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PlayStation (Games) Role Playing (Games)

Kingdom Hearts II Preview 40

Posted by Zonk from the heartless-to-the-left-of-me-heartless-to-the-right-of-me dept.
1up.com has an in-depth preview of the much anticipated Kingdom Hearts II RPG. The second mashup between SquareEnix and Disney is expected in the states sometime in late Spring or early Summer. From the article: "If the first Kingdom Hearts was a crazy experiment, then the sequel is the final product, refined and polished in dozens of small-but-important ways. One of the most obvious improvements is the game's massively higher budget; though the first looked nice, Kingdom Hearts II is one of the best looking games the PS2 has ever -- or will ever -- see. From photorealistic models to 'I can't believe it's not PS3' massive battles, the game convinces the aging PS2 hardware to do things that seem nearly impossible."
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Kingdom Hearts II Preview More

Kingdom Hearts II Preview

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  • I can't wait (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Monday January 02, 2006 @06:59PM (#14381269) Homepage
    I can't wait for this game. I played the original, not expecting much (Disney has made some nice games, but at the same time...) and I was BLOWN AWAY. The game was fantastic.

    I wanted to like Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the GBA but I just couldn't get into the whole "Action Card Battle" thing (the battles were terrible, so I didn't get far).

    I can't wait for this one though. This is one of the few games I will just go out and buy (instead of rent). It is good to hear the graphics are shaping up nicely (the original did a great job, so that doesn't surprise me too much). I guess I'm a bit sensitive to this because I've been playing Shadow of the Colossus right now. While the game is amazing in scope and feeling, the graphics have serious problems (in my opinion) and I think they should have kept it over for the PS3 (what a launch title, huh?)> While the game looks good, it is just DYING for some anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering to kill the shimmering on the ground. The textures all look muddy and the game could really benefit from some high dynamic range. The framerate suffers too (not too much, but enough that you can notice it). The camera absolutely sucks when you are in close spaces (but that is true of most games). It is a great game and I can't wait to finish it, but with it's issues and the issues of Psychonauts (the last game I played, should have done it on the XBox) I'm a little sensitive to it right now.

    But I can't wait to play this game.

    • What's with your .sig? It doesn't make any sense without the brackets...
    • I agree that the battle system in Chain of Memories could have been better, but I found it entertaining...for a while...and it didn't stop me from beating the game on both the normal and secret modes, and I don't regret playing it at all. Chain of Memories advanced the story of the first KH and built up the anticipation for KH2. It introduced some KH2 characters and left a lot of plot points unexplained. It shouldn't be skipped if you want to experience the full Kingdom Hearts story. I can't wait till March
      • I played it relentlessly until the Riku IV battle. It destroyed me and after a couple of weeks the game was permanently returned to the shelf. That battle destroyed the balance in the game and has made me seriously question my desire to continue following the series.

  • Photorealistic? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Generic Guy ( 678542 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @08:24PM (#14381613)

    Yes, we will know when the PS2 has reached its technical pinnacle when we have...

    Photorealistic cartoons?!?

    • I know what GP means. I've been playing DragonQuest VIII and watching some LooneyToons DVDs (Xmas presents for me and wifey). The DragonQuest animation looks better than the BugsBunny cartoons.

      Bugs Bunny still wins for better plots and music.

    • Re:Photorealistic? (Score:3, Informative)

      by mh101 ( 620659 )
      In KH2, they go to "real life" areas from Tron and Pirates of the Carribean. Those are likely what is being referred to.

  • 20 hour impressions (Score:5, Informative)

    by jdubois79 ( 227349 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @08:32PM (#14381644)
    So, I'm still only partway through the game, but I have to agree with most of what the reviewer said. This game is incredibly beautiful. Everything about it screams style, and it's obvious that when they made the game they did so from the viewpoint that they're making a movie. They even have crossfades within the engine (no black screen or fade out between camera changes).

    The gummi ship battles (my least favorite part of the game in I) have been completely redone in II, and are now by far my favorite part.

    However.

    After an amazing first 10 hours, I've come to realize that II is essentially just a better version of I. The plot isn't as thrilling as I hoped it would be, and although the connection between XII and Sora and Roksor are interesting, I'm fiding myself visiting the same Disney worlds that I did in 1 (nightmare before xmas, atlantis, arabian nights, olympus) with only a few additions (tron, lion king, old town). Even the winny the pooh adventure is similar.

    Perhaps I'm just jaded, but I was hoping for something more far reaching in terms of plot. So far it feels like more of the same. Hopefully that will change in the next 20 hours or so.

    That being said, I do recommend the game, because even though the plot may not have progressed as much as I would have liked, it's still an amazing game with beautiful graphics and a deep combat and custimization system. Hell, I'd buy it just for the gummi battles. ;)

  • OK, now that they have the good graphics (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Psykechan ( 255694 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @09:50PM (#14381874)
    Maybe they will actually do something with the gameplay.

    I wanted to like the first Kingdom Hearts; I really wanted to. The problem was that not only wasn't it fun but it was tedious and annoying to play. Graphically it was beautiful. Aurally it was superb. The setting was engrossing but in the end, this is a video game and if it doesn't have at least some sort of passable gameplay then it won't be worth even trying to play.

    Tetsuya Nomura has shown us that with KH and with FF:CC (another game that I really wanted to like) that he can give us wonderful worlds in which to flounder loosely around. I really want to like KH2 but I'm not holding my breath.
    • I feel your pain. I tried to like Kingdom Hearts, I really did. I didn't buy it, but borrowed it from a friend of mine. It started out great. The story was interesting to me. However, the gameplay at times made Diablo 2 look NOT repetitive by comparison. I remember parts where I had to stand in the same place fighting the same enemies for 10-15 minutes or sometimes more! I wanted to see where the story went, but it got to the point where it was downright painful to play. I made it to the Little Merm
      • I thoroughly enjoyed KHI's gameplay. The action-oriented battles were a refreshing change from traditional turn-based RPGs. The story was compelling, but the gameplay was equally enjoyable. I often strayed from the main quest and spent countless hours just playing for the fun of it. Kingdom Hearts is my favorite game and, although I agree that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I'm starting to get sick of people badmouthing an excellent game. If it wasn't fun, people wouldn't have played it.
      • Aww, finish Grandia 2! You don't know what you're missing!

        Yeah, the battle system is pretty painful (Grandia Xtreme is the better bet), but the story is well worth it.
        • Well worth it? Are we talking about the same Grandia 2?
        • I sold Grandia 2 a couple of years ago...had it for the Dreamcast. I paid $15 for it new when I got it, but I felt ripped off. The 2 Dreamcast RPG's were Skies of Arcadia and Grandia 2. I figured that since it was from the makers of Lunar, Grandia 2 would be the far better game and Skies of Arcadia would only be average. Boy was I wrong...Skies of Arcadia was one of the best games on the Dreamcast and one of the 2 best RPG's of this generation IMO. I give it #2 actually...#1 going to Tales of Symphonia
    • Despite everything great about KH, the gameplay was downright abysmal. It's fun for the first 10 minutes or so, but then it dribbles on into a series of watching Donald die, killing enemies that block your attacks, spells that are hard to aim, and lots and lots and lots of enemies everywhere. This is supplimented by moving around the same area/world at least 4-5 times to find some character to talk to, only to have them move so you can search them out AGAIN. Do this for a good 2-4 hours, beat the world,

  • Where's Tron? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Progman3K ( 515744 ) on Monday January 02, 2006 @10:49PM (#14382082)
    There were articles recently mentioning that Kingdom Hearts would have environments like the movie Tron.

    Whatever became of that?

    • Re:Where's Tron? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Blackwulf ( 34848 )
      From TFA:

      New worlds include Beauty and the Beast's Beast Castle, Mulan's Land of Dragons, the Lion King's Pride Land, and Timeless River, a black-and-white world based on old Mickey Mouse shorts, like 1928's Steamboat Willie. Also new are two "live action" worlds, where a cartoon Sora, Donald, and Goofy fight alongside realistically modeled human beings: Port Royal, based on 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean, and Space Paranoids, based on 1982's Tron. Square Enix has not yet announced if "real life" actors

  • If developers were to program for the metal or use compilers that target the vector units of the PS2 we wouldn't be forced through the traumatic upgrade-and-backwards-compatibility cycle every few years.
    • Remember, this is Sony. You know, the company that has developed an entirely new media format so that it can make millions in licensing fees and so we have to buy movies in a new format all over again. Question: Why create an enormous new format and then have the standard codec by MPEG2? Better question: Why have a new physical format at all if you have a newer compression algorithm, MPEG4, that has had a decade of mathematical refinement? Best question: Which format with Jenna choose to show off her as
      • I know people working on PS3 titles that say they are really happy to have a PPC core instead of a MIPS core. Note that they had nothing interesting to say about the vector units on either the PS3 or the PS2. That's because no-one is going to bother coding for them. Maybe there will be some middleware developers for the PS3 who supply physics libraries that make use of the massive increase in vector processing power on the PS3, but the vast majority of games will remain CPU+GPU titles.. i.e., no better t
        • It bugs me I had to wait so many years to be able to see visually compelling games on the PS2 like Killzone and God of War. Then again the smart fellows at Polyphony Digital, SquareEnix and Konami harnassed so much prowess from the PS2 as early as 2001.

  • Glad this isn't released on some kiddie console! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03, 2006 @02:18AM (#14382758)
    I heard you could summon Bambi and score MAJOR DAMAGE!!! Good Thing I'm not playing kiddie games like MARIO anymore, lol, I'm really gonna enjoy this disney game for grown-ups!

    Posting as AC, because sometimes, the truth, even if it hit you in the ass, wouldn't be recognized by any of you blind fools.

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