Jonny2x4 wrote:Ghouls 'n Ghosts also had Princess Guinevere/Prin-Prin being killed by Lucifer's laser in the start demo and the climax of Splatterhouse had Rick being forced to kill his girlfriend. 1988/89 wasn't exactly a good time period to be a damsel in distress in a video game.
Aww jeez, I forgot they friggin killed poor Prin-Prin for Dai! Some decided oneupmanship going on, not only between companies but sequels too!
DD3AC was apparently directed by Kishimoto, even though his name is not on the credits, apparently he had connections with some of the people who ran East Technology, although don't remember the exact details at the moment, but basically East Technology was founded by people who also ran Rollertron, a company that distributed DD2AC in Japan.
Interesting... now I really hope it gets an ACA release at some point, though god knows how complicated that might be.
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Sir Ilpalazzo wrote:I'd like to be proven wrong but it feels like the final boss fight is bordering on being a slot machine.
He's a nightmare, but after some months, I seem to have assembled a reliable strategy for him. I wouldn't call him a lottery, but I would definitely agree he's unbalanced to your floaty movement. I think less vicious bolts, or destructible ones, paired with some sort of ground hazard would've tempered this fight nicely.
As it is: the key is to neutralise his randomness, which (as you say) you're not very equipped to deal with.
BIL, at some point earlier this thread you made a post about a strategy where you misdirect the shots with a V-shaped movement patterns, being careful not to let them loosen into a W or something like that - for reference, can you post that again?
This has been my general tack since my first 1LC back in September, but it's only in the last month that it's really started to form up into a consistent pattern. Here are the kills from my three most recent 1LCs. The first has the general pattern, but panic-jumps at the very end. The latter two are progressively cleaner, though I've still some ways to go before calling it a day.
24/11/19
05/12/19
07/12/19
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Before detailing the strategy, an important note on
Rank. AFAIK, in Saigo, it only affects enemy HP - raising it incrementally as you collect POW spheres. Whether Shadows contribute, I do not know. To test it out, try doing this at x2 POW:
Works every time. If you've got x3 POW, or an active Shield? He'll always survive just long enough to kill you.
RANK: I play at mid-rank, two POWs (Kusarigama & Grenades) and two shadows. This saves me a couple grenade hits on strong enemies and bosses. Having managed 1LCs at max rank and lower, I think this is the best balance and have stuck with it for now. I have a couple uses for POW Sword & Shuriken (st3-2 defense, st7-1 offense), but I've learned to compensate with normal Sword and POW Grenades, respectively.
Main difficulty is avoiding unwanted POW orbs at a few specific points, typically by blasting the carriers from a distance, and/or hopping them. If you accidentally put a POW orb directly in your path, scrolling it offscreen is a handy trick.
st3-2: Monks can complicate.
st4-1: a pair of them, following the initial Shadow carrier - easily worked around with bunnyhops.
st4-3: again no big deal. hop over and hustle on.
st5-1: victim of routine #1. master a stage route and the attendant speedkill (lots of Shields near the top), and this guy won't be an issue.
st6-1: if he spawns to your right, let him jump past you to avoid a complicating landmine.
st7-1: stationary, victim of routine #2. hustle past en route to the
Mad Monk feat. Ryuichi battle.
st7-1: stationary, victim of routine #3. draw your shadows up, let him spawn, then hustle past.
It's not the end of the world if you end up grabbing POWs, but in a game this cut-throat you gotta take whatever edge you can.
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STRATEGY: I'm 95% happy with it, though refinement is ongoing. I'll always make it to the second jump landing, every time. Improv is restricted to two points:
* Crafting the second jump arc for optimal bolt drag. you need to align with his weakpoint, to deal Shadow damage, so freedom is limited.
* Possible emergency evasion as the bolts near your corner. I currently bunnyhop out, but this is nervier than I'd like. WTB faster kill.
A very general four-stage outline, with variables (*) and pending issues (?):
1) run under him immediately, then execute the absolute highest, longest-lasting jump possible. The idea is to draw his fire up after you while dealing damage. Don't go too far left, only as much as needed to stay clear of the bolts.
*) try to hit him on your fall into the arena, but don't break your stride or delay the jump; this can get you killed. Hit him throughout the jump.
?) my start timing out of the Ninja Pit is very rough. I should figure out when exactly it's safe to start moving leftwards... the rock dragons' fadeout is my current "get ready" signal.
2) once the jump is over, head back underneath him.
*) I currently go for aggressive bunnyhopped upshots, nervous but doable. again, don't break your stride. First and third replays show absolute rat's nests of bolts in hot pursuit - don't worry, just keep moving.
3) second jump, drawing his bolts up but aligned to his weakpoint, so your Shadow can pound him while you're on the ground.
*) you want to prolong this situation, though bolt RNG will always compromise.
?) perhaps a higher jump could better misdirect bolts while leaving your second Shadow positioned to hit? or a pair of weakpoint-aligned jumps?
4) the kill. as noted, here is where things get dicey. he should be near-death at this point; in the above replays, I'm pretty sure I could've gotten away with an otherwise-doomed panic jump to the upper-right, but I went with more survivable leftward options. Earliest replay's panicky upper-mid jump would've probably died.
*) a max height jump to the left seems to risk certain death via high counter... in the latter two replays, I go with a bunnyhop executed late as possible.
This is very much an all-in "banzai" strategy, predicated on a relatively quick kill, but it seems to consistently work and greatly neutralise the deadly RNG. I will probably keep coming back to Saigo throughout the next year, and will record any changes or refinements. I find it hard to put down entirely.
If it's of any use, here's my
Saigo playlist, and also my
Ninja Pit guide (I know you said you've cleared the pit, but just in case!).
(I'm also playing the fight while trying to recover, which makes your videos a bit inapplicable, but I assume recovering in this fight most be possible given that iconoclast's replay does it.)
It's definitely possible to kill him on recovery, though I can't advise there - I'm too egotistical not to restart on death.
(outside of
crazy, recon-worthy glitches) I remember it feeling an absolute slog compared to the freedom of powerups, and my strategy relies on having POW grenades and at least one shadow, so I kinda fell into 1LC or bust.
That said, he must lose a ton of HP due to the rank reset, and there is a POW drop in the left corner (getting both it and the rightmost Shadow drop sounds optimistic). I don't find Saigo checkpoints too interesting, since the game compensates you generously, but figuring out a reliable final boss takedown could be interesting.