Fun Fact: During the final Terranort fight, when he's doing the DM, if you can reach Terra WITHOUT hitting him, a button prompt will appear allowing you to use a variant of Trinity Limit. Using it when he's at low health can end him pretty handily.
@@rodanandme I've never played Birth By Sleep for myself, but reaching Terra and using Trinity Limit is the only way I've seen this fight completed until now (actually it still is because I haven't finished watching the video yet lol)
Holy shit just two hours ago I was like "those kh2 without keyblades combos videos are fun someone should do it with the command deck games" and then I find this. Great video
@@OtterWithAController re:coded has a lot less mechanics and unless you play at below lvl 16 the difficulty is rether low, not no mention the alternative gameplay style, Olympus Colluseum sounds like a nightmare without comands.
people shit too much on terra in my opinion he always had insane damage and i never had much of an issue beating young xehanort as him with a bunch of thundersurges equipped
@@superarcade643 honestly i agree with you about people shiting on terra too much (hell he's my favorite bbs character to play) but i still feel like he's the hardest to play out of the three due to the game heavily favouring magic builds (which terra is not very good at)
@@ultimatelydragonic3757 Honnestly outside of his final boss he has the easiest story, where he fall is for the superbosses, his lack of an infinite i-frames dodge is really doing a diservice to him compare to the 2 others, outside of the superbosses tough it's not to bad and he has the highest damage output out of the 3.
i feel like FF7R would have been so much better if the fight system was more free like kh was it just feels like a weird amalgamation of the original gameplay and kh gameplay struck together i never had much fun with it
@@superarcade643 its definitely more action oriented than the mediocre mix in the KH games. i prefer ff7r only because it committed to one style more than the others and the rpg elements felt more pronounced. KH always felt like it didn’t know whether it wanted to be a full action game or a full on RPG game. Felt kinda half baked to me. I think KH 1 was probably the closest at actually mixing both action and the RPG stuff. I think the enemy design mechanically is what made that mix strong
This video unironically made me go and play through the entirety of aqua, ven and terra's playthrough within four days. So thanks for making me actually enjoy birth by sleep.
I didn't mention it because I had to cut it for time, but that fight had the potential to be the hardest. I had totally forgotten that - because the gimmick of that fight is using Dark Impulse- you can't actually gain Heal Strikes. Any time you max out the Command Gauge, you just enter Dark Impulse again, meaning I had to do the entire thing without healing a single time, lol. I got lucky during like my 15th or 16th attempt, and Eraqus just sort of played nice. But still. I was a bit worried that was gonna kill the entire run, lol.
Ahh okay. So it's kind of like the energy blades Eraqus summons, where if you can find the right spot, you can block them all, but if you don't, some might sneak through. Gotcha!
Honestly, purely because there are so many options in the game that - like I said somewhere in the middle - I just forgot it existed, lol. Definitely would've helped, though that might've actually made it far too easy.
@@LibraScope There is also the Block that gives you back Focus gauge, really usefull to spam shotlocks more, I remember using this Block a lot on my LV1 run on PSP version (where there wasn't any boost and last bosses could take up to 20 minutes, don't ask how I got the patience to do that when I was a kid certainly wouldn't have that patience today XD).
1:09:00 Yeah, melding the healing guard would have been absolutely fantastic for all 3 characters, especially for Terra. Also, i forget it's name, but Terra's dark rush-down shotlock more consistently deals severe damage and can routinely hit Terranort through his dodges, even when compared to the projectile version. I'm still glad to see aqua shred people with prism rain, though.
im glad you found this fun to make cuz im having a blast watching (BBS was my favorite kingdom hearts game for years, i had soooo many hours in it on my PSP)
As someone who’s beat all the games on critical it’s tough at first but as long as you use all the mechanics the game has to offer it’s honestly not too bad
Definitely this. The most difficult thing about Crit is really just the lack of health, since it usually cuts your total health in half. But otherwise, in terms if difficulty it's usually the same as Proud. It pushes you to think more, but that's what makes it rewarding. On some of the games anyway, lol.
From a narrative perspective I could see why Terra, Aqua, and Ventus are so powerful. With every game except KH3 it was acknowledged that Sora was well behind the average keyblade wielder in terms of power, and you could say it showed with how even Master Form just barely matched some of the 13 with the magnitude of magic it could bring to bear. This is even more evident with the strength of Boss Roxas and Lingering Will. Of course, the problem is in gameplay the power scale of TVA is still relatively low when it comes to commands. Only their ultimate commands are able to match most of Vanitas' and Eraqus' techniques, and its pretty telling that Terranort almost exclusively uses ultimate commands to begin with. The commands themselves are balanced in the complete opposite way they should be, and if they just couldn't have shorter reload time, and the ultimate shotlocks went off faster along with I-frames I could see the game having had a much more favorable reception.
@@boyishdude1234 Perhaps, but there are plenty of valid criticisms. I’d recommend checking out Bl00dybizkits’ videos regarding the Command Deck and Floaty Combat. It’d also be nice if you gave an example of a false criticism, and for “hypocritical” just make sure you aren’t making a “whataboutism” fallacy. Firstly, it’s widely acknowledged *in universe* that Sora is a below average wielder that succeeds through the Power of Ganking, and I was just thinking about how that is and could better be reflected in BBS’s gameplay. That said, Sora’s combat is incredibly strong, but you have to admit Sora isn’t utilizing nearly as much power as his enemies. It takes a Final Form Thundaga Finisher to match Larxene’s basic thunder techniques, and don’t even get me started on the dedicated casters. I’d say the problem with KH2’s humanoid boss fights (and KH humanoid boss fights in general) isn’t so much about Sora being overpowered that they need to make the bosses unfair, but that the bosses themselves operate in a completely different style. Bosses have one modus operandi, attack. If they gave the bosses some dodging, blocking, keep-away, combo canceling, etc. then I could see them being much more challenging without being unfair. I both agree and disagree, since as I explained above from a Playable Character to Boss perspective, he is. At the same time when Sora actually fights in cutscenes he tends to be so pathetic that it’s practically a plot hole. Back to PC vs B to best illustrate my point; Aqua vs Phantom Aqua. Supposedly Phantom Aqua is the canonical representation of how Aqua fights, as illustrated by the Anti-Aqua boss fight, but comparatively Phantom Aqua utilizes a great deal more power, using doppelgängers and teleportation which also result in a much stronger Spellweaver. I’d add the six simultaneous Blizzaga, but I feel it’s matched by Aqua’s Prism Rain to an extent. KH3 is an embarrassment in every non-superficial category.
@@boyishdude1234 “Power of Ganking” was a sardonic twist of “Power of Friendship”. Ganking is among other things, a group overwhelming a single opponent. In-Universe the reason Sora is able to succeed as well as he does is because he usually has two or three allies backing him up. You need to rewatch the video since from where I stand you’re talking out of your -. His videos focusing on the matter provide the evidence to back up his point, and he does so almost always if not without fail provide evidence when making a claim in a non-playthrough video. What you’ve said here is literally just a subjective anecdote as opposed to something objective. Doesn’t matter if you didn’t notice or mind, it’s an objective truth that in 0.2 there is a noticeably longer end-lag (without invincibility) on actions as opposed to the games before Osaka, and any elite player will tell you that on higher difficulties this can and will result in game overs that the player has little to no control over. The only time humanoid bosses cheap shot you is with revenge attacks, and that’s only a handful. Bosses always have a clear opening, and ending to standard techniques that are telegraphed as shown by various boss guides you can find on RUclips, and an example of what you’re referring to would be the Data Battles of KH3 (and Zodiac Aqua) where almost all of the bosses have techniques that only have openings while the attack is occurring. They already have quality telegraphing (as evidenced above) and gameplay retention (as evidenced by the fact that KH2 is still a thing even today). My suggestions are merely how I would effectively add challenge without making the bosses “unfair”. I would never in my life consider Dark Souls and Kingdom Hearts, with their vastly different gameplay mechanics, even remotely comparable. Your statement about the TD is another anecdote, adds nothing to the conversation, and is completely irrelevant. If you find this statement needs a qualification, or at least an explanation, then I point out it already has as much of one as your own. That is “whataboutism”, as you have no way of knowing if the critic doesn’t consider those problems as well, and just aren’t focusing on them because they’re talking about KH3, not some other game. As for the reaction commands, they are actually consistent. If the enemy does the attack that offers the reaction command, and the player is in a position to utilize it, then it will always be available with the exception of another reaction command taking priority. This, as opposed to something that can appear at any time in battle, for any enemy, without any explanation, with a random outcome. I’d recommend you check out Hyve Mind’s video on ReMind for a nearly if not full explanation on all of the flaws of KH3’s “fantastic battle system”, but on principle it is always a flaw for a player to not have control over the tools at their disposal. I’d say the fact that ReMind has the option to remove Attractions all together in favor of guaranteed formchanges shows that even Square realized it was a significant flaw. I’d like you to explain just how the DLC ruined the battle system, since everything you’ve been saying just leaves the impression that you have a fetish for inconsistent and unresponsive gameplay. Your final paragraph is all just irrelevant fangasm, so I won’t address it beyond this.
@@boyishdude1234 Wait... talking about cheap shots and praising the Taurus Demon? Could it be that you just have bad reflexes and suck at the game? Well, I can understand why you'd praise KH3 then, its bosses are absolutely pathetic even compared to KH2.
@@boyishdude1234 Taurus Demon attacks are telegraphed by a one to three second windup, and that’s my point. KH bosses require a modicum of skill and reaction time. As I mentioned before, look up any competent KH boss guide on RUclips and you’ll see every boss telegraphs every attack, with the exception of revenge attacks for less than can be counted on one hand. If you are too slow and/or inattentive to dodge or block them, then that’s your lack of skill rather than the game being unfair. I’m not surprised you praise KH3 bosses so, your eye for quality seems to be worse than blind. As to the latter part, you are correct in that some bosses are significantly harder than the ones preceding or following them, but it is with rhyme and reason. The only bosses even remotely challenging are the humanoid ones, at least until the higher difficulties kick in. Still, while I wouldn’t say it’s perfect it’s still far and away superior than what you favor. KH2 bosses are easy when you know how to play, it’s just that you clearly don’t. Also your argument on what bosses are “supposed” to be is purely subjective. No, just you. If you think the Taurus Demon, a boss with long windup times even for Dark Souls, that can be trivialized with the obvious plunging attack, and can accidentally kill itself by jumping off the bridge is superior than the bosses of Kingdom Hearts 2, then I can’t help but think you’re a kid who’s never managed to beat the game on anything harder than Beginner. You’ve openly admitted to preferring inconsistent and unresponsive gameplay, and your continuing on about “player retention” is blatantly false because KH2 is still the most frequent played Kingdom Hearts game to this very day. I’m becoming more toxic because with each sentence you’re proving to me even more that you’re one of the worst philistines I’ve ever encountered, and deserving of nothing but my contempt and condescension.
@@boyishdude1234 Not even bothering to read that, since you've already proven anything you have to say is worthless, and at this point I have better people to argue with.
So for Terranort's Meteor DM: As soon as it starts, run to one of the corners. They should never really spawn directly on the edge. Then just block the Meteors as they head towards you. Sometimes if a Meteor is extremely close it might be able to miss your block, but it shouldn't happen too often.
Hell yes, I agree with 52:45 Lost Memory is the most stylish and awesome Keyblade in the whole KH series, my favorite Key no doubt, so elegant. And congratulations on doing such a massive task! BBS is my second favorite KH, though the only challenge run I did for this one was a No Hit with Venny, this challenge was a sight to watch.
Lol, thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video. I have another for KH2 where I try to beat it without keyblade combos, and one for FFVII where I beat it without fighting random encounters if those sound interesting to you! Regardless, thanks for watching this one!
Terranort's meteor dm can be avoided by going to a corner furthest from the meteors, spamming block and praying that they fall to you fast enough that they don't hit you in recovery
The only things about this challenge that I feel you missed were the healing block abilities for all 3 characters, but I'm sure you've been told that as well as during the Secret Chapter Aqua vs Terranort is that during the weak DM there is actually a reaction command available when you get to where Terra is standing, that RC can deal a nice amount of damage if not finish the boss stupid quick. Otherwise this was an awesome video and super cool challenge.
Bro I can only say I'm happy that I found this channel. Your commentary is very good and your voice is soothing. Thank you for doing this man. Great job :)
@@LibraScope PC is coming. It could be made. 🤣👌 That fight as Lingering Will is already raw as hell, but giving that a similar thing to the Ven/Van fight would be insane. I'm more looking forward to when they crack the code and we put Form changes on the playable characters from Re:Mind (and Riku)
@@kylekiske_ Yeah, I'm pretty excited to see what modders do with the PC ports. Though that one might be a bit of a difficult ask. It'll depend on whether or not their animation rigs are actually shared with Sora. If they're not, they're likely to wig out and become an animation monstrosity without painstaking work to tweak ALL of the Formchange animations to fit their rigs.
What an interesting challenge!!! Thanks to you I decided to play this game again without using commands and it was pretty fun... The only things I changed were: 1. I used the renewal blocks/barrier instead of heal strike and 2. I used ice slide, firewheel, thunder roll and fire glide to change to different style commands without using battle commands, and that made my experience even better. Again thank you so much for the idea, I'm so glad I found this video
With the terranort fight at the graveyard, Terra's best Shotlock for that fight is actually sonic shadow because of the quick lock on and the short lock on count, and the I-frames. you can get a maxed out shotlock easier and even hit him out after the invincible period of casting meteor.
The Vanitas command style doesn't count because it's not actually a command style, it's a D-link. Though that does make me wonder, would it say your most used D-link was Vanitas if you never used any normal links as Ventus?
one thing you definitely missed, you should have used the command board at least once per character, specifically the one for cinderella's world, to get the light based shotlock, that thing is WAY OP in its own right and I'm 80% sure does extra damage to all Vanitas fights, except ven's final final form fight (the one with a pre-set deck), and the other final bosses on account of them being darkness based
There's also the Shotlocks on Stitch Board which is pretty strong to as after after the initial hit you can just mash the attacks button for a ton of extra damage.
@@nesoukkefka1741 there's other shotlocks of the mash type each chara would pick up naturally anyways, not just on the stitch board, it takes more effort to actually get the right panel and win on the stitch board, and on top of that it's not a light type which negates the main bonus of getting a light type shotlock in the first place. furthermore, no matter how fast you mash, you will not get off the same damage as you can from "excellent" timed bursts from the ragnarok style shotlocks
if i ever make this challenge, i will change it a bit because i like the combo styles. i will be able to use the 4 basic magics from the FF saga in its base level (fire, blizzard, thunder and heal)
Terranort's Meteor does have a trick, go to a side of the arena with your back against the edge, the meteors are blockable, and that way you are very likely to block them.
This was an amazingly fun video, and I'm glad to see it doing well so far! I found your channel through your KH2 No Keyblade Combos run, and since then I've listened to your fantastic KH3 and FF7 Reviews/Analyses. Your videos are always incredibly high quality, and your scripts are super well thought out. Great work and looking forward to future videos! =D
Thanks! I'm really glad you've enjoyed what you've watched, and that you were willing to try my other types of content! It's very much appreciated, because with the sudden success of these challenge videos, I'm a bit afraid that RUclips's systems won't let anything that isn't a KH video or a challenge video succeed from this point forward, lol.
@@LibraScope Absolutely - it's my pleasure! =D The way you talked in your challenge video showed that you had a really deep understanding of the game's mechanics and overall design, and so I was interested to hear more from you (plus, I wrote a six Chapter essay about KH3's storytelling and narrative design on Gamasutra, so I love to hear other people's takes on these games =P). I hate to say it, but I think that's probably a fair thing to worry about with RUclips's algorithm nowadays. The KH2 Challenge video appearing in my Recommended feed is the only reason I found your channel (funny thing is, while I watch KH discussion videos, I don't normally watch challenges, so it was odd for YT to recommend it). Still, if you can maybe use that content to direct people to your other work like you did at the end of this video, you could end up pushing the algorithm to be a little more general. Fingers crossed it doesn't end up being that rigid, though! Best of luck with it; you clearly deserve all that success and much, much more for all the hard work you've put into the channel the past six years! =)
@@OniLink99999 Six parts?! Holy cannoli, that's a lot of discussion. I searched for it, and looking through a bit, it looks rather well thought out too. It's always nice to see thoughtfulness come before fandom in such content. Particularly with games like KH, which seem to have a disproportionate amount of rants and raves that can suffocate broader discussion. Six years... lol. It is genuinely the strangest feeling to continually wake up to comments, subs, etc. Can't necessarily say it'll continue that way, obviously. But after not really experiencing that for so long, it feels surreal, lol.
@@LibraScope Oh wow, thank you very much! Yeah, it took up a *lot* of weekends haha - amazingly, someone even printed the whole thing out, which was a sight ( twitter.com/levelstorymag/status/1251924288543825920 ) =P I'm a game developer (with a particular bend towards game design and writing), so with the KH series being something I'm intimately familiar with, KH3's baffling construction seemed like a great vehicle to discuss storytelling and pacing in video games. I completely agree; you seem to either get people dismissing the series out of hand for being "Kingdom Hearts", or people giving everything a free pass because it's "Kingdom Hearts" - both perspectives stifling any constructive discussion =P I was heartened by the response to my essay though; so many people wrote to me to tell me how cathartic it was for them, which was a satisfying reaction to hear XD I bet it is! But it's clearly very well deserved - I couldn't believe how few views some of your amazing videos had! My experience with (and observation of) algorithms tells me that it'll probably continue, and likely only grow from here. The tricky part is figuring out what's best for the channel and what you want to achieve, but clearly what you're doing is working and picking up steam =) Maybe try posting about your videos on some of the subreddits or relevant forums? If it's anything like Steam (and I have no idea if it is), the more you can capitalise on your momentum, the kinder the algorithm will be to you in the long run ;) I completely understand that surreal feeling, but I'd recommend just trying to enjoy it - after all the hard work you've put in, people are now finding the channel and starting to engage with your content. And that's an awesome feeling =D
@@OniLink99999 I'm assuming 8 Bit Adventures 2 is one of your games, considering the trailers on your channel? Looks really cool! I checked out the website for it (super snazzy by the way) and noticed it mentioned console versions. The most recent dev blog implies it could be coming to PlayStation maybe? Because if so, it's definitely something I'll keep my eye on! As risky as it may be, I honestly think I'm just gonna keep doing what I've been doing with the channel. It's certainly tempting to put more emphasis on certain types of content over others. But the biggest goals with the content on the channel are still ultimately education, and attempts at civil, value-rich discussion. I want my content to continue to serve as a conduit for reflection and growth, not just fun challenges. Hopefully all the new viewers will be into that, lol.
You probably already know this, but you can initiate a trinity limit in the aqua vs terranort fight if you can get close to terra and press square when it pops up instead of hitting him. I forgot how much damage it does, though.
@@boyishdude1234 bro are you alright? That’s quite the rant as a response to “Birth by sleeps combat could be better.” I agree that grinds should be rewarded but I don’t think the reward should be basic tools. KH2s combat is very good because it is fast and responsive every fight feels fair and every time you die is because you failed to react properly and not because you didn’t have the right skill or didn’t bring enough of said skill. You can beat KH2 as a level 1 character with no magic, drive forms, or limits because the combat is mostly intrinsically based while north by sleeps combat is mostly extrinsically based with most abilities coming from the command deck and when you grind skills from the command deck you didn’t get any better at the game your numbers just got bigger.
@@boyishdude1234 Oof, you know... I was gonna actually try and converse with you about this, and explain to you why I disagree. But that last sentence is pretty darn insulting. Not really interested in discussing something like this with someone who lumps together and vilifies every counter-argument as a way to discount them, while propping up their own arguments as somehow more 'intellectually honest' and full of 'humility'. That's some pretty hypocritical cringe.
@@boyishdude1234 I mean, I accept the apology, but I still personally don't know if I want to have the discussion at this point. Because to be clear, I DON'T by any means agree with you, and - at least based on his videos on his YT channel... I don't watch streams - I also think BB is a pretty fair, honest, and level-headed mind in the KH community. Not that I get my opinions from him or anything, but I can't recall anything he's said in particular that didn't at least partially align with my own experiences, and therefore felt dishonest in some way. What that leads to is the idea that I'm not too sure we'll be able to have a fruitful discussion. If you still wanna give it a go, sure :) But at this point, I'm not confident it'll lead anywhere given the rather stark differences in our ideas.
@@boyishdude1234 I haven't watched every single one of his videos, but no, I can't honestly say that I feel like he's being 'morally reprehensible', or 'dishonest' or anything like that. I USED to find him rather abrasive and bullheaded, but I like to believe people can improve. And I feel like he has. Regardless, I have little interest in discussing the quality of his character, because even if it was demonstrably, objectively terrible, like I said, his points do generally align with my experiences with the game, even if I don't always completely agree with his conclusions. I think at times he could argue his points better, but that also comes with the territory of making very lightly scripted content, instead of drafting it all out and refining it into a final, polished essay.
@@leoleo4469 Yeah, it's Renewal. There are technically two of them; Renewal Block and Renewal Barrier, with Barrier obviously being Aqua's and Block being Ventus' and Terra's.
For the final Vanitas fight as Ventus, you're actually supposed to use your command or Shotlock after he's already started using his, not before. Whenever he uses his Shotlock or starts rushing around with Dark Spiral, you can fire off a Dark Spiral or one-hit Shotlock on him to start a clash even if he's been using his move for a few seconds already. Both moves work on either of his moves. Dark Splicer similarly doesn't really do anything if you use it offensively, but if you wait for him to start using his and then use it yourself, then it starts the QTE where you outspeed him.
As for why it doesn't show up as a Command Style, it's because it's a D-Link. If you didn't use any other D-Links as Ventus, you'd see that you used Vanitas once.
So you can actually enter some command styles with all 3 Characters (Possibly not Terra) Ventus can get an ability called Thunder Roll, and all it takes is a lvl 4 Thundaga and lvl 4 Dodge roll, and it does thunder damage to enemies. Combine that with normal attacks, then you can actually go into the Thunderbolt Command style. It also allows you to get the Superglide Ability in Disney town, since the attacks from (GO PIKACHU, USE) Thunderbolt activate the generator at the bottom of the ladder. Terra could also get one, since he can also get a sort of "Dark Dash" By combining Dark Haze and something else, but the Command style for Dark Commands is a level 2 Command style, so it may not be possible. And Aqua can get an ability called Fire Cartwheel (Firaga Lvl 4 and Cartwheel Lvl 4,) Which gives her the Firestorm Command Style. Just wanted to add this, since these command styles are pretty good, and hopefully I can experiment with Terra a little more to see if he can get anything else.
Oh, you're right! I so rarely use them because of the lack of i-frames, that I totally forgot they do that. That would give every character access to like a couple Command Styles. Darn, I wish I'd have thought of that :D
Since it's a fire attack, Firewheel also does extra damage (1.25x) to the Ice Colossus in OC while still giving you some s if you time it right (and as a bonus it also lets you safely no-brain the buckle bruisers, no timing required).
By the time we get to the KH3 version of this challenge, we're really gonna have to nitpick what counts as "using your Keyblade" with all the transformations and stuff lol.
Yeah, lol. That game's definitely gonna be one where it'll probably have to be a completely different challenge. Doing nothing but spamming elemental missiles doesn't sound particularly fun, lol.
@@boyishdude1234 Lol, don't worry about it. I know KH3's combat perfectly well myself :) I think one of the problems with KH3 comes down to the Pro Menu stuff. It's kind of like I said in the BBS video, where plenty of people have already done insane stuff like beating every challenge at Level 1 with all of the Pro Menu stuff active. And since the Pro Menu literally has options to disable things like Formchanges, Shotlocks, Links, etc., I suspect instead enjoying the video, I'd just get a lot of whining "Ugh! This is OBVIOUSLY possible, because it's in the Pro Menu!". comments from people who want to be smart about it. So my preference would be finding something that is an organic, self-imposed challenge, that can't be replicated with in-game options alone; you'd have to do it yourself, for yourself.
@@boyishdude1234 Yeah, I tried it when the Pro/EZ menus released, and it was terribly boring. What is supposed to be enjoyable about having nothing but basic pokes all game? There were really only two options that stood out as interesting. The option that keeps your stats at level 1, because that allows for Level 1 runs that still allow you to get the ABILITIES gained from level ups. Sounds like a good way to make Level 1 a bit more interesting. And then there is the EZ menu option that makes both the player and the enemies do triple damage or whatever. Could actually make for fun Crit playthroughs, because you'll absolutely wreck everything, but more or less always die in one hit. I discuss them at pretty great length in my Re:Mind/Crit review video, including much more interesting options they could've given us instead.
@@boyishdude1234 I mean, the changes WEREN'T 'objectively' awful, but to each their own. I also think the Pro and EZ menus deserve to exist; they're a great idea. They were just clearly not thought through, and so they don't afford players any interesting options to play around with.
Tested with original english psp release, basic/physical attack damage was upped and mysterious figure's magnet pendulum attack is now escapable in final mix, the mirage arena lost the ability to connect and play with and against with other people and was nerfed beyond a sad joke, oh and made all the unity/mirage arena commands completely worthless and loadout mixing goneski in the ports. Let's hope the pc release restores the mirage arena to its former glory, and 6 man free for all pvp returns! \o/ Don't go in underleveled, the stat difference is noticable.
Imagine Dream Drop Distance without commands, although I think the DDD combo is better than BBS, more than half of the common opponents have super armor
So, with ventus in the castle of dreams, you can use the balls of yarn to defeat enemies relatively easily, which is a great way to grind! Of course, you probably didn’t use that method because it’s pretty cheesy and doesn’t make the game more fun or challenging in any way.
in the damage scenario, lvl 1 might actually be easier than normal critical, because lvl 1 does give you damage scaling, if not better damage scaling. One of the examples that shows how strong is the peter pan D link shredding 5 hp bars off the final fights for all characters.
Yeah, someone else mentioned that a few days ago. I suspect it definitely would've made the early game easier. But by the end I was doing enough damage that I was doing fine. It's a good point though, for sure :)
the shotlock during vanitas’ fight at the end of ventus is not luck based, you were just using it wrong. you charge up your shotlock and then you fire it right before vanitas does his attack. this will parry and counter his attack and will guarantee put you into the sequence where you have to mash x or use the left joystick. and dont worry about wasting focus either. it doesn’t go down after it reaches the max while you’re charging it up. however, to get the focus gauge back up, you will need to do some regular melee attacks since you can’t use deck commands in this challenge.
Question, did you consider Fire Wheel/Thunder Roll as Battle Commands or simply forgot they exist? Those 2 will probly trivialize both Ven/Aquas fights by giving you access to Firestorm / Thunderbolt.
Just forgot. With so many options, and nearly all of them optional, it was bound to happen. I also forgot about Renewal Block/Barrier, which also would've helped, lol.
After seeing this video, I did Terra's story up until Radiant Garden with no commands, and Cinderella portion wasnt bad when I kept doing 2 hits and no finishers on the smaller foes
@@LibraScope I just finished Terra's story, Zack's second phase, Eraqus, and the entire Xehanort fight (curse you TERRANORT!) Were the toughest out of the the bosses, Zack was hard until I remembered Ventus D-link, Second Chance, and Once More existed. Eraqus was difficult since you have to be patient, and Terranort is just painful even casually (not even Once More and Heal Strike lowed the attempt count)
Minor thing, the final battle as Ventus puts you into a Vanitas D-Link, not a command style. I didn’t know you could hit Terra-Nort in that desperation attack, I thought you had to do the Trinity Limit thing. Interesting!
Lol, I just wasn't thinking about it, since the only real difference visually is that D-Links have their portrait above your health, which I didn't notice until someone mentioned it :D I know "but story stuff" and all that, but like... I hate BBS's story, so I haven't watched the cutscenes all the way through in years, lol.
Only major strat im sad to not see showcased is how broken pans dlink is. Swordbill finisher can 1 hit ventus' final bosses. Otherwise this challenge looks great! Might need to try it
Poor Terra! XD He isn't dumb he was just rejected by Eraqus because he uses darkness which is not bad. Xehanort just tells him the truth yet he uses Terra's situation. Imagine one of your family would reject you! QwQ And Terra is just e teenager or a young adult that's why you can just better manipulate him... Similar with Riku... I'm sorry for Terra... He's a misunderstood guy... Whatever... I'm looking forward for another weird challenge! XD
Oh, don't get me wrong; I think Eraqus is a much bigger moron, a terrible influence, and the real (unintentional) villain of BBS. When even characters like the Fairy Godmother disagree with Eraqus, you know he's got some serious, obsessively prejudiced issues. But a lot of Terra's decisions are dumb not because he falls for the schemes of villains so easily, but because that logically makes no sense for his character, when he has literally been trained for his entire life to be able to sense, seek out, and destroy darkness. That's basically the only thing he knows. So to be so oblivious to darkness in these villains is painfully contrived. I think it would've worked much better had he known these characters were shrouded in darkness, but chose to go against Eraqus' teachings anyway, to learn that darkness isn't deserving of complete eradication :) Anyway, glad you liked the video!
@@boyishdude1234 Doesn't much matter, considering he'd literally spent his entire life being trained by a Light-obsessed zealot. Look at any extremely controlling religion, cult, or other type of faith-based brainwashing, and you'll easily notice just how willing people are to shore up their faith in what they know in the face of failure, rather than trying to seek out answers in places that directly contradict said faith. Him suddenly choosing to effectively go "Yeah, despite all this brainwashing from a man who seems to love me, and the likelihood that my friends will abandon me for exploring darkness... I'm gonna go try darkness.". Psychologically based on his situation, Terra should be blaming himself and doubling down his own search for light, not immediately forsaking all those teachings. Considering he continues to get 'balance is the answer' from Disney characters like the Fairy Godmother, I'd argue it would've made more sense for him to lash out at Xehanort for his beliefs, only to then grow confused over time as both good Disney characters and villains tell him that total obsession with Light is unhealthy. It would even make his fight with Eraqus more meaningful and logical, because it would not only feel like Eraqus is betraying Ven, but has also chosen to shelter and control Terra/Aqua all this time. It would actually lead to a significantly more nuanced conclusion related to Xehanort, by cementing his ideas as solid, but his obsession and actions as ultimately the thing that makes him evil, just like Eraqus. EDIT: Also, I should clarify since that sounds like it contradicts my previous statement about how I think Terra should've gone against Eraqus's teachings; I think he should start by trying to stick to those teachings, and EVENTUALLY turn against Eraqus's obsession with Light. Reject Darkness, learn it's not all bad, and then feel betrayed by Eraqus for sheltering him. Only to then kill Eraqus for trying to kill Ven, and feel both justified in it, and understand that going in the opposite direction like Xehanort isn't any smarter... that balance really IS the key.
1:02:20 just a correction you can actually just use a few points in your shot lock to finish him off every time. your shotlock will clash with all his abilities except the dark splicer one.
i did something similar to this but i allowed the use of items. since i didnt count those as command attacks. so my command deck was essentially my item deck.
Definitely not a bad idea, because that would also allow the use of icecreams, which could be fun with the added weight of being the only way to enter Command Styles.
What about a challenge where the controls are changed for example X is d pad down, square is d pad left, circle is d pad right and triangle is d pad up (I just thought it would be "fun").
How about a challenge in which you play through Fire Emblem Awakening (on Hard Mode preferably) without using second seals or using the pair up mechanic
You don't need to charge the shot lock all the way to collide attacks with vanitas you can literally release it immediately and it will collide with any of his attacks it's how I beat him on my level one run
Yeah, lol. Honestly I don't know why I wasn't thinking about trying that earlier. Probably just because I was so desperate to NOT have to do the previous battle again, that it kind of put me off of experimenting too much. But since I didn't think I had enough Focus on that final shot to get the full Shotlock, I just sort of said screw it and it worked, lol. Definitely should make the battle much easier done that way.
I would highly reccomend doing Chain of memories without sleights. Especially if its recom, im unsure about standard but on proud mode it adds a whole new level of challenge when you cant break it with sleights It gave me alot of respect for chain of memories
Not a bad idea. That's actually how my first two or so playthroughs of that game went anyway, because I hated the idea of losing the first card of every Sleight, lol.
@@LibraScope i think it would make a rather interesting video. But if you've done that unintentionally in the past i could understand if you wouldnt want to
@@Jaye_The_Gaye I mean, I obviously can't promise anything, but there's no reason not to try. Though a lot of these ideas never get past the testing phase, because they end up much less interesting to talk about in a video than it initially seems. You might be surprised at how many ideas I've had that I'm like "Oooh! This is gonna be fantastic!", and then two hours of testing later, I'm bored out of my mind because none of the mechanical elevation I thought would happen, actually happens, lol.
@@LibraScope if you do a challenge run of recom I recommend no zeroes + level 1 (AKA level up CP but never use above base CP). Best challenge for com/recom IMO.
I'm wondering why you didn't use a shotlock on Vanitas during his beam attack at 1:03:00. Doing so woulda put you right in a beam clash. You don't even have to max charge it, just one lock on redical will do.
I might actually do a customized version of this. Allowing a single cure, the same way kh2 has mp recharge. And also the weakest possible commands to get a style change.
@@LibraScope I'm at neverland with Terra now. Only use cure (no magic haste or reload boost, to simulate mp regen) and items, style changes are allowed by using ice creams. Been fun. I can definitely do base game. But most of arena and super bosses will be pain.
@@greyngo Oooh yeah, that's why I didn't do the super bosses... aside from all the grinding it would take to unlock a lot of them. I wish you the best of luck on them though :D
I have little doubt that some people could do it. Particularly with the extra things I missed that others have pointed out, like Renewal Block, or using things like Ice Slide/Firewheel to get into Command Styles. But I have absolutely no confidence that I could do such a thing, lol :D
@LibraScope Two things: 1) Did you not know that you can block the Meteors during the 'Lingering Will' battle? 2) Did you seriously not realize that the Aqua vs Terra-Xehanort 'DM' is an opportunity to use Dual Limit? Terra is waiting in a Trinity Spell: You don't need to hit Terra to 'escape' it. In fact, doing so is a wasted opportunity to inflict damage on the Guardian.
Well firstly, not everyone's perfect :P If something isn't communicated to me by the game, how can I know about it without just taking shots in the dark. And secondly, even if I knew about the proper use of that DM, it wasn't necessary. Was a pretty easy boss without it :)
@@Xiaolruc I also said right at the beginning that I wasn't interested in ruining the fun of the challenge by looking up solutions to all of my problems.
@@boyishdude1234 I'm not trying to argue it's bad. I'm just saying there's not much clear communication. I've already run across a few other people who didn't know there was more to it, and we can't all be 'not paying attention.
@@boyishdude1234 I mean, I've beaten BBS a lot too. It's entirely possible that you have an easier time picking up on things like that of course. But I don't think it has to do with you knowing BBS well. More than likely, you just happened to notice the prompt or whatever by chance one of the times you played through it, and have since simply remembered that's just how you're supposed to do it. I don't think it's something that's particularly complicated.
Like I said in the video, I wasn't gonna be looking anything up, because I wanted to play it organically. So honestly? I just forgot about them. Kinda glad I did though, because they would've trivialized everything, lol. Would've made the video very boring.
"Erm, actually, the final vanitas section on ven is technically a d-link. You'd know this if you look above ven's health bar because you'll see a portrait of vanitas just like the other d-links show the character portraits 🤓"
I actually had a different idea I was planning to test with DDD, which could actually end up being more interesting. But we'll see how it all works out, lol.
@@boyishdude1234 That wouldn't really be worth it. Remember, the point is to do something fun that other people can try if they feel so inclined. Kinda defeats the purpose if the challenge heavily recommends that they do a bunch of preparation work :)
There might have been another comment on this but I was curious since you were using heal strike would you not have customised renewal block / renewal barrier or was that not allowed in the challenge.
Did you count Renewal Block as a battle command?? You don’t ever have to cast Cure in order to get it and it doesn’t go in your command deck since it’s a passive ability. Technically if you equip High Jump, you could equip Renewal Block. Would make things a lot easier for all three characters with extra heals.
No, they're not considered battle commands. I honestly just forgot Renewal block and a few other options existed. Though honestly, knowing how powerful it is, Renewal Block probably would've been overkill, lol.
@@LibraScope makes total sense lol. I definitely use Renewal Block and Counter Hammer as a crutch to get Darkgnaw as soon as a finish Enchanted Dominion in my Terra runs so probably! Really great challenge though, thanks for the video.
Definitely recommended :) And several people in the comments have already brought up some other options I totally forgot about, which would certainly help, like Renewal Block.
I'm pretty sure equipping the 0 EXP ability in this game, at any level, not just level 1, makes the characters attacks scale to the worlds battle level, because this game is broken. 10 months late, but eh. I feel like this needed to be said, because It'd trivialize the entire challenge damage-wise.
I was genuinely surprised you didn't stay at level one, considering the strength boost from levels is next to nothing, and the scaling from level 1 makes Peter Pans D-Link absolutely shred every boss left in the game. Although maybe you'd consider that an exploit/speedrun strat. It was the only way I was able to beat the bosses at Lv. 1 lol. Great video though.
I honestly wasn't aware BBS scaled damage with the No EXP ability equipped, since I can't recall anyone ever mentioning it. Though I think it ultimately was a good thing, because decimating every boss with a really simple, instant-win tactic probably wouldn't have made for a good finale, lol :) Glad you liked the video!
Did you ever consider using flamewheel/thunder roll to be able to go into command styles? Do those even increase aqua and ventus’ keyblade damage? Even though I’ve gone through the whole game like 3 times, I’ve never noticed how weak base combos are for aqua and ventus lol
I think they increase damage. And I'm sure they're safer, better staggering combos as well. And Thunderbolt in particular has a style finisher that is great for mobs. But yeah, honestly with so many options, I just forgot they existed, lol.
@@LibraScope Fire Glide in particular for Ven is actually quite good against the codfish Captain Hook since whenever he gets hit by a fire attack, Hook gets stunned by the fire and allows for extra damage... Which allows free Firestorms
"Can You Beat Kingdom Hearts 2 With Only Goofy And Donald Attacking?" No, because 1. you start the game as Roxas, and 2. there are fights in the game (after the Roxas part) in which Goofy and Donald don't participate.
@@stefantherainbowphoenix i think it's fair to not count the prologue though it would still be impossible yea, also doesn't sora gotta get the finisher on the bosses to kill them?
Why exactly did he not use renewal block? I know he didn't abuse the peter pan d link because he didn't know same it, but renewal block is pretty much essential
I just forgot it existed, because there were so many options to choose from, and it wasn't particularly necessary. And honestly, looking at how powerful it is, it probably would've trivialized the whole run, lol :)
Fun Fact: During the final Terranort fight, when he's doing the DM, if you can reach Terra WITHOUT hitting him, a button prompt will appear allowing you to use a variant of Trinity Limit. Using it when he's at low health can end him pretty handily.
No joke this can take an entire life bar in one hit.
I didn't even knew you could just hit Terra x)
@@rodanandme
I've never played Birth By Sleep for myself, but reaching Terra and using Trinity Limit is the only way I've seen this fight completed until now (actually it still is because I haven't finished watching the video yet lol)
Holy shit just two hours ago I was like "those kh2 without keyblades combos videos are fun someone should do it with the command deck games" and then I find this. Great video
Glad to have accidentally done exactly what you were looking for :P
I feel like Re:coded would probably be the easiest one to do this challenge to, since it's much more balanced than BBS and DDD lol
@@OtterWithAController re:coded has a lot less mechanics and unless you play at below lvl 16 the difficulty is rether low, not no mention the alternative gameplay style, Olympus Colluseum sounds like a nightmare without comands.
who'd have thought terra would ever be the easiest out of the trio?
people shit too much on terra in my opinion he always had insane damage and i never had much of an issue beating young xehanort as him with a bunch of thundersurges equipped
@@superarcade643 honestly i agree with you about people shiting on terra too much (hell he's my favorite bbs character to play) but i still feel like he's the hardest to play out of the three due to the game heavily favouring magic builds (which terra is not very good at)
@@ultimatelydragonic3757 that, and many don't use the mines and surges out of a feeling they're overpowered.
@@ultimatelydragonic3757 Honnestly outside of his final boss he has the easiest story, where he fall is for the superbosses, his lack of an infinite i-frames dodge is really doing a diservice to him compare to the 2 others, outside of the superbosses tough it's not to bad and he has the highest damage output out of the 3.
No command = no think
No think = terra good
Source: me, terra-playing himbo
Man, imagine losing a run because you used break time... actually, that sounds like the funniest fail I can think of.
Lol!
If I'm being honest, there's a lot of games that should use Kingdom Hearts mechanics and gameplay
i feel like FF7R would have been so much better if the fight system was more free like kh was
it just feels like a weird amalgamation of the original gameplay and kh gameplay struck together i never had much fun with it
Xenoblade does kind of except it uses auto attack
yeah its a good mix of action and jrpg stuff
Ffversus13 looked like it was going to play like kh2. The same team was working on it as well.
@@superarcade643 its definitely more action oriented than the mediocre mix in the KH games. i prefer ff7r only because it committed to one style more than the others and the rpg elements felt more pronounced.
KH always felt like it didn’t know whether it wanted to be a full action game or a full on RPG game. Felt kinda half baked to me. I think KH 1 was probably the closest at actually mixing both action and the RPG stuff. I think the enemy design mechanically is what made that mix strong
This video unironically made me go and play through the entirety of aqua, ven and terra's playthrough within four days. So thanks for making me actually enjoy birth by sleep.
Lol, glad I could be of service.
Fun fact: Though you start in Dark Impulse for the Eraqus fight, he funnily enough has higher Dark resist.
I didn't mention it because I had to cut it for time, but that fight had the potential to be the hardest. I had totally forgotten that - because the gimmick of that fight is using Dark Impulse- you can't actually gain Heal Strikes. Any time you max out the Command Gauge, you just enter Dark Impulse again, meaning I had to do the entire thing without healing a single time, lol. I got lucky during like my 15th or 16th attempt, and Eraqus just sort of played nice. But still. I was a bit worried that was gonna kill the entire run, lol.
If you go to the corner you can block the meteors they all have to be coming from an angle that they can be blocked though
Ahh okay. So it's kind of like the energy blades Eraqus summons, where if you can find the right spot, you can block them all, but if you don't, some might sneak through. Gotcha!
I was also curious why you never got heal block that seems like it would have been very useful for this run.
Honestly, purely because there are so many options in the game that - like I said somewhere in the middle - I just forgot it existed, lol. Definitely would've helped, though that might've actually made it far too easy.
Renewal Block/Barrier I have on literally every single set of commands I have.
@@LibraScope There is also the Block that gives you back Focus gauge, really usefull to spam shotlocks more, I remember using this Block a lot on my LV1 run on PSP version (where there wasn't any boost and last bosses could take up to 20 minutes, don't ask how I got the patience to do that when I was a kid certainly wouldn't have that patience today XD).
@@nesoukkefka1741 Yeah, that's another one a couple of people have mentioned.
I was just about to ask that.
1:09:00
Yeah, melding the healing guard would have been absolutely fantastic for all 3 characters, especially for Terra. Also, i forget it's name, but Terra's dark rush-down shotlock more consistently deals severe damage and can routinely hit Terranort through his dodges, even when compared to the projectile version. I'm still glad to see aqua shred people with prism rain, though.
im glad you found this fun to make cuz im having a blast watching (BBS was my favorite kingdom hearts game for years, i had soooo many hours in it on my PSP)
Glad that you can enjoy both the game and the video so much! :D :D :D
This is an interesting challenge and while I’ll never do it some of the stuff you used could maybe help me when I play this on critical
As someone who’s beat all the games on critical it’s tough at first but as long as you use all the mechanics the game has to offer it’s honestly not too bad
Definitely this. The most difficult thing about Crit is really just the lack of health, since it usually cuts your total health in half. But otherwise, in terms if difficulty it's usually the same as Proud. It pushes you to think more, but that's what makes it rewarding. On some of the games anyway, lol.
@@LibraScope critical in KH3 is awful imo
Shotlock damage is based on your strength stat.
From a narrative perspective I could see why Terra, Aqua, and Ventus are so powerful. With every game except KH3 it was acknowledged that Sora was well behind the average keyblade wielder in terms of power, and you could say it showed with how even Master Form just barely matched some of the 13 with the magnitude of magic it could bring to bear. This is even more evident with the strength of Boss Roxas and Lingering Will.
Of course, the problem is in gameplay the power scale of TVA is still relatively low when it comes to commands. Only their ultimate commands are able to match most of Vanitas' and Eraqus' techniques, and its pretty telling that Terranort almost exclusively uses ultimate commands to begin with. The commands themselves are balanced in the complete opposite way they should be, and if they just couldn't have shorter reload time, and the ultimate shotlocks went off faster along with I-frames I could see the game having had a much more favorable reception.
@@boyishdude1234 Perhaps, but there are plenty of valid criticisms.
I’d recommend checking out Bl00dybizkits’ videos regarding the Command Deck and Floaty Combat. It’d also be nice if you gave an example of a false criticism, and for “hypocritical” just make sure you aren’t making a “whataboutism” fallacy.
Firstly, it’s widely acknowledged *in universe* that Sora is a below average wielder that succeeds through the Power of Ganking, and I was just thinking about how that is and could better be reflected in BBS’s gameplay. That said, Sora’s combat is incredibly strong, but you have to admit Sora isn’t utilizing nearly as much power as his enemies. It takes a Final Form Thundaga Finisher to match Larxene’s basic thunder techniques, and don’t even get me started on the dedicated casters. I’d say the problem with KH2’s humanoid boss fights (and KH humanoid boss fights in general) isn’t so much about Sora being overpowered that they need to make the bosses unfair, but that the bosses themselves operate in a completely different style. Bosses have one modus operandi, attack. If they gave the bosses some dodging, blocking, keep-away, combo canceling, etc. then I could see them being much more challenging without being unfair.
I both agree and disagree, since as I explained above from a Playable Character to Boss perspective, he is. At the same time when Sora actually fights in cutscenes he tends to be so pathetic that it’s practically a plot hole. Back to PC vs B to best illustrate my point; Aqua vs Phantom Aqua. Supposedly Phantom Aqua is the canonical representation of how Aqua fights, as illustrated by the Anti-Aqua boss fight, but comparatively Phantom Aqua utilizes a great deal more power, using doppelgängers and teleportation which also result in a much stronger Spellweaver. I’d add the six simultaneous Blizzaga, but I feel it’s matched by Aqua’s Prism Rain to an extent.
KH3 is an embarrassment in every non-superficial category.
@@boyishdude1234 “Power of Ganking” was a sardonic twist of “Power of Friendship”. Ganking is among other things, a group overwhelming a single opponent. In-Universe the reason Sora is able to succeed as well as he does is because he usually has two or three allies backing him up.
You need to rewatch the video since from where I stand you’re talking out of your -. His videos focusing on the matter provide the evidence to back up his point, and he does so almost always if not without fail provide evidence when making a claim in a non-playthrough video. What you’ve said here is literally just a subjective anecdote as opposed to something objective. Doesn’t matter if you didn’t notice or mind, it’s an objective truth that in 0.2 there is a noticeably longer end-lag (without invincibility) on actions as opposed to the games before Osaka, and any elite player will tell you that on higher difficulties this can and will result in game overs that the player has little to no control over.
The only time humanoid bosses cheap shot you is with revenge attacks, and that’s only a handful. Bosses always have a clear opening, and ending to standard techniques that are telegraphed as shown by various boss guides you can find on RUclips, and an example of what you’re referring to would be the Data Battles of KH3 (and Zodiac Aqua) where almost all of the bosses have techniques that only have openings while the attack is occurring.
They already have quality telegraphing (as evidenced above) and gameplay retention (as evidenced by the fact that KH2 is still a thing even today). My suggestions are merely how I would effectively add challenge without making the bosses “unfair”. I would never in my life consider Dark Souls and Kingdom Hearts, with their vastly different gameplay mechanics, even remotely comparable. Your statement about the TD is another anecdote, adds nothing to the conversation, and is completely irrelevant. If you find this statement needs a qualification, or at least an explanation, then I point out it already has as much of one as your own.
That is “whataboutism”, as you have no way of knowing if the critic doesn’t consider those problems as well, and just aren’t focusing on them because they’re talking about KH3, not some other game. As for the reaction commands, they are actually consistent. If the enemy does the attack that offers the reaction command, and the player is in a position to utilize it, then it will always be available with the exception of another reaction command taking priority. This, as opposed to something that can appear at any time in battle, for any enemy, without any explanation, with a random outcome.
I’d recommend you check out Hyve Mind’s video on ReMind for a nearly if not full explanation on all of the flaws of KH3’s “fantastic battle system”, but on principle it is always a flaw for a player to not have control over the tools at their disposal. I’d say the fact that ReMind has the option to remove Attractions all together in favor of guaranteed formchanges shows that even Square realized it was a significant flaw. I’d like you to explain just how the DLC ruined the battle system, since everything you’ve been saying just leaves the impression that you have a fetish for inconsistent and unresponsive gameplay.
Your final paragraph is all just irrelevant fangasm, so I won’t address it beyond this.
@@boyishdude1234 Wait... talking about cheap shots and praising the Taurus Demon? Could it be that you just have bad reflexes and suck at the game? Well, I can understand why you'd praise KH3 then, its bosses are absolutely pathetic even compared to KH2.
@@boyishdude1234 Taurus Demon attacks are telegraphed by a one to three second windup, and that’s my point. KH bosses require a modicum of skill and reaction time. As I mentioned before, look up any competent KH boss guide on RUclips and you’ll see every boss telegraphs every attack, with the exception of revenge attacks for less than can be counted on one hand. If you are too slow and/or inattentive to dodge or block them, then that’s your lack of skill rather than the game being unfair.
I’m not surprised you praise KH3 bosses so, your eye for quality seems to be worse than blind. As to the latter part, you are correct in that some bosses are significantly harder than the ones preceding or following them, but it is with rhyme and reason. The only bosses even remotely challenging are the humanoid ones, at least until the higher difficulties kick in. Still, while I wouldn’t say it’s perfect it’s still far and away superior than what you favor.
KH2 bosses are easy when you know how to play, it’s just that you clearly don’t. Also your argument on what bosses are “supposed” to be is purely subjective.
No, just you. If you think the Taurus Demon, a boss with long windup times even for Dark Souls, that can be trivialized with the obvious plunging attack, and can accidentally kill itself by jumping off the bridge is superior than the bosses of Kingdom Hearts 2, then I can’t help but think you’re a kid who’s never managed to beat the game on anything harder than Beginner. You’ve openly admitted to preferring inconsistent and unresponsive gameplay, and your continuing on about “player retention” is blatantly false because KH2 is still the most frequent played Kingdom Hearts game to this very day. I’m becoming more toxic because with each sentence you’re proving to me even more that you’re one of the worst philistines I’ve ever encountered, and deserving of nothing but my contempt and condescension.
@@boyishdude1234 Not even bothering to read that, since you've already proven anything you have to say is worthless, and at this point I have better people to argue with.
So for Terranort's Meteor DM: As soon as it starts, run to one of the corners. They should never really spawn directly on the edge. Then just block the Meteors as they head towards you. Sometimes if a Meteor is extremely close it might be able to miss your block, but it shouldn't happen too often.
Alternatively if you get to the far side from the first one and start running toward the last one you can dodge almost all of them if not all of them
I'm so mad that this doesn't have a Million Views, you're videos are so well edited and explained, amazing!
Thanks! And hey, at least it's almost 1/10th the way to a million views :D
Hell yes, I agree with 52:45
Lost Memory is the most stylish and awesome Keyblade in the whole KH series, my favorite Key no doubt, so elegant.
And congratulations on doing such a massive task! BBS is my second favorite KH, though the only challenge run I did for this one was a No Hit with Venny, this challenge was a sight to watch.
Lol, thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video. I have another for KH2 where I try to beat it without keyblade combos, and one for FFVII where I beat it without fighting random encounters if those sound interesting to you! Regardless, thanks for watching this one!
@@LibraScope You're welcome, and those challenges sure sounds interesting as well, I'll watch em soon!
Terranort's meteor dm can be avoided by going to a corner furthest from the meteors, spamming block and praying that they fall to you fast enough that they don't hit you in recovery
That's what I've heard, lol. Honestly it still sounds kind of unpredictable, but fair enough.
The only things about this challenge that I feel you missed were the healing block abilities for all 3 characters, but I'm sure you've been told that as well as during the Secret Chapter Aqua vs Terranort is that during the weak DM there is actually a reaction command available when you get to where Terra is standing, that RC can deal a nice amount of damage if not finish the boss stupid quick. Otherwise this was an awesome video and super cool challenge.
Bro I can only say I'm happy that I found this channel. Your commentary is very good and your voice is soothing. Thank you for doing this man. Great job :)
Lol, I appreciate the compliments! Usually the thing that most commonly gets complaints is my voice, so I'm glad you don't hate it :D
I've just started watching this and I'm gonna really enjoy this one
I hope you ended up really enjoying it :D
Oh, you're not forced into the Vanitas command style, you're forced into the Vanitas *D-link.* Gameplay mechanics meet story.
Yeah, someone else mentioned that, and it suddenly all made sense, lol. Should've noticed that Vanitas' portrait was hanging out above my health bar.
@@LibraScope that feel when Terra doesn't have a Xehanort D-link. :/
@@kylekiske_ Yeah, that'd certainly be pretty cool.
@@LibraScope PC is coming. It could be made. 🤣👌 That fight as Lingering Will is already raw as hell, but giving that a similar thing to the Ven/Van fight would be insane.
I'm more looking forward to when they crack the code and we put Form changes on the playable characters from Re:Mind (and Riku)
@@kylekiske_ Yeah, I'm pretty excited to see what modders do with the PC ports. Though that one might be a bit of a difficult ask. It'll depend on whether or not their animation rigs are actually shared with Sora. If they're not, they're likely to wig out and become an animation monstrosity without painstaking work to tweak ALL of the Formchange animations to fit their rigs.
I love BBS went from "to hard at times" because people didn't use magic to "we should not use it as it makes it to easy" XD
What an interesting challenge!!! Thanks to you I decided to play this game again without using commands and it was pretty fun...
The only things I changed were:
1. I used the renewal blocks/barrier instead of heal strike and
2. I used ice slide, firewheel, thunder roll and fire glide to change to different style commands without using battle commands, and that made my experience even better.
Again thank you so much for the idea, I'm so glad I found this video
Glad you tried it out, and found your own ways to enjoy it! And also, thanks so much for watching!
With the terranort fight at the graveyard, Terra's best Shotlock for that fight is actually sonic shadow because of the quick lock on and the short lock on count, and the I-frames. you can get a maxed out shotlock easier and even hit him out after the invincible period of casting meteor.
Bio Barrage and Renewal Block are extremely useful.
...but you didn’t need them in the end, so nice job!
Yeah, it's a bit of a shame I never ran into such a wall that I felt even more alternate options truly needed explored.
I love these challenge vids. Pls keep them coming!
Thanks, glad you enjoy them!
The Vanitas command style doesn't count because it's not actually a command style, it's a D-link.
Though that does make me wonder, would it say your most used D-link was Vanitas if you never used any normal links as Ventus?
it does i think
one thing you definitely missed, you should have used the command board at least once per character, specifically the one for cinderella's world, to get the light based shotlock, that thing is WAY OP in its own right and I'm 80% sure does extra damage to all Vanitas fights, except ven's final final form fight (the one with a pre-set deck), and the other final bosses on account of them being darkness based
There's also the Shotlocks on Stitch Board which is pretty strong to as after after the initial hit you can just mash the attacks button for a ton of extra damage.
@@nesoukkefka1741 there's other shotlocks of the mash type each chara would pick up naturally anyways, not just on the stitch board, it takes more effort to actually get the right panel and win on the stitch board, and on top of that it's not a light type which negates the main bonus of getting a light type shotlock in the first place. furthermore, no matter how fast you mash, you will not get off the same damage as you can from "excellent" timed bursts from the ragnarok style shotlocks
@@SyfyRules To my testing outside of Ven's ultimate shotlocks the one on Stitch's board has always be the most damaging.
if i ever make this challenge, i will change it a bit because i like the combo styles. i will be able to use the 4 basic magics from the FF saga in its base level (fire, blizzard, thunder and heal)
Terranort's Meteor does have a trick, go to a side of the arena with your back against the edge, the meteors are blockable, and that way you are very likely to block them.
i've never seen that QTE on maleficants back thats actually pretty cool
@Alfie Bell LMAO a classic
BBS is a very close second favourite to me after KH2. Sad to here you don’t feel the same way but very good video.
Yeah, I getcha! I understand why people really enjoy BBS, and I'm glad you can find so much enjoyment from it :)
These are amazing! Keep it up!!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
This was an amazingly fun video, and I'm glad to see it doing well so far! I found your channel through your KH2 No Keyblade Combos run, and since then I've listened to your fantastic KH3 and FF7 Reviews/Analyses. Your videos are always incredibly high quality, and your scripts are super well thought out. Great work and looking forward to future videos! =D
Thanks! I'm really glad you've enjoyed what you've watched, and that you were willing to try my other types of content! It's very much appreciated, because with the sudden success of these challenge videos, I'm a bit afraid that RUclips's systems won't let anything that isn't a KH video or a challenge video succeed from this point forward, lol.
@@LibraScope Absolutely - it's my pleasure! =D The way you talked in your challenge video showed that you had a really deep understanding of the game's mechanics and overall design, and so I was interested to hear more from you (plus, I wrote a six Chapter essay about KH3's storytelling and narrative design on Gamasutra, so I love to hear other people's takes on these games =P).
I hate to say it, but I think that's probably a fair thing to worry about with RUclips's algorithm nowadays. The KH2 Challenge video appearing in my Recommended feed is the only reason I found your channel (funny thing is, while I watch KH discussion videos, I don't normally watch challenges, so it was odd for YT to recommend it). Still, if you can maybe use that content to direct people to your other work like you did at the end of this video, you could end up pushing the algorithm to be a little more general. Fingers crossed it doesn't end up being that rigid, though! Best of luck with it; you clearly deserve all that success and much, much more for all the hard work you've put into the channel the past six years! =)
@@OniLink99999 Six parts?! Holy cannoli, that's a lot of discussion. I searched for it, and looking through a bit, it looks rather well thought out too. It's always nice to see thoughtfulness come before fandom in such content. Particularly with games like KH, which seem to have a disproportionate amount of rants and raves that can suffocate broader discussion.
Six years... lol. It is genuinely the strangest feeling to continually wake up to comments, subs, etc. Can't necessarily say it'll continue that way, obviously. But after not really experiencing that for so long, it feels surreal, lol.
@@LibraScope Oh wow, thank you very much! Yeah, it took up a *lot* of weekends haha - amazingly, someone even printed the whole thing out, which was a sight ( twitter.com/levelstorymag/status/1251924288543825920 ) =P I'm a game developer (with a particular bend towards game design and writing), so with the KH series being something I'm intimately familiar with, KH3's baffling construction seemed like a great vehicle to discuss storytelling and pacing in video games.
I completely agree; you seem to either get people dismissing the series out of hand for being "Kingdom Hearts", or people giving everything a free pass because it's "Kingdom Hearts" - both perspectives stifling any constructive discussion =P I was heartened by the response to my essay though; so many people wrote to me to tell me how cathartic it was for them, which was a satisfying reaction to hear XD
I bet it is! But it's clearly very well deserved - I couldn't believe how few views some of your amazing videos had! My experience with (and observation of) algorithms tells me that it'll probably continue, and likely only grow from here. The tricky part is figuring out what's best for the channel and what you want to achieve, but clearly what you're doing is working and picking up steam =) Maybe try posting about your videos on some of the subreddits or relevant forums? If it's anything like Steam (and I have no idea if it is), the more you can capitalise on your momentum, the kinder the algorithm will be to you in the long run ;) I completely understand that surreal feeling, but I'd recommend just trying to enjoy it - after all the hard work you've put in, people are now finding the channel and starting to engage with your content. And that's an awesome feeling =D
@@OniLink99999 I'm assuming 8 Bit Adventures 2 is one of your games, considering the trailers on your channel? Looks really cool! I checked out the website for it (super snazzy by the way) and noticed it mentioned console versions. The most recent dev blog implies it could be coming to PlayStation maybe? Because if so, it's definitely something I'll keep my eye on!
As risky as it may be, I honestly think I'm just gonna keep doing what I've been doing with the channel. It's certainly tempting to put more emphasis on certain types of content over others. But the biggest goals with the content on the channel are still ultimately education, and attempts at civil, value-rich discussion. I want my content to continue to serve as a conduit for reflection and growth, not just fun challenges. Hopefully all the new viewers will be into that, lol.
I know this is about doing it without battle commands but cheesing Ven's colliseum minigame with thundaga is so fun
Oooooh, I know. Add in Magnega, and it is pretty cathartic getting your score maxed out!
You probably already know this, but you can initiate a trinity limit in the aqua vs terranort fight if you can get close to terra and press square when it pops up instead of hitting him. I forgot how much damage it does, though.
Short answer: yes
Long answer: yes but it sucks and exposes birth by sleeps biggest combat faults
Lol, not inaccurate.
@@boyishdude1234 bro are you alright? That’s quite the rant as a response to “Birth by sleeps combat could be better.” I agree that grinds should be rewarded but I don’t think the reward should be basic tools. KH2s combat is very good because it is fast and responsive every fight feels fair and every time you die is because you failed to react properly and not because you didn’t have the right skill or didn’t bring enough of said skill. You can beat KH2 as a level 1 character with no magic, drive forms, or limits because the combat is mostly intrinsically based while north by sleeps combat is mostly extrinsically based with most abilities coming from the command deck and when you grind skills from the command deck you didn’t get any better at the game your numbers just got bigger.
@@boyishdude1234 Oof, you know... I was gonna actually try and converse with you about this, and explain to you why I disagree. But that last sentence is pretty darn insulting. Not really interested in discussing something like this with someone who lumps together and vilifies every counter-argument as a way to discount them, while propping up their own arguments as somehow more 'intellectually honest' and full of 'humility'. That's some pretty hypocritical cringe.
@@boyishdude1234 I mean, I accept the apology, but I still personally don't know if I want to have the discussion at this point. Because to be clear, I DON'T by any means agree with you, and - at least based on his videos on his YT channel... I don't watch streams - I also think BB is a pretty fair, honest, and level-headed mind in the KH community. Not that I get my opinions from him or anything, but I can't recall anything he's said in particular that didn't at least partially align with my own experiences, and therefore felt dishonest in some way.
What that leads to is the idea that I'm not too sure we'll be able to have a fruitful discussion. If you still wanna give it a go, sure :) But at this point, I'm not confident it'll lead anywhere given the rather stark differences in our ideas.
@@boyishdude1234 I haven't watched every single one of his videos, but no, I can't honestly say that I feel like he's being 'morally reprehensible', or 'dishonest' or anything like that. I USED to find him rather abrasive and bullheaded, but I like to believe people can improve. And I feel like he has.
Regardless, I have little interest in discussing the quality of his character, because even if it was demonstrably, objectively terrible, like I said, his points do generally align with my experiences with the game, even if I don't always completely agree with his conclusions. I think at times he could argue his points better, but that also comes with the territory of making very lightly scripted content, instead of drafting it all out and refining it into a final, polished essay.
Another way to heal is Heal Block. Esuna + Block gives this awesome ability
Oh yeah, you're right! Very true!
Isn't there also Renewal Block, which is stronger? Or maybe they're just the same thing.
@@leoleo4469 Yeah, it's Renewal. There are technically two of them; Renewal Block and Renewal Barrier, with Barrier obviously being Aqua's and Block being Ventus' and Terra's.
@@LibraScope Ah, I see.
For the final Vanitas fight as Ventus, you're actually supposed to use your command or Shotlock after he's already started using his, not before. Whenever he uses his Shotlock or starts rushing around with Dark Spiral, you can fire off a Dark Spiral or one-hit Shotlock on him to start a clash even if he's been using his move for a few seconds already. Both moves work on either of his moves. Dark Splicer similarly doesn't really do anything if you use it offensively, but if you wait for him to start using his and then use it yourself, then it starts the QTE where you outspeed him.
As for why it doesn't show up as a Command Style, it's because it's a D-Link. If you didn't use any other D-Links as Ventus, you'd see that you used Vanitas once.
Ahh, interesting. Though he moves and acts so fast I don't think that'd help me personally, lol.
I thought dark splicer was completely useless, good to see it's not.
So you can actually enter some command styles with all 3 Characters (Possibly not Terra) Ventus can get an ability called Thunder Roll, and all it takes is a lvl 4 Thundaga and lvl 4 Dodge roll, and it does thunder damage to enemies. Combine that with normal attacks, then you can actually go into the Thunderbolt Command style. It also allows you to get the Superglide Ability in Disney town, since the attacks from (GO PIKACHU, USE) Thunderbolt activate the generator at the bottom of the ladder. Terra could also get one, since he can also get a sort of "Dark Dash" By combining Dark Haze and something else, but the Command style for Dark Commands is a level 2 Command style, so it may not be possible. And Aqua can get an ability called Fire Cartwheel (Firaga Lvl 4 and Cartwheel Lvl 4,) Which gives her the Firestorm Command Style. Just wanted to add this, since these command styles are pretty good, and hopefully I can experiment with Terra a little more to see if he can get anything else.
>Dark Dash
Chaos Blade?
Im pretty sure you can get command styles through fire roll and other similar moves. The obvious downside is the lack of i frames though
Oh, you're right! I so rarely use them because of the lack of i-frames, that I totally forgot they do that. That would give every character access to like a couple Command Styles. Darn, I wish I'd have thought of that :D
Since it's a fire attack, Firewheel also does extra damage (1.25x) to the Ice Colossus in OC while still giving you some s if you time it right (and as a bonus it also lets you safely no-brain the buckle bruisers, no timing required).
@@amconners Oooh, now that sounds spicy. High risk, high reward against Ice Titan :D
@@LibraScope I'll certainly test it out next time I play through BBS (which may end up being this challenge because it looked like a lot of fun).
@@amconners Well if you do try it out, I hope you end up enjoying it!
you can also dodge trerrahnorts meteors by going into the corner with the least meteors near you and block the meteors
By the time we get to the KH3 version of this challenge, we're really gonna have to nitpick what counts as "using your Keyblade" with all the transformations and stuff lol.
Yeah, lol. That game's definitely gonna be one where it'll probably have to be a completely different challenge. Doing nothing but spamming elemental missiles doesn't sound particularly fun, lol.
@@boyishdude1234 Lol, don't worry about it. I know KH3's combat perfectly well myself :)
I think one of the problems with KH3 comes down to the Pro Menu stuff. It's kind of like I said in the BBS video, where plenty of people have already done insane stuff like beating every challenge at Level 1 with all of the Pro Menu stuff active. And since the Pro Menu literally has options to disable things like Formchanges, Shotlocks, Links, etc., I suspect instead enjoying the video, I'd just get a lot of whining "Ugh! This is OBVIOUSLY possible, because it's in the Pro Menu!". comments from people who want to be smart about it. So my preference would be finding something that is an organic, self-imposed challenge, that can't be replicated with in-game options alone; you'd have to do it yourself, for yourself.
@@boyishdude1234 Yeah, I tried it when the Pro/EZ menus released, and it was terribly boring. What is supposed to be enjoyable about having nothing but basic pokes all game? There were really only two options that stood out as interesting. The option that keeps your stats at level 1, because that allows for Level 1 runs that still allow you to get the ABILITIES gained from level ups. Sounds like a good way to make Level 1 a bit more interesting. And then there is the EZ menu option that makes both the player and the enemies do triple damage or whatever. Could actually make for fun Crit playthroughs, because you'll absolutely wreck everything, but more or less always die in one hit. I discuss them at pretty great length in my Re:Mind/Crit review video, including much more interesting options they could've given us instead.
@@boyishdude1234 I mean, the changes WEREN'T 'objectively' awful, but to each their own. I also think the Pro and EZ menus deserve to exist; they're a great idea. They were just clearly not thought through, and so they don't afford players any interesting options to play around with.
I have a feeling Libra really hates Terra.
Shhhh!
Who told you?! :P
I feel like Terra with the Ventus D-Link can be pretty terrifying; EXTREMELY powerful due to the Haste ability.
Indeed. Honestly, he'd be even worse if there was a way to skip the Finish commands, since both are rather slow.
What saddens me is that they didn't even try to fix anything in the port
Well, they did fix ONE thing, but if you play as Terra, it doesn’t matter
*cough* Mysterious figure *cough*
@@boyishdude1234 they're square enix. They made one of the biggest franchises in gaming
@@boyishdude1234 Now that you mentioned Zero EXP, I remember watching vids that did most of, if not all the bosses at Lv1 without it on.....
Tested with original english psp release, basic/physical attack damage was upped and mysterious figure's magnet pendulum attack is now escapable in final mix, the mirage arena lost the ability to connect and play with and against with other people and was nerfed beyond a sad joke, oh and made all the unity/mirage arena commands completely worthless and loadout mixing goneski in the ports. Let's hope the pc release restores the mirage arena to its former glory, and 6 man free for all pvp returns! \o/ Don't go in underleveled, the stat difference is noticable.
Get on Malificent's back...
Me: (Has *GET UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK!!* flashbacks)
On the first vanitas fight you can shotlock when he’s on the surfboard of keyblade sand It will cancel
Amazing content as always keep it up!
Thanks!
the vanitas thing at the end is actually a d-link, not a command style, so there was never anything to worry about there :D
Yeah, I never noticed his little icon above my health until later, lol.
The game doesn't really do much to differentiate the two on the HUD outside of that icon, yeah...... -w-"
Imagine Dream Drop Distance without commands, although I think the DDD combo is better than BBS, more than half of the common opponents have super armor
@@boyishdude1234 That explains why Reality Shift in Pinnochio's World is weird
To help you out with the aqua vs terranort fight, goofy d-link. Just, goofy d-link
That's what I've heard, lol. Really curious to try it out now :D
Once again he didn't fall for the evil queens words he said he wanted to ask snow white about xehanort anyway
So, with ventus in the castle of dreams, you can use the balls of yarn to defeat enemies relatively easily, which is a great way to grind! Of course, you probably didn’t use that method because it’s pretty cheesy and doesn’t make the game more fun or challenging in any way.
in the damage scenario, lvl 1 might actually be easier than normal critical, because lvl 1 does give you damage scaling, if not better damage scaling. One of the examples that shows how strong is the peter pan D link shredding 5 hp bars off the final fights for all characters.
Yeah, someone else mentioned that a few days ago. I suspect it definitely would've made the early game easier. But by the end I was doing enough damage that I was doing fine. It's a good point though, for sure :)
the shotlock during vanitas’ fight at the end of ventus is not luck based, you were just using it wrong. you charge up your shotlock and then you fire it right before vanitas does his attack. this will parry and counter his attack and will guarantee put you into the sequence where you have to mash x or use the left joystick. and dont worry about wasting focus either. it doesn’t go down after it reaches the max while you’re charging it up. however, to get the focus gauge back up, you will need to do some regular melee attacks since you can’t use deck commands in this challenge.
The reason the Vanitas Command Style doesn't count, is because it's NOT a Command Style. It's a D-Link.
The king has returned
If you use the fire cartwheel on the first phase of the terranort fight you can stun lock him the entire time
Question, did you consider Fire Wheel/Thunder Roll as Battle Commands or simply forgot they exist? Those 2 will probly trivialize both Ven/Aquas fights by giving you access to Firestorm / Thunderbolt.
Just forgot. With so many options, and nearly all of them optional, it was bound to happen. I also forgot about Renewal Block/Barrier, which also would've helped, lol.
After seeing this video, I did Terra's story up until Radiant Garden with no commands, and Cinderella portion wasnt bad when I kept doing 2 hits and no finishers on the smaller foes
Oh yeah, that's totally an option now that I think about it. It depends on how tedious you find it personally, but yeah it should work for sure!
@@LibraScope I just finished Terra's story, Zack's second phase, Eraqus, and the entire Xehanort fight (curse you TERRANORT!) Were the toughest out of the the bosses, Zack was hard until I remembered Ventus D-link, Second Chance, and Once More existed. Eraqus was difficult since you have to be patient, and Terranort is just painful even casually (not even Once More and Heal Strike lowed the attempt count)
@@xray8012 Nice! High five!!! Are you planning to do the others as well?
@@LibraScope no, although Keyblade only with Terra was fun... If I did Ventus or Aqua, I would lose my mind after Braig and Ventus-Vanitas
@@xray8012 Hahaha, fair enough. I don't blame you at all.
After having played BBS this sounds extremely painful. I don't even want to think about doing a boss in this game on crit without Thunder Surges.
There are certainly parts that are just as painful as they sound, lol.
Minor thing, the final battle as Ventus puts you into a Vanitas D-Link, not a command style.
I didn’t know you could hit Terra-Nort in that desperation attack, I thought you had to do the Trinity Limit thing. Interesting!
Which is the opposite for me. I thought you had to hit him, and didn't know about the Trinity Limit thing, lol.
I have been thinking about this for a while since i saw that video, and i decided i would do the same for Kingdom Hearts Re: coded on the Nintendo DS
:D I hope you end up enjoying it!
The Vanitas.... Command Style? Are you alright there? That's clearly a D-Link
Lol, I just wasn't thinking about it, since the only real difference visually is that D-Links have their portrait above your health, which I didn't notice until someone mentioned it :D I know "but story stuff" and all that, but like... I hate BBS's story, so I haven't watched the cutscenes all the way through in years, lol.
Only major strat im sad to not see showcased is how broken pans dlink is. Swordbill finisher can 1 hit ventus' final bosses. Otherwise this challenge looks great! Might need to try it
If you do end up trying it, I really hope you enjoy it!
Poor Terra! XD He isn't dumb he was just rejected by Eraqus because he uses darkness which is not bad. Xehanort just tells him the truth yet he uses Terra's situation. Imagine one of your family would reject you! QwQ And Terra is just e teenager or a young adult that's why you can just better manipulate him... Similar with Riku... I'm sorry for Terra... He's a misunderstood guy...
Whatever...
I'm looking forward for another weird challenge! XD
Oh, don't get me wrong; I think Eraqus is a much bigger moron, a terrible influence, and the real (unintentional) villain of BBS. When even characters like the Fairy Godmother disagree with Eraqus, you know he's got some serious, obsessively prejudiced issues.
But a lot of Terra's decisions are dumb not because he falls for the schemes of villains so easily, but because that logically makes no sense for his character, when he has literally been trained for his entire life to be able to sense, seek out, and destroy darkness. That's basically the only thing he knows. So to be so oblivious to darkness in these villains is painfully contrived. I think it would've worked much better had he known these characters were shrouded in darkness, but chose to go against Eraqus' teachings anyway, to learn that darkness isn't deserving of complete eradication :)
Anyway, glad you liked the video!
@@LibraScope At least we both think that Eraqus is a moron! That's okay for me! XD
@@boyishdude1234 Doesn't much matter, considering he'd literally spent his entire life being trained by a Light-obsessed zealot. Look at any extremely controlling religion, cult, or other type of faith-based brainwashing, and you'll easily notice just how willing people are to shore up their faith in what they know in the face of failure, rather than trying to seek out answers in places that directly contradict said faith. Him suddenly choosing to effectively go "Yeah, despite all this brainwashing from a man who seems to love me, and the likelihood that my friends will abandon me for exploring darkness... I'm gonna go try darkness.". Psychologically based on his situation, Terra should be blaming himself and doubling down his own search for light, not immediately forsaking all those teachings.
Considering he continues to get 'balance is the answer' from Disney characters like the Fairy Godmother, I'd argue it would've made more sense for him to lash out at Xehanort for his beliefs, only to then grow confused over time as both good Disney characters and villains tell him that total obsession with Light is unhealthy. It would even make his fight with Eraqus more meaningful and logical, because it would not only feel like Eraqus is betraying Ven, but has also chosen to shelter and control Terra/Aqua all this time. It would actually lead to a significantly more nuanced conclusion related to Xehanort, by cementing his ideas as solid, but his obsession and actions as ultimately the thing that makes him evil, just like Eraqus.
EDIT: Also, I should clarify since that sounds like it contradicts my previous statement about how I think Terra should've gone against Eraqus's teachings; I think he should start by trying to stick to those teachings, and EVENTUALLY turn against Eraqus's obsession with Light. Reject Darkness, learn it's not all bad, and then feel betrayed by Eraqus for sheltering him. Only to then kill Eraqus for trying to kill Ven, and feel both justified in it, and understand that going in the opposite direction like Xehanort isn't any smarter... that balance really IS the key.
1:02:20 just a correction you can actually just use a few points in your shot lock to finish him off every time. your shotlock will clash with all his abilities except the dark splicer one.
The Vanitas thing at the end of Ventus' story is a D-Link, not a command style.
Yeah, lol. My bad :D
i did something similar to this but i allowed the use of items. since i didnt count those as command attacks. so my command deck was essentially my item deck.
Definitely not a bad idea, because that would also allow the use of icecreams, which could be fun with the added weight of being the only way to enter Command Styles.
What about a challenge where the controls are changed for example X is d pad down, square is d pad left, circle is d pad right and triangle is d pad up (I just thought it would be "fun").
Not a bad idea, although since I don't do controller cam or anything like that, not really feasible for a video from me.
How about a challenge in which you play through Fire Emblem Awakening (on Hard Mode preferably) without using second seals or using the pair up mechanic
Never played much of Fire Emblem, and don't own a 3DS or any way to capture footage from one, unfortunately.
You run with terra to a wall in terranort's dm and then block the meteors
You don't need to charge the shot lock all the way to collide attacks with vanitas you can literally release it immediately and it will collide with any of his attacks it's how I beat him on my level one run
Oh you figured it out LOL
Yeah, lol. Honestly I don't know why I wasn't thinking about trying that earlier. Probably just because I was so desperate to NOT have to do the previous battle again, that it kind of put me off of experimenting too much. But since I didn't think I had enough Focus on that final shot to get the full Shotlock, I just sort of said screw it and it worked, lol. Definitely should make the battle much easier done that way.
I would highly reccomend doing Chain of memories without sleights. Especially if its recom, im unsure about standard but on proud mode it adds a whole new level of challenge when you cant break it with sleights
It gave me alot of respect for chain of memories
Not a bad idea. That's actually how my first two or so playthroughs of that game went anyway, because I hated the idea of losing the first card of every Sleight, lol.
@@LibraScope i think it would make a rather interesting video. But if you've done that unintentionally in the past i could understand if you wouldnt want to
@@Jaye_The_Gaye I mean, I obviously can't promise anything, but there's no reason not to try. Though a lot of these ideas never get past the testing phase, because they end up much less interesting to talk about in a video than it initially seems. You might be surprised at how many ideas I've had that I'm like "Oooh! This is gonna be fantastic!", and then two hours of testing later, I'm bored out of my mind because none of the mechanical elevation I thought would happen, actually happens, lol.
@@LibraScope if you do a challenge run of recom I recommend no zeroes + level 1 (AKA level up CP but never use above base CP).
Best challenge for com/recom IMO.
@@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz I'll keep that in mind, although I'm pretty sure Gamechamp already did something really similar.
I'm wondering why you didn't use a shotlock on Vanitas during his beam attack at 1:03:00. Doing so woulda put you right in a beam clash. You don't even have to max charge it, just one lock on redical will do.
I might actually do a customized version of this. Allowing a single cure, the same way kh2 has mp recharge. And also the weakest possible commands to get a style change.
Sounds like a great idea! I hope it goes well for you :D :D :D
@@LibraScope I'm at neverland with Terra now. Only use cure (no magic haste or reload boost, to simulate mp regen) and items, style changes are allowed by using ice creams. Been fun. I can definitely do base game. But most of arena and super bosses will be pain.
@@greyngo Oooh yeah, that's why I didn't do the super bosses... aside from all the grinding it would take to unlock a lot of them. I wish you the best of luck on them though :D
I'm shocked you didn't use Renewal Block/Renewal Barrier honestly
With so many options in the game, and most of them not being on the beaten path, I honestly just forgot about it, lol.
Wonder how well this would go against No Heart and the Eraqus fight in the Mirage Arena.
I have little doubt that some people could do it. Particularly with the extra things I missed that others have pointed out, like Renewal Block, or using things like Ice Slide/Firewheel to get into Command Styles. But I have absolutely no confidence that I could do such a thing, lol :D
It probably just wouldn't go at all
@LibraScope Two things:
1) Did you not know that you can block the Meteors during the 'Lingering Will' battle?
2) Did you seriously not realize that the Aqua vs Terra-Xehanort 'DM' is an opportunity to use Dual Limit? Terra is waiting in a Trinity Spell: You don't need to hit Terra to 'escape' it. In fact, doing so is a wasted opportunity to inflict damage on the Guardian.
Well firstly, not everyone's perfect :P If something isn't communicated to me by the game, how can I know about it without just taking shots in the dark.
And secondly, even if I knew about the proper use of that DM, it wasn't necessary. Was a pretty easy boss without it :)
@@LibraScope There's videos all over RUclips that show the Meteors being blocked.
@@Xiaolruc I also said right at the beginning that I wasn't interested in ruining the fun of the challenge by looking up solutions to all of my problems.
@@boyishdude1234 I'm not trying to argue it's bad. I'm just saying there's not much clear communication. I've already run across a few other people who didn't know there was more to it, and we can't all be 'not paying attention.
@@boyishdude1234 I mean, I've beaten BBS a lot too. It's entirely possible that you have an easier time picking up on things like that of course. But I don't think it has to do with you knowing BBS well. More than likely, you just happened to notice the prompt or whatever by chance one of the times you played through it, and have since simply remembered that's just how you're supposed to do it. I don't think it's something that's particularly complicated.
I'm confused why he didn't use renewal block or barrier, feel like that would make Terranort monumentally easier
Like I said in the video, I wasn't gonna be looking anything up, because I wanted to play it organically. So honestly? I just forgot about them. Kinda glad I did though, because they would've trivialized everything, lol. Would've made the video very boring.
"Erm, actually, the final vanitas section on ven is technically a d-link. You'd know this if you look above ven's health bar because you'll see a portrait of vanitas just like the other d-links show the character portraits 🤓"
Yeah, lol. Big dumb moment from me :D
@LibraScope I understand. Also how come you didn't go for renewal block/barrier?
Will you also do this with DDD? Just asking since how you get additional abilities is different.
I actually had a different idea I was planning to test with DDD, which could actually end up being more interesting. But we'll see how it all works out, lol.
@@boyishdude1234 That wouldn't really be worth it. Remember, the point is to do something fun that other people can try if they feel so inclined. Kinda defeats the purpose if the challenge heavily recommends that they do a bunch of preparation work :)
There might have been another comment on this but I was curious since you were using heal strike would you not have customised renewal block / renewal barrier or was that not allowed in the challenge.
@@RPGRecusant I actually just forgot about them, but they're so powerful I probably wouldn't have used them anyway.
@@LibraScope that's fair enough it was a good challenge finally something Terra was good at.. Minus the final one that looked like a nightmare
@@RPGRecusant Apparently you can sit in a specific spot, and avoid the meteors easily.
This is how some people that have never played kingdom hearts before would play. I played like this the first time I played this game
Interesting. Was BBS your first KH then? Because I would've imagined the opposite from brand new players :)
@@LibraScope No, ot was KH2, but I did use much of anything besides combos
@@zestyion8791 Ahh, yeah. That's more or less the norm. Same with my when I first played KH1 and KH2 way back in the day, lol.
Me who couldn't defeat Mysterious Figure 100th times: pfft as if
Lololol, to be fair, Mysterious Figure is rough no matter how you try to fight him.
Did you count Renewal Block as a battle command?? You don’t ever have to cast Cure in order to get it and it doesn’t go in your command deck since it’s a passive ability. Technically if you equip High Jump, you could equip Renewal Block. Would make things a lot easier for all three characters with extra heals.
No, they're not considered battle commands. I honestly just forgot Renewal block and a few other options existed. Though honestly, knowing how powerful it is, Renewal Block probably would've been overkill, lol.
@@LibraScope makes total sense lol. I definitely use Renewal Block and Counter Hammer as a crutch to get Darkgnaw as soon as a finish Enchanted Dominion in my Terra runs so probably!
Really great challenge though, thanks for the video.
@@spenser9784 Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
This guy woke up again and chose H E L L
So about the tutorial
You are required to do it on a first playthrough of the game
It becomes optional after it’s beat the first time
Yeah, I know. I just figured I'd make a bit of a joke of it :D
Wow this is so cool I must try it :>
Definitely recommended :) And several people in the comments have already brought up some other options I totally forgot about, which would certainly help, like Renewal Block.
I'm pretty sure equipping the 0 EXP ability in this game, at any level, not just level 1, makes the characters attacks scale to the worlds battle level, because this game is broken. 10 months late, but eh. I feel like this needed to be said, because It'd trivialize the entire challenge damage-wise.
You can block the meteors that terranort summons
Yes it’s possible bc I beaten it without commands with Ventus and Terra bc I had no idea what I was doing bc I was like 10 years old with the psp lol
I was genuinely surprised you didn't stay at level one, considering the strength boost from levels is next to nothing, and the scaling from level 1 makes Peter Pans D-Link absolutely shred every boss left in the game. Although maybe you'd consider that an exploit/speedrun strat. It was the only way I was able to beat the bosses at Lv. 1 lol.
Great video though.
I honestly wasn't aware BBS scaled damage with the No EXP ability equipped, since I can't recall anyone ever mentioning it. Though I think it ultimately was a good thing, because decimating every boss with a really simple, instant-win tactic probably wouldn't have made for a good finale, lol :)
Glad you liked the video!
For the vanitas fight you can use the shot lock even if vanitas is going to do another attack I think you figured that out I kinda forgot lol
Yeah. Would've been nice if I'd have tried it sooner though, lol :D
Did you ever consider using flamewheel/thunder roll to be able to go into command styles? Do those even increase aqua and ventus’ keyblade damage? Even though I’ve gone through the whole game like 3 times, I’ve never noticed how weak base combos are for aqua and ventus lol
I think they increase damage. And I'm sure they're safer, better staggering combos as well. And Thunderbolt in particular has a style finisher that is great for mobs.
But yeah, honestly with so many options, I just forgot they existed, lol.
@@LibraScope Fire Glide in particular for Ven is actually quite good against the codfish Captain Hook since whenever he gets hit by a fire attack, Hook gets stunned by the fire and allows for extra damage... Which allows free Firestorms
Can You Beat Kingdom Hearts 2 With Only Goofy And Donald Attacking?
Or
Can You Beat Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance Without Commands?
"Can You Beat Kingdom Hearts 2 With Only Goofy And Donald Attacking?"
No, because
1. you start the game as Roxas, and
2. there are fights in the game (after the Roxas part) in which Goofy and Donald don't participate.
@@stefantherainbowphoenix i think it's fair to not count the prologue though it would still be impossible yea, also doesn't sora gotta get the finisher on the bosses to kill them?
Can we have the Original KH Fonts like in the thumbnail you used?
I honestly just got them from a friend a few years ago. Don't know where he got them. Sorry :(
Why exactly did he not use renewal block? I know he didn't abuse the peter pan d link because he didn't know same it, but renewal block is pretty much essential
I just forgot it existed, because there were so many options to choose from, and it wasn't particularly necessary. And honestly, looking at how powerful it is, it probably would've trivialized the whole run, lol :)
@@LibraScope that's true, renewal block is kinda broken