History VideoGame / KingdomHearts358DaysOver2

* {{Padding}}: The game features 5 hours of story and 20 hours of sidequests. Also, the boss fights often drag out. Especially the last one in Neverland...

* TheWorfEffect: When [[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast BEAST]] of all people is tossed over a castle gate by an unseen Heartless, it's enough to make some players [[BringMyBrownPants really, really scared]]. The fact that this boss is considered ThatOneBoss, particularly in its challenge mission, does ''not'' help.

* BeamMeUpScotty: Without going into spoilers, the game's famous MemeticMutation is actually "Who else will I have ice cream with?"

-->'''Roxas:''' "What's summer vacation?" \\
'''Axel:''' "A dream come true, that's what -- a whole month off." \\
'''Roxas:''' "A month!? How do they hang on to their sanity? I can't even figure out how to fill a day. [...] Hmm... I could deal with a week, maybe."
** Also, "What's our boss's name?"

*** Also, the fact that both Sora and Riku/[[spoiler:Ansem]] defeat each other's Nobodies.

-->'''Larxene:''' "What are you looking at? ...Oh, dream on. It's not gonna happen, pipsqueak."

-->'''Marluxia:''' "My spoon is too big." \\
'''Saïx:''' "I am a BANANA."

* ItIsDehumanizing: Saïx's treatment toward Xion, whom he considers no more than a puppet, is this way to Roxas.
** [[WhatMeasureIsaNonHuman Well, none of them are exactly human...]] [[spoiler:(It's also partially justified in that Saïx still sees her as a blank Replica, according to one of the secret journals.)]]

* PALBonus: Inverted. Interestingly enough, ''Days'' has a feature in America it doesn't in Japan: In Japan, you ''must'' play Mission Mode with other people in order to get the reward, but in America, you can earn the Mission Crowns in Solo Mission Mode. You also get a varying greater-than-normal amount of them the first time you beat the mission, ranging from 3-4 with normal "kill stuff and report back" missions to 8-10 for major bosses.

* FlashBack: Sorta. The game begins on Day 255, with Roxas and Axel on the clock tower. Then the game goes back to Day 7 to start the tutorial, showing the friendship of Roxas, Axel and Xion as the story moves on. Once you get to Day 255 again, [[ItGotWorse things steadily go downhill...]]

* FreudWasRight: The Cave of Wonders doors have rather unfortunate designs on them. [[http://www.halolz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/halolz-dot-com-kingdomhearts365-2days-agrabah.jpg Inevitably, a demotivator was created in response.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: To [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts the]] [[KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories three]] [[KingdomHeartsII games]] that came before it, certainly. ''BirthBySleep'' dethroned it, though.

* DarkerAndEdgier: To [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts the]] [[KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories three]] [[KingdomHeartsII games]] that came before it, certainly. ''BirthBySleep'' [[YourMileageMayVary arguably]] dethroned it, though.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Xion is one of the MarySue concept. At first glance, she's exactly like a self-insert character -- she's the 14th member of the Organization, she looks like Kairi, she can wield the Keyblade, and is friends with Axel and Roxas. However, it turns out [[spoiler:everyone aside from Roxas either thinks she should be destroyed or only wants her alive to further their own goals, the simple act of her being alive weakens and will eventually kill Roxas and perpetuates Sora's coma, it's difficult to even actually consider her existent in the first place, and once she dies (beautifully and tragically into petals of light), everyone supposedly forgets she existed at all. Despite her existence supposedly being erased from reality, Roxas and later Sora somehow have some wisps of residual memory of her]]. Even in-universe, most characters consider her having no right to exist and her role in the story only complicates otherwise simple matters.

* {{TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth}}: Xion is one of the MarySue concept. At first glance, she's exactly like a self-insert character -- she's the 14th member of the Organization, she looks like Kairi, she can wield the Keyblade, and is friends with Axel and Roxas. However, it turns out [[spoiler:everyone aside from Roxas either thinks she should be destroyed or only wants her alive to further their own goals, the simple act of her being alive weakens and will eventually kill Roxas and perpetuates Sora's coma, it's difficult to even actually consider her existent in the first place, and once she dies (beautifully and tragically into petals of light), everyone supposedly forgets she existed at all. Despite her existence supposedly being erased from reality, Roxas and later Sora somehow have some wisps of residual memory of her]]. Even in-universe, most characters consider her having no right to exist and her role in the story only complicates otherwise simple matters.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Xion is one of the MarySue concept. At first glance, she's exactly like a self-insert character -- she's the 14th member of the Organization, she looks like Kairi, she can wield the Keyblade, and is friends with Axel and Roxas. However, it turns out [[spoiler:everyone aside from Roxas either thinks she should be destroyed or only wants her alive to further their own goals, the simple act of her being alive weakens and will eventually kill Roxas and perpetuates Sora's coma, it's difficult to even actually consider her existent in the first place, and once she dies, everyone forgets she existed at all]]. Even in-universe, most characters consider her having no right to exist and her role in the story only complicates otherwise simple matters.
** Not really. It's more of a "beautifully tragic Mary Sue" story, as she's still treated as a vital character who the protagonists adore despite having no real relevance to the other games.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Xion is one of the MarySue concept. At first glance, she's exactly like a self-insert character -- she's the 14th member of the Organization, she looks like Kairi, she can wield the Keyblade, and is friends with Axel and Roxas. However, it turns out [[spoiler:everyone aside from Roxas either thinks she should be destroyed or only wants her alive to further their own goals, the simple act of her being alive weakens and will eventually kill Roxas and perpetuates Sora's coma, the very nature of her existence means she barely exists in the first place, and once she dies, everyone forgets she existed at all]]. Even in-universe, most characters consider her having no right to exist and her role in the story only complicates otherwise simple matters.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Xion is one of the MarySue concept. At first glance, she's exactly like a self-insert character -- she's the 14th member of the Organization, she looks like Kairi, she can wield the Keyblade, and is friends with Axel and Roxas. However, it turns out [[spoiler:everyone aside from Roxas either thinks she should be destroyed or only wants her alive to further their own goals, the simple act of her being alive weakens and will eventually kill Roxas and perpetuates Sora's coma, the very nature of her existence means she barely exists in the first place, and once she dies, everyone forgets she existed at all]]. On a meta level, she serves to demonstrate that forcing this character type into the series only complicates things.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Xion is one of the MarySue concept. At first glance, she's exactly like a self-insert character -- she's the 14th member of the Organization, she looks like Kairi, she can wield the Keyblade, and is friends with Axel and Roxas. However, it turns out [[spoiler:everyone aside from Roxas either thinks she should be destroyed or only wants her alive to further their own goals, the simple act of her being alive weakens and will eventually kill Roxas and perpetuates Sora's coma, the very nature of her existence means she barely exists in the first place, and once she dies, everyone forgets she existed at all]]. On a meta level, she serves to demonstrate exactly the problems that would arise by forcing this character type into the series.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Xion is one of the MarySue concept. At first glance, she's exactly like a self-insert character -- she's the 14th member of the Organization, she looks like Kairi, she can wield the Keyblade, and is friends with Axel and Roxas. However, it turns out [[spoiler:everyone aside from Roxas either thinks she should be destroyed or only wants her alive to further their own goals, the simple act of her being alive weakens and will eventually kill Roxas and perpetuates Sora's coma, the very nature of her existence means she barely exists in the first place, and once she dies, everyone forgets she existed at all]]. On a meta level, she serves to demonstrates exactly the problems that would arise by forcing this character type into the series.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Xion is one of the MarySue concept. At first glance, she's exactly like a self-insert character -- she's the 14th member of the Organization, she looks like Kairi, she can wield the Keyblade, and is friends with Axel and Roxas. However, it turns out [[spoiler:everyone aside from Roxas either thinks she should be destroyed or only wants her alive to further their own goals, the simple act of her being alive weakens and will eventually kill Roxas and perpetuates Sora's coma, the very nature of her existence means she barely exists in the first place, and once she dies, everyone forgets she existed at all]].

* ImprobableWeaponUser: Square Enix has outdone themselves with these joke weapons [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnsYwDLCxSQ here]]. Saïx using a [[spoiler:'''BANANA''']] or Zexion holding [[spoiler:a sandwich]] (cue ''TeamFortress2'' jokes), for instance. Plenty more hilarious weapons to view, too.

* GenderBender: Believe it or not, [[spoiler:Xion is an incomplete Sora clone created from his memories. She's female because Kairi's face and personality are Sora's strongest memories, but near the end of the game, with Sora's memories nearly reconstructed by that point, she ends up looking exactly like him just before going OneWingedAngel on Roxas (where "she" looks pretty much like a fully armored Sora with an echoing female voice).]] Expect plenty of WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids? thanks to the first transgender Disney character ever.

* LevelDrain: A standard status ailment.
** Fairly late in the game there's a mission where Roxas's level is halved.... ''because he's having an "off day".''
*** [[spoiler:This is justified when you learn later that Xion had drained a lot of Roxas's power at that point.]]

* WordSaladTitle: Except not really. It's so named because the plot describes the events that happened during Roxas's 358 days in the Organization, [[spoiler:but since Roxas is brainwashed to disregard it all as a dream once he is forced into the Twilight Town simulation, it is all experienced by Roxas over 2 days (night of day 6 of his summer vacation into day 7). Hence, 358 days over 2. Alternatively, it could be because of Roxas and Xion being 2 parts of the same person.)]]
** It still comes across as one. Even non-KH fans know about this game due simply to the ridiculous title! In fact that's the only thing they know. [[IronicEcho What matters the most is remembered the least]] indeed.

''KingdomHearts: 358/2 Days'' (read: Three-Five-Eight Days Over Two) is the oddly named fourth offering in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series. It is an {{interquel}}, taking place between ''{{VideoGame/Kingdom Hearts}}'' and ''KingdomHeartsII'' and overlapping ''ChainOfMemories'' at a few points. As the name implies, the game takes place over almost the entire year between the two main games.

** When Roxas runs up the skyscraper and Riku jumps down past him, the scene looks ''exactly'' like when Sora runs up the same skyscraper during his fight with Xemnas at the end of KingdomHearts2. Xemnas jumps down exactly the same way as Riku does.

** Marluxia, Larxene, Lexaeus, Zexion, and Vexen are all [[spoiler:DoomedByCanon]] thanks to [[KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories a certain other game]], and aren't around after the first few days or so. This is likely why they were responsible for teaching Roxas the tutorials, just to give them ''some'' role before they went.

** In the LimitBreak tutorial, Lexaeus gets Roxas's HP down by hitting him square in the face. If ''[[KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'' is to be believed, Lexaeus can shatter ''boulders'' with his fists. ''Ouch.''

** But considering what was revealed from [[spoiler:that same journal in ''[[KingdomHeartsCoded coded]]'']], it's already been hinted that they may be planning on going on a route similar to that.

* AxCrazy: Saïx in berserk mode. Subverted for [[spoiler:Xion in her transformed final boss state. She first appears to be this, but she's actually feigning it so that Roxas will destroy her and she can return to Sora.]]

* [[DragonWithAnAgenda Dragons With An Agenda]]: [[spoiler:Saïx and Axel are revealed to have formed a plan to overthrow Xemnas, before Saïx [[BecomingTheMask became the mask]]. However, unlike [[TheStarscream Marluxia]], who wants to overthrow Xemnas to take over the Organization, Saïx and Axel sought to overthrow Xemnas to reclaim their hearts. That and the fact that Xemnas really wanted to use Kingdom Hearts's power to become a god-like being...]]

** [[spoiler:Xion is the final boss - well, one of them, anyway.]]

** [[spoiler: Xion and Axel face off twice during the game.]]

** [[spoiler:Xigbar also says, "Ain't Xion just a peach now? The face of an angel. Just gotta be careful - girls her age have many faces." It can be taken as Xigbar knowing she's living off Roxas's energy, but since Xion is a SequentialBoss...]] It may also foreshadow the fact that [[spoiler:Xion is seen differently by different people. Xigbar knows this, as he sees her as Ventus.]]
** There's also some mild foreshadowing to ''BirthBySleep'' because Tinkerbell is actually pretty nice to Roxas and seems to be trying to get his attention. How does this fit? [[spoiler:She knew Ventus, the Roxas lookalike, in ''Birth by Sleep'' and probably thinks Roxas is Ven! She was probably trying to tell him to rejoin the Lost Boys.]]

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]]. [[spoiler:Xion initially resists such a proposition despite the pain she feels, until Xemnas interferes in an attempt to force her to absorb Roxas. Not that he actually succeeded - she's only [[ObfuscatingInsanity feigning insanity]] because she needed Roxas to destroy her artificial body so she could return to Sora, where she (quite lucidly) decided that she belonged.]]

** All of Larxene's knives have French names. [[KeepItForeign Except in the French version,]] where they have [[GratuitousGerman German names.]]

* ImprobableWeaponUser: Square Enix has outdone themselves with these joke weapons [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnsYwDLCxSQ here]]. Saïx using a [[spoiler:'''BANANA''']] or Zexion holding [[spoiler: a sandwich]] (cue ''TeamFortress2'' jokes), for instance. Plenty more hilarious weapons to view, too.

* InformedAbility: Roxas's ability to command Samurai nobodies never shows up in the game. [[WordOfGod Apparently]] it was intended to be included, but never completed. Instead, all the Samurai Nobodies in the main missions are at ridiculously low levels for that point in the game, making it a shock when they appear in Mission Mode as enemies that can take you out in a few hits, instead of the other way around.

* InventoryManagementPuzzle: A far more literal interpretation of the "puzzle" aspect. Roxas's inventory, leveling system, skills and equipment are represented by "panels" which are slotted into a grid. Some things take up more space than others, and in various shapes. You'll need a keen eye to assemble everything efficiently.

** Vexen, who flat-out calls Roxas an idiot to his face and spends most of his tutorial with Roxas insulting the kid's intelligence, even though Roxas' spaciness isn't really his fault. Though to be fair, he does have alot to put up with in the Organization.
** While Lexaeus' status as a Jerkass is debatable, there's really no arguing with the Limit Break Incident. You know, the part in the first hour of the game, where Lexaeus demonstrates the optimal health amount for a Limit Break by ''punching Roxas in the face''.
** Larxene. Every time you go on a mission with her she gripes about being a babysitter. She does so in her [[spoiler: only Secret Report, too.]] Jerkass she may be, [[LaughablyEvil some of her dialogue is funny]], given that they're not allowed to swear. And to her credit, her last interaction with Roxas is [[PetTheDog surprisingly nice, by her standards anyway.]]

** Fairly late in the game there's a mission where Roxas' level is halved.... ''because he's having an "off day".''

** Not to mention Axel's speech about why the sky is red at the beginning. [[spoiler: Roxas spends a lot of time wondering who the "boy in red" is. And the Japanese word for sky? Sora.]]

** In the LimitBreak tutorial Lexaeus gets Roxas' HP down by hitting him square in the face. If '' [[KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'' is to be believed, Lexaeus can shatter ''boulders'' with his fists. ''Ouch.''

** Xion's has at least two--''shio'' (tide), which connects her to Kairi and Naminé; and ''shion'', which is a flower given to someone to mean "remembrance". [[spoiler:Which is [[RetGone tragically ironic]].]]

** [[spoiler: Lowercase Roman Numerals, like i, are also used to denote subsections or footnotes underneath the capital ones.]]
** [[spoiler: Roman numeral I is one... No I... No one...]]
** [[spoiler: There's also the common misconception that her name is pronounced like "scion", which is a descendant or heir... Really, there are too many potential meanings to know for sure which ones were intended.]]

* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: Non-comedic version. [[spoiler: 'Count the chairs. When have we ever been more than thirteen?']]

** Either that or you can block all the time and study enemy weaknesses before hand, it makes the game [[BoringButPractical Boring but Practical]], but it also makes the game MUCH easier.

* PoisonousFriend: Axel becomes obsessed with keeping Roxas and Xion "safely" in the Organization...whether they like it or not.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Roxas leaves the Organization because no one is willing to tell him who Sora is, where he comes from and why he can wield the Keyblade.

* RetGone: Perhaps the best example: [[spoiler:Xion]] is [[spoiler:absorbed by Roxas]]. The only thing that remains is that [[spoiler:Xion keeps herself happy with the memories of her friends]]. The RetGone is more noticeable with [[spoiler:the DoomedByCanon because you never hear of Xion in Kingdom Hearts II when Roxas should clearly be remembering her]]. Of course, it is also possible that [[spoiler:the database entry where Xion learned about her past is still intact]]. Another possibility is that [[spoiler:Xion's secret logs are still floating around somewhere.]].

* ShipperOnDeck: Xigbar tells Roxas that "No girl wants a guy who's weaker than her," before offering to help him by assigning Roxas a side quest to kill 50 enemies with his Final Limit. This side quest is long and annoying, mostly because you have to activate the Regular LimitBreak before you can use Final Limit, and any enemies killed by the regular LimitBreak don't count toward the total. Based on the dialogue, it isn't clear whether Xigbar was actually hinting Roxas and Xion as a pairing, or whether Xigbar is messing with Roxas. It is clear, however, that [[spoiler: Roxas is getting as attached to Xion as a Nobody can get.]]

* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: The protagonists can never accomplish ''anything'', or else the BigBad wins and the universe ends. Ouch.]]

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Taken to almost ridiculous degree where roughly 30% of the cutscenes will involve watching 1-3 people sitting at the top of a clock tower and eating ice-cream.

* {{Troll}}: Xigbar, in a spectacular non-internet example. He knows everything that's going on, but not a lot of personal involvement to look forward to, so he spends most of his time trolling the rest of the organization. Cultivating Roxas's relationship with Xion so her dark secret will tear them apart all the more spectacularly, leading and baiting Saïx on about Xemnas' own dark secrets...

* WordSaladTitle: Except not really. It's so named because the plot describes the events that happened during Roxas' 358 days in the Organization, [[spoiler: but since Roxas is brainwashed to disregard it all as a dream once he is forced into the Twilight Town simulation, it is all experienced by Roxas over 2 days (night of day 6 of his summer vacation into day 7). Hence, 358 days over 2. Alternatively, it could be because of Roxas and Xion being 2 parts of the same person.)]]

* BittersweetEnding: Though more of a DownerEnding if taken on it's own and with no knowledge of what transpires in [=KH2=].

** [[spoiler:Dual Wielding Roxas]] in mission mode. Sure, in story mode he's awesome (though you only get him for an extremely short time), but in mission mode he's arguably worse than Roxas. This is for two reasons: Mission Mode's enemies are stronger than normal, [[spoiler:and the final mission's enemies have their levels programmed to be ridiculously low for the end of the game, so that Roxas feels as badass as he is in KHI's Secret Ending]]

* CaptainObvious: Roxas' first recon mission with Vexen.
-->'''Roxas''': These tiles are different than the others...it's like a road... \\
'''Vexen''': Fascinating...And? \\

* CherryTapping: The casual gear allows players to adopt joke weapons: umbrellas for Roxas and Xion, Pizzas for Axel, and a ham-and-cheese sandwich for Zexion. It is SOOOOO satisfying, after having obtained level-tripler panels, to go back and [[CurbStompBattle beat up]] early ThatOneBoss's with a Midnight Snack.
* ChestMonster: Cymbal Monkeys and Tricky Monkeys. Thankfully, there's an easy way to defeat them: if you block immediately after they appear, you'll bounce their sound bullets back at them, killing them instantly. Of course, this means [[ParanoiaFuel you'll immediately block after opening every chest you come across]]...

* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:Xion, who's an incomplete Sora clone made from his memories,]] was created by Vexen as a sort of "fail-safe."

** MightyGlacier: Lexaeus, to a T. Also Saïx.

** GlassCannon: Not really specific to any character, but almost everyone has lower defense than Roxas for some reason.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Xion is one of the MarySue concept. At first glance she's exactly like a self-insert character--she's the 14th member of the Organization, she looks like Kairi, she can wield the Keyblade and is friends with Axel and Roxas. However, it turns out [[spoiler:everyone aside from Roxas either thinks she should be destroyed or only wants her alive to further their own goals, the simple act of her being alive weakens and will eventually kill Roxas and perpetuates Sora's coma, the very nature of her existence means she barely exists in the first place, and once she dies everyone forgets she existed at all]].

** Although [[spoiler: Zexion]] reappears for a short cameo (with a voice!) for the Snarl of Memories scene.

* [[spoiler: DiedInYourArmsTonight]]: [[spoiler: Xion, in Roxas's arms]].