At the start...

[blue_midget192]

which thingy did u chose (Sword, Staff, Or Sheild)? and which did u give up? and what differnce does it make?

[SeeDRankLou]

I always keep the Staff and sacrifice the Shield.

What you choose and sacrifice affects your stats and the order in which Sora learns abilities. All stats in the game except MP and the number of items can be altered toward the end of the game. Keeping the Staff nets Sora 2 more MP by the end of the game. Keeping the Shield will net you one more item than normal by the end of the game, sacrificing the Shield nets you one less.

[TheAbominatrix]

I always keep the Sword and sacrifice the Staff, because I use magic so infrequently it isnt worth keeping.

[Advent Child]

Tehcnically, it's the best to take the staff and ditch the sword, or keep the shield and ditch the sword. But it's easier to start if you take the sword and get rid of the staff.

[Sefie1999AD]

I took the Shield and gave up the Sword. I like having lots of defence and still sufficient magic to have fun with the enemies, and having crap attack so that the fun will last longer. xD (thanks to crono_logical for giving me that idea) Next time I'll probably take the Staff and give up the Sword.

[Lord Xehanort]

I ALWAYS took the sword and gave up the shield. Having a low defense really hurts in the early game, but when you are lvl. 12 when you leave Destiny Islands, it kinda balances out. Just equip some Def. increasing Accesories) When you learn Cure, the lack of Defense matters little. Also, late in the game, the only magic you really use is Curaga since later enemies are generally magic-resistant. It may not suit you, but I beat Sephiroth at Lvl. 74 on Expert Mode with this combination.

[Sefie1999AD]

Level 12 when you leave Destiny Islands? O_o That's going to take lots of patience. I still prefer the Shield to the Sword because you'll still get a good attack power with your Keyblade even if you take the Shield, but when I took the Sword and dumped the Shield, bosses like Cerberus were really beating me up. And with Shield, you get the useful Guard ability very early. Your level doesn't really matter when fighting Sephiroth. The battle is more about skill, IMHO.

[Lord Xehanort]

True, yet it was much easier to kill Sephy when I was at Lvl 100. Those heightened stats help a lot. Plus, in Expert Mode, the enemy attack power is ramped. The low defense makes for quite a challenge. Of course, I'm always more of the 'CHAARRRRGE!' kind of hack 'n slasher. Just Curaga every now and then and laugh as Sephiroth falls.

[Xander]

I kept the sword, I didn't know about the stats thing then, but I just like swords and prefer fighting over magic :p I still don't use magic much, I keep getting new summons and I don't even use them and I'm near the end of the game. Ah well :p I never get bored of pressing X and kicking butt with my keyblade :D

[Lord Xehanort]

Exactly. The only summon I use is Tinkerbell 'cuz she casts Regen on Sora and Full-Life when he dies. (she only casts Full-Life once then vanishes for the rest of the battle)

[Advent Child]

Originally posted by Ansem
True, yet it was much easier to kill Sephy when I was at Lvl 100. Those heightened stats help a lot. Plus, in Expert Mode, the enemy attack power is ramped. The low defense makes for quite a challenge. Of course, I'm always more of the 'CHAARRRRGE!' kind of hack 'n slasher. Just Curaga every now and then and laugh as Sephiroth falls.
You can kill (almost) anything even if you're level retarded. That's what Power ups and Def ups are for.

[m4tt]

Every time but once, I've kept the sword and ditched the shield. Last time I started a game, I ditched the sword. But I haven't played that game in a while, so I think I deleted the save file.


Originally posted by Sephiroth1999AD
Level 12 when you leave Destiny Islands? O_o That's going to take lots of patience.

I always get to around level 12 before I leave Destiny Islands. It's fun beating up on those kids. ;)

[Lord Xehanort]

Originally posted by Advent Child
You can kill (almost) anything even if you're level retarded. That's what Power ups and Def ups are for.

Also true, yet I used those only after I beat Sephiroth. I wanted everything to be unaltered. And I did it, then Lvled up to 100 and then cranked my stats with the Ups and kicked Ansem's sorry ass.

[DMKA]

I took the sword and gave up the sheild. Its a shame that I have to take it back tomorrow cause I was really getting into it:(.