Kingdom Hearts is a series with a huge and loyal fanbase. And why shouldn’t it? It’s Disney and Square Enix together for a magnificent, high fantasy world. And still, none of us here at Zab Productions have ever actually played any Kingdom Hearts. To help us get an idea of how true fans are feeling right now with the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 just a few short days away, Rachel Williams sat down with longtime series fan, Savanna, to ask her some questions.
So, Kingdom Hearts 3 is coming out this month! How excited are you?
Savanna: There are no words that can describe my excitement. This game is a part of my childhood and after 10 years of tracking and trailing this series and recent developments, I’m stoked for the 3rd game!
Did you preorder it? If not, do you plan to buy it on its release day?
Savanna: I have a problem; yea, I pre-ordered it. Ironically, I didn’t pre-order when they announced it because I wanted to be certain of when the game came out. The announcement for the game was in 2014 and 5 years later the date was announced. Yea, I think I was kinda hoping the price would change, but it didn’t, oh well.
What platform do you plan to play the game on? How are the game developers are taking advantage of the features of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One?
Savanna: Personally, I prefer the PS4. I’m just a Sony fan. The hardware change is nothing new. Kingdom Hearts has been on a total of 9 platforms throughout the series (PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP, DS, 3DS, GBA, Xbox One and a mobile phone). As an avid gamer of the series, I’ve been on this pain train. You could say I’ve probably given over $1000 to the company just to keep up with everything. It’s dumb, but I like the game series and the internet wasn’t a full thing.
What is the thing you’re most looking forward to in this installment of Kingdom Hearts?
Savanna: The Dark Seeker Saga ending! I, like most fans, am probably done with the series. But I still love it and will probably play any other saga Square Enix comes up with. All that aside, I also look forward to seeing how the story ends. There’s a ton of theories and speculations that are legit driving me crazy trying to piece together, so at this point I just wanna see how the developers want this to end.
Are there any areas where you’re really expecting the developers to outdo themselves?
Savanna: Flow-motion was a piece from KH3D that I truly enjoyed, but I really look forward to the final fight going out with a bang. We’ve waited and falsely waited for nearly 13 years for this series to properly end, so as fans we’d expect it to end with a bang. (Also, I think someone’s gonna die!)
A big theme in Kingdom Hearts is the power of friendship. How do you connect with this message?
Savanna: I personally identify with this message because I tend to put my friends and family above many trivial things in life. Growing up, I had a hard time relating and communicating with my family, so friends became my solace. Friends, in a great way, can become your family away from your family.
Who’s your favorite character? Why?
Savanna: This is sad, according to the fanbase, but Sora. We live in a world focused on pessimism and critique. So to have such an optimistic, light-hearted and basically fun character lead such a convoluted tale allows me to continually come back to it. He can be dumb, like really dumb, LIKE FOR REAL WHY IS HE SO DUMB SOMETIMES? But in the end, his way of seeing the light in such grim situations is a breath of fresh air, especially when you realize that he’s technically an accident when it comes to this whole series.
Have any theories about how the Dark Seeker Saga will end?
Savanna: Someone is going to die! Which makes me sad, but this is a theory that I don’t think we’ll be able to fight. Someone is going to die and I’m going to cry. (Maybe it’s Donald; he never properly healed us anyway) Also, Marluxia might start a new saga. There’s no backing behind it; he’s the only one someone competent and evil enough to keep this series going
What makes Kingdom Hearts such a special series to you?
Savanna: I enjoy video games, but as an adult, I can’t enjoy them as much as I would like to. Kingdom Hearts was the first video game I ever got, and I was good at it. Growing up, my brother was always better at video games than me, so to find a game that I love more than him and can play and understand fueled my competitiveness as a child. (I have a problem.) Following this game series through Tetsuya Nomura’s terrible writing is kinda an accomplishment, in a lackluster way, but it’s something I’ll be able to tell my friends and family as I get older. (And you thought Star Wars was a struggle to follow)
Anything else you want to say to fellow fans?
Savanna: To the old fans: LET ME KNOW WHERE YOU ARE SO WE CAN MAKE NEW FRIENDS! To new fans: BUY THE SERIES, and be lucky you didn’t endure the pain like some of us.
Kingdom Hearts 3 comes out on January 25, 2019 for Xbox One and Playstation 4
Written by: Rachel Williams
