My unique experience getting the Captain: Smushed achievement

[Dorito_Magneto]

A lot of this is from memory, so something might be inaccurate here or there, but the main points are 100%.


So it was just any normal run with command, I progressed picking up the essentials, while avoiding anything that would negate the unlock. Not much to say up until i get to Mythrix, but keep in mind that i got 2 or 3 Safer Spaces, a bunch of Shaped Glass, and a Dio's. This will be important later.

So i get to Mythrix and portal up to Mythrix immediately, I progress through the phases one by one with no issue, until eventually i made it to the fourth phase.

This is where my story begins.

Now, I had tried to get this achievement a few times just before this attempt, most of which had me miss with my beacons. but this time I was feeling strangely confident. I think back to all the time I had spent on this one unlock, and wonder how good victory would feel.

Caught in my dream, I fire the first beacon, and it misses.

this is ok, this was expected, After all I have two attempts. My timing was just a little off, I say to myself. I just need to aim a little further this time.

As i fire my second beacon, Mythrix doubles back and I miss again.

at this point I'm pretty disappointed, I wonder how much longer this unlock will take me, I have already spent a few hours attempting it to no avail.

I hit him once to remove his safer spaces, then, out of pure spite, I hit him again to one shot him and received all my items back. however, I had forgot about my Dio's, and he revives.

it was then that clarity had struck my mind like a bat. Maybe, just maybe I could salvage this run. but I would need new charges of my beacons.

I wracked my head if it were even possible.

Then, a revelation befalls me.

I don't know from where, but I remember a fact that when Captain dies and gets revived, he regains his charges for his beacons.

And from there you may think "Oh of course he uses this debatably well know fact to die and get the achievement, The End."

Oh you innocent soul, if it were truly that simple.

No.

And it is from this moment on, my understanding of what the hell was happening goes from knowledgeable to baseless theory.

When I had attempted to die, I witnessed something truly befitting of the word shocking.

every time my Safer Spaces would proc, it would immediately come back, nullifying all damage.

"What" I verbally choke out despite nobody being within my vicinity. how the hell does that make any sense. If anyone has any insight, please comment and tell me because I'm really interested.

maybe it has something to do with the game thinking I beat the last phase and didn't account for Dio's, or maybe a bug related to when I got the Safer Spaces back. I dunno, but I was dumbfounded.

no matter how many needles I ran into, It wasn't enough to kill me. then, an unknowingly integral thought had popped into my mind. It was just seeds, but soon it would grow.

If I could just take damage faster than the game can give me back the buff, I could die.

Reading this as i'm writing it, I'm probably the first person to have this mindset while playing this game. to actively try to die against uncertain odds to succeed.

So I tried running into the needles as they were coming towards me, to minimize the time between each hit. but it was fruitless, and it's not like I was slow either. I don't remember how much speed I had, but I estimate I could run across the arena in 3 seconds.

So with that not working for the foreseeable future, I think to damage him enough so that he can start doing his slam orb move idk what it's called. but I know that once I do that, i'll be on a time limit. every time he slams down, he hurts himself a little. Plus, with as many shaped glass and crowbars as I had, I could unintentionally reduce that time, or even just kill him instantly.

how fitting It was a risk, but a risk I must take to win.

I opt to hit him with a single pellet from my M1, to test the waters. I don't remember exactly where his health went, but he eventually got down to slam levels of health.

This was it. This was my final chance to get this achievement, if his slam could hit me dead on, and spawn all the orbs to hit me at one moment. All that damage within one frame. I reckon that would be fast enough, that it would deal enough damage to finally kill me.

So I line myself up as close to his fists impact point as I think is possible, and my body careens through the sky. It sends me flying, but I live. I live having taken damage, but it was not enough. I had survived the punch with no less than 30 HP.

I feel joyous, having seen a path to the end, but this path was covered in glass thorns.

the more times I attempted this, the less consistent I got. You see, you have to be positioned in a very specific area so as to hit enough orbs in one frame to deal enough damage. And he has enough time between actions for me to return to full health with all my Cautious Slugs. No matter how many times I tried I could not take enough damage.
Even getting as low as 1 HP a single time. I ♥♥♥♥ you not, 1 HP.

This was my lowest point.

I had thought there really was no way to win. but in this moment I channeled some type emotion. I will not give up.

Minutes went by.

I searched through Google to see if anyone had experienced the same safer spaces thing I had. Nothing.

I kept searching.

I watched as the health bar slowly dropped lower and lower.

And lower.

When his health dropped to a dangerously low level, and I probably only had around 2 minutes left, I had the idea of a lifetime.

When Mythrix does his slam attack, his fist doesn't hit the ground. It goes INTO the ground. I thought, as a final try - if this were to not work, I would give up - I would lure Mythrix to the edge of his platform. the white disc he spawns on. and right as he is on the edge, floating halfway over the ground, I align myself and I have him punch for a direct hit.

Wings spread as my body takes flight. Soon enough, I have control again. I had done it. I had done what I had thought to be impossible. I Swiftly regained my composure, and prepared to fire off my beacons. There was no chance after an experience like that, that I was going to choke.

With the time still ticking, I fire my third beacon. and reflect on everything I had went through to get here. The flipping and changing emotions I felt. the feelings of loss, then hope, and loss again. To have gone through this experience, I feel anew. As though I had lived for this moment. As I remember the path, I find myself staring down at my feet.

A direct hit.

[autumn22]

This was a wild ride. You remember being in school as a kid and thinking, "Why am I learning all these extremely specific things that will never help me?" only to end up needing that knowledge exactly once in a really specific situation? This is pretty much the RoR2 equivalent of that. I live for moments when random knowledge saves the day.

Also, do you have any idea how long the fight took? I probably would have given up after five or so minutes.

[handsoap]

tldr

[Dorito_Magneto]

Originally posted by Autumn22:

Also, do you have any idea how long the fight took? I probably would have given up after five or so minutes.

I want to say it was around 20-30 minutes, after I started searching things on google, my sense of time kinda disappeared since I only glanced at the health bar every now and then. it was pretty much how long it would take Mythrix to kill himself + a little bit of extra time.

unless the difficulty level affects how long it takes for him to die which is probably true. so yeah about 20-30 minutes

[squat_instructor]

the story of all time (I didn't read it)