Monday, January 16, 2006

Kingdom Hearts 2 Info

It has been a year since the events of KINGDOM HEARTS. Sora and friends are joined by a vibrant new cast of characters, including the king himself. Together, they will face countless dangers in worlds both familiar and brand-new. It seems the Heartless still exist. A new villain also awaits – but is it an old foe behind the mask, or a new menace? This mystery and others will be solved as the story unfolds in a grand adventure. KINGDOM HEARTS has sold over 4 million units worldwide and continues to gain popularity with fans of both DISNEY and SQUARE ENIX across the planet. KINGDOM HEARTS captured the imagination of gamers young and old by combining classic DISNEY properties and implementing new characters and worlds with SQUARE ENIX’s renowned style. The tale is brought to life by an all-star voice cast. Fans will revisit this beloved story and come to care for a new troupe of characters in KINGDOM HEARTS II. The release date for KINGDOM HEARTS II will be announced at a later date. This title has yet to be rated by the ESRB. The following is the KHInsider.com preview: Who are the people behind the game? It will be the same people who designed, directed, and produced the first Kingdom Hearts. Director and Character Designer: Tetsuya Nomura Producer: Shinji Hashimoto Co-producer: Yoshinori Kitase Scenario writer: Kazushige Nojima Battle planner: Yuuichi Kanemori Kingdom Hearts 2 will take place one (1) year after Kingdom Hearts, with Sora still the main character. According to Tetsuya Noumura, Sora's new outfit is supposed to be of importance. Nomura also confirmed that the continued story for Kingdom Hearts 2 is two times longer than the one in Kingdom Hearts. Also confirmed by reports, there as a new group who wear black cloaks (as you can see from screenshots of Final Mix, where the first unknown was introduced) that go by the name of "The Organization", or "The Order". The Order is a very mysterious group and the only thing we currently know about them is that they study the ways of the heart. As you know, Ansem controls the heartless, but a new character, the red-bandaged unknown, who goes by the name of Diz, controls this new group. In an interview with Dengeki Magazine, when asked if Diz was a member of The Order, Nomura said "he will have an important role." You can find more information about the members of The Order by clicking HERE. Also in Kingdom Hearts 2, there are creatures called the "Nobodies." The Nobodies however, are completely different from Heartless and are controlled by The Order. The worlds in Kingdom Hearts 2 are similar to the first with additions of a few more. One place where you will be able to return for sure is the Coliseum, which is said to be packed with more mini-games and activities, and better leveling-up. Besides the Coliseum, other worlds that you will visit in Kingdom Hearts 2 include Ancient China (Mulan), Halloween Town, Fable Countryside (Beast), Ancient Greece (Hercules), Twilight Town, Disney Castle, Hollow Bastion, Night Before Christmas, Castle Oblivion, Agrabah, and the latest addition, Pirates of the Caribbean. There are many other rumored worlds such as Traverse Town, End of the World, and Steamboat Willie but those 3 are not confirmed as of this writing. You also noticed Sora's new clothes which are now darker (complete black with black duds) compared to his clothes in Kingdom Hearts which were a whitish tone and much lighter. According to Tetsuya Nomura, these new clothes will play a big role in Kingdom Hearts 2. The battle system will stay the same in Kingdom Hearts 2, which separate Kingdom Hearts from other Square-Enix games. However, the battle system will feature some improvements with minor tweaks. Along with the battle system, the magic and summoning will be there, but it is not known if there will be the same summons. Nomura stated that there will the summoning will be very different in Kingdom Hearts 2. However, to many people's delight, the camera problems that were originally in Kingdom Hearts will be fixed. Aside from the camera problems being fixed, the Gummi Ship has said to be revamped as well. Gummi ships will still be featured in the game to travel between the worlds and it is said to be that this time around, gummi ships will be much faster and complex than before. Just like Kingdom Hearts, you will be able to customize your Gummi Ship, as well as much more that Nomura has not revealed. From the new screenshots, you notice a new place called Twilight Town, which seems more advanced than any other places that were previously seen in Kingdom Hearts. The name of the town actually seems to be rather symbolic of what may come in Kingdom Hearts 2, but the town itself looks very old-fashioned and neat. You can view an entire view of Twilight Town in this picture HERE. You can look at Twilight Town as the Traverse Town of Kingdom Hearts 2 somewhat. The abilities in Kingdom Hearts will be returning in Kingdom Hearts 2 but now, you can access several abilities by just pressing the 'triangle' button. The way this works is when you're fighting an enemy, directly above the enemy's head you will see a triangle appear, and the "COMMAND" option on the command menu will change to the name of the triangle attack in which you can press the triangle at that time to activate that attack/ability. Please note that all abilities are not necessarily all triangle attacks. The command menu has gotten a complete makeover, literally. As you visit the different worlds, the command menu will change its look and feel, depending on the world you are in. The addition to the command menu people have been raving about recently is "Drive", which if chosen can let you select a "Drive form", or a character to merge with. This new "drive" function, you can see in screenshots is next to Sora's health in the bottom right part of the screen and the Drive meter fills up as you destroy enemies and once it is full, you receive 1 drive point, and this continuous. We're not exactly sure what you can do with these drive points but you can expect the ability to execute powerful attacks, or even merge with other characters, as V-Jump magazine explained. Another cool feature in Kingdom Hearts 2, that is planned to be implemented, is the freedom to choose the keyblades you wish to wield while in the "Brave" form. Among other new features Nomura revealed to Dengeki Magazine was also the ability to fight huge armies that confront you. Though Nomura did not give away too many details, Nomura stated that there will still of course be 1-on-1 fighting but there will also be a way to fight large armies, mainly associated with the triangle button (as you read above). We expect when you do these abilities, it will use the MP bar, since that is how abilities worked before in the original Kingdom Hearts. It wouldn't be surprising if abilities did use the drive bar because this way, you could say the game would take place in a much faster pace. Below is a list of the abilities that we have heard about and seen through magazine scans and screenshots: Teleport Air Juggle Zeus' Thunder Herc's Might Hermes' Tail Safe Landing Full Swing Mawarikomu (sp?) Wall Kick There is also one ability we learned in Chain of Memories called "Terra" which allows Sora control a heartless for a limited amount of time and make it fight Sora's enemies. It'd be quite believing to see this sort of ability in Kingdom Hearts 2 except we might see it used as a magic attack, or even one of our new nifty triangle attacks. There's no guarantee that this will appear in Kingdom Hearts 2 but it is very likely. Also in Kingdom Hearts 2, you can "fuse" with characters, in which Sora goes into his "Brave" form. For example, when Sora fuses with Goofy, Sora gains red clothes and two keyblades. Goofy then vanishes from the field while Sora is in this form. In the particular instance we saw with Goofy, Sora obtained the Oathkeeper while also fighting with his Kingdom Key. While fusing with Donald, Sora gains blue clothes and also gains different actions. Tetsuya Nomura says that there are some Brave forms that has many amusing tricks, so fusing with different characters will allow Sora to have different actions. And if you're wondering if you'll ever get to fight alongside King Mickey in Kingdom Hearts 2, Tetsuya Nomura told Dengeki Magazine that when King Mickey takes off his hood, you will understand everything. When asked if King Mickey has any relation with The Order, Nomura replied there might be a relationship, one way or another. Summoning in Kingdom Hearts 2 will also be different, from the original Kingdom Hearts, Nomura stated. No specific details were released on how but it could be possible that the summon comes in and just does 1 attack and leaves or the summon might use up your "drive points", or even the summon takes place of Sora, or another member of your group. As to questions on whether or not there will be a Kingdom Hearts 3, it highly depends on the success of Kingdom Hearts 2. General Storyline "Heartless once again begin to appear in many Worlds, and threaten the balance of life. It's unknown why or how they have returned. Some claim that Hollow Bastion is once again the cause/source of their unpleasant return. When Sora hears about this, he gathers his companions and they immediately leave for Hollow Bastion. They arrive and discover the World is in total chaos. The essence of what they believe is Darkness, that is emanating from the castle, is warping the very World itself. Before they have a chance to head to the castle, they are surrounded on all sides by a very large group of Heartlesses, including some they had never seen before. They have no choice but to try and fight their way out, with the knowledge that very sinister things are taking place... and it's only the beginning." Blonde Haired Kid The only note-worthy thing from any magazine was from V-Jump's E³ Report which refered to him as a new character with two partners of his own - whom are not Donald & Goofy. Ansem? Still no name for "Ansem", but he has been referred to as the "Crimson/Red Enigma". Hollow Bastion In one magazine, a small blurb described Hollow Bastion as "once again an integral part of Sora's journey and a doorway to new, mysterious Worlds." Disney Castle Disney Castle, a World that had much involvement with the story and was clearly visible on the first game's world map, was not accesible in the first game which puzzled a few people. It is now said that Disney Castle will indeed be playable this time around. The WORLDS The Worlds are touted as being much more expansive than those seen in the first game. The first playable World is apparently Hollow Bastion, where the game opens. Speaking of the Worlds, all the mentioned/confirmed themed-Worlds thus far are, in no particular order World Name/Movie - "Fabled Countryside"/Beauty and the Beast - "Ancient Greece"/Hercules As for the specific, primary/prominent areas for each of the aforementioned Worlds, a few were mentioned... Fabled Countryside - Quaint/Peaceful Village (one said the latter, another the former) - Forbidden Woods/Forest - Beast's Manor (this is the term that's always been used so far; no "castle" or anything of the like; perhaps if the curse is broken, it'll become "Prince's Castle", or something) Ancient Greece - Thebes (City) - Mount Olympus (Colosseum included) - [The] Underworld (part of it is tournament-based) All the mentioned, practically-confirmed theme-Worlds, thus far, are, in no particular order (some are written about outright, whereas some are here simply going by subtle hints; no word on any sort of Final Fantasy-inspired Worlds as of yet): - Nottinghamshire/Robin Hood - Pride Rock/The Lion King - Camelot/The Sword In The Stone - Prydain/The Black Cauldron (WOOHOO!) All the mentioned/heavily-rumoured themed-Worlds include, thus far - Victorian London/The Great Mouse Detective - ????/The Jungle Book - ????/Mulan (one magazine said "... Mulan ... and The Jungle Book are all expected to be immortalized as playable Worlds in the next installment.") Bosses Bosses/adversaries Sora will supposedly encounter throughout the game include (mostly from the Hercules-inspired World; no others have been specifically mentioned as bosses, with the exception of DarkSide): - DarkSide - Nessus (Centaur) - The Hydra - The Cyclops - The Titans (that's all that's said, so it leads one to believe that all four will be included; then again, it could just be the two that were absent from the first game) - Auron ("a lost soul, looking for redemption") - Cerberus (not referred to as a boss, per se, but said to be returning in some capacity) - Hades? (was not pointed out as a boss, but it's natural to think he'd be one) Hades, Captain Hook & Jafar (perhaps in his Cobra-guise?) are all said to be indefinitely returning; presumably, to join the new group of Villains, whomever they may be. New Types of Heartless The game will feature many new types of Heartlesses, along with many that will be returning from the first game (many - not all). Also, three of those new types had names given to them. Not really certain if they're official, but I'll give them anyway. - Rabid (little blue, pudgy dog-like things) - HookWing (the bat-like Heartless with the red hooks on the end of their tails) - Spectral Mage (the magic-type Heartless Sora is pictured as encountering within the Underworld) The "White Creatures" One magazine referred to the stretchy "White Creatures" as 'Flailers'. No name was given for the giant one. KH2 now in REAL TIME! The game will keep "Real Time", and the large clock on the train station in Twilight Town will also reflect this (in other words, among other things, there will be a definitive day and night periods in each World and they will alternate on a regular basis). Rating System/Obtainment of Abilities Sora will receive a certain special ability/technique upon the completion of any one world (that is, aside from being granted the traditional theme-based Keychain, which will also be a returning factor). Exactly which ability/technique you acquire depends solely on how well you were able to successfully complete that particular world. Once you do complete the World, the factors will be tallied up, and depending on the end result, you'll receive one ability for that World. Determining factors include, but are not necessarily limited to (i.e. the only ones divulged as of this writing; these aren't the exact classifications [as there were none], just the names I'm going to give them based on descriptions): Total Percentage Of World Beaten Rating Overall Time Required To Successfully Beat World Rating Total Vanquished Enemy-Count Rating Battle Performance Rating Magic Adept-ability Rating Party Cooperation Rating Group Participation Rating Special Rating Overall Performance Rating Then, those are all added together and depending on the rating, you'll receive your reward. For example, in the Hercules-themed World (one publication referred to it as "Ancient Greece"), the best ability Sora can obtain is "Zeus' Thunder", "an extremely powerful and punishing lighting-based magical attack", which drains all of Sora's MP. The second best ability is "Herc's Might" (drains 1/2) and the 'worst' one is "Hermes' Trail" (drains 1/4); no idea on what the latter two do (if you happen to do any worse than that, you'll receive a package with various items, equipment and lots of Munny included. There was no indication on whether or not if any of these abilities can be shared within the entire party, or if it's limited to just Sora. As well, if doesn't say if you can actually eventually obtain all the abilities for any given World by returning or not (I'd bet that you can). Command Menu Sora's Command Menu will change to a visual theme that reflects whichever World he's currently in. Keychains In addition to receiving Keychains throughout the course of the game, you'll have the opportunity to craft a custom KeyBlade of your very own choosing (along the same lines as the Synthesis process from the first game). Details are sketchy, but it's said that the materials needed to create the KeyBlades are very rare and well hidden in each World. Drive Meter The mysterious "Drive" meter seems to tie-in to how many enemies you kill, and it may or may not be the only type. For example, it mentions that if you kill enough enemies, and the gauge fills to capacity, Sora is able to unleash a powerful attack (the meter keeps count). If you execute the attack enough, and kill enough enemies, the level of the meter increases, and the attacks/techniques Sora is able to utilize when the meter is full are upgraded (but you can still use the lower-level attacks by hitting the appropriate button when the gauge fills to that specific point). If you happen to defeat a boss with a "Drive"-based attack, you get double the "points" you'd get by just using it on a normal enemy.

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