I have to admit that this is the third time I’ve gotten platinum in this game. For the first time – many years ago, on an old PSN profile. The second time – in the PS3 version, about a year ago. And now, for the last time – in the version on PS4. After this, I don’t think there’s any need to explain how much I like this series. What from the outside seems like a child’s game turns out to be an Action/RPG with a plot that, in its intricacy, can compete even with the creation of the universally recognized genius Hideo Kojima.
So, let’s start with the first trophy..
The local analogue of the Normandy is the Gummi ship… There are no bears of the same name in the game. And in general, in the world of the game, Gummi blocks have little in common with these representatives of the fauna. You will have to travel a lot by ship, since each separate world is a separate planet, the path to which has to be overcome on a Gummy ship.
I think it’s no secret that the Kingdom Hearts series is the fruit of the work of two studios – Disney and SquareEnix. So, the first world that the main characters will visit is Wonderland from the cartoon Alice in Wonderland, Wonderland. Trophies associated with worlds in the game are acquired by closing keyholes, which in turn symbolize the “openness” of worlds to the forces of evil – the heartless.
That’s why you should make the moment of receiving a prize while the screen is darkening? In any case… after the world of Wonderland, the main characters go to the world of Tarzan – Deep Jungle. Here everything happens according to the standard scheme – Tarzan saves Jane, Clayton looks for gorillas, and the main characters fight the heartless. In general, as for the Disney worlds, we should give credit to the developers from Square – all these heartless ones are very harmoniously woven into classic plots and do not look out of place. Yes, and it’s worth noting that in most worlds, the main characters can be accompanied by the main character of the corresponding work. In this case, it is Tarzan, who wields a spear very deftly.
And we get this trophy if we close the keyhole in the world of Traverse Town – this city was created specifically for the game and is inhabited mainly by characters from the Final Fantasy universe. Here you have Squall, whose name here is Leon, and Euphie, Tifa and Iris. Yes, she’s a mix alive. There is also Sid, and he is still involved in aircraft issues. In local stores you can purchase useful items from Willie, Billy and Dilly, who naturally go by their original names in the game – Huey, Dewey and Louie
As you might guess, we get the Magic Lamp trophy after closing the keyhole in the world of Aladdin – Agrabah. Here our ally is the same “Street Thief”, and the villain is not some faceless heartless one, but Jafar himself. Moreover, according to all jRPG canons, he has two forms – the usual and the form of a genie. And, of course, the key to victory lies not in attacking Jafar himself, but in attacking the black lamp.
Around this moment, we are given access to the Synthesis store, which is located in Traverse Town, above the store of Uncle Scrooge’s nephews. It is run by moogles and if certain ingredients are available, cute creatures with red noses can create a certain piece of equipment that cannot be obtained in any other way, or another ingredient of a higher level.
Trophies are awarded for creating one, three, fifteen, thirty and all thirty-three items. Different, of course.
In general, the synthesis system in Kingdom Hearts is very boring. Firstly, we get higher level ingredients closer to the end of the game. Accordingly, we will receive the most powerful weapon, which is obtained here precisely through synthesis, when we prepare for the fight with the final bosses. Secondly, knocking out the ingredients itself is still a pleasure. Certain parts drop only from certain monsters, which you need to first find, and then hunt for them for a long time, since the chance of dropping ingredients is very low. Thirdly, the strongest components can only be obtained from unique monsters that appeared in the Final Mix version. And they, in turn, are attached to certain locations, where they do not appear every time. And each unique monster also requires a unique approach… In words it’s difficult, but in reality, everything is quite simple, but it takes a lot of time.
Flying on the Gummi ship, at one point we will meet a huge monster that is drifting freely between worlds. This monster is a whale from the cartoon Pinocio. As you might guess, the characters here will be Pinocchio himself, who cannot be taken to your team, and Geppetto. This world is quite boring and consists of several very extensive “rooms” that are connected to each other in a very confusing way.
The Colosseum is a world that, according to the plot, is visited after the world of Alice, but we will begin to receive trophies associated with this place around this period. The fact is that on our first visit, we just help Hercules deal with Cerberus and leave without closing the keyhole. As you progress through the story, tournaments will open in the Colosseum, for which you can receive very valuable prizes.
As in the case of synthesis, the most difficult tournaments open before the fight with the final boss and, importantly, they do not have requirements for the level of the main characters. But for the battles themselves within the tournament, experience is awarded and, by the way, quite a lot. You can improve well by participating in competitions.
After completing the tournament once, you can go through it alone. It may seem that the partners in the roles of Donald and Goofy provide invaluable support. In fact, going through a tournament alone is not much different from going through a whole team.
But passing for a while in certain cases can fray your nerves quite a bit. Therefore, I highly recommend taking them on at high levels. In this case, the superiority over the opponents will be enormous and they will no longer be able to provide any resistance.
Well, in order not to return to the Colosseum, I will immediately describe the trophies that are associated with this world.
Artisan Hero – victory in the Pegasus Cup. Nothing complicated or unusual. 10 rounds, in the last we fight with Leon and Euphie.
Hero of the Coliseum – similar. 10 rounds, in the last we defeat Hercules. After this tournament, the heroes close the keyhole in the Colosseum. Gameplay-wise, this doesn’t affect anything, we can still participate in all tournaments.
Coliseum Champion – now it’s a little more fun. 50 rounds. Round 10 – fight with a very strong but ordinary monster with Behemoth (yes, I will write the name of this monster in English). Round 20 – fight with Cerberus, whose characteristics have risen quite well since the moment of the plot battle. Round 30 – fight with Cloud and Leon, who very quickly wield their rather small swords. Round 40 – fight with Hades. If you don’t get into trouble, then there’s nothing wrong with it. His fire attacks, although they cause serious damage, are easy to dodge or parry. Round 50 – fight with the Stone Titan. Here everything is very simple – we run between the legs, poke the sword in the heel and hit the giant on the head when he falls to his knee.
The Frosty Giant – one round, fight with the Ice Titan. It’s not even a fight. It’s impossible to win a fair fight; Titan has very strong ice attacks and is quite agile. The secret of victory lies in repelling his attacks at himself. We remember the saying “the larger the closet, the louder it falls”. We stock up on elixirs and a good reaction.
One-Winged Angel – one round. Fight with Sephiroth. The one-winged angel even reached the Kingdom Hearts series with his katana. The only championship where it is advisable to come to the maximum level. Sephiroth is very fast, strong and has one very nasty attack, which in a matter of seconds leaves the main character with one unit of HP and mana. The fight becomes much easier if you learn to anticipate this attack.
Personally, I received this trophy only after completing half of the game, although it is possible to get it at the very beginning. All you need to do is go to the Gummi ship designer menu, make a change to the ship design and save it. Actually, having attached a couple of new guns to the base ship, I heard the coveted “ding”.
Next we go to Halloween Town – the world of Tim Burton and the cartoon The Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack Skellington will keep our heroes company here. It is worth noting that in this world the appearance of the heroes will change and will correspond to a darker Halloween theme.
The main characters will become https://krikyacasino.co.uk/mobile-app/ masters of the seas in the Atlantic, the world of Ariel and King Triton. As in the original cartoon, the main villain here is Ursula, who, according to the plot of the game, will also take the staff from the sea lord and will shower us with lightning abundantly during the fight. Since the events will unfold on the seabed, here, as in the case of Halloween Town, the appearance of the heroes will change. Sora will grow a tail with a fin, Donald will replace his limbs with octopus tentacles, and Goofy will receive a shell, which he will use as a weapon.
Next, the main characters will be captured by Captain Hook. He and his faithful assistant Mr. Smee, with the help of the heartless, navigate the endless oceans of the universe above… Big Ben. Events in this world largely affect the main characters of the game and do not have much in common with the original cartoon, although all the main characters in the person of Peter Pan, Wendy and the Tinker Bell fairy are found here. And I will try not to touch on this part of the plot, because if I describe everything concisely, there will be many incomprehensible moments, but if I tell everything in the smallest detail, then it will take a ton of digital paper.
Somewhere here we get a trophy for destroying 2000 heartless. And this is the only cumulative trophy for killing enemies, so even the laziest players are unlikely to be able to complete the game without receiving this trophy.
Here we also get a trophy for accumulating 10,000 munny – local currency. And this is also the only trophy for collecting money, you won’t have to collect any larger sums. To receive a trophy, you must have the entire amount “in your pocket” at a time, that is, the trophy is not cumulative.
By going to the next world of Hollow Bastion, which I will talk about a little later, we have a chance to get a trophy for collecting 100 chests. The total number of them in the game is much larger, but for the platinum trophy you still have to collect them all.
The presence of this trophy in the general list surprises me a little. The point is to get the Oathkepper weapon. We get it according to the plot and we won’t be able to miss it. The weapon itself is not something outstanding and will very quickly be replaced with a more powerful version. If the developers wanted to tie the trophy to an important plot event, then again, by the way – there are many stronger moments in the game. In any case, as I already said, the trophy is story-based and you won’t be able to miss it.
Here I would like to make a small digression and talk a little about the weapons in the game. The trio of main characters use individual weapons. Donald – magic staves, Goofy – shields, and Sora… keys. In the original, the main character’s weapon is called Keyblade. This is great. Each copy looks very stylish and cool, and the word itself – keyblade – is cool. But how to translate it into Russian while maintaining the same strong sound?? Keysword… swordkey… just a key? A key, in most cases, is associated with something small that fits in a pocket. And here is a weapon the size of a man. So we have to replace such a strong and beautiful word “Keyblade” with a faceless “weapon”.
Having opened almost all worlds, we are given complete freedom to move around them. This moment is ideal for side activities and trophies. Flights on the Gummi ship are just one of those. Moving between worlds, you can perform certain tasks, which, by the way, are very difficult. Starting from the traditional “earn N points” and “destroy X opponents” ending with “complete the route without weapons and without taking damage” or “destroy X opponents with a certain type of weapon”. For completing one mission each of the second and third levels, these trophies are provided.
The only world in which the game decided to take a screenshot on a white background rather than a black one. The world of Winnie the Pooh is optional and you can complete the game without even getting into it. The fact is that this world is a book from which pages have been torn. And only after finding all the pages scattered throughout the worlds of the game can you close the world of Vinnie and friends. The world itself is a set of mini-games – jumping competitions with Tigger, saving the Rabbit’s farm from rolling pumpkins and cabbages, and so on. The Heartless couldn’t penetrate this world, so you won’t even have to fight with anyone here.
Mini-games are a hallmark of Kingdom Hearts. In each part of the series, the game offers not only to move along the plot and destroy monsters, but also to have a little fun. In the first part, among the mini-games there are the already mentioned activities in the world of Winnie the Pooh, jumping on vines, speed descents along tree branches in the world of Tarzan and the Colosseum.
You’ll have to fly a Gummy Ship a lot, so the trophy for destroying 2,500 enemies in flight can be called a story trophy. You have to try really hard to miss it.
This trophy is one of the main differences between the PS4 version and the PS3. There are a total of 48 ship models in the game and in the PS3 version you had to collect them all. All models can be divided into three groups:
1. Received for destroying the corresponding enemy ship. The easiest way to get. There are 29 of these in the game.
2. Obtained from Gepetto for killing a certain number of Heartless. Just as we play, we visit the carpenter’s house and get a new model. There are 8 of these in the game. The difficulty here is that if you don’t know about it, you can look for these instances for a very long time.
3. Received for completing level 3 missions on the Gummi Ship. As I said before, these missions are not the most enjoyable experience in the game. There are 11 of these in the game.
And how nice it was to find out that in the PS4 version you only need to collect 30 models. You can immediately forget about completing missions on the Gummi Ship. You will have to destroy your opponents in any case, so the drawings from the first and second groups are obtained by themselves and collecting 30 drawings is not difficult.
In addition to the three main characters, there is another character who does not leave them a single step and around whom the action of the game even unfolds in one of the parts. This is Jiminy Cricket. He keeps a diary of our travels and records all game events and achievements in it. Trinity stamps are one such type of achievement. There are corresponding markings scattered around the world that can be activated. The goal of the trophy is to find all these stamps. There is nothing complicated about this; in the magazine at any time you can see the Trinity stamps of what color and where to activate.
As mentioned earlier, the next story world that the heroes visit is Hollow Bastion. Actually, the End of the World trophy is a trophy for closing a keyhole in this very world. Here you can take the Beast from Beauty and the Beast as your partner, and Maleficent will act as one of the bosses. In both human and dragon form.
The last of the available worlds is the same End of the World – a world assembled from pieces of worlds captured by the heartless. By opening this world, we thereby open all available routes for flights on the Gummi ship. For such an outstanding achievement, the Top Gun trophy is awarded.
The next item from Jiminy’s magazine is the stories section. This section contains information about all the worlds that the heroes visit during the game. Naturally, after the opening of the last world, this section will be filled 100%. But provided that we have collected all the scattered pages from the world of Winnie the Pooh and completed it.
At this point, I decided to move away from the plot and fight the first secret boss – Phantom. The fight takes place in the world of Peter Pan next to Big Ben and lasts… 12 seconds. Technically. At the very beginning, the Phantom casts a death spell on the characters, which after 12 seconds will kill them, regardless of characteristics or other parameters. The only way to resist is to cast a Stop spell on the tower clock. In this case, the death spell is also suspended. The boss himself requires a special approach. The sphere that the Phantom holds constantly changes its color and, in accordance with the color of the sphere, the boss can only be hit with magic of a certain element – fire, ice or lightning. Well, you’ll also have to wave the key.
The next section of the magazine is Dalmatians. In the world of Traverse Town, there is a house where Pongo and Peddy live, which clearly hints at how good they had it when they lived as a family under one roof. The point is to find 99 puppies scattered throughout the worlds of Kingdom Hearts. They hide in chests, and in groups of three. As I mentioned earlier, for the platinum trophy you still have to find all the chests, so we get the trophy as we complete more global goals.
The game has a trophy for collecting all the weapons for the three main characters – Sora, Goofy and Donald. Most of the keys for Sora are obtained during the story and completion of the Colosseum. The most powerful pieces of equipment are obtained through synthesis. In the case of shields for Goofy and staves for Donald, everything is almost the same, but you still have to knock out one type of weapon from the corresponding opponents. And… to say that the chance of dropping is low is to say nothing. About one chance in five hundred. Some have more, some have less, but on average it’s about the same. So spending an hour in an unsuccessful pursuit of a weapon is a reality for which you need to be prepared. But you can earn money.
The next hardest secret boss is Kurt Zisa. He owes his interesting name to an American fan of the game, who won a competition to create the most interesting boss and thus received the honorable opportunity to immortalize his name in the history of Kingdom Hearts. This boss is located in the world of Aladdin and does not require any very special approach. He’s just more durable and stronger than Phantom. With six arms then. Therefore, I recommend taking it on more or less prepared and with Ultimate Weapon.
The last of the secret bosses and the most difficult of them all is… the guy in the hood. I’ll leave his name a secret, let it be an intrigue for those who haven’t played, but who in the future might want to. This guy is quite agile and has very unpleasant attacks that can wreak havoc on the main character’s command list. But in terms of damage it is clearly inferior to the same Sephiroth, which makes it possible to defeat him without having the maximum level behind him. But the most powerful weapon is highly recommended. Oh yes, there is a boss in the world of Hollow Bastion.
Since it was decided to complete all the side tasks in the first playthrough, it was decided not to put off leveling up to level 99. As you might guess, this level of development is the maximum. Despite the fact that the world of The End of the Worlds is available at this moment, I recommend leveling up in Hollow Bastion. The density of opponents per unit of playing area is greater in the latter.
We get the Searcher trophy for collecting all Ansem’s reports. There are only 12 of these reports – some are acquired as part of the story, some for defeating secret bosses. Ansem himself is the main antagonist of the first part of Kingdom Hearts, who, in the process of researching the nature of the Heartless, himself became their victim, albeit voluntarily.
Professor – trophy for completely filling out the section of the magazine with the characters of the game. In my case, it opened after defeating Sephiroth, since that was the last thing I did before the final boss.
Well, then there’s a trophy for filling out all sections of the magazine, namely:
— Chronicles — stories of worlds and main characters;
— Ansem’s Report — reports on Ansem’s research;
— Characters — information about all the characters you are lucky enough to meet in the game;
— 101 Dalmatians — a list of puppies and information about where else to find them;
— Trinity List — information about found Trinity stamps;
— Mini Games — list of mini-games in which the player participated.
Another difference between the PS4 version and the PS3 version is that trophies related to the difficulty of the game are interconnected. Thus, after completing the game on the Normal difficulty level, a trophy for the lower Novice difficulty level will automatically open. This had not happened before, but this was not a big drawback, since..
…there are several trophies in the game that impose some restrictions. There are three in total:
Speedster – complete the game in less than 15 hours;
Undefeated – complete the game without ever “continuing” the game. That is, after death, you need to load the last save, and not continue the game from the last checkpoint;
Unchanging Armor – complete the game without changing equipment. Despite the fact that the name of the trophy contains the word Armor (which, by the way, is not in the game), weapons also cannot be changed.
Actually, it is the last trophy that forces you to run through the game again at the minimum difficulty level.
Well, the last trophy before platinum is completing the game on the maximum difficulty level. Not much harder than average, but some bosses will make you sweat. Especially if you come to them at a fairly low level.
As a result – a platinum trophy! Unfortunately, the above-mentioned “trick” of the game, taking screenshots against a dark background, does not allow you to fully enjoy the highly artistic shots from the game. However, the story told in Kingdom Hearts leaves a vivid mark on the memory, and the development that it received in numerous sequels and prequels takes it to a new level.
As for the trophies, everything can be described quite simply – the Japanese masters from Square Enix force us to explore the worlds of Kingdom Hearts 100% and after receiving the platinum trophy we can say with confidence that we have seen everything there is in this game.