A few observations, criticisms, and questions about kh2 (SPOILERS BEWARE!!!)

[Acid Raine]

I think I would like to start by saying how much I love Kingdom Hearts 2. It is a BIG step up from the first one, and was improved in several ways. Also, I havent beat it yet, mainly because I am afraid to, because after I beat something, it becomes less enjoyable, and I get bored. I am currently revisiting Agrabah to take care of Jafar.

I did however, have a few problems. First off, that irksome long intro. It kind of hurts the replay value, knowing you are going to have to spend several hours going through that, whether you skip the scenes or not. Another was (this has been a problem for all of the KHs) how the storyline pretty much didnt go anywhere for most of the game. One of the biggest problems I had was the miniscule parts of characters that were highly advertised. I mean, they had interviews with the VAs for YRP, Tifa, Cloud, and Aerith, when their parts were tiny, and they barely spoke anyways. I mean, you guys never even MET Tifa. She just kind of showed up, and that was that. It seems they were advertised to have much larger parts than they had, especially the Gullwings. My last complaint is about the Disney worlds. Some of them are extremly short, such as the Land of Dragons, and the Space Paranoids. Yet some were EXTREMLY LONG, like Olympus Coliseum. I would think that they could've balanced them out a little more.

I do also, have a few questions. Like at the begininng, Sora says something like "You guys [Donald and Goofy], me, Riku, and the King. The five of us, I mean, the six of us....." six? Who's the sixth? Am I missing something?
Another is about CoM. Is it absolutely necessary to play CoM to understand what's going on? I mean, I never played it, and I understand most of it. I get who the organization is, I get how Kairi forgot Sora, I know who Namine and Roxas are, and such, but I was asking if I should play CoM before I go to the World that Never Was (where I'm sure it will be pretty story-heavy.)

Thanks in advance to anyone who bothers to take the time to read, and hopefully answer this.

[Tavrobel]

I think I would like to start by saying how much I love Kingdom Hearts 2. It is a BIG step up from the first one, and was improved in several ways. Also, I havent beat it yet, mainly because I am afraid to, because after I beat something, it becomes less enjoyable, and I get bored. I am currently revisiting Agrabah to take care of Jafar.

I did however, have a few problems. First off, that irksome long intro. It kind of hurts the replay value, knowing you are going to have to spend several hours going through that, whether you skip the scenes or not. Another was (this has been a problem for all of the KHs) how the storyline pretty much didnt go anywhere for most of the game. One of the biggest problems I had was the miniscule parts of characters that were highly advertised. I mean, they had interviews with the VAs for YRP, Tifa, Cloud, and Aerith, when their parts were tiny, and they barely spoke anyways. It seems they were advertised to have much larger parts than they had, especially the Gullwings. My last complaint is about the Disney worlds. Some of them are extremly short, such as the Land of Dragons, and the Space Paranoids. Yet some were EXTREMLY LONG, like Olympus Coliseum. I would think that they could've balanced them out a little more.

I do also, have a few questions. Like at the begininng, Sora says something like "You guys [Donald and Goofy], me, Riku, and the King. The five of us, I mean, the six of us....." six? Who's the sixth? Am I missing something?
Another is about CoM. Is it absolutely necessary to play CoM to understand what's going on? I mean, I never played it, and I understand most of it. I get who the organization is, I get how Kairi forgot Sora, I know who Namine and Roxas are, and such, but I was asking if I should play CoM before I go to the World that Never Was (where I'm sure it will be pretty story-heavy.)

Thanks in advance to anyone who bothers to take the time to read, and hopefully answer this.

The sixth is Sora sucking at math. Because he is comprised of himself, and his Nobody, Roxas, added up himself, Sora, the King, Riku, Donald, and Goofy, not realizing thast he is part of Sora, no longer a distinct being.
The plot is explained in WtNW, and the plot isn't difficult to understand even if you don't play CoM. If you decide to throw in the Nobody Leaders and conspiracies, then you need to play CoM. But the Sora/Roxas and Kairi/Naminé is easier to understand.

I agree that the game could have been more balanced, but overall, it is a great and fun game.

[Acid Raine]

The sixth is Sora sucking at math. Because he is comprised of himself, and his Nobody, Roxas, added up himself, Sora, the King, Riku, Donald, and Goofy, not realizing thast he is part of Sora, no longer a distinct being.

Wait....so Sora saying "the six of us" was just Roxas adding himself to the mix?

[Rye]

I really liked the long intro. I think I started to dislike KH2 a bit in the middle, when the story started to not be there and it was just Disney world stories, but then it picked right up and I loved it. Besides the middle and the fact that the game is way too easy, even for someone who was underleveled throughout the game, I thought it was a brilliant game.

[Ouch!]

Wait....so Sora saying "the six of us" was just Roxas adding himself to the mix?

That's what I got out of it, too.

I have the same complaints that Rye does. The lack of plot in the middle of the game didn't really bother me that much. Based on the original and CoM, I had a good feeling it was gonna throw plot in your face at the beginning, back off for a while, and then throw it in your face again towards the end.

I wouldn't say that CoM is necessary to understand Kingdom Hearts II, but it definitely does make some of the things that the Organization says easier to understand. Plus, you'll recognize a couple faces in one or two scenes that you wouldn't otherwise. Ansem's report covers the details from CoM briefly, but it was sufficient explanation.

[mooglebunni608]

The sixth is Sora sucking at math. Because he is comprised of himself, and his Nobody, Roxas, added up himself, Sora, the King, Riku, Donald, and Goofy, not realizing thast he is part of Sora, no longer a distinct being.

Wait....so Sora saying "the six of us" was just Roxas adding himself to the mix?

I thought he meant kairi XD

[KH-Cloudy]

It's not ROxas, it's Kairi.

[Tavrobel]

Kairi wasn't there when they took the Head count. Also, when Sora said six, the others (Donald and Goofy) looked at him funny, as though they didn't know what he was talking about. If they had, then it would be Kairi who he was referring to. But in this case, it is Roxas subliminally and accidentally adding himself.

[Acid Raine]

I have another question. About the Shadow heartless. They seem different. Not only are they the only ones without the heartless insignia on them, when you kill them, that little heart-thing doesnt fly out of them. ANyone know why?

[mooglebunni608]

ummm maybe the animators were lazy?

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

You find out from the Ansem notes in the first game that the standard Shadow are the only true Heartless. All of the other heartless were developed by Ansem himself.

[Acid Raine]

You find out from the Ansem notes in the first game that the standard Shadow are the only true Heartless. All of the other heartless were developed by Ansem himself.

Really? I thought I read all of those......

[Neo Blackheart]

um could the sixth be jimminy. Sora, the King, Riku, Donald, and Goofy, jiminy that makes 6 or does he not count jiminy even though he does appear everyonce in a while.

[Acid Raine]

um could the sixth be jimminy. Sora, the King, Riku, Donald, and Goofy, jiminy that makes 6 or does he not count jiminy even though he does appear everyonce in a while.

Hm....that is probably it. Even though he never did anything except hang around in Sora's shirt.....

[Ouch!]

It was totally a reference to Roxas. They wouldn't have mentioned Jiminy as someone in the party with the strength to team up and save the world.