Replaying Kingdom Hearts II

[Steve]

I've decided to replay KH2 again. On Proud Mode naturally, with the Strength path picked so I can kill things faster.

Now, let's do the math here. We have a video game where a 13-15 year old main character voiced by Haley Joel Osment runs around swatting living shadows and other creatures (including the undead, cursed pirates from the first POTC movie) with a giant key for a weapon. He is accompanied by Donald Duck and Goofy, and on various worlds he gets other Disney characters as his allies (save the Hercules world, where Auron is his ally. Yeah, that's right, Auron, the badass ronin of FFX).

This game also has a stellar VA cast. David Boreanz. Dan Castellaneta. Bruce Boxleitner. Christopher Lee. Between Square getting the FFVII: Advent Children VAs to do double-duty with their counterparts in KH2 (including George Newburn, Nooj from FFX-2 and Tim Daly's replacement as the voice of Superman for the Justice League series in the DCAU, as Sephiroth) and Disney landing most of their major VAs or backup VAs for animated series for various characters (Chris Sarandon, Ming Na, B.D. Wong, Jodi Benson....), the cast is awesome.

Then we have a story that, despite the sheer insanity of the FF-Disney crossover aspect and the oft-times childish behavior of the main PCs (if endearing at times, particularly with Sora, I'll add), manages to be epic. KH1 was a surprise with how good it managed to be despite the premise: KH2 took all the expectations and left them in the dust. A complex story, good characterization, epic moments like the game's mid-point sequence, the Drive Form system and the tankers full of whupass they can unleash, and menacing enemies posing a threat to the Disney Multiverse: all good stuff.

Well, with one exception. Atlantica. KH1 nearly drives you crazy with the constant "Under the Sea" BGM theme and the alternate movement scheme due to Sora and co being underwater and transformed. But at least you got to fight. KH2 is... musicals. All musicals. With long cutscenes to recreate the plot of the actual movie between musicals. AAAAAAGH.

Just look at the prologue. Picking up where KH1 and KH: Chain of Memories left off, it takes two freaking hours to play it, at minimum pretty much, unless you skip all the story scenes. Which you shouldn't because they're great. It takes two-three hours just to get the big shiny Kingdom Hearts II title screen and thus begin the game proper.

Anyway, in my replay I am currently at the first visit to Land of Dragons (aka Mulan world). I'll keep posting as I have things to note about the story and gameplay.

P.S. Reading TV Tropes, it seems Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days maintains the epicness. And PSP's getting KH: Birth by Sleep, the complete prequel that will probably set up Kingdom Hearts III. I need the new portable systems dammit....

[General Havoc]

I keep hearing vague things about how good this series is. I largely dismissed it back in the day as kids' stuff. Was I wrong?

[Steve]

Well, yes.

I mean, it is kid-friendly. But the setting, for all its bizarreness, works so well. KH1 set the stage, then KH2 stole the show. I mean, KH2 pretty much covered nearly all of the little flaws on KH1 (the most prominent being the camera) and had an even better score than the first (Yoko Shimamura is simply superb). Granted, there were complaints that KH2 was too long, and a couple worlds (Lion King world, Atlantica) feel tacked on and unnecessary - though still fun, at least Pride Lands is, and the second trip there has a boss battle that is completely fucking epic (Lionized Sora and Simba up against a massive enemy Heartless in a battle that stretches across the Pride Lands' savannah map). Despite this, though, the game's key parts are awesomely epic.

The Mid-point of KH2, for instance, involves both the first visit to the Tron world (a computer in the Hollow Bastion world), a number of storyline revelations, and finally a massive battle sequence where you see a bunch of characters participating in the battle (the FF characters primarily, even Stitch!), deal with perhaps the hardest normal boss in the game (Demyx is seriously a royal pain in the ass), get to fight an entire army of enemies (decently weak, granted, but then again you have to cleave through a thousand of them)... and it even has a dramatic moment where freakin' Mickey Mouse gets to look badass. Top it off with more storyline revelations and a second round of visits to the various worlds you'd been to before (save the Timeless River one) before you get to the game's climax.

Oh, and the final boss? In two of the forms you fight him in, he's actually using freakin' lightsabers glowing out of his hands.

Anyway, tonight while cooking I played the first visit to Mulan's world. A bit of a pain in the ass due to the fact that the four "missions" that are part of the first half of the visit have the "morale gauge", requiring you to avoid hits and collect dropped orbs from either the times you do get hit or when you defeat an enemy to keep the gauge up. If the morale gauge hits 0 it's automatic game over. The hardest of the four is the trip up the mountain pass since you run into the four-legged Heartless spear-wielders which can quickly knock off HP with their moves and which are hard to hit. Winning strategy is to typically stand off at a distance and let "Ping" and Goofy do the fighting while you blast with Blizzard repeatedly.

The storyline is a shortened one of the first movie, culminating with a boss battle with a Heartless-powered Shan Yu at the gates of the Imperial Palace. The catch is that beyond having to not lose all HP, you have to protect the Palace Gates from Shan Yu and his minions; their hits damage it and when you hit them and kill them they spew orbs that restore the gate's health when picked up. Fighting Shan Yu gives you a pretty cool reaction sequence where you hammer Triangle over and over to parry him with weapons locked, then hit it one final time (if you win) to smack him backward for a chunk of health. Even more fun is if you have Valor Mode available, then you can go WTF PWNAGE on him and the Heartless he spawns to attack the Palace Gates.

Seriously, the only thing cooler than Sora in Valor Mode, in which he becomes the whirling ginsu of destruction, is Master Mode - where he's just as powerful and can actually use magic - and Final Form, which basically turns him into a levitating force of nature that mows down Heartless and Nobodies in seconds.

Anyway, first trip to Beast's Castle is next, including the first run-in with Organization XIII's Xaldin who is voiced by David Dayan Fisher, or as we NCIS fans better know him, Trent Kort.

Did I mention they got James Woods to voice Hades (from Hercules) again? And that Christopher Lee - Dracula, Saruman, Count Dooku, your pick - voices a key NPC who plays a major part in the start, background, and final segment?

[Steve]

Hrm, given the cast listing for the PS2 version of Chain of Memories and the new DS 358/2 Days, I wonder if Alyson Stoner will be replacing Hayden Panettiere as the voice of Kairi.

I guess success with Heroes may keep Hayden Panettiere from coming back, which sucks, because I liked her voice for Kairi. Hopefully they can at least get her for Kingdom Hearts III when they make it.