User:Troisnyxetienne/Re:Chain Walkthrough

Sora's story is done !

However, I shall not be able to continue Reverse/Rebirth except for parts where I actually did play. Anyone with the Japanese release of Re:Chain of Memories who has already finished Sora's Story, please help !

Welcome one and all to Kingdom Hearts Wiki's sole Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories walkthrough !

Now it all started when nine people asked me for this walkthrough, and since I'm playing (or more precisely, re-playing) Re:Chain of Memories, I reckoned it'd be great to start bit by bit and compare the differences between the two versions of Re:Chain. By the way, I'm not playing the single English release, but the extension to Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, so there will be some notable differences. I'll highlight those as we go along.

This walkthrough's bound to have some minor expletives. Even so, I think it's okay for everyone to get in and help... ^_^

Note that while most of the strategies are mine, quite a few pointers have been added by a few willing users. The walkthrough will be written in my voice for the most part. And because it's in my voice, I'm begging you, please do not Americanise my walkthrough ! I'm aware I spell words like... "materialise, hypnotise, valour, vigour", given that I've been indoctrinated with British spelling. Let me at least keep that for the walkthrough, if not for the mainspace !

Controls

 * to attack
 * to jump
 * for Dodge Roll
 * to Lock On. Note : I don't know why they had to change this when we were already so used to using to lock on...
 * Left analog stick to move around.

And after that, gameplay is entirely up to you. You're the master of your own floor, you create the rooms as and when you please, and once you've pwned the bosses of every single level, you'll soon find your way on to the 13th floor taking down the lord of the castle himself.

Note that the attack/jump controls are reversed in the Japanese version, which I'm playing.

See Deck Setup for the deck configuration. I'll just mention it briefly here : the first deck, which I'm calling Troisnyx*, is offence-based. The second deck, Mylène (named after the first half of the terror duo, Mylène Farmer) is the deck I'm reserving for boss battles, and the third deck, Boutonnat (named after the other half of the terror duo, Laurent Boutonnat) is the magic-based deck.

For my previous save file it was Esterel (magic), Ricordel (offence) and Fonterel (boss battles).

Gist of the story
Re:Chain of Memories is a remake of the story which picks up from where we left off at Kingdom Hearts : Sora saves Kairi and successfully brings her back to Destiny Islands, while Riku and Mickey are trapped behind the Door to Darkness - the one leading to Kingdom Hearts. Sora and company set off to find Riku and the King, only to end up in Castle Oblivion no thanks to Marluxia's guidance and have their memories manipulated... yet another unlucky day in Sora's story, and I'm gonna make this entire walkthrough as spoiler-ific as possible. I mean, c'mon, for one whole day of misfortune, Sora has to sleep in a pod for a whole year !

Meanwhile, for some reason or other Riku ends up in the 12th basement of Castle Oblivion and he decides to get rid of his darkness. He often sees Xehanort's Heartless tormenting him, though the King comes to his aid. But later on he is told that his darkness and his light belong to him, and that he should use both to his ability. So he finally gets rid of the embodiment of Xehanort's Heartless, though a part of the villain still remains in him. Poor soul, I wonder how he even lives.

=Sora's Story=

Entering Castle Oblivion/Traverse Town
Sora opens the doors to Castle Oblivion, and Donald and Goofy follow suit. I think once they enter into that wretched castle they start losing their memory... they get all sorts of weird feelings that the King and Riku are both there (well, indeed they are there, but in the wrong place). The door closes on them and is locked ; Marluxia confronts them and tells them all sorts of riddles, Donald tries using magic on him but it's no use, he can't even remember a single spell... Marluxia gives them their very first world card : Traverse Town. So now, for lack of anywhere else to go, we open the door to a very familiar place...

First steps
Sora enters in commenting on why Donald and Goofy are not there with him, and why he has ended up in Traverse Town... and that sinister music plays. During my first playthrough this thing gave me the creeps. So after a brief chat with Marluxia (which I can only read in bits and pieces) he takes you to the battle arena and teaches you how to use the card system. Again, let me play Marluxia here and remind you how to use the card system :


 * You just click (or  for the Japanese version) on a card to use it.
 * If you take out, say a 7 and your enemy takes out a 4, you have "broken" your enemy's card and you'll be able to perform your attack.
 * Same goes if your enemy takes out a 9 and you take out a 2 - he will have broken your card and will attack you.
 * If you take out a 7 and an enemy takes out a 7, the cards are both "broken", but no attack will be performed.
 * The 0 card is the most usable card of them all - it can break anything from cards to sleights, even the most powerful of all sleights.
 * Okay, speaking about sleights - putting two or three cards into a fold is known as a Sleight. To use a sleight, you press on three cards of your choice, and press  +  (or alternatively, ) to activate the sleight. If you want to remove cards from your sleight, you press . However, I have to think first before activating my sleight, because the  button doesn't work for me at all !

Progressing ahead
Once the battle tutorial is under way, you'll be given the Key of Beginnings card. That's the first card you'll ever get to progress through the story. Okay, I'm not sure which one comes first, but I believe the order of the story is like this :

Key of Beginnings - Leon teaches you how to use sleights.

Key of Guidance - You speak to Leon and company in the Second District.

Key to Truth - This is usually the Keycard which engages a boss battle, though other Keycards have been known to do this as well. For this level it's Guard Armor, and it's definitely no walk in the park.

I recommend you to level up to at least Level 8... or whatever level you're comfortable with - at least it's safer to defeat the Guard Armor. No, please don't go there at Level 2 and say "No, the Guard Armor pwned me again..."

The room cards I used were Black Room,  Meeting Ground,  Sleeping Darkness,  Moment's Reprieve,  Tranquil Darkness and  Martial Waking. I don't know why, but I just hate Lasting Daze. I did use it once in this game, and I never used it again. I think I know which cards to submit whenever they ask me for green cards !

After Guard Armor
Once you've taken down Guard Armor, you'll see a cutscene with Sora and the Final Fantasy VII + Leon gang. All I do know is that Aerith realises that she is a memory-based facsimile, and Sora has to come to terms with the fact that she isn't really there. Sora is saddened by this, but he slowly understands. He turns to Donald and Goofy, saying that he had just talked to Aerith, and he turns around to see if Aerith is there, but she disappeared in a flash... confirming Sora's sad notions.

Post-defeat
So after defeating Axel Sora and company think that he's dead and gone, but he materialises right in front of their eyes, saying he wouldn't have died oh so easily (good thinking, Axel). He offers help to Sora so that he could find what he's searching for, but Sora says he'll do it by himself. As recompense for defeating Axel you get the Fire card. Woohoo ! Now we get to burn things !

Entering the 2nd Floor
So Sora and company recollect lots of stuff, and Goofy mangles the name Castle Oblivion (I can't help but laugh when he says Bokyokyu instead of Bokyaku no Shiro !). He also makes passing mention about how Sora sacrificed himself with the Keyblade of People's Hearts. Sadly, he forgot the name Hollow Bastion... and he was going "Hollow... Holler..." (over here it'd sound like Horo... Horouu......). He apologises, saying he can't remember...

Save the game where it is, we're now bound for the next world. You have a choice between Wonderland, Olympus Coliseum, Monstro and Halloween Town.

Second Floor : Olympus Coliseum
So I chose Olympus Coliseum for my second floor. I happen to have clear data for Re:Chain (Sora's story), but I chose Wonderland for the second floor back then. Well, I thought I'd go with a change. For once. I'm entering in LV8, the level I was in previously when I defeated Axel...

Upon entry Sora and friends see the board and there's a tourney going on, and they're happy to participate with the hopes of being called heroes one day. They leave the scene ; Hades comes in, ever determined to take down that pesky Hercules, and he hires the Buster Sword-wielding Cloud. Almost the same story as in the first Kingdom Hearts, though a little bit distorted due to the contortion of Sora's memory.

After that scene is over, you get the Key of Beginnings card, which is your ticket to another story.

Olympus Coliseum map

 * Note:This map works on any world, on the second floor

Key of Beginnings
I believe this one takes you to Hercules and Phil, though I'm not sure of what's going on (I can only read Japanese in bits and pieces, that too, I learned by myself)... so I risk having to replay that scene over again. Not sure if this thing's included in theatre mode, but I'll try.

So right after that you get the  Key of Guidance. Now don't haste to open it just yet, because you might need to level up a little more. Hint hint.

Room Creation
The rooms I used were Black Room,  Meeting Ground (for the friend cards),  Strong Initiative and  Premium Room. Thus far. I also made the mistake of opening a Moogle Room when in fact, I shouldn't have opened one. Because the only cards I'm ever gonna get are Fire, Blizzard, Cure, the Kingdom Key and Olympia... wait a second, I'm getting Olympia, and that's a card I used for a very long time, I say !

I haven't got a Calm Bounty yet but if I do, I'll be able to unlock Monochrome as a Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix Completion Bonus. No, what am I talking about ? I believe that's Room of Rewards. Oh well...

Well, I haven't done much of the leveling up yet, but I have completed the next stage, which is...

Power level
Well, the one reason why I'm putting this here is because there are two things that require mention so far :


 * 1) I used a Calm Bounty (card).png Calm Bounty in Traverse Town and voilà, look what it gave me ! A  Hidden Dragon (card).png Hidden Dragon card as a KHIIFM completion bonus ! :D The stats, however, are the same as an Olympia card, and cost more Card Points, so I won't be using this card anytime soon. Also note that once you get this in Traverse Town, you'll get this on any of the lower floors.
 * 2) I used another Calm Bounty in Olympus Coliseum and this time, I got Blizzard Raid ! Note the sequence : Strike Raid first, followed by Blizzard Raid (because Blizzard is one of your default Magic cards). I think, following this sequence are Fire Raid and Thunder Raid respectively, though I'll need to play through the entire game to confirm this.

So after that I'm going back and forth like a ping-pong ball between F1 and F2 just for the sake of leveling up and obtaining more Moogle Points. The sleights I have now (minus Magic and Friend Cards) are Strike Raid, Stun Impact, Sliding Dash and Blizzard Raid.

I also obtained Final Break (all fives) at Level 17.

After Hades
All the congratulatory messages come in, and again, Cloud is there, outside the arena. Sora approaches him and asks if he's okay, he says yeah. And it's something gotta do with finding Cloud's memories... and then Sora asks him if he'd join the party, and Cloud passes him a card. And we have the usual line of "How about a rematch sometime ?" and he flips his spiky Chocobo hair :P saying, "I think I'll pass."

Leaving the Second Floor
Sora and company enter into reflection once more. Goofy tells them about the episode where Sora stabbed his heart with the Keyblade of People's Hearts to release Kairi’s heart, but Sora asks "Are you sure it happened in a castle ?" Donald thinks he remembers, and tries to recollect the name... but he can't.

Wonderland map

 * Note:This map works on any world, on the third floor

Entering the Third Floor
Again, Sora and company enter into reflection. But this time, Jiminy Cricket gives them a hint of what Axel said the other time (to be honest, I actually forgot)... but all I do know is that they finally find out the meaning of the name Castle Oblivion - see the root words ? Oblivion --> oubli = forget ! They finally understand the reason behind the name, and they learn to live with it... or summat.

Entering Wonderland
So after much hesitation I finally picked Wonderland as my third floor. I decided to battle it with the man himself. Sort of a retribution for what he did to my Riku back in Reverse/Rebirth ! Now the story begins such : Sora and company spot the White Rabbit rattling out "Oh my fur and whiskers ! I'm late I'm late I'm late !" And they can't even stop him for a chat. Looks like he's headed for the Queen's Palace !

First round of gallivanting
So right after that we get the Key of Beginnings. I was pretty lazy through this level - I took out all the Heartless in the Unknown Room, then used three Calm Bounties (one of which gave me the  Stop card, yay !), then entered into a  Moogle Room because I had some 300-odd MP to spare. And so the bulk of the cards which I obtained were Olympia cards. Especially Premiums, this time. I needed some. I virtually didn't do any attacking, so I stayed in the same level as I was when I exited Olympus Coliseum : Level 18. Thankfully Wonderland is not as confusing as it was in the first game.

Leveling up
So right now I'm in Level 19, and trying to level up... and the only card I've used thus far is Strong Initiative. That's the one card that makes me level up like crazy because all the Heartless in the first round have low HP. Pair that up with a Bouncywild card and we get instant experience ! Yet for some reason, I'm leveling up too slowly... I must be in at least Level 21 to get to Trickmaster. That's my target.

Once you see the next section on the Trickmaster, you'll know that I've already reached my level of choice. Here's hoping that I don't make any blunders again. I have to use the battle deck, and the only thing I know is that I'll have to stock it up with Blizzard cards.

Oh, and I also used the Key of Guidance, and let me remind you that I'm playing the Japanese version, so I can only understand about 25% of what's going on. Sora and co. are taken to the Lotus Forest, where they meet Alice and obtain hints from the Cheshire Cat. And I know the Cheshire Cat says something along the lines of "Cheshire Cat's hints" and "a hint which your eyes can trust" those are the only parts I managed to grasp fully. Oh well, I still have the scene player, so I can at least grab the gist of the story there. I hope...

Last steps
After several uses of the Strong Initiative map card, I go up a few levels and my HP is at 200, I forget what my CP is at... The good thing about Strong Initiative is that if you manage to hit at the enemy and initiate a battle, you get to have instant experience - you knock out a horde of enemies WITH ONE HIT. That's why it's my most favourite map card. Ever.

Right, so at Level 22, I get Zantetsuken. And I have quite a number of 9 cards in the deck, but very few 0 cards (actually, only one 0 card, and that's the Kingdom Key) and with that, in I go to take out the Trickmaster.

Trickmaster
The Trickmaster's stats are as follows :

HP : 600 AP : 9 EXP : 372

Note that I did not see the need to change to my boss battle deck - I went in with my Troisnyx deck - the one I use for normal battles. It's got several Olympia and Kingdom Key cards (as I said, the sole 0 card in that deck is a Kingdom Key), two Cure cards (one of them is a Premium), one  Hi-Potion card #9 (which is virtually unbreakable), one  Fire card and one  Blizzard card.

The Trickmaster starts the battle with his batons lit up, and since I have terrible aiming (which also explains why I scored 0 marks for the M16 target practice last year), my Blizzard didn't get him it. Its moveset is rather predictable : it


 * 1) slams its batons onto the floor, creating a fiery shockwave, and
 * 2) twirls them around hoping to attack Sora with at least one of them.

Now those two can be easily evaded. You have a choice of going onto the table, or remaining on the floor and jumping to evade the shockwave. If you have a card with thrust stat A (Olympia, for that matter), you'll be able to stun it within three hits, so it'll drop HP balls and give you room to attack. But within three hits, it'll be back to normal again, so keep watch !

When his HP bar is down to one, it'll start shooting fireballs at Sora. Now, I really hate that they didn't bring back the Guard ability from Kingdom Hearts back into this game, because quite a few of the fireballs hit me. Evade those - STAY AWAY FROM THE TABLE IF YOU CAN ! - and then, when it returns to its two basic attacks, repeat the same strategy.

Now, whether or not the table disappears all depends on your choice of Keyblades and/or attacks.

My Fire attack did manage to hit it, because it has homing properties (yes, Fire in Re:Chain of Memories has homing properties). Finishing the Coliseum (or alternatively, Monstro) first is a good move, because you'll have a set of cards with thrust stat A. Its HP can be depleted much faster (in the previous save file, I could only rely on Kingdom Key,  Hidden Dragon and  Lady Luck, all of which didn't help me much). So because the Trickmaster's HP was depleted much faster than it could attack me, the table was always up for me, and it was never destroyed.

I only reloaded twice : once using the Hi-Potion and once with the Reload Card.

Winning this battle gives you the Trickmaster card. Which I won't be using at all, but as people say, it's bragging rights we're talking about.

End of 3rd Floor
So Alice with her quick thinking resolves the chaos between the Queen of Hearts and the remaining characters, and the Queen of Hearts leaves the Bizarre Room rather satisfied. The end. :D

Fourth Floor : Monstro
We see Goofy and Donald remembering the scene where they found Mickey behind the Door to Darkness, and Sora is sure that the King and Riku are there. Well, they are there... just that they're not that high up. And from the fourth floor onwards, the trouble starts brewing...

Entering Monstro
Mind you, I'm still in level 22 when I'm writing about this part - I enter into the Unknown Room, take out all the Heartless and receive my first Stop and  Wishing Star cards from piles of junk. The next card I use is a Calm Bounty, and I get a new sleight  Fire Raid. So the Raids I have right now are Strike Raid, Fire Raid and Blizzard Raid. I use a Sleeping Darkness card and several  Strong Initiative cards in order to power up my level to about 25.

Note that this world is slightly different from the rest because you don't have the predictable order of beginning - middle - boss fight. Yes, the three Keycards are still there, but the story is in a different order now.

When you first begin, you see Pinocchio, who tells Sora and company that they're stuck in the big whale (kujira), Monstro - and to make the sarcasm sound more evident, they ACTUALLY USED KATAKANA FOR THAT. Instead of the kanji.

Key of Beginnings
The Key of Beginnings leads you to Monstro's mouth, where you meet Gepetto, and he tells you of how his home world got destroyed, and how he's been living in that whale for quite a while already, and that he hopes to see Pinoc turn into a real boy... wait a minute, did we not hear that story in the first Kingdom Hearts ? I know I went pretty slowly while reading the characters I could identify - and I could identify 50% of what Gepetto was saying. Immediately after that, you get the Key of Guidance.

Uh oh, Key of Guidance
This is not something I expected - I was pretty much expecting this part of the story to continue without any events, just as it happens in all other worlds. But like I said, this world is somewhat special.

Anyway, prior to activating the Key of Guidance, I get the High Jump ability, and it's depicted in an image which I SO WANNA GET FOR THE WIKI, BUT NO ONE IS HELPING ! It's the path of Sora's High Jump, with a black BG, and the image can be accessed from the Status section.

So I have a request now : Can anyone PLEASE get that image and upload it to the wiki ?

Alright, back to the Key of Guidance. You find Pinoc in Monstro's stomach (as it appears in the first Kingdom Hearts), and... wait, can't Pinoc ever stop lying ? He lied in the intro, he lies again here... So I didn't get what they were saying here. I'll rely on the gist of the story later to provide you with more information... but for now, this is all you get :

Sora and company find that the stomach wall is shaking, and they urge Pinoc to rush to safety. So he runs to the other end of the stomach, but ironically, he's running head-first into danger : the Parasite Cage gets him from right above, and poor Pinoc is trapped !

Note that this is the boss fight for Monstro. I was initially thinking, after this battle was over, that there wouldn't be a third part to the story, but read on anyway.

Parasite Cage
Its stats are as follows :

HP : 715 AP : 9 EXP : 512

In case you're wondering, I used virtually the same deck as the one for the Trickmaster battle, albeit with two extra Keyblade cards.

If you refer to the Parasite Cage page, you'll see a number of attacks listed under the Kingdom Hearts strategy. In this battle, however, the attacks it used were Left Tentacle, Right Tentacle, Swing and Double Swing. And as usual, I couldn't dodge them on time.

The battle takes place on four revolving platforms. The Parasite Cage either uses Left or Right Tentacle to push you onto the stomach acid, and just as in Kingdom Hearts, the acid makes you lose HP. But be warned : you lose more HP than you do in Kingdom Hearts - in Kingdom Hearts, you periodically lose 1 HP after four or five running steps on the acid ; in Re:Chain, if you have 200-odd HP, you lose one third of your HP after just three seconds on the stomach acid.

The Parasite Cage can cause a platform to disappear, or it can cause all platforms to disappear and new ones to arise. Get the Gimmick Card and instead of a large platform appearing at the centre (as per Reverse/Rebirth), the entire ground is a purple platform, and the stomach acid just disappears. So in short, it's one big circle, and the Parasite Cage is just running distance ahead - not staggering distance ahead.

The same trick as in the Trickmaster battle works wonders here : if you have a Keyblade card with thrust stat A ( Olympia or Wishing Star), then you can stun it after three hits. And that's exactly what I did. When stunned, every hit you inflict upon it releases HP orbs. If you are playing Reverse/Rebirth, see what I did for the Parasite Cage below and you'll understand why I managed to obtain HP orbs with every hit.

Winning this battle gives you the Parasite Cage card - again, another card which I wouldn't consider using.

Aftermath of the Parasite Cage battle
Pinoc regains consciousness, jumps a few times in his cage to force it open, and those are the final blows which kill the Parasite Cage. Yes, not even Sora's Keyblade of badassity could defeat it.

And with this, you get the Key to Truth. I began to wonder why I'd get the Key to Truth after the boss battle, but there's a reason for it - which I realised immediately after I got the Key to Truth. Read on.

Key to Truth : Monstro's Belly Brawl
Yes, the Key to Truth was for a minigame. Now, this actually takes place in Monstro's throat and not the belly if we refer to Kingdom Hearts canon. Sora somehow can sense the presence of Heartless, and decides that the only way to get out of Monstro is to kill the Heartless and make Monstro give a great big sneeze...

The mini-game can only be played once, and serves as a progression to the story.

Now, all the Heartless you face here are Shadows. Regardless of whether you fill the gauge up or not, as long as you get it above half, you're good to go. Oh, and you MUST defeat ALL the Heartless within two minutes. That was a cinch, but my Monstro gauge was barely above half.

Regardless, Sora and company were thrown out and land in Monstro's mouth again... where another cutscene ensues, but this time I hurried through it all.

So on to Conqueror's Respite (this Conqueror's Respite has NOTHING in it at all !), and on to the fifth floor.

Fifth Floor : Agrabah
Considering Olympia is a strong weapon which can be used all the way to the 11th floor (no, seriously, I'm not kidding), I wouldn't prepare much, but I'll do basic leveling up.

So anyway, Sora and co. leave the fourth floor and the trouble sets in : Sora looks at Kairi's Lucky Charm and remembers Kairi's face, but Naminé appears behind him, and Sora doesn't have a clue as to who she is. Then immediately after that we see Naminé drawing a picture of Sora, Riku, Kairi and herself in the room where she is, and Sora starts "remembering" that there were four friends back in his home Destiny Islands, and not three.

So I save, and open the gates to Agrabah...

Agrabah Map
[End]-[T] |    |  []---[] [R] |    |  |  []---[]--[]-[B] |   |  [St]-[] |      [G] [St]=Start of floor

[B]=Key of Beginnings

[G]=Key of Guidance

[T]=Key to Truth

[R]=Key to Rewards

-|=pathways

[]=Rooms

[End]=Conqueror’s Respite


 * Note: This map works on any world, on the fifth floor

Introduction
Sora and company enter into the Main Street (I'm not sure which part of the Main Street it is, though I know that's the place which has two pillars which you can climb to reach Aladdin's house in Kingdom Hearts). And then we go through something which we're sick and tired of already.

This introduction is WAY TOO FAMILIAR - seriously, it's appeared in the first Kingdom Hearts if I remember correctly, then something similar appears in Kingdom Hearts II - but here's the pitch : in every introduction to Agrabah you just have to defeat several waves of Heartless before you realise that there are just too many for you to handle. Another cliché (which appears immediately after that) is Aladdin summoning the Genie. In Kingdom Hearts, Aladdin asked the Genie to defeat all the Heartless ; in Kingdom Hearts II, Aladdin asked the Genie to wipe out the sandstorm in the Desert Ruins.

Now, which cliché do you think would be used here? The one from Kingdom Hearts, of course! Poof! The Genie appears, says something along the lines of "Give me a challenge the next time, Al!" and wipes out the five Shadows around Aladdin and company. So one wish gone; that leaves two. What a waste, Al!

Immediately after that clichéd episode, you obtain the Key of Beginnings.

Exploration
If you see my "More tips and tricks" section below, you'll realise that Agrabah is THE place to go for Moogle Points. Seriously. It's the one place where you can not only gain an abundance of Moogle Points by defeating heaps of junk, pots and unmanned stalls ; every successful hit Aladdin lands with the Sandstorm attack gives you 12 Moogle Points. The maximum number of hits Aladdin can land is five, which makes that a whopping 60 Moogle Points. And, if you're lucky enough to use the Aladdin card thrice during a battle, you'd be having heavy pockets by the time the battle ends.

The cards I obtained from the Calm Bounties were  Three Wishes (which has the same stats as a  Hidden Dragon card, ironically) and the  Gravity card. Now I hardly use Gravity, but I know I'll be needing it for my magic-based deck Boutonnat later, when it's time for me to set it up.

And then, I went to the Moogle Room, where I managed to gain some good attack cards and some redundant  Potion cards, and since my play time has ended for the day, I saved.

I'm now in Level 25 (or 26, I'm not sure), my HP is still at 200 because I've been beefing up my CP. I've been getting a lot of my favourite card - Strong Initiative. And believe it or not, I have that in #9 and #0 ! ^_^ So I'm hoping to use that and attempt to gain some instant experience. Oh, I think I know my catchphrase for the day : Instant EXP : Just add Strong Initiative.

More levelling up
So the cards I used for this session were Strong Initiative (as usual),  Premium Room (I had the need to start premiumising my cards - if that is even a word :P) and  Meeting Ground, just to get Aladdin's card to carry out Sandstorm and get more Moogle Points. And on a side note, I've finally learnt how to pronounce the Japanese names for Meeting Ground and Sleeping Darkness (I learned the latter first - nemuri no yami, and that came after I suddenly remembered the intro to the TGS trailer - the one where Ansem speaks at the beginning).

Alright, so I went into Level 27 during this period and I learned Sonic Rave Sonic Blade. Sonic Blade. I really mean Sonic Blade -. This is the Sleight I'd be using quite often, given that the values of my cards vary from 5 up to 0. Then I went on to 28 - again, I decided to beef up my CP instead of my HP (wrong move to do at that point in time ; read on). So that makes HP, 200; CP, 600.

With that, I used the Key of Beginnings.

Key of Beginnings
Using the Key of Beginnings takes you to the Plaza (the place near the Desert in Kingdom Hearts). So Aladdin and company talk about Jafar and how he's after the lamp. Genie makes mention of Jasmine and they rush into the desert. With this, you obtain the Key of Guidance.

Key of Guidance
Considering that I thrashed the Parasite Cage and the Trickmaster with only 200 HP, I thought I could do the same with relative ease for any fight, since I seemed to pull through quite well for normal battles. So I didn't level up - I used the Key of Guidance straightaway.

Now for some reason, Aladdin and company end up in the Bazaar and are shocked to see Jasmine lying on the floor unconscious, surrounded by Shadows. Again, the Genie wipes them out... I think that's his second wish, because I know that in this scene, Sora tells Aladdin that he only has one more wish left. Anyway, immediately after Genie wipes them out, be prepared : you're about to fight several waves of Heartless, and they're ALL THE HEARTLESS YOU CAN EVER FIND IN AGRABAH.

And this is no easy task if you're just like me - that is to say, if you haven't taken the prudence to level up. My usual battles would take one reload with the Hi-Potion ; this one made me reload twice.

Winning this battle gives you the Ether card.

After the battle, Aladdin soon discovers that the lamp is missing ! The poor boy searches his pants but can't find a thing ! Jafar and Iago appear on the upper level of the Bazaar to taunt them, now that Jafar has the lamp. The poor big blue lump is now Jafar's slave and ends up taking Jasmine away, albeit with great reluctance.

With this, you get the Key to Truth.

MOAR levelling up
With one Strong Initiative card in hand, I went to Level 29 and decided to beef up my HP a little bit. So now my HP is 215, my CP is 600. Also, I've discovered that you start getting Random Jokers here.

I had two, so I decided to use one, and that took me to...

Looming Darkness.

The description says "A room where Heartless attack relentlessly". The French description suits it MUCH better : Salle aux Sans-cœur déchaînés ! Now when I say déchaîné, it literally means "unchained" - try to imagine Heartless having broken free of their shackles. They don't just attack relentlessly ; they move like, SUPER FAST. It's like they have this certain excitement to just move !

Key to Truth : Attempt #1
The Key to Truth takes you to the Kingdom Hearts version of the Palace Gates, where Sora and his friends face Jafar and Iago. Now, you know the pitch : Jafar asks the Genie to turn him into an all-powerful Genie, and the blue Genie does that rather reluctantly. So the Jafar we know is Jafar (Genie) as we know him in the first Kingdom Hearts, and you're expected to hit the lamp to deplete his HP ; though a well-aimed Blizzard spell can be aimed towards Jafar.

So his stats are as follows :

HP : 700 AP : 13 EXP : 651

But anyway, as I have bad aiming AND bad timing, I was KO'ed. So it's official : if you're not a -masher like me, you can't go to battle against Jafar at Level 29.

Key to Truth : Attempt #2
So prior to retrying the battle with Jafar, I levelled up a bit more with the usual favourite - Strong Initiative. I'm now in Level 31, with my HP at 230 and my CP at 625. Quite a few of my cards have been Premium-ised to make room for more cards. I replaced all my Blizzard cards with  Fire cards because they have homing properties, and I doubt I'd ever be able to make a Blizzard spell aim properly on Jafar, let alone on the lamp !

I didn't change my deck ; I used the Troisnyx deck as always.

So, a little bit more on the Jafar battle, for those of you who don't remember how it went : it takes place in the area below the Lamp Chamber of Kingdom Hearts. It's the same place where you fought Jafar (Genie) in the first game. But there's one difference : '''in the first game, the pedestals were many in number, and they were sort of a puzzle where they moved left and right, up and down, and if one pedestal moved into its hollow, you could still grasp onto it. In Re:Chain, there are pedestals in groups of three - I saw six up at first - and then they only move up and down. If one goes way down and the other goes way up, it'd be too high for you to grasp, even with High Jump.'''

So my first move was, as you might guess : aim for the lamp with Fire. I successfully hit twice ! ^_^

After that, the rest depends on good aim. It's difficult to move the camera around especially when Iago is at one end of the arena and Jafar is at the other side throwing a fireball at you... Thus, for the most part, the camera is hovering at one side above you, and it's also quite difficult to manually turn the camera AND evade when Jafar attacks.

Jafar has two main attacks :


 * 1) He throws a fireball at you. This can be easily evaded if you're at the lower levels, or if you successfully break his card. The card he generally uses for this is numbered 6, though this can vary.
 * 2) He fires a laser-like thing onto the ground, and it follows Sora wherever he goes.
 * Truth be told, this is the attack which KO'ed me in the first attempt. I couldn't evade because I was in the lower level. So there are two ways to get past this attack - if you have the Gimmick Card.png Gimmick Card, USE IT. And break his card.

This was what happened in my battle : I had the Gimmick Card, and I used it, and all the six top platforms went up, and then Jafar fired his laser thing. It's much easier to evade if Jafar aims at you when all the platforms are up.

As for how to get to the lamp, you have to see if Iago is hovering above you or close to the ground. You're bound to miss it if you aim wrongly. I had several wasted cards, and I reloaded once with the Hi-Potion and once with the Reload Card.

Winning this battle will give you the Jafar card. Another card which I wouldn't consider using.

Aftermath
So the story of Agrabah ends at the Palace Gates, and Aladdin uses his last wish to give freedom to the Genie. And after that, Aladdin rushes out of the Palace Gates - I'm not sure if it's to find Jasmine, because I rushed through the story, but I do know that the Genie gives him his card.

Entering the Sixth Floor
Sora starts to remember things that he didn't remember before : he recounts a story of how Sora and Riku fought on the Destiny Islands, and Naminé would draw. But one day, she disappeared. That spells trouble...

Once that scene is over, I walk to the huge white door and I realise that I only have one World Card left : Halloween Town. So in I go...

Halloween Town Map
[]-[]       |   |       [B]-[]  [G]  [End] |        |   [St]-[]-[]-[]-[] |  |             [R] [T]

[St]=Start of floor

[B]=Key of Beginnings

[G]=Key of Guidance

[T]=Key to Truth

[R]=Key to Rewards

-|=pathways

[]=Rooms

[End]=Conqueror’s Respite

[X]= No Boss Battle
 * Note: This map works on any world, on the sixth floor

Introduction
You enter into the Guillotine Plaza as it looks in Kingdom Hearts, and Sora, Donald and Goofy approach the well and poof ! Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King appears and gives Donald a fright &mdash; and welcomes Sora and company to Halloween Town. But, before we go any further....... several Heartless appear around Sora and company, and you and I know just what to do : FIGHT.

So the mix is as follows : Shadows, Wight Knights, Gargoyles and Creeper Plants.

Once that's over, you get the Key of Beginnings.

Also, I attained Level 32 during that battle, which gives me the sleight Lethal Frame - my favourite sleight EVER !

Also, I got another sleight, which has the exact same Kana as Terra : Terror !

Key of Beginnings
The Key of Beginnings takes you to Dr. Finkelstein's lab, where Jack, Sora and friends gather. Dr. Finkelstein says he's working on a memory potion, which he would perhaps use to help Jack and co. regain their lost memories. He summons Sally but doesn't get a response - so Sora and company leave for the Graveyard, where they are to meet her. End of Key of Beginnings - you get the Key of Guidance.

Levelling up
I noticed that you get A LOT of Bottomless Darkness cards from the Heartless in this level.

That aside - I used one or more of the following cards - Premium Room,  Strong Initiative (as usual :D),  Random Joker (which led to a  False Bounty), one  and one  Moment's Reprieve.

I did enough levelling up to hit Level 36, and in all occasions, I beefed up my CP. My HP still remained at 230.

So now, we use the Key of Guidance, and...

Key of Guidance
Since stories have to be divided in three parts, you can imagine the ennui that comes along with them. They've become oh-so-predictable (repeat slowly after me : oh-so predictable).

So here's what happens in the Key of Guidance : Sora and company rush in to meet Sally, who gives them the memory potion, but a huge talk bubble with spikes and an  EXTRA LARGE FONT   appears. Everyone is startled.

OH NOES ! D: It's Oogie Boogie ! He's out to take the memory potion for himself ! Now, this is SO NOT fair play. He has an extremely big stature, and he pushes the more svelte Sally aside, onto the ground and grabs the memory potion for himself. I mean, come on ! What a brute ! And you can imagine what happens after that : a confrontation ensues between the protagonists and Oogie, and Oogie runs off with the potion. Sora and company give chase, and you get the Key to Truth.

Now, I'm not gonna go at length to describe how I went to that room, because immediately after the Key of Guidance, I felt ready to take on Oogie, so let's go straight to the last part of this episode.

Key to Truth
Sora and friends enter into the Torture Chamber as it looks like in Kingdom Hearts, only that it's been slightly altered. Jack orders Oogie to give back the memory potion, but Oogie does the exact opposite - he consumes the potion. And he starts losing his memory........

Regardless, we enter into battle, and these are Oogie's stats. Since this is the 6th floor, and the last card in the first set, expect his stats to be really beefed up.

HP : 750 AP : 15 EXP : 791

It's a rather repetitive battle, and Oogie Boogie's battle is defined by a few simple points :


 * 1) The battle takes place in just one isolated section of the Torture Chamber, instead of the whole thing. Oogie is on the upper level, and you're separated from him by an iron fence. The key to taking the fence down is to break all of Oogie's cards.
 * 2) Oogie's main attack is to throw flaming dice at you, or brick-red dice which can be attacked. For this, the card which he uses is often numbered 7, so be sure to break it with a 7, 8, 9 or 0. Or a sleight, if you don't have any of the above, though this move is risky. As you break the cards, the fence comes slowly down, and once it comes down altogether, you're ready to get up there.
 * 3) The brick-red dice can be attacked to release the Gimmick Card.png Gimmick Card, which brings the fence down entirely if used.
 * 4) Once you're up there, use attacks and/or sleights which are HP-consuming. Recommended attacks included Zantetsuken,  Lethal Frame and  at least Fira. I used all of the above, and I used Lethal Frame twice.
 * 5) The entire sequence of attacks repeats itself, so repeat all the above steps and you're on your way to victory.

Note : I used my Troisnyx deck for this battle.

So I leave this place at Level 37, and I obtain the Tornado sleight. Which I doubt I'm ever gonna use.

Aftermath
So the potion can't be retrieved. Sora and friends gather in Dr. Finkelstein's lab, and Sora voices his concerns over losing his memories - something which Axel apparently told him about on the second floor. I didn't really pay attention because we have another battle to prepare for, soon after the end...

So off I go to the Conqueror's Respite ; I save and reform my deck, and stay tuned for the next section to find out who I'm battling this time.

Meeting Larxene
Lar-Lar's got a way with words and expressions, and she's too bitchy to be a Nobody. Yes, it's in this place that the Lucky Charm changes its shape - it's now a yellow star akin to the shape of a Paopu Fruit, and it's also in this scene that Sora mentions Naminé's name for the first time - after a great deal of extortion on Larxene's part. Now, we know that she'd do anything to hurt Sora's morals - even destroy the Lucky Charm. But Sora isn't going to give up without a fight......

With the same stats as in the Oogie Boogie battle - 200 HP and some 700 CP - I run headlong into this battle with the Troisnyx deck.

Larxene : First Encounter
Her stats are as follows :

HP : 1120 AP : 5 (significantly less than Oogie himself, and I wonder why...) EXP : 2325

Now, here's my deck setup :


 * Several Olympia (card).png Olympia, Wishing Star (card).png Wishing Star, Three Wishes (card).png Three Wishes and Pumpkinhead (card).png Pumpkinhead cards numbered from 5 to 0. Half of them are Premium Cards. Of all the attack cards I have, three of them are numbered 0.
 * One Hi-Potion (card).png Hi-Potion card numbered 9.
 * Two Cure (card).png Cure cards numbered 7 and 9 respectively. The 9 is a Premium Card.
 * Two Fire (card).png Fire cards numbered 7 and 9 respectively. I'm keeping it for its homing properties. The 9 is a Premium Card.
 * Two Stop (card).png Stop cards for the Lethal Frame sleight, numbered 4 and 1 respectively.
 * One Bouncywild (card).png Bouncywild card.

I'm going against the strategy stated in Larxene (Boss) for obvious reasons : I never believe in stocking up any other enemy card except Bouncywild. That one card, if I have to remind you over again, draws experience orbs and Friend Cards together, so that at least you'd always have something to fall back on.

Now, Larxene's attacks are pretty simple in this battle, but take note that in this battle, whenever she casts Thunder, she does so with a 9 card. I didn't get to see her sleights because I broke them with relative ease with the 0 cards. I admit it was difficult to break the Thunder spell, considering that most of my cards are numbered less than 9... but Lethal Frame worked wonders in this battle.

I didn't receive any Donald cards, but if you do, DO NOT USE THEM. Donald runs the risk of casting Thunder and healing Larxene. I got Goofy instead, but it was broken.

Nevertheless, I took her down with relative ease. And to top it all up, I only reloaded once (with the Hi-Potion, of course).

Also note that this is my opening move : cast Fire, then cast Fire again.

Alright, I've had enough of Larxene's pitiful "Ikazuchiyo" ! On to the aftermath. Speaking about "relative ease", I totally neglected the Cure cards, and after the battle and the scenes were over, I discovered that Larxene managed to cut away one half of my HP bar. O____O

Post-defeat
So I reckon you'd know what Larxene would do after losing : she stays behind to taunt Sora, and she hands him a few World Cards as "presents". Those of you playing the English version would recognise this scene as the one where Larxene calls Sora a baby. Nevertheless, Sora gets four new World Cards - Atlantica,  100 Acre Wood,  Hollow Bastion and  Neverland.

I'm aware that I'll be in for a fight one floor from now, but I'm picking my card, and it's...

Seventh Floor : 100 Acre Wood
Deep in the 100 Acre Wood, where Christopher Roooooobin plaaaaaaaayyyys, you'll find the enchanted neiiiiighboooouuuurhoooood, of Christopher's chiiiildhood daaaaaayyyys..... ^_^

Yes, I actually sing to that BGM. :D

This is the only world where you don't have the Keycards, and the only world which retains all of the places as seen in the first Kingdom Hearts. Time to take a breather from fighting - here's some family-friendly fun.

Pooh's House
Gist of the story : Sora meets Pooh and together, they seek out to find Pooh's friends.

Now, the layout is pretty much the same as in Kingdom Hearts, except that you can't climb on the rooftop like in the first game. Also, you can now smash things - and the clock in Pooh's house is a Stop spell generator. Who'd need one of those in the 100 Acre Wood anyway ?

Note also that Pooh will be following you... wherever you may go. There isn't an ocean too deeeeeeeep, a mountain so high that can keeeeeep, keep me awaaaaaaayyyyyyy ! :D

Rabbit's House
I always had a fascination for Rabbit's House in the first Kingdom Hearts. Well, you could pull up cabbages and pumpkins and find items hidden inside. You can't do that now, though, but the misspelt signs - CABEGE, KERITS, PUNKINS ? - add to the charm of this place. There are lots of pots and vases in front of Rabbit's House that can be smashed for HP orbs and/or Moogle Points (you're most likely to find the latter ^_^), but you can't enter into Rabbit's House.

Lead Pooh towards the end of Rabbit's House, the path behind it, and a scene will be played - poor Pooh just got flung onto the ground by a pumpkin hurtling down the path !

Rabbit meets Pooh and Sora, and tells them what he's up to. Speak to him and you'll begin a new mini-game : Veggie Panic.

Veggie Panic
Goal : Get 30 points. Rules : Separate cabbages and pumpkins. Cabbages go to the left, so you have to use to hit them. Pumpkins go to the right, so for those, you use. Reward : Cross-slash+.

My personal score was some 100+ points ; I forget what my exact score is. On to the next stop !

Balloon Glider
Sora and Pooh end up in front of the Hunny Tree, where they see three balloons tied to a log. And if you take the balloons, the mini-game begins.

Goal : Scale the Hunny Tree unscathed - meaning that you have to have at least one balloon when you reach the top. Rules : You start with two balloons. You can only have a maximum of three and a minimum of one. Collect Hunny orbs as you scale the tree, but beware of the bees. Lose all balloons and the mini-game ends. Reward : Firaga Burst. I don't know why, but it's shown in my save file as. Regardless...

I was aiming for a perfect score but I was already on the verge of losing - I made it to the top with only one balloon left.

When you reach the top, you'll get to meet Owl, who speaks to Sora for a while - but I didn't get the least bit of what they were saying.

Pass this stop and you'll meet Tigger, whom you should speak to for the next mini-game :

Tigger's Jump-A-Thon
Goal : Score 25 points. Rules : There are four tree stumps, marked with, , and  respectively, just as the buttons on the controller. Hit the controller buttons according to the direction in which Tigger is jumping to score more points. The mini-game ends if you miss. Reward : Paradise Stamp Idyll Romp.

I scored 30 points, but deliberately missed the next steps because I just wanted to get this level over with. Now I remember my previous save file had some 100+ points, but I don't remember my exact score. Regardless, just score 25 points if you're pressed for time.

This is the exact same area where the Giant Pot used to be, and also the same area where you could go searching for Rare Nuts in Kingdom Hearts. However, in Re:Chain of Memories, you can't access the upper levels, except for the treasure chest in one corner of this place - which houses the Spellbinder card. You'll need at least Glide to get there - High Jump just isn't enough.

Pooh's Muddy Path
Moving on... This is the place I hated the most in Kingdom Hearts because I took too long to find everybody.

You can access two mini-games here, which I will explain as we go along. This place has lower and upper levels. In the lower level, you'd be able to find Roo, whilst in the upper level, you'll be able to find Eeyore - who has lost his tail again. >_>

Whirlwind Plunge
You activate this mini-game by jumping on the well and riding on the air currents. That cutscene plays every time you jump over the well.

Goal : Clear the damn course. :D Rules : Collect as many Hunny orbs as possible. Hitting an obstacle will separate you from Pooh, and you'll need to come near him and hit to get him back. Whilst you're away from Pooh, you can't collect Hunny orbs. Reward : Mega-Ether card.

Bumble-Rumble
The whole idea for the mini-game is to find Eeyore's tail, and Pooh believes it's hidden in a tree hole... but he's shocked to find more bees coming and attacking him !

Goal : Destroy all the bees. Rules : You have three cards : Keyblade,  Wind and  Honey. The Keyblade card is for attack purposes ; Wind functions like the Aero spell in that it blows both the bees AND Pooh away. The Honey card functions similarly to the Cure spell, in that it heals Pooh. There are some 21 swarms of bees, if I remember correctly, and you have to defeat every last one of them. Reward : Elixir card.

Note : Sleights are NOT recommended for this mini-game.

Once this mini-game is over, Pooh will run headlong into a tree... ouch ! And lo and behold, we see Eeyore's tail falling from high up a tree.

Note that if you return to play this mini-game, there will be at least 70 swarms of them. You will also have to finish this mini-game in under 1 minute and 40 seconds

Aftermath
Completing the level will grant you the Bambi card.

Meeting Riku
What a brainwreck. Sora and Riku ? Fighting over a girl called Naminé ? This is SO NOT the Riku that Sora knows. In the meantime, we know that Axel, Larxene and Vexen are plotting at the upper levels...... Hint hint.

So you're practically forced into battle. Since there are no fights in the 100 Acre Wood, I have the same cards and same stats as in my Larxene battle.

Riku Replica : First Encounter
His stats are as follows:

HP : 1250 AP : 8 EXP : 2175

Nevertheless, note that he has some 4+ bars of HP at his disposition. Like Larxene, this guy managed to cut off one half of my HP bar - now at this point it's seriously ringing alarm bells - I should go and train when I have the opportunity.

Copied and pasted from the Riku Replica (Boss) strategy page - this is a part I wrote :

''Stock up cards numbered 7-9, an Elixir and a Hi-Potion at least, two or three Stop cards (for the Lethal Frame sleight), two or three Cure cards and some 0 cards at the end of the deck (to break the Replica's attacks). You might want to insert some Premium Cards in to save CP.

''Use sleights when possible; sleights are an effective way to cause great damage to the Replica (depending on which sleights are used). Keep bashing the Replica with Sleights, reload (using an Item Card) and heal when necessary.

Another tactic is to have a Bouncywild card in hand: it only costs 10 CP, and it draws your Goofy and Donald cards together (while you keep yourself occupied with the Replica), giving you the chance to use Trinity Limit.

Scrap the part on Trinity Limit, now - that's too far-fetched. You need the Bouncywild card nonetheless, so keep it in. And yes, I did use sleights - I opened with two Fires, used Lethal Frame twice and Sonic Blade a few times.

Post-defeat
Riku runs away, leaving behind a distraught Sora. In the prelude to the next floor we see Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy feeling a little more optimistic - hey, it's Castle Oblivion, isn't it ? People are bound to lose their memories, so perhaps Riku has lost his memories too.

=Reverse/Rebirth=

=List of Heartless attack card numbers= As I said in Sora's story, I'm setting up this section primarily because Heartless have a certain pattern of attack cards, or even a certain range. So with this section, I trust you can prepare your cards well. I will be updating this section from time to time, but first I'll have to watch the moveset of every Heartless closely.

Note that this is for all other rooms except Feeble Darkness and  Almighty Darkness. If you are using these two room cards, prepare at your own risk.


 * Shadow (card).png Shadow : #1
 * Darkball (card).png Darkball : : #2, #4 (Neverland, charging chomp attack), #5 and #6 (CO, charging chomp attack)
 * Neoshadow (card).png Neoshadow : #2, #6 and #8
 * Defender (card).png Defender : #8
 * Barrel Spider (card).png Barrel Spider : #4 (to self-destruct, of course). Fire does not set it off, unlike in Kingdom Hearts.
 * Black Fungus (card).png Black Fungus : #7
 * White Mushroom (card).png White Mushroom : No card played. Note also that unlike the first Kingdom Hearts, the only spells it asks for are Fire, Blizzard and Thunder, making it much less of a challenge.
 * Red Nocturne (card).png Red Nocturne : #1, #2 and #4.
 * Blue Rhapsody (card).png Blue Rhapsody : #1, #2 and #4.
 * Yellow Opera (card).png Yellow Opera : #1, #2 and #4.
 * Green Requiem (card).png Green Requiem : #1, #2
 * Wyvern (card).png Wyvern : #4, #5
 * Wizard (card).png Wizard : #2, #6
 * Powerwild (card).png Powerwild : #1, #2 and #4.
 * Bouncywild (card).png Bouncywild : #1, #2 and #4.
 * Wight Knight (card).png Wight Knight :
 * Gargoyle (card).png Gargoyle : #4
 * Crescendo (card).png Crescendo : #4, #5
 * Tornado Step (card).png Tornado Step :
 * Creeper Plant (card).png Creeper Plant : #2, #5 and #6.
 * Aquatank (card).png Aquatank : #1, #2 and #7.
 * Sea Neon (card).png Sea Neon :
 * Screwdiver (card).png Screwdiver : #2, #3.
 * Soldier (card).png Soldier : #1, #2
 * Air Soldier (card).png Air Soldier : #3, #4
 * Large Body (card).png Large Body :
 * Bandit (card).png Bandit : #1, #3
 * Fat Bandit (card).png Fat Bandit : #1, #3, #6