History YMMV / KingdomHeartsII

** Of the Absent Silhouette battles, Larxene is one of the hardest of the lot, no thanks to her gratuitous spamming of Thundaga that is likely to juggle you through the air endlessly. And then all Hell breaks loose as she starts making clones of herself and zipping around the arena at the speed of lightning. By the time you see her about to start a combo, it's usually too late to defend yourself as she's already started hitting you. And that's ignoring her DesperationAttack of a highly damaging spinning beam of lightning that's nigh-impossible to avoid unless you have an upgraded High Jump.
** Not one to be outdone is Absent Silhouette Vexen, though less for Vexen himself and more for the Anti-Sora replica he sics on you. As he copies your data via the moving emblem on the ground, a bar fills up. Once it fills all the way, a duplicate of Sora in Anti Form spawns that simply ''will not leave you alone'', locking you into painful, seemingly endless combos. If you get rid of it, another will spawn when the bar fills again, this time with more health and higher stats. So, just get rid of Vexen quick, right? Well, given that his shield has its own lifebar that has to be depleted so you can wail on Vexen before he spawns another one, it's not that simple. And that's ignoring the constant ice attacks he slings at you from safety.
** Marluxia is another agonising Absent Silhouette battle, less so for his attacks and more for his gimmick. At the start of the fight, he unavoidably casts Doom on Sora, giving him a counter above his head that goes down by one each time his (otherwise nondamaging) scythe attacks hit their mark, and when the counter hits 0, Sora buys the farm then and there. It doesn't matter how well you do or how much HP you have, get hit too much, and you lose, no questions asked, basically requiring you to know which combos Marluxia will use ahead of time and how to get around his near-unavoidable DesperationAttack. And that's not counting the massive bramble patches he makes that carve off most of your HP in one touch and reduce the size of the battlefield in one fell swoop.

** When Ansem's Kingdom Hearts encoder machine explodes, it changes Riku back to normal. There's no real reason given as to why outside of some FiveSecondForeshadowing where Ansem says "anything could happen."

** Putting context aside, just '''try''' to compare when Sora reunites with Kairi to when he reunites with Riku. (Then again, see NeverLiveItDown and PlatonicWritingRomanticReading below.)

** In the HD English version of ''Final Mix,'' Duck Flare does a ''lot'' more damage [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDUgL7ZgfVM due to lasting about 6 seconds longer than it should]] (as a result of the [=PS4=] and PC ports of the game running at [=60fps=], unlike the original [=PS2=] release and [=PS3=] port), something that has yet to be patched out as of 2023.

** Putting context aside, just '''try''' to compare when Sora reunites with Kairi to when he reunites with Riku.

** [[AntiHero Captain Jack Sparrow]] is as smart and eccentric as [[Characters/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanCaptainJackSparrow his film counterpart]]. First introduced after recently escaping prison, Jack only agrees to help save Elizabeth due to him needing a crew, but proves invaluable to Sora and Crew stopping Barbossa with his quick thinking, such as using his hidden knife to cut him and the others free when captured. Jack steals a medallion in order to turn into a ghost pirate and distract Barbossa long enough for Will to break the curse. When the ghost pirates return, Jack uses his keen eye to count exactly how many medallions were taken and helping Sora stop Luxord's schemes, before vowing to one day take Sora's Keyblade by force. Reuniting with Sora, Jack manages to figure the way out of Davy Jones' Locker, before manipulating events to get aboard the Flying Dutchman and steal the chest, then helping a dying Will take Jones' place as Captain of the Dutchman. Leading the charge against Beckett, Jack parts ways with Sora once again, giving him some important advice about how there's "always enough time for hearts to say what's true".
** [[IndispensableScoundrel Captain Hector Barbossa]] is just as charming and intelligent as he is in ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''. A pirate who usurped Captain Jack Sparrow before the games, Barbossa and his crew ended up trapped between life and death as [[GhostPirate immortal skeleton monsters]] after an Aztec curse and he now seeks to free himself from his fate. To this end, Barbossa smartly opts to divide his troops to have one group gain the medallion that can break the curse and the other keep Sora and his friends busy. Barbossa later has his troops manipulate Will Turner into an ambush to take the medallion and undo the curse. Despite not possessing powers of his own, Barbossa [[BadassNormal proves to be a formidable fighter]] able to smartly take advantage of tactics to fight Sora on even terms before his death. Revived to help find Jack in Davy Jones' locker, Barbossa proves instrumental in convincing Jack to go with them. Barbossa releases Tia Dalma/Calypso to help defeat the evil forces of Cutler Beckett and Davy Jones. Later helping Jack fend off the Flying Dutchman, Barbossa ends his story on good terms with the heroes and wishes them luck.

** Auron. Carries over from [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX the source material]], but it's easy to see why. When Hades said that he was going to summon "the mother of all bad guys," many a fan intentionally misheard it as "the mother of all Badasses."

* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/KingdomHearts "I need...more rage. I need more... memes..."]]

* NarmCharm: What Atlantica is for the fans that don't hate the level. Cheesy lyrics, UnexpectedGameplayChange, and a dose of AwesomeMusic, but all done earnestly by the developes and actors.
* NeverLiveItDown: The scene where Sora reunites with Kairi and Riku. Upon reuniting with Kairi, the two share a hug, whereas with Riku, Sora falls to his knees and breaks down in tears upon seeing him again. His reaction is completely justified -- Sora knew that Kairi wasn't in any danger when Organization XIII kidnapped her, because she was a LivingMacGuffin that the Organization needed to keep alive. With Riku, Sora hadn't seen him since they closed Door to Darkness, and there was a high chance that Riku was dead. Despite this, some fans believe that Sora's reaction was anything ''but'' platonic and that he actually harbors romantic feelings towards Riku instead of Kairi, even though both this game and the series as a whole clearly show that this is not the case.

** Like ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', ''[=KH2=]'' is very popular with the GameMod community, with many modders adding in their own playable characters (usually other ''KH'' heroes or modified versions of Sora and Roxas), maps, bosses and storyline. What's notable is that the Japanese [=PS2=] Final Mix version of the game is the most popularly used, as it's simpler to work with than the HD re-releases and has an English patch to allow for the same accessibility among English-speaking modders.

** Kairi is supposed to be Sora's LoveInterest, while Riku is supposed to be his platonic best friend. What does Sora do when he reunites with Kairi? He looks surprised before hugging her back, and doesn't really do much to indicate that he spent almost the entire first game and a good chunk of this one looking for her. What does he do when he sees Riku? [[HoYay Sora grabs Riku's hand, falls to his knees, and bursts into tears]].[[note]]Now, there IS context behind this, as Sora had been led to believe Riku was very possibly dead for much of the game and he himself asks Riku in this scene "Why didn't you let me know you were OK?" Comparatively, he knew Kairi was safe, albeit held hostage. Still, the reaction still comes off as a little extreme.[[/note]] Kairi's main consolation is that at least earlier Sora went to knees for her as well, albeit not in front of her and [[AintTooProudToBeg in a different, sadder context]] (and the HD remaster made it more apparent that he actually cried over her too in the Gummi Ship after learning she had been kidnapped by Axel.)

** [[spoiler:Goofy's DisneyDeath]] was most likely meant to come across as this, but [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt many players knew better.]]

** The [=PS4=] version was a mess before it was patched. While it cut down on load times and bumped up the frame rate to 60fps, every major glitch from the [=PS3=] version was still present, and the port added a slew of new issues. Originally, Square Enix did not properly adjust anything to the new frame rate, so certain bosses (like Vexen) could charge their attacks more quickly, Sora's Reaction Commands (like during the Grim Reaper fight) and abilities like Quick Run were shortened, and some things (like the Reaction Command for the cannon tower in Liliput) flat-out didn't work. The worst glitch of all was that the game could crash whenever you saved, which could potentially corrupt your files. The port was so bad [[https://www.polygon.com/2017/3/14/14923060/kingdom-hearts-ps4-collection-bugs-issues that it actually made the news,]] and after a series of patches, it finally seems to have gotten to a manageable level. A few new issues, like Luxord's command, have arose, but the game is much more playable.
** The PC port has a number of issues that people run into, such as weird audio glitches, crashes, and despite having the option to run higher than 60fps the game's logic forces the game down to that framerate limit during certain moments, resulting in stutters. In addition, all the glitches that existed in the [=PS4=] version that were never fixed are still in this port, although unlike the [=PS4/Xbox=] versions, you can cap the framerate to 30fps and these bugs will be fixed.

** Creator/JamesArnoldTaylor's performance as Jack Sparrow is widely disliked by fans, as not only does he sound nothing like Creator/JohnnyDepp, but he just sounds... ''off'' in general, which is odd to hear from an experienced voice actor like Taylor, though he confirmed years later that he sounded that way because he was recovering from a throat fungus at the time he recorded for the game. Even so, Jack would eventually be recast in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' with Jared Butler[[note]]Who had previously voicematched Depp as Jack and [[Film/TheLoneRanger Tonto]] in ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity''[[/note]] to much better reception.

** Kairi once she [[TookALevelInBadass broke away]] from her DamselInDistress role in the final world and fought alongside Riku. Except for the people who liked her better in ''KHI'' and say that this game [[DemotedToSatelliteLoveInterest demoted her]]. Yeah, [[BrokenBase the fandom never can agree on anything.]] [[note]]Although many people who derided Kairi in this game have had a reversal of opinion after ''KHIII'', where she undergoes severe BadassDecay compared to her portrayal here and is considered a DamselScrappy.[[/note]] The manga [[{{Xenafication}} had her break away from this earlier]], with her punching a Dusk, biting Axel to wrest free of him, escaping from her cell by tricking some Dusks, and punching Demyx in the face when caught. She also gets more screen-er, panel time to showcase her Keyblade-wielding ability, including against Xigbar.
** Similarly, Kairi's Keyblade, Destiny's Embrace, was originally hated by many for [[RealWomenDontWearDresses looking too girly.]] Then [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep it became an equipable Keyblade for Aqua]] and players found out first-hand how good it was in battle. Come ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIIIReMind'', and Kairi herself is able to wield it as a very strong ''playable character''.

** Squall/Leon was always a divisive character in ''Final Fantasy'' for his ridiculously distant and silent personality. It did not help he had to replace the iconic Cloud and did not reach his appeal. However, this game sees him as a more cheerful and mature character. While he lost his badassery in the manga, he retains in the game especially when teaming up with none other than Cloud.

** Yen Sid, Ansem the Wise, and Sora, all for the same reasons... prejudice against the Nobodies. Justifiable in some respects due to Ansem taking his hatred to the point of despising ''innocent'' Nobodies (Roxas and Naminé) and Sora's speech at the end seeming more than a little racist with his choice of words (Yen Sid, on the other hand, is just a neutral party who is only disclosing what little he knows about the Nobodies at the time rather than indulging in any active prejudice.) Though a [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance future game]] would [[CharacterDevelopment change]] Sora's views on them. Still, given the fact that in ''II'', Yen Sid, Ansem the Wise and Sora witness first-hand Nobodies and the Organization XIII attack worlds to try to turn people into Heartless, causing many destructions, they have a justification to not think highly of them.
** The Organization gets plenty of this, as well. Despite it being made clear with [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 recent]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance games]] that they were lied to from the start about there being one way to get hearts of their own (a Nobody can grow one back over time), don't have the option to leave and will be killed for trying, will be turned into Dusks if they're not doing a good enough job, and as this game shows, Xemnas doesn't let members know exactly what they'll be doing until they're already in, many still choose to see them as irredeemable psychopathic monsters who gleefully slaughter countless innocents for their goal. The truth is they don't seem to have a whole lot of choice in the matter, with the exceptions of [[BigBad Xemnas]] and [[TheDragon Xigbar.]]

** The real problem with the Underdrome is the ever changing rules. The Pain and Panic/Goddess of Fate cups are the most fair and fun with them. The Cerberus Cup places you under a strict time limit (and Cerberus itself knows to beat you out by keeping you out of his weak spots), and the Titan Cup puts you under a point system and relies on you to use Summons; which means spamming Stitch to get the most points from it. It's harder in the Final Mix version, as Stitch's Ohana! is brutally nerfed in terms of time allotted (that limit gauge drops even with combination and summon boost); but some have found using Peter Pan's Never Land to help with this.
** Obtaining Mythril materials becomes a pain later in the game. At first, you're practically tripping over the things, so it was no issue. However, when you need even more of them to make synthesis items, you're not going to be able to find any of them because no enemies drop them. Instead, you'll have to synthesize them up by using Twilight and Dense items, which aren't easily found until the second half of the game (if you can spawn the Nobodies) or until the endgame when you can easily farm those materials.
** [=AntiForm=] is meant to punish players for being over-reliant on Drive Forms, but it does its job too well. [=AntiForm=] will randomly manifest when entering a Drive Form, strips Sora of almost every defensive option he has (no guard, no magic, no items, no Limits, no Reaction Commands, no party members), lowers his defense on top of that, renders him unable to pick up HP/MP Orbs, and prevents manual Drive reversion until combat is over. Getting it at an inopportune time can effectively guarantee death. [[GuideDangIt The game also does nothing to explain how it even triggers]][[note]]Every time you use a Drive Form (other than Final Form) in battle, a hidden counter goes up by one. Once it hits 5, you have a chance of triggering [=AntiForm=]. Entering [=AntiForm=] then reduces the counter by 5 (4 in the original version).[[/note]], which means an unwitting player will probably activate it unless they already know the mechanics beforehand. Not helping matters that is the chance of getting [=AntiForm=] increases during scripted battles and most boss fights, when a player is most inclined to use Drive Forms.

** Two Become One in ''Final Mix'' is useful for a short period for its high Strength and Magic values and is useful for obtaining Final Form, but after unlocking Final Form it becomes an active hindrance because it locks all other Drive forms to transform Sora into Antiform instead. Even if used as a secondary Keyblade for one of Sora's Drive Forms, it still has no active ability and is overshadowed by other Keyblades.

* SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer: [[PaletteSwap Quite]] [[MetalSlime literally]] in the case of the Gummi Ship levels. Going as far as to perfect and complete every mission doesn't even do anything game-wise except give you {{Bragging Rights Reward}}s and make it slightly easier to beat the later Gummi levels (and a trophy in the ''II.5'' version).[[note]]It does one important thing in the Final Mix version: it's required in Standard mode in order to see the hidden "Birth By Sleep" movie, along with completing the journal, completing every world, and getting the three proofs.[[/note]] But it's still fun to blow up ''at least'' two ships that are about 100 times the size of your own, [[StuffBlowingUp let alone everything else]].

** The game slogs during the prologue due to extremely limited options (Roxas is stuck with basic combos that he tends to drop and a couple of abilities) and lack of enemy variety, compounded by [[ProlongedPrologue its sheer length of approximately 3 hours]]. It picks up significantly once control switches to Sora, as he starts to stockpile new abilities and encounter more enemy types.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Atlantica's musicals have their ups-and-downs, with "Swim This Way" being outright loathed, and Ariel [[TookALevelInDumbass taking levels in dumbass]], but general reaction is mixed ([[AmericansHateTingle unless you're American]]), since at least "Part of Your World",[[note]]Jodi Benson returning from her role in the movie definitely helps[[/note]] "Under the Sea" and "Ursula's Revenge" are tolerable, and "A New Day is Dawning" is mediocre but not as irritating as "Swim This Way".
* StrawmanHasAPoint: When Xemnas says how he and the rest were turned away from both the light and the dark, and never had a choice, he's just testing them, and the point obviously doesn't apply to him(or Xigbar for that matter) but there is a valid point to be had for some of the others, particularly the non-founding members, who were never part of the [[spoiler:Heartless experiments]] They didn't ask to have their worlds destroyed and their hearts ripped out of them, and they weren't told what little say they had in the matter (a member of Org.XIII or mutated cannon fodder) until after they were turned and initiated.
* StrangledByTheRedString: The ending of this game and the credits of the ''2.8 Final Chapter Prologue'' HD collection indicates that Roxas and Naminé, Nobodies of Sora and Kairi, are intended to be a romantic pairing. The problem is that whereas Sora and Kairi share a history and close friendship, Roxas and Naminé have only a few interactions that are largely based around plot exposition - Roxas himself shows much more closeness with Hayner, Pence, Olette, Axel and [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 Xion]] than he ever does with Naminé, so pairing them together comes out of left field and only seems to be on the basis that if Sora and Kairi are in love then their Nobodies have to be.

** Demyx summons water clones. If you don't defeat them in time, this triggers a NonStandardGameOver as Demyx walks up to an exhausted Sora and the game does a FadeToBlack. When low on health, he will summon 99 clones and gives you 30 seconds to live. There is an ActionCommand to pre-empt his performance, but you need to be [[GetBackHereBoss close to him.]]

** A strange example of this is [[spoiler:Roxas' "Duel" reaction command, not because it's dangerous if you lose, but rather it's dangerous if you ''win'', since, without his Keyblades, Roxas will just start {{Beam Spam}}ming everywhere he goes, becoming a far more unpredictable opponent.]]

** Of the Absent Silhouette battles, Larxene is one of the hardest of the lot, no thanks to her gratuitous spamming of Thundaga that is likely to juggle you through the air endlessly. And then all Hell breaks loose as she starts making clones of herself and zipping around the arena at the speed of lightning. By the time you see her about to start a combo, it's usually too late to defend yourself as she's already started hitting you. And that's ignoring her DesperationAttack of a highly-damaging spinning beam of lightning that's nigh-impossible to avoid unless you have an upgraded High Jump.
** Not one to be outdone is Absent Silhouette Vexen, though less for Vexen himself and more for the Anti-Sora replica he sics on you. As he copies your data via the moving emblem on the ground, a bar fills up. Once it fills all the way, a duplicate of Sora in [=AntiForm=] spawns that simply ''will not leave you alone'', locking you into painful, seemingly-endless combos. If you get rid of it, another will spawn when the bar fills again, this time with more health and higher stats. So, just get rid of Vexen quick, right? Well, given that his shield has its own lifebar that has to be depleted so you can wail on Vexen before he spawns another one, it's not that simple. And that's ignoring the constant ice attacks he slings at you from safety.
** Marluxia is another agonising Absent Silhouette battle, less so for his attacks and more for his gimmick. At the start of the fight, he unavoidably casts Doom on Sora, giving him a counter above his head that goes down by one each time his (otherwise nondamaging) scythe attacks hit their mark, and when the counter hits 0, Sora buys the farm then and there. It doesn't matter how well you do or how much HP you have, get hit too much, and you lose, no questions asked, basically requiring you to know which combos Marluxia will use ahead of time and how to get around his near-unavoidable Desperation Attack. And that's not counting the massive bramble patches he makes that carve off most of your HP in one touch and reduce the size of the battlefield in one fell swoop.

** The first visit to Port Royal. Most fights are against the cursed undead pirates, who are invincible unless they're standing in the moonlight, and there's a long, difficult forced encounter against them where Sora and co. need to protect the cursed medallion while also being shot at by ''The Black Pearl'''s cannons.

** Some of the sidequests have insane requirements to clear with the best rating. This got so outrageous that some people find it easier to earn the SequelHook movies by beating the game on [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels Proud]] mode (requiring just clearing all the worlds) rather than Standard mode (requiring OneHundredPercentCompletion).
** The Paradox Cups. Enemies are at a ridiculously high level compared to normal gameplay, and the last one, the Hades Paradox Cup, is a '''''50-round battle''''', with the rules changing every 10 rounds, with battles against Yuffie and Tifa, Blizzard Lord, Pete, Cloud and Tifa, Hades, Leon and Cloud, and Cerberus. If you make it to round 49, you have to face [[WolfpackBoss Leon, Yuffie, Tifa, and Cloud]] all at the same time as Sora ALONE, and then if you somehow manage to win that round, you have to face Hades AGAIN, though this time with Hercules helping you. Thankfully, you get a checkpoint every tenth round so if you die, you get to continue from that point.
** The Magic Carpet minigame in Agrabah falls into this. To get 100% completion, you need to defeat 65 Heartless before reaching the end. Easier said than done. The best way to get the 65 kills is to equip the Negative Combo ability, the Fenrir keychain, and remove all the Combo Plus and Air Combo Plus abilities. However, getting the Fenrir requires that the player has defeated ''[[{{superboss}} Sephiroth]]''.

** To unlock one trophy, you need to score 5,000 points on at least one skateboard minigame. You'd be lucky to even get even 1,000 in Twilight Town or Hollow Bastion, or 3,000 under 30 seconds in Halloween Town.

** After spending much of the prologue acting as the TheConscience to Roxas, Naminé essentially disappears from the game (outside of an extra cutscene in ''Final Mix'') and doesn't show up again until the final act of the game, which is especially noticeable considering how much prominence in the plot of ''Chain of Memories''. The same holds true for [=DiZ=] as well, which is particularly strange when he has an important HeelRealization ''entirely offscreen!''
** Mulan is perhaps the second biggest victim on the Disney side of things. In the film, her character arc centered around how she was able to use ingenuity and grit to measure up to her male contemporaries on the battlefield. In ''Kingdom Hearts II'', however, she has the misfortune of being paired alongside three RPG protagonists who immediately outshine her and reduce her to a background character in her own plot. As a result, her only stand-out moment is causing an avalanche to stop Shan-Yu's Heartless army, which not only looks less necessary due to the low amount of models that can appear onscreen in the cutscene, but has significantly less effect than in the film due to the Heartless respawning after the avalanche ends. While Mulan is allowed to be more battle capable once she stops pretending to be a man, her moment of defeating Shan-Yu isn't even attributed to her such as later moments of Simba defeating Scar or Tron defeating Sark. Even the second visit does little to alleviate the issue, taking Mulan's pillar climbing idea and giving it to Sora, showing Mulan struggling to climb said pillar in comparison to Sora due to her training montage being removed, and ultimately needing to be saved from a falling Heartless by Shang at the world's conclusion.

** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX Vivi Ornitier]], who is the most famous individual BlackMage in the ''Final Fantasy'' franchise and looks the part in both ''Kingdom Hearts'' and his game of origin - given that Donald's default Mage's Staff has a little Black Mage figure on the end, the connection could have easily been made. Vivi's magical abilities could have been made into HiddenDepths of some kind, even with his role as a resident of Twilight Town, but instead he acts and is treated as a "normal person" (outside of his virtual self's sudden glitching) and his mage-like design is an UnusuallyUninterestingSight.
* ToughActToFollow: ''II Final Mix'' is considered the pinnacle of the series' gameplay by many (especially players who have done ''Critical Mode'' or done other challenge playthroughs), thanks to its robust combo based battle system, solid boss and enemy design, a wide variety of combat options which remain viable and useful throughout the game, and a lot of fun optional and postgame content including a plethora of challenging and memorable {{Superboss}}es. Many of the games released afterwards have been criticized for their perceived failure in matching or exceeding [=''KHIIFM''=] in these areas.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: The Nobodies. They are played as disposable monsters without hearts, incapable of any emotion. Still, despite their blatantly evil acts, some fans empathize with the Nobodies' desire to obtain hearts. It doesn't help that they act out what they remember of their emotions, making it easy to forget that they're technically uncaring. It also doesn't help that [[spoiler:Roxas]] is a Nobody, and definitely seems to still have feelings, though he's said to be a special case because [[spoiler:he was created with Ven's heart]]. Interestingly, there are two scenes where the Nobodies straight out acknowledge that they are emotionless. Twice, one of them gets a big speech on how they're in the right, one talking about the pain of not having a heart... then Sora points out that they can't have pain, as they don't have a heart. The response? To completely shift out, and basically tell Sora, "Okay, ya got me." This behavior mimics that of real-life sociopaths.

** The game was already really well-received, but ever since the improved ''Final Mix'' version was finally released outside of Japan in 2014, the game's reputation has risen dramatically among fans, and the plots of the games released since have been even ''more'' [[KudzuPlot confounding]] than this game's plot was criticized as being. Now there are far more people who say it's [[EvenBetterSequel better than the original game]] than those who say it doesn't match up.

** The Roxas prologue was initially one of the most dreaded and lambasted parts of the game upon its release due to its having very little to do with the characters from the first game or the Disney worlds, to the point that a prominent reviewer at the time criticized ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' as "[[TheScrappy Scrappy]]-[[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Doo]] getting his own game". As time went on fans started warming up to it, as Roxas himself has become a more popular and integral character within the franchise, with even some detractors of the character still admitting that his part in this game (namely the prologue) and in ''Days'' was preferable to his role in the franchise going forward, aside from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' and its DLC where his role (this time as one of the most powerful Guardians of Light) was widely praised (and, in an [[{{Irony}} ironic twist]], he becomes playable again but is just as powerful as Sora at that point if not more).

** Combining two Negative Combo skills, two Finishing Plus skills, and a Combo Master skill can allow you to use [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK4BMz2SHQ4 a devastating infinite combo]]. Just make sure not to use the last combo hit until it's time for the killshot, and don't drop the combo, and {{Superboss}}es can go down like dominoes.
** Horizontal Slash has incredibly high stunning power ''and'' damage; with Berserk Charge, a sufficient Strength value, and [[DifficultButAwesome consistent precise timing on your button presses]], it's possible to use it to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ELEsChMFjc defeat Lingering Will in a single extended combo]].
** Goofy's LimitBreak, Teamwork, is the strongest attack in the game, at least until it was {{nerf}}ed in ''Final Mix''. It can shred through practically any boss's health in the matter of seconds, even on higher difficulties, and this attack is unlocked [[DiscOneNuke before the game's halfway point]].

** Sora's form in Timeless River (dubbed Retro Form by the fandom) makes him look like a character created by Creator/OsamuTezuka, the grandfather of anime that was also trained by Disney.
** The ability rings with gems set in them (Sardonyx, Tourmaline, etc) all have Dragonscript etched into them that states the name of the gem set in the ring.

** It's possible to clip through the map in the Cavern of Remembrance and reach the Garden of Assemblage without having to do any of the scripted fights. Entering the room this way also gives you the Proof of Nonexistence without having to do the Data-Organization fights, though you can't do any of them because the proper event flags don't get set.

** As mentioned in GameBreaker above, exploiting the negative combo ability and disabling select abilities enables you to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iX4qtTbN2o defeat bosses, such as Lingering Will, with relative ease]]. The boss programming wasn't set up to account for this, allowing you to jump-and-swing repeatedly to put them into CycleOfHurting, with some practice. Doubles as a CheeseStrategy.
** In the HD English version of ''Final Mix,'' Duck Flare does a ''lot'' more damage [[https://youtu.be/gDUgL7ZgfVM?si=YAHgVyif1qc4VPo- due to lasting about 6 seconds longer than it should and it hasn't been patched out.]]

** Track #13 on the soundtrack is Roxas' Theme. Track #14 is Sora's. [[spoiler:Xion, the fourteenth "member" in ''Days'' is a replica that was absorbing Sora's memories, thus keeping him from waking up. [[HeroicBSOD She didn't take it well]] and ultimately forced Roxas to kill her.]]
** [[spoiler:[[AccidentalTruth "Oh, we do too have hearts! Don't be mad..."]] This line from Demyx takes more meaning when ''Dream Drop Distance'' reveals that they do indeed have hearts.]]
** On that note, this is the only ''Kingdom Hearts'' game that ''explicitly'' [[FantasticRacism dehumanize]] the Nobodies. Once you play the later games (most notably ''[[PunchClockVillain Days]]'' and ''coded'', the latter of which has a [[InnocuouslyImportantEpisode surprisingly heavy]] WhatMeasureIsANonHuman theme) and, especially, learn TheReveal in ''Dream Drop Distance'', it can be hard to watch the cutscenes involving Nobodies in this game again.
** The tagline for ''KHII'' ("The story is not over") is either this or HilariousInHindsight depending on how one takes to [[ArcFatigue the amount of time it's taken the series to get to]] an actual ''KHIII'' [[note]]''0.2 Birth By Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage'' (2017) marks, remakes and updated rereleases notwithstanding, the ''sixth'' non-numbered game released after ''KHII'' (2005), whereas ''KH:[=CoM=]'' (2004) was the only game between the original ''Kingdom Hearts'' (2002) and ''KHII''[[/note]], the various [[TheReveal twists]] each subsequent game brings to the table, and the fact that ''KHIII'', according to WordOfGod, is merely the end of [[StoryArc the Xehanort Saga]], not the series as a whole.
** Visiting [[{{Film/Tron}} Space Paranoids]] can be this for people who have seen the [[Film/TronLegacy sequel]], [[spoiler:knowing what happens to Tron]]. It only gets worse with VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance, when [[spoiler:Sora has to fight Tron's brainwashed form, Rinzler]]. Though this is somewhat mitigated by the fact the Tron you meet in ''Kingdom Hearts II'' is only a copy of the Tron from ''The Grid'', it still doesn't make it any easier, especially when [[spoiler:Rinzler]] shares Tron's heart.
** During [[spoiler:Goofy's "death" scene]], Donald apologizes about ice cream. When the game came out, it seemed like a random NoodleIncident. However, play through ''358/2 Days'' and it hurts a lot more due to [[spoiler:ice cream is what Roxas asked about when Xion was ''actually'' dying because he didn't know any other way to express what he was feeling.]]

** On a related note, Sora quips to Saix "Not a very organized Organization!" shortly after Axel displays his treachery. [[spoiler:By the time of ''III'', Xehanort made ''sure'' that the revived Organization XIII wouldn't be as defective. This is subverted to HilariousInHindsight when it turns out in ''III'' proper that even more members of the newly remade Organization started to defect, such as Vexen, Demyx, and ironically Saix himself.]]
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: [[spoiler:Tron suddenly getting emotions after the MCP battle becomes one after playing [=KH3D=], which not only reveals that programs are like Nobodies, in that they don't have hearts, but that anything with a mind can grow a heart in no time. As Tron started out as TheStoic, his friendship with Sora allowed a heart to grow within him]].

** The final Gummi mission, Assault of the Dreadnought, is a direct shout out to ''Franchise/StarWars''. As of October 2012, Disney now owns Star Wars! "Dreadnought" was also the name of a ship class owned by the First Order in ''Film/TheLastJedi'', the third of Disney's Star Wars films.
** When Roxas finds out that his whole life in Twilight Town has been a lie, he gets so infuriated that [[PercussiveTherapy he starts smashing up all the computers in the room with his Keyblade]] in a way that's almost identical to how Kylo Ren would later smash controls with his lightsaber in a fit of rage in ''Film/TheForceAwakens''.
** The end of the prologue is eerily similar to the climax of ''Film/TheLastJedi''; [[spoiler:Roxas attacks a projection of [=DiZ=]/Ansem the Wise, just like how Kylo Ren attacks one of Luke Skywalker]]. The Kylo Ren/Roxas parallels would reach HarsherInHindsight come ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', where [[spoiler:Ren gives up his lifeforce to revive Rey before becoming one with the Force, just like how Roxas gives up his existence to revive Sora]].
** Demyx's infamous quote, "Dance, water, dance!", is a take of "Dance Magic Dance" from ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', another Lucasfilm franchise that Disney acquired when they obtained ''Star Wars''.
** Xemnas's "Ethereal Blades" also look exactly like lightsabers sticking out of his hands, and even make a similar noise.
** In the ''Final Mix'' version of Christmas Town, Sora, Donald and Goofy change their appearances from their Halloween Town counterparts. Now tell us [[http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/File:Donald_Snowman.png Donald's appearance]] doesn't remind you of [[Franchise/{{Frozen}} a certain other snowman]]. Becomes even ''more'' hilarious when ''Frozen'' actually appeared as a world in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', where Sora sees Olaf for the first time and tells Donald...

** During the battle with Hades, in order to make him vulnerable to attacks, you need to whack an "Aura Sphere" that Hercules would create towards him. ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', which introduces a Fighting-type move with the same name, was released a year later.

** In Beast's Castle, after meeting the servants and learning about the curse placed on them, Donald suggests that they go after the Enchantress, with the servants telling him they don't need to. She physically appears in the [[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017 live-action remake]] nearly 12 years after the game's release [[spoiler:and outright lifts the curse herself]].

** The background music for Disney Castle opens with a near identical drum riff as the opening logo for Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox. In 2019, Disney bought Fox. Retroactively, you could say Fox became the first Disney acquired studio to be represented in a Kingdom Hearts game, nearly a decade and a half before Creator/{{Pixar}} made its Kingdom Hearts debut in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII KH3]]''.
** After the fight with Sephiroth, Cloud and Sephiroth duke it out and then they mysteriously vanish, with Sora saying that they "went somewhere else" and that Cloud "went to fight a great battle to defeat the darkness inside him", Considering that Cloud and Sephiroth both made it into ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' and have been absent from ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' (even with Aerith, Yuffie and Cid along with Leon returning in the latter), those words suddenly have a new meaning. Even better, Sora ends up joining the two in ''Super Smash Bros.'', meaning all three are now "fighting a great battle"!

** At the end of Sora's second visit to the ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' world, Jack tries to steal his keyblade and, when thwarted, vows to find a way to keep it for himself. ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity 3.0'' features a keyblade as an unlockable weapon, meaning Jack would eventually get to use it after all.

** Putting context aside, just TRY to compare when Sora reunites with Kairi to when he reunites with Riku.

* ItsEasySoItSucks: This game is criticized for being the easiest game in the franchise, thanks in part to ActionCommands added in that make defeating bosses much easier. Fortunately, the ''Final Mix'' adds in Critical Mode to gave players more of a challenge.

* LoveToHate: [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} Hades]], [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Oogie Boogie]] and the [[Film/{{Tron}} Master Control Program]], all of whom are already popular with their respective fandoms. Organization XIII would count as well, especially Xigbar.

** Ursula. Aside from Atlantica's shift to being a RhythmGame, "Ursula's Revenge" is the song that introduces ButtonMashing notes, which give so many points that you could ignore literally every other mechanic and still clear the song. For that matter, in-story Ursula loses when Sora lands a single Keyblade hit on her hand, sending Triton's trident flying into Eric's boat, and he hurls it through her torso. In the meantime Ursula's shows of power with the trident during "Ursula's Revenge" amounts to just waving it back and forth as the heroes duck under the water to avoid it.
** Saïx. His presence in the story is menacing enough, as Xemnas's [[TheDragon right-hand man]] and the last boss fight before him. However, fighting him is fairly straightforward, unlike with all the other members of Organization XIII, and his unique gimmick seems to only [[BlessedWithSuck make him weak when he's not using it]], rather than strong when he is. In his normal form, he can be disarmed easily with a well-timed attack, guard, or reflect, and even in Berserk form, he only has a few attacks which are predictable and simple to avoid until he calms down, especially if you've been leveling up Final Form and can glide out of his way fast enough. And that's if you don't [[TacticalSuicideBoss abuse the reaction command]] on the claymores that Saïx [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks keeps throwing around]], which does massive damage on his normal form and drops him out of Berserk immediately. There is also a fairly well-known strategy of using Peter Pan to engage in CherryTapping, which stunlocks him and prevents him from being able to fight back even in his superboss rematch.
* {{Asspull}}:

** When Ansem's Kingdom Hearts encoder machine explodes, it changes Riku back to normal. There's no real reason given as to why outside of some FiveSecondForeshadowing where Ansem says "anything could happen".

** The final Roxas vs. Axel is made between walls of fire, a burning floor and Roxas dual-wields Keyblades out of nowhere. A lot of players would have like to play more as dual-wielder Roxas.

** Although Sephiroth has become easier compared to the first game, his boss fight is still a challenge and is considered more fun and dynamic than his fight in the first game, featuring rapid sword combos, Shadow Flares, Meteor swarms, and as the fight goes on he becomes even more erratic and dangerous. It also marks Creator/GeorgeNewbern's iconic debut as the character's voice in the English dub.
** In ''Final Mix'', the Sora vs. Roxas fight in the Dive to the Heart, with Roxas dual-wielding Oathkeeper and Oblivion against you. The entire reason the fight happens is because Sora's bond with Axel has awakened Roxas within him, and Roxas is once again attempting to assert his individuality by overpowering Sora. Aside from the story set-up, the fight is against a LightningBruiser Keyblade warrior just as skilled as you, and a Reaction Command lets you steal Roxas' keyblades and wield them against him.

** Groundshaker. Easily one of the largest Heartless bosses in the series, it consists of a masked monkey-like shaman riding a dinosaur/rhino creature, each with two faces. Sora has the option to fight it on the ground, or to [[ColossusClimb jump up onto its back]] to fight the shaman body. The implication that it's Scar's Heartless only makes things better - in fact, it paved the way for more Disney villain Heartless bosses in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', specifically [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} the Grim Guardianess]] and [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Sköll]].
** Nobody can forget the amazing multi-tiered final battle against [[BigBad Xemnas]]. Even grander and more epic in scale than the previous game's final Ansem battle (which took place around a single huge battleship), the battle has Sora and co. slicing through and leaping across buildings to take down Xemnas' floating fortress, then flying through outer space to infiltrate Xemnas' huge dragon-ship and finally leading to a final showdown of Sora and Riku vs. the man himself. It's all topped off by some of the best and grandest boss music the franchise has to offer. As a result, it's often considered not only the best final boss of the Kingdom Hearts series thus far, but also one of the greatest boss battles of all time.
** The Grim Reaper Heartless at the end of the second visit to Port Royal. It's not ''that'' challenging, but the use of the cursed Aztec gold as a game mechanic is ''inspired'' - it will take the gold for itself to become cursed and gain invincibility, forcing you to make sure all the gold is back in the chest where it belongs in order to damage it. This results in a tug of war just as much as a boss fight. It helps that the mechanic doesn't extend the fight too long to be repetitive, and you get a really cool react move to stop it from sucking up all the gold (aka ''stealing its scythe and throwing it in its face''). It's also what causes Jack, Will and Elizabeth to just take the chest and ''send it to the bottom of the sea'', since they realize that Organization XIII and the Heartless can abuse its curse to their advantage.

** Riku, at least until the end. [[spoiler:Before that, he's a stiff and rather mopey Silent Protector for the main characters and who has given up combating the darkness and has taken on the appearance of "Ansem" for some vaguely defined reason that gets explained with a HandWave, and [[VoodooShark raises more questions than it answers]]. At least he kind of makes up for it as the unique partner in The World That Never Was]].
** Axel. A defenseless Kairi manages to escape from him twice, with the second time being ''off-screen'', and who flees from Saix the moment he shows up despite having gone toe-to-toe with Marluxia in the special edition of the previous game.

** Roxas. Tragic hero or biggest time-sink ever? [[TakeAThirdOption Or]] [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter tragic hero saddled with]] [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs the biggest time sink ever?]] Depends on how you felt about the [[ProlongedPrologue Prologue]].

* BestLevelEver:
** Halloween Town, for expanding on the already well-recived world of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' from the last game and adding so much more. The ''Final Mix'' edition adding new Christmas-themed costumes for Sora, Donald, and Goofy certainly helped as well.

** The gameplay shifting away from exploring to battles from the first game. The first game had more emphasis on exploring but the battlefield can be claustrophobic at times. The second game, the wide open areas makes it easier to read the battles, at the cost of making the level design feel lifeless. This is a big reason the game was considered more of a ContestedSequel at launch (along with the lack of bonus ''Final Mix'' content), as fans hadn't yet cracked open [=KH2=]'s combat system and Critical Mode wasn't available yet.

** [=DiZ=] is [[spoiler:Ansem the Wise]]. If Square Enix wanted to make the reveal surprising, they shouldn't have [[spoiler:cast Christopher Lee and his immediately recognizable voice]].
** Ansem, Seeker of Darkness [[spoiler:turns out to actually be Riku stuck in the form of Ansem. This becomes very obvious when one considers the fact Riku and "Ansem" were both shown working with [=DiZ=], that Ansem claimed his darkness still lingered in Riku at the end of ''Chain of Memories'', and "Ansem" is wielding Riku's weapon. The Final Mix version makes it even more obvious thanks to the addition of a scene where Riku frees Naminé and Axel as thanks for helping at Castle Oblivion]] yet the game doesn't expect the player to know till the final world.

** For many fans, that would be the boss battle with [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Scar]]. Given he murdered Mufasa, lied to Simba and forced him into exile, and tried to force the lionesses into cannibalism by attacking and eating Sora, being able to fight Scar for all his crimes is a huge catharsis for fans of the film after waiting for eleven years.
** Ever wanted to give [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} Shan Yu]] his just desserts for ambushing the village and slaughtering tons of innocent people, including children? Well this game gives you the satisfaction to give him the beating he deserves.
** Just in case you didn't get your fill of beating up the Disney villans that terrified you throughout childhood in ''I'', this game gives you the opportunity to beat up Hades, Jafar, Oogie Boogie, and Ursula ([[MusicalEpisode sort of]]) again.
* CommonKnowledge: Creator/BillyZane not returning for the role of Ansem Seeker of Darkness is often claimed/believed to be due to a RoleEndingMisdemeanor relating to a film he was in that was critical of the UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. Despite being pretty commonly stated as fact in the community, no such evidence in relation to ''Kingdom Hearts'' exists, and Billy Zane wasn't the only actor to not be brought back for the game (Leon for example). When asked by fans, Zane himself was unsure why he wasn't brought back.

** This game is the start of the "Mash X" combat criticism for the series. This refers to the fact that melee attacks in either the Sword or Shield path can get ''really damn strong'' if you set up the right abilities and equip the proper keyblades, which makes it so the combat degenerates into the player mindlessly mashing the X button. This gets even worse with the advent of Drives, which seriously benefit from this kind of mindset -- especially Valor Form. [[HarderThanHard Critical Mode]], on the other hand, will likely quash all players expectations for this kind of gameplay and outright force them into using their other tools like magic, summons, and limits, which will likely give them a better appreciation for the combat system. Bonus bosses on any difficulty are also likely to force players to think outside the box and look more closely at what the game is doing.
** It is extremely common for players to choose the Shield at the start of the game. ''II'''s restructured progression system means that Sora gets most of his offensive abilities from specific {{event flag}}s regardless of your ability tree choice, so picking Shield is favorable to learn Second Chance and Once More as early as possible.
** Many players end up using mostly two keyblades for actual combat: Hero's Crest and Decisive Pumpkin. This is because they have abilities that boost the damage of your finishers according to how many hits your combo has (Hero's Crest boosting aerial finishers and Decisive Pumpkin boosting ground-based ones). This significantly increases your overall damage output, in comparison to the benefits the other keyblades offer which tend to be much more situational or just not very good.

** The Hot Rod Heartless. Besides having a lot of health, they enter a berserk mode when their health goes down, which makes them charge at Sora 3 times. During this time they're completely invincible, and they can enter this berserk mode over and over again if they want to. In addition, they come in pairs on top of being accompanied by other Heartless. Their presence is the reason why Timeless River, particularly the "Scene of the Fire" battle, is considered ThatOneLevel by fans.
** Dancer Nobodies have a move where they turn invincible, slide across the floor towards Sora at high speed, grab him, swing him around, and throw him away. It is completely unblockable, very difficult to dodge or interrupt (the best option in response is to spam Magnet and pray they get caught in it), and deals a ton of damage (or kill in Critical Mode). The Titan Cup and especially the Titan Paradox Cup are made into nightmares because of the battle where there are three Dancers.

** Regarding the new worlds introduced, due to RuleOfCool, Space Paranoids seems to get more attention from the fanbase (especially in Japan) than most of the other Disney worlds, especially because of Sora's computer armor. And with RuleOfCute, the Pride Lands also has gained some love.
** Pete, who became known as the [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Team Rocket]] of Kingdom Hearts after this game.
** Iago has gotten some popularity from fans grateful for the series adapting his HeelFaceTurn from ''Return of Jafar''.

** Many have been inclined to believe that this Auron is not an AlternateUniverse version, but '''''THE''''' Auron from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' thanks to the fact that the words heard when Sora obtains the Auron statue are his quotes from his pilgrimage with Braska and Jecht and [[spoiler:Auron leaving behind pyreflies]] when seen at the Olympus Coliseum during the credits. [[spoiler:A joint theory goes on to say that Auron wound up in the ''KH'' universe after his death at the hands of Yunalesca in ''FFX''. After dispersing into pyreflies at the end of ''KHII'', he goes on to Dream Zanarkand, effectively setting ''FFX'' into motion. Said theory is used to explain why Auron has his youthful appearance as seen in flashbacks.]]

* EndingFatigue: The World That Never Was is long, large dungeon full of powerful enemies. While this is to be expected of TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, it's long even by that standard. There's no less than three bosses along the way (as well as a fourth in ''Final Mix''), and there's also a lot of long, story-critical cutscenes to watch. Then you finally get to Xemnas and beat him, and as expected from Square Enix he goes OneWingedAngel for a SequentialBossFight. However, as the heroes begin to walk away, it turns out Xemnas is NotQuiteDead, leading to a ''second'' SequentialBossFight, and finally, at long last, his final form. By the time round three of this fight starts, you're probably screaming "Will you just ''die'' already?!" when Xemnas shows up on your monitor.

** Fans commonly refer to Xemnas as "Mansex" - an anagram of his name. This paved the way for Bigrax for Xigbar, E-Sexual for Lexaeus, and finally Rentx-a-ho (Rents a ho) for Xehanort.

** The [[{{superboss}} Lingering Will]] was (and still is) referred to as "Terra", the name of its original self (including by Sora, Aqua and Ventus in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''). This is only partly accurate; Terra's essence was actually split between three entities, with the Will being his soul, Terra-Xehanort using his body, and [[spoiler: Ansem's / Xehanort's Dark Figure]] containing his heart.

** A ''lot'' of the franchise's storytelling issues can be traced back to this game. It's the first one to majorly retcon previous events (Ansem's origin in this case), the ContinuityLockOut gets a proper start up, due to the plot springing off the back of a handheld spinoff, and the plot takes its first steps towards the [[KudzuPlot Kudzu]]. But it's all restrained enough that if you were to take ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' as a standalone trilogy, it all still feels like a satisfying, ''understandable'' story.

** Building a Gummi ship with a hole in the center. Enemy ships will always try to target the middle of the ship, which means all enemy fire except bombs and kamikaze attacks will go right through, rendering it practically invincible.

** All the new Organization XIII fights and the data battles of the old and new organization members from the ''Final Mix'' add a lot of variety to create some memorable and fun challenges. Except perhaps the data versions of Xaldin, Vexen and Demyx. Most find them too annoying to be enjoyable.

** All the new Organization XIII fights and the data battles of the old and new organization members from the ''Final Mix'' add a lot of variety to create some memorable and fun challenges.

* OnceOriginalNowCommon: Port Royal is often criticized by modern audiences for its UnintentionalUncannyValley and the visual dissonance going on between the realistically designed locals and the cartoonish Sora and friends, but the world's art design was seen as incredibly groundbreaking when the game was new. "Realistic" character models with that level of detail weren't really a thing in 2005, especially for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, so it was actually ''super'' impressive that Square was able to get them to work and move in an action game. On top of this is the fact that [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome the pirates change between their cursed and human forms without skipping a beat in battle]].

** [=AntiForm=] is meant to punish players for being over-reliant on Drive Forms, but it does its job too well. [=AntiForm=] will randomly manifest when entering a Drive Form, strips Sora of almost every defensive option he has (no guard, no magic, no items, no Limits, no Reaction Commands, no party members), lowers his defense on top of that, renders him unable to pick up HP/MP Orbs, and prevents manual Drive reversion until combat is over. Getting it at an inopportune time can effectively guarantee death. [[GuideDangIt The game also does nothing to explain how it even triggers]][[note]]Every time you use a Drive Form other than Final Form, a hidden counter goes up by one. Once it hits 5, you have a chance of triggering [=AntiForm=]. Entering [=AntiForm=] then reduces the counter by 5 (4 in the original version).[[/note]], which means an unwitting player will probably activate it unless they already know the mechanics beforehand. Not helping matters that is the chance of getting [=AntiForm=] increases during scripted battles and most boss fights, when a player is most inclined to use Drive Forms.

** Saïx. His presence in the story is menacing enough, as Xemnas's [[TheDragon right-hand man]] and the last boss fight before him. However, fighting him is fairly straightforward, unlike with all the other members of Organization XIII, and his unique gimmick seems to only [[BlessedWithSuck make him weak when he's not using it]], rather than strong when he is. In his normal form, he can be disarmed easily with a well-timed attack, guard, or reflect, and even in Berserk form, he only has a few attacks which are predictable and simple to avoid until he calms down, especially if you've been leveling up Final Form and can glide out of his way fast enough. And that's if you don't [[TacticalSuicideBoss abuse the reaction command]] on the claymores that Saïx [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks keeps throwing around]], which does massive damage on his normal form and drops him out of Berserk immediately.

** The heroes finally find a way to enter the Organization's stronghold world, The World That Never Was, via a dark portal in the datascape version of Twilight Town. What really pushes it into this territory is that it's implicitly the same portal Axel used to enter Twilight Town in the prologue, meaning that this portal has remained open for days, possibly weeks, connecting the two worlds. To say nothing of the confusing concept of a portal from the ''data'' version of Twilight Town leading not only into the real universe, but into an entirely different world.

** After spending much of the prologue acting as the TheConscience to Roxas, Naminé essentially disappears from the game (outside of an extra cutscene in ''Final Mix'') and doesn't show up again until the final act of the game, which is especially noticeable considering how much prominence in the plot of ''Chain of Memories''.

* BadassDecay:

* FranchiseOriginalSin: A ''lot'' of the franchise's storytelling issues can be traced back to this game. It's the first one to majorly retcon previous events (Ansem's origin in this case), the ContinuityLockOut gets a proper start up, due to the plot springing off the back of a handheld spinoff, and the plot takes its first steps towards the [[KudzuPlot Kudzu]]. But it's all restrained enough that if you were to take ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'', and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' as a standalone trilogy, it all still feels like a satisfying, ''understandable'' story.

* SacredCow: ''[=KHII=]'' (particularly its Final Mix rerelease) is widely considered ''the'' best game in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' franchise, with fans using it as a gold standard against which to measure past and future games in the series. While criticism of the first ''Kingdom Hearts'' is acceptable due to its multiple {{Scrappy Mechanic}}s, criticizing this game (apart from [[ScrappyMechanic Atlantica]]) is a surefire way to get the entire fandom to gang up on you.

** The first Xemnas fight fought one on one with just Sora is considered by many to be a massive disappointment, as the fight plays out like an incredibly toned down version of the famously brutal {{Superboss}} he was in ''KHI Final Mix'', but with a few select attacks removed and his aggressiveness turned way down. It's not hard for a player who came in from ''Final Mix'' to this game to feel more than a bit let down. Thankfully, Xemnas's other forms more than make up for it, as does the data version of this battle in ''KHII Final Mix''.

** Creator/CoreyBurton replaces Creator/MiguelFerrer as Shan Yu. Some fans were confused as to why Creator/JimCummings (who's in the cast as Pete) didn't take over instead, as Burton's take is a bit lighter than Ferrer's and Cummings, who's voiced multiple {{Guttural Growler}}s before, would have likely done a far more accurate imitation.

* WTHCastingAgency:
** When it was announced that Music/JesseMcCartney would be voicing Roxas in the English version, quite a few people were quick to object with the decision. However, he was able to prove that [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct he could play the part well]].
** Creator/CoreyBurton replaces Creator/MiguelFerrer as Shan Yu. Some fans were confused as to why Creator/JimCummings (who's in the cast as Pete) didn't take over instead, as Burton's take is a bit lighter than Ferrer's and Cummings, who's voiced multiple {{Guttural Growler}}s before, would have likely done a far more accurate imitation.
** Creator/JamesArnoldTaylor's performance as Jack Sparrow is widely disliked by fans, as not only does he sound nothing like Creator/JohnnyDepp, but he just sounds... ''off'' in general, which is odd to hear from an experienced voice actor like Taylor, though he confirmed years later that he sounded that way because he was recovering from a throat fungus at the time he recorded for the game. Even so, Jack would eventually be recast in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' with Jared Butler[[note]]Who had previously voicematched Depp as Jack and [[Film/TheLoneRanger Tonto]] in ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity''[[/note]] to much better reception.

** Most bosses require a finisher move to kill them off, even if they are already at 1 HP. While making for a nice-looking coup de grace, many see this as just a waste of time.