Magic
Magic is both a form of attack and stat parameter from the Kingdom Hearts series.
Magic, denoted commonly as MP ("Magic Points"), is one of the two forms of basic attack Sora and many other characters in the series can perform. Party members that excel at magic include Donald Duck, Ariel, and Jack Skellington. Most summons use Magic as their primary attack, such as Genie and Mushu. Magic is generally more powerful than physical attacks, although cannot be used nearly as freely due to a magic gauge. Magical power seems to be related to intelligence, based on the Dream Rod and Struggle Wand's descriptions and name Wisdom Form.
Magic is often associated with the color blue. It is the blue meter on Sora's and Roxas' status display. In Kingdom Hearts, there was also a second meter overlapping the MP Meter, which represented MP Recovery. It counted as extra MP. The meter was removed, however, in Kingdom Hearts II. When Sora used up all his MP, the MP Meter would be replaced with a pink MP Recharge meter. Sora would not be able to use anymore Magic until the Recharge meter was empty.
MP may be recovered by dealing damage to enemies, stepping into a Save Point, by using an Ether or Elixir, by using a Tent, and/or by picking up the bubble-like MP Orbs dropped by enemies and by the wisps in the Underworld.
Magic though is often considered to be one of the more difficult playing styles due to its tactical use element differentiation, and the fact that when using combat abilities a player can endlessly attack but with Magic they can run out of of power to use it.
But being more difficult it is commonly used to defeat major boss battles for tactical challenges such as the Phantom in Neverland and Kurt Zisa in Agrabah.
Standard Magic Powers
- Fire
- Blizzard
- Thunder
- Cure
- Gravity (not available in Kingdom Hearts II)
- Stop (not available in Kingdom Hearts II)
- Aero (not available in Kingdom Hearts II)
- Magnet (Kingdom Hearts II only)
- Reflect (Kingdom Hearts II only)
Influencing Magic Strength
Magic itself is effected by two factors: Strength (Magic Strength in Kingdom Hearts II) and Ability Points. The higher the user's Strength number is, the more powerful and capable the magic was when used offensively. Special magic attacks can be enabled with a high amount of AP.
Additionally, every standard magic power has three ranks. These can be determined by the suffix to the magic power's name. Rank 1 has no special suffix. Rank 2 is ended with either a "-ra" or a "-ara," depending on the ending letter of the Rank 1 name. Rank 3 follows suit, using the endings "-ga", "-aga" and "-ega." By acquiring all Rank 1 magic in Kingdom Hearts, Merlin will give Sora the Spellbinder key chain.
The negative suffixes -gun and -agun that appear in the battle against the Volcanic Lord and Blizzard Lord do not appear to have originated with Final Fantasy titles, but rather to be exclusive to the Kingdom Hearts series.
Another way to increase magic potential is via Abilities. Some abilities influence magic strength, be it positive or negative. This is further looked at in Kingdom Hearts II, in which the Keyblade, Donald's staff, and Goofy's shield held abilities themselves, occasionally affecting magic. Abilities that affect magic include:
- MP Recovery
- MP Charge
- MP Haste
- MP Rage
- Fire Boost
- Blizzard Boost
- Thunder Boost
- Magic Lock-On
- Crime & Punishment
- Healing Herb
- Magic Haste
- Magic Spice
- Master Magic
- Endless Magic
- Leaf Bracer
Keychains, staves and shields that affect magic or are magic-oriented (raising Magic Strength more than Strength) include:
- Kingdom Key
- Spellbinder
- Lady Luck
- Hidden Dragon (MP Rage)
- Photon Debugger (Thunder Boost)
- Mysterious Abyss (Blizzard Boost)
- Fatal Crest
- Circle of Life (MP Haste)
- Bond of Flame (Fire Boost)
- Ultima Weapon (MP Hastega)
- Wisdom Wand
- Shaman's Relic (MP Rage)
- Save the Queen
- Save the Queen+
- Akashic Record (MP Haste)
- Save the King+ (MP Rage)
Magic Strong Points
Magic is useful in many situations.
Defeating Multiple Enemies
Some forms of magic, such as Thunder and Reflect, are very powerful. Thundaga may be considered the most powerful form of magic acquired in any game, as at a high level such as 70, characters like Sora can kill multiple Heartless in one attack.
Gravity, Magnet, and Stop affect how an enemy moves. Gravity grounds aerial enemies, making them easier to hit with standard attacks. Magnet brings enemies together at a certain point, making stationary attacks easier to pull off. Stop freezes enemies in suspended animation, allowing for an easy kill.
Attacking at a Distance
Blizzard, Thunder, and Fire (in Kingdom Hearts only) enable one to attack enemies at a safe distance. Blizzard (and Fire in Kingdom Hearts) fires a projectile that homes towards a target, allowing the user to need to worry less about aim and direction.
Defense
Cure, possibly the most helpful magic ability, may be used to heal the user. As the rank increases, the user may also heal allies. It is invaluable in the battlefield as it works instantly. With a certain ability, the user also becomes invincible while casting Cure.
Limit Break
Some powerful magical abilities require the help of a friend. MP is required to use Limit abilities, but they drain all of Sora's MP meter.
Drive Forms
Of Sora's Drive forms, Wisdom Form, Master Form, and Final Form are the best choice for Magic users. Wisdom Form literally relies on magic for its attack, though only the standard magic powers consume MP. Any magic power used in Master Form performs differently than normal, usually incorporating some sort of small physical. For example, Sora will charge forward when using Fire, and performs a dance-like combo while casting Thunder. While Sora in Master Form has more powerful magic, Wisdom Form can cast spells much quicker allowing Sora's magic to be much easier, and more convenient and helpful in the midst of battle. Despite Master's power and Wisdom's efficiency, Sora in Final Form is the has the strongest magic of any party member and is quite possibly the most powerful magic-user in the game. Final Form Sora can attack multiple times and with much more power with the amount of magic any other form would require to land one hit. Final Form is able to call multiple bolts of lightning or two ice blasts with just one spell. Also the quickness of Final Form's spellcasting is on par with that of Wisdom Form's, making it truly a force to be reckoned with.
Trivia
- In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Donald has a sleight called Magic in which he casts two spells, either Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, or Cure. The power of the spells depends on how many Donald cards were stocked. If two Donald cards are stocked, then Donald will perform two -ra level spells, either Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, or Cura. If three Donald cards are stocked, then Donald will perform two -ga level spells, either Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, or Curaga.
- The magic spell Flare is available to Donald, as well as Shadow Flare to Sephiroth.
- In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Sora is able to cast the recurring Final Fantasy spell Holy through one of his sleights, though this only appears as a powerful engine gummi in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, alongside the other ultimate black magic spells of Final Fantasy titles Flare, Meteor and Ultima in these games.
- Final Fantasy spells often also have a -ja ending for fourth-level spells, though usually only Curaja is available to playable characters. However, another set of fourth-level spell endings appears in Kingdom Hearts, as evidenced by the reaction commands for Volcanic Lord and Blizzard Lord, as well as synthesized items, end with -gun, which is apparently either a translation error, an attempt to cause the spell tiers to appear more unique between the two franchises, or a newly-created negative-tier ending, as it is never applied to a spell.
- In order to have a magic strong point in Kingdom Hearts, it is advised to choose the Dream Rod in the Awakening stage of the game. This will enable the character to have a large amount of MP by the end of the game.
- The suffixes -ra and -ga which come with magic upgrades are only available in the English, Italian, German and Japanese versions of Kingdom Hearts games. In other versions, the second form is noted with a plus (+) sign, while the third is noted with an X, except in the Spanish version, where it's noted with two pluses (++).
