I'm talking about characters like Namine -- who had a lot of potential coming into KH2 -- thrown by the wayside until game's end only to show up as a mere afterthought so you can learn I'm talking about DiZ, who starts out as a potentially dangerous character (and mostly lives up to it, I'll admit) ending up as the scenario writer's mouthpiece so he can dole out poorly conceived exposition and try and wrap everything up for the player a la Crono, Lucca, and Marle at the end of Chrono Cross.

If you wanna think the endgame's the best part of the story, be my guest. But after coming off the awesome midway point at Hollow Bastion, it just felt like the story completely ran out of steam to me, and Nojima/Nomura hastily tried to wrap everything up in a way that was wholly unsatisfying.

DiZ is actually VERY complex and you can see this through he's journala which is sometimes not easy at all to understand and not everything was reveald (like how he's assistant could open the door to the darkness). I was really fascinated by him and I don't think that Nojima failed at all. He's one of the best scenario writers out there and always knows what hes doing. Especially if it's such a big and expensive project like KH2. At the same time he left enough room to let the fans make they're own theories (and there are a lot out there).
If you want more of Namine than you should play COM but I admit that she could had play a bigger part. She has much potental for more mysteries.

How the hell am I supposed to get 1,000 points in Maniac Mode (Olympus)? I keep debating on whether I should give up on all these missions and just beat the last boss, then try Proud Mode so I can get the secret ending.

Negative Combo + Fenrir + Explosion was the easiest for me. Fenrir is the keyblade from Seph, Negative Combo is gotten pretty high level. Also are you really willing to play the whole game over on proud? The game is good but no way I could play back-to-back playthroughs...

Not immediately after, perhaps, but the game is definetely fantastic. I wouldn't mind replaying in Proud Mode.

So I guess Seph's got to go down first. I'm at lvl 52, but he still owns me horribly. More leveling to go...

You don't actually need Fenrir. Just try to hit those large pots so that Sora guard breaks through them (forgot what this ability was called) and flies them into the big groups of smaller pots. They all drop bigger orbs that way, and you get mucho points. And I guess you could try using a keyblade like Wishing Lamp. But you should definitely use Negative Combo.

No. No, he's not.

The fact that Christopher Lee did his voice in the US release makes him sound like a complex character.

Yes. Yes, he is.

Blandly masturbating to the supposed complexity of the story isn't effective arguing.

I personally enjoyed thr story, though I do agree the story should not have been shoved to the last part of the game, instead they should spread it out a bit more. Not saying the last few parts weren't cool, just not placed very well.

I wouldn't say DiZ is that complex then say, Riku, but his story is fascinating and one cannot help but feel sorry for him.

So I'm about 11 hours into this game and it rocks. I'm really enjoying it. I'm kind of overwhelmed with options in combat though. Between drives, limits and summons, I don't really know which to pick. Anyhow, the game is just fun - I'm kind of lost with the story though...

Ignore summons and stick to drives and limits.

Has anyone completely beaten the game with 100% on everything? I'm close to it.

I'm working on it, but I'm currently struggling to get 2500 points in the Pain and Panic Paradox battle. I can only get up to 2100. I can't summon in this battle, which would've helped plenty. Any tips?

Spam Whirli-Goof, especially the last phase of the limit. Really, just constantly use it, Goofga (whatever it's called) can net you tons of point orbs if it defeats the enemies. I usually come away with 2800 points when I get to the final match. And you can use that same limit to end the last match very quickly. And remember to have those Ethers handy so the MP charge time ends quickly and you can continue the limits. If there's only a few enemies left and you don't want to "waste" a limit, then just use Magnega.

You mean Goofra? I tried using it throughout the match, but it didn't seem to net me enough orbs. What are the conditions for getting double score mode? Anything else I could try?

Goofra is just the second stage (the limit has levels like magic does). You want Goofga. THAT one gets you big points. If you have to, just button mash between triangle and x until the limit runs out and at some point the reaction command will become "Whirli-Goofga," during which Goofy and Sora kind of roll and tumble over each other and deal big damage. If you do that over and over, it should work, but you have to be quick. Try to move Sora and Goofy around so that they hit several enemies at the same time. And if there are enemies above ground, like those little yellow things, then just use Magnega.

For extra support, try equipping Wishing Lamp (has Jackpot ability), and the Jackpot abilities on everyone to increase amount of orbs dropped. I just ran through the Pain and Panic Paradox to test it. Had 1129 points by the end of Round 5, I entered double score mode in Round 6 (don't know how this is triggered exactly) and had 1829 at the end of that round. Then Round 8 was pretty much just spamming Magnega over and over, I was able to clear all the yellow enemies out with 18 seconds to spare, and end the match with 2646 points.

Goofga is veeery powerful, but like I said, you gotta be quick during the Whirligoof limit. If you just target Yuffie at the end and activate the limit, you can take her out within just a few seconds.

Magnet and up is also really usefull. I just used that every tourny that I couldn't use Stitch on. It works wonders.

Not sure if anyone posted this, but I found this interesting:



I forgot what the others were, though.

lol you are like almost a year late >.>

Even so, I couldn't figure out that



Didn't know the limit could be raised that far. How do you level limits anyway? Just use them repeatedly? Also, I wasn't sure if Wishing Lamp increased the rate of tournament orbs or not (it says it only increases the rate of HP/MP orbs).

It took a lot of effort, but I finally took down Sephiroth, at lvl 80. I'm very glad you can save after the battle so you can rewatch the following cutscene whenever you want. Watching Cloud and him rumble is always nice, but after the spectacular AC fight, this one is only mildly entertaining. But Cloud wasn't the real star in this one.



Sadly, things are left unresolved, in an obvious milking attempt for KH3.

The only question I have now is if the final boss will be far too easy at lvl 80. Perhaps I should use an earlier save first so I can have a proper challenge.

I whooped the final boss's ass at level 55. I'm currently at 72, preparing to take down Sephiroth without the Ultima Weapon.

So, yeah. You should be able to wail on the big finale pretty good.

Yeah, but it's no fun if he goes down TOO fast. That's what I'm worried about.

One of the reasons I created a save file right before I challenged him. I figured I'd have to power level just to stand a chance against Sephiroth, anyway. Defeating him and going back to fight



would probably be way too easy.