I decided to play Kingdom Hearts again. I started the game, and I realized that I have only ever tried two of the six possible combinations of the choice you make at the beginning of the game. This thread is not just about what you have chosen/like to chose, but it's also about the cost and benefit of what you chose throughout the game.
The first time I played I chose the sword and gave up the staff, and it was on normal. This was an interesting choice on my part because I am an avid magic user in RPGs, but that's what I did. This made the game fairly easy. I didn't ever die until the Hallow Bastion, the closest I came was the fight against Clayton. I got strength, defense and HP boosts more often than MP and AP boosts. But it sucked that I didn't have but 1 AP to start with and didn't get that much throughout the early part of the game, so I had to choose abilities wisely. And I didn't get much of an MP boost early on so my Cures rather sucked, I didn't know why at the time though. Vortex and Blitz were very nice to get at the beginning of the game, most of the heartless went down with one 4-hit combo. The defense that I had, combined with the defensive accessories I was wearing, made it such that I wasn't bothered that I didn't get Second Chance until level 51, and I leveled up several times so I had it by the time I got to the Hallow Bastion. One thing this combination lacked was an effective mass-kill move. You still got Thunder magic, but the limited MP in the beginning rendered Thunder only slightly useful. So the other mass-kill move, Sonic Blade, had to substitue. It's not a very good substitute, and it has a very hefty 3 AP/2 MP cost. My want for a mass-kill move is for the timed Coliseum tournaments. Without the use of a mass-kill move, I found it next to impossible to do the timed tournaments without being at an unnecessarily high level, especially the Hercules Cup. I know it's not necessary to do them but I wanted to, and they do give some pretty nice rewards. And I could never do the timed Hades Cup. The inability to cure effectively mid-game made it from Halloween Town onward kind of difficult, especially the part without Donald (Beast could only do so much to help). Until I got 6MP I wasn't very happy with my Cura, and that was just a little before I fought the Behemoth (I think, and I never found Curaga on my first playthrough). Also, I didn't get Lucky Strike until level 69. So I couldn't get a lot of stuff for synthesis without spending a rather long time fighting heartless, which kind of got old. I didn't get the Ultimate Weapon. So, I was strong, I could kill most anything effectively, but I couldn't do the timed tournaments very well and I more or less had to rely on Donald to heal me, which isn't always a good thing. Magic was not my friend and I made little use of the MP abilities, but I didn't find myself using magic much so it wasn't that bad. I couldn't get items very easily and thus I didn't get the best weapon.
The next two times I played I put it on expert. I chose the Staff and gave up the Shield. This made the game....interesting. I had to be a lot more tactical with this combination because I basically had no defense, especially with the part before you get the Cure spell. Clayton killed me countless times before I finally beat him. However, the only real pains were the bosses. The heartless usually gave me little trouble because I killed them with magic. And lo and behold, you get massive amounts of tech points for killing heartless with the right kind of magic. And with the added bonus of getting those nifty MP abilities early on, I didn't have to keep 99 ethers in stock or anything. Not to mention I think I had like 5 or 6 MP when I got to the Deep Jungle. I also had a considerable amount of AP at my disposal, with the right accessories I don't think I ever had to leave but one ability out (I never had much use for Berserk, Donald usually heals me pretty fast). A problem with this though is that I kept dying. In one of the several heartless swarms that happens in the game that you are unprepared for but somehow survive, I didn't usually survive. I think every single boss before I got the Cure spell killed me at least once. Donald and Goofy would run out of potions really easily, and I sometimes didn't have the reflex to use one in time. You might say it's because I put it on expert, I say it's because I had little defense (I suppose I could have used different accessories, but I was relying on magic so I used the MP boosting ones and only one defense accessory, if that). Once I got the Cure spell it was a bit easier though. That's not to say I wasn't still praying for level 48 when I would FINALLY get Second Chance. Fighting Riku II without Second Chance is not fun. On the plus side of this combination is one word, Thunder. That's right, Thunder with 5 MP will heavily damage a large group of heartless. Thundara with 8 MP will kill most of the heartless in a room. Thundaga with 14 MP will leave nothing behind (that isn't immune to magic/thunder). That's not to say your other spells suck, and they are also rather powerful and cost less, notably Gravija with 14 MP is a one-hit kill for most anything, but Thunder is good because of the timed tournaments. Most of the rounds comprise of normal heartless. One or two Thunders later, they are all gone and you've take up about 5 seconds. If you had Yellow Operas, you can kill them with a Blizzard spell. And if you had Green Requiems, you had to kill them manually, but that doesn't take very long. Then you had plenty of time for the boss-type enemy rounds, which I could do in a timely fashion since I had decent strength and a Critical Plus to use. I could finally do the timed Hercules Cup without using that little cheat/glitch to stop the clock when you fight Hercules. Another plus is curing. My cure spells almost always completely restore HP, which actually made all the boss fights except Riku II easier than my first playthrough on normal. And the time without my keyblade became a lot easier since I could just kill the heartless with magic like I was probably going to do anyway. Getting all the abilities that I got early on was just nice. No I couldn't do any fancy and powerful keyblade manuevers, but I could attract munnies to myself and regenerate my own MP. :D And I also, with the aid of Lucky Strike at a nice level 39, actually got the Wizard Relic and Defender my first time through the Hallow Bastion instead of....actually I never got those my first time through. Not to mention all the other stuff I was able to synthesize by level 60. So all in all, while it was more difficult to do it this way, I actually liked it better than +sword/-staff.
While you don't have to be quite as long winded as I am being (I am really bored at work), share your experiences. What have you chosen and how did it affect gameplay and the like? What was easier/harder, what did you like and dislike, blah blah blah? I just started my playthrough, and I chose the Shield and gave up the Sword and I'll see how that goes, but I could always start over and chose something else if anyone has something interesting to say about the other combinations. :D
