Kingdom Hearts Series

[Nightcrawler]

Anybody got Kingdom Hearts 2 or planning to get it? Looking for your impressions.

I started playing a bit of Chain of Memories awhile back.  That game was pretty different from Kingdom Hearts 1.  I'm not sure I like the whole card system at all. I hope Kingdom Hearts 2 isn't like this.

I hear Chain of Memories is supposed to be directly related to Kingdom Hearts 2?

[Gideon Zhi]

Plotwise KH2 does pick up after Chain of Memories, but I just read a story guide on gamefaqs to get caught up. I don't feel like I'm missing -too- much.

Gameplay's straight-up normal Kingdom Hearts, though. They've added a few extra elements to it to make combat a bit deeper - a chargeable overdrive mode ("Drive"), combo attacks ("Limit"s), and "Reaction Commands" where you just hit Triangle to dodge/counter/do-a-special-unique-move. At least, that's everything so far, and I've clocked about six hours...

The world map functions much, much better. No longer do you have to perform the shootemup sequence every time you travel a particular route, only the first time. The sequences are way better, too - they've become rotational railshooters along the lines of classic Panzer Dragoon games, complete with lockon lasers and everything. Extremely manic, quite good.

I'm having fun so far, at least

[Tintenfisch]

If I had a ps2 I'd get it, and I have also played Chain of memories and was severly disappointed, but when you're done with Sora you can play as Riku.

And captain hook was a god damn bitch.

[aspire]

Ive got KH2 and beat it. I felt it was all sizzle and no steak unfortunately. If you read the review at IGN, you will notice that many user reviews dont agree with it. However, I found the IGN review to be accurate.

KH1 was a great game and I must have beat it 5 or 6 times. The second improved in some areas but sacrificied other areas which were more crucial. This game has absolutely no exploring. Literally, treasure boxes are in plain site. Most worlds are extremely small with no opportunity to venture off. I could not beleive how confined it felt. Its like watching a movie where the cutscene is the videogame, instead of the reverse. The fighting is pretty crazy in terms of textures and speed, but its nothing more than "button mashing". No strategy, no skill ...just hit button. Storyline is somewhat interesting but can be a little confusing if you didnt play KH: Chain of Memories

The summons in the game were simply not needed and I dont think I used them even once. The other thing that bothered me is that you reach the end of the game long before you can acquire the synthesis items and many drive system skills. They packed all these high level skill/features in the game but the game is not long enough to take advantage of them. Of course, you can simply not beat the last boss and spend the next 20 hours leveling up, acquiring items and completing the journal.

I played the first time on "Proud mode", which is the highest difficulty possible, and even that didnt help with the easy gameplay.

That being said, the visuals in the game are pure eye candy. The music is good too. My gut feeling is that Disney had all the influence here and its really geared towards a younger less capable audience. When I looked at the box it said BVG (Buena Vista Games) which is different from the company that did KH1.

I'd take KH1 anyday over KH2.