How to get S in Old Pier :((((

[Ibuprofen]

In hardest mode. I've tried it over and over again! I am so frustrated! The score required to reach S in Old Pier is too high imo. I have to get high combo in many parts of the stage or I will never be able to get enough score. AND THOSE JUMPING ♥♥♥♥♥ES JUST KEPT BREAKING IT!!

Just 3~4 Jumping girls are able to ruin the game! To avoid being hit my character have to use special very often because the girls just spread out on the map. Then a random Ruby kicked in, BOOM, a large potion of health and my combo just disappeared! GAAAHHH!!

In my hard mode tab, the Old Pier is my latest S stage. I really think this stage is unfair.

I don't do English well, really sorry about that, but I'm so upset :(

[eingapmoc aM ne srisialP ed euQ]

Yeah, I looked up the guide here on steam that gives the points yet I'm always falling short on that level too.

I clearly miss something since it's possible but I'm not sure where I miss the big gains.

[Marmo]

Don't throw enemies off the stage unless they're already dying.

[0restes]

Originally posted by Red:

Don't throw enemies off the stage unless they're already dying.

:wat:

[Marmo]

Originally posted by 0restes:

Originally posted by Red:

Don't throw enemies off the stage unless they're already dying.

:wat:

Old pier is full of holes.

[Ibuprofen]

Originally posted by Red:

Don't throw enemies off the stage unless they're already dying.

Thank you. I was aware of that. I think I know how to build combo up, not like master players tho, but I think I can do some amazing combo(purple) and sometimes 1 or 2 sick combo in a run. My problem is I just can't handle those jumping legs. They always can find a way to break my combo.

I guess I just need more practice. :/

btw, I believe the combo scale is nonlinear. combos below amazing level really can't let us gain enough score. Is this necessary?

[0restes]

Originally posted by Red:

Originally posted by 0restes:

:wat:

Old pier is full of holes.

I got my mania S rank on this stage by throwing enemies into the holes at the slightest chance. If the damage points are the same and the bonus points are the same why wouldn't you throw enemies into the holes? You are removing threats left and right too.

[Bafbegagglestick]

Originally posted by Red:

Don't throw enemies off the stage unless they're already dying.

You should be throwing them down the holes ASAP. It's the quickest way to get crazy damage combos.

[Marmo]

Originally posted by 0restes:

Originally posted by Red:

Old pier is full of holes.

I got my mania S rank on this stage by throwing enemies into the holes at the slightest chance. If the damage points are the same and the bonus points are the same why wouldn't you throw enemies into the holes? You are removing threats left and right too.

Overkill combos > enviroment kills in terms of points.

[0restes]

Originally posted by Red:

Originally posted by 0restes:

I got my mania S rank on this stage by throwing enemies into the holes at the slightest chance. If the damage points are the same and the bonus points are the same why wouldn't you throw enemies into the holes? You are removing threats left and right too.

Overkill combos > enviroment kills in terms of points.

No.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Bc-Y_Lqa0

[Pato.]

Its a pain but its doable, you need to try to get the best combo possible in the begginning, after that try to not die and not lose big combos, if you need to sacrifice a star just do it, know the exact spawn spot of the enemies help a lot.

[Bafbegagglestick]

Originally posted by Red:

Overkill combos > enviroment kills in terms of points.

Overkill combos = a waste if time and resources.
It may look cool (and damn right do I keep those bodies bouncing) but the combo is all about damage, not the hit count. As far as score is concerned, it's a complete waste of time.

[Meat Miracle]

The game rewards damage, not the amount of combo hits. Killing enemies by throwing them in holes will put all their health towards the damage counter, making it the best way to get big combo scores. It's why you can get pink/red combos in seconds on both elevator levels.

For Old Pier, there's a scene right after you kill the first bunch of Garnets, where the scene stop scrolling with a huge hole on the right, and enemies constantly jumping in, lining up perfectly for strong attacks to kick them into the hole. There's a few enemies coming from the back that you need to take care of first, but after that you can just kick / throw them in instantly as they jump in. Easy to get huge combos there. If you are fast or play 2 player, you can also continue the chain with the 2/4 garnets that jump in near the money case afterwards, which is also quite a bit of damage.
When the cops arrive at the end of the pier, I usually just sit in the bottom left and throw people either into the pit or just into the right. When cops are hitting enemies, they will extend your combo timer. So you can just throw fresh meat to them until they wear each other out.
Or you can jump in the middle, snipe them with a star move, then pick the remaining punks off easily since other than the two or three Garnets, they are all weak basic enemies.

After that, on the bottom of the pier, you only face signals and galsias. This entire section can be done in one huge chain if you are at least mediocre in the game. Easier in 2p of course, but not that difficult on 1p either. It'll get you a pink combo minimum, maybe a red one depending on difficulty level (higher difficulty - more enemies - more damage - higher combo score).

Those are two sections where you can do pink/red combos, which should be enough to get an S rank as long as you don't bollocks up the Estel fight. If you still have 2 lives at the end, you should be getting something like 7k-10k bonus points.

[Marmo]

Originally posted by 0restes:

Originally posted by Red:

Overkill combos > enviroment kills in terms of points.

No.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Bc-Y_Lqa0

I thought you get the damage and the combo score with overkill combos. With enviroment kills you get just the damage points.

[eingapmoc aM ne srisialP ed euQ]

I finally did it yesterday with Adam (thanks to you all for the tips ):
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2150809780

I lost no life but gained 2 and didn't use a single star.

I understand there are multiple ways to do it but here is how I did it:

The first section of the pier, leading to the first spot where there is a Donovan with a baseball bat (appearing with a Yellow Signal), I kept the combo up by chaining all the kills.

Then once the Donovan showed up I used my special to kick him against the left "wall". Then I stood with my back against that "wall" and defeated everybody from there, sending a few in the hole.

The next part, I went to get the star and money in the barrels on the upper left side of the map. Then I moved to grab the Donovan jumping in with a baseball bat and proceeded to beat all the bad guys, while fighting in the bottom left corner (where you come from).

Once I cleared that half, I took the pipe and threw it about where I thought the two Murphy (shields) and two Barney (tasers) would be. I walked a bit after throwing the pipe so I saw that it had hit the two Murphy and one Barney, making them lose their weapons. I approached slowly to get the Barneys to roughly lineup and used my special again. I used one taser right away so I had to worry about only one and fought them all before going for the secret stage in the arcade.

A tip if you're in a bad shape and don't want to use the healing items (or to revive a teammate that died), go to the secret stage within an arcade and they'll spawn back in there and once you're done, you'll both get back to the map fully healed. Then you can finish the enemies you fled and pick up the healing items for points instead.

I managed to get about 11k points before jumping down to the final section.

There, I chained one combo leading to Estel and simply used the healing items to keep my 3rd life up.

[Ibuprofen]

Thanks for so many responses and advice. You guys are awesome. I just completed one run of Old Pier on hardest mode and got 33782. It's still an A tho, but it is my best score so far(my best score before was 30XXX. I thought I would get an S because the score was over 30k, but I didn't, lol. ).

I guess it turned to be a git gud problem now, nevertheless, I still think the required score for getting S is a bit high. :P Anyway, SOR4 is a good game. I will carry on and try my best.

Again, sorry for my weird English.

--------------------

Originally posted by 0restes:

Originally posted by Red:

Overkill combos > enviroment kills in terms of points.

No.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Bc-Y_Lqa0

Wait, According to this video, I need 33800 to get S in Old Pier on hardest mode. Holy crap! I was so close!!!