Ending requirements (spoilers)

[Vapor Dosh]

I'm having a hard time beating Blackbean; I already finished all other levels. Do I have to beat him to unlock the true ending? If I don't defeat him, will I still get the "Normal Mode Completed" achievement?

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Unfortunately, yes, it seems so.

It shares this issue with Guacamelee, incidentally...

Also, incidentally, I just beat Blackbean. So I can help with strats.

[Vapor Dosh]

Originally posted by Quint the Coffin Princess:

So I can help with strats.

Do you know how to dodge the second part of his "Neo Galaxy" attack? I'm getting really PO'd when he does it after I'm out of healing items, and the whole fight takes a long time.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

No, i don't.

I upgraded helmet to level 4 to get 65% damage reduction, and wore that during all his Neo Galaxy attacks. That second swipe did 26 damage.

I also basically prayed for the bats. I put on the vampire hat during those phases, and switched back to the Helmet afterwards.

Oh, I did briefly put on the Headband after each Neo Galaxy attack. Go toward the center while the attack happens; it deals no more damage. Then once it finishes, switch to Headband, and drill Blackbean a few times for much-deserved revenge.

There's apparently a way to dodge it, and someone's made a Youtube vid of it, and it inovlves doing a special move, but I don't pull off special moves well.

I had level 4 Vampire hat and I'm not sure what my Headband was but probably level 3.

It used all my items, and I was lucky enough to get bats a few times in a row at the end of the fight...I can do the first half of the battle just fine and it uses practically no resources, but I find myself in a long and drawn-out duel to see whether I can more successfully dodge most of his crap only for him to Neo Galaxy me or whether I can deplete his HP faster.

Getting a friendly monster's help may be useful. I saw it in someone's strat somewhere on the web; they took Chucky, and so did I.

Basically, try dodging everything during his second phase, except when:
1. triangle formation: find and attack the real Blackbean. Use Chucky and power up your drill and give it some energy oil when this happens. This can deal a ton of damage.
2. bats: climb the bat ladder. duh.
3. Neo Galaxy: watch the minimap to see your position so you can more effectively evade the small bursts. Large burst is pretty much unavoidable. He sits in the center afterwards; take potshots.
4. any other potshots you can get.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

You can also try to get yourself 999 junk to get a level 5 helmet. That'll prevent 75% of incoming damage. Probably a bit less useful but sitll useful may be the vampire hat which lets you regain health on any hit at level 5.

But yeah, I'm not sure why beating Blackbean gives the better ending.

[Vapor Dosh]

I checked YouTube. Apparently it's possible to not get hurt by that attack if you perform Dragon Flame at just the right time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id1tLFhesbs
I haven't tried it myself yet; I'll see if I can make it work.

[Vapor Dosh]

Alright, I checked and managed to defeat him while at it.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=425532725
It is possible to survive that attack unharmed the way shown in that video, but the timing has to be incredibly precise. Out of five times he did that attack, I only managed to pull it off once.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Fig. 3(a) through 3(f): The result of mashing F12 not too long ago.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=425495475
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=425495484
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=425495495
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=425495506
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=425495517
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=425495524

Considering that you took less than half the time to accomplish what I did, I'm going to say you're probably better at this game than I am.

You probably also didn't spend most of Blackbean's second phase running away from him.

In other news, I feel like eating some real black beans now...I also happen to be jamming to said boss's music.

[pokedude900]

Honestly, the strategy that works best for me is to pop an Energy Oil, equip the Magic Hood, and spam Dragon Flame until Neo Galaxy happens. Then switch to your best defensive hat to tank the damage. Rinse and repeat.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

I just successfully dodged Neo Galaxy a few times just now.

I went to the center of the arena, and tried to time my dash-special attack such that the special would come out around the same time Neo Galaxy went boom. It worked. Not reliably, but for a fight as long and drawn-out as that one, every little bit helps.

Also, don't EVER go into the menu until the boom is gone. Or else it'll deal the damage a second time. It's like pause-glitching in Mega Man 1, except it happens to you.

You don't need level 3 drill to do this, BTW. Did it just fine with level 1.

[pokedude900]

It's not necessary, but the fight will go a LOT faster if you can maintain level 3, which is easy with Energy Oil.

[Chizu?]

I didn't realize the ending was different if you didnt beat him, cause I just did it before I finished anyway. I'll be honest on normal difficulty I really didn thave any trouble beating him and got S++ on the first go :v
Maybe I just got lucky. I guess next playthrough I'll finish without fighting him to see what teh difference was.