Hi all, thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm new to speed running. I've been watching Bl00dyBizkitz and Bizkit047 for about a year now and finally decided to get into the game of speed running 2FM. I've been using the Paste Bin from two years ago right now and it helps, but I'm coming across some issues. Heads up, I'm playing the PS4 2.5 as my old modded Ps2 broke and I have not wanted to shell out for a Jap Ps2 yet.

I have some questions concerning the Pastbin, general terminology in the pastebin, and some mechanic's issues to see if I just suck being new, or if there are issues between 2.5 and original 2FM that are affecting game play. Thank you for your time.

Heads up, most of these questions come from the fact I'm on the Demyx Fight. This is a Crit any% btw.

1. One of my biggest issues with the Pastebin is I have yet to see (up to the Demyx fight) when you're told to add Finishing Plus into your abilities (finishing LEAP is in there) but often times strats will say "w/2 Finishers." and to my knowledge the only way to do that is with Finishing Plus. So I've added it on, but sometimes I feel those extra finishers mess me up. Which kind of lead to my next question.

2. When a strat calls for something like "2 combos" I feel that sometimes what I read and what I see on the videos posted do not add up (this is most likely me, but I do kind of wish to clarify). Is a combo considered all the moves in the hit including the finisher, or without the finisher? I would assume that it is all the hits including the finisher as from what I understand an "empty hit" does not contain a finisher. If I am correct in that then a follow up question, does that mean you should only be doing one finisher unless otherwise specified (as above with the "w/ 2 finisher").

Now we're onto my biggest issue....Differences between 2FM and 2.5

3. There are times I SWEAR I'm doing EVERYTHING right, based on the video and the notes, and STILL enemy AI does not seem to function as I've seen with other runners. Examples A. Earlier in my run I was having an issue with Pete in Timeless river. I would go to hit him at the start of the battle, and he would jump away and scatter his little bombs which would then kill me. OR, I would combo him and he would immediately break out and do his arm thrusting move (the one you're supposed to slide dash into and then counter guard) killing me almost instantly. Is there something with the 60FPs that causes hits to land in a certain way that cause him to break out? B. Like when I first started playing KHII, my run times have come to a halt with Demyx. I can't even get past his fight, let alone the FF battles after. And here's my major issue. ASIDE from distancing issues on my part where all the water clones are killed early before the limit ends screwing up enemy AI, I will have near perfect fights, up until the point where I am supposed to start the air combo's after Valor Genie's first Sonic limit. I do my first limit, it ends, I go to strike Demyx with the first Air Combo (If I have my terminology right of course) and he almost immediately retaliates with the wall of water pillars move where he dances all around and the pillar walls kind of form a box around you. I'm trapped in the air and I die instantly. He seems to do this no matter what! I thought before I was timing my first sonic poorly, I noticed in the video Demyx would shoot a spurt of water up in the air and then BB would slide dash into Genie's sonic limit. I started waiting for that and I'd STILL get pounded by the dancing box (as I call it because I don't know what it's actually called) move. SOMETIMES, he'll do an ever so slightly different move, but 49/50 times it's the damn dancing box move. The one thing I can't tell is if I'm supposed to be hitting Demyx with the sliding dash and then using Gs limit, or am I just supposed to get in close with the dash and limit BEFORE Sora hits because THAT might affect it (probably, maybe, I don't honestly know haha!) and that could be what I'm messing up. I feel this particular issue is either a timing issue in which I'm doing something wrong, some kind of revenge value gate I keep hitting based on the fact all the clones get killed before I end the original limit at the start of the fight, or the only other thing I can think of is the Ps4's 60 frames is screwing up the fights leaving moments where Demyx is allowed to retaliate where I'm supposed to be hitting.

I recognize these are some older strats, but I just want a feel for how to run through the game and make save points for each spot on critical and follow the guide that's up as closely as possible so that I can have the game set up so that I can practice individual fights before attempting a full run. I have noticed one issue where (I think I made the mistake and deviated from the guide) that caused me to go Anti-form in Berserkers in Twilight Town second visit as opposed to Valor Form, but if I did NOT deviate from the guide than my issue may have been something new in 2.5 with Anti Points.

I'm sorry for the long post. This is why I wanted to post here and not hit up the Discord right away, I'd rather get all my big problems out of the way here first than spam the discord all night. My job keeps me from playing a lot (though I have a week vacation coming up) but I do try to make small headways every evening to at least get to the next part of the game before I can start practicing certain parts of the run I need improvement on. I'm dedicated to practicing and learning when I can, I just can't shake the feeling I'm doing something wrong, or that it may be the port I'm playing, and I kind of just need to know if it's me or the Port at this point. If it's the Port, that's depressing and I'll have to wait until I can get a Jap PS2, if it's me, that's also depressing but at least I know I can "git gud" with enough practice and some guidance. Watching the videos helps, but with me and KH I have to also be playing to fully understand how the combos are working and what not.

I really want to get good at this as this is my favorite game and I love the idea of blasting through the game as quickly as possible. I don't think I'll ever attempt to break any world records, (at least not as I am now haha!) but this is a community I would love to be more involved with and really want to be a part of. I respect the technical skills required to be good at Speed running the game and have a lot of respect for the people who have mastered playing the game so well.

Again, sorry for the long post, I appreciate everybody's time!

Critical Mode gets extra abilities at the very start of the run, including a Finishing Plus. You should be equipping all of these abilities right before Twilight Thorn(excluding exp0).

The definition of "one combo" changes throughout the run and generally the best way to know is to watch a video. For most of the run until after 1k heartless your primary finisher will be Finishing Leap. As a result of this "one combo" generally means two hits with a Finishing Leap finisher. However after you get Rumbling Rose you will be equipping Guard Break which will result in your combos generally being 2 hits with Guard Break and an additional finisher, generally being Finishing Leap or Reflect.

There are several things about enemy AI that can not be explained or shown in a video unfortunately and most runners just have to know these things. Most of them are positional or revenge value based and runners generally react to these on the fly or know exactly when they are hitting it. In the example of Timeless River Pete, if you do not stagger him correctly after his opening move and you are right next to you he will generally throw Fire Crackers or try to punch you. I am not familiar with the Genie Start on Demyx but I would advise checking out the Master Form strat. Demyx is also one of the first fights in the run that will heavily punish you for not managing his revenge value correctly.

Anti points should not be any different and I have not heard of any runners getting anti form on beserkers unless they made a mistake. The anti point route is routed so that beserkers is your last safe drive in critical mode before you get Limit/Master Form. One more and you will have a chance at anti form.

To note, I'd suggest moving this discussion over to the KH2 Final Mix HD forum as you're much more likely to get quicker responses there (speedrun.com doesn't send notifications for the series-wide forums, but does for game-specific ones). You can open a new thread and post a link to this one.

With that being said, as neraigo mentioned, most of the fights in KH2FM have very specific strats. I believe most enemies have gone unchanged in their AI with the PS4 version. It's gonna be hard to tell exactly what's going wrong for you without being able to see it, so I'd recommend recording some videos of the fights that are giving you trouble (most notably Demyx) and posting them in Discord or in the KH2FMHD forum. You can record videos either via a capture device + OBS/Xsplit or directly from the PS4 with the Share button.

I do know that clearing out all of the water clones before using the Trinity finisher can potentially mess things up though, so be sure to start your Trinity earlier or miss more clones with Major Drive. IIRC, you want 1-5 clones alive when you start your finisher.

Remember when you reply to please do so on the KH2FMHD forum.