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Kingdom Hearts HD II.5 ReMIX |OT| Press to pay respects

iosefe

Member
I've finally got the Golden Crown in Critical Mode, it feels amazing to be done with all of that crap.

So now I'm going to do the Synthesis trophy, is there a guide to tell me where I should grind specific materials? I wanted to fill the list first.

I wasn't going to go for the Plat, but I have like 80% of the trophies so I might just as well do it.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Bizkit047

^he has two videos on where to get things, but other very helpful guide
 
KH1 Cloud+Sephy were awesome. KH2 Cloud+Sephy were lame (well, the boss battle is cool but I'd rather have had some other cameo boss in KH2. And I know the JPN KH1 didn't originally have him ect.).

I really hope they have something like Gilgamesh or Kefka or anything other than Sephy really in KH3.

We'll fight Lightning in KH III.
 
KH1 Cloud+Sephy were awesome. KH2 Cloud+Sephy were lame (well, the boss battle is cool but I'd rather have had some other cameo boss in KH2. And I know the JPN KH1 didn't originally have him ect.).

I really hope they have something like Gilgamesh or Kefka or anything other than Sephy really in KH3.

I think in KH1 the Cloud/Sephiroth stuff was mostly there because they thought it was cool, and it actually probably helped get Advent Children and the overall Compilation of FF7 off the ground.

KH2's Cloud/Sephiroth stuff is much more clearly about tie-ins with Advent Children (just as BBS's Zack stuff is clearly about tie-ins with Crisis Core).

Now that the Compilation of FF7 is dead as hell, I think we'll still get cameos from the FF7/8/10 characters who populate the assorted worlds, but I suspect that in terms of superboss stuff the focus is going to shift toward FFXV. Gilgamesh would be a great other choice, though, since he's so compatible with cameo-based appearances.
We'll fight Lightning in KH III.
I'd be surprised if Lightning didn't show up, but I don't think she's going to get the strong focus that people are afraid of. Given the strong connection and likely friendly rivalry between the FFXV and KH3 teams, as well as the desire for hype, I think FFXV characters are much, much more likely to get heavier emphasis.
 

Eblo

Member
we really need Gilgamesh in some arena. he is after all looking for the ultimate swords, and the keyblade is one of em
I would be totally down for that. I could see him fighting similarly to how he did in FFVIII, with a random sword attack pattern. I could also see encounters with him being like that one frog Dream Eater in KH3D that popped up in several worlds until you got to fight him for good.
 

Aru

Member
Beaten KH2FM. Damn, the final form of the last boss is cheap as hell.
The absolutely random moment (only thing sure is that it happens when he has less than 1/3 of his life) when he catches Sora and you must play as Riku to save Sora...If you don't hear the few words he says before catching Sora and you're low on HP, you're doomed... Also, the last part this the lasers... I know you can just spam the buttons, but I had to spam both X and Triangle to avoid the lasers. I didn't know the first time.

Just tried to fight Lingering Will for the lulz. Epic introduction to what will surely be an epic fight. Only managed to take 1 of his life bars so far, on my best try. I'll just grind to level 99 and beat the other bosses first.
 

Psxphile

Member
Sounds useful but I'm afraid it will take some fun out of the melding system if I know what item gives which ability.

Oh, definitely. Feel free to meld commands and gain abilities at your leisure. Eventually however, you will come to find that some abilities are harder to meld than others. And if you're aiming for 100% command collection, some commands are trickier to forge than others. And then you'll be back.

They always come back.

And on Critical it's basically a necessity for survival.
 

Soriku

Junior Member
Question regarding points for the Underdrome cups. If I meet the goal before I finish the rounds I have left, if I quit, are my points saved?
 

Kinsei

Banned
Question regarding points for the Underdrome cups. If I meet the goal before I finish the rounds I have left, if I quit, are my points saved?

Hahaha, no. This means you gotta do them all in one run, including the 50 round Hades Paradox Cup (Well you could get away with starting at round 10 if you're good enough).
 

Soriku

Junior Member
Hahaha, no. This means you gotta do them all in one run, including the 50 round Hades Paradox Cup (Well you could get away with starting at round 10 if you're good enough).

Jaysus.

Yesterday I annihilated the Hades cup so hopefully it's not too bad...

The cups are all I need for journal completion.
 

Soriku

Junior Member
It's really dumb that you don't get the points from the last enemy you kill. And if you kill multiple at once...welp.

edit: Wait, now it seems that I am. Also killing more enemies at once gets you more points. Hmm.
 

Psxphile

Member
The 50 rounds go pretty fast once you have all your best skills. I waited until I completed everything else in the game before attempting the Paradox cups. Only the Titan cup gave me trouble (ever since the original release), but abusing Stitch and Peter Pan summons made it much easier. I still have to worry about taking too much damage before the end or risk being disqualified.
 

Weiss

Banned
So is there any correct way to go about melding commands and getting new abilities? I've played through Terra and Ventus' campaigns and I've barely gotten any of the good stuff.
 

botty

Banned
Critical has got to have the most random walls...

HT2 boss..
Pirate ship section
Light cycle

Meanwhile.. i was able to defeat typical hard bosses like Xaldin with ease
 

Soriku

Junior Member
Uhh...WTF? I got 1300+ points for Cerberus and 2500+ for Pain and Panic after beating their last fights, but it didn't record on the journal.

Edit: nvm, both Hades and Panic have cups with the same names. I just did the wrong one.
 

Finalow

Member
that Cavern of Remembrance last room.

tumblr_n70jfanPjA1re1qkwo1_500.png
 

Soriku

Junior Member
Holy shit at Stitch in the coliseum. If you get down to low HP, instead of HP orbs, he'll spam his attack to get you loads of point orbs. You don't even have to move as the enemies remain stunned.

He'll stop after a while, but he starts up again. Not always for long though. If you get hit in the meantime, he restarts faster.

I need 10k points for the Titan cup. I'm on round 1 or 2 and I have the game paused at 4400+ points.
 

Finalow

Member
ya Stitch owns everywhere.

also I'm pretty sure that you can spam Reflega non-stop, which is already op by itself, while he's replenishing your MPs.
 

Berordn

Member
ya Stitch owns everywhere.

also I'm pretty sure that you can spam Reflega non-stop, which is already op by itself, while he's replenishing your MPs.

Plus he's pretty easy to recharge his summon meter for, so you can keep him around longer than the other summons while you spam reflect to kill everything as he's replenishing your mp.

Stitch da bess.
 

Kain

Member
Yooooooo I just trolled my way out of the Paradox Hades cup spamming Reflect!

I think it was the round before the last, anyway, you have to confront Tifa, Yuffie, Cloud and Squall at the same time. I was all "fuck I'm dead" but then I started spamming reflect and they all died. I did nothing else, just reflect, and they all killed themselves, it was hilarious.

I think I'll try some of the data fights, I want to try at least and see what happens. My plan is to spam reclect and Sonic Rave in Limit form all the way. Godspeed to me, fellas.
 

Soriku

Junior Member
Yooooooo I just trolled my way out of the Paradox Hades cup spamming Reflect!

I think it was the round before the last, anyway, you have to confront Tifa, Yuffie, Cloud and Squall at the same time. I was all "fuck I'm dead" but then I started spamming reflect and they all died. I did nothing else, just reflect, and they all killed themselves, it was hilarious.

I think I'll try some of the data fights, I want to try at least and see what happens. My plan is to spam reclect and Sonic Rave in Limit form all the way. Godspeed to me, fellas.

Yeah Reflect kills those 4 easy. Trinity works well too.

For Data battles, don't forget Final Form!
 

Psxphile

Member
Yeah Reflect kills those 4 easy. Trinity works well too.

For Data battles, don't forget Final Form!

As in, don't forget to use it before starting a Data battle so that in the event you need to go Wisdom/Limit the fight won't end in tears. Right?
 

Kain

Member
As in, don't forget to use it before starting a Data battle so that in the event you need to go Wisdom/Limit the fight won't end in tears. Right?

I don't get this.

Anyway, just killed Saix in my second attempt, once you have the timing for blocking the axe it's very easy.

I tried Xemnas next, first phase is easy but in the second I must have been doing something wrong because the reaction commands didn't do much and he raped me. I'm thinking of trying Zexion next.
 

Caladrius

Member
Part 1- Essentials
Part 2- Item Synthesis
Part 3- Sephiroth and Data Organization members #13-#8
Part 5- Data Organization members #3-#1
Part 6- Duel with the Lingering Will

Data Organization Members #7-#4

Well this took entirely too long. This is going to be shorter so if there's additions someone wanted to see I could have the space to put them in. (The last part of this Is almost at the 20K character limit). That aside, let's get to business shall we?

#7. Saix: Saix is probably one of the easiest members to take down, as he has very few changes from his storyline fight. Cure and Reflect should be in your shortcuts, as usual (Your choice for the other two). You'll probably want 4x Full Bloom+ for this, as Saix is going to tear your HP to ribbons if he actually manages to hit you., and the attacks you actually need reflect for don't pop up that often.

To start the fight Saix will immediately begin charging his berserk mode. Start attacking him to disrupt this. Be careful about using a second finisher, as Saix may end up retaliating before you can react. When Saix recovers from stunlock, he'll almost immediately attack you. He'll rear back and utter the phrase "No Exit" before striking you, Either when he's reared back all the way or just after "No", block or reflect, which should hopefully give you another opening to attack, or at least keep you safe.

Saix will eventually manage to get into his berserk mode. As soon as the bar is full, get away from him before he damages you with his battle aura. Saix then begins his rampage around the arena, slamming his weapon about. Keep your distance by gliding around the arena the whole time while he's in berserk mode. Saix primarily uses two attacks during this phase. The first has him lunging about screaming "Hnngh!,Hungh! Heaargh! BEEEEGONE!".After the third grunt, prepare to reflect as Saix is about to throw his claymore down at you . If you timed your defense right, you should be able to grab his claymore with a Reaction command. The second attack has him run around slamming his weapon into the ground repeatedly to make shockwaves. When he's made his final shockwave, Saix screams "MOVE ASIDE" and proceeds to throw his weapon at you. Reflect or dodge and use the reaction command to grab his sword...club...thing. If you successfully performed the reaction command in either case, immediately go up to Saix and start pummeling him with the reaction command. You have only a couple of seconds at most before the weapon disappears from your hand this time, so don't dally. After the reaction command is done, Saix will say 'I misjudged you." and counterattack. Guard or reflect, which usually lets you grab yet another weapon to use the reaction command again. He may also use his "No exit" counterattack as well, so be prepared.

When Saix has been knocked out of his berserk state, he'll revert to his behaviour from the start of the fight. Rinse and repeat the strategy until you whittle his HP down to the halfway mark. Brace yourself for his second, more dangerous phase., marked when Saix screams "ALL SHALL BE LOST TO YOU" as he enters berserk mode.

This time Saix is significantly more dangerous, as his range has increased considerably. Your strategies are laregely the same as before, however the length of his attacks is much longer, so you'll have to avoid his attacks for much longer before getting the opening. Since he has a wider range, dodging is significantly more difficult than before as you have to stay further away from him at all times. To that end you need to keep track of where Saix is at all times. If you find yourself far enough away from Saix to safely land, briefly do so and jump back up to regain height for your glide, as generally speaking the higher in the air you are the easier it is to avoid his attacks. Saix's lunge attacks are likely going to be your main source of problems, as they now send embers of blue fire flying about. There sadly is no real way to counter this other than keeping far away from him at all times.

Saix isn't outright "easy" (None of the data bosses save for maybe Lexaeus and Marluxia really are, of course), but he's fairly predictable due to his very limited move arsenal. Saix drops defense boosts, so if you find yourself struggling to stay alive against the other data bosses it might be worthwhile to grind him for them.

#6. Zexion: Zexion is probably the single most annoying boss in the game, as he uses a bevy of cheap tricks and interface screws in order to kill you. Accessory choice is mostly irrelevant, as your primary source of MP regeneration is going to be items this time. Equip a large amount of MP restoring items (Ethers, elixirs, Megalixirs) on everyone, and see to it that your healing items are equipped on shortcuts alongside Curaga and Reflega. Make sure both Donald and Goofy have limits available for use. You're going to need them.

Zexion opens the fight by sealing your teammates into books. As tempting as it is to try and free them, pay them no mind, as no matter what happens your party is absolutely going to get sucked into the books. Instead, start to whale on him to get a good bit of damage on him before he begins the much nastier part of his fight by sealing you into a book yourself.

As soon as you're sucked inside the book use reflect or start a limit (you can prepare to fire off the limit before you're sucked in so all you have to do is press the confirmation button when you're in there), as his first move is usually to trap you inside yet another book, which drains your HP incredibly quickly and is all but guaranteed to kill you even with Second Chance+One More. Alternatively he may end up turning your command menu into a trap, forcing you to scroll through the pages to find the commands that will heal you and set you free. (Healing is usually marked by synonyms of the word "restore" or "renew", and the commands that free you are mostly synonyms of "dispel" and "release". Whatever happens, when you finally get a chance to act, begin attacking the books to try and find the real Zexion. The real Zexy often reveals himself when attacking, his book glowing red when he's casting a spell. If you spot this glow, it may be worthwhile to reflect immediately to repel the oncoming attack.

I admittedly also have a lot of trouble dealing with the attacks inside of the book, so these strategies are going to be very far from perfect. Anyway, Zexion will use one of several attacks to assault you. The first of these is launching books at you from various directions. These will have to be reflected or avoided using a limit. If you get hit, wait until you touch the ground to recover, as the books won't be able to kill you if you have the SC+OM abilities equipped. This also goes for his shockwave attack, which is avoided the same way. Zexion also gas a vortex attack, turning the books into a cyclone of pain which the Zexion book orbits around. Find him and pummel him.

When you finally deplete the illusion book's HP bar, you should get a reaction command. Use it to return to the real world. This time he can suck you in before your party members, so when the green emblem is up make sure to stay well out of his line of sight and make sure you aren't in front of your party members.

Zexion's ultimate attack is a variant of Sephiroth's Meteor, which is used when inside the book and Zexion is at 50% or less HP. Before he actually hits you with it, you have to play a game where Zexion will show three spotlights. The book he uses will teleport between the three spotlights, the one it's in being blue and the other two being red. The book will shuffle positions 13 times (credit to Kinsei for bringing this to my attention). When switch 13 happens, you'll have to very quickly enter the spotlight. If you guessed right, you should be safe from the meteor storm and have an opportunity to deplete the Book's HP bar and hopefully escape. In the case that you miss, there is a way to survive the meteor storm. If you prepare to activate your limit while the book is shuffling, you can hit the limit command as soon as you fail and make yourself invulnerable to the entire attack. If you have Second Chance+One More, you can also just let the storm pummel you and use cure afterward.

Zexion is very,very,very annoying and is probably one of the more troublesome Data battles to master. Thankfully the borderline-broken properties of limits make this fight much easier to survive, so if you can get a good handle on his most dangerous attacks, this shouldn't be completely hair-pulling.

#5. Lexaeus: In rather refreshing contrast to Zexion, Lexaeus is much more straightforward, and generally comes up as one of the two candidates for "easiest data battle". Accessory choice doesn't really matter, though you may want to choose Shadow Archive+ for the boost in Reflect damage. Curaga and Reflega are your time-tested standards for shortcuts. You might want to stock some ethers though to ensure you can keep reflects going the entire fight.

Lexaeus begins the fight by summoning his battle Aura and beginning his first Axe swing. For this attack, Lexaeus will scrape the ground with his weapon and smash you with it. Despite Lexaeus's strength, this attack is easily blocked. You should get a reaction command to dispel his Aura. Use it and slam Lexaeus with a combo. I'd advise not using a second finisher, as Lexaeus is likely to retaliate should you do so.Lexaeus will then lunge at you with his weapon. reflect From this point forward Lexaeus will use one of these two attacks alongside a third one, that being his quake attack, where he flings his weapon high into the air, catches it, and causes chunks of rock to fly up. Watch the axe and as soon as Lex catches it reflect or dodge roll. He does this in a fairly rhythmic pattern so it can be easily dodged with some practice. It's advised you reflect the final surge to do some damage to him, as he briefly becomes vulnerable to damage at the end of the attack.

After enough Damage Lexaeus will strengthen his aura (Hitting 32,000 on his power meter). This is when he actually starts being a threat. When Lexaeus finishes charging his power, he'll run right for you, glide far, far away from him in order to keep him from grabbing you (which for a low level player is guaranteed death). When he finally stands still make sure to get near him (but not too close so you can avoid his grab) again so you can counter his attacks properly. His attacks are mostly the same during this point, only being much more deadly and having far superior range, so attempting to run away to avoid damage is useless for the most part.

Lexaeus's final move is a rather laughable meteor strike. Lexaeus flies outside of the arena, and then flies towards the center of the arena. Use reflect four or five times, starting right before he lands to avoid it and be prepare for a followup attack (usually his quake move)

Lexaeus is extremely predictable, barring his grab attack, so this fight isn't especially difficult as long as you have your wits and composure about you. This is probably the best fight for a level 1 player to grind Lost Illusions.

#4. Vexen: This guy is simultaneously very tricky and deceptively simple. If you tackle him the old-fashioned way, you'll quickly find that Vexen is very, very difficult. Vexen's shield can be very difficult to break due to it being immune to magic finishers. Vexen's data reticule is also stalking you the entire time, so you often have very few chances to attack without risking data collection. This often means that you'll spend long stretches of the fight trying to separate Vexen and the Data collector. In addition to this Vexen has a powerful array of defensive attacks, including long-range anti-air icicles and his buzzsaw snowflakes that he often uses to try and stunlock you, and in most cases as soon as Data-Sora is created you can kiss yourself goodbye, as it's extremely dangerous even if you're able to repel it with fire attacks. I've only ever beaten this data battle once without being at 99 because of how demanding and luck-based it can be normally, so I'm going to tell you specifically about the "Kinda cheating but still takes skill and is necessary at level 1 no matter what" strategy, as demonstrated by Bizkit here.(And of course check out the rest of his stuff, as he's one of the best players around and covers some quirks and additional strategies for bosses, with the added benefit of you actually being able to see them done firsthand.)

Pack a good stock of Ethers or Elixirs, as you'll absolutely need them. Make sure you have sliding dash and one (and only one) combo plus equipped in your abilities. Reflega, Curaga, Firaga and your ethers/elixirs should be set to shortcuts. Wear all your Shadow Archive+, so as to give yourself additional magic damage. Donald should have the Comet Limit equipped

At the start of the battle you'll want to lock on and immediately attack Vexen using Sliding dash. As soon as it lands use reflect to block the snowflake attack. Vexen will then levitate away from you. Follow him with another sliding dash and use a finisher to break his shield, if all went well. If you managed to break his shield, use fire right away to send him into the air. If you can, go into Final Form (make sure to pause buffer so it loads before Vexen recovers!). Regardless of whether or not you transformed, wait for Vexen to hit the ground. As soon as he does, use fire again. Vexen is completely stuck in a cycle of pain as long as you make sure he touches the ground before you hit him with Fire again. When you're about to run out of MP, very quickly use your MP restoring item right after you use fire. Doing it fast enough allows you to continue using the attack uninterrupted. When Vexen is down to 5.5 bars of HP, get the hell away from him, get out of Drive and immediately use Donald's Comet. If this was done properly, you and Donald should enter your limit, rendering yourself invulnerable to Vexen's desperation move. Use an Elixir (or ethers) to restore your HP and go after Vexen. Get his shield's HP down as much as you can before the limit is about to run out. Back away from Vexen and prepare to use your limit again immediately, (Failure to do so is likely to end in you being frozen and killed) and of course refill your MP right after you start the limit. When Vexen finally chills out and ends the move, prepare to move in to break Vexen's shield before he can summon Data Sora (who's at full power and not a customer you want to deal with.). Use Fire to stagger him and enter Final Form. If you were successful, Vexen is basically dead at this point, so long as you remember to let him touch down between each Firaga. This method is tricky, but hopefully shouldn't give you very much trouble at all.

If you're going to do this the normal way, remember that you absolutely need to be patient to stand a chance. Sliding dash, Slapshot, guard break and finishers (it's okay to have multiples in this fight) that send Vexen flying are going to be ideal. The former three help with breaking his shield while the latter buys you time to either start Firaga or get in a Keyblade combo. You are, of course, free to milk the Firaga spamming method for what it's worth so long as Data Sora isn't active. Keep in mind that the Ice spires can be avoided with Dodge roll, while the Snowflakes can be reflected. Those are his two main attacks. Vexen's DM can either be tanked (somewhat unreliably) with Second Chance+Once More or you can make use of Limits just like the "cheesing" method.
 

Caladrius

Member
Part 1- Essentials
Part 2- Item Synthesis
Part 3- Sephiroth and Data Organization members #13-#8
Part 4- Data Organization members #7-#4
Part 6- Duel with the Lingering Will

Data Organization Members #3-#1

And so we reach the last of the Data Battles.

#3. Xaldin: Everyone's favorite I-don't-know-where-the-hell-his-accent's-supposed-to-be-from-guy-who's-really-hard-for-first-timers is still pretty irritating this round. That said he only has a couple new tricks, so if you can manage normal Xaldin, Data Xaldin should be doable with a bit of effort. Instead of your usual Keyblade, equip Guardian Soul for its reaction boost ability, as reaction commands are going to be central to our battle strategy. Your choice of Full Bloom+ or Shadow Archive+, though I'd personally recommend Full Bloom+ for the extra physical damage (reflect is not quite as useful this go around for reasons I'll detail later.) You may want to equip a few ethers for this, if you can spare them.

Xaldin opens the fight with his Wind Cannon attack. When the white ball in the center of the web of lances forms, block. Do this two more times and Xaldin will return to his neutral stance. From here Xaldin will use one of two attacks. The first is a Lance Stab. Xaldin will lurch back and send his lances thrusting forward. Block/Reflect this and Xaldin will be left vulnerable. Repeatedly mash triangle to get the "Learn" reaction command that pops up. Xaldin's other attack is to bundle his lances together and sweep them across the field in an arc. Jump over this when it's about to come down. You should then get an opportunity to mash the reaction command. As with last time, Sora will acquire the jump command in place of his normal attack. Block one of Xaldin's physical attacks again and then proceed the repeatedly use jump against him. This will take off multiple bars of his HP. When the last Jump command is spent, put a little distance between you and Xaldin. You don't want to use a keyblade combo on him, as Xaldin often counterattacks before you can get out a finisher. This'll continue for a little while longer.

A bit into the fight Xaldin may end up jumping into the air and disappearing, marking the start of his second phase. Immediately start gliding around the arena. Xaldin will repeatedly slam into the ground with his lances. When he does so, do your best to take advantage of the learn command that pops up. It may help to fly in loose circles to get more learn commands. Xaldin will keep slamming down up until his Wind Lances start circling you. Land, and when they're extremely close, start using reflect until Xaldin has crashed down. Back away from him and prepare for his next attack. Xaldin will also use his Wind Dance attack, so make sure to look alive and keep track of his position so you can make a getaway, since the attack can't actually be blocked.

When the screen darkens and Xaldin starts to glow green, roll away and glide as far away as you can from him. Provided you weren't horribly mauled, Xaldin will then fly off on his lances. Head to one of the corners on the gated side of the arena (away from Beast's Castle). Xaldin's "Wind Dragon" will sweep the area with a wind attack that will reduce you to 1HP if you're not careful. Thankfully all you need to do is reflect once at the right time on the spot I told you to go to and you'll have avoided the attack. The follow up attack is....not so easily avoided.

The Wind Dragon marks the final phase of Xaldin's fight, which is by far the hardest. Xaldin casts Aeroga, making his wind shield even more powerful than before. Getting hit by this shield without One More and Second Chance or while being at 1HP is guaranteed death. Naturally Xaldin has gained the ability to teleport right on top of you. Repeatedly. This is extremely dangerous, but avoidable. When Xaldin disappears, jump and air dodge away from Xaldin just as he teleports to your position. Do this up until Xaldin decides to do a lance stab or lance sweep out of a teleport. Hopefully you'll be out of range if he uses the former, though if you have a feel for when Xaldin is going to use it, you can also use reflect to counter it. Keep in mind that if Xaldin uses lance sweep he'll likely do it multiple times and he'll be able to change his position while using it, so either be well prepared to jump or stay far out of range. Your main opportunity to attack during this phase is generally when Xaldin uses his Lance Jump attacks, since they're easily avoided and can easily give you 5-6 jump commands per assault. Xaldin uses all of his previous attacks at this point, so you have to be ready for anything.

This is one of the nastier Data fights, and of the KH2 vanilla organization members, he's probably second to Xemnas in terms of difficulty. That said, with persistence and learning how to dodge Aeroga consistently, you can beat him without going insane.


#2. Xigbar- Xemnas's Number 2 (Insert dumb poop joke here), Xigbar is one of the easier data battles, though he can still give you problems. Your choice of Shadow Archive+ or Full Bloom+, The former will increase reflect damage (and you'll probably use reflect a lot) and the latter improves your keyblade damage and MP recharge (the former of which is especially useful if you cheese him with Final Form). Make sure to have Reflega, Curaga and MP restoring items on shortcuts.

Xigbar usually opens the fight by changing the arena configuration, be make note of how to navigate it and prepare to block his first barrage of shots. You have to be careful about guarding, as doing it too early is an almost certain way to get hammered down to 1HP. Make sure you get a good view between Sora and Xigbar to get a better idea of when to block. Most of Xigbar's attacks are variations of his shots, and countering them is largely a factor of how well you can block/reflect. After some rounds have been successfully repelled and flung back at Xigbar, he;ll become dazed and open to attack (signified by his Arrowguns spinning in midair. Close in Quickly and make him hurt.

After enough damage has been dealt, Xigbar will use his guns much more quickly and begins teleporting repeatedly in order to hit you. The teleporting barrages are best countered using reflect, so make sure your MP is full at all times. Xigbar will also start using his Blue bullets, which can't be blocked and have to be dodged or deflected using a reaction command. (I do believe they can still be reflected, at least). Xigbar will also use his Sniper Rifle attack, so be prepared to dodge roll away from the bullets during that segment and to hit the reaction command at the end.

Xigbar's ultimate attack is a rain of bullets. Xigbar will start out using short burst fire, keep track of Xigbar and make sure to jump out of the way of the shots. After about 5 or 6 bursts, Xigbar will shout and the final storm of bullets begins. You can actually dodge this entire barrage by gliding around the arena in a circle the whole time. If you get hit, you can also eat this attack using Second Chance+One More. Other than his desperation attack. Xigbar's chaotic overall strategy doesn't really change much at all, so it's largely just a matter of reflecting/blocking whatever he comes at you with. It's overall not very hard, though if you have trouble blocking this can be a bit of a pain. As a last note, Final Form is also extremely effective during this fight as it stunlocks Xigbar and many of Final Form's attacks and movements can deflect his rounds, so if you're having any trouble it's worthwhile to try using it..

#1. Xemnas: Part 1.: The Superior of Unfortunate Anagrams is actually fought in two consecutive fights. As the label suggests, this is the first one. This is the easier portion of the fight by quite a margin. I recommend Full Bloom+ for the improved MP regeneration in case you mess up. You can use items if you really want to, but if you're low on anything I'd save them until the next phase. Curaga and Reflect should be on shortcuts as always.

Xemnas opens the fight by initiating a lightsaber combo. Block 5-6 times in order to repel the entire attack and start pounding him with a combo. Once you've got your finisher off, be prepared as Xemnas is likely to retaliate. Xemnas has two other standard attacks in addition to his lightsabers. The first is his shield attack from Kingdom Hearts 1, marked when he shouts "GUARD!". Coming into contact with this will damage and stun Sora. Wait until after he uses it, then either block his attacks or dodge roll through it to get behind him and attack. Xemnas often follows this up with his other standard attack, which is a pair of lightsaber strikes. This attack notably bypasses One more, so if the first blow brings you on the verge of death, you can pretty much put the controller down. Because the second blow will almost certainly kill you. Anyway, dodge roll away from both strikes. You can also use an aerial dodge to get well away from Xemnas and hound him just after he whiffs the second strike. The only especially dangerous attack is his lightsaber combo from the beginning, which he'll bust out at random intervals, so it's usually worthwhile to guard almost as soon as he finishes a teleport or if he gets within striking range. Xemnas usually bides his time, so you can often retreat to the far side of the arena, heal and play keep away until your MP recharges before engaging him again.

After a little while Xemnas will bust out a stronger version of his lightsaber combo, usually heralded by the screen darkening. Be prepared to block this attack 6 or 7 times in quick succession or pay dearly for it. By the time Xemnas starts using this he often starts teleporting many times in quick succession and uses his attacks more closely together. Stay sharp and prepare yourself for whatever comes your way, but this phase shouldn't be too much harder than the start. Once Xemnas is down to about 5 bars he casts a spell on you that causes a polyhedron to appear over Sora's head. Head to the base of the Skyscraper and initiate a reaction command. You'll have to press triangle again to successfully outplay Xemnas. However there are three action commands that can be pressed. The first one that shows up is useless, pay no mind to it. The second command that shows up will stun Xemnas and open him up to a combo. The third command (which I wasn't aware of myself until recently) actually allows you to reduce Xemnas's HP to 1 and finish him off with a combo. You can pause scum the reaction command to slow things down if you're not sure you'll be prepared to press the third one (I don't know the timing window for it myself, honestly) Xemnas isn't outright easy, but he's fairly manageable, which is good, because the second round is often murder.

Xemnas 2/Xebra Xemnas:This round is based off of the last phase of the Final Boss. Riku will join your party. Equip him with your best accessories and ensure his item slots are filled with HP and MP restoring items. Also make sure his healing abilities and limit are also equipped. The latter in particular is going to be important to have. Bust out your healing items Such as your Hi-potions and elixirs and affix them to shortcuts if you haven't done so already. Elixirs and possibly ethers take priority, as you'll want full MP the entire fight. Brace yourself, because this is going to be a doozy.

Xemnas usually opens the fight with his Nobody thorn attack, casting you into the air and assailing you with streams of nothingness. Use reaction commands to dodge a few, but try and activate Riku's limit. This will give you invincibility frames long enough to let you survive with no problems (the reaction command is bugged in 2.5 and randomly doesn't show up, hence why we use a limit instead). Touch down to the ground and restore your MP. When Xemnas finally returns to ground level, be prepared to dodge his sphere attack. Xemnas shouts "BEGONE!" as he fires electrified Blue balls in your face. Dodge roll past them with good timing and you'll eventually come face-to-face with the big man himself. Use reflect to avoid damage from his spheres and stun him. Take advantage of this and start comboing him. After Xemnas has had his fill, he begins using a variety of other attacks.

The first of these is bind (which is aptly telegraphed by Xemnas screaming "BIND!"), which can be dodged either by a reaction command, jumping into the air and aerial dodging, or rolling out of the way. When you finally get within striking distance, give him all you've got.

Next is his twin laser spam. Xemnas will split into duplicates and fire a long stream of lasers at you from both directions. Block or reflect these. Block gives you more invincibility frames since you're repelling multiple attacks, but reflect has a chance at dealing damage back to Xemnas, so it's your call.

The last of these, and his most deadly, is Invitation to Nothingness/"Can You Spare a Heart?" Xemnas will sporadically attempt to zap Sora with force lightning this attack, usually signaled by him uttering the phrase "Can You Spare... a Heart?". Reflect with extreme prejudice, as letting this attack hit you at all is an almost guaranteed game-over on higher difficulties.
If you do get hit with this and still want to try stopping it, there is a sliver of hope. When you're given control of Riku, fire off Dark Aura (square) immediately, as this prevents his doppelganger from stalling you. Take a few steps and use dark aura. Repeat this until you finally get to Xemnas and use the reaction command to save Sora.

Xemnas will use all of the previously listed attacks in random combinations throughout the fight. Make sure to keep your MP full and keep your eye on Xemnas at all times. When Xemnas is about halfway down he'll begin making heavy use of his laser attacks, including a pair of new ones where he teleports around, planting stationary laser beams that fire at you after they've all been lined up. When Xemnas disappears, guard (you can also reflect, but you rarely hit Xemnas this way, so it's bad in terms of both accuracy and MP economy.)

When Xemnas is down to his last bar or so, he sets up a dome of lasers around you. Mash both Triangle and X using both your hands in order to deflect the lasers. After over a minute of this, the screen will fade all the way to white, after which a cutscene occurs. When it's over, Xemnas's HP will be reduced to 1. Use magic or a combo to grease him for good.

That's it for the data battles. I suppose it's time we came face to face with the game's actual Superboss.

Part 6.
 

Gradon

Member
So er.. I try to play Birth by Sleep and it's just crashing as soon as I start a new game, no cutscene or anything. Anyone else had these issues?
 

Hiko

Banned
Critical has got to have the most random walls...

HT2 boss..
Pirate ship section
Light cycle

Meanwhile.. i was able to defeat typical hard bosses like Xaldin with ease

Yup. The actual bosses are usually nothing, what with reaction commands and everything. It's some of the random battles that screw you up.

Although right now I'm stuck on Roxas. Kind of wish he were a cutscene again...
 

Caladrius

Member
Part 1- Essentials
Part 2- Item Synthesis
Part 3- Sephiroth and Data Organization members #13-#8
Part 4- Data Organization members #7-#4
Part 5- Data Organization members #3-#1

Part 6: Duel with the Lingering Will

Congratulations for making it this far, if you went and did the Data Battles first like a sane person would. I suppose now you want the overview of the game's ultimate challenge.

Lingering Will: This is probably the hardest (fair) fight in the Kingdom Hearts series. Using an incredible variety of attacks and patterns, this boss is exceptionally deadly and versatile, seemingly being able to find creative new ways to crush you like a roach. Despite all that, nearly every single one of these attacks can be countered. In some form, and with a lot of practice you can turn the tables in your favor.

As far as setup goes, put Curaga, Reflega, Thundaga and your choice of Elixirs or Megalixirs on your shortcuts and stock your item slots accordingly. Give Donald and Goofy as many Mega-potions, Elixirs and Megalixirs as you can muster and make sure to customize their AI and abilities so that they're optimized for helping you out. Donald and Goofy are likely going to be dead 99% of the fight, but what little help they are can prove to be invaluable. Put in as many combo pluses as you please, and make sure to have one finishing plus. Those of you using Ultima Weapon up to this point will want to use Decisive Pumpkin instead, for reasons I'll detail a little later. Go for all Full Bloom+ for this fight. The MP recharge boost will likely prove invaluable. When you're prepared, head to Disney Castle and save. (Also back out of the room and head back in, not sure if you have to re-watch the scene with Chip and Dale if you lose).

To start off with, there is one thing you absolutely need to know about this battle: The Lingering Will (henceforth called LW for brevity) has multiple AI patterns and will act differently every single time you fight him, regardless of whether you won or lost the previous fight. This makes writing a concise guide somewhat difficult, as his various phase changes mean that there's no consistent flow to the battle other than the basic "Phase 1> Phase 2> Desperation mode" structure that all previous bosses have followed.

At the very least, there is a consistent set of opening moves that the LW uses.He also uses all of these moves later in the fight, depending on the attack pattern LW has set for himself.

Opening Moves

The first is his basic keyblade combo. LW will fly towards you in the air to smack you with his keyblade. Block this or dodge out of the way. He'll do this three times and then land. When he does, start a combo. Hit him with two finishers and let him touch the ground. If you feel like taking the risk, you can perform a second combo and cap it off with a single finisher. You'll notice that you initially do absolutely pathetic damage to him. Don't fret. The more attacks LW is hit with, the more damage each successive strike will deal to him. This way if you're able to get in a full two combos with three finishers you can do 2-3 bars of damage.

Another possible opener is much more sinister, with LW immediately flying towards you and plunging his Keyblade into the ground, summoning runes that seal either your basic attacks or your magic. (Usually magic). This can be avoided by using dodge roll or quick run when he rises into the air just before he sticks his keyblade In the ground. If you get hit with this, you'll have to hit LW with either Thundaga or Keyblade strikes to restore the lost commands. (He gains a separate HP bar for the seal which has to be depleted) If you're hit with Attack Seal (red), LW will use Ultima Cannon (see the next paragraph). If you're hit with Magic Seal (Blue) or he misses altogether, LW typically follows this up immediately either with his basic flying combo or by charging straight for you on foot and turning his Keyblade into a shield to crush you. Guard once or twice, and if you did it right, LW will slide right past you facing the wrong way. Punish him with combos. The timing for his Shield Bash is faster than the keyblade strikes, so always guard, and if he ends up using the combo instead of his shield you can just dodge or block again right afterward.

Another another possible opener has him summoning his Ultima Cannon, a BFG that fires a sphere of energy. When you see him transforming his keyblade into a huge...thing, roll back far enough that the green part of the cannon doesn't hit you, then prepare to guard. Provided you aren't too far away, it should stun LW and send him flying into the air. This is pretty much a free combo, so hammer him with one. Avoid doing a second one though, as LW will counter afterward. LW generally follows this up with a bow attack. LW will either stand in place and fire three shots in even intervals or teleport around firing 3-6 shots at you. For the former case, wait about a second and then dodge roll, waiting about a second between each shot until he starts to put away the bow. For the warp, wait for the distinctive teleportation sound and dodge right after it, not stopping ntil LW finally puts the bow away. When those attacks are done, rush towards LW and start pounding him with your keyblade before he can transform his Keyblade into its default form.

The next possible intro move is him boarding his jet bike. LW will rise straight into the air (not towards you) and summon the bike. Make sure to get away from him, as the bike can damage you if you're caught in its path. LW will then fly around the battlefield on his bike, circling around and then heading towards you. This can only reliably be guarded, as reflect has a wind-down period and dodge is too hard to time (and is subject to being countered by a different move). He sometimes follows this attack up with his keyblade whip (covered in the next section) so when he disembarks his vehicle, be prepared to dodge roll away if need be.He's also capable of following this attack up with any of his keyblade combos. Generally the rule of thumb is that you shouldn't approach him unless he's on solid ground. LW occasionally does a corkscrew, which is slower, so change your timing accordingly and watch closely.

On Rare occasion LW will open up with his shield bash and then follow up with keyblade combos. This is probably the hardest to defend against, as LW does this the moment the battle starts. If this is consistently a problem for you it may help to either dodge to the sides at the start of your fights or block as soon as it begins. The choice is yours.

The final opening move is his Keyblade whip. LW will briefly rise into the air and immediately start lashing out with his keyblade. This is very dangerous and is almost certain to land you at one HP. Roll away from it and continue to make more distance, as LW can still move while this attack is going on. When LW finally touches the ground, you can smack him with a combo again.

Move Patterns

LW typically uses particular groups of moves as part of his battle routines, always corresponding to whatever opening move he started off with. Some of the combinations I remember clearly include (but aren't limited to)

Keylade combos+Keylade Whip+Ultima Cannon

Attack/Magic Seal+Shield Bash+Keyblade combos

Jet Bike+Light nodes (see next section)+Ultima Cannon

Ultima Cannon+Drain Bow+Keyblade combos

When you've taken 5 or 6 bars off of his HP, the LW will change tactics and use a different selection of moves,

Counterattacks

After every attack, the LW will usually proceed to use one of several counter moves in order to smite you. These include:

Counter-Whip: LW will use the Keyblade whip just like the one at the start if you manage to reach his counter threshold, hence why I suggest you only use two or three finishers instead of the full four. He also busts this out randomly after a move such as his jet bike and keyblade combo. Be wary of it and remember that it's NEVER safe to engage the LW until his feet are on the ground. If you managed to get a combo on LW after his previous attack, he's likely to use it after the end of his current attack (if said attack is a keyblade combo or Jet Bike ride). Keep your distance and if you see him come straight for you dodge roll just as he gets to you and run further away. It's a crapshoot as to whether or not it's safe to attack after this. Sometimes you can get a full combo, others he'll bust out the whip again in the middle of your first few attacks.

Drain bow: This is a fairly rare counterattack that mostly shows up in fights where he uses the Keyblade combo opener, or if you do enough damage to him after he uses Drain Bow. Dodge it as you would the regular variant and counterattack while he transforms his keyblade back to normal.

Counter combo: LW uses his standard keyblade combo for up to 9 hits. dodge, and be prepared as he's likely to follow this up with Keyblade whip, which you avoid just like you normally would.

Other attacks not used in the opening move:

Extended combo: LW will fly around anywhere from 3 to 9 times attempting to strike you with his keyblade. Dodge or block.

Light nodes: At times LW will suddenly disappear and leave behind an array of light crystals. These will fire lasers at you. Thankfully they begin to glow just before they fire, so keep track of which crystal is about to shoot first and block. Provided you aren't completely surrounded, the rounds should bounce off with no damage done. You can move around to try and manipulate the crystals into shooting from one side. This attack is often used in conjunction with his bike attack. Focus on the bike, since it tends to hit before the crystals, but don't ignore the crystals completely. If you get an opening try to put LW between you and the crystals so it hits him instead. If they're about to fire, block. This sometimes hits LW for damage, so it's worth doing. LW also uses this attack to signal the final phase of the fight.

Blizzaga. Goes alongside his motorbike attack. LW fires three crystals into the air. Not much you can do besides try to block or dodge these.

Magnega: The final attack LW uses with his motorbike, this does no damage, but prevents you from dodging out of the way. You have no choice but to block the bike with this active.

Rampage/Berserk:The LW's desperation attack, the screen darkens, and the warrior summons a rune circle around himself, giving off lightning. At this point you had better damn well be ready, because there's no mercy to be offered here. The LW will start charging power. When he's done he'll come right for you, as soon as he's in striking range, guard three times in succession (you can technically do just one, Thanks to Falk for pointing it out). When he finally stops swinging jump into the air and air dodge as soon as he disappears. Break into a glide and go for the arena's edges, making sure to face the interior of the battlefield (for reasons that will be explained shortly). If all went well, the LW should narrowly miss with his light gear attack. Keep track of LW and just after he thrusts his sword into the air and disappears, guard, and do so about 5 more times until the end of the attack. The final blow of this assault (where he teleports and rushes you with a ring of light) can be dodged or blocked. Dodging is more consistent, though the guard is easier to time in exchange for the fact that it sometimes fails to protect you (this is usually due to timing your previous guards too early). The reason you head to the edge of the ring is so that he can't attack you from behind, which is significantly more difficult to counter and even in the best of circumstances you're likely to get mauled.(Credit to Gaf User Soulflarz for showing me this) Should you fail to repel the attack, LW will revert to using his previous attacks until you manage to get a keyblade combo in on him, in which case he'll start using his Rampage again. After this he'll use any one of his previous attacks again. As a final note, LW will occasionally use his shield bash attack multiple times in succession. Be prepared to guard all of them and prepare for a possible use of Attack/Magic Seal right afterward. if you get hit and survive, wait until after you touch the ground and avoid the Seal attack to recover and use cure, as there's no delay between each Shield Bash That additional snag aside, the end of the fight is straightforward and if you can master how to repel his Berserk mode, you shouldn't have a ton of trouble. (And if you're playing on Critical you've already came a pretty damned long way, so have faith.)

And so we come to a close. If you had any suggestions or alternate strategies, please do either post or PM me about them. I'd be happy to update them.

Thanks for reading!
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Just wanted to point out you only need to block once, not 3 times, at the start of LW's DM before the glide. Is this important? As important as cool guys don't look at explosions.
 

Berordn

Member
So I picked this up today.

What is the proper way to go through the games with the story and everything. I have KH 3ds too

Release order is generally the best way to tackle it, but depends on who you ask, some will have their own preferences.

The story is generally written to build on the revelations of the game released last.
 

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
I decided to play KH2 on Proud Mode. I'm generally not very good at games and had trouble with Standard in the tougher fights... did I make a mistake?
 
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