Playing one of your favorite titles once again requires no greater justification than remembering the old days, but I found a compelling reason to venture into Kingdom Hearts again. The work of Squaresoft It impressed me like few others and I know every single moment of Sora, Donald and Goofy’s journey by heart, so I decided to add the extreme difficulty factor to the formula.
No, completing the action RPG in Expert mode is not enough, so I remembered that there is a skill called Experience 0 and that leaves no room for doubt. Indeed, once you activate it, the protagonist will not receive a single point after defeating the enemies, which locks you into level 1 for the rest of the game. Best of all, this is a unique condition in the Expert category, the most difficult of all, so I am facing the most complex challenge for any player.
Once the context is established, we must understand that the way of playing Kingdom Hearts Under these circumstances it is completely different. Strength and Defense are useless, as Sora’s HP barely increases and the damage caused by the current Keyblade is minimal. Thus, the element of Magic becomes the greatest ally, so it is necessary to focus on becoming a true beast that would make the Hogwarts teachers look ridiculous.
Just startI choose the staff over the sword and shield, giving up the latter because it is actually worthless. I want to activate Experience 0 as soon as possible, but I can’t because I have to wait for the title to tell me in the tutorial how to open the menu, which makes me make my first mistake. It is essential to battle a couple of groups of Heartless and this leads to me going up to level 2, but it is an improvement that completely languishes before the mountain that I am going to have to climb. So, my real challenge is set from this point.
Because I have a good handful of hours watching speedrun players, I know certain stratagems and ways to advance as quickly as possible. In a short time I find myself in Tarzan’s world without too many problems, since the enemies I encounter up to that point do not have a significant power scale compared to the main trio. It is worth mentioning that both Donald and Goofy don’t level up eitherso everything is equal, but desperation demoralizes me in the fight against Clayton.
My tender 8 year old self wanted to throw the PS2 controller out the window for not being able to take down the Stalker and the evil hunter. This confrontation is considered a major difficulty spike in Kingdom Hearts and believe me, with level 2 the difference is very noticeable. That prehistoric trauma came back to invade me with thoughts that none of this would be worth it, especially considering that Clayton is one of the few rivals who can be cured with Potions. However, based on perseverance and being clear that air combos are faster than ground combos, I managed to do it by adopting a cautious and defensive attitude that will accompany me in the rest of my adventure.
A key detail is that Sora’s HP with 0 Experience is reduced to 1 point with any hit, so there is no way to die from a single hit. This help is fulfilled as long as the VT is full, but it alleviates the risks when approaching to hit. On the other hand, the damage to bosses is greater so that the fights do not last too long; It is not a transcendent advantage, but it is a welcome boost. Even with everything, The Keyblade is still my greatest offensive source and magic continues to be relegated to the background, especially healing.
Once again, progressing isn’t too problematic, beyond entering some repetition loops. Lock, Shock and Barrel were tedious, as was Cave of Wonders and Captain Hook, although without reaching the point where Stalker and Clayton kept me going. The real touchstone was Maleficent in his dragon form, because another childhood trauma wanted to hit where it hurts most. I realized that I would have to be extremely careful, use Tink, and time very well to have a chance of surviving, but it was too much.
There had to be some way to take advantage of the magic, a strategy I was overlooking, so I dove into the Internet forums to discover a discovery that revolutionized my game. Activating Experience 0 in Kingdom Hearts, but Damage Storage is enabled, a peculiar condition that, taking advantage of it, makes things much easier. As of today, it is not clear if this is a Squaresoft error or a parameter that was actually taken into account, but it consists of the following: after achieving a finish in a combo, any magic damage or damage caused by a summon will be multiplied by two. The result is that you can become an unstoppable torrent if you know how to calculate your movements very well.
The main problem is that if I attack again with the Keyblade and use techniques like Last Arcana, the effect disappears. Now, armed with this knowledge, Maleficent takes a breath that lasts an instant. Many have nightmares about the second battle against Riku, possessed by Ansem, and it is no wonder. Although Kingdom Hearts Final Mix allows you to skip the scene, it’s torture to face a guy who barely leaves any breathing room and interrupts attacks, but you have to include the factor that Sora fights alone and Magic doesn’t have much of an impact. It’s a fight with Keyblades and I almost tore my hair out getting through it, although I’m very encouraged to think that the final credits are almost there.
Once Hollow Bastion is history, it’s the End of the World. The most dreamlike and disturbing scenario of all Kingdom Hearts It has the most difficult challenge of the entire experience at level 2 and I am not referring to the fights against Ansem. No, in reality it all comes down to the Crossing of Worlds, a medieval torture that would make anyone lose their minds. A Behemoth, countless Invisibles, an infinite number of dark and infernal Balls Angelic Stars in a relentless tide that is impossible to overcome with the face of a dog.
I have no choice but to resort to a guide that tells what to do, but from saying to doing there is a distance. The power of Magic in Kingdom Hearts It is determined by the number of blue blocks Sora’s bar contains, so I head to other worlds to get as many upgrades as possible. Need increase the effectiveness of Gravity, get a Keyblade that increases Magic and add more power to Summons. To do this, I overcome the Fil Cup in the world of Hercules, I get Last Resort in Wonderland and complete the Hundred Acre Wood minigames with the best possible scores.
A series of tedious secondary tasks, but they significantly push me in the direction I need. Now, I return to the Crossing of Worlds to fit in a very precise sequence of movements. I get rid of the Behemoth easily by making sure I have Damage Storage activated, after which I immediately summon Dumbo to blast the Dark Balls with his water jet. Sora is immune while he’s in the hat, which is a relief, though not as much as what’s coming at him. I have to kill the first round of Invisibles with a millimetric combination between Stop+ and Gravity+, which becomes a titanic task. Any failure forces me to restart the entire process, but I am far from finished.
After destroying them, I place myself at the north end of the room, summon Simba and charge his attack to the maximum, praying that no one hurts me. If I do it right four times in a row, I kill off several waves to end up with the biggest ordeal of all. From this point on, Ansem seems like a very funny joke that I beat to stop the timer above 17 hours. Here I leave you my final statistics after completing the title.
I can’t play anymore Kingdom Hearts, the reasons to revisit the game of my life are over. I have squeezed it to such a point that I will have to leave it fallow for years, but I know what my limit is. I have overcome difficult challenges in video games and this is one of the most special of all. I have seen Sora lose hundreds of times, I have continued forward and finally managed to reach the goal. In the end it turns out that the key was courage.
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