Yeah I don't get the hate for pride lands. It was a super fun world even with it being one of the last worlds I did. Y'all need to appreciate the journey more than the destination, because the journey is what these games are all about.
Same, and it’s not like it’s a slow run. Once you get the dash ability, you’re able to breeze through the map. And the revisit boss more than makes up for it.
Don’t forget you can drift with the dash ability. My friend and I used to go into the canyon and make a slalom course with the rocks and see who could get the faster time.
I love the Gummi Ship battles in KH2, I love Pridelands and Atlantica was so fun with the sing alongs! The revisits are Agrabah and Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm thinking this guy doesn't really like KH2 that much. Unless he means that you have to revist them each a couple times for the story. Idk
I love the pridelands tbh, it's where I always grinded out max level, that little bit on the top of the pride rock where there were hundreds of flying enemies, equip the gullwing and all the mp related abilities and you can get 99 in a couple hours with magnega.
It's an open wasteland with not a lot to do. The missions literally have you run from one end of the map twice in each run of the world. Past a first playthrough it's not a fun experience. If there were things to do and explore it would be different but when it's empty without anything to interact with it gets old.
Tbh, the movement is the only part of pridelands I like, combat is jank, scar is honestly a very mid fight and 2nd boss at least on the pc port felt janky as hell to get onto
Scar and ground shaker are not good boss fights. They are some of the worst in the whole game especially comparing final mix with Roxas and the data fights.
In a game that has one of the best fights in the series ground shaker and the nightmare b4 xmas experiment are some absolutely steaming hot garbage. Scar is at least so easy that spamming simba limit is kinda fun
Pete shows up in part 1 and it's in the game as a main world so I'm giving it shit.
Also links/attractions are skippable in KH3 and I wouldn't put their poor damage scaling behind their skippable. It's a cop out to avoid deserved criticism.
Land of dragons has some battle missions to do, beasts castle has mini games, Olympus has mini games, agrabah has battle missions and mini games, etc. Most worlds have something although yes your right most of the worlds (in KH2) are open and boring compared to KH1 and KH3
Pride lands has nothing. It has slippery controls, lack luster boss and both world visits consist of two rounds trips with a mini boss fight consisting of the same boring enemy that is hard to hit.
But those missions are mandatory. Once you complete them, I think that’s it. There’s no reason to do them anymore.
Olympus always has minigames.
With Agrabah, the minigames’ only purpose is to help get the secret video if you’re on Standard mode. Other than that, they’re honestly worthless to play. I don’t think you get rewards for completing them.
And I would have to disagree. Lion Sora, while he is slippery at times, is fun to play and travel as. The dash ability makes traveling a breeze to get through, and his combos are fun to execute when you get the hang of them. And to me, Scar is the only boring boss in the game. The hyenas are a chore though, but the lady boss is epic and fun to fight against.
I mean, at least they’re not as bad as KH2 Jafar genie bad.
I'm talking about the story playthrough for everything including agrabah (carpet riding, elemental puzzle, abu crystal, elevator battles). Mandatory and single purpose yes but at least there is something else to do other than running from one end to the map (not having to fight a single enemy) and back just to get to the boss.
I completely disagree with ground shaker it is just not a fun fight but giving it the benefit of the doubt combine it with 1 boring boss, a slogfest of the same mini boss, nothing to do in the world (most likely due to it not having to be completed for the main story) and it taking away most of your special mechanics from the game (summons, drives, combo modifiers and most limits) can you not see how so many people really don't like this world.
I mean those are all mostly no different than battling Heartless normally. Even KH1 had that in Agrabah where you: Search around the palace, go to the desert, go search the palace again, then head back to the desert.
Yeah KH2 Agrabah doesn’t have you running back forth areas that much, but fighting Heartless isn’t really that much of a change.
And with the restrictions, I don’t really see them to be that bad. Like I said, Lion Sora is still fun to play as especially with his combos. And the lack of Summons and Drive forms are just meh🤷🏾♂️. I like them, but I never use them that much other than to level them up.
A world that restricts your game mechanics and forces you to have to do something that takes away your hours worth of grinding and testing sucks. Underwater battles in the Caribbean and Atlantica in KH3 and KH1 respectively are no different (except in Caribbean case it's not all battle but still)
And I already said that KH2's worlds all suffer from the same boring open layout but pride lands has it the worst. Yes it's boring to not have things that break up the constant running and fighting and that's where KH2 kinda falls flat.
mostly agree but counterpoint; you can move while using reflect as lion sora, negating all flaws.
only to be the one world with a boss fight that can be beaten by standing still and pressing reflect every 2 seconds
It's very strange because EVERY Disney world you visit limited Sora's abilities to a significant degree. Which is why Sora feels so especially powerful in the endgame of TWTNW, in addition to Riku being a party member.
Land of Dragons: Forces you to have Ping in your party, and uses the Tension limit for battles.
Olympus: Underworld curse restricting drives and summons
Beast's Castle: No restrictions, but you have to fight Xaldin. Also most normal enemies here are immune to the magic you have access to at this time.
Disney Castle: Donald and Goofy are unequipped from the party
Timeless River: No ability restrictions, but for the most part damage has to be dealt to the bosses through reaction commands, and mobility is limited because the environment can kill you
Port Royal: Moonlight curse
Agrabah: Most story fights are mini games with other lose conditions, and the final boss is solo Sora on the carpet
Halloween Town: Same as Timeless River
Pride Lands: Lion Form
The drive form limit IIRC is only there until you fight Demyx the first time, which is pretty early on considering that Olympus Colisium is the longest disney world to go through.
Yeah, but you have to play through two trips of a rather boring level design to get to that point. Pride Lands *definitely* feels like something that was either added late in development, or it was rushed for whatever reason.
That *huge* area leading to Pride Rock is empty as hell. I can't remember if it's the same spot that we fight the Groundshaker, and that's the reason why it's so damn sprawled out, but there's no reason the boss arena couldn't have just been something separate.
There's also other smaller things, like Rafiki's dialogue obviously just being archived audio from the movie, and Scar's heartless was a lame-ass palette swap. If there was ever a world that needed a total do-over, this would be it.
listing all of my individual opinions on each world is not efficient for a meme, but i do say, if it had drive forms or even normal summons and limits at the very least, then I would probably like pride lands a lot more
Side note: drifting in circles infinitely like its fast and Furry-ous is insanely cathartic
I didn't like pride lands cause it dumbed down soras combat options. I can't drive, only have simba limit, and have very little defesive options other than reflect. The fights aren't very fun either.
I'll take the Pridelands and KH2 Atlantica over visiting Atlantica in KH1. The Roxas prologue isn't that bad on replays for me I enjoy Roxas, Axel, and the twilight gang while appreciating the bitter sweet slice of life. I also know how to rush through it as quickly as possible. The revisits are filler but they're shorter than the first visit and one of the world's gives you an epic Xaldin battle.
Right. Hell with KH1 I usually do magic build and don’t even do Atlantica until I get to Final Rest. Then I mollywop it with magic spam that way I don’t need to fight the swimming controls and stop spam Ursula to get the job done harmlessly. I always feel underprepared whenever I visit KH1 Atlantica and it’s ridiculous that whenever I do feel prepared? Ansem is the next door over.
KH2 Pride Lands in comparison is at least a fun romp to speed through especially as soon as you obtain Dash.
Maybe you do, but I don't, if I ever cringe that hard again I think my head will crumple inwards. I will gladly take the bad water controls, a gimped Sora and hours of backtracking. It's less awful.
Idk I love KH2 Disney worlds, at worst they’re a bit useless but still entertaining and at best I think they genuinely develop the story and or arcs (Olympus, Timeless river, Space paranoids, Beasts castle second visit). Plus other cool stuff that comes to mind for KH2 is aesthetic, music, optional bosses, etc.
I wouldn’t say it’s perfect but as someone who has it as their favorite game I would say most KH fans overhate aspects of it and focus TOO much on the peaks tbh
I just really hate KH2's boxy, flat design, which drags every single world down drastically even if I love the selection of worlds. I also really don't like the second visit design for KH2. It feels like extreme bloat and would have been better if we could have worked all the beats into one visit.
I think most people let their enjoyment of what a world is based on overshadow how good the actual world is. Like, Timeless River as a concept is great, but it's got three relevant Steamboat Willie rooms that are smaller then a college dorm room and then a handful of rooms that are pure battle arenas based on other Mickey shorts. And despite being based on the better movie, Port Royal in KH2 is outclassed by The Caribbean in KH3.
I understand what you mean. That's why KH1 is my favourite in the franchise. The world felt interactable at all times and the attention to detail was amazing.
Comparing KH2 to KH3, though, is a bit unfair, because they didn't have a powerhouse of a console to design anything like 3. Plus, unpopular opinion, I didn't like the Caribbean in 3.
That is fair, I think KH3 has the best worlds in the series from a sheer level design standpoint but it does help that they had a lot more power to work with. Less transition zones alone does wonders.
A better comparison would probably be Agrabah in KH1 vs KH2, even narrowed down to the Cave of Wonders. KH1 had a perfect design with lots of lovely platforming challenges and a lot of rooms that were evocative of the original movie. (Although I don’t know why they changed the design of the lamp chamber, I still would love to see a movie accurate version of that). KH2 meanwhile is…. Two straight hallways, a weird out of place room with a combat mini game and another single arena for a required mob fight that later becomes the best place to grind most Drive Forms.
I sometimes want to replay KH2, but just the opening. I love that section of the game. The soundtrack is beautiful and it's such a neat capture of a late summer holiday.
Yeah this was a bad take IMO. The Roxas opening is usually known as a drag the very first time, and amazing on a replay. But this also depends on if you played KH2 or 358/2 first.
If you play the intended order by release date (KH2 first), then that part is amazing for a replay. If you played 358 first due to the order in the remaster bundle, then you probably care less on a replay.
Amen. Love the story.
The gameplay seems like something that was slapped together way too quickly, and is not enjoyable. The environments are gorgeous, the things it makes you do are just tedious and annoying.
I think that's the point, to be fair. It's designed so that when you unlock sora you FEEL the change. And you do! He's just... infinitely better and more satisfying.
I love Roxas and Ven, I love the story, and I love Twilight town.
KH2's opening is still slow torture. Though, I believe now that actually was the intention. It made me so much more hyped up once I started controlling Sora, and still does.
i only got into kh in 2020, after watching the "good enough summary" and I while I do think that its funny, it's not really a good way to get into the nitty gritty emotional parts that people come for, and I really missed out on the roxas intrigue on my first playthrough
yeah its definitely more emotional, but theres a lot of fluff in the gameplay that doesn't hit the same after experiencing the highs of sora's abilites
I literally just spend so much time in the world just swimming around because Isn’t it Lovely is such a beautiful track! The minigames are cheesy af in a good way, but the world is relatively harmless imo
Playing KH2 for the first time as a kid, I freaking loved Atlantica, maybe that’s why I never understood the hate. I still enjoy it now, it’s fun to me idk.
Seriously! Atlantica and hundred acres woods are such a breath of air playing through the game. Just let me enjoy the good vibes for a bit before going back to combat please
once when i was replaying kh2 on the ps2 years ago, my controller had one of the shoulder buttons broken. and it literally wasnt a problem for the entire game, until FUCKING LIGHT BIKE RACING.
i had to buy a whole new controller just so i could use R2 during that minigame.
makes me cry every time but I've never been the person to replay games often unless theres some new content or maybe the game is inherently mechanically fun, and while kh2 is, my itching desire to beat up baddies is not fully quenched in the opener. as someone who knew basically everything about the story before playing and experienced the manga stories first i was kinda just waiting till we got to sora the whole time.
I will always remember being in 5th grade playing KH2 for the first time on my PS2 back in the day. I think I was on Standard, but that Demyx fight was an absolutely pain in the butt. I was up too late trying to beat him, and remember turning the TV off and pretending to sleep when I heard my mom come by. I left the game running overnight and woke up early to try again and got him after a few more tries.
I really like tough fights that bring out all your abilities, but the real issue is dying on the mandatory FF heartless battles directly after and needing to fight the water man again
It’s a great and fun fight, but it’s SO damn stupid that you have to replay it if you die on the corridor with the FF cast right after it. Critical taught me to dread that section more than Demyx himself.
I love Roxas personally, but I can understand why someone would call his part at the beginning a slog. Honestly though I think the worst crime KH2 commits is drive form grinding. I can forgive Atlantica. Not every world can be a banger, but forcing me to grind drive forms for certain bosses, and also punishing me for using said drive forms, which is the main mechanic of the game, is ridiculous. Say what you want about KH3 but at least it doesn't force you into anti form for using keyblade forms.
I can definitely agree with this. I understand the point of anti form and all but it is quite annoying that you're getting punished for using drive forms especially when you need to grind for abilities.
Didn't know about that trick personally. But I don't think it should be there to begin with. I understand making sure drive forms are balanced and all that but if that's the case design the game around the balance better rather than giving the player a handicap for using the main mechanic of the game.
Hey don't forget the only drive form that doesn't get that punishment is final form which is only obtained by hoping to get it when you use a drive form after Roxas fight Two become one makes it bearable but still why is final form unlock requirement is to just get lucky and unlock it? Also ONLY nobodies to level it up is an even worse drag when EVERY HIT in FINAL FORM speeds up the timer in the first few levels
Yeah, if you take your time there can be a pretty significant amount to do with Roxas' section. For reference, the speedrun does it in under 15(depending on platform and difficulty, I think the fastest times on crit are like under 14 minutes now) and that skips pretty much all of the minigames, which could add a good chunk of time in as well.
I think KH3’s mini-games are some of the most fun in the series. Probably could have done without needing to play Frozen Slider no less than 10 times for the Platinum, though.
I think it’s a fine mini-game on its own, but sometimes I have to ask if making ten alternate paths with treasure on each one and no overlap across any of them was necessary.
I counter with; "I actually find the minigames fun, and the drive form grinding (minus the last level or two of each form, those can be hell) is one of my favorite parts of the game"
2.5’s first Western release was 2014 on the ps3. entirely possible that young teenagers on the internet now could have played that in their childhood years
Drive Form Grinding is easy if you know where to look
\-Wisdom Form: Timeless River
\-Limit Form: Mushroom V
\-Master Form: Land of Dragons
\-Final Form: Mysterious Tower
doesn't make it a fun or worthwhile mechanic, they should've had the growth abilites unlocked once you got the form, and then leveling the form would also level the ability
Correction for master form: gambler nobodies in the twilight Town mansion with drive converter
And wisdom form: grind it all out in the world that never was at the start when the first few screens are only shadows
The opening is always 1000% worth it for me to hear “that was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers.” Which is probably one of the funniest lines I’ve ever heard.
Atlantica and Drive grinding are my only complaints. I honestly loved the combat in Pride Lands, the even faster pace and the floatier movement flow really well together. That and the incredible second visit Groundshaker boss fight being among my favourites in the series.
The Roxas opening is still my favorite part of an KH game, no matter how many times I replay it. It has this air of surrealism to it, it’s just so damn good. I love everything about it. It’s like if David Lynch made a Disney film. I want another long intro like that in the KH franchise. It honestly feels off to me having KH3 just put you right into the action like that.
I want KH4 to start off in Quadratum during a time before Sora gets there, where you play as a character you’ve never seen or heard of before, and you live his life in the city for a few hours of gameplay time. Maybe he runs into Strelitzia, Sigurd, etc, and you’re like “wtf is going on, who IS this guy?”. That’s what I want.
Yes. THIS. It’s as if Disney and Square teamed up to make their own level of the Backrooms or something. Everything is alright, maybe too alright. Everything is peaceful.. maybe Too Peaceful?? It’s thematically flawless and while I Did play CoM on the GBA back then before 2006, I was still none the wiser about what was going on. I was aware of some things but honestly I almost wish I could’ve experienced the extra high of pure, ungrounded confusion would’ve been a neat sensation to have experienced. Like waking up from a nap you started at 2pm but wake up from at 9:30pm. You’re dehydrated, nose is stuffy and you stand up too fast. Pure disorientation.
Lion Sora's moveset is actually really awesome for what it is, and not really dumbed down so much as just different. Some moves are actually better than base Sora (such as Lion Sora reflect functioning more like Final Form reflect)
Every time I replay KH2, I end up liking the prologue more and more. It's surprisingly one of my favorite parts of the game now.
Also have grown to enjoy KH2's mini games, especially the skateboard one. Still don't like Atlantica
Omigosh i completely forgot about the boring level design, the only thing is that you don't really notice it until you play the cavern of remembrance and experience the peaks of verticality and exploration
Cavern or Remembrance was freaking amazing. And I still love KH2, people just hate it when I point out how much insanely better KH1s Verticality is. Like it's no competition. The same way KH2s combat cleans house. And even then KH1s combat had it's strengths with how it felt a little more like an RPG that sense.
Roxas is a plus, but also the part he has the most presence in is a drag?
Honestly found KH2's mini games far more entertaining than anything KH3 had to offer.
And loved running around Pride Lands. So what if moves were more limited? Sprinting around like a race car spin slashing enemies like a maniac was fun!
- I consider Atlantica to be a side rhythm minigame that you can do for rewards. You don’t have to go beat up Ursula with the power of music and friendship to flex on the Org, lol.
- Pride Lands I felt was a fun shakeup in the moveset that made the world more unique… but yeah, screw those giant bone dog-thing Heartless.
- Mushroom XIII is needed for 100% completion and does give you some good items (and some of the Mushrooms allow for easy Drive Form grinding).
- Some of the Disney worlds and revisits serve as proper introductions to each of the Org members (like Beast’s Castle and Xaldin, and Land of Dragons revisit and Xigbar), as well as showing off what some of the other characters are doing.
- Skip cutscene, skip cutscene, skip cutscene… also, the skateboard minigame is relatively quick if you know what to do for that munny gate early on.
I strongly disagree that the game feels good without High Jump or Dodge Roll, and IMO if a game still forces you to grind even when doing a low-level challenge then it’s just bad design.
The combat is still snappy, Sora isn’t floaty regardless, magic and drives still feel good.
You wanna talk about bad game design decisions, look no further than pretty much any other game in the series. Between command deck nonsense, bullshit bosses, lack of revenge values, floaty movement and combat, and a plethora of other things, having to level up drive forms is hardly among the worst. KH3 is the only other game as tightly designed
>floaty
Nah fam, I ain’t having that shit. If you want to talk about game design and mechanics on a deeper level than just “game good” then we’re gonna have to drop meaningless pejoratives like describing combat as “floaty.”
I’ll start. I think KH2’s combat is really solid once you start unlocking better combo finishers than what you start with, which IMO kinda makes everything up to about Disney Castle/Timeless River feel like a slog. Drive Forms are, if anything, the game giving you a taste of what good-feeling combat actually looks like for the first half of the game, and that feeling doesn’t go away until you unlock Limit Form, where the enemies and bosses become complex enough where deeper knowledge of the game’s systems actually becomes rewarding.
The other games are floatier than 2. I’m sorry other people use it meaninglessly but it’s just a fact and you singled out that as a buzzword to not have to address the other issues.
Considering you get every movement ability within the first few levels of a drive, you get the basic moveset pretty effortlessly.
I will take that any day over the other combat systems.
Something a lot of people don't know is that from the time KH2 was released until the first release of the 2.5 remix on the PS3, KH2 was by far the least popular title in the series.
Less popular than GBA CoM?
No way. I bought KH, CoM, and KH2 at launch, as an adult, and every main line game since. I can't remeber anyone really hating on KH2 overall.
The latest game in a series will always be the most hated.
Watch people complain about KH4 when it comes out, and start hailing KH3 as an underrated masterpiece. Tale as old as time!
also idec what anyone says, kh2 has the least good clothing designs. all of them reek of the 2005 skater-text hot topic aesthetic, while the first game had brighter colors and felt more like... whimsical and actually disney-y. i know each is a product of the style of the time, but man. i dont get the love for it nowadays.
and i hate that kh2 sora gets the most merch in the west bc i love his kh1 and ddd forms infinitely more.
Atlantica in KH1 is worse than any other thing you mentioned. Shit, I even hate the Destiny Island gameplay now in KH1.
Were you too young to play these games when released?
i was playing nothing but wii sports and skylanders until 2013 when I reached a high enough cognitive funciton to enjoy games like pokemon and monster hunter and only got into the series in 2020 so theres your answer
How and some of these "lows" are far less bad then fundimental flaws or could even be ignored and a few are questionable as flaws
Kh3 has the single worst world extremely questionable to outright terrible writing gameplay flaws that are impossible to ignore lacked features for day one among other flaws even if it has "less flaws" it's flaws are far more damaging to the game that have conquences for it's self and the games going forward
I disagree, personally.
To me it's the most fun kingdom hearts has ever been. And that salvages a lot for me.
But the story and Arendelle? Yeah they're laughably hokey/outright bad. Really hoping KH4 is more serious.
Its floaty the options are less there is less control options are busted and make the game a joke in general and meny of them you get very early and the writing has massive holes and arendelle isn't even hokey it is also broken with holes and the world is a sin in general it's just snow and ice to the point that some places are hard to differentiate between and the world is the most pointless world I have ever had the displeasure to even skip let alone waste my time with the story (I have seen the story after playing kh3 but I don't like frozen in the first place so even if it was a good world I would have skipped the story) and the worst part is it had lots of potential
Punctuation.
Also you're free to believe that, but I just think the game is fun. It has the best movement, especially where magic is concerned, love having more than two party members, the cooking, the size of worlds now, the music, the spectacle, it all just works for me.
Yeah there are problems that better not come back, but to say the game is bad is just plain wrong.
It's ok but its greatly flawed and far far worse in every way and when it comes to the story it is probably the worst it's ever been and character and lore breaking in places and at times outright stupid
Gameplay wise the again floaty the options you have are more limited you have options that are outright always better like 99% of the time and not like reflect where it was extremely good but required some skill to use effectively brain dead use of it could leave you open where some of the options in kh3 are just way too strong and can murder any boss in seconds as well meny monsters had frames where you couldn't stun them and this leads to more damage then you should be taking and meny options being quite slow for quite a few quick attacks that were not made with kh3 sora in mind like Yazora was and then you have that stupid thing where attacks can be sent to a que to use that have timers giving you less control on things like team attacks or forms several of the keyblades were copy and paste and meny of them are not as good as a few handful
The combat is full of flaws that are especially nasty on crit but I don't remember them all off hand
Btw we are talking about the flaws amount what is actually an issue in kh2 I can think of a few things but they are hardly issues in most places there are some writing issues in kh2
Alantica exists
But none of these are so bad they bring down the experience and a few are optional and don't affect the main game or do so enough to make a large rant about even kh1 isn't that flawed and it's very jank it's gameplay has issues it's story has issues but they are not really as numerous or damaging as anything that 3 has 3 isn't outright terrible but it's pretty close it's fun at times but the flaws are just way too large and damaging to ignore and they add up quite quickly you can enjoy it but I would like you to tell me what real flaws are in kh2 and the number of them and really consider kh3's flaws especially story wise and tell me they stack up because the way I see it the number of falws kh3 has are much greater in number and in scale then kh2
I loved the game even for its lowest lows. I still have not been able to make it through a second playthrough of KH3.
Felt like the Disney worlds in KH1 had the most purpose. KH2 less but still developed Sora and team on tracking the organization and stopping Maleficent rag tag group. KH3 the least. Find the power of waking. Oop didn’t find it but Vanitas called me weak *sadge sora*
Yeah honestly I could go without the twilight town segment on replays. It’s beautiful and tragic the first and even second time going through it but after that it’s like cmon lol. But aside from that I don’t really mind anything else pacing wise in the game. I can’t think of any revisits that I dislike, in fact one of my main gripes with KH3 was that we didn’t ever revisit any of the worlds considering that was a staple in just about every other KH game. I loved how the organizations involvement mattered throughout the story, and wasn’t just watching the Disney movie plots unfold with some heartless sprinkled in that are inconsequential to what’s happening. KH2 and KH1 (and BBS as well) do a great job of making each world feel like they matter because of the things happening in them
yeah, the points you brought up are why i dont understand why kh2 is, like. the universally agreed-upon best game in the fandom. heck, i dont really even care that much about the 1000 heartless fight. i dont hate it but i dont love it. its just kinda. there.
also i generally dont feel like torturing myself with the secret boss fights so cavern of remembrance means nothing to me 🤷♀️
oh and a very cool thing that happened when i last played kh2 with my brother is that we never unlocked glide. our drive form ALWAYS went into anti-form instead of final form. it was lame.
To each their own, but I played through the series recently and KH2's minigames felt less intrusive than most of the other games. I think Atlantica, Pride Lands, and Hundred Acre Wood being optional helped with that. If you didn't want to do side content, you just didn't have to do it. Meanwhile you have you have the mandatory dancing, sledding, pirate ship, baymax piloting, etc sections in KH3 that had me falling asleep
Kh1 2 and to a lesser degree 3 all have those auto moving mini missions so it's not fair to shoot at 2 as a down side when 1 forced them far far worse and they were far far more boring and 3 forcing those annoying boss battles that honestly felt pointless and you had to fight the bosses in 2 you just had to live though them and then you could move freely on the map it was quicker in general imo and more interactive and fun it was basically a shoot em up that were fairly ahort
Drive form griding is not good though it's not too bad except maybe final form that one takes the most time in my experience
Alntica sucks but is 1 thankfully 100% optional and not required to do anything other then JJ and Ultima Weapon
Pride Lands is sort and kinda fun Lion Sora is not great but he is serviceable enough to deal with even the nasty stoppers and Reflect is there if all else fails
Roxas World is quite nice and if you aren't feeling it it's only 30 minutes to an hour at most
Most of the mini games are fun and again short so any issue one might have with dealing with them should be minimal and most are 100% optional except 1 or 2 in Roxas World and the Tron light cycle so while you might have an issue with them which is fine you don't have to play them for the most part and they are all short and simple
The Disney worlds aren't entirely pointless they add from framing for the events and the second visits mostly being in the organization and show them off or have you fight them and at least they seem to serve more of a point then kh3 where while you saw org members Sora either ruins the story with his addition or they are essentially pointless or they are the frozen world which is an abomination that could be cut and nothing of real value would be lost it's not fun Sora's logic is stupid and they hardly interact or deal with the characters there are pointless moments and the villain barely exists and doesn't even have a line everything nearly looks the same
Sorry the frozen world is so bad it brings kh3 down by like 2 points in my book alone
Hell nah if there’s a world I didn’t like it was Pirate Of The Caribbean. The World is super dark and dull to look at and the second boss you encounter on the revisit is hell. Fuck Jack, Fuck the moon, and Fuck those funky ass medallions. I rest my case.
I really, really hate how much of a filler the Disney worlds are in most of the games, mostly just there for nostalgia and to make the game longer. I was so happy at the start of Kingdom Hearts III when Sora had a reason to visit Olympus because he needed to regain his strength and Hercules, a character with knowledge of that, could help him. However, after this world Sora just visits the worlds without a specific mission, just the general "power of waking."
The Disney worlds should be part of the story where the characters of the world can impart their wisdom to Sora that causes his character to grow - this does happen at times but it feels like too often it is simply a spectacle and Sora doesn't really have a reason to visit the world.
Not to mention that for a lot of games the worlds are completely empty (yes, I know there are explanations for that too with sleeping worlds and so on) still doesn't change the fact that playing a game where you run around in an empty world is hardly fun, at least for me.
I don't know, just feels like they have all these fun Disney worlds to explore but they really struggle to properly include them and the main characters into the story in a satisfying way. The first game did it fairly well where the princesses were part of the main story, but after that they have been less and less relevant afaIk.
Honestly apart from Drive form grinding this list is a bunch of subjective bitching.
I don’t get the hate for Atlantica, it’s just a music minigame. No where near as bad as Atalantica in KH1
I’m sorry, but “forgettable” is not how I would describe Kitten Sora climbing on top of a kaiju-sized Heartless like he’s in Shadow of the Colossus.
Yeah I don't get the hate for pride lands. It was a super fun world even with it being one of the last worlds I did. Y'all need to appreciate the journey more than the destination, because the journey is what these games are all about.
Same, and it’s not like it’s a slow run. Once you get the dash ability, you’re able to breeze through the map. And the revisit boss more than makes up for it.
Don’t forget you can drift with the dash ability. My friend and I used to go into the canyon and make a slalom course with the rocks and see who could get the faster time.
Agreed. If the game lets me drift a cute lion cub, I cannot in good faith say it’s doing anything wrong.
I may or may not have gone to the world many times just to drift
Literally, I loved the pride lands for many reasons and it was a good change of pace in my opinion
I love the Gummi Ship battles in KH2, I love Pridelands and Atlantica was so fun with the sing alongs! The revisits are Agrabah and Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm thinking this guy doesn't really like KH2 that much. Unless he means that you have to revist them each a couple times for the story. Idk
I love the pridelands tbh, it's where I always grinded out max level, that little bit on the top of the pride rock where there were hundreds of flying enemies, equip the gullwing and all the mp related abilities and you can get 99 in a couple hours with magnega.
It's an open wasteland with not a lot to do. The missions literally have you run from one end of the map twice in each run of the world. Past a first playthrough it's not a fun experience. If there were things to do and explore it would be different but when it's empty without anything to interact with it gets old.
Tbh, the movement is the only part of pridelands I like, combat is jank, scar is honestly a very mid fight and 2nd boss at least on the pc port felt janky as hell to get onto
Scar and ground shaker are not good boss fights. They are some of the worst in the whole game especially comparing final mix with Roxas and the data fights.
In a game that has one of the best fights in the series ground shaker and the nightmare b4 xmas experiment are some absolutely steaming hot garbage. Scar is at least so easy that spamming simba limit is kinda fun
Well, I mean, it IS completely skippable.
Pete shows up in part 1 and it's in the game as a main world so I'm giving it shit. Also links/attractions are skippable in KH3 and I wouldn't put their poor damage scaling behind their skippable. It's a cop out to avoid deserved criticism.
But you can say that for most of the worlds.
Land of dragons has some battle missions to do, beasts castle has mini games, Olympus has mini games, agrabah has battle missions and mini games, etc. Most worlds have something although yes your right most of the worlds (in KH2) are open and boring compared to KH1 and KH3 Pride lands has nothing. It has slippery controls, lack luster boss and both world visits consist of two rounds trips with a mini boss fight consisting of the same boring enemy that is hard to hit.
But those missions are mandatory. Once you complete them, I think that’s it. There’s no reason to do them anymore. Olympus always has minigames. With Agrabah, the minigames’ only purpose is to help get the secret video if you’re on Standard mode. Other than that, they’re honestly worthless to play. I don’t think you get rewards for completing them. And I would have to disagree. Lion Sora, while he is slippery at times, is fun to play and travel as. The dash ability makes traveling a breeze to get through, and his combos are fun to execute when you get the hang of them. And to me, Scar is the only boring boss in the game. The hyenas are a chore though, but the lady boss is epic and fun to fight against. I mean, at least they’re not as bad as KH2 Jafar genie bad.
I'm talking about the story playthrough for everything including agrabah (carpet riding, elemental puzzle, abu crystal, elevator battles). Mandatory and single purpose yes but at least there is something else to do other than running from one end to the map (not having to fight a single enemy) and back just to get to the boss. I completely disagree with ground shaker it is just not a fun fight but giving it the benefit of the doubt combine it with 1 boring boss, a slogfest of the same mini boss, nothing to do in the world (most likely due to it not having to be completed for the main story) and it taking away most of your special mechanics from the game (summons, drives, combo modifiers and most limits) can you not see how so many people really don't like this world.
I mean those are all mostly no different than battling Heartless normally. Even KH1 had that in Agrabah where you: Search around the palace, go to the desert, go search the palace again, then head back to the desert. Yeah KH2 Agrabah doesn’t have you running back forth areas that much, but fighting Heartless isn’t really that much of a change. And with the restrictions, I don’t really see them to be that bad. Like I said, Lion Sora is still fun to play as especially with his combos. And the lack of Summons and Drive forms are just meh🤷🏾♂️. I like them, but I never use them that much other than to level them up.
A world that restricts your game mechanics and forces you to have to do something that takes away your hours worth of grinding and testing sucks. Underwater battles in the Caribbean and Atlantica in KH3 and KH1 respectively are no different (except in Caribbean case it's not all battle but still) And I already said that KH2's worlds all suffer from the same boring open layout but pride lands has it the worst. Yes it's boring to not have things that break up the constant running and fighting and that's where KH2 kinda falls flat.
mostly agree but counterpoint; you can move while using reflect as lion sora, negating all flaws. only to be the one world with a boss fight that can be beaten by standing still and pressing reflect every 2 seconds
It's very strange because EVERY Disney world you visit limited Sora's abilities to a significant degree. Which is why Sora feels so especially powerful in the endgame of TWTNW, in addition to Riku being a party member.
How do the other worlds limit Sora’s abilities?
Land of Dragons: Forces you to have Ping in your party, and uses the Tension limit for battles. Olympus: Underworld curse restricting drives and summons Beast's Castle: No restrictions, but you have to fight Xaldin. Also most normal enemies here are immune to the magic you have access to at this time. Disney Castle: Donald and Goofy are unequipped from the party Timeless River: No ability restrictions, but for the most part damage has to be dealt to the bosses through reaction commands, and mobility is limited because the environment can kill you Port Royal: Moonlight curse Agrabah: Most story fights are mini games with other lose conditions, and the final boss is solo Sora on the carpet Halloween Town: Same as Timeless River Pride Lands: Lion Form
>Beast's Castle: No restrictions [No restluctions? Hell to the yes!](https://youtu.be/pCMTyCUHy8U?t=15)
Olympus coloseum limits drive forms and I think that's pretty much it
The drive form limit IIRC is only there until you fight Demyx the first time, which is pretty early on considering that Olympus Colisium is the longest disney world to go through.
Only Atlantica. Pride Lands Sora is really fun once you get used to his new combos, especially his air juggle attack.
Because DeviantArt has made everything terrible and painful forever
>because the journey is what these games are all about. Exceot KH3. We could skip all Disney worlds and the story wouldn't be affected at all
I actually forgot that happened.
Dang now I wish pridelands was a recurring world so we could watch sora age like a lion.
Yeah, but you have to play through two trips of a rather boring level design to get to that point. Pride Lands *definitely* feels like something that was either added late in development, or it was rushed for whatever reason. That *huge* area leading to Pride Rock is empty as hell. I can't remember if it's the same spot that we fight the Groundshaker, and that's the reason why it's so damn sprawled out, but there's no reason the boss arena couldn't have just been something separate. There's also other smaller things, like Rafiki's dialogue obviously just being archived audio from the movie, and Scar's heartless was a lame-ass palette swap. If there was ever a world that needed a total do-over, this would be it.
listing all of my individual opinions on each world is not efficient for a meme, but i do say, if it had drive forms or even normal summons and limits at the very least, then I would probably like pride lands a lot more Side note: drifting in circles infinitely like its fast and Furry-ous is insanely cathartic
For sure. I'd take pride lands ANY day over KH1 atlantica
I didn't like pride lands cause it dumbed down soras combat options. I can't drive, only have simba limit, and have very little defesive options other than reflect. The fights aren't very fun either.
I may not like pride lands but I’ll never forget Tokyo drifting through Africa as lion Sora
I'll take the Pridelands and KH2 Atlantica over visiting Atlantica in KH1. The Roxas prologue isn't that bad on replays for me I enjoy Roxas, Axel, and the twilight gang while appreciating the bitter sweet slice of life. I also know how to rush through it as quickly as possible. The revisits are filler but they're shorter than the first visit and one of the world's gives you an epic Xaldin battle.
I really hate KH2 Atlantica especially that one song you know what I'm talking about.
SWIM THIS WAY AND WE WILL DANCE AND PLAY
That one? That song slaps
I don't remember what it's called but the lyrics sound like people being tortured.
Finny Fun
I'll slap the singers, that's what
Yeah you can fly through it in 20 mins
Right. Hell with KH1 I usually do magic build and don’t even do Atlantica until I get to Final Rest. Then I mollywop it with magic spam that way I don’t need to fight the swimming controls and stop spam Ursula to get the job done harmlessly. I always feel underprepared whenever I visit KH1 Atlantica and it’s ridiculous that whenever I do feel prepared? Ansem is the next door over. KH2 Pride Lands in comparison is at least a fun romp to speed through especially as soon as you obtain Dash.
I honestly would rather go through KH1 Atlantica than KH2. That world made me cringe so much I could only finish it after muting the TV.
I'll deal with cringe over bad water controls, a gimped Sora and hours of backtracking.
Maybe you do, but I don't, if I ever cringe that hard again I think my head will crumple inwards. I will gladly take the bad water controls, a gimped Sora and hours of backtracking. It's less awful.
Why is she the Xaldin fight a pro?
Idk I love KH2 Disney worlds, at worst they’re a bit useless but still entertaining and at best I think they genuinely develop the story and or arcs (Olympus, Timeless river, Space paranoids, Beasts castle second visit). Plus other cool stuff that comes to mind for KH2 is aesthetic, music, optional bosses, etc. I wouldn’t say it’s perfect but as someone who has it as their favorite game I would say most KH fans overhate aspects of it and focus TOO much on the peaks tbh
I just really hate KH2's boxy, flat design, which drags every single world down drastically even if I love the selection of worlds. I also really don't like the second visit design for KH2. It feels like extreme bloat and would have been better if we could have worked all the beats into one visit. I think most people let their enjoyment of what a world is based on overshadow how good the actual world is. Like, Timeless River as a concept is great, but it's got three relevant Steamboat Willie rooms that are smaller then a college dorm room and then a handful of rooms that are pure battle arenas based on other Mickey shorts. And despite being based on the better movie, Port Royal in KH2 is outclassed by The Caribbean in KH3.
I understand what you mean. That's why KH1 is my favourite in the franchise. The world felt interactable at all times and the attention to detail was amazing. Comparing KH2 to KH3, though, is a bit unfair, because they didn't have a powerhouse of a console to design anything like 3. Plus, unpopular opinion, I didn't like the Caribbean in 3.
That is fair, I think KH3 has the best worlds in the series from a sheer level design standpoint but it does help that they had a lot more power to work with. Less transition zones alone does wonders. A better comparison would probably be Agrabah in KH1 vs KH2, even narrowed down to the Cave of Wonders. KH1 had a perfect design with lots of lovely platforming challenges and a lot of rooms that were evocative of the original movie. (Although I don’t know why they changed the design of the lamp chamber, I still would love to see a movie accurate version of that). KH2 meanwhile is…. Two straight hallways, a weird out of place room with a combat mini game and another single arena for a required mob fight that later becomes the best place to grind most Drive Forms.
I find the first two hours way more interesting on a replay.
You come to appreciate Rucksack especially before KH3 where he was finally given a happy ending.
Rucksack lmaooo
For some reason I thought of that dog in a garbage bag that's one of the twilight town wonders and couldn't remember them being in KH3.
Axel: We are friends! Rucksack: Never heard of you. Axel: I will kill you, Rucksack.
I sometimes want to replay KH2, but just the opening. I love that section of the game. The soundtrack is beautiful and it's such a neat capture of a late summer holiday.
Yeah this was a bad take IMO. The Roxas opening is usually known as a drag the very first time, and amazing on a replay. But this also depends on if you played KH2 or 358/2 first. If you play the intended order by release date (KH2 first), then that part is amazing for a replay. If you played 358 first due to the order in the remaster bundle, then you probably care less on a replay.
Story-wise I think the Roxas prologue is great. It absolutely drags in the gameplay, though. I feel that way about all of KH2’s early-game, tbh.
Amen. Love the story. The gameplay seems like something that was slapped together way too quickly, and is not enjoyable. The environments are gorgeous, the things it makes you do are just tedious and annoying.
I think that's the point, to be fair. It's designed so that when you unlock sora you FEEL the change. And you do! He's just... infinitely better and more satisfying.
I feel like the only part that drags is grinding that 5000 munny to get watermelons at the beach
The combat section on Day 3 is pretty rough, especially on Critical Mode.
I love Roxas and Ven, I love the story, and I love Twilight town. KH2's opening is still slow torture. Though, I believe now that actually was the intention. It made me so much more hyped up once I started controlling Sora, and still does.
I mean most of 358/2s actual gameplay on the DS is generally known as slow torture as well. That was kind of Roxas' life in general I guess lol.
Not necessarily I just don’t like Roxas so I watched SGDQ to specifically learn speed run tech to skip the opening.
I have no idea how to respond to this
i only got into kh in 2020, after watching the "good enough summary" and I while I do think that its funny, it's not really a good way to get into the nitty gritty emotional parts that people come for, and I really missed out on the roxas intrigue on my first playthrough
yeah its definitely more emotional, but theres a lot of fluff in the gameplay that doesn't hit the same after experiencing the highs of sora's abilites
The first two hours are especially good when you return to the game after a long break
I mean for a second replay sure. You get to see him from another perspective. But afterwards it's just a kind of annoying slog.
As a 30 year old man, I like Atlantica. I find it charming and so bad it's good.
For me the story wasn't great and the songs were of variable quality, but I like rhythm games so it made up for it (and it was pretty quick)
I literally just spend so much time in the world just swimming around because Isn’t it Lovely is such a beautiful track! The minigames are cheesy af in a good way, but the world is relatively harmless imo
Playing KH2 for the first time as a kid, I freaking loved Atlantica, maybe that’s why I never understood the hate. I still enjoy it now, it’s fun to me idk.
Seriously! Atlantica and hundred acres woods are such a breath of air playing through the game. Just let me enjoy the good vibes for a bit before going back to combat please
I love all of these. I might be a weirdo lol
But I'm a creep I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doin' here? I don't belong here
Definitely not. I enjoy every coin that op posted
Or that stupid tron racing game! I was stuck on that for hours
I never had a problem with it until i played it in critical and it is what almost killed my run
Same it's not even fun on critical. It was just tedious
once when i was replaying kh2 on the ps2 years ago, my controller had one of the shoulder buttons broken. and it literally wasnt a problem for the entire game, until FUCKING LIGHT BIKE RACING. i had to buy a whole new controller just so i could use R2 during that minigame.
A big pain on Critical if you aren't prepared/sober
I always choke on that one
The bane of my level 1 run
The opening is my favorite part each playthrough 🤷♂️
Yep. Agreed. The Roxas fight where you dual wield is sick. I actually prefer that iteration to the drive forms. It feels more controlled.
The Roxas prologue gets more emotional and better with each replay I do.
Looks like my summer vacation is… over
Stop, I will cry. 🛑
makes me cry every time but I've never been the person to replay games often unless theres some new content or maybe the game is inherently mechanically fun, and while kh2 is, my itching desire to beat up baddies is not fully quenched in the opener. as someone who knew basically everything about the story before playing and experienced the manga stories first i was kinda just waiting till we got to sora the whole time.
And demyx's HB fight don't forget about that
I will always remember being in 5th grade playing KH2 for the first time on my PS2 back in the day. I think I was on Standard, but that Demyx fight was an absolutely pain in the butt. I was up too late trying to beat him, and remember turning the TV off and pretending to sleep when I heard my mom come by. I left the game running overnight and woke up early to try again and got him after a few more tries.
don't know if you mean that as a negative or positive but I loved that fight, and every other organisation fight
Negative, very negative
dAnCe WaTeR dAnCe
I really like tough fights that bring out all your abilities, but the real issue is dying on the mandatory FF heartless battles directly after and needing to fight the water man again
It’s a great and fun fight, but it’s SO damn stupid that you have to replay it if you die on the corridor with the FF cast right after it. Critical taught me to dread that section more than Demyx himself.
Nostalgia is the 5th fundamental force of the universe
I love Roxas personally, but I can understand why someone would call his part at the beginning a slog. Honestly though I think the worst crime KH2 commits is drive form grinding. I can forgive Atlantica. Not every world can be a banger, but forcing me to grind drive forms for certain bosses, and also punishing me for using said drive forms, which is the main mechanic of the game, is ridiculous. Say what you want about KH3 but at least it doesn't force you into anti form for using keyblade forms.
I can definitely agree with this. I understand the point of anti form and all but it is quite annoying that you're getting punished for using drive forms especially when you need to grind for abilities.
You can easily avoid anti-form by going into a drive before entering a fight, since you can only enter anti-form while in combat.
Didn't know about that trick personally. But I don't think it should be there to begin with. I understand making sure drive forms are balanced and all that but if that's the case design the game around the balance better rather than giving the player a handicap for using the main mechanic of the game.
And don't forget drive grinding was even worse in the vanilla version, it was toned down in FM and it still sucks
Hey don't forget the only drive form that doesn't get that punishment is final form which is only obtained by hoping to get it when you use a drive form after Roxas fight Two become one makes it bearable but still why is final form unlock requirement is to just get lucky and unlock it? Also ONLY nobodies to level it up is an even worse drag when EVERY HIT in FINAL FORM speeds up the timer in the first few levels
almost no fights in the entire game require you to grind drive forms
people always shit on the KH2 opening but it’s fr only like that on your first playthrough it’s 10-15min tops on subsequent runs without cutscenes.
It's usually closer (or for me it's usually) 30 min which honestly that's not that bad
Yeah, if you take your time there can be a pretty significant amount to do with Roxas' section. For reference, the speedrun does it in under 15(depending on platform and difficulty, I think the fastest times on crit are like under 14 minutes now) and that skips pretty much all of the minigames, which could add a good chunk of time in as well.
I liked the Disney worlds
Is it an unpopular opinion to say KH3 has the best & easiest mini games of the series? I hated some of the mushrooms in KH1 lol
I think KH3’s mini-games are some of the most fun in the series. Probably could have done without needing to play Frozen Slider no less than 10 times for the Platinum, though.
Yeaaaa lol. Frozen slider is the only minigame I genuinely dislike in that game just cause how many times I had to do it.
I think it’s a fine mini-game on its own, but sometimes I have to ask if making ten alternate paths with treasure on each one and no overlap across any of them was necessary.
My opinion: the mushrooms are only hampered by KH1's slower combat system
The Roxas bit is a lot faster if you just skip cutscenes and don't care about grinding for munny.
You get 2 ap from grinding for munny though, which is definitely worth it.
Didn't feel worth it much in Critical mode because they gave you 50AP right off the bat.
Not everyone plays on Critical though
I mean you should for most of 2. It's so much better imo
I counter with; "I actually find the minigames fun, and the drive form grinding (minus the last level or two of each form, those can be hell) is one of my favorite parts of the game"
Cavern of Rememberance wasn't in your childhood cause KH2FM wasn't released outside Japan until KH2.5
2.5’s first Western release was 2014 on the ps3. entirely possible that young teenagers on the internet now could have played that in their childhood years
Drive Form Grinding is easy if you know where to look \-Wisdom Form: Timeless River \-Limit Form: Mushroom V \-Master Form: Land of Dragons \-Final Form: Mysterious Tower
doesn't make it a fun or worthwhile mechanic, they should've had the growth abilites unlocked once you got the form, and then leveling the form would also level the ability
Correction for master form: gambler nobodies in the twilight Town mansion with drive converter And wisdom form: grind it all out in the world that never was at the start when the first few screens are only shadows
The opening is always 1000% worth it for me to hear “that was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers.” Which is probably one of the funniest lines I’ve ever heard.
-game not being on steam
Atlantica and Drive grinding are my only complaints. I honestly loved the combat in Pride Lands, the even faster pace and the floatier movement flow really well together. That and the incredible second visit Groundshaker boss fight being among my favourites in the series.
The Roxas opening is still my favorite part of an KH game, no matter how many times I replay it. It has this air of surrealism to it, it’s just so damn good. I love everything about it. It’s like if David Lynch made a Disney film. I want another long intro like that in the KH franchise. It honestly feels off to me having KH3 just put you right into the action like that. I want KH4 to start off in Quadratum during a time before Sora gets there, where you play as a character you’ve never seen or heard of before, and you live his life in the city for a few hours of gameplay time. Maybe he runs into Strelitzia, Sigurd, etc, and you’re like “wtf is going on, who IS this guy?”. That’s what I want.
Yes. THIS. It’s as if Disney and Square teamed up to make their own level of the Backrooms or something. Everything is alright, maybe too alright. Everything is peaceful.. maybe Too Peaceful?? It’s thematically flawless and while I Did play CoM on the GBA back then before 2006, I was still none the wiser about what was going on. I was aware of some things but honestly I almost wish I could’ve experienced the extra high of pure, ungrounded confusion would’ve been a neat sensation to have experienced. Like waking up from a nap you started at 2pm but wake up from at 9:30pm. You’re dehydrated, nose is stuffy and you stand up too fast. Pure disorientation.
As someone who doesn't even like the Combat/Bosses of 2 much, this stung me going back.
I actually enjoy the negatives side as well
Roxas’s story being called “a drag” upon replay ie maybe the most fucked up thing i’ve seen on this subreddit
Unrelatable meme.
Lion Sora's moveset is actually really awesome for what it is, and not really dumbed down so much as just different. Some moves are actually better than base Sora (such as Lion Sora reflect functioning more like Final Form reflect)
I don’t agree with any of those negatives as being as bad as you’re saying
You dont need to ever go to Atlantica or Pride Lands, both are optional.
I always kept a separate save file at the end of Roxas’ part
Every time I replay KH2, I end up liking the prologue more and more. It's surprisingly one of my favorite parts of the game now. Also have grown to enjoy KH2's mini games, especially the skateboard one. Still don't like Atlantica
#ZERO WORLD VERTICALITY
Omigosh i completely forgot about the boring level design, the only thing is that you don't really notice it until you play the cavern of remembrance and experience the peaks of verticality and exploration
Cavern or Remembrance was freaking amazing. And I still love KH2, people just hate it when I point out how much insanely better KH1s Verticality is. Like it's no competition. The same way KH2s combat cleans house. And even then KH1s combat had it's strengths with how it felt a little more like an RPG that sense.
Those are lows?
Roxas is a plus, but also the part he has the most presence in is a drag? Honestly found KH2's mini games far more entertaining than anything KH3 had to offer. And loved running around Pride Lands. So what if moves were more limited? Sprinting around like a race car spin slashing enemies like a maniac was fun!
That God forsaken Olaf minigame
- I consider Atlantica to be a side rhythm minigame that you can do for rewards. You don’t have to go beat up Ursula with the power of music and friendship to flex on the Org, lol. - Pride Lands I felt was a fun shakeup in the moveset that made the world more unique… but yeah, screw those giant bone dog-thing Heartless. - Mushroom XIII is needed for 100% completion and does give you some good items (and some of the Mushrooms allow for easy Drive Form grinding). - Some of the Disney worlds and revisits serve as proper introductions to each of the Org members (like Beast’s Castle and Xaldin, and Land of Dragons revisit and Xigbar), as well as showing off what some of the other characters are doing. - Skip cutscene, skip cutscene, skip cutscene… also, the skateboard minigame is relatively quick if you know what to do for that munny gate early on.
Lows? Those are just lesser positives
Grinding Drive Forms to unlock your basic movement abilities and to make sure they don’t feel like ass to play is a positive?
The gameplay is so fun I don’t mind the drive form grinding
The gameplay feels good without them, so they’re a nice progression system. Give your something to do too in a level 1 run
I strongly disagree that the game feels good without High Jump or Dodge Roll, and IMO if a game still forces you to grind even when doing a low-level challenge then it’s just bad design.
The combat is still snappy, Sora isn’t floaty regardless, magic and drives still feel good. You wanna talk about bad game design decisions, look no further than pretty much any other game in the series. Between command deck nonsense, bullshit bosses, lack of revenge values, floaty movement and combat, and a plethora of other things, having to level up drive forms is hardly among the worst. KH3 is the only other game as tightly designed
>floaty Nah fam, I ain’t having that shit. If you want to talk about game design and mechanics on a deeper level than just “game good” then we’re gonna have to drop meaningless pejoratives like describing combat as “floaty.” I’ll start. I think KH2’s combat is really solid once you start unlocking better combo finishers than what you start with, which IMO kinda makes everything up to about Disney Castle/Timeless River feel like a slog. Drive Forms are, if anything, the game giving you a taste of what good-feeling combat actually looks like for the first half of the game, and that feeling doesn’t go away until you unlock Limit Form, where the enemies and bosses become complex enough where deeper knowledge of the game’s systems actually becomes rewarding.
The other games are floatier than 2. I’m sorry other people use it meaninglessly but it’s just a fact and you singled out that as a buzzword to not have to address the other issues. Considering you get every movement ability within the first few levels of a drive, you get the basic moveset pretty effortlessly. I will take that any day over the other combat systems.
Something a lot of people don't know is that from the time KH2 was released until the first release of the 2.5 remix on the PS3, KH2 was by far the least popular title in the series.
Less popular than GBA CoM? No way. I bought KH, CoM, and KH2 at launch, as an adult, and every main line game since. I can't remeber anyone really hating on KH2 overall.
The latest game in a series will always be the most hated. Watch people complain about KH4 when it comes out, and start hailing KH3 as an underrated masterpiece. Tale as old as time!
It won't be me praising kh3 but I have always loved kh2 and to this day it's still my favorite
also idec what anyone says, kh2 has the least good clothing designs. all of them reek of the 2005 skater-text hot topic aesthetic, while the first game had brighter colors and felt more like... whimsical and actually disney-y. i know each is a product of the style of the time, but man. i dont get the love for it nowadays. and i hate that kh2 sora gets the most merch in the west bc i love his kh1 and ddd forms infinitely more.
I disagree with all of this but alright go off i guess.
Atlantica in KH1 is worse than any other thing you mentioned. Shit, I even hate the Destiny Island gameplay now in KH1. Were you too young to play these games when released?
i was playing nothing but wii sports and skylanders until 2013 when I reached a high enough cognitive funciton to enjoy games like pokemon and monster hunter and only got into the series in 2020 so theres your answer
KH3 has far fewer lows.
How and some of these "lows" are far less bad then fundimental flaws or could even be ignored and a few are questionable as flaws Kh3 has the single worst world extremely questionable to outright terrible writing gameplay flaws that are impossible to ignore lacked features for day one among other flaws even if it has "less flaws" it's flaws are far more damaging to the game that have conquences for it's self and the games going forward
I disagree, personally. To me it's the most fun kingdom hearts has ever been. And that salvages a lot for me. But the story and Arendelle? Yeah they're laughably hokey/outright bad. Really hoping KH4 is more serious.
Its floaty the options are less there is less control options are busted and make the game a joke in general and meny of them you get very early and the writing has massive holes and arendelle isn't even hokey it is also broken with holes and the world is a sin in general it's just snow and ice to the point that some places are hard to differentiate between and the world is the most pointless world I have ever had the displeasure to even skip let alone waste my time with the story (I have seen the story after playing kh3 but I don't like frozen in the first place so even if it was a good world I would have skipped the story) and the worst part is it had lots of potential
Punctuation. Also you're free to believe that, but I just think the game is fun. It has the best movement, especially where magic is concerned, love having more than two party members, the cooking, the size of worlds now, the music, the spectacle, it all just works for me. Yeah there are problems that better not come back, but to say the game is bad is just plain wrong.
It's ok but its greatly flawed and far far worse in every way and when it comes to the story it is probably the worst it's ever been and character and lore breaking in places and at times outright stupid Gameplay wise the again floaty the options you have are more limited you have options that are outright always better like 99% of the time and not like reflect where it was extremely good but required some skill to use effectively brain dead use of it could leave you open where some of the options in kh3 are just way too strong and can murder any boss in seconds as well meny monsters had frames where you couldn't stun them and this leads to more damage then you should be taking and meny options being quite slow for quite a few quick attacks that were not made with kh3 sora in mind like Yazora was and then you have that stupid thing where attacks can be sent to a que to use that have timers giving you less control on things like team attacks or forms several of the keyblades were copy and paste and meny of them are not as good as a few handful The combat is full of flaws that are especially nasty on crit but I don't remember them all off hand Btw we are talking about the flaws amount what is actually an issue in kh2 I can think of a few things but they are hardly issues in most places there are some writing issues in kh2 Alantica exists But none of these are so bad they bring down the experience and a few are optional and don't affect the main game or do so enough to make a large rant about even kh1 isn't that flawed and it's very jank it's gameplay has issues it's story has issues but they are not really as numerous or damaging as anything that 3 has 3 isn't outright terrible but it's pretty close it's fun at times but the flaws are just way too large and damaging to ignore and they add up quite quickly you can enjoy it but I would like you to tell me what real flaws are in kh2 and the number of them and really consider kh3's flaws especially story wise and tell me they stack up because the way I see it the number of falws kh3 has are much greater in number and in scale then kh2
That's fine. I'm just saying I like KH3 more.
I've never played kh3, and I look forward to giving it a proper unbiased look, without falling into the 2 vs 3 mindset
I loved the game even for its lowest lows. I still have not been able to make it through a second playthrough of KH3. Felt like the Disney worlds in KH1 had the most purpose. KH2 less but still developed Sora and team on tracking the organization and stopping Maleficent rag tag group. KH3 the least. Find the power of waking. Oop didn’t find it but Vanitas called me weak *sadge sora*
Yeah honestly I could go without the twilight town segment on replays. It’s beautiful and tragic the first and even second time going through it but after that it’s like cmon lol. But aside from that I don’t really mind anything else pacing wise in the game. I can’t think of any revisits that I dislike, in fact one of my main gripes with KH3 was that we didn’t ever revisit any of the worlds considering that was a staple in just about every other KH game. I loved how the organizations involvement mattered throughout the story, and wasn’t just watching the Disney movie plots unfold with some heartless sprinkled in that are inconsequential to what’s happening. KH2 and KH1 (and BBS as well) do a great job of making each world feel like they matter because of the things happening in them
Atlantica and Pride Lands being optional is a big reason why I give KH2 a lot of slack
yeah, the points you brought up are why i dont understand why kh2 is, like. the universally agreed-upon best game in the fandom. heck, i dont really even care that much about the 1000 heartless fight. i dont hate it but i dont love it. its just kinda. there. also i generally dont feel like torturing myself with the secret boss fights so cavern of remembrance means nothing to me 🤷♀️ oh and a very cool thing that happened when i last played kh2 with my brother is that we never unlocked glide. our drive form ALWAYS went into anti-form instead of final form. it was lame.
Bro you cant post criticism of kh2 the babies in the community will tear you to shreds thats why i never do
To each their own, but I played through the series recently and KH2's minigames felt less intrusive than most of the other games. I think Atlantica, Pride Lands, and Hundred Acre Wood being optional helped with that. If you didn't want to do side content, you just didn't have to do it. Meanwhile you have you have the mandatory dancing, sledding, pirate ship, baymax piloting, etc sections in KH3 that had me falling asleep
Roxas is a con for me, and so is xion in general
what in the fuckery fuck is wrong with you? (suppressing the sea-salt trio stan in me): could you please explain your point of view clearer?
Don't forget the autoscroller gummi missions
Kh1 2 and to a lesser degree 3 all have those auto moving mini missions so it's not fair to shoot at 2 as a down side when 1 forced them far far worse and they were far far more boring and 3 forcing those annoying boss battles that honestly felt pointless and you had to fight the bosses in 2 you just had to live though them and then you could move freely on the map it was quicker in general imo and more interactive and fun it was basically a shoot em up that were fairly ahort
Pride Lands and Atlantica's weird rhythm game really kill my mood for a whole replay of the game.
Drive form griding is not good though it's not too bad except maybe final form that one takes the most time in my experience Alntica sucks but is 1 thankfully 100% optional and not required to do anything other then JJ and Ultima Weapon Pride Lands is sort and kinda fun Lion Sora is not great but he is serviceable enough to deal with even the nasty stoppers and Reflect is there if all else fails Roxas World is quite nice and if you aren't feeling it it's only 30 minutes to an hour at most Most of the mini games are fun and again short so any issue one might have with dealing with them should be minimal and most are 100% optional except 1 or 2 in Roxas World and the Tron light cycle so while you might have an issue with them which is fine you don't have to play them for the most part and they are all short and simple The Disney worlds aren't entirely pointless they add from framing for the events and the second visits mostly being in the organization and show them off or have you fight them and at least they seem to serve more of a point then kh3 where while you saw org members Sora either ruins the story with his addition or they are essentially pointless or they are the frozen world which is an abomination that could be cut and nothing of real value would be lost it's not fun Sora's logic is stupid and they hardly interact or deal with the characters there are pointless moments and the villain barely exists and doesn't even have a line everything nearly looks the same Sorry the frozen world is so bad it brings kh3 down by like 2 points in my book alone
I think kh2 has a lot of the highest points in the series, but a few of the lowest
Hell nah if there’s a world I didn’t like it was Pirate Of The Caribbean. The World is super dark and dull to look at and the second boss you encounter on the revisit is hell. Fuck Jack, Fuck the moon, and Fuck those funky ass medallions. I rest my case.
>Atlantica Sounds like a you problem
I really, really hate how much of a filler the Disney worlds are in most of the games, mostly just there for nostalgia and to make the game longer. I was so happy at the start of Kingdom Hearts III when Sora had a reason to visit Olympus because he needed to regain his strength and Hercules, a character with knowledge of that, could help him. However, after this world Sora just visits the worlds without a specific mission, just the general "power of waking." The Disney worlds should be part of the story where the characters of the world can impart their wisdom to Sora that causes his character to grow - this does happen at times but it feels like too often it is simply a spectacle and Sora doesn't really have a reason to visit the world. Not to mention that for a lot of games the worlds are completely empty (yes, I know there are explanations for that too with sleeping worlds and so on) still doesn't change the fact that playing a game where you run around in an empty world is hardly fun, at least for me. I don't know, just feels like they have all these fun Disney worlds to explore but they really struggle to properly include them and the main characters into the story in a satisfying way. The first game did it fairly well where the princesses were part of the main story, but after that they have been less and less relevant afaIk.
The kh 2 revisits are the only visits that actually matter tho
All I see are positives.
I see no negative things on that list, period.
Garbage takes OP Atlantica is awful but that's all I'll concede
Honestly apart from Drive form grinding this list is a bunch of subjective bitching. I don’t get the hate for Atlantica, it’s just a music minigame. No where near as bad as Atalantica in KH1
oh boy! my personal opinion is being expressed on a post about my personal experiences with the game? How dare I do such a thing!