KH2 critcal mode kinda boring

[Arc]

I read some posts here saying something like "critical in 2 is completely different, you get new abilities in it, its super deep", but I think the literal only exclusive ability I got to it is exp 0. Everything else is just skills I can get in any other mode + 1.
Kinda disappointing, expected more, my fault for not googling what it actually adds though.
I'm just past the "dance water dance" second fight and I've been basically playing it exactly the same as I did on the old hardest difficulty without much issue. (main roadblock being the tron lightcycle, which kills you in 2 hits on this mode).
If anything it just made me realise how absurdly broken some actions are, like chicken little , who I find myself using a lot more since getting anti-form in a boss fight on critical is basically just a death sentence/sometimes makes it impossible to do anything because you need to hit a reaction command

[mdesaleah]

You didnt understand what people meant by "giving you new abilities".

They arent new. They're just given to you from the start instead of needing to grind for them later.

This applies to Level 1 as well.

[TheKrustyTaco]

So in my opinion, Critical mode actually makes the game easier in the early game. The game gives you so many abilities early on that you just become a monster. However Critical Mode spikes in the second half, and gets really hard with the end game content. Honestly KH2 is one of my favorite games of all time, but i think some people over sing its praises. It's combat is fun, but nothing jaw-dropping.

[Arc]

I dunno how critical would get harder later. It took hours to even get magic form for a basic dodge so for a shockingly (much longer than I remembered) amount of time I was dodging enemies that could kill in as little as 1 hit via jumping.
Now I have once more so nothing one shots, cure, 2 different dodge rolls, aerial dodge, reflect and magnet.
The game has been getting easier as it goes on, not harder.

[Scipo0419]

So having played KH1 Proud right before KH2 Critical here's my thoughts:

KH1 Proud felt very difficult pre-Cure, and even after up till Neverland (around lv. 30-40 for me on the "Dead of Night Curve"). I was +Staff/-Sword so I didn't get a lot of the great defensive abilities till later is probably why. But I found myself feeling stronger against regular enemies with only bosses/minibosses and the occasional "elite" enemy (Defender, Wizard, Large Body/Fat Bandit, Invisible, etc.) being a challenge by the time I was at The End of the World. The hardest fights were Clayton (because I was lv 7 and didn't do Wonderland first), Cloud/Leon, Leon/Yuffie, by the time I was past all of that I had enough levels and crystal crowns to brute force even Sephiroth with only one elixer because I missed a Heartless Angel. Mysterious Figure was a bit harder and I would have died if not for Tinkerbell, but still 1-shot him.

KH2 Critical has been far more frustrating an experience and it's not because it's harder it's because it's more frustrating. I'm on my final Twilight Town visit and nothing has walled me, but I struggled with the Assault Riders in Land of Dragons and other "elite" style enemies due to their HP and revenge values (I assume). I never feel "strong" against them until I'm drastically over leveled which was very different from KH1. Magic feels incredibly weak until you get the -aga spells and even then only Magnega and Reflega feel worth using for the control and defense respectively. Again very different from KH1. The biggest offense to me though is that the bosses aren't any harder than a standard Proud playthrough. I've only had to refight one boss and it was Xaldin because I crashed before I saved after I beat him. I did have Mickey proc on the Threshold boss in Beast's Castle once but I declined to use him because it feels.... Cheap? And I'm already having a relatively easy time.

TLDR: KH2 Critical < KH1 Proud as a challenging but enjoyable experience. It's not that challenging, but it can get frustrating

[Arc]

I also played KH1 proud before this and found it the much better experience, also finding Clayton the hardest part by far. Proud is "you die fairly fast, enemies are fairly tanky, use your resources correctly"
Agreed on KH2 outside of magic being worthless. Feels plenty strong to me from the start. And on bosses being literally no harder at all; I basically only die to off-screen enemies whacking me once for my entire hp out of nowhere. Bosses in KH2 already boil down to "wait for it to do its stupid gimmick, get a free combo, repeat", so you're either in fully defensive mindset or fully offensive most of the time, meaning its very easy to not actually get hit by a lot of the bosses to begin with.
KH2 also has a lot more straight up broken tools you can just spam constantly KH1 never had so often the choice is "frustratingly get 1 shot by a dancer who inexplicably did your entire hp in 1 grab this time even though it didn't last time" or "stunlock the entire screen"

[Vallard]

I'm doing a playthrough of critical kh2 right now and my death log is mostly cheap hits from stray normal enemies and overzealous use of X on a boss that was looking like a cake walk. I am by no means a supermegaprospeedrunstratgamer in fact I kinda suck at Kh2's combat till I get the form abilities but in the end critical is just proud with some extra combo extenders at level one. For the most part run away from enemies until they fail to whack you and then whack them a couple times. Summon Stitch and Chicken little like you paid disney's licensing fees, and bind all 4 of your shortcuts to reflega.
KH1's clayton is an evil, evil, man and the bane of my existence.

[Scipo0419]

Originally posted by Vallard:

I'm doing a playthrough of critical kh2 right now and my death log is mostly cheap hits from stray normal enemies and overzealous use of X on a boss that was looking like a cake walk. I am by no means a supermegaprospeedrunstratgamer in fact I kinda suck at Kh2's combat till I get the form abilities but in the end critical is just proud with some extra combo extenders at level one. For the most part run away from enemies until they fail to whack you and then whack them a couple times. Summon Stitch and Chicken little like you paid disney's licensing fees, and bind all 4 of your shortcuts to reflega.
KH1's clayton is an evil, evil, man and the bane of my existence.

My KH2 shortcut menu looks like my KH1 menu with the addition of Magnega.

Reflega where I has Aero, Magnega where I had Cure, Thundaga where I had... well Thundaga, and Curaga on the new X binding.

[Crimson Wanderer]

Critical Mode is a mode meant to be played at level 1, that's why you get so many abilities at the start, you can still level if you want, but at the end of the day, you'll end up with more buffs than Proud Mode.

Playing Proud Mode underleveled (only killing necessary enemies) is far tougher than Critical Mode tho, even while playing Critical at level 1.

That being said, KH2 and further beyond is not actually that hard, it's all about the flashy combat, Only Kh1 had a more experimental learning curve that no other game did, in fact, KH1 did so many great things that never returned for some reason. Only try hards that do level 1 no damage with restrictions will tell you that Kh2 combat is deep or tough.

[Arc]

Level 1 is lame; miss out on too many fun powers

[Retsubty]

It's not a fromsoft masterpiece, no. It has its moments but it's not going to consistently challenge you.

It was one of the absolute best Action RPGs at the time of release.