Oh, I have one more detail to add: if you have more DEF than Kekkajin's ATK, but you block his pathway with your sword, he won't run because you're standing in the way. An easy press of R will let you do it differently, but maybe just for aesthetics it would be nice if he could run around your sword.
Edit: And done! Finished Normal mode. Maybe some day I will try Hard, but I thought this was hardcore enough as it was. Final comments:
- The Silent City: perfectly balanced. Many choices and a great bunch of fun for the true optimizer.
- The Forgotten Temple: Pretty much the same story. Not too easy with the brained boss, but leaves space (read: HP) to breathe.
- Disused Sewers (1st part): Hard in comparison to earlier levels and the latest levels. This definitely took me the longest to figure out an optimal route.
- Collapsed Chamber:
Click here to view the secret text
×This level seems extremely hard at first glance, but the 150 threshold is very easily reached before the first encounter with a Swordsman, namely after unlocking the secret stash.
After doing so, I noticed I had 2250 greckles and an Invisibility Potion. So I went back to the Forgotten Temple and got all the stats from 2N, at the cost of 1 brained Pirate hit.
Then breaking the Northwest seal first and getting the Steel Shield as soon as possible made the rest very easy.
Absolutely loved the puzzles on this level, by the way. Very frustrating for about ten minutes, but then they make you feel great when you figure them out.
- Disused Sewers (2nd part):
Click here to view the secret text
×Bahamut was a laugh with the aforementioned tactic: he cost me 528 HP, about three times less than breaking the northwest seal had cost. After getting the flippers, 230 ATK was the threshold, to kill Seep/Aumtlich/Waterskipper in two hits. This was reached immediately after reaching 2N1W. Then it was just a matter of getting 265 ATK for the stats now freely available in Fourth Level: 3N1E. When 275 ATK was reached, I killed the Lost Souls in order to get another 8 ATK and DEF. The BloodWorm only cost around 275 HP with these stats. After this, getting to the next Level and the Long Sword was very easy. The Knight Shield was retrieved soon afterwards.
- Broken Stairwell:
Click here to view the secret text
×Getting 330 ATK was a breeze with the Long Sword and the Knight Shield. After that, the place to use Wall Walking was freely accessible, gaining even more stats and another Invisibility Potion. Losing enough HP to laugh at the Aumtlich's puny damage was easy when taken into consideration during earlier levels. Kekkajin didn't do any damage, since I had over 400 DEF.
- The Ruined Gatehouse:
Click here to view the secret text
×Once the correct route to maintain access to all areas was figured out, this Level was also a breeze. 1-hittable monsters everywhere. I had enough HP to immediately tank the Warp Token, and get the Hook shortly after. Asha did a whopping 345 damage.
- The Nameless Fortress:
Click here to view the secret text
×Once all weapons, shields and accessories needed were accumulated, the level was easier than it first seemed, even with all monsters doubled in strength. Getting to the merchant was the first step. Then, the ATK emblem got me past the ATK threshold to 1-hit Fegundos and Waterskippers, granting easy access to the RBS and Oremite Shield. After this, it was just a matter of swapping ATK and DEF emblems to get maximum Greckles. Mind you, I hadn't used ANY power square yet.
Gray Strides was easy with the use of 1 Speed Potion, dealing me about 2000 HP damage.
- The Lost Treasure Vault:
Click here to view the secret text
×Since I never used any power square until now, I spent over 100000 Greckles in 1W. I used two Portable Orbs to get past the doors, and an Invisibility Potion combined with the second Speed Potion to beat Khattam-Shud.
Gray Strides asked me to come to the treasure chamber West after this, however when I got there I never saw him again and just ended the hold. Intentional or did I miss something because I opened the treasure room before I beat Khattam-Shud?
All in all: So far the best hold for optimizers in my opinion. However, bosses like Bahamut, BloodWorm, Kekkajin and Asha deserve a solid improvement, since they cost less HP than a strong 'normal monster' on their respective Levels. This is what made the hold quite easy once the Long Sword and Knight Shield were retrieved. (much) Harder bosses would have made the difference between being able to get all the freebies on the next Level and having to stock up for bosses, which would have been more challenging and fun in my opinion.
____________________________
Don't worry, be happy, and slice monsters. You'll probably do better than me at all three.
[Last edited by Midootje at 01-28-2013 05:31 AM]