Wolf Kanno
is a Level 99 Chocobo
Memento Mori
Site Contributor

It's certainly an improvement over the original. Though I feel like many of the game improvements are following the example of the writing, which is largely adding new stuff in to fix a mistake made earlier that probably shouldn't have been made to begin with. The new optional boss battles and Puzzle Piece collection add move value to the core gameplay, but with the exception of their addition, it's not exactly like they changed the gameplay, they simply just added stuff that justified the originals existence now. With that said, the optional content is great for the core game, but nothing was done to really change the fact that the core mechanics are undermined by how overpowered the core gameplay is. I'm still mashing X into victory. I only get stopped when I venture into any of the new content. I'm sure Critical Mode would fix this issue, but I feel that just showcases the usual problem with SE and difficulty modes in that they have to basically skew the odds statistically out of your favor to win, instead of rewriting the enemy A.I. to simply be smarter or better capable of handling Sora's bulltrout. Basically KH2's new content offers the chance to enjoy the combat system, but if you ignore it, like I imagine most players would, then the game is really no different from the vanilla version.

I am venturing into the plot side of things where I get a bit irked. Axel's subplot in this game still feels completely unnecessary and the "Paths of Light" mission Sora has is kind of feels pointless when the point is to open pathways for beings of light, yet Sora has to travel by Gummi Ship to these worlds anyway, despite KH1 saying this should be impossible, so I still feel like this side of the plot is kind of redundant. It also just feels like the writer's don't really know what to do with half of the cast most of the time. If you only played and cared about the console entries, I can see how a fan would come to the conclusion that CoM doesn't matter because KH2 is a pretty bad segue from that title outside of the prologue. Yet, once the prologue is over, it's like the writer's didn't really know what to with any of the characters from it. Fine for the TT people, you just make them quirky NPCs, but characters like Diz, Namine, Axel, and even Riku just disappear from the plot and only seem to appear when the writer's remember them. There's a real sense that anything story related that isn't directly connected to either Sora or Org. XIII feels tacked on, whereas Sora's scenario feels both poorly paced, and frankly directionless. I forgot that the Organization doesn't really come into the limelight until the halfway mark, before then, we're building up Malifiscent's return, but hindsight shows that plot thread never goes anywhere. Not helped here is her only real connection is Pete, and while I love the bumbling doofus, there just isn't as much real conflict and urgency here. The Nobodies don't show up until the second half and the Heartless have largely been reduced to a nuisance compared to the universe ending threat they were in the first game. So, I'm starting to remember why KH2's plot didn't grab me, and why I loved the prologue so much because it actually had some purpose and real escalation, whereas Sora's story takes a long while to get going.

On the flip side, it's interesting to see how well the writing in 358/2 ties into KH2. I just reached the Coliseum and the storyline there is Phil training Roxas to act as a backup hero for Hercules since Phil feels he's getting overworked, which segues nicely into what actually happens in Hercules world in KH2.

So soulu you say your enjoyment Jaś importer do dar pber the original?

Somehow, I never was that big a fan of Timeless River? It felt like one of the more cramped world, and while it's charming how they brought together various old cartoons, in today's pop culture climate of mindlessly regurgitating nostalgia, I just don't feel it. I know this came before it, but I can't help but look past that nowadays. Plus, for some reason, this was the only world in KH2 that made me nauseaous while playing. Destiny Islands did the same in I, which is why I've never really been a fan of that place from an exploration standpoint, aside from maybe its appearance in CoM.

I do wish I would get to play this version one day, if only for all the challenges they added, since they sound pretty exhilerating, to be honest. Maybe someday.

Well there’s the added Aqua chapter

Yeah, I have heard that the extra content is really substantive and makes the game much more involving. I mean, considering II’s cult following didn’t start until II.5, this isn’t really surprising

Honestly though, while I really loved the map design in DDD and the one in II isn’t one of my favorites, I don’t think there’s anything inherently bad about that approach to map design

Yeah, I’m a bit torn on the playformjng. On the one hand, there was a lot of really flat, empty locales in II. But then on the other hand, I’s Platfroming was pretty terrible in places. I’m glad later games are far more enjoyable in that regard, especially BBS and 3D (though I know flowmotuon from the latter is controversial).

I think data copies of hearts actually resonate with real hearts - at least that’s what it always felt like to me. It not only helps explain why Rinzler resonates with Tron’s memories, despite Sora never meeting that version of him, but also how what Data Sora felt was later felt by real Sora. It’s never stated outright, but there are several factors pointing to it, so it seems like a logical conclusion.

As for Roxas’ routine with HPO - yeah I feel it was the latter, with DiZ replicating it but not just to ease Roxas into it, but to make it easier for himself, since that way he would t have to attempt to reprogram Roxas within the days world

All this crap aside I still haven't come around to continue my Kingdom Hearts bullcrap dismantling. By now some Ultimania answers have been released but its not like those solve the problems as as always there are too many of them and a Kingdom Hearts Ultimania always brings in more problems than before since it never acknowledges that with every answer new contradictions are made. At least Final Fantasy always has an Ultimania that is not that big of a deal and some answers actual are worth something. Well, in some context some for Kingdom Hearts also are, but there is just too much that can be a weakness in its lore.

I advise you to re-read everything if you are interested because I have made edits.