Kingdom Hearts 2 Retrospective

We arrive at the big one. Kingdom Hearts II is not my favorite game of the series, but it is a majority favorite (as far as you can tell on the internet. I remember the buildup to this game vividly. I was an active member of the KHInsiders forums. I spent much of my time theorizing with other fans there (along with the occasional RP. Stories for another time). Whether it was about the mysterious Blonde-Haired Kid that popped up for a hot second at the end of Chain of Memories (and the original game's secret ending), the Blindfolded Unknown, or the mysterious Twilight Town world that also appeared for a hot second in COM. IT was one of the most exciting release cycles I ever experienced. And the game did not disappoint.

Story

Kingdom Hearts II has a fairly long story so let's see if I can condense it and still make sense. The game begins with brand new (ish) Roxas and his friends lamenting the last week of summer break. Over the course of the next week they: Work jobs to save up for a trip to beach (but never go), do their summer assignments at the last minute (Never let it be said this series is unrealistic), investigate the left of the literal word "photo,", and participate in a local combat tournament. The whole time, Roxas has dreams of Sora's life, experiences his own Dive to the Heart, is found by Axel (Who tries to coerce him to come back to the Organization), and gets mugged by a different man in a black coat. He also manifests the Kingdom Key a couple times. At the end of the week, it is revealed Roxas is in a computer simulation, which he promptly escapes. He finds himself face to face to with Sora and DiZ, the latter convincing him to rejoin Sora and thus Roxas' summer vacation ends.

Sora then wakes up, finds Donald and Goofy, and makes his way to the Mysterious Tower, home of Yen Sid. Yen explains to the gang that the Heartless are still plaguing the worlds and there is a new enemy: Nobodies. When a heart falls to darkness, a Heartless is created from said heart, but a Nobody is also formed by the body left behind. The three good fairies from Sleeping Beauty make Sora a new outfit and the gang sets out to find Riku, Mickey, and the cause of the Heartless and Nobodies attacking worlds. The first stop is Hollow Bastion to reunite with the Traverse Town gang and get threatened by Organization XIII, the true name of the Organization from COM. From there they set out to uncover Organization XIII's plot and save the worlds. They travel to Disney worlds new and old thwarting Organization and Disney villain (including a revived Maleficent and her new sidekick Pete) plans until they eventually return to Hollow Bastion.

On this trip, Sora and the gang travel into the Hollow Bastion Castle and learn arguably the biggest twist in the series: the Ansem they defeated in KH was an imposter. He was really Ansem's rogue apprentice, Xehanort. Or rather, his Heartless. And when there's a Heartless, there's a Nobody. And that Nobody is Organization XII's leader: Mansex...err Xemnas. This explained by King Mickey who has been on an information gathering mission for some time. He knows where Riku is, but tells Sora that he promised not to tell anyone. This culminates in Maleficent appearing to save the gang from death and they are sent to return to all the worlds they've already visited to thwart more Organization plans. Several times, Sora, Donald, and Goofy encounter a mysterious man in an Organization coat that wields Riku's Souleater sword. Eventually, they are led back to the Mansion in Twilight Town where they learn of the data world Roxas was trapped. The gang find a backdoor path to Organization XIII's hideout, The World That Never Was (TWTNW). While traversing the path between worlds, they are confronted by Axel who ends up siding with the gang and sacrificing him life so they can make it to TWTNW.

At the same time as Sora's journey, Axel attempts to kidnap Kairi on Destiny Islands, but she escapes with some help from Pluto and a mysterious dark portal. She is eventually capture by Organization XIII and imprisoned in their castle hideout. Kairi breaks out with the help of Namine and the mysterious man with Souleater: Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (Dun Dun Dun). Sora experiences a vision that has him fight Roxas (inside him heart, naturally) after which Roxas accepts that Sora is the real one and he is nobody. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey reach the Organization's castle where Mickey splits off to go find DiZ. After fighting their way through Nobodies (Including Xigbar), they find Kairi and "Ansem," who is revealed to be Riku in disguise. The three continue to climb the castle, defeating the remaining Organization members until only Xemnas remains. This is when they run into the King and DiZ. DiZ attempts to convert the Kingdom Hearts Organization XIII has been building into data, but his machine is overwhelmed and explodes, taking him with it. The full gang then confront Xemnas for the final battle, although Kairi and Mickey are shut out (in kind of comedic fashion). Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy defeat Xemnas and the castle starts to fall. Riku creates a portal and everyone except he and Sora escape. Turns out Xemnas isn't quite finished yet, but Sora and Riku take care of that and escape TWTNW. They end up in the Realm of Darkness until a door of light appears and they walk through, returning to Destiny Islands, where Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey are waiting and the gang is reunited.

The big theme of this game is identity. Roxas struggles with not knowing his past or his purpose. Sora struggles with his lost memories from Chain of Memories and the fact that Organization members keep calling him Roxas. Which begs the question: Are Sora and Roxas two halves of one whole, their own separate beings, or something in the middle? Despite discovering his path and conquering his darkness in the previous game, Riku is afraid of the little bit of Ansem inside himself and how he thinks his friends would feel about that. The Organization each struggle with whether or not they should even exist. Are they real people? They don’t have hearts so how can they ever be considered real? And we can’t forget the Xehanort/Ansem twist. It is literally a case of stolen identity.

Even the Disney worlds tie into the theme (Mostly). Beast’s castle has him discover his true self a la the film while Simba struggles with whether or not he should be king. The problem with the Disney worlds in this game (and many of the following ones) is that while they tie in with the overarching plot of the game thematically, you could just as easily cut them and the story would remain mostly intact. That is not to say they have no baring on the story, it is just minimal. They feel like a diversion and the fact you have to visit them all multiple times makes many of them feel like filler. This is… suboptimal for a game with a heavy Disney-based marketing campaign.

Characters

I have four groups I want to address: Disney characters (a limited group anyway), DiZ, Organization members, and the main trio of Sora, Riku, and Kairi.

So, the Disney characters aren’t super impor—HOLY SHIT GUYS GOOFY DIED! In maybe the greatest scene in video game history, I remember being absolutely stunned. And then Mickey throws off his coat and summons his Keyblade and its go time. Of course, Goofy is fine in the ends, but it was still shocking. The thing I like most about this scene is how effortlessly it shows Mickey’s loyalty and care for his friends. This is exemplified several times throughout the game, specifically when Sora asks him where Riku is. The king can’t tell him because Riku made him promise to keep it a secret. He is also keeping Riku’s form as Ansem, Seeker of Darkness a secret. Same with DiZ/Ansem the Wise. He considers Ansem a true friend and is devastated to see how far his friend has fallen. Mickey does everything he can to convince Ansem to give up his quest for revenge and instead redeem himself. HE is a very good mouse king.

Maleficent and Pete are also in this game, causing havoc for everyone throughout a number of worlds. They are a fun distraction from Organization XIII, but their plotline is not resolved in this game and is not particularly interesting so it’s hard to care too much.

So, the mysterious DiZ (Never forget that means Darkness in Zero) is really Ansem on quest for revenge to stop his former protégé and maybe earn himself redemption for the experiments he allowed Xehanort to conduct. To this end, he recruits Riku and Namine to capture Roxas and put him in a computer simulation until Sora is ready to wake up from his year long nap. He also tries to manipulate events from behind the scenes, but must eventually come out of hiding for his final act of trying to destroy Xemnas’ artificial Kingdom Hearts. It is a somewhat dark mad scientist role that he plays and Christopher Lee SELLS IT. The only problem with DiZ is that his motivations are mostly only explained in the Secret Ansem Reports you can pick up. This isn’t terrible, but I know a lot of players do not read those so I wish they would have found time to add it into the main story. Also, DiZ makes Riku steal the money Roxas and his friends save for a trip to the beach because he is too lazy to program in a beach area…

The infamous BHK

Organization XIII was originally made up of 13 members: Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Saix, Axel, Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia, Larxene, and Roxas. We discussed a number of those in the Chain of Memories retrospective so I won’t get into them here. The first thing you need to know about the group, though, is that each of their names is an anagram of their original name with a X added in (i.e. Axel is Lea and Roxas is Sora). Xaldin, Demyx, and Luxord are the three that interfere with Sora the most throughout the Disney worlds. Xaldin is trying to prevent Beast from finding love, which he believes will cause him to become a Heartless. He is very arrogant and little unpredictable, but otherwise is mostly just here to be a boss. The same can be said for Luxord, the stoic gambler. He shows up to mess with the cursed gold in Port Royal. While he escapes, his boss fight appears apropos of nothing and then he’s gone. Demyx is a fun character in his limited screen time because he is a coward. He does not want to fight anyone or cause any conflict. He just appears to have been bullied into joining the Organization. The Goofy death scene occurs right after Demyx’s boss fight so that is a plus for Demyx in my book.

Axel and Saix are friends. They have been since before they became Nobodies. This gives them a tighter bond than anyone else in the Organization except Roxas and Axel. They also seem to have a plan to overthrow Xemnas and use the Organization to their own ends, although we don’t know what those are. Saix is Xemnas’ number two and thus presumably know all of his plans. This includes the secret room he has been searching for in Castle Oblivion. Why exactly he wants to stage a coup is unclear, especially once Dream Drop Distance was released, but we will get to that in time. Axel’s motivations are also somewhat unclear in this regard. He does not know all of Xemnas’ plans, but trusts Saix enough to help him. Even though his role in Chain of Memories was to put a stop to revolutions by other Organization members. He is the only Organization member to have a change of heart in this game and join the light. All because he just wants to Roxas again. He sacrifices his life to save his friend. To be completely honest, this scene and the flashbacks to Roxas leaving the Organization make me tear up every time. I imagine this happens to quite a few fans as he is one of the most liked characters in the series.

Roxas is basically Sora, but angry at his most distilled. But he also has a habit of questioning things around him, unlike Sora. I don’t want to get too deep on him because 358/2 Day is coming next, but Roxas’ struggle to figure out who his is and what that means is one of the most compelling stories of the series, and this game specifically. A lot of people do not like the opening with him because it is too long, but I love it because it gives you time to learn this character that is at the center of this game. Why does Axel do everything he does? For Roxas. Why does the Organization have such an interest in Sora? Because of Roxas. Why Riku need to unleash his darkness? To capture Roxas and keep him safe until Sora is awake. It is all centered around Roxas.

Xemnas is the antagonist, but that doesn’t make him a villain. He does not seek to control darkness or the worlds. He does not wish to destroy everything. He just wants a heart. He wants to feel again like he did before becoming a Nobody. TO this end, he creates the Organization and uses them to bait Sora into killing Heartless (Keyblade are the only weapons that can truly release a heart from darkness) so he can collect the released hearts, make Kingdom Hearts, and grant himself a heart. My guy just wants FEELINGS and thus, by his thinking, and Identity. He just wants to feel like he is somebody. Is that so much to ask? He also makes a visit to a hidden chamber in the Hollow Bastion castle to visit a suit of armor and he is looking for a similar room is Castle Oblivion, but we’ll talk about that more in Birth By Sleep.

Let’s talk the female characters in this game because they kind of stink. I love Kairi. I will always love Kairi, but you could replace her with a sexy lamp and nothing would change. Sure, she gets a nice Keyblade for some unexplained reason, but she only swings it a couple times and then it is just forgotten. She is constantly being led around either by Riku, Organization XIII, or Namine. She never really gets to fight back. She doesn’t get to help anyway. And that’s disappointing for a character that is supposed to be the female lead. The same can be said for Namine. She shows up, does someone’s bidding then disappears until she needs to run another errand. The two have such great designs and general concepts (especially Namine, the memory witch), but they never get to do anything besides be a damsel in distress and a minion, respectively.

Sora is the star of this game, but he does not go on much of a journey. He spends most of his time being a confused which is not necessarily bad, but is kind of dull. He does exhibit a new, Roxas influenced side when around Organization XIII members though. He is quick to anger and frustrate. HE, like Mickey, does get a chance to show his devotion to his friends. Every new person he meets, he asks about Riku. He has a similar reaction to Goofy’s “death” as the king. Most of all, we find out he’s into Riku and Kairi as presumed. Now, this is me making inferences, watch this scene and look at the difference between him reuniting with Kairi and Riku. Tell me Sora isn’t crushing hard. 

Riku is, again, clearly Nomura’s (and my) favorite character. He has the most character development (outside of maybe Axel) and his arc continues from the end of the last game. When we catch up with him in this game, he has released the tiny piece of Ansem leftover inside himself to fight Roxas and has been trapped in the form of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Riku refuses to show himself to anyone until he can get it under control. When he eventually does, he is granted a Keyblade. Riku still can’t quite bring himself to believe he has conquered his darkness until he reunites with his friends and they make him realize that true friends will always accept the real him. He then joins the party as the logical conclusion of this arc. At the end the game, Riku and Sora return home to together, ending their journeys where they were first separated.

Gameplay

Kingdom Hearts II has very similar gameplay to the first game. It is cleaned up, flashier, and more complex. The ability system is more robust and affects the moment to moment gameplay much more. Sora’s new outfit also comes with a new ability: Drive forms. By fusing with one or more party members, Sora can gain new powers. The first one, Valor Form, introduces dual wielding Keyblades, one of the most satisfying visual elements of the game. You can’t use magic in this form, but you hit harder  and faster. Wisdom Form is the opposite, a quick form focused on long range attacks and magic. Master and Final forms are both wildly acrobatic modes that greatly increase magic and strength. These forms add a ton of variety and a lot of fun, but if you use them too much, Sora will Ant-Form, a Heartless-esque form that is fast, weak, and extremely vulnerable.

The biggest addition is Reaction Commands. At certain times, you can press the triangle button activate flashy special moves that do big damage, dodge, attacks, or have other effects. There is often complaints made against this aspect of the gameplay because it is just “Press Triangle to win,” but I disagree with that. I find it a very fun mechanic, but I also use it sparingly.

There are also some quality of life changes like being able to swap party members on the fly. Gummi ships return but have turned into much better on-rails shooter levels. The ship customization is also cleaned up some.

Music/Misc

This game again features a great soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura. It also features a new opening theme from Utada Hikaru. Sanctuary (Or Passion depending on the version) is a amazing song. I think it is better than Simple and Clean. Not sure if that is a popular opinion or not, but I love it.

Overall, I love Kingdom Hearts II. It is one of my favorite games. I love the story even with all it’s blemishes and retcons. The gameplay is maybe my favorite in the series. IT is the perfect amount of button mashing and clever tactics, depending on your skill level. The game is challenging, but difficult. This game introduces so much to Kingdom Hearts lore. Organization XIII, Nobodies, Roxas, Axel, Twilight Town, the data world, Xehanort. Overall, I think Kingdom Hearts II is one of the greatest video games of all time.