Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Indescribable!, March 5, 2006
A Kid's Review
Following after the amazing sounds feautured in KH1, the original soundtrack for KH2 captures the hearts of even those who have not even heard of the game.
Each world, and certain main characters, have their own theme songs. Kairi keeps her original - representing her hopeful, cheery attitude. Riku and Roxas both have more serious, darker themes that portrays their pain, confusion, and struggles amazingly. Sora, being the determined spirit he is, holds a faster, more battle-like, beautifully orchestrated theme that reappears in a section of Kingdom Hearts 2's ending theme, "Fantasia alla marcia", to help add a more plot-focused song to review the events of the game. You might hear familiar tunes in this sequel, for each world's theme has been remixed and changed to fit the mood of the world. Atlantica changed it's theme completely, so that instead of hearing the annoying, elevator-like music of "Under the Sea", Haley Joel Osmont (Sora) and the other stars of this world actually sing along with it. They also sing "Part Of Your World", and two other unique songs ("Swim this way" and "A New Day is Dawning") that were not heard in the movie. Atlantica's new theme, "Isn't it Lovely?", is, in my opinion, beautiful, and a little more soft and gentle, fitting the more serious plot excellently.
The first game of the Kingdom Hearts series had a main theme for the entire game, "Hikari" or "Simple and Clean" which had three versions similar to the sequel, the opening Planitb remix which featured a techno-like, faster version; the orchestrated version, which reappears in KH2; and the ending slower and original version played during the solemn ending. Utada Hikaru proves herself once more with a more matured, darker theme for the top-selling game's sequel. The song, "Passion" or also known as "Sanctuary" to some after watching the MTV preview of the English version(See kh-vids.net), also shares the three versions. The first intro version is also fast-beat and rockier than the ending and the orchestrated. The orchestrated version has about the same stunning quality as "Hikari"'s, making the menu trailer (which appears after leaving the controller alone for a minute or two) a bit more fun and interesting. And last, but certainly not least, the "Passion -After the Battle-" ending theme is a bit more atmospheric, put into more softer, quieter words. Hikaru does an excellent job in proving her emotions, as well as the game's, with her beautiful singing voice. The pianoist, whoever that was, also exceeded the expectations in his/her part. The song, in it's three breathtaking versions, is by far the strongest reason to buy the soundtrack. The other battle music, remixed or original, dramatic songs, and world and character themes complete the discs, yet "Passion" really previews the darker points of the game and puts just about anyone into it's mood.
Overall, this soundtrack is not a childish, average-gaming-type-sounding CD, yet each song captivates the matured, darker, more modern qualities in the game, and deserves a thousand out of 5 stars. BUY IT!!! YOU WILL NOT, I reapeat, NOT REGRET IT!!! I've observed EVERY song and each is beyond expectations. Square Enix has outdone itself once again!
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just Breathtaking..., January 25, 2006
A Kid's Review
I'm sure you're all thinking, oh it's just another stupid soundtrack. But oh, are you SO wrong! This time around, the famous Yoko Shimomura returns and truly shows her talent. She has previously worked on the first Kingdom Hearts Soundtrack that many found redundant, but the arrangements for the Kingdom Hearts II soundtrack will not disappoint you. I've already listened to many of the songs thanks to some ripped music from the actual game and it's beyond my expectations. With the third installment finally released in Japan and hopefully soon, making it's way over here to the United States, the new darker and more mature melodies fit the game's new storyline very well.
Some of the songs from the original game such as "Dearly Beloved" and "Hand in Hand Reprise" have returned, and some may believe that it's not a very good idea, but it is! The arrangement for "Dearly Beloved" in the first game consisted of a pianist and the background noise of ocean waves hitting upon the sand on Destiny Islands. Now, Yoko Shimomura re-arranged the song to fit the darker theme of Kingdom Hearts II. After listening to it endlessly, you being to realize the almost "softer" piano sound for it isn't as dramatic sounding. It gives more of a soothing feeling. Not only that, but the Kingdom Hearts II version of "Dearly Beloved" also contains a mixture of the Original Dearly Beloved and the March Caprice (the ending song for Kingdom Hearts). The addition of the cello adds the finishing touches and adds a more serious view of song. There is also the return of the well known Hallow Bastion music, and it's better than ever, along with the return of other songs from the original game but they're back with a whole new arrangement to fit the the new theme for Kingdom Hearts II -- "Are you afraid of the darkness?"
Now on to the famous theme song for the game -- *Passion* here's my review from earlier:
Just from listening to this song, I've become an even bigger Hikki fan. It's so much more mature than her previous songs and fits perfectly with the new and darker Kingdom Hearts II. At first I was kind of iffy about the single, but the more and more I listened to it, it really grew on me. It's very different from her previous Kingdom Hearts single "Hikari" or "Simple & Clean" in that is much more mature, and has a deeper meaning. It's hard to figure out what that is exactly since there is only a rough translation out there, which you can get at www.kh2.co.uk
I haven't actually bought the single itself, but there are three versions of the song: There's the Opening version, the Single version and then the After the Battle version. The single version was the original and then transformed into the Opening version which provides a funky rock vibe about half way through the song, where she sings "My heart's a battleground" as well as some english lines backward, which sound like "I need more passion than you know" and "I need two emotions" it's very cool, and very different, but adds a lot to the song itself. The "After the Battle" version is accompanied by the Piano and is probably my favorite. It's slower than the single version and the way she sings it, is just amazing. It's so emotional and really provides an image as to what the ending is possibly like for Kingdom Hearts II, and from listening to it, it's going to be sad, no doubt. The reason the "after the battle" version is my favorite, is beacause she sings the song with so much...well, um, passion! No pun intended, since i'm serious here. Just by listening to some of the words she sings it's just sad and she really puts her emotions into this version; it's just breathtaking really. At the end of the "After the Battle" version, well at least after she sings the lyrics, there's this orchestrated version of the song, which finishes it off beautifully since as you get closer to the end of the song, the orchestrated part gets more intense.
Speaking of the orchestrated part in "after the battle" there is an actual Orchestrated version of the song, which is just beautiful, and I would highly recommend finding it and downloading from somewhere. It's beautiful.
I would highly recommend this single, especially for those die hard Kingdom Hearts fans like me. It's such a nice change from the main stream J-Pop music that she ususally sings. I mean, I love Hikari and S&C as much as the next person, but this is just so much different and I'm sure you'll enjoy this more mature song.
*And I mean every WORD of this review. But on the OST there are three versions of Passion and they are the Opening Version, the Orchestrated Version, and then Passion -- After the Battle, but I assure you, that you WILL NOT be disappointed.
Just like first game, this soundtrack has an orchestrated ending song and it's called "Fantasia all Marcia" and compared to it's previous contender "March Caprice" it's beyond amazing. It starts off really happy and sounds like it came right out of Disney World, but soon goes into a more serious arrangment. As the song progresses it's intensity increases with more dramatic arrangments from previous songs such as "March Caprice". It then moves on to a more battle-esqe feel with the sound of the Japanese Latin singing choir which adds a most excellent touch to the song, and really shows how much not only the game has matured, but as well as the soundtrack. I won't tell you the rest, because I don't want to give away too much info on one of my favorite songs on this OST.
**So, basically I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS KINGDOM HEARTS SOUNDTRACK for it is by far one of the BEST soundtracks out there right now, and it will not disappoint you. Let's just say that you'll regret not buying this, or at least downloading it somewhere ^_~
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Music, August 25, 2006
This Soundtrack is absolutely wonderful. The downside to it is it's still in Japanese. I don't have any clue as to when the English version is going to come out. It may not ever come out in English considering it was rated as the best videogame soundtrack in the nation with 33% of the vote! But there are only a few tracks sung in Japanese. I will list the track number and the name of the songs that are sung in Japanese. Disc 1 Track 03: Passion ~opening version~, Disc 2 Track 03: Swim this Way, Track 04: Part of Your World, Track 05: Under the Sea, Track 06: Ursula's Revenge, Track 07: A New Day is Dawning, and finally Track 33: Passion ~after the battle~. Just as a side note Track 24: One-Winged Angel is not in Japanese it is actually chanted in Latan, just if you were wondering.
Another side note to be aware of is that if you are wondering how to find out if this soundtrack is in Japanese or English the English version's opening theme song is labeled Sanctuary. Where as the Japanese version is called Passion.
Something else to be aware of is that if you put these CD's in your computer to rip them to your hard drive you must rip the second disc first. If you rip the first disc to your library first then when you go to rip the second disc it will copy over the first 38 tracks of the first disc. I don't know why this happens but it does. Then after you have ripped the first disc you must go change all the names of the songs to what they really are, because the computer doesn't reconize the song titles or the artists or even the genre so must change that to what you want as well. For the artists name I just put Various Artists in all the artist spaces and for the genre I put Original Soundtrack. Before you can rip the first disc you must create a new folder in your music folders that is labeled Kingdom Hearts Vol. 2 Discs 1 and 2. After you have done this you must open the folder you just created and create 2 sub-folders and label them Disc 1 and then another folder named Disc 2. When you rip the music tell your computer that you want the music ripped into the Disc 2 folder. After you are all done with all of that you must also go change the .wma file names as well. You can now repeat this process for Disc 1.
This sounds like a lot of hard work, but it's not, it's just time consuming.
But overall this soundtrack is absolutly awesome! The price may be a little high but it is well worth it!!! I mean come on you get 89 songs spread over 2 CD's!!!
Well hope this review helps.
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