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Card Master ReCoM

Every single card available to Sora in Re:Chain of Memories.

Cards are the core gameplay mechanic in Chain of Memories and its remake Re:Chain of Memories. They are the primary way for people to travel in Castle Oblivion through the use of world and map cards. They are also used to attack, use magic, summons, items, and abilities in combat. Cards to do not actually prevent entities from performing native movement techniques and skills.

History[]

The first card introduced in Chain of Memories was the Traverse Town world card, produced by a hooded Marluxia who sampled Sora's memories to make it. This was after Donald attempted to hit him using spells, showing that the castle had already made them forget all they knew on entry. In Traverse Town Sora found that both his friends had also turned into cards, as Marluxia explained the basics to him. In the Room of Beginnings Sora and his friends met with Leon, who gave him further instructions on various card mechanics. Riku underwent a similar trial, learning about the cards and several mechanics unique to him through DiZ pretending to be Ansem.

Gameplay mechanics[]

World and map cards[]

World cards menu from RCOM

The world cards menu.

World cards are used to select the card-world you visit on each floor. They are always gained by progressing through the story, often after defeating a boss. You can visit the available worlds in any order, as enemy health and strength scales with each floor, leaving you to choose which you want to visit first, or last. Once chosen a world card becomes impossible to remove or change.

Map cards menu from RCOM

The room synthesis menu.

Map cards serve a similar purpose, allowing you to progress through a world's rooms, with each room (except the first and last) requiring a map card of a specific value (from 0 through 9). Some rooms also require a Keycard, which is a one-of-a-kind type card used only for that exact room. Room contents almost always contain Heartless to be fought, with the size of the room and the number of enemies being dependent on the exact map card that was used to synthesize the room. All map cards have varying effects, both positive and negative. Leaving a floor will reset that entire floor's collection of rooms.

Card decks[]

Card deck menu from RCOM

The card deck menu.

Both Sora and Riku make use of card decks, as do all Organization members, and a few other people such as Riku Replica, Cloud, Hades, and Captain Hook, granting them the exact same advantages and disadvantages in combat. A deck has a limit of 99 cards, although you are more likely to hit the limit on Card Points (CP) prior to that, with higher value and stronger cards taking up more CP.

Both versions of the game start with a CP limit of 275 at level 1, which can be increased by 25 per level, with a maximum of 1,900 in the GBA version, and 1,625 in the remake. Although Riku makes use of a mostly-fixed deck per world, Sora can freely outfit a deck to his choosing, and can design up to three decks and switch between them outside of combat. A deck must at minimum contain a single attack card.

Editing a deck for the first time, and editing decks for 500 times total, grants you the bronze trophies and achievements Novice Deck Builder and Expert Deck Builder in the 1.5 ReMIX version.

Battle cards[]

All cards can be divided into several types, with battle cards making up the largest group by far, pertaining to those cards used solely in combat. Attack cards, in red, are used for physical attacks with a weapon. Magic cards, in blue, are used for magic spells. Item cards, in green, are used for one-time use only items that restore your spent cards.

Summon (considered magic) and friend cards, in respectively blue and green, both summon a temporary ally, the difference being that friend cards are always only picked up in the midst of combat. Lastly are enemy cards, in gray, which grant temporary passive abilities with a very large variety of effects.

Obtaining over 300 battle cards grants you the bronze trophy and achievement Battle Card Collector in the 1.5 ReMIX version.

Acquiring cards[]

Moogle Shop menu from RCOM

The Moogle Shop menu.

Cards can be acquired through several methods. The primary way is through story progression, as defeated bosses and some events grant specific rewards. Cards are also frequently found by destroying breakable objects inside rooms, provided they are picked up before a fight commences. Several bounty map cards, as well as the Key to Rewards room, also often contain guaranteed cards. The final option is by purchasing card packs from a Moogle Shop, which in itself is found within a Moogle Room map card.

Combat and reloading[]

Reload card gameplay from RCOM

Introduction of the reload card.

In a fight both Sora and Riku can play the selected card for an immediate effect, only limited by the card's own animation. Attack cards can thus be played in quick succession to create three-hit combos. The deck can also be cycled, going back and forth, allowing you to select a specific card to play, or skip one to save for later, which is crucial as you can do this when otherwise unable to act. Played cards become temporarily unavailable, up until the Reload Card is fully charged, which does not have to be done all at once. Said number starts at 1, and increases by 1, up to 3, with each reload, thus making combat consecutively more difficult as the fight goes on (as you have to stand still when charging it).

Reloading will not bring back item cards and Premium Cards, nor those lost by stocking. Item cards themselves can be used to instantly reload the specified card type, with higher quality item cards being able to also reload even unreloadable cards, as well as reset the reload counter entirely. Several enemy card abilities also can be used to support reloading, such as Reload Kinesis, Reload Haste, Auto-Reload, and Reload Lock.

Riku's reload card does not need to be charged, as it will be activated immediately.

Card values[]

Each card, world and enemy cards excepted, has a random innate card value, ranging from 0 through 9. For map cards a room will require a specific value card for it to be accepted (a 0 value map card can be used for any room), whereas for battle cards the value affects how much CP they cost. During actual combat the value of the card has no intrinsic worth and does not actually affect damage, but it is crucial for when it comes to the card break mechanic.

The below table contains the chance for the exact value of any randomly encountered battle card.

Value 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Chance 15% 15% 16% 14% 10% 10% 6% 5% 4% 5%

Card breaks[]

Most cards when played will stay on-screen for at least a second, with stronger attacks lasting much longer. When the player, or an enemy, plays their own card in that time frame it will break the currently active card provided it has a higher value, except for the 0-value cards, which can break any attack, but also be broken by any other card in return. They are also the most expensive in terms of CP. Playing a card with a lower value will only cause it to fail, whereas a card with equal value will at least cancel out both.

Sora and Riku's battle cards all possess a 'card break recovery' stat, which determines how long they have to recover from a card break. For most cards this is a second, with some being a sixth of a second slower, and others being one or two sixths faster.

Reverse/Rebirth grants Riku extra DP for his Dark Mode meter whenever he breaks an enemy card (his value minus theirs, capped at nine) Re:Chain of Memories has an additional mechanic called 'Rapid Break', which grants him five extra DP, as well as a bonus to his damage and attack speed if he breaks an enemy card fast enough.

Breaking enemy's cards a total of 1,500 times grants you the bronze trophy and achievement Card Breaker in the 1.5 ReMIX version.

Duel System[]

Duel System gameplay

Duel System gameplay.

The remake also added a Duel System for Riku, which the player can activate whenever they play a card of value equal to that of the enemy's. Upon starting duel mode everything will pause and the player has to break a fixed number of cards within a fixed time limit. The time corresponds to the number of cards you need to break, ranging from 3 (weak enemies), to 5 (strong enemies), up to 7 (bosses) cards and seconds each. Failing to do so will cause Riku to be stunned, whereas a successful duel results in a powerful duel sleight. It is much faster to simply spam all your cards rather than find the cheapest way to break the currently active card, depending on the enemy you are dueling and what remains of your current deck.

Winning a 100 duels grants you the bronze trophy and achievement Duel Master in the 1.5 ReMIX version.

Stocking cards and sleights[]

Card stocking gameplay from RCOM

Card stocking gameplay.

Sora and Riku, as well as anyone else with a deck, can press both shoulder buttons (in the GBA version) or the interact button (in the remake) in combat to stock a selected card. Stocked cards will show up below the health bar of whoever is performing the action, including the total value. Stocking cards has the benefit of being much harder to break, as three low value cards can be used to execute a combo or series of attacks, that would otherwise likely be broken if used on their own. Simultaneously it makes it easier to break enemy attacks.

Sleight screen from RCOM

An introductory screen for a new sleight.

Eventually Sora will learn various sleights (either chosen when leveling, from Bounty rooms, or Room of Rewards), which turn specific stocks into powerful abilities. Stocking, and therefore sleights, has one major downside: the first card that was stocked will not be able to be reloaded without the use of powerful enemy or item cards. Because of this abusing the mechanic to activate a large number of sleights will quickly turn detrimental when in a protracted fight, primarily bosses or early on when still lacking cards.

Riku can only use sleights when in Dark Mode, he also does not gain any new sleights by playing through the game, unlike Sora.

Premium Cards[]

Premium Card bonus from RCOM

The Premium Bonus wheel.

Premium Cards are a way to 'upgrade' your attack, magic, and summon cards, by lowering their CP cost to that of a 1-value card, while making them unable to be reloaded through normal means except when used as the second or third card when stocked The Premium upgrade is rarely acquired as a drop from an enemy, which spawns frequently in the Premium Room map card, but is also always optional. When picked up a roulette wheel will start cycling through all the non-premium cards in your currently-equipped deck. Stopping the wheel will then grant the Premium bonus to the select card. A Premium card will have a glossy sheen and their number value embossed in gold.

Premium Bonus

The bonus is entirely optional as the wheel can be skipped, although the wheel is not too fast and there is some merit in taking the bonus. Premium cards sell for much more, making it somewhat useful to upgrade any equipped low value cards to be sold off later. Similarly you can use Premium cards as the first card in a sleight, as that would be lost either way. Premium cards' low value also allow you to place them more in a 'sleight deck' for use against generic enemies when you do not need to worry about attrition. Sora will always retain a premium card for reloading when it is the only attack card he has left.

Making twenty cards into Premium Cards grants you the bronze trophy and achievement Premium Card Maker in the 1.5 ReMIX version.

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