Counting Down the Days

Well, I guess this is it! The countdown to the English release of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days has officially started, I guess. How many of you Kingdom Hearts fans have been waiting for this? A lot, I'm sure. As some of us know, Kingdom Hearts is more than just a crossover of Disney and the Final Fantasy series. Original characters, such as the main hero Sora and his friends Riku and Kairi, have their parts to play. And in this upcoming game, we're going behind the scenes of Organization XIII, the antagonists from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II, but particularly, we're looking into the untold story of Roxas, the newest member of the Organization and the Nobody of Sora. Excited? You should be. I know I am. I've been waiting too long for this.

What exactly happens during the year that Sora was asleep? Since this game focuses on Roxas as the central character, it starts with his creation at Twilight Town, a world on the threshold between light and darkness. Roxas is a Nobody, which means he has no heart and doesn't truly exist as a whole being. In fact, the Organization consists of powerful Nobodies with a goal: to become complete beings and exist. To that end, they need to release captive hearts taken by dark beings known as Heartless and use them to complete Kingdom Hearts, which in Kingdom Hearts II was seen as a heart-shaped moon. The Keyblade is the ideal weapon of choice to release hearts, so Roxas proves to be a most crucial member. But there's more to this game than fulfilling missions for the Organization - the storyline. Most Nobodies remember what life was like before they became nonexistent, back when they had hearts. For example, the first six members of the Organization were once former apprentices to Ansem the Wise, a man who researched hearts in hopes of finding a way to protect them from giving in to darkness. Roxas has no memory of Sora, but instead has visions of him. Another important part of the game's story is a new friendship triangle. Roxas first meets and is befriended by Axel, a fellow member of the Organization who serves as the young man's mentor and becomes his best friend. Joining them is the fourteenth member of Organization XIII, Xion.

Like Roxas, Xion has no memory of her past life, so not much is known about her at first. All that is known is that she strangely resembles Sora's friend Kairi and she apparently has a connection to Sora and Roxas. And there's a reason that the Organization keeps its name, despite having fourteen members.

The gameplay consists of a one-player story mode and a multiplayer mission mode. That's right! For the first time ever in Kingdom Hearts, 2 to 4 players can choose any of the 13 members of Organization XIII and compete with each other to clear a mission. Who will finish first? And the character selection doesn't stop there. By progressing through the story mode, you not only unlock new missions for multiplayer, but you can also unlock six new characters - Xion, Donald, Goofy, Riku, King Mickey Mouse, and Sora himself! The mission mode can bag a player a Mission Crown, which is worth trading for prizes in story mode. Also, in story mode, there are optional trial missions that help contribute towards obtaining special items at a Moogle shop. Hopefully, with this in mind, no one's going to rush through the story mode without possibly upgrading Roxas. There's a lot that can be said about Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, but I can't possibly list them all here. So, get ready all you gamers for September 29, 2009, and see everything for yourself!

"Now, I'm sure that since the original Japanese version of this game was released May 30, 2009, most of you fans probably couldn't wait and just HAD to find out the biggest secrets of the Kingdom Hearts storyline. Am I right? If so, then please do me a favor. Keep them to yourselves and don't go spreading the word without spoiler warnings. I mean, that would be bad, right? Try as we might, we don't want to be spoiled. So, if any of you already played through the game and found out everything there is to know, don't spill it here on this blog site. Because if you do, you'll be ruining the storyline of one of the most anticipated games in the Kingdom Hearts series. Although, I hate to think that some of you wouldn't give a damn, but please... don't tell. Keep it dark. Got it memorized?"