Kingdom Hearts (Japanese: ??????? , Hepburn: King Hudu H? Tsu ) is a series of crossover roles played by Disney and developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square). This is a collaboration between Disney Interactive and Square Enix, and is under the direction of Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square Enix character designer.
Kingdom Hearts is a crossover of Disney-based properties based on a fictional world tailored to the game's narrative. The series focuses on Sora's main character and his travels and experiences with various Disney characters, Final Fantasy , The World Ends with You and Pixar, while stopping various incarnations of Xehanort's main antagonist at whole series. All the characters and native worlds to the Kingdom Hearts franchise are owned by The Walt Disney Company.
The series consists of nine games available for various platforms, and future titles are planned. Most of the games in the series have been received positively and commercially successful. In November 2017, the Kingdom Hearts series has sent more than 24 million copies worldwide. Various related items have been released along with the game, including soundtracks, figurines, companion books, light novels and manga series.
Although Kingdom Hearts III will end the "Dark Seeker Saga" centered on Xehanort, it has been decided upon where certain characters will end up, in order to potentially continue their story in future games.
Other media
Both Square Enix and Disney have released a variety of Kingdom Hearts items including toys, sculptures, clothing, and jewelry. Two of the games, Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II , have soundtracks released to coincide with video games. This was followed by nine complete CDs featuring unreleased soundtracks and songs. Kingdom Hearts has been adapted as a trading card game by Japanese Tomy company. The English version of this game was released in November 2007 by Fantasy Flight Games. Video games have also been adapted into manga and novel series.
Like the Final Fantasy game, a series of "Ultimania" books were released in Japan for many games. These books include walkthrough games, interviews, and additional information from developers. Kingdom Hearts -Another Report was released in conjunction with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and features game information, visuals by Shiro Amano, and interview director. In North America, the Brady Games released a strategy guide for each game. For Kingdom Hearts II , they released two versions, a standard version and a limited edition version. The limited edition is available in four different covers and includes a copy of Jiminy's Journal along with 400 stickers.
Printed adapter
A manga based on the Kingdom Hearts storyline has been released in Japan and the United States. The story and art is performed by Shiro Amano, who is also known for the manga adaptation of the Legend of Mana video game. This story follows the events that occurred in the video game with the difference to account for the loss of interactivity provided by the video games. The manga was originally serialized in Japan by Square Enix Monthly Sh? Nen Gangan and finally released in tank-bon format. The first tanks were released in Japan in October 2003. The manga was released in the US by Tokyopop two years later in October 2005. Yen Press now holds the right to publish books for the US market. The first series, Kingdom Hearts , consists of four volumes, while the second series, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, has two volumes. The third series, Video Kingdom Hearts
General elements
Disney and Square Enix Characters
Kingdom Hearts features a mix of familiar Disney characters and Square Enix , as well as some new characters designed and created by Nomura. In addition to the original location, the Kingdom Hearts series features much of the world from Disney movies. Sora must visit these worlds and interact with various Disney characters to protect them from the enemy. Often, his actions in this world follow the flow of their own Disney movie story. The main characters try not to disturb the affairs of the other world, because it can negatively affect the order of the universe. Moogles, the little creature of the Final Fantasy series, is another common element in this game. They provide a player with a synthesis shop to create and purchase items used in the game. The leading actor of World Ends with You also makes appearances in the Dream Drop Distance series, and Future Kingdom Hearts III will feature characters from the series Pixar Toy Story , Monster, Inc. , and Frozen.
Story
The series begins with Kingdom Hearts, where a 14-year-old boy named Sora is separated from his friends Riku and Kairi when their world, Destiny Islands, is attacked by a creature known as the Heartless. During the invasion, Sora gets a weapon called Keyblade that allows him to fight the Heartless. He soon arrives in another world, Traverse Town, where he meets Donald Duck and Goofy, two messengers from Disney Castle are sent to search for Keyblade users on orders from their lost king, Mickey Mouse. The three bands together and travel to different Disney-themed worlds seal the hearts of the world to prevent them from being devoured by the Heartless as they search for their friends. Along the way, they find a group of Disney villains led by Maleficent, who control the Heartless to capture seven girls called Princess of Heart, who have the power to open the door to Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all the worlds. Although they eventually defeated Maleficent, the three find a Heartless who has a feeling named Ansem to be the true orchestra of the destruction of the world. Three defeats Ansem and closed the door to Kingdom Hearts, but remained separate from Riku and King Mickey while Kairi remained at home to await the return of his friends.
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories , Sora, Donald and Goofy search for Riku and Mickey directs them to Castle Oblivion, a fortress controlled by a mysterious group of "Nobody" that no one called Organization XIII, a girl named NaminÃÆ' © to manipulate the memories of the Trio. After defeating the Organization, the three were put to sleep for a year by NaminÃÆ'Â © to enable them to regain their memories, though they had to lose the memory of their experience at Castle Oblivion. Meanwhile, Riku arrives in the castle's basement and rises to the surface with Mickey's help. Finding Sora's sleeping conditions, Riku helps NaminÃÆ' Â © keep her safe until she wakes up. In the Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days , a hitch in the plan for a year forced Riku to capture Roxas - Sora's Nobody, who was born when Sora briefly became Heartless in the first game - in order to activate Sora's revival.
In Kingdom Hearts II , Sora and friends awaken from their sleep and continue their quest for Riku and King Mickey, learn Nobody and become familiar again with Organization XIII. Sora once again traveled to many Disney-themed worlds and solved problems caused by Heartless and Nobodies, and Pete Maleficent's. They reunite with King Mickey and meet Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII and Nobody of Xehanort, revealed as the human form of Ansem Heartless. Organizational plans are also revealed: they seek to regain their lost hearts by creating their own Kingdom Hearts version of the sum of all hearts released from the Heartless killed by Keyblade Sora. All three arrive at Organization XIII headquarters and work with their friends. Ansem the Wise uses a device that removes some of the power of Kingdom Hearts, but destroys himself, swallowing Ansem. At the summit of the Unprecedented Castle, Sora and his friends fight against Xemnas. After Sora and Riku defeat Xemnas, they are trapped in the realm of darkness, but a letter from Kairi calls the gate for them, and the two reunite with their friends in their home.
Some time later, Sora, Riku, and Kairi received a letter from King Mickey. The letter, written by Mickey during the Kingdom Hearts Coded event, describes the parts of their past that NaminÃÆ'Â ¢ Ã ¢ Ã ¢ Â Â ¬ Ã ¢ ?? As they read the letter, they learned about the fate of three Keyblade users at Xehanort's hands during the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: Terra, who was possessed by Xehanort; Ventus, who sacrificed his heart to prevent Xehanort from creating the legendary? -blade, hiding it in the heart of four-year-old Sora; and the new Aqua Keyblade Master, who is trapped in the dark realm after sacrificing himself to save Terra. King Mickey also found that the destruction of "Ansem" and Xemnas has led to the reconstruction of Xehanort. To combat Xehanort's new threat poses, Sora and Riku take the test to reach the Mark of Mastery that will allow them to become Master Keyblade themselves.
During the tests at Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Sora and Riku entered the sleeping world, where they found a young version of Xehanort with the ability to travel through time. Two Keyblade users also learn about Xehanort's true purpose: collect thirteen ships and his own incarnation (Organization XIII) and pit them with seven pure light hearts (Putri Hati) in the ultimate battle to recreate? -blade. Sora is a little saved from being the last ship of Xehanort, and Riku learns about the data that Ansem Wisely has implanted in Sora during his sleep throughout the year, which can be used to save those connected to Sora. At the end of the exam, Riku is declared Master Keyblade; in Kingdom Kingdoms HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prolog , Sora embarked on another journey to regain his lost strength, while Yen Sid gathered every available Keyblade user to defend the Princess of Heart and fight thirteen Xehanort ships.
Gameplay
The Kingdom Hearts game contains a role-playing action video element with hack-and-slash elements. The game is driven by linear developments from one story event to the next, usually shown in cutscene form, although there are many available side quests that provide bonus benefits to the characters. In most games, the main player controls the main protagonist of the series, Sora. Sora is usually accompanied by Donald Duck and Goofy, which is a character that can not be played by artificial intelligence that helps Sora in battle. In the first and third games, their behavior can be changed to meet different combat goals. The game features real-time battles that combine physical attacks, magic, and summoning, even though each game handles the fight differently. The game also allows for items to be used on the battlefield to heal oneself or one's party members.
Gummi Ships is another common element of this series, which serves as the main mode of inter-world transport in the game. The gameplay for the Gummi Ship section is more similar to a rail shooter. Receiving a negative criticism in the first game, it was modified in the third title. Most games also feature journals accessible from the main menu. This journal tracks information about stories, characters, enemies, and locations. In the first three games, the journal was kept by Jiminy Cricket, who was appointed by Queen Minnie as the author of royal history. In 358/2 Days , Born by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance , the main characters write their own journal entries.
This game is influenced by their parent's franchise, Final Fantasy , and brings its game elements into their own hack-and-slash action-based system. Like many traditional role-playing games, Kingdom Hearts features an experience point system that defines character development. When the enemy is defeated, the player gets an experience that culminates in "level-up", in which the character becomes stronger and gains access to new abilities. The amount of experience is shared with all party members and each character gets stronger when experience is gained.
Music
The music for this series was mainly composed by Yoko Shimomura. Kaoru Wada works as an arranger for orchestral music, including orchestral interpretations of major vocal themes and cover themes. Orchestral music is performed by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Soundtrack was released for the first and third installments after the release of their respective games. A soundtrack compilation was later released which included the soundtrack for the entire series, including a song reworked for re-releasing Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories.
While the theme for some Disney-based worlds is taken directly from their Disney movie partners, most of them are rated fully original music. Besides each world has a unique background music, each with its own battle theme rather than having a common theme to cover all fights. Some of the main characters have themes, and the final boss of each game has several themes played in the various phases of the fight. The fight with Sephiroth features a modified version of Nobuo's "One-Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII .
The main theme song for the Kingdom Hearts game is written and performed by Japanese pop star Hikaru Utada. The three main themes are "Hikari", originally from Kingdom Hearts, Passion, Kingdom Hearts II, and "Oaths" from Kingdom Hearts III i>. Each song has an English partner, "Simple and Clean", "Sanctuary", and "Do not Think Twice" respectively, for North American and European releases. Utada is the only singer Tetsuya Nomura thinks for the first Kingdom Hearts theme song. This marked the first time Utada produced a song for a video game. Both of the first two theme songs attain renowned popularity; on the Oricon weekly charts, "Hikari" reached No. 1. 1 in 2002 and "Passion" reached No. 1. 4 in 2005.
Maps Kingdom Hearts
Development
History
The initial idea for Kingdom Hearts began with a discussion between Shinji Hashimoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi on Super Mario 64. They plan to make games with freedom of movement in three dimensions like Super Mario 64 but regrets that only as popular as Disney characters can compete with Mario games. Tetsuya Nomura, hearing their conversation, volunteered to lead the project and the two producers agreed to let it go straight. An opportunity meeting between Hashimoto and Disney executives in the elevator - Square and Disney previously worked in the same building in Japan - allowing Hashimoto to convey the idea directly to Disney. Development began in February 2000 with Nomura as director and Hashimoto as producer. While Nomura has done previous work in the Final Fantasy series as a monster designer and graphic director, he does not get widespread acclaim until he becomes the main character designer for Final Fantasy VII. Kingdom Hearts marks his transition into a directing position, although he also plays the role of game character designer. The scenario was provided by Kazushige Nojima who was the screenwriter for Square of Final Fantasy VII until he left in 2003. Initially the development focused on gameplay with a simple story to draw the target age range of Disney. After Kingdom Hearts executive producer Hironobu Sakaguchi told Nomura that the game would fail if it did not aim for the same level as the Final Fantasy series, he began to develop his story. Furthermore. In June 2013, Nomura stated the name of the game came from him thinking of the Disney Amusement Park, especially the Animal Kingdom. However, Nomura could not get IPs only with "Kingdoms", so the development team started thinking about "heart" as a core part of the story, so they decided to combine the two to form "Kingdom Hearts".
Nomura puts a secret trailer in Kingdom Hearts in hopes that fans want a sequel. He is not sure if fans want a sequel and feel that if they do not, it would be better to leave certain events in the unexplained first game. After the Kingdom Hearts Final Mix finished, development for Kingdom Hearts II began. There are some obstacles that must be clarified before development can begin in the sequel. One is the desire of the development team to showcase Mickey Mouse more; Mickey's inclusion in the first game was limited to a very small role. Nomura has planned for a sequel lasting a year after the first and originally intended for events that year should be left for no reason. To bridge the gap between the two games, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was developed. Nomura hesitated to release a game in Game Boy Advance because he feels 3D graphics from the original game will not be properly translated to 2D. He changed his position after hearing that the kids wanted to play Kingdom Hearts on a handheld system.
Creation and design
Although Disney gives Nomura the freedom in the characters and worlds used for the game, he and his staff strive to remain in the character roles and boundaries of the established world. Nomura has stated that although many Disney characters are usually not dark and serious, there are not many challenges that make them so for the story, and even so, their personality shines because they maintain their own characteristics. He also feels managing and keeping much of the world a problem. When deciding which world to include in the game, development staff try to consider the world with Disney characters that will attract and seek to minimize overlap in the overall look and feel of each world.
The inclusion of certain Final Fantasy characters is based on the opinions of fans and staff. Another criterion to include is whether staff feel the character will fit the storyline and in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Initially, Nomura hesitated to use a character that he did not design, because he is not familiar with the background of the character. For Kingdom Hearts II , he changed his mind after receiving pressure from his staff. Throughout the game's development, Nomura often leaves certain events and connections between unexplained characters until the release of the game in the future. Nomura does this because he feels that the game should have room for fans to speculate and use their imagination. He has stated that with speculation, even though the game is getting old, people can still be happy with it. Promotions
The first
A secret trailer in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts Final Mix first implies a possible sequel. Rumors for the sequel to PlayStation 2 were spurred in Japan when the Japanese video game site Quiter stated that "internal (and anonymous) sources in Square Japan" confirmed that Kingdom Hearts II development had begun. It was not until Kingdom Hearts II was announced, along with Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories , at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2003 that rumors were confirmed. The initial details are that it will happen sometime after Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories , which takes place immediately after the first game. Other details include the return of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, as well as new costumes. At the 2004 Square Enix E3 press conference, producer, Shinji Hashimoto, stated that many of the mysteries of the first game will be answered.
To help market games, websites are set up for every game and demo on display at game shows. Each game in the main series is also re-released in Japan with additional content and is presented as a canonical update for the series. Additional content predicts plot elements later in series. Rereleases from the main game series have the term "Final Mix" added after the title, while Kingdom Hearts Coded Kingdom Kingdoms re-released as Kingdom Kingdoms Re: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts Re: coded and released on PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, respectively, with 3D graphics, excess sounds over several cutscenes, and new game content.
Reception
The Kingdom Hearts series has been critically and commercially successful. In March 2014, the series has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. The three main games in this series all met with positive sales at the time of release. In the first two months since the release of Kingdom Hearts in North America, it was one of three best-selling video games. Chain of Memories sold 104,000 units in 48 hours in Japan, a record for the Game Boy Advance title at the time. His positive debut sales put him at the top of the sales charts in Japan. In its first month of launch in North America, it was ranked 1st in GameSpot's ChartSpot for portable and 6th systems for all consoles. Within three days of the Kingdom Hearts II release in Japan, it shipped 1 million copies, sold within a month. At the end of March 2006, the NPD Group reported that Kingdom Hearts II is the highest-selling gaming console in North America, with 614,000 copies. Within a month of its release in North America, Kingdom Hearts II sold about 1 million copies. In November 2017, the Kingdom Hearts series has sent more than 24 million copies worldwide.
These games also received high ratings and positive comments from reviewers. All major games in this series have scored 36 from 40 or higher from Japanese game magazine Famitsu , which is known for its rough judgment. The six games have been praised for their visuals. Game Informer considers the eleventh series series "to be PlayStation 2". Individual games have also won several awards. GameSpot commented that the concept of mixing serious elements of Final Fantasy with Disney's light elements seemed unlikely, but it was pretty well drawn. Therefore they awarded Kingdom Hearts "The Best Crossover Since Capcom vs. SNK " in their Best and Worst of the Year 2002 awards. IGN named the Kingdom Hearts the Best Style/Art Direction in their 2003 "Best Looking Games on PS2" list. G4 awarded "Best Story" at their 2003 G-Phoria award show. Monthly Electronic Game was given the Kingdom Hearts II "Best Sequel" of 2006. This is related to Resident Evil 4 as Famitsu Game of the Year 2005. The manga series has also been well received. Several manga volumes are listed on USA Today ' s "Top 150 best seller". The highest ranking volume is Kingdom Hearts volume 4 at # 73. Each volume listed remains on the list for at least two weeks; Kingdom Hearts volume 4 stay the longest in 4 weeks.
See also
- Square Enix franchise list
- Japanese game role-playing game list
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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