Saturday, June 20, 2015

I just had to brag, didn't I?

I don't remember if it was here or somewhere else, but I recently complained about the relative lack of difficulty I ran into so far in Hyrule Warriors' legendary TP map. Even the orange section, the fourth out of six, seemed much easier than in the MM map. And going into today, I had three missions left there, the first three on the top row.

I began with the middle one, a "rack up KOs" mission that had a Heart Piece as an A-rank reward for Impa. After doing a reconnaissance run with Ruto (because she's a bit better and much better equipped in my game), I went for it with Impa, and my butthole was as tight as it could be the whole way through. Luckily the Giant Blade hits Volga's weakness, so the plan was to stay away as much as possible and nail C4 after C4 from a reasonable distance. Volga's a bitch to fight, but I got lucky and didn't get on the receiving end of his C3, which is always an "are you fucking serious" moment when you're a mile away and still get hit by it. From there on out it was a matter of hitting the Lizalfos' water weakness, trying to wear down any Dinolfos I ran into without forcing it, and running the hell away from the giant bosses. Surprisingly, there were more than enough enemies and more than enough time to get the required 1200 kills even without beating the giant bosses, so being extra careful around Dinolfos was enough to net me a tense A-rank. So far so good. (As an added bonus, a Defenseless Giant Blade dropped, which allowed me to make a really good weapon for Impa, so maybe I'll be using her more from here on out.)

Next mission was for Zant's 8-bit weapon. The mission itself wasn't that hard in terms of simple completion, but for what seemed to be the first time on this map enemies did enough damage to make the A-rank an apparent impossibility. It would've been a lot more manageable had I been able to do this with anyone BUT Zant, but as it is, even after all the damage buffs he got throughout the patching process, he's still vulnerable enough to make Ganondorf cringe. Starting right in front of a Link you have no choice but to beat is especially bad news, because his regular string alone easily deals ten hearts worth of damage. So I beat the mission just to get the hang of it (and a B-rank in the bank), tried it a few more times, took a few hits every time, then said fuck it. First time I'm leaving something on the table on this map, and I'm not surprised Zant is involved. Even Agitha had some tough missions I ended up pulling off just fine.

Finally... well, there goes that A-rank on the last mission, I thought to myself after seeing the Imprisoned's ugly mug on the preview screen. But before I could beat the old bag of scales, I was confronted to the MM's map's trademark for the first time on this map: having to take out every last officer out there, and being forced to take them on a half-dozen at once. Now this was a Ghirahim-only mission, and let it be known that Ghirahim just might be the best character for taking out a single officer from complete safety. Six at a time, though? Not a chance. This would've been Volga's department, especially considering they were all Icy Big Poes. And they had a lot of freaking health, too. They did a very reasonable amount of damage, though, which was a shame considering I had to put up with the Imprisoned. Despite the insane amount of Icy Big Poes I had to go through, if I didn't have to fight it the A-rank would've been entirely doable. But if there's something the Imprisoned's good at, it's wasting your time. It seems to have been designed to do so in the most effective (or least, as the case may be) fashion possible. So I had to swallow my pride and take another B-rank for the time being. Oh well, at least costumes don't require an A, or even a B, so at least I got Ghirahim's as a consolation prize.

tl;dr version: the moment you say something is too easy, that's the exact moment it becomes too hard. But we all know that already, don't we?

4 comments:

  1. Ghirahim's primary way of dealing with multiple officers is executing C4's sword beams from a distance. C5 is also relatively safe, if I recall.

    Zant got more than damage buffs in the patches. C5 can now be cancelled, making it an effective finisher. The name of the game is launching with C2, doing a safe combo, then emptying the meter. A full meter can down a boss WPG in one go with the projectiles, assuming you're hitting the sweet spot (standing the exact distance that you end up after hookshotting Argorok.

    Have you played the Zelda Imprisoned mission near the top-center of the map? If not... Well, you're in for a treat.

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    1. I think that's the second Imprisoned I saw on this map, and the first one was in a "defeat all bosses" mission.

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  2. We must be on the same wavelength because I attempted those first two missions today as well. Zant's mission wasn't as bad for me, and I was able to A rank it on my first try. I did get pretty lucky; I ended the mission with 3950 damage. But that Impa mission? That seemed hopeless to me. I even tried using the Naginata out of desperation. To me Impa was too slow and clunky to efficiently take out the bosses (I guess I should avoid them?). I had to leave that one for now, and I've spent at lest an hour trying to get a better knife for her.

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    1. I was around level 90 at the time, and I think the weapon I used for it had Strength IV, so starting your combo from a distance then using the C4 just as Volga approaches might be good. The water element's side effect also makes Volga stagger for a little while, so you might be more aggressive when it's on - as long as you don't have a Dinolfos infestation problem.

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