DT3 - raocow and the game that ended

[Dark Hunter]

Welp, Abomination caused an episode 0.

I disagree. An episode 0 would be no progress at all. He may not have beaten it but he did indeed make progress. He reached the second phase. If he'd stopped recording before that point then sure, but he didn't.

Well, as of today I'm retroactively correct anyway. :D

Personally, I found it easiest to damage the parasite by jumping over it and shooting stuff down in Samus-mode. Missiles, charge shots, whatever. It actually doesn't have as much health as you might think.

The one thing you don't want to do is fall into the... erm, jaws?... of the Abomination. It's damned near impossible to get out of there if you do.

[Meowthnum1]

Poor raocow. This was one of the hardest bosses I've ever fought in a video game (though so was Sephiroth in the Nightmare Gate and raocow beat him easily enough). I think part of the difficulty is that the fight progressively gets harder, but it's hard to get practice on the late stages of the fight. It's a long battle.

I don't know if this or the next boss is the hardest, but at least they're both easier than the final boss (imo).

[jaxter0987]

Holy Water on the Parasite core is the way to go. Constantly jumping over the pit and putting yourself in danger while shooting downwards might work for some people but its definitely not something raocow should be doing if he's complaining about how long it takes to get to that point of the fight.

Link Arrows shot downwards from the edge of the highest platform deals with the third right side weak point perfectly.

raocow, the Abomination is a 4 minute fight if done optimally. Its going to be a long fight so take your time and focus on surviving, especially when the Parasite core is revealed.

[Stink Terios]

Link's Bombs are pretty good for the awkwardest core in the right. Just haphazardly fling bombs and focus on dodging in place.

[NegativeZeroZ]

Link Arrows shot downwards from the edge of the highest platform deals with the third right side weak point perfectly.

That. It gets you out of the pigeon holes, lets you dodge projectiles just by jumping, and deals the most damage. All things considered, it makes the left point more awkward and dangerous by comparison, so I blitz that one with Energy Gem first.

The jumping Holy Water strat is certainly adequate to get the job done though. raocow will beat him next time, he's almost there.

[Alice]

Seems like those platforms would be less infuriating if either the end tiles of them were platforms you could actually go through or the entire thing was. That way you don't have to deal with those weird jumps where you have to jump out and back in order to avoid bumping your head which is ridiculously easy in tight spaces like that. Also when the parasite reveals itself it seems like it'd be a lot more fair with a checkpoint since most people are going to be understandably confused about whether things have changed or not. Especially with the sudden changes in attacks not really giving you enough time to breathe to try and figure things out.

[ZephyrBurst]

Seems like those platforms would be less infuriating if either the end tiles of them were platforms you could actually go through

This is an idea I've seen passed around that might happen. I kinda like it.

[Razzling]

That boss seems super hard and fun, im amazed that for a game this long all the bosses actually seem really neat

too bad i suck too much at video games to actually play it

Honestly though the thing I can see with the Abomination boss is that if you get hit even once as a mistake that could potentially ruin a run because of how much damage it does (though that just might be raocow with in-optimal equipment if so disregard this)

but since you only need 6 instruments playing for the first phase to actually damage it, maybe make it so when all 8 are playing the abomination actually does a little bit less damage? Thats the one thing i can think of that would make the fight a bit easier.

if it already does that though disregard this again

[Stink Terios]

So, the Abomination's unceremonious death is a huge disappointment.

Like, come on! It was set up perfectly! I expected to end the game by riding the Abomination to battle and wreck the Warship in a glorious display as Hexor freaks out about how badly his plan backfired!
It would give wonderful meaning to "Distorted Travesty" since that's what the Abomination is!
I CAN PICTURE IT IN MY HEAD. SO AWESOME.
But no, it was just some backup plan. Poor thing. :( It would work as a main threat much better than the Warship, which is just a by-the-numbers doomsday weapon.

[Ometeotl]

Those items did not seem very good for what it took to get them.

[Dark Hunter]

But no, it was just some backup plan. Poor thing. :( It would work as a main threat much better than the Warship, which is just a by-the-numbers doomsday weapon.

Well, the Abomination was just a by-the-numbers sealed destructive force, so it's not like it's any less cliche than the Warship is.

I share Chao's sentiments at the end of the fight. I wanted to help the thing. Then again, given how its whole schtick is "uncontrollable destruction of everything around it", I have to wonder if peaceful coexistence with it was ever possible, Parasite or no. It may be that the Abomination simply had to die anyway for the sake of everything else.

[Telamon]

93 deaths, if anyone is wondering. So I believe that's not the most, but it must have taken the longest total time by a wide margin.

[Ignoritus]

So the Abomination's 'character' arc was kind of uh... confusing?

It's like... hey I'm a mega death monster! I'm gonna destroy the world!! BUT NOT REALLY I'M ACTUALLY A GOOD GUY SECRETLY BEING CONTROLLED BY A SPOOKY PARASITE!! oh noes im dead the end.

You could literally remove the Abomination from the plot entirely and it wouldn't be even remotely impacted. Hex escapes and takes over Chaos in order to use them to further his goals, just like he already does. I almost feel like the only reason the Abomination was worked into the main plot was so that the purpose of the Nightmare Gates didn't feel completely out of nowhere. Instead it just feels odd that what's presented as an optional challenge becomes required and plot significant.

I'm really hoping that if there's ever a DT4 the Abomination returns in some form and is granted more exploration.

[NegativeZeroZ]

Not really stoked about a "lost episode" situation. At least he beat the boss before someone told him that was the last phase.

Plot Armor is reducing damage of 5 different types, some of which stack. Aside from the obvious application of reducing all Trap damage by 2, it can carry you pretty hard through the final boss when you stack another armor on it and use Sword of Bravery to nullify its penalty.

Power Glove is an obvious boss gallery tool, but with the right setup you can skip a few boss phases, some of which are an absolute menace, like Decimator 10k's armor phase with its undashable lasers. It's also just a badass equip in general if you're too cool to get hit.

[gamercal]

For the record, the "How am I supposed to hit this thing without Holy Water?" question is answered by the fact that Samus can shoot downwards. That's how I ended up doing it, I didn't think of using Holy Water like that for some reason ^_^'. I blame using Charged Missiles (something everyone forgets exists for some reason) against That One Weakspot in Phase 3.

Good job on the clear raocow!

[Ditocoaf]

I bet you could've saved the secretly-good-but-it-doesn't-really-affect-anything-that-happens part of the monster if the instruments had played Ballad of the Wind Fish.

(Also, I figured out what the story purpose of having the abomination be secretly a good person even though you just kill it anyway: not enough good characters die in this game, had to get one more towards that quota.)

[RobinLSL]

(Also, I figured out what the story purpose of having the abomination be secretly a good person even though you just kill it anyway: not enough good characters die in this game, had to get one more towards that quota.)

Mario, Luigi, Link, Simon Belmont, X, Samus, Lovelun & Bubblun, Kirby, and now the Abomination. Will ZephyrBurst's thirst for blood never end?!

[NegativeZeroZ]

Because nobody has ever before twisted the player's expectations just for the sake of doing it?

[Stink Terios]

Because nobody has ever before twisted the player's expectations just for the sake of doing it?

That should only be done if the subversion is better than what is expected though. Otherwise there's little point in doing it in the first place.

[Ignoritus]

Because nobody has ever before twisted the player's expectations just for the sake of doing it?

Trust me, I am well versed in my tropes. The problem however is that the trope in question kind of depends on the player having an established connection with the character in question. When you subvert that properly you come into a situation where you're put in concern for a characters welfare, given a brief bit of hope that they can be freed, which is then subverted to shock the player by rapidly undoing that hope. What went wrong here is that the player has no connection to the Abomination. The Abomination has done literally nothing the entire game (free of the parasite that is) except ask for help a few times. I wasn't hoping for the Abomination to be saved because I like the Abomination as a character, I was hoping for the Abomination to be saved because I was waiting for it to be ESTABLISHED as a character. And it just suddenly dying before it could even truly be introduced left me more confused than anything else. Just as it could have been totally removed without altering the plot, it could have been evil all along without altering the plot. It being controlled by the parasite affected nothing but making you feel a little bad killing it, because the true Abomination wasn't a character at any point.

[NegativeZeroZ]

Okay, so it doesn't fit the exact description of that trope. Thank you for reminding me why I don't use TVTropes anymore.

I still don't remember at what point the game suggests the Abomination will beat the game for you. Or, well, do anything, to borrow a phrase. It's an unstoppable force that just wants to exist, so why would it do anything? It only attacks when threatened or when forced to, and can only communicate in limited, plot-convenient ways. I'd probably worry less about my characterization and cut to the chase in a narratively dramatic way too if I had the world's worst reception, lowest batteries, or most expensive minutes. Choose your own metaphor.

Bringing it into battle just raises a ton of questions, but let's ignore most of them. Let's say this leads to a really cool scene where you play the bullet hell AS the ridiculously overpowered boss, because who wants to dodge bullets when you're as big as the screen? Let's say Zephyr just ignores the fact that Jerry and Claire are two separate entities that may or may not be entirely code and just has the Abomination "bond" with the player, making them superpowered. How will the final act maintain any kind of difficulty or dramatic tension? Logically, you'd be invincible, and nothing could really remove the Abomination from play after that, short of Hex just infecting the Abomination again.

Which makes the Nightmare Gate quest - Entirely Pointless.

From what I've seen, most players just want the thing to die in an explosion of Cthulhu bits anyway after raging against it for hours.

[Ignoritus]

Okay, so it doesn't fit the exact description of that trope. Thank you for reminding me why I don't use TVTropes anymore.

I still don't remember at what point the game suggests the Abomination will beat the game for you. Or, well, do anything, to borrow a phrase. It's an unstoppable force that just wants to exist, so why would it do anything? It only attacks when threatened or when forced to, and can only communicate in limited, plot-convenient ways. I'd probably worry less about my characterization and cut to the chase in a narratively dramatic way too if I had the world's worst reception, lowest batteries, or most expensive minutes. Choose your own metaphor.

Bringing it into battle just raises a ton of questions, but let's ignore most of them. Let's say this leads to a really cool scene where you play the bullet hell AS the ridiculously overpowered boss, because who wants to dodge bullets when you're as big as the screen? Let's say Zephyr just ignores the fact that Jerry and Claire are two separate entities that may or may not be entirely code and just has the Abomination "bond" with the player, making them superpowered. How will the final act maintain any kind of difficulty or dramatic tension? Logically, you'd be invincible, and nothing could really remove the Abomination from play after that, short of Hex just infecting the Abomination again.

Which makes the Nightmare Gate quest - Entirely Pointless.

From what I've seen, most players just want the thing to die in an explosion of Cthulhu bits anyway after raging against it for hours.

Nothing suggested the particular outcome (such as per your implication the Abomination aiding you in some huge way), but what was kind of assumed was that there would be AN outcome which affected the plot in some way. My point loops back around to the whole "Abomination could be evil all along and it wouldn't impact the plot in the slightest" thing. It doesn't necessarily have to directly 'beat the game' for you, but it's odd that it being controlled doesn't factor back into the plot in any way. When a story takes a 'character' in a certain direction you expect there to be a reason for that. As it is though, the Abomination not being evil is the setup to a Chekov's Gun that's never fulfilled.

[Plutia]

one room video



expect more of those

[Dark Hunter]

Well, the Warship's off to a great start.

Then again, we are truly in the endgame now. I suppose that was to be expected.

[NegativeZeroZ]

If every episode of this dungeon is only one or two rooms or a boss-related episode zero, this really will be raocow's longest series ever.

The Warship is truly a parallel to Secured Data Segment in almost every way. It's long. It's brutal. And the game in no way prepares you for it.

The last time we saw a split party map was in Gate 6 and Nightmare G. And those were optional.

We haven't had a mandatory split party map since The Vault, and the game is now going to take that mechanic to its extreme end.

That by itself is enough to induce rage, but holy sweet mother of Atlus does this dungeon have some arse design choices.

Much like Secured Data Segment, you can find the fun in it, if you're willing to look hard enough, but I just... I can't even.

I mean, I can, but... dude.