Gyalva

[quaidis]

I am royally stuck on Gyalva on freaking normal difficulty and don't know how to get past him.

At level 18, got the chests in the area, and I get that you're supposed to stand on the platforms on the sides and use wind. But he still aces me. I can get him down maybe half health.

Does anyone have any tips on beating this pos?

[Berahlen]

He doesn't really do anything but play keep away on normal. I mean he does, but you have so much room to maneuver that none of it is especially threatening, he just stalls a lot.

The fireballs bounce the platforms up and you ride them to hit him in the face. It does way more damage. If he hides in the background you can fireball him for some extra damage.

[Fluff Fact⚙ry]

To beat Gyalva, you will need the combination of Fire and Wind skill. Wind as your main damage dealer and Fire as your main chip damage dealer. This also means you will equip Fire skill most of the time and switch to Wind only when the time is right.

First thing first, whenever Gyalva goes above the platform you can release a Charged Fireball (CB) to him while approaching, then followed by a charged Spinning Wind (SW) while jumping up (even better if the platform buffs you thanks to its attack) to deal direct damage. However and obviously you don't just go directly under him right away, wait till he finished locking your location with his fireball first. In addition, don't try to aim for the platform that got raised thanks to the fireball, or standing between 2 lines, it is dangerous if half is flipped, plus when you jump up to attack, try to not be in the between the Torch poles as well else eating hazard/trap damage.

Second, whenever he charges left and right and flipping platform at random, always prepared a CB. Once you are almost running to safe zone of either side, quickly turn around and gift him that CB followed by few small fireballs if possible and proceed to the safe zone. Now he could charge you twice or thrice, thus the most important thing you need to do is to know which direction he is coming from. If you see him flashing on your side, run to the other side, if you don't, don't act yet. Again, don't waste your opportunity to gift him fireballs back

Third, and the most dangerous, is when the platform is all flipped off and you are stuck to either side with 4 tiles (square or L-shape) or luckily 6 tiles. FOCUS ON FIRING CB TO HIM! If he is close enough use Wind too for faster progress! By dealing enough damage will force him to flip the tiles back to normal, else you are going to stay there forever! Also try to listen to his sound cue, because he will fire his fireball to you too, thus you need to bait your position while giving him CB. In the worst case scenario that he flies offside inward, if lucky you only need to bait his laser skill which is easy, else you need to dodge his fire breath - by going to the furthest platform (while prepare SW if possible), then approach to the closest + jump up and release SW or normal wind. If you are going to be hit anyway, then spam the sh*t out of your magic as well, because using magic while getting hit will reduce damage received!

Here is the demonstration, on the Nightmare difficulty
https://youtu.be/ztUayG4frEM?t=1465

[Penix 3 <=3]

Originally posted by quaidis:

I am royally stuck on Gyalva on freaking normal difficulty and don't know how to get past him.

At level 18, got the chests in the area, and I get that you're supposed to stand on the platforms on the sides and use wind. But he still aces me. I can get him down maybe half health.

Does anyone have any tips on beating this pos? :redbat::rottenwalker:

Currently playing the game and havin the same problem. Looked in a few walkthroughs and then went to the steam community hub of this game and this was the first thread :D
I then leveled for about 10 minutes (3 levels, from 18 up to 21) on the first room to the left of the saving stone. Now it was really easy. Put on some music and just level to 21 or at least to 20. Doesn't take long and makes this fight actually bearable

[Fluff Fact⚙ry]

Originally posted by Penix 3 <=3:

Currently playing the game and havin the same problem. Looked in a few walkthroughs and then went to the steam community hub of this game and this was the first thread :D
I then leveled for about 10 minutes (3 levels, from 18 up to 21) on the first room to the left of the saving stone. Now it was really easy. Put on some music and just level to 21 or at least to 20. Doesn't take long and makes this fight actually bearable

Yes legitimately you can grind to be overleveled to fight him easier too on Normal, however, say if you ever thought of going for it on Nightmare or even Inferno, just remember that you won't be able to do the same, as the exp rate will be reduced greatly once approaching boss level, thus you are going to need a proper strat to read and fight him efficiently.

[Penix 3 <=3]

Originally posted by Melon Sc//ence:

Originally posted by Penix 3 <=3:

Currently playing the game and havin the same problem. Looked in a few walkthroughs and then went to the steam community hub of this game and this was the first thread :D
I then leveled for about 10 minutes (3 levels, from 18 up to 21) on the first room to the left of the saving stone. Now it was really easy. Put on some music and just level to 21 or at least to 20. Doesn't take long and makes this fight actually bearable

Yes legitimately you can grind to be overleveled to fight him easier too on Normal, however, say if you ever thought of going for it on Nightmare or even Inferno, just remember that you won't be able to do the same, as the exp rate will be reduced greatly once approaching boss level, thus you are going to need a proper strat to read and fight him efficiently.

Just that I will never ever ever play any Ys game ever at anything higher as normal. Luckily, I don't get most fun out of games by having it as hard as possible but by just enjoying pretty much everything else. So I always play games on normal and nothing else^^

[Fluff Fact⚙ry]

Originally posted by Penix 3 <=3:

Just that I will never ever ever play any Ys game ever at anything higher as normal. Luckily, I don't get most fun out of games by having it as hard as possible but by just enjoying pretty much everything else. So I always play games on normal and nothing else^^

Fair enough. Still, there could be something you might want to try it out, like on Nightmare you will get to see new patterns. Who knows, maybe you could experience like me - used to whine and rage while playing as Normal diff when young, then even more suffering on Nightmare, but in the end I got to enjoy some of the fights on Nightmare, and I still revisited them sometimes. But again I'm not pushing anyone into hardcore or anything, because I'm not a hardcore player either.

By the way, for modern games like Ys Celceta, VIII, IX and later, you may want to start with Hard at least, for it to be your standard Normal, because their Normal is actually = Easy.

[quaidis]

I went through so much trauma fighting (and beating) the last boss on Ys 1 that I don't know if I'll ever be prepared for anything nightmare difficulty yet =P

Huge thanks for all the help! Will try it all out, and level if I need to. The two problems I keep encountering are that Adol wont ride the tiles. He keeps ending up under them and getting pummeled. And I had no idea fire worked on Gyalva since it shot fire at you. >>

So far I've played Ys 1, 2, Origins (a long time ago, I'm ready for a replay), Lacrimosa of Dana, Nox (haven't beaten it yet), and Arc of Napishtim.

[Fluff Fact⚙ry]

Originally posted by quaidis:

I went through so much trauma fighting (and beating) the last boss on Ys 1 that I don't know if I'll ever be prepared for anything nightmare difficulty yet =P

Just my experience but could apply to you the same, in fact final boss on Ys1 doesn't differ much between Nightmare and Normal. Sure his attacks can deal bit harder damage, but his HP is pretty much the same, and if you felt "his flow" thanks to the struggle on Normal, then actually you will take less time to deal with him. To be honest, he actually might not be what you should be worried the most about, it was the bat.

Originally posted by quaidis:

I keep encountering are that Adol wont ride the tiles. He keeps ending up under them and getting pummeled.

For me I will just ignore whether I can ride the tiles up or not, because it is kinda random - even if I baited him to fire at my lane, the other lane may got levered up instead. Thus if I could ride it, good, more direct damage towards Gyalva, if not, Adol basic jump + charged wind can still reach him nonetheless.

Originally posted by quaidis:

And I had no idea fire worked on Gyalva since it shot fire at you.

Yeah, it is common to think like that, but again Gyalva is not totally immune to it, so if you can chip it, why not. After all the faster you can bring him down, the better.

Originally posted by quaidis:

So far I've played Ys 1, 2, Origins (a long time ago, I'm ready for a replay), Lacrimosa of Dana, Nox (haven't beaten it yet), and Arc of Napishtim. :musher:

Then only SEVEN and Celceta are left (well you want to see how terrible magics in V from SNES era are then go with it as well),

But don't rush it, just play at your leisure pace, I mean we have to wait till end 2024-5 (that is me being positive) to even see Ys X trailer in English anyway... Thus I'm kinda struggling to find a new series to replace Ys currently . And before you ask, yes I tried Tales of Berseria and Arise Demo but doesn't like their tedious grind, combat and terrible AIs.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Originally posted by Penix 3 <=3:

Originally posted by Melon Sc//ence:

Yes legitimately you can grind to be overleveled to fight him easier too on Normal, however, say if you ever thought of going for it on Nightmare or even Inferno, just remember that you won't be able to do the same, as the exp rate will be reduced greatly once approaching boss level, thus you are going to need a proper strat to read and fight him efficiently.

Just that I will never ever ever play any Ys game ever at anything higher as normal. Luckily, I don't get most fun out of games by having it as hard as possible but by just enjoying pretty much everything else. So I always play games on normal and nothing else^^

That's completely fair.

Though for what it's worth the game also lets you practice fighting bosses at various difficulties by using Time Attack mode. So you can see how much more difficult the bosses get at the higher difficulty levels, after you've beaten them once I think.

[Azerate]

Originally posted by Melon Sc//ence:

Originally posted by Penix 3 <=3:

Currently playing the game and havin the same problem. Looked in a few walkthroughs and then went to the steam community hub of this game and this was the first thread :D
I then leveled for about 10 minutes (3 levels, from 18 up to 21) on the first room to the left of the saving stone. Now it was really easy. Put on some music and just level to 21 or at least to 20. Doesn't take long and makes this fight actually bearable

Yes legitimately you can grind to be overleveled to fight him easier too on Normal, however, say if you ever thought of going for it on Nightmare or even Inferno, just remember that you won't be able to do the same, as the exp rate will be reduced greatly once approaching boss level, thus you are going to need a proper strat to read and fight him efficiently.

What?

I'm playing nightmare and at boss 9 at the moment, and you can most definitely grind out some levels to have easier time at bosses. It differs from boss to boss because the difficulty of this game is quite uneven, but some of the bosses can be destroyed even on nightmare with a couple extra levels. Especfially the earlier bosses where you can purchase the higher weapon/armor from the shop than intended - this makes you really overpowered.

Yes, the exp gains gets reduced with every level, but why would that stop anyone from grinding? Oftentimes the grind will end up having less time than trying for a perfect run on a boss on a lower level anyway. In fact, I'd argue that some grinding is mandatory for nightmare unless you're a god tier gamer, but even then, the bosses in this game rely heavily on RNG and some are quite b*llshit tbh.

[Fluff Fact⚙ry]

Originally posted by Azerate:

In fact, I'd argue that some grinding is mandatory for nightmare unless you're a god tier gamer, but even then, the bosses in this game rely heavily on RNG and some are quite b*llshit tbh.

And that's where you are wrong, Ys games never intend you to grind, which is why they introduce exp punish once you go past boss level, however, they still leave you few spaces if you are that desperate.

You can overlevel a lot on Normal, like 54-55 versus a 50 level boss combined with access buffs, but for Nightmare and Inferno max you can do is 51-52, cause more than that it feels really tedious and not worth it. Plus if you spend more hours just to grind level 53+, I'd rather you put them into learning the boss patterns and their pacing.

Also I believe it is good to practice around same boss level already, if you really want to aim for 100% of the game -> Beating its Boss Rush, and there won't any "overlevel" you expect. Therefore the sooner you start, the quicker and less tense for later runs. But since OP just want to enjoy it at Normal, I believe whatever I say now doesn't matter.

[Zimidiaz]

OH MY GOD, I was having no luck dodging two of this boss's attacks, the beam and the charge where he flips every tile, I didn't realize that the pair of tiles on either side of the arena were part of the arena. I thought they indicated the edges and I couldn't stand on them. As soon as I realized I could stand on them, I beat the boss first try at level 18 on normal.