Month: February 2019

Like previous games, Kingdom Hearts III has the Ultima Weapon, one of the most powerful Keyblades Sora can obtain. Synthesizing it requires a laundry list of rare materials, but the most difficult of these components to find is Orichalcum+. This rare commodity can be found in seven specific ways. Below we detail all seven methods through which you can get Orichalcum, as well as how to start synthesizing the Ultima Weapon in general.

For more tips, be sure to check out our beginner’s guide feature. You can also read our review for our full thoughts about the game. We’ve also published a look at just how we reviewed it as well.

How To Unlock the Ultima Weapon Recipe

If you’re vying to get the Ultima Weapon, you’re going to need to unlock its Synthesis recipe first. To do this, you need to obtain 58 different Synthesis Materials. You generally earn Synthesis Materials from defeating bosses or other strong enemies; they’re also obtained from treasure chests across the different worlds.

The Recipe

There’s a high chance that you’ve naturally accumulated many of the Ultima Weapon’s various Synthesis Materials throughout your journey. But for reference, the recipe is as follows:

• Orichalcum+ x 7
• Wellspring Crystal x 2
• Lucid Crystal x 2
• Pulsing Crystal x 2

Before we jump into where to find some Orichalcum+, let’s cover the other materials first. Both the Lucid Crystal and Pulsing Crystal can be crafted via the Synthesis menu (unlocked upon collecting 32 and 30 Synthesis Materials respectively). On the other hand, the Wellspring Crystal must be earned by defeating enemies out in the field.

There are a couple methods to get Wellspring Crystals, but a great way to gather some is by completing Battlegate 12 in San Fransokyo. If you haven’t unlocked Battlegates yet, we suggest progressing the story until you do. The enemies in this optional challenge drop Wellspring Crystals. Just make sure to equip the Favorite Deputy Keyblade, as its Lucky Strike ability increases how often enemies drop items.

The Seven Ways To Get Orichalcum+:

As stated above, Orichalcum+ is an incredibly rare material. There are seven in total throughout the entire game, which is precisely the amount you need to craft the Ultima Weapon. Below we detail how to get each one.

Turn in a Moogle Raffle Ticket

Getting this Orichalcum+ is more up to chance than anything else. When you get your hands on a Moogle Raffle Ticket–typically rewarded after purchasing items at the shop–go ahead and create a save slot. Then take that ticket to the mailbox in Twilight Town and send it out. If you don’t get an Orichalcum+, reload your game and repeat the sending process. If luck is on your side, you’ll get your hands on one before you know it.

Collect all the Treasures in the Arendelle Sled Mini-Game

When you talk to Elsa after completing the story sections of Arendelle, you can play a fun sledding mini-game. As you go through the track, you’ll spot several numerically marked treasures. It’ll take a few runs across its myriad pathways to find them, but once you’ve collected them all, you’ll earn an Orichalcum+.

A Chest in The Caribbean World

There are several islands across the massive Caribbean world. An Orichulum+ can be found in a treasure chest on Exile Island, which is southwest from the center of the map. You’ll see it hidden in a small grove.

Collect All the Lucky Emblems

You discover early on a special type of collectible called Lucky Emblems, which are Mickey Mouse symbols that you “collect” by taking a snapshot of it with your Gummiphone. On normal difficulty, photographing a majority of them nets you the secret ending, but if you’re committed enough to collect all 90, you’re rewarded with an Orichalcum+. If you need help finding all the Lucky Emblems, watch the video above or check out our in-depth location guide.

A Chest in the Keyblade Graveyard

This Orichalcum+ is located in a treasure chest at the End of the World section of the Keyblade Graveyard–an area you can only access during the final portions of the game. Simply approach the red transport orb in the open field after crossing the narrow pathway by the save point. This will take you to the End of the World section where the treasure chest is located.

Defeat the Eclipse Galaxy Bosses

This is yet another Orichalcum+ that can only be accessed near the end of the game. When the Eclipse Galaxy opens up after you reach the Keyblade Graveyard, fly your Gummiship around until you find the Colossus Pyramid boss. Defeating it unlocks four additional bosses on the map, which you need to defeat in order to take on the powerful Omega Machina boss. Once you’ve overcome all of these foes, you’ll be rewarded with an Orichalcum+. Be wary; defeating these bosses is no easy feat. Make sure you’ve extensively upgraded your Gummiship’s stats before taking them on.

Achieving the Highest Score in the Flantastic Mini-Games

You might’ve noticed odd-looking desserts protruding from the ground throughout your journey. If you’ve met these unique Heartless–known collectively as the Flantastic Seven–you’ll know that interacting with them allows you to play fun mini-games. There are seven different mini-games in total and are found in the following worlds: Olympus, Kingdom of Coronoa, Toy Box, Monstrolpolis, Arendelle, the Caribbean, and San Fransokyo. If you obtain the high-score for each mini-game, you’re rewarded with an Orichalcum+.

Members of the Flantastic Seven are typically tucked away in unexpected corners of the world, usually appearing as unsuspecting desserts sprouting from the ground–which makes them pretty hard to miss. Below are details on where to find each.

• Olympus: Teleport to the Overlook save point and head upstairs until you reach a dead end.
• Toy Box: Teleport to the Rest Area save point and you’ll find it behind the couches near the vending machines.
• Kingdom of Corona: This one is outside the hidden entrance of Rapunzel’s castle. Turn left to see it near the foot of a tree.
• Montropolis: Teleport to the Basement save point and go through the white door ahead of the save point. Then proceed forward until you reach a wall with rows of colored doors. Step through the yellow door at the far left end of the wall. After arriving to the next area, turn around immediately to see the Flan.
• Arendelle: Teleport to the Mountain Ridge save point and jump down the hill to the left. You’ll see the Flan just off in the distance.
• The Caribbean: Teleport to Port Royal Fort save point and you’ll see the Flan right in the center of the clearing.
• San Fransokyo: Teleport to the South District save point at night and turn around. Run up the building ahead and glide towards the nearest rooftop to the right of the San Fransokyo Tower.

Piranha Plant has arrived for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Nintendo Switch. If you managed to snag the potted plant in time, here are some tips that could help you destroy the competition.

The days of mashing a set of buttons on an SNES controller rears it’s nostalgic face in Anthem where upon inputting a specific set of buttons, you can uncover a fun Konami Easter Egg in the menu music. Here’s what to press and what it sounds like. Captured on PC.

After multiple delays, Nintendo finally rolled out its paid online subscription service for Switch last September. While the company doesn’t typically disclose usage numbers, it did share some insight on how the service has been faring thus far.

In its recent financial results briefing, Nintendo revealed that the Nintendo Switch Online service has more than eight million subscribed accounts. According to the company, this figure doesn’t include accounts that only participated in the free trial, but it does factor in every account included under a family membership, which allows up to eight account holders across different Switch consoles to share the benefits of one subscription.

“Nintendo Switch Online has had a good start,” president Shuntaro Furukawa said in the briefing. “In keeping with the goal of providing Nintendo Switch owners with ‘More Games. More Features. More Fun,’ we are working on continuing to expand the service offerings.”

Nintendo didn’t share any further details on how it will expand NSO, but during the briefing, the company teased that it is working on an unannounced Switch game that is “suitable” for the service (via Siliconera), presumably meaning it will emphasize online play. Rumors have circulated that SNES games could also be coming to the service, although Nintendo hasn’t confirmed this.

Much like PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live, the Nintendo Switch Online service is required to play Nintendo Switch games online. It gives subscribers a few other benefits as well, such as the ability to back up their save data to the cloud and exclusive access to a library of classic NES games. NSO subscribers are also eligible for “special offers,” such as an exclusive set of NES-style controllers for Switch.

Sharing screenshots and videos from Xbox One has been notoriously difficult throughout the console’s life cycle. Thankfully, Microsoft has listened to people’s concerns and made it a little easier, though you’ll need to use a separate app to take advantage.

The Xbox App–known earlier in its life as SmartGlass–has been updated, and it can now share media from your Xbox One to social networks and your smartphone directly. Xbox director of programming and community figurehead Major Nelson shared the news on Twitter with a screenshot that showed Instagram, Discord, iMessage, email, and Twitter as some of the sharing options in the newly updated app.

Be warned, however, that at the time of writing Xbox Live is experiencing sign-in errors on Xbox One, so you might struggle to try out the app’s new features for the time being.

In other Xbox news, the free Games with Gold for February have now been revealed. The Xbox One games include Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, an 8-bit style game modeled loosely after Castlevania 3: Dracula’s Curse that’s available for the entire month. Super Bomberman R, meanwhile, joins the rotation on February 16 through mid-March. On Xbox 360, you get Assassin’s Creed Rogue, which is available through February 15, after which it will be replaced by the original Xbox game Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.

Steam is offering another free game to download through its client. This time it’s the 2015 indie horror game Kholat from Polish studio Imgn.Pro. The creepy game is narrated by actor Sean Bean. You can pick it up now on the Steam Store until February 4 at 9 AM PT.

Kholat has you exploring the Russian Ural Mountains to uncover the mystery of nine students who went missing in 1959. The game is based loosely on the real-life Dyatlov Pass Incident, in which nine students ventured into the Kholat Syakhl (“Dead Mountain” in Mansi) and were each found dead over the span of four months. The game goes in a much more supernatural direction with their disappearance.

“In many stories, blizzards and the frigid cold provide a specific kind of terror, and Kholat’s moaning winds cry out tales of lost souls that the game ignores in favor of shapeless nonsense,” critic Kevin VanOrd wrote in GameSpot’s review. “Its ideas reveal the game Kholat wanted to be, but its aspirations soar far higher than the game it became. What good is a mystery if you don’t care about what it might tell you?”

Steam has been giving away free games through its service for some time, but it recently got more competition with the advent of the Epic Games store. Epic’s challenger to Steam’s PC store dominance is offering its own free games–currently the Jackbox Party Pack–as well as striking exclusive distribution deals for games like Metro Exodus and The Division 2. This has started to garner a response from Valve regarding the aggressive moves. The Ubisoft store is also offering a free game right now, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China.

Ubisoft is offering another new free game, for a limited time. This time it’s the 2D stealth-action game Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, one of the very few Assassin’s Creed games that doesn’t take place in Europe or the Americas. Make sure to claim your free copy through the Ubisoft Store anytime by February 5.

This was one of a trilogy of Chronicles games, which each featured a new setting and Assassin. China features the female assassin Shao Jun, who trained under the series’ biggest star, Ezio Auditore da Firenze. She returns to her homeland to take out a group of Templars called the Eight Tigers. Subsequent Chronicles games would be set in India during the Sikh Empire and Russia just after the October Revolution.

Ubisoft has made a regular practice of giving away free games through its PC storefront, and this comes just as Epic Games has started to do the same for its own burgeoning store. Steam and Epic have been starting to battle it out publicly lately. Ubisoft’s own store is competing with them to an extent, but as a publisher it’s also able to partner with either store. The Division 2 is eschewing Steam for the Ubisoft Store, for example.

“Chronicles’ passive pacing is a shame, because the pieces, combat notwithstanding, are mostly strong,” critic Kevin VanOrd wrote in GameSpot’s review. “Furthermore, the exquisite environments craft a setting that makes me eager to see the two upcoming sequels–Chronicles: India, and Chronicles: Russia–in action. If they follow in Chronicles: China’s footsteps, they will be beautiful to behold. I hope, however, that unlike the first entry, they take the leap of faith required to make them play as boldly as they look.”

Most of the Destiny 2 community spent this week chasing The Last Word, the latest Exotic weapon added to the game. Getting the legendary hand cannon from the first Destiny is quite an undertaking, though, thanks to a tough, lengthy quest called The Draw. Luckily, it’s the weekend, and that means Xur is back with Exotics you can buy instead of earn.

As always, Xur is selling a random Exotic gun, plus one piece of Exotic armor for each character class. They’re all from the Year One collection, which means they come from before the big Forsaken expansion. You’ll find Xur this week on Earth in the EDZ, in the Winding Cove area. From the spawn point, head north and climb the cliff until you reach a crashed Fallen ship to find Xur waiting.

Xur brings The Huckleberry this time, an SMG that can deal some serious damage in a short amount of time. Holding down the trigger on the gun increases its rate of fire as well as recoil, meaning that at close range it’s almost universally deadly. Racking up kills also refills part of the gun’s magazine so you can fire even more.

In the armor department, Titans can snag An Insurmountable Skullfort, a helmet that kicks on your health regeneration and restores melee energy for every Arc melee kill you manage, making it great for Titans who love to punch things. Hunters get the Stomp-EE5 boots, which greatly increase jumping height and run speed–perfect for those tough platforming sections in spots like The Whisper quest. Finally, for Warlocks, there’s the Claws of Ahamkara gauntlets, which offer you a second melee charge when equipped. Keep in mind that while Exotic weapons have set perks, Exotic armor gets random perk rolls, so even if you already have all the armor pieces that Xur is carrying, his rolls might be better.

Here are all the Exotics Xur offers this week and what they’ll cost you:

• The Huckleberry (Exotic SMG) — 29 Legendary Shards
• An Insurmountable Skullfort (Exotic Titan gauntlets) — 23 Legendary Shards
• Stomp-EE5 (Exotic Hunter leg armor) — 23 Legendary Shards
• Claws of Ahamkara (Exotic Warlock leg armor) — 23 Legendary Shards

Xur also packs a couple of other handy items. One is a Fated Engram, an expensive pathway to a new Exotic. Dropping 97 Legendary Shards on the item will grant you one Year One Exotic you don’t already have for that character. You can also snag a Five of Swords challenge card for free, which allows you to add difficulty modifiers that increase your score in Nightfall runs.

If you’re still working on taking home The Last Word, check out our guide to completing The Draw. The story tied to the gun is one of the best in Destiny lore, so you might want to get caught up with our story rundown about it as well. Destiny 2 players also have Crimson Days, the game’s Valentine’s Day event, to look forward to, which starts on February 13. After that, there’s the Season of the Drifter, which starts in March–and which will bring back another Destiny 1 fan-favorite Exotic weapon, Thorn.