@VofEscaflowne

Wow, no overall defensive bonus? Impressive. (Although I'm sure shot defence helps somewhat, but still).

I'm trying to build the ultimate weapon, it's slow going. Got a few potentials, but they aren't quite there yet.

Yeah it's hard to get an item with defensive bonuses that actually has other good stats. The confusion is great though but yeah, I'm sure the shot defense really helps as I rarely go in for melee. The continuous fire is great I'm sure and this thing shoots fast plus its dash/charged attacks are quick and powerful. The speed allows me to easily dodge attacks in both flight and ground mode

So I finally finished the main game. Awesome ending sequence.

Actually, this game as a whole is just plain "bad-ass". And not in a way-too-much-machismo way like God of War, but just... I dunno. Bad-ass. It has a lot more attitude than I would expect from a Nintendo franchise, but not in a trying-too-hard way like Sonic. Just...

GOD, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

I'll probably play through the boss rush and try a bit more online (which honestly didn't grip me much) but other than that, this one is done.

Did enjoy.

@Zero

I'm going for the full 100% here! 32 Treasure Hunts to go, and chs 18, 19, 24 on 9.0, and Boss Battles on Hard.

@TriforceBun

Damn, we're pretty close I have around that amount to complete as well.

Are you gonna go for boss rush mode on hard? I COULD use a feather... but it feels like it would be cheating. Then again, even just beating it on normal will be a challenge. I can't imagine going through it on hard. I'll definitely have to use it for the 30 StreetPass one though.

@VofEscaflowne

I haven't used a feather yet, and I hear it can't be used for the hardest challenges anyway (Brawl did something similar), so I'll probably just hang onto all my feathers. I actually just got the StreetPass one the other day! It definitely helps to go to gamer-type convention things.

I might 100% this game 5 years down the road. I'll always come back to it for the 9.0 runs, treasure hunts, and online.

Do I suck at games or are you guys just really good? I can't even imagine trying to do 9.0 runs. And by that I mean staying at 9.0.

Zero said:

Do I suck at games or are you guys just really good? I can't even imagine trying to do 9.0 runs. And by that I mean staying at 9.0.

Hearts lost in Fiend's Cauldron: 862,980

I'm not really all that good--just persistent! I've died a lot in this game, and it's cost me a ton of hearts.

But really, the whole 9.0 thing is one of my favorite aspects of the game and very addicting. It works nicely with the whole "trying to get better equipment" thing.

@Zero

Getting better equipment makes a huge difference. I couldn't imagine attempting 9.0 runs before but once I got my Artillery Claws, suddenly they became much easier. I think the flight sections are the worst and since claws are so fast, it allows you to move around much faster and avoid shots.

@TriforceBun

That kinda sucks... but it makes sense I suppose Hopefully I can use a feather on the 30 StreetPass one, otherwise who knows how long it'll take for me to get 100% unless I go to some kind of gaming convention.

Some kind of meetup.

@VofEscaflowne Speaking of equipment, I was trying to play some multiplayer last night and everyone seemed to have these uber items and skills. I know they supposedly tried to balance it in some way for the team stuff, like the better gear you use the bigger risk elsewhere, but people had this stuff that would pretty much instantly trap/kill me, whereas I'd have to slowlyyyyyyyyy wear them down and 9 times out of 10 they seemed to have some kind of invincibility powers going on as well. I'm not sure how that could ever be all that balanced.

To be frank, I think you kind of need awesome weapons/gear to not be at a disadvantage in multiplayer. I kind of don't like the trend (yes I'm going to call it a trend) of bringing in unlockables to multiplayer matches, I'd prefer everyone have (generally, a few minor unlockables is ok) the same access.

@Zero

For Uprising, it's not really "unlockables" so much as...I dunno, "loot." In other words, it's less about "you've beaten this challenge, now have this awesome weapon," and more about the player putting the effort into gathering weapons and fusing them for the abilities they want. This kinda goes hand-in-hand with 9.0 runs as well--remember that the higher the intensity, the better the weapons you gain will be. And if your weapon is just okay, it's probably best to not dive into 9.0, and instead work your way up through 7 and 8 to get weapons strong enough to handle 9 (and to handle others in multi). I'm more of a Solo guy, so I haven't focused as much on multi.

For Solo, a couple rules of thumb: Overall Defense is a lifesaver too. Get something with Def + 6, 7, or 8, and it'll make things much simpler for you. And make sure it has decent stars for range (over 3 is good). Range is much more valuable than Melee in Solo.

Well... to me look and unlockables are the same thing. I just mean something that when you go into multiplayer, other people have and you do not, because you haven't played as much as them, or found/won the right stuff, etc. I definitely understand the appeal of being able to customize based on loot in multiplayer games like this, but I wish there were at least the option to play some kind of "everyone has the same weapons/gear" mode? It could get pretty interesting too if what you played with was randomly selected (although this might "spoil" some of weapons/gear that is out there.)

Whatever the case I enjoy the game way more as a single player game anyway. I think my few forays into multiplayer will be my last, unless Negative World gets together to play some night and then I can consistently come in last place.

Actually though even in single player I'm not sure that the whole "loot" thing appeals to me in games. It does on the very basic level of it's fun to find new stuff and use it, but the whole idea of having to seek out specific stuff to create specific stuff and often "grind" (maybe not so much in this game, but you know, playing specific stages over again in specific ways just to get loot) to get that stuff... that all gets sort of lost on me. For instance in this game I just played straight through and whatever I found in each stage I fused afterwards, but I didn't go back to any stages just to find more stuff. At least Kid Icarus doesn't have any "you need 10 monster claws go wander around in this area and fight monsters even though only 1 out of every 8 of them will actually drop a claw" type looting. That stuff is the worst. I got semi far into Monster Hunter Tri just playing it straight-forward, despite people telling me you can't play it like that... part of is the dread that keeps me from going back is that (supposedly) eventually I'd have to start replaying areas just to loot and build stuff in order to just keep progressing and that's not fun to me.

@Zero

Even if it's a loot based game, you don't really have to play the same levels over and over again to get better equipment. You CAN do it if you want to but if you just do the treasure hunts, you're bound to find better equipment anyway without specifically searching for more. And if you do the treasure hunts, it means you enjoy the game anyway so you'll want to play at higher difficulties and such... and be rewarded with better equipment. I haven't felt like there was any grinding involved, even after the time I've spent with it.

Treasure hunts are essentially just achievements though, right? That kind of stuff can be interesting to me, but it also gets old.

Though they do reward you with items, power ups, hearts, idols and feathers. Some of them even unlock entirely new weapon types so you can create them by fusion later. Same for power ups.

Just had my first taste of the Icarus today! (I finally beat OoT 3D last night, glorious ending, even better with the new visuals).

I'm really liking what I've played so far, the first two bosses. It looks amazing, the controls are the kind of inventive idea I've always enjoyed on the DS and like Zero said, it's got a bad-ass yet Nintendo vibe that is pure videogame, high-in-sugar, crazy Japanesy FUN. Definitely going to savor this one.

I've been trying to tackle these couple of treasure hunts and they just keep giving me a hard time.

First it's beating chapter 20 with a bow. I can usually make it near the end easily enough but there's a few sections that keep screwing me over, especially the end where Palutena's giant guards appear (the ones that throw dumbbells at you). I've equipped a bunch of powers that allow me to avoid attacks though it's still hard to keep it going without getting hit and usually a single hit will deal an insane amount of damage. I actually made it to Palutena once but wasn't able to defeat her

The other is trying to destroy 3 of Pandora's mirrors while in her human form. I can't even figure out how to actually destroy them though I'll try equipping the Mega Laser power and just obliterating them that way next time I try Also getting her to actually create mirrors is quite tricky.

Thankfully I finally managed to beat chapter 3 with a blade though it was still hard as I don't have one that's really strong.

@VofEscaflowne

I tried going for the defeat Twinbellows before he roars challenge.

Intensity zero, weapon strength 6 stars, and a Mega Laser for good measure. Dead in like three seconds.

But it's not fast enough?!

Have you done this? What's the secret?