KH 2 reviews - Guide for Kingdom Hearts II

           KINGDOM HEARTS 2



           -CONTENTS-
    001: Summary
    002: Insider
    003: Info 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
001: Summary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           
        It has been a year since the events of KINGDOM HEARTS. Sora and friends are 
joined by a vibrant new cast of characters, including the king himself. Together, 
they will face countless dangers in worlds both familiar and brand-new. It seems 
the Heartless still exist. A new villain also awaits – but is it an old foe behind 
the mask, or a new menace? This mystery and others will be solved as the story 
unfolds in a grand adventure. KINGDOM HEARTS has sold over 4 million units 
worldwide and continues to gain popularity with fans of both DISNEY and SQUARE ENIX 
across the planet. 
KINGDOM HEARTS captured the imagination of gamers young and old by combining 
classic DISNEY properties and implementing new characters and worlds with SQUARE 
ENIX’s renowned style. The tale is brought to life by an all-star voice cast. Fans 
will revisit this beloved story and come to care for a new troupe of characters in 
KINGDOM HEARTS II. 
The release date for KINGDOM HEARTS II will be announced at a later date. This 
title has yet to be rated by the ESRB. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
002: Insider
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Who are the people behind the game? It will be the same people who designed, 
directed, and produced the first Kingdom Hearts. 
Director and Character Designer: Tetsuya Nomura
Producer: Shinji Hashimoto
Co-producer: Yoshinori Kitase
Scenario writer: Kazushige Nojima
Battle planner: Yuuichi Kanemori 
Kingdom Hearts 2 will take place one (1) year after Kingdom Hearts, with Sora still 
the main character. According to Tetsuya Noumura, Sora's new outfit is supposed to 
be of importance. Nomura also confirmed that the continued story for Kingdom Hearts 
2 is two times longer than the one in Kingdom Hearts. 
Also confirmed by reports, there as a new group who wear black cloaks (as you can 
see from screenshots of Final Mix, where the first unknown was introduced) that go 
by the name of "The Organization", or "The Order". The Order is a very mysterious 
group and the only thing we currently know about them is that they study the ways 
of the heart. As you know, Ansem controls the heartless, but a new character, the 
red-bandaged unknown, who goes by the name of Diz, controls this new group. In an 
interview with Dengeki Magazine, when asked if Diz was a member of The Order, 
Nomura said "he will have an important role." You can find more information about 
the members of The Order by clicking HERE. Also in Kingdom Hearts 2, there are 
creatures called the "Nobodies." The Nobodies however, are completely different 
from Heartless and are controlled by The Order. 
The worlds in Kingdom Hearts 2 are similar to the first with additions of a few 
more. One place where you will be able to return for sure is the Coliseum, which is 
said to be packed with more mini-games and activities, and better leveling-up. 
Besides the Coliseum, other worlds that you will visit in Kingdom Hearts 2 include 
Ancient China (Mulan), Halloween Town, Fable Countryside (Beast), Ancient Greece 
(Hercules), Twilight Town, Disney Castle, Hollow Bastion, Night Before Christmas, 
Castle Oblivion, Agrabah, and the latest addition, Pirates of the Caribbean. There 
are many other rumored worlds such as Traverse Town, End of the World, and 
Steamboat Willie but those 3 are not confirmed as of this writing. 
You also noticed Sora's new clothes which are now darker (complete black with black 
duds) compared to his clothes in Kingdom Hearts which were a whitish tone and much 
lighter. According to Tetsuya Nomura, these new clothes will play a big role in 
Kingdom Hearts 2. 
The battle system will stay the same in Kingdom Hearts 2, which separate Kingdom 
Hearts from other Square-Enix games. However, the battle system will feature some 
improvements with minor tweaks. Along with the battle system, the magic and 
summoning will be there, but it is not known if there will be the same summons. 
Nomura stated that there will the summoning will be very different in Kingdom 
Hearts 2. However, to many people's delight, the camera problems that were 
originally in Kingdom Hearts will be fixed. 
Aside from the camera problems being fixed, the Gummi Ship has said to be revamped 
as well. Gummi ships will still be featured in the game to travel between the 
worlds and it is said to be that this time around, gummi ships will be much faster 
and complex than before. Just like Kingdom Hearts, you will be able to customize 
your Gummi Ship, as well as much more that Nomura has not revealed. 
From the new screenshots, you notice a new place called Twilight Town, which seems 
more advanced than any other places that were previously seen in Kingdom Hearts. 
The name of the town actually seems to be rather symbolic of what may come in 
Kingdom Hearts 2, but the town itself looks very old-fashioned and neat. You can 
view an entire view of Twilight Town in this picture HERE. You can look at Twilight 
Town as the Traverse Town of Kingdom Hearts 2 somewhat. 
The abilities in Kingdom Hearts will be returning in Kingdom Hearts 2 but now, you 
can access several abilities by just pressing the 'triangle' button. The way this 
works is when you're fighting an enemy, directly above the enemy's head you will 
see a triangle appear, and the "COMMAND" option on the command menu will change to 
the name of the triangle attack in which you can press the triangle at that time to 
activate that attack/ability. Please note that all abilities are not necessarily 
all triangle attacks. 
The command menu has gotten a complete makeover, literally. As you visit the 
different worlds, the command menu will change its look and feel, depending on the 
world you are in. The addition to the command menu people have been raving about 
recently is "Drive", which if chosen can let you select a "Drive form", or a 
character to merge with. 
This new "drive" function, you can see in screenshots is next to Sora's health in 
the bottom right part of the screen and the Drive meter fills up as you destroy 
enemies and once it is full, you receive 1 drive point, and this continuous. We're 
not exactly sure what you can do with these drive points but you can expect the 
ability to execute powerful attacks, or even merge with other characters, as V-Jump 
magazine explained. 
Another cool feature in Kingdom Hearts 2, that is planned to be implemented, is the 
freedom to choose the keyblades you wish to wield while in the "Brave" form. Among 
other new features Nomura revealed to Dengeki Magazine was also the ability to 
fight huge armies that confront you. Though Nomura did not give away too many 
details, Nomura stated that there will still of course be 1-on-1 fighting but there 
will also be a way to fight large armies, mainly associated with the triangle 
button (as you read above). 
We expect when you do these abilities, it will use the MP bar, since that is how 
abilities worked before in the original Kingdom Hearts. It wouldn't be surprising 
if abilities did use the drive bar because this way, you could say the game would 
take place in a much faster pace. 
Below is a list of the abilities that we have heard about and seen through magazine 
scans and screenshots: 
o	Teleport
o	Air Juggle
o	Zeus' Thunder 
o	Herc's Might
o	Hermes' Tail
o	Safe Landing
o	Full Swing
o	Mawarikomu (sp?)
o	Wall Kick 
There is also one ability we learned in Chain of Memories called "Terra" which 
allows Sora control a heartless for a limited amount of time and make it fight 
Sora's enemies. It'd be quite believing to see this sort of ability in Kingdom 
Hearts 2 except we might see it used as a magic attack, or even one of our new 
nifty triangle attacks. There's no guarantee that this will appear in Kingdom 
Hearts 2 but it is very likely. 
Also in Kingdom Hearts 2, you can "fuse" with characters, in which Sora goes into 
his "Brave" form. For example, when Sora fuses with Goofy, Sora gains red clothes 
and two keyblades. Goofy then vanishes from the field while Sora is in this form. 
In the particular instance we saw with Goofy, Sora obtained the Oathkeeper while 
also fighting with his Kingdom Key. While fusing with Donald, Sora gains blue 
clothes and also gains different actions. Tetsuya Nomura says that there are some 
Brave forms that has many amusing tricks, so fusing with different characters will 
allow Sora to have different actions. 
And if you're wondering if you'll ever get to fight alongside King Mickey in 
Kingdom Hearts 2, Tetsuya Nomura told Dengeki Magazine that when King Mickey takes 
off his hood, you will understand everything. When asked if King Mickey has any 
relation with The Order, Nomura replied there might be a relationship, one way or 
another. 
Summoning in Kingdom Hearts 2 will also be different, from the original Kingdom 
Hearts, Nomura stated. No specific details were released on how but it could be 
possible that the summon comes in and just does 1 attack and leaves or the summon 
might use up your "drive points", or even the summon takes place of Sora, or 
another member of your group. As to questions on whether or not there will be a 
Kingdom Hearts 3, it highly depends on the success of Kingdom Hearts 2. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
003: Info 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
         Information here read is all the info as of 7:00 P.M. 2008 26 8 Friday. If 
you want to e-mail me for questions or compliments my address is 
[email protected]. Also if you want to ask questions to be posted all you 
have to do is ask and I’ll post it with an answer with your e-mail address. Thank 
you.