The Gummi Ship is often regarded as one of if not the single weakest point of the Kingdom Hearts series that every new title has had to attempt to retroactively fix this section of the game. While some spin-off titles on mobile devices have come up with their own new ways to approach the transfer between worlds, Kingdom Hearts‘ numbered entries added bosses and improved mechanics to try salvaging the Gummi Ship and its missions.
In Kingdom Hearts 3, these improvements came in the form of an open field to explore in the Gummi Ship, with treasures and secrets to unlock along with impressive combat missions and boss fights. Of those encounters, the Astrowarrior stands out, both for how it primes players for the Toy Box world that comes after, and for how it perfectly sets up all of the future Gummi bosses to come.
For most players, the Astrowarrior will act as the introduction to the new combat systems introduced with Kingdom Hearts 3‘s take on the Gummi Ship. There are other encounters to run into at this point, and a lot to explore within the first Gummi map, but most players are likely going to rush to the next level as soon as possible after the initial introductions at Olympus and Twilight Town. So, while there might be a handful of players that encounter more of what this section of the game has to offer, the vast majority of players will run into the boss fight right away.
Interestingly, it looks like Square Enix was well aware that this would be the case for most players, so the fight is easy enough to pass through that it can competently be beaten with an un-upgraded Gummi Ship. However, getting a high score for anyone looking to hit a three star rating and unlocking all of the treasures does require either a higher level of skill, or a stronger ship. So, even though the Astrowarrior is and easy fight for newcomers, Kingdom Hearts 3 still got difficulty right by giving more advanced players a higher goal to shoot for.
As an introductory boss, the Astrowarrior also sets up an important aspect to both the Gummi bosses, as well as some of the regular boss fights that come later, for having multiple phases throughout the encounter. While an overpowered build can easily skip these phases and melt the boss quickly later in the game, the first attempt is going to pit the player against a wide variety of attacks. This is a theme that will persist all the way through to the end of Kingdom Hearts and is magnified in some of the later and DLC boss fights as well.
In the case of the Astrowarrior, the additional phases aren’t too difficult to master, and most players should be able to read every attack before it comes flying towards the Gummi Ship. Of course, the bullet-hell nature of these sections can be a bit dicey, and it is easy for some players to be quickly overwhelmed, especially with the low health supplied by a starting ship. That being said, it’s still a far stretch from standing up against the hardest bosses in Kingdom Hearts 3, though the Heartless’ variant goes a long way to close that gap.
Many of Kingdom Hearts 3‘s boss-level Heartless that are battled in the Gummi Ship have a bright pink variant that players can optionally take on toward the end of the game for a tougher challenge. This holdover from Final Fantasy 13: Lightning Returns of all places is a great way to give some of the designs of bosses that had to be beaten for the sake of progression the chance to shine. Where the original Astrowarrior is a simple enough fight for first time players to breeze through, the Supreme Warrior can give players with a max-level Gummi Ship trouble.
These vibrant variants are a great addition that Kingdom Hearts‘ Gummi Missions really needed, especially with how poorly received the initial introduction of the flight mode was in the first installment. Now, players aren’t simply tasked with traversing the same, boring areas with practically no threats over and over again, but are incentivized to search out new boss fights and the treasures that can make fighting them possible. It’s a section that is likely only going to resonate with a select few players, but the new direction Kingdom Hearts has taken in this area is a welcome improvement that are sure to be pushed even further in Kingdom Hearts 4.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is available now on PS4 and Xbox One, with a PC release set for March 30th, 2021.
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