By: Tyler Miller
“A scattered dream that’s like a far off memory. A far off memory that’s like a scattered dream. I want to line the pieces up. Yours and mine.” Welcome to the best game ever. Welcome to Kingdom Hearts II.
It’s no secret that Kingdom Hearts II is my favorite game of all time. For the past ten years, no game has ever surpassed it in my book. Not even games that I loved like The Last of Us or Journey could surpass the pure perfection that is Kingdom Hearts II. This game means everything to me, and it even helped shape the person that I am today. There are so many reasons why I love this game so much, but before I get into that I should probably start at the beginning.
On March 28, 2006 the game came out in North America. I was in the fifth grade at the time and was fully on board the hype train, along with about five or six other people in my class. We all loved the series and couldn’t wait to play the second one. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get it the day it came out. I had to wait a few days before I could get it, so of course I was upset. All my friends had it and were enjoying it while I was left sitting on the sidelines. The day it came out, one of them actually called me that afternoon and sat on the phone with me so I could hear the game as they played it. Although this kind of alleviated the pain of not being able to play it day one, it still sucked because I was hearing everything and just picturing it all in my head. It just wasn’t the same as actually playing and seeing it for myself.
A couple days went by and the time had come for me to finally get the game. I left school and went to my moms job so that she could take me to the Gamestop that was a couple blocks away and pick up the game. She didn’t have the time to take me, so my step-father took me there to pick it up. A short time later I finally had it in my hands. Kingdom Hearts II was mine at last! Too bad I still couldn’t play it though because I wasn’t at home. What I could do though was sift through the strategy guide for an hour or so and look at everything the game had to offer me. Needless to say, this only made me even more impatient to play. I got home, got my work done, ate dinner, and then proceeded to put the game in. That’s when I heard that beautiful, yet familiar song “Dearly Beloved.”
Then I started a new game, and was met with this amazing intro and the equally amazing song “Sanctuary.”
I hadn’t even really started playing the game, but I already knew that this game was going to be something special. What I didn’t know though was how much I was going to absolutely love this game. Everything about KH2 was just an enormous step up from the first game in the series. The combat, the story, the worlds, the music, etc. It was all just taken up a notch and improved on in the best ways possible.
First off let’s talk about the story. KH1 had a relatively simple story. It was about three friends (Sora, Kairi, and Riku) who’s world had been destroyed by darkness, separating the three of them. You play as Sora and you travel through different Disney worlds with Goofy and Donald Duck to try to find your friends and return home. Simple right? With KH2, Square Enix made the story much less simple than its predecessor, opting to make it more complex and a bit darker. This is something that many people who played the game have a problem with, and I can understand why. They would much rather have the story remain simple and fun as opposed to complex, confusing, and dark. For me, I didn’t have an issue with it. In fact, I loved the way that the story went.
The plot follows Sora as he tries to stop the new enemies called Organization XIII, in addition to finding Riku so that they can return home together. In the process, you’re introduced to new enemies called Nobodies that provide a new challenge to combat. You’re also introduced to new concepts related to the heart, darkness, and light. It’s a lot to take in which is part of why people started getting confused with the game’s story and didn’t like it, but I loved everything about the story because it’s just so much fun. Even with all of these different things at hand, the story still had plenty of heart and charm at its core. You had the fun moments mixed in with a nice balance of serious and sad moments, all coming together to make an enjoyable experience. The story is one of the best that I’ve ever experienced in a game, and the ending is the closest thing to a perfect ending in a video game. Even when I watch the ending now I start to tear up because it’s so sweet.
The characters were another thing that I loved about the game. All the old characters grew in great ways, and all the new characters made amazing first impressions that cemented them as fan favorites. Mickey Mouse came back in KH2 as a straight badass that was not to be messed with, a far cry from the small glimpse of him that we got at the end of KH1. Ten year old me was totally in love with how Mickey was in this game. Riku returned as someone that was trying to atone for everything that he did in the original game by helping Sora along his journey even though he didn’t know it. New character Roxas appeared to be a Sora wanna be at first, but ended up being a tragic character that just wanted to enjoy his summer and be his own person. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out all too well.
Of course my favorite character is Sora, and it’s for a multitude of reasons. He’s a great guy that cares about his friends and does whatever he can to help them out, he’s incredibly brave and courageous, and he’s just an all around nice guy. Sora never lets anything keep him down for long and always has a positive outlook on things, even when it looks like the odds are stacked against him. Playing KH2 caused me to see Sora as a sort of role model and someone that I wanted to be. He’s influenced me to be someone that helped others whenever possible and always tried to see the good in things. Sure he can be a bit naive, but that’s a part of who he is. Without that goofy childish aspect, Sora wouldn’t be the lovable guy that he is.
When it comes to the combat, KH2 is leaps and bounds better than its predecessor. Where KH1 had fairly simple combat, its sequel expands on the foundation and establishes what is to me the definitive Kingdom Hearts combat system. Combos can be expanded to be pretty long and they’re also very flashy as well. A common complaint about the combat system in KH2 is the fact that it’s too button mashy. This is due to the combos and the addition of reaction commands, special moves that you could during combat at specific moments. Many people saw them essentially believed that they made the game so easy that you have to only press triangle to win. It’s a complaint I understand, but there are many ways to approach combat in the game.
There are six possible ways to approach combat in the game. They include limits (special moves you can do with party members), regular combos, summons, reaction commands, magic, and the biggest addition, drive forms. Drive forms were a game changer, as they allowed you to merge with a party member or two and transform into a stronger version of Sora. Change into Valor Form, and you gain a second keyblade in a form based around beating people to a pulp. Choose Wisdom Form and you slide around shooting out magic blasts at enemies. Master Form gives you a second keyblade again in a hybrid of both Valor and Wisdom Forms. The last one, Final Form (my personal favorite), gives you two keyblades and the ability to fly around.
Each one of these has their own little benefits that make you decide which is better to use in a situation, adding more depth to the combat. There’s also Anti Form which turns Sora into a heartless for a while, but this form is terrible, and is a sign that you’ve been relying your forms a bit too much. I would curse myself whenever I ended up in Anti Form, especially in the middle of a boss fight when I needed the extra assistance that one of the others would’ve given me.
Your keyblades also provide different perks as well. One may give you extra attacks in the air while another may give you a boost to thunder magic. These different perks were also things to take into consideration as well when it came to combat, adding even more depth to it.
When you combine all of these different combat options, you get a system that has a lot of depth to it. They all come in handy during the boss fights that you have throughout the game. A majority of the bosses are Disney ones or they’re Heartless. These bosses aren’t too difficult for the most part. The boss fights against the Organization is where the boss fights really shine and the combat system is really put to the test. The Organization members aren’t pushovers, requiring you to really think about how you’re going to approach them and putting your skills to the test. It’s in these fights where you have to use all your different combat options together in creative ways.
For example, when you have to fight an Organization member named Demyx, he summons water clones that you have to kill in a certain amount of time. You could just do it the hard way and try to fight them normally, or you can run up to them and do fire magic to take them out a bit faster. If you wanted to do it even faster, you could change into Wisdom Form which gives you a boost in magic and speed, and then proceed to take them out with fire magic in no time. And this is just one of the fights where the combat system shows its depth. There are a lot of others throughout the game that show it as well. Think you have it mastered? Try the fight against Sephiroth and put your skills to the ultimate test.
The worlds of KH2 were another big highlight of the game. There were some returning worlds (Olympus Coliseum, Hollow Bastion), but a majority of them were brand new to the series. It’s an absolute blast to be able to go to Port Royal from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and fight alongside Jack Sparrow, something that I could only ever dream of doing before this game. My two favorite worlds in the game though were Space Paranoids from Tron and the Pride Lands from The Lion King. Going to Space Paranoids and doing the lightcycle race was admittedly annoying because of the way it worked, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t enjoy myself every time I do it. The Pride Lands introduced us to Lion Sora, which is probably one of my favorite ways to play as Sora. It’s an absolute blast to run around on all fours with keyblade in mouth, kicking ass alongside Simba and friends, causing it to probably end up being my number one world in the game.
And I’ll admit that I actually do like the Atlantica world in this game. I know, it’s crazy right? Most fans hate it because you don’t do anything but sing musicals there, but I actually have lots of fun doing it. So to all the Atlantica haters, I say ha! I’m with on the KH1 Atlantica hate train though.. It sucked in that game.
The design of the worlds in KH2 is very different from the design of the ones in the first game. In the first game, the worlds had more platforming to them, and could be seen as mini playgrounds of sorts. This was changed with the second game, with all the platforming gone out the window, and the worlds being different open areas. The platforming was something that I wasn’t a big fan of in the first game because they were incredibly annoying, so seeing that it was removed in the second game was something that I was extremely pleased by.
I also liked how you went to each world twice throughout the course of the story, as opposed to one time like in the original game. It allowed for each world to have two different stories, and it gave you a reason to go back to them other than to find treasure chests and farm for synthesis items.
Last but not least is the music of the game. The Kingdom Hearts series is known for its amazing music thanks to composer Yoko Shimomura, and she did not disappoint at all with KH2. The music in this game is just heaven for my ears, somehow managing to surpass the songs in the first game. I wish I had the soundtrack so I could listen to all the songs all the time. One of the best songs in the game is “The 13th Struggle.” This is the song that plays when you fight Axel at the end of Roxas’ story. It’s an instantly memorable song and is totally appropriate for such a badass fight.
Another standout song is the “Lazy Afternoons.” This song plays when you’re just running around Twilight Town and not in combat. It’s such a chill and relaxing song that’s totally befitting of its name. Honestly, I’m sure that I could fall asleep to this song if I was just being lazy and relaxing in bed one day.
One other one is “The 13th Dilemma,” a song that plays during most of the fights against Organization members. This one always gets me amped up and ready for a fight against what is surely going to be a tough foe.
When you take everything that Kingdom Hearts II has to offer, what you get is an amazing game that has stood the test of time ten years later. Its filled with many great individual pieces that when put together form a game that is an unforgettable masterpiece, and it will always have a special place in my heart as my favorite game of all time.
TheComfySpot 