Part 77: Extra 2: Mission Mode
Music: Dearly Beloved
Welcome back to Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Today marks the day where my commentary will be in normal text, considering that there's no more dialogue in the game.
This time we're going to be looking at Mission Mode. It's the place the developer went
on.
This is the first time I show the save/load screen. Well, here it is. Obviously, Guest Play is only available here.
New Music: Cavern of Remembrance
We have a LOT of characters to choose from. The original Organization XIII are unlocked from the start and are the only ones playable if we picked Guest Play earlier.Roxas' gameplay is exactly the same as the main game. You know, because we played as him.
Larxene attacks quickly, but her attacks are so weak it still deals not that much damage. Her magic is nice, so she's still great, though.
Marluxia is a good choice. Nothing really special about him.
Luxord isn't bad on paper, but his limit SUCKS.
Demyx is kind of similar to Luxord. At least his limit is much better.
Same deal with Axel. Really, these three are middling choices.
Saix mostly relies on Critical Hits, which is a good thing because it is now the best way to deal damage (relatively) quickly.
Zexion is a pure mage. He's the best mage in the game
Lexaeus is a beast and the best character in the game
Vexen is...eh. The enemy levels in the endgame missions in this mode are jacked up, so magic isn't a good way to kill them anymore. Unless you're hitting a weakness, in which case Zexion is the better character for the job.[/i]
Same deal with Xaldin. Honestly, most of these characters don't have anything that unique to offer.
Xigbar is by far the most unique character in terms of gameplay. He has a bullet count, which means we have to reload when it runs out. There's no way to manually reload before then.
Sadly, he has the same problem as Larxene but even worse, so he's also not worth using. I think they're better as support if you're playing with actual people, but I don't have that option.
Xemnas is more like Marluxia than the other mediocre ones. He's actually quite good, but still not as beastly as Lexaeus.
Riku is unlocked on Day 172 (After beating Infernal Engine). He's basically Saix's lite version. He does have the "honor" of being the only character not to have any innate resistance. The organization members all have resistance to their elements while the rest have innate light resistance.
Donald is unlocked on Day 225 (After beating Guard Armor). He's basically a worse Zexion. Sure, his magic is better, but he's worse at the other things that actually matter. Plus, his physical combo is awful
Let's just say that there's a reason Donald spend most of KH1 and KH2 dead.
Goofy is unlocked on Day 296 (After beating Crimson Prankster). He's basically Lexaeus' lite version. Not as much of a beast as Lexaeus, but he's not bad.
Mickey is unlocked after buying an item that appears after we complete all missions. I don't have much to say about him, really.
Sora is unlocked after buying an item that appears after we fully complete all missions. He's straight up has the same stats as Roxas. He does have a different combo and Limit, though, so he's not just a carbon copy.
That is more than what I can say for this Mysterious Girl here. She's a character that appears in DDD but has her debut hidden here. I guess the developers are just too
to give her a unique moveset, which is fair considering we know nothing about her. She's unlocked on Day 117 (after beating Antlion).In conclusion, here's the character I would recommend to be used here:
- Xemnas
- Lexaeus
- Zexion
- Saix
- Marluxia
- Larxene
- Riku
- Goofy
We can use the ones not on this list, they just won't be as strong. Don't ever use Donald/Xigbar, though.
We're going to roll with Xemnas for this run. The bottom screen is pretty much the same as story mode except the name of the weapon is different (obviously).
The top screen, however, has some new options. Shop lets us access the Moogle Shop from here. Character lets us change characters. Mission Config is what it says on the tin. It is very different from Story Mode, though.
The first two screen of options are exactly the same as Story Mode.
The third screen, instead of changing the AI behavior, changes the mission restrictions instead. You know, if you're not enough of a masochist that finishing the entire Mission Mode and Challenge Missions aren't enough for you.
A non masochist wouldn't bother with those modes beyond the first 20 minutes in the first place.
The fourth screen deals with player-to-player interactions, or at least that's what they said. I can't actually confirm them for myself, though.
The final option here are actually unlockable by completing all missions here. The RTC Countdown is best set to 30. What is that, you ask? Well, it'll be explained later.
The Lives are best set to 5 so we can die 4 times without any consequence in addition to Auto-Life.
Anyway, we have a new mission. This one, like the briefing said, is just a tutorial.
Music: Lazy Afternoons
Music: Sinister Sundown
Well, let's go outside.
Meet our new addition: The gate.
Going through the gate resets the Heartless, which is important because on my playthrough, I touched it accidentally plenty of times and the Heartless I was fighting got all of their HP back.
On the bright side, dying won't reset their HP, so we can die 4 times without any issue
There's boxes and CoM's EXP gems scattered across town. Wonder what it is?
Oh, I see. So this is the kind of coop multiplayer where people sabotage each other. Got it.
Getting first place gives us more Mission Crowns after we completed the mission. Of course, with only one person, these prizes don't actually matter.
By the way, Xemnas doesn't walk or run. He glides.
Anyway, we eventually defeat the Scarlet Tangos and complete the mission.
There's that RTC countdown. Wonder what it's for?
Oh, another multiplayer mechanic that's seemingly useless for single players. Got it.
Because this isn't an actual mission, we don't get any Crowns
