Kingdom Hearts II

Did You Know?

• An expanded re-release titled Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix was released exclusively in Japan in March 2007.
• The game features an experience point system that determines character development.
• The player can switch to a first-person perspective by pressing the Select button.

Plot

A year has passed since the events of the first Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories when Kingdom Hearts II begins. The game takes place across a series of levels called worlds, which the player explores in sequence. As in the earlier title, players can visit both original worlds made for the series and locations based on Disney properties. While the first game mostly used worlds from Disney animated films, this sequel adds worlds inspired by live-action movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Tron. Each world looks and feels different, designed to match the art and style of its source Disney film. These worlds are separate from one another, and players usually travel between them using a Gummi Ship. Some worlds from previous games return, now with larger or new areas to explore. New worlds include the Land of Dragons from Mulan, Beast's Castle from Beauty and the Beast, Timeless River based on Steamboat Willie and other Mickey Mouse shorts, Port Royal from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pride Lands from The Lion King, and Space Paranoids from Tron. Twilight Town, an original world first seen in Chain of Memories, plays a bigger role here as the starting area. The World That Never Was is a new location serving as the base of Organization XIII. The main characters are Sora, a fifteen-year-old boy chosen to wield the Keyblade, a mystical key-shaped weapon that fights darkness; Donald Duck, the magician of Disney Castle; and Goofy, the captain of the castle guards. They follow orders from their missing king, Mickey Mouse, to stay with Sora. Other original characters include Riku, who is briefly playable near the end, and Kairi, both friends of Sora from Destiny Islands; Roxas, another Keyblade wielder playable in the opening; Naminé, who can manipulate memories; and DiZ, a red-robed man with a grudge against Organization XIII, later revealed to be Ansem the Wise, Xehanort's mentor.

Development

Even before the first Kingdom Hearts was finished, director Tetsuya Nomura already had ideas for a follow-up. Actual development work on Kingdom Hearts II got underway after the release of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, though the team didn't lock down concrete plans until July 2003. Nomura pointed out several hurdles that had to be cleared before the sequel could move forward. One of these was the staff's wish to give Mickey Mouse a bigger role, which meant they needed Disney's sign-off. The game was built by Square Enix's Product Development Division 1, and most of the people who worked on the original returned. Originally, this sequel was meant to come out right after the first game. Nomura had planned for the story to pick up one year later, and he initially wanted that missing year to remain a mystery. To fill in that gap, the team created Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. That game also provided an explanation for why Sora starts Kingdom Hearts II without any of his old abilities: his memories were scrambled during the events of Chain of Memories.

The gameplay saw a lot of overhauls. Some changes came from player feedback, while others were ideas that had been cut from earlier games due to time or technical limits. The camera controls moved from the shoulder buttons to the right analog stick on the DualShock, and the Gummi Ship sections were redesigned. The combat system was built from scratch, using none of the animations from the first game. Since Sora had grown up, Nomura wanted his fighting style to show that maturity. Battles and exploration were blended together more smoothly. New features like the different combat styles tied to each Drive Form and the Reaction Command system were added to give players more tactical options. Worlds based on live-action Disney movies were made possible by new technology that could generate character models from photographs of real actors.

The music was handled by the same people as the first game: Yoko Shimomura composed the score, and Hikaru Utada contributed songs. The original soundtrack came out on January 25, 2006. Kaoru Wada arranged and orchestrated the opening and ending themes, which were performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Promotion and release

The first game and its Final Mix version each included a hidden trailer that pointed toward a follow-up. In March 2003, Japanese rumors started after the website Quiter claimed an unnamed Square insider confirmed work on Kingdom Hearts II had begun. Later that year, at the September 2003 Tokyo Game Show, Buena Vista Games and Square Enix jointly announced that both Kingdom Hearts II and Chain of Memories were in development. Early story details placed Kingdom Hearts II after Chain of Memories, which itself follows the original game, and confirmed the return of Sora, Donald, and Goofy along with new outfits. Details about Mickey Mouse's role were kept scarce. Square Enix planned to co-publish the title with Buena Vista Games for the PlayStation 2 in 2004 or beyond. At Square Enix's 2004 E3 press conference, producer Shinji Hashimoto stated that many of the first game's mysteries would be resolved. Despite the September 2003 announcement, a release date was not set for another two years. Director Tetsuya Nomura later admitted the game was announced too early, and information was held back until a proper debut window approached. The official Japanese website launched in May 2005, with the English version following in December 2005; both sites offered videos and details on characters and worlds. Japanese commercials emphasized the wide range of Disney characters. Although Square Enix targeted a winter holiday release in North America, that window was delayed by a few months. The company spent US$3 million on the North American launch campaign, using print and TV ads that highlighted the variety of characters and worlds. Disney reviewed the campaign to ensure it avoided venues and networks associated with sexual content or violence. Square Enix released Kingdom Hearts II in three regional versions—Japan, North America, and PAL areas—with minor differences in content editing and localization. The European and Australian PAL editions were adjusted to run at 50 Hz to match the screen resolution of PAL encoding systems.

Reception

Within a week of launching in Japan, Kingdom Hearts II had already shipped a million copies, with nearly 730,000 of those sold. In North America, the NPD Group named it the top-selling console game for March 2006, moving 614,000 units that month. After its North American release, it sold roughly a million copies in its first month. GameStop reported it as their best-selling title for the first quarter of 2006, and IGN listed it among their top 10 sellers for the year. By December 2006, worldwide shipments had surpassed 3.5 million copies, with 700,000 in PAL regions, 1.1 million in Japan, and 1.7 million in North America. By March 31, 2007, Square Enix had shipped over 4 million units globally.

Critics generally received the game well, according to Metacritic. However, opinions on the gameplay were split, much like with earlier entries. Reviewers praised the refined combat system, particularly the drive forms, limit breaks, and combos, which they said added depth, variety, and excitement. Andrew Reiner of Game Informer described the combo potential as "divine," claiming it surpassed the intensity of God of War. Carrie Gouskos of GameSpot and Luke Albiges of Eurogamer noted the game's accessibility; Gouskos pointed out that easy customization allowed for both deep and shallow play, while Reiner highlighted the dynamic controls, which he felt gave players confidence and comfort. On the downside, Gouskos and IGN's Jeff Haynes criticized the reduced difficulty. Haynes observed that basic attacks were so effective they made offensive magic less useful, and that the abundance of health orbs from enemies rendered healing items unnecessary. Gouskos, however, saw this as an improvement over the original, which she felt derived its difficulty from "backtracking, tediousness, and confusion." Louis Bedigian of GameZone concluded that players experienced with action RPGs from the SNES and PlayStation eras would not find the game challenging. Patrick Gann of RPGFan thought the partner AI was better than in the first game, while Haynes called it "absolutely terrible," blaming the lack of an option to issue commands to AI partners.