I'm back to Sora who's currently drooling onto the ground in third district. Okay he's not actually doing that but I feel like he would be if this was real. Does he have a concussion? He seems fine but he did collapse onto the...whatever the ground in third district is. It's probably tile or blacktop or something. Sora pulls himself up and looks around only to find that he's all alone. He then mentally analyzes the events that occurred right before he fell asleep. He's curious about what Neku's bargain with the cloak dude is and decides that since Neku tried to defend him he must be on his side despite how things looked.
We're now presented with a tutorial on one of the most annoying aspects of this game, the Drop Gauge. Basically as you play the game this little meter to the left of your character portrait will slowly empty. The numbers under it (ranging from .8-3 from what I can tell) determine how fast it empties. Status effects cause it to empty faster. When the meter is completely used up your character is forcibly put into a stasis field of some kind and you're forced to play as the other character. You can manually force a drop which is okay IMO. It's just annoying that it happens on its own.
Anyway I resume control of Sora and begin exploring third district. While doing this I find a few chests, level up to lv. 3, and encounter this strange glowing patch on the wall. By striking it I somehow unlock the door to first district. Once I've checked the area and am certain there are no more chests I enter first district from third to complete the loop I've been making. Back in first district the mailbox freaks out for some reason. I investigate it and find this strange tunnel leading to a new area that hasn't been in any previous games. However, I ignore it and go to find the save point from earlier. While doing so I encounter some Dream Eaters and am almost killed when I suddenly regain health without doing anything. Apparently Spunky can heal me which is very useful since I don't have cure yet.
I kill the enemies and get to the save point. There's a moogle shop near it so I decide to see what they have for sale. None of the commands catch my eye and I don't want to waste money on potions but I notice two recipes for Dream Eaters. They're a Hebby Repp (reptile) and a Pricklemane (lion). I create the lion and name him Kimba. When I go to add him to my party I notice Count (Riku's Dream Eater) is present and just for the heck of it I try to add him to my party. Turns out I can! Apparently Sora and Riku share commands and Dream Eaters! Well this should make things a lot easier. I play with the Dream Eaters a little and get a ton of link points. I proceed to blow them all within three minutes but not before acquiring the cure spell on Spunky's ability link board! Yes! There is a God! This should make the game much easier since I don't have to worry about wasting potions anymore! I also get strike raid and equip it. My current deck is fire, blizzard, strike raid (which seems to function differently in this game), and cure.
I save again and finally enter that strange tunnel I found before which takes me to the post office. This area is really interesting to look at. It's basically a giant warehouse filled with grind rails that transport packages and moving platforms. Ordinarily exploring an area with this many high platforms and such would be a pain but with flowmotion it's a breeze! I find a link portal and attempt the challenge only to get my first death (it was a no deck command challenge so I couldn't heal). This resets my progress in the area which means I have to get about four chests all over again (I didn't see what effect it has on the drop gauge, tell me if you know).
While I'm doing this I notice an extra large chest. In BBS these things contained maps, recipes for commands, and Xehanort reports. It turns out to be none of those and is in fact spark, a light based command (yes it's name is thunder based but I think it's of the light element based on the animation and Sora shouting "light!") which is exclusive to Sora. I'm guessing Riku will get a dark type command called shadow or something. Anyway I remove strike raid and give Sora spark. I'm almost out of time so I proceed to the end of the area, save, and make my way to the Fountain Court right before dropping for the first time. I'm shown a menu which details how many dream points I got and says I can use them to purchase buffs for Riku during this next session. I purchase a strength buff and a magic buff and convert the rest of the DP into munny.
And we're back to Riku! He wakes up in the second district where we left him and looks around for Joshua and Beat. He hears shouting and sees a bunch of Dream Eaters chasing a girl toward first district. Before helping her I explore second district and find a few treasures chests. Unfortunately I can't seem to enter the alley or any of the buildings. After I'm done exploring I go to first district and find her surrounded by a group of Dream Eaters. Riku leaps through the air and lands between her and them and tells her to stay back. I should note that I'm using all three Dream Eaters I now have.
After winning the fight I get some new drop bonuses. I can buy these for the first time when I start playing as Sora again. We are now introduced to Shiki Misaki
◊ who...
...
...
...sorry, blanked out for a second. Anyway she thanks Riku who walks off. She then gets pissed at him for "chatting up a girl and then just walking off". Riku's response, 'I'm bad at this. Sorry.' Riku tells her to go home where it's safe and she (logically) points out that abandoning her in a dangerous place is a dick move. She asks Riku 'Aren't you my knight in shining armor?' and winks at him. Riku gets all flustered and Shiki says she's just kidding. She then asks if Riku gets out much. Understandable since he only knew two girls up until a year ago. Shiki says Riku reminds her of Neku (Hmm, she's the second person to notice that.) and the two decide to travel together for now.
I try to enter the post office but it appears only Sora can go there. *sigh* I explore first district before entering the back streets which is accessed by a pathway next to the cafe on the left side of first district. While exploring I open a chest and receive the thunder spell. Overall I really like this area. It's very huge and has multiple levels to it. There are also these canals running through it that you can flowmotion grind across which lead to several hidden rooms. If Traverse Town ever appears in KH 3 I really hope it incorporates all the areas from this game. It feels much larger than in any other game in the series. There's not much else to tell really. I fight some enemies, get a few more commands, and save and enter the fountain court right before I drop again.
A new item is available for purchase, the drop decelerator. Apparently this thing slows the rate at which the drop gauge empties. Since I intend to beat the boss of Traverse Town on this next circuit I buy it.
I'll finish Traverse Town in the next update. It's a little early to say but I think the general structure of this liveblog will have me going through one drop cycle (playing as both characters and switching back to the first) every part. Now if nothing major happens I'll condense two parts into one so I don't waste an update. Well now that that's done, see you next time!
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