Line #93 YMMV/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: A reasonably popular interpretation of the ending argues that [[spoiler:Sora was actually distraught over failing the exam and had to put on a happy face to congratulate Riku. Note that he immediately runs off to [[FuzzTherapy cuddle with cute neon animals]]]].
2	* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper:
3	** The Dream Eaters provide much help, but not when one of the link portal challenges involves blocking enemy attacks. When their instinct is AttackAttackAttack (unlike Donald and Goofy in the main games, changing your Dream Eaters' battle habits is a bit more complicated), you need to simply block before the spirits destroy the nightmares.
4	** The Zolephant Dream Eater can be a hindrance even in standard combat. One of its attacks involves it using its trunk to pull enemies towards it. This is helpful if you're surrounded, but if you have the enemies right where you want them and wish to use an area command to defeat them all, the Zolephant might just end up pulling them all to safety, and wasting your Command slot.
5	* {{Anvilicious}}: Whenever Sora or Riku finish a world, they deliver a monologue and it ''always'' plays ThePowerOfFriendship trope straight with glee.
6	* AssPull:
7	** [[spoiler:Xehanort having time-traveling abilities, which he used to gather incarnations of himself across time]]. There aren't many sources in-universe explaining that he has this.
8	** The notion that the χ-Blade can only ''really'' be forged by 13 darknesses clashing with 7 lights and that Xehanort's attempt to forge it in ''Birth By Sleep'' by a single powerful darkness clashing with an equally powerful light was a hasty and improper attempt, especially because nothing like this was ever mentioned in ''Birth By Sleep''; in fact, the blade ''was'' properly forged in that game but "the attempt ended in failure" only because it was ultimately destroyed by Ven and Aqua. It's likely Xehanort didn't even want to acknowledge their efforts given what little he thinks of them.
9	* BestLevelEver:
10	** [[Film/TronLegacy The Grid]] seems to get the most love from fans, thanks to the Light Cycle challenge and [[spoiler:the boss battle with Rinzler]]. It helps that its predecessor world, [[Film/{{Tron}} Space Paranoids]], is also popular with fans, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff especially in Japan]].
11	** Symphony of Sorcery. This world replaces Sora and Riku's battle noises with musical sounds, fitting since it's a ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' world. The world includes several sequences from the film, all with their original music. Also, ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' means SceneryPorn (in a cutscene, even Young Xehanort has to say what a beautiful world it is) and SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic come as standard. Still not convinced? Riku gets to fight [[BreakoutVillain Chernabog.]]
12	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
13	** This game really left fans divided on whether [[spoiler:Master Xehanort (the old man himself, not his younger [[TheHeavy Heavy]])]] is an effective ArcVillain or an irritating InvincibleVillain responsible for just about everything the series's story is often criticized for. Two things almost everyone agrees on, however, are (A) [[spoiler:Creator/LeonardNimoy]] nevertheless performed him well, and (B) the out-of-nowhere [[spoiler:TimeTravel]] was definitely not his highest point by any stretch of the imagination.
14	** Lea. Fans are very divided as to whether or not restoring him was a good move. Supporters say that Axel's "death" in Kingdom Hearts II was a result of CutsceneIncompetence and that he deserved a second chance at life to make amends for his actions and offers a new dynamic to the Hero's team. Detractors meanwhile feel bringing back Axel in everything but name completely destroys the emotional [[RedemptionEqualsDeath impact of his story]] and offers nothing new to the narrative beyond sprouting a catchphrase that has long been overdone. Similarly, there is also a divide over [[spoiler:Lea getting a keyblade. Either it allows for Lea to become even more badass or it further cheapens the importance of keyblades and makes Lea's fighting style less unique]]
15	* BreatherBoss: [[spoiler:Chernabog]] is less of an actual boss fight and more of an extended Dive sequence. Your normal commands are locked, your Dream Eaters aren't present, and you have to perform a Dive to deliver a single hit to the boss, after which you'll be knocked back to start another Dive. He'll take at least three hits to take out.
16	* CatharsisFactor: [[spoiler: ''All'' of the Xehanort fights. Master Xehanort still has not truly paid for his horrible crimes from both ''Birth By Sleep'' and this game, but bludgeoning his alternate selves with a giant key, powerful commands, and Flowmotion certainly helps--even if they all survive the battles seemingly no worse for wear.]]
17	* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Not as bad as the other two Command Deck games due to Dream Eaters being required to gain most new commands, and the lack of anything as truly outrageous as Thunder Surge or Judgment Triad, but Balloonra and Balloonga manage to outshine most other commands anyway courtesy of [[DeathOfAThousandCuts multiple hits for high damage]]. The big new winner, however, is Shock Dive, a Flowmotion attack command that strikes a large area for high damage and is easily repeated by rolling into a wall, jumping off and pressing the attack button. Only certain lategame enemies are capable of responding to it effectively, and the ease with which it can be performed makes most deck commands irrelevant except in boss battles.
18	* ContinuityLockout: The secret ending of ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Re Coded]]'' is necessary to understand what is actually going on and why Xehanort is returning despite both Ansem and Xemnas having been killed.
19	* DemonicSpiders:
20	** Aura Lions and Keeba Tigers constantly spew copies of themselves that block your hits and home in on you, have a good chunk of HP, and can randomly become invulnerable while they jump and dive into the ground, damaging anyone on impact.
21	** Black Guards in The Grid. They are fast, hit hard, have a staff combo that can stunlock you to death, and have a habit of throwing bombs around that explode even if the guards themselves are stunned.
22	* EndingFatigue: This game's rendition of The World That Never Was. In Sora's half of the world, the story begins with him running into antagonists immediately, they proceed to give him a long InfoDump of the KudzuPlot by that point, which soon segways into a MindScrew of Sora being put into multiple dreams meant to suede him, which goes on for about ''ten minutes'' without any gameplay at all. Riku's half is no better, while it has considerably less cutscenes compared to Sora's side, it escalates into a BossRush between Anti Black Coat and two forms of Ansem, all of which are notoriously difficult bosses, fought back-to-back without a save point in between them, and once defeated, Riku battles Young Xehanort, who is even more difficult than the last three bosses. This is proceeded by another lengthy scene of Master Xehanort appearing and establishing his EvilPlan and when it seems like the game is close to ending, it turns out that it's ''still'' not over yet since Riku dives into Sora's heart to fight one more boss, speaks individually with all three people inside of Sora's heart, and then have a full conversation with a data version of Ansem the Wise, which lasts for eight minutes.
23	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
24	** [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Meow Wow]], the fat and cat-/doglike Dream Eater, along with its variations.
25	** The Aura Lion and Keeba Tiger are also popular, with many players using them on their teams just for the "[[RuleOfCool cool]]" factor. One can also say this about [[TRexpy Tyranto Rex]], which is one of the biggest, most useful and most Badass-looking Spirits you can have in your party.
26	* FanonDiscontinuity: The [[spoiler:HappyEndingOverride against the previous games]], combined with the amount of FanDislikedExplanation {{Retcon}}s (especially in [[spoiler:The World That Never Was]]), has inevitably caused some fans to invoke this.
27	* GameBreaker:
28	** The Balloon series of spells. Especially Balloonga. It can be obtained fairly early in the game, can be activated almost instantly, and can throw foes into the air with six balloon-tracking... balloons to explode on their faces. The spell can also be used as a floating mine. Hilariously enough, this spell is also pretty useful in ''Flick Rush'' itself.
29	** Zero Graviza is a nerfed replacement for the Magnet spells from [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII previous]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep installments]]. It takes longer to go up, immobilizes you longer while it's going, and can be interrupted more easily. And it's ''still'' absurdly powerful.
30	** Once Riku gets his Dark Barrier, and the counterattack associated with it, well-timed use of it allows Riku to be virtually invincible and dish out damags at the same time. It even works against bosses (though some end-game ones will wait for an opening and punish you if you try to spam it).
31	** A Riku-exclusive command, Dark Splicer, makes you a ''player character with a TeleportSpam technique''. It hits hard and is a very long combo, and besides just being strong, it can completely destroy the strategy behind the second Ansem battle. The one drawback is that you can take damage during it, but having Curaga at the ready mitigates this for the most part.
32	** Another Riku-exclusive command, is as useful as (or even more than) Dark Splicer: '''''[[CastingAShadow Dark]]''''' '''''[[TeleportSpam Aura]]''''', Riku's SignatureMove, now available as a mere 2-slot command! Given how it's ThatOneAttack in several ''KH'' games with Riku as a boss, it was to be expected.
33	** Riku gets a lot of commands that break the game in favour of him, actually: Meteor Crash is really good for chipping off damage on large bosses, or clearing groups of {{Mook}}s, and can be combined with Doubleflight to pull it off in a relatively safe manner. Dark Firaga splits into multiple balls of darkness which all do decent damage, and it can be used at range, making it another great boss killer. Meteor (also shared with Terra) can allow him to nuke in a large area around himself for notable damage akin to a Mega Flare. Dark Roll has more invincibility frames than Dodge Roll (which was nerfed in this game), and Dark Barrier is pretty much Aqua's normal Barrier move with a dark twist on it. The aforementioned Doubleflight itself can be used to pull off your long-charging commands safely, or to make it easier to get off a Cure spell. Finally, Shadow Slide lets you FlashStep behind the enemy where using the follow-up move Shadow Strike allows Riku to pull off a combo during which he's invincible to attacks (it's much better than Ventus' or Aqua's equivalents).
34	** In flick rush, Meow Wow is an expert turtler, and you can abuse it. Meow Wow's defense reward is mega-elixir, which slightly heals all allies and restores their cards. Including Meow Wow. Just throw a bunch of cards on defense whenever you're ready for an attack and the enemy will have a hard time breaking your superior numbers, which would normally be kept in check by each deck having a card limit. Then, when your attackers are ready send them out lay out some heavy damage, once again using the near infinite font of cards provided by mega-elixir to outdo your opponent with superior firepower and numbers, and you can easily win using whatever two other dream eaters you want.
35	* FanNickname:
36	** Sora and Riku's dual attack during Nightmare's End/Mirage Split has earned the name the Ball Buster Keyblade. Many fans also simply call it the [[HoYay/KingdomHearts Gayblade]]. (Officially, it's just referred to as the Combined Keyblade.)
37	** [[spoiler:The Xehaborg]] and [[spoiler:Borganization XIII]] for [[spoiler:the real Organization XIII]] after they attempt to [[spoiler:turn Sora into a Xehanort vessel]].
38	*** [[spoiler:Organortzation XIII]] and [[spoiler:Organization XIII-2]] seem to be picking up steam, especially the latter.
39	*** [[spoiler:Braignort and Isanort]] to mirror Terranort.
40	*** Some use [[spoiler: Soranort]] with the same aforementioned parallel when discussing [[spoiler: Sora falling to darkness and becoming a vessel.]]
41	** Some fans also like to refer to Young Xehanort as "Trollanort" due to [[spoiler:his boss battle being ThatOneBoss]].
42	** Portmanteau names such as Axelea and Xigbraig have been popping up as of this game, mostly to signify you're talking about the character in general, rather than a point of time in their life.
43	** Kingdom Hearts: {{Film/Inception}} [[spoiler:Riku's inside Sora's dreams in the Dream World, then goes further into his own dreams to defeat his personal foe near the end of the game.]]
44	** "Norted" or "Xehanorted" has become the term for [[spoiler:a character becoming one of Xehanort's vessels whether it be canon or not]]. Also, "Nortification" or "Xehanortification" for the process of becoming one.
45	** In line with BHK and OBM for Roxas and Xehanort, there's YMX for the younger Xehanort introduced.
46	* GeniusBonus: The text that appears after a successful "Code Break" reality shift within [[Film/TronLegacy The Grid]] is actual pseudocode. Therefore, those who understand the fundamentals of programming will understand what the text is trying to say.
47	* GoddamnedBoss: Holey Moley is not that dangerous a boss, but landing a hit can be a challenge, as he keeps warping around the large, obstacle-filled room.
48	-->'''Riku''': [[LampshadeHanging They just never want to make this easy, do they?]]
49	* GoodBadBugs: A bug exclusive to the [[UpdatedRerelease HD Remaster]] allows you to create a Spirit using the recipe of another Spirit, even if you don't have the Dream Pieces for the one you wish to create. Simply leave your cursor highlighted on the recipe of your desired Spirit and then press L1/R1 to place the cursor on one of the recipes in the top-left or bottom-right corner. The game still thinks you're highlighting your desired Spirit, but pressing A will bring the menu to the recipe your cursor was actually on. It helps that the [[TheGoomba Meow Wow]] recipe sits at the top-left of the Recipe list, allowing for some serious [[DiscOneNuke Disc-One Nukes]].
50	* HarsherInHindsight:
51	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04I-H6Ft4Gs Sora's side of La Cité Des Cloches]] is pretty bad enough, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUdgNwkXdvw Riku's side]] is even worse now that the (accidental) fire had heavily damaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019.
52	** When Sora and Neku's gang part ways, they suggest that Sora stops by Shibuya one day. ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' ends with [[spoiler:the implication that Sora is not only dead, but the Secret Ending shows Sora waking up in Shibuya the same way Neku did in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'']].
53	** The cute and cuddly nature of the game suddenly became a lot darker after the ending of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'' revealed that [[spoiler:the Dream Eaters in ''3D'' are fusions of Chirithy and their Keyblade Wielders from the ancient past, who changed form to protect their Wielders when their hearts fell asleep]]
54	* HilariousInHindsight: [=KH3D=] features [[{{Mon}} Mons]] as party members, which naturally drew comparisons to ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', one of the major aspects of this game's Mons was that it had a virtual pet aspect similar to ''VideoGame/{{Nintendogs}}'' for you to bond with them. It was rather amusing that little more than a year later, ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' was released, with introduced the Pokémon-Amie feature, which allows the player to bond with their Pokémon.
55	* HoYay:
56	** When Riku first arrives at Traverse Town, the cutscene with his first meeting with Joshua ends with Riku approaching Joshua and saying "I'll help you" while the camera pans up in order to show the animation for the new Traverse Town logo. It wouldn't be so bad by itself, but sadly said animation ''[[SexyDiscretionShot begins with fireworks]]''. Add Joshua's perceived "AmbiguouslyGay" status from [[VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou the game he's from]] and you get the picture. In addition, his English voice actor ''does not'' help this situation. ''At all.''
57	** When Sora meets Neku, their conversation eventually turns to Joshua, of whom Neku remarks "He's my...friend." The way he says makes it seem like Joshua is a bit more than just his...friend.
58	* IKnewIt:
59	** Who ''hasn't'' suspected [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney Notre Dame]] or [[VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou Neku Sakuraba]] showing up sooner or later?
60	** The idea that the game is taking place in a dream, with new, dream-based enemies.
61	** When the ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' world was confirmed, people suspected that [[BestBossEver Chernabog]] would be making an appearance. And they were right.
62	** Fans knew a world for ''Film/TronLegacy'' was coming due to the popularity of the Space Paranoids level as well as [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the movie's popularity in Japan.]]
63	** The "symbolicness" of the cover, [[spoiler: a lot of fans expected Riku to be the true hero of the story.]]
64	** We also knew that ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' would get a world sooner or later. Heck, we knew it in ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen 358/2 Days]]''.
65	** Some fans have always insisted that [[spoiler: Nobodies do actually have hearts]], despite the games claiming the exact opposite. In this game, Xemnas [[spoiler: explains that they're half right. Nobodies are indeed created with no hearts, but develop replacements for their hearts over time]].
66	** Some fans have speculated that the depths of Sora's heart looks like the Destiny Islands. They were right, as when [[spoiler: Riku dives into Sora's heart to wake him up, he finds Xion, Roxas, and Ventus on a perfect replica of the island Sora, Riku, and Kairi visited when they were younger.]]
67	* ItsShortSoItSucks: This game only has six Disney worlds, the least in any Kingdom Hearts game. Two of them (''Film/{{Tron}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'') are already in previous games in some form. Fans were displeased.
68	* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: One criticism of this game is that the combat is almost ripped straight from ''Birth by Sleep,'' a game already criticized for poor game balance and boss design. This game handles progression, balance, and boss stagger quite a bit better, but a lot of problems are still there, and the more direct changes made to the system(the Drop mechanic and Dream Eaters) are very hit-or-miss with most players.
69	* ItWasHisSled: The silver-haired youth is [[{{Superboss}} The Mysterious Figure]] from ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth by Sleep]]''. Also, his [[WhiteHairBlackHeart white hair]] and SupernaturalGoldEyes are big clues to his identity as a young Xehanort.
70	* JustHereForGodzilla:
71	** Many former fans and every fan who hates the KudzuPlot of the series are only playing this game for the ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' characters.
72	** Alternatively, some people hate the ''TWEWY'' characters as well and are only interested in seeing new Disney Worlds or simply enjoy the gameplay enough to tolerate the elements they dislike.
73	** There are also people who just play for the Dream Eaters.
74	* LowTierLetdown: Sora, mainly because many of the most [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] commands such as Dark Roll, Dark Barrier, Dark Aura and Meteor, are exclusive to Riku. While Sora's range from decent to actually pretty good, Riku just looks that much better in comparison.
75	* MemeticMolester: One of Ansem's attacks involves summoning enormous spheres of darkness and sending them towards Riku. Cue jokes about Riku being slammed in the face by Ansem's "giant black balls".
76	%%* MisaimedFandom: There are some fans who feel that Sora should have become the thirteenth vessel.
77	* MoralEventHorizon:
78	** Clu crosses it by [[spoiler:forcing Sora to fight Rinzler, before killing the latter upon his freedom]], which makes him more of a monster here than in his source film; a trait shared with only Lady Tremaine and Scar.
79	** This line outright confirms that Frollo has crossed the line when he tries to have the house of innocent people burned down due to supposedly having evidence they harbored Romani.
80	--->'''Riku to Phoebus''': "''Once you've fallen that far, there's almost no coming back''"
81	* {{Narm}}: See [[Narm/KingdomHearts here]].
82	* NeverLiveItDown:
83	** Clu [[spoiler:forcing Sora to fight Rinzler, and the resulting cutscene afterwards]] is considered in even the ''TRON'' fanbase to be one of his worst crimes, if not his ''worst''.
84	** The use of the word "gypsy" in the game's adaptation of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' has come under increasingly negative light as more people have become aware of the word being a slur. Then again, it's possible they just kept it to be accurate to the movie and the time period it takes place in.
85	* NightmareFuel: The giant clown face in Windup Way at the Prankster's Paradise world. ''The eyes actually follow you.''
86	* OneSceneWonder: Despite once again being the BigBad, Master Xehanort has far less screentime here than in ''Birth By Sleep'', and in fact only appears in a single scene. However, it is the story's climax and it has an [[WhamEpisode enormous impact]], as well as being the last time we would hear the character voiced by Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka in the Japanese version and Creator/LeonardNimoy in the English version, given the deaths of both of those actors a few years later.
87	* PlayerPunch:
88	** Not only does [[spoiler: Master Xehanort]] return while [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep the heroes whose lives he ruined]]]] remain trapped, but [[ButForMeItWasTuesday he acknowledges it when Mickey points it out]]:
89	--->[[spoiler:'''Master Xehanort''']]: I merely guided them to their proper places. [[spoiler:The broken boy, who failed to be the blade. The misguided master, who sacrificed herself for a friend. And the feckless youth who became my new vessel.]]\
90	'''Mickey''': I couldn't find a way to save 'em. But I wanted to believe their sacrifice stopped you for good.
91	** Sora's dreams in [[spoiler:the World That Never Was. Not only does the poor kid have no idea what's going on, the players get punched in the gut over and over by the sight of Terra and Aqua/Riku and Kairi turning their backs on Sora-turned-Ven, Namine looking regretful, having Xion outright run from Sora in presumed shame, and seeing Roxas transfer his memories to Sora. And that's not going into the BreakTheCutie run Sora gets throughout this that culminates in him falling into darkness and almost (presumably) dying.]]
92	** You, as Sora, ''will'' have to face off against a brainwashed [[spoiler:Tron]].
93	* PolishedPort: The 2.8 remake acknowledges the fact that the [=PS4=] doesn't have the same abilities as the 3DS and alters the game accordingly for several factors. The intro movie mixes both screens from the 3DS together[[note]]The 3DS version shows FMV visuals on the upper screen, while the lower screen displays credits and simple animations of Sorcerer Mickey reacting to the upper screen. The lower screen content is overlaid on top of the FMV visuals in the [=PS4=] version, and the creditless version of the FMV is also available in the [=PS4=] game's theater mode.[[/note]], petting Dream Eaters now uses the control stick or touchpad, and the mini-map returns to the corner of the screen as opposed to being displayed on the 3DS's lower screen. On top of that, in a ''Kingdom Hearts'' first, the gameplay now runs at a constant '''60 frames per second!'''[[note]]All games prior (including their respective remakes and remasters) were capped at 30fps.[[/note]] If anything, the only glaring issue one might have gameplay wise is that Reality Shifting can accidentally make you use a command attack since one of the buttons to activate it is the command attack button. (Which wouldn't be such a big deal, generally, except that there are some portal challenges that actually require that you complete them without using any command attacks.)
94	* RainbowLens: Towards the beginning of Riku's visit to [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney La Cité des Cloches]], he asks Quasimodo if it was really Frollo keeping him from leaving the cathedral, or if it was his own self holding him back. Later, after Quasimodo thanks him for the advice, Riku admits that he was speaking from personal experience. Phoebus responds by saying he probably still keeps a lot inside, and Esmeralda reassures Riku that everyone does that sometimes. She then follows up with, [[ClosetGay "There are just some things we need to keep separate from the world at large, at least until we have time to figure them out."]] Which sounds very much like something you'd say to a queer person upset with themself for not coming out yet. And that's not even going into Esmeralda persecuted for being [[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} Romani]], as in the source material.
95	-->'''Esmeralda:''' Judge Frollo has been hunting us for years. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything We [Romani] are guilty of nothing but loving our freedom, yet Frollo hates whatever he can't control.]]
96	* ScrappyMechanic:
97	** The Drop mechanic is viewed as irritating and somewhat pointless by quite a few critics. To summarise it, the Drop gauge depletes constantly at varying speeds, and once it empties, your current character falls asleep and you are forcibly switched to the other one. It can even happen during boss battles, and when you Drop back to that battle, it'll start over from the beginning with the boss at full health. Considering the game's difficulty, this can be ''extremely'' frustrating. And even if you do always have Drop-Me-Nots in your Deck to refill the gauge, you can still run out and it takes up a space in the Deck that could be used for something else. Although the mechanic does have some saving graces--if you're stuck with useless commands or need a boost, you can simply wait out the boss battle and then grind for DP to buy attack boosts, et cetera or switch out commands as the other character.
98	** Remember how in ''Birth By Sleep'', merely changing one command in your deck puts the whole deck on cooldown? Not only does that return here, but it has been made much more common. Dropping ''also'' puts all your commands on cooldown, meaning you have several seconds of helplessness to look forwards to if you happen to Drop during a boss fight, as does retrying after a Game Over.
99	** The way the game handles abilities is by far the worst out of any KH game when it comes to maxing out Spirits if you don't like caring for them:
100	*** Earning LP. You need several thousand LP to max out most of them, killing any enemy regardless of strength is only worth a single LP and playing minigames or feeding them isn't much faster and quickly uses up your munny reserves as well.
101	*** You also need to change each Spirit to each of their 4 possible dispositions at least once to unlock their entire Link Board, which is largely based on randomness. Playing with a Spirit has a chance of changing its disposition, and feeding them lets you change them to a ''specific'' disposition, but it's all random and can take several minutes.
102	*** In addition to the above, while Commands and some abilities remain permanently accessible on Sora and Riku after you unlock them on the Link Board, stat-boosting abilities (such as HP Boost) are not, and require you to have the Dream Eater to which they are attached in your party. So maxing out Sora and Riku's abilities and stats becomes nearly (if not completely) impossible. This is a sharp contrast to Birth by Sleep, in which any and all abilities were permanently unlocked after the command to which they were attached hit max level.
103	** In the Symphony of Sorcery, the SoundtrackDissonance - the fact that the normal pastoral music continues regardless of whether or not there are Dream Eaters present and the normal attack sounds get replaced by sounds of musical instruments. It's all very pleasant sounding, but it can really throw you off if you've come to rely on the usual audible cues.
104	** The Air Slide and WallJump Flowmotion abilities are fun to use at first, until you realize that they render every other movement-related ability pointless outside of attacking and make the non-combat portions of the game [[ItsEasySoItSucks too easy]]. The game has plenty of interesting-looking platforming challenges and puzzles with rails and bars, and you clearly ''aren't'' meant to just abuse Air Slides and Wall Jumps to get through them, but there's no real reward to [[SelfImposedChallenge traversing levels the "proper" way]] instead of just Air Sliding towards a wall, jumping off it, and Air Sliding again until you reach wherever you want to go. There is a ''single'' wall in the game that specifically prevents you from just "climbing" it that way, too, which raises the question of why they didn't use more of them.
105	** The fact that using Dodge Roll or Air Slide against a wall triggers Flowmotion, especially given how many cramped areas you fight enemies in. It's all too common to try dodging an attack using your evasive maneuvers, only for them to suddenly trigger a laggy animation with no invincibility or cancel frames that will almost always get you hit and possibly killed. ''Kingdom Hearts III'' helped by making wall Flowmotion not only safer, but also linked to an optional ability, and only triggered by Air Slides
106	** The [=PS4=] version, otherwise filled with AntiFrustrationFeatures, doesn't allow you to check the full area map during combat. This is baffling because in the original, it was on the bottom screen whenever you weren't using reality shifts or in the pause menu. It also makes it much harder to track down stray Nightmares during Link Portals, since if they're outside the range of the minimap, you're just going to have to search the entire area for them.
107	* SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer: This can easily happen with the "Spirits" menu for taking care of your Dream Eaters, since it's essentially a fully functional virtual pet simulator.
108	* SignatureScene: The conversation with [[spoiler:Master Xehanort in Where Nothing Gathers]], particularly [[spoiler:Lea's BigDamnHeroes moment]]. The fact that this ended up being the final scene in which [[spoiler:Master Xehanort was voiced by his original actors, Chikao Ohtsuka and Leonard Nimoy]], has also bumped up the scene’s significance to the fandom.
109	* TaintedByThePreview: After the hype [[AndTheFandomRejoiced/KingdomHearts3D the game is now well-known for,]] now [[http://kh13.com/news/29072-kingdom-hearts-3d-to-be-localized-in-english-german-french-only/ comes word]] that, contrary to the UK, France and Germany, the European version of ''[=KH3D=]'' won't be localized at all for Spain and Italy. While this is still better than, say, ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy]]'', not getting localized on-screen text has already resulted in... well, [[http://i.imgur.com/wE5lL.gif a call to boycott a product no one expected them to buy.]]
110	* ThatOneAttack: [[spoiler:Anti Black Coat Nightmare]]'s HPToOne move. Bad enough by itself given the consequences of getting hit by it and it coming out lightning-quick, but it also turns all your HP into health orbs and scatters them all over the floor. ''And the boss can pick them up too.'' And this is assuming he doesn't just sucker punch you before you can react or while you're scrambling to pick up your dropped health.
111	* ThatOneBoss:
112	** [[spoiler:Young Master Xehanort]]. He's fast, hits hard, has a lot of HP and can rewind time to the beginning of the battle when he hits 0 HP. The only way to defeat him is to use a Reality Shift on the clock that appears when he rewinds time and destroy it from the inside; however, you ''still'' have to keep him at bay whilst doing this, and the clock has as much HP as he does. If you don't do it in time, he simply rewinds time to the beginning of the battle and you have to start over again. The only saving grace is that, if he ''does'' rewind time, the clock does not recover any health, and his maximum HP is reduced to whatever the clock's remaining HP is.
113	** Nearly all of the endgame bosses hit this territory without Once More (which is [[GuideDangIt tricky to acquire unless you know what Dream Eaters have it beforehand]]), an ability that allows a player to survive any combo with 1 HP left over. It just so happens that the last 4 bosses are incredibly fond of melee combos and BeamSpam, [[spoiler:Xehanort's Heartless and Young MX in particular.]]
114	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Flowmotion was well received by most players for making Sora and Riku far more mobile than in any previous entry right off the bat, but others bemoan the changes to the gameplay and level design that this introduced. Every aspect of Flowmotion, from movement to attacks, are available at the very beginning of the game, meaning that there are no parts of a level that are inaccessible to the player at any time. This means that the {{Metroidvania}} element of backtracking to get previously inaccessible chests or other collectibles after having obtained some type of upgrade are gone. Flowmotion being so powerful and fast also caused the levels to be vastly expanded (particularly in regards to verticality), with hidey-holes for chests hidden conceivably ''anywhere'' (which brought back unpleasant memories of the way [[ThatOneLevel Atlantica]] was constructed in the [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI original game]]). Many fans who enjoyed getting all of the chests, [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI Trinities]], [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII puzzle pieces]], [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep stickers]], etc. in previous games found it to be a tedious, unexciting and uninteresting chore in ''3D'' - and this is not helped by the chest contents mostly being Dream Pieces and Spirit Toys, which are only relevant to a major polarizing gameplay mechanic. And since those who would've otherwise gone searching for them didn't, the game's already comparatively short length was shortened even further.
115	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
116	** Frollo and Clu are some of Disney's deepest and best-[[LoveToHate loved]] villains, so their [[FlatCharacter flatter characterizations]] in the {{Compressed Adaptation}}s of ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney'' and ''Film/TronLegacy'' turned off many fans. They don't even get boss fights, as the former is [[BaitAndSwitchBoss knocked off the Cathedral by the Wargoyle]] just before Riku can fight him, while the latter is destroyed by Kevin in a cutscene.
117	** As one of Disney's most fearsome villains, Chernabog's return was looked forward to by fans, but unfortunately he has no plot significance, and his boss fight is just a Dive section that is extremely easy to complete.
118	* UglyCute: To an extent with the Dream Eaters; Nomura designed them to be appealing to the player, but not in the conventional sense of "cute and cuddly." The result is creatures like Meow Wow, who are decidedly odd-looking but still endearing in their own way.
119	* UnintentionalUncannyValley: The Grid had Sam, Flynn, and Quorra from ''Tron: Legacy''. The faces are so realistic it's really creepy, especially when they share a shot with Riku and Sora who have kept their stylized faces. It's comparable to the ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' situation in the second game.
120	* UnexpectedCharacter: Who would’ve expected Nomura to choose [[spoiler:Julius, a villain from the obscure 1995 short ''WesternAnimation/RunawayBrain'']], to be a secret boss for this game? He only appears if you return to Traverse Town late in the game and trigger an event near a specific location, which isn’t easy to find either. Beating him will get you the [[spoiler:[[InfinityPlusOneSword Ultima Weapon]]]] as a reward.
121	* TheUntwist: [[spoiler:The silver-haired youth is a young version of Master Xehanort.]] The interviews with [[WordOfGod Tetsuya Nomura]] in the lead-up to the game didn't even bother trying to hide this. The main mystery is ''how'' does he fit into the narrative of the game and [[spoiler:seemingly coexist with his older self.]]
122	* ValuesDissonance: As in the source material, the scenes involving ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame\|Disney}}'' characters feature liberal use of the word 'gypsy', which has been increasingly viewed as a slur. ''Unlike'' the source material, ''Dream Drop Distance'' was released in 2012 -- back in 1996, the ''Hunchback'' writers might have simply been unaware of this viewpoint, but that's a lot harder to imagine for the ''Dream Drop Distance'' writers.
123	* {{Woolseyism}}:
124	** The route the English version took with the Dream Eater names. For example, the Japanese name "Wandanyan" incorporates "wonder", "''wanwan''" (a dog's bark), and "''nyan-nyan''" (a cat's meow). The English name is "Meow Wow", a combination of "wow", "meow", and "bow-wow."
125	** "Dark Fears" and "Light Hammer" became "Darkest Fears" and "Shining Hammer", respectively.
126	** Someone was having way too much fun doing his job, because most of the Dream Eater descriptions are flat-out zany.
127	** Lines from the Japanese script that would've been flat-out Narm (Riku's "If you're a Nightmare, I'll eat you whole!" and Sora's "This is the key to everyone's smiles" leap to mind) were given somewhat less silly translations.

Context YMMV / KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance