Part 9: Episode 9: Even more grinding!

Grinding has gotten a lot faster since getting Hex. One shot of Hex will kill any Picasso or Goner in range of the explosion.

So, it becomes quite simple to prance around and kill enemies to work towards another sizeable stat boost.





We got (+8 Defense)(+8 Offense)(+8 Agility). This is about what I got from the first 45 minutes. However, this time it only took 34 minutes! Wow! Compounded returns!!

However, the game has started spawning more difficult enemies on me. I'm still unsure if this is coincidence, but during a storm, I spotted this fella:


Suddenly Loki, The Rank #3 boss shows up! He seemed a little too busy picking off picassos to bother with me, luckily. He could have easily killed me.

I haven't seen enough bosses at night to know all the pertinent details. One thing I know is that you cannot kill bosses that show up at night like this. The game pretty much does it to screw with you. To clarify, it's not just merely to spook you, since they can kill you pretty quickly!

However, the one thing I've never been able to figure out is if the stats of the bosses are accurate to when you face them for real. To figure this out, I'd need to get a lock on Loki, which I wasn't able to do for us because of how fast he was moving. Even if the bosses at night have differing stats, it wouldn't matter much anyway. I don't believe enemy Offense or Agiliy are ever considered, and since these bosses are invincible, Defense clearly doesn't.

Once the storm clears, boss characters run faster and faster until they successfully exit your characters' field of vision. It's almost like they're vampires and they don't want to be caught sparkling in the sunlight. This must have been true in Loki's situation, since he scampered off.

Also, Loki did not shapeshift at all, leading me to further believe that all nighttime boss appearances are merely the graphical sprites on top of the same AI.





What's this? We've stumble onto the grand weapon! Nukeya!

Use with caution indeed. Like Hex, this thing has a blast radius.

I'm pretty sure that not even this weapon will take out a boss in one hit. Maybe Medusa (the lamest). This doesn't exactly mean that the bosses are "hard". They more or less come down to a battle of the stats where you both pound on each other until one of you dies. It's like the Malth battle in Ninja Gaiden which you remember if you're worth your gaming salts.



Here we are in the southwest corner. Up yours, David! Does this look like the power plant to you!?!. The "Power Plant" is the red rectangle in the northwest, which I scoured earlier looking for this very item. This is reason enough to ignore the characters' advice on items location. Most items seem to spawn several different copies, but I'm guessing Nukeya only spawns in a single location for our game. So, Nukeya is the only item you'd care to find, but the advice on its location is unreliable (I remember David telling me the Power Plant in a previous playthrough).



Checking in with the lab again!

Well I'd say that getting Nukeya is a good enough reason to see if the geeks back at the lab are proud of us.

Watch the video here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdKODFpkuKQ



Guy: "That was a tough hit you took back there, Five. The good news is, your DOA levels. All of them hit 25% before you crashed." *Approving, father-figure nod*

He's right to be proud of us. We sure wrecked the stats this time...





We now have all items AND have a healthy start of the stat grind. With only 26 minutes we scored over double the stat increases of last time!

We're definitely in a good position to take on a boss. The game will not allow us to face Raven or Perfect 1 at this point. Otherwise, I think they're all available!

CAST YOUR VOTE! I will kill any boss of your choosing. I will lay out the "lore" of the chosen target and interview them in the DOASys before storming their lair.
* Medusa (Rank 11) - At the Pyramid.
* Tesla (Rank 10) - At the power plant.
* Silva (Rank 9) - To the northeast.
* Balkan (Rank 8) - To the northeast.
* Fly (Rank 7) - At the Taurus.
* Riberto (Rank 6) - To the south.
* Chameleon (Rank 5) - To the east.
* Chance (Rank 4) - At the church.
* Loki (Rank 3) - At the stadium.

I won't give you any hints, though, because I don't want you picking a really hard one like Balkan or The Fly.

Next time: Our first big game kill