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Kingdom Hearts (video game)

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This article contains information on the first Kingdom Hearts video game. For the series, see Kingdom Hearts series.
Kingdom Hearts
Developer(s)Square Co., Ltd.
Publisher(s)
Square Co., Ltd. (Japan)
Square EA, Disney Interactive (N. America)
SCEE (Europe/Australia)
Designer(s)Shinji Hashimoto (game producer)
Hironobu Sakaguchi (executive producer)
Tetsuya Nomura (game director, character designer, concept designer)
Jun Akiyama (scenario)
Daisuke Watanabe (scenario writer)
Kazushige Nojima (scenario writer)
Yoko Shimomura (composer)
SeriesKingdom Hearts series
Platform(s)PlayStation 2
Release




Genre(s)Action RPG
Mode(s)Single player

Kingdom Hearts (キングダムハーツ, Kingudamu Hātsu) is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Co., Ltd. (now Square Enix Co., Ltd.) in 2002 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console. It is notable for being the result of a collaboration between Square and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney's animated features and films with those from Square's Final Fantasy RPG series. Although the game's primary plot lines follow characters who were created specifically for Kingdom Hearts, characters from both companies play major roles in the game and its storyline. The game features real-time rendered backgrounds and scenery.

Gameplay

Kingdom Hearts is heavily influenced by its parent franchise, Final Fantasy, and carries many gameplay elements over into its own action-based, hack-and-slash system. Sora, the main character, is directly controlled by the player from a third person camera angle. Most gameplay occurs on interconnected field maps where battles take place. The game is driven by a linear progression to the next story event, usually told in the form of a cut scene, though there are numerous side quests available that provide bonus benefits to the characters.

Like many traditional role-playing games, Kingdom Hearts features an experience point system which determines character development. As enemies are defeated, the player gains experience which culminate in a "level-up", where the player characters grows stronger and gains access to new abilities. Unlike many other games of its type, Kingdom Hearts allows a certain degree of character development customization through a short tutorial found at the beginning of the game. By choosing certain options, the player is able to manipulate how Sora learns abilities, grows statistically, and even gains levels.

Combat in Kingdom Hearts is in real time and involves button presses which initiate Attacks by the on-screen character. Also, a Final Fantasy-esque menu found at the bottom left of the screen provides other combat options such as using Magic and Items. There is also a context-sensitive option at the bottom of the menu, usually used for interaction with the environment or for performing Special Attacks. This menu is manipulated using the right analogue stick or digital pad, while movement is controlled by the left stick, allowing the player to navigate the menu while avoiding or approaching enemies. In addition to the main character, two party members are usually present who also participate in combat. Though these characters are computer-controlled, the player is allowed to customize their behavior to a certain extent through the menu screen.

Plot

Setting

Further information: List of worlds in the Kingdom Hearts series

Levels in Kingdom Hearts are called "worlds". Many are based on Disney movies (primarily ones from the Disney animated features canon). Players travel from one world to another via gummi ship.

Characters

File:Kingdom Hearts Battle Screenshot.jpg
A typical battle in Kingdom Hearts.

The main characters are Sora, Donald Duck,Goofy,Riku, and Kairi. While Donald specializes in MP and Magic usage, and Goofy in Defense, HP, and Special Attacks, Sora's stats, however, are more customizable; at the start of the game, the player selects what attribute to excel in and which attribute to be lacking in: Strength, Defense, or Magic. Several traits can also be altered further by permanent boost items or equipped item effects. Sora is also unique in that he can use both Magic and Special Attacks, whereas Donald and Goofy can only use each respectively.

Sora is the only character directly controlled by the player; other members in the party are computer-controlled. The AI characters can have their behavior altered by the player, changing their Item usage from "occasionally" to "constantly" for example. Donald and Goofy are the only computer-controlled characters that are usable on every world. Most worlds have a unique AI party member who can be chosen to replace Goofy or Donald in the party while in that world. For instance, Jack Skellington joins the player's party in Halloween Town, but will not accompany the player elsewhere.

Various Disney characters can be temporarily called upon during battle as Summons. These characters replace Sora's two companions for the duration of the summon. Such characters include the Genie from Aladdin and Simba from The Lion King.

As a game meant to explore the fictional universes of various Disney films, there are many Disney characters from those films, along with others in cameo roles, such as the One Hundred and One Dalmatians puppies playing part in a quest to collect all ninety-nine.

Final Fantasy cameos

Squaresoft also incorporated several of its famous characters from the Final Fantasy series into the game, though the characters have been tweaked slightly for novelty and to fit the game's backstory. On Destiny Islands, the player meets younger versions of Tidus, Wakka (both from Final Fantasy X), and Selphie (from Final Fantasy VIII). In Traverse Town, the player encounters Squall Leonhart (under the alias of "Leon"; from Final Fantasy VIII), as well as Aerith Gainsborough, Cid Highwind and Yuffie Kisaragi from Final Fantasy VII. Rikku from Final Fantasy X and Irvine Kinneas from Final Fantasy VIII were both originally set to make cameo appearances, but were replaced by Yuffie and Wakka respectively. Cloud Strife and Sephiroth (both from Final Fantasy VII) make appearances in Olympus Coliseum, where the player can fight them in the tournaments.

The game also uses other Final Fantasy icons. Moogles make an appearance and provide item synthesis. Several weapons, such as Lionheart and Save the Queen, share names with other weapons from previous entries in the Final Fantasy series. The name of the raft Riku had suggested was Highwind, is a reference to the airship of Final Fantasy VII. The magic-naming system in Kingdom Hearts (i.e. Cure, Cura, Curaga, etc.) is reminiscent of Final Fantasy magic. The names of various spells are the names of Gummi blocks, and various summons, weapons, bosses, and monsters are the names of Gummi ships blueprints.

The emphasis on characters from later Final Fantasy installments disappointed some fans; the refusal to use earlier characters stems from character designer Tetsuya Nomura's hesitation to use characters he did not design.

Kingdom Hearts has been criticized by some Final Fantasy fans for making poor use of the Final Fantasy characters placed in it. For example, several prominent characters are made much younger and do not play a major role in the story. Some fans also disapproved of the casting of the voice actors for the more popular Final Fantasy characters: in particular, the casting of pop music singers Mandy Moore as Aerith and Lance Bass as Sephiroth.

Story

The game begins within Sora's "dream world", in which the player is introduced to the gameplay of Kingdom Hearts. Sora is directed by a nameless voice, who tells him that "the door is still closed," but there are various references toward the said door opening soon, and that if Sora does not prepare appropriately, it will lead to his end. As such, Sora is requested to choose one of three weapons, and sacrifice one other, before being plunged into his first battle with shadow creatures, who assault him on sight. Battling his way through the vast array of these shadows, Sora confronts a large creature, who, upon his defeat, absorbs Sora into darkness. Before the dream ends, the voice says to him "You are the one...who will open the door."

Sora awakens on the shore of the Destiny Islands, his home, with Kairi standing over him. The two of them engage in a brief discussion, in which we discover that Kairi suffers from amnesia, and cannot recall where she came from before arriving on the Islands. This does not appear to disturb her, though; she is apparently content with her life in her current home. Riku, another friend of Sora and Kairi's, joins in on the conversation and reminds them that they have to continue building their raft. The friends are attempting to leave the Destiny Islands on a raft, in search of Kairi's home, and other worlds that may be out there. Riku seems to be the only one deeply interested in discovering other lands, though, with Sora and Kairi thinking the journey as just something for fun and adventure.

The next day, Sora goes in search of food supplies for the raft, and comes across a cloaked stranger inside the "Secret Place." The shadowy figure's conversation with Sora is as follows: "This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness. Soon to be completely eclipsed. You have so very much to learn, you understand so little. A meaningless effort... One who knows nothing can understand nothing." Sora is confused by his words, and though he tries to discover who this enigma is, his questions are ignored. With those words, the figure disappears.

That night, a violent storm sweeps over the Islands, with the catalyst being a large orb of darkness in the sky. Sora rushes to protect the raft from damage, but he is attacked by the shadow-creatures from his dream. His wooden sword is useless, so he takes the next alternative and flees, finding Riku. However, Riku comments that "the door has opened," and that now they can go to other worlds. He allows the darkness to swallow him and reaches out his hand to Sora to follow him. However, the light in Sora's heart prevents him from reaching through the darkness to Riku and Riku soon disappears. In that moment, he receives a new and mysterious weapon called the Keyblade. With it, he battles against the Heartless and reaches the Secret Place to try and locate Kairi. But his efforts are futile, and Kairi and the Islands are swept away, leaving Sora to battle against the Darkside once again. After he defeats the Heartless leader, he too is swallowed into the orb of darkness.

Meanwhile at Disney Castle the Court Wizard Donald Duck discovers that King Mickey Mouse has disappeared. Donald recovers a letter signed by King Micky from the mouth of the king's dog, Pluto. After reading the letter Donald immediately goes to find the captain of the king's knights, Captain Goofy. As Donald tries to explain the secrecy of their mission to Goofy, he attracts the attention of Queen Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck, who demand answers from the magician.

The contents of the letter reveals that King Mickey has left to confront whatever dark force is plaguing the worlds at present, and he has requested that Donald and Goofy go in search of the mysterious "Keybearer," beginning with the small refugee world of Traverse Town. Bringing with them a chronicler named Jiminy Cricket, the pair leave as instructed, promising Queen Minnie that they will help the King in whatever way they can.

From the Destiny Islands, Sora lands in Traverse Town, where he joins Goofy and Donald Duck in their quest to find King Mickey Mouse and defeat the Heartless. During their adventure the trio explore many Disney-themed worlds, including Aladdin's Agrabah, Peter Pan's Neverland and The Little Mermaid's Atlantica. Along the way they lock "keyholes" in each of the destinations they visit to prevent the Heartless from consuming these worlds. Standing in their way, however, is a cabal of Disney villains, with Maleficent as their leader and none-other than Riku as her apprentice. Being manipulated by Maleficent into believing Sora has no desire to locate Kairi or him and has simply 'replaced' them with Donald and Goofy, Riku has taken responsibility into his hands and struck a deal with Maleficent in order to help Kairi regain her heart. The goal of Maleficent and her group is to collect seven maidens of the purest heart, the "Princesses of Heart", in order to open the pathway to Kingdom Hearts, which is the origin of all Heartless and a limitless repository of power and knowledge, equal to that contained within each individual's heart. In this sense, Kingdom Hearts is the heart of all worlds.

Finally reaching Hollow Bastion, Maleficent's headquarters, Sora confronts Riku directly. Their confrontation ends with the revelation that Riku is actually the rightful Keyblade master, causing Sora's own Keyblade to disappear into Riku's hands. Unfazed by the loss of his weapon, Sora puts his faith into his friends and wins back the Keyblade with his heart, causing Riku to retreat. It is during this time that the cloaked stranger who spoke to Sora on the Destiny Islands appears and offers Riku greater power with which to defeat Sora. Riku impulsively accepts. Meanwhile Sora and his teammates face and defeat Maleficent, when a strangely-behaving Riku strikes her with a unique type of Keyblade, one that opens hearts. This causes Maleficent to transform into a dragon, reflecting the darkness in her heart. Sora's party rises to the challenge and destroys Maleficent.

Sora confronts Riku again, only this time it is not truly Riku; it is actually Ansem, a scientist who conducted extensive research on the Heartless, occupying Riku's body. He is also the cloaked figure who taunted Sora on Destiny Islands. Ansem desires to become part of what he believes to be the primordial phase of existence, the darkness that he believes to compose Kingdom Hearts. Kairi is revealed to be a Princess of Heart, as her heart was trapped in Sora's body ever since they were separated. Sora and Ansem battle, with Sora as the victor. Following the battle, Sora impales himself on Ansem's Keyblade in order to free Kairi's heart, losing his own heart in the process while restoring Kairi and freeing the other Princesses' hearts. However, the pathway to Kingdom Hearts is opened.

Now a Heartless, Sora scampers to Kairi's protection. Knowing that it's truly Sora, Kairi's light pulls him from the infinite darkness and restores Sora. They flee Hollow Bastion in face of the immense number of Heartless pouring through the pathway to Kingdom Hearts. Sora returns to lock the keyhole and later travel to Kingdom Hearts itself, facing Ansem in a climactic final battle.

Though the light of Kingdom Hearts defeats Ansem, the door to the realm of darkness threatens to unleash billions upon billions of Heartless onto the universe. Sora, Donald and Goofy attempt to close the door, but their strength is not enough. Riku, who has regained his body, helps the others close the door on the other side, along with King Mickey. Using his own Keyblade, Mickey locks Kingdom Hearts from the inside with Sora's help, but this forces the King and Riku to stay inside the realm of darkness. Before the door is locked, Riku tells Sora to take care of Kairi. Sora and Kairi's reunion is cut extremely short as they are pulled apart by the reforming Destiny Islands. Sora promises to return to Kairi once he finds Riku. The game ends on an optimistic note, with the same disembodied voice Sora encountered in the beginning of the game arriving once again to tell the keyblade master that he will be the one to open the door to the light.

Development

English version

The English version of Kingdom Hearts had new features that were not found in the original version of Kingdom Hearts in Japan. Besides English localization, three additional optional bosses were added. Yoko Shimomura's arrangement of Night on Bald Mountain was set as the background music for the Chernabog boss fight, whereas the original Japanese version uses generic boss music. In addition, the secret video entitled "Another Side, Another Story", was included in the English version; this scene ultimately became a blueprint of sorts for the sequels.

Final Mix

File:Neo Shadow.jpg
Neoshadows, one of the new enemies, in Final Mix, along with the One-Winged Angel Keyblade.

Kingdom Hearts was re-released in Japan as Kingdom Hearts Final Mix; this version has several events and a number of gameplay tweaks that are not in previous releases. Spoken dialogue is in English, with Japanese subtitles.

New scenes, clarifying certain plot points, such as Riku's journey and foreshadowing of Kingdom Hearts II, were included. A gameplay tweak allows the player to skip cutscenes after seeing them once. The optional bosses first included in the English version were introduced to Japanese players for the first time, along with the "Unknown", in an attempt to raise interest for the sequel. In another attempt at foreshadowing, a video called "Another Side, Another Story [deep dive]" plays along with "Another side, Another story…" if the player accomplishes certain tasks.

New music was incorporated; the tracks are "Disappeared" and "Another Side". The "Night on Bald Mountain" and "One-Winged Angel" tracks from the English version were included as well.

Other changes include new abilities, new weapons, new items, additional and recolored enemies; and gameplay tweaks to make the game easier for the player, along with two new difficulty levels.

A limited edition version of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix was also released. The version includes an action figure of Sora, a sticker set, sketches of some of the main characters and the game itself.

Audio

Voice cast

A special effort was made to preserve the original voice actors from the Disney movies used in Kingdom Hearts. Some of the voice actors from the related television series or direct-to-video sequels were chosen over original voice actors, where applicable (e.g. Dan Castellaneta as Genie, rather than Robin Williams). It also has famous names including Haley Joel Osment as the voice of Sora and Hayden Panettiere as the voice of Kairi. [1]

Musical score

The music is composed by Yoko Shimomura, the opening orchestration and ending credits theme were arranged by Kaoru Wada, and the main vocal theme is "Hikari" ("Simple And Clean" was used in the Western releases and Final Mix). Both versions of the song were composed and performed by Utada Hikaru. While there are some melodies derived from prior Disney films, most of the soundtrack consists of original themes written specifically for the game by Shimomura.

Reception

Critical response

According to Game Rankings, Kingdom Hearts has an average rating of 86%[2]. Critics commended the visuals, the orchestral score, and the action-adventure RPG feel to the game. The voice acting was also mentioned.

GameSpot cites "tedious" combat as one gaming issue[3], with the review citing the Gummi Ship sections as "pale imitations of the Star Fox series". A few reviewers also mentioned that they felt the developers had focused on cut scenes and special effects instead of core game play. Another failing is the periodic departure from the main plot into the Disney side stories. And, when the original plot builds to a climax, "...the story fails to gel thanks to a confusing mish-mash of vague terms and symbolism that probably made more sense in the director's head than in this final product."[4]

Merchandise

Manga

The game was adapted into a manga by Shiro Amano, and all four volumes have been published in English in the United States by TOKYOPOP (ISBN 1-59816-217-9). A boxed set containing all four volumes has been released , as well as the second manga series, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. A noteworthy feature of the manga is that even in its original, Japanese language edition, the Kingdom Hearts comic adaptation was designed to be read from left to right, contrary to the Japanese usage. The Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II comic adaptations are read from right to left, though.

References

  1. ^ Alex Sains. "Kingdom Hearts voice actors". Final Fantasy Net. Retrieved December 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |work= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Kingdom Hearts (PS2) "gamerankings.com". URL Accessed December 15, 2006
  3. ^ Kingdom Hearts (Platinum) "www.gamespot.com". URL Accessed December 15, 2006
  4. ^ Kingdom Hearts (PS2) "ps2.gamespy.com". URL Accessed December 15, 2006

External links

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