Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix - Lingering Will Mod

The KH2FM Lingering Will Mod is a mod for Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix that replaces Sora with the Lingering Will, who initially appeared as a superboss. This highly ambitious mod boasts greatly overhauled gameplay mechanics, to the point where it's almost an entirely new experience.
==Who is the Lingering Will?==
The Lingering Will was once an apprentice Keyblade wielder named Terra. During his Mark of Mastery exam, he struggled to get a grip on the darkness in his heart, and so he was not declared a master. However, a Keyblade Master named Xehanort believed that a true master wielded light and darkness in balance, and started advising Terra on how to achieve such a balance.
While on a journey of self-discovery, Terra found his way to Destiny Islands, where he met two children named Riku and Sora. Seeing some of himself in Riku, Terra granted him the power to wield a Keyblade in secret. Several years later, when a teenaged Riku gave himself up to darkness, his Keyblade will in turn be inherited by Sora.
It would turn out that Master Xehanort's intentions were quite sinister. He was seeking to ignite a second Keyblade War (the first of which had ravaged the worlds and left them on the brink of destruction) and claim an infinite power known as Kingdom Hearts, and was grooming Terra to become a vessel for darkness so that he could take over Terra's body and claim it as his own. Xehanort would succeed in stealing Terra's body, but the apprentice's spirit lived on by possessing a suit of armor he once wore. This armor, now known only as the Lingering Will, is a shadow of its old self, and has spent years sitting dormant in the Keyblade Graveyard.
Xehanort may have failed in his original attempt to gain control of Kingdom Hearts... but recently, he has begun to act again, albeit now in the form of a Nobody named Xemnas. His sights are once again set on the limitless power of Kingdom Hearts, and the boy who foiled Xehanort's last bid for its power is nowhere to be found.
For the first time in years, the Lingering Will rises and lifts its Keyblade out of the dust. It and Xehanort have unfinished business...
==New Mechanics==
As previously stated, this mod has the player take control of Lingering Will. This character is a highly offense-centric character who leans very heavily on physical damage and raw durability to get the job done. Its attacks boast high range and incredible power, and it starts with a maximum Drive Gauge of 5 rather than 3, but its MP and especially Magic are lower than usual.
===Limit Techniques===
Lingering Will uses Limits instead of Magic. This grants it even more versatile physical attack options and prevents it from needing to use its incredibly low Magic stat.
However, having only Limits does come with one glaring drawback - Lingering Will does not have any form of healing magic. It is solely reliant on items and Forms for health restoration in combat.
===Drive Forms and Chain Forms===
Though Lingering Will's Drive Forms function somewhat similarly to Sora's Drive Forms, they are quite different visually compared to Sora's. Just like in the original boss fight and similarly to Kingdom Hearts III's Formchanges, Drive Forms transform Lingering Will's Keyblade into new weapons, granting it new abilities related to that weapon.
Once in a Drive Forms, Lingering Will can spend some more Drive to transform into a different Drive Form. Doing so results in a Drive Chain, with the next Drive inheriting some of the power of the last. Be careful, however - each transformation in the Drive Chain has a higher chance than the last of activating Lingering Will's AntiForm!
Entering a Drive Form from Lingering Will's base form costs 3 Drive Bars, and every subsequent Drive in the Drive Chain costs 1 Drive Bar.
===M-Linking===
Lingering Will uses Memory Links (or "M-Links") instead of Summons. These abilities draw upon fleeting memories of its past to create mirages of its old friends and allies, which fight alongside it for a short time.
While M-Links are functionally identical to Summons for the most part, they also grant special passive boons to Lingering Will while they're active. The higher the M-Link Level gets, the more benefits Lingering Will can reap from having an M-Link on the field with it.
All M-Links cost 3 Drive Bars to use.
==New Keyblades==
==New Abilities==
==Limits==
==Drive Forms==
===Breaker Form===
Breaker Form transforms the Keyblade into a shield- or drill-like gauntlet. Breaker Form grants Lingering Will the ability to quickly teleport around during combos, allowing it to hit enemies from all directions in a single combo. In addition, the gauntlet can bore straight through foes' guard without getting parried. This makes Breaker Form particularly good against foes with armor or other forms of protection, like Large Bodies or Berserkers.
===Impact Form===
Impact Form transforms the Keyblade into an enormous axe. This Form is characterized by sweeping attacks that are hard to block or interrupt, and can be deceptively agile with its ability to quickly dash or leap into melee range of an enemy. Its finishing moves almost exclusively attack in a wide circle around itself, and affect the positioning of nearby enemies. The Form is perfect for dealing with large groups.
===Raid Form===
Raid Form transforms the Keyblade into a pair of small blades that float around its body. Though its weaponry is smaller than other forms', this form actually enhances Lingering Will's range even further, and it can attack far-off enemies by flinging the blades around its body telekinetically. Raid Form inherits the Auto Assault ability from Sora's Final Form, which causes the blades to automatically attack when doing more conventional actions such as jumping or using an item.
===Hunter Form===
Hunter Form transforms the Keyblade into a large bow. Similarly to Sora's Wisdom Form, Hunter Form replaces Lingering Will's standard attack with a ranged attack - in this case, a powerful bowshot. Its combos are remarkably short, meaning the form's combo finishers always come out quickly. Pressing during a combo lets you cast Magnet for free, creating gravitic fields to lock enemies in place. Finally, Hunter Form also enhances Lingering Will's overall mobility, granting it a greatly improved Dodge Slide and a double jump.
===AntiForm===
Lingering Will's AntiForm has a chance of triggering whenever it enters a Drive Form, with the chance increasing as its current Form Chain gets longer.
In AntiForm, Lingering Will loses access to its Keyblade entirely, and is forced to fight using the Dark Figure. More TBA!
==M-Links==
===Maleficent===
Lingering Will's first M-Link, obtained after the real Maleficent is resurrected in the Mysterious Tower. When summoned, the illusory witch will attack enemies with elemental magic - particularly bolts of dark lightning and meteors bathed in shadows - while floating above the battlefield.
While Maleficent is on the battlefield, Lingering Will will automatically conjure various magical effects when using attacks and Limits, letting it conjure fireballs mid-combo, call down bolts of lightning when using Meteor Crash, and more. The spells' damage are based off of Lingering Will's Magic stat, so they're normally a bit weak, but pairing them with the right equipment can turn them from a small damage buff into a devastating tool.
Maleficent's M-Limit is Dragonfire, which causes her to channel her dragon form and bathe the battlefield in magical green fire. The fire lingers on the battlefield for a while even after the Limit's end, juggling enemies in the air.
===Cloud===
An M-Link that Lingering Will first uses when fighting Sephiroth, which can be unlocked permanently by winning the fight. Though it and Cloud never met back when it was Terra, Lingering Will is still able to create a perfect mirage of him from its memories... how strange. The illusion of Cloud fights with powerful sword techniques based off of Limit Breaks from Final Fantasy VII. Whenever Lingering Will uses a Limit, he will jump in and perform a specialized follow-up attack.
While Cloud is on the battlefield, a set of three reels will appear above Lingering Will's command menu. Using Limits will stop the reels, and lining up two or three of the same icon will extend the M-Link's duration and cause something good to happen.
* Tifa: Releases a shockwave that launches surrounding enemies into the air.Lining up three Tifas releases a bigger, more powerful shockwave.
* Aerith: Temporarily reduces the MP cost of Lingering Will's Limits.Lining up three Aeriths instantly ends MP Charge and lets Lingering Will use Limits for free for a short time.
* Cid: Replaces Lingering Will's attack with a few charges of Jump.Lining up three Cids replaces Lingering Will's attack with nine charges of Jump and boosts its attack power until all the Jumps are gone.
* Yuffie: Refunds the most recent item that Lingering Will has used during the fight.Lining up three Yuffies refunds all Lingering Will's items and increases the drop rate of items until the M-Link ends.
* ???: The next time Trevislash is used, a mirage of a certain black-haired man wielding the Buster Sword will appear and attack alongside Lingering Will and Cloud, increasing the move's damage output.Lining up three ???s has the same overall effects, but increases Trevislash's power even further.
Cloud's M-Limit is Trevislash, which causes him and Lingering Will to engage in a long, relentless, and incredibly flashy combo attack against a single enemy. If their target is defeated, they will automatically warp to a new target if one is nearby.
===Aqua===
One of the last two M-Links Lingering Will obtains. Like Final Form in the vanilla game, this M-Link has a random chance of activating after a certain point in the story, though it's much easier to unlock if you use a certain Keyblade. This M-Link summons Aqua, who assaults enemies with Keyblade combos and magical attacks. Pressing while guarding or being attacked will use the M-Barrier Reaction Command, which causes Aqua to teleport in and cast Reflect around her and Lingering Will.
While Aqua is on the battlefield, Lingering Will's HP and MP will regenerate over time, and MP Charge is significantly reduced. Additionally, if Lingering Will falls in battle, a cutscene will play of it nearly sinking into darkness but her illusion pulling it out and back onto its feet, reviving it with full health. This effect can only be used once per summon - if you want to auto-revive again, you'll have to dispel and resummon Aqua.
Aqua's M-Limit is Spellweaver, which causes her and Lingering Will to spin around each other while pulling enemies towards them with magic. You can move around slowly while using this attack to gather enemies together, but it won't deal damage until the attack's end. The finishing blow will activate automatically after a certain amount of time, but can be triggered early with the Blizzaja Whirl Reaction Command, and conjures a storm of exploding ice crystals to rapidly eat away at the enemies' health.
===Ventus===
One of the last two M-Links Lingering Will obtains. Like Final Form in the vanilla game, this M-Link has a random chance of activating after a certain point in the story, though it's much easier to unlock if you use a certain Keyblade. This M-Link summons Ventus, who harrasses enemies with acrobatic Keyblade techniques. Pressing during a combo will use the M-Reversal Reaction Command, which causes Ventus and Lingering Will to dart behind the enemy and hit it with a simultaneous strike.
While Ventus is on the battlefield, Lingering Will's speed and movement are greatly enhanced. Its Dodge Slide is enhanced, it can move faster and jump higher, and its attacks come out significantly faster. Its Limits will also deal increased damage and gain special wind-based properties.
Ventus's M-Limit is Fever Pitch, which causes him and Lingering Will to quickly dash from enemy to enemy while attacking with rapid slashes. During this M-Limit, you can use the Aeroja Whirl Reaction Command to fire off circular blades of wind that bounce around the battlefield and home in on enemies.
==Other Changes==
===Boss Battle: ???===
If you're playing as Lingering Will, then who's waiting for you in the Keyblade Graveyard at the end of the game...?
==Trivia==
* Though this mod isn't real, it was inspired by a few that are real! More specifically, it's inspired by Xaddgx Absol Brasse's Vanitas and Aqua mods, as well as Bradster's Riku mod.
** Please go check out all these mods, the Vanitas mod is incredible and both Aqua and Riku are shaping up to be really cool!
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