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Please don't troll this. Is Kingdom Hearts 2 the best game so far?



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khandbz

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In my opinion after playing all of them yes i like kingdom hearts 2 but kingdom hearts 2.5 will be my favorite after i play it.
 

Ruran

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

Imo, no. Personally, I actually consider it one of the worst games in the series. Of the games I've played thus far I think the first is the best.
 

12kez90

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

Imo, no. Personally, I actually consider it one of the worst games in the series. Of the games I've played thus far I think the first is the best.
Why so? As I personally think the first is better in terms of story while the second is better in terms of gameplay.
 

Ruran

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

Why so? As I personally think the first is better in terms of story while the second is better in terms of gameplay.

I felt that the story, characters, and gameplay were downgrades from their predecessors. The story and characters felt like they took too much inspiration from the shounen manga that were prevalent at the time and the gameplay was all flash but no substance. Most of the games are sort of like this but KH2 is a true button masher through and through where all I have to do is win is press "X", and occasionally triangle, without much thought.

There's very little strategy involved and it quickly losses its sheen. I mean, last time I played KH2 I got through more than half the game in one siting but wasn't eager to finish it. It was fun at first because the fast paced, simple gameplay can be cathartic, but I got tired of "pressing X to win". Still haven't finished that save.
 

Zettaflare

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

Kh2 was a huge step backwords as Ruran pointed out. I think the worst thing about kh2 is the treatment of disney. In kh1, it felt so important since it was so well integrated in the narrative. But in kh2 it just felt like filler. The disney worlds and characters just didn't matter.


As far as being the worst in the series, personally I consider it the second worst. Coded is my least favorite in the series
 

Oracle Spockanort

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

Kingdom Hearts II is a rather polarizing game in the series. Either you loved it for the characters, gameplay, and story or you hated it for the characters, gameplay, and story.

I personally err on the side of dislike because of the same reasons Ruran listed. The characterization of the cast was really off and felt more like a reflection of the popular shounen series of the time (I.e. Naruto, Bleach), the gameplay was watered down from what it was in KH1 which makes most battles feel mundane and tedious, and the plot is fairly weak. The story drops multiple storylines and doesn't return to them until the very end of the game and it leaves you feeling disjointed over having not seen one "extremely important" character after 30+ hours of playing. The dialogue was awkward and unintelligent-sounding most of the time. Idk...I have a lot of gripes with KH2. I had fun playing it and I can't wait to play it next month but compared to games like BBS or KH1, KH2 is just...okay.
 

JustSnilloc

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

Vanilla KH2? Maybe... KH2FM? That treasure of a game is beautiful, and is easily my favorite (followed by Days)
 

Chaser

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

I love KHII. I think it's an excellent game and I can not wait until I get to play it again.

That said, imo, it's a good game, just not the best game. Birth by Sleep has one of the better stories in the series, and BBS with DDD has the best gameplay, and Re:coded taking the lead in character development. Hopefully KH3 can take the good story telling from the later entries with the gameplay from BBS/DDD and the character development from Re:coded and put forth the best game.
 

Shogo-Kun

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

Honestly, based on the three I've played and completed (KH, KHII, KHBbS), Kingdom Hearts II is my least favorite game in terms of story and characters. However, as a game, I love it. Birth by Sleep is a close second, with it edging out a bit in terms of character development and making the gameplay even more fun, though not having the replay value of KHII. The original Kingdom Hearts, what it lacks in the gameplay and engaging characters, it more than makes up for in it's amazing story!

Kingdom Hearts: Amazing story, Somewhat frustrating gameplay, characters are meh.
Kingdom Hearts II: Story is too Shonen, Exciting Gameplay with lots of replay value, piss poor characters.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: Story is... okay, Fun gameplay with horrible replay value, really good character.
 

rokudamia2

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

I always liked the gameplay even though I knew it was watered down from KH1. If you were to ask me 5 years what I thought of the story I'd have said it's the worst in the series but, I've recently replayed it and liked it a lot more then I remember. I actually dislike BBs's story more. Though kh2 is a very close second worse. Butm that's just my opinion.
 

Alecs27

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

I don't know what all of you mean when you say that KH2 is too shonen.. All KH games have shonen elements in them, 'cause THAT is the audience.
 

Max

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

When I first played KHI, it took me soooo long to beat it. It was challenging, there was tons to explore and discover, and the story was brilliant. I remember legitimately getting stuck on bosses and grinding wasn't the only thing to help lead me to victory, some of them required a certain kind of strategy.

Then Kingdom Hearts II eventually rolled along, and I beat it in two days. On Proud Mode. It was wayyy to easy, and honestly I thought the world designs felt much more linear. Don't get me wrong, I like KHII, and I am pumped to play Final Mix, but when I beat a game like that over a weekend on my first playthrough, it's a tad disappointing. I'm looking forward to critical mode in hopes it will fill that difficulty gap I need.

As far as the best battle system, I'm going to roll with Dream Drop Distance. It took everything I loved from the previous battle systems and made them better. Plus, flow motion was a freaking blast.

In terms of the funnest game though, freaking Re: Coded. I heard such mixed things about that game, and I was worried. But by the time I finally played it, I had so much more fun with it than I anticipated, with all of the different gameplay types represented such as side scrollers, turn based rpg's, rail shooters, and more. Plus, I was a fan of the story. The return to Castle Oblivion? God I fanboy'd everywhere. And that ending, perfect set-up to DDD. I would almost rather have Coded HD as a full game on PS3 and just get a Birth By Sleep Theater (personal preference people, let's not hate)
 

Blackdrazon

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

I don't know what all of you mean when you say that KH2 is too shonen.. All KH games have shonen elements in them, 'cause THAT is the audience.

Now, I don't quite agree with that. First off, Ruran's claim is that KH2 was like the shonen being made at the time. It was a time of complicated, flashy series, and KH2 falls into the genre's potential pitfalls by being overcomplicated and flashy (not a bad thing, in fact KH2's flash is very nice) without substance (is a bad thing). KH2 also doesn't stretch out past its genre restrictions. It's formula.

EDIT: Oh, as Launchpad has reminded me in the next post, the overexplanations are also a shonen thing, and as bad in shonen shows and manga as it is here. :S If I could remove one thing from an entire genre...

I also think it's also important to note that not all the KH games do fall into tight shonen tropes. KH1 is a Disney plot. CoM feels like its own beast. For me, coming from KH1 into CoM and then hitting this game is jarring in retrospect. And I don't know what sitting on top of a bell tower eating ice cream for a year is, as a genre (a character drama?), but it's certainly not in the same field as Bleach. Maybe for an arc or two, but not the entire product.

But I think the real crux is that, looking back on it, KH has its own identify now and KH2 feels like the largest outlier from that identity thanks mostly to its shonen tropes. CoM, BBS, coded, DDD, KHX and the Days manga: these are the entries that "feel most like" KH to me these days. KH1 hasn't come into its own, Days the game is only a little off mark, but KH2 is just... out there. And I will even say the entries that "feel like" Kingdom Hearts are games and a manga that happen to be shonen. They're just not defined by it, is the thing.

(Well, KHX doesn't strike me as shonen. KHX feels more like a Disney plot with its fable structure, but it still feels more like a modern KH game than KH1. Can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the BBS/DDD way the Keyblades look like they weigh forty pounds.)


Me too on coded, Max.
 
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Launchpad

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

The biggest problem with KHII that I can currently think of right now is the fact that there are no tough individual enemies. Every enemy is designed to be destroyed in a group with ease, to showcase how powerful Sora-kun has gotten teehee hee ^-^ such strength when in reality, it makes me as a player feel like a big dumb casual. I don't feel 'satisfied' with the ease I destroy enemies with. I like tough challenges. I like having to find a vantage point. I like feeling overwhelmed by enemies at End of The World. It's invigorating. Don't you want to beat those enemies? Don't you want to be proud of yourself for overcoming something that seems impossible at first glance? That's my biggest problem, outside of the
linearity
bad pacing
bad voice acting
unfunny scenes
overexplanations
poor use of disney
bad character design
too many villains
boring second visits
murder of hollow bastion's fun level design
lack of puzzles
lack of platforming
reuse of sephiroth as an extra boss
horrible ai for partners and enemies
bad soundfont
overpowered super moves
drive forms
3 hour tutorial
no development
too many minigames
reaction commands
giant combos
lame mp bar
lame magic
and EDGY MOMENTS.

I'm.. not a big fan. I still can have some fun with KH2FM. It's better than Days.
 

Gram

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

I felt that the story, characters, and gameplay were downgrades from their predecessors. The story and characters felt like they took too much inspiration from the shounen manga that were prevalent at the time and the gameplay was all flash but no substance. Most of the games are sort of like this but KH2 is a true button masher through and through where all I have to do is win is press "X", and occasionally triangle, without much thought.

There's very little strategy involved and it quickly losses its sheen. I mean, last time I played KH2 I got through more than half the game in one siting but wasn't eager to finish it. It was fun at first because the fast paced, simple gameplay can be cathartic, but I got tired of "pressing X to win". Still haven't finished that save.

Kh2 was a huge step backwords as Ruran pointed out. I think the worst thing about kh2 is the treatment of disney. In kh1, it felt so important since it was so well integrated in the narrative. But in kh2 it just felt like filler. The disney worlds and characters just didn't matter.

More or less my sentiments on it as well. Even KH2FM couldn't fix the mess that was KH2 for me. If anything all KH2FM fixed was the overly easy difficulty.

Another gripe I have with it is villains. Organization 13 was built up, or at least given grounds to be good, in Chain of Memories. They were these mysterious incomplete beings with strange powers and a simple goal to become whole again.
However they hardly ever appear. In KH1 and Chain of Memories you get small glimpses of the villains plotting and talking and they played a role in the parts that matter.

In KH2 however you see them at the start of KH2 and a bit in Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden then....that's it. No behind the scenes plotting, no foreboding presence or even a presence of any kind.
They literally don't exist in the story till the second half of the game starting with the second return to Radiant Garden, in a few second world visits and then of course the ending.

They just have no presence. Makes them feel even more like typical, and might I say bad, shounen villains such as the ones present in Bleach. Just a filler villain a week.
 

Elysium

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

The best games for me are KH, CoM, and DDD. KH has a great story and moderately good gameplay (plus platforming which was mostly gone in later games). I feel the same way about CoM, except points off for the Disney levels being pointless/repetitive--even if they were well-written here. 3D has a good story, imo, (as far as pacing, etc.; I just accept that time travel was going to be part of the story regardless even if I don't like it), and great gameplay--jmo.

KH2 did have great voice acting and graphics, but I think DDD has equally great or superior graphics. The story in KH2 is a mess because the pacing/writing is awful. It definitely had a lot of potential, and I'll probably like it more once I play Final Mix. As it is though, I still consider it my least favorite game in the series--although I'll be more likely to re-play KH2 than BbS or Days.
 

Lonbilly

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

Words cannot describe how excited I am to play KH2FM when 2.5 releases, but that being said, I don't think it is the best on the series. I think it is my least favorite, actually, despite how much I do love it.

I think the best really come down to BbS, Re:coded, and DDD. BbS had o.e of the best stories thus far in the series, and we finally got a main character who wasn't a clone. Not to mention Master Xehanort, Vanitas and Braig are all the main villains we really need for the story.

Re:coded has probably the best character development and the best fleshed out gameplay. Every world has its own functions, platforming made a great come back, and it took a lot of risks that worked out incredibly well. My one gripe was not having the exact style of Command Melding from BbS, where I could essentially max out my health towards the begonning of the game.

DDD, however, is probably the most fun I have ever had with a KH game. Flowmotion was great, the acting was great, Riku and Sora's stories were similar to the style BbS had going on, and the plot finally comes together. Plus, the worlf designs are the best they have ever been.

Essentially, what I'm saying is I think the newer games are much better (Osaka has my heart), and they don't have quote as many flaws as many agree KH2 suffered from.

Despite the iffy story, I do think KH2 had much better acting than KH1, and is one of the best games acting-wise, excluding Richard Epcar who didn't rock the role of Ansem until Re:CoM.
 

Wander

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

I liked it. I think my favorite would still be the original, but I really enjoyed KH2. Writing was shoddy, but I didn't really mind the characters outside a select few, my only real problem is that the gameplay was a huge step down from the original. It's flashy yeah, I know they meant for you to feel powerful and show how much Sora has improved, but damn the game had little strategy beyond mashing buttons and using poorly balanced magic. Also, Drive Forms were stupid because they ENCOURAGED you to mindlessly mow down hordes of enemies with little effort. Aside from that, I guess my main gripe would be the linearity of the worlds (there's really no good excuse for that) and the Disney characters taking a back seat.

Aside from that, I really had fun with it. I really enjoyed the introduction of Namine (didn't play CoM before), Roxas (god forbid me actually liking this character), Axel (again, didn't play CoM before), and even AtW. If anything I think the returning characters were the ones who ended up being lackluster (except maybe Riku), Org XIII was also handled pretty poorly IMO and was a missed opportunity because they could have potentially ended up being pretty good antagonists.
 

Xehanort-X-blade

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

my favirouts are kh2 khbbs kh days but why i love kh2 4 reasons i love it because 1 many worlds 2 the musics 3 the battles 4 storyline yeah kh2.5 well be epic becuase kh2 and bbs my faviroute too games and new recoded movie well be epic XD
 

Sora2016

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Re: Please dont troll this. Is kingdom hearts 2 the best game so far?

Yeah, most people have already said how I feel. Kingdom Hearts 2 is definitely not my favorite in the series, but I wouldn't say it was my least favorite either, that goes to Days like many other people also haha. I have had the pleasure of playing Final Mix already, and it did fix a lot of my problems with both the story and gameplay. Unfortunately it still suffers from its horrible writing and pacing storywise, and while the difficulty was upped all around in the Final Mix version the gameplay is still way more button mashing than any other game in the series. Oh, and I'll never forgive how horribly weak they made the party members just so Sora could be obnoxiously overpowered. Its like they forgot how to balance them all or something...

That being, said I did still enjoy the original KH2 and the Final Mix version even more so, and I am looking forward to getting to play it again at the end of the year :)
 
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