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[tammaiya]

Exposition, Blah Blah Blah (What? So okay, MAYBE I wasn't paying as much attention as I could have been.)

The first thing you notice, now that you're Sora, is that voice acting is a lose-lose situation for Kingdom Hearts. Either you have it in Japanese and all the Square characters sound awesome and Goofy sounds like a twerp, or you have it in English and the Disney characters are great and the Square characters are average. Alas. Woe. Although, most of the Disney characters aren't that bad aside from Goofy and Donald. They don't sound like they do in the movies, sadly, but ce la vie. The improvement in Sora's voice still outweighs it, I think.

So, like I said, you don't remember anything from the past year, which is when KHI finished. All it says in Jiminy Cricket's notebook is "Thank Namine", which confuses the trio as no one can remember who that is. There is also nothing about Rocksas, given that while you played through that, Sora and co did not, which is why I was piecing together all that stuff in the last entry from memory and couldn't check Jiminy's journal. Also, Sora has grown; his pants don't come past his knees anymore. I think he's lost the babyfat on his cheeks, too. He'd be at least 15, by this point. If KHI spanned a year, he'd be maybe 16. I wants the manual, precious!

So you go into Twilight Town, and stumble into the usual place where Pintz, Orett and Hyne stare at you funny. They don't seem to notice the absence of Rocksas. Hyne says he's busy and shoves past; Orett and Pintz introduce themselves a little more politely. You go to the plaza outside the train station, and get set upon by countless hordes of those neo heartless. You kind of suck. I guess being in stasis for a year does not win at keeping abilities, because you're the same level Rocksas was when you merged and you've forgotten all your magic. Good GOING, Sora. So, it looks like you're buggered, and then who should appear, but... Ou-sama! Yes, it's Mickey Mouse. Wearing an Organisation robe. Which makes me eye him suspiciously, but would Disney put up with Mickey being evil? Hm. *eyes him more*

Donald and Goofy: OMFG YAY!
Sora: If Ou-sama is here... RIKU! OMFG YAY!

However Riku is not. WEEP. But at least Sora now has hope that Riku isn't trapped on the other side of the gates to darkness! :D

So Mickey tosses you that purse Ansem nicked off Rocksas, and the blue materia. Again with the suspicious. He tells you to catch the train that's pulling in. You run to catch it, and Hyne et al are there to see you off. They feel vaguely like they've met you before, and Sora has to stop and think before he says no, we haven't. When he's saying goodbye to them, though, he starts crying without even noticing, disturbing and embarrassing all including himself.

My soul cries also. For Rocksas. Stfu, Square, you ANGST MONGERS.

So, the train drops you off on this tiny place, the only defining feature being... a tower. Pete, from the old Mickey Mouse films, is peeking through the door and pondering about stealing something. You ask him lots of questions, and find out he wants to team up with Maleficent and destroy worlds. He turns around, and Goofy and Donald are like AGH YOU! and he's like OH NOT YOU AGAIN, because they're all from the same world. Mickey kicked him out for being evil. However ineffectually evil that was. So you give him a clue in about the ex-ness of Malificent, and he is like nooooooo! and you ask what he was doing peeking into the tower.

It's Yen Sid's tower. Uh. Who? Maybe I'm romanising incorrectly, but this guy is apparently a Disney magician. The character design suggests an early film, Cinderella-type era. Sword in the stone. Anyway, supposedly a magician from Mickey's world. You are all, whoo! and run inside the tower, ignoring Pete, who is very miffed and goes off to search for Maleficent.

At the top of the tower, Yen Sid tells you all about the new heartless (you're all very confused and unhappy about the continued existence of the things, after everything you've done). I, uh, don't really remember what he said. It was late. It was all in Japanese. He was saying lots of complicated things. Sue me. But it had something to do with people's hearts, anyway. *may go check Jiminy's journal, which has had a major upgrade since KHI* Sora just wants to go back to Destiny Islands with Riku and see Kairi again, but Yen Sid tells him that's impossible, because he's the key. Sora has to go on another adventure. He also says there are now two types of heartless. The ordinary heartless, and then those neo heartless I was talking about-- they're called Nobodies. The Organisation-- the Council of 13, whatever-- are the most powerful type of Nobodies. Note that Namine at some point told Rocksas he was a Nobody. You get to seal keyholes again, but they're different. Again with the not paying much attention why. So then he sends you into the next room to get Sora new clothes, what with the growing out of the old ones, and the three faerie godmothers from Sleeping Beauty bicker for a while over what colour your costume should be until they all blast you at once and you get something that is black, and kind of awesome. One of them also gives you your first Drive ability.

Drives are like limit breaks. You have a Drive metre, and when it fills you can use the Drive option to undergo a transformation. You get heaps more power and abilities and stuff, a red outfit, and TWO keyblades. It also involves subsuming Goofy into you, which both amuses and disturbs me.

As you're leaving, out the window via gummi ship, a crow brings Maleficent's outfit into the room with the faerie godmothers. They freak, understandably, and run off to find Yen Sid. The outfit inflates; Maleficent is standing there.

Oh, not YOU again.

So anyway, onwards! Onwards being... Hollow Bastion!

Hollow Bastion Is The New Traverse Town

Yes, that's right. Being restored and all, it is now your beloved shopping district. Twilight town is there on the worlds map, but Chip and Dale won't let you go back. Evil little chipmunks. So, Hollow Bastion.

The music hasn't changed except for one added segment. Don't get me wrong, it's cool music, but I'm in a SHOPPING DISTRICT feeling permanently on edge because to me this is last dungeon music. Ahah. Ahaha. It's just a bit... ominous. It doesn't induce consumer confidence, seriously.

So Huey, Dewey and Louis are manning some of the shops (what? I thought they were from the same world as Donald? oh, whatever), and Scrooge is hanging around futilely trying to eat an icy pole. He's Donald's uncle, who left pre-heartless thing for trade type stuff. They get a mini reunion. You get on with it, and run into Yuffie. Yay! She takes you to Merlin's house, where Merlin, Squall (who is still calling himself Leon! WHY?), Cid and Aerith are. Aerith is wearing the costume she wears in Before Crisis, I think. Hm.

Squall-- Leon-- whatever, says that coincidentally they all just remembered Sora a few days ago. Sora is understandably annoyed about being forgotten in the first place. They ask what he's been doing for the year, which is... sleeping. Cid mocks you, also understandably. Leon tells you to follow him, but before you do, Merlin is all like, you forgot your magic, fool, and you relearn ice magic. Then Aerith gives you a credit card like thing which is a membership card for the Hollow Bastion committee, from Leon. Then you're like, agh, he's gone already! And you run after him. Leon tells you about how they're trying to restore the city but there's a problem, and points to the armies of seething heartless at the base of the castle that was the dungeon in KHI. You then get to fight billions of the damn things with just Sora and Leon!

Yay.

But watching Leon fight is pretty cool, even if he's not technically on your team in the conventional way. Then the Organisation shows up and laughs at you, which pains you greatly. They all go poof. Axel shows up, although you can only tell by the voice and the build of his body, cause he's got the hood on his robe pulled up. Sora is all wtf, mate! and Axel says something about you still not remembering. Sora is confused. Axel says, that was the exact same face he gave me.

Sora yells that he's HIMSELF, dammit, no one else.

Siobhan has FF7 flashbacks again. And also, wibbles for Axel and Rocksas.

Sora gears up to fight Axel, Axel is like "Be a good boy!" and disappears with a mocking wave. Sora is adamant that he's himself, and he looks at the card Aerith gave him with his name printed on the back to reassure himself of this. It turns into the keyhole. I really should go back over Jiminy's journal about what the difference between these keyholes and the other ones is, because all I remember is something about roads opening.

Yeah.

So you tell Leon you're sorry, but you can't hang around because you've got your own journey, and he says that's fine. To the gummi ship!

Gummi ships are silly. Full STOP.

Of all the things Square had to retain, why, for god's sake WHY, did one of them have to be Gummi ships? Without a manual! In Japanese! IT PAINS ME PRECIOUS.

But, ignoring all ideas of building gummi ships, having no intention to go there-- there is admittedly a biiiiiiiiig improvement on the gummi ship front. The worlds network is 3D and you can whizz all around it. It kind of reminds me of a bit in Chrono Cross. Anyway, to get to a new world, it appears on the map with a gate in front of it, and you can't get into that world until you've been through the gate. However, you only HAVE to go through it once. Big improvement. Also, they made the gummi ship sequence much less boring. It's more 3D, it swings around, and it's more like a sidescroller shooting game, because you get points and if you want there are levels and a check list of items you're supposed to get.

Anyway. So. There are now two paths open, one to The Land Of Dragons and one to... I can't tell, actually. I'll find out soon. But Twilight Town is now unreachable.

Thanks, Square, make me feel even worse, why don't you. *sulk* I'm still not over losing Rocksas!

But since there's nothing we can do about that... on to Mulan, yes?

Captain Stick-Up-The-Arse!

So, the first Disney world... The Land of Dragons! Yep, it's MULAN. <3

Hee hee, Mulan is so cute. That "manly" walk never ceases to amuse. Plus, I'd forgotten how much Captain Shang had a stick up his arse. He really can be a complete jerk. XD But that doesn't change the fact that he is hot. And that he and Mulan are a total het OTP. Anou ne, what happens here... well, you run into Mulan, mistake Mushu's shadow for a heartless, scare the living DAYLIGHTS out of him and Mulan when Sora and Donald rush 'em (Goofy: Um... don't you think you should CHECK... first...) Then you're like, homg, Mushu! And Mushu is like, "homg, you guys! ... haha, you know, I'm the guardian god of the Fah family. You TOTALLY owe Mulan, I mean Ping, a favour. And now is such a great time to repay that favour, don't you think?"

Mulan: MUSHU!
Mushu: No need to be polite about it! :D
Sora: Yeah, sure.

And Goofy is all, why are you pretending to be a boy? And Donald and Sora are like "OMFG WHAT?! PING IS A GIRL?" which makes Mulan very pleased but Mushu isn't convinced, because, as he says, she's only fooled Donald and Sora. Seriously. (Sora: What's THAT supposed to mean?)

So then you get into a fight with those guys that end up Mulan's friends, Shang gets crabby about the disruption, heartless show up, you bash 'em around. Shang is all, you are the bomb. Mulan is like, I'm from the Fah family-- and Shang is like, you are NOT the bomb. Go home.

Mulan: :(
Shang: >(
Sora: >O

So Sora kicks up a fuss and Mulan asks to prove herself, so Shang gives you missions. Mini games. Things. They basically involve bashing heartless, but with a difference-- there's a tension metre which decreases with time. When you kill a heartless, they explode into little bubbles which refill your tension metre, but not by as much as you'd like, and when enemies whack YOU, ow, there go your tension bubbles scattering all over the place, along with your remaining tension. And, uh, your HP. As per usual. If your tension metre runs out, game over.

So you do that, and you end up in a town. Then you sneak out to the cave where Shan Yu (? the bad guy, the hun, whatev) is supposedly staked out, he gives you the slip, you fight lots of heartless with just Sora and Mulan. Then you go back, the village has been burned, Shang-taichou is wounded. All of you are like, woe is us, for it is MY FAULT! Aaaaaagh. But not much time for angsting, because Mulan tells Shang you'll deal with Shan Yu (why are their names so similar? Did I misread one of the kana in Shan Yu? *googles* Oh, no, it's a limitation of Jap. Shan and Shang are the same. *fixes Shan Yu's name from Shang -> Shan, having assumed the g from the other Chinese names*) Instead of huns, he has an army of heartless. I think I made a pretty pathetic effort there, not having noticed the time limit, but hey, at least I didn't die? And then there is the fireworks bit.

The effect of all this being to make me want to rewatch Mulan, liek wo.

Have been kicked out of the army, and have to say, it rather lacks the cool of the movie. For a variety of reasons that probably had more to do with playability and the existence of Sora rather than allusion to *gasp* breasts (though I do have my doubts), Mulan does not get injured and then discovered when they undress her to deal with the wound. Mushu busts her after the avalanche, popping out of the snow JUST after Shang-taichou says that she's a fine soldier to essentially say (before he realises Shang is there) "You know, this whole thing was a bad idea, Mulan. Girls can't be soldiers. Let's go home." To which Shang is all, "Omfg, MULAN? GIRL?! Ew, cooties!" ... Okay, I made that last bit up.

But ANYWAY. I was stuck for AGES, like half an hour, trying to use the whirlwinds to jump up the mountain. And only just then I got disgusted and descended the mountain to hang out back from whence I came, and... there was a path that was previously not open. *facepalm* I'm a smaht one, me.

I find it quite amusing that Mulan gets more abilities when she goes back to dressing like a girl. Back in the Capital City, Shang doesn't get as long to be a prat as he did in the movie. Unfortunately, there are also no whacky crossdressing hijinks. Which is not to say I don't approve of how Square has done this-- I think it's better than KHI, and I adored KHI. It follows the movie more closely, the whole system is more complex, and it feels more like a WORLD than just a dungeon, which is nice. So, on that topic, the system-- I just fought Shan Yu. Tough battle. Made tougher by me trying to get a desperate handle on the battle menu. There are two, both with four commands, and you swap between them with < and >; the top command on both windows is "fight", then the second on one is "items" and on the other I don't have it yet. The third-- "magic" and "change", so you can change your characters mid-battle. As for the fourth...

I have LIMIT BREAKS.

Two kinds, in fact. I have that disturbing Drive one where I subsume Goofy into my being, and then there is the duo attack with Mulan I just discovered. It uses up your MP, but your MP recharges automatically (though you can't do anything involving MP while it does). OMG COOLEST THING EVER. Lots of whacking! And fire! And Mushu!

God I love this game.

So anyway, back to the cutscene. *will totally turn off after she finishes The Land Of Dragons* No Mulan bringing Shang home from the war to ask her dad about marriage, but you do get the Emperor thanking Mulan in front of a cast of thousands. And both Sora and the Emperor tease Shang about liking Mulan. So my het OTP liiiiiiiiiiiives! Hurrah! NEED TO REWATCH MOVIE SO BAD.

---

Next time: the world on the left, which I think may involve Beauty and the Beast, and the world past The Land Of Dragons, which seems to be Hercules! (Again!)


ETA: Yen Sid is indeed the correct spelling. He's the Sorceror from the Sorceror's Apprentice segment of Fantasia.

Comments

[minna.livejournal.com]

You amuse me so hard.

We wants it, rocksas precious

D:

[tammaiya.livejournal.com]

Yay! I like to amuse!

You needs it, precious. D:

(Rocksaaaaaaaaaaaaas. ♥♥♥)