Well, it's a kind of awesome name, but it's got some major plot importance in Kingdom Hearts 1. It's set up as being the final world, and it feels like a final world; you even have two fights with the character touted as being the main villain up to this point as well as a few other fights that, sadly, are omitted from this world. Regardless, it is an awesome world in that respect that isn't quite as good here but it's still pretty fun.
Oh, I could hazard a guess. Unlike normal, here the camera pans over to said voices so no silhouette portraits this time.
Jeez, what a bitch. To think she's supposed to have a pure heart, and she does something like this.
Belle: It doesn't matter anyway. I'm not going back with you, so you're wasting your time.
Beast: Have you lost your mind? How can you stay here with that witch?
Belle: I've nothing more to say. Now leave, before Maleficent finds you.
Maleficent? I might not be some kind of Disney lore master, but I'm certain she was the antagonist in Sleeping Beauty. Regardless, she is, for the most part, the main antagonist in KH1 but not truly. Apparantly, her original world is not Hollow Bastion, but rather Enchanted Dominion (which doesn't actually exist in any games thus far but it'll probably be in Birth By Sleep). This actually makes sense, since Hollow Bastion is the home world of... the Final Fantasy characters from Traverse Town.
Beast: Belle...why?
Sora: I'm not sure what's going on, but...is everything okay?
Beast: Keep your sympathy. No one could ever care for a beast like me.
You'd expect him to be some kind of hardass, but no such luck.
Regardless, there's a lot of new things to be discovered.
Defenders. Defenders are the first of many new enemies Hallow Bastion brings and are one of the most annoying. You can only attack them from behind, normally, but as soon as you get behind them without stunning them, they will automatically turn around. Want to blast them with Fire/Blizzard raid? No such luck as they're immune to Fire and Ice. Want to cheaply one shot them with Ars Arcanum? I'm sure you do, but they have 9s. Fuck Defenders.
Comparatively, Wyvern's aren't that bad. They don't have cards which can break your broken sleights, but they are the first enemy that will actively try and stunlock you and everytime it happens you lose just over 1/3 of your max HP (provided your HP is still at the minimum of course). Despite this, they're pretty simple and go down in no time.
Dark Ball... there really isn't anything to say about these guys. They were a bit annoying in Kingdom Hearts 1 since they liked to basically teleport around whilst being unhittable but here they are really, really nerfed. They can actually use 6s, but it seldom seems to happen.
Wizards... Wizards are Green Requiems only much, much more annoying. Unlike Green Requiems, they won't just heal - heck they won't heal period - but they do like to fly out of the way of an Ars Arcanum and then throw a 7 at you. In mid animation. It's more annoying when you don't even know they are there. Unlike Defenders, however, you can render this a moot point by using a Feeble Darkness map card (-2 from the value of every card the enemy uses) but it's annoying when you don't want to do this, or can't. However, that doesn't change their most annoying aspect: they are immune to Gravity. This might not sound too bad, however Gravity spells are the most convenient way of preventing an enemy from hitting you since the damage animation lasts longer than Stop's effect. Or at least feels like it.
Speaking of Wizards, the first encounter I had with one netted me this:
This must be the easiest enemy card to get that doesn't belong to a boss since I got like 5 of these things without even trying to get any. Its effect is pretty crap too; it prevents you from using summon cards to power up regular ol' magic. Could be useful in a deck where you have no summons, but it's still not worth using unless you need desperate healing and can't Curaga or something.
I'm not done with these yet though:
A pretty good effect, that's worth using in some of the end game boss fights but it still leaves you vulnerable. Best used at the very, very beginning of a fight (or after you run out of items), since it allows you to restock (or "recharge") your deck without the amount of charges needed increasing.
As for the Calm Bounty treasure?
Cross-Slash+. No prizes for guessing one of the cards required here.
The Stop card is simple; this is just regular ol' Cross-Slash (two Clouds) with the original effect it had of stopping the enemy for a while. Since Stop lasts for such a pisspoor time, this sleight isn't really worth using.
Fortunately, there is one more treasure you can get here...
It's like Strike Raid only better/worse. I've only ever used it once, and that was by accident because I forgot I had it, and it doesn't appear like it stuns enemies unlike Strike Raid however, it can cover the whole screen so it's got a potentially higher damage output.
No, I couldn't guess why Cloud is the only card that needs to be used.
Oh, whilst I remember I did get one more thing...
The only "Key to..." you can get from a regular fight, it's important because it's the only one that can be taken between worlds as well. You can only acquire it from Floor 7 upwards; don't try opening floor 7 and then heading back to Traverse Town; you won't get one from it. This key is the second rarest post battle drop and you'll only need to get a few of them, but each and every world has one room which requires this to get in. Inside that room, is a unique treasure that you absolutely cannot get anywhere else until you've got it once. In ReCom, however, they have another use. Using it on certain worlds after finishing the game allows you to get unique enemy cards representing certain enemies that weren't in this game but were in KH2. I probably won't use the KtR immediately, since they take forever to get when you actively try, but I'll use at least one eventually.
Outside of multiplayer (yes, there's a versus multiplayer. It's presumably shit unless you have two max HP/CP Sora's duking it out with overpowered sleights), this card is completely fucking useless. It prevents your opponent from seeing the cards in your deck. They can, logically, still see the cards when you use them so why would you even want to use this?
Lastly, a very... different enemy.
Black Mushrooms can only be encountered in one specific room type which spawns only them. Don't try fighting them to grind; it's useless since they give a meagre 10 exp each and they are more hassle than 10 exp is worth. They can be encountered at pretty much any point after Traverse Town but the relevant room cards are ungodly rare until this point and they are buggers to fight normally. The most convenient way to fight them is to just spam Ars Arcanum since, otherwise, they may make themselves invincible - which doesn't require a card for them to do so - and then proceed to stunlock you to death. All good things have a flaw, however, since they could go invincible just before the first strike hits... or one behind you, and there almost definitely will be one behind you, will use a 7 breaking the Arcanum and then stunlock Sora.
Just before the last plot door, I did manage to get my hands on this...
Now the game is even moreso my bitch than ever before. There's just one little catch however...
It requires a Mega-Ether and a Megalixir to be sleighted - in that order - to be activated. Short of outright cheating, this can't be used until end-game because of the Megalixir (I don't even have access to a regular Elixir yet).
Anyway, there's no dicking around left to be had so it's off to the plot.
I just realised how retarded Goofy's walking animation can look.
...No?
Sora: Uh...not exactly. It's a long story. Hey, wait a sec... So you've been kidnapped? You don't want to be here?
Belle: That witch, Maleficent, forced me to come here. I have no one to talk to. Books are all I have to ease my loneliness. And then there's him...Oh, I've missed him to much.
Hey, books are awesome. There's a lot of cool places that you can only get to via books. I wonder if she's re- ahem, moving on.
Goofy: You mean the beast? You were so mean to him before.
Sora: You really hurt his feelings.
Belle: You don't understand. I can't let him see how I really feel. It's just that - Oh no, she's coming! Hide, quickly! There's no time to explain. Hide yourselves! Now!
All their walking animations look silly now. Aside from maybe Donald's, but I can't see it so I'm not sure.
She means Beast, and not Sora. Although in the given context, it could have been either.
Maleficent: He risked his life to come and save you. Why do you reject him?
Belle: I won't ask for his help. I'm not going to fall into your trap!
Maleficent: Then I have no choice but to make you BEG for his help!
Well, it looks like it's time to track down the villain rather than run away from them or have them crowbarred in at the end to make sense. This world is definitely my favourite of the first two sets due to the characterisation if nothing else.
.png)
)
Dragon Slayer Sora 
?
objection.gif)
