Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (read "Kingdom Hearts: Three-Five-Eight Days over Two") is an RPG developed by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS, with aid from H.a.n.d. It is an installment in the best-selling Kingdom Hearts series. The game features the life of Roxas between the end of Kingdom Hearts and the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II, exploring the time from Roxas' creation until his confrontation with Riku that leads to his placement in the simulated Twilight Town. A data-based Twilight Town in Kingdom Hearts II.

Square Enix, revealed at Tokyo Game Show 2007 that a new unique installment of the Kingdom Hearts Series would be coming exclusively to the Nintendo DS. In 358/2 Days, Players will learn more about Roxas' time in the Organization XIII by engaging in both exciting single-player & multiplayer modes. Many unanswered questions about Roxas' life (while Sora was sleeping for one year) will be explored alongside offering Kingdom Hearts fans a whole new way to enjoy the series in a variety of Disney worlds. In December 2008, it has been announced that the game will come to stateside audiences as well as in Europe.

Story
After a brief intro with Axel, Roxas goes on his first real missions with Marluxia, Zexion, Larxene, and Lexaeus. They teach him about the Heartless and the Keyblade, occasionally dropping hints about "Nobodies" and Kingdom Hearts itself. Eventually, they're called away to Castle Oblivion, and on Day 23, Axel's deployed, too.

With those six mysteriously gone, Roxas goes on a few missions alone, obviously missing his friends. Before long, he's paired with Xion, and they start bonding. Roxas becomes the first person Xion connects with -- the only one she really talks to, and the first one she drops her hood to.

However, on Day 27, after a mission to Agrabah with Xigbar, Roxas collapses. Before it all fades out, though, he catches a fleeting mental glimpse of Sora being sealed in his pod at the end of CoM. As Roxas sleeps, Saix and Xemnas watch over him, commenting on Namine's influence on him through Sora. Xion also visits him, and leaves a seashell on his nightstand every day. On Day 50, he finally wakes up, only to find half the Organization still missing. Eventually, Axel returns from Castle Oblivion. He and Roxas go up to the clocktower to have some ice cream, but Roxas has a confession -- while Axel was away, he'd been having ice cream with someone else. Axel guesses right away that it was Xion, and Roxas says he really wants to have it together sometime, all three of them. Back home, Saix confronts Axel one-on-one -- probably about what took him so long. Saix says he thinks Axel let Namine go, but Axel just shrugs it off. As Saix turns to leave, Axel mentions something about Zexion with a smirk. Roxas and Xion go on a mission in Twilight Town, but encounter Darkside. Darkside knocks Roxas' keyblade out of his hand. Xion picks up the keyblade and finishes off the Darkside. However, when Roxas and Xion are sent to exterminate some Neo Shadows in Beasts Castle, Xion attempts to summon her Keyblade, but fails. Roxas decides to give her his and picks up a stick to use instead. At the end of the mission, Xion returns the keyblade, and insists that she no longer needs to borrow it, and summons her own keyblade. Roxas also summons his own keyblade, so that they both have Keyblades. Afterwards, Xemnas also gathers the Organization at the Alter of Naught. He unveils Kingdom Hearts, having finally collected enough hearts to manifest in TWTNW. After that, Roxas continues in his missions, including finding Pete in Agrabah, and battling him. However, Xion no longer shows up for ice cream at Twlight Town, leaving only Roxas and Axel, or occasionally, only Roxas.

After a few more days of missions, it is revealed that Xion was sitting on her bed crying. Brief flashbacks occur, and the reason she went missing for the brief period was because she encountered Riku. Only quick flashes of the battle are revealed, such as Xion's keyblade flying, and her kneeling over before screaming.

She has another flashback on the next day, and it reveals a little more.

The day after, Roxas is assigned a mission in Twilight Town by himself, but he notices Xion sat by herself in the sea salt ice cream spot, so he goes up there and asks what is wrong. She's upset, and won't say much, but then she has the full flashback, where she is attacked by Riku for no apparant reason. He then knocks her over, and removes her hood, and takes a peek at her face by moving his eye cover up a bit.

He says "It's... It's you. Just who are you?". Then she gets annoyed when he insists that her keyblade is fake, and he throws it back at her. She picks it up, and rushes to attack him, but Riku dodges the attack and counterattacks with a quick punch, flooring her. Riku then simply walks off. Xion then screams very loudly.

She is awoken from the flashback by Roxas saying 'Hello? Xion?' and more Ice Cream.

Then they go do the mission. Xion has her keyblade, and acts the same as she did when she borrows Roxas' in terms of playing style. They then fight a boss, and after the mission, have more Ice Cream with Axel.

Characters
Like previous Kingdom Hearts titles, 358/2 Days will feature numerous Disney characters. Confirmed characters include Roxas, King Mickey and Riku. All Organization XIII members will be playable in multiplayer mode. The trailers have also revealed a previously unknown 14th member of Organization XIII, Xion, who appears to have great significance in the story. The Heartless will appear as the primary antagonists, including several new types. Also, some special Heartless will appear as normal encounters, such as the Possessor in Beast's Castle. There are many old bosses seen like Guard Armor and Darkside. Moogles will also appear in the game wearing Black Cloaks. It has also been shown that Pete will feature in various worlds such as Agrabah. However, with the exception of the aformentioned Moogles, there will be no other Final Fantasy characters in the game.

Gameplay


The gameplay is similar to the action-RPG style of the previous games in the series, and takes place in a 3D environment. There originally were three status bars, HP, MP and a new one labled LM, but the LM and MP bars have been removed. In recent scans, the familiar command menu from past installments of the game has returned, this time with only three visible commands. Instead of using MP for magic you will equip the spells you want to use for each mission. Magic has also been altered in that various forms of the same spell, such as Fire and Firaga, will actually be physically different spells instead of the same attack with a different power.

Nintendo Power subsequently described a control scheme that allowed players to move the camera with the touch screen, and to move, jump, and attack using the control pad and face buttons. These controls may still change before the game is released.

Another interesting point is the height of the chairs Where Nothing Gathers. The chairs' heights do not actually relate to the chronological number of the members in the Organization, but rather their rank. Lower ranking members, like Vexen and Lexaeus have lower chairs, where as higher ranked members, like Saïx and Marluxia have higher chairs. When missions are completed in 358/2 Days, the height of the chairs change depending on how well or poor the members did.

All characters also have various different forms of their weapons, each with unique stats, not unlike the various keyblades in the previous games.

Limit Break
Limit Breaks have been confirmed as a new feature. When the player's HP drops and the HP gauge turns yellow, a Limit Break can be initiated by holding down the A button for a few seconds. Depending on which character the player is controlling, a powerful, element based attack will be performed (e.g. Roxas goes into a frenzy, shooting around in a aura of light while hurling light crosses on every finishing attack, or Demyx rocking out on his sitar, sending pillars of water out of the ground). A second stage of Limit Break called "Final Limit" can also be used.

Multiplayer
There will be a four-player non-canonical multiplayer mode, where players may choose any member of Organization XIII, and go on missions. A recent trailer has shown that Xion, Donald, and Goofy, are also playable, although they don't show up on the character select screen at first, and likely must be unlocked.


 * List of playable characters:
 * Xemnas
 * Xigbar
 * Xaldin
 * Vexen
 * Lexaeus
 * Zexion
 * Saix
 * Axel
 * Demyx
 * Luxord
 * Marluxia
 * Larxene
 * Roxas
 * Xion
 * Goofy
 * Donald
 * Riku
 * Sora
 * King Mickey

Worlds

 * The World That Never Was
 * Twilight Town
 * Agrabah
 * Beast's Castle
 * Olympus Coliseum
 * Halloween Town
 * Wonderland
 * Neverland
 * Castle Oblivion
 * Destiny Islands

Voice acting
Since the new trailer features voice acting during cutscenes, there will be voice actors working with the game's cutscenes. So far, Vincent Corazza (Zexion), Quinton Flynn (Axel), Kirk Thornton (Saïx), Shanelle Gray (Larxene), Robin Atkin Downes (Luxord), and Dave Boat (Lexaeus) have been confirmed to do voice acting for the game. It is unknown whether Corey Burton or Christopher Lee will be reprising the role of DiZ. It is also not known yet whether Brittany Snow or Meaghen Jette Martin will return as Naminé. Xion's U.S. voice actor has yet to be revealed. With Wayne Allwine having passed away in May 2009 there was concern over Mickey's voice actor and the delay it could have caused for the North American version. However, it has been said he had already finished recording before his untimely death. Jesse McCartney will also return to do the voice of Roxas.

Trivia

 * The opening cinematic of the game uses scenes from previous appearances of the Organization, in Kingdom Hearts II and Re:Chain of Memories, and even additional scenes from Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix +.


 * It was stated that the scene from Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+, with Axel and Roxas sitting on the Clock Tower of Twilight Town, was originally meant for the opening of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. It will actually be the ending to Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.