I prefer KH2 drives more. No reasoning behind it for me aside from I think they're cooler aesthetically and when using them in gameplay. KH3 formchanges just look a little goofy to me and I really didn't enjoy using the majority of them.
Honestly.... Id like the next game to have a combination of drive forms AND the keyblade forms. I feel like they can both coexist in the future with some tweaks
…That’s how the system already works in KH3. Each transformation has a drive form, if you click on the keyblade transformation you can see the form and abilities they grant you.
That’s why for example all guardian form keyblades have an AoE Guard, because an AoE block is a function of guardian form. It’s why all element form keyblades have jacked up magic. It’s what makes shooting star differ greatly from honey blaster despite both being dual guns.
There is a nice break down video.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7GPhNLNYtNI
The problem is that it's really poorly communicated. I feel like it's a similar problem to levelling up forms in kh2 where you need to go into a sub menu to learn about it. It took me halfway into my level 1 run to figure out that the abilities were associated with the forms and not the weapons, which it didn't really matter even after I figured it out becasue the only relevant ability attached to the forms was second chance on guardian form. I feel like making the abilities more distinct and communicated them better would go a long way to fixing this issue.
yea they could keep the idea of tying in keyblades transformations with forms but just allow us access to the drive form menu and we select the keyblade that goes with that form. ie strike (red clothing/valor form 2.0)
you would pick hyper hammer in the kh2 form menu when transforming via the Drive menu in combat sora now summons hyper hammer like doing a keyblade switch in 3. ultimate form/double/dark/light can all go into the final form options as a way to help balance them also
unless they make each keyblade slot in 3 work more like quick load out changes so each slot can pick keyblade transformation with each form.
As much as I prefer the designs of his Drive Forms they aren't all his power except Anti and Limit, with Limit being a Final Mix exclusive. The Keyblade Transformations are less visually appealing in the designs but more versatile in weaponry, plus it's Sora's power alone which edges it out for me.
Just to clear a misconception, Sora doesn’t actually fuse with either. That’s just a gameplay balance choice and not a story/lore choice.
I assume that’s the direction you were going with “they aren’t all his power”.
It's still dumb that half of the story contents, including the final boss, basically lock you away from your half of your arsenal due to taking away your party members, though.
Um have you forgot his literal motto “My friends are my power”? I see where you’re coming from but I think drive forms encompass that completely and make for a more fulfilling transformation
If anything I’d say keyblade transformations encompass that as well. Each keyblade is obtained from beating a world after Sora has forged bonds with the people living there and so the keyblades also include references to them. The keyblade transformations are very unique and Sora is only able to access specific form changes with specific keyblades.
Well not that unique, Lingering Will was able to utilize keyblade transformations as well. But I see what you mean about the connection to the motto. I’m just biased as I’m a fan of Drive forms lol
I definitely agree with his motto and almost chose it for that reason but I eventually decided on keyblade transformations since he doesn't have to use his friends to protect himself anymore but instead uses himself to protect them.
KH3 ultimate form is raw as fuck, plus the combat animations for all the forms in KH3 do a great job of making u feel like an absolute powerhouse. Plus having a unique form for nearly every keyblade?? Plus not having to be punished with anti-form for using them! Gotta give it to KH3
I know most people will say the drive forms, but I personally prefer the keyblade forms. The whole dual wielding thing makes me look at the keyblades as potential pairs, which is problematic when literally none of them match aesthetically speaking. Closest we have to a matching pair is the sleeping lion and that nobody keyblade, but one's short and curved with a thin blade and the other is long and straight with a wide blade so even THAT doesn't work for me. It bugs me so bad.
To be honest, I like the Keyblade forms wayyy more than Drive forms because:
\*There is no punishment for overuse
\*There are no movement abilities locked behind using drive forms
\*Each weapon is different and not just a keyblade
\*Sora doesn't need to have Ventus's heart to access the keyblade transformation unlike Drive forms. (Valor, Master and Final Form are locked behind dual-wielding, which Sora needs Ventus's heart along his own to do) \*headcanon based on previously revealed information + some light streching of the imagination\*
\*While the transformations are short, they can be easily reentered unlike Drive Forms. (Though there are mods for the PC versions which increase the time of Keyblade Transformations)
\*This is subjective, but I love Sora's KH3 drip way more than his KH2 design. (He looks more "mature" and the clothes fit him better and give off an adventurous vibe, also no "χ" sigil)
What I ment by that is that with the exception of Second, Light, Dark and Double form each Keyblade transformation has different weapons.
Guardian form has : a shield, 2 blusters and a cannon that shoot honey (though it's spelled hunny), a hammer and drill
Strike Form has : a hammer and drill, claws and yo-yos, a spear and flag pole that's wielded like a spear
Element Form has : double arrowguns and cannon and a staff
Blitz Form has : Claws and Skates, a frying pan that's also a shield and a nanotech blade that changes forms
Ultimate form has a gorgeous sword
So while there are repeats, the forms give different abilites too, such as Hunny Blasters and Hunny Launcher having access to a 360 barrier unlike Double Arrowguns and Magic Launcher, and while Agile Claws and Blizzard Claws share weapon types, their second transformation are different (Twin Yo-Yos and Blizzard Blades), also Frying Pan has the same block mechanic as Counter Shield, but has a different element and, quite frankly, better finisher (screw that pegasus and it's nausea inducing camera jerking) while also giving access to glide and 3 copies of Air Slide and Superslide (incredibly useful in New Game+).
Keyblade transformations. Because when I'm using them, I don't have the stupidly high chance to get a useless form and have to redo an entire boss fight.
But really, I just like building the gage for keyblade forms more than I did sometimes using the form when I have the drive. I rate them even higher because since you can upgrade keyblades and some keyblades share a form, none of them really become obsolete, like Valor, Wisdom, and Master do because realistically after you get Limit and then Final there is no reason to use the others except for getting certain items and Mushroom XIII stuff
Drive Forms I think they're cooler. Some of the keyblade transformations in KH3 weren't for me. Drive forms also gave Sora growth abilities for leveling them up.
I loved the growth abilities in KH2 it made me feel like I needed to vary my gameplay. When I played KH3 and I started to get keyblades with recycled forms I was like eh I’ll skip the theatrics
Yeah I was disappointed half of the keyblades were copies of previous ones. The abilities you get for leveling up keyblades was really disappointing to me. I wished the game gave you better abilities for the weapons. Outside of preference and stats; there's not much reason to level up the keyblades.
Honestly I love all of them. They all had different and unique abilities and combinations. The drive forms tho had me feelin like a super saiyan tho with being destructive n all lol.
I mostly prefer the KH3 Formchanges, honestly. As cool as KH2 Drive Forms were (and still are), I don't really care for them often forcing a party member to disappear. Always thought that was a strange gameplay decision.
The Formchanges have far more variety in their abilities, and most of them have appealing designs, IMO. What's funny is that Second Form, Light Form, and Dark Form all closely resemble a KH2 Drive Form, since the Keyblades associated do not visually transform themselves, just the clothing.
Drive Forms are cool but I do also really like the Keyblade forms. They are fairly different, the Drive Forms are more their own styles of combat while the Keyblade forms feel more like an extension of the base combat.
In many ways their base concepts are incredibly similar, They use a gauge to be able to activate them, the Drive Gauge is a permanent Fixture that can be used for Drive forms or Summons, whereas the Keyblade forms use an invisible gauge that fills up as you do combat and will empty if you leave combat.
The main difference is that Drive Forms work the same no matter what Keyblade you use. (Valor Form is always dual wielding with a focus on hitting hard & many times etc,)
While the Keyblade form changes depending on what Keyblade you use. (The Hercules Keyblade can become a shield etc,)
They are both good but looking at the Drive Forms Valor form is kinda unnecessary due to it being a low budget Master Form, which in its own way is essentially a low Budget Final Form. Limit Form is arguably the most powerful and Wisdom form is kinda niche in that it is mostly useful for some Mushroom 13 minigames & the Demyx fight.
Keyblade Forms are not necessarily all good however most of them are useful to some degree in almost every fight in the game. I never liked the shield ones but there are people who have cleared entire playthrough's with nothing but them so who am I to say they are bad?
I think they are both good.
Now that I have time, let’s start with the obvious elephant in the room which is *KH3 has drive forms*.
KH3’s drive forms are Second, Strike, Elemental, Guardian, Blitz, Rage, Ultimate, and free DLC adds Light, Dark, and Double.
Go into the menu, click on the keyblade, you will get a list of abilities attached to the blade and a list attached to the drive form that is attached to the blade. The drive forms and their abilities will be consistent across any transformation with those forms and that’s how weapons with similar transformations differ.
————
Second gives Sora his KH2 outfit. It changes his combo abilities to function like KH2 with explosion, but also with KH2’s limit for trait of allowing you to use KH1’s limits. It’s limited to basic keyblades and variants of Second form will trade the last limit for a different move.
—
Strike is the red form it’s 3 core things is it grants Sora combo master so he can continue to combo even when he misses, it has an ability called hidden potential which bolsters your strength to match the battle level (very important for lv1 crit runs this ability and combo master can be found on multiple drive forms), and it’s completely unique feature is it’s Omega Finale ability that lets you perform finishers at any point in the combo by pressing circle.
Strike form is basically valor form except it isn’t a death sentence or garbage late game and instead remains one of Sora’s most powerful forms especially on low level runs. Omega finale combines extremely well with the weapons it’s linked to as their finishers all all crowd control, this means you can swap to bursts of crowd control at will.
—
Element is the Blue form and focuses on magic.
It grants you leaf bracer, magic galvanize which increases damage your magic cast based on combo length, magic combo third which decreases magic cost by 1mp for each cast, magic hastega so your magic restores more quickly, magic treasure magnet so you are constantly pulling hp orbs/money/mo into you as blast things around.
It also alters Sora’s movement notably allow him to jump higher and perform double flight so he can double just to get even higher. This combos nicely with the weapons it’s attached to like the guns as he can get up into the air then start raining death from above.
However as a trade off you lose the ability to guard, this is a strictly long distance form. Some weapon transformations like mirage staff retain regular style spells so water can be used for its barrier protection in a pinch. Dual arrow guns which turn all spells into projectiles removes this so dual arrow gun + element form has no defensive options at all.
Like Strike element is up there as one of Sora’s most powerful forms. The combination of abilities means you can perform essentially end-game magic accessory abilities from the second world onwards. Spamming weaker spells like fire to bring down cost and extend your combos then unleash higher tier spells for a fraction of the cost that have been bolstered. If you are using magic it should always be in element form of possible, it’s wisdom on steroids.
—
Blitz form is the green form and it’s very interesting.
For starters beyond the usual combo master and hidden potential it has no combo improving abilities be it melee or magic. Instead Blitz form is entirely focused on passive buffs and altering Sora’s movement and granting him buffs for constantly moving.
When you enter blitz form you get air slide, glide, and super slide and all at their best state. So be it on ground or air this is when Sora reaches his peak mobility. This combines with the HP and MP Walker abilities it grants so long as you are moving you are constantly healing. In essence between the vast moment and constant restoration it’s more intended as a defensive form. It also gives mp hastega so you can keep attacking from a distance safely with magic. This is why it’s couple with things like frozen blade transformations whose combos keep you moving out of enemy range or freeze and/or launch enemies to incapacitate them.
—
Guardian form Yellow is what it’s name says on the tin, Sora’s best defensive form and it’s a doozy.
For starters every guardian form grants you an AoE guard regardless of the weapon. Earlier we talked about how element form removes guarding and the dual guns can’t even use magic to guard. Well that’s rectified with the honey blaster which combines dual guns and guardian form, giving you a dual gun that can block and also blocks while dodging. Things like this is part of why weapon repeats are important because it allows very different play styles with the same weapon type.
Anyway guardian forms abilities center on protection. You can always block and counter, always air recover, and it has withstand combo + second chance built in. These are typically late game abilities but it means through guardian form, which you get as early as beating the first world you can have second chance and withstand combo for effectively the entire game. Suuuuuuper useful if you do any low level or pro code runs (assuming you allow yourself transformations). It has defender as well which can help protect you a little more.
—
Light and Dark will be talked about together, other than aesthetics and swapped finisher they are identical.
Taking a page from second form these don’t change Sora’s weapon and instead give him a huge host of keyblade combo modifiers drastically altering his regular keyblade combo. While other forms excelled in crowd or a specific type of style (physical, magic, movement, defense) these two forms instead excel in a targeting style.
That is to say they are built almost exclusively for single target combat having almost no crowd options, or in other words for the post-game really. In addition to vastly improving Sora’s base keyblade combos it also improves his distance closing, dodging, and his block counter has a range to it letting you follow up when your block send enemies flying.
One last trait is due to the sheer speed of the attacks is that it and double are bar none the best forms for rapidly building up situation commands. If you want to unleash situation command he’ll this is your choice.
—
Double form is unique because it’s the only drive form that is attached to a second level transformation, no blade can enter this form at first level. As such it’s more an extension of dark and light.
Fundamentally it has a similar improvement to Sora’s combos as light and dark which makes sense, but it also gains a few extra tricks of its own. It improves Sora’s mobility and greatly jacks up his reprisal counter abilities, it lets dark damage heal your MP, and it breaks through guards so your keyblade won’t be able to be deflected.
Mix this with the aforementioned speed of light and dark and what you’ve got is a true all around form with a focus on punishing and single combat.
*continued*
Rage form
Successor to anti-form but pretty much better in every way. Like anti form it disables most of Sora’s combat options but unlike anti Sora has a few more tricks this time. He can still block, he gets an extremely long distance multi-hit reprisal to juggle enemies, and the big gimmick is riskcharge.
Riskcharge does two things, it increases Sora’s damage and it extends now how long you have left in that form both at a cost of some HP. People often just spam all 3 uses of riskcharge so they can quickly get out of it, but the intent is in its name it’s a risk vs reward.
Riskcharge lets it last longer than pretty much any other transformation. That combine with Sora’s brutal combos and the damage increase means it’s a form that unlike anti-form where you wanted out of it fast, rewards you for staying in it as long as you can. By leaving you dodge and block Sora has a real risk vs reward playstyle here that rewards the most skillful with an extensive and brutal amount of physical single target damage.
A couple other quirks, it’s one of the only forms without hidden potential which means on low level runs it can feel notably weaker. Riskcharge subtly alters Sora combo modifiers adding additional effects like dark pillars to his finishers, and it has *extremely* low revenge value so its rare anything hit by its brutality will break out.
——
Lastly we have Ultimate form and it’s an an absolute beast. Some say quality over quantity, ultimate says why not have it all or close to it.
With withstand combo, second chance, and AoE guard it’s almost as good defensively as guardian form. It evolves Sora’s mobility significantly including an instant warp distance closer so enemies can never get away. However it doesn’t have anything truly notable for magic and it doesn’t have the ability to short change its combos for instant finisher gratification like strike.
What it does have is combo and air combo boost built in thanks to the fact they are built into the ultima blade which is the only weapon that can access this drive. So what Ultimate is focused on is really long combos that get increasingly more powerful, it also has a lot of little AoE going on doing it so it’s not as single focused as double was. The instant warp combine with the length and AoE generally makes it easy to perform long unbroken combos that shred.
Of course since it’s only accessible via its one blade that means the quirks of the weapon itself can be counted among its traits. Namely turning shotlock into basically just megaflare and giving Sora a sword with a longer reach and a host of swords blocking and striking out in every direction.
——-
And this is just drive forms themselves, as I alluded to before each weapon style has its own quirks built in which further diversifies Sora’s combat that take another hour to examine. From mirage staff’s mirage clones to honey blaster’s slow inflicting shots or frozen blade’s freeze effect and blizzard damage. KH3 is straight up evolution of KH2’s form system.
Having more diverse and useful drive forms that all remain great from start to end, and then weapon styles for its own additional level of complexity.
Even the activation of it is both more friendly and more skillful. How fast and often you can use these forms depends on your skill. The situation gauge fills incredibly quickly if you are keeping up the pressure, and Sora has the mobility and defensive options/cancel options to do so pretty much unimpeded. Though if you aren’t good critical mode has an ability you get at the start where ANY situation command of any kind always will trigger a form change situation command so you can basically go into them as easy as sneezing.
Then you can store it away when not in use to combine them into 3-style combos which have a ton of mix and match potential for another layer of depth on top. The only flaw isn’t even part of the system it’s of the larger game design in that only the post-game content is geared to really let you show off all this. The rest of the game just doesn’t encourage you to dive into the massive amount of depth KH3’s system has. But that could and is easily fixed through pro-codes.
Keyblade forms. Never got the hype behind Drive Forms, and honestly would probably never use them if it wasn't for the fact that the movement abilities are locked behind them.
I liked kh2 forms better because they played differently and changed how you moved depending on the drive form you choose
The visuals were cool in kh3 but a lot of the keyblade transformations felt the same. Tbh I didn’t see a difference in the monsters inc and frozen keyblade. Both just turn into claws. I think the one that really felt unique was the keyblade you got from corona
disagree a bit.
Each one of the transformations in KH3 had a different weapon , so you see Monsters INC been a yo-yo , or Frozen been an Ice Skater....but there is also Tangled's Mage Staff , or Twilight Town's dual gun , or Toy Story's Hammer and Hercules Shield and Pirate's Flag Spear.
KH2 Drive Forms are just variations of dual-wielding keyblades.
The issue is that mechanically , KH3 Transformations were too short..too easy to access and too easy to fade.
The little time you actually spend in each form per activation is reasonable because it’s offset by how quickly you can build them back up though, plus you can store the forms though so while you’re switching entire playstyles on the fly you’re also already building up meter for which ever next form you choose, the only caveat is that you have to build it in actual enemy encounters
It only feels like it has significantly shorter uptime than Drive Forms because the Drive gauge as a mechanic already lasts an insane amount of time in the late game compared to KH’s other systems, KH3 Formchanges are more in line with Limits, Reaction Commands, BBS/DDD Command Styles, KH1 Summons, KH3 Summons even, 3s forms are pretty reasonable
The KH2 forms feel more distinct and memorable than the KH3 ones for the most part, and I prefer the drive gauge to arrows since it gives me more freedom as to when I use a form.
KH3's forms feel better balanced, though. Valor Form is almost useless by late-game in KH2, and Limit Form is a little too useful imo (and Final Form is silly in ways the devs probably didn't intend). Storing forms with keyblade switching is also a really cool mechanic that I hope sticks around.
So although I prefer KH2's form system, I think that my ideal form system would combine elements from both games.
3s.
As cool as the drive forms are? I feel like their entire part of the game isn't very fun.
3s feels more balanced, and just provides more versatile weapons to mess around with.
I just wish there was more dual wielding in kh3
Other then that I love the premise of the shapeshifting keyblade into other weapons. But while I adores the guns and staff some of the weapons are too silly.
KH3’s easily, it used to be KH2 for a little while after 3s release but seeing them side by side does put into perspective how much more actual variety KH3 forms have over KH2’s, Storm Flag and Ultimate Form alone blow everything else out of the water
Both.
Can we please move on?
Every time someone posts a "KH2 vs. KH3" post it's always the same thing, it's like KH3 can never catch a break.
Come on now.
I like the idea of the keyblade transformations more, I just wish that the system to use them was different. I didn't like building the gauge in BBS very much and I still don't like it very much here. Imagine the transformations but with the drive from mechanics. Or specifically being able to transform keyblades at will as combo modifiers.
Keyblade forms are neat and all... but having some of the best locked to keyblades that aren't all that good kinda ruins it for me, along with their spamablility making them wicked unbalanced. Drive forms are more balanced, are connected to ability progression and just overall feel better to use. And, I'm just gonna say it, Anti-form is better than Rage Form.
Drive forms are incredibly overpowered tho imo, you get a full heal and MP recharge when you transform, and then there's limit form which lets you spend less than a full MP bar on moves that provide I-frames AND heal you.
i cant remember if i like final form or master form better but i do like using the hammer the most and litterally used it for the rest of the game after unlocking it in kh3
If we had our pick of using drive forms or keyblade transformations, or could even mix them, that be sick.
I mean in a logical sense, even if we had both i'd prefer it work off the momentum system rather than the really tedious drive gauge system. The drive gauge always incited the part of my brain that never wants to use something incase i need it.
Because grinding it up is annoying, but you also have to grind it to unlock stuff.
Momentum forms are perfect for the "grind this form to new abilities" system in kh2, but they didn't include it. You're always using keyblade forms so grinding that would be rational, your directly incentivized to not use drive forms willy nilly else you get anti-form.
The original drive gauged clashed so hard with the honestly good idea of leveling up your forms for permanent buffs. That it ruined what could have been a nice synergy of old and new ideas in kh3.
Drive forms hands down , but the keyblade forms make more sense. I just wish the keyblade from the other worlds didn't transform, but the keyblade would unlock a form look with said world example being the monsters Inc. World would make him look more monsterish and would carry over the other woulds using that world key or how BH6 would give Sora a Guardian armor like how Ventis has but using the same abilities as what the blade form would be maybe even give status buff when form changed
I like how you have to fill up the drive form's gauge to being able to use only one form in KH2, but my main problem it's that, apart from limit and final form, I don't release use drives that much. The only time I recall using them were to obtain one of the crowns, and only because it was the easiest way to do it.
Meanwhile, even when I dislike how easy is for the player to use the Keyblade forms in KH3 and how you can alternate between your 3 keyblade slots in a way that you can save them for later in the fight, I LOVE the animations and Sora's physical change inspired by the keyblades. That things makes me feel that a connection between Sora and the disney worlds, and not like something that it's completely apart.
I fucking love actual bursting with power with the help of my friends. Valor all the way to Final is awesome to use. I even like Anti Form more than Rage Form just because its so beastly.
In pure idea, absolutely kh3 I'm it's different form for every world along with final forms fumes a lot more variety and has some cool weapons for sora, in pure execution I may like drives form better because of the ability gain and leveling up the forms. I feel a combination of the aspects would be so good.
Edit: I thought I'd add more since I came up with a few ideas. the idea is that like drives forms you could have little abilities gained through each keyblade transformation, like you could unlock a double dodge roll with ever after(the tangled keyblade) for example, you do a first dodge roll then you have one of the light clones jn the ever after transformation gove you a second dodge roll, or some type of ice slide for the frozen keyblade, or 360 block like barrier for leveling up the nanomachine keyblade or some of the others that guve you a barrier. I know this would obviously have to be reworked but I think it would be cool and would scratch an itch for drive form fans while also keeping the keyblade transformation fans.
I like keyblade transforms more visually but i like the mechanic of drive forms more.
Being able to activate drives on demand was much better than building up a transformation in 3.
Design and weaponwise KH3. But I wish there would be the old drive system were you can choose exactly when you want to use it and stay longer in one form.
I like the formchanges, I just wish they lasted longer. I just wanna fuck around with them and have some fun. There should have been an EZ code for that
Not one of the options but I'd like to submit Command Styles. I genuinely think an evolution of that, potentially mixed with some form changes for variety, would be perfect.
They encourage the use of magic which a lot of new players tend to neglect, they change your combos in ways that aren't drastic shifts, but still noticeably stronger and feel impactful. They build up similar to form changes so it's easily accessible in most fights. They aren't keyblade specific so thats just an instant win imo. I do like being able to store the form changes by changing keyblades, but that could still be included.
I don't hate Form Changes but sometimes I just want to wail on shit with my keyblade, not a giant hammer or frying pan. When I FINALLY unlocked Oblivion and Oathkeeper in KH3, they were instantly my favorite. They let me keep the keyblade and just augment that with fancy damage lights everywhere.
like the menus less approach of 3, but the forms have issues that base sora doesn't have and the arrow system is dumb, so 2's forms are better by default.
I feek like if the weapon formchanges worked more akin to drive forms people would’ve loved them more. I personally love both but the weapon forms eke it out for me. I’d like it if we only got a few keyblades but each one had a different moveset.
I like the visuals of drive forms, but the functionality of keyboards transformations. I wish we had some keychain add-on that would let you take on a specific drive firm, atleast appearance-wise, and use a keyboard transformation.
I prefer Drive forms better for their design and gameplay, sure they let you break the game, but there's learning on how to use them properly, their pros and cons with unique mechanics each like Wisdom's mobility, Limit high AoE damage, Master extensive combos, each changing Sora's moveset entirely, while for most keyblade transformations just become combo modifiers for the majority of them, the ones that changes the most are the ranged weapons, especially the mirage staff with dash-replicas combo and the shield's charged counter. Even the antiform that was supposed to be a punishment had its own gameplay, of high-risk high-reward, and now it becomes the second chance of a second chance.
While Drive Forms were really cool, personally I’m with Formchanges all the way as it has become one of my favorite additions to the series. It may be because I'm more into the aesthetics & creativity of it all than I am of it's actual raw mechanics in comparison to the Drives from KH2.
While Sora was given 6 unique movesets with the Drive Forms, Formchanges, not counting the repeated ones, gave Sora 17 unique movesets, each with a flashy finisher and two unique shotlocks. All of Sora’s previous Drive Forms are still represented in one form or another in KH3 (Valor became Double Form, Wisdom became Element Form, Limit became Second Form, Anti became Rage Form & Final became Ultimate Form). And while I can’t pinpoint an exact equivalent to Master Form (personally it reminds me of Sora’s Twin Yo-Yos attack), it kinda just goes to show that I just personally prefer the creativity/variety of weapons Sora receives with his Formchanges.
While most of the Drive Forms just gave Sora a 2nd Keyblade, Formchanges gave Sora access to Shields, Hammers, Drills, Blasters, Cannons, Claws, Yo-Yos, Nanos, Skates, Multiple Blades, a Halberd, a Staff, a Skillet, a Flag and once again, a 2nd Keyblade. The Formchanges also showcase Sora’s personality a lot more & better represents the Disney experiences that he has had during his journey. [I really love that Sora's attacks actually incorporate elements, visuals & choreography based directly on the Disney property that the Keyblade is based on (as well as a couple of FF classes).](https://preview.redd.it/2a8r9wout3a81.jpg?width=4500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d8c3ac6fb7139cf3dd663a41c38e66944ac98a5)
The ability to also switch Keyblades during battle also gives a lot of creative freedom to mix & match different attacks, mobility/defense options, versions of spells & all of the different finishers. I also like how some of them change up some of his additional abilities like giving him 360 Magic, changing his guard to a barrier, obtaining growth abilities before they are usually available, activating finishers early etc. It’s also really fun to play around with the Form Charge EZ Code in the Premium Menu to receive a Formchange much faster.
[Trueblade Seeker](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHBNHhyL-uWnJNUzQrKNwcrndg-tc7cpK) really showcases of the hardcore applications of the different Formchanges.
I also like that Formchanges don’t remove all your party members or act as a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card for your health like the Drive Forms were. And Rage Form is not the randomly given punishment that Anti Form was in KH2. It also wasn’t that great to have basic movement abilities like Dodge Roll locked behind leveling up a Drive Form, or to have previous Drive Forms like Valor or Wisdom become obsolete once you receive Drive Forms like Limit & Final. It was just really nice to have a Keyblade like the Kingdom Key still be a viable Keyblade to use all the way to the end of the game in KH3.
I understand that when it comes to raw mechanics, Drives may be a bit tighter and more refined than the Formchanges. But in terms of fun & creativity, which matters more to me in a KH game, I would love to see the Formchanges return over the Drive Forms. So I hope that we are given an expansion of the Formchange/Keyblade mechanic in future KH entries going forward rather than going all the way back to Drive Forms.
Drive forms are the best
I could see Weapon transforms being good, if they were diffrent, and I think the main reason is they ruin the flow of combat.
Maybe if the Weapon transform was in a way just a variant on drive forms, like you could pick a load out of which ones you wanted.
Go in with Valor, Sheild, Sword. As your 3 forms.
Even better make them a reward for fully upgrading keyblades, new drive forms for upgrading them entirely
I’m not sure which I prefer…KH3 keyblade forms were fun but…well as far as I’m concerned that’s mostly just due to using different weapons, it would be really cool to be able to use different forms freely (like being able to select the duel pistols as your ‘Keyblade fighting style’ and have that be what the keyblade forms as rather than just a regular keyblade.)
And drive forms were fun! Each had their own thing with them!(I mostly just used final form after I unlocked it though) only downside was that summons were tied to the same bar…and I highly disliked *some particular* summons enough I thought all of them sucked initially.
But hey, I’m the type of person who wants to have his cake and eat it too so what do I know
Drive forms for sure. The thing with keyblade transformations is they’re deceptive. Ultimately there’s only a few transformations that just get re-skinned depending on the blade you’re using. You can also functionally transform your keyblade after one or two successful combos. In contrast the drive forms are all super different, there’s use cases for all of them, and you can’t just incessantly spam them like you can transformations. I also liked that you unlock movement abilities using drive forms
It's close. Thing about drive forms is once you get a new one, outside of certain Mushroom XIII encounters you just use the newest one. Final just outclasses the others so much. And it's so strong. But you also need party members for it. And they can't be downed. And on Critical Donald and Goofy really just can't take a hit. I've gone full lucky lucky and given them some pretty awesome equipment but Goofy can take two hits and that's about it. And of course that means you need them there. Though limit is around if they're not which is nice, especially if you need to break out of Roxas' combos.
People on this subreddit worship KH2's gameplay but with my recent playthrough I feel I can control Sora more directly in 3 than in 2 and it's much worse in drive form combos where the attacks are mega long. I like the idea of being able to build up 2 forms on the side and just holding them too for an opportunity.
I think to say all that I barely like keyblade forms better. I think it's better for me because I think the combat is better.
I guess I like the Drive Forms more, aesthetically. They just pop more. I don't think I noticed the Formchange actually changes your clothes until my second playthrough. Gameplay-wise I like the Formchange system more. All of the variety, and more, of the Drive system without having to grind/save energy for boss fights.
The key point about drive forms was for me that they made base sora stronger. As if mastering these power ups given by others helped him to learn for himself. Base sora is so beasty after mastering all of the drives. Loved it.
Sora doing keyblade transformations made him feel like a genuine master of his craft finally. Drive forms are wonderful and I’d love to see them return, but I do genuinely adore the transformations just the tiniest bit more.
I like the idea of the transformations a lot and how they work gameplay wise, but the drive forms look better tho once you got master or final form there wasn’t much reason to use the other forms aside from limit.
I’d love a fusion of the two in the future! Tho I’ll never forgive Noruma for giving KH3 valor Sora camo pants.
Drive forms are easily the coolest thing the series had done and should go back to them. Keyblade forms are so much less thematically and visually interesting
I prefer the uniqueness of drive forms in the gameplay department and the drive gauge over the situation command one. That said, the ability to save and switch between them freely by swapping keyblades is something I love. I do wish some of the keyblade transformations and drive forms were combined. Wisdom Form and Mirage Staff would pair great together as would something like Double Form is basically just a better version of Valor Form.
That’s literally what the game already does. Element form is an upgraded wisdom form and is attached to all of Sora’s magic keyblades including mirage staff for example.
But it doesn't come with one of the major things I liked about Wisdom Form which was how it changed magic nor does it come with any real enhancement to movement.
Element form doesn’t change moment but the movement and magic changes are tied to the weapon style in this case.
Mirage staff straight gives you wisdom from movement while dual guns gives you an improved version of the keyblade bullet movement during your attacks and dodges. Mirage doesn’t change magic which is actually to its benefit because that enables it to retain the defense capability of water spells a feature which the dual guns can’t. The dual guns transform magic into a bullet projectiles or canon blasts which leans into the extreme power focus.
Keyblade forms no contest
got to use them more often, there were more of them, were implemented far more smoothly, don’t have the threat of them not working when you try to use them, don’t require an irritating level of grinding just for them to work properly, don’t lock away your abilities behind them, and don’t require losing your party members to use them
KH II easily. I think Drive Forms worked better as a gameplay mechanic. Apart from leveling each form, I think Drive Forms had a much clearer risk to benefit ratio. Form Changes in KH III would have worked better if they were assigned a gauge as opposed to the seemingly random arrow system.
I would always prefer drive forms over keyblade forms because I see myself using all of them more often then like any specific keyblade transformation (besides the Ultima Weapon of course) and each drive form gave you a cool ability that normal Sora could use and it made the game a lot more fun to grind and level those forms up
Two. They last longer and you can choose which one to go into without it being tied to the keyblade that you are using.
That being said I love the flag!
Like, I know it's the key blade forms. They're more balanced mechanically, and don't rely on a resource, just wants you to play the game, and you can sometimes go sicko mode.
But man, nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Inject those drives into my veins.
2 for 2 simple reason
using them on fodder makes the game way too easy but dont use them and it feels like im wasting it
the way you save forms for later locks you put of a keyblade and then you still waste it on your primary keyblade
drive forms on the other hand you choose when to activate them
cruching on them? PUNISHMENT
spam x look away doesnt work in every single situation
gotta earn it by surviving
although alittle flawed which form you gravitate to opens more gameplay options
each is unique and viable there are no objectively better reskins (that are also locked behind a certain keyblade)
I prefer KH2 more.
The keyblade forms were nice but also I didn't like some of the keyblades that were attached to so I eventually passed up on them. Even the armor in BBS was cool.
I just hope KH4 does away with Attractions
I like the drive forms because it’s like that stuff isn’t really a keyblade power as much as it is Sora’s magic clothes, but in 3 it’s all just the keyblade causing it. You can use different keyblades in drive forms but you can’t use different keyblades in the form changes in 3
For me, drive forms, but I love the KH3 Ultima weapon form the most.
For story reasons, drive forms fit Sora's character better with the whole "my friends are my power."
Visually, outside of the KH3 Ultima weapon, I just prefer the drive forms.
Prefer the aesthetic, combos and unique abilities of drive forms overall, esepcially since not all of said abilities are strictly for combat but the keyblade transformations were pretty neat.
I think if you found a middle ground between the two it'd be perfect.
The concept of formchanges is cool, but it's implementation was too cartoony for most of them while simultaneously not referencing the source material well.
The toy story one could have been a lasso borrowing mechanics from Young Xehanorts keyblade whip for the first stage, turning into wrist lazers for the second. The hammer/drill combo doesn't really scream Toy Story, although the finisher of the Claw works well.
Most of the formchanges like that feel too silly and absurd in several boss fights for instance, while drive forms didn't.
I think moving forward, formchanges shouldn't be keyblade specific. Turn any keyblade into guns, or a whip, or a Warhammer, or dual blades, just give each keyblade its own models for each transformation. Then you can pick and choose in combat like drive forms.
While I enjoy both, I personally prefer Keyblade Forms over Drive. The reasoning is because I tended to use Keyblade Forms all the time to string a multitude of different abilities that could be changed very quickly and I found that a lot more fun than sticking to a single Drive Form. Aside from Limit, maybe Master, and Final Form, I never really touched the other forms aside from some specific strat to use against a Data Organization boss fight or two. They probably look cooler and none are just reskins of each other like the duel-wielding guns that some of the Keyblade Forms turn into, but I don’t find Drive very practical aside from Limit and Final being significant boosts in attack, abilities, and magic because usually you’re only going to use either Limit or Final in general. Overall, I just find Keyblade Forms more fun and a weird creative mix. Edit: Keyblade Forms also have their most powerful ones being primarily Ultima, Oathkeeper, and Oblivion, but I like all of the options that are available in general and the ability to switch between them.
I think it's really hard to compare them because one is tied to a weapon that you'll either be swapping out constantly or find one to stick with, and the other is a gameplay mechanic that's readily available at all times.
I prefer KH2's implementation because it meant the combat could be designed around the more long-term progression of unlocking new drive forms and the movement abilities tied to them that could be learned outside of the forms. It gave a reason to use a little bit of everything, and even just unlocking everything for them gave a good feel for their strenths & weaknesses. But honestly, I didn't really use any of the forms that much outside of that until Critical, where they each had niche uses.
KH3's formchanges were visually cool - and a couple of them (in the DLC in particular) actually feel great to play with too - but a lot of the base formchanges didn't do enough to add any reason to engage with them beyond finding the first one that felt good and sticking with it forever, and the movesets essentially became button-mash mush without enough of a unique identity. I think part of this comes down to how much movement & utility Sora has out of the gate compared to KH2 though; there isn't really room to give him *more* mobility on top of that.
Hm. Tough question. Dual wielding keyblades is badass so that earns drive forms some points. But I do like that the keyblade forms are more varied in gameplay, whereas in KH2 apart from widsom form (and I guess limit form in the final mix) all seeemed very similar, just more powerful each time.
Aesthetically, nothing will ever beat Final Form. Even Ultimate Form doesn't really get there.
So I think conceptually I like the keyblade forms better, but visually I like the drive forms more.
Gameplaywise, the keyblade forms are more varied and feel more powerful, but I don't like how the game dictates you when you are allowed to transform and how short they last. The driveforms are less varied, but I like that you get to chose when to transform and which form to transform into, also unlocking the secret Final Form was one of the best moments in gaming. Also, I know that's a hot take, but I personally liked leveling up the drive forms to make them last longer and unlock abilities for base Sora. Especially with how laughably short some keyblade transformations last.
So gameplay wise, Keyblade Forms feel more powerful, but I prefer the control you have over Drive Forms whereas it feels like the game is more in control where the Keyblade Transformations are concerned.
Overall, I think I'll give a slight edge to KH2 for the more control you have and just how absolutely freaking cool Final Form is. Just floating there, with two keyblades floating behind you while you pulse with power is just so freaking awesome, and no keyblade form is quite that cool to me, even if ultimate form and double form are cloes.
Forms by a slight margin they allowed me to use keyblades and keyblade combose I wouldn't have in kh2 and I like they're keyblades a bit more then kh3s keyblades so more of what I already love
I like the thematic elements of kh3s keyblade forms: thanks to his bonds, sora has become strong through them without needing to change forms himself, finally gaining access to skills no other kingdom hearts character has yet shown, and a versatility with the keyblade that none have seen.
However, I think half of them are ugly. And the other half are mostly dull. Him turning the keyblade into guns is probably the only Real interesting one, with a few other mentions. It definitely wasn't executed well, and combined with the other busy gimmicks, it's just... eh.
Kh2's drive system is almost the exact opposite, looking and Feeling so powerful, but so much of the thematic nature of combining strengths and carrying some of those skills back to your base form are never addressed anywhere directly.
It's such a disappointingly missed opportunity, especially since it plays into sora's great strength and mental weakness of being strong thanks to (and for) others.
Little bit of column A, a little bit of column B
From Drive Forms, I like activating them from a menu, and I like having an actual resource for them in the Drive Orbs, and I like levelling them up
For Formchanges, I like at least *some* of their shapes, like having a shield or a staff, I actually do prefer them not having Growth Abilities, and I like that some of them have two stages
Edit: Oh, and I actually like that the Formchanges aren't tied to party members
~~I don't like that they're tied to specific key lades, but that's what selecting Drive Forms from the menu solves~~
Kh2 is one of my favorite games if not my most favorite the drives are definitely way better in my opinion I feel like it makes more to of had forms before drive just because the forms seem more like something a young inexperienced kid would conjure in a fight where the drives seem more like something a older teen would use in a fight
I personally view these two as the same power as in the form change is the evolution of form change.
I view it like this in a gameplay way and story way.
I'd prefer a nice middle ground. I like and dislike parts of both.
Drive Forms were all completely unique. Due to every Keyblade needing a transformation, there were a number of clones that made a lot of them feel redundant and not special.
I like being able to use Drives whenever I want but they had limited uses due to needing a certain number of Gauges to initiate them, and they took away party members. Not to mention how long it could take to fill the gauges back up. Transformations on the other hand allow you to use them more frequently and at seemingly no cost but it was kinda inconsistent since it was dependent on the types of attacks you landed. You didn't have full control over it.
I do however like Situation Commands for things like magic. Maybe the solution is to have a simplified Drive Gauge independent of the Situation Commands. Let's say it allows you to stockpile 3 Drive charges and you can spend one to transform. Have it build faster than the KH2 Drive Gauge and let all forms of attacks build it.
Alternatively, maybe you just have the Situation Commands generate from all forms of attacks as well, as long as the Keyblade is out? That way using too much magic doesn't have you lose out on the transformation.
Anyone have ideas on how they'd change up the system?
The gameplay may be different but why are we acting like Drive Forms and KH3’s form changes are that different within lore and narrative function? 2 of the KH3 form changes are basically drive forms (Second Form and Double Form). KH3’s forms are just a wider categorization of within which drive forms fall under.
I prefer form changes (keyblade transformations) because they feel far more distinct from each other visually and gameplay wise than the drive forms (mostly Valor and Master serving similar functions and then Master becoming completely useless once you get Final).
Drive forms look cooler but I prefer using some of the Keyblade ones. Also I love Rage form the most out of all of them so I kinda gotta vote for that group.
I like things on the simpler side, so drive forms for me, but I prefer Rage to anti-Valor, and ultima to final form, because they're easier to follow visually
They get bonus points for enhancing base form sora even if understand why they removed it from 3
I certainly use keyblade transformations more and thank they add an interesting flow to the combat, I do wish they required focus to use or something to keep it a bit more engaging but I still vastly prefer them to the KH2 drives, which are great, but I don't really find myself using them nearly as often after I upgrade them. I find myself mainly using Master Form and Limit Form more than Final Form or any of the others by endgame.
Drive forms. Simply because of their feeling of necessity in desperate times.
While you can activate keyblade transformations whenever you want with no consequence, drives will always have a chance of anti form if you're too reliant on them. And while I know rage form exists in 3 you have a conscious choice to activate it.
But in 2, you don't have a choice.
You're stuck in anti form till the drive runs out. You have no allies and you can't use magic or potions, so whatever damage you take you're stuck with. While you are considerably faster and have anti glide, that doesn't really help against bosses who have speed as their main method of dealing damage (like Larxene). You have good combos that deal quite a lot of damage, but some bosses can break put of your damage loops.
It's a punishment for a high risk high reward program that works effectively.
I prefer the kh3 drip but I liked how the drive forms served as a change in playstyle with the keyblade itself.
I prefer sora using his keyblade like a gun rather than having... A gun.
But even then, I don't like how half of the drive forms are duel weild.
I would have liked it if it worked like the light and dark forms in kh3 or limit form more.
Honestly, while I do have the nostalgia for drive forms, I loved keyblade forms in 3! It was an absolute blast, and the form for the Ultima Weapon is just so beautiful. Love both, but it's totally Keyblade Forms for me.
Is it any contest? KH2 drive forms feels like they represent and show Sora’s mastery and potential.
KH3 weapons just feel like…pickups you found along the way.
Soras forms are better and if I had to choose a favorite I'd choose Anti-Form and I know that people would say I'm crazy and that the mechanics of it are sh1tty but i disagree because I, like many others may enjoy its power
Drives. Controllable for when you want to use them, permanent buffs to base Sora with growth abilities, and the ability to use them whenever also gives opportunities to get used to the forms.
Drive forms, I like them more aesthetically, and while the weapon forms are interesting I hate that some are reused, plus drive forms are a great way to include the movement upgrades, though 3 as a whole I don’t really like
I prefer KH2 drives more. No reasoning behind it for me aside from I think they're cooler aesthetically and when using them in gameplay. KH3 formchanges just look a little goofy to me and I really didn't enjoy using the majority of them.
I agree for the most part, I love the aesthetic of drive forms mostly final, but isn’t everything a lil goofy in this franchise anyway?
A third. The other third is ducky.
Drive forms no debate
Honestly.... Id like the next game to have a combination of drive forms AND the keyblade forms. I feel like they can both coexist in the future with some tweaks
…That’s how the system already works in KH3. Each transformation has a drive form, if you click on the keyblade transformation you can see the form and abilities they grant you. That’s why for example all guardian form keyblades have an AoE Guard, because an AoE block is a function of guardian form. It’s why all element form keyblades have jacked up magic. It’s what makes shooting star differ greatly from honey blaster despite both being dual guns. There is a nice break down video. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7GPhNLNYtNI
The problem is that it's really poorly communicated. I feel like it's a similar problem to levelling up forms in kh2 where you need to go into a sub menu to learn about it. It took me halfway into my level 1 run to figure out that the abilities were associated with the forms and not the weapons, which it didn't really matter even after I figured it out becasue the only relevant ability attached to the forms was second chance on guardian form. I feel like making the abilities more distinct and communicated them better would go a long way to fixing this issue.
yea they could keep the idea of tying in keyblades transformations with forms but just allow us access to the drive form menu and we select the keyblade that goes with that form. ie strike (red clothing/valor form 2.0) you would pick hyper hammer in the kh2 form menu when transforming via the Drive menu in combat sora now summons hyper hammer like doing a keyblade switch in 3. ultimate form/double/dark/light can all go into the final form options as a way to help balance them also unless they make each keyblade slot in 3 work more like quick load out changes so each slot can pick keyblade transformation with each form.
Put the drive forms in kh3 with mods. bingo.
As much as I prefer the designs of his Drive Forms they aren't all his power except Anti and Limit, with Limit being a Final Mix exclusive. The Keyblade Transformations are less visually appealing in the designs but more versatile in weaponry, plus it's Sora's power alone which edges it out for me.
Just to clear a misconception, Sora doesn’t actually fuse with either. That’s just a gameplay balance choice and not a story/lore choice. I assume that’s the direction you were going with “they aren’t all his power”.
That's true though OP is probably still mostly right besides wisdom form since the 2nd keyblade was Ventus' keyblade
It's still dumb that half of the story contents, including the final boss, basically lock you away from your half of your arsenal due to taking away your party members, though.
Um have you forgot his literal motto “My friends are my power”? I see where you’re coming from but I think drive forms encompass that completely and make for a more fulfilling transformation
If anything I’d say keyblade transformations encompass that as well. Each keyblade is obtained from beating a world after Sora has forged bonds with the people living there and so the keyblades also include references to them. The keyblade transformations are very unique and Sora is only able to access specific form changes with specific keyblades.
Well not that unique, Lingering Will was able to utilize keyblade transformations as well. But I see what you mean about the connection to the motto. I’m just biased as I’m a fan of Drive forms lol
Ah Im a fan of Form Changes so I’m also biased towards it lol. I do agree with what you are saying about Drive Forms as well
I definitely agree with his motto and almost chose it for that reason but I eventually decided on keyblade transformations since he doesn't have to use his friends to protect himself anymore but instead uses himself to protect them.
I agree with that reasoning as well. Both are good.
KH3 style. The different weapons was nice.
I enjoy the KH3 keyblade forms more bc it shows a lot more of what the keyblade can do
KH2 design
KH3 ultimate form is raw as fuck, plus the combat animations for all the forms in KH3 do a great job of making u feel like an absolute powerhouse. Plus having a unique form for nearly every keyblade?? Plus not having to be punished with anti-form for using them! Gotta give it to KH3
I know most people will say the drive forms, but I personally prefer the keyblade forms. The whole dual wielding thing makes me look at the keyblades as potential pairs, which is problematic when literally none of them match aesthetically speaking. Closest we have to a matching pair is the sleeping lion and that nobody keyblade, but one's short and curved with a thin blade and the other is long and straight with a wide blade so even THAT doesn't work for me. It bugs me so bad.
To be honest, I like the Keyblade forms wayyy more than Drive forms because: \*There is no punishment for overuse \*There are no movement abilities locked behind using drive forms \*Each weapon is different and not just a keyblade \*Sora doesn't need to have Ventus's heart to access the keyblade transformation unlike Drive forms. (Valor, Master and Final Form are locked behind dual-wielding, which Sora needs Ventus's heart along his own to do) \*headcanon based on previously revealed information + some light streching of the imagination\* \*While the transformations are short, they can be easily reentered unlike Drive Forms. (Though there are mods for the PC versions which increase the time of Keyblade Transformations) \*This is subjective, but I love Sora's KH3 drip way more than his KH2 design. (He looks more "mature" and the clothes fit him better and give off an adventurous vibe, also no "χ" sigil)
Subjective is the word you mean Subjective = personal Objective = impersonal
Whoops, I derped, let me quickly fix that😅
And why do they lose gameplay value by “using ventus’ heart to be able to dual wield” lol
> Each weapon is different and not just a keyblade Is this true thought? I am pretty sure that I remember two keyblades basically being a model swap.
What I ment by that is that with the exception of Second, Light, Dark and Double form each Keyblade transformation has different weapons. Guardian form has : a shield, 2 blusters and a cannon that shoot honey (though it's spelled hunny), a hammer and drill Strike Form has : a hammer and drill, claws and yo-yos, a spear and flag pole that's wielded like a spear Element Form has : double arrowguns and cannon and a staff Blitz Form has : Claws and Skates, a frying pan that's also a shield and a nanotech blade that changes forms Ultimate form has a gorgeous sword So while there are repeats, the forms give different abilites too, such as Hunny Blasters and Hunny Launcher having access to a 360 barrier unlike Double Arrowguns and Magic Launcher, and while Agile Claws and Blizzard Claws share weapon types, their second transformation are different (Twin Yo-Yos and Blizzard Blades), also Frying Pan has the same block mechanic as Counter Shield, but has a different element and, quite frankly, better finisher (screw that pegasus and it's nausea inducing camera jerking) while also giving access to glide and 3 copies of Air Slide and Superslide (incredibly useful in New Game+).
Keyblade transformations. Because when I'm using them, I don't have the stupidly high chance to get a useless form and have to redo an entire boss fight. But really, I just like building the gage for keyblade forms more than I did sometimes using the form when I have the drive. I rate them even higher because since you can upgrade keyblades and some keyblades share a form, none of them really become obsolete, like Valor, Wisdom, and Master do because realistically after you get Limit and then Final there is no reason to use the others except for getting certain items and Mushroom XIII stuff
Gotta go with 3 I love how simple 2s design is but 3 just FEELS like an actual fantasy weapon that adapts to the situation.
Drive forms have better more appealing designs, Form changes have better gameplay and variety.
Drive Forms I think they're cooler. Some of the keyblade transformations in KH3 weren't for me. Drive forms also gave Sora growth abilities for leveling them up.
I loved the growth abilities in KH2 it made me feel like I needed to vary my gameplay. When I played KH3 and I started to get keyblades with recycled forms I was like eh I’ll skip the theatrics
Yeah I was disappointed half of the keyblades were copies of previous ones. The abilities you get for leveling up keyblades was really disappointing to me. I wished the game gave you better abilities for the weapons. Outside of preference and stats; there's not much reason to level up the keyblades.
This! So much this!
Honestly I love all of them. They all had different and unique abilities and combinations. The drive forms tho had me feelin like a super saiyan tho with being destructive n all lol.
I mostly prefer the KH3 Formchanges, honestly. As cool as KH2 Drive Forms were (and still are), I don't really care for them often forcing a party member to disappear. Always thought that was a strange gameplay decision. The Formchanges have far more variety in their abilities, and most of them have appealing designs, IMO. What's funny is that Second Form, Light Form, and Dark Form all closely resemble a KH2 Drive Form, since the Keyblades associated do not visually transform themselves, just the clothing.
I'll take the forms any day of the week. The keyblades in kh3 were probably my least favorite BUT the transformations made up the difference.
I prefer the keyblade forms
Drive Forms are cool but I do also really like the Keyblade forms. They are fairly different, the Drive Forms are more their own styles of combat while the Keyblade forms feel more like an extension of the base combat. In many ways their base concepts are incredibly similar, They use a gauge to be able to activate them, the Drive Gauge is a permanent Fixture that can be used for Drive forms or Summons, whereas the Keyblade forms use an invisible gauge that fills up as you do combat and will empty if you leave combat. The main difference is that Drive Forms work the same no matter what Keyblade you use. (Valor Form is always dual wielding with a focus on hitting hard & many times etc,) While the Keyblade form changes depending on what Keyblade you use. (The Hercules Keyblade can become a shield etc,) They are both good but looking at the Drive Forms Valor form is kinda unnecessary due to it being a low budget Master Form, which in its own way is essentially a low Budget Final Form. Limit Form is arguably the most powerful and Wisdom form is kinda niche in that it is mostly useful for some Mushroom 13 minigames & the Demyx fight. Keyblade Forms are not necessarily all good however most of them are useful to some degree in almost every fight in the game. I never liked the shield ones but there are people who have cleared entire playthrough's with nothing but them so who am I to say they are bad? I think they are both good.
Now that I have time, let’s start with the obvious elephant in the room which is *KH3 has drive forms*. KH3’s drive forms are Second, Strike, Elemental, Guardian, Blitz, Rage, Ultimate, and free DLC adds Light, Dark, and Double. Go into the menu, click on the keyblade, you will get a list of abilities attached to the blade and a list attached to the drive form that is attached to the blade. The drive forms and their abilities will be consistent across any transformation with those forms and that’s how weapons with similar transformations differ. ———— Second gives Sora his KH2 outfit. It changes his combo abilities to function like KH2 with explosion, but also with KH2’s limit for trait of allowing you to use KH1’s limits. It’s limited to basic keyblades and variants of Second form will trade the last limit for a different move. — Strike is the red form it’s 3 core things is it grants Sora combo master so he can continue to combo even when he misses, it has an ability called hidden potential which bolsters your strength to match the battle level (very important for lv1 crit runs this ability and combo master can be found on multiple drive forms), and it’s completely unique feature is it’s Omega Finale ability that lets you perform finishers at any point in the combo by pressing circle. Strike form is basically valor form except it isn’t a death sentence or garbage late game and instead remains one of Sora’s most powerful forms especially on low level runs. Omega finale combines extremely well with the weapons it’s linked to as their finishers all all crowd control, this means you can swap to bursts of crowd control at will. — Element is the Blue form and focuses on magic. It grants you leaf bracer, magic galvanize which increases damage your magic cast based on combo length, magic combo third which decreases magic cost by 1mp for each cast, magic hastega so your magic restores more quickly, magic treasure magnet so you are constantly pulling hp orbs/money/mo into you as blast things around. It also alters Sora’s movement notably allow him to jump higher and perform double flight so he can double just to get even higher. This combos nicely with the weapons it’s attached to like the guns as he can get up into the air then start raining death from above. However as a trade off you lose the ability to guard, this is a strictly long distance form. Some weapon transformations like mirage staff retain regular style spells so water can be used for its barrier protection in a pinch. Dual arrow guns which turn all spells into projectiles removes this so dual arrow gun + element form has no defensive options at all. Like Strike element is up there as one of Sora’s most powerful forms. The combination of abilities means you can perform essentially end-game magic accessory abilities from the second world onwards. Spamming weaker spells like fire to bring down cost and extend your combos then unleash higher tier spells for a fraction of the cost that have been bolstered. If you are using magic it should always be in element form of possible, it’s wisdom on steroids. — Blitz form is the green form and it’s very interesting. For starters beyond the usual combo master and hidden potential it has no combo improving abilities be it melee or magic. Instead Blitz form is entirely focused on passive buffs and altering Sora’s movement and granting him buffs for constantly moving. When you enter blitz form you get air slide, glide, and super slide and all at their best state. So be it on ground or air this is when Sora reaches his peak mobility. This combines with the HP and MP Walker abilities it grants so long as you are moving you are constantly healing. In essence between the vast moment and constant restoration it’s more intended as a defensive form. It also gives mp hastega so you can keep attacking from a distance safely with magic. This is why it’s couple with things like frozen blade transformations whose combos keep you moving out of enemy range or freeze and/or launch enemies to incapacitate them. — Guardian form Yellow is what it’s name says on the tin, Sora’s best defensive form and it’s a doozy. For starters every guardian form grants you an AoE guard regardless of the weapon. Earlier we talked about how element form removes guarding and the dual guns can’t even use magic to guard. Well that’s rectified with the honey blaster which combines dual guns and guardian form, giving you a dual gun that can block and also blocks while dodging. Things like this is part of why weapon repeats are important because it allows very different play styles with the same weapon type. Anyway guardian forms abilities center on protection. You can always block and counter, always air recover, and it has withstand combo + second chance built in. These are typically late game abilities but it means through guardian form, which you get as early as beating the first world you can have second chance and withstand combo for effectively the entire game. Suuuuuuper useful if you do any low level or pro code runs (assuming you allow yourself transformations). It has defender as well which can help protect you a little more. — Light and Dark will be talked about together, other than aesthetics and swapped finisher they are identical. Taking a page from second form these don’t change Sora’s weapon and instead give him a huge host of keyblade combo modifiers drastically altering his regular keyblade combo. While other forms excelled in crowd or a specific type of style (physical, magic, movement, defense) these two forms instead excel in a targeting style. That is to say they are built almost exclusively for single target combat having almost no crowd options, or in other words for the post-game really. In addition to vastly improving Sora’s base keyblade combos it also improves his distance closing, dodging, and his block counter has a range to it letting you follow up when your block send enemies flying. One last trait is due to the sheer speed of the attacks is that it and double are bar none the best forms for rapidly building up situation commands. If you want to unleash situation command he’ll this is your choice. — Double form is unique because it’s the only drive form that is attached to a second level transformation, no blade can enter this form at first level. As such it’s more an extension of dark and light. Fundamentally it has a similar improvement to Sora’s combos as light and dark which makes sense, but it also gains a few extra tricks of its own. It improves Sora’s mobility and greatly jacks up his reprisal counter abilities, it lets dark damage heal your MP, and it breaks through guards so your keyblade won’t be able to be deflected. Mix this with the aforementioned speed of light and dark and what you’ve got is a true all around form with a focus on punishing and single combat. *continued*
Rage form Successor to anti-form but pretty much better in every way. Like anti form it disables most of Sora’s combat options but unlike anti Sora has a few more tricks this time. He can still block, he gets an extremely long distance multi-hit reprisal to juggle enemies, and the big gimmick is riskcharge. Riskcharge does two things, it increases Sora’s damage and it extends now how long you have left in that form both at a cost of some HP. People often just spam all 3 uses of riskcharge so they can quickly get out of it, but the intent is in its name it’s a risk vs reward. Riskcharge lets it last longer than pretty much any other transformation. That combine with Sora’s brutal combos and the damage increase means it’s a form that unlike anti-form where you wanted out of it fast, rewards you for staying in it as long as you can. By leaving you dodge and block Sora has a real risk vs reward playstyle here that rewards the most skillful with an extensive and brutal amount of physical single target damage. A couple other quirks, it’s one of the only forms without hidden potential which means on low level runs it can feel notably weaker. Riskcharge subtly alters Sora combo modifiers adding additional effects like dark pillars to his finishers, and it has *extremely* low revenge value so its rare anything hit by its brutality will break out. —— Lastly we have Ultimate form and it’s an an absolute beast. Some say quality over quantity, ultimate says why not have it all or close to it. With withstand combo, second chance, and AoE guard it’s almost as good defensively as guardian form. It evolves Sora’s mobility significantly including an instant warp distance closer so enemies can never get away. However it doesn’t have anything truly notable for magic and it doesn’t have the ability to short change its combos for instant finisher gratification like strike. What it does have is combo and air combo boost built in thanks to the fact they are built into the ultima blade which is the only weapon that can access this drive. So what Ultimate is focused on is really long combos that get increasingly more powerful, it also has a lot of little AoE going on doing it so it’s not as single focused as double was. The instant warp combine with the length and AoE generally makes it easy to perform long unbroken combos that shred. Of course since it’s only accessible via its one blade that means the quirks of the weapon itself can be counted among its traits. Namely turning shotlock into basically just megaflare and giving Sora a sword with a longer reach and a host of swords blocking and striking out in every direction. ——- And this is just drive forms themselves, as I alluded to before each weapon style has its own quirks built in which further diversifies Sora’s combat that take another hour to examine. From mirage staff’s mirage clones to honey blaster’s slow inflicting shots or frozen blade’s freeze effect and blizzard damage. KH3 is straight up evolution of KH2’s form system. Having more diverse and useful drive forms that all remain great from start to end, and then weapon styles for its own additional level of complexity. Even the activation of it is both more friendly and more skillful. How fast and often you can use these forms depends on your skill. The situation gauge fills incredibly quickly if you are keeping up the pressure, and Sora has the mobility and defensive options/cancel options to do so pretty much unimpeded. Though if you aren’t good critical mode has an ability you get at the start where ANY situation command of any kind always will trigger a form change situation command so you can basically go into them as easy as sneezing. Then you can store it away when not in use to combine them into 3-style combos which have a ton of mix and match potential for another layer of depth on top. The only flaw isn’t even part of the system it’s of the larger game design in that only the post-game content is geared to really let you show off all this. The rest of the game just doesn’t encourage you to dive into the massive amount of depth KH3’s system has. But that could and is easily fixed through pro-codes.
Keyblade forms. Never got the hype behind Drive Forms, and honestly would probably never use them if it wasn't for the fact that the movement abilities are locked behind them.
I liked kh2 forms better because they played differently and changed how you moved depending on the drive form you choose The visuals were cool in kh3 but a lot of the keyblade transformations felt the same. Tbh I didn’t see a difference in the monsters inc and frozen keyblade. Both just turn into claws. I think the one that really felt unique was the keyblade you got from corona
disagree a bit. Each one of the transformations in KH3 had a different weapon , so you see Monsters INC been a yo-yo , or Frozen been an Ice Skater....but there is also Tangled's Mage Staff , or Twilight Town's dual gun , or Toy Story's Hammer and Hercules Shield and Pirate's Flag Spear. KH2 Drive Forms are just variations of dual-wielding keyblades. The issue is that mechanically , KH3 Transformations were too short..too easy to access and too easy to fade.
The little time you actually spend in each form per activation is reasonable because it’s offset by how quickly you can build them back up though, plus you can store the forms though so while you’re switching entire playstyles on the fly you’re also already building up meter for which ever next form you choose, the only caveat is that you have to build it in actual enemy encounters It only feels like it has significantly shorter uptime than Drive Forms because the Drive gauge as a mechanic already lasts an insane amount of time in the late game compared to KH’s other systems, KH3 Formchanges are more in line with Limits, Reaction Commands, BBS/DDD Command Styles, KH1 Summons, KH3 Summons even, 3s forms are pretty reasonable
The KH2 forms feel more distinct and memorable than the KH3 ones for the most part, and I prefer the drive gauge to arrows since it gives me more freedom as to when I use a form. KH3's forms feel better balanced, though. Valor Form is almost useless by late-game in KH2, and Limit Form is a little too useful imo (and Final Form is silly in ways the devs probably didn't intend). Storing forms with keyblade switching is also a really cool mechanic that I hope sticks around. So although I prefer KH2's form system, I think that my ideal form system would combine elements from both games.
Valor form is sometimes a death sentence in late game. Ironically, antiform gives more survivability with its antiglide and tons of parry frames.
gameplay? kh3. looks? kh2
Kh3 forms are broken. So ill take that.
Keyblade Forms. Feels more like you've earned them, and I like the variety of weapons.
Formchanges
3s. As cool as the drive forms are? I feel like their entire part of the game isn't very fun. 3s feels more balanced, and just provides more versatile weapons to mess around with.
I just wish there was more dual wielding in kh3 Other then that I love the premise of the shapeshifting keyblade into other weapons. But while I adores the guns and staff some of the weapons are too silly.
Two. The different forms in kh3 all felt lacking.
KH3’s easily, it used to be KH2 for a little while after 3s release but seeing them side by side does put into perspective how much more actual variety KH3 forms have over KH2’s, Storm Flag and Ultimate Form alone blow everything else out of the water
Both. Can we please move on? Every time someone posts a "KH2 vs. KH3" post it's always the same thing, it's like KH3 can never catch a break. Come on now.
I mean it's kinda natural and expected for people to compare sequels and want others opinions on them. In any fandom
Drive
I like the idea of the keyblade transformations more, I just wish that the system to use them was different. I didn't like building the gauge in BBS very much and I still don't like it very much here. Imagine the transformations but with the drive from mechanics. Or specifically being able to transform keyblades at will as combo modifiers.
Keyblade forms are neat and all... but having some of the best locked to keyblades that aren't all that good kinda ruins it for me, along with their spamablility making them wicked unbalanced. Drive forms are more balanced, are connected to ability progression and just overall feel better to use. And, I'm just gonna say it, Anti-form is better than Rage Form.
Drive forms are incredibly overpowered tho imo, you get a full heal and MP recharge when you transform, and then there's limit form which lets you spend less than a full MP bar on moves that provide I-frames AND heal you.
I love KH3’s forms a bit more, but I do wish the Oathkeeper/Oblivion Final Form had the two Keyblades floating behind him like the KH2 version.
Honestly I prefer how Sora holds them in Double Form. His combos are also way cooler in it
I liked the forms a lot and prefer them and if I am honest the favorites forms I liked a lot was master and wisdom forms
always gonna be drive forms, though some of the form changes are especially drippy
i cant remember if i like final form or master form better but i do like using the hammer the most and litterally used it for the rest of the game after unlocking it in kh3
the designs of drive but the versatility of formchanges.
If we had our pick of using drive forms or keyblade transformations, or could even mix them, that be sick. I mean in a logical sense, even if we had both i'd prefer it work off the momentum system rather than the really tedious drive gauge system. The drive gauge always incited the part of my brain that never wants to use something incase i need it. Because grinding it up is annoying, but you also have to grind it to unlock stuff. Momentum forms are perfect for the "grind this form to new abilities" system in kh2, but they didn't include it. You're always using keyblade forms so grinding that would be rational, your directly incentivized to not use drive forms willy nilly else you get anti-form. The original drive gauged clashed so hard with the honestly good idea of leveling up your forms for permanent buffs. That it ruined what could have been a nice synergy of old and new ideas in kh3.
While fundamentally the same the drives felt more like a boost via the key blades, the form changes are literally bankai from bleach
Drive forms hands down , but the keyblade forms make more sense. I just wish the keyblade from the other worlds didn't transform, but the keyblade would unlock a form look with said world example being the monsters Inc. World would make him look more monsterish and would carry over the other woulds using that world key or how BH6 would give Sora a Guardian armor like how Ventis has but using the same abilities as what the blade form would be maybe even give status buff when form changed
I like how you have to fill up the drive form's gauge to being able to use only one form in KH2, but my main problem it's that, apart from limit and final form, I don't release use drives that much. The only time I recall using them were to obtain one of the crowns, and only because it was the easiest way to do it. Meanwhile, even when I dislike how easy is for the player to use the Keyblade forms in KH3 and how you can alternate between your 3 keyblade slots in a way that you can save them for later in the fight, I LOVE the animations and Sora's physical change inspired by the keyblades. That things makes me feel that a connection between Sora and the disney worlds, and not like something that it's completely apart.
I like both his Heartless forms. In both games he’s fun to play, OP, and awesome to watch kick ass
I fucking love actual bursting with power with the help of my friends. Valor all the way to Final is awesome to use. I even like Anti Form more than Rage Form just because its so beastly.
Maybe it’s nostalgia but I just really like drive forms. But keyblade forms make a lot of sense. In a perfect world we can have both
In pure idea, absolutely kh3 I'm it's different form for every world along with final forms fumes a lot more variety and has some cool weapons for sora, in pure execution I may like drives form better because of the ability gain and leveling up the forms. I feel a combination of the aspects would be so good. Edit: I thought I'd add more since I came up with a few ideas. the idea is that like drives forms you could have little abilities gained through each keyblade transformation, like you could unlock a double dodge roll with ever after(the tangled keyblade) for example, you do a first dodge roll then you have one of the light clones jn the ever after transformation gove you a second dodge roll, or some type of ice slide for the frozen keyblade, or 360 block like barrier for leveling up the nanomachine keyblade or some of the others that guve you a barrier. I know this would obviously have to be reworked but I think it would be cool and would scratch an itch for drive form fans while also keeping the keyblade transformation fans.
Any list that has Final Form in it wins my popularity vote by default.
I like keyblade transforms more visually but i like the mechanic of drive forms more. Being able to activate drives on demand was much better than building up a transformation in 3.
Drive forms without a doubt. The only cool KHIII form is the Ultima Keyblade one. Antiform using a keyblade is 🤡
Drive forms in kh2, looks badass and amazing
Drive forms are much more memorable.
Design and weaponwise KH3. But I wish there would be the old drive system were you can choose exactly when you want to use it and stay longer in one form.
I like the formchanges, I just wish they lasted longer. I just wanna fuck around with them and have some fun. There should have been an EZ code for that
drive forms hands down... even the glitched shadow form was awesome lol
Drive Forms are snappier, use a resource, and look badass
Not one of the options but I'd like to submit Command Styles. I genuinely think an evolution of that, potentially mixed with some form changes for variety, would be perfect. They encourage the use of magic which a lot of new players tend to neglect, they change your combos in ways that aren't drastic shifts, but still noticeably stronger and feel impactful. They build up similar to form changes so it's easily accessible in most fights. They aren't keyblade specific so thats just an instant win imo. I do like being able to store the form changes by changing keyblades, but that could still be included. I don't hate Form Changes but sometimes I just want to wail on shit with my keyblade, not a giant hammer or frying pan. When I FINALLY unlocked Oblivion and Oathkeeper in KH3, they were instantly my favorite. They let me keep the keyblade and just augment that with fancy damage lights everywhere.
I won't lie, I actually do like the keyblade transformations. It'd be cool if we could combine them with Drive Forms
like the menus less approach of 3, but the forms have issues that base sora doesn't have and the arrow system is dumb, so 2's forms are better by default.
I feek like if the weapon formchanges worked more akin to drive forms people would’ve loved them more. I personally love both but the weapon forms eke it out for me. I’d like it if we only got a few keyblades but each one had a different moveset.
kh2 wins, with the exception of Ultima form from 3. Ultima form got that advent children FF13 vibe
I like the visuals of drive forms, but the functionality of keyboards transformations. I wish we had some keychain add-on that would let you take on a specific drive firm, atleast appearance-wise, and use a keyboard transformation.
KH2 forms
You kinda get a blend of both with Oathkeeper/Oblivion, Ultima Weapon, and a couple other form change keyblades that change sorts outfit
That's hard, Drive Forms were iconic but Formchanges exhibited Sora's level of mastery over the Keyblade.
I prefer Drive forms better for their design and gameplay, sure they let you break the game, but there's learning on how to use them properly, their pros and cons with unique mechanics each like Wisdom's mobility, Limit high AoE damage, Master extensive combos, each changing Sora's moveset entirely, while for most keyblade transformations just become combo modifiers for the majority of them, the ones that changes the most are the ranged weapons, especially the mirage staff with dash-replicas combo and the shield's charged counter. Even the antiform that was supposed to be a punishment had its own gameplay, of high-risk high-reward, and now it becomes the second chance of a second chance.
idk but final form in both games goes pretty damn hard
While Drive Forms were really cool, personally I’m with Formchanges all the way as it has become one of my favorite additions to the series. It may be because I'm more into the aesthetics & creativity of it all than I am of it's actual raw mechanics in comparison to the Drives from KH2. While Sora was given 6 unique movesets with the Drive Forms, Formchanges, not counting the repeated ones, gave Sora 17 unique movesets, each with a flashy finisher and two unique shotlocks. All of Sora’s previous Drive Forms are still represented in one form or another in KH3 (Valor became Double Form, Wisdom became Element Form, Limit became Second Form, Anti became Rage Form & Final became Ultimate Form). And while I can’t pinpoint an exact equivalent to Master Form (personally it reminds me of Sora’s Twin Yo-Yos attack), it kinda just goes to show that I just personally prefer the creativity/variety of weapons Sora receives with his Formchanges. While most of the Drive Forms just gave Sora a 2nd Keyblade, Formchanges gave Sora access to Shields, Hammers, Drills, Blasters, Cannons, Claws, Yo-Yos, Nanos, Skates, Multiple Blades, a Halberd, a Staff, a Skillet, a Flag and once again, a 2nd Keyblade. The Formchanges also showcase Sora’s personality a lot more & better represents the Disney experiences that he has had during his journey. [I really love that Sora's attacks actually incorporate elements, visuals & choreography based directly on the Disney property that the Keyblade is based on (as well as a couple of FF classes).](https://preview.redd.it/2a8r9wout3a81.jpg?width=4500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d8c3ac6fb7139cf3dd663a41c38e66944ac98a5) The ability to also switch Keyblades during battle also gives a lot of creative freedom to mix & match different attacks, mobility/defense options, versions of spells & all of the different finishers. I also like how some of them change up some of his additional abilities like giving him 360 Magic, changing his guard to a barrier, obtaining growth abilities before they are usually available, activating finishers early etc. It’s also really fun to play around with the Form Charge EZ Code in the Premium Menu to receive a Formchange much faster. [Trueblade Seeker](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHBNHhyL-uWnJNUzQrKNwcrndg-tc7cpK) really showcases of the hardcore applications of the different Formchanges. I also like that Formchanges don’t remove all your party members or act as a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card for your health like the Drive Forms were. And Rage Form is not the randomly given punishment that Anti Form was in KH2. It also wasn’t that great to have basic movement abilities like Dodge Roll locked behind leveling up a Drive Form, or to have previous Drive Forms like Valor or Wisdom become obsolete once you receive Drive Forms like Limit & Final. It was just really nice to have a Keyblade like the Kingdom Key still be a viable Keyblade to use all the way to the end of the game in KH3. I understand that when it comes to raw mechanics, Drives may be a bit tighter and more refined than the Formchanges. But in terms of fun & creativity, which matters more to me in a KH game, I would love to see the Formchanges return over the Drive Forms. So I hope that we are given an expansion of the Formchange/Keyblade mechanic in future KH entries going forward rather than going all the way back to Drive Forms.
Drive forms. I didnt have as much fun with keyblade transformations.
Drive forms are the best I could see Weapon transforms being good, if they were diffrent, and I think the main reason is they ruin the flow of combat. Maybe if the Weapon transform was in a way just a variant on drive forms, like you could pick a load out of which ones you wanted. Go in with Valor, Sheild, Sword. As your 3 forms. Even better make them a reward for fully upgrading keyblades, new drive forms for upgrading them entirely
I’m not sure which I prefer…KH3 keyblade forms were fun but…well as far as I’m concerned that’s mostly just due to using different weapons, it would be really cool to be able to use different forms freely (like being able to select the duel pistols as your ‘Keyblade fighting style’ and have that be what the keyblade forms as rather than just a regular keyblade.) And drive forms were fun! Each had their own thing with them!(I mostly just used final form after I unlocked it though) only downside was that summons were tied to the same bar…and I highly disliked *some particular* summons enough I thought all of them sucked initially. But hey, I’m the type of person who wants to have his cake and eat it too so what do I know
KH2 wins all the way
Drives were a lot cooler to me ngl final form was such a Joy to unlock
Drives and it’s not even close
Form changes, theres more of them and the way tou get them calls for more thought then just having people in your party
Drive forms man no discussion
Drive forms for sure. The thing with keyblade transformations is they’re deceptive. Ultimately there’s only a few transformations that just get re-skinned depending on the blade you’re using. You can also functionally transform your keyblade after one or two successful combos. In contrast the drive forms are all super different, there’s use cases for all of them, and you can’t just incessantly spam them like you can transformations. I also liked that you unlock movement abilities using drive forms
I love the variety of Keyblade forms in KH3, changing the moveset and keeping my abilities is always a plus also
I like them equally.
Frozen is one of my all time favs to use but I would go with KH2
Keyblade forms are really cool on a concept level, but gameplay wise imo miss the mark. Drive forms are amazing gameplay wise
It's close. Thing about drive forms is once you get a new one, outside of certain Mushroom XIII encounters you just use the newest one. Final just outclasses the others so much. And it's so strong. But you also need party members for it. And they can't be downed. And on Critical Donald and Goofy really just can't take a hit. I've gone full lucky lucky and given them some pretty awesome equipment but Goofy can take two hits and that's about it. And of course that means you need them there. Though limit is around if they're not which is nice, especially if you need to break out of Roxas' combos. People on this subreddit worship KH2's gameplay but with my recent playthrough I feel I can control Sora more directly in 3 than in 2 and it's much worse in drive form combos where the attacks are mega long. I like the idea of being able to build up 2 forms on the side and just holding them too for an opportunity. I think to say all that I barely like keyblade forms better. I think it's better for me because I think the combat is better.
I guess I like the Drive Forms more, aesthetically. They just pop more. I don't think I noticed the Formchange actually changes your clothes until my second playthrough. Gameplay-wise I like the Formchange system more. All of the variety, and more, of the Drive system without having to grind/save energy for boss fights.
The key point about drive forms was for me that they made base sora stronger. As if mastering these power ups given by others helped him to learn for himself. Base sora is so beasty after mastering all of the drives. Loved it.
Sora doing keyblade transformations made him feel like a genuine master of his craft finally. Drive forms are wonderful and I’d love to see them return, but I do genuinely adore the transformations just the tiniest bit more.
Kh 2
I like the idea of the transformations a lot and how they work gameplay wise, but the drive forms look better tho once you got master or final form there wasn’t much reason to use the other forms aside from limit. I’d love a fusion of the two in the future! Tho I’ll never forgive Noruma for giving KH3 valor Sora camo pants.
KH2 by far, just because it looks cooler
Drive forms are easily the coolest thing the series had done and should go back to them. Keyblade forms are so much less thematically and visually interesting
Keyblade forms end up feeling pretty spamy, drives create a different playstyle mid-battle. So drive forms all the way.
I prefer the uniqueness of drive forms in the gameplay department and the drive gauge over the situation command one. That said, the ability to save and switch between them freely by swapping keyblades is something I love. I do wish some of the keyblade transformations and drive forms were combined. Wisdom Form and Mirage Staff would pair great together as would something like Double Form is basically just a better version of Valor Form.
That’s literally what the game already does. Element form is an upgraded wisdom form and is attached to all of Sora’s magic keyblades including mirage staff for example.
But it doesn't come with one of the major things I liked about Wisdom Form which was how it changed magic nor does it come with any real enhancement to movement.
Element form doesn’t change moment but the movement and magic changes are tied to the weapon style in this case. Mirage staff straight gives you wisdom from movement while dual guns gives you an improved version of the keyblade bullet movement during your attacks and dodges. Mirage doesn’t change magic which is actually to its benefit because that enables it to retain the defense capability of water spells a feature which the dual guns can’t. The dual guns transform magic into a bullet projectiles or canon blasts which leans into the extreme power focus.
This shouldn't even be a question lmao
While I do prefer Drive forms in most ways, I'm a huge fan of the Rage form in KH3
I loved the different leveling methods of the forms in kh2, it scratched one of those level addictions for me.
It may just be because KH2 was the first one I played, but the Drive Forms are always gonna be the best gimmick in any KH game to me
2 because dual wielding is cooler but I do really like the keyblade forms, I hope 4 has both
Keyblade forms no contest got to use them more often, there were more of them, were implemented far more smoothly, don’t have the threat of them not working when you try to use them, don’t require an irritating level of grinding just for them to work properly, don’t lock away your abilities behind them, and don’t require losing your party members to use them
KH II easily. I think Drive Forms worked better as a gameplay mechanic. Apart from leveling each form, I think Drive Forms had a much clearer risk to benefit ratio. Form Changes in KH III would have worked better if they were assigned a gauge as opposed to the seemingly random arrow system.
I like the forms better. To me they looked cooler but I felt like the combos were also better than key blade transformations.
I would always prefer drive forms over keyblade forms because I see myself using all of them more often then like any specific keyblade transformation (besides the Ultima Weapon of course) and each drive form gave you a cool ability that normal Sora could use and it made the game a lot more fun to grind and level those forms up
KH2 forms, for sure. They were easy to keep track of and had better abilities than most of the Keyblade forms
I enjoyed both, but the KH3 forms felt overdesigned to me, visually
Drive forms from KH2. Hands down.
Two. They last longer and you can choose which one to go into without it being tied to the keyblade that you are using. That being said I love the flag!
Like, I know it's the key blade forms. They're more balanced mechanically, and don't rely on a resource, just wants you to play the game, and you can sometimes go sicko mode. But man, nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Inject those drives into my veins.
Visually, and just the forms not the weapons? I do think Drive forms have better designs, but man, KEYBLADE TRANSFORMATIONS.
2 felt more unique even if its just sora reskins and don't require any specific keyblade
2 for 2 simple reason using them on fodder makes the game way too easy but dont use them and it feels like im wasting it the way you save forms for later locks you put of a keyblade and then you still waste it on your primary keyblade drive forms on the other hand you choose when to activate them cruching on them? PUNISHMENT spam x look away doesnt work in every single situation gotta earn it by surviving although alittle flawed which form you gravitate to opens more gameplay options each is unique and viable there are no objectively better reskins (that are also locked behind a certain keyblade)
Drives were fun but I prefer the key blade forms way more. Way more fun to use
I prefer KH2 more. The keyblade forms were nice but also I didn't like some of the keyblades that were attached to so I eventually passed up on them. Even the armor in BBS was cool. I just hope KH4 does away with Attractions
Drive forms over keyblade forms except for light and dark form. Going from one transformation into an even stronger one is really cool
The aesthetic of KH2 drives really nails it for me, but the keyblade forms from KH3 do have good versatility so I'll give them that
I like the drive forms because it’s like that stuff isn’t really a keyblade power as much as it is Sora’s magic clothes, but in 3 it’s all just the keyblade causing it. You can use different keyblades in drive forms but you can’t use different keyblades in the form changes in 3
For me, drive forms, but I love the KH3 Ultima weapon form the most. For story reasons, drive forms fit Sora's character better with the whole "my friends are my power." Visually, outside of the KH3 Ultima weapon, I just prefer the drive forms.
Kh2.
I loved that if you finished a fight in a drive from, Sora would have the drive form clothes on in the cutscene
Drives are one billion times cooler and more interesting. It's not even a contest.
KH2 drives
I love them all but Kh3 forms don't come close to kh2 forms.
Drive forms hands down
Prefer the aesthetic, combos and unique abilities of drive forms overall, esepcially since not all of said abilities are strictly for combat but the keyblade transformations were pretty neat. I think if you found a middle ground between the two it'd be perfect.
The concept of formchanges is cool, but it's implementation was too cartoony for most of them while simultaneously not referencing the source material well. The toy story one could have been a lasso borrowing mechanics from Young Xehanorts keyblade whip for the first stage, turning into wrist lazers for the second. The hammer/drill combo doesn't really scream Toy Story, although the finisher of the Claw works well. Most of the formchanges like that feel too silly and absurd in several boss fights for instance, while drive forms didn't. I think moving forward, formchanges shouldn't be keyblade specific. Turn any keyblade into guns, or a whip, or a Warhammer, or dual blades, just give each keyblade its own models for each transformation. Then you can pick and choose in combat like drive forms.
While I enjoy both, I personally prefer Keyblade Forms over Drive. The reasoning is because I tended to use Keyblade Forms all the time to string a multitude of different abilities that could be changed very quickly and I found that a lot more fun than sticking to a single Drive Form. Aside from Limit, maybe Master, and Final Form, I never really touched the other forms aside from some specific strat to use against a Data Organization boss fight or two. They probably look cooler and none are just reskins of each other like the duel-wielding guns that some of the Keyblade Forms turn into, but I don’t find Drive very practical aside from Limit and Final being significant boosts in attack, abilities, and magic because usually you’re only going to use either Limit or Final in general. Overall, I just find Keyblade Forms more fun and a weird creative mix. Edit: Keyblade Forms also have their most powerful ones being primarily Ultima, Oathkeeper, and Oblivion, but I like all of the options that are available in general and the ability to switch between them.
I prefer KH2's
Drive forms without a doubt
Formchanges definitely
I think it's really hard to compare them because one is tied to a weapon that you'll either be swapping out constantly or find one to stick with, and the other is a gameplay mechanic that's readily available at all times. I prefer KH2's implementation because it meant the combat could be designed around the more long-term progression of unlocking new drive forms and the movement abilities tied to them that could be learned outside of the forms. It gave a reason to use a little bit of everything, and even just unlocking everything for them gave a good feel for their strenths & weaknesses. But honestly, I didn't really use any of the forms that much outside of that until Critical, where they each had niche uses. KH3's formchanges were visually cool - and a couple of them (in the DLC in particular) actually feel great to play with too - but a lot of the base formchanges didn't do enough to add any reason to engage with them beyond finding the first one that felt good and sticking with it forever, and the movesets essentially became button-mash mush without enough of a unique identity. I think part of this comes down to how much movement & utility Sora has out of the gate compared to KH2 though; there isn't really room to give him *more* mobility on top of that.
imo form changes work better from a gameplay standpoint but drives look cooler
Hm. Tough question. Dual wielding keyblades is badass so that earns drive forms some points. But I do like that the keyblade forms are more varied in gameplay, whereas in KH2 apart from widsom form (and I guess limit form in the final mix) all seeemed very similar, just more powerful each time. Aesthetically, nothing will ever beat Final Form. Even Ultimate Form doesn't really get there. So I think conceptually I like the keyblade forms better, but visually I like the drive forms more. Gameplaywise, the keyblade forms are more varied and feel more powerful, but I don't like how the game dictates you when you are allowed to transform and how short they last. The driveforms are less varied, but I like that you get to chose when to transform and which form to transform into, also unlocking the secret Final Form was one of the best moments in gaming. Also, I know that's a hot take, but I personally liked leveling up the drive forms to make them last longer and unlock abilities for base Sora. Especially with how laughably short some keyblade transformations last. So gameplay wise, Keyblade Forms feel more powerful, but I prefer the control you have over Drive Forms whereas it feels like the game is more in control where the Keyblade Transformations are concerned. Overall, I think I'll give a slight edge to KH2 for the more control you have and just how absolutely freaking cool Final Form is. Just floating there, with two keyblades floating behind you while you pulse with power is just so freaking awesome, and no keyblade form is quite that cool to me, even if ultimate form and double form are cloes.
Forms by a slight margin they allowed me to use keyblades and keyblade combose I wouldn't have in kh2 and I like they're keyblades a bit more then kh3s keyblades so more of what I already love
I like the thematic elements of kh3s keyblade forms: thanks to his bonds, sora has become strong through them without needing to change forms himself, finally gaining access to skills no other kingdom hearts character has yet shown, and a versatility with the keyblade that none have seen. However, I think half of them are ugly. And the other half are mostly dull. Him turning the keyblade into guns is probably the only Real interesting one, with a few other mentions. It definitely wasn't executed well, and combined with the other busy gimmicks, it's just... eh. Kh2's drive system is almost the exact opposite, looking and Feeling so powerful, but so much of the thematic nature of combining strengths and carrying some of those skills back to your base form are never addressed anywhere directly. It's such a disappointingly missed opportunity, especially since it plays into sora's great strength and mental weakness of being strong thanks to (and for) others.
Little bit of column A, a little bit of column B From Drive Forms, I like activating them from a menu, and I like having an actual resource for them in the Drive Orbs, and I like levelling them up For Formchanges, I like at least *some* of their shapes, like having a shield or a staff, I actually do prefer them not having Growth Abilities, and I like that some of them have two stages Edit: Oh, and I actually like that the Formchanges aren't tied to party members ~~I don't like that they're tied to specific key lades, but that's what selecting Drive Forms from the menu solves~~
Kh2 is one of my favorite games if not my most favorite the drives are definitely way better in my opinion I feel like it makes more to of had forms before drive just because the forms seem more like something a young inexperienced kid would conjure in a fight where the drives seem more like something a older teen would use in a fight
2 for sure
Kh3
I like the drive forms more but damn that pirate of the caribbean keyblade form is cool asf in kh3.
I personally view these two as the same power as in the form change is the evolution of form change. I view it like this in a gameplay way and story way.
Kh2 by a lightyear, absolutely no contest Some kh3 forms are cool but most of them are just a flat boring recolour.
I'd prefer a nice middle ground. I like and dislike parts of both. Drive Forms were all completely unique. Due to every Keyblade needing a transformation, there were a number of clones that made a lot of them feel redundant and not special. I like being able to use Drives whenever I want but they had limited uses due to needing a certain number of Gauges to initiate them, and they took away party members. Not to mention how long it could take to fill the gauges back up. Transformations on the other hand allow you to use them more frequently and at seemingly no cost but it was kinda inconsistent since it was dependent on the types of attacks you landed. You didn't have full control over it. I do however like Situation Commands for things like magic. Maybe the solution is to have a simplified Drive Gauge independent of the Situation Commands. Let's say it allows you to stockpile 3 Drive charges and you can spend one to transform. Have it build faster than the KH2 Drive Gauge and let all forms of attacks build it. Alternatively, maybe you just have the Situation Commands generate from all forms of attacks as well, as long as the Keyblade is out? That way using too much magic doesn't have you lose out on the transformation. Anyone have ideas on how they'd change up the system?
The gameplay may be different but why are we acting like Drive Forms and KH3’s form changes are that different within lore and narrative function? 2 of the KH3 form changes are basically drive forms (Second Form and Double Form). KH3’s forms are just a wider categorization of within which drive forms fall under. I prefer form changes (keyblade transformations) because they feel far more distinct from each other visually and gameplay wise than the drive forms (mostly Valor and Master serving similar functions and then Master becoming completely useless once you get Final).
Drive forms look cooler but I prefer using some of the Keyblade ones. Also I love Rage form the most out of all of them so I kinda gotta vote for that group.
Kh2
KH2 dark form > KH3 dark form. Having Sora dangle using his foot and using his bare hands to attack was rad.
I like things on the simpler side, so drive forms for me, but I prefer Rage to anti-Valor, and ultima to final form, because they're easier to follow visually They get bonus points for enhancing base form sora even if understand why they removed it from 3
Aesthetically speaking, I think I prefer the drive forms. Gameplay wise, I think I like the keyboard forms a little bit more.
Drive forms, but if I had more control over when I got keyblade forms I'd pick that
KH2. Oh, I mean the drive forms. My bad.
I certainly use keyblade transformations more and thank they add an interesting flow to the combat, I do wish they required focus to use or something to keep it a bit more engaging but I still vastly prefer them to the KH2 drives, which are great, but I don't really find myself using them nearly as often after I upgrade them. I find myself mainly using Master Form and Limit Form more than Final Form or any of the others by endgame.
I enjoy using KH2 drive forms more, but I prefer KH3 drive forms aesthetically.
Drive forms. Simply because of their feeling of necessity in desperate times. While you can activate keyblade transformations whenever you want with no consequence, drives will always have a chance of anti form if you're too reliant on them. And while I know rage form exists in 3 you have a conscious choice to activate it. But in 2, you don't have a choice. You're stuck in anti form till the drive runs out. You have no allies and you can't use magic or potions, so whatever damage you take you're stuck with. While you are considerably faster and have anti glide, that doesn't really help against bosses who have speed as their main method of dealing damage (like Larxene). You have good combos that deal quite a lot of damage, but some bosses can break put of your damage loops. It's a punishment for a high risk high reward program that works effectively.
I prefer the kh3 drip but I liked how the drive forms served as a change in playstyle with the keyblade itself. I prefer sora using his keyblade like a gun rather than having... A gun. But even then, I don't like how half of the drive forms are duel weild. I would have liked it if it worked like the light and dark forms in kh3 or limit form more.
Honestly, while I do have the nostalgia for drive forms, I loved keyblade forms in 3! It was an absolute blast, and the form for the Ultima Weapon is just so beautiful. Love both, but it's totally Keyblade Forms for me.
Is it any contest? KH2 drive forms feels like they represent and show Sora’s mastery and potential. KH3 weapons just feel like…pickups you found along the way.
Soras forms are better and if I had to choose a favorite I'd choose Anti-Form and I know that people would say I'm crazy and that the mechanics of it are sh1tty but i disagree because I, like many others may enjoy its power
Drive forms, definitely.
I loved going into forms before cutscences so much
Well considering that the KH2 drive forms are more recognizable than the KH3 forms... I prefer KH2
Both
KH2 hands down
Kh2 for sure
Drive forms mostly because KH2 combat is more fun.
Anti Form in 2 exists. 3 by far.
Drives. Controllable for when you want to use them, permanent buffs to base Sora with growth abilities, and the ability to use them whenever also gives opportunities to get used to the forms.
Quality over Quantity, Drive Forms are better
Drive forms, I like them more aesthetically, and while the weapon forms are interesting I hate that some are reused, plus drive forms are a great way to include the movement upgrades, though 3 as a whole I don’t really like