Raz's NG Nightmare Boss Thread... The 3rd (spoilers obviously)

[HunterRassius]

Yes, i'm back... and still as crazy as ever. It should be known that The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky is perhaps one of if not the most incredibly intense experiences on it's hardest setting inside a new game. It sure isn't for the faint hearted but I enjoy the journey with my fellow travellers and for this reason I make this thread. Here for all your boss destroying needs these strategies will be tested on Trails hardest setting and thus be nearly foolproof on any lesser difficulty. I wll get to all of the bosses and I do mean ALL of them.

Note: NG Nightmare runs aren't exactly easy to do in the first place so the thread creator recommends first finding yourself a nice full BP perfect save to transfer over to The 3rd as you get these great bonus items:

• 200 of every sepith
  
• Solar Seal (Str +10/Def -10/Auto CP Up)
  
• Lunar Seal (Str +5/Def -5/CP Recovery Up)

Prologue Boss Fight: Gilbert

Stats:

Lvl: 90 HP: 11,912
STR: 1177 DEF: 539
ATS: 311 ADF: 218
SPD: 51 EXP: 99

Drops: Tear Balm, Insulating Tape, Smelling Salts

G-Apache

Stats:

Lvl: 90 HP: 15,616
STR: 1535 DEF: 469
ATS: 0 ADF: 759
SPD: 40 EXP: 512

Drops: Tear Balm, Insulating Tape, Smelling Salts, Purging Balm, EP Charge, Curia Balm

Notes: This Gilbert fight certainly isn't the test most coming from SC were expecting... Gilbert's ~2k regular attacks are generally pathetic. Gilbert will start every fight with Condensed Ice Pulverization Blast which is a line based freeze that hits for ~1k and will always freeze you. Gernade is a ~1.6k AT Delay. Gilbert's "idiot attack" is a Str + Def Down 0 damage move. Gilbert's Bullet Barrage is a ~2.2k damage AoE while G-Apache's will hit for ~3.5k. G-Apache's Breaker Cannon can hit for almost 4k and has a Def down attached. Lastly, G-Apache can go Critical Mode for a large Str and Adf boost.

Recommeneded Lvl: Kevin (91), Ries (90)

Orbment Setups:

Kevin - Line Orange: Action 4, EP 4, HP 4, Mind 4, Defense 4, Information
Line Blue: Action 4, Cast 2

Ries - Line Orange: Haze, Attack 3, HP 3, Mind 3, Shield 3
Line Blue: Haze, Evade 3, Action 2

Recommended Gear:

You have no further gearing options so you're stuck with "the basics". Also your orbment setups are largely untouchable. Kevin's can be swapped around for worse performance and Ries' setup is untouchable.

Recommended Items: You really shouldn't need to use any. Try to save your EP Charges and Teara Balms regardless (you never know and this is one hella easy boss).

Positioning: Make sure Kevin is in the top row on the far right (as you look at the tactics box) as this makes it hard for Gilbert to hit the both of your characters with his line based 100% freeze shot opener.

Lowest on the Pole Strategy:

Gilbert is largely one of the easiest guys you fight throughout the series. There is no exception here. The only real problem you have to worry about is having both characters get hit by his freeze attack. There are 2 ways to counter this: good positioning prior to the fight or use of Kevin's Grail Sphere at the very beginning of the fight. Getting an early Clock Down on both Gilbert and the G-Apache can make this already easy fight even easier. Stacking said Clock Down with Clock Up EX should be illegal. It should be noted that there are a few ways of finding yourself with a Def down debuff. You will take considerably more damage with said debuff on. Keep your HP high just in case. The G-Apache's Critical Mode gives a nice Adf buff to the roflcopter so spells might not be the best source of damage in that regard.

Gilbert should be taken out first like the minion he is.

Note: Ries can pitch Kevin 50 CP at a time with Holy Blessing making the fight complete joke tier (as if you were suprised).

[wUt]

:D

[Hagen2900]

I understand that. In this case I feel though that having even a single melee attacker is just flat inferior. If you want physical damage Tita is better here.

When I got Anelace's improved Jinu I just tucked her into a corner and had her cast support arts (Earth Guard, Clock Up Ex, Tear All) like I described above. It really takes the wind out of the duo's sails. Loewe in particular is reduced to chump status. Cassius still has Phoenix Wave so he is somewhat threatening. Using the Physical quartz also helps a lot.

[wUt]

:D

[HunterRassius]

Originally posted by Hagen2900:

I understand that. In this case I feel though that having even a single melee attacker is just flat inferior. If you want physical damage Tita is better here.

When I got Anelace's improved Jinu I just tucked her into a corner and had her cast support arts (Earth Guard, Clock Up Ex, Tear All) like I described above. It really takes the wind out of the duo's sails. Loewe in particular is reduced to chump status. Cassius still has Phoenix Wave so he is somewhat threatening. Using the Physical quartz also helps a lot.

If you're going for a caster setup you replace Anelace with Ries you don't drop Richard. No caster comes anywhere close to the amount of damage he puts out. I was regularly dropping 15-20k in damage before Cassius would get his next turn after Clock Up EX was up or 10-15k once he started running Quilingong and that's before s-breaking shenaningans. Also I believe you're overestimating the damage Lightning Flash and the like can do. Loewe barely uses AoE in the first place and although Armor Rend and Lightning Flash can get nasty you can do patch jobs on Earth Guards pretty easy till Quilingong. The trick is to use the least delay casts you need. I'd use Physical but the 2 i'd need it on generally don't have the spare quartz slots (Kevin and Kloe).

With 0 use of Kloe or Kevin's s-breaks the only one who got popped was Anelace (twice) and that's because I was largely running "low" Guards to get my damage numbers.

[Hagen2900]

I don't doubt that Richard significantly outdamages any mage (though Cyclone Napalm dps is quite substantial). That's just relatively unimportant. As long as I can sustain the damage the duo dishes out I can cherry tap them to death with Earth Lances or something.

It's hard to say for sure which approach is better. But I suspect with mine you can take them with weaker equipment and at lower levels.

[HunterRassius]

Originally posted by Hagen2900:

I don't doubt that Richard significantly outdamages any mage (though Cyclone Napalm dps is quite substantial). That's just relatively unimportant. As long as I can sustain the damage the duo dishes out I can cherry tap them to death with Earth Lances or something.

It's hard to say for sure which approach is better. But I suspect with mine you can take them with weaker equipment and at lower levels.

I don't know how the rate of dps on Cassius is "relatively unimportant". Let's be honest here the fight is basically over the minute Cassius goes down. Loewe has no revival options. If Richard's going full HAM you're probably looking at the ~45k+ range of damage before Cassius gets a 2nd action in a period. Do this simply 2 times and the fight's basically yours. The less time Cassius is on the field the safer you are. That's really what the fight boils down to. There's disadvantages to the defensive approach as well. You've got the setup time, both Kevin and Kloe's emergency s-crafts in the "significantly nerfed" category and potentially a much longer fight. The offensive approach (mine) focuses on getting Cassius down before he can do too much to you. The rube is that he might actually inflict some pain on you.

Note: With that thought in mind I made a slight revision to Josh's setup. I gave him Earth Walling capabilities if you want to take a measured defensive approach. Running 2 Support Guarders means holes in your defenses should basically never appear. Wrecking ball levels of damage into Cassius means he'll have no time to pressure you anyway.

[HunterRassius]

It's finally the beginning of the end. The last 4 bosses in the game and the 4 parties you'll need to fight them. I'm not going to lie, it took an unheard of amount of time to assemble, level, test, retest and simply fight my way through these 4 bosses and I still don't have the "perfect" answers I feel I almost always achieve. Nonetheless, I still have answers that are about as solid as can be so without further ado...

Phantasmagoria Ending Boss #1: Gordias Type-0

Stats:

Lvl: 150 HP: 83240
STR: 7310 DEF: 2693
ATS: 3138 ADF: 1806
SPD: 122 EXP: 512

Drops: Tear All Balm, EP Charge III, Celestial Balm, Curia Balm, Teara Balm, EP Charge, EP Charge II

Arrow Angel (x4)

Minion Stats:

Lvl: 143 HP: 6275
STR: 4000 DEF: 2346
ATS: 1932 ADF: 1422
SPD: 140 EXP: 64

Drops: Curia Balm, Insulating Tape, Smelling Salts, Purging Balm, Softening Balm

Notes: Gordias Type-0 hits for ~18k with a faint proc and massive knockback. Double Buster Cannon is a large line based AoE for ~14k damage + a Blind proc. "Move" hits for ~18k. Gigant Press is a single target attack that easily hits for 20k+ aling with a deathblow proc (fairly high chance). Call Allies is a low delay ability that summons an Arrow Angel. Arrow Angel hits for ~8k with a potential Blind proc. Chronos Arrow hits for ~8-9k + AT Delay. Artemis Arrow is a line based AoE Impede that hits for ~8k. Gorgon Arrow hits for ~8k along with a Petrify or Poison proc.

Recommended Party: Zin, Mueller, Josette, Renne
Reason: Zin has the only battlefield wide Taunt in the game which can protect the lowest health party member in the game along with his earth based orbment setup he can easily play a secondary or tertiary "Earthen Support" role as well as "Tank". Mueller brings viable physical pain to the enemy. Josette is built for being your main "Earthen Support" as well as brings a battlefield wide s-craft for quick add wiping. Renne brings all necessary healing and arts related needs.

Recommended Lvl: 136+ (138 for an easier fight)

Orbment Setups

Zin - Line Orange: Topaz Gem, Water Gem, Wind Gem
Line Blue: Topaz Gem, Onyx Gem
Line Green: Topaz Gem, Cast 2
Line Pink: Topaz Gem, Poison, Move 3

Mueller - Line Orange: Water Gem, Move 3, Wind Gem
Line Blue: Water Gem, Onyx Gem
Line Green, Water Gem, Nothingness, Ruby Gem
Line Pink: Water Gem, Mirage Gem*

Josette - Line Orange: Topaz Gem, Gold Gem, Mute 2, Range 2
Line Blue: Topaz Gem, Onyx Gem, Cast 2, Water Gem

Renne - Line Orange: Gold Gem, Onyx Gem, Topaz Gem, Water Gem, Wood Gem, Cast 2, Sapphire Gem

* - Fixes the -20 dex on Apocrypha. Swap out for something else if you aren't using Apocrypha.

Recommended Gear

You have no time left to hold back. Spd will be an issue for these fights as you'll have long run out of "great" gear once you've geared 1 or 2 parties. Field your best... whatever that might be at this point. A Fool's Emblem and Long Barrel 2+ should probably find their way onto Josette. Phantasmagoria armors can cover some holes. Quinty Ribbon or Quinty Ribbon+1 would be great on Renne. You've got 3 people with the ability to use Earth Guard. Renne will be both your main healer and main arts Nuker. Mueller's geared for straight physical damage and Nothingness is great for crippling the hell out of adds and providing Mueller with the ability to buff himself with Saint. Josette's your main Earthen Support and Zin will Tank and provide additional Earth Guarding support.

Recommended Items: Bring your everything. Blood Extracts, Celestial Balms, Beastly Stews, Tear All Balms, Bloody Meatballs, Zeram Powders/Capsules you name it!

Positioning: Even though it's a fairly low AoE fight the 4 corners strat keeps the line based AoEs from knocking off all your guards.

The Last Song of the Gordias Type-0 Strategy

Your first priority is to clear out all the Arrow Angels as they'll Artemis Arrow you relentlessly to impede your arts if you let them live (they're fairly fast). An early Mueller s-craft should grant you with most or all of the adds taken out and some initial damage onto the Gordias Type-0. Once the angels are down you should be able to freely cast and most definitely need to do so. Gigant Press has a bad habit of 1 shotting party members so you should stay on top of Gaia Shield casts and the like. Clock Up EX order should be Josette ---> Renne ---> Zin ---> Mueller. Make sure to get True Distend and Saint up on your physical characters for maximum damage on the giant robot. Once control of the fight has been established (dead adds) and you've buffed up the Gordias Type-0 should be ground down fairly easily. Keep on top of any additonal adds and the Gordias' mostly single target attacks shouldn't be too much of an issue. Gordias Type-0 has a fairly hefty weakness to Time in the form of +40% additional Time art damage. Abuse it for a fairly quick fight.

[HunterRassius]

Next up on our list is:

Phantsmagoria Ending Boss #2: R-II Gespenst

Stats:

Lvl: 150 HP: 78843
STR: 5526 DEF: 2739
ATS: 2217 ADF: 1461
SPD: 137 EXP: 512

Drops: Tear All Balm, EP Charge III, Celestial Balm, Curia Balm, Teara Balm, EP Charge, EP Charge II

Blade Angel (x4)

Minion Stats:

Lvl: 143 HP: 6439
STR: 4183 DEF: 2346
ATS: 1932 ADF: 1536
SPD: 143 EXP: 64

Drops: Tear All Balm, EP Charge III, Celestial Balm, Curia Balm, Teara Balm

Notes: R-II Gespenst hits for ~12k + knockback in a small AoE (incredibly LOW delay). Delay Cannon hits for ~12k + AT Delay in a fairly large AoE. AA Canceler is a battlefield wide AoE Impede that hits for ~12k (almost always used if you're "caught" casting). Diffusion Lazer is an ~8k small AoE. Call Allies brings another Blade Angel onto the field (low delay). Genocide is a battlefield wide AoE charge craft that hits for ~10-12k. Blade Angels can hit for ~8k damage. Lightning Flash is that infameous and nightmarishly LARGE AoE that can hit in the ~7-8k range.

Recommended Party: Estelle, Joshua, Anelace and Olivier
Reason: Estelle's "jack of all trades" role comes into play as an "Earthen Support" role. She's able to also drop a quick Morale for a steady damage buff to your physical Nukers as well. Josh can combine for his talents for massive speedy physical damage along with buff support in the form of spd and defensive buffs. He's the main cleanup for adds as well with the battlefield wide s-craft. Anelace's Whirlwind Dance comes into play for the this one as she can pull melee adds off your group to impede the use of Lightning Flash if need be. Olivier is only slightly weaker then Renne as a caster and provides splendid main healing and arts damage/support.

Recommended Lvl: 136+ (138 for an easier fight)

Orbment Setups

Estelle - Line Orange: Gold Gem, Poison 2, Range 2, Topaz Gem
Line Blue: Gold Gem, Water Gem, Cast 2, Onyx Gem

Joshua - Line Orange: Onyx Gem, Wind Gem, Gold Gem, Cast 2, Soul
Line Blue: Onyx Gem, Water Gem, Ruby Gem

Anelace - Line Orange: Wood Gem, Move 3, Water Gem
Line Blue: Wood Gem, Onyx Gem
Line Green: Wood Gem, Scent, Cast 2
Line Pink: Wood Gem, Ruby Gem

Olivier - Line Orange: Silver Gem, Sapphire Gem, Wood Gem, Onyx Gem, Septium Vein, Cast 2, Ingenuity

Recommended Gear

You have no time left to hold back. Spd will be an issue for these fights as you'll have long run out of "great" gear once you've geared 1 or 2 parties. Field your best... whatever that might be at this point. A Fool's Emblem is nearly mandatory on Estelle (that spd is seriously going to matter for this one!). Phantasmagoria armors can cover some holes but Josh should be packing some of your best accessories. Quinty Ribbon or Quinty Ribbon+1 would be great on Anelace. Hopefully you've upgraded her Jinu in the previous Arena encounter. Your entire party has the ability to use Earth Guard. Olivier will be both your main healer and main arts Nuker. Anelace is geared for straight physical damage and can heal and buff in a pinch. Estelle's your main Earthen Support and "tank". Josh is your "secondary" for nearly everything and should be spitting out absurd physical damage.

Recommended Items: Bring your everything. Blood Extracts, Celestial Balms, Beastly Stews, Tear All Balms, Bloody Meatballs, Zeram Powders/Capsules you name it!

Positioning: You're definitely looking at the 4 corners for this one (Delay Cannon is seriously annoying!).

The Black Reverie's Requiem Strategy

This fight can quickly turn into a bloodbath if the adds are left alive to do the damage they can potentially do. First order of business is literally to have Josh pop them all with an s-break. Letting them live is dangerous to say the least. You'll find out almost immediately that Gespenst's attacks are mostly moderate to low delay and can AT Delay you as well. In other words, he's FAST! You should immediately get to work on getting your spd up and defenses maxed as turns can be... erratic throughout the fight. Unfortunately, with AA Canceler always on the horizon you'll have to watch your casts and sometimes even manipulate the turn order a bit through move or item use. Keep your HP high just in case. When you start placing your physical characters next to Gespenst be prepared for perhaps the lowest delay attack in the game. Unfortunately, it has both knockback and is an AoE. Nonetheless, Josh can pull range if need be. Anelace isn't quite so lucky however. Zodiac should give you the extra "oomph" you need and then can be replaced with Petal Dance in regards to Anelace.

Keep the pressure high throughout the fight and knock any adds down before they can contribute any scary damage your way. With the entire party able to Earth Guard you should be able to keep damage and delay influx to a bare minimum. Once Gespenst is low smash your remaining s-crafts into his robotic rear and end the fight early to avoid shenanigans.

[Hagen2900]

I'm curious how you determined your parties. You probably want a character with a big aoe S-Craft in each team and a decent support (Gaia Shield or La Tear-All). But other than that it doesn't really matter that much.

For my part, I made elaborate relationship graphs to build teams of characters that fit together. :D Some of them really don't have much connection to the others so it got kinda tricky.

[HunterRassius]

Originally posted by Hagen2900:

I'm curious how you determined your parties. You probably want a character with a big aoe S-Craft in each team and a decent support (Gaia Shield or La Tear-All). But other than that it doesn't really matter that much.

For my part, I made elaborate relationship graphs to build teams of characters that fit together. :D Some of them really don't have much connection to the others so it got kinda tricky.

Lol that's awesome.

I did it based on "strength" and synergy actually. As well I also tried to keep the parties as well balanced as I could. For example all 4 needed a super solid ats master (Renne and Olivier in the examples above) on heal duty as well as a Gaia Shield user (preferably on the "Tank"... Josette being the exception here) and lastly a solid physical character with bad lines (Mueller and Anelace) the 4th member was sort of filler depending on how the party comp was building out. I also tried to have all 4 parties with a battlefield wide s-craft for cleanup in case the (rather unlikely) event of the poo hitting the fan you can just take back control of the fight with a button press. I gave a slight nudge on boss choice for story reasons (like Renne confronting Gordias Type-0 which helps that it's one of the easiest fights). I was honestly a bit worried as the Zin team was kind of the "leftovers" team but handing Nothingness to Mueller actually made it one VERY solid combo... I was pretty happy with it!

I'm guessing yours were:

Estelle, Joshua, Tita, Renne (The Family Party!)
Julia, Mueller, Kloe, Olivier (The Royals and Guards Party!)
Zin, Anelace, Agate, Schera (Bracers Ho! Party)
Kevin, Ries, Josette, Richard (The Loners Party)

Edit: I don't know why it took me so long but... I just realized Cassius is busy collecting Ex-Enforcers for his daughter (gotta catch them all!). Literally about the top .001% of fathers on Zemuria that actually could stop the fights between the siblings...

[HunterRassius]

One more boss post!

Phantasmagoria Ending Boss #3: R-Tycoon

Stats:

Lvl: 150 HP: 93125
STR: 5570 DEF: 2860
ATS: 2898 ADF: 1559
SPD: 119 EXP: 512

Drops: Tear All Balm, EP Charge III, Celestial Balm, Curia Balm, Teara Balm, EP Charge, EP Charge II

Rod Angel (x4)

Minion Stats:

Lvl: 143 HP: 6202
STR: 3841 DEF: 2288
ATS: 2693 ADF: 1708
SPD: 137 EXP: 64

Drops: Umegae+1, Umegae, Vorpal Sword+2, Vorpal Sword+1, Vorpal Sword, Curia Balm, Morality Sword+1, Morality Sword, Zigeuner+1, Zigeuner, EP Charge II

Notes: R-Tycoon hits for ~12k. Flame Breath is a massive cone based AoE for ~11-12k. Move allows the dragon to fly to a different side of the field (landing on a party member is ~11k damage + knockback). Tail Slap is a large AoE cone that hits for ~14.5k + massive knockback. Call Allies summons another Rod Angel to the field (low delay). Stomp is an AoE for ~13k damage + knockback. Wing Buffet is a battlefield wide knockback that pushes all party members to the edge of the field while dealing no damage (blocked by earth guard). Rod Angel can Angel Slap for 8k + a Confuse proc. Soul Blur is a short delay art that deals ~7k damage + 20% Faint proc chance. Genesis Barrier is a short term arts immunity + 1k heal (battlefield wide). White Ghenna is a medium AoE for ~10k damage + 20% Faint proc.

Recommended Party: Julia, Agate, Tita, Schera
Reason: Julia stands as both your "Tank" and "Earthen Support". Not a lot of anything can get through her low delay Mirageberg 2. Agate's your high physical damage character this round + battlefield wiping s-craft. Tita can switch roles on the fly with Orbal Gear providing both support and high physical offense when needed. Schera fills in "holes" with Heaven's Kiss while still allowing a main healer role with offensive art potential.

Recommended Lvl: 136+ (138 for an easier fight)

Orbment Setups

Julia - Line Orange: Gold Gem, Onyx Gem, Cast 2
Line Blue: Gold Gem, Range 2, Septium Vein, Water Gem, Topaz Gem

Agate - Line Orange: Ruby Gem, Move 3, Wind Gem
Line Blue: Ruby Gem, Mirage Gem*, Onyx Gem
Line Green: Ruby Gem, Seal 2, Water Gem

Tita - Line Orange: Gold Gem, Onyx Gem
Line Blue: Gold Gem, Wind Gem, Strike 2, Water Gem
Line Green: Gold Gem, Ruby Gem, Topaz Gem

Scherazard - Line Orange: Wood Gem, Sapphire Gem, Gold Gem, Water Gem, Scent, Onyx Gem
Line Blue: Wood Gem, Cast 2

* - Useful to negate Apocrypha's -20 dex debuff but otherwise...

Recommended Gear

You have no time left to hold back. Spd will be an issue for these fights as you'll have long run out of "great" gear once you've geared 1 or 2 parties. Field your best... whatever that might be at this point. Fool's Emblem on Julia is a must. I like throwing on Tiger Hearts for both Agate and Tita. Schera should have plenty of spd to keep the rest of your party "active" throughout the fight. Fill in any weak slots with Phantasmagoria gear (as it's generally pretty good). Julia's on "Earthen Support" duty. Shera's on main heals and can fill in Earth Guard holes in a pinch. Tita is the last line of "support" due to slow casts but has options regardless.

Recommended Items: Bring your everything. Blood Extracts, Celestial Balms, Beastly Stews, Tear All Balms, Bloody Meatballs, Zeram Powders/Capsules you name it!

Positioning: Keep it tight this time as you'll want to be hit by Heaven's Kiss. The cone based attacks can barely be avoided by positioning anyways.

Ragnarok's Roar Strategy

As per usual wiping out the adds comes first. Use Agate for your initial strike (smoking anything that even looks at you funny). This fight is generally much more gentle than the other 2. Rod Angels don't present nearly the threat that thing's like Blade Angels do and R-Tycoon does middling damage at best. Regardless, take the fight on as you normally would. Gaia Shield should be brought up immediately and Clock Up Exs should be handed out liberally. Hold off on buffing up Tita till after she hops into her Orbal Gear. Weave in an Attack Orders before everyone's Clock Up Ex (aside from Julia).

Generally this fight shouldn't be anything to write home about. Agate's easy to keep "fueled" because of great synergy with Schera. As long as Agate has enough to drop an s-craft it should be rather difficult to lose the fight. Pump out the epic smackdown as you normally would and the fight should be yours before you know it!

[Hagen2900]

Interestingly, this fight is significantly more difficult in the PS3 version. The dragon has an extremely high chance to use his low delay summon. He will keep doing it until there are 7 angels total and only rarely use some other move if there are less than 7. The angels also have over 9k Hp in the PS3 version and are thus out of range of the whole-field S-Crafts.

[Hagen2900]

Originally posted by HunterRassius:

I'm guessing yours were:

Estelle, Joshua, Tita, Renne (The Family Party!)
Julia, Mueller, Kloe, Olivier (The Royals and Guards Party!)
Zin, Anelace, Agate, Schera (Bracers Ho! Party)
Kevin, Ries, Josette, Richard (The Loners Party)

Edit: I don't know why it took me so long but... I just realized Cassius is busy collecting Ex-Enforcers for his daughter (gotta catch them all!). Literally about the top .001% of fathers on Zemuria that actually could stop the fights between the siblings...

Cassius has some odd hobbies.

Wow, your parties are actually better than mine. I was not going for a theme so much but rather trying to stick characters that have some form of connection together. I had Zin + Richard in Kevin's party because I wanted to defeat the final boss without guards and hence needed a lot of beef. Trying to accomodate Josette made the other parties a bit awkward.

Agate Tita Estelle Anelace
(Agate was a mentor of Anelace in one alternative timeline, Tita and Anelace are connected via Anelace cuteness fetish, rest is obvious.)
Joshua Kloe Josette Shera
(Josette and Kloe really hit it off in the Garden, Joshua is obvious, Shera is there to keep an eye on the kids. This one is a bit awkward.)
Julia Kloe Mueller Olivier
(Perfect. On theme and almost all characters are strongly connected, Olivier and Kloe had that proposed marriage thing, Mueller and Julia are friends.)

The main problem is Kevin and Ries. Ries is completely isolated and Kevin only has bonds to Estelle and Joshua. If you put them in this party though everything else falls apart. ^^ I spent way too much time on this.

[HunterRassius]

I wasn't actually going for themes it just ended up that way. Once you break up Agate and Tita (sacrilege I know!) the rest sort of falls into place. By some coincidence they ended up being fairly useable parties as well. It seems that I have a built in need for "efficiency" now which is slowly corrupting the rest of my life... I think it helped that I made the main party the "leftovers" party even though Richard was one of the "leftovers" *grins*.

My favorite is Josh's "Harem Party" I feel a murder mystery coming on... I can see the Headline now: "Black Fang's body found in Mistwald Forest!" Broken bo-staff found at the crime scene! Crime of passion suspected! Victim found with half eaten burnt "cookie" in mouth!

Originally posted by Hagen2900:

Interestingly, this fight is significantly more difficult in the PS3 version. The dragon has an extremely high chance to use his low delay summon. He will keep doing it until there are 7 angels total and only rarely use some other move if there are less than 7. The angels also have over 9k Hp in the PS3 version and are thus out of range of the whole-field S-Crafts.

Why is we get the crappy weak versions of the fights it seems? I like how Loewe's fights aren't even properly "working"...

[Hagen2900]

Loewe is bugged, likely due to a integer rollover (Sewer56Lol did some calculations that suggest this). Still it's only 6 battles that are harder in the PS3 version (Loewe, Nightmare Arena final battle, the 3 pre-final bosses and the Death Sluggers). The final boss, Cassius and Weissmann seem to be identical and all the other chumps in chapter 4, 5 and 6 are no stronger either.