You would think in Re:Chain of Memories that Riku’s path might be a bit easier. In some cases that’s true, in others it’s very far off from what you would expect. There is a lack of control in the game that you have to overcome and that provides a challenge that’s very unlike your average Kingdom Hearts game.
Here’s what I learned going through Riku’s Story for the Platinum Trophy!
Two play throughs may not be needed!
In each of my platinum guides, I bring up to do two play throughs of the game to get all the super bosses and collectible ands such in Easy and then just beat the game in Critical.
However, there aren’t really any collectibles or hidden things in Riku’s Story, it’s very straightforward. Every card you get is given to you through the game. There isn’t any chests or secret things. It’s literally enter world, beat boss, next world.
Take time to get use to your deck
Every world your deck changes and you don’t have any control over the order of the cards. Every world will have it’s unique challenge of what deck do I get this time. I always spent a little bit of extra time just getting adjusted to the new deck given to me.
How I would start to get use to the deck is I would typically start with a Feeble Darkness card or two, just to get a feel for how the deck played and what I could do with it. From there I would go to Tranquil Darkness to check how I fared against the enemies on a normal level, and if I was feeling really good and wanted to do a little leveling I’d move to Teeming Darkness.
Don’t be afraid of Dark Mode!
The game has a way of making you feel, especially in the beginning, that Riku’s Dark Mode is a bad thing and you should avoid using it if you can. However, this is Riku’s biggest strength. All of his moves are stronger, dodging is far more efficient, and most of them stun in some capacity. You also have a couple of sleights you’re sure to recognize from the other side.
The way Dark Mode is simple. You get Dark Mode when you get enough points, to points you need to card break other enemies, avoid being card broken, and by how much you’re hit. You’ll stay in Dark Mode for as long as you don’t get hit too much. You’ll see your gauge for how much you still have available up in the corner.
Don’t be afraid to fail or play defensively.
Riku’s style is all around dodging, being fast, and hitting quick. If you know an enemies movements and can predict how they’ll move, you’ll have no problem at all with Riku’s boss fights. It can be tricky to get use to the significantly different fighting style with Riku in comparison to Sora, so don’t get discouraged if you get more Game Overs as Riku then you did as Sora.
When I was doing my best as Riku, I would hang back and wait to see how the enemy moved. I’d card break as much as I could so I could get a feel for how long they were weak for and how big my window of opportunity was. Learning the enemies movements is key for Riku!