Kingdom Hearts


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Kingdom Hearts is a collaboration between Square Enix (formerly Square) and Disney. It is an action RPG that includes appearances of characters from the Final Fantasy series and Disney movies, as well as some characters original to the game. It was created in 2002 and became a smash hit.

It was followed up by a sequel released in 2005, Kingdom Hearts II. Also in the series is a "bridge" game between the two, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, released in 2004. New games announced in Tokyo Game Show 2007 for the series are Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days for the Nintendo DS, Birth by Sleep for the Playstation Portable and Kingdom Hearts coded for mobile phones.

Gameplay
The Kingdom Hearts series of games contain elements from both action and role-playing games. The games are 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. The player is primarily in control of the principal protagonist of the series, Sora. Sora is usually accompanied by Donald Duck and Goofy, who are non-playable characters that aid Sora in battle. In the first and third game, their behavior could be altered to fit the player's needs. The games featured real-time combat that incorporates physical attacks, magic, and summonings; though each game handled battles differently.

Gummi Ships are another common theme in the series, though they are only featured in the first and third installment. The Gummi Ships serve as the main mode of transportation between worlds in the games. The gameplay for the Gummi Ships sections is more akin to a rail shooter. Because it received negative criticism in the first game, it was improved in the third installment. All three games also feature a journal which is accessible from the main menu. The journal keeps track of information regarding the story, characters, enemies, and locations. In the game the journal is kept by Jiminy Cricket, who was appointed by Queen Minnie as the royal chronicler.

The games are influenced by their parent franchise, Final Fantasy, and carry its gameplay elements over into their own action-based, hack-and-slash system. 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 characters grow stronger and gain access to new abilities. The amount of experience is shared with all party members and each character grows stronger as experience is gained.

The gameplay was given a twist in Chain of Memories. The player controls Sora alone, and uses cards to execute all actions, and the value of the cards determine the power of an attack, or the action's effectiveness. Effectiveness is when the action could not be canceled, or "Card Breaked" by the enemy. Worlds are also explored in the form of cards; each area in a world is opened with a card that can influence the number of enemies and treasures as well as open up shops and save points. The Gummi Ship does not make an appearance.

Kingdom Hearts
The three main games in Kingdom Hearts series focus on the adventures of Sora and his search for his friends, Kairi and Riku. The first game shows how Sora is separated from his friends when their world is invaded by an army of corrupted hearts known as the Heartless. During the invasion, he obtains a special weapon known as a Keyblade. Soon after, Sora meets Donald Duck, the Disney Castle court magician, and Goofy, the Disney Castle captain of the royal guard. Donald and Goofy are searching for the "key" per instructions from King Mickey. The three band together and travel to different Disney themed worlds, sealing the hearts of the worlds to prevent more Heartless invasions. Along the way they encounter a group of Disney villains, led by Maleficent, that are controlling the Heartless. The three eventually discover that a man named Ansem is the true antagonist. Ansem's plan is to open the door to Kingdom Hearts. Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeat Ansem, and seal the door with the help of Riku and King Mickey on the other side of the door.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
After sealing the door to Kingdom Hearts, the three begin searching for Riku and King Mickey. They encounter a mysterious fortress called Castle Oblivion. Upon entering the fortress, they begin to lose their memories. The three encounter a group of dark hooded villains referred to as the Organization. After defeating the Organization members in the castle, Sora learns his memories have been manipulated by a girl named Namine who is controlled by the Organization. To allow them to regain their memories, Naminé puts Sora, Donald, and Goofy to sleep for a year. While the three are ascending to the top floor of the castle, Riku and King Mickey arrive in the basement and began traveling to the top as well. Riku fights the darkness in his heart and learns to accept his dual nature between light and dark.

Kingdom Hearts II
A year later, Sora, Donald, and Goofy awaken and continue their search for Riku and King Mickey. They learn of the Nobodies and their leaders, Organization XIII. Afterwards, Maleficent is resurrected and joins with Pete, another Disney villain, to continue her quest for power. Sora once again travels to many Disney-themed worlds and resolves the troubles caused by Organization XIII, the Heartless, Maleficent and Pete, and local villains. Meanwhile, Kairi is kidnapped by the Organization. They meet King Mickey, who reveals the true nature of Ansem, the antagonist of Kingdom Hearts. The Ansem who Sora defeated was actually the Heartless of Xehanort, a student of Ansem the Wise. Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII, reveals himself to be the Nobody of Xehanort. The three arrive at the headquarters of Organization XIII, with Kingdom Hearts looming overhead. Ansem the Wise uses a device that dissipates some of Kingdom Hearts' power, but a system overload causes the machine to explode and kill Ansem. At the top of Organization XIII's castle, Sora and his friends battle Xemnas, who uses the remnants of Kingdom Hearts to fight them. After Xemnas' death, Sora and Riku are reunited with their friends at Destiny Islands, their home.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days will focus upon the story of Roxas, the thirteenth member of Organization XIII, and the Nobody of Sora. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days takes place during the year between Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II, while Sora was asleep.

Kingdom Hearts: coded
After Kingdom Hearts II Jiminy discovers a message written in his journal that he didn't write; "We must return to free them from their torment." In order to discover the meaning of the message King Mickey digitizes the journal, awakening a virtual Sora on Destiny Islands. The game's antagonists are the "Them" that the message refers to.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
A prequel set ten years before the original Kingdom Hearts Game. Birth by Sleep revolves around the disappearance of a Keyblade Master, Master Xehanort and his apprentice and the three Keyblade apprentices; Terra, Ven and Aqua that are sent to find them.

Characters
Kingdom Hearts has its original characters, though they are joined by a cadre of characters from the Final Fantasy series and the Disney franchise.

Main
Main characters are, in this case, defined as characters with the largest effect on the storyline, who are either one of the series main protagonists, or tied to them.
 * Sora - A 14 year old boy who dreams of seeing other worlds. He gets his wish after the Heartless destroy his home. He travels to various Disney worlds with Donald and Goofy in search of his two friends, Riku and Kairi. He wields the Keyblade, a weapon capable of harming the heartless and sealing worlds. His name means "sky" in Japanese.
 * Riku - Riku is the friend of Sora and Kairi and lives with them on Destiny Islands. Initially he is stronger than Sora (story-wise), and because of this, was meant to be the original wielder of the Keyblade. However, he gave in to the darkness in his heart, but managed to transfer a bit of light to Sora, effectively making him the new wielder of the Keyblade. After intially acting as Sora's enemy, he reformed and came to wield the powers of darkness in the name of good and acquired his own "dark" Keyblade. Riku returned to help Sora out behind the scenes in Kingdom Hearts II and fought alongside him in the final battle. His name means "land" or "shore" in Japanese.
 * Kairi - A young girl who arrived on Destiny Islands during a meteor shower several years prior to the beginning of the first game. Originally, she lived with her grandmother in the world of Hollow Bastion. She was sent to other worlds by Xehanort's Heartless in order to establish whether there was a connection between the Princesses of Heart and the Keyblade. Kairi is one of the seven princesses of Heart, seven maidens whose hearts hold no darkness within them. The seven princesses are the only ones with the power to open the Door To Darkness, a gate leading to the Dark Realm wherein lies Kingdom Hearts. Her name is based on the Japanese word for "ocean" ("kai").
 * King Mickey - the ruler of the various worlds, Mickey took up his own Keyblade to fight the Heartless and the Nobodies and assisted Sora at various intervals with information and power-ups. He knows much more than he tells Sora and his friends but hides this knowledge for his own reasons.
 * Donald - A magician who is a friend of Sora's. He is searching for King Mickey by traveling to various worlds with the gummi ship. A very powerful partner magic wise.
 * Goofy - A good friend of Sora's. He is also searching for King Mickey. A very powerful comrade defense wise, but not very high attack. Has useful support abilities, such as MP gift.

Final Fantasy

 * Tidus and Wakka from "Final Fantasy X and Selphie from "Final Fantasy VIII" - Three of Sora's friends, they were left behind at their home when Sora, Riku and Kairi were lost. They played a minor role.
 * Leon from "Final Fantasy VIII" - the leader of a resistance group against the Heartless, he assisted Sora against them with advice and assistance when possible, also taking up arms to defend his group's home from the Heartless when needed.
 * Yuffie from "Final Fantasy VII" - one of Leon's allies and a skilled ninja, she helps him fight off the Heartless.
 * Aeris from "Final Fantasy VII" - one of Leon's allies and a healer, she assisted in the restoration of Hollow Bastion.
 * Cloud from "Final Fantasy VII" - a swordsman with a dark past, he has been hunting Sephiroth across several worlds, seeking to end a mysterious grudge between them.
 * Cid from "Final Fantasy VII" - a merchant and Gummi ship engineer, he helped Sora build Gummi ships in the first game and oversaw the security systems in Kingdom Hearts II.
 * Sephiroth from "Final Fantasy VII" - an evil swordsman with a mysterious connection to Cloud, Sephiroth wields the powers of darkness and taunts Cloud in the hopes of luring his heart into darkness.
 * Auron from "Final Fantasy X" - a dead spirit revived by Hades to defeat Hercules, Auron initially betrayed him and worked with Sora, but was forced to help Hades after having his free will taken.
 * Tifa from "Final Fantasy VII" - an ally of Leon who is searching for Cloud, she has followed his trail across several worlds and wishes to help him in his battle with Sephiroth.
 * Yuna, Rikku and Paine from "Final Fantasy X-2" - a trio of treasure-hunting pixies, they were initially allied with Maleficent but switched sides on the promise of treasure from Leon.
 * Seifer, Raijin and Fujin from "Final Fantasy VIII" - the disciplinary commitee for Twilight Town, they abuse their authority and take a quick dislike to Sora. Seifer is a top street brawler and "Struggle" competitor. Vivi from "Final Fantasy IX" is one of his fans and admires his strength.
 * Setzer from "Final Fantasy VI" - another top "Struggle" fighter and a flashy ladies man.
 * Moogles from various Final Fantasy games - they run the item and synthesis shops around the various worlds, selling and creating new items for Sora to purchase.

Secondary roles

 * Wantz from "Final Fantasy X" and Jessie, Biggs, Wedge and Wallace from "Final Fantasy VII" (members of AVALANCHE)

Disney
Disney characters are world specified, and as such, will only be present in the world they come from. They are characters that Sora meets and befriends during his search for Riku and Kairi. Each character can become a party member, by switching him/her with Goofy or Donald.

Villains
Most of the villains in Kingdom Hearts are take from the various Disney films that are featured in the game. The most notable Disney villain in the game, however, is Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty), and appears at first, to be the main villain of the game. However, it aspires that an original character, Xehanort, is the main antagonist of the game. Both of these characters are major bosses; though, Xehanort is in fact the final boss. These are the antagonists of Kingdom Hearts, with the majority often seen conspiring together as a group in the ruins of Hollow Bastion.


 * Xehanort - an apprentice to a man named "Ansem the Wise", Xehanort betrayed his master and took his name and his research into the darkness of the heart. He later was split into a Heartless and a Nobody, which acted as the antagonists of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hears II, respectively.
 * Xehanort's Heartless - intially refering to himself as Ansam, Xehanort's Heartless wished to open the path to Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds, and claim its dark power. He was defeated when he accessed Kingdom Hearts but found it a realm of light instead of darkness as he believed.
 * Organization XIII - the antagonist of Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II, a group of thirteen powerful Nobodies, including Roxas. As they did not have hearts, they wished to use the power of Kingdom Hearts to bestow hearts on themselves and all Nobodies.
 * Xemnas - Xehanort's Nobody and the leader of Organization XIII.
 * Maleficent from "Sleeping Beauty" - the leader of the Disney villains of the game and a master of dark magic. She wished to capture the seven Princesses of Heart to open the path to Kingdom Hearts, but was defeated by Sora. She was revived in Kingdom Hearts II and tried, with limited success, to regain a foothold into the world since her death.
 * Hades from "Hercules" - an arrogant and hot-headed god who rules the realm of the dead, Hades is constantly trying to defeat Hercules as he stands in the way of his plans for domination over the other gods. However he is thwarted several times, although as a god he cannot be killed and has survived every defeat.
 * Jafar from "Aladdin" - an evil sorceror who wishes to rule his world, Jafar was initially Maleficent's second in command who was tricked into wishing himself to become a Genie and was sealed away. He was released in Kingdom Hearts II, but was ultimately defeated.

Heartless
The Heartless are living beings, whose hearts were corrupted by darkness, and they play the roles of the "common enemies" Sora and party must defeat. They exist for no other purpose than to consume hearts, be it the hearts of other living beings or even that of entire worlds. If someone loses their heart to a heartless, they themselves become one.

In general, there are two types of heartless, commonly referred to as Pureblood Heartless, who are created "naturally", and Emblem Heartless, who are artificially created. The Emblem Heartless received their name because upon creation, they were all branded with an emblem, in order to distinguish them from the Purebloods.

Nobodies
When a Heartless is created, the empty shell may reform into a Nobody. By comparison, Nobodies are rarer than Heartless due to the shell having to have a strong heart to reform, but they are just as strong if not stronger. They are also capable of speech and thought, and the members of Organization XIII are all exceptionally intelligent and powerful Nobodies. However, as they have no hearts they do not truly exist and cannot feel emotion, although a few that retain memories of when they had hearts can "fake it" and act as if they do.

Worlds
Sora, Donald and Goofy are able to travel to several worlds through the use of a Gummi Ship. Each world has a different theme, many which are based on Disney animations, but also a couple of original worlds. The purpose of traveling to these worlds is to lock their hearts, so they cannot be consumed by the Heartless, thus destroying them. However, even though this is the goal of the travels, it is not that which actually drives Sora, Donald and Goofy. Sora only agreed because he wanted to find his friends, Riku and Kairi, while Donald and Goofy are in search of King Mickey.