Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Playthrough Journal

[kuraudoVII]

So, a while back, I spotted a playthrough journal for Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix and decided to make a playthrough journal for Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories. This time around, now that I finally have a chance to play my copy of Kingdom Hearts II.5 ReMIX due to most of my projects/tests being finished, I can start my journey here for Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix.

As with the last journal, this isn't just for me. Anyone and everyone can pitch in and give out their own logs. No one has to follow the formula that I will lay out, just pop in whenever you guys feel like it and want to keep a log on where you are at thus far.

So, without further ado...

STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Roxas
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 6
Location: Digital Twilight Town
Day: Day 5

So, I have to admit I was mostly skipping the cutscenes since I had already played through vanilla II over the summer to prepare myself for this game. Anyway, I managed to get to Day 3 pretty easily in less than half an hour since the only parts that I really watched were the CG intro as well as the part with Namine.

Anyway, I level grinded over here for a little while until I reached level 6 (the awesome music definitely helped). The Twilight Thorn hits MUCH harder than I remembered this time around (though this is probably due to the fact that I was playing on Critical Mode). Those extra abilities you gain on Day 3 and damn useful.

So, after all of that, we get to Day 4 for we get to fight one of our best friends ZellHayner as well as a surprisingly competent "Vivi."

But soft! What yonder illusion breaks! "Vivi" was actually a Nobody the entire time!

After the dust up with the Nobodies, we finally get to one of the few cutscenes that I actually looked forward to: the return of everyone's favorite lovable traitor: Axel. His fight was...as pathetically easy as I remembered, but eh. It's the tutorial level, so yeah.

Anyway, after all of these shenanigans, I squared off with Setzer who was actually easier than I remembered. I even manged to get all of the orbs from him before time ran out (1 second left, mind you, but still).

So after all of that, we get to the tower, Roxas falls, Kairi talks to him by mistake because he tried to contact Namine but came across Kairi instead and "Ansem" and DiZ save the day! Also, I was glad to finally have my first Final Mix exclusive cutscene play on my TV for the first time.


Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, this is journal is meant for everyone. Feel free to type in your own experiences for this game if you want to.

 

[kuraudoVII]

Ladies and gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

*since I've advanced to a fair bit since last updating, I'll include both Roxas and Sora's entries here*

Player Character: Roxas
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 8
Location: Digital Twilight Town
Day: Day 6

Sweet Cosmos, that cutscene with Roxas and Riku brought back so many memories. After dealing with everything from Day 5, we get to Day 6 where we find out that our former employer has sent our best friend to assassinate us. After playing through all of that and pouring through revelation after revelation, we have a glorious battle against our old friend, Axel. He tried to put up a fight, but Roxas proved to be stronger and won out.

Afterwards, we slowly get to where Sora is and are confronted by DiZ, who claims that he needs Sora whole instead of Roxas to defeat Organization XIII. Roxas initially resists, but comes to grips with the fact that he must go to Sora.

Cue the title screen...

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 22
Location: World Map heading to Port Royal
Forms: Valor (level 4), Wisdom (level 4)

So, after plowing through Twilight Town, we reach Radiant Garden and meet up with old friends, take out some Heartless and watch a new cutscene (there was also one in Twilight Town regarding Riku, Namine and Axel). From there, we trekked through the Land of Dragons and had fun stomping on Shan-Yu.

Then we reached Beast's Castle...

Beast's Castle....

To put it bluntly, this is the part where the game reminded me, "HEY, you're playing on Critical Mode, dammit! We'll make you tear your hair out in ways you haven't experienced since Birth by Sleep!" The Large Bodies took me out in just a couple of hits when I initially got there. Thankfully, with a bit of level grinding, I was able to do well enough and advance.

As for Olympus Colosseum the Underworld, we teamed up with Auron to take down Cerberus, got the Olympus Stone back from Demyx and rescued Meg, but not the Colosseum.

And for diddlying sake, Phil, we know to GET UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK!!!

Finally, we settled things over in Disney Castle and were able to fix all of the problems that occurred thanks to the events of the Timeless River. I even took time to level up the Wisdom and Valor forms once I received the former and tackled the first mini game in the Hundred Acre Wood.

Now onward to more adventure...

 

[kuraudoVII]

Ladies and gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 31
Location: Agrabah trying to level up Limit Form and the Summon Gauge
Forms: Valor (level 6), Wisdom (level 6), Master (level 6), Limit (Level 1), Summon (Level 1)

So, after having finished leveling up Valor and Wisdom forms, I headed straight to...

Atlantica.

Yeah, I kinda wanted to at least get that first mission from over there out of the way.

Anyway, once I finished that, I headed straight to Port Royal. I was actually really stoked to head over here after poring through Everglow's videos showing that they did the Pirates of the Caribbean theme, "He's a Pirate," justice. Just playing through that world made me feel an exhilarating rush that was never there in the original just because of that revamped battle track.

Ultimately, that world was pretty easy aside from the one mission where you have to get rid of the barrels before the Heartless destroy even one. I...kind screwed up the first since I keep forgetting that the barrels destroy really easily and fast. Admittedly, this is an issue on the vanilla version as well.

After all of that, I finally reached Agrabah. It was a pretty easy world to go through although I swear that I ended up taking more time against the Volcanic and Blizzard Lords than I probably should of.

After that, I did what I always do in the vanilla version and headed straight to Twilight Town the instant it was unlocked again. I was really nervous about having to face those damn Berserkers, but they were really easy to take out, even in Critical Mode at only level 25. After that, I FINALLY received Limit Form for the first time and...have done nothing with it since. I really wanted to get the Master Form and level that up first before trying to level up Limit Form.

So, after watching the snazzy new cutscene between Saix and Xemnas, I headed to Hollow Bastion where I was met with plenty of Final Fantasy fanservice. After helping out Tron in Space Paranoids, Mickey appeared and bestowed unto Sora the illustrious Master Form. Once I got that, I've spent my time leveling up all of the forms to their max potential at this point and time (we won't be reaching the true max until we finally get our hands on Final Form).

So, I've just finished leveling up Valor, Wisdom and Master and am ready to use the Mushroom trick to cheat the system and level up the Summon Gauge and Limit Form much faster than I normally would have. I'll head off to Halloween and Christmas Town as well as the Pridelands before finally returning to Space Paranoids to help Tron.

 

[kuraudoVII]

Hoo boy, its been a while since I updated this. A LOT has happened since I left off at level 31 and tried to level the forms up, so without further ado...

Ladies and gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 42
Location: Pridelands (2nd Visit)
Forms: Valor (level 6), Wisdom (level 6), Master (level 6), Limit (Level 6), Summon (Level 5)

So, I leveled up all of my forms and decided to take a stroll through memory lane in Halloween Town and Christmas Town. I finally got to hear the world and battle themes for the latter on my TV for the first time and I must say, it was GLORIOUS. Anyway, I went through the motions for this level and the Pridelands (I keep forgetting how cuddly Lion Sora looks). Eventually, after two whole worlds' worth of exploring, I finally got back to Tron and finished that dreaded Light Cycle segment of the game that used to give me so much trouble when I was fifteen. Anyway, I got that world out of the way and prepared for the scene that everyone remembers:

"We went through all that trouble to beat an IMPOSTER?!"

Maleficent shows up and orders her heartless to attack Sora and co. with the Nobodies following suit. After some Final Fantasy X-2 fanservice, we're treated with some Final Fantasy VII fanservice in regards to what is easily one of the most infamous villains of all time. Afterwards, I helped Leon and the gang fight off some of the Nobodies and watched the cutscenes involving them fighting off Heartless and Sephiroth appearing out of nowhere to do to what he's been contracted to do by Square Enix in recent years: taunt his love interest enemy, Cloud. After this, I defied King Mickey's orders and went off to take on the rest of the Heartless. While this happened, I was greeted by more Final Mix exclusive cutscenes.

I then squared off against Demyx and...died the first time. Yeah, the difficulty spike in Critical Mode caught me off guard yet again, but I was easily able to take him down one try later. Afterwards, I got berated by King Mickey, avenge Goofy's "death" and did won in the battle against 1000 Heartless. From there, we get to hear even more convolution from Xemnas, Axel and Saix. When Maleficent showed up and bailed us out of the battle, I saw the additional cutscene that really hammered home the fact that Xemnas and Xigbar had the events of Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance in mind (even if it was more retroactive than anything else).

So we go on our second quest of sorts.

THIS is where things, gameplay-wise anyway, get interesting.

The Land of Dragons was a very simple romp through the worlds. I had a lot of fun beating that kaiju dragon Storm Rider down and I appreciated the fact that I was able to listen to "The Thirteenth Struggle" again.

Then I got to Beast's Castle.

And just like the first visit, this is where the game liked to remind me that I was playing on Critical Mode.

We have the usual suspects such as the difficulty spike and the fact that enemies can kill easily when in droves, but what REALLY hammered it home for me was that glowing thing in Beast's room: the emblem for Marluxia's Absent Silhouette. THIS boss may not have been particularly difficult, but not only was he more technical than he had a right to, but he also had far too many health bars to dwindle down. I was able to defeat all of the Absent Silhouettes, but I am forced to admit that I was forced to wait until I got the Guardian Soul from Auron before tackling him again. During the second phase, he would sometimes just jump and attack which would force me into one of the black holes he conjures up for an insta-kill. Seriously, he made Xaldin look like a complete joke by comparison.

Let me repeat that: he made XALDIN look like a complete joke by comparison.

Anyway, I was able to defeat Xaldin easily enough after failing to defeat Marluxia despite having his pattern mostly down pat. From there, I went to the Underworld and defeated Zexion's Absent Silhouette with absolutely no problem. His is notable in that it was the only one where I used the Kingdom Key against instead of the Guardian Soul that I used for beating the rest of the Absent Silhouettes. I tend to just stick with the Kingdom Key in the numbered games until I manage to get the Oblivion and Ultima keychains at endgame. I will usually break into something else if I'm farming for something like in the first game's Final Mix, but other than that, I usually stick with the default weapon until I finally get the aforementioned keychains.

After all of that, I was able to liberate Auron and defeat Hades (helping Hercules get out of his funk was Hades' doing, ironically enough).

I feel like I should mention that while all of this was going on, I was busy trying to complete the 100 Acre Wood and Atlantica worlds as well to get them out of the way. The former I already finished, the latter only one mission left.

So from here, I went to Port Royal where the story actually kinda sorta tries to tie into the main story involving Sora's battle against Organization XIII, but it still feels very incomplete and phoned in. To be fair, it actually did try unlike most of the other worlds. By this point, I have already gone back and defeated Marluxia with Guardian Soul's oh-so-lovely Reaction Boost. When that was all over and done with, I went and defeated Larxene's Absent Silhouette which was much easier compared to Marluxia's. After that, I blazed through the rest of Port Royal and went to Agrabah where I defeated Vexen's Absent Silhouette after a fair bit of trial and error, guarding at the right times and swallowing my pride and going all Underdrome on him and the Anti-Sora clones by using Peter Pan to cheese my way to victory.

After tackling Agrabah, I thought to myself, "I already defeated most of the Silhouettes. Why don't I at least give Lexaeus' a shot?" SO I went back to Twilight Town (yeah, the path still wasn't blocked yet) and defeated him by abusing Knocksmash and (ab)using Peter Pan once again (I was tired of fighting the Silhouettes by this point seeing as on that particular day I defeated Marluxia, Larxene and Vexen). From there, I tackled Halloween Town again (which upon completing caused the path to Twilight Town to be blocked by the Assault mission).

So yeah. A lot has happened.

 

[kuraudoVII]

Ladies and gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 54
Location: The World That Never Was
Forms: Valor (Max Level), Wisdom (Max Level), Master (Max Level), Limit (Max Level), Summon (Max Level), Final (Level 3)

"Tell me. TELL ME WHY HE PICKED YOU!"

Welp, I've managed to finish off the Pridelands as well the Space Paranoids levels on top of finishing off Atlantica. After I finally went into a Gummi Ship mission for the first time in a little while flying through the Death Star Assault of the Dreadnaught mission, I finally returned to the place where this particular adventure began: Twilight Town. Gotta say that it was really refreshing to fight Nobodies en masse again. So after pillaging the town of all of its treasure, I fought alongside King Mickey to defeat even more Nobodies. I scoured through the mansion and finally went back to the digital Twilight Town.

Roxas' Twilight Town.

Anyway, from there, I entered into the Dark Portal and was reunited (sort of) with Axel, all worn out and bringing with him a lot of fire and that gorgeous remaster of "The Thirteenth Struggle" (if you couldn't tell by now, I love that piece). He performs his heroic sacrifice (notably NOT on fire again) and saw Xigbar lampshading that "The house looks pretty empty."

After this, I got to the one part of the game that I was excited for the most: the battle against Roxas. Back when I was off facing the Absent Silhouettes, I privately wondered why I didn't wait until after I got Final Form from Roxas before I tackled some of them (Marluxia in particular). Ultimately, I am extremely glad I took them on earlier in the long run because if I didn't, I would NOT have been as nearly as prepared as I was when I fought him. Mind you, I still died a couple of times and I was unable to defeat him in time with the music and/or in a flashy manner, but I was able to take him down and was hit with all the feels when seeing those exquisite new cutscenes on my TV.

Afterwards, I was able to get Final Form and leveled it up enough to gain Glide: Level 1 and then proceeded to level the rest up to MAX. From there, I collected some more puzzle pieces and even tackled all of the cups that I could take on at the time.

I am now debating on whether I should level up Final Form to MAX now or wait until I have beaten Xigbar and met up with Riku so that I can level up by going up and down The World That Never Was.

 

[kuraudoVII]

Ladies and gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 80
Location: The World That Never Was
Forms: Valor (Max Level), Wisdom (Max Level), Master (Max Level), Limit (Max Level), Summon (Max Level), Final (MAX Level)

So, I've decided to go and level up Final Form first over in the mansion at Twilight Town. From there, I bum-rushed through The World That Never Was by tackling Xigbar, Luxord and Saix. The first boss was pathetically easy since by this point, I had Once More and Final Form. The second battle took me by surprise for all of the wrong reasons (surprisingly high damage and being condensed into a cube), but I was able to take him down the instant I was able to regain control. Saix was a complete joke (though I daresay I'll regret saying that when I fight the data version).

I got Riku back in my party and was able to tackle Xemnas easily enough. From there, he made his impassioned speech about understanding hearts and that they are the source of all power. A giant door appears prompting us to go on and take Xemnas out of commission.

LATER!

I still had some self-imposed obligations to meet. First of all, I still wanted to get the Ultima Keyblade (I already got Save the King+ and Save the Queen+), but in order to do that, I needed to get the rest of the synthesis items that I was missing. Therefore, I decided to finally go to the Cavern of Remembrance and get those items, loot all the treasure and get the last of the puzzle pieces.

That being said:

Spoiler Show

Spoiler Show

Anyway, that last room with the Nobodies took me completely by surprise, but I managed it solely because I was that damn stubborn.

Afterwards, I got the Ultima weapon, leveled up to level 80 and took on Sephiroth. Honestly, I didn't even attempt to be fair with this one. After the pain of getting through the Cavern of Remembrance and the memory of having to go through the Absent Silhouettes, I just spammed limits and combos on the guy. Limit Form makes Sephiroth painfully easy.

So now, I am going to tackle the endgame. Once that's all cleared, that's whenI am going to tackle the rest of the Organization Mushrooms (I had to satisfy the one at Beast's Castle get the Tranquility items), the Organization XIII Data and the unfair powerhouse that is Terra's Lingering Sentiment...

 

[kuraudoVII]

Ladies and gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 99
Location: The World That Never Was
Forms: Valor (Max Level), Wisdom (Max Level), Master (Max Level), Limit (Max Level), Summon (Max Level), Final (MAX Level)

So by now, I've managed to defeat Xemnas and unlock the battle against the Lingering Sentiment. I headed to Disney Castle to see what Chip and Dale were talking about. I saved so that I could at least see for a brief instant what Terra's Lingering Will would say and...lasted for all of thirty seconds because I STILL didn't have Second Chance yet. So I powerleveled to 99 and decided to tackle some more mushrooms. Some of them were incredibly easy while others have been a bit vexing.

While I was doing this, I decided to tackle some of the Data Battles as well. I started from XIII on down and intend on mostly sticking to that order. Roxas was challenging, but I was able to win through some good use of Reaction Commands and that oh-so-lovely Limit Form (specifically the Strike Raid limit; that attack is godly).

Larxene was actually pretty simple. All I did was use Reflect, do some combos and occasionally go into Limit Form again.

I was surprised to find out that Marluxia was actually the easiest one that I fought thus far. This is extremely ironic for me considering that he was bar none the most difficult of the Absent Silhouettes. Granted, I'm at level 99 now and FINALLY have Second Chance on me (I picked the sword, so I didn't get it until level 85), but he was still a complete joke. His was the only one that I never even had to restart. Larxene killed me once (and that was only because I was stupid and used a potion instead of either using Curaga or Reflega) while Roxas killed me several times before I finally got a good strategy down.

Unfortunately, this is where my happy recollections end because Luxord's Data Battle noticed that I was having too much fun and decided to troll me. Earlier, I mentioned that I initially was caught off guard by his battle for all of the wrong reasons. These managed to creep up on me a hundred-fold this time around. I can easily get him down to about 25% left until he decides to disappear, toss some cards at me and then challenge me to a mini-game. It is this mini-game that made me realize that either this game, the system, the controller or possibly even my TV had some button lag because I swear there were times where I could have SWORN that I managed to get all O's and press the right button only for it not to work and then I'd accidentally press the wrong one because I get flustered. This causes me to turn into a cube meaning I either die, attack as a die and regain my form or bounce away like a coward because I only have one HP left.

Oh well. I'll just keep on going, I guess.

 

[kuraudoVII]

F*** it, I need to move on!

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 99
Location: The World That Never Was
Forms: Valor (Max Level), Wisdom (Max Level), Master (Max Level), Limit (Max Level), Summon (Max Level), Final (MAX Level)

By now, I've managed to get the Winner's Proof from satisfying the Mushroom XIII. Unfortunately, I don't know what the hell I was doing or whether I was just having a really bad day, but I just couldn't beat any of the Data XIII after having already done in Roxas, Larxene and Marluxia. For whatever reason, be it my having played really bad or just not getting in a good strategy, I just can't seem to beat any of them. I'd get close on some of them like Luxord, Zexion and Zebra Mansex, but they'd still get me in the end. The only ones I haven't attempted yet were Vexen and Xaldin. By the time I was defeated by Saix for the umpteenth time, I wasdangerously close to flinging my controller at the wall. At that point, I had come to realize that I was Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix'd out and needed a break.

As I am typing this, I have already managed to clock in a couple of hours into Birth by Sleep: Final Mix. I figured that I might as well go into a game that was technically harder, but had a MUCH better battle system that wasn't too gimped like Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix was.

This does NOT mean that I am through with this game or this journal. I have waited YEARS to finally get the opportunity to see the Birth by Sleep trailer on a television screen from the game instead of through the internet. If not solely through personal pride (or stubbornness depending how you look at it), I WILL GET THAT SECRET ENDING! I just need a break from this game and I desperately want to reach Birth by Sleep (the game, not the movie).

So until then...

Spoiler Show

"Take care, OK?"

 

[kuraudoVII]

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 99
Location: Radiant Garden
Forms: Valor (Max Level), Wisdom (Max Level), Master (Max Level), Limit (Max Level), Summon (Max Level), Final (MAX Level)

Well...I took a bit of a break from this game to re-experience the wonder and joy of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: Final Mix (as well as the boredom and tedium of real life homework assignments).

At any rate, I decide to try to tackle some of the Data XIII members again. Initially, all I defeated were Roxas, Larxene and Marluxia in that order. The other members were always able to beat me at roughly the last couple of health bars (and Luxord's battle was a major pain in the - well...). I decided to switch things up a little and tackle Saix first. It took me a couple of tries, but I was able to take him down after studying his attack patterns.

Demyx was next. His was, funnily enough, the easiest of the ones that I tackled today. All I literally did was spam Firaga after Firaga while occasionally using Ethers to restore my magic.

Luxord was next. Yes, that delectably British member that always gave me a hard time at the end with that stupid mini game. This time around, I continually paused and unpaused until I saw an O and pressed the button immediately. Once I did that, one Strike Raid finished him off.

Axel was next. His was actually fairly challenging since I needed to make him give me the prompt to use the Reaction Command to clear the fire away. However, a couple of tries in, and I was able to best him.

By this point, I finally returned to properly going in reverse order. As a result, I tackled Zexion next. Like with Axel, it took me a couple of tries, but by utilizing Final Form and the power of Reflega, he was taken down.

Lexeaus was...deceptively difficult. He didn't look too hard, but he could wreck you in a matter of minutes. I really needed Everglow's videos to help me here.

After I took down Lexeaus, I quite literally fired up against Vexen. I would use all of my combos on him and nothing but Reflega if the Anti-Sora got in the way. Right before he entered pinch mode, I went into Final Form to spam the living crap out of Firaga. After using pinch mode, I just kept wailing on him with that and sword combos to beat him.

Finally, we have Xaldin. Similar to his original boss battle, his Data battle was a severe pain. Once again, I will freely admit to needing Everglow's videos to take him down. If you don't have a proper strategy here, he will destroy you.

And that's all that I have accomplished today. Hopefully, when I post again, I will have already defeated Xigbar, Xemnas and...Xemnas again, but with a Zebra recolor.

 

[kuraudoVII]

Ladies and gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 99
Location: Disney Castle
Forms: Valor (Max Level), Wisdom (Max Level), Master (Max Level), Limit (Max Level), Summon (Max Level), Final (MAX Level)

Welp, this turned out to be interesting.

I fought Xigbar for the first time since going on my brief hiatus. It felt extremely weird to fight a souped up version of him, especially after having taking Braig down relatively easily in Terra's campaign. That being said, I was able to take him down on the first try.

Xemnas, OTOH, was a completely different story...well, to be more accurate, the Zebra Xemnas form was another story. The first form where you fight solo was pathetically easy and predictable, but the other form where you fight alongside Riku is different. Granted, he's not that much different than the regular boss battle, but he is notably more aggressive. Anyway, it took me more than a few tries to kill him due to a combination of bad luck and simply not being able to control Riku very well (even in the normal battle, I just try to reach Xemnas by having the other one use his "GUARD!" attack to propel me forward). Ironically, I managed to reach him as Riku a couple of times, but right before I get the prompt to save Sora, I get hit and killed. After a while, I became fed up and just used several Sessions on him to avoid the issue altogether.

So, now I have a new crown! Time to tackle that Lingering Will that...

...

...yeah. I'm going to need some practice with this one...

 

[kuraudoVII]

IT'S OVER! IT'S DONE!! I'VE FINALLY UNLOCKED THAT SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME SECRET ENDING!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 99
Location: The World That Never Was
Forms: Valor (Max Level), Wisdom (Max Level), Master (Max Level), Limit (Max Level), Summon (Max Level), Final (MAX Level)

So funnily enough, about an hour after I finished my last post, I decided to go back and tackle Terra's Lingering Sentiment. It took me about another hour before I finally managed to defeat him and get that last crown! The weirdest part about it is that the beginning and middle phases were always so hard, yet the last one - the hardest hitting one - was the easiest for me due to how predictable it was. Watching Everglow's guide to taking him done helped me IMMENSELY here. I managed to get knock off about 6-7 health bars when he started to hit me with the attack that disabled me from hitting him with anything other than magic. So I went into Final Form and abused Thundaga and Reflega and then continuously attacked him while occasionally using Thundaga to bring him back closer to me. Once he got to his desperation move, I guarded like mad, then flew away to a corner, THEN guarded and Dodge Rolled at the right moments to take him down!

Anyways, after that, I decided that I had to see that secret ending ASAP, so I immediately went back to The World That Never Was and defeated Xemnas yet again. After the credits rolled, I saw "The Gathering," THEN "Birth by Sleep!" Seriously, it looked AMAZING on a television screen instead of on the laptop.

At any rate, I may come back to finish off the Paradox Cups sometime after I finish Terra's story on Birth by Sleep, but that's about it. For the most part, I'm finally done with this game for quite a while.

So, until later (or on my Birth by Sleep playthrough journal):

Happy Playing!

 

[kuraudoVII]

Ladies and gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 99
Location: The World That Never Was
Forms: Valor (Max Level), Wisdom (Max Level), Master (Max Level), Limit (Max Level), Summon (Max Level), Final (MAX Level)

So, ummm...I actually haven't really done anything on here yet. I've managed to beat Birth by Sleep: Final Mix's main campaign (the three stories plus the Final Episode and Secret Episode). I wanted to be able to go back and tackle the superbosses in the game while also leveling them up through Mirage Arena battles and Rumble Racing (and the Command Board in Terra's case).

HOWEVER -

I feel compelled to finish the cups in this game first. These will be the last entries for this particular journal in regards to my direct experiences to the game.

I won't be doing the cups just yet. I still want to at least get through parts of Final Fantasy VII first and make it all the way up to when the party finds Cloud in Mideel (as it is, I've already cleared the first disc and just got Alexander from beating Snow. so he hasn't even gone comatose yet). When I am ready, though, I will update. It might be soon. It might be more than a month down the road thanks in part to college, but sometime, I will be back for this romp.

 

[kuraudoVII]

Ladies and gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 99
Location: Olympus Colosseum
Forms: Valor (Max Level), Wisdom (Max Level), Master (Max Level), Limit (Max Level), Summon (Max Level), Final (MAX Level)

So, I got to the point where Cloud suffers his existential crisis and gives Sephiroth the Black Materia. The WEAPONS rose up and are wrecking havoc on Junon. Now I have an airship that can get me that last Enemy Skill Materia and get me to Mideel so that I can -

Wait. This...this is a Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Playthrough Journal, not a Final Fantasy VII Playthrough Journal.

*Ahem* Sorry about that, ladies and gentlemen. I decided to jump the gun a little bit and tackle these as soon as I got the final Enemy Skill Materia instead of letting Tifa stay behind and watch over Cloud in Mideel.

Anyway, as I already mentioned on the "How's Everyone Enjoying It" thread, these are essentially going to be my last posts on this thread in regards to my personal experiences playing through this game. I've already done everything else that I cared about in regards to attaining the secret endings, so these cups are literally the only things I marginally care about doing in the game at this point.

Since I needed to beat all of the regular cups in order to get the last Orichalcum + for the Ultima Weapon, the Paradox Cups are the only cups left to beat. When I say beat, I only mean completing until the end. I don't intend to get the high scores needed for Jiminy's Journal. For the first three cups, I actually managed to beat them all in roughly half an hour combined. Granted, I was level 99, had access to the Ultima and Fenrir keychains and outright abused the Stitch summon during the Titan Paradox Cup, but I was still surprised at how quickly I was able to beat them.

Anyway, enough of this expository banter! For me, IT'S MORPHING TIME!

...

...OK, not really, but here we go.

Pain and Panic Paradox Cup:

By far the easiest of the cups. All I really did was spam X and occasionally used Curaga and Reflega in order to go through (the latter only being used against Leon and Yuffie). Moving on.

Cerberus Paradox Cup:

Another easy one, which slightly surprised me. I expected to have more trouble than I did on this run thanks to past experience, but I was able to go through it really quickly. That being said, there was a reason for this. The instant the tournament began, I went into Final Form. Through liberal use of regular attacks, Thundaga and Reflega, I was able to decimate everything in my path, even Cerberus. I was really surprised with this one since I expected to revert back due to the Form Gauge running out, but I managed to beat the entire cup on just one use of Final Form, so I'm happy.

Titan Paradox Cup:

This one also surprised me for different reasons. With the last cup, I was surprised at how quickly I was able to beat that particular cup in one go. With this one, I was surprised in that I completely forgot how disgustingly broken Stitch is. I used him in every single round and I never once ran out of MP except when I used Curaga to heal myself. The fact that the gauge automatically resets when you beat the round before it runs out meant that I was able to keep my gauge at 9 every round. The final boss of that cup, Hercules, was a complete joke compared to what I had to get through before.

I will eventually get to the Hades Paradox Cup when I have a couple hours to spare. I only tackled it once before in the vanilla version on Proud (which, thankfully, I won). I distinctively remember it being an extremely long slog fest that dragged on for all of the wrong reasons, longer than the Hades Cup in the first game. I'll have a lot to say about the cup on Critical the next time I post...

 

[kuraudoVII]

Ladies and gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Sora
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 99
Location: Olympus Colosseum
Forms: Valor (Max Level), Wisdom (Max Level), Master (Max Level), Limit (Max Level), Summon (Max Level), Final (MAX Level)

Welp, it's finally over. I did it. I beat the Hades Paradox Cup on Critical Mode.

Interesting tidbit here. So I was cruising along fairly well. I managed to beat everyone with regular combos and the occasional Knocksmash against Tifa and Yuffie. I was able to cheese my way through with Stitch for the next batch of rounds. I then used more Limits with Donald and Goofy for the next batch. After that, I utterly decimated everything in my path with Final Form, even Leon and Cloud. Then, I got to Match 49.

Match 49.

I tried to go into Limit Form, but I accidentally still had it on Limit instead. Since I was under MP Charge and was unable to even use Trinity Limit, I died.

To say that I facepalmed in that moment would be synonymous to saying that there is water in the ocean. So I proceeded to slog through everything all over again. Limit Form against Leon, Cloud, Tifa and Yuffie was oh so satisfying.

Anyway, Hades came after that. He...was a complete and utter joke to be honest. I had Hercules for support and I must have used Trinity Limit several times on him. After a while he went down.

So, I finally won. With that, I no longer have any reason to do anything more for this particular file for II: Final Mix. It's been one heck of a ride, filled with many ups and downs and all arounds. I can safely say that this was a fun experience, the most fun that I have had with Kingdom Hearts II in years (mostly because Final Mix practically makes it a completely different game).

I'll be updating my journal for Birth by Sleep, starting with Terra.

Until then, Happy Playing.