Has anyone actually played through True King Difficulty?

[Huggy Snuggle]

I've been at it for some time. At the time of writing this, I'm in the Empyrean Ruins, needing to fight three Gorillas. I know it is doable, though it will require RNG as well as impeccable strategy (and a LOT of tries).

My issue is that it seems at times that I am slamming my head against a wall, hoping that the probabilistic nature of physics will eventually allow for me to phase through. Meanwhile, other enemies and bosses seem to be unchanged, allowing my max stats and abilities to make jokes of them. Again and again I am more intimidated by random enemies than I am of the bosses, and it is way worse for Sky Armors.

I never quite understood what the intention is for strategy in those battles, especially gear shifting working the way it does in conjunction with how the overdrive system works. As battle conditions change, often you have little option to adapt, in stark contrast with On Foot battles, where I feel like I always have options no matter the situation. Additionally, the crystal system is a way to pump up the stats for characters past their max level and mold them into useful tools for any given situation, but the options are far more limited for the Sky Armors.

I've been scouring places looking for other takes on True King Difficulty, but see little talk about it.

[Manocheese]

Yes, I've beaten the game and done all the optional stuff on True King. The on-foot battles aren't too tough if you have lots of max-rank gear and crystals, but the sky armor battles are no joke. Some of them seem to require quite a bit of luck. For example, Crystal Guardian sometimes acts before any party member and immediately uses a party-wiping attack, ending the battle. He and Labrodia-Dervinas are probably the hardest battles. For the latter, I couldn't find a way to stay alive for any extended period; I just had to give him status ailments to stop him from attacking (which only works a few times because he builds up resistance) and dish out lots of damage to kill him before he killed me.

As you mentioned, some of the ordinary encounters are even more difficult than the boss battles. Certain groups, like the two mages and one warrior in Raminas Tower, seem very hard (and maybe impossible) to beat in sky armors. I actually found it easier to beat them on foot. Egyl's and Raphael's Ultra Moves protect against physical and magical damage, respectively. Give both of them Stylish Accessory (to make the buffs last longer) and give everyone Specialist and Ultra Move (to charge the Ultra Move bar faster). With a build like this, it's fairly easy to stay alive and slowly chip away at the enemies' health. Some boss battles give you the option to fight on foot if you die in sky armors, but I managed to beat them all without doing so. I tried fighting Labrodia-Dervinas on foot and managed to stay alive for multiple hours, but eventually he starts using such powerful healing that it seems impossible to beat him without the high damage output of sky armors.

[gatsu86]

Sky Armor battle is not as complicated as it seems, as long as you stay in the middle of the orange bar you should have no problem taking enemy damage and healing yourself. Change gear to stay in orange, and if a big attack from a boss (for example) comes in a turn be prepared in advance and switch to gear 0 to take less damage.

I beat the 3 gorillas on the first try, if you alternate gears properly you can survive without problems.. if you can take one off even better.

At minute 41:49 you can see how I faced them (link below):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc2QJf6iPSY

That being said, I'm not saying it's easy, I too had to retry some bosses multiple times both in Sky Armor and on foot.

Good Luck. :)

[Manocheese]

That's not True King mode. When you beat the game and start a new game +, you have access to a new difficulty called True King. The enemies are far tougher than in regular mode, especially in sky armor battles.

[gatsu86]

Origineel geplaatst door Manocheese:

That's not True King mode. When you beat the game and start a new game +, you have access to a new difficulty called True King. The enemies are far tougher than in regular mode, especially in sky armor battles.

Sorry, I thought you were referring to the True King trophy (beating the game).. I didn't know there was this mode. Is this a new feature?
When I played it I didn't notice it.

[Manocheese]

Yes, new game + mode was added in an update:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1229240/announcements/detail/3721707694907790503

[gatsu86]

Origineel geplaatst door Manocheese:

Yes, new game + mode was added in an update:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1229240/announcements/detail/3721707694907790503

I see.. Thank you! :)