KHII more light hearted???

[Zeeks11]

KH was a little darker than kH2. I think mainly because the KH2 storyline tried to be way too technical and it took away from that darkness and mystery, something that KH did very well.

 

[Raun]

I think that KH was darker than KH2. Especially with the End of the World. The music, enemies, and locations were all just creepy and dark. The World that Never Was just felt like a sci-fi level.

 

[RsOoXrAas]

i agree, i thought the music in the first game had a major impact on the darkness of it. the second game was a little too cheery for me, i hope that birth by sleep has that darkness and mysteriousness that the first kingdom hearts had

 

[Haeralis]

I like to say that Kingdom Hearts not only have a darker storyline, but it wasn't always in your face to say "Loook at my story, gais. It's dark and have nobodies who wants hearts". Why?

It was dark in subtle ways, especially with the choice of design. The Awakening in Kingdom Hearts was scary, especially with the music. Hollow Bastion give you a sense of sadness and mistique. The End of the World definitely gives you more sadness because it consist of worlds that ended in darkness, plus it puts you quite a fear in it.

It's childish fear, but it's fear nethertheless. It was dark in subtle ways in both story and the choice of design for Kingdom Hearts, which II lacked. And sadly, I'll never see executions like this again.

Yeah, Remember the first time you saw Darkside?
Yes Awakening, Hollow Bastion, And beyond all others were quite disturbing. Awakening was an eerie place with a voice telling you to not lose sight of the light and End of the World was the most ominous place in the series. It had basically demons living in it with its whole darkness atmosphere.

The only one I think KHII added to was Hollow Bastion. The world was much better in KHI but in KHII we learned the details. A few weeks ago I went to Hollow Bastions Rising Falls and just stared up at the castle. I was thinking... this is where it began. Where Xehanort tortured countless people. Where he murdered people and banished Ansem to the realm of nothingness. And where he ripped out his heart and destroyed the world.

KHII had its moments though. I really dont think that Square realized how deep they were going into the reaches of philosophy discussing people without emotions.

The irony of it is that, the trailer to II made everyone think it was going to be so much darker.

 

[Azrael]

If the story in Kingdom Hearts II was dark, then it pretty much have a unmatching character suited for the game [Sora]. If you made Kingdom Hearts II about another character, say Riku, then it would've compliment the 'dark storyline' better.

I don't know, maybe it's Sora's stupidity that annoyed me the most and really broke the mood. He literally haven't evolved since the Original in terms of personality and maturity. It's nice to be childish, but certainly not at crucial moments.

Riku would had been a nice playable character instead of Sora.

Sora had lots of development in Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories but apparently lost that by II.

 

[HerGuitar]

You guys might kill me, but honestly, I thought KH II was a bit darker than KH. Just my opinion though, nothing else. Maybe it was the fact that I played KH II first; whatever it was, Roxas and the Organization 13 addition contributed to the emotional and dark parts of the story even more than the first one did. The first KH in terms of story were too simplistic to me than the second one.

 

[Aria]

It's even worse when we find out Sora actually forgot about losing his heart.
"My Nobody? I never- *pause* Oh...."
facepalm

Yeah that was just horrible lol. I thought KHI was much darker. Sora's lack of maturity and his stupidity in the second game pretty much killed any attempt to make a scene darker.

 

[Reverie]

KHII was kinda dark, but KHI has a darker plot. One of the few things that added some darkness to KHII was the Organization members.