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\\:://////////////////|                          |////:::::::::::::://
\\///////////////////|      Kingdom Hearts      |////////::::::::://
\\/////////////////'|   Re:Chain of Memories   |'//////'''''''''//
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\../
\/
*         *
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*  *   *  *
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* *   *   **                                 *             * *
. <
~~ January 21, 2009: Version 1.95
-The walkthrough for Sora's story is all but finished! The boss guides
for all three boss battles with Marluxia have been completed. All that
is left is the walkthrough's closure.
~~ January 22, 2009: Version 2.00
-And...it is finished! I changed the format for sleights on the third
Marluxia a little bit to make it look nicer, and I wrote the end of it.
Now, I just need to decide what section to write next.
~~ January 23, 2009: Version 2.05
-Not much done today. I started work on the attack card lists, and have
completed it the best I can right now. I'm waiting for permission before
I put the percentages of drops in specific worlds.
~~ February 04, 2009: Version 2.15
-Wow. I wanted a break, but not this long...Blah. Life has been so damn
busy lately that I haven't had time to work on this, even though I have
really wanted to manyatime. Oh well. I got the entire "Introduction to
Riku" section completed, as well as the Hollow Bastion walkthrough.
~~ February 06, 2009: Version 2.20
-Monstro and Vexen completed. Sigh...need to work on guide more....blah!
I've been so sick lately that I'm so not up to it. > . < Grrr...soon!
~~ February 19, 2009: Version 2.30
-FINALLY more work done! I swear...no free time to work anymore. e.e
At least I got a decent bit done...Traverse Town, Neverland, and Riku I
are complete.
~~ February 22, 2009: Version 2.35
-Well, at least the guide hasn't been massively spaced off...even if I
didn't get much done. World Card Set II maps have been started on, and
Wonderland is next to complete.
~~ October 4, 2009: Version 2.50
-Wow...I haven't touched this guide or this game in ages. I sincerely
apologize for ignoring it so long. However, I've started again (very
randomly I might add), and I'm going to try very hard to finish it
this time! I'm sorry for any differences in writing style or mistakes
(as I can't remember everything now :\) in this point from before.
-Sometime (probably not long after) my last update, I finished Wonderland
and did the VERY beginning of Atlantica. From there is where I started;
I did the rest of Atlantica (which was most all of it).
-I also made the map for and wrote most of the Olympus Coliseum section.
~~ October 5, 2009: Version 2.60
-I did plan on doing more yesterday, but couldn't as my brother was
severely injured awhile back and therefore is sitting in the room with
my TV most of the time, keeping it tied up all day. Therefore, I can
only write this late at night.
-Anyway, Olympus Coliseum was finished (just the Hades strategy).
-Did all of Halloween Town, including the map and boss.
-Wrote the guide for Lexaeus. That was a huge job by itself; my guide
for him is one of the longest boss strategies I've written. I kinda feel
guilty as Lexaeus isn't epic enough to deserve such a huge strategy. D:
Ah well, at least it's plenty detailed.
~~ October 6, 2009: Version 2.70
-Destiny Islands completed up to Zexion.
-I did a lot of testing on Zexion but it was getting too late and I had
to go to sleep before being able to write up more than his attacks and
sleights.
~~ October 7, 2009: Version 2.85
-Zexion is finished. I do believe it's my longest boss guide so far.
The battle was just too....unique, to make it a short guide. It took a
lot of work and time to do enough testing and write this up. It's very
detailed though, and Zexion, unlike Lexaeus, deserves a hugely detailed
walkthrough! Just not more than Marluxia...r.r
-After going to bed, I woke up and finished Twilight Town in it's
entirety. I'll probably finish up Castle Oblivion of Reverse/Rebirth
late tonight, after midnight.
~~ October 8, 2009: Version 3.00
-My first goal was to prove the theory of Diamond Dust and One-Winged
Angel being available pre-completion of Reverse/Rebirth. This was
successfully accomplished with One-Winged Angel, but the enemies in
Castle Oblivion are too annoying and I didn't have enough map cards to
keep on testing with Diamond Dust. I am therefore going to assume this
is accurate.
-It took awhile but I just finished up the guide for Ansem and wrote the
last words for Reverse/Rebirth. It's hard to believe, but this guide is
actually finished now! I changed the finish date to today to show it's
essentially complete. The lists still need finished but I don't feel
as pressured to complete those. The main part of the guide is complete.
~~ October 13, 2009: Version 3.40
-Attack card lists finished, as well as all others up to enemy cards.
The last few days I was actually working on getting the last few attack
cards as well as the Organization XIII enemy cards, so don't go thinking
I was just slacking off. D: I cannot do anymore, however, as I am far
from having every enemy card myself, so how can I do the list for that?!
I've gotten enough done I'm not worrying about it anyway. Getting
irritating jotting all that down.
____________________________________________________________________________
|                         _________________________                          |
*=======================//                         \\========================*
|                       |      Table of Contents    |                        |
*=======================\\_________________________//========================*
|____________________________________________________________________________|
To the right side of these contents, I have included a code. This code is
used for quick searching. Press Ctrl+F, then type in the code. Press enter,
and you're there!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Sora's Story                                                             |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Introduction to Sora
1.1 Battle System-----------------100%-----------------------sbsys
1.2 Room Synthesis----------------100%-----------------------rsynth
1.3 Leveling Sora-----------------100%-----------------------slvl
2. Card Mechanics
2.1 Sleights----------------------100%-----------------------sk1ll
2.2 Card Types--------------------100%-----------------------ctype
3.3 Moogle Shops------------------100%-----------------------mogpwnz
3. Sora's Walkthrough
3.1 Traverse Town-----------------100%-----------------------strtn
|
--World Card Set I
3.2 Agrabah----------------------100%-----------------------swcsiw1
3.3 Halloween Town---------------100%-----------------------swcsiw2
3.4 Olypmus Coliseum-------------100%-----------------------swcsiw3
3.5 Monstro----------------------100%-----------------------swcsiw4
3.6 Wonderland-------------------100%-----------------------swcsiw5
/
--World Card Set II
3.7 Atlantica--------------------100%-----------------------swcsiiw1
3.8 Neverland--------------------100%-----------------------swcsiiw2
3.9 Hollow Bastion---------------100%-----------------------swcsiiw3
3.10 100 Acre Wood---------------100%-----------------------swcsiiw4
/
3.11 Twilight Town----------------100%-----------------------stwltn
3.12 Destiny Islands--------------100%-----------------------sdsnisle
3.13 Castle Oblivion--------------100%-----------------------scstobln
4. Card Lists
4.1 Attack Cards------------------100%-----------------------satkc
4.2 Magic Cards-------------------100%-----------------------smagc
4.3 Summon Cards------------------100%-----------------------ssmnc
4.4 Item Cards--------------------100%-----------------------sitmc
4.5 Friend Cards------------------100%-----------------------sally
4.6 Enemy Cards-------------------??%-----------------------semyc
4.7 Map Cards---------------------??%-----------------------mapcs
5. Sleights-------------------------??%-----------------------skltz
5.1 Attack Sleights---------------??%-----------------------atksl
5.2 Magic Sleights----------------??%-----------------------magsl
5.3 Friend Sleights---------------??%-----------------------fndsl
6. Bosses---------------------------??%-----------------------noobpk
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Riku's Story                                                             |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Introduction to Riku
1.1 Battle Mechanics---------------100%----------------------mchpwn
1.2 Leveling Riku------------------100%----------------------rlvl
2. Riku's Walkthrough
2.1 Hollow Bastion-----------------100%----------------------hlwbtnrx
|
--World Card Set I
2.2 Agrabah-----------------------100%----------------------rwcsiw1
2.3 Monstro-----------------------100%----------------------rwcsiw2
2.4 Traverse Town-----------------100%----------------------rwcsiw3
2.5 Neverland---------------------100%----------------------rwcsiw4
/
--World Card Set II
2.6 Wonderland--------------------100%----------------------rwcsiiw1
2.7 Atlantica---------------------100%----------------------rwcsiiw2
2.8 Olympus Coliseum--------------100%----------------------rwcsiiw3
2.9 Halloween Town----------------100%----------------------rwcsiiw4
/
2.4 Destiny Islands----------------100%----------------------rdsnisle
2.5 Twilight Town------------------100%----------------------rtwltn
2.6 Castle Oblivion----------------100%----------------------rcstobln
3. Card Lists-----------------------??-----------------------
3.1 Battle Cards-------------------??-----------------------
3.2 Enemy Cards--------------------??-----------------------
4. Sleights-------------------------??-----------------------
5. Bosses---------------------------??-----------------------
______________________________________________________________________________
FAQ----------------------------------N/A-----------------------faq4nub
Acknowledgements---------------------100%----------------------manythanks
Final Statements---------------------100%----------------------theend
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
|                         _________________________                          |
*=======================//                         \\========================*
|                       |    Introduction to Sora   |                        |
*=======================\\_________________________//========================*
|____________________________________________________________________________|
Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories (the original too, of course) has one
major difference from both of the other titles: the card system. This, in
my opinion, actually makes the game more enjoyable. It adds much more
strategy to the game, and can make Sora a very formidable force. If only
it had multiplayer battles like the original had...
For those of you whom are not familiar with this system, though...prepare
to become familiarized, as I am going to discuss it here, along with a few
other basic bits of information you'll need to know.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Battle System                                                     sbsys  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah yes...the heart and soul of Re:CoM. This system is quite easily what
makes the game so fun.
You're going to get a tutorial of how this system works in the game, of
course. But I think it's best I describe it here, too. Along with some
other information about it which the game doesn't feel necessary to tell.
First and foremost, we need to understand how each battle starts. When
you see an enemy on screen (which is any kind of Heartless), and you or
it touch, then you'll immediately switch to a new "battle" screen.
Note that if you strike the enemy first with your Keyblade, the first
group of enemies will be stunned and have a slight bit of HP knocked off.
Because of this, you'll want to strike whichever enemies first that you
possibly can, for a slight advantage.
Anyway, in the lower left hand corner of this screen is where you see
your deck, and in the lower right hand corner, you will see the enemy's
cards. At the top left corner will be Sora's health, and the top right
corner you will see any targeted enemy's health. The game auto-targets
to make attacking easier with less failed strikes.
In battle, you can press R2 to lock onto a target.
The L1 and R1 buttons will cycle through the cards in Sora's deck, but
the directional pad can be used to do this also, though it's a bit more
annoying and not recommended.
Square makes Sora dodge roll. This is basically for avoiding attacks.
The X button will immediately use whatever card you have highlighted,
and the triangle button will stock whatever card you have highlighted
for use in a Sleight -- more information about that later, though.
Actually...you probably need to know about the cards themselves now.
In Castle Oblivion, Sora immediately forgets all of his attacks, and
other abilities (so do Donald and Goofy, but who cares about that). So we
therefore have the card system to replace it. Sora is given 3 deck slots,
and a CP capacity (which will be discussed more in a bit), along with
several cards which will make up his attacks. Each attack -- be it a
normal Keyblade strike, aid from Donald, Goofy, or another friend, a
magic spell, or anything else, takes a card to use. Therefore, we need to
insert cards into our decks for everything. Our card deck is our key for
victory. You have 99 slots in your deck, but your CP will never be high
enough to let you use all of those.
Your CP matters because each card you put into your deck has a CP cost,
and, of course, with the more powerful cards is a higher CP cost.
If the amount of CP your deck is using is higher than your maximum CP,
Then you won't be allowed to use the deck.
I'm sure you'll notice the number on each card. That number is it's card
value. You see, just as Sora uses cards to battle, so do all the enemies
which Sora will fight in Castle Oblivion, and these enemies use cards
with card values just the same way Sora does. When you or the enemy uses
a card, the card can be "broken" by the enemy or the enemies card by Sora.
A card break occurs when you play a card of a higher value while the enemy
has a card in play already. This is a very good way of stopping attacks,
and getting in your own attacks as this stuns the enemy for a brief period
of time. Of course, if you play a card, then the enemy can break yours too
with a card of a higher value, and you will be stunned briefly (different
Keyblade cards recover quicker, that's discussed later on).
And, obviously, if you have a card played and the enemy plays a card of
lower value, then the attack is voided, as if the enemy never used it.
Remember however that this also applies to Sora when the enemy uses cards.
Take careful notice of these examples:
~Sora plays a Kingdom Key card with a value of 2 against a Soldier.
~Soldier plays a 4 attack -- Sora's card is broken and he is stunned,
leaving him wide open for the attack.
~Sora plays a Kingdom Key card with a value of 9 against a Shadow.
~Shadow plays a 1 Attack -- Shadow's attack is voided, and Sora's card
goes through. On most occasions, the Shadow would be struck by this.
The only exception I can think of is if the attack missed.
~Sora plays a Kingdom Key of 4 against a Large Body.
~Large Body also plays a 4 -- both cards have the same value, so they
both cancel each other.
~No attack goes through on either side.
Understand all of that? Please remember that all examples work vice versa.
Meaning, whatever applies to Sora will apply to whatever enemy he's up
against, also.
Also note that playing a card of lower value against an enemy who has
already attacked will void the attack you used, but there will not be any
stunning from it. All that happens is that you used your card.
And when you and the enemy play two cards of the same value, you will
lose your card, and both you and the enemy will be stunned and unable to
attack.
There is one card which is most useful for breaking though. The 0 card.
Anytime a 0 card is played, it is guaranteed to break whatever card has
already been used. However, a card of 0 value can also be broken by quite
literally anything, also. Therefore, 0 cards are the ultimate defense, but
defense only. Having a deck with a few 0 cards is recommended against the
bosses so that you can break their Sleights. But in any normal Heartless
battle, 0 cards do not have much use.
In battle, you can press the select button to switch to your enemy cards.
Enemy cards have a wide variety of uses -- some of them being nearly
essential, and others having nearly no use at all. Use them to fit your
style.
Enemy cards can be quite useful, but are almost never necessary. I played
through Sora's entire story without using an enemy card even once.
An enemy card's effect wears off under different circumstances with each
card, so be sure to take note of how it'll wear off before calculating
your strategy with it.
Friend cards will also drop and bounce around the battlefield for awhile.
If you don't pick them up, they'll disappear after a short time.
These are the only cards which you don't (and can't) put into your deck
during construction, and can only be picked up during battle. At the end
of each battle, you lose any friend cards which you didn't use during the
battle.
A deck can only have so many cards, especially with that CP limit.
So what happens when you use up all of your cards in a battle? That is
what the reload button is for. That is the black bar with a number in it.
Press and hold X to recharge your deck. The first time you recharge, it'll
have a recharge counter of 1. The second time, it will have a counter of 2.
Any time after that the recharge counter will be 3. Recharging your deck
leaves you wide open for attacks, because Sora has to stand still in order
to recharge. Therefore, make sure you're in safe distance from attacks
before you attempt to recharge.
Fortunately, there are Item cards which will reset your deck for you.
These items are invaluable and highly recommended whenever possible.
There'll be more information on these cards later.
Finally, what happens when you kill an enemy? The enemy will drop balls
of experience -- what will level you up. There is also a very small chance
that it'll drop a Premium bonus (more on this in a bit).
When the enemy drops the experience, be sure to run around and collect
all of the balls, because they will vanish quite quickly if not collected.
In normal enemy battles, the final Heartless will also drop a map card.
These map cards are for synthesizing new rooms. I'll explain that more a
little later.
If you go to the edge of the battle room, an Escape bar will appear.
Keep running towards the edge and the bar will load more and more.
Once it loads entirely, Sora will escape the battle. Be careful, though.
After escaping, the Heartless you escaped from will still be there.
Your escape is reset if you are attacked in the middle of the escape.
I'll discuss the more advanced details of fighting and deck construction
soon enough. For now, we need to learn about...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Room Synthesis                                                   rsynth  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
As with battle, traveling takes cards too. I already mentioned earlier
how you get a map card every time you kill the final Heartless in a basic
battle. The exception to this is if you have 99 cards, since 99 total map
cards is the limit.
Each floor on Castle Oblivion has a set of rooms, and in order to gain
access into a room, you must open the room using one of your map cards.
You progress new floors in Castle Oblivion by using a world card, which
you get these as you progress through the story. Note that each floor in
the castle uses one world card, and one only. In order to open new worlds,
you must beat the current floor you're on, including the boss in the world
which you synthesized.
Each floor also has a preset map. And yes, it goes by floor, not by world.
I'll include a map of the floor with the walkthrough later on.
There are three different types of map cards, which are sorted by color.
The colors are red, green, blue, and yellow. I will list details on each
card later, but here is a brief description of differences:
~Red cards: Effect the Heartless in the room, such as with Almighty
Darkness, which makes every Heartless have cards with values two
higher than they would be otherwise.
~Green cards: Gives beneficial effects such as Lasting Daze, which
makes every Heartless that appears be stunned when you strike them
first, instead of just the first set in the battle.
~Blue cards: These affect the entire room in a certain way, usually
for obtaining new cards such as with Calm Bounty and Guarded Trove.
~Yellow cards: These are the Key cards. All Key cards are obtained
by progressing through the floor, except for the Key to Rewards.
These cards are only for the storyline and are not for synthesis.
As stated, each floor has a set of rooms which are linked together.
The rooms it has are entirely up to you and the map cards you use, but
each room in Sora's story is guaranteed to have one of the following:
--Key of Beginnings Room
--Key of Guidance Room
--Key to Truth Room
--Key to Rewards Room
--Conqueror's Respite
The first three listed are the story rooms. The Key of Beginnings is the
first story room for the floor, then Guidance as second, and Truth as third.
The Key to Rewards room takes a special card called the Key to Rewards.
These are dropped in place of normal map cards during battles on the 7th
floor and up. These are uncommon drops, but not too rare and you can only
have one of these at a time.
The Key to Rewards room contains a special treasure which is preset, and
then another treasure once you've beaten Reverse/Rebirth (Riku's story).
The Conqueror's Respite is the final room in the floor. This room contains
a save and is the exit of the floor, where you continue your way up.
This room is inaccessible until you beat the entire floor, including the
boss and the Key to Truth room.
All of the rooms other than these you must synthesize yourself with your
own map cards. To synthesize a room, go up to the door and press triangle.
(Note that you can re-synthesize a room you've already created by going
up to it and pressing triangle instead of going through.)
A screen will appear with all of your available map cards. In the center,
you will see a door with a number.
Just like your battle cards, map cards have a value too. The number you
see is the necessary value of the map card you must use. In general, the
room can be synthesized with a map card having a value of the number you
see on the door, or a higher value. A zero will always work too.
For example, a door may show the value 4 on it. If it does, you may use
a map card of the value 4-9, or a 0. Anything between 1 and 3 won't work.
The main exception is with the Key rooms (Beginnings, Guidance, etc.).
These rooms all take a preset card depending on the floor. I will give
the necessary cards along with the maps during the walkthrough.
Many of the Key rooms however will take a specific color of card, as well
as card value, or even multiple cards, all along with the specific Key card.
For example, it may take a red card with a value of 5 or higher with a green
card having a value of exactly 7.
It may also force you to give in so many cards to lower the counter.
Such as requiring a value of 15 blue cards altogether, and you need to give
in enough blue cards to make that dwindle to 0.
Once more, these are preset. What cards they take has already been
determined, and I will include them with the maps later.
When you synthesize a new room of a certain value, the next rooms you must
synthesize from that room will be require a value higher than previous.
Examples:
~A room requires you use a map card with a value of 3 or higher,
so you use a Calm Bounty with a value of 5. From the Calm Bounty
room, you need to synthesize another room. It will require
a value of 6 or higher since you used a card with a value of 5.
~A room requires you use a map card with a value of 9 or higher.
You therefore use a Teeming Darkness with the value of 9.
From that Teeming Darkness room, any room you synthesize from
it will require you use a map card of exactly 0.
~A room requires you use a map card with a value of 0.
You use a Moment's Reprieve of 0. Any room from that Moment's
Reprieve will take a map card of 1 or higher, or 0 of course.
As you can tell by the examples, 0 is still the almighty card.
You can use a card with a value of 0 for pretty much any room,
except for the Key rooms which require an exact value.
The counter will also reset back to 1 if you use a 0 on it.
Also note that the first room of every floor will start with
a requirement of 1 or higher.
Remember that, once you leave a floor onto the next one,
every room you created on that floor will have to be recreated.
I hope that is all you need to know about room synthesizing.
As stated, a complete list of map cards will be given later on.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Leveling Sora                                                      slvl  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you can guess, Sora takes levels to achieve his perfection, just like
in other titles in the Kingdom Hearts series, or like in pretty much
every RPG.
Every time Sora levels up, you'll have the option of increasing his HP
or CP. At certain levels, you'll also have the option of learning a new
Sleight.
Every time you increase his HP, it'll increase by 15.
Choosing to increase his CP increases it by 25.
In the original Chain of Memories, you could only max 2 of those 3 stats
at level 99. From what I hear, though, in Re:CoM you can max all 3.
I have yet to get Sora to level 99, so I am unsure myself. When I do,
I'll update with exact information.
Either way, the max for Sora's stats is as follows:
~HP: 560 (Starts at 80)
~CP: 1625 (Starts at 275)
~Sleights: 12 (All of these Sleights can be learned by level 57.)
From personal experience, I would say that it's most important to level CP,
and to get every Sleight you can, and get enough HP to be comfortable.
Having HP around 300 survived me the entire game. But it's all about your
style. If you prefer more HP and less CP, go right ahead. You don't even
have to get all the Sleights, though I highly recommend it.
____________________________________________________________________________
|                         _________________________                          |
*=======================//                         \\========================*
|                       |       Card Mechanics      |                        |
*=======================\\_________________________//========================*
|____________________________________________________________________________|
This section will explain in higher detail the cards you use in battle,
specifically, your battle "skills", and how to obtain cards.
We'll start with your skills, that is...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Sleights                                                          sk1ll  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you recall, I mentioned earlier about pressing triangle in battle to
stock a highlighted card for use in a sleight. These are your "skills" in
battle.
A sleight is a combination of two or three different cards. Sleighting
specific cards (most of the time in a specific order) will make a special
attack.
In order to create a sleight, you must stock a total of three cards
using the triangle button, then press triangle again to execute it.
To execute a sleight that only takes two cards, you'll have to press
L1 + R1 simultaneously instead of triangle.
~Cura sleight: Cure + Cure or Cure + Cure + any other card
While...
~Curaga sleight: Cure + Cure + Cure
Be careful, because every time you use a sleight, you lose the first
card of the sleight. When you reload, the card will not come back to you.
It's gone until the end of the battle.
It is because of this that using too many sleights can be a very bad thing,
leaving you with very few cards to do anything with.
Item cards such as Hi-Potion and Mega-Potion, however, will restore the
first cards you used in sleights also.
The values of the cards you use in sleights do add up, and therefore,
sleights can only be broken by a card higher than it's total value.
An example is using a Sonic Blade sleight with a total value of 22.
In order for the enemy to break it, s/he would have to create a sleight
having a value of 22 or higher. Of course, 0 cards can be used to break
sleights also.
In general, there are three different kinds of sleights. Those are attack
sleights, magic sleights, and friend sleights. (Complete lists of these
are later on in the guide.)
Attack sleights require three attack cards of a specific value, such as
Ars Arcanum, which requires three attack cards with a total value of 4-6.
If you sleighted together three attack cards with a total value of 7, it
would not make an Ars Arcanum sleight. If you have gotten Ragnarok, that
is instead what it would make.
Some attack sleights require three different attack cards too, in order
to make the sleight. An example would be Sonic Blade.
You could use a Divine Rose with a value of 8, a Kingdom Key with a value
of 7, then a Crabclaw with a value of 7, and it would make the Sonic Blade.
However, if you used two of the same attack cards in that sleight, such as
the Divine Rose and two Kingdom Key, even if it had the values of 8, 7, 7,
it would not make the Sonic Blade sleight. As far as I know, it would just
make a basic three hit combo with a total value of 22. Obviously using
sleights for three hit combos is not recommended, since you lose the first
card of the sleight.
Also note that there are sleights which take three of the same card type,
just the same as Sonic Blade takes three of different card types.
Magic sleights are a little more forgiving. From what I know, you can use
any total value you want, all that matters is the order of the cards.
For example, Lethal Flame takes 1 stop and 2 attack cards. If you sleighted
together an attack card, stop, then another attack card, I do believe you
would not get a Lethal Flame though.
In exchange, they can be of any value. You could use a stop with the value
of 9, then two attack cards with a value of 9. Or you could use a 1 stop,
then two attack cards with values of 3 and 7.
Summon sleights are a variety of magic sleights which use summon cards.
They work pretty much the same, but most summon sleights require three
of the same card. Such as Omnislash taking three Clouds, any value.
There are a very few however which do not. Such as Idyll Romp. This sleight
takes one Bambi and two attack cards. The same rule of order applies to
these also.
Friend sleights are like summon sleights in the fact that they usually
take three copies of the same friend card. But just like summon sleights,
there are a few exceptions, notably ones involving Donald and Goofy.
The total value does not matter with these either, but the order does --
just like with magic sleights.
Friend sleights can be quite powerful, especially early in the game,
and I recommend saving your friend cards for the use of these sleights.
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| Card Types                                                        ctype  |
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As I'm sure you've observed by now, there are several card types Sora
has access to. Five card types, to be exact. They are as follows: Attack,
Magic, Item, Friend, and Enemy.
Attack cards are the main cards you'll use, most likely. They are your
basic Keyblade strikes. This section will more specifically describe them
in just a bit.
Magic cards are your spells. Unlike attack cards, which gain power with
different types of attack cards, each spell only has one type and damage
from it. This makes magic cards simpler, but less useful for slaying.
Of course, they are quite useful against enemies whom are weak against
specific spells.
The elements are Fire, Ice, and Lightning. You also have the Aero, Stop,
and Gravity cards. You'll find that many enemies absorb one element, but
are weak to another. This includes bosses.
The other spell - and most useful - Cure is your unique one. It, simply
put, restores your HP. Almost every deck should have multiple Cures in
it.
There are also some enemies which resist an element, some enemies even
resist all elements. Pretty much every boss is immune to gravity, also.
Summon cards are also a variety of magic cards. They all attack in some
random way though, or some such as Tinker Bell will heal you.
Item cards restore either all attack or all magic cards - some even
restore the attack/magic cards which would normally be unrestorable,
such as those used in sleights. A couple item cards even restore both
attack and magic cards, and there are a few item cards that even reset
the reload counter! Needless to say, item cards are very useful. They
are even more potent if used at the right timing - like using an item
that reloads normally unreloadable cards after using a bunch of
sleights, or using an item that resets the reload counter as well after
the reload counter is at 3. You'll usually want one or two items (maybe
even more) in any deck.
I warn you, if item cards are sleighted together, their effects will
stack together and take place one right after the other. The only time
this will EVER be useful is if you're using something such as a Potion
and Ether together. Otherwise, never do this, as item cards only last
one use during the entire battle, and cannot be reloaded - this same
thing applies to when they are used during sleights. Therefore, sleight-
combos of item cards almost always result in two of the items being
wasted.
Friend cards are simple. They cannot be obtained except during a battle,
and any friend card you have goes away after the battle.  Several usually
will drop per battle though.
A friend card will appear randomly during the battle, bouncing around.
You can run up to it and pick it up. It will then appear to the left of
all your cards, to the right of the reload bar.
Friend cards basically summon a friend to use some attack which varies
from friend card to friend card. They can be really useful early and mid
game, but late game, their use weakens significantly. There are also some
worlds which you will not have access to any friends whatsoever, and most
of the friends you have access to are world only. Donald and Goofy are the
only exceptions.
There is also a special friend card, Pluto. Pluto can appear in any world
as well, but he is very rare and only appears when you are very low on
cards. He's a neat little thing which will dig up treasures from the
ground.
Enemy cards are accessed by pressing select in battle. They do not have
a value, and they cannot be broken. Enemy cards do a huge variety of
different things, from increasing your combo to powering up an element,
or letting you use a stocked sleight twice in a row.
They have a large variety of effects which can be further explained in
the enemy card list.
Enemy cards are all obtained by defeating the specific enemy you're
attempting to get the card of in battle. It has a low drop rate, and
the enemy has to be the last one defeated in the battle for it's card
to drop.
Remember that enemy cards do not last forever and their effects expire
after a specific prerequisite is fulfilled. What causes an enemy
card to expire varies between enemy cards as well.
Most of these pretty much explain themselves, but attack cards need
further elaboration.
Attack cards have several different types of Keyblades, some being more
powerful than the others. They can also be more powerful than one Keyblade
in one way, but worse than another in another way.
Attack cards have hidden stats which can be seen when they are looked up
in Jiminy's journal. The stats are as follows:
~Attack
~Strike
~Thrust
~Combo Finish
~Element
~Break Recovery
~Required CP
These are all rated on a specific scale which goes like this:
* >  A > B+ > B > C+ > C > D+ > D
D is the worst possible, while * is the best possible.
Attack is a basic overall rating -- that is, an average of how powerful
it is.
Strike tells you how powerful the first strike in the basic three hit
combo is.
Thrust tells you how powerful the second strike in the three hit combo is.
If you have the Soldier enemy card activated, it also decides the third.
Combo Finish decides how powerful the final hit (which is fourth if the
Soldier enemy card is active) in the combo is.
Many Keyblades will be more powerful than another Keyblade when first in
the combo, but much weaker than the same other Keyblade when second/third.
This is where the strategy in deck building comes in. You'll want to create
your deck so that it's sorted to have the best possible cards suited when
used in the combo.
A late game example would be this:
Divine Rose (Strike of A)>
Lionheart (Thrust of B)>
Metal Chocobo (Combo Finish of B+)
In it, you'd build your deck to have Divine Rose, then Lionheart, then
Metal Chocobo, and repeat that as many times as your CP would allow.
However, while I consider those the primary stats to watch out for
(since you don't want to use Divine Rose as a second attack with it's
Thrust of D+), there are a few others you should take note of.
Element is pretty obvious. It'll tell the element the Keyblade is of.
The possible elements are Physical (what most Keyblades are), Neutral,
Fire, Ice, or Lightning.
Element is a crucial factor. Striking an enemy who's affiliation is
of the same element as the Keyblade will cause either no damage, or
even heal it. As an example, if you hit a Red Nocturne with a Lionheart
Keyblade, then you will heal it. Just the same, hitting a Blue Rhapsody
with Lionheart will do more damage than normal. Use Keyblades of those
three elements at your own risk.
Neutral however is best. It will break through all defenses the enemy
has; be it elemental or physical.
And of course, Keyblades of the Physical element basically have no
element. The only thing you have to worry about is the few enemies who
have physical resistances.
Break Recovery will denote how quickly you'll recover from a card break,
should that happen. High break recovery can indeed be an important factor,
especially when up against those enemies who use really high value cards.
And last, required CP will show how much CP the Keyblade uses, judging
by the scale. More powerful Keyblades will always have a worse required CP.
Each Keyblade takes a specific amount of CP according to the scale.
Here is a list:
~*: 10-19 CP
~A: 15-24 CP
~B: 20-38 CP
~C: 25-43 CP
~D: 30-57 CP
* ranked Keyblades start at 10 CP for cards of value 1, and the required
CP increases by 1 for each value, ending with 0 at 19 CP.
A ranked Keyblades start at 15 CP at 1, then increase by 2 per value,
ending with 0 at 24.
B in the same fashion starts at 20, increases by 2 per value, and ends
with 38 at the 0 card.
C is still the same, starting with 25 and increasing by 2 each, then
ending with 43 at 0.
There is only one D ranked card, and that is Ultima Weapon. It starts
with 30 CP at the value of 1, and each value up you go, it increases
by 3 CP, which ends at 57 total CP with the 0 card.
Remember to take all of that in mind when you build your deck.
One final note on card types is the premium card. As far as I know, you
can only get Attack or Magic cards as premium cards.
What they are is the same exact thing as another card, but in it's
premium version. They do not do more damage; actually, all of their stats
are exactly the same as the regular version, except for required CP.
Premium cards take much less CP than the same exact card which is not a
premium. But in exchange for this, they can only be used once.
That's right, you use it once, even just as a normal attack, and it is
gone for the rest of the battle.
For this reason, I don't really use premium cards, and almost always
cancel out of premium bonuses. A premium bonus is a special very rare
drop in the middle of battle, which, when picked up, will turn a card in
your deck into a premium card. Your entire deck spins around like a wheel
and you get to time it just right to turn one of your cards into premium.
You can press circle to cancel out of this.
However, you may have already guessed that premium cards are perfect
for one thing. The first card in a sleight.
Since you already are going to lose the first card anyway, it's best to
use a premium card. It'll take much less CP and it has the same effect,
and premium cards will return when you use something such as Hi-Potion
just the same.
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| Moogle Shops                                                    mogpwnz  |
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Moogle shops are going to be your main way of acquiring new cards,
other than the random card drops which are obtained when you break the
random breakable things in the room.
Moogle shops can only be accessed by synthesizing a Moogle Room. You
won't be able to buy anything without moogle points, however. Moogle
points are the red balls which drop when you break the things in rooms.
It's for this reason you're going to want to break every single thing you
can, and hit everything which is targetable (such as lamps).
At the moogle shops, you'll be able to buy packs of cards (meaning you
cannot buy single cards, ONLY the packs, and each pack comes with five
cards), or you can sell your own cards.
Be warned though that the cards you sell generally will not get you as
many moogle points as they are worth. Still, if you don't need them, it's
an easy way of obtaining moogle points.
The shop has four packs of four varieties. The varieties are Attack,
Magic (which contains summons too), Item, and Mixed (contains a combo of
any of the three). You will only obtain cards in packs which you have
already once before obtained a card of. For example, you will never find
a Lionheart in a pack until you've gotten a Lionheart from the Rewards
Room in Traverse Town.
When you buy a pack, it'll say it's sold out. Meaning you have four
packs to choose from of each variety, and once you buy all the packs,
you'll have to synth another Moogle Room in order to buy anymore packs
of that variety.
This has it's benefits, however, as each time you synth a Moogle Room,
the first time you talk to the moogle there, it'll give you a free pack
of cards.
Also note that card packs may contain premium cards. I like to sell
these premium cards myself, as they sell for more moogle points than
the others do.
You'll probably notice as you travel higher up in the castle, that
when you synthesize a Moogle Room, the packs of cards you see there will
be bound by different straps. The straps tell how rare the cards in it
are, and therefore cost more moogle points.
There are four different types of straps it can be bound by, which are