So if you did what you needed to in the game, after the credits of Kingdom Hearts (KH) II, you unlocked a secret movie. This movie was titled Birth By Sleep. Thinking that what happened in that video people assumed it was in reference to Kingdom Hearts III.
So not only were we super surprised when the next title was announced, but we were also surprised to hear it wasn't KH III.
Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days is a title that released for the Nintendo DS, focusing on Roxas' time in the Organization.
Plot
The newly born Roxas is first discovered in Twilight Town by Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII, and recruited as its thirteenth member. Unlike other Nobodies, Roxas lacks memories of his original self, Sora, but grows a personality as time passes. Each day, Roxas is sent on missions to other worlds, alone or accompanied by a fellow member, to destroy vast quantities of Heartless with his Keyblade and release stolen hearts, learning that his actions will further the Organization's ultimate goal to summon Kingdom Hearts and allow them to become complete beings. Over his first few days in the Organization, Roxas is placed under the mentorship of fellow member Axel. The two end up becoming close friends and meet up with each other at the Twilight Town clock tower each day after missions to eat sea-salt ice cream together and talk about what's on their minds.
One day, Axel is stationed at Castle Oblivion along with a group of other members, leaving Roxas to be partnered with a girl named Xion, the Organization's fourteenth member who was inducted shortly after Roxas and, like Roxas, has the power to wield the Keyblade but lacks memories of her past. Xion begins to open up to Roxas, who suggests that she becomes friends with him and Axel once he returns. However, Roxas soon falls into a coma and does not revive until several weeks later, learning all the members at Castle Oblivion save Axel have been eliminated. As Sora sleeps to regain his lost memories after the events of Chain of Memories, overseen by Riku, Naminé, and DiZ, Roxas begins to experience the process for himself, growing increasingly curious about why he can wield the Keyblade. At the same time, Xion loses her ability to use the Keyblade. Upon Axel's return, he and Roxas cover for Xion until she remembers how to summon the Keyblade, and the three become close friends.
Later, Xion is thrown into disarray over the nature of her existence after battling and losing to Riku, and distances herself from her friends to learn more about herself. She eventually discovers that she is not a Nobody, but a "puppet" created by Xemnas from the scattered memories of Sora as a fail-safe for Roxas. Furthermore, Naminé's attempts to restore Sora's memories affect not only Roxas, but Xion as well, preventing Sora from regaining his memories. Torn between staying with her friends and merging with Sora as per Riku's advice, Xion eventually decides to make the decision best for everyone and attempts to escape from the Organization, particularly when her powers begin to increase dramatically while Roxas inversely grows weaker. However, she is forced to fight off her friends, who are ordered to track her down whenever she escapes. Understanding the situation, Axel eventually allows Xion to escape, but loses Roxas's trust. Upon learning the truth about Xion from Xemnas, Roxas begins to doubt the Organization's motives and his own identity. Finally frustrated with his unanswered questions, Roxas leaves the Organization, leaving Axel dejected.
At Twilight Town, Roxas is attacked by Xion, who has been altered by Xemnas using devices Roxas had placed in other worlds, forcing her to act on her purpose of absorbing Roxas and becoming Sora. However, Xion is defeated and requests Roxas to release Kingdom Hearts and stop Xemnas's plan before dissipating and merging with Sora, causing everyone's memories of her to gradually vanish. Roxas returns to the Organization's castle, hoping to revive Xion and renew his friendship with Axel, but is stopped by Riku, who has been dispatched by DiZ to capture him. When Roxas defeats him, Riku releases the suppressed darkness in his heart, granting him the power necessary to subdue Roxas, but also giving him the physical form of Xehanorts Heartless, who resides in his heart. Riku subsequently brings Roxas to DiZ, who inserts Roxas into a virtual simulation of Twilight Town without any of his memories of the Organization so that Roxas may eventually merge with Sora and complete the restoration of his memories.
The game revolves around Roxas, who was first featured at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II. Roxas is the Nobody of Sora, the series' main protagonist, born when Sora's body vanished as he briefly lost his heart and became a Heartless, and joining Organization XIII which inclued Axel, Saix and many more , a group of powerful Nobodies who serve as the main antagonists of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II. Like Sora, Roxas has the power to wield the Keyblade, a weapon normally used for battling darkness. The other members of Organization XIII play a prominent role as well, particularly Axel, Roxas's best friend who debuted in Chain of Memories. The game also introduces a new member: Xion, who is a young wielder of the Keyblade. She was a clone created by the Organization XIII, resembling Kairi. Although she does not have a heart, she becomes very close to Roxas and Axel. She was used by the Organization XIII to steal Sora's memories as Namine, Kairi's Nobody, tried to piece Sora's memory back together. She, like Sora, has the power to control the Keyblade and give Kingdom Hearts the hearts it needs to be completed. Xion decided, with the help of Riku, to give Sora back his memory so Sora could awaken. But in order to do that she had to get Sora's memories from Roxas. In attemt to do so she attacked him. She failed to destroy Roxas and died, giving back Sora's memories, although Roxas still had several of them, preventing Sora from awakening.
Other characters who are featured include Naminé, a girl with the power to manipulate memories; DiZ, an enigmatic man wrapped in bandages; Riku, Sora's best friend; and King Mickey, Riku's ally and ruler of Disney Castle. Sora, the main character of the previous games, is featured prominently in the plot, along with his allies Donald Duck and Goofy, though they appear quite infrequently in the form of several flashbacks and memory-induced scenarios. Also appearing are Pete, a persistent villain who first appears in Kingdom Hearts II, and Hayner, Pence, and Olette, a trio of friends living in Twilight Town who also debuted in Kingdom Hearts II. As with the other games in the series, each Disney world features several characters who appear in the films their worlds are based on; on the other hand, no Final Fantasy characters are featured apart from a Moogle managing a shop for the Organization.
So in this title, it spans over KH I, Chain of Memories and into the begining of KH II. We see a lot of what was happening in the background. More so with Roxas, and exactly why DiZ needed him to awaken Sora. One of the concepts we see touched on a lot, is Roxas acts differently than other Nobody's. Axel and Roxas begin to question if Roxas really is a Nobody, Axel asking "Roxas, are you sure you don't have a heart?" to which he responds, "there is no way for me to know without looking in side, but you would think I would feel it wouldn't you?" I am going to touch on this a little later, a theory that I have.
We are also introduced to Xion, who was an illusion created by Xemnas to have complete control over a wielder of the Keyblade.
We also learn that the reason that Roxas could wield two keyblades was that as Xion faded away, her memories of Sora flooded into Roxas, along with the Keyblade. So Roxas was using Xion's Keyblade and his own.
We see the budding friendship between Axel and Roxas.
And lastly as Xion is trying to escape Organization XIIII, she faces off against its #II who mentions that "He gave me that same look too!" When he looks at Xion after that comment she takes on the appearance of a boy who looks a lot like Roxas.
Also in the matter of game play you were given the opportunity to play as all of the members of Organization XIII for the first time as well.
I enjoyed this game and it really brought out the tragedy of Roxas, and now Xion who has become a fan favorite. While I somewhat enjoy playing KH on different platforms, the graphic capabilities of the DS are just not near the PSP or PS2, and the in game graphics are awful.
After this title was released the fans were introduced to the next title to be released. Following the secret movie at the end of KHII, the next game was titled Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. And as more information was released about the game we came to find that it was not following the events of KHII but actually a prequel 10 years before the events of Kingdom Hearts!!!
So next up, Picture Time!! KH 358/2 Days then Birth By Sleep review!!!
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