And now, we leave the worst level in the game to go to the worst filler level in the game.

This world is another example of how the game just blatantly copy/pastes the story of the movie, and jury-rigs Sora, Donald, and Goofy into the mix as Mary Sues that solve all of the problems.

For that reason, I don’t have much more to add beyond what we said in the video.

From one of my favorite level, to what is easily my least favorite….

It’s amazing how quickly I can go from singing this game’s praises to groaning at how bad it is. Atlantica is, if anything, a microcosm for all that is wrong with Kingdom Hearts 2.

  • While easy and otherwise inoffensive, there’s nothing engaging about the musical segments. They’re nothing more than fluff.
  • The scenario is some of the most vapid writing I’ve seen from any Kingdom Hearts world. Not only is it blatantly coping from the first movie, but it does so in a way that almost directly contradicts the “character growth” that the people in the world underwent in the first game.
  • Facts revealed in this scenario (like the world *above* the sea), make me wonder just why we needed to blend in with the undersea world at all in the original Kingdom Hearts. Why not just land above the sea and interact with the people there.
If we never revisit Atlantica in another Kingdom Hearts game again, it’ll be too soon. It’s clear that nobody knows what to do with it.

This is Hollow… CHRISTMAS!

Please note that between the time we recorded this footage, and now, I have actually sat down to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas for the first time. When this was made, I had not seen the film.

Someone in the Square Enix offices is obviously a huge fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas, because out of all the Disney worlds, this one got the most love by far.

The script is so much more well written, they added a ton of cool little details into the Final Mix version, the enemy and scenario design is heads and shoulders above most other worlds. There is so much care than went into this level that I’m genuinely impressed by it.

Shame that the other worlds aren’t cared for as much.

Welcome to my personal hell.

I hate this world with a blinding, fevered passion. If you want a preview of my big problems with Atlantica, you can read about it in my post from way back in the day.

I touch on it here, but in truth we’ll need to wait until we come back a few times before I can really drive the point home. It’s bad, and just thinking about it makes me wonder why on earth did it turn out the way it did.

We skip Timeless River in favor of Port Royal instead.

When Sam and I talk about this game’s tendency to just recycle the stories from the movies they source from, this world is one of the worst offenders. Not only is this the same exact story, but it’s also the same shot more often than not. On top of the frequency in which they repeat scenes, it’s one of the worst ones in the game. It exists only to capitalize on the popularity of the franchise back when Kingdom Hearts came out.

It’s also just a strange world in general. The “realistic” visuals looked pretty good at the time, but it just hasn’t aged well at all. By modern standards, it just looks too uncanny. And to have Sora, Donald, and Goofy is juxtaposed to the much more washed out visuals of the world and characters is even worse. Sam’s right when he says it looks like it’s from a different game entirely.

When I went through this level way back when Kingdom Hearts 2 first came out, I was impressed by it. That said, it doesn’t hold up to the test of time. Nothing here is particular well done.

Witty intro setting up the episode you’re about to watch.
“Interesting”, long-winded discussion or critique of the material we covered in the episode. This could be anything from an elaboration of a point Sam or I made to a new avenue of discussion that only occurred to me when re-watching the video for the purpose of making the post.

Follow up to the previous paragraph, further elaborating on the points made as needed. Sometimes this is short, sometimes this can take multiple paragraphs.

End with a brief sign-off that either servers as a punch-line to a joke established in an earlier paragraph, or gives a nice stopping point for the reader.

Or I could just be an ass who didn’t have enough points to make for a good article on the nothing that just happened.

Let us finish what we started, with puns.

In a typical Hitman level, most of your time is spent figuring out what approach would be best to take out your target. What weapon will you use, when’s the best time to strike, how will 47 get out after the kill is completed, and remove all evidence of the crime?

Players are likely to screw up several times before they successfully complete the mission, one way or the other. What makes this mission different is that one of those questions is already answered for the player. What weapon will they use on the targets: The Viral Syringe (which is functionally identical to the Modern Lethal Syringe).

This would normally be fine, but this one question also answers several others. When and where is the best time to strike? The answer to that is basically any place and time where no one is looking at the target. How will 47 hide the evidence? He doesn’t need to. A Poison Kill is treated like an accident, so it doesn’t matter if the body is discovered.

Because of the particulars of how this weapon works, the tricky part is merely in finding where all three moving cogs (the viral syringe and the 2 targets) are. Since players can still restart until the first objective is complete, the most dangerous part of this mission is completely safe. You’ll notice that once I found where both targets were, I was able to quickly kill both of them, delete the evidence tape, and escape.

I think it’s good to experiment with new ways to add challenge to the Elusive Targets, but I think this experiment failed. This was just far too easy.

The filler never ceases!

I feel like I’m grading on a curve for this plot. Sure, it’s original, which makes it 10 times better than most of the Disney world stories in Kingdom Hearts 2. That said, there are too many little problems I have with it for me to think it’s more than bland, uninteresting filler.

It’s death by a thousand cuts. Nothing here is bad, it’s just mediocre all around.
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