Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts II is the third game in the  series, serving as a direct sequel to Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories. Like the two previous games, it focuses on Sora and his friends battling against the forces of darkness.

The theme song for the game is "Sanctuary" (Japanese version: "Passion") performed by Utada Hikaru.

Chronologically, Kingdom Hearts II is the eighth game in the timeline, after Kingdom Hearts χ, Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-, , Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, during Kingdom Hearts coded and before Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

Story
Kingdom Hearts II begins almost a year after Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, and immediately after Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

A boy named Roxas wakes up in his room at Twilight Town. Roxas has dreams of adventures of a boy named Sora who he don't know. Roxas fully wakes and says there seven days left until summer vacation is over. He hanging there with two boys, Hayner and Pence and also a girl named Olette whom he consider best friends. Kids playing around and eventually visit gates of the Old Mansion near the town. The group hoped to find something interesting here, but Mansion seems abandoned and locked. Roxas sees girl in white in one of the windows, but thinks it was merely an illusion. As he about to leave, strange white creatures appear before him, calling Roxas their "liege". The boy attacks them, but it's proven no use. A Keyblade appears in his hand and Roxas takes down the creatures. Days passed and more of these creatures appear to hunt down Roxas. Eventually, a another guest appeared dressed in a black coat named Axel. Axel appears to know Roxas, though Roxas has no recollection of him.

Hayner, Pence, Olette and Roxas wanted to earn some munny, as they planned go to the beach. After earning enough munny and ready to depart, another man in black appears in front of Roxas and takes the pouch with all the munny from him. The group is left without money, so they can't go to the beach and instead go to their usual spot on top of clocktower to eat Sea Salt ice cream.

Back in real world, DiZ asks Naminé to make haste with restoring Sora's memories. Roxas is revealed to be dressed in a black cloak and lies inside mysterious machine unconscious. Old man asks hooded man who he is, to which he's responding by taking off his hood, revealing Ansem, Seeker of Darkness's face behind it and telling that his name is "Ansem". DiZ is laughs by this reveal but does not say anything.

Roxas eventually makes his way into an abandoned mansion where a girl named Naminé informs him that he is a Nobody, like the strange white creatures. Naminé tries to explain what will happen if he merge with Sora but mysterious, red-cloaked man called DiZ, interrupts them by saying that Nobodies doesn't have rights to exist in the first place. Roxas anyway goes into the basement of the Old Mansion and discovers Sora, Donald, and Goofy sleeping in the capsules, where they have been regaining their memories since their last adventure a year ago. Roxas merges with Sora, and Sora finally awakens, alongside his friends. Since Roxas lived in a simulation, he disappear and Sora awakes in a real Twilight Town and doesn't recall what happened a year ago.

Jiminy Cricket, who had previously chronicled the trio's adventures, finds that his journal is now completely blank, save for the note: "Thank Naminé", which Jiminy had previously left as a clue to their adventure in Castle Oblivion. The group begins their journey anew and go to the main city of Twilight Town, instead of the virtual simulation where Roxas lived by some time. The group crosses paths with the King, who saves them from the group of Nobodies. Puzzled by the fact that Mickey wears a strange black coat the trio is still happy to see him. The king then orders them to board a magical train, before running off. In the station, the real Hayner, Pence and Olette say their farewell to Sora, who cries because of Roxas inside of him. Before party leave, Riku, disguised by his hood, gave Sora a munny pouch and the blue orb Roxas won in the Struggle tournament in the simulation.

The train takes Sora, Donald and Goofy to the Mysterious Tower. After meeting Pete, a new villain, and speaking with Yen Sid, the party is informed that they must once again visit many worlds to protect them from both the Heartless and the new threat - Nobodies. Retired master also explain that the nobodies are ruled by a powerful sentient nobodies, who call themselves an Organization XIII and advises Sora to be careful. Sora gains new clothes and powers from Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, and Yen Sid summons the Gummi Ship for them to use. After Sora, Donald and Goofy leave, Maleficent's Raven brings her tattered cloak to the fairies, who unwillingly remember Maleficent, activating the neccesary conditions to resurrect her.

Sora continues his quest by unlocking paths to other worlds, learning of Nobodies and fighting the Heartless, as well as facing the remaining members of the Organization XIII. On his way Sora also gets leads that Riku may still be alive and out there somewhere. Meanwhile, Kairi, who lived peacefully on the Destiny Islands is also being dragged into the events by Axel, both of them eventually finding their way to Twilight Town. Although Kairi meets Hayner, Pence and Olette, she ends up being abducted by Axel and taken into a portal, where she's taken custody in the Organization's headquarters. In one of the worlds, Demyx, a member of the Organization, calls Sora "Roxas" and asks him to come back. Sora is puzzled by this but still refuse to join the Organization. Demyx then leaves, and trio is continuing their adventures.

The Heartless, led in two separate groups by a revived Maleficent and the Organization, regain power, eventually forcing Sora to battle a massive army of Heartless that are attacking Hollow Bastion. Before that, Sora, Donald and Goofy learn that the Ansem they fought a year ago was actually the Heartless of Xehanort, who was apprentice of Ansem the Wise, and this world - Hollow Bastion - was once had another name, which party restores through Ansem's computer. Since then, the world is now goes by it's original name: Radiant Garden. Mickey also points out that the Nobody of Xehanort, Xemnas, is the leader of Organization XIII. This reveal confuses Sora, but Mickey is able to convince him that this is all true. After intense battle with the Heartless, Xemnas appears before heroes, revealing his face. He then quickly leaves with a cryptic note that King Mickey knows where Riku is. Sora tries to hold some answers from King Mickey but Mickey is escaped along with Xemnas through a Corridor of Darkness, as he promised Riku not to tell Sora about Riku's whereabouts. Xemnas and the king leaves and another member of the Organization, Saïx, appears before the group. He tries to convince Sora to continue slaying Heartless, but Axel, who revealed to be the traitor to the Organization, reveals their ultimate goal: the Nobodies' plan to create another Kingdom Hearts from people's hearts, and to do this, they need a Keyblade wielder, such as Sora, as he's the only one who can set hearts free. The Kingdom Hearts will presumably allow the Nobodies to get their hearts back. Saïx is displeased by this reveal and summon more Heartless. Both Nobodies retreat, leaving Sora with all this information, but Maleficent appears and defend Sora, so he could escape. The trio departs, now with new mission: find the Organization's world and put an end to all of it's members.

In the gummy ship, Chip and Dale contact Sora and inform him that they pack the signal of the unknown world but unable to locate it's source just yet. They suggest Sora go to another trip around the worlds and help their residents while they try to make signal clear. During these adventures, Sora manages to meet Riku but he escapes without a word. The party then proceed to kill more Heartless and defeat more Organization members. Eventually, the signal leads trio back to the Radiant Garden, where Axel, sacrificing himself to defeat many Nobodies, opens a portal to the Organization's headquarters. He then ask Sora to give apologies to Kairi for her kidnapping and fades away.

The party arrives in alley of the Dark City and the name of the world is revealed: The World That Never Was. Party procceds through streets in order to reach Castle That Never Was - an actual HQ of the Organization. But before they can reach the castle, Donald and Goofy is restricted to go further by Samurai nobodies, as Sora forced to fight Roxas in his heart, in order to win the right to exist. Sora wins and makes his way to the castle, where King Mickey greets the trio. In the other side of the castle, Naminé frees Kairi, and together they escape from the prison, but the girls is stopped by Saïx. Riku appears, now sports a Keyblade on his own. Saïx retreats, but before Riku can pursue him Naminé calls Riku by his name. Kairi lift his hood and see Ansem's face, but still recognize her friend. King Mickey depart the group, as he wants to save DiZ, who revealed to be the actual Ansem the Wise. Together they go to the top of the castle in attempt to thwart Xemnas's plans. In the Hall of empty Melodies, Sora, Donald and Goofy confront and successfully defeat Xigbar, who calls him Roxas and accuse him for betrayal. On the balcony, Riku gives Kairi her Keyblade and together they repel Nobodies' forces. Both parties reunite, with Sora mistaken Riku for Ansem, but still thanks him. Riku accepts, but Kairi show Sora who this man really is and Sora burst in tears, as he finally able to see his friend. Now, only three members of the Organization is left, so Kairi, Sora, Riku, Donald and Goofy, go to the top of the castle. They ended up in the Proof of Existence, where further path is, but it's blocked, so the heroes needs to fight Luxord and Saïx. After Saïx is defeated, path to Xemnas is open, and Riku tells Sora that Roxas is his Nobody, so that's why everyone in the Organization appears to know him by other name.

The group cross paths with Mickey and Ansem the Wise. Ansem tells Mickey, that all of his research was nothing, as the Hearts could not be understand by some tests and research. Xemnas appears, calling his teacher a fool for restraining and forbidding him from dangerous tests. Before Kingdom Hearts Encoder explodes Ansem telling everyone that now could happen anything. Explosion apparently kills Ansem and make big hole in the artificial Kingdom Hearts. The explosion also returns Riku to his original form. He strips from his black coat, as now he's fully in control of his powers. Together, the group proceed further into the castle to face off Xemnas. Now, Xemnas is the last survivor of the Organization XIII. He ensues battle with Sora, by teleporting him to a Memory's Contortion, where they fight near the skyscrapper. Sora wins, but Xemnas asks Kingdom Hearts for more power. The entity seems to do just that, as the new door appears in front of the party. Sora, Riku, Donald and Goofy procced through and appear in the World of Nothing, where Xemnas sitting atop of a dragon and launches buildings at the party. They manage to defeat Xemnas in his armor and return back to the top of the castle. Naminé reunites with Kairi, and a projection of Roxas reunites with Sora. Kairi, donald Goofy and Mickey depart via Corridor of Darkness, but it closes just before Riku and Sora can pass through. Xemnas is sitting atop another dragon, so the boys must defeat him to escape. After great battle, Xemnas teleports party to the world between, where Sora and Riku finally put an end to him. Boys travel to the Realm of Darkness, seemingly trapped here, discussing their relationship. Suddenly, a letter from Kairi appears on the shore, and the boys go through the Door of Light, arriving back on Destiny Islands. The pair are welcomed by Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Mickey.

Sometime later, Sora, Riku, and Kairi receive a letter from King Mickey telling them about their new adventure.

Combat changes compared to first game
Kingdom Hearts II offers a number of key differences from the original Kingdom Hearts. While the core gameplay remains the same, new features have been added to improve the experience.


 * The HUD is more organized so that Goofy's and Donald's HP and MP are beside Sora's instead of a corner.
 * The enemy's HP is no longer colored with pink, orange, green, yellow, etc., which made it confusing for players fighting enemies with a lot of HP to know how much health was left. Instead, the HP is entirely green, with sub-icons to easily indicate the amount of health.
 * The camera is further away from Sora, allowing the player to see more surrounding area and enemies. The player can also tilt the camera up and down, which is impossible in the original PlayStation 2 release of Kingdom Hearts.
 * The player can open Treasure Chests during battle and no longer has to defeat all the enemies first.
 * Sora's Drive Form system allows him to fuse with one or both party allies and assume new powers.
 * There are new and revamped Abilities, as well as special abilities, such as Glide, that can only be gained by leveling Sora's Drive Forms, giving incentive for players to use Drive Forms a lot.
 * Occasionally, Sora may turn into a shadow version of himself known as AntiForm. Sora can not heal in AntiForm and is vulnerable, so the player should attack as much as possible to exit AntiForm.
 * Reaction Commands allow Sora and/or members of his party to perform special maneuvers in the course of battle.
 * The player can add shortcuts for both items and magic, while in the first game, the player could only add a shortcut for magic.
 * The basic combat and leveling systems have also been redesigned. In order to facilitate low-level playthroughs, bosses no longer offer experience upon defeat; rather, they reward the player with boosts to their HP, MP, or AP, or with specific abilities.
 * Bosses can no longer be defeated by mere depletion of HP, and must be finished off with a combo finisher.
 * Any hit from Magic, Limits, or Summons will also count as a finisher for this purpose, even if the hit is not at the end of a combo.
 * Many bosses that can be staggered by basic hitstun animations (mainly humanoid ones) have the ability to break out of Sora's combos if they go on too long. Each consecutive attack by Sora raises a hidden value, colloquially called "Revenge Value" by fans. Once a boss' Revenge Value is hit, they will instantly retaliate by teleporting out of a combo, performing an instant invulnerable attack, or both. If Sora's offense on a boss is halted before hitting the maximum Revenge Value, the Value will be reset and the boss will instead retaliate with a random attack upon recovering. This is one aspect that has made Kingdom Hearts II more challenging, but arguably more intricate.
 * The MP Gauge has also been retooled to ensure that the player is never left without magic. This now prevents abuse of powerful spells like Cure—instead of being a quickly refillable gauge that is difficult to refill during battle, the MP Gauge can easily be depleted by three or fewer spells, and refills automatically. Several abilities can empower Sora's offensive abilities during this period to compensate for his temporary inability to heal.

Other features
The Trinity Marks and 99 Puppies from the first game have been completely removed. For collecting, there are Treasure Chests present in the first game, and it is now required that the player open every single chest in order to complete the Journal. If the player is playing the Final Mix version, there are 144 Puzzle pieces scattered throughout the world.

Item synthesis is also retained from the original game, but has been made more complex by allowing the player to use catalysts in the recipe, as well as requiring the player to find hidden Recipes or training the Moogle in order to create the more powerful items.

As with Treasure Chests, the Journal now tracks the player's prowess in the synthesis sidequest.

Kingdom Hearts II also has a stronger focus on mini-games, as instead of merely rewarding the player with prizes for high scores, the player must meet certain minimum scores in each mini-game simply to fill the Journal. Certain mini-games, like Skateboarding, also appear in many variants throughout the worlds, while Atlantica has been converted into a mini-game world similar to 100 Acre Wood.

Gummi Ship
Gummi Ships reappear, but are far more divorced from the main quest than in the original. Sora's progress within the main game is only relevant to the Gummi portion of the game by unlocking no routes, and no longer has any effect on the options available to him in building a Gummi Ship; in return, progress in the Gummi quests have absolutely no effect on the main quest. Changes in the Gummi Ship system include:


 * The Gummi Ship is faster paced. Routes themselves are less uniform and monotonous, varying from space battles against a massive pirate ship, to flying through floating islands and waterfalls.
 * There is more variety of music.
 * A route is more akin to unlocking a "door" to a world, rather than a path that the player needs to travel back and forth between.
 * Many new types of Gummis are available, such as Teeny Ships that fly alongside the main ship, and the Ships can equip abilities similar to Sora's.

Censorship
Besides typical English translation and localization, the English version of Kingdom Hearts II differs from the original Japanese version in the content of gameplay and several scenes:
 * When Sora battles the Hydra in Olympus Coliseum, green blood gushes out whenever Sora harms it. The green blood was changed to black and purple smoke or drool in the English version. The green blood, however, is retained during the cutscene where Hercules is fighting it.
 * Xigbar's was changed from a view with a cross-hair and black shading around the sides to three glowing circles.
 * An attack animation was also altered; in the Japanese version, Xigbar combined his two hand-held guns to create a sniper rifle, which was used to shoot the player's party during the telescoping sight sequence. In the English version, Xigbar does not combine his guns, but twirls them around and shoots at Sora with a single gun, holding the other at his side. However, this was reverted in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX.


 * Axel's demise is slightly edited; in the original Japanese version, he bursts into flames during his, and the flames are consuming his body as he fades away.
 * This is reverted in the credits for Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX: Axel bursts into flames during a brief clip of his suicide attack, though the aftermath is not shown.


 * At Disney Castle, while chasing Donald around for missing a date, Daisy pounds him on the backside in the Japanese version, while she simply tells him off inaudibly in the English version.
 * Port Royal contains the most content edits:
 * When William Turner threatens to take his own life, he aims the gun at his head in the Japanese version, while he merely holds it at his side in the English version.
 * Undead Pirates do not catch fire when affected by Fire magic, though the Grim Reaper still does (trying to light pirates on fire results in them running around smoking instead of burning). The pirate's muskets were modified to resemble crossbows, though the crossbows still fire with an audible musket shot sound effect.
 * In the original Japanese version, the blood on the cursed medallions remains throughout the game, but disappears after Barbossa and Will drop them into the chest.
 * In the Japanese version, when Jack Sparrow is stabbed by Barbossa, the sword sticks out of his chest as he staggers back into the moonlight. In the English version, the sword has been removed.
 * When Barbossa tells Elizabeth of their curse, he mentions lust and women, which is removed in the English version and replaced by "pleasurable company". This is, however, the line used in the movie.

Key characters
Most of the key characters from Kingdom Hearts return, particularly heroes Sora, Riku, and Kairi, as well as constant party members Donald and Goofy. King Mickey also returns, having a much larger role in Kingdom Hearts II than his cameo at the end of the first game. Old foes also return, most notably Maleficent.

A number of characters first featured in Chain of Memories also make comebacks in Kingdom Hearts II; most prominently involved are Naminé and DiZ. Axel of Organization XIII also makes a return appearance, the only member to appear in both games; the Organization members featured in Kingdom Hearts II are all new to the series. Also new to the series are the mysterious Roxas and Maleficent's lackey Pete.

Disney characters
In addition to the Disney characters that return from Kingdom Hearts, there are also characters from several Disney features making their Kingdom Hearts debut, most notably characters from the previously unexplored worlds of Mulan, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Tron, as well as a world dedicated to Disney's older black-and-white works, Timeless River. New but familiar characters have also been added to all of the returning worlds.

Other characters make prominent appearances in the original Kingdom Hearts worlds of Twilight Town and Hollow Bastion. Yen Sid the sorcerer, Mickey's master in the movie Fantasia, makes an appearance, inhabiting a mysterious tower. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty give Sora his new outfit. Scrooge McDuck also has taken residence in Hollow Bastion trying to recreate a "salty flavored ice cream". Merlin returns to Hollow Bastion, now allied with several familiar faces from Traverse Town in the original game.

Final Fantasy characters
Seventeen characters from six of the Final Fantasy games make appearances in Kingdom Hearts II. Along with returning characters from ', ', and ', characters from ', ', and ' debut for the first time.

It had been stated by game designer that, although the first game strictly stuck to characters Nomura designed, this time around they were going to "take some risks", allowing characters from Final Fantasy games without involvement from Nomura to make appearances. The involvement of characters from VI and IX are the result.

The omnipresent Moogles, featured in many different Final Fantasy titles, return in Kingdom Hearts II as both the keepers of item synthesis, and also as shopkeepers at various places in worlds. However, because of the dangers of the world, they only appear as holograms, with the exception of the Moogles in Hollow Bastion and Twilight Town. Other constant Final Fantasy reference include, who make appearances as shopkeepers, references to the Final Fantasy job classes in the names of the Nobodies, and the names of various Gummi Ship blueprints.

Nobodies
Nobodies are the main enemies in Kingdom Hearts II, appearing alongside Heartless. They are creatures without hearts, born from the body and soul of a living being who has lost its heart. Organization XIII are Nobodies who have retained their human forms, albeit a bit changed from their original appearance. Another difference between the Nobodies and Heartless are that the Nobodies attack more tactically, and often together, unlike the instinctive nature of the Heartless. Many of the different kinds of Nobodies are named after from the  series.

Summons
Like the previous game, Sora can summon certain Disney characters to aid him in battle once he has attained each of their respective items. As summons use the Drive Gauge instead of the MP bar, Sora cannot Drive and summon at the same time. The summoned character will replace the two computer-controlled characters and fight alongside Sora for as long as the Drive Gauge allows. Instead of the summoned character being limited to only one action, the summoned character now has a menu of his own to perform multiple actions, some solo actions and some cooperative actions with Sora. There are four summons total in Kingdom Hearts II, Chicken Little, Genie, Stitch, and Peter Pan with additional help from Tinker Bell.

World Party Members and Assistance
World-specific party members appear in almost every world in the game; there are nine in total, offering a huge leap from the original game's six. Notable among them are Auron, the first Final Fantasy character to be a party member, and Sora's best friend Riku. Also notable are assistance characters, who are not part of the party, but can fight alongside of it; they usually appear during key battles and plot moments.

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix is an enhanced re-release of Kingdom Hearts II featuring more enemies, additional scenes, and many other elements like expanded worlds.

In Japan, it was released in a package called Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ also containing Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, which gives the player access to more cards if there is a cleared Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix save file on the memory card.

HD Remaster
The Final Mix version of the game was ported to PlayStation 3 as part of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX. It was later ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC as part of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX, this time with the ability to run at 60 frames per second.

Trivia

 * In the English version, Sora's Wisdom Form differs from that depicted in the Bradygames guide, in that the pattern on his pants is different. If players look closely, the pattern resembles Sora's Master Form rather than its own design.