KH-Vids | Your ultimate source for Kingdom Hearts media

Hey guys, I want to apologize for the lack of updates. It's taken awhile to get a solid connection, which is keeping me from adding updates. Below is just a catch up on some things that I've missed. Once this issue is solved, everything will be fine. Take care guys.

Please note that this update contains a huge amount of information. If you are looking at this update on the main webpage, make sure you access the read more link.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days: NA Official Website
A small update has been added to the official website for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. This time around, another update was made to the North American Days website. You can now access King Mickey and Riku in the characters page. I added the description of these characters below.

» Riku:
Sora's best friend. Once, darkness ruled him; but his experiences at Castle Oblivion have since taught him to wield an arsenal of darkness and light alike.

» King Mickey:
The King of DIsney Castle. He travels between worlds, watching over them and often coming to Sora's and Riku's aid.

New Nomura Interview
A new interview with Nomura (director) has been published with some information on Coded, 358/2 Days and Birth by Sleep.

Translations below are provided by Heart Station.
» Is there a connection in 358/2 Days between Birth by Sleep and Coded?
Nomura: At the moment Coded does not have any connections with 358/2 Days, but Birth by Sleep is deeply linked. Birth by Sleep has connections to all the games in the series.

» As for Coded, Chapter 2 will be distributing
Nomura: From Chapter 2, the story becomes progressively longer. The story of Chapter 1 had the nuance of a tutorial, but from Chapter 2 item synthesizing increases, and after a stage is cleared, other side quests become available. Since linkage with Avatar Kingdom also becomes full-scale, please look forward to it.

» How is the development status of Birth by Sleep?
Nomura: It’s doing alright. You could say it’s becoming a confident title. I’ve kept you waiting, but I think some new information will be sent out during summer. Since the plan is to present a trailer showing off the game's fighting spirit at Tokyo Game Show, look forward to it.

Kingdom Hearts: II (Black Shirt):
Once again, Hot Topic has added another t-shirt item. It was recently added about a week or two.
Source: LionHeart14 (member from) KHInsider
http://www.hottopic.com/hottopic/WhatsNew/Apparel/Kingdom-Hearts-Keyblade-TShirt-272448.jsp

KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 Days: New Novel
The Square-Enix calendar has updated on the Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days novel (volume 1). It's release date is set for July 31st 2009.

KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 Days (Fan Reviews):
We have two more reviews that were sent in for the Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (Japanese) title. Please note that we are NO longer accepting any more reviews at this time.

Name: Anderson
Username: Anderson

Controls: 9/10 (under ideal conditions)
The controls are pretty smooth and very impressive for a DS game. It plays extremely similar to the first Kingdom Hearts, so anyone who has played Kingdom Hearts I or II can adjust easily to the game. For the most part, the controls don’t cause a problem.

However, there are quite a few occasions where the controls can betray you. Well, actually, it’s only one button in particular which happens to be a notorious R button. Why? It shifts the camera and serves as the lock-on button. The two normally work together in a very smooth manner. However, during a large enemy ambush, one might find it hard to attack a certain enemy/part (you’ll see what I mean if you fight certain bosses). You might be thinking, “Oh, I’ll just kill all the enemies and button-mash.”

I’m going to tell you right now: That’s not how this game works. You can get by button-mashing only for so long until the game decides to turn on you. Some enemies are pretty much designed to stop button-mashing. But that’s drifting off a bit. Anyways, even with the screw-ups that the R button has, it’s not to the point where it’s going to take away from game play.

Gameplay: 4/10
I know I’m going to get utterly flamed for this, but this isn’t even the lowest rating I’ll give. As a friend of mine put it: “you run up, hit stuff, look at stuff, go through a portal, repeat”

It’s sad to say that this is really how the game is. Just to refresh anyone’s memory, I’ll repeat how the game goes. You’re given a mission. You complete the mission. You get the reward. You go on to the next day. Usually, it’s a mission a day, unless there are optional missions along with them.

Now as you know, there are 358 days, but not that many missions, thankfully. There are a number of time skips – probably an excuse not to make that many missions in the first place.
You take missions until you beat the game. There are barely any extra things to play except for Mission Mode, but it’s the same concept. Dull, monotonous, and mostly not fun at all.

Audio: 8/10 (for quality)
The music pieces are very nice…except for one thing. They’re the same tracks from Kingdom Hearts I and II. At first, I was delighted that they brought back some themes from each game…until I realized that that’s about all the songs in this game. There are only about 4 or so new tracks added to the game.
Unfortunately, those new tracks are basically a mix of different tracks put together. However, the quality of the music is pretty good, nonetheless. I was surprised that the quality was degraded from the PS2 to DS transition.

Graphics: 9/10
The graphics show that Square-Enix really pushed the limits of the DS once again. A few parts are a bit sketchy, but that’s probably because the DS can’t give perfect 3D graphics.

There are a select 28 cutscenes that are granted the highest quality in the game (the ones featured in Theater Mode upon completion of the game).

What utterly impressed me was the terrain of the worlds themselves. The worlds are almost identical to the PS2 games – I mean that the maps are the same. Twilight Town was the one that was the most identical to Kingdom Hearts II.

Storyline: 3/10

This was the most disappointing game in terms of story I’ve EVER played in the Kingdom Hearts series. I’m afraid I can’t elaborate too much on the subject due to spoilers, but I’ll give you as much as I can.
First off, Xion is the most generic character in the entire game. She’s your typical shy girl who keeps to herself and once she spends time with her friends, she opens up and becomes cheerful. I was already pissed off that they had to add a 14th Member, but it was worst that she was nothing but a pathetically made character.

Next off, story development dragged on a lot more than it should have. Now, due to the nature of the story, it obviously needed to take some time to develop, but this game took it way too far. It took a long time before any kind of story started to unfold.
I was also disappointed that many of the Organization members failed to be of any importance to the overall storyline. Seriously, this game was nothing but fanservice.

Replay Value: Fairly Low
I can’t rate this because there’s two ways to look at it. Now, there’s the obvious method and just starting a new file and playing the game over again. Then there’s this thing where once you’ve completed the game, you can replay past missions / days with the cutscenes intact. (Note: I’m not sure if you can do it immediately after you’ve completed a day, so don’t quote me on that.)

I tried starting a new file and playing the game over again, but I couldn’t do it. But really, this is just how much you really liked the game.

Overall Rating: 6/10
I’ll give the game some credit that it did an excellent job with graphics, audio, and controls. I found it quite easy to adjust to the game after just 5 minutes of gameplay, although that might be because I’m quite used to the Kingdom Hearts games as it is. However, the style of the game was just way too boring after a while. I don’t know how I pushed myself to finishing the game.

The first half of the game is okay and moderately easy. But once you pass that point, you’re in for some frustrations. Some Heartless have from 3-6 life bars of health. Some bosses have from 5 – 17 bars of health. The worst part about that is that you really don’t get much of an attack boost from Keyblade upgrades, unless you’re using Kingdom Key+ (From what I’ve heard, it’s the strongest Keyblade in the game…and no, there’s no Ultima Weapon this time around.)

Sometimes it would take quite some time to defeat Heartless and to make it worse, you were forced to defeat them to advance to the next area or perform a required action to continue on in a mission. The worst part is that there’s a lot of flying bosses. Many bosses were so similar to each other, it felt as if some were just a bunch of lazy palette swaps.

Disappointing for a Kingdom Hearts game.

If you’re a huge Kingdom Hearts fan, you’ll probably be enticed the moment you lay your hands on the box.
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Name: Alukah (aka Kimberly)
I recently finished Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days--finished in the sense that I beat the main storyline. There is still a lot I feel I need to do--including unlocking all weapons, missions, etc. There is a massive replay value, at least in my opinion.

Before I bore you to tears, however, allow me to sum everything up.

GAMEPLAY: 7/10
Overall, the game play was wonderfully crafted. It only loses points for two reasons: 1) Locking on takes a few times to get down pat, and it is often useless in battles, especially in the Neverland levels. 2) The challenge curve is extremely hard, especially for a Kingdom Hearts game. Provided one goes through every battle in the mission section of the game as Roxas with a great weapon and many, many potions, you will do fine. The moment you switch to, say, Vexen or Zexion, however, be ready to have your teeth handed back to you. Roxas, Xion, and Axel are the best characters (that I have come across so far) to play as during the multiplayer (or single player, as you can play by yourself) missions, simply because they are the most balanced. Other members of the Organization usually fall flat until they've been level buffed beyond all reason.

The limits for each of the Organization members also vary greatly. Some of the members (Xaldin, Roxas, Axel, Zexion, etc.) have wonderful limits that you will want to use again and again until you have beat your enemy into creamy, Heartless paste. However, many of the members have horrible limits that you will never use; I'm looking at you, Xemnas. Others, such as Xigbar, have great limits provided that you are in an area in which you can aim and your enemy is directly ahead of you. Otherwise, don't even bother. Big surprise, however (please read that as sarcastic): Roxas as the best limit in the game.

In short: Roxas is the hero. Apparently, no one else matters.

I do, however, find the equipment pages to be enjoyable. There is a massive amount of customization in this game; you can decide what level your character is at, what weapon he or she uses, magics, etc. etc. One aspect I loved about the weapons, while we are on that, is that a weapon that is wonderful in say, Saix's hands, might not be the best choice for Vexen or Lexaeus. This makes you hunt and peck for each individual Organization member's best weapon and overall equipment set up; I loved it.

STORYLINE: (Optional) 8/10
It's a Kingdom Hearts game. The story is going to make as much since as you want it to. Of course, since I cannot understand/read Japanese very well, I can only base the storyline off of what I can understand from the cutscenes. You might wish to skip over this section of the review if you are looking for something in-depth; I am doing as best as I can with what I can understand.

Still, I managed to gasp a few times, cheer once or twice, and sniffle a bit. Some of the story is rather surprising, and seems to link directly to whatever's going to happen in Birth By Sleep.

SOUND/VOICE ACTING: 10/10
This is the best sound I've heard in a DS game (voice acting/clarity as well) since I played The World Ends With You. The sound is crisp, clear, and sounds almost perfect. The only thing I can find wrong (and this happens in all Kingdom Hearts games) is that many of the background music tracks have been reused and were carried over from the previous games.

GRAPHICS: 9/10
The graphics are close to being as great as they can be for a NDS game. However, I had a few issues with how things were set up; sometimes it was difficult to tell one floating Heartless from another. When you are hunting for a specific Heartless in order to finish a mission, this can be frustrating beyond all belief. Especially when the Heartless you have died against four times turns out to NOT be the one you are meant to hunt.

OVERALL: 8.5/10
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is a great game to pick up and play. It falls short in some aspects, and is not the strongest game in the series, but for fans (especially those of the Organization), this is something you'll want to play over and over again.

Just don't be surprised if you level grind as Roxas, Xion, or Axel, just so the other Organization members stop sucking. (I'm looking at you, Zexion.)

Hey everyone, the official (Japanese) website for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days has updated with some more content in the "extra" section. Content in this updated section features short videos on Goofy, Donald, Xion and now Riku.

Link: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/kingdom/days/
Source: Thanks TheVader74 for bringing this to my attention.

Another review was also sent to me for Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. Make sure you guys check it out below. Thanks Darkhelment232.

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FAN REVIEW #5
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Name: Noah
Username: Darkhelment232

Gameplay: 10/10
Gameplay was awesome. I really enjoyed it. It actually gives me a challenge and the enemies aren't no pushover either! I was playing as Marluxia and the yellow heartless beat the living crap out of me! I also like how you can practically play as everyone. It's really fun. And my favorite part is that the party members do decent damage. Its makes fights much easier.

Graphics: 10/10
Square-Enix REALLY pushed these graphics do to their limits, or over there limits. The minute I saw the intro, I practically grinned until my face hurt! To me, its like playing it on a PSP. So I congrats Square-Enix COMPLETELY! They rock!

Voicing: 8/10
I was little disappointed when I heard the voices. I just miss those classical voices...

Storyline: 10/10
Best. Storyline. Ever. Despite the fact I haven't gone far into the game, I still like it. Its always on track and never goes "off-topic."

Overall:
9/10
Alright, this game is WORTH IT! I recommend this game to anyone.

Late last week I made an update regarding fan reviews for the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. A total of four reviews have been sent in. Make sure you guys check them out below. Also, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been caught up in a move and I'll be on and off during certain times of the week until I get a solid connection.

Username: Zexion
I got my copy after the release date, it was 31th May.. i was so excited to see the Cover~~.About Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days, i like the Panel System, it is Really unique, and The mission mode is really challenging.. at day.. umm i forgot, the day that we have to find Xion, i almost give up at that day, but i will never give up because i want to be the number 1 Kingdom Hearts Fan!. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days has the Best Graphic of NDS~ (Nomura, you ROCKS!), i was very happy when the first time i played as Zexion, i like his VA Too (akira Ishida), his battle style is unique, and the Other members were Awesome, with their weapons and Limit cuts.

Gameplay: 10/10
It's was Uniquely awesome~ because of it's various character that can be played, and the wireless mode is Cool, we can play as an Organization XIII member with our friends, and the Panel System is Awesomely Unique~~~
Voice: 10/10
i like the Original Organization XIII seiyuus (VA's), especially Akira Ishida and koki Uchiyama.

Well that's that.. LONG LIVE KINGDOM HEARTS~~
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Username: Morris113
Will - my goodness, its incredibly hard where to begin. this game. was. EVERYTHING!. i'm gonna sum it up as best i can. the game, it met ALL expectations. and was above and BEYOND. i should warn you, before you continue. SPOILERS MAY BE POSSIBLE so you may wanna stop here. as for the KH lovers who wanna know what our thoughts are, keep on reading

*REVIEW*
-Graphics-
KH358/2DAYS Pushed the DS as far as it could ever achieve, no other DS game... not in our library anyway, had anything worthy of touching this. of course the simple cutscenes were pixelated, i expected as much. the scenes were ps2 compatible. and the FMV scenes left us speechless. an unstoppable amount of EYE candy flourished. over all, Graphics. 5 of 5

-Gameplay-
for a DS styled Kingdom Hearts, this was a treat. unfortunatly the DS couldnt fully imitate the gameplay KH2 had to offer, but thats OK because apparently Square thought ahead and gave you knew moves and a similar but new type of combat system to still be very enjoyable and almost exactly identical to its ps2 counterpart, the common kh players wont think it any different and thats a good thing. the new moves and new aerodynamic type of battle system the DS had to offer DID NOT FAIL TO PLEASE.
3.5 of 5

-Music-
many of the classic KH1/KHCoM/KH2 music was re-used as well as Utada Hikaru's "My Sanctuary/Passion" was used for the Opening and Ending, but if you look carefully you may find a new track in there too. nothing was wrong with this music in kh2 or in kh1. its still good, and still pleasing to the ear. 4 of 5

-Story-
woah, just when you thought you had the story well put together in your mind and in your facts. this game probably shattered half of them. but in a good way that it may go into a new area we may have thought to never be able to happen. seeing as Ven makes an appearance. the death of Xion and the explanation of how Roxas obtained 2 keyblades was a very well written script. this could not have been done better.
over all 5 of 5

-Difficulty-
DAMN!!!, and i thought Chain of Memories/Re:chain of memories had me pissed off. this game's difficulty does NOT SCREW AROUND. unlike in kh1/khCoM/kh2, when you attack an enemy, they stutter and or get knocked back from heavy damage. IT DOES NOT APPLY HERE. i mean it, Almost Literally every fight you come up against in this game, is a sheer utter struggle for SURVIVAL, the odds are against you the entire time. ill give you a little run down of how things work. You just cant rush the enemy and start attacking like crazy or getting attack friendly like we all were in previous titles. almost every single fight takes timing and concentration, YOU as Roxas HAVE ABSOLUTLEY NO RECOVERY TIME. most of these heartless can literally drain all your HP in a second. the leveling up process is pretty slow. Moogle is by god your best friend in this game. once you play, you'll know why. it seems that once you get the option to see Moogle, your all set... over all, the difficulty. not unbeatable. BUT GOD DAMN IS IT HARD.
4.5 of 5

-Lasting Appeal-
the story of any Kingdom Hearts game had all the players replay the story and begging for more. and so does this one. the mission mode, where you have the option of playing as the entire Organization 14, including others such as Sora, MickeyMouse, Donald, Goofy, and Riku.
replaying the game to collect what you missed, forge what you didnt, and mission complete those you skipped is another reason for another go at it. although, aside from the pointed out. the lack of fully free roaming like in the other games before it, was kind of dissapointing.
3.5 of 5

-Personal Knit Picking-
well the game did meet my expectations, but i cant really feel the need to replay the story again. the whole mission's thing was fine, but the lack of a greater combo system and the mission's all seem like a chore. i cant say this will be the same for the english release because ill actually understand how things go. i mean i did beat this game on jap with my DS but i still didnt understand some of the content. THE STORY I UNDERSTOOD PERFECTLY, it was things like. i have well over one hundred thousand munny. and i have no idea how to spend it. sigh, in short. is Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days worth it? well yeah, its a great game, coming from a point of view of just the japanese version. its good, but i dont find and or want to play through it again, or really do i even care to unlock anything i didnt. because, knowing im gonna get it in english. im just gonna end up doing it again. i love the kh franchise. but its all busy work.

overall, the Brotherhood of Gaming give Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days their Final Verdict... and it is 4 of 5.
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Name: Nowell
Username: Master Sora
When I got hands on the game, I knew that this game was going to be the most awesome game I've ever played so far. The number of keyblades you can equip and the unique combos that come with it adds a lot of variety to it and each has an advantage on air or ground enemies. The story (even though I understand some japanese) is fantastic and the relationship between Roxas, Xion and Axel is just as strong as Sora, Riku and Kairi's.

The missions were great from defeating heartless to searching the worlds. The toughness of the heartless was really a challenge and sometimes I died because of the amount of damage they can deal. But with the new limit break being added, it provided me a great advantage when I was in peril. The mission mode was probably one of the best things in the KH series as you can play as all of the XIII characters, however I was expecting a wi-fi mode so I could play with people in Japan which would've been epic.

Lastly, the game focusing on Roxas' time in the Organization and dealing with all this drama later really made him my absolute favourite character of all. I hope Roxas will be seen in future games. Peace.
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Name: A.J.
Username: The Dream Traveler
A very good spin-off. Roxas fans will love it for Roxas, Roxas haters will love it for the mission mode, and all others will adore it for the unique equipment/item system, graphics, and the return of old favorite worlds.

STORY
Not very good in the beginning, but picks up quickly in Days 250 through 300 (haven't gotten much farther.) It is also relatively easy to understand, despite the "japaneseness." I give it a 5/10, but only because I can't understand most of it, and the fact that most cutscenes are word bubble based.

GAMEPLAY
Overall, good gameplay, but Halloweentown has the same camera problems as KH1. The command menu gets a bit annoying though, because unlike the other games, you have to use a single separate button (X) to scroll. The panel system is also fun, combining the tedious strategy of the COM/Re: COM system (which I am a big fan of), the nonstop action packed menu system of KH1/KH2 (which I am also a big fan of), and the fitting together of pieces that we have come to know and love from games like Tetris, 99 Blocks, etc. I give it a 10/10

GRAPHICS
VERY good graphics for a DS, especially the few FMV cutscenes. 9/10

OVERALL
Overall, I enjoy playing the game and will continue playing after beating it. 10/10

The press kit that was shown at E3 has leaked online with images from Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, which includes logos, screenshots and renders. A very short trailer that was shown at E3, has also been shown, but this particular video doesn't contain voices.







Source: KHI and thanks riku angel and devil

Where are those hardcore KH fans? We've got some good news for those of you that like Kingdom Hearts merchandise, especially for cosplay fans. A couple weeks back, Hot Topic added three shirts which features the Kingdom Hearts series. Clicking the links below will transfer you to the order page, which features preview shots of the three shirts.

Kingdom Hearts: Merchandise (Shirts)
» http://www.hottopic.com/hottopic/Wha...irt-267559.jsp
» http://www.hottopic.com/hottopic/App...irt-229894.jsp
» http://www.hottopic.com/hottopic/Wha...Tee-255300.jsp

Mike's Note: I'm aware that this is old news. I do apologize.
Source: Thanks DPWolf for letting me know.