Oh yeah, Roxas, the Matrix has you *bad*

[rallamajoop]

The copy of KHII Lisa ordered came in on Monday.

The Bad: Somehow, we've accidentally wound up with a copy in Japanese. Which means that I've been making Lisa pause after about 3/4 of the dialogue to fill me in on just what exactly is going on. Not all bad though, I've always been something of a backseat KH fan (played an hour or two of KHI, got bored with the battle system, gave up and took to watching most of the rest over her shoulder). Also, the game keeps freezing on us, which is seriously not cool. But on the upside: real Japanese voice actors! How can you argue with that?

The Not Even Remotely Bad: This game is on a special kind of crack. In the years since KHI it has grown up, discovered boys and learnt to *angst*. At least half the plot hasn't come close to making sense, yet I am loving every moment to bits. Seriously - KHI may have been pretty good, but the sequel is blowing us away. There's just so much more *detail* - the plot is that much more complicated, the animation is seriously impressive and the storytelling has taken a huge leap forward. The characters seem to have a lot more freedom to interact, comment on their surroundings - even just chatter to each other; there's this great feeling of being inside the story that we haven't gotten from a game since we finished FFX. Even the tackier Disney stuff is less annoying. And there is just so much new stuff to like about this game - Roxas! Namine! Axel! Auron! Grown-up Sora running around in clothes that don't fit anymore and forcing us spend the first half hour or so staring at his knees! The Steamboat Willy section! And we're not even up to Pirates of the Caribbean yet.

And to think we were worried it wouldn't live up to its opening sequence. Words cannot express the depth of our squee.

Comments

[ex-seventee.livejournal.com]

There's a Steamboat Willy world???

... You know, screw PotC and Tron, I think that has convinced me to try this game. >_>

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

Yuh-huh. In all of its tacky, dawn-of-animation, black-and-white glory. Better yet, Sora's party gets completely redrawn to match.

[ex-seventee.livejournal.com]

Arrrrrrrrrgh I want this game so bad now. >_< (well, the rest of the Internet going on about it and the news that it doesn't actually suck all that much at all helped, too)

When I first read your comment, I thought you said 'Sora's pants get completely redrawn'. Strangely enough, I didn't think this was weird in the slightest. If they're anything like they were in KH1 then Sora's pants probably have more polygons in him than the rest of his model put together.

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

It must be said KHI Sora's pants are pretty scary, though fortunately the costume redesigns from the sequel have made them much less so. Ironically enough, they survive the transition to Steamboat Willy world probably better than anything else (http://kh2.co.uk/image.php?view=kh2/artwork/d42.png).

[risachantag.livejournal.com]

*floats around happily from the squee*

[velithya]

Axel! :D

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

Have you played Chain of Memories? Axel's been my favourite of the Organisation bad-guys since we got hold of it (not that there was really much competition, considering the others), and in KHII he only gets better. So many so very cool characters in this game.

How are those weapons going? Found pics of a pretty neat set someone made online just the other day, but they look like a nightmare to put together.

[velithya]

Old comments FTW! I have never played any KH in my life :(

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

That sucks. No access to a PS2?

Not that I can really talk, considering how little of any of the three games I've actually *played* myself. Yay, backseat gaming! >.>

[cielrose.livejournal.com]

ur so lucky to have in in japanese...then u dont get the annoyance of the english dub which i hear is a bit iffy..

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

We were honestly pretty happy to put up with English voice actors just as long as it meant we knew what was going on in KHI, but we're managing so well with the Jap version this time that I'm glad this was the one we wound up with, accidental or not.

[phred-has-sonar.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to see the Tron world! Ha ha, that's gonna be awesome. I hear they've redone the whole Gummi Ship levels thing and now that part is actually worth playing (the gummi ship things was the only complaint I had about KH1).

[rallamajoop.livejournal.com]

Definitely looking forward to Tron. The Gummi Ship stuff sure is pretty different - haven't seen enough of it yet to fully understand how it all works, but it's sure a lot better thought out and a lot less annoying than in the last game. The list of cool stuff about KHII just goes on and on. :3

[phred-has-sonar.livejournal.com]

I've been looking forward to this all year and I am so glad it has passed the Lisa and Cathy game test with flying colours. If you guys love it this much I'm sure I will too.

*builds a time machine so he can travel to June 1st to get a copy*