Kingdom Hearts 2

5. Beast's Castle

The team will land in Beast's lonely huge castle. They won't realize where they are at first until they hear Beast's yells. Although the yells would seem frightening, the team is happy to hear their old friend. They then see a Heartless head into a side room, and they follow it.

A huge number of Shadows will start attacking at this point. Use the Fire spell to take out as many as possible in short amounts of time. After a bit of fighting, Beast will come and administer a beating to the remaining Shadows... and even saves some of the beating for Sora, Donald and Goofy. What gives? He takes the rose and leaves without saying a word.

After that, save and talk to the Moogle. You can and probably should buy a Silver Ring for Donald, and a Sardonyx Ring for Sora and Goofy. If you have the extra munny, buy another Silver Ring for Donald (since he has two slots). Head back out into the Entrance Hall.

Donald will see the figure of a lady on the right-hand staircase. On your way up the stairs, a new Heartless will attack: the Hook Bat. They aren't generally a threat, but they can be annoying in numbers. If it swoops down low, get ready to use the Bat Cry reaction command to capture it and attack any nearby enemies.

Before you go anywhere, turn around and exit the castle to the Courtyard area. There are three chests around the perimeter, which contain a HI-POTION, a MYTHRIL SHARD, and an AP BOOST (3/21).

Head up the upper right steps in the Entrance Hall when you're ready. Sora and the team will break in on Belle, who will break the news to them: the team will need to break Beast's servants out of the dungeon if they want to break Beast's mean streak. Those are the breaks. After the conversation, open the chests for a MYTHRIL SHARD and a CASTLE MAP (5/21).

Back out in the East Wing, another new Heartless will appear (although new to KHII, you will recognize it from the first game). Large Bodies are just as annoying as they were in the previous title, unless you know how to deal with them. One strategy is to sneak up behind them and pull off a combo. If you do this right, the last move in the combo knocks it up into the air. At this time, use the Full Swing reaction command to send it flying. While it's stunned, use Slide Dash to close the distance and repeat this process. If it happens to be not stunned while it has low health, it will start sliding around the area fairly fast on its stomach. If it's coming at you, use the Guard reaction command, followed by Kickback to pull off a combo. Again, you can use Full Swing at the end of this combo, which should finish the enemy off. Also, pick up the two chests in this area: a TENT and a HI-POTION (7/21).

Back in the Entrance Hall, take the left stairs to the West Hall. Sora automatically walks a little ways into the room during the following cutscene, so turn around after the dialogue to pick up the two chests in the alcoves: a HI-POTION and a MYTHRIL SHARD (9/21). The suits of armor here have Drive replenishing balls in them, so destroy the armor if you wish. Turn around and continue down the hallway. When you reach the next large set of steps, look to the right for a chest with a DRIVE RECOVERY (10/21). To the left of the steps are a TENT and a MYTHRIL SHARD (12/21). Note that you can't go up these steps because of the strong suits of armor in the way.

Now talk to the dresser behind you. She seems to be adamant about sleeping in the same spot, which happens to be in front of the door that you need to pass through. You're going to have to push her by pressing the Triangle button rapidly (push from the left side). When she starts to stir, the Push reaction command will turn into Waken. Pressing Triangle now will wake her up, and cause you to lose some ground. Keep at it though, and you should have her out of the way in no time. Note that if you push her and press Triangle twice and then stop, you'll never get pushed back, since the Awaken reaction command appears sometime after the second push (tip sent in by Danny Amos, thankee).

She apologizes for being in the way, and lets you through.

In the next area, something strange happens at the gates. They seem to be moving, and they seem to be Heartless!

Head into the newly accessible Dungeon area. Sora rescues Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and Chip. Open the two chests for an AP BOOST and a BASEMENT MAP (14/21).

Back in the Undercroft, jump up the pile of junk to reach Cogsworth. Talk to him to move the armor out of the way. The next area requires teamwork to manage. Cogsworth will hold the lever to let four lanterns down from the ceiling. Sora will use his keyblade with Mrs. Potts water to douse the dark flame in the lantern while Lumiere relights them. Lighting all four will open the exit. Use the Triangle button to relight each lantern. If Cogsworth needs more energy, go support him with Triangle. Also, you'll need to break the boxes in the way of Mrs. Potts and Lumiere.

After that, Sora presses a stone in the wall to open the door. After the cutscene, turn around and grab the two chests: HI-POTION and a MYTHRIL SHARD (16/21). Also, before heading through the door, grab the chest in the doorway on your right for a MEGA-POTION (17/21). Then head through the door.

By the way, from now on, statues all around the castle will come to life. For the Gargoyle Knights, Guard or parry one of their attacks to trigger the Release reaction command. This will automatically destroy it. For the slightly different Gargoyle Warriors, dodge their spinning attack to trigger the Release reaction command. Also keep in mind that both are immune to magic. Anyway, in this upper part of the West Hall, grab the chest with the AP BOOST (18/21), and then head north into the West Wing.

The chest in front of you here has a TENT (19/21). The chest at the top of the steps to the right has a MYTHRIL SHARD (20/21). Head north, fighting enemies, to Beast's Room.

The team will finally find out what's been making the Beast act so different. However, it's nothing a good old-fashioned beating won't solve.

Beast will now join you to head to Belle's Room (look, he barely fits in the menu!) Turn around after the fight and empty the chest for a MEGA RECIPE (21/21). Save your game and make your way towards Belle's Room (you won't need to use the secret passage, the suits of armor have moved).

Back in the Entrance Hall, you'll encounter a new Heartless: the Lance Soldier. They have quite a bit of HP, and a few strong attacks, so be wary of them. When they have low HP and lunge at you, use the Lance Tug reaction command to damage them and any enemy nearby.

Upon reaching Belle's Room, you find she's not there. Save your game, and then head to the Ballroom (the double doors at the north end of the Entrance Hall). Something like a chained Darkball is chasing Belle around. When it sees Sora and the gang, it transforms the ballroom into an odd interactive area.

Sora will use Beast's Rose to open the way to the next world. Also, you'll get the CURE ELEMENT.