There any way to get the EX skills in MMZ 2 without being perfect at the game?

[Doctor TacoChocolate]

I just want all the skills, but getting A ranks is such a pain. I don't want to perfectly speedrun the game. I just want to play it and get to have fun with the abilities. Is there any loophole that I'm not seeing that'll let me just get the weapons without playing the levels super fast and with taking minimal damage? Because this is ridiculous.

[CrowRising]

Speed and damage are only a few of the factors taken into consideration for your rank. You can actually maintain A rank without speedrunning the levels, but it does mean you're going to have to do well in other things such as defeating a lot of enemies, not using subtanks/cyber elves, etc.

It's a huge pain at first but over time you will get better. A small tip I can give you (you might already have realized it though) is that you can charge either your primary or secondary weapon and still use the other without losing your charge. You can also charge both at the same time and use them separately. Learning to optimize your use of this will make your life way easier.

[mdesaleah]

The abilities are completely optional, and are a reward for skilled players. Easily giving them to anyone would ruin the point of going for ranks.

[Doctor TacoChocolate]

I've been leaning like hell on the checkpoints, which makes it doable. A-ranking the stage where you protect Ciel still damn near killed me, though. I can't even imagine doing it the right way.

[CrowRising]

Originally posted by The Ashman Cometh:

I've been leaning like hell on the checkpoints, which makes it doable. A-ranking the stage where you protect Ciel still damn near killed me, though. I can't even imagine doing it the right way.

The checkpoints do usually make things easier but in some occasions they are a double edged sword. The placement of a handful of them is raw madness.

[William Shakesman]

Most folks who played the Zero games seriously for these skills just used save states