Kingdom Hearts

[PkmnTrainerJ]

So, has anyone played this strange Disney-Square crossover? I started off playing the first one a few years back and quite liked it, and am near finishing the third game (There was I on PS2, Chain Of Memories on GBA, then II on PS2) and am loving the story of II. I know how it all ends, but playing it has been a lot more fun.

Now we also have three new games on the horizon:

Birth By Sleep for the PSP

358/2 Days for the DS

coded for mobile phones

Birth By Sleep takes place before I, 358/2 Days takes place before II I think and coded doesn't matter about it's place in the storyline, though I think it's after II.

Anyways, for Birth By Sleep:

Spoiler: Click here to view

Could it be anymore blatant that Ven is Roxas?

Ven

Roxas

Edited July 13, 2008 by PkmnTrainerJ

[Sousa]

Ummm... I hate to break it to you, Allegedly Geeky J, but 99.99999% of all Square protagonists look like that.

[PkmnTrainerJ]

Ummm... I hate to break it to you, Allegedly Geeky J, but 99.99999% of all Square protagonists look like that.

[Momo]

KH gets my love. I am of the opinion that KHII is the only good game to come out of Square-Enix since the merger, and I think that it's because they didn't try to do anything too complex with the gameplay.

Spoiler: Click here to view

Also, the real Ansem is fucking awesome. They chose the perfect person to voice him.

[PkmnTrainerJ]

KH gets my love. I am of the opinion that KHII is the only good game to come out of Square-Enix since the merger, and I think that it's because they didn't try to do anything too complex with the gameplay.

Spoiler: Click here to view

Also, the real Ansem is fucking awesome. They chose the perfect person to voice him.

[Sousa]

Ummm... I hate to break it to you, Allegedly Geeky J, but 99.99999% of all Square protagonists look like that.

Kind of, but seems too similar to me to just shrug off

Then I shall recant and call you Excessively Geeky J instead.

In other news, I'm a big fan of Kingdom Hearts. Loved the first game, loved the second, hated Chain of Memories with a passion that could consume a thousand suns. That said, I can't really get excited about the DS game, mainly because I couldn't care less about Roxas, and Organization XIII was only good when Axel wasn't talking ("It's hip slang ad nauseum! Got it memorized?"). We all know the real villain of that game was Pete. Oh, and Hades.

[PkmnTrainerJ]

What did you not like about Chain Of Memories?

[Momo]

Spoiler: Click here to view

Yeah, it's Christopher Lee isn't it? Hayden (from Heroes) also voices Kairi & Naminé. :-)

[PkmnTrainerJ]

The card system annoyed me at first, but once I got used to arranging my deck ready for sleights, the whole game was fairly easy.

[Sousa]

I just lost a long-ass post explaining this, but I'll try again.

I hated the card system--it was too complicated to be fun and didn't fit the frantic pace required. They wanted me to play this card game the same way I played console Kingdom Hearts, which I hated. Ten times out of ten in a hard battle, I felt like I was waiting to get lucky rather than learning patterns, since the opponent always seemed ready to bust out either a 0 or a high number combination to shit all over my hard work. I hated the level layouts. When I played the console, I felt like I was in Agrabah as opposed to Wonderland with a different tileset. I hated grinding through the rooms trying to find the one or two cards that I could blow on something as asinine as opening a door. In the end, I found I was only playing to get the bonus content at the end, but by that point I was so fed up with it I didn't care anymore.

[Ruki]

Kingdom Hearts is an ok series, nothing too amazing, but not bad. The thing that pisses me off about it the most though is the fan boys/girls (fuck everyone and their Axel x Roxas fanfics) , they overhype the game, and make it seem like it's the best thing since....*insert something really good here*. But I have to admit, KHII had one my favorite gaming moments in recent history, with Cloud and Squall (fuck Leon) going back to back and fucking up the heartless.

[Fanku Kaibutsu]

The first Kingdom Hearts was good, never got around to playing the second. What pissed me off about it was that, before it was released, it was hyped as a 'Square/Disney cross over', and so when I played it I was expecting equal parts Square(including things beyond Final Fantasy VII and up) and Disney, not a Disney game guest starring a few characters from Final Fantasy VII, VIII and X.

[apsham]

Kingdom Hearts I & II were good games, I got drawn into them and just HAD to beat them before I even attempted to play anything else. Anything outside of it just doesn't grab my attention at all, and the only time I'll probably look at the series again is for the probable Kingdom Hearts III... which I will likely never see being a solely Microsoft guy now. Oh well.

[Vilge Duin]

Kingdom Hearts (along with FFX, MGS 2 and GTA: VC) was one of the games that drew me to getting a Playstation 2. It was a fantastic game when I first played it and I loved every bit of it. As an absolute fan of Disney animation it was just a surreal and awesome experience. I wasn't that bothered by the downplayed Final Fantasy influence, and in fact I preferred it so much more because of that. Far too many have just vehemently bashed the game (and series) for being "kiddy" due to the Disney aspect and that it "sucked" because it didn't give a glorified handjob to the Final Fantasy series, not like Square doesn't do that anyways and get slammed for that on a regular basis.

The story was one of the few I actually cared about the characters and I feel that's the saving grace of the Kingdom Hearts series. The tale of Sora, Kairi and Riku was very endearing. And I proudly admit I actually got teary when Simple & Clean started playing at the end of the game wand what occurred. I also almost shamelessly marked out when Beast showed up and started tearing the shit out of everything in our way, that was awesome.

I only briefly tried out the GBA game and I know I would have hated every last bit of the damn thing. I despise card battle style shit like that, and going through a downgraded almost literal rehash of the first game didn't appeal to me. And what slight moves forward the overarching plot may have made weren't worth the hassle.

That said the second was just as great as the first, if not better. I went through and played through the first again before the release of the second and the camera was very grating with the overall gameplay not really standing up anymore.

But they refined the experience into a generally great sequel for once. I even enjoyed the beginning of the game (which many hated for some reason), but have to say that the story was a bit too convoluted for its own good. However it was a very good conclusion to the first and really that's all there really is to it.

The problem with the series is it only has so many finite options. They use Disney worlds and no matter what there are only so many, and even the second showed some retreads. I wouldn't mind if they came up with some original stories set in the Disney worlds but I feel they won't since people will likely bitch.

In general though I'm not looking forward to the new slew of portable games at all. I really, really don't give a shit about Roxas or the Organization (why Square Enix MUST absolutely explain every single fucking god damned facet or every series in the past few years is beyond me) and the DS has lost all sense of being interesting to me. The PSP game will likely be decent since it can stay close to the gameplay style of the main two games, but at that I don't care about idea of the story at all.

I'll await the inevitable PS3 Kindom Hearts III when it shows up, hopefully continuing on with Sora and co.

[Skummy]

Cloud and Squall back-to-back was the one moment in the series that I felt really justified its existence. It's a nice, fun little RPG, but that one moment was the ultimate mark-out and justified the cameo-fest.

[Mattman]

I'm a complete fanboy for the KH series (maybe its because I never tried Chain of Memories) Although I couldn't really tell you why.

[Cadet Ember McLain]

Perhaps it's just me, but I'd have preferred one "Final Fantasy" world, as opposed to all the FF characters adopting Hollow Bastion.

I'll admit, I was drawn in by the "SQUARESOFT" tag on the front, and nothing else. After playing though, I'm glad I was. The battle style makes for a refreshing change from FF's turn-based system. Though I marked out mildly throughout the game, they were nothing compared to the appearance of the Chernabog, with an accompanying mix of "Night On Bald Mountain".

Played CoM, but only to get the story. I played it on an emulator with all the cheats I could find. The style of game didn't really feel right to me, so I was far less interested in it. If it didn't have some of the story in it, I wouldn't have played it at all...

With KH2, Axel could do no wrong in my eyes. I also loved every minute of Pirate World.

Also, Xemnas = Mansex

[PkmnTrainerJ]

So it seems pointless to start a new topic to post this:

Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix+ coming out in America?

Very very odd and surprising news. Do not take it as confirmed yet!. However, it has been going around the blogosphere that Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories is indeed coming out for North America (without Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix?). The following statement was released on the website WithTheWill:

I've confirmed this with MULTIPLE people.

I don't know if it's the full Final Mix+, or just Re:COM...

But we are getting Re:Chains Of Memories in the USA.

I've even been told the character artwork they are showing is the generic 'CGI Pose' of the Organization members that are up at damn near EVERY Kingdom Hearts fansite.

Square (or Disney, not sure), have been auditioning TONS of people for the last few weeks for voices of Organization XIII members (Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Marluxia, and Larxene) saying the game is 'Chains of Memories'.

The casting people/paperwork are/is specifically calling it 'Kingdom Hearts Chains of Memories' and are SPECIFICALLY casting the 5 Organization members that I named in the article, all of whom were in CoM and don't have cast English voice actors (outside of those 5 I don't know if anyone else is being cast in any fashion, although I THINK those were the only 5 characters who are in CoM who don't already have English actors from KH/KH2).

So while it is possible they are being cast for 358/2 Days, the 'name' being told to people in the auditions is specifically CoM, I've reconfirmed that specific fact with quite a few people who auditioned and it has been consistent between them all.

This was followed by a post from Neogaf Member: Aeana, known for her insider information, with: "This is not untrue."

For those that do not know, Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories is a remake of Chain of Memories for the Playstation 2, included with Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix+.

Hopefully Europe sees a release too if this proves to be true, as the regular KHII apparently skipped a lot of scenes.

[Herr Matzat]

I always was to lazy to level up enough to be able to beat the fnal boss in KH2 on the PS2 :-(

[the gurn]

sorry to bring this to the front, but i brought kingdom hearts not long ago and player about 35 hours on it, then after the ending cutscene i got the end on the left hand side and the box art cover on the right, which also had music playing and it never went off, could someone tell me if this is what actually happens at the end cause to me only way to get off that is to restart my ps2, and that would loose all the save before the big boss fights, could anyone enlighten me please