Pssst! Yeah, you! You looking for Sorceror Nobody? Yeah, I thought so. He isn't here; he caught wind of a plot by his enemies to ambush him. You'll have to meet him at the secret place. The password is "Xaldin's Scary Sideburns". Got that? Okay, I'll be going then... what's that? Who am I? Ah... let's just say I'm one of Sorceror Nobody's most trusted allies, got it memorized?
Ah, you got the message alright, did you? Good, good... let's begin, shall we?
Day 26: Terminated
We see Roxas awaken and muse upon what he may face today. As he arrives in the Grey Area, it seems that some of the other members are in heated discussion. Word is, at least one member of the C.O. team has been totalled. There's no chance for Roxas to worry whether it's Axel, though, before Saïx approaches and delivers the orders for your next mission. Now to collect freebies: Xaldin enquires about your aptitude with Panels, demanding that you equip a Weapon Panel. Do so if you haven't got one equipped already, then talk to him again for a Hi-Potion. You'll notice that a Moogle has appeared behind jailbait #2, but he has nothing to say to you right now. Now talk to Saïx, who awards your diligence thus far with the "Novice" rank. This means that, after yet another pair of tutorials, you can now access the Moogle Shop. You should have a wander over back to the Moogle to see what's available. He asks your name, but declines to reveal his own, saying "My name is of no importance, kupo". Nevertheless, by the xagranam process, I hereby declare this Moogle's name to be "Xomg", which is pronounced in the same way as "ZOMG!!". A tutorial ensues, after which you can browse his "wondrous wares". For a complete list of what you can obtain from Xomg, refer to the Resources.
There's another thing that I strongly suspect your rank influences, although I'm not 100% sure, so you should take it with a pinch of salt. Of course, I would love to hear from anyone who can help to confirm or refute this!
Tip #2: Dropping Like Flies
In the main menu, under Files, you'll find the Enemy Profiles. If you hold A while an enemy
is highlighted, it shows the items it can drop. You will notice there are six possibilities
for each enemy. My suspicion is that the items dropped are determined by what your rank was
at the time of the mission you are carrying out. In other words, until you reached 'Novice'
rank, every enemy dropped their first item. In every mission between now and your next rank
upgrade you'll get their second item, but previous missions will still give you their first
item because of what your rank was when those missions were issued! This might appear to be
rather convoluted, but it's actually quite simple once you get your head round it.
Mission 15: Investigate this new world Key Mission
| Objectives | Examine anything suspicious | |
| Clear Rewards |
| |
| Random Rewards | Shining Shard / Iron / Potion | |
| Encounterable enemies | ||
| Scarlet Tango, Loudmouth, Dire Plant | ||
| Treasure chests and badges | ||
| Panacea Potion Potion Potion ??? |
The Palace, right next to the Dark Corridor Agrabah Street, on the west wall scaffolding Agrabah Gate, on the roof of the southwest building Agrabah Gate, on the roof of the northeast building Agrabah Street, on the roof of the standalone building | |
Today, Roxas is teamed up with Xiggy Stardust on a recon trip to Agrabah. You begin today's mission at The Palace. Xigbar's attempts at conversation fail, because Roxas is too busy worrying about Axel. Xigbar persuades him that the sooner the mission's done, the sooner they can RTC and maybe get some answers, so let's crack on, shall we? You should begin by clearing out the Heartless in the area. Be wary of Loudmouths, as they can heal themselves and other enemies. If you can't finish them off before they finish their healing fanfare, you should at least try to kill any nearby enemies before they get healed. Once your extermination is complete, hit the switch near the southwest corner to open the gate, then take the time to check out these recon points:
- The gigantic palace gates on the north wall
- The stall with the yellow canopy (by the switch)
- The timber leaning against the south wall
- The sheltered area in the southeast corner
- The sand heap south of the Dark Corridor
Now go through the gate you opened to Agrabah Street, where you can eliminate more Heartless. You should also attack the X-sided crates to destroy them, then hit the solid crate to push it towards the nearby stack. Now jump onto it, then jump up to hang off the edge of the stack and climb up onto the scaffolding. Use the crates up here to reach the next gate-opening switch. While you're up here, turn the camera view southwards to see an infuriating chest. Now, about these recon points...
- More timber, against the wall by the switch
- The west wall (while standing on the scaffolding)
- The coil of rope on the same scaffolding
Now drop back to ground level for the next lot:
- The heap of sand by the green-canopy stall
- The heap of sand next to the stack of crates
- The plates in front of the blue-canopy stall
Now climb the "stairs" in the southeast corner:
- The middle of the east wall scaffolding
Once you've done that lot, head through the next gate into Agrabah Gate, where Xigbar does an excellent Captain Obvious impression by pointing out that there's a lot of sand here. Disembowel yet more Heartless, then investigate the recon points:
- The insanely huge sand dune in the southeast corner
- The boarded-up door by the alcove to the west
- The damaged wall at the end of the western alcove
After you've examined a lot of the recon points, Xigbar asks Roxas what he thinks about this sand-covered city. The sensible answers this time are "because of the city's location", followed by "the city was hit with a sandstorm", and finishing with "the city was devastated". Now return to The Palace, where another cutscene ensues. This one features Aladdin and the paradoxical Jasmine. Why paradoxical? Well, Disney has stepped in to tone down certain outfits for the sake of "decency" (if you don't believe me, read this and this), yet look at Jasmine! Her top is definitely bordering on skimpy, and I won't accept the inevitable argument from climate.
Anyway, if you entered The Palace by the ground level entrance, you're forced to retreat. Instead, climb up to the east wall scaffolding, and from there to the upper map exit. The ensuing cutscene is mainly just scene-setting, after which Aladdin and Jasmine leave. You can now RTC, but don't you want to go for Mission Complete? Yes, I know, we really shouldn't leave the toaster plugged in, but if it bursts into flame, Demyx can put the fire out. We can stay here a bit longer, just to pick up the last two recon points:
- The Palace: The gigantic palace gates... again
- Agrabah Gate: The sandstorm outside the town gate
The resulting discussion raises the interesting possibility that the sandstorms are somehow related to the Heartless. Either way, we're done here, so head back and RTC. A Heartless tries to ambush Roxas, but Xigbar snipes it. This prompts Roxas to enquire about the fate of destroyed Heartless and Nobodies, the gist of which is that whichever C.O. team members were terminated, they're completely and utterly gone for good. Xigbar then RTCs, and Roxas goes to follow him, only to collapse. We see flashes of Axel, Xion and a blonde girl, who I shall for now identify only as jailbait #3. The day ends here.
Day 27: ~The Dark Margin~
First, we see Roxas on a dark shore – the Dark Margin. According to the tyrant Nomura, this scene takes place entirely in Roxas's mind. Of course, it's all very well saying so, but it was never quite obvious, whereas the fact that he is unconscious now makes it perfectly clear that it must be an internal kind of thing. Mansex basically sits on a rock, spouting head-messing stuff, and quoting Xomg ("My name is of no importance, kupo"). I would have said that Xomg quotes Mansex, but it's clear that Xomg got there first, so there. Does Roxas know his true name? Mansex does, and mouths it silently. All we can discern is that it's two syllables...
After the scene at the Margin, we see that Roxas is unconscious... or did I mention that already? Ah, whatever. Saïx deduces that Naminé has begun her "work", and Mansex asks him whether Roxas will wake up. Whoever it was that "told" Saïx that Roxas will awaken "provided [Naminé] strips the hero of all his memories" – I presume he was told by Marluxia, Vexen or a messenger Dusk sent by them. Actually, hang on... nope, we can rule Vexen out. Either way, the conversation progresses. Saïx mentions that, since "Number XIV has gained power over the Keyblade", the Organization's heart collection need not be impeded by the temporary loss of Roxas. Mansex then asks whether "the chamber" has been found. As Saïx responds in the negative, then leaves, Mansex says "So, sleep has taken you yet again..." to Roxas. I wonder what he means by that?
Day 49
Xion has been visiting Roxas, and placing a seashell by his pillow, every day that he's been asleep. Any guesses as to what the beautiful new world is? Incidentally, if you allow the music – Xion's theme – to continue playing for a little while, you may hear the echoes of another character's theme in it. Just who is Xion? All will be revealed much later. The final scene of the day is a boy in red disappearing into a white pod of sorts... what could this all mean? Of course, if you've played Chain of Memories, you'll know.
Day 50: ~A Familiar Sound~
- "I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here"
- —Jailbait #4
Roxas finally wakes up. Let's throw a party, shall we? The Grey Area is deserted, so he goes to the clock tower. Xion is surprised to see him, and gives him the seashell that she presumably would have put by his pillow otherwise. Holding it up to his ear, Roxas hears the sound of the sea blood flow in his ear, and he is subconsciously reminded of the sound of the sea on Destiny Islands.
Day 51: ~Missing~
You cannot escape the tiresome twosome of tutorials, but they do bring good news. Firstly, we can finally start collecting Unity Badges. This would be more impressive were it not for the fact that all of the ones so far have been considered pre-collected, but let's not complain. You still can't get Ordeal Badges and Blazons yet, though. Unity Badges allow you to play the missions you find them in through Mission Mode. Indeed, now may be a good time to save your game, exit to the title screen, and try it out. Don't worry, I'll wait here for you; just refer to the relevant section of the guide.
Okay, welcome back. Where were we...? Ah, yes. The second tutorial relates to the Bonus gauge. This is pretty nifty: completing missions fills it, and the fuller it is, the higher the multiplier of Clear Rewards you get. As I mentioned before, this is why Slot Releasers are not counted under Clear Rewards. Now, to business: Demyx challenges you to open every chest in mission 14. You probably already have, but if not, do so now. Demyx rewards you with a Shining Shard. Xomg is relieved that you're awake, because "Who else [is he] going to swindl– talk to, kupo?". He doesn't have anything new, though.
Talk to Saïx, who tries to steal Xigbar's superhero identity with his Obvious statement of "You're awake", but Xigbar silently steals it back like a ninja, thus saving me from having to make another picture. Roxas asks Saïx whether the C.O. situtation was ever discovered entirely, to which the answer is that there are now believed to be several casualties. Today, you're offered four missions. You should base your choice of order on the Clear Rewards, as the first one you clear will only earn a x1 bonus gauge multiplier, and the other three will then earn x2. Personally, I suggest that you should not do mission 18 first, as the Iron and Blizzard are pretty useful, so you'll probably want them x2. Either way, I will cover the missions in numerical order as usual.
Mission 16: Eliminate the Fire Plants Key Mission
| Objectives | Defeat seven Fire Plants | |
| Clear Rewards |
| |
| Random Rewards | Shining Shard / Iron / Potion | |
| Encounterable enemies | ||
| Dire Plant, Scarlet Tango, Fire Plant | ||
| Treasure chests and badges | ||
| Loaded Gear+ {2} Potion Shining Shard Ether ??? Ordeal Badge Unity Badge |
The Palace, right next to the Dark Corridor Agrabah Street, on the east-wall scaffold Agrabah Gate, on the roof of the northeast building Agrabah Gate, on the roof of the southwest building Agrabah Street, on the roof of the standalone building ??? Agrabah Gate, on the sand dune in the southeast corner | |
Since the intel advises bringing lots of Blizzards, you may want to do this mission third or fourth, after mission 17. Then again, I find that attacks are quite potent enough, especially if you have the insanely long ground combos that the X Gear provides. You should also check that you have Block equipped. As before, you start at The Palace. Almost immediately, Roxas overhears Aladdin and Jasmine discussing the sandstorms and the Heartless – it seems that they too have noticed the correlation between the two. Now, to business: there are a light scattering of Heartless at The Palace, including the first two Fire Plants. One is near the gate to Agrabah Street, the other is on the roof next to the yellow-canopy stall. To reach the latter, stand on the sand pile by the stall, then jump up to grab the canopy and pull yourself up. Unlike the seed shot of Dire Plants, Block merely... well, blocks... the fireballs spat by Fire Plants, instead of rebounding them. Still, it protects you, doesn't it? Stop complaining.
Moving on, there are more Heartless in Agrabah Street. The Fire Plants here are both located in the vicinity of the east-wall scaffold, one below it and one on top of it. Finally, let's tackle Agrabah Gate. After you enter, you can land a few attacks on the Fire Plant in front of you in the brief pause before the Barrier Master does its work, although you almost certainly aren't yet strong enough to kill it that quickly. Instead, attack the Barrier Master until it slumps over and drops its book. You can attack the book to knock it away, although I usually find it more efficient to attack the Barrier Master to knock it away from the book. While it's bookless, it's very susceptible to magic, so finish it off quickly. Once it's gone, you can resume your Fire Plant hunting. The first one here is the aforementioned one right in the centre of the area. Now ascend the dune in the southeast corner to pick up the Unity Badge – you see what it looks like? That's what you want to find. Got it memorized? After getting the Badge, you'll see the next Fire Plant on the building just north of the dune. Once you defeat the sixth one, you're treated to another cutscene. An image of a boy in red briefly appears on the touch screen, but it's of poor quality – drowning in static. How bizarre...
Immediately after the cutscene, you should be able to see the seventh Fire Plant directly across from you. You need to get onto the roof of the northeast building to reach it, and from your current position you can use the sticking out window covers along the north wall as ledges, or just jump down and then ascend from ground level via the green-canopy stall. You could even climb the blue-canopy stall in Agrabah Street and return to Agrabah Gate via the upper route, but let's not overcomplicate things, hmm? Once you defeat the Fire Plant, it's mission cleared! It's actually not yet possible to get mission complete for this mission; you'll have to wait until you have Glide (or Aerial Dash LV2, at the very least), although I have actually pulled it off before now with Aerial Dash LV1 and a certain Keyblade, but it's not exactly easy. For future reference, the locations of the remaining Fire Plants are:
- ...
- ...
- ...
Once you RTC, we get the usual cutscene, but the clock tower is deserted today. Poor Roxas.
Day 52: ~Solitude~
Don't let the fact that this day is named fool you: it's no different to yesterday. Then again, when you talk to Saïx, he gives you your first Level Link panel. This doubles the value of any Level Up Panels linked to it, so if like me you have 5 Level Up Panels at this point, you can get Roxas up to Lv10 with this nifty little gift. Thanks, Saïx, you're actually making yourself useful for once!
Mission 17: Eliminate the Tailbunker
| Objectives | ||
| Clear Rewards |
| |
| Random Rewards | Fire Recipe / Blazing Shard / Moonstone / Potion / Ether | |
| Encounterable enemies | ||
| Minute Bomb, Poison Plant, Bulky Vendor, Tailbunker | ||
| Treasure chests and badges | ||
| Panacea Blazing Shard Ordeal Badge Ordeal Blazon Unity Badge |
Tram Common, in front of the underground entrance Tram Common, by the stairs in the northwest corner ??? ??? Station Plaza, right in front of the station doors | |
No sooner do you arrive than some Minute Bombs start trying to molest you, while a couple more lurk by the exit to Station Heights. Give them the swift thrashing they deserve, then proceed along the linear route. On your way down Station Heights, you'll run into more Minute Bombs, as well as the dreaded Poison Plant. Remember that one from a few missions back? You'll also meet our old friend the Bulky Vendor in the same place as the first time we met it. Enter Tram Common to find your mark.
If you wander around Tram Common – not necessary, but it won't hurt – you'll find stray Minute Bombs under the bridge by the northwest stairs, in the tram yard and near the junkyard. A few extra Heart Points, exp. and Munny won't go amiss, will it? Once you're ready to take down your foe, start by finding it if you wandered off, then lock onto its tail or wings. Attacking these eventually causes it to fall to the ground, giving you a chance to attack its head unimpeded. Assuming you bothered to maximise your Level and equip a decent Gear, you shouldn't have any trouble defeating the Tailbunker quite quickly and with minimal damage suffered. When you're done, just RTC. That was much quicker than the last few missions, wasn't it?
Day 53
Nothing happens this morning, so just do your usual Panel checks and be on your way.
Mission 18: Collect Organization Emblems
| Objectives | ||
| Clear Rewards |
| |
| Random Rewards | Shining Shard / Iron / Potion | |
| Encounterable enemies | ||
| Scarlet Tango, Loudmouth, Fire Plant | ||
| Treasure chests and badges | ||
| Potion Ether Potion Potion Ordeal Badge Unity Badge |
Agrabah Gate, on the building next to the huge sand dune Agrabah Gate, on the roof of the northwest building The Palace, on the ledge above the gate switch The Palace, in the northeast corner ??? Agrabah Gate, on the roof of the southwest building | |
Oh crap... I've just realised that this particular type of mission is going to be a royal pain in the ass to try and guide you through. I need some schematic maps, dammit! Bear with me while I create one for this mission... While you're waiting, the tutorial tells you that your goal is to find and collect the Organization Emblems. As time passes, the greenish ring around each one shrinks, and you get less mission gauge filled if you collect a "dud" one. It's quite similar to the yellow chain ring. The emblem rings are replenished when you kill enemies as well as when you collect an emblem (regardless of the collected emblem's "value").
Right, it took me quite a while to do, but it's finished: here is my glorious map! Pixel-counting is an arse, but it does mean that the map is pretty damn accurate. Exactly as in the game, the darker the shade of grey an area is, the higher the floor level it represents. The optimal route to collect every emblem in the most efficient manner (by my reckoning, and subject to possible alteration) is marked by the black line. The coloured dots represent the positions of each and every one of the Organization Emblems in this mission, and they are all colour-coded according to the following simple scheme:
- Green ones are barely airborne at all – just walk through them to collect them
- Yellow ones are raised higher into the air, and you will have to jump to reach them
- Red ones are so high that you have to drop or jump from a raised area to get them
Of course, the optimal route is of relatively little importance until you return to have a go at the "Finish in record time" challenge for this mission, but I'll discuss that particular issue in the next part of the guide.
Together, the mission summary and map should be sufficient to give pretty much complete guidance for this mission, so I'll leave you to it, shall I? Just be aware that, although it's easy enough to get mission clear by simply collecting most of the emblems passably well, in order to get the full-blown mission complete you must collect every single emblem, and all of them must have the green ring intact when you collect them. If you miss any and lose time in retracing your path, seek out and kill one nearby Heartless to replenish the ring. Why only kill one? Because you might need "spares"!
Day 54
Once again, nothing much. Let's just get the final mission of this week over with.
Mission 19: Eliminate the Deserters
| Objectives | ||
| Clear Rewards |
| |
| Random Rewards | Shining Shard / Iron / Potion | |
| Encounterable enemies | ||
| Deserter | ||
| Treasure chests and badges | ||
| Potion ??? Ether Ordeal Badge Unity Badge |
Agrabah Street, on the east-wall scaffolding Agrabah Street, on the west-wall scaffolding The Palace, in the northeast corner ??? The Palace, on the roof near the yellow-canopy stall | |
Yes, another of those fun "Eliminate the Deserters" missions. I quite like the way the mission briefing continues to call them "rare" Heartless, given that there's a set of them in almost every world in the game! You start in Agrabah Street, and the Deserters are at The Palace. There are a few more of them than in Twilight Town (I think), but they're not really any stronger than before, whereas you should be. This should pose no problem whatsoever, and I'm sure you can handle them without my help this time, yes?
Day 71: ~Reunion~
Xigbar decides that his pastime for the morning is to annoy Roxas, and Demyx doesn't really help matters. After this cutscene, you're given a tutorial telling you that you can finally collect Ordeal Badges and Blazons! These unlock the Challenges and SP Challenges for missions, the rewards of which are the wonderful sigils that can be traded for freebies at the Moogle Shop. Talk to Xomg now to unlock the "Redeem" option on the shop menu. Now is the time where it's really worth checking out Challenges and Mission Mode to start your sigil collection. Refer to the two relevant sections if you choose to make this diversion. The rewards will be of great value, as will the inevitable Munny, Heart Points and exp. that you'll get in the process. I will continue my guide, as always, on the assumption that you haven't put in any such extra effort. As for the other residents of the Grey Area today, Xigbar will give you a Hi-Potion, but Demyx is stingy and has nothing. Finally, Saïx has naught but a single mission for you...