Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Screenshot of the game. The gameplay itself is shown on the top screen, on the bottom there is a schematic map of the area and the purpose of the mission is indicated

Like other games in the series, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is an action RPG , and as a result, battles take place in real time ^[7] . The player uses buttons to run and jump, and the Nintendo DS lower touch screen is used to control the camera . The touch screen is also used for navigation in various game menus , but its use is optional, and you can go through the game without ever using the touch screen ^[8] . In the lower left corner of the upper screen there is a menu where the player chooses the character’s action: attack, apply ability or use an item. The game has several modes: single-player, where the player controls Roxas and goes through his storyline, the mode of free passage of missions and multi-user mode ^{[9] [10]} . The story mode and the mode of free passage of missions are interconnected: objects and abilities obtained in one of them can be used in the other ^[8] .

New abilities, levels and items become available if they are equipped in the Panel menu. The ability can be used as many times per mission as the panels are equipped, however, with the help of special items you can reduce the number of used abilities. The maximum number of panels is limited, but over time, the number of free cells increases. In addition, there are also “Connection Panels” ( English Link Panel ), which occupy several cells at once and “connect” several panels that affect their effect. If the protagonist has a small number of health points , he can activate Limit Break , an individual powerful character ability that used to appear in another Square Enix series, Final Fantasy ^[11] .

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days has a multiplayer game where players can complete missions together, both cooperatively and teaming up in different teams and competing with each other. In addition to live players, a player can have partners controlled by artificial intelligence ^{[12] [13] [14]} . The maximum number of players supported in a multiplayer game is four. As in the mode of free passage of missions, in the multiplayer game you can play for each of the members of the Organization of XIII , and also Sora ( Japanese ソ ラ , English Sora ) , Riku ( Japanese リ ク , English Riku ) , King are present as secret characters Mickey , Donald and Goofy - they can be opened when passing through the story mode. In multiplayer mode, there is also a chat for communication between players ^[1] .

Game Universe

In this game, there are worlds based on Disney cartoons in which the player performs various missions. From the Disney worlds there are Agraba ( Japanese ア グ ラ バ ー aguraba: English Agrabah ) from Aladdin , Monster Castle ( Japanese ビ ー ス ト キ ャ ッ ス ル Bi: Suto Qassuru , English Beast's Castle and Olympian ( Moody and Chud ) . オ リ ン ポ ス コ ロ シ ア ム мп мп ム ム ム ム ム ム ム ム ム ム ム ム ム ム ム ム ム Olymp Olymp Olymp Olymp Olymp Olymp Olymp Olymp Olymp Olymp Olymp Olymp чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес чудес . ) from " Alice in Wonderland " and Netland ( ネ バ ー ラ ン э Neb: Rando , Neverland ) from " Peter Pan " ^[15] . Especially for the series of games, Square Enix has created several worlds. In this game, there appears a World that has never happened ( Japanese 存在 し な か っ た 世界 Sondzai Sinakatta Sekai , The World That Never Was ) , the headquarters of Organization XIII , the Twilight City plays an important role in the plot ( Japanese ト ワ イ ラ イ ト タ ウ ン ン а а Town , Twilight Town ) . In the videos you can see Islands of Fate ( я ス テ ィ ニ ー ア イ ラ ン ド desutini: ayrando , English Destiny Islands ) and the Castle of Oblivion ( jap. 忘却 の 城 bo: kyaku no shiro , English Castle Oblivion ) ^{[15] [16]} .

Characters

The main character of the game is Roxas , who appeared as a result of Sora becoming Heartless ( Japanese ハ ー ト レ ス ha: toresu , English Heartless ) in the first Kingdom Hearts , and thus being Non-existent ( Japanese ノ ー バ デ ィ but: badi , English Nobody ) Sora. Like Sora, Roxas owns Keyblade. He is a member of Organization XIII , a group of thirteen powerful Nonexists who are the main villains in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II . Other members of Organization XIII also play an important role in the plot, in particular, Axel, Roxas's best friend. In this game, the fourteenth member of the Organization, Xion, appears for the first time, a girl who looks like Cairo, and, like Roxas, owns the Key-Blade ^{[3] [10] [14] [17]} .

The following characters also play an important role: Namine ( Japanese amin ミ ネ namine , Eng. Naminé ) , a girl who can manage the memory of other people, DiZ ( Japanese デ ィ ズ Didzu , Eng. DiZ ) - a mysterious man in a red hoodie, Riku, Sora’s best friend , King Mickey , ruler of Disney Castle ( デ ィ ズ ニ ー キ ャ ッ ス ル didzuni: kyassuru , English Disney Castle ) , helping Rick, and Pete , the Disney villain, Maleficent's assistant. From the Final Fantasy in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days , only Mugle appears, selling panels in the XIII Organization World.

History

Xemnas ( ゼ ム ナ ス Zemunasu ) , the leader of Organization XIII, finds in the Twilight City the newly-born Non-Existence, whom he calls Roxas and takes to the Organization. Unlike other Non-Existing, Roxas has no memories of the person he was before, that is, Sora, but over time, Roxas forms his own personality. Every day, Roxas is sent on missions to various worlds, alone or accompanied by another member of the XIII Organization, so that with the help of his Key-Blade he destroys the Heartless and frees their hearts. Of the liberated hearts, the Organization plans to create a Kingdom of Hearts that will return their hearts to Non-existent and allow them to fully realize their existence. As a mentor, Roxas is given Axel: both will soon become best friends. When Axel is sent on a mission to the Castle of Oblivion - thus the Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories begins - Roxas is given as partners Xion, the fourteenth member of Organization XIII, who joined the Organization shortly after Roxas joined. Roxas and Xion discover that they have a lot in common: both do not remember their original identities and both are able to carry the Key-Blade.

Some time later, Roxas falls into a coma, as Namina began to change Sora's memory in the Chain of Memories and wakes up only a few weeks later when Axel returns to the World, which he never had and reports that all members of the Organization that were with him were killed . Xion is strongly attached to Roxas and Axel, and each day after the missions, the three of them eat sea salt flavored ice cream sitting on the tower of the Twilight City. After an unsuccessful attempt to kill Rika, Xion also falls into a coma. Waking up, Xion begins to ask questions about his existence and moves away from his friends Roxas and Axel. Soon she learns that she is an imperfect Roxas clone, created from Sora’s recollections like the Rikas clone from Chain of Memories , and that Xemnas created it in case Roxas could not get hearts for the Organization. It was Xion with his existence that prevented Sora, sleeping in the Castle of Oblivion, from recovering her lost memories. Riku meets Xion and asks her to merge with Sora back. Xion falls into confusion: she does not know whether to stay with Roxas and Axel or to merge with Sora. Finally, she decides to leave the Organization, as her strength began to grow, and the strength of Roxas, on the contrary, sharply decreased.

Axel, realizing that Xion is tormented, allows her to leave, but as a result, his relationship with Roxas worsens. Roxas, learning from Xemnas about who Xion really is, asks Axel if he is also a clone. Upon receiving no response, Roxas also leaves the Organization to find the truth about himself. In the Twilight City, Roxas meets Xion, who was changed by Xemnas: he made her absorb the memories of Sora, and then absorb Roxas. Unaware of his actions, Xion attacks Roxas, but he defeats her. Xion dies in the arms of Roxas, consciousness returned to her. Before his death, Xion says that he does not regret his life, since she met with Roxas and Axel, tells Roxas that Organization XIII is actually villains, and asks him to stop Xemnas and destroy the assembled Kingdom of Hearts. Xion's body disappears, and she becomes part of Sora's memories. After the death of Xion, the memories of her among others begin to disappear, but Roxas still remembers Xion's request and returns to a World that has never been. In it, Roxasus meets Rika, who defeats him using the Darkness, as a result of which Riku takes on the form of Ansem the Darkseeker, whose fragment of heart is still inside Riku. Riku catches Roxas and gives it to DiZ, and DiZ erases all his memories to Roxas and puts it in a virtual copy of Twilight City to subsequently make him merge with Sora.

Initially, Tetsuya Nomura , creator of the Kingdom Hearts series, during the development of Kingdom Hearts II wanted to make a fighting game based on this series ^[18] , but later decided that making Disney characters fight with each other was not such a good idea, and decided to implement the idea fighting game directly in the form of Dissidia Final Fantasy , and many of the original ideas, in particular, the multiplayer game and its features, laid the foundation for Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days ^[19] . In 2007, Nomura expressed interest in developing the game series for a portable game console , and said that he intends to change the gameplay in this game ^[20] . The 358/2 Days was announced simultaneously with Birth by Sleep and coded at the Tokyo Game Show . The first trailer was shown at a private screening in a movie theater, where it was forbidden to take pictures ^{[10] [21]} . In December 2007, other trailers were shown at the Jump Festa 2008 exhibition and at the DKΣ3713 exhibition in August 2008, and the demo version could also be tried out at the exhibitions ^{[12] [22] [23] [24]} .

The game was originally conceived for the Nintendo DS ^[25] . Roxas was chosen as the main character, because the developers thought that if the main character is not Sora, it will be easier to present the game to players unfamiliar with the series ^[26] . The creators of the game decided that the weekdays of Roxas at Organization XIII would be a suitable topic for the plot ^[27] . In particular, the developers wanted to explain the reason why Roxas left the Organization, so Xion was introduced into the plot ^[28] . The team sought to make the gameplay similar to that in the Kingdom Hearts license plates, but the small number of buttons on the Nintendo DS prevented them from doing this ^{[1] [25]} . Some DS functions, such as a touch screen , were not specifically used to the full extent, so that the gameplay does not change so much ^[8] .

June 25, 2009 Square Enix released a book from the Ultimania series, which described in more detail the plot of the gameplay and development history of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days ^[29] . Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days was released as part of the Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Box bundle for the decade of the series, which also included Kingdom Hearts Re: coded and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance ^[30] . Music from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days was released as part of the soundtrack , which also included music from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts Re: coded . The soundtrack was released on February 2, 2012 ^[31] .

Manga and Ranobe

Based on the game, there is a series of ranobes authored by Tomoko Kanemaki, illustrations were painted by the artist Shiro Amano. The first volume, The 14th, was released on July 30, 2009, the second, Go to the Sea, on January 28, 2009 ^{[32] [33]} , and the third and final Xion-Seven Days, in May 2010 ^[34] . In addition to ranobe, there is also a manga that was published in the Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine , owned by Square Enix, from August 2009 to August 2012 ^[35] . The manga was published in five volumes : the first volume was published on June 22, 2010 ^[36] , and the last - April 22, 2012 ^[37] .

HD 1.5 Remix

In September 2012, Square Enix announced Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix for the PlayStation 3 , a collection that includes HD versions of the Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories . Trophy support has been added to these versions. The models of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance were taken as the basis for character models. The collection includes screensavers from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days , redrawn in high resolution. In Japan, the collection was released in March 2013; throughout the rest of the world, the release took place in the autumn of that year ^[6] .

The average Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days rating is 75% on Metacritic and 76.74% on Game Rankings ^{[38] [39]} . GameSpot spoke well about the multiplayer game, considering it quite entertaining, and also noted the good artificial intelligence of the teammates during the battle, however, criticizing the inconvenient control of the camera ^[48] . Nintendo Power claims that many were waiting for its release, and that this is the best game featured at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show. The magazine praised the schedule, noting that it is one of the highest quality on the Nintendo DS ^[49] . RPGamer reacted to the 358/2 Days much cooler, giving it a rating of 2.5 / 5, summing up the review with the following words: “... many fans of the series will be pushed away by disgusting control and a strange plot” ^[50] . The Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu rated 9/9/9/9 (and the total score was 36/40), especially highlighting the decoration and graphics, which, according to observers, have no equal on the DS. The panel system and gameplay have also been praised ^{[40] [41]} . RPGFan gave the game 81 out of 100, ^[51] , also approvingly speaking about the visual part and the atmosphere, but complained that almost all of the music in 358/2 Days was previously involved in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II , as well as confusing the plot. Leading Australian TV shows Good Game rated it at 7/10 and 7.5 / 10 ^[52] , and Official Nintendo Magazine decided that this part of Kingdom Hearts deserves only 69%, because, according to the magazine, it has good graphics and gameplay but a confusing plot and a lot of self-repetition ^[46] . Game Country magazine reports that monotonous missions can cause a player to quit a game halfway, and dialogs can be “unfunny, stupid, naive, not telling anything”, however, according to the observer, the game should go through to the end, as the plot becomes really interesting only from the middle of the passage ^[53] .

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days took top places in Japan in May 2009: 291,000 copies were sold in the first week after the release in Japan ^[54] . The following week, the mark reached 106,000 units sold, making the game sales in the region ^[55] . By August 2009, sales reached nearly half a million ^[56] . By the end of 2009, 571,981 cartridges were sold in Japan, making it the twelfth place in the list of best-selling games in the country ^[57] . According to the NPD Group , sales in America in October 2009 exceeded 360,000 units ^{[58] [59]} . In November 2009, Square Enix announced that 1.22 million cartridges were sold worldwide ^[60] .

• Official Japanese site Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
• Official European Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
• The official American website of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
• Kingdom Hearts Official Blog “Message from the KINGDOM” (Japanese)