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I'd just like to preface this by saying that I've never finished the first Kingdom Hearts game, and never touched any of the subsequent entries into the franchise, so anything I say is based on fan reaction. Please forgive me for my ignorance.
Who wins in a fight? Batman or Subzero? Pikachu or Mario? Kira in the Strike Freedom or Amuro in the Nu? Wolverine or Ryu? Crossover video games are built on satisfying these pointless nerd debates. No one bought the first Kingdom Hearts game because they wanted to watch two twelve year old boys angst over each other; they bought it to see Donald Duck beat up Sephiroth, and shifting the focus from this form of fan-service has been a detriment to the series.
Rather than trying to create a convoluted overarching plot, subsequent games should have been episodic focusing on a new group of Disney villains (or heck, throw in some Final Fantasy villains too), forming a legion of doom and generally engaging in cartoon villainy across the multi-verse, leaving an original character (or maybe let Mickey take the spotlight) to pick up a keyblade, put together a team of Disney and Final Fantasy heroes and go save the day. I must be talking crazy to let you have a full roster of characters for the entire game rather than a trio with the occasional guest star right? But think about it: running around with Jack Skellington for a few hours of the game is pretty cool, but having a party with Jack, Captain Jack, and Cid for most of the game would be awesome.
Another complaint is the recycling of environments and characters from game to game. Which really should not be considering that between Disney's animated and live-action features, TV series, and Pixar franchises there are hundreds of options for game designers to do something cool with. Granted not all of these are adaptable to an RPG, but repetition is still inexcusable (though I have no clue how to fit Darkwing Duck or Pepper Ann into an RPG, but dammit Square Enix, make it happen!). By the same token there are, counting spin-offs, over twenty Final Fantasy titles full of settings and characters that could be incorporated into the series, but Kingdom Hearts only uses a handful of them, mostly from the 3D era Final Fantasy games. A creative set of minds could churn out dozens of interesting games without any redundancy.
So, if anyone at Square Enix is reading this, take what I've written into consideration. Also a few more requests: a Gargoyles level, a scene with Guy from Final Fantasy II, Princess Aurora and Snow White conversing with woodland creatures, and a moment where Auron encounters Hector Barbossa and they acknowledge each-other's undead badassness with significant nods exchanged.
PS: One last nitpick: I still don't see Donald Duck as a mage. Watch any of his cartoons, and the duck is clearly a berserker. Now, Mickey I can see as a mage, or at least a Sorcerer's Apprentice.
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