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 Key Mission
| 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 Key Mission
| 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 Key Mission
| 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...
Mission 20: Destroy the Shadow Globs Key Mission
| Objectives | ||
| Clear Rewards |
| |
| Random Rewards | Fire Recipe / Blazing Shard / Moonstone / Potion / Ether | |
| Encounterable enemies | ||
| Shadow, Possessor, Watcher, Guardian, Shadow Glob | ||
| Treasure chests and badges | ||
| Panacea Panacea Ordeal Badge Unity Badge |
In the Usual Spot. You seriously can't miss it Tram Common, in the northeast corner between buildings The Sandlot, in the middle of the north wall Tram Common, atop the square-roofed building with the ledge | |
Dammit, another mission where I'll have to make a map. I guess I'll see you in a few hours, then...
Actually, screw it – I'll do a map later, okay? I don't want to hold my guide back for another long delay, as I'm behind enough already, having been busy lately. If you still want some kind of image here in the meantime, here's some ASCII art:
O ===• |\oo/|
O8~~~c||–––||––=========
O ===•
Anyway, let's get down to business. At this point, you won't be able to reach the first Shadow Glob if you destroy the crate below it. In the Sandlot is another crate – although you can reach the corresponding glob without it, why make things difficult? Finally, in Tram Common, you should easily be able to achieve Mission Clear. However, for Mission Complete, you have to get even the ones high up on walls, for which you'll need Glide (which you haven't got yet). There is, however, a viable alternative at this point in the game: lock onto the glob, stand well back, then jump and crack off a Fire spell at them. No, "crack one off" doesn't mean that you should light Roxas's farts, although if you could somehow do so, I would be incredibly impressed with your 1337 haxxor skillz! There is one glob that can be awkward with Fire, and that's the one on the blue-roofed building in the northeast corner. If you phail with Phire, it can be done with Blizzard, although it may take two casts (and thus at least as many attempted casts).
When you approach the Dark Corridor to RTC, a cutscene ambushes you. Great news: Axel is okay! Know what time it is? Clock tower time! Roxas tells Axel that he's been inviting the jailbait up here, thus setting up the token trio. Trios are inevitable, and examples include the central one, the Birth by Sleep one, the magical one, the fabric of reality one... you get the idea.
Day 72: ~Change~
Axel gets a visit from Saïx – not what I'd call a good start to the morning. Saïx notes that jailbait #3 is M.I.A. (Marluxia Is Asinine?), but his question of whether Axel searched every room in C.O. is met with an answer along the lines of "needles" and haystacks":
|
|
| That's like counting grains of dust in a building full of sneezing people. | |
Saïx then asks whether Axel found "the chamber", to which the answer is surely exactly the same, right? Finally, X-face throws out a couple of thinly veiled insults and goes to leave, but Axel stops him short by telling him that he disposed of the 'book' one, which is apparently something Saïx wanted. The Organization as a whole just became a lot less 'book', but as long as we have Axel, Demyx and Luxord, there's still enough 'book'ness to go around. Lol, txtspeak again.
As punishment for something (presumably for not RTCing immediately), Axel is paired with Roxas today. Apart from noting that Roxas seems much happier now Axel's back, Xomg has nothing new for you. Demyx and Axel are similarly lacking in usefulness, so you should just get yer bum out there an' start missionin'!
Mission 21: Collect Hearts Key Mission
| Objectives | Defeat Heartless and collect hearts / Tail the suspicious figure / Defeat Heartless and collect hearts | |
| Clear Rewards |
| |
| Random Rewards | Shining Shard / Iron / Potion | |
| Encounterable enemies | ||
| Scarlet Tango, Dire Plant, Loudmouth, Large Armor, Shadow, Possessor | ||
| Treasure chests and badges | ||
| Potion Potion Shining Shard Potion Potion Iron Iron Potion Ordeal Badge Unity Badge |
The Palace, right next to the Dark Corridor Agrabah Street, on the east-wall scaffolding Agrabah Gate, on the roof of the southwest building Cave of Wonders, right next to the cave mouth Cave/Pillar Room, in the southeast corner Cave/Pillar Room, by the exit to Cave/Abyss Cave/Abyss, on the western lower section Cave/Entrance Hall, at the east end of the raised walkways The Palace, in midair just to the south of the Dark Corridor Cave/Entrance Hall, at the east end of the raised walkways | |
Ugh... I'm not keen on this mission. You'll see why in a minute. Be sure to bring plenty of Fire Magic to deal with the Large Armor you'll meet in this mission. As Axel and Roxas arrive, there's another of those strange staticky images on the touch screen. There're no Heartless at The Palace, so head into the street. Here, you'll encounter a big fat prat of a cat, who appears to be looking for something. Axel suggests "following Lunkhead". Roxas is worried that to do so would be disobeying orders, as their mission is heart collection, but Axel calls it "flexible thinking". Thus begins a pain in the arse of a task: following the target while not being seen. The tutorial tells you all you need to know, except for some crucial facts. It neglects to mention that...
- ...you don't have to keep your quarry in your blue zone constantly, just as long as he isn't out of it for too long
- ...this is very tiresome, especially since you have repeat it every time you do the mission (even the Challenge)
I've never really understood why "losing sight of him", even though Roxas would have to be absurdly short-sighted to do so at some points, means that he "catches" you. Him spotting you, yes, but not this. This lack of logic makes it clear that it's purely to annoy the player. Since it's an irritating task, I'll give something of a runthrough:
- Follow Pete until he stops, at which point you should move slightly to the left behind him
- As soon as he moves, begin pressing up on the D-pad, very briefly, slightly more often than every second. You want to move just fast enough to keep up – the locked-on camera will make you follow him directionally
- When he stops for the second time, wait for his field of vision to sweep to the right, then once it moves back to the left, get on his right side. You should be closer to him than when he last stopped – almost level with him, but still a tiny bit behind
- The next bit is the single biggest catch risk. Follow carefully, and then stand still as his red zone passes right next to you. The tricky bit is to get into a safe spot without "losing sight" in the process. If you survive his "U-turn", it's plain sailing from then on
Once Pete leaves Agrabah Street, you can explore it thoroughly. This is paradoxical: you can't let him out of your sight for more than a second, yet he could be wandering off who knows where in another part of Agrabah while you're here, and that's okay!? Talk about double standards! Amusingly, you still have your blue zone, but it always stays at ground level, which actually looks a bit odd when you're climbing to higher areas for the chests and so on. When you're ready for the next instalment of your Trivial Pursuit™, head for Agrabah Gate.
- You immediately resume tailing Pete. Follow him in the usual intermittent fashion, and when he stops, get on his right again
- When he moves, continue following him. His sight can get a bit close as you pass the huge sand dune, but it's not too bad
Once Pete reaches the far west wall, this task finally ends. Turns out there's a secret passage here, and it leads into the desert. Yeah, 'cause that makes so much sense, having a passage when a mere hole in the external wall would suffice.
Pete leads our intrepid duo to the fabled Cave of Wonders, but as soon as they enter it they lose track of him. This causes Axel to reinstate the primary mission parameters: let's go fight some Heartless! Roxas points out that Axel considered following suspicious figures to be an important part of the job, but Axel once again uses the "flexible thinking" gambit.
Start by examining the floor in front of the nearby red-and-gold pillar, after which you can move said pillar by attacking it. Shift it towards the northwest corner. Now go to the northeast corner and move the crate here to the other pillar by the entrance, allowing you to climb it to reach a switch in the southeast corner. Flip it to open the north doors, then drop down and shove the crate to the red-and-gold pillar so that you can climb up to the newly-opened doors. Incidentally, if you stand on the edge of the crate, depending on which Gear you have equipped, you can actually hit the crate while standing on it which does rather save having to chase after it as it slides across the floor! In fact, you can do this for the pillar too, so you could just use the red-and-gold pillar to get at the switch, then traverse the chamber atop it. That way, you only have to move the crate half as much. Cool, eh? You can examine the curious panel by the doors, but nothing can be done to it yet, so go through the doors and head deeper into the cave.
In the pillar room, press the large floor switch in the northeast corner (by attacking it). With that done, your next task is to wander round and eliminate all of the Dire Plants and Loudmouths, after which the Large Armor will appear. To deal with this rotund opponent, jump up and attack its head until it falls over, then... well, just attack some more. If you want to add a bit more technique, use Fire magic. There are two options for this:
- Cast Fire at it to make it fall over. It will do so almost instantaneously, and will also stay down for quite a bit longer
- Cast Fire at it after it falls over. It will suffer insanely large amounts of damage if you cast Fire while it's down
For best results, you can obviously utilise both of these strategems!
When the Large Armor is slain, you should begin ascending. Start from the central pillar, and make your way up to the top of the chamber by hopping onto a pillar as it descends, then to the nearby platform once it rises, then to the next pillar, continuing until you reach the northeast corner. In the next room, there is no point in hitting the mechanism to open the far door (as you can't reach it), so just fall into the abyss to find yourself on the raised walkways above the Cave/Entrance Hall. If you want Mission Complete, this is where you'll find the few remaining Heartless. Well, taht's not entirely true – a few Purebloods appear on the way back to the Dark Corridor – but we only care about Emblem Heartless for heart collection.
Arbitrary though it may seem to mention this now, there is a reason: this is the mission in which I made the discovery. Indeed, this is the save file on which I did so as well – firm proof that even I can learn something new when I write walkthroughs!
Tip #3: Pick up your litter!
If you discard items that you found in a chest, identifiable by being named in yellow in the
backpack menu, it actually deducts from your opened chest total! Consequently, you shouldn't
do the same idiotic thing I did, which was to accidentally discard it over the edge into the
abyss, because then you can't retrieve it afterwards! <kicks self to punish for idiocy>
Once you RTC, you get the usual cutscene. At the clock tower, Axel remarks that Roxas is more outgoing, and Roxas says the same of Axel. Axel says that this may be because "he rubbed off on" him, but declines to enlighten Roxas about who "he" is, cryptically saying that Roxas can thank himself for the fact that Axel was able to return from C.O. safely.
Xion declines to make an appearance at the clock tower today, so this part of my guide ends on a jailbaitless note.