Part 25: A Link To The Past

Part 1 (Inferia Coliseum): [YOUTUBE] (~25 minutes, then 8 minutes arenachat)
Part 2 (Sekundes): [YOUTUBE] (~11 minutes, then 5 minutes indignationchat)

It's time for a blast from the past! We spend some time fighting like warriors, and encounter characters from previous games along the way.

(The post-black talking has some spoilers for other games. We try to tackle them in order so as soon as we hit a point where you feel it's getting a bit spoilery, feel free to shut the thing off. It goes Phantasia > Destiny > Symphonia > Abyss > Vesperia > Graces)



Boss Time!

Cress is one of the hardest fights in the game, and Reid has to fight him alone. On Hard and Hardcore mode he also has Arche around to cast spells, making this fight even more difficult. Stock up on Reverse Dolls before this fight. You can't use items so you'll need to go into your equipment and consume Reverse Dolls in order to stay alive.

If she's around, you need to prioritize Arche first. Properly engaging Cress while spells are flying around is pretty much impossible, so gun for her. Hit her hard and fast - I find that Rising Phoenix > Burning Phoenix works really well. If you get her in just the right spot, you'll nail her both on the way up and the way down. Get her in the corner (where she likes to retreat) and you can score as many as four or five hits with the Rise, then bonus damage with the extension. Make sure to have a Fairie Ring to alleviate the excessive TP cost, and consider grinding out savories and sages from the World Tournament.

With no Arche, you can focus on Cress. His moves hurt a whole lot to try to avoid them as best you can. Early on he will rely on a swing that extends into Demon Hammer, a swing that extends into Neo Swarm, a move called Spiral Destruction, and Rising Phoenix. For the first two, I find the Step Ring helps a lot. As soon as he's about to take his shot, backstep out of the way and then move in to strike. Spiral Destruction has a long windup, giving you ample time to block even if you guess wrong. Rising Phoenix is his more dangerous move. Try to block it a little closer while he's still in the air because if he catches you on the ground then it might go through - on harder difficulties this extends into Burning Phoenix. At medium and long distance he will spam Sonic Blade - it has a set range so if you can get away he will stop. Otherwise, you need to block and advance toward him, eating damage along the way.

Once you get his health down to about halfway he adds Dimensional Blade to his arsenal. This move does Time-elemental damage and has tremendous reach - I still don't have a way of reliably taking it down. It has a few frames of startup so if you're close enough you can get behind him with the Jet Boots, otherwise you need to just try to avoid it and use his other attacks to make an opening.

At very low health, a glancing blow risks being countered with the Albain Finality. This move is incredibly powerful, although it can't kill you, instead bringing you down to 1 health. If you have enough TP, respond with the Aurora Arte to finish the job!

You will have to go into your Equipment menu often to fight him efficiently. The most useful accessories are the Fairy Ring for TP management, the Reverse Doll for surviveability (kill the starfish in Aifread's tomb for them), possibly the Step Ring for early dueling, and Flare Capes if you see Burning Phoenix coming your way. Switch often so that you have the best setup for any given instant.

One last thing: You can execute Dragon Demon Chaos against him for an instant kill. Of you, that is - he'll respond with a Dragon Demon Chaos of his own and murder you instead. Don't do it!

Cress gives you the Eternal Sword when you defeat him. It's the strongest balanced weapon in the game, easily among the top 5**. It has great slash and thrust stats, and also does Time Damage. Cress also drops the Cress Bandana, which resists Time damage. If Arche is around she drops the Arche Ribbon, which resists Water, Wind, Fire and Earth.

**the top five weapons would be the Last Fencer (the strongest non-elemental weapon in the game), the Eternal Sword (even stronger with the Time element), the Gugnir (maximum thrust power, weaker slash), the Strike Axe (vice versa, high slash low thrust) and the Excalibur (which is weaker than these but required for the Ishtar Effect, which I'll get into later)



BUT THERE'S MORE!!

Sekundes (aka Dhaos) is yet another flashback boss, and is similarly incredibly difficult!

In this fight, at least you get your whole party! Sekundes is very damage resistant and has high evasion, which means Magic is going to be your primary way of hurting him. He's much less evasive when already taking damage so rely on spells that can pin him, such as Absolute, Cyclone, and Holy Lance. Reid's Rising Phoenix and Megasonic Thrust can damage him easier when he's pinned like this - ditto for Farah's Eagle Rage. It's often recommended that you swap Farah for Max in this fight - Aqua Spiral cuts down Sekundes' health like you wouldn't believe.

Dhaos relies on his trademark moves from Tales of Phantasia - Tetra Assault, Dhaos Laser and Dhaos Corridor. Unlike in the old days where he would only use these moves once in a while, here he can slam them out over and over again. For the uninitiated, Tetra Assault is four solid hits in a row to send you flying. Dhaos Laser is a big laser beam he shoots out of his hands through your party. Dhaos Corridor happens when he slams the ground, causing a shockwave all around him. All of his moves have extremely high priority so you'll be struggling to get any physical attacks through them. Magic really is the way to go.

On harder difficulties (possibly normal as well?) when you get his health down to halfway he will add Million Assault to his arsenal. Million Assault goes Tetra Assault > Corridor > Laser > Bigger Laser > Even Bigger Laser > Holy Lance. This is a killer combo that can heavily damage your whole team if you're not prepared. The holy lance does have a charge time, which means if you have a spell effect going already the lance will not come out until the current effect finishes (and ideally your current spell effect will interrupt his attacks altogether).

When he gets down to very low health, he starts chaining the Maxwell Extensions. These full-screen undodgeable attacks chained over and over will spell the end of your party. Unless you brought a shitload of Reverse Dolls to keep equipping through the damage, there is no way to survive. Make sure you have at least a couple just in case. The Maxwell Extensions have a much longer charge time than anything else he can do - on Hardcore it's still really fuckin' fast though.

Once you get his health down low enough, he becomes vulnerable to Indignation. If you can loose Indignation under these circumstances, you will execute a cinematic finish that will end the fight. On normal mode you need to get him down to about halfway (100,000 out of 200,000), whereas on Hardcore you need to get him down to a quarter (~75,000 out of 300,000). DO THIS BEFORE THE MAXWELL EXTENSIONS START HAPPENING. IF YOU SEE THE MAXWELL EXTENSIONS THEN YOU SHOULD BE BURNING THROUGH REVERSE DOLLS AND TRYING TO GET INDIGNATION OUT AS FAST AS YOU CAN.

When defeated, Sekundes gives you the Derris Emblem. When equipped, it allows you to finish the Maxwell Extensions with Blue Earth, which fully heals your team and gives you a free 100,000 EXP, which is at least one guaranteed level up at any point in the game. The total TP cost is 1,050 though, so you'll need a Mental Ring and a buttload of TP to use it (plus a suitable opponent who can survive that long, I recommend the fake chests in Gnome Cave).