I love, love, love this game. I eat up any news about the sequel (which is in development, btw), I relate with the characters, I love playing just to get to the next level of experience, if I had money I’d buy the walkthrough book.
The graphics are superb, the real-time fighting is the answer to my qualms with the FF series and the story is above par. I like all the injokes with the FF series and Disney. It has got to be the best crossover in quite some time.
And call me a wimp, but the beggining and the end of the Hundred Acre Woods gets me all misty-eyed every time.
I’ve never played any FF title, so I was a little lost on all the FF references. But otherwise…
Fantastic game! For my money, it had just the right mix of fighting, puzzles, role-playing, etc. It took me 80 playing hours to solve, which made it well worth the money (compared to Silent Hill 2, which only took around 9 hours to solve).
It also has some good music.
My favorite sequence is the bit in Halloweentown. The whole time I was playing that sequence I had the “This is Halloween! This is Halloween!” song stuck in my head.
This is without a doubt my favorite game right now. I must have the sequel. It was one of those games which I knew how to finish but delayed to enjoy the pleasure of not knowing how it would end. And when I did finish I played it a second time a week later.
And while I know some disdain the song I like the song they sing at the ends.
I’ve been wondering about this game: I’ve only played FFX (which I liked), and I’m not a particularly big Disney fan. Would you recommend the game to someone not particularly interested in or familiar with either of the source materials?
I would. It’s not that you get to fight along with Goofy and Donald, it’s not that you’re visiting all these animater world, although those are great bonuses for those of us who are interested. It’s just that it’s simply a fun game to play with a storyline which is engaging. Especially with Haley Joel Osmont doing a great job of voice acting for the main character.
When do you think the sequel will be released? Some say since they can use the same engine it might be soon. Is Christmas too early?
I loved this game. It’s the only one I have for PS2 because I am cheap, but I’m glad I bought it. Even after you beat the main part of the game, there are still 4 optional bosses, which I only defeated a few days ago, despite defeating the last level back in December.
Some parts are so cute, without being annoying or twee, like the Hundred Acre Wood, and the white mushrooms that give you stuff if you cast the right spells on them.
My brother has a PS2 and has this game. I started playing it over my Spring Break, but didn’t get to finish it. I don’t know when I’ll get my hands on it again! I am about half-way through the Little Mermaid sequence. I love the Disney movies, and they picked some of the best ones for this game. I can’t wait to play it again, though I’m thinking I might want to start from scratch if I have time to. I keep asking my brother to lend me his PS2, but since I live 600km away from him, he isn’t to enthusiastic about that idea
Well, they couldn’t start development until they got the okay from Disney to use their characters. Disney, of course, wouldn’t give up permission for two games until the first one proved a success and even then talks with Disney took a while. So, here they go all over again. The same fighting engine will be used, so that cuts down the time some, but think about it:
Disney holds out until middle of 2003
Squaresoft wants to hold the big announcement until the Square Enix merger is complete, which would hold up development until the merger is settled and both teams are lumped into one.
Starting development is just getting the plot settled and storyboarding, etc. Now with the Enix in the mix, the buzz is that more characters from both Squaresoft and Enix worlds will be making cameos.
It was blatant enough with ‘Kingdom Hearts’ that Square was commited to putting out a superb video game, now with the economy in a slump and titles not even breaking even, developers are banking more on sequels and lots of time and effort put into a few titles than less time and effort spent on many titles.
So, from conception to the shelves a year and a half doesn’t seem to far fetched, even with the same fighting engine being used.
If it makes you feel better, Amazon Japan is selling pre-orders for Kingdom Hearts 2. But, with Square Enix being a Japanese company and Disney having a big fan base in the country, expect them to get it a hell of a lot sooner than we do.
So, to review: All of the above, coupled with an earlier Japanese release date doesn’t make it soudn too far fetched for ‘Kingdom Hearts 2’ to be released sometime in 2005 for us here in the states.
At least there wont be an unexpected death to kill the story. You see I pretty much refuse to read trilogies by authors until they’re complete. I don’t want them to die before they finish. Well I suppose if I die that would still prevent me from finishing the story. But I’ll survive. Damn though, I’ll be old then.
FWIW I read somewhere that the powers that be liked KH so much that Sora is going to become a regular Disney character, and KH will become a movie and all. I’ll find linkage here in a bit.
Any chance this is coming out for the PC? I’ve played it on a friend’s PS2, but the cost of a game is a lot more within budget than the cost of a game and a PS2 I don’t already own.
But I loved it as far as I managed to get.