I didn't think it was possible for a game to be this disappointing, if only by the fact that it utterly failed to live up to its name. I found the entire thing to be underdone and full of wasted potential culminating in a badly written and poor ending.
The thing I value most in a game like this is the story, not just the action. Until now, every installment of Kingdom Hearts, even the ones I didn't particularly like, was full to the brim with a story worth playing the game for and each added to the tapestry of Kingdom Hearts beautifully. But Kingdom Hearts III failed in that respect. Each world I visited was lacking in detail and worthwhile adventure. At least three of them I didn't fully understand because no one bothered to actually include their story beyond the most basic, and I mean MOST BASIC, points. One would need to have already seen the movies or heard the fables the worlds relate to to understand why Elsa ran away from home and who that guy was dragging her back over his shoulder and why, why Rapunzel was locked in a tower and who Flynn was, why a three year old girl was wandering around a world full of monsters, or why a bunch of kids were running around a city made of Tokyo and San Francisco combined as super heroes! Not everyone saw Frozen or BH6 and I'd never even heard of Tangled before this. Shocking, I know, but it happens. Beyond that, I haven't watched Toy Story or Monsters Inc. in YEARS. So how the great minds of Square Enix, Disney and Pixar combined failed to take into account players who never saw the movies they based whole levels of this game on is beyond me.
As far as the graphics overhaul went, it was a masterpiece. And the new and improved gummi ship space travel angle was a lot of fun. But it seemed to me like too much of the budget went into superficial changes at the detriment of the core fundamentals which make Kingdom Hearts the epic tale it has been. Expectations were high on this, my own were certainly in the clouds despite my best efforts, and I can't help feeling let down by this development. The one ray of hope I saw was in what happened to Kairi at the end. It sounds morbid but it gives me hope that this Kingdom Hearts isn't last one which means there's still a chance for them to redeem themselves with IV (or whatever filler title they give it if they don't commit to a true next installment)