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chibikaie (chibikaie) wrote,
@ 2008-01-11 01:32:00

Entry tags:

kh2

Kingdom Hearts II
I discovered two things today. One, the Goddess of Fate tournament (which you need to beat in order to collect one of the last items needed to synthesize the Ultima Keyblade) does not open until you defeat Xemnas for the first time (at which point the game conveniently tells you that this is the last save point and you'd better go around finishing up anything you'd forgotten to do). Two, any tournament with a damage point gauge is insanely difficult, because healing means nothing and your companions are stupid.

On the plus side, I think that I've managed to synthesize all other possible items, including the plus versions of Donald and Goofy's ultimate weapons. Man, whoever doesn't take advantage of item synthesis is totally crazy - none of the stuff you buy or otherwise obtain is anywhere near half as useful.

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zoifox
2008-01-12 03:40 am UTC (link)

So... in order to synthesize this Keyblade, you need to first defeat a boss on whom you would ideally want to use said Keyblade, and THEN complete a tournament in which you would also ideally want to use said Keyblade. And since the boss in question is the last boss before the point of no return, then you're essentially going to all this effort for a Keyblade you're only going to get to use on the endboss and maybe a few dangling sidequests? Wow. That's kind of evil.

Can you at least use it in a New Game Plus?

And stupid companion AI makes the Baby [Your Deity of Choice Here] cry.

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chibikaie
2008-01-12 05:55 am UTC (link)

Well, I'm guessing the main reason anyone would want to actually use the Ultima Keyblade is to fight Sephiroth. Other than being the best damage-dealing weapon, it also gives you MP Hastega, which shortens the time it takes for your MP to return after you use it all, whether in Limit attacks or by using Cure (for some spectacularly evil reason, any time Sora casts Cure, Cura, or Curaga, it uses ALL of his MP - kh2 game designers were total bastards). However, I believe that in practice, defeating Sephiroth is mainly a matter of learning how to use elixirs from the shortcut menu quickly (see infamous attack that always depletes you to 1 HP and zero MP) and luck in not getting slammed with said attack more than six times (that being the maximum number of elixirs Sora can equip for a single battle). My brother got away with only being hit twice with that attack, but he plays in Easy Mode. Guess who was an idiot and chose Proud Mode? The last time I played hard mode Kingdom Hearts, I was completely and utterly incapable of defeating Sephiroth at level 99.

The strategy guide talks about some more tournaments. I haven't seen any evidence of them other than one fic writer who complained that getting slammed with Yuffie, Tifa, Cloud, AND Leon in the same battle was a bit much (I totally agree, by the way - the others I could handle, but Tifa is a bit much). I suppose if I can figure out how to unlock those, they'd be another great place to use said Keyblade, seeing as I believe they are solo tournaments. However, you don't get anything for winning them (if you do, it's probably some cheesy item that you don't really need).

I'm pretty sure there's no New Game Plus ... there wasn't one in the original game. Which, by the freaking way, I prefer one hell of a lot more. What happened to the mushroom Heartless? Where's my Graviga spell?? And whose idea was it to make the Gummi Ships so complicated that you can't build your own ship anymore??? Oh, and Atlantica wasn't stupid. If they'd had some more cutscenes with the FF characters in the first game, I wouldn't have wanted to play the second one.

I may be able to tweak my companions' behavior. The default is something called Technic, meaning the game came up with a set of behaviors "according to the character's personality". If I tell them to support Sora while he attacks, they might stay far enough back to not take too much damage. The real key, I surmise, is using some kind of attack to eliminate all enemies very quickly, before they can inflict any damage. In my case, that's probably going to be lots of Thundaga.

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zoifox
2008-01-12 02:53 pm UTC (link)

Wait, MP recharges during a battle?

And UGH to the Cure spells consuming all of Sora's MP - especially having that happen on the lower level Cure spells! Can Sora cast magic other than Cure? Do they drain his MP like the Cure spells do? What the hell?

Is the Sephiroth battle a one-on-one duel, or are the other party members just that useless?

I don't think I'd like the Kingdom Hearts games much. ^^

Can you control your companions directly? I know Dragon Quest VIII has various behaviors you can select for your characters - though nothing on the level of FFXII's Gambits - but I've always just gone with direct control, because the last thing I need is for, say, my main healer using up all his MP before we even get to Dhoulmagus.

Does KH at least have moogles?

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chibikaie
2008-01-13 09:07 am UTC (link)

Yeah, the whole "MP Charge" thing is weird. Cure used to be just like other magic, but I guess they wanted to "simplify" the magic or something. So instead of choosing which teammate gets the Cure spell, you'll automatically Cure everyone within range, and I think it always restores you to full health. So it's possible to fight and use magic until you've got nearly no MP, Cure, and then with MP Hastega it's really not long before all of your MP is back. Of course, if you don't have MP Haste, the enemies you're fighting don't drop MP restoration balls, or if you don't have MP Rage (restores MP when you take damage), it's kind of a long wait.

Sora gets elemental magic - Fire/Blizzard/Thunder. In 1, Fire and Blizzard were pretty similar - ranged shot, while Thunder attacked from above. In 2, they changed Fire to be "area effect in Sora's immediate vicinity" (kind of nice since there's an actual difference in spells now), kept Blizzard as the ranged attack, and Thunder is still hands-down your most useful spell because it just kills everything that isn't immune to that element. There's also a Reflect spell (known as Aero in KH1), which is nearly useless, although topping off the useless magic list is Magnet in KH2. KH1's Gravity was close to beating Thunder for best spell, but Magnet doesn't even do damage in KH2 (at least, it never did anything - maybe it's time to check as the strategy guide says it does "some" damage). It's supposed to be used in mini games - bah.

Sephiroth is one-on-one, but even if he weren't, yes, your companions are generally that useless. I discovered that telling them to support Sora just means they follow him around waiting to heal, and get beat on like a bunch of drums. Mainly, they serve as cannon fodder, and then they'll heal Sora if his HP drops below a certain point. I mean, if you were really, really bored, you could walk into an area of enemies, then run to a corner and watch as Donald and Goofy slowly dispose of them, but it's always been a heck of a lot faster and more efficient to do it yourself. (By the way, they do become slightly less useless at very high levels and with the best weapons. However, by that time, Sora should be so overpowered that their lameness doesn't really go away.)

Supposedly the cool thing about your companions is the ability to pull off special Limit attacks with them. Unfortunately, since I am the master of hitting the wrong button at the wrong time, this on top of the fact that Limits also consume all MP means that I rarely use them - I think I used Auron's, but after that I had to give up and wait until Sora had levelled enough to handle the battle solo, because I kept on wasting all of my MP when the boss wasn't even in range to be hit, and then I had no MP to Cure when he came back in range and smacked the hell out of me. I mean, they look really cool, but their spectacular damage doesn't mean anything when you don't hit the target.

Moogles are in charge of synthesis. That would be why I spend so much time synthesizing stuff :D In KH2, they're also in charge of most of the item shops, which is nice because then you don't have to trek all the way back to the one world where their synthesis shop is set up. Well, technically, they're holograms of moogles.

To be honest, I'm not that fond of Kingdom Hearts as a game. But it's amusing to see the Final Fantasy characters, it's not a difficult game (seriously, mash X a lot and you'll be fine; if that doesn't work, run off somewhere, mash X a lot to level up, and try again - THAT always works), and I get to play with Winnie the Pooh. I figure that, overall, it's not so bad.

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zoifox
2008-01-13 04:32 pm UTC (link)

...That really doesn't sound "simplified" to me.

Although now I'm wondering if that's how healing spells work in MMORPGs, and Squeenix was emulating that.

Aero is Reflect? I'm so used to Aero-as-attack-spell that that would probably screw me up something fierce for a while. What is Magnet theoretically supposed to do?

Automated cannon fodder. Greeeeeeaaat. The Limit attacks don't really sound like they make up for that. (They also sound really cumbersome, but that's another issue.)

Moogles yay! Why has Squeenix not done up a moogle game? I mean, the chocobo has a whole series or two, and moogles are cooler. Hmph.

Hey, speaking of Final Fantasy characters in KH, what the heck is Setzer doing in KH2?

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chibikaie
2008-01-14 02:11 am UTC (link)

I think the Aero/Reflect thing confused a lot of people, so they named it Reflect again in KH2. I didn't use it much - I let Donald cast it whenever he felt like it. Hey, wait a moment ... in KH2 Donald isn't able to cast anything other than Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, and Cure. Wait wait wait whaaaa? I thought he was supposed to be the mage!

Magnet is supposed to draw enemies in close so you can whack them over the head with the Keyblade. I always thought that was kind of stupid since you could Thunder them to death with fewer button presses and no requirement for you to aim Sora in the right direction.

Apparently you're also invulnerable during a Limit attack. I'm sure this would be a good thing if I could use them properly. And hey ... at least KH2 has something for your companions to do. KH1 they were even more useless, if you can believe it. Okaie, actually, there was one battle where I won by having Sora act as cannon fodder slash healing support while Donald and Goofy slowly whittled the boss down (I had a lot of trouble maneuvering).

I suspect, actually, that the uselessness of your companions is part of what defines Hard/Proud Mode. I wouldn't bet money on it or anything, but the two changes I noticed from switching from Easy to Hard in KH1 were more difficult gummi ship battles and the fact that Sora suddenly had to do all the work. I mean, there's definitely a HP increase in your enemies (or perhaps a decrease in the amount of damage you do?), but maybe they actually intended for companions to not be as helpful. That same battle where I used Sora as bait - in Hard Mode, I could not use the same tactic.

Mog also thinks that Squeenix should do a moogle game. We think it should be one in which the goal is to roast as many chocobos as possible. (See FFT: Finath River for details. Friggin' choco meteors ...)

I have no idea what Setzer is doing in KH2. He appears for the "Struggle Tournament" - which is amusing because as funny as clubbing things with a giant key is, clubbing things with a foam bat is even sillier.

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zoifox
2008-01-14 03:09 am UTC (link)

Apparently KH2 Donald is a very BASIC mage. Or some kind of magic purist or something, I guess.

I am failing to understand why you'd want to use a spell to pull someone in so you can hit them with a weapon when you could just, you know, hit them with a spell. Though I can see using Magnet to pull someone within range of a party's designated bruiser... maybe.

Oh god, shades of Sword of Mana. I generally left my companions dead in Sword of Mana while I took down enemies myself. It was more efficient that way.

...Wait, you think they MEANT your companions to be ineffectual in Hard Mode? I mean, I can sort of see it in a "Sora is too proud *koff* to ask his companions for help and so does everything himself" way, but... still.

Chocobos or Sephiroth. Or both. I'd buy a "Moogles Kicking Sephiroth's Ass" game. =)

A...foam... bat. I don't know why I'm surprised. I also can't picture Setzer using something as "uncool" as a foam bat as a weapon, but that may be just me.

(Incidentally, one of the weapons you can equip in Persona 3 is a bus stop sign. Also, the dog who joins your party fights with knives. The base "knife" is a bone.)

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chibikaie
2008-01-18 04:32 am UTC (link)

Well, that's just a suspicion on my part. I've only played kh1 on both easy and hard; kh2 I've only played hard. My brother does play on easy mode in both games, but it's hard to tell how useful his companions are when I don't have the controller in my hands for the whole game.

Setzer (not the real one) also tries to bribe you into losing to him so he can stay champion. Yeah, champion of the tournament of neon blue foam bats.

Y'know, that's odd. There are ninja dog enemies in Valhalla Knights, and they fight with knives clutched in their muzzles.

Kh2 also dropped the Stop spell. It always irks me that whenever Squeenix tries to cater to the brainless idiots who think that the answer to everything should be hitting it with a bigger sword, they cut out the strategic magic.

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zoifox
2008-01-18 04:50 am UTC (link)

Yeah, it's hard to tell from just watching.

...I cannot even picture Setzer caring about a tournament of neon blue foam bats. Then again, it's a fake Setzer.

Perhaps the dogs don't want to taste whatever passes for the enemy's blood? Maybe they don't want to break a tooth? I don't know.

Oh, for... You know, one point in Megami Tensei's favor? Strategic magic is USEFUL, and often NECESSARY. You can't just go around bashing things over the head with a weapon, because some enemies are immune to physical attacks and will probably hurt you very, very badly in return. Moreso if they repel or drain physical attacks. ESPECIALLY if you're playing any of the games with the Press Turn system, where hitting an enemy with an attack that they repel or drain will cost you ALL of your remaining turns for that round. (Of course, the same thing goes for enemies, as well, which can be very nice.)

Much as I like building characters into powerhouses, I also like a little variety. Hitting things with a Really Big Sword all the time gets boring. =p

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	chibikaie 2008-01-19 04:07 am UTC (link)
	Hm, I think I remember getting smacked with losing turns when I played that Monster Kingdom Jewel Summoner game. Had to attack with the right elemental monster or you were toast. Most of the time in FFT, if you make yourself immune (or even less vulnerable) to a given attack type, the enemy will instead unleash something even nastier to kill you with. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

zoifox
2008-01-19 04:24 am UTC (link)

The director of Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner also co-created Megami Tensei, so I'm not really surprised. He left Atlus in 2003, apparently, but Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, which if I'm not mistaken is where the Press Turn system got started, initially came out in 2003, too.

(This would be why I was so disappointed to hear that Jewel Summoner sucks. I was looking forward to the game based on Okada's involvement.)

Most of the time in FFT, if you make yourself immune (or even less vulnerable) to a given attack type, the enemy will instead unleash something even nastier to kill you with.

That sounds familiar...

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