I Did Not Like Kingdom Hearts 2 and I Have A Lot to Say About It
It might be an improvement from the first but that doesn't make it enjoyable and the interesting story does not save the game from the tremendous failures of the gameplay design.
In 2002, Square Soft (now Square Enix) published the first Kingdom Hearts and people liked it from what I remember. They liked the crossovers in the story and a sequel was a given, yet I doubt anyone realized how many game were gonna be made in the franchise all the way back then. And when Kingdom Hearts 2 came out in 2005, people adored it. And yet, because I didn't have any PlayStation consoles until I bought a Ps3 in 2008, I never got to play the game.
So when I played the original Kingdom Hearts earlier this year and did not enjoy it I was pretty disappointed. The story was good but the game just wasn't fun. The gameplay was trash, the camera was absolutely awful, the game never told me where to go so I was constantly just wandering around having no idea why I wasn't able to progress the story. It was needlessly hard due to the above issues, and I just did not have a good time. But since I bought all the games on a steam sale I wanted to continue trying, plus my best friend as a kid was a giant fan of the games and we would talk about how we each had a series where we wanted a third entry because we loved the series so much (mine was KoTOR and that never materialized) so I figured I should push through just for that memory. To really know what I was missing out on and honestly, I didn’t really enjoy it, there was some great directing in the cutscenes but that didn’t make the game better. Kingdom Hearts was a really interesting proof of concept and the sequel improved on it while still having massive issues and large frustrating parts and, as nostalgia wasn’t a part of my experience, those parts really stuck out and made me hate so much of my experience. And the game was so fucking tough to get through and not because of difficulty.
Note: I'm aware it is a game for kids, but I also know that plenty of adults loved the games back in the day so I see no reason why I cannot judge it based on how I, an adult, have absorbed it. Besides, plenty of media for kids can be enjoyed by adults
The bad
I just don't like that the jumping is so fucking floaty. I know this is ps2 era so people were still getting used to creating this type of gameplay but it's just incredibly frustrating and just makes a significant amount of the game be very unpleasant.
There are also occasionally moments where you need specific people to be around you in order to do an action but that isn't communicated at all and that is just immensely frustrating. For instance, in Beasts Castle, you have to light lanterns when leaving the dungeon and you need both Lumiere and Mrs. Potts there to do it. That is not communicated at all and even if it was, they both travel extremely slowly and if you get too far way from them they won't travel at all. So I spent 5 minutes trying to light the last Lantern but Mrs. Potts never showed up because I had been ahead of her so much. It was absolutely bullshit and just infuriating. It should have said something to show that I needed them both or just simply have them travel faster. I shouldn't have to wait for these fucking characters to slowly hop hop hop over to where I need them, just let them hop on my back or something, by the time Mrs. Potts got to the last lantern I had only a couple seconds left before I had to go back to the start. It was just infuriating and BS. The game is FILLED with this lack of communication as if that's a good thing but that just makes it frustrating and not fun. Thankfully, unlike the first game, the journal actually tells you what your current goal is in that world while still not communicate everything, including super important information like where I'm supposed to go to do those things. The journal might be improved but it's still so inconsistent that when it is sometimes helpful, it makes you hopeful it will always be helpful. So when it then becomes not helpful, it's extra disappointing.
The game also takes very important gameplay actions away from you so you can "feel like you're gaining power as you play". For instance, you now have to re-unlock the Quick roll by leveling up one of your Drive forms . This fucking sucks. Many games that are direct sequels decide to remove certain abilities in order to re-give them to you as you progress. This is just a trash decision when you dont want to think of new interesting combat abilities. This instance of it is incredibly frustrating and an incredibly terrible decision that simply pulls more fun out of the game. I shouldn't have to play 12 hours of a game to be able to fucking dodge roll.
And not only do you have to re-unlock those movement abilities, they're actually restricted behind the different Drive forms, which are timed. In the prior game I could do them whenever, but here I have a time limit on how long I can dodge roll and that’s just shit. There were better ways to make those forms feel powerful when it came to movement, hiding those very helpful movement skills behind the forms just makes the normal gameplay feel worse. I like dodge rolling, I like dashing forward. I shouldn't have a limit on how often I can do that. That's just bad game design. Hell, in the wisdom form you're basically skateboarding around the world and shooting out of your Keyblade, I already feel powerful with that! Why add on the dash as being a part of that form when I already feel powerful? Just give the fucking dash for normal gameplay, you've already made powerful forms without the movement abilities. Limiting them to your Drive forms just makes normal gameplay feel like trash.
And not only do they limit your movement abilities to your Drive forms, they take those limit forms away from you whenever you have a character from the world in your party BUT only if they can do a combo move. In Halloween Town, for instance, you can't go into a Drive form that you're used to if you have Jack in your party. Instead you do this fancy combination move. Which is not fun, and then in Agrabah when you have Aladdin in your party you are still able to use your Drive forms because he doesn't provide any combo moves. I do understand why they made the combo moves, so that having those party members in your party feels special, but did they really have to remove the ability to use your Drive forms? I just don't get it. Why couldn't I have the limit forms and the combo ability? This wouldn't be such a terrible gameplay decision if you had the movement abilities in normal gameplay.
Note: I also experienced, multiple times, a glitch that literally locked me out of my Drive forms and I didn't realize it, thinking I just wasn't allowed to use them. Eventually I tried reloading a save and it fixed it. Having that glitch happen was really frustrating. That said, the prior paragraph still applies and it is still a bad gameplay design decision.
Okay this one is a me thing. I absolutely hate the Gummi ship minigame. I get the purpose of it, to make initial traveling more interesting and provide a nice gameplay shakeup so you don't have to do the same thing over the entire game, but i just, I hate it. It's not fun, it's confusing, it's overwhelming. When there is so much on the screen and I'm fighting a giant Pirate ship, how am I supposed to see if a part of the ship is reacting to my shooting when there's tons of enemies on the screen that cover up so much of the screen and flash from being hit just like the pirate ship. It just feels so...awful. Now, I know a lot of people like this part of the game, my partner talks about how they loved this portion of the game, yet it just isn't for me and I desperately wish I could somehow skip it so I don't have to do it at all. It's not as bad as the first game since once I've done it once to unlock a place I never have to again, and it has more interesting maps, and unlike the first game when until I unlocked a wormhole I was stuck doing it every time. And yet I still did not enjoy it.
This is a tiny, tiny one that really doesn't impact my enjoyment of the game, it's just a film making thing that, as a former film student, kinda bothers me. There are frequently moments where the camera holds on one shot for way too long. Even just a second less would have been better than the length of the camera hold. Its just not good film making and desperately needed to be edited down to make it feel better as an experience. Again, this is a former film student nitpicking and it doesn't impact the games enjoyment despite being just not good.
Next, this combat gameplay is absolute trash. It being ps2 era is not an excuse because there were ps2 games with far better combat than this. It is awful. I'm constantly just barely missing enemies because of the tiny and finicky hit boxes and attacks, there's a delay between button press and actual attack, the lock-on system is shit because you can't switch between enemies. Sora is sooooooo slow without a Drive form and because they limit movement abilities to them, it is a painful experience running (or should I say walking) between enemies. There were several times where enemies would be locked in an attack animation and because of that I couldn't hit them because of the slow reality of attacking and moving. Then, there is the inconsistency of the combat, there were so many times when I wanted to charge forward with my Keyblade for an attack, but I would just slash down, I could never get it to trigger consistently so I was constantly just in front of a target and wanting to attack them with that charge ability and then just slashing right in front of them. And some of the enemies move so fast that its extra hard to hit them in time with your super slow move-set. Like in the final battle with Xehanort, he moves so fast constantly that I'm barely able to even hit him in between his flurry of constant attacks and dashing around faster than I can even try to move. It's just trash. It was painful and awful and I just hope Kingdom Hearts 3 actually makes it better because I don't know how I'm gonna play it otherwise.
The game is missing music (and occasionally dialogue in places that would make sense and are in the scenes that are ripped from the movies) in key cutscenes that would make the overall feel of the game so much better. I don’t think it's because they couldn't get the rights or something because they have music from the gameplay sections that they could have used. In the final fight in the first part of the Pirates of the Caribbean world for instance, there's basically no music in the cutscene with Jack and Barbosa fighting, but there is during the gameplay. And the dialogue in that scene doesn’t finish, when jack should be saying "I couldn’t resist mate" about stealing a medallion, instead he just stares at the camera silently for a couple seconds and then it moves on. It doesn't feel like it would have been that hard to include the music, since they have the rights to some of it that they had been using in the gameplay, or would have been hard to record that single Jack line for Pirates. This happens repeatedly and it just kinda falls flat. The cutscenes in the Disney worlds all feel low quality. Like they were done by a team that just didn't get some basics of film making or the basics of the Disney films they were using.
Something incredibly frustrating and again, stupid game design, is that you can't defeat bosses on normal hits. So if the boss is at death health level, you can't defeat them until you finish a combo on them, and because you're so fucking slow it can often be incredibly difficult to complete a combo. It's stupid and pointless. Just let me defeat a boss on any attack.
Finally, as I said in my intro, it was hard to get through this game. It was exhausting. I just kept getting burnt out and not wanting to keep playing, it took me a while to complete it, even though I kept pushing through. Honestly, I wish the game was shorter. I liked that the worlds changed after the massive fight in Hollow Bastion, but I still wish the game was shorter. Getting burnt out on a game sucks.
The Good
The game made some massive improvements when it comes to the camera. Being able to actually see what's in front of me makes it immensely more enjoyable to play, like significantly. I can't express enough how pissed I was getting with the first game about this so when I finally loaded up the second game I was immediately so much happier playing.
The story is far more interesting and enjoyable to go through and the world variety is still really really enjoyable and there's awesome character development moments. Once the game had proved it had an audience to capitalize on, the developers definitely decided to make an actually interesting and layered story that has a multitude of unique characters instead of only Disney and final fantasy characters. This was something I really appreciated and I believe most people did when they originally played this game, the first game was definitely far more simplistic so to have this mildly more complex narrative is much more satisfying to see progress. I think my biggest issue in the story comes only from adapting the Disney stories to the game as opposed to the overarching story being uninteresting. I wish they had expanded on the movies, not just repeated them like they did in the first one too, often to the detriment of characters in the world, but ah well, at least there's still more complexity even without as much as I wanted, and that's what matters.
The world variety isn't just improved, it also changes more than it used to. What I particularly love, and I know others do too, are the ways the UI and the character designs (and even sound when it comes to Silent River) will change based on what world they are in. This just provides so much character and personality that the first game only had in Halloween Town so I'm very happy to have seen them expound on those concepts. Add on that the game adds more to the worlds you have already explored as you go on and I was happy with the story, despite it being a slog sometimes, as I have already mentioned.
Another film making comment: Despite there being bad decisions when it comes to editing in the Disney world cutscenes, there are also some really good moments in the cutscenes where the camera is held just long enough and have the exact right atmosphere. While these aren't very common, the moments they happen are incredibly satisfying and well done. There's a moment when Xehanort is walking down this spiral pathway and it's an incredibly unique and unusual area. The camera holds because it wants you to feel uneasy. To feel unsure of what is coming. It's an incredibly well communicated moment of unease that reminds me of moments in Hitchcock films where he purposeful holds the camera. Film making can communicate a lot to you without actually telling you. It can make you feel things without realizing it. For instance, in moments of shot reverse shot for conversations, there's something called the 180 degree rule where you shouldn't break that 180 degree of the camera position. So if someone is looking left while they're talking to someone in one shot, when you cut to the other person you have to have them looking right so it makes sense. This is a constant in good film making, and there are times when you break that rule to make the viewer feel weird. To make them feel like something is off about the scene. It's also similar to the canted angles doing the same thing. The hold in the spiral staircase moment is one of these invisible film making communications.
There's also some really good blocking in the Organization XIII scenes. There's a moment where one of the characters is on a staircase, not long after the scene i mentioned above, and they are discussing something with a person who is further down on the staircase on a landing. There's this fantastic shot where we see the characters at opposite ends of the screen with one above the other. This communicates incredibly effectively the character believes he is above the other, that because he has more information, he's better than him. It's a really well done shot and I very much enjoyed it. I only wish that these great blocking and shots extended to the non-Organization XIII scenes. It feels like the Organization scenes and the Disney scenes were made by two completely different teams with completely different ideas of how to make good cutscenes.
The Ending
As everyone who has played this game knows, the story is fucking complex and often confusing so I’m gonna do what I can to summarize the ending then give my opinions, as usual. Once you make it to The World that Never Was and Sora fights Roxas, we find out that despite Xehanort, and everyone else, insisting that the people in Organization XIII don't have Hearts, it turns out they likely do. They're supposed to not feel, but Roxas and Axel obviously care for each other, it becomes obvious Xehanort is simply exploiting the members of the Organization to complete his plan.
We then see Kairi escape the dungeon by Naminè coming to save her. To which it shines this bright light out of the dungeon and allows Sora and the team to infiltrate Nothing Castle. Then Riku helps Kairi avoid the Organization.
Then we find out that Sora defeating all the nobodies has been feeding the Kingdom Hearts in this world and that if he does any more killing, he will cause it to complete. Then Kairi gets a Keyblade and her and Riku go to fight some Nobodies. Then Maleficent and Pete decide to try and fight the Organization themselves for their own personal gain. Then, Mickey saves Ansem from some Nobodies. Turns out the real Ansem and Riku have been chilling together. Then as Riku goes on his own journey searching for Roxas he apparently became weakened and chose to use the power of darkness which turned him into the adult we see him as because he was a victim of Ansem's quest for revenge against Xehanort.
Then Sora fights Xigbar who disappears after the fight. Then Sora goes to help Riku and Kairi because even though they said Sora was the useless one without them, they need Sora to come in to help because reasons. Sora realizes who Riku is and the team, now with Kairi and Riku, head off to the fight Xehanort.
Then Ansem uses some device to reclaim Kingdom Hearts before it completes. Then, you have to fight Luxord and Saïx, find out Roxas is Sora's Nobody, which we already knew but Sora didn't. Then Ansem fails at absorbing the Kingdom Hearts, we discover Ansem inspired Xehanort to create all Heartless, the machine explodes, Ansem sacrifices himself, the explosion rains down Hearts on this world, Riku becomes himself again, the castle gets overrun with Heartless which the Maleficent and Pete fight off, and we go to the final fight with Xehanort.
This fight goes on so long with multiple phases and cutscenes. It's exhausting. Everyone but Sora and Riku escape. Then they have to fight more Xehanort together, and this time he’s a Dragon in an annoying on rails section that I couldn't wait to be over. Then you defeat Xehanort after 5 phases of pain and way too quick attacking. Sora and Riku end up in this between world where it's just a beach and they chill together, then get a note from Kairi which allows them to walk through the door of Light to come back home to their original world from Kingdom Hearts 1 to reunite with the Disney crew and Kairi.
By the end of all this, I was so fucking done. Don’t get me wrong, there were parts of the ending I appreciated. I liked the character development, the world and level design was great. But the fights? Fuck that shit. The ending story wise may have been good but gameplay wise it was trash.
The Conclusion
I think the one thing this game showed me as I played it is how much we as an industry have come since the ps2 era. Kingdom Hearts 2 turns 20 years old next year and its age is showing, especially during the frequent and annoying quick-time events. It might have been a great game for the time but the gameplay has not aged well. I think a lot of people have this nostalgia for this game because it was such an important part of their childhood, but it's just not a very good game. There are parts of it I appreciate, don't get me wrong, but nostalgia does not make a game good. The same thing happens with different aspects of games around the same time. Like in KotOR with thinking the combat gameplay was great despite it being trash and horribly balanced or in the Dragon Age games thinking the combat was great despite it having so many frustrating elements. Nostalgia allows us to have this place in our hearts for the memories of days gone by, and often when you revisit those memories you realize how bad it actually was. I think if I had played the game back in the day, I'd probably have liked it a lot more. But here in 2024, it just hurt.
Kingdom Hearts 2 has improvements from the first game, but it's just...not very good and I'm desperately hoping that the third game is significantly better because otherwise it's gonna be a hell of a slog to get through that one too. If you haven’t played Kingdom Hearts 2 before and ever find yourself wanting to play it, I’d recommend you just watch a playthrough so you don’t have to deal with all the shit gameplay. And if you played the game back in the day and are thinking about replaying it, maybe do the same.
Note: I have significant nostalgia for games from back when I was a kid but that still doesn't make them good games or fix that they have massive fundamental issues. It is okay to have fond memories and also understand the broader context behind those memories.
Meow,
Cat