74 replies to this topic

[MeleeWizard]

Part 1
 
On the surface, you might think that Kingdom Hearts is just a cutesy Disney/Final Fantasy crossover with a few OCs thrown in.  However, as you get into it, you're quickly thrown into a serious and sometimes dark storyline that only gets more complex the farther you go into the series.  Considering some of the characters involved, the comedy never completely goes away, but that's often the exception as opposed to the rule.

As far as actual gameplay, it's your typical 3rd person hack-and-slash deal.  The controls can be a bit clunky at times, but that might be because I was introduced to this series through Kingdom Hearts 2 and it's different enough to make things a bit awkward for me.  100%-ing this game will NOT be a given, as it would involve beating at least 3 bonus bosses for the first time ever.  Also, I'm playing this on hard, because I can.

[MeleeWizard]

Part 2
 
Destiny Islands seems to grab people from all over the place, doesn't it?

[MeleeWizard]

Part 3
 
Few things are worse than a nightmare becoming real.

[kurt91]

Oh boy, one of my absolute favorite games. 100% isn't too hard to pull off. Every boss has at least one trick that trivializes their worst moves, even the 'superbosses'. I'm going to assume that two of the three bosses you have trouble with are from the Colosseum? Anyways, I'm writing this as I play catch-up.

 

First of all, are you certain that giving up the staff sacrifices AP and not just MP? If so, I genuinely never knew that. You actually benefit more from low MP, due to the odd recharging system, and the fact that once you get Cure, that's the only spell you're ever going to need other than a certain Summon, and two very special cases regarding the aforementioned 'superbosses', but even one of those gives you free magic refills, if I remember right.

 

I'm a bit surprised you went with average EXP growth. Most beginners, once they realize the system in place, choose rapid early growth, but the best choice is the "night" option. It causes you to need the least amount of EXP overall to hit the level cap, with much larger drops in EXP requirements once you hit LV 50. There are a few early-game leveling tricks you can abuse if you want to counteract the slower level growth in the early game, although the slower growth isn't all that noticeable.

 

So, these kids want to travel to another world, and their idea of preparation is a rickety-built raft, a couple fish, handful of mushrooms and coconuts, and a single bottle of drinking water between the three of them? You already know that they're aware that seawater isn't good to drink, so they honestly think one bottle of water is enough. Also, why use the raft if they already have perfectly serviceable boats to get to the island they're already on?

 

You can grind EXP easily from Selphie by hitting her jump rope. You get a free point for hitting her attack, and another free point for when it hits her on the head. She will actually receive damage from it, but it cannot be used as a finishing blow, so you can grind EXP from her indefinitely if you want. Tidus is the exact same way, but a lot faster. However, I find the timing for his attacks is more difficult. I think that I once grinded to LV 10 or 13 from these guys though, and it only took an hour or so. (I was bored and wanted to see how long I could grind off of them as well as how much damage I could potentially deal per-attack.) If I remember correctly, you can grind items from Riku as well, since every win against him nets you a free Potion. I think race rematches get you Pretty Stones as well, so you can get a decent start on Munny if you wanted to.

 

Speaking to Tidus on day 2 gives you the opportunity of a three-on-one match, if you want the challenge. If I'm wrong about Riku giving you a Potion for each win, then I know it has to be this battle that does it.

[KingPridenia]

@kurt91: As far as I'm aware, if you choose the Staff, you start with 3 MP. Otherwise, only 2. And yes, it DOES make a difference because spell and summon power/damage is directly tied to your maximum MP. Your offensive spells are more powerful, Cure recovers more HP and Aero/Stop's duration is longer. Try using a summon with say only 4 MP then equip stuff to raise your MP to say 6. You'll notice the summon's gauge will be much larger. To be honest, I never realized getting rid of the sword only imposed -1 Strength on you where losing the staff meant -2 AP.

 

To be honest, you can easily beat the game around level 55, so the EXP growth path doesn't matter too much IMO. The average player will probably have to grind to around 70 to stand a chance against the bonus bosses though, although two of them are just more annoying than actually difficult, given they are both centered around gimmicks. The other two impose restrictions on you that are heavily debilitating*.

 

*

Spoiler

One of them blocks your magic in one of its forms and given that one phase it uses a tricky to dodge attack that does MASSIVE damage, that's a problem. One particular summon is almost mandatory if you're trying him below level 70 and still isn't a bad idea otherwise as a safety net. But the other has to be fought ALONE and he has a lot of high powered attacks. On Expert mode, many of these can OHKO a sub level 70 character, making Second Chance almost a requirement. Then there is the instant kill attack (or the HP to one/MP to zero attack with Second Chance), an insane combo attack and of course, this boss going into uber pissy boss mode and constantly shouting "Dodge this!" while attacking with insane range and a flood of projectiles.

 

The good news is that he doesn't have to worry about fighting the Final Mix exclusive boss Unknown, a boss that even at level 100 can quickly kill you, given what he is capable of. There IS an exploit to make him easy, but otherwise, that lightning attack that makes your commands rapidly change between Shock and Release is dangerous enough to wipe out even a level 100 Sora with ease.

 

Other than that, my only complaint in watching people try to kill the superbosses is that NOBODY ever uses Aero. I mean why not? Half damage is almost a must against most of them. Okay, granted, there is one that you CANNOT use Aero, unless you want the fight to be impossible.

 

And yes, defeating Riku is worth a Potion as is defeating the other three kids in a 3 on 1 match, although there is a decent chance you'll use one trying to defeat them, especially on Expert. Riku is so overrated in difficulty, considering every fourth hit he falls down and does that nasty rebound kick. So just count three hits, hit him once, GTFO out of there, and repeat. Also I usually cease attacking when Riku taunts just to ensure I don't get hit by his counter after he blocks the third hit. Wakka is actually really good EXP if you have great timing (I don't), since every Blitzball you hit is 1 tech point and every TAKE THIS! power shot is worth 2. To be honest, I'm not good with parrying and I kind of rely too heavily on Guard, since most of my strategy revolves around blocking then attacking. This is probably why the boss of one of the worlds, one that many people find hard, I think is easy, since I wait for him to attack, block then open fire, backing off until my next opportunity. And yes, that's one of the major boss fights Sora has to fight alone.

[MeleeWizard]

Part 4
 
At some point, the residents of Traverse Town probably just get used to random people popping up out of nowhere.

[kurt91]

Out of curiosity, how long has it been since you've played this last? I'm not sure if you're just humoring those who have never played the game, or if it's been so long that you honestly don't remember parts of the game. Not a complaint either way, just curious which it is.

 

You think Darkside's a pushover here, you should see him in some of the side games. I think it's Days where they had to shrink him down slightly to fit in the arena they used, and as a result, you can attack his hand even when he's not attacking by just jumping up to it.

 

Awfully close on the Traverse Town evolving as people arrive. It's actually explained in Dream Drop Distance. Traverse Town always appears when there is need for it. The characters from "The World Ends With You" lost their world, so it came back to harbor them. It's a good explanation for the expanded areas in the later game, since they're still stuck in the Reaper's Game and would need additional room.

 

The best thing about Traverse Town in this game is that the Heartless here will change as you progress through the game. There's a special route you can take that leads you to constantly fight Defenders and Wizards, with their respawns manipulated into always occurring between laps. (You can actually clear out an area of Heartless and they will stay gone until you travel far enough away.) It's great for quickly level grinding, or for easily getting their special weapons for Goofy and Donald (Defender's Shield and Wizard's Staff).

 

If you do decide to go for 100%, DON'T rescue all of the Dalmations!!! The final prize you get for rescuing them all is a complete set of Gummi Blocks, but if you receive that, you won't be able to open any more treasure chests if they contain a Gummi Block. It's a major pain in the neck if you're OCD about treasure collection like I am!

 

I don't know if it's intentional or not, but it's interesting how now that Shadows will drop Munny for you, they drop fewer HP balls, so you're now in actual danger of running out of HP. It's a pretty subtle way of increasing the difficulty without just hiking up enemy stats. I wonder if that would be worth doing in a ZC quest...

 

Really looking forward to the next fight you have to do. Hope you can pull off a win, you get a free Elixir upon finishing the world if you can manage it!

[MeleeWizard]

I last played KH back in September.  Even if it was more recent, my memory is crap, so who knows how much I'd be able to remember anyway.  If all else fails, I have a strategy guide I can consult, but I'll only use it as a last resort.  Or to help get 100% completion as i get closer to the end.

[MeleeWizard]

Part 5
 
Time to meet new people... and then fight them, because why not?

[MeleeWizard]

Part 6
 
Well, you seem to have things well in hand, let's send you off to do something completely different!

[MeleeWizard]

Part 7
 
I'm sure there's a proper strategy to fighting this thing, but heck if I know what it is.

[KingPridenia]

Trickmaster is tough because you have to jump up to hit it and both spells have pitiful range (you were missing almost every single Blizzard). In addition, Fire is suicide to use because it can light its sticks on fire, doubling their damage output. If you didn't get the Claw Marks, that would have been MUCH harder.

 

It's just an opinion, but I feel that they made Munny too hard to get early game, and items are just too expensive. Doesn't help your partners are pretty much useless, especially Donald this early. All he's doing is dying. Hopefully once he has Cure he'll last more than three seconds. Otherwise, he dies more than a casual player playing I Wanna Be The Guy. Giving your allies items barely seems to matter as they love wasting them. Combine that with their high cost and how slowly you get Munny...yeah.

[kurt91]

Donald and Goofy aren't entirely useless. You can take advantage of how wasteful they are with items by loading them both up with Megalixirs and Mega Potions, and then give the harder bosses one hell of a blitzkrieg!

[KingPridenia]

Donald and Goofy aren't entirely useless. You can take advantage of how wasteful they are with items by loading them both up with Megalixirs and Mega Potions, and then give the harder bosses one hell of a blitzkrieg!

 

Until they waste them all within the first 2 minutes...plus there will be a high chance of BOTH of them using one at the same time, making it worse.

[Evan20000]

I would sooner trust a hungry cat to guard my pet gerbil than I would trust Gooby and Dolan to use a Megalixer correctly.