Forest of Thorns - KH 0.2 Birth by Sleep Walkthrough

Prickly Path

Navigating the Forest of Thorns requires more exploration than clear sense of direction. This is perhaps the first truly explorable area of the game, with many little nooks and crannies to discover and many different directions you can go (including up). That said, we will do our best to guide you through this twisting and turning map with as few detours as possible.

The first thing you need to know when navigating the Forest of Thorns is how to deal with the many thorn branches that block your path. There are two kinds, black and red, and each have their own distinct method of being destroyed. Black thorns can be removed simply by attacking them by any means, while the red thorns require Firaga magic to remove them. Also (while not recommended at all), simply walking into the thorns will also remove them, but will damage you slightly in the process.

The path is pretty straightforward, moving from the Save Point; a little ways ahead you’ll find an ivy rail that traverses a gap (though you can simply use Doubleflight and Air Slide to jump the gap instead if you wanted). The narrow path then leads to a much more open room. You’ll encounter several clusters of Heartless in this room, so clear them out as you enter. There are several platforms and rails that lead up to higher areas, but the main path is straight ahead on the ground-level, so press on through there to continue.

The road will split beyond this room: one path will appear pretty much straight ahead to the left, while the other doubles back behind you. For now, the path in front of you is pretty much a dead end, so you’ll want to turn the other way. A silhouette of Terra and Ventus should be standing up ahead to guide you in the right direction. Break through these thorns and defeat the Flutterings that appear to press on.

A Familiar Foe

Once you break through all of the red thorns, another ivy rail will be right in front of you. Ride it on ahead and make your way up the path to a clearing where a battle awaits you.

Darkside
Fans of the series will recognize this blast from the past, and therefore have a pretty solid understanding of how to combat it. Darkside is a much slower foe than many of the boss battles you've had up until now, but it's very easy to lose track of just how much HP you've really lost as the battle goes on. Darkside likes to rain down dark orbs that will take away small chunks of your HP if they touch you. Keep an eye on this, as you can lose a lot more HP than you're aware of before you know it. These orbs will go away after a while, but Darkside will use this attack frequently, so watch out for it. Any time Darkside winds back one of its fists, get ready to jump, because the resulting shockwave will hit hard. Darkside can summon Shadows to the field using this attack as well, so dispatch them quickly when they appear. Lastly, if Darkside ever gets down on its knees and leans back, it's about to fire off a few rounds of dark energy. If you keep your distance, you can time a Block just right to reflect all of the orbs back at Darkside and deal some pretty decent damage using its own attack!
Victory Reward: Max HP +5

Darkside

Fans of the series will recognize this blast from the past, and therefore have a pretty solid understanding of how to combat it. Darkside is a much slower foe than many of the boss battles you've had up until now, but it's very easy to lose track of just how much HP you've really lost as the battle goes on.

Darkside likes to rain down dark orbs that will take away small chunks of your HP if they touch you. Keep an eye on this, as you can lose a lot more HP than you're aware of before you know it. These orbs will go away after a while, but Darkside will use this attack frequently, so watch out for it.

Any time Darkside winds back one of its fists, get ready to jump, because the resulting shockwave will hit hard. Darkside can summon Shadows to the field using this attack as well, so dispatch them quickly when they appear.

Lastly, if Darkside ever gets down on its knees and leans back, it's about to fire off a few rounds of dark energy. If you keep your distance, you can time a Block just right to reflect all of the orbs back at Darkside and deal some pretty decent damage using its own attack!

Victory Reward: Max HP +5

When the battle ends, the silhouettes of Terra and Ventus will be standing just ahead to indicate where to go. Press onward until you reach a room in which several Darksides are lurking along the path. You don’t have to fight any of them, but you do need to fight the Shadows that they summon, so take them out as you make your way through the room.

Beyond this room is another ivy rail, though this one is a bit different from the others you’ve encountered thus far. Darksides loom around every turn and will attack the rail as you get near them. To avoid taking damage, you’ll need to jump just before the Darkside strikes the rail. The very last attack is two Darksides, back to back, so be ready to jump and then Block in midair to delay your fall long enough to avoid both attacks.

The rail will drop you in another open room, and Heartless will appear, so take them all out to continue onward.

Keepers of Darkness

A new Save Point appears in this room after you’ve cleared out the Heartless, so utilize it if you need to. Pressing ahead, traverse the points of the branches to cross the gap. As you continue, you’ll notice several orbs of dark energy hurtling towards you through the air. Make your way up the path and you’ll encounter a Lesser Darkside that you’ll need to defeat if you want the bombardment to stop.

Continuing ahead, you’ll reach another wide open room, and this one is very easy to get lost in. For starters, another Lesser Darkside deserves your immediate attention, as the dark orbs will make exploring the room very cumbersome. Once it’s gone, you can head up the stairs you passed, and you should find the silhouettes of Terra and Ventus standing at the top to guide you.

Continue up the stairs from where they were standing and cross the platform until the stairs start descending again. At the bottom, there are several thorns you’ll need to clear out, and then the road forks again. The path to the left is a dead end, so continue clearing the thorns as you take the path on the right. You’ll notice on your Mini Map that this room has a path leading off that circles back onto itself, so you can take either path up ahead. When you reach the bottom of the final staircase, some more Heartless will appear. Defeat them and clear out the last of the thorns to ascend the staircase.

Darkside
This battle against Darkside is a lot more intense than the last, as its drawing a lot of power from the enormous dark sphere above it. It's also broken up into two segments, though the first isn't much of a battle. You first need to get to where Darkside is, and to do that, you'll need to keep moving and avoid the dark orbs raining down from the sky as much as you can. You'll notice that these orbs are much larger and linger on the ground when they land, dealing extra damage if you're caught under one. Keep moving, and zig-zag up the path to avoid taking serious damage. Once you've reached Darkside, the arena seals itself off and you're trapped. The orbs continue to fall for a bit, so keep moving and hug the outer edges of the arena, as the orbs tend to fall more toward the center. Other than these orbs, Darkside behaves pretty much the same as it did the last time you fought it, though keep an eye for when its HP begins to get low. Darkside will knock you away with a powerful force (though it does no damage) and an orange light will rain down on top of it. During this phase, Darkside can take no damage, so instead, be ready to go on defense. White lasers will begin pulsing out from the orange light, and you'll need to perform well-timed Cartwheels to avoid them. Once they pass, you can go back on the offensive and pummel Darkside some more until it's defeated.
Victory Reward: Max MP +10

Darkside

This battle against Darkside is a lot more intense than the last, as its drawing a lot of power from the enormous dark sphere above it. It's also broken up into two segments, though the first isn't much of a battle. You first need to get to where Darkside is, and to do that, you'll need to keep moving and avoid the dark orbs raining down from the sky as much as you can. You'll notice that these orbs are much larger and linger on the ground when they land, dealing extra damage if you're caught under one. Keep moving, and zig-zag up the path to avoid taking serious damage.

Once you've reached Darkside, the arena seals itself off and you're trapped. The orbs continue to fall for a bit, so keep moving and hug the outer edges of the arena, as the orbs tend to fall more toward the center. Other than these orbs, Darkside behaves pretty much the same as it did the last time you fought it, though keep an eye for when its HP begins to get low.

Darkside will knock you away with a powerful force (though it does no damage) and an orange light will rain down on top of it. During this phase, Darkside can take no damage, so instead, be ready to go on defense. White lasers will begin pulsing out from the orange light, and you'll need to perform well-timed Cartwheels to avoid them. Once they pass, you can go back on the offensive and pummel Darkside some more until it's defeated.

Victory Reward: Max MP +10

Return to The World Within

Continue to Depths of Darkness