i didn't really think kingdom hearts could be topped but i was wrong.
characters
ok starting with the characters, well i pretty much liked them all but the 13th order [organization 13 for the rest of you] was my favorite addition to the cast and to be honest the was not one that i hate. anyway they added a new idea to the game being they were all heartless [lacking hearts] which made them careless in a way, also it was nice to fight something other then heartless all the time.
with sora i was suprised at that the voice change mainly but i did like that he could swing the keyblade faster [if you watch closely he is a little faster] and could take alot more of a beating then last time.
riku who i was not that exited to see because of my impression i got from the first game in which he basicly stabbed his friends in the back and caused the whole mess. now this game he acts more like sora's friend rather then enemy and actually cares what happens to him.
kairi finally fights for herself this time and wasn't incompassitated the whole time.
i wasn't a big fan of roxas so sorry.
gameplay
i loved it. my favorite things were the boss fights i'd have to say which got more hairy then the first, well with the exeption of xemnas who i could probably kill blindfolded.
the drives made things fun and gave you something to work on improveing when you had nothing else to do [that's what i did anyway]
i liked all magic except cure i would have been happier if it didn't drain all my magic in one shot [needless to say i didn't use it much]
and i disliked the gummi ships to nothing, they were hard to build, you couldn't make them to be domate controllers of the sky, and the addition of bosses who would out of nowhere drop me dead, ticked me off something feirce. [yes unlike all of you other people i'd rather the shooting gallery]
i wish some of the reaction comands were dropped period.
graphics
whoo pretty.
anyway the graphics were beautiful just like before and the fact that they gave more of the characters the pretty renders that actually had facial expression, well with the exeption of a choice few and seph [poor seph]
the levels were huge and you had tons of place to run around and explore, well all execpt atlantis. i would have been happier with more heartless to kill in each place [i like to kill senslessly for entertainment]
sound
i didn't pay much attention to sound but i noticed the brought several tunes back.
hllow bastion theme
the tune that you hear when the islands get attacked
and i think you know were i stand on atlantis due to my heartles comment, though the boss was fun and easy to beat. i would have rather killed things.
overall a wonderful game which was pleasingly darker then the first.