I heard Axel was originally going to die in the prologue of KHII and knowing that large portions of the story make more sense. He is kind of shoe horned in there accomplishing nothing more than getting Kairi off Destiny Islands (and he doesn't even do that well considering she gets away from him). I feel as if quite a lot of potential was missed there. If he wanted to see Roxas again he should have personally appeared to Sora more and actively did something.
The real problem with KHII story is that it boils down into three very long cutscenes with bosses. You have the extended opening, the battle at Hollow Basitan and the ending. I really enjoy those sections of the games but outside of that nothing is important in the slightest. Even the events with Xaldin don't feel significant at all.
Saïx was also dumb in not using his possession of Kairi to make Sora do whatever he wanted him to... Which he would have, seeing as how she means "more than anything" to him, and the Organization members that were in Castle Oblivion had already gone down this trail with Naminé. The only difference this time was that Kairi was actually Sora's love interest, and they wouldn't have needed memory manipulation to sway him.
Honestly, that plot point could have been done so much better. I wish it had been like what I've seen in some amvs, where Saïx shows Kairi to Sora for a moment, but then closes the Corridor a second after it (but the emotional impact's still much bigger), but I digress.
Anyway, on topic: for a very long time KHII was my favorite game in the series. Anticipating it for so long probably had something to do with it. But IDK. Though now I don't think it was executed well at all (and I think that's what the main problem in that game boils down to: execution), I did like the story.
I liked some of the gray areas that were implemented, where you did somewhat sympathize with the Organization for just wanting hearts. And that this game is really when they started to cement the idea that Darkness isn't bad.
I also really love the inclusion of the Nobodies, and that's actually one of my favorite things (ever) to date. I just think they're a cool species, and that it was a natural progression from the Heartless. And though most people didn't like the "Ansem" really being "Xehanort" thing, I actually kind of did. It was a simple plot twist, that--for the most part--made sense and could've been possible (something that KH really isn't known for doing anymore).
I did like the gameplay, but thought it made it way too easy.
Uhh... I used to like the character designs (even better than the first one's), but I don't anymore.
And though they weren't implemented well, I did enjoy seeing worlds like Pirates (since I was obsessed with it at the time) in the game.
And... I actually liked Sora in the game (dodges bullets). Let me clarify that: I liked the nice part of Sora in the game--who was more used to everything now and just sort of went with it--who tried to help everyone as best he could; I also liked that he'd overcome a bit of his bratty-ness from the first game, and was more of a character this time around (everyone else was, too, actually, and KH really started to have its own story in this game, as opposed to the first one where it was mostly the Disney plots).
I still do think that KHII Sora is the weakest writing wise, though. Because while those aspects of him were great... how dumb he was in the game, and how he was almost mean at certain points, certainly was not.
Anyway, I don't know where I'm going with this anymore. I used to love KHII, and I still do, but now the first game is definitely my favorite again, and I can easily see the flaws present in II. I do think that II wrapped up everything up rather nicely, though. (I also enjoyed seeing certain characters again, seeing characters unite, and getting people like Roxas introduced to the series. And I liked the idea that Roxas and Naminé would have to return to Sora and Kairi for them to be whole. It was a sacrifice and it was bittersweet... Something the series is sort of lacking now, since everyone always comes back to life. And at the time, I even did enjoy AtW's epic speech towards Xemnas and that kind of thing. Axel's death, Kairi getting stronger, and Riku starting to accept himself also really spoke to me. And... I was a sucker for the "romances" in SoKai and RokuNami that I'd perceived at the time.)
And for the most part... that game was still pretty sane and understandable (unlike the ones we have now). And I do think it did some things right, in having some ambiguity to it, but remaining light and upbeat at the same time. I mean, it could have been better, but I am glad that that's pretty much the one game in the series that isn't tragic. KHII was definitely the most comedic game of the series, though. That's for sure....
But, yeah. I just think KHII was a staple of its time and targeted age group. Because
at the time, I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and was almost glad that it was somewhat edgier and more Square-esque (and I even started to think that maybe they should take the Disney out around that time... blasphemy, I know). And I remember thinking that KHII was the coolest/darkest, and most interesting story that Disney was ever attached to. But I was a silly middle schooler, who loved KH to death and was only caring about "older" things at the time. What did I know?
Edit: And now that I think about it, I think the number of times I've played the game (because this is the KH game I've played the most) has made me like it less. I just got really tired of it after I finally got one-hundred percent. But seeing as how I'd played more than a hundred hours to do so, I guess that makes sense.
