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So this isn't something that I see very often; KH2 is probably the most liked KH game in the entire series, and for good reason too. But the thing is, people tend to treat it as if it's some sort of angelic game that was descended from the heavens with absolutely zero flaws to it, which unfortunately really isn't true. So yeah, I'm curious on some of your input on the flaws of KH2 and how it could've been better.

 

I'd say between story and gameplay, story was the weaker part of KH2. Organization XIII was awesome and all, and I'm not calling the story bad either; however, I just don't think it can compare to the first game's story and the charm it had in it. That doesn't make it bad of course, since the first game's story was just so exceptionally good. That being said, it would've been cool to see a bit more involvement of Disney Worlds in the direct story like KH1 did so well.

 

So in terms of gameplay, people say it's perfect. And really, I don't have much to argue with you there. The battle system is amazing, the combat is fluid and fun to use, and there's so much variety and choices for your moves. The enemy AI, for the most part, is good and is by far the most complex and skill-required combat system in the entire series. However, I'd have two main complaints for KH2 (which actually sort of ties into each other).

 

Firstly is of difficulty. People say KH2 is easy, and to be fair, it really is. Even stuff like Proud Mode, most players can charge through mashing X and they'll die a few times to the harder fights (Xaldin, Demyx, Xigbar, etc.) but then they'll get past them, usually through grinding or just repeated attempts. This ties into the second complaint, which is of the game's ability to teach you. I'd say CoM actually did this the best out of all the KH games; you go into CoM utterly confused, but if you stick with it and get past the learning curve, you suddenly realize how easily you can use the cards and the battle system to customize your own powerful deck. It's not like the game tells you directly to do "this and this", but instead, you learn because the game PLACES you in situations where you're forced to learn.

 

KH2 should've done this, but failed. Many casual players will get through the game just fine by mashing X. It's only until they see stuff like speedruns or inevitably reach the post-game 15(is it 15? I'm not even sure) super bosses where they realize that the game is a lot more complex than they thought. That's the thing; despite KH2's complexity, the game never really forces you understand this. It never forces you to understand the vague concept of Revenge Value and how you can't infinitely combo a boss, since you can mash your way through most fights and just tank the damage they deal anyway. You don't need summons, limits, drives, and magic. They don't put you in situations where you're forced to use these things to make your life easier. And that is the problem with KH2; with all these awesome things they give you and these awesome AI mechanics, you never really understand what the point to them is...unless you play Level 1 Critical Mode.

 

I love LV1 Crit. It's the perfect challenge, and it forced me to learn the game to the fullest. I had to use every resource available to inch my way forward, only to meet another road block, and eventually find out, "hey, this attack works really well against this guy!" and then manage to win. KH2 should've been designed originally after the model of LV1 Crit, because it truly forces you to think about all the available options you have. This is also the reason why others call KH2 a button masher; because in some ways, it actually is one. 

 

So yeah that's my little interpretation of KH2 and its flaws. Curious if you guys have any opinions on this, it'd be cool to know :)

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So this isn't something that I see very often; KH2 is probably the most liked KH game in the entire series, and for good reason too. But the thing is, people tend to treat it as if it's some sort of angelic game that was descended from the heavens with absolutely zero flaws to it, which unfortunately really isn't true. So yeah, I'm curious on some of your input on the flaws of KH2 and how it could've been better. I'd say between story and gameplay, story was the weaker part of KH2. Organization XIII was awesome and all, and I'm not calling the story bad either; however, I just don't think it can compare to the first game's story and the charm it had in it. That doesn't make it bad of course, since the first game's story was just so exceptionally good. That being said, it would've been cool to see a bit more involvement of Disney Worlds in the direct story like KH1 did so well. So in terms of gameplay, people say it's perfect. And really, I don't have much to argue with you there. The battle system is amazing, the combat is fluid and fun to use, and there's so much variety and choices for your moves. The enemy AI, for the most part, is good and is by far the most complex and skill-required combat system in the entire series. However, I'd have two main complaints for KH2 (which actually sort of ties into each other). Firstly is of difficulty. People say KH2 is easy, and to be fair, it really is. Even stuff like Proud Mode, most players can charge through mashing X and they'll die a few times to the harder fights (Xaldin, Demyx, Xigbar, etc.) but then they'll get past them, usually through grinding or just repeated attempts. This ties into the second complaint, which is of the game's ability to teach you. I'd say CoM actually did this the best out of all the KH games; you go into CoM utterly confused, but if you stick with it and get past the learning curve, you suddenly realize how easily you can use the cards and the battle system to customize your own powerful deck. It's not like the game tells you directly to do "this and this", but instead, you learn because the game PLACES you in situations where you're forced to learn. KH2 should've done this, but failed. Many casual players will get through the game just fine by mashing X. It's only until they see stuff like speedruns or inevitably reach the post-game 15(is it 15? I'm not even sure) super bosses where they realize that the game is a lot more complex than they thought. That's the thing; despite KH2's complexity, the game never really forces you understand this. It never forces you to understand the vague concept of Revenge Value and how you can't infinitely combo a boss, since you can mash your way through most fights and just tank the damage they deal anyway. You don't need summons, limits, drives, and magic. They don't put you in situations where you're forced to use these things to make your life easier. And that is the problem with KH2; with all these awesome things they give you and these awesome AI mechanics, you never really understand what the point to them is...unless you play Level 1 Critical Mode. I love LV1 Crit. It's the perfect challenge, and it forced me to learn the game to the fullest. I had to use every resource available to inch my way forward, only to meet another road block, and eventually find out, "hey, this attack works really well against this guy!" and then manage to win. KH2 should've been designed originally after the model of LV1 Crit, because it truly forces you to think about all the available options you have. This is also the reason why others call KH2 a button masher; because in some ways, it actually is one.  So yeah that's my little interpretation of KH2 and its flaws. Curious if you guys have any opinions on this, it'd be cool to know :)

I agree for the most part. KH2 combat is only close to perfect if you are playing on critical. KH2 on any other difficulty level is a button masher to be honest. The exploration is just a bunch of hallways with some enemies. The story is good but it's not amazing. And it lacks post game content... It's still one of my favourite games ever, but only KH2FM. KH2 vanilla isn't that good.

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I'm one of the people who genuinely thinks KH2 is better than the first game, but even I realise it has its flaws. It is an easy game compared to the first, but I appreciate that the game is much more fluid than the first. It's been a while since I've played the PS2 version, but I remember really liking it back in the day.

 

Any issues I have with KH2 stem mostly from the remastered version in 2.5. It has inexcusable performance issues which make certain parts pretty frustrating to do (Data Xemnas whyyyyyyyyyy). I know for drive forms you can just pause for it to load faster, but you shouldn't have to do this.

 

Sure it's easy and a lot of the fights rely on spamming X or Reaction Commands, but I think the game plays better than most. It has far better platforming aspects than KH1 does and it definitely doesn't even have a bad story. A lot of the worlds in KH2 did feel somewhat empty though, it didn't have that much interaction with the world like the first KH game and you'll mostly find yourself just bashing through room after room of enemies. However, that kinda has been a case with every Kingdom Hearts games since.

 

I dunno. KH2 is one of the better KH games for me. Every entry has flaws, but I think KH2 is one with fewer.

 

Edit: On a side note about the worlds being tied to the overall story of KH. I think the first time of course it feels like you are just playing the movie, but the second time around when you are dealing with the Org. 13 (in certain worlds) it's much better. Even things like where Tron mentions that Ansem is his master somewhat links into the story (not significantly, but still). I think it gets unfair criticism compared to the first KH game in that regard.

Edited by KHSoraKeyBlade

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The only "flaw" for me is that KH2 is quite easy, as you mentioned, and that some worlds look empty. In KH1 we got more interactions with the worlds we were in, and I really liked that.

Other than that I wouldn't know any problems xD I actually prefer the KH2 story over the KH1 one, because it's way more unique. The story in KH1 is kinda a cliche, and reminds me of the Naruto story. But the KH2 one was really special to me.

About the gameplay, still the best of KH so far :)

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my issues with KH2 would probably be the story and the involvement of the Disney worlds. 

 

like why not have the Organization go after the heart of each world because they think it'll speed up the process of forming Kingdom Hearts? that way we have a better reason to go to the Disney worlds rather than, "Don't mind us, we're just looking for some bad guys. Oh they aren't here? Darn, on to the next world." 

 

first visit to a world could involve Sora and co. fighting a heartless threat and then the second visit could come from them learning crucial details about the Organization's plans. when they find out that the Organization has been going after the heart of each world, they return to the different Disney worlds to fight Nobodies and eventually a member of Organization 13. 

 

that way we don't get a boss rush thrown into the next to last part of the game, the members of the Organization could get fleshed out a bit more with some screen time and the Disney worlds would still be involved with the story.

 

other than story issues, i guess difficulty is another one. Normal is a bit too easy. Feels like Hard should be Normal. 

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Look-- everything in the world has flaws. KH2 has a lot of them, more so than KH1 for sure. However, what it does right is what pushes it ahead. Playing Final Mix for the first time was the most fun I've had in a video game. I like how people point out it being easy as a flaw, when really: consider how many video games are genuinely difficult these days. Not many. It might be easier than other hack and slash games (bayonetta, DMC) but on the greater spectrum it at least has some challenge, and though critical isn't that crazy, that doesn't undermine everything else. As a game it just feels fun, more than KH1. 

 

Can we stop with the whole Mashing x to win thing (talking to everyone, cause seriously)? There's still movement and other such things involved in fights even in the easier modes, and you're still gonna have a bad time just hitting x. I know it's kind of just a technicality by adding movement, but boiling it down to just one button really does not do it any justice.

 

I think we can all agree the story wasn't perfect. It wasn't really due to lacking the charm of 1, it was more because they left the main plot for half the game without a trace. The disney worlds needed to be more involved in the main plot, and there was a huge lack of character development on nearly all fronts.

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There are no perfect games,so of course KH2 has problems,my biggest problem is probably playing as Roxas,the story is good but it just a long tutorial,when I played 2.5 I wished I could just start the game as Sora from the start and personally the Disney worlds without the organisation or FF characters bored me just a bit,but other then that I'd say the other flaws like magic being almost useless are just minor issues.

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I'm one of the people who genuinely thinks KH2 is better than the first game, but even I realise it has its flaws. It is an easy game compared to the first, but I appreciate that the game is much more fluid than the first. It's been a while since I've played the PS2 version, but I remember really liking it back in the day.

 

Any issues I have with KH2 stem mostly from the remastered version in 2.5. It has inexcusable performance issues which make certain parts pretty frustrating to do (Data Xemnas whyyyyyyyyyy). I know for drive forms you can just pause for it to load faster, but you shouldn't have to do this.

 

Sure it's easy and a lot of the fights rely on spamming X or Reaction Commands, but I think the game plays better than most. It has far better platforming aspects than KH1 does and it definitely doesn't even have a bad story. A lot of the worlds in KH2 did feel somewhat empty though, it didn't have that much interaction with the world like the first KH game and you'll mostly find yourself just bashing through room after room of enemies. However, that kinda has been a case with every Kingdom Hearts games since.

 

I dunno. KH2 is one of the better KH games for me. Every entry has flaws, but I think KH2 is one with fewer.

 

Edit: On a side note about the worlds being tied to the overall story of KH. I think the first time of course it feels like you are just playing the movie, but the second time around when you are dealing with the Org. 13 (in certain worlds) it's much better. Even things like where Tron mentions that Ansem is his master somewhat links into the story (not significantly, but still). I think it gets unfair criticism compared to the first KH game in that regard.

 

Um I don't think KH2 barely had ANY platforming in the game. Most of the worlds were very linear and required little jumping or avoiding obstacles. The game was even designed so that you can get through it WITHOUT learning the Growth Abilities from Drive Forms.

 

The Final Mix version caught on to this and added the Cavern of Remembrance. A place which REQUIRED the player to use their Growth abilities from Drive Forms. They also added those puzzle pieces as well. However, while great additions it's not enough to fill the lack of platforming their is in this game. 

 

Also while the 2nd world visits sometime contributed to the overall plot most of them didn't.

Agrabah, Halloween Town, Pride Lands, Atlantica (the 5 times you visit!), 100 Acre Wood (Another 5/6 times) contributed NOTHING to the overall plot. Olympus Coliseum also deserves an honorable mention since the 2nd visit there also did nothing to the overall plot.

 

If more of the Disney worlds were like Beast's Castle KH2 would have been a pretty great game.

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Um I don't think KH2 barely had ANY platforming in the game. Most of the worlds were very linear and required little jumping or avoiding obstacles. The game was even designed so that you can get through it WITHOUT learning the Growth Abilities from Drive Forms.

 

The Final Mix version caught on to this and added the Cavern of Remembrance. A place which REQUIRED the player to use their Growth abilities from Drive Forms. They also added those puzzle pieces as well. However, while great additions it's not enough to fill the lack of platforming their is in this game. 

 

Also while the 2nd world visits sometime contributed to the overall plot most of them didn't.

Agrabah, Halloween Town, Pride Lands, Atlantica (the 5 times you visit!), 100 Acre Wood (Another 5/6 times) contributed NOTHING to the overall plot. Olympus Coliseum also deserves an honorable mention since the 2nd visit there also did nothing to the overall plot.

 

If more of the Disney worlds were like Beast's Castle KH2 would have been a pretty great game.

What I meant with platforming was just overall exploration. The game was linear, but you could still explore certain areas and while you could get from A to B without doing needing all the growth abilities that doesn't mean they weren't helpful for other aspects of some worlds. When I thought of proper platforming I mostly was thinking of Cavern of Remembrance tbh. The platforming in KH1 was awful and controlling Sora was finicky, kinda reminded me of how he was controlled in Re:coded, but at least the excuse there was you had a D-pad. Sora in KH2 just moves far smoother which makes for better movement in battle and in the world.

 

To be fair I did say "(in certain worlds)" in my original post. 100 Acre Wood has never contributed to the overall plot so it barely warrants a mention. Yeah, but I don't hate the worlds for retelling aspects of their respected source material. Especially considering a large part of the bigger plot was told in places like Twilight Town, Hollow Bastion and The World That Never Was. I dunno each to their own I guess. Hopefully KH3 has a better balance.

Edited by KHSoraKeyBlade

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What I meant with platforming was just overall exploration. The game was linear, but you could still explore certain areas and while you could get from A to B without doing needing all the growth abilities that doesn't mean they weren't helpful for other aspects of some worlds. When I thought of proper platforming I mostly was thinking of Cavern of Remembrance tbh. The platforming in KH1 was awful and controlling Sora was finicky, kinda reminded me of how he was controlled in Re:coded, but at least the excuse there was you had a D-pad. Sora in KH2 just moves far smoother which makes for better movement in battle and in the world.

 

To be fair I did say "(in certain worlds)" in my original post. 100 Acre Wood has never contributed to the overall plot so it barely warrants a mention. Yeah, but I don't hate the worlds for retelling aspects of their respected source material. Especially considering a large part of the bigger plot was told in places like Twilight Town, Hollow Bastion and The World That Never Was. I dunno each to their own I guess. Hopefully KH3 has a better balance.

 

Yeah but exploration really wasn't all that great in KH2 especially when compared to KH1 since the first game had:

  • Trinity Marks.
  • Dalmatians
  • Actual explorable worlds such as Wonderland, Deep Jungle, Monstro, Hollow Bastion.
  • Having A Hub World (Traverse Town). This meant that 90% you ALWAYS had a reason to return to this town. Especially for restocking on items, buying for better weapons for D&G, item synthesis, and even Dalmatians.

And the thing is KH1 didn't even NEED a Final Mix to fix the lack of exploration in the game since plenty was already in the there.

 

Then KH2 came out and removed ALL of these elements since the average player got lost, didn't like exploring, or (like you stated) found Sora's controls for platforming weird/frustrating. Then the developers realized their was a lack of exploration so they included those elements in FM but even then it could not fix the linearness.

 

As for the Disney Worlds part you were correct in saying certain worlds. However, it still doesn't change the fact that out of the 14 worlds in KH2:

  • 7 of them you don't meet the Organization
  • 5 of them were straight up filler (1-2 filler worlds would have been okay but this was too many).

It was obvious that KH stuff was going to occur in TWTNW, TT, HB because those are KH-exclusive worlds. I ALREADY KNOW KH stuff is going to occur in those worlds. What I WANTED was more KH stuff to occur in the Disney Worlds. Basically more worlds like Beast's Castle and less like Agrabah in KH2.

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It was obvious that KH stuff was going to occur in TWTNW, TT, HB because those are KH-exclusive worlds. I ALREADY KNOW KH stuff is going to occur in those worlds. What I WANTED was more KH stuff to occur in the Disney Worlds. Basically more worlds like Beast's Castle and less like Agrabah in KH2.

This. 

KH1 perfected this so well because they integrated the story plot into each individual Disney World. You didn't get to Neverland just to pass through; you went there, found Kairi being held captive, and needed to team up with Peter Pan to get Kairi back. You didn't go to Agrabah because you just needed to pass through; you needed to go to seal the Keyhole there and prevent Jafar from plunging the world into darkness. What was the goal of all this? To stop Maleficent, the evil witch mastermind behind all of this. And after all this is done, you find out there's someone else behind Maleficent that's been plotting against her the whole time, and you as the hero needed to seek Ansem out and stop him.

 

It's so simplistic but so well done, and no other KH game captures this type of story. Now it's just like "Castle of Dreams! Awesome, let me just pass through here and check really quickly...nope no one of importance is here, time to move onwards. But wait, I need to beat this random boss first because that would make the game progression make sense!"

 

KH2 did this partially well; as someone mentioned, Beast's Castle's story is what I want all the world's stories of KH2 to be like. The Org. Members interfering with the worlds, and you needed to stop them because who knows what type of crazy stuff is gonna go down if they complete Kingdom Hearts.

 

Regarding exploration, I personally didn't have too big of a gripe with that because I don't necessarily mind linear games, as long as it's still fun to play. In my opinion, once you understand KH2's combat system and its depth, the "linear gameplay" really doesn't affect my experience that much and I still enjoy it a lot; that being said, I think I can see why some people won't like it.

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I liked KH1 better than KH2, because I felt more immersed into KH1 and it was more challenging than KH2 imo. KH2 felt like a breeze because of Drive Forms, but I do like how we had some questions answered in KH2...(even though it produced more questions to be answered in later games, lol). I do like how someone above mentioned the Trinity Marks and Dalmatians; it was fun finding those. I liked KH2, but KH1 had me in tears at the end...even though it was a bit cliche.

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