The Covenant 3 may have gotten bad reviews, but here’s to hoping they use those to create better games in the future.
And it looks like Xbox sales may be declining… hmm.
And it looks like Xbox sales may be declining… hmm.
Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
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AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
How in the world could I forget those. I don't think I ever told you those are some of my favorite memes original to TTL. (The Eurodance ones, too, but if only we could see them...)
This feels realistic, and I don't think I've ever told you how realistic your media scripts are, sometimes I could just imagine what they would look like in my head. Sometimes they're great (such as this one, and numerous other examples all the way back from Player Two Start), other times they're funny (the intentionally funny ones and the Fox News interviews as well), and then you have the tragic and possibly gruesome ones (The tornado that hit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway back in 2004; the Steve Irwin interview that was cut short for the breaking Pakistan coverage; the events of October 19th, 2007...).
I'm in love with this world building, and it helps show how different this world is yet how similar it is to our own.
On the other topic, I havr never particularly been a fan of first-person shooters (more into JRPGs myself), but it doesn't appear The Covenant 3 is going to be the overly-praised 'masterpiece' its OTL counterpart is, does it?
Nah, it means that if Reach gets made ittl, its gonna have bigger hurdles to jump over.
Well, seeing Covenant 3 flop doesn’t seem to bode well for the series, and there does seem to be less demand for XBOX systems... It’ll be interesting to see how Microsoft tries to rectify the situation.
(Also, let’s welcome Alex to the Nintendo camp!)
(Also, let’s welcome Alex to the Nintendo camp!)
Thanks, I do the best I can to try and create a realistic picture of this world for you guys!
And yeah... The Covenant 3 isn't exactly a flop, but it's a massive disappointment and that doesn't bode well for Xbox 2, especially with the iTwin surging and the Sapphire's release imminent.
And as for Alex, he was ALWAYS in the Nintendo camp. Hell, this was the TV Guide promo ad for the debut episode of GameTV... (appeared in the April 29-May 5, 1995 issue)
*Alex and Ted are shown sitting on a couch together with game controllers in their hands glaring at each other. The following captions appear above them.*
*Above Alex* He's a geek.
*Above Ted* He's totally cool.
*Above Alex* He loves Nintendo.
*Above Ted* He's all about Sega.
*Above Alex* He's into epic adventure.
*Above Ted* He's an action junkie.
And we're making them share a couch every week.
Let the games begin.
GAMETV
Premieres Tuesday, May 2nd at 9:00 PM
*in a side bubble off to the upper right* "The most outspoken hosts on TV!"
Oh, by the way... the next update is Kingdom Hearts II, and let's just say that the series being exclusive to Nintendo will have certain... benefits ITTL.
And Microsoft was really banking on Covenant 3, weren’t they?
Also, ugh, death threats? What was the response to those?
Also, ugh, death threats? What was the response to those?
Probably similar to the ones IOTL. Anonymity from the internet can make people really huge assholes.
I think it's safe now to ask: given... recent events... are we going to get more information concerning a certain online personality ITTL?
Ummm....we put it in the stickboard, when come a time we will mentioned it.
Or she could have gotten into legal problems years earlier. She's facing charges in Tennessee right now - maybe she falls into a whiskey bottle years earlier.
Maybr Jew Wario gets outted as a creep years earlier.
Butterflies can be cruel, as well as kind.
Because getting charged for public drunkenness is in any way comparable to what Jew Wario did or the utterly disgusting behavior of Channel Awesome (like covering for a sexual predator in the person of Jew Wario for example) huh? @thekingsguard
Speaking as someone whose family is filled with rummies? Lapsed alcholics and legal problems rarely go great together.
Maybe in ITTL, she gets a DUI. Or goes on a Mel Gibson style biggoted rant against Ryan Coogler.
Or maybe she goes full teetoller.
Butterflies.
Nothing, Alex has been getting death threats ever since the GameTV days. He doesn't get half as many as Brittany or Lyssa got, so there's that.
Well, the Nostalgia Critic is already doing work as of 2007. Maybe Channel Awesome doesn't blow up the way it did IOTL, maybe it still does. We'll see.
Just a note to everyone: try to keep discussion of current politics to an absolute minimum, if not eliminating it entirely. I'd hate for all the work we put into this timeline to go down the drain because it gets locked due to too much current politics talk. We'll probably back off political coverage somewhat ourselves once we get toward 2012/2013 or so for just this reason.
She was arrested for public intoxication, which... isn't nearly as big a deal as say, drunk driving. The only person she endangered with her actions was herself. Now, what she did to the cop car after she was arrested was bad, but...she was drunk, so... meh.
I think she does just fine ITTL. She probably doesn't become the Nostalgia Chick though. She may end up working with Lizzy and Wendy at Cressida Lane. We'll see.
Fall 2007 (Part 15) - Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts II is a role playing game and the sequel to 2004's Kingdom Hearts, developed by Squaresoft in collaboration with Disney. Just as in the original game, Kingdom Hearts II features young heroes teaming up with classic Disney characters to travel through Disney-themed worlds and original fantasy worlds to battle classic Disney villains brought together by an evil conspiracy of darkness which seeks to take people's hearts. TTL's Kingdom Hearts series isn't an action RPG, but instead a turn-based game with ATB bars and selectable actions, similar to titles such as Chrono Trigger and Fairytale. However, Kingdom Hearts II has a much more dynamic battle system. It's still not quite the action RPG that OTL's Kingdom Hearts series was, but instead operates much in the same way as TTL's Final Fantasy XII, or OTL's Xenoblade: battles take place on the world map rather than a separate screen, and the player is able to initialize special attacks via manual commands. However, unlike those two games, Kingdom Hearts II doesn't feature open world gameplay. Environments are fairly small for the most part (save for a couple of worlds, such as The Pride Lands), and dungeons are mostly linear. Still, the new dynamic makes for much quicker battles, and when combined with the myriad of special attacks available this time around, battles are incredibly visually spectacular. Another change to battle mechanics is the Drive system. Introduced in OTL's Kingdom Hearts II as well, it allows Sora to transform into a more powerful state and activate special attacks. It functions in a fairly similar fashion IOTL, but also has similarities with Infinity Mode from OTL's Xenogears, allowing Sora to activate much more powerful attacks and ramping his damage up substantially, almost like a Limit Break. Sora also has the ability to draw in enemies from far across the map with a special command, which enhances his Risk meter, enabling him to earn extra loot, EXP, and money multipliers. Bringing in more enemies is usually quite dangerous unless Sora has a Drive activation ready, but if the player times it right, they can clear an entire map with a well-timed series of Drive combos that can take out dozens of enemies at once. This Drive transformation is also available for the other playable protagonist, Kairi, though she won't obtain it until much latter in the game. Kingdom Hearts II features dual protagonists: Sora and Kairi. Their quests are played through simultaneously, similarly to the OTL game Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, though this game doesn't feature a Drop meter. Instead, the game is divided into chapters, and each chapter has a separate world for Sora and Kairi to visit. The player will not be able to advance in the story until both Sora and Kairi's segments of the chapter are completed, but the player can switch between them at any time at any save point. Both Sora and Kairi's parties have four characters each: Sora's party consists of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and a guest character, while Kairi's party consists of Kairi, Tifa, Mulan, and a guest character. Mulan's ability to leave the Land of Dragons (and thus interact with characters from other Disney properties) is a first for the series, and Squaresoft initially had trouble getting Disney to sign off on it, but John Lasseter eventually agreed to the plot element and convinced the other Disney creative brass to accept it as well. Tifa's presence in the game was announced fairly late (after E3), at a special Tokyo Squaresoft event in June 2007 as part of the "Year Of Final Fantasy VII" celebration, creating a massive stir within the RPG fanbase and intense speculation about Tifa's exact role in the game. Tifa and Mulan both serve as mentors to Kairi, who took up a Keyblade at the end of the original game and has been tasked with finding the Princesses of Heart and protecting them from the darkness. Kingdom Hearts II features significantly better graphics than the original game, making it arguably the best looking game on a sixth generation console. It pushes the Nintendo Wave very close to its limit, and like most later large Wave titles, utilizes a dual-layered DVD. Daryl Sabara and Shia LeBeouf reprise their roles as Sora and Riku respectively, but for the more mature and grown-up Kairi, Jessie Flower's voice had not matured enough to play the character for the sequel, and she was replaced by Patroka Epstein (a young actress original TTL best known for playing the character Lily on the hit Disney Channel show The Smart Squad). Idris Elba reprises his role as Exaltia, while Exaltia's Pale Knights, TTL's equivalent of Organization XIII, are played by a variety of actors, most of them voiceover veterans. Most notable is the only female member of the Pale Knights, Gwyneth, an expy of the classic Arthurian character Guinevere, Exaltia's most trusted subordinate, and the most visible villain for about 90 percent of the game. Gwyneth is voiced by Brittany Saldita, her second major video game voiceover role. Telos, the game's Lancelot expy, Exaltia's most dangerous lieutenant and one-time rival for Gwyneth's love, is voiced by Gerard Butler (Butler did still star as Leonidas in 300 ITTL, though that movie wasn't quite as successful as it was IOTL). All the Disney characters in the game are voiced by the same actors who portrayed them in the films and TV shows (save for the older princesses such as Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White, who are voiced by Tabitha St. Germain, Jennifer Hale, and Mary Kay Bergman respectively). Christopher Lee also plays a character in TTL's Kingdom Hearts II, voicing King Argoth, the benevolent king of the ancient realm that Exaltia once hailed from. Argoth appears both early in the game and toward the end, appearing before Sora and Kairi at separate points in the game to explain Exaltia's fall to darkness and the purpose his kingdom once served (basically an exposition dropping character). It's safe to say that Kingdom Hearts II, like its predecessor, features one of the most stacked voiceover casts of any video game yet made.
Kingdom Hearts II features two major concurrent storylines that the player will experience during the course of the game.
Sora: Following the events of the original game, Sora, Donald, and Goofy have spent a great deal of time searching for Riku and King Mickey, and their search has led them to the Mansion Blanc, a mysterious mansion where portals to various worlds are said to be kept. The mansion, however, is a trap, and Sora finds himself unable to escape and slowly forgetting his purpose (similar to Castle Oblivion in Chain Of Memories, though the memory loss isn't quite so profound). In order to get to Riku, he'll need to remember his purpose by fighting the Pale Knights and the villains of various worlds, helping the people of those worlds to keep their hearts while learning more of the mystery behind what happened to him.
Kairi: Kairi has been given a quest of her own by Yen Sid: she is to train as a great warrior and become a Keyblade Knight like Sora, finding the Princesses of Heart and protecting their pure hearts from the Pale Knights who seek to claim them. She also seeks to reunite with Sora, whose quest she can see glimpses of along her journey. Unbeknownst to Kairi, she and Sora are helping each other along by breaking the boundaries between worlds with the energy radiating from their hearts with every step of their journey. Kairi's quest is much more traditional than Sora's, she pilots the Gummi Ship and learns various tricks and moves along the way like Sora did in his previous journey.
Unlike in OTL's Kingdom Hearts II, Roxas and Namine do not make appearances in this game. Tetsuya Nomura did conceive the characters and sought to use them, but decided that it would be too much for this game in the time he had to make it and the space available to him with two separate quests to create. He instead puts the characters on the backburner, planning instead to introduce them in a future main series game or spinoff title. The theme of Kingdom Hearts II is about finding your way home, where home isn't a place, but instead, it's the friends you've become separated from along the way. While TTL's Kingdom Hearts had a different main theme song than OTL's, Kingdom Hearts II has the same theme song IOTL and ITTL: "Sanctuary", by Hikaru Utada, with the TTL version being nearly identical to the OTL version.
Kingdom Hearts II starts the player off with Sora, who has stumbled into Twilight Town in search of Riku and King Mickey. Donald and Goofy aren't yet with him, though after playing a series of minigames with some mysterious new kid characters, Sora finds his two companions, having lost their memories. They escort him to a strange mansion on the outskirts of town, where a cloaked Gwyneth awaits him. Donald and Goofy regain their memories just in time to help Sora fend off an attack from Gwyneth, but the attack still causes them all to pass out, and after Sora has a dream sequence, the player is given control of Kairi, who is in Traverse Town. After some events, Kairi becomes pursued by Heartless, and though she fights them off, she's soon overwhelmed. Fortunately, Tifa leaps in and helps save the day. Tifa takes Kairi to Yen Sid's place, where Yen Sid tasks her with protecting the Princesses of Heart, promising that the task will help her reunite with Sora and Riku as well. The player is then given the option of continuing with Sora or Kairi's story.
Chapter 1:
Meridian: Sora's quest in this chapter takes place in Meridian, the land of magic from the W.I.T.C.H. animated series. Sora, Donald, and Goofy team up with Will, the leader of the Guardians of Kandrakar, to defeat Phobos, who has deposed his sister, the rightful Queen Elyon, from the throne. Phobos is being aided by one of the Pale Knights, though Sora won't battle that Pale Knight in this chapter. The final boss of this chapter is Phobos himself, who is defeated, enabling Sora to unlock the keyhole, regain some memories, and advance in his journey once Kairi's segment is completed.
Land Of Dragons: Kairi and Tifa visit the Land Of Dragons, a land Sora once visited, to aid Mulan in her fight against mysterious new creatures called Nobodies. The Nobodies are proving to be far more threatening than Shan Yu ever was, and to make matters worse, they're being commanded by a powerful Pale Knight! Once again, the Pale Knight goes unfought in this chapter. Instead, the final boss of the Land of Dragons is a powerful beast similar to OTL's Storm Rider boss (though significantly less powerful due to being fought at a lower level). After defeating the boss, Kairi is joined by Mulan for good, and the three heroines journey onward.
Chapter 2:
The Pridelands: Sora, Donald, and Goofy team up to battle Simba in this realm based off The Lion King. It's actually fairly similar to OTL's Pridelands world (the first visit, anyway), and features Scar as its final boss. Another Pale Knight makes an appearance here, but it's a fairly minor one.
Frozen Lands: Another realm visited in the previous game, Kairi, Tifa, and Mulan journey to this frozen realm to protect Gerda, a Princess of Heart, from a dangerous Pale Knight. Kai joins the three as a guest character and they battle through harsh winter environments to reach Gerda, who is tormented by the memories of the Snow Queen. For the first time, one of the Pale Knights is battled directly and defeated, saving Gerda from having her heart taken. The defeat of this Pale Knight catches the notice of Gwyneth, who for the first time sees Kairi as a threat. She contacts Maleficent and Pete and tells them to accelerate their plans and target Kairi in the next world she visits, and that another Pale Knight will be joining them.
Chapter 3:
Space Paranoids: Sora, Donald, and Goofy visit the world of Tron in order to help Tron battle the Master Computer. One of the Pale Knights has gotten into the system and has generated a powerful virus, causing all sorts of powerful computer glitches. After the Master Computer is defeated, the Pale Knight himself enters the program and takes the form of a powerful monster to defeat Sora, but he recalls an important memory about Riku and defeats the monster, making it the second Pale Knight to fall.
Kingdom Of The Sun: Based on the 2000 movie (which itself was TTL's version of The Emperor's New Groove), Kairi and her friends visit the realm of Emperor Kuzco, who is being a spoiled brat and has gotten himself turned into a llama. Maritza joins Kairi's party to try and stop the evil sorceress Yzma from killing Kuzco. Meanwhile, Maleficent and Pete have shown up to lend Yzma some "help", which she doesn't wants (causing plenty of humorous fighting between the two of them, with poor Pete caught in the middle. The Pale Knight sent by Gwyneth causes some trouble, but ultimately the final boss of this realm is Yzma herself, who uses powerful magic to try and defeat Kairi. Maleficent and Pete get rather fed up with Yzma's antics, and while Pete leaves to pursue Sora, Maleficent seems to have her own agenda and leaves for parts unknown.
Chapter 4:
Timeless River: Similar to OTL's game, Timeless River is an old timey black and white world where Sora and friends must battle the villainous Pete. Sora reunites with Mickey here, but Mickey has no clue about Riku's whereabouts. He does lend Sora, Donald, and Goofy a hand against Pete, however, and might even know a way out of the mansion, though he's stopped from sharing this information by the appearance of the Pale Knight Telos, the most dangerous of the Pale Knights yet to appear. Telos battles Sora, though it's an unwinnable battle, and Sora barely escapes back into the mansion with his life.
Agrabah: Kairi, Tifa, and Mulan make their way to Agrabah, only to learn that Princess Jasmine has been kidnapped. Aladdin suspects that Jafar has returned, but instead, it's a Pale Knight who has taken Jasmine. Jafar IS back, however, and does try to take advantage of the situation, besieging Agrabah while Aladdin is away. Not only do Kairi and her friends have to help Aladdin take back Agrabah, they have to find Jasmine before it's too late. Kairi heroically challenges and defeats the Pale Knight, rescuing Jasmine. She then tries to get the Pale Knight to tell her more information and turn to the side of good, but before he can, he's tossed aside by Gwyneth, who suddenly appears and quickly overpowers Kairi. She restrains Jasmine, puts Mulan and Tifa in cages, and tells Kairi that she's too weak to save anyone. Kairi is no match for Gwyneth, but keeps getting back up. Gwyneth tries to take Kairi's heart, but Jasmine escapes her bonds and sacrifices herself, causing her heart to be stolen instead. Mulan and Tifa escape their cages and pull a despairing Kairi out of the world just in the nick of time.
Following this climactic chapter, there's somewhat of a break in the action, where Sora contemplates his purpose with King Mickey, while we get our first glimpse of Riku and our first indication that Exaltia still lives, as Riku has been pursuing him, battling the other Pale Knights all along the way. We also see Kairi in Twilight Town for the first time, and those mysterious children (who turn out to be Hayner, Pence, and Olette from OTL's Kingdom Hearts II) tell Kairi about Sora and how much he reminds them of another friend they once had but can no longer remember. Some more backstory is dropped here, revealing more information about how Exaltia seeks the darkness in people's hearts, and how even the purest of hearts have darkness within. It's implied that in Exaltia's search for darkness, he corrupted the hearts of everyone in his kingdom, including his friends who became the Pale Knights and his love Gwyneth, who once had a pure heart just like Kairi's. There are also a pair of climactic boss fights: Sora battles and defeats one of the Pale Knights (the one from the Land of Dragons, who mentions Kairi before the fight), while Kairi battles a massive monster leading an army of Heartless. Despite the victory, Kairi still laments the loss of Jasmine's heart, and Tifa thinks she knows who might be able to help her get her warrior spirit back.
Chapter 5:
Halloweentown: For the first time in OTL's series, Sora visits the land of Halloweentown, whose story follows close to the story from OTL's first Kingdom Hearts game, with Sora, Donald, and Goofy helping Jack Skellington win the heart of Sally while battling the evil Oogie Boogie. Another Pale Knight shows up here, taking over one of Finkelstein's inventions and providing a fight similar to that of the Experiment fight in OTL's Kingdom Hearts II.
Olympus Coliseum: Kairi comes to the Coliseum to receive further training as a hero. At first, we think that Hercules is the hero that Tifa wanted Kairi to meet, but in actuality, Tifa wanted her to meet Megara, who has darkness in her own heart and once made some rather poor decisions. Megara's friendship helps Kairi truly regain her confidence, though the sudden arrival of a Pale Knight and the intervention of Hades causes chaos to erupt. It's here that we learn the second reason Tifa brought Kairi here: Cloud is in trouble, having made a deal with Hades. The Pale Knight is dealt with easily enough (and flees rather than being fought here), while the final boss of the realm is Hades, who Kairi battles alongside Mulan, Tifa, and Hercules to rescue Megara and Cloud. Once Hades is defeated, Kairi has true confidence as a Keyblade Knight and is ready to embark on the last stage of her adventure.
Chapter 6:
Hyrule: Yes, The Legend Of Zelda is featured as a world in TTL's Kingdom Hearts II, with this version of Hyrule being inspired by the Disney Channel animated series and featuring the voice actors and characters from that series (even Link speaks in this game, and joins Sora's party as a guest character). This world is filled with classic Zelda music, items, and motifs, and features an epic boss fight with giant pig Ganondorf at the end. It's pretty much everything you'd want in a Zelda-related Kingdom Hearts world, and the only complaint most people have with it is that it's too short.
Beast's Castle: Kairi learns that Belle might be in danger, and comes to this world in a scenario that plays out similar to the two visits in OTL's game, though slightly truncated, with this world's Pale Knight, Parva, playing the role of OTL's Xaldin (right down to the frustratingly difficult boss fight where he fights incredibly cheaply). Belle, like Jasmine, has her heart stolen, but this time, Kairi is determined to get it back, and battles Parva in an epic fight outside the castle alongside Tifa, Mulan, and the Beast. Parva is defeated, and Kairi gets Belle's heart back, restoring it and saving her.
At this point, six of the Pale Knights have been defeated. Gwyneth has one of the pure hearts, Jasmine's, but it's not enough to fulfill the Pale Knights' goal. Sora is still trapped within Mansion Blanc, while Riku is still venturing through parts unknown to reunite with his friends. Kairi ends up in the Enchanted Dominion, where three Princesses of Heart are said to be gathering: Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora. As events come to a climax, we get the first major reunion: Kairi finds Riku. At first it seems like he's going to attack her, but he's not under any spell, and hugs Kairi as the two of them meet. Their reunion is shortlived, as they're soon set upon by one of the undefeated Pale Knights, the one who Sora encountered in Meridian. Riku and Kairi must battle this Pale Knight without the help of any of their allies. The Pale Knight is defeated, and the two friends celebrate, but it's short-lived: Gwyneth soon arrives, and Telos is with her. Kairi and Riku engage them and though it's a close fight at first, they're soon overwhelmed. However, Riku unleashes a burst of power, and manages to free Jasmine's pure heart, which he gives to Kairi. He then holds off Gwyneth and Telos while Kairi escapes. Kairi is able to access Mansion Blanc, and enters it to search for Sora. She doesn't find him, but she does find Donald and Goofy, and King Mickey as well. The three are attacked by another Pure Knight (the one who briefly showed up in Hyrule but was quickly upstaged by Ganon) and defeat him, leaving only four remaining (Gwyneth, Telos, and the expies of Gawain and Galahad, Wing and Galarath). Kairi learns that Sora has become trapped in his own memories, leaving him unable to tell fantasy from reality. She resolves to go find him. We then switch back to Sora, who is wandering the halls of the mansion. He seems to encounter Riku, but it's actually Exaltia, beckoning him to come back to his kingdom, which has seemingly been recreated through another dimensional portal. Sora enters the portal, and then we switch back to Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, who encounter Argoth, who delivers a massive info dump. Exaltia, Gwyneth, and Telos used to be a group of friends just like Sora, Kairi, and Riku, and Argoth knew them from the time they were children. He had them trained to protect the realm, but there were too many dangers and too much darkness, and though Gwyneth and Telos persevered, Exaltia was deeply traumatized and became convinced that everyone in every realm was corrupt and that all hearts possessed darkness. He threw himself into research to prove his hypothesis, but in doing so, awakened the most ancient darkness, which separated him into three elements: heart, body, and soul. Sora was able to defeat one of those elements, Exaltia's heart, in the original game, but Exaltia's body and soul remained, and merged into a new Exaltia, one vastly more powerful than the previous incarnation and completely corrupted with darkness, but incomplete with his heart destroyed. If Exaltia is able to create a new heart from the pure hearts of the Princesses, he'll become an all powerful being with the power to control both light and darkness, enabling him to enslave every creature in every realm. As this story is being told to Kairi, we see Mulan and Tifa, who stayed behind to protect the princesses in the Enchanted Dominion, being confronted by Gwyneth and Telos. They put up a good fight, but are defeated. Snow White and Cinderella's hearts are claimed, but suddenly, Maleficent and Pete arrive to protect Aurora's heart. Maleficent's intentions aren't pure (she wants Aurora's pure heart for herself), but it's still a fairly epic scene, and Maleficent is able to briefly overpower Gwyneth and Telos for a time, enabling Aurora to escape with Tifa and Mulan. After this, events happen fairly rapidly: Donald, Goofy, and Mickey reunite with Sora and are able to pull him out of Exaltia's trance, while Kairi reunites with Mulan and Tifa. They return to the Enchanted Dominion to try and reclaim Cinderella and Snow White's hearts, while Sora begins to battle his way through the game's final realm:
Land Of Argoth: The final realm in the game. Sora starts out here, and battles his way through with Donald, Goofy, and Mickey. The land is an Arthurian medieval landscape with majestic beauty punctuated by occasional moments of darkness and horror. Eventually, the heroes reach a dead end, and are forced to battle against Wing, the ninth of the Pale Knights. Sora defeats him, but finds himself once again snared by Exaltia's magic. We then switch back to Kairi, who fights her way through a corrupted castle in the Enchanted Dominion. She, Tifa, and Mulan team up with guest party member Prince Philip, and they first battle Galarath, and then, in a climactic fight in the castle throne room, Dragon Maleficent, who has stolen Cinderella and Snow White's pure hearts and has had Pete steal the pure hearts of Gerda and Belle for her. She snatches Jasmine's pure heart from Kairi and demands Aurora's as well, leading to an epic boss fight. Kairi defeats Maleficent and reclaims all the pure hearts, which she first resolves to return to the Princesses, but instead, they link their pure hearts with hers, giving her the power to transform into Drive Mode just like Sora. However, this also comes with a huge risk: if Kairi's pure heart is taken, Exaltia will have all seven pure hearts. It's a risk Kairi is willing to take, as it's the only way she can stop Gwyneth and Telos to save the realm. Kairi enters the Land of Argoth with Tifa and Mulan, and fights her way through a castle, where she encounters Telos and defeats him. She then encounters Gwyneth, but Gwyneth is in no mood to fight: instead, she seeks to bargain. She reveals that she's captured Sora and Riku, and demands Kairi's heart in exchange for their safety. But instead of fighting back, Kairi immediately surrenders. Gwyneth reaches out to take Kairi's hand, but the moment she touches Kairi's pure heart, it awakens her own memories, and those of Telos as well. Kairi's pure heart and the pure hearts of the other Princesses are overwhelming the corruption in Gwyneth's heart, and Gwyneth hesitates. Kairi tries to make Gwyneth remember her past, and she does, and for a moment Gwyneth seems to awaken, but then Exaltia arrives and re-exerts his control over Gwyneth's heart. Gwyneth seizes Kairi's pure heart and presents it to Exaltia. With Sora and Riku bound and Kairi's heart gone, it seems that nothing can save the heroes now... only for King Mickey to appear and strike Exaltia with a fierce keyblade blow. It doesn't break his control over Gwyneth or cause him to lose Kairi's heart, but it does enable Donald and Goofy to free Sora and Riku, and they quickly reclaim their Keyblades and get back into the fight. Mickey and Exaltia dive into a portal and begin battling, leaving Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Riku to battle Gwyneth in yet another epic boss fight. Gwyneth is defeated, but Exaltia still tries to exert his influence over her. It's Telos who reappears and breaks Exaltia's hold on Gwyneth for good. Telos dumps some more info on Sora and Riku. While Tifa and Mulan stay with the comatose Kairi, the two heroes, along with Donald and Goofy, pursue Exaltia into the upper reaches of the castle. A bit more dungeon crawling later and Sora and friends reach the zenith of the castle just in time to see Exaltia defeat Mickey. Exaltia hasn't yet claimed the full power of Kairi's pure heart, but he's on the verge of doing so as Sora arrives. After one boss battle against a normal Exaltia, there's a cutscene where Gwyneth and Telos arrive to try and talk their friend down. Exaltia isn't in the mood: he begins leeching off Kairi's heart, enabling him to transform into a powerful monster. Once again, Sora and his friends battle Exaltia, with help from Gwyneth and Telos. They defeat him once again, and this time, Exaltia seems to be down for the count. There's a new series of cutscenes, where it's revealed that the Land of Argoth was a lie: it's not an Arthurian fantasy world, but a massive holographic simulation, created by Argoth to train a new generation of heroes, with Exaltia, Gwyneth, and Telos being his best students. When the simulation began to fail, Exaltia began to see the corruption in everything: first in his mentor Argoth and then in his friends and then in everyone. Armed with this knowledge, Sora is able to start to talk Exaltia down, and Gwyneth and Telos urge him to forgive Argoth and start over... but the darkness in Exaltia's heart is too great, and it overwhelms him. He blasts the others away and takes Kairi's pure heart into his body... but its power isn't complete... it's almost as if the heart is fighting back. Exaltia begins to transform yet again, and his power overwhelms the heroes. Donald and Goofy are struck down, followed by Gwyneth and Telos... and then even Riku, leaving Sora alone against the seemingly all powerful Exaltia...only for Kairi to stumble in, exhausted but determined, her eyes glowing as she fights back against Exaltia's control with all her might. Mulan and Tifa try to hold her back but realizing Kairi's strength they let her go and join in the battle themselves. Kairi regains full control, preventing Exaltia from using the heart's full power. Sora, Kairi, Mulan, and Tifa battle this third form of Exaltia, and defeat him. Kairi reclaims her pure heart, and Exaltia is defeated, seemingly for good. Exaltia, in fact, seems to be returned to normal, and Gwyneth and Telos awaken too, the corruption in their hearts completely gone. Gwyneth asks Sora and the others for forgiveness, and they forgive her without question. Gwyneth goes to embrace Exaltia, but when he embraces her, her newly purified heart is taken into him... Exaltia was never returned to normal, it was only a trick to get Gwyneth's pure heart to re-emerge. With Gwyneth's pure heart now inside of him, Exaltia has power beyond imagination. He easily strikes down Telos, then sweeps Donald, Goofy, Mulan, and Tifa away with a wave of his hand. Only Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Mickey are left, and it's with this final party that the player takes on Exaltia's fourth and final form in an incredibly epic and cinematic boss fight filled with many, many special actions that can be performed by either Sora or Kairi (the player can switch between them during the fight). Finally, Exaltia is defeated, and this time it's for good. However, in defeating Exaltia, Gwyneth's heart is seemingly gone forever, and Telos is a lifeless shell. The battle has taken a heavy toll, though Argoth can now rest in peace knowing that the terrible pain caused by his deception has ended, even if it has come at the cost of Exaltia and his Pale Knights, who at the very least can all rest as well. However, there are still lingering questions: the original darkness that corrupted Exaltia still exists, and Sora and Kairi both seem to have Heartless and Nobody counterparts out in the realms somewhere. If the darkness is not truly defeated, it will return to corrupt the pure hearts of all the realms. However, the realms now have three brave Keyblade Knights: Sora, Kairi, and Riku, to defend them, and their friends: Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, who will always fight at their side. Mulan and Tifa return to their respective realms, while Kairi tells Sora that she believes Exaltia and the Pale Knights' hearts aren't gone for good and there might be a way to save them. The three Keyblade Knights step through a portal to begin their next adventure as the game ends. A secret ending (revealed if the game is defeated at 100% or in Proud Mode) reveals that Telos, at the very least, is still alive and in a mysterious new realm somewhere, and that he might also know the identity of that mysterious boy mentioned by Hayner, Pence, and Olette in Twilight Town...
Kingdom Hearts II is released on November 6, 2007, exclusively for the Nintendo Wave. The game receives a highly positive reception, with most reviews averaging in the low 9s, similar to OTL's Kingdom Hearts II. Reviewers praise the gameplay, the new characters, Kairi's new story arc, and the massive amount of content in the game, though some reviewers do find it to be a bit too similar to the original Kingdom Hearts in terms of gameplay. The plot is more straightforward than OTL's game, and while that does avoid some of the problems from that game, it does get some fans calling it too predictable. Still, the subtle hints and implications of the secret ending show that Tetsuya Nomura is beginning to expand the scope of the franchise beyond its original boundaries. The lack of any spinoff titles does keep things from getting too convoluted, though the commercial success of both this and the original game will get Squaresoft seriously considering bringing the franchise to the Game Boy Supernova, and a game would eventually go into development for it, while Kingdom Hearts III would begin its long process of development with a title hopefully coming to the Nintendo Sapphire sometime early in the next decade.
Kingdom Hearts II is a role playing game and the sequel to 2004's Kingdom Hearts, developed by Squaresoft in collaboration with Disney. Just as in the original game, Kingdom Hearts II features young heroes teaming up with classic Disney characters to travel through Disney-themed worlds and original fantasy worlds to battle classic Disney villains brought together by an evil conspiracy of darkness which seeks to take people's hearts. TTL's Kingdom Hearts series isn't an action RPG, but instead a turn-based game with ATB bars and selectable actions, similar to titles such as Chrono Trigger and Fairytale. However, Kingdom Hearts II has a much more dynamic battle system. It's still not quite the action RPG that OTL's Kingdom Hearts series was, but instead operates much in the same way as TTL's Final Fantasy XII, or OTL's Xenoblade: battles take place on the world map rather than a separate screen, and the player is able to initialize special attacks via manual commands. However, unlike those two games, Kingdom Hearts II doesn't feature open world gameplay. Environments are fairly small for the most part (save for a couple of worlds, such as The Pride Lands), and dungeons are mostly linear. Still, the new dynamic makes for much quicker battles, and when combined with the myriad of special attacks available this time around, battles are incredibly visually spectacular. Another change to battle mechanics is the Drive system. Introduced in OTL's Kingdom Hearts II as well, it allows Sora to transform into a more powerful state and activate special attacks. It functions in a fairly similar fashion IOTL, but also has similarities with Infinity Mode from OTL's Xenogears, allowing Sora to activate much more powerful attacks and ramping his damage up substantially, almost like a Limit Break. Sora also has the ability to draw in enemies from far across the map with a special command, which enhances his Risk meter, enabling him to earn extra loot, EXP, and money multipliers. Bringing in more enemies is usually quite dangerous unless Sora has a Drive activation ready, but if the player times it right, they can clear an entire map with a well-timed series of Drive combos that can take out dozens of enemies at once. This Drive transformation is also available for the other playable protagonist, Kairi, though she won't obtain it until much latter in the game. Kingdom Hearts II features dual protagonists: Sora and Kairi. Their quests are played through simultaneously, similarly to the OTL game Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, though this game doesn't feature a Drop meter. Instead, the game is divided into chapters, and each chapter has a separate world for Sora and Kairi to visit. The player will not be able to advance in the story until both Sora and Kairi's segments of the chapter are completed, but the player can switch between them at any time at any save point. Both Sora and Kairi's parties have four characters each: Sora's party consists of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and a guest character, while Kairi's party consists of Kairi, Tifa, Mulan, and a guest character. Mulan's ability to leave the Land of Dragons (and thus interact with characters from other Disney properties) is a first for the series, and Squaresoft initially had trouble getting Disney to sign off on it, but John Lasseter eventually agreed to the plot element and convinced the other Disney creative brass to accept it as well. Tifa's presence in the game was announced fairly late (after E3), at a special Tokyo Squaresoft event in June 2007 as part of the "Year Of Final Fantasy VII" celebration, creating a massive stir within the RPG fanbase and intense speculation about Tifa's exact role in the game. Tifa and Mulan both serve as mentors to Kairi, who took up a Keyblade at the end of the original game and has been tasked with finding the Princesses of Heart and protecting them from the darkness. Kingdom Hearts II features significantly better graphics than the original game, making it arguably the best looking game on a sixth generation console. It pushes the Nintendo Wave very close to its limit, and like most later large Wave titles, utilizes a dual-layered DVD. Daryl Sabara and Shia LeBeouf reprise their roles as Sora and Riku respectively, but for the more mature and grown-up Kairi, Jessie Flower's voice had not matured enough to play the character for the sequel, and she was replaced by Patroka Epstein (a young actress original TTL best known for playing the character Lily on the hit Disney Channel show The Smart Squad). Idris Elba reprises his role as Exaltia, while Exaltia's Pale Knights, TTL's equivalent of Organization XIII, are played by a variety of actors, most of them voiceover veterans. Most notable is the only female member of the Pale Knights, Gwyneth, an expy of the classic Arthurian character Guinevere, Exaltia's most trusted subordinate, and the most visible villain for about 90 percent of the game. Gwyneth is voiced by Brittany Saldita, her second major video game voiceover role. Telos, the game's Lancelot expy, Exaltia's most dangerous lieutenant and one-time rival for Gwyneth's love, is voiced by Gerard Butler (Butler did still star as Leonidas in 300 ITTL, though that movie wasn't quite as successful as it was IOTL). All the Disney characters in the game are voiced by the same actors who portrayed them in the films and TV shows (save for the older princesses such as Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White, who are voiced by Tabitha St. Germain, Jennifer Hale, and Mary Kay Bergman respectively). Christopher Lee also plays a character in TTL's Kingdom Hearts II, voicing King Argoth, the benevolent king of the ancient realm that Exaltia once hailed from. Argoth appears both early in the game and toward the end, appearing before Sora and Kairi at separate points in the game to explain Exaltia's fall to darkness and the purpose his kingdom once served (basically an exposition dropping character). It's safe to say that Kingdom Hearts II, like its predecessor, features one of the most stacked voiceover casts of any video game yet made.
Kingdom Hearts II features two major concurrent storylines that the player will experience during the course of the game.
Sora: Following the events of the original game, Sora, Donald, and Goofy have spent a great deal of time searching for Riku and King Mickey, and their search has led them to the Mansion Blanc, a mysterious mansion where portals to various worlds are said to be kept. The mansion, however, is a trap, and Sora finds himself unable to escape and slowly forgetting his purpose (similar to Castle Oblivion in Chain Of Memories, though the memory loss isn't quite so profound). In order to get to Riku, he'll need to remember his purpose by fighting the Pale Knights and the villains of various worlds, helping the people of those worlds to keep their hearts while learning more of the mystery behind what happened to him.
Kairi: Kairi has been given a quest of her own by Yen Sid: she is to train as a great warrior and become a Keyblade Knight like Sora, finding the Princesses of Heart and protecting their pure hearts from the Pale Knights who seek to claim them. She also seeks to reunite with Sora, whose quest she can see glimpses of along her journey. Unbeknownst to Kairi, she and Sora are helping each other along by breaking the boundaries between worlds with the energy radiating from their hearts with every step of their journey. Kairi's quest is much more traditional than Sora's, she pilots the Gummi Ship and learns various tricks and moves along the way like Sora did in his previous journey.
Unlike in OTL's Kingdom Hearts II, Roxas and Namine do not make appearances in this game. Tetsuya Nomura did conceive the characters and sought to use them, but decided that it would be too much for this game in the time he had to make it and the space available to him with two separate quests to create. He instead puts the characters on the backburner, planning instead to introduce them in a future main series game or spinoff title. The theme of Kingdom Hearts II is about finding your way home, where home isn't a place, but instead, it's the friends you've become separated from along the way. While TTL's Kingdom Hearts had a different main theme song than OTL's, Kingdom Hearts II has the same theme song IOTL and ITTL: "Sanctuary", by Hikaru Utada, with the TTL version being nearly identical to the OTL version.
Kingdom Hearts II starts the player off with Sora, who has stumbled into Twilight Town in search of Riku and King Mickey. Donald and Goofy aren't yet with him, though after playing a series of minigames with some mysterious new kid characters, Sora finds his two companions, having lost their memories. They escort him to a strange mansion on the outskirts of town, where a cloaked Gwyneth awaits him. Donald and Goofy regain their memories just in time to help Sora fend off an attack from Gwyneth, but the attack still causes them all to pass out, and after Sora has a dream sequence, the player is given control of Kairi, who is in Traverse Town. After some events, Kairi becomes pursued by Heartless, and though she fights them off, she's soon overwhelmed. Fortunately, Tifa leaps in and helps save the day. Tifa takes Kairi to Yen Sid's place, where Yen Sid tasks her with protecting the Princesses of Heart, promising that the task will help her reunite with Sora and Riku as well. The player is then given the option of continuing with Sora or Kairi's story.
Chapter 1:
Meridian: Sora's quest in this chapter takes place in Meridian, the land of magic from the W.I.T.C.H. animated series. Sora, Donald, and Goofy team up with Will, the leader of the Guardians of Kandrakar, to defeat Phobos, who has deposed his sister, the rightful Queen Elyon, from the throne. Phobos is being aided by one of the Pale Knights, though Sora won't battle that Pale Knight in this chapter. The final boss of this chapter is Phobos himself, who is defeated, enabling Sora to unlock the keyhole, regain some memories, and advance in his journey once Kairi's segment is completed.
Land Of Dragons: Kairi and Tifa visit the Land Of Dragons, a land Sora once visited, to aid Mulan in her fight against mysterious new creatures called Nobodies. The Nobodies are proving to be far more threatening than Shan Yu ever was, and to make matters worse, they're being commanded by a powerful Pale Knight! Once again, the Pale Knight goes unfought in this chapter. Instead, the final boss of the Land of Dragons is a powerful beast similar to OTL's Storm Rider boss (though significantly less powerful due to being fought at a lower level). After defeating the boss, Kairi is joined by Mulan for good, and the three heroines journey onward.
Chapter 2:
The Pridelands: Sora, Donald, and Goofy team up to battle Simba in this realm based off The Lion King. It's actually fairly similar to OTL's Pridelands world (the first visit, anyway), and features Scar as its final boss. Another Pale Knight makes an appearance here, but it's a fairly minor one.
Frozen Lands: Another realm visited in the previous game, Kairi, Tifa, and Mulan journey to this frozen realm to protect Gerda, a Princess of Heart, from a dangerous Pale Knight. Kai joins the three as a guest character and they battle through harsh winter environments to reach Gerda, who is tormented by the memories of the Snow Queen. For the first time, one of the Pale Knights is battled directly and defeated, saving Gerda from having her heart taken. The defeat of this Pale Knight catches the notice of Gwyneth, who for the first time sees Kairi as a threat. She contacts Maleficent and Pete and tells them to accelerate their plans and target Kairi in the next world she visits, and that another Pale Knight will be joining them.
Chapter 3:
Space Paranoids: Sora, Donald, and Goofy visit the world of Tron in order to help Tron battle the Master Computer. One of the Pale Knights has gotten into the system and has generated a powerful virus, causing all sorts of powerful computer glitches. After the Master Computer is defeated, the Pale Knight himself enters the program and takes the form of a powerful monster to defeat Sora, but he recalls an important memory about Riku and defeats the monster, making it the second Pale Knight to fall.
Kingdom Of The Sun: Based on the 2000 movie (which itself was TTL's version of The Emperor's New Groove), Kairi and her friends visit the realm of Emperor Kuzco, who is being a spoiled brat and has gotten himself turned into a llama. Maritza joins Kairi's party to try and stop the evil sorceress Yzma from killing Kuzco. Meanwhile, Maleficent and Pete have shown up to lend Yzma some "help", which she doesn't wants (causing plenty of humorous fighting between the two of them, with poor Pete caught in the middle. The Pale Knight sent by Gwyneth causes some trouble, but ultimately the final boss of this realm is Yzma herself, who uses powerful magic to try and defeat Kairi. Maleficent and Pete get rather fed up with Yzma's antics, and while Pete leaves to pursue Sora, Maleficent seems to have her own agenda and leaves for parts unknown.
Chapter 4:
Timeless River: Similar to OTL's game, Timeless River is an old timey black and white world where Sora and friends must battle the villainous Pete. Sora reunites with Mickey here, but Mickey has no clue about Riku's whereabouts. He does lend Sora, Donald, and Goofy a hand against Pete, however, and might even know a way out of the mansion, though he's stopped from sharing this information by the appearance of the Pale Knight Telos, the most dangerous of the Pale Knights yet to appear. Telos battles Sora, though it's an unwinnable battle, and Sora barely escapes back into the mansion with his life.
Agrabah: Kairi, Tifa, and Mulan make their way to Agrabah, only to learn that Princess Jasmine has been kidnapped. Aladdin suspects that Jafar has returned, but instead, it's a Pale Knight who has taken Jasmine. Jafar IS back, however, and does try to take advantage of the situation, besieging Agrabah while Aladdin is away. Not only do Kairi and her friends have to help Aladdin take back Agrabah, they have to find Jasmine before it's too late. Kairi heroically challenges and defeats the Pale Knight, rescuing Jasmine. She then tries to get the Pale Knight to tell her more information and turn to the side of good, but before he can, he's tossed aside by Gwyneth, who suddenly appears and quickly overpowers Kairi. She restrains Jasmine, puts Mulan and Tifa in cages, and tells Kairi that she's too weak to save anyone. Kairi is no match for Gwyneth, but keeps getting back up. Gwyneth tries to take Kairi's heart, but Jasmine escapes her bonds and sacrifices herself, causing her heart to be stolen instead. Mulan and Tifa escape their cages and pull a despairing Kairi out of the world just in the nick of time.
Following this climactic chapter, there's somewhat of a break in the action, where Sora contemplates his purpose with King Mickey, while we get our first glimpse of Riku and our first indication that Exaltia still lives, as Riku has been pursuing him, battling the other Pale Knights all along the way. We also see Kairi in Twilight Town for the first time, and those mysterious children (who turn out to be Hayner, Pence, and Olette from OTL's Kingdom Hearts II) tell Kairi about Sora and how much he reminds them of another friend they once had but can no longer remember. Some more backstory is dropped here, revealing more information about how Exaltia seeks the darkness in people's hearts, and how even the purest of hearts have darkness within. It's implied that in Exaltia's search for darkness, he corrupted the hearts of everyone in his kingdom, including his friends who became the Pale Knights and his love Gwyneth, who once had a pure heart just like Kairi's. There are also a pair of climactic boss fights: Sora battles and defeats one of the Pale Knights (the one from the Land of Dragons, who mentions Kairi before the fight), while Kairi battles a massive monster leading an army of Heartless. Despite the victory, Kairi still laments the loss of Jasmine's heart, and Tifa thinks she knows who might be able to help her get her warrior spirit back.
Chapter 5:
Halloweentown: For the first time in OTL's series, Sora visits the land of Halloweentown, whose story follows close to the story from OTL's first Kingdom Hearts game, with Sora, Donald, and Goofy helping Jack Skellington win the heart of Sally while battling the evil Oogie Boogie. Another Pale Knight shows up here, taking over one of Finkelstein's inventions and providing a fight similar to that of the Experiment fight in OTL's Kingdom Hearts II.
Olympus Coliseum: Kairi comes to the Coliseum to receive further training as a hero. At first, we think that Hercules is the hero that Tifa wanted Kairi to meet, but in actuality, Tifa wanted her to meet Megara, who has darkness in her own heart and once made some rather poor decisions. Megara's friendship helps Kairi truly regain her confidence, though the sudden arrival of a Pale Knight and the intervention of Hades causes chaos to erupt. It's here that we learn the second reason Tifa brought Kairi here: Cloud is in trouble, having made a deal with Hades. The Pale Knight is dealt with easily enough (and flees rather than being fought here), while the final boss of the realm is Hades, who Kairi battles alongside Mulan, Tifa, and Hercules to rescue Megara and Cloud. Once Hades is defeated, Kairi has true confidence as a Keyblade Knight and is ready to embark on the last stage of her adventure.
Chapter 6:
Hyrule: Yes, The Legend Of Zelda is featured as a world in TTL's Kingdom Hearts II, with this version of Hyrule being inspired by the Disney Channel animated series and featuring the voice actors and characters from that series (even Link speaks in this game, and joins Sora's party as a guest character). This world is filled with classic Zelda music, items, and motifs, and features an epic boss fight with giant pig Ganondorf at the end. It's pretty much everything you'd want in a Zelda-related Kingdom Hearts world, and the only complaint most people have with it is that it's too short.
Beast's Castle: Kairi learns that Belle might be in danger, and comes to this world in a scenario that plays out similar to the two visits in OTL's game, though slightly truncated, with this world's Pale Knight, Parva, playing the role of OTL's Xaldin (right down to the frustratingly difficult boss fight where he fights incredibly cheaply). Belle, like Jasmine, has her heart stolen, but this time, Kairi is determined to get it back, and battles Parva in an epic fight outside the castle alongside Tifa, Mulan, and the Beast. Parva is defeated, and Kairi gets Belle's heart back, restoring it and saving her.
At this point, six of the Pale Knights have been defeated. Gwyneth has one of the pure hearts, Jasmine's, but it's not enough to fulfill the Pale Knights' goal. Sora is still trapped within Mansion Blanc, while Riku is still venturing through parts unknown to reunite with his friends. Kairi ends up in the Enchanted Dominion, where three Princesses of Heart are said to be gathering: Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora. As events come to a climax, we get the first major reunion: Kairi finds Riku. At first it seems like he's going to attack her, but he's not under any spell, and hugs Kairi as the two of them meet. Their reunion is shortlived, as they're soon set upon by one of the undefeated Pale Knights, the one who Sora encountered in Meridian. Riku and Kairi must battle this Pale Knight without the help of any of their allies. The Pale Knight is defeated, and the two friends celebrate, but it's short-lived: Gwyneth soon arrives, and Telos is with her. Kairi and Riku engage them and though it's a close fight at first, they're soon overwhelmed. However, Riku unleashes a burst of power, and manages to free Jasmine's pure heart, which he gives to Kairi. He then holds off Gwyneth and Telos while Kairi escapes. Kairi is able to access Mansion Blanc, and enters it to search for Sora. She doesn't find him, but she does find Donald and Goofy, and King Mickey as well. The three are attacked by another Pure Knight (the one who briefly showed up in Hyrule but was quickly upstaged by Ganon) and defeat him, leaving only four remaining (Gwyneth, Telos, and the expies of Gawain and Galahad, Wing and Galarath). Kairi learns that Sora has become trapped in his own memories, leaving him unable to tell fantasy from reality. She resolves to go find him. We then switch back to Sora, who is wandering the halls of the mansion. He seems to encounter Riku, but it's actually Exaltia, beckoning him to come back to his kingdom, which has seemingly been recreated through another dimensional portal. Sora enters the portal, and then we switch back to Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, who encounter Argoth, who delivers a massive info dump. Exaltia, Gwyneth, and Telos used to be a group of friends just like Sora, Kairi, and Riku, and Argoth knew them from the time they were children. He had them trained to protect the realm, but there were too many dangers and too much darkness, and though Gwyneth and Telos persevered, Exaltia was deeply traumatized and became convinced that everyone in every realm was corrupt and that all hearts possessed darkness. He threw himself into research to prove his hypothesis, but in doing so, awakened the most ancient darkness, which separated him into three elements: heart, body, and soul. Sora was able to defeat one of those elements, Exaltia's heart, in the original game, but Exaltia's body and soul remained, and merged into a new Exaltia, one vastly more powerful than the previous incarnation and completely corrupted with darkness, but incomplete with his heart destroyed. If Exaltia is able to create a new heart from the pure hearts of the Princesses, he'll become an all powerful being with the power to control both light and darkness, enabling him to enslave every creature in every realm. As this story is being told to Kairi, we see Mulan and Tifa, who stayed behind to protect the princesses in the Enchanted Dominion, being confronted by Gwyneth and Telos. They put up a good fight, but are defeated. Snow White and Cinderella's hearts are claimed, but suddenly, Maleficent and Pete arrive to protect Aurora's heart. Maleficent's intentions aren't pure (she wants Aurora's pure heart for herself), but it's still a fairly epic scene, and Maleficent is able to briefly overpower Gwyneth and Telos for a time, enabling Aurora to escape with Tifa and Mulan. After this, events happen fairly rapidly: Donald, Goofy, and Mickey reunite with Sora and are able to pull him out of Exaltia's trance, while Kairi reunites with Mulan and Tifa. They return to the Enchanted Dominion to try and reclaim Cinderella and Snow White's hearts, while Sora begins to battle his way through the game's final realm:
Land Of Argoth: The final realm in the game. Sora starts out here, and battles his way through with Donald, Goofy, and Mickey. The land is an Arthurian medieval landscape with majestic beauty punctuated by occasional moments of darkness and horror. Eventually, the heroes reach a dead end, and are forced to battle against Wing, the ninth of the Pale Knights. Sora defeats him, but finds himself once again snared by Exaltia's magic. We then switch back to Kairi, who fights her way through a corrupted castle in the Enchanted Dominion. She, Tifa, and Mulan team up with guest party member Prince Philip, and they first battle Galarath, and then, in a climactic fight in the castle throne room, Dragon Maleficent, who has stolen Cinderella and Snow White's pure hearts and has had Pete steal the pure hearts of Gerda and Belle for her. She snatches Jasmine's pure heart from Kairi and demands Aurora's as well, leading to an epic boss fight. Kairi defeats Maleficent and reclaims all the pure hearts, which she first resolves to return to the Princesses, but instead, they link their pure hearts with hers, giving her the power to transform into Drive Mode just like Sora. However, this also comes with a huge risk: if Kairi's pure heart is taken, Exaltia will have all seven pure hearts. It's a risk Kairi is willing to take, as it's the only way she can stop Gwyneth and Telos to save the realm. Kairi enters the Land of Argoth with Tifa and Mulan, and fights her way through a castle, where she encounters Telos and defeats him. She then encounters Gwyneth, but Gwyneth is in no mood to fight: instead, she seeks to bargain. She reveals that she's captured Sora and Riku, and demands Kairi's heart in exchange for their safety. But instead of fighting back, Kairi immediately surrenders. Gwyneth reaches out to take Kairi's hand, but the moment she touches Kairi's pure heart, it awakens her own memories, and those of Telos as well. Kairi's pure heart and the pure hearts of the other Princesses are overwhelming the corruption in Gwyneth's heart, and Gwyneth hesitates. Kairi tries to make Gwyneth remember her past, and she does, and for a moment Gwyneth seems to awaken, but then Exaltia arrives and re-exerts his control over Gwyneth's heart. Gwyneth seizes Kairi's pure heart and presents it to Exaltia. With Sora and Riku bound and Kairi's heart gone, it seems that nothing can save the heroes now... only for King Mickey to appear and strike Exaltia with a fierce keyblade blow. It doesn't break his control over Gwyneth or cause him to lose Kairi's heart, but it does enable Donald and Goofy to free Sora and Riku, and they quickly reclaim their Keyblades and get back into the fight. Mickey and Exaltia dive into a portal and begin battling, leaving Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Riku to battle Gwyneth in yet another epic boss fight. Gwyneth is defeated, but Exaltia still tries to exert his influence over her. It's Telos who reappears and breaks Exaltia's hold on Gwyneth for good. Telos dumps some more info on Sora and Riku. While Tifa and Mulan stay with the comatose Kairi, the two heroes, along with Donald and Goofy, pursue Exaltia into the upper reaches of the castle. A bit more dungeon crawling later and Sora and friends reach the zenith of the castle just in time to see Exaltia defeat Mickey. Exaltia hasn't yet claimed the full power of Kairi's pure heart, but he's on the verge of doing so as Sora arrives. After one boss battle against a normal Exaltia, there's a cutscene where Gwyneth and Telos arrive to try and talk their friend down. Exaltia isn't in the mood: he begins leeching off Kairi's heart, enabling him to transform into a powerful monster. Once again, Sora and his friends battle Exaltia, with help from Gwyneth and Telos. They defeat him once again, and this time, Exaltia seems to be down for the count. There's a new series of cutscenes, where it's revealed that the Land of Argoth was a lie: it's not an Arthurian fantasy world, but a massive holographic simulation, created by Argoth to train a new generation of heroes, with Exaltia, Gwyneth, and Telos being his best students. When the simulation began to fail, Exaltia began to see the corruption in everything: first in his mentor Argoth and then in his friends and then in everyone. Armed with this knowledge, Sora is able to start to talk Exaltia down, and Gwyneth and Telos urge him to forgive Argoth and start over... but the darkness in Exaltia's heart is too great, and it overwhelms him. He blasts the others away and takes Kairi's pure heart into his body... but its power isn't complete... it's almost as if the heart is fighting back. Exaltia begins to transform yet again, and his power overwhelms the heroes. Donald and Goofy are struck down, followed by Gwyneth and Telos... and then even Riku, leaving Sora alone against the seemingly all powerful Exaltia...only for Kairi to stumble in, exhausted but determined, her eyes glowing as she fights back against Exaltia's control with all her might. Mulan and Tifa try to hold her back but realizing Kairi's strength they let her go and join in the battle themselves. Kairi regains full control, preventing Exaltia from using the heart's full power. Sora, Kairi, Mulan, and Tifa battle this third form of Exaltia, and defeat him. Kairi reclaims her pure heart, and Exaltia is defeated, seemingly for good. Exaltia, in fact, seems to be returned to normal, and Gwyneth and Telos awaken too, the corruption in their hearts completely gone. Gwyneth asks Sora and the others for forgiveness, and they forgive her without question. Gwyneth goes to embrace Exaltia, but when he embraces her, her newly purified heart is taken into him... Exaltia was never returned to normal, it was only a trick to get Gwyneth's pure heart to re-emerge. With Gwyneth's pure heart now inside of him, Exaltia has power beyond imagination. He easily strikes down Telos, then sweeps Donald, Goofy, Mulan, and Tifa away with a wave of his hand. Only Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Mickey are left, and it's with this final party that the player takes on Exaltia's fourth and final form in an incredibly epic and cinematic boss fight filled with many, many special actions that can be performed by either Sora or Kairi (the player can switch between them during the fight). Finally, Exaltia is defeated, and this time it's for good. However, in defeating Exaltia, Gwyneth's heart is seemingly gone forever, and Telos is a lifeless shell. The battle has taken a heavy toll, though Argoth can now rest in peace knowing that the terrible pain caused by his deception has ended, even if it has come at the cost of Exaltia and his Pale Knights, who at the very least can all rest as well. However, there are still lingering questions: the original darkness that corrupted Exaltia still exists, and Sora and Kairi both seem to have Heartless and Nobody counterparts out in the realms somewhere. If the darkness is not truly defeated, it will return to corrupt the pure hearts of all the realms. However, the realms now have three brave Keyblade Knights: Sora, Kairi, and Riku, to defend them, and their friends: Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, who will always fight at their side. Mulan and Tifa return to their respective realms, while Kairi tells Sora that she believes Exaltia and the Pale Knights' hearts aren't gone for good and there might be a way to save them. The three Keyblade Knights step through a portal to begin their next adventure as the game ends. A secret ending (revealed if the game is defeated at 100% or in Proud Mode) reveals that Telos, at the very least, is still alive and in a mysterious new realm somewhere, and that he might also know the identity of that mysterious boy mentioned by Hayner, Pence, and Olette in Twilight Town...
Kingdom Hearts II is released on November 6, 2007, exclusively for the Nintendo Wave. The game receives a highly positive reception, with most reviews averaging in the low 9s, similar to OTL's Kingdom Hearts II. Reviewers praise the gameplay, the new characters, Kairi's new story arc, and the massive amount of content in the game, though some reviewers do find it to be a bit too similar to the original Kingdom Hearts in terms of gameplay. The plot is more straightforward than OTL's game, and while that does avoid some of the problems from that game, it does get some fans calling it too predictable. Still, the subtle hints and implications of the secret ending show that Tetsuya Nomura is beginning to expand the scope of the franchise beyond its original boundaries. The lack of any spinoff titles does keep things from getting too convoluted, though the commercial success of both this and the original game will get Squaresoft seriously considering bringing the franchise to the Game Boy Supernova, and a game would eventually go into development for it, while Kingdom Hearts III would begin its long process of development with a title hopefully coming to the Nintendo Sapphire sometime early in the next decade.
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