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Best Way to Play Critical Mode?



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furusatoe

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I haven't picked up KH3 since March 2019, right after I beat the game a second time. I'm itching to get back so I can play through Critical Mode and experience ReMind. So my question: what's considered the "optimal" way to experience Critical? Do I go in only with the free updates; do I purchase ReMind beforehand and active some Pro Codes? Should I avoid using attractions, or are they better balanced in Critical? This is not a comprehensive list of questions, but I'm looking for advice in this area.
 

AegisXIII

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If you purchase remind first, you will get access to the pro or ez codes at the start of the game.

You can only choose pro or ez codes but not both.

You can either choose pro or ez once and that's at the very beginning. So if you want to do remind anyway, download it first and then press on new game.

I particularly enjoyed a critical with EZ codes, especially with hp and mp regen. it makes the game still hard, but also very spectacular.

Pro code allow to disable attractions and other transformations. But, if you choose critical, there is an ability (no code) that allows to disable attraction too. So if you go with ez code on critical, you can disable attractions. They are not better balanced.


pro codes come with a high score challenge. Basically for each boss you defeat a score based on the amount of codes used will be added to your total. Getting the A rank is very very hard and I would recommend to do it on a beginner playthrough (if you want the trophy)

ez codes come with a challenge mode where you have to perform certain actions to get some ingame trophies, like flying from rapunzel tower to the city of corona (that name, lol) without touching the ground.
 

Cumguardian69

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Imo the "best" way to play crit is to cap your level at Lv44-50, deactivate Second Chance, and never use Ultima Weapon.

For the main game and ReMind this wont matter too much, but if/when you do Data battles it's nice to actually learn the fights instead of mashing your way to victory while eating kill moves for breakfast.
 

furusatoe

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I particularly enjoyed a critical with EZ codes, especially with hp and mp regen. it makes the game still hard, but also very spectacular.

Pro code allow to disable attractions and other transformations. But, if you choose critical, there is an ability (no code) that allows to disable attraction too. So if you go with ez code on critical, you can disable attractions. They are not better balanced.

Admittedly, I haven't read up much on EZ codes but aren't they designed to make the game easy? How is critical "still hard" even while using EZ codes? Also, would you recommend using attractions for critical mode or not? I didn't use them for my second playthrough on Proud because I found them distracting, but maybe they're more necessary on critical?

Imo the "best" way to play crit is to cap your level at Lv44-50, deactivate Second Chance, and never use Ultima Weapon.

For the main game and ReMind this wont matter too much, but if/when you do Data battles it's nice to actually learn the fights instead of mashing your way to victory while eating kill moves for breakfast.

I was under the impression that the data battles and Yozora are still really hard even at max level and access to the Ultima Weapon. Is this not the case? And is the standard endgame trivialized by max level and Ultima Weapon even in critical mode?
 

Cumguardian69

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If you're max level and use UW, you get many get out of jail free cards:

•boosted damage from Combo and Air Combo boosts

•at least two screen nukes that CHUNK boss health bars

•free second chance and once more while in Ultimate Form

•Teleport into attacks while in Ultimate Form which do a significant amount of stunlocking, which can be the difference between a Leaf Bracer Cure and death

I'm not saying you'll get away from every Data Fight (and especially not Yozora) unscathed while blindfolded if you merely equip Ultima Weapon, but it does make things markedly easier in the long run.

As far as capping your level is concerned, it's more about damage output. The fights are balanced for around 50STR and 50MAG which is easy to hit around 44-50 with accessories. More than that and you finish some fights extremely quickly (the KBG fights especially) which takes away from some of the fun.
 

AegisXIII

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Admittedly, I haven't read up much on EZ codes but aren't they designed to make the game easy? How is critical "still hard" even while using EZ codes? Also, would you recommend using attractions for critical mode or not? I didn't use them for my second playthrough on Proud because I found them distracting, but maybe they're more necessary on critical?



I was under the impression that the data battles and Yozora are still really hard even at max level and access to the Ultima Weapon. Is this not the case? And is the standard endgame trivialized by max level and Ultima Weapon even in critical mode?

Indeed ez codes make the game easier. I found them to be useful for the remind secret bosses, not for the main story. The reason is that the main game is perfectly fine in critical, but secret bosses are overkill even on beginner mode, so the ez coded aleviated that frustration and turned it into pure fun. I understand it is not for everyone though. But doing pro codes on critical might be very tedious for the secret bosses. Depends of your play style. The issue for me is that loading times when you loose against secret bosses is annoying, especially if your average time in the arena is 5 seconds. Luckily ps5 will fix this.

For the attraction I would recommend to disable them no matter what. They break the flow of your action.
 

cakito123

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I consider Proud to be too easy to br challenging, and Critical to be too hard and annoying, so I'm with Blenderudit about critical + ez codes. It balances out the game - its still pretty punishing but you do have more chances to survive and counter attack using more cures, and MP recharge does help a lot and makes the game more fun (to me).
 

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Just boot it up and play Critical mode as is. I really don't agree that EZ Codes make it more balanced, I'm a little thrown off to see that as such a common sentiment. The only thing I might agree with is POTENTIALLY using MP Recharge to workaround Critical Mode's pitiful MP bar, but even that seems more like cheating than balancing.

There are enough defensive options in KH3. HP Regen is not necessary. You can stack armor, air slide and guard are free and can cancel any of your moves, making everything a thousand times more reactable, and if you need it, Link spam makes you invulnerable. I can't speak for you, but if I got to the end card knowing that I used codes to negate portions of the challenge, I'd feel cheated out of a learning experience and I definitely wouldn't feel like I beat Critical mode under any circumstance.

I say learn the strats and tricks and just play it as is.
 

Cumguardian69

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^ not everybody wants to go through slog fights like Skoll, Mother gothel heartless, the minigame fights (angler/ruler 2.0/dark baymax), Demon Tide KBG, or Larxene+Marluxia.

KH3 has a lot of good fights but I hated the aforementioned fights, ESPECIALLY on Lv1CM APC. I can't imagine they are well liked.
 

furusatoe

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So I started playing CM a few nights ago and am in Twilight Town now (I'm slow...). Really love the 1v1 fights, but still trying to figure out mob fights. I don't mind dying over and over when I can immediately retry the fight, but it's a real de-motivator when you make it through one mob fight and then die a few minutes later and have to do the first one you passed all over again. I hate feeling like luck got me through a fight (like when I randomly get an attraction) rather than skill. But right now it feels like luck more than skill gets me through tough mob fights.
 
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cakito123

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Just boot it up and play Critical mode as is. I really don't agree that EZ Codes make it more balanced, I'm a little thrown off to see that as such a common sentiment. The only thing I might agree with is POTENTIALLY using MP Recharge to workaround Critical Mode's pitiful MP bar, but even that seems more like cheating than balancing.

There are enough defensive options in KH3. HP Regen is not necessary. You can stack armor, air slide and guard are free and can cancel any of your moves, making everything a thousand times more reactable, and if you need it, Link spam makes you invulnerable. I can't speak for you, but if I got to the end card knowing that I used codes to negate portions of the challenge, I'd feel cheated out of a learning experience and I definitely wouldn't feel like I beat Critical mode under any circumstance.

I say learn the strats and tricks and just play it as is.

Difficulty and frustration in a game is really subjective - I prefer games that don't kill me all the time but makes me get on the edge of my seat almost dying, and then I die if I screw up again - in the most well balanced kh games I think the enemies can be really punishing but they won't kill you with only 1 hit, you'd still retain at least a little HP to Cure yourself and manage to strategize some way.

That said, "Proud" was my favorite difficulty setting in the rest of the games, but in KH3 I think Proud is waaaay too easy... I remember dying like 4 times overall and beating the game easily.

But in KH3 Critical (no codes), I played and felt like the enemies were way too strong for me to have fun - it didn't help that the LOADING times are a pain when you are dying over and over again in a section - which honestly is fine, I like trying again - but the loading times really killed the pace of the game for me. All the energy I was using moments ago in a battle - and now I'm supposedto wait like almost 1 minute for the game to boot. I couldn't enjoy the difficulty like I could with HD ReMixes.

So that's why I think EZ Codes DO balance the game's difficulty settings. The enemies are really really strong, but you also are! It is fair, in my eyes and in my experience.

Difficulty and frustration in a game is really subjective
So to answer your question properly, OP, it really depends on your answer about:
how good you are at the game,
how much patience do you have for loading screens (if you have a standart ps4),
how much do you want to be punished for screwing up sometimes (total loss or 90% loss?)
 
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I’m in the middle of trying to play Critical Mode, but I’ve been stuck for a long time in Arendelle on the avalanche chase. The Frost Serpent’s lasers instakill me. I’m even using EZ codes, because I’m just playing to unlock Oblivion, so I’m trying to go through it as fast as I can, but this part is pure torture.
 
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