Kingdom Hearts 2
 

One of the most anticipated game releases is definitely Kingdom Hearts 2, the sequel to the hit created by Disney and SE. Getting good reviews in Japan, following it's release in December 2005, it's one of the most hyped games of the year. The previous threads (spoilers and anticipation) easily had over 2000 posts together, but I doubt that this one will reach that. Anyway, any discussion regarding the game goes here.

Some general information:
Release Date: March 28th

Voice Acting:

# Sora - Haley Joel Osment
# Riku - David Gallagher
# Kairi - Hayden Panettiere
# Roxas (previously known as "Blonde Haired Kid") - Jesse McCartney
# Namine - Brittany Snow
# Diz - Christopher Lee
# Cloud - Steve Burton
# Tifa - Rachael Leigh Cook
# Aerith - Mena Suvari
# Yuna - Hedy Buress
# Rikku - Tara Strong
# Paine - Gwendoline Yeo
# Mulan - Ming-Na
# Hades - James Woods
# Chicken Little - Zach Braff

US release box art

Also use spoiler tags if you've already played the Japanese games, or if new information is released. Be sure to mark them so that people now their topic.

MTV Overdrive has interviews with almost the entire english cast, giving you a chance to hear the dub. Be warned that some of them contain spoilers, which are listed in the link.

http://www.kh2.co.uk/index.php?start...ubaction=&id=&

I've only seen Tifa and Aerith's, the former which is safe to watch as long as you stop just before the conversation with Sora and one of the XIII Order members (the spoiler, most likely).

Anyway, Cook seems to be a decent enough Tifa, it's just weird finally hearing a voice on the character after attempting to imagine it for so long. She seems to have the right idea with the soft tone, but I wonder if she can handle Tifa's more aggresive side too (the fighting). The actress seems to really enjoy playing the character and has an accurate grasp on her personality, though I wonder if that's SE whispering details in her ear for the sake of publicity.

Suvari on the other hand.....wasn't very impressive from what I heard. She sounded quite boring and monotone, though there were less lines available for listening. She just didn't have the positive energy that Mandy Moore had (she was so damn good as Aerith).

I'm going to chalk up the latter to a low quality streamed video, though. The same thing happened with Xenosaga Episode I. When people heard the first clip, it sounded terrible online. The same rule could apply here. I remain confidence in Square's casting decisions. They've yet to screw up a dub before, and they certainly aren't going to mess up their most popular female characters.

Also, KH2 was briefly updated with a T rating in the ESRB page, for "Fantasy Violence and Alcohol". It was soon taken down though, most likely as an error, but it still had made me freak out momentarily.

Sanctuary is such a step down from Passion it isn't even funny. Too bad; I really liked Passion.

Also, none of those links work.

The sanctuary that plays in that video doesn't sound complete. It just seems to be missing alot of things Passion has (like.. the background voices?). But if I remember correctly, didn't passion sound the same way when it first appeared?

It's also a bummer the cast of POTC wont be voicing thier counterparts in KH II. I was kinda looking forward to that. Now I don't know what to expect from that world.

Also, hurrah for first post again.

Ahh, this was confirmed then? :( I'm kind of surprised Johnny Depp turned it down - even though he's a "big-time" star, he seems to relish playing the character. I can't even imagine someone else voicing Captain Jack.

I think it was said the reason was that they were too busy. Must of been filming the other two POTC movies. Really a bummer.

I'm sorry, but does anyone know why Kh was delayed in the first place? I've been wondering this for a while. Was it not complete? Why didn't it come to america for christmas

KH2 was never delayed in the US. It didn't come out in time for Christmas because the game wasn't ready in time and Square US had their hands full with DQVIII anyway.

And yeah, the PotC cast was off filming Dead Man's Chest. Still, the (albiet brief) clip we heard of Jack sounded pretty good.

I hope you're right about the low-quality thing. Suvari sounds dreadful.

As for the T, I actually thought it was possible. PotC is in the game, after all. It wouldn't be so farfetched to have it be T if only for the more mature plot and the presence of PotC.

I've got to hand it to David Gallagher, though. "Riku's a sexy guy." I'm going to remember that forever.

I think that the issue with Sanctuary in that clip is that it's low quality. Besides, its "incompleteness" can probably be chalked up to the fact that Sanctuary was (presumably) recorded first. For instance, the "screaming" in Passion was placed into the song the day that Hikki had to turn Passion in to her record company. It's entirely possible that Sanctuary will be re-recorded to add in these "extras" from Passion.

I mostly wonder about how the other members for the XIII Order will die. While none of the deaths in CoM were graphic, a few could require a T rating if they were implemented with PS2 graphics. In particular,



But we'll see. The game has an E10 rating, which would be the equivalent of PG. I'm not sure how graphic the Pirates world is though.

Just a few more days for me to play the english version...yay.

These are just some thoughts I've posted at other places since I'm too lazy to reformulate past opinions:

"Sanctuary" sounds weird after basically snorting "Passion" every single day since I ever heard it. I liked "Simple and Clean" more than "Hikari" when I finally heard it, though. I'm interested in the fact that "Sanctuary" really came before "Passion," especially. But something about the English just doesn't really "flow" to me. I really don't like the way "land" and "away" sounds when she sings it...I just wanted it to sound "smoother" I guess, not to try and diss Utada or anything like that. But I'll definitely wait until the full song is released to really judge it, of course. It's hard to really give it a chance when my ears are so used to the Japanese.

And how odd to hear Haley Joel's voice deep as ever in the interview. Still deeper than Sora's voice in the game, it seems. I don't even know why I brought that up. Maybe because even though Sora's 16 now, I still think of him as a 14 year old, and hearing what is pretty much an adult's voice come out of that character would be "funny" to me.

And "Nam-ih-nay," eh...? Makes me think of Inuyasha and "S'show-m'roo."

So, both Suvari and Cook make their characters sound younger than I expected (Suvari moreso than Cook). I don't know if I feel that "Kairi-aged young" sounds really good with Aerith, I always imagined her to have a playful but strong voice, but what I'm hearing is a schoolgirl. I don't really care for that. But hey, Cook really surprised me, y'know? With the scene they show of Tifa in her interview, she doesn't sound bad at all. It's kind of funny, actually, and in a good way. It fits with what happens in the scene, made me laugh. She just might make me gladly eat my previous words about her voice once the game and FFVII:AC is out.

Yea the english version of Passion sounds a little bit different not as great as the japanese version, still nice but not as great as the japanese version. I liked simple and clean better compared to hikari.

I've only heard 30 seconds of "Sanctuary," so it's still too early for me to decide what I think. I haven't seen any lyrics, so I'm interested in seeing what they'll be like.

Not if you've been watching IGPX.

That's how I pronounced it. Nah-mee-nay.

And I'm not going to listen to Sanctuary until the actual game comes out. I've always wondered, when does Passion/Sanctuary play in the game? Is it in the opening FMV?

I think the original name should have been kept. Unlike KH1 here Hikari was a Japanese name, "Passion" is English (even though most of the lyrics aren't) and fits the intro video much better than Hikari or Simple And Clean in KH1.

I say nah-mee-nay, too, like the way you'd pronounce it in Japanese. But they say nam-ih-nay, it's different. Like NAM(BLA)-ihnay. It's horrible nitpicking, I know, but this stuff tends to bug me. Like when tourists here go on and on about singing carry-okie. Gotta learn to stop that...but at least I draw the line at stuff like Aeris/Aerith debates and junk.

Yeah, opening. Piano version at the end.

Oh and, yeah, I don't watch whatever it is you mentioned, so I wouldn't have known about his voice.

Also, I saw that artwork of Seifer from the Ultimania book a KHU...something about the way Nomura draws characters like him and Riku with hugely muscular arms creeps me out...

I wonder why Mandy Moore didn't come back to do Aerith's voice.

And no CCR as Yuffie?! Booooooooo!

Sanctuary was written first, though, so technically the original name is "Sanctuary." The very title of "Sanctuary" already ties into KHII more than "Passion" does, IMO.

She should be back. All the AC VAs are, so far, voicing their respective characters in KHII.

I'm also hoping we won't get shafted in the US when the inevitable KH2:FM comes out. DMC3:SE and VF4 sould have taught Square-Enix a lesson about how a greatest hits game should be done.

Don't worry, we will. :(

The real question is if we'll get any additions to the game at all, including any new characters (like Sephiroth in KH1). Like I mentioned before, I'd be content with additional cutscenes to better explain Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth's roles, and what exactly their stories are (which remain unresolved, from what I heard).

I really don't like Utada, so the ending song will just be a generic J-poppy song, like there are already dozens.

There will be a Final Mix version probably, but I don't really care for the extras. Sure, Deep Dive and the confrontation between Cloud and Seph was cool, but it are only movies, and you can easily get them from the net. I'd be surprised to see a US release for it, perhaps in a few years, but don't count on it.

Don't forget the fight with the XIII Order member, which was fun as well as intense (he's almost harder than Seph). You also get a bunch of new keyblades which gives Sora all kinds of agile moves.

On that note, exactly which XIII member do you fight in Final Mix, or is he one of the spoiler members (1 or 13)?

Interestingly, from the Ultimania interview, Nomura says a KH2 FM may not be as likely as you would think. However he said if they have time to do that, he wants to put back in those mushroom heartless back in.

Mors from KHU translated this point:

- although Nomura tried to make the first japanese version of KHII as exhaustive as possible, if he was to make a Final Mix he would like to make Mushroom Heartless...

http://kh2.co.uk/index.php?subaction...t_from=&ucat=&

Go above to read some more interesting points from the interview, but be warned its full of SPOILERS!

As for VA's , I'm happy with all of them cept for Mena's, she was stiff, montone and sounded like she was reading off a paper than acting. Not impressed. Moore sounded more postive and flowing in her dialouge. She also has a bit more energy too.

And Sanctuary we hear in the video clip IS missing all the back up vocals, like Utada just sang over a karaoke musical track. The lyrics aren't that great either, repeating the same word in the chorus shows that someone needs a thesauraus.

... Now I am again undecided whether I should wait for a "final mix" version or just get the english version... *sigh*

One thing that interested me is in the interview Nomura said something about his next project can be found in FFAC... <_< Maybe I should go back and rewatch AC again.