Howdy folks! If you're not me (reccanti), then welcome to my speedrunning notes! For the most part, I've been following along with this guide InsertLogic (give it a watch!). Most things will be related to what he said, though I'll bring up places where I deviate from that or replace his strategy with something a little easier:
- Pick the "attack" struggle rod in the fight against Seifer
- Select the Sword at the Station of Serenity
- Use the potion you get in the fight against Twilight Thorn
- Equip "Guard" before the Struggle Tournament
- Get the medal by losing to Setzer
- Equip the Medal and turn off Summon animations before starting the 7 mysteries of Twilight Town
When it's hanging upside down and summoning Nobodies, Twilight Thorn shoots out these beams that you can dodge with Reversal. Before it fires them, it "charges" the attack by swirling its beams around it. If you get away from it then, you can dodge it pretty easily. This will also give you a pretty good opening for an air combo!
option, down (select Abilities), x, x, triangle
At this point, you should be focused on the Abilities menu item from the previous menuing step
Equip the Medal: option, up (select Items), x, x, down, down, x, down, x, circle, circle
Turn off Summon Effects: up, x, down, down, down, down, left
- Remove all of Donalds items
- Equip Aerial Recovery
- Unequip Donald Cure. This will be important for Agrabah 1 later on
- Set both party member's attack pattern to "Party Attack"
- Get to level 6
- Pick up the Ether outside Yen Sid's Castle
- Pick up the Ether inside Yen Sid's Castle
Once you switch to Sora, you should be on the Party menu item
Set party members to "Party Attack": up, x, down, x, up, up, up, x, R2, x, up, up, up, x, circle, circle
Equp Abilities: up, x, down, down, triangle, R2, down, triangle, triangle, triangle
Remove Items: square, up, x, x, up, x, up, x, circle, circle, circle
- Grab the AP Boost and the Drive Recovery on the way to the Leon fight
- Set up a party of Sora, Goofy, and Ping
- Take all of Ping's items
- Equip Sora with 3 auto-refilling Ethers. View the tutorial
- Get Valor form up to Level 2
- Grab the AP Boost in the cave
- Grab the AP Boost on the mountain pass
- Use your 4 AP Boosts and equip Slide Dash and Scan and Combo Boost
- Grab the Ether in the Bamboo Grove
If you don't get Valor level 2
InsertLogic's guide shows you reaching Valor level 2 during the first mission, but I have trouble pulling it off, so in that case, my backup plan is to get it after completing all the missions and pushing through the mountain. I usually get it during the second boulder, and I usually have just enough drive meter to get to the village. Not sure what the implications are for Anti-form, though.
- Remove Divider and Auto Limit from Auron
- Set your party to Sora, Auron, and Goofy
- Get the Ether and the AP Boost on the way to Cerberus
- Pick up the Power Boost, Ether, and AP Boost on the way to Demyx
- Pick up the AP Boost on the way to Pete
- Use the Power Boost and 4 AP Boosts on Sora and equip Aerial Dive (should have 17 or 19 AP depending on level)
- Unequip Guard and Equip Trinity Limit before the fight with the Hydra
- Equip Hero's Crest
- Pick up the AP Boost in Beast's Castle after beating the Gatekeeper
- Pick up the AP Boost in the Hallway towards the Beast fight
- get to level 14 before the Beast fight
- Set your party to Sora, Beast, and Goofy
Safer Strategy
Instead of entering the room in Valor form, you can transform into Valor form partway through the fight. The safest bet would be right after releasing the Possessor. This should give leave you with enough Drive if you fail the 1-cycle. If you're feeling more confident, you can transform after finishing the first combo.
1. You lose Valor Form in the middle of the fight
InsertLogic's guide seems to assume that you'll be able to beat the Gatekeeper while still in Valor form, and have enough time to get to the Cogsworth minigame in that form so that you can fully refill your your Drive guage. I have trouble with this fight, so if I find myself without a drive guage before the Beast fight, I just try to use up all my magic and refill it in the hallway leading up to the fight. If I still don't have a drive guage, I'll try to refill it afterward on the way to Belle's room.
2. you leave the fight in Valor form, but without enough drive to get to the minigame
In this case, go to the room with Cogsworth, Mrs. Pots, and Lumiere, exit to the world map at the save point while you're still in Valor form, then warp back to that room. You'll have a full Drive meter. This will cost a few seconds, but it will save you time grinding back the Drive gauge
InsertLogic's guide is based on completing this fight in Valor Form. If you lost Valor form in the previous fight, Slide Dash combos seem very effective! Once it's about halfway though it's last health bar, a Beast Limit finish the job!
- Just go fast!
- buy 2 Tourmaline Rings (640 munny)
- Equip Reaction Boost before starting the Construction Site
- Get AP Boost during the "modern" Pete fight
- Use Drive Recovery and 3 your AP Boosts (should have about 28 AP after)
- Create a party of Sora, Jack, and Goofy
- Set Donald's AI to "Sora Attack"
- Get the 2 AP Boosts on the way to Barbossa
Cautious Strategy
The square attack can make it hard to consistently hit the boxes on the way to Barbossa, which can deplete your drive gauge. You may want to break the boxes and get the AP Boosts first, then switch over to Valor form
This one stresses me out!
- Spend all your munny on Ethers!
- Menuing stuff after you get Aladdin
- Set your party to Sora, Aladdin, and Donald (default)
- Take all of Aladdin's Ethers (and maybe a potion)
- Equip Guard and Aerial Spiral
- Customize to add Reflect (I like to put it on Square!)
- (optionally put Ethers on a button like "X")
- Set Aladdin's AI to Sora Attack
- Get the AP Boost on the way to the Palace Walls
- Get to Wisdom Level 2 outside the Cave of Wonders
- Get the AP Boost inside the Cave of Wonders
- Get the AP Boost after the time trial
- Get to Wisdom Level 3 in the big Heartless battle
- Menuing Stuff after that battle
- Use 5 AP Boosts (should be at about 35 afterward)
- Equip Aerial Finish and Quick Run
- Equip Fantasia on Donald (and maybe Cure)
The first 3 heartless
I like to stand right in front of the booth in order to perform the RCs that get the first 3 heartless kills for Wisdom form
Getting through the Bazaar
InsertLogic's guide recommends using Blizzard to clear out the booths, but I find this kind of hard to perform. It's more consistent to just breeze through it using Fire instead!
Leveling on the way to Cave of Wonders
You should reach Wisdom Level 2 once you're outside the Cave of Wonders. However, if for some reason you don't, you can completely refill your Drive gauge by backtracking to the Palace Walls while still in Wisdom form. You should be able to grind out the extra kills you need in the Bazaar
Ice Cube Timing
After attacking an ice cube, wait until it jumps in the air and lands on the ground. That's around the time it attacks!
- Make a party of Sora, Jack, and Goofy
- Take all of Jack's items
- Unequip Aerial Finish
- Equip Finishing Leap
- Get AP Boost on the way to Christmas Town
- Get AP Boost in Santa's Workshop
- Customize magnet to your list of quick spells (I like to put it on Triangle)
- Pick up the AP Boost in the Postern
- Pick up the AP Boost in the hallways on the way to the computer room
Cautious strategy
If you're worried you're not going to be able to dash fast enough, wait to use Wisdom form until you've left Merlin's house. If you're reasonable fast, you should be able to make it to the computer just in time!
- Take all of Tron's items
- Equip Follow the Wind before the Orb fight
- Get to 2000 EXP away from level 23
- Unequip Follow the Wind after that fight
- Pick up the AP Boost on the way to the Hostile Program fight
If you didn't dash fast enough
Once again, this guide assumes you were able to dash-through Hollow Bastion to get your drive meter refilled. I'm not fast enough, unfortunately, so here are my ways of coping with it:
For the data-cube fight, instead of destroying the boxes using my drive form, I use fire.
For the orb fight, I try to drain my MP and get into fights on the way to the room. That will usually get me pretty close to a full drive meter.
- Equip Goofy Tornado
- Get Limit form up to Level 2 on the way to the 1000 Heartless Battle
- Menuing Stuff after the Demyx fight!!! (I always forget this :p)
- Equip Vicinity Break
- Equip Flash Step
- Equip Item Boost
- Get the AP Boost in the cavern before the 1000 Heartless Battle
- Equip Goofy Bash and Jackpot
- Use all AP Boosts (should be at 45 AP afterwards)
Leveling Limit form
Don't ignore the Reaction Commands! They count toward leveling up your limit uses, which is how you level up this form!
- Go to the Parlor room so that you can warp to it later
- Equip the Rumbling Rose keyblade for base Sora
- Equip the Hero's Crest for Master form Sora
- Equip the Guard Break ability.
- Equip Horizontal Slash and Draw after the Grim Reaper 1 fight
Grim Reaper 1
If you're not confident you can pull off the Master form combo, you can just do this fight without.
Grim Reaper 2
InsertLogic brings up a lot of complicated strategies for this fight. For phase of the fight (the one where he has ALL the medallions), the Master Form + thunder combo really is effective though! Even if you aren't able to get ALL of the orbs, you should be able to make a sizable dent and be able to finish it off with base-Sora thunders
- Make a party of Sora, Donald, and Goofy
- Set Jack and Goofy's AI to "Sora Attack"
- Unequip Fantasia on Donald and equip Flare Force
- After the Lock, Shock, and Barrel fight, set the party to Sora, Jack, and Goofy
- Get to Level 30 before Jafar
- Equip Decisive Pumpking before Jafar
- Equip Rumbling Rose on base Sora
- Equip Decisive Pumpkin on Valor form Sora
- Make a party of Sora, Donald, and Goofy
- Just do the thing!
- Customize Thundara to Circle
- After the Roxas Fight, equip the Two Become One keyblade do the following:
- Unequip Guard, Vicinity Break, and Draw
- Equip Slap Shot, Combo Master, and Drive Boost
- I like to do them in this order: Guard, Slap Shot, Vicinity Break, Draw, Drive Boost, Combo Master
- Get Anti-Form twice
- After transforming into Anti-form twice, do the following in the area before Xigba
- Buy all the Ethers you can
- Go to the moogle synthesize menu and get a free elixir
- Equip the Rumbling Rose Keyblade
- Equip another ether, that elixir, and a potion (set to auto-refill)
- Unequip Drive Boost and Item Boost and equip Guard and Aerial Finisher
- After the Xigbar fight, make sure you have the following keyblades equipped
- Regular Sora: Rumbling Rose
- Valor Sora: Decisive Pumpking
- Master Sora: Hero's Crest
- After the Saix fight:
- Make a party of Sora, Riku, and Donald
- Steal all of Riku's Ethers
- Personal Preference: Set Riku's potions to auto-refill. This has saved my butt in Armored Xemnas 2 and Final Xemnas!!!
Roxas
This fight is HAAAAAAAARD if you mess it up! I'd say just learn the strat.
That being said...I do have some suggestions if you mess it up and want to recover! Reflect like crazy!!! Every time he starts to do a combo, just start reflecting! If you start to run low on MP, use an Ether (the beginning of his orb attack when he moves to the center is a good place to do this). Once he's down to about 2-1.5 HP bars, go into Limit form and use Ars Arcanum. Make sure you wait until he's done with a combo, otherwise he'll interrupt you!
Xigbar
This fight is kinda tricky, but not as difficult as Roxas IMO. If you aren't able to pull off the strat, you can still recover. The important thing is to skip the attack where he fires a bunch of bullets at you. Get him down to about 2.9 HP meters and hit him with Duck Flare, that should at least get him down to enough HP that you can finish it off with an air combo
Luxord
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This fight is tough. One of the keys to this is getting the Reflect timing right on his minigame curse thing. If you don't get it, not only will you miss out on some damage, but he'll also hit you for a bunch of damage. Not good. Once his HP starts getting critical, hit him with a Limit attack. That should be enough to get him to within 1 or 2 combos to death.
Strat idea
The scattered card attack kinda sucks. Can we avoid damage by going into a Limit attack during this? We could then recover HP and MP by going into Limit form, maybe hit him with an Ars Arcanum and finishing him off with a Limit attack
Saix
Like Xigbar, he isn't exactly difficult, just tricky. Try to stay away from him when he goes Berserk. Grab one of his club things when you see an opening, then keep your distance until you're able to use the Reaction Command. Try alternating between Drive Forms and Duck Flares until you get him!
My Strategy
Here's what I like to do in this fight:
- start by spamming reflect to block his initial barrage, until you grab his weapon.
- Then, circle around the arena until you can use the reaction to snap him out of his Berserker state.
- Once he's out of that state, block his next attack and use a combo
- After your combo, use Duck Flare. Do an Aerial Spiral followed by a "triangle". Otherwise the attack will knock him into the air where you can't hit him. Do this until your limit is low and use Megaduck Flare
- Do anoter combo and switch to Valor form. Keep doing "square" and combos until you run low on drive. If he goes into berserker state, try to stay away until you can grab a weapon, then circle around the arena like in step 2.
- Once he's out of Berserker state, use Duck Flare again. Hopefully he should be less than 3 health bars at this point
- His HP should be much lower, try to clean up his remaining HP from there.
I find this strategy to be pretty fast and consistent, though I don't know how optimized it is.
Xemnas
The only form I've REALLY had trouble with was Final Xemnas. The key is to try and survive that initial Reversal/Reflect segment. Once you get past that, it's pretty easy to alternate between a Session limits and Limit Form, using Ethers whenver you get the chance. Also helps to equip Potions to Riku, so he can help you out in this fight!