Kingdom Hearts Final Mix

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Kingdom Hearts Final Mix
キングダムハーツ ファイナルミックス Kingudamu Hātsu Fainaru Mikkusu
Developer(s)	Square Co., Ltd.
Publisher(s)	Square Co., Ltd.
Release date(s)	December 26, 2002
Genre	Action RPG
Game modes	Single player
Ratings	CERO:A
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix is a reissue of Kingdom Hearts for the PlayStation 2. Most plot and gameplay elements are the same, and the game also includes the features added to the international version of the game. The game combines English voice-overs with Japanese text and controls.

The PlayStation 2 version is exclusive to Japan. The game was remastered in HD and released as part of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX for the PlayStation 3. As opposed to the original Final Mix, the remake features Japanese voice acting in the Japanese release. It was later released as part of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX.

Development

Many features, plot points, and other miscellaneous elements initially had to be cut from the first Japanese release of Kingdom Hearts due to time constraints. Instead of simply dubbing the game that was made and shipping it internationally as is, the team decided to reintroduce some of this cut content in the international release. Realizing that Japan was left with an incomplete package compared to the rest of the world, the team decided to re-release the international version of the game in Japan. Even more cut content was reintroduced in this version, which the team finally considered feature complete, hence the Final Mix subtitle. Due to a significant amount of English voice lines being recorded for scenes that were not in the original Japanese version, the team elected to not redub the scenes and instead used Japanese subtitles over the English audio. New scenes either used recycled audio or had no dialogue at all.

Changes

New features

Features

Sora's artwork on the start screen.

• Title screen now depicts Wind.
• A third option, "Special Movie" featuring a trailer for Final Fantasy X-2 was added to the title menu.
• A new difficulty mode called Final Mix: Beginner.
  • Sora deals 3x damage compared to Final Mix.
  • Gummi Ship takes 1/2 damage compared compared to Final Mix.
  • Sora starts the game with the following items and accessories in stock:
    • Ribbon
    • EXP Necklace
    • 8 Power Ups
    • 8 Defense Ups
    • 4 AP Ups
  • Drill-G's attack power is 9.999.
  • "KHFMBG" is displayed on the save file.
• A new difficulty mode called Final Mix.
  • Another Side, Another Story... secret ending unlockable by sealing all keyholes, finding all 99 puppies and completing the Hades Cup
  • Another Side, Another Story [deep dive] secret ending unlockable by completing Jiminy's Journal
  • "KHFM" displayed on save file.
• A new difficulty mode called Final Mix: Proud.
  • Enemies deal 2x damage compared to Final Mix.
  • Gummi Ship deals 1/2 damage compared to Final Mix.
  • Battle Record is displayed on the end screen of the game.
  • Another Side, Another Story... secret ending unlockable by beating the game.
  • Another Side, Another Story [deep dive] secret ending unlockable by sealing all keyholes and completing the Hades Cup.
  • Completing Jiminy's Journal and beating the game displays a night version of the Final Mix cover artwork on the end screen.
  • "KHFMPR" displayed on save file.
• Almost all existing Heartless in the game were given a new palette swap.
• New weapons:
  • Keyblades: One-Winged Angel and Diamond Dust.
  • Staves: Meteor Strike and Fantasista.
  • Shields: Mighty Shield and Seven Elements.
• New Abilities:
  • Slapshot, Sliding Dash, Stun Impact, Gravity Break, Ripple Drive, Hurricane Blast, Zantetsuken, Leaf Bracer, Tech Boost, Encounter Plus, Evolution.
• New Accessories:
  • Firagun Band, Blizzagun Band, *Thundagun Band, Obsidian Ring, Moogle Badge, Cosmic Arts, Royal Crown, Prime Cap, Ifrit Belt, Shiva Belt, Ramuh Belt, EXP Bracelet, EXP Earring, EXP Necklace, EXP Ring.
• New synthesis materials:
  • Blazing Stone, Fury Stone, Frost Stone, Energy Stone, Mythril Stone, Serenity Power, Dazzling Stone, Power Stone, Lightning Stone, Stormy Stone, Dark Matter
• The synthesis menu was overhauled, with items now becoming available to synthesize in a different order as well as new items added to the menu and different material requirements to synthesize certain items.
• Cutscenes that have already been viewed once can now be skipped in the pause menu.
• Sora now becomes transparent when he is close to the camera.
• Camera settings (auto or manual) can now be chosen before starting a new game.
• An option to return to the title menu was added to save points.
• Jiminy's Journal now displays "NEW" notifications for unread entries.
• Yellow Mickey heads now appear next to completed sections in Jiminy's Journal, and will appear on the Journal tab of the menu when the entire Journal has been completed.
• Not-yet-encountered Heartless now appear as "????" in Jiminy's Journal.
• The cursor on the world map is now freely movable and snaps to nearby worlds.
• Pressing with a world selected on the world map now displays gummi missions for the world.
• Ansem's Reports 11, 12, and 13 were added to the game.
• Orichalcum can now be purchased at the Item Shop for 5000 Munny.
• The order of sections in Jiminy's Journal was changed.
• The color of Jiminy's Journal was changed from brown to blue.
• The end screen of the game now depicts Respite (Night).

Gameplay

• Riku-Ansem's dark discs now damage him when reflected back to him with block.
• Party Member changes:
  • Leveling tables (which abilities are learned at what level) were overhauled for Sora, Donald, and Goofy, with Sora's leveling tables seeing the most change.
  • Level up stat increases were changed for Sora, Donald and Goofy, resulting in each character having different stats at level 100 compared to the original game.
  • Donald's revival time is 80 seconds.
  • Goofy's revival time is 60 seconds.
• Keyblade changes:
  • Fairy Harp's critical bonus is now x0.5 and critical rate is 2.
  • Wishing Star's critical bonus is now 2.
  • Metal Chocobo's strength is now 9.
  • Olympia's strength is now 10, critical bonus is 2 and critical rate is x1.
  • Lady Luck's strength is now 7.
  • Divine Rose's strength is now 13.
  • Oblivion's critical bonus is now 2.
  • Ultima Weapon's strength is now 14 and critical bonus is 2.
• Staff changes:
  • Lord Fortune's strength is now 7.
  • Violetta's strength is now 11 and critical bonus is 7.
  • Wizard's Relic's strength is now 8.
  • Dream Rod's strength is now 5.
  • Save the Queen's strength is now 10.
• Shield changes:
  • Genji Shield's strength is now 10.
  • Defender's strength is now 13.
  • Dream Shield's MP is now 1.
  • Save the King's strength is now 11.
• Accessory changes:
  • Three Stars's defense is now 3.
  • Chaos Ring's defense is now 1.
  • Rune Armlet's defense is now 1.
• Ability changes:
  • Critical Plus's AP cost is now 2.
  • Blitz's AP cost is now 2.
  • MP Rage's AP cost is now 3.
  • The amount of MP recovered from MP Rage is now 1/5 of damage taken.
  • MP Gift's MP cost is now 2.
  • Lucky Strike's AP cost is now 2.
  • Trinity Limit's AP cost is now 1.
  • Second Chance's AP cost is now 5.
  • Ars Arcanum's AP cost is now 4.
  • Strike Raid's AP cost is now 2.
  • Ragnarok's AP cost is now 3.
  • MP Gift's AP cost is now 2.
  • Charge's AP cost is now 1.

Battle

Sora battling Unknown in Final Mix.

• A new optional boss, Unknown, appears at the Castle Chapel in Hollow Bastion after the party reaches Final Rest.
• New Heartless were added to the game: Chimera, Gigas Shadow, Grand Ghost, Stealth Soldier, Pot Scorpion, Pink Agaricus, Jet Balloon, Missile Diver, Sniperwild, Black Ballade, Neoshadow, Destroyed Behemoth, Arch Behemoth, Red Armor, and Sneak Army.

Storyline

• Several new cutscenes and text-box conversations were added to the game:
  • On the second day on Destiny Islands, Kairi can be seen crafting the Wayfinder out of Thalassa Shells, and she explains to Sora what it is in a new text-box conversation.
  • After Sora's fight against Leon in Traverse Town, Riku is shown to be lost in Hollow Bastion, calling out for his friends as Maleficent looks on.
  • After Sora speaks to Kairi in the underground waterway in Traverse Town, Riku is shown lost in the Realm of Darkness after Ansem, Seeker of Darkness took his body. There, he is assisted by King Mickey who reveals that he has the realm's Keyblade.
  • Prior to the Door to Darkness closing, flashbacks of Sora and Riku playing together as children are shown.
  • After Sora defeats Sephiroth, Cloud is seen walking in and beginning a duel against Sephiroth.
  • The Princesses of Heart have new text-box dialogue in the Castle Chapel, commenting on the mysterious portal which leads to the Unknown fight.
  • Prior to fighting the Unknown, he is shown walking into the room and speaking to Sora cryptically and non-vocally. Sora's and Goofy's voice lines in this scene are recycled from the original game.

Bonus

• A new secret ending, Another Side, Another Story [deep dive] was added to the game and can be unlocked by completing Jiminy's Journal on Final Mix difficulty or sealing all keyholes and completing the Hades Cup on Proud difficulty. If the ending is unlocked, it plays in place of Another Side, Another Story... upon completing the game.

Changes in worlds

• The contents of almost all treasure chests in the game were altered or shuffled around, including chests received via Trinities.
• Traverse Town changes:
  • Pongo and Perdita award a Tech Boost for collecting 90 puppies.
• Deep Jungle changes:
  • Tarzan's starting AP is now 22.
  • Tarzan's revival time is now 60 seconds.
• Olympus Coliseum changes:
  • Sora now learns Combo Plus for completing the Phil Cup solo.
  • Sora now learns Tech Boost for completing the Phil Cup's time trial.
  • Sora now receives an Orichalcum for completing the Pegasus Cup solo.
  • Sora now receives Dark Matter for completing the Pegasus Cup's time trial.
  • Sora now learns Critical Plus for completing the Hercules Cup solo.
  • Sora now learns Gravity Break for completing the Hercules Cup's time trial.
  • Sora now obtains Diamond Dust for defeating the Ice Titan.
  • Sora now obtains One-Winged Angel and Ansem's Report 12 for defeating Sephiroth.
• Agrabah changes:
  • Aladdin's starting AP is now 22.
  • Sora now learns Zantetsuken and obtains Ansem's Report 11 for defeating Kurt Zisa.
• Halloween Town changes:
  • Jack Skellington's starting AP is now 17.
  • The Red Trinity at Oogie's Manor in Halloween Town is now accessible even after the Manor is destroyed. In the original game, if the Trinity was not collected prior to this point in the story, it would be permanently inaccessible.
• Neverland changes:
  • Peter Pan's starting AP is now 26.
• Hollow Bastion changes:
  • Beast's starting AP is now 17.

Special editions

The Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Platinum Limited came in a box containing the game case, a sheet of eight Kingdom Hearts stickers; a postcard calendar featuring Tetsuya Nomura artwork and—contained in a CD case—a block figure of Sora, part of Square's Minimum Collection; and three can badges. The set costs 8,800 yen.

Depending on what store the game was pre-ordered, customers could get a CD containing tracks from the game, a playing card set adorned with Kingdom Hearts characters and symbols, or a dual Keyblade embroidered necklace.

External links

• Official website