Jakkun
Tales of Xillia 2 Ludger Solo: Victor (No Damage)
updated
A couple months back, I made a random solo vid with Alphen for the purpose of testing out Auto Mode's potential for bosses. Here, I would like to showcase its potential for combos, and there's a lot more to go into here than with the Mantis.
To keep things simple, you can queue up an arte by using the arte menu, and depending on the arte used, the AI can do things that are otherwise impossible for the player. In the case of aerial artes, as shown in this combo, they can use them as close to the ground as possible, ignoring the minimum height limit. In the case of Alphen, he can also cheat out Blazing Sword extentions that wouldn't otherwise work (Shockwave Slash into Rising Phoenix, or Thunder Fang into Incineration Wave are the main ones I noticed).
I plan to make a detailed tutorial/guide video on how all this stuff works at some point in the future, as I think this tech is really cool and more people should know about it. But for now, this combo should suffice.
twitter.com/UnheardPhantasm
Here's my twitter btw. I normally don't link it anymore due to never really using it, but I've been recently using it as a dumping ground for combo/tech stuff. So if you're interested in how vids like this gets made, then there's that.
Or if you just want to see me rt art of Sara Valestein from Trails of Cold Steel. That works too.
šµ Training Room (Cerebrawl)
Restrictions:
š„Unknown Mode
š„No Damage
š„No Syrup
š„No Personas
š„Not part of a balanced breakfast
Despite how overhyped he is, Akechi is honestly quite easy. All of his attacks take ages to come out, to the point where I'd assume he was made for a slower paced game or something. Very lazy collab boss for Arise, Kirito was better.
Okay okay FINE, you want to actually know what his attacks do right? Honestly I don't know. I got really lucky while recording this take, as Akechi wouldn't stop yelling (I'm assuming its some kind of taunt?) about how he's better than me or something, so I figured if RNG is gonna be so kind as to just throw me a free win on a silver platter, i'd spare both of us the trouble and just finish him off with an MA. You're really not missing anything here, I promise you.
With that being said, look forward to the full Dohalim run in like 24 hours. I'm gonna make sure to do daily uploads so you will always have quality content like this to look forward to!
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Limited battles came around again, so I figured I'd do another FEH solo since the last one I did with Ishtar was so fun. This time I'm using Halloween Sothis against Abyssal Chrom. A *much* harder map compared to my previous foray with Lugh and Raigh.
This map was a fun uphill battle, between all the archers (including Chrom himself) demanding I run Iote's Shield to even stand a chance, as well as the plethora of strong axe units and a healer that amplified the damage that said axe units would deal to me.
I honestly didn't even know if I would be able to solo it, because the axe units kept dealing so much damage to Sothis in failed takes, even accounting for the damage reduction that Dragon Wall gave her. But it was doable, and I'm pretty happy with the end product.
I have one more FEH solo vid I want to put up sometime within the upcoming week, and after that, it should be back to usual Tales stuff with me.
My friend Magnus also did a solo of this map with his main unit, Brave Dimitri. Check it out here if you're interested: youtube.com/watch?v=u_f2OHE7hBg&t=67s
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šµ Resolve (Dark) - Fire Emblem Fates
šµ Crimson Chapel - Melty Blood: Type Lumina
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#FEH #Sothis #GoogleChrom
-George Lucas
I spent 2 days straight breaking my hands to do the combos in this video. These combos are probably far from optimal and all that jazz, but they were fun to do nonetheless. I really like the way combos work in this game, to where even delaying a move very slightly can cause the entire combo route to change. Very freeform, might be the most fun I've had comboing in a fighting game since BlazBlue.
My thumbs hurt like hell, so I'll save combo details for later lol.
BGM: [Luminous Arc 2] Rose Petal Shower
This took ages to render. It's probably already 2022 for half the world by the time this goes up but whatever. Here are some cool clips from the one third of a solo I was able to complete this year. I plan to get the second third done soon. Who knows, maybe I'll go ultra instinct and finish the run this year?
lol I wish.
BGM: [Scarlet Nexus] Welcome to the Musubi's
#ToX2 #Ludger #2021
My Ishtar is max invested (+10 merged, +20 DF, ascended), and she's going to get a Resplendent next week which is going to make her even stronger lol. Unfortunately this map expires before she gets it so I couldn't showcase it here, but it's fine.
I'm using a different and unorthodox build for this map compared to what you'd see from Ishtar in a team setting. Basically just abusing Mjolnir and Special Spiral's cooldown shenanigans to make her able to heal in (almost) every fight. Who said Ishtar couldn't do enemy phase?
BGM: [Sonic Unleashed] Shamar - Arid Sands (Day)
#FEH #Ishtar
Restrictions:
Iron Mask Only
Unknown Mode
Auto Mode
No Damage
No Blazing Sword
No Menu
This is just a one off video that came as a result of me testing a few things in Arise. Primarily, if a Lv100 character on NG+ is viable for soloing on Unknown Mode. Considering the Mantis is in its 40's, and the battle lasted 2 minutes long with weakness abuse + elemental weapon involved, I'm pretty happy with the results.
I also wanted to see how Auto Mode fares in a solo setting. For those who don't know, Auto Mode works differently in Arise than in other games. You can still control the character as you would in Manual or Semi-Auto, but your character will automatically dodge attacks when not locked into an animation (btw, there are no auto-dodges in this fight, dont worry lol), in addition to no hitstop on attacks, making gameplay feel smoother. Unfortunately, you also have the lock on effect that you get with Semi-Auto, so Manual still has Auto beat when it comes to positioning stuff.
Mantis is pretty easy. He has long wind-up on his attacks and generally attacks in a pattern of two claw swipes followed by that ground move. Sometimes you'll get a charge in there, but that's easily dealt with. Once he hits 50%, he'll summon a bunch of bees, but honestly, they barely do anything. They can snipe you with their stinger shots which can hit you even in the air, but like everything else in this fight, it has 1001 years of startup so you have ample time to get out of there if you see it coming.
BGM:
Boss Theme (Guacamelee)
Pascal's Village (NieR Automata)
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Restrictions:
⢠Ludger Solo
⢠Unknown Mode
⢠No Damage
⢠No Free Run
⢠No Menu Usage
⢠No Power Charge 2 & 3
⢠No Immunity Skills/Equipment
Elaboration on each restriction, as well as save edits used, can be found in the playlist description: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNm6QTSrQrxOvvKaKZ72_XH2
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And here we are, at the end of Xillia 2's first arc. To wrap it up, we have Chronos, the first true boss with no weaknesses. Thanks to the no Power Charge restriction, this means that ol' Kitty Dhaos plays by an entirely different set of rules compared to everything that came before him. If Aska was a test of Ludger's ability to be flexible during combos, then Chronos is the test to see if how well he can handle himself out of them.
First off, there's no getting around his resistances to Gun and Dark (for now), so outside of AI manipulation, valuable artes like Requiem and Zero Divide are virtually useless and can't be combo'd with.
Secondly, since there are no weaknesses to speak of, there's no power combos, which means he will escape any grounded combos done to him. Notice I specifically said "grounded". Chronos has no air counters, and outside of Overlimit, he has no way to defend himself from getting juggled.
The first time you launch him, he will trigger Overlimit. Wait that out and launch him again. Then he's free to get juggled like its Tekken.
Once he hits 50%, he activates Trinity Bit, which is a really cool gimmick that never gets seen. Simply put, he gains resistances to all three physical attributes, and using certain artes removes them.
Sword: Chain Strike
Hammer: Chronos Collider
Gun: Tetra Spell
His AI prefers casting, so Chain Strike and Tetra Spell will happen naturally. The most reliable way of forcing Collider out is through counters, but he can also counter with Tetra Spell instead which is just annoying.
Anyways, once all three artes have been used once, he gets weaknesses to all three physical attributes. I like this roundabout method of earning your power combo, but by this point in the fight his HP is so low that there's not much to be done to him. Thankfully CS exists to get a bit more juice out of a short combo.
I really like Chronos 1, its got a fun balance of neutral play and mixes up the typical combo stuff in this game by forcing juggle focused combos. It's probably a hot take, but I wish there were a few more bosses like this. It feels like a good compromise between X1 and X2's styles of play.
And that's Arc 1 complete! See you all in like a year when I tackle like 8 more bosses lol
I'm kidding. It shouldn't take THAT long...maybe.
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šµ Nile (Street Fighter V)
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Chronos
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Restrictions:
⢠Ludger Solo
⢠Unknown Mode
⢠No Damage
⢠No Free Run
⢠No Menu Usage
⢠No Power Charge 2 & 3
⢠No Immunity Skills/Equipment
Elaboration on each restriction, as well as save edits used, can be found in the playlist description: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNm6QTSrQrxOvvKaKZ72_XH2
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At the beginning of this run, I said that there was a boss that puts the doge's magical tailbox to shame. Well, here he is. This was my most anticipated boss as far as Arc 1 is concerned, simply because its' very existence is one big canvas for my combo style.
Aska himself poses no direct threat. He will always start the fight with a light breath attack that has huge startup and a gigantic blind spot in front of him. As far as I've seen, he uses this move almost exclusively until he hits 50%, which just makes him one huge punching bag.
The real threat is the light pillars that spawn every 5 seconds, which act independently of Aska himself. Even if he's being combo'd, these will still come out and because of it, it gives even a one combo kill like this one a sense of urgency and danger. Honestly, one of my favorite boss gimmicks in the game, except for one tiny issue...
Their positioning isn't consistent. They lock on roughly around your area when they're about to come out, and as a result, they can come out slightly to the front, behind or sides of you. This makes playing around them way more difficult then they need to be, and adds an element of RNG to a gimmick that was perfect without it. It's honestly rather tilting to see Falling Snow get you killed because the light pillar came out more forward than it did the other 80 takes, and hit you mid-travel.
Provided he doesn't guard, two Zero Divides will always break him open from the start. This is very nice as he resists light, so the usual Hungry Hunter isn't an option here. Being able to break him open quick and easy also means that I can plan my combo around when the pillars come out, and act accordingly.
As for the combo itself, I think its best to think of Aska in three different sections: the Head/Neck, the Feet, and the Tail. Aska bobs up and down a lot when he gets hit, which causes his hurtbox to shift around wildly.
Reverse Falling Snow and Moonlight Assault are king in this fight. Not only do they cross a large amount of distance, letting me reach the other parts of Aska quickly, but they also dodge the pillars splendidly.
The head's properties are mostly important at the very start of the fight, and its interactions with Moonlight Assault. If you go into Moonlight instantly after RFS, you'll get thrown all the way over Aska's back and land in his tailbox. Delay it too much, and you'll get thrown under his feet and land out the other side. There's a very slight delay between the artes in this take, and I couldn't tell you the exact timing, but if you get it just right, his neck will slow down your descent and you'll land right in front of his feet.
The feet are the most obnoxious part, for what I want to do. This is the best part of the body for artes like Crushing Blow and most grounded artes to work, as its the only part of his body that consistently touches the ground. Even then, artes can still whiff if his hurtbox shifts too high up from being damaged or what have you. The reason I was so adamant on getting in front of the feet was because I wanted to combo the tail with Twin Lotus.
Twin Lotus can move through the feet and combo the tail, but if I'm already in the tailbox at the start, the first hit will whiff and the combo will end. Btw, Aska has one of the fastest recovery times overall. However, Twin Lotus can also get stuck in place if the feet hurtbox doesn't go high enough, which can easily happen if mistimed. A much more consistent alternative is Swift Strike, which is done later in the combo.
The tail is actually the most consistent part of its body, I find. I have a very solid sense of what works and what doesn't against it. As such, I don't think there's too much to say, as I had almost no issues comboing it.
Lastly, this is also the proper introduction to CS. In regards to Aska, I don't do much, but I did want to get funny Heatwave spacing and end with Apocalyptica as it looks good on large bosses. Something worth noting is that CS overrides the pillar timing, and the pillar that came out when I used Apocalyptica was very RNG dependent. It coming out beside me allowed me to finish the fight the way I wanted.
Next up is Chronos, then Arc 1 will be complete.
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šµ Wave Battle! Ride On!! (Mega Man Star Force 3)
šµ Wayside Stone (Under Night: In-Birth)
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Aska
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Restrictions:
⢠Ludger Solo
⢠Unknown Mode
⢠No Damage
⢠No Free Run
⢠No Menu Usage
⢠No Power Charge 2 & 3
⢠No Immunity Skills/Equipment
Elaboration on each restriction, as well as save edits used, can be found in the playlist description: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNm6QTSrQrxOvvKaKZ72_XH2
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The fight is titled "Chromatus Training", Chromatus Ludger is in the thumbnail, and yet...I don't even use Chromatus in this fight. Is this clickbait? Hell if I know, but it's more fun this way.
Btw, I will be referring to Chromatus as CS from now on, for brevity's sake.
This is the last of the tutorial fights, as well as the most obnoxious on account of playing by drastically different rules than most fights. The Gatekeepers technically are the exact same as the one from the beginning of the run, as in they don't have boss mechanics and all that jazz, but there is one crucial difference here. They. Resist. Everything.
In Xillia 2, if an enemy resists an element, they are just not going to get staggered from it whatsoever (unless they are in a power combo to begin with, of course). There are ways to condition the enemy to block even resisted hits, but considering the sheer amount of enemies on screen, I would advise against that.
The intended way to take them out is clearly to go into CS from the start and just nuke everything with stuff like Zero Divide, Apocalyptica and your MA. But that's boring and would make this fight even shorter than it already is.
Thankfully, we have a plan B, and its all thanks to this fight being a tutorial in the first place. The 9999 Intelligence file pulls through again, and status ailments of all things save the day.
Yeah, you can't stagger these mutts...but you can petrify them. Yeah, all your damage is being reduced because of resistances...but burn and poison don't care about that. Yeah, Thunder Breath is scary to deal with from five enemies at the same time...but its just as effective on themselves. You get the idea.
Ailments in X2 are interesting, but you often don't get to see them put that much work in because of how inflated boss stats can get later on and/or just the general combo-focused flow of the game not giving them the opportunity to put in work. That said, I'm glad to have at least one fight in the run that can really show the effectiveness of them.
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šµ Battle Start! (Mega Man Battle Network 5)
šµ Wayside Stone (Under Night: In-Birth)
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Doge
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Restrictions:
⢠Ludger Solo
⢠Unknown Mode
⢠No Damage
⢠No Free Run
⢠No Menu Usage
⢠No Power Charge 2 & 3
⢠No Immunity Skills/Equipment
Elaboration on each restriction, as well as save edits used, can be found in the playlist description: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNm6QTSrQrxOvvKaKZ72_XH2
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Similarly to Rowen, Volt is intended to be the boss made to emphasize the guns' strengths, with lower Iron Stance and minions meant to encourage long range and crowd control. There's a reason why this is Alvin's first fight too, after all.
In practice however, the hammer breaks this fight in half. All that stuff about range and crowd control? Freezing Eruption does that faster and more efficiently...AND the minions are weak to it as well.
Even with the hammer though, this fight can easily turn south if you let the minions breathe or keep Volt out of your line of sight (which can easily happen if you take too much time dispatching the minions). Almost all of Volt's moves are built for pure crowd control, with the bouncing slam moves being some of the most threatening as they cover so much space and can even completely dodge Freezing Eruption on the rare chance he uses it at the start.
Minion placement at the start of the fight is randomized; sometimes the Djinns will be bunched closer to Volt, other times (like here) they will be spread out on each side. The latter is probably the worst outcome because you can't hit everyone with a single Freezing Eruption, and the Djinn you don't hit can just decide to snipe you, or start casting which is very disruptive in a fight like this.
...Is what I would say, but I got ridiculously good RNG in this take. Not only did the one I didn't initially hit decide to just run into the iceberg, but he also ran into the Earth Spike that finished the first minion off. That Earth Spike was intended for Volt btw, as it can easily swat him out of the sky if he decides to bounce from offscreen. But even with that, the RNG was just too good, because all Volt wanted to do in this take was cast. I was actually mulling on whether or not to use this take just because everything played up a little TOO well.
Like Rowen, the combo game regarding Volt stays grounded, though for different reasons. Volt is a heavy boi despite his size, which makes trying to go for stuff like Reverse Falling Snow and Crimson Fury somewhat awkward as he'll fall fast. He does lift off the ground enough to do fun stuff with Mine Collapse, so I tried stuff with that.
Yeah, if you can't tell from the last few vids...I really like Mine Collapse, lol.
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šµ Faded Bustles (Scarlet Nexus)
šµ Wayside Stone (Under Night: In-Birth)
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Volt
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Restrictions:
⢠Ludger Solo
⢠Unknown Mode
⢠No Damage
⢠No Free Run
⢠No Menu Usage
⢠No Power Charge 2 & 3
⢠No Immunity Skills/Equipment
Elaboration on each restriction, as well as save edits used, can be found in the playlist description: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNm6QTSrQrxOvvKaKZ72_XH2
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The Demon of the Alleyway, the Mighty Geezer, the werewolf dude from BlazBlue, Vik's waifu. Regardless of what you may know this man as, one thing's for sure...he's annoying.
Rowen's the REAL Hammer test, and to send that fact home, he has way more Iron Stance than a man of his years has any right to have. Alongside that, he also has Grace, which prevents any and all staggering while he's casting, combined with an AI that heavily favors camping in the corner. Fun, fun, fun.
Thankfully, said spells aren't really anything to write home about aside from Splash and its sheer speed. But even punishing him after a spell dodge gets tricky since he can act out of them fast with his normals, which can be delayed and/or have lingering hitboxes, depending on the move. Sidestepping after Falling Snow is essential to avoid the hurtbox extention glitch; it doesn't play nicely with Rowen's disjointed normals.
Severed Fate is also super "fun" because he can just throw it out before you get a punish on him, which can force you to end your turn early. He will use every opportunity to slink right back to the corner, thankfully based Falling Snow pulls through again and puts a stop to that nonsense real quick.
When he gets to lower HP percentages, he gets fun toys like Tidal Wave and Roche Waltz. Tidal Wave? With Grace? And he can (and will) spam it? Oh boy, sign me the hell up! Yeah...no thanks, Rowen's already a frail boss as it is, so I don't mind dropping him fast when the moment presents itself.
As for the combo, there's a couple of things to note. Since he has Knife Revenge, avoid air knockdowns if you want to keep your combo going. Despite being close to the ground, moves that send the enemy flying away like Time Disintegration count as air knockdowns for Knife Revenge, so you have to think outside the box a bit when it comes to knockdowns.
I wanted to keep the Squall Shot reset scenario that I had in the old Rowen take. Instead of it being an AC reset opportunity, I used it to cover a weakness reset.
That Mine Collapse whiff at the end wasn't intentional. I think I forward stepped before FS, which made it take too long to connect, buuuuuuut I don't mind the combo drop here since the outcome I got is hilarious. Just know that combo does work.
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šµ Moonlit Melee (Skullgirls)
šµ Wayside Stone (Under Night: In-Birth)
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#ToX2 #Ludger #PlSS
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Restrictions:
⢠Ludger Solo
⢠Unknown Mode
⢠No Damage
⢠No Free Run
⢠No Menu Usage
⢠No Power Charge 2 & 3
⢠No Immunity Skills/Equipment
Elaboration on each restriction, as well as save edits used, can be found in the playlist description: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNm6QTSrQrxOvvKaKZ72_XH2
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Finally, I'm no longer swordlocked, though I'm still not at peak performance just yet. The guns are Ludger's one stop shop for anything setup related, leveraging the massive hitstun his other two weapons provide to make room for traps or sneak in some funny positioning-based hitboxing. While the hammer is better for neutral, a lot of the "sauce" wouldn't be possible without the guns.
Anyways, Ivar's weapon tutorials are another one of those "bosses that most people don't consider bosses", but my OCD compels me to do them. Similarly to the doge from before, he has insane level scaling, though you don't need to go through hoops to do it. There's an NPC in Trigleph that lets you rematch any of the tutorial battles, which level scale all the way to Lv. 196.
Since a tutorial boss has so much stat inflation, I decided to bring some of my own and play around with the same 9999 Intelligence file I use for some of my one-off combos. Specifically for the sake of being able to use petrify and/or stun setups.
My goal with this fight was simple, use Bubble Blast twice and incorporate some backwards shenanigans. I don't use Bubbles as much as I should, so this fight is to make up for that somewhat. That said, this fight is even shorter than the hammer fight, ah well.
Not much to say compared to the hammer fight, honestly. The most complex thing here would be the Lunar Reflection to get behind his back. While I believe it is possible to raw Lunar Reflect to get behind an enemy and stay there, the spacing for it is incredibly tight, so the slight lift from Bubble Blast really helps in this situation to ensure his back is in the way for when Ludger recoils.
"Real" bosses start tomorrow, so for the folks that want to see Rowen and Volt get memed on, stay tuned.
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šµ Radio Virus Busting (Mega Man Star Force 3)
šµ Wayside Stone (Under Night: In-Birth)
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Ivar
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Restrictions:
⢠Ludger Solo
⢠Unknown Mode
⢠No Damage
⢠No Free Run
⢠No Menu Usage
⢠No Power Charge 2 & 3
⢠No Immunity Skills/Equipment
Elaboration on each restriction, as well as save edits used, can be found in the playlist description: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNm6QTSrQrxOvvKaKZ72_XH2
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Finally, I'm no longer swordlocked, though I'm still not at peak performance just yet. The hammer is a wonderful addition to Ludger's kit and is the go-to for all my knockdown and knockback needs. Its also the best option for Guard/Iron Stance breaking by a long shot, so I strongly suggest you always grab the hammer first before the guns. You'll hear more about why that is when we get to Volt.
Anyways, Ivar's weapon tutorials are another one of those "bosses that most people don't consider bosses", but my OCD compels me to do them. Similarly to the doge from before, he has insane level scaling, though you don't need to go through hoops to do it. There's an NPC in Trigleph that lets you rematch any of the tutorial battles, which level scale all the way to Lv. 196.
Since a tutorial boss has so much stat inflation, I decided to bring some of my own and play around with the same 9999 Intelligence file I use for some of my one-off combos. Specifically for the sake of being able to use petrify and/or stun setups.
I had one main goal when going into this fight. I wanted to land Magicka Blade's backbox and combo off of it. It's been a long known fact that Magicka Blade has an obvious hitbox there from its startup, but the challenge was always finding a way to combo afterwards and in a clean manner. The combo you see here was built around that idea.
That isn't to say that's the only silly tech in this video. There's something that happens a little bit after that, that I only discovered during the making of this video. I want to see if you can find it for yourself. Here's a hint: My swords don't have an element.
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šµ Radio Virus Busting (Mega Man Star Force 3)
šµ Wayside Stone (Under Night: In-Birth)
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Ivar
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Restrictions:
⢠Ludger Solo
⢠Unknown Mode
⢠No Damage
⢠No Free Run
⢠No Menu Usage
⢠No Power Charge 2 & 3
⢠No Immunity Skills/Equipment
Elaboration on each restriction, as well as save edits used, can be found in the playlist description: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNm6QTSrQrxOvvKaKZ72_XH2
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The second of the two swordlocked bosses, Julius trades the funny meme tail hurtbox for...being an actual boss. That's it really. He doesn't even get high level scaling like the doge since you have to fight him the legit way. It's probably for the best though, dragging this fight out is probably not worth it considering how much I'm locked out of early on.
The most interesting thing about him is that he likes to counter after the first hit a lot of the time with Falling Snow, which is more annoying than anything. He also tends to backstep whatever you do at the start of the fight, which makes Lunar Reflection a perfect counter.
As the first true boss of the run, this is also the run's formal introduction to weakness combos, and by extension, weakness resets. One somewhat overlooked aspect of weakness resets I think is the ability to stop your combo modifier from getting too high by letting it drain out at a lower percentage, and picking up the combo from there with a reset. This allows you to have better control of your damage output, which is great if you're going for a specific combo kill or trying to reach a specific HP threshold by the end of your combo.
The last thing I should mention is that in a couple of these vids, I base part of my combo around something I did in the old run's equivalent of that fight. Here, I tried to keep the max range Falling Snow AC reset while having a cleaner combo around it overall. More stuff like that is sure to be found in some of the vids coming up, so that's one other thing to look forward to if you liked parts of the old run.
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šµ Shut Up Faker! (Sonic Adventure 2)
šµ Wayside Stone (Under Night: In-Birth)
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Julius
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Restrictions:
⢠Ludger Solo
⢠Unknown Mode
⢠No Damage
⢠No Free Run
⢠No Menu Usage
⢠No Power Charge 2 & 3
⢠No Immunity Skills/Equipment
Elaboration on each restriction, as well as save edits used, can be found in the playlist description: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNm6QTSrQrxOvvKaKZ72_XH2
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The first "boss" in the run, which doesn't even have boss mechanics and is little more than a beefed up regular enemy. That combined with the fact that I'm locked to swords only and have no access to the skills or equip menu would normally mean this is doomed to be a very boring fight...right?
Thanks to the power of spaghetti code, the latter part of that above paragraph is completely averted! If you make a NG+ file and then quicksave before the grade shop opens, you'll make a "glitched NG+" where you take almost everything with you from your previous save file. The catch is that there are almost no bosses to fight outside of this thing and the EX dungeon shadow bosses (don't expect me to do those, please...), so the applications of this trick are rather limited.
But for the context of this fight, it opens up a lot. Despite still being swordlocked, I can change weapons to the cookware to try and get just a little more mileage out of my limited moveset. And unlike the next boss, level scaling gives him enough HP for me to actually play around with.
Btw, you see that big tail just swaying around on the back of this thing? Yeah, that's a fully functional hurtbox. What a fitting boss to showcase my "Hitboxer" style of gameplay. That said, there's not too much to say about this fight's properties aside from the fact that the second hit of Reverse Falling Snow can whiff if mistimed, as the hurtbox shifts around slightly, even when its knocked down. Outside of the beginning of the combo requiring stun to connect cleanly, everything else can be done normally.
This ain't the only boss in the run with a fun, abusable hurtbox. Even here in Arc 1, we have another one that puts this mutt to shame in that department.
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šµ Battle Start! (Mega Man Battle Network 5)
šµ Wayside Stone (Under Night: In-Birth)
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Doge
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You can stuff Collider with two gun sidesteps, which is probably one of the coolest things that gun "movement" is capable of. The timing is really tight, from my experience I time to sidestep to when he turns around but I also die 2/5 times when I do that lmao.
Time Disintegrate can groundbounce Chronos if he's knocked down from Hungry Hunter. Again, its timing sensitive, do it too late and he gets to recover for free, do it too early and he probably will still recover while you're recovering from your own arte. But if you get the timing right it looks really cool.
Look forward to the actual Chronos 1 fight, it may not have this stuff but It'll have some other cool tech to compensate. :}
Uploaded this to show a semi-consistent OVL bait setup for Chronos 1. And yes, i'm still making progress, however slow I may be.
BGM: Gohan Blanco Theme
I've always wanted to do a Milla combo for Christmas for some reason, but its been one of those things I just never got down to. Time to change that, even if its only just one short combo for now.
I haven't played her in like a year, so I can't say my Milla is anything you haven't seen before. Still, I tried to spice things up with my typical backwards nonsense and linked arte cancelling some spells.
s/o to Homura btw, the L1 forward into Binding Sphere I shamelessly lifted from him lmao
BGM: Holoska - Cool Edge Night (Sonic Unleashed)
Stalk me I guess:
Twitter: @UnheardPhantasm
#ToX2
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Restrictions:
⢠Ludger Solo
⢠Unknown Mode
⢠No Damage
⢠No Free Run
⢠No Menu Usage
⢠No Power Charge 2 & 3
⢠No Immunity Skills/Equipment
Elaboration on each restriction, as well as save edits used, can be found in the playlist description: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNm6QTSrQrxOvvKaKZ72_XH2
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Ludger, as you would expect has no issue opening, or re-opening up bosses with his treasure trove of tools. In Ivar's case, I got by with a simple Requiem setup with the wind guns, as despite its multi-hits, its one of the most consistent artes for this purpose. I more or less just freestyled after said reset, so apologies if the latter half of the combo isn't as creative as the first half.
Speaking of Requiem, you may notice some backwards hitbox jankery going on here. I plan on incorporating more silly stuff like that when the run goes up, so look forward to that. Believe it or not, setting that whole thing up isn't the most difficult part of this combo. The Mine Collapse near the beginning actually is. Most takes had the initial mine throw whiff Ivar and let him recover before Falling Snow could convert. Other times, the tornado from Wings of Destruction would push him into the Mine, letting me quickly catch and convert off of it with Falling Snow, which imo is the best looking outcome. What I got here was the middleground; not the most flashy way to go about it, but one I can live with.
Curious how these resets work, or want to try them for yourself? Thankfully my bro Samu made a quick primer for ya right here: youtube.com/watch?v=Vb0ZWOCrZyE
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šµ Party People (Granblue Fantasy: Versus)
šµ Wayside Stone (Under Night: In-Birth)
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Ivar
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šµ Battle 1 (Fate/Extra)
šµ Wayside Stone (Under Night: In-Birth)
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Society
Pardon the terrible video quality on the gameplay shown, I can't find the original video files for those vids and had to download my own videos to mp4 through a lame converter online. It doesn't detract from the point of the vid, but it looks ugly af, so sorry for that. But hey, at least the cool channel intro animation makes up for it? sigh...
Expect the arte exhibition to come within the next couple days.
Twitter: @UnheardPhantasm
Oki version here: youtu.be/pmC8ccTScwc
Stuff used:
Cutscenes from Fire Emblem Three Houses (of course)
None Piece Episode 4 (PurpleEyesWTF)
Some screenshot on my phone of Byleth BTFO'ing Mufasa
Claude's Weaksauce
HELOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo
Lorenz's foot ointment
and tons of explosions
#FireEmblemThreeHouses #FE3H #GoldenDeer
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Stalk me I guess:
Discord: Jakkun#1295
Twitter: @UnheardPhantasm
Steam/PSN: UnheardPhantasm
This combo was originally from my Wingul fight, though I never got to do the full thing there due to how obnoxious that fight is. Figured it'd make a good derusting challenge to try and pull the combo off again, considering I never got to show off the real thing.
#Chronostasis
Maybe I'll upload more stuff for this or for Elsword, who knows. I just wanted to play Skirm again. Probably the most fun/fluid class I've ever played in an MMO tbh.
BGM:
Lovely Gate 3 (Sonic Adventure 2)
Beast Anne's Theme (DFO)
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Restrictions:
ā Unknown Mode
ā Ludger Lv ⤠Boss Max Lv
ā Limited Chromatus
ā No Menu
ā No Damage
ā No Free Run
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Stats:
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Original Take: youtube.com/watch?v=O3d0q1VbJtU&index=13&list=PLAnIxj98OeNkMsFPvNoJAQRfBWLmC-NhK
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I redid this fight due to dissatisfaction with my original take of this boss. My mindset back then was that the fight was disinteresting so let me herb up and kill her fast. That's not how I do things, so here we are.
MuzƩt has all the tools of a well made boss: fast normals, long reach, an out to being cheesed in the form of her escape warp, but not completely unstoppable in the sense that you can keep her in the air to prevent her from warping out. However, this falls flat because her AI is so finicky.
One of my goals when trying to make an interesting vid for this Ludger Solo is being agressive in my gameplay, traits like the ones I listed above do a good job in keeping me on my toes and forcing me to play smart, I think it makes for a more enjoyable experience. But bosses like MuzƩt here love to run to the corner and spam spells. Most of them easily dodgable and do little more than to drag out the fight. Most spells I can bully her to stop doing and get her to be more proactive, but there are some like Flame Ring (which is a counter btw) that just force me to sit there and let it happen.
I guess what I'm getting at is that the real challenge of this fight is keeping things interesting. I hope I was able to accomplish that.
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#ToX2 #Ludger #MuzƩt
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BGM:
Five's Theme (Drakengard 3)
Beneath the Mask Remix (Mewmore)
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ToX2 Challenge Run playlists:
ā Ludger (Me): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNkMsFPvNoJAQRfBWLmC-NhK
ā Milla (Homura): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMzk6XLb13nA_TjPCwLy9HmYCxT2I0Qc
ā Alvin (Vik): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxtGdawJWgl8aWU_NiPy33rrDlJxkhW5j
ā Elize (Chao): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU0FyoPKKZRqsKGmXS-3XJcXBCKo6Kfmn
ā Leia (Frubam): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQmeMnoDpaH7A9lYkF4lY5aphjLsNKjdc
ā MuzĆ©t (Samu): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH044RYg0S_3dg8TYLH_QSAyyBk7XizaI
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Stalk me I guess:
Discord: Jakkun#1295
Twitter: @UnheardPhantasm
Steam/PSN: UnheardPhantasm
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Restrictions:
ā Unknown Mode
ā Ludger Lv ⤠Boss Max Lv
ā Limited Chromatus
ā No Menu
ā No Damage
ā No Free Run
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Stats:
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You may also know this creature as the "Medusa Butterfly" from Vesperia.
Veywind Eye isn't too threatening. By itself, it's pretty much Scorpactus but without the digging to keep you from comboing it too much. Key word being "by itself", because you'll never get to fight this thing 1v1.
In a similar vein to Chronos 2, Veywind Eye starts with 2 minions spawned around it. These are the real bosses here. They can spray powder that can hit to the sides or even behind them if you're close enough, and their other main attack is a multi-hit absorb move, so perfect guarding isn't an option with these things. Killing them first isn't a viable option either, as they will instantly replace themselves by having another one spawn from the edge of the screen. Chronos 2 at least gave you 5 seconds before the Bits came back.
Another thing I forgot to mention is that they resist all elements, but are weak to the 3 physical attributes. Since resisted hits don't stagger, this means that you have very limited options when it comes to killing them or keeping them at bay. Twin Lotus, Pow Hammer and (especially) Requiem come in clutch, as these are Ludger's main AoE non-elemental artes. Falling Snow as well, but that's the MVP of every fight.
Hope you enjoyed. Leave a like and/or comment if you found this interesting.
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Veywind
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BGM:
Battle Theme (Persona 2: Innocent Sin)
Victory Theme (Persona 5)
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ToX2 Challenge Run playlists:
ā Ludger (Me): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNkMsFPvNoJAQRfBWLmC-NhK
ā Milla (Homura): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMzk6XLb13nA_TjPCwLy9HmYCxT2I0Qc
ā Alvin (Vik): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxtGdawJWgl8aWU_NiPy33rrDlJxkhW5j
ā Elize (Chao): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU0FyoPKKZRqsKGmXS-3XJcXBCKo6Kfmn
ā Leia (Frubam): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQmeMnoDpaH7A9lYkF4lY5aphjLsNKjdc
ā MuzĆ©t (Samu): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH044RYg0S_3dg8TYLH_QSAyyBk7XizaI
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Stalk me I guess:
Discord: Jakkun#1295
Twitter: @UnheardPhantasm
Steam/PSN: UnheardPhantasm
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Restrictions:
ā Unknown Mode
ā Ludger Lv ⤠Boss Max Lv
ā Limited Chromatus
ā No Menu
ā No Damage?
ā No Free Run
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Stats: imgur.com/a/glG2j
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This is a reupload of my fight against Jude from 11 months ago. I wasn't satisfied with the Chromatus section of my original take so I redid it, that being said, it was recorded in an original take from the original, I want you, the viewer to know this for authenticity's sake (or lack thereof, depending on your perspective).
Another reason I reuploaded this is because I originally edited it in WMM and unlike some of my other older vids, I still had the raw recordings of this fight, so I wanted to refurbish it, so to speak.
That being said, I did learn something useful in remaking the Chromatus section. You can delay the individual normal attacks in the chain, and by delaying them, the enemy is less likely to be proc its counter, meaning with smart usage of delays, you could use artes like Edge Crusher and Apocalyptica outside of a Power Combo. Not Dual Waltz though, that move sucks.
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Jude
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BGM:
A Quiet Decision (Trails of Cold Steel II)
Step Ahead (Trails of Cold Steel III)
Victory Theme (Persona 5)
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ToX2 Challenge Run playlists:
ā Ludger (Me): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNkMsFPvNoJAQRfBWLmC-NhK
ā Milla (Homura): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMzk6XLb13nA_TjPCwLy9HmYCxT2I0Qc
ā Alvin (Vik): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxtGdawJWgl8aWU_NiPy33rrDlJxkhW5j
ā Elize (Chao): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU0FyoPKKZRqsKGmXS-3XJcXBCKo6Kfmn
ā Leia (Frubam): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQmeMnoDpaH7A9lYkF4lY5aphjLsNKjdc
ā MuzĆ©t (Samu): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH044RYg0S_3dg8TYLH_QSAyyBk7XizaI
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Stalk me I guess:
Discord: Jakkun#1295
Twitter: @UnheardPhantasm
Steam/PSN: UnheardPhantasm
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Restrictions:
ā Unknown Mode
ā Ludger Lv ⤠Boss Max Lv
ā Limited Chromatus
ā No Menu
ā No Damage
ā No Free Run
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Stats: imgur.com/a/VRfNyXV
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As part of the GREAT DERUSTING OF 2018, I thought it'd be a "good" idea to use the gigantos as filler content. That way I can keep my skills sharp while I handle the tougher bosses yet to come. I can't promise the giganto fights will be interesting, as I don't have much experience with them, but I can guarantee that these beasts will get no less than my best, even if they are just side bosses.
No i'm not doing Exoplasma.
Ok now to the actual boss analysis. Scorpactus has some pretty nasty range on his attacks, his normal attack can beat out sidesteps and even some late backsteps, and the rest of his moves just destroy backsteps for the most part. His most annoying (and frequent) move is that digging move that Exoplasma is more famous for. It seems like its easy to backstep preemptively, but the move itself inverts your directions if you try to backstep out of it on the ground. The most reliable alternative I found it to use Falling Snow x2 with no directional inputs in between. You can get away with just one FS, but its a lot more finicky since depending on what direction Scorpactus faces, its tail (which isn't telegraphed by the dust cloud) can smack you on its way out.
Outside of that, Scorpactus is very easy. It's very slow (par for the course with gigantos), and has very low Iron Stance, to the point where a raw Mine Collapse is guaranteed to break him open. Due to this, I found the fight to be rather flowcharty, but at least I got a dodge in there.
Hope you enjoyed. Leave a like and/or comment if you found this interesting.
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Scorpactus
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BGM:
Battle Theme (Persona 2: Innocent Sin)
Victory Theme (Persona 5)
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ToX2 Challenge Run playlists:
ā Ludger (Me): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAnIxj98OeNkMsFPvNoJAQRfBWLmC-NhK
ā Milla (Homura): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFMzk6XLb13nA_TjPCwLy9HmYCxT2I0Qc
ā Alvin (Vik): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxtGdawJWgl8aWU_NiPy33rrDlJxkhW5j
ā Elize (Chao): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU0FyoPKKZRqsKGmXS-3XJcXBCKo6Kfmn
ā Leia (Frubam): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQmeMnoDpaH7A9lYkF4lY5aphjLsNKjdc
ā MuzĆ©t (Samu): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH044RYg0S_3dg8TYLH_QSAyyBk7XizaI
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Stalk me I guess:
Discord: Jakkun#1295
Twitter: @UnheardPhantasm
Steam/PSN: UnheardPhantasm
let me sleep
I tried to incorporate some artes and normals that don't see much use. I think Hammer Toss has some potential against smaller foes that could potentially be dragged behind Ludger's head on the way back. And Gun vX's followups are very finicky. Its easy to drop the combo by the last hit not bouncing or the enemy recovers by then. Considering its been ages since I last played this, i'm satisfied with what came out.
Feel free to ask any questions or give feedback if you're interested in what you saw.
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Combo notation for those that care:
xx - Hammer L1 - Power Swing - Migrating Sparrows - Hammer Toss - Gun vX~XXX - Meteoric Waltz - Bubble Blast (hold) - Falling Snow - Sword L1 - Tiger Blade - Lunar Reflection - Falling Snow - Quick Drop - Squall Shot - Mine Collapse - Wave Smasher - Hammer L1 - Hammer ^XX - Freezing Eruption
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#ToX2 #Ludger #Combo
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BGM: High Voltage (Guilty Gear Xrd SIGN)
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Stalk me I guess:
Discord: Jakkun#1295
Twitter: @UnheardPhantasm
Steam/PSN: UnheardPhantasm
But yeah this is a joke video. However, that dumb healing + buff move the robots kept using is reaaaallly effing dumb. I know CS2 is all about burst damage so you can just bypass the healing, but this video is a good example of why a stalling playstyle like Elliot's is just incompatible with this game.
If I ever actually solo this game it'll most likely be with Sara. However, I bet Vaisu that I could beat CS1&2 with just Elliot and I am a man of my word.
BGM: McBurn's Theme (Trails of Cold Steel IV)
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IS has a funny habit of giving GHB bosses pre-charged specials to compensate for their otherwise lack of difficulty.
...Two can play that game.
Coming off the heels of Abyssal Grima, Jamke is a cakewalk. The only difficult part of this is Jamke himself and his pre-charged Astra. To that end, he has a Guidance Flier near him to give him a large range to snipe you on his phase.
Or we can just nuke him and the Green Armor before they can act. I was suprised to see Ishtar tank both the mages on enemy phase, even after Fury damage. I guess that 33 effective Res does come in handy after all.
Jamke deserved better man. He doesn't need a made up Prf or anything, but the guy is just...another archer at the end of the day. They could've at least made him green or something idk.
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BGM:
Resolve - Dark (FE Fates: Conquest)
Rose Petal Shower (Luminous Arc 2)
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Stalk me I guess:
Twitter: @UnheardPhantasm
Steam/PSN: UnheardPhantasm
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I don't upload very often these days, but I figured I'd upload my clear of the new Abyssal difficulty for the Robin LHB, because I was actually impressed that I was able to muscle my way through this gauntlet of pain.
I tried to go a little further with my editing style from my last FEH video, incorporating a little bit of friendly banter between my units to liven things up. Thankfully Echoes exists, but Ishtar may sound a little wooden here due to a lack of voice clips for her (or her VA, Ratana) outside of Heroes. sendme
Man, editing is fun and all when you get to see the finished product, but dear lord is the process tedious as all hell. I can only pray that YouTube doesn't neuter my 2 days of work on this vid.
Sothe will return. He's currently at +6.
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BGM: Mystic Core (Ao no Kiseki)
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Stalk me I guess:
Twitter: @UnheardPhantasm
Steam/PSN: UnheardPhantasm
Btw I love these two, Hyde also has Alm's VA so you know that's a keeper.
Note: This isn't a True Solo. I used a (one) Dancer, specifically for maneuverability purposes. The plan is to redo this when I hit +10 and solo this without dancer support. I'm not sure what to call this solo...Assist solo? Support Solo? Dancer Solo? Bleh.
Anyways, I hope you can look past that, as I see it was a nessecary evil, given my current resources.
BGM: The Days When My Mother Was There (Persona 5)
Description from the original vid:
My editing is slightly less terrible now, so let's try this again. I also tried to be funny/cheeky with some voice clips, though its probably gonna come off as more corny than cool.
Just my take on Kana Infernal. People have stated how tanky this kid is, but a valid strat is just to get rid of the dragons before they get a chance to buff themselves.
Also, Sothe seems unimpressed with this map...he needs more of a challenge!
BGM: Beautiful Lie (Danganronpa V3)
Just my take on Kana Infernal. People have stated how tanky this kid is, but a valid strat is just to get rid of the dragons before they get a chance to buff themselves.
Also, Sothe seems unimpressed with this map...he needs more of a challenge!
BGM: Beautiful Lie (Danganronpa V3)


