Unda da Sea: Welcome to the world of Davey Jones' locker. You'd think there probably is a merman named Davey Jones down here who is so annoyed with everyone using his locker as a body stash, eh? Haha. Anyhow this is Atlantica, home of Ariel and friends and one of the most beautifully colored and animated worlds (perhaps, by the end of this stage, you'll think that's its only redeeming factor). Not to be mistaken for Atlantis, mind, which is a different Disney movie and legend all together, in this world we get to see a new design for Sora and company - a more aquatic design. Personally we think Donald's octopus design is the most hilarious of the three, but Goofy gives a good run for the munny. This world is a difficult one, perhaps the most difficult, when it comes to fighting because of its completely 3-D orientation. Get used to Target-Locking on your enemies, because here you're going to need it to combat them efficiently.
TRANQUIL GROTTO - NEUTRALLY BUOYANT
Swim with the Fishes: Mm, seafood. Oh, sorry. (It's no secret that Sai loves seafood. Except beltfish.) The first thing to learn in Atlantica is, well, how to swim! Square is down, Circle is up, and X is attack. Moving the analog stick around will make you swim on the same level, with pushing up making Sora swim away from you, and pushing down being Sora swimming towards you. Now, the goal here is to swim around and tag Flounder, the yellow guppy. While we're not sure what species of fish Flounder is (certainly not a flounder), at least we know he's not a clownfish.
New Enemies: Once you have finished with your lessons, we have a series of new Heartless to consider for this world. As this is a water-based world, your magic will also come in handy in defeating these enemies. Using Fire while locked onto a target is a really good way to take care of them quickly, or if you are in the middle of a large group, Thunder works well as well. Always leave some magic to Cure yourself! When you lock onto a Heartless, or any object, Sora will rise or sink to the same level as them. This is important to remember, one because this way you can hit those Heartless, and two because once you unlock, you can manuever to avoid getting hit. Practice swimming about and killing these Heartless, and you'll get the hang of it.
Screwdiver: These torpedo-headed, trident-wielding Heartless are going to be one of a quadruplet of annoyances that get your attention. They have three different attacks: 1. A side swipe with their trident not unlike Sora's own moves with his Keyblade, 2. A series of charges (3 in all) like Cloud's Sonic Blade, where they will spear forward to try and hit you, and finally 3. A flip around kick like Guile's moves from Street Fighter (or if you want a more KH referenced move, it's like Tidus' somersault attack way back in Destiny Islands). These Heartless never appear in less than groups of 3, and they are often accompanied by other types of Heartless. The best way to take care of these guys is two-on-one, or simply one-on-one. They're like the Powerwilds from Deep Jungle, but they aren't as agile as the monkeys, or as you are.
Sheltering Zone: These giant jellyfish Heartless aren't very hard to hit due to their size and relative lack of manueverability, but they are some pretty hard hitters. They only have two attacks: smacking around by swinging their legs, and charging right at you to 'headbutt' you. Lock on again, is important to take care of these things. However, there is one important factor, and that is that these Heartless often perform a most annoying split personality change; usually right before they die, they will dissolve and split into three smaller jellyfish. What you can do is cast magic spells at them to finish them off, which will result in their destruction with a shower of munny and MP balls.
Sea Neon: These smaller versions of the Sheltering Zone are not nearly as difficult as Sheltering Zones or Screwdivers when it comes to killing them. However, they always appear in groups, and very often they'll appear in with Screwdivers and Sheltering Zones as a result. Hence, think of these guys as the small flying musical Heartless (Red Nocturnes and whatnot) that you see in the gravity-oriented worlds. These little buggers have the same attacks as their big daddy Heartless.
Aqua Tank: Though you don't see these Heartless now, they do appear in Atlantica. These Heartless are just really big lantern fish (and kind of cute in a Jigglypuff sort of way). They always appear with a trio of Screwdivers hanging on beneath, which just lets you know these things aren't too fun to mess with either. They release the Screwdivers at a charge right at you, so watch for that. The other thing this fish does is cast Thunder spells with its little light, so keep an eye out for that. Otherwise, these fish aren't the biggest problem in this ocean.
UNDERSEA VALLEY - THE WIDE OCEAN BLUE
Sugar-Free: Ariel tells you that to get to the palace, you follow the yellow tridents. Trident: Sugar-free. Get it? Nevermind... Anyhow, the first area you will come upon coming out of the Tranquil Grotto is the very wide Undersea Valley. Here, head towards the back and fighting Heartless along the way, and then sink down where the trident points and head into the Calm Depths.
CALM DEPTHS - GO WITH THE FLOW
Seeking the Sea King: At the entrance of the Calm Depths, turn to your right and swim towards the open area, going with the current and still following the gold tridents pointing the way. Here there are the new Heartless again. Don't get caught up in the upward flowing column of water in this open area. If you do you will get shot back up into the Undersea Valley. Instead, swim around the column and towards the back of the room, into the Undersea Cave.
Undersea Cave: In this small area, you'll see the golden trident pointing upwards. I'm only mentioning this area because this is one of two places where the White Mushrooms come out. Otherwise, swim upwards into the hole leading to Undersea Gorge.
Undersea Gorge: This area is the second of the two main areas for Atlantica, and as a result can get quite confusing for navigation. For the time being, continue towards Triton's Palace by following the tridents again. It's not too difficult to see which hole the tridents point to. It'll be on your left when you enter from the Undersea Cave.
Triton's Palace: There's only one way to head, obviously, when you get here. There are some clams here to open for items, and there are Heartless to kill. Once you're done with dealing with them, head on towards the throne you see in the background at the back. Once you're at the throne, and once you're done talking to Triton and such, save at the giant Clam down below you before heading back towards the Undersea Gorge.
ARIEL'S GROTTO - ISN'T IT NEAT?
Whozits and Whatzits: Ariel's Grotto is located back in the Undersea Gorge, to your left and down on the floor of the area once you exit Triton's Palace. Go there and Sora will open up the rock to go inside. Once inside, there are a number of things to take notice of after the cutscene. one of these things is the Torn Page for Merlin's Book. One thing you should make a note of is the very obvious trident piece that seems to be missing from the blue relief sculpture, rather than that gross statue of Prince Eric.
They Shoulda Called Him Flipper: Once you're done collecting and exploring this little grotto, talk to Flounder, who will tell you about the big fish and such. Exit the grotto, and you'll see the dolphin with a set of mutated flukes. I say mutated because as Rahal pointed out, those flukes are vertically oriented. So you could say his flukes are a fluke on their own. Haha! Quail at my fearsomely bad puns. Or you could be afraid of Ursula, who you will see in the cutscenes. She's the big octopus lady, and her eels Flotsam and Jetsam will be a pain later. An important thing for this area once you are back in the Undersea Gorge is to ride Flipper (we'll just call him Flipper). If you don't ride him here, he won't appear in the Undersea Valley. You just need to ride Flipper once and let go. Fight the Heartless that appear, and then head back where you came from.
SUNKEN SHIP - IT'S SUCH A WRECK
Faster Than Lightning: I don't speak whale, but now we know that we can ride them. Return to the Undersea Valley, and follow Flipper until you have cleared away all the Heartless in its path. Once you're pretty sure that the Heartless have been cleared off, then you can hitch a ride on Flipper. The dolphin is the only fish so far big enough to swim against the current in the Calm Depths, and he will take you to the Prince Eric's sunken ship at the bottom of the deep.
Has Anyone Seen a Boat?: Here, head towards the ship, and then down into the hole on the deck. The Shark will swim by ominously. Ooh. Once inside, look around on the relatively empty hold and get the treasure chests. Then, head towards the big window at the stern of the ship. The Shark will crash through and attempt to bite you, but it'll get stuck and swim off. Now you can get the Crystal Trident, which is what was missing Ariel's Grotto. Hint, hint.
Mini-Boss Battle - Shark: HP: 200, EXP: 100. "Hello." Well, look who's Mr. Grumpy Gills. To prove that we're Not Food, face down with Big ol' Bruce's ancestor here and send your minions in first. Try not to swim right up to the waiting jaws. A key to fighting the Shark is to use the environment! Because the shark is so big, he runs into things. So, since you're small enough to go through that anchor ring down at the bottom like Flounder, you can swim through it before the shark bites you. The main thing is to stay on the shark's side, but this is a little more difficult than it seems. The shark is really agile for its side. A technique that can be used is not to lock on to the shark, and rise or sink before you get attacked, since Dodge Roll isn't an option here. Either way, you Can run (swim) off and retreat if you are unable to kill the shark then and there. Don't worry, he'll come back. The shark has two attacks, biting and tailwhacking. You want to watch out for that tail whack because that's going to hurt a lot, like getting whacked by the Opposite Armor hurt. Once you knock the shark out, it will swim away and you can return to doing what you wanted to do. The shark also appears in the Undersea Gorge. If you see him there, take a hint from Flounder again and use the environment to your advantage!
Grotto Shortcut: There's a quick way to get back to Ariel's Grotto with the trident piece without having to fight your way through hordes of Heartless again. If you were paying attention to the area of the Undersea Gorge around the grotto entrance, there was a huge treasure chest stuck in a hole. We're going to get there through that treasure chest. From the Sunken Ship chamber, swim down from the ship until you see a broken off cross-shaped mast sticking out from the floor of the ocean. Beyond that mast shape is a hole that leads back to the Undersea Gorge - at least, a part of it. There will be a glowing crater there. Examine it, and it will say that the water is rippling and try to hit it. Smack that crater and it'll send a strong current flowing upwards that pops the treasure chest right out. Congratulations! Now you have a shortcut between the Undersea Gorge and the Sunken Ship rooms without having to battle through Heartless to let Flipper swim you back. Use this knowledge wisely.
Dat Girl: Return to the Grotto, where you will place the Crystal Trident into the relief in the wall. Unfortunately, Triton doesn't like that since he finds out, and blows the piece you worked so hard for to bits! Argh! Well, so much for that. Ariel swims off, but in cutscenes to follow, she aids Ursula in getting King Triton's trident, and thus overthrowing Triton. Once all that's over, Triton will tell you the important thing about how to defeat Ursula. Look beside Triton's throne and save at the Save Point.
DEN OF TIDES - GASP, THE SEA WITCH
Back to the Ship: Return to the Sunken Ship. When you get there, you need to check out whether Big Bruce is there. If he is, then you have no choice but to defeat him. If he isn't, then you're in luck and you can continue on. Either way, once you're done fighting the shark, swim over to the a large rock with the light blue dragon glyph on it. Your item sensor (the question mark) should go up and you can Examine that. Sebastian will help you out and touch a little rock, which opens up the way into the Den of Tides. Head in, and make your way towards the fight with the Sea Witch.
URSULA'S LAIR - THE BLACK CAULDRON
Cavern Nook: As you'd have noticed by now, Atlantica also has Search Ghosts. These Heartless appear here as well, no doubt the spirits of ex-sailors or the poor unfortunate souls that Ursula and the Heartless caught in her tentacles. The Den of Tides branches into a fork at the back. Take the right side path first, the one without the seadragon head glyph. This will lead you to a Save Point clam, where you can save and heal after fighting Search Ghosts. This will also give you a last chance to stock up before the battle with Ursula.
Boss Battle - Ursula, Flotsam & Jetsam: HP: 450, EXP: 1000, HP: 60, EXP:150. For this fight, you will want to equip Ethers onto your Items slots to replenish your magic. Also, you might want to equip a Keyblade that raises your MP, but truthfully we simply used the Pumpkinhead. If you didn't go to Halloween Town, then use the Three Wishes key. Remembering Triton's tip, Ursula's weakness is the cauldron in the middle of the room. You must use magic to strike the cauldron, otherwise you'll never get to the Sea Witch herself. Flotsam and Jetsam will also come after you. These two eels are indestructible, but they can be knocked around and knocked out. Use these two eels to replenish your magic points when you run out. Ursula will toss a potion of sorts into the
cauldron, making it change color. Depending on the color, you lock onto the cauldron (make sure you lock onto the cauldron and not one of the eels) and hit it with a particular spell. Red is for Fire, and Blue is for Blizzard. Sometimes, she will toss in a potion that causes a whirlwind of water. Swim upwards to avoid getting struck by lightning, and then come back down when it blows out. Always try to knock one of the eels out before attempting to hit the cauldron with spells. Once you blast the cauldron enough, Ursula will get knocked out temporarily. This is your chance to swim to her. Again, lock on and start smacking away as fast as you can before she revives. When she gets back to her senses, she will start whirling around the room very quickly trying to hit you with her tentacles. She's invulnerable again, so just get out of her way until she stops and starts throwing in potions again. Lather, rinse, and repeat all this until you defeat her. Overall, this battle shouldn't be particularly hard, but keep yourself oriented as much as possible and don't get distracted with the eels.
Flipping Your Fins: When you knock out Ursula, you will learn the Shared ability, Mermaid Kick. This kick is a powerful swimming kick that will help you fight strong currents and swim faster. Huzzah! Equip this ability, and use it to get around. When you have finished Ursula, head back to the Cavern Nook branch of the Den of Tides and save your game! Also, re-equip your Items to include more Ethers and whatnot, because this next fight is going to be one hell of a typhoon.
??? - NO PITIFUL, INSIGNIFICANT FOOLS ALLOWED
Fight the Current: Now that you have the Mermaid Kick ability, you can swim against the current instead of having to rely on Flipper to get around. Once you are all set for another boss battle, head back to the Sunken Ship area, and then back to the Calm Depths. Before you swim into the current, look directly across from the entrance of to the small nook you see with the seaweeds flapping away. Don't go anywhere until you see it! Swim using Mermaid Kick for that nook. If you get caught in the current, fight it and then head into that nook (it'll be on your right). This is labeled ??? (like the room from Tarzan) and this will be the site of the next battle against Ursula again.
Boss Battle - Ursula II: HP 900, EXP: 1500. Firstly, you MUST have Aero and Cure custom equipped on you. Unless you are incredibly fast on the D-pad, then use those Customizables! The next thing to equip is Ethers to compensate for the magic in case you run out, which you will need because you'll need to Cure and cast Aero. Equip a Keyblade that is decently strong, and preferably one that will deal critical blows, either the Three Wishes or the Pumpkinhead. You don't want to kiss this girl with anything except that Keyblade. Finally once you're all set, save (at the Cavern Nook, remember?) and head into the ???.
Ursula becomes HUGE in this battle, reminiscent of the original Little Mermaid movie. Here, it is very important you know how to swim well as well, because you're going to need that coordination. The only point that Ursula is vulnerable at is the back of her massive head. You could attack from the side as well (her head's just That Big) but it is much safer to be behind her than in front (and it'll save you the ugly.) The camera for this fight is nigh uncontrollable for the most part, so simply do your best to stay oriented towards the back of the sea witch. Like Dory says, "Just keep swimming."CAST AERO! I can't stress this enough, because Aero will also hit Ursula with its windy counter nature, as well as help reduce the damage you take. Ursula in this form has a series of attacks, all of them pretty much magical. If you are in front of Ursula, she will start to inhale water at an incredibly strong rate. Use Mermaid Kick to dodge out of the way, or else you'll get bitten. Yeah, she bites. The bubble attack is a ring of bubbles that will shoot down lightning-like magic and hit you if you're caught inside the ring. Ursula will announce her attacks ("I'll teach you some respect!" and the like) so take them as your cues. Overall, try to stay oriented and Lock On to her. This will help greatly in the accuracy of your attacks while you're trying to swim. Rather than waste your MP with an offensive spell, we suggest you save your MP for casting Cure and Aero, and leave the attacks to be physical with the Keyblade. Aero takes a lot of MP (2) to cast, so make sure you don't run out of MP. Use those Ethers if you have to, and good luck on beating this big bodied mammalian-mollusk.
ATLANTICA - SEALING THE FISH TANK
Conclusion: When Ursula is finally defeated once and for all, you return to Triton's Throne to receive your reward. Thunder will become Thundara, and you will receive Ansem's Report 3. Return to Ariel's Grotto, where you will see that Triton's Trident was the real key to Atlantica's Keyhole. Ariel will give you the Crabclaw for your troubles, which gives you the same stats as the Three Wishes, but it increases your Magic Points by 1. Very useful! But, we still like the Pumpkinhead Keyblade the best, at this point.
Bells & Whistles: By now, you will be able to return to Traverse Town with some more munny. If you haven't thought about it, consider going up to the Synthesis shop that is above the Accessory Shop to synthesize items. If you don't want to bother (and as this is a basic tutorial) then see if there are any newer, stronger weapons for Donald and Goofy. After you've finished making other arrangements, head on towards the second star to the right... or rather, the world of Neverland.
