I found an easy way to grind in Destiny Island

 

When the heartless come and you need to go the secret place door...don't do that

 

What you do is...you beat up every single heartless in DI

 

Places where the Heartless Appear

1.Above the Shaft

2.The place where Tidus Trains/Where you get the questions in the beginning of the game

3.Riku's Island/Bridge/Near the upper door to the Shaft

4.The place where Selphie stays/Near the Boats

5.The place where Kairi is in the beginning of the game

6.The Waterfall

7.The treehouse thing above where Kairi asks you to go get the "Cloth" in the beginning of the game

8.The Beach

 

When you beat all of them you get 130+ exp(depending on your tech points for blocking their attacks you can get more) since there's 130+ heartless that you beat(1 exp per Heartless you beat)

When you do that you head over to the shaft...you enter the shaft(you can also save your game there) and you exit it and the Heartless will respawn

You can do this over and over till you get the level you desire

I grinded up to level 23-24 before I got tired...suffice to say Shadow Sora was a piece of cake when I went through the door...he went down in 2-3 seconds lol

I know that

This is more of a solution for somebody who wants to break the game for kicks by grinding to level 50 or something and then easily beating the rest of the game

Do you think the devs intended this grinding spot? In KH2 it's pretty much impossible to grind to level 99 with Roxas cuz there isn't many enemies

Believe it or not...I read a thread in some forum where some guys tried to get to level 99 with Roxas

One of the guys was level 95 or something and his save file got corrupt before he could reach level 99

Holy shit that's a nightmare if I ever saw one

 

I don't think it was intended since I doubt many people who play it for the first time actually choose to stick on Destiny Islands (I know I didn't, I'm pretty sure I rushed off at level 3 or 4 ) but it is a good spot for early grinding so you aren't knocked out by the first enemy you spot in TT.  

Grinding to level 50 with only shadows would take ages so if anyone actually has the time and willpower to try that, power to them.  

I've tried KH1 (PS2) with Action Replay Cheat Codes so that I started on Destiny Island with All Items, Max Stats, Max level, all weapons and magic upgrades etc.  In honesty it was pretty boring being so perfectly equipped for the whole of the game.  

Are goofy and donald then also level 22 (or higher) when you start with that high level

Cool, that's exactly how I leveled up.

Are goofy and donald then also level 22 (or higher) when you start with that high level

Yup

Edited February 6, 201411 yr by DAMN

Personally this second time around (my first time was years ago on the PS2 and I was extremely nieve to the point of not being aware of new keyblades, abilities or being able to change Donald and Goofy's stuff) I grinded simply by taking on every heartless encounter in the game. I was easily level 18-20 in Deep Jungle when taking on Clayton and he was hella easier than the first time when I actually had to get a friend of mine to beat him (and several other more major bosses) for me. 

Destiny Islands was one area I had not considered however and ironically since I am now in 'The End of the World' nearly at the point of facing the long series of final bosses (at a little over level 50) I have been thinking about starting a new file to test out some other methods that have come to mind. Including upgrading Donald and Goofy's weapons sooner, I've learned a lot since my first play through but am still learning. This is a tactic I will keep in mind. And interestingly I was just thinking how I wish I could skip Destiny Islands in the second play through. Some of the little tasks are annoying. 

Edited February 9, 201411 yr by Inner_Darkness

I usually grind against Tidus

 

His moves are easy to predict, and you can level up really easily against him (:

You could do it in the Three-On-One battle. 

 

But to be honest, I find doing those sort of things pointless. If you aim to do everything in the game except for the Gummiship missions you'll easily reach level 100. I mean heck, I never trained and I still reached level 100 before I took on Sephiroth or Unknown.

How do you do a three on one battle?

Alright so I actually tried this (in 1.5) and wanted to report back.

I grinded until level 18 in the Destiny Island storm scene, I had intended for 20 but got bored and tired of it as it was beginning to take too long to gain a single level. I am seeing users talking about leveling up with the characters whom had questioned you during The Awakening to determine your level pace but I talked to them throughout DI and nothing happened. I am confused as to this?

This (and that I still as I mentioned before grind on every heartless encounter, sometimes more than once on some) made a huge difference but as one user suggested the game also does catch up to you at some points.

Clayton (who only took slightly longer but was still just as easy at level 18), the Trickmaster, Opposite Armor and Jafar were all much easier this time around than my first at levels 22, 30 and 34 and only took up to two minutes to take out. Interestingly I had meant to grind until level 25 before taking on Clayton but accidentally fell from the tree house in the process and discovered there's a portion which drops into the cliffs instead of the tunnel.

Ursula(the cauldron round) and Hook were also somewhat easier at levels 38 and 39 than at levels 30 and 35 but in the case of Ursula it was more that I knew what I was doing now and it helped to have the Spellbinder (I did not the first time, I hadn't known about it, this is how I ended up clearing the Phil Cup late in the first round). The second round of Ursula was easy enough the first time but I was able to get more strikes in this time while before I mostly Mermaid Kicked around in circles and let my team do the work as suggested by a user at KHinsider.

Trickmaster, Opposite Armer and the Cauldron Round of Ursula I also managed on the first go while they took multiple attempts my first time. 

Oogie Boogie was more frustrating but that had nothing to do with how easy or hard he is, he's quite easy but the first time I had gotten quite lucky with being ascended on the right panel to be able to strike him. This time, not so much. Took way longer than is reasonable just to get started on him. 

 

Here is where the catch up comes in though. Notice how I was only a maximum of 3 levels higher this time around when I faced each battle than I was the first time. TrickMaster is an exception because in my attempt to try something I did not realize until too late was impossible I switched the order in which I did Wonderland and Deep Jungle. The first time Wonderland had been my first world after Traverse Town, instead I started with OC (Cerberus was another battle which was easier this time and won with only one attempt, though barely) then went to Deep Jungle and finally Wonderland after finding out that the entire event line of the second Traverse Town visit could not be done without. I was at level 25ish by the time the final battle was accessible and then grinded with all the different variations of the Bizarre Room to level 30. Not too bad though considering in my first round I was level 30 when I took on Ursula! Though I'd only gained another 8 levels between then and Ursula.

(I switched the world order one more time later, forgetting which was which I'd accidentally ended up in Neverland before Halloweentown. And while I would have liked to have my Pumpkinhead in Neverland, just cuz it's my favorite hehe, on the bright side with the glide ability the Oogie Manor battle was much easier as it's probably the worst battle field in the game for Sora's horrible jumping.)

 

One of the last things I did last night before turning in was the Hurc Cup at OC right when Chip and Dale announce that it's available. This is around the same time I'd done it the first time and around the same level (41). This is also going to put me in the Hallow Bastian climax battles at pretty much the same level as well.  In my first file I am in World Terminus in End of the World at level 51. So that is what I've been aspiring to beat. Ideally I'd like to be at level 65-70 at the Hallow Bastian Climax. So while I am going around activating yellow trinities I plan to grind, grind, grind. 

 

So basically that initial Destiny Island grind helped out greatly but I am now right back where I was in the first file. 

There are a couple of factors, one avoidable that could have contributed however:

*I purposely answered the beginning questions so that I'd level at an average pace (and regret it for this mission). I chose the answers I personally liked knowing that they would result in "midday" and it seemed at the time like "dawn" would be going too easy on myself. 

*I had wanted to grind in Traverse Town before leaving it the first time(though after part 1 of it's story was over) but for that moment it had been completely cleared of heartless. So I had to leave. 

 

Incidentally I am pleased with this second go around, more so than the first for the following reasons:

*I cleared the Phil and Pegasus Cups right away as I did the Hurc cup, whereas in the first game I did the Phil cup late to obtain Gravity and never the Pegasus. Leon and Yuffie took me three tries though, Leon specifically. Remember in the beginning, Traverse Town pt. 1 when he challenges you to that little test duel and if you defeat him he tells Yuffie in the proceeding cut scene that he'd went easy? This is when you see just how easy, and the answer is MAJORLY! It was well worth it though to obtain the Strike Raid ability. 

*I found 54 Dalmatians(for the final torn page) without even trying!

*^ this is one result of the fact that I missed far fewer treasure chests than the first time and have and am continuing to go back to worlds I've already been to activate the trinities. (Though I seem to be missing at least one torn page not counting the Dalmatian one, which is something that did NOT happen last time hehe, oh well). I'd found some nooks and crannies I did not know about before in various worlds. 

*I just made myself a new Gummi last night that ...well I think is kickass. Though I have not gotten to use it yet because that's when I turned in. Wish I had more areas to use it in but oh well. Maybe that will be a new goal for the third round. I've already got the possible set up thought up:

- Fast paced leveling 

- Beginning with the sword possibly (just because I've never done it before). 

- Kickass gummi earlier

I find that a bit insane. I heard it's actually possible to miss abilities for Sora if you grind Roxas up too long, but I doubt it as anything unlocked at a certain level is based on what path you chose, not if you're still Roxas or not.

Though it's been literally years since I've played the second game (mostly being because I've never owned it, I borrowed it from a friend and understandably he took it back after I'd cleared it but it's my favorite so I am quite anxious for 2.5) but this does sound as though it makes sense considering that technically they are merely separate parts of the same being. 

Higher up in the thread I read about how some guys tried to grind Roxas to level 99, managed 95 and than lost it all to a file corruption. Now THAT is some crazy ass shit! 

Edited February 15, 201411 yr by Inner_Darkness

When grinding on Destiny Island i have found fighting Selfie for tech points to be the best. When she raises her hand over her head and then leaps at you to atack, you reflect her rope attack back and then move away a short distance and face her again. This will cause her to repeat the same attack over again. Each time you will recieve 2 tech points one for reflecting and another when her rope hits her on the head. However selfie cannot  be Knocked out from tech points so as long as you dont strike her yourself you can repeat this strategy infinitely till your bored, slip up or are at your target level

Edited March 21, 20214 yr by Lostmedic232
Typo

This method is decent but can be improved significantly. All you want to do is kill the heartless outside the door at the top of shack, drop down to the left side and kill the ones that spawn at the door to the seashore. Turn around and work your way to the bottom door of the shack and kill the heartless that spawn on the beach. Run inside the shack, go to the top and back out. Rinse and repeat. You'll kill much more enemies in far less time. If you do the method listed and clear the whole island, you have to fight across bridges where you can fall and have to backtrack in order to get back to where you were, enemies can fall off as well. You have ladders that you have to climb or obstacles to jump over and then you have to run all the way back from Tidus's area to the shack in order to respawn the enemies. Such a HUGE waste of time when you can simply do a much much smaller loop and respawn the enemies quicker. You'll shave off a lot of time. Clearing the whole island is just...stupid.