15 years. That’s a long time for a person to love something. This is especially true if the love started during a person’s childhood. As kids we latch onto things all the time, bouncing from one interest to the next. But every now and then, something comes along and takes root in a child’s heart. It grows from something we like into something we love; and from something we love into something that we’re passionate about. Once it’s reached this point, it never lets go and plays a key role in making us the people we grow up to be.
For me, that thing was Kingdom Hearts II. And for the past 15 years, the game has gone on to become one of the most impactful and influential pieces of my life. If you know me, you know just how much this game means to me. When I first started this blog, I wrote a piece celebrating the game’s tenth anniversary. I gushed about the game on a surface level, but I didn’t really get into why it means so much to me. Today I plan to do exactly that.
You see, when I think about Kingdom Hearts II a couple things come to mind. I think about the story and characters of the game and the journey that it takes you on; the music that defines the game; the amazing gameplay that was (and still is) practically perfect; and last but not least, I think about the way that it’s been a source of bonding for me all throughout my life.
An Unbreakable Connection
I’ve created long lasting friendships because of Kingdom Hearts II, and grew closer to my cousin due to our shared love for the game. But I think the most important and crucial bonding experience I had with the game was in elementary school. Kingdom Hearts II came out in 2006 when I was in the fifth grade, but my excitement for it started long before that. After finishing the first game and getting through most of Chain of Memories before looking up the ending (I hate that damn card system), I was so ready for Kingdom Hearts II to come out. I would talk about it with some of my friends at school on a daily basis.
Whenever a new issue of a gaming magazine came out with info on the game, we would all voraciously scan the article over and over to soak it all in. We would theorize over the direction of the story and the new characters that were being introduced. Some of these people weren’t ones that I necessarily would’ve called friends at the time. More-so just people I was cool with that shared a common interest. Even still, it was the first time that I felt like I was part of a community and it was great.
Fast forward to release day and the game is out. I had the game pre-ordered, but wasn’t able to get it day one, so I had to wait a bit before I could pick it up. But on the afternoon of release day, something happened. I’m sitting at the kitchen table doing my homework when the phone rings. We had no caller ID on this phone, so I didn’t know who it was, but I still answered like normal. Imagine my surprise when I hear it’s my classmate Elijah asking if I had the game.
Elijah was part of the group I mentioned earlier; not someone I would call a friend, but I was cool with him because of our shared interest. I’m not sure how he got my phone number, but here he was on the other end of the line. He offered to put the phone near his TV while he played so that I could hear what was happening. Needless to say, I accepted the offer and proceeded to be amazed.
I was amazed by what I was hearing as I imagined what the visuals were that went along with the sounds of battle and conversation. But I was also amazed that Elijah took it upon himself to reach out and do this. This simple act of kindness and friendship strengthened the feeling of community and acceptance that I felt in the lead up to the game’s release. At this moment, all my doubts about us being friends were washed away because I knew that regardless of whether or not we kept in contact after elementary school, we would forever be bonded and connected over this game.
A day or so later it was my turn to get the game. I went to my mom’s job after school and she took me to GameStop to pick it up along with the strategy guide. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go home right after, so I stayed at my mom’s job and did what we’ve all done: eagerly pored over the pictures and descriptions on the case and in the guide. Once I got home, I rushed to finish all my evening responsibilities so I could start playing for a little bit. When I finally did start playing I was overjoyed, and in no way, shape, or form prepared for the journey I was about to go on with this game.
A Timeless Adventure
I knew that I would really enjoy Kingdom Hearts II and its story, but I didn’t expect to fall in love with it as strongly as I did. This may be corny to say, but the story is so full of heart and charm that’s infectious. Sure the game can seem pretty ridiculous with the way characters are constantly talking about darkness and hearts, but underneath it all are characters and themes that are easy to connect with. It results in a story that’s emotional, compelling, and exciting from start to finish, delivering what is hands down the best one in the franchise.
Right from the start when you’re introduced to Roxas and his group of friends in Twilight Town instead of Sora, I was taken with the game. Roxas’ story of just trying to enjoy his last week of summer vacation with his friends is one that we can all relate to. We’ve all been in the position of wanting to just spend time with our friends and not worry about any serious responsibilities before having to return to the real world. Taking this simple story that at first seems far removed from the Kingdom Hearts story we’ve come to know and then introducing how it fits into the wider Kingdom Hearts universe was something that was eye-opening, but also tragic.
All this time, Roxas had been living this life that he thought was his own. He experienced the joys of friendly competition and secret hideouts, as well as the frustrations of rival groups trying to smear your name and just be all around jerks. Finding out that on top of all those experiences not being real, he had a whole other life before all this with someone else that was his best friend AND that he was merely the missing piece of another person that needed to return and disappear from existence, is honestly very depressing. Though it was brief, exploring Roxas’ relationships with the Twilight Town gang, Organization XIII, Sora, and Axel all hit hard and made for an opening few hours that are easy to get emotionally invested in and it’s stuck with me throughout the years.
Once we get back into the core story with Sora and start to go on his journey, the story really kicks into gear and reaches all kinds of highs. There’s the moment where you first get Sora’s new outfit, signifying the true beginning of a brand new adventure. Then there’s also the part where you go to Disney Castle for the first time in the series and have to help Queen Minnie keep darkness from taking over the world by going back in time to make sure events unfold as they should.
And it would be remiss of me to not mention the siege of Hollow Bastion. This entire portion of the game is one of the best parts in the entire series, but it’s arguably the best part of Kingdom Hearts II. To make a modern comparison, it’s like watching Infinity War for the first time and seeing all these characters come together for a massive battle. Fighting alongside Final Fantasy characters (another first for the series) in an epic battle of light vs darkness was incredible back in 2006, and it still is today. I frequently find myself thinking about just how cool this portion is because of its scale and the way in which it made me a fan of characters from games that I wouldn’t play for almost a decade.
It’s not just the big moments that make the game’s story so memorable. The smaller, quieter moments of Kingdom Hearts II also help make it one that has stuck with me all these years. Scenes like when Sora is doubting himself and his ability to keep everyone safe from darkness or when Kairi decides to run into a dark corridor and travel to another world to find Sora and Riku are some of my favorite parts of the game because they allow us to connect with the characters on a deeper level, while also developing them more at the same time. Their big reunion near the end of the game is the most heartfelt moment of the game though. Seeing these three friends that have largely been separated from one another since the very beginning of the series finally make their way back to one another is incredibly emotional and heartwarming.
And then there’s the ending of the game, which is one of the best video game endings ever. The Organization is defeated, but Sora and Riku are stuck in the realm of darkness. As they reconnect with one another, they receive a letter that Kairi sent off earlier in the game that was meant for Sora. As he reads it, the door to light appears and brings them back home to Destiny Islands. It’s an ending that I can never help but smile at and get slightly emotional during because it’s so great to see that the Destiny trio finally made it back home. They had fought so hard and at times it seemed like they would never be together again. But they never gave up on each other and pushed through every obstacle to make their way back home together. Seeing all that they had been through made me believe two things: that I could push through any obstacles in my path to reach my goals, and that no matter what, I’ll always be able to find my way back to my friends.
Working Together
Now a game doesn’t have such a strong impact on me for 15 years if its other aspects don’t stack up as well. In the case of Kingdom Hearts II, they absolutely do. This game has some of the best gameplay I’ve ever experienced. It’s honestly, truly damn near perfect. The combat was vastly improved over the first game, resulting in a system that’s smooth, fast paced, and flashy. This caused it to make me feel physically strong and powerful although I wasn’t. Whenever I played as a child, the combat made me feel like I was strong enough to do the things that Sora does, and it still evokes the same feeling in me to this day.
Because of this, it became something of a “gold standard” for me that other action games just couldn’t match. Whenever I play Kingdom Hearts II, it’s like slipping back into a trusty pair of sneakers. I’m comfortable here and everything feels just right, like I’m in my natural element. I consistently have an absolute ball fighting enemies and feel myself getting better each time. As I wrote this piece, I played through the game again for the first time since Kingdom Hearts III came out. This inevitably resulted in some growing pains since Kingdom Hearts III has an even better battle system than Kingdom Hearts II, but after some time I was back in the swing of things, and it’s been great.
As for the world selection, there are a great set of Disney worlds to go through and characters to meet. This is crucially important since the Disney worlds are such a core aspect of any Kingdom Hearts game. Some of the worlds are returning ones such as Agrabah and Olympus Coliseum, whereas others were brand new and made for real fun experiences. My two favorites were Space Paranoids (Tron) and the Pride Lands (The Lion King). Space Paranoids had a really cool aesthetic that I vibed with from both a music and visual perspective. The Pride Lands turned Sora into a lion, changing the way that he fights enemies and traverses the environment, something else that I really grew to love.
And contrary to popular opinion, I actually really enjoyed Atlantica in this game! I found the music mini-game to be a lot of fun and ended up doing it over and over just to sing along with the songs. Aside from just these three places though, the Disney worlds in the game made me fans of the movies they came from even though I didn’t have any prior nostalgia for them. Now I get excited and happy when I see the characters and their movies because I enjoyed playing in their worlds so much.
Of course, I can’t talk about Kingdom Hearts II without talking about the music. As someone who holds music very close to their heart, this game knocks it out of the park. Credit goes to Yoko Shimomura, the incredibly talented musician whose music has defined the Kingdom Hearts series. There’s obviously “Dearly Beloved” which is one of the best renditions of the song to date. It perfectly sets the mood for the journey that awaits and is a song that I’ve put on many times to fall asleep to. Another standout is the high energy battle theme “The 13th Struggle.” It plays at a few points in the game, but its first appearance is the most iconic. Coming in during Roxas’ fight against Axel at the end of his story, the song raised the energy for the fight and contributed to the fight becoming an unforgettable moment in the game.
“Lazy Afternoons”is another one that I love because it’s such a relaxing, chill song. Listening to this song makes me feel at peace in a way that not many songs can do for me. “Friends In My Heart” is a song that always hits me right in my heart when it plays because of how it enhances the scenes it backs. When I hear it, I immediately get a smile on my face, but also start to well up on the inside because it’s such a bittersweet song. And last but not least is the game’s theme song “Sanctuary” by Utada Hikaru. It’s impossible to think of this game without thinking of “Sanctuary.” I definitely spent many hours of my life just listening to this song on repeat because I could never get enough of it. These are just the ones that I highlighted, but every single song in the game is great. They’re all a tiny piece of the puzzle that makes the game as special and as memorable as it is. If it wasn’t for the music, the game wouldn’t have the impact that it does.
My Sanctuary
Kingdom Hearts II is a game that I’ll always look back on fondly. For a long time after it came out, there wasn’t any other game that I felt could rival it. There were many games I played that were objectively better games such as The Last of Us and Telltale’s The Walking Dead (Season One), but they just couldn’t surpass Kingdom Hearts II because of how big a mark it left on me. For over a decade, it was what I would define as a perfect video game. It managed to leave a strong lasting impact on me, influencing me in so many ways that it subconsciously became such a formative part of my life. This made it was seemingly impossible for another game to come close to topping it. Since 2018, two games have managed to achieve this feat, knocking Kingdom Hearts II down to be my third favorite game of all time. That’s a testament to not just the quality of those games, but Kingdom Hearts II as well. And though it may no longer be my favorite game of all time on paper, it still holds a very special place in my heart that can never be replaced.
I hope you all enjoyed the very first piece in the series! It was fun for me to write (and a bit cathartic as well), so I really hope you all had a good time reading it and have an understanding of how much the game means to me.
Next Up: Sora
For the next piece we’ll be staying in the Kingdom Hearts realm as I talk about Sora and what it is that makes him my favorite character in any form of media. I hope you look forward to reading that when it drops on Monday, April 12th. See you then!
TheComfySpot 