Now that I have the drop decelerator I, hopefully, won't be as stressed to beat the boss before I drop again. I'm now in the Fountain Plaza which is an entirely new area. Overall this is where TWEWY aspects really shines in this game. There's graffiti in a few places and this awesome mural.
◊ For those who don't know that is done by CAT, one of the creative minds of Shibuya, Tokyo. Early on Neku thinks of him as his idol and he's actually standing in front of it (not this exact one obviously) when he gets shot and has to enter the game to win back his life. I explore the central part of this area and see another path that's blocked by indestructible boxes. That's likely where Riku comes out and it looks like I really can't enter his sections. That's really depressing and I was kind of hoping BBS would be the only game where that happens. *sigh*
There's not much else to tell. I find a few chests, complete a challenge, and level up to 4 before advancing to another new area. This new area is fourth district and it is huge! I'm not kidding, this place could very well be larger than districts 1-3 combined! I know the layout of this area pretty well (it was where the demo put you) so I have some ideas on where they would hide chests. Fortunately most of them turn out right. Something strange about this area is that there are a lot of shops and buildings that look like you should be able to enter yet they're blocked off. While this might not seem strange since districts 1-3 had that keep in mind those buildings were designed to be entered in the first game they appeared in. Including buildings that have open doors in a new area but not letting me enter seems like a strange decision. I have two theories on this.
1. They considered the possibility of Traverse Town being in future games and decided to play it safe and make it so fourth district wasn't entirely empty.
2. They originally intended to have more NP Cs in this game who would have manned the shops. I'm assuming the NP Cs weren't going to be moogles (there's already a moogle shop in this area but it's not in a building) so it was probably going to be staffed by TWEWY characters. This makes sense since shop affinity was a big thing in that game and all the shopkeepers had their own little quirks.
I kind of wish they had gone with the second theory since it means we could have had a bonus boss fight with this guy.
◊ Oh well. I gather a few more chests and proceed to the side of the district opposite where I came in. A large plaza with balloons (one of them shaped like Wonder Meow) and a castle like structure is visible. Sora gets excited and runs off like a kid at a carnival. While running he notices a young girl that seems to be chatting with a moogle. Curious, he asks if she's Neku's partner.
The girl says she doesn't remember anything except her name Rhyme.
◊ Wonderful, Riku's the one looking for Rhyme yet Sora winds up finding her. Sora says he's sorry but Rhyme says it's no big deal and seems rather calm about not knowing where she is or who she's talking to... . Sora still doesn't know if Rhyme is Neku's partner (she's not) and decides to take her to him anyway since he might be and seeing him could jog her memory. I'm presented with a demo on flick rush which can be played at the coliseum (the castle thing I mentioned) but I ignore it for now. I'm going to drop soon and I want to fight the boss now. Before I go on I want to talk about Rhyme a little. She doesn't appear much in TWEWY (due to dying early on and being removed from the Game) so we don't really have voice clips of her like with the other characters. That's probably why I find her voice a little strange. Based on her size and appearance she's likely ten or so but her voice sounds like she's already a teen.
I fight a few enemies and level up to 5 before saving and proceeding through a nearby door to fifth district. Rhyme and Sora are crossing a bridge and entering a water filled plaza. Sora looks up and sees Neku brooding atop a nearby building. This next part is weird. We start with Sora spotting Neku and we slowly pan up to Neku. There doesn't appear to be a cutaway but suddenly Sora and Rhyme have teleported and appear behind Neku. Watch here.◊ Again, I might be missing something but the scene just has a weird structure from what I can see. Neku is surprised Sora actually trusts him after black cloak made it clear Neku sold him out. Apparently black cloak told Neku that if he brought him Sora he would send him back to his original world. Sora says he doesn't have to apologize and Neku finally says he thinks of Sora as a friend. Yay!
Sora finally remembers why he came here and asks if Rhyme is Neku's partner. Neku says no and before either of them can say anything to Rhyme she vanishes in a cloud of pink light. Black cloak appears on the opposite side of the roof. Neku tries to attach him but he gets knocked away and the boss appears.
The boss of this world is Hockomonkey, a giant jack-in-the-box type enemy that apparently specializes in punching attacks. The fight is actually tough until I realize two dream eaters have filled their link gauges. I tap an icon on the touch screen and activate a dual link which causes Spunky to swallow Count and grow enormous. I'm now Sora riding on the back of a morbidly obese multi-colored cat as it repeatedly ground pounds and my opponent is a monkey with boxing gloves. Dear God this game is hilarious! I manage to defeat Hockomonkey shortly after the dual link ends and receive a deck and HP capacity increase.
The scene that follows is interesting. Hockomonkey floats into the air and explodes in a shower of sparkles. Sora watches this and then turns to see force ghost images of Shiki and Riku. Sora runs to talk to Riku but a familiar voice tells him to stop. There's a strange glowing sun shaped think behind Sora. While Sora's distracted by the object Riku runs past and Joshua teleports in next to the sun. Neku and Joshua say hello and Rhyme teleports in. Sora asks if Neku and Joshua know each other (they just said hello and used each other's names! Pay attention!) and Neku says he's my friend but not before pausing to think for a second. Given what happened in TWEWY the pause is understandable. Sora asks if he's the one that took Rhyme and how he knows his name. Joshua tells him to settle down, he'll answer any question he asks.
Joshua says that he's the keeper of Rhyme's dreams and using them he can travel between the two Traverse Towns (this is how he was with Riku before but now he's with Sora) and it's implied he can go to other worlds as well. Joshua explains that Traverse Town only appears when someone needs shelter and right now he's maintaining it through his dreams. He then says that he knows about Sora because he dreamed him up which raises all kinds of questions about how exactly that works if Sora's a preexisting entity and has all his memories intact (The mind screw count is now 1). Joshua then says he's pretty much omniscient which is just like TWEWY. Sora asks where Riku is and the camera pans behind Joshua to see him (still ghostly) backing away in fear. Joshua explains that there are two Traverse Towns and Riku's in the other. He says that to understand why it got split in two he needs to ask black cloak who removes his hood to reveal a head of silver hair and yellow eyes. Rhyme and Neku look at Beat and Shiki respectively as Sora watches Riku confront black cloak. The scene fades away and I get the Skull Noise keyblade.
I'm taken to the world map and shown the next three worlds but I won't be exploring those yet. I get an A rank on the dive into Traverse Town and receive a spark dive command as a reward. Since I still have some time as Sora I reenter Traverse Town (with the Skull Noise now equipped) and gather a few more chests before I drop to Riku.
We pick up with Riku in the Fountain Plaza. One of the new things I can buy in the drop menu is an aerial recovery command. I purchase it and equip it. There's not much to tell, I play as Riku and gather a bunch of chests in the Fountain Plaza and fourth district. There are no cutscenes during this part so I save and head to the fifth district after reaching level 6.
While in fifth Shiki acquires ADD and runs off. Riku yells for her to wait and chases after her. Based on Sora's story this is apparently shortly after his boss fight but right before Riku's. Anyway Riku rounds the corner as Shiki screams and find black cloak standing in the alley alone with Mr. Mew (Shiki's stuffed cat) resting at his feet. Black Cloak kicks away Mr. Mew and asks how Riku managed to get here. Riku starts to back away (which is what Sora saw) as Black Cloak approaches and says that Riku will be forced to wander this dream land forever.
Beat snaps Riku out of his BSOD and says Shiki's fine. Somehow she got over to the other side of the plaza and is now with him...whatever. Apparently Shiki was also tricked into thinking that if Riki was delivered to Black Cloak he'd return her to her world (damn, that's three people so far). Beat and Shiki thought this guy was a Reaper so they assumed this mission was part of the game.* Black Cloak summons Hockomonkey who enters one of the buildings in the district. Riku gives Mr. Mew back to Shiki and says she does't have to apologize for tricking him. Cue boss fight.
This fight is different from Sora's. For one thing Hockomonkey doesn't have boxing gloves and it takes place inside the building whereas Sora fought on the roof. Hockomonkey is apparently a spell caster now and hurls fireballs as I fight him. At times Hockomonkey vanishes and I'm forced to attack these disembodied hands. I defeat two but can't find the main part and then I get smacked by another and almost die! What the hell game, the monkey has two hands so why do I have to kill four before he reappears! Anyway I manage to defeat this asshole and get a deck capacity and HP upgrade for Riku.
Hockomonkey vanishes and we see Beat and Shiki puzzling over the ghost images of Sora, Neku, Rhyme, and Joshua. I can't tell if the ghosts can see them or not since they don't seem to be reacting at first but then they start to. Anyway Beat freaks out because he sees Rhyme but she's not really there (Rhyme is his partner and sister). Riku cheers him up and the three of them look at their partners. The screen fades and I get the Skull Noise keyblade for Riku.
This next scene apparently unlocks only after you beat both stories. We start with a white screen that shows Beat and Rhyme before transitioning to Neku and Shiki while a much slower version of this song plays.
There's a flash of light and Neku and the others vanish leaving Sora and ghost-Riku alone in fifth district. Joshua appears and says that in their world something brought their existence to an end*. Joshua says he didn't want them to suffer a permanent death so he managed to salvage their thoughts and dreams. He tried to reconstruct them but couldn't until Rhyme's dreams led him to Traverse Town*.
Using their dreams and Traverse Town he managed to recreate the four of them by taking advantage of the fact that dreams take on a physical form in this world (so they're apparently Dream Eaters now). Joshua then gives a philosophical speech (he does that a lot) about how we're no one by ourselves. We only become a true individual when others connect with us. Thanks to Sora and Riku that connection was made so now Neku and the gang have been fully restored. Sora and Riku ask the obvious question "Joshua, who are you?" Joshua says he's merely a friend and then he sprouts wings and flies away.
...
...
Why are you looking at me like that? I kid you not, that is exactly what happens. Explanation because I know some people will want it.* Sora and Riku are understandably confused but there's no time for that, the keyhole just appeared. The two open it together and another scene with Yen Sid starts.
He says that he will send them to the Destiny Islands right before it was engulfed by darkness. Their mission is to enter the dream world and open the seven sleeping keyholes. By doing this they will become masters.
I spend the next half hour rounding up the last chests in Traverse Town, getting the trophy reality shifter (defeat 50 enemies with a reality shift), and obtaining the gold diver status as Riku. I also play flick rush which is kind of boring to be honest. Maybe I'll like it more as I go on.
After all that's done I head to the second world as Sora. While I'm diving I encounter a lot of brick walls and bells. Those of you who know the worlds of this game can probably guess where I'm going.
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