Polar Star trading?

[Kargor]

Well, after being ripped apart in the Sand Zone Residence on the first try, I did a bit of research on this and found out that after completing the fight I can trade my gun for a machine gun. Apparently, when I do that, I'll loose access to another weapon named "Spur" which is apparently much better for fighting bosses. However, check 5 posts and you get 6 different opinions on what weapon to get.

So I'd like to ask: if I decline the trade, will it be available if I change my mind? For how long?

[Elecmarol]

If you decline the machine gun, you will be able to return to Curly to get it until you enter the Storehouse at the end of the Sand Zone.

[tgang]

if you keep the polar star you can also get the snake which combines the polar star and fireball to shoot projectile fireballs and they go through walls

[Adelion]

It mainly depends on taste I would say. If you play through the game more then one time just try it out. Haven't really played with the snake so I cant say anything to that, but:

The machine gun: I used it in first playthrough and for the normal ending it is more then enough. The nicest bonus to this weapons is that on level 3 it can lift you up. So if you suck at platforming it is quite helpful.

The spur: It is a stronger and as a laser it cuts through ennemies, so you can kill ennemies standing in a row which is handy sometimes. The biggest advantage of the Spur is that it hasn't a level. It is always on level 1 and gets higher by charging so it doesn't matter if you get hurt.

[YipYapYoup (QC)]

The machine gun makes the game easier since you can basically fly everywhere you want. For a first playthrough I feel like that's the best choice, and you don't need that much of a good weapon for the normal ending. It's also likely that he won't "find" the Spur on his first playthrough, and searching for all the secrets before finishing the game isn't recommended.

Also, since the Spur is an extremely useful weapon, I'd rather have OP use the machine-gun for the normal ending and then get the Spur in another playthrough to get to the best ending, so that it doesn't feel like doing the same game twice over.

[Kargor]

Hm... so at least I still have some time to decide.

It's unlikely that I'll play this a second time anyway. I also get confused by all those references to "endings" -- I'm just going to complete the game and that's it. If I make it that far.

Now, if the "Spur" is hidden then that's certainly an argument to consider, although that could be easily countered by looking it up in advance :-) I usually consider it bad design if essentials are hidden, but I can't really tell whether it's essential.

I haven't done that much research on this yet, but the "snake" thingy doesn't seem to creep up a lot as a recommendation. Seems I'll just have to delay this a bit further and find some playthroughs or something similar. And even though YipYapYoup recommends the machine gun, he DOES describe the "Spur" as being "extremely useful" and merely recommends the machine gun to get the good stuff on the 2nd playthrough...

As for the platforming, it can get rather annoying at times, mostly if there are fans getting in the way and because you don't just "stop" when you land. Unfortunately, like with many games, this one forces you to make decisions on how to proceed without telling you anything what's going to happen. Right now, I consider the platforming to be mildly annoying at times, but nothing to be concerned about...

[Kargor]

Yeah well, I've looked up that Spur thingy on Youtube, and also learned to not talk to that professor guy in some chasm cave thingy. So that's going to be what I'll do... should probably watch more videos, but it's easier if you know keywords like "Spur" to search for stuff :-)

Shouldn't be too long, I'd guess. One guy had 41 life, while I have 36... so it's just one Life capsule in between...

[YipYapYoup (QC)]

The Spur isn't essential, that's why it's "hidden".
And it's the opposite of what I said, the machine gun is good for your first playthrough where you're not supposed to look up anything on Youtube to try to get the best ending. Then you can get the Spur to help you out while trying to get the best ending in your second playthrough.

I agree that there's a lot of cryptic things in this game, I wonder if anyone got the best ending without looking up anything on the internet. But for your first time around you shouldn't be on Youtube looking stuff up.

[Kargor]

Well, it doesn't actually matter anyway. I'm stuck on a boss THAT I HAD TO LOOK UP ON YOUTUBE AS WELL because I f*ing didn't even damage it despite shooting into the middle area when it opens up. Turns out that apparently this is only the first phase where it doesn't take damage or something like that, but the best I ever got so far was about half its health. And that was a lonely record, never to be reached again. Usually I haven't even taken a single pixel off its health bar by the time I'm asked whether I want to retry.

Not trying it all that often anymore -- it's annoying having to get there from the last savepoint since I also want to arrive with full health and full weapons, weapons all turn into crap because of the stupid leveldown system which makes you take even more damage so you level down even faster, this stupid thing takes 5 health off you when you touch the wheels...

Well, it was worth a try, I guess.

[Adelion]

Well yea. You probably mean the boss in the labyrinth with the wheels and those insects running around. I think he was called Omega X. I needed to fight him 3 times until i realized what I had to do. He is not that hard. Just use your sword (even level 1 is more then enough). First clear the path from ennemies and then keep standing on the wheels (so they can't hit you) but pay attention if you reach one side because the barriers will damage you (i think it is only one health point so it may be smarter to get that damage if you can't manage to evade the wheels).
If he stops just jump in the middle and place yourself either right or left and shoot as fast as possible your swords up. You should be able to destroy two of the four "eyes". The stuff they are shooting is also desctructible. You will still get hurt but not too much. Then repeat for the other side. This time you should be able to destroy the other twos without getting hit.
Then repeat and wait for him to stop a third time, you can finally hurt him. Just stand in the middle and jump and shoot swords upwards as fast as possible. Ignore the rockets for the most part (you can also destroy them but do this in the time between his stops). Repeat three times and you are done. The solution is probably pretty obvious but maybe it will help you.

[YipYapYoup (QC)]

It's Monster X. Omega-something is the sand monster.

And basically just get your level 2 blade, stay on the wheels and once it opens you jump really close to the four destructible things and spam the blade like crazy. If you play with a controller, try to have a setup to be able to spam the button while moving/jumping.
Rinse and repeat. It's more than enough to beat him on normal.