Part 53: Episode 2: An Empty Castle

Well I played through Riku's story to the end a couple days ago just as a refresher, I beat it at around lvl 33 or so. The last two bosses were hellish at that lvl. As for sleighting we'll get to that, probably the update after this one. It ties into the story stuffs.

Guys, Riku's tale is one big long spoiler for kingdom hearts one. I'm not going to black bar anything from this point about the first game. Any KH2 spoilers will still be kept in black bars.

Episode 2: An Empty Castle


Oh, this place.



Maleficent apparently made Riku sleep in the library. At least it's quiet right?


"Sorry, but these memories I could do without. Maleficent gave me this room."


"You cast away your home, your friends, everything...
But at least they gave you a nice room."

Yeowch. Guilt much, Mr.Voice?




Journal Entry One. Mood: Uncertain
Well, I found my old journal in the library. It was right where I left it, in the box under the bed with my... Anyways. Read through some of it, wished I hadn't. Did I really used to think like that? I pulled out the old pages before I started this entry. I need to start over, start better. There's a lot going on I don't understand right now, but I guess all I can do is move forward.

I don't remember the castle being so... pink. I guess that's all for now.
-Riku





What, did you expect to find the Princesses downstairs or something?


"Where are the people from my memories? Tell me!"



Aww, somebody's lonely.


"To reach the outside world you paseed through the Door to Darkness.
Behind you, you left family, friends, home--everything--
all in pursuit of darkness."


Heh, when you say it like that it almost seems like a bad thing.



Nothing at all.


"It's empty, like that room."

Let up a little Mr.Voice, I think he gets the point. No need to run it into the ground.


"Your heart is hollow except for the darkness you couldn't quite shake off."



Thanks for that seed of doubt, the ten tons of guilt wasn't nearly enough to make him feel like complete shit.


Final plot door of this castle. Now is as good a time as any to say that Riku doesn't get any unique door cards or monsters, Sora's seen them all. So I won't be re-showing them.


Why is the courtyard the only place that isn't a sickly color of pink?




Well at least the people in Riku's constructs aren't confused about it.



Well this IS her castle... Who were you expecting?


"You can only see people who exist in that same darkness-- people like me."


Yes, this means the only people in Riku's constructs will be bosses. And after Maleficent here, they won't even talk. All the story for Riku comes from the white corridor.


"Your heart is empty. Were it not for the darkness in your heart...
...you would be completely alone."



"You want me here. Who else but I can give you the darkness you long for?"


"I even wore this frilly skirt and a black and purple spandex outfit to show it."



"I finished with all that. If I'm stuck seeing people like you, people of the dark..."


Solving problems with VIOLENCE is my favorite thing to do!




"I hate that weakness. It's like I'm my own enemy."

Someone queue up a Linken Park song already.


Crawling in my skin...


These wounds they will not heal...




We've done this part before but this time we get to do it easier. Riku can jump high enough to smack Maleficent in the face without the Mickey emblem, and Maleficent has a lot less HP.


One thing to note is that Riku has no way to heal himself so don't take too long. His deck here is excellent, lots of high cards and one elixer.

Maelficent takes under 1:00 to fall to the SOUL EATER!


After she's done, there's no dialogue or anything, I'm just kicked out into the level. The way out isn't even nearby it's like 3 rooms over. Riku walks his puffy pants to the door, grumbling something about Sora getting all the good level design. There's no Great Big Ladder OR save cube. What the hell.

White Corridor hijinks await next time in-

Episode 3: Of Mice and Ansems