[PS2] Kingdom Hearts 2

Xaldin is just a cheap bitch. Same with this buddy, Xigbar. Though Xigbar was admittedly easier.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

Spoiler:

I just beat the game. It was pretty fun. I'm really intrigued by the bonus ending clip after the credits. It's pretty obvious that it's going to set up a Kingdom Hearts III - but how is that going to be? Does anybody think that those three figures were Kairi, Rikku and Sora?

Put his post in spoilers..now for mine

Spoiler:

Honestly, I don't know. It seems like the next installment would be a bit of a big flashback. Though, yes, some of the figures bear resemblences to the main 3 characters. And it doesn't help their keyblades are there..

Anyway, Proud Mode is fun. I almost wish I started on Proud instead of Standard. I've died a few times, but nothing incredibly hard or stressful. I lost to Shan-yu Once, that door in Beast's Castle, and the big heartless boss that looks like Ifrit from FFX.

Its a nice challenge. I do wish I could get KH: FM though...I've heard its Proud mode is the equal to KH Hell..

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I just started the game, and I'm enjoying it so far, although it's disappointing compared to the first. The battle system is much better than in I, but the rest of the gameplay is kinda boring. Whereas in I you could actually explore your environment and had some rather large dungeons, the places now are all rather bland and small (only a few screens a dungeon), and you hardly have to search for the treasure chests anymore, something which I enjoyed in the first game. The story is pretty blah too, but I didn't have high expectations for that. I'll post more after I finish it (I'm half way now I think).

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Couple images of the Play Arts figure for KH2 from Hobby Japan, not much. Also get a glimpse of the FFX Play Arts figures at the bottom. Heh, the Kairi is looking to be as useless as the Rinoa figure from the FF8 Play Arts line.



I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Meh who cares? I like a Kairi figure myself. It looks good, so I hope I can get it when I head back to Hong Kong during Holiday visits... I wonder if they will make another figure of her in the pink outfit and

Spoiler:

includes the keyblade she got from Riku in TWTNW.

How ya doing, buddy?

I like those figures but I don't know there,s something about them that don't get me the rush to buy them. But if they ever release some of the organization XIII figure I'll be sure to get them or even just a Ansem figure (in his KH1 look) i'll be very happy to get one XD

How ya doing, buddy?

Damn, I really wish they'd make figures of the FF characters from the KH line, since some of them have different clothing/designs. If they don't make a KH II Leon, I'll scream.

FELIPE NO

Some images of the KH2 Play Arts at SDCC from ActionFigs.com

Looks like there'll be variants of Sora, as I can see Sora in his Valor form colors and Final form colors. He's even holding 2 different keyblades. Very cool, I'll definitely be buying all the different Sora's. Also it looks like the fingers on the hands have articulation as well, something new to the Play Arts line.




Source: http://photos.actionfigs.com/showgallery.php?cat=1681

Some better images of Sora's Valor and Final form, as well as a clearer image of what keyblades he'll come with.



Source: http://www.riuva.com/?p=239

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Hey, I'm at the Pirates of the Carib and it's getting EXTREMELY boring at this point. Is it a long way till the good - ACTUAL PLOT - starts? ._.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Once you finish all -- or most, if you wanna skip a few -- of the Disney worlds, the plot picks up. Though if you're really actually getting bored of the game, you may just wanna quit now, cuz nothing changes in the gameplay department and the story's nothing to write home about.

How ya doing, buddy?

Like Mosty said, if you skips some Disney worlds and don't do any side-quests (there isn't that many either). But the plot just gets nice near the end. But it's worth the effort.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Nah, I like the gameplay... just the fillers (Disney worlds) are extremely annoying/boring/pointless. Sure, you can argue that it makes the game more complete - but I don't care ><'' But approx how many worlds do I have left? =)

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The plot becomes more interesting after you've cleared all the worlds twice and the last two areas become available.

I was speaking idiomatically.

somehow i'm really not impress with the KH figures... they really look cheap to me...there's only Axel and Roxas that I like...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I have three questions here.

1. what affects the outcome of the Formless Form? I mean, everytime I want to use Valor, Sora goes Formless instead.

2. How to unlock the other Form?

3. Is there any "legendary" Keyblade as there used to be in Kingdom Hearts 1?

If these have been answered already, please point me where it can be found; it;s no fun to browse around buhmillion pages.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Luceid

I have three questions here.

1. what affects the outcome of the Formless Form? I mean, everytime I want to use Valor, Sora goes Formless instead.

2. How to unlock the other Form?

3. Is there any "legendary" Keyblade as there used to be in Kingdom Hearts 1?

If these have been answered already, please point me where it can be found; it;s no fun to browse around buhmillion pages.

1. You have some sort of unseen Anti Form point gauge. Using Valor, Wisdom, or Master increases the point gauge and therefore increases the chances of Driving into Anti Form. Once you Drive into Anti Form, the gauge lowers considerably.

2. You get different Forms as you progress through the game.

3. Well, there's Ultima Weapon, which you can synthesize by getting the Ultima Recipe in some chest somewhere, and Fenrir, which you get by defeating Sephiroth.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by soulsteelgray

2. You get different Forms as you progress through the game.

Well, I got the three Forms that are basically gotten through the storyline, but I've seen pics and heard stuff about this other Form, which is the one I'm asking about. Could be more specific, but forgot the name of such. ;_;

Thanks for answering the other two questions as well.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Luceid

Well, I got the three Forms that are basically gotten through the storyline, but I've seen pics and heard stuff about this other Form, which is the one I'm asking about. Could be more specific, but forgot the name of such. ;_;

Thanks for answering the other two questions as well.

You must be referring to Final Form, the white-colored one. You get it in the last world of the game.

How ya doing, buddy?

You can only get the final form when you have entered the final dungeon, after a certain fight, there is a chance that you'll change into it when you drive. The rest of the forms are gotten with the story.

Also, having finished the game, here's my review:

Quote:

The first Kingdom Hearts game was a huge hit in the US. Many gamers enjoyed the Final Fantasy and Disney combination, I know I sure did. The game wasn’t free from criticism though, as the battle system could use some work, especially since the camera could make some fights rather frustrating. Now that the sequel has been released in the US, it’s time to see if Square-Enix has listened to the critics, and if they have made some changes. Please not that this review will contain inevitable spoilers towards its predecessor.

First up, the story. As you may remember from the ending of the first game, after defeating Ansem, the worlds started to drift apart, and Sora got separated from his friends, Riku and Kairi. What was more interesting in the ending, was the hidden movie in the Japanese Final Mix version, which showed two Keyblade wielders duking it out in matrix style in some rainy city. This caused a rather big hype among the fanboys, and the question is if KH II has lived up to the expectations. Surprisingly, the game does not start with Sora, but with a boy called Roxas, who’s hanging around with his friends during his school vacation. Soon enough, it’ll become clear that there’s something wrong with Roxas, as he’s being spied upon by a mysterious man called DiZ. After playing as Roxas for a while, around 4-5 hours, you finally can start as Sora again, accompanied by Donald and Goofy, and the search for Riku and Kairi. However, there quest is soon interfered by a mysterious group, consisting of so-called Nobodies, called Organization XIII.

This is the basic premise of the story, but there are several rather big flaws. First of all, there are parts of the stories that just don’t make any sense. Take the Nobodies for instance. The game explains us that, when a person turns into a Heartless, another part of him turns in a Nobody. Still with me here? Now it gets confusing; the Nobodies want you to slaughter the Heartless, to get their HEARTS. Now, I think that anyone can figure out the flaw in this, how on earth can you get a heart from a heartLESS? This is really an incomprehensible error, that makes the entire story look ridiculous in my opinion.

A second flaw is that, as soon as the various worlds get unlocked, the main story just disappears, and it only looks like you play the story of the Disney world that you are visiting at that time. This really made me lose focus of the bigger picture at some times, and even though there are moments between worlds where the main story gets development, it failed to get my attention. In the end, I had already forgotten half of the questions that the game gives you in the beginning, and I really wasn’t that interested anymore. Aside from that, some of the plot twists related to the first game feel forced, and introduce new characters out of the blue in such a way that it doesn’t make that much sense. Some fanboys will insist that everything makes sense, but even after reading the so-called Ansem Reports, it still doesn’t clear up everything.

The last flaw is perhaps a personal problem that I have with the game, but it still needs to be mentioned. I get the feeling that the story tries to find a balance between childish things, mostly Disney-related, and the serious stuff, namely the bigger storyline. It looks to me like the game doesn’t know what kind of audience it wants to attract. On one hand, the Disney characters and worlds will surely attract smaller children, but the main storyline is aimed at an older audience. This problem makes the entire plot seem horribly unbalanced, and there are certain parts, like the musical in Atlantica, that almost made me feel embarrassed playing, because a part like that is meant for a younger audience, in my opinion, and I don’t think that I’m the only one who thinks this.

As for characters, the Disney character’s development is well known, since the various Disney worlds follow the exact same story as the movie/cartoon that it’s based on, with the only difference being the help of Sora and his friends. As for the rest of the cast, I don’t really have a lot to complain about, since most character’s presentation is handled very well in the end, but Sora and his friends also get some light shed upon.

Of course, the main attraction for RPG fans to this game is the presence of the various FF characters, and although some of them didn’t make the cut (poor Tidus and Wakka), there are plenty of additions, like Seifer, Tifa, and Vivi to name a few. Of course, fanboys can rejoice again since Cloud and Sephiroth still haven’t settled their fight, and you’ll see another Duel of the Fate or whatever it was called in the Final Mix Version. Aside from that, the most surprising characters are Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Carribean) and Tron (from the movie with the same name), because they are not really expected in a game like this, because of the rather serious character of their stories. They don’t disappoint though, and the Pirates of the Carribean world has become a personal favourite.

Aside from old original characters like Riku and Kairi, Kingdom Hearts II introduces a few new ones, mostly the members of Organization XIII, and although though they get developed good enough in the end, they are pretty much absent in about 70% of the story, when your party is off exploring the various Disney worlds. It’s basically the same problem as the one I had with the story, but I really felt that they could have handled this better.

As for graphics, they are just perfect for this game. This is probably as good as graphics on the PS2 can get. Everything’s presented in vibrant colours, nice designs (although I’m generally not a big fan of Nomura, he does some good work for this game), and especially during battles the graphics will really shine. The special effects continued to amaze me during the game, especially when you unlock more powerful attacks. Environments look huge, and manage to each have a distinctive feel that is perfect for the world that they represent.

Once again, Pirates of the Carribean deserves being mentioned, since the graphics there really capture the mature and realistic feeling of the story there. Not only the world changes, but also the look of your characters, from turning into a lion when you are visiting Simba (the Lion King), to the simple look of the Timeless River (based on the Steamboat Willy cartoon), the graphics continued to surprise and amaze me. The interface also gets some well deserved attention, depending on the world that you are visiting, and it is a welcome change from the bland menu that was present in the first Kingdom Hearts.

As for music, first let me say that I loathe J-pop, so I’m biased against Hikaru Utada. Sadly enough, her opening and ending song hasn’t changed my opinion, and the game could have done perfectly without her, in my opinion, especially since the rest of the music in the game is excellent. Aside from the expected remixes of well-known Disney tunes in the various worlds, Yoko Shimomura manages to give most of the original themes a distinct sound, pleasing to the ear. The music never takes away your attention of the events you’re witnessing, and nicely fades to the background, never being disturbing or annoying.

As for the voice acting, it’s pretty obvious that Square-Enix has gathered the big names for this game. Naturally, most Disney characters get the same voice as in their animated counterparts, and the original characters also get class actors, with Haley Joel Osment returning for the role of Sora, and even Christopher Lee showing up as DiZ. I was a tad disappointed that Jack Sparrow wasn’t voiced by Johnny Depp though. The FF characters also get nice voice acting, even though there have been some changes since the first game. The biggest shock for fanboys was that Aeris’s voice actor had been replaced, and even though the replacement does a really nice job in my opinion, she can’t do anything good in the eyes of FF zealots. I was more irritated by Cloud though, since his VA is obviously just reading lines without any feeling, especially during the confrontation with a certain nemesis.

Now, it’s time to move on to the best part of the game, the battle system. The main issues that I had with this in the first game were the camera positions, the lack of challenge, and to a lesser extent the button mashing. Kingdom Hearts II fixes two of these problems, mainly the camera positions, although there are still some awkward situations, and thanks to the new more difficult Proud Mode, there are actually some challenging battles in the game. First, lets see what’s new this time. The basics are still the same, but the biggest change is the introduction of so-called reaction commands. During a battle, you’ll sometimes be giving the option to press the triangle button to activate a reaction command, a special attack of some sort which can be vital to winning the battle. These special attacks are awesome most of the time, and you have to pay close attention to get them, because some of them will only be active for a second. I really liked this feature, since it distracts you from the button mashing that combat would otherwise have been reduced to.

A second new feature is the use of drive forms. Every time Sora receives damage, or every time he defeats an enemy, his boost gauge will increase. When this gauge has filled up, Sora can transform in drive forms, that allow him to execute special attacks, wield two keyblades, use devastating combo’s and other stuff like that. These various forms are unlocked as the story progresses, and are one of the coolest additions, imo. You can level these forms by using them, and in return, they’ll not only become more powerful, but some of the unique skills that they posses, like dashing or jumping higher will be available for use outside of battles, a lot like the Trinity skills from the first game. Now, it sounds like these drive forms can make the battles a bit too easy, but there’s a catch, well two actually. The first one is that one of your other party members will disappear from battle when Sora is using his drive, lessening your party’s overall attacking power, and the other one is that Sora will sometimes not change into the form that you selected, but he’ll shift to the so-called anti form. While this is a pretty powerful form, it’s biggest flaw is that you can’t use reaction commands with it, making this form pretty much useless for boss battles

On top of this, Disney characters also make a return during battles, and Sora can now, thanks to the reaction commands, team up with them to beat the hell out of an enemy. These attacks are easily among the coolest ones in the game, and I especially like his move together with Auron. Although they lose some of their usefulness near the end, they are still a joy to watch.
Summons also make a return, and they are actually useful this time around. Sora can also combo with them, and they can really dish out some damage, so you might want to check them out this time.

Now, for my main problem with the battle system, the use of magic. I hardly ever used any spells aside from the usual healing spell, and when the game requires you to use them to progress. The problem is that a healing spell will consume ALL of your MP, and you’ll be forced to wait until the bar slowly refills before you can use any other spell. Some people say that this adds to the strategy of the game, where you carefully have to wait until you use your precious healing spell, but it just annoyed the hell out of me personally.

Unfortunately, the rest of the gameplay hasn’t really been improved, au contraire. In the first game, you had some nice platforming action, which offered a nice diversion from the battles, but in the second instalment, the fields are looking nice, but they are just boring. You don’t have to jump or dash to get to locations or to reach treasure chests, and the battle fields are reduced to nothing more but a way to the next story sequence. As for the rest of the gameplay, it’s pretty good, since there are tons of minigames to play, like in Atlantica, which is basically one big minigame, since there are no battles. Some of the games are enjoyable, but others were annoying the hell out of me. Synthesizing also makes a return, but I personally haven’t really bothered that much with it, although the system’s better developed than in the first game.

As for sidequests, I doubt that anyone would be disappointed by this game. Why, you may ask? Because of Jimmy’s journal, a massive compendium giving details of the story and background on the characters, but what’s more important, Jimmy also presents you with plenty of challenges, some easy to complete (the Winnie the Pooh games), some challenging (the Colloseum tournaments), and others just painfully boring (completing all the synthesizing lists). For the perfectionist gamers, this is a gift from heaven, because it took my brother over 20 hours to achieve 100% completion. Take the Hades Paradox Cup for example, it requires you to get to level 99, to max out all the summons and the forms, which can easily take hours. Not to forget completing all the synthesize items, getting at least 20 of all materials, and maxing out the synthesizing moogle’s level will take enough time. What’s the reward for all of this? Some gamers will achieve satisfaction, and some will be wanting to see the 3 minute hidden ending movie, which you can also get when you simply complete all the worlds on Proud Mode, a less daunting task.

Overall, if you don’t pay much attention to the lack of a decent story, and if you can look beyond the sometimes childish Disney stuff, you have an excellent action RPG, which can easily entertain you for hours. The battle system is improved a lot compared to the first game, and it’s just a shame that the other aspects of not only the gameplay, but also the rest of the game seem to be neglected.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by soulsteelgray

You must be referring to Final Form, the white-colored one. You get it in the last world of the game.

Originally Posted by Enkidu

You can only get the final form when you have entered the final dungeon, after a certain fight, there is a chance that you'll change into it when you drive. The rest of the forms are gotten with the story.

Spoiler:

The Town That Never Was, correct? Probably the one with the best music.

I'm actually playing the game again in Hard, and this time I want to do everything I skipped in Normal, so can you spoil it for me?

How ya doing, buddy?

I've noticed Gummis have been neglected as of late. It was really one of the most improved segments of KHII.
I of course have no reason (anymore at least) to do Gummi missions again since I 100% all the routes.
But the Journal is a real bitch to finish. ALL I need to do is get 15000 Points for the Hades Paradox Cup, but so far I haven't gotten far past round 40 (I'm in proud mode, so I die far too quickly).

Nevermind, I finished the Paradox Cup without too much trouble, it's funny how Trinity Limit makes the 49th round so damn easy.

Has anyone (else) here completed the Journal yet?.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Enkidu

This is the basic premise of the story, but there are several rather big flaws. First of all, there are parts of the stories that just don’t make any sense. Take the Nobodies for instance. The game explains us that, when a person turns into a Heartless, another part of him turns in a Nobody. Still with me here? Now it gets confusing; the Nobodies want you to slaughter the Heartless, to get their HEARTS. Now, I think that anyone can figure out the flaw in this, how on earth can you get a heart from a heartLESS? This is really an incomprehensible error, that makes the entire story look ridiculous in my opinion.

I had some of the same nit-picks as you did about KH2 (total agreement on the atrocious new magic system; and god, I never through I'd see the day when I MISSED jumping puzzles), but I thought I should speak up about this one. Just 'cause. I might be utterly wrong, but this is how I remember it from the games. Someone yell at me if I screw it up.

One of Ansem the OTHER Ansem no, the OTHER other Ansem Christopher Lee DiZ's reports talks about people being made up of a heart + everything else (well, and a soul, but that's a non-issue here). When a person has their heart stolen, the heart gets dragged off into the darkness and a Heartless is born out of it, while the "everything else" becomes a Nobody. So a Heartless more or less IS your heart. It's overcome with darkness and twisted into the form of a shadowy monster, but still, it's a heart nonthelesss. (Note the little hearts that fly away into the æther when you kill them.) So if you were a Nobody looking to be whole again, it stands to reason that you'd be interested in the keyblade-wielding kid who's slaying thousands of the things, since he might slay the one containing YOUR stolen heart and thus give you the chance to get it back.

So the name "Heartless" is a misnomer, really. They ARE hearts. Or at least, they're monsters that contain stolen hearts. Either way, it's not a plot hole. Just a misleading name.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I never Understood the Point of The Struggle. Was the point to get to Seifer?
Are you supposed to get anything? Why is it there?

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Rayne

I never Understood the Point of The Struggle. Was the point to get to Seifer?
Are you supposed to get anything? Why is it there?

I never attempted this again after the fights concluded at the beginning of the game.

If you play the game on Normal Mode, completing battles in The Struggle is necessary to finish Jiminy's journal for the secret ending.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

It's really boring as Hell to do, though. You have to defeat Roxas' buddy and Setzer ten times each to get to fight Sefier. You only get Mission completion and Setzer's bio in the Journal.

Jam it back in, in the dark.