Sea serpent's cave is a joke

[*Yuki*]

I think I'm slowly losing my mind.

Playing the game on normal with no issues up until this point. Then, suddenly:
- Large as hell area WITH NOT A SINGLE CHECKPOINT BUT ON ENTRANCE
- Underwater combat that makes you die not only by bleed/getting overwhelmed, but also by suffocation. Also getting paralyzed means death coz you won't be able to swim up. Also sometimes your vision is limited coz you fight in a dark cave
- One of the puzzles require you to have a throwing knifes in your inventory, but you'd never know that until you reach it. Then good luck going back if you did not blow the entrance (and even if you did, you will die by suffocation)

Maybe its just a "skill issue", but after self-discovering speedrun strategies to skip already discovered areas like 30 times in a row only to die in a new one, I'm about to give up.
Any suggestions would be welcome. Thus far the furthest I've got is the first cave where you meet a fish that shoot lazers. Each time it gets easier to repeat, but I feel like I'm missing something - there is no way dev would torture their players like that, is it?

[Jamjars]

put points in adaptation

[codered]

You need the "Sturdy" karon skill to survive underwater longer. Sturdy comes from the Spirit Staff at the shop.

[Kenpachi]

just finished it today,def a slog, wow...ch 4 was my least fav chapter *until* the cave, cuz the fight after it and the culmination of the story was *chefs kiss*.

[Kenpachi]

PS: there's no target that requires throwing knives...did you mean the crossbow? (and if you don't have the crossbow, wow, what a game changer...I used it for 99% of the serp. cave yesterday w/ ranged master skill)

[sagus]

There are 2 shortcuts use bombs which means the same as checkpoints.

[*Yuki*]

Originally posted by sagus:

There are 2 shortcuts use bombs which means the same as checkpoints.

none of these don't help if you are in the situation I was (I've had 5 points of adaptation, which is not nearly enough to pass through the shortcut)

[*Yuki*]

Originally posted by Kenpachi:

PS: there's no target that requires throwing knives...did you mean the crossbow? (and if you don't have the crossbow, wow, what a game changer...I used it for 99% of the serp. cave yesterday w/ ranged master skill)

where do you even get a crossbow, lol. I did not get any ranged weapon until I've met archer from hero's party near evil king's castle next chapter

[nesoukefka]

Originally posted by *Yuki*:

Originally posted by Kenpachi:

PS: there's no target that requires throwing knives...did you mean the crossbow? (and if you don't have the crossbow, wow, what a game changer...I used it for 99% of the serp. cave yesterday w/ ranged master skill)

where do you even get a crossbow, lol. I did not get any ranged weapon until I've met archer from hero's party near evil king's castle next chapter

Did you not do the Arena fights ?
The crossbow is a reward for one of the Belkade Cup fight.
tbh I really suggest doing the Arena fight they earn some important rewards for progression.

[*Yuki*]

Originally posted by nesoukefka:

Originally posted by *Yuki*:

where do you even get a crossbow, lol. I did not get any ranged weapon until I've met archer from hero's party near evil king's castle next chapter

Did you not do the Arena fights ?

nop, just discovered the arena. There is no highlight about its existence - found it by accident (prior I've walked there and area was empty)

[nesoukefka]

Originally posted by *Yuki*:

Originally posted by nesoukefka:

Did you not do the Arena fights ?

nop, just discovered the arena. There is no highlight about its existence - found it by accident (prior I've walked there and area was empty)

There is actually, just before starting Chapter 2, a message pop out telling you there's commotion in the ruins of the arena in the city.

[nfcv2005]

certainly every level is a challenge but the uw cave should be such a step up. i suppose everyone's stats are diff but maybe add a bit of adpative in the stats may help. sometime sit's really situational, we may have to have a look at your eq and stats to see what's making it so hard. have a good day

[YOJIMBO]

Originally posted by codered:

You need the "Sturdy" karon skill to survive underwater longer. Sturdy comes from the Spirit Staff at the shop.

Thanks for telling.I was thinking of buying that staff.Can I like Shoot magic with it? I need long range to deal with the Gigantic Carps/Fish

[᲼]

If your adaptation level is low you can cheese the bridge puzzle with a boomerang + dew that returns you to a safe point

[Succubus Nirriti]

Only real issue in this area I had, was doing combos (I usually also do jump/drop-down attacks a lot to mix things up) and accidentally thrusting forward and ramming the spike balls, potentially bleeding to death and forcing a reset. Players can add bleed resist easily through the scale (normal + GOOD) as well, but the bleed cures are rare (sadly).

You just take it more careful on that part of the game. After unlocking the shield dash move, I was like "Oohhh... Thats why theres medals to seal scrolls" as it often got triggered and got me killed by accident too. Not the fault of the game, its just the sort of things that happens with how I play.


Also the unlockable underwater area (block to burst just before getting another page left by the NPC) isnt really a shortcut. All it does is save you a single jump. For 1600 gold per powder unit its NOT worth it.

[gatsu86]

Originally posted by Succubus Nirriti:

You just take it more careful on that part of the game. After unlocking the shield dash move, I was like "Oohhh... Thats why theres medals to seal scrolls" as it often got triggered and got me killed by accident too. Not the fault of the game, its just the sort of things that happens with how I play.

Good suggestion, I hate that skill XD
I lost count of how many times I had accidentally activated it instead of defending with the shield. :)