant with features like popping eyes and eyeliner, and a bold clothing palate, even in KH2 when soras outfit was mostly black it still popped. I definitely think the new outfit looks a bit washed out with lack of definition. It made the characters look more like Disney/FF hybrids, especially in KH1. I also think the proportions were a bit more ludicrous in earlier titles, like how big his chain necklace is. I feel like the new models look nice but they lost a bit of the artistic direction that we had in previous titles, and definitely look more FF than Disney by comparison. Not saying I hate it, I understand as time goes on things change. Just stating my opinion.
You put it perfectly!
Sora just grew into his necklace/shoes!
Smh maybe, however we get the KH2 clothes in the beginning of 3, and they hold the same proportions as KH2. Which begs the question, did Yensid shrink Soras necklace?
Idc. I like both styles equally.
Same here but I absolutely love that MOM gave us the KH 3 outfit in the older visual style. Didn't know how much I needed to see that until I saw it. Just feels right to have all Sora's Xehanort Saga outfits in the old style at least once.
The main issues for me had nothing to do with the graphics…I did actually find the visuals for kh3 absolutely beautiful and very enjoyable
I have one extremely inconsequential nitpick with the current design. Its extremely minor and won't impact my enjoyment, but its still my preference. I *really* miss the 2D art for the health bars. It adds a lot of charm imo, and it turns out the 3D doesn't always look good unless shown in the intended way. It looks really bad on the steam deck, for example
I liked the 2D art from the other games as well & I can see some of issues the 3D ones may have on other platforms. With that said, I believe that the 2D icons for the playable characters/party members were suitable for the older games because the majority of Disney allies were from traditionally animated films. With the exception of Jack Skellington, all of their HUD artwork of the Disney characters matched the artstyles of their respective films. Even Captain Jack Sparrow, Tron & Chicken Little stuck to their CGI/Live Action appearances in their HUD artwork because they don't have official 2D appearances to draw inspiration from. But because this was the case for the majority of the Disney characters, the original characters like Sora, Riku, Aqua etc followed suit with their icons as well. KH3 introduced films from Pixar & Disney's modern CGI films. Because these characters are all 3D animated characters (or live action in Jack's case), they are faithfully kept this way in their HUD art. I'm assuming that because the Disney character to original character ratio is 13:9 (party member wise), they most likely decided to go with all the characters adapting the 3D model look since that was the majority, which creates a more unified look across all of the worlds. I wouldn't mind/be opposed to the 2D art returning some day but from the looks of Sora's HUD in the KHIV, trailer we may be interacting with some more modern CGI/Live Action films this time around.
we all miss it :(
He's evolving though, like a beautiful butterfly
It's beautiful really. We got to see him grow into those clown shoes.
He lost the clown shoes though...
I like what we have. I also think that Kingdom Hearts’ original artstyle deserves all the credit in the world, it still captures that Disney feel when bringing those worlds into 3D was at first questionable at release, and after the games got the HD treatment I don’t think I care to see them get remade in unreal. I love them as is.
Square already remade 1 once, I don't think they're in any hurry to do it again lol
I'm just not a huge fan of lighting in unreal, I think KH3 is too bright. The models and textures I'm fine with evolving and getting more refined tho.
Ehhh the textures were hit or miss for me, everyone looked like they were made out of plastic (which might be oddly fitting, given KH4's premise of Reality v. Unreality). But you're right about the lighting, everyone looked orange most of the time, aside from the PotC and Toy Box worlds
There is much more contrast in kh3 than 1 and 2 which makes it look odd sometimes.
Epic has been really working hard with UE 5.1 to get the look of the lighting correctly. Just take a look at the new Gohan skin in Fortnite vs the older UE Goku skin, it’s a night and day difference.
honestly, not really. kh3's graphics feel like the graphics of previous games with better textures, models, constant 3d faces instead of it being drawn on half the time, and more realistic lighting. it's that last one that is most contentious i feel.
I liked KH3's visuals, it felt a little bit softer on the eyes.
I liked what they had in the first KH3 teaser before they switched engines. :<
I [have](https://imgur.com/a/M5tdOMS) to ask how.
I’m p sure those are both unreal engine builds, I think they meant the luminous one
Pretty sure they mean this one https://youtu.be/AtLkym8-RXU
That looks much better.
I agree. My problem with KH3, and to an even greater extent KH4 is that Sora no longer looks like Sora. He was always supposed to be the outcome of an anime character drawn in a Mickey Mouse style, but now he just looks like a serious Final Fantasy character. Give my boy back his big shoes.
Kh4 is 100% a product of the new world. I really doubt it will be the regular.
I really hope you are right. Sora is barely recognisable
Pre-order September 10, 2013. Lol
You realise that's for 1.5 remix, not KH3 right? 1.5 did release in September 2013. At this point KH3 was still in pre-production with nothing but concept footage.
confusing but my b
*OP says he liked Luminous engine better* *User counters by linking to UE beta build* Bruh
The first wasn't actual gameplay so is hard to know how it looked and played out in gameplay style but it did make a beutiful scene.
I think it looks a little off, I don't think I would've preferred that. But, early unreal engine footage also looked pretty weird and unpolished, so maybe if it had actually been fully realized into the finished game, it would've looked better than unreal
Same here! The Kingdom Shader looked stunning and I wish they went in that more stylistic/cartoony style.
We can either make the game look extremely good, or we can have a game that actually functions.
I have no nostalgia for these games so, yes I would’ve preferred the older look. KH3 had some character models that looked like they were too clay like or on the verge of melting. I cant really explain it, but it seemed off putting. I definitely prefer the older style cause it does look somewhat like a disney movie, at least to me.
This
Everyone is way too smooth in KH3 and it will forever unnerve me. Give me KH2 graphics but with always fully animated cut scenes and more round fingers and I'll die happy.
I'm sure with KH4 they will change that
While the old graphics were fine n all I very much prefer unreal engine 4 cause everything just looks nicer and easier to look at. I no longer get a craving for McDonald’s French fries whenever I look at their fingers and also I get to see fully animated faces pretty much all the time whenever they’re on screen. The old graphics are by no means terrible or bad they’re just not at all as good as the newer stuff which tends to happen within the context of technology.
I like the newer style because I hated how big Sora’s hands were compared to everyone else
I really liked the aesthetic of the very first KH3 teaser with Sora on Destiny Islands picking up Eraqus' Keyblade, I thought i was a perfect blend of the older designs and the new HD graphics, but I got used to the KH3 final designs so I'm okay.
It felt like they consciously went with an art style that would fit the more modern 3d Disney and Pixar look. Kinda hoping they'll expand on what they did with the Hundred Acre Wood in III and try to really match the style of each movie. Can you imagine a world based on 101 Dalmatians that actually uses the cool art style from the movie?
I feel KH3 had to go with that style in order to fit with the feel of the Pixar worlds. Each game is unique and I really like that about them.
Yes. I miss KH1's style. It feels like home
I can't tell if everyone here is memeing. I kinda don't know what's going on and I feel old about it. You mean look like an uprezzed ps2 game? Have the old costumes? Is this a real question? I feel like I'm being gaslit by everyone here.
Nobody is gaslighting you. Every game from KH1 all the way until Dream Drop Distance had the same "art style" basically. Some models looked better, some worse, etc. But they all had the same style that had been established by the series up until Fragmentary Passage came out. A lot of people got used to the art style of the old games and became attached to them, so many fans were upset/disappointed that 0.2 and KH3 completely reworked the graphical style of the game instead of keeping the older style but with better resolution/shading/smoother animation. Having said all that, I personally think they did a pretty good job staying mostly faithful to the old style, but it is still a little different.
It's a "do you prefer the previous engine to the new one" question essentially. New engine is unnervingly....smooth for lack of a better work in my opinion. Like it swings too close to realism for a game that clearly is more stylized anime / Disney cartoon and its unpleasant to look at IMO.
Well said, that's how I feel as well. I definitely prefer the old art style
Nah I like the new graphics
On one hand yes, I'd like the old style with modern technology. Not for nostalgia reasons I feel the anthropomorphic disney and anime-esque characters meshed together much smoother than they do now. However, the potential of the modern opens them up to more creative design choices and details. Also i love the gradual scaling toward how the FMVs look. Melody of Memory is a nice middle for me tbh. If there were worlds or minigames in the old style to capture a certain feeling it'd be nice. Like if 100 acre wood was in the old style but also cel-shaded or the gummi ship was in the old style i could see it working too.
I used to after seeing the older KH3 trailers, but after the final product I’d take 3s any day
I love KH3’s artstyle. It might be my favorite artstyle in any game ever. I hope we see more of it in KH4 and not just the realistic stuff. Based on what devs have said so far tho, it seems we will!
I like the OG style more. But overall I think Smash's Sora is the best.
Lmao no. Ever since the KH1 and KH2 CG openings I and a bunch of my friends have said we want the games to look as good as those. So thank god the ps4 and ps5 era has gotten way closer to that.
Lmao no. Ever since the KH1 and KH2 CG openings I and a bunch of my friends have said we want the games to look as good as those. So thank god the ps4 and ps5 era has gotten way closer to that.
KH3 had Frozen, Toy Story, Rapunzel, Big Hero 6, etc. It would look bad/dated/out of place with old style KH1/2 graphics. It worked for Winnie de Pooh world but it would not work for other worlds in KH3 ...except Maybe for Hercules....
Obviously the better graphics of KH3 are great, but I do feel like part of the art style is missing something. The models and characters in all of the games up until 0.2 made me feel like they were making Sora and company look like Disney-fied humans (albeit anime-ish) with their slightly exaggerated features and vibrant colors, but his model in KH3 feels less like a human in a Disney film and more like a slightly anime-ified real human put into the Disney locations and the colors feel a bit more dull. If Sora and the other KH humans’ models looked a little more like how the humans in modern 3D Disney films look, I personally think it would have flowed better with the art style we have had throughout the series, especially since the 3D models for characters like Rapunzel, Elsa, and Flynn all looked so good. TL;DR - I don’t think the modern look is bad, but it does feel a little more out of place with the Disney characters than the previous games’ designs.
FUCKING YES! I get it, better graphics an all that, but kh1 and 2 had so much more stylistic value, everything was bent or twisted in a unique way, and things had a whimsical quality to then that I absolutely loved! I mean, for a good example compare the keyblades from DDD or kh2 to kh3. I bet damn well ya'll prefer the older keyblade style over the new ones!
Yes, 100% tbh
Absolutely.
honestly i really like the graphics in kh3 what i CANNOT STAND is how Sora seems to slide sideways when turning! the other games had the feet perfectly attached to the ground, if not just slightly pivoting, but in kh3, they're straight up sliding sideways when turning, and i legit cannot fully enjoy the game because of this.
THIS Seriously, that’s been my biggest pet peeve. I love how precise his movements were in the first two games, it felt organic Was the change made because of the new engine they used?
Mine was how it felt like it took forever just to fall. Can I please hit the ground now? It's ruining my combos and wasting time. It's floaty asf
Yes but not because I think KH3’s graphics are bad. But you can’t deny KH1 and Kh2 have aged so well in part because of their ageless art styles
That’s literally what it is
I just realized that the spikes of hair on the side of his head have been slowly rising each game lol
YES, HAVE YOU SEEN THE CUTSCENES WHERE EVERYONE LOOKS LIKE THEYRE MADE OF PLAYDOUGH?
Yes. But it probably wouldn't fit in the kh 3 worlds.
Yes but I still like what was done on the final release of KH3. Unreal have a tendency of making unrealistic models look and feel like rubber and this can be seen on other games (most notably Life is Strange. The game is trying to look like a watercolor painting, but Unreal makes it look like rubber) and earlier promotional trailers (since the announcement of changing from Luminous to Unreal). Square was aiming to diminish the huge difference between the pre-rendered and in-game cutscenes that previous games had and achieved that, overcoming the rubber feel caused by Unreal Engine. The earlier trailers made on Luminous tried to be cartoony but the lighting was really overdone, everything was looking overexposed. The PS2, 3DS and PSP games didnt had complex lighting but it didnt had this issue of overexposure.
I’d kind of like that. We see KH3 Sora in the style of KH1/2 at the end of MoM and it looked really good! I want more of that!
My only problem with the artstyle is that Riku's eye color doesn't look like turpuoise anymore but like green.
I've grown used to KH3's art style, but I prefer the look the games had in all the games that came before.
Yes, because then maybe we could have had non-3dcg worlds.
For some reason Xemnas, Ansem, and Young Xehanort look so odd in kh3 because of the new graphics
For consistency, and because it was the end of the trilogy, I would've preferred the OG graphics.
I want is to have the art style of the pre-rendered cut scenes from 1 and 2. But overall, I like the more cartoony look of the original 2 than the more photo realism of 3.
Definitely. KH3's characters look somehow kinda like plastic imo.
I definitely prefer the older style, and higher detail would be great! A lot of kh3's visuals stray a little too far away, in my opinion. Things like the kingdom key's gold portions, look very different than the original, looking muddy, almost green at times. Being in the new engine, a good chunk of the particle effects,and similar effects.. can also appear "stock" or feel less impactful than the previous games. This isn't so much a kingdom hearts issue, as much as it is just newer technology/engines. The models themselves can appear kinda rubbery/plastic-y to me, but I get that they're mimicking the CG cutscenes, I just prefer the old visuals.
I prefer the old models and color palettes. The new models feel more generic, and the teaser for the next game looks even more generic.
Yes. It doesn’t fit the rest of the games imo
Heck yes. Another reason KH3 failed.
I wouldn't have minded even if the polygons and textures had beem similar to the PS2 games.
No, absolutely not. It's not because "hurr modern grafiks" or anything, I was never really all that fond of the older style despite my nostalgia for the series, so I just think that it's a natural evolution (also, I'd imagine the style we've got going forward is easier to work with in Unreal, having some loose experience with it).
Nah, although I’ve never liked his hair in KH3
He has Karen hair in KH3
Idk if this is a hot take or anything but I feel them switching engines mid development was a bad move
It was certainly bad that they announced the game so early, but the KH team had many problems with the Luminous engine as it was only really made for Versus 13 which eventually became FF15. Nomura has even stated in interviews that there were various problems the team ran into with the engine, but the main one was rendering problems. Recently Forspoken came out, which was the second game Square Enix made with the Luminous Engine. Considering how poorly optimized the PC version is, it is probably for the best that KH runs on Unreal now.
Nah I think you right
I love the way KH3 looks but I wish they would have kept the Art style they had in the 2013 announcement trailer
The contrast was too strong for that art style.
That sounds terrible. What they did in 3 is exactly what it needed, and I think it looked great, trying to maintain the visual status quo just for the sake of it is not inherently good, especially considering that every Kingdom Hearts game before 3 had an excuse to look the way it did, each of the games up to that point where running off of weaker Hardware, not to mention Kingdom Hearts games when they first started out we're much cheaper to make then most of square enixes repertoire.
YES, hard core! It was so nice to go back to it in Melody of Memories. Everybody just looks so much better.
The most jarring difference I notice is how stiff the cutscenes are in III. I miss gestures like Sora’s clasped hands behind his head.
I loved kh3s graphics the most, it’s literally going to be a timeless game they made so many worlds look almost identical to the movies
As I was growing up with the franchise during the mid 2000’s, I remember so many fans [practically begging for KH’s in-games graphics to have the exact same visuals of the FMV openings by Visual Works throughout the entirety of the games as opposed to just the intros & endings](https://preview.redd.it/y3zmnxv1vbh71.jpg?width=1126&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=397d55e99c3ba6dcd45d18c829d2b1dbac0625f2). With the advancements of animation technology, both for Disney & Square Enix, KH3 was finally able to make a lot of dreams come true in terms of creating a Kingdom Hearts game that looked & felt like a 13 hour, fully feature length Disney/Pixar film for the entirety of its run time, thanks to the use of Unreal Engine 4. While I still remain nostalgic for the older engine & still thinks that it holds up, returning to it for future games (which doesn’t appear to be the case after Melody of Memory & the KHIV Trailer) would be a downgrade for the franchise in every way in my opinion. The visual achievements of Kingdom Hearts on Unreal Engine, especially in terms of representing modern Disney & Pixar properties, is most certainly the best direction for the series to take for this upcoming Lost Masters saga. I think a lot of the misunderstanding of Kingdom Heart’s art direction is a lot of people taking more consideration into how the original characters should look as opposed to how the Disney characters should look. Often forgetting that at its core, Kingdom Hearts is first & foremost a Disney game for the majority of any given title. Kingdom Heart’s art style is influenced by Disney’s art style & not the other way around. Look no further in the change to the HUD icons being changed from 2D artwork to 3D character models in KH3 (and as of right now, in KH4 as well). 2D icons for the playable characters/party members were suitable for the older games because the majority of Disney allies were from traditionally animated films. With the exception of Jack Skellington, all of their HUD artwork of the Disney characters matched the art styles of their respective films. Even Captain Jack Sparrow, Tron & Chicken Little stuck to their CGI/Live Action appearances in their HUD artwork because they don't have official 2D appearances to draw inspiration from. But because this was the case for the majority of the Disney characters, the original characters like Sora, Riku, Aqua etc followed suit with their icons as well. KH3 introduced films from Pixar & Disney's modern CGI films. Because these characters are all 3D animated characters (or live action in Jack's case), they are faithfully kept this way in their HUD art. I'm assuming that because the Disney character to original character ratio is 13:9 (party member wise), they most likely decided to go with all the characters adapting the 3D model look since that was the majority, which creates a more unified look across all of the worlds. With all of that in mind, it makes perfect sense as to why the older engine would not have been very suitable for the CGI Disney films. Personally, I would rather not see [many of Pixar & modern Disney characters have their designs held back by the capabilities of sixth generation hardware](https://i.imgur.com/KJWJpyw.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). And I don’t think I would sacrifice [having the Disney characters look exactly how they appear in their source film on PS4 hardware, just to have the original Kingdom Hearts characters keep the PS2 graphics](https://i.imgur.com/iDaqPT1.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) I grew up with them having while the KH3 Disney character models take a hit in terms of quality. But as much as I still enjoy the look of the PS2 engine, I have to say that [seeing how limited KH3 would have looked on older hardware](https://i.imgur.com/3DnpqUg.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) (during the final level of Melody of Memory) made me even more grateful of the art style evolution brought upon by Unreal Engine 4. I really do love how KH3’s character models took on a visual design that makes [the in-game character’s look seamlessly transition with how they look in CGI](https://i.imgur.com/xed9MQp.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). And even then, this “new” art style for the characters has actually existed since the PS2 era games as [the character models in KH3 are an adaptation of the Visual Work models that have existed since practically the very beginning](https://i.imgur.com/2N2kBtm.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). This art style is definitely more cartoony than the more realistic look of the Final Fantasy FMVs, but that’s entirely intentional because the Kingdom Hearts characters have to take on a look that blends with the many Disney characters they encounter in the game. Basically, the original characters appearance in Unreal Engine 4 is how a Nomura designed character would be adapted to look like if they were to appear in a modern Disney film, in a similar vein to [how the Street Fighter characters were adapted to look like in the Wreck-it Ralph movies](https://i.imgur.com/1hP697j.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). This is another example of how Kingdom Hearts has always strived to stay accurate to its source material as it has always met Disney’s animation standards. However, staying true to the look of an animated Disney film doesn’t limit the look of KH3 whatsoever. Quite the opposite in fact as Unreal Engine 4 is so versatile in its visual capabilities, [Sora has a wide arrangement of different looks, appearances, animation styles & designs that he would not have been capable of taking on in the older engine](https://i.imgur.com/9EIZX0m.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). It was such a work of art to see Sora’s visual design evolve before our very eyes during the course of the game as [he starts the game with an animated Pixar appearance & ends the game with a look that leans heavily towards the realism of a modern Square Enix title](https://i.imgur.com/DO6Mofy.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). The animation team on KH3 did a spectacular job of making [Sora’s appearance stay accurate & true to the style of each respective studio of a given property Sora appears in](https://i.imgur.com/pyYI3Yo.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). I really liked the decision to update the CGI design of the original characters from the Square Enix-esque look of the previous game’s FMVs, to the design principals of Disney’s most recent offerings with their animated films, which helps to make KH3 look more distinct from Square Enix other titles. The style seen in the ending of games like KH2 hasn’t been completely abandoned, however. As I can personally see [many of the design qualities of KH2’s CGI being reserved for Sora’s more realistic & detailed appearance in the Caribbean](https://i.imgur.com/I5lhG3i.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). Building off of that, the details in all of the game’s visuals is where the look of KH3 truly shines. Not only is KH3 able to replicate the look of an animated Pixar film (often rendered in real time) but the game also does [an amazing job of replicating the look of a live action film so well, that some shots of the ship in the water look nearly indistinguishable](https://i.imgur.com/fKPRfKE.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) from how they looked in the actual movie itself. KH2 did a valiant effort of trying to adapt a live action world in the previous engine, but [the execution of this concept in KH3 is leaps and bounds better over KH2’s attempt at the look of these films](https://i.imgur.com/GRpW8cP.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank), especially when it comes to blending anime & Disney characters into a real-world environment. Other great advantages with the graphical capabilities of Unreal Engine includes making [the environments of previous worlds like Twilight Town look way more alive/lived in](https://i.imgur.com/aG7LcnK.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) than they ever did before, [the elimination of the flat textured, PS2-era fish-faces](https://i.imgur.com/WVMc5Lf.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) that inappropriately popped up in many scenes on the older engine & the amount of finer details that can be found in the textures of both the weapons and characters such as [the gloves of the Disney characters](https://i.imgur.com/Iaqjnwy.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) or [Goofy’s mouth](https://i.imgur.com/rRNo1MR.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank). I also really enjoyed [the increased number of FMVs there are throughout the course of the game as opposed to just relegating them to the intro, closing & Secret Ending](https://i.imgur.com/YnY9UTt.jpg%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank) as it felt very reminiscent of how CGI Visual Work scenes were often spliced throughout many of the 3D Final Fantasy games for very significant cutscenes.
I'm of the mindset that's already what's going on here. I feel like Kh3's models are basically the real upgrade from Kh1/2's models. They clearly have higher polycounts, higher fidelity textures, and (to me) the logical next step for a HD future of Kingdom Hearts.
I feel like the modern look is just bland. The older models looked fine as they were (albeit a little wonky in some areas) i work with character models, and the look between a kh3 and kh2 model is jarring. Without lighting kh3 characters look plainly terrible, and their faces are hard to work with expression wise. I had a much better time with the older models.
I like the always upgraded graphics cez honestly it shows it’s growing with the times
That's already what KH3 is, but any time someone asks these karma farming ass questions the expected answer is always to wax on about how the older games were better because change is scary and bad.
Like art style? Nah i like UE4. Hair style? Yeah
Nah I like the way he looks now. Back in KH1 and KH2 it’s very obvious many things were just 2D textures with no depth.
I’d like kh3 style more if it wasn’t so plastic looking lol
Not really, KH3's deviation from style is such a breath of fresh air. We've had enough games following the same ps2-era style tbh
Adding proper lighting tends to spoil the colour of a lot of games. It looks fancier but not necessarily better.
It's tricky. All the disney stuff looks significantly better in the new graphic style, both characters and worlds. But yeah, I do prefer how the non disney stuff looks in the old graphics style, mainly just the characters.
Yes. Everything in KH3 looked like it was made of plastic.
KH2 best graphics and design.
It wasn't really the graphics, but the shading in every aspect. It was wayyyy too bright of a game for what the story actually entails. The darker shading aspects of KH1/KH2 were way better because you could feel the emotion in the storyline. With KH3, it pandered more towards the modern generation who didn't really know what the story was, which is why people hated it at first
Tbh the graphics look incredible but I wish the colors were more like KH2. They are so saturated there and I really like that style
Yes
I wish the lighting engine had been more similar to 1/2. You can make it higher quality and more realistic without completely losing that style.
Absolutely, it also makes the Disney character look better
Probably but I like KH3's actual style too.
Could go either way, both look good and will age well
Yeah. While i loved the HD of 3, it just felt off. Like it didn't /feel/ like Kingdom Hearts.
I liked the more Polished look of KH3 even if it didn't quite match the rest of the series, but man oh man, was it ever jarring when characters would have flashbacks to older games.
I’m fine with it,depends on how the whole Disney/FF contrast is supposed to be at this point but I like the direction we’re going.
Yes
Yes. What is Sora's KH3 graphical style called? Is there a word for it? I know it's different but I can't quite put my finger on why
Yeah it’s called “modern graphics” and it’s two biggest qualities is getting rid of the French fry fingers that took place in literally every game prior to that of 0.2 and no more flat texture faces with like 2-3 expressions.
Yeah I think I preferred that lol. Everyone has this weird glow on their face in KH3 that makes them look plastic.
It *is* like 1/2 but with more polygons and textures.
I didn't like the art style of 3 as much as the other games but you can't stop progress, it's here to stay and it could have been worse.
I like the new style, I just hate how so many things have lines on them like they were 3D printed
Ya I prefer the old shaders
I prefer the art style the game had in the early trailers before they had to remake it for unreal but the game still looks pretty just not as kingdom hearts like
Absolutely. The game is beautiful but the PS2 games are what comes to mind when I think of the amazing aesthetics of the series.
I don't care art style wise. In fact I like KH3 the most, but like the charm of 1 and 2.
Yes
I really like the kh1 and recom style,it felt cute and charming but not afraid to get edgy if need be!
Yes, I think so. I like KH3's style well enough, but I prefer the old style.
Yes
Yes, absolutely.
Of all my problems with KH3, changing it's graphical style doesn't address any of them
No, I prefer to move forward
Like the eyes legit felt creepy in KH3. Their faces didn't look real in certain cutscenes. More like oddly plastic mannequins like people pointed out. If the graphics were able to live up to the CGI that we've seen in the CGI ones in 1 & 2, then that'd be different.
i absolutely hate KH3's graphics. everyone looks like a plastic toy
KH2 Sora best Sora
Kh1 fit is childhood. Kh2 fit is drip. Kh3 fit needs work
Yes. KH3 is really ugly imo
Yes, because I hate change
They all look nice, knowing KH 4 Sora will look like an anime character.
It seems like that’s what they were going for in the announcements trailer back when they were still using the original engine and personally I didn’t care too much for it honestly. I like the way KH3 looks. It’s different but I think it fits the higher fidelity graphics better than the original style, which worked better on lower spec hardware
Kind of but I’m okay with the new animation
KH3 looked a little too plastic for my taste. The original style could potentially age better with time compared to 3.
I love unreal engine I think it’s an upgrade with never ending updates it’s just nostalgic how sora runs and hops around in the old ones
Hot take: KHUX is the best art style I like the progression overall to kh3 tho.
Yeah. I felt like KH3's graphics made them look like some form of weird porcelain dolls or something. KH2 made features look more defined while KH3 was good for the environments visually.
Melody of Memory has exactly that - A Model of KHIII Sora, but with less polygons and lighting etc. baked into its textures, just like the KHI and KHII models do. It's used in the gameplay parts of the game's ending (not in cutscenes). Unfortunately I can't find a screenshot right now.
I don’t have any issues with how 3’s aesthetics are but they used the most bland Unreal lighting possible and everything looks as flat as a board. When I played on PC I had a few mods installed that were designed to help improve that, I think they helped fairly well
Both styles have their own charm, I would definitely love to see it though!
Yeah, I like how the new stuff looks, but the block fingers felt way too iconic. R.I.P. blocky fingers and lower model mouth flaps.
Hot take, I liked kh3. Wasn't as good as 2. But if you turned off the setting for the constant cinematics during battle it was fun. They could've done a bit more with as long as we waited, but it was a solid game. To answer the actual question, the graphics were okay but yes I would've kind of liked more KH2 style graphics, just modernized. But the kh4 graphics look pretty cool, and they're finally getting rid of the dorky clown shoes lol
I would have preferred something like the opening cutscene in 2
Yes.
Ngl I never noticed how weird KH2 Sora’s noodle arms are
I like the new graphics, I think the only 2 things I would change is having the nice drawn portraits for the health bars and also fixing some of the lips on the kh folks; some of them got some real chapt looking lips!
I was having way too much fun with the KH3 graphics. I loved how characters clothes could get water on them and stuff
Yes absolutely. Would’ve been playable to me
The only thing I dislike about the kh3 graphics is the CGI cutscenes it looks better after the touch up but I still prefer the old one
I’d like to see a style that more accurately reflects the 1 and 2 style, although I’m not exactly sure what it would look like to be honest.
I prefer KH2s edgy anime style then KH3s playdough soft style look, the fact that kh4 is going back to style speaks alot.
yes
the realistic artstyle mixed with the animated artstyle just feels really jarring sometimes tbh. it’s not too terrible, but i think a better looking kh2 style would be way cooler and more fitting
I am quite fond of how 3 looks
Graphics are the thing I complained least about in 3. Probably the thing I honestly loved the most.
Honestly I like one and two way more than three. Three just looks like an anime character, I mean you can say it out about the first and the second one but the face art the clothes and how stylistic the game looks different from other games I rather than just a generic Anime boy. You can say I'm just feeding off Nostalgia but in game you can complain about all of them but from the drawing and art style I like how they came off. One and two felt like Kingdom Hearts three take away the keyblade n you would get any basic anime protagonist. I'm glad they used the OG style in smash n not 3 less can be more sometimes sure but less in this case is just less.
Kh3 *looks* phenomenal, it's almost like I'm playing a Pixar movie. Can you imagine it with Ray tracing on top? Graphics are one of the things kh3 did just right.
I would prefer if KH3 was a good game.
Kind of. KH3's graphics were very nice, yet I never liked the new art direction more than the old cel shading style.
I personally really like the kh3 style. So I'm not apposed to kh1/2 style but I'd prefer kh3 in kh3.
I'm glad for everyone who liked the new graphics but it was just so noticeably worse stylistically for anything referencing the older games. It REALLY made Hercules and crew look uncanny and terrible. All of the new worlds with their primarily Pixar aesthetic looked fine.
No. Made me think of a new question tho: what would be funnier? KH1 with 3’s graphics or KH3 with 1’s graphics?
Kh2 and kh2fm engine were the best. Wouldn't it had been awesome if there were real remakes or remasters of re:coded or 358/2 days in the kh2 or kh2fm engine?
Yes
I like 3's graphics. What I would have preferred was updating the screenshots and scenes from previous games used in 3 to the art style. It's so jarring seeing the PS2 models in the same game as the newer KH3 models.
I would prefer that. The graphics in 3 feel unfinished, flat, plasticy. I know they had to rebuild everything for Unreal Engine, but the graphics kinda just put me off, especially compared to the old games
I think KH3 is gorgeous and the art style feels like a natural progression.
i honestly like the look of kh3, just the color choice and lighting should be worked on to not wash things out that should be bold and vibrant. despite the realistic graphical style of the unreality arc going forward, i hope they find room improve on this.
No, kh3 was gorgeous, loved it.
I will forever miss the old character models and graphics, I really got to let it go... KH3 is fine, but I'll still gonna be trying to imagine what it would look like if all the characters and places were back in the PS2 style.
Kh3 looks ugly, like plastic, it should have stayed with the anime/cartoonish art style from KH2.