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I'm happy that Kingdom Hearts I was an awesome game, and surprisingly not too weird, but what about II? Should I buy it? Now before you guys tell me to buy or die, let me tell you, money is not on my side. I'm thousands of dollars in debt with student loans. I work a waitor's job, barely scraping enough money off of tips for food (ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating a LITTLE) bit still, I can basically afford to buy three games a year. Does this make it? Or should i wait for it to be a greatest hits and buy it?

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Can you pull down the dawn?
It's been so dark since you've been gone
and we've been begging for the morning to come.
We were so optimistic,
wasn't it so easy to be?
We were young and naive.
-The Hush Sound: Eileen

I also am not quite convinced on buying this title. I did enjoy the first one quite a bit. But is this one really so much better? I only buy games at the moment if they are fantastic, so it will have to be something pretty special.

Saves money and time for other things you see.

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'Let that be a lesson to all oppressive vegetable sellers.'

Quote (fatman @ 21st April 2006 21:10)

But is this one really so much better? I only buy games at the moment if they are fantastic, so it will have to be something pretty special.

Yeah, from what I hear, Its alot more of the same. Ah, well, until told otherwise, I'm going to crawl up and play the origional again...

--------------------

Can you pull down the dawn?
It's been so dark since you've been gone
and we've been begging for the morning to come.
We were so optimistic,
wasn't it so easy to be?
We were young and naive.
-The Hush Sound: Eileen

It is definitely enjoyable, and I think it wraps this part of the story up quite nicely. Though it most certainly is easier than KHI, and there isn't as much exploration, there is alot of side-quests/optional crap to do, and completing the Journal can take a very long time. I'd definitely buy it, if you liked the first one. (You don't really need CoM, because that's pretty much gone over in the beginning of the game.) Though if you're worrying about price, you could just wait until it goes Greatest Hits or something.

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

I think KH2 is worth it, i bought it and really enjoy it... its sort of like the first one but it have a great story and the gameplay feels a little different so it definitely has some variation in it that keeps you coming back... if you loved the first one you will love this one too.

This post has been edited by BiZZaRo on 22nd April 2006 17:01

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"To be forgotten is worst than death." Freya , FF9

"How do you prove that you exist...? Maybe we dont exist." Vivi, FF9

i think both of them suck because it combines ff characters and baby disney characters i hated the first one and ive played the second one and they both suck horribly

Moderator Edit

Yeah, insulting gay people really makes your opinion better! -R51

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 23rd April 2006 16:39

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Marion Gaborik is my hero :D

The previous post aside, yes, KHII is worth it.
In fact, its the most fun I've had with a Dualshock 2 in my hands, and thats saying alot. (I play FFT on my PS1, yo).



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"Dance, water, dance!"
-Demyx, Kingdom Hearts II

"I met my love before I was born..."
-AFI, 'Love Like Winter' from 'Decemberunderground'

Currently Playing: Guitar Hero, Shadow of the Colossus

I can't say it's worth it.

I think that Kingdom Hearts II is a very good game. I enjoyed the first one, but had a few reservations with it; most of the problems I had with the original seem to have been corrected or at least improved in the sequel (I've played maybe four or five hours worth of the game). The KH storyline/mythology is quite entertaining, but not everyone would like it (I think it's fun, but many people I've talked to like it a LOT more than I have). The action is well-paced and fun, the level design is way better than the previous game, and the variety of character customization is quite solid. Overall, Kingdom Hearts II is a very good game.

However, I really don't think it's a must-buy at this point. The game is brand-new - it costs fifty bucks. Square-Enix is absolutely not a publisher that discontinues games early on-purpose in order to preserve their games' rarity (I'm looking at you, Atlus), so production will continue for several years after a popular game's release. And I assure you, Kingdom Hearts is a very popular series, and KH II will not be a difficult or hard-to-find game at any time within the next five years.

With that said, there are too many games that I already own and am still playing / haven't yet played, plus other titles out that I want to play and can find for much less. Kingdom Hearts II will never be hard to find, and eventually I'll be able to obtain it for far less than half a c-note. Bottom line: it isn't worth it to get it right now, but it's a very good game: wait for a price drop.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

wait, but how can you say whether it's worth it or not if you haven't even played though the game? have you played it even at all?

when i first got kh2, i was kinda hyped up about it, becuase most rpgs have sucked in the past 3 years, and cause i liked the first one. i started playing it, and while it was a little weird at first, it became interesting pretty quickly, and i got into it. then, i quickly got disappointed when i realised that the kh2 worlds were smaller compared with the kh1 worlds (while i still believe that to be true, i have since reversed my decision that kh2 has less to keep you occupied with). i played through it, and after i was about halfway through, it turns out a whole bunch of stuff to do opened up -- and to the end, the game was a very satisfying and rewarding play. the gameplay is even better and more fluid than in kh1's (the camera is actually good now); the battle system has evolved considerably, and is much more dynamic now; the story is impeccable and the ending is actually pretty good; the art direction and character design, expectedly, are some of the best on ps2, period (and you should see the particle effects). the music, while not a bother, is never especially noteworthy, but what do you expect in a disney themed game? as a package, it definitely beats out damn near every rpg released in the past three years hands down.

i would say it's definitely worth it. i would tell the action-rpg-lover who is mature enough to get over their aversion to the use of disney characters to avoid spending money on other recently-released games in favour of playing kh2. it's certainly true that games are getting expensive (but i could *swear* i paid $70 for snes chrono trigger from toys r us or something back in the day), but i stopped trying to play every game that comes out a long time ago; not only is it expensive, it's time-consuming, AND the majority of the games tend to suck (i don't think i can remember playing a good atlus rpg in 6+ years). i try to guess which games will be good ones -- ffx, mgs3, kh2, etc. -- and avoid wasting my money on a $20-$50 disc that isnt going to entertain me.

so, having played the game all the way through, i would say it's an *excellent* game which i will definitely replay -- something haven't done since ffx. i guess what i'm trying to say is, "if kh2 isn't "worth it," i'm hard-pressed to think of good examples of what is."

I played the game in a five-hour marathon session at my friend's dorm room last weekend. I was impressed, but I really don't think it's as good a game as most people say it is. Thus, I think my money is better spent elsewhere at the moment as I still have many other games to play that I either already own or can find for much less. That being said, I think think Kingdom Hearts II is a good game, but not worth buying until the price drops. Isn't that the question the thread is asking?

This post has been edited by laszlow on 24th April 2006 05:09

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Well, it can't take too long for it to get to Greatest Hits, so price can't be a problem then. (Though I don't know how long it takes, but I do know it will sell enough copies. )

But yeah, it really isn't too hard, bar a few boss fights. (Which I didn't find that hard, maybe I was overlevelled or something.) If you actually want a challenge, try Proud Mode, the enemies are a bit tougher. And the worlds are pretty linear, unlike the first game, where there was lots of exploring to do..

Okay, now I'm repeating myself. Well, you get the point.

Regarding story, like the first game, the story won't pick up till near the end, where I believe it ends quite nicely. (Then again, I also believe you shouldn't judge the story until it actually ends, so...) Most of the body of the game is just all the self-resolving Disney storylines (which, if you've seen the movies, can predict.)

Oh yeah, and lack of Neverland=

This post has been edited by Zeromus_X on 24th April 2006 05:25

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OSonic Rave
/ \Last Arcanum
[ ]Strike Raid
XRagnarok

Quote (Zeromus_X @ 24th April 2006 00:23)

Well, it can't take too long for it to get to Greatest Hits, so price can't be a problem then. (Though I don't know how long it takes, but I do know it will sell enough copies. )

I think it's quite the opposite from what you're saying. PS2 games don't need very many sales at all to qualify for GH status - the actual number is something like 500,000, which is usually easily achieved. The game's publisher generally decides to make the game a GH game when the sales figures are slowing down at a fast enough rate in which a price drop will significantly increase sales. However, this will happen if and only if the company decides not to discontinue the game despite sales figures after a certain time in order to preserve the game's rarity and keep the per-game profit margin high - Atlus is notorious for doing this, but Square-Enix isn't.

For example, FF X qualified for GH status in it's opening week of sales rather easily (KH 2 also did so), but it didn't become a GH game until almost two years after its release, because sales remained strong for that long and Square decided not to reissue a GH release until they thought that the significant mandatory price drop would benefit them. On the other hand, Atlus's Disgaea: Hour of Darkness also managed to qualify for GH status in its first year (2003), but it has never been given that status. This is probably because Atlus subscribes to the annoying business strategy of producing their more popular games in extremely limited quantities, with store inventories receiving more copies of their games at seemingly random times, but continuing to sell them at prices of $40 to $50, while a GH release would make the game's price a mandatory twenty bucks.

So yeah, back to Kingdom Hearts II. It has been a very strong-selling game, but if and when it hits GH status depends not on total sales, but rather when and at what rate KH II sales start declining, at which point Square-Enix will start to time price drops and eventually put out a GH re-release.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

It is worth it, but if u really dont have the money try borrowing it from a friends at some point or sell some games at some store and buy it used thats really all i got to say.

Quote (laszlow @ 24th April 2006 00:04)

I played the game in a five-hour marathon session at my friend's dorm room last weekend. I was impressed, but I really don't think it's as good a game as most people say it is.

Just pointing this out, but if you only played five hours, you probably JUST got to play as Sora. (Sorry for the spoilers, but thats old news now I'd assume). It gets MUCH better from then on.

Besides, I hate Jesse McCartney.

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"Dance, water, dance!"
-Demyx, Kingdom Hearts II

"I met my love before I was born..."
-AFI, 'Love Like Winter' from 'Decemberunderground'

Currently Playing: Guitar Hero, Shadow of the Colossus

Quote (Shinjutsei @ 24th April 2006 15:58)

Just pointing this out, but if you only played five hours, you probably JUST got to play as Sora. (Sorry for the spoilers, but thats old news now I'd assume). It gets MUCH better from then on.

basically, this is exactly what i was saying in my post. not having played through the game, how can one accurately appraise whether or not a game is worth the purchase? i pointed out how my own opinion of the game fluctuated in phases; even a couple dozen hours' playtime into the game i had yet to arrive at my final assessment.

it seems awfully analogous to saying, "well, i've only seen the first ten minutes of 'john q,' but i've sure got enough experience from that ten minutes to say with certainty that it's not worth the ticket price." isn't that unreasonable?

Well, sure. You can take my opinion for whatever you feel, but right now I'm not changing it - video games are an expensive hobby, and when you buy virtually all of your own games, like I do, you have to make some judgements. My opinion of KH 2 hasn't changed, yet.

And I understand your analogy, Goz, but I played the game for five hours. That's hardly analogous to ten minutes of a movie. Saying that I'm not allowed to pass any sort of judgement on a game because I haven't finished it is ridiculous - tell me honestly that you refuse to hold any sort of opinion on a particular game just because you haven't finished it.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

A lot of the elements of KH2 are the same as its predecessor, so I guess it's really a question of whether or not you've become one with the fanbase. If you're into the real-time battling, exploring new worlds, those very addictive little gummy ship battle sequences, and revisiting your childhood hand-in-hand with your favorite Disney characters, yes. Go for it.

Other than that though, the game itself is really just a pleasant detour. A means to get away from whatever uber-hard game challenge you're trying to topple. That's the way someone else described it to me at least. Though she constantly fights against FF weapons, white mage challenges, and DMC3, she'll occasionally pick up the odd title where not a whole lot of thinking or button-mashing is involved.

In which case, yeah. I think KH2 takes the cake.

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You are not your username. You are not your avatar. You are not the number of posts you have. You're not your signature. You are the all-typing, all-chatting crap of the Web. --Friend of a Friend

~50 h game? ~100 min movie? the analogy was chosen to be precise, as "john q" is a movie which starts out relatively slow, then suddenly grips you for the remainder of its length (though i suppose it's longer than 100 mins, if my memory serves). you've got what i'm saying all wrong, and, unfortunately, you're putting words in my mouth. nobody ever said you're "not allowed to pass any sort of judgment" on the game. i have opinions every game i've ever not finished, and they're probably all unfavourable.

you can't tell anyone whether the game is worth getting or not having only played the bare introduction. the plot isn't event remotely fleshed-out yet, the new battle system's dynamics cannot possibly have been explored to anywhere near their full extent...the first part of kh2 is arguably the most tedious. it certainly has the least activity. i still maintain that you can't say whether the game is worth the purchase or not.

it's very difficult to say whether a game is worth the purchase or not if you haven't either 1) played it all the way through or 2) purchased it yourself. if you happen to purchase a game and it's so bad you can't even play through it (usually happens at the beginning of a bad game in particular), then i suppose you can tell people it's not worth the purchase. but how can you make the call whether a game is worth buying when the only thing that prevents you from not playing through it is your lack thereof?

i'm only telling you this because i have palyed it through. after the first 5 hours, had i been asked that question...well, i'd have said "i dunno yet" for sure, but if someone had held a gun to my head and made me answer, i might have said "no, not worth $50," especially if i had gotten far enough to be disappointed by the "smaller worlds." but after i played the game through, being finally qualified to call the shot, for sure my answer would have been "yes." i'm sure the same would got for you, especially given that you already think it's "a great game" 5 h in -- it's like you're insulting the game without having even experience it

I haven't played it at all, but I'd say it's probably worth it. Note that I'm only posting this to break the cycle of wondering who's entitled to give an opinion and who isn't.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

THat works.

I'm pretty mad (well, I should say my girlfriend is mad) that there is no Neverland, and that was the only reason she would let me call watching me play kingdom hearts til my eyes bleed a date. But I think I'm going to wait on the game until i can at least buy it used, because square is putting some great stuff out on the market this year. Between FFXII, Valkyre Profile, and the new Mana game, my wallet is going to be quite lonely.

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Can you pull down the dawn?
It's been so dark since you've been gone
and we've been begging for the morning to come.
We were so optimistic,
wasn't it so easy to be?
We were young and naive.
-The Hush Sound: Eileen

Those of you who say that its more of the same obviously have not done your research. By research I mean try playing the first one. Go ahead, I dare you to pop it in. Now, if you don't see a few glaring design differences, I'd be a little worried.

First off, and most noticeble, is the camera. Have you ever tried to fight a horde of enemies in KH? Its pretty frustrating. In KH2, camera control has been mapped to the right analouge stick and the game flows so much better.

The second big difference that should stand out is the combat system itself. Remember when you had to scroll to the bottom of the command list for special actions? Apparently not. The reaction commands (using the triangle button) do a great job of not breaking up the action during combat. Again, a bonus for smooth play.

Another nice addition is the drive gauge. It helps add more variety to combat. The limit gauge serves essentially the same purpose, only is more usable because it only consumes MP instead of the drive gauge, which is harder to replenish.

These are just a few of the major differences. So before you ever say that its more of the same again, just remember that you're wrong and you're pissing some people off.

This post has been edited by ArcnightDelita on 27th April 2006 18:45

Yeah...its not just more of the same. They took out the jumping.
Did anyone notice that? KHII has NO platforming whatsoever! I find it a little disappointing, but its my only complaint.

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"Dance, water, dance!"
-Demyx, Kingdom Hearts II

"I met my love before I was born..."
-AFI, 'Love Like Winter' from 'Decemberunderground'

Currently Playing: Guitar Hero, Shadow of the Colossus