Like my review for the Final Mix version of the original, this review is only going over the added content in this version. I will link the review for the base game for those interested.

Base game review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/BrightGalaxy/review/570304/

Like the first game's Final Mix, this game adds more cutscenes, additional weapons for Sora & the gang, color-swapped heartless, and etc. However, there is a lot more additional content that is added this time.

Similar to proud mode in KH1 Final Mix, KH2 Final Mix adds a new difficulty that is supposed to be even harder called critical mode. This difficulty is one of the few flaws I have with the version it doesn't really feel like the step up in difficulty from proud mode that it was intended to be. Every time I play critical I swear I have an easier time with it than I do with proud mode. Later games do improve upon critical mode's difficulty and make them noticeably harder like it is intended to though, but its still weird they didn't make it less forgiving.

Sora gets a new drive form that brings back some of the iconic moves from the first game such as Sonic Blade, Ares Arcanium, and Ragnarök. Not only is this drive form a blast to use but it is almost as busted if not more so than final form.

Mushroom XIII are new heartless that act very similar to the heartless that were added in KH1 Final Mix. Some of the members function as more refined versions of those and some of them add new gimmicks like that mushroom in the Mysterious Tower that made me want to tear my hair out when I was going for the record needed to complete Jiminy's journal. Minus the few annoying ones, I really like Mushroom XIII and the minigames they bring to the table. Major improvement from the enemies added in the first game.

Unlike KH1 Final Mix, KH2 Final Mix adds a brand new area to Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden called the Cavern of Remembrance. This area will require you to level up most of your drive forms and will really test your mobility and skill with the number of powerful enemies that also appear as you venture deeper into it. At the end lies a room containing 13 data replicas of each member of Organization XIII.

Onto the main course, the boss fights. They added a lot more this time compared to KH1 FM which only added Xemnas. You get to fight Roxas in the main story which is not only a fun, challenging boss fight but also one of the most kino moments in the series. You get to fight the absent silhouettes of the Organization members that were only in Chain of Memories too which are all pretty easy if you're around mid-level. Then when you're at max level you'll be ready to take on the Organization XIII replica data. The data battles are essentially just more difficult versions of the same boss fights you fought in the story and post-game but more difficult and with a lot more health. These are easily the best part and addition to this version. Lastly, there is the Lingering Will who is basically a teaser for a future game like Xemnas was in the Final Mix version of the first game. He is easily the hardest boss in the game and one of the hardest bosses in the series who requires you to learn his moves and master this game if you want to beat him.

The secret ending added in this game is amazing to watch and a fantastic teaser to Birth by Sleep. With the added theater mode, you are free to enjoy it and any other cutscene you like as many times as you want too.

Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix elevates an already fantastic game to easily being one of the greatest games of all-time. If you have a PlayStation console, PC, or even an Xbox One, PLAY THIS MASTERPIECE!

When I first started playing Yakuza 3, one of the games the opening chapters reminded me of the most was Kingdom Hearts II. It wasn't nearly the same in its goals, but both provided compelling character work and symbolism in a sort of "calm before the storm" of the main game. Ever since that thought entered my mind, this game etched its way back into my brain more and more before I decided to just drop everything and go through a full replay of this game. I hadn't played this game in a long time, I played through it several years ago on PCSX2, partially due to my excitement for the release of Kingdom Hearts III, and had the time of my life. Revisiting games that hold this status to you run the risk of them turning out worse than you remember, but that couldn't have been more of the opposite of my experience. I formed a newfound appreciation of the mastery behind this game, especially with a few contributing factors.

One thing I decided to do was use the site's journal feature to record my progress through this replay. Normally I really struggle to make use of stuff like this, (I failed to do so for Great Ace Attorney) but I found it oddly natural to do so here. Maybe it was because I played it before, and I didn't have to focus as much on speculation. Nonetheless, my favorite experience of this was how I ended up thinking more about the game and finding a further appreciation for some elements, even if I didn't jot them all down. Like the way the Disney worlds tie into the game's main themes of identity, or the way Roxas's presence continually comes through in so many elements of the game. I had glimpses of these previously, but I didn't really hone in on them as much until this playthrough.

More importantly, this was my first time playing through the game on Critical Mode. Now I can say for sure that Critical Mode is one of my favorite difficulty settings in any video game, and the definitive way to play this title. All of the enemies and especially bosses are absolute powerhouses, but so are you. You get so much extra abilities and are so much stronger, but mistakes are far more punishing due to increased damage values and having half the maximum health you'd have in any other mode. It's a type of difficulty that I honestly wish was present in more action games.

This experience also does wonders for the bosses, particularly the fights against Organization XIII. If there's any difficulty where Critical Mode shines it's here. You can constantly make large strides and deal massive damage to your opponents, but it also forces you to be mindful of what they're capable, pay attention to their Revenge Values, and learn when the opportune moment to stay back or strike is, with your many movement options coming into play. It makes each fight feel like a no-holds-barred duel in ways that only the Vergil battles in the Devil May Cry series can compare. This game has so many of my favorite boss fights in the entire medium, they're all extremely satisfying to take on.

This is less of a full review of the game and more of a stream of thoughts reflecting on my re-experience with one of my favorite games of all time. Even though I have a lot of games I plan to play this year, I feel like I'm consistently going to be coming back to this one to work towards beating the hardest challenges the game has to offer, maybe even full-on completion if I feel like it. I honestly don't know what I'm gonna play right after this, I think I'll just let my heart guide me.

Kingdom Hearts II is a great example that a game can have several annoying aspects or sections but still be amazing based off of vibe and a good finale. Second visits to each world could be pretty annoying and yet it still never lost me, because the game never fails at feeling engaging in both gameplay and especially in its story and characters. A genuine, absolute joy from beginning to end even despite the annoyances I have with certain sections. Maybe one day I'll come back to fight the superbosses, but for now I look forward to seeing how the games progress from here for myself!

I started this game with a hater's killing intent, Final Fantasy simply does not mean anything to me, and I've tended to a garden of dislike for Disney movies from a young age that has blossomed into a forest of disdain as they evolved from saccharine and condescending children's films to emotional therapy for stunted millennials dragging their disinterested kids to watch their dad cry at a cartoon personification of an emotion wiggling it's eyebrows. I had often heard that a 'critical mode level 1' play through was a legendary action game on par with the greats, and had the full bad faith intention of saying this game sucked actually. Unfortunately my faculties are too objective and like the Casu Martz, just because something is conceptually and aesthetically revolting, doesn't mean it's not worth 100 dollars a pound.

After being somewhat interested after beating KH1 and watching playthrough of Chain of Memories, there's something about this game that's just feels so damn especial to me.

Seeing everyone praising this sequel so heavily made me really skeptical of what should i really expect in it, especially after Chains of Memory was something else i would say. I really feel that the first 6 hours really made the impression of it ''Damn if that's of the game holy shit i can't wait to get in to endgame'' in that regard i wasn't dissapointed in the slightest.

Definitely the Gold Standard of an JRPG.

All the flaws surrounding the core game (minigames, narrative, decisions on difficulty, decisions on how to obtain essential movement abilities, and more) have been discussed or are already obvious enough to reiterate on them. The saving grace of KH2, and more in Final Mix, has always been its combat, yet even with some good ideas, it is so feeble that just a bit of observation would tear it apart.

The game has three different types of fights, typical of any melee action (3D) game: mob fights, boss fights and hybrids. The most interesting ones are usually the hybrids, since they are the ones where strategies cannot be so easily reused from battle to battle.

Mob fights start up being quite good, with a basic but effective enemy management exercise that is utterly destroyed by magnet and, especially, the Chicken Little summon. Anyone who has not played the game on Critical Level 1 may be surprised to read that Chicken Little is useful at all, just one of the multiple examples of the game in any other condition being so brainless that about 90% of the fights can be beaten on autopilot.

Boss fights follow your typical melee combat 3D dynamics from every action game since at least twenty years ago. You evade or block the enemy attack and, if done right, you are given a free combo, then repeat until over. Here, as usual with these types of games, both the defensive and offensive options are lacking. What matters the most is that you choose the correct answer from a very limited number of options in enough time, and then the job is done. The way to increase the difficulty is to reduce the timing window when you can respond to the enemy, which results in an empty real time Simon Says, but one that can be so addicting that recently made Sekiro to be wrongly considered one of the greatest action games ever.

The few particularities of the combat system are what demonstrate that the pillars where everything stands are not rigid enough. The most interesting part is the dynamic between magic and drive, two limited resources that can be regained while fighting and that are connected. When you lose all your magic points, you regain it with a cooldown, and in that cooldown time you gain more drive gauge when attacking. And also, drive forms restore your health and magic, so the dynamic is clearly there. However, both magic and drive are uninteresting to use.

Magic will be relegated to very rare conditional usage (aside from: magnet for enemy mobs, reflex for bosses, guess what two magics disappeared in KH3) with cure being the most blatant proof that the system is built into solutions that build on problems creating their own trouble in the way. Acknowledging that nobody used any magic in KH1 aside from cure and maybe aero (it didn’t make practical sense to do anything else), cure now uses all your MP left. In theory, this incentives using more aggressive magic usage, since you still will have cure available. In practice, it results in players running around the arena when permitted until the cure emergency button is available again.

Using cure in level 1, or in more aggressive styles of play, doesn’t make sense, so here is the second real use of MP: limits. Limits consume all your MP in exchange for releasing a chain of attacks (which changes depending on the partner used with, but there is no reason to not abuse Donald Limits when available and the differences are usually of minimal impact) and, more importantly, turn you invulnerable during their execution, probably as a poor excuse of an advantage in order to force you to use them, knowing that the initial idea was not very good.

Drive forms face a similar problem to limits, they are used because they give back an important resource, but none of them are really useful or interesting in combat by themselves, causing you to revert the form as soon as you can (maybe getting in one combo at most). This is due to drive forms taking away your defensive options in most cases (blocking and dodging). The only exception is probably Limit Form, since it is still capable of both, but the only non-conditional useful form being a new addition to Final Mix seems like another patch in something already being recognized as faulty.

Either played more casually, blindly defeating most of the hazards without even thinking about the dangers without appreciating your tools, or in a more hardcore style, turning into an empty elongated reflex test when the go to exploitable strategy cannot be applied, KH2 is a clear failure at an action game, although, I must admit, a convincingly hidden one at first sight.

Wow, just wow! What a game! Kingdom hearts 2 is in every regard the “perfect square game”, taking everything from the previous game and improving on them so drastically that it makes that original game feel dated by comparison. I played this game through the 2.5 remix collection on ps4 (1080p and 60fps baby!). Let’s get this show on the road!
Let’s get to the positives first…which are plenty! The biggest change is definitely the gameplay. Gone are the days of simplistic but fun combat and it is replaced by the best combat system i have ever played on an action rpg. Everything you do here matters. The ability build is more improved, where every ability has its importance depending on your playstyle. Keyblade choice plays a bigger role here too, with every keyblade being useful in their own way thanks to the introduction of passive abilities for each keyblade, giving a whole new layer to customization of your playstyle instead of just being mere stat boosters that you don’t put much thought into. Magic has also been tweaked, with a now rechargable MP bar, cure spell being balanced significantly (it drains the whole bar now when used, allowing for skillful play with it when necessary and stopping cure spam as well) New spells added include magnet and barrier, which are useful for combo magic attacks or a defensive counterattack focused play, as well as being really fun to use. Fire has also been tweaked to being a aoe attack around sora instead of a projectile (which should stop the old fashioned fire spam as well). The summons and limits have been vastly improved now, making them an actual viable option for combat. Of course, we can’t forget about the new addition: the drive forms. Each of these forms allows Sora to transform his playstyle around to fast deadly melee combos (valor), magic focused (wisdom), kh1 sora (limit), a mix of attack and magic (master) and just FUCK IT EVERYTHING!!! (final). Each of them are really fun to play and provide a breath of fresh air to the combat, while still being balanced thanks to the drive gauge and how much of it each of them consume. Another addition is the reaction commands, which are essentially QTEs done right and are extremely flashy and entertaining to watch. Combine all of these with how much more fluid and responsive Sora’s moves are, as well as a camera that’s more behind you to leave room for multiple enemies to come without messing you up and you have a combat system that imo has yet to be topped in the whole series to this day. You would think, with how much more freedom and option you have with this combat, that the difficulty would be a joke right? Thankfully, that is not the case, as the game has been balanced around this system, making sure you use all that the combat offers to come out on top. The enemies and boss fights are excellent from beginning to end, with some boss fights even becoming my favourites ever! The presentation has also seen a massive improvement over kh1, with more detailed environments, character models and animations. Cutscenes are beautiful looking, although the png faces with flapping lips are still here, but thankfully more toned down compared to the first game. The voice acting is also excellent throughout the whole game, barring 1 or 2 (cough cough Aerith) which don’t ruin the experience that much. And of course, speaking of voice acting, let’s talk about the story. I hear different takes regarding this. Some say this was the point where kingdom hearts lore got too complicated for its own good and later on confusing, while others say that its complexity is what makes the story engaging. I am of the latter camp and think the story is excellent! The characters are written pretty well and the whole story surrounding Sora and the gang’s clash against Organization 13 is both engaging and entertaining to witness throughout. The organization and its leader make for excellent villains. You both feel sympathetic for their goal of trying to gain a heart and have an identity of their own as well as hate the shady methods that they’re willing to use in order to get there. Even though they appear more often towards the third act, their presence and looming threat is felt throughout the whole game and the goal of stopping them is on your mind in the entire journey. Characters are also wrestling with their own inner conflicts and their roles in the grand scheme of the organization’s plan. It is both bombastic, over the top and human at the same time, and that is why i love it. My favourite moments of the whole franchise come from this story. Moments so unforgettable that they alone help you memorize (shut up axel) the story for years to come. The dialogue can be hit or miss writing wise, but thankfully the delivery on pretty much all of them is top notch, making even the oddest of dialogue stick the landing and feel natural as a result (or comedic). The worlds have seen a drastic improvement too. They are more open and big, serving as perfect enemy encounter grounds and are also a ton of fun to explore for treasures and puzzle pieces and make bigger use of sora’s more fluid and speedy movement. I don’t mind them not being as populated, mostly because they are crawling with enemies. The selection is also more varied, with returning and brand new worlds, each with a fun gimmick of their own and plenty of fanservice to get you hyped up. My one gripe is the lack of platforming, but that got addressed with the optional world that final mix adds. All of them are hitters, no misses (…well, except for one which i’ll get to later). And then there is the music, which is one of my favourite video game osts of all time. If you were like me and thought kh1 music was peak, kh2’s music blows it out of the water. Everyone of them is stellar, fitting of the setting or setpieces and are highly replayable. From the tension of 13th dilemma, to the chaos of tension rising, to the badassery of 13th reflection, the encounter and sinister shadows, as well as the threat of rage awakened, there is no low point in this whole ost (as long as you’re playing the hd remixes where you don’t get to hear the compressed farts of port royal’s battle theme, but you get to hear the real deal instead). There is a mountain of side content too, all of whom are a blast to go through. These include the colosseum cups being back and better than ever, the minigames having challenges of their own to complete for 100%, mushroom 13th, the optional bosses and superbosses which are tough, but extremely rewarding and well designed to tackle, a completely optional world which is challenging and makes amazing use of sora’s platforming arsenal and finally: the gummi ship. I didn’t talk about them at all in my kh1 review, simply because there wasn’t much to discuss about them there. Simple star fox minigames that you played once to discover a world and never touched again because teleportation. Kh2 improves them drastically, taking on a more arcade shoot-em-up / bullethell approach with a brisk pace and pumping music to go along and they are amazing! The gummi ship garage has also been changed, where now all the blocks are available to you and you unlock weapons and other gummi equipment as you do more gummi missions and get higher rankings. They serve as a great replayability and challenge tool and help you make your ship look more badass and more powerful than ever. Basically your childhood lego cocaine addiction in videogame format. Other minor fixes that are massively appreciated include: being able to open treasures mid-battle, items being cast almost instantly instead of after 1-2 seconds and your party member’s AI being more competent and customizable to suit your needs.
And now for the negatives….uhhhhh….yea i’m left speechless here. The negatives i can possibly think about are Atlantica, the prologue and Anti-Sora, but even then they don’t bother me at all. Atlantica is a shitty rhythm game, but it’s optional and thankfully not too long so it will only seem like a minor bleep that is instantly forgotten about. The prologue goes on for too long, but it kept my attention due to how it builds up the characters, setting and whole tone of the story. Anti-Sora is a drive form that serves as punishment for overusing drives and i find it to be a good balancing act. It might be annoying at first, but once you learn the intricacies of the drive form’s system, it won’t become an annoying problem for anyone…atleast that is what i think.
Overall, i was completely blown away with this game. It is a significant improvement over kh1 in every single regard and it is one of my favourite games ever made. After putting 70+ hours doing all of its content and reaching 100% all on critical mode, i didn’t regret a single minute i had with the game. Definitely a must-play game not just for rpg players, but for anyone who even calls themselves a gamer!

When I beat Kingdom Hearts back in 2002, I was left with many lingering questions. The cliffhanger ending left Rikku and Mickey trapped and Sora's quest to reunite with his friends unfulfilled. If that wasn't enough to keep someone like me invested, the secret ending set up the next leg of the story in the most cryptic way possible, which only fueled my thirst for answers.

Unfortunately, Kingdom Hearts II raises more questions in exchange for mere droplets of resolution, something that has become sort of a series tradition. Had Chain of Memories not so efficiently terminated my investment in 2004, perhaps I would have come to learn this valuable lesson about Kingdom Hearts much sooner.

The game opens like Metal Gear Solid 2 in reverse, as you find yourself in control of a character who is decidedly not Sora. The town you're in, your friends, and the enemies you fight all feel off. You soon find out it's because Sora is really in a simulation as his memories are repaired after the events of the previous game (which itself was a retread of the first Kingdom Hearts, and look, it's all dumb and it's just going to get more dumb.) It definitely makes for a disorienting opening when so much of the game otherwise fits the formula the original Kingdom Hearts established. Sora, Donald, and Goofy hop from one Disney themed planet to the next, solving problems on an almost episodic basis while the big bads, Organization XIII, scheme in the background. During my first playthrough I actually found myself kind of surprised that this was the Kingdom Hearts game everyone thought was a crazy time convoluted shit show. There's some wild stuff, but it tends to come in bursts, and it at least seems like they're going someplace with all this talk about Nobodies and Heartless and the Door to Darkness that will get untangled just in time for the final act.

It does not get untangled.

To again draw the comparison to Metal Gear Solid 2 - a game which actually has something to say - Kingdom Hearts 2 plays its hand in its final act, and either you're going to love it or you're going to hate it. I won't get into spoilers because I really do feel it's best enjoyed going in totally blind, and because I really can't make much sense of it myself. Nomura is an auteur, and I realize that probably sounds very pretentious to say about someone who is in charge of the Disney RPG where Goofy gets hit in the head with a rock, dies, spurs his friends to fight from the emotional weight of his loss, only to wake up the next scene and go "gorsh I get hit in the head all the time!", but I stand by it. Nobody else could possibly make a Kingdom Hearts game crazy in a way that feels authentic to Nomura's vision other than the man himself. For better or worse, you don't have Kingdom Hearts without him.

Gameplay is vastly improved over the first game. Combat is a lot more fluid, fast paced, and a wider range of abilities creates some much needed depth. Drive Forms further expand on what Sora is capable of, allowing him to gain distinct advantages based on which form his assumes while augmenting the way Sora plays. Donald and Goofy have improved AI as well, though they're far from perfect and still end up being more of a hinderance than a help. Summons are also present, but there's only four and they all feel pretty lackluster. Sora is already capable of so much, so I never really felt compelled to to use them, and frankly I question why they ever bothered including them in the first place.

The Disney worlds are a mixed bag. Atlantis is a dismal rhythm game that overstays its welcome only a few notes in, and Port Royale is a drab, lifeless slog. On the other hand, I was really drawn into Timeless River's classic Disney cartoon aesthetic, and it was nice to see Olympus fleshed out into a fully realized world. It's always a joy to hear James Woods turn up as the voice of Hades. He's a great guy who has never done cocaine in his entire life.

Kingdom Hearts II takes everything about the first game and just goes places with it. Combat is fleshed out, the story is bigger, louder, and far more complex, and the worlds are (with some exceptions) a lot more engaging. It doesn't always stick the landing, and it may be the point where the series really goes off the rails, but having had as much fun with this as I did 14 years after its release, I think it's pretty safe to say I think this is a good game.

Going into this knowing both my experience from the previous game and the large amount of praise people heap upon it I was pretty hyped to start playing KH2 to say the least. That and RCOM left such an awful taste in my mouth I wanted to at least move on to something else. Admittedly I put off completing this game for a long while: a lot of other games ended up preoccupying my time, but I finally beat it. (I completed the game in proud mode just as a heads up, figure I would be more challenged to get more out of the combat).

Right off the bat pretty much every complaint I have with the original Kingdom Hearts has been flat out fixed. The movement is so much more fluid, less stiff and platforming is generally kept to a minimum, combat is even wilder, flashier with so many things to mess around with compared to 1, the worlds actually feel like worlds now. I know the more spacious level design can be off-putting to people, but to me it makes them feel more like actual worlds. I said this before but the original KH1 worlds were far too small and felt more like cardboard cutouts used for a school play, and were mostly stacked vertically - one small slip up and you would usually fall all the way down to the bottom and would need to platform up the entire thing all over again. None of these are even a thing in KH2 - everything has such a huge sense of scope and the levels themselves are still jam packed with enemies to fight, puzzle pieces, and treasure chests (bonus points for allowing you to open a treasure chest even in the middle of battle unlike KH1). The variety of the worlds themselves have been cranked up as well, the Pirates of the Caribbean, Mulan and Tron worlds being among my favorites, and all the returning worlds have been substantially improved (yes, even Atlantica. Shallow QTE goofy musical >>>> terrible underwater combat. Also helps that it’s completely optional).

The main thing Kingdom Hearts 2 excels in are the boss fights however. There are a LOT of them and nearly every single one of them is fun to fight. They’re all super aggressive and the strategies needed to beat are a blast to figure out (for the most part, some are more gimmicky and annoying than others). On top of all of this, KH2 has so much to offer outside of the main story - material crafting, puzzle piece and treasure hunting, you even get rematches with tougher secret superbosses. Even the gummi ship sections are miles better than in KH1, though I’m still not keen on how the customization works.

The drive forms are probably my favorite new addition to KH2. There are different forms you can transform into, altering and strengthening a specific part of your playstyle. Valor is more suited for fast heavy damage melee combos, Wisdom supercharges your magic and lets you dart around the map, etc. Using these drive forms and leveling them up also allows Sora to take advantage of their abilities, but this is unfortunately my main issue with Kingdom Hearts 2.

If you wanted to unlock a high jump, better quick run/dodge roll, a double jump, and a glide, you need to use and grind to level up the drive forms. That on paper doesn’t sound so bad but 1. The game isn’t really clear on what you need to do to level up these drive forms. Each is super specific and there’s not a lot of good opportunities to really level them up outside of grinding in very specific circumstances, and 2. Ok sure, the game wants you to use drive forms to unlock and strengthen movement abilities, I can get behind that…so why then does it also punish you for using the drive forms too much? You get randomly forced into Sora’s anti form as punishment for using the drive forms too much, a form that gets wiped out in like 1-2 hits with how fragile it is, but attacks super duper fast to sort of make up for it, and you can’t revert it until after the meter is completely drained or the fight ends. It’s basically a death sentence against bosses, and while in regular enemy encounters it’s not that big of a deal at all, it still wastes your drive gauge anyway. I just don’t understand why they had to lock these fun helpful movement abilities behind grinding while also putting in a system that punishes you for…using them too much? Which we need to do anyway to level up the drive forms? It just doesn’t make any sense to me. Sure you can beat the game without these movement abilities but having all your maxed out movement options makes Sora a blast to control and makes traversal so much fun with the amount of height and distance you can get with everything, it also just makes tougher combat a bit easier since you have more control over the battlefield. I feel it would’ve been better if you could unlock and use the level 1 version of the movement abilities as soon as you get that particular drive form, and that would not only still make traversal a lot of fun, but it could also entice people to start leveling up the drive gauge even more.

Despite all my gripes, I still had a blast with KH2. I might want to come back and do all the extra stuff, maybe even try out Critical if I feel like torturing myself.

Coming into your own and saying goodbye

If you want the short, simple and clean version of how I feel about Kingdom Hearts II then here: My short, simple and clean thoughts on Kingdom Hearts II.

Kingdom Hearts II is a special video game for me and it'll take a bit out of me to explain why. Around May 2006, I was eleven years old and the only thing I wanted was Kingdom Hearts II after playing Kingdom Hearts to death as a child and forever being allured by the advertisements playing on television and video game stores. I remember having barely enough money to cover the game itself and went everywhere trying to find a copy of the game until I found a copy new but it wasn't sealed, my young impatience really wanted to buy that version then and there but my parents wanted me to get a sealed copy so we went looking for a different store and despite my temporary frustration, we eventually did find one sealed not long after. The car ride and reading the back and the manuals are almost a lost tradition these days with the modern world but I do remember them fondly still. It felt like I was holding onto something that was a long time coming personally back then and sure enough that it was. Kingdom Hearts II was the first video game I ever truly bought with my own money, made from doing grueling labor at my aunt's house for only ten dollars at a time but my family wasn't doing that well growing up at all if ever. I remember playing it during a time where I found out I was gonna move soon and well the sad thing was that I finally actually made some friends back at elementary school. I was always the weird kid growing up but then I finally met some kids that were really nice to me and we would actually hang out and play Pokemon FireRed with the wireless adapters. I remember the feeling of seeing them for the last time ever and then beating the introductory segment to Kingdom Hearts II in which I admit I also just wanted to play as Sora at the time since I was also pretty young back then and didn't play Chain of Memories before. I just remember playing and missing those said friends the whole time especially since I was mostly alone for a long time after moving. Despite that, Kingdom Hearts II itself is what I feel personally the ideal Square Enix and Disney crossover game that they could've made for me.

I always felt like this journey has had the most emotional impact on Sora as a character. The disney characters you meet are always glad to see you and always reassure him that he will find his loved ones at the end of this journey. The way he also sees certain interactions with the characters just always make him feel just as emotional as the player can be during these scenes. It's the game where I truly feel like Sora cares about Riku and Kairi and vice versa with the game managing to show this perfectly. The introduction segment of Kingdom Hearts II is something I feel like we can almost all relate to. The childlike wander of hanging out with your friends and doing shenanigans while realizing you only have so much time until the real world comes for you like it does for all of us. I only hope we can treasure that time together when things were so much simpler. Not to mention the finale segment goes off the wall in how bizarre it can truly get and feels like such a spectacle that it's hard to keep your eyes off while still having that emotional core that Kingdom Hearts II holds firmly throughout the whole experience.

Kingdom Hearts II might the best that can manage the art of "pressing X or A continuously" and yet resulting in a fun and dynamic combat experience. I've always played on Proud for the several playthroughs I have of this game due to the PlayStation 2 version we got here didn't have Critical until in more modern times where we have ports of the Final Mix version now so there was no more excuses. I did my first playthrough on Critical and it feels even more tight than I remember. Sora being able to do flashy moves, the techniques of movement, magic feels more fluid to use and more streamlined so every spell is important is just the icing of this large cake of a never ending struggle. If Kingdom Hearts II on Proud and lower, makes you spam the X or A button then Critical will actually make you think about it in a sense while giving you more fun tools to play around with. This also includes the huge variety of boss fights with different mechanics too which really make each encounter truly unique. Perfect play is rewarded and being reckless will kill you but it lets the combat fully utilize what it can provide for you and what it can provide for your enemies. Drive forms turn Sora into a specialized monster with each form giving you specific abilities including abilities that help Sora's maneuverability in general.

The very first track you hear when you boot up Kingdom Hearts II sets up the tone in a very somber way accompanying the art of two young men sharing ice cream together. Essentially when you hear that piano, you know you're in for a very important moment. It's very hard not to sing the praises of the soundtrack considering how important the music is to me that I remember each of the song's melodies by heart now. If I had to share one song that encapsulates Kingdom Hearts II for me it would be the friends in my heart.

I spent a lot of time playing this game during the past several days that it didn't even dawn on me that I started playing this only three days ago and now here I am writing my thoughts after having beaten it for the fifth time now. I honestly don't think those friends in elementary school even remember me at this point or remember I even exist but I hope they're doing alright. For one of the few times in my childhood, you guys didn't make me feel like something was wrong with me and I thank you for that. I never like to get too personal with my thoughts on video games but Kingdom Hearts II deserves that and so much more and I hope it has done for you what it did for me. I will be lost to time but I hope this game never will be. A coming of age journey across a galaxy just to find the ones you care about the most.

Thank you for reading.

The more time passes, the harder it is to wrestle with how weird this game is to recommend. I want to tell all my sweaty action gamers to start on Critical and skip all the cutscenes, and I sincerely believe it’s the way to play, but I also realize that’s not a realistic experience whatsoever lmfao.

That intrusive thought verbalized, it doesn’t change how I feel about the game itself. Not sure I have more to add on top of what I said in this video: https://youtu.be/RYdFpv9Ay7o?si=XKNPVk13CDzhNzn8

this is the one guys this is the game

THIS RIGHT HERE IS THE KINGDOM HEARTS GAME EVER EXISTED and i dont want to have anything to do with the people against this opinion because this is the only opinion i wont negotiate . with anyone . ok maybe for a cute boy with whom to exchange some eye contact i would ▼・ᴥ・▼

i wont ever stop to tear up at dearly beloved will i its just an incredible piece of music that pulls at your heartstrings like its a violin of some kind its magical i swear it cant be written down or explained its just yknow . music is fun isnt it

not only is this game the best example of why everyone is seemingly in love with kingdom hearts but also why you should not trust the people who say that games cannot be considered art and i will fight for that till the day that i die (arguably soon)

kingdom hearts II makes it nice and clear that its not gonna be like the other games in the series by smacking in your face your new protagonist . cheerful and calm and also confident when he needs to be and is the single purest ray of sun ive seen since my birth i swear hes so cute i cant do this and hes best friend with olette pence and hayner (my boyfriend hes ugh . UGH hes yeah my boyfriend thats it i dont want to get into much detail) and is living his last days of summer vacation in twilight town and its just going around places and basically dozing off through his days and just making memories with his besties and this acts as a prologue for the entirety of kingdom hearts 2 and when i tell you that this could be the best part of the game im not joking here its just MMMMMMMMM so good

slowly roxas begins to lose touch with reality . creatures called nobodies start appearing a guy named axel keeps pestering him trying to see if he remembers him (i cry like a bitch) and comes in contact with different people naminé a guy in a black robe and DiZ and he is then informed that the dreams he was having were the memories of a boy named sora who rests in slumber and he is just his Nobody and will soon reunite with him when he awakens

willing to see sora he rushes through everyone and everything to the old mansion and gets into the groove of just beating the shit out of everyone (axel too and this might be the most heartbreaking moment in this game ever ok no actually theres worse but if you got the past knowledge of 358/2 days its just gonna be HEAVY axel is too sad a character for me to handle and that is why hes my favourite one in the entire series possibly LIKE UGHHHHHHH why would you do that to my pure heart) and in the meanwhile he gets some of his memories back until he enters the room where sora is sleeping

the pod opens . hes confronted with the person whose memories have been haunting him and the first thin he says is “looks like my summer vacation is over”

title screen

GUYS

GUYS UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WAS BAWLING OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD this game cant be real i swear i swear to god this cant be a game that exists in this world ever

this is the prologue . 3 hours of pure nostalgia a great introduction to a great game and possibly the most iconic piece of the 2000s videogame landscape its something out of genius and incredibly powerful

oh also i played the 1.5 + 2.5 version

after this the real game begins and you can finally play as titular character sora big clown boots ENFP you know the one

he meets goofy and donald and they begin this new adventure together

now i would continue on with the story if it wasnt that its massive and i have no idea what its about honestly but the fundamentals are

sora and co will return to save different disney worlds from the impending threat of the organization and so on so forth you know the gist

SIDE NOTE

before parting from twilight town he got a feeling that he knows roxas friends and just straight up tear up when he says goodbye yknow this is HEART breaking thinking theres roxas inside there crying like a bitch made me completely lose my shit

FUN !

SPOILER so what happens is they go to yen sid sora gets some new sparkly clothes meet this times lesser antagonist pete (+ maleficent) travel to different worlds and they begin to learn about roxas and the organization XIII and discover the lab of ansem the wise who is umh . GETTING HARD ALREADY . so ansem the wise was xehanorts master now who is xehanort basically hes the person that spawned not only ansem (kh1) but also the leader of the organization xemnas (who is a nobody)

SO TOUGH SHIT back to square one theres more evil people and sora gotta smash the faces of ALL of them so he goes back to traveling around the worlds basically KILLING any organization XIII member left (why are they even called organization XIII when they have been 13 for like 2 days whatever anyway) and then take on the organizations world aka the world that never was

by the way am i the only one kinda horny for xaldin saix luxord and also kinda demyx idk basically all of them but idk theres something about organization men that mmmmmmmmmmm juicy

here hes reunited with kairi bless her heart she looks like her character got more personality now and riku who is looking very yknow . ansem esque i preferred him when he was in that black cloak and blindfolded because of his BDSM sessions with king mickey but anyway

SHOCKER DiZ nuts is ansem the wise . didnt see that coming but anyway he gets killed . buonanima

last one standing xemnas is the final boss of the entire game and sora and riku are left to kill him and this escalates to possibly one of my fav battle scenes in the entire series

oh also wait a sec i needed to say something first

isnt xemnas kinda hot (•ㅅ•) omg sorry sorry but i needed to get that out of my system like ok anyway

I WAS SAYING best battle in the entire series and honestly one of the longest maybe ? its just too epic it has a lot of phases and cool moves and the last action command where theres riku and sora just blazing through unlimited amounts of lasers is just OH MY GOD its just TOOOOOOOO MUCH i love that

and then hes dead goodbye id better make advantage of this while hes still warm

NOTHINGNESS IS ETERNAL

talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference, put it in a blender, shit on it, vomit on it, eat it, give birth to it

oh and also axel dies
.
i wanted to die with him that was so unfair and you know whats even more unfair is that the last thing he says is

i wanted to see roxas

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME NOMURA IM LITERALLY ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE ISTG

umh anyway

cool game

riku and sora and kairi go back to destiny island so they can live their polyamorous married life together and celebrate

UNTIL bottle from the king thats it the end of the game

i condensed the main story stuff but when i tell you that this game is convoluted im not joking theres a lot of stuff happening and i could not even begin to put into words what really happens in this god forsaken piece of literature forreal i tell you if herman melville had played this game he wouldve though his chapters over chapters about whales and whaling were the most clear reading experiences ever created even dante is shaking in his grave right now im telling you

to think TO THINK that id have loved this game this much id have pulled through that marathon in 2020 when re chain of memories killed every interest in me to pursue this series but better late than never

special mention to the opening did you guys see the opening did you SEE it its no cinematography classes will ever tell you about that opening because theyd be TOO FUCKING EMBARRASSED to even talk about such a great short movie like that the animation + the music + the climax + hikaru utada + the coordination between the song and the visuals + the story bits + riku and kairi vanishing in the beginning ??????? + riku fight in kh1 that mirrors the opening of the first game with sora running towards him while he extends his harm ??????????? + kairi growing up waiting for sora ????? LOOKING OUT AT THE SEA ????????????????? oh my god + NAMINE’ WATCHING SORA GETTING IN THE POD ????????????????????????????

you cant just teach talent you cant just teach something like this honestly try to do something ground breaking like that see if you manage

that being said
umh
i love the disney worlds in this game like sexy johnny depp ?? come through ok yeah and theres also mulan pretty great movie if you ask me and theres hercules again !!!!! teehee i love hercules AND PRIDE LANDS I LOVE PRIDE LANDS DID YOU SEE LIL LION SORA OH MY GOD guys . guys i dont feel so good please google lion sora online you wont regret it

sooooooooooooooooooooooo umh this games battle system made me cum at least 10 times

im sorry im i needed to say that i needed to get that out of my system

so what happens here is they laced kingdom hearts 1 battle system with drugs and made kingdom hearts 2 battle system the end

the basics are there the first game was already a great blueprint for this to work flawlessly but they just pushed what made the battle system great even further and gave birth to possibly one of the greatest in the history of videogames how do you even do that BeReal with me rn

core gameplay is the same you got moves you got AP to put some abilities into it you got your magic system (now with a countdown) your items your companions whatever but now theres something more called drive forms basically during your fights you can unleash these various forms and beat the shit out of your opponents THATS NUTS and also i didnt use them as much as i shouldve so dont make my mistake please pleek pleek and they also level up like sora . magical so then what happens next is that reaction commands are here which are incredible basically when encountering monster X you get X reaction command to use against them like dusks have the reversal command where you can get behind them and put your dick up their arses amen and theyre different and unique for every single enemy ever . incredible guys just incredible

oh also summons yeah never used them sorry chicken little you wont be missed

what REAAAAALLY shocked me tho is that the gummi ships segments are now bomb ? whod have thought not me i was hoping theyd remove them for good but they managed to not only make them acceptable but also incredibly good ? did it always feel so good to pew pew in outer space idk i dont remember i felt that way when i played space invaders but anyway and they also made some blueprints available so you dont have to edit your gummi ship to upgrade it if you dont have time or will to do it (me theyre talking about me) and by the way you know what that is ? growth possibly some of the most epic stuff in the game happens in the gummi ships pew pew extravaganza so thats a first for the series nice job

that being said gameplay is incredible period and i dont want to hear bad things about it ever or i will go wild

as ive stated in the other reviews kingdom hearts music is what got me into the series first and foremost and its just monumental MONUMENTAL so quick rundown of the stuff worth checking out (links all the ost) and its like

the 13th struggle no ok sorry i already talked about this in re chain but this version (KH2) puts the organization theme in the mix and for me its like the TRUEST form of this ost

so apart from that

roxas might be some of the most nostalgic pieces in the series and i love it so much like listening to this when roxas journey ends its so heart breaking how do you even live on after a scene like that PLUS this ost dude damn

desire for all that is lost ????????????? AMAZING INCREDIBLE UGHHHHHH

organization XIII groundbreaking enemy theme and possibly the most memorable and haunting of everything ever

ok and this is like my fav stuff ever but theres other stuff like dance of the daring ?? vim and vigor ????? i also got a soft spot for savannah pride and then the encounter ????????? THE OTHER PROMISE ????????????????????????????????????????????? NAH MAN AND THEN DARKNESS OF THE UNKNOWNNNNNNNNN UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH that final battle theme is unreal yoko shimomura what drugs do you do what the actual fuck

and maybe the MOST BOMBEST BESTEST GUMMI SHIP TRACK EVER IN EXISTENCE hazardous highway you cant just get into this gummi level and not get incredibly pumped up this shit is phenomenal PHENOMENAL

this ost even got one winged angel literally what else do you want

and umh i think i made it quite clear that i liked this game a bit haha funny anyway cant wait to see where the fuck its gonna happen in this stupid ass story that wont ever stop make me cry

baci e abbracci dalla tunisia

ansem in the opening movie kinda hot i will give him that

THE FUCKIJG OPENING MOVIE OH MY GOODDDDDDD LORDDDDD HAVE MERCY IM GOING CRAZY IM HAVING GOOSEBUMPS BYE WHAT THE CUCK

MY SANCTUARYYYYYYY MY SANCTUARYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

if i had played it when I was a kid now I'd have a crush for hayner

why are they eating ice creams on a fucking clock tower aren't you guys scared also what taste is sea salt

axel and roxas are SOOOOO GAY i swear

the fucking title screen 3 hours in

MICKEY WITH A BLACK GOWN IS SENDING ME WHAT THE FUCK

nah when sora was seeing off roxas friends and he cried I died inside I swear I had a crying fit 3 hrs in again lmao ok

love enemy nobodies designs theyre so bendy and stretchy and FLOATY

I LOVE SORAS NEW CLOTH3S THEYR3 SO FUCKING COOOOOOL I feel like a baby I'm so sorry

NOT THE GUMMI SHIP AGAIN NOOOOOO OH actually I think there's no shooting stuff anymore thank you jesus OH NO THEYRE ACTUALLY HERE AGAIN NOOOOOOOOOOOO I refuse to edit the gummi ship I completely refuse I don't want to have to do anything with that

I still love the little title animations every time you enter a new world

I'm v horny for mushu I'm I umh …. anyway

auron please im a useless bottom

atlantica musical gave me serious brain damage but king triton is hot as fuck soooo everything's alright

why are pirates so high resolution detailed that shits haunting last time I saw pores in a PlayStation 2 game was silent hill 3 this is getting nightmarish actually let's say also port royal gave me brain damage

WAIT . ? IM enjoying the gummy segments a bit TOOO much like the whole thing is free serotonin + the ost is fire what the actual fuck tho

pride lands 2 final boss kinda reminds me of shadow of the colossus frfr

I LOVE THE REACTION COMMANDS UGHHHH theyre so different for every individual enemy and cool as fuck

why is axel so clearly in love with roxas tho like "he's the only one that made me feel like I got a heart" bitch you gay

KAIRI WITH A KEYBLADE WHAT ?????? does everyone have a keyblade now

why does luxord look like didier fata morgana this shit is really weird ok anyway

kairi looks like she got a better personality this time around lets see how that goes

FINAL BATTLE WITJ XEMNAS IS SO FUCKING COOOOOOL HELLOOOOOO

axel is my favorite character and nothing will change it i will write it here for future reference

oh also sephiroth is in this game . you can beat his ass ! nice !

one day this will be a 4.5 im sure but not yet embrace the 4 stars

OH ALSO THE BATTLE WITH ROXAS AGAINST THE GIANT DUSK AT THE BEGINNING IS MAGICAL INCREDIBLE WOw came

Português: ESSE É O JOGO SUPREMO, o ápice máximo e absoluto de toda a ficção, de todas as mídias e de todo entretenimento. Esse jogo foi, é, e vai continuar sendo tão primordial, tão fundamental, e também tão importante na minha vida, que eu não poderia fazer só uma análise chata e cheia de texto, então é isso.
─────────────
English: THIS IS THE SUPREME GAME, the maximum and absolute peak of all fiction, of all media, and of all entertainment. This game was, is, and will continue to be so primordial, so fundamental, and also so important in my life, that I couldn't do just a boring, text-filled review, so that's it.

replayed this a while ago but w/e, here's some scattered notes from then:

- don't mind the simple combat system so much (I'm a ys-enjoyer) and I def appreciate the modifiable combos. i like the systems too! think the synergy btwn mp / drive forms / limits and how it restricts your ability to heal is neat

- don't like how much of the combat boils down to abusing limits / summons / reaction commands to deal damage while invulnerable. the former two are particularly egregious thanks to the amount of (nearly) free damage they put out, and when you throw magnet in the mix, most of its encounters become basically nothing. sticks out enough that it's hard for me to understand the appeal when some fans list this as their favorite action game. genuinely curious to know if there's aspects that I'm missing or not considering here

- reactions and limits can be fun tho.. rly love the bit of spectacle at the end w the lasers that I won't describe since this isn't spoiler tagged, but its length is so amazing

- locking movement options behind drive forms was a silly decision and I'd maybe encourage PC playerz to download the mod that unlocks them all from the start, albeit it can supposedly softlock you so be careful... a better mod would unlock each option when you receive its corresponding form. frankly tho, if you're capable of making a simple web search they do not take nearly as much time to grind out as some suggest

- a take on the command menu I saw is that it's basically "realtime atb" and that skillful play is about being able to quickly navigate the menus. for what though, idk. didn't find enough of the magic useful to have to go into them ever, beyond the four slots you can allocate to in the shortcut menu. i'm probably wrong here

- it takes a while for the 1-on-1 fights to get going. have to assume it's for kids first, but I wasn't vibing with the combat until demyx (pt 2), who's about maybe halfway through @ ~20 hours. the few absent silhouettes placed before him seemed to be too early relative to my level at the time of finding each

- boss highlights were: twilight thorn, shadow stalker (& dark thorn), oogie boogie, demyx, xaldin, the experiment, roxas, saix, the blue haired guy

- the intro really is the single narrative highlight. features a better cast than dorky sora and his dorky friends (except for donald and goofy, because they are my friends). funny that the bits immediately after address sora not knowing what an education is as well as him having hit puberty

- fuck port royal

- why is that mickey mouse bullshit in critical mode. kept triggering it on accident. "sora, my turn!" die

- also, since I'm not going to put down anything for kh1, the simple and clean cue when sora breaks off from kairi at the end kicks so much ass. could not stop laughing

- soz to the gummi-heads but PC playerz can also skip the gummi segments (change offset to 0x56454E): https://github.com/S0nzero/KHPCSpeedrunTools/blob/main/2FMMods/scripts/2fmNoGummi.lua

gameplay wise this is easily a 10/10, it improves the already solid foundation of the original's gameplay tenfold with drive forms, and overall making the game flow really smooth. there was a huge difficulty spike that fucked me up at the end but storywise it felt really slow and boring at the beginning, thankfully it picked up near the end but a lot of the worlds didnt feel as immersive as they did in the first game, and were a lot less interesting aside from the boss battles. everything else is perfect tho

+combat is so so cool. sora can finally pull off crazy stunts even without the high-level abilities
+presentation overall has taken a big step up from kh1. a good demonstration of how far games came in the ps2 generation
+gummi missions are way cooler and less boring (tho I certainly can't be bothered to replay them)
+timeless river (the classic cartoon world) owns. port royal and space paranoids are inspired picks as well
+the bosses have taken a big leap forward in both creativity and complexity. a nice 50-50 split between gimmicky minigame bosses and more taxing bosses that require studying patterns and timing attacks
+the payoff is rewarding for those who have kept up with the story
+drive forms let sora go completely nuts for a little bit, especially in master and final forms towards the end of the game
+major increase in the amount of abilities, summons, limits, etc. to provide options in combat
+disney worlds are so much easier to navigate than in the first game
+overall difficulty is scaled much better this time around (sans a certain FM endgame addition that was rather annoying)

-the story is poorly paced. there's three big plot dumps in the beginning, midpoint, and end, with about 20 hours of fluff between it all
-disney worlds have little to do with the plot, and many of them have a mandatory second episode. this is probably the biggest hurdle in the game. these worlds wear out their welcome so fast
-mobility techniques are locked behind leveling up each drive form, which is an extremely arduous task even with exploits
-much of the post-game content is tied to the mobility tech I just mentioned. again, grinding the drive forms is boring
-the story must have been incomprehensible at launch. 358/2 days clears it up quite a bit, but this game really fails to explain what is going on at several key points

overall enjoyment is going to depend on how much you can stomach the second run of each world + the plot dumps. I could't put this game down for the first half, and then had to push myself to clean up all of the second runs and finish it off. thankfully there's enough enjoyment to be had in watching sora flip all over the place to warrant making it to the final credits.