Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories FAQ ##### ##### ####VVVVV#### ####:::::#### ###VVVVVVVVVV///#### ####:::::::::::..### ##VVVVVVVVVVVV////////#### ####::::::::::::::......## ##VVVVVVVVVVVVV/////////////#### ####:::::::::::::::::.........## #VVVVVVVVVVVVVV//////////////////##/:::::::::::::::::::............# #VVVVVVVVVVVVVV/////////////////////:::::::::::::::::::..............# ####VVV####V########/###/////####////#####:::#######::::::#####...####....##### # #VV# #VV# #/# #////# #///# #::# #::::# #..# #...# # # #V# #VVV### ###/# #///# #//# ### #:# ### #::# # #.# #.# # # ## #VVVVVV# #///# #//# #/# #:::###:# #::# #.# #.# #.# # # # # # # #VVVVVVV# #///# # #/# #/# #::::::::# #::# #.# #.# #.# ## ## # # #VVVVVVV/# #///# ## ## #/# #::#####:# #::# #.# #.# #.# #.# # # # # # #VVVVV//# #///# #/# # #:# #::### #:# #::# #.# #.# #.# #. # # # # ## #VVV///# #///# #//# #:# #:::# #:# #::# #.# #.# #.# # # # # #V# #V//### ###/# #///# #::# ### #:# ### #..# # #.# # # # # #VV# #//# #/# #////# #:::# #::# #....# #..# # # # ####VVV####/########/####////:###::::#####:::#######......#####...#### ##### #VV/////////////////////:::::::::::::::::::................... # ##////////////////#///::#::::::::##::::::..#.....#.......... ## #///////////////##/::# #::::::# #::::..# #...##......... # ##/////////////##:::# #:::::# #::...# #...##........ ## #////////////# #:# #:::# #...# #.# #....... # ##//////////# #:# #::# CHAIN #..# #.# #...... ## #////////:# # ## OF ## # #..... # ##/////::# MEMORIES #.... ## #///:::# #... # ##::::################################.. ## #:::::::::::::::::................... # #### #### ###########::::::####:.....##########...############ ######### # # # # # #:::::# #.....# #..# # # # # # # # # ########:::::# #.....# ###### ####### ##### # ##### # # # # # # #:::# ## #....# ###### # # # # # # ###### # # # ##:# ## #....# # # # # # # # # ######## # #..# #...# # ### # # # # # ###### # # # # #### #...# ## # # # # # # # # # # # # #..# #.# # # # # # # # # # # ######## # ###### #..# ## # # # # ##### # # # # # # # # # #.# #.# # # # # # # # #### #### ########### #### #####.#### ##### #### ######### #..# ## By Stephen Hsu (stephen_y_hsu@yahoo.com) a.k.a. ________ CMK TacTican ___________(________)___________ / | | \ | __________|____|__________ | | / |____| \ | =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== | | |\/| | | Legal Disclaimer \ \ |\/| / / (code: legaldisc) | | |\/| | | Introduction | | |\/| | | (code: tehintro) | | |\/| | | Revision History | | |\/| | | (code: revhist) | | |\/| | | Game Mechanics | | |__| | | (code: engineabuse) Controls | \_________|____|_________/ | Menus \ | | / \___________|____|___________/ (______) | :| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sora's Epic (code: handinhand) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction | :| (code: knowingsora) Battling with Sora | :| Leveling Sora | :| Room Synthesis | :| | :| Map Cards | :| (code: ineedacompass) | :| Sora's Walkthrough | :| | :| 1. Traverse Town | :| (code: oldfriends) 2-6. WORLD CARD SET I | :| Floors 2-6 | :| Agrabah | :| (code: trioofwishes) Halloween Town | :| (code: trickortreat) Monstro | :| (code: bellyofthebeast) Olympus Coliseum | :| (code: herosummit) Wonderland | :| (code: offwithyourhead) 7-10.WORLD CARD SET II | :| Floors 7-10 | :| 100 Acre Wood | :| (code: breakfrombattle) Atlantica | :| (code: underwaterphun) Hollow Bastion | :| (code: spookycastle) Never Land | :| (code: walktheplank) 11. Twilight Town | :| (code: wherearewe) 12. Destiny Islands | :| (code: homeofthefree) 13. Castle Oblivion | :| (code: oblivionawaits) | :| Journal | :| (code: cricketsthename) | :| Sora's Card Mechanics | :| (code: deckconstruction) Moogle Shops | :| Shop and Card Statistics | :| Card Types | :| Attack Cards | :| Magic Cards | :| Item Cards | :| Ally Cards | :| Enemy Cards | :| Sleights | :| Attack Sleights | :| Magic Sleights | :| Friend Sleights | :| Premium Cards | :| | :| Renowned Decks (7 total) | :| (code: deckdestruction) Diamond Crackdown | :| Bio Warfare | :| Stop Storm | :| Luminaire | :| Fatal Rush | :| Zero Gambit | :| Judgment Flare | :| (by GameFanNo1) | :| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riku's Saga (code: reverserebirth) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction | :| (code: learningriku) Battling with Riku | :| Leveling Riku | :| | :| Riku's Card Mechanics | :| (code: powerofdarkness) Riku's cards | :| Sleights | :| | :| Riku's Walkthrough | :| | :| B12. Hollow Bastion | :| (code: spookycastle) B11-8. WORLD CARD SET I | :| Floors B11-B8 | :| Agrabah | :|_______________ (code: trioofwishes) Monstro | :| (code: bellyofthebeast) Never Land | :| __________| (code: walktheplank) Traverse Town | :| \ (code: oldfriends) B7-4. WORLD CARD SET II | :| \__ Floors B7-B4 | :| __) Atlantica | :| / (code: underwaterphun) Halloween Town | :| / (code: trickortreat) Olympus Coliseum | :| \ (code: herosummit) Wonderland | :| \__ (code: offwithyourhead) B3. Destiny Islands | :| __) (code: homeofthefree) B2. Twilight Town | :| / (code: wherearewe) B1. Castle Oblivion | :| /_________(code: oblivionawaits) | :| | D Report | :|________________|(code: pwnagerecord) |____| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Glossary of Terms (code: miniwebsters) Frequently Asked Questions (code: tehfaq) Credits (code: honorroll) Contact Information (code: talk2me) Codes are provided for your convenience. Hit Ctrl+F to bring up the Find menu, type in the appropriate code, and jump directly to the section you want. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEGAL DISCLAIMER code: legaldisc ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Kingdom Hearts and all related objects are property of SquareEnix, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This document is strictly unofficial and should not be construed as to be endorsed by SquareEnix, Inc., in any way, shape, or form. This document is Copyright (c) 2005-2009 Stephen Hsu. This document is protected by the United States Copyright Act of 1976 and the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988. By using this document, the user agrees to be bound by the terms of this notice. This document may not be reproduced in whole or in part, electronically or in print, without the prior obtained express written consent of the author except for personal, private use. If in case such consent is granted, this document may not be altered from its original form by the user or any third party. This document may not be commercially exploited. Use of this document is solely at the discretion of the user. Reproduction of this document on any web site except GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) Digital Breakdown (http://www.digital-breakdown.com/index.php) Square Alliance (http://square-alliance.com) Mr. Saturn (http://www.mrsaturn.com) KH United (http://www.kh-united.com} KH13 (http://kh13.com) is a violation of copyright law and is strictly prohibited. This agreement is effective until terminated by the user. The user may terminate this legal agreement by completely destroying all copies of this document that the aforementioned user possesses. By using this document, the user agrees to hold the author free of any responsibility for loss or damage of any kind from the use of this guide. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION code: tehintro ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Hello and welcome to the Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories FAQ. I wrote this guide because I wanted to have a single file that could serve as a comprehensive reference for anything in the game. It is also much more than a mere reference, as I have tried my best to include detailed strategies and tactics to help gamers complete the single-player modes. I hope that in the course of reading you will find this document as beneficial to you as it has been for me. Of course, no person is a team by himself and this FAQ also represents the work of many others without whom it would not have much of its quality. Story spoilers are avoided where possible. However, the Journal and D Report sections contain in-game entries on most of the game itself, so skip these parts of the document if you want to find out on your own. Chain of Memories occurs immediately after the events of the original Kingdom Hearts, but it is not necessary to have played the original game to understand the events which occur in Chain of Memories. Chain of Memories has two main stories, the first of which focuses on the key master Sora and the second of which revolves around the warrior of dawn, Riku. About myself: My name is Stephen Hsu and I study physics in college. My GameFAQs alias is CMK TacTican though I go by different names in different places. It's a wonder this document was produced at all when you consider the Fundamental Theorem of Physics: physics major = no free time. Many different sites host this document, but the latest version can always be found at GameFAQs.com. Much as I'd love to, I simply can't keep tabs on every single website which has permission to use the FAQ. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REVISION HISTORY code: revhist ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Version 1.30 - February 27, 2009 Made a few corrections, and finally figured out what the deal is with the Trickmaster. I'm amazed that so many people still write in. Added some extra notes and made some minors fixes and tweaks, especially uncoventional_evolution's tip on substituting Keyblades for spells when going after White Mushrooms. Did some extra research into the conditions which allow 0 Trinity cards to appear in battle, and added the information to the bosses in Sora's section. Added some miscellaneous information contributed by EchoPhoenix which I had missed. Fixed a GLARING error with attack keyblades. Remember how in the old versions I claimed that the attack power of the Keyblades was determined by the combo order? That was all completely wrong, it's determined by the relative positioning of Sora and his target. More info in the key section. C- and B-economizer decks have been removed due to this. ... I'm starting to think that Renowned Decks might be a stupid idea for a game like this. What do you think? Added Judgment Flare to the Renowned Deck section (thanks GameFanNo1!) Allowed Mr. Saturn, KH13, and KH United to use this guide. This will probably be my final updated. Version 1.20 - January 2, 2006 Added a whole truckload of statistical information and a few miscellaneous notes, including Echo Charlie's observations about the elemental Keyblades. Also made good on my threat of learning the Moogle point selling prices of all the cards. Added an identifier for each Renowned Deck listing what it should be used for, so hopefully no more of this Bio deck against Marluxia II business. Corrected a mistake concerning Diamond Dust and One-Winged Angel (you do NOT have to possess Ultima Weapon to pick up those two). Put in a few notes on Riku's normal attacks. I'm probably forgetting to list a few updates that I implemented. Allowed Square-Alliance to use this guide. Version 1.10 - August 26, 2005 Fixed a number of errors where information listed in one section wasn't included in another when appropriate. Added a note to e-mail policy. Put in a few entries in the Frequently Asked Questions section. Also, finally got around to manually proofreading the blasted document, which ate up time like you wouldn't believe but at least fixed nearly all the errors in the first draft. Added Luminaire, Stop Storm, B Economizer, C Economizer, Fatal Rush, and Zero Gambit to the Renowned Deck section. To do list: Find out how many Moogle points you can get selling cards. Add miscellaneous tidbits of information, and do something about the Renowned Deck section. Version 1.00 - July 16, 2005 After four or five months of work, all the main sections have been written out. Introduction and both Sora's and Riku's walkthroughs have been added. Game Mechanics are included for both characters and lists compiled and commented for cards and enemies. Journal and D Report entries are fully written out. The document now includes a Glossary and a FAQ section. As of this version, the guide is 677 Kb in size ... and to think that I was certain it would never grow larger than 350. This FAQ is submitted and going public for the first time! Added Diamond Crackdown and Bio Warfare to the Renowned Deck section. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GAME MECHANICS code: engineabuse ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== We've all had this adage shoved down our throats, so let's hear it one more time: Knowledge is the key to victory. The most basic knowledge of all is understanding how to interface with the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Controls ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DIRECTION PAD - Movement Move Sora or Riku around, easy as that. Sora and Riku both run at the same speed outside of battle. Tapping left or right twice in battle triggers the dodge/roll, one of the most useful abilities that you have. Your character will roll or jump in that direction, safely passing through any attack for the duration of the evasion. (Dark-mode Riku's dodge takes him across nearly the whole screen in battle.) You can also dodge upwards or downwards by tapping the appropriate keys (Dark-mode Riku only). A button - Action Swing your Keyblade or Soul Eater outside of battle. Striking certain room objects will trigger a reaction; chests, for example, are opened by striking, and certain room features will also yield bounties when struck. Striking a room door will open the menu for room synthesis. Striking an enemy on the room map will give you a distinct edge in battle, as enemies start off stunned and also take a bit of damage. Depending on the properties of the room, you may also gain other advantages. During story events, pressing the A button will scroll down the text. Just don't keep it depressed, as the text will very occasionally skip out entirely if you do. In battle, the A button uses the selected card. The card that occupies the action bracket will be used if the A button is pressed. B button - Cancel Jump. The B button causes Sora and Riku to jump, which can yield benefits in a room if you jump upon certain objects. There is no penalty for falling from any height, no matter how great it is. The B button also cancels out of most menus. In battle, the B button again triggers a jump. Hold down the D-pad before you press the B button to jump in a direction, and note that jumps can still be maneuvered in midair. In Dark Mode, Riku can double jump upon a second press of the B key while he is still airborne. L button - Shift Left In battle, pressing L shifts your deck one card to the right, or clockwise. If it is held, it will cause a continuous shift after a moment of delay, which can be useful for grabbing that one card you need from the other side of your deck. Continuous shift stops at the reload space. R button - Shift Right In battle, pressing R shifts your deck one card to the left, or counter- clockwise. Holding the R button causes a continuous shift after a brief delay, a shift which stops at the reload space. See the section on sleights for information on how to kick butt by holding down R and L simultaneously. START button - Pause Outside battle, the Start button accesses the menu, where you interact with Sora or Riku. In battle, the Start button pauses the game. Cheap players can abuse the fact that the screen does not fade out to assess a situation before making a move. Note that when a battle is paused, all menus vanish from the screen - in other words, you can't see your HP, deck, stocked cards, card effects, DP (Riku only), or any of the above for your enemy. You can also skip story sequences by holding down the Start button for a few seconds. The skip won't engage immediately, but after a few moments the screen will fade to black and leave you at the next major scene. SELECT button - Miscellaneous On the field, the Select button displays the World map for easy reference. In battle, the Select button switches between the normal deck and the enemy cards stocked in your deck. The game tells you about this quite early in the game before you have any enemy cards. Consequently, most people (including myself) forget about the use of the Select button until well into their first run of the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Menus ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEW DECK Here, you deal with the core essence of your ability to fight your way through the game. The Review Deck command allows you to view your deck of cards as well as all the cards currently in your possession. You are limited to a maximum of 99 cards in your deck. Riku is stuck looking at how the castle has decided to screw him over, while Sora can build and customize his own decks and the cards in them. Riku can also only use a single deck at any given time, while Sora can store up to three separate decks (but Sora can only have one equipped at a time). In Sora's mode, pressing L will enter remove mode, where you may remove cards from your deck. Pressing R enters add move, where you may decide upon the cards to place in your deck. The neutral menu is used to rearrange your current deck. Sora can rename any of his decks and he can build whatever he wants, so long as he has the necessary capacity points to support his cards. (More on CP later.) It is vitally important to keep your deck organized at all times. WORLD MAP This command brings up a picture of the current world which you are in. The lower left hand corner shows the current floor of the castle, the lower right hand corner displays the name of that floor, and the upper right hand corner tells you which card you used to synthesize the room you are in. You may press the A button to bring up a detailed assessment of the cost of making that room. MAP CARDS Map cards are used to synthesize rooms in the floors of Castle Oblivion. The Map Cards menu brings up a list of the map cards you hold, as well as a breakdown of each one. Note that you are limited to holding 99 map cards at any given time; if you are at this capacity, then you will receive no more map cards from battle. You may press the A button to choose to discard a map card, and press A again to confirm the selection. The headers at the top of the map card menu separate your cards by type. WORLD CARDS This menu displays a chart of the worlds which you've visited, as well as giving you an idea of how much further you have to go. Sora's story covers thirteen worlds; Riku's covers twelve. The floor you are currently on is highlighted in a different color. STATUS All the information you could ever want, and packaged in an easily legible form. Here, you can check on your current level, your HP, your CP (Sora only), your Moogle points (Sora only), your currently equipped deck (still Sora only), your attack rating (Riku only), your dark points (again, Riku only), your current levels of experience, and the experience needed to reach the next level. You can also check your sleights, which are sorted by type, for details on how to use them and what they do. Finally, your friends (if you have any) are displayed in a small box. Sora can have up to three friends and Riku up to one. JOURNAL (Sora only) Jiminy Cricket appears to help you keep track of the story, your cards, and the characters you've met so far. The journal fills up as you encounter more objects of interest and unfilled entries are denoted by question marks. Being the nice guy that he is, Jiminy highlights each new entry with a "New" banner. When an entire category is filled, he'll stamp the Mickey Mouse emblem next to that category as a token of your achievement. See the Journal section further down the document for the full lists. D REPORT (Riku only) Riku's progress is cataloged by the D Report, which takes note of much of what he does and meets. Basically, it's Riku's equivalent of Sora's Journal, only he doesn't get a handy cricket to keep track of it for him. QUICK SAVE This option makes an instant save into the memory in case you need to turn off your Gameboy Advance (or emulator ...) and can't make it to a save point in time. Which, by the way, can happen quite often. When you load the save, it vanishes from the game - so no, you can't use it to abuse the game. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SORA'S EPIC code: handinhand ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Sora's tale begins immediately after the events of Kingdom Hearts. If you never played Kingdom Hearts, don't panic - you should be able to understand why he's doing what he's doing within the first half hour. All of Sora's story happens inside the thirteen above ground floors of Castle Oblivion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SORA'S EPIC - Introduction code: knowingsora ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- First off, if you're going to challenge a friend in link games, then you have an interest in building up the best possible Sora that you can. Only Sora can participate in link battles (Riku is stuck with fixed decks - and fixed can be used in both senses of the word - and as a result would probably be murdered in link battles against Sora). Sora relies on the power of his cards, spells, and friends to see him through a battle. Thus, his potential is directly affected by how well you build your deck. Sora's deck is his single biggest advantage in the game; if made properly, he can run over just about anything that has the misfortune to meet him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION - Battling with Sora ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the beginning of the game, you will be led through a tutorial of how to fight. Battles start in the classic Final Fantasy style - the screen shifts into an in-battle display. Sora's deck is shown in the lower left hand corner; the currently highlighted card is the one that he will use when the A button is pressed. Pressing the L and R buttons cycles through the available cards. Battles are initiated as either plot events or as random encounters on the room map. In the room map, running into an enemy starts a battle. Striking an enemy with the Keyblade also initiates a battle, but with the advantage that the enemy begins stunned and with a little HP knocked off. Thus, it is to your advantage to start off battles with a Keyblade strike whenever possible. Story battles cannot use this advantage. Card types used in battle are broadly separated into three categories: attack, magic, and item. See the card section for more information on these cards and how to use them. Early in the game, Sora will also be taught how to use sleights. A sleight is simply a set of more than one card. Instead of using a card immediately in battle, pressing L and R simultaneously allows you to stock up to three cards, where they are displayed underneath Sora's HP bar. The bar then indicates the total value of the sleight and the type of sleight (if applicable). Once the sleight has been filled, pressing L and R together one final time triggers the sleight. More on using sleights in the sleight battle section. Sora's HP is displayed in the upper left corner along with a picture of himself. As Sora takes damage, his HP will decrease. When he is down to about fifteen percent of his maximum HP, the bar will begin to flash red, his status box will change to display a fatigued picture of himself, and the game emits a VERY annoying continuous beep. Being at critical health has its own benefits, but in general you'll want to heal yourself up as fast as you can. In battle, Sora will automatically acquire targets. A target will have a bracket centered over its body and its HP displayed in the upper right corner. Some cards and sleights will track their targets, but all sleights and cards can be used without first designating a target. Just as Sora uses cards, so too do his enemies. Only one set of cards can be in action at any given time. Enemies will attack Sora using their cards, which are displayed in the center of the screen. Each enemy card will have the portrait of the enemy using it along with a number in the card denoting that card's value. This, of course, leads us to the concept of card breaking. If Sora and an enemy both play a card simultaneously, the card with the higher number wins. The loser's card is broken, which is shown on screen by the text message "card break," and the loser reels back for a moment. The winner's card and attack go through. Consider the following examples: Sora vs. Shadow Sora plays a 4 Kingdom Key and the Shadow plays a 1 attack. Sora wins the attack. Sora vs. Fat Bandit Sora plays a 7 Oblivion and the Fat Bandit plays a 5 attack. Sora wins the attack. Sora vs. Blue Rhapsody Sora plays a 2 Fire and the Rhapsody plays a 5 attack. The Rhapsody wins the attack, hitting Sora while he is reeling. Sora vs. Soldier The Soldier first plays a 5 attack. Midway through, Sora breaks it with an 18 Omnislash sleight. Sora wins the attack and his sleight executes. Sora vs. Defender The Defender first plays a 9 attack. Sora attempts to trigger a 6 Ars Arcanum but his attack fails to go through and the Defender's attack continues without interruption. Note that breaking a card will cause an opponent to reel backward. Having a card broken does the same to you. However, if your opponent already has a card in play and you fail to break it, nothing happens except that your cards are used up. You do not suffer from card break effects; in the last example, Sora loses his cards but does not reel back. The sole exception to the normal "higher numbers beat lower numbers" rule is the very special 0 card. Broadly speaking, the progression is this: 0 > 10+ > 9 > 8 > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2 > 1 > 0 where a card breaks anything to the right of it. 0 breaks everything, but is also broken by everything. In other words, you can use a 0 card to break any attack that is coming at you; however, as long as the 0 card is in play, the next attack that comes along will break it. If Sora and an opponent both play cards of the same value simultaneously, both cards will break and both of them will reel. Pressing the Select button switches from the normal battle deck to the enemy card deck. Enemy cards grant Sora a special advantage of some sort. The bottom left corner next to the card list displays this advantage along with an indicator of how long it lasts. The enemy card section has much more detailed information about effects and usage. So what happens if you use up all your cards? Without cards, you can't do anything. However, you can always reload your deck at any time by going to the black card square and holding down the A button until your gauge is full. The number on the card gauge determines how many times you must refill it until the cards return to you. The gauge starts off at 1, but each reload increases the meter by 1 to a maximum of 3 consecutive reloads. Sora has to stand still as he reloads (unless he uses a certain card to lift this restriction), making him very vulnerable to enemy attack while he calls back his deck. There are some item cards which will quick-reload a deck and even reset the counter. When Sora defeats an enemy, that enemy will drop experience balls and very rarely a Premium bonus (more on Premium bonuses in the Journal). Defeating an opponent alone is not enough to earn experience - you must also run around and collect the experience balls that a defeated opponent drops before you can earn any experience. In most battles, the enemies do not all appear at once; when Sora defeats a certain number of opponents, more will appear until he has beaten them all. When all opponents are defeated, a map card or enemy card is dropped (unless you have 99 map cards already) and the battle ends once all items are collected. Do note that experience balls disappear if you haven't collected them within a certain amount of time. Sora can also end battles by fleeing. To run from battle, run to the edge of the battlefield and keep pressing the D-pad in that direction. An escape gauge will then appear and when it fills up (typically in about 1.25 seconds) Sora escapes from the battle. Escape can be interrupted by enemy attacks or if you let go of the D-pad; once interrupted, the gauge resets back to 0. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION - Leveling Sora ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As with virtually all RPGs, Sora increases his abilities by level gains. A level gain allows Sora to increase one of his fighting capacities. You may choose to raise one of the following: HP Boost: Sora gains +15 hit points. Maxed at 560 HP. CP Boost: Sora gains +25 capacity points. Maxed at 1900 CP. Sleight: Sora learns a new sleight (not always available). 11 total. Sora can go up to level 99, but he can only maximize two of the three bonus categories. Of the bonuses, the Sleight bonus is not always available but can only be accessed once Sora has reached a certain level. More information is available in the Sleights section. Personally, I recommend that you learn a Sleight when you can and gain just enough HP to survive a long battle (around 200 HP should be enough). Then concentrate on taking your CP up as high as it can go. Maximizing HP and CP gives you one sleight at level 99. Maximizing HP and sleights gives you 1650 CP at level 99. Maximizing CP and sleights gives you 410 HP at level 99. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION - Room Synthesis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everything in Castle Oblivion is governed by cards. Naturally, you'll need cards to be able to go anywhere. When you enter a floor, the first room of that floor is automatically created for you. To go any further, you'll have to bang on a door with your Keyblade and then synthesize the room beyond with a map card. The rules for synthesis are simple: the cost of the card needed to synthesize the next room is the cost of the card used to synthesize the room you are in, plus 1. For example, if Sora is currently in a 4 Teeming Darkness room, to go to the next room he has to use a card of at least 5 or greater. 0 cards are again special since they can be used to synth any room. (Note that these rules apply only to normal rooms. Storyline rooms and Reward rooms have their own unique requirements.) Additionally, the 0 card resets the counter - if Sora synthed the next room with a zero card, the value of that room is 0, not 4. (In the first version of this guide I wrote that room values carry over through 0 cards, but I've since learned that I was mistaken.) You can also recreate rooms that you've already been in by resynthing them from the other side. Rooms have a limited number of enemies, so if you need to level then you'll find yourself resynthing rooms quite often. Rooms vary in size and shape. When Sora enters a new room, you'll see an animation of him walking while the room loads. The longer this animation lasts the bigger the room into which you are walking. Floor layouts in Castle Oblivion are fixed. The first floor always has the same layout regardless of which world card you used to synthesize it and so forth with all floors. For this reason, I can't tell you which world has what kind of layout, all I can tell you is which floor has what kind of layout. Once you leave a floor, it is reset. This means that if you wish to return to that floor, you must resynthesize all rooms anew. (This has its advantages, as you will probably find out if you return to previous floors.) Each floor also has a Save Station and a Warp Point before you enter the world of that floor. Storyline and Key to Rewards rooms have their own requirements which are listed along with the door in question. The game may ask for a card lower than such a number, or higher than, or exactly equal to. Sometimes it'll ask just for a card of a certain color. Sometimes it'll give you a number and you'll have to feed cards to reduce that number down to zero before the door will open for you. (One memorable Key to Rewards door required blue cards of at least 33 combined value, red cards of at least 33 combined value, and green cards of at least 33 combined value PLUS the Key to Rewards card before it would open, but man was that Megalixir worth it.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAP CARDS code: ineedacompass ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is an index of all map cards in the game, as taken directly from their Journal entries in the order which they appear in-game. Sora can only hold a maximum of 99 map cards. The total number of map cards that you have is listed in the map card menu in the top right corner - if you've hit that limit, you cannot win any more map cards in battle without first trashing map cards that you already have. The number of Heartless in each type of room is predetermined and can't be altered; also, each room can only have so many Heartless on the screen at a time. Each card has its Journal entry copied over as well as my own commentary on the card. Do note that map cards fall into one of four categories: Red - affects enemies while in the room Green - affects Sora while in the room Blue - affects the room itself Yellow - Storyline or Reward card ------------------------------Red Cards (9 total)------------------------------ Red cards can have either good or bad effects on the Heartless in the room. In the early parts of the story mode, you'll usually pick up cards that allow you to debilitate the Heartless, but as the story progresses you'll find more and more map cards which give the Heartless an edge. You are advised to hold at least one red card of every value for the sake of opening doors, though it's likely you'll find yourself burning through the lower-numbered cards more quickly than the higher numbers. _______________________________________________________________________________ TRANQUIL DARKNESS 1/26 "A room where only a few Heartless appear." 5 Heartless total, 1 Heartless onscreen maximum Exactly as the card says, only a few Heartless will pop up to interfere with you in these rooms. These rooms also tend to be small and cramped; use them at important junctions if you don't feel like walking. When you first synthesize a new world, the first room defaults to Tranquil Darkness. However, note that these particular cards seem to become rarer as you ascend the castle. _______________________________________________________________________________ TEEMING DARKNESS 2/26 "A room where many Heartless appear. Enemies are more likely to drop enemy cards." 8 Heartless total, 3 Heartless onscreen maximum. Teeming Darkness rooms tend to be large and filled with objects. Lots of Heartless present and the room structure is usually simple. Simply put, this is one of the best map cards if you want to power level or just grab a lot of Moogle points/health balls/cards - synth two of these rooms next to each other, clear them out, and you're set. Note that most rooms have only two enemies on the screen at one time. Teeming Darkness rooms, however, can have up to three. The flip side is that this is one of the rooms which give you a 2.5 times greater chance of winning an enemy card at the end of the battle. _______________________________________________________________________________ FEEBLE DARKNESS 3/26 "A room where Heartless with weak cards appear." 5 Heartless total, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum When you enter this room, think about it this way: someone just declared open season on the Heartless. Feeble Darkness rooms aren't too large or small, but they do give you an important advantage - all enemy Heartless cards are reduced by a value of 2. (They aren't reduced below 1, however, which is quite important since it prevents them from getting the "break everything" 0 cards.) _______________________________________________________________________________ ALMIGHTY DARKNESS 4/26 "A room where Heartless with strong cards appear. Enemies are more likely to drop enemy cards." 8 Heartless total, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum Big rooms full of Heartless with +2 modifiers to all their attacks (though they won't go higher than 9). If you want a challenge, go ahead and synth this room. Otherwise, the only real reason to carry one of these is for storyline room synthesis. If you're desperate for enemy cards and out of Looming or Teeming Darkness cards, then go ahead and use Almighty Darkness since it gives you the useful 2.5 times increased chance of getting an enemy card. Otherwise, don't bother. _______________________________________________________________________________ SLEEPING DARKNESS 5/26 "A room where Heartless are drowsy and easy to ambush." 3 Heartless total, 3 Heartless onscreen maximum Understatement of the century. The description ought to read "A room where Heartless can't move, period." Sleeping darkness rooms are tiny - the whole room fits comfortably on your screen - and all the Heartless are present in the room and immobile, though it's not like there's a lot of them to begin with. Feel free to abuse the situation as you see fit. _______________________________________________________________________________ LOOMING DARKNESS 6/26 "A room where Heartless attack relentlessly. Enemies are more likely to drop enemy cards." 8 Heartless total, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum Another big room card. Here, Heartless will chase you like monsters out of a bad B-movie. The upside is that they have no other advantage, so the upshot of the Looming Darkness room is that it's a pain to cross in a hurry but not hard at all to clear. Again, there's a 2.5 times greater chance of winning an enemy card from a battle; useful for assembling that Bio deck. _______________________________________________________________________________ PREMIUM ROOM 7/26 "A room where victory often leads to Premium Bonuses." 3 Heartless total, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum Remember all those rare Premium bonuses that you could never seem to lay a finger on? Fret no more, this is what the Premium room is good for. In this room, the majority of battles that you fight will give you a Premium bonus. I personally suggest that you save as many of these cards as you can until you've assembled the deck that you want to use for link battle. Then use these cards and turn as many of your cards Premium as you can. _______________________________________________________________________________ WHITE ROOM 8/26 "A room where only White Mushrooms appear. But what happens when you help them out?" Number of Heartless depends on how many you can catch. White rooms are typically medium to large in size, but sparsely occupied by White 'Shrooms. In brief, completing a White Mushroom battle gives you a high probability of getting a Premium bonus room. You'll probably need a special deck made exclusively for fighting White 'Shrooms, though. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLACK ROOM 9/26 "A room where only Black Funguses appear. But what happens when you defeat one?" Number of Heartless depends on how many you can catch. Arrgh, it's funGI, not funGUSES! Anyway, grammar whoring aside, the Black Room is about the same size as the White Room and similar in structure, plus it's filled with Black Funguses instead of White Mushrooms. Black Room battles drop lots of blue map cards, especially the useful Calm Bounty. -----------------------------Green Cards (7 total)----------------------------- Whereas red map cards affect the Heartless, green map cards affect Sora's deck instead (with one exception). There are no green cards that impose a disadvantage on Sora's deck; most of them boost Sora's card statistics in some way or form, or alternatively confer a field advantage. This makes green map cards really handy if you're outmatched and need some sort of way to level up before moving onward. _______________________________________________________________________________ MARTIAL WAKING 10/26 "A room where attack cards are more effective." 6 Heartless total, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum In other words, a room where all your attack cards get a +2 bonus to their values. This is great for pure power decks since you can run over anything in this room, but it plays havoc with sleight decks since all your sleights get messed up. What's especially annoying is that all 0 cards turn into 2 cards, so you're left without a break everything card. Card values max out at 9. If you're into beatdown decks, use Martial Waking when you can. If you're into tactical or sleight decks, avoid this room. _______________________________________________________________________________ SORCEROUS WAKING 11/26 "A room where magic cards are more effective." 6 Heartless total, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum + 2 to all magic! Whee! If you want to abuse magic and summon cards, then this is definitely the room for you. And unlike Martial Waking, Sorcerous Waking inflicts no penalty to sleight-based magic decks since magic sleights do not depend at all upon their values. In a world with many enemies who use physical attacks, this is definitely one of the best cards to have. _______________________________________________________________________________ ALCHEMIC WAKING 12/26 "A room where item cards are more effective." 6 Heartless total, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum Think Sorcerous Waking, only applied to Item cards. Now you can use that Holy sleight without worrying over whether its low value will allow it to be broken. Alchemic waking is a great card if you use a deck that depends heavily on sleights, as it helps you get all your attack and magic cards back. _______________________________________________________________________________ MEETING GROUND 13/26 "A room where a friend card appears at the beginning of all battles (if your friends are with you)." 6 Heartless total, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum Basically what the card says, a friend card appears at the beginning of all battles. This is an especially useful card on the top floor of Castle Oblivion in Sora's story, as Trinity Limit kills nearly everything with a single blow. There are a few places in both Sora's and Riku's stories where you have no ally support in battle, so don't bother using this card in these places. _______________________________________________________________________________ STAGNANT SPACE 14/26 "A room where the Heartless move slowly." 5 Heartless total, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum Half speed, to be exact. A great map card if you just want to run through a room without fighting anything along the way. On the other hand, this room tends to be created as an overly long corridor, which restricts your movement. And whereas the first four Green cards give you medium-sized room, you'll find the Stagnant Space quite large. _______________________________________________________________________________ STRONG INITIATIVE 15/26 "A room where striking first in the field does additional damage to Heartless." 5 Heartless total, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum Ever notice how striking a Heartless on the field deals a bit of damage to your first opponents? Well, in Strong Initiative you don't deal just a bit of damage, you deal a whole whopping load of damage. Save these cards for the last few floors of Castle Oblivion where enemies have the most HP. _______________________________________________________________________________ LASTING DAZE 16/26 "A room where striking first in the field stuns all Heartless that join the battle." 5 Heartless total, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum It's nice to start out battles with your opponents stunned and helpless as you stock up cards to unleash that Ragnarok or Mega Flare on them. Lasting Daze carries that advantage throughout the whole battle, as each reinforcement arrives dazed and unable to attack. As with Strong Initiative, save these cards for the last few floors of Castle Oblivion unless you desperately need them. ------------------------------Blue Cards (6 total)----------------------------- Blue rooms are ... well, the blue map cards affect the room itself, turning it into something. Notably, you can synth blue map cards if you're hunting for cards or simply need some breathing space. The only save room in the game is also contained in this category. _______________________________________________________________________________ CALM BOUNTY 17/26 "A room containing treasure." 0 Heartless total And more than just that, here you can relax and take a breather. This card is exactly what it sounds like: a small room with a single treasure chest that always yields a card. You can only acquire certain cards from Bounty rooms, but it's more likely that you'll pick up a card you already have. _______________________________________________________________________________ GUARDED TROVE 18/26 "A room where treasure is guarded by Heartless." 5 Heartless total + 2 n00b campers, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum Or, a small room where a big Heartless camps at the base of the only ladder leading to the treasure chest. Plus, another Heartless camps at the top of the platform waiting to ambush from above. Plus, a room where it's hard to begin a battle with a Keyblade strike. Use this card if you're out of False Bounty cards and saving Calm Bounty cards. _______________________________________________________________________________ FALSE BOUNTY 19/26 "A room where only one treasure chest is real. Opening the wrong chest triggers a battle." 5 Heartless total + 2 Jack-in-the-boxes, 2 Heartless onscreen maximum You have three chests and therefore a one-in-three chance of picking the right chest in your first guess. Guess wrong and you enter a battle without the chance to stun your opponent. Also, this room does have other Heartless lurking about, so be warned. I prefer this room above Guarded Trove, but it's just a personal preference. _______________________________________________________________________________ MOMENT'S REPRIEVE 20/26 "A room where you can save your progress." 0 Heartless total Easy. There's a save point in this small room, as well as an object or two that you can hit for Moogle points/health/cards. A good place to use these would be right before a boss battle. The game automatically creates a Moment's Reprieve room for you after clearing the final storyline room of a floor (Sora only), and this Moment's Reprieve room is always found directly in front of the floor exit. _______________________________________________________________________________ MINGLING WORLDS 21/26 "A room where anything could happen." Number of Heartless total and onscreen varies. This card randomly produces a room with the properties of another card, to my knowledge. As the picture implies, it's a big question mark. And don't bother consulting the floor map to figure out what kind of room you're in; it will simply say "Mingling Worlds" and leave it at that. _______________________________________________________________________________ MOOGLE ROOM 22/26 "A room where cards can be traded with Moogles at the Moogle Shop." 0 Heartless total As the description implies, you can trade Moogle points for cards in this room. Each Moogle Room has a single Moogle you can talk to; also, the first time that you talk to the Moogle, you'll get a set of five cards for free. Do note that Riku can't pick up this particular type of map card since he can't modify his deck and thus can't run into Moogles. The cards you receive are randomly selected every time you enter and leave the room if you're into save state abuse ... -----------------------------Yellow Cards (4 total)---------------------------- Yellow cards are one-of-a-kind cards that involve either the story directly or else hold unique rewards for Sora. Unlike the other cards, they have no associated number values and can only be used at specific room designations. Using a yellow map card will either advance the story for a particular world or else open a room which contains a unique sleight or card. _______________________________________________________________________________ KEY OF BEGINNINGS 23/26 "A room where untold stories unfold." 0 Heartless total, except for certain story scenes This key is required to synth the first of the story rooms on a floor. You may only have one of these cards any at given time, and they are automatically acquired along the course of the story. _______________________________________________________________________________ KEY OF GUIDANCE 24/26 "A room where untold stories unfold." 0 Heartless total, except for certain story scenes This key is required to synth the second of the story rooms on a floor. Not all worlds have a second story room. You may only have one of these cards any at given time, and they are automatically acquired along the course of the story after using up the Key of Beginnings card. _______________________________________________________________________________ KEY TO TRUTH 25/26 "A room where untold stories unfold." 0 Heartless total, except for certain story scenes This key is required to synth the third of the story rooms on a floor. It more often than not triggers a boss battle if there is a third story room in that particular world. You may only have one of these cards any at given time, and they are automatically acquired along the course of the story after using up the Key of Guidance card. _______________________________________________________________________________ KEY TO REWARDS 26/26 "A room containing special treasure." 0 Heartless total This is it, the Key to Rewards which unlocks the Reward room. Only Sora's story contains Reward rooms, so this doesn't apply to Riku. The Reward room contains a single treasure chest which holds cards or sleights that you'll find nowhere else. You can only have one of these cards at any time; the further into Castle Oblivion that you go, the higher your chance of obtaining one, plus they won't appear AT ALL before World Card Set 2. And since you can only carry one at a time, it's in your best interest to use it as soon as possible. The best place to poach enemies for the Key to Rewards card is on the top floor, where you have a better than 90% chance of getting the card within three battles. Note that Reward room contents are associated with worlds, not floors. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SORA'S WALKTHROUGH ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== For much of Sora's story, you will enjoy the assistance of many friends who travel with you. This walkthrough is divided by floors. Each floor includes a floor plan as well as a set of detailed information about the worlds on that floor. Note that worlds can be synthed in any order - I've simply listed them alphabetically. Because floor plans are associated with floors and not worlds, I've separated them in the sections. Note that the game automatically puts you back in a preset room when you've completed a storyline room; these are also marked on the map. As you progress through Castle Oblivion, the enemies that you meet will become increasingly more difficult. Their HP pools will rise with each floor that you ascend; on the other hand, they'll also drop more experience. You'll also meet new enemies on each floor, as well as a few which appear exclusively on a single floor. Each room in the floor also has objects on the map which can be struck or jumped on; doing this releases a stream of green (health) balls, red (Moogle point) balls, a card, or nothing at all. Each world also has a Keyblade associated with it besides the ubiquitous Kingdom Key, so keep your eyes peeled. For more information, consult the Journal section of this document. Most floors have a boss and a select few will have more than one boss. As with normal enemies, bosses also level up the further that you go. Since any boss associated with a world card can be taken in any order that you like, boss HP values are not fixed. Just keep in mind that the higher you climb in the castle, the more HP the boss will have and the harder that boss will hit. Bosses can also be classified into two types. One type of boss is much like Sora - a character-sized person who uses attack cards and items the way Sora does. This type of boss can stack cards to form sleights, packs 0 cards, and may even have to reload his or her deck. The other type of boss fights more like a glorified Heartless - using cards one at a time. These bosses do not use sleights or 0 cards but typically have high-valued cards and other ways to make up for this shortcoming. Also, in battles against these bosses, you can pick up a 0 Trinity card by fulfilling certain conditions. The 0 Trinity card gives you some sort of advantage (usually a big one) in battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLOOR 1: Traverse Town code: oldfriends ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLOOR 1 ^Exit 1: Key of Beginnings + >1 card [3]-[ ]-[!] 2: Key of Guidance + >3 card | | 3: Key to Truth + Green card [2]-[%] [ ] | | R: Key to Rewards [1]-[*] [ ] | | *: Reappear at this room when finished with 1. [ ]-[ ] [R] %: Reappear at this room when finished with 2. ^Start !: Reappear at this room when finished with 3. Cannot be accessed until 3 is completed. _______________________________________________________________________________ TRAVERSE TOWN "A haven for those whose homes fell to darkness." Objects: Crate, lamppost, shingled block in the floor Cards: Kingdom Key, Simba summon (Beginnings room) Reward Room: Lionheart Keyblade Friends: Donald Duck, Goofy Enemies: Shadow, Soldier, Red Nocturne, Blue Rhapsody Bosses: Guard Armor (Truth room) Traverse Town is pretty much the tutorial section of the game. Here, the battle system and synthesis systems are explained. You'll also get to meet a few old and beloved Final Fantasy characters before fighting an easy boss battle in the Key to Truth room. If you wish, take the time to clear out all the rooms and level a bit, then go back through them and stock up on Kingdom Keys before proceeding. And enjoy the FF character cameo while you can, since you'll be seeing precious few of those in Chain of Memories. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GUARD ARMOR ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Low Trinity: Randomly after breaking an attack Attacks: Stomp - The Guard Armor's feet will attempt to kick Sora. This attack has range issues and thus isn't very dangerous if you stay out of its way. Does slight damage. Swipe - The Guard Armor's gauntlets swipe at Sora. You'll see this move coming long before it hits, and it isn't hard at all to dodge or break. Does slight damage. Impact - The Guard Armor jumps, shaking the floor. This attack is more of an annoyance than anything else, and it can be avoided if you're in the air when the armor hits. Does slight damage. Disco Swipe - Now this is more like it. The Guard Armor's gauntlets start to whirl around it. It has limited range, but don't try to squeeze an attack through; instead, run back until the attack ends and then you may counterattack. Shatter Spin - The Guard Armor spins itself rapidly. Break the attack or dodge it, your call. This attack is used only after you've stripped the boss of its arms and legs. If the attack isn't broken before the body reaches the floor, the Armor will start bouncing around the arena like a pinball for a short while. Pogo Impact - The Guard Armor's body bounces up and down, shaking the floor. Think of a more annoying version of the Impact attack, and break this one if you can. If not, jump up and pray that you don't land when it does. Drop: Guard Armor enemy card The Guard Armor comes in six parts, five of which are targetable: two legs, two arms, and a body. Each section has its own set of HP and your job is to reduce all of them to 0 (although you can't target the body until the arms and legs have been defeated). This battle is a straight out brawlfest. If you want, strip away any card below a 7 prior to this battle, because this battle is all about using cards with higher values. Try not to use sleights as you will not be getting any extra damage out of them, plus at this time you might not be able to afford using up your deck for sleighting. While your attack cards shouldn't be used for sleight construction, you'll be able to pick up the occasional Donald and Goofy cards around the stage. Be sure to save them until you have three. If you sleight Donald and Goofy cards, not only will you be able to deal massive damage to several components at once, you should also be relatively safe from a sleight break. The Guard Armor's cards are limited to a maximum value of around 6; anything above that, it can't break. Play defensively - allow the Armor to attack, then counter that attack and break it. Trinity cards drop randomly after you break the Guard Armor's attacks. The 0 Trinity card causes the Guard Armor to collapse senseless on the ground and spill all of its parts, so take the opportunity to smack it while it's down. You can safely use your lower-valued cards here without risk of losing card breaks. Retreat to the other side of the battleground when you need to heal, as you'll provoke less attacks and less chance of a Cure break if you do so. Once you use up the Cure, reload your deck so that the Cure card is always available. Overall, this is a fairly straightforward battle which shouldn't prove too difficult or take up too much time. _______________________________________________________________________________ Save in the Moment's Reprieve room when you're done, because there's a boss battle waiting for you on the next floor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WORLD CARD SET I Floors 2-6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first world card set includes Agrabah, Wonderland, Monstro, Halloween Town, and Olympus Coliseum. In each of these, you'll pick up a fragment of what happened in the original Kingdom Hearts. You'll also get to pick up a nice assortment of Enemy cards and various Keyblades to augment your deck. Be sure to level Sora somewhat in each world before moving on to the next. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AXEL I ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: Ice Absorbs: Fire Nullifies: Gravity, not that you have it by this point Threat: Medium-Low Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Slash - Axel swipes at the air in front of him with one of those fancy pinwheels. He moves forward a little and this gives him an extra bit of range. Not too dangerous. Blade Blink - This time, Axel throws his pinwheel, teleports to his destination, and catches it. Very chic and stylish. It has more range and about as much damage as his Slash, but is still easily dodged. If you find yourself being hit repeatedly by this attack, try to move vertically as much as possible. Fire Wall (sleight) - Axel creates a wall of fire directly in front of himself that stretches from the top of the battlefield to the bottom. It then starts to creep forward at a snail's pace. You can either card break it or jump through it with a dodge-roll, both of which will end the attack. Drop: Fire card Axel isn't really that hard. Of course, seeing as how this is the start of the game and you're facing off against a human-like opponent for the first time, you might find him a bit challenging. He has less overall HP than the Guard Armor, plus he isn't trying his hardest to defeat you. Mostly he'll go for close combat. Do note that he can sleight cards as Sora can, so make sure that your 0 card is handy. Slash and Blade Blink don't do much damage alone, but over time they can add up. If you need to, use your Cure card(s) and then immediately reload your deck so that you have Cure cards at all times. Blizzard hurts him bad, but it and Simba are both difficult to aim effectively. Axel has a tendency to run through his cards like water instead of taking his time to aim, which can be used to your advantage. Once he starts reloading, drop in and hurt him. Do note, however, that he is faster than Sora and will not hesitate to take advantage of this unpleasant fact. Outlast him and you'll win your first Fire card. _______________________________________________________________________________ Once you've defeated Axel, you're given your choice of worlds from the card set. Go with whatever looks interesting to you, noting that floor layouts are independent of world choices. Do note, however, that bosses will become more difficult as you progress through the worlds. I prefer the order of Olympus Coliseum, Monstro, Halloween Town, Agrabah, and finally Wonderland (sometimes switching the town for Agrabah), but the order that you take the worlds doesn't make much of a difference. Also note that every time you step into a different world, all worlds behind it will be reset and must be resynthesized with map cards before you can proceed through them again. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLOOR 2 1: Key of Beginnings [R] 2: Key of Guidance + 15 card total | ^Exit 3: Key to Truth [2] [%]-[!] | | R: Key to Rewards + Blue card [ ]-[ ] | *: Reappear at this room when finished with 1. [1]-[*]-[3] %: Reappear at this room when finished with 2. ^Start !: Reappear at this room when finished with 3. Cannot be accessed until 3 is completed. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLOOR 3 ^Exit 1: Key of Beginnings + >5 card [!] + >7 card | 2: Key of Guidance + Green card [3]-[ ]-[ ] 3: Key to Truth + <3 card | | [R]-[*] [1] R: Key to Rewards + Red =0 card | [ ]-[%]-[2] *: Reappear at this room when finished with 1. ^Start %: Reappear at this room when finished with 2. !: Reappear at this room when finished with 3. Cannot be accessed until 3 is completed. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLOOR 4 ^Exit 1: Key of Beginnings + >8 card [R] [3]-[ ]-[!] 2: Key of Guidance + >1 card | | 3: Key to Truth + Red card [ ]-[ ]-[%]-[2] + Green card | | [1] [*]-[ ] R: Key to Rewards + =9 Red card ^Start + =9 Green card *: Reappear at this room when finished with 1. %: Reappear at this room when finished with 2. !: Reappear at this room when finished with 3. Cannot be access until 3 is completed. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLOOR 5 ^Exit 1: Key of Beginnings + 20 card total [!]-[3] 2: Key of Guidance + Red card | + <5 card [ ]-[ ] [R] 3: Key to Truth + =0 card | | [ ]-[ ]-[*]-[1] R: Key to Rewards + 15 Green card total | | [%]-[ ] *: Reappear at this room when finished with 1. ^ | %: Reappear at this room when finished with 2. Start [2] !: Reappear at this room when finished with 3. Cannot be accessed until 3 is completed. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLOOR 6 [ ]-[ ] 1: Key of Beginnings + =3 card | | ^Exit + =4 card [1]-[%] [2] [!] 2: Key of Guidance + =6 card | | + =7 card [*]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] 3: Key to Truth + <3 Red card ^ | | + 30 Green card total Start [R] [3] R: Key to Rewards + 20 Red card total *: Reappear at this room when finished with 1. %: Reappear at this room when finished with 2. !: Reappear at this room when finished with 3. Cannot be accessed until 3 is completed. _______________________________________________________________________________ AGRABAH code: trioofwishes "A bustling desert city with a grand palace." Objects: Vendor shops, barrels, roof projections, wooden towers Cards: Three Wishes, Ether (Guidance room), Genie (Truth room) Reward Room: Blazing Donald Friends: Donald Duck, Goofy, Aladdin Enemies: Yellow Opera, Green Requiem, Air Soldier, Bandit, Fat Bandit, Barrel Spider Bosses: Genie Jafar (Truth room) Not too hard, not too easy. Agrabah is a bustling city apparently home to a lot of Heartless, which you'll be fighting the moment you walk into this world. Fortunately, you'll gain Aladdin as a friend so long as you stay in Agrabah. The Key of Guidance room has another fight against another mob of Heartless, while the Key to Truth room features (what else?) a boss. The enemies that you'll run into aren't that tough except for the occasionally annoying pair of Fat Bandits. Also, conspicuously absent from Agrabah are Abu, the magic carpet, Razoul, and all the other minor characters from the Aladdin movies. You'll get an Ether card for clearing the Key of Guidance room. Go into the Key to Truth room and you'll run into ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GENIE JAFAR ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Everything. I'm not kidding. Threat: Low Trinity: Hit Jafar (Jafar, NOT Iago) with a Blizzard spell Attacks: Magma Drop - Jafar pulls up a huge rock and chucks it at Sora. You have several options here: dodge-roll, break the attack, or just hide behind a platform. It's easy to counter since it doesn't move fast and can be seen coming a mile away. You deserve the hit that your HP will take if it connects. The People's Elbow - Jafar punches the nearest platform. Okay, fine, so it's not an elbow, but the analogy is apt. Break this attack or simply move out of range. Optic Blast - Jafar fixes his gaze on Sora and lets loose with a steady stream of energy. This attack hits hard but still has a sizable windup delay, so hide behind a tall platform or just break the blasted thing. Drop: Genie Jafar enemy card Before you start asking how you're supposed to defeat Jafar if he nullifies EVERYTHING (which he does), do note that he's a genie. And all genies come with a convenient Achilles' heel, which is their lamp. For some reason Iago carries the lamp around the room and this lamp should be your target. Dispense with magic, this fight is all physical. Note that since Iago is a flying enemy who's more often out of range than in, you also cannot rely on your sleights - unless you managed to pick up, say, Omnislash. The fight occurs in a room full of lava and Sora stands on three platforms that will rise and fall in a random pattern. Jafar attacks from the sides and will sometimes switch sides. You can only hit Iago off a jump from a tall platform and you canNOT reach a tall platform if you're standing on one that's as low as it will go. Jafar also has a fairly high health bar, but he does have a glaring weakness - he's blasted slow. You can easily find any 0 card left in your inventory by the time he finishes launching an attack. This makes the battle long but not hard. It's recommended that you stay on the middle platform if you aren't hitting Iago or dodging an attack. This avoids The People's Elbow as well as gives you a bit more leeway from being trapped on one side on a low platform. If you use a 0 Trinity card, all three platforms will rise to the highest level for some time, which means open season on Iago. Bring your strongest Keyblades and a few Cure cards and you shouldn't have a problem with this battle. It is also strongly recommended that you bring as many Blizzard cards as possible; hitting Jafar's body with a Blizzard spell causes a 0 Trinity card to appear. _______________________________________________________________________________ With that unpleasant business resolved, you'll pick up the Genie Jafar enemy card and the Genie summon card. _______________________________________________________________________________ HALLOWEEN TOWN code: trickortreat "A terrifying town of tricks and treats." Objects: Fir trees, pumpkins, small buildings Cards: Pumpkinhead Reward Room: Gravity Raid Friends: Donald Duck, Goofy, Jack Enemies: Shadow, Search Ghost, Creeper Plant, Wight Knight, Gargoyle Bosses: Oogie Boogie (Truth room) Slightly easier than Agrabah since the enemies are easier to kill, plus there isn't an annoying battle in the Guidance room. Like Agrabah, however, you'll immediately be thrown into a Heartless battle when you appear in the town. Winning this battle nets Jack Skellington as a friend as well as the Terror sleight. Jack will stick with you for the entire sojourn in Halloween Town. Conspicuously absent are any of the small fry from the original Kingdom Hearts game. Open the Key to Truth room and you'll confront the boss of this world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OOGIE BOOGIE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity Threat: Low Trinity: Destroy his dice before they vanish Attacks: Doom Dice - Oogie Boogie doesn't directly attack. Instead, he chucks dice at you and one of four things happen depending on how the dice turn up. Either he'll summon a pair of Gargoyles, heal himself, drop blades from the ceiling, or send a razor slicing through your half of the battleground. Break the attack before this happens - if his dice explode on their own, you're too late. Drop: Oogie Boogie enemy card Oogie Boogie is limited to one attack, but he has an advantage of sorts - you can't attack him until the gate between the two of you is lowered. Every time you break his dice attack, that gate lowers by a third and one of the slots under Oogie's platform stops spinning. When all the slots have stopped, the gate lowers all the way and you can jump onto Oogie's section of the platform. From there it's just a matter of beating up on him with your best attacks or sleights. Hint: The Card Soldier enemy card, if you have it, will greatly speed up the attack. Oogie has a significant health bar, so you'll want to hold back on sleights for the first half of the battle. Note that his dice ALWAYS have a value of 7. If you can break the attack and destroy a die, you might find a 0 Trinity card. In this battle, the 0 Trinity card instantly breaks any of Oogie's actions and lowers the gate all the way down, leaving him helpless against your Keyblade. After a small amount of time, the gate rises again and kicks you off Oogie's platform and so the cycle repeats. Overall this battle isn't as long as the ones against Jafar or the Parasite Cage, but you'll want to bring plenty of high-valued cards as well as multiple potions (or hi-potions, if you have them) for the fight. _______________________________________________________________________________ You win the useful Oogie Boogie card for your efforts, a good enemy effect for last-ditch healing. _______________________________________________________________________________ MONSTRO code: bellyofthebeast "Inside the belly of the giant whale." Objects: Flesh stalagmites, barrels Cards: Wishing Star, Dumbo (Truth room) Reward Room: Aqua Splash Friends: Donald Duck, Goofy Enemies: Shadow, Large Body, Yellow Rhapsody, Green Requiem, Barrel Spider, Air Soldier, Search Ghost, Tornado Step Bosses: Parasite Cage (Guidance room) So, you're inside this whale ... yeah. Monstro has a nice variety of enemies for your sampling pleasure, but it's mostly a slugfest with little to find. On the one hand, Monstro can be a very convenient stop for leveling purposes, but on the other it can also be annoying. When you're ready, going through the Key of Guidance room brings you face to face with something you've never seen in a Disney movie. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PARASITE CAGE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: Fire (stuns it) Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity Threat: Medium Trinity: Strike the Parasite Cage while its belly is exposed Attacks: Hammer Fist - The Parasite Cage joins both of its arms together and slams them into the ground, which shrinks down the platforms that you stand on. Fairly fast and damaging, so be sure to try and break the attack. If all else fails, dodge-roll out of the way and regain a platform as quickly as possible. Power Bomb - The Parasite Cage braces itself on its arms and then throws its body forward at Sora. Fast, powerful, and covering the whole screen, Power Bomb is definitely this boss' most annoying attack. It's only used when a significant amount of the Parasite Cage's HP is depleted. Acid Ball - A glob of green ... stuff ... comes at you, courtesy of the Parasite Cage. Jump over it if you can or break it, or just run and grab another platform. Drop: Parasite Cage enemy card This fight is massively annoying since it takes place in Monstro's stomach. And that means - yep, if Sora drops into the vile green pool that covers much of the battlefield and stays there for 1.5 seconds, he takes damage. This also interrupts any card or sleight that you were using, which is worse than losing a bit of HP. To avoid this, you're given four platforms that constantly move clockwise, bringing you close enough to get in a solid whack at the Parasite Cage. Seeing as how they keep moving, one combo is probably all that you'll get. Oh yeah, staying on a platform too long causes it to sink for a brief moment. And a single Hammer Fist causes the platforms to shrink. Did I mention how annoying this battle is? To start with, patience is your biggest asset. Let the platform carry you to the Parasite Cage, give it a good beating, and then move around on the platforms. Fast, powerful sleights such as Blitz or any of the third-level elementals work well. You'll also want to bring lots and lots of Cure cards along for the ride. Don't ever use a card while standing in the acid since more likely than not it'll end up broken. When the Parasite Cage yawns and its mouth opens, quickly go strike its mouth. Doing this causes a 0 Trinity card to appear. The 0 Trinity card eliminates all platforms but causes a special blue platform to appear under Sora which will always stay underneath him. This basically gives you a bit of free time to go do whatever you want; once the time expires, the four platforms reappear at default size. The key to winning against the Parasite Cage is to play conservatively. Keep a careful eye on your health and don't attack if you can't do it without landing in acid. And if you have any summon cards (Simba, Genie, Cloud), take them with you. They help out a lot since Sora jumps offscreen while your summoned ally does the fighting for you. Be sure to always have a Cure card handy if it's needed. The battle might take a while, but at least you'll be safe and steady. _______________________________________________________________________________ With your shiny new Parasite Cage enemy card, farther down in the Key to Truth room you'll run into another event battle. This one's a bit different. There's no boss here; instead, you'll fight Shadow Heartless until that meter in the upper right-hand corner of the screen fills. Every Shadow that you kill raises the meter by a bit, while the meter starts to drop if you go too long without killing a Shadow. Once the meter is full, mop up any remaining Shadows and the battle ends. You do not receive any experience for this fight but you do get a Dumbo summon card. Powerful sleights like Sonic Blade or Thundaga make the battle end a lot faster. And note that you can always run away to try again if the battle goes against you. The battle ends automatically in defeat after a certain number of Heartless have been defeated without filling the meter, but don't worry - you won't lose the game. _______________________________________________________________________________ OLYMPUS COLISEUM code: herosummit "A legendary arena where heroes test their might." Objects: Barrels, columns, stone blocks, starred barrels Cards: Olympia, Hi-Potion (Guidance room), Cloud (Truth room) Reward Room: Metal Chocobo Keyblade Friends: Donald Duck, Goofy Enemies: Large Body, Red Nocturne, Blue Rhapsody, Powerwild, Bouncywild, Barrel Spider Bosses: Cloud (Guidance room), Hades (Truth room) You can pick up some useful items here, but you'll have to fight for them. Besides the ubiquitous Barrel Spiders lurking in ambush, you'll also have to fight a fairly tough duo of bosses. Just as in the original Kingdom Hearts, you will not have the benefit of Hercules as a friend. I suggest that you take extra time to level up in Olympus Coliseum. Go ahead and enter the Key to Guidance room if you feel confident, or synthesize a Moment's Reprieve room if you don't. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLOUD ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity, as usual Threat: Medium Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Attack - The basic strike command is just called "Attack" in Final Fantasy, so ... yeah. Cloud swipes his bandage-swathed Buster Sword at you. Decent range and speed and best compared to a C- level Keyblade hit. Cross-Slash (sleight) - Cloud jumps and lands next to Sora, proceeding to launch three separate slashes. You can break it, but note that it's a sleight. On the other hand, if you do break it with a sleight of your own, you'll leave Cloud reeling right next to you. Omnislash (sleight) - FEAR CLOUD FOR HE WILL KICK YOUR ASS! Cloud swoops down from the skies and homes in on Sora; upon reaching the luckless Keyblade master, Cloud will then proceed to deliver a slash with each dive. This sleight hurts really bad, so break it whenever you see him stocking up for it. Drop: Hi-Potion If you learned how to handle character-type battles while fighting Axel, you'll be fine. If not, you're in for a rough ride. Cloud is aggressive and fast even though he lacks something in the HP and defense department. And he doesn't carry that Buster Sword just for show - if you wind up on the wrong side of either Cross-Slash or Omnislash, you can kiss your HP goodbye. Of the two, Omnislash has at least enough of a delay between attacks that you can find a card to break it, while if Cross-Slash hits, you're screwed. However, Cross- Slash can be evaded once while Omnislash can be evaded with continuous dodge rolls. You can win against Cloud in a flat-out brawlfest, but since Cloud uses up his cards so quickly you're better waiting for him to exhaust his deck before you go on the offensive. 0 cards for breaking his powerful sleights are a must in this battle. Speaking of which, you can expect to see your own cards broken fairly often in this fight. Hang in there and don't forget to take a few Cures with you. An interesting note: Cloud's Omnislash is the revamped version from Kingdom Hearts where he swoops out of the sky for a trio of strikes, not the original from Final Fantasy VII where he sliced the opposition into ribbons with strikes faster than most people could follow. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Cloud nets you the Hi-Potion, one of the best cards in this game. As you might imagine, Cloud doesn't go down all that easily and you'll meet him again in the Key to Truth room. You'll also want to synth a Moment's Reprieve before heading in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HADES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: Ice Absorbs: Fire Nullifies: Gravity Threat: Medium-High Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Fire Poke - Hades jabs a burning finger at Sora. Short-range and not very powerful, but horrifically fast. If Hades uses it to card break any Keyblade that doesn't have a recovery of *, you'll get hit. Fire Bash - A two-handed overhead swipe, stronger and slower than the Fire Poke. It also has a pixel's worth of extra range. Flamethrower - Hades' hands light on fire and he shoots flames from them. Get caught and you're in for a dose of continuous damage with no chance to card break the attack. Hades can only use this attack when he gets steamed, but when he does, watch out for it. It's easily his deadliest attack. Firaga Ball (sleight) - Hades' sole long-range attack. He chucks a burning rock at Sora, the rock in question able to home on Sora within limits. Either that or Hades is a really good thrower since it'll hit surprisingly often. The best way to avoid the attack short of card breaking it is to stay at medium-close distance. His aim tends to fall short somewhat the closer you get to him. Temper Flare (sleight) - Hades gets really, really angry. When this happens, watch out: his normal attacks change into the annoying Flamethrower. He only has a limited number of uses before he changes back into his lovable blue self, but any time you see this sleight in the corner, you'll want to find a 0 card immediately. Drop: Hades enemy card Hades may well be the most difficult boss of the first world card set, at least on the first playthrough. Hopefully you had practice earlier with Cloud. What makes Hades more dangerous than Cloud is that Hades generally uses faster attacks and has a larger fighting deck. Unlike Cloud, however, he does have a weakness to Ice. Hades absorbs Fire, so calling out Donald can either produce big dividends or else totally screw you over. If you're going to use sleights in this battle, make sure that you save up a number of high valued cards. If you don't kill Hades quickly, the battle devolves into a fight of attrition, which is usually good for you - but not if you've used up all of your high-valued cards. Bring along that spiffy new Hi- Potion you won from Cloud just in case. Genie Jafar's Attack Bracer (if you have it) is also a good card to have since Hades likes breaking your attacks. You'll also want to have more than one Cure card handy. If you have ice-based cards, use them while Hades is reloading his deck. Lastly, you'll want to stay just short of melee range in this battle. The key to hit hard and fade fast since Hades uses mostly short-range attacks while watching out for his single long-range attack. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Hades nets you the double-edged Hades enemy card as well as the Cloud summon card. Sheesh, where was Cloud when you needed him during the fight itself? _______________________________________________________________________________ WONDERLAND code: offwithyourhead "A magical land full of eccentric residents." Objects: Flowers, lilypads, mushrooms Cards: Lady Luck Reward Room: Stop Raid sleight Friends: Donald Duck, Goofy Enemies: Shadow, Soldier, Large Body, Red Nocturne, Crescendo, Creeper Plant Bosses: Trickmaster (Truth room) Just like the original Kingdom Hearts game, Wonderland is a (comparatively) easy starting point for players who feel that they still need more practice after completing Traverse Town. The enemies here are a step up from Traverse Town but remain fairly easy nonetheless. Neither of the two event battles in Wonderland are of above-average difficulty. Novice players will want to synth this world first and develop their skills, levels, and confidence in this area, while experienced players should save Wonderland for last. Heading into the Key of Guidance room runs you into a battle against a pack of Card Soldiers. (Hmm, in the book Alice could handle them all by herself. Why in the name of reason does Sora need to intervene?) This isn't a true boss battle but rather an enhanced version of a random encounter. Card Soldiers will try to gang up on you, so keep on your feet and keep moving. Just about any sleight that you could reasonably have at this time works well and this isn't a long battle anyways. Winning it gives you the Card Soldier enemy card, which can be useful in many boss battles. When you're done exploring Wonderland, head to the Key to Truth room for a showdown against a certain memory thief. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRICKMASTER ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Stop, Gravity Threat: Medium-Low Trinity: Strike the Trickmaster while it is powering up Attacks: Fire - Yawn. In the Heartless version of Sora's Fire spell, the Trickmaster ... shoots a ball of Fire at you. It behaves almost exactly the same as Sora's but with slightly extended range, so react accordingly. You'll know it's coming when the boss crosses its two torches. Hell March - The Trickmaster stomps across the room. See those axes that it has for shoes? If you get hit by one, expect to take a bit of damage. This attack is fairly easily to dodge-roll and gives you plenty of time to card break. Slam Dunk - The Trickmaster slams both arms into the floor, shaking it and injuring Sora if he isn't airborne. Jump to evade this attack and be forewarned that it can happen when you're least expecting it. Orbit Sweep - The Trickmaster sweeps its pair of torches around itself and clipping an airborne attacker. This attack is more of a nuisance than anything else since it'll sometimes trigger right as you're about to deliver a solid whack. Power Up - Leaning back and leaving its vulnerable midsection exposed, the Trickmaster stores up power for a two arm swipe. It takes a few seconds to build power during which you should definitely attack, since striking it while it's charging will release a 0 Trinity card. Drop: Trickmaster enemy card The Trickmaster apparently has been playing tricks on FAQ authors. Each FAQ differs on which elements do what to the Trickmaster - one says that it absorbs Fire and is weak against Ice, one says that it's weak against Fire, one says that it resists all elements. When I test this and find out for myself, I WILL have the correct data here. UPDATE: As of version 1.21, I abused Donald for some testing and discovered that the Trickmaster does not have any elemental weaknesses or resistances. The Trickmaster has a high HP pool. Unfortunately, that's about all that it has going for itself. Its attacks are fairly weak and slow but you'll have to jump to reach the only area you can damage it, its midsection. (Watch for the target cursor.) If you have Blitz, which you should have only if Wonderland is one of your later-synthed worlds, use it - it does great damage and doesn't miss. Most other sleights are fairly useless unless by some chance you managed to get ahold of enough Cloud cards for Omnislash. The 0 Trinity card raises a table in the middle of the room. If you jump onto it, you can attack the Trickmaster without having to jump up every time. This also makes spell use a lot easier. Note that the table stays up until the Trickmaster hits it with the Slam Dunk attack. To acquire the 0 Trinity card, strike the Trickmaster with a Keyblade while it's using Power Up. Overall this battle isn't hard at all so long as you don't become careless or complacent. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating the Trickmaster yields the Trickmaster enemy card. And for those of you who played the original Kingdom Hearts, isn't it so nice that Alice doesn't end up kidnapped in Chain of Memories? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WORLD CARD SET II Floors 7-10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The second world card set consists of Never Land, Atlantica, 100 Acre Wood, and Hollow Bastion. The opposition stiffens up considerably in the second world card set unless you've been majorly power-leveling earlier (say, you're at around level 40 or so). You can expect to pick up your first Key to Rewards card somewhere in this card set as well as your strongest sleights, plus you may find yourself amassing a considerable amount of Moogle points. Whatever world you came out from, be sure to save at the Moment's Reprieve. When you enter Floor 7, you'll run into ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LARXENE I ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: Special attacks Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity, Thunder Threat: Medium-Low Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Feral Slash - Larxene swipes at you with her Wolverine-ish claws. Low range and laughable damage, but it comes out fast. You'll always win if you trade hits but if not then Feral Slash can rapidly build up. Flick - Larxene throws off her claws into the air in front of her. The move's a little hard to describe, but you'll know it when you see it. Slight damage, much better range than the Feral Slash, not quite as fast. Thunder - Larxene's version of Sora's spell. It hits a good deal of the screen. You can dodge-roll to avoid the attack right as it strikes, but if you're close you'll want to card break instead. Lightning Bolt (sleight) - Lightning streams out of Larxene's fingers and latch onto Sora. If this attack hits, Sora will be dragged over to Larxene and electrocuted for continuous damage. It can't be broken once it hits, plus it leaves Sora stunned. Luckily it doesn't do significant damage, but it's definitely an annoying move to contend with since it's so fast and has such great range. You can evade it by dodge-rolling behind her right as it starts, but it's much more effective to card break the sleight if you see it in the corner. Drop: Thunder card Swift and fast, Larxene attacks with the speed of the lightning elemental that she is associated with. She has a glaring weakness, however; all of her attacks (ALL of them) do perhaps a pixel of damage, so she has to get in five hits for every one of yours in order for her to keep up with your damage output levels. Even at two full HP bars, that's a tall order. Bring along a deck of high-level Keyblades and some Fires if you have them, as well as a few Cures. You'll want 0 cards for breaking her items and her sleight. Larxene is weak against sleights, but unless you have absolute crowds of them you should ration them carefully for the fight. The best distance to stay from Larxene is medium, out of range of normal attacks but close enough to start a chain when you win a card break. Her only technique that demands a measure of caution is Lightning Bolt, which you should always be prepared to break. Larxene uses up cards quickly but also carries card-restoring items. Since items don't come back regardless of how they're broken, it's in your best interest to shatter them even if you have to build a sleight to do it. You can win the battle in a contest of sheer physical power, but if it devolves into a fight of attrition then you'll want to hold back on using sleights until Larxene runs low on cards. All in all not a difficult fight. _______________________________________________________________________________ Beating Larxene finally nets you the third of the basic elemental spells. You're now free to pick your next world. A word of advice: 100 Acre Wood has no floor associated with it, but each floor from 7 to 10 is distinct. You'll skip a different map depending upon which floor you synthesize 100 Acre Wood. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLOOR 7 ^Exit [!]-[ ] [R] [ ]-[2] 1: Key of Beginnings + Red card | | | 2: Key of Guidance + Green card [ ]-[ ]-[*]-[ ]-[%] 3: Key to Truth + Blue card | | | ^Start [3] [ ] [1]-[ ] R: Key to Rewards + 30 card total *: Reappear at this room when finished with 1. %: Reappear at this room when finished with 2. !: Reappear at this room when finished with 3. Cannot be accessed until 3 is completed. Save at the Moment's Reprieve room at the end of this floor as you'll be running straight into a boss fight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIKU I ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity. Resists every element. Threat: Low Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Hop Bash - Riku jumps up and brings the Soul Eater crashing down, much like Cloud did earlier. It has a fractional second windup delay, so you can card break the attack if you're fast enough to see it coming. Does slight damage. Slash - Riku spins around and then slashes with the Soul Eater. Much like the Hop Bash in terms of windup delay and range, only that it hits from the side instead of above. Again, easily card broken if you see it coming. X-Slash - Riku runs into Sora with a one-two strike. This move will stun Sora and has better range than any of his other physical attacks. Try not to get hit by it, otherwise you're left as a sitting duck for one of his attacks or worse yet a sleight. Shadow - Incrementor enemy effect. Drop: Aero card Sora has spent half this game searching for Riku and now they have to fight just like that? Surprisingly, Riku isn't as hard as Larxene. His attacks come out more slowly and he doesn't use any sleights (yet. This will change in the future.) If your Keyblade cards are of high enough values, you can run over him in a straight brawl in spite of his Shadow enemy card. To fight Riku, bring along your high-level Keyblade cards. If you have Ars Arcanum at this point, by all means use it as his deck is reloading. You may also want to use the Parasite Cage to break Incrementor since Ars Arcanum is a very vulnerable sleight. Heal as necessary, which shouldn't be often. Riku is faster than you are and can move farther so you may have to chase him down while he's reloading. All told, not a difficult fight by any stretch of the imagination. Pick up the Aero card from him when you finish. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLOOR 8 ^Exit [!]-[ ]-[3] 1: Key of Beginnings + =5 card | 2: Key of Guidance + =6 card [ ]-[ ]-[ ] 3: Key to Truth + 30 card total | | [R] [*]-[1] R: Key to Rewards + 15 Blue card | [ ]-[ ]-[ ] *: Reappear at this room when finished with 1. ^ | | %: Reappear at this room when finished with 2. Start [%] [2] !: Reappear at this room when finished with 3. Cannot be accessed until 3 is completed. As you come out of this floor, you'll run into another boss. Note that a glitch in the game allows you to harvest him for experience - see the FAQ section of this document for more details. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIKU II ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity. Resists every element. Threat: Medium-Low Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Hop Bash - Riku jumps up and brings the Soul Eater crashing down, much like Cloud did earlier. It has a fractional second windup delay, so you can card break the attack if you're fast enough to see it coming. Does slight damage. Slash - Riku spins around and then slashes with the Soul Eater. Much like the Hop Bash in terms of windup delay and range, only that it hits from the side instead of above. Again, easily card broken if you see it coming. X-Slash - Riku runs into Sora with a one-two strike. This move will stun Sora and has better range than any of his other physical attacks. Try not to get hit by it, otherwise you're left as a sitting duck for one of his attacks or worse yet a sleight. Dark Firaga (sleight) - Riku launches a mass of dark blue fire at you. It hurts moderately but is hard for him to aim since it only has limited homing ability. You'll see it coming a mile away. Dodge- roll the sucker, card break it, or just step out of the way. Shadow - Incrementor enemy effect. Drop: Warpinator sleight Riku has advanced in the world - slightly. He gets a new sleight, his old enemy card (which should break nicely under the weight of a Parasite Cage), and a bit of an HP boost. And that's about it. Almost anything that worked in the first battle will also work here. High-level Keyblades do the job the most efficiently since Riku takes only half damage from elemental attacks. Again, Ars Arcanum still works wonders, as does Sonic Blade. He'll break more of your cards than he did last time, but otherwise the same tried and true formula should work well against him. This time you can win more easily in a war of attrition. Since Riku has a new sleight (but no new cards for his deck), he'll burn through his deck a lot faster sleighting cards. Once his items are either used or broken, he'll rapidly fall into that area where he's left with only a few usable cards while reloading all the time. This is your big chance to pound him for a Warpinator sleight. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLOOR 9 [1]-[*] [ ]-[R] 1: Key of Beginnings + Red card | | 2: Key of Guidance + =9 card [ ] [ ] 3: Key to Truth + =1 card | | ^Exit [3]-[ ]-[ ]-[!] R: Key to Rewards + =2 Blue card | | [ ] [ ] *: Reappear at this room when finished with 1. | | %: Reappear at this room when finished with 2. [ ] [%]-[2] !: Reappear at this room when finished with 3. Cannot Start^ be accessed until 3 is completed. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLOOR 10 ^Exit 1: Key of Beginnings + Blue card [!] + <3 card | 2: Key of Guidance + Green card [ ]-[ ]-[ ] + >7 card | | 3: Key to Truth + Red card [R] [3] [ ]-[2] [%] + =0 card | | | [*]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] R: Key to Rewards + =3 Green card | | ^ + =7 Red card [1]-[ ] [ ] Start *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. %: Reappear in this room when finished with 2. !: Reappear in this room when finished with 3. Cannot be accessed until 3 is completed. _______________________________________________________________________________ 100 ACRE WOOD code: breakfrombattle "A quiet wood resided by friendly fellows." As the world code implies, there's no fighting to be done in 100 Acre Wood. So you can kick back and relax, right? Well ... you can kick your Gameboy unit as you try to get that lazy bear Winnie the Pooh to follow you around. Sora offers to help guide Pooh around the wood. Pressing the R button causes Sora to wave to Pooh, thus enticing Pooh toward your position (in theory). In practice, you'll find that Pooh is easily distracted by just about anything that wanders by. On the plus side, if you actually put up with accomplishing everything in 100 Acre Wood instead of just running blindly through it, you can pick up a hefty amount of useful sleights and items. For starters, Pooh needs honey to keep moving. Think of Pooh as a car that gets .015 kilometers for every gallon of honey. There are jars of honey strategically scattered around 100 Acre Wood and you should allow Pooh to fuel up at one of these jars if his honey reserves drop too low. (They'll continue to drop while he's idling, so it's in your best interest not to let him idle.) Also, while you're running through 100 Acre Wood, some of the places that you run through will release Moogle points. Follow these instructions carefully. The first inhabitant of the wood that you'll meet is Rabbit. Sora can talk to him, but Pooh can't - at least for now. You can, however, call Pooh over to Rabbit's vegetable cart, upon which he will climb onto it. Pooh's ponderous weight causes a wheel to break off and go rolling away - you'll see why this is important later. If the wheel doesn't break off, jump onto the cart yourself and together it'll give under your weights. Our next destination is further down somewhat. Here, Sora can speak to Piglet, but the idea is to get Pooh to talk to Piglet. You learn the Confuse sleight from this exchange. Further down you'll encounter a field full of balloons. Whether they're filled with hot air or helium we'll never know, but whatever it is they'll cause Pooh to float up if he grabs a set. The only cluster that will support Pooh's weight is the big one with half a dozen balloons. Draw Pooh there and trigger a cutscene which gives you the Spellbinder Keyblade. (I believe that I already had a Spellbinder when I did this, but I can't remember what happens if you trigger this scene with a Spellbinder already in your possession. Most likely you just pick up another one. Of course, it's equally likely that my memory isn't what it used to be.) Down the trail, you'll notice a hole with a set of footprints leading in - but not out. One of Pooh's friends, possibly? Well, there's only one way to find out ... lead Pooh into the hole and you'll get an Elixir for your efforts. Wow, that was easy. Get some honey if you need - excuse me, Pooh needs - it. Have Pooh talk to Eeyore (the glum donkey). Right now you can't do anything about Eeyore's predicament, so head down to find four tree stumps arranged in a square fashion and have Sora jump onto one. Call Pooh and brace yourself, this might take a couple of tries and an extra jar of honey. Have Pooh jump counterclockwise on all four tree stumps. Doing this will give you the Idyll Romp sleight. Going further into 100 Acre Wood, you'll see ... hey, is that a ...? Yep, it's a beehive, which is full of honey and thus a bear magnet. It's also full of bees. If you lure Pooh into the beehive, you earn the Bind sleight for his troubles. As you progress, you'll find a bunch of pillars set into the ground. Time for a little Keyblade action - knock each pillar until it sinks into the ground and move on. More pillars; rinse, lather, repeat. As you move past these sunken pillars (and if you made Rabbit's cart lose its wheel earlier), cabbages will start rolling down the path. Hit fourteen of them with your Keyblade to earn the Synchro sleight. The end of the path in 100 Acre Wood is this stump of a tree trunk. Here, Sora and Pooh will part ways, but not before Pooh gives you the Bambi summon. Note that you will be given an opportunity to save your game after you complete 100 Acre Wood, which spares you the hassle of getting your prizes again if by some chance you end up pwned in a boss battle. Alternatively, you may choose to leave Pooh behind and run off to the end of the wood by yourself. You'll miss out on the bonuses if you do, but the game still considers that you've completed 100 Acre Wood. _______________________________________________________________________________ ATLANTICA code: underwaterphun "Undersea kingdom protected by King Triton." Objects: Seashells, sponge columns, rocks Cards: Crabclaw Reward Room: Quake Friends: Donald Duck, Goofy, Ariel Enemies: Sea Neon, Search Ghost, Screwdiver, Aqua Tank, Darkball, Tornado Step Bosses: Ursula (Truth room) Atlantica's a fun world, made more so by the bouncy soundtrack. Sea Neons and Aquatanks often appear together in this world. If you're looking for a rehash of the story from Kingdom Hearts, though, prepare to be disappointed as few of the characters from that game made it over to Chain of Memories. At any rate, note that you will not start off with Ariel as a friend - she only joins you after you enter the Key of Guidance room. Also, you may want to get rid of any lightning-based attacks in your deck since so many enemies in Atlantica absorb lightning damage. Heading over to the Key of Truth room unmasks some fishy business and throws you right into a boss battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- URSULA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity, resists all elements Threat: Medium-Low Trinity: Not really sure about this one ... Attacks: Thunder - Ursula's version of Sora's basic Thunder spell. It's a straight zap from above and shouldn't be difficult to dodge. Tentacle Smack - Ursula's tentacles will regenerate after they've been knocked down. If you're in the way as they do so, your attack might be interrupted and you'll take a hit. Bubble Bath - Ursula releases a swarm of bubbles that home in on Sora. This attack takes some time to start up but lasts a fairly long time. Though it doesn't do much damage, if Sora's hit you'll fall into Confused status and get all of your controls reversed. Break the attack or dodge-roll through it to put a halt to it. Zappy Breath - I dunno what Ursula's been snacking on, but it sure had an effect on her breath. After she's lost a significant chuck of her HP, Ursula starts using this attack. She opens her mouth and a huge stream of electricity shoots out that runs from the top of the battlefield to the bottom. She then slowly moves toward Sora and tries to hit him. This attack does nasty amounts of damage, but you should be able to either break it or dodge-roll through it without any problems. Think of it as an electric version of Axel's Fire Wall. Drop: Ursula enemy card If you don't know what you're doing, you'll get schooled by Ursula. Lucky for us that it isn't difficult to figure out how to fry this big fish. (Okay, enough fish jokes.) Ursula is the easiest boss of the second world card set and it shows since she attacks infrequently. Her most annoying attacks, Bubble Bath and Zappy Breath, both have a long windup delay and can be seen (or heard) coming a mile away. She also has this tendency to flee off-screen at times during which you basically get a free opportunity to heal yourself or reload your deck. To defeat Ursula, first note that her face is completely defended by her tentacles. So you'll have to knock down a tentacle in order to lay the pain on her face. (Sometimes knocking down a tentacle will yield a 0 Trinity card.) Once you've knocked down a tentacle, you can jump up and start hitting her in the face. You have a limited time before the tentacle rises again and you have to repeat the process. Ursula usually have a significant amount of HP so you'll want to conserve cards until she's lost half of her life bar. At this point she'll start using Zappy Breath, which is in your best interest to break as soon as it starts. The 0 Trinity card removes all tentacles and drags Ursula's face down to your level, so no more jumping up to hit her. This is your golden opportunity to unleash your strongest sleights - if you have them, Ars Arcanum and Sonic Blade or even Blitz all work well. Cloud sleights such as Cross-Slash+ or Omnislash can also work wonders, while a powered up Spiral Wave from Ariel is just plain unfair to the boss. Note that Ursula resists all elements. If you're consistent about damage and attacks, this battle shouldn't take too long to complete. _______________________________________________________________________________ As your reward for beating Ursula, you'll earn the Ursula enemy card which grants you the same privileges that the oversized octopus herself enjoyed: resistance to all elements. _______________________________________________________________________________ HOLLOW BASTION code: spookycastle "A once peaceful castle ruined by Maleficent." Objects: Pillars, steam outlets, fancy columns Cards: Divine Rose Reward Room: Mushu Friends: Donald Duck, Goofy, The Beast Enemies: Defender, Wizard, Wyvern, Darkball, Tornado Step Bosses: Dragon Maleficent (Truth room) Hollow Bastion is a foretaste of the final floor of Sora's story. Many of the enemies that you encounter here will also reappear on the thirteenth floor, though Hollow Bastion's versions are comparatively easier. I personally think that Hollow Bastion is the most difficult of the second world card set levels to complete, but that's just me. Be sure to level thoroughly and pick up a set of Divine Rose Keyblades while you're here. Also note that The Beast will only join your party in the Key to Guidance room. When you're ready, save and head into the Key to Truth room for a battle against a classic Disney villain. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DRAGON MALEFICENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity Threat: High Trinity: Randomly dropped from green flames when struck Attacks: Snap - Maleficent lowers her head and snaps at Sora. Those teeth hurt quite a lot (she's a dragon, after all). This attack is fast and has relatively good range. The best way to fight it is to load Attack Bracer and pummel Maleficent with a steady stream of cards, giving her no room for counterattack. Dragon Claw - Maleficent makes a claw swipe at Sora. Much like the Snap, it's fast, decently strong, and features superior range. You can dodge-roll through it but it's easier just to stuff the attack and make sure that it never comes out. Evil Flare - Maleficent breathes out a stream of sentient flames. I'm serious, these little flames move on their own. They'll do quite a bit of damage to Sora and have this annoying habit of moving right as you least expect them to. You can, however, break apart a flame. Doing this sometimes releases a 0 Trinity card. Mega Stomp - Maleficent raises a paw and brings it down into the floor with lots of force. Be in the air when it comes out to avoid it. This is definitely her most annoying move; while it does only moderate damage, it's fast and hard to see, plus she has a habit of repeatedly spamming the attack when you're too far away for the other attacks. Drop: Dragon Maleficent enemy card If you aren't prepared, Maleficent can easily overwhelm you right from the start. She's fast and deadly and her attacks add up in terms of damage very quickly. Also, you can only target her head in order to damage her, placing a severe limit on which attacks you can use. Genie Jafar and Oogie Boogie both work well, and be sure to bring lots of Cure cards along for the ride since Maleficent likes breaking them. If you're going to use Ragnarok (and you should), make sure that it's a 9 Ragnarok to minimize chances of card break. And if you have a Wight Knight enemy card, USE IT! A Potion or two should fill up your deck nicely; don't bother with Ethers. Although your ground-based attacks can't hit Maleficent, they can hit her flames. This is what saves Goofy and The Beast from being almost useless in this fight. Snuff a flame and there's a chance that you'll release a 0 Trinity card. What the 0 Trinity card does is bring a trio of blocks down from the ceiling into the middle of the room, which allows you to reach Maleficent's head without having to use the Wight Knight enemy card. This also safeguards Sora from the Mega Stomp and Evil Flare attacks. Each time Maleficent uses the Mega Stomp, however, the blocks will collapse one level until they all vanish. At this point it's in your best interest to load Genie Jafar and pound on Maleficent to stuff her attacks. Alternatively, breaking Maleficent's attacks will briefly lower her head to ground level, where you can proceed to unleash a barrage of attacks. It may take more than one try to defeat Maleficent and you'll need a strong deck for the battle. If you lose, don't give up. _______________________________________________________________________________ For winning this difficult battle you'll earn the Dragon Maleficent enemy card, one of the most useful in the game. _______________________________________________________________________________ NEVER LAND code: walktheplank "Inside Captain Hook's pirate ship." Objects: Treasure chest, barrels, boxes Cards: Fairy Harp, Tinker Bell (Truth room) Reward Room: Thunder Raid Friends: Donald Duck, Goofy, Peter Pan Enemies: Shadow, Pirate, Air Pirate, Barrel Spider, Darkball, Crescendo Bosses: Hook (Truth room) Never Land is a hard but fun world. While you'll quickly become wary of fighting swarms of pirates and watchful of Barrel Spiders, you can also level up quickly with the proper sleights of mass destruction. Peter Pan joins your party in the Key of Beginnings room, but he'll leave after you arrive in the Key of Guidance room. It is therefore in your best interest to do your level gaining while Peter is still hovering around. Note that Peter will rejoin you in the Key to Truth room just in time to fight an old codfish. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOOK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity, Thunder Threat: High Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Slash - Hook aims a swipe with his rapier. It's decently fast and has about as much range as one of Sora's attacks. Naturally you'd think that it does only slight damage, right? WRONG. This move hurts more than any rapier deserves to. Even a few of these will send you running as you search for a Cure card. Ticking Gift - Hook chucks a gift-wrapped box around the deck. This box explodes after a short time interval; when it does, you do not want to be in the blast radius. Hook ends up unbalanced after using this move, so if you can break the attack you'll get a free hit on him. Rush & Present (sleight) - Hook slashes the living daylights out of Sora before sending him explosive parting gifts. If you see this sleight forming in the upper right hand corner, reach for that 0 card as you do not want to be caught in it. Once it hits Sora you can't stop it. The good news is that Hook has to be pretty close to you for the sleight to have any effect, so keep your distance if he's about to trigger it. Combo & Present (sleight) - Hook throws a whole cargo load of gifts around on the deck. Wonder how he does it without blasting a hole into the deck? At any rate, when this sleight comes out, you want to be on the high side of whichever way the deck is tilting. It's Hook's deadliest attack since it covers the most area and can reach Sora even from a fair distance. Break this attack if you see it coming. Hook - Second Chance enemy effect Drop: Hook enemy card Tied with Maleficent as the toughest Disney boss in this game, Hook doesn't play around. He's swift, agile, and hits harder than anybody has a right to. In addition to your problems with him, you'll also have to deal with a swaying deck that plays havoc with running where you want to go. Hook somehow manages to remain unaffected by this while he throws gift after gift your way. If you come close, he'll go for rapier slashes; if you keep your distance, he'll lob Ticking Gifts after you. He also has two sleights, one for close-range combat and one for distance. To top off his already formidable arsenal, he packs the Second Chance enemy effect which is in your best interest to break immediately with the Parasite Cage. Unlike most character-type bosses, Hook has a large enough deck and is conservative enough with his sleights that he can last a long time. This, combined with his sheer power, makes it unlikely that you'll win a battle of attrition. He also breaks your cards fairly quickly. If you feel up to it, you can enter the battle with a load of Zantetsuken sleights and try to whittle him down. Otherwise, it's in your best interest to hit hard and quickly defeat him. Try to stay on the high side of the tilting deck whenever possible. This is easier said than done since the deck tilts so much, but as long as you're at least medium distance from Hook and higher than he is you can avoid most of his attacks. Bring along Cure cards and don't hesitate to sacrifice them for high- level Cure sleights. You may also want to bring along Genie Jafar's Attack Bracer with your best Keyblades. Otherwise, don't bother with any Keyblade sleight beneath a value of 9 since Hook breaks attacks so easily. The Card Soldier enemy effect works well if you can't use Genie Jafar, while Cloud's Cross-Slash+ sleight is also fairly powerful. Hook can't change positions quickly, which is a vulnerability that you can exploit. As with Maleficent, it may take multiple tries to defeat him and you should always keep a careful eye on your HP bar. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Hook nets you his enemy card, which gives you the Second Chance effect. Where was that card when we needed it earlier? You also gain a Tinker Bell card for completing Never Land. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLOOR 11: TWILIGHT TOWN code: wherearewe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hoped you saved right before finishing the second world card set, since you're about to encounter yet another boss. Recall that Axel met you before world card set one and Larxene before world card set two. Naturally enough, the third of the elemental bosses is waiting here before the final trek. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VEXEN I ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: Fire Absorbs: Ice Nullifies: Gravity, frontal physical attacks Threat: Medium-Low Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Shield Strike - Vexen strikes out at Sora with his shield. He's not as quick about it as Axel or Larxene, however. He does more damage with the attack than Larxene did with hers and he has range comparable to Axel's. Not too hard to counter. Blizzard - Vexen uses Sora's basic Blizzard spell. Not Blizzara or Blizzaga, just Blizzard. Counter it accordingly. Freeze (sleight) - When you hear a high-pitched laugh, get ready to dodge-roll. This sleight causes a bunch of ice to materialize under Sora. If you're caught by it you will end up frozen for a period of time during which Vexen can get a free hit on you, plus you'll slowly take damage. Mash the jump button to escape if you do end up encased. Blue Rhapsody - Blizzard Boost enemy effect Drop: Mega-Ether card Vexen really isn't that hard unless you have no clue what it is you're doing. However, since you had to go through Hook to get to Vexen, this match shouldn't be tough at all. Vexen's slow. He attacks slow. His attacks move slowly. He telegraphs his attacks. About the only advantage that he has is his shield, which nullifies frontal physical attacks. Although he moves at a snail's pace, he does turn fairly rapidly. For this reason you'll want to use a deck made up of powerful sleights and Fire magic - Ars Arcanum and Homing Fira both work decently. Vexen may or may not use his Blue Rhapsody enemy card. Don't bother with Parasite Cage since he shouldn't hit you often anyways. On the other hand, Vexen is fairly weak against Fire. Accordingly you should bring along Fire- based cards and definitely have a Mushu if you picked him up earlier from Hollow Bastion. Firaga Break and Homing Fira are good Fire-based sleights; Mega Flare's hard to aim, plus it only hits once (but it still does hellish damage against Vexen). You'll also want a few Cure cards in your arsenal and an Ether or two. Vexen shouldn't last long if you go with a sleight and magic- based deck. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Vexen gives you an Ether mixed with crack - excuse me, I meant to say Mega-Ether. You also get the next world card, so go on ahead. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLOOR 11 [1]-[ ] 1: Key of Beginnings + >5 card | ^Exit + <5 card [R]-[ ]-[*] + Blue card | [ ]-[ ] R: Key to Rewards + =8 Blue card ^ | + =1 Red card Start [ ]-[ ]-[ ] + 20 Green card total *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. Cannot be accessed until 1 is completed. _______________________________________________________________________________ TWILIGHT TOWN "A mysterious town between light and dark." Objects: Barrels, flower beds, lamp posts, crates Cards: No cards unique to Twilight Town Reward Room: Warp sleight Friends: Donald Duck, Goofy Enemies: Shadow, Soldier, Barrel Spider, Air Soldier Bosses: Vexen (Beginnings room) Twilight Town is ... well, it's a departure from the previous worlds. For one, you no longer get a choice of worlds. For another, it's a lot smaller than the preceding floors. And finally you'll only be given a single key for storyline purposes. Using this key leads you to a battle against - hey, didn't we just have a row with him earlier? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VEXEN II ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: Fire Absorbs: Ice Nullifies: Gravity, frontal physical attacks Threat: Medium Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Shield Strike - Vexen strikes out at Sora with his shield. He's not as quick about it as Axel or Larxene, however. He does more damage with the attack than Larxene did with hers and he has range comparable to Axel's. Not too hard to counter. Blizzard - Vexen uses Sora's basic Blizzard spell. Not Blizzara or Blizzaga, just Blizzard. Counter it accordingly. Freeze (sleight) - When you hear a high-pitched laugh, get ready to dodge-roll. This sleight causes a bunch of ice to materialize under Sora. If you're caught by it you will end up frozen for a period of time during which Vexen can get a free hit on you, plus you'll slowly take damage. Mash the jump button to escape if you do end up encased. Iceburn (sleight) - Vexen creates multiple patches of ice at random locations on the battlefield. This sleight does no damage in and of itself, but if you run into an ice patch you'll slip and roll, leaving Sora defenseless for about a second. During that time you are left open to attack. The ice patches fade after a while, so don't bother breaking this sleight. Ice Needles (sleight) - Vexen sends a stream of icicles popping up out of the ground and after Sora. This sleight homes and does it well enough to hit consistently. You can outrun it, however, and it doesn't last too long. Alternatively you can just break the sleight. It does a bit of damage if it hits. Diamond Dust (sleight) - Vexen covers the screen with a flurry of snowflakes. Diamond Dust does continuous damage as long as it's active, though it doesn't do that much and you can still move freely. Still, break it if you can since it's kind of annoying. Vexen - Auto-Life enemy effect Drop: Vexen enemy card Vexen is (slightly) tougher in Twilight Town. He attacks more quickly now and will card break at an increased rate, plus he gets a new enemy card and new fresh sleights, but otherwise he's still the same old guy you fought earlier. Kick out your ice-based attacks, obviously, while Fire-based attacks still work well. Other powerful sleights such as Omnislash or Ars Arcanum are also effective. Vexen is still armed with his shield, so you'll want to minimize the use of physical attacks unless you're packing Card Soldier and can dodge- roll behind him at a consistent rate. His new enemy card is Vexen himself, which allows him to come back with half a life bar even after a critical hit. Break it with Parasite Cage, you don't want to drag this battle on longer than you have to. His Ice Needles are fast but not particularly deadly unless you're very low on health. Otherwise it's mostly the same battle as last time. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Vexen gives you the useful Vexen enemy card, which grants Auto- Life and negates Ice damage. Once you complete the rest of Twilight Town, get ready for your next run-in with your old friend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIKU III ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity. Resists every element. Threat: Medium Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Hop Bash - Riku jumps up and brings the Soul Eater crashing down, much like Cloud did earlier. It has a fractional second windup delay, so you can card break the attack if you're fast enough to see it coming. Does slight damage. Slash - Riku spins around and then slashes with the Soul Eater. Much like the Hop Bash in terms of windup delay and range, only that it hits from the side instead of above. Again, easily card broken if you see it coming. X-Slash - Riku runs into Sora with a one-two strike. This move will stun Sora and has better range than any of his other physical attacks. Try not to get hit by it, otherwise you're left as a sitting duck for one of his attacks or worse yet a sleight. Dark Firaga (sleight) - Riku launches a mass of dark blue fire at you. It hurts moderately but is hard for him to aim since it only has limited homing ability. You'll see it coming a mile away. Dodge- roll the sucker, card break it, or just step out of the way. Shadow - Incrementor enemy effect. Drop: Mega-Potion card Riku is ... well, Riku. About the only difference between this encounter and your last stand-off with him is that now he has more HP, attacks more aggressively, and has slightly stronger physical hits. He's still not too tough, though. Treat this battle much like the last one, only keeping a closer eye on your HP bar. You'll also want to bring along extra Cure and Hi-Potion cards just in case something goes wrong. By this point you should be strong enough to defeat him without any problems. _______________________________________________________________________________ Riku drops a Mega-Potion upon defeat as well as the next world card. This allows you to enter Destiny Islands. A word of caution: In Destiny Islands, you will no longer have the benefit of friends to aid you in battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLOOR 12: DESTINY ISLANDS code: homeofthefree ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLOOR 12 ^Exit [%]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[2] 1: Key of Beginnings + =2 card | | + =8 card [ ] [R] 2: Key of Guidance + 50 card total | [ ]-[1] R: Key to Rewards + 33 Blue card total | + 33 Red card total [ ]-[*] + 33 Green card total (!) ^Start *: Reappear here when finished with 1. %: Reappear here when finished with 2. Cannot be accessed until 2 is completed. _______________________________________________________________________________ DESTINY ISLANDS "Serene islands where Sora and Riku were born." Objects: Barrels, boxes, palm trees, bushes Cards: Oathkeeper Keyblade (Guidance room) Reward Room: Megalixir Friends: None(!) Enemies: Shadow, Darkball, Creeper Plant, Tornado Step, Crescendo, Barrel Spider Bosses: Darkside (Guidance room) No friends. At this point you shouldn't be relying on Goofy and Donald anyways, so hopefully it's not a big loss. Destiny Islands is a fairly good spot to level Sora since you'll be facing lots of enemies, none of which pose a particularly high level of threat. By this time you should also have all of your most destructive sleights, such as Mega Flare, Ars Arcanum, and Omnislash. If you have a Key to Rewards card, Destiny Islands is a good place to use it. Yes, I know that it costs 99 card values to enter, but that Megalixir is worth it as with it you'll finally be able to pull the devastating Holy sleight. When you feel ready, head into the Guidance room for another boss battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DARKSIDE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity. The hand takes half damage from all attacks. Threat: Medium-Low Trinity: Not sure, need to check this one ... Attacks: Stucker Punch - Darkside pounds its fist into the ground - where it stays. This move creates a small shockwave when it hits, so try not to be next to it on impact. On the positive side, Darkside's army gets stuck for enough time for you to let loose with a storm of attacks. Shadow Smash - Darkside pounds its fist into the ground, where it dissolves into a pool of shadow. Two Shadow Heartless appear and try to hit you, but are rather inconvenienced by the fact that they can't move beyond Darkside's pool. Another great opportunity for you to lay a beating on Darkside. Cannonade - A sphere of light emerges from the void where Darkside's heart should be and zooms forward. It does moderate damage but you'll be able to see it coming, so break the attack or just roll past it. Note that Darkside drops somewhat to launch the attack, giving you an opportunity to hit its face. Meteo - This time, the sphere of light ascends into the sky, where it causes showers of brilliance to descend comet-like into the sand. As Darkside loses HP, the number of light showers increases (but you only ever have to deal with them one at a time). Try not to get hit; Meteo has a nasty habit of dropping all the attacks on you while you're reeling from the damage. Drop: Darkside enemy card Well well well, look what we found ourselves here. The first true boss of the original Kingdom Hearts gets a massive HP boost (over three bars) as well as an impressive array of attacks. Darkside has a glaring weakness, however - it always uses the exact same attack sequence every time. First it'll use Stucker Punch, then Cannonade, then Shadow Smash, then Meteo. Always. Every time Darkside's fist ends up in the ground, you can smack it with powerful sleights like Ars Arcanum or Cross-Slash. Note that the arm only takes half damage; to get full damage, you'll have to strike the head, which is much more difficult to reach. Sleights like Omnislash or Judgment will do it for you. If you have the Wight Knight enemy card, by all means use it as it'll give you enough jump height to reach the head. The 0 Trinity card is rare in this battle (I think it appears if you swipe at the flotsam flying past), but when you get one it'll create a flying board that takes you right up against Darkside's head. This is your big chance to rip it apart with your strongest sleights. Holy, if you have it, dishes out devastating damage. Take along a few Cure cards for insurance and use your sleights, but always hold back on using your high-valued Keyblades. This fight is long and at times tedious, so you'll want to keep your high-valued Keyblades just in case you run through all your sleights without defeating Darkside. Someone (I cannot remember who, it's been three years since I was active on the 'FAQs boards, so I apologize in advance) also suggested that the 0 Trinity appears if you kill the Shadows which appear when Darkside uses Shadow Smash. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Darkside gives you the expensive but versatile Darkside enemy card, which copies the enemy effect that your opponent is using. With that taken care of, you'll receive the Oathkeeper Keyblade card. Save your game and head up out of Destiny Islands, you're about to run into one difficult boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIKU IV ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity. Resists every element. Threat: High Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Hop Bash - Riku jumps up and brings the Soul Eater crashing down, much like Cloud did earlier. It has a fractional second windup delay, so you can card break the attack if you're fast enough to see it coming. Does slight damage. Slash - Riku spins around and then slashes with the Soul Eater. Much like the Hop Bash in terms of windup delay and range, only that it hits from the side instead of above. Again, easily card broken if you see it coming. X-Slash - Riku runs into Sora with a one-two strike. This move will stun Sora and has better range than any of his other physical attacks. Try not to get hit by it, otherwise you're left as a sitting duck for one of his attacks or worse yet a sleight. Dark Firaga (sleight) - Riku launches a mass of dark blue fire at you. It hurts moderately but is hard for him to aim since it only has limited homing ability. You'll see it coming a mile away. Dodge- roll the sucker, card break it, or just step out of the way. Dark Aura (sleight) - Riku floats in the air for a moment before he zips offscreen. This is all the time you have to respond before he flies back in with his Soul Eater in hand, running through you for significant damage. As if that weren't enough, he does this repeatedly until finishing with a stylish sword plant that causes columns of flame to explode out of much of the battlefield. Get hit by the final strike and watch your HP vanish down the drain, made worse by the observation that this sleight is very difficult to stop once it hits or dodge-roll. BREAK THIS SLEIGHT AT ALL COSTS! (Why they changed the sleight name from Shadows of Oblivion is beyond me.) Shadow - Incrementor enemy effect. Drop: Riku enemy card Y'know, I can't avoid the feeling that the game is being a little unfair here. You run into Riku and think, "This is going to be the same as the last three brawls that we had," right? Sadly, this is not the case. Riku is faster and more aggressive than ever before, his deck is updated with high-valued cards and more than one Elixir, he still has the ever-annoying Incrementor, his HP gets a boost, and this time he's learned a devastating sleight. He might well be tougher even than Hook. Riku will card break you more often than he's ever done and he'll also leave you stunned. His deadliest threat, however, is the awesome Dark Aura sleight which will eat up your HP like a five-year old going through a bag of Hershey's. To start with, you'll want to bring loads of 0 cards into this fight. Use them to break Dark Aura and only to break Dark Aura. You'll also need a number of Cure or Tinker Bell cards, plus the Parasite Cage to break Incrementor (Riku doesn't use Dark Aura as often once his enemy card expires). If you have Holy, which always hits hard against character-type bosses, bring it along. Riku is faster than Sora and has the sense to stay moving while his deck is rebuilding itself. To counter this, use attacks that'll seek him while he's vulnerable; Omnislash and Judgment both work fairly well for this purpose. Finally, if you can afford the cards, break Dark Aura every time with Zantetsuken. If you can then shatter his items, you'll rapidly whittle down his deck. Riku is usually too dangerous to engage in a war of attrition but can still be defeated in this manner. Be sure to stay at medium distance if you can, out of range of most of his attacks and far enough to see Dark Firaga coming at you. This battle will test your ability to jump and dodge-roll as well as card break to the limit, but with patience and perseverance (and maybe a little luck), you'll win. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Riku gives you the Riku enemy card, a powerful card that lets you regain cards used to lead sleights. Before you talk to the fallen warrior, go back to Destiny Islands and use the save point there. Talking to Riku triggers the next event, another difficult boss battle. Note that your friends return to aid you for this particular encounter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LARXENE II ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: Special attacks Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity, Thunder Threat: Medium-High Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Feral Slash - Larxene swipes at you with her Wolverine-ish claws. Low range and decent damage this time around, unlike her earlier form. It still has its old formidable speed. Don't assume any longer that you'll win an exchange unless you're packing powerful cards like Oathkeeper or Divine Rose. This time around Larxene is fast enough to combo these attacks right into each other. Flick - Larxene throws off her claws into the air in front of her. The move's a little hard to describe, but you'll know it when you see it. Good damage, much better range than the Feral Slash, not quite as fast. Thunder - Larxene's version of Sora's spell. It hits a good deal of the screen. You can dodge-roll to avoid the attack right as it strikes, but if you're close you'll want to card break instead. Lightning Bolt (sleight) - Lightning streams out of Larxene's fingers and latch onto Sora. If this attack hits, Sora will be dragged over to Larxene and electrocuted for continuous damage. It can't be broken once it hits, plus it leaves Sora stunned. Luckily it doesn't do significant damage, but it's definitely an annoying move to contend with since it's so fast and has such great range. You can evade it by dodge-rolling behind her right as it starts, but it's much more effective to card break the sleight if you see it in the corner. Teleport Rush (sleight) - Larxene blinks over to Sora's position and attacks with a frenzy of slashes. Good luck trying to avoid it since it homes in on you and has practically no windup delay. If you get lucky with a dodge-roll, you'll go through it. Otherwise, about the best you can do is ready a 0 card when you see the sleight in the corner and try to use it right as Larxene triggers the sleight. To top off its cheapness, Teleport Rush does a hefty bit of damage. Drop: Larxene enemy card Certain tactics that worked against Riku will not work against Larxene. This time she's swifter than before and is out with a vengeance, boasting a new sleight, much more HP, and an overall boost in statistics. If you didn't save or reorganize your deck after finishing Riku, good luck. You'll need it. For starters, Larxene is weak against special attacks. This makes Holy do hellish damage (if you have it), plus you can always run her down with Ars Arcanum or Judgment while she's reloading her deck. If you see Larxene stocking up cards, ready a 0 card. Both of her sleights are very difficult to avoid using dodge- roll and you'll want to break them if at all possible. If you had the sense to place the Hook enemy card into your deck earlier, use it. It'll cut down on lightning damage, plus this effect doesn't wear out except after three critical hits. Stay at medium range when fighting Larxene if you can. She's fast and will avoid you much like Riku did while she's reloading, but this also gives you an opportunity to heal yourself or reload in turn. Larxene is easier to drag down into a battle of attrition since she runs through cards and sleights at an unholy pace. Once you've gotten her to that stage where she's only cycling back and forth between a few cards, it's only a matter of time before you defeat her. And if you lose to her (which is very possible if you didn't stop and readjust your deck after beating Riku), load and try again. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Larxene nets the Larxene enemy card, which boosts your speed by about 50%. You also gain immunity to lightning-based attacks. Before you head upwards, you'll also receive the Oblivion Keyblade. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLOOR 13: CASTLE OBLIVION code: oblivionawaits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FLOOR 13 ^Exit [1]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[$] 1: Key of Beginnings + =1 Blue card | | + =3 Red card [*]-[ ] [ ] + 99 card total | | [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] *: Reappear here when finished with 1. | $: Cannot be accessed until 1 is completed. [ ] ?: Special in-game cutscene. | [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[?] ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ CASTLE OBLIVION (No in-game description.) Objects: Marble rose, marble stand, marble block Cards: Ultima Weapon Keyblade Reward Room: None Friends: Donald Duck, Goofy Enemies: Shadow, Red Nocturne, Blue Rhapsody, Yellow Opera, Green Requiem, Neoshadow, Darkball, Wizard, Wyvern, Defender Bosses: Axel (Beginnings room), Marluxia (after completing the floor) This is it, the last floor of Sora's journey. There's no need for world synthesis as you'll be trekking directly through the castle. Upon entering the floor, you'll receive the powerful Trinity Limit sleight. You'll have to take the long route to reach the Key of Beginnings room where you'll run into an old acquaintance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AXEL II ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: Ice Absorbs: Fire Nullifies: Gravity Threat: Medium-High Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Slash - Axel swipes at the air in front of him with one of those fancy pinwheels. He moves forward a little and this gives him an extra bit of range. This time around he can combo these attacks into each other for significant damage. It's hard to stop once it starts, so don't let it start. Blade Blink - This time, Axel throws his pinwheel, teleports to his destination, and catches it. Very chic and stylish. It has more range and about as much damage as his Slash, but is still easily dodged. If you find yourself being hit repeatedly by this attack, try to move vertically as much as possible. Fire Wall (sleight) - Axel creates a wall of fire directly in front of himself that stretches from the top of the battlefield to the bottom. It then starts to creep forward at a snail's pace. You can either card break it or jump through it with a dodge-roll, both of which will end the attack. Firetooth (sleight) - Axel chucks a pair of big fireballs at you. How these fireballs move is determined entirely by the randomizer, so don't bother looking for a pattern. You can dodge-roll repeatedly to avoid the attack but it's better to just card break the sleight since the fireballs are so unpredictable. Drop: Axel enemy card Axel's faster and stronger this time around, plus he has a lot more HP to burn through. He also gets a new sleight and upgrades to his old moves. It's a toss-up as to whether Axel or Larxene is tougher ... well, I died to Larxene but not to Axel. Go figure. You'll want to avoid being trapped in a corner of the battlefield where Axel can pound you to his heart's content. He's fast, but not as fast as Larxene, and if you use Larxene's enemy card you'll be able to outrun him. This is great for ripping out Ars Arcanum while he's trying to reload his deck, plus it forces him to keep moving instead of fighting you. You'll want a number of Cure cards in your deck for safety. Axel generally hits harder than Larxene did and you never know when a surprise Firetooth might knock off a chunk of your HP. On the plus side, he's weak against Ice and this lets you spam Dumbo or Aqua Splash or whatever ice-based sleight you care to use. You can also use the Hades or Riku enemy cards to halve the damage that you take from his Fire-based attacks. Play the same attrition game with Axel that you did with Larxene and you'll be fine. _______________________________________________________________________________ Now that we have Axel's card, it's time to head out and put an end to this. Do any last-minute leveling that you feel is necessary, but watch out - the enemies in Castle Oblivion may very well kill you if you become careless. Be sure to synthesize a Moment's Reprieve room before you head out, as doing so will allow you to pick up a nice variety of cards much later. When you walk out, you'll confront yet another boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MARLUXIA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: Physical attacks Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity. Resists Fire, Ice, Thunder, and special attacks Threat: High Trinity: Unavailable Attacks: Phantasmal Slash - Marluxia grunts as he swings his scythe, the screen pauses ... and he reappears a character length forward, his scythe down. If you're in the way while he's swinging, you'll take the hit. It has a small windup delay that's just long enough for you to dodge-roll the attack, but it compensates for this by being hard to follow. And plus, it HURTS. Shockwave - Marluxia slams his scythe shaft-first into the floor, causing a shockwave to ripple outwards. Not a lot of range, mid- level damage. It's faster than the Phantasmal Slash but easier to avoid since it lacks range. It also appears less often. Air Cleaver - Marluxia swings his scythe, creating a blade of energy off its head that rips through the air. About half a screen's worth of range and decent damage. The Air Cleaver is slightly slower than the Phantasmal Slash but has better range and a surprisingly high hit radius along the vertical plane. Blossom Shower (sleight) - Raising his fist above his head, Marluxia creates a whirling storm of flower petals that spiral outwards from his hand. This sleight hits right before the petals vanish, so time your dodge-roll accordingly. It's fairly easy to dodge once you realize when exactly it hits, but it does cover the whole screen. Personally I wouldn't use up a 0 card to break it. Deathscythe (sleight) - Marluxia swings his scythe down as the screen darkens. A massive blade of energy materializes and swings at Sora in an arc aimed to clip him. You can avoid this attack by dodge-rolling in either direction right as it appears. Note that it always hits at about the same time regardless of your distance from Marluxia. Distance merely determines the speed and radius of the arc that the energy blade traces out. Marluxia - Double Sleight enemy effect Drop: Marluxia enemy card Don't let the pink scythe and the flower power fool you; Marluxia is a tough customer and can easily hold his own with the likes of Riku or Hook. For starters, you'll have to contend with his normal attacks, most of which are deceptive to the eye. He actually doesn't attack all that often or quickly, but he strikes often enough and every time he lands a blow you will definitely feel it. Between Blossom Shower and Deathscythe, one hits the whole field and the other tracks Sora. Marluxia will also activate his enemy card which allows him to use a sleight twice in succession before it expires. To fight him, you'll want to bring a pack of 0 cards along to break his normal attacks. (Don't bother breaking his sleights, they're more easily dodged at need.) If you can afford the CP cost, use Darkside to steal his Double Sleight effect. Double Sleight is great to have, especially if you're using powerful sleights of your own. Combine it with Holy, aim it properly, and you will knock an entire life bar off of him. Double Sleight also works well with Ars Arcanum, Judgment, or Omnislash. If you can't afford Darkside, just wait for him to exhaust his effect. (You could use Parasite Cage to break it, but it really isn't all that hard to dodge his sleights.) Marluxia is weak against physical attacks; if you load Genie Jafar and then go after him with your best Keyblades, you'll quickly whittle his HP bar down. Ideally, you should stay at medium-close range to him. This allows you to avoid Shockwave while still having enough time to dodge Phantasmal Slash and Air Cleaver. When Marluxia reloads, go after him or else take the time to heal yourself. Make no mistake, you'll probably be using many Cure cards unless you're fabulous at dodge-rolling. He isn't as fast as Axel or Larxene, which means that he can't easily outrun you. Once you've broken his items and forced him down to a few cards, the battle is yours. _______________________________________________________________________________ Your victory nets you the Marluxia enemy card with its ever useful Double Sleight effect and accompanying truckload of resistances. Before you head off to confront the final boss, go back and save. Saving after you've defeated Marluxia for the first time is half of the prerequisite for picking up Ultima Weapon and a bunch of other nifty cards. Reorganize your deck if you feel the need and then dive in for the last battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MARLUXIA II ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Gravity Threat: Medium Trinity: Unavailable, which is bad because it would really help here Attacks: Blossom Laser - Marluxia releases a trio of floating rose buds. Each rose bud will take turns firing a beam of some sort at you, but you can easily dodge-roll through them when you see Marluxia's attack card appear. Breaking the attack causes the rose bud in question to dissolve in a spray of petals, which is the quickest way of getting rid of the annoying blossoms. Blossom Shower - Much like his sleight, Marluxia holds up a fist and a stream of petals spiral outwards. It's now a normal attack rather than a sleight but otherwise doesn't change much. Dodge it like you dodged the sleight version. He only uses this attack once the machine's legs have been destroyed. Deathscythe - The other sleight also gets demoted from sleight to regular attack. As long as Marluxia's machine has a leg he can slash downwards and create a Deathscythe attack. Avoid it just like you avoided the sleight version. Once you've destroyed the machine's legs he'll no longer be able to pull this move. Air Cleaver - This attack gets a major upgrade. Marluxia will release a number of blooming flowers around himself. Each one then transforms into an energy blade, sinks to ground level, and rushes forward at Sora. You can dodge-roll this attack but most likely you'll emerge smack into another one. It's much easier just to card break the whole setup. Note that it's difficult to escape once you take a single hit. Meteo Spike - Once the legs of the machine have been destroyed, it will try to catch Sora by jumping and then slamming itself into the ground (eh, what ground?). This creates a shockwave that hits about half the screen. The trick to avoiding this attack is to dodge-roll right as the machine hits. It doesn't do much damage but can be annoying to keep dodging. Mad Rush - The body of the machine sets itself on the side of the screen, then rushes past Sora. This attack doesn't actually hit until the machine reaches the far side. It does a fair amount of damage but can be seen coming a mile away, so act accordingly. If you break this attack, you're given an opportunity to take the fight directly to Marluxia himself. Drop: Nothing Marluxia gets the distinction of being the only boss in the game to be both a character-type enemy and a non-character enemy. Unfortunately, he loses much of his speed and power in the transition. This battle is the longest in the game simply because Marluxia has so much HP and you're only given narrow windows of opportunity to hit him. Marluxia also sticks to a single set script for this fight, which makes him very predictable. When he first appears, knock the legs away off the machine. This stops him from using Deathscythe as well as making the transition to the second half of the battle. Once the legs are gone, Marluxia falls into this pattern: several Meteo Spikes, several Mad Rushes, an Air Cleaver or a Blossom Shower, a Blossom Laser swarm, and then back to Meteo Spike. If you card break the Mad Rush attack, Sora can jump onto the back of the machine and attack Marluxia directly. You can attack Marluxia by jumping up and striking with the Keyblade at certain intervals after card breaking an Air Cleaver or Blossom Shower attack - the target cursor will highlight him when he's vulnerable. While you're on the back of the machine, Sora has to fight a constant wind that tries to push him off. At this point Marluxia will release his Blossom Laser swarm and turn around to face Sora. Note that you can't injure him while he's concealed in the rose petals. Also, Sora has a very annoying tendency to change targets to the hovering rose buds instead of Marluxia himself, which wastes multiple Keyblade strikes. This makes attacking Marluxia anywhere from difficult to downright impossible at times. The safest way is to first break all the rose buds with card breaks and then go after Marluxia himself. You should be able to get in at least one or two full attack chains, but be warned: after the Blossom Lasers all break, the head wind will increase until Sora can't hold on even with constant dodge-rolls. Once he falls off, the battle resumes at the Air Cleaver/Blossom Shower stage. Needless to say, this battle is going to last a long, long time. Bring a big deck with multiple restorative items. Also bring high-valued Cure cards, as you can use them to break attacks and heal yourself at the same time. Most sleights are useless, so stick instead with 0 cards and high-valued Keyblades. Sleights like Ars Arcanum and Holy, while powerful for destroying the legs of the machine, are pretty much ineffectual against Marluxia himself. If you do want to bring sleights, take Marluxia's enemy card for the Double Sleight effect and use sleights that will seek the proper target (such as Omnislash or Judgment). Trinity Limit also works well against Marluxia. In general, however, you should avoid using sleights until you've gotten Marluxia down to his final health bar. Be patient, play safe, and heal as necessary. Remember what you've come through and what you've learned about battle mechanics. You can do it! _______________________________________________________________________________ With Marluxia's demise, Sora's tale comes to an end. But why stop there? Beating Sora's story unlocks Riku's, whose own quests answer many of the questions that you might have had about Sora and the mysterious organization. If you saved Sora's game in the room right before confronting Marluxia for the final time, you can revisit that save after completing Riku's story for extra cards. Now it's time to tackle Reverse/Rebirth mode. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JOURNAL code: cricketsthename ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== This section logs Jiminy Cricket's Journal entries. Being the meticulous scribe that he is, Jiminy automatically records story events as you progress through the game. He'll also keep a summary of the enemies and bosses you've encountered as well as a record of the many characters you meet in the castle. It's a good idea to check up on the Journal every now and then since sometimes Jiminy will jot down something that can be of use to Sora. When a journal category has been completed filled, a yellow mouse head icon appears to the right of that particular category. WARNING: This section contains a good deal of spoiler information on what happens in the game. Therefore, do not read through the Journal if you want to experience the story for yourself. -------------------------------Story (17 total)-------------------------------- The title says it all. The story section chronicles Sora's progress as he advances through Castle Oblivion. Each world gets its own journal entry, plus you'll unlock a Sora's Tale entry with each world card set that you complete. I've included a small commentary where appropriate for gamers who haven't played the original Kingdom Hearts. See that warning for spoilers? It goes especially for this section. _______________________________________________________________________________ SORA'S TALE I 1/17 "Our friends may be here ... It was that thought that led us to Castle Oblivion, where cards rule over all. A mysterious man gave Sora a card, and using it took us to Traverse Town - of all places! It turned out the town was just a figment of our own remembrances, the first world of many that lie in Sora's heart. And so our journey through these worlds begins." Quick explanation: At the conclusion to Kingdom Hearts, Sora's group (Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy) was separated from Riku's (Riku and the King). The end cinematic of Kingdom Hearts is the same as the beginning movie in Chain of Memories - Sora and his friends chasing Pluto. Their current mission is to find Riku and the King, after which Sora intends to return home to Destiny Islands with Riku. _______________________________________________________________________________ SORA'S TALE II 2/17 "It seems we're slowly losing our memories of what happened before the castle. And all my notes about the last journey have vanished! But in exchange, Sora is remembering other things he must have forgotten until now - like a girl he knew when he was little. While fighting Larxene, Sora finally remembered the girl's name ... Naminé." Back in Kingdom Hearts, Jiminy also took careful notes of Sora's journeys. In Castle Oblivion they vanish with everything else, including Donald's ability to cast even the most basic of spells. As the mysterious hooded figure told Sora in the beginning of the game, however, the group will remember what it has forgotten and forget what it once knew. Sora's recall of Naminé is a critical point in the game. _______________________________________________________________________________ SORA'S TALE III 3/17 "Sora pressed on in his search for Naminé, and can you believe it? He found Riku, his best friend whom we thought was lost. Sora was so happy, but Riku attacked him just like that, saying, 'I'll protect Naminé!' What could he mean? Will something happen if Sora finds Naminé? Sora is chasing after Riku ... and the answers." Sora and Riku also fought previously in the original Kingdom Hearts, where Riku kicked unholy amounts of butt. However, they made up at the conclusion of the game. For more details, read Riku's D Report entries as I'm unwilling to say more on this point. _______________________________________________________________________________ SORA'S TALE IV 4/17 "So Sora's memories of Naminé were false ... Marluxia wanted Sora's heart and the strength within, so he used Naminé to create fake memories and place them in Sora's heart. Larxene is gone, so we're going to the top floor to finish Marluxia. We want our memories back. And Sora - he wants to keep the promise he remembers. Naminé may not be his friend, but in his heart, protecting her is the only choice." Sora reminds me of the hero of the Ultima series, a lone, virtuous Avatar who did what was right simply because it was the right thing to do. Sora does NOT know Naminé previously from Kingdom Hearts - I doubt Square had even come up with her character design when it was released - instead, his memories are false constructs implanted by Naminé. (How exactly she does this we are never told.) Marluxia was the perpetrator of this entire scheme and he has thus managed to get Sora and company really, really steamed. Will Sora's memory return? We'll have to wait for Kingdom Hearts II for the answer. _______________________________________________________________________________ TRAVERSE TOWN 5/17 "The card the hooded man gave us took us to Traverse Town, where we were reunited with Leon, Yuffie, and our other friends. Leon acted like he'd forgotten Sora, but for whatever reason still knew his name. I guess his memory got mixed up somehow. Aerith sensed that the town and everyone there was a product of Sora's memories. It may sound crazy, but I think she was right." Back in Kingdom Hearts, Traverse Town was Sora's first stop arriving from Destiny Islands and also Donald and Goofy's first stop searching for Leon, who basically kept its First District safe from the Heartless. (He also schooled Sora in combat in the original Kingdom Hearts, but that doesn't happen in Chain of Memories. Is Sora in denial?) The key point is made by Aerith, who cautions Sora that his memories may mislead him in Castle Oblivion. Unfortunately, it seems that later events show that Sora failed to take the warning to heart. _______________________________________________________________________________ WONDERLAND 6/17 "When we chased after the White Rabbit, we stumbled upon a trial in progress. The Queen of Hearts accused Alice of stealing her memory and sentenced her to death! Angered by the shoddy trial, Sora freed Alice and hunted down the real culprit. But even after we bested the Trickmaster, the Queen refused to believe that Alice was innocent. Fortunately, Alice's quick thinking pacified the Queen and no one had to lose their head." In Kingdom Hearts, Alice was one of the seven Princesses of Heart necessary to open the door to darkness. You also played through a similar scenario where Sora had to prove Alice's innocence, though it was a more creative way of doing it in the original game if you ask me. _______________________________________________________________________________ OLYMPUS COLISEUM 7/17 "Sora wanted to take on Hercules, so we all decided to compete in the games. Hades, frantic to dispose of Hercules, hired Cloud to take him out. Cloud cooperated, thinking he would get his lost memories back. But not even Cloud could beat Hercules. Hades stepped in to finish the job, but we put his plans on ice." Cloud, like Sora, has somehow lost his memories and even worse was conned into believing that Hades could return them. As in Kingdom Hearts, Hades is out to rid himself of Hercules. Cloud's role has changed; back in the original Kingdom Hearts, he was searching for Sephiroth instead of his lost memories. He still competes in the tournament as in the original game, only this time Hercules doesn't save him and you're spared a battle with Cerberus. _______________________________________________________________________________ AGRABAH 8/17 "Aladdin brought the magic lamp back from the Cave of Wonders, hoping for a chance to meet Jasmine, Princess of Agrabah. Inside the lamp was Genie, who would grant three wishes to the lamp's bearer. Aladdin hoped to become a prince so he could see Jasmine whenever he wanted. But he used two wishes battling the Heartless, and then Jafar stole the lamp. Jafar turned into a genie, but we defeated him and Aladdin got the lamp back. Instead of becoming a prince, Aladdin used his last wish to set Genie free, and decided he wanted Jasmine to know him as he really is." In Kingdom Hearts, Jasmine was a Princess of Heart. Otherwise Chain of Memories remains mostly true to the Kingdom Hearts version of events, minus Abu and the magic carpet as well as a series of annoying and pointless battles. _______________________________________________________________________________ HALLOWEEN TOWN 9/17 "Dr. Finkelstein invented a potion that restores true memories, but it drew the Heartless to Halloween Town. Intrigued, Sora went with Jack to look for Sally, who had nabbed the potion because she was scared of what it could do. Oogie Boogie swiped the potion and downed it in a single gulp. But his true memories drove him mad with fear. What if true memories do that to everyone's heart? Scary." In the Kingdom Hearts mythology, Oogie Boogie became terrified of his memories because his heart was consumed by darkness. (That's my belief, at least.) Also note that the Halloween Town of Kingdom Hearts probably diverges the most from the Halloween Town of Chain of Memories in terms of story. _______________________________________________________________________________ MONSTRO 10/17 "Geppetto went out looking for Pinocchio and was swallowed up by the whale Monstro. But finding Pinocchio inside filled him with joy. But Pinocchio felt bad about running away from home and putting his father in danger, so he set off to find a way out of Monstro. After a run-in with a big Heartless, Pinocchio had a great idea: Why not make a commotion and get Monstro to spit us out? With our help, the plan worked and Pinocchio and Geppetto escaped to safety." Kinda like the Kingdom Hearts version of the encounter with Monstro, only you no longer have Riku shadowing your journey. (Heeey, maybe Sora forgot about that part?) _______________________________________________________________________________ ATLANTICA 11/17 "Ariel, Princess of Atlantica, was worried about her little friend Flounder, who was nowhere to be found. The sea witch Ursula told Ariel Flounder was trapped in the outside world, and King Triton's trident was the only way to save him. Ariel was so worried, she stole the trident for Ursula, but it was all a trick - Ursula had Flounder all along. With the trident's power Ursula became a giant, but we stopped her and Ariel resolved to apologize to her father, the king." The Chain of Memories version of Atlantica is basically a summary of what happened in Kingdom Hearts. For the curious, only King Triton or one of his descendants can remove the trident from its pedestal, as Sebastian points out in "The Little Mermaid II." _______________________________________________________________________________ NEVER LAND 12/17 "Peter Pan stowed away on Captain Hook's ship to save the kidnapped Wendy. But no sooner had she been saved that Wendy told Peter she wanted to go home to London. Would Wendy grow up and forget about him and Never Land? Peter didn't like that one bit, and left in a huff. Meanwhile we were just trying to get off the ship. Hook caught us on the deck, but Peter came back and bailed us out. In the end, Peter and Wendy said their farewells, but promised to meet again one day." The Chain of Memories version of Never Land differs significantly from the Kingdom Hearts version in that Riku is no longer running around on Hook's ship. Also note that Wendy was NOT one of the Princesses of Heart in the original Kingdom Hearts. _______________________________________________________________________________ HOLLOW BASTION 13/17 "The Beast came to rescue Belle from Maleficent's clutches, but to his dismay, Belle acted coldly and would not go with him. We felt bad for him, so we went to see Belle. It turned out she was only pretending to be cruel, to keep her heart and the love within safe from Maleficent. But faced with a choice, Belle couldn't hide how she felt for the Beast, and Maleficent stole her heart. Together with the Beast, we took care of Maleficent and restored Belle's heart." Hollow Bastion requires a bit of explanation. First off, it isn't Beast's chateau, which was destroyed in the original Kingdom Hearts by the Heartless. Instead, it's the fortress where the Final Fantasy characters hail from. In Kingdom Hearts, Hollow Bastion guarded the door to darkness and was the first world to be overrun by the Heartless. Maleficent converted Hollow Bastion into her headquarters; when Destiny Islands fell, Riku appeared in Hollow Bastion. When Beast's chateau fell and Belle was taken from him to Hollow Bastion, he followed her by sheer force of will. Back in Kingdom Hearts, Hollow Bastion was the pivotal turning point of the game around which an awful lot of story revolved, but this isn't reflected in Chain of Memories. _______________________________________________________________________________ 100 ACRE WOOD 14/17 "Pooh seemed to have lost his friends, so Sora stopped to help him look. Maybe Sora saw something of himself in Pooh, since he's looking for friends too." It's easy to see why Sora considers his friends lost since he can't seem to find them anywhere. On the other hand, Pooh's friends are RIGHT THERE! And if you're curious as to the peculiar map image for 100 Acre Wood, it's because in Kingdom Hearts 100 Acre Wood was contained in a storybook that Sora was transported into. _______________________________________________________________________________ TWILIGHT TOWN 15/17 "The card Vexen gave us led to a town none of us remembered. But Sora held fast to his promise to Naminé, and we pressed on. Speaking of which, Vexen seemed ready to say something about that, but Axel showed up, and ... Well, we won't be seeing Vexen again." Truly a mystery. Twilight Town was not in the original Kingdom Hearts, so it's reasonable to assume that it instead plays a role in Kingdom Hearts II. (I believe that the soundtrack which plays in Twilight Town, however, also appeared in Kingdom Hearts.) Also, pay particular attention to what Axel says right before he offs Vexen, a speech about how they're all nobodies. _______________________________________________________________________________ DESTINY ISLANDS 16/17 "The last card led to the place where Sora grew up. Sora wandered the islet that was once his playground, wading through his memories to find the girl he cared for. But when he found Naminé, she told him the bitter truth - nothing he remembered of her ever happened." The truth emerges. Sora was NOT recovering lost memories as he ascended Castle Oblivion - instead, his memories were being rewritten. In Kingdom Hearts, Destiny Islands was Sora's homeplace which he fled when the Heartless invaded and captured Kairi. Darkside, the big Heartless that you fight at the end, is also the same boss that attacked Destiny Islands. _______________________________________________________________________________ CASTLE OBLIVION 17/17 "Well, we've made it to the top, and many of our memories are gone. Sora can't even recall the name of the person he cares for most. But we've made a promise. No distance can separate us, and we'll be friends even if we can't remember it to be so. Axel is out of the way. We just have to stop Marluxia. He ordered Naminé to wipe Sora's memory, but it doesn't matter. Sora knows that promises don't fade as easily as memories." I've nothing of worth to add to this particular Journal entry. However, do you think Jiminy Cricket is going to start Kingdom Hearts II and find all of his pages blank again? -----------------------------Card Index (121 total)---------------------------- The card index contains the Journal entries for all the cards in Sora's deck, plus map cards and a brief explanation on Premium cards. Since ALL of this information is reproduced elsewhere in the appropriate section, the Card Index for the Journal is being left blank as a service to 56k'ers. -----------------------------Characters (90 total)----------------------------- The Characters section contains all the information on the Disney and Final Fantasy characters that you'll encounter, plus all of Jiminy's notes on the various Heartless that you've fought. Character information is acquired when you meet that particular character in battle or in story. ----------------------------Characters I (25 total)---------------------------- The Characters I section includes all of the characters that either relate directly to the Chain of Memories storyline or were old Final Fantasy veterans. This section also includes a few miscellaneous entries of note, such as the summons from the game. _______________________________________________________________________________ SORA 1/25 "A bright and spirited boy chosen by the Keyblade to battle the Heartless. It was Sora who defeated Ansem, ending his plans to shroud the world in darkness. However, Sora continues his journey, seeking the friends he lost during the struggle." This journal entry sums up Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories in three sentences. For more information on Ansem, see Ansem's entry. Sora's Keyblade locks hearts, which was key (pardon the pun) to stopping Ansem. Once he finds Riku and the King, Sora intends to return to Destiny Islands where his friends are waiting for him. _______________________________________________________________________________ DONALD DUCK 2/25 "Court wizard at Disney Castle who set out with Goofy after the king's disappearance. His short temper sometimes gets him into trouble, but he is very brave. Donald is currently seeking clues to what happened to the king after he was locked behind the door to darkness." Not much to say here. Donald is in love with Daisy Duck, who stayed behind in Disney Castle, but you never once hear him talking about her. _______________________________________________________________________________ GOOFY 3/25 "Captain of the Disney Castle Royal Knights. He set out with Donald after the king's disappearance. He is cheerful and calm, and no one is more loyal to the king. Goofy and Sora are especially good friends." Goofy is simple and sincere. Kingdom Hearts did a better job of showing this than Chain of Memories, but it's still visible in this game. _______________________________________________________________________________ JIMINY CRICKET 4/25 "That's right, me again. I'm keeping a journal of everyone's adventures. I also act as Pinocchio's conscience, so he'll know right from wrong." Considering that Jiminy travels with Sora and not with Pinocchio for much of Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories, I'd call him a singularly poor choice of conscience. He scribes for the group and occasionally makes thoughtful insights. _______________________________________________________________________________ RIKU 5/25 "Sora's childhood friend. Baited by the darkness and used by Maleficent and Ansem, Riku once fought against Sora. In order to seal the door to darkness, Riku stayed with the king on the other side. His current whereabouts are unknown. Sora journeys in the hopes of finding Riku." No, you aren't reading a transcription error in the last sentence. Riku and Sora grew up together on Destiny Islands. Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories both imply that he was one hell of a fighter even at his early age. Riku watched over Kairi for much of Kingdom Hearts, but eventually he stayed with the King in the conclusion of Kingdom Hearts. Although separated from Sora, his own journey is told in Reverse/Rebirth. Riku was the rightful owner of the Keyblade, but since he was seduced by darkness on Destiny Islands the Keyblade chose Sora instead. Riku's Keyblade unlocks hearts whereas Sora's seals them. _______________________________________________________________________________ KAIRI 6/25 "Sora's childhood friend. Sora's journey began as a search for Kairi, who disappeared when their island home was swallowed by darkness. Kairi was held captive by the Heartless, but thanks to Sora she and the islands were saved. She waits there for Sora and Riku's return." Kairi is not a native to Destiny Islands; rather, she showed up there about the time that Hollow Bastion fell to the Heartless. When the Heartless overran Destiny Islands, their first act was to kidnap Kairi. Sora later saved her at the conclusion of a rather dramatic battle against Ansem and she returned to Destiny Islands at the conclusion of Kingdom Hearts. In Chain of Memories, Sora's memories of her are gradually replaced by memories of Naminé. Kairi is the last of the seven Princesses of Heart and rumor suggests that she may in fact be Ansem the Wise's daughter. _______________________________________________________________________________ SIMBA 7/25 "Successor to his father as ruler of the Pride Lands. Sora need only call and Simba will appear and lend his strength." Back in Kingdom Hearts, Simba was also one of the summonable allies. The Fairy Godmother explains that summons are creatures whose worlds were conquered by the Heartless, but their hearts are so strong that they endured. Apparently Simba hasn't worked his way up in the world since the door to darkness closed. He first appeared in "The Lion King" and also in "The Lion King II." _______________________________________________________________________________ DUMBO 8/25 "A small elephant born in a circus. The other animals laughed at his big ears, but the courage to fly made Dumbo the star of the circus. If Sora calls, Dumbo will come to the rescue." Another summon from the original Kingdom Hearts. Dumbo first appeared in - what else? - "Dumbo." _______________________________________________________________________________ BAMBI 9/25 "A young deer prince whose father is king of the Forest. Sora can call on Bambi for help anytime." Yet another summon from the original Kingdom Hearts. The Bambi that shows up is the infant Bambi with spots on his back, not the adult Bambi with horns and a much more serious personality. Bambi's first appearance was in the Disney film "Bambi." _______________________________________________________________________________ MUSHU 10/25 "Once a guardian dragon of a Chinese family. Due to past mistakes, he lost much of his former power. If Sora calls, Mushu will come to our aid." By "past mistakes," the game means that he let one of his wards take a cut to the neck. Ironically, Mushu may be Chinese but he's voiced by Eddie Murphy. He was another summonable ally in Kingdom Hearts, though he's relatively better off in Chain of Memories. Mushu appeared in "Mulan" and also in its sequel "Mulan II," where he played matchbreaker. _______________________________________________________________________________ THE MOOGLES 11/25 "A strange race that seems to pop up just about anywhere. In Castle Oblivion, the Moogles run shops where Sora can trade in unwanted cards." The Moogles are a recurring Final Fantasy theme; in the Final Fantasy games they could help you in a variety of ways. A certain human-loving, street-wise, fast-talking, SLAM-dancing Moogle even joined your party in Final Fantasy VI. They ran synthesis shops back in the original Kingdom Hearts and show up as swindlers in Chain of Memories. _______________________________________________________________________________ LEON 12/25 "A cool and collected swordsman who wields a gunblade. His real name: Squall Leonhart. Leon once fought with Sora against the Heartless, but the Leon we met in Castle Oblivion is a product of Sora's memory, so he can't remember much of what happened before." Leon's the protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII, though in Chain of Memories he's less cold and a lot more confident. In the original Kingdom Hearts game, he kept Traverse Town's First District safe from the Heartless and would also show up from time to time in Olympus Coliseum to duel Sora. Pity you can't take him in a real battle in Chain of Memories. _______________________________________________________________________________ YUFFIE 13/25 "A girl whose cheerful personality belies her painful memories. When she was still young the Heartless robbed her of her home. Never one to sweat the small stuff, Yuffie seems unfazed by her fuddled memory." Yuffie was an optional character in Final Fantasy VII; in Kingdom Hearts, she accompanied Leon and also fought now and then in the coliseum. _______________________________________________________________________________ AERITH 14/25 "A young woman who fought the Heartless. Her calm demeanor hides an unbreakable will. Aerith also has a mysterious sense of truth, and is aware that Traverse Town and its inhabitants are a figment of Sora's memory." The tragic heroine of Final Fantasy VII who gave her life to save the planet. Aerith also pops up in Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories as a foil to Leon. In the US and European versions of Final Fantasy VII, she was known as Aeris. _______________________________________________________________________________ CID 15/25 "A gifted pilot who saved Leon and the others from the Heartless when they were just children. Cid lives in Traverse Town now." Yet another character from Final Fantasy VII, Cid was the warm-hearted and trash-talking smoker who could fly like none other. Since this is a Disney game, however, his language has been cleaned up and he's lost his cigarette to a twig. In Kingdom Hearts, he modified your Gummi ship and sold items, none of which he does in Chain of Memories. _______________________________________________________________________________ CLOUD 16/25 "A swordsman hired by Hades to take out Hercules. Cloud seeks the true memories he has lost. Were they memories of someone dear to him, or memories of his own hazy past?" The protagonist of Final Fantasy VII and a superb fighter. His Chain of Memories description closely matches his Kingdom Hearts description, except that in Kingdom Hearts he searched for Sephiroth and even partnered with Hades to find the elusive warrior. He was overhauled for Kingdom Hearts: his Buster Sword is now swathed in cloth and he has Vincent Valentine's cape and left hand. His Limit Break attacks from Final Fantasy VII were also changed, giving him a much more badass aura. _______________________________________________________________________________ TIDUS 17/25 "A young boy from Sora's islands with a sunny personality and lots of energy. Tidus has no shortage of confidence either, and considers himself a champ at everything." The protagonist of Final Fantasy X, though he's been downgraded agewise. You could spar with him in Kingdom Hearts. As in the original game, however, he's basically present for a cameo. _______________________________________________________________________________ WAKKA 18/25 "A boy from Sora's islands. Despite being the oldest, Wakka is modest and takes good care of his friends." The sidekick from Final Fantasy X. Wakka was a champion blitzball player and it reflects in his choice of weapon, a blitzball. Like Tidus, he's a cameo in both games. _______________________________________________________________________________ SELPHIE 19/25 "A perky girl from Sora's islands. Selphie is assertive and tends to leap before she looks, and she also has a romantic side." In Final Fantasy VIII, Selphie was a SeeD graduate and one of Squall's sidekicks. Her personality has remained pretty much unchanged, but she's still just a cameo appearance like Tidus and Wakka. She also traded her segmented flail for a jump rope. _______________________________________________________________________________ NAMINÉ 20/25 "A young witch who, under orders from Marluxia, rewrote much of Sora's memory. Because Naminé based the false memories on Sora's feelings towards Kairi, Sora believed he and Naminé had been friends since childhood. But truth be told, the two had never met before Castle Oblivion." Jiminy's journal sums Naminé up very well. She also plays a part, as yet unknown, in Kingdom Hearts II. _______________________________________________________________________________ RIKU REPLICA 21/25 "A replica of Riku created by Vexen from the real Riku's data. Through Naminé's power he was infused with false memories and made to believe he was the real Riku. The truth has wounded him deeply." Exactly as the journal says, he's "someone's pet project." He also promises to defend Naminé much as Sora does; to learn of what ultimately happens to him, play Reverse/Rebirth mode. _______________________________________________________________________________ AXEL 22/25 "A mysterious figure who stands in Sora's path. Hard to read, half the time Axel seems to just be messing around ... but for all we know, he's done more thinking than everyone else put together." In short, Axel is a member of the organization dedicated to unraveling the secrets of the heart. He reappears in Kingdom Hearts II. _______________________________________________________________________________ LARXENE 23/25 "A member of the group that controls Castle Oblivion. Larxene is unfeeling and loves nothing more than to bring other people down. She is on good terms with Axel but still mocks everyone and trusts no one." Another member of the organization. Larxene also plots with Marluxia to take over the organization. Her entry in Riku's D Report contains more information. _______________________________________________________________________________ VEXEN 24/25 "A man absorbed in his dubious research in Castle Oblivion. Vexen tried to destroy Sora by controlling Riku and pitting the two against each other. When this plan failed, he confronted Sora personally." Vexen's a veteran of the organization who gets offed by Axel. He fancies himself a scientist and is responsible for creating Riku's double. _______________________________________________________________________________ MARLUXIA 25/25 "Lord of Castle Oblivion and a member of the Organization. In a move to bring the group under his control, Marluxia used Naminé to overrun Sora's memory and tried to claim the power of the Keyblade." Marluxia is a relatively new but ambitious member of the organization. He is also the hooded stranger at the beginning of the game who lures Sora to Castle Oblivion and shows him the ropes. ---------------------------Characters II (40 total)---------------------------- This section deals with all the characters that you'll meet on the various floors of Castle Oblivion. They are all related more to their particular worlds than to the game itself; they're also all non-Square characters, much to the chagrin of Final Fantasy fans like myself. _______________________________________________________________________________ ALICE 1/40 "A curious girl who fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Alice was falsely accused of stealing the Queen of Hearts's memory and put on trial, but we intervened and helped her clear her name." Alice first showed up in Lewis Carroll's stories "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass." As far as Disney is concerned, she debuted in the animated film "Alice in Wonderland." In Kingdom Hearts, Alice was one of the seven Princesses of Heart needed to unlock the door to darkness. _______________________________________________________________________________ THE QUEEN OF HEARTS 2/40 "A selfish ruler who commands an army of card soldiers. A Heartless stole the Queen's memory, but she accused Alice and put her on trial." Also present in "Alice in Wonderland," the Queen of Hearts is the closest character that either the story or the film has to an antagonist. In Kingdom Hearts, she also put Alice on trial. _______________________________________________________________________________ THE WHITE RABBIT 3/40 "A loyal retainer of the Queen of Hearts. He always carries out the Queen's orders, no matter what they may be." Another character from "Alice in Wonderland." Erm, there's not much more to be said other than that. _______________________________________________________________________________ CARD OF HEARTS 4/40 "Guards in the service of the Queen of Hearts. They fear her temper and will do anything she orders." Zzzz ... seriously, they're generic cards, for heaven's sakes! They first appeared in Disney's "Alice in Wonderland," where Alice showed them why cards shouldn't threaten humans. _______________________________________________________________________________ CARD OF SPADES 5/40 "Guards in the service of the Queen of Hearts. They fear her temper and will do anything she orders." See the entry for the Card of Hearts. Oh yeah, and they use axes instead of pikes as weapons. _______________________________________________________________________________ THE CHESHIRE CAT 6/40 "A mysterious, grinning cat who always talks in riddles. He appears when you least expect it, and disappears whenever he pleases." Yet another character from "Alice in Wonderland." Did the characters from "Through the Looking Glass" get the short end of the stick or what? (Which is perfectly understandable, seeing as how Disney turned the former but not the latter into a cartoon.) As he did in Kingdom Hearts, the Cheshire Cat gives you hints in Chain of Memories. _______________________________________________________________________________ HERCULES 7/40 "Son of the gods Zeus and Hera, but not a god himself. With godlike strength and a gentle heart, Hercules is a true hero. He has never lost at the Coliseum games." He first showed up in Disney's animated film "Hercules," unless you count Greek mythology, in which case he'd beat out even Aladdin for age. If by some chance you've never heard of Hercules, stop reading this FAQ and go to the library. Back in Kingdom Hearts you could fight him at the Coliseum, but here he's just present to have a row with Cloud. _______________________________________________________________________________ PHILOCTETES 8/40 "Trainer of countless heroes, including Hercules. Nowadays Phil runs the Coliseum and manages the games." Also a character in "Hercules." He does the same thing in Chain of Memories that he does in Kingdom Hearts, which is watch from the sidelines and toss in advice. _______________________________________________________________________________ HADES 9/40 "Ruler of the Underworld. Hades can't stand Hercules. He tricked Cloud into challenging Hercules to the death, but we put an end to his plotting." The villain of "Hercules" and also one of the villains in Kingdom Hearts, who met his end at Sora's hands. He's still plotting to off Hercules in Chain of Memories and apparently he survives the beating he got in Kingdom Hearts to show up again in Kingdom Hearts II. Note that in Greek mythology, even if Hades wasn't Hercules' friend, he wasn't Herc's enemy either. _______________________________________________________________________________ ALADDIN 10/40 "A young man who lives in Agrabah and dreams of meeting Princess Jasmine. Aladdin become Genie's master when he found the magic lamp. At first Aladdin wanted to become a prince and impress Jasmine, but in the end he gave Genie his freedom and decided to show Jasmine his true self." Aladdin has starred in three animated films, namely "Aladdin," "The Return of Jafar," and "Aladdin and the King of Thieves." If you go back further in history, he appeared in Scheherazade's epic saga "The Thousand and One Nights." In Kingdom Hearts, Aladdin was an ally who could replace either Goofy or Donald while you were in Agrabah. On a historical note, he's supposed to be Chinese, not Arabian. _______________________________________________________________________________ GENIE 11/40 "Captive of the magic lamp. Genie must grant the lamp's holder three wishes. He longs for freedom, but can only get it if someone uses a wish to set him free." The blue dude with the phenomenal cosmic powers and itty-bitty living space has shown up in all three Aladdin films, voiced by Robin Williams in two of them. His role in Chain of Memories is similar to the part he played in Kingdom Hearts and the first Aladdin film. (They stripped him of his pride for Chain of Memories; back in Kingdom Hearts, Genie waved his hands and the Heartless were turned into munni and health. Did CoM get a bad bargain or what?) Genie also shows up in "The Thousand and One Nights," where he wasn't limited to just granting three wishes but was still similarly cranky about his job. _______________________________________________________________________________ JASMINE 12/40 "Princess of Agrabah. Jasmine feels cooped up in the palace and longs for the freedom outside its walls." Also a recurring character in the three Aladdin films as the heroine, the princess' résumé reads like that of a Russian lady's. In Kingdom Hearts, she was one of the seven Princesses of Heart. Jasmine was invented by Disney and has no counterpart in Scheherazade's stories (or at the very most a shy one. Aladdin's princess is rarely mentioned in "The Thousand and One Nights.") _______________________________________________________________________________ IAGO 13/40 "A cunning and chatty parrot. Iago flies about Agrabah, serving as the evil Jafar's eyes and ears." Yet another character who pops up in the three Aladdin films. Iago was a Disney invention and is not mentioned in "The Thousand and One Nights." He reformed in the last two films, but his Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories presence is like that of his first acting role. _______________________________________________________________________________ JAFAR 14/40 "A sorcerer and Agrabah's royal vizier. Jafar stole the magic lamp from Aladdin and, with Genie's power, schemed to become ruler of Agrabah." Jafar is the main antagonist of the first two Aladdin films, though he's been dealt with by the time the third film rolls around. Like his Kingdom Hearts persona, he's one of the villains that meet a grisly end thanks to Sora. The historical Jafar was a real man known to history as "Jaffar the Barmelcite" who served as prime minister to the famed caliph Harun al-Rashid. Scheherazade portrays him as a wise and learned scholar, hardly the evil wizard that Disney turned him into. He also had nothing to do with Aladdin's tale. _______________________________________________________________________________ JAFAR (GENIE) 15/40 "Jafar's genie form. After taking the magic lamp from Aladdin, Jafar wished for the powers of a genie and tried to do us in." And unfortunately for Jafar, he forgot that all genies are bound to one item or another. Genie Jafar also showed up in the first two Aladdin films and in Kingdom Hearts as a villain. For historical notes, see the previous entry. _______________________________________________________________________________ JACK 16/40 "Halloween Town's master of the macabre. Jack is always looking for new ways to bring the spooks and shivers of Halloween to all." He showed up in Tim Burton's "The Nightmare before Christmas." Further than that I can't say since I've never seen the film before. Back in Kingdom Hearts, Jack was another one of your allies and an awesome fighter to boot. _______________________________________________________________________________ SALLY 17/40 "Dr. Finkelstein's helper at the lab. He created her from various odds and ends. Sally is secretly in love with Jack." Also a character from "The Nightmare before Christmas," she appeared in Kingdom Hearts alongside Jack. _______________________________________________________________________________ DR. FINKELSTEIN 18/40 "The mad scientist of Halloween Town. He's always immersed in his odd experiments. This time Dr. Finkelstein came up with a potion to restore true memories, only to have it guzzled by Oogie Boogie." Mad scientist says it all. (He reminds me of a few personalities in the physics department.) Back in Kingdom Hearts, Finkelstein aimed to create hearts for the Heartless ... as you might expect, that particular experiment didn't work out too well either. _______________________________________________________________________________ OOGIE BOOGIE 19/40 "A villain who's always plotting against Jack. Oogie Boogie stole Dr. Finkelstein's potion thinking it would make him stronger, but it drove him mad with fear instead." The villain of "The Nightmare before Christmas" and also one of the sub- villains in Kingdom Hearts, Oogie Boogie ... looks like a sack of potatoes. He isn't accompanied by his henchmen in Chain of Memories. _______________________________________________________________________________ PINOCCHIO 20/40 "A wooden puppet Geppetto made, brought to life by the Blue Fairy. To become a real boy, Pinocchio has to learn bravery, kindness, and honesty. He and Geppetto were swallowed by Monstro, but they escaped with a little help from us." Pinocchio first appeared in the Disney film "Pinocchio," which was based off an older Italian fairy tale. Disney, of course, spiced up the movie by a considerable amount. Back in Kingdom Hearts, he basically had the same role that he has in Chain of Memories: he'd get in trouble and you'd bail him out. _______________________________________________________________________________ GEPPETTO 21/40 "A gentle and earnest clockmaker who carved Pinocchio from a block of wood. Geppetto was swallowed by Monstro, boat and all, while searching for Pinocchio. The two were reunited inside the giant whale, and escaped with our help." A character from the Disney film "Pinocchio," the long-suffering Geppetto appeared in Kingdom Hearts similarly caught by Monstro. _______________________________________________________________________________ ARIEL 22/40 "The daughter of King Triton who longs to see the outside world. Worried by Flounder's disappearance, Ariel was cajoled by Ursula into forking over the king's trident. We helped Ariel save Flounder and recover the trident, and she resolved to tell her father the truth." Ariel starred in Disney's animated film "The Little Mermaid" and also had a stage appearance in "The Little Mermaid II," where she took a back seat to her daughter Melody. Chain of Memories follows the Kingdom Hearts version of Ariel to a degree, minus the teaching Sora how to swim in waters bit. _______________________________________________________________________________ SEBASTIAN 23/40 "Triton's music director and Ariel's guardian. Sebastian is constantly scolding Ariel for her escapades, but only because he worried for her safety." Sebastian appears in both Little Mermaid films and is a worrywort in both. He's of a similar bent in Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories, where he's really nothing more than a glorified cameo. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLOUNDER 24/40 "A young fish. He's not exactly brave, but Flounder is Ariel's most loyal friend. Ursula kidnapped Flounder as part of her plan to trick Ariel and steal the trident." Like Sebastian, Flounder shows up in both Little Mermaid films and in Kingdom Hearts. Erm, not much more to say about Flounder. _______________________________________________________________________________ URSULA 25/40 "The sea witch. She once lived in the palace, but was banished for her scheming. Ursula deceived Ariel and stole the trident in an attempt to rule all Atlantica." Ursula was yet another villain from Kingdom Hearts. She also appeared in "The Little Mermaid" but not in its sequel; in Chain of Memories, she pretty much gets the same treatment from Sora that she received in Kingdom Hearts. _______________________________________________________________________________ PETER PAN 26/40 "A boy who lives in Never Land, where no one ever grows up. Peter can be stubborn, but deep down he's brave and just. He was upset that Wendy wanted to return to London, but in the end he wished her well." Peter Pan first appeared in the Disney film "Peter Pan," which was based off an older fairy tale (I think). In Kingdom Hearts, you could choose to have him replace either Goofy or Donald, plus he taught you a few useful skills. _______________________________________________________________________________ TINKER BELL 27/40 "A fairy with a jealous streak, especially when Peter pays attention to other girls." Shortest description ever. Tink originated in the old fairy tale, was carried over to "Peter Pan," and showed up in Kingdom Hearts as a summonable character. _______________________________________________________________________________ WENDY 28/40 "A dreamy English girl. Peter showed her the way to Never Land. Wendy really likes Peter, but decided to return home to London." Wendy is the "other girl" in Tinker Bell's journal entry. She was the closest character to a heroine that "Peter Pan" had, plus she showed up in Kingdom Hearts where Riku mistook her for a Princess of Heart and had Hook nab her. In Chain of Memories, she's merely bait for Peter Pan. _______________________________________________________________________________ HOOK 29/40 "A pirate who holds a grudge against Peter Pan. Hook kidnapped Wendy to lure Peter out. Normally proud, Hook falls to pieces the moment the crocodile that took his hand shows up." The villain of "Peter Pan" and a sub-villain in Kingdom Hearts, Hook is the captain of the ship which Sora and crew find themselves on. Back in Kingdom Hearts, Hook resented the way Riku took to ordering him around. In your fight against Hook you could also trick him into walking off the plank, which led to one heck of a funny scene. _______________________________________________________________________________ THE BEAST 30/40 "A prince transformed into a beast because of his selfishness. Meeting Belle restored humanity to his heart. Though stunned by Belle's cold behavior, his faith in their love never wavered." The Beast first appeared in the Disney animated film "Beauty and the Beast" and also in Kingdom Hearts, where he ran through anything that got in his way with the Ferocious Lunge. It's confirmed that he also returns in Kingdom Hearts II, though he's properly located in his chateau in that game instead of at Hollow Bastion. _______________________________________________________________________________ BELLE 31/40 "A young woman who saw kindness behind the Beast's gruff exterior. Realizing Maleficent sought her heart, Belle acted coldly toward the Beast to keep her heart beyond the witch's reach." Belle is the heroine of "Beauty and the Beast" and one of the Princesses of Heart in the original Kingdom Hearts. Back then, she was abducted by the Heartless and laid in Hollow Bastion alongside the other Disney princesses. _______________________________________________________________________________ MALEFICENT 32/40 "A witch who commands the darkness. Sora faced Maleficent and her Heartless once before. She stole Belle's heart to perfect her dark powers, though Belle had seen through her plan." Maleficent originated in the Disney film "Sleeping Beauty" as the main villain of that video. She was also the driving force behind much of the first half of Kingdom Hearts, none of which is reflected in Chain of Memories. _______________________________________________________________________________ DRAGON MALEFICENT 33/40 "Maleficent's dragon form. Her own sorcery mingled with the vast powers of darkness made Maleficent a fearful opponent." In Kingdom Hearts, after your first scrap with Maleficent, Ansem then used Riku's Keyblade to unlock the witch's heart and transform her into a dragon. Much better than fighting Gaston from "Beauty and the Beast" if you ask me, but Chain of Memories really lost the connections between the villains and the various worlds that were so rich in Kingdom Hearts. _______________________________________________________________________________ WINNIE THE POOH 34/40 "A bear who lives in the base of a tree in the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh loves to eat - especially honey. He's gentle and easygoing, but a little absent-minded." Pooh comes from the "Winnie the Pooh" videos, none of which I've seen, so I won't comment further on his character. All of the 100 Acre Wood characters present in Chain of Memories also appeared in Kingdom Hearts. _______________________________________________________________________________ PIGLET 35/40 "Pooh's closest friend. Piglet is very shy, and when he's surprised he covers his eyes with his floppy ears." _______________________________________________________________________________ OWL 36/40 "The wisest animal in the Hundred Acre Wood. Sometimes he talks so much his friends fall asleep." _______________________________________________________________________________ ROO 37/40 "A feisty kangaroo who's full of energy. Little Roo wants to learn to bounce as high as Tigger." _______________________________________________________________________________ EEYORE 38/40 "A gloomy donkey whose tail keeps falling off and getting lost. Eeyore is timid and always a little down, and likes to take things slow." _______________________________________________________________________________ TIGGER 39/40 "The one and only. Cheerful Tigger loves to bounce all day long. Sometimes his energy is too much for the others, but he always means well." _______________________________________________________________________________ RABBIT 40/40 "A diligent gardener who's always busy with his vegetables. Sometimes Rabbit is a bit short-tempered, especially when Tigger bounces around in his garden." ----------------------------The Heartless (35 total)--------------------------- The final category of Jiminy Cricket's journal deals with the Heartless that you will encounter as you progress through Castle Oblivion. Once you fight that particular Heartless and defeat it in battle, you'll get its entry in the journal. This is the closest section that the game and this FAQ has to an enemy database, so extra information on the Heartless has been included. Note that data on HP and experienced dropped is not included since enemy HP and experience dropped changes with each floor that Sora ascends. _______________________________________________________________________________ SHADOW 1/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Everything when submerged Threat: Very Low Drop: Shadow enemy card, map cards Appears in: Traverse Town, Halloween Town, Monstro, Wonderland, Hollow Bastion, Never Land, Twilight Town, Destiny Islands, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Leap - The Shadow leaps forward and tries to clip Sora. It's a fairly fast attack but made useless by its minuscule damage and the fact that a Shadow's attacks are always restricted to the value of 1. "A Heartless that pops up in all kinds of places. The Shadow ambles around and attacks without warning. It is completely invulnerable while hiding within the darkness." You'll see a lot of these annoying little buggers everywhere as you climb through Castle Oblivion. Shadows are more a nuisance than a threat, although near the top floors they tend to attack in large numbers. Their HP pools are relatively low, however, even on the topmost floors of the castle. They'll come at you in ones and twos on the lower floors and can be handled accordingly while on the upper floors you'll probably have powerful sleights like Ars Arcanum and Mega Flare for screen cleaning. Shadows do have an annoying habit of melting into the floor as an attack comes for them, however. _______________________________________________________________________________ SOLDIER 2/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Low Drop: Soldier enemy card, map cards Appears in: Traverse Town, Wonderland, Twilight Town, summoned by Crescendos Attacks: Pirouette - The Soldiers twirls in the air while moving forward. This attack hits once for low damage, plus it lasts fairly long and makes the Soldier vulnerable to card break. "A swift-moving Heartless that attacks its prey with a spin kick. Its whimsical nature makes the Soldier a less than tenacious foe." Another one of the ubiquitous enemies in Castle Oblivion, the Soldier has a comparatively higher HP pool than the Shadow but loses the ability to floor hack. It also gives more HP per kill than the Shadow. At the start of the game they show up solo, though they can still do sizable damage to a complacent player. They start appearing in swarms as Sora ascends through the castle, but their threat level gradually drops since strong sleights can clear them out quickly. _______________________________________________________________________________ LARGE BODY 3/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Frontal physical attacks Threat: Medium Drop: Large Body enemy card, map cards Appears in: Monstro, Olympus Coliseum, Wonderland Attacks: Leap - The Large Body hops through the air and tries to clip Sora in passing. A fairly short-range attack, but it's rather fast and cools down quickly. Sometimes the Large Body will do two or more of these attacks in rapid succession. Earthquake - The Large Body jumps straight up and then plops back down to the ground. Regardless of where you are on the battle- field, Sora will take damage unless you're in the air when the attack hits. You can dodge-roll the attack but it's easier to avoid by jumping. "A rotund Heartless. The Large Body repels frontal attacks with its jiggly belly. Sometimes it throws its weight around and shakes the ground, so jumping is key." Unless you're horrifically low on HP and end up fighting more than one of these Heartless, Large Body enemies are more annoying than a threat. Fighting them becomes easier as you ascend the castle and gain access to sleights and spells. They typically have large amounts of HP that must be whittled down, plus having to maneuver around for a back attack can be really annoying, but otherwise the Large Body is a straightforward opponent. Dodge-roll behind the Heartless and unleash a combo, though be warned that they tend to turn fairly quickly. At higher levels, you can bulldoze through them with any number of powerful sleights. _______________________________________________________________________________ RED NOCTURNE 4/35 Weakness: Ice Absorbs: Fire Nullifies: None Threat: Low Drop: Red Nocturne enemy card, map cards Appears in: Traverse Town, Olympus Coliseum, Wonderland, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Fire - The Heartless version of Sora's basic Fire spell. "A magic-wielding Heartless that drifts through the air. It's flighty and hard to hit. The Red Nocture[sic] attacks with Fire from a distance, and absorbs Fire damage." Flighty it may be, but hard to hit it is not. Red Nocturnes tend to appear in packs; pairs on the first floor, whole swarms on the later floors. They're stuck with one laughable attack, however, as well as the curse of low HP. Sora can easily clip them with midair combos; sleights such as Blitz, Ragnarok, or Judgment also work well. Red Nocturnes can also be lured down to the ground for ground-based sleights, and they'll automatically collapse to the ground when card broken. All in all not too much of a challenge even in large swarms. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLUE RHAPSODY 5/35 Weakness: Fire Absorbs: Ice Nullifies: None Threat: Low Drop: Blue Rhapsody enemy card, map cards Appears in: Traverse Town, Olympus Coliseum, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Blizzard - The Heartless version of Sora's basic Blizzard spell. "A magic-wielding Heartless that drifts through the air. The Blue Rhapsody attacks with Blizzard once it's close enough, and absorbs Blizzard damage." The Ice version of the Red Nocturne, and with its associated strengths and weaknesses. They also tend to appear in large hunting packs, but their Ice elemental affinity makes them very weak against such delicious sleights as Mega Flare. Basically, any non-elemental tactic that you use against Red Nocturnes will also work against Blue Rhapsodies. _______________________________________________________________________________ YELLOW OPERA 6/35 Weakness: Fire, Ice Absorbs: Thunder Nullifies: None Threat: Low Drop: Yellow Opera enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah, Monstro, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Thunder - The Heartless version of Sora's basic Thunder spell. Spark Dive - The Yellow Opera charges itself up with lightning and then pinwheels through the air for a short distance, aiming itself at Sora. Although limited in range and easy to break, this attack is quite fast. "A magic-wielding Heartless that drifts through the air. The Yellow Opera hurls itself at enemies or attacks with Thunder. It absorbs all Thunder damage." The Yellow Opera combines the worst of its Red and Blue cousins - that is, it has both of their weaknesses with none of their resistances. It gets a new attack by way of compensation. You'll see the Spark Dive coming before it hits and shouldn't have any trouble dodging it. Otherwise, just take the fight to the annoying little hoversacks. _______________________________________________________________________________ GREEN REQUIEM 7/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: Fire, Blizzard, Thunder Nullifies: None Threat: None when alone, Medium-Low in packs Drop: Green Requiem enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah, Monstro, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Cure - The Heartless version of Sora's basic Cure spell, but the Green Requiem can also use it on other Heartless. "A magic-wielding Heartless that drifts through the air. It doesn't attack, but it can cast Cure to heal other Heartless. The Green Requiem is slow, but its immunity to magic attacks makes it tough to squash." Although it can't attack, the Green Requiem has this annoying habit of healing other Heartless (or itself) at the most inconvenient times. It resists all of the three basic elemental spells; however, the tier two spells (Gravity, Aero, Stop) all work normally against it. Like its cousins, it has a health problem. What's really annoying is how Green Requiems tend to show up in packs even while other Heartless are around. If you have high-valued cards, save the Green Requiems for last. If not, taking them out should be your first priority in most battles. _______________________________________________________________________________ POWERWILD 8/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Powerwild enemy card, map cards Appears in: Olympus Coliseum Attacks: Leapfrog - The Powerwild bounds through the air and hits anything in its path. This move has medium range and decent speed, so try and use a high-valued card before you're attacked. Sliding Kick - The Powerwild slides along the ground, kicking Sora if he's in the way. This attack hits strictly along the horizontal plane and is slightly faster than the Leapfrog but has a smaller hit box. "A simian Heartless that excels at jumping. It has destructive instincts and attacks with punches and sliding kicks." Not too difficult in Sora's story. Powerwilds appear in swarms, but they don't have any attacks that extend for more than a third of the screen. At medium range, you can easily see any attack coming your way and react to it. Breaking a Powerwild's attack when it's right next to you gives you a free chain opportunity. And even in packs, Powerwilds don't attack in close enough succession to cause any real alarm. _______________________________________________________________________________ BOUNCYWILD 9/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Bouncywild enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah Attacks: Peel Slip - The Bouncywild throws a banana peel off its tail and into your path, where it stays for a few seconds. The banana peel itself doesn't do any damage, but if you step on it you'll slip and be left defenseless for a moment while Sora rolls. Chuck Wagon - The Bouncywild throws something across the screen at Sora. Whatever it is travels fast, though it doesn't really hit hard. This move has full battleground range, so watch for it when you're facing a swarm of Bouncywilds. "A simian Heartless. It teases its enemies and throws banana peels from far away. Be careful not to slip!" Also residents of Olympus Coliseum, Bouncywild Heartless often crop up with Powerwilds. They're more dangerous from afar than close up since their only damaging attack hits from across the screen. Both attacks suffer from a high windup delay, though, so if you want to fight Bouncywilds effectively the best way is to stick close and pound them. _______________________________________________________________________________ AIR SOLDIER 10/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Air Soldier enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah, Monstro, Twilight Town Attacks: Dive Bomb - The Air Soldier dives down from the sky and rams into Sora feetfirst. A fairly quick attack, its damage goes up with the number of floors that you ascend. It has about a fourth of the screen's length in range. Shoryuken - The Air Soldier attacks upwards this time. This attack knocks Sora into the air upon contact, which leaves you unable to act for a moment. It has less range than the Dive Bomb but hits much faster, making it the deadlier of the Air Soldier's attacks. "A winged Heartless. It swoops down onto its opponent's head, or slams into them when they let their guard down. The Air Soldier is swift, resilient, and not easy to ground." Air Soldiers appear as nuisances in the first world card set. In Twilight Town, they show up in packs and can quickly make life miserable for Sora. Air Soldiers attack fairly rapidly, often hover out of reach for most sleights, and move quickly enough to evade you when they want to. They tend to have medium HP pools, which allows a powerful enough sleight such as Mega Flare to wipe them out en masse. Basically, they'll get reamed by any sleight that hits airborne enemies. Going head-to-head is not recommended against Air Soldiers if you have sleights that can serve the same purpose. _______________________________________________________________________________ BANDIT 11/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Bandit enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah Attacks: Side Slash - Like a Keyblade attack, the Bandit swings its scimitar through the air and tries to hit something. It has the same range and speed as a Keyblade attack. Bandits do not spam this move in rapid succession. Blitz - The Bandit somersaults through the air spinning its blade like mad. If the Bandit lands on you, you'll take a single hit while it flips backwards. This attack has excellent range, but can be seen coming from a mile away. The Bandit will bounce again if the initial attack misses. "A Heartless that mainly appears in Agrabah. The Bandit deftly wields the scimitar it carries, and should be approached cautiously." In big packs, Bandits can make your life miserable. In one on one battles, though, you can pick them off. They amble around slowly and are fairly easy to outmaneuver, plus I haven't seen them use any card higher than a 2. Bandits attack often, but are poor judges of distance and aim. Sleights such as Blitz or Sonic Raid work well against them. _______________________________________________________________________________ FAT BANDIT 12/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Frontal physical attacks Threat: Medium Drop: Fat Bandit enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah Attacks: Fire - The Heartless version of Sora's basic Fire spell. Leap - The Fat Bandit gathers itself and hurls its body through the air. Since momentum is always conserved, Sora is going to take damage if he gets hit. In terms of speed and range this move is very similar to the Large Body's Leap. Earthquake - Another move that the Fat Bandit ripped off the Large Body. The Fat Bandit jumps straight up and then comes down, dealing damage if Sora is on the ground. It takes a fairly long time to land, so this attack can be avoided by a jump of your own. "A Heartless that mainly appears in Agrabah. The Fat Bandit repels frontal attacks with its jiggly belly and spits fireballs." Another one of those annoying but not truly dangerous enemies, unless you happen to face them in packs while you're dangerously underleveled. The Fat Bandit is pretty much the Large Body plus an extra Fire attack. Therefore, it makes sense to approach them the same way; dodge-roll behind them and then pull a combo attack, or just use a strong sleight to punch right through their defenses. Large Body Heartless have high HP pools, so fighting them might take some time and patience, but the experience reward is correspondingly high. _______________________________________________________________________________ BARREL SPIDER 13/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Barrel Spider enemy card, map cards Appears in: Any world with barrels (Agrabah, Monstro, Olympus Coliseum, Never Land, Twilight Town, Destiny Islands) Attacks: Kamikaze - The Barrel Spider has only one attack. It throws itself into a skid and barrels at Sora (no pun intended); once in range, it blows itself up and knocks off a sizable chunk of HP. You can interrupt this attack via card break. "A gunpowder-packed barrel transformed by the darkness into a Heartless. The Barrel Spider sets upon anyone foolish enough to think it's an ordinary barrel." Barrel Spiders can be immensely annoying when you're trying to pick up something by bashing a barrel open. Rather than finding the item in question, Sora gets launched into a fight. Barrel Spiders show up in packs, and never with any other Heartless. The Kamikaze attack destroys the Barrel Spider that uses it so long as the attack isn't broken; however, you earn no experience for a Barrel Spider that self-destructs, plus the attack hurts. Barrel Spiders only use cards with a value of 4 and have moderate HP. Personally, I find that dealing with them becomes easier at the upper floors once you have access to your best sleights. _______________________________________________________________________________ SEARCH GHOST 14/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: HP whenever it attacks Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Search Ghost enemy card Appears in: Halloween Town, Monstro, Atlantica Attacks: Drain - The Search Ghost extends its kid gloves, which ... detach themselves from its arms and reach for Sora. Get hit by the attack and not only do you lose some HP, but the Search Ghost gains some. The Search Ghost emits a distinct whistle when it attacks, so you'll know that Drain is coming. However, it has a surprisingly high range and decent speed, so watch out for it nonetheless. "A spooky Heartless. The Search Ghost can warp out of harm's way and absorb its enemies' HP, making it a tough opponent." Search Ghosts aren't tough by any definition of the word if you stick close and keep pounding them. In an on-and-off, hit-and-run type of battle, however, they're the worst opponents you can get. Every time the Search Ghost hits you, it gains about half the damage that it dealt you back as HP. For this reason, you want to defeat them quickly and not end up suckered into a protracted fight where Drain can be used to full effectiveness. Luckily, Search Ghosts aren't that hard to defeat: they only have one attack, usually stick to low-valued cards, and don't sport big HP pools. _______________________________________________________________________________ SEA NEON 15/35 Weakness: Thunder Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Sea Neon enemy card Appears in: Atlantica Attacks: Hood Ram - The Sea Neon torpedoes forward and tries to hit Sora with its head. This attack has about half-screen range and is surprisingly fast, but can be easily dodged by moving either up or down. Does moderate damage. Tentacle Flail - The Sea Neon swims forward flailing its tentacles. Despite its appearance, this attack hits only once. It has slightly less range and speed than the Hood Ram but does about the same damage. "A jellyfish-like Heartless. It might look laid back, but the Sea Neon's long tentacles can propel it toward enemies for a ferocious attack." The Sea Neon is the only enemy in Atlantica weak against Thunder, which stuns it. Seeing as how it may also be the easiest enemy to handle on its own, your interests are best served by discarding your lightning-based cards in Atlantica. Sea Neons pose little threat unless you run into a swarm of them, where it can be annoying to fight the buggers as they attack from all sides at once. They tend to use low-valued cards, so you can run over them if you have the proper cards or sleights. _______________________________________________________________________________ SCREWDIVER 16/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: Thunder Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Screwdiver enemy card, map cards Appears in: Atlantica Attacks: Depth Charge - The Screwdiver rises up in the water, then dives down and tries to impale Sora with its lance. The dive itself comes out quickly, but the signature rising motion gives you plenty of time to anticipate the attack. This attack can track Sora to a degree. Water Whirl - The Screwdiver spins its lance in all directions. As the description implies, this attack hits all around in a semi- wide radius. Its faster than the Depth Charge but loses range as the cost. "A Heartless that likes to team up with the Aquatank. It attacks with a spear or charges its enemies." The Screwdiver is armed with a long spear and a bad temper along with an ability to absorb lightning. It's moderately fast, but suffers from mediocre HP and seems to be perpetually stuck with card values of 1 and 2. Between its two attacks, neither are notably dangerous in terms of damage or speed. Screwdivers tend to show up either in pairs or alone with an Aquatank. They might be slightly more formidable than Sea Neons but otherwise shouldn't cause any loss of sleep. _______________________________________________________________________________ AQUATANK 17/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: Thunder Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Aquatank enemy card Appears in: Atlantica Attacks: Thundara - The Heartless version of Sora's Thundara sleight, but minus the damage and the whole-screen coverage. Still lights up an awfully large portion of the screen. Chaos Drive - The Aquatank spins around crazily in a wide area. It can hit Sora more than once with this attack, which is decently fast and cover a large amount of space. This is probably the deadlier of the two attacks since it lasts longer and can hit multiple times. "A fish-like Heartless that lazily wanders the sea. The Aquatank attacks with Thunder or by whirling its sizable body around." Aquatanks don't show up in pairs; if anything, they appear when Screwdivers are around. Even when single, however, they can still be troublesome thanks to their high HP pools and tendency to bust out high-valued cards right when you least expect them to. The highest I've seen is a 7. Aquatank attacks also cover a lot of area, but they're slow enough to where you can safely dodge-roll out of the way. The best way to take them is using a powerful sleight, but repeated combo attacks also work. _______________________________________________________________________________ WIGHT KNIGHT 18/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Wight Knight enemy card, map cards Appears in: Halloween Town Attacks: Grasp - The Wight Knight reaches forward and tries to grab Sora. This attack has good range but a fairly long windup delay, so you'll see it coming before it hits. Spooky Spin - The Wight Knight wraps its long arms around itself, then spins and allows its arms to unravel. This attack hits all around the Wight Knight and has about the same range as the Grasp. It's slightly slower, plus the arm spinning move is very distinctive and easy to pick out in a fight. "A Heartless that calls Halloween Town its main haunt. The Wight Knight's long appendages make it dangerous to approach." The Wight Knight belongs in the large category of generic Heartless enemies that pose little threat except when encountered in force. They sometimes show up in big packs or with lots of other Heartless, but even so you should have little trouble dealing with them unless you're severely underleveled. They mostly use low-valued cards. As the game suggests, it's best to attack from a distance, but it really doesn't matter in the long run since they're so easy to defeat anyways. _______________________________________________________________________________ GARGOYLE 19/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Gargoyle enemy card, map cards Appears in: Halloween Town, Hollow Bastion Attacks: Wing Slash - The Gargoyle dives downwards at an angle and tries to spear Sora with the tips of its wings. You'll know that it's coming when it suddenly rises into the air. Decent speed and range, so watch out for it. Fire - Another Heartless rendition of Sora's Fire spell. This one comes out quite fast. "A winged Heartless that mainly appears in Halloween Town. It pelts its stunned opponents with fireballs." The Gargoyle has a medium HP pool and fairly decent speed when it can be bothered to use it. They usually appear in pairs and can become a nuisance due to their incessant flying. The Gargoyle only has two attacks, but they're both quite fast and can start to add up if you take too many hits. Go take them out first if you're not up against any higher threats. _______________________________________________________________________________ PIRATE 20/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Pirate enemy card, map cards Appears in: Never Land Attacks: Renzokuken - The Pirate drives forward with a barrage of sword strikes. (Actually, now that I take a closer look, it's really just a pair of fast attacks.) Renzokuken can be tricky to card break, plus you'll lose a ton of HP if you're swarmed by a pack of Pirates spamming this attack. Pirates tend mostly to pull this move at close range. Cross-Slash - The Pirate's sword glints for a moment before it lets loose a single, mighty chop. If Sora takes the hit, he'll be stunned for a few moments - so try not to get hit. Watch for the telltale glint and avoid it at all costs. "A Heartless that mostly sticks to Never Land. A skilled swordsman, the Pirate can knock its enemies out cold and then finish them off with a vicious combo. If its sword flashes, watch out!" Pirates have fairly low HP pools, plus they move as though stuck in a swamp of molasses. However, they do have an annoying tendency to appear in packs, plus their sword moves are nothing to sneeze at. Both are deadly in terms of the potential HP that they can knock off Sora. Sleights of mass destruction work best against Pirate swarms, though outmaneuvering them with hit-and-run tactics also works well. _______________________________________________________________________________ AIR PIRATE 21/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Air Pirate enemy card, map cards Appears in: Never Land Attacks: Shoryuken - The Air Soldier rises violently off the ground with a punch and tries to clip Sora as it does so. Take this hit and you'll be knocked into the air, unable to act while reeling. Although it suffers from range problems, the attack is quite fast and hard to predict. Dead Drop - This time, the Air Soldier attacks from above with a powerful punch. You'll know that it's coming when you see a distinctive glint right before the Air Soldier dives. The Dead Drop is quite fast once it starts up, so be ready to dodge it at any moment. "A winged Heartless that mostly sticks to Never Land. It's not armed, but it doesn't need to be. The Air Pirate deals a brutal punch right after its fist flashes." The Air Pirate has more HP and moves faster than its grounded counterpart. However, they also don't show up in big crowds. While you can't outrun them, they won't try to outrun you. The usual tactics against airborne enemies apply to the Air Pirate, such as card breaking and then unleashing a powerful sleight attack. Watch out for the Shoryuken, as it leaves you unable to act after impact and as such is probably more dangerous than the Dead Drop. _______________________________________________________________________________ DARKBALL 22/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-High Drop: Darkball enemy card, map cards Appears in: Atlantica, Hollow Bastion, Never Land, Destiny Islands, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Chaos Drive - The Darkball spins around crazily in all directions, hitting whatever it touches. It's fast and unpredictable but has a restricted range. The best way to counter this attack is to stay out of the Darkball's range while you can. Bite - The Darkball zooms forward and tries to bite Sora en route. This move hits once and covers a significant portion of the battlefield at a quick pace. Like the Chaos Drive, the Bite is an attack with a low windup and cooldown delay. "A Heartless made from the very shadows of darkness. The Darkball mostly just bobs through the air, but its random weaving and biting are a nuisance." This obnoxious enemy shows up in almost every world after Sora picks up his second world card set. It flies, it flies quickly, it has a fairly high HP pool, and it comes armed with two annoying attacks. On the positive side, you won't ever run into more than a pair of these enemies at the same time. It's suggested that you destroy Darkballs with powerful sleights, but whittling them down with Keyblades also works. Note that they'll use moderate value cards, going possibly up to 6 when they attack. _______________________________________________________________________________ DEFENDER 23/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Frontal physical and Fire/Ice attacks Threat: High Drop: Defender enemy card Appears in: Hollow Bastion, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Knockershield - The Defender tries to punch Sora with its shield. This move has surprisingly high range, but it also has a small windup delay so you should be able to see it coming. Not much vertical reach. There's also a slight cooldown delay at the end. Defenders tend to use this move when up close. Fire - Yet another Heartless who learned the Fire spell. This particular version doesn't track at all; instead it flies in a straight line from where it was launched, making it easy to avoid. The Defender uses this move when far away. "A Heartless that primarily resides in Hollow Bastion. Its shield stops head-on physical and magical attacks, and can launch fireballs. The Defender is also a skilled card user, and will break the cards of unprepared opponents." Very, very annoying opponents to deal with. Defenders show up in ones and twos, but wiping them out can be a pain during big battles. Not only do they deflect frontal physical attacks, their shields can also guard against certain spells. Up close, they have a potentially dangerous attack, so it's best to fight from a distance if you can. As usual with these enemies, dodge-roll to end up behind them and then unleash your offensive. Defenders only use cards of values 1, 5, and 9, and they'll use the 9 cards often enough. _______________________________________________________________________________ WYVERN 24/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-High Drop: Wyvern enemy card, map cards Appears in: Hollow Bastion, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Crash Test - The Wyvern skims forward over the ground and rams into Sora, hard. This move covers the whole battleground and covers it fast. Either dodge-roll through it or just move vertically to avoid the attack. It has little windup or cooldown delay, making it especially hard to predict. Hits once for medium damage. Kick Party - The Wyvern swoops down to hover near Sora, upon which it unleashes a storm of kicks. This attack hits repeatedly for major damage and is made worse since it can't be broken once it connects. To top off its destructive capabilities, the attack comes out and homes in quickly. "An enormous Heartless that hunts its enemies from the skies. The Wyvern is agile despite its size. Upon sighting its prey, it rushes forward and attacks with a flurry of kicks." Wyverns take a lot of patience to deal with, especially when more than one shows up. Repeated spamming of Kick Party will rapidly drain your HP bar if you're ever caught in that unfortunate situation. Wyverns have moderate HP, but attack quickly and are somewhat difficult to predict. The highest card that they'll use is a 5, which allows you to tear through them with 6 Ars Arcanum, a tactic that should be used often. If they can spam a repeating attack, you ought to have no compunction against doing likewise, right? _______________________________________________________________________________ WIZARD 25/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: Fire, Blizzard, Thunder Nullifies: Gravity, Stop Threat: Medium-High Drop: Wizard enemy card, map cards Appears in: Hollow Bastion, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Fire - The Heartless version of Sora's Fire spell. The Wizard's particular variation has got to be the lamest ever. Blizzard - The Heartless version of Sora's Blizzard spell. In this case, a slower version that doesn't track as well. Thundara - The Heartless version of Sora's Thundara sleight, except that it hits only in front of the Wizard instead of the entire screen. "A Heartless proficient in magic. The Wizard is a formidable opponent that attacks with high-level Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder spells." Immune to every type of magic except wind, Wizards make life miserable for spell users. They attack often and can take a few hits before going down. On the other hand, they're very vulnerable to physical attacks if you can slip them in on a consistent basis. And ignore that high-level spell business, I've only ever seen them use Thundara as a high-level spell. Wizard card values can (and often will) go as high as 7. _______________________________________________________________________________ NEOSHADOW 26/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Everything when submerged Threat: High Drop: Neoshadow enemy card, map cards Appears in: Castle Oblivion Attacks: Rage Run - The Neoshadow jumps forward. If it clips Sora, you lose a chunk of HP and are sent reeling. This attack has good range and speed but suffers from a slight windup delay, just small enough that you can react. Neoshadows tend to use this attack when they've been above ground for some time. Shadow Dance - The Neoshadow rises up and flings itself into a spinning mass of shadow aimed in Sora's general direction. The attack itself has full battlefield range but only hits once as it ends if Sora takes a hit. It's slightly slower than the Rage Run but still easily the more deadly of the two attacks due to its nearly negligible windup delay. Neoshadows tend to use this attack right as they pop out of the ground. "A nimble Heartless that swims through the shadows." Whereas Shadows got threat ratings of Very Low, the Neoshadow earns a well- deserved High threat rating. They're fast, aggressive, and have only slightly less HP than Defenders on a comparable level. They use cards whose values go as high as 8, and they use those cards often. Not only that, Neoshadows can sink into the floor where they remain immune to any attack. You'll quickly find that Neoshadows are typically either attacking or moving around in the floor, but they're always doing something. Bring along your strongest sleights and any enemy cards you feel are necessary for fighting Neoshadows. Since as many as three can appear at a time, multi-target sleights such as Mega Flare or Trinity Limit work fairly well. _______________________________________________________________________________ WHITE MUSHROOM 27/35 Weakness: Physical attacks Absorbs: All spells Nullifies: None Threat: None Drop: White Mushroom enemy card, map cards Appears in: White rooms Attacks: None "A Heartless with an unusual affinity for people. The White Mushroom never attacks, and may even reward someone who comes to its aid." White Mushrooms only show up in White Rooms, and are ideal if you need a break from constant fighting. They'll show up anywhere from one to a whole bunch at a time, but you are advised to handle them one at a time. The White Mushroom will indicate that it needs help and wants a specific spell cast on it depending on what it does: If it fans itself, cast Blizzard to cool it down. If it shivers, cast Fire to warm it up. If a light bulb hovers over its head, cast Thunder to give it an idea. Note that if you hit the White Mushroom with anything other than the spell it asks for (this includes physical attacks), it will leave the battle and drop nothing. White Mushrooms don't start using the higher-level spell requests until the higher floors. Upon helping the White Mushroom out three times, it will drop health balls, experience balls, and very often a premium bonus. Update: MAJOR thanks to uncoventional_evolution, who notified me that you can substitute Keyblades of the appropriate element in place of spells (i.e., Diamond Dust in place of Blizzard or OWA in place of Fire). This should make dealing with White Mushrooms much, much easier. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLACK FUNGUS 28/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: All attacks when invulnerable Threat: Medium Drop: Black Fungus enemy card, map cards Appears in: Black rooms Attacks: Black Wave - The Black Fungus tries to slap Sora at point-blank range. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about this attack since it has almost no range and is over in a flash. They'll try to use it if you're stunned, however. Gas Vent - The Black Fungus vents gas out along its sides. Short ranged but fast, so learn to watch out for it. If it hits you, you'll end up stunned for some time. "An aggressive, poisonous Heartless, not to be confused with the White Mushroom. The Black Fungus likes to paralyze its foes and toy with them. It's tough to beat, but victory doesn't go unrewarded ..." Black Funguses appear solely in Black Rooms and can be rewarding to poach. Like White Mushrooms, they'll show up in any size group from alone to a whole pack. Fighting a group of Black Funguses can be tricky, especially if your deck isn't properly geared for the task. While their attacks aren't exactly outstanding, they can turn invincible for a time, which is denoted when their normally black bodies become pale white. In this mode, no attack available to you will injure it. You'll have to wait until it changes modes again to attack it. Black Funguses only use cards of value 7, so prepare accordingly. And unlike White Mushrooms, they don't drop any more Premium bonuses than normal. _______________________________________________________________________________ CREEPER PLANT 29/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Creeper Plant enemy card, map cards Appears in: Halloween Town, Wonderland, Destiny Islands Attacks: Root Shoot - The Creeper Plant attacks from below by sending its roots spiking upwards. To my experience, this attack rarely hits but instead causes Sora to slip. Medium to long range, fairly fast, but easy to predict - it'll always appear directly beneath Sora. Seed Volley - The Creeper Plant repeatedly spits seeds towards you. This attack hits mostly along the horizontal plane with a small deflection in the vertical direction. It has almost whole screen range, so watch out for it. You can dodge-roll through the attack easily enough, however. "A flower-like Heartless. It's rooted in one place, but staying far away isn't enough, since it can spit seeds or attack from below with its sharp roots." Creeper Plants tend to show up in small gardens. While they don't have particularly notable stats in HP, speed, or aggression, having to deal with a large crowd of them can become difficult, especially if other Heartless are also around. Creeper Plants often use cards ranging from values of 6 to 1, and they can hit you from any location on the screen. Powerful sleights that hit the whole screen or at least a large portion of it will quickly weed these enemies out. _______________________________________________________________________________ TORNADO STEP 30/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Tornado Step enemy card, map cards Appears in: Monstro, Atlantica, Hollow Bastion, Destiny Islands Attacks: Hammer Blow - The Tornado Step does a two-arm overhead bash. Short ranged but fast, you have a moment to dodge-roll it before it hits. Otherwise it's not a very noteworthy attack. Flail - The Tornado Step flies across the screen swinging its arms wildly. This attack has whole screen range, thus it tends to appear when the Tornado Step is far away. This makes it easy to dodge or break. "A Heartless that flies about using its arms like propeller blades. Whether moving or attacking, it's always spin, spin, spinning - but never seems to get dizzy." Tornado Steps, while present in several worlds, tend to attract little attention since they fall into the generic, easily handled Heartless category. They have low to moderate HP pools and use low-valued cards, plus their AI is apparently at fault since their attacks are easily countered. About the only threat they present is when they suddenly appear in large packs right as you take on another Heartless. _______________________________________________________________________________ CRESCENDO 31/35 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Crescendo enemy card Appears in: Wonderland, Never Land, Destiny Islands Attacks: Cure - The Heartless version of Sora's Cure spell. The Crescendo can use it to heal itself or other Heartless. Panic Honk - The Crescendo starts honking continuously; if it finishes without interruption, another Heartless shows up and joins the battle. I've only ever seen Soldier Heartless appear at these calls, but they might also summon others. Break this call if you can, don't worry about it if you can't. "A hopping, horn-like Heartless. It's a bothersome foe that can honk and call other Heartless." Crescendos are support enemies, not fighters themselves. They'll call for other Heartless and heal their allies when you're not looking, but they don't attack themselves. They typically use mid-range card values (i.e., 4 to 6). Take them out when you can; otherwise, just keep breaking their healing and Panic Honk summons. On a final note, Crescendos move slowly but tend to show up in crowds at a time. _______________________________________________________________________________ GUARD ARMOR 32/35 "A Heartless that haunts Traverse Town. It appeared when the bells rang to wreak havoc on the town." See the Guard Armor section in Traverse Town for more details, since I'd rather not repeat something that's already mentioned elsewhere in a more appropriate location. _______________________________________________________________________________ PARASITE CAGE 33/35 "A Heartless that dwelled inside Monstro. The Parasite Cage is quite the gourmand and eats anything in its path. Pinocchio figured out how to escape Monstro after getting gobbled up by it." See the Parasite Cage section in Monstro for more details. _______________________________________________________________________________ TRICKMASTER 34/35 "The Heartless in Wonderland that stole the Queen of Hearts's memory. Victims of memory theft don't even remember what it is they forgot." See the Trickmaster section in Wonderland for more details. _______________________________________________________________________________ DARKSIDE 35/35 "The Heartless that attacked Sora's home, Destiny Islands. Sora fought valiantly to protect the islands and his memories there." See the Darkside section in Destiny Islands for more details. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SORA'S CARD MECHANICS code: deckconstruction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== This section explains everything you ever needed to know about Sora's cards and how to use them. I've copied down the cards as they are ordered in the game, along with their detailed statistics, the game's notes, and my own commentary on them. CP costs are included; see the Premium bonus section for information on how a Premium bonus changes a card's CP cost. Card attributes are graded in the game by a letter scale, which works as * > A > B+ > B > C+ > C > D+ > D The further to the left a particular attribute, the better. Also, Cactus has reminded me that Sora can only carry up to 975 battle cards; when you max out, new cards simply don't appear, nor does the game give you a warning. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MOOGLE SHOPS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Besides picking up cards from random drops, battle prizes, or from Bounty rooms, the Moogle Shop will be your main source of cards. At the Shop, these deceptively adorable little creampuffs will proceed to scam you out - er, I mean, trade you cards for Moogle points (the red balls that are random drops in the room, if you haven't already figured out). Moogles will also buy unneeded cards for Moogle points, but at a reduced price compared to what you would have to pay for them. The shop doesn't let you buy specific cards. Instead, you may choose to buy card packs. Moogles will offer you four categories, those being Attack cards, Magic cards, Item cards, or a combination of all three, respectively. A deck always contains five cards and there's a fair chance that you'll be able to pick up premium versions of cards from any given booster pack. A more expensive deck gives you a higher PROBABILITY of getting better cards, but you may find yourself purchasing a number of booster packs before finding that card you want. Remember that you can always synthesize two Teeming Darkness rooms next to each other, clear them out, and then harvest them for Moogle points if you run short. Yeah, the Moogles cheat you, so treat them accordingly. About the only redeeming quality of Moogle Shops is that every time you synthesize a new one and visit it, you'll receive a free booster pack of five cards. Each time you enter a new shop, each category of booster sets will have up to four packs available for your choosing. You'll note if you visit these shops often enough that they're bound by different straps; this isn't an aesthetic touch, as the type of strap denotes the rarity of the cards that it holds. To summarize, consider: CP Table ------------------------------------------------- Attack Deck | Magic Deck | Item Deck | Combo Deck ------------------------------------------------- 100 MP | 200 MP | 150 MP | 150 MP 200 MP | 250 MP | 200 MP | 200 MP 300 MP | 270 MP | 300 MP | 300 MP 500 MP | 300 MP | 350 MP | 400 MP Card Rarity ---------------------------------- Strap Type | Rarity | Availability ---------------------------------- Leaf | C | 1-3F Brown Belt | B | 2-11F Black Belt | A | 7-13F Moogle | * | 11-13F Thanks to a copy of the Chain of Memories Ultimania guide, I now have probability tables for all the stuff that goes in the Moogle shops. In other words, these are the chances that you'll pick up a particular card in the pack that you pick, with the first pack being the least expensive and the fourth being the most. In general, more expensive packs yield superior cards and more Premium versions of those cards. For example, you'd have to buy the most expensive attack or combo deck to have even a slim chance of picking up Ultima Weapon. I'm quite suspicious of Ultimania's data given my own experience with the game (contrast Aero against the other tier-two spells, for example, and I have definitely amassed Kingdom Keys via Moogle booster decks), but without solid evidence either one way or another I'll list it as is. ----------------------------------------------------- CARD | Pack 1 | Pack 2 | Pack 3 | Pack 4 ----------------------------------------------------- Kingdom Key | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% ----------------------------------------------------- Three Wishes | 20% | 14% | 4% | 4% ----------------------------------------------------- Crabclaw | 20% | 14% | 4% | 4% ----------------------------------------------------- Pumpkinhead | 20% | 14% | 4% | 4% ----------------------------------------------------- Fairy Harp | 20% | 14% | 4% | 4% ----------------------------------------------------- Wishing Star | 20% | 14% | 4% | 4% ----------------------------------------------------- Spellbinder | 0% | 5% | 10% | 6% ----------------------------------------------------- Metal Chocobo | 0% | 5% | 10% | 6% ----------------------------------------------------- Olympia | 0% | 5% | 10% | 6% ----------------------------------------------------- Lionheart | 0% | 5% | 10% | 6% ----------------------------------------------------- Lady Luck | 0% | 5% | 10% | 6% ----------------------------------------------------- Divine Rose | 0% | 5% | 10% | 6% ----------------------------------------------------- Oathkeeper | 0% | 0% | 5% | 10% ----------------------------------------------------- Oblivion | 0% | 0% | 5% | 10% ----------------------------------------------------- Diamond Dust | 0% | 0% | 5% | 10% ----------------------------------------------------- One-Winged Angel* | 0% | 0% | 5% | 10% ----------------------------------------------------- Ultima Weapon* | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4% ----------------------------------------------------- Total Attack | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% ----------------------------------------------------- * Note: The Ultimania guide had the probability rows for One-Winged Angel and Ultima Weapon switched, but I believe that the correct probability is the one given here. ----------------------------------------------------- Fire | 15% | 10% | 5% | 5% ----------------------------------------------------- Blizzard | 15% | 10% | 5% | 5% ----------------------------------------------------- Thunder | 15% | 10% | 5% | 5% ----------------------------------------------------- Cure | 0% | 5% | 10% | 5% ----------------------------------------------------- Gravity | 0% | 5% | 10% | 5% ----------------------------------------------------- Stop | 0% | 5% | 10% | 5% ----------------------------------------------------- Aero | 10% | 5% | 0% | 0% ----------------------------------------------------- Simba | 20% | 5% | 5% | 5% ----------------------------------------------------- Dumbo | 10% | 20% | 8% | 10% ----------------------------------------------------- Bambi | 0% | 0% | 8% | 10% ----------------------------------------------------- Mushu | 0% | 0% | 8% | 10% ----------------------------------------------------- Genie | 10% | 20% | 8% | 10% ----------------------------------------------------- Tinker Bell | 0% | 0% | 8% | 10% ----------------------------------------------------- Cloud | 5% | 5% | 10% | 15% ----------------------------------------------------- Total Magic | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% ----------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------- Potion | 50% | 40% | 0% | 0% ----------------------------------------------------- Hi-Potion | 50% | 40% | 20% | 15% ----------------------------------------------------- Mega-Potion | 0% | 10% | 20% | 20% ----------------------------------------------------- Ether | 0% | 10% | 20% | 20% ----------------------------------------------------- Mega-Ether | 0% | 0% | 15% | 20% ----------------------------------------------------- Elixir | 0% | 0% | 15% | 15% ----------------------------------------------------- Megalixir | 0% | 0% | 0% | 10% ----------------------------------------------------- Total Item | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% ----------------------------------------------------- So good luck with that Megalixir/Ultima Weapon deck. As a last note, the ever-prolific Ultimania guide (where DO these people get their data from?) also included probabilities for picking up cards of a certain value. Unfortunately, they didn't have data on the likelihood of getting Premium cards. CARD VALUE TABLE -------------------- Value | Probability -------------------- 0 | 5% 1 | 15% 2 | 15% 3 | 16% 4 | 14% 5 | 10% 6 | 10% 7 | 6% 8 | 5% 9 | 4% -------------------- Total | 100% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD TYPES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are five types of cards: Attack cards used to strike directly with the Keyblade, Magic cards to paste the opposition with powerful spells, Item cards to bolster the first two types, Enemy cards to directly enhance Sora's abilities, and Ally cards which randomly appear to assist you in battle. Note that any deck you equip must have at least a single attack card - it's the way the game prevents you from walking into a boss battle with a deck of Cures. (Of course, if you're packing attack cards with elements that the boss absorbs, the result is going to be the same.) Courtesy of Ultimania's guide, I also have the probability tables of finding these cards whenever Sora smacks the objects in the room. Since I can't think of any better place to add them, they're listed alongside each card (it'd be too awkward trying to cram them all into a table that wouldn't fit into this document). For example, there's a 50% chance of getting a Kingdom Key from an object that you strike in Traverse Town if a card pops up, while the chance of getting a Lionheart is only 12%. Next, the chance of picking up a card from a Bounty chest is listed after the probabilities for the room objects. Also, note that you cannot get cards that come from the Rewards Rooms if you haven't opened that particular room's treasure chest. However, you can find cards earned from Bounty rooms early, such as Diamond Dust or Spellbinder. This was something I observed and was confirmed by Echo Charlie and Lord Xela. -----------------------------Attack Cards (17 total)--------------------------- Unlike Riku, the damage that Sora deals out is determined by the type of Keyblade that he uses. Each Keyblade has very exact statistics on what kind of damage it does in the standard three-attack chain. The strike damage is the power that Sora gets on a slashing swing, the thrust damage is the power that he gets on a straight pushing outward attack, and the combo finisher is the power that the keychain delivers if it's used to wrap up the attack. All combo finishers get a damage bonus of a full letter grade ABOVE the listed power. Thanks to Echo Charlie for the observation. Swing speed, as you might expect, denotes how quickly the Keyblade strike comes out after pressing the Attack button. The Element statistic denotes the affiliation of the Keyblade: neutral, physical, ice, fire, or lightning. An enemy struck by a Keyblade that it is strong against will either nullify the damage or worse yet absorb it. Neutral breaks all defenses, physical deals normal damage except when the opponent can guard against it, and the natural elements are all strong against certain enemies but absorbed by others. If you have the misfortune to suffer card break, the Break Recovery statistic lets you know how quickly you'll recover from the reeling motion. Finally, the Required CP stat gives a general idea of the CP cost necessary to use a particular Keyblade while the MP table tells how much a particular value of that card sells for. Note that for the Premium version of a card, the cost is always the CP cost of the 1 version of that card; also, the Premium version of a card always sells for ten Moogle Points above the price that the card's value would normally fetch. _______________________________________________________________________________ KINGDOM KEY 1/17 Attack: D ######## Strike: D+ # || # Thrust: D+ # || # Combo Finish: D+ # || # Swing Speed: B ###### Element: Physical || Break Recovery: B || Required CP: * || Found In: Object | Chest || Traverse Town - 50% | 10% || Agrabah - 30% | X || Olympus Coliseum - 20% | X || Wonderland - 30% | X ||---, Monstro - 30% | X || _/ Halloween Town - 30% | X || \ Atlantica - 20% | X ||---' Never Land - 20% | X \/ Hollow Bastion - 20% | X Twilight Town - 15% | X Destiny Islands - 10% | X Castle Oblivion - 5% | X CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Kingdom Key: 10 4 2 Kingdom Key: 11 4 3 Kingdom Key: 12 4 4 Kingdom Key: 13 4 5 Kingdom Key: 14 4 6 Kingdom Key: 15 6 7 Kingdom Key: 16 6 8 Kingdom Key: 17 6 9 Kingdom Key: 18 6 0 Kingdom Key: 19 6 "The default weapon. Not very powerful, but reliable and easy to handle." The in-game description really says it all. Kingdom Key is the cheapest of the attack cards, easy to use, and dependable. Lose a break and you'll still recover with decent speed. The attack comes out with exactly average speed, leveling the chances of a break. Kingdom Key does have some major drawbacks, however. First, its attack is physical and in the course of the game you'll have more than one attack blocked. And although it does uniform damage through a whole chain, that damage isn't much to speak of. If you play a sleight-heavy deck, then Kingdom Key is the way to go for building many, many sleights. The Kingdom Key is especially good for loading up on CP-heavy sleights such as Stun Impact or Zantetsuken. Otherwise, change Keyblades as you progress through the game. _______________________________________________________________________________ THREE WISHES 2/17 Attack: C+ )__( Strike: C+ //||\\ Thrust: D+ // || \\ Combo Finish: B <(/_/||\_\)> Swing Speed: A ' :: ' Element: Physical ||\ Break Recovery: B ||-> Required CP: A || Found In: Object | Chest || Agrabah - 20% | 15% || || _ CP Cost Table MP Resale Table || |,| 1 Three Wishes: 15 6 || \| 2 Three Wishes: 16 6 ||\_// 3 Three Wishes: 17 6 /|\_/ 4 Three Wishes: 18 6 /^; 5 Three Wishes: 19 6 6 Three Wishes: 20 8 7 Three Wishes: 21 8 8 Three Wishes: 22 8 9 Three Wishes: 23 8 0 Three Wishes: 24 8 "Obtained in Agrabah. Fairly strong with a fast swing." At low levels, Three Wishes is a fairly useful card, but it loses points on reliability since its damage varies considerably between strikes. Still, it's a fast Keyblade meant to be used aggressively thanks to its relatively low CP cost and average recovery. Definitely a step up from the Kingdom Key unless you're using all sleights or just absolutely short on CP. If you're using a mixed bag of Keyblades, Three Wishes works well for the first half of the game as a combo finisher. _______________________________________________________________________________ CRABCLAW 3/17 Attack: C+ __ Strike: C (__) Thrust: C #||# Combo Finish: B+ ##||## Swing Speed: B ## || ## Element: Physical (#_-||-_#) Break Recovery: * -\::/- Required CP: B /||\ Found In: Object | Chest -||- Atlantica - 20% | 15% || || CP Cost Table MP Resale Table || ## 1 Crabclaw: 20 8 ||### # 2 Crabclaw: 22 8 || ## 3 Crabclaw: 24 8 ||### # 4 Crabclaw: 26 10 || ## 5 Crabclaw: 28 10 6 Crabclaw: 30 12 7 Crabclaw: 32 12 8 Crabclaw: 34 12 9 Crabclaw: 36 14 0 Crabclaw: 38 14 "Obtained in Atlantica. Easy to handle with an impressive recovery time after card breaks." Crabclaw is a decent card, as it deals consistent damage for a reasonable CP price. There are better cards out there, of course, but having one or two in your arsenal can't hurt. Its swing speed is only average, but it makes up for this with its unparalleled recovery after losing a card break. By the time you reach Atlantica, you should have enough CP to be able to afford a class B costing deck. To sum up, use Crabclaw if you want consistency in your attacks. Its first two attacks aren't much to speak of but it does have the best combo finishing attack amongst the class B keyblades. _______________________________________________________________________________ PUMPKINHEAD 4/17 Attack: C (_) Strike: C+ # Thrust: C+ / # \ Combo Finish: D+ |> # <| Swing Speed: B \=\=O=/=/ Element: Physical -#- Break Recovery: A # Required CP: A # Found In: Object | Chest # Halloween Town - 20% | 15% # # /=-> CP Cost Table MP Resale Table # -// 1 Pumpkinhead: 15 6 |--#--O 2 Pumpkinhead: 16 6 # -\\ 3 Pumpkinhead: 17 6 # \=-> 4 Pumpkinhead: 18 6 /#\ 5 Pumpkinhead: 19 6 6 Pumpkinhead: 20 8 7 Pumpkinhead: 21 8 8 Pumpkinhead: 22 8 9 Pumpkinhead: 23 8 0 Pumpkinhead: 24 8 "Obtained in Halloween Town. Easy to handle with a fast recovery after a card break." In terms of damage, the Pumpkinhead's slightly stronger leading attacks don't really justify its extra cost over the Kingdom Key, but it's still a balanced Keyblade that represents a step up from the basic attack. It has an average swing speed and an above average recovery time. Its stats aren't too impressive and if you're interested in building a beatdown deck for a low cost, dispense with Pumpkinhead. _______________________________________________________________________________ FAIRY HARP 5/17 Attack: C+ _ # _ Strike: C+ \//\#/\\/ Thrust: C+ // # \\ Combo Finish: C || # || Swing Speed: * \\ # // Element: Physical \==#==/ Break Recovery: B ----#---- Required CP: B # Found In: Object | Chest # Never Land - 20% | 15% # # CP Cost Table MP Resale Table H\=== 1 Fairy Harp: 20 8 H \== 2 Fairy Harp: 22 8 H /== 3 Fairy Harp: 24 8 H/=== 4 Fairy Harp: 26 10 + 5 Fairy Harp: 28 10 6 Fairy Harp: 30 12 7 Fairy Harp: 32 12 8 Fairy Harp: 34 12 9 Fairy Harp: 36 14 0 Fairy Harp: 38 14 "Obtained in Never Land. Easy to handle with a formidable swing speed." Like the Kingdom Key, the Fairy Harp is fairly consistent with the damage that it deals across a chain. Unfortunately, that damage is only a bit higher than the Kingdom Key's and doesn't justify the Fairy Harp's cost by the time that you get one. The Fairy Harp's biggest advantage is that the moment you press the Attack button, it's there. Its break recovery is only average. I'd personally disregard the game notes on this Keyblade, as I'm of the opinion that the Fairy Harp requires more skill than other keys to use effectively. At any rate, there are better Keyblades out there in terms of raw damage for the cost of a B-level weapon. _______________________________________________________________________________ WISHING STAR 6/17 Attack: D+ __H__ Strike: C // # \\ Thrust: C // # \\ Combo Finish: D+ || # || Swing Speed: A [-==#==-] Element: Physical >=#=< Break Recovery: A # Required CP: A # Found In: Object | Chest # Monstro - 20% | 15% # ## | CP Cost Table MP Resale Table ## \|/ 1 Wishing Star: 15 6 #==O-- 2 Wishing Star: 16 6 # /|\ 3 Wishing Star: 17 6 Y | 4 Wishing Star: 18 6 5 Wishing Star: 19 6 6 Wishing Star: 20 8 7 Wishing Star: 21 8 8 Wishing Star: 22 8 9 Wishing Star: 23 8 0 Wishing Star: 24 8 "Obtained in Monstro. Not very powerful, but very easy to handle." Faster and less apt to reel than the Kingdom Key but only slightly higher in terms of strength, the Wishing Star is the most viable option early in the game for people who like quick strikes. As with all the keys that hit swiftly but do comparatively little damage, the Wishing Star requires a measure of skill for effective use. I'd rank it slightly above the Fairy Harp, if only because the Wishing Star is less taxing on CP at a correspondingly lower damage output. _______________________________________________________________________________ SPELLBINDER 7/17 Attack: C+ .--/#\--. Strike: D+ || # || Thrust: A || # || Combo Finish: D+ \\ # // Swing Speed: C <\\-#-//> Element: Lightning # Break Recovery: A ||| Required CP: B | | Found In: 100 Acre Wood | | Object | Chest | | Atlantica - X | 5% | | Never Land - X | 5% |, Hollow Bastion - X | 5% / \ Twilight Town - 15% | 5% /VX=X/\ Castle Oblivion - 10% | 5% |#H|O \X\ O/ CP Cost Table MP Resale Table \_\ / 1 Spellbinder: 20 8 (O) 2 Spellbinder: 22 8 3 Spellbinder: 24 8 4 Spellbinder: 26 10 5 Spellbinder: 28 10 6 Spellbinder: 30 12 7 Spellbinder: 32 12 8 Spellbinder: 34 12 9 Spellbinder: 36 14 0 Spellbinder: 38 14 "A special attack card with lightning-based attacks." Let's get something straight right now. Spellbinder is a tricky card to use effectively. In terms of raw damage, its only noteworthy attack occurs in its overpowered thrust. Therefore, if you're mixing cards for maximum effect, Spellbinder should used only on a thrust attack. It swings slowly, recovers quickly, and its raw damage output doesn't really justify its cost. It is, however, the only non-physical Keyblade available early in the game and can be especially devastating when used on enemies weak against lightning. Use this card sparingly, as it is only for advanced players. Spellbinder is usually first acquired in 100 Acre Wood - however, you have a chance of picking it up before then from a Bounty chest in one of the World Card Set two floors. _______________________________________________________________________________ METAL CHOCOBO 8/17 Attack: B ~0~ Strike: C+ .=/I\=. Thrust: C+ |/ I \| Combo Finish: B+ || I || Swing Speed: C '=======' Element: Neutral ### Break Recovery: B ### Required CP: B ### Found In: Key to Rewards room in Olympus Coliseum ### Object | Chest ### Olympus Coliseum - 10% | 5% ### Atlantica - 2% | X ###### Never Land - 2% | X ### # Hollow Bastion - 2% | X ## ## Twilight Town - 15% | X ### # Castle Oblivion - 10% | 5% ###### CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Metal Chocobo: 20 8 2 Metal Chocobo: 22 8 3 Metal Chocobo: 24 8 4 Metal Chocobo: 26 10 5 Metal Chocobo: 28 10 6 Metal Chocobo: 30 12 7 Metal Chocobo: 32 12 8 Metal Chocobo: 34 12 9 Metal Chocobo: 36 14 0 Metal Chocobo: 38 14 "A special attack card that can break through physical defenses. A bit difficult to handle." By "a bit difficult to handle," the game means that the Metal Chocobo when compared against the Spellbinder has an equally slow swing and a worse break recovery for the same price. The Metal Chocobo has two big advantages over the Spellbinder in terms of balance, however: First, it deals fairly consistent damage, and second it's neutral with respect to elements, so it punches through everything. If you don't need Spellbinder's powerful thrust or Divine Rose's strike, then Metal Chocobo is a decent card to build a deck around. _______________________________________________________________________________ OLYMPIA 9/17 Attack: C+ o Strike: C+ o-O-o Thrust: D+ // H \\ Combo Finish: B || H || Swing Speed: C O===+===O Element: Physical | Break Recovery: A #|# Required CP: A #|# Found In: Object | Chest #|# Olympia - 20% | 10% #|# ##|## CP Cost Table MP Resale Table ##|#,=. 1 Olympia: 15 6 ##|#B<| 2 Olympia: 16 6 ##|0 || 3 Olympia: 17 6 ,=|# || 4 Olympia: 18 6 |J \=/ 5 Olympia: 19 6 6 Olympia: 20 8 7 Olympia: 21 8 8 Olympia: 22 8 9 Olympia: 23 8 0 Olympia: 24 8 "Obtained in Olympus Coliseum. Powerful with a quick recovery after card breaks." Stronger than the Kingdom Key, comparatively more expensive, and featuring a great combo finish at that point in the game, Olympia is a heavy but strong Keyblade. It swings slowly but recovers quickly, and should be placed at the end of a chain for maximum efficiency. If you're using a cost-effective deck that situates Keyblades according to their power, however, then I can't really recommend Olympia above Three Wishes for the combo finish position. They both do the same damage in that position, but Three Wishes is much faster and loses only slightly to Olympia on recovery. _______________________________________________________________________________ LIONHEART 10/17 Attack: B T Strike: B ) | ( Thrust: B / | \ Combo Finish: B (| | |) Swing Speed: D \\_|_// Element: Fire ==O== Break Recovery: A *U* Required CP: B U Found In: Key to Rewards room in Traverse Town H Object | Chest H Traverse Town - 12% | 10% H| | | Atlantica - 5% | 5% H\=\=\ Never Land - 5% | 5% H o |, Hollow Bastion - 5% | 5% H|\ _ , Twilight Town - 15% | 5% H V |' Castle Oblivion - 10% | 5% U CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Lionheart: 20 8 2 Lionheart: 22 8 3 Lionheart: 24 8 4 Lionheart: 26 10 5 Lionheart: 28 10 6 Lionheart: 30 12 7 Lionheart: 32 12 8 Lionheart: 34 12 9 Lionheart: 36 14 0 Lionheart: 38 14 "A special attack card with fire-based attacks." If it weren't for its swing speed (the slowest in the game) and affinity to fire, then Lionheart could very well be the best Keyblade in the game. It does solid damage throughout its strike chain at a comparatively good price and has a swift recovery after breaking. Plus, you can get one as soon as you pick up a Key to Rewards card simply by backtracking to Traverse Town. Lionheart's only drawbacks, as mentioned earlier, are its extraordinarily slow swing and the inescapable fact that some enemies are simply immune to it. Still, it's a solid and dependable Keyblade that serves well in nearly any situation. _______________________________________________________________________________ LADY LUCK 11/17 Attack: C ^ Strike: C+ ==|== Thrust: C+ = | = Combo Finish: D = | = Swing Speed: A = | = Element: Physical -+ === +- Break Recovery: B >I< Required CP: A I Found In: Object | Chest I Wonderland - 20% | 15% I == I=###= CP Cost Table MP Resale Table =##>####= 1 Lady Luck: 15 6 I=###= 2 Lady Luck: 16 6 I == 3 Lady Luck: 17 6 /I\ 4 Lady Luck: 18 6 (' ') 5 Lady Luck: 19 6 6 Lady Luck: 20 8 7 Lady Luck: 21 8 8 Lady Luck: 22 8 9 Lady Luck: 23 8 0 Lady Luck: 24 8 "Obtained in Wonderland. A balanced weapon that is easy to handle." Does more damage than the Kingdom Key on its first two attacks and less on its last one. Fairly easy to handle, as it swings quickly and recovers with average speed, plus it's cheap to equip. Lady Luck is a reliable card for any low-level deck that uses just one card, though it has no place in a beatdown deck built for efficiency. The extra cost over the Kingdom Key can't make up for its extra damage at higher levels, so discard it when you enter the second World Card set. Overall, Lady Luck is almost neck-to-neck with Pumpkinhead. The only question is, do you want a faster weapon or a safer one? _______________________________________________________________________________ DIVINE ROSE 12/17 Attack: B ) X ( Strike: A / # \ Thrust: D+ H # H Combo Finish: C \_ # _/ Swing Speed: A _\O/_ Element: Physical J Break Recovery: C L Required CP: B J Found In: Object | Chest L Hollow Bastion - 20% | 15% J __ L / ) CP Cost Table MP Resale Table J)###> 1 Divine Rose: 20 8 ~#####) 2 Divine Rose: 22 8 U)###> 3 Divine Rose: 24 8 U \__) 4 Divine Rose: 26 10 U 5 Divine Rose: 28 10 6 Divine Rose: 30 12 7 Divine Rose: 32 12 8 Divine Rose: 34 12 9 Divine Rose: 36 14 0 Divine Rose: 38 14 "Obtained in Hollow Bastion. Features a powerful strike and fast swing." Fast but unreliable, the Divine Rose's main advantage lies in the fact that it allows you to start off infighting with A-level damage for the price of a B- level card. Its damage spread is far too wide for it to serve as a efficient card if you're into single-card decks. Unfortunately, if your attack is broken in mid-swing, you can expect to reel for quite a bit. Divine Rose is pretty much a niche card, useful only to advanced players. _______________________________________________________________________________ OATHKEEPER 13/17 Attack: B+ |\|/| Strike: B \ / | \ / Thrust: * || | || Combo Finish: B+ \| ||| |/ Swing Speed: B \\=|=// Element: Physical / _|_ \ Break Recovery: B I I Required CP: C I I Found In: Story event after completing Destiny Islands I I Object | Chest I I Destiny Islands - 15% | 10% I I I I CP Cost Table MP Resale Table I I | , 1 Oathkeeper: 25 10 \/I\|/ 2 Oathkeeper: 27 10 |\ D==> 3 Oathkeeper: 29 10 I \/|\ 4 Oathkeeper: 31 12 I I | ' 5 Oathkeeper: 33 12 6 Oathkeeper: 35 14 7 Oathkeeper: 37 14 8 Oathkeeper: 39 14 9 Oathkeeper: 41 16 0 Oathkeeper: 43 16 "A well-balanced weapon with a very powerful thrust." Oathkeeper is the standard which all C-level cards have to be measured against. For a card of that type, it does fairly consistent damage but is most powerful when used as a thrust attack. It has average swing speed and recovery times. If you can afford the CP cost, which shouldn't be a problem by the time you actually get the card, then Oathkeeper is definitely a card to build a deck around if you can't afford Ultima Weapon. _______________________________________________________________________________ OBLIVION 14/17 Attack: A O Strike: A ##H## Thrust: A # H # Combo Finish: D # H # Swing Speed: C ### H ### Element: Neutral #H# Break Recovery: A ' # ' Required CP: C # Found In: Story event after completing Destiny Islands # Object | Chest # Destiny Islands - 15% | 10% # =#= ## CP Cost Table MP Resale Table # # # 1 Oblivion: 25 10 #######> 2 Oblivion: 27 10 # # # 3 Oblivion: 29 10 =#= ## 4 Oblivion: 31 12 # 5 Oblivion: 33 12 6 Oblivion: 35 14 7 Oblivion: 37 14 8 Oblivion: 39 14 9 Oblivion: 41 16 0 Oblivion: 43 16 "A special attack card that can break through physical defenses. First- class strength." Whereas Oathkeeper concentrates on having balanced statistics, Oblivion instead emphasizes its own strengths. Its first two attacks are both A-level, though its final strike is the worst in the game. Oblivion swings slowly, but if broken it recovers more quickly than Oathkeeper. Its biggest advantage is its Neutral property, allowing it to take enemies with physical defenses head- on. Definitely a card that can hit anything, but if you want balance in your deck, use Oathkeeper instead. _______________________________________________________________________________ DIAMOND DUST 15/17 Attack: B+ = Strike: B+ ==+== Thrust: B+ // I \\ Combo Finish: B || I || Swing Speed: * \\ I // Element: Ice '=I=' Break Recovery: * I/ Required CP: C /I Found In: Object | Chest /I Castle Oblivion - 10% | 10% I OIO CP Cost Table MP Resale Table I 1 Diamond Dust: 25 10 \I . ^ . 2 Diamond Dust: 27 10 \I \|/ 3 Diamond Dust: 29 10 |I===X--> 4 Diamond Dust: 31 12 |I /|\ 5 Diamond Dust: 33 12 |I ' V ' 6 Diamond Dust: 35 14 7 Diamond Dust: 37 14 8 Diamond Dust: 39 14 9 Diamond Dust: 41 16 0 Diamond Dust: 43 16 "A special attack card with ice-based attacks. Powerful and the easiest to handle." Bar none, Diamond Dust is one of the most useful and underrated Keyblades in the game, even more so than Lionheart. Diamond Dust is slightly stronger than Lionheart in terms of damage and also has the advantage of being able to deal it consistently. This alone wouldn't justify its extra cost over the Lionheart, but the game fingers Diamond Dust's biggest advantage: it swings like greased lightning and recovers almost before it gets broken. Diamond Dust is narrowly the weakest of the C-level cards in terms of raw strength and its Ice element will occasionally get in the way, but its overall excellent stats make it possibly the best card to build a deck around. And no, you do NOT need to have Ultima Weapon to find Diamond Dust. The trick is that there is no designated location for Diamond Dust, unlike most of the other Keyblades, so your chances of finding it are entirely random. _______________________________________________________________________________ ONE-WINGED ANGEL 16/17 Attack: A --O-- Strike: C =H= Thrust: C / H \ Combo Finish: * ( H ) Swing Speed: A \_H_/ Element: Fire H Break Recovery: C H Required CP: C H ? Found In: Object | Chest H- / Twilight Town - 5% | 10% H / - H\|I. CP Cost Table MP Resale Table H\|I|\ 1 One-Winged Angel: 25 10 HVVVB 2 One-Winged Angel: 27 10 HVV/B 3 One-Winged Angel: 29 10 \V/ 4 One-Winged Angel: 31 12 V 5 One-Winged Angel: 33 12 6 One-Winged Angel: 35 14 7 One-Winged Angel: 37 14 8 One-Winged Angel: 39 14 9 One-Winged Angel: 41 16 0 One-Winged Angel: 43 16 "A special attack card with fire-based attacks. Exceptional combo finish." The other C-level cards can laugh at One-Winged Angel's strike and thrust damage output, but they all fear its final, devastating hit. One-Winged Angel hits fast and recovers slowly. In a deck built for efficiency, it feels right at home finishing up any combos, though the Fire element attribute sometimes screws over a chain. Use One-Winged Angel only if you absolutely need the Fire element or the finishing attack; otherwise, a Keyblade like Oathkeeper or Diamond Dust works better in nearly every case. Like Diamond Dust, One-Winged Angel is not acquired from any fixed location or floor. Instead, you just have to run around Twilight Town and hope that you pick one up. _______________________________________________________________________________ ULTIMA WEAPON 17/17 Attack: * __T__ Strike: * M H M Thrust: * // I \\ Combo Finish: A M C.D M Swing Speed: B +===O===+ Element: Physical =+= Break Recovery: B #|D Required CP: D #/D Found In: After completing both stories. See notes. #/D_ '' Object | Chest |D|\/ ' Traverse Town - 3% | 5% |D|/\X Agrabah - 3% | 5% O=X=)==> Olympus Coliseum - 3% | 5% ##/|\/X Wonderland - 3% | 5% ## _/\ ' Monstro - 3% | 5% ## '' Halloween Town - 3% | 5% #J Atlantica - 3% | 5% Never Land - 3% | 5% Hollow Bastion - 3% | 5% Twilight Town - 3% | 5% Destiny Islands - 3% | 5% Castle Oblivion - 3% | 5% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Ultima Weapon: 30 12 2 Ultima Weapon: 33 12 3 Ultima Weapon: 36 14 4 Ultima Weapon: 39 16 5 Ultima Weapon: 42 16 6 Ultima Weapon: 45 18 7 Ultima Weapon: 48 18 8 Ultima Weapon: 51 20 9 Ultima Weapon: 54 20 0 Ultima Weapon: 57 22 "The strongest attack card to be found." To acquire Ultima Weapon, you must have an in-game save in the room right in front of the last bosses of both stories. In other words, you must have saved in the room directly before the confrontation with Marluxia II (Sora's game, and AFTER beating Marluxia I), as well as have saved in Reverse/Rebirth mode before taking on Ansem II. Then, after defeating Ansem and loading Sora's game, the next Bounty room in the Castle Oblivion floor will hold the Ultima Weapon. After that, you have a very slim chance of finding more Ultima Weapon keyblades as random drops or chest contents in all worlds. The Ultima Weapon is the most expensive Keyblade in the game and makes no apologies for being so. If you need 0 cards to break enemy sleights, Ultima Weapon is easily the worst choice you could make. It has an average swing velocity and an average card recovery. However, all of that is justified by the raw damage that the Keyblade deals out no matter where it falls in the chain. Ultima Weapon is the ONLY card with two *-level attacks. If you can afford the high CP cost, building a deck around this one card will definitely allow you to brute-force your way through the game. For those of us with less CP to burn, a few Ultima Weapons still serve well in strategically pre-placed locations within any deck. Don't be fooled by the A-class combo finisher; do recall that all cards get a full grade bonus to combo finishers, bumping Ultima Weapon's up to *-class. -----------------------------Magic Cards (14 total)---------------------------- The game is full of statistics about the attack cards. Not so with the magic cards - instead, you get a terse description of what it does, without getting any of the details that let you know how a particular spell works. In Chain of Memories, magic is divided into two types: spells and summons, and it should be fairly obvious which card belongs in which category. The game has three elements, namely fire, ice, and lightning, as well three other spell types (wind, gravity, and time) plus one recovery spell (cure). You'll find to your infinite annoyance that many enemies are immune to at least one spell variant, while others remain unaffected by any of them. On the plus side, many enemies will also show a weakness towards one element or another. CP tables and sleight combos which use the particular card are provided for your convenience and mine. Note that once you have acquired a particular magic card, it can appear anywhere as a random drop or a Moogle booster deck card with the probabilities given in the appropriate section. _______________________________________________________________________________ FIRE 1/14 Acquired: Defeat Axel I Sleights: Found In: Object | Chest - Fira (Needs 2 Fire cards) Traverse Town - 10% | 30% - Firaga (Needs 3 Fire cards) Agrabah - 5% | 15% - Fire Raid Olympus Coliseum - 5% | 15% - Homing Fira Wonderland - 6% | 15% - Firaga Break Monstro - 5% | 15% - Mega Flare (Needs 2 Fire cards) Halloween Town - 6% | 15% - Aqua Splash Atlantica - 10% | 5% - Blazing Donald Never Land - X | 5% Twilight Town - 1% | 15% Destiny Islands - 8% | X Castle Oblivion - X | 10% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Fire: 15 6 2 Fire: 16 6 3 Fire: 17 6 4 Fire: 18 6 5 Fire: 19 6 6 Fire: 20 8 7 Fire: 21 8 8 Fire: 22 8 9 Fire: 23 8 0 Fire: 24 8 "Magic that deals fire damage. Stock 2 cards for Fira and 3 cards for Firaga." One of the three basic elemental spells, Fire isn't all that impressive on its own. It has the longest range of the three spells as well as a restricted ability to home in on flying enemies. Even in the earliest stages, however, the spell doesn't do anything resembling good damage. It hits only one enemy. Fire's main advantage over the other two basic spells is that it goes into a wide variety of sleight combos, including the powerful Mega Flare and Aqua Splash combos. Otherwise, keep it only if you're poaching White Mushrooms. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLIZZARD 2/14 Acquired: In your default deck Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Blizzara (Needs 2 Blizzard cards) Agrabah - 5% | 15% - Blizzaga (Needs 3 Blizzard cards) Olympus Coliseum - 5% | 15% - Blizzard Raid Wonderland - 6% | 15% - Homing Blizzara Monstro - 5% | 15% - Aqua Splash Halloween Town - 6% | 20% - Gifted Miracle Atlantica - X | 5% Never Land - 10% | 5% Twilight Town - 1% | 15% Destiny Islands - 8% | X Castle Oblivion - X | 10% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Blizzard: 15 6 2 Blizzard: 16 6 3 Blizzard: 17 6 4 Blizzard: 18 6 5 Blizzard: 19 6 6 Blizzard: 20 8 7 Blizzard: 21 8 8 Blizzard: 22 8 9 Blizzard: 23 8 0 Blizzard: 24 8 "Magic that deals ice damage. Stock 2 cards for Blizzara and 3 cards for Blizzaga." Like Fire, only not as useful. Blizzard has a much lower range than Fire and doesn't track as well, which is really saying something considering how little Fire tracks to begin with. It's not much for sleights, either. On the plus side, it can hit more than one enemy (something Fire doesn't do) and you'll run into more than one boss who has a weakness against ice, so feel free then to spam whatever sleight you can build to your heart's content. (Don't bother with Blizzard alone unless you're dealing with White Mushrooms.) An apt analogy I heard is that Fire is like a rifle and Blizzard is like a shotgun. _______________________________________________________________________________ THUNDER 3/14 Acquired: Defeat Larxene I Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Thundara (Needs 2 Thunder cards) Atlantica - 10% | 20% - Thundaga (Needs 3 Thunder cards) Never Land - 10% | 10% - Thunder Raid Hollow Bastion - 10% | 10% Twilight Town - 1% | 15% Destiny Islands - 8% | X Castle Oblivion - X | 10% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Thunder: 15 6 2 Thunder: 16 6 3 Thunder: 17 6 4 Thunder: 18 6 5 Thunder: 19 6 6 Thunder: 20 8 7 Thunder: 21 8 8 Thunder: 22 8 9 Thunder: 23 8 0 Thunder: 24 8 "Magic that deals lightning damage. Stock 2 cards for Thundara and 3 cards for Thundaga." Seriously, if you're using this card alone, you shouldn't bother. Thunder is dead even with Blizzard and Fire in terms of raw damage and CP cost, but it doesn't go into many sleights and has few victims against which it hits hard. It can also hit multiple enemies, again unlike Fire. It'd be near useless if it weren't for the inescapable fact that the sleights it makes hit wide. Oh, and also for hunting down those ever-lovable White Mushrooms, of course. _______________________________________________________________________________ CURE 4/14 Acquired: In your default deck Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Cura (Needs 2 Cure cards) Traverse Town - 10% | 30% - Curaga (Needs 3 Cure cards) Agrabah - X | 5% - Synchro Olympus Coliseum - 5% | 5% Wonderland - X | 5% Monstro - 5% | 5% Halloween Town - 6% | 5% Never Land - X | 5% Hollow Bastion - X | 5% Twilight Town - 1% | 15% Destiny Islands - X | 5% Castle Oblivion - 8% | 5% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Cure: 25 10 2 Cure: 27 10 3 Cure: 29 10 4 Cure: 31 12 5 Cure: 33 12 6 Cure: 35 14 7 Cure: 37 14 8 Cure: 39 14 9 Cure: 41 16 0 Cure: 43 16 "Magic that restores HP. Stock 2 cards for Cura and 3 cards for Curaga." Cure is by far the single most useful spell in the game as it will be your main method of restoring your HP for much of the story. As such, it also costs as much to place into your deck as a C-level Keyblade (whereas the three basic elemental spells correspond to the cost of A-level Keyblades). A good player should definitely carry at least five or six of these at all times, more if you play a low HP Sora. Cure cards work best when either scattered strategically through the deck or placed within easy arm's reach. Don't forget to use the Cure sleights, which restore a huge amount of HP per casting. _______________________________________________________________________________ GRAVITY 5/14 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Gravira (Needs 2 Gravity cards) Agrabah - 10% | 20% - Graviga (Needs 3 Gravity cards) Olympus Coliseum - 5% | 10% - Gravity Raid Wonderland - 5% | X - Tornado Monstro - 5% | 10% - Quake Halloween Town - 6% | 10% - Warpinator Atlantica - 5% | X - Bind Never Land - 5% | 10% - Synchro Hollow Bastion - 5% | 10% Twilight Town - 1% | X Destiny Islands - 8% | 20% Castle Oblivion - X | 5% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Gravity: 20 8 2 Gravity: 22 8 3 Gravity: 24 8 4 Gravity: 26 10 5 Gravity: 28 10 6 Gravity: 30 12 7 Gravity: 32 12 8 Gravity: 34 12 9 Gravity: 36 14 0 Gravity: 38 14 "Magic that deals damage relative to the enemy's remaining HP. Stock 2 cards for Gravira and 3 cards for Graviga." The power of the Gravity attack depends a great deal on how well you can use it. Basically, it knocks off a fourth of your target's current HP. As you might expect, Gravity has no effect on bosses. Like most spells, it can hit more than one target, which is definitely something to remember when targeting the card. Gravity cannot kill anything directly, but blasting off a fourth of the HP of a tough opponent can pave the way for some good Keyblade action. _______________________________________________________________________________ STOP 6/14 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Stopra (Needs 2 Stop cards) Agrabah - 5% | X - Stopga (Needs 3 Stop cards) Olympus Coliseum - 5% | 10% - Stop Raid Wonderland - 10% | 20% - Warpinator Monstro - 5% | 10% - Warp Halloween Town - 6% | 10% - Bind Atlantica - 5% | 10% - Teleport Never Land - 5% | X - Cross-Slash+ Hollow Bastion - 5% | 10% Twilight Town - 1% | X Destiny Islands - 8% | 20% Castle Oblivion - X | 5% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Stop: 20 8 2 Stop: 22 8 3 Stop: 24 8 4 Stop: 26 10 5 Stop: 28 10 6 Stop: 30 12 7 Stop: 32 12 8 Stop: 34 12 9 Stop: 36 14 0 Stop: 38 14 "Magic that halts enemy movement for a set time period. Stock 2 cards for Stopra and 3 cards for Stopga." A decently useful card, with the following purpose in mind: Freeze the foe in place so you can pound 'em with something else. The basic Stop spell will halt an opponent for about 1.5 seconds, which is hardly enough to do anything, but it gets better with more powerful sleights. Note that Stop basically halts the enemy's state - while you're wailing on a Stopped Heartless, its HP will not decrease and it will not reel from damage until AFTER the spell has worn off. This can be used to your advantage if you're clever, but it can also work against you if you're trying to target multiple enemies. Stop hits the enemy that it is targeted upon; if Sora hasn't acquired a target, he'll trigger the spell directly in front of himself and pretty much waste it. _______________________________________________________________________________ AERO 7/14 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Aerora (Needs 2 Aero cards) Atlantica - 10% | 20% - Aeroga (Needs 3 Aero cards) Never Land - 10% | 10% - Judgment Hollow Bastion - 10% | 10% - Homing Fira Twilight Town - 1% | X - Homing Blizzara Destiny Islands - 8% | 20% - Aqua Splash Castle Oblivion - X | 5% - Tornado - Warpinator - Warp (Needs 2 Aero cards) - Synchro - Teleport CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Aero: 20 8 2 Aero: 22 8 3 Aero: 24 8 4 Aero: 26 10 5 Aero: 28 10 6 Aero: 30 12 7 Aero: 32 12 8 Aero: 34 12 9 Aero: 36 14 0 Aero: 38 14 "Magic that blows away nearby enemies and inflicts damage. Stock 2 cards for Aerora and 3 cards for Aeroga." Back in Kingdom Hearts, Aero was a defensive spell that reduced the damage done to you. It still shows vestiges of its original purpose in its animation, but now Aero has turned into an attack spell. It does great damage (about the equivalent of a B+ level Keyblade hit), but the thing is, it has practically no range. This is great if a huge bunch of enemies are clumped all around you and not so good if they're scattered about. Still, carry a few of these in your deck, to use if possible and to sleight if they can't be used directly. _______________________________________________________________________________ SIMBA 8/14 Acquired: Key of Beginnings room in Traverse Town Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Shock Impact Traverse Town - 5% | 10% - Quake Wonderland - X | 5% - Terror Halloween Town - X | 5% - Proud Roar (Needs 2 or 3 Simba cards) Twilight Town - 1% | X Castle Oblivion - 5% | X CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Simba: 20 8 2 Simba: 22 8 3 Simba: 24 8 4 Simba: 26 10 5 Simba: 28 10 6 Simba: 30 12 7 Simba: 32 12 8 Simba: 34 12 9 Simba: 36 14 0 Simba: 38 14 "Simba lets out a mighty roar that deals damage to enemies in front of him. Stock more than one and his roar will also stun enemies." Fairly good in the first few worlds but practically useless thereafter. Simba appears where Sora was standing and lets off a huge roar which hits any enemy in front of or beside him. Unfortunately, enemies have a bad tendency of dodging the attack by running past Simba. The roar does about C-level damage, give or take a degree. Once you're past world 3 or 4, scrap this card and go hunting for better ones unless you plan to sleight Simba. _______________________________________________________________________________ DUMBO 9/14 Acquired: Key to Truth room in Monstro Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Splash (Needs 2 or 3 Dumbo cards) Monstro - 7% | 15% Twilight Town - 1% | X Castle Oblivion - 5% | X CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Dumbo: 20 8 2 Dumbo: 22 8 3 Dumbo: 24 8 4 Dumbo: 26 10 5 Dumbo: 28 10 6 Dumbo: 30 12 7 Dumbo: 32 12 8 Dumbo: 34 12 9 Dumbo: 36 14 0 Dumbo: 38 14 "Dumbo douses enemies with water over a set time period, dealing ice damage. Stock more than one to prolong the attack." I hate to say this, but Dumbo is fairly useless unless you're up against an enemy weak to ice and lack anything else that does solid ice damage. Because that's what Dumbo is good for: pinning down an opponent under a spray of ice and water. He lacks much range and behold: he hath but one sleight. Kick him out of your deck. I mean it. _______________________________________________________________________________ BAMBI 10/14 Acquired: After completing 100-Acre Wood Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Gifted Miracle Atlantica - X | 10% - Paradise (Needs 2 or 3 Bambi cards) Twilight Town - 1% | 5% - Idyll Romp Castle Oblivion - 5% | X CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Bambi: 20 8 2 Bambi: 22 8 3 Bambi: 24 8 4 Bambi: 26 10 5 Bambi: 28 10 6 Bambi: 30 12 7 Bambi: 32 12 8 Bambi: 34 12 9 Bambi: 36 14 0 Bambi: 38 14 "Bambi bounds around and drops recovery items. Stock more than one to boost the effect." Exactly like the game describes, free recovery! This is great in storyline mode if you've just wiped the floor with a bunch of enemies and might as well collect health while grabbing experience. Need a quick boost, Bambi will be there for you. Conversely, using Bambi might not be the greatest idea in duels with other players, seeing as how the other Sora can also pick up health balls. In conclusion: Use Bambi only in single-player, go with other methods of HP restoration in multiplayer. _______________________________________________________________________________ MUSHU 11/14 Acquired: Rewards room in Hollow Bastion Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Firaga Break Hollow Bastion - 10% | 20% - Mega Flare Twilight Town - 1% | X - Terror Castle Oblivion - 5% | X - Flare Breath (Needs 2 or 3 Mushu cards) CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Mushu: 25 10 2 Mushu: 27 10 3 Mushu: 29 10 4 Mushu: 31 12 5 Mushu: 33 12 6 Mushu: 35 14 7 Mushu: 37 14 8 Mushu: 39 14 9 Mushu: 41 16 0 Mushu: 43 16 "Mushu breathes fire at the enemy, dealing fire damage. Stock more than one to prolong the attack." Fairly good as summons go. Mushu perches atop Sora's head and blasts fire at anything within Keyblade's reach of Sora. The great thing about Mushu is that Sora doesn't vanish while Mushu is turning the opposition into barbecue. You can run around if enemies decide to move out of your range, which is the big advantage that Mushu has over Cloud. (The downside, of course, is that Mushu's is a fire attack, which some enemies can laugh off.) A fairly decent card, although personally I'd keep him only for the awesome Mega Flare sleight. _______________________________________________________________________________ GENIE 12/14 Acquired: Key to Truth room in Agrabah Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Confuse Agrabah - 7% | 15% - Showtime (Needs 2 or 3 Genie cards) Twilight Town - 1% | X Castle Oblivion - 5% | X CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Genie: 20 8 2 Genie: 22 8 3 Genie: 24 8 4 Genie: 26 10 5 Genie: 28 10 6 Genie: 30 12 7 Genie: 32 12 8 Genie: 34 12 9 Genie: 36 14 0 Genie: 38 14 "Genie casts Thundara, Gravira, or Stopra. Stock more than one and Genie will cast multiple spells." As a character design, Genie is great. As a magic support card, he ain't nearly half as great. Basically, he pops up and casts one of the listed spells at random, but for some reason it never seems to be the one that you need. I like Genie, I really do, but I can't justify putting him in a deck when he's too unreliable in a fight. Heck, half the time Genie isn't even as useful as Donald, whom you get for free. _______________________________________________________________________________ TINKER BELL 13/14 Acquired: Key to Truth room in Neverland Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Confuse Never Land - 10% | 20% - Twinkle (Needs 2 or 3 Tinker Bell cards) Twilight Town - 1% | X Castle Oblivion - 5% | X CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Tinker Bell: 20 8 2 Tinker Bell: 22 8 3 Tinker Bell: 24 8 4 Tinker Bell: 26 10 5 Tinker Bell: 28 10 6 Tinker Bell: 30 12 7 Tinker Bell: 32 12 8 Tinker Bell: 34 14 9 Tinker Bell: 36 14 0 Tinker Bell: 38 14 "Tinker Bell restores HP over a set time period. Stock more than one to boost the effect." You already have a Cure spell. Think of Tinker Bell as Regen - she gives back HP over time instead of all at one go like the Cure card. This makes her horribly susceptible to card break, but in return she costs 5 CP per level less than the Cure spell and restores more HP per level than Cure. Tinker Bell may well be the difference between victory and obliteration in more than one boss battle or ordinary battle. Overall a good card to have, made better if you can afford to build sleights with it. _______________________________________________________________________________ CLOUD 14/14 Acquired: Key to Truth room in Olympus Coliseum Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Reflect Raid Olympus Coliseum - 10% | 15% - Cross-Slash (Needs 2 Cloud cards) Hollow Bastion - 10% | X - Omnislash (Needs 3 Cloud cards) Twilight Town - 1% | X - Cross-Slash+ Castle Oblivion - 5% | X CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Cloud: 25 10 2 Cloud: 27 10 3 Cloud: 29 10 4 Cloud: 31 12 5 Cloud: 33 12 6 Cloud: 35 14 7 Cloud: 37 14 8 Cloud: 39 14 9 Cloud: 41 16 0 Cloud: 43 16 "Cloud unleashes two successive sword attacks. Stock 3 cards to use Omnislash." Of all the magic cards, Cloud is the only one concerned with dealing direct physical damage (well, MAYBE Simba also does by a technicality). And Cloud is brutally efficient at what he does, which is appear where Sora stood and slice twice. Thing is, he's hard to aim thanks to his very limited range. He'll punch straight through physical defenses, but Sora first has to be maneuvered into position. Cloud does get a couple of sleights, nearly all of which are fairly decent. A good card to have if you can skillfully set Cloud up for an attack, since he does more damage in two sword strokes than just about any Keyblade. Note that Cloud is the sole Final Fantasy summon in this game ... sheesh, would it have been too much to include Leon and Yuffie as summons or even friends? ------------------------------Item Cards (7 total)----------------------------- In a nutshell, item cards give you back your attack cards or your magic cards. Some even give you back both of them simultaneously. Instead of reloading your deck, you pop an item card and poof! Your attack/magic cards are reset and the cursor automatically flips to the first one. Thus, a good number of Item cards is essential if you want your deck to have any sort of staying power. Some item cards will even reset your reload counter, so proper usage of these cards can make any fight a nightmare for any opponent. Don't bother sleighting similar items together, as doing so would be a waste. The downside: item cards are expensive. They can only be used once, and do not reappear when the deck is reloaded. This goes no matter how they're used: as part of a sleight, alone, whatever. No example is more dramatic than the Holy sleight, which eats up three very expensive item cards simultaneously. _______________________________________________________________________________ POTION 1/7 Acquired: In your default deck Sleights: None Found in Object | Chest Traverse Town - 10% | 5% Wonderland - 6% | 10% Monstro - 5% | X Halloween Town - 7% | 5% Atlantica - 3% | X Never Land - X | 5% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Potion: 30 12 2 Potion: 33 12 3 Potion: 36 14 4 Potion: 39 14 5 Potion: 42 16 6 Potion: 45 18 7 Potion: 48 18 8 Potion: 51 20 9 Potion: 54 20 0 Potion: 57 22 "Quickly reloads attack cards with no charge time required. It does not work on cards that cannot be reloaded." Look carefully at that CP Table. Each Potion costs as much as an Ultima Weapon of the corresponding number. However, each Potion also allows you to get back your entire attack deck, minus sleight leaders, without reloading - in other words, one button press and about six or seven hundred CP's worth of your Keyblades come streaming back. Worth it? Go ahead and stock up on Potions if you use a beatdown deck, but if you're into lots and lots of sleights, you'll want to look instead at ... _______________________________________________________________________________ HI-POTION 2/7 Acquired: Key of Guidance room in Olympus Coliseum Sleights: None Found in: Object | Chest Agrabah - 5% | X Olympus Coliseum - 7% | 10% Wonderland - 7% | 5% Monstro - 5% | 5% Halloween Town - 5% | 5% Atlantica - 4% | X CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Hi-Potion: 40 16 2 Hi-Potion: 44 16 3 Hi-Potion: 48 18 4 Hi-Potion: 52 20 5 Hi-Potion: 56 22 6 Hi-Potion: 60 24 7 Hi-Potion: 64 24 8 Hi-Potion: 68 26 9 Hi-Potion: 72 28 0 Hi-Potion: 76 30 "Quickly reloads attack cards with no charge time required. Even normally unreloadable cards are restored." A more expensive and more useful Potion, if you've used up a lot of attack cards in sleights and want them back. Hi-Potions are expensive, but you'll want them for their ability to return all your Attack cards to you in an instant. Just make sure that it doesn't get broken in the process. Hi-Potions are especially useful in a sleight-heavy deck since they allow you to unleash all your sleights on an opponent again, though anything you lost to an enemy's Zantetsuken stays lost. If you're in for a long haul though, you may wish to reload occasionally, discard the Hi-Potions, and use ... _______________________________________________________________________________ MEGA-POTION 3/7 Acquired: Defeat Riku III Sleights: None Found in: Object | Chest Twilight Town - X | 10% Destiny Islands - 3% | X Castle Oblivion - 1% | 5% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Mega-Potion: 45 18 2 Mega-Potion: 49 18 3 Mega-Potion: 53 20 4 Mega-Potion: 57 22 5 Mega-Potion: 61 24 6 Mega-Potion: 65 26 7 Mega-Potion: 69 26 8 Mega-Potion: 73 28 9 Mega-Potion: 77 30 0 Mega-Potion: 81 32 "Quickly reloads attack cards with no charge time and resets the reload counter. Even normally unreloadable cards are restored." For five extra CP above Hi-Potions per level, you get all the benefits of the Hi-Potion PLUS kicking the reload counter back down to 1. This can be a huge benefit when you're in a battle of attrition. Mega-Potions are expensive, yes, but hardly more so than Hi-Potions, so you find it worth your while to use these instead of Hi-Potions in your deck. Not much else to say about these cards - if you're using lots of attack cards, you'll want to carry a few of the Potion-class items anyways. Mega-Potions still don't restore cards broken by a Zantetsuken. _______________________________________________________________________________ ETHER 4/7 Acquired: Key of Guidance room in Agrabah Sleights: None Found in: Object | Chest Agrabah - 10% | 10% Olympus Coliseum - 5% | X Wonderland - 7% | 5% Monstro - 5% | 5% Halloween Town - 5% | 5% Atlantica - 3% | X Hollow Bastion - X | 5% Twilight Town - 3% | X CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Ether: 20 8 2 Ether: 22 8 3 Ether: 24 8 4 Ether: 26 10 5 Ether: 28 10 6 Ether: 30 12 7 Ether: 32 12 8 Ether: 34 12 9 Ether: 36 14 0 Ether: 38 14 "Quickly reloads magic cards with no charge time required. It does not work on cards that cannot be reloaded." In a nutshell, a Potion, only for magic cards instead of attack cards. No restoration of sleight leaders, unfortunately. Ether cards are (much) cheaper to put in your deck than Potion cards, but seeing as how you should be relying more on attack cards, that's to be expected. _______________________________________________________________________________ MEGA-ETHER 5/7 Acquired: Defeat Vexen I Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Holy Twilight Town - 5% | X Destiny Islands - 3% | 5% Castle Oblivion - 1% | 10% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Mega-Ether: 35 14 2 Mega-Ether: 38 14 3 Mega-Ether: 41 16 4 Mega-Ether: 44 16 5 Mega-Ether: 47 18 6 Mega-Ether: 50 20 7 Mega-Ether: 53 20 8 Mega-Ether: 56 22 9 Mega-Ether: 59 22 0 Mega-Ether: 62 24 "Quickly reloads magic cards with no charge time and resets the reload counter. Even normally unreloadable cards are restored." You've got to hand it to the Mega-Ether for bringing your whole magic deck back, plus resetting the reload counter. If you're choosing between Mega-Ether cards and Mega-Potion cards for counter reset, definitely go for the much less expensive Mega-Ethers. Again, Mega-Ethers are cheaper solely because magic cards tend to see much less action than attack cards, but they're still good cards to have in your deck. _______________________________________________________________________________ ELIXIR 6/7 Acquired: 100-Acre Wood Sleights: None Found in: Object | Chest Twilight Town - 5% | 5% Castle Oblivion - 2% | 3% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Elixir: 45 18 2 Elixir: 49 18 3 Elixir: 53 20 4 Elixir: 57 22 5 Elixir: 61 24 6 Elixir: 65 26 7 Elixir: 69 26 8 Elixir: 73 28 9 Elixir: 77 30 0 Elixir: 81 32 "Quickly reloads attack cards and magic cards, including normally unreloadable cards." Wow, a combination of Hi-Potion and Mega-Ether, minus the counter reset and somewhat more expensive than either (but a heck of a lot cheaper than placing both in your deck). Whereas Potions should be placed directly after attack cards and Ethers directly after magic cards, Elixirs are best situated after using up both. There's not much to say about Elixirs other than if you're into using a lot of attack and magic sleights, then a strong Elixir is your best friend. _______________________________________________________________________________ MEGALIXIR 7/7 Acquired: Rewards room in Destiny Islands Sleights Found in: Object | Chest - Holy Destiny Islands - 3% | X Castle Oblivion - 5% | 2% CP Cost Table MP Resale Table 1 Megalixir: 50 20 2 Megalixir: 55 22 3 Megalixir: 60 24 4 Megalixir: 65 26 5 Megalixir: 70 28 6 Megalixir: 75 30 7 Megalixir: 80 32 8 Megalixir: 85 34 9 Megalixir: 90 36 0 Megalixir: 95 38 "Quickly reloads attack cards and magic cards, including normally unreloadable cards. The reload counter is also reset." One item to rule them all, one item to find them ... THIS, my friends, is that one item. The Megalixir is the most expensive card in the game, but man is it powerful. With one button press, your entire fighting deck returns to you (minus any Zantetsuken'd cards) and your reload counter returns to 1. A single Megalixir card, then, can be worth more than a thousand CP of attack and magic cards. Is it worth it in comparison to the other items? That's a judgment call for you to make. ------------------------------Ally Cards (7 total)----------------------------- Your friends will randomly appear in battle as cards. When you collect them, they are automatically placed at the head of the deck, right after the reload square, in the order that they were collected. Having friends is great, since you basically get free cards to use (or sleight) at your convenience. The game randomly chooses which friend appears and when, though in a Meeting Ground room you'll automatically encounter them at the beginning of a fight IF you have a friend with you (there's a small segment in Sora's game where he loses all of his friends). Donald and Goofy will almost always stick with you; you'll also meet friends in various worlds, though they won't always be around for the whole duration of the trek. The game seems to give you these auxiliary friend cards much more often than a Donald/Goofy card in these worlds. Also, if you clear a world, move on, and return later, your auxiliary friends will still be with you. Unlike the Magic summons, Friend summons leave Sora on-screen instead of leaping off screen, and even better Sora is free to move while his friends pull their attack. Use this to your advantage to retreat to a safe corner and rifle through the deck until you find that next card you want to play. CP tables are provided for friend cards, even though it doesn't cost any CP to pick up a friend card. Please don't ask me where I found these CP tables. _______________________________________________________________________________ DONALD DUCK 1/7 Acquired: With Sora at the beginning of the game Sleights - Trinity Limit - Magic (Needs 2 or 3 Donald Duck cards) - Blazing Donald CP Table 0 Donald Duck: 38 5 Donald Duck: 28 1 Donald Duck: 20 6 Donald Duck: 30 2 Donald Duck: 22 7 Donald Duck: 32 3 Donald Duck: 24 8 Donald Duck: 34 4 Donald Duck: 26 9 Donald Duck: 36 "Donald randomly casts Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, or Cure. Stock more than one to power up Donald's magic." Donald's the magician of the group, which reflects in his choice of spells: the three basic elemental spells, plus Cure. Note that he casts TWO spells in succession when summoned. The key to proper Donald usage is to only bust him out if you're not up against an enemy that either runs quickly or has some kind of immunity. Donald's fairly unreliable and there will be more than one occasion when he heals a Sora already at full health. On the other hand, there will be times when he blasts the whole battlefield with Thunder right as you need it. Donald's good to have but not someone on whom you can rely. _______________________________________________________________________________ GOOFY 2/7 Acquired: With Sora at the beginning of the game Sleights - Trinity Limit - Goofy Charge (Needs 2 Goofy cards) - Goofy Tornado (Needs 3 Goofy cards) CP Table 0 Goofy: 38 5 Goofy: 28 1 Goofy: 20 6 Goofy: 30 2 Goofy: 22 7 Goofy: 32 3 Goofy: 24 8 Goofy: 34 4 Goofy: 26 9 Goofy: 36 "Goofy swings his shield at the enemy. Stock more than one to power up Goofy's attack." Overall Goofy does less damage than Donald, but at least you won't run the risk of reviving an enemy spellcaster with something that it's strong against. Basically, Goofy jumps in and rams whoever's in his way with a shield smash. As a direct consequence, he has to be aimed carefully before you let him loose. Like Donald, Goofy is a good friend to have around, but don't rely too much on his basic attacks. His sleights increase his power dramatically; see the Sleight section for more details. _______________________________________________________________________________ ALADDIN 3/7 Acquired: Key of Beginnings room in Agrabah Sleights - Sandstorm (Needs 2 or 3 Aladdin cards) CP Table 0 Aladdin: 43 5 Aladdin: 33 1 Aladdin: 25 6 Aladdin: 35 2 Aladdin: 27 7 Aladdin: 37 3 Aladdin: 29 8 Aladdin: 39 4 Aladdin: 31 9 Aladdin: 41 "Aladdin swings his sword at the enemy repeatedly. Stock more than one to power up Aladdin's attack." A mobile version of Cloud. Aladdin doesn't hit quite as hard, but he makes up for this by hitting more often. When summoned, Aladdin hops in front of Sora and swings his sword like a dervish on crack. Even better, you can steer him while he's busy chopping everything (including Heartless with physical defense) into pieces. The downside is that he doesn't last long enough, plus you can't reach enemies floating up in the air. Still a fairly decent friend, but I'd save at least one high-level Aladdin card in case Sora needs to break out of a swarm of Heartless in a hurry. _______________________________________________________________________________ JACK 4/7 Acquired: Entrance to Halloween Town Sleights - Terror - Gifted Miracle - Surprise! (Needs 2 or 3 Jack cards) CP Table 0 Jack: 43 5 Jack: 33 1 Jack: 25 6 Jack: 35 2 Jack: 27 7 Jack: 37 3 Jack: 29 8 Jack: 39 4 Jack: 31 9 Jack: 41 "Jack casts Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, or Gravity. Stock more than one to power up Jack's magic." Jack Skellington is Donald, and then some. He gets Gravity instead of Cure and only hits once, so do unto him as you would do unto Donald. He does get an impressive array of sleights, though, and is easily more powerful than Donald if you manage to sleight three of his cards for a mega Surprise! _______________________________________________________________________________ ARIEL 5/7 Acquired: Key to Guidance room in Atlantica Sleights - Spiral Wave (Needs 2 or 3 Ariel cards) CP Table 0 Ariel: 43 5 Ariel: 33 1 Ariel: 25 6 Ariel: 35 2 Ariel: 27 7 Ariel: 37 3 Ariel: 29 8 Ariel: 39 4 Ariel: 31 9 Ariel: 41 "Ariel whirls across the field, striking many enemies. Stock more than one to power up Ariel's attack." When triggered, Ariel swims in from the side and torpedoes right through any Heartless in a horizontal line centered where Sora stands. This repeats a few times (MANY times if you stock up Ariel cards for Spiral Wave), which can be especially devastating to groups of Heartless all bunched up together. In fact, using Ariel to knock out a single opponent, however strong, could be interpreted as poor use of a fairly powerful card. _______________________________________________________________________________ PETER PAN 6/7 Acquired: Key of Beginnings room in Neverland, then Key to Truth room Sleights - Teleport - Hummingbird (Needs 2 or 3 Peter Pan cards) CP Table 0 Peter Pan: 43 5 Peter Pan: 33 1 Peter Pan: 25 6 Peter Pan: 35 2 Peter Pan: 27 7 Peter Pan: 37 3 Peter Pan: 29 8 Peter Pan: 39 4 Peter Pan: 31 9 Peter Pan: 41 "Peter Pan attacks with his dagger. Stock more than one to power up Peter's attack." Like Ariel, only airborne instead of underwater. Pan flies in and impales any Heartless unlucky enough to be in the way of his dagger. Use him exactly as you'd use Ariel. _______________________________________________________________________________ THE BEAST 7/7 Acquired: Key of Guidance room in Hollow Bastion Sleights - Ferocious Lunge (Needs 2 or 3 The Beast cards) CP Table 0 The Beast: 43 5 The Beast: 33 1 The Beast: 25 6 The Beast: 35 2 The Beast: 27 7 The Beast: 37 3 The Beast: 29 8 The Beast: 39 4 The Beast: 31 9 The Beast: 41 "The Beast mows down anyone in Sora's path. Stock more than one to power up the Beast's attack." Ariel if by sea, Pan if by air, the Beast if by land. Like Ariel and Peter Pan, the Beast is a rushdown attacker. Unlike those two, he's significantly stronger and you may recall in the original Kingdom Hearts how he ran over any Heartless in his path. Not much more to say, use him like you'd use Ariel or Peter Pan. -----------------------------Enemy Cards (49 total)---------------------------- There are more Enemy cards in the game than there are Attack, Magic, Item, and Friend cards put together, but for some reason you'll be using them the least anyways. Enemy cards go into your standard deck and cost CP, but they are specially used. The Select button flips to your Enemy card page, where you can pick one and use it to generate an effect for as long as it is active. Only one Enemy effect may be active at any given time, so if you use another card before the first has run out, you're essentially discarding your first effect. Enemy cards have the big advantage in that they can't be card broken (except by one very special Enemy card), so once active they'll stick like a thorn in your opponent's side. Enemy cards gleaned from bosses can only be picked up once, while Enemy cards harvested from defeated Heartless can be found and placed in-deck repeatedly. Note that if you want a particular Enemy card dropped by a certain Heartless, you'll have to kill that type of Heartless last in battle. Even then, there's only a small chance of gaining that card. Enemy cards can't be reloaded, but for certain cards you can stock more than one in your deck. These cards are not unique; unique cards are found only once in the game and can only be used once in battle. Each Enemy card also has an effect name that is displayed at the bottom of the screen. All Enemy cards have their own unique criteria for how long they last. Some Enemy cards, notably the unique cards, will also have additional effects that may or may not grant a huge advantage to Sora in a fight. _______________________________________________________________________________ SHADOW 1/49 Effect: Incrementor Duration: 2 reloads Unique: No CP Cost: 25 Resale: 10 Acquired: Dropped by Shadows upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Increase the value of all cards by 1." For a nice 25 CP cost, the face values of all your regular deck cards is increased by one. Your cards can't go higher than 9 in value. Think of the Shadow as a less extreme Martial Waking room effect. Accordingly, this Enemy card is great for pure beatdown decks that rely on high numbers anyways, but it plays hell with decks that rely heavily on attack sleights or 0 cards to break an opponent's play. The numbers are incremented as they are played, not while they're in your hand, so it's easy to forget about the Incrementor. The Shadow is a niche card, so treat it accordingly and use it ONLY when it is needed. _______________________________________________________________________________ SOLDIER 2/49 Effect: Combo Plus Duration: 3 reloads Unique: No CP Cost: 20 Resale: 8 Acquired: Dropped by Soldiers upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Add an extra hit to normal combos." An all around great card for beatdown decks if you're using just one type of Keyblade, as you can push an extra attack through. Do note that if you wish to use plenty of Soldier cards, your deck should reflect that. A beatdown deck suited for three card combos rarely works in four card combos. You can get three reloads off before the Combo Plus effect expires, which is especially good for big, CP efficient decks. If you're using a sleight-based deck, don't bother with this card. _______________________________________________________________________________ LARGE BODY 3/49 Effect: Guard Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 40 Resale: 16 Acquired: Dropped by Large Bodies upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Deflect frontal physical attacks and completely nullify damage." If you're good with keeping your back away from your opponent and fighting someone who relies heavily on his Keyblades for direct damage, Large Body is a great card to have. Simply put, all beatdown decks fear this card, which renders a direct attack useless in one fell stroke unless you have an affinity for dodge-roll action during a lengthy sleight. Guard lasts only a single reload, but when you consider its price and effect, that's not an unreasonable amount of time. Keep one (or more) of these cards in your deck for fighting beatdown lovers. _______________________________________________________________________________ RED NOCTURNE 4/49 Effect: Fire Boost Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 20 Resale: 8 Acquired: Dropped by Red Nocturnes upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Increase the strength of Fire abilities." If you use lots of Fire-based abilities, you can make them more potent for a mere 20 CP's worth of cost in your deck. Can we say Mega Flare abuse? Not much more to be said about this card - either you can use it or you can't, and most people can't. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLUE RHAPSODY 5/49 Effect: Blizzard Boost Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 20 Resale: 8 Acquired: Dropped by Blue Rhapsodies upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Increase the strength of Blizzard abilities." See the entry for Red Nocturne and apply it to this card, noting also that ice magic doesn't have one hella cheap and abusable sleight. For that matter, ice doesn't get as many sleights in general as fire. Blue Rhapsody is a decent card if you're packing lots of ice spells in anticipation of a boss weak to the chill. Otherwise, don't bother. _______________________________________________________________________________ YELLOW OPERA 6/49 Effect: Thunder Boost Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 20 Resale: 8 Acquired: Dropped by Yellow Operas upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Increase the strength of Thunder abilities." Same as the above two, for Thunder spells. Slightly more useful than the other two as a stand-alone card since high-level Thunder sleights can blast the whole screen, thus striking multiple opponents. You still don't get a sleight as downright cheap as Mega Flare, but Thundaga can be fun to play with, also. Still, I'd advise against putting this in your deck unless you're absolutely relying on Thunder cards. _______________________________________________________________________________ GREEN REQUIEM 7/49 Effect: Cure Boost Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 20 Resale: 8 Acquired: Dropped by Green Requiems upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Increase the potency of Cure abilities." You shouldn't have to use Cure spells more than occasionally. However, if you've only got a small number of Cure cards and desperately need the recovery, the Green Requiem enemy card can mean the difference between victory and defeat in a close fight. Of all the spell boost cards, I'd rank the Green Requiem as the least useful simply because you shouldn't be needing to use it often. But having one doesn't hurt, especially in a pinch. _______________________________________________________________________________ POWERWILD 8/49 Effect: Retrograde Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 40 Resale: 16 Acquired: Dropped by Powerwilds upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Reverse the values of all cards. 1 becomes 9, 2 becomes 8, etc. Cards with value 0 are not affected." I swear, the Powerwild card has got to be one of the sneakiest around. All of your cards have their values reversed as described by the game. The upshot of this is that you can take a bunch of 1s into battle, play the card, and suddenly you're packing a deck of 9 cards. As you may have guessed, the effect is next to useless for sleight-heavy decks, but it's a boon for people who have little CP to burn on high-level cards. Another feature, which may or may not be a drawback, is that it doesn't affect the opponent's cards - so you can't use it to turn all your enemy's 9 cards into 1s. If you're going to use the Retrograde effect, you can build a solid beatdown deck around lots of low-value cards and half a dozen Powerwilds. But the Powerwild won't work for you if it isn't preplanned, so don't just throw one into your deck and expect it to work like magic. Basically, it's your call whether or not you want to use it. _______________________________________________________________________________ BOUNCYWILD 9/49 Effect: Draw Duration: 5 reloads Unique: No CP Cost: 10 Resale: 4 Acquired: Dropped by Bouncywilds upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Attract fallen cards and items for easy retrieval." A low CP-costing card that gives you a slight edge during story battles, especially if you're having difficulty grabbing experience balls or other such bonuses during a fight. The upside is that it lasts 5 full reloads, which is plenty of time for you to beat up on enemies. The downside is that it lasts 5 full reloads, which is plenty of time for the situation to change into one where you'll find yourself needing another card. Carry one if you can, but don't be hesitant to jettison the effect if you need something else. _______________________________________________________________________________ AIR SOLDIER 10/49 Effect: Reload Kinesis Duration: 3 reloads Unique: No CP Cost: 30 Resale: 12 Acquired: Dropped by Air Soldiers upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Reload while in motion." Use this card and suddenly you no longer have to stand still like a sitting duck when reloading your deck. This is especially useful at the higher reload counter levels, so to get maximum effect from Reload Kinesis you'll want to use it once your reload counter is maxed out. All well and good, but a much more practical (though expensive) solution is loading up on a Mega-Potion or Mega- Ether or similar item that resets the counter for you. Use the Air Soldier only if you can't afford one of these items and desperately need to avoid a pounding while reloading. _______________________________________________________________________________ BANDIT 11/49 Effect: Combo Finish Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 30 Resale: 12 Acquired: Dropped by Bandits upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Make any normal attack as strong as a finishing blow." If you study Sora's swing animation when Combo Finish is activated, you'll notice that he skips the first two swings and goes directly into a Combo Finish attack. This is great if the Keyblade you're using has a powerful Finish hit (One-Winged Angel, Crabclaw, and MAYBE Metal Chocobo come to mind), but useless if the Combo Finish strike is the weakest that it has (use it on an Oblivion deck and watch your fighting power drop to negligible amounts). Note that all Combo Finish attacks get a level boost to damage, letting you artificially raise the power of a deck emphasizing last hits. Just be aware that since each hit is a finishing attack, your ability to combo vanishes into thin air. Use this card only if you're sure that you want it, since it does have its uses (albeit limited). _______________________________________________________________________________ FAT BANDIT 12/49 Effect: Back Attack Duration: 2 reloads Unique: No CP Cost: 40 Resale: 16 Acquired: Dropped by Fat Bandits when defeated Auxiliary effects: None "Increase damage when striking enemies from behind." Hit an enemy from the back and your damage goes up. Easy. Your attacking power increases by about two levels of damage (e.g., from C to B, B+ to A+, and so forth). The problem is getting yourself into position to launch an attack, which is a hassle at best and near impossible at worst. Don't bother trying to pull this on any boss. Another noteworthy observation is that when you hit an opponent, it turns around. Back Attack is therefore only good on the first hit of an attack (Divine Rose with its powerful Strike comes to mind). I don't feel justified in using it, but if you're capable of getting results with it, by all means do so. _______________________________________________________________________________ BARREL SPIDER 13/49 Effect: Quickload Duration: 3 reloads Unique: No CP Cost: 30 Resale: 12 Acquired: Dropped by Barrel Spiders upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Reload cards instantly." Now THIS is convenient. Once the reload counter fills up, all of your cards reappear instantly without that streaming animation. This is especially good for large decks, since the streaming animation can take a sizable amount of time and obviously Sora can't hit back while his deck is rearranging itself. Quickload thus eliminates one of the biggest vulnerability windows that Sora has. The bigger your deck, the more useful the card is. However, I'd still scrap it in favor of potions unless you have absolute gobs of free CP. _______________________________________________________________________________ SEARCH GHOST 14/49 Effect: Drain Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 35 Resale: 14 Acquired: Dropped by Search Ghosts upon defeat Auxiliary effects: - Less exp per kill "Absorb enemy HP when striking with attack cards, but enemies will drop fewer items." This card basically reads, "I'm going to sacrifice a bit of the exp that I would normally earn in order to get some HP back." As a result, Search Ghost is infinitely more useful in multiplayer battles than in the story mode, where HP is good but where you'll want to concentrate on leveling Sora in the long run. It's not like you get a little HP per smack, either - a few good hits and you'd be surprised how much HP comes streaming back. If there's one disadvantage with Drain, it's that the effect doesn't last long enough in small decks. Also note that the Drain effect occurs only off normal attacks; sleights won't give you anything back. _______________________________________________________________________________ SEA NEON 15/49 Effect: Random Values Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 20 Resale: 8 Acquired: Dropped by Sea Neons upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Randomize the values of cards you use." Sea Neon is the mess-with-your-opponent's-mind card, since with the Random Values effect you never know if the next attack will card break your opponent. This causes a huge amount of stress for your foe since a card break will send him reeling but failing to break doesn't affect you. If you're playing a deck full of low-value cards, Sea Neon could potentially save you (though Powerwild is usually a better way to fight). Note that Sea Neon affects only you, not your enemy. It's a fun card to have, but too unreliable to bring into any serious fight. _______________________________________________________________________________ SCREWDIVER 16/49 Effect: Decrementor Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 15 Resale: 6 Acquired: Dropped by Screwdivers upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Decrease the values of all cards by 1." Another niche card, meaning that it has its uses, but you won't be using it often unless your deck is built that way. Screwdiver's main use is allowing you to load up a deck full of 1s and turn them all into 0s, thus getting a load of 0 cards for half the price. You can also use it to turn Ragnarok into Ars Arcanum, etc., but the price you pay is that your cards are easier to break. Still, used properly it can be a versatile card that throws your opponent for a curveball, but a deck built around this effect should include at least 5 Screwdiver cards. It's a really cheap card, so the problem is mostly camping around Atlantica poaching for Screwdiver cards. _______________________________________________________________________________ AQUATANK 17/49 Effect: Auto-Reload Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 30 Resale: 12 Acquired: Dropped by Aquatanks upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Automatically reload cards when they run out." On the surface, this is a great idea - hey, save me the hassle of reloading cards myself! - but unless your deck is built to take advantage of Aquatank, you may as well forget about it. First, it lasts only 1 reload. Second, it takes effect only after your whole deck - friends, items, attacks, magic, the works - are depleted. This almost never happens except in a pure beatdown deck and even then the chances are rare. I'd save the 40 CP and spend a little more to throw an extra Elixir into the deck, which serves the same purpose in a far more versatile way. Auto-Reload does have its good features, however; it reloads instantly, like an item, and it doesn't increment the reload counter, also like an item. _______________________________________________________________________________ WIGHT KNIGHT 18/49 Effect: Float Duration: 3 reloads Unique: No CP Cost: 15 Resale: 6 Acquired: Dropped by Wight Knights upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Alter gravity to increase jumping ability." You jump higher and that's about it. Use it if you find yourself swarmed consistently by lots of ground-based Heartless. In multiplayer, don't bother. For that matter, don't even bother in Story mode except against certain bosses; you can reach any airborne enemy at the height of your normal jump. _______________________________________________________________________________ GARGOYLE 19/49 Effect: Vanish Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 30 Resale: 12 Acquired: Dropped by Gargoyles upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Become invisible and reduce your chances of being hit." Sora turns invisible, which is denoted in-game by a sprite that blinks in and out. In multiplayer, your character vanishes from your opponent's screen though he can still see your deck and equipped sleights. Pretty funny to see Heartless attacking in every which direction during Story mode. Taking a hit does not cancel the invisibility. For that matter, you could pull off an Ars Arcanum right next to your opponent without compromising your stealth. A smart opponent will have a 0 card ready, of course, but the surprise factor may allow you to get in a couple of good whacks before any response comes out. Don't try to pull any high-cooldown moves like Ragnarok while stealthed, though - your opponent can still see your deck or equipped sleight and WILL react according to what he sees. If you can afford the CP cost, keep a couple of Gargoyles in your deck. _______________________________________________________________________________ PIRATE 20/49 Effect: All Zeroes Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 30 Resale: 12 Acquired: Dropped by Pirates upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Change the values of all cards to 0." All of your cards change into 0 cards. Not much else to say really. This is great if you find yourself consistently needing to break an enemy sleight, so you'll be able to terrorize sleight-heavy decks, but you can also expect any card that you throw out to get broken in turn. Magic, Items, and Friends have this bad habit of taking way too long to execute, which is definitely something you don't want to risk when you're using 0 cards. All your Keyblade sleights turn into Zantetsukens and your Magic/Item sleights remain unaffected. _______________________________________________________________________________ AIR PIRATE 21/49 Effect: Item Bracer Duration: 3 reloads Unique: No CP Cost: 30 Resale: 12 Acquired: Dropped by Air Pirates upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Stop enemies from breaking item cards you use." If you find yourself losing lots of items to 0 cards or Zantetsukens or what have you, you might seriously consider adding an Air Pirate card to your deck. For three reloads, you get to laugh at your opponent's attempts to break your card recovery. Needless to say, this is great for you and bad for your foe, especially if you're both far into a battle and you decide to pop out a Megalixir. If you don't want to bother with recovery items, ditch this card. And if you're up against a bad opponent, you might want to ditch it anyways. _______________________________________________________________________________ DARKBALL 22/49 Effect: Cardblind Duration: 3 reloads Unique: No CP Cost: 25 Resale: 10 Acquired: Dropped by Darkballs upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Hide the cards you hold from hostile eyes." Darkball is a great card - for 25 CP, you get to surprise your opponent with a 0 card right when he's least expecting it. As such, using Cardblind allows you to play mind games with your opponent. It's next to useless in the story mode since computers don't react based on what cards you're packing. Do note that your sleights are still visible, so you can't just sneak up and let an Ars Arcanum or a Holy loose on whoever you're playing against. Overall the Darkball is one of the best cards that you can pack, the only disadvantage being that you're giving up other Enemy effects to use it. _______________________________________________________________________________ DEFENDER 23/49 Effect: Protect Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 25 Resale: 10 Acquired: Dropped by Defenders upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Decrease damage from physical attacks by the enemy. Magical attacks do normal damage." You take less damage from Keyblade strikes. In effect, Defender is one of the best cards to use against a beatdown deck, the only problem being that it lasts but one reload. Don't bother with it if you find yourself being pasted by magic. Protect also seems to lessen damage from physical attack sleights, which can really add up if you're on the receiving end of an Ars Arcanum. In conclusion, if you know that your opponent is building a beatdown deck, bring a Defender along. _______________________________________________________________________________ WYVERN 24/49 Effect: Reload Lock Duration: 3 reloads Unique: No CP Cost: 25 Resale: 10 Acquired: Dropped by Wyverns upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Reload without incrementing the reload counter." Kinda nice to have, since for 25 CP you'll get three free reloads without kicking up the counter should you choose to use them all. This is especially good for small, expensive-card decks and not so good for big decks. I don't really recommend this card if you're going to be using other Enemy cards or Items that compensate for reloads. If the Wyvern is all that you have, though, go ahead and place it in your deck. _______________________________________________________________________________ WIZARD 25/49 Effect: Magic Boost Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 30 Resale: 12 Acquired: Dropped by Wizards upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Forfeit summon card use to power up magic cards." If you like using magic, this is the card for you. It's a Red Nocturne, Blue Rhapsody, Yellow Opera, Green Requiem and then some all wrapped up into one. All of your magic cards get a slight boost in damage and duration. The downside is that you lose the use of your summon cards, which means no Mushu for Mega Flare and no Cloud for Omnislash. Is it worth it? Depends mostly on your deck setup. Your summon cards return to use once the deck is reloaded again. _______________________________________________________________________________ NEOSHADOW 26/49 Effect: Bio Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 25 Resale: 10 Acquired: Dropped by NeoShadows upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Cause enemies' HP to gradually drop." This has GOT to be one of the cheapest cards on the block. At a mere 25 CP cost, you get to dodge-roll around while watching your opponent's HP drop. A cut in HP is bad no matter how you look at it, and with proper usage of dodge- roll and 0 cards you can make life truly miserable for any would-be enemy. Bio works equally well in either story mode or competitive battle. Drawbacks are twofold - one, you'll need a lot of these cards to make the effects really add up, and two, you'll have to poach NeoShadows in order to get these cards. _______________________________________________________________________________ WHITE MUSHROOM 27/49 Effect: Hyper Healing Duration: 3 reloads Unique: No CP Cost: 25 Resale: 10 Acquired: Dropped by White Mushrooms after completing first aid Auxiliary effects: None "Restore some HP every time you use a friend card." Limited usage unless you like to call out lots of friends in battle. The obvious limitation is that there's no assurance your friends will actually show up when you want them to. Seeing as how there are far more efficient ways to go about healing yourself, I'd say leave the White Mushroom out of your deck. Seriously, if you have even one Cure card, there's little justification for using Hyper Healing. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLACK FUNGUS 28/49 Effect: Random Flush Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 20 Resale: 8 Acquired: Dropped by Black Fungi upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Activate a random enemy card effect." Like most other randomizers, Random Flush is fun but unreliable. For a 20 CP cost you get to randomly gain an enemy effect. This can work either way; if you pick up an effect that costs a LOT (cough*Marluxia*cough*Lexaeus) AND is useful, you win. Conversely, you might pick up an effect that does nothing for you (Item Bracer when you've used up all your items) or even worse throw your deck out of whack (Incrementor for a deck heavy on attack sleights). Certain decks accommodate the Black Fungus more readily than others, but it's your call if you want to risk using it. _______________________________________________________________________________ CREEPER PLANT 29/49 Effect: Leaf Bracer Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 35 Resale: 14 Acquired: Dropped by Creeper Plants upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Stop enemies from breaking Cure abilities you use." Good opponents will use Zantetsuken to blast away your Cure cards. You may also run into a lot of card breaks during the story line and nothing is worse than banking your hopes on a Curaga sleight only to see it knocked away by a 0 card. Stop your opponent with the Creeper Plant. Since Leaf Bracer is pretty much only taking up space unless you're actually using a Cure ability, the best way to use this Enemy effect is to fully heal yourself, then switch to another Enemy card. As Sora's total HP capacity increases, so does the usefulness of Leaf Bracer. _______________________________________________________________________________ TORNADO STEP 30/49 Effect: Reload Haste Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 25 Resale: 10 Acquired: Dropped by Tornado Steps upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Subtract 2 from the reload counter." Reload Haste allows you to get one free reload reset for a single turn. As such, it should be activated RIGHT before reload and only if you don't intend to use an item. It's only good for a single reload. It's cheaper than any item that you'll find, but are you justified in using it? My advice would be to dispense with this card and level up one more time in order to throw an item of sorts into your deck. _______________________________________________________________________________ CRESCENDO 31/49 Effect: Summon Boost Duration: 1 reload Unique: No CP Cost: 20 Resale: 8 Acquired: Dropped by Crescendos upon defeat Auxiliary effects: None "Forfeit magic card use to power up summon cards." For those of us who like to abuse summons or summon sleights, the Crescendo card allows you to power up your summons at the cost of losing the magic cards in your current lineup. This is great if you like using Omnislash or want to get an extra bit of damage out of Proud Roar. The downside, of course, is that along with your magic cards proper you lose any sleight that uses them, which means no Mega Flare or Stop Raid abuse. Leave out the Crescendo card unless you are certain that you want to build a deck around summon attacks, in which case having three or four can't hurt. _______________________________________________________________________________ GUARD ARMOR 32/49 Effect: Wide Attack Duration: 30 attacks Unique: Yes CP Cost: 30 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key to Truth room in Traverse Town Auxiliary effects: None "Slightly extend the range of attack cards." Your Keyblades reach further, which is always good against multiple enemies and may also give you a slight edge in multiplayer battles. It costs only 30 CP which makes it a very cheap card considering that it is unique. However, you probably won't be placing Guard Armor in your deck simply because there are so many more useful enemy cards out there. When all's said and done, you'll probably want to use other cards. _______________________________________________________________________________ PARASITE CAGE 33/49 Effect: Dispel Duration: 1 use Unique: Yes CP Cost: 60 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key to Guidance room in Monstro Auxiliary effects: None "Break an opponent's enemy card without fail. Nothing happens if your opponent has no enemy card in play." When played, the Parasite Cage destroys your opponent's enemy card effect. This is great if your enemy is using expensive cards like Marluxia or Lexaeus, of which he has only one copy. The problem is that you can only have a single Parasite Cage, plus it costs a fairly hefty amount to put into your deck. It might save you in a multiplayer battle; in story mode, don't bother with it unless you're up against a boss with a nasty card effect that you absolutely must get rid of. Even then, it's an open question as to whether or not you should simply wait the effect out. _______________________________________________________________________________ TRICKMASTER 34/49 Effect: Value Break Duration: 10 breaks Unique: Yes CP Cost: 25 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key to Truth room in Wonderland Auxiliary effects: None "When you lose a card break, reduce the value of the enemy's card by the value of your broken card." Trickmaster reads "You break me, you lose value, I break you." As such, you can use it to set up some truly heinous counterattacks, especially if you lose the card break only by 1 or 2. This allows you to break your enemy with low- value sleights such as Ars Arcanum or Ragnarok in revenge. If you're going to use the Trickmaster, however, keep in mind that you only have ten breaks to take advantage of and should use them wisely. Getting broken by a 0 card won't reduce your opponent's attack any further, but then again a 0 card doesn't need any reduction to make it vulnerable. _______________________________________________________________________________ DARKSIDE 35/49 Effect: Mimic Duration: 1 use Unique: Yes CP Cost: 99 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key to Truth room in Destiny Islands Auxiliary effects: None "Copy the enemy card your opponent is using. Nothing happens if your opponent has no enemy card in play." Basically what the in-game description says. See an effect that you like but don't have yourself? Then steal it! ... for 99 CP, that is. You'll have to decide whether or not the high CP cost is worth it. In both story mode and multiplayer you can grab such awesome effects as Double Sleight and Warp Break, but your opponent could also decide to dispense with enemy cards, in which case you're 99 CP down the drain with nothing to show for it. Thus, Darkside is a strictly use as necessary enemy card. _______________________________________________________________________________ CARD SOLDIER 36/49 Effect: Attack Haste Duration: 30 attacks Unique: Yes CP Cost: 55 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key of Beginnings room in Wonderland Auxiliary effects: None "Increase the swing speed of attack cards." For the duration of Attack Haste, your Keyblades all come out two levels faster - C becomes B, B becomes A, etc. Useless if you're packing Diamond Dust or Fairy Harp, great for slow swingers like Lionheart or Oblivion. Basically, you use Card Soldier as needed. If you're building a deck around a slow card, having a Card Soldier doesn't hurt. With fast cards you shouldn't bother, and with attack cards that run the speed gamut it's strictly up to whether or not you want to burn 55 CP. _______________________________________________________________________________ HADES 37/49 Effect: Berserk Duration: 30 attacks Unique: Yes CP Cost: 40 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key to Truth room in Olympus Coliseum Auxiliary effects: - Resistant to fire - Stunned by ice "Boost the power of attack cards when low on HP (when the gauge is flashing red)." The upside: you hit harder. The downside: you have to be at critical HP levels to hit harder. For 40 CP, you get to risk defeat in order to make your enemy feel the pain. It's a good bargain if you have high HP pools (since the HP level considered critical rises with Sora's health) and can consistently hit your opponent more often than he hits you. Personally, I'd argue that Hades' biggest advantage is the fire resistance he confers upon you at a 40 CP cost. This is especially useful if you're going to fight someone who likes Fire cards or Fire spells. _______________________________________________________________________________ JAFAR 38/49 Effect: Attack Bracer Duration: 20 attacks Unique: Yes CP Cost: 65 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key to Truth room in Agrabah Auxiliary effects: None "Stop enemies from breaking attack cards you use." Unless your opponent uses a 0 card, any time you have an attack card active you are totally safe. Nothing can break your cards, not even a high-level sleight. The obvious advantage is that you can now finish up your attack chain with a sharply reduced risk of interruption, which is important for slow attack cards like Lionheart or Oblivion. Your attack sleights receive a similar level of protection WITHOUT decreasing the Bracer gauge; take advantage of it to pull the slow sleights in battle. Do note that you should never depend too much on Attack Bracer since any 0 card will still override it. All in all a very good card to have and use, especially in story mode. _______________________________________________________________________________ OOGIE BOOGIE 39/49 Effect: Regen Duration: 10 uses Unique: Yes CP Cost: 40 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key to Truth room in Halloween Town Auxiliary effects: None "Gradually restore HP. HP return more quickly when low." Oogie Boogie is a glorified Tinker Bell, but with the added effect that only Parasite Cage can break him (and that would leave your opponent 20 CP in loss). Otherwise, there's not much that your enemy can do other than wail on you and pray that Regen runs out before his onslaught stops. Regen is a definitely comeback card and works well for both low HP and high HP characters since once it tops the HP pool it stops until another attack is taken. Place this card in your deck, but remember that it should never be more than a mere supplement to your main source of HP restoration. _______________________________________________________________________________ URSULA 40/49 Effect: Shell Duration: 5 hits taken Unique: Yes CP Cost: 50 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key to Truth room in Atlantica Auxiliary effects: None "Halve the damage from magical attacks by the enemy. Summon magic does normal damage." Magic-using opponents are fairly rare but can be absolute hell to fight against if the deck is well-built. In the story mode, Defender is usually more useful than Ursula, not to mention less expensive. Still, if you're up against a particularly spell/summon-happy boss or opponent, you might find Shell a worthy investment. I personally wouldn't bother since it's usually easier to stuff a non-physical attack with a 0 card, but that's just me. _______________________________________________________________________________ HOOK 41/49 Effect: Second Chance Duration: 3 uses Unique: Yes CP Cost: 35 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key to Truth room in Neverland Auxiliary effects: - Resistant to lightning - Stunned by fire "Retain 1 HP after a critical hit, provided you have 2 or more HP left." If you're taking a pounding, using Hook might give you one final chance to redeem yourself. Basically, you sleight a Curaga, wait until you're KO'ed and revived, then immediately trigger the Curaga. Second Chance gives you three uses, which can save your hide if you have a low HP pool and find yourself on the receiving end of a barrage of attacks. Hook also grants resistance to lightning but makes Sora weak against fire, which could either help or hurt you depending on the opponent. I'd recommend Vexen over Hook unless you can't afford the CP cost. _______________________________________________________________________________ DRAGON MALEFICENT 42/49 Effect: Overdrive Duration: 30 attacks Unique: Yes CP Cost: 70 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key to Truth room in Hollow Bastion Auxiliary effects: - Reload slowdown "Sacrifice reload speed to power up attack cards." Your attacks all get a single level boost in strength (C becomes C+, B+ becomes A, etc.), but your reload counter fills up at a somewhat slower pace. Basically, Overdrive nets you three extra levels of attack per chain at the cost of a reduced reload speed. We're not talking about a large speed decrease either. However, if you're going to use Overdrive at all, for obvious reasons you'll want to do it while your reload counter is at 1. Previously I had stated that attack damage does not exceed *, but this is untrue - Overdrive can boost a Keyblade to *+ damage. Thanks to EchoPhoenix for pointing this out. _______________________________________________________________________________ RIKU 43/49 Effect: Sleight Lock Duration: 5 sleights Unique: Yes CP Cost: 80 Resale: Can't Acquired: Defeat Riku IV Auxiliary effects: - Resistant to fire, ice, and lightning "Keep cards used in sleights available for reloading." The description ought to read "keep SOME cards available for reloading" as you won't be seeing any of your items back. For five sleights, Riku preserves the card that you led the sleight with. This equals 16 CP per card, which is cheaper than just about nearly any card in the game except for the Kingdom Key and certain A-level Keyblades. If you want to preserve Mushu for more Mega Flares or keep Cloud around for an extra Omnislash, Sleight Lock is the way to go. As an added bonus, you also get global elemental resistance. Beatdown decks can skip Sleight Lock, but any deck that relies significantly on sleights should definitely include it. _______________________________________________________________________________ AXEL 44/49 Effect: Quick Recovery Duration: 10 hits taken Unique: Yes CP Cost: 75 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key of Beginnings room in Castle Oblivion Auxiliary effects: - Immune to fire - Stunned by ice "Use cards even while staggering from damage." When you're hit, you can't use a card until you've recovered. Axel's card gets around this little disadvantage, which can be especially frustrating for opponents who like to use slow Keyblades or slow sleights. Axel also grants immunity to fire, which is great if you're up against someone who likes using fire-based Keyblades or sleights. The downside is that you'll suffer from huge weaknesses against the fast and powerful Diamond Dust cards. However, Quick Recovery allows you to strike back and may well be the only way to stop Holy once it hits. A good card to keep when confronting sleight-happy opponents. _______________________________________________________________________________ LARXENE 45/49 Effect: Dash Duration: 15 cards Unique: Yes CP Cost: 60 Resale: Can't Acquired: Defeat Larxene II Auxiliary effects: - Immune to lightning - Weak against special attacks "Increase running speed." You cover about 50% more distance in the same amount of time that you would without Dash. This is a great card if you like to play hit-and-run with your opponent, but the fact that the battlefield is kinda small limits how useful Larxene can be. You also gain lightning immunity, which may or may not be of use. Unfortunately, Sora's dodge roll doesn't come out any more quickly or cover any additional distance. Basically Larxene's card is fun to play with but should be set aside for any serious battle. _______________________________________________________________________________ VEXEN 46/49 Effect: Auto-Life Duration: 1 use Unique: Yes CP Cost: 60 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key of Beginnings room in Twilight Town Auxiliary effects: - Immune to ice - Stunned by fire "Revive automatically when your HP reach 0. Only a small amount of HP is restored." The same function as Hook, but with two major differences. First, you will revive with a small fraction of your full HP upon KO regardless of how much health you had when defeated. Second, it only takes effect once. Hook and Vexen are both weak against fire, but they confer different advantages. For one, Vexen turns the tables on anyone using a Diamond Dust deck in spite of the fact that Auto-Life is more expensive than Second Chance. Overall I'd say that Vexen's card is better than Hook's, since you're guaranteed at least one more chance. _______________________________________________________________________________ MARLUXIA 47/49 Effect: Double Sleight Duration: 3 sleights Unique: Yes CP Cost: 99 Resale: Can't Acquired: Key of Guidance room in Castle Oblivion Auxiliary effects: - Resistant to fire, ice, lightning, and special attacks - Weak against physical attacks "Use stocked cards and sleights twice in a row. However, during versus battles it bumps up the reload counter." Marluxia basically makes you strong against everything except a direct physical hit. You also use any sleight twice in a row with no pause in between so long as the sleight remains unbroken. This can be great for screen-clearers such as Mega Flare in story mode or concentrated sleights such as Holy or Ars Arcanum in multiplayer. Basically, you get three free sleights for 33 CP per sleight, which is a total bargain when you consider that the cheapest sleight not involving friends is Ars Arcanum with 3 Kingdom Keys, which costs 30 CP to equip. As such, your sleights will nearly always cost more than 33 CP, often much more. Simply put, Double Sleight is one of the best enemy effects in the whole game IF you can use it properly. The only downside is the kick that the reload counter takes once Double Sleight is activated. _______________________________________________________________________________ LEXAEUS 48/49 Effect: Warp Break Duration: 50 attacks Unique: Yes CP Cost: 99 Resale: Can't Acquired: After obtaining Ultima Weapon. See notes. Auxiliary effects: - Immune to ice - Resistant to physical attacks - Weak against special attacks "Obliterate enemies with the finishing blow of a combo with a high success rate. During versus battles you can stun your opponent." Upon smacking a Heartless with a Combo Finish, it hopefully vanishes into thin air AND drops exp balls, unlike the Warp sleight. Warp Break lasts for a full 50 attacks, all of which you'll want to use to your advantage. Lexaeus also confers ice immunity and resistance to physical attacks; unfortunately, the weakness against special attacks means that you'll want to stow the card when facing a sleight-heavy deck. On the other hand, Warp Break's stun effect also gives you a potential advantage seeing as how you can pull a powerful sleight while your opponent is dizzy. Lexaeus is thus a double-edged card, to be used only when you suffer less from it than your opponent. _______________________________________________________________________________ ANSEM 49/49 Effect: Sleightblind Duration: 10 sleights Unique: Yes CP Cost: 60 Resale: Can't Acquired: After obtaining Ultima Weapon. See notes. Auxiliary effects: - Resistant to fire, ice, and lightning "Conceal your stocked cards from opponents." For 6 CP per sleight, you can hide your sleights from your opponent. This is great in general for any sleight-heavy deck and especially good for hiding that Zantetsuken you intend to hit someone with. Alternatively, you can also use it to hide a low-value sleight to prevent your opponent from anticipating it. Sleightblind also grants a hefty array of resistances. Overall a very good card and a definite must-have for any counter-based fighting deck. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SLEIGHTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you first enter Traverse Town, Leon is there to teach you about card sleights and how to use them. To use a sleight, Sora stocks up to three cards and them triggers them simultaneously. Leon also cautions you to the drawbacks of using sleights: when you do, the card that you use to lead off a sleight becomes unavailable by normal reload. Because of this, it is essential not to overuse sleights, otherwise you'll find yourself fighting on a rapidly thinning deck. Normally, stocking three cards allows you to use each one in succession without the pause that normally comes between card use. When using a triple attack sleight, you'll note that Sora dishes out each Keyblade strike far more quickly than he would if the cards were used individually. The game counts the total value of all the cards in the sleight as the value of that sleight, which is used for break and technique calculations. Better still, even running into opponents that normally guard against physical attacks (frontal attacks against Large Bodies, Fat Bandits, etc.) still won't cause Sora's attack to stop or reel apart. The true power behind sleights, however, lies in the fact that as you go through the game, you can learn how to use certain combinations to set up quite devastating attacks. For example, if Sora uses a 1 attack, 2 attack, and 3 attack, he'll swing his Keyblade thrice. However, once you gain a certain sleight technique at level 37, this particular combination becomes Ars Arcanum, a powerful storm of attacks that runs through the opposition. There are three types of special Sleights. Attack sleights are primarily based upon the Keyblade cards. Without exception, they all do non-elemental damage and thus punch through any sort of defense. They also tend to be rigid in the card numbers used for the sleight, so changing card values even a little may result in a totally different sleight. Magic sleights are based on Magic or Item cards and these sleights can have an elemental property. Finally, Friend sleights will require a Friend card to use. Neither Magic nor Friend sleights depend on a card's value at all, so the higher the sleight's value, the more difficult it is to break. Sora doesn't start with any Sleight techniques; instead, he has to gain them through the course of the game. He can gain eleven Sleights as bonuses at certain intervals from leveling. Others will be found in Bounty rooms and a few in certain Reward rooms. Still others will be acquired as story events. Sleight descriptions, card requirements, and my own commentary are given below. Unless specifically noted, a sleight MUST be built in the order listed - for example, Mushu + Fire + Fire forms Mega Flare. If you use Fire + Fire + Mushu, you'd get Fira instead, while Fire + Mushu + Fire produces no special sleight at all. ---------------------------Attack Sleights (9 total)--------------------------- Attack sleights are primarily based upon the Keyblade cards. All of them deal out non-elemental damage and as such they will all pierce any defense. The disadvantage is that Attack sleights tend to have very rigid value limits - your sleight must be made using such and such cards with such and such total values, or else you'll get a different sleight. Keep this in mind when you add Enemy cards to your deck. _______________________________________________________________________________ SLIDING DASH 1/9 Acquired: Level bonus at level 2 or above Requires: Three attack cards of the same type. Total value 10-15 "Slide toward distant targets for a close-range attack." Sora sticks the Keyblade in front of himself and skids across the field on it, ramming through anything in his way. Great range, plus it'll punch right through a cluster of Heartless and hit all of them, but it won't touch a flying enemy. It doesn't do much damage. Early on, Sliding Dash is a good sleight to use against tightly packed clusters of enemies for a free hit, but you'll rapidly find yourself doing without it as you progress through the game. In multiplayer, it really has no place. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLITZ 2/9 Acquired: Level bonus at level 17 or above Requires: Three attack cards of differing type. Total value 10-15 "Unleash a powerful three-hit combo upon the enemy." Sora leaps into the air and at an enemy, then brings the Keyblade smashing down from above. Hits both grounded and airborne opponents and deals out fair damage. Sora repeats the leap twice; against a large enemy, you can sometimes get as many as three hits before Sora jumps again. Blitz goes after whichever enemy has the target cursor on it when it is triggered; if Sora kills an enemy, the technique will automatically seek out a new one. There are better sleights for pure damage, but Blitz is still a fairly solid sleight throughout the entire story mode. In multiplayer, you can use it to hit your friend from across the field while he's reloading cards. _______________________________________________________________________________ STUN IMPACT 3/9 Acquired: Level bonus at level 7 or above Requires: Three attack cards of the same type Total value 20-23 "Stun surrounding enemies with a single attack." Sora brandishes the Keyblade, then plunges it into the Earth. Somehow this creates a hemisphere of energy that stuns any opponent unlucky enough to get caught in it. Alone, Stun Impact doesn't do much damage, plus its range is restricted to anything within Keyblade's reach of Sora. Early in the game, you might find yourself using this attack to pin down Heartless for a good whack. It's only later, however, that Stun Impact becomes really useful provided that you can hit something with it, as then you'll have more powerful sleights to dish out damage. You can forget about using it in multiplayer since no decent opponent would get caught in it. _______________________________________________________________________________ ZANTETSUKEN 4/9 Acquired: Level bonus at level 27 or above Requires: Three attack cards Total value 0 or 27 "Break a card and render it unreloadable until the end of the battle." Twirling his Keyblade, Sora makes a gigantic cut through the air in front of him. Somehow, it only does piddling damage - however, Zantetsuken's real use lies in its auxiliary effect. Note the required card values: basically, it breaks whatever is active at the time. Not only does it do that, Zantetsuken also knocks that card (or set of cards, if it broke a sleight) out of the rest of the fight. This is especially good in multiplayer if you need to take out your opponent's healing cards. 27 Zantetsuken is very difficult indeed to break, but you can expect 0 Zantetsuken to break before it hits thanks to the sizable windup delay. _______________________________________________________________________________ STRIKE RAID 5/9 Acquired: Level bonus at level 12 or above Requires: Three attack cards Total value 24-26 "Hurl the Keyblade forward, stunning and dealing damage." Another hard to break sleight, for the Strike Raid technique Sora flings the Keyblade across the field. This attack stuns anything that it hits. The problem lies in the observation that stun never lasts as long as you wish it would - bosses can recover almost before Sora gets his key back. Strike Raid is handy for putting a halt to a line of enemies, but there are better sleights available for that purpose. The best time to use it is after a good run, since enemies have a tendency to fall into a line when they pursue you. Don't bother with this sleight in multiplayer combat. _______________________________________________________________________________ SONIC BLADE 6/9 Acquired: Level bonus at level 22 or above Requires: Three attack cards of different types Total value 20-23 "Rocket across the field, striking down any enemies in the way. Press the A button for up to six additional attacks." Sora fixes the Keyblade in front of himself and then barrels across the battlefield, blasting through anything in his way. Sonic Blade has great range and can be steered, though it doesn't hit enemies high in the air and will end prematurely once it reaches the far end of its range. Whenever you press the A button for another strike, Sora will make a 180 degree turn and go sliding back in the direction he came from. On the final strike, he'll shout "This is it!" as the camera zooms in on him. Sonic Blade typically does about C+ damage per strike except the last one, which can do significantly more. It's useful against both masses of Heartless and bosses or enemies in multiplayer. A good and versatile sleight to have. _______________________________________________________________________________ ARS ARCANUM 7/9 Acquired: Level bonus at level 37 or above Requires: Three attack cards Total value 1-6 "Rain a flurry of blows upon the enemy." Sora begins moving forward while ripping through the air with repeated Keyblade strokes. Ars Arcanum finishes when he leaps through the air and comes down with a powerful smash and a yell of "This is it!" The sleight always tracks whichever enemy has the target cursor on it, though unlike Blitz it will not always reacquire targets when the current victim is dead. Ars Arcanum is the ultimate attack sleight when it comes to beating up on a single, strong foe since it does so much damage. It's also quite cheap to equip; the downside, of course, is that the sleight gets broken easily, even in story mode against normal enemies. Once started it only strikes grounded opponents, but you can hit airborne enemies if you trigger the sleight in midair. If you're going to use Ars Arcanum a lot, pair it up with an Attack Bracer or something that stuns or stops the target. Overall it's one of the best sleights to keep in your deck. _______________________________________________________________________________ RAGNAROK 8/9 Acquired: Level bonus at level 47 or above Requires: Three attack cards Total value 7-9 "Leap into the air and fire a stream of rays in front of you." Sora jumps into the air and in an overt defiance of gravity he floats as energy collects onto the tip of the Keyblade. You can move Sora around while he's floating in order to get a bead on your enemies since the AI is smart enough to try and avoid the incoming attack. When fully charged, Sora fires out a concentrated blast of rays. Ragnarok does about half the damage of Ars Arcanum, but to compensate it has a whole-screen range. Unfortunately, the windup time is really, really lengthy - nearly 3 seconds - which leaves plenty of time for an opponent to break the sleight. And if you look at the card values, any decent enemy WILL break the sleight. Don't use it in multiplayer; in story mode, it has its moments, but overall you're better off with Ars Arcanum. UPDATE: Thanks to alert reader Kenjoki Ikari, I've been informed that Ragnarok can be fired prematurely without any loss in power. Just hit the attack button to trigger it once energy begins to collect on Sora's keyblade. _______________________________________________________________________________ TRINITY LIMIT 9/9 Acquired: Story event upon entering Floor 13, Castle Oblivion Requires: Any attack card + Donald Duck + Goofy "Inflicts heavy damage on all enemies in sight." Sora leaps into the air as a keyhole appears in the floor, sticks his Keyblade into it, and turns. This unlocks an enormous reservoir of energy that blasts through most anything on the battlefield, with only the hardiest of Heartless able to survive it. Back in the original Kingdom Hearts, Trinity Limit drained all of your MP, but in Chain of Memories it costs significantly less to use. First off, you don't have to start the sleight with an attack card; instead, use a Friend card, since they vanish anyways after use. Trinity Limit hits even harder than Mega Flare and it affects the whole battlefield; a problem, however, lies in its long windup delay; any competent opponent will break the sleight with a 0 card. In story battles against normal opponents, this sleight is a screen cleaner. Don't bother with it for character bosses or multiplayer. ---------------------------Magic Sleights (38 total)--------------------------- Unlike Attack sleights, Magic sleights do not depend at all upon the total value of the cards Sora has stocked. Instead, they depend solely upon the actual card types themselves. For this reason, map cards like Sorcerous Waking and enemy effects like Incrementor won't screw up a Magic sleight the way that they'd mess up an Attack sleight. Unfortunately, you'll find that only a small number of Magic sleights are of any use to you - the rest are interesting to use from time to time, but of limited value in serious battles. _______________________________________________________________________________ FIRA 1/38 Acquired: Learned with first Fire card (after defeating Axel I) Requires: Fire + Fire "Sizzle the opposition with powerful fire magic." A step up from basic Fire, so to speak. Unfortunately, it's not much of a step. Basically, Sora fires (pardon the pun) a mass of flame in front of himself and it explodes if it hits anything. Fira has a wider blast radius than Fire and it hits comparatively harder, but essentially it's just a bigger and more glorified version of the basic spell. Fira only strikes a single enemy. Treat it as such. _______________________________________________________________________________ FIRAGA 2/38 Acquired: Learned with first Fire card (after defeating Axel I) Requires: Fire + Fire + Fire "Scorch the opposition with supreme fire magic." Like Fira, only more powerful still and boasting a yet wider blast radius. It still doesn't hit very far, however. Firaga does a sizable load of damage, especially if you're up against an enemy weak to flames. Against such foes, you'll see entire bars knocked down. I still wouldn't recommend putting this in your deck simply because there are more effective sleights out there. Like its cousins, Firaga is a niche spell. And again like Fire, it only hits one enemy. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLIZZARA 3/38 Acquired: Learned with first Blizzard card (by default) Requires: Blizzard + Blizzard "Chill the opposition with powerful ice magic." Sora unleashes a snowflake which will expand into an ice crystal if it hits anything. Like the spell that it's based on, Blizzara still won't win any prizes for range. It does damage comparable to Fira so long as its target doesn't have any special resistances. Of the three spells, Blizzara definitely gets the short end of the stick as it has neither Fira's range nor Thundara's wide blast radius. It's advantage lies in being able to hit more than one foe when it bursts. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLIZZAGA 4/38 Acquired: Learned with first Blizzard card (by default) Requires: Blizzard + Blizzard + Blizzard "Freeze the opposition with supreme ice magic." Another snowflake and this time it expands into a huge crystal nearly as big as Sora himself upon impact. Blizzaga still has the range problems that we've come to know and love from the ice spells. In terms of pure damage, it can scythe right through any enemy weak against ice provided you can hit your target. See my comments on how Blizzara stacks up against its two peers, then apply the same comments here. _______________________________________________________________________________ THUNDARA 5/38 Acquired: Learned with first Thunder card (after defeating Larxene I) Requires: Thunder + Thunder "Shock the opposition with powerful lightning magic." A step up from Thunder and a fairly sizable step at that. Whereas in the basic Thunder spell Sora simply called down Zeus' wrath onto whatever was in front of him, Thundara hits the whole screen. It also doesn't have the target acquisition problems of fire or ice, since it comes out without having to hit anything first. Thundara blasts away a good deal of the screen; for the first half of the story mode, it's a fairly good sleight to have for softening up crowds of enemies. Thundara's strength lies in its range, but the price to pay for this wide area of effect is that Thundara does less damage than Blizzara or Fira. _______________________________________________________________________________ THUNDAGA 6/38 Acquired: Learned with first Thunder card (after defeating Larxene I) Requires: Thunder + Thunder + Thunder "Fry the opposition with supreme lightning magic." Like Thundara, only more powerful still. Thundaga hits the entire screen and comes out at decent speed. It does less damage than Blizzaga and Firaga, but you no longer have to worry about aiming the spell to hit more than one opponent. For much of story mode, Thundaga is a screen-clearer of a sleight. Still, don't use it in competitive multiplayer, and only use it if a boss has a specific weakness to lightning. _______________________________________________________________________________ CURA 7/38 Acquired: Learned with first Cure card (by default) Requires: Cure + Cure "Restore a lot of HP." By "a lot of HP", the game means around 65-75 HP. Cura is one of the best sleights early in the game, though as you progress through the story and into multiplayer it eventually becomes overshadowed by Curaga. The best way to use Cura is to trigger it right as your opponent attacks - you'll break the attack and heal yourself while your enemy is reeling from card break. Even if you run short of cards for Curaga, make sure you can always at least tack Cura onto the end of a sleight. _______________________________________________________________________________ CURAGA 8/38 Acquired: Learned with first Cure card (by default) Requires: Cure + Cure + Cure "Restore a very large amount of HP." Trigger Curaga and around 150 HP comes streaming back. As with Cure and Cura, there's a slight delay between execution and the actual restoration of HP during which the sleight can be broken. In both multiplayer and the latter half of Sora's story, Curaga will be your main source of healing. As such, you should always carry enough Cure cards to form the sleight several times. _______________________________________________________________________________ GRAVIRA 9/38 Acquired: Learned with first Gravity card (randomly from a Bounty room) Requires: Gravity + Gravity "Deals damage relative to the enemy's remaining HP." Sora casts a spell that hits whatever he's currently locked onto plus any enemies caught in the blast radius. Gravira has a wider area of effect than Gravity; in fact, the on-screen graphic is a deceptively small one, as it seems that Gravira can hit anything which so much as touches the cone of energy. Upon a successful hit, an enemy's HP is reduced by half (rounded down). Note that Gravira, like Gravity, reduces the opponent's current and not the maximum HP. Also, bosses tend to be immune to Gravity, so don't bother with it in a boss fight. _______________________________________________________________________________ GRAVIGA 10/38 Acquired: Learned with first Gravity card (randomly from a Bounty room) Requires: Gravity + Gravity + Gravity "Deals damage relative to the enemy's remaining HP." The meanest version of them all, Graviga blasts away three quarters of your target's HP (rounded down) and also of all the victims caught in its enormous area of effect. Seriously, this spell hits wide and hard, which makes it a great sleight for starting any sort of normal battle. Bosses are still immune to Gravity. Note that this sleight does take about half a second before the distinctive enemy-getting-squished-into-the-ground effect occurs, during which it is vulnerable to card break. Like its cousins, Graviga centers upon whoever is targeted at the time. _______________________________________________________________________________ STOPRA 11/38 Acquired: Learned with first Stop card (randomly from a Bounty room) Requires: Stop + Stop "Halt enemy movement for a long period of time." A better version of Stop. Your enemy is halted for about three seconds instead of the standard second-and-a-half (I said ABOUT). Stopra inflicts all the properties of Stop - your enemy's state is frozen. Any opponent caught by Stopra does not react until after the spell has worn off. Stopra can hit more than one target, but good luck getting this to happen. As you might expect, some enemies (notably bosses) are immune to Stop altogether. _______________________________________________________________________________ STOPGA 12/38 Acquired: Learned with first Stop card (randomly from a Bounty room) Requires: Stop + Stop + Stop "Halt enemy movement for a very long period of time." When Sora tells the Heartless to Stopga the violence, do they ever Stop! Trigger this sleight and your enemies are frozen in place for six seconds, give or take half a second. Stopga has the widest effect radius of all the Stop sleights, though it still isn't much to speak of (certainly nothing like that of Graviga or Thundaga). Stopga is useful if you want to beat down on an enemy without worry of card break or simply need breathing space, but is rendered obsolete by Stop Raid. _______________________________________________________________________________ AERORA 13/38 Acquired: Learned with first Aero card (randomly from a Bounty room) Requires: Aero + Aero "Blow away surrounding enemies and inflict damage." Remember how Aero makes swathes of wind blades materialize around Sora? So does Aerora, only you have bigger air currents that reach further and hit harder. Aerora does more damage than Aero and is great for clearing out groups of Heartless clustered around Sora. Unfortunately, since the spell is still centered on Sora, you'll have a hard time using it effectively in either boss fights or multiplayer. _______________________________________________________________________________ AEROGA 14/38 Acquired: Learned with first Aero card (randomly from a Bounty room) Requires: Aero + Aero + Aero "Blow away all enemies in a large radius and inflict damage." Aeroga has about the blast radius of a Graviga spell centered directly upon Sora. It hits even harder than Aerora, but its limited range and lack of reach still hamper its overall effectiveness. In terms of a sleight that lets you escape from clusters of Heartless, Aeroga is second to none. Still, I'd ditch this sleight in favor of Judgment or Stun Impact. _______________________________________________________________________________ FIRE RAID 15/38 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room in World Card Set I Requires: Fire + any attack card + any attack card "Hurl the Keyblade and inflict fire damage." Sora throws the Keyblade like a boomerang and it flies out in front of him until it either reaches the edge of the battleground or has traveled a whole screen's length. Whenever the Keyblade hits a target, it will do Firaga-level damage instead of normal physical damage. Therefore, Fire Raid's usefulness is almost directly proportional to the usefulness of Firaga itself. Since you run into Fire-immune enemies fairly often, I'd dispense with this sleight. That's not to say Fire Raid isn't useful (because it is), but there are simply better sleights out there. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLIZZARD RAID 16/38 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room in World Card Set I Requires: Blizzard + any attack card + any attack card "Hurl the Keyblade and inflict ice damage." As before, Sora throws out the Keyblade in a direct line. Any opponent caught by the flying Keyblade is treated to a healthy dose of Blizzaga-level damage. If you're up against an opponent or boss weak against ice and can't seem to target Blizzaga properly, then Blizzard Raid is the way to go. As with all the raid-style sleights, the Keyblade can hit both moving forward and coming back. Like Fire Raid, Blizzard Raid should only be used in special situations. _______________________________________________________________________________ THUNDER RAID 17/38 Acquired: Rewards room in Neverland Requires: Thunder + any attack card + any attack card "Hurl the Keyblade and inflict lightning damage." More boomerang Keyblade action. While Fire Raid and Blizzard Raid could be used to overcome their base spells' lack of range/blast radius, Thunder Raid has no such advantage over Thundara or Thundaga. For this reason it should almost always take a back seat to the other two unless you only happen to have a single Thunder card. Properly aimed, however, it can still cause devastating damage to the right opponent. _______________________________________________________________________________ GRAVITY RAID 18/38 Acquired: Rewards room in Halloween Town Requires: Gravity + any attack card + any attack card "Hurl the Keyblade and trigger Gravity upon impact." The description ought to say "trigger Graviga upon impact," because that's what the Keyblade does when it runs into something. I'm a little ambivalent about this one. On one hand, it has a whole screen's worth of range and allows you to use Graviga-level spells with only a single Gravity card. On the other, the moment it hits an enemy the Keyblade comes right back to Sora without going on like the other raids do, plus the Gravity spell that it triggers has a much smaller blast radius than that of Graviga. It's really your call which one you want to use, Graviga or Gravity Raid. _______________________________________________________________________________ STOP RAID 19/38 Acquired: Rewards room in Wonderland Requires: Stop + any attack card + any attack card "Hurl the Keyblade and trigger Stop upon impact." This time around, the Keyblade locks up enemy movement on a successful hit and freezes the Heartless in place with Stopga. Like any other raid, Stop Raid misses any enemy flying too high. Also, any enemy Stopped on the first hit of the Keyblade will not have its freeze time extended when the Keyblade comes back to Sora. Stop Raid is a great sleight for holding an enemy in place and works especially well in conjunction with Ragnarok as both sleights hit down a line. Predictably, it doesn't work on bosses or even a few normal enemies, but is still one of the best sleights to have in your deck for a multiplayer or story fight. _______________________________________________________________________________ JUDGMENT 20/38 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room in World Card Set II or beyond Requires: Aero + any attack card + any attack card "Hurl the Keyblade toward the enemy for multiple attacks." Judgment is a semi-raid sleight. Sora throws the Keyblade, which homes in on the currently targeted opponent and then proceeds to beat the stuffing out of it with repeated strikes. Each time the Keyblade plows through its target, it can also hit any enemies in the nearby vicinity. Judgment hits five times before the Keyblade returns to Sora. It does about half the damage of a full Ars Arcanum and will automatically seek out a new target if the current one is destroyed. In multiplayer, this is one of the best sleights for catching your opponent while he's reloading his cards. _______________________________________________________________________________ REFLECT RAID 21/38 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room in World Card Set II or beyond Requires: Cloud + any attack card + any attack card "Hurl the Keyblade and make it ricochet around to strike many enemies." Sora throws the Keyblade in a straight line in front of himself. Once it reaches the other side of the room, it then starts bouncing around like it has a mind of its own (which it may well have). Each strike does fairly solid damage. This makes Reflect Raid great for clearing out masses of enemies - the problem is, since you can't maneuver the Keyblade yourself, you're as liable to waste the sleight as use it effectively. I'd rank Reflect Raid above the Cloud card alone and below Omnislash or Cross-Slash+, but in reality its strength depends mainly on the number of enemies on the screen. _______________________________________________________________________________ HOMING FIRA 22/38 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room in World Card Set II Requires: Aero + Fire + any magic card "Cast a Fira spell that seeks out the targeted enemy." Exactly as the description says. Sora casts a Fira spell with a vengeance and it flies right to whoever is targeted at the time. As you might expect, this sleight does Fira-level damage. Needless to say, this is one awesome sleight against a boss weak versus fire. Unfortunately, you'll have to use relatively high-valued cards if you want to keep this sleight from being broken and doing so kicks up the price of an already somewhat expensive sleight. _______________________________________________________________________________ FIRAGA BREAK 23/38 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room after acquiring Mushu Requires: Fire + Mushu + any attack card "Inflict fire damage on enemies in front of you with a powerful attack." Sora swipes the Keyblade in a combo-finish motion directly in front of himself, then a Firaga burst comes out and incinerates anything in range. Less useful than Firaga due to its lack of range, Firaga Break is also potentially the more expensive of the two depending on which attack card you use. About the only advantage that Firaga Break has over normal Firaga is its speed (it's marginally faster), but that advantage is negated by range issues. Dispense with this sleight, you probably will never need it. Anyone who can finger a situation in which Firaga Break works better than Firaga wins a Silver Star. _______________________________________________________________________________ MEGA FLARE 24/38 Acquired: Sleight bonus at level 52 or above Requires: Mushu + Fire + Fire "Incinerate all enemies in a wide area." Sora fires out a small puff of fire, much like what he does for the basic Fire spells. This fire particle has full-screen range. The moment it hits something, it explodes and hits the ENTIRE battlefield for massive fire damage. Paired with Double Sleight, Mega Flare is a total screen-clearer and easily one of the most powerful sleights in story mode. Its only drawback is that the initial fireball has to be aimed properly, or else you just shot a Mega Flare right off into nothingness. Use it to start battles, or else right after pulling a Graviga if Mega Flare alone won't blast the Heartless into oblivion. Mega Flare is a lot trickier to pull off effectively in character boss battles or multiplayer, so don't bother with it. On a side note, you probably figured out that Mega Flare does fire damage and as such can be absorbed by certain enemies. Go ahead and abuse it for story mode. _______________________________________________________________________________ HOMING BLIZZARA 25/38 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room in World Card Set II Requires: Aero + Blizzard + any magic card "Cast a Blizzara spell that seeks out the targeted enemy." Think of Homing Fira and apply the mechanics to a Blizzara spell. I'd rank Homing Blizzara marginally above Homing Fira if only because Blizzard is a bit harder to target than Fire. Also, in the story mode you'll encounter more bosses with a weakness against ice than against fire. Use Homing Blizzara when necessary; otherwise, there are better sleights to stock. _______________________________________________________________________________ AQUA SPLASH 26/38 Acquired: Rewards room in Monstro Requires: Blizzard + Fire + Aero "Spray melted ice at the enemy over a period of time, inflicting ice damage." Sora jumps into the air a la Ragnarok and immediately begins to spray ice in a stream in front of himself. Aqua Splash has about half a screen's worth of range and does ice damage. It will knock a target backwards, but if you can manage to hold the enemy throughout the duration of the attack (about 1.5 seconds), Aqua Splash does fairly high damage. As with Ragnarok, Sora has a limited aerial maneuverability while sustaining Aqua Splash. If your aim is good, use Aqua Splash on bosses weak to ice and kick some major butt. _______________________________________________________________________________ SHOCK IMPACT 27/38 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room after acquiring Simba Requires: Simba + any attack card + any attack card "Simba's roar sends enemies flying and triggers Stop." Sora points the Keyblade in front of himself and lets loose Simba's roar. No, Simba does NOT appear when Sora does this. Shock Impact is fast and hits everything in front of Sora besides inflicting Stop status. In short, it's a more efficient version of Proud Roar mainly due to its much shorter windup delay. Note that Shock Impact causes no damage, but it does give you a short space of time to use something that does. Whether or not you wish to use it is up to you. _______________________________________________________________________________ TORNADO 28/38 Acquired: Sleight bonus at level 32 or above Requires: Aero + Gravity + any summon card "Blow away enemies in a wide area, inflicting damage and stunning them." Sora summons a whirlwind that springs up around him and tracks down the nearest Heartless. Anything unlucky enough to get caught in the tornado is in for one rough ride. Tornado inflicts more damage than the basic Aero spell but can also cost more to equip, depending on what type of summon card you use. Definitely a step up from Aero or even Aeroga, Tornado also has the added benefit of stunning any survivors. Unfortunately, Sora is very vulnerable to card break while Tornado is executing, so a fast player will break the sleight with a 0 card or worse yet one of his own. Overall a fairly decent sleight. In multiplayer, great for giving your opponent something to stress about if launched from close range. _______________________________________________________________________________ QUAKE 29/38 Acquired: Rewards room in Atlantica Requires: Gravity + Simba + any magic card "Inflict damage on all ground enemies with a violent tremor." Sora brandishes the Keyblade and then sticks it into the ground, where the resulting shock causes major damage to anything that isn't in the air. Quake basically is a handy way of eliminating enemies on the ground, which makes it a cheaper but less powerful version of Mega Flare. Unfortunately, it's of no use against an airborne enemy. Quake can certainly be a very useful sleight in the right situation, but Mega Flare serves much more consistently for cleaning out a screen of enemies. _______________________________________________________________________________ WARPINATOR 30/38 Acquired: Defeat Riku II Requires: Stop + Gravity + Aero "Eliminate the closest enemy. Not always successful." Sora raises the Keyblade, the screen flashes blue, and then an enemy is warped away - you hope. If the attack is unsuccessful, a "Miss" message will appear over Sora. Warpinator can get rid of a really annoying enemy for you if that enemy is closer than all the others, but conversely it can also fail and then you're down three spell cards. It would be a much better sleight if it were consistent, but since it isn't you're better off using CP for other cards. By the way, Warpinator doesn't work against bosses or in multiplayer. _______________________________________________________________________________ WARP 31/38 Acquired: Rewards room in Twilight Town Requires: Stop + Aero + Aero "Eliminate all enemies in sight." Sora raises the Keyblade, the screen flashes black, and then all enemies are warped away. Good riddance. Warp's a great sleight if you desperately need to get away from a battle and try to heal yourself, but it does have a single glaring drawback - unlike Warpinator or Warp Break, enemies killed by a Warp sleight leave behind no experience. For this reason, Warp should never be any more than a last resort sleight since there's no such thing as too much experience. As you might expect, Warp doesn't work against bosses or in multiplayer. _______________________________________________________________________________ BIND 32/38 Acquired: Hundred Acre Wood after meeting Eeyore Required: Gravity + Stop + any magic card "Hold enemies in place. Enemies can still attack from their positions." Sora raises the Keyblade and a white film spreads out horizontally from his position across the whole battleground. Bound opponents get this funny-looking symbol (spider web, possibly?) above their heads and cannot move from their positions. Bind lasts about as long as Stopga. Do note that enemies can still take actions, so spellcasters sometimes launch spells at Sora and shadow-type enemies will occasionally sink into the ground. Bind's advantage over Stopga is its potentially lower cost and its much larger area of effect; however, it doesn't hit airborne opponents and won't halt enemy attacks the way Stop will. Personally, I'd dispense with Bind and use Stop Raid instead. _______________________________________________________________________________ CONFUSE 33/38 Acquired: Hundred Acre Wood after meeting Piglet Required: Genie + Tinker Bell + any summon card "Temporarily confuse enemies so they attack less often." When triggered, Sora raises the Keyblade, the screen flashes blue, the battleground shakes, and all Heartless on the screen get a bunch of question and exclamation marks spinning around their heads. Confuse lasts about four seconds and also does the equivalent of a D-level Keyblade whack in damage. The problem lies in the observation that enemies may attack less often, but if so it's not that much less. This sleight is a fairly stiff one in terms of CP cost and has no effect against bosses. Don't bother with it once you pick up either Bind or Stop Raid, and if you absolutely must have it for one reason or another, use Idyll Romp instead. _______________________________________________________________________________ TERROR 34/38 Acquired: Halloween Town after meeting Jack Skellington Required: Any summon card + any summon card + Jack Simba + Mushu + any item card "Strike fear in the enemy so they no longer approach." Sora raises the Keyblade, the screen flashes, and all Heartless suddenly find a small ghost reminiscent of a Pac-Man spook hovering over them. This causes them to flee from Sora to the opposite end of the room and they'll keep running if he approaches. Terror lasts about five seconds. If you find yourself consistently whomped by swarms of enemies, Terror can be a good lead to a powerful Thundaga or Mega Flare attack. The downside is that you'd better have a long-range attack handy since Sora sure isn't going to be hitting any enemies with the Keyblade. As you might imagine, this sleight doesn't work against bosses or in multiplayer. You can pull Terror at a fairly low CP cost in Halloween Town once you pick up Jack, but outside it becomes a very costly sleight. Do it once for laughs, then stow the sleight. _______________________________________________________________________________ SYNCHRO 35/38 Acquired: Hundred Acre Wood after meeting Rabbit Required: Cure + Gravity + Aero "Set surrounding enemies' HP to that of the target." Sora raises the Keyblade and a small light forms on its tip. This light then slowly homes in on the targeted Heartless; once it hits, it flares out and all on-screen enemies find their HP values changed to match that of the target. Used properly, Synchro can dramatically shorten the length of both battles and HP bars. It takes a LOT of maneuvering to hit the target you want, however, plus if you whiff the attack it's very possible that the Heartless will be regaining HP instead. Synchro is powerful, but it takes too much finesse to use effectively when you could stock a pair of Ars Arcanums for the same CP cost. _______________________________________________________________________________ GIFTED MIRACLE 36/38 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room after meeting Jack Skellington Required: Any summon card + any magic card + Jack Bambi + Blizzard + any item card "Reload cards and reset the counter while restoring HP to friends and foes alike." Gifted Miracle is the battle equivalent of a reset button in this game. Sora raises the Keyblade and concentrates as the battleground changes into a dazzling display of snowflakes. At the end, your deck is reloaded, the counter reset, and both you and your opponent get all HP back. If you find yourself being beaten consistently by a boss, Gifted Miracle helps equalize the battle and give you a second chance. It's a fairly expensive sleight however you look at it, though with a twist: instead of losing the first card in the sleight, you lose the last one when it's triggered. Gifted Miracle's power pretty much depends on how much HP you have compared against your opponent as well as how quickly you go through your deck. Note that it does NOT bring back any enemies which you have already defeated. Also, Gifted Miracle is the only spell that effectively destroys the usefulness of the devastating Holy sleight. Keep one in your deck for emergencies if you feel that it is necessary, but be warned that there is a long windup delay of nearly three seconds before it takes effect. During that time, any competent opponent will break the sleight. As such, making sure you freeze your opponents with Stop Raid or Stopga first. _______________________________________________________________________________ TELEPORT 37/38 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room after finishing Neverland Required: Any magic card + any magic card + Peter Pan Stop + Aero + any item card "Rematerialize behind the targeted enemy, stunning it for a short time." Sora blinks out and reappears behind the currently designated target. Said target also gets Stopra inflicted on it, which is a perfect opportunity to let loose a really damaging sleight like Ars Arcanum or Holy. Bosses won't be Stopped, of course, but Teleport is still handy for getting in close to launch a surprise attack. Pair it with Ansem's enemy effect in multiplayer and you have a winner. The downside is that you're losing two cards per Teleport no matter which way you choose to do it, plus it can be fairly expensive in terms of CP cost. Whether or not you choose to use it is therefore strictly up to you. _______________________________________________________________________________ HOLY 38/38 Acquired: Sleight bonus at level 42 or above Required: Mega-Ether + Megalixir + any item card "Inflict damage on a targeted enemy and all surrounding enemies." Sora raises the Keyblade and causes a pillar of light to burst up and out of the ground. Anything caught in that light is lifted high into the air and exposed to continuous damage. If you don't have a target lock, the attack pops up directly in front of Sora. Holy has a fairly small hit radius but starts up quickly, so ideally you want to catch a targeted opponent with a card break. In terms of raw damage to a single target, no other sleight can match Holy. Hit someone with it in a boss or multiplayer battle and watch in wonder as the HP bar magically vanishes. Unfortunately, not only is Holy the most difficult sleight to build (you'll need a Mega-Ether and a Megalixir for starters), it's also easily the most expensive sleight in the game, PLUS you lose all three cards necessary to trigger it. For this reason, Holy is a high-risk sleight which can pay rich dividends when used properly but will leave you in the hole if wasted. Keep one (or two, if you can afford two) for a boss/multiplayer fight, but don't bother with it in story mode. ---------------------------Summon Sleights (19 total)-------------------------- Summon sleights encompass both the use of Summon magic and Friend cards. Summon cards cost CP and are always present, while Friend cards cost no CP but are erratic at best. These sleights are typically more expensive than Magic sleights but also comparatively more powerful. Like Magic sleights, they do not depend at all upon the actual value of the card, thus it is in your best interest to fight using Incrementor or in a Sorcerous Waking room. _______________________________________________________________________________ PROUD ROAR 1/19 Acquired: Key to Guidance room in Traverse Town, with Simba Requires: Simba + Simba Simba + Simba + Simba "Simba's roar stuns and deals damage to enemies in front of him." "Simba's roar stuns and deals even more damage to enemies in front of him." Sora yells "Power!" and hops offscreen, upon which Simba appears where Sora stood and roars at the Heartless. Proud Roar hits anything that is in front or to the side of Simba and has a one second windup delay. As far as summon sleights go, that makes it a relatively fast sleight. Proud Roar's raw damage output pales in comparison to that of other sleights, but it does give you a small window of opportunity to unleash another attack while the Heartless are stunned. The downside: it may just be me, but I've noticed that the enemy AI will move to avoid Proud Roar. It's good for a few initial floors of the story mode, after which you should dump it. _______________________________________________________________________________ SPLASH 2/19 Acquired: Key to Truth room in Monstro, with Dumbo Requires: Dumbo + Dumbo Dumbo + Dumbo + Dumbo "Dumbo douses enemies over a set time period, dealing ice damage." "Dumbo douses enemies in a wide area for a set time period, dealing ice damage." Splash is ... a niche sleight. Meaning that you'll use it a few times on a certain boss and then stow it away. Basically, Sora leaps offscreen and Dumbo pops up, spraying water out of his trunk in an arc in front of himself. Made with three cards, Splash can reach almost all the way across the screen while doing steady damage to anything it catches. The problem is, it's too blasted short. As such it never does more than mediocre damage unless you're using it against a boss weak against ice. I personally never bother with this sleight, but if you can find a way to use it, by all means go ahead and do so. _______________________________________________________________________________ PARADISE 3/19 Acquired: After completing 100-Acre Wood, with Bambi Requires: Bambi + Bambi Bambi + Bambi + Bambi "Bambi bounds around and drops HP recovery items." "Bambi bounds around and drops HP recovery items while stunning the enemy." With Paradise sleighted, you gather HP balls in mid-battle and then some. This being the case, the sleight is best used right after you kill a Heartless since you'll be scrambling for experience points anyways. With three cards, Bambi gives you both a heck of a lot of HP PLUS he'll stun the Heartless for a short while, leaving you free to collect HP. Paradise has its uses, certainly, but anything you can do in mid-battle with it you can also do with Cure cards, which are faster and tend to be more universally useful. Better to dispense with it and use either Cure or Tinker Bell, especially in multiplayer. _______________________________________________________________________________ IDYLL ROMP 4/19 Acquired: 100 Acre Wood after meeting Tigger Requires: Bambi + any attack card + any attack card "Bambi zigzags around the battlefield, confusing the enemy." Idyll Romp is the Confuse sleight in disguise, but with one enormous advantage over its magic counterpart: it's much, much cheaper to equip in your deck. Bambi appears on the battlefield and plays hopscotch on the Heartless in the field, knocking sense out of their heads. Bambi thus confuses one enemy at a time and the dizziness lasts about as long as a standard Confuse (about four seconds, give or take). It also has the drawbacks of the standard Confuse sleight since your enemies still seem to attack quite regularly. Not a very powerful sleight, but certainly cheap in terms of CP cost. _______________________________________________________________________________ FLARE BREATH 5/19 Acquired: Rewards room in Hollow Bastion, with Mushu Requires: Mushu + Mushu Mushu + Mushu + Mushu "Mushu breathes fire at enemies in a wide area, inflicting fire damage." "Mushu breathes even more fire at enemies in a wide area, inflicting fire damage." Mushu pops up out of nowhere, perches on Sora's head, and starts breathing fire like the dragon he is in a straight line directly in front of himself. He has fairly good range, plus Sora can move freely and thus correct Mushu's aim even while the sleight is active. At level two, Mushu spits out seven fire bursts and at level three he unleashes fourteen of the fireballs. Each burst does the same damage as the ordinary Fire spell, so in terms of pure damage Flare Breath is much better than Fira or even Firaga. However, there's still the issue of actually getting two or three Mushu cards as well as aiming the sleight. I'd go for Mega Flare, which besides attacking everything at once is also cheaper CP-wise to boot. _______________________________________________________________________________ SHOWTIME 6/19 Acquired: Key to Truth room in Agrabah, with Genie Requires: Genie + Genie Genie + Genie + Genie "Genie randomly casts two spells chosen from Gravira, Thundara, and Stopra." "Genie randomly casts three spells chosen from Gravira, Thundara, and Stopra." Oh, how the mighty have fallen. All his phenomenal cosmic powers and Genie ended up with those three spells?! Terra Branford from Final Fantasy VI would pwn him any day ... but Terra isn't in Chain of Memories and Genie is. Whereas the other summon sleights gave you some sort of edge, Genie's Showtime is more of the same useless spell chains. If you get Gravira immediately followed by Thundara, count yourself lucky since Genie so often gets his spell order mixed up completely. A terrible sleight with all things considered - if you want Gravira, Thundara, and Stopra, use their magic sleights once you pick them up. (While we're on the subject of Terra, sleight three Terra cards and you can clean the screen with Ultima - wouldn't that be a treat?) _______________________________________________________________________________ TWINKLE 7/19 Acquired: Key to Truth room in Neverland, with Tinker Bell Requires: Tinker Bell + Tinker Bell Tinker Bell + Tinker Bell + Tinker Bell "Tinker Bell restores a lot of HP over a set time period." "Tinker Bell restores a very large amount of HP over an extended time period." Continuing with the "Cure as direct healing, Tinker Bell as regeneration" analogy, Twinkle is regeneration on steroids. Tinker Bell appears and hovers around Sora for a considerable amount of time as the HP bar fills up like a gas tank. This is both good and bad - good, because all told Tinker Bell returns more HP than a comparable Cure sleight, bad because she takes her sweet time doing so and is thus extremely susceptible to card break. If you're in a story battle where enemies flat out can't break your cards, go ahead and use Tinker Bell. If you're in a character boss battle or in multiplayer, use Cure; not only is Cure cheaper, it's also faster and runs much less risk of card break (or worse yet, Zantetsuken). _______________________________________________________________________________ CROSS-SLASH 8/19 Acquired: Key to Truth room in Olympus Coliseum, with Cloud Requires: Cloud + Cloud "Cloud assaults the enemy with a three-hit combo." Back in Final Fantasy VII, Cross-Slash was a three hit limit break that had a good chance of paralyzing one's target. In Chain of Memories, it can now hit multiple enemies with proper aim but loses its paralyzing side effect. Cross- Slash is Cloud with an extra attack and a heck of a lot harder to card break. Damage-wise, you're looking at a 50% increase in power if you can get in all three hits. Like most summons, Cross-Slash does have a short windup delay (a second, in this case) but since its range is so limited that single second can be all the difference in the fight. Cross-Slash will hit both airborne and ground-based targets, plus it does neutral damage. If you can use Cross-Slash, however, I'd go once step further and sleight Cross-Slash+. Failing that, you can always pick up an extra Cloud card and use ... _______________________________________________________________________________ OMNISLASH 9/19 Acquired: Key to Truth room in Olympus Coliseum, with Cloud Requires: Cloud + Cloud + Cloud "Cloud swoops down from the skies, attacking enemies in a wide area." Final Fantasy veterans, prepare to be surprised. In FFVII, Cloud's most powerful technique was Omnislash and it very much resembled Sephiroth's version of the move, a storm of slashes that came out almost more quickly than the human eye could follow. It was revamped for Kingdom Hearts and shows up in Chain of Memories as a completely different technique. Instead of slicing random foes to bits, Cloud dives out of the sky like a Stuka bomber and slashes at a random target. Each slash does considerable damage, more so than the Cross-Slash version of the move, and Cloud makes three cuts in all. Omnislash is automatically aimed for you by the computer, so it's a fire and forget move. It has a programming flaw in that if Cloud kills the last enemy on screen, the sleight ends prematurely since Cloud runs out of targets before new Heartless show up. Unfortunately, Omnislash requires comparatively more time than Cross- Slash to get in its attack, which makes it easier to break. It's a very strong sleight, but if you have three Cloud cards you could always split them and use a trio of Cross-Slash+ sleights instead for much more damage overall. _______________________________________________________________________________ CROSS-SLASH+ 10/19 Acquired: Randomly from a Bounty room in world card set II Requires: Cloud + Stop + any attack card "Cloud singles out an enemy and uses Cross-Slash." When summoned, Cloud warps out and reappears next to the poor fool whom he intends to use for sword drills. He then unleashes his signature Cross-Slash attack. Cross-Slash+ has a slightly slower startup than the normal Cross-Slash because of the extra warping animation, but unless Cloud happened to pick a rapidly moving target he'll generally get in all three attacks. The downside is that you can't manually choose which enemy to hit, plus Cross-Slash+ is a bit more expensive than Cross-Slash in terms of CP. Still, it's overall a very good sleight that has a wide range of uses. _______________________________________________________________________________ MAGIC 11/19 Acquired: By default Requires: Donald + Donald Donald + Donald + Donald "Donald double-casts Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, or Cura." "Donald double-casts Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, or Curaga." Quoting from Donald's earlier entry in the Friend card section: "Donald's good to have but not someone on whom you can rely." The same description goes for his Magic sleights, which are souped-up versions of the basic card. Magic gets broken quite easily in character boss battles, plus Donald's simply too unpredictable to use effectively unless you're in a very special situation. On the other hand, it's entirely free provided you can pick up enough Donald cards and hold them. Use as it comes to you for the story, but once you pick up the Trinity Limit sleight you should switch over to it instead. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLAZING DONALD 12/19 Acquired: Agrabah Requires: Fire + Donald + any magic card "Donald flubs a fire spell ..." This sleight reads "I'm going to sacrifice two cards per sleight in order to use a technique which is mediocre at best." It's not entirely useless - for example, if you've shot off Mega Flare, you can recycle the two Fire cards left over for a Blazing Donald - but the sleight does fairly low damage and isn't guaranteed to hit much. So why use it? For the sheer comedy factor: "Donald flubs a fire spell" means that the clueless duck sets his tail alight and runs madly through the battlefield in a figure-eight trail trying to put it out. Hands down the funniest sleight in the entire game, so do it once or twice for a laugh before stowing it. (I'm offering a Silver Star to anyone who can name a situation in which Blazing Donald is a highly effective sleight. Clearing out groups of Shadows does NOT count since you can do it more easily with Ragnarok or Mega Flare or even Trinity Limit.) _______________________________________________________________________________ GOOFY CHARGE 13/19 Acquired: By default Requires: Goofy + Goofy "Goofy rushes at enemies, bashing and stunning them with his shield." If you think of Goofy as Disney's version of Captain America, it's easy to understand the idea behind this sleight. Goofy pops up, yells "C'mon!", and runs through anyone in his way like a self-propelled battering ram. Mediocre damage, but it's quite useful in the early stages of the game when you're still packing a Kingdom Key deck. Be sure to aim Goofy properly before unleashing the attack for maximum efficiency. As an added bonus, Goofy also stuns any foe he hits for a short duration. He might do comparatively less damage than Donald, but at least he's consistent about it. _______________________________________________________________________________ GOOFY TORNADO 14/19 Acquired: By default Requires: Goofy + Goofy + Goofy "Goofy whirls his shield around, bashing enemies in a wide area." Goofy on crack. He shows up in front of Sora and then starts twirling like a champion ballet dancer, but I'll be darned if ANY ballet dancer could move like he does. Goofy has a fairly wide hit radius for his attacks, which makes him absolutely lethal to swarms of Heartless since he hits repeatedly for significant damage with each hit. Goofy Tornado lasts about three or four seconds; however, you'll notice that he also tends to knock enemies away with each hit, which means that Heartless on the periphery tend to take relatively few hits from the sleight. I'd still rank him above Donald's level three Magic sleight since you can exercise more control over Goofy; of course, they both pale in comparison with Trinity Limit, but considering how late in the story mode Trinity Limit shows up, Goofy Tornado maintains a fairly consistent track record until late in the story. Note that Goofy's radius is centered around Sora - as Sora moves, Goofy follows. _______________________________________________________________________________ SANDSTORM 15/19 Acquired: Entrance to Agrabah, with Aladdin Requires: Aladdin + Aladdin Aladdin + Aladdin + Aladdin "Aladdin runs around while swinging his sword." "Aladdin runs around for a longer period of time while swinging his sword." Aladdin shows up in front of Sora and lets the Heartless have it with his scimitar. Sora is free to move while the sleight is executing and since Aladdin sticks around for quite a bit of time you can do major damage if you back groups of enemies into a corner. Even better, as Sora jumps so does Aladdin, allowing you to attack aerial opponents. Sandstorm is a fairly good sleight for Agrabah, especially if you can pick up three Aladdin cards, but if revisit Agrabah you'll probably have more powerful cards by then. (Ironic how Aladdin turns out to be more useful than Genie.) _______________________________________________________________________________ SURPRISE! 16/19 Acquired: Entrance to Halloween Town, with Jack Requires: Jack + Jack Jack + Jack + Jack "Jack double-casts Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, or Gravira." "Jack triple-casts Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, or Graviga." Jack Skellington is Donald Duck with a different spell and an extra cast at three-card sleight level. This makes him superior to Donald for damage but at a cost in the occasional Cure spell that Donald threw your way. Like Donald, Jack also tends to be unpredictable at best. It's certainly nice to pick up Jack cards since your deck doesn't take any hits in CP, but as with Donald, don't rely on Jack to see you through a tight situation. _______________________________________________________________________________ SPIRAL WAVE 17/19 Acquired: Key of Guidance room in Atlantica, with Ariel Required: Ariel + Ariel Ariel + Ariel + Ariel "Ariel whirls back and forth, striking many enemies." "Ariel whirls back and forth, striking many enemies for an even longer time." A more powerful version of the basic Ariel card, Spiral Wave lets you torpedo any Heartless aligned horizontally with Sora. Ariel hits both seafloor dwellers and Heartless that float in water. She also does a lot of damage if you can get in most of her attacks, particularly with three cards sleighted. The key to getting the most out of Spiral Wave's peculiar attack pattern is to let the Heartless chase Sora from one end of the battleground to another; they will naturally spread themselves out in a line as they do so, perfect for a Spiral Wave riposte. _______________________________________________________________________________ HUMMINGBIRD 18/19 Acquired: Key to Guidance room in Neverland, with Peter Pan Required: Peter Pan + Peter Pan Peter Pan + Peter Pan + Peter Pan "Peter Pan soars around, striking enemies in a wide area." "Peter Pan soars around for an even longer time, striking enemies in a wide area." Almost exactly the same as Ariel, so use Hummingbird as you'd use Spiral Wave. The chasing trick is a bit more difficult to pull off in Neverland since the enemies tend to be slightly faster and a few sport multiple attacks. _______________________________________________________________________________ FEROCIOUS LUNGE 19/19 Acquired: Key to Guidance room in Hollow Bastion, with The Beast Required: The Beast + The Beast The Beast + The Beast + The Beast "The Beast charges in a straight line, scattering the opposition." "The Beast charges in a straight line, crushing the opposition." Whereas Spiral Wave and Hummingbird gain more attacks with more cards, The Beast's Ferocious Lunge packs extra power with each successive card. At level two, The Beast charges into the battlefield; at level three, he leaps into and through the screen, dealing out major damage to anything in his way. Ferocious Lunge is aimed in a horizontal line like the other World Card Set Two friend sleights. It's also a heck of a lot more powerful, so no more of this hoping that enemies stay in line business. Be glad The Beast is on your side. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PREMIUM CARDS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Evolved versions of normal cards. Premium cards require very little CP, but can only be used once per battle - no reloads allowed. Only attack cards and magic cards can be upgraded to premium cards. You can forfeit a Premium Bonus by pressing the B button." Jiminy's Journal entry on Premium cards sums it up fairly well. In battle, you'll sometimes (rarely) pick up a little "P" icon after defeating an enemy. This P icon is the Premium Bonus, which starts a slot wheel that allows you to pick one card in your currently equipped deck as a Premium card. Note that the slot automatically removes all Items and Enemy cards before it starts along with any cards that are already premium. You can tell which cards are premium because they have this nice, shiny coating over the picture. The advantages to using a premium card are that it takes up much less CP to equip than a normal card. The drawback, as mentioned, is that you can only use it once - it doesn't come back on a reload. To get around this limitation, you can use Hi-Potions, Mega-Potions, Mega-Ethers, Elixirs, or Megalixirs to bring back used premium cards. Since you'll lose a card anyways when you lead off a sleight, you may want to use premium cards to lead sleights. However, only a small percentage of your deck should be premium at any given time - you do not want to have hardly any cards left after a single reload. (It's a great pity that Item cards can't be made premium seeing as how they vanish after one use regardless of what that use was.) Alert reader Rexy, however, points out that there is a way to use a Premium card and still get it back - if it's not the leader in a sleight, it'll show up when the deck is normally reloaded, like an ordinary card. Premium card bonuses reduce the CP cost of a card down to the cost of the 1 value of that card. For example, 1 Ultima Weapon costs 30 CP. Therefore, any Ultima Weapon card that you make into a Premium card has its cost reduced to 30 CP, regardless of whether its face value was 1 or 9 to begin with. The same rule applies to all Attack and Magic cards. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RENOWNED DECKS code: deckdestruction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== In the absence of a dedicated Renowned Deck FAQ, this is a section where powerful card sets are archived and analyzed. The term "Renowned Deck" was coined by gamers of the Megaman Battle Network series, where it was used to describe any particularly powerful folder that had proven its efficiency in battle. Building a strong deck is not a haphazard process; it involves careful forethought and planning and eventually must be able to stand on its own merits against other decks in battle. A common trait among the Renowned Decks is that they all have a purpose and a theme, thus each is tailor made for its purpose according to its theme. For this reason, building a Renowned Deck is as much an art as it is a science. In Chain of Memories, Renowned Decks usually have one of four purposes: to battle effectively through the story mode, to fight effectively against bosses, to fight effectively in multiplayer, or to handle all situations (these last are called "All Purpose" decks; they tend to be both exceptionally rare and exceptionally powerful). Likewise, as important as a deck's purpose is its theme, whether it be pure beatdown, sleight-oriented, revolving around a single card or balanced. The best decks take a theme and run with it to its extremes. IMPORTANT: ALL decks located here are rough outlines ONLY! When you build a deck, always always ALWAYS test it out thoroughly and customize it to find out what works best for you! Players with high HP and low CP will use radically different decks and strategies than those with high CP and low HP. All decks are credited to the people who submitted them. If no name is given, that means I made it myself. Each deck is spelled out completely, with sleights and potential sleights noted in the margins. The total CP cost and any associated enemy cards are also listed at the bottom of the deck proper. In the grand tradition of the Renowned Deck FAQs, each deck is also analyzed for its theme, strengths, and weaknesses. A commentary is included; readers are welcome to submit their own decks and commentaries, or to propose any number of modifications for existing decks. Any particularly outstanding analysis on the message boards will also appear here with due credit given. VERSION 1.10 UPDATE: There's a movement on the GameFAQs message boards for a dedicated Renowned Deck FAQ. Since it hasn't gathered much momentum, though, this section stays for now. If that FAQ is posted and accepted, I may pull out this section in the future and just submit all of it to the author. Submit ... I sound like Ansem. ---------------------------Renowned Decks (7 total)---------------------------- DIAMOND CRACKDOWN General Battle Deck 9 Diamond Dust - 8 Diamond Dust | 7 Diamond Dust | 9 Diamond Dust | 7 Diamond Dust |x3 5 Diamond Dust | 9 Blizzard \ | 8 Diamond Dust > Blizzard Raid | 1 Diamond Dust / - 5 Cure \ 6 Cure \ 7 Cure > Curaga 8 Cure / 9 Cure / 9 Mega-Ether x2 0 Diamond Dust x5 Blue Rhapsody x2 Parasite Cage Dragon Maleficent Lexaeus Total CP Cost: 1732 Theme: Grind your opponent into dust with the power of the Diamond Dust card. Strengths: - Uses Diamond Dust, one of the most powerful Keyblades in the game. - Fairly versatile deck that can deal with most situations. - Will flat-out murder anything that's weak against cold, which overcomes the potentially troublesome Axel and Hades cards. - Plenty of 0 cards for breaking dangerous enemy sleights or attacks. - Is not over-reliant on sleights, giving this deck ... - ... Enormous staying power, thanks to the extra items which allow Curaga and Blizzard Raid to be reused. Weaknesses: - If your opponent is immune to ice (Vexen, Lexaeus), you're screwed. - Overdependence on ice damage: many powerful enemy cards grant resistance to ice. - Vulnerable to card break while using recovery items. - Blizzard Raid sleights require proper aiming and are susceptible to card break. - In terms of raw damage, Diamond Dust is weakest of the C-level Keyblades. - High CP cost ensures that HP cannot be maxed and leaves little room for versatility. Exactly like the theme statement says, you're going to pound your opponent into submission under a storm of Diamond Dust attacks. Being the fast and recoverable card that it is, Diamond Dust is a great choice for pure beatdown fights. Go through the chain and then whip out Blizzard Raid at the end if your opponent decides to fight at range. Dragon Maleficent and Lexaeus are added to help pile on the Keyblade power. Done properly, damage adds up very quickly and consistently when you use this deck. In case the battle goes against you, five Cure cards can be sleighted together for quick healing. Note the absence of Potions; the idea is to use only magic sleights. The 9-8-7 and 9-7-5 Diamond Dust chains both form sleights, but you'll want to forgo using them. Unfortunately, many enemy cards grant resistance to Ice or completely nullify it altogether. You have one shot with the Parasite Cage, but if your opponent plays another enemy card that blunts your Ice attacks then you'll just have to wait it out. Another weakness comes from the steep CP cost, which restricts the flexibility of the deck and also cuts down on the number of HP boosts that Sora can have. In summary, this is a high-risk deck to take into a fight but it can reap definite rewards when used correctly. _______________________________________________________________________________ BIO WARFARE Heartless Killer Deck 0 Kingdom Key x9 > Zantetsuken 9 Hi-Potion x2 0 Cure x6 Neoshadow x9 Total CP Cost: 712 Theme: Sap away your opponent's HP with Bio while breaking any recovery with Zantetsuken. Strengths: - You never need to attack directly; instead, Bio steadily drains your opponent's HP away. - Plenty of 0 cards for card breaking and destroying enemy recovery with Zantetsuken as needed. - Hi-Potions bring back used up 0 cards. - Lots of Cure cards for self-healing as needed. - Check out that low CP cost! This deck has lots of room for expansion and modification. Weaknesses: - Requires a lot of patience and dodge-roll ability, since this isn't a fun deck to play nor does it kill quickly. - If your opponent manages to outlast all of your Neoshadows, you're dead. - Bio only lasts for a single reload and your deck is small, thus you'll need to stretch out each one as long as you can. - It takes an awfully long time to collect nine Neoshadow cards. - No Parasite Cage in case your opponent plays a really nasty enemy card. Bio Warfare is one of the great keep away decks. Basically, you play the Neoshadow card and then laugh while your opponent's HP vanishes into thin air. As long as you can keep avoiding an enemy's attacks, the effect of Bio will eventually whittle even the strongest opponent down to nothing. The only way to effectively counter Bio is to heal at regular intervals, thus the deck also includes 0 cards in order to blast your opponent's Cure or Tinker Bell cards away with Zantetsuken. Never use the 0 Cure cards to heal yourself without also using them to break an opponent's cards. This deck takes some skill to play since you'll spend almost all of your time either running, breaking cards, or healing yourself. The idea is to outlast your opponent while draining HP away and your deck is geared to that end, but against a proper deck you'll have problems no matter how well you play what you bring. For this reason you'll want to have as much HP as you can. It all comes down to a question of skill and maybe luck when you use this deck. On the positive side, at a CP cost of around 700 (absurdly low for a Renowned deck), you're given plenty of room for customization. So play around with it and see what works best for you. _______________________________________________________________________________ STOP STORM Link Battle/Heartless Killer Deck 9 Stop \ - 9 Kingdom Key > Stop Raid | 9 Kingdom Key / | 2 Kingdom Key \ |x3 2 Kingdom Key > Ars Arcanum | 2 Kingdom Key / - 9 Stop \ 9 Kingdom Key > Stop Raid 9 Kingdom Key / 1 Hi-Potion \ x3 1 Mega-Ether / 9 Cure x5 Riku Marluxia Ansem Total CP Cost: 1056 Theme: Trigger Stopga with Stop Raid, then blast your opponent away with Ars Arcanum. Strengths: - If you hit your opponent with Stop Raid, you get a free attack with Ars Arcanum. - Done properly, Stop Raid is hard to dodge. - This deck can whittle an opponent down really fast thanks to Marluxia. - Thanks to Ansem and Riku, it also has significant staying power. - ~1050 CP is a fairly reasonable cost for a Renowned Deck, allowing more customization. Weaknesses: - Against a skilled opponent who breaks your cards with Zantetsuken, you could be in huge trouble. - Ars Arcanum is very easily broken. - No Keyblades dedicated solely to battle! - No 0 cards either, so you'll have to use sleights to break your enemy's attacks. - No cards that allow you to fight enemy card effects. - If at any time you lose the initiative, there's little chance that you'll get it back. Stop Storm hits hard and fast, never giving your opponent even a single moment of rest. High-valued Stop Raid cards are using to immobilize the poor victim and set him up for a major pounding from Ars Arcanum. The last Stop Raid sleight is included to freeze your opponent if you're using one of the Items. As it is, this deck costs around 1050 CP. You can customize it by adding more Stop Raid/Ars Arcanum sleights, removing Cures if you feel that they're unneeded, or adding 0 Keyblades to the end. Marluxia's Double Sleight should be triggered when using Ars Arcanum so that you'll get an extra attack from that fearsome sleight. Ansem's effect hides your sleight from the opponent, which is especially important if your foe manages to break out of the continuous chain attacks. And finally, Riku recycles your sleights. This last card might not be necessary if you play your sleights effectively. However, Stop Storm is a very risky deck to play because it depends almost entirely upon offense. If your opponent breaks out and retaliates, you'll have to fight extra hard to regain the initiative for your Stop Raid/Ars Arcanum spamming. _______________________________________________________________________________ LUMINAIRE Link Battle/Boss Killer Deck 1 Mega-Ether \ - 1 Megalixir > Holy | x5 1 Ether / - 9 Cure x5 0 Kingdom Key x6 Powerwild Marluxia Total CP Cost: 983 Theme: Break your opponent with 0 cards, then spam Holy sleights for massive damage per attack during the reeling phase. Strengths: - No deck has a higher raw damage output rate. - While being hit by Holy, your opponent can't retaliate. - Using the Powerwild card completely reverses all numbers, so you always have values of 27 in play when using Holy. - ~1000 is a fair cost for a Renowned Deck as it allows you to customize the deck and concentrate on building HP. - With Marluxia, your Holy sleights just became twice as deadly. And this is considering that Holy is the strongest sleight in the game. - This deck is very accomodating towards adding more sleights. Weaknesses: - In order to ensure a hit with Holy, you'll first have to break an enemy attack with a 0 card. Even this might not be enough if your opponent is using cards with * recovery. - Adding more Holy sleights involves a real CP commitment. - If you miss, the long cooldown period gives your opponent plenty of time to break your sleight. - You're completely screwed if you go through your deck without killing your opponent. - Losing either Marluxia or Powerwild to a Parasite Cage break might cripple the power of this deck. - Has a hidden Achilles' heel: Gifted Miracle. Fun as hell, risky as hell, the Luminaire deck obliterates an unprepared opponent like no other. This deck is murder however you look at it, but its effectiveness depends largely on how well its intended victim can defend against it. Ideally, you'll run into someone who hasn't equipped either the Parasite Cage or Axel, can't break sleights of value 27, and doesn't have Ursula for magic defense. Holy does massive damage if it hits, but the built- in check to this is that it's tricky to aim against a human opponent. Hence, you'll want to break enemy attacks with a 0 card first to ensure an accurate strike. Be warned, however. There is only one sleight that can fight Holy, but it does so with devastating results, and that sleight is Gifted Miracle. It acts as a reset button, wiping out all of your progress WITHOUT restoring your Item cards to you. Although fairly rare in battle, Gifted Miracle destroys this deck and must be broken regardless of cost. Choice of enemy cards is largely up to you. Marluxia allows you to use Holy twice for the cost of one sleight. Powerwild, on the other hand, lets you break just about anything with your sleight. Note that you won't be able to use both simultaneously; the one that you do use should be dictated by the battle. As a rule of thumb, use Marluxia's Double Sleight if you can and the Powerwild's Retrograde if you have to. Remember that Holy is strictly a one- shot sleight; you HAVE to kill your opponent by the time your last sleight ends or else there's precious little chance that you'll win the fight. Cure cards are included for emergency healing. If you can afford it, add more Holy sleights for an extra comfort zone. In conclusion, this deck can destroy an enemy like no other if you can use it properly, but if not, you're going to be the one left staring at the Game Over screen. _______________________________________________________________________________ FATAL RUSH Link Battle/Boss Killer Deck 9 Aero \ - 9 Kingdom Key > Judgment | 8 Kingdom Key / | 9 Cloud \ | 9 Kingdom Key > Reflect Raid | 8 Kingdom Key / | 8 Cloud \ | 8 Stop > Cross-Slash+ |x2 7 Kingdom Key / | 9 Stop \ | 9 Aero > Teleport | 9 Ether / | 2 Kingdom Key \ | 2 Kingdom Key > Ars Arcanum | 2 Kingdom Key / - 9 Mega-Ether x2 5 Cure \ 6 Cure \ 7 Cure > Curaga 8 Cure / 9 Cure / 0 Mega-Ether x2 Riku Total CP Cost: 1261 Theme: Chase your opponent down with powerful homing sleights. Strengths: - Very self-supportive deck that packs plenty of stopping power. - Little Keyblade dependence, thus only Mega-Ethers are necessary. - Allows you to hammer your opponent during reload phases. - Has both physical and magical sleights, making it difficult to defend against. - Most of the sleights cost little in terms of CP. - Depends little on enemy cards to play effectively. Weaknesses: - Not as aggressive as many of the other renowned decks. - Depends entirely on sleights for damage. - No 0 keys placed at the end for breaking attacks. - Fairly steep CP cost to set up supporting cards. - Very vulnerable to surprise breaks (possibly counter with Ansem's card?). You can run, but you can't hide. That's the theme behind the Fatal Rush deck. Wait for your opponent to make a mistake, then cram a sleight down his throat for a decent bit of damage. Four powerful sleights form the core of this deck, all of them able to either track an opponent or strike enough of the screen to guarantee a hit: Judgment, Cross-Slash+, and Teleport for the homing sleights, Reflect Raid for the zigzagging one. The first three in the chain are self-explanatory; to use Teleport effectively, trigger it and then unleash Ars Arcanum at once for major damage. The Fatal Rush deck shines especially when your opponent is reloading his deck and can't fight back against whatever nasty surprise you have for him. Riku and the Mega-Ethers are present to preserve the sleights; also consider adding Marluxia for the devastating Double Sleight effect that he grants. However, this deck does have one major weakness: it depends entirely on sleights for damage and as such is very vulnerable to Zantetsuken. Take a hit and you lose a whole sleight for the rest of the battle, which allows a deck based around Zantetsuken to destroy the Fatal Rush. It's also a very passive deck in that you give the initiative to your opponent; sleights are triggered only when your opponent is reloading or has clearly made a tactical mistake. Fatal Rush does have much room for customization, though - new sleights can be added for relatively low CP costs. You should therefore play around to find out which sleights work best for you. This is definitely one of the best decks for boss killing. WARNING: Your friends will hate you if you play this deck in multiplayer and learn to avoid its weaknesses. _______________________________________________________________________________ ZERO GAMBIT Link Battle/Boss Killer Deck 1 Divine Rose \ - 1 Oathkeeper > Ars Arcanum | x9 1 One-Winged Angel / - 0 Cure x5 0 Hi-Potion 0 Kingdom Key x3 Creeper Plant Pirate x3 Screwdiver x3 Total CP Cost: 1148 Theme: Counter every enemy attack with a 0 card break - or Zantetsuken. Strengths: - Break every attack without fail once you've loaded up an enemy card. - Even when enemy cards run out, you can still spam Ars Arcanum. - Enough cards in the deck to wipe out all but the largest enemy decks with Zantetsuken. - Divine Rose to Oathkeeper to OWA is a deadly attack chain. - Low CP cost for adding more 1 keyblades in spite of the number already present. Weaknesses: - This deck is passive and gives all initiative to your opponent. - 0 cards break anything, but can also be broken in turn. - Use up all of your enemy cards and you're in trouble. - Ars Arcanum is very easily to overpower in terms of card values. - You only have one Hi-Potion. Use it at your own risk. - Imagine how long it'd take to build this deck. Zero Gambit is the best example of a lockdown deck - a deck that shuts down all of your opponent's options. Each attack sent your way is countered with a break by a 0 card or worse yet Zantetsuken. As such, Zero Gambit is especially effective for terrorizing sleight heavy decks. To play it, blast away enemy Items with 0 cards and then destroy whatever cards they have left with Zantetsuken. Either the Pirate or the Screwdiver will reduce all of your keyblades to 0 values, so you'll want to have as many of both as you can. (Do note that both are only good for one reload.) Your opponent can't fight if he has no deck; at this point, you should ideally use the Hi-Potion to get back whatever cards you used for Zantetsuken. This leaves you with a nearly full deck and a deadly A-*-* attack chain. Unfortunately, Zero Gambit also has the same great weakness of Fatal Rush: it is very much a counterattack deck and as such gives all initiative to your opponent, who may not be cooperative. Powerful beatdown decks using keyblades like Oblivion or Ultima Weapon are especially strong against Zero Gambit as they do not rely on sleights for damage. Zero Gambit should be customized as much as possible to your style of play, which usually translates to adding more Hi-Potions. Three emergency 0 keys are placed in the back for last-ditch card breaking if by some unholy chance you use up all of your main fighting cards. This isn't to say that Zero Gambit lacks power - it's a deadly and effective deck when played correctly - but it does have definite weaknesses. Still a top boss killer in the storyline, and like Fatal Rush your friends will hate you if you can use it well in multiplayer. _______________________________________________________________________________ JUDGMENT FLARE Heartless Killer Deck (submitted by GameFanNo1) 3 Mushu \ 3 Fire > Mega Flare 4 Fire / 4 Kingdom Key \ 3 Three Wishes > Blitz 3 Olympia / 1 Simba \ 4 Kingdom Key > Shock Impact 5 Kingdom Key / 3 Mushu \ - 3 Fire > Mega Flare | 4 Fire / | x3 4 Kingdom Key \ | 3 Three Wishes > Blitz | 3 Olympia / - 1 Aero \ 4 Kingdom Key > Judgment 5 Kingdom Key / 4 Kingdom Key \ 3 Three Wishes > Blitz 3 Olympia / 1 Elixir 9 Cure x4 BouncyWild Red Nocturne x2 Total CP Cost: 844 CP Theme: Rip apart swarms of Heartless with Mega Flare, then clean up with other attacks. Strengths: - Mega Flare + Red Nocturne = bye-bye Heartless. - Nice, cheap, affordable CP cost. - Heartless can't break any of your sleights. Woo-hoo! - Great for easy leveling if you want to concentrate on HP and sleights. - Low CP cost, which translates into more versatility, which is good. Weaknesses: - y helo thar, Wizard\Red Nocturne\Green Requiem. - Blitz and Judgment are great for cleanup, but not as main weapons. - If you can't aim Mega Flare, don't bother with this deck. - Depends a little too much on battlefield initiative. - By the time you can build this deck, you'll be practically finished with the story. Good for levelgrinding, though. "Ideal Sleight values are 10 or higher so you can't get broken. The lone Shock Impact is for a certain Heartless swarm in Castle Oblivion, which has two Defenders come out after you defeat the Wyverns, but Shock Impact in general makes it easier to get off a Mega Flare. Mega Flare also has a mega flaw, as it can't hit a variety of magical Heartless, so after using a Blitz, scroll down to the end for even more Blitz Sleights and a Judgment to wipe them out. Good ol' Judgment. Cures at the end for easy access, and no need for 0s because this is a Heartless cleaner upper. The Elixir should be Stocked with the Cures, incase you forgot. BouncyWild to collect exp for a cheap cost of 10 CP, or Red Nocturnes to kill any Heartless in one hit that doesn't Absorb Fire or is a Boss/Defender. Also, if you're not using BouncyWild, then just move all the Blitz Sleights after the Judgment, or just take them out, simply because only a few things survive Fire Boosted Mega-Flares." And GameFan pretty much sums up what is a very wicked and very powerful deck, if you have the skill to use it. Destiny Islands is an especially good place to take this deck if you want to power-level - nothing immune to Fire damage there! =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIKU'S SAGA code: reverserebirth ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Chronologically speaking, Riku's story begins a little after Sora enters Castle Oblivion. As you play through Riku's story, you'll notice that the events which occur around him relate directly to Sora's tale. Riku's tale occurs in the twelve basements and the ground floor of Castle Oblivion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIKU'S SAGA - Introduction code: learningriku ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The biggest difference between Riku and Sora is that Riku battles with a preset deck. He has no choice of the cards that he takes into combat with him. Riku cannot participate in link battles; he is also restricted to a single Keyblade, the immensely powerful Soul Eater. Riku also has access to far fewer sleights, friends, and magic than Sora gets. Whereas Sora relies on his deck to win fights, Riku's power stems directly from his core attributes: health, strength, and darkness. Leveling Riku is as important as leveling Sora. Although Riku doesn't get to adjust his fighting deck, increasing his attributes allows him to get more out of the cards that he is dealt. For this reason Riku tends to do better than Sora at low levels; at around level 50 to level 60, however, Sora catches up to Riku and then quickly surpasses him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION - Battling with Riku ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Entering battles with Riku works exactly the same as entering battles with Sora. Refer to Sora's section of the introduction for more details. Since Riku's story is available only after completing Sora's story, the game will assume that you already know how to fight. A big difference between Riku and Sora is that Riku normally has no access to special sleights at all. String together any set of cards and Riku always launches those attacks in rapid succession rather than pulling any special moves. Riku's damage is determined directly from his AP, or Attack Points. The higher his AP, the more raw damage that he inflicts with each Soul Eater strike. After the first section of the game, you will taught how to access Riku's Dark Mode. Dark Riku is far more powerful than normal Riku. In addition to the changes that occur in his attack chain, he can also stun an enemy off a combo finisher, his dodge-roll covers almost the whole screen, and he can use a set of insanely powerful sleights. Riku always starts battle in Normal mode; to access Dark mode, he must either sustain damage or win card breaks until he enters Dark mode. A counter is always present on the left of the screen; it increases until he enters Dark mode, upon which it changes into a counter of his Dark status. To enter Dark mode, the counter must increase to at least thirty. When this requirement is fulfilled, the screen flashes and Riku somersaults in the air, changing into Dark Riku. His deck is also automatically reloaded minus any cards used to lead sleights. The counter increases by one whenever Riku takes damage; however, a faster way of raising the counter is to win card breaks. Whenever Riku wins a card break, the counter increases by the difference of his break. Consider the following examples: Riku vs. Wizard Riku plays an 8 Soul Eater right after the Wizard initiates a 7 Fire. Riku breaks the 7 Fire and the counter increments by 1. Riku vs. Shadow Riku plays a 25 sleight as the Shadow plays a 1 attack. Riku breaks the 1 attack and the counter increments by 9. Riku vs. Defender Riku plays a 0 Soul Eater right after the Defender uses a 9 attack. Riku breaks the 9 attack and the counter increments by 9. In these examples, breaking any attack with a 0 card will also increase the counter. Also, even if you break an enemy attack by more than 9, the Dark counter is limited to increasing by nine at a time. Once it hits 30, Riku changes into Dark Riku. Be wary, however; if Riku loses a card break, the Dark counter drops by the difference between the cards. Achieving Dark mode is fixed at raising the counter to 30. Staying in Dark mode is a little different; the more Riku raises his DP, or Dark Points, the longer he can stay in Dark mode. Once he transforms into Dark Riku, the Dark counter takes on the current value of Riku's DP. It loses 5 points for every hit that Dark Riku takes, plus it also loses points if Riku loses card breaks. Unfortunately, you can't increment the counter by winning card breaks while in Dark mode. Once the counter hits zero, Riku reverts back to his normal form and the process begins anew. Riku also has much more versatility in his normal attacks than Sora ever enjoyed. Different button presses will trigger different attacks in Dark Mode: 1st attack: Riku steps forward a little with a sliding attack. 2nd attack: A spinning cut that hits multiple times. Combo Finish: Riku backflips and brings the Soul Eater crashing down for multiple hits. As if that weren't enough, he also moves faster and jumps higher than Sora can. As a result, however, Riku tends to skid a little when stopping. Even more, Riku's dodge roll now takes him across the WHOLE screen. One last difference between Riku and Sora is that Riku reloads his cards instantly. He does not have to wait for the gauge to fill, and there is no gauge increment for his deck. This makes certain enemy cards that he acquires very easy to abuse. As Riku defeats enemy bosses, their enemy cards are automatically added to his deck and he can carry them over from world to world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION - Leveling Riku ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riku's level bonuses look a little different from Sora's. With Riku, it's much more important to decide early which traits you wish to concentrate on. At level up, you may choose to raise one of the following: HP Boost: Riku gains +15 hits points. Maxed at 560 HP. AP Boost: Riku gains +1 attack point (not always available). Maxed at 30 AP. DP Boost: Riku gains +2 Dark points. Maxed at 204(!) DP. Unlike Sora, Riku can maximize all of his stats, but this occurs only when he's fully leveled. The AP Boost only occurs every five levels, similar to Sora's sleight bonuses. You should find that HP is more important to Riku than it was to Sora, if only because Riku has less methods of direct healing. However, I'd personally still concentrate on taking AP when possible, then focusing on DP and giving Riku just enough HP to be comfortable. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIKU'S CARD MECHANICS code: powerofdarkness ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Riku's map synthesis and available map cards closely resemble Sora's, so those sections are omitted here. Besides which, by the time you get to Riku's story, you should have a fairly accurate idea of how room synthesis works. Riku's card section is mercifully much shorter than Sora's, plus he doesn't have to deal with Moogles. Riku's cards, as noted, do not have an associated CP cost or power scale. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARD TYPES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riku doesn't have any magic cards. He does get a single attack card, the Soul Eater, which reflects the weapon that he used back in the original Kingdom Hearts, plus he's a friend of the King. The game may also give you an item from time to time, but since these are already catalogued in Sora's section they aren't included here. Riku can also use the enemy cards that he wins off defeated bosses. The game automatically assigns him a single enemy card for each world (each world, not each floor), but Riku can also bring along any enemy cards that he won off defeated bosses. For this reason it's in your best interest to collect useful enemy cards as soon as possible. ----------------------------Riku's cards (22 total)---------------------------- This section is so short that it nearly doesn't warrant a separate heading, but here it is. Riku has access to three types of cards: a single attack card, a single friend card, and an assortment of enemy cards. The game stashes them all together in the D Report, so here they are: _______________________________________________________________________________ SOUL EATER 1/22 Attack: Varies T Strike: Varies | Thrust: Varies \|/ Combo Finish: Varies C--O--D Swing Speed: B VHV Element: Physical H\ '\ Break Recovery: B /H|\ /\ Required CP: Not applicable -/|H V\/| Found In: Not applicable --==+==---| -\ H J / CP Table |H / || 0 Soul Eater: NA 5 Soul Eater: NA -==+= // 1 Soul Eater: NA 6 Soul Eater: NA |H/|| 2 Soul Eater: NA 7 Soul Eater: NA -=X// 3 Soul Eater: NA 8 Soul Eater: NA // 4 Soul Eater: NA 9 Soul Eater: NA / "Reacts to dark power. Riku's strength is higher when he wields darkness in battle." Riku's only weapon. The Soul Eater's damage output depends on Riku's AP, and when Riku enters Dark mode it inflicts slightly higher damage. All of Dark Riku's sleights are made with this particular weapon. It has average swing speed and break recovery, making it a fairly balanced weapon all around. Like most of Sora's Keyblades, the Soul Eater inflicts physical damage, which means that you'll occasionally have trouble with enemies that defend against it. Not much more to be said about the Soul Eater. _______________________________________________________________________________ THE KING 2/22 Acquired: Various points throughout the game Sleights: - MM Miracle (Needs 2 or 3 The King cards) CP Table 0 The King: NA 5 The King: NA 1 The King: NA 6 The King: NA 2 The King: NA 7 The King: NA 3 The King: NA 8 The King: NA 4 The King: NA 9 The King: NA "The king restores HP, stuns and deals damage to all enemies, and reloads cards." In one casting, the King does ... a lot. In battle, using the King is the only way to restore HP to Riku short of using Oogie Boogie or Search Ghost. The King will only show up in certain places, however; because of the story, he isn't always available to help out the way Donald and Goofy were almost always there for Sora. Still, he's the only friend that Riku has, so if he's present, chances are you can quickly gather enough cards to use one of his powerful sleights. Enemies are left stunned for a considerable amount of time; Riku also regains a solid chunk of health, making the King one of the best friends to have in a fight. The only drawback is that the King takes a second or two before his effect starts, during which the card can be broken. Save this card and its associated sleights for emergencies. _______________________________________________________________________________ SHADOW 3/22 Effect: Incrementor Duration: 2 reloads Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Traverse Town only Auxiliary effects: None "Increase the value of all cards by 1." Good for beatdown, good for dark mode, both good and bad for sleights. The Shadow's Incrementor effect is a nice crutch for Riku if you aren't planning on using his Dark Firaga and Dark Break sleights. It doesn't alter Dark Aura - in fact, it gives you MORE of that fearsome attack - which is great if you want to abuse Dark Aura. Incrementor also increases the speed at which Riku achieves Dark mode, so use this card if you want to enter Dark mode in a hurry. On the down side, you're left with no 0 cards for breaking enemy attacks. Overall it's a much better card for Riku than it was for Sora. A pity that you only have it for Traverse Town, where two reloads pass by in a flash. _______________________________________________________________________________ LARGE BODY 4/22 Effect: Guard Duration: 1 reload Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Wonderland only Auxiliary effects: None "Deflect frontal physical attacks and completely nullify damage." Riku shrugs off any physical attack that hits from the front. Since he gets it for Wonderland and the fight against the Trickmaster, it's a fairly good sleight. The disadvantage, of course, is that you'll always have to face an attack to withstand it, something that simply isn't possible in large melees or when dodge-rolling. Don't get me wrong, it's a good card, but there are better ones out there. _______________________________________________________________________________ POWERWILD 5/22 Effect: Retrograde Duration: 1 reload Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Olympus Coliseum only Auxiliary effects: None "Reverse the values of all cards. 1 becomes 9, 2 becomes 8, etc. Cards with value 0 are not affected." Whereas Sora could use this card to turn a deck of 1 cards into 9 cards, Riku doesn't exactly have much say over his deck. It's great for Olympus Coliseum if you want to run over opponent with Dark Aura after reaching Dark Mode, but note that it only lasts for a single reload, thus you'll want to ration it carefully for the times that you can use it most effectively. This card is much more useful for Sora than it is for Riku. _______________________________________________________________________________ FAT BANDIT 6/22 Effect: Back Attack Duration: 2 reloads Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Agrabah only Auxiliary effects: None "Increase damage when striking enemies from behind." Ironically, Fat Bandits are weak against their own card. Equipping this card allows Riku to hammer opponents with back attacks since his Soul Eater will do about a grade more damage from behind. However, in Agrabah you should really be going for Dark Break at any rate, making the Fat Bandit of limited value. You could also use the Dragon Maleficent card to gain the same effect but without the rear attack restriction. Don't bother using this card. _______________________________________________________________________________ SEARCH GHOST 7/22 Effect: Drain Duration: 1 reload Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Monstro only Auxiliary effects: - Less exp per kill "Absorb enemy HP when striking with attack cards, but enemies will drop fewer items." When you're in Monstro, the Search Ghost is a great way to regain any HP that you might have lost. Of course, you'll also have the King with you, so HP shouldn't be a problem at all. It's your call as to whether or not you want to use the card - on the one hand, it'll keep you alive, but on the other, you'll pick up less experience in the long run and one can never have enough of that. If you're going to use it, do so right after reloading your deck. _______________________________________________________________________________ SEA NEON 8/22 Effect: Random Values Duration: 1 reload Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Atlantica only Auxiliary effects: None "Randomize the values of cards you use." Random Values is not something to rely on, but considering the deck that you're handed for Atlantica, you may not have a choice. Since all values are supposed to be random (and are, to the best of my knowledge), you'll average a value of 5 for your cards by the laws of statistics. It only lasts for one deck run, so once you reach Dark Mode you can destroy everything with a helping of Dark Break. Riku needs this card more than Sora ever did, but only because you're handed a terrible deck in Atlantica for straight brawling. _______________________________________________________________________________ WIGHT KNIGHT 9/22 Effect: Float Duration: 3 reloads Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Halloween Town only Auxiliary effects: None "Alter gravity to increase jumping ability." Okay, everybody repeat after me: "most useless ability ever." Which sums up the Wight Knight fairly well, actually. Riku already jumps higher than Sora, higher still in Dark Mode, which renders Wight Knight useless as far as being practical is concerned. Halloween Town doesn't even have a boss that might justify using the card. Don't use this card, practically every other enemy card that you might have at that point is better. _______________________________________________________________________________ PIRATE 10/22 Effect: All Zeros Duration: 1 reload Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Never Land only Auxiliary effects: None "Change the values of all cards to 0." A fairly useful card in Never Land, where it's picked up. The Pirate enemy card is the ultimate effect for breaking enemy attacks, but only if you're a skilled card breaker. You can use it to quickly reach Dark Mode; on the other hand, use it improperly and you'll never reach Dark Mode. Note that it only lasts for a single reload, which makes it perfect for Never Land since it turns itself off after reaching Dark Mode. Definitely a useful card when you pick it up. _______________________________________________________________________________ DEFENDER 11/22 Effect: Protect Duration: 1 reload Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Hollow Bastion only Auxiliary effects: None "Decrease damage from physical attacks by the enemy. Magical attacks do normal damage." Riku takes less damage from enemy physical attacks. This, of course, is always useful, more so in Hollow Bastion where you can expect to take a lot of hits. In Hollow Bastion, you won't have the King around to help you out, so conserving HP becomes all important. Until you defeat Maleficent, it'll be the only enemy card you have at any rate, so it can't hurt to use the Defender. _______________________________________________________________________________ GUARD ARMOR 12/22 Effect: Wide Attack Duration: 30 attacks Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Defeat Guard Armor in Traverse Town Auxiliary effects: None "Slightly extend the range of attack cards." Riku gets extra reach, which may make the difference between hitting an enemy or being hit by one. This card is useful only in highly situational encounters such as the battle against the Parasite Cage; anywhere else, you can simply run up to the enemy. As such it is of limited usage unless for some reason you absolutely have to fight at an opponent's extreme range. _______________________________________________________________________________ PARASITE CAGE 13/22 Effect: Dispel Duration: One use Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Defeat Parasite Cage in Monstro Auxiliary effects: None "Break an opponent's enemy card without fail. Nothing happens if your opponent has no enemy card in play." Very, very good card. In Riku's story, nearly all of the character-type bosses will be packing one or more enemy cards. Armed with the Parasite Cage, you now have a choice of breaking one of those effects. This can make an enormous difference in boss battles, especially against effects such as Ansem's Sleightblind or Lexaeus' Warp Break. The downside is that if you already have an enemy effect active, you'll lose it when you use the Parasite Cage card. Be sure to know exactly where this card lies in the chain, since you should find yourself reaching for it quite often. _______________________________________________________________________________ TRICKMASTER 14/22 Effect: Value Break Duration: 10 breaks Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Defeat Trickmaster in Wonderland Auxiliary effects: None "When you lose a card break, reduce the value of the enemy's card by the value of your broken card." Revenge is sweet. Properly used, Value Break can help you quickly reach Dark Mode or whittle down at enemy sleights. The downside is that you'll be losing your own cards to breakage in order to do this. Using Value Break to hit Dark Mode requires a lot of micromanagement and at this point you'll likely have better enemy effects anyways. The best use you can get out of this card is probably in boss battles if your deck happens to be outclassed by your opponent's. Definitely a comeback type of effect. _______________________________________________________________________________ DARKSIDE 15/22 Effect: Mimic Duration: 1 use Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Defeat Darkside in Destiny Islands Auxiliary effects: None "Copy the enemy card your opponent is using. Nothing happens if your opponent has no enemy card in play." Riku steals an effect off his opponent. This card's usefulness is limited by the observation that you get it so late in the game. Darkside is the great equalizer, putting you and your opponent firmly on the same ground. Depending on which effect you steal, one of you will have the advantage. In normal battles the Heartless will never use enemy effects, so it's useless for most of your encounters. _______________________________________________________________________________ HADES 16/22 Effect: Berserk Duration: 30 attacks Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Defeat Hades in Olympus Coliseum Auxiliary effects: - Resistant to fire - Stunned by ice "Boost the power of attack cards when low on HP (when the gauge is flashing red)." It's a real pity that you don't get to fight Axel in Riku's story as the Hades card would ruin his day. Once you fall into critical HP range, your attack power increases by a grade level. Your increased firepower lasts for thirty attacks, during which time you should really find yourself some healing. Since Riku's attack strength climbs over the course of his story, Hades' real benefit is to grant resistance to Fire-based attacks. _______________________________________________________________________________ JAFAR 17/22 Effect: Attack Bracer Duration: 20 attacks Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Defeat Genie Jafar in Agrabah Auxiliary effects: None "Stop enemies from breaking attack cards you use." If you're dealt a deck stacked full of low-valued cards, Jafar is a total life saver. Equip it and watch enemy attacks bounce harmlessly off of yours. This makes Jafar a very useful card, especially in fast-paced boss battles. It also has applications in normal fights against the Heartless, however. Attack Bracer is especially important for Riku since he can't adjust his deck, and I'd rank it as one of the best enemy cards in Reverse/Rebirth. _______________________________________________________________________________ OOGIE BOOGIE 18/22 Effect: Regen Duration: 10 uses Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Defeat Oogie Boogie in Halloween Town Auxiliary effects: None "Gradually restore HP. HP return more quickly when low." HP is Riku's perpetual problem thanks to his lack of a Cure spell. Oogie Boogie is effectively an unbreakable Tinker Bell, plus you get ten full uses out of it. This can bring Riku back from the brink of death all the way to full health if your maximum HP hovers around 200 or so. Seeing as how the King is unreliable at best and HP balls can only be found out of battle, Regen is an important effect. Keep it ready to hand whenever it's needed. _______________________________________________________________________________ URSULA 19/22 Effect: Shell Duration: 5 hits taken Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Defeat Ursula in Atlantica Auxiliary effects: None "Halve the damage from magical attacks by the enemy. Summon magic does normal damage." Although physical attacks usually cause more trouble than magic, there are times you'll want to fight magic users too. When this happens, Ursula's Shell effect cuts down on the damage you take for five hits. Shell's usefulness is directly proportional to the number of magic-using enemies that you face, but since magic users typically don't have much HP, you're almost always better off just going for a straight beatdown. _______________________________________________________________________________ HOOK 20/22 Effect: Second Chance Duration: 3 uses Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Defeat Hook in Never Land Auxiliary effects: - Resistant to lightning - Stunned by fire "Retain 1 HP after a critical hit, provided you have 2 or more HP left." As the card effect implies, you get a second chance. Unlike Sora, however, Riku can't flip to a Cure card to bring himself back from that 1 HP danger zone when he recovers. This makes Hook's card of less practical value to Riku than it was for Sora, since Riku has to use the King for in-battle healing. On the plus side, you do gain a useful lightning resistance at the cost of a weakness to fire. _______________________________________________________________________________ DRAGON MALEFICENT 21/22 Effect: Overdrive Duration: 30 attacks Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Defeat Maleficent in Hollow Bastion Auxiliary effects: None "Sacrifice reload speed to power up attack cards." Dragon Maleficent powers up Riku's attacks by a whole grade level, allowing him to inflict more damage at the cost of an increased reload time. Oh wait. Riku doesn't HAVE reload time. Needless to say, this makes Overdrive cheap and overpowered as hell, the more so considering how early you acquire the card. It'll see you through many worlds and floors, especially early on when a grade level boost in attack strength effectively doubles Riku's firepower. In short, Dragon Maleficent is one of the best cards available to Riku. _______________________________________________________________________________ LEXAEUS 22/22 Effect: Warp Break Duration: 50 attacks Unique: Yes CP Cost: NA Acquired: Defeat Lexaeus Auxiliary effects: - Immune to ice - Resistant to physical attacks - Weak against special attacks "Obliterate enemies with the finishing blow of a combo with a high success rate. During versus battles you can stun your opponent." Lexaeus' card is the ultimate Heartless killer, as it grants Ice immunity and high resistance to physical attacks. Besides this, there's a fair chance that your final attack will cause the enemy to vanish and leave experience behind. It's weak against sleights, but normal Heartless don't use sleights at any rate. In boss battles, however, you'll have to watch out for enemy sleight attacks (get hit by Ansem's Dark Shadow strike and you're pretty much screwed). The final hit can't auto-KO a boss, but there's a fair chance that you'll stun your opponent and leave him wide open for another combo or worse yet a powerful sleight of your own. Lexaeus is a two-edged sword; make sure that it doesn't cut your way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SLEIGHTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riku has four sleights all told, three of which use his Soul Eater and one that involves calling the King to his aid. Of these sleights, the Soul Eater sleights can only be pulled in Dark mode, so don't bother trying them in normal battle. Otherwise using sleights with Riku is exactly the same as using Sora's sleights. ---------------------------Riku's Sleights (4 total)--------------------------- As with D Report entries on the card index, all of Riku's sleights are also lumped together in the status menu. He only has four sleights anyways, but all four are quite brutal (some are blatantly overpowered). _______________________________________________________________________________ DARK BREAK 1/4 Acquired: Upon entering Dark mode Requires: Three Soul Eaters Total value 5-15 "Leap into the air and attack enemies from above. Only available in Dark Mode." Riku hoists the Soul Eater and uses it as a pogo stick on the heads of any enemy close by. Dark Break attacks come from above in rapid succession quickly enough that most enemies can't break the sleight. It deals out six hits in all for a considerable amount of damage. Riku automatically acquires targets, thus the sleight is a fire-and-forget technique. Of all his attack sleights this one is the easiest to card break, but it still packs a devastating punch. Use this sleight if you don't have access to Dark Aura. _______________________________________________________________________________ DARK FIRAGA 2/4 Acquired: Upon entering Dark mode Requires: Three Soul Eaters Total value 16-25 "Expel dark energy in a searing blast. Only available in Dark Mode." Riku fires a cluster of energy off his palm. Dark Firaga travels in a more or less straight line, though it will track a targeted enemy a little. Of all Riku's sleights, this one is the hardest to aim properly. It does a fairly high amount of damage when it hits and it can hit more than one enemy when properly targeted. Dark Firaga is harder to break than Dark Break and can't be broken at all by regular enemies. And don't let the name deceive you; Dark Firaga is a neutral attack, not a Fire attack. Overall it's less powerful than Dark Break, but still a very deadly sleight nonetheless. _______________________________________________________________________________ DARK AURA 3/4 Acquired: Upon entering Dark mode Requires: Three Soul Eaters Total value 27 "Rush enemies repeatedly with blade in hand. Only available in Dark Mode." Fear Riku for he will kick your ass! Riku ascends into the air, brandishes his Soul Eater, and then flies off the screen. He rushes back in and impales anything that gets in his way on the Soul Eater for massive damage. Riku repeats this attack a couple of times before he returns to the center of the screen and plants the blade into the ground, causing pillars of dark energy to explode all around him. Anything that survived the Dark Aura and is hit by the pillars of energy is automatically confused. Dark Aura is Riku's most powerful direct damage sleight and can quickly clear a screen of even the most obstinate enemies. It's also near impossible to card break, plus its unparalleled speed allows it to overrun any opponent. Definitely Riku's strongest attack sleight, though you might want to save your 9 Soul Eaters in a long battle until it starts to wind down. In Kingdom Hearts, this technique was called Shadows of Oblivion. ("Welcome oblivion!" strike a bell?) _______________________________________________________________________________ MM Miracle 4/4 Acquired: Whenever the King is present Requires: The King + The King The King + The King + The King "The king restores HP, and stuns and deals damage to all enemies." "The king restores a lot of HP, and stuns and deals damage to all enemies." Might as well save the best for last. MM Miracle is the ultimate sleight in terms of its versatility. It restores a good deal of HP (almost as much as similar levels of Cure sleights), plus you also get your deck back and a window of opportunity to hit Heartless with that shiny reloaded deck. Isn't the King such a nice fellow? Either level of MM Miracle will restore quite a big chunk of your HP. Even better, the King deals Neutral damage to all enemies in the field, making his attack unblockable. To top off its obvious advantages, you can easily come by the King cards if he's with you. About the only drawbacks of this sleight are its sizable windup delay and the fact that you'll have to use the card values that you pick up in battle. Of all Riku's sleights, MM Miracle is definitely the best in the arsenal. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIKU'S WALKTHROUGH ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Riku's journey is a lonely one in which he searches for Sora and the King. He'll have only one friend to aid him, and that sporadically, during his quest. Riku's story also has less plot in each of its worlds than Sora's, so don't expect another recap of what happened in Kingdom Hearts. As with Sora's quest, Riku can synthesize worlds in any order. The floor plans are still fixed and thus still separated from the worlds. Otherwise Riku's story is much the same as Sora's: enemies will become more challenging as Riku climbs floors, objects can be struck for health (but no cards or Moogle points), and Riku will face most of the bosses that Sora faced. He'll also be able to pick up 0 Trinity cards to aid him in his quest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BASEMENT 12: Hollow Bastion code: spookycastle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BASEMENT 12 ^Exit [$] 1: Key of Beginnings + Red card | 2: Key of Guidance + Green card [!]-[3] 3: Key to Truth + >5 card | [2]-[%]-[ ] *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. | | %: Reappear in this room when finished with 2. [ ]-[*]-[1] !: Reappear in this room when finished with 3. | [ ] $: Cannot be accessed until 3 is completed. ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ HOLLOW BASTION "A once peaceful castle ruined by Maleficent." Deck: 9 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 5 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 5 Soul Eater 4 Soul Eater 5 Soul Eater 4 Soul Eater 3 Soul Eater 9 Potion Defender enemy card Objects: Pillars, steam outlets, fancy columns Enemies: Shadow, Wyvern, Wizard, Defender, Tornado Step, Darkball Friends: None Bosses: Dragon Maleficent (Truth room) Of all the places to start your quest, this place had to be it ... okay, take a close look at your fighting deck. You can't change it, but what you have is more than enough for the task at hand. Of all the enemies in Hollow Bastion, only the Defender and the occasional Darkball should cause any sort of trouble. It's recommended that you start each battle by using the Defender enemy card since practically every enemy in the bastion uses physical attacks. Head to the Key to Truth room when you're ready, although I recommend that you gain at least five level-ups first. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DRAGON MALEFICENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Trinity: Destroy the green flames that spawn. Attacks: Snap - Maleficent lowers her head and snaps at Riku. Those teeth hurt quite a lot (she's a dragon, after all). This attack is fast and has relatively good range. The best way to fight it is to pummel Maleficent with a steady stream of cards, giving her no room for counterattack. Note that breaking the attack causes her head to lower to ground level. Dragon Claw - Maleficent makes a claw swipe at Riku. Much like the Snap, it's fast, decently strong, and features superior range. You can dodge-roll through it but it's easier just to stuff the attack and make sure that it never comes out. Evil Flare - Maleficent breathes out a stream of sentient flames. I'm serious, these little flames move on their own. They'll do quite a bit of damage to Riku and have this annoying habit of moving right as you least expect them to. You can, however, break apart a flame. Doing this sometimes releases a 0 Trinity card. Mega Stomp - Maleficent raises a paw and brings it down into the floor with lots of force. Be in the air when it comes out to avoid it. This is definitely her most annoying move; while it does only moderate damage, it's fast and hard to see, plus she has a habit of repeatedly spamming the attack when you're too far away for the other attacks. Drop: Dragon Maleficent enemy card Riku has a much easier time against Maleficent than Sora ever did. To start with, Riku can jump high enough to reach Maleficent's head without using an enemy card or the 0 Trinity. Maleficent also has much less HP, making this encounter a rather short one. While she still attacks quickly, her attacks do less damage overall now. Be careful, however; Riku has no way of recovering HP at the moment, so try not to trade hits against Maleficent. Jump when you see Mega Stomp coming and break some flames for a 0 Trinity card. With a bit of effort, this battle isn't difficult at all. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Maleficent nets you the Dragon Maleficent card, which increases Riku's attack power at the cost of an increase in reload time. Except that Riku has no reload time. Feel free to abuse this card as much as you want. Head out when you're ready and note that Riku does not get an automatic save room created for him like Sora did. By the way, your deck will be changed for this next battle into: 8 Soul Eater x3 7 Soul Eater x3 6 Soul Eater x3 9 Soul Eater x3 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater x2 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 9 Hi-Potion 0 Hi-Potion 0 Soul Eater x4 Dragon Maleficent enemy card ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANSEM I ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Frontal physical attacks when his shadow protects him Threat: Medium-Low Trinity: None Attacks: Submit! - Ansem's shadow takes a swipe at Riku. Fairly good range and speed but not that great for damage. He likes spamming this move, so don't let him drive you into a corner of the room. Floor Bolt - Ansem sends a trail of lightning skimming over the floor in a horizontal direction. Move up or down or just dodge-roll to avoid it. It's his long-range attack and slightly slower than the other one, but they do roughly the same damage. Dark Rush (sleight) - Ansem flies forward with an aura of some sort in front of himself. If you're caught in a bad place, this move can hit you multiple times. It's only safe to dodge-roll on the side of the screen; if you're in the middle, break it with a 0 card. In the game it appears (mistranslated) as Rockshatter. Drop: None, the little cheapskate Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The final boss of the original Kingdom Hearts is reduced to this? Ansem is a character-type enemy and for most of the battle you two will strike back and forth while he yells "Submit!" at you. He has slightly more HP than Maleficent did but an inferior deck. See that big deck you were dealt? Play the recently acquired Dragon Maleficent card for a rather unfair boost in power and lay waste to him. More often than not you'll win the card break, which leaves Ansem unable to defend. Note that his shadow can block physical attacks if it's in front. You'll also have the King around to aid you, which is great if you start to fall low on health. This battle shouldn't last long. _______________________________________________________________________________ No prize this time, but you do get 73 experience points for your trouble. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WORLD CARD SET I Basements 11-8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You'll receive the first world card set for Riku upon defeating Ansem; this set includes Agrabah, Monstro, Never Land, and Traverse Town. You'll also have the King as an ally from this point forward for the entire card set. As with Sora's walkthrough, enemies become increasingly more powerful as you ascend the floors of this castle. _______________________________________________________________________________ BASEMENT 11 ^Exit [$] 1: Key of Beginnings + >3 Red card | [ ]-[ ] *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. | | $: Cannot be accessed until 1 is completed. [ ]-[*]-[!] | [ ] ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ BASEMENT 10 ^Exit [$] 1: Key of Beginnings + >5 Green card | [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[*]-[1] *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. | $: Cannot be accessed until 1 is completed. [ ] ^Start Save in the final room of this basement just for insurance, since you'll run into a boss fight once you're done. Also, your deck will be changed into the following: 8 Soul Eater x3 7 Soul Eater x3 6 Soul Eater x3 9 Soul Eater x3 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater x2 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 9 Hi-Potion 0 Hi-Potion 0 Soul Eater x4 All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VEXEN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Trinity: None Attacks: Shield Strike - Vexen strikes out at Riku with his shield. He's not as quick about it as Axel or Larxene, however. This time it does absolutely pitiful damage but still has its old range. Blizzard - Vexen uses Sora's basic Blizzard spell. Not Blizzara or Blizzaga, just Blizzard. Counter it accordingly. Freeze (sleight) - When you hear a high-pitched laugh, get ready to dodge-roll. This sleight causes a bunch of ice to materialize under Riku. If you're caught by it you will end up frozen for a period of time during which Vexen can get a free hit on you, plus you'll slowly take damage. Mash the jump button to escape if you do end up encased. Ice Needles (sleight) - Vexen sends a stream of icicles popping up out of the ground and after Riku. This sleight homes and does it well enough to hit consistently. You can outrun it, however, and it doesn't last too long. Alternatively you can just break the sleight. It does a bit of damage if it hits. Diamond Dust (sleight) - Vexen covers the screen with a flurry of snowflakes. Diamond Dust does continuous damage as long as it's active, though it doesn't do that much and you can still move freely. Still, break it if you can since it's kind of annoying. Blue Rhapsody - Blizzard Boost enemy effect Air Pirate - Item Bracer enemy effect Vexen - Auto-Life enemy effect Drop: Nothing. It's Vexen again ... with two full HP bars, no less. And yes, he's still as easy as the time you faced him using Sora. Note that he packs a bunch of Elixirs and a Mega-Ether, all of which you will want to break. Vexen still has the same problems that he had in Sora's story, however. For one, he's slow enough to where you can run him down. He's also not nearly as aggressive as he should be. He does come with an impressive arsenal, however, as well as at least three enemy cards. He also has that annoying shield of his which guards against frontal physical attacks. Apparently, he loses his Iceburn sleight. Luckily, you're given a big deck to play around with. You can now pull the deadly Dark Aura and Dark Firaga sleights repeatedly once you enter Dark Mode, plus your deck is usually able to fight head-to-head against Vexen's and still win most of the time. As if that weren't enough, you can freely sleight your deck since the two Hi-Potions near the back allow you to get all of your cards back. Finally, you have 0 cards strategically positioned in the rear of the deck which allow you to break Vexen's multiple sleights or items. When you run out of 0 cards, reload. You want them with you at all times. Hit fast and hard and Vexen should go down after a while. _______________________________________________________________________________ Beating Vexen doesn't give you any items, but you do get a rather unholy amount of experience from the battle. Once you're done, head up to the next basement level. _______________________________________________________________________________ BASEMENT 9 ^Exit [1] [$] 1: Key of Beginnings + Blue card | | [*]-[ ]-[ ] *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. | | | $: Cannot be accessed until 1 is completed. [ ]-[ ]-[ ] | [ ] ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ BASEMENT 8 ^Exit [ ] [1] 1: Key of Beginnings + =0 Red card | | [ ]-[ ]-[ ] *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. | | | $: Cannot be accessed until 1 is completed. [ ] [ ] [ ] | | | [ ]-[ ]-[ ] | [ ] ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ AGRABAH code: trioofwishes "A bustling desert city with a grand palace." Deck: 7 Soul Eater - 6 Soul Eater |x5 4 Soul Eater | 3 Soul Eater - 7 Hi-Potion Fat Bandit enemy card All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated Objects: Barrel, Vendor shops, roof projections, wooden towers Enemies: Shadow, Air Soldier, Yellow Opera, Green Requiem, Bandit, Fat Bandit, Barrel Spider Friends: the King Bosses: Genie Jafar (Beginnings room) Upon entering Agrabah, you'll get a rather odd deck made of five 7-6-4-3 Soul Eater chains, a Hi-Potion, and a Fat Bandit enemy card in addition to all of your old enemy cards. This deck is basically begging to go into Dark Mode and lay waste to everything in sight with Dark Break. It can hold its own in normal combat, but you're better off aiming for Dark Mode as soon as you can. The trick is to wait for Dark Mode, sleight like crazy, and then use the Hi- Potion to regain all the cards that you used up in your sleights. Of all the enemies that you can run into around here, only the Fat Bandits are really annoying. When you're ready, step through the Key of Beginnings room. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GENIE JAFAR ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Everything Threat: Low Trinity: Attack Jafar's body (I think. Not sure about this, it could be you have to hit him with Dark Firaga.) Attacks: Magma Drop - Jafar pulls up a huge rock and chucks it at Riku. You have several options here: dodge-roll, break the attack, or just hide behind a platform. It's easy to counter since it doesn't move fast and can be seen coming a mile away. You deserve the hit that your HP will take if it connects. The People's Elbow - Jafar punches the nearest platform. Okay, fine, so it's not an elbow, but the analogy is apt. Break this attack or simply move out of range. Optic Blast - Jafar fixes his gaze on Riku and lets loose with a steady stream of energy. This attack hits hard but still has a sizable windup delay, so hide behind a tall platform or just break the blasted thing. Drop: Genie Jafar enemy card This battle ring a bell? As with Sora, you're going to be aiming all of your attacks on Iago instead of Jafar. Your deck is ideally geared towards this fight - the idea should be to go into Dark Mode as soon as possible, then abuse Dark Break to pound Iago. Pound him anyways while you're in normal mode. At the same time, do note that you'll have to avoid Jafar's attacks and try not to become reckless. You probably won't have enough dark points to stay in Dark Mode for too long unless you saved Agrabah for last and power-leveled. The other way to take this fight is to dispense with card breaks and just hammer Iago with everything you have. This is more practical with Riku than with Sora since Riku has higher jumps and generally hits harder, and is the faster of the two methods. The fight occurs in a room full of lava and Riku stands on three platforms that will rise and fall in a random pattern. Jafar attacks from the sides and will sometimes switch sides. You can only hit Iago off a jump from a tall platform or medium platform and you cannot reach a tall platform if you're standing on one that's as low as it will go. Jafar also has a fairly high health bar, but he does have a glaring weakness - he's blasted slow. You can easily find a suitable card for breaking purposes by the time he finishes launching an attack. This makes the battle long but not hard. As with Sora, hang around the middle platform to avoid The People's Elbow and being trapped on one platform. Smacking Jafar will occasionally yield a 0 Trinity card, which raises all three platforms to their highest levels. And when all the platforms are as high as they can go - hey, open season on parrots is here! All in all this battle shouldn't be too time-consuming. Sorry Jafar, but even though you're the most powerful genie ever, you still get a Low threat rating. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Jafar gives you his Attack Bracer, a useful card for Riku since you have no control over his deck. After finishing Jafar, it's off to the exit and another world. _______________________________________________________________________________ MONSTRO code: bellyofthebeast "Inside the belly of the giant whale." Deck: 7 Soul Eater - 5 Soul Eater |x2 4 Soul Eater | 1 Soul Eater - 7 Soul Eater - 6 Soul Eater |x3 4 Soul Eater | 1 Soul Eater - Search Ghost enemy card All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated Objects: Flesh stalagmites, barrels, shells Enemies: Shadow, Large Body, Air Soldier, Yellow Opera, Green Requiem, Search Ghost, Tornado Step Friends: the King Bosses: Parasite Cage (Beginnings room) Monstro is not significantly different from the time you ran through it with Sora. You'll face a large and sometimes annoying assortment of enemies, but between the King and your shiny new Search Ghost enemy card you should have no trouble staying in good health. The deck that you're dealt still isn't the best for combat and you'll mainly be breaking enemy attacks with 7 cards unless you want to burn a sleight. In Monstro, it may actually be a good idea to use sleights that begin with 1's, if only to discard those cards from your deck. In Dark Mode you can pull Dark Break and Dark Firaga, but sadly still no Dark Aura. Head off to the Beginnings room when you're ready to confront the boss of this world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PARASITE CAGE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Trinity: Attack the Parasite Cage while it is "yawning." Attacks: Hammer Fist - The Parasite Cage joins both of its arms together and slams them into the ground, which shrinks down the platforms that you stand on. Fairly fast and damaging, so be sure to try and break the attack. If all else fails, dodge-roll out of the way and regain a platform as quickly as possible. Power Bomb - The Parasite Cage braces itself on its arms and then throws its body forward at Riku. Fast, powerful, and covering the whole screen, Power Bomb is definitely this boss' most annoying attack. It's only used when a significant amount of the Parasite Cage's HP is depleted. Acid Ball - A glob of green ... stuff ... comes at you, courtesy of the Parasite Cage. Jump over it if you can or break it, or just run and grab another platform. Drop: Parasite Cage enemy card Riku has an easier time with the Parasite Cage than Sora. Not much easier, mind you, but easier nonetheless. The battle itself has stayed the same; Riku hops around on small platforms that become smaller and hits the Parasite Cage whenever he gets the chance. Since Riku does more damage overall than Sora, he can whittle down the Cage's HP bar at a faster rate. You'll also have the King around to help restore your HP, plus that ever-useful Search Ghost card. In fact, any enemy card that you have is useful in this battle. Sometimes, breaking the Parasite Cage's attacks will net you a 0 Trinity card. If this happens, use it immediately and give it a thorough pounding. You may also want to save the Dragon Maleficent enemy card for this situation where you can really take advantage of it. Having 1 cards in your chain is annoying but inevitable, especially if you're going to save them for Dark Break sleights. Dark mode is a great asset in this battle but hardly necessary to win. Still, it can be useful and surprisingly easy to achieve if you hang back and break attacks that come at you while waiting for the platforms to revolve. Either way, you should have little trouble defeating the Parasite Cage if you did it the first time with Sora. _______________________________________________________________________________ After defeating the Parasite Cage, you'll get its useful enemy card. Make your way to the exit and head on out to the next world in your card set. _______________________________________________________________________________ NEVER LAND code: walktheplank "Inside Captain Hook's pirate ship." Deck: 7 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 5 Soul Eater 4 Soul Eater 3 Soul Eater 2 Soul Eater 1 Soul Eater 0 Soul Eater 1 Soul Eater 2 Soul Eater 3 Soul Eater 4 Soul Eater 5 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater Pirate enemy card All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated Objects: Treasure chest, barrels, boxes Enemies: Shadow, Pirate, Air Pirate, Darkball, Crescendo, Barrel Spider Friends: the King Bosses: Hook (Beginnings room) Never Land gives you an ... interesting ... deck. On the one hand, your card values start at a local maximum, decrease to a global minimum, and then rise again to a global maximum. On the other hand, you get the Pirate enemy card that changes all card values into 0. This is great for quickly breaking enemy attacks and rushing into Dark Mode, but ONLY if you're good at card break gameplay. If not, you'll find yourself broken more often that you break your opponent and end up with that dark meter hovering around 0. Personally, I'd recommend against leveling in Never Land since it gets frustrating having to deal with Crescendos. When you're ready, head over to the story room for a battle with You-Know-Who. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOOK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-High Trinity: None Attacks: Slash - Hook aims a swipe with his rapier. It's decently fast and has about as much range as one of Riku's attacks. Naturally you'd think that it does only slight damage, right? WRONG. This move hurts more than any rapier deserves to. Even a few of these will send you running as you scramble to collect the King cards for healing. Ticking Gift - Hook chucks a gift-wrapped box around the deck. This box explodes after a short time interval; when it does, you do not want to be in the blast radius. Hook ends up unbalanced after using this move, so if you can break the attack you'll get a free hit on him. Rush & Present (sleight) - Hook slashes the living daylights out of Riku before sending him explosive parting gifts. If you see this sleight forming in the upper right hand corner, reach for that 0 card as you do not want to be caught in it. Once it hits Riku you can't stop it. The good news is that Hook has to be pretty close to you for the sleight to have any effect, so keep your distance if he's about to trigger it. Combo & Present (sleight) - Hook throws a whole cargo load of gifts around on the deck. Wonder how he does it without blasting a hole into the deck? At any rate, when this sleight comes out, you want to be on the high side of whichever way the deck is tilting. It's Hook's deadliest attack since it can do horrendous damage if you end up stuck on the low side of the deck. It's limited by its fairly small range, however. Break this attack or move away if you see it coming. Hook - Second Chance enemy effect Pirate - All Zeros enemy effect Sea Neon - Random Values enemy effect Drop: Hook enemy card Hook is no longer as bad as when you faced him using Sora, but he can still be annoying to fight. For one, you'll have little chance of winning if you go head-to-head on decks. Hook still hits hard and you still fight on that ever- annoying tilting deck, plus he usually pulls out higher cards than you do. However, you do have a great one-time advantage up your sleeve - you can use the Pirate enemy card to swiftly break any attacks he sends your way. This will allow you to both destroy his sleights and quickly reach Dark Mode. Once you reach Dark Mode, spike him whenever he's reloading with your Dark Break sleight. Hook will break your attacks fairly often, more so if he loads his Pirate enemy card. He has no Items and none of the enemy cards he carries are really all that dangerous if you know how to use them to your own advantage. Hook has mediocre HP which Riku can knock down faster than Sora could. This fight is still kind of intense since Riku's healing methods are much less reliable than Sora's, but overall it's easier than Sora's version of the battle. With a lot of patience and a little luck, you'll be the winner in no time. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Hook nets you the Hook enemy card, which grants Second Chance and Thunder resistance at a cost in weakness to Fire. Head out of Never Land when you're able. _______________________________________________________________________________ TRAVERSE TOWN code: oldfriends "A haven for those whose homes fell to darkness." Deck: 4 Soul eater 5 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater Shadow enemy card All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated Objects: Crate, lamppost, shingled block in the floor Enemies: Shadow, Soldier, Red Nocturne, Blue Rhapsody Friends: the King Bosses: Guard Armor (Beginnings room) If you ask me, Traverse Town's the safest place to level in the first world card set and should be saved for last. Granted, you're not given much of a deck to work with. However, the enemies here are comparatively easy and can be quickly killed to yield lots of experience. Using Dragon Maleficent's enemy card speeds this process up. Traverse Town is the easiest of the worlds to pass through, but you can still rack up considerable experience by taking each room as it comes. When you're ready, head over to the last room to take on the first boss in Sora's story. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GUARD ARMOR ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Low Trinity: Intercept Guard Armor's attacks. Attacks: Stomp - The Guard Armor's feet will attempt to kick Riku. This attack has range issues and thus isn't very dangerous if you stay out of its way. Does slight damage. Swipe - The Guard Armor's gauntlets swipe at Riku. You'll see this move coming long before it hits, and it isn't hard at all to dodge or break. Does slight damage. Disco Swipe - Now this is more like it. The Guard Armor's gauntlets start to whirl around it. It has limited range, but don't try to squeeze an attack through; instead, run back until the attack ends and then you may counterattack. Or else just break the annoying attack. Shatter Spin - The Guard Armor spins itself rapidly. Break the attack or dodge it, your call. This attack is used only after you've stripped the boss of its arms and legs. If the attack isn't broken before the body reaches the floor, the Armor will start bouncing around the arena like a pinball for a short while. Pogo Impact - The Guard Armor's body bounces up and down, shaking the floor. Think of a more annoying version of the Impact attack, and break this one if you can. If not, jump up and pray that you don't land when he does. Drop: Guard Armor enemy card I swear, the Guard Armor has got to be the easiest boss in the game no matter which floor you decide to fight it. It has five targetable areas but none of them sport much health. Added to this, the Guard Armor is slow, not aggressive, has range issues, and often uses cards that are easily broken. All of these factors put together make for one heck of an easy fight that you don't even need to enter Dark Mode to win. Once you've knocked away its gauntlets and its boots, concentrate your attacks on the torso. You can win a 0 Trinity card by breaking the Guard Armor's attacks. The 0 Trinity card breaks the Guard Armor apart briefly, so you'll want to use it when you can hit all four of the exterior armor segments at once. Or, if you feel sadistic, break it apart and then start pounding with Dark Break. Or just pound it period. You really shouldn't have any problems with this battle even if you're desperately underleveled. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating the Guard Armor gives you the Guard Armor enemy card, which extends the range of your Soul Eater. Head out once you've leveled up to your heart's content. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WORLD CARD SET II ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The second world card set includes Atlantica, Halloween Town, Olympus Coliseum, and Wonderland. No 100 Acre Wood in Riku's story. Enemies become progressively tougher in this world card set, floors grow larger and more obnoxious, and you may find yourself needing to level Riku. By the way, I hope you saved when you came out of the last world in the first world card set since you're due for the boss battle right as you show up. Your deck is modified accordingly. If this deck looks familiar, it's because you also used it during your fights against Ansem and Vexen. 8 Soul Eater x3 7 Soul Eater x3 6 Soul Eater x3 9 Soul Eater x3 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul eater 9 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater x2 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 9 Hi-Potion 0 Hi-Potion 0 Soul Eater x4 Guard Armor enemy card Parasite Cage enemy card Genie Jafar enemy card Hook enemy card Dragon Maleficent enemy card ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIKU I ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Attacks: Hop Bash - Riku jumps up and brings the Soul Eater crashing down, much like Cloud did earlier. It has a fractional second windup delay, so you can card break the attack if you're fast enough to see it coming. Does slight damage. Slash - Riku spins around and then slashes with the Soul Eater. Much like the Hop Bash in terms of windup delay and range, only that it hits from the side instead of above. Again, easily card broken if you see it coming. X-Slash - Riku runs into you with a one-two strike. This move will stun you and has better range than any of his other physical attacks. Try not to get hit by it, otherwise you're left as a sitting duck for one of his attacks or worse yet a sleight. Dark Firaga (sleight) - Riku launches a mass of dark blue fire at you. It hurts moderately but is hard for him to aim since it only has limited homing ability. You'll see it coming a mile away. Dodge- roll the sucker, card break it, or just step out of the way. Shadow - Incrementor enemy effect. Drop: Nothing. This battle resembles the one that Sora had with Riku II, except Riku now has Items in his inventory. Unfortunately for him, he's lost a lot in terms of damage, aggression, recovery, and even deck power. With your new deck, you should have no problem beating him into the ground. You'll win more card breaks than you'll lose; once you're in Dark Mode, feel free to pound him into dust with Dark Break or Dark Aura. Watch out for his X-Slash, though; it'll still leave you stunned and unable to react. Riku likes to use his Shadow enemy card for its Incrementor effect. Break it with Parasite Cage, even if you have to sacrifice another effect already in play to do so. Breaking the Incrementor allows you to keep your card breaking advantage. If you need to heal, trigger the King or MM Miracle while his rather large deck is reorganizing itself. You can also use that time to beat up on him with your own attacks. He's fairly slow and usually won't be able to outrun you. You'll also be able to do more damage to him than he does to you unless you've been wholly neglecting AP upgrades. Dragon Maleficent and Genie Jafar both work well in this battle. Keep pounding away at him and you'll end up the winner of this confrontation. _______________________________________________________________________________ Beating Riku doesn't give you an enemy card. You do, however, receive the second world card set as well as a hefty 475 experience. _______________________________________________________________________________ BASEMENT 7 ^Exit [$] [1] 1: Key of Beginnings + 15 Blue card total | | [ ]-[ ]-[*] *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. | | | $: Cannot be accessed until 1 is completed. [ ]-[ ]-[ ] | | | [ ]-[ ]-[ ] | [ ] ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ BASEMENT 6 ^Exit [$] 1: Key of Beginnings + Red card | + Green card [ ]-[ ] | | *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. [ ]-[ ]-[*]-[1] $: Cannot be accessed until 1 is completed. | | [ ]-[ ] | [ ] ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ BASEMENT 5 ^Exit [1] [$] 1: Key of Beginnings + 30 Red card total | | [*]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. | | | | $: Cannot be accessed until 1 is completed. [ ]-[ ]-[ ]-[ ] | [ ] ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ BASEMENT 4 ^Exit [$] 1: Key of Beginnings + >4 Blue card | [ ]-[ ] *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. | | $: Cannot be accessed until 1 is completed. [ ]-[ ] [ ]-[ ] | | | | [1]-[*]-[ ] [ ]-[ ] | | | [ ]-[ ] [ ] ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ ATLANTICA code: underwaterphun "Undersea kingdom protected by King Triton." Deck: 5 Soul Eater x4 4 Soul Eater x4 3 Soul Eater x4 2 Soul Eater x4 1 Soul Eater x4 Sea Neon enemy card All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated Objects: Seashells, sponge columns, rocks Enemies: Sea Neon, Screwdiver, Aquatank, Darkball, Search Ghost Friends: the King Bosses: Ursula (Beginnings room) Atlantica is simple: you're given a deck that stinks along with an enemy card which redeems it. The Sea Neon enemy card randomizes the values that you get; your enemies usually use low-valued cards, but so do you. By using the Randomizer, you'll end up with higher values than you normally would. Use your randomized deck to quickly reach Dark Mode, then crush everything under a storm of Dark Break sleights. You can also try to enter Dark Mode before using the Sea Neon enemy card, but the first method is generally the better of the two. Enemies in Atlantica are neither too difficult nor too easy; when you're ready, head for the Beginnings room to fight a boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- URSULA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Attacks: Thunder - Ursula's version of Donald's basic Thunder spell. It's a straight zap from above and shouldn't be difficult to dodge in spite of its speed. Tentacle Smack - Ursula's tentacles will regenerate after they've been knocked down. If you're in the way as they do so, your attack might be interrupted and you'll take a hit. Bubble Bath - Ursula releases a swarm of bubbles that home in on Riku. This attack takes some time to start up but lasts a fairly long time. Though it doesn't do much damage, if Riku's hit you'll fall into Confused status and get all of your controls reversed. Break the attack or dodge-roll through it to put a halt to it. Ursula releases increasingly more bubbles as she loses HP. Zappy Breath - I dunno what Ursula's been snacking on, but it sure had an effect on her breath. After she's lost a significant chunk of her HP, Ursula starts using this attack. She opens her mouth and a huge stream of electricity shoots out that runs from the top of the battlefield to the bottom. She then slowly moves towards Riku and tries to hit him. This attack does nasty amounts of damage, but you should be able to either break it or dodge-roll through it without any problems. Think of it as an electric version of Axel's Fire Wall. Drop: Ursula enemy card On one hand, Ursula deals out more damage in Riku's story and uses better cards than she did in Sora's. On the other hand, Riku can deal out a lot more damage to her. One thing's the same, though: if you become careless, Ursula will kick your butt hard. For one, you can no longer easily break her attacks the way you did in Sora's story unless you sacrifice your Sea Neon enemy card. If you take repeated hits from either Zappy Breath or Bubble Bath, you can count on watching your health plummet. This is probably the one battle where it's better to have HP instead of DP since Dark Mode gives you hardly any more advantage than normal mode does. To get into business, you'll have to knock one of Ursula's tentacles down and then launch attacks at her face. Unfortunately, her tentacles regenerate quite quickly and you'll only have time for one chain at the most. The good news is that the more you knock the tentacles down, the less HP they have with each regeneration, which makes it gradually easier to knock them down. Cutting down the tentacles will occasionally net you the 0 Trinity card, which lowers all of Ursula's tentacles and allows you a free run at her face. Good enemy cards for this battle include Genie Jafar and Dragon Maleficent. If you play carefully and use MM Miracle sleights to heal as needed, you shouldn't have too many problems with this battle. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Ursula gives you an enemy card which reduces magic damage by half but does not affect summon damage. Make for the exit when you're done. _______________________________________________________________________________ HALLOWEEN TOWN code: trickortreat "A terrifying town of tricks and treats." Deck: 7 Soul Eater x2 6 Soul Eater x2 5 Soul Eater x2 4 Soul Eater x2 5 Soul Eater x2 6 Soul Eater x2 7 Soul Eater x3 6 Soul Eater 5 Soul Eater 4 Soul Eater Wight Knight enemy card All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated Objects: Fir trees, pumpkins, small buildings Enemies: Shadow, Creeper Plant, Search Ghost, Wight Knight, Gargoyle Friends: the King Bosses: Oogie Boogie (Beginnings room) Halloween Town is fairly annoying - that is, until you remember that you have Genie Jafar's enemy card, which makes this place a cakewalk so long as it remains active. With Genie Jafar in play, you can power-level in this world. Enemies here don't have much HP, but they will use high-valued cards which you might not be able to match. They also drop generous amounts of experience, especially if you save Halloween Town for last. As for your deck, in Dark Mode you can alter between Dark Break and Dark Firaga but you won't have any uses of Dark Aura. Don't bother with the enemy card that you're dealt since it happens to be almost entirely useless. Once you've leveled sufficiently and are confident about your deck, head over to the Beginnings room for some boss action. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OOGIE BOOGIE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Low. As in, very low. Trinity: Destroy Oogie's dice for a chance to make one pop out. Attacks: Doom Dice - Oogie Boogie doesn't directly attack. Instead, he chucks dice at you and one of four things happen depending on how the dice turn up. Either he'll summon a pair of Gargoyles, heal himself, drop blades from the ceiling, or send a razor slicing through your half of the battleground. Break the attack before this happens - if his dice explode on their own, you're too late. Drop: Oogie Boogie enemy card _______________________________________________________________________________ Just when you thought Oogie Boogie couldn't get any worse ... well, he did. You can't win card breaks against him, but you do have 7 Soul Eaters that allow you to tie card clashes. Use the 7 cards only for card breaks; you can destroy his dice using your lesser cards since he doesn't attack with anything else other than his Doom Dice. If for some reason you don't break his dice, do note that the both the blade drop and the razor hurt considerably and if nothing else you'll want to break them. Dark Mode is almost useless in this battle. As with the battle against Sora, you'll have to lower Oogie's fence in order to get at him. The 0 Trinity card drops the fence entirely. You can get this card by cutting Oogie's dice apart before they vanish on their own and you'll want to save it for a fence at maximum height. The quickest way to end this fight is to equip the Dragon Maleficent enemy card and then unleash a storm of attacks on Oogie once the fence drops. You only have a short time interval for your attack, therefore you'll want to make the most of it. Oogie has a fairly large HP pool, but even that won't save him. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Oogie Boogie nets you his card, finally giving Riku a way to heal without calling the King. From here it's fairly straightforward to exit the town and head for another world. _______________________________________________________________________________ OLYMPUS COLISEUM code: herosummit "A legendary arena where heroes test their might." Deck: 1 Soul Eater 2 Soul Eater 3 Soul Eater 4 Soul Eater 5 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater 1 Soul Eater x9 0 Soul Eater x3 Powerwild enemy card All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated Objects: Barrels, columns, stone blocks, starred barrels Enemies: Shadow, Large Body, Blue Rhapsody, Powerwild, Bouncywild, Barrel Spider Friends: the King Bosses: Hades (Beginnings room) Get a load of this deck. You're dealt a deck that has a bit of fighting power in the 1-9 chain and then falls back down to 1. However, also note the Powerwild card that you're given, which reverses the values of all cards. The key to winning in the coliseum is therefore dependent upon effective use of card breaks and the Powerwild. You can either play the Powerwild right off and run through your opponents, or card break until you reach Dark mode and then use the enemy card. Either method has its advantages, though I prefer the latter since it gives you three deadly Dark Aura sleights. As far as enemies go, the Large Body Heartless can be annoying in a big brawl. Otherwise, it's fairly straightforward. Enemies in the coliseum tend to use low-valued cards which leave them very susceptible to card break, more so if you are lucky with the King. This makes the coliseum a great place to level Riku if you can handle your deck well. When you're ready, go for the Beginnings room to trigger a boss battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HADES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Trinity: None Attacks: Fire Poke - Hades jabs a burning finger at Riku. Short-range and not very powerful, but horrifically fast. If he card breaks your attack while he's next to you, you'll eat the hit. Fire Bash - A two-handed overhead swipe, stronger and slower than the Fire Poke. It also has a pixel's worth of extra range. It looks as though Hades traces out an X-shape with a pair of flames. Flamethrower - Hades' hands light on fire and he shoots flames from them. Get caught and you're in for a dose of continuous damage with no chance to card break the attack. Hades can only use this attack when he gets steamed, but when he does, watch out for it. It's easily his deadliest attack. Firaga Ball (sleight) - Hades' sole long-range attack. He chucks a burning rock at Riku, the rock in question able to home on Riku within limits. Either that or Hades is a really good thrower since it'll hit surprisingly often. The best way to avoid the attack short of card breaking it is to stay at medium-close distance. His aim tends to fall short somewhat the closer you get to him. Temper Flare (sleight) - Hades gets really, really angry. When this happens, watch out: his normal attacks change into the annoying Flamethrower. He only has a limited number of uses before he changes back into his lovable blue self, but any time you see this sleight in the corner, you'll want to find a 0 card immediately. Hades - Berserk enemy effect Drop: Hades enemy card Riku's battle against Hades tends to be short and violent. Hades is fast, aggressive, and uses powerful cards, but suffers from lack of HP. He'll start off by sleighting Temper Flare, which you should break immediately. Your best bet is to save the Powerwild card for Dark Mode; instead, activate Genie Jafar's Attack Bracer and use it to win card clashes with Hades. In this way you'll whittle down his HP until you reach Dark Mode. Break his sleights with 0 cards to quickly build up your meter. Hades carries multiple elixirs and will not hesitate to use them; whether or not you wish to break them is up to you. Once in Dark Mode, use the Powerwild card and start laying into him with Dark Break and Dark Firaga. When you've used up your first nine cards, then things become really rough. You'll still have three Dark Auras left; given Hades' comparatively low HP pool, he won't last long against three Dark Aura sleights since he doesn't have enough 0 cards to break all of them. Watch out for Temper Flare and break it if you see it forming. This battle is actually quite straightforward - get to Dark Mode and then pound your opponent - and you shouldn't have any problem winning it so long as you don't become complacent. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Hades gives you the Hades enemy card, which raises attack power at critical HP levels. Find your way out of the world and into the next. _______________________________________________________________________________ WONDERLAND code: offwithyourhead "A magical land full of eccentric residents." Deck: 3 Soul Eater \ 4 Soul Eater > x4 5 Soul Eater / Large Body enemy card All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated Objects: Flowers, lilypads, mushrooms Enemies: Shadow, Soldier, Large Body, Red Nocturne, Creeper Plant, Crescendo Friends: the King Bosses: Trickmaster (Beginnings room) Wonderland annoys me. Just look at that deck and you'll understand why. In Dark Mode - if you can get to it, which is doubtful - the only sleight you can pull is Dark Break. You'll also find that your attacks will be either broken or stuffed for a great deal of the time. The enemy card specific to this world isn't all that wonderful since you'll probably have more useful ones by this point. On the positive side, none of the enemies that you face are all that dangerous. They don't use high valued cards; neither do you, but that gives you a real edge if you can pick up proper the King cards. On the other hand, if you synthesize too many Almighty Darkness rooms, you just screwed yourself. Wonderland would be a great place to level if only you weren't dealt a deck like this. At any rate, go find the Beginnings room when you're ready and fight another boss. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRICKMASTER ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Trinity: Attack the vulnerable body after winning card break. Attacks: Fire - Yawn. In the Heartless version of Donald's Fire spell, the Trickmaster ... shoots a ball of Fire at you. It behaves almost exactly the same as Donald's but with slightly extended range and damage, so react accordingly. You'll know it's coming when the boss crosses its two torches. Hell March - The Trickmaster stomps across the room. See those axes that it has for shoes? If you get hit by one, expect to take a bit of damage. This attack is fairly easily to dodge-roll and gives you plenty of time to card break. Slam Dunk - The Trickmaster slams both arms into the floor, shaking it and injuring Riku if he isn't airborne. Jump to evade this attack and be forewarned that it can happen when you're least expecting it. Orbit Sweep - The Trickmaster sweeps its pair of torches around itself and clipping an airborne attacker. This attack is more of a nuisance than anything else since it'll sometimes trigger right as you're about to deliver a solid whack. Power Up - Leaning back and leaving its vulnerable midsection exposed, the Trickmaster stores up power for a two arm swipe. It takes a few seconds to build power during which you should definitely attack, since striking it while it's charging will release a 0 Trinity card. Drop: Trickmaster enemy card Fighting the Trickmaster as Riku requires a certain amount of finesse. For one, charging in blindly doesn't work too well seeing as how you don't have the best deck for a brawl. The Trickmaster will use high-value cards that you cannot break short of sleighting your own cards. On the other hand, it also uses 0 cards which you should feel free to break with one of your own. The upside is that the Trickmaster doesn't attack very often. It has a medium pool of HP; you'll have to jump to hit it, but that isn't a problem for Riku. It's recommended that you lead off the battle with Dragon Maleficent's card and then switch over to Genie Jafar's when Overdrive runs out. Breaking the Trickmaster's attacks in order to find a 0 Trinity card isn't as important with Riku as it was for Sora since Riku doesn't equip spells. If you want to try for Dark Mode, lead off your sleights with the King and then break attacks that come your way. Do note that it's possible to lose the sleight to a random 0 card that the Trickmaster throws your way; on the other hand, once you're in Dark Mode you can end the battle very quickly by spamming Dark Break attacks. Still not a difficult battle. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating the Trickmaster gives you its enemy card, which helps Riku take revenge for broken cards. As such, it is much more useful for Riku than it was for Sora. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BASEMENT 4: DESTINY ISLANDS code: homeofthefree ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From this point forward you lose your choice of worlds to visit next. Wherever you happened to come out from, I hope you saved your game. The conclusion of world card set two brings you face to face with another boss fight. With Sora, it was Vexen; with Riku, it's with a man described in the D Report as a natural warrior. Your deck is again modified into the common floor deck: 8 Soul Eater x3 7 Soul Eater x3 6 Soul Eater x3 9 Soul Eater x3 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul eater 9 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater x2 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 9 Hi-Potion 0 Hi-Potion 0 Soul Eater x4 All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEXAEUS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: Sleights Absorbs: None Nullifies: Resists physical attacks Threat: Medium-High Attacks: Twin Slash - Lexaeus makes a broad double slash with his tomahawk. Watch out for this attack; it's fairly slow, but it hits twice and has great range. Quake Impact - Lexaeus chops the tomahawk into the ground with a grunt and causes a big shockwave to appear. This attack causes the floor to tilt much like the battle against Captain Hook. It also does a good deal of damage, so try not to get caught in it. Dead Drop - Lexaeus throws his tomahawk up into the air where it homes in on Riku. Watch the shadow it casts to determine where it will land and dodge accordingly. If you can break the attack, all the better since Lexaeus is left defenseless while he uses his tomahawk. Rockshatter (sleight) - Bringing his weapon into the floor with as much strength as he can, Lexaeus causes a swarm of rocks to rise up and then break. These rocks spread out in a wave towards you and if you're caught in them they'll hit multiple times for staggering amounts of damage. Rockshatter has excellent range and can cover pretty much the whole battlefield; therefore, it is in your best interest to break this attack as soon as possible. Lexaeus - Warp Break enemy effect Drop: Lexaeus enemy card Depending on how you decide to approach this fight, Lexaeus can be either a very formidable opponent or a laughably easy free kill. Lexaeus takes only half damage from any physical attack, plus he has three full bars of HP. As if that weren't enough, none of your attacks will make him reel back. On the other hand, he's weak against sleights and both of your Soul Eater special attacks will eat through his health like Pac-Man through a line of dots. Your strategy should be to achieve Dark Mode as soon as possible, then destroy Lexaeus with your superior sleights. Avoid a head-on physical battle which is almost certainly suicide unless you've power-leveled to at least 60 or 65 early on. And if he activates his enemy effect, break it at once; Warp Break is a deadly enemy effect as it will consistently stun you. Lexaeus likes to use his Rockshatter sleight; in fact, he'll use it almost exclusively if you're beyond medium range. Unfortunately for him, it seems that he forgot to bring along any Items; this ensures that you can force him to quickly cycle through his deck. Attrition is therefore a good friend in this fight. Stay at long distance and break his Rockshatter sleight with 0 cards each time. Besides tearing through Lexaeus' deck, you'll also reach Dark Mode in a real hurry. Once you've whittled him down, take the fight home with your powerful sleights. Don't bother with the King if you need healing; instead, use Oogie Boogie for that. If you keep your cool in this battle, Lexaeus should fall quickly. However, he still gets that Medium-High threat rating simply because he'll make mincemeat out of any player foolish enough to go for a straight brawl. _______________________________________________________________________________ Defeating Lexaeus gives you his card and its attendant Warp Break sleight, a useful tool for leveling. Unfortunately, it comes at a terrible price - you lose the King and MM Miracle from your arsenal. _______________________________________________________________________________ BASEMENT 3 ^Exit [$] 1: Key of Beginnings + >7 Green card | [ ]-[ ]-[ ] *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. | | $: Cannot be accessed until 1 is completed. [1]-[*] [ ] | | [ ]-[ ]-[ ] | [ ] ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ DESTINY ISLANDS "Serene islands where Sora and Riku were born." Deck: 0 Soul Eater 1 Soul Eater 3 Soul Eater 5 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 0 Soul Eater 2 Soul Eater 4 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 4 Soul Eater 2 Soul Eater 0 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 5 Soul Eater 3 Soul Eater 2 Soul Eater 1 Soul Eater All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated Objects: Barrels, boxes, palm trees, bushes Enemies: Shadow, Tornado Step, Darkball, Crescendo, Creeper Plant, Barrel Spider Friends: None Bosses: Darkside (Beginnings room) Destiny Islands is one of those places which are either very tedious and difficult or a walk in the park, depending on how you wield your deck. This world is a great place to use your newly acquired Lexaeus enemy card for some heavy-duty leveling. Unfortunately, you're dealt a poor deck for flat-out combat. In order to maximize the effect of Warp Break, you should go with all sleights for this world. Warp Break won't succeed as often as you'd like, but it succeeds often enough to quickly end the battle before you run short on cards. Enemies here can be annoying since they'll often win card breaks against you unless you use sleights. When you're ready to move on, open the story door and head in for a fight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DARKSIDE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Resists physical attacks against its arm Threat: Low Trinity: Still not sure. Try killing Shadows during Shadow Smash. Attacks: Stucker Punch - Darkside pounds its fist into the ground - where it stays. This move creates a small shockwave when it hits, so try not to be next to it on impact. On the positive side, Darkside's army gets stuck for enough time for you to let loose with a storm of attacks. Shadow Smash - Darkside pounds its fist into the ground, where it dissolves into a pool of shadow. Two Shadow Heartless appear and try to hit you, but are rather inconvenienced by the fact that they can't move beyond Darkside's pool. Another great opportunity for you to lay a beating on Darkside. Cannonade - A sphere of light emerges from the void where Darkside's heart should be and zooms forward. It does moderate damage but you'll be able to see it coming, so break the attack or just roll past it. Note that Darkside drops somewhat to launch the attack, giving you an opportunity to hit its face. Meteo - This time, the sphere of light ascends into the sky, where it causes showers of brilliance to descend comet-like into the sand. As Darkside loses HP, the number of light showers increases (but you only ever have to deal with them one at a time). Try not to get hit; Meteo has a nasty habit of dropping all the attacks on you while you're reeling from the damage. Drop: Darkside enemy card If Darkside was easy when you faced it as Sora - well, it just got easier. There's still an annoying head wind to fight against, but that's pretty much the most of your worries. The game gives you enough 0 cards to break Cannonade and Meteo, plus you can beat up on Darkside's arm when it sinks into the sand. Also, note that it only has two full HP bars. As usual, Darkside follows a preset pattern of Shadow Smash, Cannonade, Stucker Punch, and Meteo before repeating the whole sequence in that order. You can, if you wish, wait for Shadow Smash and Stucker Punch and then nail Darkside's arm with everything you've got. Seeing as how Riku can jump so high, however, it's probably a better idea to attack the head directly until you activate Dark Mode. The 0 Trinity card creates a small piece of driftwood that homes in directly on Darkside's head, opening up a golden opportunity for some face sculpting. In Dark Mode, your deck gives you a lot of Dark Break attacks. There's a word of warning to be had, however; you'll want to trigger Dark Break only when Darkside isn't attacking. For some reason, the game glitches if you use Dark Break to override one of its attacks and Riku ends up bouncing without hitting anything. Using Dark Break during a lull avoids this problem. Try not to use the 0 cards, you want to keep them for breaking Darkside's attacks. If you happen to be knocked out of Dark Mode, just wait and repeat again. About the only potential problem that you might meet is your lack of healing. Without the King, you're stuck using Oogie Boogie, who's a one-shot card. Still, this battle shouldn't be difficult at all seeing as how you've already come so far. _______________________________________________________________________________ Beating Darkside gives you the Darkside enemy card, which lets you steal an enemy effect that you want. Head for the world exit when you're done leveling. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BASEMENT 2: TWILIGHT TOWN code: wherearewe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We're nearing the final stretch of Riku's saga. If you feel that you still need to level, now would be an ideal time to do so. Upon entering the second basement, the King will rejoin you although you can't use him for the time being. The final bits of the story also play out here and will feature prominently in Kingdom Hearts 2, so pay attention. _______________________________________________________________________________ BASEMENT 2 ^Exit [2] [$] 1: Key of Beginnings + <2 Blue card | | 2: Key of Guidance + 50 card total [%] [ ] | | *: Reappear in this room when finished with 1. [ ] [ ] %: Reappear in this room when finished with 2. | | [ ] [1] [ ] $: Cannot be accessed until 2 is completed. | | | [ ]-[*]-[ ] | [ ] ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ TWILIGHT TOWN "A mysterious town between light and dark." Deck: 9 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 3 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 5 Soul Eater 2 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 4 Soul Eater 1 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 3 Soul Eater 0 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 5 Soul Eater 3 Soul Eater 1 Soul Eater 0 Soul Eater 2 Soul Eater 4 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 0 Soul Eater 2 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated Objects: Barrels, flower beds, lamp posts, crates Enemies: Shadow, Soldier, Air Soldier, Barrel Spider Friends: None Bosses: Riku (Guidance room) It's easier to level in Destiny Islands than it is in Twilight Town, if only because the Warp Break enemy effect is so much more abusable on the island world. On the other hand, here you can quickly reach Dark Mode if you're careful and then lay waste to every enemy on the map using Dark Aura (of which you receive only one use, unfortunately). Dark Break and to a lesser extent Dark Firaga also work well. Since the King still isn't around, you'll want to keep a close eye on your HP meter. Head through the Beginnings room and - hey, look who we found ourselves here! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RIKU II ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: High Trinity: None Attacks: Hop Bash - Riku jumps up and brings the Soul Eater crashing down, much like Cloud did earlier. It has a fractional second windup delay, so you can card break the attack if you're fast enough to see it coming. Does slight damage. Slash - Riku spins around and then slashes with the Soul Eater. Much like the Hop Bash in terms of windup delay and range, only that it hits from the side instead of above. Again, easily card broken if you see it coming. X-Slash - Riku runs into you with a one-two strike. This move will stun you and has better range than any of his other physical attacks. Try not to get hit by it, otherwise you're left as a sitting duck for one of his attacks or worse yet a sleight. Dark Firaga (sleight) - Riku launches a mass of dark blue fire at you. It hurts moderately but is hard for him to aim since it only has limited homing ability. You'll see it coming a mile away. Dodge- roll the sucker, card break it, or just step out of the way. Dark Aura (sleight) - Riku floats in the air for a moment before he zips offscreen. This is all the time you have to respond before he flies back in with his Soul Eater in hand, running through you for significant damage. As if that weren't enough, he does this repeatedly until finishing with a stylish sword plant that causes columns of flame to explode out of much of the battlefield. Get hit by the final strike and watch your HP vanish down the drain, made worse by the observation that this sleight is very difficult to stop once it hits or dodge-roll. BREAK THIS SLEIGHT AT ALL COSTS! Shadow - Incrementor enemy effect. Riku - Sleight Lock enemy effect. Drop: Nothing. Riku's second battle against his double is analogous to Sora's fourth fight against the same enemy. Accordingly, it sucks. Besides the observation that you're given a bad deck to work with, you also face an opponent who's tough, fast, an excellent card breaker, aggressive, and has no qualms about kicking your butt. Riku packs a couple of Elixirs, two enemy cards, and a deck that's comparatively stronger than yours. For one, you'll have to face a lot of Dark Aura sleights when fighting him, so be sure to have at least one 0 card on hand at all times (not that they're easy to reach ...). You'll want to break into Dark Mode as fast as possible. If he uses Incrementor, he'll lose all of his 0 cards and be left unable to break your Dark Aura sleight. You can also use Dark Firaga to break his sleights and strike him for hefty damage, but don't bother with Dark Break. Your biggest problem, as usual, is keeping track of your health. Riku gets three full bars of HP, all of which you'll have to take down. In this battle, Genie Jafar is an excellent card to use right off the bat. You'll have Oogie Boogie for HP recovery, but don't rely on it. Also, you can use Hades if you find yourself knocked into critical health range. Using Darkside to steal Sleight Lock will give you extra uses of Dark Aura. Do realize, however, that you'll be caught in the middle of a hectic battle while searching through your enemy cards. This battle is easily the hardest that you've faced yet and it may take many tries to beat. If you find yourself consistently beaten, go back to Destiny Islands and level yourself some more. Don't give up! _______________________________________________________________________________ No enemy card this time, much to our collective disappointment. You'll receive the Key of Guidance card; once you've finished with that room, you may leave Twilight Town and go to the final floor of the castle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BASEMENT 1: CASTLE OBLIVION code: oblivionawaits ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is it. Everything rests upon this one upcoming fight for which Riku's entire journey has prepared. Considering how climatic this scene is ... you'd expect this basement to be flashy. You'd expect some more story scenes. You'd expect a difficult run through this floor. I expect you to be disappointed. On the positive side, you get the King to journey with you again. _______________________________________________________________________________ BASEMENT 1 [1] 1: Key of Beginnings + 13 card total | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] ^Start _______________________________________________________________________________ CASTLE OBLIVION "Where the darkness in Riku's heart - and Ansem - are free." Deck: 8 Soul Eater x3 7 Soul Eater x3 6 Soul Eater x3 9 Soul Eater x3 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 9 Soul Eater x2 6 Soul Eater 7 Soul Eater 8 Soul Eater 9 Hi-Potion 0 Hi-Potion 0 Soul Eater x4 All enemy cards from bosses that you've defeated Objects: Marble rose, marble stand, marble block Enemies: Shadow, Neoshadow, Darkball, Wizard, Wyvern, Defender Friends: the King Bosses: Ansem (Beginnings room) For this floor, you get the common deck that you've been using for all the floor battles. You also enjoy the assistance of the King again, but in return you have to fight through what is possibly the toughest floor in this whole story. The common floor deck gives you plenty of Dark Firaga and Dark Aura sleights - the boss killers - and in return you lose Dark Break, the Heartless killer. Do some last-minute leveling if you feel that you need it, then head up to the Beginnings room to end this game. Be sure to synthesize a Moment's Reprieve before you enter that room; saving here will allow Sora in your previous save to acquire the Ultima Weapon and a number of other useful cards. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANSEM II ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Everything when his shadow protects him Threat: High Trinity: None Attacks: Submit! - Ansem's shadow takes a swipe at Riku. Fairly good range and speed and this time it does heavy damage. He likes spamming this move, so don't let him drive you into a corner of the room. Floor Bolt - Ansem sends a trail of lightning skimming over the floor in a horizontal direction. Move up or down or just dodge-roll to avoid it. It's his long-range attack and slightly slower than the other one, but they do roughly the same damage. Dark Rush (sleight) - Ansem flies forward with an aura of some sort in front of himself. If you're caught in a bad place, this move can hit you multiple times. It's only safe to dodge-roll on the side of the screen; if you're in the middle, break it with a 0 card. In the game it appears (mistranslated) as Rockshatter. Dark Shadow (sleight) - Ansem dispatches his shadow upwards through the top of the battlefield. A ring then appears beneath Riku; at this point, if you haven't started to dodge-roll, the shadow reappears and knocks you upwards for constant damage - repeatedly. This is essentially Ansem's version of the Holy sleight and it hurts accordingly. It has a sizable wind-up delay that enables you to find a 0 card. Take the full sleight and you'll lose an entire bar of health, so BREAK IT! Ansem - Sleightblind enemy effect Drop: Nothing, obviously To put it simply, Ansem is a button-masher. With four full HP bars, a vast deck filled with surprises, and a mean streak, he won't play around. Ansem's shadow also has a bad habit of interdicting attacks that you send his way. It could be argued that he's even tougher than Riku II. In short, you're in for a rough ride. This battle will test your ability to go head to head against a superb opponent to the maximum. You cannot rely on Dark Aura for damage since Ansem will often as not block it; the only sure way to slip in a sleight is to break one of his attacks with Dark Firaga and hit him with it. You'll want to stay either on top of Ansem or below him; if you're lined up horizontally, he can hit you with Floor Bolt. If he uses Sleightblind, break it as soon as possible; both of his sleights are dangerous and you'll want to know when they're coming. To heal, use the King while Ansem is reloading his sizable deck. Otherwise, watch his cards carefully whenever he attacks. The best way to fight is to break an attack and slip in one of your own, but don't try to use chains since Ansem's shadow will protect him. Use 0 cards to break his sleights when they form. It's essential to have 0 cards at all times, so reload your deck immediately when they run out. Fighting Ansem can be very difficult; if worse comes to worse, retreat for now and level up until you have enough HP to attempt another try. Be patient and persistent. And above all, believe in yourself! _______________________________________________________________________________ Riku's saga ends with Ansem's defeat ... or does it? We'll have to wait for Kingdom Hearts 2 for Riku to ultimately resolve his dilemma. Give yourself a well-deserved congratulations for beating Reverse/Rebirth mode, but keep watching after the credits finish rolling for a glimpse of a character who will play an important role in the next Kingdom Hearts game. If you saved before the final bosses in both Sora's game and Riku's, you can now load Sora's file and go hunting for some truly useful cards. And why stop here? This was just training; the real test comes when you face a human opponent head to head. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D REPORT code: pwnagerecord ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== What does "D" stand for? In short, we don't know for certain - it could stand for DiZ, or Disney, or Dark, or whatever. As Riku progresses through the basements, the D Report will automatically update itself. Some entries are filled in after story events, others after battle. Here, you'll find cursory information about the enemies you've met, the cards you've acquired, and a summary of the story so far. As with Sora's Journal, the D Report sticks a yellow mouse head icon on a category that is completely filled. WARNING: This section includes my commentary and thus the potential for spoilers is enormous. If you want to find out what happens in the game by yourself, by all means play it before reading through this section. --------------------------------Story (6 total)-------------------------------- Obviously, this section deals with Riku's progress through the basements of Castle Oblivion. A Riku's Tale entry is unlocked with each world card set completed. Some of the entries tie in with the original Kingdom Hearts and so there are commentaries when appropriate. _______________________________________________________________________________ RIKU'S TALE I 1/6 "Bored with his secluded island life, Riku dreamt of seeing other worlds. He got his wish when darkness devoured Destiny Islands and he was thrust into the outside world. While looking for his lost friend Kairi, he met Maleficent, and accepted her help. But Maleficent had her eyes on Riku's strength and was working to make him her underling. She gave Riku the power of darkness, but as he used it, it gained power over him. This is why Riku fought his best friend Sora, and how his heart fell to Ansem, pursuer of darkness. But Riku's heart was freed by Sora's light. Riku, Sora, and the king worked together to close the door to darkness, but Riku was trapped inside, in the realm of darkness. Will he see the realm of light again?" This passage sums up Riku's dilemma, if you will. When Destiny Islands fell, Riku ended up in Hollow Bastion and there he met Maleficent. She conned him into thinking that Sora had thrown him aside for new friends; one episode led to another and ended up with Riku possessed by Ansem. Sora eventually did free him, but Riku stayed behind with the King to help shut the door to the dark. Darkness still has a hold on him, however, since he freely accepted it at one point. Part of Riku's journey is to purge himself of the remaining dark and return to the light. _______________________________________________________________________________ RIKU'S TALE II 2/6 "Led by a mysterious voice, Riku made his way through the card-worlds, but met only dark beings within. Riku was told that because he rejected the other things in his life to claim darkness, his heart is now devoid of anything but the darkness he sought. Unable to accept this, Riku encountered Ansem, who tried yet again to conquer him. The king intervened to save Riku, but Ansem has not let go of his heart. And so Riku must fight the darkness within." At this entry, it's important to note that Ansem doesn't physically exist anymore (at least not that we know of). Ansem was defeated in the conclusion of Kingdom Hearts and exists solely as a fragment of the darkness in Riku's heart. This darkness has a hold over Riku which he strives to break and is personified in Ansem. About the rejecting other things to claim darkness, it was Riku who threw aside his home and Sora to save Kairi. He used the power of darkness to do so. _______________________________________________________________________________ RIKU'S TALE III 3/6 "Embattled with the darkness in his heart, Riku met someone who looked just like him, a replica crafted by Vexen, a member of the Organization. The replica commanded darkness freely, and called Riku cowardly for neglecting the dark. Meanwhile, agents of the Organization laid their rivalry bare. Sora and Riku seem to be the reason they control the castle - but why?" The Organization exists to discover the workings of the heart. The rest of this entry ought to be self-explanatory. _______________________________________________________________________________ RIKU'S TALE IV 4/6 "Vexen took his replica of Riku and headed for the surface, but finally fell at Sora's hands. Lexaeus confronted Riku, meaning to bring him to submission using all force necessary. Though Riku won the battle, Lexaeus used his last strength to drag him into the realm of darkness. There, Ansem's shadow loomed large, but Riku was again saved by the king's light." Again, Riku wavers between light and dark; again, he steels his resolve not to give into the dark. Marluxia's group wants to use Sora to take over the Organization, while the group headed by Zexion intends to take Riku to counter Marluxia's plan. It's an open question as to whether Zexion and Lexaeus would even have bothered with Riku had Marluxia not tried to enslave Sora. _______________________________________________________________________________ RIKU'S TALE V 5/6 "One by one, members of the Organization fell at Riku and Sora's hands - even Marluxia, lord of the castle. Zexion, hoping to avoid a similar fate, tried to use memories of Riku's island home against him. Ignored by his friends and even attacked by Sora - it seemed Riku would be washed away by the light, but Kairi's voice gave him courage. No longer afraid of the darkness, Riku saw through the fake Sora and thwarted Zexion's trap." Here's a crucial turning point of the story: Riku finally realizes that the dark can give him as much power as the light without making a puppet out of his body. By using the darkness, he can finally meet the Organization on its own ground and defeat it. Light and darkness meld within him in a unique way. _______________________________________________________________________________ RIKU'S TALE VI 6/6 "By embracing his inner darkness, Riku gained a great power, but so did Ansem. Guided by the enigmatic DiZ, Riku made his way through Twilight Town, defeating his copy and locating Naminé. With her he found Sora and friends in a deep slumber, waiting to get their lost memories back. Naminé told Riku he could seal Ansem away forever by forgetting him, but Riku would not give up his memories. Riku chose to fight by his own strength. With the king at his side, he now makes ready for a final battle with Ansem. Will his choice take him to the realm of light ... or darkness?" Neither, as it turns out; Riku instead combines the light and the dark. He chooses to keep his memories of the time after leaving Destiny Islands; this prevents Ansem from being destroyed forever, but Riku also loses his only chance to completely purge darkness out of himself. Even if he defeats Ansem, Riku cannot ever destroy the dark king completely. Or can he? We'll have to wait for Kingdom Hearts II for the answer. -----------------------------Card Index (22 total)----------------------------- The card index holds information on the cards which will appear in Riku's deck. Since all of this information is already contained in the Mechanics section, I'll skip this part of the D Report. -----------------------------Characters (53 total)----------------------------- Riku doesn't get to meet as many interesting personalities as Sora did; his quest is more personal and more introspective. The character section includes entries on the character you'll meet, as well as important background entries on personas you won't encounter. You'll also get a description of the enemies that you fight. Each entry is acquired when you meet that character in either a battle or along the story. ----------------------------Characters I (14 total)---------------------------- The first character section contains entries for people who relate directly to Riku's story. In other words, they aren't just fragments of his memories - or if they are, they're important to the story. _______________________________________________________________________________ RIKU 1/14 "A boy who was born and raised on a small group of islands. Riku dreamt of seeing other worlds, and so he forsook the islands - only to be seduced by the power of darkness. Enslaved by Ansem, pursuer of darkness, Riku clashed with his childhood friend Sora. But in the end he was able to regain himself, and together with Sora closed the door to darkness. Still, the dark wounds in Riku's heart have yet to mend." The power of darkness made Riku a truly awesome fighter, but at a terrible price: he lost his heart to Ansem. Riku was actually supposed to be the owner of the Keyblade and champion of light, but instead he turned and the Keyblade chose Sora instead. His own Soul Eater unlocks the darkness in the hearts of those it strikes. Much like Sora, Riku now wants to find the King and then return to Destiny Islands where his friends wait for him. _______________________________________________________________________________ The King 2/14 "The king who reigns over Disney Castle. He set off alone to protect his world and all worlds from the dominion of the dark. When Riku fell into the realm of darkness, the king showed him the way, but the two were separated when the door to darkness was closed." In the Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts, there's an extra movie where Riku and the King communicate for the first time. This occurs after Ansem has completely taken over Riku's body; Riku is lost in a void, but the King speaks to him and outlines a strategy for closing the door to darkness. Importantly, the King states that Riku's heart overcame the dark. When the Heartless first began to invade, the King left Disney castle on his own to find a Keyblade and close the door to darkness. Sora and his friends met the King and Riku at the conclusion of Kingdom Hearts. _______________________________________________________________________________ SORA 3/14 "Riku's boyhood friend, and the hero of light chosen by the Keyblade to stand against the darkness. Riku fought Sora while bridled by darkness, but their friendship proved stronger, and they ultimately worked together to close the door to darkness." By "worked together," the game means that Riku scolded Sora into action. Sora fought the darkness in Kingdom Hearts, which led to a clash against Riku. However, they're both always worried about each other. Of the two, Riku is the older one and is like a big brother to Sora. Closing the door to the dark caused them to be separated. If you finish Riku's story, however, you'll find out that Sora is going to receive one heck of a yelling from Riku when he awakens. _______________________________________________________________________________ KAIRI 4/14 "Riku and Sora's friend growing up. Kairi vanished when their home islands were devoured by darkness. Riku and Sora both journeyed to find her. Kairi was held captive by the Heartless, but thanks to Sora she and the islands were saved. She waits there for Sora and Riku's return." The last of the seven princesses of heart, Kairi was kidnapped by the Heartless as part of an effort to open the world of darkness. In the original Kingdom Hearts, Riku searched for her and found her, but she could not respond. In desperation, he turned to the dark to gain the power necessary to free her. Kairi is not a native to Destiny Islands and may actually be Ansem's daughter. _______________________________________________________________________________ NAMINÉ 5/14 "A young witch who can manipulate memories. Under orders from the Organization, Naminé shadowed Kairi and altered Sora's memory. But the forgiveness in Sora's heart moved her to disobey those orders. Now she watches over Sora until the reconstruction of his memories is complete." Naminé offers Riku a choice. She plays much less of a part in Riku's story than she does in Sora's, and we'll have to wait for Kingdom Hearts II to find out her ultimate role. _______________________________________________________________________________ RIKU REPLICA 6/14 "A replica of Riku created by Vexen from the real Riku's data. Unlike the real Riku, he wields darkness freely, but is burdened by the fact he is an imitation." So, after Sora laid the smackdown on Marluxia, the replica Riku ... went back with Axel and killed Zexion. It's easy to understand wanting to be real, especially if your name is Pinocchio, but how does killing someone help you with that? At any rate, he's offed by the real Riku. _______________________________________________________________________________ ANSEM 7/14 "Pursuer of darkness. To open the door to darkness, Ansem used the Heartless to steal countless hearts. He enslaved Riku, but met his demise at Sora's hand. Nonetheless, Ansem's shadow lives on in the depths of Riku's heart." Originally, Ansem reigned as the king over Hollow Bastion. He researched the Heartless when they first appeared, spoke with the King, and learned about the Keyblade. Over time he gradually twisted to the side of the dark and became one of the Heartless, but such was his strength that he did not lose his emotions. He's probably the Superior that the Organization members all seem to fear but never actually talk much about. Ansem met his end at Sora's hands when Kingdom Hearts ended, but if Reverse/Rebirth is anything to judge by, he still poses a very real threat. Kingdom Hearts II resolves his story. _______________________________________________________________________________ VEXEN 8/14 "No. 4 in the Organization. He, Lexaeus, and Zexion have been in the group since its inception, and there is no love lost between them and neophytes like Marluxia. After battling Riku, Vexen turns to events unfolding aboveground, but successive failures lead to his termination by Axel." Not much to say here. Vexen is killed by Axel in Sora's story, but Riku can sense his death even in the basement. Vexen's supposed to be the brains of the group that goes after Riku. _______________________________________________________________________________ LEXAEUS 9/14 "No. 5 in the Organization. A born warrior, Lexaeus effortlessly brandishes a gigantic tomahawk. To counterbalance his rival Marluxia's bid for Sora's power, Lexaeus tried to conquer Riku. He failed, but with his dying strength dragged Riku into the realm of darkness." Lexaeus is the brawn of the original Organization's triad. He tried to force Riku into submission, but ... well, that turned out to be a bad idea on his part. _______________________________________________________________________________ ZEXION 10/14 "No. 6 in the Organization. Zexion generally avoids dirtying his own hands when there are deeds to be done. However, with the destruction of Vexen and Lexaeus, he was forced into action. Zexion confronted Riku disguised as Sora. But Riku no longer feared the dark, and victory was beyond Zexion's reach." If Vexen is the brains and Lexaeus the brawn, then Zexion would be the soul of the group as he epitomizes what they stand for. Unfortunately for him, he underestimates Riku's capabilities and then loses his life to Axel and Riku's replica. _______________________________________________________________________________ AXEL 11/14 "No. 8 in the Organization. He is a shadow whose intentions and secrets are hidden from all. Axel has no qualms about exploiting others to suit his needs. He used Sora and Naminé to silence Marluxia and halt his plot against the Organization. Axel claims that he and Sora have something in common, but that connection is unclear." Maybe it'll become clearer in Kingdom Hearts II? At any rate, Axel seems to have survived his schooling at Sora's hands. It's difficult to say what his intentions are; on the one hand, he followed orders and stopped Marluxia, on the other, he turned right around and had Zexion killed too. Of the members mentioned in Chain of Memories, Axel is the only survivor of the Organization. He reappears in Kingdom Hearts II. _______________________________________________________________________________ MARLUXIA 12/14 "No. 11 in the Organization. Marluxia lured Sora to Castle Oblivion in hopes of using his power to seize the Organization. He ordered Naminé to alter Sora's memories, and fooled Vexen into challenging him. All was going according to plan, but Marluxia's scheme dissolved when Axel set Naminé free. Marluxia was ultimately destroyed by Sora." Marluxia apparently owns Castle Oblivion and is very, very strong - so strong, in fact, that Riku can sense his demise even down in the basement. New to the Organization, he's nonetheless very ambitious. It's suspected that his true form is not that of his body but instead is the big machine that Sora fights in the finale. _______________________________________________________________________________ LARXENE 13/14 "No. 12 in the Organization. Larxene conspired with Marluxia to take over the group, and intended to pull Axel in as well. However, her abrasive, unfeeling personality proved her downfall - provoking Sora's anger was a fatal error." A close friend of Axel's, though she's tart and sarcastic. Basically, Sora wipes the floor with her and that's the last we hear of Larxene. Is it just me or do all Organization members have an X in their names? _______________________________________________________________________________ DiZ 14/14 "Truly an enigma. DiZ appeared before Riku in the guise of Ansem, presenting him with choices regarding the darkness within his heart. It is said he and the king have met." DiZ's past is tied to the Order, though he isn't a game villain. He's simply here to watch Riku's choices and see where they lead him. Much more of DiZ's mysterious past is revealed in Kingdom Hearts II. Just as Donald and Goofy form Sora's party, so the King and DiZ fill out Riku's in Kingdom Hearts II. Note that DiZ does not have an X in his name, indicating that he is in fact not a member of the Organization. ----------------------------Characters II (6 total)---------------------------- The second character section deals with the villains that Riku associated with during Kingdom Hearts. By way of repentance, he fights these same enemies in Chain of Memories. This has got to be the most boring section of the D Report by quite a stretch. _______________________________________________________________________________ MALEFICENT 1/6 "A witch who commands the darkness. Maleficent's charms won over Riku, and she empowered him with darkness. In Castle Oblivion she stood before Riku again, this time as a token of the indelible darkness in his heart." Maleficent was the head villain of Kingdom Hearts and the prime mover of the first half of the game. She was also responsible for the fall of Hollow Bastion. Riku met her when Destiny Islands vanished and she lured him in with deceit and empty promises. Ultimately she was destroyed by Sora after Ansem unlocked her heart with the Soul Eater. _______________________________________________________________________________ JAFAR (GENIE) 2/6 "A sorcerer and also Agrabah's royal vizier, transformed by magic. Jafar appeared before Riku as a token of the indelible darkness in his heart." ... _______________________________________________________________________________ URSULA 3/6 "The sea witch who plotted to rule all of the undersea kingdom Atlantica. Ursula appeared before Riku as a token of the indelible darkness in his heart." ... _______________________________________________________________________________ HADES 4/6 "God of the Underworld who seeks to rule over all. Hades appeared before Riku as a token of the indelible darkness in his heart." ... _______________________________________________________________________________ OOGIE BOOGIE 5/6 "A villain who's always causing trouble in Halloween Town. He appeared before Riku as a token of the indelible darkness in his heart." ... _______________________________________________________________________________ HOOK 6/6 "A pirate of Never Land. Hook appeared before Riku as a token of the indelible darkness in his heart." ... Can these entries become any less descriptive? ----------------------------The Heartless (33 total)--------------------------- The D Report's last section logs the Heartless that Riku fights in his climb through the castle. Meeting that particular Heartless opens its entry in the D Report. These entries have been beefed up with extra information to help you combat the wide variety of enemies that you'll encounter. No definite HP or experience data can be given; also, you'll want to experiment with different fighting techniques and determine which one works best for you. _______________________________________________________________________________ SHADOW 1/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Everything when submerged Threat: Very Low Drop: Shadow enemy card, map cards Appears in: Traverse Town, Halloween Town, Monstro, Wonderland, Hollow Bastion, Never Land, Twilight Town, Destiny Islands, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Leap - The Shadow leaps forward and tries to clip Riku. It's a fairly fast attack but made useless by its minuscule damage and the fact that a Shadow's attacks are always restricted to the value of 1. "A Heartless that pops up in all kinds of places. The Shadow ambles around and attacks without warning. It is completely invulnerable while hiding within the darkness." Sora had an easy time fighting them, Riku has an even easier time. Shadows tend to melt into the floor right as you start to chase them, but they're quite docile and pose little threat even in big groups. Run over them, it's what everyone else does. Seriously, there's no reason any decent player should have trouble fighting Shadows, especially not after beating Sora's story. _______________________________________________________________________________ SOLDIER 2/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Low Drop: Soldier enemy card, map cards Appears in: Traverse Town, Wonderland, Twilight Town, summoned by Crescendoes Attacks: Pirouette - The Soldiers twirls in the air while moving forward. This attack hits once for low damage, plus it lasts fairly long and makes the Soldier vulnerable to card break. "A swift-moving Heartless that attacks its prey with a spin kick. Its whimsical nature makes the Soldier a less than tenacious foe." Another one of the ubiquitous enemies in Castle Oblivion, the Soldier has a comparatively higher HP pool than the Shadow but loses the ability to floor hack. It also gives more HP per kill than the Shadow. At the start of the game they show up solo, though they can still do sizable damage to a complacent player. They start appearing in swarms as Riku ascends through the castle, but their threat level gradually drops since Riku gains attack power faster than they gain HP. _______________________________________________________________________________ LARGE BODY 3/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Frontal physical attacks Threat: Medium Drop: Large Body enemy card, map cards Appears in: Monstro, Olympus Coliseum, Wonderland Attacks: Leap - The Large Body hops through the air and tries to clip Riku in passing. A fairly short-range attack, but it's rather fast and cools down quickly. Sometimes the Large Body will do two or more of these attacks in rapid succession. Earthquake - The Large Body jumps straight up and then plops back down to the ground. Regardless of where you are on the battle- field, Riku will take damage unless you're in the air when the attack hits. You can dodge-roll the attack but it's easier to avoid by jumping. "A rotund Heartless. The Large Body repels frontal attacks with its jiggly belly. Sometimes it throws its weight around and shakes the ground, so jumping is key." Unless you're horrifically low on HP and end up fighting more than one of these Heartless, Large Body enemies are more annoying than a threat. Fighting them becomes easier as you ascend the castle and gain more attack strength and DP. They typically have large amounts of HP that must be whittled down, plus having to maneuver around for a back attack can be really annoying, but otherwise the Large Body is a straightforward opponent. Dodge-roll behind the Heartless and unleash a combo, though be warned that they tend to turn fairly quickly. In Dark Mode, you can bulldoze through them with any number of powerful sleights. _______________________________________________________________________________ RED NOCTURNE 4/33 Weakness: Ice Absorbs: Fire Nullifies: None Threat: Low Drop: Red Nocturne enemy card, map cards Appears in: Traverse Town, Olympus Coliseum, Wonderland, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Fire - The Heartless version of Sora's basic Fire spell. "A magic-wielding Heartless that drifts through the air. It's flighty and hard to hit. The Red Nocture[sic] attacks with Fire from a distance, and absorbs Fire damage." Flighty it may be, but hard to hit it is not. Red Nocturnes tend to appear in packs; pairs on the first floor, whole swarms on the later floors. They're stuck with one laughable attack, however, as well as the curse of low HP. Riku can easily clip them with midair combos, while in Dark Mode he'll ravage them with his powerful sleights. Red Nocturnes can also be lured down to the ground for ground-based chains, and they'll automatically collapse to the ground when card broken. All in all not too much of a challenge even in large swarms. _______________________________________________________________________________ BLUE RHAPSODY 5/33 Weakness: Fire Absorbs: Ice Nullifies: None Threat: Low Drop: Blue Rhapsody enemy card, map cards Appears in: Traverse Town, Olympus Coliseum, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Blizzard - The Heartless version of Sora's basic Blizzard spell. "A magic-wielding Heartless that drifts through the air. The Blue Rhapsody attacks with Blizzard once it's close enough, and absorbs Blizzard damage." The Ice version of the Red Nocturne, and with its associated strengths and weaknesses. They also tend to appear in large hunting packs; Riku can't take advantage of elemental weaknesses the way that Sora could, but he'll gain much better attack strength as he ascends the castle. Basically, any non-elemental tactic that you use against Red Nocturnes will also work here. _______________________________________________________________________________ YELLOW OPERA 6/33 Weakness: Fire, Ice Absorbs: Thunder Nullifies: None Threat: Low Drop: Yellow Opera enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah, Monstro, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Thunder - The Heartless version of Sora's basic Thunder spell. Spark Dive - The Yellow Opera charges itself up with lightning and then pinwheels through the air for a short distance, aiming itself at Riku. Although limited in range and easy to break, this attack is quite fast. "A magic-wielding Heartless that drifts through the air. The Yellow Opera hurls itself at enemies or attacks with Thunder. It absorbs all Thunder damage." The Yellow Opera combines the worst of its Red and Blue cousins - that is, it has both of their weaknesses with none of their resistances. It gets a new attack by way of compensation. You'll see the Spark Dive coming before it hits and shouldn't have any trouble dodging it. Otherwise, just take the fight to the annoying little hoversacks. And, being Riku, laugh maniacally as your enemies scream like little girls when they realize that elemental immunity means nothing to him. _______________________________________________________________________________ GREEN REQUIEM 7/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: Fire, Blizzard, Thunder Nullifies: None Threat: None when alone, Medium-Low in packs Drop: Green Requiem enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah, Monstro, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Cure - The Heartless version of Sora's basic Cure spell, but the Green Requiem can also use it on other Heartless. "A magic-wielding Heartless that drifts through the air. It doesn't attack, but it can cast Cure to heal other Heartless. The Green Requiem is slow, but its immunity to magic attacks makes it tough to squash." Although it can't attack, the Green Requiem has this annoying habit of healing other Heartless (or itself) at the most inconvenient times. It resists all of the three basic elemental spells; however, all of Riku's sleights are non-elemental and work well against it. Like its cousins, it has a health problem. What's really annoying is how Green Requiems tend to show up in packs even while other Heartless are around. If you have high-valued cards, save the Green Requiems for last. If not, taking them out should be your first priority in most battles. _______________________________________________________________________________ POWERWILD 8/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Powerwild enemy card, map cards Appears in: Olympus Coliseum Attacks: Leapfrog - The Powerwild bounds through the air and hits anything in its path. This move has medium range and decent speed, so try and use a high-valued card before you're attacked. Sliding Kick - The Powerwild slides along the ground, kicking Riku if he's in the way. This attack hits strictly along the horizontal plane and is slightly faster than the Leapfrog but has a smaller hit box. "A simian Heartless that excels at jumping. It has destructive instincts and attacks with punches and sliding kicks." Not too difficult in Riku's story. Powerwilds appear in swarms, but they don't have any attacks that extend for more than a third of the screen. At medium range, you can easily see any attack coming your way and react to it. Breaking a Powerwild's attack when it's right next to you gives you a free chain opportunity; this shouldn't be a problem even in Olympus Coliseum since Powerwilds are stuck with rock-bottom card values. _______________________________________________________________________________ BOUNCYWILD 9/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Bouncywild enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah Attacks: Peel Slip - The Bouncywild throws a banana peel off its tail and into your path, where it stays for a few seconds. The banana peel itself doesn't do any damage, but if you step on it you'll slip and be left defenseless for a moment while Riku rolls. Chuck Wagon - The Bouncywild throws something across the screen at Riku. Whatever it is travels fast, though it doesn't really hit hard. This move has full battleground range, so watch for it when you're facing a swarm of Bouncywilds. "A simian Heartless. It teases its enemies and throws banana peels from far away. Be careful not to slip!" Also residents of Olympus Coliseum, Bouncywild Heartless often crop up with Powerwilds. They're more dangerous from afar than close up since their only damaging attack hits from across the screen. Both attacks suffer from a high windup delay, though, so if you want to fight Bouncywilds effectively the best way is to stick close and pound them. _______________________________________________________________________________ AIR SOLDIER 10/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Air Soldier enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah, Monstro, Twilight Town Attacks: Dive Bomb - The Air Soldier dives down from the sky and rams into Riku feetfirst. A fairly quick attack, its damage goes up with the number of floors that you ascend. It has about a fourth of the screen's length in range. Shoryuken - The Air Soldier attacks upwards this time. This attack knocks Riku into the air upon contact, which leaves you unable to act for a moment. It has less range than the Dive Bomb but hits much faster, making it the deadlier of the Air Soldier's attacks. "A winged Heartless. It swoops down onto its opponent's head, or slams into them when they let their guard down. The Air Soldier is swift, resilient, and not easy to ground." Air Soldiers appear as nuisances in the first world card set. In Twilight Town, they show up in packs and can quickly make life miserable for Riku. Air Soldiers attack fairly rapidly, often hover out of reach for most sleights, and move quickly enough to evade you when they want to. They tend to have medium HP pools, which allows a powerful enough sleight such as Dark Aura to wipe them out en masse. Riku is strong enough take Air Soldiers in a flat out brawl, but he always has Dark Break as a backup. _______________________________________________________________________________ BANDIT 11/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Bandit enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah Attacks: Side Slash - Like a Keyblade attack, the Bandit swings its scimitar through the air and tries to hit something. It has the same range and speed as a Keyblade attack. Bandits do not spam this move in rapid succession. Blitz - The Bandit somersaults through the air spinning its blade like mad. If the Bandit lands on you, you'll take a single hit while it flips backwards. This attack has excellent range, but can be seen coming from a mile away. The Bandit will bounce again if the initial attack misses. "A Heartless that mainly appears in Agrabah. The Bandit deftly wields the scimitar it carries, and should be approached cautiously." In big packs, Bandits can make your life miserable. In one on one battles, though, you can pick them off. They amble around slowly and are fairly easy to outmaneuver, plus I haven't seen them use any card higher than a 2. Bandits attack often, but are poor judges of distance and aim. Riku won't have Dark Aura in Agrabah; however, Dark Break works just as well. _______________________________________________________________________________ FAT BANDIT 12/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Frontal physical attacks Threat: Medium Drop: Fat Bandit enemy card, map cards Appears in: Agrabah Attacks: Fire - The Heartless version of Sora's basic Fire spell. Leap - The Fat Bandit gathers itself and hurls its body through the air. Since momentum is always conserved, Riku is going to take damage if he gets hit. In terms of speed and range this move is very similar to the Large Body's Leap. Earthquake - Another move that the Fat Bandit ripped off the Large Body. The Fat Bandit jumps straight up and then comes down, dealing damage if Riku is on the ground. It takes a fairly long time to land, so this attack can be avoided by a jump of your own. "A Heartless that mainly appears in Agrabah. The Fat Bandit repels frontal attacks with its jiggly belly and spits fireballs." Another one of those annoying but not truly dangerous enemies, unless you happen to face them in packs while you're dangerously underleveled. The Fat Bandit is pretty much the Large Body plus an extra Fire attack. Therefore, it makes sense to approach them the same way; dodge-roll behind them and then pull a combo attack, or just use a strong sleight to punch right through their defenses. Large Body Heartless have high HP pools, so fighting them might take some time and patience, but the experience reward is correspondingly high. _______________________________________________________________________________ BARREL SPIDER 13/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Barrel Spider enemy card, map cards Appears in: Any world with barrels (Agrabah, Monstro, Olympus Coliseum, Never Land, Twilight Town, Destiny Islands) Attacks: Kamikaze - The Barrel Spider has only one attack. It throws itself into a skid and barrels at Riku (no pun intended); once in range, it blows itself up and knocks off a sizable chunk of HP. You can interrupt this attack via card break. "A gunpowder-packed barrel transformed by the darkness into a Heartless. The Barrel Spider sets upon anyone foolish enough to think it's an ordinary barrel." Barrel Spiders can be immensely annoying when you're trying to pick up something by bashing a barrel open. Rather than releasing a cloud of HP balls, Riku gets launched into a fight. Barrel Spiders show up in packs, and never with any other Heartless. The Kamikaze attack destroys the Barrel Spider that uses it so long as the attack isn't broken; however, you earn no experience for a Barrel Spider that self-destructs, plus the attack hurts. Barrel Spiders only use cards with a value of 4 and have moderate HP. Personally, I find that dealing with them becomes easier at the upper floors once you have access to your best enemy cards. _______________________________________________________________________________ SEARCH GHOST 14/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: HP whenever it attacks Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Search Ghost enemy card, map cards Appears in: Halloween Town, Monstro, Atlantica Attacks: Drain - The Search Ghost extends its kid gloves, which ... detach themselves from its arms and reach for Riku. Get hit by the attack and not only do you lose some HP, but the Search Ghost gains some. The Search Ghost emits a distinct whistle when it attacks, so you'll know that Drain is coming. However, it has a surprisingly high range and decent speed, so watch out for it nonetheless. "A spooky Heartless. The Search Ghost can warp out of harm's way and absorb its enemies' HP, making it a tough opponent." Search Ghosts aren't tough by any definition of the word if you stick close and keep pounding them. In an on-and-off, hit-and-run type of battle, however, they're the worst opponents you can get. Every time the Search Ghost hits you, it gains about half the damage that it dealt you back as HP. For this reason, you want to defeat them quickly and not end up suckered into a protracted fight where Drain can be used to full effectiveness. Luckily, Search Ghosts aren't that hard to defeat: they only have one attack, usually stick to low-valued cards, and don't sport big HP pools. _______________________________________________________________________________ SEA NEON 15/33 Weakness: Thunder Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Sea Neon enemy card, map cards Appears in: Atlantica Attacks: Hood Ram - The Sea Neon torpedoes forward and tries to hit Riku with its head. This attack has about half-screen range and is surprisingly fast, but can be easily dodged by moving either up or down. Does moderate damage. Tentacle Flail - The Sea Neon swims forward flailing its tentacles. Despite its appearance, this attack hits only once. It has slightly less range and speed than the Hood Ram but does about the same damage. "A jellyfish-like Heartless. It might look laid back, but the Sea Neon's long tentacles can propel it toward enemies for a ferocious attack." The Sea Neon is the only enemy in Atlantica weak against Thunder, which stuns it. Seeing as how it may also be the easiest enemy to handle on its own, your interests are best served by discarding your lightning-based cards in Atlantica ... oh wait, Riku isn't a spell user. Did he ever get shafted in the versatility department or what? Anyways, Sea Neons pose little threat unless you run into a swarm of them, where it can be annoying to fight the buggers as they attack from all sides at once. They tend to use low-valued cards, so you can run over them if you have the proper enemy cards. _______________________________________________________________________________ SCREWDIVER 16/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: Lightning Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Screwdiver enemy card, map cards Appears in: Atlantica Attacks: Depth Charge - The Screwdiver rises up in the water, then dives down and tries to impale Riku with its lance. The dive itself comes out quickly, but the signature rising motion gives you plenty of time to anticipate the attack. This attack can track Riku to a degree. Water Whirl - The Screwdiver spins its lance in all directions. As the description implies, this attack hits all around in a semi- wide radius. It's faster than the Depth Charge but loses range as the cost. "A Heartless that likes to team up with the Aquatank. It attacks with a spear or charges its enemies." The Screwdiver is armed with a long spear and a bad temper along with an ability to absorb lightning. It's moderately fast, but suffers from mediocre HP and seems to be perpetually stuck with card values of 1 and 2. Between its two attacks, neither are notably dangerous in terms of damage or speed. Screwdivers tend to show up either in pairs or alone with an Aquatank. They might be slightly more formidable than Sea Neons but otherwise shouldn't cause any loss of sleep. _______________________________________________________________________________ AQUATANK 17/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: Thunder Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Aquatank enemy card Appears in: Atlantica Attacks: Thundara - The Heartless version of Sora's Thundara sleight, but minus the damage and the whole-screen coverage. Still lights up an awfully large portion of the screen. Chaos Drive - The Aquatank spins around crazily in a wide area. It can hit Riku more than once with this attack, which is decently fast and cover a large amount of space. This is probably the deadlier of the two attacks since it lasts longer and can hit multiple times. "A fish-like Heartless that lazily wanders the sea. The Aquatank attacks with Thunder or by whirling its sizable body around." Aquatanks don't show up in pairs; if anything, they appear when Screwdivers are around. Even when single, however, they can still be troublesome thanks to their high HP pools and tendency to bust out high-valued cards right when you least expect them to. The highest I've seen is a 7, which can be troublesome for Riku since the highest card he has in Atlantica without the Sea Neon is a measly 5. Aquatank attacks also cover a lot of area, but they're slow enough to where you can safely dodge-roll out of the way. The best way to take them is using a powerful sleight once in Dark Mode, but repeated combo attacks also work. _______________________________________________________________________________ WIGHT KNIGHT 18/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Wight Knight enemy card, map cards Appears in: Halloween Town Attacks: Grasp - The Wight Knight reaches forward and tries to grab Riku. This attack has good range but a fairly long windup delay, so you'll see it coming before it hits. Spooky Spin - The Wight Knight wraps its long arms around itself, then spins and allows its arms to unravel. This attack hits all around the Wight Knight and has about the same range as the Grasp. It's slightly slower, plus the arm spinning move is very distinctive and easy to pick out in a fight. "A Heartless that calls Halloween Town its main haunt. The Wight Knight's long appendages make it dangerous to approach." The Wight Knight belongs in the large category of generic Heartless enemies that pose little threat except when encountered in force. They sometimes show up in big packs or with lots of other Heartless, but even so you should have little trouble dealing with them unless you're severely underleveled. They mostly use low-valued cards. As the game suggests, it's best to attack from a distance, but it really doesn't matter in the long run since they're so easy to defeat anyways. _______________________________________________________________________________ GARGOYLE 19/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Gargoyle enemy card, map cards Appears in: Halloween Town, Hollow Bastion Attacks: Wing Slash - The Gargoyle dives downwards at an angle and tries to spear Riku with the tips of its wings. You'll know that it's coming when it suddenly rises into the air. Decent speed and range, so watch out for it. Fire - Another Heartless rendition of Sora's Fire spell. This one comes out quite fast. "A winged Heartless that mainly appears in Halloween Town. It pelts its stunned opponents with fireballs." The Gargoyle has a medium HP pool and fairly decent speed when it can be bothered to use it. They usually appear in pairs and can become a nuisance due to their incessant flying. The Gargoyle only has two attacks, but they're both quite fast and can start to add up if you take too many hits. Go take them out first if you're not up against any higher threats. In Dark Mode, Riku can bounce like Tigger on their backs with repeated Dark Break sleights. _______________________________________________________________________________ PIRATE 20/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Pirate enemy card, map cards Appears in: Never Land Attacks: Renzokuken - The Pirate drives forward with a barrage of sword strikes. (Actually, now that I take a closer look, it's really just a pair of fast attacks.) Renzokuken can be tricky to card break, plus you'll lose a ton of HP if you're swarmed by a pack of Pirates spamming this attack. Pirates tend mostly to pull this move at close range. Cross-Slash - The Pirate's sword glints for a moment before it lets loose a single, mighty chop. If Riku takes the hit, he'll be stunned for a few moments - so try not to get hit. Watch for the telltale glint and avoid it at all costs. "A Heartless that mostly sticks to Never Land. A skilled swordsman, the Pirate can knock its enemies out cold and then finish them off with a vicious combo. If its sword flashes, watch out!" Pirates have fairly low HP pools, plus they move as though stuck in a swamp of molasses. However, they do have an annoying tendency to appear in packs, plus their sword moves are nothing to sneeze at. Both are deadly in terms of the potential HP that they can knock off Riku. Spamming Dark Break repeatedly is the fastest way to eliminate Pirates though outmaneuvering them with hit- and-run tactics also works well. _______________________________________________________________________________ AIR PIRATE 21/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Air Pirate enemy card, map cards Appears in: Never Land Attacks: Shoryuken - The Air Soldier rises violently off the ground with a punch and tries to clip Riku as it does so. Take this hit and you'll be knocked into the air, unable to act while reeling. Although it suffers from range problems, the attack is quite fast and hard to predict. Dead Drop - This time, the Air Soldier attacks from above with a powerful punch. You'll know that it's coming when you see a distinctive glint right before the Air Soldier dives. The Dead Drop is quite fast once it starts up, so be ready to dodge it at any moment. "A winged Heartless that mostly sticks to Never Land. It's not armed, but it doesn't need to be. The Air Pirate deals a brutal punch right after its fist flashes." The Air Pirate has more HP and moves faster than its grounded counterpart. However, they also don't show up in big crowds. While you can't outrun them, they won't try to outrun you. The usual tactics against airborne enemies apply to the Air Pirate, such as card breaking and then unleashing a powerful sleight attack. Watch out for the Shoryuken, as it leaves you unable to act after impact and as such is probably more dangerous than the Dead Drop. _______________________________________________________________________________ DARKBALL 22/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-High Drop: Darkball enemy card, map cards Appears in: Atlantica, Hollow Bastion, Never Land, Destiny Islands, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Chaos Drive - The Darkball spins around crazily in all directions, hitting whatever it touches. It's fast and unpredictable but has a restricted range. The best way to counter this attack is to stay out of the Darkball's range while you can. Bite - The Darkball zooms forward and tries to bite Riku en route. This move hits once and covers a significant portion of the battlefield at a quick pace. Like the Chaos Drive, the Bite is an attack with a low windup and cooldown delay. "A Heartless made from the very shadows of darkness. The Darkball mostly just bobs through the air, but its random weaving and biting are a nuisance." This obnoxious enemy shows up in a majority of the floors in Riku's story. It flies, it flies quickly, it has a fairly high HP pool, and it comes armed with two annoying attacks. On the positive side, you won't ever run into more than a pair of these enemies at the same time. It's suggested that you destroy Darkballs with powerful sleights, but whittling them down with chain attacks also works. Note that they'll use moderate value cards, going possibly up to 6 when they attack. Use your enemy cards accordingly. _______________________________________________________________________________ DEFENDER 23/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Frontal physical and Fire/Ice attacks Threat: High Drop: Defender enemy card Appears in: Hollow Bastion, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Knockershield - The Defender tries to punch Riku with its shield. This move has surprisingly high range, but it also has a small windup delay so you should be able to see it coming. Not much vertical reach. There's also a slight cooldown delay at the end. Defenders tend to use this move when up close. Fire - Yet another Heartless who learned the Fire spell. This particular version doesn't track at all; instead it flies in a straight line from where it was launched, making it easy to avoid. The Defender uses this move when far away. "A Heartless that primarily resides in Hollow Bastion. Its shield stops head-on physical and magical attacks, and can launch fireballs. The Defender is also a skilled card user, and will break the cards of unprepared opponents." Easy enough in Hollow Bastion, very annoying in Castle Oblivion. Defenders show up in ones and twos, but wiping them out can be a pain during big battles. Their ability to deflect frontal attacks means that Riku must follow the dodge- roll line of tactics. Up close, they have a potentially dangerous attack, so it's best to fight from a distance if you can. As usual with these enemies, dodge-roll to end up behind them and then unleash your offensive. Defenders only use cards of values 1, 5, and 9, and they'll use the 9 cards often enough. _______________________________________________________________________________ WYVERN 24/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-High Drop: Wyvern enemy card, map cards Appears in: Hollow Bastion, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Crash Test - The Wyvern skims forward over the ground and rams into Riku, hard. This move covers the whole battleground and covers it fast. Either dodge-roll through it or just move vertically to avoid the attack. It has little windup or cooldown delay, making it especially hard to predict. Hits once for medium damage. Kick Party - The Wyvern swoops down to hover near Riku, upon which it unleashes a storm of kicks. This attack hits repeatedly for major damage and is made worse since it can't be broken once it connects. To top off its destructive capabilities, the attack comes out and homes in quickly. "An enormous Heartless that hunts its enemies from the skies. The Wyvern is agile despite its size. Upon sighting its prey, it rushes forward and attacks with a flurry of kicks." Wyverns take a lot of patience to deal with, especially when more than one shows up. Repeated spamming of Kick Party will rapidly drain your HP bar if you're ever caught in that unfortunate situation. Wyverns have moderate HP, but attack quickly and are somewhat difficult to predict. The highest card that they'll use is a 5, which allows Riku to win most card clashes. If they can spam a repeating attack, you ought to have no compunction against doing likewise, right? _______________________________________________________________________________ WIZARD 25/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: Fire, Blizzard, Thunder Nullifies: Gravity, Stop Threat: Medium-High Drop: Wizard enemy card, map cards Appears in: Hollow Bastion, Castle Oblivion Attacks: Fire - The Heartless version of Sora's Fire spell. The Wizard's particular variation has got to be the lamest ever. Blizzard - The Heartless version of Sora's Blizzard spell. In this case, a slower version that doesn't track as well. Thundara - The Heartless version of Sora's Thundara sleight, except that it hits only in front of the Wizard instead of the entire screen. "A Heartless proficient in magic. The Wizard is a formidable opponent that attacks with high-level Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder spells." Immune to every type of magic except wind, Wizards make life miserable for spell users. Riku, however, is not a spell user but a warrior. This makes the Wizard very vulnerable to physical attacks if you can slip them in on a regular basis. And ignore that high-level spell business, I've only ever seen them use Thundara as a high-level spell. Wizard card values can (and often will) go as high as 7. _______________________________________________________________________________ NEOSHADOW 26/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: Everything when submerged Threat: High Drop: Neoshadow enemy card, map cards Appears in: Castle Oblivion Attacks: Rage Run - The Neoshadow jumps forward. If it clips Riku, you lose a chunk of HP and are sent reeling. This attack has good range and speed but suffers from a slight windup delay, just small enough that you can react. Neoshadows tend to use this attack when they've been above ground for some time. Shadow Dance - The Neoshadow rises up and flings itself into a spinning mass of shadow aimed in Riku's general direction. The attack itself has full battlefield range but only hits once as it ends if Riku takes a hit. It's slightly slower than the Rage Run but still easily the more deadly of the two attacks due to its nearly negligible windup delay. Neoshadows tend to use this attack right as they pop out of the ground. "A nimble Heartless that swims through the shadows." Whereas Shadows got threat ratings of Very Low, the Neoshadow earns a well- deserved High threat rating. They're fast, aggressive, and have only slightly less HP than Defenders on a comparable level. They use cards whose values go as high as 8, and they use those cards often. Not only that, Neoshadows can sink into the floor where they remain immune to any attack. You'll quickly find that Neoshadows are typically either attacking or moving around in the floor, but they're always doing something. As many as three can appear at the same time; on the top floor, however, Riku can use Dark Aura once he reaches Dark Mode. Or, seeing as how short the floor is, you may as well opt to run past them altogether. _______________________________________________________________________________ CREEPER PLANT 27/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium Drop: Creeper Plant enemy card, map cards Appears in: Halloween Town, Wonderland, Destiny Islands Attacks: Root Shoot - The Creeper Plant attacks from below by sending its roots spiking upwards. To my experience, this attack rarely hits but instead causes Riku to slip. Medium to long range, fairly fast, but easy to predict - it'll always appear directly beneath Riku. Seed Volley - The Creeper Plant repeatedly spits seeds towards you. This attack hits mostly along the horizontal plane with a small deflection in the vertical direction. It has almost whole screen range, so watch out for it. You can dodge-roll through the attack easily enough, however. "A flower-like Heartless. It's rooted in one place, but staying far away isn't enough, since it can spit seeds or attack from below with its sharp roots." Creeper Plants tend to show up in small gardens. While they don't have particularly notable stats in HP, speed, or aggression, having to deal with a large crowd of them can become difficult, especially if other Heartless are also around. Creeper Plants often use cards ranging from values of 6 to 1, and they can hit you from any location on the screen. Weed them out with Soul Eaters reinforced by Attack Bracer, or else just spam Dark Break when you can. _______________________________________________________________________________ TORNADO STEP 28/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Tornado Step enemy card, map cards Appears in: Monstro, Atlantica, Hollow Bastion, Destiny Islands Attacks: Hammer Blow - The Tornado Step does a two-arm overhead bash. Short ranged but fast, you have a moment to dodge-roll it before it hits. Otherwise it's not a very noteworthy attack. Flail - The Tornado Step flies across the screen swinging its arms wildly. This attack has whole screen range, thus it tends to appear when the Tornado Step is far away. This makes it easy to dodge or break. "A Heartless that flies about using its arms like propeller blades. Whether moving or attacking, it's always spin, spin, spinning - but never seems to get dizzy." Tornado Steps, while present in several worlds, tend to attract little attention since they fall into the generic, easily handled Heartless category. They have low to moderate HP pools and use low-valued cards, plus their AI is apparently at fault since their attacks are easily countered. About the only threat they present is when they suddenly appear in large packs right as you take on another Heartless. _______________________________________________________________________________ CRESCENDO 29/33 Weakness: None Absorbs: None Nullifies: None Threat: Medium-Low Drop: Crescendo enemy card Appears in: Wonderland, Never Land, Destiny Islands Attacks: Cure - The Heartless version of Sora's Cure spell. The Crescendo can use it to heal itself or other Heartless. Panic Honk - The Crescendo starts honking continuously; if it finishes without interruption, another Heartless shows up and joins the battle. I've only ever seen Soldier Heartless appear at these calls, but they might also summon others. Break this call if you can, don't worry about it if you can't. "A hopping, horn-like Heartless. It's a bothersome foe that can honk and call other Heartless." Crescendos are support enemies, not fighters themselves. They'll call for other Heartless and heal their allies when you're not looking, but they don't attack themselves. They typically use mid-range card values (i.e., 4 to 6). Take them out when you can; otherwise, just keep breaking their healing and Panic Honk summons. On a final note, Crescendos move slowly but tend to show up in crowds at a time. _______________________________________________________________________________ GUARD ARMOR 30/33 "A Heartless that haunts Traverse Town. It appeared before Riku as a token of the indelible darkness in his heart." See the Guard Armor section in Traverse Town for more details. And please, not this indelible darkness business again. _______________________________________________________________________________ PARASITE CAGE 31/33 "A Heartless that dwelled inside Monstro. It appeared before Riku as a token of the indelible darkness in his heart." See the Parasite Cage section in Monstro for more details. _______________________________________________________________________________ TRICKMASTER 32/33 "The Heartless that threw Wonderland into chaos. It appeared before Riku as a token of the indelible darkness in his heart." See the Trickmaster section in Wonderland for more details. _______________________________________________________________________________ DARKSIDE 33/33 "The Heartless Riku attracted when he was seduced by darkness. It destroyed Destiny Islands. Zexion called Darkside in order to subdue Riku." See the Darkside section in Destiny Islands for more details. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLOSSARY OF TERMS code: miniwebsters ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== All of the most common terms used in Chain of Memories are listed here. Understanding terminology is important to any game, more so in this one since it's freer than most with abbreviations. Thus, we proudly present the Glossary of Terms, a one-stop source for any questions that you may have about what a particular word, phrase, or abbreviation means. If I get enough requests about an entry, I'll add it here. AP: Attack power. Applies only to Riku, and is a measure of how hard he hits with each attack. The higher his AP climbs, the more damage he does with an attack. Booster Pack: A set of five cards sold by Moogles in Castle Oblivion. The Card Mechanics section in Sora's walkthrough has more information. Card Break: When two cards clash, the higher one defeats the lower one and executes while the user of the lower one is sent reeling. Consult the Introduction section in Sora's walkthrough for additional details. Cooldown: The amount of time it takes for a character to recover after using an attack. The higher the cooldown delay, the more time needed to recover. CP: Card points or capacity points. Applies only to Sora. Each card that he can use has a certain cost in CP; if its CP cost exceeds his current CP amount, he can't add the card to a deck. Dark Mode: Riku only. A special form in which Riku's agility, speed, and power are greatly enhanced. See the Introduction section in Riku's walkthrough for a full description. DP: Dark points. Applies only to Riku. The higher his DP rating, the longer Riku can sustain Dark Mode once he reaches it. Exp: Experience. Both Sora and Riku gather experience from defeated enemies; when they reach a preset value, their level increments by one and you can choose to boost an attribute. HP: Hit points. Applies to both Sora and Riku. This is the measure of your character's health as you lose the game if it ever hits zero. Level: The overall gauge of a character's progress. In general, higher levels are better than lower levels as they represent more experience that a character has accumulated. Moogle Points: The currency of Castle Oblivion and applicable to Sora only. Sora can use Moogle Points to buy cards at shops or sell unwanted cards for Moogle Points. Premium Card: A one-use only card that has had its CP cost drastically reduced. Applies only to Sora, and is described in detail in his Card Mechanics section. Renowned Deck: Borrowed from Megaman Battle Network terminology, it denotes an especially powerful or effective deck, and applies to Sora only. The Renowned Deck section in Sora's walkthrough lists all of the decks accepted in this document. RR: Short for Reverse/Rebirth, which is Riku's story. Sleight: A sequence of cards, usually three, that are triggered together. The Sleights section in Sora's walkthrough has much more information. Synthesis: The act of creating a room, which uses up a map card. See the Room Synthesis and Map Cards sections in Sora's walkthrough. Windup: The amount of time between triggering an attack and when the attack actually starts or hits. The higher the windup delay, the more time needed to start attacking. World Card Set: A set of world cards that Sora or Riku receive, all at the same time. They're so called because you have the option of choosing one world from several. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS code: tehfaq ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Q. Can you tell me where to find ROMs of this game? A. Nope. Next question, please. Q. How do I use enemy cards? A. This is a fairly common question. Back in Traverse Town, Leon showed you how to flip to the enemy card deck using the Select button, but since you had no enemy cards at that time, many people forget about it. So use the Select button in battle to find an enemy card - they aren't automatically used. Q. Can you really only have a single Reward Room card at one time? A. To the best of my knowledge, yes. However, multiple people have claimed to have held more than one Reward Room card at the same time. I haven't seen any definitive proof. Anyone who can show me conclusive proof of having more than one Reward Room card at a time wins a Gold Star. Q. Help! I need this map card to go on but I'm not picking any more up after battles! A. Another fairly common question. This is covered in the Introduction, but seeing as how I've already gotten a question about it, I thought I'd plunk it down here too. If you're not getting any map cards after battle, you've maxed out on the number of map cards that you can carry. Go to the menu and discard the ones you don't want with the A button. As long as you have less than 99 map cards (the number is shown in the upper right hand corner) you should be able to pick something up after a battle. Q. Is there an easy way to acquire Premium cards? A. Normally, you could keep buying card packs from Moogle shops in Sora's tale and hope that you get good Premium cards. Moogle shop booster packs tend to come with at least one and usually more Premium cards. However, thanks to alert gamer Gemini Psychopath, we now know of a more surefire method. For this trick, you'll need a Premium room map card and a world with Barrel Spiders. Synthesize the room, then after you've cleared it out, you can keep exiting and returning to break up barrels. During your battles against the Barrel Spiders there's a high chance that you'll pick up Premium bonuses. In my opinion, this is better than scamming Moogle shops since you can simply load up a deck full of only the cards that you want turned into Premiums. Q. Is there an easy way to level? A. Yes, for all you wascally wabbits who want everything the easy way. Just warp between floors; since the first room of each floor is automatically generated without the use of a card, you can fight to your heart's content without ever using a map card. Great way to pick up items too. Thanks to Dat Squall for reminding me of this trick. Q. Hey, I have this really great method for beating this boss - A. I believe you. At the same time, realize that fighting styles vary widely from player to player, so what works well for you might totally fail for someone else. This is why I never give specific deck builds or tactics for the boss sections; I merely state what the boss does and give some broad guidelines and suggestions. Q. In Sora's story, how do I pick up Ultima Weapon and all the other goodies? A. This is mentioned in the notes on Ultima Weapon, but bears reproducing here in the FAQ. There are two requirements. First, you must synthesize a Moment's Reprieve room right before the final battle in Sora's story and save there after defeating Marluxia for the first time. Note that this save room has to be located right in front of the final room. Next, you'll have to play Riku's game and do the same - make a save room and save in it before confronting Ansem for the final time. Once you've done this, load up Sora's game and synthesize a Bounty room. You should find the Ultima Weapon, and the next Bounty rooms should yield the Lexaeus and Ansem enemy cards. Q. What's this I hear about "harvesting" Riku II? A. It's a discovery made by PheonixFlame2 and posted according to my clock on April 5, 2005, at 8:59:20 PM Eastern Standard Time on the GameFAQs message boards. To reproduce his exact post: "This is a glitch that allows you to Harvest (as in beat continuously for Exp) Riku II. So here it is. 1) Play the 100-Acre Wood world right before Riku II. 2) Run all the way to the end of the 100-Acre wood level, WITHOUT Kuma-no Pu-san. (Winnie the Pooh) 3) It'll ask you if you wish to leave the world without completing it or something. Say yes. 4) Then it'll ask you if you want to Save. Say No. 5) Go Fight Riku II. 6) After the fight, you'll be returned right to the end exit of 100-Acre wood 7) Do step 3 again, and you'll end up looping yourself and fighting Riku II again, but the EXP will be cumulative. The EXP is cumulative because a) I checked, b) I recieved the magic or reward card the first time and not afterwards. I only did this twice, because I thought the fight again was a thrid fight with Riku. After fighting him twice and going back, I realised it was a bug, so I shut it off and finished the world legit. However, I believe it probably can be repeated infitely (or until your battery runs out), if you're into amassing mass quantities of EXP. Afterwards, you would just, upon returning to 100-acre, finish the world legit, and save in the tower to keep the exp." Unfortunately, further testing quickly confirmed that this bug does not repeat indefinitely but rather only a few times. Still, fighting Riku II is fairly straightforward and even a second round can yield sizable amounts of experience. Q. I have a Renowned Deck submission! How do I send it in? A. I am truly sorry, but version 1.30 is likely the final clean up of the FAQ before I leave this document behind forever, flawed as it is. I hope to inspire someone else to write his own Renowned Deck FAQ, though. Q. Speaking of Renowned Decks, why'd you add deck use suggestions in version 1.20? A. Because after reading through the message boards, I realized that people were using these decks in fights that they weren't designed to handle. One especially memorable case involved a certain gamer taking the Bio deck up against Marluxia II. Naturally, I felt it necessary to spell out exactly what the deck is made for and what it isn't made for. Q. So just who exactly was that hooded figure who invited Sora to Castle Oblivion? A. I know but I won't say. You'll have to play Kingdom Hearts 2 to find out. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS code: honorroll ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== Let's have a big drum roll, please! The people listed here all contributed to this document in some shape or form. Without their assistance, this FAQ would not be as comprehensive or as informative as it has become today. In reality, this document as much their work as it is mine. Some would search the game for a single bit of insight; others worked tirelessly to plumb the Internet for a piece of information; still more shared their experience freely with the rest of us. This FAQ belongs to all of us and if any names are absent from it then it is my fault and mine alone. Thank you all! Brandon Stepler (winner of the Jiminy Cricket Conscience award): For incessantly nagging at me to finish this guide since I'd rashly said that I would, for believing that I could do it even though he never said as much, and for being a great former roommate who taught me almost everything I know about playing Super Smash Melee. A paragraph is definitely too short to list all of his many contributions to my motivation. Thanks for being my conscience, Brandon! Sophia Fisher (winner of the Goofy True Friend award): For being a Mercutio to my Romeo, and for letting me play the original Kingdom Hearts on her PS2. Also because she's a great source of motivation and inspiration; her shining example emphasizes that the impossible can be accomplished with no more than determination and hard work. Thanks for being a true friend, Sophia! PheonixFlame2: For discovering and posting the trick to harvest Riku II in Sora's story for experience. Dave Bereya: Small correction to the FAQ - I had Aladdin listed as found in Halloween Town. Oops. unconventional_evolution For his (her?) tip on using Keyblades instead of spells to clear White Rooms. GameFanNo1: Submission of a Renowned Deck, as well as being an excellent source of information about the game. Lord Xela: Various tidbits of game information, such as finding keyblades and looking up maximum CP/AP/HP/DP values. Also a great friend whom I've shared many memories with ever since meeting him on the Super Metroid board at 'FAQs, then migrating together to Samus.co.uk, then hanging around on #samus.co.uk on EsperNet IRC after the premature demise of SCU. Look us up sometime on the IRC channel if you actually read this far. Enduo_Ril: Noticed that Ansem's sleight is not supposed to be Rockshatter, which set of a chain of events ending with someone else finding it from a video from the Japanese Chain of Memories. Rexy: For the trick to getting Premium cards back by sleighting them. Kenjoki Ikari: For the tip on firing off Ragnarok early. Ryan Dawson: E-mailed me with a question about Premium cards, thus reminding me that I'd forgotten to describe what they look like. Oops. Cactus: Reminded me that Sora has an upper limit to the number of action cards that he's allowed to carry. Gemini Psychopath: For the trick of harvesting Barrel Spider worlds for Premium bonuses. Dina Simmonds: Sent in a correction: Vexen's Freeze sleight actually inflicts damage. Dat Squall: For reminding me of the way to level without using map cards. Gray Fox: Gray Fox's FAQ contained a lot of the technical information that went into this document. If I couldn't figure something out by myself, I referenced his guide for information as one of my first stops. Overated: Believe me, he's underrated. Overated's FAQ is the other document that I consistently checked when I failed to find something I wanted to know. If only he'd finish it, it would truly rock. SquareEnix and Jupiter: These two companies co-developed the game without which there would be no guide in the first place. Thanks for all of the ... memories ... SquEnix and Jupiter. CJayC: For hosting GameFAQs.com, your one-stop source for gaming information on the Internet. Leo Chan: For hosting Neoseeker.com, a great place for just about anything related to computers. =============================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTACT INFORMATION code: talk2me ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- =============================================================================== My e-mail address is stephen_y_hsu@yahoo.com, just like it says on the header. If you contributed something but don't see your name in the credits, please by all means send an e-mail and claim what belongs to you. Also, if you want to host this document on your own site, send a message my way. Please let me know on which site you found this document, so that I can catch people who don't have permission to host this FAQ. Anybody and everybody is welcomed to contribute to this document; however, if you want to assert a point, please back it up with evidence. __ / / _ / / | | / / | |===========/ /------------------------------------------------------, |O| | | | | |<-O>------------- stephen_y_hsu@yahoo.com ---------------/ | |===========\ \----------------------------------------------------' |_| \ \ \ \ \_\