This is an achievement for clearing the game without changing any weapons or accessories on any character. Equipping and using items (like potions and ethers) and equipping abilities on every character is permitted. This can be easily combined with the following achievements if you follow this guide:
and
If you are going for 'Undefeated'; simply reload a save every time you die instead of continuing. If you follow my guide, you should never get close to dying. If you accidentally die and hit continue, simply reset the game and load your save again, and you will still remain 'undefeated'.
If you are going for 'Speedster'; I used this method and completed the game in less than 8 hours, which is well under the required time of 15 hours. If you’d rather take all the time you want, you can instead beat the game without changing equipment in 15+ hours, then reload your save afterwards and use the time loop exploit. The time loop exploit is simple; When your playtime exceeds 100 hours, it loops back to 00:00, allowing you to easily snag the ‘Speedster’ achievement. 15 hours is extremely lenient, so you should be just fine, but the time loop exploit exists if you need it.
I will be assuming you are doing this playthrough on beginner for the purpose of the guide. You start with a ribbon (3 defense and 20% elemental damage reduction) and EXP Chain (+30% exp gains and +2 MP) equipped, which you can use the entire game since they were equipped when it started. You also get 8 Power Ups, 8 Guard Ups, and 4 AP Ups, which can all be used since using items is permitted.
I will also be assuming this is not your first playthrough. I highly recommend doing an initial playthrough on Proud at whatever pace you want, then doing these three playthrough condition achievements on Beginner mode in a second playthrough. You can get all the grindy 100% achievements on either playthrough. If you want to do the 100% achievements on beginner, then simply reload your final save after following my guide completely, and you can then use whatever equipment you want. If this is your first time playing the game, this guide will probably be confusing, and it also contains massive spoilers, so be aware. This guide is meant to help people get through their second playthrough quickly and comfortably, without stress.
For the weapon choice at the beginning, choose shield and give up staff. This option gives the best combined base def/str stats (5 strength and 4 defense) and you will have both Leaf Bracer and Second Chance unlocked at just level 36. You only start with 1 AP, but you will get more than enough AP for the necessary abilities in this playthrough. You could choose the sword and start with 6 strength, but then you would only get 2 defense, and leaf bracer wouldn't unlock until level 69. You could choose that though if you are confident in your skills to stay alive without leaf bracer. It would make the grind a little shorter. But it would be a lot more stressful and not worth it in my opinion. No matter what, get rid of the staff; it only gives MP or AP which are both not needed in this playthrough.
MP is okay early to mid game, but pretty useless endgame, since we can't boost it with equipment. MP not only equates to Magic Points, but also Magic Power in this game. For this playthrough, we will only be using cure, gravity, and Tinker Bell at end game, since they are the only useful spells with low MP. It's not necessary to have high MP for Cure as we don't have much HP, and gravity does percentage based damage, so again high MP doesn't really matter. Tinker Bell is useful no matter how you play. You can summon her and still use Donald and Goofy, she remains out forever, and instantly fully heals you the second you die, while also constantly healing you and your party members.
For the experience choice, it's hard to say what the best choice is. I recommend grinding until level 43. As you can see from the chart below, Dusk will get you to lvl 43 faster, but not by much. Dawn, on the other hand, will give you levels much quicker early on. However, early in the game you will be destroying everything even at low levels, so that could still make Dusk worth it. Use the following chart to decide which path you want. Choose option 1 every time for Dawn, option 2 for Midday, option 3 for Dusk.
Lvl / Dusk / Midday / Dawn
5 / 155 / 120 / 96
10 / 821 / 675 / 576
15 / 2,041 / 1,735 / 1,506
20 / 3,971 / 3,465 / 3,106
25 / 7,221 / 6,515 / 5,986
30 / 12,291 / 11,515 / 10,856
35 / 20,291 / 19,515 / 18,856
40 / 33,891 / 33,815 / 33,356
45 / 56,091 / 57,315 / 58,256
50 / 91,091 / 95,715 / 99,856
This guide will recommend places to grind. In a nutshell; at the beginning, don't bother grinding, but as you get to midgame, you will want to start fighting all optional mobs that spawn, then finally there is a great spot at the end of Hollow Bastion to grind xp with Beast. I recommend grinding to Lvl 43 with my set up at Hollow Bastion before going to the End of the World. This is definitely not the fastest speedrun route, but it is comfortable and you will be well prepared for the final boss, avoiding headaches that are caused by being under leveled at the end. Read on for some ultra specific details of the route. If you just want my grinding method, look for the bold underline text or search text for 'level grinding'.
Now just play through the game, skipping all cutscenes. Immediately use all of the AP Up, Guard Up, and Power Up items that you start with on beginner. Pick up treasures that happen to be along your path, but don't go out of your way for any. This will give you more than enough items to get you through the game without going to any shops/synthesis. Through all of Destiny Island, and Traverse Town, ignore all enemy mobs that are not required. They simply don't give enough xp to start grinding. To trigger the Leon fight quickly, simply go to District 2, kill at least 5 shadows, and go back to District 1. Enter and exit the Accessory shop, and that will trigger the Leon fight. Make sure to kill Leon, he gives you an elixir eventually if you do, and it's faster on beginner.
For gummi ship missions, immediately get rid of all blocks except the cockpit, engines, and guns. This will speed you up greatly. If you notice picking up enhanced engine gummis like Fira-G, Firaga-G, Flare-G, or Holy-G, equip them the next time you are in the gummi menu. Doubling up on engines does NOT make you faster. You get all your speed from the highest level engine equipped. You can equip guns (Thunder-G) and lasers (Meteor-G, Ultima-G) if you want more firepower, but that shouldn't be necessary, gummi missions are a non issue on beginner. If you get over 1000 munny, you can buy a Haste-G from Cid to go even faster, but ultimately, don't go out of your way for engines or boost. You aren't in the gummi ship for very long overall.
Next go to Wonderland. It’s on the top route. Again, don't kill any heartless mobs, they don't give you enough xp yet. You only need to pick up one box of evidence to show the queen, and you will still get blizzard once the keyhole locks.
Next go to Deep Jungle. We will be completely ignoring the Coliseum. This is where I started destroying all optional mobs I came across for experience. You'd probably be fine waiting until Agrabah though to kill optional mobs. A lot of the fights are required here anyway. The required path in Deep Jungle is a little confusing, so I'll detail the fastest path (skip the next paragraph in spoiler tags if you know the path).
*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***You spawn in the Tree House. Kill Sabor for experience. Next jump off the Tree House from the front door (don't go down the path). Save at the save point in this room (Jungle: Tunnel). Go down the hollow tree to start the jungle slide minigame. Immediately quit the game to instantly go to the Camp. Pick up the six slides, then go into the Tent. Talk to Jane and complete the cutscene (you have to view all of the slides before continuing). Go all the way through Hippo Lagoon to the end, and climb up the vine to go to Vines 2. After the Kerchak cutscene, climb the vine right next to you to go to the Climbing Trees (circular room with tree trunk in the center). Jump to the door above you to go back to the Treehouse. This triggers a Clayton cutscene. Go back to the Tent in the Camp via the jungle slide minigame. This triggers a Jane cutscene. Leave the Tent. Now we have to clear some required powerwild fights in several zones in order to continue. Clear out the powerwild in the Camp. Next go to Hippo Lagoon. Climb up the closest vine to go to Vines 1. Start the vine jump minigame by examining the flower, and immediately quit out. This teleports you straight to Vines 2. Climb the vine. Clear the powerwild in the Climbing Trees. Go to the Tree House. Clear the powerwild here (they are all inside the house). Jump out the back of the Tree House near the hanging rope, this will take you straight to the Cliffs. Clear out the powerwild here. Go to the Bamboo Clearing. Clear out the powerwild here. You have finally finished clearing the powerwild, so go back to the Tent. Leaving the Tent should now trigger a cutscene with a gunshot from the Bamboo Clearing. Go there and kill Sabor (this fight is required). Once Sabor is dead, head back to the Climbing Trees by way of the vine swing minigame. Ignore the powerwild here, just kill the giant black fruit. Finally, head back to the Cliffs by jumping out the back of the Tree House. Kill Clayton plus Stealth Sneak, then finally head to the keyhole. On beginner mode Clayton is a cake walk, so there's no need to save before hand.
Once you lock the keyhole, you can optionally complete the jungle slide minigame for an AP Up, Guard Up, and Power Up. This is mainly for the Power Up, since strength is the most important stat to grind for this run. Unfortunately, you have to go through the minigame 5 times, collecting every fruit every time, to get the Power Up. This isn't too hard and will take about 15 minutes if you never mess up. However, if you find mini games to be too much of a pain, you can safely skip this and still be fine by the end, it just might require a bit more level grinding. You can press up on the left stick to move faster, and down to move slower. Don't ever jump, because you can easily damage boost through everything, and jumping is slow and hard to control. Every time you complete a stage, a new path opens to the next stage. You can teleport from the Camp save point to the Jungle:Tunnel save point via the Gummi Ship to save time getting back.
Next go back to Traverse town. The required tasks here are to talk to Leon in the underground caverns past the red trinity grate, then go back to the Accessory shop and talk to Cid, then go to the Magician's house past the fire door, then go back through District 3 and meet Riku, go in the spare house and the bell will ring, go to the top of the Gizmo shop and ring the bell 3 times and kill reverse armor to lock the keyhole. Finally talk to Cid and he gives you the warp gummi and opens the new paths.
Next is Agrabah. If you haven't already, definitely start killing all optional mobs here. This is where things start taking a few more hits to kill, and you will be needing all the experience you can get to gain more strength. Magic is useful at this point, especially Blizzard, and you unlock Blizzara after Jafar's first fight, making it even more useful. In Agrabah, make sure to visit Aladdin's house after saving Aladdin. The Bazaar opens only after you visit Aladdin's house with him in the party. You can pick up a Megalixir from a chest in Aladdin's house. In the Cave of Wonders, The only thing you have to do is knock down the column in the Hidden Room at the bottom then go up through the treasure room.
Next take the upper gummi route to go to Monstro. Keep killing optional mobs. In Monstro, just get to Chamber 4 through the chamber maze, kill Parasite Cage, unlock high jump, then go up the throat and kill Parasite Cage again.
Next head onward to the next world, Halloween Town. Keep killing all optional mobs. First, in Guillotine Square, you can find the only Power Up chest in the game. It's in the top of the building to the right of the two glowing pumpkins in the wall. You can just barely grab the ledge of the building with a well placed high jump. You can also get an Elixir if you'd like by ringing the doorbell of the house at the top of the staircase three times. Next, go to the lab, then get the Forget-Me-Not from Sally, then go back to the lab, then get the Jack in the Box from the mayor, then go back to the lab, then finally go to the top of Oogie's manor, kill the trio, flip the switch, then head down to Oogie's room, and kill Oogie twice. For Oogie's second form, you can kill both of the lanterns for some easy experience before you take him out. He also continuously spawns gargoyles near his feet after taking out a few orbs, which is good experience as well. They stop spawning after a while, unfortunately.
Upon completing Halloween Town, you unlock the Gravity spell. This is very useful on high health enemies that are susceptible, since it does percentage damage based on their current HP (about 50%). Only use it when they are at high health of course. You should probably exclusively use Gravity over any other damaging magic for the remainder of the game, as elemental magic damage drops off badly after this world. Just smack anything with low health with your keyblade. Unfortunately gravity is not very useful for bosses.
Next keep going along the top Gummi route towards the Pirate Ship. It's possible it won't spawn. It has roughly a 70% chance to spawn if you haven't done Atlantica. If you end up at Atlantica, simply turn around and try again until it shows up. You probably don't want to do Atlantica; it's long, slow, and gives terrible experience. You have more than enough time, so you can do it if you want, but you really shouldn't.
The Pirate Ship is a super straightforward world. Just follow the required paths, open the ladder using the green trinity, and take out Shadow Sora then Cap'n Hook. You get Tinker Bell now! The requirements for summoning her are that you need at least 3 MP, you must be standing on solid ground, and both Donald and Goofy need to be present and alive. Summon her at the start of every difficult boss, because Donald and Goofy will inevitably die, making her impossible to summon.
Head back to Traverse town, you just have to talk to Cid this time to unlock the next Gummi Route.
In Hollow Bastion, go with Beast down to the dungeon, and unlock the front door. Go through the front door for the first Riku fight. This fight shouldn't be hard. If it is hard, go back to Pirate Ship to grind a few levels, as Maleficent is much harder. After that fight keep The Beast in your party at all times. He totally destroys everything with his special abilities, and all heartless get one shot by him except Defenders, which he two shots. He even pierces Defenders' shields and Sorcerers' lightning invincibility. You might want to throw him some ethers if you have some handy.
Go up through Hollow Bastion, then eventually you will get to the Castle Chapel, and take out Maleficent and Dragon Maleficent. Don't kill Riku a second time yet, we need to grind before the heartless get stronger.
THIS IS WHERE I DID MOST OF MY LEVEL GRINDING WITH BEAST. See the spoiler for my detailed route. Basically just run through High Tower (the highest outdoor area with the massive platform with a heart on it that you raise and lower) and take out all the heartless there, then go back to the gummi ship via Castle Chapel to reset them.
*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***Start in Castle Chapel. Head out the door right next to the save point. Take out the heartless on the ledge, then jump down. After clearing the room, head through the right door as you are facing the elevators. Kill the mob here, then jump up the heart cube which will spawn flying enemies. Hit them while jumping down to the lower area, which spawns more heartless. Kill all heartless here. Go through the lift stop, jump back up the heart cube and back into the lift stop, kill all heartless in this room, head through the room to end up in the Castle Chapel. Go to the gummi ship via the save point to respawn all the heartless, rinse and repeat. Remember to switch Beast into your party every time.
Use this method to grind to lvl 43 or 49. I chose lvl 49 because that's when you get to 36 strength if you only use the Power Up from Halloween Town Guillotine Square, and skipped the Jungle Slide mini game. If you went risky and picked up the sword instead of shield, and got both Power Ups, you'd reach 36 strength at lvl 43, but with the shield, you’d only be at 35 strength at lvl 43. At 36 Strength, I started doing a lot more damage to all enemies at endgame. However, 35 strength may also be viable, but I wasn’t able to test it because I skipped right over it when I leveled up (you get +2 strength with every strength level up). If you are happy with your damage output at level 43, then don’t bother grinding anymore and head to end game, otherwise, level up to 49 to get that extra damage. With Second Chance and Leaf Bracer, you are basically invincible. You just have to land 1 or 2 combos on bosses in order to maintain 1 MP and keep your Cure going. Just keep some ethers/elixirs handy in case of emergency. Don't bother using magic other than cure or gravity in the endgame, everything else is basically useless at this point.
Kill Riku a second time when you are ready. He can be tough since you don’t get teammates so you can’t summon Tinker Bell, but with Leaf Bracer and Second Chance you should be fine. This is the point where all heartless in the game get stronger. You are forced to go back to Traverse Town one more time. Here, you talk to Cid, go the underground cavern and examine the mural, get Oathkeeper from Kairi, then talk to Cid again.
Go do Hollow Bastion again (it's identical to the first time just with slightly different heartless spawns, all the puzzles you did the first time are still solved) and kill the Behemoth. GO BACK TO HOLLOW BASTION AND TALK TO AERITH IN THE LIBRARY THREE TIMES AFTER KILLING THE BEHEMOTH TO GET CURAGA. I don't know why the game doesn't just give you Curaga when you are talking with her after the Behemoth fight.
Finally, head to the end of all worlds, and beat the game. You should avoid optional fights again here, since they are a pain. Don't pick up treasures in the first room, they can spawn heartless mobs. In the section where you visit all the worlds and fight heartless mobs in each world, the only required fights are for the worlds where you didn't lock the keyhole. So you would only have to do Coliseum and Atlantica if you chose to skip them. Skip all the optional fights, and at 100 acre wood, make sure to pick up the Megalixir here and save. Next is Gargoyle. You can summon Tinker Bell on the Gargoyle boss fight if you land on the mountain at his base, and if you have 3 MP and Donald and Goofy are still alive. Move along to the final Behemoth and Mob fight. After that, head to Final Rest, pick up the Megalixir and save, then go whoop the final boss's butt!
It’s possible the achievement won’t unlock, the achievements in this game are known to be buggy. It didn’t unlock for me the first time I beat the final boss, but I reloaded my save and beat the final boss again after hard resetting my console the next day and it unlocked no problem. The achievements don’t unlock until the very end of the unskippable credit cutscenes unfortunately. Don’t accidentally reset the game by pressing LB, RB, select, and start at the same time, or the achievement won’t unlock and you’ll have to do the entire final boss again (this also happened to me, meaning I had to beat the final boss rush three times).