Hi, Im Kaci. I play too much Kingdom Hearts. If you've got questions, I've got answers.

theme credit

KH 0.2: Zodiac Aqua Guide (Objective 42)

Honestly this may be my favorite boss fight since Lingering Will.  It’s remarkably difficult, but in a “you know what you did wrong” sort of way.  There’s a little bit of chance at play, but I fully expect this is beatable without taking a single hit.  To win, you need to know what you’re doing, and you need to do it well.  It’s the sort of fight that teaches you how to play this game properly.

To open the mirror, you’ll need the twelve zodiac pieces hidden in chests around the game.  These only appear in your second play through, so don’t bother looking for them your first time through.

Once you enter the mirror, you’ll have to fight a Darkside, a room of elemental heartless, a room of shadows/neoshadows/bats, and a Demon Tower.  Dying does not kick you back to the start, so you can keep bashing your head against these guys until you win.  They are no different than their story-mode counterparts, except that the Darkside spawns extra Heartless.  If you’re at level 80 - which you need for another objective anyway - these are pretty trivial even on Critical.

Then the fifth and final battle: Phantom Aqua.  Just as before, she’s a hard chick to pin down.  There are only three places in the entire fight I could find to actually get some serious damage on her.  But we’ll get to that.

They key thing in this fight is Aqua’s new red-ribbon attacks.  They can’t be blocked, so you need to cartwheel away.  This really breaks the strategy for the story-mode Aqua fight.  At all times, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you should be cartwheeling.  If you need a second to collect your thoughts and think about what to do next, cartwheel.

Never jump.  Never air slide.  Don’t bother locking on - she teleports too much.  She will often start her attacks in front of your camera so you can read her movements.

Phase 1:

Her red attacks come in many forms, but the most common you’ll see is her 3 hit combo.  This comes in two speeds (0:36 and 0:42).  It sounds complicated, but you’ll get used to it very quickly.  Cartwheeling usually avoids this.

She also uses red attacks as finishers for certain moves, such as her teleporting strike where she does like 15 hits.  If you get caught in this combo, you will get knocked down to 1 health, but you won’t die.  The red attack counts as part of the combo so Once More will save you.  If you get hit, prepare to cast Curaga or use a Potion the second she finishes her attack.

She also has a system of basic attacks that can be blocked.  When she teleports twice, she’s about to use a basic attack.  Blocking and countering can get you a little extra damage and keep your combos going.  Though this isn’t really worth the trouble, getting used to blocking basic attacks is important for landing a combo against her teleport strike.  It’s worth practicing.

So let’s talk about damage.

In phase 1, there are three ways to get damage.  The first we discussed: countering a two-teleport attack (0:33).  But that won’t land you a combo.

The easiest way is to wait until she’s walking (2:08).  This is a typical attack in her arsenal.  Often, she will simply start walking slowly around the room, but when you attack her she teleports away and uses a red attack on you.  However, dodging this three times leaves her open to a combo.  In short:

Aqua is walking > Attack > Dodge > Attack > Dodge > Attack > Dodge > Attack.  

The fourth attack will connect, allowing you to pull off two combos.  This sounds hard, but it isn’t.  The window for hitting her is pretty lenient.  Before the second combo, make sure not to jump or move forward - simply hitting X again will reach her (2:19).  After the second combo, make sure to cartwheel away or she will hit you with another red attack (2:22).  This should be done for every combo.

The final way to do damage is to wait until she starts her teleport strike and block it.  These can be dodged with cartwheel, but you should learn to read her movements.  She will come out of nowhere, do one fast strike, and disappear (0:18).  You’ll probably dodge this one.  Then she will do it again.  And again.  At this point you should recognize that this is the teleport strike and block it.  If you do, she will continue to hit your shield.  Wait until she stops, which signifies her finisher is coming (0:24).  Use Counter (X) and her red move will go right through you.  This is because Counter has an invincibility frame.  Now she’s open to a two-combo attack.  Remember not to jump and remember to dodge afterward.

A lot of this is timing.  A lot of this is trial and error.  And a lot of it is learning the fight.  Don’t feel frustrated if you are having trouble.  Soon it will be second nature to you.

Phase 2 (1:15 & 3:13):

Just like story-mode Aqua, she goes into Spellweaver and unleashes hell.  But there’s good news!  Unlike story-mode, her attacks are completely predictable and always the same.

This transformation happens twice in the fight.  Once, after she loses about two and a half bars of health, and once more when she has about two and a half bars left. (I did this on Critical so she might have different health in other difficulties?)

The first thing she does is appear in your camera (thankfully) and shoots orbs at you.  Except these orbs are red.  Yep.  That means they can’t be blocked.  You’ll want to cartwheel to avoid these orbs three times.

Then you get a second of peace.  If you got hit by the orbs, this is when you should cast Curaga.  

After what feels like an eternity of suspense, she’ll use a combo that will drop you down to 1HP.  Timing is key here.  I actually started to count down, since the duration between her orbs and this attack is always the same.

Then she teleports away a few times and does the same attack again.  Whether or not you got hit by the first one, block this one immediately!   You do not have time to heal and block the next attack.

Once this attack ends, block again immediately.  She will do one final attack where copies of herself zoom in at you.  Then they fire red orbs.  Counter to invincibility through this.  Timing is hard on this one, because if you counter too early the orbs will hit you (like me 1:28).  If you counter too late, you can’t block the next attack.

Right after you counter, block again.  She attacks you eight times.  If you miss this block, you won’t die unless you’re at 1 HP.  Then she uses a wall of red orbs.  Cartwheel forward to dodge.

Finally, she starts the icy spinning vortex finisher.  If you need to heal, do so.  Make your way to the center of the room.  Once her three selves slow to a stop and start rushing in toward, you, cartwheel backwards, towards the camera, and then cartwheel again forwards toward the Aquas.  If you timed this right, it won’t hit you.  If you are having trouble with it, cartwheel three times instead of two.

In this moment, she is open to another 2-combo.  And congratulations, you finished Phase 2!  

In summary:
Dodge > Dodge > Dodge > wait about 3.5 seconds > Block > Block > Block > wait about half a second > Counter > Block > Dodge forward > wait until the spinning stops and comes into the middle > Dodge out > Dodge in > X to attack

(I do this almost perfectly 3:13, except I dodge out a little too early 3:35)

After each Phase 2 change, she will use Blizzaga (1:47).  She summons eight balls of ice.  Heal before this if you need to.  Time your block to defend the first four, then time your block again to defend the second four.  During this time, Aqua will either attack you quickly with a basic attack (which is cool because that extends your block!) or she will hit you with a red attack.  You won’t die - just heal afterward.

Then back to Phase 1.  Then Phase 2 again.

Phase 3:

Phase 3 begins after the second Phase 2 and is exactly like Phase 1 with three exceptions: she casts Blizzaga whenever she wants, she no longer walks, and she does this stupidly unpredictable circle attack (4:25).

Cartwheel saves you a lot of the time, just like in Phase 1, but the only real way to do damage is with the teleport-strike counter tactic.  Or get lucky.  Hopefully, if you pulled off the second Phase 2 combo, you should only need one more solid hit on her until she’s beaten.

And there you have it!  Wow, long guide…

Other Notes:

You’ll see I actually avoid going into Spellweaver (2:33).  This is because Spellweaver’s Counter doesn’t lend itself to getting a combo - the animation is too long.  I find it easier to stick to one control scheme and Spellweaver makes Aqua’s movements less refined.

Shotlocks can be useful when Aqua is walking and almost nowhere else in the fight.  I found the dodge/combo trick to be more reliable than shotlocks, especially because you might not always have Focus when she starts to walk.  But it’s up to you!

On Critical, you only get three items the entire fight.  Use them wisely!  I recommend Megalixirs and Elixirs since they fill your magic bar and health bar.

The last three minutes may have been the most suspenseful moment of my life. XD  It shouldn’t have taken as long as I took and it shouldn’t cost as many potions.  I just kept making stupid decisions, like not attacking after the first time I hit her, or cartwheeling when I should have been blocking.

HOPE THIS HELPS!! 

<3 KCM

KH 0.2 - Guide for Objectives 31 & 41 - Phantom Aqua

Objective 31: Queen of the Rink - perform Spellweaver’s Finisher
Objective 41: Flawless Victory - take no hits from Phantom Aqua round 3

This fight is a demonstration in patience.  Aqua’s block basically guarantees that you’ll never get hit if you get the timing right, with one or two exceptions.  Her teleports all have unique animations and you’ll quickly learn to read her movements to determine when to block (0:11).  The game gives a generous amount of time for her block animation so you can hit it at the last second or way too early and still find yourself in good shape.  After ever block, you should counter.  She disappears too fast to wait out the animation.

Other than her teleport strikes, she has three main abilities you’ll want to avoid.

Blizzaga creates a series (I want to say six or eight) huge elemental spike balls that she will throw at you.  These can be blocked, but they can also dodge roll out if you get the timing right.  Basically, the second they should do damage to you,  you should cartwheel away.  Luckily, she only seems to use this specific ability /after/ using Spellweaver.  Chances are, you won’t even have to deal with Blizzaga.

Her phantom images are the second ability (0:22).  When she gently walks toward you, you can either hit her or wait a few seconds, then she will split into many copies of herself.  There are two ways to handle this.  You can lock on and search for the real one - who has a greater health bar - or you can just cast Thundaga and move on with the fight.  If you can find her you’ll get a great combo, but if you don’t you risk losing the arrows you are trying to build up for Spellweaver.  To keep the fight moving, I usually just use Thundaga.

Lastly is her Spellweaver finisher (0:31).  She turns into three versions of your Spellweaver finisher and spins around you.  When she slows down, she comes into the middle.  You can block and counter, but I find cartwheel out and back in again gives you an almost guaranteed combo (0:36).  This is the attack you want her to use - it’s easy to dodge and it guarantees at least two finishers.

Now for the strategy.  If you’re going for Objective 31, you can start with a Shotlock while she transforms (0:08).  If you’re going for Objective 41, a Shotlock at the start puts you too open to being attacked.  

Stay in the middle of the room.  Block everything until she uses one of her special moves.  If you get hit, don’t give up right away.  Practice getting your block timing down.  When she uses a special like Spellweaver, then just take the death and Retry.

When she finally uses Spellweaver, follow the instructions above to land a combo.  Once you finish the first combo, let her hit the ground (0:42).  If you try to attack her again before she hits the ground, she’ll teleport away.  After she touches down, unload another combo.  Assuming you got a few block counters on her, this should give you enough to activate Spellweaver.  She’ll disappear after this and launch into a new attack.

Conveniently, the chance is extremely high of her using her Spellweaver finisher right after you change into Spellweaver (0:47)!  This is exactly what you want to happen.  Rinse and repeat the actions above and you’ll max out your Spellweaver to use your finisher, granting you Objective 31!  Whoo!  Good job!

There is a caveat to this, however.  On Critical or Beginner, too many counters will lower her health too much for you to get the finisher off before you kill her.  I really recommend you do Objective 31 on Normal or Proud, since there’s more room for error.  If you’re doing it on Critical, I recommend using block without counter for the first few teleport strikes.

If you are working on 31 and 41 at different times - which I highly recommend you do - then you can use any time you get hit to land a good combo before she disappears.  Block’s animation takes too long and she vanishes, but without block you can get some hits on her after a few specific teleports.

Objective 41, however, you should do on Beginner or Critical - I recommend doing it on your Critical playthrough for Objective 51.  Because you never get hit, the damage taken is irrelevant for Objectives 41 and 47.  You also do significantly more damage on Beginner and Critical, which means the fight is over much faster.

Alright!  That’s it!  If you have any questions or anything send me a message!

~*Follow for more KH guides!*~

KH 0.2 - Guide for Objective 47 - Darkside

Objective 47: Keeper of the Orb - take no hits during the Darkside fight

This guy can be really frustrating, but he requires more luck than skill.  When the fight starts, the path leading up to him is bombarded with dark orbs (0:08).  When they hit the ground, they leave a black puddle and a ball of spikes forms in the middle of it.  The puddle doesn’t hurt you, so don’t worry about that, but you’ll get hit many times just on the way to the boss himself.  If this happens, it’s best to run into more spikes and die to reset.

I recommend not jumping if you can help it.  The longer you stay in one area of the path, the more orbs start to fall in that section.  You want to get to the end of the path as quickly as possible so that there are statistically less orbs to deal with.  Jumping breaks your momentum so only use it if it’s necessary.

Once you get to the Darkside, the orbs stop falling.  His hands are his weak points - pick one and start wailing on it.  After one or two combos, he will do one of two attacks that you will recognize from every other KH game:

Dark Pool (1:12): an orb of light will appear in his hand and he will punch it downward into the ground, creating a pool where Shadows will spawn.  You can’t touch the orb of light, you can’t be on the ground when he punches down, and you can’t let the Shadows overwhelm you.  I’ve died more than once to some errant Shadow getting in a cheap shot when I was attacking the hand.  My recommendation is to spam Thundaga three times, resetting your MP.  You won’t need healing for the Objective anyway.  If you hit every Shadow, this will give you the Thundaja finisher, dealing half a health bar of damage to the Darkside.

Missiles (0:35): he will kneel down and shoot three waves of missiles out of his chest.  Get some distance and block, which will deflect the missiles back at him.  After the third wave, go back to attacking his hand.

After the Darkside performs one of these attacks, he will rain the orbs back down on you (0:53).  When this phase ends, he will use the attack he didn’t use the first time.  Rinse and repeat.

When the Darkside gets to 2 and two thirds health bars, he will absorb the power of the orb above him.  His hands will no longer be targetable - only his head.  That’s how you know he is switching to Phase 2.  Luckily, he finishes out his attack before he switches phases, giving you more time to do damage to him if he’s in the middle of casting Missiles, Dark Pool, or the rain of orbs.

Phase 2 is incredibly erratic and very hard to dodge.  That’s why I advise you to kill him before this phase happens.  That’s where your Shotlock comes in.

Strategy.  Don’t hesitate.  During the orb phases, just attack as much as possible.  You’ll probably get hit with an orb about 40-50% of the time and have to restart, but avoiding them for 5 minutes only to get hit by something else isn’t worth the time or energy.  When Missiles start, block.  When Dark Pool happens, Thundaga.  If you get to Spellweaver, use it immediately.

If you push him into his third health bar - where he is about to begin Phase 2 - give him a second to start his next attack.  Do as much damage as you can, then cast all of your Thundagas, all of your finishers (except Spellweaver - it can take a long time and he is invincible in Phase 2) and then Shotlock the last two bars of health before he goes invincible.  And bam.  Done.

You’ll notice in the video I use Spellweaver finisher near the end there.  I was trying to use Thunder, actually. ^_^;  Oops.  But luckily he was still well into the animation of Dark Pool and it worked in my favor!

As with Objective 41, I really recommend Critical or Beginner for this fight.  The more damage you do, the less time there is to make a mistake.  Proud mode takes a very long time and Normal isn’t that much better.  Because you aren’t taking damage, how hard the Darkside hits doesn’t matter.

Alright!  That’s it!  If you have any questions or anything send an ask!

~*Follow for more KH guides!*~

after 'finishing' fragmentary passage, I imagine this conversation took place at some point.
Minnie: And then your shirt just... dissolved.
Mickey: Yep, dissolved.
Minnie: Into nothing.
Mickey: Into nada.
Minnie: Just like that.
Mickey: *snaps his fingers* Just like that!
Minnie: ...
Mickey: ...
Minnie: You know if you don't like the clothes I pick out for you, you can just say so.
Mickey: WHAT NO MINNIE THAT'S ACTUALLY WHAT HAPPENED
Minnie: What's actually happening is you can buy your own clothes from now on, mister.

Yen Sid: “You lost all your powers.”

Sora: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yen Sid: “…it’s sort of a big deal.”

Sora: “This happens literally every year.”

Is anyone else annoyed with how Yen Sid handwaved Kairi away?  Like, Sora and Riku both had no formal training with the keyblade, and here they are saving the worlds every 20 seconds.  Mickey trained under Yen Sid, who was a keyblade master himself.  Aqua, Terra, and Ven trained under a keyblade master too.  But Kairi and Lea are sent away to Merlin?  I’m so tired of everyone treating Kairi like a secondary character!  She’s a Princess of Heart and she’s acting as her own Guardian of Light!  Give her a serious role.

Okay but if the Wayfinder style isn’t just the best representation of how badass two keyblade masters can be when they work together.