Alright. I have had time to think about my Kingdom Hearts post and I think I need to format it differently. So, we’re going to try something new for this one. I am going to split everything into four categories: Story, Characters, Gameplay, and Music/Misc. Please let me know if you like it or hate. Or even if you’re indifferent. Without further ado:
So, we have arrived at the most underrated game and the first “spin off.” Although if anyone has played this game or Kingdom Hearts II, you will know that this game is not a spin off so much as a smaller story that occurs between the two PS2 games. It is also where I truly fell in love with Kingdom Hearts. The game has its issues (mostly story related), but I love it. Let’s take a look, shall we?
Story
Picking up from where Kingdom Hearts ended, Sora, Donald, and Goofy are looking for a way to find Riku and King Mickey. One night, Sora wakes up and meets a cloaked man that leads him to Castle Oblivion. Castle Oblivion is ruled by cards; you need them to traverse the castle as well as engage in castle (More on cards in Gameplay). Sora and the gang have to travel through recreations of each world they explored in the previous game (Except the Tarzan level, for legal reasons) to reach the top of the castle. As they climb the castle, our trio begins to lose their memories. They also encounter several members of The Organization and a artificial replica of Riku. The Organization uses a “witch” that can manipulate Sora’s memories to replace Kairi with herself to mess with him. Marluxia, the leader of this group, wants to control Sora and use him to overthrow The Organization’s leader, who is unseen in this game. After defeating Marluxia, Sora agrees to let the witch, Namine, restore his memories, but he will have to sleep for a year. So the gang get into pods to begin the process.
Meanwhile, Riku awakens in the bottom basement of Castle Oblivion. He too must travel up the castle floors, but retains his memories. He sets out to defeat Ansem (The mysterious DiZ in disguise). After sometime, Mickey and Riku reunite and DiZ reveals himself in truth. He sends Riku to see Namine, who will be able to lock Riku’s heart and trap the remnants of Ansem inside. Riku chooses not to do this and instead decides to fight and destroy the Ansem, although a small piece of him is left in Riku. Riku and Mickey and given Organization coats by DiZ and they set out on their next journey.
I love this story, but it has one glaring weakness: Nothing happens in the Disney worlds. Each of Sora’s trips are remixed retellings of his first adventure with the theme of each story changed to memories or friendship. Riku’s are more interesting in that he exclusively encounters Disney villains. No Hercules or Ariel, just Hades and Ursula. Both of these are thematically appropriate, especially Riku who can only see the darkness inside himself, but they can really make the game drag at times. In between levels, when you encounter Organization members or Riku Replica, is always exciting. There are always philosophical questions being asked or characters progressing their arcs. And let’s discuss those arcs.
Characters
This story is centered almost entirely on Sora and Riku so we will too, but let’s start with the new characters and Disney characters. The Disney characters act like themselves and go through the motions of their stories. The same can be said of Leon and the Gang in Traverse Town. DiZ is introduced in this game a mysterious man trying to destroy The Organization. While it is never revealed who DiZ truly is or why he wants to destroy the Organization, Riku and Mickey work with him, but seem to part ways at the end.
Now we get to the Organization members: Marluxia, the lord of the castle and traitor to The Organization; Larxene, Marluxia’s co-conspirator; Axel, the loyalist; Vexen, the creator of Replica Riku; Zexion, the most mysterious member; Lexaeus, stoic warrior. The standout is clearly Axel (He is, after all, the only one in Kingdom Hearts II). He is a truly unpredictable wild card in this game. To the degree that he kills Vexen despite Vexen’s attempts to stop Marluxia’s coup. Zexion is the opposite, a mysterious cipher with little to do and little personality. Similarly, Lexaeus is little more than a stoic brute with just a hint on a complex personality. Vexen is a scheming scientist who wants to kill Marluxia, Larxene, and Axel; the last one because he is regarded as a wild card that could side with anyone. He is interesting but does not have quite enough screen time to truly be a full-fledged character. Larxene is a fun character even if her motivations are never properly explained. Although, based on her personality, I would guess she is just aiming for maximum chaos. That just leaves Marluxia, the revolutionary. His manipulations of Sora form the core of the story. It shows that he is a master schemer and has probably been planning his coup for quite some time. HIs interactions with Axel towards the end of the game also reveal that he is incredibly arrogant, believing himself more powerful and intelligent than anyone else in the game.
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| I see what they did there |
As before, Sora is the primary protagonist of this game and he goes through a much more involved arc than the previous game. Sora essentially returns to his pre-KH days. This is crucial to understanding that nothing means more to him than his friends; even when he is confronted with the fact that he has never actually met Namine, he chooses to protect her because he considers her his friend. Whether he has implanted memories or not, they are real memories and he will always defend his friends. This is a incredibly powerful moment that has stuck with me for the last 15 years and has absolutely changed the way I view my friends. This is why it is heartbreaking when he chooses to restore his old memories: the cost is his current memories. He forgets everything about Castle Oblivion and Namine.
Riku is where the meat of this story is, even if his story (aptly titled Reverse/Rebirth) is significantly shorter than the main one. He begins the journey alone, trying not to succumb to his inner darkness, but through the help of friends new and old he is able to control it and set out on his next journey. Riku has his own powerful moments like Sora. At the end, when Mickey says, “I’d like to walk that road with ya,” and reaches out his hand, I get teary eyed. The other moment is the very end: As Mickey and Riku leave Castle Oblivion, they meet DiZ at a crossroad and the following exchange occurs:
Riku: What are you making me choose now?
DiZ: Between the road to light and the road to darkness.
Riku: Neither suits me. I’m taking the middle road.
DiZ: Do you mean the twilight road to nightfall?
Riku: No. It’s the road to dawn.
The game then fades to black and the credits roll. This is a moment I come back to often when I have to make a choice in my life: Is this a binary path that I have to follow or can I create my own paht leading to a better tomorrow? It is the most resonant aspect of this series for me and the cornerstone upon which Riku’s character arc is built.
Gameplay
The gameplay is fairly simple. You are given a set of World Cards from which you choose the next world you will visit. In each world is a number of story rooms (3 for Sora, 1 for Riku) and the rest are rooms you move through battling enemies, buying new cards, etc. You move from room to room utilizing Room Cards which are dropped by defeated enemies. Each has a color and number associated with it which much match to get to the next room.
Combat is also controlled by cards. These are split into five groups: Attack, Item, Magic, Friend, and Enemy. Attack cards are standard blade swings with different types of blades having different stats. Items are item that recover health, refresh your deck, etc. Magic cards are standard magics such as Fire, Blizzard, and Cure. Friend cards call in your friends (i.e. Mickey, Donald, Aladdin) to do an action, typically an attack. Finally, Enemy cards are dropped by enemies, primarily bosses, and each has its own effect (i.e. Oogie Boogie activates Regen). You can combine three cards into a sleight or super attack. Same as the Room cards, these cards are all assigned number. You and your opponents cannot attack at the same time so higher card (or sleight) wins and 0 beats everything. Unlike Sora, Riku cannot customize his decks. He is given a set deck for each level and I honestly prefer this because I suck at deckbuilding in this game. Overall it is a fun system that has flaws (some of the sleights are BROKEN).
Music
As with the previous game, this one is composed by Yoko Shimomura. It is absolutely magnificent and I want to highlight “Memories in Pieces” in particular. The theme by Utada Hikaru (Either “Hikari” or “Simple and Clean”) remains from the previous game.
Overall
This is easily one of my favorite games in the series and ever. It has excellent if flawed gameplay and combines that with an outstanding story. It not only introduces several fan favorite characters like Axel, but also the villains of Kingdom Hearts II (and arguably the series thus far). It is complex and emotionally resonant. It also the game where it appears Tetsuya Nomura probably prefers writing about Riku, but wants Sora to be the primary protagonist. Most importantly of all, it resets Sora to level 1 for the next game!
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