Hyrule Warriors/Zelda Musou (Spoiler Warning in effect)

I can complain about Ghirahim.

Most of his skills end with a very flamboyant flourish, leaving him open to attack. Even if you can break out of some of them with dodges, not all of them work, and he needs to tag captains with his Strong Attack, if he wants them dead in any decent time.

That said, I still like playing Ghirahim.

He's also rather hard to like when his obnoxious ass keeps insisting on trying to bother you on the many maps that claim he's on your side.

I just gave Ganon mode a shot. After encountering the Great Fairy in one of the missions, it suddenly hit me that not one Adventure map mission I've seen so far included Great Fairy Link. Kind of an odd omission up 'til now.

Also I'm amused that the game doesn't label the fighter as Link, but as Great Fairy. The game knows what's up.

She's still holding Link in a jar though.

The Adventure Mode mission opponents never use the alternate weapons. Impa's clones uses the Nagitana in that Ganondorf mission in Legend Mode though.

I've got Link up past Level 100 thanks to adventuring on the various maps. (I cleared Legend Mode before starting at all)... I've also got Link's amiibo - a Christmas gift to me along with Smash Bros. and thus have the various Spinner items.

For quite some time, I've been referring to Link on the Spinner (when I'm able to use any character I want and I get frustrated with losing with someone else) as the "Nuclear Option."

Yes, Link. You are a nuke. At least when you're on the Triforce Spinner.

Heh, Zelda with the Dominion Rod used to be my "nuclear option." Heck, I think I even unlocked both of Zelda's level 2 weapons using the rod instead of the appropriate level 1 weapon.

I will say that I more than enjoy playing as Zant, actually. I'll admit, it takes a while to get used to his style; it's much more deliberate, since you can't just rely on one particular combo for even the mook sections (I usually switch off between his C4 and his C1 spin attack for mook crowds). That said, I enjoy many of the options he has, plus the fact that he's good at avoiding blows. He's probably the character that takes the most time to learn, but I find he's rather fun. For that matter, I kinda enjoy Ruto as well, though she's a bit more limited.

As for Ghirahim, I'm fairly certain that his flourishes are there solely to keep you from spamming otherwise really powerful combo finishers too much. As is, even without Hasty Attacks, he generally comes out of fairly powerful combos really quickly if you dodge cancel his taunting. If Ghirahim didn't taunt, I'd probably abuse his C5 to the point of clearing maps in seconds. Heck, because I have a Hasty Attacks weapon for him, I already kinda do.

Ganondorf is my nuke for when I need to play something and I just want to ensure I get shit done in a reasonable amount of time.

Helps that I find his current weapon skill set-up to work pretty well:

8-Bit Magical Keys

Skill 1: Strong Attack+
Skill 2: Strength II
Skill 3: Strength III
Skill 4: Strength V
Skill 5: Vs. Dragon
Skill 6: No Healing
Skill 7: Hasty Attacks
Skill 8: Special Attack+

I also have Zant and Wizzro on stand-by when I want to nuke stuff with a different character.

Twili Midna is my go-to girl for clearing stuff out. Before it was Link and Fi came second.

Still don't have all the gold medals, weapons and Skulltulas yet, though I want to finish them...

edited 21st Apr '15 2:38:17 PM by Keybreak

Did another Adventure mode with Zelda (only got B. Still got a lot to learn I think. I guess this is why you do practice levels) and managed Cia's first story level after botching it before.

Note that I almost botched this one too. I just can't fight Volga very well. I don't know how to avoid taking hits, while staying close for Weak point smashes, so I miss my chance and end up dragging the battle out.

I need to learn how to close in on them. I know what attacks will leave the openings, but I can't figure out how to get close in time.

I want to level up the greatness that is Tingle to be my nuclear option, but for now I have to settle for Link, with either the Master Sword or when he takes Bow-Wow for a walk.

Volga is tricky to fight. Dodge his claw waves and fire breath, get far away when he spirals down at you in his dragon form, and be ready to counter when you're hitting him a lot and he starts spinning his spear around to stab into the ground.

Took me a while to learn how to fight him, but now he's a lot easier to beat than, say, Zant.

edited 21st Apr '15 2:41:08 PM by Keybreak

If you can get the timing down as he spirals down, you can be in the middle of a dodge when he hits the ground and so be instantly ready to hit his weak-point gauge.

I just realized that competitive multiplayer in this game would be hard because human players move around a lot and just keep attacking, while NPC warriors will just stand around a lot and leave a lot of openings.

I'd still want to try it, but it might be hard to implement.

The solution in some previous Musou games was to move the action to a small arena like in most 3D fighting games.

Of course, I could see the Competitions from the Termina Map as a good player-vs-player mode, with some modification.

When fighting Volga, constantly pressure him. Inevitably, he'll try using his spinning ground stab to counter you. Dodge that, and his weak point will be exposed.

What should Fi do to take down weak point gauges? I used to use her all the time and now I just realized that compared to every other character, even those 50 levels lower, she can't take out a boss point gauge. Ruto does a better job at that.

huh. when did the kokiri sword become too big for the kokiri?

i dont really mind the one handed to greatsword change, but did they have to use the kokiri sword instead of something like..i dunno, the razor sword from MM?

I usually use Fi's C6 for Weak Point Gauges. It's a little slow to get off, so it's of limited use for some cases (moblins and Volga's spear plant), but it just destroys a gauge if it gets off - if the foe in question is weak to light element attacks, one C6 will finish the gauge, unless you're fighting The Imprisoned and its total cheese "only lose half a gauge at a time" kicks in.

Fi's built to destroy mobs of grunts even better than most of the rest of the cast, but yeah, her C6 is probably her best shot at knocking down Weak Point Gauges. If you're up against a Captain or maybe even a Commander, her C2 has use, too.

I think I finally figured out how to use the Summoning Gate.

Use the strong attack button. Then use a combo of whatever monster comes out for wide damage.

It's random and I hate that, but that makes it a little easier to use..

Argorok is best. You can jump on his back and just fly over enemies roasting them. I wish I had known that months ago.

edited 31st May '15 1:41:30 PM by Keybreak

Well yeah, the intent of it is that you're supposed to memorize what combo attack summons which monster, then pick the attack according to what you initially summoned.

Not that any of them outside of Argorok are particularly devastating for all of that effort (especially considering how easily the summon effect wears off if you're not entirely focused on it), but you get invincibility at least.

edited 31st May '15 2:11:14 PM by Demonfly

Have you seen the boosted Gohma summon?

The issue with the summoning gate is more that it lacks a way to deal with a single target. If clearing keeps or otherwise large amounts of enemies, it does extremely well, not matter which boosted summon you get. The catch is when you're up against lieutenants and the like who don't give you the time to get the barrier.

I have seen it, and I've also seen that it does rather underwhelming Commander and Keep damage for the boss that it's taken from.

Plus even if you do pull off a successful combo on a notable target, they'll all too often just recover right in the middle of it and completely ignore the finisher.

edited 31st May '15 2:13:05 PM by Demonfly

I know that with Lieutenants, you just need to use one Strong attack on them to smash their weak point gauge. Don't remember how I deal with anything tougher, like enemy P Cs or Giant Bosses.

Fighting against non-grunts with the Summoning Gate requires a lot of quick small non-complete combos. The last one makes you jump and you're left way open to attack.

Adventure missions get frustrating when you have to use a certain warrior with a certain weapon and everything on the battlefield is in the exact same place as when you failed the last time.