truly one of the best sequels ever made. kingdom hearts 2 improves massively on every aspect of it’s charming but flawed predecessor. at least on critical, the combat is polished to a sheen, with a really refreshing balance between straight-forward inputs and nuanced resource management. combos are dead simple, but kh2 isn’t really about combos in the first place. instead, the player is forced to consider their resources moment-to-moment, and how to get as much as they can out of everything. a lot of these battles are very tight squeezes (or at least they were for me, as i’m a bit inexperienced w action games), and it’s extremely satisfying to win because of a perfectly timed drive form or clever choice of summon. in this sense, i think KH2 gets a lot of mileage out of its fusion of character action and JRPG mechanics. it’s very approachable on a basic mechanical level, but still offers enough nuance to where players can feel confident that they truly learned a lot about the game’s inner workings over the course of their playthrough. a great rpg is balanced by the player’s knowledge of the game, and a great action game is balanced by the player’s muscle memory of the game, but despite these goals seeming completely adverse to each other, kh2 really manages to combine both into a package that i’m confident would please any fan of either genre. i’m not sure how true this would be on the other difficulties, since critical felt almost exactly perfectly balanced to me, but the good side of this is that the combat fundamentals in kh2 are enjoyable enough on their own that you could really just combo trash mobs for a few hours and have fun. there’s still some fights i think are poorly handled (the final boss being by far the worst fight in the game seems to be a kingdom hearts tradition at this point), but when 95% of the game is THIS fun, i really cannot complain. outside of the combat, i’d still say kh2 is an improvement on the original game, but a more marginal one. gimmick sections don’t run as long and control much better than in kh1, but i wouldn’t really say they’re a highlight. navigating worlds is much less obnoxious because of the increased linearity, but this does come with the trade off of many of these areas feeling like themed hallways. i could see people being turned off by just how direct this game is about what it needs you to do, but honestly, i don’t play these games for environmental gimmicks or platforming, so it just doesn’t bother me. the tighter level design also comes with the benefit of creating more controlled pacing for each world without making each world feel rushed or lacking in content. enemy variety is also very good for the majority of the game, though i did feel that enemies reliant on zoning (mages, snipers) didn’t feel as different from other heartless/nobodies as those enemy types did in kh1. these are very small nitpicks though, the majority of my time in KH2FMCM was an absolute blast.
when it comes to storytelling, i’d also say KH2 is mostly an improvement on KH1, though maybe a little less focused than CoM. the concept of nobodies is a really interesting one, but i think they were either written in a contradictory manner by accident, or the narrative is just unwilling to interrogate their existence. we’re told nobodies are essentially monsters imitating the appearance of humanity, but with the information we get within the narrative, that simply can’t be true. we see time and time again that nobodies are capable of feeling emotion, and are very capable of having human flaws; in everything but name they really may as well be humans, and xemnas makes a fairly strong argument when he questions why sora even cares. sora has a personal connection to the events, sure, but he isn’t aware of that until very late into the story anyways. the organization’s goals are, in my opinion, deeply sympathetic. we know from playing as roxas for the intro how unfair their nonexistence is, we can tell that they’re “real” people in many ways, we see several of them get actual development. it’s strange, because i can’t really tell what they’re trying to get across. if nobodies are really emotionless zombies filled with malice, why go through the effort to make us care about roxas and axel? if they’re human in all but name, why have sora spend the plot trying to kill them mostly just because he was told to by some old wizard? the meaning to sora’s narrative is similarly confusing to me; considering KH1 and CoM were such strongly focused around the development of their main characters, it felt odd to me that I couldn’t really think of a definitive statement KH2 was trying to make when it came to sora. is it about self-acceptance? is it about sora conquering nihilism? i really couldn’t tell you. on the bright side, the disney worlds are far more interesting, and the hints at a greater lore are all really cool. just wish it felt more coherent as a single story.
when it comes to storytelling, i’d also say KH2 is mostly an improvement on KH1, though maybe a little less focused than CoM. the concept of nobodies is a really interesting one, but i think they were either written in a contradictory manner by accident, or the narrative is just unwilling to interrogate their existence. we’re told nobodies are essentially monsters imitating the appearance of humanity, but with the information we get within the narrative, that simply can’t be true. we see time and time again that nobodies are capable of feeling emotion, and are very capable of having human flaws; in everything but name they really may as well be humans, and xemnas makes a fairly strong argument when he questions why sora even cares. sora has a personal connection to the events, sure, but he isn’t aware of that until very late into the story anyways. the organization’s goals are, in my opinion, deeply sympathetic. we know from playing as roxas for the intro how unfair their nonexistence is, we can tell that they’re “real” people in many ways, we see several of them get actual development. it’s strange, because i can’t really tell what they’re trying to get across. if nobodies are really emotionless zombies filled with malice, why go through the effort to make us care about roxas and axel? if they’re human in all but name, why have sora spend the plot trying to kill them mostly just because he was told to by some old wizard? the meaning to sora’s narrative is similarly confusing to me; considering KH1 and CoM were such strongly focused around the development of their main characters, it felt odd to me that I couldn’t really think of a definitive statement KH2 was trying to make when it came to sora. is it about self-acceptance? is it about sora conquering nihilism? i really couldn’t tell you. on the bright side, the disney worlds are far more interesting, and the hints at a greater lore are all really cool. just wish it felt more coherent as a single story.
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.
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.
This review contains spoilers
Beyond evolving combat from the original into a more cohesive form the game fittingly also begins to mature its principal characters. It's a story about adolescence, specifically accepting your identity. This is why the game is so secretive with rather important characters (e.g. Roxas, Riku, DiZ, Xehanort, Namine), many of whom are introduced in the opening hours and disappear until the end, they hide themselves from the player (typically out of shame from the past, or who they are/have become). Sora is one of the few that chooses not to obfuscate his identity, allowing him to grow and exist beyond the veritable twilight. With this understanding, many of the game's key moments begin to click.
The prologue segment is a brief retreat into the relatable but artificial life of Roxas before returning to his alter ego. Nobodies are said to be illegitimate reflections of one's identity, yet display disconcerting similarities to people both physically and behaviorally, inviting players to question the diagnosis. In the end the Organization chases a constructed vision of self-actualization (Kingdom Hearts, an artificial variant at that) and ironically lose what little selfhood they clinged to, minus Roxas, the only one to confront and accept himself and retaining his personhood along with Namine, ironic considering their existence was just a byproduct of an unrelated event. Some of its ideas are unkept but you realize twists like the truth behind Ansem and DiZ work in service of that flagship theme.
Now, the game's structure feels very delineated, the original plot occurring in original worlds and the Disney mostly keeping to itself. This lends itself to some dull irrelevant moments in the middle of acts, particularly with the first round of Disney world visits and their janky start-and-stop momentum between slow frequent cutscenes and blisteringly fast action combat, in addition to their misguided venture to mimic the films on ill-equipped hardware (even if they could, it would be pointless). Worlds all also feel wider and hallowed out, suited for its emphasis on more complex and crowded action but I can't help feeling like this near ubiquitous level design and lack of substantial interaction eliminates some of the charm and immersion of actually playing within a Disney movie. Second visits at least sport sleeker campaigns but have worse bosses and are structured in a repetitive way. My qualms with Disney worlds are numerous but in the end the gameplay inside them is varied and fun, and there are some real highlights, like Disney Castle, Auron in Olympus, and the implementation of Space Paranoids.
Still the zenith of the series for me, and one of my favorites.
The prologue segment is a brief retreat into the relatable but artificial life of Roxas before returning to his alter ego. Nobodies are said to be illegitimate reflections of one's identity, yet display disconcerting similarities to people both physically and behaviorally, inviting players to question the diagnosis. In the end the Organization chases a constructed vision of self-actualization (Kingdom Hearts, an artificial variant at that) and ironically lose what little selfhood they clinged to, minus Roxas, the only one to confront and accept himself and retaining his personhood along with Namine, ironic considering their existence was just a byproduct of an unrelated event. Some of its ideas are unkept but you realize twists like the truth behind Ansem and DiZ work in service of that flagship theme.
Now, the game's structure feels very delineated, the original plot occurring in original worlds and the Disney mostly keeping to itself. This lends itself to some dull irrelevant moments in the middle of acts, particularly with the first round of Disney world visits and their janky start-and-stop momentum between slow frequent cutscenes and blisteringly fast action combat, in addition to their misguided venture to mimic the films on ill-equipped hardware (even if they could, it would be pointless). Worlds all also feel wider and hallowed out, suited for its emphasis on more complex and crowded action but I can't help feeling like this near ubiquitous level design and lack of substantial interaction eliminates some of the charm and immersion of actually playing within a Disney movie. Second visits at least sport sleeker campaigns but have worse bosses and are structured in a repetitive way. My qualms with Disney worlds are numerous but in the end the gameplay inside them is varied and fun, and there are some real highlights, like Disney Castle, Auron in Olympus, and the implementation of Space Paranoids.
Still the zenith of the series for me, and one of my favorites.
So this is what a masterpiece looks like the story is just ahhhh the gameplay is even better than the first game they now tell you what to do with a notification holy crap might be my fav game of all time
the only kingdom hearts game i care about because i can just skip all of the cut-scenes and just pretend i'm playing devil may cry but with disney characters
IT'S. PEAK. Absolutely peak. No wonder it's my favorite game of all time, it's a amazing game that i just...can't describe how amazing it is and feels. Everything about it is just perfect. Comparing to the first two kingdom hearts (KH1 and chain of memories) It's a absolute monster and upgrades every aspect possible, the combat is smooth and fast, you feel satisfied as you lend combos and use magic, you can do a lot of tricks just with magic itself, not just swinging your keyblade, the story is easily the best of the series, the only thing i dislike about this masterpiece is the gummi routes, because i'd prefer be playing a shooting than a shooting on a JRPG game, but it's amazing. I absolutely love it!
The story gets goofy in this one ( hope you didn't skip Chain of Memories). But the Secret Bosses slap hard, and the Lingering Will is one of the most Difficult things I have every defeated.
Extremely frustrated by the nil relevance of the Disney worlds, buuuuut, Roxas is cool as fuck
This review contains spoilers
This game is such an improvement over KH1 combat it's incredible. The level design may be worse than Kh1's in some people's opinions but I think the combat totally makes up for it. All of the superbosses in this game be it the data organization, Sephiroth, or Lingering Will are all super fun. You have so many ways to approach any fight in the game be it with limits, your basic combo, magic, summons, or drive forms it just never gets old for me. Also the story is just pretty cool, cheesy as hell you can't really avoid that when Mickey Mouse goes out for revenge when a random rock hits Goofy Goof on the head. In general the story is just kinda heartwarming most of the time, can't help but smile when Sora and the disney characters ramble on about friendship. Also Roxas is probably like one of the best characters in the series he's just awesome. Organization 13 in general is just filled with pretty memorable and cool characters that all make for a banging boss fight later on in the game.
Sorry if this sounds like rambling I just fucking love this game man
Sorry if this sounds like rambling I just fucking love this game man
In my review of KH1 I remarked on how if I played these games as a kid they would have totally been my absolute favorites, mostly due to how the game had a sort of magical sense to it seeing as it was a Disney title. This game felt like it had a better fusion of both the whimsical magic that makes Disney titles shine as well as the more edgy anime-ass vibes that Square Enix was known for. Combined, those two elements make for a game that I feel if I had played as a kid, it would have changed things the same way Sonic Adventure 2 did for me. That right there is a powerful energy that I can only really say belongs to these two games and these two games alone. Unfortunately, I played this a little too late for it to have that kind of impact on me personally, but I absolutely recognize that power when I see it. The game pretty much improves upon the first in every way, with better locales, fancier and flashier gameplay, a more intricate plot, the whole nine yards. My only major gripe that I have with it is I think the second half could have been streamlined a bit better, and they could have made both acts for each world happen in a row rather than having you go through every world twice. Outside of that, this is a particularly special game. Which is certainly something I never thought I'd say about a mfin game where a bunch of edgy cloaked dudes and mickey mouse share the same screen space.
that was undeniable proof that we TOTALLY OWNED you lamers
now THIS is videogameing, baby! Practically every problem with the first game's presentation is fixed here; the characters are more expressive, there's more than five music tracks, and there's something resembling competent cinematography on display. It's really amazing what three years (and a corporate merger) can do.
Every element of KH2 has the confidence of a sequel, it's easy for me to forget that there was a time that the difference between a first effort and a second could be THIS stark. It's still not quite perfect, it really starts to drag in the middle third once you have to revisit all the Disney worlds and be subjected to just the worst boss fights on planet Earth (many of them subject you to very long "sit around and do nothing until the boss is vulnerable again" segments) but once you hit The Castle That Never was it picks right back up.
I almost dropped a star for that god awful forced Roxas fight that they added for Final Mix though, holy shit what an over-tuned piece of shit. All the Final Mix content is WAY too difficult, even on Standard, but it's mostly excused by being optional, and, therefore, usually post-game content. The only bosses I died to even once were the Roxas fight and the final Xemnas phase, and the Roxas fight alone took 7-8 tries.
Every element of KH2 has the confidence of a sequel, it's easy for me to forget that there was a time that the difference between a first effort and a second could be THIS stark. It's still not quite perfect, it really starts to drag in the middle third once you have to revisit all the Disney worlds and be subjected to just the worst boss fights on planet Earth (many of them subject you to very long "sit around and do nothing until the boss is vulnerable again" segments) but once you hit The Castle That Never was it picks right back up.
I almost dropped a star for that god awful forced Roxas fight that they added for Final Mix though, holy shit what an over-tuned piece of shit. All the Final Mix content is WAY too difficult, even on Standard, but it's mostly excused by being optional, and, therefore, usually post-game content. The only bosses I died to even once were the Roxas fight and the final Xemnas phase, and the Roxas fight alone took 7-8 tries.
O jogo da minha vida!
So I replayed this one recently and yeah it's still peak and easily my favorite game of all time.
I could rave about this game all day but man I love it so much. I love everything about this game. The combat, the characters, THE SOUNDTRACK! like holy shit the soundtrack. It's all peak.
This is pretty much better than the first game in almost every way and it's really hard to go back to KH1 after playing this. The combat feels so fast, so fun and so insanely satisfying. Going through the Disney worlds is great and each world is the perfect length and they rarely overstay their welcome. The final world of this game is genuinely peak gaming man. One of the best conclusions to a game I have ever seen.
And I can pretend to not care about the stories of these games but I do ok. They might not be the most well-written games ever. Far from it in fact. But KH2 somehow manages to pull me back in every time. Following Sora's journey and seeing how he interacts and leaves a positive impact on the people around him just makes me happy. The story and overall vibe of this game just fill me with raw emotion in a way that no other game ever has before. Because despite its writing and sometimes convoluted story, something that this game indubitably has is ironically enough: "Heart". Despite how stupid some aspects of the game may seem it wears that fact on its sleeve and runs with it.
And that among other things is to me is what makes these games and this franchise so incredibly special to me. If you have not tried this game, I beg you please do. It's gameplay is fantastic and incredibly fun. And even if you don't care for the story I still urge you to play it because even if you ignore the story entirely these games give off an incredible sense of whimsy that you just cannot find anywhere else...
I could rave about this game all day but man I love it so much. I love everything about this game. The combat, the characters, THE SOUNDTRACK! like holy shit the soundtrack. It's all peak.
This is pretty much better than the first game in almost every way and it's really hard to go back to KH1 after playing this. The combat feels so fast, so fun and so insanely satisfying. Going through the Disney worlds is great and each world is the perfect length and they rarely overstay their welcome. The final world of this game is genuinely peak gaming man. One of the best conclusions to a game I have ever seen.
And I can pretend to not care about the stories of these games but I do ok. They might not be the most well-written games ever. Far from it in fact. But KH2 somehow manages to pull me back in every time. Following Sora's journey and seeing how he interacts and leaves a positive impact on the people around him just makes me happy. The story and overall vibe of this game just fill me with raw emotion in a way that no other game ever has before. Because despite its writing and sometimes convoluted story, something that this game indubitably has is ironically enough: "Heart". Despite how stupid some aspects of the game may seem it wears that fact on its sleeve and runs with it.
And that among other things is to me is what makes these games and this franchise so incredibly special to me. If you have not tried this game, I beg you please do. It's gameplay is fantastic and incredibly fun. And even if you don't care for the story I still urge you to play it because even if you ignore the story entirely these games give off an incredible sense of whimsy that you just cannot find anywhere else...
This review contains spoilers
So I have a bit of a weird history with this game. The first time I tried playing through Kingdom hearts 2: Final Mix I was playing on Critical mode, the hardest difficulty, because the person who was walking me through the series told me it was the only way to play the game. This ultimately did not pan out and I put the game down for about a year where I then picked it up again and started a new file, still on critical mode because I was still being pushed in this direction. This scenario happened two more times until I kind of just, gave up and didn't really have a desire to play the game again. Then Sora in smash happened and I figured I might as well give the game another shot but on my terms (standard/normal mode), and oh my god I am so glad I did because this game is incredible.
To explain quickly, Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix is a game that mixes elements of Final Fantasy with classic Disney movies and then interconnects them with their own original plot. The plot of the series up to this point follows Sora, a boy from a place called the Destiny Islands, as he tries to find his friends Riku and Kairi after they all got separated and flung across the multiverse due to an invasion by the heartless, which are beings made of hearts corrupted by darkness that are trying to consume other hearts in order to make Kingdom Hearts; which is effectively the coalescence of hearts into an extremely powerful heart. After joining up with Donald and Goofy, Sora managed to stop the villain of the first game, Ansem, from creating Kingdom Hearts but unfortunately was not able to go back with his friends. Which lead to the events of Chain of memories where he got trapped in a castle and lost his memories prior to Kingdom hearts 2. From here on out I will be talking about spoilers for the general plot and one main plotline of Kingdom Hearts 2 so be warned if you care about any big plot spoilers.
The story of this game is something I was blown away by because despite how silly the game can be conceptually, it actually does a lot with its plot that I found really interesting and engaging. The game mostly follows Sora as he reawakens and has to set out with Donald and Goofy to find his friends, King Mickey, and stop a new group of bad guys knows as Organization 13 that are using new creatures called Nobodies (essentially the opposite of a heartless, where instead of being a corrupted heart it is a body without a heart that is created when someone who is strong of heart becomes a heartless) in order to defeat more and more Heartless in order to help their master, Xehanort/Xemnas create his own Kingdom Hearts. The game does a lot of things that I found really interesting with this premise and I enjoyed seeing how all these plans of the Organization members played out over the various Disney worlds plus the one Final Fantasy world. Though, nothing in the game stood out quite as much for me as the Roxas plotline did.
To explain, at the beginning of the game instead of jumping right in as Sora you play as Roxas, a young boy living in a place called Twilight town that is just trying to enjoy the rest of his summer vacation with his friends. Roxas later disappears as you awaken Sora, and throughout the game several members of the Organization refer to Sora as Roxas, which points towards an the idea of Roxas being Sora's nobody. This is of course later revealed to be the case. There are two really great scenes between Roxas and Sora that revolve around this plot; both before and after Sora learns of this and both of them are just downright incredible at portraying who Roxas is as their own person, even if they originally are just part of Sora. The moment that really solidified Roxas as an amazing character and the plot revolving around them as one of my favorite things about this game had to be the scene where Roxas and Axel talked atop the clocktower in Twilight Town. Not going to go into too much detail but this scene does such a great job of conveying who Roxas and Axel are as characters and how much their connection means to them even if they don't have hearts or emotions. It's such a well crafted scene that really lets the both of them shine and is way more emotional than I thought a game mixing Disney and Final Fantasy could be.
On that note, if there's one thing this game does shockingly well its its emotional beats. This is a bit of a personal thing but I am not usually one to get teary eyed over media. It has happened to me a few times but never more than once in most works. Somehow though this game got me to tear up four or five times which is surprising to me. If you had told me a month ago that I would have been emotionally messed up due to a scene of Winne the Pooh and Sora having a chat I wouldn't have believed you but here we are. Being a bit more serious though I do think this game does have a very good sense of how to do emotional scenes despite how silly the game itself is. For the most part anyway, the Goofy "death" scene was played weirdly straight for something that was very obviously not going to result in a death. That aside though moments such as the clocktower conversation between Axel and Roxas, Axel's death, and the entire ending sequence from the moment you hit the point of no return all just really hit me emotionally and I'm impressed with them for being able to pull off legitimately incredible emotional beats in a game where you watch Goofy get hit in the head with a rock and then "die" in a scene that's treated extremely seriously.
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix is one of those rare games where Everything works in just the right way so that it makes a truly bizarre experience that doesn't feel like it should work become an insanely enjoyable experience. I've never been a big disney guy so a lot of that aspect of this crossover was lost on me, and I can't help thinking about how weird this entire thing is when I take a step back from it, but I think for me at least that does add a lot of the charm to this game. Like, having a realistic Captain Jack Sparrow next to some giant edgy heartless, a cartoony human Sora, and then just Donald and Goofy from the Mickey Mouse cartoons is so bizarre conceptually that I can't help but love it. However, besides the bizarreness of it I do think a large part of what makes me love this game is its combat system.
I feel like this game's combat is vastly improved over Kingdom Hearts 1's style of gameplay and basically refined what the first game did into something truly magical. Not only do actions and the abilities you unlock all around feel better to use and to chain into each other, but it all feels so much faster and more fluid in a way that made me really want to master combos and discover new ways to chain my moves together in order to get the highest amount of damage done to enemies in one combo. This mixed with a really nice chain of progression for unlocking and picking moves (which I will touch more on in a bit) makes a great basis for combat, that is also further improved by the things this game adds to spice it up.
One such thing is the reaction command system, which are effectively quick time event counters that give you really cool cutscenes as rewards for pulling them off. What I think really works about these are two main factors, those being the sheer number of them and also how balanced they feel in terms of how they function. On the first point I think the fact that almost every single boss, heartless, and nobody in the game has special reaction commands that are just for them and can only be done on them really adds to the experience because it makes each of them feel unique. It really makes it feel a lot more special to use than a standard "press square to counter" type situation and I really appreciate that. Now as for the second point, I think with almost all of the reaction commands they balanced the amount of cool cutscenes versus player having to get involved and press something just right as to where it keeps you waiting for the next chance to push the button but still gives you more than enough time to see something fun over just spamming buttons continuously the entire time. I'm kind of surprised this isn't something that caught on with other action games, since this seems like a perfect way to balance quick time events and make them feel enjoyable for the player in my opinion.
Part of this game's combat that also really shines through in my opinion is the drive form feature, which once you get enough points in your meter allows you to enter a form using either Donald, Goofy, or both in order to boost an aspect of your stats; or just all of them with some of the later forms. There are five selectable forms that you can get throughout the game, known as Valor, Wisdom, master, limit, and final forms. These really add a lot to combat to make the player feel strong while also allowing you to choose which stats to boost depending on the situation you're in. The thing that I find really cool about these is that while you do get better and better forms as the game goes on there is still a sense of balance to them that keeps them from being an instant win button. The most readily apparent part of this balance is the inclusion of Anti form, which unlike the other forms activates on a hidden meter depending on how much you use the other drive forms (minus final form) and will have a chance to activate instead of the form you select at higher parts of the anti meter. It adds a really cool risk and reward system to the drive forms for most of the game and keeps you from just abusing the drive ability to plow through every fight. That being said anti form isn't a push over either, since in that form you still do massive amounts of damage easily; you just have to be careful because you don't have access to party members, healing or reaction commands in that form.
The other neat way of balancing these movesets was how they function in terms of moveset. Each form has a different combat moveset for Sora to use that I found were more useful in some situations over others, such as Valor form being more useful for one on one fights over Master form which felt like it was much better suited for fighting groups of enemies. This balance is kept throughout the game between the four forms you get throughout the main story and I think it does a good job of incentivizing using the different forms in different situations. The only one that kind of breaks this is final form, which is pretty much just better master form and better than the rest of the forms at pretty much everything while also removing the anti form penalty entirely. However I don't hold that against the game since its something you have to go out of your way to unlock and isn't possible to unlock until right at the very end of the game, so at that point its more or less just a fun thing that you can use to bring some real carnage to the final area of the game.
Another really cool aspect of the drive forms is that you unlock better versions of movement abilities for normal Sora, which brings me to this game's level up system. So you have traditional level ups based on exp like in most rpg's but you also get a really cool feature where even when you unlock new abilities you have to manage which ones you can use based on how many ability points, or AP for short, that you have. The AP system feels really interesting to me because it really makes you weigh your options and choose the skills and abilities that would best fit your current situation or plan out how you're going to spend your limited points to build out Sora. It feels like a really unique way of doing a skill tree type unlock system but in a way that isn't just following branches down a path and more just letting you full pick and choose how you want Sora to feel and play with his moves as you gather more over the course of the story.
Speaking of the story again because I couldn't find a good place to put it otherwise, but this game included the plot of Aladdin 2: The Return of Jafar which I find extremely funny because I never thought anything would reference the shitty direct to dvd sequels a lot of the disney animated movies got so this game is perfect for that alone.
One other thing I did want to point out that I thought was really well done was the aesthetics of each world. Something that I think is nice about the game's format of traveling between several Disney worlds is that you get so many different aesthetics and designs for areas and I think its really cool how the game ties them all together. A subset of this that is super cool to me is when Sora and the rest of the gang get specific designs that coincide with the world. Like them getting halloween and christmas outfits in Halloween town and Christmas town, or their animal forms in the Lion King world. Another aspect of this that I really enjoy is the keyblade design. Since each world has its own keyblade that you can acquire through finishing stages of the quests there you get world specific keyblades along with a few other story specific ones. I got to say I do really appreciate them making Keyblades that are based entirely within the aesthetic of that world while also making them still look like keys somehow. Not really much more to say on this aspect I just find it neat.
A final note before wrapping things up, this game's soundtrack is killer. So many incredible songs play throughout the game like Sanctuary, the 13th Reflection, Sacred Moon, Rage Awakened, The Other Promise, Fate of the Unknown, Darkness of the Unknown, and so many more are just absolute bangers. This is one of those games where even if you don't end up playing it at least check out the soundtrack, it has some amazing music.
Ultimately I'd say this game feels like a passion project. There is so much love poured into every aspect of this game that I was not expecting to find in here. I also wasn't expecting to like this anywhere near as much as I did after my initial repeated struggles with the game but I'm glad I came back to this and gave it a fair shot. Who knows, maybe I'll even go back and try it on critical mode now that I understand how the game works and have played it fully. This game definitely lives up to the hype and acclaim its built up over the years and I can't wait to check out the rest of the franchise at some point now that I'm done with this. Seriously, go play this game. Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Hope you got all this memorized.
10/10
To explain quickly, Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix is a game that mixes elements of Final Fantasy with classic Disney movies and then interconnects them with their own original plot. The plot of the series up to this point follows Sora, a boy from a place called the Destiny Islands, as he tries to find his friends Riku and Kairi after they all got separated and flung across the multiverse due to an invasion by the heartless, which are beings made of hearts corrupted by darkness that are trying to consume other hearts in order to make Kingdom Hearts; which is effectively the coalescence of hearts into an extremely powerful heart. After joining up with Donald and Goofy, Sora managed to stop the villain of the first game, Ansem, from creating Kingdom Hearts but unfortunately was not able to go back with his friends. Which lead to the events of Chain of memories where he got trapped in a castle and lost his memories prior to Kingdom hearts 2. From here on out I will be talking about spoilers for the general plot and one main plotline of Kingdom Hearts 2 so be warned if you care about any big plot spoilers.
The story of this game is something I was blown away by because despite how silly the game can be conceptually, it actually does a lot with its plot that I found really interesting and engaging. The game mostly follows Sora as he reawakens and has to set out with Donald and Goofy to find his friends, King Mickey, and stop a new group of bad guys knows as Organization 13 that are using new creatures called Nobodies (essentially the opposite of a heartless, where instead of being a corrupted heart it is a body without a heart that is created when someone who is strong of heart becomes a heartless) in order to defeat more and more Heartless in order to help their master, Xehanort/Xemnas create his own Kingdom Hearts. The game does a lot of things that I found really interesting with this premise and I enjoyed seeing how all these plans of the Organization members played out over the various Disney worlds plus the one Final Fantasy world. Though, nothing in the game stood out quite as much for me as the Roxas plotline did.
To explain, at the beginning of the game instead of jumping right in as Sora you play as Roxas, a young boy living in a place called Twilight town that is just trying to enjoy the rest of his summer vacation with his friends. Roxas later disappears as you awaken Sora, and throughout the game several members of the Organization refer to Sora as Roxas, which points towards an the idea of Roxas being Sora's nobody. This is of course later revealed to be the case. There are two really great scenes between Roxas and Sora that revolve around this plot; both before and after Sora learns of this and both of them are just downright incredible at portraying who Roxas is as their own person, even if they originally are just part of Sora. The moment that really solidified Roxas as an amazing character and the plot revolving around them as one of my favorite things about this game had to be the scene where Roxas and Axel talked atop the clocktower in Twilight Town. Not going to go into too much detail but this scene does such a great job of conveying who Roxas and Axel are as characters and how much their connection means to them even if they don't have hearts or emotions. It's such a well crafted scene that really lets the both of them shine and is way more emotional than I thought a game mixing Disney and Final Fantasy could be.
On that note, if there's one thing this game does shockingly well its its emotional beats. This is a bit of a personal thing but I am not usually one to get teary eyed over media. It has happened to me a few times but never more than once in most works. Somehow though this game got me to tear up four or five times which is surprising to me. If you had told me a month ago that I would have been emotionally messed up due to a scene of Winne the Pooh and Sora having a chat I wouldn't have believed you but here we are. Being a bit more serious though I do think this game does have a very good sense of how to do emotional scenes despite how silly the game itself is. For the most part anyway, the Goofy "death" scene was played weirdly straight for something that was very obviously not going to result in a death. That aside though moments such as the clocktower conversation between Axel and Roxas, Axel's death, and the entire ending sequence from the moment you hit the point of no return all just really hit me emotionally and I'm impressed with them for being able to pull off legitimately incredible emotional beats in a game where you watch Goofy get hit in the head with a rock and then "die" in a scene that's treated extremely seriously.
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix is one of those rare games where Everything works in just the right way so that it makes a truly bizarre experience that doesn't feel like it should work become an insanely enjoyable experience. I've never been a big disney guy so a lot of that aspect of this crossover was lost on me, and I can't help thinking about how weird this entire thing is when I take a step back from it, but I think for me at least that does add a lot of the charm to this game. Like, having a realistic Captain Jack Sparrow next to some giant edgy heartless, a cartoony human Sora, and then just Donald and Goofy from the Mickey Mouse cartoons is so bizarre conceptually that I can't help but love it. However, besides the bizarreness of it I do think a large part of what makes me love this game is its combat system.
I feel like this game's combat is vastly improved over Kingdom Hearts 1's style of gameplay and basically refined what the first game did into something truly magical. Not only do actions and the abilities you unlock all around feel better to use and to chain into each other, but it all feels so much faster and more fluid in a way that made me really want to master combos and discover new ways to chain my moves together in order to get the highest amount of damage done to enemies in one combo. This mixed with a really nice chain of progression for unlocking and picking moves (which I will touch more on in a bit) makes a great basis for combat, that is also further improved by the things this game adds to spice it up.
One such thing is the reaction command system, which are effectively quick time event counters that give you really cool cutscenes as rewards for pulling them off. What I think really works about these are two main factors, those being the sheer number of them and also how balanced they feel in terms of how they function. On the first point I think the fact that almost every single boss, heartless, and nobody in the game has special reaction commands that are just for them and can only be done on them really adds to the experience because it makes each of them feel unique. It really makes it feel a lot more special to use than a standard "press square to counter" type situation and I really appreciate that. Now as for the second point, I think with almost all of the reaction commands they balanced the amount of cool cutscenes versus player having to get involved and press something just right as to where it keeps you waiting for the next chance to push the button but still gives you more than enough time to see something fun over just spamming buttons continuously the entire time. I'm kind of surprised this isn't something that caught on with other action games, since this seems like a perfect way to balance quick time events and make them feel enjoyable for the player in my opinion.
Part of this game's combat that also really shines through in my opinion is the drive form feature, which once you get enough points in your meter allows you to enter a form using either Donald, Goofy, or both in order to boost an aspect of your stats; or just all of them with some of the later forms. There are five selectable forms that you can get throughout the game, known as Valor, Wisdom, master, limit, and final forms. These really add a lot to combat to make the player feel strong while also allowing you to choose which stats to boost depending on the situation you're in. The thing that I find really cool about these is that while you do get better and better forms as the game goes on there is still a sense of balance to them that keeps them from being an instant win button. The most readily apparent part of this balance is the inclusion of Anti form, which unlike the other forms activates on a hidden meter depending on how much you use the other drive forms (minus final form) and will have a chance to activate instead of the form you select at higher parts of the anti meter. It adds a really cool risk and reward system to the drive forms for most of the game and keeps you from just abusing the drive ability to plow through every fight. That being said anti form isn't a push over either, since in that form you still do massive amounts of damage easily; you just have to be careful because you don't have access to party members, healing or reaction commands in that form.
The other neat way of balancing these movesets was how they function in terms of moveset. Each form has a different combat moveset for Sora to use that I found were more useful in some situations over others, such as Valor form being more useful for one on one fights over Master form which felt like it was much better suited for fighting groups of enemies. This balance is kept throughout the game between the four forms you get throughout the main story and I think it does a good job of incentivizing using the different forms in different situations. The only one that kind of breaks this is final form, which is pretty much just better master form and better than the rest of the forms at pretty much everything while also removing the anti form penalty entirely. However I don't hold that against the game since its something you have to go out of your way to unlock and isn't possible to unlock until right at the very end of the game, so at that point its more or less just a fun thing that you can use to bring some real carnage to the final area of the game.
Another really cool aspect of the drive forms is that you unlock better versions of movement abilities for normal Sora, which brings me to this game's level up system. So you have traditional level ups based on exp like in most rpg's but you also get a really cool feature where even when you unlock new abilities you have to manage which ones you can use based on how many ability points, or AP for short, that you have. The AP system feels really interesting to me because it really makes you weigh your options and choose the skills and abilities that would best fit your current situation or plan out how you're going to spend your limited points to build out Sora. It feels like a really unique way of doing a skill tree type unlock system but in a way that isn't just following branches down a path and more just letting you full pick and choose how you want Sora to feel and play with his moves as you gather more over the course of the story.
Speaking of the story again because I couldn't find a good place to put it otherwise, but this game included the plot of Aladdin 2: The Return of Jafar which I find extremely funny because I never thought anything would reference the shitty direct to dvd sequels a lot of the disney animated movies got so this game is perfect for that alone.
One other thing I did want to point out that I thought was really well done was the aesthetics of each world. Something that I think is nice about the game's format of traveling between several Disney worlds is that you get so many different aesthetics and designs for areas and I think its really cool how the game ties them all together. A subset of this that is super cool to me is when Sora and the rest of the gang get specific designs that coincide with the world. Like them getting halloween and christmas outfits in Halloween town and Christmas town, or their animal forms in the Lion King world. Another aspect of this that I really enjoy is the keyblade design. Since each world has its own keyblade that you can acquire through finishing stages of the quests there you get world specific keyblades along with a few other story specific ones. I got to say I do really appreciate them making Keyblades that are based entirely within the aesthetic of that world while also making them still look like keys somehow. Not really much more to say on this aspect I just find it neat.
A final note before wrapping things up, this game's soundtrack is killer. So many incredible songs play throughout the game like Sanctuary, the 13th Reflection, Sacred Moon, Rage Awakened, The Other Promise, Fate of the Unknown, Darkness of the Unknown, and so many more are just absolute bangers. This is one of those games where even if you don't end up playing it at least check out the soundtrack, it has some amazing music.
Ultimately I'd say this game feels like a passion project. There is so much love poured into every aspect of this game that I was not expecting to find in here. I also wasn't expecting to like this anywhere near as much as I did after my initial repeated struggles with the game but I'm glad I came back to this and gave it a fair shot. Who knows, maybe I'll even go back and try it on critical mode now that I understand how the game works and have played it fully. This game definitely lives up to the hype and acclaim its built up over the years and I can't wait to check out the rest of the franchise at some point now that I'm done with this. Seriously, go play this game. Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Hope you got all this memorized.
10/10
“Looks like my summer vacation is over.”
The first hours of the game are perfect. The length does seem pretty intimidating at first, but knowing the sheer scope and size of the entire game, it's really nothing. It starts off as practically a different game with a totally different story. An unexpected bait and switch. But it's through these hours that you feel incredibly immersed and connected with Roxas and his friends just sort of doing their own thing in Twilight Town. All while mysterious things start occurring that makes it clear everything isn't right for Roxas. This prologue works really well as a proper Re:Introduction of everything Re:Chain of Memories sets up. Roxas' journey is cut tragically short, doesn't last as expected for Sora to finally return, but is necessary to provide the thematic foundation of what Kingdom Hearts II is about -- self-acceptance.
For everything that Kingdom Hearts 1 tries to do, Kingdom Hearts II does it in a whole other league of its own. Just about everything is improved and better. The gameplay, the combat, the story, the music, the worlds, etc. No longer is there claustrophobic and condensed levels with janky camera movements. It becomes a trade-off though as while there's a severe lack of annoying platform segments, it does leave a lot to be desired in terms of exploration.
There is some story stuff which feels weirdly handled. The overall pacing of the main story can feel a bit off, usually because of some plot dumps. Everything to do with Pete and Maleficent seemed cool at first, but then it just dwindles because they're basically benched throughout the rest of the game to make way for Organization 13. It really felt like they were struggling to incorporate them to justify why Heartless are still a major threat while also trying to show why the Nobodies are the new important threat to be stopped.
But outside of those minor gripes, I still really love just about everything else the game offers. Nomura just knows how to make overly sincere, sentimental, but damn enjoyable games like no other.
The first hours of the game are perfect. The length does seem pretty intimidating at first, but knowing the sheer scope and size of the entire game, it's really nothing. It starts off as practically a different game with a totally different story. An unexpected bait and switch. But it's through these hours that you feel incredibly immersed and connected with Roxas and his friends just sort of doing their own thing in Twilight Town. All while mysterious things start occurring that makes it clear everything isn't right for Roxas. This prologue works really well as a proper Re:Introduction of everything Re:Chain of Memories sets up. Roxas' journey is cut tragically short, doesn't last as expected for Sora to finally return, but is necessary to provide the thematic foundation of what Kingdom Hearts II is about -- self-acceptance.
For everything that Kingdom Hearts 1 tries to do, Kingdom Hearts II does it in a whole other league of its own. Just about everything is improved and better. The gameplay, the combat, the story, the music, the worlds, etc. No longer is there claustrophobic and condensed levels with janky camera movements. It becomes a trade-off though as while there's a severe lack of annoying platform segments, it does leave a lot to be desired in terms of exploration.
There is some story stuff which feels weirdly handled. The overall pacing of the main story can feel a bit off, usually because of some plot dumps. Everything to do with Pete and Maleficent seemed cool at first, but then it just dwindles because they're basically benched throughout the rest of the game to make way for Organization 13. It really felt like they were struggling to incorporate them to justify why Heartless are still a major threat while also trying to show why the Nobodies are the new important threat to be stopped.
But outside of those minor gripes, I still really love just about everything else the game offers. Nomura just knows how to make overly sincere, sentimental, but damn enjoyable games like no other.
He de reconocerlo: Me sorprendió la cantidad de mejoras que tiene respecto al primer juego. El anterior me hacía pensar "¿por qué mierda existe un sistema de comandos si cada cosa que puedo hacer lo pudieron distribuir en todo el control?" pero las nuevas mecánicas que propone KH2 hace que cierre el orto, fue muy satisfactorio buildear a mi personaje en cada nuevo jefe, que casi todos me parecieron increíbles de paso.
Jugablemente se me hace sobresaliente, pero no puedo considerarlo más allá de decente porque OMFG, CUANTA BULLSHIT QUE TIENE. Ya ni es la historia tan pelotuda que tiene, sino que algunas quests se notan mucho más que en el 1 que son de relleno, la forma de grindear los drives a la larga termina siendo latero, algunos checkpoints están puestos de una forma muy rastrera y en endgame llegan a haber demasiados elementos instakill que frustran muchisimo. Pero fuck qué bien me la pasé con esta mierda.
Jugablemente se me hace sobresaliente, pero no puedo considerarlo más allá de decente porque OMFG, CUANTA BULLSHIT QUE TIENE. Ya ni es la historia tan pelotuda que tiene, sino que algunas quests se notan mucho más que en el 1 que son de relleno, la forma de grindear los drives a la larga termina siendo latero, algunos checkpoints están puestos de una forma muy rastrera y en endgame llegan a haber demasiados elementos instakill que frustran muchisimo. Pero fuck qué bien me la pasé con esta mierda.
This game was already perfect enough, and then they had even more content? Crazy. More bosses, harder challenges, they just keep improving on everything. All-time favourite in the series.
Wanted to give a better review of this game now that I have completed the post game of this one, and I feel like I know my full thoughts of II now that I really do understand it now.
Kingdom Hearts II is an anomaly of a game, almost more so than the first game. The fact Kingdom Hearts managed to warrant a big sequel I think spoke to many factors, the quality of the first game, the strange blend of Disney and Square's anime properties working surprisingly well, and just the sixth generation of consoles was the gold era for weird games to warrant sequels before budget became more of an issue. However 2 also had a unique challenge of having to create more of an identity for the series. While Chain of Memories started the trend, 2 was the moment Kingdom Hearts became more than a weird passion project, and into a fully fleshed out series. Most of the trademarks of Kingdom Hearts' reputation basically stem from this game, and you know what, I was hesitant towards them. I basically avoided the series despite this game in particular being a lot of my friend's all time favourites because I just was kind of put off by it at the time. But I'm older now, and I kind of realized I love shit like this, and playing this game, yeah I'm no different, this is unsurprisingly one of the best action games ever made.
Kingdom Hearts II as a sequel is such a big improvement in almost all the gameplay department. Everything just looks nicer, and the original was already one of the best looking games on the Playstation 2, there are so many new details such as the menu UI changing depending on the worlds, and Nomura's designs just gave the series its definitive identity. The mix of Japanese street fashion, and somewhat more edgy and free flowing garb, mixes surprisingly well with the more whimsical aspects of Disney properties, and it gives the series such a unique flavour. I do love 1's aesthetic a lot, but if the series was going to continue, it likely would've needed more of an identity to keep going so I think what they did was smart and I'm not going to lie to you, its raw, I love this dumb cheesy and somewhat edgy aesthetic now that I'm older, its perfect for what the series is going for. Also to no one's surprise, you have one of the best soundtracks ever composed for this game as well.
The story and pacing of this game is where I take a lot of gripes with this one. It starts off incredibly strong, an incredible opening act that completely sets up not only the new character of Roxas, but where Kingdom Hearts as a series is going moving forward. Slowly building into the mystery of the Organization, who Roxas really is, where Sora is (unless you played Chain of Memories first like I did), its wonderful, and gets you really excited. Then the game continues with Sora, and they completely ignore Organization XIII for the most part in the first act to mess around with Maleficent and Pete, and Maleficent is literally useless in this game, I think she should've stayed dead after 1. I get the intention with having Sora killing the Heartless to unwillingly aid in helping the Organization, and having him question himself, but it never really goes anywhere beyond the initial questioning. Then you revisit all the Disney worlds again, where much of the same as the first time you visit happens, but its a little shorter, and then you have the finale which kind of bungles the whole Roxas plotline, by having you fight him immediately in the final level, and resolving it immediately, while they try to play into the mystery with the other Organization members. Then you foil Xemnas' plan, and put an end to it all, in a genuinely sweet ending. It is really silly, and normally I wouldn't think much about it, but I do think it really hurts the pace of the game.
I think a lot of the pacing of II feels insanely bizarre, where it feels like most of the Disney worlds feel narratively useless. It is really cool seeing these worlds, they look incredible, but they're not only truncated into straight lines, but it also just feels pointless being here. They don't play into the overall plot or themes of the game, and you're basically just reliving the plots of these movies, and I don't know, something about it just doesn't sit right with me as someone who loves the first game for those reasons, even if they were jank and sometimes very confusing, it just felt everything was a lot more purposeful for those reasons.
That being said, a lot of my complaints I feel just are heavily outweighed by this games absolutely stellar combat system. It is insanely fast, and fun to rack up combos in this one, and as more options open up to you, its just an incredible feeling. It is another weird aspect of this game, that for almost the entire game, you play it a different way until you get to the Roxas fight, and it basically forces you to truly learn how to play it. Transitioning over to Final Mix's incredible post game where the game basically truly shines. Making the most of this combat system, and fighting some of the best boss fights that have ever been designed for an action game, and ending with the Lingering Will, one of the most insane and fun fights ever. And the game itself ending with Roxas and Xemnas, two spectacle filled and just undeniably cool fights to ever end a game with.
Despite my complaints, and taking some time to truly understand and finish this one, yeah this is obviously one of the best games ever made. I think I've accepted my place in this world as someone who will likely always perfer the original, something about it just speaks to me, but there is just an undeniability to this game. This game made Kingdom Hearts what it is, purely on quality alone. I think that deserves respect in its own right. It is one of the greatest sequels to ever be made, and I think I'm genuinely excited to see where these characters go in the future titles. Yeah, this series is stupid, but who cares. I denied myself of this series' greatness for far too long, and I'm glad I can say I've finally remedied that.
Kingdom Hearts II is an anomaly of a game, almost more so than the first game. The fact Kingdom Hearts managed to warrant a big sequel I think spoke to many factors, the quality of the first game, the strange blend of Disney and Square's anime properties working surprisingly well, and just the sixth generation of consoles was the gold era for weird games to warrant sequels before budget became more of an issue. However 2 also had a unique challenge of having to create more of an identity for the series. While Chain of Memories started the trend, 2 was the moment Kingdom Hearts became more than a weird passion project, and into a fully fleshed out series. Most of the trademarks of Kingdom Hearts' reputation basically stem from this game, and you know what, I was hesitant towards them. I basically avoided the series despite this game in particular being a lot of my friend's all time favourites because I just was kind of put off by it at the time. But I'm older now, and I kind of realized I love shit like this, and playing this game, yeah I'm no different, this is unsurprisingly one of the best action games ever made.
Kingdom Hearts II as a sequel is such a big improvement in almost all the gameplay department. Everything just looks nicer, and the original was already one of the best looking games on the Playstation 2, there are so many new details such as the menu UI changing depending on the worlds, and Nomura's designs just gave the series its definitive identity. The mix of Japanese street fashion, and somewhat more edgy and free flowing garb, mixes surprisingly well with the more whimsical aspects of Disney properties, and it gives the series such a unique flavour. I do love 1's aesthetic a lot, but if the series was going to continue, it likely would've needed more of an identity to keep going so I think what they did was smart and I'm not going to lie to you, its raw, I love this dumb cheesy and somewhat edgy aesthetic now that I'm older, its perfect for what the series is going for. Also to no one's surprise, you have one of the best soundtracks ever composed for this game as well.
The story and pacing of this game is where I take a lot of gripes with this one. It starts off incredibly strong, an incredible opening act that completely sets up not only the new character of Roxas, but where Kingdom Hearts as a series is going moving forward. Slowly building into the mystery of the Organization, who Roxas really is, where Sora is (unless you played Chain of Memories first like I did), its wonderful, and gets you really excited. Then the game continues with Sora, and they completely ignore Organization XIII for the most part in the first act to mess around with Maleficent and Pete, and Maleficent is literally useless in this game, I think she should've stayed dead after 1. I get the intention with having Sora killing the Heartless to unwillingly aid in helping the Organization, and having him question himself, but it never really goes anywhere beyond the initial questioning. Then you revisit all the Disney worlds again, where much of the same as the first time you visit happens, but its a little shorter, and then you have the finale which kind of bungles the whole Roxas plotline, by having you fight him immediately in the final level, and resolving it immediately, while they try to play into the mystery with the other Organization members. Then you foil Xemnas' plan, and put an end to it all, in a genuinely sweet ending. It is really silly, and normally I wouldn't think much about it, but I do think it really hurts the pace of the game.
I think a lot of the pacing of II feels insanely bizarre, where it feels like most of the Disney worlds feel narratively useless. It is really cool seeing these worlds, they look incredible, but they're not only truncated into straight lines, but it also just feels pointless being here. They don't play into the overall plot or themes of the game, and you're basically just reliving the plots of these movies, and I don't know, something about it just doesn't sit right with me as someone who loves the first game for those reasons, even if they were jank and sometimes very confusing, it just felt everything was a lot more purposeful for those reasons.
That being said, a lot of my complaints I feel just are heavily outweighed by this games absolutely stellar combat system. It is insanely fast, and fun to rack up combos in this one, and as more options open up to you, its just an incredible feeling. It is another weird aspect of this game, that for almost the entire game, you play it a different way until you get to the Roxas fight, and it basically forces you to truly learn how to play it. Transitioning over to Final Mix's incredible post game where the game basically truly shines. Making the most of this combat system, and fighting some of the best boss fights that have ever been designed for an action game, and ending with the Lingering Will, one of the most insane and fun fights ever. And the game itself ending with Roxas and Xemnas, two spectacle filled and just undeniably cool fights to ever end a game with.
Despite my complaints, and taking some time to truly understand and finish this one, yeah this is obviously one of the best games ever made. I think I've accepted my place in this world as someone who will likely always perfer the original, something about it just speaks to me, but there is just an undeniability to this game. This game made Kingdom Hearts what it is, purely on quality alone. I think that deserves respect in its own right. It is one of the greatest sequels to ever be made, and I think I'm genuinely excited to see where these characters go in the future titles. Yeah, this series is stupid, but who cares. I denied myself of this series' greatness for far too long, and I'm glad I can say I've finally remedied that.
Em Kingdom Hearts II começamos com um novo protagonista, Roxas.
Roxas é parecido com Sora, ele vive em uma nova cidade chamada twilight town que é original de Kingdom Hearts, o único modo de descrever esse jogo é como um sonho distante, uma memoria, uma nostalgia, algo muito bom que pode voltar ou não.
Eu já sentia isso no 1, mas nesse jogo se intensificou ainda mais.
É incrível, cada pedaço desse jogo é feito para ser perfeição, desde o seu combate caprichadíssimo até a sua história confusa.
Esse jogo além de ser uma ótima experiencia pelo combate do jogo e sua gameplay, ele também passa algo que muitos jogos não passam.
A volta da inocência da infância, e uma memoria dos momentos bons de volta, amizades, promessas, reencontros e principalmente.
Memorias
Roxas é parecido com Sora, ele vive em uma nova cidade chamada twilight town que é original de Kingdom Hearts, o único modo de descrever esse jogo é como um sonho distante, uma memoria, uma nostalgia, algo muito bom que pode voltar ou não.
Eu já sentia isso no 1, mas nesse jogo se intensificou ainda mais.
É incrível, cada pedaço desse jogo é feito para ser perfeição, desde o seu combate caprichadíssimo até a sua história confusa.
Esse jogo além de ser uma ótima experiencia pelo combate do jogo e sua gameplay, ele também passa algo que muitos jogos não passam.
A volta da inocência da infância, e uma memoria dos momentos bons de volta, amizades, promessas, reencontros e principalmente.
Memorias
don't even need to say much, it's still one of the best games ever made
Critical Mode GGs
You either know and accept that this is the coolest game ever made or you're a goddamn coward.
you gonna cry?
Just beat this game today! Wow. The combat flows so well, is nearly infallible from a technical standpoint, and just feels so good. Really fun! As someone who hasn't played a Kingdom Hearts game since the first one came out, I am so glad this version of Kingdom Hearts 2 was my return to the series.
Fool Reviews Kingdom Hearts 2.5 Final Mix
"My Sanctuary":
Well, it finally happened. I played a Kingdom Hearts game and fully enjoyed it. There's a lot to say about this one, especially in regards to comparing it to the previous entries, so I'm going to separate things into sections.
Gameplay:
It cannot be understated how fucking spectacular the gameplay of KH2 is. Combat is unlike the first game, which was slow, repetitive, and visually boring, and it's not complete bullshit like Chain of Memories, so it isn't fully luck based either (at least most of the time).
I played in Critical Mode, which was recommended by both of my friends who got me into this marathon of KH to begin with. Critical Mode starts you off with a fuckton of skills and AP right off the bat, allowing you access to some incredibly devastating and visually appealing combos very early on. I do have a few gripes though, mostly involving how it effects the prologue. See, you start the game off as Roxas, who does not have access to all of Sora's abilities. Due to this, the opening three hours of the game are... well, beyond difficult. You have no access to those long reaching combos, and aerial combat is more or less non-existent. It was a bit annoying, especially losing to the first Axel fight (the one in the Sandlot area), mostly because losing to some bosses means going through an entire set of encounters again which can be rather exhausting at times.
After the prologue though, things seriously open up. Never before have I played an ARPG with such a grand focus on Aerial Combat. Compared to the first game, the amount of flippy shit you can pull off and the amount of damage you can deal is insane, and thanks to abilities like Combo Plus and Air Combo Plus, you can make those attacks even longer and more powerful as the game progresses. You don't even have to worry about lacking the AP for it, this game loads you up with AP Boosts at every given opportunity so you will always be able to push through with combos. Magic has been made more resourceful than the first game, but is still something I ultimately didn't find much of a use for. It's good that you can interchange magic and keyblade in the middle of a combo and that each spell has its own finisher, but I really didn't see much use for the spells beyond Thundaga and Reflega.
As for platforming, that is all but removed from this game. Platforming is no longer mandatory, and is overall smoother regardless. Sora has a way better jump, and with the addition of Growth Abilities, he has access to a variety of ways to get around areas. However...
Ok, I'm not gonna beat around the bush. Drive Forms, while cool to use for both their utility and visual spectacle, are a fucking drag to grind. Each of them has a unique requirement for their own level up, and you need to level them up to get access to those Growth Abilities. Things like Glide, High Jump, and even the Dodge Roll are locked behind these level ups, and they are abilities you are basically required to have by endgame if you don't want to have your ass torn in two during boss fights. A friend of mine who played this game before me did not grind the Drive Forms, and it resulted in him having an absolutely ridiculous time getting through the game. He still did it, but he did not hesitate to tell me how brutal it was. In response to another friend who said that grinding Drive Forms happens naturally, I argue no, no it doesn't. A lot of these level ups become exponentially harder to pull off, especially with things like Wisdom and Final form which require a kill ratio of Heartless and Nobodies respectively, Nobodies being relatively rare outside of the final world and even then, not very common. I like the Drive Forms but the need to grind them for necessary abilities is pretty fucking absurd, even for RPG standards.
This game also introduces Limits, which are exactly what they sound like. Super Moves that you can pull off with your respective Disney (and even Final Fantasy) characters. Some are pretty damn good, like Simba's and Donald's, and others are... ok, like Jack Sparrow's and Tron's. They do a decent amount of damage and are key to blasting through enemy defenses.
Onto Gummi Ship missions, these have never been better. They fully went into the Shoot-Em-Up genre with these, and it is awesome. Just make sure you set the firing mode to Automatic in the Pause Menu though. I didn't until nearly the end of the first half of the game and it hurt my hands like a motherfucker.
Also there's Atlantica's... thing. It's a Rhythm Game... and also optional. I did it though, and it really wasn't as bad as I had been told, but definitely not something you must do to progress.
Boss fights in this game can be hit or miss for me, and that usually depends on the action commands required for them. You see, every so often in combat you'll get the chance to press the Y button to do a reaction command. It's essentially a quick time event, but way simpler, and also way faster. It usually allows you to unleash a super attack on your opponent based on one of their own skills, and it can be super cool. I mean, you cut through literal skyscrapers using it, so yeah you bet your ass it's cool. However, some of these feel super fucking intrusive such as the case with Xaldin. A boss the requires you to dodge and use the Learn reaction command at the same time in order to progress the fight. It required me to go into a completely different hand formation on my controller, which actively hurt my hands to do, just to pull it off. Most bosses aren't like this and the Reaction prompt is usually way less cumbersome, but the ones that do this are actively unfun to deal with. There's also Giant Bosses, which I think is one aspect this series just never seems to get right. They're either really boring like Jafar, or require you to play with a completely different fight scheme like the Nobody Dragon, which was probably the most irritating fight of the game for me.
The last thing I'll say is that my friends demanded I play Critical Mode because playing any difficulty lower would make the game boring to play. If your game has to be played on the hardest difficulty to be considered "fun", then there's definitely something wrong. I won't let that reflect on this review personally, but that is a thought I had.
Overall, I think the gameplay is fantastic. Better than the first game, a fuckton better than Chain of Memories, just an overall excellent experience.
Story:
To be quite honest, it really doesn't feel like there is one for like 75% of the game. The prologue starts you off with the stuff with Roxas, and it was interesting, but after you start as Sora and get your new duds, the plot takes a major backseat until the second half of the game, where only a few minor beats are mentioned.
You fight a few Organization members, have the Battle of a Thousand Heartless, and work with Tron to fix the Hollow Bastion defense network and turn the place back into Radiant Garden, but outside of that there's not much to talk about until the final revisit to Twilight Town where you go into The World That Never Was.
DiZ is revealed to be the actual Ansem, Riku gets his original form back, and Sora and Riku stop Xemnas from using Kingdom Hearts. It was... not really much. I don't know, maybe the past two games really shut my brain off, but I didn't care much about the story for this game.
It didn't have as preposterous writing as the last two games, except for when Mickey Mouse goes "They'll pay for this" and I laughed my ass off. For the most part the story is borderline non-existent. I don't mind though, since it allows each Disney world more spotlight.
I think these are done way better than the first game since a good number of them are allowed to have original stories, such as the Coliseum bringing Auron from Final Fantasy X to fight alongside you. Even as someone who dislikes FFX, that was a cool moment. There's also Halloween Town where you go to Christmas Town and help Santa Claus, which was pretty visually fun.
I've never watched Tron (well, the first one anyway, I've seen Legacy), but the Tron world was easily the most fun to go through except for the mandatory bike shit, that wasn't fun at all.
Story is definitely the weakest aspect of this game, but I'm fine with it honestly, the gameplay more than makes up for it.
Final Thoughts:
Well, I have the post game to do, and unlike KH1, I actually feel like doing it. I was really hoping this game would be good, I had a lot of fear after playing the last two games and not enjoying them in the slightest, so to see that KH2 is as good as I've heard is a relief. This is a game I see myself coming back to in the future, just for the combat alone. I don't know if I'd fully recommend it, but I know that overall I had a pretty good time.
It is my Sanctuary in this franchise, at least so far.
Next is Birth By Sleep, another game I've been curious about. I'll have to see how that unfolds then.
"My Sanctuary":
Well, it finally happened. I played a Kingdom Hearts game and fully enjoyed it. There's a lot to say about this one, especially in regards to comparing it to the previous entries, so I'm going to separate things into sections.
Gameplay:
It cannot be understated how fucking spectacular the gameplay of KH2 is. Combat is unlike the first game, which was slow, repetitive, and visually boring, and it's not complete bullshit like Chain of Memories, so it isn't fully luck based either (at least most of the time).
I played in Critical Mode, which was recommended by both of my friends who got me into this marathon of KH to begin with. Critical Mode starts you off with a fuckton of skills and AP right off the bat, allowing you access to some incredibly devastating and visually appealing combos very early on. I do have a few gripes though, mostly involving how it effects the prologue. See, you start the game off as Roxas, who does not have access to all of Sora's abilities. Due to this, the opening three hours of the game are... well, beyond difficult. You have no access to those long reaching combos, and aerial combat is more or less non-existent. It was a bit annoying, especially losing to the first Axel fight (the one in the Sandlot area), mostly because losing to some bosses means going through an entire set of encounters again which can be rather exhausting at times.
After the prologue though, things seriously open up. Never before have I played an ARPG with such a grand focus on Aerial Combat. Compared to the first game, the amount of flippy shit you can pull off and the amount of damage you can deal is insane, and thanks to abilities like Combo Plus and Air Combo Plus, you can make those attacks even longer and more powerful as the game progresses. You don't even have to worry about lacking the AP for it, this game loads you up with AP Boosts at every given opportunity so you will always be able to push through with combos. Magic has been made more resourceful than the first game, but is still something I ultimately didn't find much of a use for. It's good that you can interchange magic and keyblade in the middle of a combo and that each spell has its own finisher, but I really didn't see much use for the spells beyond Thundaga and Reflega.
As for platforming, that is all but removed from this game. Platforming is no longer mandatory, and is overall smoother regardless. Sora has a way better jump, and with the addition of Growth Abilities, he has access to a variety of ways to get around areas. However...
Ok, I'm not gonna beat around the bush. Drive Forms, while cool to use for both their utility and visual spectacle, are a fucking drag to grind. Each of them has a unique requirement for their own level up, and you need to level them up to get access to those Growth Abilities. Things like Glide, High Jump, and even the Dodge Roll are locked behind these level ups, and they are abilities you are basically required to have by endgame if you don't want to have your ass torn in two during boss fights. A friend of mine who played this game before me did not grind the Drive Forms, and it resulted in him having an absolutely ridiculous time getting through the game. He still did it, but he did not hesitate to tell me how brutal it was. In response to another friend who said that grinding Drive Forms happens naturally, I argue no, no it doesn't. A lot of these level ups become exponentially harder to pull off, especially with things like Wisdom and Final form which require a kill ratio of Heartless and Nobodies respectively, Nobodies being relatively rare outside of the final world and even then, not very common. I like the Drive Forms but the need to grind them for necessary abilities is pretty fucking absurd, even for RPG standards.
This game also introduces Limits, which are exactly what they sound like. Super Moves that you can pull off with your respective Disney (and even Final Fantasy) characters. Some are pretty damn good, like Simba's and Donald's, and others are... ok, like Jack Sparrow's and Tron's. They do a decent amount of damage and are key to blasting through enemy defenses.
Onto Gummi Ship missions, these have never been better. They fully went into the Shoot-Em-Up genre with these, and it is awesome. Just make sure you set the firing mode to Automatic in the Pause Menu though. I didn't until nearly the end of the first half of the game and it hurt my hands like a motherfucker.
Also there's Atlantica's... thing. It's a Rhythm Game... and also optional. I did it though, and it really wasn't as bad as I had been told, but definitely not something you must do to progress.
Boss fights in this game can be hit or miss for me, and that usually depends on the action commands required for them. You see, every so often in combat you'll get the chance to press the Y button to do a reaction command. It's essentially a quick time event, but way simpler, and also way faster. It usually allows you to unleash a super attack on your opponent based on one of their own skills, and it can be super cool. I mean, you cut through literal skyscrapers using it, so yeah you bet your ass it's cool. However, some of these feel super fucking intrusive such as the case with Xaldin. A boss the requires you to dodge and use the Learn reaction command at the same time in order to progress the fight. It required me to go into a completely different hand formation on my controller, which actively hurt my hands to do, just to pull it off. Most bosses aren't like this and the Reaction prompt is usually way less cumbersome, but the ones that do this are actively unfun to deal with. There's also Giant Bosses, which I think is one aspect this series just never seems to get right. They're either really boring like Jafar, or require you to play with a completely different fight scheme like the Nobody Dragon, which was probably the most irritating fight of the game for me.
The last thing I'll say is that my friends demanded I play Critical Mode because playing any difficulty lower would make the game boring to play. If your game has to be played on the hardest difficulty to be considered "fun", then there's definitely something wrong. I won't let that reflect on this review personally, but that is a thought I had.
Overall, I think the gameplay is fantastic. Better than the first game, a fuckton better than Chain of Memories, just an overall excellent experience.
Story:
To be quite honest, it really doesn't feel like there is one for like 75% of the game. The prologue starts you off with the stuff with Roxas, and it was interesting, but after you start as Sora and get your new duds, the plot takes a major backseat until the second half of the game, where only a few minor beats are mentioned.
You fight a few Organization members, have the Battle of a Thousand Heartless, and work with Tron to fix the Hollow Bastion defense network and turn the place back into Radiant Garden, but outside of that there's not much to talk about until the final revisit to Twilight Town where you go into The World That Never Was.
DiZ is revealed to be the actual Ansem, Riku gets his original form back, and Sora and Riku stop Xemnas from using Kingdom Hearts. It was... not really much. I don't know, maybe the past two games really shut my brain off, but I didn't care much about the story for this game.
It didn't have as preposterous writing as the last two games, except for when Mickey Mouse goes "They'll pay for this" and I laughed my ass off. For the most part the story is borderline non-existent. I don't mind though, since it allows each Disney world more spotlight.
I think these are done way better than the first game since a good number of them are allowed to have original stories, such as the Coliseum bringing Auron from Final Fantasy X to fight alongside you. Even as someone who dislikes FFX, that was a cool moment. There's also Halloween Town where you go to Christmas Town and help Santa Claus, which was pretty visually fun.
I've never watched Tron (well, the first one anyway, I've seen Legacy), but the Tron world was easily the most fun to go through except for the mandatory bike shit, that wasn't fun at all.
Story is definitely the weakest aspect of this game, but I'm fine with it honestly, the gameplay more than makes up for it.
Final Thoughts:
Well, I have the post game to do, and unlike KH1, I actually feel like doing it. I was really hoping this game would be good, I had a lot of fear after playing the last two games and not enjoying them in the slightest, so to see that KH2 is as good as I've heard is a relief. This is a game I see myself coming back to in the future, just for the combat alone. I don't know if I'd fully recommend it, but I know that overall I had a pretty good time.
It is my Sanctuary in this franchise, at least so far.
Next is Birth By Sleep, another game I've been curious about. I'll have to see how that unfolds then.
5 stars for roxas alone
hot DAMN what an awesome fucking game, I felt so bad for a lot of the characters and the combat was Incredibly fun, I also really enjoyed the plot but thats probably also in part with how i experienced 358/2 days after playing the bit with Roxas at the start. But this was probably the best action rpg ive ever played personally. I would give this a 5/5 if the skill locks for basic movement didnt feel odd sometimes and sometimes theyll throw some Bulllllllshit at you. Otherwise a great game, four entries in and i can say yeah im a fan of this franchise
It's almost impossible to describe the intensity of the pre- Chain of Memories/KH2 hype era. There was no other game I was looking forward to more than this back in '02/03. However, when KH2 finally released, the experience was anticlimactic at best, if anything because of my own unrealistic expectations. The narrative didn't feel as cohesive, the dialogue felt really stiff, and it just didn't have the same charm.
Make no mistakes though, in terms of gameplay and combat, this is the strongest the franchise has ever been. Never has a Kingdom Hearts game's combat felt as fluid and buttery smooth, and if I were a speedrunner type or someone who didn't place emphasis on a game's narrative, it would have hit harder. It didn't help that the original NA release had an almost nonexistent postgame with any real incentives either.
KH2 Final Mix fixes so many of the original's issues in terms of pacing and content, and while KH1 will always be my favorite installment, this version of the game is much more adequate successor.
Make no mistakes though, in terms of gameplay and combat, this is the strongest the franchise has ever been. Never has a Kingdom Hearts game's combat felt as fluid and buttery smooth, and if I were a speedrunner type or someone who didn't place emphasis on a game's narrative, it would have hit harder. It didn't help that the original NA release had an almost nonexistent postgame with any real incentives either.
KH2 Final Mix fixes so many of the original's issues in terms of pacing and content, and while KH1 will always be my favorite installment, this version of the game is much more adequate successor.