[SPOILER] Regarding Artful Gambit, Is It Possible To Platinum With 1 Playthrough?

[Yílõng Má]

For those who already got the true ending, how many boss left from my save?

I immediately used Artful Gambit after getting it before The Queen That Was, and so far I've killed 7 bosses with AG.

1. The Queen That Was
2. Elder Mist 2nd fight
3, 4, 5. Arena bosses (silver boss, boxer guy, antlion)
6. Romaya 2nd fight
7. Sea Slug

Are there 3 or more bosses left or I still need to do NG+?

[VertVentus]

So you haven't entered the Fleshmancer's Lair at all?
I think you fight two bosses on the way to the final boss, then there's the regular and true final bosses but I didn't use the Relic at all to verify if they count.
You might be able to get it on NG, although the director said otherwise.
https://www.playstationtrophies.org/news/sea-of-stars-trophy-preview-creative-director-thierry-boulanger/
Thierry: “So the 10 bosses one I previously mentioned involves a relic that you get so late that you need to do a new game - ... So for that trophy, it’s not that it’s missable, but it does call for starting a New Game+ (which makes it slightly easier since your stats carry over).

I guess obtaining Reaper's Mercy from Gold Rank is the priority so you can survive longer.

[Yílõng Má]

Originally posted by VertVentus:

So you haven't entered the Fleshmancer's Lair at all?
I think you fight two bosses on the way to the final boss, then there's the regular and true final bosses but I didn't use the Relic at all to verify if they count.
You might be able to get it on NG, although the director said otherwise.
https://www.playstationtrophies.org/news/sea-of-stars-trophy-preview-creative-director-thierry-boulanger/
Thierry: “So the 10 bosses one I previously mentioned involves a relic that you get so late that you need to do a new game - ... So for that trophy, it’s not that it’s missable, but it does call for starting a New Game+ (which makes it slightly easier since your stats carry over).

I guess obtaining Reaper's Mercy from Gold Rank is the priority so you can survive longer.

Did you fight another boss on true ending? If they count the 3 arena bosses as boss ( I think they are because "no hp shown thing", then I might be able to finish it in 1 playthrough. Because even there is no boss on true ending, there are 3 at Fleshmancer's Lair, thus exactly 10 bosses.

Maybe dev thinks we need to play NG+ because they ain't good enough to fight endgame boss immediately with Artful Gambit. It's perfectly doable and very easy even without Reaper's Mercy though.

[VertVentus]

Yeah, you'll fight the regular final boss and roll credits, be brought back to right before with your clear save, then can do some things to unlock the true final boss. So I wonder if it's possible for you.

[Yílõng Má]

Originally posted by VertVentus:

Yeah, you'll fight the regular final boss and roll credits, be brought back to right before with your clear save, then can do some things to unlock the true final boss. So I wonder if it's possible for you.

Can confirm it doesn't work. So I think they only count the Antlion as boss and not 2 previous arena final fight, or even they don't count all arena final fight as boss.

Or maybe the 2 bosses before Fleshmancer also aren't counted as boss.

I'll do NG+ and see how many more bosses I need to unlock this achievement.

[Yílõng Má]

And can confirm too that progress carries over.

I got my platinum just after defeating Elder Mist on NG+. So either arena bosses, or Fleshmancer's Lair mini-bosses don't count as boss.

[Joerpg84]

I struggled and couldn’t do the Catalyst with it on and decided to not bother after 4 failed attempts lol. I am hoping that NG+ might be easier with carried stats but unsure if you keep equipment, other relics or accessories. Or even skills because lunar shield should help.

[VertVentus]

• What carries over: Level, gold (999 cap), Rainbow conches, recipes, ingredients (255 cap each), weapons, armors, valuables (sell-only items), base skills (like Lunar Shield, which makes Artful Gambit NG+ very manageable), combos, and relics* are retained. All fish are seemingly caught still.
  
• What doesn't carry: Meals and other key items are dumped, *need story progress for Amulet of Storytelling & Sequent Flare & Ultimates.
  
• Can't get a second Solstice Mage Ring (yellow accessory), you'll get an Alumni Token for it and where Rainbow Conches originally were that sell for 1G.
  
• At Lv. 26, bosses give 7800 EXP, so it's good EXP and I want duplicates accessories for the DLC.
  
• I've been OHKOing bosses, not timing a hit had me take 4 damage from a lackey's spell out of ~10ish HP before Amulet of Storytelling. The lifesteal accessory is now more useful since basic attacking will heal a significant % of your HP.

[spoilerspree]

For Catalyst do Valere, Reshan and Zale / Serai.
Valere do 1pt combo aoe with Reshan, Reshan do normal attack and Zale / Serai do AoE that break more lock to get more combo.

[Yílõng Má]

Originally posted by Joerpg84:

I struggled and couldn’t do the Catalyst with it on and decided to not bother after 4 failed attempts lol. I am hoping that NG+ might be easier with carried stats but unsure if you keep equipment, other relics or accessories. Or even skills because lunar shield should help.

I don't think Catalyst counts as boss, because I still had to beat 3 on NG+.

Arena only counts Antlion, Fleshmancer's Lair only counts Erlina and Apheorul.

[Yílõng Má]

Originally posted by spoilerspree:

For Catalyst do Valere, Reshan and Zale / Serai.
Valere do 1pt combo aoe with Reshan, Reshan do normal attack and Zale / Serai do AoE that break more lock to get more combo.

The easiest thing with endgame bosses and Artful Gambit, I think is using all characters and combos depend on the lock. Keep rotating depends on what you need, every lock combo is possible to be broken at this point as long as you don't waste live mana needlessly.

[bryson777]

Originally posted by VertVentus:

• What carries over: Level, gold (999 cap), Rainbow conches, recipes, ingredients (255 cap each), weapons, armors, valuables (sell-only items), base skills (like Lunar Shield, which makes Artful Gambit NG+ very manageable), combos, and relics* are retained. All fish are seemingly caught still.
  
• What doesn't carry: Meals and other key items are dumped, *need story progress for Amulet of Storytelling & Sequent Flare & Ultimates.
  
• Can't get a second Solstice Mage Ring (yellow accessory), you'll get an Alumni Token for it and where Rainbow Conches originally were that sell for 1G.
  
• At Lv. 26, bosses give 7800 EXP, so it's good EXP and I want duplicates accessories for the DLC.
  
• I've been OHKOing bosses, not timing a hit had me take 4 damage from a lackey's spell out of ~10ish HP before Amulet of Storytelling. The lifesteal accessory is now more useful since basic attacking will heal a significant % of your HP.

I will be attempting my Artful Gambit NG+ run tomorrow.

How are you OHKOing bosses? Are there any optimal gear/accessory setups? Any handy boss strategies? Is loading up on Legendary meals useful at all?

[VertVentus]

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/345948-sea-of-stars/80553442/975911419
This is the second confirmation of being able to obtain Artful Gambit in NG if you sequence break obtaining the relic.

Well, OHKO is an overstatement. Since levels transfer, the HP on all those early bosses up until Autumn Hill's Leaf Monster (14 total, but only 10 actually count) are all trivially dealt with by your level transferring and endgame gear, dealing like 200 ~ 300 damage with unboosted skills.
Personally, my accessory loadout was:
Zale = Celestial Ray, Heliacal Earrings
Valere = Solstice Sash (replace with Celestial Ray), Moonstone Bracer
Seraï & Reshan = Signet of Clarity, Blue Leaf
Reshan (before duplicate accessories) = Dextrous Bangle, Enchanted Scarf
Garl & B'st = Dextrous Bangle, Power Belt (otherwise whatever)
I didn't really need to cook anything to manage MP.

[Yílõng Má]

Originally posted by VertVentus:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/345948-sea-of-stars/80553442/975911419
This is the second confirmation of being able to obtain Artful Gambit in NG if you sequence break obtaining the relic.

Well, OHKO is an overstatement. Since levels transfer, the HP on all those early bosses up until Autumn Hill's Leaf Monster (14 total, but only 10 actually count) are all trivially dealt with by your level transferring and endgame gear, dealing like 200 ~ 300 damage with unboosted skills.
Personally, my accessory loadout was:
Zale = Celestial Ray, Heliacal Earrings
Valere = Solstice Sash (replace with Celestial Ray), Moonstone Bracer
Seraï & Reshan = Signet of Clarity, Blue Leaf
Reshan (before duplicate accessories) = Dextrous Bangle, Enchanted Scarf
Garl & B'st = Dextrous Bangle, Power Belt (otherwise whatever)
I didn't really need to cook anything to manage MP.

AG itself ain't a problem, since any endgame bosses is still very easy with AG even with no item. Time is the problem .

[bryson777]

Originally posted by VertVentus:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/345948-sea-of-stars/80553442/975911419
This is the second confirmation of being able to obtain Artful Gambit in NG if you sequence break obtaining the relic.

Well, OHKO is an overstatement. Since levels transfer, the HP on all those early bosses up until Autumn Hill's Leaf Monster (14 total, but only 10 actually count) are all trivially dealt with by your level transferring and endgame gear, dealing like 200 ~ 300 damage with unboosted skills.
Personally, my accessory loadout was:
Zale = Celestial Ray, Heliacal Earrings
Valere = Solstice Sash (replace with Celestial Ray), Moonstone Bracer
Seraï & Reshan = Signet of Clarity, Blue Leaf
Reshan (before duplicate accessories) = Dextrous Bangle, Enchanted Scarf
Garl & B'st = Dextrous Bangle, Power Belt (otherwise whatever)
I didn't really need to cook anything to manage MP.

Thanks for sharing! Can you also mention which golden accessories you have equipped? Surely those are important?

Do you turn off Artful Gambit and then turn it on for bosses or just have it on al the time?

[VertVentus]

Initially I turned it on all the way up to Stormcaller, but it was pretty close for that brief period where you only have the first trio against Zombies you can't fully break due to lacking Poison. It was a nice challenge, but afterward, I turned it off and decided to only verify which of the remaining bosses counted.

Yellow accessories:
Zale = Solstice Mage Ring (high priority)
Valere = Spirit of Ninja
Seraï = Nano Injector (high priority)
B'st = Reaper's Mercy (high priority)
Resh'an = Magic Pocket (high priority)
Garl = Cornucopia (low priority)
In NG+ you can get a second Lucent Crystal to start battles with 3 BP and swap out Cornucopia & Magic Pocket. Eye of Yomara/Abacus isn't too helpful.