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Vayle's Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
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| [February 9, 2008 01:31:59 AM]
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Entry#2
GAMEPLAY
I began to rush my gameplay I bit because I wanted to be able to review more than just the beginning tutorial. While trying to pick up the pace I bit, I discovered a minor difference between the first game and the sequel: I am able to skip cut scenes now. While I did not skip any this time around - I still found I wanted to know what exactly was going on with this Roxas kid - I am very happy they added this feature. In the old game, if there was a huge cut scene right before a boss fight and you died, you had to sit through that cut scene all over again, perhaps more than once, depending on how many times you died. This was very annoying and I was glad they added a nice, easy "Skip Scene" button.
I'm still not absolutely fond of the Reaction Command. I used it in a couple of boss fights, and my earlier feelings were confirmed: it made the fights far too easy. I still really like watching the special attacks that the Reaction Command produces, which are even nice mini-cinematics during boss fights. However, it does not really feel like I am accomplishing anything and it does not feel like it really flows with the rest of the battle system. Usually you are rapidly hitting attack and trying to get combos in, giving a somewhat intense feeling to the battle. However, with the Reaction Command, it just one simple push of the button and then sit back and watch your character on autopilot. It almost feels like a cheat, in a way.
I do have to say that I like the addition of Drive Forms into this game. A Drive Form is when Sora fuses with an ally to become more powerful in some way. I got the first one right at the end of my second session, the Valor Form. This one, Sora fuses with Goofy - the mainly defensive/melee ally - and is able to duel wield keyblades and fight faster and hit harder. While I found Reaction Commands made things a bit too easy, I feel this fits in perfectly with the flow of fights. You are still in control of the character and it's limited by your Drive Bar and time, so you should use it wisely. I cannot wait to see the other Drive Forms that will become available.
DESIGN
I like the interface the game provides while running around in the world. It has this menu system that took a little bit to get used to it again (since the first game had the same thing), but once I did, I found it quite easy to use. While the analog stick is used for moving around, the d-pad is used to navigate the player's menu in the bottom corner. This menu contains many actions, such as attack, talk, lift, items, magic, and so on, changing sometimes depending on what you're close to. I will admit that this might seem a bit bogged down during fast-paced events like fights, they easily handle this with a macro-menu that appears when you hold down a shoulder button. You can put spells and items into this menu and then during fights, just push the shoulder button and tap whichever button your spell was assigned to and it'll instantly take care of it. I think this menu interface was an interesting thing to implement in Kingdom Hearts and is definitely unique to the series.
The level-up/ability system in this game is also nicely handled. It might be a bit simple for any hardcore gamer, but then I'm not sure if any hardcore player would be playing KHII anyway. Whenever a player levels up, either a stat of theirs - like attack power or defense - increases or they learn a new ability. Also as you level up, the max amount of abilities you can hold increase, but usually at a far slower rate than your arsenal of abilities you can equip. An ability is just some nice little extra thing you can attach to your character - an extra swing to your combo attack, a special dodging maneuver, you can gain money faster, stuff like that. But since, like I said before, you have more abilities to chose from than you can equip at one time. Thus, you are forced to pick and chose, and this adds a certain customization to the game. I like this aspect, almost making me feel like I creating my own, somewhat unique hero. And if I find something does not work in a boss battle, I can move abilities around to try something different.
The designers seemed to have decided to lower the difficulty of gameplay going from the first to the second. Even if the Reaction Command were not there, I still would feel like this game is a little to easy, not enough challenge. It may be because I'm still in the early stages, or it may be because I set the difficulty to Standard Mode at the beginning - medium. But I still feel like it should be a little more challenging. I'll just have to wait and see how my opinion on that changes - or not - as I progress through the game. Still, overall, I find this to be a fun game.
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| [February 9, 2008 12:36:37 AM]
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Entry#1
SUMMARY
Kingdom Hearts II is a third-person fantasy-action game full of magic, fighting, large areas to explore, characters, and color. It follows the story about a young hero that will fight off an army of darkness using a legendary weapon called the keyblade. Through his adventures, the player explores many worlds, most of which are Disney-themed and full of Disney characters. However, there are a few worlds thrown in that are unique to the game, as well as unique characters, plus characters from the Final Fantasy series.
GAMEPLAY
So, being a fan of the first Kingdom Hearts that I played many years ago, I decided to sit down and start playing the sequel. I have not really gotten that deep into the game, but so far I am enjoying myself.
I want to start by saying that I really liked the graphics in the first game, and it only got better in the second. It's not all that realistic, but it does not need to be. In fact, I think the colorful cartoony/anime-like feel about it really adds to the whole experience. Plus, it would be difficult to add realism to a game full of Disney characters. Anyway, the graphic style is really enjoyable and definitely draws you in, almost making you feel like you're ten years old again.
I liked the new character Roxas that was introduced at the beginning of this game. I think his personality was designed well and fits in with the entire Kingdom Hearts feel, along with his homeworld, Twilight Town. It makes me interested to find out more about him and how he is linked to the keyblade master. It is important that the game aroused this interest in me, but I know that I am basically running through a tutorial/introduction level. When not handled properly, an introduction level can be one of the more boring parts of the game. And while this Twilight Town area is not exactly exciting, I still am interested in progessing because of this interest in this Roxas character.
KH II also seems to offer a fair amount of minigames. It was great to already find several sidegames after only making it an hour into the game. And for the most part, they were pretty fun to play too. I did have a bit of an annoyance with the mail delivery one at first (I could not find one of the recipients - how was I supposed to know it was a bird I had to jump to?), but I found I liked them once I got the hang of them. With only being this far into the game, I can only imagine what other minigames I'll run into later.
Something that was introduced in this game and was not in the first game was the Reaction command. When you're fighting a monster and you get in just the right position or range, a green triangle will appear as if targeting the enemy. If you hit the triangle button at that second, your character will do some special attack that depends on what monster your fighting. I'm not sure how I feel about this new feature. While I definitely like seeing what unique attack will happen, it also feels like it over simplifies the battle a bit too much, since these attacks have a tendency to do quite a bit of damage. I really liked the fighting system from the first game, and at least that is still intact in this game, but now things just seem a little too easy with this addition. I'll give it some time though to see if it grows on me.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Feb 9th, 2008 at 01:10:53.
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Vayle's Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Friday 8 February, 2008
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