Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: Final Mix Playthrough Journal

kuraudoVII · Apr 24, 2015

I'm definitely going to keep that in mind. I already uploaded a couple of pictures onto there for the Hades Paradox Cup for Kingdom Heart II: Final Mix.

Don't fret too much. I'm sure you'll get II.5 someday.

I might do a level 1 run sometime in the future, but certainly not now. I want to at least beat all of the Super Bosses on this run before I even begin to tackle one as any character. I also plan on taking a break from II.5 once I manage to get all of these Super Bosses down for all of the characters. Final Fantasies VII and IX are beckoning to me again and there are completely different genres that I need to get back into over the summer such as some good old fashioned platformers (Mario and Sonic, predominantly) as well as some Zelda games.

Anyway...

IT'S OVER! IT'S DONE!! TERRA'S SUPER BOSSES HAVE BEEN DEFEATED!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Terra
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 50
Location: Results Screen
Current Commands: Brutal Blast, Thunder Surge, Thunder Surge, Chaos Blade, Curaga, Curaga, Curaga

Holy crap, did this take...no, I'm not going to lie. I expected this to take MUCH longer for me to do considering that I was trying to tackle all of these Super Bosses as Terra. However, here's how it goes:

Late Tuesday evening, I managed to beat the Armor of the Master (yes, I prefer using Armor of the Master; Armor of Eraqus doesn't have the same powerful feel to it). Before I describe how I took him down, I have a confession to make. Back before the ReMIXes were even announced, I found an ISO for a "translated" version of Birth by Sleep. Sometimes, the subtitles didn't match what was being said and certain parts of the journal were still entirely in Japanese, but the text for the commands and instructions were still in English and that's what mattered. Since I was (and still sadly am) woefully unemployed, I downloaded it and was able to get a taste for some of the Super Bosses like Monstro and Armor of the Master (oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I already beat Monstro on II.5 as Terra). However, when fighting Armor of the Master as Aqua, it took me about 15 minutes. I mention this now because while I beat him on my very first try as Terra, it took me...23 minutes. Sad, I know, but I beat him and that's all that matters.

As for No Heart, he was only taken down in 5 minutes...after about 5 tries, that is. I forgot that you needed to have Esuna in order to rectify that one attack where you are frozen in place. Once I placed that in, I won (and with Rhythm Mixer, to boot).

Then there was Trollenort. This guy gave me TROUBLE. However, through sheer stubbornness (and an extreme amount of luck thanks to the RNG), I FINALLY took him down. I WILL NEVER FIGHT HIM AS TERRA EVER AGAIN!

So, after that, I took it upon myself to beat the Final Boss for Terra (Terranort) again. I think this came to be a good thing because now I have all of the Rumble Races unlocked for Ven.

Anyways, I'll try to upload some pictures over the weekend. I have two major final exams that I need to prepare for, so the next update may or may not be for a little while. This semester of college is nearly over, guys.

EDIT: And no for some pictures. Please forgive the low quality of some of them; they were taken from my phone.

kuraudoVII · Apr 27, 2015

Ladies and Gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Ventus
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 41
Location: Mirage Arena
Current Commands: Faith, Thunder Surge, Thunder Surge, Sonic Blade, Collision Magnet, Curaga, Curaga

I've had quite a trying time with Terra when trying to tackle all of the Super Bosses (minus Monstro, anyway) with Vanitas' Lingering Sentiment and Young Master Xehanort being the worst in that regard. So when tackling Vanitas' Lingering Sentiment as Ventus, I did not want to play fair. I went to the Fissure, went straight to those tornadoes in the Keyblade Graveyard and started leveling up commands so abilities like Thunder Boost and such could be permanent abilities.

From there, I headed straight to the Badlands. By that point, I had on me two Tornado commands, a mine square and three slots filled with potions. I actually did die the first time because the instant the battle started, I jumped the gun and unloaded a Tornado only for him to use his Kagebushin no Jutsu one attack where he summons makeshift copies of himself to attack me. Since you are a sitting duck when using Tornado, it, unsurprisingly, led to my death.

I then decided to attempt it once more. This time, I played the match like I did Terra and blocked some of his attacks. Luckily, I had my Stratosphere finisher, so that helped me a little bit. Once I got him, though, I unleashed that smexy Tornado, did it again and then used my mine square to immediately end things off with him saying only one last word:

"...Why?"

After that, I headed straight to the Mirage Arena and beat the first three races. Hopefully, I might be able to beat the fourth one tonight.

As I said, updates are going to be a little less than steady this week due to it being my last week of classes.

Anyway, here's yet another picture:

kuraudoVII · May 4, 2015

Ladies and Gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Ventus
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 45
Location: Mirage Arena
Current Commands: Thunder Surge x4, Curaga x4

Welp, classes are officially over so assuming that I'll still be able to keep the PS3 in my room where I can at least close the door nearly every night instead of over in the playroom which has no door and is right next to my parents' room (where they never close their doors when sleeping), I should be able to play a teeny bit more consistently.

Anyway, I actually managed to beat the last race rather handily (yes, I actually came in first this time instead of only beating it under 5:30 minutes.After that, I slogged through the rest of the Arena Missions. I say slogged because as you will see from the pictures, Keepers of the Arena (which I honestly consider much harder than Villain's Vendetta) took me nearly half an hour to beat. However, I managed to beat it and all of the other regular missions. Monstro somehow was even easier to tackle as Ven than Terra. With Terra, I would sometimes have to beat him in Round 4. With Ven, I always beat him on Round 2.

I should note that all of these I had beat on Sunday and Monday night, but I couldn't post them due to being busy for most of that week (Final Exams, ugh) and due to not having put the pictures up on Deviant Art's Sta.sh at the time I started posting on the forums again.

All that's left for Ventus is Armor of the Master, No Heart and Young Master Xehanort. Joy.

Also, some more pictures:

kuraudoVII · May 5, 2015

Ladies and Gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Ventus
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 45
Location: Mirage Arena
Current Commands: Thunder Surge x4, Curaga x4

Armor of the Master and No Heart are down. Young Master Xehanort is a diddlying troll.

So, I should probably mention that when I initially fought Armor of the Master, I was still mired in college classes and exams. Therefore, feel compelled to point out that I ended up dying the first time due to that one ball that he managed to ensnare me in killing me when I was only at 1 hit point left.

I ended up booting up the PS3 earlier this evening and...beat him on my first try in significantly less time than I did with Terra (only a little over 12 minutes with Ven as opposed to about half an hour as Terra).

Armor of the Master at least had different attacks depending on the character (with Ven, he summoned up a ridiculously huge Tornado while with Terra, he pulled off part of the arena and tried to hurl it at him). The battle against No Heart, however, was the exact same song and dance with Ven as it was with Terra. Four Thunder Surges, three Curagas and one Esuna FTW.

Meanwhile, Young Master Xehanort is still being a troll.

Anyways, more pictures!

kuraudoVII · May 9, 2015

WHAT'S YOURS IS MINE!!!

Player Character: Ventus
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 45
Location: Results Screeen
Current Commands: Thunder Surge x4, Curaga x4

Welp, looks like I finally managed to outtroll the troll.

After many, many frustrating attempts, I finally managed to beat Young Master Xehanort down into submission. It took me much longer than I expected considering that Ven has the best dodge in the game, but I managed it. During this battle, I came to realize many things:

1) Do NOT use the finisher for Rhythm Mixer. Many times, I managed to knock down a health bar only for it to be refilled again due to his Renewal Block, so it was pretty useless whenever I used it. I'm sure there are people who probably got more mileage out of it during that battle than I did, but for me, it did more harm than good.

2) Time your use of Thunder Surges. One thing that REALLY annoyed me was that when a command style runs out, you are temporarily unable to do anything other than move. There were so many instances where I was trying to dodge only for the command style to run out and make me take a stupid hit.

3) Stratosphere is surprisingly useful for this battle.

Anyway, once I beat him into submission, I immediately went off to finish Ventus' story again and beat Vanitas again (who was a complete and utter joke by this point).

Anyway, now that that is over and done with...

Ladies and Gentlemen, STATUS REPORT:

Player Character: Aqua
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 45
Location: Mirage Arena
Current Commands: Thunder Surge x4, Curaga x4

I've REALLY cleaned up house here. I've managed to defeat Vanitas' Lingering Sentiment, the four Rumble Races, all the (regular) Mirage Arena battles, defeat Monstro multiple times for the 7777 and 9999 medals thing and Armor of the Master. No Heart and Young Master Xehanort are literally all that's left for boss content.

On a side note, I really must stress the extreme brokenness of Mega Flare in Aqua's hands with the Ultima keyblade equipped. It managed to decimate the first round during the Monstro fight making me immediately face the guy. Not once have I ever gone more than three minutes in that match.

On another side note, I literally only had to retry twice during the battle against Vanitas' Lingering Sentiment. Knowing when to block and place your Seeker Mines can really trivialize the fight.

Also, more pictures!

kuraudoVII · May 9, 2015

Sorry for the double post, but I can only do ten at a time so...

kuraudoVII · May 9, 2015

"TOKI WA TOMARE" THIS, YOUNG MASTER XEHANORT!!!

Player Character: Aqua
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 46
Location: Keyblade Graveyard
Current Commands: Mega Flare, Thunder Surge, Thunder Surge, Thunder Surge, Curaga, Curaga, Curaga

This took me a lot less time than I expected, but both of the Super Bosses that were on my plate are now defeated. I managed to beat them all last night (well, early morning in Young Master Xehanort's case).

No Heart was really easy as Aqua despite only coming in with Thunder Surges, Curagas and one Esuna, but I feel like this is at least partially due to having pummeled him already as Terra and Ventus. I only lost once due to making a really stupid mistake which cost me the match: not having Esuna on me when I got into that one circle that can make you either super slow or super fast. However, after that, I equipped Esuna, I was able to take him down easily.

With No Heart, I was able to beat him on two tries. Young Master Xehanort...took me about a couple of hours. Despite all of this, I was able to knock him down after a little while. I decided to forgo the Royal Radiance keyblade (Crown Unlimit/Unlimited before given a "proper" translation) and stick with the Void Gear so that I can use multiple Thunder Surges without going into a new command style. Anyways, the hardest parts were when he was invisible making me either Cartwheel like mad such as when I dodged Vanitas' Lingering Sentiment's Kagebushin no Jutsu attack where copies of himself attack me or Thunder Surge when I see the blades clearly doing the X attack. It was through this method that I managed to beat him while invisible, something I never knew you could do! I always thought he needed to be visible for the final hit to "count" like the fire needing to be put out in the battle against Data Axel.

Anyways, more pictures!

kuraudoVII · May 10, 2015

"As long as you're with me, I will always find a way back. Always.

- Aqua, Secret Episode

Player Character: Aqua
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 48
Location: Main Title Screen
Current Commands: Thunder Surge x4, Curaga x4

This has been a long road, but I have finally managed to do everything in II.5 that I felt like I needed to do. I've managed to beat Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix on Critical Mode and did everything necessary to get both Secret Endings and even went as far as to beat all of the Paradox Cups. For this game, I beat every story on Critical Mode, unlocked (and beat) the Final and Secret Episodes and even managed to beat all of the Super Bosses in the game, even Young Master Xehanort as freaking TERRA!

Anyway, I'm rambling, so as Aqua would say, "Here goes."

Having managed to finally beat all of the Super Bosses as all of the characters, I went on to beat Aqua's story again having already done so for Terra and Ventus. One thing that I really want to note is that after going through all the trouble of beating all of the Super Bosses, the Final Bosses of each episode are so pathetically easy by comparison. I didn't even equip the best keyblades here aside from maybe Ven's Ultima weapon, and they still went down really quickly. I guess being forced to be cautiously aggressive against the above managed to make the other bosses feel like a cakewalk.

Once I completed Aqua's, I beat the Final and Secret Episodes. I didn't have any pictures from the normal playthrough, but for consistency's sake, I decided to take some here since I've done nothing but that lately.

Anyway, this actually is not my final (playable) entry of the journal. That will come on my birthday in June when I continue the tradition of beating the Secret Episode on that day. This came about since the very first time I beat the Secret Episode, it just so happened to have been my 22nd birthday. I did it again when I turned 23 and will do so again when I turn 24 in less than a month only this time, it'll be on the PS3 instead of on the PSP. Also, before anyone asks, I was able to play the Final Mix version of the game due to there being a (at the time) a fan translated version that basically took most of the dialogue text from the English version and put it into the Final Mix version. Keep in mind that when I found this version, it was BEFORE the announcements for the ReMIX collections, so at the time, I thought that this would be the only way to experience the Final Mix content of the game.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the last two episodes:

See you guys in June. =)

DarkGrey Heroine · May 11, 2015

ohh, this was nice to follow~ especially the frustration episodes because of the secret bosses as Terra xD
I see they changed the Final Battle Report image for each character, I see here Aqua's image is different (never played Final Mix, perhaps it's new only to me)
with pics, everything is even more enjoyable to read :3
you sure used Thunder Surge a lot xD and no D-links at all, not even once o.o

kuraudoVII · May 14, 2015

All of the images in the reports for all three games that received the Final Mix treatment were changed. Even the journal entry images were changed in all three games. In that regard, Kingdom Hearts I was notable over in the west due to the Final Mix images having been used in Re: Chain of Memories when it was ported to North America (though not to Europe and Australia for some extremely odd reason).

I'm really glad that you enjoyed the playthrough journal. To say that there was a lot of frustration during the battles against some of the Super Bosses - especially as Terra - would be quite the understatement, but it was freaking worth it.

Also, thanks again for the sta.sh advice. As you can see, it helped me immensely.

As for Thunder Surges, well...it always gave me results and I've been conditioned to use them ad nauseam thanks to the fight against a certain time traveling troll on the PSP. As for the D-links, as odd as this might sound, it never once crossed my mind to use them. I had already broke the game enough as it. Using Zack's Hero's Pride as a finisher would just be too OP! XD

kuraudoVII · Jun 5, 2015

"I'm not afraid of what the darkness holds now. Even if you do wrestle control of my heart from me--even if you cast me into the deepest, darkest abyss--you'll never sway me from the one cause that pushes me to keep on fighting. Whatever the cost, I'm ready to pay it."

- Terra

Player Character: Aqua
Difficulty Level: Critical Mode
Current Level: 50
Location: Main Title Screen
Current Commands: Thunder Surge x4, Curaga x4

Welp, this is it: the true end of my Playthrough Journal in regards to actually recording what I play for Birth by Sleep (wow, I really could have worded that better). Anyway, as I mentioned in the last entry, I had a bit of a tradition that started back in the summer of 2013 when I was playing Birth by Sleep: Final Mix for the first time. I had initially downloaded a (semi)patched version of the game for the PSP back in 2012 - not too long BEFORE the announcements for the ReMIX collections were, well, announced (seriously, my timing sucks). At the time, I felt that this was going to be the only way I could experience the Final Mix content at all if they weren't going to release it stateside. Once the announcements came, however, I decided to still keep the file and play it to prepare myself for when I actually buy the game on the PS3.

From here, we get to a very interesting coincidence. I initially did everything on Proud Mode until I got to the point where I was unable to access the Secret Episode due to not having all of the stickers. While I could have collected them all, I figured, "Eh, I can just do this all over again on Critical." I had initially not used the Command Meld system at all until I got to Aqua's scenario which outright forced me to do so in the first place (Terranort as Terra's Lingering Will as well as the last battle against Vanitas were a pain because of this). I beat all three stories again. I then beat Terranort as Aqua yet again and unlocked the Secret Episode...on June 5. My 22nd birthday. i then proceeded to beat that story on that day and have been doing that ever since.

Fast forward to today, my 24th birthday. This time around, I beat the Secret Episode not on the PSP, but rather on the PS3. Completing it on a bigger television, having fun exploring the Realm of Darkness and hearing Willa Holland's voice acting during those cutscenes was pretty freaking cool. I'd mention more in regards to the Secret Episode itself, but I've already done so the first time around on this journal, so anything I'm going to say here would be redundant (not that it has stopped me before, but whatever).

Anyway, this is my last gameplay entry for the journal itself. Hopefully, if a Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance remaster happens, I might be able to do a journal for it. I'm forced to use the word might due to my currently lacking a job (which I am doing whatever I can to rectify, believe me) as well as not having a 3DS or PS4. I can occasionally get small purchases such as certain remasters (goodness knows that's where a fair chunk of my money went to these last couple of years), but I've been unable to get any actual systems due to not having the money to get it, so yeah.

Anyway, this is kuraudoVII signing off.

DarkGrey Heroine · Jun 5, 2015

Happy birthday, man! Remembering these playthroughs, finished on your birthday like it has become tradition, this will add a peculiarly nice feeling to your heart.
May your future be bright and full of munny, or at least enough munny to get what truly contributes to your happiness, to make life enjoyable ~ am I being too profound? xD

that picture! I found the other half of it some time ago, so..

kuraudoVII · Jun 8, 2015

I'm going to college so I can be a public school teacher. Being able to get everything that I need was already thrown out the window with how poorly paid we are. XD

Anyways, thanks and sorry I didn't notice it earlier.

I actually was trying to find that one picture since I found it infinitely funnier (just seeing Eraqus being shoved aside with a greedy Xehanort trying to get that bouquet is just too damn funny for words. Vanitas just chilling and Sorry trying to keep up with Riku, Kairi and Ventus was just icing on the cake.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the actual image and I had to hurry it up since I had other plans that day.

Also, I absolutely love that quote. JOIN NOW WITH YOUR BETTER HALF!!!

Samcrux · Dec 28, 2015

As for Ventus tip #1: Ventus is really well-balanced. The finisher for the Rhythm Mixer Command Style works well on YX as long as you save it and keep spamming Thunder Surges until YX goes gung-ho invisible.
As for tip #2: yes it is vital, but it is also useful for NO Heart.
As for tip #3: It works but not that effective.

For Aqua:
Aerial Slam is very useful for VLS as it leads to Teleport Blast. Rinse and repeat.
For Armor of Eraqus: Best attack will be always Lightbloom.
For No Heart, due to is increased speed and evasion and decreased I-frames, use the same strategy (Thunder Surge, Rhythm Mixer) as in YX and Lightbloom.

Samcrux · Dec 28, 2015

STATUS REPORT:
Player Character:Terra, Ventus, Aqua
Difficulty level: Critical
Current Level: 78, 78, 70
Moveset: Terra: Magnega, Ars Solum, Curaga, Mega Flare, Quake, Ultima Cannon, Demolition
Ventus: Faith, Curaga, Magnega, Mega Flare, Ars Arcanum, Multivortex, Stratosphere
Aqua: Mega Flare, Thundaga Shot, Magnega, Curaga, Seeker Mine, Glacier, Lightbloom
Location: Mirage Arena (Terra & Ventus), Neverland (Aqua)

Trying as hard to level them up to max Level 99 to defeat superbosses again and again.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: Final Mix Playthrough Journal

kuraudoVII

D'oh, I missed!

kuraudoVII

D'oh, I missed!

kuraudoVII

D'oh, I missed!

kuraudoVII

D'oh, I missed!

kuraudoVII

D'oh, I missed!

kuraudoVII

D'oh, I missed!

kuraudoVII

D'oh, I missed!

kuraudoVII

D'oh, I missed!

DarkGrey Heroine

How much closer could I be?

kuraudoVII

D'oh, I missed!

kuraudoVII

D'oh, I missed!

DarkGrey Heroine

How much closer could I be?

kuraudoVII

D'oh, I missed!

Samcrux

New member

Samcrux

New member