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Why is Kingdom Hearts II So Popular?

Posted by Zonk on Sun Apr 30, 2006 01:50 PM
from the two-words-sora's-hair dept.
PlayStation (Games)
kukyfrope writes "The long awaited sequel to the popular RPG Kingdom Hearts finally hit North America late last month, and in just those few days easily outsold all other games in March. GameDaily examines why nobody can resist the magic of Disney and Square together in Kingdom Hearts II and why the Kingdom Hearts series has been so successful."
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Related Stories

[+] Kingdom Hearts II Sells A Million 61 comments
Opposable Thumbs reports that Kingdom Hearts 2 has sold a million copies here in the states. From the article: "Squeenix deserved this home run, and it'll be interesting to see how well Final Fantasy XII does in America after its perfect score in Japan, but lukewarm reception of the demo in North America. Even with Final Fantasy there are no guarantees, and Squeenix has to be glad they have another high-performing franchise under their belt so that the big-haired emo kids of FF don't have the burden of the entire company on their shoulders." It really does get better after the first two hours.
[+] U.S. Video Game Sales Up 15.5% in April 51 comments
kukyfrope writes "According to The NPD Group, game sales are up 15.5% for April 2006 thanks to strong PS2 sales, Xbox 360 availability and the release of popular titles such as Kingdom Hearts II, Oblivion and Tomb Raider: Legend. GameDaily BIZ talks in-depth with analysts Michael Pachter (WMS) and Anita Frazier (NPD) on the current trends of the industry and whether this last month was just a fluke or an upswing for the industry. 'We are completely baffled by the sales trend reversal for current generation software,' said Pachter."
[+] Kingdom Hearts II Review 116 comments
The rich IP backgrounds of Square/Enix and the Disney Corporation were thrown together for the first time in 2002. The Square-developed game, entitled Kingdom Hearts, surprised players with a story that blended two very different flavours into a compelling whole. The extent to which that game drew on the respective company's products made for a breathtakingly large world, and a storyline twisty enough to satisfy even the most jaded RPG player. Unfortunately, weak gameplay detracted from the overall experience of the unique title. The sequel, Kingdom Hearts II, picks up the pieces where the original left off and makes noticeable improvements in both story and gameplay. Read on for my impressions of a solid RPG that does fan service like no other title out there.
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Why is Kingdom Hearts II So Popular? 50 Comments More /

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  • OMGBISHIES (Score:3, Funny)

    by BitwizeGHC (145393) on Sunday April 30 2006, @01:59PM (#15232917) Homepage
    For kids you have the familiar, lovable Disney characters. For the grown-up crowd you have Nomura's familiar smooth-faced, spiky-haired girly men. Never underestimate the power of bishies and hinted-at shounen-ai when targeting that oh-so-important magnesium-panties fangirl demographic.
    • For kids you have the familiar, lovable Disney characters. For the grown-up crowd you have Nomura's familiar smooth-faced, spiky-haired girly men. Never underestimate the power of bishies and hinted-at shounen-ai when targeting that oh-so-important magnesium-panties fangirl demographic.

      And the FFanbois get modpoints today. Too bad, cause you're right.

      Just one question: "Magnesium-panties?" Sounds hot(pun intended).
  • The game is just cutscene after cutscene linked together by linear hallways of tiled textures and featureless surfaces. Marketting goes a long way for people who don't know what makes a good game. It doesn't matter that it's complete tripe, just that it's Mickey and Donald and all the bad Final Fantasy game characters.

  • Sure, the gameplay is simple, the point of "Go from world to world" is a little pointless - but there's an interesting story at work here, and it's actually kind of sad one.

    **SPOILER ALERT!**

    Basically, you have really the story of two people - Roxis and Sora, one of whom only exists because of a mistake from the other one. So right there you have the question - who am I? If my memories and self are absorbed by another, what point does "me" have? And when I choose to give that up for the greater good, will "I" be remembered - or am "I" just a shell, with no real identity of my own?

    So, sure, it's simple and silly and rote at times, but there's actually some good gameplay here (I think the action commands are cool when boss fighting). Not "game of the year", but "pleasant low calorie diversion".
    • Yes, it's simple and rote ... I'd even say most of the time it's very very easy.

      OTOH, I see that as being 'good gameplay' ... there are so many side-quests that it's easy to find something you want to do at any given point. Want a space-shooter thing? Fly around in a gummi ship and blow stuff up on a few dozen courses. Want a platformer? There are plenty of those in Winnie-the-Pooh: find one you like. Skateboarding? Sure, do that in a half dozen courses...

      It really is as simple as 'Hit X mindlessly, a

  • It's the pokemon effect (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun (571051) on Sunday April 30 2006, @02:22PM (#15233015)
    you hit every market. Boys like the figting, girls like the pastel collars and disney characters, hardcore gamers dig square and the graphics, it's easy enough for casual gamers. Pokemon did the same thing, that's why it was such a phenomenon. If you can make something that appeals to everyone (not po'ing your hardcore fans is an added bonus), you'll make money hand over fist.
  • I'm thinking because kukyfrope is just some industry blogger.
  • I loved the first KH, and was really looking forward to the second. After reading the IGN review, I was somewhat disappointed becuase they only gave it a... 7.something. Not a great review for a highly anticipated game.

    I still decided to pick it up. Now, while there are a LOT of cutscenes which can get annoying, I actually enjoy the gameplay. Sure, it isn't the hardest game in the world, and a lot of it is just mashing of the X button, there's still something satisfying about going into battle with 20 enemies and taking them all out.

    Now, while the stories for each of the "sub worlds" (Agrabah, Halloween Town, etc) technically just follow their particular movie, it all ties into the story fairly well. Now, I am a Disney fan, but as a 24 year old I don't exactly go out and buy every piece of Lion King memorabilia or see every new Disney movie... so I definitely didn't buy the game based on the fact that Disney characters are in it. But the story is enjoyable.

    So, put a good storyline, great characters, and fun, simple gameplay together and you have a quality game IMO.
  • I'm not sure why it's so popular. I just finished a four hour session downstairs working on it too. But I think part of it has to deal with the friggin two year delay. As Ctrl+Alt+Del [ctrlaltdel-online.com] put it.

  • Easy ... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by medeii (472309) <{medeii} {at} {hotmail.com}> on Sunday April 30 2006, @02:52PM (#15233170)

    The reason KH2 is so popular is that there hasn't been a decent RPG out for almost a year -- not one that I've wanted to buy, anyway. More, there won't be another big-name RPG out until FF12, which is supposedly delayed until Thanksgiving.

    That said, it's a very great game in its own right. But it's arriving in the middle of a giant drought for the RPG market.

    • Re:Easy ... (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The reason KH2 is so popular is that there hasn't been a decent RPG out for almost a year

      What dought?

      FFIV Advance
      Mother 3
      Oblivion

      All have come out very recently, Im just about done with FFIV advance, and have just started Oblivion. Maybe you need to broaded your catagory from PS2 RPGs to just RPGs in general.
    • Dude. Radiata Stories, Wild Arms: Alter Code F, Wild Arms 4, Dragon Quest 8, Suikoden Tactics, Advance Wars, Suikoden 5, Tales of Legendia, Oblivion, Grandia 3, Romancing SaGa, Fable: the Lost Chapters, Magna Carta, Atelier Iris (1 and 2, although 2 was just released)... well, ok, a few of those won't appeal to everybody. But seriously, the only way you could say there hasn't been a decent RPG out for almost a year is if you only pay attention to Final Fantasy games.
    • We finally had an RPG released, the first in quite a while. You may not have heard of it, it's called Oblivion.

  • I have no urge whatsoever to play it.
  • 1) It's a sequel from Square/Enix and Disney, two well known brands

    2) The actual gameplay of the game and the level design received hardly any coverage prior to release

    3) Most fans pre-ordered to make sure they received a copy, not knowing what the game was like

    4) EB and other stores received bonus gifts for employees if they sold enough KH2 strategy guides and games

    5) The game appeals to many, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tron, and many other popular franchises are featured in the game. Every level i

  • It's popular because the Walt Disney Corperation has a monopoly on childhood happiness. The hopes, dreams, fond memories of your most cherished time were all provided from the sterile bosom of a soulless incorperated fantasy factory. Your aspirations, your comforts, the very roots of your being were all, almost without exception provided in the form of a one size fits all childhood, carefully scripted by that organisation.

    This game is simply another act, shamelessly tacked onto the prostituted play that is your emotional life. You love Kingdom Hearts because it is Disney, and without Disney, you know no other happiness. Outside the warm succor of your donald duck duvet and mickey mouse pyjamas, joy, contentment and love are cold and distant concepts which you cannot hope to achieve alone.

    So come! Gather once again to suckle and the great and monsterous teat of one of the most terrible enterprises to have ever existed. Let Kingdom Hearts II once again show you the pleasures of being a shallow false happiness junkie. All the while Mother Disney will smile with her sweet and duplicitious grin.
    • That's too true to be funny. It really bothers me that Disney tries to infiltrate its characters everywhere and anywhere — but not as much as the fact that people seem to welcome that infiltration. In the process, everything gets blanded to death.

      Like many office buildings, the one in which I work gives its conference rooms names with a common theme. In this particular building, the theme is Disneyland Attractions, and the biggest conference room is name "Mickey's Toontown." Now, when Gary Wolf inve

      • Disney bought the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise, and decided to kill Christopher Robin.
        Thats right: They're replacing him with a girl! [bbc.co.uk]

        Disney is evil, and this is just incontrovertible proof. If they get Pixar to do a film with the girl, Pixar is evil, too.
        • Actually, nowadays Pixar and the animation division of Disney are pretty much the same thing. In any case, they didn't need to kill off CR in order to make their adaptations of WtP evil. I'm old enough to remember when they first got their mitts on this "franchise" and I only needed a couple of TV commercials to know that I'd hate it for corning up the books. I've carefully avoided the Disney version of WtP ever since.

          Back to Pixar: I've only seen one of their movies, A Bug's Life. It wasn't bad, but it t

          • Back to Pixar: I've only seen one of their movies, A Bug's Life. It wasn't bad, but it totally used up my capacity for cutsy 3D animated talking animals -- and that's all Pixar seems to do.

            Have you seen The Incredibles"? Of the Pixar movies I have seen, it was clearly the best. It's still a kid's movie, but there was plenty for me to enjoy too.

  • Most of the replies here are trying to work out some conspiracy theory or Grand Unified Theory of Marketing to answer why it's so popular.

    Anyone stopped to think that maybe Kingdom Hearts was just a lot of fun to play?
    • I purchased the original KH, I loved the graphics and I really want to explore all the Disney worlds--but, by the time I got to that Tarzan level, I just got sick of wandering around lost in the forest with a camera system that made various jumping puzzles really annoying. Maybe KHII is different, but I'd just like to report at least one sale of of KH was not in fact due to it being fun to play. It was fun to watch. Not fun to play.

  • Tron (Score:5, Funny)

    by writermike (57327) on Sunday April 30 2006, @04:12PM (#15233502)
    My theory is that people are sincerely starved for anything Tron. They just can't help themselves.
  • To answer the question as simply as possible...

    Everyone can relate to love and hate. Someone above also put it very well in saying that there's something for everyone in this game.

    In addition to that, this game is being judged with great intensity... only games that have the power to incite this kind of adoration (or in the case of a few people, loathing) are truly timeless.

    Being able to get through the game by mashing X? I call it the "Street Fighter effect" - you certainly could do this if you
  • I admit, I'm a Disney fanatic. I'm sure the 90s produced more than a few of us. It's so rare to find a Disney game that's not borderline unplayable. Kingdom Hearts has its fault, but I'm willing to ignore some just so I get a chance to play with some of my favorite characters.
  • Because it's FUN. Wonderful, sweet, funny, uplifting fun. Something that the market tends to lack 99% of the time.
  • 1) It's a sequel to Kingdom Hearts that took years to come out. So that gives you those who liked the original.
    2) Square Fanboys + Disney Fans adds some more to #1
    3) OMGMINIGAMEZ!!! For the ADD crowd (disappointing to at least 1 member of group #1)

  • Put "heart" in the title of any game and it will sell.
    Look at the kind of music that sells. It's all "I love" this and "lady lumps" that.
    • I know, I know. Don't feed the Trolls. Since when did I follow the rules? I review games, as a matter of fact, and I enjoy KH2, simply because it's a goofy, fun game. I enjoy the, often, light-hearted antics of Donald and Goofy, but I also like how the story has gotten a little darker. It's hard to make a truly dark game when you're playing along side of Donald and Goofy, but they do a pretty good job. I bought it, and I enjoy it, and I'll also be buying the Wii and new Zelda games (both for GCN and D
      • What pisses (Ha! Urine!) Nintendo fans off is that no one in the media takes anyone else to task for what they berate Nintendo for.

      • I'm currently replaying through Kingdom Hearts II on Proud ("hard") Mode (as in, the PS2 is on next to my computer and I've got KH2 paused) but you have to admit: the gameplay in KH2 is, simply put, lousy. It's far too easy (mashing X will get you through almost anything) and in sections far too gimicy (complete silly minigame, beat up now-vulnerable boss, repeat).

        The only reason to play the game is, honestly, for the story. If you don't care about the story and don't want to watch the cutscenes, there'

        • yeah, it's not difficult. But I still enjoy it.

          I think the little gimiks are fun, to be honest. It's a good game to play when I want a good story without having to think too much about the game. Sure, that turns a lot of people off, but it allows me the sense of escape that I'm looking for.

          To each his own, I suppose.

    • O RLY? All the reviews [gamerankings.com] I've seen are pretty positive. Or are you one of the folks who still think McIGN has objective review staff? After a 45 hour play through on Proud Difficulty, I thouhgt it was a massive improvement over the first.

      Also, the Tron world kicks ass!

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