Kingdom Hearts II Reaction Thread (Spoilers abound)
I was privileged to be able to play Kingdom Hearts II for a few hours today. This is a Japanese copy, not at all changed in any way from what was just released in Japan just a few days ago. I do not speak Japanese, and while the friend of mine who owns the game does speak Japanese quite well, she is not a native speaker and thus my grasp on the story was somewhat tenuous (especially given that she wasn't translating every word and line of text).
In any event, I'm going to be going over how the game plays and some of the interesting new quirks and such, and then I'll be going over the story, so far as I have seen. The story will be further marked with spoiler tags, read at your own peril.
First off, the controls. The biggest change to the original controls is that jump is now the X button and attack is now the circle button. Not a horribly large change, but it does take some getting used to.
The triangle button has been given a use, and what a use it is. Triangle is the "action" button, which one might also call the "pwnage" button. Basically, sometimes the Triangle will appear which will allow you to do certain actions. This includes, but is not limited to:
1. Sliding around an enemy and coming up behind them.
2. Unleashing a powerful spinning attack at an enemy's back.
3. Sliding into the air while fighting an early boss to both dodge its attack and move closer to its head so that you can attack it.
The triangle button is also used to talk and open treasure chests. As an added note, treasure chests may now be opened in battle.
The camera can be controlled with the right analog stick. Be warned, it's even crappier than in Kingdom Hearts, since they "fixed" it.
The L1 quick menu can now be used with items as well. I didn't experiment with this very much, but I believe you set one item to the X button, which will be what is used if you do it. I think that the next item up will replace it when used, but I am not sure. Spell slots are the Square, Triangle and Circle buttons.
There are now two menus that are navigated with the analog pad, unlike the one before it. Pressing left or right on the analog pad changes it. The first menu has, in order, Attack, Magic, Item and Drive. Drive opens a menu to two more drives, which determines the kind of Drive you get. Brave Drive is the dual-keyblade wielding Drive, and Wisdom Drive is the other, although I haven't a clue as to what it does.
The other menu has the Summon command, as well as a few other commands that I am unsure of. I believe it still retains the attack command.
Aside from this, the controls remain relatively untouched.
Also of note is that the equipment system is a bit different. You can now equip both armor and accessories, and as you level up it seems you are able to equip more of both.
As far as the Gummi Ship, while I have not actually played through it myself, it looks to be very fun. The ship I saw (it was my friend's log) had two extra small ships for Goofy and Donald, and all were shooting simultaneously, much like the old arcade game Raiden. The gummi ship is quick and there are a lot of enemies and obstacles for you to take down, it seems to play much like a cross between Raiden and Starfox 64.
Now then, for the story as far as I've seen...
(SPOILER)The game actually begins with Roxas, also known as the BHK. It begins with Day 1 in Twilight Town. The game progresses with Roxas and his friends hunting down the thief (who turns out to be a strange silver creature) and Roxas' "Defender" (which appears to be a pole encased in blue foam shaped like a sword) is transformed into a keyblade, with which he defeats the creature.
This continues for awhile, you need to do things such as work (which takes the form of a minigame) to earn money, compete in a tournament, etc..
After the first round of minigames, Roxas and his friends pool their money to take the train to go to the beach. At this point, he is confronted by one of the black-robed figures from the Organization, who grabs him menacingly by the arm. His friends, of course, do not see this. When they reach the train station, he finds that he has lost the money.
At the beginning of every day, a machine tells you a percentage of completion, and you see scenes from Kingdom Hearts, Sora's memories obviously. Sometimes Roxas will awaken and comment about the dreams he has been having.
In a later day, Roxas and one of his friends, as well as Seifer and his gang (Raijin, Fujin and Vivi) all enter the tournament, which is fought with Defenders. The tournament is a bit different from a normal battle, you strike your opponent and they release colored balls that you pick up. The one with the most balls at the end of the round wins.
After you defeat your friend in the first round, you see Vivi defeat Seifer with great ease. As a stunned Seifer walks away, he mutters that "that isn't Vivi".
When Roxas faces Vivi, it is indeed apparent that something is amiss. He laughs fiendishly and is able to enlarge his sword and do a good deal of damage, in addition to being fairly quick.
After you defeat him, time seems to freeze and one of the silver creatures comes out of Vivi. After you defeat them, Axel appears and you fight him as well.
After defeating both, Vivi says he feels a bit dizzy and waddles off the ring, obviously not remembering facing you.
After that you face Setzer, the champion of the tournament. Setzer is very popular (many of the women are calling out "Setzer-sama!" when he enters the ring), but he really isn't that hard to defeat.
You will win a trophy and a champion's belt (which can be equipped as armor) from this. The trophy has four crystals on it that you and your friends will split up. While admiring it, Roxas falls off the clock tower they are sitting on and is again visited by the Unknown from before, who steals his crystal.
The time as Roxas progresses with you again accumulating money and taking the train to the beach. In the beach city, you are required to visit several spots where strange things happen, such as facing a bunch of Vivis (possessed by the silver monsters) and fighting an anti-Roxas (a black duplicate of Roxas, much like the anti-Sora you face in Neverland in Kingdom Hearts).
After all of the "wierd happenings", you and your friends will look for the train that is rumored to appear but never have anybody get on or off. After waiting for awhile, Roxas spots the train, but none of his friends can see it. He runs to the station and attempts to board the train, but is then pulled back, just as the normal train enters the station.
During this time Roxas is visited by the Unknown, Axel, and Namine several times. Finally, on the sixth day, Roxas awakens to find that he cannot touch his friends, they cannot see him, and they do not seem to remember him. He seems to have quite literally disappeared.
As you leave, you see Axel again and he happily says that you remember him. Roxas does not recognize him and after you face several of the silver creatures and run off, Axel comments that the Roxas he knew was gone.
You go to the mansion, fighting your way through the silver creatures, and unlocking the gate. Ascending the staircase you find Namine inside a room full of drawings, but she is soon taken away by an Unknown. She says she will see you again.
Moving to the other room, you see a symbol drawn on the table with Namine's sketchbook portraying the symbol beside it. Walking up to it, you complete it and a staircase opens, taking you down into a laboratory.
In the laboratory several memories of Roxas are triggered, such as the one from the secret movie in Kingdom Hearts where Roxas and Riku are both fighting heartless. This is played out in normal graphics, and it proceeds to have Riku and Roxas start fighting after the heartless were defeated. You also learn that Roxas and Axel were friends at one point.
You confront Axel and he maniacally comments that Roxas remembers him. He surrounds both of them in flame and Roxas draws out the Oblivion and the Oathkeeper.
After Roxas defeats Axel, you move into a room where both Goofy and Donald (who he recognizes, probably from Sora's memories) are encased in a white glass orb-like machine.
Roxas enters a room and sees Sora within another machine. The machine opens, and Roxas seems to be swallowed by darkness (it seems implied that he merged with Sora)
You see a man dressed in red with a bandaged face talk to the Unknown who had taken Roxas' crystal and money. He asks if he remembers his name, and the Unknown replies that he does, Ansem. He draws back his hood and reveals that it is indeed Ansem beneath the cloak.
At this point, you see Goofy and Donald both enter the room where Sora is held and call out to him. The machine opens and Sora is reunited with Goofy and Donald. They also observe that his clothing is somewhat small (his shorts are a lot shorter now, since he's grown).
As you enter Twilight Town, you see Roxas' friends, who look at you and ask if they've met before. Making your way to the train station, you are surrounded by the silver creatures. After you fight them for awhile, a train pulls up and Mickey, wearing a black robe, emerges. Drawing his keyblade he cuts down the silver creatures, gives both the money and the crystal that the Unknown had taken from Roxas, before leaving.
A blue train with a Wizard's hat on it appears and Sora, Goofy and Donald board it. It takes them to a long tower, where they run into Pete, who is serving Maleficent. When he says Maleficent will summon a lot of heartless to get them, the party laughs and says that they've already taken care of her. Pete runs off and they climb the tower, cutting down several of the silver figures as they go. Eventually they enter a room where they see the Magician from Fantasia.
Both Goofy and Donald greet him respectfully, but Sora greets him with the basic equivalent of a "yo". After being admonished by Donald and Goofy, he explains some things about the silver creatures, called "Nobodies" (which is the actual word used in the Japanese version), and a bunch of other stuff that I didn't understand and wasn't really well translated for me.
After that he directs Sora to a room where he can get new clothes, and he sees the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty. All three begin changing his normal clothes different colors until he asks them to stop. From the window, Maleficent's bird watches for a moment before flying off.
Finally, Sora is given his new clothing by all three fairies, and they explain the Drive, also giving him another keyblade to use. Sora leaves and is taken to the Gummi Ship, from which Chip and Dale (apparently) explain the controls. After that, it's off to Hollow Bastion.
You appear in the town area of Hollow Bastion, and meet up with Yuffie. Fighting your way through some nobodies, you are taken to where Leon (who wears his Final Fantasy VIII garb and actually seems somewhat happy) and Aerith are waiting. They talk to you for awhile and give you an Honorary Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee card. After that Merlin appears and you tell him you cannot remember your magic, so he gives you the Fire magic.
That is as far as I have played, if I get to play more I may post the summary here. Bear in mind its just the bare bones of the story and I may have mixed up or misordered events, as well as misinterpreted dialogue. It's just a general idea of what's going on.
