What do you get if you cross a key, a sword, and a blog that's far longer than it has any right to be? Why, the Keyblade Chronicles, of course!

As always, a quick preamble to remind you that this is the latest episode in a series chronicling my efforts to play through the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise before the release of Kingdom Hearts III in January 2019. We're still pretty close to the start of our adventure, but if you intend to follow along, it's best to start from the beginning. There are handy navigation links at the top of this blog to take you either to the previous episode, or to the main episode hub (which also contains a more in-depth explanation of what this series is and why I'm writing it). If you're all caught up, then by all means read on!

In this week's episode we'll finally be taking a look at the Gummi Ship building mechanics and constructing a new ride that will take us to new, uncharted worlds including Agrabah from Aladdin. We'll then briefly zip back to Traverse Town to open up the Synthesis Shop, before an unexpected encounter derails our journey to the next world.

Part 14 - Becoming a Master Builder

When we last left our intrepid trio, they were about to hop on board their Gummi Ship and use the newly-installed Navigation Gummi to find and explore new worlds. However, things are about to ramp up a little difficulty-wise, making this the perfect opportunity to finally dive deep on the game's Gummi Ship building mechanics. After the Traverse Town Keyhole is sealed, Cid leaves the Accessory Shop and starts hawking Gummi blocks on the streets of the First District. This new storefront gives the player access to previously inaccessible Gummis, including sturdier cockpits, faster engines and more powerful weapons. After purchasing some of these upgrades and adding them to the handful of new pieces we've found across the worlds, we're ready to go and build a new Gummi Ship! Time to return to the World Select Screen and take a look at that Gummi Garage menu we've been avoiding until now.

First-time visitors to this screen are greeted by a tutorial, and I implore anyone new to Kingdom Hearts to read the whole thing. Heck, I've played this game five times before, and even I sat through the tutorial again to refresh my memory. The tutorial isn't the best I've ever seen - it explains all the features of the ship editor well enough, but the wording used and its passive nature mean it's difficult to equate what's happening on screen with the buttons the player needs to press. A more active tutorial, giving the player some agency in building a basic Gummi Ship, or even an on-screen controller depicting which buttons are responsible for which actions, might go some way to better acclimatising the player to using the ship editor.

As for the editor itself? If you've ever played Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, it's pretty similar to the vehicle-building component in that, only about a hundred times worse. The ship editor has three distinct modes - Select mode, which lets you scroll through the many Gummi blocks in your collection; Build mode, which lets you place and arrange those blocks into something resembling a spacecraft; and a viewing mode, which lets you see your ship as it will appear in flight. Players can toggle between these modes using the R1 and R2 buttons.

The selection mode is fairly straightforward - you can cycle left and right between different groups of Gummis, and up and down within groups to find specific kinds or shapes of Gummi. Gummi blocks are grouped by their function (cockpits, engines, armour, wings, weapons, etc) and are named after Final Fantasy spells which help to identify their purpose (engines are named after the Fire/Fira/Firaga spells, cannons after the Thunder/Thundara/Thundaga spells, wings after the Aero/Aerora/Aeroga spells, etc.). When you find the Gummi you want, you can press either X or R1 to enter Build mode. Ship construction takes place within a cubed grid, which can be increased in size with the appropriate upgrades from Cid, and every Gummi block takes up a specific number of spaces within that grid. You can move your selected Gummi around the grid with the D-pad, rotate it with the left stick, and move up and down levels using the L1 and L2 buttons. When you're done placing that type of Gummi and wish to select another, pressing R1 will return from Build mode to Select mode. Inspect mode can be accessed by pressing R2 at any time while in Build mode.

If this all sounds confusing, that's because it is. Building a Gummi Ship is not an intuitive process. It's the painful experience of constantly forgetting which buttons do what. It's the heart-breaking agony of accidentally highlighting and deleting an entire ship when it's almost complete, and having to start over from scratch. It's the soul-crushing reality that you've spent twenty minutes sticking glorified Lego blocks together for the sake of a two-minute on-rails shooter sequence. That's not to say it can't be rewarding. Building a strong, fast Gummi Ship that can tear apart Heartless ships and look cool doing it does feel good. It's just a very, very steep learning curve to get to that point. For the most part, it's just as viable (and much less of a slog) to keep upgrading the default Kingdom Gummi Ship with better armour and new doodads as you gain access to them.

It is theoretically possible to bypass most of this nightmarish process by building a replica Heartless Gummi Ship using blueprints picked up from destroyed enemy ships. This is not a method I would advocate, however. Most of the default Gummi Ship blueprints come devoid of weaponry, forcing you into the editor anyway to chuck a few cannons and lasers on top of the pre-determined design. Far more infuriating for me personally, however, is the fact that these blueprints are largely useless without the correct Gummi blocks in your inventory. Attempting to build a ship without all the necessary parts will result in the ship being built, but with all the parts you don't own simply absent from its structure. On top of this, there's no in-game way to find out which blocks you need to complete a specific design, so I couldn't actively seek them out even if I wanted to. All these things conspire to make me never want to engage with the preset blueprints, and this playthrough is no different. Doesn't stop me from wanting to collect them all, though.

For all the negativity I've spewed on the subject of Gummi Ship creation, I do have to applaud the level of depth and freedom within the ship editor, especially considering it exists in a game that's over fifteen years old at this point. All a ship needs to function is a cockpit and an engine, so slap a Fire-G or two on the back of a Cure-G and you literally have a working Gummi Ship. There are also interconnected weight, power and speed ratios at play, too - using more armour-type Gummis will give your ship more health, but the extra weight will also slow it down, meaning you'll need more and/or bigger engines to keep it moving at a decent clip. Each weapon type has its own distinct advantages and disadvantages, forcing you to weigh up their pros and cons during the building process. There is a neat little engine under the hood of this part of the game, and one that was way ahead of its time, even if it is incredibly confusing to use and get the most out of.

For now I'm keen to build a ship that will see us comfortably around the next set of worlds. I use the Curaga cockpit and Firaga engine that I've earned from saving the dalmatian puppies as my base. From there I bulk out the body with Shell and Dispel armour blocks, slap a pair of Aeroga wings on the sides for manoeuvrability, and attach a Thunder cannon and Comet laser to the undercarriage. When I'm done it looks a bit like a flying saucer with very square edges - not especially glamorous, but it'll get the job done.

Part 15 - Arabian Nights

With our new Gummi Ship ready to go, it's time to set off in search of new worlds. A pair of suspicious, black hole-looking portals have opened up, and they're just begging to be investigated. One is placed between Traverse Town and Wonderland, and the other between Olympus Coliseum and Deep Jungle - smart positioning which means you can access a portal regardless of your current location. Both routes are pretty comparable from a content perspective, and both wind up in exactly the same location, bringing the crew out near a desert world with a huge palace. This is, of course, Agrabah, taken from one of the most popular films of the Disney Renaissance, Aladdin. Let's disembark and see what awaits us.

Down on the surface, resident villain Jafar is speaking with Maleficent about their plans. The Heartless are currently swarming over the world, looking for its Keyhole. Of less concern to Jafar are the whereabouts of Princess Jasmine, but he soon changes his tune when Maleficent explains that she is one of seven "Princesses of Heart", needed to open the "final door". These nebulous terms will likely be fully explained in due course, but for now, Jafar summons a group of Heartless to search for her. Maleficent offers some advisory words about the dangers of becoming over-reliant on darkness and the Heartless, but Jafar brushes them off with a laugh and walks away. Jasmine, hiding behind a market stall nearby, hears the whole exchange.

The cutscene abruptly shifts to active gameplay, and if Deep Jungle had the slowest build-up, Agrabah easily has the fastest - we're immediately beset by Heartless. I notice two things here. On the positive side of the equation, the Heartless designs here are just as good as those in Deep Jungle. The Bandits and Fat Bandits that litter the city streets are very world-appropriate in their design, adorned with turbans, vests and curled-toe shoes, and carrying deadly scimitars as weapons. The downside is that the plaza in which we're currently fighting is not designed for combat. In fact, all of the zones that make up the city portion of Agrabah feel very hemmed in, making it difficult to create breathing space while fighting, and also making things difficult for the camera, which invariably ends up too close to the action and ruins the player's situational awareness.

Fighting their way through the narrow city streets, Sora, Donald and Goofy are funnelled by a series of roadblocks into a nearby alleyway, where they meet Jasmine for the first time. She gives us the full backstory, explaining that Jafar has overthrown her father, the Sultan, and seized control of Agrabah in his search for the Keyhole. She had been imprisoned in the palace, but was helped to escape by someone named Aladdin. As she finishes her story, Jafar shows up and sets his Heartless on the group. Sora and co. manage to buy Jasmine enough time to escape, but lose both her and Jafar in the process. With no indication of where to go next, I guess we're reduced to wandering around in search of the next story beat. I wasn't expecting to have Deep Jungle flashbacks this soon...

There's a surprising amount of verticality to the design of Agrabah's city zones, with multiple paths leading between the different areas at various heights. While I've complained about the jumping and platforming in Kingdom Hearts already, Agrabah manages to mitigate a lot of potential frustration through its level design. Unlike Deep Jungle, where a misstep could put you back multiple screens, it's quicker and easier to regain the high ground in Agrabah thanks to the multitude of ledges and market stall canopies that can be reached from ground level. This verticality ties into some light puzzle-solving and item-hunting, and while it's nothing particularly strenuous, it's an appreciated change.

The place we should be, as it turns out, is a hideaway inside an old abandoned building. Along with a couple of treasure chests, the crew encounter something out of the ordinary, even by their standards - a flying carpet, pinned to the ground by heavy furniture. Moving the furniture will release it and cause it to fly off towards the desert, giving a slight clue as to our next destination. The desert can be accessed by leaving through the city gates, where Carpet will be waiting to take Sora, Donald and Goofy across the sea of sand.

Carpet takes the crew to a far corner of the desert, where a young man is trapped in quicksand and in desperate need of help. Another combat challenge ensues, tasking the player with taking down a large number of Bandit Heartless. These new enemies are much easier to deal with and keep track of in this open space, giving the player more opportunities to read and react to their attacks. That's a luxury I intend to make the most of here, since we're starting to enter territory where standard enemies will regularly outspeed Sora, making his default combo feel more sluggish than ever. Bandits are also the first non-boss enemy type we've encountered who can parry Sora's physical attacks, encouraging me to mix some Fire and Blizzard magic in amongst my Keyblade swings.

When a certain number of Bandits have been defeated, a cutscene plays showing the young man hoisting himself out of the quicksand, rubbing an old oil lamp, and wishing for the Heartless to disappear. A huge blue genie erupts from the spout of the lamp, rolls up his invisible sleeves, and dismisses the remaining Heartless with a single click of the fingers. Based on that display, I guess he didn't really need our help after all. The young man introduces himself as Aladdin, thanks Sora for coming to his rescue, and explains what he was doing out in the desert. He came all the way out here to explore the Cave of Wonders in search of the magic lamp he now holds. Whoever holds the lamp becomes the master of the genie inside, granting him three wishes. Aladdin intends to use his wishes to become a prince and win the heart of a princess named Jasmine. The mention of her name suddenly jogs Sora's memory, prompting him to tell Aladdin that his prospective girlfriend is in trouble. With no time to lose, everyone bundles onto Carpet, who sets off back towards Agrabah. En route, Aladdin promises to free Genie from his servitude to the lamp when Jasmine is saved.

Now that we've met all the key players in Agrabah, it might be a good time to talk about this world's voice acting. On the whole it's pretty darn good, with almost all the film's actors reprising their roles here - Scott Weinger voices Aladdin, Linda Larkin is Jasmine, Jonathan Freeman reprises Jafar's memorable drawl, and even Gilbert Gottfried comes back as the wise-cracking parrot Iago. The major noticeable omission here is Robin Williams as the Genie, and although Dan Castellaneta (who voiced Genie in the direct-to-video sequel Return of Jafar, but is probably best known as the voice of Homer Simpson) does an admirable job as understudy, Williams' absence is felt. The voice acting is a little more consistent here as well, with only a couple of lines coming off as rushed due to odd intonation. More than any other world so far, Agrabah has nailed the feel of its film origins with its voice acting.

Since this is also the point at which he becomes selectable as a world-specific ally, let's quickly talk about Aladdin from a gameplay standpoint. Much like Tarzan, his active combat abilities are very combat-oriented, using his limited MP to deal additional damage to enemies with his scimitar. In that respect, also like Tarzan, he's best suited as a replacement for Goofy in the party. What I only noticed on this playthrough is that Aladdin's support abilities play extremely well into his status as a "street rat" in the film. They're almost exclusively centred around money and treasure, including abilities like Jackpot (earn more Munny from battles), Lucky Strike (increase the drop rate of rare items) and Treasure Magnet (pull in orbs and items dropped by defeated enemies from further away). It's a very clever allusion to his status as a thief through the abilities he possesses.

On returning to Agrabah, a different set of paths have been blocked, impeding the group's progress towards the palace. If you didn't get acquainted with the rooftops of Agrabah before, it's now mandatory. The aim here is to explore the city above ground and find keyhole-shaped switches. Using these switches will open various locked gates, allowing the party to access old areas from new perspectives, as well as different areas altogether. It's a little reminiscent of the Bizarre Room from Wonderland, except not quite as confusing since there's a logical progression to everything, and at no point does the orientation of the city completely shift.

Eventually Sora will unlock a gate which leads to the front of the palace. There he meets Jafar, who has found Jasmine and his holding her captive. Using his second wish, Aladdin wishes for Genie to save her. As Genie swoops in and tries to carry her away, Jafar has his parrot Iago steal the lamp from Aladdin and bring it over to him. No longer under Aladdin's control, Genie drops Jasmine into an empty pot, which becomes a Pot Spider. Summoning a Heartless to keep Sora and Aladdin busy, Jafar disappears, the lamp now in his possession.

Mini-Boss - Pot Centipede - Agrabah is filled with bosses and mini-bosses, and here is our first - a giant centipede whose body is comprised of the Pot Spiders we've already been fighting up to this point. The head and tail are its primary weak points, and each end of the Centipede is adorned with a pair of whip-like antennae which serve as its main weapon. These antennae will glow when an attack is inbound, giving the player a brief window to get out of range before being hit. As for strategy, the trick is to try and break the Centipede into its constituent parts, since it's much less mobile when it's in pieces. The most reliable method for achieving this seems to be a critical hit to the head, which will send the Pot Spiders that make up its body flying in all directions. For this reason, it might be worth giving up the Jungle King (which does more damage, but lowers Sora's critical hit chance) and equipping the classic Kingdom Key instead. I also found the Ripple Drive ability very effective in this fight, since its area-of-effect properties helped me to take out multiple Pot Spiders with single combos. Your reward for beating the Pot Centipede is a Ray of Light accessory.

After the battle, Jasmine is nowhere to be found. A maniacal disembodied laugh from Jafar is apparently enough to tell Aladdin that their next destination is the desert. Carpet carries the team back to where we first encountered Aladdin, and a new threat rises from the sand. Anyone who grew up watching Aladdin is likely to be hit pretty hard by this next cutscene, as Sora, Donald, Goofy and Aladdin watch the entrance to the Cave of Wonders emerge right in front of them. All is not as it should be, however, and we have another battle on our hands before we can enter.

Mini-Boss - Tiger Head - Another interesting mini-boss fight, we have to knock the power of darkness out of the Cave of Wonders' eyes before it will allow us to pass through its mouth into the caverns below. Its weak points, therefore, are its purple glowing eyes. Although initially out of reach, the Tiger Head will lower its mouth into the sand periodically, bringing its eyes into range. In terms of attacks to watch out for, the Tiger Head only really has one - it shoots homing balls of dark energy from its eyes at regular intervals. The real threat here comes from the numerous Bandits, Air Soldiers and Fat Bandits that spawn throughout the battle. Donald, Goofy and/or Aladdin will minimise the amount of time these additional Heartless spend focusing on Sora for as long as they can stay alive, but it still pays to be aware of your surroundings at all times during this fight.

It's a good idea to have Sora equipped with the Hurricane Blast ability at this stage if you have it, plus an Aerial Combo Plus to prolong the amount of time Sora can stay airborne and attacking the eyes. If timed well, it's also possible to catch a lift on the Tiger Head's nose as it rises out of the sand, giving Sora plenty of time to wail on those eyes while perched on the bridge of its snout. Another viable alternative is to summon Simba when the Tiger Head's nose is down in the sand - this will bring both of its eyes (as well as a bunch of the minion Heartless) within range of his Proud Roar, letting you deal some decent damage. When both eyes have been subdued, the battle ends, and the team are at last able to pass into the Cave of Wonders.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the Cave of Wonders is one of the best level environments from any of Kingdom Hearts' Disney-inspired worlds. Not only is it visually consistent with the environments seen in the film, but the level design is some of the most adventurous in the game up to this point. There are two distinct areas within the cave, a linear upper level, and a more maze-like lower level. These two levels have different colour palettes (reds and blues, respectively) making it easy to tell at a glance which level you're on. The upper level is more combat oriented, throwing lots of Heartless at you, while the lower level is quieter and more puzzle-oriented, asking the player to hit switches to open doors and reveal secrets. While there are numerous different paths to take between the two levels, it's never a chore to switch between them, since there's usually a hole nearby to jump down or a staircase nearby to head up. There's a minor level of persistent progression between the two levels as well, with Sora needing to damage a pillar on the lower level to lower it and open a path on the upper level. It's a real step forward in level design, with the only real shame being that the developers didn't do more with the concept.

While progressing through the cave, a cutscene plays showing Jafar in the lamp chamber, using his first wish to make Genie reveal the world's Keyhole. The team arrive on the scene as Jafar is talking with Maleficent about Sora interfering with their plan, mentioning Riku's name in the process. Maleficent disappears before Sora can speak with her, leaving Jafar to deal with the intruders. He explains what the audience already know, but Sora doesn't - that Jasmine is one of seven princesses whose hearts hold the key to opening a door of some kind. There's no opportunity to ask questions, as Jafar makes his second wish and commands Genie to crush them all.

BOSS - Jafar - After the great exploration-based gameplay to reach this point, Jafar is a bit of a let-down as a boss. You fight him in the lamp chamber, a large circular arena with three raised platforms around its perimeter. Jafar will float between these three platforms and periodically attack with one of a number of spells from his staff - either a Blizzard-style spell that fills the centre of the arena, a Fire-element melee attack, or a laser-like beam. All the while, Genie will move around the arena and attack with a slam (pre-empted with a lengthy apology that telegraphs his intentions long before the attack lands).

Provided you keep the aerial combat abilities equipped following the Tiger Head fight, Jafar shouldn't be too tough to take down. Simply jump onto whichever platform he stops near and launch an aerial combo, concluding with Hurricane Blast for maximum damage. After taking a few hits, Jafar will start to transform into a glowing ball of darkness while he floats around. He's impossible to damage in this state, but it's worth sticking close to him to land some attacks when he reverts to his human form. Honestly, this fight is more of a chore than a challenge, with significant periods of waiting around for Jafar to move into position for a good attacking opportunity. Patience will prevail, earning Sora his first magic upgrade (Blizzard to Blizzara, increasing the spell's spread and damage output) in the process.

As Aladdin and Sora rush over to help Jasmine, a desperate Jafar makes his final wish - to become an all-powerful genie himself. Genie obliges, and Jafar's writhing body sinks into a newly-opened crater in the floor of the lamp chamber. Sora quickly follows after him. We should have known this was too easy...

BOSS - Genie-Jafar - The fourth and final boss of Agrabah (for now) is Jafar in his genie form, but he's not our target in this fight. Instead, we're shooting for Iago, who's flying around the arena carrying Jafar's own genie lamp. Honestly, if the previous fight was a chore, this is one is just plain disappointing. Iago is completely defenceless, making the lamp a sitting duck (or should that be sitting parrot?) of a target. Jafar's genie form has a couple of attacks including a close-range arm sweep and the ability to throw balls of volcanic rock over a distance, but since you're rarely close enough to him to trigger the former and the latter is telegraphed several seconds in advance by a voice clip, neither of these attacks should trouble anyone who's already played the game up to this point. As a final hindrance, some areas of the ground in this arena will raise and lower, occasionally putting Iago out of reach. Just be patient, wait for him to change course, and start attacking when he's back in range. For maximum efficiency, keep those aerial combo abilities equipped to really lay the smack down on Jafar's lamp.

Acting as Jafar's master with lamp in hand, Sora returns the villain to his new home. His reward for doing so is another spell upgrade - Fire becomes Fira, increasing its damage output - and the first part of Ansem's Report, the document that the Final Fantasy crew have been referring to, hoping it might hold the secret to getting rid of the Heartless. By the time the team return to the lamp chamber, Jasmine is nowhere to be seen - like Alice in Wonderland, it seems she's been kidnapped by the Heartless. Sora uses his Keyblade to seal the world's Keyhole, just as the entire Cave of Wonders begins to collapse.

What follows is a brief playable carpet-riding sequence that pays homage to one of Aladdin's most iconic scenes, giving the player a small amount of agency as the team escape from the crumbling cave. It doesn't really amount to anything, and the controls are pretty unresponsive which makes it difficult to avoid any of the obstacles in Sora's path, but it's still a really impressive spectacle, especially when you consider this was originally running on the humble PS2. It's actually slightly surprising this wasn't fleshed out more into a full-on mini-game in the same vein as Jungle Slider or Vine Swinging back in Deep Jungle, since it would probably lend itself well to that kind of treatment.

Back in Agrabah, Sora breaks the bad news to Aladdin that he can't come with them on their journey to find Jasmine. To do so would be "meddling" with the world order. Genie urges Aladdin to use his last wish to find Jasmine, but true to his word, Aladdin uses it to free Genie instead. Now no longer a slave to his lamp, Genie decides to go along with Sora of his own volition. Quite why it's alright for Genie to travel with Sora when it isn't okay for Aladdin to do the same isn't really explained, but nobody questions it, so I guess it's okay? Genie thus becomes our second available Summon. Another offensive Summon, he uses a variety of magical spells including Thunder, Gravity and Stop to damage and disable foes as part of his Showtime ability. I don't foresee myself making much use of Genie over the course of the game, since I could use most of these spells more reliably through my own Magic menu.

Alongside a new Summon, Aladdin gifts Sora a new keychain from his Keyblade. Named Three Wishes, it offers a slight attack boost from Jungle King without sacrificing critical hit chance, albeit with a slightly shorter reach. It's a trade-off that's worth it in my opinion, so I waste no time equipping it. Our final reward for clearing Agrabah is the ability to activate green Trinity marks. These marks allow the team to use Trinity Ladder, sitting on each other's shoulders to reach high-up objects. I've seen the green Trinity mark in a few places already, most notably the one on the floor of the Accessory Shop in Traverse Town. Perhaps we should head back and check that out...

Meanwhile, back at Villain HQ, Hades and Maleficent have witnessed the events that occurred in Agrabah. It's revealed that Jasmine was kidnapped not by the Heartless, but by Riku, who's now working in league with Maleficent and the other villains, having been promised that they will help him find what he's searching for. Apparently true to her word, Maleficent seems to suggest that she's located Kairi, and tells Riku to travel with Captain Hook on his ship to find her. Riku senses there's a catch to all this, but Maleficent plays innocent, saying that she only cares about his happiness. Reluctantly, Riku does as he's told...

AGRABAH Thoughts - Much like Deep Jungle did with Tarzan, the events of Agrabah sync up pretty well with the plot of Aladdin. Aladdin meeting Jasmine on the streets of Agrabah, Jafar seizing control of the city, Aladdin acquiring the lamp, befriending the Genie, losing the lamp to Jafar and ultimately defeating him are all story beats from the film that are represented within Kingdom Hearts, albeit with some artistic licence to accommodate the Heartless and the Keyhole as plot points. Agrabah might also be the best instance of character representation in the game so far, with almost all the film's main characters represented and the only notable omission being Jasmine's father, the Sultan.

Aesthetically, Agrabah matches up brilliantly with the feel of the film it's been taken from. The city streets, while cramped and confined, are visually faithful. The stars of the show, though, are Aladdin's House and the Tiger Head that forms the entrance to the Cave of Wonders. Once again Yoko Shimomura's soundtrack is brilliantly on-point, with eastern influences aplenty in both the exploration and battle music that conjure up the feel of Aladdin without directly cribbing from any of the film's big musical numbers. I've also spoken about how most of the Heartless here feel thematically appropriate for the world thanks to their attire and weaponry, but it bears repeating here. All in all, I'd be hard pressed to call Agrabah anything other than the high point of Kingdom Hearts up to this point. It's just a shame about those underwhelming boss fights.

Part 16 - This Band Needs Synthesisers

Back on the World Select screen, two new paths have opened up on the far side of Agrabah, leading to worlds with battle levels of five and six stars. Before heading to either of those, though, Goofy points out it would probably be a good idea to return to Traverse Town and check out that green Trinity mark in the Accessory Shop. Thanks to the addition of the Warp Gummi enabling instant travel to previously visited worlds, backtracking becomes much less of a chore from here on out.

Inside the Accessory Shop, I meet a new face, and it's not the guy who's taken over shop-keeping duties since Cid went back to dealing Gummi blocks. It's Pinocchio, the living puppet who Jiminy Cricket used to look out for on their own world, and he seems to have been helping himself to the shop's stock. He's quick to lie when Jiminy confronts him about it, causing the nose on his face to grow. Jiminy gives him a lecture about telling the truth and listening to his conscience, and Pinocchio promises not to lie again, shrinking his nose back to normal size. It's an interesting little cameo that doesn't really amount to much, but it does remind the player that Jiminy Cricket is actually travelling with them, and also serves to subtly set up the next "world" we'll be visiting.

With Pinocchio dealt with, it's time to activate the green Trinity mark on the floor. This lowers a ladder granting access to the first floor of the shop, which as it turns out is home to a bunch of Moogles, the lovable cat-bear creatures from the Final Fantasy series. They've served many roles in those games, from voodoo doll weaponry and postal workers to actual playable characters, but here in Kingdom Hearts, they're master craftsmen. These Moogles run the Synthesis Shop, a special outlet where the team can hand in loot dropped by enemies in exchange for rare items, accessories and weapons. The more items the Moogles synthesise for Sora, the longer their list of available recipes will become. It's a neat little side quest that rewards exploration and combat with some incredibly useful bits and bobs, although some of the rarest items can be a real pain to get hold of. I'll be engaging with (and writing about) item synthesis once we hit the end-game content in a few weeks' time. For now, I have enough gubbins to craft a handful of healing items and a couple of new accessories.

While we're here in Traverse Town, we may as well check in on some old faces for new items. The first port of call is the Dalmatians' House, where we're gifted another Gummi block for rescuing more puppies (33 down, 66 to go!). The other place worth visiting is the Item Shop, which is now carrying new weapons for Donald and Goofy. In the interest of keeping them within their mage and tank roles respectively, I decide to pick up the Magus Staff for Donald and the Golem Shield for Goofy. After quickly re-tooling my party with their new gear, I head back out to the World Select screen and set off for the world with a five-star battle level.

Part 17 - Sora and the Whale

Flying from Agrabah to the next world is the first time I've noticed a substantial step up in difficulty on these Gummi routes. From here on out, enemy ships and obstacles start taking a lot more damage to destroy, and with our ship's pretty limited arsenal, it proves more effective to try and avoid incoming ships and asteroids than obliterate them. As I near the end of this Gummi route, the HUD clears from the screen and a huge grey bulk appears in the distance. What might initially be mistaken for another asteroid turns out to be (of all things) a giant whale, identified by Jiminy as Monstro. Swimming through space. A quick note to anyone who might have been holding out hope for this game to start making some kind of sense - this is your first and best chance get off the ride. Sora tries to pilot the ship out of its path (allegedly, since he spends a lot of time doing sweet nothing while the whale approaches), but it's too late. Monstro approaches, mouth open, and swallows the Gummi Ship whole.

We're treated to a flashback at this point, depicting Sora and Riku as young children on the Destiny Islands. Sora is convinced there's a monster inside the Secret Place, and gets Riku to come with him to take it out. As it happens, the growling sound heard by Sora is just the wind rumbling around in the cave. Myth debunked, the pair spot the mysterious door at the back of the cavern. They try to open it, but it won't budge. As they leave the cave to check on the new girl at the Mayor's house (presumably Kairi), Riku vows that when they're older, they will leave the island and go on real adventures instead of make-believe ones like their monster hunt...

Sora, Donald and Goofy awaken inside the mouth of Monstro, and it seems they're not the only ones here. Donald spots Pinocchio carrying a Gummi block, and Jiminy insists the team follow him to find out what he's up to. It's never actually explained how Pinocchio came to be inside Monstro only moments after we saw him in Traverse Town. My assumption has always been that he stowed away on the team's Gummi Ship somehow. It turns out Monstro is hosting quite the party on his tongue - alongside everyone else, Pinocchio's father Geppetto is here as well. Pinocchio presents him with the Gummi block, saying they can use it to escape from Monstro. Geppetto explains to Sora that he's been hunting for Pinocchio since their world disappeared, and he ended up swallowed by Monstro in the process. While telling his story, he doesn't notice Pinocchio wander deeper into Monstro, apparently in pursuit of someone else...

Sora and the others give chase, meeting Pinocchio inside the first of many "chambers" that constitute the innards of Monstro. They try to talk him back to Geppetto, but Pinocchio isn't budging and it quickly becomes apparent why. Riku is also inside Monstro (I'm beginning to wonder if there's anyone who isn't inside Monstro at this point), and says he's playing with Pinocchio. When Sora asks about Kairi, Riku challenges him to catch them before he'll reveal what he knows. It's an interesting shift in roles between the two characters here, with Sora taking on the serious tone juxtaposed with Riku's playful mockery. When Sora tries to talk him down, Riku grabs Pinocchio by the arm and retreats even deeper into Monstro.

Visually, I think the inside of Monstro is the most mixed bag the game has presented us up to this point. The Mouth area is rendered in a very realistic style, true to the visuals of Pinocchio, but the "chambers" that make up his innards are rendered in a much more stylised, cartoon-like fashion, with vibrant spots and blobs of colour adorning the walls and floors. I appreciate this stylised approach is more kid-friendly than a realistic, fleshy rendition might be, but it still seems very at odds with the design of his mouth. An unfortunate by-product of this design choice is that navigating inside Monstro is on a hellish par with getting around Deep Jungle. The chambers are numbered from 1 to 6, but there's very little in the sense of a logical progression from one chamber to the next. There are multiple paths and routes to chambers from other chambers, and they don't even run in numeric sequence - our goal here is to get to Chamber 4, but in order to do so we have to pass through Chambers 5 and 6 to reach it. Add to this the fact that all of these chambers look identical thanks to their Mr Blobby-esque interior decor, and players are in for a very perplexing exploration segment here.

Eventually Sora will catch up to Riku, who's once again being manipulated by Maleficent into believing that Sora has abandoned him in favour of the Keyblade and his new friends. Riku questions Sora's loyalty to Kairi, suggesting that if he was serious about saving her, he wouldn't be gallivanting from world to world and showing off his Keyblade at every opportunity. While Sora and Riku argue, a scream off-screen alerts them to the fact that Pinocchio is in trouble. Following the scream into Monstro's Bowels, the pair are met by a monstrous-looking Heartless that has ensnared Pinocchio within its cage-like stomach. Putting aside their differences, Sora and Riku agree to work together to rescue the puppet.

Mini-Boss - Parasite Cage - This is the first of two battles against the Parasite Cage, and since it's notably easier than the second, I'm reducing this one to mini-boss status. In what is a rarity in Kingdom Hearts, this battle sees the three-piece party augmented with a fourth character in the form of Riku. While his actions can't be controlled in any way, he also doesn't have any visible HP bar and (unlike Donald and Goofy) can't be knocked out. This, coupled with the decent damage dealt by his bat-wing sword Soul Eater, makes him a far superior combat ally to Sora's usual accomplices. In terms of strategy, this first encounter with Parasite Cage doesn't demand too much of the player. Its only attacks involve swinging its tentacles back and forth, and these are easily deflected with the correct timing. Chipping down its short health bar shouldn't take too long at all.

Once defeated, Parasite Cage will drop Pinocchio through a hole in the ground and retreat. Riku follows down the hole, and once I regain control of Sora, I do the same. Something that I feel we need to talk about here is that after leaving a zone named Bowels, through a hole in the bottom of the zone, Sora and co. somehow end up back in Monstro's mouth, and are visibly seen falling from above. Now, I'm no marine biologist, but I do know enough to know that the bowels of an animal don't connect directly to the roof of its mouth. Either the level designers on Kingdom Hearts need to learn the basics of biology, or there's something incredibly screwed up about this whale's anatomy.

It seems that the truce between Sora and Riku was short-lived, because the latter is now working on a fresh attempt to kidnap Pinocchio. He claims that a puppet with a heart might hold the key to helping someone who's lost theirs, prompting Sora to ask if he's talking about Kairi. Riku shrugs off his answer and leaves Monstro's mouth via his throat. Desperate for his son to be saved, Geppetto gifts the player a new ability so they can pursue Riku - the ability to High Jump. This marks the first appearance of a shared ability in Kingdom Hearts. These abilities are linked directly to traversal, and although they need to be equipped like individual character abilities, doing so does not cost any AP. High Jump, as its name suggests, adds extra height and distance to Sora's default jump, allowing him to reach previously inaccessible areas. While it doesn't improve the feel of the game's cumbersome platforming, it does make things slightly more forgiving by giving the player that extra bit of air-time to play with. Once equipped, it's very unlikely you'll ever turn it off.

The addition of High Jump, combined with the water level in Monstro's mouth being lowered, allows me to access a number of platforms and treasure chests that were previously out of reach. Not only that, but it allows me to reach the passage to the throat that Riku took Pinocchio through. Monstro's throat poses a combined platforming and combat challenge, tasking the player with ascending a series of platforms within a cylindrical room, while also throwing several waves of enemies their way with each successive platform reached. The awkward camera makes it incredibly difficult to both ascend and fight, often meaning the best course of action is to stay in place and clear out all the enemies on one platform before attempting to jump to the next. I'd also neglected to mention that Monstro introduces a new minion Heartless in the form of the Search Ghost. They're pretty unremarkable to fight, but I want to acknowledge their ubiquity throughout the next few worlds. Clearly designed with an altogether different world in mind, their overuse in Monstro and other upcoming areas just feels lazy, particularly after the care put into the designs for world-specific Heartless in Deep Jungle and Agrabah.

Reaching the top of the throat puts Sora, Donald and Goofy in Monstro's stomach (seriously, level designers, take a biology class already!). Riku is here with Pinocchio, and he reveals his plan - to sacrifice Pinocchio's heart to the Heartless, in the hope that his twisted experiment will show him how he can help Kairi. Riku offers his hand to Sora as an ally, saying they can save her if they join forces, but Sora takes up his Keyblade in defiance. He knows Riku is on the wrong side in this fight, and isn't prepared to join him. As Riku leaves through a portal of darkness, the Parasite Cage from before descends into the arena, looking for a rematch.

BOSS - Parasite Cage - While the Parasite Cage was a pushover before, it won't go down so easily this time. In addition to a much larger HP bar, Parasite Cage brings a few new moves to table this time around including a full-body swing and an acid breath attack. This breath attack is lethal, since as well as dealing damage on contact, it will also inflict a poison-like status effect on Sora, sapping his health over time for a few seconds after contact. The new location of this second fight is also worth noting, since the outer edges of the floor are covered with stomach acid that can inflict the same poison-style status effect on Sora. Finally, it has a new weak point - a ball of darkness held inside its cage-like stomach, where Pinocchio was trapped before.

In light of Parasite Cage's change of tactics, we're going to have to change ours too. Using raised platforms around the outer edge of the arena, the player needs to target its head with aerial combos and magic attacks. Dealing a sufficient amount of damage to the head will cause its top half to topple back, opening its stomach and exposing the darkness within to Sora's Keyblade for a few precious seconds. After a while the Parasite Cage will recover and it's a case of rinse and repeat. Parasite Cage will become more aggressive as the battle progresses, increasing use of its acid breath attack to try and put the player on the back foot. Staying mobile and using the raised platforms to flank it is the best way to stay safe, attacking little and often between its own onslaughts.

Defeating the Parasite Cage gives Sora and Donald access to the Stop spell. This passive spell will cause enemies to freeze in their tracks, leaving them open to attack. Although enemies cannot be defeated while stopped, they will still accrue damage, which will then be dealt in full once the Stop spell wears off. It's a useful support spell for crowd control, more so at this point than towards the end-game content, and also has some specialist uses which I'll address at the appropriate points in this series. Learning Stop gives the team access to the full set of seven spells present in Kingdom Hearts, meaning all magic learned from here on out will be upgrades to existing spells.

After the fight, the action follows Riku's return to Captain Hook's ship. He's found Kairi, and she has indeed lost her heart. Maleficent believes it was taken by the Heartless, but says there may be a way to recover it. By gathering seven maidens of the purest heart, known as the Princesses of Heart, it will be possible to open a door to the heart of all worlds. Beyond this door, Maleficent says, Riku will likely find the wisdom needed to restore Kairi's heart to her body. She also bestows upon Riku the ability to control the Heartless, giving Riku another weapon to use in his pursuit of the seven princesses.

The battle inside Monstro's stomach causes him a bit of internal discomfort. The huge whale lets loose an enormous sneeze, firing Sora, Donald, Goofy and the Gummi Ship out of his mouth and back into Gummi-space. There's no sign of Geppetto and Pinocchio, although I have a feeling this isn't the last we'll see of the inventor and his walking, talking puppet. The Gummi Ship drifts back towards Agrabah, and puts me back on the World Select screen. Looks like we'll have to set off for that world with the five-star battle level next time.

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Once again, apologies for the delay in bringing this week's episode to you. The delay in processing last week's episode had me playing catch-up, but I'm now all square once again, and should be back to Monday releases from next week's instalment. As always, if you have any thoughts on the sections of the game covered in today's blog, please share them with me by dropping a comment below. I'll be back next week to cover the second Coliseum tournament and visits to both Atlantica and Halloween Town. Until then, thanks very much for reading folks. Take care, and I'll see you around.

Daniel

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Currently playing - Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (PS4)

I always hated the monstro level, but absolutely love Agrabah.

Waiting for part 5! Hope you're doing well