Can You Beat Kingdom Hearts 2 Without Keyblade Combos? [Complete] - LibraScope

[@deyvantwo5426]

“What am I supposed to do if I can’t use the keyblade?” this

[@Ruisu07]

thankfully reflect is broken xD early game is brutal tho

[@sakura368]

good thing sora knows magic

[@Iceythrowshands]

he cant use magic without the keyblade though.

[@deyvantwo5426]

@@Iceythrowshands couldn't he use it with the wooden sword in KH1 when Riku stole his keyblade?

[@Iceythrowshands]

@@deyvantwo5426 oh yeah.

[@jR0xas]

Before even watching the video I already feel like this is going to be a Chicken Little/Stitch/Triangle run.

[@LibraScope]

Don't forget Limits and Magic :D

[@cameronharding6055]

@@LibraScope Or wisdom/master/final forms buffed magic. And technically Ragnarok if you make sure the combo part of it doesn’t hit an enemy.

[@Trashley652]

Roxas doesn't count because it's actually just a data keyblade

[@LibraScope]

Lol, yeah that's a good excuse :D

[@alba2162]

He also doesn't count because it says combos, I don't think a single dash is a combo

[@alba2162]

Also they're not yours

[@PTp1ranha]

@@alba2162 "Besides... this isn't my sword!"

[@awesomehazimex7410]

@@PTp1ranha Kinda makes me want to see a MGRR mod where the sword is replaced with the kingdom key

[@DarkFrozenDepths]

Also, Hidden Dragon was always useful lol. It lets you get the Star Seeker off of Valor Form sooner.

[@johnpantag472]

If you are a good player you go to land of dragons after every other world in the 1st world group.

[@deadsagelife]

@@johnpantag472 im doing level 1 and definitely did land of dragons last

[@lightknight5364]

To add a reason to why it is okay to hit the cornerstone's cage in Timeless River: You hang on to the hook with a reaction command. Reactions are legal in the run, and technically, while hanging from the hook Sora is still in a reacting state, so hitting the box is doable. You get what I mean, right?

[@LibraScope]

Ahahaha! Yeah, I never thought of it that way. You could indeed argue that the attacks are just part of the hanging reaction command itself, lol.

[@justaviewer9012]

@@LibraScope idc how long ago this was but before I found this video, I did this run of magic only which I thought would be interesting. Timeless ricer's cage was a learning point because you needed to finish off the cage using magic but the cage is only hit while on the hook. I learned if you shoot a blizzard spell and grab the hook quickly, you can end the battle with magic. This could be used to do the battle purely using magic but it is very slow.

[@loganrenfrow2544]

@@LibraScope I didn't check myself but I'd like to know whether those hits give Valor form exp. If not then I'd say pretty definitively that they don't count as keyblade attacks.

[@LibraScope]

@@loganrenfrow2544 Also definitely a fair point!

[@Venen_0]

Fun Fact: The hot rod enemies are very weak to thunder, so you probably should’ve used that in the burning building fight, unless it takes up a large amount of MP

[@LibraScope]

If I recall it takes the most MP out of the options you have at that point. But, I didn't know that, so it might've actually been helpful, lol.

[@Muckowitch]

Actually they are even more weak to blizzard. They resist Fire, are weak to Thunder and super weak to Blizzard. You just need to time it correctly so you avoid their invulnerability frames.

[@shadowsnake5133]

@@Muckowitch so the cars would be dragon ground type in pokemon... i honestly can see this.

[@Muckowitch]

@@shadowsnake5133 I..... guess.... Honestly, my first thought was not to compare it with Pokémon, but with a real car. The motor gets pretty hot, so it has to be kinda heat resistant. With all the technology in cars nowadays they're kinda weak to electric failure, but they would still work. But if something like heavy snowfall is happening you are screwed.

[@shadowsnake5133]

@@Muckowitch yeah that too, but the fact dragon types dominated pokemon when I joined and the fact I still struggle with these buckets lead me to comparing them, and I'm not letting that die off now.

[@blueflare3299]

Player: Mashes X Revenge Values: You know the rules, and so do I! S A Y G O O D B Y E

[@roxas5071]

3 Things 1 Lingering Will in a nutshell 2 The fact that your pfp is Sora with a Gun makes it better 3 Roxas in a nutshell

[@blueflare3299]

@@roxas5071 Facts. I want to see an X-Mashers v the Lingering Will. I would either be offended by the playstyle or laughing my ass off

[@roxas5071]

@@blueflare3299 Meh not like someone uses limits except Limit Form or magic that is not cure or reflect on that fight mostly is just search an opening attack with a combo of 3 defense breakers and in the end a Explosion then quick run away search an opening repeat the problem is surviving things like his 3 curses mostly the attack one and the one that looks like Xemnas one from KH1FM other than that the magic cursed is mostly useless also you can dodge roll with good timing the arrow attack that gives you the attack and magic curse

[@blueflare3299]

@@roxas5071 Yes, but knowing all of that requires game knowledge and trial and error, which X-mashers usually don't have. Also thanks for the LW guide.

[@roxas5071]

@@blueflare3299 No problem believe i lost my death counts and im playing standard

[@keyblademasterct2]

Wow, I had I similar idea; I was thinking of doing a "No Attack Command + No Optional Reaction Commands" run.

[@LibraScope]

If you're okay with a rather slow early game, I'd definitely say to try it. It certainly reframes the game in an interesting way. Though it could also break your brain for a little bit, because - at least for me - after I made this video I kept slipping into "No Combos" mode mentally whenever I played the game, lol.

[@BoP]

Gonna make some suggestions for anyone crazy enough to do this. Early game you can use valor form to get back MP, just dont hit anything. Also the drive explosion does damage if you ever find yourself needing one hit. It's a good save because it gives you a free heal and free mp, and you can revert immediately afterwards. Getting a drive form removes all anti points and some fights you can't even get anti form. Meaning that when you first get wisdom you'll have 0 anti points which you can use to grind. And you can also use wisdom on Barbossa for more damage. Please use trinity more often, it's very good. I don't remember what he said about using the Break portion of team trinity but seriously just major drive and ultima are VERY good. Especially if you combine it with magnet.Use Jack's limit in Halloween Town. This is also very good. You can level limit form much easier. Go to agrabah to the room of treasures. Begin the heartless minigame and run to the loading zone but don't go into it. Lock and spam sonic rave. It's the fastest way to level and safest because you literally cannot get hit. Use stitch in the control room minigame in Tron world, and spam magnet and thunder. For the FF heartless battles you can actually level just a bit more if you picked shield and get once more which is a very powerful ability. With Stitch out, Magnet + Thunder with photon debugger might find you more success in mob fights since stitch is always refilling MP. At final xemnas if you want to save yourself a good chunk of time, learn where to use reflect during the opening reversal spam section. You can also reflect to avoid getting captured and playing with riku. Great video otherwise. I might give this a try.

[@rexcuso6527]

in the fight with MCP you can raise the valor form level using the delete command or others Reaction Commands.

[@shadowsnake5133]

@@rexcuso6527 that is the best form of cheating.

[@blakelyready5980]

@@rexcuso6527 I never knew that, that is really useful.

[@rexcuso6527]

@@blakelyready5980 I was not the one who discovered it, I saw it in a Stickman Sham video kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZCqeoOCqMara9E

[@jlabella211]

Honestly, I felt just like you while watching this playthrough. I could write a list of strategies that he left us out on.

[@Smellbringer]

Lore friendly variant of this run, "What am I supposed to do if I can't use the keyblade?" mode. You can use the attack command UNTIL the Battle of 1000 Heartless where Sora learns of the Organizations plans. After that Sora can only use the Keyblade on Nobodies because they don't have hearts and Disney villains like Sark or Hades. Honestly this probably is an easier variant, you can get a few levels of Hi-Jump and Dodge Roll and even grind glide because it requires beating Nobodies. Roxas and the entire Organization become easier as well. You can also use the keyblade after Ansem shatters Kingdom Hearts but the game is basically over by that point so it doesn't matter/

[@LibraScope]

That's actually a really solid idea that would definitely make it easier for people who may find this a bit too challenging, and allows for some cool roleplay :D

[@DiademAce]

I like this I’ll do this on a replay the game on proud was a little to easy after that point

[@elementallobsterx]

Wait... Your subscriber count ISN'T OVER 100K? KZbin is broken... Your videos are incredibly well done, and this one is the magnum opus. I listen to it almost every time I shower lol. You're great!

[@LibraScope]

Lol, I really appreciate that :D And now, as of now I'm not even lucky enough to be over 1000 subs, lol. Hopefully that changes soon though.

[@elementallobsterx]

@@LibraScope Me too. This algorithm is pathetic. You have all the right traits to succeed. Don't ever quit :)

[@LibraScope]

@@elementallobsterx Well, I'll try not to. But at this point I'm thousands of dollars in the hole, so it gets harder and harder to justify each passing year, lol.

[@elementallobsterx]

@@LibraScope Dang bro. I hope it pans out for you, but as long as you're doing it, do it as well as you can. The easy part is hard work, the hard part is inspiration.

[@MadMunky20k]

Something that could have helped a lot early, especially in Land of Dragons, is actually Valor Form. If you kept Goofy on hand, you could have used Valor and instantly reverted to quickly refill your HP and MP in a pinch.

[@D-Up242]

Hey, something that kinda helps with the Zebra Xemnas fight: During the whole "We shall go together" Reversal string, casting Reflect before Reversing deals a decent amount of damage, and due to the fact that he hyper armors through all attacks during those moves, you can shred at least one health bar before he stops. And this strategy works just as well in his Data Battle, where you have to be MUCH more precise in your Reversals.

[@herb2627]

Could add the pushing Minnie exploit used in speedruns, you just push her into the side and run diagonally against the wall and Minnie to push her all the way to the end. I did this even before knowing it was used in speedruns because I play games like an idiot

[@lucaskincanyon7393]

I knew I wasn’t crazy! I would always use the reaction command for reversal in the final mix version on PS3 for the final Xemnas fight and I always got hit out of it! I knew I wasn’t crazy!

[@drakath5727]

8:08 You could say his ping was causing him to lag.

[@CasualGamerDude]

Technecly, infinity doesnt use the keyblade to hit enemies, js. so leveling limit form is valid.

[@shadowsnake5133]

I'm noticing you used Donald alot, and I just have to ask why? Like yeah, he heals, but goofy would be a better option because of damage right? Also, sark is definitely bugged, as I've never hit that clearly necessary limiter... then again, I run tp the opposite side of the arena whenever trons unconscious, so maybe it's a distance and life thing.

[@LibraScope]

I wouldn't say either of them is the 'wrong' option necessarily. And I'm not sure I consciously thought about it at all when I made the video. If I did though, I'd hazard to guess that I chose Donald primarily because A: Early on that means I'd always have access to Wisdom Form if I needed it, where Valor is basically only useful as a heal. And B: I tried to avoid overusing items, so that I didn't have to grind for Munny. So having Donald there for an extra heal is useful so that I don't have to waste my MP on Cure. Some of these fights lasted longer than normal, increasing the risk of needing to heal rather often. Running out of items would be super bad if my only remaining heal was through using Cure on myself. I'd be completely unable to attack for the next 30 seconds or whatever.

[@alba2162]

It's because goofy got hit by that rock and got knocked out before you start revisiting worlds

[@redgle862]

@@alba2162 Lol

[@LightKing1237]

How do you only have 200 subs? Like damn this is some amazing content

[@LibraScope]

Lol, thanks. Glad you enjoyed the video! We can see that number grow if you know anyone else who might be interested in the content I make :P

[@DiegoG2004]

26:20 I'm not used to seeing this part without pushing Minnie across the wall.

[@couver73]

Fun fact about Valor Form. For SOME reason, using the reaction command that damages MCP apparently counts as hitting enemies for the purposes of gaining XP for that form. Granted, it's fairly late into the game and it's a pain just to be able to enter the form at all if Goofy keeps dying in one hit during the fight. So, up to you if you think it's worth doing it for levelling it up possibly once or twice.

[@stareanddream]

This is going to be impossible...right...RIGHT...R I G H T?

[@LibraScope]

Only technically ;)

[@ItsKNabaha]

For the third room in Timeless River, You could use fire to kill off the first wave of heartless, then use Trinity Limit - Triangle and end to instantly beat that room. That way you don't have to use Chicken Little, and save Drive.

[@LibraScope]

If I recall correctly, since beating the rooms sends you back to the main hill area where everyone is walking around, I technically don't have to worry about saving Drive; as long as Chicken Little is still out at the end, it should fully refill the Drive Gauge. But otherwise, yeah, Trinity Limit's finale sounds like it would've been really effective because of the enclosed space :)

[@mde1953]

Extremely underrated content

[@LibraScope]

Lol, thanks :D

[@nicholaskane69]

If I recall correctly, Reaction Command hits DO count for Valor Form experience. Rockshatter's a good candidate.

[@LibraScope]

Oooooh, that's actually an interesting loophole if true. Very interesting!

[@samuelcalegnan1674]

It does work kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZCqeoOCqMara9E

[@Flutterdark_]

@@LibraScope it is true. rando racers use it sometimes when fighting mcp, as every damage tick is a hit technically. so its good valor grinding

[@jexusdomel5194]

I have tested a bit and it depends. If you do a direct hit with the keyblade it counts, like soldiers cyclone , however it wont count if the hit is from the enemy, bat cry or lance tug dont add any exp for valor. Theres a good amount of reaction commands that I have no idea what would do tbh, maybe ill try with more peculiar cases like the air pirate ones (maybe there more weird ones like mcp who knows)

[@LibraScope]

@@jexusdomel5194 That would actually be a good way to test exactly what actions count as keyblade attacks in general, actually. It would allow the rules for this run to be fine tuned for anyone who also wants to exclude things like Reaction Commands, using definitive proof instead of just eyeballing it, lol.

[@axelviii1333]

I think for the first worlds Valor isn't useless, cuz if u run out of MP u can go into Valor and instant revert so u get ure MP and HP back but still don't use Keyblade combos. But anyways awsome vid 😊

[@LibraScope]

Oh yeah, definitely. I'm not sure why I didn't clarify that myself in the video. I purposefully didn't use it for that purpose in worlds like Beast's Castle because I was afraid I might need it later, and I didn't want to risk dealing with Anti-Form. But looking back at it now, not only would it have been invaluable, but I really didn't need to worry about getting enough anti points to end up in Anti-Form before Wisdom reset the counter anyway.

[@thehumanstunlock7588]

@@LibraScope that and the transformation explosion would give you breathing room as well a bit of chip damage to work with in crowded situations

[@LibraScope]

@@thehumanstunlock7588 Indeed it would've :)

[@ZenoDLC]

@@LibraScope Anti Form might have been a blessing, it clearly don't use any Keyblades of any kind

[@LibraScope]

@@ZenoDLC This is true. But without any major defensive options, and with I think a 2x boost to damage take(?) it's pretty dangerous to use if you don't know how to. And I definitely don't, lol.

[@theendermanking3616]

Alternative Title: True Mage Run

[@intotheindievods8821]

Now, you finally found a use for Hidden Dragon

[@AlbeLWarrior]

Loved this video. I almost never do challenge playthroughs of games, but I just might do this one. Awesome job, man.

[@LibraScope]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, and I hope that if you decide to try it, it goes well for you :D

[@aarontheruler]

The “mash x to win” thing is for people who don’t play critical

[@gammalolman580]

So, this video blew up only recently and maybe you will know some of this already, but I'll say it anyways: First off, using a drive form recovers your hp and mp, meaning that using Valor form just for that could have been useful. Second... Valor form does not care if you attack with your keyblade for leveling, but only if you damage the enemy due to your attack. Reaction commands are legally your attacks, so you can use reaction commands to freely level up Valor form

[@LibraScope]

Yeah, I already knew about the Drive Forms healing you and filling your MP. I just wasn't sure if I'd need them or not later on, and I didn't really want to end up running up against Anti-Form. And people have mentioned using Reaction Commands to level Valor. In particular they've said the fight against the MCP is a good place to level it quickly :)

[@gammalolman580]

@@LibraScope good to know

[@Flutterdark_]

31:00 something i did not know until quite recently. when you use thunder right before you grab onto the hook then the thunder damage will count. so this is technically possible without keyblade htis. tho it takes a while. Also funny thing with the luxord fight. you can reflect when he wants to do the game to skip it and do damage. dont know which is mroe effective. Armored Xemnas 2 is a joke in this challenge. because magic lock-on = infinite thunder range. slow but its free. like you can stand on the ground and he jsut dies

[@LibraScope]

Yeah, someone actually mentioned that it should be possible to use Blizzard on the cage as well, and then quickly grab the hook to cause the damage to count. Definitely super interesting!

[@Flutterdark_]

@@LibraScope i learned that when someone pulled it in a kh2 plando i made. was very shocked. blizzard works too since you can aim it. you can also hit pete while hes throwing objects with thunder (may require magic lock-on

[@k-p116]

Some tips for whoever wants to do this challenge: in the early game, you can just use valor form to regain MP and then immediately revert. It might help you save time. To easily get the Bat Cry command, try hitting the bats with fire.

[@johnpantag472]

You do 2 hits jump and 1 hit for soldiers to get cyclone and a fire or a single swing for the bat command.

[@hypershadic2014]

1:01:59 you could have switched to valor form real quick and leveled up to get high jump there. Apparently that reaction command with Tron counts ad keyblade hits. Why not sure but nice thing.

[@wolke3774]

You can fill up drive gauge by starting a tournament in the Underworld. I don’t know if this tipp ever has been said, but I never heard of it in any video

[@StilesReviews]

I watched this one the other day but forgot to comment, very interesting.

[@Murdoc_Mob]

I've watched this all the way through and you gave me so many ideas to really put myself through hell while playing this game 😂 I would love to see more Kingdom Hearts on this channel

[@LibraScope]

That's the idea. As long as you're having fun while traveling through hell, it's all good, right? :D I have another challenge like this with a KH game coming out soon. And if it's the type of thing you're interested in, I have a review of KH3 from launch, and a revisit critique of it to discuss the Re:Mind DLC, the update that came with it, and Critical mode.

[@Murdoc_Mob]

I've watched some of your KH3 review but I got sidetracked with your Bayonetta video which is really good! Could you possibly do a no damage run in or the no keyblade video KH3?

[@LibraScope]

@@Murdoc_Mob Well, I'm definitely open to suggestions for challenge videos of course! However, for me it's about trying to find challenges that are fun to do, fun to watch, and that viewers might find fun to try themselves; things that test the mechanics in a lateral way. No damage is just kinda "Do it perfect.", which I don't personally find interesting to do. Not to mention, things attack you from off screen in KH3 so often, it sounds like a nightmare. I don't think I have the patience for it, lol. As for doing a no keyblade combos video for KH3, I've actually done testing on it, and it turns out it's a lot less interesting than it sounds like on paper. Since all of your spells are either area of effect attacks like Aero or Thunder, or just homing missiles like Fire and Blizzard (and all of their Situation Commands are just are of effect explosions), it turns out that to get through it, you just sort of... spam stuff. Or at least, that's how my testing went. That's the reason I haven't done more challenge videos in the last two years, is that it's a lot harder than it sounds to find a challenge that's fun and rewarding, instead of impossibly difficult or tedious. I have GREAT respect for the channels that do the insanely difficult challenges. But it's not my thing, and since this channel makes me no money, I don't have time to devote to it anyway, lol.

[@Murdoc_Mob]

@@LibraScope Yeah that's the thing, it's easy to watch someone do a challenge video like Mitten Squad, Senza and plenty of other channels and think "that looks easy I bet I could do that" when in fact it took the content creator weeks/months to do. As you said challenges can have some fun aspects of it but you can always tell when someone's not having fun and that what it should be about, there's no fun in repetitive.

[@LibraScope]

@@Murdoc_Mob Thankfully, I've got a couple more in mind that should work out pretty okay, and be fairly interesting. So we'll see how those go.

[@girafman147]

Should of went land of dragons then to olympus for thunder if im correct

[@Iceythrowshands]

Speaking of GET UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK on my first fight against the hydra i heard phil say that but didnt know how to get on its back. so i sat there for what seemed like forever hearing phil yelling at me to get on the hydra's back.

[@LibraScope]

Lol, I wonder if that happened to a lot of people, and that's why the line is so infamous?

[@Luuute]

Yes. With all the negative combo parts you can make your one and only attack an infinite stagger combo

[@sonnytapman]

35:16 I’m gonna be real, the most challenging thing in this video is listening to that butchering of “Isle de Muerta.” For future reference, the S in Isle in silent, so it’d be “E-lay de Muerta.”

[@LibraScope]

Lol, my bad :D

[@Awecyan32]

I’m pretty sure you can actually level valor form if you use the skateboard to hit heartless. I’m pretty sure it counts the hits with the skateboard.

[@LibraScope]

Hmm, really? If so, that would be incredibly interesting!

[@rexdaily]

On that grind!

[@calebhherra2553]

As someone who use almost only the keyblade to attack this is a truly interesting idea to beat the game

[@LibraScope]

Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@WizFish]

I'm so damn happy that this video blew up, thumbnail always catches my eye when I see it.

[@LibraScope]

As am I, lol. As am I.

[@TheKeybladegod]

since the title of the video was without combo's I thought that meant you were just going to bop everything once and then stop to prevent forming a combo, and then bop them again.

[@LibraScope]

Yeah, you're not alone in that thought. A few others have felt that way. I chose the title instead of something like "Can You Beat KH2 Without Your Keyblade" because I wanted to avoid complaints like "But Guard uses the keyblade too!" I couldn't really think of anything more accurate, that wasn't more misleading, lol.

[@Odinfrost]

Uhm, quickly glanced through comments without seeing any suggesting this: But couldn't you level up Limit Form with Ragnarok, as it's just the homing energy balls from CoM onwards?

[@LibraScope]

Yeah, that's definitely something that's arguable. Kind of depends on how you'd interpret its relation to things like your magic Wisdom Form bullets that replace standard attacks, and how both relate to normal spells. I could totally see an argument for it all being completely within the rules! Good catch!

[@hi-i-am-atan]

kh2's ragnarok is based on the kh1 version, not the com version, so it _does_ have the initial anti-air combo before leading into the magical barrage that said, since the main point of the challenge _isn't_ "don't hit enemies with the keyblade" ( since that would exclude not only a bunch of optional reaction commands, but also a lot of standard limits since sora uses it in quite a few limit-specific commands ) but rather "don't use the attack command or combo modifiers," limit form's limits should be fair game anyway. they really aren't combos in the typical video game sense, anyway - you press one button combo and you're locked into a static sequence of attacks, making 'em not all that different from fire or reflect as single attacks that hit multiple times like, sure, you _technically_ have to press triangle to continue the sequence, but considering the only limit that you can't just mash triangle through is also the one that only asks you to press it once ... yeah same deal with master form's master magic and final form's auto assault, honestly. they just add additional hitboxes to sora's non-attack attacks, so you're still fulfilling the "beating kh2 without mashing x" spirit of the challenge ... i mean, provided you don't just spam whatever spell you assign to x, anyway

[@LibraScope]

@@hi-i-am-atan Sure, and that's totally fair. Like I said in the video, I ultimately decided Limit Form's options were against the spirit of the challenge just because 99% of the options it offers are primarily about keyblade attacks. But everyone is free to interpret the rules how they wish, because it's not something that can be super clear cut :)

[@hi-i-am-atan]

@@LibraScope i think it could easily be clear cut, it's just that this vid is kinda caught between two challenges: a. no attack or shoot commands or combo modifiers b. no keyblade attacks, period they're not exactly contradictory rules, mind, but it does make it feel pretty arbitrary to say you're not allowed to use strike raid ( which ... isn't even really a combo no matter _how_ you define it ) but it's perfectly fine for sora to do his best beyblade impression as long as auron's got his back. the ambiguity only really stems from that, because defining either on their own would be a lot simpler ( albeit, no keyblade would require a _lot_ of research to setup, and you'd have to put your foot down on whether or not it disallows _landed_ attacks or if so much as _jumping_ in final form would disqualify a run ) granted, there's still a _bit_ that need to be clarified like if shoot counts as a keyblade attack or not, but it's still p. clear cut ( my take on shoot being, no, at no point does shoot involve the keyblade any more than blizzard or thunder do, so if you aren't also challenging yourself to avoid x button spam, it's fair game. more interesting to think about is if you can use explosion or magnet burst to end a magic combo, but i feel like that's more of a philosophical question than one that would realistically impact a run )

[@LibraScope]

​@@hi-i-am-atan Sure. That's kind of what I meant though, was that there are still things that themselves fit between the two extremes, like spells, Wisdom shooting, keyblades swinging themselves, etc. So for me, Some sort of subjective decision has to made on them either way, whether you base it off of the animation, the lore of the story, hitboxes, or even like, the damage type. So I figured it was best to just not get caught up in overthinking what makes the most sense, and more think about what offers the most engaging secondary balance point to play the game from. I COULD have excluded all the proper Reaction Commands, or included Wisdom shots or Limit Form options if they were instead Magic damage, or a bunch of other things. But for me personally, the best balance was struck the way I did it, because it still gave me a wealth of options, but really felt like an alternate playstyle instead of just the same game with a couple small omissions. I'm not like, trying to argue with you and say you're wrong or anything, of course :) My ultimate goal with this video was not to make something definitive, or extremely difficult. It was more so just to find something that was fun to do, felt different from the normal game, and might be fun for others to try. Which of course, is why the rules are designed to be malleable. It's not for me to decide what someone else might find the most fun rules for a challenge like this.

[@JoeyCool414]

i did this with the vanilla kh 1&2 because at the time i didn’t know i could upgrade sora so i struggled with no combos and it took me way longer to beat it but yeah i barely used magic except for the healing magic everything else nothing

[@tehSunBro]

You can technically kill the cage during boat Pete with magic, its just insane. If you cast a Blizzard spell, then immidiatly use the grab reaction command, the Blizzard spell will actually hit and damage the cage, however to do the fight this way requires to drop the crane after every spell, deal with some spawning heartless, before being able to do another spell.This will take forever.

[@shadowcat4695]

You could have leveled valor form during the mcp fight just go into valor and use trons reaction command delete it will count towards valors exp every triangle button press

[@NickTheGreatAndPowerful]

I once did the opposite of this challenge and did one with only attacks, no magic. It went great up until I had to open the stupid ruined tower in Agrabah 2. I forgot all about it and was very upset.

[@NickyShadow99]

TIL that reflect costs less than fire. The hell, final mix?!?!?!?!

[@LibraScope]

I think they made Reflect so powerful in FM specifically because nobody used it in the original release, lol. Sometimes developers make strange balancing decisions like that purely to change player behavior, even if it imbalances the game. I can only assume they just never expected people to take the combat THIS seriously, since its reputation was as a button masher at the time.

[@deaj8450]

I don't remember if it was out at this time, but Bl00dyBizkitz did a gold crown no abilities challenge so there probably are a few more kh2fm challenges out there.

[@dapperdab4530]

I haven't played kingdom hearts I don't want to play kingdom hearts but it's probably my favorite seris to watch challenges of

[@zie4570]

I’ve yet to see anyone say this, and I have no idea if it would change anything major, but you can level valor by rc’s. I know one the most prominent cases is actually the MCP fight

[@LibraScope]

Yeah, it's been mentioned several times. I think the MCP thing was found after I made this video. And honestly, I don't think it would've changed too much, since High Jump wasn't really necessary :)

[@bvdf84]

I am still trying to 100% KH2FM (too bad I started in normal mode) and I've got addicted to these challenge runs

[@tumultuousv]

Nah it's good to start in normal mode. At least to do the no continue thing. At least if you mean trophy wise

[@bvdf84]

@@tumultuousv trophy wise, yes You don't get a trophy for finishing normal mode so I have to play the game from the very star, twice with no ng+

[@nikofaershee4235]

As children we used to spam X Now we spam Reflect 😂 it's totally broken and so satisfying

[@ForestskiesOfficial]

This sounds like playing KH 2 as a pure mage with extra steps.

[@QuintenLust]

The best keyblade is easily gull wing, the extra xp got me to level 50 at th end of the game

[@businesscatlimbo]

I was gonna do a magic only run. Of course, Roxas wouldn't count since he has no magic and it probably will essentially begin at the gate with Leon since that's where you learn your first magic.

[@onlyacomentarynothingspeci2419]

Man this made me realize what a good game KH2 was and how much the Disney aspect worked into the game to heighten the experience and how thought out the combat is that you can do an literal weapon less run I really hope that Nomura takes Insperation from KH2 when making 4

[@SkullFace_Official]

I honestly hope team tokyo comes back one day. Kh4 needs them.

[@touhouguyII]

This is the best game I've ever played

[@MegaUMU]

37:38 bit unfortunate that u didn't touch upon going wisdom. Its one of the best places that you can farm wisdom by natural progression

[@LibraScope]

True, though I usually prioritize leveling Forms before I make progress. So I didn't even think about it, since for me, Wisdom was already leveled as far as it would go at that point :)

[@th3bear01]

If I remember right there is a way to hit the cage in the boat Pete fight with magic, you have to use blizzard or something then quickly grab the hook and as long as it hits after your on the hook it will do damage. You could only do one hit at a time so it would take ages but I think it would work

[@LibraScope]

If that's the case, that would make it entirely possible to beat without combos :D

[@elmonextbot]

That first quote aged like fine wine

[@livingtoaster1358]

For POTC just walk up to the pirates and use reflect it'll take care of them also for the 4 gift heartless go immediately into the dance limit and you'll almost always finish that segment once you finish

[@miket.9388]

You should have added the sephiroth fight to the challenge. oh , wait......

[@thegamewin100]

Michael Tokura lol reflect and limit spam

[@michaelhall736]

I don't think the Raging Dragon is necessarily useless. No Keyblade is in the game. A specific Keyblade can be useful in certain situations or playstyles. The only one I would say is actually useless is the mushroom Keyblade. It is absolutely not worth it as it just has EXP Zero ability which you already start out with in critical mode and someone's not going to find a use for it if they're just playing casually. It should have had some super broken and OP ability considering what you had to go through to get it like infinite MP, infinite drive or something like that.

[@LibraScope]

I definitely agree with the first part of your comment. I think Winner's Proof though is still... kind of useful. It has higher Magic than any other Keyblade, even the Ultima Weapon, by a significant margin. The EXP Zero is supposed to be its downside for that boost. So it's nice that it's rendered moot if you get to max level. And you wouldn't want it to be too powerful, since while it can be a bit of a pain to obtain, it can also be obtained before you've completed ANY of the post-game superboss fights. I think a good compromise would've been to keep it the way it is, but then swap the ability out for a slightly better one with each crown you obtain. That way by the time you get the gold crown, you've got a Keyblade that's both got ridiculous stats and a super powerful ability like infinite MP/Drive/whatever. But it also won't help you cheese all the hardest fights, because you will have already had to beat them to unlock said ability. Otherwise, with such a powerful ability, it would hamstring most players into doing the mushrooms before everything else in the endgame, and undermine those fights.

[@horse_plinko]

EDIT: ignore this somebody else already said it lol Valor Form isn't COMPLETELY useless, by the way! I can think of one immensely helpful use for it! Throwing on a Drive Form, even Valor, will completely restore your MP along with your HP... AND there's nothing stopping you from just immediately hitting Revert to get your Magic back. In the earlier worlds, you could use stepping into Valor for an instant as a cheap alternative to popping an Ether, giving you some more room for error in portions like that hide-and-seek camp mission in LoD. Using Valor like this comes with the risk of dropping into AntiForm, of course, but ideally you'll be able to lean more reliably on Ethers loooong before you get to Wisdom Form, and then you'll be in the clear again since getting a new form resets your Anti-Points.

[@LibraScope]

Yeah, lol. Something I regret not being more clear about in the video :)

[@karmiccrotal3480]

Behold, the youtuber that has found genuine benefit to using Hidden Dragon

[@Hanetsune]

The reason the speedrun strategy on the first Hyenas fight didn't work cause Donald and Goofy were not set to Sora Attack. Them hitting the Hyenas will mess up the speedrun strategy. As for Stomp Cannon RC on 2nd Pete fight, I don't think they exist since the gimmick of that portion of the fight to my memory is that those towers will shoot back anyone that enters their range. So you'd be shot back before you could get in range to do the RC I think you can also make an exception on with Master Form on the Grim Reaper 2 fight to get the medallions back faster since until all 882 medallions, Grim Reaper is immune to physical attacks. Also, attempting to hit it with physicals attacks while it has medallions makes him drop some MP orbs. You could make an argument for an exception there since you can't hurt it but the MP orbs dropped aren't a lot so ethers would probably still be faster. Also each basic magic makes Grim Reaper 2 drop different amount of medallions. Thunder makes it drop the most right away, but 1 fire I think makes him drop more medallions overall (since it drops some on initial hit, and then more as it runs around on fire). Final From Thunder and Blizzard can be done from far enough away to not let the automatically attack keyblades actually hit anything I believe. I do think that some of the restricted stuff due to involving enemies being hit by a Keyblade is not consistent with the ruling. You disallow some options entirely because it involves a Keyblade attack that's not from the normal attack option (Master/Final Magic), but allow some options that do involve hitting with a Keyblade (Xaldin RCs for example). Then again this is your challenge run, so you make your own rules. :\

[@LibraScope]

A lot of really fair points I didn't really think about. In particular, I like the idea of being able to swing the keyblade at something that's immune to physical damage, like Grim Reaper. I personally probably still wouldn't have done it, since for me it would probably be against the spirit of what I was trying to do. But still a great catch. To be clear, I didn't disallow options like Master/Final magic. I just said that it wasn't really worth putting all the effort into trying to see how to make them viable, because it was more tedious than is necessary. The options they gave weren't something that I was desperately in need of, and so I instead focused on the options I knew I could personally use well. I also probably should've been clearer about it in the video, but the idea was to make something people might find entertaining and fun to try themselves, so the rules are designed to be tweaked based on everyone's preferences. If someone wants to disallow any RC that looks like it uses they keyblade, or DOES use the keyblade for example, that's totally up to them. Ultimately, it's less about doing something that's super impressive, and more about just finding something that offers a fun new way to play/strategize around the game's mechanics :)

[@kidsonblackops]

I would recommend using valor form to refill health and mp and for that faster running speed to dodge foes in the early game.

[@MegaUMU]

26:28 i saw that cheeky Press X on the minute bomb right there. CHALLENGE FAILED

[@LibraScope]

Not quite, lol. That's actually part of the Dodge Roll Reaction Command :P You can't cancel normal attack animations like that. Here's proof: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGHGdWeMn7Ckj5I

[@MegaUMU]

@@LibraScope I don't remember ever using that dodge roll command 0_0

[@LibraScope]

@@MegaUMU Understandable. Pretty sure it only shows up if you've used Fire on the Minute Bombs, and you let their timer get down to around 1. I think you also have to be on the ground for it to show up. So considering how little health they have, that's a pretty easy circumstance to avoid.

[@AntiRiku]

wish there were more kingdom hearts challenge videos

[@LibraScope]

I've tested out a few others, but haven't found anything that was particularly fun for me to do, or fun to watch. But I do have a few other ideas for different games and series'. I'm planning on making one for Final Fantasy VII this year, so if that interests you, stay tuned :D

[@MeteorFalcon]

Since I didnt see it in the rules, I wanted to point out that you don't need to complete every single world to beat the game. Olympus 2 for example doesn't need to be completed and same with Pride Lands in it's entirety. Might make the challenge easier. Oh also a interesting tip, if you want to level Valor for this challenge if you really need high jump later on use the Reaction command on the MPC. It actually counts towards Valor Form EXP.

[@LibraScope]

Yeah, I just figured it kind of went against the spirit of the challenge for me personally, to avoid worlds that focused on combat. So I personally chose to do them :)

[@MeteorFalcon]

@@LibraScope Cool, cool

[@GG-kl8gw]

Hmmm, but valor isn't useless in this run, all drives are technically free elixirs so you could've popped a valor form for Beast Castle's Boss and then revert and BAM full MP without ethers

[@LibraScope]

Right, I knew that, I just was an idiot and didn't say it, lol. I chose not to do that unless I ended up absolutely needing to, because I didn't know how hard this challenge could be. I didn't want to end up in a situation where I've got too many Anti-Points due to using forms as free heals all the time. Ended up not needing them much at all for that reason though, so I forgot to bring it up :D But you're right!

[@PopcornBunni]

I've never heard anyone argue KH2 is mash X. That's the first game. The second game you mash Triangle and auto win 90% of engagements. The other 10% is spam magic since you have infinite mana.

[@LibraScope]

That's not how it was back in the day. It has changed in the last few years, as people for some reason started getting super hostile toward Reaction Commands. But back in the day a lot of people, including most review outlets, complained that you just mashed combos the entire time. They would also occasionally mention RCs, because they're not timing based, which was distinctly different from standard QTE's at the time. But for the most part the complaint was combos, because most players didn't really use any of their other options :)

[@seanhenderson552]

ok so lets be real. beating the game on critical level 1 makes you special. dark souls has nothing on a level 1 critical of this game. i would know. i did it, but it took m over a year and the roxas fight in the city that never was took m many hundreds of tries.

[@LibraScope]

I disagree. Different things are difficult in different ways for everyone. I definitely had a challenging time with Crit Level 1, but I wouldn't say it was more difficult than my first playthrough of most Souls games. And on top of that, Level 1 runs of Souls games are completely possible, even all the way on New Game+7, where most everything will have killed you in one hit 5 playthroughs ago at level one. That's not to say they all can't be accomplishments worth being proud of, of course :)

[@viste_]

26:32 that bomb got slapped by a keyblade swing from Sora, run still possible but invalidated edit: upon review, run still valid, that slash is part of the Dodge Roll reaction command

[@LibraScope]

Whew, glad I didn't have to explain that one again, lol :D

[@jacciswacc4335]

My opinion was that you were in a reaction command “state” when hitting the box with the cornerstone, and all of your controls were blocked, so?

[@LibraScope]

I can get down with that, lol. Though there's a workaround people have been sharing all month that actually allows it to be done legit now :D

[@Ewillum]

Could you possibly level up your forms by defeating heartless with reaction commands???? I bet it would help a lot, especially Valor and Wisdom

[@LibraScope]

You could. Somewhere around the time when I released this video, a technique with MCP and Sark actually came about which allows you to level Valor up really quickly using the Delete Reaction Command.

[@decayedphoenix8865]

This is the only time I've seen someone use Hidden Dragon, lol

[@bignanavc]

I'd argue that the floating keyblade poking the ball in master dorm is the keyblade attacking on it's own which since you aren't hitting the attack button and the keyblade does it on its own

[@LibraScope]

That's fair :) It's in a gray area, so there's no hard and fast rule there :)

[@heinoo9983]

Okay, I gotta ask: What does DM mean? I can interpret it as a boss's ultimate-invincibility attack, but I can't make up the abbreviation.

[@LibraScope]

Sorry, lol. I can't recall if DM is the name the community gave to boss ultimate attacks, or if it's official. But it stands for Desperation Move :)

[@Lazar_STS]

Ah i see this video has grown,happiness and joy

[@LibraScope]

Yes, indeed it has :D

[@DavidBest1996]

16:17 well it's not very consistent but theThresholder's Dark Orbs are blockable with Guard

[@LibraScope]

Yeah, I was doing that a lot, I just wasn't showing it, because I figured it was obvious since we have no other way to avoid them at that point. It's a bit more consistent if you're on the other side of the arena, but then Thresholder likes to spam them. So it was kind of a case where trying to use Hook Bats and stay offensive was just a better option most of the time. In my experience anyway :)

[@andrewk7750]

I know this is old man but valor doesn't require kills just hits and you could do the mushroom XIII in agrabah it can be an exception to get growth commands like high jump in future runs. i think I wanna try this run later. thanks for the idea man lol speed run no key blade combos any % at GDQ 2021 lets make it happen.

[@LibraScope]

Like I said in the video, I wanted to avoid moves that hit enemies with the keyblade as much as possible, so Valor was still off limits for me. Both because the game considers the Mushroom XIII enemies, and because if I could technically hit enemies with the keyblade but just not kill them... well then I'd be able to hit enemies with the keyblade as long as I didn't kill them, lol. I wanted to avoid loopholes like that, because for me it felt like it went against the spirit of the run, similar to using Limit Form attacks against nothing; it just didn't feel right to me personally. And it's not like High Jump was absolutely necessary. I didn't miss it too much :) Though of course, it's not like I 'own' this challenge or anything. So feel free to change the rules however you wish :D

[@andrewk7750]

LibraScope oh I totally understand my man lol I might try this run cause you can use both valor and limit on the same mushroom in Agrabah without killing it so i might try that after I play through kh1 on proud again. I have a love hate relationship with kh1 tbh lol

[@LibraScope]

@@andrewk7750 I have a love/hate relationship with the series. KH1 is great in a lot of ways, but many of the stages are too cramped for proper combat or camera control. And Proud doesn't scale damage, meaning chip damage can be a real issue. KH2 is great unless you play on a difficulty below Critical. If you do, it's an unbalanced mess. CoM has great ideas, but is extremely unbalanced and repetitive. BBS is trash, etc. :P

[@revya4294]

If this is a No keyblade run then shouldn’t anti-form be pretty good? I know it’s bad and not actually following the no Attack command rule but imo it’s a neat loophole

[@LibraScope]

It certainly can be useful, but it's pretty difficult to use well, and I'm not terribly good with it, lol.

[@CRAgamer]

I forget kh2 is a button masher, cause I only play it on critical nowadays. It's just a completely different game.

[@LibraScope]

It really is a night and day difference, lol.

[@Charlie-hv3dh]

Amazing video. TBH I feel like this video should get as many views as Gamechamp3000's lv1 kh1!

[@LibraScope]

I personally really like Gamechamp's work. But I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Don't be afraid to share it with anyone else you think might like it ;)

[@kyoterium]

So at least most of the run is just that part in kh1 where you have to regain your keyblade using only magic xD

[@LibraScope]

If only I had KH1 Beast to help me the entire time here too, lol.

[@momomoore379]

Yknow, you mentioning skywardwing just makes me sad, honestly

[@LibraScope]

I think he's pretty happy without YT these days, since that's what he suggested when he changed his channel to SirSkyward. So at least there's that :)

[@izunia8436]

I feel like in order to save yourself the stress make minigames an exception to the no keyblade combo rule

[@LibraScope]

That's certainly something anyone else is free to do if they try the challenge :)

[@dustinj918]

I find it funny you suggest using Hidden Dragon, since I'm doing my own challenge where I'm only allowed to use Hidden Dragon for the whole game. What I mean by that is that, once I have the option, I equip Hidden Dragon to the main Keyblade slot, and never switch it out. There are two exceptions: I can equip Keyblades to the other forms, and after the Roxas fight, I'm going to equip Two Become One, so I can use its effect to get Final Form. Other then that, it's Hidden Dragon all the way.

[@LibraScope]

It's definitely not near as bad of a keyblade as everyone makes it out to be. And in particular - because KH2 tries to better level out its keyblades so they generally all stay relatively useful (particularly due to the damage scaling system) - it's more than viable in a normal run as your go-to weapon of choice.

[@dustinj918]

@@LibraScope Thanks for replying! And yeah, while it might not be the strongest Keyblade, MP Rage and its great design help it greatly.

[@noir-4092]

Is there a reason you didn't use valor to heal in the early game cause you can just immediately revert back

[@LibraScope]

In normal playthroughs I can easily keep track of Anti-Points, and never need to worry about running into Anti-Form. In this case though, I wasn't sure how much I would need Drive forms, and so I tried to conserve uses by avoiding using them early on. Just ended up not ultimately needing them. In a second playthrough, I can say they definitely would've been more useful though.

[@Ewillum]

You can't use Form keyblade combos, but could you use Forms to refill your MP/HP???

[@LibraScope]

Yes you can. I was gonna mention it whenever it came up, but because I was trying to avoid having to deal with Anti-Form at all cost, I end up being too conservative and never using Forms for that purpose. So it never came up, lol.

[@N.G.H.]

People on the internet are wrong about the Sark and MCP battle. The reaction command that renders Sark unconscious for a minute can forcibly be triggered by running far away from him. When running from him he'll throw a disc the size of the arena at you but eventually when you reach the max distance his A.I. will allow he'll summon a wall and when you approach it you'll get the reaction command to take him down instantly for a minute so you can focus on the MCP barrier.

[@LibraScope]

That's what I thought was the case, but for whatever reason, he just refused to do it here until the battle was around half over. I'm not sure what was going wrong.

[@N.G.H.]

@@LibraScope I think you might have to let him chase you a bit first. His A.I. will trigger the wall when you run far enough from him. If you're still too close to him but far enough that his melee won't reach he'll just throw a giant disc that runs around the arena but then you can still bait out the wall reaction command.

[@shirohimayumikira234]

The thing about this game is... the players who complained this nothing but 'press Cross/A (because xbox version) to win' don't realize there's a lot more you can do with combos. There's plenty of things you can do with the combos; experiment! Like KH3!

[@LibraScope]

It's certainly still a valid complaint on difficulties like Standard, I'd argue. But yeah, pretty disingenuous to argue there's no depth at all.

[@shirohimayumikira234]

@@LibraScope The reason I started incorporating magic into my combos a lot more is primarily thanks to KH3's combos. And since I used the magic loadout for that game, well.... You can take a quick guess as to what I used far more often than I can remember. And yes, I do agree with your second statement.

[@Tormaline]

I guess everyone just ignored him calling the triangle button square at the start of the video.

[@LibraScope]

Lol.

[@ren_suzugamori1427]

Are you not using Genie because in his animation he technically uses a Keyblade of his design?

[@LibraScope]

Good question. Honestly, it's just because I didn't feel like I needed it at any point. That, and he's by far the most complex to use properly, and I'm not very good at it, lol.