Kingdom Hearts: Strategy Guide Part 2

Part 2 of our blistering Kingdom Hearts ProStrategy, lending you a helping hand (or paw, or something) through the Hollow Bastion and beyond.

The second part of Gamepro's ProStrategy Guide will take you straight rom the Hollow Bastion to the final battle. If merely beating the games leave you unsatisfied, then read on to see all the game's secret stuff, including the mysterious hidden ending movie.

Note: This ProStrategy Guide was based on the game's Normal setting. The Expert mode follows the same story but with tougher enemies.

Hollow Bastion
Before you can go to Hollow Bastion, you need to find a way to get there. Duck back to Traverse Town and get Cid to install your new Navi Gummi. After he's done, warp back to Neverland and head for the unmarked area to the right.


Once you arrive, work your way up the platforms and to the structure at the top. If you haven't activated Glide yet, you should-it makes this section much less frustrating. After a cut-scene, you lose your Keyblade and Beast will join you temporarily.

Look around the platform you're on until you see an accessible platform slightly above you (nearby the two columns). Climb on it and head for the exit at the top-an elevator will appear and take you to Hollow Bastion proper.

Unfortunately, the front door to the castle is locked, so your first task is to find some way to open it. Take the right-hand path here past the unlocked gates and to an elevator that takes you down to some caves.


Since you're bereft of your Keyblade for the moment, you must either use magic to defeat the enemies here or simply let Beast handle them for you. Either way, jump into the left bubble to access some switches and an item or two, then take the right one (the one by the surface) to proceed into the Waterway.

You find yourself by a save point and some iron bars. Examine the bars to have Beast smash them up for you and take the bubble that lies beyond to a room filled with stone switches and movable walls.

Here, all you have to do is examine each stone as you run into it. Head left from the room entrance to find the first one, which rotates two of the walls 90 degrees. Go down the new passageway to find the second stone, which moves the two walls a bit, then hang a right to find the third stone. Proceed on to find a stone on the ground, then jump up to the bubble above you.


In the next room, examine the stone to activate a platform. On the upper level is one more stone; push it to unlock the castle door.

Now you just have to get back to the castle's front door. Activate the two wall-mounted stones to get out of the switch maze, and the rest of the way should be straightforward.

Once inside the castle, the first order of business is fending off Riku. Magic has no effect on him, so simply smash away, using Dodge Roll or Guard to escape his physical attacks. Riku is especially vulnerable right after landing from a jump, so if you're a wuss, stay clear until he takes off.

After the battle, go up the stairs and head left to enter the Library, a maze of sorts requiring you to find sets of books and put them back in their rightful places. Start by picking up the red book on the floor and putting it back on the shelf ahead with the other red books.


Now that the rest of the library is open, go up the stairs and take the brown book off the desk. Go to the shelf near the double doors, remove the green book from it, and put the brown book in its place to open up a switch. Press the switch, which unlocks the doors to the Entrance Hall. You can find some items by taking all the loose books and bringing them back to their correct shelves, but it's an optional task.

The next room requires you to find four emblem pieces to open the locked door in the Entrance Hall. Start by casting whatever Thunder spell you have on the small tablet with the thunderbolt motif; this activates a platform to take you between the hall's two floors.

Use your Fire spell to light all of the unlit candles lining the second-floor hallway; once you do, the blue emblem piece appears in the center. Return to the hallway and use the Red Trinity Mark by the horse-head statue to push it off the edge, revealing the green emblem piece.

Use your Keyblade to destroy the two vases on either side of this statue-it coughs up the red emblem piece for your trouble. Finally, slide the last statue on the second floor (the one with nothing next to it) to find another red emblem piece.


Once that's all done, go to the door with the Heartless emblem on the first floor and use all of your emblem pieces on it. If you do, you'll see a cut-scene and open up the path to the Lift Stop.

Now that you're back outside, go down the new path and examine the blue crystal you run into. Get on the moving platform and take it to another section; once there, ascend the stairs and use another crystal to activate the large platform next to it. Note that you must defeat all enemies that are nearby before you can activate the crystals.

On the platform, defeat all the Heartless that appear and examine the orange crystal in the center when you're done. The platform leads you to another Lift Stop; examine the blue crystal inside and take the elevator up to the Great Crest.

Flip the blue crystal to your left and then examine the orange crystal in the corner. You should lower the right half of the Crest. Once that's done, enter the exit by the blue crystal and proceed across the corridor to the High Tower.


Examine the orange crystal here and the other half of the Crest lowers, opening up a new pathway. Jump on top of the Crest and make your way to the doorway beyond. You appear at the Lift Stop one more time; head down the corridor and go face-to-face with Maleficent.

The evil witch's first attack isn't so difficult. She likes to float around on a magical platform of sorts; you can make it crash to earth simply by whacking it a few times. After that, she's a piece of cake. Just lock-on and beat her to submission, letting your party take care of the Heartless she throws out.

Maleficent's second form-a large, black dragon-is much trickier...until you realize the secret. Here's the incredibly difficult way to defeat it: Go right up and attack its head, using Aero to reduce damage and staying close to the dragon's body during its fire attacks.


Now here's an easy way to defeat it: Find this safe spot, hidden among the tree roots that line the walls here, and camp out until the rest of your party kills the dragon for you. The root here protects you from almost every attack the dragon throws at you. So simple, it almost hurts.

Save your game, restock your items, and go through the newly opened passageway to fight Riku once more. He's quite a bit tougher this time, and you don't have your party by your side.

This one-on-one duel can be made a bit simpler through ample use of your Guard ability (make sure it's activated before the battle). Whenever Riku makes a move towards Sora, press the Square button-more often than not, you should deflect his attack and be in perfect position for a counter combo. You'll avoid the brunt of his magic if you glide around while he's casting it. Again, magic doesn't work on him, so save it all for Cure spells.

After a lengthy cut-scene, you're transformed into a Heartless. Make your way out of the Hollow Bastion-most of the moving platforms don't work anymore, so feel free to jump off the side of the castle when you're stuck. You can find the rest of your companions back at the Entrance Hall; approach them and return to normal.

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