Expert mode is kicking my ass.

[Handsome Jack]

I thought it would only be slightly harder than hard so i try to play normally without using use the 300% exp chain ability and equipments from the previous playthrough. But now the boss on the ghost ship is kicking my ass. My AI companions are constantly lying on the ground during boss fight. Boss take forever to kill and can 2 shot me with every attack. The game is now harder than dark souls.

Is expert mode supposed to be playing with 300% exp chain ability equipped and having an over leveled party ?

[Drake]

Expert mode and no future are meant for new game + games, with items, unlocked passives etc. The 300% xp is a given if you start at lv 1 and don't have endgame weapons already for your first class.
It's leaning toward lv 99 maxed chars at the end yes. It's a lot harder than hard mode.

[funtimes69]

yes expert mode is way harder than hard.
for a better experience, i would advise at the very minimum:

for Physical Damage : Instinct Bond (+50 ATK)
for Magic Damage : Passion Bond (+50 MATK)

you need to beat anise with kevin and angela in your party to unlock these if i remember correctly.

additionally, after anise's stockade is made available (dont need to beat for this) you can buy the best equipment for class 1 characters from the two cats outside the benevedon locations. the equipment available are only for the classes you have in your party.

having the bonds and the equipment will help a lot in expert. it will still be hard because you have to start recognizing mechanics and dodge a lot more but having those makes early-mid easier.

[Handsome Jack]

Thanks for the advice. I thought no future was the only "hard" mode so i did not do any preparation for expert mode and play with normal level and equipments. I will use 300% exp from now on.

[Zunnoab #931]

I didn't play since the patch but the ghost ship battle I ended up having to do solo with the fan patch too. The AI was awful avoiding its attacks.

[Aleddra]

I never got the option for the increased difficulty settings. Do i need to complete the full story? I kinna stopped before the 4th class change.

[sikker]

Yes, you need to beat the post game too and then do new game plus

[Aleddra]

Something i like to do for aggressive mobs is just spam light attacks until i need to dodge. Works on the moles or the goblins near the start. Zombies too.

[Aumires]

I am finding it (frustratingly) fun in a way even with the help. No Future straight from Normal, I mean, and the other 3 members not from the playthrough: Everything kills in one hit. So you got to use those fancy jumphits to hitstun back and so on.

Those passives they give you of Guiding Sword go well once you have your party member as it becomes a "oops you messed up? you got another hit with your party member left that never dies unless controlled". The 3 item limit also means that you can mess a number of times only before...

....the DPS check from the time limit hits and Game Overs you. As I had chosen Duran/Angela/Lise as my party members unused, I am fighting the first boss with only the couple. Advancing normally with the Rabite Adornment set me on lv5 and the boss is lv7, so first try went near beating it but didnt cut due to me having a party member dead after the extra dialog. Then, I noticed I hadn't bought stuff from Black Market beforehand, so I had paltry amount of Dark throwables and claws. Sooo I think I will restart with another party that includes Charlotte to get her in and go 3 party member on that crab's eyes.

Also Duran is terrible for that boss as each time the boss casts Holy Bolt+ he rises slightly more than I can hit it with the Area attack combo lol.

Or I could level to the crab's level and try once I have that Strength+5 with Duran ofc.

Wonder how the balance will be kept later on with a shaped up party or if things still one hit you.

Btw the crab's eye beam hits for 1700+ damage. The claws for the amount of my character plus 10 or so damage. So I think red stuff plainly KILLS, but other stuff miiiight be survivable barely later on.

Also yes, the Rabite on Duran's way out of Valsena 1-hit kill you. Everything does, again as mentioned. No, I didn't get hit on the starting tournament, but I did notice that after the tutorial maneuvers I still had to take 33% of his HP.

[Terotrous]

Expert mode is indeed way overtuned. You essentially have to use all of the broken abilities granted at the end of your previous playthrough in order to make it somewhat possible.

I feel what they really should have done was shifted all existing difficulties down by one (so Hard becomes Normal, Normal becomes Easy, etc), made Hard mode about halfway inbetween old Hard and current Expert, and then left Expert and No Future untouched. This would make the new Hard mode a reasonable choice for a completely new playthrough, while leaving Expert / No Future as a good place to play around with NG+ stuff.

[Terotrous]

Originally posted by Aumires:

Those passives they give you of Guiding Sword go well once you have your party member as it becomes a "oops you messed up? you got another hit with your party member left that never dies unless controlled". The 3 item limit also means that you can mess a number of times only before...

....the DPS check from the time limit hits and Game Overs you. As I had chosen Duran/Angela/Lise as my party members unused, I am fighting the first boss with only the couple. Advancing normally with the Rabite Adornment set me on lv5 and the boss is lv7, so first try went near beating it but didnt cut due to me having a party member dead after the extra dialog. Then, I noticed I hadn't bought stuff from Black Market beforehand, so I had paltry amount of Dark throwables and claws. Sooo I think I will restart with another party that includes Charlotte to get her in and go 3 party member on that crab's eyes.

I legitimately don't think going into NF with a fresh party is possible, due to the DPS check. You might eventually get past Full Metal Hugger, but I'd be surprised if you have the DPS for Jewel Eater, and Harcypete will be 100% impossible. You need to bring in weapons and armor from past playthroughs in order to be able to do enough damage in time.

[Aumires]

Originally posted by Terotrous:

and Harcypete will be 100% impossible. You need to bring in weapons and armor from past playthroughs in order to be able to do enough damage in time.

Going to find that out in a few minutes! I only needed to level once more (level 6 vs crab at 7) to get Strength+5 on Duran, which made a world of difference! The golems were just a matter of avoiding the fast smack punch and the mole was about finding the safe spot for the caveins and using a skill attack on Rock Throw. I am having a blast, hoping I can pass that harpy lady and... uuuh, wallface and Gorva. Those two are the ones that really scare me haha.

Edit: Beat up the harpy! She Supersonics at least 4 times when hurt enough it seemed to me. A level 2 and a level 1 CS seemed to do it. Also... I failed one but as I was in the middle of a CS it... didn't hit?? I thought those couldn't be i-framed, but that changes a ton of headache later on with the Godbeasts if that's the case. Pretty nice fight, although her Buffer was kind of annoying... although it let me ready a extended combo with a charging finisher usually towards her! I even didn't have Earth Saber cause I was dumb and didn't save points lol although items help.

[Terotrous]

I'm actually stunned you were able to kill them in time, I'm doing a mostly fresh party on Expert and these fights are taking forever. I guess Guiding Sword is a bigger deal than I thought. If you think about the amount of time I have to waste healing my idiot teammates I guess it makes sense. This just makes it all the more clear that Expert is overtuned difficulty wise.

And yeah, you can iframe through those huge boss attacks in most cases. This is much better on NF for sure since if it hits the rest of the party it doesn't matter.

As for Zehnoa and Gova, I found them vastly easier than Harcypete, so you're probably in the clear for a bit, make sure to stock on saber items from the black market though. Even with Dark Duran you can't have the sabers needed for these fights at this point in the game.

[Aumires]

If anything, I am having them for Attack Saber for now and get a lil bit of extra edge. Wonder if the ice scale item applies it though.

What you say about Expert Mode is mildly concerning tho and I might have to also do a run on that mode, as Guiding Sword indeed seems like a great difference in style.

Tbf, I feel powerful, too powerful against normal mobs. They are starting to drop really fast as the full combo cuts them down to size. I had a Silver Seed give me a "Fiend Claw" from Kevin too, so I am concerned that soon seeds might start getting in the way too and give me OP equip soon enough. Also, Lil Cactus intrudes quite a bit so I am already getting over the boss levels too.

But tomorrow I will see... if I even am able to pass those bosses (and Bill and Ben!)

[Handsome Jack]

Just beat no future today. I find it much more enjoyable than expert. Mostly due to not having to take care of the 2 AI. And the challenge in expert is gone when you start to abuse those op chain abilities like mana miracle.

[Aumires]

I have been playing on and off myself and I am now on the endgame part, after getting last shop equipments.

It has been quite a wild trip! Zehnoa and Gorva were HARD! Bill and Ben was a nice fight that only had to retry a couple times (1st fight, 2nd fight even if a bit more accelerated was first try) ...and the road to the Benevodons was quite easy afterwards. I was a bit disappointed at how easy Ludgar and the wood boss were (besides Jet Spray weird boxes, changing character or going far worked)

Benevodons were a mixed bag. My order was:
1. Dolan: So easy as usual in this remake. Not to mention the Spiral Moon is a non-issue.
2. Lightgazer: A fun fight! Cowering at the corner to avoid the charged ultimate doom laser made me laugh. The lil hit when jumping away was a bit annoying but I managed. Didn't change patterns too much, Dolan was more noticeable imo.
3. Mispolm: ...whoa. This guy fighting it legit is, like, really a pain in No Future with those 1-hit kill whips! I say "legit" cause it also has a blind spot on the left. Which... makes the gauge crystals pop on the other side too.... and the Poison Bubble spam gets a bit nasty. Funny enough, another ultimate attack that's surprisingly a non-issue as it is so easy to dodge. Still, I had to do a fair amount of retries cause I kept getting cocky trying to dodge the whips.
4. Land Umber: Now this is a No Future boss. As in, at first, you see no hope to pass this, as the combination of camera in front of the boss once arms are down, the punch+Earthquake+ sometimes targetting the player on the magic, having to break those arms first to being able to damage the boss. But like with Gorva, I pulled it off. It felt great clearing this one!
5. Dangaard: I really wanted to tackle this one before last cause I felt this one on No Future would be a pain. It wasn't that much of that. Just had to get the angles right to break it... 9 times? It took me a few tries, but as usual, this one's easy. At least though, this time it asked to learn how to break it correctly.
6. Xan Bie: Ok. This guy. This one boss. THIS. Is the "that boss" in this mode. This guy is the largest pain in my almost naked Fenrir Knight's rear! This boss requires perfect execution or you are 120% toast! Between saber changing being more usual, needing to break the altars before it enters boosted modes, lava field stalling, instant Explode+s, and the absolutely brutal ultimate attack that requires player switching while turning the camera just enough so you don't also get a sudden altar magic on your feet... this is the absolute worst boss in No Future. At least, for the Benevodons and everything before it. Beating it caused me an almost similar reaction to beating one of those "that boss" on From games. Oh, please, don't change it ever. Even if I almost considered stopping the run.
7. The cheating lizard: It doesn't deserve to be called by its name. The thing is easy but will cheat spawning multiple Spike Freeze+s, Cold Blazes and blinding your screen white. Will also get a spike on your head on Frozen Crack if you aren't in the center of the arena. Will also headbutt you instantly if you are in the front. He cheats but it is easy and only required three tries before I headed to Pedda.

I have really liked this mode so far. Now, whether I am able to clear the game or post game doesn't matter much - well, the darkness stone is still a shared component, but it is already endgame. I am still going for it anyway xD