Kingdom Hearts II

[AndrewTS 0]

I don't think we have a mod.

 

My thread not getting much updates and falling off doesn't surprise me, since we didn't heard anything new really about it except for "it's coming...for real this time!"

[AndrewTS 0]

My EB has a display box that says 29th.

[Hoff 0]

^

That guy for video games mod

[AndrewTS 0]

^

That guy for video games mod

 

 

Or Kahran if he still visits the folder. I requested a folder merge and he took care of it pretty quickly. Thanks, Kahran!

[Anya 0]

I should be in charge of this folder.

[Anakin Flair 0]

I never played the original (didn't like that type of game at the time), but this one looks like something I'll definately pick up. Though I got to say the commercial has the single most ANNOYING song I've ever heard.

[AndrewTS 0]

I never played the original (didn't like that type of game at the time), but this one looks like something I'll definately pick up. Though I got to say the commercial has the single most ANNOYING song I've ever heard.

 

 

Worse than FFX2?

[The Man in Blak 0]

There's always that Grandia III song.

 

As for KH2, Gamefly and most of the retailers around here have it listed for release on 3/29, but I'll definitely be picking it up ASAP.

[devo 0]

Whoo! Got my copy today. Thanks, EB. Of course, while I was there, I just had to ask about the release date for Okami and find out it's been pushed back to September.

 

Impressions later on.

 

Edit: God this game is slooooooow. I've been playing for nearly 90 minutes now and barely anything has happened. There's been nothing but dialogue, a couple minigames, and a tiny bit of fighting, and even though I can see they're trying to develop some grandiose plot with all this nonsense, the constant loading and bad writing (example: "We totally owned you lamers!") is causing me to rapidly lose my patience.

 

On the plus side, the graphics are slightly improved over the original, but it's barely noticeable, the music and voice acting are extremely good, and the opening cinematic is breathtaking even if the music played over it is really really annoying.

 

Edit the second: See up there where I said 90 minutes? I've now trudged through three hours of this nonsense. Jesus Christ this is annoying. The parts following this pre-game stupidity had better be spectacular.

[Guest Dam(o)nYankees]

I'm really excited. Only a couple hours away

[EricMM 0]

Man, I played through Xenogears.

 

Like, disc 2.

 

This game's ridiculous boring shit can't touch me.

[AndrewTS 0]

Whoo! Got my copy today. Thanks, EB. Of course, while I was there, I just had to ask about the release date for Okami and find out it's been pushed back to September.

 

I want to warp to September, then come back here and play those games.

 

Oh well, *starts Majora's Mask game*

 

So there's bad writing and pretentious BS on top of it?

 

And by 3 hours, how many worlds we talking? Just starting out or what?

[devo 0]

One world. Without giving too much away, you don't even control Sora until about four hours in.

 

Thankfully, once you do gain control of him, things start to pick up a little bit...

[The Amazing Rando 0]

According to EGM, and take this for what it's worth... EIGHT THOUSAND lines of dialogue.

[Guest NYankees]

IGN gave this game a 7.6.

[The Man in Blak 0]

I can't link to it since I'm at work, but IGN slammed Kingdom Hearts II in its review, calling it a disappointment and criticizing the downturn in the gameplay. I believe they gave the game a score of ~7.5, which is a bit of a surprise.

 

The quality of reviews on IGN varies wildly, but it's still interesting to see an opinion like that from a big source in gaming criticism.

[devo 0]

I don't put any stock in IGN reviews since reading the one they wrote for We Love Katamari. It literally seemed as though the author wrote the review having not ever played the game.

[Guest Dam(o)nYankees]

According to EGM, and take this for what it's worth... EIGHT THOUSAND lines of dialogue.

All seemingly in the first level. Its dragging a bit, but I have confidence

[The Man in Blak 0]

I don't put any stock in IGN reviews since reading the one they wrote for We Love Katamari. It literally seemed as though the author wrote the review having not ever played the game.

 

Yeah, like I said, the site is a very mixed bag. The We Love Katamari review is definitely one of most egregious mistakes - the "shirt comparison" GIF in that review would be classless on a blog, let alone a big site like IGN. However, while there are complete crappers, there are also very insightful reviews scattered amidst the junk. The KH2 review isn't Shakespeare, but it does actually expound upon the reasons that it rated Kingdom Hearts with such a mediocre score.

 

I guess I shouldn't have said that it's interesting to see a dissenting opinion on a big site - there are plenty of crazy reviews on IGN, such as the aforementioned WLK review, that would qualify. Rather, I should have said that it was notable that there was an IGN reviewer willing to take a high-profile "surefire" release to task over gameplay subtleties (abilities essentially being useless later in the game) that a lot of online critics would have missed.

[Guest Dam(o)nYankees]

The Mulan level is fun, and the BatB level is pretty good, but I'm still waiting for the real KH to come out. (And, to be fair, I felt the same way about the first two levels of KH)

[Guest wildpegasus]

I never played the original (didn't like that type of game at the time), but this one looks like something I'll definately pick up. Though I got to say the commercial has the single most ANNOYING song I've ever heard.

 

 

Worse than FFX2?

 

You've got to be kidding me. That song from FFX2 ruled.

[devo 0]

Okay, so, I played through Timeless River last night and absolutely loved it. The prologue is forgiven just for that.

 

Atlantica and its musical minigame is just annoying though. This game is making a habit of having bad non-orchestral music.

[Guest Dam(o)nYankees]

Alright, I just finished the intial Disney Castle, and it fucking rocks again. Bring on KH3

[AndrewTS 0]

For those who have the game, a few questions.

 

1. I hear the Gummi ship sections are "improved." Whatever the heck that means, I don't know. For plenty of folks, it was up there with Wind Waker's sailing as a tedious form of travel. So it is improved? Those sections were never hard, they were just "hold down shoot, don't collide into anything a dozen times." However, it did make them seem like ridiculous padding.

 

2. Do the bosses still use basically the same attack pattern? You know, float around, kill your stupid allies, and die after enough hacking and slashing?

 

3. Are you stuck as the parter leader character(s) the entire game, or do you get to actively control Donald/Goofy/guest characters? And I'm not counting fusions for obvious reasons.

 

4a. Is the Little Mermaid world as terribly un-fun as in KH1?

 

4b. Is the Colosseum host to anything cool as far as secrets this time around? Like trading up items or anything?

 

5. Are there still tons of annoyingly narrow ledges where enemies will bump/slam into you/blast you, sending you often falling into an abyss, making you trek your way back up, fight more enemies again, etc.?

 

6. Can you open chests when you're in a fight? I don't see why if Donald and Goofy are ganging up on a dying Heartless I can't open a lousy chest on a ledge. Well, other than it would make dungeons much, much shorter, of course.

 

7. Is it more or less linear than the first game? Run into any interesting/fun sidequests?

 

8. How awesome is Christopher Lee in the game?

[devo 0]

1. Absolutely. The main improvement is that there's actually a bit of a challenge to it this time. It's still a rail shooter, but instead of simply flying forward, the Gummi Ship twists and twirls through a wild predetermined path, bringing you into combat with tons of surprisingly unique enemies, the coolest of which so far has been a huge Heartless pirate ship.

 

2. Pretty much. A couple have deviated from that formula, but they're exceptions to the rule.

 

3. Stuck as party leader. In fact, there's several situations in which you'll be separated from Goofy and Donald.

 

4a. Even more so.

 

4b. I only have access to one tournament so far. I got a couple cool items for winning, but so far, I think all you can do is fight and win prizes.

 

5. Thankfully, those are virtually gone.

 

6. Yes.

 

7. So far, it's more linear. But I don't think I've gotten deep enough into the game to determine the amount of sidequests within.

 

8. Very.

[AndrewTS 0]

Okay, bosses still suck, TLM world sucks, and the rest is pretty much as expected without too many radical changes. Ah well.

 

A friend who picked up the game yesterday played it like all friggin' night and loves it, which probably means I'll *like* it at least.

 

I figured the linearity question was probably not going to get an answer right away anyway. Would be nice to see it a bit less structured, maybe with more puzzle solving in dungeons.

[AndrewTS 0]

Another question that may require further play:

 

So, I assume Gummi ship upgrades/redesigns are back? Are they pointless/necessary/interesting?

 

Personally, I like Ratchet and Clank style--there's a few useful upgrades you can do with it, but it's not overdone and the upgrades aren't pointless.

 

Of course, R&C has a wide variety of mini-games that manage to be fun and interesting as well as being worth replaying. The Gummi ship sequences seem to be remaining roughly the same.

 

Geez--while I *like* Kingdom Hearts, it's a game/series that I can't help but think "this series does this better" about. With the likely exception of presentation, of course.

[devo 0]

Yes, you can tinker with the Gummi Ship again, but in this game, you can receive blueprints for models just by clearing levels in the Gummi Ship. These allow you to instantly use whatever ship you found a blueprint for, and these ships grow gradually more powerful throughout the game. So, you can either make your own ship or simply use a range of very competent pre-made models the game offers you.

 

Also, after going through a difficult yet rewarding boss battle and an epic struggle against a thousand Heartless, I have to say that the game is finally living up to its potential.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Wondering: can you import KH1 data into this game?

[2GOLD 0]

I'm deep into the Mulan world and I'm wondering if I can have some gamplay with my cutscenes. This game might set a fucking record for cutscenes. Four hours and I've seen about 3 and a half hours of CUTSCENES for fuck sake. It's like it's nothing more than one big movie that happens to have a game in it.

 

I'm sure I'll feel better about it later but these early levels are going to cause some people to just return it for store credit. It's absolutely unbearable.