True FoolHardy Tips

[SuperMeah]

True FoolHardy is the hardest feat in the game and video proof of beating it is required to advance the ARG (I assume)

Anyone attempting the max difficulty custom mode (True FoolHardy) should be aware of some things that are absolutely necessary to completing the mode. If I miss anything or anyone else has tips please feel free to leave them in the comments.

1. Brutes are a nuisance and not the real threat - The brutes seem intimidating at first, but as you'll quickly find out you can stack them on top of each other by shining the light on them, which cause any in your light to stop moving. They are very fast, so even when you stack them you still have the problem of making sure they're directly opposite to wherever you're facing. When destroying the vine leave your light on. The brutes won't be stunned by the light since the vine is blocking it, but as soon as the vine is destroyed they'll be stopped. Once you have them stopped walk back a couple steps then turn around and run.

2. Zardy and his unfortunate-fortunate timing - When trying to destroy the vines, Zardy is the deadliest threat, closely followed up by the rattler. In this mode Zardy will spawn 10-15 seconds after you banish him with the light, meaning that you either have to time banishing Zardy and lining up the brutes perfectly, or you'll get caught by him when you're trying to make your way back out, or get lucky and exit on a path close to you that hopefully doesn't have a rattler in it.

3. The Rattler as a speed and skill check - If it wasn't for the existence of the rattler, you would be able to kite Zardy while stunning the brutes to make an easy getaway, unfortunately for us the rattler doesn't make it that easy. Even if a rattler doesn't see you, they are instantly agro'd on you the second the vine is destroyed. This means that theres no time to kite Zardy. So in order to escape you either; a. Appropriately time Zardy and the brutes so you can escape the way you came, b. get lucky with maze generation and have a second escape route, or c. be an absolute god gamer and kite both the rattler's attacks, which is on a consistent tempo, while also kiting Zardy.

4. The unexpected threat of The Drought - The drought is a weird one I still don't have a full understanding of it's threat level in this mode. There are times when it will do nothing and there will be times when it absolutely screws you. My best advice is to adapt, if you're in a tense situation avoid it at all costs, if not then run into it just to get rid of it.

5. The Dice Rolling of the Pumpkin Jacks - There really is no strategy to these guys. They also act as a speed check when destroying vines, but they're unlikely to be the thing that kills you if you mess up during the vine phase of a run. The purpose of the pumpkin Jacks in this mode is to keep you on your toes. The only advice I have is have quick reflexes and pray the dice rolled in your favor on where they are in the maze/

6. Pumpkin Crawlers are deterrents - Nothing special about these guys in this mode, but they'll ruin your run if theres a bunch of them on an entrance path to a vine section. You can play around them but it's just one more thing to remember that if you don't you'll lose

7. Indecisiveness is not your friend with Cable Crows - Cable Crows sole purpose in this mode is to corner you and force you into making a decision. Most vines don't have posts that get extremely in the way, but if you change your mind about a position your in when the cable crows are already there, you're gonna have a tough time re-positioning with them there. These act as a planning and knowledge check. Cable crows are one of the main reasons you can't expect to just run in and brute force this mode.

8. Cornstalkers are the equivalent of mines - Only advice is be able to distinguish the sound they make and remember where they are if you don't destroy them immediately. If not I promise you you will run into them again, and I promise you it will be at the worst possible time

9. Pathing and light management - Last bits of advice are to; a. when 3 out of the 5 vines are destroyed the maze closes up. So make sure the first 2 vines you hit have rattlers so you can get rid of their agro on you. b. Light management is extremely important in this mode, if you're not doing anything or thinking, charge your light


Good luck to anyone trying to beat this, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE VIDEO PROOF OR IT WON"T COUNT IN SWANKYBOX'S EYES.

:)

[Rushi]

Another thing to note with strategising: The left and right gates will always be very close to a weed, so break the weeds close to these gates and then use the gates to escape. The front gate is the furthest from any weed, so only use it to enter the maze for your 3rd weed before the maze closes up because trying to run from a weed all the way back to the front gate won't be all that safe.

[Neptune]

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[RollinDice]

Yeah, and what about the pumpkin jacks jumping on top of you without any warning whatsoever, killing you instantly? Honestly, this challenge is just an unbalanced rng mess, i think that winning the lottery 2 times in a row is more likely than completing this thing. Good luck to anyone insane enough to try to beat it though.

[Rushi]

Originally posted by RollinDice:

Yeah, and what about the pumpkin jacks jumping on top of you without any warning whatsoever, killing you instantly? Honestly, this challenge is just an unbalanced rng mess, i think that winning the lottery 2 times in a row is more likely than completing this thing. Good luck to anyone insane enough to try to beat it though.

Yeah, it's definitely incredibly RNG-heavy, but to progress this game's ARG it has to be beat. It's definitely beatable though, we just have to pray the stars will align and that the RNG will be kind to us.

[Decomposing Meatsalad]

Come cu

[Secret Sauce]

Originally posted by SuperMeah:

9. Pathing and light management - Last bits of advice are to; a. when 3 out of the 5 vines are destroyed the maze closes up. So make sure the first 2 vines you hit have rattlers so you can get rid of their agro on you. b. Light management is extremely important in this mode, if you're not doing anything or thinking, charge your light

Another important thing to note:
When you spawn, the vine closest to you on the right-hand side will never have a Rattler at it. The other 4 always will, though.

[Secret Sauce]

Originally posted by TerraByte:

Another thing to note with strategising: The left and right gates will always be very close to a weed, so break the weeds close to these gates and then use the gates to escape. The front gate is the furthest from any weed, so only use it to enter the maze for your 3rd weed before the maze closes up because trying to run from a weed all the way back to the front gate won't be all that safe.

That's what I've been doing, but after looking at SuperMeah's advice I've been considering chopping the vine close to the right gate for 3rd because it will never spawn a Rattler there.

Which would mean a more optimal route would be using the left gate to get the front-center vine and using the center gate to get the front-left vine.

Still have to be fast on those first 2 vines tho, since they're relatively close and both have Rattlers.

[SuperMeah]

Originally posted by Secret Sauce:

Originally posted by TerraByte:

Another thing to note with strategising: The left and right gates will always be very close to a weed, so break the weeds close to these gates and then use the gates to escape. The front gate is the furthest from any weed, so only use it to enter the maze for your 3rd weed before the maze closes up because trying to run from a weed all the way back to the front gate won't be all that safe.

That's what I've been doing, but after looking at SuperMeah's advice I've been considering chopping the vine close to the right gate for 3rd because it will never spawn a Rattler there.

Which would mean a more optimal route would be using the left gate to get the front-center vine and using the center gate to get the front-left vine.

Still have to be fast on those first 2 vines tho, since they're relatively close and both have Rattlers.

precisely a strat I had considered too. It's not def not a bad route, also good luck to you beating it!

[Secret Sauce]

Originally posted by SuperMeah:

Originally posted by Secret Sauce:

That's what I've been doing, but after looking at SuperMeah's advice I've been considering chopping the vine close to the right gate for 3rd because it will never spawn a Rattler there.

Which would mean a more optimal route would be using the left gate to get the front-center vine and using the center gate to get the front-left vine.

Still have to be fast on those first 2 vines tho, since they're relatively close and both have Rattlers.

precisely a strat I had considered too. It's not def not a bad route, also good luck to you beating it!

Thanks! I've made good progress, cutting 3 vines about 8-10 times so far with a small variety of strats. Almost got 4 but ended up choking heavily on that attempt. It's certainly not easy, but definitely possible!