The Average Victor Attempt Kikaromi 2024-10-11 | We're at Attempt #38 in counting. I am in pain and this is a cry for help. lol
Hell Fryer + Terror Stun Glitch Too OP Plz Nerf...? Kikaromi 2026-09-18 | In betraying Jude and the others, Alvin lost a few braincells when he got the Terror Stun glitch twice, but proceeded to waste both of them. I honestly couldn't tell if this was hardcoded behavior or dumb luck until watching it back. lol Dont worry, the actual Alvin win is FINALLY recorded. But this funny moment from one of the other runs needed to be immortalized.BGM: youtube.com/watch?v=l230ApG5sK4
Tales of Xillia: Your Pain AMuzets Me [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2026-08-14 | 00:00 Blahblahblah--00:47 Just get to the part where I dieAnd so we've come to the final boss!... of our Milla Side excursion. The only other unique fight from here is Crossroads Muzet which to me would just be a repeat of what's here but 100% less tedious given I have a way to heal/status cleanse with Jude. So unless I try it and it's a little interesting, assume our Milla Side journey ends here. AND WHAT A PAIN IN THE ASS IT WAS. Believe me when I say I tried to make this shorter. Alas, an effort that was never rewarded. So thus I return. wwwSpirit World Muzet was never a question of IF I need to bend the knee, but HOW MUCH do I bend the knee. I thought for sure this was the fight where I'd have to finally break the item clause, and... I actually didn't have to. But what I did trade in items I instead had to herb, although not TOO ridiculously...I hope. First, Milla NEEDS max HP. With the Holy Symbol 3% regen as our only means of healing sans Element Absorbtion, unless we have max HP, it absolutely cannot not keep up. Max TP is mainly so I don't have to equip the Spirit Symbol and stall; it's doable without it, but we'd be here for 30m. No thanks. Second, INT/ST are boosted to 1k with all other stats to ~800. This puts Milla's stats at (excluding food but with her best equipment):2690 P. ATK / 2614 P. DEF2467 A. ATK / 2319 A. DEFThis puts us at the stats of a post-game Milla. Does this make the fight easy now? Nah. It just means we MIGHT win. Emphasis on might.The biggest issues are thus: Muzet hurts & Permanent Statuses Suck. Sharpened Whip absolutely shreds through us even with our post game-tier stats. And it for some unholy reason can inflict both Poison AND TP Poison. Which reminder, Poison in Xillia 1 is PERMANENT. So if it goes through? It's over. But that's not all. Force Mine has Skill Seal, which is also Permanent. I cannot begin to tell you how much easier this would be if we just had Jude. And considering what Alvin's solo fight put me through? If I'm WISHING for a Jude solo, it's dire LOL.Alas, I can't say there's much to the strategy besides "pray lots", disable Splash and Thunder Blade [as Milla attempts to cast these a lot and casting = free Muzet whallops], and switch equipment to absorb Force Mine and Elemental Hymn so I can heal outside the Holy Symbol and NOT getting buttfucked by statuses. I guess to supplement, a little Milla AI trivia: Milla's AI pretty much has to be strongarmed into using the Great Spirits. If you want them to come out more than "on a whim, maybe", your best bet is to leave Milla with only Flare Bomb/Wind Blade/Radiant Rondo/Lighting for Spirit Shift artes and Cloud Pierce/Overdrive/Binding Sphere/Death Knell so her AI's go-to combos aren't completely neutered. I didn't really use that combo until AFTER I won thinking it'd help make this run shorter, but... no. lol Lastly, try count? 35. Wholly because after dying 40 seconds into my first run, I went, "Yeah we need herbs or we're either taking an hour and/or dropping the Item Clause". Alas, unlike Victor who's fun torture, this fight is pure torture, so I was fine doing what I need to escape it. But hey, it's over! Now back to Jude!... who I delayed cause my hopium of a shorter run compels me. But eh gimme another 2 weeks, I'll fold.BGM: Bach - "Little" Fugue in G Minor -- Catherine: Full BodyHandel - Messiah "Halleujah Chorus" -- Catherine: Full BodyChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor] 3. Items are forbidden 4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: One Shot, Many Heals [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2026-07-16 | Party Level: 41 00:00 Alright, Reload!00:29 --And one of us will fall over!We're finally here. The boss I predicted was gonna be the most painful meat grinder of them all. And... it honestly went much better than I was expecting? Heck, this is actually the Milla Side's run which won first go despite dropping Grounded Stance on Jude (Jude's side needs it for Alvin since no menu access after beating Gilland). But don't get it twisted-- this fight has got some nonsense. First bit, Gilland heals. Heal Shot is pretty much impossible to stop unless Gilland's already getting pummeled just as he attempts to use it. And it'll target whoever has the lower percent HP at the time, so it's never "wasted". Also I THINK he can also heal from linking with Celsius at low HP if the random 25k HP he gets wasn't some hidden skill I'm not privy to. Regardless, I hate it. lolSecond, HOLY DAMAGE BATMAN. Banishing Ray is near guaranteed death (sometimes the AI lucks out and avoids the second hit) and its Linked Arte version Perfect Exile IS just death. Milla's side was spared many fires of it, but Jude's Side? Usually two or sometimes all three meleers down every time. Thank God we have Revive now because if not... yeah we'd still be here most likely. Anyway, what's the strategy here? It's no surprise Alvin is very, very good here for his high HP and decent armor set that allows Celsius to act as an emergency heal battery for all the damage Gilland pumps out. Jude and Milla at this point are a package deal where if one comes, the other should be there so they can link with each other and make damage happen. And Elize does Elize things, though I will say a downgrade is in X1 AI Elize does NOT check if all 4 memmbers have Revive active to attempt to recast it. So I have to manually turn it off lest she burn her TP bar reapplying it over and over again. X2 fixes this, but alas I can't import fixes from X2. IF ONLY...From there, your best bet is to hope Reduce Numbers does its thing and kills Gilland off ASAP so he stops being a healing bastard. Once he's down, Celsius is a glorified victory lap where Leia FINALLY gets her chance to escape the bench and smack some heads around. Rowen... you'll get your time on Jude's route since Milla and Alvin ditch us for a few bosses. Meanwhile, Milla's route is about to reach its climax of pain and misery. It's gonna be gud, except for me. I just suffer. BGM:For All Forms of Salvation -- Tales of Asteria Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor] 3. Items are forbidden 4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Spirit World Muzét Has Poison on Sharpened Whip? Kikaromi 2026-06-30 | Yes, yes she does. It even has Psychic Drain/TP Poison too! whymusthesesolofightssuckSOMUCHIHATEITTTTTT
Tales of Xillia: Soldiers & Spyrix in the Sky, Oh My! [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2026-06-22 | 00:00 Pre-Fight 100:18 Fight 1 (Some Soldiers)00:50 Best Boy Enters To Cutscene On Us02:53 Fight 2 (More Soldiers)03:24 Alas, Best Boy Activates...04:31 Fight 3 (Spyrix Robots)Party Level: 39-40And we're back to Jude time, hooray~! Which given this run likes to acknowledge the forced mook fights, we're doing it again for what is probably the final time (unless my memory's that bad) with the Airship battles! Alas, with this, Jude's Muzet arte has came and went which is unfortunate. Hope the two fights was worth it, Muzet. I'll miss you babe.Which given there's not TOO much to say here, I'll instead gush about how we're FINALLY deep into Lillium Orb 2 where we get the fun artes for the casters! Milla gets the biggest glowup with Sunburst and Cyclone now up for grabs, and Rowen gets the Funny Rolling Rock Move. Everyone else, I mostly used these levels to double back to skills I skipped over so I could get the artes I needed faster. Shoutout to Dark Guard which pretty much every final level's required skill avoids being near. It's an investment, but one I can now safely take and NOT fuck myself over as we close in on the final 8 (7 if you're Milla) bosses left in our way. With just one more gun-wielding bastard and his lady friend left between us and the final act, I'll sigh with relief as we slowly inch our way to the victory lap. It'll be grand. And hope to see you there, good lads! ;U BGM:Arena -- Warriors Orochi 2: UltimateAfter Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor] 3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: A True Cat in Heat [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2026-05-18 | "Fire Teagle is much easier", they said.... "Ice Dragons are way more tedious", they said... Well as is usual for me, in my runs, conventional wisdom is always proven wrong and the much less pleasant fight is on Milla's side. And boy is there a number of reasons why.First, it's back: the endless Call Out spam. Reserved for Agria without Iron Stance in Jude's side, Milla gets another taste of my favorite arte ever (besides Lemon Gel/Heavy Treat) and as is usual, the Djinns are of course considered "stronger" than the boss. They really needed to either make the adds lower level or just make a "Focus on Big Boss" Strategy, I swear. And naturally the wolf adds Teagle summons like to hound Rowen so trying to bunch them up is a task and a half. Whoever decided Call Out should have Iron Stance, I'm gonna slap you with a raw fish.Second problem, Burn. Me no like Burn. Burn hurts. At first I wanted to be fair and not have complete fire absorb on everybody, but I eventually gave up given kinda like Agria, immunity is partially just to speed this shit up. And even with it, we still took longer than the "harder" boss where I DID cast off total immunity. I'd say I was surprised but I'd be a liar. wwwUnlike Jude's side which didn't need element absorption to win, absorbing Fire is actually necessary on Rowen for him not to end up in a death loop. Teagle REALLY likes to target him, and as we all know, Rowen is not built for taking hits. The girls can get away with it, but burn is NOT fun and of course both status cleanse arte users are in another castle. BUUUUT with this boss out of the way, Milla's side is almost finished for the run. Alas, the boss that remains... Suffice to say, I think some liberties are gonna be taken. What they are... well, we have Jude's side to get through first. Which boy howdy is it gonna be a WILD ride. Least it'll give me some yummy levels, though!BGM:Scorched Journey -- Armed Blue Gunvolt: Admiration to PeaceAfter Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria 1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor] 3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: The Shivering Stabby Serpents [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2026-04-15 | Party Level: 38-39Hello again, from the depths of hell, the Auto Run emerges from what seemed to be an unmarked grave! Consider this hiatus officially over, although we might have another one depending on how a certain 1v1 keeping treating me. BUUUUT for now, we come back to the Jude-route only boss I was told would be eh and... it wasn't at all! Why? Oboi there's reasons.First, our selection of characters actually all have a set that just straight up lets us absorb Water entirely. Yeah. That easy. Alas, my integrity didn't let me choose that option, but even then, our decent Anti-Water sets make the damage not hilariously out of control.Second, by this point, Elize has gained Revive. Alas X1 Elize's AI does not check if all party members have Revive and will attempt to reapply it until she burns out of TP unless I disable it, something that was fixed in X2. But with this tool? Resurrection spam and pray is a thing of the past, and it couldn't have chosen a better time! Third, the dragons, in their all encompassing kindness, do NOT sport Call Out as Teagle does. And that right there fixes half the problems this run has. So... what was bad about this boss? Well honestly? Not much besides the dragons having real bones to pick with Elize. But with Revive and decent Anti-Water equipment, that is an issue that's not much of a problem. It feels nice to have a first go boss after the pain and suffrage I've been through. Of course what awaits us quite literally one boss later (or zero boss later if you got Teagle in the Dragon's place) will dampen that, but it was nice while it lasted!BGM:A Transient Battle -- Tales of LinkFreezing Point -- Cool Boarders 2: Killing SeasonAfter Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. -No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]- Broken because w/o GS we're fucked lol3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
This Isnt SO3s Fayt & Cliff Pre-Boss Conversation. No, Really. Kikaromi 2026-04-01 | The only joke here was on myself for deciding to go for what's probably the most strict ending of this goddamn game if you want do the Ancient Book side quest. I did it for you, best boy Cliff. I did it for you....Actual Auto Run will return soon, I promise.
Tales of Xillia: One Royal Pain in the Arst [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2026-02-02 | Party Level: 34-35I'll be honest, I didn't think we'd be able to beat Gaius 1. And for a while... we sure couldn't. lol We'd last a few minutes tops and shave only 10k of Gaius' honking 160k HP. So as is with most walls, there's one solution: HERB ST AND INT TIME BBBBYYY. Also Grounded Stance, but I'll get to that. Milla, Jude, and Alvin all got +120 St/Int via herbs to push our damage juuust a little higher and make this faster. Which luckily for me that unlocked the timeline where I won the very next attempt! Still took forever, though.Now onto Gaius. In short, he's a gore machine. People can, and will, drop like files, particularly if he starts spamming Swallow Fury. Swallow Fury spam is the touch of death and easily picks up a second or third KO due to it warping Gaius to the next living target from anywhere. I cannot begin to tell you how many times Elize died to a Swallow Fury warp kill. This is where Grounded Stance comes in. Likely sensing he can't launch Jude with it, Gaius spams Swallow Fury much less if GS Jude is alive. He'll still go for it occasionally, but I'll take rarely over every 30s or so. Persian Boots are the go-to accessory for the day for the +200-ish Defense. The slightly better bulk makes just enough of a difference that everything clicked into place. But once it's OVL time, the Elementals/Diamonds come back to make Absolute Domination/Blade of Heaven free healing time as long as he doesn't signal out Elize. I kinda wish he'd go for it more often BECAUSE it's free heals, but that'd be too convenient. :C That said, with all these factors in play, this fight still requires our lord Falling Snow's grace to go right as it can pretty much fall apart at any moment. Heck, even this run there were times I thought it was over. But perhaps because Papa Falling Snow felt bad for me that day, we squeaked out the victors. Or maybe it felt nice because I put everyone in white. Probably the latter-- esoteric costume choices ARE usually how I win these high walls. lol But with Gaius beat, I'd say lads... I'm beginning to think we're on the path of beating this entire run. And it feels great!BGM: Despair Manifested -- The Hundred Line: Last Defense AcademyBeyond Countless Battles -- Tales of AsteriaChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. -No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]- Broken because w/o GS we're boned lol3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: Despair Is Me In This 4v3 [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2026-01-30 | Party Level: 31-33 Welcome to what I'm gonna pray is the longest fight of this entire run period. Because if I find longer besides Gaius & Muzet... mourn my sanity, because that means my victory was after many, MANY failures I decided hunting for shorter isn't even worth it. Which is exactly the case with this fight!Now from that into, you can probably guess this fight is horrid. And it is. It can go from "We got this" to "That's a wipe" in seconds with no salvaging besides hoping Elize/Leia can sneak in a Resurrection and live. Thus, to get anywhere, we must once again turn to our 7th and best party member: Element Absorption. Alvin yet again marks himself as Best Equipment Man thanks to his allowing us to absorb Earth and Water simultaneously with Fire as a switch as needed. Granted Jiao much favors his non-elemental artes (foreshadowing is a literary device), but we definitely see enough MAs that it's useful. Jude and Milla join him for Jude's Maxwell armor absorbing Wind and Fire and Milla absorbing Water and also Earth if she's linked to the boys. Elize returns doing Elize things, Leia's our meat wagon lady, and Rowen... it's bench time again, my man. Now for strategy. Besides praying, when the OVL spam begins, it's time for AGGRESSIVE EQUIPMENT SWAPPING. Since there's (likely intentionally) no set that absorbs Earth, Fire, AND Water, depending on who's looking they'll get MA'd, we switch around equipment to absorb what would otherwise be a KO. Sounds simple, but believe me, when that Arcane Artes come flying you gotta make a judgment call who's getting hit with what and hope you're right. Which luckily this run I usually was. So. What did we learn today? I learned that Absorption Gud, Non-Elemental Artes Evil, +2 AC Grade Shop is Even Unknown-er Mode, and this run is coming dangerously close to having a fight legitimately last a half hour. Who will it be? At this point, I'm just waiting to be surprised when it's the most wack ass choice lol. Strap in folks, this ride gets crazier. BGM:Decisive Factor -- BlackYAshita wo Yurushite (Off Vocal) -- Ar ~Forgotten Summer~Starlit Doze (Instrumental) -- BlackYKaguya -- BlackYDelrio -- MiddleislandOVERFLOW SKIES -- シイナフユキChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
The Gaius 1 Experience Kikaromi 2026-01-23 | This program is brought you to by Why Did I Skip HP Surge?, the bestselling novel by the famous suffering author Kikaromi Shiro. Yes I was broken enough to enable Grounded Stance. It's a long story. You'll hear it eventually lol
Tales of Xillia: Fezebel Marsh Hordes [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2026-01-16 | Party Level: 28-31I know the war pre-battles aren't a boss, but these series of fights have unique dialogue AND a win screen reserved for the very end so SCREW IT, we're featuring it!Luckily unlike the LAST time we've had to fight regular human enemies, these ones are WAAAAAY less prone to gel spam so we're already above one big hurdle that plagues this goddamn run. We'd probably steamroll every single of these waves if we kept Rowen & Elize in for Negative Gate + Shimmering Toll trapping, but where's the sport in that? I tried to rotate at least one person per wave to spice things up, so nobody was benched for too long. Although looking back I forgot to disable Alvin's linking when I brought Jude back on the field... WELP it didn't bite me so we're good! From this series of fights, we've since hit 33-34 (or only 31 if you're Alvin, RIP those 2 levels from Nachtigal). Will it be enough for the Chimeriad? ....WELLL.... I'll get back to you on that once we've actually won. Suffice to say, bosses from this point on are all human enemies from this point on are gonna take some time. But believe me my will shall hold out as it always does. Not even 32 hours of getting clowend on by an edgelord in a black mask could break me. Getting Lemon Geled for 10 hours didn't break me either. What's an Auto Run without a little bit of wishing for my demise right? www BGM:猫侍の逆襲 -- 猫叉MasterAfter Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria
Tales of Xillia: Naught Escapes the Demons Lance [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2026-01-01 | Party Level: 28-29 Happy New Year, lads! And what do we do in this house to welcome the new year? TOPPLE THE GOVERNMENT, MAN! And hey, this kingly bastard dares to step in my way? He's gotta go!Nachtigal is... a problem. Demon's Lance, despite being Dark in every single other Tales game, is somehow non-elemental here. Same goes for his Arcane Arte Tyrant's Spear. It's dumb and makes every OVL a nightmare because DL is death unless the gods smile upon me. Oh well, least Dark Absorb on Alvin means we're relatively safe, right? NOPE.The second big issue is Destruction. Ho boy Destruction. You won't convince me that thing's crit chance isn't boosted because good God did it love to crit me so much. And naturally it crits, we die. And it's non-elemental soooo... not much I can do about it really. I wish he'd just use his Dark Artes more, I could work with that. ; w;So what's the plan here? We pretty much need heal battery Elize on-duty for this man because he will 100 to 0 our party in 1-2 artes depending on crits. Leia's on reserve if the meat wagon cannot keep up, and Rowen... sorry man, you're warming my bench. Alvin yet again weasels his way into the fray as his strongest armor just so happens to grant Dark Absorb if both the helmet and armor are equipped. He also is our dedicated OVL sacrifice since if Nachtigal spell casts, Alvin eats good that night. If Tyrant's Spear doesn't crit, Alvin dies for our sins, protecting his friends from the disgusting AoE. Thanks Alvin, I'll up your paycheck I promise.Jude and Milla join Alvin up front with Milla linking with the boys as she sees fit. If she links with Elize, I force it off since it's just useless. But she seems to mostly like her lads. Who am I to judge? www All I'll say is despite the ending and how long this fight went? Yeah I'm not going back. It was a struggle to get here and a win's a win, regardless of how messy it ended up. My failed runs were almost this long, so I'm pretty sure I'd shave maybe a minute or two tops if I kept trying. So I'm good lolHappy New Years yet again! BGM:Battle B6 -- Shin Megami Tensei IVAfter Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Maihadare 4: The Final-ling Snow Cut Kikaromi 2025-12-24 | Ah Christmas. A warm time for all. But though I enjoy that part, I also enjoy paying homage to my one true God: ███╗░░░███╗████╗░████║██╔████╔██║██║╚██╔╝██║██║░╚═╝░██║╚═╝░░░░░╚═╝░█████╗░██╔══██╗███████║██╔══██║██║░░██║╚═╝░░╚═╝██╗██║██║██║██║╚═╝██╗░░██╗██║░░██║███████║██╔══██║██║░░██║╚═╝░░╚═╝░█████╗░██╔══██╗███████║██╔══██║██║░░██║╚═╝░░╚═╝██████╗░██╔══██╗██║░░██║██║░░██║██████╔╝╚═════╝░░█████╗░██╔══██╗███████║██╔══██║██║░░██║╚═╝░░╚═╝██████╗░██╔══██╗██████╔╝██╔══██╗██║░░██║╚═╝░░╚═╝███████╗██╔════╝█████╗░░██╔══╝░░███████╗
Tales of Xillia: The True Travis-ty [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-12-21 | Party Level: 24-25I have returned once again from the pits of trails and many, many errors! I emerge one year older, wiser, and more ready to take SOME PAIN!So Agria. You'd think she'd be easy given without using Red Capes (which I considered cheap) I can make 3/6 of the team immortal and the others pretty close. But NO. NO SHE WASN'T. This was Victor 2.0, except even MORE torturous because least Victor kills me so I can reload with dignity. Agria, we can literally have just my 3 immortals alive, yet 30 minutes in we're not even below 80%. At that point? I gotta bite my pride and wimp out to the title screen. And from this statement, you can guess right away the problem: Agria's "Lemon Gels". They heal 20% her HP, can't be interrupted unless we break Iron Stance at that moment, and she will happily use them whenever she gets bored, but ESPECIALLY if she's not kept busy. Which given our Strength stat? She uses it, it's going through unless we get stupidly lucky. It's trash. But oh, the fun still continues-- Agria can summon Djnns. And these Djnns are HIGHER LEVELS THAN HER. So using Strong Enemies on the Strategy menu to target her? Won't work~! The only strategy that 100% works is... Focus Attacks. Which requires me to take the reins for a bit. Yeah. Sucks. We never hit triple digits like SOME bosses *coughvictorcough*, but I still sunk at LEAST 8 long, painful hours of me failing to beat her because this woman decided to healspam on me. With damage, oh this would've EASILY been half an hour at least. Maybe an hour. I sure don't want to try and find out. lol Anyway, so to the strategy. Our three immortals are thus: Milla, Jude, and Alvin. Alvin's our best since he doesn't need an accessory slot to achieve this-- his Fire Resist armor is all we need. Jude can sport an Elemental and hit the target while Milla 100% needs a Garnet. The others... eh, they have to make due with getting as close as possible. Alas this fact means TP IS a balancing act I'll eventually have to get the good ol' Spirit Symbols to fix, and not even a few TP herbs to get the main forces to ~200-300 helped me avoid running around. How do y'all burn through TP THIS QUICK--But what do we do about targeting? Well remember, Focus Attacks works. And I gotta check HP once in a while, soooo fourth slot gets the honor of being me very briefly as I check HP and wait a bit until Jude and Milla target Agria. Not the most graceful way, but it is quite literally THE ONLY GUARANTEED WAY. Elize is our main 4th slot-er once the initial minions bite it since Negative Gate's decent at chipping Agria's IS and pulling everything together is a godsend. Leia's on "Awfuck Elize is down" duty and Rowen is our initial adds clearer. And with this, I will say: the Xmas present from me will cometh, I swear. Hopefully. I do have it planned out, we'll see if we make the deadline. But if not, enjoy your holidays! C: Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight. BGM:Feudal Organization Bazalta -- Last RankerTravesty -- No More Heroes 2: Desperate StruggleAfter Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria
Tales of Xillia: The Big, Mean, Green Flying Machine [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-11-28 | 00:00 Not-Sierrabronc Cometh to Say Hello00:23 And Thus We Must Murder ItParty Level: 22-24 To think that Xillia got a Remaster... still blows my mind this is a real thing that happened. Ahwell, we shall continue on with the original, no matter how long it takes! Which might be a while because the walls, the walls are calling. Guess we'll see how much my will breaks like it half-did with Victor. Now Ruler of the Skies. He didn't take TOO many tries, but I was kinda expecting a one-and-done affair and... nah. lol Heck, the first try lasted me about 2 minutes before we got wiped. Which the resistance has solidified my feelings on switching: yes, I'm gonna allow it (with one exception unless my will breaks). Because otherwise I'd most likely have the same exact party the entire rest of the run and that's no fun for you or me. Besides, it's a fun mechanic X2 doesn't have so why not use it?Jude is really, REALLY good for this fight for one reason: his final armor sets. With it, an Elemental, and Wind Guard, Jude gets JUUUUST enough Wind Resist to absorb it without having to downgrade to worse equipment. And boy do we need that because Pterobronc's counter is very plentiful and very annoying. With the absorb active, Jude serves as very good melee stalling to allow my casters to do their thing without getting spun around to death constantly. But believe me, Pterobronc can and will eventually reach the back line and dish out some pain. Good thing Leia's ready and waiting for her chance to come in if things go pear-shaped. ;U The rest of the party, I start with our three casters until it starts getting a bit to chaotic and people begin to drop. Then, I bring Leia to relieve some of the issues. I could've switched Rowen back once she was finished, but eh, Leia's in the victory screen anyway. Might as well make her feel like she contributed to our ultimate victory, no? Poor Alvin is benched yet again since he doesn't have much melee to offer that Jude can't already do, but without the risk of counters interrupting him every 5 seconds. Not to worry though, the next wall we're about to hit grants him a niche that we'll need because HOOO BABY it's a doosey. Still haven't beaten it as of this moment actually. Haaaaaaaa pain is my life.Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight. BGM:OPTIC LINE -- Warriors OrochiXENO-Factor -- Exist Archive -The other Side of the Sky- After Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria
Beastd Kikaromi 2025-11-05 | If you're wondering why I abandoned the Gaisley/Leia duo for Stahn, imagine this but sometimes it lasts up to 9 minutes. LOL
Tales of Xillia 2: Tag Arena Rutee, Mint, & Stahn [Auto Only] Kikaromi 2025-11-05 | 00:00 Rutee 05:26 Mint13:10 StahnI have finally escaped from the Stahn-shaped hell I created! Could I have just reused Elize and saved myself a lot of trouble? Yes, but I'M NOT A WIMP. That said, he did break me to the point I actually had to redo all three pairs because I changed his partner and remembered that I COULD probably make Mint's run faster. But anyway, let's talk about our three opponents and the pairs I sent against them!Rutee: Rutee is the easiest of the bunch by a country mile. She's not a complete wimp, but she also doesn't have any near OHKO artes that the boys do or the capacity to heal like Mint. Still, I can't be TOO complacent and go without some means to revive should something go horribly wrong. Initially I had the Spirit Sisters beat this money grubber, but Muzet got called to arms for another pair. So Leia the Sleya joins Milla in throwing all caution to the wind and just going for it! Which for the fact Leia didn't fish for more Swallow Flights like I hoped, this went pretty smoothly. Undine heal, your Iron Stance is nice when it's actually helping me. o wobMint: Mint is, to put it frankly, a game of luck. Reason being at ANY time, she can OVL and decide to spam Nurse and/or First Aid, and there's absolutely nothing we can do to stop her. Nurse is the better of the two because unlike Elize's, it only heals about 10% HP. Meanwhile First Aid still does the usual 30% HP. Couple this with her horses that do absolutely disgusting damage even with 9999 P. Defense AND Mint's Angel's Cry which can revive Mint with 300k MORE HP, and we're in for ffffffuuunnnnnn.Elize is the obvious choice to spawn Mint because Revive, and her partner is the equally obvious Ludger whose skill loadout allow us to avoid getting roflstomped in the corner by the Unicorns. Luckily for me Cancel Spirit Artes here does seem to reliably force Ludger to target Mint and Mint only which we need to keep the First Aid Spam at bay. Elize meanwhile is on horse cleanup duty with both wielding Earth weapons to fish for Petrify. Because Mint can't OVL and Unicorns can't murder me if they're Petrified ;U That plan worked... kinda. I forgot Elize's AI has a weird habit of spamming Teepo Coptor into itself until she runs outta AC unless she has access to an offensive spirit arte to chain into (or use Shock Sphere if you don't have Aerial Spell yet). But since it was working out, I didn't bother to correct it. With no First Aids in sight, this wasn't the WORST time I've had with Mint.Stahn: Don't mind the kinda abrupt start, all you missed was Stahn running forward as OBS lagged to hit record. lol Now you'd think with how much I whinge about Mint, she gave me the most trouble. And... nope, that goes to Stahn, AKA Beast OHKO Man. This arte does anywhere from 2k to 9. FREAKING. THOUSAND per hit, and this is with 9k+ P. Defense! Imagine if I didn't herb our defense, man. Stahn's other artes hit plenty hard too, and this man packs the highest HP of the cameos with a hefty 900k of PAIN. The ONLY consolation here is with no Cress to back him up, we're not getting MA'd to death every OVL. Not that Stahn has problems killing without it.Gaisley and/or Ludger are pretty much mandatory for this as without Grounded Stance, we're getting comboed to death on-sight. I initially had Leia as Gaisley's partner, but Leia's lack of Grace means she has no chance to revive Gaisley if he goes down. Muzet meanwhile DOES have Grace and has Fortune/Last Stand to hopefully tank a Stahn onslaught. Is it perfect? No-- we've lost with this pair about 4 times. But that's small potatoes to the many, many losses Leia and Gaisley suffered. IIRC it was about 20ish failures, but each failure is a long, LONG commitment since I can't skip the prelim fights. And occasionally I would lose to the party member + Wingul combo. But with this, this run is finally pretty much complete. I still have two things left to do before I mark her done, yet I'd say we've accomplished our mission: proving the AI can indeed beat the game if you have the right equipment and keep watch like a little league coach. BGM & Transition Clip:Theme of Phantom R -- Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure Farde Mal Diavolo -Come, Foul Daemon E- -- UNICORN OVERLORDKOTODAMA RUNNER -Yamatai- -- Warriors Orochi 2Victory! -- Battle CatsChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. -No broken skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]- Broken because kid gloves need to be off.3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: The Minx & her Booster Seat [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-10-15 | 00:00 Wingul Haxxor Powas Activate!00:39 Time to duke it out!Party Level: 20-21Good thing I never made this officially a No Link Run because these two finally broke me enough that I decided the upsides are worth the downsides and RNG. Was I right? Eh well this didn't take more than 40 attempts! But if you're wondering how long those attempts went, WELL let's just say this wasn't the longest despite being the only win. But it also wasn't the shortest either. Still, BOOOY I hope the next few bosses don't take nearly as long. But considering one of those has Items as an "arte", yeahhh....Anyway, so Links: how are we using them? In short, we're limiting them to Milla and/or Alvin if Jude's benched. Why? A few reasons. First, I want to make sure at least one Res user isn't a Link Partner. Because believe me, with no meat to protect them from doing their thing, our odds of getting steam back at that point are next to zilch. Second, I'm curious what'll come out of the Final Boss queue if I don't let anyone link with Jude besides Milla who's always there. I have an educated guess, but eh I could be wrong. And third, Milla heavily favors bring a Link Partner which makes her the safest option for not disrupting my strategy if I'm enabling Links in the first place. So why'd I'd break my No Links policy? Two words: Stun spam. Hooo my god do these two love raining Stuns down like it's candy. I'm pretty sure this is intentional so players want to use links for the Stun Recovery ability. Protect is good too, although it's liable to get Milla and her partner in a nasty Guardian Field once in a while. Always pray Milla chooses Leia or Jude though since linking with Elize is a waste of time with her finally having the tools to be our heal battery (and only that unless you wanna count Negative Gate spam lol).Wtih the spiel outta the way, what's the plan? Put short, Kill Presa. Presa has two ways to kill us instantly: Blue Sphere and Queen's Torment. Blue Sphere is mainly a symptom of our low levels meaning our A.DEF is trash so Milla and Elize are the only two who have some semblance to not die upon impact. Leia and Jude, no shot unless I herb. Queen's Torment by itself doesn't instantly kill, HOWEVER Presa's AI DOES know that this arte has the ability to stunlock someone if they're unfortunate enough to fall down and will attempt this is given the chance. I've watched a full HP Presian Boot Jude go from full to 0 just from Queen's Torment spam. It's hogwash. Once she's down, Wingul CAN still put up a good fight by himself, but we're much less liable to wipe us than Presa whose Confusion can make things go from perfect to hell if the space gods deem me unworthy. Wish I could just use Khrona Symbols but man we burn through TP so quick even with -50% Arte Cost on. OHWELL, maybe I'll break and just up that in specifics to save myself a bit of suffering. Who's to say. With this freedom, I'd say we're due to return to Big Daddy for a lil' Arena Action, don't you? The pairs are set, it's just a matter of beating them! Or more specifically one fireball-wielding problem...BGM:We Are Finally Cowboys -- No More HeroesAfter Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: Cower and Flee at the Spyrix Three! [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-10-02 | Figures the minute Elize gets Resurrection, she ditches us at the first boss fight I could use it. Least Alvin ditched too so I don't have to debate if switches are broken or not, amiright?Anyway, these three are a prelude to what'll surely be my nemesis right alongside Call Out: "Items". Also know as "Lemme just pull a quick heal right outta my ass", we're gonna be seeing this a lot in the future since like Call Out, unless you're already breathing down the boss' neck, it's gonna go through. And they're gonna heal for way more than these chumps' versions. X1, I love you, but some of your choices make me foam like a cat with rabies. lolReduce Numbers on everyone to eliminate these pests one by one is pretty much our only hope of this not lasting 15 minutes. I know this since the first run I did lasted 15 minutes precisely because I didn't set Reduce Numbers until halfway through. Didn't help either by that point Reduce Numbers was messed up since in X1 Reduce Numbers bases its targets on the current HP total where X2 goes by percentage. Which I prefer depends on what boss we're talking about, but that's a Kika rant to be buried out back. With these pests buried, I'll give a bit of a spoiler: it's good this wasn't advertised No Link run because the next duo? X1 finally browbeat me into needing the benefits from Linking despite the downsides specifically for AI runs like this. I held out for a while though, so least I can take that to my masochism grave! Low Level's torturing me plenty as is so it's all good lolBGM: Defense Order: Movement to Contact -- Granblue Fantasy Beyond Countless Battles -- Tales of AsteriaChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: Arena Prelims [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-09-25 | 00:00 Gotta Psych Up!00:48 Round 102:31 Round 204:31 Round 3Party Level: 17-19I may be late, but I'm not out for the count, captain! At first I considered not including the Prelims, but eh, Round 3 ended up long enough that I figured "Why not, kinda shows what nonsense awaits when you're underleveled for everything". Since fun fact, we're actually low enough level that Holy Bottles just don't work. Auto X2 took until about Odin for that to happen. Now we're not even 1/3rd in and we're getting chased. The low level's working TOO good LOL. Anyway, the mobs here aren't too bad bar the last round. And that one's mainly bad because Call Out spam possibly dragging things on longer than necessary. Buuuut luckily for me Xillia 1's switch feature lets me go all melee fighters and that solved the problem better than hoping the spam doesn't happen mid-cast.With that outta the way, the next boss, again we say goodbye to using the party switch mechanic because our two sub slots nope the hell out for plot reasons. Still debating if I ban the use of it or instill rules to balance it if it is kinda broken, but eh at worst I'll on-and-off it as needed. BGM: Claim Victory With Your Own Hands -- Tales of AsteriaAfter Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the -three- two bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: Classy Cruiser For a Bruiser [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-09-14 | 00:00 A letter from nowhere...00:25 But first, this beast!As is customary for monster bosses in Xillia 1, our two best friends return for Brutaur: Arte Seal, and Call Out. He himself doesn't inflict Arte Seal, but his adds sure do. But to make up for this, Brutaur packs more Stun and crits. Hoo baby the crits. This thing LOVES crits. And at this stage, crits equate to death if not at full. No ifs or buts. For this reason given Elize STILL doesn't have Resurrection, keeping Leia safe and out of crit death range is our top priority. Did it save me? WELL... after 12 tries, it did! Kinda like Nameless Anomaly before it, spells are still our go-to for making progress thanks to Brutaur also sporting a guaranteed Stun counter with Hip Stun. Stun Talismans sound useful on paper, but the rate of which we burn through TP still asks we equip the usual Spirit Symbol on everybody. Persian Boots are on emergency standby for the added P. Defense (and minor boost to P. Attack as well) with the occasional Mystic Symbol if Rowen's TP is high enough to support itself without it. Leia is the unique one who gets a Holy Symbol to top off her HP beyond what her AI's set to heal to to avoid any surprise crit kills. Khrona Symbols... eh, just pray Jude isn't dead if Leia gets nailed with Arte Seal. Bar that, we're fine. That said, after this boss, guess what we got? RESURRECTION ON ELIZE, HOORAAAAAY! Coupled with her new Negative Gate and now Elize FINALLY has a tangible purpose she can serve. Alvin, I love you, but Jude outdamages you thanks to his Devil Arm being sliiightly stronger than the Fists of Legend. Probably should've grinded them out to an acceptable range but eh, I commit to the bit so hard, even my Devil Arms are (almost) as low as possible LOL.BGM: Dream Express ~ Red-White --Touhou: Concealed the ConclusionAfter Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: Unscrewpoww [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-09-08 | 00:00 Milla waited 10 minutes for this.00:54 --SO LET'S GOOOOOOOOO!!!!After a really, REALLY rough start, Xillia 1 finally throws us a bone with our latest join, Leia. Joining at minimum 15, she has enough GP to gain Resurrection the second she joins if you don't pussyfoot around. And with that little change, Leia becomes a permanent slot in our party from now until unless the game gives me reason to use Elize and only Elize bar the forced Aquadragon split. Which I do not think is coincidence because imagining this fight without it? It'd be absolute torture. And even WITH it, it still was. Shadow Bosses in X2 were shorter than this. Put THAT into perspective. So what makes this so cancerous? First, Arte Seal returns via Grand Breath. If Leia's afflicted, it can possibly be over unless Jude lives long enough to use Recovery Ring. Which given Hammerzamm can reach any spot on the map by digging, there is a very real risk of Jude getting interrupted or dying before he can fix it. And if he's afflicted, the only recourse is his death. Thank you Xillia 2 for binning this ailment, I hate it so much lol.Second, crits. Kinda like Fire Emblem, crits make me have to question which HP range is ever considered "safe" to let Leia out into the wild. Rush Drill critting Leia kills, but Rising Rush CAN be survived if we're at ~60% HP. Lucky for me Leia's AI is set to heal at ~66% HP during Prioritize/Only Heal, so we'll usually be on the higher end of HP unlike with the boys' 50% maximum. Why Jude and Alvin couldn't ALSO be set to 66% is beyond me, but eh least we have SOME characters who heal at a good percent, right? Third, Stun. As is the X1/2 Hammerzamm way, these giant bugs can swing their noodly arms and get a near guaranteed stun on most likely everyone. God forbid if it crits Leia, leaving her open to die, granting us a loss. And lastly, Call Out. Xillia 1 bosses REALLY like Call Out. And Hammerzamm is no different with his mini-zams. And these bastards SUCK becuase they have infinite horizontal reach with Rock Trine, and their regular attack where they slam you into the ground lasts so long, Hammerzamm's got the perfect window to come in and take potshots. Couple all these factors together with Hammerzamm being invincible while digging and you've got a boss that's destined to take forever if it doesn't go wrong in a split second due to a stray crit on Leia. Usually I like to shoot for shorter times if my original wins are too long for bosses, but this was the first time I decided right away I wasn't gonna bother. Lost runs took on average 9 minutes each, and we passed Jiao in number of attempts, finishing off on the 29th. And this isn't even factoring in the 10 minutes from the Leia/Jude duo version right before this if I hard reload attempts. In short, I'm so glad this boss is over, man. The promised land of a full party awaits me-- let me greet her with love and warmth!BGM: Noble Execution -- Granblue Fantasy Versus RisingAfter Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Tales of Phantestiny Team [Auto Only/The Anni of Pain!] Kikaromi 2025-09-03 | Today's special to this run. Why? It's this run's 1 year anniversary! And what better time and day to beat our final hurdle: Cress & Stahn, but with friends! So first off, herbs were used to bring everyone to 9,999 P+A. ATK/HP with Int & St herbs. Without it, we'd be here for an hour. Wish that was an exaggeration. I also boosted Vitality/Ag to ~3k while leaving Dx alone because I didn't want this to devolve into crithax hour. You might think this makes the 4v4 a cakewalk, and I SURE WISH IT DID. Instead, this tipped the scale to where it's POSSIBLE for things to go right. And often times, it did not. But eventually the heavens smiled upon us and we've emerged the victors!Now what's the issue? Short answer: Mint. Mint, being Elize before it was cool, has heals. Very quick ones, too. If she's EVER left on her lonesome, there is a very good chance she's going to cast either First Aid on herself or Nurse for 15% on everybody. And the fun doesn't end there: Mint packs Angel's Cry, so you BETTER hope Skill Seal's active when she falls down or else there's a good chance she'll cast a quick First Aid to reset our progress. Most of my lost runs were forfeits when we were 20 minutes in and everyone's near full. How fast or slow the run goes is entirely dependent on how quick Mint falls down for good. Which for this run, things worked out great. Huzzah!Rutee is next on the chopping block because she packs Resurrection, and we can't have that happen. Luckily for me Rutee's AI is on the aggressive side, so if someone's in melee range, she's more likely to attack than make my life worse. Once the girls are down, it's back to Illusionary Darkness, but easier. It's still very possible for us to lose at this stage since these two STILL hit like trucks with our stupidly high P/A. Def., but that's a Fractured Kika's problem. I initially tried leaving Ludger behind, but without Grounded Stance, we get stunlocked to death so congrats my boy, you're still with us. Judelius joins us in lieu of Leia partially for the extra GS but also because he's REALLY good at inflicting Petrify. Muzet comes with us for the secondary Res user instead, but in a new form: all Spirit Artes off. Muzet's Xillia cameo weapon is hilariously good as a melee tool given it packs innate Fire/Water/Wind/Earth damage, which means Skill Seal-senpai will notice me. And thank god it did when I needed her because I'm always waiting for it to wear off right before Mint falls down and thus Angel's Cry fires off. But DIDN'T HAPPEN BBY, YAAAAY. Everything else, all I can say is my kids made me proud this run with how efficient they were with the girls. Normally I scream and salt, but this time? Pure professonalism using the Power Combo system to its fullest for maximum pain. Elize even finished Rutee off with style. BGM & Transition Clip:nicovideo.jp/watch/sm22314902 Sora no Uta -- Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere (S2 OP1)youtube.com/watch?v=6cnhTgmBGAcVictory! -- Battle CatsChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. -No broken skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]- Broken because kid gloves need to be off.3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: The Phony Slayer [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-08-24 | And so we've come to what I guessed early on would be one of the three walls of this run. And I was very much correct in this assessment, although I discovered more reasons than I initially thought. Which this leads to another unsung upgrade to Xillia 2: Ailments. Xillia 1's ailments are hilariously unbalanced in the enemy's favor compared to X2. X2, all element are the same on each side and all of them are temporary. Xillia 1, not only do bosses get ailments you don't, they can also inflict PERMANENT Ailments in Poison, Arte Seal, and Petrify. Why do I bring this up? WELL Ivar Phantom Surge's second strike Arte Seals without fail. So Jude can't drop the Khrona Symbol for long or else we lose without breaking Rule 3. And with how much we hurt for TP this early in the run, this is a crippling blow since the Spirit Symbol's been our go-to to fix that. Soooo we're basically stuck with the TP we've got since I can't let a single Phantom Surge get through without the Khrona Symbol on. Aaaand... yeah, you can tell. Rule 2's binned for this fight because take the problems I had with Jude's AI, and now make it a boss I HAVE to win with no means to make it easier. I also used +90 TP Herbs because of Arte Seal deadlocking my accessory slot, making this fight become incredibly slow and tedious without a reliable means to recuperate our tiny TP. But don't worry, even with those additions, we still lost plenty. So these boosts just turned it from "this is Victor Part 2" into "This'll be doable... I hope." Even with all this, Ivar actually DID force me to reload and redo the Fort Gandala sequence (whose forced battles got Jude a level) so I could pick up Earth Guard instead of setting up to get Talon Storm. Thank the space gods I rotate between saves because if I hadn't? Boiiiii that'd be AWWWWFUL. BUT NOW, with Ivar beaten, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Our final party member cometh to our aid in our hour of need. And she brings the best gift of all: enough levels to get Resurrection. Thank god, I've missed you so much, baby. Never leave me again!BGM: Yesterday's Enemies are Today's Ingredients -- Atelier Ayesha ~Alchemist of the Ground of Dusk~ After Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. -No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]- Broken since AI Jude + Soloing = LOLYeahNotHappening3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: Codenamed Ailment Fly [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-08-17 | 00:00 Should've just run instead of askin' questions00:31 And thus the ailment spam begins...Nameless Anomaly seems like it'd be one of those fights where I'd eat my controller in rage. Its spells can EASILY rub out anyone in 1-2 shots, its counter has 100% stun chance, and ailments. Ailments EVERYWHERE. Well I'm here to tell you... it actually wasn't that bad. Hell, I almost won on the second go until I forgot Milla didn't have the Khrona Symbol on so she got Arte Sealed. I then won on the fifth go, but Alvin died that run so I tried again. And it won immediately. Soooo... yeah, honestly a welcome change from the last two bosses.Which I'd say the main reason for that is, hilariously, N.A.'s counter. Sure it'll disrupt my melee fighters, but if I can keep triggering it with Milla and Rowen pelting it with spells, we can keep the boss in a loop where eventually I'll be the winner. This isn't perfect since there's a chance N.A. charges right for Milla or Rowen before they can get their spells ready, but I'd say more often than not it worked out. Hell if it weren't for my low TP pretty much requiring me to use Spirit Symbols to keep my TP up, the only thing I'd fear is Shimmering Toll's sheer damage. Now onto the plan. Pretty simple: spells gud, use spells lots. Elize is almost entirely benched here since she's gotten 0 artes since Jiao, and thus she gets way less mileage than the rest of our squad. But this also brings up the new mechanic: party switching. Will I use it? I kinda flirted with it here to see how I felt about it, but I'd say the verdict right now... it's still up in the air. If I feel it's too game-breaking, I'll shelf it. But if it seems balanced enough, I might use it for a bit of variety. The one exception being the boss you're probably thinking of where I think the appeal will be seeing what comes out. Would it be my runs if I didn't self-sabotage them? C:BUUUT this is all debates for another time since we get to kiss having enough party members TO switch goodbye for the next two bosses. Hell, for the coming one, WE DONT EVEN HAVE A PARTY. Late RIPs for Milla players who had to suddenly learn how to play Jude with no warning. We'll see if I gotta break Rules 2 and/or 3 for that wild ride. Gut says yes, heart prays no!BGM: force -- Alice Sound Album Vol. 26 (Busou Syoujotai Blade☆Briders)Beyond Countless Battles -- Tales of AsteriaChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: Beast Master Spammer [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-08-08 | You may be thinking "Now that you have Elize, things should be easier!". And I'm here to assure you that is NOT true one bit. Xillia 1's Unknown mode really does assume you've inherited shop levels because MAN. Even WITH good equipment we've gotten spanked. lolSo the problems. First, Elize. Being the designated healer, you'd think she'd be good at it. And later, she definitely is. But right now? Nope. Pixie Circle is alright, but there's a problem: the Only Heal AI's behavior. For everyone ELSE, taunting to gain TP while they wait for their cue is fine if a bit risky. But for Elize? It's a difference between Pixie Circle being useless or at least semi-helpful. So although I'd rather Elize sit pretty and heal, the risk of her Teepo Switching to Off forces me to keep her set to Prioritize Healing at all times unless I wanna run the roulette of getting a switch back. Second: Minions. You know them. You love them. Jiao can summon up to 4 of them at a time, and very quickly at that. And these bastards have TONS of HP. The dogs sport 1/6th Jiao's health, and the birds are just a bit lower than that. So what looks to be a decent run can immediately descend into chaos as wolves and birds go harrass Elize and Milla so Jude and Alvin are up a vertical hill. This is Dark Teagle 2.0, and this fight isnt' even optional! Whyyyyyy And lastly, Jiao himself. Jiao's normal attacks into Gilded Fist or vice verse is a war crime. If Elize isn't spamming Teepo On Pixie Circle on the boys through that, they're dead. Second worst is Rending Quake because it's free Stun for EVERYBODY! By itself it won't kill, but any Stun means ain't nothing protecting you from Gilded Fist. His other artes aren't much fun either, but those two keep me up at night. So many Rending Quakes into Gilded Fist KOs were had. Or if not that, Rending Quake into Call Monster to bring MORE fun to the party. All I can say is gahhhhh. So what's the plan here? Bar Elize, it's very similar to Greater Demon: Boys go charge up front, Milla casts in back mopping up the mess so the boys can do their thing. Elize sticks with just the Mystic Symbol while the others switch between the Persian Boots for Defense or Spirit Symbol for TP regen. Milla moreso sticks with the latter while the boys I only switch it in for when theirs gets REAL low. From there, it's just praying Jiao doesn't Wombo Combo Alvin or Jude to death (though moreso Jude since we'll need those levels for the coming solos he'll be enduring soon enough). Jiao here took 25 tries. Probably would've taken more if I didn't immediately bend the knee and start buying late game armor, but eh I'm sure I'll find a boss that I'll cry myself to sleep for weeks about even with good armor. And fun fact, I actually was a single level off getting Healing Circle after this. My soul felt that one. Suffice to say I'm pretty sure the next boss, Elize is takin' a back set since we'll need guns blazing for the coming funhouse. BGM: Serious Duel (YGOARC-V) -- Yu-Gi-Oh: Tag Force SpecialBeyond Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Tag Arena [Unknown/Auto Only/The Past Returns] Kikaromi 2025-08-03 | 00:00 Prelims 07:01 Two on Two vs You-Guess-Who14:55 Distortion Blade Man Returns from HellAnd thus we've returned to what I've put on the back burner due to being too hard: the Tag Arena. And since we've now beaten Cress and Stahn in Illusionary Darkness, any lead that isn't Ludger is up for a fun ride. Initially the plan was to do Ludger/Elize only because without the Alliance Arms, the duo boss takes FOREVER. But then I had an idea: since I never banned herbs, what if I bought and used just enough Int and St herbs on my duo of choice so they reach 9999 P/A ATK with their cameo weapons? And so I did. You may wonder "Why didn't you just use a cheat table?" and to that I say it's not this run if I don't take the long, painful road. LOLSo the duo I know I wanted was likely expected but still fun: Judelius and Elleize. I tried Leia instead of Elize once, but Cress taught me we bring the A game or we get A-game'd. But let's go over the whole experience first.The regular mobs, nothing to say. We're tough as nails, we kill them. With our stupidly high Int stats, we can almost always inflict statuses which I'll admit was quite satisfying. I also did reset this run multiple times to see if I could spawn Ludger (and do so on a run less than 30m which depends on how Cress feels that morning) and... we did! Alas unlike his Shadow counterpart, Poison and Burn do almost nothing to him. But every little chip helps. Nachtigal is more just there to annoy and sometimes fire Demon's Lance for a sneaky kill (which is another reason why I want Elize on deck). Bar that, pretty okay, requires a freak accident to go wrong.And then there's Cress. Despite lacking his MA since Stahn is off eating donuts in the stands, Cress can (and has) still wipe us. And the reason is the same as before: Distortion Blade. Cress hits like a freight train so 4 seconds to do whatever he wants (including give himself ANOTHER 4 seconds) is all he needs to take some kills. And unlike his Shadow, he has no weakness to keep him in check. It's for this reason that I had to bring Grounded Stance for Judelius. Without it, we just get wombo comboed and sent to the shadow realm. Buuut despite all this fun stuff, we actually managed to beat this faster than Bad End. Hooray! Now to pray Team Arena doesn't take like an hour. Now one question you might have: will I keep these inflated stats for the Team Arena? For Elize, yes since I don't wanna torture myself twice if I decide to lean in. The rest, I'll get a feel if we're not getting anywhere with my other team members not at 9.9k like Ludger and Elize. But regardless, we're almost to the finish line! Thus we can almost say that, for sure, the game CAN beat itself on the hardest difficulty with the right equipment and a masochistic coach! BGM: Lemonade Fizz -- BlackY New Leaf -- BlackY ft. Yoah螺旋周回軌道 -- BlackYAndrogynos (Full Phase) -- WAiKUROパノラマノーツ -- BlackYVictory! -- Battle CatsChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. -No broken skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]- Broken because kid gloves need to be off.3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: Greata Aqua Laza Demanz [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-07-28 | 00:00 In Rieze Maxia, Rock Kill YOU!00:40 Then WE kill IT!Hi, hello, we've not abandoned either run! Bit of a health scare put me underground for a while, but we're back fresh as a daisy baby! You may notice I don't use links here. And that's because Links are an active detriment for the run. Reason being unlike Xillia 2, there's no option to let link partners act independently. So for our purposes, the Linked character may as well be dead since they'll just follow the leader unless the leader's in melee range. Sooooo I guess you can call this a No Link run too because I will almost if not ever use them. But given it's for my own benefit, I don't count it.But back to Greater Demon. You'd think he'd be easy, but NO, NO HE IS ＮＯＴ. Greater Demon HURTS. If Aqua Laser or Aqua Spit crit, whoever's hit, they're dead. But even without crits, despite having Persian Boots on Jude & Alvin and a Rune Circlet on Milla with 40% Def food on, we STILL take crazy amounts of damage. And this leads to a big downgrade for X1's AI: the heal threshold (for Alvin and Jude at least) is ~33% instead of X2's 50-66%. And this is really, REALLY bad here since Jude and Alvin's ~33% is lower than Aqua Laser's full damage. So at almost every point we're at a risk of a KO from the boys. Milla fares a bit better thanks to hanging in back, but her cast animation's tiny inching forward CAN put her in Aqua Laser range. And Tentancle Rush can hurt a fair bit, especially if we get 2-3 in a row. And I have. A lot. ; w; Devil Arms are gonna be deployed from hereon likely (although mine range from 800-1500 ATK cause this is off the heels of a fresh NG save for this run) since my attempts without them would go on for 10 minutes and we'd only be at ~50% HP with someone already down. SOOOOO I'll save you and I both a 20 minute fight. We were 20 attempts deep by the point I decided to use them so eh. And we still lost (AKA Jude or Milla fell down, both who need every level I can get) a good few times after it so screw it. Sooooo yeah, this run's gonna be FFFFFUN until we get Resurrection. But I knew what I might welcome when I made the rules, so don't feel TOO much pity for me. lol BGM: Crazy Buggy -- Dark Chronicle/Dark Cloud 2Beyond Countless Battles -- Tales of AsteriaChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia: The Bitch in the Red Dress [Auto Only/Low Level] Kikaromi 2025-07-15 | If you thought our journey was gonna stop at Xillia 2, WELL YA GUESSED WRONG! To really get a scope of Xillia 2's AI, we need to compare and contrast with the OG! Will it be better? Worse? Make me wanna eat my fingers? Let's find out together!And BOY do I already have a lot to say with our first challenge: Jude's Agria battle. After about 100 attempts, I can tell you it's not going to happen without the Red Cape unless you get obscenely lucky. Almost all attempts Agria opens a combo and Jude dies immediately. Even with the Garnet and 40% Defense food, we just can't do it. Not helping is Jude's X1 AI is rather passive compared to X2's and will often stand still right in front of Agria after a combo. Sooooo yeah. Unfortunate that we have to cheat to win but such is fate.Round 2 with Milla, nothing changes besides we can actually win this without the Red Cape, but I keep it on just for safety. Losing that full level will bite me, I just know it. Not much to comment on besides how aggressive Agria's AI is. Woman has a mission and she wants to fulfill it. Good thing we have amped up Lord of Spirits Milla!... and then we'll kiss her goodbye. 'twas fun while it lasted, boys. Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken skills [Grace/Grounded Stance/Recall/Mobile Armor]3. Items are forbidden* [We'll see if my sanity holds up for the three bosses I'm thinking of]4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight. BGM: PUBLIC ENEMY -- Devil May CryAfter Countless Battles -- Tales of Asteria00:00 Round 1 Pre-Battle00:31 Round 102:05 And then suddenly a woman appears!02:18 Round 2
Xillia 2 Tag ArenaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAA Kikaromi 2025-07-09 | If you told me this run was cursed from the start to showcase pure masochism, at this point I can't even argue with you.
Welcome to the ToX Auto Only Run! Kikaromi 2025-07-08 | Just like Xillia 2, the first true battle of Xillia reminds me why an integral part of the Auto Runs is holding my willpower against nonsense. lol Good thing this battle ain't required cause hoooooo boy if not--
Tales of Xillia 2: Shadow Cress & Stahn [Unknown/Auto Only/Kikas Final Fury] Kikaromi 2025-07-05 | Happy Independence Day for those who are also Bald Eaglians like me! And how best to celebrate independence and freedom by MY FREEDOM FROM THIS BOSS GODDAMN IT. Granted I should say that in quotes because we'll be seeing them again very, very soon. BUT FOR NOW, I AM THE WINNER, ME!Anyway, so Rule 2 got binned because the ability to armor through attacks/one free revive could SOMETIMES saves us. I say sometimes because these two have no problems whatsoever killing very, very quickly. And if they MA, it's instant death. I also used +10 DLC levels to bring the team to 161 because I thought, "IDK maybe the added Defense/HP'll save me" and... we won first go with the current strategy. SOOOOO I guess it did. Honestly we'd need them for 4v4 arena likely anyway so eh, I think I can self-love this once. wwwSo what was the current strategy? Mainly four essential pieces. First: Muzet spams Roche Waltz. Although the rocks can miss, the high Petrify chance is a godsend since any second these two aren't moving is a second I'm not getting pounded. And even if it just hits normally, the brief throw in the air is good too. Second: Leia on Heal Only. With the Graces rod, she can keep up heals pretty well unless we get death looped. And we do. A lot. lol But better than nothing.Third: Light Weapons on Ludger with only Weapon/Light/Water artes equipped (sans a few exceptions). Confuse doesn't do too much for us, but Ludger favors targeting Cress who I want dead first and Power Combos keep this evil man stunned. Water's for when we inevitably punch Stahn's face in. I make exceptions for Power Swing, Earth Spike, and Freezing Eruption because of the forced stand + petrify odds. Migrating Sparrows and Energy Shackles being off messes with AI Ludger's combos so kept those on too. Fourth: OVL Stall if Ludger's on Cress' fryer. Whenever Cress OVLs, pray it's Ludger and have Ludger run. Not flawless since Cress' artes have pretty generous range (and Chaos Lunge just warps him right to your door), but keeping him busy's always good. Sadly Stahn's hardwired to attack casters so the only thing to do with him is pray the MA doesn't set us back too much. Cress we want down first because Distortion Blade Bad. Even if he's alone, Distortion Blade gives him the chance to wipe us out with no recourse to fight back, especially if he uses it again right after or during the first since the stop effect DOES stack. Couple that with Chaos Lunge which he can use to warp himself to whoever he wants likely INTO a Distortion Blade, and you've got a man with real disruption power. Stahn is more just annoying with the sheer damage he pulls with Beast and Rising Phoenix on top of his AI being set to Cancel Spirit Artes. But his fervent target switching does open him up to the Roche Waltz hitting him and that helps a metric ton.And so, with these two buried six feet under, we have beaten Illusionary Darkness! I honestly thought multiple times we were doomed, but somehow we (eventually) always squeaked by with a victory. Some of the skill choices they gave these bosses still make me wanna eat my controller and the only damage if linked piece being a thing gets a big ol "GOOD RIDDANCE" from me. Happy 4th of July folks and may you too be free from pains only a challenge run can produce. BGM: Vanishing Point -- Granblue FantasyOVER THE SKY -- Granblue FantasyAin Soph Aur -- Granblue FantasyGod Knows... -- Melancholy of Haruhi SuzumiaFalse Cross -- BlackYVictory! -- Battle CatsChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. -No broken skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]- Broken because we needed to go all in to win.3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought 5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Very Legit Shadow Cress & Stahn [Unknown/Auto Onii] Kikaromi 2025-06-27 | As a testament of how absolutely ridiculous these two are without omega herb grinding for Defense/levels, I give you Exhibit A: how the run does with Omnipotent Nii-san. It definitely goes better by proxy of the run doesn't end in within 2 minutes, but believe me we still have a rough time and the run STILL has a chance of us ending up dead. First reason: both these two have tracking on a good few of their artes. Cress being the champion with the ability to teleport wherever he needs to with perfect tracking, but Stahn's Rising Phoenix and other aerial artes nudge him close real quick. Second: their MA. Despite the animation making it look like everything after the first barrage whiffs, the last barrage for some reason hits the target mapwide because sure, why not. Add decent HP pools and our attack not being maxed out and you have a boss fight that the only way you can easily win is to cheese with aerial combos. Are we folding? Nah. I just wanted some catharsis and was genuinely curious how the run would look with haxxor nonsense. But BOY am I running outta ways to make this work without just bustin' out the cheat table and/or using DLC levels. Maybe I'll cave, but I'm holdin' out as best I can.BGM: It's Kill or Be Killed -- No More HeroesNintendo 3DS Sound BannerChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. -No broken Skills- Broken because these two demand we go all out.3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Superior Niiflexes Kikaromi 2025-06-19 | If I had a nickel for every time Ch15 Julius caught AI Ludger with OVL Time Disintegration just as Chromatus ended during my failed runs, I'd have three nickels. And also a dime for that time he caught Ludger off a Guard instead. I cope through the pain of getting bodied by evil phantoms using best boy Julius footage.
Tales of Whats Taking So Long Kikaromi 2025-06-15 | If you wondered how Cress and Stahn are going, they're going great. ; w;They really expected you to herb grind stats by this point, I swear.
Tales of Xillia 2: Shadow Ludger [Unknown/Auto Only/To Victor-y!] Kikaromi 2025-06-07 | BREAKING NEWS: KIKA WAS WRONG, WE GOT THE MAIHADARE! And to celebrate, we win the way that saved this run many, many months ago. . .Shadow Ludger's worst gimmick for us is the most simple of the Shadows: HE RUN REAL FAST AND KILL EVERYTHING. And kill you he shall because hooo BABY his damage. Even with Resists, Shadow Ludger still rips through anything like tissue paper with no help needed from crits. But somehow he has less P. Attack than Alvin. Sure, and Alvin doesn't have secret heals either. :UThe one saving grace to Shadow Ludger is Shadow Ludger takes 8k per tick of Poison AND Burn. So if you can inflict either or both of those, you need not be stuck with this terminator for long as his life rapidly ticks away. And if we've learned anything, Gravity is really, REALLY good at Poisoning. So if we can pin this monster down long enough for Gravity to break Iron Stance, eventually the Vicsquad will teach this faker that he should've picked up the Laurel Crown literally waiting outside his door. Burn is a little trickier since Leia's Swallow Flight is our best means, but she's not guaranteed to use it unless I turn off almost everything. And LBR, I like watching AI Leia do her thing. C:Shadow Ludger ate about 11 tries on me, all of which failures never lasted more than 30 seconds. One only lasted 10 seconds thanks to everyone bunching up to get rocked by Crushing Blow. Still, while he might rain death upon us very well, he is but a taste of what lies just beyond him. And unlike the rest, this pain comes in two. Buuuut for now, we've almost completed Illusionary Darkness! Didn't think it'd be possible, and yet here we are! Know the only thing you need to triumph is the undying will to beat your head against a wall until YOU BECOME THE VICTOR (or the army of Victors)!BGM: youtube.com/watch?v=H01BwSD9eyQVictory! -- Battle CatsChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Shadow Maihadare Man [Unknown/Auto Only] Kikaromi 2025-06-02 | Since this'll be the last time we see a boss use Falling Snow (unless Shadow and/or Arena Ludger actually uses it), I thought Nii-san should be sent off as he'd want to die: surrounded by nothing but his little brother. Shadow Julius is much like the Nii-sans of yore, except THIS one Ritual of Devastation CAN actually pick up KOs. Guess Shadow Nii-san isn't afraid to pile some Ludcorpses on the floor. He otherwise doesn't hurt too badly, especially since for some reason, he's set to Level 103 instead of 115 like the other 1st door bosses. Which may tempt you to choose Ludger's door first, and BOY I feel sorry for those who do on higher difficulties because HOOOOOOOOOOOO BABY. He might not have heal spam or skills that make me wanna eat my house, but it wouldn't be Illusionary Darkness if there wasn't SOMETHING to make me wanna scream.Meanwhile I was afraid Shadow Julius might not Maihadare much after my first run with a previous party saw like 2. Luckily this run put those fears to rest right away and we see why Victor is only Prince Maihadare compared to Papa OG Maihadare. Anyway, we're almost to the end of this dungeon! I did do some Elites on the side for some levels (which I was saving those videos for AFTER since eh the Shadows are the real meat anyway) so hopefully we'll do better against why I doubled back and tried a new set. Believe me there's a reason I went back for this party and you'll know right away. LOLBGM: Worlds Collide -- FFXIII-2Victory! -- Battle CatsChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Shadow Alvin, Lord of Heals [Unknown/Auto Only] Kikaromi 2025-05-28 | We've come. My NEW true nemesis since Victor & Bad End: Shadow Alvin. I swear this is Victor haunting me from the grave for making Vicvin a thing.If you thought Shadow Milla loved to heal spam, she's got nothing on Shadow Alvin who sports a hidden method of healing you'd never catch unless you're watching for it: Guarding. Alvin can get back 60k from 1 SECOND of Guarding. And if he goes too long, he can get back his entire health bar. Really. Which since he has Impregnable Guard which has Magic Guard built in, you just gotta pray it stops if you stop hitting him. I only figured this out AFTER the win with some diligent watching (and trying to get a lower time but yeahno), so that should tell you how nonsense this whole thing is. But of course he can ALSO heal 105k using Guardian Field because sure, why not? As a famous Power Swinger once told me: this dungeon was a mistake. Knowing all this, Shadow Alvin just so happens to be the 1 of 2 2nd door bosses who cannot be Burned. The other is Gaius, the highest HP total for Shadow bosses who sports the evil Reflective Damage. Probably coincidence, but I'm forever convinced it's not and the devs are just evil. The only good thing I can say to counteract this is Shadow Alvin's Psy is the lowest of the bunch so inflicting all other ailments is not an impossible feat. With the girls on Gravity/Negative Gate duty, Poison can usually be stuck on with near no breaks. Hell, sometimes Ludger gets Skill Seal-senpai to notice him! Ailments and HP rants aside, Shadow Alvin's funhouse continues where DAMN does he hurt. Sure is odd Alvin's top helmet AND armor both have Revive chances... People naturally drop like flies to this man, especially to Legacy (and the often coming Terminus Pride) which the AI is terrible at dodging since Sidestepping is a lie. All of this combined makes a boss that SEEMS no worse than Milla or Muzet, but there is so much nonsense under the hood that makes this fight last so long that I've only lost twice. The rest was rage quits from 20m and we're only down to 1.1m/1.7m. I'm just glad I'm free man. lol BGM: A Funeral of Flowers (Rain + Thunder) -- Fire Emblem: Three HousesRECorrection -- 猫叉MasterChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Shadow Presa [Unknown/Auto Only/Madam Unburnable] Kikaromi 2025-05-24 | Shadow Presa is kind of a strange beast when it comes to damage-dealing ailments. Poison and Bleed work as usual, but she takes 1/4th the usual damage from Burn. Guess Presa's Water is just genetically superior that she fears fire only somewhat. Kinda unfortunate, but it's good foreshadowing of what the beast she's containing behind her door'll do lolBesides that, I'd say the only noteworthy thing here is for a first door boss, Presa puts out some crazy numbers. Her MA's a death sentence, Blue Sphere can chomp a non-full Alvin or Ludger, and her martial artes aren't too bad either. But again, that's just kinda foreshadowing for what awaits us. And oh boy the words I have for that.Though you can probably guess some of it. wwwBGM: The Bewitching City -- Armed Blue GunvoltVictory! -- Battle CatsChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Shadow Alvin & the Hidden Heals That Make Kika Sad Kikaromi 2025-05-22 | Turns out I was incorrect that it's not Charge Level 3 that Shadow Alvin gets heals off. He ACTUALLY gets healing from Guarding. And as you can tell, he gets it back real fast. Why is this a thing someone decided was okay?
Tales of Xillia 2: Pluto [Unknown/Auto Only/Out-Ranged Combat!] Kikaromi 2025-05-16 | WELL since Alvin's being a fun night, I remembered something else: I'd never done Pluto. And reason for it? I forgot you needed to do the Tatalian Abyss quests to unlock that fight. At our current save's level (144 if you're curious) we'd likely steamroll, but luckily I had a save closer to Pluto's level (95 him vs 108 me), reloaded that, and THEN challenged the lord of the underworld. And it took about 4 tries, though this was with a different party than my winner.So what makes Pluto a bit of a grinder? Well first: Pluto's attack range. A LOT of his artes reach really, REALLY far. So even Elize trying to sit pretty is liable to get punched in the face from half across the stage. Second, the orbs. The orbs Pluto shoots out suck because not only do they knock down, but they Stun for quite a while. Even Ludger with a Stun Talisman was getting ragdolled to those. And then lastly, Pluto's resistances. Unless you're attacking for weapon damage (or Light), Pluto just powers through things. And more fun is Pluto just doesn't take Spirit Arte damage. At all. Not a bit. So Rowen/Milla/Muzet are all made near useless just by merits of existing. Good thing Leia exists for our secondary Resurrection user!Luckily for me Pluto doesn't have that much HP so even if it took a bit of a struggle, with some MAs peppered in and Ludger set to ONLY Light/Weapon artes, we'll chip our way to victory. And victory we did have! Probably could've sped it up by turning off all elemental artes, but eh. Also felt good to see damage happen even when unlinked-- missed that feeling lolBGM: Confrontation -- SMT IVDuel Boss (YGOZEXAL) -- Yu-Gi-Oh Arc V Tag Force Special Nintendo 3DS Sound BannerChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Chad Shadow X2 Milla [Unknown/Auto Only] Kikaromi 2025-05-08 | And so we've come back for the boss that got me to admit defeat and resolve to come back when I'm stronger, smarter, better, and also able to hold a controller again. Long story about that one. lol I probably had about 8h of rage quit failures across the previous parties I tried. But then I remembered: "Y'know, Shadow Milla doesn't take a lot of multi-kills. And Statuses Good. So what if I bring my king of status spamming?" And sure enough, the minute I brought Spambot Rowen... it actually worked the very first go. And then I tried again cause I realized after I hadn't set my 25% Stat food and won first go even faster. Those levels and change of strategy paid off!Anyway, so what was the general methodology to avoid getting Undine'd to hell? Basically, fish for Paralyze and/or keep this woman pinned with maximum prayers it doesn't happen. Not a foolproof plan given as we know, Shadow Milla saves Undine for a combo starter if she has to either run or sidestep before attacking, and THAT I can't exactly prevent even if I have the entire party glued to her back. Plus Ludger can Chromatus at any time, which tends to be where they crop up the most. Especially when it ends given for some sadistic reason, enemy AI can act right out of Chromatus ending where the party AI does not. Why does Victor's CS get to be cool and bone chilling where mine sucks? Unfair. lolNow this just leaves two doors left: Alvin, and Ludger! Which since I'm still saving Ludger for last so I'm not locked into a certain party for Stahn/Cress, we must bark up Charge Man's tree. I'd say get a shot glass ready and take a shot every time someone falls over, but I know none of us would live past the first 10 minutes. Sorry Elize, you're still on community service that's for sure lol BGM: Anima Ataraxia -- Fate/EXTRA C.C.C.Beyond Thousands of Battles -- Tales of AsteriaChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Shadow Muzet [Unknown/Auto Only/InSpire InSanity] Kikaromi 2025-05-05 | Shadow Muzet was a task and a half. She was such a task, after 8 failed runs I actually went back and gave Judelius a try thinking his Hammer Resist exclusive helmet would make Spire Throw not kill. It didn't but we suddenly won first go so close enough right? Granted I then tried to go back and see if I could make this shorter and... yeah, I probably should've just accepted the first win cause we NEVER managed below 25m. OHWELL, this is just the appretizer of how long Chad Shadow X2 Milla will be probably.So what was the reason I swapped parties? Simple: below 50% Melee Muzet. Why? First problem: Spire Throw. Whoever it hits, they die. No exceptions. And during OVL, she'll spam it on blocks. So running is pretty much useless. But the fun continues as if Elemental Hymn goes off, we're getting shunted to 1 HP by Event Horizon. And if we're not backed up on Revives, it's over. AND if that's not enough fun, Muzet CAN still cast. And if she chooses Diffusional Drive, it's another 80k for her. Better than Alvin's IDK how much per Charge and Chad Milla's 300k Undines, but any more HP is more time for Spire Throws. This ALMOST made me wanna break Rule 2 for Grounded Stance since then Spire Throw doesn't instakill if it can't do the toss, but my will was strong. And luckily we didn't need it. Still, GOOD GOD. I didn't think I'd get casual run X1 Muzet flashbacks, but I sure did with all the Spire Throw kills and the sheer damage of just everything Shadow Muzet does. Every day I thank the gods a little more Brave World is a staff Elize got because it always manages to save me at some point. That and Earhart anything always makes me smile.BUT NOW with this woman buried, we've no further distractions. It's time to face the 2 Shadow bosses I put off. Which do I choose? Alvin I fear for other reasons, so most likely it's time to face my fears. 300k Undine spam, I will conquer you THIS TIME! BGM: 天庭 -- あさきNintendo 3DS Sound BannerChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Shadow Maxwell [Unknown/Auto Only/Lord of Cheesed] Kikaromi 2025-04-26 | If you thought Rowen got disrespected, oh you didn't see nuthin yet. Maxwell's rather generous weak points means Maxwell just has to OVL and cast his big boy spell to fall right into my trap. And fall into it he did. Only regret is I should've probably disabled Linked Artes on Muzet as well to fully complete the nonsense, but eh didn't matter since Elize went to town as well.Not much else to say but that was a fun excursion. Though I sure cannot say for who comes after. Hoo boy. Know you're gonna see another party switch runback because the Rowen version... it WON, but it uh... went on for a long, LONG while. And 30m is a LONG, LONG process only I should suffer through lolBGM:夕陽のダンディー -- BENAMI Sound TeamVictory! -- Battle CatsChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Shadow Rowen [Unknown/Auto Only/Spamlord Flexing.mp4] Kikaromi 2025-04-22 | And thus we return to the actual timeline where I did a few redos to see if I could get this run shorter than the last as I noticed a very odd detail about Shadow Rowen. NORMALLY Burn acts just like Poison where they do close to if not the same damage. But for whatever reason, Rowen takes 10x the damage from Burn than he does Poison. Meaning he takes ~7000 per tick of Burn compared to ~700 from Poison. I have absolutely NO idea why this is and I'm guessing it's a bug since no other boss functions this way AFAIK. And hilariously enough, Leia's Swallow Flight was really consistent about inflicting Burn. SOOOOOOOO--Yeah, poor Shadow Rowen got absolutely spanked. The constant Spell Queue locks while Ludger and Leia beat him down, the Burns Leia managed to inflict doing more damage per tick than all but our lord and savior Falling Snow... Man stood no chance. The only setback with this strat is Rowen's Auto Magic Guard is a nuisance because if he's using it, he's not spamming spells. And if he's not spamming, Shadow Rowen's spells are guaranteed to happen on-time. Which means when OVL happens, yeah we're getting MA'd. But luckily Grand Finale's actually one of the weaker MAs so if Tidal Wave doesn't hit Elize and Rowen off Guard and Leia's near full, everyone's near guaranteed to survive. And they did. lolWith this nonsense concluded, we'll now return to 2nd door bosses being over 10m affairs, especially one particular that we know and love. Still, it was a fun ride and I'm glad I had a bit of a nice, refreshing break after Shadow Gaius was a chip affair and Shadow Milla served me some humble pie. C:BGM: Geniusly Hacked Bebop -- Mystic MessengerKirby Air Ride Finish -- Kirby and the Amazing Mirror Challenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Shadow Nachtigal [Unknown/Auto Only/Spambot Rise Up!] Kikaromi 2025-04-21 | For Rowen's doors, you'll notice Muzet and Leia swapping places. That's because I was curious how quick I could make these fights happen since we had the power of Spell Queue nonce. The Leia party is the true timeline where Muzet's was post-win curiosity. And though we didn't make Rowen faster with Muzet, we sure did for Nachtigal. So for lulz, I'll break the cycle this and one other time for memeage. Shadow Nachtigal, despite us being 20 levels over him now, still hits like a truck. Ludger can survive a few slaps to the face, but the caster squad just needs to be breathed on to die. The exception is Grand Wyrm which deletes whoever it hits unless your name is full HP Ludger. But luckily most times he used it, we either knocked him out of it or Ludger interrupted it with his cutscenus interruptus spell. And as I hoped, we actually DID catch Nacthigal in a Spell Queue for a bit which I still love every time it happens. The only drawback to this stupidity is you can't inflict ailments period during it, so it's just mostly for sending a message. And I think I did C;Now for Rowen, I'll give a bit of a spoiler that he will 100% be the fastest of these shadows. Not unless Shadow Ludger/Muzet/Milla (somehow) go stupidly quick. But that's a pipe dream I know lolBGM: 共闘 【絆束ねて】-- Tales of Asteria幾千の戦いの先に── -- Tales of AsteriaChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Shadow Gaius [Unknown/Auto Only/Retreflective Pain] Kikaromi 2025-04-19 | Ah Reflective Damage, how I missed you so. And of course since we can't bring Rowen to inflict Skill Seal (as I'm not bringing just 1 Resurrection user when Retribution deletes both who it hits and their link partner), we're just gonna have to deal with it. Least this isn't another AI Ludger solo, right? With Skill Seal not being a realistic option, the best strategy is to take this slowly where the bulk of damage comes from Mama Muzet Poison Spam and Son Meat Shieldger. Meanwhile Elize and Gaisley support the rear with heals and Revives aplenty. This way Reflective Damage isn't bending us over and Retribution HOPEFULLY isn't causing full party wipes from link partner dripdown damage. If it hits both girls while linked, WELL we're dead. lol This fight only took 8 tries to my surprise. Especially when the first run lasted 45s from a Retribution party kill. We're using the ol' noggin now lads (and abusing Poison but eh details)! If only Gaius wasn't Fire Resist, I could add Burn as well. A real tragedy. :CNow with Gaius buried, we're moving onto the fun stuff: casters. And since both Rowen and Muzet have built in Grace, you know what that means~! Spambot Rowen's gonna be eatin' well tonight!BGM: ネクロミリタリア(Version 5G) -- Tokyo Active NEETsVictory! -- Battle CatsChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
Tales of Xillia 2: Shadow Wingul [Unknown/Auto Only/Bird Flyin High] Kikaromi 2025-04-18 | You'll notice I skipped over Chad Shadow X2 Milla. The reason for this? I actually shelved her for now. We just cannot get through the constant Undine spam as we are right now. Thus hopefully the extra levels can get us somewhere and I'll tackle her after doing Gaisley, Rowen, and Muzet. Maybe also Alvin but he has another case of the Undine, but we'll get to that later. But first, Mr. Pokemanz here for the Gaius side. Unlike the other first door bosses, Wingul here has no weakness. He also has a LOT of HP for a first door boss. Hell, he has more than Shadow Leia did when we fought her. Granted it's small potatoes to who he's guarding, but dayum. Imagine if he was ALSO level 135...Anyway, this was luckily a one-and-done with the power of Muzet Poison/Burn spam and a decent frontline. Gaisley, for once, I can't make fun of you. Besides maybe your TP burning, but Vicvin is bad about that too lol Anyway, onto the FFFFFUN part. I can't escape the Bad End trauma, can I Xillia 2? BGM: Moon Salto I -- Fate/EXTRA CCCNintendo 3DS Sound BannerChallenge Rules:1. All battles must be fought with everyone set to Auto 2. No broken Skills [I.E. Recall/Fortune/Grounded Stance/Aerial Armor]3. Items are forbidden, now and forever4. Only required battles will be fought5. We say prayers to our lord and savior Falling Snow before every boss fight.
The Chad Shadow X2 Milla Experience Kikaromi 2025-04-09 | I didn't think I'd ever beat in length my 32m Bad End attempt. Alas, Xillia 2 has outdone itself again. All of this was from the same attempt by the way.For fun at home, guess how many resets I do because it's 30m and we're not even at half because of this nonsense. The winner gets a cup of my tears if/when I ever finish this. Or just give up and accept the video's gonna be 45m most likely. Check out Phoenix Wright: Bullshit Evolved btw. Good stuff.
