Warning: Don't pick Hard

[Washing Machine]

Made it to final boss, and it's pretty much just impossible to win. Beat the Culex secret boss, but the final boss is just unfeasible.

Everything does 75% of entire party health if not just onehits even with highest defense equipment possible, the boss has 4 body parts that all get individual turns, some of which get multiple turns. You can just get instant party wiped soon as the fight begins. Dispels all buffs constantly, not like it matters since your buffs from first phase don't carry over anyway. Her startup animation for all her spells is also obnoxious to figure out, and some of the all hitting attacks like the eclipse moon I just can't figure out a block timing for at all.

Grinded days now to reach lvl50, but levels don't really make a difference. Best results I got was by poisoning all parts and spamming Confuse Bombs on the orbs to keep them from wiping me, yet even if I manage to block correctly, the fight still turns into an endless healing/resurrect loop where I'm too busy trying to stay alive to damage the boss, until inevitably it does multiple all party hitting attacks in a row and it's just game over no matter what.

Unless I missed a character with major gamebreaking skills, I just don't think this is doable at all.

[Reimirno]

The block timing is messed up in the game, we have to admit.

Have you tried to use Doremi + Yukari + Reisen Combination? Yukari constantly hides the other two, Doremi sleeps the other two when in need and use revival to the other two when in need, and Reisen is in charge of attack (drink the attach buff in the first 3 turns first and in the following turns she deal 1000-2000 damage per turn). There is a certain cycle that you can follow under Normal difficulty provided you equip Yukari with Poltergeist ring - I am not sure whether this combo would still work under Hard difficulty.

If this is your first time playing through - I think using Reimu instead of Reisen is fine, just Reimu'a DPS is a bit low.

[Reimirno]

So basically Yukari would keep being killed and revived, and the other two must be ensured to be alive all the time (optimally they would always be in Yukari's gap).

Congratulation to you for making it to the final boss though!
The final boss fight was definitely not enjoyable for me as well, I have to say. Even under Normal mode it is needlessly long and tediously repetitive. But this game is still a very well-made game loaded with contents, surprises and my good memories......

[Reimirno]

Oh btw there are so many extra equipment with insane stats that you can get from completing the side quests:

1) Beat Mima (at shrine underground) to get "New Moon's Badge" (All +20)
2) Talk to Junko at all 9 places and come back to Shrine to talk to her to get "Lilies of Murderous Intent"(ATK +25, DEF +5)
2) Beat Yuugi to get "Oni's Badge" (All +20)
3) Use Reimu's skill "Flying miko" to stamp on enemy's head for 30 consecutive times to get "Miko's band" from rabbit in Chireiden (all + 20); if you can jump 100 times consecutively you can get a "Super Miko's Suit" (all + 40).
4) Climb up vines at the front gate of SDM to get Huge Yin-yang Suit (Def +127) and another insane equipment (couldnt remember).
5) You can get a badge from Kaguya's place which allows you to halve all damage
6) Also you can purchase wonderful equipment from Moriya shrine to halve all spirit consumption etc.

These are the stuff I could remember. Hope they would help!

[Washing Machine]

Eh, I'll probably give it more shots come some time off, got bit triggered spending two days trying and not really making any progress. Best fight I had I barely survived like 4-5 rounds before wiping, but felt like I barely got any hits in on the boss.

Did most all of those sidequests, not sure how to trigger a Yuugi fight though. I can't figure out how to get to the area behind Yama either.

I'm pretty sure earlier when I tried buffing Reisen the boss started spamming a full party dispel every time I did, which got rid of Peerless, so it didn't seem worth doing? Swapping to Doremy/Yukari also has a bit of an issue in that they're like 20 levels behind since I didn't use them. Derp.

[sanae_kochiya]

You can beat the final boss in hard mode at level 36 with most combinations, specially if they involve doremy.
Those extra items are optional but they help a lot, be careful with an item that involves mima though (i don't remember which one it was, but it's the one that reimu says she should probably get it rid of it, sell it, you can always get it again in the little shrine)
Because if you don't get rid of it you will fight a powered up version of the final boss.

That's also true if you don't defeat Kokoro,Kosuzu and Youmu right before her fight (yeah you can skip them), if you skip them you will fight that powered up version aswell.

The beautiful thing about this game is that it might seem like you need to grind but actually you don't need to grind at all in the entire game, that includes Hard mode. (There's a Lunatic mode by the way, if you beat hard mode, in that one probably grinding doesn't help anyway)

What is required though is getting familiar with most of the timings of the attacks, luckily for us a lot of them are standardized even if they look different.
This is why it's not a bad idea to play Easy mode first, in easy they visually show you the timings of every move, and this is crucial if you want to take on Lunatic mode.(In lunatic mode on top of everyone being stronger every enemy has double turns, those who attack twice in the regular game attack 4 times now so this means that the final boss attacks 6 times per round.
Levl 50 should be pretty overkill, making the fight quite trivial to be honest but even at that point if you don't block you could still have trouble.

I insist, no grinding is necessary, just a solid strategy and being familiar with the timings does the trick.
if you want a pretty cheap way (but not so free) to win, you can use my video as a guide:
This is when i first beat the final boss in hard mode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzrlN2_DEVg
This is on hard difficulty without that much preparation, i lack the junko item (which i couldn't figure out how to get)

Also if you really want to you can get all UFOs and you get a very strong item from Nue, problem is that i haven't got them all myself, some locations of the UFOs are bugged for some reason so i don't know if anybody has gotten them all yet.


Have fun (it's honestly one of my favorite fights in the game, it's a lot of fun, it forces you to actually play the game)

[Washing Machine]

Originally posted by sanae_kochiya:

You can beat the final boss in hard mode at level 36 with most combinations, specially if they involve doremy.
Those extra items are optional but they help a lot, be careful with an item that involves mima though (i don't remember which one it was, but it's the one that reimu says she should probably get it rid of it, sell it, you can always get it again in the little shrine)
Because if you don't get rid of it you will fight a powered up version of the final boss.

This is pretty much what was going on, I managed to take down Mima with some Sakuya timestop shenanigans, but I assumed you couldn't get rid of the item and just had to live with the final boss you end up fighting.

The big problem is that I feel like you need a massive cheese to do anything about the targets, because even grinding levels I just couldn't survive at all if the powered up final boss does all-hitting attacks in a row. I found some decent strats to sleep the moons and such, but it still felt unfeasible to get all the stars to align so I wouldn't get instant party wiped while trying to whittle away the giant HP bars of all the targets in the fight. Some of the attacks like the Eclipse also I couldn't find when to block it at all and it would just kill my dudes in one hit.

It also didn't help that I'd always have to trudge through the first fight again which made the whole process really tedious.

Restarted game on Normal for luls since I still like the game, see how it plays out. I mostly just wanna see the ending at this point, but I don't think I got the patience to grind out a W against the final superboss.

[sanae_kochiya]

Originally posted by Washing Machine:

Originally posted by sanae_kochiya:

You can beat the final boss in hard mode at level 36 with most combinations, specially if they involve doremy.
Those extra items are optional but they help a lot, be careful with an item that involves mima though (i don't remember which one it was, but it's the one that reimu says she should probably get it rid of it, sell it, you can always get it again in the little shrine)
Because if you don't get rid of it you will fight a powered up version of the final boss.

This is pretty much what was going on, I managed to take down Mima with some Sakuya timestop shenanigans, but I assumed you couldn't get rid of the item and just had to live with the final boss you end up fighting.

The big problem is that I feel like you need a massive cheese to do anything about the targets, because even grinding levels I just couldn't survive at all if the powered up final boss does all-hitting attacks in a row. I found some decent strats to sleep the moons and such, but it still felt unfeasible to get all the stars to align so I wouldn't get instant party wiped while trying to whittle away the giant HP bars of all the targets in the fight. Some of the attacks like the Eclipse also I couldn't find when to block it at all and it would just kill my dudes in one hit.

It also didn't help that I'd always have to trudge through the first fight again which made the whole process really tedious.

Restarted game on Normal for luls since I still like the game, see how it plays out. I mostly just wanna see the ending at this point, but I don't think I got the patience to grind out a W against the final superboss.

Yeah the powered up version is pretty much the final challenge of the game (after you beat all of the post game content and bosses) and that also includes the special items these bosses give you.
You can get rid of the item then try again versus the regular version, there's special dialogue before the final boss that will let you know if it's the powered up version or not.

About normal mode, you can (if you want) skip all mob enemies and go straight to the boss of the area and you will still should be able to defeat the boss.
This is what i did in my second playtrough in hard mode, what i did per area was "if the battles required to level up are less than 10, then i fight the enemies, if it's more than that then its okay to go directly to the boss"
It will save you a lot of time, so don't worry about being "under leveled" at all, i did this for almost the entire game in hard mode so it should work in normal mode for sure.

Some negative reviews about the game here on steam claim that you need to grind which makes me a bit sad because that is not true at all so i feel like it's unfair for this great game (it takes an special kind of rpg to want me to replay it)
It's just that you have to learn how to play by it's rules.

When i played it on normal mode the first time i got pretty much stuck at Miko and had to grind, then in my first Hard mode playtrough i didn't grind at all and was able to beat her because i learned how to play by that point.
Also keep in mind, the final boss even in normal mode will put up a good fight.
it really helps to learn the timings but there are some that are pretty counter intuitive.

The eclipse one that you mentioned for example, you need to press the button right when the 2 circles perfectly align.

A lot of timings are the same between each other but are counter intuitive also there seems to be some degree of input delay in the game itself.
Since they are counter intuitive, i will copy paste here some tips i posted long ago:

Originally posted by sanae:

For blocking there's some general/standard rules for a lot of enemies and spells:

Spell that cover the screen instaly (fire,sandstorm,ice, etc)
In these the idea is to press the button right when the attack shows up, you can't react to this so you need to use the character's animation as reference,shortly after the animation ends thats when you press the button,
If you try to react to the effect itself, you won't make it, it will be too late.

Spells that hit one single party member and has some kind of especial graphic effect (fireball, rock, darkness,lullaby,thunder, etc)
in these the idea is to press the button a little bit after the effect appears, in this you need to pay attention to the text to prepare, then react to the effect, do not anticipate it, it is a delayed button press so you need to react, the time you take to react thats the delayed timing you need.

Spells that have a barrage of stuff coming from the upper right part of the screen (knives, blood storm, etc)
you press the button right after the first projectile passes the character.

Spells that have stuff falling from the sky:
you press the button right after you see them drop, do not hit when they are about to hit the character because that would be too late.

Spells with little explosions (the water one and the bubbles one)
you press the button right before the big explosion, it's hard to get used to.

these are some of them but these are the most common in general, there are some weird ones like Miko's mesmerizing move that have no reliable visual cue , for these you need to develop a "feel" for them

[jafferduo]

(Another video, Hard Mode from a JPN player)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSBwiFGfC18

[CamoJakIV]

Originally posted by Reimirno:

The block timing is messed up in the game, we have to admit.

Have you tried to use Doremi + Yukari + Reisen Combination? Yukari constantly hides the other two, Doremi sleeps the other two when in need and use revival to the other two when in need, and Reisen is in charge of attack (drink the attach buff in the first 3 turns first and in the following turns she deal 1000-2000 damage per turn). There is a certain cycle that you can follow under Normal difficulty provided you equip Yukari with Poltergeist ring - I am not sure whether this combo would still work under Hard difficulty.

If this is your first time playing through - I think using Reimu instead of Reisen is fine, just Reimu'a DPS is a bit low.

I assume that Poltergeist ring lets you keep Yukari from sleeping, right? You remember where you found it? Been looking everywhere I can think of, but I've had no success.

[sanae_kochiya]

Originally posted by CamoJakIV:

Originally posted by Reimirno:

The block timing is messed up in the game, we have to admit.

Have you tried to use Doremi + Yukari + Reisen Combination? Yukari constantly hides the other two, Doremi sleeps the other two when in need and use revival to the other two when in need, and Reisen is in charge of attack (drink the attach buff in the first 3 turns first and in the following turns she deal 1000-2000 damage per turn). There is a certain cycle that you can follow under Normal difficulty provided you equip Yukari with Poltergeist ring - I am not sure whether this combo would still work under Hard difficulty.

If this is your first time playing through - I think using Reimu instead of Reisen is fine, just Reimu'a DPS is a bit low.

I assume that Poltergeist ring lets you keep Yukari from sleeping, right? You remember where you found it? Been looking everywhere I can think of, but I've had no success.

You can find it in the poltergeist mansion, merlin gives you the ring, search in the part with black background, i think it was the place where you fought the boss fight.
Hug every wall searching for an invisible passage, jump or feel around until you notice something invisble standing there, talk to it.

[CamoJakIV]

Originally posted by sanae_kochiya:

Originally posted by CamoJakIV:

I assume that Poltergeist ring lets you keep Yukari from sleeping, right? You remember where you found it? Been looking everywhere I can think of, but I've had no success.

You can find it in the poltergeist mansion, merlin gives you the ring, search in the part with black background, i think it was the place where you fought the boss fight.
Hug every wall searching for an invisible passage, jump or feel around until you notice something invisble standing there, talk to it.

I suspected it was somewhere where ghosts would be present, but didn't think of invisible passages being a thing. Just looked around that area, and found it. It's called the Wristlet of Unrest in my version for whatever reason, but it keeps Yukari fully alert. Appreciate the info. :)

[Knucklenator]

Originally posted by Reimirno:

The block timing is messed up in the game, we have to admit.

Have you tried to use Doremi + Yukari + Reisen Combination? Yukari constantly hides the other two, Doremi sleeps the other two when in need and use revival to the other two when in need, and Reisen is in charge of attack (drink the attach buff in the first 3 turns first and in the following turns she deal 1000-2000 damage per turn). There is a certain cycle that you can follow under Normal difficulty provided you equip Yukari with Poltergeist ring - I am not sure whether this combo would still work under Hard difficulty.

If this is your first time playing through - I think using Reimu instead of Reisen is fine, just Reimu'a DPS is a bit low.

Wait, you can take Reimu out of your party?

[CamoJakIV]

Originally posted by Knucklenator:

Originally posted by Reimirno:

The block timing is messed up in the game, we have to admit.

Have you tried to use Doremi + Yukari + Reisen Combination? Yukari constantly hides the other two, Doremi sleeps the other two when in need and use revival to the other two when in need, and Reisen is in charge of attack (drink the attach buff in the first 3 turns first and in the following turns she deal 1000-2000 damage per turn). There is a certain cycle that you can follow under Normal difficulty provided you equip Yukari with Poltergeist ring - I am not sure whether this combo would still work under Hard difficulty.

If this is your first time playing through - I think using Reimu instead of Reisen is fine, just Reimu'a DPS is a bit low.

Wait, you can take Reimu out of your party?

You can, but only after defeating the final boss.