So I waffled about picking this up yesterday. I've had a contentious relationship with Kingdom Hearts over the years. I come from the cloth of Da Hoop Gawd Johnny V himself and as such have a close tie to the House Of Mouse. Kingdom Hearts 1 was a pretty neat but weird game but it was beautiful and I daresay loved it. Kingdom Hearts 2 was much anticipated and I'm pretty sure I took the day off just to pick it up and play it. I came out the other end kinda hating Kingdom Hearts. I love melodramatic anime as much as the next guy but man... I just... Man. And then the KH train picked up steam and I completely lost track of things. With spinoffs on every handheld and phone things were happening and I was completely lost. I got frustrated with the series and very saddened by my inability to love something that Every Single Person around me was gushing over.

But now time has passed, my head is in a different space, I am much older and Kingdom Hearts 3 is still coming. I saw that this PS4 HD collection was happening and saw all the pretty 60 fps goodness on display... So I decided to give it another try.

Sure! I'll give Kingdom Hearts II another look!

That's what I said.

My heart, admittedly, sank when the download completed. There was no Kingdom Hearts 2. That game does not exist in this collection.

Granted, this is entirely my fault. If I had done a little more research I would have known that and I'm sure die hard Kingdom Hearts fans knew that too. Still... I felt a little disappointed.

But on the plus side...! This collection has a game I've never played before (remastered quite nicely I must say, hard to believe this was a 3DS game) as well as a new short game and a movie which will probably be awful... But hey. Getting 3D all spruced up is actually pretty cool. I had no idea it was a monster collector type game.

So that's my story.

TL;DR - Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue does not contain Kingdom Hearts II. Also I'm an idiot.

Being fun with your titles is all fun and games to people who follow the series with their full attention, but if that description doesn't fit you, you're going to have a bad time with those titles. If i see a game named Kingdom Hearts HD II.8 : Final Chapter Prologue i would expect to find a HD remaster of Kingdom Hearts 2 with extra side stories / dlc included. I wouldn't place too much blame on yourself for this.

They are releasing both of the ps3 collections on ps4 later this year (in Q1 or Q2 I think), so you can pick up 2.5 and play KH2 then! It also has Birth by Sleep which is really great and I absolutely recommend playing if you like KH 1 or 2. It seems like it will also be important for the story going forward (the new (small) game in 2.8 is a direct sequel to Birth by Sleep).

You need new friends.

I also thought it contained 2 so you're not alone. The naming is very confusing.

I mean yea..you should've done your research but I looked this up yesterday for w/e reason and was surprise to find that 2 wasn't in it. I think it's kinda fucked up. Kingdom Hearts HD II.....8: FInal Chapter Prologue? Seriously, wtf. I feel like they are trying to swindle people.

I'm still a FF fan but I don't think there is a company more abusive towards their fans than Square.

That 3DS title was pretty fun, gameplay-wise, though I couldn't tell you a damn thing that happened with it. I feel like my relationship to KH is similar to yours. Enjoyed the first one, then 2 soured me on the entire thing, making me even come to disbelieve my enjoyment of the first title in retrospect. Then the spin-offs happened and made an already incomprehensible mess of story become even more incomprehensible.

I actually might have picked up II.8, thinking about giving 2 another chance. That naming convention... Yeah, that's kinda super not cool. Anyone would assume 2 was included in that collection.

I almost fell into the exact same bullshit today, pre-ordered 2.8 on amazon fully thinking it was the 1.5+2.5 collection (that actually comes out in march, AND STILL DOESN'T HAVE ALL THE FUCKING GAMES IN ONE FUCKING DISK). Thankfully I managed to cancel before it shipped. Fuck you Nomura and your fucking dumbass names.

What a weird franchise. It's hard to believe KH2 came out over a decade ago. They've managed to fill the time - and keep KH in the public consciousness - with prequels and interquels, which you'd think would be hard but isn't because KH's metaphysics are loopy enough to justify ANYTHING. Still, that's a long time for a series to sustain itself without forward momentum. That it's retained to fanbase is a testament to the strength of the original concept, probably.

The previous 2 HD collections will hit ps4 later this year. I wish they could bundle it all together.

Its not your fault, its a crappy name and everyone knows it. It very much implies its a slightly upgraded version of the HD collection of 2.5 with its crappy naming and numbering.

I wish this collection had KH2 in it, I'm really in the mood to replay that game but I'd rather just wait for the PS4 version at this point. The lack of anything I want-- a demo, a movie about even more backstory I don't care about, and my least favourite KH game remastered-- in one collection makes this release a huge bummer for me.

You could have actually got a refund for it if you hadn't launched the game, I think? I never actually even considered someone might make the mistake with the name "2.8", but seeing this, yeah, it's a really messed up way to name this, especially when the have the 1.5/2.5 collection out in a couple months, and this is also the first PS4 release in the series (meaning people who skipped the PS3, or jumped over to PS4 this gen are at risk of making the same mistake as you).

Yeah, this ain't your fault duder. That name is very deceptive if you aren't in the know for the weird side title names in the series.

Edit: Also, when people get confused as to what's in a product because of the name, that means somebody messed up.

petition to relabel every copy, "Not Kingdom Heart 2"

my roommate got a copy today and i had to stare at it for like a minute before realizing it wasn't KH2.

@teddie: w..wait. There's a new collection coming out that's named Kingdom Hearts 2.5? and it has Kingdom hearts 2 but Kingdom hearts 2.8 doesn't have 2? What the fuck. How is this even legal?

I wonder if they'll get sued for this. Idk, this thing is really rubbing me the wrong way, It seems so fucking sleazy.

@liquiddragon: I don't think they are doing it to trick people. Kingdom Hearts has shitty names for everything after the first 2. They probably think 2.8 is a great title.

@jimmysmiths: I don't know what the hell they're trying to do but they named the PS3 remasters 1.5 HD remix and 2.5 HD remix so people are assuming this is one or both of those with a little more for the PS4. They have to drop the HD II part, it's too confusing at a glance and it's definitely deceptive.

@jimmysmiths: I don't think that they are intentionally being sleezy, but at the end of the day those titles are confusing people and leading them to get burned on their purchases. I don't know international law, but i did a law course in my country and it was mentioned that you can create a brand like Apple in the computer industry because for that industry it's a unique name. Yet when you try to name your Apple orchard 'Apple' , It will not be accepted because the brand isn't unique for that industry and other apples might be mis-attributed to your orchard. I feel like the brand Kingdom hearts 2.8 , is close enough to Kingdom Hearts 2 that it will confuse people and therefore should be denied. But hey, i'm not a lawyer i might be totally off. It just feels wrong for the customer. Especially when you can also buy Kingdom Hearts 2.5 remix which does include Kingdom Hearts 2.

The weird part for me honestly is that it isn't 2.9 if they are going to go into the tenths for titles. Why stop at 2.8? Is Kingdom Hearts 2.9 or better yet 2.95 still in the works?

@liquiddragon 1.5 +2.5 HD is exactly that and it's coming in march. A deception that doesn't last past a goggle search isn't much of a deception. It's just exceptionally asinine titling.

@johntunoku: there is already some anecdotal evidence in this thread so people are being tricked by this. 356/2 is an asinine name. 2.8, when there is already 2 and 2.5, is just fucked.

@liquiddragon: In the games defense there are plenty of characters that don't exist in KH2 on the cover and it has the subtitle

Final Chapter Prologue

So I could see it being confusing, but then again 1.5 is also pretty damn confusing. Just saying when there is this much stupidity in the title schemes on display it doesn't make sense to suddenly assume malice. The back of the box also pretty plainly states whats on the disk.

http://vgboxart.com/boxes/PS4/74383-kingdom-hearts-hd-28-final-chapter-prologue.jpg

Even figuring out which games are on which re-release need a cork board and strings.

@encephalon: Dream Drop Distance and Re:coded take place after Kingdom Hearts II, so it hasn't been entirely without forward momentum, just mostly.

Also I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks Kingdom Hearts I is way better than II.

It's called 2.8 because the next game is KH3 and this is them being clever.

Guys, don't be stupid. If this was 1.5 + 2.5 they would have called it Kingdom Hearts 4 .

We shouldn't be angry at the name of 2.8. What is really bad is that 1.5 and 2.5 aren't called what they are "collections" and that those two made us accept this weird numbering as ok practice. 2.8 has one remaster and two new pieces of content, it should only be named prologue or something. The numbering now makes us think it's a collection in the same sense as the others, which it isn't.

@johntunoku: Not exhonerating myself but A) I have no idea who most of the ancillary characters are and B) I bought it digitally.

I also just looked up the upcoming HD remaster collection for 1 + 2 and it looks like it's four games and two movies for ten dollars less than this 2.8 "Collection" >.> I guess that Unreal License is worth 10 bucks.

It's a little silly that they're releasing them in reverse order

@feralchemy: It's also probably because 1.5 and 2.5 are both on PS3 already. This, on the other hand, is an entirely new collection (with a new remaster, new small-scale game, and a new movie). Though yes, those are certainly a better deal.

I wouldn't say you're an idiot, I guess it could be a little confusing if you haven't been following the series and bought it on an impulse without checking the contents. Maybe they should have dropped the 2.8 and just called it "Kingdom Hearts: Final Chapter Prologue" which is still plenty dumb. They're not good at naming things.

Anyway, I suspect you'll be pretty happy with your purchase once you've played through Dream Drop Distance. It's probably the best KH game released so far.