After a mandatory intro sequence, the game tells you to move forward. Do so. Now, the game asks you to choose your strength and weakness (what you choose to "give up" is what you'll be weakest in). Here's a table, and it shows what stats Sora ends up with, depending on what you choose.

... Sora fall down the hoooooooole... By the way, O is the attack button. Oh, by the way, you can only "pause" during battle or movies, but it still adds time to your game even when you're paused (I left the game paused for a couple of days, and came back to the game having logged me at 99 hours *sweatdrop*).

OK, time to fight! Press O lots. These guys are pretty easy, so don't worry bout it. They do like to melt into the ground lots, which is when you can't hit them, and is really damn annoying, but eh. The green things they explode into when they die will re-fill your HP gauge. After some more fighting, you get swallowed up by darkness. Oh joy. You end up on another platform. Go up to the door, and you get some more explanations (man, this game is doing my job for me). Inspect the door, then the treasure chest, although there's nothing in it. Sheesh. Now, push the box around. Locking onto it makes this easier. Now, break it! ^~__~^ You get a potion! Mess around with the barrel, then examine the door again, which opens. Whee. ... or not? Eh.

Time to answer some questions. Talk to Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie in whatever order you want. Apparently, the answers you choose here determines how fast or slow you level up. Basically, if you choose at least two answers from a single category, then you get stuck with that pace of leveling up. If you choose one from each category, it averages out to "normal" speed. Don't bother trying to go past Wakka, since the game doesn't let you go very far. The resulting prediction-type thing is different, as well, depending on what you answer.

After the Q-and-A round, you're taken back to the platforms. Wander around a bit, and you get more instructions. And pull the sword out of hammerspace. ^.__.^ Alright, more fighting. You'll notice the menu turns red during battles, and goes back to blue once all the enemies are either gone or out of range. Inspect the glowing circle (save point/SP) to get some more info. ... and no, SP's don't usually create staircases out of thin air... ^@__@^ Save if you want, then go up the floating staircase-type deal (and no, you won't fall off :op ). ... oh, like the music isn't a dead giveaway for what's coming up...


Boss: Darkside
HP: 240
EXP: 18
Attacks: Creating a bunch of Heartless to attack you, throwing energy balls

Yah, OK, this guy may look big, but he's not that tough. When you enter a boss battle, a good thing to do is lock on to the nearest target, then try pressing L2 to see if there are multiple targets.

Well, the targets are his two hands. Usually, bosses in this game'll have an HP gauge, but apparently this one doesn't. Who knows why. Well, lock onto the hands and attack them, and pretty much ignore the chibi-Heartless. They won't do too much damage. When his hands start glowing, get behind him to avoid those energy surges. When his middle starts glowing, start running around the perimeter to avoid the energy balls. Make sure to get both hands. This battle's over pretty quick, and it's rare to ever be knocked into the red in this battle.

... and now, the darkness swallows you up again. Isn't this fun? :op