User:Oscuritaforze/PSP BBS notes

From the Kingdom Hearts Wiki, the Kingdom Hearts encyclopedia
Revision as of 22:21, 22 October 2022 by Oscuritaforze (talk | contribs) (updates)
Jump to navigationJump to search

A character name in parenthesis next to an item on the list indicates that I've tested it with that character, but that it should be tested with other characters. All items are tested on critical mode unless otherwise indicated.

Many of the derived numbers in this document are approximate, as I'm using a pretty improvised process to determine them:

  • Damage to ENEMIES:
    • When actual numbers are desired, one of two methods is used:
      1. Pause and count the number of red pixels right after an attack. If an enemy has a lot of HP, then I'll only measure when one of its HP bars is on its back half (see "Stats" section for why).
      2. For enemies in the Mirage Arena [where color depth/CPU speed are forced to their lower values (making pixel counting prohibitively difficult/impossible) and pausing is disabled], I compare an enemy's HP bar to an online HP bar generator set to pixel length = enemy's max HP according to the wiki (or my calculations, if I have reason to believe the wiki is wrong). The length of the filled portion of the bar is adjusted pixel by pixel to correspond as closely as possible to in-game remaining HP. Since this is inherently less reliable, I try to avoid relying too much on this method.
    • When I want relative numbers, I just count the maximum number of hits (ie. without crits reducing the number) it takes to defeat an enemy.
      • If the enemy is a boss (and thus has enough HP that crits are very likely to factor in somehow), then I'll reduce the boss to a low enough amount of HP on its last bar that the remaining HP is an easily countable number of pixels (preferably within one hit of defeat). I'll then calculate the number of critical hits as follows: subtract remaining HP from the boss's max HP, then divide by the number of hits to get average damage per hit, which will be some number between base and critical damage. Subtract base damage, then divide by the difference between crit damage and base damage (which will usually be 1 in the early game due to low stats and a rounded-down 1.2x critical hit multiplier, but can be as high as 12). Multiply by the number of hits, which should give a whole number. If it does, that is your critical hit count.
  • Damage to the PLAYER is measured by taking a picture of remaining HP after a single hit, then ending the battle, entering a more controlled environment, and reducing HP to an amount that matches the picture as closely as possible. Alternatively and ideally, I get hard numbers by taking a single hit then completing the battle without HP changing afterwards (easier said than done for boss fights).

Temporary notes/To-do

(This section contains miscellaneous notes that don't fit in anywhere else - at least not yet - as well as a list of things to check.)

  • Possibly the weirdest thing I've had happen to date: immediately after MF threw out Laser Orbs, I triggered Time Reversal by hitting him with Cyclone's Strike Raid-like opener, got hit by the Whirlwind counter, tanked some laser hits with Once More, then MF summoned some clones. I block-countered to destroy some clones, cleared the rest with Reversal Slash. Then...the rest of the lasers hit me, I visibly staggered, but I took no damage. I really need to figure out what caused this...it might've been the Time Reversal while the orbs were already out?
  • Wheel Master seems to consistently fall over after 20 hits.
  • Need to check bonuses for each character: Aqua is listed in the mechanics guide as gaining 6 bonuses to deck capacity while the other two only get 5. She's also listed as getting 6 10-HP bonuses and 4 5-HP ones in total, but that should put her critical mode HP at 78 rather than the 75 she actually has.
  • Check if Pete D-Link can be unlocked by clearing the Secret Board, in addition to his normal unlock condition.
  • Check if beginner mode actually boosts the damage you deal (BBSUM patch notes indicate that it does).
  • (NON-PSP NOTE) Conjecture: EXP Zero may allow you to deal damage as if the enemy has the same defense as battle level 1. Either that, or it just sets your base damage to 4, or lets you deal +3 damage with all attacks regardless of any other factor.
    • It also seems to let your finish commands deal way more damage than they're supposed to, I don't know the details yet.
    • Terranort in Terra's story takes about 20 hits from surges per HP bar with EXP Zero at level 1, which suggests about 10 damage per hit.
  • I'm beginning to suspect that enemies in certain Mirage Arena events had their stats tweaked for the international release. This throws all of the math I did in the "Guide" section about Mega Flare damage inconsistencies. Will need more testing, but my initial guess is that enemies in A Time to Chill have a defense of 18 instead of the 16 listed in the guide [because Ice Colossus loses exactly 400 HP in 25 hits (16 damage per hit) from Ven at level 50 with Sweetstack (32 str); removing the guaranteed 1.2x crits = 16 / 1.2 = 13.33, rounded up to 14]. (It's also possible that the general "tiers" of stats are still correct and some events were just bumped up a tier, in which case the A Time to Chill enemies have 19 defense. Given the math above, this seems unlikely for A Time to Chill, specifically.)
    • Will also need to check this for every other Arena mission, preferably with a lower level character. Also need to work out a flow for determining enemy attack stats and multipliers.
    • Maybe I should map out multiplier info for every command before tackling this?
  • There may be a higher damage floor for damage the player takes on critical mode. For example, a Mandrake's leaf snipe seems to have a 1.0x multiplier, as it dealt 16 damage to Aqua when she had 6 defense vs. its 14 attack (accounting for the difficulty multiplier). However, when a character has more defense than it has attack, it still deals 6 damage vs. the 1-2 I would've expected.

Guide

  • Inaccuracies (or at least points of skepticism) in the Battle Mechanics Guide on GameFAQs (https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/psp/943347-kingdom-hearts-birth-by-sleep/faqs/60066), which as far as I can tell takes its information from the Ultimania for the original Japanese version:
    • Heal Strike is described as consisting of three "Dashes" and one "Spin Swing", wherein only the latter heals. Personally I'd call them "Surges" and just "Swings" (since Terra's is an uppercut), but the actual inaccuracy here is that there are two of each type of attack (meaning you are healed twice). Guide says this heals 15% of max HP; this is accurate for all characters (Terra restored 106 * 0.15 = 15.9, rounded down to 15; Aqua healed 97 * 0.15 = 14.55, rounded down to 14; Ven healed 87 * 0.15 = 13.05, rounded down to 13).
    • (NEEDS LOWER DIFFICULTY TESTING) Description of Cinderella's D-Link's Regen ability is "Recover 1% max HP every 1 second. Will always recover at least 1 HP." I already knew the recovery interval was off (which makes sense, as you'd be basically immune to death otherwise), but now I also know that the recovery % is off too. From 1 HP as Aqua, I have verified that a single tick of Regen restored 3 HP, which is either 3% or 4% of her maximum of 97. Testing with Terra confirmed that it is 4%, as he recovered 4 of his maximum 106 HP (3% would have recovered 3 HP; incidentally, 5% would've recovered 5). [It would not surprise me if the interval and recovery % were both quadrupled (4% of HP recovered every 4 seconds) for the international release specifically to make MF (the only superboss which D-Links are enabled against) more difficult.] ADDENDUM: Originally said interval and recovery were tripled; updated with information from testing as Terra to show that they were quadrupled instead. SECOND ADDENDUM: Going frame-by-frame in a video, it appears that the recovery interval is always exactly 3 seconds.
      • There's no circumstance under which this could recover less than 1 HP, but I would like to see if the minimum recovery hasn't been increased. [Ven with no HP Boosts equipped recovered 2 HP out of 67 max (which, incidentally, works for either 3% or 4% but no more or less). Can't get the interval any lower without testing earlier in the game.]
    • Damage calculations section says that the difficulty multiplier is calculated after damage is capped based on what is taking damage. This doesn't seem to be true, as it would mean that a) normal enemies (damage capped at: max HP) shouldn't be able to be defeated in one hit on critical mode (which they can), and b) barring critical hits, you shouldn't be able to take a bar (200 HP) off a boss (damage capped at: 25) in fewer than 16 hits (which I'm certain you can; I've taken MF from just barely over one bar of HP to zero in exactly 7 hits^). Elemental affinities seem to work as outlined in the guide; normal enemies with fire resistance can't be defeated in one hit by Mega Flare no matter how high the magic stat.
      • Down in another section, I brought up the question of whether there's actually a 0.5x difficulty multiplier for critical mode at all. The only things I've seen thus far that point to "yes" are casual observation that Floods in Radiant Garden (18 HP and 6 defense, according to the wiki) aren't defeated in one hit by Terra with 31 str unless he gets a critical hit, which could just be the wiki's numbers being wrong (this is post-game where Radiant Garden has a battle level of 6 rather than 4); and Ice Colossus taking more hits than expected (though not twice as many) to fully deplete one bar of HP. Will need to test damage numbers (against MF, Ice Colossus, etc.) on a normal mode playthrough compared to the observations noted below.
    • Boss list section lists whether boss attacks can be blocked. However, rather than just having "X" (can't be blocked) and "O" (can be blocked), it also includes an option for "Stun", which is described as, "This command can be blocked but will initiate the stun animation leaving the player open to subsequent hits." I don't think I've ever seen this behavior before.
    • (NEEDS MORE REPETITION, NORMAL MODE TESTING, AND ***ESPECIALLY*** NON-ARENA TESTING) As Terra at level 43, I used Mega Flare with 25 magic and Fire Boost 3 on Buckle Bruisers and Sonic Blasters in the Mirage Arena (event was A Time to Chill, meaning 16 defense and respectively 168/137 HP). Without triggering Ignite, it did not kill any of them; this much was expected. However, the HP they were left on seems too low: the former were reduced to around a fifth to a quarter health, while the latter were reduced to a portion of HP that just reached the gap between the "H" and the "P" beneath the bar - with repeat testing, I estimate that I did about 125-127 damage to each enemy. According to calculations, both of them should have taken ((25 - 16) * 15.5 * 1.3) / 2 = ~90-91 damage. This would've left Buckle Bruisers at a little under half health and Sonic Blasters at a little over quarter health. With the same stats and no Fire Boosts equipped, I estimate that each of these enemies took about 98-100 damage. This roughly tracks with Fire Boost being listed as a 10% increase to base damage per level, but there's still a discrepancy between how much damage should have been done [which was ((25 - 16) * 15.5) / 2 = ~70)] and how much actually was. This roughly tracks with enemies having 4 less defense OR Mega Flare having a significantly higher multiplier. (Addendum: another possibility is the damage multiplier for critical mode not being what it's generally assumed as.) Ruled out enemies having lower defense by checking with a normal attack, which looks like it did the 18 damage I expected it to do (31 attack vs. 16 defense, x1.2 due to guaranteed critical hit from Sweetstack)^^. This leads me to believe Mega Flare has a significantly higher multiplier.
      • Additional data: Leveled up once, boosting magic by 1. Damage without Fire Boosts went from 98-100 to about 110. This tracks to about a 20-22x multiplier for Mega Flare level 6. Leaning towards 22x. Tried using a level 1 and level 3 Mega Flare, still without Fire Boost. The difference is negligible, maybe accounting for a few points of damage between the two and level 6. This tracks with most other commands being +0.1 or so to the multiplier per level. My guess is it starts at 21x and goes up by 0.2 per level for a final total of 22x. Trying again with Pixie Petal equipped shows that each point of magic adds 10-11 damage without Fire Boost.
      • Equipping Chaos Ripper to test with lower magic (specifically, 20) gave incongruent results: enemies in A Time to Chill with 16 defense appeared to take about 35-36 (later testing indicates: 30) damage, which points to a multiplier of 18x; more bafflingly, enemies in Keepers of the Arena (def: 19) appeared to take ONE damage, which doesn't make any sense with any multiplier. The only guess I have that explains both of these is Chaos Ripper having a hidden penalty to spellcasting in addition to its low magic stat [supporting this, damage dealt was almost exactly 1/2 what it should've been based on the "~10 damage per point of magic" noted above (addendum: ?????)]. An explanation for the latter but not the former is damage being set to 1 regardless of multipliers (including Fire Boost and weakness) if (attack - defense) * difficulty_mult ≤ 1. ADDENDUM: This idea still seems to have merit, though I now think the way it works is to set damage dealt to 1 if (attack - defense) ≤ 0. I haven't extensively tested it, but it seems that having even 1 more attack than the enemy's defense at least lets multipliers on your attacks work properly.
      • Actual numbers vs. A Time to Chill - 20 magic (Chaos Ripper): 29-30 damage; 23 magic: 69-70 damage

^Incidentally, this also reinforces the claim that critical hits can bring damage above the cap, as indicated in the guide. It's just difficulty that is incongruent.

^^Realized later that this doesn't make sense since there's supposed to be a 50% damage penalty on critical mode. Will need to re-test these same scenarios on another difficulty. Fought Ice Colossus with Sweetstack to eliminate variance, and it took 13 hits to take a full bar (+ some change) off of it. Provided HP bars each contain 200 HP as everyone seems to assume, this equates to 15-16 damage per hit [calculated damage (with no difficulty multiplier) should've been (32 - 16) * 1.2 = 19.2].

Difficulty

[While compiling EXP data, I decided to also write down data on number of hits to defeat enemies as well as damage (in pixels) in order to determine what the critical damage multiplier is.]

[When enemies have low enough HP for this to be feasible, physical hit counts are maximum possible (ie. not enough crits happened to cause fewer hits to be necessary).]

  • Terra battle level 1 data
    • Unless otherwise stated: Terra is at level 1 with 7 strength, using default equipment and only normal non-finisher attacks
    • Listed enemy stats: 30 base HP; 7 attack, 3 defense
    • Normal mode:
      • Floods - 1 EXP, 4 hits
      • Red Hot Chilis - 2 EXP, 4 hits
      • Scrappers - 4 EXP, 8 hits
      • Thornbites - 8 EXP, 9 hits
      • Bruisers - 10 EXP, 12 hits
      • (It looks like all enemies took 4 pixels of damage per non-critical hit.)
      • Wheel Master (Terra at level 4 with 9 strength, still default equipment and normal non-finishers) - recorded twice: 65-66 hits (~6-12 crits), 64 (~17 crits)
      • [Wheel Master took 6-7 (depending on whether at the start or end of the HP bar; see MF section below) pixels of damage per hit. Enemies besides Wheel Master took 6 pixels of damage per hit at level 4.]
    • Critical mode:
      • Floods - 1 EXP, 4 hits
      • Red Hot Chilis - 1 EXP, 4 hits
      • Scrappers - 3 EXP, 8 hits
      • Thornbites - 6 EXP, 9 hits
      • Bruisers - 7 EXP, 12 hits
      • (Same as normal mode - all enemies took 4 pixels of damage from non-critical hits.)
      • Wheel Master (Terra at level 4 with 9 strength, still default equipment and normal non-finishers) - recorded twice: 65 hits (~14 crits), 64 hits (~21 crits)
      • (Same as normal mode - 6-7 pixels damage for Wheel Master, 6 for other enemies.)
  • [Normal mode has 46 EXP after the first Unversed encounter in the game; critical mode has 33 EXP. Combined with the above data, I think this is enough to conclude that the critical EXP multiplier is 0.75x, with the result being rounded down no matter what. (Don't think there's a need to continue collecting and comparing EXP data after this until I'm able to compare values that I've already obtained from previous critical mode playthroughs.)]
  • Terra battle level 2 data
    • Unless otherwise stated: level 4-5 with 9 strength, default equipment, normal non-finishers
    • Listed enemy stats: 31 base HP; 8 attack, 3 defense
    • Normal mode:
      • Floods - 3 hits (side note: from pixel counting, these appeared to have 15 HP rather than the 16 listed on the wiki. If this is correct, then HP calculations are indeed rounded down like basically all other math I've made note of in this game.)
        • Additional data: At level 5 with 7 magic and max level Blizzard, Floods take 8 pixels of damage and fall in two hits. The game mechanics guide lists this as having a 2.2x multiplier, so that tracks so long as the extra .8 damage is rounded away and having 8 magic causes damage to jump to 11. (Note to self: check again at level 9.)
      • Red Hot Chilis - 3 hits
      • Scrappers - 6 hits
      • Hareraisers - 6 hits
      • Bruisers - 8 hits (same note as for the Floods - 46 HP instead of 47.)
      • Shoegazers - 4 hits (again, same note as for the Floods and Bruisers - 21 HP instead of 22.)
      • (Normal enemies took 6 pixels of damage per non-critical hit.)
      • Symphony Master (Terra at level 7 with 10 strength, default equipment, normal non-finishers) - recorded twice: 62 hits (~17 critical), 62 hits (~16 critical)
      • (Symphony Master took 7-8 pixels of damage from non-critical hits based on HP bar fullness.)
    • Critical mode:
      • Floods - 3 hits
        • Same damage from max-level Blizzard as normal mode.
      • Red Hot Chilis - 3 hits
      • Scrappers - 6 hits
      • Hareraisers - 6 hits
      • Bruisers - 8 hits
      • Shoegazers - 4 hits
      • (6 pixels of damage per hit, as in normal mode.)
      • Symphony Master (level 7, 10 strength, default equipment, only normal non-finishers) - recorded thrice: 63 hits (~10 critical), 62 hits (??? critical), 63 hits (~13 critical)
      • (Same as normal mode - 7-8 pixels of damage.)
  • Terra battle level 3 data
    • Unless otherwise stated: level 7 with 10 strength, default equipment, non-finishers
    • Listed enemy stats: 32 base HP, 11 attack, 4 defense
    • Normal mode:
      • Floods - 3 hits
      • Red Hot Chilis - 3 hits
      • Scrappers - 6 hits
        • 13 damage from max-level Quick Blitz and 3 from level 1 Thunder, as in critical mode.
      • Bruisers - 8 hits
      • Spiderchests - 8 hits
      • Hareraisers - 6 hits
      • (6 pixels of damage per hit, as in critical mode.)
      • Spirit of the Magic Mirror -
    • Critical mode:
      • Floods - 3 hits
      • Red Hot Chilis - 3 hits
        • Additional data: A single use of max-level Quick Blitz deals 13 damage (out of 16 HP total), which tracks with stat comparisons and the listed multiplier of 2.2x, assuming damage is rounded down. (Will check again at level 14, though it'll need to be against a bulkier enemy.)
      • Scrappers - 6 hits
      • Bruisers - 8 hits
        • Additional data: A single use of level 1 Thunder deals 3 damage. Thunder's first hit (before it jumps to nearby enemies) has a listed multiplier of 1.0x, so that fits with my 7 magic.
      • Spiderchests - 8 hits
      • Hareraisers - 6 hits
      • (Enemies took 6 pixels of damage per hit.)
      • Spirit of the Magic Mirror -
  • Mirage Arena - A Time to Chill
    • (Terra, level 65, Sweetstack, normal non-finishers only, critical mode)
      • Buckle Bruisers - 6 hits
      • Zack - 22 hits
      • Ice Colossus - 58 hits
    • (Aqua, level 99, Sweetstack, normal non-finishers only, critical mode)
      • Buckle Bruisers - 4 hits
      • Tank Topplers - 5 hits
      • Zack - 20 hits
      • Ice Colossus - 53

Level grinding

  • EXP Walker's 1 EXP/step is doubled by EXP Chance.
  • Critical mode multiplies EXP gain by 0.75, rounded down. (See "Difficulty" section for how this conclusion was reached.)
  • Victory Pose gives an immediate bonus of three times the last EXP received. If EXP Chance is active, then this gain is doubled for a total of six times the last EXP received (which equates to twelve times the EXP value of the enemy).
    • It may well be that this is normally four times the last EXP received, but is affected by critical mode's EXP multiplier.
    • Usually this is the last enemy defeated, but individual 1-EXP ticks from EXP Walker are counted as well.
  • Treasure Magnet and HP Prize Plus may be kept off in order to allow EXP Chance to be kept active for as long as possible.
  • Attempting to abuse EXP Walker by setting up endless walking will have your character stop walking after a while.

Locations

(All of the numbers here assume EXP Chance is active. Difficulties lower than critical mode will get more EXP. Each method will indicate whether "EXP per clear" takes Victory Pose into account or if it is counted separately. Time per clear is an estimate measured from entry of the room to re-entry of the room after the encounter is completed.)

  • The most commonly recommended grinding spot I've seen is the Reactor in Radiant Garden (battle level 6). This spot is accessible to all three characters, requires two Mega Flares and one Command Style change per clear, and gives 1174 EXP per clear (1774 EXP with Victory Poses after each Mega Flare; 372 extra from the first, 228 from the second). It also has an extremely convenient spot to safely get to critical HP in the Aqueduct right outside; just let the distant Mandrake snipe you over and over until you are at the desired level of HP.
  • Aqua and Terra can also use Turo Prison Block in Deep Space (battle level 7). In terms of time, it requires three Mega Flares per clear instead of just two and two style changes instead of one. To compensate, it gives 1344-1436 EXP per clear (depending on whether the last Vile Phial is inflicted with ignite, and on certain other spawning conditions that seem to relate to whether you see Vile Phials or Yellow Mustards after the second Mega Flare). Depending on whether the last Vile Phial dies before or after you pull it off, Victory Pose after the third Mega Flare will give either 552 or 336 EXP.
  • All characters can use the Launch Bay in Deep Space (battle level 7). There are a lot of initial enemies to get through (for 1408 EXP with no Victory Poses), Mega Flare will not fully clear any wave due to Vile Phials and their fire resistance, and you're quite likely to accidentally get out of EXP Chance range due to abundant HP orb drops from Tank Topplers and Sonic Blasters. However, get past those hurdles and the last wave is a single Blobmob which can be full cleared for 7280 EXP (assuming you're sniping individual fully divided Blobmobs and Victory Posing after each one). This totals out to 8688 EXP every ~75-80 seconds, including a shotlock to destroy the turrets at the start.
  • Terra alone is able to use Skull Rock: Cavern, which has a single Blobmob at Neverland's higher battle level of 8. It takes two Mega Flares to fully defeat it, which results in two mandatory style changes (~16 second clear). EXP yield is 1456 per clear; 2548 with Victory Pose (due to a notably higher bonus of 1092 EXP per pose).
    • Alternate method: after fully dividing the Blobmob with a single Mega Flare followed by a single Meteor, snipe the closest one with Firaga, Victory Pose, rinse, repeat. This method is faster than the above, at a total of 10,192 EXP (!!) per clear per ~46-50 seconds. That said, it is also more involved and action-intensive, which might be a turnoff for mindless grinding and allows more room for mistakes. Mistakes also lead to this being the most time-variable method, though even taking a full minute per clear would have it slightly faster than the all-at-once variant.

D-Links

  • Pete:
    • Command gauge takes 42 normal attacks to fill at level 1 (putting it at a 20% rate), and 41 Confusion/Binding Strikes at level 2 (10% rate). [For reference, normal attacks fill the base command gauge in 9 hits (12% per swing).]
    • Bonus command gauge rate is based on picking up drops from enemies. The rate seems small but consistent (maybe 2-3%), regardless of what is picked up: large and small prizes as well as items and D-Link emblems all fill the gauge the same amount.
    • Rumble Rave immediately teleports you to the ground if you drive off a cliff.
    • Rumble Rave deals 0 damage to MF and all of his clones; will need to see if this applies to other bosses. My guess is that it's related to whether the boss is immune to Tornado or not.
  • Cinderella:
    • Enchanted Step behaves differently depending on whether it's used by Aqua, or Terra/Ven. In the former case, it is basically a clone of Barrier Surge (ie. it blocks attacks rather than rendering you fully invincible); in the latter case, it is a sidegrade to Fire/Thunder Surge (in that it deals less damage in exchange for a much lower cooldown and letting you gain height at the end, but is still fully invincible).
    • In the MF section below, I speculated that Cinderella's unique commands were doing lower damage than expected due to null damage resistance or a specific damage penalty they had against MF. Now, after testing these commands out while gathering data for difficulty comparisons, I'm beginning to suspect that they calculate damage from your magic stat (which, if true, probably prevents them from benefiting from critical hits).
      • With 7 magic, 10 strength, and level 0 Cinderella against enemies in the Dwarf Woodlands (battle level 3; 4 defense on enemies), Enchanted Step (1.3x multiplier) dealt 3 damage per hit, Wish Circle (2.5x) dealt 7, and Wish Shot (3.0x) dealt 9. [These numbers are consistent with calculating damage from magic (7 magic - 4 defense = 3 base damage; x1.3 = 3.9, rounded to 3; x2.5 = 7.5, rounded to 7; x3.0 = 9)...but they'd also be consistent with a 0.5x critical multiplier. Will need to test on normal mode. Testing done: same damage on normal mode as on critical, so it seems these commands are magic-based. Will need to test other commands that aren't explicitly physical/magical, especially Trinity Limit/Voltage Stack/Unison Rush.] ADDENDUM: For final confirmation, increasing magic and reducing strength by 1 each by changing Keyblades caused damage to increase from 3 to 5 (4 * 1.3 = 5.2, rounded to 5).
    • On the other hand, finisher(s?; haven't tested level 2 yet) damage seems to be based on strength. Dream Sparkle has a 1.3x multiplier listed, and I observed it dealing 7 damage per hit. Will need to see if increasing strength by 1 increases damage dealt from 7 to 9.
  • General:
    • It seems like commands installed in D-Link decks level up as D-Link level increases. Testing with Cinderella, gaining no levels but going from D-Link level 0 to 1 saw Enchanted Step go from dealing 3 to 4 damage. Wish Circle and Wish Shot didn't deal any more damage, so my guess is the increase is the same as most normal commands: +0.05 or +0.10 to the multiplier per level. (Supporting this, damage from Enchanted Step before rounding with a 1.3x multiplier would be 3.9; with a 1.35x multiplier, it would be 4.05.)

Videos

  • Compiled observations from watching my own video footage:
    • Figuring out how long the invisibility on MF's Vanish lasts:
      • In one video, it lasted ~42 seconds (~1266 frames @ 30 FPS). Here, Vanish was used as a counter to a D-Link, but finished while he was in phase 2.
      • In another video, it lasted ~30 seconds (~918 frames @ 30 FPS). Vanish was used as a regular move in phase 2.
      • Overall, it seems to pretty consistently last around 30 seconds when used freely during phase 2.
      • Another video where I specifically tested for this showed a duration of 30 seconds when used as a counter to a D-Link. The 42 second Vanish seems to be an outlier. Looking more closely, in the video where I timed 42 seconds, MF did a casting animation without anything actually happening about 12 seconds after he used Vanish for the first time. Seeing as how perfectly this makes things match up with the other videos, I'm going to assume he re-cast Vanish there and leave it at that.

Unsorted

Terra

  • With 10 strength vs. enemies with 4 defense, Counter Hammer (level 2) dealt 15 damage, pointing to a multiplier of 2.5. Will have to see how much damage it deals against the same enemies at higher levels, to see if the multiplier goes up by 0.05 or 0.10 per level (if it deals 16 at level 3, then it is the latter).

Ventus

  • Air Slide is disabled after ending a glide, but attacks and commands seem to just be on normal endlag and will re-enable Air Slide if used. Otherwise, it wouldn't be usable until you hit the ground and jump once again.
  • Reversal (and Reversal Slash by extension) seem to be able to trigger only once per attack.

Aqua

  • Falling speed increases after she guards twice or more in midair. Under normal circumstances, she can only midair guard twice from jump + doubleflight.

General/Shared

  • Landing lag can be cancelled (or at least shortened) by jumping during it. This may only be true during non-hitstun landing lag. This has major applications for both combos and survival.
  • The Zack D-Link's Attack Deflector will block physical attacks 50% of the time, but it only activates if your character would be able to use their block action in that moment. This means it will activate for Aqua while in midair, but not for Terra or Ven.
  • Terra and Ven's block commands seem to have a limited vertical angle; I've seen certain attacks (specifically projectiles like Hades's fireballs and MF's X-Wave) hit in spite of my blocking while locked on and facing their users. If the "limited vertical angle" theory isn't correct, then their blocks just sometimes don't work properly. [Another possibility is that, if the hitbox of an attack (or maybe just a projectile?) overlaps with both your guard hitbox and your character's hurtbox, priority is given to the hurtbox overlap.]
  • If you take non-knockback damage while in midair, there will be a brief window where you can use another action (ie. Cure or block). If this window passes, then you will go into normal aerial endlag and not be able to do anything until you land (then you must either wait out landing lag or jump to cancel it).
  • If the command gauge is completely filled while you are knocked back, then your finish command will not appear / your commands will not freeze (if you fulfill the requirements for a command style change) until you stop being knocked back. If this happens, you can buffer a D-Link activation, which causes the full command gauge to transfer to the D-Link so you can use a D-Link finish command immediately. The easiest place I've seen for this to happen is by setting mines and standing among them while MF is about to start Raging Storm.
  • Ventus can use certain magic commands, then (usually^) air slide out of them immediately. Commands I've tried this with are both versions of Mines and the top tiers of Fire (as well as Fission Firaga), Thunder, Blizzard, Zero Gravity, and Aero commands, though I'm sure there are others - probably the status spells too. Terra can do this too but seems to be worse and less consistent about it. He also seems to have a smaller (or maybe just different?) list of valid commands - he can't air slide out of Mines or Aero, for instance. Notable general absences are Cure and Magnet, which never seem to allow this behavior for any character. When this behavior doesn't occur, characters lose more height from using the command than they do from using their base attack command (or, in Terra's case, Sonic Impact). (Aqua can't do this with any command, perhaps as compensation for her ability to block in midair and double jump.)
    • This is strictly a midair phenomenon. On the ground, characters just execute the action in question once the command's normal endlag is done. Characters who can do this can also attack instead of dodging, and I imagine if Aqua were able to do this she'd be able to block or teleport. Will need to make charts (or at least lists) of commands which are air-enabled and/or can immediately be air dodged out of to keep all of this straight...
  • During the ending slowdown/flash of important fights, you are still able to be hit and take damage (if applicable, this damage will carry over to the next scene). I have yet to test if you can die in this state, or what happens if you do. ADDENDUM: the new randomizers seem to indicate that you cannot die like this.
  • You seem to be able to be hit by an attack the frame you successfully input an attack command (ie. the command enters cooldown), even if the command itself has full invulnerability (ie. Aerial Slam, Thunder Surge). This does not seem to occur (as often?) if the command was chained into from a fully invulnerable move whose i-frames cover the start of the next move (ie. non-Ghost Drive cartwheel, air slide, dodge roll).
  • Knockback in this game will end automatically after a short (possibly move-dependent) time, or if you collide with a wall (ceilings possibly also count). When knockback ends, protection from Once More ends as well. This can lead to situations in which you die without being able to do anything about it, as there also seems to be a bit of endlag on knockback ending which isn't covered by Once More (which may be higher in midair). If you do hit the ground while you are still in knockback (as happens with MF's Raging Storm when Float from Peter Pan isn't active), then Once More will work properly.
  • Mashing triangle during endlag/landing lag will put a command on cooldown without executing it. (Might need more testing to determine exact parameters.) I think I've also died where I shouldn't have by mashing square during an attack whose knockback would end before I hit the ground, though this might just be an edge case of another behavior I've noticed where you can use an action before endlag ends (ie. blocking early during Laser Orbs), but this forfeits protection from Once More
  • The HP restored by max-level Renewal Block/Barrier looks like it's outright equal to the damage you would've taken from an incoming attack.
  • Block commands appear to be fully invincible on the frame they are activated. If you are hit by an attack in this state, then you will see "hit" particle effects rather than guard ones and you won't take damage or be able to activate your reprisal command. Items (and certain other commands; probably cure) may have the same property; may need more testing, as I've only seen this behavior from an item command once. The appearance of hit particle effects means that the attack did technically connect with you; this means that an attack that is only allowed to hit once during all of its active frames (such as MF's whirlwinds and Collision Magnet) will be rendered harmless by this happening. (If you've ever accidentally input a block when MF was about to launch a whirlwind and been baffled as to why it seemed to just pass through you, this is probably why.)
  • There's a short window (possibly a single-digit number of frames) during the end of a block command where all effects of the block will apply (ie. applicable attacks will be blocked, you'll recover HP if you're using Renewal Block, etc.), but you won't re-enter the block animation, produce the blue-white honeycomb particle effect, or be able to activate your reprisal command. Instead, any "hit" particle effects associated with the attack being blocked will appear, but you will continue to return to your ready pose without being affected.
  • While on the ground, hitting the wall (presumably including characters' guards) with a normal physical attack puts you in a recoil which prevents you from acting for about a second. If you are in midair, then recoil will put you in fast fall (similar to if Aqua guards too many times in midair) and will prevent you from acting for about 2 seconds (the extra time is probably from exiting recoil being subject to midair endlag). You can't jump immediately if you hit the ground while in midair recoil; hitting it after will allow you to jump immediately, even if you still weren't able to act before hitting the ground. (A full high jump gives you enough time to exit recoil before hitting the ground, and thus lets you jump immediately.)
    • If you hit the wall with an attack, and then follow up by jumping, air sliding, and attacking during the lagless window post-air slide, the game will treat it as if you landed the previous hit in the combo. This stacks towards letting you use your combo finisher out of nowhere without hitting anything else in the meantime. There is no time limit on this combo storage, but doing actions like blocks or attacks without air sliding first will interrupt it. Presumably, this also works with hitting enemies (ADDENDUM: nope).
  • From the leftmost pixel of the "HP" text on the HP bar to the rightmost pixel of the non-border portion of the HP bar itself is 17 pixels.
  • Actually testing the damage cap against bosses and whether critical hits can go above it (with testing the effects of Zack's D-Link and the actual crit multiplier of Sweetstack as bonuses):
    • Aqua: level 99, Ultima Weapon (57 strength, 57 magic, 49 defense; 75% physical crit rate, 1.5x multiplier), vs. Braig (26 attack, 15 defense, 750 HP)
      • Mega Flare - expected: 30 hits; in practice: 30 hits (works out to the cap of 25 damage per cast)
      • Firaga - expected: 30 hits; in practice: 30 hits (same as Mega Flare)
      • Basic attacks - expected: 21-30 hits; in practice: 22 hits (~17 critical; works out to an average of ~34-35 damage per hit), 23 hits (~15 critical; average of ~32-33 damage per hit)
      • Basic attacks (Zack D-Link active) - expected: 21 hits; in practice: 21 hits (ALL critical; 37 damage per hit; seems like the description of Berserk in the game mechanics guide is correct; do need to test with 25% and 50% crit rate Keyblades, however)
      • Basic attacks (Sweetstack equipped; 56 strength, 55 magic, 100% crit rate, listed 1.2x multiplier) - expected: 25 hits; in practice: 25 hits (ALL critical; 30 damage per hit; this does correlate with a 1.2x crit multiplier)

^The exceptions may be related to the "Aqua's falling speed" point above, or they may be due to a hidden cooldown or input window narrowing based on using it too many times in a row. I could also see them being related to the order in which you sequentially use commands with this behavior, or any number of other factors.

Mysterious Figure/Unknown

Stats

  • HP: 999 - confirmed not 1000 from hitting him exactly 8 times from full health with attacks that were unable to crit - he was left 1 pixel below his second bar while other bosses under the same circumstances would not have the missing pixel
  • ALL resistances - 1.0x: the above HP verification was done using Zero Graviga, which is listed as Null element in the mechanics guide; Null element was the only resistance of his that wasn't known
  • Attack: 80
  • Defense: 27^: might need a normal mode playthrough to get this stat accurately; critical mode damage, without critical hits:

[Either MF's defense rises as you deal damage to him, or 1 pixel of HP bar doesn't correspond to 1 point of damage [NOW CONFIRMED AS THE LATTER - this behavior is consistent throughout every HP bar: HP is not uniform throughout a whole bar (perhaps only for MF, due to his supposed 999 HP - confirmed not true; see "Difficulty" section), though I probably need a magnifying glass to pixel count to figure this out entirely]; I noticed while testing with Ven wielding Hyperdrive (for 29 attack) that MF took 3 pixels of damage at the start of the battle, but when the first bar was almost depleted, the same attack dealt 2 pixels of damage. Will need more testing to eliminate critical hits as a possibility. All damage numbers below are at the start of the HP bar. Might also throw off other numbers in this document...]

  • Terra - 28 attack = 2 pixels of damage; 29 attack = 3 pixels of damage; 30 attack = 4 pixels of damage; 31 attack = 5 pixels of damage; 48 attack = 23 pixels of damage
  • Ven - 27 attack = 2 pixels of damage; 28 attack = 2 pixels damage; 29 attack = 3 pixels of damage; 30 attack = 4 pixels of damage; 32 attack (with guaranteed 1.2x crit) = 7 pixels of damage

^Tentative guess based on the "(attack - defense) * difficulty_mult ≤ 1, damage = 1 regardless of multiplier" speculation above due to noting the final hit of Stratosphere dealing 1-ish damage with 27 attack but significantly more with 28.

Moveset info

Damaging attacks

[Getting accurate hit counts would probably require a beginner (or at least normal) mode playthrough, as several attacks (most notably Sonic Blade) hit multiple times per "swing" when it doesn't look like they would. Elements of his attacks are determined by what they're reduced by: any of the screens, Donald, Goofy, or nothing.]

Short Combo: 1.0x (?, single-blade hits/normal hits), 1.5x (?, double-blade hits/finisher) ; ? hits [physical]: blockable; possibly same as below, outside of this attack being more punishable at the end and also seeming to have less super armor; counterattacks might also be able to hit him during this

Long Combo: 1.0x (?, single-blade hits/normal hits), 1.5x (?, double-blade hits/short combo finisher), >1.5x (maybe 2.0x?, actual finisher); ? hits [physical]: blockable; it seems that he is usually immune to damage from counterattacks (but only counterattacks) during this attack, though timing your counter well at the end of the combo will allow it to deal damage; certain attacks (most notably normals) that hit his weapons during this attack will be deflected as if blocked; the only way one of your attacks will interrupt him during this move is if he activates one of his defensive actions as a result of you hitting him during it - otherwise, this attack is super armored throughout

X-Wave: 2.0x, 1 hit [physical]: blockable; some attacks can also dissipate the wave, possibly depending on element (my guess is physical and/or null are the only ones which work; Ice Slide worked, but I'm not sure about how much of an edge case that is, since it was also parried at the same time); he seems to try very hard to re-use this attack after it's interrupted

Climhazzard: 1.5x (need to recheck this multiplier - just doesn't look right), ? hits [physical]: blockable; this is what I call the attack in which he combines his weapons and stabs forward, then disconnects them for a follow-up vertical spin attack if the stab hits; said vertical spin attack inflicts several hits in quick succession; first hit knocks you into the air, while the rest knock you away; this is the easiest place to see the behavior of collision with a wall interrupting your knockback animation, which also interrupts Once More (possibly only while in midair); that is, if this attack occurs close enough to the wall, Once More won't work on hits past the one which knocked you to 1 HP, which makes this one of the most common ways to die without being able to do anything about it; being hit by another attack after you're hit by the stab (probably only possible while clones are present) can prevent you from being knocked into the air, in which case the spin attack will just knock you away (which could also mitigate the interrupted knockback behavior)

Sonic Blade: 1.0x, variable hits [physical]: blockable; he jumps back, then rushes at you while in midair; seems to last for a set period of time - without hitting you, it seems like it will dash across the arena 3-4 times before ending; also seems to cover a preset amount of distance - if he starts it from far away, he may go just a short distance past you and turn on a dime to go back to where he started, while if he starts right next to you, he may go all the way to the other side of the arena before turning around for another charge; if he hits you, then he will change behavior on the next go around so that all of the charges end right past you no matter which direction he's heading, which allows repeated hits to be close enough together to juggle you, leaving you high in the air at the end; this attack isn't strictly horizontal - if you are in midair when it starts, he can charge up and down; this is another attack which you can easily die in without being able to do anything about, as if he hits you and goes all the way across the arena, Once More will have worn off by the time he returns; this issue can be partially alleviated with levels - provided they have their maximum possible HP, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus can withstand a single hit from this attack with more than 1 HP remaining starting at (respectively) levels 50, 61, and 72; "partially" because it only helps if the charge you're hit by only hits once, which isn't always the case; additionally, this attack has the same problem as Climhazzard with potentially being more deadly than it should be if you're too close to the wall when you're hit by it; finally, the vertical version can be more dangerous than the horizontal version, probably for the same reason as being close to a wall is dangerous

Collision Magnet: 2.5x, 1 (damaging) hit [physical]: he jumps backwards high into the air and tries to reel you in with one of his blades extended to the length of a whip; he always throws the whip at the same angle, so if he's close enough to the edge of the arena that he can't jump back the normal distance, this attack can whiff without any action needed from you; the initial cast has a hitbox, as does the whip during the second or two where he lingers in midair afterwards; while he's in midair, the entire setup will rapidly rotate to track your location [viewing his whip and him as a compass anchored to the point directly below him, you can only be hit if you are within a generous distance in any direction (z-axis included) of the outline of the circle he'd trace]; this is the most infamous of his "one-touch kill bypassing Once More with no counterplay" attacks, as there's generally no way to dodge a followup after getting hit by this ("generally" - see "Analysis/Quirks" section below); during this attack and for a short time after he hits the ground, he can be hit but doesn't take any damage (except when he occasionally does - probably related to whether he recently summoned clones and you destroyed them, leaving him with lingering clone properties; previously speculated that it was related to the element of the attack or that worked like his combos' counter damage immunity in that he's usually immune to damage unless the attack is near its beginning or end); initial whip impact is an attack for the purposes of Fireworks, and it also seems to be a separate hit from the tug that reels the player in (with Mickey D-Link active, I'm pretty sure I've seen my character stagger when hit by the former, but then teleport when the latter happened); the bounce from impacting the ground after the damage is done is yet another non-damaging hit, probably with a very small amount of knockback such that it runs out before you touch the ground; it is possible to be hit by this attack just as he's ending it (ie. retracting his whip and dropping to the ground), in which case you'll be snagged and lifted up to where he was, but you won't take a damaging hit

Laser Orbs: 0.5x, up to 20 hits [physical]: blockable; he has a weak hitbox (the weakest attack he has) while throwing out the orbs; fire in 3-4 shot bursts; if he's interrupted while using this move, he will stop it at whatever number of orbs he has out (which can be 0, if you interrupt him early enough), though he can immediately follow up by using this move again; in phase one, he mostly stands still during this move (only moving to slowly walk so you are at or below a maximum distance); if you use almost any aggressive action during this move (including a short time during its startup), then he will start using his normal moveset concurrently with the orbs firing at you; the orbs themselves seemingly fire at a greater delay when you're close to any wall; in phase two he will continue using his normal moveset during this attack regardless of your actions; I originally thought he threw more orbs in phase two which caused hits to come constantly [and speculated that he had managed to use the move multiple times in a row (which is possible, but I don't think it's what happened in this case)], but now I think the orbs will delay firing upon you for a while under certain conditions and then start firing all at once once the conditions pass (this happened most frequently when he used this attack while I was using a shotlock)

Whirlwind to the Void: 2.0x, 1 hit [probably null]; if you are hit by this, then your D-Link will deactivate once your commands are scattered, and the actual scattering will be slightly delayed from if you didn't have a D-Link active; if you are killed by this while you have a fully leveled Aqua link active, then your commands won't be scattered after Auto-Life finishes resolving; there's a slight delay (made worse by having a D-Link active) between your commands scattering and you being able to do some actions (notably blocking); in phase two, your commands bounce around for longer (maybe twice as long) before becoming collectible again (this could just be how it feels, however, due to how hectic phase 2 is - need to actually time this); similarly to X-Wave, he really likes retrying this attack after it's whiff punished (though it can't really be interrupted like X-Wave due to him seeming to have super armor before actually firing the whirlwind)

Raging Storm: 1.5x, variable hits [probably null]: don't think this is fire element because it deals the same amount of damage whether Fire Screen is active or not; lasts a set amount of time which can be wasted by attacking him; without any interruptions, lasts long enough for six full dashes (need to fully time it); usually hits twice per pass, but can be more or less depending on your height off the ground and location in the arena, as well as whether or not he hits you dead on; has a hitbox before the fire even appears, and can start running towards you before the fire appears too if you attack him during the startup; phase one has him run in straight lines towards you (aiming to run past you), teleporting to approach from different angles (potentially including directly on top of you, if you are close enough to the edge of the arena); attacking him while he's dashing towards you will sometimes cause him to double back to dodge; actually hitting him seems to make him do little staggered teleports towards you for the rest of the move (or at least until he successfully passes you, at which point he'll resume previous behavior); phase two has him continue using his normal moveset while the fire is active

Doom: 1.5x, 1 hit [seemingly physical, not that it matters much]: blockable; normally starts being used in phase two; Doom is a status effect - Cinderella's D-Link gets a full command gauge from it; you die regardless of remaining health if the count reaches 0; base count is 5, minus one for every subsequent time you get hit by it; each count seems to last roughly 2/3 of a second; requires button mashing to escape (seems to require 13 button presses regardless of which hit it is); if the starting count is 3 or lower, mashing speed requirements become absurd; being hit during this will immediately break you out of it, but that is irrelevant most of the time due to requiring active Fireworks or very high levels (94+ for Terra, no lower than 99 for Aqua, impossible for Ven) to have more than 1 HP left after being hit by this to begin with

Mega Flare: ?x, 1 hit [maybe fire, maybe null]: very close in behavior to the playable version of this command (complete with long-lasting hitbox which can't hit more than once), with the exceptions that the explosion doesn't inflict Ignite, he shoots the fireball directly towards your location instead of straight ahead, and the fireball must collide with something in order to explode/deal damage ("something" can include you); this last point means that if you are in midair and not in front of the rock wall or another obstacle, then the fireball will harmlessly fly into space

Meteor: 2.5x, up to 2 hits (?) [either physical or null, leaning null]: again, very close to the playable version of this command to the point that I'm not sure there are any differences; you can perform actions immediately after getting hit by the rock, but this prevents the explosion from counting as part of a combo for the purposes of Once More, so it will get you killed unless it's something with invincibility; if you are too high up, then the explosion will happen long enough after the rock hits you that Once More will not protect you

Non-damaging attacks

Quintuplicate: Brief intangibility for him and all clones at the start of this move. Enemies have restricted movesets when this is active. Available moves, in ascending order of observed rarity (ie. most common at the bottom): Short Combo or Long Combo, X-Wave, Climhazzard, and Collision Magnet. All enemies have access to all moves; it's entirely possible (albeit rare; maybe more common in phase 2?) for one to hit you with Collision Magnet just as you are recovering from the same attack from another one. Some clones may just stand still and watch while others attack. Clones will eventually (ADDENDUM: after 30 seconds) fade away on their own, after which the real one will cancel everything he's doing and stand still for a short while (this doesn't occur if all of the clones are destroyed before the time they would naturally expire - possibly because it's related to changing his properties back to normal?). As far as I can tell, there isn't a "real" one after he uses this move; all of the MFs running around have the same properties until all but one of them are either destroyed or fade away. There also seems to be a delay on the last one standing reverting to his normal properties (notably, this does not affect him reverting to his normal moveset; perhaps moveset is just based on how many clones are in play at the time), which seems to be based on whichever comes first between a small amount of time passing and taking the damage required to normally destroy a clone (it could also just be a time thing with the remaining time reduced by being hit, but this seems less likely).

Time Reversal: The wiki claims this can trigger "[at] any random moment when the protagonist deals damage to him[...]", but that doesn't seem right. I've only ever seen this activate once on a finish command (a corner case where the final projectile from Ice Burst hit him after I had already regained control/Aqua was no longer invincible), and never on select other moves (ie. I haven't yet seen him reverse time on any hit of Aerial Slam; maybe this is because of the air-toss effect?). I think it's likely that it can trigger whenever he takes damage from an attack which can stagger or knock him back (but not air-toss him) while you are not invincible. (Though I still have a lingering feeling that I've seen this trigger on Thunder/Fire Surge.) I've never seen him use anything other than three specific moves out of this, creating a sort of rock-paper-scissors dynamic (at least for Aqua): block the jumping kick attack; attack through X-Wave; and dodge or i-frame through Whirlwind to the Void. Given how dangerous the last of these is, it's perfectly practical to just aim to dodge or i-frame out no matter what. (On a side note, the weirdest attacks I've seen this trigger on were Faith and Meteor.)

  • Quick, tentative trigger conditions reference from what I've observed about this boss:
    • Based on element of attack used, your invincibility status, and which stagger state it can put him in:
      • Element - Triggers off of any attack except dark, seemingly. ADDENDUM: Unless Dark Impulse is not, in fact, dark element, this is not true.
      • Invincibility status - Cannot trigger if you are invincible. Simple enough. [Anecdote supporting this: as mentioned above, I hit him when he was very far away with the last projectile of the (normally invincible) Ice Burst finish command. He was far enough away that the finish command invincibility had worn off by the time he was hit by the projectile, and he triggered Time Reversal.]
      • Stagger state - I put attack stagger capabilities in four categories:
        • No stagger - From attacks like Magnet and Zero Gravity (and probably other damaging status moves). Not only doesn't stagger him, but doesn't even change his behavior at all. Can still cause him to raise his guard, but can't trigger Time Reversal.
        • Normal stagger - From most attacks. Puts him in a 1-second stagger animation. Can trigger Time Reversal.
        • Knockback - From certain powerful attacks (such as the second hit of Terra's midair combo), as well as multiple attacks in a row when he's in midair. Puts him in a slightly longer stagger animation. Can trigger Time Reversal.
        • Air-toss - From a select few attacks, including the first hits of Aerial Slam and Brutal Blast, Aqua's base Finish command, as well as Fission Firaga. Cannot trigger Time Reversal.

Renewal Barrier: He assumes a guarding stance that lasts for a second or two (though the actual block seems to last longer than the animation; need to time both of these) before he uses this move; if you don't attack during this time, then he won't block anything or recover any health. He uses this attack if he is a) staggered for too many attacks in a row, or b) takes too many hits in a row even without staggering. He doesn't always use this attack in these situations; sometimes he instead dashes away and starts a different move - similar to what he sometimes does if you attack him without an opening. Severely punishes certain multihit attacks (notably, Peter Pan's level 1 finish command can crash the game, at least in the HD rereleases), but not all moves are punished as much as would be expected. Pretty sure there's nothing he can't block with this, nor do I think there's anything he can't respond to with this. He can block things like mines and status effect spells (ie. things which deal no damage to him), though whether he regains health or not varies (the former do, some of the latter do not).

Vanish: Comes into play at some point during phase two, or guaranteed shortly after you use any D-Link (he will often even forego his guaranteed follow up after a successful Collision Magnet to use this move, if he's not already invisible). Foils most targeted or homing attacks by forcing off/disallowing lock-on. However, some attacks (notably Hero's Pride) will track even while he's invisible if certain conditions are met [for Hero's Pride, the initial dark explosion needs to hit and your character needs to be "aware" of where he is (see here in section "Analysis/Quirks" for what this means)]. He doesn't use Renewal Barrier as often, stagger (period), or use Time Reversal (period) while in this mode. Other than the aforementioned difference, I don't think his behavior is any different in this mode than the standard for whatever phase he's in.

Analysis/Quirks

  • I think he has 90-105 attack, and I'm leaning towards the latter. This was determined as follows:
    • On critical mode, full and max health (so, 97 HP) Aqua with Goofy D-Link active will have 3-5 HP left after Collision Magnet once she hits 43 defense (happens at level 84). Protect from Goofy and the difficulty damage modifier presumably cancel each other out, so this means that the true damage dealt in this situation is 92-94. Depending on Collision Magnet's multiplier, this puts MF's attack at 89-90 (if the multiplier is 2x) or ~105 (if the multiplier is 1.5x). Other multipliers are unlikely and don't mesh well with other data; higher ones would put his attack lower than Vanitas Remnant's (3.0x would put it at 74, vs. VR's 80), while lower ones would put his attack way too high (1.0x would put it at 135).
    • The lean towards 105 attack is due to observations about Laser Orbs. With Goofy linked and 97 HP/43 defense as outlined above, a full (ie. 4 hit) volley from Laser Orbs didn't reduce Aqua to HP critical (HP <=24), but did look like it reduced her well below half HP (HP <= 48). Assuming Laser Orbs have a multiplier of 0.25x (as lower multipliers seem unlikely, and higher multipliers return too much damage), 90 attack only reduces Aqua to half HP (dealing 47-48 damage total), while 105 attack seems about right (~35 HP left).
  • Disappointingly, the above analysis appears to have been wrong:
    • I graphed the following equations based on photos I got of single hits of Laser Orbs at various defense values (where x = Laser Orb multiplier and y = enemy attack; simplified away the difficulty multiplier):
      • 15 = (y - 49)x
      • 26 = (y - 27)x
      • 28 = (y - 24)x
    • In doing so, I found that a lower multiplier for Laser Orbs resulted in a different attack value for each character, which, although technically possible, seems unlikely given how uniform so many of the rest of the game's enemies are per battle level. However, a multiplier value that actually did result in an extremely similar attack value on each graph was 0.5, which was an intersection point for the first two and pretty dang close for the last [respectively (0.5, 79), (0.5, 79), and (0.5, 80)]. I later figured the minor discrepancy was caused by the first two recorded damage values being rounded down from halves.
    • The final confirmation came from actual concrete numbers. As Aqua with Goofy active, I managed to defeat MF after taking a full volley of Laser Orbs without healing or taking any more damage. Checking HP afterwards showed exactly 60 HP missing (15 damage per shot). In a second battle under the same conditions, I confirmed that X-Wave dealt exactly 62 damage. From here, it was as simple as noting that the number both the 15 damage from a single Laser Orb and the 62 damage from X-Wave was obtained by applying multipliers to was 31 and adding Aqua's defense of 49 to this base damage value to obtain my final conclusion of 80 attack. Thus, I discovered that MF disappointingly has the same attack value as Vanitas Remnant^.
  • If certain (as of now, poorly understood) conditions aren't met when you when you block one of his attacks, then you won't be able to use a reprisal command, nor will your character turn to face his position with every blocked hit. This can happen if he hits you with a projectile from far enough away (and you haven't been near him recently?), but it's most common if he turns invisible under certain circumstances (possibly if he's not on-screen when he turns invisible, possibly if you aren't locked-on when he turns invisible, possibly a combination of those factors, possibly something else entirely), in which case you won't be able to use a reprisal until he turns visible again. For now, I'll call this behavior "awareness". (This does have a small number of effects outside of what it means for blocking, such as Zack's level 2 D-Link finisher tracking him while invisible or not.)
  • Time Reversal has an attack he doesn't use anywhere else associated with it. In this attack, he does a floaty spinning high jump kick while trailed by a dark aura and stongly homing in on your location. He can do this at any time after reversing time, but it seems more likely when you are in midair. It can be blocked, is probably physical element, and seems to have similar properties to Collision Magnet when it comes to taking damage during it. Multiplier is possibly 2.5x.
  • Phase two starts at around half health (down two and a half bars).
  • If you have more than four Cure commands equipped in your deck, he'll use Doom for the entire fight rather than just in phase two. This also happens if you have any of the damaging movement abilities equipped except Fire Glide or Sonic Impact, but only if said commands are in slots 1-4 (???). Potentially, this is because Doom replaces X-Wave under these circumstances.
  • Both of his combo attacks inflicts stun; pretty sure it's every hit except the last one [stab in the short combo (doesn't inflict stun even when it's used in the long combo), last hit of the vertical spin attack in the long combo]. In either case, this can be seen most easily either by a clone hitting with the right attack as it fades away or by hitting him with a homing projectile (ie. Fire) that interrupts him at the "right" time.
  • He and his clones jump over Mines, during which time they seem to be intangible (ie. they can't even be hit). They also jump over the indicators in Terra's ultimate finish command, Dragon Maleficent D-Link's Dragonfire, and Voltage Stack; Mega Flare, Tornado, Ice Barrage, Quake, and the explosion at the end of Ghost Drive's finisher.
  • I've never seen either Donald's Shell or Aqua's Magic Deflector do anything against MF's Raging Storm. This means either this attack isn't fire elemental (which seems unlikely), hits too many times in succession/deals too much damage for the reduction to be noticeable, or those D-Link abilities require an attack to have an additional property other than just elemental affinity to affect it. Revisiting this one because Raging Storm does the same damage whether Fire Screen is equipped or not, which means that it isn't fire element. This is presumably why Shell/Magic Deflector don't work.
  • I've heard it claimed that he changes his attack patterns based on what abilities/commands/D-Links/anything else you have equipped. I'm not sure if this is true outside of what I've outlined above, nor do I know how I'd go about testing it. I suspect this is just a very popular myth.
  • Cinderella's D-Link commands dealt less damage than expected despite having 1.3x - 3.0x multipliers. Possibilities include that he has resistance to Null element (which all of these attacks supposedly are), this is the result of the difficulty damage multiplier, or (certain?) Friendship commands have a damage penalty against him. Leaning towards the latter due to Ultima Cannon dealing heavy damage in spite of also being Null element. This might also apply to Cinderella's finish command. [It's also possible that I was a low enough level and using a weak enough Keyblade that damage just wasn't high in general - this is now my leading theory. ADDENDUM: I originally didn't realize that these commands calculate damage from your magic stat when I wrote this, but that's another possibility as to why they were doing less damage than I expected them to (since I was playing as Terra, and wasn't at a terribly high level yet).]
  • I've gone from full HP to zero seemingly bypassing Second Chance/Once More by being hit by a long combo during the ending of Voltage Stack. It's possible that Voltage Stack tapers from full invincibility to super armor, and this behavior could be taken as proof that some of the attacks during the long combo don't inflict stun. Another occurrence of this has effectively confirmed that the short combo has one hit which doesn't inflict stun (the last hit) while the long combo has two (the last hit, as well as what would've been the last hit of the short combo). Had another occurrence of this - phase two Raging Storm + combo, and since I think there was a damage grunt before the death, there may be something in Voltage Stack specifically which prevents Once More from functioning if you collide with enough hitboxes during its ending.
  • He appears to get super armor for a while if he uses Whirlwind to the Void as a counter from Time Reversal. (This could also just be him starting another attack with super armor before my counterattack hits.)
  • Consequences of him retaining clone properties for a little while after four of the clones are destroyed:
    • He will not stagger until he returns to normal; this is usually why he doesn't stagger when one would think he should (ie. when he's hit during/after X-Wave or after Whirlwind to the Void).
    • Relatedly, I'm fairly sure he can't use Time Reversal at all until he returns to normal. He may also be unable to use Renewal Barrier, though I'm less sure about that one.
      • I'm fairly sure this is the reason why Stickman Sham's videos where MF's instakilled by Peter Pan's level 1 D-Link finisher were possible. My guess is it has to do with hitting him enough that the finisher could lock on while he's invisible, but not enough to actually break the lingering clone behavior.
    • He can take damage in some situations where he normally wouldn't be able to (ie. during Collision Magnet).
    • If he was one hit from defeat when he used clones, then reducing the last one to 0 HP before clone properties wear off will softlock the game - it will fade away like a clone instead of initiating the boss defeat flash and ending the fight.
  • If you are hit by another attack in midair after being hit by the damaging hit of Collision Magnet (say, by a clone's X-Wave), then you will stop being staggered (and will thus regain some range of movement/action - don't think you can dodge or guard, but you may be able to use an action command, ie. Cure) but will still have the "status effect" the damaging hit of Collision Magnet inflicts on you (as indicated by the glowing white magnet effect on your character). If you hit the ground while you have this effect active, then you will stagger and bounce as if your fall wasn't interrupted to begin with.
  • In phase one, I've only ever seen him follow up a successful Collision Magnet with X-Wave, Whirlwind to the Void, another Collision Magnet, a combo, or (if it's available due to equipped commands) Doom. [In phase two (possibly only specifically while he's invisible), I think he just keeps using his normal moveset after landing a Collision Magnet. Under these conditions, I've seen him use Climhazzard, start Raging Storm, and even just dodge around doing nothing.]
    • I ordered the attacks above from least likely to finish you off to most likely (was playing as Aqua - I think windows are more forgiving as Ven and less as Terra, which I think is due to falling speed differences among the three of them):
      • X-Wave is basically just letting you off the hook. Windup is long enough that you can recover and heal at your leisure in any way you choose.
      • Whirlwind to the Void can be dodged by jumping as soon as you hit the ground and quickly air sliding away. I think this is always possible, but the window is more forgiving the further away from you he is (with point-blank possibly being close to or outright frame perfect).
      • A follow-up Collision Magnet can be dodged the same way as a whirlwind, but it seems to require that the jump and air slide be frame perfect, and it may not always be possible. ("Frame perfect" because most of the times I've successfully done this, the "hit" particle effect appeared as I dodged away. I believe this means the hit and the dodge happened on the same frame.)
      • A combo is impossible to dodge unless he teleports far enough away before starting it.
      • I don't think Doom is ever possible to dodge.
  • After beating this boss, part of the fence will (sometimes?) detach and be moved towards the center of the arena. If a new game is started, this will even persist through cutscenes and the tutorial fights. ADDENDUM: This might just always be/have been the case and I just didn't realize it?
  • I got hit by Collision Magnet, but the follow-up combo triggered Once More. I don't know what was different about this time compared to all the others, but my guesses are that it was because I was hit by it mid-jump, that it was near one of the obstacles at the edges of the arena, or that the combo started before I had finished bouncing after hitting the ground (or maybe I hadn't even hit the ground yet, somehow?).
  • Doom seems to be able to be cancelled if you activate (certain?) attacks at the same time that you get hit. I've had this happen twice: the first time, I got hit by Doom at what appeared to be the same time (same frame, or close to it) as I cast some mines. This resulted in a very brief change to the "doomed" camera angle followed by immediately breaking out (complete with the proper sound effect) and placing the mines (I don't remember if I actually took damage, but I don't think I did). I've also had this happen with Enchanted Step, with the same "brief camera change followed by immediate breakout" behavior. In both cases, the Doom counter was increased (ie. the next time I got hit by Doom, the count was one lower). (Zack's D-Link can also cancel Doom due to Attack Deflector. This fits my theory that Doom is physical element.)
  • It is possible to get him to stop time for you without properly going into Time Reversal (I've had this happen thrice). In this case, you will be stopped and invincible, but the music will not change and he will go about using his normal moveset in spite of being unable to hit you. Particle effects/projectiles will not spawn for attacks of his that use them, though he will do the correct animation and the right sound effects will usually play (and, in some cases, loop endlessly). If this happens with Raging Storm, then he'll just run at you eternally, never properly stopping the attack. This seems to be related to inputting Aerial Slam (with its unique behavior changing property) just as he activates Time Reversal - perhaps within a frame or two.
  • If you have (fully?) depleted item commands when you're hit by Whirlwind to the Void, then they will be restocked when you get that particular command back. Haven't gotten this to happen more than twice, and it might've been me misunderstanding what I was seeing. Needs more testing.
  • I've heard it claimed that critical hits are more likely to trigger Time Reversal. I'm going to need to test this more, but if it's true, then from my observation it's pretty negligible: I've gotten long strings of hits in with Ultima Weapon without issue just the same as with Earthshaker/Rainfell.

^This has the side effect of making me fairly sure that his defense value is 27, as that is also the same as Vanitas Remnant and it was already my best guess.

Subjective stuff about player abilities

Notes on player abilities versus MF

Commands everyone already knows are good

  • Dodge Roll/Cartwheel - Mash square for literal permanent invincibility.
  • Slide - Mash square for not-quite-permanent invincibility.
  • Cure/Cura/Curaga - Endless invincible healing with a not-too-unreasonable reload time of 15 seconds with all Magic Hastes installed. Has significant endlag which can easily lead to loops where you keep getting hit after healing ad infinitum, due to how fast this boss attacks. This can be mitigated by jumping before use, but midair endlag means you can still easily get hit by something before being able to act.
  • Thunder/Fire Surge - Hit multiple times for high damage, fully invincible, aren't crippled by invisibility, short reload time means having ~3 or more in a deck with 5x Attack Haste allows endless spamming...their reputation as some of the best commands in the game (especially for this fight) is well-earned.
  • Mines - He is immune to damage from these, but they're also the most reliable way by far to activate his jumping dodge. If you figure out the timing on his intangibility ending after his jump, this effectively allows you to set traps for him. Failing that, they can also delay his actions to keep you alive. They also still fill the command gauge, so they can be used for finishers or style changes.

Everyone

  • Ice Slide - Once you shuffle your commands around so this doesn't trigger Doom in phase one, it's a solid sidegrade from normal Air Slide. Unlike Firewheel/Thunder Roll, this doesn't trade all of its invincibility for the ability to deal damage. Instead, it still retains invincibility on most of the animation, only losing some at the end. In return, it opens up several options for you, like dealing relatively safe damage (including while he's invisible), wasting time on Raging Storm, and even comboing into another attack (in particular, I've had some success with Ice Slide -> Aerial Slam during Raging Storm). The catch seems to be that the hitbox this produces is parriable^ (at least for Terra?), which can lead to problems if you try dashing by him during a combo. The invincibility also ends before the hitbox does, meaning the tail end of this move can be affected by Time Reversal.
  • Items in general - If Item Bracer existed in this game, then items would be my preferred healing method due to much lower end lag than Cure. Even without Item Bracer, however, they do still have their place - Megalixirs fully restore your D-Link gauge without having a year of startup like Balloon Letters, and will fully restore your HP as a bonus. I haven't experimented with other items against him, but I imagine a (Mega/Hi-)Potion above an invincible command (surge or Aerial Slam, probably) could do some work in letting you get damage on him immediately after healing.
    • Ice Cream - Is only as good as the style it puts you into. Aqua/Ven have the option of Milky Way before they have Sky Climber to let them immediately get a normal finish command, which can be a neat strat.
  • Sliding Dash - One of few commands that can combo into the same things your normal combo can, which makes it more safe to throw out than many moves. Its range means that it can secure punishes that you would otherwise miss, too. However, I still think its best use is in just extending air stalls (by untargeting then using it in midair after an air slide).
  • Blizzard Edge - Probably the best of the edge commands due to the extra damage from the ice shard, but that isn't really saying much. It's still too slow and unwieldy to hit with when it isn't being comboed into, and the reward it gives when it is being comboed into isn't worth the risk.
  • Aerial Slam - Sleeper hit. Air-enabled and fully invincible, which makes it ideal for landing safely. First two hits are all but guaranteed if no other attacks precede them; the last hit is unreliable but powerful and very close to unpunishable. You can even stop after any of the hits to try doing something creative instead of going forward the last hit. It's also the best (IMO) counter to Raging Storm that's available to all characters - hitting with it [which does take a little bit of timing (and/or possibly luck)] allows you to just wait out the rest of the move by air stalling. Biggest problem this has is that whiffing with the first hit does not let you continue to the extensions, which cuts down the invincibility significantly. This combined with how short a whiff lasts makes it pretty easy to get into a bad situation through careless use of this move.
  • Blitz - Opening with it without hit confirming actually often allows all three hits to successfully connect. Otherwise, you'll probably want to cut one of the extensions. Can trigger Time Reversal and has the same problem as normal attacks when it does (namely, pressing triangle will buffer the next swing and lock you into it). Overall, probably only worth it at a low level, as it's basically doing three normal combo finishers in a row, with all the associated risks and rewards that description implies.
  • Sonic Blade - Can be used from just about anywhere for a few almost-free hits so long as he's not in the middle of an attack. Same deal with Time Reversal as Blitz above.
  • Magnet Spiral - Some weird behavior with this one. The magnet pull effect this attack puts out count as several separate attacks, and he reacts as such so long as he isn't in any kind of super armor move. This means that he will teleport around, cancel/restart attacks, and even put up Renewal Barrier (which restores an absurd amount of HP off of these pseudo-attacks in spite of them doing no damage). I even got knocked down to 1 HP during this attack, executed the actual damaging spin attack, and then got snagged by Colision Magnet...which proceeded to deal no damage as if Once More was in effect.
  • Zero Graviga - He may be immune to the status effect, but this still works properly as far as the quick moderate AoE damage is concerned. Its vertical tolerance is a little bit suspect, however. Doesn't stagger him at all - even right after a Whirlwind to the Void or X-Wave - but can cause him to raise his guard (ie. prepare Renewal Barrier). If this actually hits his guard, it actually causes you to stagger, for some reason.
  • Fission Firaga - Extremely good, much to my surprise. On top of being a powerful single hit with an AoE strong enough to one-shot clones at high enough levels, it also inflicts air-toss and is easy to hit with due to perfect tracking. It immediately impressed me the first time I used it to a greater extent than almost any other command I've tried. Further use still found it to be pretty good - it combos pretty well into Aerial Slam! - but he is capable of dodging it in response to the explosion, which prevents the damage and the air toss.
  • Thundaga - Basically a sidegrade from Zero Graviga. Similar AoE and damage, but can actually stagger him (which can open him up for further attacks, but also potentially allows him to use Time Reversal). Does have suspect vertical tolerance, though I think it's still better than that of Zero Graviga.
  • Aeroga - Not sure if the first hit is resisted due to being similar to Tornado or if I'm getting unlucky with timing, but I've yet to see it do damage. More testing makes me think it's the former; the Mickey D-Link's Sign of Faith has the same issue, and that's basically a clone of this move. The second hit deals damage normally.
  • Magnega - Worst part about this move is the wonky camera angle it forces. Otherwise, it's probably the best counter to his clones there is so long as you're powerful enough for it to one-shot them, as it is persistent and has a large AoE. As a bonus, the persistence allows it to destroy multiple waves of clones, should he use it more than once in a row. Does seem to cause wonkiness with Aerial Slam, however - it being around seems to cause him to dodge away from Aerial Slam's first hit instead of being launched by it. This can happen anyway, but it seems more frequent when Magnet is up.
  • Deep Freeze - As one might expect from a slow AoE which inflicts a status this boss is immune to, this isn't particularly useful. All it does is inflict a single hit of moderate ice damage, which doesn't seem to stagger no matter what.
  • Mega Flare - He jumps over the fireball, but even the intangibility from this action doesn't allow him to dodge the ridiculously long-lasting hitbox. Since I know this only hits each enemy once, I'm sure this can be wasted by having the one hit come while he takes no damage but can still be struck (ie. during Collision Magnet). Otherwise, it's pretty much guaranteed damage (and it can stagger him, to boot). (All of this is provided it doesn't just explode instantly, as it often does.)
  • Transcendence - A funny joke move when used in this fight, as it creates solid walls all around you after its initial startup which he can't get through no matter what he does. This protects you from Sonic Blade and Raging Storm (though it doesn't last long enough to completely protect you for the full duration of the latter), but projectiles (including Collision Magnet) can still reach you and prevent this from truly shining.
  • Fireworks - The internet says that it reduces damage from the next incoming hit to 7, and I originally thought it only worked in the Mirage Arena. However, I discovered that it actually works by testing it against MF: Whirlwind to the Void and the last hit of a blocked long combo were both successfully reduced. It doesn't work on the damaging hit of Collision Magnet, which confirms my conjecture from above that the initial hook is a separate attack.
  • Voltage Stack - To start with its biggest drawbacks, it has a long non-invulnerable startup (possibly the longest out of all the friendship limit commands?), and it seems to taper from invulnerability to super armor at the very end of the move (which can sometimes let you die from >1 HP in spite of Second Chance/Once More). Additionally, the crosshair moves pretty slowly (especially when turning) and can be jumped over, wasting some damage time. On the other hand, it is completely manually aimed, which enables it to be significantly less hindered by invisibility than Unison Rush. You also have a hitbox on your character during the whole move. This is my preferred non-D-Link answer to invisibility (and phase two in general), even if it is difficult to find a good time to activate it.

^This does bring up the question of whether this works with certain D-Link abilities which power up your normal attacks (Drain in particular), as I've otherwise only seen normal attacks be parried...

Terra

  • Random End - Each of the attacks this command can pull out have different properties, and two of the three are really good. The Sliding Dash-like attack is fast, covers a lot of distance, and has low endlag if it's the final attack in the combo. The Strike Raid-like attack potentially inflicts the most damage (due to hitting multiple times), has long range, and most importantly will always let you follow it up with another extension, even if it was the fourth (and normally final) attack in the combo. The Quick Blitz-like attack is a bit of a dud, unfortunately. It's slower than either of the other attacks, has shorter range, hits a narrower area, and has higher endlag than the slide.
  • Demolition - My vote for the worst ultimate finish command, though I don't think it's very far behind Aqua's. To start with the positives, it can be activated wherever, whenever due to the natures of both the command and the fight; and it is the least affected by invisibility due to its manual aim. However, its deceptively small hit area and surprisingly strict hit timing make it difficult to hit with, and the meteors being considered projectiles means that MF has a good chance of just dodging even if he is "hit". The targeting indicators are pretty difficult to work with thanks to random (?) spawning locations and how short the window to reposition them is (not to mention that they can cause MF to dodge jump, though YMMV on whether that's a good thing or not).
  • Critical Impact Command Style - Like several other styles, this makes it so that Terra actually has a distance-closer attack. However, dodging away after one hit seems basically mandatory; for some reason, he seems to warp away and counterattack far more frequently with this style's normal attacks than with anything else I've seen. Might have to do with the "one swing, two immediate hits" property this style's attacks have.
  • Rockbreaker Command Style - (NEED TO TEST THIS ONE OUT: videos show it to be useful - including while he's invisible - due to a lingering hitbox. My speculation is that its utility is significantly diminished if you aren't using Slide.)
  • Dark Impulse Command Style - Does trigger Time Reversal, much to my disappointment - perhaps there's a different factor in other dark element commands that cause them to not do so. At any rate, this is a pretty fun command style to use against him, though I'm unsure how practical it is. The biggest thing to talk about is the uppercut which starts close combos. It is (as far as I've tested so far) the only attack Terra gets which moves him towards enemies that are below him. It also knocks him back rather than just staggering him, which makes the second part of the combo only hit with one or two hits (which is probably a good thing, considering). However, the biggest thing to watch out for is that it is superceded in priority by the distance closer attack, so Terra will probably just attack harmlessly over the enemy's head if they are below him but also sufficiently far away.
  • Meteor Crash - Risky. The midair hover at the start of the move is out of his reach (as I expected) and the meteors have a really large area of effect, but the dive leaves you vulnerable and being hit at the wrong time by the wrong kind of attack will cancel the meteors outright. The leap basically working as a dodge means that this works against two of the three counters from Time Reversal (the one it doesn't dodge is the kick). It also seems like certain attacks of his will continue targeting your old location during the leap, as I've seen his Sonic Blade whiff entirely from this attack used at the right time. I'd have thought this would be a useful counter to his clones due to the AoE, but it's slow enough that you're likely to get interrupted or just outright die.
  • Chaos Blade - All of the commentary on Sonic Blade applies here, as this is another version of that attack but more costly and with additional downtime between swings. The teleports might give a tiny amount of invincibility, but not enough to matter. ADDENDUM: Revisited this one due to Stickman Sham claiming that it can't trigger Time Reversal. This seems to be true, and I'm thinking this might be a property that applies to dark element attacks in general (SECOND ADDENDUM: nope). Suffice to say, this changes this attacks evaluation significantly, as all it really has to worry about are blocking (which might be beatable by delaying extensions - needs more testing) and the occasional teleport counter.
  • Dark Haze - Tested this due to the above "dark element attacks" theory. It seems to hold true with this command, too: I have never seen Time Reversal trigger from Dark Haze. The command itself isn't particularly exciting. When the conditions are met for skipping its windup (which seem to include attacks and Air Slide in addition to normal Slide), it's kinda like a sidegrade to Sliding Dash. Otherwise, it's a single-hit Sonic Blade. Neither the worst or the best command.
  • Ars Solum - High risk, potentially high reward: I've had this blocked or hit with Time Reversal within the first four swings, but I've also had it perform spectacularly, legitimately getting through the whole combo. Most notable part of this attack is that the last hit before extensions inflicts air toss.
  • Zantetsuken - This is a teleport slash which will hit if you're locked on and will usually let you walk away unscathed afterwards due to invincible cooldown during the pose (preventing Time Reversal, by the by) after the attack. However, this is majorly limited by how vulnerable you are during its excessively long windup. The only times you can make use of this attack are if you start it while he's in the air for Collision Magnet or starting an X-Wave (and you're guaranteed to take damage in the latter case), if you make time for it somehow (like air tossing him with Fission Firaga or something), or if you just get lucky. I could only realistically see this being being considered at low levels where the single hit at a high multiplier might be valuable. The "failed" version of this attack is also better due to knocking back rather than just staggering and having a shorter ending pose, which uniquely gives a reason to take a lower level version of this command.
  • Brutal Blast - Excellent. The initial blast comes out quickly and air-tosses, which ensures the follow-up spinning strike will hit. Only hits twice so there's little danger of Renewal Barrier, and I don't think either hit can be affected by Time Reversal (only so long as both hits connect - if the second hit is the only one that connects, it can be reversed). Is even more reliable against Raging Storm than Aerial Slam, and makes Aerial Slam easier to follow up with due to his movement pattern change after he's hit.
  • Windcutter - Kinda an inferior version of Brutal Blast. Doesn't have the quick initial blast, comes out more slowly, and hits enough times that Renewal Barrier is more of a possibility. However, it does still inflict air-toss and has a higher damage potential than Brutal Blast, so "an inferior version" doesn't mean bad.
  • Limit Storm - Easily the worst of these three commands. It hits once, DOESN'T inflict air-toss, and its shtick of "executes immediately if used right after Sacrifice" doesn't matter since Sacrifice is an actively useless liability.
  • Sacrifice - Completely useless. I believe I managed to get it to hit once, it dealt as much damage as Zantetsuken (while not having the utility of hitting from anywhere), and I immediately got hit by a combo afterwards.
  • Quake - Surprisingly and disappointingly does not air-toss him as it does to other enemies, which I was kinda counting on for this to be any good. It can stagger him or force him to dodge jump, but I don't think those are qualities that justify the space or time.
  • Warp - I mostly tested this out as a joke. All it can do is cause him to raise his guard if used after you manage to hit him enough. It doesn't even heal him if it hits while he's already guarding. (Mostly documenting this as I suspect it's how all non-damaging status spells work on him.)

Ventus

  • Stratosphere - The best ultimate finish command for this fight, in my opinion. Due to being able to delay each extension, you can virtually guarantee 3-4 of the 5 attacks connect even if he tries to block or dodge. (The only way he can guarantee dodging one of the hits is by using Collision Magnet.) Additionally, the final hit has a massive AoE and air tosses if it hits, which covers the ending period where you can't do anything and may even let you hit him a couple more times afterwards. The only downside to this attack is how poorly it works versus invisibility, where the final explosion is the only hit likely to connect.
  • Wingblade Command Style - Flashy, powerful, and fun when it works, but I don't know why people specifically call this style out as difficult to break out of - he can Time Reversal out of it just as easily as just about anything else, and I found Ven's other level two styles more useful. Second hit is the standout, as it's basically a dual Strike Raid without the downsides of the actual command. Finisher is two mostly-guaranteed hits, but not much else.
  • Cyclone Command Style - Outright useful. First attack from far away is a disjoint which tracks very well, is actually safe to throw out in most circumstances, and which Time Reversal (usually) doesn't even guarantee a hit on. Other attacks are fast, but will probably be stopped by a Renewal Barrier before you can go too crazy with them. Finisher is three hits which are basically guaranteed to hit the damage barrier - normally mediocre, but at least you probably don't have to worry about triggering Renewal Barrier. ADDENDUM: The initial close range spin attack is just as good as the disjoint, due to how fast it is. It's fast enough that even if he blocks it you can still often hit him with it again after he drops his guard.
  • Sky Climber Command Style - This style gives you a delay when using almost any ability while grounded (provided you don't dash first), disables your block, and nerfs your grounded dodge move. In spite of these drawbacks, it is way, way, WAY more useful than I ever would have guessed. Specifically, there are two really powerful aspects to this style: all normal attacks now air toss (and thus can't trigger Time Reversal), and there is some part of the modified dodge that allows you to consistently dodge out of Collision Magnet before the damaging hit. The hover/glide that initiates when you dash in midair is good for midair stalling and hovering just out of his reach as well, and your dash itself is buffed from your normal air slide to compensate for the nerf to your grounded dodge. If you're trying to do this fight without a grounded dodge equipped (as I often do), then this style will give you one. All in all, the most difficult part of utilizing this style is the annoying little non-invincible spin your character does upon entering it, since all it does is give you that much more time to be hit by something without being able to do anything about it.
  • Salvation - Is unusably slow outside of trapping him into jumping at it with mines. Even then, it's really difficult to set up and he just teleported out and used Whirlwind to the Void one of the times I actually pulled it off (lol). It being blocked at any point (which is pretty likely) will also cancel the rest of the attack.
  • Tornado Strike - He seems to be outright immune to this one; the command gauge increases, but no damage is dealt and no knockback is sustained. I'm going to guess it's because of the air-spin effect, in which case Tornado will probably have the same non-effect.
  • Time Splicer - See Aqua's section.
  • Wind Raid - Not as utterly terrible as I thought it was going to be. Isn't ever safe due to locking you in place for so long and being able to trigger Time Reversal, but can be thrown out for some damage occasionally. If one of the expected hits doesn't connect, then you're pretty much guaranteed to take a hit though.
  • Tornado - Confirmed the above; he is outright immune to Tornado, and all of his clones are as well. He does jump over this like he does mines, however.
  • Faith - Healing is fast enough to actually be useful, including occasionally during Laser Orbs. It also appears to have invulnerability at some point, but damned if I know where - it also might just be intangibility to projectiles from a few frames into the attack until the light pillars are sent out. The longevity of the light pillars is generally a liability due to being able to activate Time Reversal.

Aqua

  • Finish - Longer startup than I would like, but air toss makes up for that and you're absolutely guaranteed to have this no matter how much playtime you have. Need to test this more as an extension of jump attack looping.
  • Magic Pulse 1 - Just a worse version of Finish for this fight, as it doesn't inflict air toss.
  • Ice Burst - I put this on to test it a while ago and then just never took it off, so I have a disproportionate amount of data on this one. The spin attack at the start is the most reliably damaging part of the move, while the three ice blasts are more to give him something to dodge so the move ends more safely. Strange corner case: the final projectile can trigger Time Reversal if you're unlucky enough to have it hit him when you're no longer invincible after the move has "officially" ended.
  • Teleport Spike - Middle of the road ultimate finish command. It's a bit difficult to hit him with any given projectile when he's moving around due to slow-moving projectiles, and you don't fire enough projectiles to hit him consistently in spite of this. It is also entirely blanked by invisibility. That said, you have a lot of wiggle room to delay each individual projectile, which can lead to this giving you an immense duration of invincibility if you want to try using it to wait out invisibility (particularly if you start it high in the air, as it doesn't force you to the ground like the many other finish commands).
  • Spellweaver Command Style - The slow, floaty normal attacks of this style aren't quite as bad as one would expect, as you can still do the short hop -> single hit -> land -> repeat combo you can do normally, it just has different timing. The finisher is famously one of the best in the game due to an absurd hit count, but you need to use it with care against MF due to Renewal Barrier.
  • Bladecharge Command Style - I think this is the worst of Aqua's command styles against MF. The best part of Aqua's version of this style is the absurdly fast jumping slash she does against floating targets. However, since she can't do this against MF very often, it just ends up replacing her attacks with slow and unwieldy ones which aren't safe against Time Reversal and don't have enough going for them to make up for it. Admittedly, the finish command is very powerful, particularly if you manage to save it for when he goes invisible.
  • Sky Climber Command Style - See Ventus's section.
  • Ghost Drive Command Style - The teleports that precede all of this style's normal attacks don't go particularly far, but it does seem like they have some invincibility built into them, which is good because all of said normal attacks are slow multihits. One of this style's true niches, however, is air stalling. None of its attacks besides the combo finisher and the finish command actually lose you any height, and this style has full built-in Combo Master which allows you to attack, Air Slide, use a command, or block after any attack you want (and Air Slides let you keep up the combo afterwards). This can potentially allow you to wait out invisibility in phase two, at least for a little while. This style also has a potentially very strong finish command. [I believe the increased vulnerability on this style's dodge commands is similar to how it is on Terra's dodge commands. That is, I think it either doesn't have full invincibility at the end of the animation, or it doesn't perfectly transition into itself/attacks/commands like vanilla Cartwheel (and to a lesser extent, Air Slide). This observation comes from being hit while trying to use an invincible command directly after using this style's version of Air Slide.] This style also actually gives invincibility to Firewheel (!!), which I need to play around with more.
    • One extra note on this style is how doing a single hit will put you really close to the ground, and when you land you can jump again immediately. This leads to some really cool possibilities, but they only occasionally work against MF due to too-high hit counts on the style's attacks.
  • Barrier Surge - Non-elemental surge! On the character who gets her normal finisher from non-elemental attack commands! However, it's not as good as it sounds since it doesn't give full invulnerability; instead, it just protects you from blockable attacks.
    • Subnote to mention that, when used by Terra and Ven, Cinderella's Enchanted Step is not a full clone of this attack in spite of appearances. It actually gives full invulnerability like elemental surges. Enchanted Step also pops up at the end of the move; this combined with its low reload time allows it to air stall indefinitely.
  • Wishing Edge - Slower than Blitz (to the point that it can effectively only be comboed into), but only needs to connect once to deliver all three of its hits. All three hits will be delivered even if he dodges away, and can even make him teleport/guard/stagger with no further action from you. If this is hit by Time Reversal, then the other two hits will do nothing unless he tries to counter with X-Wave (in which case he'll be interrupted basically before he starts). Time Reversal can also activate on hits other than the first.
  • Magic Hour - Legitimately useful. Can be used in midair, teleports you to the enemy's location with every attack, and gives invincibility between teleports. You can even delay teleport timing to dodge attacks, which includes two of the three possible counterattacks from Time Reversal (Whirlwind to the Void, however, is a free hit).
  • Time Splicer - Like Magic Hour, but with tighter timing [both for continuing the attack (to the point that delaying the next extension is impossible) and for dodging] and invincibility only during the teleport. Also more prone to triggering Renewal Barrier and healing him for significant HP when it does.
  • Triple Blizzaga - Has many of the same strengths and foibles as regular Blizzaga, though the triple cast is both a blessing and a curse. You update your facing with every cast to shoot directly at the enemy, which means that it isn't totally blanked by a single dodge. However, it also locks you into the casting animation for all three ice shards, which means you're more vulnerable than with other spells if the first hit gets countered. It still doesn't have any vertical tolerance at all, so I think this is more trouble than it's worth.
  • Ice Barrage - To start with the positives: if he does get hit he'll be air-tossed, and it's a weirdly alright response to Collision Magnet or Raging Storm. However, his dodge jump (which he can respond to it with) neuters this entirely. When he doesn't use his jump, this attack's multiple hits work against you by letting him teleport away from it, canceling the air-toss. If the latter happens, then you'll likely take a free hit as there's a really long delay where you can't do anything after the full ice pillar forms (in spite of Aqua being in the idle pose).
  • Glacier - See Deep Freeze. The spin that knocks frozen enemies away hits, but doesn't seem to deal damage.
  • Firaga Burst - I've (somehow) never seen Time Reversal trigger off of this, and the large number of projectiles means that he'll often get in a loop of staggering (if you're lucky), teleporting, and canceling/restarting attacks as he gets hit by them. There also might be some invincibility somewhere, somehow, as I've activated this (by mistake) at 1 HP while clones were active, and the clones' combos were just going right through me. Basically, this move is way safer than I'd have expected it to be, which translates to it being way more useful than it has any right to be.
  • Raging Storm - This is probably the highest risk command Aqua has, and I don't think the reward is worth it. Ludicrously long startup which gets you either interrupted or killed by just about anything means you need to do this during something like a failed Collision Magnet or during the downtime after the end of Laser Orbs. Even then, you're still vulnerable to everything during the attack due to how slowly and awkwardly you float around. It deals high damage and air-tosses him, which can be valuable. However, the biggest reason to use this command (the rapid hit exploit) will just hit enough times to get him to block, which cancels the attack entirely...though that might be what you want if he uses Laser Orbs while you're already executing this command.

Shotlocks

Shotlocks are far and away the biggest risk for activating Renewal Barrier due to high hit count delivered uncontrollably. Renewal Barrier also has the special property of releasing two Laser Orbs per shotlock hit blocked (which also delay firing until you are no longer invincible) to discourage their use even further. Only launch sparingly at low lock-on count for best results unless you feel like taking a risk close to the start of the battle.

  • Multivortex - A full lock is very difficult to actually pull off, and it's also pretty likely to net zero or less damage until the extension starts while leaving you with a storm of Laser Orbs to deal with when the attack finishes. If it does manage to hit, then it air-tosses him, which I suppose is something.

Vanitas Remnant

Stats

(The mechanics guide actually has stats for this boss, since he is covered by the BBS Ultimania. I'll be using those as a baseline, with alterations noted from when they don't fit my observations.)

  • HP: 200
  • Resistances^:
    • Physical - 0.2x
    • Fire - 0.1x
    • Ice - 0.1x
    • Thunder - 0.1x
    • Dark - 0.1x
    • Null - 0.2x
  • Attack: 80
  • Defense: 27

^The mechanics guide has these listed as 0.5x for Physical/Null and 0.25x for Fire/Ice/Thunder/Dark. This should lead to attacks which would normally hit the damage cap dealing 12 and 6 base damage, respectively. However, from my observation, physical and null attacks at the damage cap deal 5 damage while elemental attacks deal 2. This doesn't fit the .25x and .125x multipliers I originally speculated, so this is what I've come up with.

Retrieved from "https://www.khwiki.com/index.php?title=User:Oscuritaforze/PSP_BBS_notes&oldid=851948"