Kingdom Hearts II – Part 1: Plot

***** SPOILERS THROUGHOUT *****

Between Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2

Playing the original Kingdom Hearts again made me want to give this game another run. As I played I found myself comparing KH1 and KH2 a lot. I think my overall analysis is that I like the gameplay of KH2 more but have to give the plot victory to KH1. Since I’m a fan of starting with the negative first and working to the positive I’ll thus start with some KH2 plot stuff (and it won’t all be negative).

The KH series is one of the few series I know of that expects you to play all the games in the series. Some of the story won’t make sense and even the parts that do won’t be as meaningful without having played the other games. In the case of KH2 there is another game, Chain of Memories, that came out between KH1 and KH2. I’ve never played CoM and have no interest to (the gameplay is card battling). I remember being a bit lost with the story of KH2 at points but it made more sense after CoM.

Quick rundown of CoM’s plot: Sora and company go to a place called Castle Oblivion. A group called Organization XIII uses a witch named Namine to mess with Sora and his memories. Sora finds out the truth and takes down several Organization members along the way. Namine realizes what she was doing was wrong and decides to fix Sora’s memories. However, this means Sora, Donald, and Goofy will have to be put to sleep for a year. Unbeknownst to them, Riku and King Mickey also arrived at Castle Oblivion. Riku has to deal with the darkness inside him and learn to use it without it taking him over. His darkness often manifests itself as Ansem, the villain of KH1 who possessed Riku. A mysterious character named DiZ also makes appearances.

“Longest Prologue Ever”

KH2 starts with some kid named Roxas and his friends in the world of Twilight Town. They’re pretty much just hanging out while they’re on summer vacation but weird stuff keeps happening to Roxas. He has weird dreams, sees hallucinations, and these weird white monsters keep bothering him. Anytime he goes to sleep we see DiZ and a robed figure monitoring him and talking about waking up Sora. They also seem to be in a bit of a hurry and are worried that some enemies will find them. The robed figure identifies himself as Ansem, KH1’s villain somehow revived.

KH2’s beginning has been called the Longest Prologue Ever. Gameplay wise it does drag quite a bit. I appreciated it more story wise this time though. The boring parts make you appreciate that Roxas and his friends are living the lives of ordinary teenagers. Then when everything hits the fan it makes you sympathize with Roxas more.

Because Roxas’s life pretty much goes down the tubes. Axel, a member of Organization XIII, keeps harassing him. It seems Axel knows Roxas somehow. Organization XIII (O13 from now on) are the enemies that DiZ and Ansem were worried of. Axel continues to bother Roxas and even tries to knock Roxas out. Roxas then somehow gains the Keyblade to help him fight Axel and the white monsters. DiZ does everything he can to keep Axel out of Twilight Town.

The truth comes out slowly. The Twilight Town Roxas is in is a fake one made of data that DiZ is holding Roxas in. Roxas somehow plays a key role in Sora reawakening. However, O13 doesn’t want this so they sent Axel and the white monsters to get Roxas. Roxas begins to realize his life is a lie but fights to keep it as best he can. It sounds like he and Axel were good friends at some point too which is why Axel is so desperate to try and bring Roxas back alive. In the end, Roxas fights his way to Sora as the digital Twilight Town glitches to hell. Roxas realizes that awakening Sora will cause him to lose himself but has no choice to accept it. Roxas’s theme, which is rather sad, plays during this scene.

After that Sora, Donald, and Goofy wake up. They have no knowledge of Roxas or what’s happened in the last year. They meet up with King Mickey and soon learn of a new threat that is using the Heartless: O13. O13 is made up of Nobodies: the body that is left over when it loses its heart and a Heartless is created. They’re controlling the Heartless and causing havoc in a bunch of different worlds. Sora and company have to fight them while trying to search for Riku, Kairi, and King Mickey (he leaves soon after meeting up with Sora).

I spent a bunch of time on the prologue above. As I think about it I realize the prologue is one of my favorite parts of the story now. Kind of funny since it’s so boring gameplay wise. Anyway, KH2 progresses a lot like KH1 from here on out: going to Disney worlds and experiencing their stories.

General Observations

I never realized it before but I read online people making fun of how Sora’s group is referred to. They’re almost always called, “Sora, Donald, and Goofy” in exactly that order. Now that it’s been pointed out I noticed it a lot throughout the game. I think they were addressed in SGD order exactly once. It’s also ridiculous how many times all three of their names are said as opposed to an abbreviation like, “you guys.”

It also seemed like Sora was a lot dumber in this game. He’d constantly need stuff repeated for him or just wouldn’t get simple stuff other people talked about. I realize he’s not supposed to be a genius but it got a bit grating at times. Also, many of the heartwarming or silly moments, especially in the beginning of the game, seemed very forced or corny. However, they got better as the game went on. I also realized that Goofy is the smartest one of the group in this game. He was consistently the one to figure stuff out, remind Sora of stuff, or not have to have things repeated for him.

Land of the Dragons (Mulan)

Saw the actual movie recently. I’m now disappointed that KH2 didn’t use I’ll Make a Man Out of You. Kind of cool area. I like how the incorporate Mulan’s improvement as a warrior and the reveal of her as a woman. Gameplay wise she gains a lot more abilities when she’s revealed as Mulan as opposed to when she pretends to be a man.

Beast’s Castle (Beauty and the Beast)

Like how they mix the stories here. Xaldin, one of the highest ranking members of O13, is trying to use Beast’s anger and jealousy to turn him into a Heartless. Thus, he keeps messing with Beast’s head and turning him against Belle and the furniture. Cool thing is he doesn’t use mind control powers to do it; Beast is already prone to anger so all Xaldin does is talk to Beast and fill his head with ideas. It’s up to the heroes, Belle, and the furniture to convince Beast not to listen to Xaldin.

Olympus Coliseum (Hercules)

Unlike the first game they incorporated some story here instead of just making it a sidequest world. Most of it is you running around running errands for different characters though. Auron from Final Fantasy X is here this time and he’s my favorite character from that game. After making Hercules seem like this awesome, invincible hero in the first game they bring him down to earth in this one. Hades tricks Hercules into leaving the Coliseum and its visitors undefended while a monster attacks it, destroying the Coliseum and all inside. This causes Hercules to doubt himself and sulk for most of the game. It’s not until the second half of the game that you get him to believe in himself again.

Disney Castle and the Timeless River

King Mickey is still out but you have to go to Disney Castle to protect it from Pete (a recurring villain in this game) and the Heartless. You have to protect Queen Minnie at one point but thankfully it’s not a chore since she has powerful magic that can wipe out lots of enemies in one shot.

Pete’s scheme is to go back in time (Timeless River) to destroy Disney Castle. This portion is very cool: it takes after the original cartoons with Mickey Mouse in it. They black-and-white everything and even Sora is given an old-school looking character model for this portion. The sound even sounds like it’s coming from an old TV. I really enjoy Timeless River. Even the Keyblade you get from it reflects its atmosphere, the Monochrome.

Agrabah (Aladin)

This world returns. Genie is still funny to watch. I believe they took the plot for this world in this game from the Aladin sequel which I’ve never seen. Pretty much seems just like the first Aladin: Jafar comes back and you fight against him again.

Port Royal (Pirates of the Caribbean)

I remember I was originally excited that KH featured a world from this movie. Maybe it’s because I’ve actually seen this movie but this seems like the most watered down KH world. Only Jack, Will, Elizabeth, and Barbosa make it in. They cut out a ton of the movie’s plot including most of Jack’s scheming, antics, and unpredictability that really made the movie enjoyable. Also, the world of PotC where magic doesn’t exist and undead monsters are very much out of the ordinary just doesn’t fit very well with the fantasy setting of KH. Even the song, He’s a Pirate (an awesome song from the movie and probably one of the first ones you think of), seems way too watered down.

Halloween Town (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

I really should see this movie sometime. I generally enjoy Halloween Town and the antics of Jack Skellington. This time Jack has gotten bored of Halloween and wants to help Santa Clause (“Sandy Claws” as Jack calls him) with Christmas. This leads to many misadventures of course. Anytime Santa and Jack banter is pretty funny; Santa makes it clear he’s exasperated with Jack’s antics trying to help with Christmas. In the end, a revived Oogie Boogies plots to turn Santa Clause into a Heartless.

Pride Lands (Lion King)

This is an interesting area, both from gameplay and story. I’ll cover the gameplay part in the next post. I feel like I remember a bit more about Lion King than a lot of the other Disney movies. Unlike Pirates, I feel like KH2’s version of Lion King isn’t very watered down. The key elements of the story all seem to be there. The fight against Scar is pretty cool. It starts as a cutscene as everyone stays back so Simba and Scar can have their duel. After Simba wins Pete appears and helps but turning Scar into a Heartless. Since Scar was such a dark individual anyway his Heartless is the same as him but with added dark powers. This is when Sora and company decide to enter the fight to even the odds.

Hallow Bastion (Original)

You visit this place a few times throughout the game. This place was the world of the Final Fantasy characters in KH1 and the penultimate world. After your victories in KH1 the FF characters have moved back here and are rebuilding. However, Maleficent is back and has raised an army of Heartless that threatens what they’re rebuilding. O13 also appears and keeps messing with them too. The FF characters can keep the threat at bay when you first arrive but it’s clear that a huge battle is to come.

And that huge battle doesn’t disappoint. Armies of Heartless and Nobodies attack and it’s up to Sora and the FF characters to fend them off. Lots of cool moments here. Fans of FF7 and FF8 will like this part because characters from those games get a lot of the spotlight. Cloud, Leon (Squall), Yuffie, Tifa, and even Aeris get plenty of fighting in. In one part you move through a gauntlet of enemies and a different FF character fights with you in ever segment. This world also features your first fight against a member of O13, Demyx. Demyx acts like a wuss anytime you see him previously but he suddenly gets pissed enough to drop the act and fight you here.

The most iconic part of this world, and arguably the whole game, is the Battle of 1,000 Heartless. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey run into a canyon with a sea of Heartless in it. Each one runs to one side to fight a legion of Heartless. As the name implies you have to destroy 1,000 Heartless to advance. This isn’t as difficult or tedious as it sounds due to something that will be covered in the next post. It does, however, convey a sense of awesomeness that you were able to defeat so many enemies at once.

Space Paranoids (Tron)

Never saw this movie but this world does make me curious about it. They did a lot of cool things with this world too. It’s another world in which Sora’s party changes to fit the setting: their clothes change to the same kind of light-up armor that Tron wears. All the Heartless fit the setting too. The banter between Tron and the party is pretty good too, for the most part.

Revisiting the Worlds

After that you go to revisit the worlds. Storywise not much happens. Many of the worlds are just “O13 releases a giant Heartless and you help the world defeat that monster.” Again, Pirates stands out as being especially watered down. This was before Pirates 2 was released so they didn’t even have that to use. O13 realizes that a curse that makes the cursed invincible could be useful and so sends a Heartless to steal the Aztec treasure. Jack gets cursed again even though he doesn’t even take a medallion and it’s supposed to be because the Heartless curses him. Sora and company aren’t cursed and it’s waved away as being because they’re not from the Pirates world so they don’t follow the same rules. To me it seems like they cursed Jack just so he would have a reason to fight with you again but they didn’t want to curse Sora so they made up some lame reasons on how Jack gets cursed and the others don’t. There is one kind of funny scene after you’re done in the world again. Jack decides he wants Sora’s Keyblade as payment for his services. Sora agrees and gives the Keyblade to Jack. Of course, the Keyblade chooses its wielder so it just returns to Sora’s hand, bamboozling Jack.

Beast’s Castle is pretty cool. Xaldin shows up and is still trying to make Beast into a Heartless. He sabotages Beast’s and Belle’s date night and gets Beast pissed at Belle. Sora and the furniture convince Beast to make amends but then Xaldin kidnaps Belle and steals the rose that can turn Beast back to human. His goal is to give Beast a sadistic choice. But then Belle elbows Xaldin and escapes with the rose. This sets up Sora’s and Beast’s fight with Xaldin, one of the more memorable fights of the game.

Ansem?

Hallow Bastion also reveals one of the more “eh” plot twists of KH. The villain of KH1 was Ansem, a scientist-king who got caught up in his research, created the Heartless, and became lost in the science. He became a Heartless and led the Heartless in their attacks against the worlds in the name of gaining knowledge.

KH2 retcons this. KH2 reveals that “Ansem” was not Ansem but Xehanort, an apprentice of Ansem. Ansem accidentally created the Heartless and then decided the experiment should be shut down. Xehanort was the one who decided they had to keep going and he got rid of Ansem and took his identity. So now “Ansem” from KH1 was actually Xehanort’s Heartless. The leader of O13 and main antagonist of KH2 is Xemnas, Xehanort’s Nobody.

I’ve heard that the identity of Xehanort has again been retconned in the later KH games. Here’s a short description of who the series villain is now: he’s an old Jedi Master who fell to the dark side and stole the body of a younger Jedi Knight. However, the knight’s spirit rebelled the result was the evil Master lost his memory. He ended up thinking he was a young apprentice to a scientist-king. He then usurped the scientist-king and stole his identity. I think that covers it.

Endgame

I realized that I’m not as big a fan of the endgame of KH2 as of KH1. KH1 was all about having hope when all seemed lost and drawing strength from one’s friends. KH1 had Riku’s betrayal followed by his redemptive sacrifice along with the revelation of Kairi’s heart inside Sora.

By comparison, in KH2 the sacrifices seem just set up to give characters a chance to sacrifice themselves. In KH1 Riku holds back “Ansem” from attacking his friends. Then Sora is determined to go back to find and help Riku. In KH2 Axel sacrifices himself against a hoard of Nobodies that appears out of nowhere and which have no purpose other than to make Axel sacrifice himself.

Everyone also starts using the phrase, “He’s doing what his heart commands, we can’t interfere!” for allowing people to do crazy or suicidal things. Really? What if their heart commanded them to go on a rampage? Couldn’t you say the same about Xehanort: his heart commanded him to keep pursuing the science even when it clearly was leading to evil findings? Again, it comes off to me as an excuse to put in a bunch of noble sacrifices for the sake of having dramatic moments.

That said, there’s still some cool parts. Sora finds out about Roxas from the beginning and that Roxas is his Nobody from when he was briefly a Heartless in KH1. They have a pretty cool cutscene fight and afterwards Roxas finally accepts Sora as his true self. In general I’ve found I enjoy the parts of the story with Roxas.

I don’t like the ending of this game as much as KH1’s but the very end of it is pretty heartwarming. Sora and Riku get separated from everyone else and have to fight Xemnas by themselves. They win but get trapped in a dark realm for a while. Sora’s heart opens a door to the light and they return. Finally, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey reunite and for the first time in the series all of them are present, accounted for, and out of danger. It just took over a year and countless fights for it to happen. It’s not the end of the series but at least for the time being they’ve earned some rest.

Conclusion

Overall I like KH2’s story. It does have its flaws and I would say I like KH1’s better. However, I definitely remember being hooked on it my first time through and it’s still cool to experience again. Hopefully my rambling about a story that’s already a bit difficult to follow wasn’t too incoherent. Next post I’ll be focusing on gameplay instead of story, the part where KH2 outshines its predecessor in my opinion.

External Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kVnJ52R-F0 – I am a sucker for the opening of the KH games. This is basically a visual summary of KH1 and Chain of Memories. The opening is pretty much over at 4:40 as that’s when it jumps into the game’s first cutscene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r9RwClv1sk – And I’m a sucker for Roxas’s scenes too. This is the scene that ends the prologue and awakens Sora.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdpi0OlV5ic – The big battle at Hallow Bastion. I particularly like the scene from 1:38 – 2:00.